inthe00s
The Pop Culture Information Society...

These are the messages that have been posted on inthe00s over the past few years.

Check out the messageboard archive index for a complete list of topic areas.

This archive is periodically refreshed with the latest messages from the current messageboard.




Check for new replies or respond here...

Subject: ninny's Persons of the day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 10:06 am

The word of the day...Hourglass
An hourglass is a device that was used to measure the passing of an hour. It has two round glass sections linked by a narrow channel, and contains sand which takes an hour to flow from the top section into the lower one.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/neon_vampire/Words/Life/hourglass.gif
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac80/TwilightxGirl27/hourglasswatcheravatarbytxg.png
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt188/Catholic_Vampire/Hourglass.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd259/gobbleinwoods/hourglass.jpg
http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv164/cbustamante47807/Hourglass.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc219/knownasmax/hourglass.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/trinimade/Hourglass.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k290/loowit/Hourglass.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/thenah/hourglass.jpg

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 10:10 am

The birthday of the day...Greg Allman
Gregory Lenoir Allman (born December 8, 1947 in Nashville, Tennessee), known as Gregg Allman (sometimes spelled Greg Allman), is a rock and blues singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and personally received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2006. His distinctive Southern-accented voice placed him in 70th place in Rolling Stone Magazines list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".
In the mid- to late-1960s, the Allmans played in a series of bands including The Escorts and Allman Joys, mostly playing around the Southeastern United States. Toward the end of the decade, The Allman Joys relocated to Los Angeles, California, and were signed to Liberty Records, which renamed them The Hour Glass. Strongly controlled by the label, the group produced a pair of psychedelic blues albums. All the players were deeply dissatisfied with the results; Duane Allman in particular spoke bitterly of the Hour Glass' output. The label, impressed with Gregg Allman's vocal abilities and abilities as a keyboardist, placed him on at least an equal level as his elder brother, which in turn began to be problematic for the brothers' relationship.
Formation of The Allman Brothers Band
Main article: The Allman Brothers Band

After its second album, The Hour Glass broke up and Duane Allman returned to the South, playing sessions at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In a short time, he assembled the group that would become The Allman Brothers Band - Duane and Dickey Betts on guitars, Berry Oakley on bass guitar, and Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson on drums. Liberty Records still believed that Gregg Allman had more potential as a solo act, and allowed the rest of The Hour Glass to leave on condition that Allman stay in California to record for them. He quickly grew miserable with this arrangement, and when Duane called from Jacksonville, Florida in March 1969 to say that he had assembled a band that needed a singer, Gregg jumped at the opportunity. He had long wanted to play the Hammond Organ, and was given one immediately upon joining the band, which he had to learn to play in a hurry. He has played the Hammond B-3 and handled much of the lead vocal and songwriting duties for the band (when it has been together), along with occasional piano and guitar contributions, ever since.
Solo career

After the untimely death of Duane Allman, by the mid-1970s, Gregg Allman carved out a solo career. His first album, Laid Back, was released in 1973 to a positive critical reception.

It included a couple of reworked Allman Brothers songs, such as a horn-laden, swampy version of "Midnight Rider" (one of the band's most famous songs) that made it to #19 on the Billboard singles chart, and originals like "Queen of Hearts", which Allman and the band felt did not quite fit the Allman Brothers sound. There are also a few cover songs on the record, such as the traditional gospel number "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and an acclaimed take on former California roommate Jackson Browne's song "These Days."
Allman in 2006 Photo: Andrea Klein

Allman's solo career has continued intermittently throughout the subsequent decades, sometimes touring when the Allman Brothers Band is off the road. Generally, these solo efforts - first with the Gregg Allman Band, and later with Gregg Allman & Friends - eschew lengthy guitar solos and cast Allman more in the mode of his favorite soul singers. The bands often include a horn section and are more groove-oriented. The template of mixing originals with reworked Allman Brothers songs and covers of blues, R&B, and soul songs remains in place.

Allman's biggest hit single came in 1987 with "I'm No Angel", from the album of the same name. The album went on to be certified Gold for 500,000 copies sold and led to a renewed interest in Allman and to a reformation of the Allman Brothers Band less than three years later.

Allman has also made guest appearances on albums and concert videos by a wide variety of other artists, including a concert DVD celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Radiators, playing Midnight Rider with that band.

As an actor, Allman had roles in the films Rush Week (1989) and Rush (1991), as well as in a couple of episodes of the TV series Superboy. He also had a brief speaking cameo in the Family Guy episode "Let's Go to the Hop".


When Allman was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on September 16, 2006, he was introduced by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and performed "Oncoming Traffic", "Melissa", and "Georgia on My Mind" solo and then ended with "Midnight Rider", backed by fellow inductees Bill Berry, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills from R.E.M. at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/vaughanchristy/GregAllman.jpg
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww291/drtomtom/Gregg-Allman-1.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u320/Drea2up/SRV/srv8-30gregallman.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll33/BDRecords/AllmanWoman.jpg

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 10:12 am

the co-birthdays of the day...Kim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger (pronounced /ˈbeɪsɪŋər/ BAY-sing-ər, often mispronounced /ˈbæsɪndʒər/ bass-in-jər; born December 8, 1953) is an American film actress and former fashion model.

Following her role as a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983), Basinger received a Golden Globe nomination for her work in The Natural (1984). She won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award as best supporting actress for her performance in L.A. Confidential (1997). Her film work includes major roles in Batman (1989) and 8 Mile (2002).
Not long after penning the Ford deal, Basinger was on the cover of numerous magazines. She appeared in hundreds of ads throughout the early 1970s, most notably appearing as the Breck Shampoo girl. In the meantime, she alternated between modeling work and attending acting classes at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse as well as performing in various Greenwich Village clubs.

In 1976, after a five-year stint as a cover girl, Basinger decided to put her modeling career on hold and move to Los Angeles to begin a career in acting. After appearing in small parts on a few TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch and Charlie's Angels, her first starring role was a made-for-TV movie, Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978) in which she played a small town girl who goes to Hollywood to become an actress and winds up becoming a famous centerfold for a men's magazine. She was then cast as a prostitute in From Here to Eternity (1979), in which she starred alongside Natalie Wood. Basinger played the same character in a 13-episode TV spinoff. She made her feature film debut in Hard Country (1981) with Jan Michael Vincent, followed by Mother Lode (1982) with Charlton Heston.

Basinger's breakout role was as a Bond girl, Domino Petachi in Never Say Never Again (1983), starring opposite Sean Connery. She did a nude pictorial for Playboy to promote her role in the Bond film in 1983. Basinger said the Playboy appearance led to good opportunities, such as Barry Levinson's The Natural (1984), co-starring Robert Redford, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She starred opposite Mickey Rourke in the sexually provocative film 9½ Weeks (1986), which was a flop upon release. Oscar-winning writer-director Robert Benton cast her in the title role for the film Nadine (1987) with Jeff Bridges.

Basinger then played Vicki Vale in the blockbuster hit Batman (1989). Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki, but dropped out due to an injury prior to filming. Tim Burton recommended Michelle Pfeiffer to replace Young, but Pfeiffer was doing The Fabulous Baker Boys at the time. (Pfeiffer would be cast as Catwoman in Batman Returns.) After interviewing with Burton, Basinger was accepted and cast.

Directors repeated her in their films, such as Blake Edwards for The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and Blind Date (1987), as well as Robert Altman for Fool for Love (1985) and Prêt-à-Porter (1994). Other films made during that period were the comedies My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988) and Wayne's World 2 (1993).

In 1992, Basinger was the guest vocalist on a re-recorded version of Was (Not Was)'s "Shake Your Head", which also featured Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, and reached the UK Top 5. In the video for Tom Petty's 1993 song "Mary Jane's Last Dance", Basinger played the role of a deceased woman Petty brings home from the morgue for a dinner date, dressing her in a wedding gown. Later, Petty is shown carrying her to a rocky shore and throwing her into the sea. In a macabre ending, she is seen floating in the water with her eyes open.

Basinger scaled back her work for most of the 1990s to take care of her family. In 1997, she then starred as a sophisticated call girl alongside Russell Crowe in the neo-noir drama L.A. Confidential. This performance earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild Award. The film's director, Curtis Hanson, would cast her once more as Eminem's troubled mother in the hit film 8 Mile (2002). More recently, she appeared mostly in television and independent films, with the exceptions of the mainstream thrillers Cellular (2004) and The Sentinel (2006). Basinger appeared in the 2008 film While She Was Out. Her 2009 film, The Informers, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. Her next film, The Burning Plain, was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008 and at the Savannah Film Festival in October 2008. It is slated for wide release in 2009.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1981 Hard Country Jodie
1982 Mother Lode Andrea Spalding
1983 Never Say Never Again Domino Petachi
The Man Who Loved Women Louise Carr
1984 The Natural Memo Paris Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1985 Fool for Love May
1986 9½ Weeks Elizabeth
No Mercy Michele Duval
1987 Blind Date Nadia Gates
Nadine Nadine Hightower
1988 My Stepmother Is an Alien Celeste Martin Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
1989 Batman Vicki Vale Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1991 The Marrying Man Vicki Anderson
1992 Final Analysis Heather Evans Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
Cool World Holli Would Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
The Real McCoy Karen McCoy
1993 Wayne's World 2 Honey Horné
Mary Jane's Last Dance music video for Tom Petty
1994 A Century of Cinema Herself documentary
The Getaway Carol McCoy Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) Kitty Potter
1997 L.A. Confidential Lynn Bracken Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
2000 I Dreamed of Africa Kuki Gallmann
Bless the Child Maggie O'Connor
2002 8 Mile Stephanie Smith
People I Know Victoria Gray
2004 The Door in the Floor Marion Cole
Elvis Has Left the Building Harmony Jones
Cellular Jessica Martin Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2006 The Sentinel 1st Lady Sarah Ballentine
2007 Even Money Carol Carver
2008 While She Was Out Della Myers
2009 The Informers Laura Sloan
The Burning Plain Gina
2010 The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud Louise St. Cloud
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/luvearest/basinger.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k14/ronewc/1-ACTORS_ACTRESSES/basingerkim-a.jpg

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 10:15 am

* James Galway
Sir James Galway OBE (born December 8, 1939) is a Northern Ireland–born virtuoso flutist from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man With the Golden Flute". Following in the footsteps of Jean-Pierre Rampal, he became one of the first flute players to establish an international career as a soloist.
After his education time he spent 15 years as an orchestral player. Galway played with the Philharmonia Orchestra as it rose to prominence in the 1950s.

He then played with Sadler's Wells Opera, Covent Garden Opera, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He auditioned for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan, and was principal flute of that orchestra from 1969 to 1975. To Karajan's surprise and dismay, after a period of some disagreement, "Jimmy" Galway decided that he would leave to pursue a solo career.

In addition to his performances of the standard classical repertoire, he features contemporary music in his programs, including new flute works commissioned by and for him by composers including David Amram, Malcolm Arnold, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Dave Heath, Lowell Liebermann and Joaquín Rodrigo. The album "In Ireland" by "James Galway and the Chieftains" reached number 32 in the UK album charts in 1987.

He still performs regularly and is one of the world's most well-known flute players.

He is Principal Guest Conductor of the London Mozart Players, based at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London.

Most recently, Galway has performed for the Academy Award-winning ensemble recording the soundtracks of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, composed by Howard Shore.

In June 2008, Galway was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame along with Liza Minnelli and B. B. King.

He currently performs on Nagahara flutes, as well as some Muramatsu Flutes.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c340/BlakePerry/Galway.gif
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh315/emiburger/jamesgalway.gif

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 12:36 pm


The word of the day...Hourglass
An hourglass is a device that was used to measure the passing of an hour. It has two round glass sections linked by a narrow channel, and contains sand which takes an hour to flow from the top section into the lower one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0UYIfdgNzU

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 12:36 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0UYIfdgNzU
One of my favourite videos.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 12:40 pm


* James Galway
Sir James Galway OBE (born December 8, 1939) is a Northern Ireland–born virtuoso flutist from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man With the Golden Flute". Following in the footsteps of Jean-Pierre Rampal, he became one of the first flute players to establish an international career as a soloist.
After his education time he spent 15 years as an orchestral player. Galway played with the Philharmonia Orchestra as it rose to prominence in the 1950s.

He then played with Sadler's Wells Opera, Covent Garden Opera, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He auditioned for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan, and was principal flute of that orchestra from 1969 to 1975. To Karajan's surprise and dismay, after a period of some disagreement, "Jimmy" Galway decided that he would leave to pursue a solo career.

In addition to his performances of the standard classical repertoire, he features contemporary music in his programs, including new flute works commissioned by and for him by composers including David Amram, Malcolm Arnold, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Dave Heath, Lowell Liebermann and Joaquín Rodrigo. The album "In Ireland" by "James Galway and the Chieftains" reached number 32 in the UK album charts in 1987.

He still performs regularly and is one of the world's most well-known flute players.

He is Principal Guest Conductor of the London Mozart Players, based at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London.

Most recently, Galway has performed for the Academy Award-winning ensemble recording the soundtracks of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, composed by Howard Shore.

In June 2008, Galway was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame along with Liza Minnelli and B. B. King.

He currently performs on Nagahara flutes, as well as some Muramatsu Flutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkUpto_ohEc

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 12:40 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkUpto_ohEc
In his younger days.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 12:41 pm


In his younger days.
In 1978.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/08/09 at 12:42 pm

9 1/2 weeks was such an interesting film when it came out.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 12:43 pm


9 1/2 weeks was such an interesting film when it came out.
That is another film I have not seen.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/08/09 at 1:14 pm


9 1/2 weeks was such an interesting film when it came out.



I have a copy of it on VHS.



Cat

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:16 pm



I have a copy of it on VHS.



Cat
I hope you still have a VHS player.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 1:19 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkUpto_ohEc

Very nice :)

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 1:22 pm


9 1/2 weeks was such an interesting film when it came out.

I don't remember to much about it other than it was erotic and I think Mickey Rourke was in it..Gosh it stinks to get old and forget things. >:(

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:23 pm


Very nice :)
I have always like that song by John Denver.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 1:29 pm


I have always like that song by John Denver.

Yes it is such a lovely song.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:31 pm


Yes it is such a lovely song.
Allegedly written in 15 minutes.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 1:35 pm


Allegedly written in 15 minutes.

Really, I guess you can write something good that fast. Just the lyrics or the music also?

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:36 pm


Really, I guess you can write something good that fast. Just the lyrics or the music also?
Once the flow of the tune and words happen, there you are.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:37 pm


Really, I guess you can write something good that fast. Just the lyrics or the music also?
On wiki:

""Annie's Song" was written as an ode to Denver's then-wife, Annie Denver (née Martell). Denver "wrote this song in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Bell Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife."

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:38 pm


On wiki:

""Annie's Song" was written as an ode to Denver's then-wife, Annie Denver (née Martell). Denver "wrote this song in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Bell Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife."

Wiki has it as ten-and-a-half minutes one.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 1:44 pm


Wiki has it as ten-and-a-half minutes one.

They both were a thing of beauty for him (his wife & the mountains)

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:48 pm


They both were a thing of beauty for him (his wife & the mountains)
It was nature that inspired John Denver.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:49 pm


It was nature that inspired John Denver.
All though he did not write "Mother Nature's Son.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/08/09 at 1:53 pm


All though he did not write "Mother Nature's Son.

Good Beatles song covered by the following:
Covers and mashups

    * Ramsey Lewis covered the song and used it as the title of his 1968 album Mother Nature's Son. The album includes other songs from The Beatles.
    * Harry Nilsson covered the song in 1969.
    * John Denver covered the song and after his death it became the title of a biography of Denver by John Collis.
    * Gryphon (band) covered the song in 1974 on the album Raindance.
    * Sheryl Crow covered it for the movie I Am Sam.
    * Danger Mouse included a sample of the song in his "mashup" version of the Jay-Z song "December 4th".
    * DJ Reset used it along with Slick Rick's La-Di-Da-Di for the "mashup" song "Mother Nature's Rick".
    * Glay covered the song on their 2007 single "Ashes".
    * Brad Mehldau covered the song in a medley on his album Largo.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/08/09 at 1:53 pm


I hope you still have a VHS player.



Of course-several of them.



Cat

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 1:57 pm


Good Beatles song covered by the following:
Covers and mashups

    * Ramsey Lewis covered the song and used it as the title of his 1968 album Mother Nature's Son. The album includes other songs from The Beatles.
    * Harry Nilsson covered the song in 1969.
    * John Denver covered the song and after his death it became the title of a biography of Denver by John Collis.
    * Gryphon (band) covered the song in 1974 on the album Raindance.
    * Sheryl Crow covered it for the movie I Am Sam.
    * Danger Mouse included a sample of the song in his "mashup" version of the Jay-Z song "December 4th".
    * DJ Reset used it along with Slick Rick's La-Di-Da-Di for the "mashup" song "Mother Nature's Rick".
    * Glay covered the song on their 2007 single "Ashes".
    * Brad Mehldau covered the song in a medley on his album Largo.

I must hear the Harry Nilsson version. I may have it already on WMP.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 2:44 pm


I must hear the Harry Nilsson version. I may have it already on WMP.
I do have it and I am listening to it right now.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/08/09 at 2:46 pm


I do have it and I am listening to it right now.
Very charming.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/08/09 at 3:16 pm

Kim Basinger had an hourglass figure. I have never seen 9½ weeks..... :(

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/08/09 at 4:26 pm


Kim Basinger had an hourglass figure. I have never seen 9½ weeks..... :(



WHAT?!?? Don't you know that is a cult classic?



Cat

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/08/09 at 5:45 pm


I have always like that song by John Denver.

Pretty song, beautiful.


WHAT?!?? Don't you know that is a cult classic?
Cat

Yup, it was. When it came out I was in University and all the guys just LOVED that movie...and the girls liked Mickey Rourke. He has changed a lot.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/08/09 at 6:55 pm

James Gallaway was on Sesame Street.

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/08/09 at 11:06 pm



WHAT?!?? Don't you know that is a cult classic?



Cat


My wife didn't want me to watch it........and I ALWAYS do as I'm asked!  ::)

Subject: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/08/09 at 11:37 pm


My wife didn't want me to watch it........and I ALWAYS do as I'm asked!  ::)

I guess there's a first for everything  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 12:53 am


Very charming.

What version do you like the best?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/09/09 at 1:14 am

Hey....it's a brand new thread!!!!  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/09/09 at 1:15 am


Hey....it's a brand new thread!!!!  :o

Lots of new threads. Tam has been busy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 6:18 am


Hey....it's a brand new thread!!!!  :o

Lots of new threads. Tam has been busy.

Yes she has.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 6:19 am

Photobucket is under maintence..so the word of the day will be late.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/09/09 at 7:02 am


Photobucket is under maintence..so the word of the day will be late.


Ok,I'll be here for the waiting.  :)


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 7:08 am

The wait is over
The word of the day...Notes
#
A note is a short letter. N-COUNT

    *
      Synonym
      message

    *
      Stevens wrote him a note asking him to come to his apartment.
    *
      I'll have to leave a note for Karen. + 'for' communication; @; written; informal

#
A note is something that you write down to remind yourself of something. N-COUNT

    *
      I knew that if I didn't make a note I would lose the thought so I asked to borrow a pen or pencil.
    *
      Take notes during the consultation as the final written report is very concise. communication @; written; referential

#
In a book or article, a note is a short piece of additional information. N-COUNT

    *
      See Note 16 on page p. 223.
    *
      ...`Exiles' by James Joyce, edited with an Introduction and notes by J C C Mays. communication; @; written; information; educational

#
A note is a short document that has to be signed by someone and that gives official information about something. N-COUNT with supp

    *
      Since Mr Bennett was going to need some time off work, he asked for a sick note.
    *
      I've got half a ton of gravel in the lorry but he won't sign my delivery note. communication; @; written; official; documentation

#
You can refer to a banknote as a note. N-COUNT Britain

    *
      They exchange traveller's cheques at a different rate from notes.
    *
      ...a five pound note. commerce; @; money

#
In music, a note is the sound of a particular pitch, or a written symbol representing this sound. N-COUNT usu with supp

    *
      She has a deep voice and doesn't even try for the high notes.
    *
      If the note of D is sounded on a harp, all the corresponding D strings of other octaves will likewise resonate.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa181/The_Coast/img004.jpg
http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae81/Saltwaterdiver/i6l9bt.gif
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg208/dashoetoo/DSC06984.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc13/Mickeymouse07079/598713.jpg
http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss237/loll_03/TempDesignNotes.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee157/shimo_alex/Texts/188451bvz2jlpap4.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s75/amylongbrake/friendship_notes_9.jpg
http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af211/thescheck/Notes_on_the_piano_by_Morozov.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s75/amylongbrake/friendship_notes_30.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/09/09 at 7:10 am

got to jot down some notes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 7:11 am

The birthday of the day...Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934), is an English film, stage and television actress.

She made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer, however most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968.

During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.

Her film appearances had been infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).

Regarded by critics as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, and frequently named as the leading British actress in polls, Dench has received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award.

She was married to the actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001. They are the parents of the actress Finty Williams.
1968, she was offered the role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret. As Sheridan Morley later reported: "At first she thought they were joking. She had never done a musical and she has an unusual croaky voice which sounds as if she has a permanent cold. So frightened was she of singing in public that she auditioned from the wings, leaving the pianists alone on stage". But when it opened at the Palace Theatre in February 1968, Frank Marcus, reviewing for Plays and Players, commented that: "She sings well. The title song in particular is projected with great feeling."

After a long run in Cabaret, she rejoined the RSC making numerous appearances with the company in Stratford and London for nearly twenty years, winning several best actress awards. Among her roles with the RSC, she was the Duchess in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi in 1971. In the Stratford 1976 season, and then at the Aldwych in 1977, she gave two comedy performances, first in Trevor Nunn's musical staging of The Comedy of Errors as Adriana, then partnered with Donald Sinden as Beatrice and Benedick in John Barton's "British Raj" revival of Much Ado About Nothing. As Bernard Levin wrote in The Sunday Times: "...demonstrating once more that she is a comic actress of consummate skill, perhaps the very best we have."

But one of her most notable achievements with the RSC was her performance as Lady Macbeth in 1976. Nunn's acclaimed production of Macbeth was first staged with a minimalist design at The Other Place theatre in Stratford. Its small round stage focused attention on the psychological dynamics of the characters, and both Ian McKellen in the title role, and Dench, received exceptionally favourable notices. "If this is not great acting I don't know what is", wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian. "It will astonish me if the performance is matched by any in this actress's generation", commented J C Trewin in The Lady. The production transferred to London, opening at the Donmar Warehouse in September 1977, and was adapted for television, later released on VHS and DVD. Dench won the SWET Best Actress Award in 1977.

She had a romantic role in the BBC television film Langrishe, Go Down (1978), with Jeremy Irons and a screenplay by Harold Pinter from the Aidan Higgins novel, directed by David Jones, in which she played one of three spinster sisters living in a fading Irish mansion in the Waterford countryside.

Dench made her debut as a director in 1988 with the Renaissance Theatre Company's touring season, Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, co-produced with the Birmingham Rep, and ending with a three month repertory programme at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Dench's contribution was a staging of Much Ado About Nothing, set in the Napoleonic era, which starred Kenneth Branagh and Samantha Bond as Benedick and Beatrice. In the same season, Geraldine McEwan and Derek Jacobi also made their directorial debuts.

She has made numerous appearances in the West End including the role of Miss Trant in the 1974 musical version of The Good Companions at Her Majesty's Theatre. In 1981, Dench was due to play the title role of Grizabella in the original production of Cats, but was forced to pull out due to a torn Achilles tendon, leaving Elaine Paige to play the role. She has acted with the National Theatre in London where, in September 1995, she played Desiree Armfeldt in a major revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, for which she won an Olivier Award.
Popular success

In 1995, she took over the role of M (James Bond's boss) with the James Bond film series, starting with GoldenEye. She is the only actor from Pierce Brosnan's Bond films to remain in the franchise. She has appeared in Casino Royale (2006) and its direct sequel Quantum of Solace (2008).

She has won multiple awards for performances on the London stage, including a record six Laurence Olivier Awards. She also won the Tony Award for her 1999 Broadway performance in the role of Esme Allen in David Hare's Amy's View. Alongside her numerous award winning performances, she has also managed to take on the role of Director for a number of stage productions. Dench won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Elizabeth I in the film Shakespeare in Love.

Judi Dench has frequently appeared with her close friend Geoffrey Palmer. They co-starred in the series As Time Goes By, where she played Jean Pargetter, becoming Jean Hardcastle after she married Lionel Hardcastle. The program spanned nine seasons. They also worked together on the films Mrs. Brown and Tomorrow Never Dies, both filmed in 1997. Dench has also lent her voice to many animated characters, narrations, and various other voice work. She plays the role of "Miss Lilly" in the children's animated series Angelina Ballerina (alongside her daughter, Finty Williams, as the voice of Angelina) and as Mrs. Calloway in the Disney animated film Home on the Range. She has narrated various classical music recordings (notably Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Britten's Canticles-The Heart of the Matter), and has appeared in numerous BBC radio broadcasts as well as commercials. Her many television appearances include lead roles in the series A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By. In the U.S., As Time Goes By has been repeated on PBS and on BBC America.
Recent years

Dench returned to the West End stage in April 2006 in Hay Fever alongside Peter Bowles, Belinda Lang and Kim Medcalf. She finished off 2006 with the role of Mistress Quickly in the RSC's new musical The Merry Wives, a version of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Dench's more recent film career has garnered six Academy Award nominations in nine years for Mrs. Brown in 1997; her Oscar-winning turn as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love in 1998; for Chocolat in 2000; for the lead role of writer Iris Murdoch in Iris in 2001 (with Kate Winslet playing her as a younger woman); for Mrs Henderson Presents (a romanticised history of the Windmill Theatre) in 2005; and for 2006's Notes on a Scandal, a film for which she received critical acclaim, including Golden Globe, Academy Award, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild nominations.

In 2007 the BBC issued The Judi Dench Collection, DVDs of eight television dramas: Talking to a Stranger quartet (1966), Keep an Eye on Amélie (1973), The Cherry Orchard (1981), Going Gently (1981), Ghosts (with Kenneth Branagh and Michael Gambon, 1987), Make and Break (with Robert Hardy, 1987), Can You Hear Me Thinking? (co-starring with her husband, Michael Williams, 1990) and Absolute Hell (1991).

Dench, as Miss Matty Jenkins, co-starred with Eileen Atkins, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton and Francesca Annis, in the BBC One five-part series Cranford. The series began transmission in the UK in November 2007, and on the BBC's U.S. producing partner station WGBH (PBS Boston) in spring 2008.

Dench became the voice for the narration for the updated Walt Disney World Epcot attraction Spaceship Earth in February 2008.

In February 2008, she was named as the first official patron of the York Youth Mysteries 2008, a project to allow young people to explore the York Mystery Plays through dance, film-making and circus. This culminated on 21 June with a day of city centre performances in York.

She worked on the 22nd Bond adventure Quantum Of Solace and reprised her role as M.

She is interested in horse racing and in partnership with her chauffeur Bryan Agar owns a four-year-old horse, "Smokey Oakey", who won the 2008 Brigadier Gerard Stakes.

She returns to the West End from 13 March-23 May 2009 in Yukio Mishima's Madame De Sade, directed by Michael Grandage as part of the Donmar season at Wyndham's Theatre. In February 2010, she will play Titania in Peter Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rose Theatre Kingston Upon Thames, with Titania being seen as a portrait of Elizabeth I of England in her later years
ilmography
Year Film Role Notes
1964 The Third Secret Miss Humphries
1965 Four in the Morning Wife BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles
A Study in Terror Sally
He Who Rides a Tiger Joanne
1968 A Midsummer Night's Dream Titania
1973 Luther Katherine
1974 Dead Cert Laura Davidson
1978 Langrishe, Go Down Imogen Langrishe (BBC TV film)
1985 The Angelic Conversation (narrator)
Wetherby Marcia Pilborough Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
A Room with a View Eleanor Lavish BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1987 84 Charing Cross Road Nora Doel Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1988 A Handful of Dust Mrs. Beaver BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1989 Henry V Mistress Quickly
Behaving Badly Bridget Mayor Channel 4 television serial
1995 Jack and Sarah Margaret
GoldenEye M
1996 Hamlet Hecuba
1997 Mrs. Brown Queen Victoria BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actress in a Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Tomorrow Never Dies M
1998 Shakespeare in Love Queen Elizabeth Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nomination — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nomination — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nomination — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
1999 Tea with Mussolini Arabella
The World Is Not Enough M
2000 Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (narrator) (documentary)
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells Elizabeth (TV)
Chocolat Armande Voizin Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nomination — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nomination — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2001 Iris Iris Murdoch BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nomination — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Shipping News Agnis Hamm Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nomination — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
2002 The Importance of Being Earnest Lady Augusta Bracknell
Die Another Day M
2003 Bugs! (narrator) (short subject)
2004 Home on the Range Mrs. Caloway (voice)
The Chronicles of Riddick Aereon
Ladies in Lavender Ursula Widdington
2005 Pride & Prejudice Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Mrs Henderson Presents Mrs. Laura Henderson Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nomination — British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nomination — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nomination — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2006 Doogal (narrator)
Casino Royale M Nominated — National Movie Award for Best Actress
Notes on a Scandal Barbara Covett British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nomination — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nomination — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nomination — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nomination — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nomination — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nomination — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nomination — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
2007 Go Inside to Greet the Light (narrator)
2008 Quantum of Solace M
2009 Rage Mona Carvell
Nine Liliane La Fleur post-production
2011 Bond 23 M pre-production
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll234/darcimkire_photo/WhoIWantToMeet/Judi_Dench.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd162/manya4life/denchi.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t146/andrewsautographs/Actresses/JudiDench.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd162/manya4life/dench.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 7:13 am

The co-birthday's of the day...Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet “Beau” Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor
ridges was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson). He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book they were reading at the time. He has two younger brothers, Garrett and Jeff, and one younger sister, Lucinda. His brother Garrett died of sudden infant death syndrome on August 3, 1948. He has shared a close relationship with Jeff, to whom he acted as a surrogate father during his earlier life when their father was busy with work. He and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. In 1989, he starred opposite his brother in perhaps his best known role, as one of The Fabulous Baker Boys.

In 1949, Bridges played a secondary juvenile role in the movie The Red Pony. Wanting to be a basketball star, however, he played his freshman year at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and later transferred to the University of Hawaii.

In the 1962-1963 television season, Bridges, along with his brother, Jeff, appeared on their father's CBS anthology series, The Lloyd Bridges Show.

In the 1993-1994 television season, Bridges appeared again with his father in the 15-episode CBS comedy/western series, Harts of the West, set at a dude ranch in Nevada. The cast also included Harley Jane Kozak as Beau's wife, Alison Hart, and Sean Murray as older son Zane Grey Hart.

In 1995, Bridges starred with his father Lloyd and son Dylan in the two-part pilot episode of the Showtime science fiction series, The Outer Limits. In 1998, he starred as Judge Bob Gibbs in the one-season Maximum Bob on ABC. He had a recurring role in the Showtime series Beggars and Choosers (1999-2000).

In 2001, he guest-starred as Daniel McFarland, the stepfather of Jack McFarland, in two episodes of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. From 2002 to 2003, he took on the role of Senator Tom Gage, newly-appointed Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in over 30 episodes of the drama series The Agency. In January 2005, he was cast as Major General Hank Landry, the new commander of Stargate Command in Stargate SG-1. He has also played the character in five episodes of the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis.

In November 2005, he guest-starred as Carl Hickey, the father of the title character in the hit NBC Comedy My Name Is Earl. Bridges's character has since become recurring. Bridges received a 2007 Emmy Award nomination for his performance.

On February 8, 2009, he won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. He, along with Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood, read Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

In 2009, he guest-starred as Eli Scruggs on the 100th episode of Desperate Housewives and received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance.
Filmography

    * Force of Evil (1948)
    * The Eleventh Hour episode Cannibal Plants, They Eat You Alive (1964)
    * Combat! episode The Short Day Of Private Putnam (1964)
    * Village of the Giants (1965)
    * The Incident (1967)
    * For Love of Ivy (1968)
    * Gaily, Gaily (1969)
    * The Landlord (1970)
    * Hammersmith Is Out (1972)
    * Child's Play (1972)
    * Lovin' Molly (1974)
    * The Other Side of the Mountain (1975)
    * Swashbuckler (1976)
    * Two-Minute Warning (1976)
    * One Summer Love (1976)
    * Dragonfly (1976) aka One Summer Love
    * The Four Feathers (1977)
    * Greased Lightning (1977)
    * The President's Mistress (1978)
    * The Runner Stumbles (1979)
    * Norma Rae (1979)
    * The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
    * Silver Dream Racer (1980)
    * Night Crossing (1981)
    * Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
    * Love Child (1982)
    * Witness for the Prosecution (1982)
    * Heart Like a Wheel (1983)
    * The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * The Thanksgiving Promise (1986)
    * The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
    * The Iron Triangle (1989)
    * Signs of Life (1989)
    * Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989)
    * The Wizard (1989)
    * Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will? (1990)
    * Without Warning: The James Brady Story (1991)
    * Married to It (1991)
    * Sidekicks (1992)
    * The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993)
    * The Man with Three Wives (1993)
    * Million Dollar Babies (1994)
    * Kissinger & Nixon (1995)
    * A Stranger To Love (1996) (Made for TV movie)
    * Jerry Maguire (1996)
    * Hidden in America (1996)
    * Nightjohn (1996)
    * The Second Civil War (1997)
    * Rocket Man (1997)
    * Maximum Bob (1998)
    * P.T. Barnum (1999)
    * Inherit the Wind (1999)
    * Common Ground (2000)
    * Sordid Lives (2000)
    * Voyage of the Unicorn (2001)
    * We Were the Mulvaneys (2002)
    * Sightings: Heartland Ghosts (2002)
    * The Agency (2002-2003)
    * Out of the Ashes (2003)
    * Debating Robert Lee (2004)
    * Evel Knievel (2004)
    * 10.5 (2004)
    * Smile (2005)
    * The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)
    * Into the West (2005)
    * Stargate SG-1 (2005-2007)
    * Stargate: Atlantis (2005-2006)
    * My Name Is Earl (2005-2008)
    * 10.5: Apocalypse (2006)
    * The Good German (2006)
    * I-See-You.Com (2006)
    * American Dad! (2005-2006) (voice)
    * Charlotte's Web (2006)
    * Spinning Into Butter (2007)
    * Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008)
    * Stargate: Continuum (2008)
    * Max Payne (2008)
    * Americanizing Shelley (2008)
    * Desperate Housewives (2009)
    * Don't Fade Away (2009)
    * The Closer (2009)
    * Columbus Circle (2010)
    * My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (2010)


http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o88/glenparsons/sg12/sg12027.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m448/jessicagobble/IMG_0459.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/09/09 at 7:15 am

Beau Bridges is great,He's a good actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 7:17 am

* Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, musician, actor and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk show and game show host, record producer, race car driver, and author. He is known for being half of the brother-sister singing act Donny & Marie and a member of the "Osmond Brothers" singing group. From 1991-1997 he played Joseph in the Canadian production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, impressed by his talents and the show's long run, chose Osmond to do the film version in 1999. On November 24, 2009, he was crowned Dancing with the Stars champion
After seeing the Osmond Brothers (Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay) perform at Disneyland as a barbershop quartet, Andy Williams asked the boys to audition for The Andy Williams Show. They soon became regulars on the show and gained popularity quickly. Donny made his debut on the show at the age of 5 singing "You Are My Sunshine". The brothers continued to perform on the show throughout the 1960s along with their brother Jimmy and sister Marie.

Donny became a teen idol in the early 1970s as a solo singer, in addition to playing with his older brothers. He, Bobby Sherman, and David Cassidy were the biggest "Cover Boy" pop stars for Tiger Beat magazine in the early 1970s. He had his first solo hit with "Sweet and Innocent", which peaked at #7 in the U.S. in 1971. His solo songs "Go Away Little Girl" (1971) (#1 in the U.S.), "Puppy Love" (U.S. #3), and "Hey Girl/I Knew You When" (U.S. #9) (1972) vaulted him into international fame. The fame was further advanced by his appearance on the "Here's Lucy" show, where he sang "Too Young" to Lucille Ball's niece, played by Eve Plumb, and sang with Lucie Arnaz ("I'll Never Fall In Love Again").
Comeback: 1989 — 1990

In the 1980s, Osmond re-invented himself as a solo vocal artist and abandoned the earlier television show image crafted to appeal to young viewers. He made an unlikely appearance as one of several celebrities and unknowns auditioning to sing for guitarist Jeff Beck in the video for Beck's 1985 single "Ambitious", followed in 1986 by an equally unlikely cameo in the animated Luis Cardenas music video Runaway. He spent several years as a performer, before collaborating with Peter Gabriel and returning to the US charts in 1989 with the song "Soldier of Love" and its follow-up "Sacred Emotion". The campaign to market "Soldier Of Love" received considerable airplay with the singer being presented as a 'mystery artist', before his identity was later revealed.

Donny was often reluctant to perform his earliest songs, in particular "Go Away Little Girl", but was convinced to sing the song live for KLOS-FM's 'Mark & Brian Christmas Show' on December 21, 1990.
Current music career: 1991 — present

Osmond was the guest vocalist on Dweezil Zappa's star-studded version of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" which appeared on Zappa's 1991 album Confessions. The song also included guitar solos from Zakk Wylde, Steve Lukather, Warren DeMartini, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tim Pierce.

In the 2000s, he released a Christmas album, an album of his favorite Broadway songs, and a compilation of popular love songs. In 2004, he returned to the UK Top 10 for the first time as a solo artist since 1973, with the George Benson-sampling "Breeze On By", co-written with former teen idol Gary Barlow, from the 1990s UK boy band Take That, reaching number 8.
In the mid 1970s, he and Marie co-hosted an episode of the "Mike Douglas Show", and were then were offered a show of their own, "The Donny & Marie Show", a television variety series which aired on ABC between 1976 and 1979.

Donny also co-hosted together in 20 years. Though ratings were high and they were nominated for an award as best talk show, the series was canceled. In a 1999 episode featuring Jefferson Starship promoting their album Windows Of Heaven, the hosts performed a rendition of Volunteers live with the band.
Other hosting opportunities

Osmond went on to host Pyramid, a syndicated television game show that ran two seasons in the US, from 2002-2004, and a British version of Pyramid on Challenge in 2007.

Osmond returned to ABC as host of The Great American Dream Vote, a prime-time reality/game show that debuted in March, 2007. After earning lackluster ratings in its first two episodes, the program was cancelled.

Osmond hosted the British version of the game show Identity on BBC Two during the daytime.

On April 11, 2008 Osmond also hosted the 2008 Miss USA pageant along with his sister Marie from Las Vegas.

Osmond appeared on Entertainment Tonight as a commentator covering the ABC show Dancing With the Stars during his sister Marie's run as a contestant on the 5th season of the American version of the popular show in Fall of 2007. He was seen at week 7 of the competition in tears in the audience watching Marie do a rumba after his and Marie's father passed away.
Musical theater

His first foray into Broadway musical theater was the lead role in a revival of the 1904 George M. Cohan show Little Johnny Jones. Osmond replaced another former teen idol, David Cassidy, who received negative reviews while the show was on its pre-Broadway tour. After 29 previews and only 1 performance, the show closed on March 21, 1982.

Osmond found success in musical theater through much of the 1990s when he starred in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for over 2,000 performances. During his performances for the musical, he suffered from Social Anxiety Disorder, which caused him to feel light-headed and extremely nervous during his performances.

He returned to Broadway on September 19, 2006, in the role of Gaston in Disney's Beauty And The Beast. He was scheduled to perform for nine weeks but due to popular demand he extended his run through December 24. Liz Smith of the New York Post wrote "I am here to tell you he is charmingly campy, good-looking and grand as the villain "Gaston," patterned after our old friend Elvis and noting "Donny is divine". On July 29, 2007, Osmond played Gaston again for the final performance of Beauty And The Beast.
Film

In the animated television series Johnny Bravo, Osmond voiced himself as a recurring character. He has also done guest spots on numerous other television shows such as "Friends", "Diagnosis Murder", and Hannah Montana. He also appeared in a Pepsi Twist commercial during the Super Bowl with his sister, Marie, and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

In 1998, Donny Osmond was chosen to be the singing voice of Shang in Walt Disney's Mulan. He sang "I'll Make A Man Out Of You". Andrew Lloyd Webber asked the singer to do his movie version of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat saying, "to me there is no better selection".

Osmond remarked in an interview recently that with his movie appearance on College Road Trip and upcoming appearances on two Disney Channel shows he would coming about full circle since he and his family were discovered by Walt Disney.

Osmond appears in the music video of "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White & Nerdy". The song is a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"; Osmond's role is analogous to that of Krayzie Bone's role in the original video. Yankovic asked Osmond to appear because "if you have to have a white and nerdy icon in your video, like who else do you go for?"
Dancing with the Stars

Donny and his partner Kym won season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. Donny and his dance partner Kym Johnson were crowned the champions on November 24, 2009.
Week
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/mrsmichaeljoejackson/DonnyO2.jpg
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r405/Ginger1965/Donny-Osmond-u013.jpg

Still nice looking (in my opinion)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/09/09 at 7:18 am

At 52,still looks as good as he did back then.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/09/09 at 11:06 am

I have never been a big Donny Osmond fan but he was OUTSTANDING in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. If you haven't seen the video of it, I HIGHLY recommend it. Besides Donny looks VERY buff in it.  ;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJvUrSd_2k



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/09/09 at 12:45 pm

New topic now located!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/09/09 at 12:46 pm


James Gallaway was on Sesame Street.
James Gallaway is someone else.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/09/09 at 12:50 pm


I have never been a big Donny Osmond fan but he was OUTSTANDING in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. If you haven't seen the video of it, I HIGHLY recommend it. Besides Donny looks VERY buff in it.  ;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJvUrSd_2k



Cat
We have the DVD of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/09/09 at 2:28 pm

One Bad Apple is a favorite of mine.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/09/09 at 3:22 pm

I actually like ALL of your people of the day Janine...  Always thought Donny O was very talented.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/09/09 at 4:48 pm


I actually like ALL of your people of the day Janine...   Always thought Donny O was very talented.

Thanks :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/09/09 at 7:12 pm

When the Osmonds became famous at the same time as the Jackson ( more or less), I preferred the Jacksons at the time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/10/09 at 5:27 am

The word of the day... Sleuth
   *
         o
           A sleuth is a detective. N-COUNT old-fashioned

Web definitions

   *
         o spy: watch, observe, or inquire secretly
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w197/oilgun/sleuth.jpg
http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac186/Number6pb/sleuth.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/ashields07/sleuth.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp257/brightsleuth1/Sleuth.gif
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb65/kalstella/Movie/Sleuth.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/killer_ewok/SleuthCustom.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n160/xerxes669/sleuth_700_with_info.gif
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj217/scoutingsue/07ndconvprogram2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/10/09 at 5:30 am

The birthday of the day...Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December, 1960) is a Northern Irish actor and film director.
Branagh achieved some early measure of success in his native Northern Ireland for his role as the title character in the BBC's Play for Today trilogy known as the Billy Plays (1982-84), written by Graham Reid and set in Belfast.

He received acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, first winning the 1982 SWET Award for Best Newcomer, for his role as Judd in Julian Mitchell's Another Country, immediately after leaving RADA. Branagh was part of the 'new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Bruce Payne and Fiona Shaw. He and David Parfitt founded the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, following success with several productions on the London 'Fringe', including Branagh's full-scale production of Romeo and Juliet at the Lyric Studio, co-starring with Samantha Bond. The first major Renaissance production was Branagh's Christmas 1987 staging of Twelfth Night at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, starring Richard Briers as Malvolio and Frances Barber as Viola, and with an original score by Scottish actor, musician and composer Patrick Doyle, who two years later was to compose the music for Branagh's film adaptation of Henry V. This Twelfth Night was later adapted for television and is now available on DVD.

Branagh became a major presence in the media and on the British stage when Renaissance collaborated with Birmingham Rep for a 1988 touring season of three Shakespeare plays under the umbrella title of Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, which also played a repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. It featured directorial debuts for Judi Dench with Much Ado About Nothing (starring Branagh and Emma Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice), Geraldine McEwan with As You Like It, and Derek Jacobi directing Branagh in the title role in Hamlet, with Sophie Thompson as Ophelia. Critic Milton Shulman of the London Evening Standard wrote: "On the positive side Branagh has the vitality of Olivier, the passion of Gielgud, the assurance of Guinness, to mention but three famous actors who have essayed the role. On the negative side, he has not got the magnetism of Olivier, nor the mellifluous voice quality of Gielgud nor the intelligence of Guinness."

A year later in 1989 Branagh co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance revival of Look Back in Anger. Judi Dench directed both the theatre and television productions, presented first in Belfast then at the London Coliseum and Lyric Theatre.

More recently, in 2002, Branagh starred at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield as Richard III. In 2003 he starred in the Royal National Theatre's production of David Mamet's Edmond. Branagh directed The Play What I Wrote in England in 2001 and directed a Broadway production in 2003. From September to November 2008, Branagh appeared at Wyndham's Theatre as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard. His performance was lauded as the "performance of the year" by several critics. It won him the Critics' Circle Award for Best Male Performance but did not get him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, to the surprise of critics.
Film work
Branagh at the Roma Fiction Fest in July 2009, where he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award

Branagh is probably best known for his film adaptations of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V (1989), followed by Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Love's Labour's Lost (2000) and As You Like It (2006). As You Like It premiered in theatres in Europe, but was sent directly to television in the U.S., where it had its U.S. premiere on HBO in August 2007. Although Branagh played Iago in the 1995 film version of Othello, he did not direct the film; it was directed by Oliver Parker. Othello is the one Shakespeare film that Branagh has appeared in which he was directed by someone else.

Notable non-Shakespeare films that Branagh has appeared in include Dead Again (1991) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), both of which he also directed, Wild Wild West (1999), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) and Valkyrie (2008). He starred as Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). He also recently played the Minister, Dormandy, (a parody of PMG Tony Benn) in the film The Boat That Rocked (2009). From 1989 to 1996 Branagh mostly directed his own films, but the commercial and critical failure of Love's Labour's Lost ended his directorial career for a time. Branagh has returned to directing again in recent years, most recently with the thriller Sleuth (2007), a remake of the 1972 film. At a Film promotion for Valkyrie, Branagh confirmed he would be directing, Thor a film based on Marvel superhero. Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston is tentatively set to start filming in January 2010 for a 2011 release.

Branagh has narrated several audio books, such as The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis.
Television

Branagh has also been involved in several made-for-TV films. Among his most acclaimed portrayals is that of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film Warm Springs (2005), for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. Though the film received 16 Emmy nominations, winning five (including Best Made-For-Television Film), Branagh did not win the award for his portrayal. He did though, receive an Emmy for his portryal of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in the TV film Conspiracy (2001), a depiction of the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials decided on the Final Solution. In 2002 Branagh starred in the two-part television movie Shackleton, a dramatization of the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's battle for survival, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award and an Emmy. Branagh also narrated the BBC documentaries Walking With Dinosaurs, Walking With Beasts and Walking With Monsters.

Branagh filmed three feature-length adaptations of Henning Mankell's best-selling Wallander crime novels for the BBC in mid-2008. Branagh plays the eponymous Inspector Kurt Wallander and also serves as the executive producer of the series. The three films were broadcast on BBC One in November and December 2008. Branagh won the award for best actor at the 35th Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards (2009). It was his first major television award win in the UK. The highest accolade though was when he received his first BAFTA TV on 26 April 2009 for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series . For his performance in the episode One Step Behind, he was nominated in the Outstanding Actor, Miniseries or Movie category of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The role has also gained him a nomination for Best Actor at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards.

He is set to star as Matthew Shardlake in a BBC commissioned adaptation of C.J. Sansoms' Tudor crime novel 'Dissolution', which is in the final stages of negotiation.
Branagh has been nominated for four Academy Awards. His first two nominations were for Henry V (one each for directing and acting). He also received similar BAFTA Award nominations for his film work, winning one for his direction. His first BAFTA TV award came in April 2009, for Best Drama Series (Wallander). Branagh's two other Academy Award nominations were for the 1992 film short subject Swan Song and for his work on the screenplay of Hamlet in 1996. Branagh has co-starred several times with actress Emma Thompson, to whom he was married from 1989 to 1995. They appeared together in Look Back In Anger, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Dead Again, and Peter's Friends.

He is Honorary President of NICVA (the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action). He received an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990. He is also a patron for the charity Over The Wall.

In 1994, Branagh declined an appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Branagh was the youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (also known as the Gielgud Award) in 2000.

He remains, up until this date, the only British or non-American actor nominated for Oscars for acting, writing and directing and one of seven actors to have achieved this honour. The other six are Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, George Clooney, John Huston and John Cassavetes.

On 10 July, 2009, Branagh was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the RomaFictionFest.
Filmography
Actor

   * To the Lighthouse (1983) (television) as Charles Tansley
   * Ghosts (1986) (television) as Oswald
   * Fortunes of War (1987) (television)
   * A Month in the Country (1987) as James Moon
   * High Season (1988) as Rick
   * Look Back In Anger (1989) as Jimmy Porter
   * Henry V (1989) as Henry V
   * Dead Again (1991) as Roman Strauss and Mike Church
   * Peter's Friends (1992) as Andrew Benson
   * Swing Kids (1993) as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
   * Much Ado About Nothing (1993) as Benedick
   * Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) as Dr. Victor Frankenstein
   * Othello (1995) as Iago
   * Hamlet (1996) as Hamlet
   * The Gingerbread Man (1998) as Rick Magruder
   * The Theory of Flight (1998) as Richard
   * Alien Love Triangle (1998) (short)
   * The Proposition (1998) as Father Michael McKinnon



   * The Dance of Shiva (1998) (short) as Col. Evans
   * Celebrity (1998) as Lee Simon
   * Wild Wild West (1999) as Dr. Arliss Loveless
   * The Periwig-Maker (1999) (short) (voice) as Periwig-maker
   * The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice) as Miguel
   * Love's Labour's Lost (2000) as Berowne
   * Conspiracy (2001) (television) as Reinhard Heydrich
   * Schneider's 2nd Stage (2001) (short) as Joseph Barnett
   * Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) as A. O. Neville
   * How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002) as Peter McGowan
   * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart
   * Shackleton (television) (2002) as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
   * Five Children and It (2004) as Uncle Albert
   * Warm Springs (television) (2005) as Franklin D. Roosevelt
   * Valkyrie (2008) as Henning von Tresckow
   * Wallander (television) (2008) as Kurt Wallander
   * The Boat That Rocked (2009) as Minister Dormandy

Director

   * Henry V (1989)
   * Dead Again (1991)
   * Swan Song (1992, short) starring John Gielgud
   * Peter's Friends (1992)
   * Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
   * Frankenstein (1994)
   * A Midwinter's Tale (1996)
   * Hamlet (1996)
   * Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
   * Listening (2003 short)
   * The Magic Flute (2006)
   * As You Like It (2006)
   * Sleuth (2007)
   * Thor (2011)

Narrator

   * Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (Six-part TV special) (1996)
   * Great Composers (TV mini-series) (1997)
   * Cold War (CNN TV series) (1998)
   * The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
   * Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
   * The Science of Walking with Beasts (Australia) (Two-part TV special) (2001)
   * The Ballad of Big Al (UK version) (TV special) (2001)
   * Walking with Beasts (UK version) (TV series) (2001)
   * Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs (TV series) (2005)
   * Goebbels-Experiment, Das (Documentary) (2005)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b48/DJDS2124/My%20Loves/Actors/Kenneth%20Branagh/kenneth.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/GoldenDragon13/aussie.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g218/ALICIA_ORWELL/KennethBranagh.gif
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c264/Frankfurter4444/KennethBranagh.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/10/09 at 5:33 am

The co-birthday's of the day...Michael Clarke Duncan
Michael Clarke Duncan (born December 10, 1957) is an American actor, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.
Duncan took other security jobs while in Los Angeles while trying to get some acting work in commercials. During this time, worked as a bodyguard for celebrities like Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, and Notorious B.I.G. all the while doing bit parts in television and films. A friend was covering for Duncan the night that Notorious B.I.G. was killed. This was the reason for Duncan to quit this line of work. In 1998, Duncan was cast as Bear in the film Armageddon, where he struck up a friendship with castmate Bruce Willis. It was Bruce Willis' influence that helped him to get his breakout role as John Coffey in the Frank Darabont-directed The Green Mile, a role which netted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

Duncan then was cast in a string of films that helped to establish him as a star: The Whole Nine Yards, Planet of the Apes, The Scorpion King (where he starred alongside his friend, The Rock), The Island and Daredevil as Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin. The Kingpin is, by appearance, an overweight corporate head that takes the name Wilson Fisk, but in fact he is the sole person running organized crime. Duncan signed on for the role in January 2002, though he had been attached far earlier. When Duncan was cast, he weighed 290 pounds. He was asked to gain 40 pounds for the role in order to fit the physique of Kingpin. In order to do this, he would lift weights for 30 minutes a day, and power-lifted with one or two reps a day, as well as eating whatever he wanted. Despite this, Duncan's biggest concern was that he is black, whilst Kingpin has always been portrayed as white. He spoke on the fan's loyalty to the source material by saying "they watch movies to say, 'Hey, that's not like the comic book.' But I want them to get past that and just see the movie for what it is and see me for what I am—an actor." In July 2006, Duncan showed interest in returning for the role of the Kingpin, but stated that he would not be willing to gain weight as he felt "comfortable" being down to 270 pounds. However, he jokingly showed willingness to change his mind if he was offered $20 million. Duncan suggested that the character is portrayed to have been training a lot in jail in order to become faster in combat against Daredevil, also working as a way to fit his weight loss into the story.

Duncan has also provided his voice for a number of roles including Brother Bear, The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses, Quiznos commercials, and the video games Demon Stone, SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Saints Row, and Soldier of Fortune, with his most recent role being God of War II, where he provides the voice of Atlas, the Titan condemned by Zeus to stand at the western edge of the earth and hold up the sky on his shoulders. He reprised his role as the Kingpin in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series.

In 2005, he starred in the film Sin City (again alongside Bruce Willis) as Manute, a powerful mobster. Duncan appeared in a minor role in the 2006 movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and he voiced the role of the villain Massive in the Loonatics Unleashed. In 2006, he voiced the role of Numbuh 26 in the animated movie Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation ZERO. He played Balrog in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and voiced the prison commander in Kung Fu Panda.

He has also guest starred in numerous television shows. He appeared in an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody "Benchwarmers" as Zack's basketball coach, Coach Little. In 2005, Duncan guest-starred in a first-season episode of CSI: NY. He appeared as "Colt" in the second-season premiere of Chuck, "Chuck Versus The First Date". In November he appeared as a guest star on the CBS show Two and a Half Men.
Filmography
Year Movie Role Notes
1995 Friday Craps Player (uncredited)
1997 Back in Business Huge Guard
1998 Caught Up BB
The Players Club Bodyguard
Bulworth Bouncer
Armageddon Bear
A Night at the Roxbury Bouncer
1999 Breakfast of Champions Eli
Underground Comedy Movie Gay Virgin
The Green Mile John Coffey
2000 The Whole Nine Yards Franklin 'Frankie Figs' Figueroa
2001 See Spot Run Murdoch
Cats & Dogs Sam
They Call Me Sirr Coach Griffin
Planet of the Apes Attar
2002 The Scorpion King Balthazar
2003 Daredevil Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin
Brother Bear Tug
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin Reprised his role from Daredevil
2004 D.E.B.S. Mr. Phipps
George and the Dragon Tarik
The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses Big Daddy
Pursued Franklin
2005 The Golden Blaze Thomas Tatum/Quake
Racing Stripes Clydesdale
Sin City Manute
The Producers Accountant (Scene later cut.)
Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone Stinktooth
The Island Starkweather
2006 Air Buddies The Wolf
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Lucius Washington
Brother Bear 2 Tug
School for Scoundrels Lesher
2007 The Last Mimzy Nathaniel Broadman
American Crude Spinks
One Way The General
God of War II Atlas
Slipstream Mort / Phil
2008 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Otis
Kung Fu Panda Commander Vachir
Delgo Elder Marley
2009 The Slammin' Salmon Cleon 'Slammin' Salmon
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Balrog
2010 The Story The Dealer
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c264/Frankfurter4444/MichaelClarkeDuncan.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/Caribloo/Great%20Movies/Great%20Actors/DuncanMichaelClarke.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/10/09 at 7:00 am


The word of the day... Sleuth
    *
          o
            A sleuth is a detective. N-COUNT old-fashioned

Web definitions

    *
          o spy: watch, observe, or inquire secretly
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w197/oilgun/sleuth.jpg
http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac186/Number6pb/sleuth.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/ashields07/sleuth.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp257/brightsleuth1/Sleuth.gif
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb65/kalstella/Movie/Sleuth.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/LizzyP1_photos/DSCN0042.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/killer_ewok/SleuthCustom.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n160/xerxes669/sleuth_700_with_info.gif
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj217/scoutingsue/07ndconvprogram2.jpg




http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2998110480_675b0a8878.jpg


Sherlock Hemlock

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/10/09 at 10:23 am


When the Osmonds became famous at the same time as the Jackson ( more or less), I preferred the Jacksons at the time.



Me, too. couldn't stand the Osmond Brothers. Couldn't stand Jimmy.  8-P  I always liked Marie-I like the song Paper Roses (her first hit). And yeah, I did watch the Donny & Marie show.  :-[



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/10/09 at 12:08 pm



Me, too. couldn't stand the Osmond Brothers. Couldn't stand Jimmy.  8-P  I always liked Marie-I like the song Paper Roses (her first hit). And yeah, I did watch the Donny & Marie show.  :-[



Cat

I liked more songs by The Jacksons. I did like Paper Roses by Marie, and watched The Donny and Marie show.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/10/09 at 2:08 pm


The word of the day... Sleuth
    *
          o
            A sleuth is a detective. N-COUNT old-fashioned

Web definitions

    *
          o spy: watch, observe, or inquire secretly
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w197/oilgun/sleuth.jpg
http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac186/Number6pb/sleuth.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/ashields07/sleuth.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp257/brightsleuth1/Sleuth.gif
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb65/kalstella/Movie/Sleuth.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/LizzyP1_photos/DSCN0042.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/killer_ewok/SleuthCustom.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n160/xerxes669/sleuth_700_with_info.gif
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj217/scoutingsue/07ndconvprogram2.jpg

I understand the remake with Jude Law was very bad.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/10/09 at 2:43 pm


I understand the remake with Jude Law was very bad.

I never saw it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/10/09 at 3:15 pm


I never saw it.
I do not wish to see it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/10/09 at 7:16 pm

Very nice, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/10/09 at 7:19 pm

I always like detectives.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/10/09 at 10:27 pm


Very nice, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

I'm glad you liked it. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/11/09 at 4:39 am

The word or phrase of the day...Pajama Party
Pajama party or Sleepover may refer to the following:

    * Sleepover, an overnight party
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg65/selector13/pajama_party.jpg
http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp293/EDUK8R3373/pajama_party.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj216/Jussbeinmee_2008/pajama.png
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt84/brunopaualusa/pajama_party.jpg
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr92/Niknak38/DSCF3551.jpg
http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr325/kclingafelter/PICT0009.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk167/stpatrick88/Copyofschoolpics20.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/strangelittlegirl76/000_1936.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc50/babygirl4445/ayparty039.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/11/09 at 4:45 am

The birthday of the day...Terri Garr
Terry Ann "Teri" Garr (born December 11, 1944) is an American actress and comedienne.
Early in her career she was sometimes credited as Terri Garr, Terry Garr, Teri Hope, or Terry Carr. Garr's movie debut was as an extra in 1963's A Swingin' Affair. She started out as a background dancer in uncredited roles for youth-oriented films like Pajama Party, a beach party film, The T.A.M.I. Show, and nine Elvis Presley features. Her first speaking role was a one-line appearance as a damsel in distress in The Monkees film Head written by Jack Nicholson. In 1974 she got her first significant film role in Francis Ford Coppola's critically acclaimed The Conversation.

She made her career breakthrough in the Mel Brooks hit comedy Young Frankenstein (1974). She then went on to appear in a string of highly successful films, often playing a housewife, in both comedies and dramas. Her most popular films include Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Oh, God! (1977), The Black Stallion (1979), One From The Heart (1982) and Mr. Mom (1983). In 1982 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role as Dustin Hoffman's actress friend in Tootsie.

Since the late 1960s she has appeared frequently on television. She, along with friend Toni Basil, began as go-go dancers on several musical variety shows such as Shindig! and Hullabaloo. In 1967 Garr made two appearances on Batman and one appearance on The Andy Griffith Show. In 1968 she was in two episodes of It Takes a Thief and a part in the Star Trek episode "Assignment: Earth". This was a backdoor pilot for a proposed series in which she would have co-starred, but the series did not sell.

In the early 1970s she was a regular cast member on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour dancing and acting in comedy sketches. She also had a recurring role as a ditzy policewoman on McCloud, and appeared on M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show, and Barnaby Jones, among others. She hosted Saturday Night Live in 1980, 1983, and 1985 and was a frequent visitor on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. As a recurring guest on Late Night with David Letterman, she was renowned for her unscripted banter with personal friend David Letterman, who once goaded her into showering in his office while the camera rolled. She landed a role as recurring character Phoebe Buffay Sr. in Friends, playing the estranged birth mother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow).

For over four decades, she has appeared in a variety of television commercials, including a 1970 Safeguard ad with then-unknowns Penny Marshall and Tom Selleck. Often complaining on talk shows about being typecast in housewife roles, she nonetheless used her image to promote many household products (coffee, Band-Aid, Glade air-fresheners, etc.) in countless commercials over the years.
n October 2002, Garr publicly confirmed that she was battling multiple sclerosis. After years of uncertainty and secrecy surrounding her diagnosis, Garr explained her reasons for deciding to go public: "I'm telling my story for the first time, so I can help people. I can help people know they aren't alone, and tell them there are reasons to be optimistic because today treatment options are available". In recent interviews, she has commented that she first started noticing symptoms while in New York filming Tootsie. For the next few years, as acting jobs brought her to various locations around the world, she continued to see different doctors in different cities, until she finally found a doctor that correctly diagnosed her as having MS.

Since Garr announced that she has MS, she has become a leading advocate in raising awareness for the condition and the latest treatments for it. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and National Chair for the Society's Women Against MS program (WAMS). WAMS is a nationwide education and fundraising program that helps to increase the public's awareness of MS and the National MS Society while acknowledging and encouraging the advancement of women philanthropists. In November 2005, Garr was honored as the society’s Ambassador of the Year. This honor had been given only four times since the society was founded.

She is the mother of an adopted daughter and resides in Los Angeles. On December 21, 2006, she suffered a brain aneurysm in her home; her 13-year-old daughter called 911 when she couldn't wake her up from a nap. Following surgery, her publicist Heidi Schaeffer said she expected Garr to make a full recovery. She appeared on Late Show with David Letterman on June 19, 2008, without need of a wheelchair, and just as sharp and witty as always. She was on the show to promote Expired, a movie in which she plays twins. Garr sold her Los Angeles-area house in June 2008.
Academy awards nomination

Academy Award

    * 1983: Nominated for "Best Supporting Actress" in Tootsie

Filmography
Features

    * A Swingin' Affair (1963)
    * Fun in Acapulco (1963), backup dancer
    * Kissin' Cousins (1964), backup dancer
    * Viva Las Vegas (1964), backup dancer
    * What a Way to Go! (1964), backup dancer
    * Roustabout (1964), backup dancer
    * Pajama Party (1964), backup dancer
    * The T.A.M.I. Show (1964), backup dancer
    * John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
    * Red Line 7000 (1965)
    * The Cool Ones (1967)
    * Clambake (1967), backup dancer
    * For Pete's Sake (1968)
    * Maryjane (1968)
    * Head (1968), first speaking role
    * Changes (1969)
    * The Moonshine War (1970)
    * The Conversation (1974)
    * Young Frankenstein (1974)
    * Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
    * Oh, God! (1977)
    * Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
    * Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)
    * The Black Stallion (1979)
    * Java Junkie (1979)
    * Witches' Brew (1979)
    * Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
    * One from the Heart (1982)
    * The Escape Artist (1982)
    * Tootsie (1982)
    * The Sting II (1983)
    * The Black Stallion Returns (1983)
    * Mr. Mom (1983)
    * Firstborn (1984)



    * To Catch a King (1984)
    * After Hours (1985)
    * Miracles (1986)
    * Full Moon in Blue Water (1988)
    * Out Cold (1989)
    * Let It Ride (1989)
    * Short Time (1990)
    * A Quiet Little Neighborhood, a Perfect Little Murder (1990)
    * Waiting for the Light (1990)
    * Adventures in Wonderland (1991)
    * The Player (1992)
    * Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)
    * Dumb and Dumber (1994)
    * Ready to Wear (1994)
    * Perfect Alibi (1995)
    * Michael (1996)
    * The Definite Maybe (1997)
    * Changing Habits (1997)
    * A Simple Wish (1997)
    * Nightscream (1997)
    * Kill the Man (1999)
    * Dick (1999)
    * The Sky Is Falling (2000)
    * Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) (voice) (direct-to-video)
    * Ghost World (2001)
    * Life Without Dick (2002)
    * Searching for Debra Winger (2002) (documentary)
    * Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005) (voice) (direct-to-video)
    * A Taste of Jupiter (2005)
    * Unaccompanied Minors (2006)
    * Let It Ride (2006) (documentary)
    * Expired (2007)
    * Kabluey (2007)

Short subjects

    * Where Is the Bus? (1966)
    * The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977)
    * Java Junkie (1979), shown on Saturday Night Live
    * Save the Rabbits (1994)
    * God Out the Window (2007)
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc185/sallyiscool_mph/treigarr.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg318/etb4/terigarr9.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee99/kirleyface/Teri%20Garr/068.png
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn111/pauldybus/garrteri04-1-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/11/09 at 4:49 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno (born December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the first and only Hispanic and one of ten performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and at the time the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award
In 1961, Moreno landed the role of Anita in Robert Wise's film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Broadway musical, West Side Story, which was played by Chita Rivera on Broadway. Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for that role. Moreno went on to be the first actress (and the first Hispanic) to win an Emmy (1977), a Grammy(1972), an Oscar (1962) and a Tony (1975). In 1985, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago.
Other Roles

Besides appearing in Singin' in the Rain, The King and I, Summer and Smoke (1961), West Side Story, The Night of the Following Day (1968) and Carnal Knowledge in (1971), Moreno appeared on the PBS children's series The Electric Company in the 1970s, most notably as Millie the Helper. In fact, it was Moreno who screamed the show's opening line, "HEY, YOU GUYS!" She also had roles as the naughty little girl Pandora, and as "Otto", the very short-tempered director. Moreno appeared in the family variety series The Muppet Show, and she made other guest appearances on television series such as The Rockford Files, The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, George Lopez, The Golden Girls, and Miami Vice. She was also a regular on the short-lived sitcom version of Nine to Five (based on the film hit) during the early 1980s.
Broadway and television

Moreno's Broadway credits include The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Gantry, The Ritz, for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress, and the female version of The Odd Couple. In 1993 she was invited to perform at President Bill Clinton's inauguration and later that month was asked to perform at the White House. During the mid 1990s, Moreno provided the voice of Carmen Sandiego on the animated Fox show Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

In the late 1990s, she gained exposure to a new generation of viewers when she played Sister Pete, a nun trained as a psychologist in the popular HBO series, Oz. She made a guest appearance on The Nanny as Coach Stone, Maggie's (Nicholle Tom) tyrannical gym teacher, whom Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) also remembered from her school as Ms. Wickavich.
Performing in the 21st century

Moreno continues to be active on stage and screen. In 2006, she portrayed Amanda Wingfield in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's revival of The Glass Menagerie. She was seen on Law and Order: Criminal Intent as the dying mother of Detective Goren. She was a regular on the short-lived TV series Cane, which starred Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo.
Among Moreno's awards and recognitions are the following:

    * Academy Award as the Best Supporting Actress "West Side Story" (1961)
    * Golden Globe Award as the Best Supporting Actress "West Side Story" (1961)
    * "The Joseph Jefferson Award" Best Chicago Theatre Actress (1968)
    * Grammy Award The Electric Company Album (1972)
    * Tony Award Best Featured Actress, "The Ritz" (1975)
    * Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (1977)
    * Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series (1978)
    * "The Golden Apple" Cue Magazine Award
    * Library of Congress Living Legends Award, April 2000
    * "The Sarah Siddons Awards" for her portrayal of Olive Madison in the female version of the Odd Couple
    * "Special Recognition Award" from the International Latin Music Hall of Fame (2001)
    * "Presidential Medal of Freedom" from President George W. Bush in June 2004
    * Rita Moreno has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7083 Hollywood Blvd.
    * On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Moreno into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1950 So Young So Bad Dolores Guererro as Rosita Moreno
The Toast of New Orleans Tina
Pagan Love Song Terru
1952 The Ring Lucy Gomez
Singin' in the Rain Zelda Zanders
The Fabulous Señorita Manuela Rodríguez
Cattle Town Queli
1953 Fort Vengeance Bridget Fitzgibbon
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation Soubrette uncredited
Latin Lovers Christina
El Alaméin Jara
1954 Jivaro Maroa
The Yellow Tomahawk Honey Bear
Garden of Evil Cantina Singer
1955 Untamed Julia
Seven Cities of Gold Ula
1956 The Lieutenant Wore Skirts Sandra Roberts
The King and I Tuptim
The Vagabond King Huguette
1957 The Deerslayer Hetty Hutter
1960 This Rebel Breed Lola Montalvo
1961 West Side Story Anita Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe
Summer and Smoke Rosa Zacharias
1963 Cry of Battle Sisa
1968 The Night of the Following Day Vi
1969 Popi Lupe
Marlowe Dolores Gonzáles
1971 Carnal Knowledge Louise
1976 The Ritz Googie Gomez Nominated - BAFTA Award
Nominated - Golden Globe
1977 Voodoo Passion
1978 The Boss' Son Esther Rose
1980 Happy Birthday, Gemini Lucille Pompi
1981 The Four Seasons Claudia Zimmer
1991 Age Isn't Everything Rita
1993 Italian Movie Isabella
1994 I Like It Like That Rosaria Linares
1995 Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business Herself documentary
Angus Madame Rulenska
1998 Slums of Beverly Hills Belle Abromowitz Nominated - ALMA Award
1999 Carlo's Wake Angela Torello
The Puerto Ricans: Our American Story Herself documentary
2000 Blue Moon Maggie
2001 Piñero Miguel's Mother
2003 Casa de los Babys Señora Muñoz
Beyond Borders: John Sayles in Mexico Herself documentary
2004 King of the Corner Inez
2006 Play It By Ear Ruth
Television
Year Title Role Other notes
1958 Father Knows Best
Chanthini, an exchange student
from India episode: Fair Exchange (24 Nov 1958)
1971 – 1977 The Electric Company Carmela
Otto The Director
Pandora the Little Girl, Millie the Helper 780 episodes
1974 Dominic's Dream Anita Bente
Out to Lunch Various Nominated - Emmy Award
1976 The Muppet Show Herself Episode #1.5 - Emmy Award
1978 The Rockford Files Rita Capkovic 3 episodes
Emmy Award - For episode "The Paper Palace"
Nominated - Emmy Award - For episode "Rosendahl and Gilda Stern are Dead".
1979 Anatomy of a Seduction Nina
The Muppets Go Hollywood Herself/Host Special
1981 Evita Perón Renata Riguel
1982 – 1983 9 to 5 Violet Newstead Nominated - Emmy Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
1982 Working Waitress
Portrait of a Showgirl Rosella DeLeon Nominated - Emmy Award
1989 – 1990 B.L. Stryker Kimberly Baskin 2 episodes
1994 The Nanny Miss Wickervich/Mrs. Stone Episode - The Gym Teacher
1994 – 1998 Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? Carmen Sandiego voice
1994 – 1995 The Cosby Mysteries Angie Corea 2 episodes
1995 The Wharf Rat Mom
1997 – 2003 Oz Sister Peter Marie Reimondo 44 episodes
ALMA Award - 1998, 1999, 2002
Nominated - ALMA Award - 2000, 2001
1998 The Spree Irma Kelly
1999 Resurrection Mimi
2004 Copshop Mary Alice
2005 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Mildred Quintana Episode - "Night"
Law & Order: Trial by Jury Mildred Quintana Episode - "Day"
2006 – 2007 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Frances Goren 3 episodes: "Endgame"
"The War at Home"
"Brother's Keeper"
2007 The George Lopez Show Luisa Diaz Episode - "George Testi-Lies for Benny"
Ugly Betty Aunt Mirta Episode - "A Tree Grows in Guadalajara"
Cane Amalia Duque 13 episodes
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn187/lupisima/RitaMoreno.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/SteveFrame/AMC/rita_moreno.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/11/09 at 6:36 am


The co-birthdays of the day...Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno (born December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the first and only Hispanic and one of ten performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and at the time the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award
In 1961, Moreno landed the role of Anita in Robert Wise's film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Broadway musical, West Side Story, which was played by Chita Rivera on Broadway. Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for that role. Moreno went on to be the first actress (and the first Hispanic) to win an Emmy (1977), a Grammy(1972), an Oscar (1962) and a Tony (1975). In 1985, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago.
Other Roles

Besides appearing in Singin' in the Rain, The King and I, Summer and Smoke (1961), West Side Story, The Night of the Following Day (1968) and Carnal Knowledge in (1971), Moreno appeared on the PBS children's series The Electric Company in the 1970s, most notably as Millie the Helper. In fact, it was Moreno who screamed the show's opening line, "HEY, YOU GUYS!" She also had roles as the naughty little girl Pandora, and as "Otto", the very short-tempered director. Moreno appeared in the family variety series The Muppet Show, and she made other guest appearances on television series such as The Rockford Files, The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, George Lopez, The Golden Girls, and Miami Vice. She was also a regular on the short-lived sitcom version of Nine to Five (based on the film hit) during the early 1980s.
Broadway and television

Moreno's Broadway credits include The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Gantry, The Ritz, for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress, and the female version of The Odd Couple. In 1993 she was invited to perform at President Bill Clinton's inauguration and later that month was asked to perform at the White House. During the mid 1990s, Moreno provided the voice of Carmen Sandiego on the animated Fox show Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

In the late 1990s, she gained exposure to a new generation of viewers when she played Sister Pete, a nun trained as a psychologist in the popular HBO series, Oz. She made a guest appearance on The Nanny as Coach Stone, Maggie's (Nicholle Tom) tyrannical gym teacher, whom Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) also remembered from her school as Ms. Wickavich.
Performing in the 21st century

Moreno continues to be active on stage and screen. In 2006, she portrayed Amanda Wingfield in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's revival of The Glass Menagerie. She was seen on Law and Order: Criminal Intent as the dying mother of Detective Goren. She was a regular on the short-lived TV series Cane, which starred Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo.
Among Moreno's awards and recognitions are the following:

    * Academy Award as the Best Supporting Actress "West Side Story" (1961)
    * Golden Globe Award as the Best Supporting Actress "West Side Story" (1961)
    * "The Joseph Jefferson Award" Best Chicago Theatre Actress (1968)
    * Grammy Award The Electric Company Album (1972)
    * Tony Award Best Featured Actress, "The Ritz" (1975)
    * Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (1977)
    * Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series (1978)
    * "The Golden Apple" Cue Magazine Award
    * Library of Congress Living Legends Award, April 2000
    * "The Sarah Siddons Awards" for her portrayal of Olive Madison in the female version of the Odd Couple
    * "Special Recognition Award" from the International Latin Music Hall of Fame (2001)
    * "Presidential Medal of Freedom" from President George W. Bush in June 2004
    * Rita Moreno has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7083 Hollywood Blvd.
    * On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Moreno into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1950 So Young So Bad Dolores Guererro as Rosita Moreno
The Toast of New Orleans Tina
Pagan Love Song Terru
1952 The Ring Lucy Gomez
Singin' in the Rain Zelda Zanders
The Fabulous Señorita Manuela Rodríguez
Cattle Town Queli
1953 Fort Vengeance Bridget Fitzgibbon
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation Soubrette uncredited
Latin Lovers Christina
El Alaméin Jara
1954 Jivaro Maroa
The Yellow Tomahawk Honey Bear
Garden of Evil Cantina Singer
1955 Untamed Julia
Seven Cities of Gold Ula
1956 The Lieutenant Wore Skirts Sandra Roberts
The King and I Tuptim
The Vagabond King Huguette
1957 The Deerslayer Hetty Hutter
1960 This Rebel Breed Lola Montalvo
1961 West Side Story Anita Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe
Summer and Smoke Rosa Zacharias
1963 Cry of Battle Sisa
1968 The Night of the Following Day Vi
1969 Popi Lupe
Marlowe Dolores Gonzáles
1971 Carnal Knowledge Louise
1976 The Ritz Googie Gomez Nominated - BAFTA Award
Nominated - Golden Globe
1977 Voodoo Passion
1978 The Boss' Son Esther Rose
1980 Happy Birthday, Gemini Lucille Pompi
1981 The Four Seasons Claudia Zimmer
1991 Age Isn't Everything Rita
1993 Italian Movie Isabella
1994 I Like It Like That Rosaria Linares
1995 Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business Herself documentary
Angus Madame Rulenska
1998 Slums of Beverly Hills Belle Abromowitz Nominated - ALMA Award
1999 Carlo's Wake Angela Torello
The Puerto Ricans: Our American Story Herself documentary
2000 Blue Moon Maggie
2001 Piñero Miguel's Mother
2003 Casa de los Babys Señora Muñoz
Beyond Borders: John Sayles in Mexico Herself documentary
2004 King of the Corner Inez
2006 Play It By Ear Ruth
Television
Year Title Role Other notes
1958 Father Knows Best
Chanthini, an exchange student
from India episode: Fair Exchange (24 Nov 1958)
1971 – 1977 The Electric Company Carmela
Otto The Director
Pandora the Little Girl, Millie the Helper 780 episodes
1974 Dominic's Dream Anita Bente
Out to Lunch Various Nominated - Emmy Award
1976 The Muppet Show Herself Episode #1.5 - Emmy Award
1978 The Rockford Files Rita Capkovic 3 episodes
Emmy Award - For episode "The Paper Palace"
Nominated - Emmy Award - For episode "Rosendahl and Gilda Stern are Dead".
1979 Anatomy of a Seduction Nina
The Muppets Go Hollywood Herself/Host Special
1981 Evita Perón Renata Riguel
1982 – 1983 9 to 5 Violet Newstead Nominated - Emmy Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
1982 Working Waitress
Portrait of a Showgirl Rosella DeLeon Nominated - Emmy Award
1989 – 1990 B.L. Stryker Kimberly Baskin 2 episodes
1994 The Nanny Miss Wickervich/Mrs. Stone Episode - The Gym Teacher
1994 – 1998 Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? Carmen Sandiego voice
1994 – 1995 The Cosby Mysteries Angie Corea 2 episodes
1995 The Wharf Rat Mom
1997 – 2003 Oz Sister Peter Marie Reimondo 44 episodes
ALMA Award - 1998, 1999, 2002
Nominated - ALMA Award - 2000, 2001
1998 The Spree Irma Kelly
1999 Resurrection Mimi
2004 Copshop Mary Alice
2005 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Mildred Quintana Episode - "Night"
Law & Order: Trial by Jury Mildred Quintana Episode - "Day"
2006 – 2007 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Frances Goren 3 episodes: "Endgame"
"The War at Home"
"Brother's Keeper"
2007 The George Lopez Show Luisa Diaz Episode - "George Testi-Lies for Benny"
Ugly Betty Aunt Mirta Episode - "A Tree Grows in Guadalajara"
Cane Amalia Duque 13 episodes
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn187/lupisima/RitaMoreno.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/SteveFrame/AMC/rita_moreno.jpg




http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens2190933module11710041photo_1222311649pandora-rita-moreno.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/11/09 at 10:54 am

I love Terri Garr and I absolutely adore Rita Moreno. She is an exceptional talent. Of course I'm sure everyone knows how I feel about Puerto Ricans.  ;)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/11/09 at 1:03 pm


The word of the day... Sleuth
    *
          o
            A sleuth is a detective. N-COUNT old-fashioned

Web definitions

    *
          o spy: watch, observe, or inquire secretly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNHe7BUqhc

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/11/09 at 4:29 pm


I love Terri Garr and I absolutely adore Rita Moreno. She is an exceptional talent. Of course I'm sure everyone knows how I feel about Puerto Ricans.  ;)



Cat

Both are great talents.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/11/09 at 6:55 pm


I love Terri Garr and I absolutely adore Rita Moreno. She is an exceptional talent. Of course I'm sure everyone knows how I feel about Puerto Ricans.  ;)



Cat



I was just watching a clip of her singing 'America' on youtube last night!  She was fabulous....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/11/09 at 6:56 pm

Electric Company was my favorite children's show. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/12/09 at 5:43 am

The word of the day...Vegetarian
eater of fruits and grains and nuts; someone who eats no meat or fish or (often) any animal products
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss206/getatmic/IMG_1168.jpg
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad181/MsLeeLowe/Food2007.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p317/rainbowx3warrior/vegetarian.jpg
http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss195/omgitsshyann/112709135745.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee14/mayrajcc/mayra01.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn152/keithashlee/Picture101.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm114/clair179/vegetarian.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee141/Lauren4792/vegetarian.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb154/helsonsu/vegetarians_taste_better.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/12/09 at 5:48 am

the birthday of the day...Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker (born December 12, 1923) is an American former television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS' The Price Is Right from 1972-2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history. After holding the job for 35 years and having been in television for 50 years, Barker retired in June 2007.
The Price Is Right (1972–2007)

On September 4, 1972, Barker began his most famous assignment hosting the CBS revival of The Price is Right. In the 35 years of the CBS version, he has become far more associated with the series than first host Bill Cullen was with the 1956–1965 original. In September 1977, he hosted the last three seasons of the syndicated nighttime version, originally hosted by Dennis James.

On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other MCs almost never did: renounced hair dye and allowed his hair to go gray. Fellow hosts Monty Hall, Alex Trebek, and Richard Dawson would do the same in the late 1980s.

In 2006, The Price Is Right celebrated 35 consecutive years on the air. It is the longest-running game show of all time in North America. Overall, in daytime programming (excluding Saturday and Sunday), The Price Is Right is ranked sixth among the longest-continuing daytime television programs (NBC's Today ranks the longest, followed by four daytime soap operas: Guiding Light, As the World Turns, General Hospital, and Days of our Lives), and moved into fifth in September 2009 after Guiding Light aired its final episode on CBS. It has won its time slot (11:00 a.m. Eastern) for the past 25 years with its closest competitor (currently ABC's The View) normally getting about half of TPIR's ratings.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Bob Barker to retire as host of U.S. gameshow The Price Is Right

On October 31, 2006, Barker made his announcement that he would retire from The Price Is Right in June 2007. However, Barker has revealed that FremantleMedia, the company that owns the show, had been looking for a successor in the last two to three years, and also that he had considered retirement for a while, but he had so much fun that he continued to do the show. He taped his final episode on June 6, 2007, with the show airing twice on June 15. The first airing was in the show's normal daytime slot and the second airing was in primetime as the lead-in to the Daytime Emmy Awards. Repeat episodes from Barker's final season continued to air until October 12, 2007, ending with a repeat of his final episode. On July 23 it was announced that comedian Drew Carey would take Barker's place as the new host for the show beginning on October 15, 2007.

During Barker's tenure as host, three pricing games were introduced that used his name: Barker's Bargain Bar, Barker's Marker$ and Trader Bob. Of the three, none are actively played on the show – Trader Bob was retired from the show in 1985, Barker's Marker$ was renamed following Barker's retirement, and subsequently retired, and Barker's Bargain Bar has been disassembled, and is currently on hiatus.

Barker made a guest appearance on the show for an episode that aired on April 16, 2009 to promote his new autobiography, Priceless Memories. He appeared in the Showcase round at the end of the show
Barker became a vegetarian in 1979. That same year, he began promoting animal rights. Barker began ending some episodes (later every episode) of The Price is Right with the phrase: "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered." Even after he retired, Drew Carey continued his signature sign-off. He was named national spokesman for "Be Kind to Animals Week" in May 1985. On A&E's Biography program, he credited his wife, Dorothy Jo, with causing him to become more aware of animal rights and becoming a vegetarian, because she had done so. Bob remarked that Dorothy Jo was way ahead of her time as far as animal rights were concerned and that shortly after her death in October, 1981, he took up animal rights in order to keep doing something that she had done. Fellow game show hosts Jack Barry and Bert Convy eventually followed Barker's lead in promoting animal rights on the air.

Barker hosted the Miss USA/Universe Pageants from 1967 to 1987. In 1987, he requested the removal of fur prizes and stepped down as host when those in charge of the pageant refused.

Bob Barker's DJ&T Foundation has contributed millions of dollars to fund animal rescue and park facilities all over the country. He worked closely with Betty White as an advocate for animal rights. However in 2009, reports indicated that Barker threatened to not attend the 2009 Game Show Awards, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award, because White would be attending. The reason for the conflict, according to the report, was over the proper treatment of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. White instead did not attend and pre-recorded her comments that she was scheduled to make about Mark Goodson.

In June 2009, Barker wrote Chief Michell Hicks of the Cherokee asking that their reservation's bear exhibit be closed. On July 28, 2009, he visited the reservation and saw one of the three zoos, calling the bears' living situation "inhumane". PETA set up the visit after Barker heard from Florida congressman Bill Young, whose wife had been "appalled" by what she saw. Annette Tarnowski, the tribe's attorney general, said a federal inspector had found nothing wrong in May 2009 at two of the zoos, and that the tribe had dealt with the few violations at the third. Hicks made no promises and threatened to ban PETA if they made more trouble.
Longevity records

Barker set a longevity record as holding a weekday T.V. job continuously for 51 years, which included his years on Truth or Consequences. Only sportscaster Vin Scully, who is four years younger than Barker, has held a job longer than Barker in the American entertainment industry, albeit a seasonal job and not a daily one. (Orion Samuelson is slated to pass Barker in 2010.)

Barker has also had the second-longest run as the host of a single entertainment broadcast show (sports excluded), only a few months short of Don McNeill, who spent 35½ years as host of Don McNeill's Breakfast Club.

Barker, who was 83½ years old at the time of his retirement, holds the record of being the oldest man ever to host a regularly scheduled television game show and the oldest man ever to host a weekday television program since the inception of American network television. Barker also hosted/appeared on a five-day-a-week television program longer than anyone else in the history of television.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e299/kgirly09/thbob_barker.jpg
http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr5/88meow/bob.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e108/tjsimpson5388/CJ010107.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l19/scoop5577/07_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/12/09 at 5:57 am

The co-birthday of the day...Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick (born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, activist, United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, former United States Ambassador of Health, and humanitarian. She is best known for her partnership with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

According to Billboard magazine and Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2009 book, Dionne Warwick ranks as the 30th most popular hit maker of the entire the rock era based upon the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She also ranks as one of the 10 all-time biggest Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary hit makers of all time.
The mid 1960s to early 1970s became an even more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of Gold selling albums and Top 20 and Top 10 hit singles. "Message to Michael", a Bacharach-David composition that the duo was certain was a "man's song", became a top 10 hit for Warwick in May 1966. The January 1967 LP Here Where There Is Love was her first RIAA certified Gold Album and featured "Alfie", and two 1966 hits "Trains and Boats and Planes", and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself". "Alfie" had become a radio hit when disc jockeys across the nation began to play the album cut early in 1967. "Alfie" was released as the "B" side of a Bacharach/David ballad, "The Beginning of Loneliness" in which charted in the Hot 100. Disc jockeys flipped the single and made it a double-sided hit. Bacharach had been contracted to produce "Alfie" for the Michael Caine film of the same name and wanted Dionne Warwick to sing the tune but the British producers wanted a British subject to cut the tune. Cilla Black was selected to record the song, and her version peaked at #95 upon its release in the USA. A cover version by Cher used in the USA prints of the film peaked at #33. In the UK and Australia, Black's version was a Top 10 hit. In a 1983 concert appearance televised on PBS, Warwick states she was the 43rd person to record "Alfie", at Bacharach's insistence, who felt Dionne could make it a big hit. Warwick, at first, balked at recording the tune and asked Bacharach "How many more versions of Alfie do you need?" to which Bacharach replied "Just one more, yours." Bacharach took Warwick into the studio with his new arrangement and cut the tune the way he wanted it to be, which she nailed in one take. Warwick's version peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on both the R&B Chart and the AC Charts. Warwick performed the song at the Academy Awards in 1967. Today, "Alfie" is considered a signature song for Warwick.

Later that same year, Warwick earned her first RIAA Gold Single for US sales of over one million units for the single "I Say a Little Prayer" (from her album The Windows of the World). When disc jockeys across the nation began to play the track from the album in the fall of 1967 and demanded its release as a single, Florence Greenberg, President of Scepter Records, complied and "I Say a Little Prayer" became Warwick's biggest US hit to that point, reaching #4 on the US and Canadian Charts and # 8 on the R & B Charts. Aretha Franklin would cover the tune a year later and hit US #10. The tune was also the first RIAA certified USA million seller for Bacharach-David.

Her follow-up to "I Say a Little Prayer","(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", was unusual in several respects. It was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, it was the "B" side of her "I Say a Little Prayer" single, and it was a song that she almost didn't record. While the film version of Valley of the Dolls was being made, actress Barbara Parkins suggested that Warwick be considered to sing the film's theme song, written by songwriting team Andre and Dory Previn. The song was to be recorded by Judy Garland, who was fired from the film. Warwick performed the song, and when the film became a success in the early weeks of 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single and made the single one of the biggest double-sided hits of the rock era and another million seller. At the time, RIAA rules allowed only one side of a double-sided hit single to be certified as Gold, but Scepter awarded Warwick an "in-house award" to recognize "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" as a million selling tune.

Warwick had re-recorded a Pat Williams-arranged version of the theme at A&R Studios in New York because contractual restrictions would not allow the Warwick version from the film to be included in the 20th Century-Fox soundtrack LP. The LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in early 1968 and containing the re-recorded version of the movie theme (#2–4 weeks), "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" and several new Bacharach-David compositions, hit the #6 position on the Billboard Hot 100 Album Chart and would remain on the chart for over a year. The film soundtrack LP, sans Warwick vocals, failed to impress the public, while Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls earned an RIAA Gold certification.

The single "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", an international million seller and a Top 10 hit in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico, was also a double sided hit with the "B" side "Let Me Be Lonely" charting at #79.

More hits ("Promises, Promises"-#19 1968; "Who Is Gonna Love Me"-#32 1968 with "B" side "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" becoming another double sided hit, "I'll Never Fall In Love Again"-#6 1969; "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"-#15 1969; "This Girl's In Love With You"-#7 1969; "Make It Easy On Yourself"-#37 1970; "Who Is Gonna Love Me"-#33 1968; "The April Fools"-#37 1969 (from the film of the same name); "Let Me Go To Him"-#32 1970; "Paper Mache"-#43 1970; The Green Grass Starts to Grow"-#43-1971) followed into 1971. Warwick's final Bacharach/David penned single was March 1971's "Who Gets the Guy" and her final "official" Scepter single release was "He's Moving On" backed with "Amanda" both from the soundtrack of the motion picture adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine. Other Scepter LPs certified RIAA Gold include Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 released in 1967 and The Dionne Warwicke Story: A Decade of Gold released in 1971. By the end of 1971, Dionne Warwick had sold an estimated thirty-five million singles and albums internationally in less than nine years and more than 16 million singles in the USA alone. Exact figures of Warwick's sales are unknown, and probably underestimated, due to Scepter Records lax accounting policies and the company policy of not submitting recordings for RIAA audit. Dionne Warwick became the first Scepter artist to request RIAA audits of her recordings in 1967 with the release of "I Say A Little Prayer".
Warwick won her second Grammy Award for the 1970 album "I'll Never Fall In Love Again"

On Wednesday, September 17, 1969, CBS Television aired Dionne Warwick's first television special entitled "The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special." Dionne's guests were Burt Bacharach, George Kirby, Glen Campbell, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Warwick had become the priority act of Scepter Records, according to the website "The Scepter Records Story" and Luther Dixon in a 2002 A&E Biography of Burt Bacharach, with the release of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in 1963. In 1971, Dionne Warwick left the family atmosphere of Scepter Records for Warner Bros. Records for what was at the time the most lucrative recording contract ever given a female vocalist according to Variety. Warwick's last LP for Scepter was the aforementioned soundtrack for the motion picture The Love Machine (in which she appeared in an uncredited cameo), released in July 1971. In 1975, Bacharach/David sued Scepter Records for an accurate accounting of royalties due the team from Warwick and labelmate B. J. Thomas recordings and was awarded almost $600,000 and the rights to all Bacharach/David recordings on the Scepter label. The label, with the defection of Warwick to Warner Bros. Records, filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and was sold to Springboard International Records in 1976.

Following her signing with Warners, with Bacharach and David as writers and producers Dionne returned to A&R Studios in late 1971 to begin recording her first album for the new label, the self-titled album Dionne (not to be confused with her later Arista debut album) in January 1972. The album peaked at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album Chart. In 1972, Burt Bacharach and Hal David scored and wrote the tunes for the motion picture Lost Horizon. The film was panned by the critics, and in the fallout from the film, the songwriting duo decided to terminate their working relationship. The breakup left Dionne devoid of their services as her producers and songwriters. Dionne was contractually obligated to fulfill her contract with Warners without Bacharach and David and she would team with a variety of producers during her tenure with the label.

Faced with the prospect of being sued by Warner Bros. Records due to the breakup of Bacharach/David and their failure to honor their contract with Dionne, she filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against her former partners for breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court in 1979 for $5 million including the rights to all Warwick recordings produced by Bacharach and David.

Warwick, for years an aficionado of psychic phenomena, was advised by famed astrologer Linda Goodman in 1971 to add a small "e" to her last name, making Warwick "WARWICKe" for good luck and to recognize her married name and her spouse, actor and drummer William " Bill" Elliott. Goodman convinced Warwick that the extra small "e" would add a vibration needed to balance her last name and bring her even more good fortune in her marriage and her professional life. The extra "e", according to Dionne "was the worst thing I could have done in retrospect, and in 1975 I finally got rid of that damn "e" and became "Dionne Warwick" again."
With the move to Arista Records and the release of "I'll Never Love This Way Again" (a tune written by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings and first recorded by Cheryl Ladd in 1978) in 1979, Dionne was again enjoying top success on the charts. The song was produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album Dionne—not to be confused with the Warner Bros. Records album of the same name—was her first and only disc to go Platinum in the US. She had been personally signed and guided by the label's founder Clive Davis, who stated to Dionne "You may be ready to give the business up, but the business is not ready to give you up." Dionne's followup was another huge hit. "Deja Vu" was written by Isaac Hayes and Adrienne Anderson. In 1980, Dionne was nominated for the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Best R&B Performance, Female for "Déjà Vu". Dionne became the first artist in the history of the awards to win in both categories the same year. Her followup album, 1980's No Night So Long featured the title track written by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings which became a major hit and the album peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 Albums Chart and #22 on the Billboard Hot R & B Albums Chart.
"Heartbreaker" an Arista album from 1982, earned Warwick another RIAA certified Gold Album and the title tune became an international smash hit.

In January 1980, while under contract to Arista Records, Dionne Warwick hosted a two-hour TV special called Solid Gold '79. This was adapted into the weekly one-hour show Solid Gold, which she hosted throughout 1980 and 1981 and again in 1985-86.

After a top forty hit recorded in early 1982 with her friend and fellow musical legend Johnny Mathis—the Jay Graydon-produced "Friends in Love" from the album of the same name—Warwick's next big hit later that same year was her full-length collaboration with Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees for the album Heartbreaker. The song "Heartbreaker" became one of Dionne's biggest international hits, peaking on Billboard's Hot 100 at #10 in January 1983 and #1 AC in the USA and #2 in the UK. Internationally, the tune was also a smash in continential Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Canada, and Asia. The title track was taken from the album of the same name which sold over 3 million internationally and earned Dionne an RIAA USA gold record award for the album. The album peaked at #25 on the Hot 100 Album Chart, #13 on the R&B Chart and #3 in the UK. Dionne stated to Wesley Hyatt in his The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits that she was not fond of "Heartbreaker" but recorded the tune because she trusted The Bee Gees' judgment that it would be a hit. The project came about when Clive Davis was attending his aunt's wedding in Florida and spoke with Barry Gibb. Barry mentioned that he had always been a fan of Dionne's and Clive arranged for Dionne and The Bee Gees to discuss a project. Dionne and the brothers Gibb hit it off and the album and the title single were released in October 1982.

In 1983, Dionne released another notable album titled How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye which was produced by Luther Vandross. Their collaboration had been a lifelong dream of Vandross, who had maintained that he wanted to work with Warwick, Aretha Franklin, and Diana Ross. The album's most successful single was the title track, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye", a duet with Warwick, which peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, the Dance-pop song "Got a Date", became a moderate hit on the R&B chart. The album peaked at Number 57 on the Billboard 200 album chart and Number 19 on the R&B chart. Of note was a reunion with The Shirelles on Warwick's cover of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". Warwick would not release another studio album until two years later, 1984's Finder of Lost Loves—an album that would reunite her with both Barry Manilow and Burt Bacharach, who was now writing with his new lyricist partner and wife, Carole Bayer Sager.

In 1985, Warwick contributed her voice to the Multi-Grammy award winning charity song: We Are the World, along with vocalists like Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Tina Turner and Diana Ross.
Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer-Sager, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John, "That's What Friends Are For", 1985

In 1985, Warwick recorded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) benefit single "That's What Friends Are For" alongside Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder. The single, credited to "Dionne and Friends" raised over three million dollars for that cause. The tune peaked at #1 for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1986. In 1988, the Washington Post wrote: So working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. "You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony," Warwick remembers. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt." The single won the performers the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. With this single, Warwick also released her second most successful album of the decade, titled Friends.

In July 1987, Dionne scored another Billboard Top 20 pop hit (#12) and Top 10 R&B chart hit (and #1 AC hit) with the song, "Love Power", a duet with Jeffrey Osborne. This song, another written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, was featured in Warwick's album Reservations for Two. The album's title song, a duet with Kashif, was also a moderate hit. Other artists featured on the album included Smokey Robinson and June Pointer.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o267/dastaylor/Dionne.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m314/poezenslaaf/dionne20warwick_activiteit250x250.png



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/12/09 at 7:03 am


the birthday of the day...Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker (born December 12, 1923) is an American former television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS' The Price Is Right from 1972-2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history. After holding the job for 35 years and having been in television for 50 years, Barker retired in June 2007.
The Price Is Right (1972–2007)

On September 4, 1972, Barker began his most famous assignment hosting the CBS revival of The Price is Right. In the 35 years of the CBS version, he has become far more associated with the series than first host Bill Cullen was with the 1956–1965 original. In September 1977, he hosted the last three seasons of the syndicated nighttime version, originally hosted by Dennis James.

On October 15, 1987, Barker did what other MCs almost never did: renounced hair dye and allowed his hair to go gray. Fellow hosts Monty Hall, Alex Trebek, and Richard Dawson would do the same in the late 1980s.

In 2006, The Price Is Right celebrated 35 consecutive years on the air. It is the longest-running game show of all time in North America. Overall, in daytime programming (excluding Saturday and Sunday), The Price Is Right is ranked sixth among the longest-continuing daytime television programs (NBC's Today ranks the longest, followed by four daytime soap operas: Guiding Light, As the World Turns, General Hospital, and Days of our Lives), and moved into fifth in September 2009 after Guiding Light aired its final episode on CBS. It has won its time slot (11:00 a.m. Eastern) for the past 25 years with its closest competitor (currently ABC's The View) normally getting about half of TPIR's ratings.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Bob Barker to retire as host of U.S. gameshow The Price Is Right

On October 31, 2006, Barker made his announcement that he would retire from The Price Is Right in June 2007. However, Barker has revealed that FremantleMedia, the company that owns the show, had been looking for a successor in the last two to three years, and also that he had considered retirement for a while, but he had so much fun that he continued to do the show. He taped his final episode on June 6, 2007, with the show airing twice on June 15. The first airing was in the show's normal daytime slot and the second airing was in primetime as the lead-in to the Daytime Emmy Awards. Repeat episodes from Barker's final season continued to air until October 12, 2007, ending with a repeat of his final episode. On July 23 it was announced that comedian Drew Carey would take Barker's place as the new host for the show beginning on October 15, 2007.

During Barker's tenure as host, three pricing games were introduced that used his name: Barker's Bargain Bar, Barker's Marker$ and Trader Bob. Of the three, none are actively played on the show – Trader Bob was retired from the show in 1985, Barker's Marker$ was renamed following Barker's retirement, and subsequently retired, and Barker's Bargain Bar has been disassembled, and is currently on hiatus.

Barker made a guest appearance on the show for an episode that aired on April 16, 2009 to promote his new autobiography, Priceless Memories. He appeared in the Showcase round at the end of the show
Barker became a vegetarian in 1979. That same year, he began promoting animal rights. Barker began ending some episodes (later every episode) of The Price is Right with the phrase: "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered." Even after he retired, Drew Carey continued his signature sign-off. He was named national spokesman for "Be Kind to Animals Week" in May 1985. On A&E's Biography program, he credited his wife, Dorothy Jo, with causing him to become more aware of animal rights and becoming a vegetarian, because she had done so. Bob remarked that Dorothy Jo was way ahead of her time as far as animal rights were concerned and that shortly after her death in October, 1981, he took up animal rights in order to keep doing something that she had done. Fellow game show hosts Jack Barry and Bert Convy eventually followed Barker's lead in promoting animal rights on the air.

Barker hosted the Miss USA/Universe Pageants from 1967 to 1987. In 1987, he requested the removal of fur prizes and stepped down as host when those in charge of the pageant refused.

Bob Barker's DJ&T Foundation has contributed millions of dollars to fund animal rescue and park facilities all over the country. He worked closely with Betty White as an advocate for animal rights. However in 2009, reports indicated that Barker threatened to not attend the 2009 Game Show Awards, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award, because White would be attending. The reason for the conflict, according to the report, was over the proper treatment of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. White instead did not attend and pre-recorded her comments that she was scheduled to make about Mark Goodson.

In June 2009, Barker wrote Chief Michell Hicks of the Cherokee asking that their reservation's bear exhibit be closed. On July 28, 2009, he visited the reservation and saw one of the three zoos, calling the bears' living situation "inhumane". PETA set up the visit after Barker heard from Florida congressman Bill Young, whose wife had been "appalled" by what she saw. Annette Tarnowski, the tribe's attorney general, said a federal inspector had found nothing wrong in May 2009 at two of the zoos, and that the tribe had dealt with the few violations at the third. Hicks made no promises and threatened to ban PETA if they made more trouble.
Longevity records

Barker set a longevity record as holding a weekday T.V. job continuously for 51 years, which included his years on Truth or Consequences. Only sportscaster Vin Scully, who is four years younger than Barker, has held a job longer than Barker in the American entertainment industry, albeit a seasonal job and not a daily one. (Orion Samuelson is slated to pass Barker in 2010.)

Barker has also had the second-longest run as the host of a single entertainment broadcast show (sports excluded), only a few months short of Don McNeill, who spent 35½ years as host of Don McNeill's Breakfast Club.

Barker, who was 83½ years old at the time of his retirement, holds the record of being the oldest man ever to host a regularly scheduled television game show and the oldest man ever to host a weekday television program since the inception of American network television. Barker also hosted/appeared on a five-day-a-week television program longer than anyone else in the history of television.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e299/kgirly09/thbob_barker.jpg
http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr5/88meow/bob.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e108/tjsimpson5388/CJ010107.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l19/scoop5577/07_1.jpg


I liked him better with his jet black hair.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/13/09 at 2:27 am

Something tells me I did not look here yeserday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/13/09 at 2:30 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAdcgouhmHY

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:03 am


Something tells me I did not look here yeserday.

I wondered about that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:09 am

The word or phrase of the day...Chimney sweep
A chimney sweep is a person who cleans chimneys for a living.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/mosjef_yup/a240793.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l25/havoc_101/chimneysweep.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd133/crisco68/sweep.jpg
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww67/mkfish/HummelChimneySweep-56.gif
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z83/MrsB_bucket/IMG_0032.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c175/oneminutes/THE%20CHIMNEY%20SWEEP/06.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b75/-Nightingale-/Family/DSC00759.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/thegreatguru/Movie%20Stills/marypoppins.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:15 am

The birthday of the day...Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne “Dick” Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is best known for his starring roles in the films Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the television series The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis Murder.
Dick Van Dyke's start in television was with WDSU-TV New Orleans Channel 6 (NBC), first as a single comedian and later as emcee of a comedy program. Van Dyke's first network TV appearance was on The Phil Silvers Show in the 1957–1958 season.

Van Dyke starred in the situation comedy The Dick Van Dyke Show from 1961 to 1966 in which he portrayed a comedy writer named Rob Petrie. Complementing Van Dyke was a veteran cast of comedic actors including Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Jerry Paris, Carl Reiner (as Alan Brady), as well as a newcomer to television Mary Tyler Moore, who portrayed Rob's wife Laura Petrie. He won three Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the series received four Emmy Awards as Outstanding Comedy Series. From 1971 to 1974, Van Dyke starred in an unrelated sitcom called The New Dick Van Dyke Show in which he portrayed a local television talk show host. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance, but the show was less successful than its predecessor, and was cancelled after three seasons.

In the 1970s, Van Dyke hosted his own hour-long variety show called Van Dyke & Company on NBC. It aired between September and December 1976. When Carol Burnett's main foil Harvey Korman quit her long-running variety series in 1977, Van Dyke took his place. This was the first time he played second banana on television and there were very few comedic sparks between Van Dyke and Burnett. He left after three months. From 1993 to 2001, Van Dyke portrayed Dr. Mark Sloan in the long-running television series Diagnosis Murder, a medical drama; son Barry co-starred. A 2004 special of The Dick Van Dyke Show titled The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited was heavily promoted as the first new episode of the classic series to be shown in thirty-eight years. Van Dyke and his surviving cast members recreated their roles; the program was roundly panned by critics.

Van Dyke has made many guest appearances on other television programs throughout his lengthy career.
Film career

Van Dyke began his film career by reprising his stage role in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Despite his unhappiness with the adaptation because the focus differed from the stage version, the film was a success. That same year, Van Dyke was cast in two roles as the chimney sweep Bert and the chairman of the bank in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (1964). To film his scenes as the chairman, he was heavily costumed to look much older, and was credited in that role as "Nackvid Keyd" (at the end of the credits, the letters unscramble into "Dick Van Dyke"). Van Dyke's attempt at a cockney accent was cited as one of the worst film accents in a 2003 poll by Empire magazine. Mary Poppins was nonetheless successful upon release and its enduring appeal has made it one of the most famous films in cinematic history. "Chim Chim Cher-ee", one of the songs that Van Dyke performed in Mary Poppins, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the Sherman Brothers, the film's songwriting duo.

Many of the comedy films in which Van Dyke starred throughout the 1960s were relatively unsuccessful, including What a Way to Go!, Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., Fitzwilly, The Art of Love, Never a Dull Moment, and Divorce American Style. The musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), which co-starred Sally Ann Howes and reunited Van Dyke with the Sherman Brothers, was widely popular in Europe, but did not make an impact elsewhere.
n 1969, Van Dyke appeared in the dramedy The Comic, written and directed by Carl Reiner. Van Dyke portrayed a self-destructive silent-film era comedian who struggles with alcoholism, depression and his own rampant ego. Reiner wrote the film especially for Van Dyke, who often spoke of his admiration for silent film era comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and his hero Stan Laurel. He also began starring in a series of commercials as a spokesperson for Kodak.

In 1973, Van Dyke voiced his animated likeness for the October 27, 1973 installment of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke", the series' final first-run episode. The following year, Van Dyke received an Emmy Award nomination for his role as an alcoholic businessman in the television movie The Morning After (1974). Van Dyke revealed after its release that he had recently overcome a real-life drinking problem. That same year, he portrayed a murdering photographer on an episode of Columbo.

Van Dyke returned to comedy in 1976 with the sketch comedy show Van Dyke and Company, which co-starred Andy Kaufman and Super Dave Osborne. Despite being cancelled after three months, the show won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety Series. For the next decade, he appeared mostly in low-rated TV movies. One exception was an atypical role as a murdering judge on the first episode of the TV series Matlock in 1986 starring Andy Griffith. In 1989, he guest-starred on the NBC comedy series The Golden Girls, portraying a lover of Beatrice Arthur's character. This role earned him his first Emmy Award nomination since 1977.

In 1990, Van Dyke, whose usual role had been the amiable hero, took a small but villainous turn as the crooked D.A. Fletcher in Warren Beatty's film Dick Tracy. The reviews he received for Tracy led him to star in a series of TV movies on CBS that became the foundation for his popular television drama Diagnosis Murder, which ran from 1993 to 2001. He first portrayed the character Dr. Mark Sloan in an episode of Jake and the Fatman. He continued to find television work after the show ended, including a dramatically and critically successful performance of The Gin Game, produced for television in 2003, that reunited him with Mary Tyler Moore. In 2003, he portrayed a doctor on Scrubs, and in 2006, he guest-starred as college professor Dr. Jonathan Maxwell for a series of Murder 101 mystery films on the Hallmark Channel.

Van Dyke returned to motion pictures in 2006 with Curious George as Mr. Bloomsberry and as Cecil Fredericks in the Ben Stiller film Night at the Museum. He reprised the role in a cameo for the sequel, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" but it was cut from the film. It can be found in the special features on the DVD release.
Stage

    * The Girls Against the Boys (November 2, 1959 – November 14, 1959)
    * Bye Bye Birdie (April 14, 1960 – October 7, 1961) (left the show when it moved to the Shubert Theatre)
    * The Music Man (June 5, 1980 – June 22, 1980) (Revival)
    * Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (guest star from January 24, 2006 – January 26, 2006)

Filmography

    * Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
    * What a Way to Go! (1964)
    * Mary Poppins (1964)
    * The Art of Love (1965)
    * Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966)
    * Divorce American Style (1967)
    * Fitzwilly (1967)
    * Never a Dull Moment (1968)
    * Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
    * Some Kind of a Nut (1969)



    * The Comic (1969)
    * Cold Turkey (1971)
    * Tubby the Tuba (1976)
    * The Runner Stumbles (1979)
    * Dick Tracy (1990)
    * Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) (cameo)
    * Batman: New Times (2005)
    * Curious George (2006)
    * Night at the Museum (2006)

Television

    * The Morning Show (1955) (host)
    * CBS Cartoon Theater (1956)
    * The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams (1958)
    * Mother's Day (1958–1959)
    * Laugh Line (1959) (canceled after 3 months)
    * The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966)
    * Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman (1969)
    * Dick Van Dyke Meets Bill Cosby (1970)
    * The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971–1974)
    * Julie and Dick at Covent Garden (1974)
    * The Morning After (1974)
    * Columbo: Negative Reaction (1974)
    * Van Dyke and Company (1976)
    * The Carol Burnett Show (cast member in 1977)
    * Supertrain (1979)
    * True Life Stories (1981)
    * The Country Girl (1982)
    * Drop-Out Father (1982)
    * Wrong Way Kid (1983) (voice)
    * Found Money (1983)
    * Breakfast with Les and Bess (1985)
    * Strong Medicine (1986)
    * Ghost of a Chance (1987)



    * The Van Dyke Show (1988)
    * Matlock (1990)
    * Daughters of Privilege (1991)
    * The House on Sycamore Street (1992)
    * The Town That Santa Forgot (1993) (voice)
    * A Twist of the Knife (1993)
    * Becker (1999) (Becker's father)
    * Diagnosis Murder (1993–2001)
    * Paul O'Grady Does America (2003)
    * A Town Without Pity (2002)
    * Without Warning (2002)
    * Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2000)
    * The Gin Game (2003)
    * The Alan Brady Show (2003) (voice)
    * The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (2004)
    * Scrubs (2004)
    * Murder 101 (2006–2008)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/thecaptain72/TTM/vandyke.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn303/ClydeElliott/California%202008/NORTH%20HOLLYWOOD/ACADEMY%20OF%20TV%20ARTS%20AND%20SCIENCES/vandyke.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh207/babylon721/VanDykeWalnuts.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v343/bitestars/icons/vandyke_Blast.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:18 am

The co-birthdays of the day Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer, CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theatre, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music. His most recent film roles include the Disney–Pixar 2009 film Up as Charles Muntz, the Shane Acker production 9 as 1 and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Doctor Parnassus.
Plummer's eclectic career on screen began in 1958 when Sidney Lumet cast him as a young writer in Stage Struck. Since then he has appeared in a vast number of notable films which include The Man Who Would Be King, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth, The Return of the Pink Panther, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, The Silent Partner, Dragnet, Shadow Dancing, Inside Daisy Clover, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Malcolm X, Dolores Claiborne, Wolf, Twelve Monkeys, Murder by Decree, Somewhere in Time and Syriana.

One of Plummer's most critically acclaimed roles was that of television journalist Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated The Insider, for which he won Boston, Los Angeles, and National Society of Film Critics Awards for 'Best Supporting Actor'; he was also nominated for Chicago and Las Vegas Film Critics Awards, as well as a Satellite Award. Predicions of an Oscar nomination circulated, but such recogniton never came.

Other recent successes include his roles as Dr. Rosen in Ron Howard's Academy Award winning A Beautiful Mind, Arthur Case in Spike Lee's 2006 film Inside Man, and the philosopher Aristotle in Alexander, alongside Colin Farrell. In 2004, Plummer played John Adams Gates in National Treasure.

Owing to the box office success and continued popularity of The Sound of Music (1965), Plummer is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Captain Von Trapp, a role he reportedly disliked.

Plummer has also done some voice work, such as his role of the villainous Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-a-Doodle, the antagonistic Charles Muntz in Up and the elder leader 1 in the Tim Burton-produced action/sci-fi film 9.
Television

Among his television appearances, which number almost a hundred, are the Emmy-winning BBC production Hamlet at Elsinore, the five-time Emmy winning The Thorn Birds, the Emmy-winning Nuremberg, the Emmy-winning Little Moon of Alban and the Emmy-winning Moneychangers.

He co-starred in American Tragedy as F. Lee Bailey (for which he received a Golden Globe Nomination), and appeared in Four Minute Mile, Miracle Planet, and a documentary by Ric Burns' about Eugene O’Neill. He received an Emmy nomination for his performance in Our Fathers and reunited with Julie Andrews for a television production of On Golden Pond. He also played Herod Antipas in the miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth and was the narrator for The Gospel of John. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in The Scarlet and The Black.

He narrated the animated television series Madeline as well as the animated television series David the Gnome.

Plummer has also written for the stage, television and the concert-hall. Plummer and Sir Neville Marriner rearranged Shakespeare’s Henry V with Sir William Walton’s music as a concert piece. They recorded the work with Marriner's chamber orchestra the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

He performed it and other works with the New York Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of London, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Ohio, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. With Marriner he made his Carnegie Hall debut in his own arrangements of Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Honours and awards
Plummer at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Plummer has won many honours in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Austria. He was the first winner of Canada's Genie Award, for Best Actor in Murder by Decree (1980) and has received three other Genie nominations. Plummer has won two Tony Awards (from seven nominations), and two Emmy Awards (six nominations) in the United States, and Great Britain's Evening Standard Award.

In 1968 he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. In 2001 he received the Canadian Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award. He was made an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at New York's Juilliard School and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Ottawa, and most recently the University of Guelph. Plummer was inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1997.

His awards include the following:

    * London Evening Standard Award as Best Actor (1961), for his portrayal of King Henry II in the stage play, Becket
    * Genie Award (1980), for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in Murder by Decree
    * Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (1974), for his lead role in Cyrano
    * Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (1997), for his lead role in Barrymore
    * Emmy Award (1976), as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers
    * Emmy Award (1994), for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the Family Channel's Madeline children's series
    * Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
    * Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre (2002)
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award (1999) for The Insider
    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award (1999) for The Insider
Filmography

    * Stage Struck (1958)
    * Wind Across the Everglades (1958)
    * A Doll's House (1959) (TV)
    * Playdate (1961) TV series
    * Cyrano de Bergerac (1962) (TV)
    * The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
    * Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) (TV)
    * The Sound of Music (1965)
    * Inside Daisy Clover (1966)
    * Triple Cross, original title: La Fantastique histoire vraie d'Eddie Chapman (1966)
    * The Night of the Generals (1967)
    * Oedipus the King (1967)
    * Nobody Runs Forever (aka The High Commissioner) (1968)
    * Battle of Britain (1969)
    * The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)
    * Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969)
    * Waterloo (1970)
    * Don Juan in Hell (1971) (TV)
    * The Pyx (1973)
    * After the Fall (1974) (TV)
    * The Happy Prince (1974)
    * The Spiral Staircase (1975)
    * The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
    * Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
    * The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
    * Sarajevski atentat (1975)
    * Aces High (1976)
    * Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1976) TV miniseries
    * Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
    * Uppdraget (1977)
    * The Disappearance (1977)
    * Silver Blaze (1977) (TV)
    * The Silent Partner (1978)
    * International Velvet (1978)
    * Starcrash (1979)
    * Murder by Decree (1979)
    * Riel (1979) (TV)
    * Hanover Street (1979)
    * Desperate Voyage (1980) (TV)
    * The Shadow Box (1980) (TV)
    * Somewhere in Time (1980)
    * When the Circus Came to Town (1981) (TV)
    * Dial M for Murder (1981)
    * Eyewitness (1981)
    * The Amateur (1981)
    * Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982) (TV)
    * The Scarlet and the Black (1983) (TV)
    * The Thorn Birds (1983) TV miniseries
    * Prototype (1983) (TV)
    * Lily in Love (1984)
    * Dreamscape (1984)
    * Highpoint (1984)
    * Terror in the Aisles (1984)
    * Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
    * Játszani kell (1985)
    * The World of David the Gnome (1985) TV series
    * Rumpelstiltskin (1985) Animated TV film
    * The Boy in Blue (1986)
    * Crossings (1986) TV miniseries
    * The Boss' Wife (1986)
    * An American Tail (1986) (voice)
    * Spearfield's Daughter (1986) TV miniseries
    * Nosferatu a Venezia (1986)
    * Dragnet (1987)
    * A Hazard of Hearts (1987) (TV)
    * The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
    * The Gnomes' Great Adventure (1987)
    * Light Years (1988) (voice)
    * Shadow Dancing (1988)
    * I Love N.Y. (1988)
    * Souvenir (1989)
    * Nabokov on Kafka (1989) (TV)
    * Mindfield (1989)
    * Kingsgate (1989)



    * Where the Heart Is (1990)
    * A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990) (TV)
    * Red Blooded American Girl (1990)
    * Money (1990)
    * Madeline (1990) TV series (voice)
    * Counterstrike (1990) TV series
    * Firehead (1991)
    * Young Catherine (1991) (TV)
    * A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz (1991) (TV)
    * Rock-a-Doodle (1991) (voice)
    * Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
    * Berlin Lady (1991) TV miniseries
    * The First Circle (1991) (TV)
    * Secrets (1992) (TV)
    * Impolite (1992)
    * Malcolm X (1992)
    * Liar's Edge (1992) (TV)
    * Sidney Sheldon's A Stranger in the Mirror (1993) (TV)
    * The Little Crooked Christmas Tree (1993) (TV) (voice)
    * Wolf (1994)
    * Crackerjack (1994)
    * Dolores Claiborne (1995)
    * Harrison Bergeron (1995) (TV)
    * 12 Monkeys (1995)
    * We the Jury (1996) (TV)
    * Skeletons (1996)
    * The Conspiracy of Fear (1996) (TV)
    * The Arrow (1997) (TV)
    * Babes in Toyland (1997) (voice)
    * Winchell (1998) (TV)
    * Hidden Agenda (1998)
    * The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1998)
    * The Clown at Midnight (1998)
    * Celebrate the Century (1999) TV miniseries
    * Madeline: Lost in Paris (1999) (voice)
    * The Insider (1999)
    * Nuremberg (2000) TV miniseries
    * The Dinosaur Hunter (2000)
    * Possessed (2000) (TV)
    * American Tragedy (2000) (TV)
    * Dracula 2000 (2000)
    * Star Trek: Klingon Academy (2000) (VG)
    * Leo's Journey (2001) (TV)
    * On Golden Pond (2001) (TV)
    * Lucky Break (2001)
    * Blackheart (2001)
    * A Beautiful Mind (2001)
    * Full Disclosure (2001) (V)
    * Night Flight (2002) (TV)
    * Ararat (2002)
    * Agent of Influence (2002) (TV)
    * Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
    * Tma (2002)
    * Blizzard (2003)
    * The Gospel of John (2003) (voice)
    * Cold Creek Manor (2003)
    * National Treasure (2004)
    * Alexander (2004)
    * Our Fathers (2005) (TV)
    * Must Love Dogs (2005)
    * Syriana (2005)
    * The New World (2005)
    * Inside Man (2006)
    * The Lake House (2006)
    * Man in the Chair (2007)
    * Closing the Ring (2007)
    * Emotional Arithmetic (2007)
    * Already Dead (2007)
    * The Summit (2008) TV miniseries
    * Caesar and Cleaopatra (2009)
    * Up (2009) (voice)
    * My Dog Tulip (2009) (voice)
    * 9 (2009) (voice)
    * The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Upcoming

    * The Last Station (2009)
    * Priest (2010)
http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo76/jcholroy/ncn%20firing%20squad/christopherplummer3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/agdhani/misc%20musicians/plummer_l.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:21 am

* Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent (born December 13, 1948) is an American hard rock guitarist and vocalist from Detroit, Michigan. He originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes. He is also noted for his vocal conservative political views and his ardent defense of hunting, conservation, unrestricted gun-ownership and anti-drug/alcohol abuse activism.
Nugent dropped the Amboy Dukes band name for good in 1975, and signed to Epic Records. Derek St. Holmes (guitar, vocals), Rob Grange (bass) and Clifford Davies (drums) were the primary additional band members for his classic 1970s multi-platinum albums: Ted Nugent (1975), Free-for-All (1976) and Cat Scratch Fever (1977). These albums produced the popular radio anthems "Hey Baby," "Stranglehold," "Dog Eat Dog" and "Cat Scratch Fever." This band lineup toured extensively, also releasing the multi-platinum live album Double Live Gonzo!, until its breakup in 1978 when St. Holmes and Grange departed. St. Holmes was replaced by Charlie Huhn and Grange by Dave Kiswiney. Davies finally left around 1982 after staying on to record Weekend Warriors (1978), State of Shock (1979), Scream Dream (1980) and Intensities in 10 Cities (1981).

On July 8, 1979, Ted was on the rock radio program King Biscuit Flower Hour. This was the original broadcast of Ted's performance of Live at Hammersmith '79 which had been recorded during the second set of a sold-out night at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1979. An album of this program, however, was not released until 1997.

During this era, Nugent was notable for his frequent declarations that he did not drink alcoholic beverages or smoke tobacco or marijuana. In an interview for VH1's Behind The Music, Nugent said this was due to his father having sternly reprimanded him when he came home smelling of alcohol after a night of drinking. This was an unusual stance for a major rock performer of the 1970s, and Nugent has been cited as an important early influence on the straight edge movement, which disavows drinking and recreational drug use.
Damn Yankees
Ted Nugent live in 2007

During the period of 1982-86, Nugent released a series of moderately successful solo albums. Near the end of the 1980s, he formed the supergroup Damn Yankees, with Jack Blades (bass/vocals, formerly of Night Ranger), Tommy Shaw (guitar/vocals, formerly of Styx) and Michael Cartellone (drums/vocals). Damn Yankees (1990) was a hit, selling 5 million albums, thanks in no small part to the smash-hit power ballad "High Enough." The video for this song featured Nugent in a priest's collar, and later in a zebra-striped cape during the guitar solo. It also saw the first appearance of his famous 'WhackMaster' hat.
Back to solo

Returning to a solo career, Nugent released Spirit of the Wild in 1995, his best-reviewed album in quite some time. This album also marked the return of Derek St. Holmes to Nugent's studio band. A series of archival releases also came out in the 1990s, keeping Nugent's name in the national consciousness. He also began hosting a radio show in Detroit and took ownership in several hunting-related businesses. He created TV shows for several networks; Wanted: Ted or Alive on Versus, Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild on PBS and The Outdoor Channel, as well as Surviving Nugent and Supergroup-Damnocracy on VH1.

Ted Nugent appears on David Crowder Band's 2007 release, Remedy, playing guitar on the song "We Won't Be Quiet
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/lyssa666_album/ted_nugent.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/Matorfreak0908/nugent.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:24 am

* Steve Buscemi

Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi (pronounced /bʊˈʃɛmi/, boo-SHEM-ee; born December 13, 1957) is an American actor, writer and film director.
Buscemi is an associate member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group. Buscemi’s first film appearance was in the 1986 Parting Glances, in which he played Nick, a young man stricken with AIDS. He also was in Slaves of New York in 1988, and Tales from the Darkside, a 1990 film with three segments. Buscemi starred in the first, playing Bellingham, a college student who orders a mummy and unleashes it on fellow college students played by Christian Slater and Julianne Moore.

During 1990, Buscemi had a couple of additional crime roles. He played the henchman of Laurence Fishburne named Test Tube in Abel Ferrara’s King of New York, and played Mink in the Coen Brothers Millers Crossing. This marked the first of six of the Coen Brothers' films in which Buscemi appeared.

In 1991 he played the bellboy, Chet, in the Coen Brothers film, Barton Fink. His first lead role was in 1992, where he played Adolpho Rollo in Alexandre Rockwell's In the Soup. Then he finally came to public attention for playing Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs.
Steve Buscemi in 1996

Buscemi's most notable character roles include Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, Garland Greene in Con Air, Rockhound in Armageddon, Donny in The Big Lebowski and Carl Showalter in Fargo. Although usually a supporting actor, he has had critical success as a lead actor, particularly in his role as Seymour in Ghost World. Buscemi often plays characters that are neurotic and paranoid. He has appeared in a number of films by the Coen Brothers, in which he tends to die in a grisly, prolonged or unexpected manner. He frequently provides comic relief in Adam Sandler films such as Billy Madison, The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds. Buscemi also starred with Sandler (as brothers) in Airheads alongside Brendan Fraser. Buscemi also played a nemesis to Sandler and Kevin James in the comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. He also has worked with Tim Burton, Quentin Tarantino, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Jim Jarmusch, The Coen Brothers, and Robert Rodriguez on various occasions.

In 2003, Buscemi made a brief celebrity guest appearance as himself on the long-running Fox animated television show The Simpsons in the episode "Brake My Wife, Please". Most recently, Buscemi provided the voice for Dwight, a bank robber who Marge promises to visit in jail if he turns himself in to the authorities. This episode, entitled "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", originally aired on October 14, 2007.

In 2004, Buscemi joined the cast of The Sopranos as Tony Soprano's cousin and childhood friend, Tony Blundetto. Buscemi had previously contributed to the show as director of the third season episode "Pine Barrens" (one of the most critically-acclaimed episodes of the series). He appeared in the third episode of Season 6, as a doorman in heaven (portrayed as a country club) in Tony Soprano's dream. He returned to direct the episodes "In Camelot", the seventh episode of season five, and "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request...", the fifth episode of Season 6.

In 1995, Buscemi played suspected cop-shooter Gordon Pratt in the episode "End Game" at the end of a three-episode arc of Homicide: Life on the Street. He also had a role as Phil Hickle, Ellen's father and older Pete's guidance counselor, in The Adventures of Pete and Pete, as well as guest-starring in Miami Vice in 1986. Buscemi was rumored to be considered for the role of The Scarecrow in Joel Schumacher's proposed fifth installment of the Batman franchise, Batman Triumphant, before Warner Bros. cancelled the project.

In 2004, Buscemi appeared in the music video for Joe Strummer's cover of the Bob Marley track "Redemption Song". The video is shot after Strummer's death, and Buscemi appears alongside of a graffiti portrait of Strummer.
Directing

Buscemi has worked extensively as a writer-director since making his debut feature during the 1990s. His directional credits include:

    * Trees Lounge (1996)
    * Animal Factory (2000)
    * Lonesome Jim (2005)
    * Interview (2007)

In addition to feature films, he directed episodes of the television shows Homicide: Life on the Street and The Sopranos, as well as two episodes of HBO's prison-drama series Oz, entitled "U.S. Male" and "Cuts Like a Knife". He also directed an episode of 30 Rock, entitled "Retreat to Move Forward". He has also directed episodes four, five, seven and eight from Season 1 of Showtime's Nurse Jackie.

Whilst scouting a location for a film, Buscemi visited the Philadelphia Eastern State Penitentiary. He found the building so interesting that he later provided the majority of the narration for the audio tour there.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1986 Parting Glances Nick
1987 Kiss Daddy Goodnight Johnny
1988 Call Me Switchblade
Heart of Midnight Eddy
1989 Slaves of New York Wilfredo
Mystery Train Charlie the Barber Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor
Lonesome Dove (TV) Luke
New York Stories
1990 Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Bellingham (Segment "Lot 249")
King of New York Test Tube
Miller's Crossing Mink
1991 Barton Fink Chet
1992 In the Soup Aldolpho Rollo
Reservoir Dogs Mr. Pink Won: Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor
CrissCross Drug Dealer
1993 Twenty Bucks Frank
Rising Sun Willy 'the Weasel' Wilhelm
The Adventures of Pete & Pete (TV) Phil Hickle
Ed And His Dead Mother Ed Chilton
1994 The Search for One-eye Jimmy Ed Hoyt
The Hudsucker Proxy Beatnik Barman at Ann's 440
Airheads Rex
Pulp Fiction Buddy Holly
The Last Outlaw (TV) Former Confederate soldier and outlaw Philo
1995 Billy Madison Danny McGrath Uncredited
Living in Oblivion Nick Reve
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead Mister Shhh
Desperado Buscemi
1996 Fargo Carl Showalter Nominated: Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture - Drama
Escape from L.A. Map to the Stars Eddie
Trees Lounge Tommy Also writer and director
Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature (shared with Chris Hanley and Brad Wyman)
Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
1997 Con Air Garland 'The Marietta Mangler' Greene
1998 The Big Lebowski Theodore Donald 'Donny' Kerabatsos
Divine Trash Himself
The Impostors Happy Franks
The Wedding Singer David 'Dave' Veltri Uncredited
Armageddon Rockhound
1999 Big Daddy Homeless Guy
2000 28 Days Cornell Shaw
Animal Factory A.R. Hosspack Also director
2001 Ghost World Seymour Won: Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Won: Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor
Won:New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Won: Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated: American Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Officer Neil Voice
The Grey Zone 'Hesch' Abramowics
Love in the Time of Money Martin Kunkle
Domestic Disturbance Ray Coleman
Monsters, Inc. Randall Boggs Voice
2002 Mr. Deeds Crazy Eyes
13 Moons Bananas The Clown
The Laramie Project Doc O'Conner
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams Romero
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Romero
Coffee and Cigarettes Waiter (Segment "Twins")
Big Fish Norther Winslow
2002-2006 The Sopranos (TV) Tony Blundetto / Man Nominated: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (2001)
Nominated: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series (2004)
2004 Home on the Range Wesley Voice
2005 Lonesome Jim Director
The Island James McCord
2006 Art School Confidential Broadway Bob D'Annunzio Uncredited
Monster House Nebbercracker Voice
Charlotte's Web Templeton the Rat Voice
Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11 (TV) Narrator
2007 I Think I Love My Wife George Sianidis
Paris, je t'aime The tourist (segment 'Tuileries')
Interview Pierre Peters Also director
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Clint Fitzer
The Simpsons episode I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (TV) Dwight Voice
Delirious Les Galantine
Romance & Cigarettes Angelo
30 Rock (TV) Lenny Wosniak Nominated: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series (2008)
2008 ER (TV) Mr. Masterson
Igor Scamper Voice
2009 Rage Frank
John Rabe Dr. Robert Wilson Nominated: German Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (2008)
G-Force Bucky (voice)
The Messenger Dale Martin
Saint John of Las Vegas John post-production
Handsome Harry Thomas Kelley post-production
2010 Saint John of Las Vegas John Alighieri
Youth in Revolt George Twisp post-production
Pete Smalls Is Dead post-production
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa1/chanceinhifi/buscemi.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q111/toadflax_bucket/Actors/steve-buscemi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 5:27 am

* Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and singer. For his work in the film Ray, Foxx won the Academy Award and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Actor. He has also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a musical/comedy and has been nominated for several Grammy Awards.
After accepting a girlfriend's dare, Foxx told jokes and did impressions at a comedy club's open mic night in 1989. When he found that female comedians were often called first to perform, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx, feeling that it was an ambiguous enough name to disallow any biases. He chose his surname as a tribute to comedian Redd Foxx.

Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991 and subsequently played a recurring role in the comedy-drama sitcom Roc. From 1996 to 2001, Foxx starred in his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, and in 1992 he made his film debut.
Film career
Foxx's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Foxx made his film debut in the 1992 comedy Toys. His first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, where he portrayed a hard-partying American football player. He was cast in the role in part because of his background as a football player. Foxx has since evolved into a respected dramatic actor. Following Any Given Sunday, Foxx was featured as taxi driver Max Durocher in the film Collateral alongside Tom Cruise, for which he received outstanding reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His standout performance, however, was his portrayal of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Foxx is the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies, Collateral and Ray. The only other male actor to achieve this was Al Pacino. In 2005, Foxx was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Following these successes, Foxx appeared in Jarhead, Miami Vice, and Dreamgirls, which were box-office hits, and lifted his profile even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood. 2007 brought him the lead role in the film The Kingdom opposite Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Ashraf Barhom.

In September 2007, Foxx was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He said, upon receiving the honor, " one of the most amazing days of my life."

In May 2009 Foxx played the lead role in the dramatic film The Soloist.
Music career
Foxx and Kanye West performing "Gold Digger"

Foxx began piano lessons at age five. In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the Fox record label) entitled Peep This. His music career shifted into a higher gear when, in 2004, he was featured on rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", which also featured Kanye West. The song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, as well as number three on the UK singles chart. Foxx's second collaboration with Kanye West, "Gold Digger," in which he sang the "I Got a Woman" Ray Charles-influenced hook, went straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained there for 10 weeks. In 2005, Foxx was featured on the single "Georgia" by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob. The song sampled Ray Charles' hit "Georgia on My Mind."

Foxx released his second studio album,Unpredictable in December 2005. It debuted at number two, selling 598,000 copies in its first week. The following week, the album rose to number one, selling an additional 200,000 copies. To date, the album has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA. The album also charted on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at number nine. Foxx became the fourth artist to have won an Academy Award for an acting role and to have achieved a number-one record album in the US. (The other three to accomplish this feat were Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Barbra Streisand.) Foxx's first single from the album, the title track "Unpredictable" (featuring Ludacris), samples "Wildflower" by New Birth. The song peaked inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and also made the UK top 20 singles chart. The second US single from the album was "DJ Play a Love Song," which reunited Foxx with Twista. In the UK, however, the second single was "Extravaganza," which saw Foxx once again collaborate with Kanye West. He was not, however, featured in the song's music video.

At the 2006 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Foxx won Best Duet/Collaboration with Kanye West for "Gold Digger" and tied with Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" for Video of the year. On December 8, 2006, Foxx received four Grammy nominations, which included Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Love Changes featuring Mary J. Blige, Best R&B Album for Unpredictable, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictable featuring Ludacris.

On January 22, 2007, Foxx was on Sirius Satellite Radio, announcing his new channel The Foxxhole. The channel features comedy and music primarily by African-American performers, and features much of Foxx's own material as well. The Jamie Foxx Show, a talk-radio program, airs Friday evenings on The Foxxhole, and features Johnny Mack, Speedy, Claudia Jordan, The Poetess, and Lewis Dix as his co-hosts. Guests include popular musicians, actors, and fellow comedians.

He recorded a song with country superstars Rascal Flatts entitled "She Goes All the Way" for their album, Still Feels Good. Foxx also performed background vocals for artist/songwriter Tank. He and The-Dream are featured on Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands." He also appeared on the remix of Ne-Yo's "Miss Independent" entitled "She Got Her Own." The track also features Fabolous. Foxx then collaborated with rapper The Game on the track "Around The World."

Foxx released his third album titled Intuition featuring such artists as Kanye West, T.I., Lil Wayne, and T-Pain. The album's first single, "Just Like Me" featuring T.I., was promoted by a video directed by Brett Ratner and featuring an appearance by Taraji P. Henson. The second single "Blame It" featured T-Pain and became a top 5 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and a number-one single on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The "Blame It" music video, directed by Hype Williams, features cameo appearances by Forest Whitaker, Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Howard, Quincy Jones, and Jake Gyllenhaal, among others. Foxx was also featured on T.I.'s single "Live in the Sky" from the album King.

On April 6, 2009 Foxx performed the George Strait song "You Look So Good in Love" at the George Strait Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert. Foxx has been a fan of country music for many years.

Foxx will release his fourth album, "Body", on February 2, 2010.. The first single is "Speak French".
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1992 Toys Baker
1996 The Truth About Cats & Dogs Ed
The Great White Hype Hassan El Ruk'n
1997 Booty Call Bunz
1998 The Players Club Blue
1999 Held Up Michael
Any Given Sunday Willie Beamen Nominated — BET Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Male Performance
2000 Bait Alvin Sanders
2001 Date from Heaven
Ali Drew 'Bundini' Brown BET Award for Best Supporting Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
2003 Shade Larry Jennings
2004 Breakin' All the Rules Quincy Watson Nominated — BET Award for Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
Collateral Max BET Award for Best Supporting Actor
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Ray Ray Charles Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
BET Award for Best Actor
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Seattle Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story Tookie BET Award for Best Actor, Network/Cable Television
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2005 Stealth Lt. Henry Purcell
Jarhead Staff Sgt. Sykes Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor
2006 Miami Vice Ricardo Tubbs
Dreamgirls Curtis Taylor, Jr. Nominated — BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 The Kingdom Ronald Fleury
2009 The Soloist Nathaniel Ayers
Law Abiding Citizen Nick Rice
2010 Valentine's Day Kelvin Briggs Post-production
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt198/osama3d/jamie-foxx.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/fuwithu57/foxx.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/13/09 at 6:50 am

I think Jamie Foxx is such a talented actor.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/13/09 at 11:38 am


I think Jamie Foxx is such a talented actor.  :)
How many times nominated?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/13/09 at 3:10 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzbdIa0FCtc




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 3:11 pm


How many times nominated?

I see at least 4 movies that he was in that he was nominated for an award.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 3:18 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzbdIa0FCtc




Cat

I loved that movie when I was younger, but when I watched it a few years back I just couldn't get into it. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/13/09 at 3:22 pm


I loved that movie when I was younger, but when I watched it a few years back I just couldn't get into it. :-\\
Guaranteed to be on over the holiday season.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/13/09 at 6:58 pm


Guaranteed to be on over the holiday season.

I knew it was during the holiday season when I saw it, I just couldn't remember if it was Christmas or Easter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/13/09 at 7:09 pm


I see at least 4 movies that he was in that he was nominated for an award.


What about The Jamie Foxx Show was that nominated?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: coqueta83 on 12/13/09 at 7:39 pm

Happy belated Birthday, Bob Barker!!! O0  8)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/14/09 at 4:38 am

The word of the day...worker
a person who works at a specific occupation; "he is a good worker"
sterile member of a colony of social insects that forages for food and cares for the larvae
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/ongxangrom/Picture062.jpg
http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/jdwandassociates/TWBLogoSealBrownBoldResized-1.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww225/SAMARION359/103_0242.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/BROTHERBOB1228/PLACES/1099829New-York-Construction-Worker.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/boydlion/JBC%20Airguns/JBC%20Pistol/IMG_5248.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/lonelyjew/worker.jpg
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w343/wkforce/depressed_worker.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h259/kafumbly/ants/Heteroponeraworkerant.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/14/09 at 4:42 am

The birthday of the day...Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (born December 14, 1946) is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She was able to make the rare successful transition from child star (winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16) to award-winning adult actress. She was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild (1985 to 1988).

Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder or manic depression in 1982, and since then has devoted most of her time to advocating and educating the public on mental health issues.
ne of Duke's first acting jobs was on the soap opera The Brighter Day, in the late 1950s. She also appeared in print ads and in television commercials. At the age of twelve, Duke appeared on The $64,000 Question and won $32,000. Three years later, it was revealed that the game show was rigged and she was called to testify before a congressional panel.

Duke's first major role was playing Helen Keller (with Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan) in the Broadway play The Miracle Worker, which ran for nearly two years (October, 1959 - July, 1961). Midway through the production-run, her name was placed above the title on the marquee.

The play was subsequently made into a 1962 film, for which Duke received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. At 16, Duke was the youngest person at that time to receive an Academy Award in a competitive category. Duke then appeared with Laurence Olivier and George C. Scott in a TV production of The Power and the Glory (1961). In a 1979 television movie of "The Miracle Worker", Duke played Sullivan.

In 1963, Duke landed her own series The Patty Duke Show, in which she played both main characters: Patty Lane, an American teenager occasionally getting into minor trouble in school and at home; and her 'prim and proper' "identical cousin" from Scotland, Cathy Lane. The show featured co-stars William Schallert as Patty Lane's father, Jean Byron as her mother, Paul O'Keefe as her brother and Eddie Applegate as her boyfriend, Richard. The show had some guest stars such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Paul Lynde, Sal Mineo, and the show appeared on TV for three seasons and earned Duke an Emmy Award nomination.

Despite the success of her career, Duke was deeply unhappy during her teenage years. Efforts were taken by the Rosses to portray her as a normal teenager, but Duke has indicated in her memoirs that she was a virtual prisoner of them and had little control over her own life and earnings. The Rosses kept control over Duke and her mother by allowing them only a small amount of money to survive on. The Rosses also began providing Duke with alcohol and prescription drugs when she was 13, which led to substance abuse problems later on (as an adult, Duke accused both John and Ethel Ross of sexual abuse). Upon turning 18, Duke became free of the Rosses, only to find that they had squandered most of her earnings.

In 1967, with The Patty Duke Show cancelled, Duke attempted to leave her childhood success behind and begin her adult acting career by playing Neely O'Hara in Valley of the Dolls. The film was a box office success, but audiences and critics had a difficult time accepting all-American-teenager Duke as an alcoholic, drug-addicted singing star. While the film has since become a camp (style) classic (due in large part to Duke's over-the-top performance), it almost ruined her career at the time. She won a Golden Globe for Me, Natalie in 1969, which also featured Al Pacino in his screen debut, but the film was a failure at the box office. She finally made a comeback with the 1970 television movie My Sweet Charlie. Her sensitive portrayal of a pregnant teenager on the run won Duke her first Emmy Award, but her infamous acceptance speech was rambling, angry, and disjointed. This led many in the industry to believe she was using drugs. In fact, Duke was suffering from mania, a part of bipolar disorder, which went undiagnosed until 1982.

She received her second Emmy for the TV miniseries, Captains and the Kings in 1977, and her third in 1980 for a TV version of The Miracle Worker in which she played Annie Sullivan to Melissa Gilbert's Helen Keller.
2000s

In 2002, Duke returned to New York to appear as Aunt Eller in a revival of Oklahoma!. She returned again in 2005 to attend a memorial service for her former co-star and actress from The Miracle Worker, Anne Bancroft, who had died of uterine cancer earlier in the year.

On November 2, 2004, it was announced that Duke would undergo single bypass surgery in Idaho, which was successful.

On October 4, 2007, Duke appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, talking about her bipolar disorder to a guest, advising the guest to seek out a support group.

In early 2009, Duke reprised her role(s) as Patty Lane/Cathy Lane in PSAs for The Social Security Administration for retiring online.

On March 24, 2009, she replaced Carol Kane as Madame Morrible in the San Francisco production of the musical Wicked. She will remain with the production until March 28, 2010.

On July 20, 2009, Duke was given a tribute in her honor at The Castro Theatre in San Francisco entitled "Sparkle, Patty, Sparkle!" During the evening, Duke met and posed for pictures with over one thousand fans and was interviewed on stage by comic Bruce Vilanch. In addition to showing clips from her long career, Duke's 1967 film Valley of the Dolls was screened at the end of the evening. The event sold out the 1400 seat theater.
Singing

Duke had a successful singing career, garnering several Top 40 hits such as "Don't Just Stand There" in 1965, and "Dona Dona" in 1968. She performed the second song on The Ed Sullivan Show. Also during 1968, she had appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and after George Jessel's comic appearance, she was introduced and sang an old Irish song, "Danny Boy". She also sang songs on such shows as Shindig!, Kraft Musica Hall, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Merv Griffin Show. She had a hit song in her 1965 feature film, Billie, and sang on the soundtrack of the 1966 feature film, The Daydreamer, in which she voiced the character of Thumbelina.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1958 Country Music Holiday Sis Brand
The Goddess Emily Ann Faulkner, age 8
1959 4D Man Marjorie Sutherland
Happy Anniversary Debbie Walters
1962 The Miracle Worker Helen Keller Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - Golden Globe
1965 Billie Billie Carol
1966 The Daydreamer Thumbelina Voice
1967 Think Twentieth Herself Short Subject
Valley of the Dolls Neely O'Hara
1969 Me, Natalie Natalie Miller Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1970 My Sweet Charlie Marlene Chambers Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1972 You'll Like My Mother Francesca Kinsolving
1978 The Swarm Rita
1982 By Design Helen
1986 Willy/Milly Doris Niceman Alternative titles: I Was a Teenage Boy
Something Special
1992 Prelude to a Kiss Mrs. Boyle
1999 Kimberly Dr. Feinstenberger Alternative title: Daddy Who?
2005 Bigger Than the Sky Mrs. Keene/Earlene
2008 The Four Children of Tander Welch Susan Metler
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1963-1966 The Patty Duke Show Patty Lane/Cathy Lane 104 episodes
Nominated - Emmy Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
1976 Captains and the Kings Bernadette Hennessey Armagh Miniseries
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1979 The Miracle Worker Annie Sullivan Television movie
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1981 The Violation of Sarah McDavid Sarah McDavid Television movie
1982 It Takes Two Molly Quinn Television series
1985 Hail To The Chief President Julia Mansfield Television series
1987 Fight for Life Shirley Abrams Television movie
1987 Karen's Song Karen Matthews Television series
1991 A Killer Among Friends Jean Monroe Television movie
1998 The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights Patty Lane/Cathy Lane MacAllister Television movie
1998-2003 Touched by an Angel Jean 3 episodes
1999 A Season for Miracles Angel Television movie
2004 Judging Amy Valerie Bing 1 episode
2006 Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door Bridget Connelly Television movie
2009 Love Finds a Home Mary Watson Television movie
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x279/mdseeley/images-1.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg238/daisymoonbeam23/PattyDukeMedium.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c140/kwagli/Live%20Journal/pattyduke.jpg
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb122/Lonnieray/l_5eb570f7bbb614211512db77c030fb62.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/14/09 at 4:49 am

The co-birthday of the day...Dee Wallace - Stone
Dee Wallace-Stone (born December 14, 1948) is an American motion picture and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in several popular films. These include the starring role as Elliot's separated mother in the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), her widest seen role. She also played key roles in popular cult films The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and The Howling (1981) and appeared in The Stepford Wives in 1975 and 10 (1979). In total, she has appeared in more than 85 films.
Career

Wallace-Stone appeared in the television series Together We Stand (1986 — 1987) and the syndicated The New Lassie (1989 — 1992). In the latter series, she appeared with her husband Christopher Stone, with whom she also co-starred in Cujo (1983).

Wallace-Stone remains popularly known for her horror film roles. She has appeared at many horror film conventions and has a reputation for being very kind and generous with her many admirers and fans. She has also opened an acting studio to mentor young actors. Her husband died suddenly in 1995 of a heart attack while filming The Frighteners in New Zealand. Coincidentally The Frighteners told the story of a series of bizarre, inexplicable heart attack-related deaths.

Wallace-Stone starred in Rob Zombie's re-imagining of Halloween. She played Cynthia Strode, Laurie Strode's adoptive mother. Next, she appears in the horror film The Ocean and the western Between the Sand and the Sky.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb89/WolfieDawg/dee_wallace_stone.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd147/moodyblu85282/_0019_dee_wallace_tippi_hedren_fran.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/14/09 at 5:45 am


The word of the day...worker
a person who works at a specific occupation; "he is a good worker"
sterile member of a colony of social insects that forages for food and cares for the larvae
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/ongxangrom/Picture062.jpg
http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/jdwandassociates/TWBLogoSealBrownBoldResized-1.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww225/SAMARION359/103_0242.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/BROTHERBOB1228/PLACES/1099829New-York-Construction-Worker.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/boydlion/JBC%20Airguns/JBC%20Pistol/IMG_5248.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/lonelyjew/worker.jpg
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w343/wkforce/depressed_worker.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h259/kafumbly/ants/Heteroponeraworkerant.jpg


I'm a worker. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/14/09 at 10:51 am

I have read Patty Duke's autobiography "Call Me Anna". Pretty incredible. It was so sad how the Rosses abused her and affected her throughout her life. She has made a remarkable recovery. I admire her greatly. Some things this bio leaves out is that fact that she dated Desi Arnez Jr. (which Lucille Ball was NOT happy with) and that she is the mother of Sean (Sam from Lord of the Rings) & Mackenzie Astin with John Astin (of Addams Family fame).

I remember the movie Billie and loved it as a kid. I have a copy of it that I haven't watched-because it used to be my sister's and will be hard for me to watch it.  :\'(  My sister "Dawg" said that was the last movie she watched with our sister when she handed it to me. I hope someday I will be able to watch it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/15/09 at 6:28 am

The word of the day...Heartbeat
Your heartbeat is the regular movement of your heart as it pumps blood around your body.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq79/Senorita_Sexy_13/realheart.gif
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg264/addison2341/close.gif
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp263/kaly_pooh/heartbeat.jpg
http://i555.photobucket.com/albums/jj469/Randanyale24/PROPRANDI20090106075034524.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u291/caitefnlyn/beat.jpg
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv314/erikarificbrowner/heart.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff308/kelly5510/jjpg.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii290/ekaj379/beat.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/15/09 at 6:32 am

The birthday of the day...Don Johnson
Don Johnson (born Donnie Wayne Johnson; December 15, 1949) is an American actor known for his work in television and film. Johnson made his screen debut in the 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, but it wouldn't be until 1984 that Johnson would land his defining role. He played the lead role of Sonny Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success and fame. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges. Johnson is a Golden Globe winning actor for his role in Miami Vice, a winner of the APBA Offshore World Cup, and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to being an actor, he is also a singer, songwriter, producer, and director
Johnson studied drama at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His first major role was in the 1969 Los Angeles stage production of Fortune and Men's Eyes in which he played Smitty, the lead role. This exposure led to the quickly forgotten 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking out into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973), Lollipop and Roses (1974), and A Boy and His Dog (1975).
Miami Vice

After years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor (in such fare as Revenge of the Stepford Wives) and a string of failed pilots which were never followed by an actual TV series, in September 1984, Johnson's fortunes changed when he landed a starring role as Sonny Crockett in the cop series, Miami Vice. In this role, Johnson played an undercover police detective. He typically wore thousand dollar Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton t-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona...really a retooled 81 corvette (later a Ferrari Testarossa) and lived on a 42-foot (13 m) yacht with his pet alligator Elvis. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music, cinematography, and imagery as well as a more glitzy take on the police drama genre.

In between seasons, Don Johnson gained further renown through several TV miniseries, such as the 1985 TV remake of The Long, Hot Summer.
Nash Bridges

Johnson later starred in the 1996-2001 drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jaime P. Gomez and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Johnson played the title role of Nash Bridges, a detective for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, this time an electric yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.
2000s

In the fall of 2005, he briefly starred in The WB courtroom television drama show Just Legal as a jaded lawyer with a very young and idealistic protegé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was canceled in October 2005 after just three episodes aired. In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the London West End production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.

Don Johnson also has a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2 ("Long Flat Balls II"), directed by Harald Zwart. The movie was launched March 14, 2008 in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He continues his career as actor in several new movies, as well as celebrity appearances at county fairs.
Music

Johnson released two albums of pop music in the 1980s, one in 1986 and the other in 1989. His single "Heartbeat", the title track from his first album, reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Previously, Johnson worked with Gregg Allman and Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers, co-writing the songs "Blind Love" and "Can't Take It with You" with Dickie Betts, which appeared on their 1979 album, Enlightened Rogues.http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy81/Dew17_bucket/donjohnson.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/Tealanne1/DJ32.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l194/Joshystyle/Don.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/thecaptain72/TTM/donj2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/15/09 at 6:35 am

The co-birthday of the day...Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (born December 15, 1933) is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best-known for his roles as Ernest Borgnine's inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, in the popular 1960s WWII sitcom, McHale's Navy, and for co-starring alongside Carol Burnett on The Carol Burnett Show.
After graduating from Bowling Green State University, he joined the Army, following which he took a job answering mail for a Cleveland radio station, where he went on to become a writer in the promotional department. In 1956, Conway moved to New York City, where he auditioned for, at the urging of comedic actress Rose Marie, and gained a spot on NBC's The Steve Allen Show as a regular player. Conway continued on the show for two seasons.

McHale's Navy

Conway gained a national following from his role as the bumbling, naive Ensign Charles Parker, Executive Officer of the PT-73 in the 1960s sitcom McHale's Navy with actors Ernest Borgnine, and the late Joe Flynn. In addition to Flynn, he also got along well with series' lead, Ernest Borgnine, and had a wonderful on- and off-screen chemistry. As of 2009, Conway is still best friends with Borgnine, in fact, Conway mentioned in an interview that he lives not too far away from his mentor. Afterwards, he starred in a string of series. 1967's Rango starred Conway as an incompetent Texas Ranger.

The Tim Conway Show

In the 1970s, The Tim Conway Show paired Tim with Joe Flynn of McHale's Navy in a sitcom set in the confined set of a DC-3. Having "nowhere to run", this pressurized situation was ideal for the fast repartee of the lead actors. Tim got his own hour-long variety show, oddly named "The Tim Conway Razzle Dazzle Hour," which, as his other series had, folded quickly. Typical of his self-effacing humor, he ordered his car's license plate to reflect the usual duration of a Conway TV series: "13 WEEKS."

Conway was often paired with fellow funnyman Don Knotts in family films from Disney, including the popular The Apple Dumpling Gang series. In 1983, he starred in Ace Crawford, Private Eye, a parody of detective shows; it only lasted five episodes.

The Carol Burnett Show

Conway is probably best known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show where his unscripted antics often caused his fellow players to fall out of character by bursting out in laughter. For example, in a sketch where Conway and Harvey Korman are having a swordfight duel in medieval garb, Korman appears to run him through. Conway pulls the thin sword "out", looks at it as if it were a dipstick, and remarks, "Hmm... down a quart!" and Korman convulses. Such guffaws became so common that, whenever Conway did a sketch with Korman, cast members would place bets on how long it would take for Korman to break up.

On many episodes of the show, Conway would have Ernie Anderson in the audience and Carol would ask him to stand up and take a bow, without explanation, as if he were a famous celebrity beyond his Cleveland bailiwick.

Conway's work on the show earned him five Emmy Awards. Two of Conway's memorable characters on the Burnett Show were:

    * "The Old Man," whose shaggy white hair, slow speech, and shuffling gait ran counter to the much needed energy levels of the various occupations he was usually found in. His comic inability to get said jobs done — usually with slapstick results to himself, and with many an ad-lib — would both frustrate and 'break up' his fellow sketch performers.
    * "Mr. Tudball," a Swedish-American businessman whose intentions of running a 'ship-shape' office were usually sunk by the bored indifference of his secretary, "Mrs. Whiggins" (Burnett). Conway's stereotypical Swedish accent (especially when frustrated) added to the humor; for example, his attempts to pronounce his secretary's name came out as "Mrs. Ah-huh-whiggins". He would also use this accent for other characters, such as an inept dentist.

Conway could also get results with no dialogue, as in a sketch in which he played a tired businessman seeking restful sleep in his hotel — and pestered by a housefly, created only by a sound effect and Conway's gazing after it. After much struggle, he manages to get the fly out of the room through the window; after returning to bed, he hears a persistent knock on his door, gets up to answer it, and opens the door, letting the fly (who was doing the knocking) back in.

Another well-remembered skit, also without a word from Conway, featured him playing Simba, the lion raised by humans then released to the wild (seen in the film Born Free). Conway, told of the upcoming eviction from the comfortable home, caused Burnett and Korman to break up with an interminable process of packing to leave.

A prime example of his ability to make his co-stars laugh uncontrollably involved Lyle Waggoner as a captured American airman, with Conway as a stereotypical blond-haired Gestapo agent charged with his interrogation. Stating that "the Fuhrer" had taken particular interest, Conway produces a small Hitler handpuppet. With Conway providing a falsetto voice, the puppet suggests that singing might relax Waggoner's character to the point he is willing to talk. In a long, drawn-out fashion, the Hitler puppet sings "I've Been Working On the Railroad", and with each passing verse, Waggoner loses more of his composure, finally laughing hysterically when puppet-Hitler screeches, "FEE-FI-Fiddely-I-O!"

In the final season of the show, Conway produced one of his most hilarious ad libs during a family sketch. Playing the character of Mickey Hart, Conway reminisces about seeing a pair of Siamese elephants during a trip to the zoo, describing how they were connected at the trunk and the sound they made. Once Burnett gained her composure she turned to Vicki Lawrence to help get the script moving again, to which Lawrence quipped, "are you sure that little asshole is through?", causing Burnett to grab her mouth in shock and both Conway and Dick Van Dyke to fall to the floor in laughter.
Dorf

Conway's more recent work includes a series of satirical how-to videos in which he plays a diminutive, dark-haired Scandinavian known as Dorf (a variation on "dwarf"), reprising his goofy Mr. Tudball accent. The Dorf character first appeared in the 1987 film Dorf on Golf and has since appeared in seven other films on a variety of sports from baseball to auto racing. Dorf on Golf was remastered for DVD in 2007.
Other roles

Conway has guest starred such programs as ABC's Coach and Channing, the latter a drama about college life in the early 1960s. He starred in such films as The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) as Gangster Amos Tucker. Conway continues to appear in movies and has cameo appearances in TV series; most of these appearances showcase his comedic talent. Currently, Tim voices the character "Barnacle Boy" in a recurring role on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon sictom SpongeBob SquarePants; in this role, he is once again paired up as the sidekick to his old McHale's Navy co-star, Ernest Borgnine (who voices Mermaid Man, the "mentor" of Barnacle Boy). He appeared several times on the sitcom Married... With Children portraying Ephraim Wanker, the hillbilly father of Peg Bundy. Conway has also guest starred occasionally on the CBS sitcom Yes Dear, playing Tom Warner, the father of Anthony Clark's stuffy character, Greg, with Conway's old Carol Burnett Show co-star Vicki Lawrence playing his wife, Greg's overbearing mother. Conway appeared in animated form in a guest shot in the October 6, 1973 episode of The New Scooby Doo Movies, "The Spirited Spooked Sports Show." In 2003, he returned to television on the short-lived WB Network comedy, On The Spot. For Max Lucado's animated cartoon Hermie and Friends he provides the voice of the title character in all eight episodes so far. He has also appeared in The Simpsons.

During The Biography Channel's biography of Conway, Borgnine referred to Conway as "a credit to his profession" and Burnett said words to the effect that Conway's talent for comedy was only outstripped by his genuine kindness and good nature.

A fan of thoroughbred horse racing, and an occasional racehorse owner, Tim Conway is a co-founder, Vice President, and member of the Board of Directors of the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund.

Conway created a Collector's Edition DVD of new comedy sketches with friend, Harvey Korman; titled Together Again (2006), available on his official Web site.

Conway won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Bucky Bright in the 30 Rock episode "Subway Hero", which initially aired on April 17, 2008.

He voiced Freddy Frog and other characters in Garfield's Fun Fest.

On his 75th birthday, Conway was interviewed as a guest on The Bonnie Hunt Show and given a surprise cake by Bob Newhart.
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv234/southerngaming/tomconway.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k310/brian31rock/AUTOGRAPHS/Scan100561.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/15/09 at 3:09 pm


The birthday of the day...Don Johnson
Don Johnson (born Donnie Wayne Johnson; December 15, 1949) is an American actor known for his work in television and film. Johnson made his screen debut in the 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, but it wouldn't be until 1984 that Johnson would land his defining role. He played the lead role of Sonny Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success and fame. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges. Johnson is a Golden Globe winning actor for his role in Miami Vice, a winner of the APBA Offshore World Cup, and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to being an actor, he is also a singer, songwriter, producer, and director
Johnson studied drama at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His first major role was in the 1969 Los Angeles stage production of Fortune and Men's Eyes in which he played Smitty, the lead role. This exposure led to the quickly forgotten 1970 film The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart. He continued to work on stage, film and television without breaking out into stardom. His notable films from this period were Zachariah (1971), The Harrad Experiment (1973), Lollipop and Roses (1974), and A Boy and His Dog (1975).
Miami Vice

After years of struggling to establish himself as a TV actor (in such fare as Revenge of the Stepford Wives) and a string of failed pilots which were never followed by an actual TV series, in September 1984, Johnson's fortunes changed when he landed a starring role as Sonny Crockett in the cop series, Miami Vice. In this role, Johnson played an undercover police detective. He typically wore thousand dollar Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton t-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona...really a retooled 81 corvette (later a Ferrari Testarossa) and lived on a 42-foot (13 m) yacht with his pet alligator Elvis. Miami Vice was noted for its revolutionary use of music, cinematography, and imagery as well as a more glitzy take on the police drama genre.

In between seasons, Don Johnson gained further renown through several TV miniseries, such as the 1985 TV remake of The Long, Hot Summer.
Nash Bridges

Johnson later starred in the 1996-2001 drama Nash Bridges with Cheech Marin, Jaime P. Gomez and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Johnson played the title role of Nash Bridges, a detective for the San Francisco Police Department. In Nash Bridges Johnson was again paired with a flashy convertible car, this time an electric yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda.
2000s

In the fall of 2005, he briefly starred in The WB courtroom television drama show Just Legal as a jaded lawyer with a very young and idealistic protegé/partner (Jay Baruchel); the show was canceled in October 2005 after just three episodes aired. In January 2007, Johnson began a run in the London West End production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit.

Don Johnson also has a role in the Norwegian comedy Lange Flate Ballær 2 ("Long Flat Balls II"), directed by Harald Zwart. The movie was launched March 14, 2008 in Norway, with Johnson making an appearance at the premiere. He continues his career as actor in several new movies, as well as celebrity appearances at county fairs.
Music

Johnson released two albums of pop music in the 1980s, one in 1986 and the other in 1989. His single "Heartbeat", the title track from his first album, reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Previously, Johnson worked with Gregg Allman and Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers, co-writing the songs "Blind Love" and "Can't Take It with You" with Dickie Betts, which appeared on their 1979 album, Enlightened Rogues.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa186/SLJRmv2007/untitled.jpg
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss167/nashbridges2009/don-johnson-39798.jpg
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy81/Dew17_bucket/donjohnson.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/Tealanne1/DJ32.jpg



and Heartbeat was just a one hit wonder in 1986.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/15/09 at 4:15 pm



and Heartbeat was just a one hit wonder in 1986.

Yes it was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/15/09 at 4:16 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gggcZvvZLeo


Gotta love the bell bottoms & platform shoes.  :D :D ;D ;D ;D




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/16/09 at 5:17 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gggcZvvZLeo


Gotta love the bell bottoms & platform shoes.  :D :D ;D ;D ;D




Cat

Missy and I both love this song :)..Thanks Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/16/09 at 5:22 am

The word of the day...Hill
A hill is an area of land that is higher than the land that surrounds it.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss66/coupleschoice/dancingfossils.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69/sentinel130/DSCN9626.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Linz98144/DSC01470.jpg
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww332/Pauchx15/1205534832628.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd341/beezabryan2/tanhill2004-6.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/x-Gladiator-x/Our-DVD-Collection/18.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/x-Gladiator-x/Our-DVD-Collection/184.jpg
http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af230/JayBleezzyy/Copyofstarscouplee.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/big_bear/Profile/St%20Johns/pbpic3337656.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s73/myeyesrsore/hill.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/16/09 at 5:25 am

The birthday of the day...Steven Bochco
Steven Ronald Bochco (born December 16, 1943) is an American television producer and writer. He has developed a number of popular television hits including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue, as well as some notable flops such as Cop Rock.
Career

Bochco went to work for Universal Pictures as a writer and then story editor on Ironside, Columbo, McMillan and Wife and the short-lived Lorne Greene and Ben Murphy series, Griff, as well as Delvecchio and The Invisible Man. He wrote the screenplay for the 1968 TV movie The Counterfeit Killer and worked on Silent Running (1972) and Double Indemnity (1973). He left Universal in 1978 to go to MTM Enterprises where he had greater scope for producing. His first effort there was the short-lived CBS police drama Paris, notable as the first show on which James Earl Jones played a lead role.

He achieved major success for NBC with the police drama Hill Street Blues. It ran from 1981 to 1987 and Bochco was credited as co-creator and also wrote and produced. The series also garnered considerable critical acclaim and many awards, and was nominated for a total of 98 Emmy Awards throughout its run. Bochco was fired from MTM in 1985 following the failure of Bay City Blues (1983).

Bochco moved to 20th Century Fox (which now owns the MTM library) where he co-created and produced L.A. Law (1986–1994) which aired on NBC. This series was also widely acclaimed and a regular award winner, but also achieved far higher ratings success than Hill Street Blues had enjoyed.

In 1987, Bochco co-created the half-hour dramedy Hooperman which starred John Ritter but was canceled after two seasons, despite Bochco offering to take over direct day-to-day control of a third season. Hooperman was part of a lucrative deal with ABC in 1987 to create and produce ten new TV series, which prompted Bochco to form Steven Bochco Productions. From this deal came Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989–1993) and the 1990 musical flop Cop Rock, which combined straight police drama with live-action Broadway singing and dancing. It was one of his most high-profile failures. In 1992, Bochco created an animated television series, Capitol Critters, along with Nat Mauldin and Michael Wagner.

After a lull, Bochco co-created the long-running NYPD Blue (1993–2005) with David Milch. Initially controversial at the time, the show was created with the express intention of changing the nature of network one-hour drama to compete with the more adult fare broadcast on cable networks. Other projects in this period that failed to take off include Murder One (1995–1997), Brooklyn South (1997), City of Angels (2000), Philly (2001), and Over There (2005). All five shows failed to match Bochco's earlier success though Murder One and Over There garnered critical praise and have developed cult followings.

In 2005, Bochco took charge of Commander in Chief (2005–2006) which was the creation of Rod Lurie and brought in a new writing team. However, in spring 2006, he left the show because of conflicts with ABC, and shortly afterward the program was canceled. Bochco described his experience on the show as "horrible." In 2006 Bochco produced a pilot ABC show, Hollis and Rae, and was reported at the same time to be developing a baseball drama and another legal drama for ABC in partnership with Chris Gerolmo.

It was announced in March 2007 that he has taken his first steps into internet TV with the 44-episode Cafe Confidential, each episode being 60-seconds of unscripted "confessions" by members of the public. Yet another legal drama entitled Raising the Bar is in production for TNT, this time in partnership with David Feige. Ten episodes were initially ordered by the network, and a further 15 were ordered for a second season in 2009.

According to an interview with Bochco published in September 2007, he is now winding down his involvement with network television, feeling that his tastes and current fashions in TV drama no longer coincide. "The network executives stay the same age and I keep getting older and it creates a different kind of relationship. When I was doing my stuff at NBC with Brandon (Tartikoff) and Hill Street, we were contemporaries," says Bochco. "When I sit down (now), they're sitting in a room with someone who's old enough to be their father and I'm not sure they want to sit in a room with their fathers."

Bochco has recently argued that the new home for quality prime time drama is cable, where "the atmosphere is far friendlier and the creative environment more conducive to doing original work", and that "most of what's passing for primetime drama these days isn't very good."

His impact on the nature of American prime time network television drama is considerable: prior to Hill Street Blues it was rare for American straight drama shows to have story arcs, i.e. several stories running over many episodes (with the exception of prime time soap operas such as Dallas). It was also rare to have a large regular cast. The structure of the modern "ensemble" television drama comes from Bochco who many regard as having changed the "language" of television drama.
Personal life

He married actress Barbara Bosson in 1969, who appeared as a regular on Hill Street Blues. They had two children before divorcing in 1997. He is currently married to Dayna Kalins (m. August 12, 2000). His son, Jesse Bochco, by his first wife, was a producer/director on NYPD Blue and directed the pilot episode of Raising the Bar. Jesse Bochco also appeared as Captain Furillo's son, Frank Jr. (with Bosson playing his mother) on Hill Street Blues, as well as a director in his own right. Jesse has directed several episodes of his father's shows, including NYPD Blue, Philly, Over There and Raising the Bar.
Awards
Emmy Awards

    * 1981 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
    * 1981 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues, "Hill Street Station" (premiere episode)
    * 1982 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
    * 1982 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues, "Freedom's Last Stand"
    * 1983 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
    * 1984 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
    * 1987 Outstanding Drama Series, for L.A. Law
    * 1987 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for L.A. Law, "The Venus Butterfly"
    * 1989 Outstanding Drama Series, for L.A. Law
    * 1995 Outstanding Drama Series, for NYPD Blue

Humanitas Prize

    * 1981 60-minute Category, for Hill Street Blues
    * 1999 90-Minute Category, for NYPD Blue

Edgar Awards

    * 1982 Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay, for Hill Street Blues, "Hill Street Station"
    * 1995 Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay, for NYPD Blue, "Simone Says"

Directors Guild of America

    * 1999 Diversity Award

Writers Guild of America

    * 1994 Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/PagboZ/sbochco_lowres.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/16/09 at 5:27 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and film director, as well as one of the muses of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. A winner of the Golden Globe, Ullmann has also been nominated for both the Palme d'Or and twice for the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award.
She played lead in nine films by Bergman. A psychological actress, she was the object of critical acclaim during the 1960s and 1970s (awards include three Best Actress prizes from the National Society of Film Critics, two from the National Board of Review, a threesome from the New York Film Critics Circle, and one Golden Globe as well as a LAFCA honor).

Her work with Bergman, especially in Scenes from a Marriage, turned her into a 1970s feminist and cultural icon, as well as one of the most respected actresses. In addition, her Nordic red-blond looks fit the 1970s vogue. Ullmann was nominated twice for an Academy Award (for The Emigrants and Face to Face), and published two autobiographies (Changing and Choices) while out of work in the late 1970s. At this time Ullmann appeared with Laurence Olivier in Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977).

Two of Ullmann's flops were musical adaptations of classic works. The film version of Lost Horizon was a critical and commercial disaster, and the Broadway production of I Remember Mama underwent numerous revisions during a long preview period, then closed after 108 performances.

Ullmann has been a film director (notably with Bergman drama Faithless) and reprised her role from Scenes from a Marriage in 2003's Saraband, Bergman's final telemovie. Faithless was close to being awarded the Golden Palm and Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival, but it and the female lead (Swedish actress Lena Endre) lost out to Dancer in the Dark and Björk's performance in it.

Ullmann chaired the jury of Cannes Film Festival in 2002. She introduced her daughter, Linn Ullmann, to the audience with the words: "Here comes the woman whom Ingmar Bergman loves the most". Her daughter was about to receive the Prize of Honour on her famous father's behalf. In 2006 Ullmann gave up a dream of making a film based on Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House". According to her, the Norwegian Film Fund worked against her and writer Kjetil Bjørnstad. Australian actress Cate Blanchett and British actress Kate Winslet were intended for lead roles in the movie.

Ullmann narrated the Canada/Norway co-produced animated short film The Danish Poet, which won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007. She was the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.

Ullmann is currently directing actress Cate Blanchett in A Streetcar Named Desire (play) at the Sydney Theatre Company in Australia. The play's premiere will be in September 2009 and conclude in October 2009, and the production began on December 1, 2009 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the United States.
Private life

In addition to Norwegian, Ullmann speaks Swedish, English and other European languages. She is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and has traveled widely for the organization. She is also co-founder and honorary chair of the Women's Refugee Commission. In 2005, King Harald V of Norway made Ullmann a Commander with Star of the Order of St Olav. In 2006, she received a Ph.D. honoris causa from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Ullmann has been married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to Dr Hans Jacob Stang, a Norwegian psychiatrist, whom she divorced in 1965. According to her biographer, Ketil Bjørnstad, the marriage was marred by infidelities on both sides. In the 1980s, she married Boston real estate developer Donald Saunders, whom she divorced in 1995. Nevertheless, in 2007 the couple still lived together.

She has one child, Linn Ullmann, fathered by Ingmar Bergman according to her autobiography Changing in 1977 but born while Ullmann was married to Stang. Ullmann has two grandchildren, a boy and a girl, of her daughter's two marriages.
Filmography
As actress
Year Film Role Notes
1966 Persona Elisabeth Vogler
1968 Shame Eva Rosenberg Guldbagge Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Hour of the Wolf Alma Borg National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
1969 The Passion of Anna Anna Fromm
1971 The Emigrants Kristina Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Night Visitor Ester Jenks
1972 Cries and Whispers Maria (and her mother) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Pope Joan Pope Joan
1973 Scenes from a Marriage Marianne David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
40 Carats Ann Stanley Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Lost Horizon Katherine
1974 Zandy's Bride Hannah Lund
The Abdication Queen Kristina
1976 Face to Face Dr. Jenny Isaksson Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1977 The Serpent's Egg Manuela Rosenberg
A Bridge Too Far Kate Ter Horst
1978 Autumn Sonata Eva David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
1984 The Bay Boy Mrs. Campbell
1987 Gaby: A True Story Sari
Farewell Moscow David di Donatello for Best Actress
1988 La amiga María San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
1989 The Rose Garden Gabriele Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1991 Mindwalk Sonia Hoffman
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes Narrator (voice)
1992 The Long Shadow Katherine
1994 Drømspel Ticket Seller
Zorn Emma Zorn (TV)
2003 Saraband Marianne (TV)
2006 The Danish Poet Narrator (voice)
2008 Through a Glass, Darkly Grandmother
As director
Year Film Notes
1992 Sofie Montreal World Film Festival Special Grand Prize of the Jury
Montreal World Film Festival Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
Montreal World Film Festival Most Popular Film
1995 Kristin Lavransdatter (from the novel by Sigrid Undset)
1996 Private Confessions Nominated — Chicago International Film Festival Gold Hugo
Screened at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival
2000 Faithless Amanda Ecumenical Film Award
Goya Award for Best European Film
Nominated - Palme d'Or, 2000 Cannes Film Festival
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww215/magicworksofib/Actors/Liv%20Ullmann/ullmann-1.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww215/magicworksofib/Actors/Liv%20Ullmann/ullmann-18.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww215/magicworksofib/Actors/Liv%20Ullmann/ullmann-20.jpg
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww215/magicworksofib/Actors/Liv%20Ullmann/ullmann-26.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/16/09 at 5:30 am

* Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Traffic, and Piñero. He currently stars on the A&E Network drama The Cleaner.
Bratt's best-known role has been that of Det. Rey Curtis on the television show Law & Order. In 1999, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on the series. His more popular films include Miss Congeniality, Blood in Blood out and Traffic. On June 23, 2009, Bratt appeared on The View to promote The Cleaner. He also appeared in an episode of the hit series Charmed as a demon.

On October 14, 2009, it was announced that Benjamin Bratt will guest-star on ABC's hit comedy, Modern Family, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bratt will play the ex-husband of Sofia Vergara's Gloria.

On October 23, it was announced that Bratt will return as Detective Reynaldo Curtis on Law & Order, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Curtis reunited with his former boss, Lt. Anita van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson), which aired on December 11, 2009. Bratt was nominated for a best supporting actor Emmy for the role in 1999. After four seasons, he left the show that same year to pursue a film career.
Awards and nominations

>ALMA Awards

2009 Category: Best Actor in Drama (Year in Television) for The Cleaner (2008) (TV)

2002 Category: Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for Pinero (2001)

1999 Category: Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990)

1999 Category: Outstanding Actor in Made-for-Television Movie or Mini-Series for Exiled (1998) (TV Movie)

1998 Category: Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990)

>Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

2001 Category: Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy for Miss Congeniality (2000)

>Emmy Awards

1999 Category: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990)

>Imagen Foundation Awards

2009 Category: Best Actor - Television for The Cleaner (2008) (TV)

>NCLR Bravo Awards

1996 Category: Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990)

>PRISM Awards

2009 Category: Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline for The Cleaner (2008) (TV)

>Razzie Awards

2005 Category: Worst Screen Couple for Catwoman (2004) shared with Halle Berry; Sharon Stone

2001 Category: Worst Screen Couple for The Next Best Thing (2000) shared with Madonna; Rupert Everett

>Screen Actors Guild Awards

2001 Category: Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture for Traffic (2000) shared with Steven Bauer; James Brolin; Don Cheadle

2000 Category: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990) shared with Angie Harmon; Steven Hill; Jesse L. Martin

1999 Category: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990) shared with Angie Harmon; Steven Hill; Carey Lowell

1998 Category: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990) shared with Steven Hill; Carey Lowell; S. Epatha Merkerson

1997 Category: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990) shared with Jill Hennessy; Steven Hill; Carey Lowell

1996 Category: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Law & Order (1990) shared with Jill Hennessy; Steven Hill; S. Epatha Merkerson
Filmography
Movies

    * One Good Cop (1991)
    * Shadowhunter (TV ) (1993)
    * Demolition Man (1993)
    * Blood In Blood Out (1993)
    * Clear and Present Danger (1994)
    * Texas (1994)
    * The River Wild (1994)
    * Follow Me Home (1996)
    * Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998) (TV)
    * The Next Best Thing (2000)
    * Red Planet (2000)
    * Miss Congeniality (2000)
    * Traffic (2000)
    * After the Storm (2001)
    * Piñero (2001)
    * Abandon (2002)
    * The Woodsman (2004)
    * Catwoman (2004)
    * Thumbsucker (2005)
    * The Great Raid (2005)
    * Love in the Time of Cholera (2008)
    * Trucker (2008)
    * La Mission (2009)
    * Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) (voice of Manny)

Television series

    * Nasty Boys (1989-1990)
    * Law & Order (1990, 1995-1999 & 2009)
    * E-Ring (2005)
    * The Andromeda Strain (2008 miniseries)
    * The Cleaner (2008-2009)
    * We Shall Remain (2009)
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/FARAHANA89/benjamin_bratt_03.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k178/redrocdiva/benjamin_bratt_03.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/16/09 at 5:45 am

I feel over the hill.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/16/09 at 12:31 pm


I feel over the hill.

I am ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/16/09 at 1:12 pm


The word of the day...worker
a person who works at a specific occupation; "he is a good worker"
sterile member of a colony of social insects that forages for food and cares for the larvae
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/ongxangrom/Picture062.jpg
http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/jdwandassociates/TWBLogoSealBrownBoldResized-1.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww225/SAMARION359/103_0242.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/BROTHERBOB1228/PLACES/1099829New-York-Construction-Worker.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/boydlion/JBC%20Airguns/JBC%20Pistol/IMG_5248.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/lonelyjew/worker.jpg
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w343/wkforce/depressed_worker.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h259/kafumbly/ants/Heteroponeraworkerant.jpg
Yeap!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/16/09 at 4:47 pm

There's also Benny Hill.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/09 at 4:38 am

The word or phrase of the day...Shooting Star(s)
A shooting star is a piece of rock or metal that burns very brightly when it enters the Earth's atmosphere from space, and is seen from Earth as a bright star travelling very fast across the sky.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd52/ardiyanavita/Tattoo%20Pictures/shooting-star-tattoos.jpg
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww139/starlightjewelry/S7300052.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af202/aliasharina/illusions/shutnstar.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx295/pickandrock/IMG_9282.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn58/coreyphagist/star.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/ctina08/Shadow%20Hearts/Shadow%20Hearts%201/Stuff/tomeoftheshootingstar.jpg
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/zaco324/shooting_star.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh220/baileymarie1793/shooting_star.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/09 at 4:42 am

The birthday of the day...Paul Rodgers
Paul Bernard Rodgers, born 17 December 1949, is an English rock singer-songwriter best known for being a member of Free and Bad Company. Both bands experienced international success in the 1970s. Before establishing a career as a solo artist, he was also a member of The Firm and The Law. He has recently toured and recorded with Queen. Rodgers goes by the nickname "The Voice". He is ranked number 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".
Rodgers was born in the northern English town of Middlesbrough. He played bass (he later moved onto vocals) in local band The Roadrunners, which just before leaving Middlesbrough for the London music scene changed its name to The Wildflowers. Other members of this band were Micky Moody (later of Whitesnake) and Bruce Thomas (later of Elvis Costello and The Attractions). Rodgers appeared on the British music scene in 1968 as singer/songwriter for bluesy rockers Free. In 1970, they shot up the international radio charts with "All Right Now", which Rodgers wrote with the group's bassist Andy Fraser. It was a number one hit in more than 20 territories and recognised by ASCAP in 1990 for receiving more than a million radio plays in the US alone. The song played a pivotal role in introducing Rodgers's stylistic metier, while helping to establish the sound of the British blues/rock invasion. At the time, Free and Led Zeppelin were the biggest grossing British acts. Free released four top five albums with a combination of blues, ballads and rock. The Multi Million Award was given to Paul Rodgers in 2000 by the British Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed two million radio plays in the UK.
1970s: Bad Company
Main article: Bad Company

Rodgers formed his next band, Bad Company, with Mick Ralphs, former guitarist of Mott the Hoople. Rodgers said: "Mick and I were trying to come up with names for the band. When I called him and said 'Bad Company', he dropped the phone."

Bad Company toured successfully from 1973 to 1982, and had several hits such as "Feel Like Making Love", "Can't Get Enough", "Shooting Star", "Bad Company", and "Run With The Pack". Rodgers also showcased his instrumental talents on several tracks: "Bad Company" and "Run With The Pack" featured him on piano; "Rock And Roll Fantasy" on guitar; and on the ballad "Seagull" Rodgers played all of the instruments. Bad Company earned six platinum albums until Rodgers left in 1982 at the height of their fame to spend time with his young family.
1980s

In the early 1980s, it was rumoured that Rodgers would sing with The Rossington-Collins Band (made of up the survivors of Lynyrd Skynyrd), In October 1983, Rodgers released his first solo LP Cut Loose. He composed all of the music and played all of the instruments. The album peaked at a disappointing number 135 on the Billboard's Pop Albums chart.

When his friend Jimmy Page started to come around to his house, guitar in hand and Led Zeppelin at an end, the duo's first live pairing was on the US ARMS (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis) Tour (rock music's first big charity fundraiser) which had first been mooted by Eric Clapton and, besides Rodgers and Page, would include Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood and others. The inspiration behind ARMS had been former Small Faces/Faces member Ronnie Lane's own struggle with M.S. This led to Rodgers and Page's further teaming in the group The Firm , which resulted in two albums and two tours. Both Firm world tours managed only average attendance. Despite being panned by critics The Firm's two albums, The Firm and Mean Business, achieved moderate sales success and produced the radio hits "Radioactive" on which Rodgers played the guitar solo, "Satisfaction Guaranteed", and, in the UK, "All The King's Horses".
1990s

The Law, Rodgers's 1991 musical venture with former The Who and Faces drummer Kenney Jones, produced Billboard's number one AOR chart hit "Laying Down The Law" written by Rodgers, but the album peaked at number 126 on the Billboard's Pop Albums chart. A never-released second album can be found on the bootleg market. The album is often referred to as The Law II.

Rodgers acknowledged the influence of Jimi Hendrix by collaborating with Slash, Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys (Buddy Miles and Billy Cox) and recorded the track "I Don't Live Today", on the Hendrix tribute album In From The Storm. Then Rodgers teamed with Journey guitarist Neal Schon and released The Hendrix Set, a live 5-track CD, recorded in 1993 with Rodgers' interpretations of Hendrix songs. A Canadian and US tour followed.

His Grammy-nominated solo CD, Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters was released in 1993. Rodgers wrote the title track and was backed by guitarists Brian May, Gary Moore, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer, Slash & Trevor Rabin to name a few.

For Woodstock's 25th anniversary in 1994, Rodgers pulled together drummer Jason Bonham, bassist Andy Fraser (from Free), guitarists Slash and Schon at the last moment to perform as the Paul Rodgers Rock and Blues Revue.

In 1995 he formed a new band consisting of Jaz Lochrie on bass, Jimmy Copley on drums and Geoff Whitheorn on guitar. The band (The Paul Rodgers Band) toured extensively in Europe, USA and in the UK until 1998 and spawned three albums - Now, Live and Electric.

New studio album of 1997, Now to be re-released as a part of his first double CD set, Now and Live charted internationally in the top 30. The single "Soul Of Love" remained in rotation on more than 86 US radio stations for six months. His 1997 world tour included Russia, Japan, Canada, USA, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Brazil, Greece and Argentina.

Rodgers and Bad Company hit Billboard's US BDS charts with the number one single "Hey, Hey" in 1999, one of four new tracks off Bad Company's The Original Bad Company Anthology. The second single release, Rodgers's "Hammer Of Love", reached number two. For the first time in 20 years, all the original members of Bad Company toured the USA.
2000-present

Rodgers focused on his solo career in 2000 and released Electric, his 6th solo CD. In its debut week, the single "Drifters" was US rock radio's number one on the Most Added FMQB Hot Trax list, number two on Most Added R&R Rock and number three on Most Added Album Net Power Cuts. "Drifters" remained in the top 10 for eight weeks on Billboard's Rock charts. That year, he played sold-out concerts in England, Scotland, Australia, United States and Canada. After his appearance on TV's Late Show with David Letterman in New York, he met and jammed with B.B. King. Rodgers said: "The thrill was definitely not gone... for me. B.B. is a blues giant." That same year, Paul Rodgers, Jimmie Vaughan, Levon Helm, bluesmen Hubert Sumlin, Johnnie Johnson, James Cotton and others performed a sold out concert in Cleveland as a Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters.

The spring of 2001, Rodgers returned to Australia, England and Scotland for the second run of sold-out shows. That summer he toured the US with Bad Company.

Paul Rodgers and Bad Company released their first live CD and DVD Merchants of Cool in 2002. It included all the hits and a new single "Joe Fabulous" penned by Rodgers which hit number one at Classic Rock Radio and Top 20 on mainstream rock radio in the USA. In its debut week, the DVD sales sound scanned at number three Canada, and number four in the US. The Joe Fabulous Tour kicked off in the USA and sold out in the UK. While in London, Rodgers performed with Jeff Beck at the Royal Festival Hall. Rodgers was invited by long-time fan Tony Blair to perform at the Labour Party Conference. "I had the entire Labour Party singing the chorus of "Wishing Well", a song I wrote and shared with Free, ...'love in a peaceful world'. 'Love in a peaceful world'... over and over and over hoping the words would sink in but we went to war" recalled Rodgers. Twice in 2002, Rodgers performed on Britain's TV show Top of the Pops 2.

In 2003, Rodgers toured as a solo artist for the first time in two years playing 25 exclusive US dates. In his solo band are guitarist Howard Leese (Heart), bassist Lynn Sorensen and drummer Jeff Kathan. BBC TV/radio host Jools Holland invited Rodgers to record "I Told The Truth" for Holland's album Small World Big Band. The CD also featured Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Peter Gabriel, Michael McDonald, Ringo Starr and others. This led to Rodgers performing two sold-out nights at London's Royal Albert Hall with Holland and his 18-piece rhythm and blues orchestra, and several UK TV appearances.He also appeared with Jeff Beck, performing some songs from Beck's back catalogue (along with several other notable musicians, including John Mclaughlin, Roger Waters and the White Stripes) for part of a week-long series of charity concerts put on by Jeff Beck at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

In autumn 2004, Rodgers took part in an all-star line-up of some of the world's greatest guitarists and thousands of fans gathered at London's Wembley Arena to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. In 2005, he took part in the 50th anniversary celebration of the Four Tops.

Early in 2004, Rodgers joined Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox (Hendrix's Cry of Love), Buddy Guy, Joe Satriani, Kid Rock's Kenny Olson, Alice in Chain's Jerry Cantrell, Double Trouble, Indigenous, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and blues legend Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters) and performed three sold-out shows in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco as "Experience Hendrix". Once again, Rodgers only played 25 concerts in the USA and Canada. He performed at Wembley for the fiftieth anniversary celebration for the Fender Stratocaster, along with David Gilmour who played Strat #001, Ronnie Wood, Brian May, Joe Walsh, Gary Moore, Rodgers sang and played a custom designed Jaguar Fender Strat. Rodgers was invited by The Four Tops to be part of their fiftieth anniversary TV/DVD concert celebration at Motown's Opera House and performed alongside Aretha Franklin, Dennis Edwards & The Temptations Revue, Sam Moore, Mary Wilson, Ashford and Simpson and The Four Tops. "The call from THE TOPS' Duke Fakir just about knocked me out. I've been a fan since I was a boy and had no idea that they even knew I existed!" exclaimed Rodgers. For years the media and fellow musicians have referred to Rodgers as "The Voice"'. But The Four Tops' Duke Fakir says, "Paul Rodgers is the soul of Rock!"
Paul Rodgers and Queen at the NEC, Birmingham, 6 May 2005.

In late 2004, after a successful live television performance, two of the four members of the British rock group Queen proposed a collaboration with Rodgers, in which he would sing lead vocals on a European tour. Rodgers thus joined Brian May and Roger Taylor (former bassist John Deacon retired in the late 1990s), with the group billed as Queen + Paul Rodgers and they subsequently toured worldwide in 2005 and 2006. The participants clearly stated, including on Brian May's own website, "that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as: "Queen + Paul Rodgers", not replacing the late Freddie Mercury". The group subsequently released a live album with songs from Queen, Bad Company and Free, called Return of the Champions, and a DVD of the same name. Both featured live recordings from their Sheffield Hallam FM Arena concert on 9 May 2005. The DVD features "Imagine" from Hyde Park. "For one glorious summer" opined music critic Sean Michaels "we were all Paul Rodgers".. Another DVD was released in 2006 from a live performance in Japan, called Super Live in Japan.

Queen + Paul Rodgers also released a single featuring "Reaching Out", "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Fat Bottomed Girls".

The summer of 2006 saw Rodgers again focused on his solo career with a world tour, which commenced in Austin Texas, U.S. in June, then on to Japan, finishing in Glasgow, Scotland, in October 2006.

On 15 August 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website that "Queen + Paul Rodgers" will begin producing a new studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at Roger Taylor's home.

In April 2007 Rodgers released a live album of his 2006 tour, recorded in Glasgow, Scotland 13 October 2006, with a DVD of the same show released the following month.

On 27-28 December 2007, Rodgers surprised many by joining the Trans-Siberian Orchestra during their Winter 2007 Tour in Houston, Texas and Dallas, Texas. Unannounced, he joined the band at the end of their show to sing "Bad Company" and "All Right Now".

Rogers was a judge for the 6th and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

On 27 June 2008 Rodgers and Queen performed at the Concert for Nelson Mandela to celebrate Mandela's 90th birthday.

On 14 May 2009, Paul announced he was ending his 5 year long collaboration with Queen, although did not rule out the possibility of working with them again.

On 17 November 2009, it was announced Paul would join the other surviving members of Bad Company for an 8 date U.K. tour in April 2010.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z182/letshaveaparty_2007/paulrodgers1.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t111/Mule_2007/paulrodgers.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o171/askinfreak/paulrodgers.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p219/sam_cucuo/PaulRodgers2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/09 at 5:20 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Bill Pullman
William James "Bill" Pullman (born December 17, 1953) is an American film, television, and stage actor.
During the 1980s, he primarily worked with theatre companies around New York and Los Angeles, California. His first prominent movie role was in the film Ruthless People (which starred Danny DeVito and Bette Midler). Other notable films included the lead in Spaceballs (1987), The Serpent and the Rainbow (opposite Zakes Mokae), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Independence Day (1996), and Lost Highway (1997). Pullman continues to act in both theatre and in movies, independent and big budget. His more recent films have been The Grudge and Scary Movie 4 (the latter ironically heavily spoofing The Grudge though Pullman's part spoofed The Village).

From February 2001 until February 2002, Pullman starred with Mercedes Ruehl, in Edward Albee's play The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? on Broadway. The play won several awards: 2002 Tony Award for Best Play; 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play; 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Pullman was nominated, but did not win, the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play. He starred as Dr. Richard Massey in the End of Days miniseries, Revelations.He may co-star with Val Kilmer in the new Lewis and Clark movie, if it ever materializes. Pullman starred in Edward Albee's Peter and Jerry, at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre in New York. Pullman received a second Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play for Peter and Jerry in 2008.

In addition to acting, Pullman is a creative writer. His first play, Expedition 6, is about the International Space Station mission Expedition 6 that was in orbit at the time that the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry, grounding the U.S. space shuttle program, which was to provide the vehicle for the crew's return to earth. The play opened at San Francisco's Magic Theater in September 2007.

Most recently, Pullman joined the cast of Peacock starring opposite Susan Sarandon, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Josh Lucas. Filming will take place in Des Moines, Iowa. He will appear on Broadway in a production of David Mamet's Oleanna, co-starring Julia Stiles.

Pullman is also a Jury Member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.
Personal life

Pullman is married to Tamara Hurwitz, and has three children, daughter Maesa (born 1988), and sons Jack (born 1989), and Lewis (born 1993).

Jack Pullman, a student at Warren Wilson College near Asheville, was arrested for assault and possessing moonshine on October 27, 2008.

He lost his sense of smell in college after an injury left him in a coma for two days.

Pullman is an avid bird watcher and co-owns a resort in Paradise Valley, AZ with Mike Tyson to house Tyson's 350 pigeons.

Pullman co-owns a cattle ranch with his brother in Montana, near the town of Whitheall, where he lives part-time.

American cultural critic Greil Marcus used Pullman as a major piece of his argument in the book The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice. In the chapter entitled "American Berserk: Bill Pullman's Face", Marcus argued that many different aspects of American culture could be clearly seen in Pullman's facial expressions in various films.

On May 24, 2008, Pullman was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he received his graduate degree.
Filmography

    * Ruthless People (1986) - Earl Mott
    * Spaceballs (1987) - Lone Starr
    * The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) - Dennis Alan
    * Rocket Gibraltar (1988) - Crow Black
    * The Accidental Tourist (1988) - Julian
    * Cold Feet (1989) - Buck Latham
    * Brain Dead (1990) - Dr. Rex Martin
    * The Peter North Story (1990) - Peter North
    * Sibling Rivalry (1990) - Nicholas Meany
    * Going Under (1990) - Capt. Biff Banner
    * Bright Angel (1991) - Bob
    * Liebestraum (1991) - Paul Kessler
    * Newsies (1992) - Bryan Denton
    * A League of Their Own (1992) - Bob Hinson
    * Crazy in Love (1992) (TV) - Nick Symonds
    * Singles (1992) - Doctor Jamison
    * Nervous Ticks (1992) - York Daley
    * Sommersby (1993) - Orin Meecham
    * Sleepless in Seattle (1993) - Walter
    * Malice (1993) - Andy Safian
    * Mr. Jones (1993) (uncredited) - Construction Site Foreman
    * The Favor (1994) - Peter
    * Wyatt Earp (1994) - Ed Masterson
    * The Last Seduction (1994) - Clay Gregory
    * While You Were Sleeping (1995) - Jack Callaghan
    * Casper (1995) - Dr. James Harvey
    * Mr. Wrong (1996) - Whitman Crawford
    * Independence Day (1996) - President Thomas J. Whitmore
    * Mistrial (1996) (TV) - Steve Donohue
    * Lost Highway (1997) - Fred Madison
    * The End of Violence (1997) - Mike Max
    * Merry Christmas, George Bailey (1997) (TV) - George Bailey
    * Zero Effect (1998) - Daryl Zero
    * Lake Placid (1999) - Jack Wells
    * Brokedown Palace (1999) - 'Yankee' Hank Green
    * History Is Made at Night (1999) - Harry Howe/Ernie Halliday
    * The Virginian (2000) (TV) - The Virginian
    * The Guilty (2000) - Callum Crane
    * Titan A.E. (2000) (voice) - Capt. Joseph Korso
    * Lucky Numbers (2000) - Det. Pat Lakewood
    * Opening the Tombs of the Golden Mummies: Live (2000) (TV) - Co-Host
    * A Man Is Mostly Water (2001) - Parking Fascist
    * Ignition (2001) - Conor Gallagher
    * Igby Goes Down (2002) - Jason Slocumb
    * 29 Palms (2002) - The Ticket Clerk
    * Rick (2003) - Rick
    * Tiger Cruise (2004) (TV) - Cmdr. Dolan
    * The Grudge (2004) - Peter Kirk
    * Dear Wendy (2005) - Officer Krugsby
    * Revelations (2005) television Series - Richard Massey
    * Scary Movie 4 (2006) - Henry Hale
    * Alien Autopsy (2006) - Morgan Banner
    * Nobel Son (2007) - Max Mariner
    * You Kill Me (2007) - Dave
    * Surveillance (2008) - Sam Hallaway
    * Bottle Shock (2008) - Jim Barrett
    * Phoebe in Wonderland (2008) - Peter Lichten
    * Your Name Here (2008) - William J. Frick
    * Peacock (2009) - TBA
    * Kerosene Cowboys (2009)
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp346/imorgan67/Me_As_Bill_Pullman.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/jasonthegreat69/fun%20stuff/pullman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/09 at 5:25 am

* Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi (born December 17, 1974) is an American actor. His film credits include Saving Private Ryan, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar .
Ribisi began his career in network television with recurring and guest roles on a number of shows, including The New Leave It to Beaver, "Married With Children", The Wonder Years and My Two Dads. He entered the public eye with a prominent performance in The X-Files episode "D.P.O." (an episode that also starred Jack Black), as well as with his recurring role as Frank Jr., the brother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) on Friends. More recently, he has appeared in multiple episodes of My Name Is Earl, earning a 2007 Emmy nomination for his performance on the series.

Ribisi has appeared on the video of British band Keane's single "Crystal Ball", which was released worldwide on August 21, 2006. He appeared with Winona Ryder and John C. Reilly in Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's music video "Talk About the Blues". In September 2008, he appeared twice on the HBO comedy series Entourage.
Personal life

Ribisi was married to Mariah O'Brien from March 18, 1997 through November 3, 2001; the couple had a daughter, Lucia, born in December 1997 and named after the doomed heroine in the Donizetti opera, Lucia di Lammermoor.

Ribisi is an active Scientologist, and participated in the gala opening of Scientology's controversial "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" Museum in December 2005. His twin sister, Marissa, is also a Scientologist and is married to Scientologist indie-rocker Beck.
Filmography
Film
Year Film/TV Role Notes
1983 Still the Beaver Duffy Guthrie TV
1988-1999 My Two Dads Cory Kupkus TV
1990-1991 Blossom Mitchell TV
1991-1992 Davis Rules Skinner Buckley TV
1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom Pete Reyes TV
The Wonder Years Jeff Bilings TV
The Commish Joey Burke TV
Family Album Elvis DeMattis TV
1994 Walker, Texas Ranger Tony Kingston TV
Ellen Cashier TV
1995 The Outpost Scott
1996-2004 Friends Frank Buffay, Jr. TV
1996 SubUrbia Jeff
1997 First Love, Last Rites Joey
The Postman Bandit 20
1998 Saving Private Ryan T-5 Medic Irwin Wade
1999 The Other Sister Daniel McMann
2000 Boiler Room Seth Davis
The Gift Buddy Cole
Gone in Sixty Seconds Kip Raines
2001 According to Spencer Louis
2002 Heaven Filippo
2003 Basic Kendall
Cold Mountain Junior
I Love Your Work Gray Evans
Lost in Translation John
Masked and Anonymous Soldier
2004 Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Dexter "Dex" Dearborn
Flight of the Phoenix Elliott
2005 The Big White Ted
2006 10th & Wolf Joey
The Dead Girl Rudy
The Dog Problem Solo
2007 Gardener of Eden Vic
Perfect Stranger Miles Haley
2008 Spirit of the Forest Cebolo
2009 Avatar Parker Selfridge
Public Enemies Alvin Karpis
2010 Columbus Circle (post-production) Detective Paul Giardello
Middle Men Wayne Beering
The Other Side (in production) Sean Splinter
The Rum Diary (post-production) Moberg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m255/abundant_dreamer/ribisi.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o17/proske05/giovanni-ribisi.jpg


* Marissa Ribisi
Santina Marissa Ribisi (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress.
Ribisi's first major role was in the 1993 film Dazed and Confused. She wrote and acted in the film Some Girl in 1998, and has had roles in the films True Crime, The Brady Bunch Movie, Pleasantville, and Don's Plum. She has also appeared in television shows such as Felicity, Friends, Grace Under Fire and Watching Ellie, as well as the TV miniseries Tales of the City.

In October 2007, Ribisi launched a fashion line, Whitley Kros, with partner Sophia Banks.
Personal life

She married Beck Hansen in April 2004, shortly before giving birth to their son, Cosimo Henri. The couple's second child, daughter Tuesday, was born in 2007.

Like her husband, she is a Scientologist.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/thebrokenspoons/beck_ribisi180.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/thebrokenspoons/D67167.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/09 at 5:29 am

* Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich (born Milica Nataša Jovović Serbian: Милица Наташа Јововић/Milica Jovović; December 17, 1975) is a Ukrainian-born American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".

Jovovich began modeling at eleven, when Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other notable campaigns for L'Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, and Versace. In 1988, she had her first professional acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu, and later that year she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. Following more small television appearances like the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a french girl (she was 14 at the time then) on a Married with Children episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), the sequel to The Blue Lagoon. She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused alongside Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey. Jovovich then acted alongside Bruce Willis in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997), and later played the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In 2002, she starred in the video game adaptation Resident Evil, which spawned three sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2011).

In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released a critically acclaimed musical album, The Divine Comedy in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks as well; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich also has her own production company, Creature Entertainment
Jovovich's mother had "raised to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich in the Professional Actors school in California. In 1988, she appeared in her first professional role in the made for television film The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. Later that year she made her debut in a theatrically released picture with a small role, as Samantha Delongpre, in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction. Following roles on the television series Paradise (1988) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead as Lilli Hargrave in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). This sequel to The Blue Lagoon (1980) placed her opposite Brian Krause. Return to the Blue Lagoon led to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original) – Jovovich was often called by press the "Slavic Brooke Shields". The role also gained her controversy, much like Shields gained in The Blue Lagoon, for appearing nude at a young age. For her portrayal of Lili, Jovovich was nominated for both "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards.

In 1992, Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs. Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film Chaplin. 1993 saw Jovovich in the Richard Linklater cult film Dazed and Confused, in which she played Michelle Burroughs, on screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then real life boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Jovovich was heavily featured in the promotional material for the film, however, upon the film's release, she was upset to find her role was considerably trimmed from the original script. The bulk of Jovovich's role was to be shot on the last day of filming, however, she was misinformed of the date, and ultimately had one line in the film, "No", in addition to singing a line from "The Alien Song" from her album, The Divine Comedy. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, during which time she moved to Europe and began focusing on a music career.
Breakthrough (1997-2001)

Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson directed science fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who was the "supreme being". Jovovich said she "worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing" to acquire the role and impress Besson, whom she later married on December 14, 1997, but divorced in 1999. She took part in eight months of acting classes and karate practice prior to filming. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 400-word alien language for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the "ACE-bandage" costume, a revealing body suit made of medical bandages designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. The Fifth Element was often praised for its visual style and unique costumes, and film reviewer James Berardinelli, explained "Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue". Jovovich was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards. Jovovich's portrayal of Leeloo garnered a video game and a planned action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role to portray.

In 1998, Jovovich had a role in the Spike Lee drama He Got Game as abused prostitute Dakota Burns, appearing with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song If You Can't Say No by Lenny Kravitz. In 1999, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reuniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short length for the role. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Actress". The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. Afterwards, in 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson, in addition to providing vocals on the film's soundtrack. Afterwards, she portrayed bar owner, Lucia, in the British western film The Claim (2000), and the evil Katinka in the celebrity cameo laced comedy Zoolander (2001).
International success (2002-2006)

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002. Based on the CAPCOM video game series of the same name, she portrayed Alice, the film's heroine who fights a legion of zombies created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role of Alice because she and her brother had been fans of the video game franchise, saying, "It was exciting for me just watching him play, I could sit for 5 hours and we would sit all day and play this game." Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, save for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress' own life.

In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". Apocalypse received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, and "It's a good balance". The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal's faux trailer remake of Caligula, as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich's film, the science fiction/action thriller Ultraviolet, was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences and Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned, grossing $31 million worldwide. That year Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with English actor and DJ Matt Maurice.
Recent and future roles (2007-present)

In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in Resident Evil: Extinction, the third of the Resident Evil series. The film grossed an estimated US$24 million in 2,828 theaters on its opening weekend, topping the box office gross for that week. It opened stronger than its predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than Extinction). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich said that she would not appear in another action film "for a long time", expressing a desire to portray more diverse roles, but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a "real possibility". According to the March 9' issue of interview magazine, Milla has hinted that she will indeed be back to reprise her role as "Alice" in the fourth installment. During a trip to Chateau Marmont, Jovovich told paparazzi that she was going to start shooting "number 4" at the end of the year, hinting at the fourth Resident Evil film.

Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in Azazel in 2007, however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed until Summer 2008. Also in 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Filming began Spring 2008.

Jovovich is set to play Lucetta, the wife of a jailed arsonist (played by Edward Norton) in Stone, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.

Jovovich played the part of Dr. Abigail Tyler in the sci-fi thriller The Fourth Kind and will star in the psychological thriller Faces in the Crowd, which is written and directed by Julien Magnat; in the latter film, she plays the survivor of a serial killer’s attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces.

Jovovich will return for her role as Alice, in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series Afterlife, who is directed by her husband Paul W. S. Anderson
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1988 Two Moon Junction Samantha Delongpre
1991 Return to the Blue Lagoon Lilli Hargrave
1992 Kuffs Maya Carlton
Chaplin Mildred Harris
1993 Dazed and Confused Michelle Burroughs
1997 The Fifth Element Leeloo
1998 He Got Game Dakota Burns
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
2000 The Claim Lucia Limited release
2001 The Million Dollar Hotel Eloise Limited release
Zoolander Katinka Ingabogovinanana
2002 Resident Evil Alice
You Stupid Man Nadine
2003 Dummy Fangora "Fanny" Gurkel Limited release
No Good Deed Erin
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice
2005 Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula Drusilla Short film
2006 Ultraviolet Violet Song jat Shariff
2007 .45 Kat
Resident Evil: Extinction Alice
2008 The Palermo Shooting Herself
2009 A Perfect Getaway Cydney Anderson
The Fourth Kind Dr Abigal Tyler
Azazel Amalia Bezhetskaya in production
2010 Stone Lucetta in production
Resident Evil: Afterlife Alice in production; shooting began Sept. 2009
Faces in the Crowd Isabel Shooting March 2010
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k211/avalon_mystic/Character%20Pictures/3075172_gal.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k211/avalon_mystic/Character%20Pictures/3075162_gal.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/17/09 at 5:37 am

Some of those shooting star pics are cool!  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/17/09 at 5:40 am


The word or phrase of the day...Shooting Star(s)
A shooting star is a piece of rock or metal that burns very brightly when it enters the Earth's atmosphere from space, and is seen from Earth as a bright star travelling very fast across the sky.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd52/ardiyanavita/Tattoo%20Pictures/shooting-star-tattoos.jpg
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww139/starlightjewelry/S7300052.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af202/aliasharina/illusions/shutnstar.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx295/pickandrock/IMG_9282.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn58/coreyphagist/star.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/ctina08/Shadow%20Hearts/Shadow%20Hearts%201/Stuff/tomeoftheshootingstar.jpg
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/zaco324/shooting_star.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh220/baileymarie1793/shooting_star.jpg



I saved one of her pics as background wallpaper. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/09 at 6:19 am


Some of those shooting star pics are cool!  :)

Thanks :)

I saved one of her pics as background wallpaper. :)

I thought you might. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/17/09 at 1:16 pm


* Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi (born December 17, 1974) is an American actor. His film credits include Saving Private Ryan, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar .
Ribisi began his career in network television with recurring and guest roles on a number of shows, including The New Leave It to Beaver, "Married With Children", The Wonder Years and My Two Dads. He entered the public eye with a prominent performance in The X-Files episode "D.P.O." (an episode that also starred Jack Black), as well as with his recurring role as Frank Jr., the brother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) on Friends. More recently, he has appeared in multiple episodes of My Name Is Earl, earning a 2007 Emmy nomination for his performance on the series.

Ribisi has appeared on the video of British band Keane's single "Crystal Ball", which was released worldwide on August 21, 2006. He appeared with Winona Ryder and John C. Reilly in Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's music video "Talk About the Blues". In September 2008, he appeared twice on the HBO comedy series Entourage.
Personal life

Ribisi was married to Mariah O'Brien from March 18, 1997 through November 3, 2001; the couple had a daughter, Lucia, born in December 1997 and named after the doomed heroine in the Donizetti opera, Lucia di Lammermoor.

Ribisi is an active Scientologist, and participated in the gala opening of Scientology's controversial "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" Museum in December 2005. His twin sister, Marissa, is also a Scientologist and is married to Scientologist indie-rocker Beck.
Filmography
Film
Year Film/TV Role Notes
1983 Still the Beaver Duffy Guthrie TV
1988-1999 My Two Dads Cory Kupkus TV
1990-1991 Blossom Mitchell TV
1991-1992 Davis Rules Skinner Buckley TV
1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom Pete Reyes TV
The Wonder Years Jeff Bilings TV
The Commish Joey Burke TV
Family Album Elvis DeMattis TV
1994 Walker, Texas Ranger Tony Kingston TV
Ellen Cashier TV
1995 The Outpost Scott
1996-2004 Friends Frank Buffay, Jr. TV
1996 SubUrbia Jeff
1997 First Love, Last Rites Joey
The Postman Bandit 20
1998 Saving Private Ryan T-5 Medic Irwin Wade
1999 The Other Sister Daniel McMann
2000 Boiler Room Seth Davis
The Gift Buddy Cole
Gone in Sixty Seconds Kip Raines
2001 According to Spencer Louis
2002 Heaven Filippo
2003 Basic Kendall
Cold Mountain Junior
I Love Your Work Gray Evans
Lost in Translation John
Masked and Anonymous Soldier
2004 Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Dexter "Dex" Dearborn
Flight of the Phoenix Elliott
2005 The Big White Ted
2006 10th & Wolf Joey
The Dead Girl Rudy
The Dog Problem Solo
2007 Gardener of Eden Vic
Perfect Stranger Miles Haley
2008 Spirit of the Forest Cebolo
2009 Avatar Parker Selfridge
Public Enemies Alvin Karpis
2010 Columbus Circle (post-production) Detective Paul Giardello
Middle Men Wayne Beering
The Other Side (in production) Sean Splinter
The Rum Diary (post-production) Moberg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m255/abundant_dreamer/ribisi.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o17/proske05/giovanni-ribisi.jpg


* Marissa Ribisi
Santina Marissa Ribisi (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress.
Ribisi's first major role was in the 1993 film Dazed and Confused. She wrote and acted in the film Some Girl in 1998, and has had roles in the films True Crime, The Brady Bunch Movie, Pleasantville, and Don's Plum. She has also appeared in television shows such as Felicity, Friends, Grace Under Fire and Watching Ellie, as well as the TV miniseries Tales of the City.

In October 2007, Ribisi launched a fashion line, Whitley Kros, with partner Sophia Banks.
Personal life

She married Beck Hansen in April 2004, shortly before giving birth to their son, Cosimo Henri. The couple's second child, daughter Tuesday, was born in 2007.

Like her husband, she is a Scientologist.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/thebrokenspoons/beck_ribisi180.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/thebrokenspoons/D67167.jpg

I remember him on "The Wonder Years"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/17/09 at 1:17 pm


Thanks :)I thought you might. ;)



such beautiful pics,they're gorgeous. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 5:34 am

The word of the day...Park
A park is a public area of land with grass and trees, usually in a town, where people go in order to relax and enjoy themselves.
When you park a vehicle or park somewhere, you drive the vehicle into a position where it can stay for a period of time, and leave it there.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy186/FindingTheLight/Sets/Outside/Park.jpg
http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww204/Aj101_03/img061.jpg
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt265/Samurai-66/Autumn%20Album/Park.jpg
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr270/helloskylar26/SANY3670.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad294/groupiesslovemee/park.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh219/emilie101_photos/Picture021.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx107/buckrunprimitive/PICS109.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff185/juan147_02/southparkseason1full.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/sandyaabed/creative_park.jpg
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/scjones44/158.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 5:39 am

The birthday of the day...Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In a career spanning over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years his films began addressing such issues as The Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for 1993's Schindler's List and 1998's Saving Private Ryan. Four of Spielberg's films, Jaws (1975), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993), broke box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's personal net worth at $3.0 billion. In 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the twentieth century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation.
Rejecting offers to direct Jaws 2, King Kong and Superman, Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E. Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise. His next film, 1941, a big-budgeted World War II farce wasn't nearly as successful and though it grossed over $92.4 million dollars worldwide (and did make a small profit for co-producing studios Columbia and Universal) it was seen as a disappointment, mainly with the critics. It has since become a cult classic thanks to television showings and home video releases.

Spielberg then revisited his Close Encounters project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released Close Encounters: The Special Edition in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of Columbia, and as a condition of Spielberg revising the film, shot additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery). Nevertheless, the re-release was a moderate success, while the 2001 DVD release of the film restored the original ending.

Next, Spielberg teamed with Star Wars creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of the Indiana Jones films. The archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones was played by Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his Star Wars films as Han Solo). The film was considered a homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood. It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture). Raiders is still considered a landmark example of the action genre.
Steven Spielberg with President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan after a showing of E.T. at the White House

A year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was the story of a young boy and the alien whom he befriends, who was accidentally left behind by his people and is trying to get back home to outer space. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial went on to become the top-grossing film of all time. E.T. was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing films: Poltergeist (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of The Twilight Zone (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can"), and The Goonies (Spielberg, executive producer, also wrote the story on which the screenplay was based).

His next directorial feature was the Raiders prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with uncertainty for the material and script. This film and the Spielberg-produced Gremlins led to the creation of the PG-13 rating due to the high level of violence in films targeted at younger audiences. In spite of this, Temple of Doom is rated PG by the MPAA, even though it is the darkest and, possibly, most violent "Indy" film yet. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw.

In 1985, Spielberg released The Color Purple, an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination. The Color Purple is the second of two Spielberg films not to be scored by John Williams, the first being Duel.

In 1987, as China began opening to the world, Spielberg shot the first American film in Shanghai since the 1930s, an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale. The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues. Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.

After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery in a supporting role as Indy's father. The film earned generally positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film Batman, which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama Always, about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, Always was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.

In 1991, Spielberg directed Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland. Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed reviews, the film made over $300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget).

In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest grossing film ever.

Spielberg's next film, Schindler's List, was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 people from The Holocaust. Schindler's List earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of the Holocaust survivors. In 1997 the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made (#9) which moved up to (#8) when the list was remade in 2007.
Since 1997
Spielberg in 1990

In 1994, Spielberg took a hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio, DreamWorks, with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. In 1997, he helmed the sequel to 1993's Jurassic Park with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which generated over $832 million worldwide despite mixed reviews, and was the second biggest hit of 1997 behind James Cameron's Titanic (which topped the original Jurassic Park to become the new recordholder for box office receipts).

His next film, Amistad, was based on a true story (like Schindler's List), specifically about an African slave rebellion. Despite decent reviews from critics, it did not do well at the box office. Spielberg released Amistad under DreamWorks Pictures, which issued all of his films from Amistad until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May 2008 (see below).

In 1998, Spielberg re-visited Close Encounters yet again, this time for a more definitive 137-minute "Collector's Edition" that puts more emphasis on the original 1977 release, while adding some elements of the previous 1980 "Special Edition," but deleting the latter version's "Mothership Finale," which Spielberg regretted shooting in the first place, feeling it should have remained ambiguous in the minds of viewers.

His next theatrical release in that same year was the World War II film Saving Private Ryan, about a group of U.S. soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) who try to bring home a paratrooper missing in France, whose three brothers were killed in action. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $481 million worldwide and was the biggest film of the year at the U.S./domestic box office. Spielberg won his second Academy Award for his direction. The film's graphic, realistic depiction of combat violence influenced later war films such as Black Hawk Down and Enemy at the Gates. The film was also the first major hit for DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Paramount Pictures (as such, it was Spielberg's first release from the latter that was not part of the Indiana Jones series). Later, Spielberg and Hanks presented a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series won a number of awards at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

In 2001, Spielberg filmed fellow director and friend Stanley Kubrick's final project, A.I. Artificial Intelligence which Kubrick was unable to begin during his lifetime. A futuristic film about a humanoid android longing for love, A.I. featured groundbreaking visual effects and a multi-layered, allegorical storyline, adapted by Spielberg himself.

Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time for the futuristic neo-noir Minority Report, based upon the sci-fi short story written by Philip K. Dick about a Washington, D.C., police captain who has been foreseen to murder a man he has not yet met. The film received strong reviews with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 199 out of the 217 reviews they tallied were positive. The film was praised as a futuristic homage to film noir, with its intelligent premise and "whodunit" structure. The film earned over $358 million worldwide. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action.

Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can is about the daring adventures of a youthful con artist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It earned Christopher Walken an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. It was a hit both commercially and critically.

Spielberg collaborated again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in 2004's The Terminal, a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is stranded in an airport. It received mixed reviews but performed relatively well at the box office. In 2005, Empire magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.

Also in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of War of the Worlds (a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and the original 1953 film). It starred Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which depicted friendly alien visitors, War of the Worlds featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide.

Spielberg's film Munich, about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games, was his second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being Schindler's List). The film is based on Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas The film received strong critical praise, but underperformed at the U.S. and world box-office; it remains one of Spielberg's most controversial films to date. Munich received five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Film Editing, Original Music Score (by John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was Spielberg's sixth Best Director nomination and fifth Best Picture nomination.

Spielberg directed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which wrapped filming in October 2007 and was released on May 22, 2008. This was his first film not to be released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has performed very well in theaters. As of June 30, 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has grossed $315 million domestically, and over $786 million worldwide.
Films

This is a table of films that Steven Spielberg has been involved in. The lists below will eventually be incorporated into this table.
Year Film Credited as
Director Producer Writer Actor Role
1964 Firelight Yes Yes
1968 Amblin' Yes Yes
1971 Duel Yes
1974 The Sugarland Express Yes
1975 Jaws Yes Yes Voice of the radio respondent on the Orca's radio.
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Yes Yes
1978 I Wanna Hold Your Hand Yes
1979 1941 Yes
1980 The Blues Brothers Yes Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk
Used Cars Yes
1981 Continental Divide Yes
Raiders of the Lost Ark Yes
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Yes Yes
Poltergeist Yes Yes Yes
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie Yes Yes
1984 Gremlins Yes Yes Man in Electric Wheelchair
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Yes
Room 666 Yes Himself
1985 Back to the Future Yes
The Color Purple Yes
The Goonies Yes Yes
Young Sherlock Holmes Yes
1986 An American Tail Yes
The Money Pit Yes
1987 *batteries not included Yes
Empire of the Sun Yes Yes
Harry and the Hendersons Yes
Innerspace Yes
1988 The Land Before Time Yes
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Yes
1989 Always Yes Yes
Back to the Future Part II Yes
Dad Yes
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Yes
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Yes
1990 Arachnophobia Yes
Back to the Future Part III Yes
Gremlins 2: The New Batch Yes
Joe Versus the Volcano Yes
Roller Coaster Rabbit Yes
1991 A Wish for Wings That Work Yes
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Yes
Cape Fear Yes
Hook Yes
Listen Up!: The Lives of Quincy Jones Yes Himself
Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation Yes
1992 The Magical World of Chuck Jones Yes Himself
1993 Jurassic Park Yes Yes
Schindler's List Yes Yes
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story Yes
1994 The Flintstones Yes
1995 Casper Yes
Survivors of the Holocaust Yes
1996 AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards: Clint Eastwood Yes Himself
Balto Yes
The Universal Story Yes Himself
Twister Yes
1997 Amistad Yes Yes
Men in Black Yes
The Lost World: Jurassic Park Yes
1998 Saving Private Ryan Yes Yes
The Last Days Yes
The Mask of Zorro Yes
Deep Impact Yes
Invasion America Yes
1999 Forever Hollywood Yes Himself
The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick & "Eyes Wide Shut" Yes Himself
Wakko's Wish Yes
2000 Chuck Jones: Extremes and Inbetweens - A Life in Animation Yes
Shooting War Yes
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Yes Yes Yes
Jurassic Park III Yes
Price for Peace: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki Yes
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures Yes Himself
Vanilla Sky Yes Guest at David Aames' Party
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Yes Himself
Catch Me If You Can Yes Yes
Men in Black II Yes
Minority Report Yes
2003 Double Dare Yes Himself
2004 Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic Yes Himself
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust Yes Himself
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing Yes Himself
The Terminal Yes Yes
2005 Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters Yes Himself
Memoirs of a Geisha Yes
Munich Yes Yes
The Legend of Zorro Yes
War of the Worlds Yes
Directed by John Ford Yes Himself
2006 Flags of Our Fathers Yes
I Only Wanted to Live Yes
Letters from Iwo Jima Yes
Monster House Yes
Searching for Orson Yes
The Shark Is Still Working Yes Himself
2007 Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco Yes Himself
Spielberg on Spielberg Yes Himself
Disturbia Yes
Transformers Yes
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Yes
Eagle Eye Yes
2009 The Trial of the Chicago 7 Yes
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Yes
The Lovely Bones Yes
2010 Hereafter Yes
2011 Lincoln Yes Yes
When Worlds Collide Yes
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn Yes Yes
Interstellar Yes Yes
Year Film Director Producer Writer Actor Role
Highest-grossing films

This is a list of the top 10 highest domestic-grossing films in which Spielberg has written, directed, or acted, according to Box Office Mojo. This does not include films in which he had a minor role, or appeared as a cameo, according to the same site. Spielberg's films have grossed domestically a total of more than $3.5 billion, with an average of $156 million per film.
Rank Title Lifetime gross (US$)
1 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 435 million
2 Jurassic Park 357 million
3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 317 million
4 Jaws 260 million
5 Raiders of the Lost Ark 242 million
6 War of the Worlds 234 million
7 The Lost World: Jurassic Park 229 million
8 Saving Private Ryan 217 million
9 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 197 million
10 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 180 million
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d158/disneyroxxx/steven.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb265/onicuhh/spielberg.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn195/starspider1/steven_spielberg.jpg
http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp214/stc_010/Stevenspielberg.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 5:42 am

The co-birthdays...Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English guitarist, songwriter, singer, record producer and a founding member of The Rolling Stones. As a guitarist, Richards is mostly known for his innovative rhythm playing. In 2003 he was ranked 10th on Rolling Stone magazine's "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". With songwriting partner and Rolling Stones lead vocalist Mick Jagger, Richards has written and recorded hundreds of songs, fourteen of which are listed by Rolling Stone magazine among the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Richards's guitar playing shows his fascination with chords and rhythm; he conspicuously avoids flamboyant virtuosity, which he calls "the fastest-gun-in-the-west sort of thing".

Chuck Berry has been a constant inspiration for Richards. His first band Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys played many Berry numbers, and Jagger and Richards were largely responsible for bringing Berry and Bo Diddley covers into The Rolling Stones' early repertoire. Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters records were another early source of inspiration, and the basis for the style of interwoven lead and rhythm guitar that Richards developed with Brian Jones. In the late 1960s, Brian Jones's declining interest in guitar left Richards to record all of the guitar parts on many tracks, including slide guitar, which had been Jones's speciality in the band's early years. Jones's replacement guitarist Mick Taylor worked with The Rolling Stones from 1969 to 1974, and Taylor's virtuosity at lead guitar led to a much more pronounced separation between lead and rhythm guitar roles, notably onstage. In 1975 Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood, marking a return to the style of guitar interplay that he and Richards call "the ancient art of weaving".

During the 1967/68 break in the Rolling Stones' touring, Richards began experimenting with open tunings. These tunings were most commonly used for slide guitar, but Richards explored their use in rhythm playing, developing an innovative and distinctive style of syncopated and ringing I-IV chording that can be heard on "Street Fighting Man" and "Start Me Up". Although he also frequently uses standard tuning, he particularly favours a five-string variant of open G tuning (borrowed from Don Everly of the Everly Brothers), using GDGBD unencumbered by a low 6th string. Several of his Telecasters are tuned this way (see the "Guitars" section below), and this tuning is prominent on numerous Rolling Stones tracks, including "Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up".

Richards considers acoustic guitar to be the basis for his playing, and has said: "Every guitar player should play acoustic at home. No matter what else you do, if you don't keep up your acoustic work you're never going to get the full potential out of an electric, because you lose that touch." Richards's acoustic guitar is featured on tracks throughout the Rolling Stones' career, including hits like "Not Fade Away", "Brown Sugar", "Beast of Burden" and "Almost Hear You Sigh". All the guitars on the studio version of "Street Fighting Man" are Richards on acoustic, distorted by overloading a small cassette recorder microphone, a technique also used on "Jumping Jack Flash".

Richards has described his role in the Rolling Stones as "oiling the machinery". Ian Stewart called him the musical leader of the Rolling Stones, and both Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood have noted that while other rock & roll bands follow the drummer's timing, the Rolling Stones follow Richards. "I'm not putting down Charlie in any way for doing this," Wyman stated in 1978, "but onstage you have to follow Keith. You have no way of not following him."
Vocals
Keith Richards at Duke University (2005)

Richards's backing vocals appear on every Rolling Stones album; and on most albums since Between the Buttons (1967), he has sung lead or co-lead on at least one track (see list below). Richards views the vocal training he got in his choirboy days as part of his professional arsenal, and has said of his own singing: "It's not the most beautiful voice in the world anymore, but the Queen liked it, when it was at its best ... It's not been my job, singing, but to me, if you're gonna write songs, you've got to know how to sing."

On stage, Richards began taking a regular lead-vocal turn in 1972, singing "Happy" (from the album Exile on Main Street). "Happy" has become one of Richards's "signature songs", featured on most Rolling Stones tours ever since, as well as on both of Richards's solo tours. From 1972 to 1982, Richards routinely took one lead-vocal turn during Rolling Stones concerts; since 1989 he has normally sung lead on two numbers per show. Each of the band's studio albums since Dirty Work (1986) have also featured Richards's lead vocals on at least two tracks. During concerts on the two final legs (autumn 2006 and summer 2007) of The Rolling Stones' Bigger Bang Tour, Richards set his guitar aside to sing his 1969 ballad "You Got the Silver" without self-accompaniment. Prior to that he had occasionally switched from guitar to keyboards in concert, but these concerts were the first time since his choirboy days that Richards appeared on stage armed with only his voice.
Other instruments

Richards has played bass on about two dozen Rolling Stones studio recordings, from "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" (1966) through "Infamy" (2005). One unusual instance was when he and Bill Wyman joined forces to play the bowed double bass on "Ruby Tuesday" (1967) – Wyman did the fingerboard work while Richards manned the bow. The rest of Richards's bass-playing contributions have been on bass guitar, on tracks including "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968), "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968), "Live With Me" (1969), "Before They Make Me Run" (1978), "Sleep Tonight" (1986) and "Brand New Car" (1994). He has occasionally played bass on stage, including The Dirty Mac performance in 1968 (see "Recordings with other artists", below) and on "Sympathy for the Devil" at a Rolling Stones concert at Madison Square Garden in June 1975.

Richards's keyboard playing has also been featured on several Rolling Stones tracks, including "She Smiled Sweetly" (1967), "Memory Motel" (1976), "All About You" (1980), "Thru and Thru" (1994) and "This Place Is Empty" (2005), among others. He sometimes composes on piano – "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" are two early examples; and he's said of his keyboard playing: "Maybe I'm a little more accomplished now – to me it's just a way of getting out of always using one instrument to write." Richards played keyboards on stage at two 1974 concerts with Ronnie Wood, and on The New Barbarians' tour in 1979; and 1977 and 1981 studio sessions featuring his piano and vocals have been well documented, though never officially released.

Richards has also contributed percussion to a few Rolling Stones tracks, including the floor tom on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and bicycle spokes on "Continental Drift" (1989).
Songwriting

Richards and Jagger collaborated on songs in 1963, following the nearby example of the Beatles' Lennon/McCartney and the encouragement of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who saw little future for a cover band. The earliest Jagger/Richards collaborations were recorded by other artists, including Gene Pitney, whose rendition of "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was their first top-ten single in the UK. Richards recalls: "We were writing these terrible pop songs that were becoming Top 10 hits. ... They had nothing to do with us, except we wrote 'em."

The Rolling Stones' first top-ten hit with a Jagger/Richards original was "The Last Time" (1965); "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (also 1965) was their first international #1 recording. (Richards has stated that the "Satisfaction" riff came to him in his sleep; he woke up just long enough to record it on a cassette player by his bed.) Since Aftermath (1966) most Rolling Stones albums have consisted mainly of Jagger/Richards originals. Their songs reflect the influence of blues, R&B, rock & roll, pop, soul, gospel and country, as well as forays into psychedelia and Dylanesque social commentary. Their work in the 1970s and beyond has incorporated elements of funk, disco, reggae and punk. Richards has also written and recorded slow torchy ballads, such as "All About You" (1980).

In his solo career, Richards has often shared co-writing credits with drummer and co-producer Steve Jordan. Richards has said: "I've always thought songs written by two people are better than those written by one. You get another angle on it."

Richards has frequently stated that he feels less like a creator than a conduit when writing songs: "I don't have that God aspect about it. I prefer to think of myself as an antenna. There's only one song, and Adam and Eve wrote it; the rest is a variation on a theme."

Richards was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993. According to britishhitsongwriters.com he is the twenty-fifth most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history, based on the number of weeks that compositions he has cowritten have spent on the charts.
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu17/Captain_Plant/The%20Rolling%20Stones/fffffffff-hot.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k148/ReeseBobby/keith-richards.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/18/09 at 5:42 am


The word of the day...Park
A park is a public area of land with grass and trees, usually in a town, where people go in order to relax and enjoy themselves.
When you park a vehicle or park somewhere, you drive the vehicle into a position where it can stay for a period of time, and leave it there.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy186/FindingTheLight/Sets/Outside/Park.jpg
http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww204/Aj101_03/img061.jpg
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt265/Samurai-66/Autumn%20Album/Park.jpg
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr270/helloskylar26/SANY3670.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad294/groupiesslovemee/park.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh219/emilie101_photos/Picture021.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx107/buckrunprimitive/PICS109.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff185/juan147_02/southparkseason1full.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz173/sandyaabed/creative_park.jpg
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/scjones44/158.jpg



There's the song Rock Creek Park.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 5:46 am

* Ray Liotta
Raymond Liotta (born December 18, 1955) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese. He has won an Emmy Award and been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
One of Liotta's earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap opera Another World. He appeared on the show from 1978 to 1981. He infamously made his film debut sexually assaulting Pia Zadora with a garden hose in the cult classic The Lonely Lady. In 1987, he earned his first Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of volatile ex-con Ray Sinclair in Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild (1986). In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Liotta would earn more critical praise for his turn in James Mangold's film Cop Land, starring alongside Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel.

In addition to his film roles, Liotta portrayed legendary singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack (for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination) and provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That same year he appeared as Det. Lt. Henry Oak in the Joe Carnahan–directed film Narc, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male. He also narrated Inside the Mafia for the National Geographic Channel in 2005. Liotta had a memorable guest appearance that year on the television drama ER playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode "Time of Death". The role earned him an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series". Liotta would later spoof himself and his Emmy win in Bee Movie. He starred in the 2006 CBS television series Smith, which was pulled from the schedule after only three episodes had aired. He later appeared in Smokin' Aces (reuniting with Narc director Joe Carnahan), portraying an FBI agent named Donald Carruthers in one of the lead roles. He appeared with John Travolta in the movie Wild Hogs and with Johnny Depp in the 2001 film Blow, portraying the father of drug dealer George Jung.

Liotta has appeared in Battle in Seattle as the city's mayor and in Hero Wanted playing a detective alongside Cuba Gooding Jr.. He was also in Crossing Over, co-starring Harrison Ford. Liotta played Detective Harrison in the 2009 Jody Hill comedy Observe and Report as Seth Rogen's nemesis from the local police. He told ABC's Good Morning America in 2001 that he was offered the role of Tony Soprano by series creator David Chase but turned it down to focus on movies.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1983 The Lonely Lady Joe Heron
1986 Something Wild Ray Sinclair Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1988 Arena Brains The Artist Short film
Dominick and Eugene Eugene 'Gino' Luciano
1989 Field of Dreams Shoeless Joe Jackson
1990 Goodfellas Henry Hill
1992 Article 99 Dr. Richard Sturgess
Unlawful Entry Officer Pete Davis Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1994 No Escape Capt. J.T. Robbins
Corrina, Corrina Manny Singer
1995 Operation Dumbo Drop Capt. T.C. Doyle
1996 Unforgettable Dr. David Krane
1997 Turbulence Ryan Weaver
Cop Land Det. Gary 'Figgsy' Figgis
1998 Phoenix Harry Collin
Forever Mine Mark Brice
1999 Muppets From Space Gate guard #1
2000 Pilgrim Jack
A Rumor of Angels Nathan Neubauer
2001 Hannibal Paul Krendler
Heartbreakers Dean Cummano
Blow Fred Jung
2002 Narc Det. Lt. Henry Oak Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
John Q Chief Gus Monroe
Ticker FBI Agent Short film
2003 Identity Rhodes
2004 The Last Shot Jack Devine
Control Lee Ray Oliver Direct-to-Video Release
2005 Revolver Macha
2006 Comeback Season Walter Pearce
2007 Slow Burn Ford Cole
Even Money Tom Carver
Smokin' Aces Donald Carruthers
Wild Hogs Jack
Bee Movie Himself Voice Role
2008 Local Color John Talia Sr.
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale Gallian
Battle in Seattle Mayor Jim Tobin
Hero Wanted Det. Terry Subcott
Chasing 3000 Adult Mickey
2009 Crossing Over Cole Frankel
Powder Blue Jack Doheny
Observe and Report Det. Harrison
La Linea Mark Shields awaiting release
Ticket Out Jim post-production
Snowmen Reggie Kirkfield awaiting release
2010 Youth in Revolt Lance Wescott awaiting release
Crazy on the Outside post-production
13 post-production
Date Night Joe Miletto post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1978–1981 Another World Joey Perrini #2
1980 Hardhat and Legs Family CBS TV-Movie
1983 St. Elsewhere Murray "Episode: Rain"
Casablanca Sacha
1984 Mike Hammer Tony Cable "Episode: Kill Devil"
1985 Our Family Honor Officer Ed Santini
1990 Women and Men: Stories of Seduction Jerry Damon HBO TV-Movie
1991 Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules Martin Meadows HBO TV-Movie
1995 Frasier Bob "Episode: Frasier Grinch"
1998 The Rat Pack Frank Sinatra Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2001 Family Guy Zack Episode: Brian Does Hollywood
2001, 2002 Just Shoot Me Himself Episode: Christmas? Christmas!
Episode: Liotta? Liotta!
2002 Point of Origin John Leonard Orr/Aaron HBO TV-Movie
2004 ER Charlie Metcalf "Episode: Time of Death"
Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
Prism Award for Best Performance in a Drama Series Episode
2006–2007 Smith Bobby Stevens
2008 WhoBob WhatPants? Tevor TV special
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2002 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Tommy Vercetti G-Phoria Award for Best Male Voice Performance
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h290/snowangel75/ray.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/Tiepps/Ray.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 5:50 am

** Brad Pitt


William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He has been cited as one of the world's most attractive men, a label that entices the media to report on his off-screen life. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one.

Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances which included a role on the CBS soap opera Dallas in 1987; later gaining recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film Twelve Monkeys, the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. Subsequently in 2001, he starred in the major international hit Ocean's Eleven and its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). He has had his biggest commercial successes with Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his performance in the title role in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. As of 2009, he lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. He and Jolie have three adopted children, Maddox, Zahara, and Pax, and have also given birth to three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, which produced the 2007 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Departed, among other films. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.
The year 1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film Interview with the Vampire, based upon Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name, Pitt was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas. Despite winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony, his performance was not well-received. According to the Dallas Observer, "Brad Pitt ... is a large part of the problem . When directors play up his cocky, hunkish, folksy side ... he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which makes him a boring Louis."
A side view of a Caucasian male, who is facing to the left, with light brown hair. He is wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt. Another Caucasian male, also wearing a suit, is visible in the background.
Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People in 1995 and 2000.

Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall in 1994, a film set during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Pitt portrayed Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins), a role from which Pitt garnered his first Golden Globe Award nomination in the category for Best Actor. Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. The film received mixed reception, but many film critics complimented Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way." The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would "further cement big-screen, romantic leading-man status".

In 1995, he starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime film Seven as the police detective David Mills who hunts a serial killer portrayed by Kevin Spacey. Pitt accepted the role as he believed "it was a great movie" and would further expand his "acting horizons," though another consideration was Pitt's desire to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing of mine had gotten out of hand and play someone with flaws". Variety was complimentary of Pitt's role, saying that "this is screen acting at its best. Pitt turns in a determined, energetic, creditable job as the eager young detective." The film received positive reviews and earned $327 million at the international box office.

Following the success of Seven, Pitt played the supporting role of Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film Twelve Monkeys, which received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the New York Times stated that Twelve Monkeys was "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's performance as "giving a startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film." Pitt won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film and received his first Academy Award nomination.

The following year, Pitt had a role in the 1996 legal drama Sleepers, based on the Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same title. The film received mixed reviews. In the 1997 movie The Devil's Own, Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany, a role for which Pitt was required to learn an Irish accent. In that same year, he took on the main role of Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet. Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, part of which included rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis.

Pitt played the leading role in Meet Joe Black in 1998. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man in order to learn what it is like to be human. The film received ambivalent reviews, and Pitt's performance was often criticized. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle concluded: "It's not just that Pitt's performance is bad. It hurts. Watching Pitt struggle, with inert face and glazed eyes, to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity is painful."
1999–2003

In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, a straight-shooting and charismatic mastermind in Fight Club, a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher. In preparation for the role, Pitt took lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling, while, for the cosmetics of the part, Pitt voluntarily had pieces of his front teeth removed, which were restored on conclusion of filming. During promotion for Fight Club, Pitt said the film "is not necessarily 'take your aggressions out on someone else.' The idea is just to get in there, have an experience, take a punch more importantly and see how you come out on the other end." Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival and, despite the film's polarized reception, Pitt was praised by critics for his performance. According to Paul Clinton of CNN, "Pitt has proved he's not afraid of experimentation, and this time it pays off" while Variety remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than his breakthrough role in Thelma and Louise". In spite of the reviews and worse-than-expected box office performance, Fight Club became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.
An image of five Caucasian men and one Caucasian woman posing in front of a blue curtain. Four of the men and the woman are wearing leather coats and jeans, while the man on the far left is wearing a trench coat and jeans.
Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

After Fight Club, Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch, a performance which drew both criticism and praise for Pitt. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him. The picture also trades on our past associations with Pitt. For years Pitt was shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion."

The following year, Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy The Mexican, a film that garnered negative reception, though enjoyed success at the box office. Pitt's next acting role was in the 2001 Cold War thriller Spy Game, a film which grossed $143 million worldwide. Pitt portrayed an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division, alongside Robert Redford, who played his mentor. Salon.com enjoyed the film, though felt that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience". On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series Friends, in which he portrayed a man with a grudge against Jennifer Aniston's character; Pitt was, at the time, married to Aniston. For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name, joining an ensemble cast which included George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts. Ocean's Eleven, well-received by critics, was successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.

In February 2002, Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's reality series Jackass. In the first episode he and several cast members ran wild through the streets of Los Angeles in gorilla suits and, in a later episode, took part in a staged abduction of himself. In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, lending his voice to the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series King of the Hill.
2004–present

Pitt had two major film roles in 2004, starring as Achilles in Troy and, for the second time, as Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Twelve. Prior to the filming of Troy, based on the Iliad, Pitt spent six months sword training, later injuring his Achilles tendon on set, which delayed production for several weeks. Troy was the highest grossing film of Pitt's career to the end of 2008, earning $497 million- $364 million outside the U.S. and only $133 million domestically. Stephen Hunter of The Washington Times wrote that "in a role that requires larger-than-life dimensions, he is pretty terrific." The success of Ocean's Eleven in 2001 led Pitt to return for the 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve, which earned $362 million worldwide and a role in which Pitt and Clooney were reported to "have the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford", according to Paul Clinton of CNN.

2005 saw Pitt star in the action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman, in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin set to kill the other, with Pitt as John Smith opposite Angelina Jolie's Jane Smith. The film, earning $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005, received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two. The Star Tribune noting that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry."
A Caucasian with light brown hair, blue eyes and a short brown beard, in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a white shirt and white hat.
Pitt at the premiere of Burn After Reading in 2008

Pitt's next feature film, Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama Babel had him appearing with Cate Blanchett in 2006. Pitt's performance in the film was well-received by critics, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer believed that he was "credible" and gave the film "visibility". Pitt later said he regarded this as "one of the best decisions of film career". The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. Babel won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama, and Pitt received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In total, the film garnered seven Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.

Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan for a second time, Pitt starred in 2007's Ocean's Thirteen, while not as lucrative as the first two films, the sequel earned $311 million at the international box office. Pitt's next film role was American outlaw Jesse James in the 2007 Western drama The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, adapted from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same name. Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of Film Journal International, and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor in Venice. Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards. He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.

Pitt's next appearance was in the 2008 black comedy Burn After Reading, his first collaboration with the Coen brothers. The film received a positive reception from critics- The Guardian calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy", noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest. He was later cast as Benjamin Button, the lead in David Fincher's 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a loosely adapted version of the 1921 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in reverse, with Pitt's "sensitive performance" making Benjamin Button a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of the The Baltimore Sun. The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination, with the film itself receiving a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations and grossing $329 million worldwide.

After 2008, Pitt's work has included a leading role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, released in August 2009 at a special presentation at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France. The film was positively recieved by critics and grossed $311 million worldwide. In addition, Pitt is set to appear in the drama The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick, co-starring alongside Sean Penn and has signed on to appear in the Lost City of Z, based on the book of the same name by David Grann, in which he will play a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization.
Filmography
Actor
Year Film Role Notes
1987 No Way Out Officer at party
No Man's Land Waiter
Less Than Zero Partygoer
Growing Pains Jeff TV series (two episodes: "Who's Zoomin' Who?" and "Feet of Clay" )
Dallas Randy TV series (four episodes)
1988 21 Jump Street Peter TV series (one episode: "Best Years of Your Life")
1989 Happy Together Brian
Cutting Class Dwight Ingalls
Head of the Class Chuck TV series (one episode: "Partners")
Freddy's Nightmares Rick Austin TV series (one episode: "Black Tickets")
1990 The Image Cameraman TV movie
Too Young to Die? Billy Canton TV movie
Glory Days Walker Lovejoy TV series (six episodes)
1991 Across the Tracks Joe Maloney
Thelma & Louise J.D.
Johnny Suede Johnny Suede
1992 Contact Cox
Cool World Detective Frank Harris
A River Runs Through It Paul Maclean
1993 Kalifornia Early Grayce
True Romance Floyd
1994 The Favor Elliott Fowler
Interview with the Vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Tom Cruise
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Legends of the Fall Tristan Ludlow Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1995 Seven David Mills MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Morgan Freeman
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
Twelve Monkeys Jeffrey Goines Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
1996 Sleepers Michael Sullivan
1997 The Devil's Own Francis "Frankie" Austin McQuire/Rory Devaney
Seven Years in Tibet Heinrich Harrer
The Dark Side of the Sun Rick
1998 Meet Joe Black Joe Black/Man in the Coffee Shop
1999 Fight Club Tyler Durden
Being John Malkovich Himself Cameo
2000 Snatch Mickey O'Neil Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2001 The Mexican Jerry Welbach
Spy Game Tom Bishop
Ocean's Eleven Rusty Ryan Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Friends Will Colbert TV series (one episode: "The One with the Rumor")
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
2002 Full Frontal Himself
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Brad, Bachelor #1
2003 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Sinbad Voice actor
Abby Singer Himself Cameo
2004 Troy Achilles Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actor, Drama/Action Adventure
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight shared with Eric Bana
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
Ocean's Twelve Rusty Ryan Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2005 Mr. & Mrs. Smith John Smith MTV Movie Award for Best Fight shared with Angelina Jolie
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Angelina Jolie
2006 Babel Richard Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Palm Springs International Film Festival for Best Cast
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 Ocean's Thirteen Rusty Ryan
The Assassination of Jesse James
by the Coward Robert Ford Jesse James Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup Best Actor
2008 Burn After Reading Chad Feldheimer Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Benjamin Button Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2009 Inglourious Basterds Lt. Aldo Raine Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010 The Tree of Life Mr. O'Brien post-production
The Lost City of Z Col. Percy Fawcett pre-production
MegaMind Metro-Man pre-production
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq86/michelle_050/brad_pitt.jpg
http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/nbanu/Brad_Pitt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 5:53 am



There's the song Rock Creek Park.

Never heard of it
There also Itchycoo Park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzcF0v1eOE#

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/09 at 6:24 am

* OOPS I missed...Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American pop musician. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan. She came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera (1999), which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. A Latin pop album, Mi Reflejo (2001), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image.

After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album, Stripped (2002), which received mixed reviews produced substantial sales and was elected as the 13th album of the decade of 2000s the magazine Rolling Stone. The second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success, was elected as the 14th single of the decade of 2000s the magazine Rolling Stone and sustained the album's sales amidst controversy over Aguilera's sexual image. Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics (2006), included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music, and was released to positive critical reception.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and ever-changing image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst eighteen nominations. She has become one of the most successful recording artists of the decade, selling more than 43 million records worldwide
n 1998, Aguilera sang the High "E" in full voice (and again on the song "Candyman" from her Back To Basics album for a full 8 seconds) (E5) on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she recorded with a tape recorder in her bathroom. She was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney production of Mulan (1998). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Song" in 1998. Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released on August 24, 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, selling eight million copies in the U.S. and over seventeen million copies worldwide. The album is also included in the Top 100 Albums of All Time list of The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) based on US sales. Her singles "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" reached #3. According to the album's songwriters, Aguilera wanted to display the range and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano. She ended the year on MTV's New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium. At the 42nd Grammy Awards Aguilera received a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy nomination for "Genie in a Bottle" and despite earlier predictions, she won the award Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Aguilera's manager Kurtz told MTV that Christina was talking about recording a Spanish-language album even before she recorded her debut album. In 2000 Aguilera started recording with producer Rudy Pérez in Miami. Later in 2000, Aguilera, first emphasized her Latin heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo on September 12, 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. Though some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on the Latin music boom at the time. According to Pérez, Aguilera was only semi-fluent, while recording. She understood the language, because she has grown up with her father, who is a native of Ecuador. He added "Her Latin roots are undeniable". The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200 and went number one on the Billboard Latin charts for a record 20 weeks. In 2001, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The album went Gold in the US. She also won the World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist that year. Aguilera also released a Christmas album on October 24, 2000 called My Kind of Christmas. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified Platinum in the US. Ricky Martin asked Aguilera to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 as the album's second single. The single reached number one on the World Chart.

In 2001, Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink were chosen to remake Labelle's 1975 single "Lady Marmalade" for the film Moulin Rouge! and its soundtrack. The single Missy Elliott produced hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and was the most successful airplay-only single in history. It also reached number one in eleven other countries amd earned all four performers a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Aguilera's appearance in the music video was compared to that of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year in 2001, where Aguilera accepted the award saying, "I guess the big hair paid off."

That year a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they advised fans not to purchase it. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.

Although Aguilera's debut album was very well received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. She mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Aguilera's views of Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract. She revealed while recording her then upcoming album, "I was being overworked. You find out that someone you thought was a friend is stealing money behind your back, and it's heartbreaking. I put faith in the people around me, and unfortunately, it bit me in the butt." Kurtz was terminated and Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager.
2002–2003: Stripped era

On October 29, 2002, after much delay, Aguilera's second full-length English album, Stripped, was released, selling more than 330,000 copies in the first week and peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike previous work, the album showcased Aguilera's raunchier side. The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing contract with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including contemporary R&B, gospel, soul, balladry, pop rock, and hip hop. The majority of the album was produced by Scott Storch and singer-songwriter Linda Perry who produced her more personal records. Rockwilder and singer Alicia Keys also contributed a track each. Upon initial release, the album was very well-received by critics, although Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines, many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. Her cover for Rolling Stone, featured the singer only wearing boots and a well-placed electric guitar. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as "Xtina", even getting a tattoo of her nickname on the back of her neck and several piercings.
Aguilera performing during the Justified/Stripped Tour.

Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S., especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty" music video. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated back in 1999. While the video for "Dirrty" became very popular on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK and Ireland. The second single, "Beautiful" received critical praise. The classically influenced ballad reached number one in several countries and peaked at #2 in the US. "Beautiful" earned Aguilera the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Three more singles ("Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim, "The Voice Within") were released in the following two years and were hits that helped the album stay on the charts for the next two years. Stripped stayed on the U.S. and UK album charts well into 2004, and went on to be certified four-times platinum in the U.S. with over thirteen million copies sold worldwide. It appeared at number ten on Billboard's year-end album chart. Kelly Clarkson's second single "Miss Independent" was co-written by Aguilera, having been half-finished for Stripped.

Aguilera joined Justin Timberlake that June on the final leg of his international Justified tour, held in the U.S. This portion of the tour became a co-headliner called the Justified/Stripped Tour. In August, an overhead lighting grid collapsed from the ceiling of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, causing major damage to the sound and video equipment below. Because the collapse occurred hours before the show, only a few stagehands were injured, but a few shows were cancelled or postponed. In the fourth quarter of that year, Aguilera continued to tour internationally without Timberlake, and changed the name of the tour to the "Stripped World Tour". She also dyed her hair black. It was one of the top-grossing tours of that year, and sold out most of its venues. Rolling Stone readers named it the best tour of the year. That same year she hosted the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards and was a special guest performer with the Pussycat Dolls' dance troupe performing at the Roxy Theatre and Viper Room in Los Angeles. She also appeared on a Maxim spread alongside them, her second Maxim cover that year set record sales for the issue making it the top selling issue to date. By the end of the year she topped the annual Hot 100 list later saying, "We had fun working with certain clothes, or the lack thereof."

After much delay, Aguilera's first DVD live-recording from a concert tour, Stripped Live in the UK, was released in November 2004. In light of the tour's success, another U.S. tour was scheduled to begin in mid-2004 with a new theme. The tour however was scrapped because of the vocal cord injuries Aguilera suffered shortly before the tour's opening date. In a tribute to Madonna's performance at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards, Aguilera performed a kiss with the singer-actress at the 2003 edition of the ceremony in August. The incident occurred during the opening performance of Madonna's songs "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood" with fellow popstar Britney Spears.
2004–2007: Artistic development and Back to Basics

Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature image; this move was met with more praise than criticism, with articles using punch lines such as "From Crass to Class." She eventually dyed her hair cherry blonde and recorded a jingle, "Hello", for a Mercedes-Benz ad. Shortly after, she dyed her hair flaxen blonde and cut it short, and took on a Marilyn Monroe look; she is one of the main proponents (along with Dita Von Teese, Gwen Stefani, and Ashley Judd) in bringing back the 1920s-1940s Hollywood glamour look.

In late summer 2004, Aguilera released two singles. The first, "Car Wash", was a remake of the Rose Royce disco song recorded as a collaboration with rapper Missy Elliott for the soundtrack to the film Shark Tale. The second song was also a collaboration, but this time as a second single from one of Nelly's double-release albums, Sweat, titled "Tilt Ya Head Back". Both singles failed commercially in the U.S., but did considerably better in other parts of the world. Aguilera collaborated with jazz artist Herbie Hancock on a cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" recorded for Hancock's album Possibilities, released in August 2005. Aguilera and Hancock were later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. She helped open the 50th Anniversary for Disneyland performing "When You Wish upon a Star", and she also collaborated with Andrea Bocelli on the song "Somos Novios" for his album Amore.

Aguilera's third English studio album, Back to Basics, released August 15, 2006, debuted at #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and eleven other countries. Aguilera described the double CD as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist." The album received generally positive reviews, although many critics commented on the album's length saying, "At one disc, this would have been nothing short of masterful." The critically acclaimed lead single "Ain't No Other Man" was a substantial success, reaching #2 on the World Chart, #6 in the U.S., and #2 in U.K. Producers on the album included DJ Premier, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson. One track, "F.U.S.S.", was written as a response to the animosity between Aguilera and her former producer Scott Storch. In an interview she said, "That's a way of burying my experience with him. When I tried to work with him again, he made uncalled-for demands. It was disappointing that someone would get affected like that." She co-wrote all the album's tracks and was the executive producer. The follow-up singles did very well in different regions, "Hurt" in Europe and "Candyman" in the Pacific. She co-directed both music videos, the former with Floria Sigismondi who directed her "Fighter" video, and the latter, "Candyman", with director/photographer Matthew Rolston which was inspired by The Andrews Sisters. According to Sony BMG, Back to Basics has sold nearly five million units worldwide.
Aguilera performing in her Back To Basics Tour.

In late 2006 Aguilera collaborated with Sean "Diddy" Combs on a track, titled "Tell Me", from his album Press Play. She also began the "Back to Basics Tour" in Europe followed by a 41-date North American tour in early 2007. After this, she toured Asia and Australia, where it was supposed to end on August 3, however she canceled her dates in Melbourne and her final two in Auckland due to an illness. Her extravagant arena tour included cabaret, three-ring circus and juke joint sets and 10 piece costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli. The tour grossed nearly $50 million by the end of the year in North America and several millions worldwide in her Europe and Australia dates. It was the most successful US tour by a female in 2007. In early 2008, she released her concert DVD Back to Basics: Live and Down Under.

At the 49th Grammy Awards, Aguilera again won the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man". She made a noteworthy performance at the ceremony paying tribute to James Brown with her rendition of his song "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". In January 2007, she was named the 19th richest woman in entertainment by Forbes, with a net worth of US$60 million.

Aguilera performed "Steppin' Out With My Baby" with Tony Bennett on his NBC special Tony Bennett: An American Classic and on Saturday Night Live. They performed at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards where both specials received Emmys. "Steppin' Out" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
2008–present: Keeps Gettin' Better and forthcoming album

In 2008 Aguilera was featured on the soundtrack to the film, Shine a Light, from a live recording of the song "Live With Me" with the Rolling Stones. The film's soundtrack was released on April 1, 2008. To commemorate Aguilera's ten years in the music industry, RCA Records released, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits on November 11, 2008 exclusively at Target stores in the US. The greatest hits included her first three number one singles, and other songs released from her previous three albums. "Lady Marmalade" and several Spanish singles from Mi Reflejo were included in the worldwide releases. The album's lead single, "Keeps Gettin' Better" was premiered at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and was her highest debut peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Aguilera was one of Billboard's Top 20 Artists of the Decade in their year-end charts.

Australian singer-songwriter Sia, was one of the first of confirmed producers for her forthcoming album. The following year she launched her online radio station which is part of Clear Channel's iheartradio revealing details about her upcoming projects. There she revealed that she worked with M.I.A., Santigold and Ladytron adding, "The overall versatility of this record is truly something special for me. The result was just crazy magic. There truly is something for everyone to enjoy on the record." She also worked with Goldfrapp and Tricky Stewart who revealed that the album is finished adding, “She’s mixing it up again. She’s singing R&B again, she’s doing pop. She’s doing it all, but she’s found a way to make it all meet in the middle because she’s so many different things. She’s a real serious musician.” He also revealed that the album is set for release next year due to her upcoming musical film, Burlesque set for filming this year. He and producer Danja will also contribute to the film's soundtrack.
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad66/Animeloveronimeem/Christina-Aguilera.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/18/09 at 3:36 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkXh4kRTBVk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/18/09 at 7:24 pm

Can a man look any worse than Keith Richards (and still be alive)? :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/18/09 at 10:41 pm


Can a man look any worse than Keith Richards (and still be alive)? :o

How we will be able to tell if he's dead?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 2:41 am


How we will be able to tell if he's dead?

Rigor Mortis ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 2:47 am

The word of the day ...Roots
#
The roots of a plant are the parts of it that grow under the ground. N-COUNT usu pl

    *
      ...the twisted roots of an apple tree.

#
If you root a plant or cutting or if it roots, roots form on the bottom of its stem and it starts to grow. VERB V-ERG

    *
      Most plants will root in about six to eight weeks. V
    *
      Root the cuttings in a heated propagator. V n

#
Root vegetables or root crops are grown for their roots which are large and can be eaten. ADJ ADJ n

    *
      ...root crops such as carrots and potatoes.

#
The root of a hair or tooth is the part of it that is underneath the skin. N-COUNT

    *
      ...decay around the roots of teeth. + 'of'
    *
      ...wax strips which remove hairs cleanly from the root.

#
You can refer to the place or culture that a person or their family comes from as their roots. N-PLURAL usu poss N

    *
      Synonym
      origins

    *
      I am proud of my Brazilian roots.
    *
      It's 21 years since she first moved to Britain from the Lebanon, but she hasn't forgotten her roots.

#
Roots is used to refer to pop music, especially reggae, that is strongly influenced by the traditional music of the culture that it originally came from. N-UNCOUNT oft N n

    *
      ...superb roots reggae by the likes of Little Roy and Wailing Souls.

#
You can refer to the cause of a problem or of an unpleasant situation as the root of it or the roots of it. N-COUNT usu 'the' N 'of' n

    *
      We got to the root of the problem. + 'of'
    *
      This lack of recognition was at the root of the dispute.
    *
      His sense of guilt had its roots in his childhood loss of his younger sister.
    *
      They were treating symptoms and not the root cause.

http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab329/noblemedia/southpawbrothers.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss84/royaltouchfarm/DSCN0449.jpg
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac88/basszuka/blackroots.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk227/HazardousOperations/TheMenILove/RootsOfHeavenHS.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss216/MassiveR73/kleingz.jpg
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz14/goldielocs_album/SANY0781.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa222/gopdogg/Australia%202009/Cairns/IMG_2633.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/bbg42785/First%20pics%203%20weeks%20old/DSC01268.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/MarcieLee/Prayers%20VI/leturroots.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j136/rhardiniii/roots.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 2:50 am

The birthday of the day...Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson (born December 19, 1933) is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for appearances in the film Sounder and the television specials The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots.
Tyson was discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine, and became a popular fashion model. Her first film was an uncredited role in Carib Gold in 1957, but she went on to do television - the celebrated series East Side/West Side and the long-running soap opera The Guiding Light. In 1961, Tyson appeared in the original cast of French playwright Jean Genet's The Blacks, the longest running Off-Broadway non-musical of the decade, running for 1,408 performances. The original cast also featured James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, Louis Gossett, Jr., Godfrey Cambridge, Maya Angelou and Charles Gordone. She appeared with Sammy Davis, Jr. in the film A Man Called Adam (1966) and starred in the film version of Graham Greene's The Comedians (1967). Tyson had a featured role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) and was in a segment of the movie Roots.
The handprints of Cicely Tyson in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed Sounder. In 1974 she won two Emmy Awards for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Other acclaimed television roles included Roots, King, in which she portrayed Coretta Scott King, The Marva Collins Story, When No One Would Listen and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All for which she received her third Emmy Award. In her 1994-1995 television series Sweet Justice, Tyson portrayed a feisty, unorthodox Southern attorney named Carrie Grace Battle, a character she shaped by consulting with and shadowing the legendary Washington, DC civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree. In 2005, Tyson co-starred in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The same year she was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball.

The Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts, a magnet school in East Orange, New Jersey, was renamed in her honor. She plays an active part in supporting the school, which serves one of New Jersey's most underprivileged African-American communities.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1959 Odds Against Tomorrow Jazz Club bartender
The Last Angry Man (1959) Girl Left on Porch (uncredited)
1966 A Man Called Adam Claudia Ferguson
1967 The Comedians Marie Therese
1968 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Portia
1972 Sounder Rebecca Morgan Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Blue Bird Tylette, The Cat
The River Niger Mattie Williams
1978 A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich Sweets
1979 The Concorde: Airport '79 Elaine
1981 Bustin' Loose Vivian Perry
1991 Fried Green Tomatoes Sipsey
1997 Hoodlum Stephanie St. Clair Nominated — Acapulco Black Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2001 The Double Dutch Divas! Herself (short subject) (uncredited)
2005 Because of Winn-Dixie Gloria
Diary of a Mad Black Woman Myrtle NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated — BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Theatrical Film
Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Madea's Family Reunion Myrtle
2006 Fat Rose and Squeaky Celine
Idlewild Mother Hopkins
2007 Rwanda Rising Voice of Jeanette Nyirabagarwa (documentary)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
Frontiers of Faith Tony "The Bitter Cup"
1962 The Nurses Betty Ann Warner "Frieda"
1963 Naked City "Howard Running Bear Is a Turtle"
1963-1964 East Side/West Side (26 episodes)
1965 Slattery's People Sarah Brookman "Question: Who You Taking to the Main Event, Eddie?"
1965-1966 I Spy Princess Amara
Vickie Harmon Episode "So Long, Patrick Henry"
Episode "Trial by Treehouse"
1966 Guiding Light Martha Frazier
1967 Cowboy in Africa Julie Anderson Episode "Tomorrow on the Wind"
Judd for the Defense Lucille Evans Episode "Commitment"
1968-1969 The F.B.I. Julie Harmon
Lainey Harber Episode "The Enemies"
Episode "Silent Partners"
1969 Medical Center Susan Wiley Episode "The Last 10 Yards"
The Courtship of Eddie's Father Betty Kelly Episode "Guess Who's Coming for Lunch"
1970 Gunsmoke Rachel Biggs Episode "The Scavengers"
Mission: Impossible Alma Ross Episode "Death Squad"
The Bill Cosby Show Mildred Hermosa Episode "Blind Date"
Here Come the Brides Princess Lucenda Episode "A Bride for Obie Brown"
1971 Insight Episode "The Bird of the Mast"
Marriage: Year One Emma Teasley (unsold pilot)
Neighbors
1972 Emergency! Mrs. Johnson Episode "Crash"
Wednesday Night Out
1974 The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Jane Pittman Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Emmy Award for Actress of the Year - Special
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Free to Be… You and Me Herself
1976 Just an Old Sweet Song Priscilla Simmons
1977 Roots Binta (miniseries)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Wilma Blanche Rudolph
1978 King Coretta Scott King (miniseries)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
A Woman Called Moses Harriet Ross Tubman
1981 The Marva Collins Story Marva Collins NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1982 Benny's Place Odessa
1985 Playing with Fire Carol Phillips
1986 Intimate Encounters Dr. Claire Dalton
Acceptable Risks Janet Framm
Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story Muriel NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1989 The Women of Brewster Place Mrs. Browne
1990 The Kid Who Loved Christmas Etta
B.L. Stryker Ruth Hastings Episode "Winner Takes All"
Heat Wave Ruthana Richardson CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1991 Clippers Donna (unsold pilot)
1992 Duplicates Dr. Randolph
When No One Would Listen Sarah
1993 House of Secrets Evangeline
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Castralia, Marsden Family House Slave/Maid Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1994-1995 Sweet Justice Carrie Grace Battle Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
1996 The Road to Galveston Jordan Roosevelt NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Lone Star Film & Television Award for Best TV Actress
Nominated — CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1997 Bridge of Time Guardian
Riot Maggie (segment "Homecoming Day")
Nominated — CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Ms. Scrooge Ms. Ebenita Scrooge
1998 Always Outnumbered Luvia
Mama Flora's Family Mama Flora NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1999 A Lesson Before Dying Tante Lou Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York Emily Lincoln
2000 Touched by an Angel Abby Episode "Living the Rest of My Life"
The Outer Limits Justice Gretchen Parkhurst Episode "Final Appeal"
2001 Jewel Cathedral
2002 The Rosa Parks Story Leona Edwards McCauley Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Supporting Actress
2005 Higglytown Heroes Great Aunt Shirley Hero Episode "Wayne's 100 Special Somethings"
2009 Relative Stranger Pearl
Law and Order: SVU Ondine Burdett Episode "Hell"
Theatre
Year Production Role Theatre Notes
1959 Jolly's Progress Jolly (understudy) Longacre Theatre
1960 The Cool World Girl Eugene O'Neill Theatre
1961 The Blacks: A Clown Show Stephanie Virtue Diop St. Mark's Playhouse
1962 Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright Celeste Chipley
Adelaide Smith (understudy) Booth Theatre
1963 The Blue Boy in Black Joan Masque Theatre
Trumpets of the Lord Rev. Marion Alexander Astor Place Theatre
1966 A Hand Is on the Gate Performer Longacre Theatre
1968 Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights Myrna Jessup John Golden Theatre
1969 To Be Young, Gifted and Black Various Cherry Lane Theatre
Trumpets of the Lord Rev. Marion Alexander Brooks Atkinson Theatre
1983 The Corn is Green Miss Moffat Lunt-Fontaine Theatre
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i216/Booglady1/untitledc.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s193/divinedivahu/cicelytyson.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p284/xxtrathyck/awomancalledmoses.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb202/RestorationStage/Courtney%20Baker-Oliver/image-1-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 2:54 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress and former singer. Her acting career began after she appeared in the Broadway show Annie. Her childhood role as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? made her famous. Her eight-year stint as Phoebe Halliwell on the supernatural series Charmed brought her a new round of fame.

She has a female sports apparel line, Touch. ilano began her career at eight when she won a part in an open audition for a national tour of Annie. She appeared in television commercials and off-Broadway productions.

At eleven, she earned her first major role in the TV show Who's the Boss?, alongside Tony Danza, Judith Light, Danny Pintauro, and Katherine Helmond. She starred as Samantha Micelli, the daughter of Danza's character, Tony Micelli. When Milano won the role, her family relocated from Staten Island to Hollywood.

She produced a teen workout video in 1988 called Teen Steam. In 1985, Milano was in the film Commando as Jenny Matrix, who was John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger)'s daughter. A few years later this film was shown in Japan, prompting a producer to offer Milano a five-album record deal.

On stage, she starred in Tender Offer, a one-act play written by Wendy Wasserstein, All Night Long by American playwright John O'Keefe, and the first American musical adaptation of Jane Eyre. She returned to the theater in 1991, when she starred in and produced a Los Angeles production of Butterflies Are Free.
Transforming from child actress to adult actress

At the beginning of her career, Milano was known mainly for her role on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). She tried to shed her "nice girl" image by appearing in several films targeted at adults, such as Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1993), Embrace of the Vampire (1994), Deadly Sins (1995), and Poison Ivy II: Lily (1996), where she starred opposite Johnathon Schaech and Xander Berkeley.
Recent roles

Milano portrayed Jennifer Mancini on Melrose Place (1997–1998), Meg Winston in Spin City, and most notably as Phoebe Halliwell on the eight-year run of the popular series Charmed (1998–2006). Milano and close friend Holly Marie Combs became producers for Charmed during the show's fifth season.

She played the role of Eva Savelot in MCI's 1-800-COLLECT commercials. In 2007, Milano filmed a pilot for ABC entitled Reinventing the Wheelers. The series was not picked up for the 2007–2008 season, but instead, Milano appeared in ten episodes of the show My Name Is Earl. This reunited her with Jaime Pressly, who guest-starred in the two-part Season 5 premiere of Charmed, "A Witch's Tail".

Milano's commercial work includes appearing in the "Josie" music video by Blink-182; and 2007 television ads/commercials for Veet and Sheer Cover.

Milano was part of TBS's special coverage installment Hot Corner for the 2007 Major League Baseball playoffs. She reported at Fenway Park during the ALDS between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. She also reported at Chase Field during the NLCS between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

Milano starred in the 2008 film Pathology alongside Milo Ventimiglia and was then cast in a television sitcom, Single with Parents, which was pulled prior to production.

On March 20, 2009, it was announced that Milano would provide a voice for the upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

On March 24, 2009, her book on her baseball fandom, Safe At Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic, was released. Milano has signed on to star in and produce My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, a romantic comedy in which she plays a woman with a relationship dilemma.
Personal life

Milano has dyslexia. In an interview in 2004, Milano explained how she deals with the disorder:

   "I've stumbled over words while reading from teleprompters. Sir John Gielgud, whom I worked with on The Canterville Ghost years ago, gave me great advice. When I asked how he memorized his monologues, he said, 'I write them down.' I use that method to this day. It not only familiarizes me with the words, it makes them my own."
Milano was appointed Founding Ambassador for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, to which she donated $250,000. The Global Network is an alliance formed to advocate and mobilize resources in the fight to control neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Milano will work to raise awareness of NTDs by educating the mainstream media and general public of the plight faced by the one billion people who are afflicted by NTDs, and the importance in controlling and preventing this global health crisis.

Milano is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States. She traveled to India, as well as Angola, to work with UNICEF field officers there. In the fall of 2004, she participated in UNICEF's "Trick or Treat" campaign as an official spokesperson. She raised approximately $50,000 for South African women and children with AIDS by selling her own and a school's photo work. In support of PETA, she appeared in an advertisement for them, advocating vegetarianism, in a dress made entirely of vegetables.

In honor of her 37th birthday (December 19, 2009), Milano ran an online fundraising campaign for Charity:Water. Her original goal was to raise $25,000, but a donation from her husband put her over the $75,000 mark on December 18. The fundraiser is scheduled to run until December 26.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Old Enough Diane
1985 Commando Jenny Matrix Nominated - Young Artist Award - Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress Starring in a Feature Film - Comedy or Drama
1986 The Canterville Ghost Jennifer Canterville TV movie
1988 Crash Course Vanessa Crawford TV movie aka Driving Academy
Dance 'til Dawn Shelley Sheridan Nominated - Young Artist Award - Best Young Actress in a Special, Pilot, Movie of the Week, or Miniseries
1989 Speed Zone! Lurleen aka Cannonball Fever
1992 Little Sister Diana
Where the Day Takes You Kimmy
1993 The Webbers Fan TV movie
Conflict of Interest Eve
Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story Amy Fisher TV movie
Candles in the Dark Sylvia Velliste TV movie
1994 Confessions of a Sorority Girl Rita Summers TV movie
Double Dragon Marian Delario/Power Corps Chief
1995 Deadly Sins Cristina
Embrace of the Vampire Charlotte Wells
The Surrogate Amy Winslow TV movie
1996 Jimmy Zip Francesca Short Film
Poison Ivy II: Lily Lily Leonetti
Fear Margo Masse
Glory Daze Chelsea
To Brave Alaska Denise Harris TV movie
Public Enemies Amaryllis
1997 Below Utopia Susanne
Hugo Pool Hugo Dugay
1998 Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure Frances Ella 'Fizzy' Fitz TV movie
2001 Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure Angel Nominated - Annie Award - Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Production
Diamond Hunters Tracey Van der Byl TV movie
2002 Buying the Cow Amy
Kiss the Bride Amy Kayne
2003 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Cyndi
2005 Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone 26 Voice
2007 The Blue Hour Allegra
2008 Wisegal Patty Montanari TV movie
Pathology Gwen Williamson
2010 My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Jesse Young Currently in post-Production
also credited as producer
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1984–92 Who's the Boss? Samantha Micelli 1–8 Young Artist Award - Best Young Supporting Actress in a Television Series (1986)
Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress, Starring in a Television, Comedy or Drama Series (1986)
Best Young Female Superstar in Television (1988)
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards - Favorite TV Actress (1988, 1989)
Blimp Award - Favorite TV Actress (1990)
1997–98 Melrose Place Jennifer Mancini 6 & 7 Left after only 7 episodes in Season 7 to take a lead role on the WB show Charmed.
1998–06 Charmed Phoebe Halliwell 1–8 She and Holly Marie Combs became producers at the beginning of season 5.
Nominated - Blimp Award - Favorite TV Actress (2005)
Nominated - Teen Choice Awards - TV - Choice Actress (2006)
2007 Reinventing the Wheelers Annie TV pilot
2008 Single with Parents Lou TV pilot
2010 Romantically Challenged Rebecca Thomas Slated to air during the mid-season of 2010
TV appearances
Year Title Role Episode title Notes
1990 Série rose "Softly from Paris" Season 4, episode 1
The American Film Institute Presents: TV or Not TV?
1995 The Outer Limits Hannah Valesic "Caught in the Act" Season 1, episode 16
1997-2001 Spin City Meg Winston "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Season 2, episode 11
"Rain on My Charades" Season 5, episode 17
1998 Fantasy Island Gina Williams "Superfriends" Season 1, episode 2
2004 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius April Gorlock "Win, Lose and Kaboom" Voice, season 2
2001 Family Guy Herself "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington" Season 3, episode 3
2007-2008 My Name Is Earl Billie Cunningham — Recurring in Season 3, episodes 6-22.
2009 Castle Kyra Blaine "A Rose for Everafter"
Discography
The discography of American pop singer Alyssa Milano includes four studio albums, two compilations, and eleven singles. These albums were only commercially available in Japan, with the exception of one single that was only available in France and a charity single that was available in the US.
Studio albums
Year Information Peak positions
JPN
1989 Look in My Heart

   * First Studio Album
   * Released: March 25, 1989
   * Formats: Vinyl, Cassette, CD


68
1989 Alyssa

   * Second Studio Album
   * Released: October 25, 1989
   * Formats: Vinyl, Cassette, CD


15
1991 Locked Inside a Dream

   * Third Studio Album
   * Released: May 21, 1991
   * Formats: Vinyl, Cassette, CD


19
1992 Do You See Me?

   * Fourth Studio Album
   * Released: September 18, 1992
   * Formats: Vinyl, Cassette, CD


http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u201/huggybearprincess/Charmed%20Pics/AlyssaMilanoakaPhoebefromCharmed.jpg
http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww288/skyeshorizon/alyssa-milano-wallpapers-5.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 2:58 am

* Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal (pronounced /ˈdʒɪlənhɑːl/; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten. He has appeared in diverse roles since his first lead role in 1999's October Sky, followed by the 2001 indie cult hit Donnie Darko, in which he played a psychologically troubled teen and onscreen brother to his real-life sister, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. In the 2004 blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow he portrayed a student caught in a cataclysmic global cooling event, alongside Dennis Quaid as his father. He then played against type as a frustrated Marine in Jarhead (2005). The same year, he won critical acclaim as Jack Twist in the film Brokeback Mountain opposite Heath Ledger.

Gyllenhaal has become an activist, promoting various political and social causes. He appeared in Rock the Vote advertising, campaigned for the Democratic Party in the 2004 election, and promoted environmental causes and the American Civil Liberties Union.
During childhood, Gyllenhaal had regular exposure to filmmaking due to his family's deep ties to the industry. As an 11-year-old he made his acting debut as Billy Crystal's son in the 1991 comedy film City Slickers. His parents did not allow him to appear in the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks because it would have required him leaving home for two months. In subsequent years, his parents allowed him to audition for parts, but regularly forbade him to take them if he were chosen. He was allowed to appear in his father's films several times. Gyllenhaal appeared in the 1993 film A Dangerous Woman (along with sister Maggie); in "Bop Gun" a 1994 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street; and in the 1998 comedy Homegrown. Along with their mother, Jake and Maggie appeared in two episodes of Molto Mario, an Italian cooking show on the Food Network. Prior to his senior year in high school, the only other film not directed by his father in which Gyllenhaal was allowed to perform was the 1993 film Josh and S.A.M., a little-known children's adventure.

Gyllenhaal graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in 1998, then attended Columbia University, where his sister was a senior and from which his mother had graduated, to study Eastern religions and philosophy. Gyllenhaal dropped out after two years to concentrate on acting, but has expressed intentions to eventually finish his degree. Gyllenhaal's first lead role was in October Sky, Joe Johnston's 1999 adaptation of the Homer Hickam autobiography Rocket Boys, in which he portrayed a young man from West Virginia striving to win a science scholarship to avoid becoming a coal miner. The film earned $32 million and was described in the Sacramento News and Review as Gyllenhaal's "breakout performance."
From Donnie Darko to the London stage

Donnie Darko, Gyllenhaal's second major film, was not a box office success upon its initial 2001 release, but eventually became a cult favorite. The film, directed by Richard Kelly, is set in 1988 and stars Gyllenhaal as a troubled teenager who, after narrowly escaping death, experiences visions of a 6 foot (1.8 m) tall rabbit named Frank who tells him that the world is coming to an end. Gyllenhaal's performance was well-received by critics; Gary Mairs of culturevulture.net claimed that "Gyllenhaal manages the difficult trick of seeming both blandly normal and profoundly disturbed, often within the same scene."
Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko

After the critical success of Donnie Darko, Gyllenhaal's next role was as the lead character in 2002's Highway, a film ignored by audiences and critics alike. His performance was described by one critic as "silly, cliched and straight to video." Gyllenhaal had more success starring opposite Jennifer Aniston in The Good Girl, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival; he also starred in Lovely & Amazing with Catherine Keener. In both films he plays an unstable character who begins a reckless affair with an older woman. Gyllenhaal later described these as "teenager in transition" roles. Gyllenhaal later starred in the Touchstone Pictures romantic comedy Bubble Boy, which was loosely based on the story of David Vetter. The film portrays the title character's adventures as he pursues the love of his life before she marries the wrong man. The film was panned by critics, with one calling it an "empty-headed, chaotic, utterly tasteless atrocity".

Following Bubble Boy, Gyllenhaal starred opposite Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Ellen Pompeo in Moonlight Mile, as a young man coping with the death of his fiancée and the grief of her parents. The story, which received mixed reviews, is loosely based on writer/director Brad Silberling's personal experiences following the murder of girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer.

Gyllenhaal was almost cast as Spider-Man for Spider-Man 2 due to director Sam Raimi's concerns about original Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire`s health. Maguire recovered, however, and the sequel was shot without Gyllenhaal. Instead, Gyllenhaal starred in the blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow in 2004, co-starring Dennis Quaid as his father.

In his theatrical debut Gyllenhaal starred on the London stage in Kenneth Lonergan's revival of This is Our Youth. Gyllenhaal said, "Every actor I look up to has done theatre work, so I knew I had to give it a try." The play, which had been a critical sensation on Broadway, ran for eight weeks in London's West End. Gyllenhaal received favorable critical reviews and an Evening Standard Theatre Award in the category "Outstanding Newcomer."
Brokeback Mountain and after

2005 was a prolific year for Gyllenhaal, who starred in the critically praised films Proof, Jarhead, and Brokeback Mountain. In Proof, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, Gyllenhaal played a graduate student in mathematics who tries to convince Paltrow's character to publish a revolutionary proof to a problem puzzling the mathematicians' community. In Jarhead, Gyllenhaal played against his usual "sensitive yet disturbed" type by displaying an aggressive masculinity as a violent U.S. Marine during the first Gulf War. He also auditioned to be Batman for one of the biggest blockbusters Batman Begins and came close to getting the role but Christian Bale was ultimately chosen for it.
Gyllenhaal (right) in the movie poster for Brokeback Mountain

In Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play young men who meet as sheep herders and embark upon a sexual relationship that begins in the summer of 1963 and continues until the death of Gyllenhaal's character in 1981. The film was often referred to in the media with the shorthand phrase "the gay cowboy movie," though there was differing opinion on the sexual orientation of the characters. The film won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival. The film went on to win four Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, and three Academy Awards. Gyllenhaal was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his performance, but lost to George Clooney for Syriana. Gyllenhaal also won the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA for the same role and received a Best Supporting Actor nomination and Best Film Ensemble nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. Also for Brokeback Mountain, he and Ledger won an MTV Movie Award for "Best Kiss" in 2006. Shortly after the 2006 Academy Awards, Gyllenhaal was invited to join the Academy in recognition of his acting career. Most recently, Gyllenhaal was awarded the 2006 Young Artist Award for Artistic Excellence by The Americans for the Arts National Arts Awards for his role.

Gyllenhaal expressed mixed feelings about the experience of being directed by Ang Lee in Brokeback Mountain, but generally had more praise than criticism for Lee's directing style. While complaining of the way Lee tended to disconnect with his actors once filming began, Gyllenhaal praised his encouraging direction of the actors and sensitive approach to the material. At the Directors Guild of America Awards on January 28, 2006, Gyllenhaal also praised Lee for "his humbleness and his respect for everyone around him."

When asked about his kissing scenes with Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal said, "As an actor, I think we need to embrace the times we feel most uncomfortable." When asked about the more intimate scenes with Ledger, Gyllenhaal likened them to "doing a sex scene with a woman I'm not particularly attracted to." Following the release of Brokeback Mountain, rumors circulated regarding the actor's sexual orientation. When asked about such gossip during an interview, Gyllenhaal said:
“ You know it's flattering when there's a rumor that says I'm bisexual. It means I can play more kinds of roles. I'm open to whatever people want to call me. I've never really been attracted to men sexually, but I don't think I would be afraid of it if it happened.
Gyllenhaal attending the premiere of Proof in 2005.

Gyllenhaal narrated the 2005 short animated film The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, based on Mordicai Gerstein's book of the same name about Philippe Petit's famous stunt. In January 2007, as host of Saturday Night Live, he put on a sparkly evening dress and sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from the musical Dreamgirls for his opening monologue, dedicating the song to his "unique fan base... the fans of Brokeback."

In 2007, Gyllenhaal starred in David Fincher's Zodiac, which was based on a true story. He played Robert Graysmith, a San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist and author of two books about the Zodiac serial killer. Gyllenhaal starred opposite Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, and Reese Witherspoon in the October 2007 release Rendition, a Gavin Hood-directed political thriller about the U.S. policy of extraordinary rendition. In 2009, he appeared with Tobey Maguire in Jim Sheridan's remake of Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish language film Brothers. His upcoming roles include the comedy Nailed, which he filmed in South Carolina with Jessica Biel, and Doug Liman's as yet untitled film about the race for lunar colonization.

Internationally viewed as a sex symbol, Gyllenhaal was named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2006. He was also listed in People's "Hottest Bachelors of 2006". In response to mainstream press lists like these, thousands of gay and bisexual men were polled for the 2007 and 2008 "AfterElton.com Hot 100 List." Gyllenhaal was ranked at #1 in both consecutive years. He was ranked at #2 on the Gay Wired Magazine poll of male actors who have played gay characters in movies.

On the show Entourage, Gyllenhaal, though not featured on screen, was the replacement for Vincent Chase in Aquaman 2 after Chase was fired. This was likely a reference to Spider-Man 2, when Gyllenhaal almost replaced Tobey Maguire.

On May 20, 2008 it was announced that Gyllenhaal will play the lead role in the movie adaptation of the video game Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Production has started and the film has a current release date of May 28, 2010.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1991 City Slickers Danny Robbins
1993 Josh and S.A.M. Leon
A Dangerous Woman Edward as Jacob Gyllenhaal
1998 Homegrown Jake/Blue Kahan
1999 October Sky Homer Hickam Jr.
2001 Donnie Darko Donald J. "Donnie" Darko
Bubble Boy Jimmy Livingston
Lovely & Amazing Jordan
2002 Highway Pilot Kelson
Moonlight Mile Joe Nast
The Good Girl Thomas 'Holden' Worther
2003 Abby Singer Himself (Cameo)
2004 The Day After Tomorrow Sam Hall
2005 Brokeback Mountain Jack Twist
Jarhead Anthony Swofford ("Swoff")
Proof Harold 'Hal' Dobbs
2007 Zodiac Robert Graysmith
Rendition Douglas Freeman
2009 Brothers Tommy Cahill
Nailed Howard Birdwell
2010 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Prince Dastan
Damn Yankees Joe Hardy
Love and Other Drugs
Awards
Year Group Award Result Film
2002 Young Hollywood Awards Breakthrough Performance - Male Won
Independent Spirit Awards Best Male Lead Nominated Donnie Darko
2003 Chlotrudis Awards Best Actor Won
DVD Exclusive Awards DVD Premiere Award, Best Actor Nominated Highway
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Breakout Star - Male Nominated The Good Girl
2005 National Board of Review Best Supporting Actor Won Brokeback Mountain
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best Performance Won
Best Kiss Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Best Ensemble Nominated
Critics' Choice Award Best Supporting Actor Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Palm Springs International Film Festival Achievement-Actor Award Won
Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Satellite Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor Nominated
Outstanding Lead Actor Nominated Jarhead
National Arts Awards Young Artist Award for Artistic Excellence Won
2008 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actor: Drama Nominated Rendition
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg216/shialabeouf_2008/jake_gyllenhaal-1.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/northernwolf/jake_gyllenhaal.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 3:00 am

* Kristy Swanson
Kristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson (born December 19, 1969) is an American actress best known for playing Buffy Summers in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Swanson started in TV advertising roles, and went on to make several one-off appearances in TV series such as Cagney and Lacey and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1986, she debuted on the big screen in two John Hughes films: Pretty In Pink, in a non-speaking role, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a character who announces a convoluted excuse for Ferris' absence in class. Her first starring role was later in 1986, in Wes Craven's Deadly Friend as Samantha - "the girl next door." The next year she played Cathy in the adaptation of V. C. Andrews' best-seller Flowers in the Attic.

By 1990, Swanson had made many television appearances, including multiple appearances in Knots Landing (1987-1988), Nightingales (1989), her first starring role in a TV series, although it only lasted a season, and a short-lived Burt Reynolds vehicle called B.L. Stryker (1989).

Throughout the '90s, she centered mostly in films. She played the title role in the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was a box office bomb but had a profitable rental life. She appeared in both starring and supporting roles in movies such as Hot Shots!, The Program, The Chase, or her most critically acclaimed role, that of Kristen Connor, a student discovering her sexuality in John Singleton's Higher Learning. She also appeared in the film adaptation of the comic-book The Phantom and the dark comedy 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag with Joe Pesci. Most of these films failed at the box office, and she reverted to TV work in the late '90s.

In the 1998-1999 season of Early Edition, Swanson played Erica Paget, a love interest of the main character, Gary Hobson. In 1999 Swanson played Vanessa, the girlfriend of Adam Sandler in the movie Big Daddy. In 2000, she returned to a television series, as the star of Grapevine, a revamp of a 1992 TV series. It was cancelled after 5 episodes.

Swanson posed nude for Playboy magazine in November 2002 in a cover-featured pictorial. She appeared in and won the 2006 FOX television program Skating with Celebrities, partnered with Lloyd Eisler.

On May 8, 2007, Swanson appeared in the Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode "Bombshell", playing a fictionalized variation on Anna Nicole Smith.

In 2007, she became a spokesperson of the Medifast diet. In the following year, she guest-starred in 3 episodes of the lesbian web series 3Way.

In July 2009 she filmed the film What If..., co-starring Kevin Sorbo and Debby Ryan, scheduled for a 2010 Valentine's Day DVD release.

She is currently filming the film "A Root Beer Christmas" in Utah.
Personal life

Swanson was born in Mission Viejo, California, the daughter of physical education teachers Rosemary and Robert Swanson. She has Swedish ancestry.

Swanson married her Skating With Celebrities partner, Lloyd Eisler, on February 7, 2009 in San Luis Obispo. Their first child, a son named Magnus, was born on February 16, 2007. They currently reside in Santa Clarita, California.
Filmography

Movies
Year Title Role Notes
2010 A Root Beer Christmas Currently filming
2010 What If... Wendy Walker
2009 The Closer Kaitlyn Short film
2006 Living Death Elizabeth Harris
2006 The Black Hole Shannon Muir TV movie
2005 Six Months Later Linda Short film
2005 Forbidden Secrets Alexandra Kent Lambeth TV movie
2005 Bound by Lies Laura Cross
2003 Silence Julia Craig
2003 Red Water Kelli Raymond TV movie
2001 Zebra Lounge Louise Bauer
2001 Soul Assassin Tessa Jansen
2000 Dude, Where's My Car? Christie Boner
2000 Meeting Daddy Laurel Lee
1999 Big Daddy Vanessa
1999 Supreme Sanction Jenna TV movie
1998 Pleasantville Concerned "Colored" Girl Uncredited
1998 Ground Control Julie Albrecht
1997 Bad To The Bone Francesca Wells TV movie
1997 Tinseltown Nikki Randall
1997 Lover Girl Darlene Ferrari
1997 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag Laurie Bennett
1996 Marshal Law Lilly Nelson TV movie
1996 The Phantom Diana Palmer
1995 Higher Learning Kristen Connor
1994 Getting In Kirby Watts
1994 The Chase Natalie Voss
1993 The Program Camille Shafer
1993 The Chili Con Carne Club Julie Short film
1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Buffy Summers
1992 Highway to Hell Rachel Clark
1991 Hot Shots! Kowalski
1991 Mannequin: On the Move Jessie
1990 Diving In Terry Hopkins
1990 Dream Trap Sue Halloran
1988 Nightingales Becky Granger TV movie
1987 Flowers in the Attic Cathy Dollanganger
1987 Not Quite Human Erin Jeffries TV movie
1987 Juarez Cathy Dodge TV movie
1986 Deadly Friend Samantha Pringle
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off Simone Adamley
1986 Mr. Boogedy Jennifer Davis TV movie
1986 Miracle of the Heart: A Boy's Town Story Stephanie Gamble TV movie
1986 Pretty in Pink Duckette

Series
Year Series Role Episodes
2008 3Way Leslie Lapdalulu 3 episodes
2007 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Lorelei Mailer 1 episode
2004 CSI: Miami Roxanne Price 1 episode
2003 Just Shoot Me! Allison Cavanaugh 1 episode
2000 Grapevine Susan Crawford 5 episodes
1998-99 Early Edition Erica Paget 20 episodes
1989 B.L. Stryker Lynn Ellingsworth 2 episodes
1989 Nightingales Becky Granger 13 episodes
1987-88 Knots Landing Jody Campbell 5 episodes
1987 Growing Pains Rhonda 1 episode
1986 Valerie Linda Perkins 1 episode
1986 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Female Student #2 1 episode
1985 Cagney & Lacey Stephanie Brandon 1 episode
1985 Call to Glory 2 episodes
1984 It's Your Move Laura 1 episode
Awards and nominations

Wins

   * 1989: Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture - Flowers In The Attic

Nominations

   * 1988: Young Artist Award for Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures - Deadly Friend
   * 1987: Young Artist Award for Exceptional Young Actress Starring in a Television Special or Movie of the Week - Mr. Boogedy
   * 1986: Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress - Guest in a Television Series - Cagney & Lacey episode "On The Street"

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c336/Pekranok/250006.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/MARCHASPHOTOS/Autographs/76.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/19/09 at 3:01 am

I'll catch up later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 6:43 am


I'll catch up later.

There's a lot..I got carried away :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/19/09 at 6:56 am


The birthday of the day...Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson (born December 19, 1933) is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for appearances in the film Sounder and the television specials The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots.
Tyson was discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine, and became a popular fashion model. Her first film was an uncredited role in Carib Gold in 1957, but she went on to do television - the celebrated series East Side/West Side and the long-running soap opera The Guiding Light. In 1961, Tyson appeared in the original cast of French playwright Jean Genet's The Blacks, the longest running Off-Broadway non-musical of the decade, running for 1,408 performances. The original cast also featured James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, Louis Gossett, Jr., Godfrey Cambridge, Maya Angelou and Charles Gordone. She appeared with Sammy Davis, Jr. in the film A Man Called Adam (1966) and starred in the film version of Graham Greene's The Comedians (1967). Tyson had a featured role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) and was in a segment of the movie Roots.
The handprints of Cicely Tyson in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed Sounder. In 1974 she won two Emmy Awards for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Other acclaimed television roles included Roots, King, in which she portrayed Coretta Scott King, The Marva Collins Story, When No One Would Listen and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All for which she received her third Emmy Award. In her 1994-1995 television series Sweet Justice, Tyson portrayed a feisty, unorthodox Southern attorney named Carrie Grace Battle, a character she shaped by consulting with and shadowing the legendary Washington, DC civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree. In 2005, Tyson co-starred in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The same year she was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball.

The Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts, a magnet school in East Orange, New Jersey, was renamed in her honor. She plays an active part in supporting the school, which serves one of New Jersey's most underprivileged African-American communities.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1959 Odds Against Tomorrow Jazz Club bartender
The Last Angry Man (1959) Girl Left on Porch (uncredited)
1966 A Man Called Adam Claudia Ferguson
1967 The Comedians Marie Therese
1968 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Portia
1972 Sounder Rebecca Morgan Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Blue Bird Tylette, The Cat
The River Niger Mattie Williams
1978 A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich Sweets
1979 The Concorde: Airport '79 Elaine
1981 Bustin' Loose Vivian Perry
1991 Fried Green Tomatoes Sipsey
1997 Hoodlum Stephanie St. Clair Nominated — Acapulco Black Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2001 The Double Dutch Divas! Herself (short subject) (uncredited)
2005 Because of Winn-Dixie Gloria
Diary of a Mad Black Woman Myrtle NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated — BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Theatrical Film
Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Madea's Family Reunion Myrtle
2006 Fat Rose and Squeaky Celine
Idlewild Mother Hopkins
2007 Rwanda Rising Voice of Jeanette Nyirabagarwa (documentary)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
Frontiers of Faith Tony "The Bitter Cup"
1962 The Nurses Betty Ann Warner "Frieda"
1963 Naked City "Howard Running Bear Is a Turtle"
1963-1964 East Side/West Side (26 episodes)
1965 Slattery's People Sarah Brookman "Question: Who You Taking to the Main Event, Eddie?"
1965-1966 I Spy Princess Amara
Vickie Harmon Episode "So Long, Patrick Henry"
Episode "Trial by Treehouse"
1966 Guiding Light Martha Frazier
1967 Cowboy in Africa Julie Anderson Episode "Tomorrow on the Wind"
Judd for the Defense Lucille Evans Episode "Commitment"
1968-1969 The F.B.I. Julie Harmon
Lainey Harber Episode "The Enemies"
Episode "Silent Partners"
1969 Medical Center Susan Wiley Episode "The Last 10 Yards"
The Courtship of Eddie's Father Betty Kelly Episode "Guess Who's Coming for Lunch"
1970 Gunsmoke Rachel Biggs Episode "The Scavengers"
Mission: Impossible Alma Ross Episode "Death Squad"
The Bill Cosby Show Mildred Hermosa Episode "Blind Date"
Here Come the Brides Princess Lucenda Episode "A Bride for Obie Brown"
1971 Insight Episode "The Bird of the Mast"
Marriage: Year One Emma Teasley (unsold pilot)
Neighbors
1972 Emergency! Mrs. Johnson Episode "Crash"
Wednesday Night Out
1974 The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Jane Pittman Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Emmy Award for Actress of the Year - Special
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Free to Be… You and Me Herself
1976 Just an Old Sweet Song Priscilla Simmons
1977 Roots Binta (miniseries)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Wilma Blanche Rudolph
1978 King Coretta Scott King (miniseries)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
A Woman Called Moses Harriet Ross Tubman
1981 The Marva Collins Story Marva Collins NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1982 Benny's Place Odessa
1985 Playing with Fire Carol Phillips
1986 Intimate Encounters Dr. Claire Dalton
Acceptable Risks Janet Framm
Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story Muriel NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1989 The Women of Brewster Place Mrs. Browne
1990 The Kid Who Loved Christmas Etta
B.L. Stryker Ruth Hastings Episode "Winner Takes All"
Heat Wave Ruthana Richardson CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1991 Clippers Donna (unsold pilot)
1992 Duplicates Dr. Randolph
When No One Would Listen Sarah
1993 House of Secrets Evangeline
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Castralia, Marsden Family House Slave/Maid Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1994-1995 Sweet Justice Carrie Grace Battle Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
1996 The Road to Galveston Jordan Roosevelt NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Lone Star Film & Television Award for Best TV Actress
Nominated — CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1997 Bridge of Time Guardian
Riot Maggie (segment "Homecoming Day")
Nominated — CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Ms. Scrooge Ms. Ebenita Scrooge
1998 Always Outnumbered Luvia
Mama Flora's Family Mama Flora NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1999 A Lesson Before Dying Tante Lou Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York Emily Lincoln
2000 Touched by an Angel Abby Episode "Living the Rest of My Life"
The Outer Limits Justice Gretchen Parkhurst Episode "Final Appeal"
2001 Jewel Cathedral
2002 The Rosa Parks Story Leona Edwards McCauley Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Supporting Actress
2005 Higglytown Heroes Great Aunt Shirley Hero Episode "Wayne's 100 Special Somethings"
2009 Relative Stranger Pearl
Law and Order: SVU Ondine Burdett Episode "Hell"
Theatre
Year Production Role Theatre Notes
1959 Jolly's Progress Jolly (understudy) Longacre Theatre
1960 The Cool World Girl Eugene O'Neill Theatre
1961 The Blacks: A Clown Show Stephanie Virtue Diop St. Mark's Playhouse
1962 Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright Celeste Chipley
Adelaide Smith (understudy) Booth Theatre
1963 The Blue Boy in Black Joan Masque Theatre
Trumpets of the Lord Rev. Marion Alexander Astor Place Theatre
1966 A Hand Is on the Gate Performer Longacre Theatre
1968 Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights Myrna Jessup John Golden Theatre
1969 To Be Young, Gifted and Black Various Cherry Lane Theatre
Trumpets of the Lord Rev. Marion Alexander Brooks Atkinson Theatre
1983 The Corn is Green Miss Moffat Lunt-Fontaine Theatre
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i216/Booglady1/untitledc.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s193/divinedivahu/cicelytyson.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p284/xxtrathyck/awomancalledmoses.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb202/RestorationStage/Courtney%20Baker-Oliver/image-1-1.jpg




Isn't she's Mike Tyson's Mother?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/09 at 8:14 am



Isn't she's Mike Tyson's Mother?  ???

Umm No.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 4:56 am

The word of the day...Dwarf
#
If one person or thing is dwarfed by another, the second is so much bigger than the first that it makes them look very small. VERB

    *
      His figure is dwarfed by the huge red McDonald's sign. 'be' V-ed
    *
      The U.S. air travel market dwarfs that of Britain. V n

#
Dwarf is used to describe a particular kind of star which is quite small and not very bright. N-COUNT with supp

    *
      ...a white dwarf star.
    *
      ...a red dwarf.

#
Dwarf is used to describe varieties or species of plants and animals which are much smaller than the usual size for their kind. ADJ ADJ n

    *
      ...dwarf shrubs.

#
In children's stories, a dwarf is an imaginary creature that is like a small man. Dwarfs often have magical powers. N-COUNT
#
In former times, people who were much smaller than normal were called dwarfs.
http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy250/bestisunkind/Blogging/Dwarf.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a356/6speed16v/DSC06815.jpg
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx155/OandA_photo/dwarfred.jpg
http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx342/Unclebunny/Netherland%20Dwarf/nds2.jpg
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p435/BlackTemplarDad/Black%20Templar/Warmaster/DSC_0006.jpg
http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/shilahalo/3CA1KTZ65CACWQIX3CAZ3F9A9CASA6BTZCA.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa320/Pepa40_2007/ground%20cover/gnomes015.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/jedikatie/okcvacation/pluto.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v345/DeadlySacrifice/misc/the-white-dwarf.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 4:59 am

The birthday of the day...Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a BAFTA- and Emmy award-winning English actress best known in recent years for her role as Tessa Phillips in the British TV drama series Spooks (broadcast on American PBS television and released on DVD in the US under the title MI-5). She is also known for playing Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London, Jessica 6 in Logan's Run, and Jill Mason in Equus.
Agutter first came to the attention of television audiences as Kirsty in the twice a week BBC soap "The Newcomers". Kirsty was the daughter of the new Managing Director, but could only appear during the school holidays and was listed in the credits as "Jennifer". Later, she appeared as Roberta in the BBC children's drama series of The Railway Children, and went on to play the same part in Lionel Jeffries' 1970 film of the book. Her quality of ingenuousness had led to an earlier more serious role in the thriller I Start Counting (1969). She also won an Emmy for her television role as Fritha in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The Snow Goose (1971). Agutter continued a transition to adult roles in Walkabout (1971), playing a teenage schoolgirl who was lost in the Australian outback with her younger brother. She first auditioned for the role in 1967 but funding problems delayed filming until 1969. The delay in production meant Agutter was 16 at the time of filming, and the director took advantage of her new legal status by including nude scenes in the film. Among them was a five-minute skinny-dipping scene, which was cut from the original US release. She commented during an interview at the 2005 Bradford Film Festival at the National Media Museum that she was shocked by the film's explicitness when she first viewed it, but is still on good terms with director Nicolas Roeg.

Agutter moved to Hollywood at 21 and appeared in a number of films over the next decade, including The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Logan's Run (1976), Equus (1977), Sweet William (1980), and An American Werewolf in London (1981). Since 1990, Agutter has deliberately focused on the upbringing of her son and much of her work focused away from film and television work and rather involved audio recordings and supporting various charities, notably the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, of which she is a patron (she is also a carrier of the disease). Nonetheless, she had a guest role in Series 6 of Red Dwarf, and appeared in the TV series TECX, The All New Alexei Sayle Show, and And The Beat Goes On. In 2000, she made her third appearance in a production of The Railway Children, produced by Carlton TV and this time playing the role of the mother. In 2002, Agutter featured in the BBC television series Spooks and in 2007, she starred in the first episode of the new series of David Jason's ITV television series Diamond Geezer. In 2007, she also guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Bride of Peladon.

Agutter enjoys an unusual and enduring popularity among the generation of men who grew up watching her films, first as a child actress and then as an adult. She puts this down to the fact that having grown up with the films, audiences have come to relate to her characters through their own personal experiences. She believes that the innocence of the characters she played in her earlier films combined with the costumes and nudity in some of her later adult roles such as Logan's Run (1976), Equus (1977) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) are "perfect fantasy fodder".
Personal life

Agutter remained single during her many years of residence in Los Angeles, and it has been reported she never lived with a man until she was married. In 1989 while attending an arts festival in Bath she met Johan Tham, a Swedish hotelier who at the time was a director of Cliveden Hotel in Buckinghamshire. In 1990, she became pregnant by Tham and they subsequently married on 4 August of that year. Their son Jonathan was born on 25 December 1990. They live in Camberwell, London. For many years Agutter, a great admirer of Cornwall, has owned a second home on The Lizard, the most southerly point on the English mainland.
Filmography
Filmography
Year Title Format Role Other notes
1964 East of Sudan Film Debut aged 11
1966 A Man Could Get Killed Film Linda Frazier
1968 Gates to Paradise Film Maud
Star! Film Pamela Roper
1969 I Start Counting Film Wynne
1970 The Railway Children Film Bobbie Waterbury
The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens TV Film
1971 Walkabout Film Girl
1972 Shelley Television Mary Shelley BBC series
1976 Logan's Run Film Jessica 6
The Eagle Has Landed Film Molly Prior
1977 Equus Film Jill Mason
1978 China 9, Liberty 37 Film Catherine Sebanek
The Riddle of the Sands Film Clara
1980 Sweet William Film Ann Walton
1981 Othello Film Desdemona
An American Werewolf in London Film Nurse Alex Price
1984 Secret Places Film Miss Lowrie
1985 Love's Labour's Lost Television Rosaline
Magnum, P.I. Television Krista Villeroch
1987 Dark Tower Film Carolyn Page
1990 Child's Play 2 Film Joanne Simpson
Darkman Film Burn Doctor uncredited cameo
1993 Red Dwarf Television Prof. Mamet
2000 The Railway Children Television Mother ITV
2001 The Parole Officer Film Victor's Wife
2002 At Dawning Escaping woman
Spooks Television Tessa Phillips
2004 Number One Longing, Number Two Regret Film Kenosha
The Alan Clark Diaries Television Jane Clark BBC TV series
2005 New Tricks, Season 2, Episode 1 Television Yvonne Barrie BBC TV Series
2007 Diamond Geezer Television Vanessa ITV series
Irina Palm Television
2008 The Invisibles Television Barbara Riley BBC TV series
2009 Monday Monday Television Jenny Mountfield ITV1 TV series
Awards

    * BAFTA: Best Supporting Actress 1978 - Equus
    * Emmy: Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama 1972 - The Snow Goose
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/cryvinder/jenny_agutter_2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/Deletionista/CIMG2151.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/bigbaddom/DSC00210.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/ray_luxury_yacht/funnies/Jenny_Agutter_001_340.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 5:05 am

The co-birthday of the day...Dick Wolf
Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946), usually billed as simply Dick Wolf, is an American Emmy Award-winning producer, specializing in crime dramas such as Miami Vice and the Law & Order franchise.
olf worked as an advertising copywriter at Benton & Bowles creating commercials for Crest toothpaste, all the while writing screenplays in the hopes of a film career. It was at this time that he briefly collaborated on a screenplay with Oliver Stone, who was also a struggling screenwriter at the time. He moved to Los Angeles after a few years and had three screenplays produced; one of these films, Masquerade starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly, was well received. He started his television career as a staff writer on Hill Street Blues and was nominated for his first Emmy for an episode on which he was the only writer. He moved from there to Miami Vice where he was a supervising producer.

Wolf's Law & Order is the second-longest-running dramatic show in television history, making it one of television's most successful franchises. The show has been picked up for a record-tying 20th season by NBC, beginning September 25, 2009. It has been nominated for the most consecutive Emmy Awards of any primetime drama series. Wolf serves as creator and executive producer of the three current Law & Order drama series from Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television – Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Law & Order: UK. A third spinoff of the original franchise, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, was cancelled after its first season. In addition, he was the creator and executive producer of NBC's courtroom reality series Crime & Punishment, which chronicled real-life cases prosecuted by the San Diego District Attorney’s office.

Wolf's company also produced Twin Towers, the 2003 Academy Award-winning Short Documentary about two brothers, one a policeman and the other a fireman, who lost their lives in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. Currently, Wolf is involved with the production of a theatrical film that will document the popular rock group The Doors.

Wolf's personal honors include the Award of Excellence from the Banff Television Festival, the 2002 Creative Achievement Award from NATPE; the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Entertainment Industry Award, the Leadership and Inspiration Award from the Entertainment Industries Council, the Governor’s Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the 1997 achievement award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors, the 1998 Television Showman of the Year Award from the Publicist’s Guild of America, the 2002 Tribute from the Museum of Television and Radio, and a 2003 Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Wolf is also an Honorary Consul general of Monaco and is actively involved in the principality’s prestigious annual Television Festival, and is its primary liaison with the entertainment community.

On March 29, 2007, Wolf received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard.

In addition to having been a classmate of former President George W. Bush, Wolf was the employer of Fred Thompson, who sought the Republican nomination for president in 2008 with help of the national attention he gained playing the district attorney on Law & Order. Wolf supported Thompson in his bid, as he did Bush's, as it has been reported that he contributed money to Thompson even before he officially announced he was runnin
Credits

    * Skateboard (1978)
    * Miami Vice (1984-1989) TV Series
    * No Man's Land (1987)
    * Masquerade (1988)
    * Gideon Oliver (1989) TV Series
    * Christine Cromwell (1989) TV Series
    * Nasty Boys (1990) TV Series
    * H.E.L.P. (1990) TV Series
    * Law & Order (1990-present) TV Series
    * School Ties (1992)
    * Mann & Machine (1992) TV Series
    * The Human Factor (1992) TV Series
    * South Beach (1993) TV Series
    * New York Undercover (1994-1998) TV Series
    * The Wright Verdicts (1995) TV Series
    * Swift Justice (1996) TV Series
    * Feds (1997) TV Series
    * Players (1997-1998) TV Series
    * Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998) (TV)
    * The Invisible Man (1998) (TV)
    * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-present) TV Series
    * D.C. (2000) TV Series
    * Deadline (2000-2001) TV Series
    * Arrest & Trial (2000) TV Series
    * Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-present) TV Series
    * Crime & Punishment (2002-2004) TV Series
    * Twin Towers (2003)
    * Dragnet (2003) TV Series
    * Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) TV Series
    * Conviction (2006) TV Series
    * Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
    * Paris Enquêtes Criminelles (2007)
    * Law & Order: UK (2009-present) TV Series

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f230/Whatsername3786/dick-wolf.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n172/kemchi_14/ACelebrationofJerryOrbach320-vi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 5:08 am

* Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several successful albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor. Parsons' own group, The Alan Parsons Project, as well as his subsequent solo recordings, have also been successful commercially.In October 1967, at age 18, Parsons went to work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios, where he earned his first credit on the LP, Abbey Road. He became a regular there, engineering such projects as Paul McCartney's Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway, five albums by The Hollies, and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, for which he received his first Grammy Award nomination. He was known for doing more than what would normally be considered the scope of a recording engineer’s duties. He considered himself to be a recording director, likening his contribution to recordings to what Stanley Kubrick contributed to film. This is apparent in his work with Al Stewart's Year of the Cat, where Parsons added the saxophone part and transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts. It is also heard in Parsons’ influence on the Hollies’ He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother and The Air That I Breathe, sharp departures from their popular 1960s hits Stay, Just One Look, Stop! Stop! Stop! or Bus Stop. Parsons was also known to have swapped shifts during the engineering of The Dark Side of the Moon so he could work entirely on the project.

Parsons also produced three albums by Pilot, a Scottish pop rock band consisting of Ian Bairnson on guitar, Stuart Tosh on drums, and David Paton on lead vocals, guitars, and on bass. Their hits included "January" and "Magic".

Apparently inspired by his influential contribution to Stewart’s work, he initiated The Alan Parsons Project with producer and songwriter (and occasional singer) Eric Woolfson in 1975. The Project consisted of a revolving group of studio musicians and vocalists, most notably the members of Pilot and (on the first album) the members of American rock band Ambrosia. Unlike most rock groups, the Alan Parsons Project rarely performed live, although they did release a number of music videos. After releasing ten albums, the Project terminated after 1987, and Parsons continues to release work in his own name and in collaboration with other musicians; Parsons and his band now regularly tour many parts of the World.

Although an accomplished vocalist, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist and flautist, Parsons sang infrequent and incidental parts on his albums. While his keyboard playing was very audible on the Alan Parsons Project albums, very few recordings feature his flute. During the late 1990s, Parsons career travelled an interesting full circle, having started out in the music industry at the World famous Abbey Road Studios in London as an assistant engineer in the late 1960s, he briefly returned to run the studio in its entirety, a role he reportedly managed to combine with the demands of a hectic performing and recording schedule, Parsons also continued with his selective production work for other bands.

Of all his collaborations, guitarist Ian Bairnson worked with Parsons the longest, including Parsons' post-Woolfson albums, Try Anything Once, On Air, and The Time Machine.

As well as receiving gold and platinum awards from many nations, Parsons has received ten Grammy Award nominations for engineering and production. In 2007 he received a nomination for Best Surround Sound Album for A Valid Path.

The Project’s song, "Sirius", has been used for years by sports teams such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns, Kansas City Chiefs, VfB Stuttgart and Leinster Rugby as background music for their home team player introductions. (In addition, the song the Bulls use as background music for the visiting team introductions is Pink Floyd’s "On the Run", from The Dark Side of the Moon, engineered by Parsons). "Sirius" was also used by professional wrestler Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat as his theme music during his first stint in the World Wrestling Federation during the 1980s. The song was used in the 2000 Michael Jordan film Michael Jordan to the Max, as well as the 2009 animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. In 2008, the song was featured as part of a Dr. Pepper soda commercial, featuring Julius Erving.

In May 2005, Parsons appeared at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California, to mix front-of-house sound for Southern California-based Pink Floyd tribute band Which One’s Pink? and their performance of The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.

Indie band Grandaddy made a promotional CD with the track “Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland”.

Since 2003 he has toured under a revised name, The Alan Parsons Live Project (with Woolfson’s permission). The globe-trotting band features guitarist Godfrey Townsend, drummer Steve Murphy, keyboardist Manny Focarazzo, and bass guitarist John Montagna. The 2004-2005 shows offered vocalist P. J. Olsson’s track "More Lost Without You", while the later 2006 shows presented The Crystal Method-featured "We Play the Game" and opened with "Return to Tunguska" along with successes spanning the Project years.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t13/silver3344/alan-parsons-5.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p291/Bonzomoonring/AlanParsons3.jpg



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/20/09 at 5:29 am


The birthday of the day...Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a BAFTA- and Emmy award-winning English actress best known in recent years for her role as Tessa Phillips in the British TV drama series Spooks (broadcast on American PBS television and released on DVD in the US under the title MI-5). She is also known for playing Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London, Jessica 6 in Logan's Run, and Jill Mason in Equus.
Agutter first came to the attention of television audiences as Kirsty in the twice a week BBC soap "The Newcomers". Kirsty was the daughter of the new Managing Director, but could only appear during the school holidays and was listed in the credits as "Jennifer". Later, she appeared as Roberta in the BBC children's drama series of The Railway Children, and went on to play the same part in Lionel Jeffries' 1970 film of the book. Her quality of ingenuousness had led to an earlier more serious role in the thriller I Start Counting (1969). She also won an Emmy for her television role as Fritha in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The Snow Goose (1971). Agutter continued a transition to adult roles in Walkabout (1971), playing a teenage schoolgirl who was lost in the Australian outback with her younger brother. She first auditioned for the role in 1967 but funding problems delayed filming until 1969. The delay in production meant Agutter was 16 at the time of filming, and the director took advantage of her new legal status by including nude scenes in the film. Among them was a five-minute skinny-dipping scene, which was cut from the original US release. She commented during an interview at the 2005 Bradford Film Festival at the National Media Museum that she was shocked by the film's explicitness when she first viewed it, but is still on good terms with director Nicolas Roeg.

Agutter moved to Hollywood at 21 and appeared in a number of films over the next decade, including The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Logan's Run (1976), Equus (1977), Sweet William (1980), and An American Werewolf in London (1981). Since 1990, Agutter has deliberately focused on the upbringing of her son and much of her work focused away from film and television work and rather involved audio recordings and supporting various charities, notably the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, of which she is a patron (she is also a carrier of the disease). Nonetheless, she had a guest role in Series 6 of Red Dwarf, and appeared in the TV series TECX, The All New Alexei Sayle Show, and And The Beat Goes On. In 2000, she made her third appearance in a production of The Railway Children, produced by Carlton TV and this time playing the role of the mother. In 2002, Agutter featured in the BBC television series Spooks and in 2007, she starred in the first episode of the new series of David Jason's ITV television series Diamond Geezer. In 2007, she also guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Bride of Peladon.

Agutter enjoys an unusual and enduring popularity among the generation of men who grew up watching her films, first as a child actress and then as an adult. She puts this down to the fact that having grown up with the films, audiences have come to relate to her characters through their own personal experiences. She believes that the innocence of the characters she played in her earlier films combined with the costumes and nudity in some of her later adult roles such as Logan's Run (1976), Equus (1977) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) are "perfect fantasy fodder".
Personal life

Agutter remained single during her many years of residence in Los Angeles, and it has been reported she never lived with a man until she was married. In 1989 while attending an arts festival in Bath she met Johan Tham, a Swedish hotelier who at the time was a director of Cliveden Hotel in Buckinghamshire. In 1990, she became pregnant by Tham and they subsequently married on 4 August of that year. Their son Jonathan was born on 25 December 1990. They live in Camberwell, London. For many years Agutter, a great admirer of Cornwall, has owned a second home on The Lizard, the most southerly point on the English mainland.
Filmography
Filmography
Year Title Format Role Other notes
1964 East of Sudan Film Debut aged 11
1966 A Man Could Get Killed Film Linda Frazier
1968 Gates to Paradise Film Maud
Star! Film Pamela Roper
1969 I Start Counting Film Wynne
1970 The Railway Children Film Bobbie Waterbury
The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens TV Film
1971 Walkabout Film Girl
1972 Shelley Television Mary Shelley BBC series
1976 Logan's Run Film Jessica 6
The Eagle Has Landed Film Molly Prior
1977 Equus Film Jill Mason
1978 China 9, Liberty 37 Film Catherine Sebanek
The Riddle of the Sands Film Clara
1980 Sweet William Film Ann Walton
1981 Othello Film Desdemona
An American Werewolf in London Film Nurse Alex Price
1984 Secret Places Film Miss Lowrie
1985 Love's Labour's Lost Television Rosaline
Magnum, P.I. Television Krista Villeroch
1987 Dark Tower Film Carolyn Page
1990 Child's Play 2 Film Joanne Simpson
Darkman Film Burn Doctor uncredited cameo
1993 Red Dwarf Television Prof. Mamet
2000 The Railway Children Television Mother ITV
2001 The Parole Officer Film Victor's Wife
2002 At Dawning Escaping woman
Spooks Television Tessa Phillips
2004 Number One Longing, Number Two Regret Film Kenosha
The Alan Clark Diaries Television Jane Clark BBC TV series
2005 New Tricks, Season 2, Episode 1 Television Yvonne Barrie BBC TV Series
2007 Diamond Geezer Television Vanessa ITV series
Irina Palm Television
2008 The Invisibles Television Barbara Riley BBC TV series
2009 Monday Monday Television Jenny Mountfield ITV1 TV series
Awards

    * BAFTA: Best Supporting Actress 1978 - Equus
    * Emmy: Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama 1972 - The Snow Goose
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/cryvinder/jenny_agutter_2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/Deletionista/CIMG2151.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/bigbaddom/DSC00210.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/ray_luxury_yacht/funnies/Jenny_Agutter_001_340.jpg
Walkabout, now there is a good film!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/20/09 at 6:22 am

I like Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run. Nice bio, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  8-P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 12/20/09 at 6:25 am

I have always appreciated Jenny Agutter and think she is one of the great under-appreciated talents in the industry

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/20/09 at 6:54 am

Didn't Alan Parsons Project sing "Eye In the Sky"? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 9:03 am


Walkabout, now there is a good film!

I like Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run. Nice bio, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  8-P

I have always appreciated Jenny Agutter and think she is one of the great under-appreciated talents in the industry

Thanks, I wasn't even sure if anybody would recognize her name.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 9:05 am


Didn't Alan Parsons Project sing "Eye In the Sky"? ???

Yes they did :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMAGwMAXTpU#
For your listening enjoyment.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/20/09 at 12:06 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrWQdQmJU7I



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 12:36 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrWQdQmJU7I



Cat

Thanks Cat :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/20/09 at 1:45 pm


Yes they did :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMAGwMAXTpU#
For your listening enjoyment.



Thanks Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 2:39 pm



Thanks Ninny.   :)

Your Welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/20/09 at 2:42 pm


Thanks, I wasn't even sure if anybody would recognize her name.


Not recognize her name?  ... Are you kidding?  ;D  I was one of those males who grew up watching her films and just may have fantasied about her on occasion!  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/09 at 8:53 pm


Not recognize her name?  ... Are you kidding?  ;D  I was one of those males who grew up watching her films and just may have fantasied about her on occasion!  ::)

I thought there was one member here who may have mentioned that he liked her before ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/20/09 at 10:49 pm


Not recognize her name?  ... Are you kidding?  ;D  I was one of those males who grew up watching her films and just may have fantasied about her on occasion!  ::)

I agree with gibbo.
Jenny Agutter, she was quite good looking. Didn't fantasize, but did some window shopping  ;)
Logan's run, American Werewolf in London..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/09 at 6:48 am

The word of the day...Snake
#
A snake is a long, thin reptile without legs. N-COUNT
#
Something that snakes in a particular direction goes in that direction in a line with a lot of bends.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh57/katie743/Snakes.jpg
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l389/beStfRieNds161757/7thhgradee492.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh203/aylegna/Our%20Pets/PICT0219.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c324/Replika151/Other%20snakes/Outofeggs31stMay3.jpg
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv48/emd1773/Christmas%202009/Wildlights/IMGP0266.jpg
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad135/mikevaladez/snakes/100_0796.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp208/cokiemart/FrankandmeatMangosSouthBeachFL015.jpg
http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww287/popcornkids/snakes.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/09 at 6:52 am

The birthday of the day...Samuel l. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor. After Jackson became involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then, films. He had several small roles, before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. In 1991, after gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever, he joined the casts of more films, including Goodfellas, Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, where he received several award nominations and critical acclaim.

Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films including Die Hard with a Vengeance, The 51st State, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Black Snake Moan, Snakes on a Plane, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds. Jackson's many roles have made him one of the highest grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married Latanya Richardson, with whom he has one daughter, Zoe.
After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different — not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence." In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions (although he would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972). While he was expelled, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles. Jackson decided to remain in Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed confrontation, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement.
Acting career
1970s – 1980s
"Casting black actors is still strange for Hollywood. Denzel gets the offer first. Then it's Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker and Wesley Snipes. Right now, I'm the next one on the list."
—Jackson reacting to his new fame in 1993.

Jackson initially went to Morehouse College to major in Architecture, but decided to change his major to Drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting in multiple plays, including Home and A Soldier's Play. He appeared in several TV films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running, which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater. At this point in his early career, Jackson developed alcoholism and cocaine addictions, resulting in him being unable to proceed with the two plays as they continued to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place). Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America and various TV films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman. After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards and also worked as a stand-in on The Cosby Show for Bill Cosby.
1990s

After completing these films, Jackson's cocaine addiction worsened. By this point he was using crack and had overdosed. As a result, his family entered him into a New York rehab clinic. When he successfully completed rehab, Jackson appeared in Jungle Fever, as a crack cocaine addict, a role which Jackson called cathartic as he was recovering from his addiction. The film was so acclaimed that the 1991 Cannes Film Festival awarded a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him. After this role, Jackson became involved with multiple films, including Strictly Business, Juice, Patriot Games, and then moved on to two comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (his first starring role) and Amos & Andrew. Jackson then worked with director Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park.

After a turn as the criminal Big Don in the 1993 Tarantino-penned True Romance directed by Tony Scott Jackson played his breakout role of Jules in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in 1994, the role which made him internationally recognised. For this performance, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as well as a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award win.

With a succession of unsuccessful films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in the two successful box office films A Time To Kill, where he depicted a father who is put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter, and Die Hard with a Vengeance, starring alongside Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned a NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.

Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher with a terrible secret. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He joined up again with director Quentin Tarantino and received a Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actor and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of arms merchant Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown. In 1998, he worked with other established actors such as Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).
2000s
Jackson's handprints in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which can be found at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. He began the next decade in his film career as a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, where he plays a homeless musician in a murder thriller. The film was directed by Kasi Lemmons, who previously worked with Jackson in Eve's Bayou. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic attempting to keep custody of his kids while fighting a battle of wits with Ben Affleck's character in Changing Lanes. He returned for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, increasing his role from a small role to a supporting role. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion; he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene. Jackson then acted as a NSA agent alongside Vin Diesel in xXx and a kilt-wearing drug dealer in Formula 51. In 2003, Jackson again worked with John Travolta in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. In 2004, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd in the thriller Twisted, and lent his voice to the computer-animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. Jackson once again appeared in a Tarantino film, by cameoing in Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

In 2005, he began with the sports drama, Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.

On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theater; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner. He next starred opposite of actress Julianne Moore in the box office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child, while quelling a citywide race riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult film status months before it was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title. To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) by Cobra Starship. On December 2, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions. On December 15, 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War.

On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). Also in 2007, he portrayed a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan, and the horror film 1408, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who terrorizes an interracial couple. In November of the same year, he starred along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died prior to the film's release) in Soul Men. In 2008, he portrayed the villain, The Octopus, in the film The Spirit, and in 2009 he narrated several scenes in Inglourious Basterds.

Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice/Sphere), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in four films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.
Filmography
Year Film Role Director Notes
1972 Together for Days Stan Michael Schultz First feature film for Jackson and Schultz.
1978 The Trial of the Moke
1981 Ragtime Gang Member No. 2 Milos Forman
1987 Eddie Murphy Raw Eddie's uncle Robert Townsend In a sketch that precedes concert footage.
Uncle Tom's Cabin]]
1988 Coming to America Hold-Up Man John Landis
School Daze Leeds Spike Lee
1989 Do the Right Thing Mister Señor Love Daddy Spike Lee
The Exorcist III Blind Dream Man William Peter Blatty, Paul Baxley
Sea of Love Black Guy Harold Becker
Dead Man Out Calvin Fredricks
1990 Goodfellas Parnell Steven "Stacks" Edwards Martin Scorsese
Mo' Better Blues Madlock Spike Lee
Def by Temptation Minister Garth James Bond III
Betsy's Wedding Taxi Dispatcher Alan Alda
A Shock to the System Ulysses Jan Egleson
The Return of Superfly Nate Cabot Sig Shore
1991 Strictly Business Monroe Kevin Hooks
Jungle Fever Gator Purify Spike Lee
1992 Juice Trip Ernest Dickerson
Patriot Games LCDR Robby Jackson Phillip Noyce
White Sands Greg Meeker Roger Donaldson
Jumpin' at the Boneyard Mr. Simpson Jeff Stanzler
Johnny Suede B-Bop Tom Di Cillo
Fathers & Sons Marshall Paul Mones
1993 True Romance Big Don Tony Scott
Menace II Society Tat Lawson Hughes brothers
Loaded Weapon 1 Sgt. Wes Luger Gene Quintano, Charles Picerni Sr.
Amos & Andrew Andrew Sterling E. Max Frye
Jurassic Park John Raymond Arnold Steven Spielberg
The Meteor Man Dre Robert Townsend
1994 Fresh Sam Boaz Yakin
Pulp Fiction Jules Winnfield Quentin Tarantino
Against The Wall Jamaal John Frankenheimer Television movie.
The New Age Dale Michael Tolkin
Hail Caesar Mailman Anthony Michael Hall Cameo.
Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker Richard Theodore Greener
1995 Kiss of Death Calvin Hart Barbet Schroede
Die Hard with a Vengeance Zeus Carver John McTiernan
Losing Isaiah Kadar Lewis Stephen Gyllenhaal
Fluke Rumbo Carlo Carlei Voice.
Shaquille O'Neal: Larger than Life Narrator
1996 The Great White Hype Rev. Fred Sultan Reginald Hudlin
A Time to Kill Carl Lee Hailey Joel Schumacher
The Long Kiss Goodnight Mitch Henessey Renny Harlin
Hard Eight Jimmy Paul Thomas Anderson
Trees Lounge Wendell Steve Buscemi
Teens and Guns: Preventing Violence For use in schools.
The Search for One-eye Jimmy Colonel Ron Sam Henry Kass
1997 One Eight Seven Trevor Garfield Kevin Reynolds
Eve's Bayou Louis Batiste Kasi Lemmons Debut as a producer.
Jackie Brown Ordell Robbie Quentin Tarantino
Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
The Directors: John Frankenheimer Robert J. Emery
1998 Sphere Harry Adams Barry Levinson
The Negotiator Lt. Danny Roman F. Gary Gray
The Red Violin Charles Morritz Francois Girard
Out of Sight Con man Steven Soderbergh Uncredited cameo
1999 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Mace Windu George Lucas
Deep Blue Sea Russell Franklin Renny Harlin
Forever Hollywood Todd McCarthy, Arnold Glassman
2000 Rules of Engagement Col. Terry L. Childers William Friedkin
Shaft John Shaft John Singleton
Unbreakable Elijah Price M. Night Shyamalan
2001 The Caveman's Valentine Romulus Ledbetter Kasi Lemmons Executive producer.
2002 Changing Lanes Doyle Gipson Roger Michell
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Mace Windu George Lucas
xXx Agent Augustus Gibbons Rob Cohen
The 51st State (Formula 51) Elmo McElroy Ronny Yu
Fighting for Freedom: Revolution & Civil War Narrator
The Art of Action: Martial Arts in the Movies Host
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives Ed Bell
2003 Basic Sergeant Nathan West John McTiernan
S.W.A.T. Sgt. Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson Clark Johnson
No Good Deed Jack Friar Bob Rafelson
2004 Twisted John Mills Philip Kaufman
Kill Bill Vol.2 Rufus Quentin Tarantino
The Incredibles Lucius Best/Frozone Brad Bird Voice.
In My Country Langston Whitfield John Boorman
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson Jack Johnson Voice.
The N-Word Himself Todd Williams
2005 Coach Carter Coach Ken Carter Thomas Carter
xXx: State of the Union Agent Augustus Gibbons Lee Tamahori
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Mace Windu George Lucas
The Man Derrick Vann Les Mayfield
2006 Freedomland Lorenzo Council Joe Roth
Snakes on a Plane Neville Flynn David R. Ellis
Home of the Brave Will Marsh Irwin Winkler
Honor Deferred Narrator
2007 Farce of the Penguins Narrator Bob Saget Voice.
Black Snake Moan Lazarus Woods Craig Brewer Also sang on the soundtrack.
1408 Gerald Olin Mikael Håfström
Resurrecting the Champ Bob Satterfield Rod Lurie
Cleaner Tom Cutler Renny Harlin
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story Narrator John Walker
Stax 50th Anniversary Concert David Leonard
2008 Jumper Agent Roland Cox Doug Liman
Iron Man Nick Fury Jon Favreau Uncredited cameo.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Mace Windu Dave Filoni Voice.
Lakeview Terrace Abel Turner Neil LaBute
Soul Men Louis Hinds Malcolm D. Lee
The Spirit The Octopus Frank Miller
2009 Mother and Child Paul Rodrigo García
Astro Boy Zog David Bowers Voice only.
Inglourious Basterds Narrator Quentin Tarantino Voice only, uncredited.
Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey Fear Harry Kloor, Dan St. Pierre Voice only, post-production.
Blown Julian Lezard Martha Fiennes Pre-production.
Vengeance: A Love Story John Dromoor Harold Becker Pre-Production.
2010 Unthinkable TBA Gregor Jordan Completed.
Iron Man 2 Nick Fury Jon Favreau Post-production.
The Other Guys Adam McKay Filming.
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage Agent Augustus Gibbons Pre-production.
2011 Thor Nick Fury Kenneth Branagh Pre-production.
Running Wild TBA Kevin Kerslake Pre-Production.
The First Avenger: Captain America Nick Fury Joe Johnston Announced.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s105/ghots72/samuel_l_jackson.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/dethkytwn/samuel_l_jackson.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b313/ScisserFiend/samuel_jackson.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa185/zapata67285/samuel-l-jackson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/09 at 6:55 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other awards and nominations. She announced her retirement from acting in 1991, but returned to film in 2005 with Monster in Law, and later Georgia Rule, released in 2007. She also produced and starred in several exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995.

Fonda has been an activist for many political causes, one of the most notable and controversial of which was her opposition to the Vietnam War. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. Since 2001, Fonda has been a Christian. She published an autobiography in 2005 and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 with Tall Story, in which she recreated one of her Broadway roles as a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played by Anthony Perkins. Period of Adjustment and Walk on the Wild Side followed in 1962. In Walk on the Wild Side, Fonda played a prostitute, and earned a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

In 1963, she appeared in Sunday in New York. Newsday called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses". However, she also had her detractors—in the same year, the Harvard Lampoon named her the "Year's Worst Actress". Fonda's career breakthrough came with Cat Ballou (1965), in which she played a schoolmarm turned outlaw. This comedy Western received five Oscar nominations and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It was considered by many to have been the film that brought Fonda to stardom at the age of twenty-eight. After this came the comedies Any Wednesday (1966) and Barefoot in the Park (1967), the latter co-starring Robert Redford.
Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda (then married) near their home in Malibu, from Look Magazine, May 13, 1969, photo by Douglas Kirkland

In 1968, she played the lead role in the science fiction spoof Barbarella, which established her status as a sex symbol. In contrast, the tragedy They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) won her critical acclaim, and she earned her first Oscar nomination for the role. Fonda was very selective by the end of the 1960s, turning down lead roles in Rosemary's Baby and Bonnie and Clyde.
1970s

Fonda won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971, again playing a prostitute, the gamine Bree Daniels, in the murder mystery Klute. She won her second Oscar in 1978 for Coming Home, the story of a disabled Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life.

Between Klute in 1971 and Fun With Dick and Jane in 1977, Fonda did not have a major film success, even though she appeared in films such as A Doll's House (1973), Steelyard Blues and The Blue Bird (1976). From comments ascribed to her in interviews, some have inferred that she personally blamed the situation on anger at her outspoken political views - "I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted." However, in her 2005 autobiography, My Life So Far, she categorically rejected such simplification. "The suggestion is that because of my actions against the war my career had been destroyed ... But the truth is that my career, far from being destroyed after the war, flourished with a vigor it had not previously enjoyed." From her own point of view, her absence from the silver screen was related more to the fact that her political activism provided a new focus in her life. By the same token her return to acting with a series of 'issue-driven' films was a reflection of this new focus. "When I hear admonitions ... warning outspoken actors to remember 'what happened to Jane Fonda back in the seventies', this has me scratching my head: And what would that be...?"

In 1972, Fonda starred as a reporter alongside Yves Montand in Jean-Luc Godard's and Jean-Pierre Gorin's film Tout va bien. The film's directors then made Letter to Jane, in which the two spent nearly an hour discussing a news photograph of Fonda.

Through her production company, IPC Films, she produced films that helped return her to star status. The 1977 comedy film Fun With Dick and Jane is generally considered her "comeback" picture. She also received positive reviews and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of playwright Lillian Hellman in the 1977 film Julia. During this period, Fonda announced that she would make films only that focused on important issues, and she generally stuck to her word. She turned down An Unmarried Woman because she felt the part was not relevant. She followed with popular and successful films such as The China Syndrome (1979), about a cover-up of an accident in a nuclear power plant; and The Electric Horseman (1979) with her previous co-star, Robert Redford.
1980s

In 1980, Fonda starred in Nine to Five with Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The film was a commercial and box office success. Fonda had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their strained relationship. She achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to the play On Golden Pond specifically for her father and herself. The film, which also starred Katharine Hepburn, brought Henry Fonda his only Academy Award for Best Actor, which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and home bound. He died five months later.

Fonda continued appearing in feature films throughout the 1980s, most notably in the role of Dr Martha Livingston in Agnes of God. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of an alcoholic murder suspect in the 1986 thriller The Morning After. She ended the decade by appearing in Old Gringo. This was followed by the romantic drama Stanley & Iris (1990), which would be her final film for 15 years.
In a 1988 interview with Barbara Walters, Fonda expressed regret for some of her comments and actions, stating:

    "I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless..."

In a 60 Minutes interview on March 31, 2005, Fonda reiterated that she had no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with the exception of the anti-aircraft gun photo. She stated that the incident was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda said, "The image of Jane Fonda, Barbarella, Henry Fonda's daughter ... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal ... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine." She later distinguished between regret over the use of her image as propaganda and pride for her anti-war activism: "There are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs. Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda... It's not something that I will apologize for." Fonda said she had no regrets about the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do: "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies and help end the war."
Feminist causes

Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, of which she is an honorary chairperson. She was present at their first summit in 2002, bringing together founder Eve Ensler, Afghan women oppressed by the Taliban, and a Kenyan activist campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation.
Jane Fonda in the lobby of the theater immediately after the conclusion of the telecast of the 62nd Academy Awards (Ted Turner is holding Jane's arm), March 26, 1990

In 2001, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; the goal of the center is to prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development.

On February 16, 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez, with Sally Field, Eve Ensler, and other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.

Fonda strongly feels that many gender stereotypes are damaging to individuals of both genders and thus, in 2004, she served as a mentor to the first ever all-transsexual cast of The Vagina Monologues.

In the days before the Swedish election on September 17, 2006, Fonda went to Sweden to support the new political party Feministiskt initiativ in their election campaign.

In My Life So Far, Fonda says that she considers patriarchy to be harmful to men as well as women. She also states that for many years, she feared to call herself a feminist, because she believed that all feminists were "anti-male". But now, with her increased understanding of patriarchy, she feels that feminism is beneficial to both men and women, and states that she "still loves men". She states that when she divorced Ted Turner, she felt like she had also divorced the world of patriarchy, and was very happy to have done so.
Native Americans

Fonda went to Seattle, Washington in 1970 to support a group of Native Americans who were led by Bernie Whitebear. The group had occupied part of the grounds of Fort Lawton, which was in the process of being surplussed by the United States Army and turned into a park. The group was attempting to secure a land base where they could establish services for the sizable local Urban Indian population. Fonda went to help the endeavor because she felt "Indians had a right to part of the land that was originally all theirs." The endeavor succeeded and the Daybreak Star Cultural Center was constructed in the city's Discovery Park.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1960 Tall Story June Ryder
1962 Walk on the Wild Side Kitty Twist
The Chapman Report Kathleen Barclay
Period of Adjustment Isabel Haverstick Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1963 In the Cool of the Day Christine Bonner
Sunday in New York Eileen Tyler
1964 Les Félins (Joy House, The Love Cage) Melinda
La Ronde (Circle of Love) Sophie
1965 Cat Ballou Catherine 'Cat' Ballou Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1966 The Chase Anna Reeves
La Curée (The Game Is Over) Renee Saccard
Any Wednesday Ellen Gordon Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1967 Hurry Sundown Julie Ann Warren
Barefoot in the Park Corie Bratter Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1968 Spirits of the Dead Contessa Frederica
Barbarella Barbarella
1969 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Gloria Beatty Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1971 Klute Bree Daniels Academy Award for Best Actress
Fotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign Movie Performer
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1972 Tout va bien Suzanne
1973 Steelyard Blues Iris Caine
A Doll's House Nora Helmer
Golden Globe Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite - Female
1976 The Blue Bird The Night
1977 Fun with Dick and Jane Jane Harper
Julia Lillian Hellman BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1978 Coming Home Sally Hyde Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Comes a Horseman Ella Connors
California Suite Hannah Warren
Golden Globe Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite - Female
1979 The China Syndrome Kimberly Wells BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — American Movie Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Electric Horseman Alice 'Hallie' Martin
Golden Globe Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite - Female
1980 Nine to Five Judy Bernly
1981 On Golden Pond Chelsea Thayer Wayne American Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Rollover Lee Winters
1984 The Dollmaker Gertie Nevels Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Agnes of God Dr. Martha Livingston
1986 The Morning After Alex Sternbergen Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1989 Old Gringo Harriet Winslow
1990 Stanley & Iris Iris Estelle King
2002 Searching for Debra Winger Herself
2003 V-Day: Until the Violence Stops Herself
2005 Monster-in-Law Viola Fields
2007 Georgia Rule Georgia Randall
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd226/hazelnut2/JANE%20FONDA%20BEST/205801358_o1.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd226/hazelnut2/JANE%20FONDA%20BEST/205801481_o.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/09 at 6:58 am

* Keifer Sutherland
Kiefer William Fredrick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-born Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24. He is an Emmy Award- and Golden Globe award-winner. He is the son of actor Donald Sutherland.
Stand By Me was the first film Sutherland made in the United States. As of 2008, Sutherland has appeared in more than 70 films, most notably The Lost Boys, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, A Few Good Men, Flatliners, Young Guns, The Vanishing, The Three Musketeers, Stand by Me, Eye for an Eye, Dark City, To End All Wars and A Time To Kill, The Sentinel and Mirrors. In 2005, Sutherland was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, where both of his parents have also been inducted. Sutherland was also the first Inside the Actors Studio guest to be the child of a former guest; his father, Donald, appeared on the show in 1998. Sutherland was featured on the cover of the April 2006 edition of Rolling Stone, in an article entitled "Alone in the Dark with Kiefer Sutherland". The article began with Sutherland revealing his interest to be killed off in 24. However, he stated, "Don't get me wrong. I love what I do." It also revealed that he devotes 10 months a year working on 24.

He has starred in Japanese commercials for Calorie Mate, performing a parody of his Jack Bauer character. Sutherland also provides voiceovers for the current ad campaign for the Ford Motor Company of Canada. In mid-2006, he voiced the Apple Computer advertisement announcing the inclusion of Intel chips in their Macintosh computer line. He also voices the introduction to NHL games on the Versus network in the U.S. Recently, he has starred in Argentine TV commercials for Citroën C4 sedan. He has recently done voice-over for a commercial for Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program. He voiced Sgt. Roebuck in Treyarch's video game Call of Duty: World at War.

Sutherland will executive produce the two-hour pilot of Phenomenon. Maggie Murphy will also be an executive producer for the show. The Sci Fi Channel ordered a script to be written. The show revolves around a mysterious young female prodigy who leads a crack team of experts in investigating odd and supernatural anomalies of nature. Sutherland is currently the top celebrity producer of The 1 Second Film.

As a big fan, he also narrated "The Feeling On Ice" documentary that was included on UK band The Feeling's DVD "The Feeling: Come Home". Recently he voiced the words of a character in the movie "Monsters vs. Aliens".

In 2009, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
24
Kiefer Sutherland signs an autograph at Green Hill conference in 2007

Since 2001, Sutherland is most widely associated with the role of Jack Bauer, on the critically acclaimed television series 24. After being nominated four times for the "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Primetime Emmy Award, Sutherland won the award in 2006 for his role in 24's fifth season. His father, Donald, was also an Emmy winner; he won an Emmy award for his role in Citizen X in 1996. In the opening skit of the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards, Sutherland made an appearance as his 24 character, Jack Bauer. He was also nominated for Best actor in a Drama Television Series in the 2007 Golden Globe Awards for 24. According to his latest contract, his salary of $40 million for three seasons of the show make him the highest-earning actor on television. Sutherland constantly emphasizes that the show is merely "entertainment." Patrick Finnegan visited the set of 24 in February 2007 to urge the show's makers to reduce the number of torture scenes and Sutherland accepted an invitation from the U.S. military to tell West Point cadets it is wrong to torture prisoners. In an interview with OK! Magazine, Howard Gordon tells that it would be an "unbearable loss" if they killed off Sutherland's character.

On 24 March 2009, Sutherland reported to the Associated Press that he will be back for an 8th season.
Filmography
Acting
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Max Dugan Returns Bill Appeared alongside his father, Donald Sutherland
1984 The Bay Boy Donald Campbell
1985 Amazing Stories Static Series
1986 Brotherhood of Justice Victor
Trapped in Silence Kevin Richter Series
Stand by Me Ace Merrill
At Close Range Tim
1987 Crazy Moon Brooks
Promised Land Danny
The Lost Boys David
The Killing Time The Stranger
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Tad Allagash
Young Guns Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock
1969 Scott Denny
1989 Renegades Buster McHenry
1990 Young Guns II Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock
Flatliners Nelson
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl Karl Hulten
The Nutcracker Prince The Nutcracker Prince Voice
Flashback John Buckner
1992 Article 99 Dr. Peter Morgan
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Sam Stanley
A Few Good Men Lt. Jonathan James Kendrick
1993 Last Light Denver Bayliss
The Three Musketeers Athos
The Vanishing Jeff Harriman
1994 The Cowboy Way Sonny Gilstrap
1996 Eye for an Eye Robert Doob
Freeway Bob Wolverton
A Time to Kill Freddie Lee Cobb Appeared alongside his father, Donald Sutherland
1997 Armitage III: Poly-Matrix Ross Sylibus Voice
Truth or Consequences, N.M. Curtis Freley
1998 Dark City Dr. Daniel Schreber
A Soldier's Sweetheart Rat Kiley
Break Up John Box
Ground Control Jack Harris
1999 Eye of the Killer Detective Michael "Mick" Hayden
Watership Down Hickory Series; voice for three episodes of season 2 only
2000 Beat William S. Burroughs
Woman Wanted Wendell Goddard
Picking Up the Pieces Bobo
The Right Temptation Michael Farrow-Smith
2001 Cowboy Up Hank Braxton
To End All Wars Lt. Jim Reardon
2001–present 24 Jack Bauer Series
2002 Dead Heat Phally
Desert Saints Arthur Banks
Behind the Red Door Roy
2003 Phone Booth The Caller Theatrical release was delayed due to the Beltway sniper attacks in October 2002.
The Land Before Time X Bron Voice
Paradise Found Paul Gauguin
2004 Taking Lives Hart
NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience Narrator
2005 The Flight That Fought Back Narrator TV movie
River Queen Doyle
2006 I Trust You to Kill Me Himself
The Sentinel David Breckinridge
The Wild Samson the Lion Voice
2006–7 The Simpsons The Colonel; Jack Bauer Series; voice in "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" and "24 Minutes"
2007 Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight Raistlin Majere Voice
2008 Mirrors Ben Carson
Call of Duty: World at War Sgt. Roebuck Video game; voice
Corner Gas Himself "Final Countdown"
24: Redemption Jack Bauer TV movie
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Gen. W.R. Monger Voice
2010 Twelve Lionel Filming
Directing
Year Film Notes
1993 Last Light TV movie
1995 Fallen Angels Series; 1 episode
1997 Truth or Consequences, N.M.
2000 Woman Wanted
2008 Broken Music video
Little Toy Gun Music video
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad44/nkowacich/keifer.jpg
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/polak1nm/kiefer-sutherland01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/09 at 7:03 am

* Ray Romano
Raymond Albert "Ray" Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an Emmy Award-winning American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, best known for his roles on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and in the Ice Age film series.His early comedy career started when he competed in the Johnnie Walker Comedy Search in 1989 and included many outlets such as Comedy Central, where he had been a recurring guest voice on the show Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. He also was a contestant on Star Search in the stand-up comedy category. He was originally cast to play Joe on the American television sitcom NewsRadio, but was fired, to be replaced by Joe Rogan. He then appeared on Late Show with David Letterman doing his stand up routine which formed his ties with CBS. Shortly thereafter, he became the star of his own show, Everybody Loves Raymond on CBS, that featured a cast and format more suitable to Romano's brand of humor.

Romano and his comedian friend Kevin James starred in the salesman comedy Grilled, as two guys of the same profession who are both very desperate to land a big sale. Romano was featured on a 2000 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, on which he won US$125,000 for the NYPD's D.A.R.E. Unit. His older brother, Richard Romano (born in 1956) is a sergeant with the NYPD. He also has a younger brother, Robert Romano (born 1965).

In 2001, Romano was named one of E!'s top twenty entertainers of the year. In the same year, he was featured with his brother (a teacher at a school in Long Island) on a New York Police Department recruiting poster. In 2004, he became the highest paid television actor in history for his role of Raymond on CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond. It was later revealed on E! that he had broken another record by his show having the highest revenue, at US$3.9 billion.

On December 13, 2003, Romano was featured as a special guest star, sending a birthday card to Bob Barker in his eightieth-birthday bash on the seventh "Million Dollar Spectacular" special of the long-running daytime CBS series The Price Is Right.

Romano was the subject of the documentary film 95 Miles to Go. The film documents Romano's road-trip for a series of gigs across the south of the United States. The film was released in theaters on April 7, 2006 by ThinkFilm. In August 2006, Romano was interviewed in front of a live audience at UCLA by fellow stand-up veteran, David Steinberg, for an episode of Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. The program first aired on the TV Land network in March 2007.

Romano is set to return to TV with a new dramedy for TNT in 2009 called Men of a Certain Age, which he co-created with former Everybody Loves Raymond writer Mike Royce.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee278/Davani09/rayromano.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o38/atl-sports/scan/rayramono.jpg




* Jane Kaczmarek
Jane Frances Kaczmarek (born December 21, 1955) is an American actress. She is best known for playing the character of Lois on the television series Malcolm in the Middle. She lives in San Marino, California.
Kaczmarek, a Polish American, was born in Greendale, Wisconsin, the daughter of Evelyn, a teacher, and Edward Kaczmarek, a defense department worker. She majored in theater at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She later studied at the Yale School of Drama for her graduate degree and was a part of its theater company. She has had several Broadway hits, including Lost In Yonkers and Raised In Captivity, where she won an LA Drama Critics’ Award. Her first television role was that of Margie Spoletto on For Lovers Only (1982). Her first major role was that of Linda Bauer on Equal Justice from 1990-1991.

Kaczmarek has also appeared in over forty television roles, the most notable including:

    * Connie Lehman in "The Paper Chase: The Second Year" and "The Paper Chase: The Third Year" (1983-1984)
    * Maureen Culter, girlfriend of Martin Crane (John Mahoney) on Frasier in "Police Story" (052 - 1996) and "Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine" (082 - 1997)
    * Janet Rudman on Law & Order in "Censure" (414 - 1994)
    * "David's Mom", mother of David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) in Pleasantville (1998)
    * Carol Anderson, biological mother of Julie Emrick on Felicity in 5 episodes (1999-2000)
    * Holly in five episodes of Cybill (1996-1997)
    * Helene Thompson in three episodes of Party of Five (1995-1999)
    * Lois, mother of Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), Reese (Justin Berfield), Francis (Christopher Masterson), Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan), and baby Jamie, and wife of Hal (Bryan Cranston) in 151 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle from 2000 to 2006
    * Trudy Kessler, Courtroom Judge in 25 episodes of Raising the Bar from 2008 to 2009
    * the voice of Judge Constance Harm in several episodes of The Simpsons from 2001 to present.

Malcolm in the Middle

In 2000, Kaczmarek was cast to play Lois in the FOX mid-season replacement Malcolm in the Middle. TV Guide dubbed her role in the series as a "true breakout; a female Homer Simpson", and critics hailed her for her comic talents. Later, Kaczmarek would credit the show for bringing out her comedic side, claiming, " I couldn’t even get auditions for comedies. I played very unfunny people."

Kaczmarek was nominated seven times for an Emmy for her performance on the show, one for every year. She also earned three Golden Globe nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, was honored with a Television Critics Association Award in 2000 and 2001, plus an American Comedy Award and a Family Television Award in 2001.
Awards and nominations

Golden Globe Awards:

    *
          o 2001 - Best Actress TV Series Comedy - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2002 - Best Actress TV Series Comedy - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2003 - Best Actress TV Series Comedy - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)

Emmy Awards:

    *
          o 2000 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2001 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2002 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2003 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2004 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2005 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2006 - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)

Screen Actors Guild Awards:

    *
          o 2001 - Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2003 - Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Comedy Series - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)

Satellite Awards:

    *
          o 2002 - Best Performance By An Actress In A Series Comedy Or Musical - Malcolm In The Middle (nominated)
          o 2004 - Best Performance By An Actress In A Series Comedy Or Musical - Malcolm In The Middle

http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu291/musicman3692/JaneKaczmarek.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/postingstuff/kaczmarek.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/21/09 at 11:53 am

I was looking for a video of Richard Pryor doing his joke about snakes making you run into trees but I couldn't find it.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/21/09 at 2:57 pm

That Snakes on a Plane was a really bad movie.  ;D  I liked Jane Fonda's early movies despite her controversial period.

I see you manged to get both Sutherland's (father and son) into pics... ;) That must have been when they did Klute together...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/09 at 4:08 pm


That Snakes on a Plane was a really bad movie.  ;D  I liked Jane Fonda's early movies despite her controversial period.

I see you manged to get both Sutherland's (father and son) into pics... ;) That must have been when they did Klute together...

I never saw Snakes on a Plane..I could take or leave Jane Fonda (I did like On Golden Pond)....And once in a while I can be clever,or just be lucky ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/21/09 at 4:31 pm

There's Also Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/09 at 6:28 am


There's Also Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

I remember him

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/09 at 6:33 am

The word of the day...Gardener
#
A gardener is a person who is paid to work in someone else's garden. N-COUNT
#
A gardener is someone who enjoys working in their own garden growing flowers or vegetables.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r90/mpotter117/thegardenerpostercopy.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/RoseSeller/Charts%20and%20Kits%20For%20Sale/GardenersHaven.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/lonodon/Gardener.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff273/tguin2/Gardener.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/thewin_2007/gardener.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/ngkhacphuoc/gardener.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a326/cellardoor06/constant_gardener.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn238/jollybear87/poohflower.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/09 at 6:36 am

The birthday of the day...Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, known simply as Ralph Fiennes (pronounced /ˈreɪf ˈfaɪnz/; born 22 December 1962), is an English actor. He has appeared in films such as Schindler's List, The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, Maid in Manhattan and the Harry Potter films. Most recently he appeared in The Hurt Locker. Fiennes has won a Tony Award and has been nominated twice for Academy Awards. In 2001, Fiennes received the William Shakespeare Award from the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Fiennes is a UNICEF UK ambassador Fiennes trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park and, also during the late 1980s, the National Theatre before becoming a star in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 and then made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche, for which he received substantial acclaim and praise throughout Europe.

1993 was his "breakout year". He had a major role in the very controversial Peter Greenaway film The Baby of Mâcon with Julia Ormond. Though the film was poorly received, Fiennes' career suffered no lasting consequences, and later that year he became known internationally for portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. For this he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He did not win the Oscar, but did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role. His portrayal as Göth also earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of top 50 movie villains.

In 1994, he portrayed American academic Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show, and in 1996 was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the World War II epic romance The English Patient. Fiennes' work has ranged from thrillers (Red Dragon) to animated Biblical epic (The Prince of Egypt) to campy nostalgia (The Avengers) to romantic comedy (Maid in Manhattan) and offbeat dramedy (Oscar and Lucinda).

Fiennes was cast as Lord Voldemort in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and has retained this role for both Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be released in two parts in 2010 and 2011. However, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as Voldemort appeared as an 11 year-old, he was played by Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Fiennes' nephew.

The Constant Gardener was released in 2005 with Fiennes in the title role. The film is set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Fiennes is a patron of the charity. His 2007 performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for a 2006 Tony Award.

In 2008 he reteamed with frequent collaborator director Jonathan Kent to play the title role in Sophocles' Oedipus the King at the National Theatre in London. He will also appear in a 2010 West End revival of Uncle Vanya. Also, he played the Duke of Devonshire in The Duchess (2008).

In February 2009 he was the special guest of the Belgrade's Film Festival FEST. He plans to make a movie in Serbian capital of Belgrade in 2010 after a Shakespeare book. His plans to do it in 2009 are prolonged because of the economic crisis in the world. He also reunited with Kathryn Bigelow for her Iraq War opus, The Hurt Locker in 2009, appearing as an English mercenary.
Fiennes in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 2003 during his visit as a UNICEF UK ambassador.
Personal life

Fiennes met actress Alex Kingston while both were students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After dating for ten years, they married in 1993. However, they divorced in 1997. In 1995, Fiennes started dating Francesca Annis, an actress 18 years his senior, who played his mother in Hamlet. In February 2006 the couple separated after tabloid reports revealed that Fiennes had had an affair with Romanian singer Cornelia Crisan
Selected filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1990 A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia T. E. Lawrence TV
1992 Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights Heathcliff
1993 The Baby of Mâcon The Bishop's son
Schindler's List Amon Göth BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best British Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1994 Quiz Show Charles Van Doren
1995 Strange Days Lenny Nero Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996 The English Patient Count László de Almássy Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997 Oscar and Lucinda Oscar Hopkins
1998 The Avengers John Steed
The Prince of Egypt Ramesses II (voice)
1999 Sunshine Ignatz Sonnenschein/Adam Sors/Ivan Sors European Film Award for Best European Actor
Onegin Evgeny Onegin
The End of the Affair Maurice Bendrix Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best British Actor
2000 The Miracle Maker Jesus Christ (voice)
2002 Spider Spider Nominated — European Film Award for Best European Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best British Actor
The Good Thief Tony Angel (uncredited)
Red Dragon Francis Dolarhyde
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Maid in Manhattan Christopher Marshall
2005 The Chumscrubber Mayor Michael Ebbs
Chromophobia Stephen Tulloch
The Constant Gardener Justin Quayle Evening Standards British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Victor Quartermaine (voice)
The White Countess Todd Jackson
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Lord Voldemort
2006 Land of the Blind Joe
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Lord Voldemort
Bernard and Doris Bernard Lafferty Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2008 In Bruges Harry Waters Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Duchess William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best British Actor
The Reader Older Michael Berg
2009 The Hurt Locker Contractor Team Leader
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Lord Voldemort (appears in archive footage only)
2010 Cemetery Junction Mr Kendrick filming
Clash of the Titans Hades filming
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Lord Gray filming
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I Lord Voldemort post-production
Coriolanus Coriolanus pre-production
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II Lord Voldemort filming
Stage

    * Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1985) - Role: Curio - Directed by Richard Digby Day - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London
    * A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1985) - Role: Cobweb - Directed by Toby Robertson - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London
    * A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1986) - Role: Lysander - Directed by David Conville and Emma Freud - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London and New Shakespeare Company's European Tour
    * Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (1986) - Role: Romeo - Directed by Declan Donnellan - New Shakespeare Company - Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London
    * Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello (1987) - Role: Son - Directed by Michael Rudman - National Theatre's Olivier Theatre, London
    * Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (1987) - Role: Arkady Nikolayevich Kirsanov - Directed by Michael Rudman - National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre, London
    * Ting Tang Mine by Nick Darke (1987) - Role: Lisha Ball - Directed by Michael Rudman - National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre, London
    * Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (1988) - Role: Claudio - Directed by Di Trevis - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
    * The Plantagenets: Henry VI, The Rise of Edward IV, Richard III His Death by William Shakespeare (1988-1989) - Role: Henry VI, ghost of Henry VI - Directed by Adrian Noble - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Barbican Theatre, London
    * King John (1989) by William Shakespeare - Role: Dauphin - Directed by Deborah Warner - The Other Place Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and The Pit Theatre, London
    * The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman (1989) - Role: Bert Jefferson - Directed by Ron Gene Saks - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Barbican Theatre, London
    * Playing with Trains by Stephen Poliakoff (1989) - Role: Gant - Directed by Ron Daniels - The Royal Shakespeare Company - The Pit Theatre, London
    * Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare (1990) - Role: Troilus - Directed by Sam Mendes - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
    * King Lear by William Shakespeare (1990) - Role: Edmund - Directed by Nicholas Hytner - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
    * Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare (1991) - Role: Berowne - Directed by Terry Hands - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Barbican Theatre, London
    * Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1995) - Role: Hamlet, with Francesca Annis as Gertrude - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Hackney Empire, London and Belasco Theatre on Broadway, NY
    * Ivanov by Anton Chekhov translated by David Hare (February-April 1997) - Role: Ivanov - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Almeida Theatre, London
    * Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (2000) - Role: Coriolanus - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Gainsborough Film Studios in Shoreditch, London and BAM Harvey Theatre in Brooklyn, New York City
    * Richard II by William Shakespeare (2000) - Role: Richard II - Directed by Jonathan Kent - The Almeida Theatre Company - Gainsborough Film Studios in Shoreditch, London and BAM Harvey Theatre in Brooklyn, New York City
    * The Play What I Wrote by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben (2001) - Role: Sir Ralph Fiennes - Directed by Kenneth Branagh - The Duo The Right Size - Wyndham's Theatre, West End
    * The Talking Cure by Christopher Hampton (2003) - Role: Carl Jung - Directed by Howard Davies - National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre, London
    * Brand by Henrik Ibsen (2003) - Role: Brand - Directed by Adrian Noble - The Royal Shakespeare Company - Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and Theatre Royal Haymarket, West End
    * Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (2005) - Role: Mark Anthony - Directed by Deborah Warner - Barbican Centre, London & tour
    * Faith Healer by Brian Friel (2006) - Role: Frank Hardy - Directed by Jonathan Kent - Gate Theatre, Dublin and Booth Theatre on Broadway, New York City
    * First Love by Samuel Beckett - Sydney Festival 2007
    * God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza (2008) - Role: Alain Reille - Gielgud Theatre, West End
    * Oedipus the King by Sophocles (2008) - Role: Oedipus - National Theatre, London

Selected television credits

    * Prime Suspect (1991)

Selected other projects, contributions

    * When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics) - "Sonnet 129" ("Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame")

Awards and nominations

Awards

    * 1993 - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor - Schindler's List
    * 1994 - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Schindler's List
    * 1994 - NSFC Award, DFWFCA Award, and CFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor - Schindler's List
    * 1995 - ALFS Award for British Actor of the Year - Schindler's List
    * 1995 - Tony Award for Best Actor - Hamlet
    * 1999 - European Film Award for Best Actor - Sunshine
    * 2005 - Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for his body of work as a thespian
    * 2006 - Honorary Fellowship of UCD Dramatic Society for services to theatre
    * 2007 - Spike TV's 2007 Scream Awards for Most Vile Villain - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    * 2007 - The James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society.

Nominations

    * 1994 - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Schindler's List
    * 1994 - Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Schindler's List
    * 1994 - MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance - Schindler's List
    * 1996 - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast - The English Patient
    * 1997 - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role - The English Patient
    * 1997 - BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - The English Patient
    * 1997 - Golden Globe and Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - The English Patient
    * 1999 - Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production - The Prince of Egypt
    * 2000 - BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - The End of the Affair
    * 2000 - Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Sunshine
    * 2001 - ALFS Award for British Actor of the Year - The End of the Affair
    * 2003 - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor - Red Dragon
    * 2003 - Teen Choice Award - Choice Movie Liplock (shared with Jennifer Lopez) - Maid in Manhattan
    * 2006 - BAFTA Award - Best Actor - The Constant Gardener
    * 2006 - Annie Awards - Best Voice/Animation - Wallace & Gromit - Curse of the Were-Rabbit
    * 2006 - MTV Movie Awards - Best Villain - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
    * 2008 - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - The Duchess

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/megdays/Ralph%20Fiennes/fiennes_l.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo357/Midnighttigerchick21/Ralph%20Fiennes/Ralph.jpg
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af238/annick70/ralph_fiennes04.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc254/wombat_10/Ralph%20Fiennes/RalphFiennesAnim2.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/09 at 6:40 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Diane Sawyer

Diane Sawyer (born December 22, 1945) is an American television journalist for the ABC News division of the ABC network. On December 21, 2009, she began anchoring World News with Diane Sawyer, the network's flagship news program.

Until December 11, 2009, Sawyer was a long-time co-anchor of ABC News's morning news program, Good Morning America (GMA).

In 2001 she was named one of the thirty most-powerful women in America by the Ladies' Home Journal. In 2007 she ranked 62nd on "Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women".  Sawyer was a local television news reporter and weather girl for WLKY-TV in Louisville.

In 1970, White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler hired her to serve in the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Sawyer continued through Nixon's resignation from the presidency in 1974 and worked on the Nixon-Ford transition team in 1974–1975, after which she decamped with Nixon to California and helped him write his memoirs, published in 1978. She also helped prepare Nixon for his famous set of television interviews with journalist David Frost in 1977.

Years later, Sawyer would be suspected to be Deep Throat, the source of leaks of classified information to journalist Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal. In 2005 Deep Throat was identified as W. Mark Felt but prior to that, Rabbi Baruch Korff, a longtime Nixon confidant and defender known as "Nixon's rabbi," said on his deathbed that he believed Sawyer was Deep Throat. Sawyer laughed it off, and she was one of six people to request and receive a public denial from Woodward.

In 1978, Sawyer joined CBS News as a political correspondent and became a co-anchor, with Bill Kurtis, of the CBS Morning News in 1981. In 1984, she became a correspondent for 60 Minutes, a CBS News investigative television newsmagazine; she remained for five years.

In 1989, she moved to ABC News to co-anchor Primetime Live, a newsmagazine, with Sam Donaldson. From 1998 to 2000, she would become a co-anchor for ABC's 20/20, also a newsmagazine, co-anchoring on Wednesdays with Donaldson and on Sundays with Barbara Walters.

In 1999, Sawyer returned to morning news, under a lucrative contract, as the co-anchor of GMA with Charles Gibson. The assignment was putatively temporary, but her success in the position, measured by a close in the gap with front-runner Today, NBC News's morning program, sustained her in the position far longer than anticipated.

On September 2, 2009, she was announced as the successor to Gibson, who retired as ABC World News anchor on Friday, December 18, 2009. She left GMA on December 11, 2009, and was scheduled to become the ABC World News anchor in January 2010. However, on December 1, 2009, The New York Times reported that instead of moving to ABC World News in January 2010, Sawyer will start on December 21, 2009, three days after Gibson's departure . Along with Katie Couric of CBS News, two of the three network news anchors on broadcast television will be women.
Career timeline

    * 1984–1989 — 60 Minutes correspondent
    * 1989–1998; since 2000 — Primetime Live co-anchor
    * 1998–2000 — 20/20 co-anchor
    * January 1999–December 11, 2009 — Good Morning America co-anchor
    * December 21, 2009 — ABC World News anchor

Notable interviews (selected)



Sawyer has interviewed many political figures including U.S. Presidents George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. She conducted the first interview with U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton after his first election to the presidency in 1992.

On February 12, 2007, she interviewed Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Her interview with President of Iraq Saddam Hussein was his first Western television interview in a decade.

She has also interviewed:

    * Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
    * Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense
    * Manuel Noriega, general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989
    * Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives



    * Nancy Reagan, First Lady
    * Hyman G. Rickover, U.S. Admiral
    * Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice

She was allowed to take a special tour of North Korea.

From the entertainment world, Sawyer has interviewed — especially as a host of GMA:

    * Clay Aiken, singer (interviewed twice)
    * Bobby Brown, singer
    * Ellen DeGeneres, comedienne (after DeGeneres came out as a lesbian)
    * Dixie Chicks, country-music group
    * Michael J. Fox, actor
    * Mel Gibson, actor
    * Whitney Houston, singer



    * Michael Jackson, singer
    * Madonna, singer
    * Roman Polanski, director
    * Lisa Marie Presley, singer–songwriter
    * Rihanna, singer
    * Britney Spears, singer

Sawyer also interviewed drug king pin Rayful Edmond III of Washington, D.C., in 1989 and once again in 1997 on 60 Minutes.
Personal life

On April 29, 1988, she and Mike Nichols, a film director, were married; they have no children. Nichols has Daisy (born 1974), Max (born 1964), and Jenny (born 1977) from his three previous marriages. Sawyer had previously had relationships with Frank Gannon, a Nixon aide; and Richard Holbrooke, a U.S diplomat
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f91/kimburlay969/dianesawyer.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/lizy63.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/09 at 6:45 am

* Héctor Elizondo....Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is a Golden Globe–nominated and Emmy Award–winning American actor. Born in New York, Elizondo excelled in sports and later contemplated becoming an educator. He took dancing classes. Elizondo's first major role was that of "God" in a play for which he won an Obie award. Since then Elizondo has participated in over 80 movies and has made numerous television appearances...From 1962 to 1963, Elizondo studied dance at the Ballet Arts Company at Carnegie Hall and in 1963 he landed parts in two Off-Broadway shows: Kill the One-Eyed Man and The Great White Hope. His first major success came when he played "God" in guise of a Puerto Rican steam room attendant in the play Steambath. Elizondo won an Obie award for his performance. Many of his roles involve playing a friend or sympathizer to the lead character. As a voice-actor, he played Bane, one of the more aggressively themed characters in Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. In 1974, Elizondo played against type as ex-mafioso-turned-subway hijacker "Mr. Grey" in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

In the 1980s, Elizondo befriended Garry Marshall; Marshall was impressed with his talent and it was to become a lifelong friendship, which would bring benefits for both. Their first movie together was Young Doctors in Love. In some of the movies in which Elizondo appeared, he went uncredited and he would not have minded staying that way for the movie Pretty Woman, however it was Marshall who insisted on crediting him. His role in Pretty Woman only lasted 10 minutes, but it led to his receiving a Golden Globe nomination. Elizondo has participated in over 80 movies and 12 of them have been Marshall's. In 1999, he guest-starred in Runaway Bride as "Fisher" the husband of the male protagonist's ex.

In 2001, he was featured in the short-lived television drama Kate Brasher and portrayed security head Joe in the movie The Princess Diaries, a role he reprised in the 2004 sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

He is probably best known to the television audience as Dr. Phillip Watters on the CBS television series Chicago Hope created by well known television creator David E. Kelley. He has won both an Emmy and ALMA award and was nominated for a Satellite Award and several SAG Awards for playing this role. He's also the only person to stay on the show for its entire original run.

On April 30, 2008, it was announced by USA Network that Elizondo will become Adrian Monk's new therapist, Dr. Neven Bell, on their award-winning series Monk. Elizondo replaced actor Stanley Kamel, who died suddenly on April 8, 2008.
Personal life

Elizondo has been married three times. He has a son from his first marriage. Elizondo is currently married to Carolee Campbell, his wife since 1969.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1963 The Fat Black Pussycat
1969 The Vixens Inspector
1970 The Landlord Hector
1971 Valdez Is Coming Mexican Rider
Born to Win Vivian
1972 Deadhead Miles Bad Character
Pocket Money Juan
Stand Up and Be Counted Lou Kellerman
1974 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three Grey
1975 Report to the Commissioner Captain D'Angelo
1976 Diary of the Dead Stan
1977 Thieves Man Below
1979 Cuba Capt. Raphael Ramirez
1980 American Gigolo Det. Sunday
1981 The Fan Police Insp. Raphael Andrews
1982 Young Doctors in Love Angelo/Angela Bonafetti
1984 The Flamingo Kid Arthur Willis
1985 Private Resort The Maestro
1987 Overboard Garbage Scow Skipper Uncredited
1988 "Astronomy" Short film
Beaches Judge Uncredited
1989 Leviathan G.P. Cobb
1990 Pretty Woman Bernard Thompson
Taking Care of Business Warden Toolman
1991 Final Approach Dr. Dio Gottlieb
Necessary Roughness Coach Ed Gennero
Frankie and Johnny Nick
1992 There Goes the Neighborhood Norman Rutledge
Samantha Walter
1993 Being Human Dom Paulo
1994 Backstreet Justice Steve Donovan
Beverly Hills Cop III Jon Flint
Getting Even with Dad Lt. Romayko
Exit to Eden Dr. Martin Helifax
1995 Perfect Alibi Det. Ryker
1996 Dear God Vladek Vidov
1997 Turbulence Lt. Aldo Hines
1999 The Other Sister Ernie
Entropy The Chairman
Runaway Bride Fisher
2001 Tortilla Soup Martin Naranjo
The Princess Diaries Joe
How High Bill the Crew Coach
2003 Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman Bane Release Direct-to-Video
2004 Raising Helen Mickey Massey Uncredited
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Joe
2006 I-See-You.Com Greg Rishwain
The Celestine Prophecy Cardinal Sebastian
2007 Music Within Ben Padrow
Georgia Rule Izzy
Love in the Time of Cholera Don Leo
2010 Valentine's Day Edgar post-production
Through the Eyes of a Son: The Lou Rawls Story Nick Venet pre-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1967 The Edge of Night Dimitri
1969 The Jackie Gleason Show Episode: The Honeymooners - Mexican Hat Trick
1971 The Impatient Heart Mr. Hernandez TV-Movie
1972 All in the Family Carlos Mendoza Episode: "The Elevator Story"
1973, 1976 Kojak Det. Nick Ferro
Carl Dettrow Episode: "Web of Death"
Episode: "A Need to Know"
1974 Maude Cop Episode: "Speed Trap"
1975 Baretta Jerry Damon Episode: "The Fire Man"
Columbo: A Case of Immunity Hassan Salah TV-Movie
1975, 1978 The Rockford Files John Micelli
Frank Falcone Episode: "Say Goodbye to Jennifer" and "A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights"
1976 Popi Abraham Rodriguez 11 episodes
Wanted: The Sundance Woman Pancho Villa TV-Movie
1978 The Dain Curse Ben Feeney TV-Movie
The Eddie Capra Mysteries Episode: "Dying Declaration"
1980 Freebie and the Bean Det. Sgt. Dan 'Bean' Delgado 7 episodes
1982 Medal of Honor Rag TV-Movie
Bret Maverick Mr. Gomez Episode: "The Hidalgo Thing"
Honeyboy Emilio Ramirez TV-Movie
1983 Feel the Heat Monkey Moreno
Casablanca Capt. Louis Renault 5 episodes
Woman of San Quentin Capt. Mike Reyes TV-Movie
1984 a.k.a. Pablo Jose Sanchez/Shapiro 6 episodes
Hill Street Blues Insp. Joe Keenan Episode: "Ewe and Me, Babe"
1985 Murder: My Reason of Insanity Ben Haggarty TV-Movie
Out of the Darkness Father George TV-Movie
Foley Square Jesse Steinberg 14 episodes
1986 Courage Nick Miraldo TV-Movie
Amazing Stories Meadows Episode: "Life on Death Row"
Matlock Det. Joe Peters Episode: "The Cop"
1987 Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Natica Jackson Morris King TV-Movie
Night Heat Episode: "The Kid"
Down and Out in Beverly Hills Dave Whiteman 13 episodes
1988 Addicted to His Love Det. Currigan TV-Movie
1989 Kojak: Ariana Edson Saunders TV-Movie
The Equalizer Episode: "Past Imperfect"
Your Mother Wears Combat Boots Sergeant Burke TV-Movie
1990 Sparks: The Price of Passion Vic Ramos TV-Movie
Dark Avenger Capt. David Strauss TV-Pilot
Forgotten Prisoners: The Amnesty Files Hasan Demir TV-Movie
1991 Chains of Gold Lt. Ortega TV-Movie
Finding the Way Home Ruben TV-Movie
1991–1993 The Pirates of Dark Water loz Voice
21 episodes
1992 The Burden of Proof Alejandro 'Sandy' Stern Miniseries
Fish Police Don Calamari Voice
Episode: "Beauty's Only Fin Deep"
Mrs. Cage Lt. Angel TV-Movie
1993 Jonny's Golden Quest Voice
TV-Movie
Tales from the Crypt Leo Burn Episode: "As Ye Sow"
Animaniacs Stradivarius Voice
Segment: "The Cat and the Fiddle"
1994 Picket Fences Dr. Phillip Watters Episode: "Rebels with Causes"
1994, 1995 Aladdin Malcho Voice
Episodes: "The Return of Malcho" and "While the City Snoozes"
1994–2000 Chicago Hope Dr. Phillip Watters 141 episodes
1995 Batman: The Animated Series Sheldon Fallbrook Voice
Episode: "The Terrible Trio"
Jonny Quest vs. The Cyber Insects Attacama Voice
TV-Movie
1996 Gargoyles Zafiro Voice
Episode: "The Green"
1997 Borrowed Hearts Javier Del Campo TV-Movie
1998 Mikhail Baryshnikov 's Stories from My Childhood Voice
Episode: "Ivan and His Magic Pony"
Early Edition Dr. Phillip Watters Episode: "Mum's the Word"
Safe House Dr. Simon TV-Movie
2001 Kate Brasher Joe Almeida 6 episodes
2001–2004 American Experience Narrator Episodes: "Zoot Suit Riots" and "Remember the Alamo"
2002 Fidel Eddie Chibas Miniseries
The West Wing Dr. Dalton Millgate Episode: "Dead Irish Writers"
Street Time Fariz Hammoud Episodes: "No Excuses", "Betrayal" and "Reversal of Fortune"
What's New, Scooby-Doo? Dr. Guitirrez Voice
Episode: "3-D Struction"
2003 The Dating Experiment Narrator
Without a Trace Father Henry Stevens Episode: "Revelations"
Miracles Father 'Poppi' Calero 4 episodes
2004 Century City Martin Constable 9 episodes
Jack & Bobby Gerald Cruz Episode: "Chess Lessons"
2004, 2005, 2006 Justice League Lt. Kragger Voice
Episodes: "Starcrossed (1-3)", "Hunter's Moon" and "Ancient History"
2006 Avatar: The Last Airbender Wan Shi Tong Voice
Episode: "The Library"
2007 Cane Pancho Duque 13 episodes
2007, 2009 Grey's Anatomy Carlos Torres Episodes: "My Favorite Mistake", "Sweet Surrender" and "Invasion"
2008–2009 Monk Dr. Neven Bell
Awards and nominations

ALMA Awards

    * 1998: Nominated, "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role" - Chicago Hope
    * 1998: Nominated, "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role" - Turbulence
    * 1998: Won, "Outstanding Actor in a Made-for-Television Movie or Mini-Series" - Borrowed Hearts
    * 1999: Nominated, "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role" - Chicago Hope
    * 2000: Nominated, "Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film" - Runaway Bride
    * 2000: Won, "Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope
    * 2002: Nominated, "Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture" - Tortilla Soup

Emmy Awards

    * 1992: Nominated, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special" - Mrs. Cage
    * 1995: Nominated, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope
    * 1996: Nominated, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope
    * 1997: Won, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope
    * 1998: Nominated, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1991: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture" - Pretty Woman

Imagen Foundation Awards

    * 2005: Nominated, "Best Supporting Actor in a Film" - The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

NCLR Bravo Awards

    * 1996: Nominated, "Outstanding Television Series Actor in a Crossover Role" - Chicago Hope

Satellite Awards

    * 1997: Nominated, "Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Drama Series" - Chicago Hope

SAG Awards

    * 1995: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope
    * 1997: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope
    * 1998: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Chicago Hope

Temecula Valley International Film Festival

    * 2006: Won, "Lifetime Achievement Award"
http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll453/gooch602/522519Elizondo__Hector1.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh179/adda5/Hector/serious/hector_elizondo_1659360.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/09 at 6:50 am

* Robin Gibb..Robin Hugh Gibb CBE (born 22 December 1949) is a singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, cofounded with his twin brother Maurice Gibb (1949-2003), and elder brother Barry.

Born on Isle of Man, to English parents, the trio started their musical career in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. With record sales estimated in excess of 100 million, the Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups of all time. Robin Gibb is the fifth most successful songwriter in UK chart history based on the number of weeks his compositions have spent on the chart...Traditionally, Robin's role in the group has been that of lead singer, for which he vied constantly with his elder brother Barry Gibb during the group's first period of British success in the late 1960s. This eventually resulted in Robin leaving the group to begin a solo career after his song "Lamplight" was relegated to the 'B' side of Barry's "First of May". Meanwhile, there were rumours of drug problems, and his parents threatened to have him made a ward of court (the UK age of majority at that time being 21, and Robin then only 19).

Although initially successful, with a number 2 hit, "Saved by the Bell", his album, Robin's Reign, was less successful and he found that being a solo artist was less than satisfying. He reunited with his brothers, who had disbanded the Bee Gees in search of their own solo careers, when Robert Stigwood created RSO records in 1970. The initial post-reunion albums Two Years On, Trafalgar and To Whom It May Concern suggested that the rift had not totally healed, with an element of split songwriting teams, Barry on the one hand and Robin and Maurice on the other together with different music publishers, in contrast to a uniform construction before the split. Only when they relocated to Los Angeles to record Life In A Tin Can did it appear that they were as one on disk. Upon reinventing themselves with "Blue-Eyed Soul" the Bee Gees went on to their second period of phenomenal success in the disco-era late 1970s.

He also made an appearance on the Sesame Street Fever album, singing on the title track, then doing a song for Oscar the Grouch called "Trash", along with speaking on at least one other song.

While continuing in the group, Robin also promoted his solo career, and during the 1980s he released three further solo albums (How Old Are You, Secret Agent, and Walls Have Eyes) which were more successful in Continental Europe than in the UK or USA. However, his 1984 single "Boys Do Fall in Love" did reach the Billboard top 40.

In the same week as his twin brother Maurice's sudden death, Robin's next solo album, Magnet, was released in Germany on 27 January 2003 (Label: SPV), and worldwide shortly afterwards. It features the old Bee Gees classic "Wish You Were Here" in a new acoustic version. The lead single, "Please" has coincidental lyrics about "loss". With Maurice's death, his two surviving brothers Robin and Barry announced that they would no longer perform as the Bee Gees.

Robin has recently sung the vocals to the opening titles to "The Dame Edna Treatment".

On May 18, 2008, Robin released the song "Alan Freeman Days" in tribute of Australian DJ Alan Freeman. The song was mainly issued as a download only track although a promotional CD was issued by Academy Recordings. In December of the same year that song was followed by yet another downloadable song entitled "Wing and a prayer" which although it shares the same name as a song the Bee Gees issued on their 1989 One album is actually a reworking of the song "Sing Slowly Sisters" that had remained unreleased since 1970. A week later Robin issued yet another song as a download, "Ellan Vannin (Home Coming Mix)", featuring the King Williams College Choir from the Isle of Man.

A new solo album entitled 50 St Catherine's Drive, originally scheduled for release in 2008, remains unreleased. In August of 2009 a brief 50-second clip of "Instant Love" from said album appeared as a preview. The song itself is a collaboration with his son Robin-John and a second version featuring Robin-John on vocals appears in a short film called "Bloodtype: The Search" in which Robin-John appears
In 1968 Gibb married Molly Hullis, a secretary in Robert Stigwood's organisation. The couple had survived the Hither Green rail crash, which killed 49 people on the 5th November 1967. They have two children, Spencer and Melissa, but they eventually divorced in 1980 after years of living separate lives, with Robin almost permanently in the USA and Molly remaining in the UK.

Gibb's second wife, Dwina Murphy Gibb, is an author and an artist. She is interested in druidry and is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris. The couple have a son, Robin-John. Robin and Dwina divide their time among the Isle of Man, Miami, and Thame in Oxfordshire.

On November 4 2008, at the private Portland Hospital in London, Robin and Dwina's housekeeper, 33 year old Claire Yang, gave birth to Robin's child, Snow Evelyn Robin Juliet Gibb. Friends report Dwina feeling furious and betrayed.

Dwina ordered the woman, who had enjoyed an eight year relationship with the singer, out of their mansion home but Robin paid for refurbished farmhouse accommodation for the mother and baby girl close by in Oxfordshire.
Awards

In 1994, Robin Gibb was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1997 the Bee Gees were inducted as a group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Robin was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2001/2002 New Year's Honours List, along with his brothers Maurice and Barry. The official presentation ceremony at Buckingham Palace was delayed until 2004 owing to Maurice's death.

Robin and Barry Gibb both received Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Music from The University of Manchester in May 2004.

On 10th July 2009, both Robin and Barry were made Freemen of the Borough of Douglas. The award, was also bestowed posthumously on Maurice, therefore confirming the freedom of the town of their birth to all three brothers.
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee175/krjohnson70/l_35733c4ff6edfc7b6007d57ab7389d75.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa106/MartinBarry/BeeGees2007.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/22/09 at 3:22 pm

I think Robin Gibb had a tremendous voice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 5:02 am


I think Robin Gibb had a tremendous voice.

Yes both him & Barry.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 5:29 am

The word of the day...Children
    *
          o
            Children is the plural of child.

Related phrases

    *
      child
      A child is a human being who is not yet an adult.
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq192/quote_your_art/Images/children.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/skippy_007/DSCN2383.jpg
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/skcampeau/Picture019.jpg
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt232/KCBA-RIL/Children%20Joining%20Children/Szyskate121209081.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/EURIVE/FAMILY/99129451r99129637.jpg
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae202/BYHISGRACE_album/HMercychildren.jpg
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx64/yiengyouav/l_47a1d1291d7d4fe08e2e5f2a6a44d0f9.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/Appliejuice/children/Christmas2002.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/safehomes/Children%20and%20Grandchildren/Thirstychildren.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 5:33 am

The birthday of the day...Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, best known for portraying iconic character Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television. In the past, her salary has been reported as over $1 million a year.
Lucci is best known for playing the larger-than-life diva Erica Kane on the ABC television soap opera All My Children, on which she has appeared since the show's inception on January 5, 1970. She and Ray MacDonnell, who plays her former father-in-law, Dr. Joe Martin, are the only original cast members left on the show today. Lucci's long tenure on the show has made her an iconic presence on daytime; she is closely identified with both the role of Erica and with daytime television itself.

Lucci was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for her work on All My Children almost every year since 1978. When Lucci didn't win the award after several consecutive nominations, her image in the media began to be lampooned, as she became notoriously synonymous with never winning an Emmy. NBC's Saturday Night Live exploited this by asking her to host an episode (unusual for a daytime serial actor), where her monologue parodied the cast, crew, and even stagehands carrying Emmys of their own in her presence. In addition, she appeared in a 1989 television commercial for the sugar substitute "Sweet One," intended to portray her as the opposite of her villainess character, yet throwing one of Erica Kane's characteristic tantrums, shouting "11 years without an Emmy! What does a person have to do around here to get an Emmy?"

After 18 failed nominations, it came as a shock to both her and the viewing audience when she finally won in 1999. When presenter Shemar Moore announced Lucci's name, the audience erupted in a standing ovation, lasting several minutes. As the sobbing actress took to the stage, cameras caught All My Children co-stars Kelly Ripa and Marcy Walker weeping openly, along with long-time supporter, actress and television host Rosie O'Donnell. Actor Ingo Rademacher was seen bowing in the aisles and talk show host Oprah Winfrey rushing the stage cheering from the wings. Lucci's win and subsequent teary-eyed speech made headline news on television and in print for several weeks thereafter.
Primetime television and film

Lucci has appeared in a number of television shows and television films. In 1990, she began a series of guest spots on the popular nighttime soap opera Dallas. She hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live in October of that year; in one skit, she appeared as Erica Kane competing on a game show.

In 1995, Lucci appeared in the Lifetime television film Ebbie. This film was an updated version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Lucci played a Scrooge-like department store owner visited by Marley and the three ghosts on Christmas. Critics praised her performance, and the film has become a holiday favorite.
Dancing with the Stars

Lucci competed in Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars with dance partner Tony Dovolani. Lucci said that Dancing had asked her to appear before, but she had turned it down in part because of the travel it would require (Dancing tapes in Los Angeles, while All My Children tapes in New York). She changed her mind, though, in part because of the experience of fellow All My Children star Cameron Mathison, who finished fifth in season 5. She was voted off the show on November 5, 2008, finishing sixth in the competition.
Lucci's father, Victor, was a first-generation American. Phyllis Diller, contrary to various internet rumors, is not her mother. Lucci has been married since September 13, 1969 to Austrian businessman Helmut Huber. They are the parents of soap opera actress Liza Huber (who played Gwen Hotchkiss on the daytime serial Passions until that series' cancellation by NBC in September 2007) and Andreas Huber, an aspiring professional golfer. She became a grandmother when her daughter, Liza, gave birth on December 23, 2006 — Lucci's 60th birthday. The baby was named Royce Alexander. Liza gave birth to Lucci's second grandchild, Brendan, on August 16, 2008.
Awards
Won

    * Daytime Emmy Awards: 1999, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children
    * Gracie Allen Awards: (2005) Outstanding Female Lead in a Daytime Drama for All My Children
    * Women in Film Lucy Awards: (1994) Lucy Award
    * Soap Opera Digest Awards
          o (2003) SOAPnet Diamond Award - For Glittering Excellence in Daytime Television
          o (1993) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Lead Actress for All My Children
          o (1988) Soap Opera Digest Award Editor's Choice

    * People's Choice Awards: (1992) People’s Choice Award
    * Crystal Apple Awards: (1994) Crystal Apple Award
    * American Academy of Achievement Awards: (1991)

    * Made in NY Awards: (2005) MINY

Nominated
Daytime Emmy Awards

Nominations: (1978, 1981-1993, 1995-1999, 2001-2002) Daytime Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for All My Children. Lucci holds the record for repeat nominations in one category, having been nominated a total of 21 times for this award but only won once.
Other awards

    * Soap Opera Digest Awards
          o (2005) Soap Opera Digest Award Favorite Couple for All My Children

-Shared with Walt Willey

    *
          o (1992) Soap Opera Digest Award 'Best Love Story: Daytime or Prime Time

-Shared with Walt Willey

    *
          o (1989) Soap Opera Digest Award Favorite Super Couple: Daytime for All My Children

-Shared with Larkin Malloy

    *
          o (1986) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Contribution by an Actor/Actress to the Form of Continuing Drama who is currently on a Daytime Serial for All My Children

TV/Guest roles

    * All My Children (Erica Kane: 1970-Present)
    * That's So Raven (Ms. Romano: 2005)
    * Hope and Faith (Jacqueline Karr: 2004)
    * Blood on Her Hands (Isabelle Collins: 1998)
    * Seduced and Betrayed (Victoria Landers: 1995)
    * Ebbie (Elizabeth 'Ebbie' Scrooge: 1995)
    * French Silk (Claire Laurent: 1994)
    * Between Love and Hate (Vivian Conrad: 1993)
    * Double Edge (Maggie Dutton/Carmen Moore: 1992)
    * The Woman Who Sinned (Victoria Robeson: 1991)
    * Dallas (Hillary Taylor/Faux Sheila Foley: 1990-1991)
    * The Bride in Black (Rose D'Amore-Malloy: 1990)
    * Lady Mobster (Laurel Castle: 1988)
    * Haunted by Her Past (aka Secret Passions) (Karen Beckett: 1987)
    * Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (Darya Romanoff: 1986)
    * Mafia Princess (Antoinette Giancana: 1986)
    * The Fall Guy (Veronica Remy: 1984)
    * Invitation to Hell (Jessica Jones: 1984)
    * Fantasy Island (Gina Edwards: 1983)
    * The Love Boat (Paula: 1982)
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq174/sexyfab40/244_lucci_susan_100306.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/camaggs/371.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/job76.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/jeep58.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 5:37 am

The co-birthdays of the day...Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American musician and singer-songwriter who serves as the lead vocalist and one of three guitarists for the American rock band Pearl Jam. Vedder left the Southern California music scene and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1990 to join Pearl Jam where he rose to fame amid the grunge movement of the early 1990s. He is notable for his "golden baritone" vocal style, and is considered a cultural icon of alternative rock. He has also been involved in other music outside of Pearl Jam, including soundtrack work and contributions to albums by other artists. In 2007, Vedder released his first solo album as a soundtrack for the film Into the Wild. Pearl Jam was formed in 1990 by Ament, Gossard, and McCready, who then recruited Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen. The band originally took the name Mookie Blaylock, but was forced to change it when the band signed to Epic Records in 1991. After the recording sessions for Ten were completed, Krusen left Pearl Jam in May 1991. Krusen was replaced by Matt Chamberlain, who had previously played with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. After playing only a handful of shows, one of which was filmed for the "Alive" video, Chamberlain left to join the Saturday Night Live band. As his replacement, Chamberlain suggested Dave Abbruzzese, who joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam's live shows supporting the Ten album.

Ten broke the band into the mainstream, and became one of the best selling alternative albums of the 1990s. The band found itself amidst the sudden popularity and attention given to the Seattle music scene and the genre known as grunge. The single "Jeremy" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance in 1993. Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its music video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video. Ten was ranked number 207 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and "Jeremy" was ranked number 11 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest songs of the '90s.
Eddie Vedder appeared on the cover of the October 25, 1993 issue of Time, as part of the feature article discussing the rising popularity of the grunge movement. Vedder had declined to participate, and was upset with the magazine about the cover.

Following an intense touring schedule, the band went into the studio to record what would become its second studio album, Vs., released in 1993. Upon its release, Vs. set at the time the record for most copies of an album sold in a week, and spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. Vs. was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995. From Vs., the song "Daughter" received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and the song "Go" received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Feeling the pressures of success, with much of the burden of Pearl Jam's popularity falling on Vedder, the band decided to decrease the level of promotion for its albums, including refusing to release music videos. Vedder's issue with fame came from what he stated as "what happens when a lot of these people start thinking you can change their lives or save their lives or whatever and create these impossible fudgein' expectations that in the end just start tearing you apart." In 1994, the band began a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster, which lasted for three years and limited the band's ability to tour in the United States. During the mid-1990s, Vedder faced what he called a "pretty intense stalker problem." Vedder would refer to the issue in the song "Lukin" from No Code.

Later that same year the band released its third studio album, Vitalogy, which became the band's third straight album to reach multi-platinum status. It was at this time that Vedder began to be featured more on rhythm guitar. Many of the songs on Vitalogy appear to be based by Vedder around the pressures of fame. The album received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album in 1996. Vitalogy was ranked number 492 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The lead single "Spin the Black Circle" won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Hard Rock Performance. Although Abbruzzese performed on the album Vitalogy, he was fired in August 1994, four months before the album was released. The band cited political differences between Abbruzzese and the other members; for example, he disagreed with the Ticketmaster boycott. He was replaced by Jack Irons, a close friend of Vedder and the former and original drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Regarding the approach Pearl Jam took after its initial success, Vedder stated, "We've had the luxury of writing our own job description...and that description has basically been cut down to just one line: make music." The band subsequently released No Code in 1996 and Yield in 1998. In 1998, prior to Pearl Jam's U.S. Yield Tour, Irons left the band due to dissatisfaction with touring. Pearl Jam enlisted former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron as Irons' replacement on an initially temporary basis, but he soon became a permanent replacement for Irons. "Do the Evolution" (from Yield) received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. In 1998, Pearl Jam recorded "Last Kiss", a cover of a 1960s ballad made famous by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. It was released on the band's 1998 fan club Christmas single; however, by popular demand, the cover was released to the public as a single in 1999. "Last Kiss" peaked at number two on the Billboard charts and became the band's highest-charting single.

In 2000, the band released its sixth studio album, Binaural, and initiated a successful and ongoing series of official bootlegs. The band released seventy-two such live albums in 2000 and 2001, and set a record for most albums to debut in the Billboard 200 at the same time. "Grievance" (from Binaural) received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The band released its seventh studio album, Riot Act, in 2002. Pearl Jam's contribution to the 2003 film, Big Fish, "Man of the Hour", was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2004. The band's eighth studio album, the eponymous Pearl Jam, was released in 2006. The band released its ninth studio album, Backspacer, in 2009.

On Pearl Jam records, Vedder uses the pseudonym "Jerome Turner" for his non-musical (usually design and artwork) contributions. He has also at times used the pseudonym of "Wes C. Addle" ("West Seattle").
Collaborations

In addition to playing with Pearl Jam and Temple of the Dog, Vedder has performed or recorded with numerous well-known artists. He has appeared on albums by The Who, Ramones, Neil Young, Neil Finn, Bad Religion, Mark Seymour, Cat Power, Mike Watt, Fastbacks, Wellwater Conspiracy, Jack Irons, and John Doe, and has also recorded with The Strokes, Nusrat Fathe Ali Khan, The Supersuckers, Susan Sarandon, and Zeke. In the months of June and July 2006, Vedder made live performances jamming with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, singing on many tracks, including lead vocals on "The Waiting" and backing vocals on "American Girl". Vedder performed three songs with the remaining members of The Doors at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He also performed with R.E.M. at the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Vedder made a guest appearance at the Ramones' last show on August 6, 1996 at the Palace in Hollywood.
Other work

Vedder had a brief acting cameo in the 1992 movie, Singles, along with Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. He appeared as himself, playing drums in lead actor Matt Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick. He was also interviewed for the 1996 grunge documentary, Hype!. He appears in the 2003 Ramones documentary, End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones. In 2007, he made a cameo as himself in the comedy film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. He appears in the 2007 Tom Petty documentary, Runnin' Down a Dream, the 2008 political documentary, Slacker Uprising, and the 2009 Howard Zinn documentary, The People Speak.

Vedder is known for his outspoken left-wing social and political views. Discussing his views on current issues in the United States, Vedder said, "People on death row, the treatment of animals, women's right to choose. So much in America is based on religious fundamentalist Christianity. Grow up! This is the modern world!"

In 1992, Spin printed an article by Vedder, entitled "Reclamation", which detailed his views on abortion. Vedder was outspoken in support of Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, and Pearl Jam played a series of concerts on the 2004 Vote for Change tour, supporting the candidacy of John Kerry for U.S. President. Vedder told Rolling Stone magazine, "I supported Ralph Nader in 2000, but it's a time of crisis. We have to get a new administration in." Vedder supported the candidacy of Barack Obama in 2008.

In his spare time, Vedder is a surfer and active in surf-related conservation efforts, most notably The Surfrider Foundation. Vedder shows his support for environmental activism by sporting an Earth First! tattoo on his right calf. The logo is of a monkey wrench crossed with a stone hammer. Vedder is also a vegetarian.

Vedder is a longtime and outspoken supporter for the Free the West Memphis 3 movement, a cause that advocates the release of three teenagers (now in their 30's) who were convicted in 1994 of the gruesome murders of three little boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. In an interview with Larry King on December 19, 2007, Damien Echols, who is on death row for the murders, said that Vedder has been the "greatest friend a person could have" and that the two of them have collaborated on songs while he is in prison. The song "Army Reserve" on Pearl Jam's 2006 self-titled album features a lyrical collaboration between Vedder and Echols.
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv285/SalvadorBarret/Eddie_Vedder.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l93/ali37wren/vedder.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 5:40 am

* Adrian Belew...Adrian Belew (born Robert Steven Belew, December 23, 1949, in Covington, Kentucky) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is perhaps best known for his work as a member of the progressive rock group King Crimson (which he has fronted since 1981) and for his unusual approach to guitar playing, which features bizarre electronic tones, unorthodox playing techniques and a wide variety of sonic effects (including guitar-based impressions of animals, birds, insects, vehicles and mechanical sound).

Widely recognized as an "incredibly versatile player, Belew has released a number of solo albums for Island Records and Atlantic Records which blend Beatles-inspired pop-rock with more experimental fare. In addition to King Crimson, he is a member of the more straightforward pop band The Bears and fronted his own band, Gaga, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He has also worked extensively as a session musician, most famously with Talking Heads, David Bowie, Caifanes, Frank Zappa, and Nine Inch Nails.

In addition to his readily recognisable guitar sounds, Belew is noted for the distinct, nasal, sometimes manic feel of his vocals. His singing voice is often compared to that of Talking Heads singer David Byrne (an easy comparison after his early 80's work with that band).

His 2005 single "Beat Box Guitar" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category.

Belew has recently moved into instrument design, collaborating with Parker Guitars to help design his own Parker Fly signature guitar.
Not inclined to formal music study, he was nonetheless a quick developer and rapidly became a high-school guitar hero. Mostly teaching himself by listening to records, Belew was ignorant of the studio trickery and sound manipulation used to create particular guitar lines, and so found ways of replicating them himself manually using unusual playing techniques and a growing interest in effects and treatments. As he matured as a player and mastered various playing styles, Belew gradually became preoccupied with finding his own sound rather than "sounding like everybody else". He eventually found his own style by applying himself to making his guitar mimic sound effects - car horns, animal noises, industrial sound - and applying those sounds to relatively standard songs. (While Belew is frequently tagged as an "experimental" guitarist, he has a firm attachment to the relatively traditional song which is rare among such musicians).

In the mid-1970s (and having now formally changed his first name to "Adrian", a name he had always liked and wanted to use), Belew moved to Nashville to pursue a full-time career as a professional musician. By 1977, he was playing with the regionally-popular cover band Sweetheart, but wondering whether (at age 27) he had missed his chance to make a living with original music.
Work with Frank Zappa (1977-1978)

In 1977, while playing at a Sweetheart gig in Nashville, Belew was discovered by singer/guitarist/composer Frank Zappa, who'd been tipped off regarding the band's talents by his chauffeur. Zappa approached Belew and discussed auditioning him for an upcoming tour, although he did not make good on this offer for the best part of a year, during which time Sweetheart split up. Once the formal invitation came, Belew flew out to Los Angeles and found himself auditioning alongside more formally-trained musicians. Believing that he'd messed up his first audition, Belew persuaded Zappa to give him a second one. Zappa was impressed enough to hire Belew on a handshake deal for a year.

Belew toured with the Zappa band and appeared on Zappa's controversial 1979 album Sheik Yerbouti - most notably performing a Bob Dylan impersonation on the song "Flakes". He also appeared in Zappa's 1979 concert film Baby Snakes. Belew describes his year in Zappa's band as a "crash course" in music theory due to Zappa's rigorous rehearsals and often technically demanding music: "I went to the Frank Zappa School of Rock."
Work with David Bowie (1979)

After seeing a Zappa concert, art-rock star David Bowie offered to hire Belew once the Zappa tour was finished. Belew then played on Bowie's "Heroes" tour in 1978, recorded for the double live album Stage, and contributed to Bowie's next album, Lodger (the latter produced by Brian Eno). (Twelve years later, he would return to working with Bowie, acting as musical director on the 1990 Sound+Vision Tour, while also playing guitar and singing.)
Talking Heads, Gaga and beginning of solo career (1979-1982)

By now a frequent visitor to New York City, Belew became friends with the up-and-coming new wave/art-rock band Talking Heads. Invited to join the band onstage for performances of their signature song "Psycho Killer", Belew impressed them with his wild and unorthodox guitar soloing and became an infrequent guest performer on occasional live concerts.

In 1980, Belew formed a new band, Gaga, for which he served as the primary songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and (via backing tapes) drummer. In July of that year, Gaga was invited to open several New York-area concerts for guitarist Robert Fripp's band The League of Gentlemen.

At the same time, Belew had been tapped by both Talking Heads and their producer Brian Eno to add guitar solos to several tracks on their new album Dream Attack (eventually renamed Remain in Light). Belew was subsequently added to the expanded nine-piece Talking Heads live band for the subsequent tours in late 1980 and early 1981 (documented in the second half of the band's 1982 live album The Name of This Band is Talking Heads). Belew's involvement with Talking Heads extended to playing on a variety of side projects: Jerry Harrison's solo album The Red and the Black, several tracks on David Byrne's soundtrack to the Twyla Tharp dance piece The Catherine Wheel and most notably the debut album by Tom Tom Club (the spin-off project by Talking Heads rhythm section Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz), for which Belew performed on most of the tracks (even performing the entire instrumentation for the track 'L'Elephant').

At the time, the internal relationships in Talking Heads were particularly strained. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz approached Belew together with the suggestion that he should replace Byrne as the band's frontman - an offer which Belew politely turned down.

By now Belew's rising profile had gained him a solo record contract with Island Records. Members of Gaga joined Belew in Compass Point, Nassau (where the Tom Tom Club album was being recorded) and backed him on a set of parallel sessions which would result in Belew's first solo album, 1982's Lone Rhino.
King Crimson (1981-present)
Main article: King Crimson

In 1981, having been impressed by Belew's work with Gaga and David Bowie, Robert Fripp (former leader of the pioneering progressive rock group King Crimson) asked Belew to join a new four-piece band called Discipline as singer and second guitarist. Belew agreed to join, provided that he be allowed to continue the pursuit of his solo career. The band was completed by the former King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford and the New York session ace Tony Levin on bass and Chapman Stick. While on tour in 1981, Discipline reconfigured itself as a new formation of King Crimson. This made Belew the first guitarist to play alongside Fripp in the group, and also the first King Crimson singer to write all his own lyrics.

In spite of several splits or hiatuses in group existence (1985-1993, 2004-2008, and arguably 1997-1999), Belew has retained his position as King Crimson frontman ever since (despite a period in the early 1990s during which Fripp unsuccessfully approached singer David Sylvian for the position in a new version of the band). Belew has also participated in some of the ProjeKcts, a series of instrumental and experimental King Crimson side projects, predominantly playing electronic drums. King Crimson has used Belew's studio outside Mount Juliet, Tennessee, for rehearsals and recording since 2000.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t108/belewhale/ADRIAN%20BELEW/adrianzappanale2.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee232/ginger_fairy1220/AdrianBelew.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/23/09 at 6:52 am


The word of the day...Children
    *
          o
            Children is the plural of child.

Related phrases

    *
      child
      A child is a human being who is not yet an adult.
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq192/quote_your_art/Images/children.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/skippy_007/DSCN2383.jpg
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/skcampeau/Picture019.jpg
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt232/KCBA-RIL/Children%20Joining%20Children/Szyskate121209081.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/EURIVE/FAMILY/99129451r99129637.jpg
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae202/BYHISGRACE_album/HMercychildren.jpg
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx64/yiengyouav/l_47a1d1291d7d4fe08e2e5f2a6a44d0f9.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/Appliejuice/children/Christmas2002.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/safehomes/Children%20and%20Grandchildren/Thirstychildren.jpg


I use to be a child myself.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/23/09 at 11:23 am


Yes both him & Barry.

Bee gees were quite popular in the late 70s. They sang some wonderful songs.
Sadly, we don't see that kind of talent today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 2:39 pm


I use to be a child myself.

No do say ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/23/09 at 2:45 pm


Bee gees were quite popular in the late 70s. They sang some wonderful songs.
Sadly, we don't see that kind of talent today.




Today's singers don't have much talent,unfortunately.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/23/09 at 3:41 pm



Today's singers don't have much talent,unfortunately.

That's for sure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/23/09 at 4:08 pm



Today's singers don't have much talent,unfortunately.

Where did all the talent go? Have all the good songs already been written?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/23/09 at 9:55 pm


Where did all the talent go? Have all the good songs already been written?



Probably so. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/24/09 at 2:58 am

The word of the day...Kitchen
kitchen is a room that is used for cooking and for household jobs such as washing dishes.
http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae243/daryl_039/kitchen.jpg
http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy220/corinnagallagher/DSC02429JPG.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz149/cinemaniac7147/Apartment%20Photos/Kitchen.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l6/jenjen81388/New%20House/Kitchen.jpg
http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae44/nik2202/40thBirthdayPictures018.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj215/Titanpb/George011.jpg
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/animalmotherstemple/DSC01793.jpg
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx274/DustinCavanaugh/CIMG2017.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/24/09 at 3:02 am

The birthday of the day...Mary Higgins Clark
Mary Higgins Clark, née Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins (born December 24, 1927 in the Bronx, New York), is an American author of suspense novels. Each of her forty-two books have been a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her novels remain in print as of 2007, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are The Children, in its seventy-fifth printing.

Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary and copy editor, Clark spent a year as a stewardess for Pan-American Airlines before leaving her job to marry and start a family. She supplemented the family's income by writing short stories. After her husband died in 1959, Clark worked for many years writing four-minute radio scripts, until her agent convinced her to try writing novels. Her debut novel, a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington, did not sell well, and she decided to leverage her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and as of 2007 her books have sold more than 80 million copies in the United States alone.

Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, is also a suspense writer.
Clark's initial contract to be a radio scriptwriter obligated her to write 65 four-minute programs for the Portrait of a Patriot series. Her work was good enough that she was soon asked to write two other radio series. This experience of fitting an entire sketch into four minutes taught Clark how to write cleanly and succinctly, traits that are incredibly important to a suspense novel, which must advance the plot with every paragraph. Despite the security offered by her new job, money was tight in the beginning as she strove to raise five children aged five to thirteen alone. For their first Christmas without Warren, Clark's only gifts to her children were personalized poems describing the things she wished she could have purchased for them.

By the late 1960s, the short story market had collapsed. The Saturday Evening Post, which in 1960 named Clark's short story "Beauty Contest at Buckingham" one of their ten best of the year, had decided to stop publishing fiction, and many of the popular ladies magazines were focusing on self-help articles instead. Because her short stories were no longer able to find a publisher, Clark's agent suggested that she try writing a full-length novel. Leveraging her research and experience with the Portraits of a Patriot series, Clark spent the next three years writing a fictionalized account of the relationship between George and Martha Washington. The book did sell, and although the advance was small, it gave Clark confidence that she could indeed finish a full-length book and find a publisher. The novel "was remaindered as it came off the press," and, to make matters worse, four months after the publication of the novel, Clark's mother Nora Higgins died.
Entering the Suspense Genre (1970-1980)

To ensure that her children would not have to struggle financially, Clark was determined that they should have good educations. To provide a good example she entered Fordham University at Lincoln Center in 1971, graduating summa cum laude in 1979, with a B.A. in philosophy. Her children followed her example. The two eldest, Marilyn and Warren, have become judges, and Patty works at the Mercantile Exchange in New York City. David is the president and CEO of Talk Marketing Enterprises, Inc, and Carol has authored many popular suspense novels.

During this time Clark became increasingly frustrated with her employer, and, although two of her children were partially dependent on her for their college tuition, she quit her job and joined two of her former colleagues in forming their own company to write and market radio scripts. To scrape up the $5000 she needed to start the business, Clark was forced to pawn her engagement ring, and, for the eight months it took the company to become profitable, she did not receive a salary, further straining the family finances.
Where Are the Children? book cover

Clark continued writing even during these hard times. Encouraged by her agent to try writing another book, Clark returned to the suspense stories that she loved as a child and which had provided her first success as a short story writer. While she was in the midst of writing the story, her younger brother Johnny died, leaving her the sole surviving member of her family. To temporarily forget her heartache, Clark threw herself into her writing, and soon finished the novel.

Very quickly after the novel, Where are the Children? was completed, Simon and Schuster agreed to purchase it for the relatively small sum of $3000. Three months later, in July 1974, Clark received word that the paperback rights for the novel had sold for one hundred thousand dollars. For the first time in many years she had no immediate financial worries.

Where Are the Children? became a bestseller and was favorably reviewed. Two years after its publication Clark sold her second suspense novel for $1.5 million.
Additional Adventures (1981-present)

In 1981, Clark happened to be in Washington, D.C. the day President Ronald Reagan was shot. Because she had a press pass she was able to join the media waiting to hear the President's prognosis. When the doctor finally arrived to start the press conference, Clark was one of the few people chosen to ask a question.
Second Marriage

Clark dated throughout her widowhood, and underwent a "disastrous" marriage in 1978 that was annulled several years later. In 1996, she remarried, to John J. Conheeney, the retired CEO of Merrill Lynch Futures, after they were introduced by her daughter, Patty. The couple lives in Saddle River, New Jersey and also have homes in Manhattan, Spring Lake, New Jersey, and Dennis, Massachusetts.
Other Writing Genres

Clark's debut novel about George Washington, Aspire to the Heavens was retitled Mount Vernon Love Story and rereleased in 2002, the same year as her autobiography, Kitchen Privileges, which relied heavily on the journals she has kept all of her life. In 2006 Clark announced that she would be fulfilling one of her dreams by publishing her first children's book. Ghost Ship was published by Simon and Schuster, who have also published her suspense novels.

She has also written several Christmas themed mystery novels with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark. Although popular with readers, some critics have complained that the books are of lesser qaulity than the bulk of Mary's work, partly because the tone is much lighter than her solo output.
Writing Success

As of 2007, Clark has written twenty-four suspense novels, which have sold over 80 million copies in the United States. All of her suspense novels have been best-sellers, and as of 2007 all are still in print, including Where are the Children?, which is in its 75th printing. In 2001, the hardcover edition of Clark's On the Street Where You Live was Number One on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list at the same time that the paperback version of her novel Before I Say Good-bye reached Number One on the New York Times Paperback Besteller list. Her books are also number one bestsellers in France, and have earned her the distinction of being named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2000. She has also been honored in France with the Grand Prix de Literature Policier (1980) and the Deauville Film Festival Literary Award (1999).

Known as "The Queen of Suspense", Clark is a "master plotter" who has the ability to slowly draw out the tension while making the reader think everyone is guilty. Her novels feature strong, independent young women who find themselves in the midst of a problem that they must solve with their own courage and intelligence. The heroines come across as real people who make sensible decisions, which makes it easier for readers, who sometimes think " "that could have happened to me, or to my to daughter," to relate to the situations. Clark's books are written for adults, yet because she chooses not to include explicit sex or violence in her stories, they have become popular with children as young as twelve.

Many of the books deal with crimes involving children or with telepathy. While Clark is well aware that many people claiming to be psychics are behaving fraudulently, she believes that she has met people with genuine ESP powers. Clark's mother, on looking at a photo of her eighteen year old son in his brand new Navy dress blues told her daughter that "He has death in his eyes," and the young man died shortly after. A psychic Clark visited just as her second novel, Where Are the Children, was being published in paperback told her that she would become very famous and make a great deal of money. Although at the time she laughed off the prediction, the following week her novel reached the bestseller lists and she sold the movie rights shortly after, truly launching her career.
Work Habits

Before beginning the actual writing of her books, Clark prefers to develop an outline and perhaps detailed character biographies. Each chapter is continuously revised as she writes, so that when she is ready to move on to the next chapter, the current chapter is considered done and is sent directly to her editor. By the time the editor receives the last chapter, the book is primarily done.

Creativity abounds in Clark's office, a tower-like room featuring skylights and windows, located on the third floor of her house. Every morning after a light breakfast, Clark arrives in her office around 8 a.m. and works until about 2 pm, unless she is near the end of her book, when she might extend her schedule to work up to 17 hours per day. Once a year Clark lectures on a cruise ship, allowing her to travel and to do some writing in a more novel location.
Recognition

Clark has won numerous awards for her writing. In addition to those previously referenced, she has won the Horatio Alger Award (1997) and the Passionists' Ethics in Literature Award (2002), as well as the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University Spirit of Achievement Award (1994) and the National Arts Club's Gold Medal in Education (1994). She has been awarded eighteen honorary doctorates, including one from her alma mater, Fordham University.

Her success has also been recognized by groups representing her heritage. The American-Irish Historical Society granted her the Gold Medal of Honor in 1993, and in 2001 she won the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She has also been named a Bronx Legend (1999).

Clark has served as the Chairman of the International Crime Congress in 1988 and was the 1987 president of the Mystery Writers of America. For many years she also served on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. Simon and Schuster, which have published all of Clark's novels and in the late 1990s signed her to a $64-million, four book contract, have funded the Mary Higgins Clark Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America to authors of suspense fiction for each of the ten years between 2001 and 2011. The announcement that an award would be given in her honor was made at the 55th Annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards, where Clark was inducted as a Grand Master.

Her devotion to her religion has also been widely recognized. In the highest honor that can be offered to a layperson by the Pope, Clark has been made a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and has also been honored as a Dame of Malta and a Dame of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. The Franciscan Friars have given her a Graymoor Award (1999) and she has been awarded a Christopher Life Achievement Award. Clark also serves as a board member for the Catholic Communal Fund and as a member of the Board of Governors at Hackensack Hospital.
Bibliography
Fiction

    * 1968 Aspire To The Heavens (reissued in 2000 as Mount Vernon Love Story)
    * 1975 Where Are The Children?
    * 1977 A Stranger is Watching
    * 1980 The Cradle Will Fall
    * 1982 A Cry in the Night
    * 1984 Stillwatch
    * 1987 Weep No More, My Lady
    * 1989 While My Pretty One Sleeps
    * 1989 The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories
    * 1990 Voices in the Coal Bin (short story, only available as an audio book with Carol Higgins Clark's That's the Ticket)
    * 1991 Loves Music, Loves to Dance
    * 1992 All Around the Town
    * 1993 I'll Be Seeing You
    * 1993 Death on the Cape and Other Stories
    * 1993 Milk Run and Stowaway (Two stories. Like Voices in the Coal Bin, never officially published out of anthologies)
    * 1994 Remember Me
    * 1994 The Lottery Winner and Other Stories
    * 1995 Let Me Call You Sweetheart
    * 1995 Silent Night
    * 1996 Moonlight Becomes You
    * 1996 My Gal Sunday: Henry and Sunday Stories
    * 1997 Pretend You Don't See Her
    * 1998 You Belong to Me
    * 1998 All Through The Night
    * 1999 We'll Meet Again
    * 2000 Before I Say Good-Bye
    * 2000 Deck the Halls (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
    * 2001 On The Street Where You Live
    * 2001 He Sees You When You're Sleeping (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
    * 2002 Daddy's Little Girl
    * 2003 The Second Time Around
    * 2004 Nighttime Is My Time
    * 2004 The Christmas Thief (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
    * 2004 You Belong to Me
    * 2005 No Place Like Home
    * 2006 Two Little Girls in Blue
    * 2006 Santa Cruise (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
    * 2007 Ghost Ship: A Cape Cod Story
    * 2007 I Heard That Song Before
    * 2008 Where Are You Now?
    * 2008 Dashing Through the Snow (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
    * 2009 Just Take My Heart

Non-Fiction

    * 1993 Mother (with Amy Tan and Maya Angelou)
    * 2001 Kitchen Privileges, A Memoir'

Movie adaptations

    * 1982 A Stranger Is Watching
    * 1986 Where Are The Children?
    * 2002 We'll Meet Again
    * 2002 Lucky Day

Television adaptations

    * 1983 The Cradle Will Fall
    * 1987 Stillwatch
    * 1992 Weep No More, My Lady
    * 1992 Double Vision
    * 1992 A Cry in the Night (starring daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
    * 1992 Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
    * 1995 Remember Me (Clark appears as the character Mary)
    * 1997 Let Me Call You Sweetheart
    * 1997 While My Pretty One Sleeps (Clark appears as the character Mary)
    * 1998 Moonlight Becomes You
    * 2001 You Belong to Me
    * 2001 Loves Music, Loves to Dance
    * 2002 He Sees You When You're Sleeping (directed by David Winning)
    * 2002 Pretend You Don't See Her
    * 2002 Lucky Day
    * 2002 Haven't We Met Before?
    * 2002 All Around The Town
    * 2004 I'll Be Seeing You
    * 2004 Before I Say Good-Bye
    * 2004 Try to Remember
    * 2005 The Cradle Will Fall
    * 2005 A Crime of Passion

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f219/DKMundy/2006%20Mary%20Higgins%20Clark/20060506BrandiwithMHC.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z195/mari614_photo/90a66f66.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii88/sassyismine/ClarkMaryH_1l.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn303/jkmurphy2006gmail/Authors/MaryHigginsClark.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/24/09 at 3:07 am

The co-birthday of the day...Ricky Martin

Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known by his stage name Ricky Martin, is a Grammy Award- and Latin Grammy Award- winning, Puerto Rican pop singer who rose to fame, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.

His career has spanned over three decades and has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martín Foundation (in Spanish Fundación Ricky Martin) a non-profit charity organization.

In 2008, he became a single father of twin boys, Matteo and Valentino.
Ricky Martin rose to fame when boy a member of the Latin American boy band Menudo after which he became a solo artist in 1990. He is considered a major star in the world of Latin Pop and is considered to have opened the doors for some of his fellow (Latin American singers).
Solo work

After completing high school, Martin left San Juan and moved to New York City. Later, Martin moved to Cancún where he started acting, first in theater productions, and then in a soap opera ("telenovela") titled Alcanzar Una Estrella II (Reach for a Star 2). A film based on the series was produced in which Martin played "Pablo," earning a Heraldo Award in 1993.

While acting in Mexico, Martin was signed to Sony Discos, the company's Latin imprint, in 1990. He released his first solo album, the Spanish-language Ricky Martin, in 1991, which included the single "Fuego Contra Fuego." The hit release earned gold records in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the United States, and he performed a string of sold-out concert dates across South America.

In 1993, Martin released his second solo album, Me Amarás, which sold more than a million copies worldwide.

In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He received a role as bartender and singer (Miguel Morez) in the American soap opera General Hospital.

In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career through his third album, A Medio Vivir. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds. With the hit "Maria", which epitomizes this new sound. "Maria" broke Martin into Europe through Spain. With the ballad "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo", Martin began his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets.
Broadway

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway production for the first time. He played the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy, in Les Miserables.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve, which was certified platinum by the RIAA and went on to sell eight million copies worldwide. He was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the famous hit "The Cup of Life"/"La Copa de la Vida", that reached number one on the charts in 60 countries.
Crossover to English

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit, George Noriega and his longtime childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests Madonna (on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)") and Meja (Private Emotion). As Turkey was one of the countries where Martin's popularity was at its peak, he sang the song with Sertab Erener, Turkish winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, instead of Meja in Turkish versions of the album.

The first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca," which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa. He followed up with the hit "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at #2 on The Billboard Hot 100. This album became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7 times platinum, selling over 22 million copies worldwide to date.

After the success of Ricky Martin, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. Though the album did debut in the top ten (number four), it failed to reach number one. Three singles were released from Sound Loaded: the first was "She Bangs," which was followed by a duet with Christina Aguilera called "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely". Unlike the first two singles released from Ricky Martin, neither of the first two singles from this album reached the U.S. Top Ten on Billboard's Hot 100; they reached twelve and thirteen respectively. The third single, "Loaded" reached ninety-seven on Billboard's Hot 100. Sound Loaded eventually sold two million copies in the USA.

In 2001, Martin released a Spanish Greatest Hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one in the Latin Charts and stayed there for five weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs Fuego contra fuego and El amor de mi vida. In the same year, he released his English greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin, which went on to sell over one million copies. The album contained no new material save for two remixes of the track Amor. Both remixes were released to radio in some European countries and a single was also released.

In 2003, Martin released a new Spanish album "Almas del Silencio" ("Souls of Silence"). The first single, "Tal Vez", went to number one on the Latin Charts and stayed there for twelve weeks. He said of the new album: "I really needed to go back to focus, to my center, to the beginning. I had the need to search within, and really dig deep, and find those emotions that, because of the adrenaline and the euphoria that I lived for a couple of years, were probably sabotaged." Almas del Silencio debuted at number twelve on the Billboard 200, reached number one on the Latin Albums charts and stayed there for six weeks. The next singles, "Jaleo" and "Y Todo Queda en Nada", reached number one on the Latin Charts, and the album sold more than 1 million copies worldwide .

On October 11, 2005 Martin released his first English language album since 2000's Sound Loaded and the tenth album of his career. Most of the songs on the album, called Life, were co-written by Martin. He commented on the album: "I was really in touch with my emotions. I think this album is very multi-layered, just like life is. It's about feeling anger. It's about feeling joy. It's about feeling uncertainty. It's about feeling. And all my emotions are part of this production." The album debuted at number six on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The first single from the album was "I Don't Care"/"Qué Más Da", featuring guest appearances by Fat Joe, Amerie and drummer Joseph Quevedo "Joey Q".

Another single was released "Drop It on Me", which did not chart. Soon after, Martin announced his Latin American tour called Una Noche con Ricky Martin/One Night Only, promoting his latest album Life. Starting in Latin America, the tour premiered on November 15 in Mexico City. After finishing the first leg of the tour (which included Latin America and the U.S.), he released his next single, "It's Alright" (Spanish version: "Déjate Llevar"). A different version appeared in France, which included additional vocals by French R&B singer M. Pokora. The song went to number 4 in France.

Martin performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Turin. A few days later, he announced the second leg of his world tour (which included Europe and Africa) called One Night Only/Una Noche Con Ricky Martin World Tour. The second leg started on April 21 in Manchester, U.K., and ended on June 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel, including shows that sold-out in two hours (Italy and Finland). In addition, he performed at the World Cup Fan Party in Berlin (Brandenburger Tor) on June 7, 2006, and at Lebanon's Beiteddine Festival on May 27 at the BIEL seafront hall in Beirut and on May 28 in Egypt , his first concerts in the Arab world following a promise to Queen Noor on his 2005 visit to the Arab Conference in Jordan. During this visit, he recorded an Arabic/Spanglish version of "Drop It on Me", "Enta Omri" with Arabic pop star Cheb Mami. An anticipated 8 month tour ended early due to a lack of advertising.

In 2007, Martin began a international promotional tour titled Blanco y Negro which included a performance at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum and concluded with a presentation at the Madison Square Garden on October 14, 2007

In 2008, Martin released a greatest hits album entitled Ricky Martin 17.
Wiki letter w.svg This section requires expansion.

On June 2009, the singer announced he was working on a new studio album, the first since 2005's 'Life'. The album, which will feature tracks in both English and Spanish, is expected to be ready for spring of 2010, with a first single releasing near the beginning of the year. His collaborators include producer Lester Mendez, who has penned hits for everyone from Nelly Furtado to Carlos Santana. It would be his 9th studio album and his 11th album overall.

The singer also announced through his Twitter account that he's currently penning a book, although the content of said book is still unknown.
MTV Diary and MTV Unplugged

MTV aired "MTV Diary: Ricky Martin" in November 2006, showcasing scenes from the "One Night Only" tour, on the road and onstage. MTV Latin America and MTV Tr3́s co-produced the "Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" show to be taped in Miami on August 17, 2006 and premiered on MTV Latin America, MTV Tr3́s and MTV Puerto Rico in October 2006.

"Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" was released by Sony BMG on November 7, 2006 in both separate CD and DVD formats, and in May 2007, was re-released together in a CD/DVD combo-package. Available exclusively at Wal-Mart with the original CD purchase is a separate Ricky Martin DVD titled "Making of Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged", which includes a 40 minute behind the scenes documentary and the music video to "Tu Recuerdo". (It should be noted the music video for "Tu Recuerdo" is just an extracted live performance of the song from MTV Unplugged.)

The first single of the album, "Tu Recuerdo", featuring La Mari from Chambao, reached number one on the U.S. Latin Charts. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Latin Charts and number thirty-eight on Billboard 200.

This album includes Puerto Rican influences, particularly "Tu Recuerdo" (based mainly on a Puerto Rican "aguinaldo jíbaro", and finishing with an "aguinaldo orocoveño") and "Pégate", a Puerto Rican plena. Christian Nieves plays the Puerto Rican cuatro on both tracks. Viento de agua and Joseph Quevedo played the plena drums in "Pégate".
Personal life
Ricky Martin at a Puerto Rican Day annual parade in New York City.

Martin has been nominated one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People magazine and its sister magazine People en Español in 2000 and 2006 respectively.

In the past Ricky stated he was in love with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba, with whom he had an off and on again relationship for over 14 years. They even talked of starting a family together. And at one point Ricky Martin planned on proposing. However with the release of "Life", Martin confirmed he and De Alba had parted ways.

During the Livin' la Vida Loca era, Martin's personal life went under the microscope due to his large gay following and he was constantly questioned about his sexual orientation. Neither avoiding the questions nor answering that he is straight stopped the gay rumors. In the magazine Plus 7 Days he said: "I am a modern man, live a full life, do not feel any barriers inside myself," Ricky says. "I perceive the contemporary world as an open forum, where nothing is taboo except criminal activity. If I were gay, why not admit it? ... I am a normal man. I love women and sex. I am a real hot-blooded Puerto Rican, but I have never been attracted by sex with a man."

In The Sunday Express on the gay rumors Martin said: "What are you going to do? I don't have a problem with homosexuality. I'm gay-friendly—I'm not gay."

In August 2008, Ricky became the father of twin boys. The babies were delivered via gestational surrogacy and were already a few weeks old. At the time of the press release, the children were already under Ricky's full-time care. On December 10, 2008, Martin told People magazine that the boys are named Matteo and Valentino. Martin's rep released a statement after the twins' birth, saying, "Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."

In June 2009, Martin spoke about his sexuality in an interview with Hispanic magazine TV Aqui, reportedly hinting that he was bisexual. He stated that his "heart could belong to a woman or a man". Later reports refuted this as a publicity stunt by TV Aqui. The reliable gay publication The Advocate revealed in an article "Ricky Martin Coming Out A Lie": "Last week, via a leaked cover line and a vague Twitter post, Puerto Rican magazine TV Aqui suggested that Ricky Martin had inched toward the closet door in its latest issue by saying his heart “could belong to a man or a woman. Now, with the issue on newsstands, it turns out the magazine cover text and Twitter post were nothing more than a ploy to get people to buy the magazine -- because that isn’t what he said at all. In translated text of the video footage, Martin says: "Eh, the heart of Ricky Martin? Look, whether it has or doesn't have a male owner or a female owner, I have never spoken about that topic, so don't…"
Humanitarian work
Main article: Ricky Martín Foundation

Martin is the founder of Fundación Ricky Martin (English: Ricky Martín Foundation), a non-profit organization. Among the events promoted by the foundation was a summer camp, which included Martin's personal participation.

Martin has been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including

    * The Leadership in the Arts Award
    * Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award
    * The Alma Award
    * Vanguard Award
    * International Humanitarian Award by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
    * Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Calcutta (September 2002)

Ricky Martin has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the "Llama y Vive" (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers. For his work against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department named Martin one of its "Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery" in 2005.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk192/Kaulitz_2008/ricky-martin.jpg
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt266/vgomesvictor/0290681B.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/24/09 at 5:50 am


The word of the day...Children
    *
          o
            Children is the plural of child.

Related phrases

    *
      child
      A child is a human being who is not yet an adult.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pphVs8bF0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/24/09 at 5:53 am


* Robin Gibb..Robin Hugh Gibb CBE (born 22 December 1949) is a singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, cofounded with his twin brother Maurice Gibb (1949-2003), and elder brother Barry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pphVs8bF0
Quick Quiz Question...

What is the link between Teach Your Children by Crosby Stills & Nash and The Bee Gees?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/24/09 at 6:57 am


The co-birthday of the day...Ricky Martin

Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known by his stage name Ricky Martin, is a Grammy Award- and Latin Grammy Award- winning, Puerto Rican pop singer who rose to fame, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.

His career has spanned over three decades and has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martín Foundation (in Spanish Fundación Ricky Martin) a non-profit charity organization.

In 2008, he became a single father of twin boys, Matteo and Valentino.
Ricky Martin rose to fame when boy a member of the Latin American boy band Menudo after which he became a solo artist in 1990. He is considered a major star in the world of Latin Pop and is considered to have opened the doors for some of his fellow (Latin American singers).
Solo work

After completing high school, Martin left San Juan and moved to New York City. Later, Martin moved to Cancún where he started acting, first in theater productions, and then in a soap opera ("telenovela") titled Alcanzar Una Estrella II (Reach for a Star 2). A film based on the series was produced in which Martin played "Pablo," earning a Heraldo Award in 1993.

While acting in Mexico, Martin was signed to Sony Discos, the company's Latin imprint, in 1990. He released his first solo album, the Spanish-language Ricky Martin, in 1991, which included the single "Fuego Contra Fuego." The hit release earned gold records in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the United States, and he performed a string of sold-out concert dates across South America.

In 1993, Martin released his second solo album, Me Amarás, which sold more than a million copies worldwide.

In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He received a role as bartender and singer (Miguel Morez) in the American soap opera General Hospital.

In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career through his third album, A Medio Vivir. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds. With the hit "Maria", which epitomizes this new sound. "Maria" broke Martin into Europe through Spain. With the ballad "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo", Martin began his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets.
Broadway

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway production for the first time. He played the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy, in Les Miserables.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve, which was certified platinum by the RIAA and went on to sell eight million copies worldwide. He was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the famous hit "The Cup of Life"/"La Copa de la Vida", that reached number one on the charts in 60 countries.
Crossover to English

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit, George Noriega and his longtime childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests Madonna (on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)") and Meja (Private Emotion). As Turkey was one of the countries where Martin's popularity was at its peak, he sang the song with Sertab Erener, Turkish winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, instead of Meja in Turkish versions of the album.

The first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca," which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa. He followed up with the hit "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at #2 on The Billboard Hot 100. This album became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7 times platinum, selling over 22 million copies worldwide to date.

After the success of Ricky Martin, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. Though the album did debut in the top ten (number four), it failed to reach number one. Three singles were released from Sound Loaded: the first was "She Bangs," which was followed by a duet with Christina Aguilera called "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely". Unlike the first two singles released from Ricky Martin, neither of the first two singles from this album reached the U.S. Top Ten on Billboard's Hot 100; they reached twelve and thirteen respectively. The third single, "Loaded" reached ninety-seven on Billboard's Hot 100. Sound Loaded eventually sold two million copies in the USA.

In 2001, Martin released a Spanish Greatest Hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one in the Latin Charts and stayed there for five weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs Fuego contra fuego and El amor de mi vida. In the same year, he released his English greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin, which went on to sell over one million copies. The album contained no new material save for two remixes of the track Amor. Both remixes were released to radio in some European countries and a single was also released.

In 2003, Martin released a new Spanish album "Almas del Silencio" ("Souls of Silence"). The first single, "Tal Vez", went to number one on the Latin Charts and stayed there for twelve weeks. He said of the new album: "I really needed to go back to focus, to my center, to the beginning. I had the need to search within, and really dig deep, and find those emotions that, because of the adrenaline and the euphoria that I lived for a couple of years, were probably sabotaged." Almas del Silencio debuted at number twelve on the Billboard 200, reached number one on the Latin Albums charts and stayed there for six weeks. The next singles, "Jaleo" and "Y Todo Queda en Nada", reached number one on the Latin Charts, and the album sold more than 1 million copies worldwide .

On October 11, 2005 Martin released his first English language album since 2000's Sound Loaded and the tenth album of his career. Most of the songs on the album, called Life, were co-written by Martin. He commented on the album: "I was really in touch with my emotions. I think this album is very multi-layered, just like life is. It's about feeling anger. It's about feeling joy. It's about feeling uncertainty. It's about feeling. And all my emotions are part of this production." The album debuted at number six on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The first single from the album was "I Don't Care"/"Qué Más Da", featuring guest appearances by Fat Joe, Amerie and drummer Joseph Quevedo "Joey Q".

Another single was released "Drop It on Me", which did not chart. Soon after, Martin announced his Latin American tour called Una Noche con Ricky Martin/One Night Only, promoting his latest album Life. Starting in Latin America, the tour premiered on November 15 in Mexico City. After finishing the first leg of the tour (which included Latin America and the U.S.), he released his next single, "It's Alright" (Spanish version: "Déjate Llevar"). A different version appeared in France, which included additional vocals by French R&B singer M. Pokora. The song went to number 4 in France.

Martin performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Turin. A few days later, he announced the second leg of his world tour (which included Europe and Africa) called One Night Only/Una Noche Con Ricky Martin World Tour. The second leg started on April 21 in Manchester, U.K., and ended on June 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel, including shows that sold-out in two hours (Italy and Finland). In addition, he performed at the World Cup Fan Party in Berlin (Brandenburger Tor) on June 7, 2006, and at Lebanon's Beiteddine Festival on May 27 at the BIEL seafront hall in Beirut and on May 28 in Egypt , his first concerts in the Arab world following a promise to Queen Noor on his 2005 visit to the Arab Conference in Jordan. During this visit, he recorded an Arabic/Spanglish version of "Drop It on Me", "Enta Omri" with Arabic pop star Cheb Mami. An anticipated 8 month tour ended early due to a lack of advertising.

In 2007, Martin began a international promotional tour titled Blanco y Negro which included a performance at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum and concluded with a presentation at the Madison Square Garden on October 14, 2007

In 2008, Martin released a greatest hits album entitled Ricky Martin 17.
Wiki letter w.svg This section requires expansion.

On June 2009, the singer announced he was working on a new studio album, the first since 2005's 'Life'. The album, which will feature tracks in both English and Spanish, is expected to be ready for spring of 2010, with a first single releasing near the beginning of the year. His collaborators include producer Lester Mendez, who has penned hits for everyone from Nelly Furtado to Carlos Santana. It would be his 9th studio album and his 11th album overall.

The singer also announced through his Twitter account that he's currently penning a book, although the content of said book is still unknown.
MTV Diary and MTV Unplugged

MTV aired "MTV Diary: Ricky Martin" in November 2006, showcasing scenes from the "One Night Only" tour, on the road and onstage. MTV Latin America and MTV Tr3́s co-produced the "Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" show to be taped in Miami on August 17, 2006 and premiered on MTV Latin America, MTV Tr3́s and MTV Puerto Rico in October 2006.

"Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" was released by Sony BMG on November 7, 2006 in both separate CD and DVD formats, and in May 2007, was re-released together in a CD/DVD combo-package. Available exclusively at Wal-Mart with the original CD purchase is a separate Ricky Martin DVD titled "Making of Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged", which includes a 40 minute behind the scenes documentary and the music video to "Tu Recuerdo". (It should be noted the music video for "Tu Recuerdo" is just an extracted live performance of the song from MTV Unplugged.)

The first single of the album, "Tu Recuerdo", featuring La Mari from Chambao, reached number one on the U.S. Latin Charts. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Latin Charts and number thirty-eight on Billboard 200.

This album includes Puerto Rican influences, particularly "Tu Recuerdo" (based mainly on a Puerto Rican "aguinaldo jíbaro", and finishing with an "aguinaldo orocoveño") and "Pégate", a Puerto Rican plena. Christian Nieves plays the Puerto Rican cuatro on both tracks. Viento de agua and Joseph Quevedo played the plena drums in "Pégate".
Personal life
Ricky Martin at a Puerto Rican Day annual parade in New York City.

Martin has been nominated one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People magazine and its sister magazine People en Español in 2000 and 2006 respectively.

In the past Ricky stated he was in love with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba, with whom he had an off and on again relationship for over 14 years. They even talked of starting a family together. And at one point Ricky Martin planned on proposing. However with the release of "Life", Martin confirmed he and De Alba had parted ways.

During the Livin' la Vida Loca era, Martin's personal life went under the microscope due to his large gay following and he was constantly questioned about his sexual orientation. Neither avoiding the questions nor answering that he is straight stopped the gay rumors. In the magazine Plus 7 Days he said: "I am a modern man, live a full life, do not feel any barriers inside myself," Ricky says. "I perceive the contemporary world as an open forum, where nothing is taboo except criminal activity. If I were gay, why not admit it? ... I am a normal man. I love women and sex. I am a real hot-blooded Puerto Rican, but I have never been attracted by sex with a man."

In The Sunday Express on the gay rumors Martin said: "What are you going to do? I don't have a problem with homosexuality. I'm gay-friendly—I'm not gay."

In August 2008, Ricky became the father of twin boys. The babies were delivered via gestational surrogacy and were already a few weeks old. At the time of the press release, the children were already under Ricky's full-time care. On December 10, 2008, Martin told People magazine that the boys are named Matteo and Valentino. Martin's rep released a statement after the twins' birth, saying, "Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."

In June 2009, Martin spoke about his sexuality in an interview with Hispanic magazine TV Aqui, reportedly hinting that he was bisexual. He stated that his "heart could belong to a woman or a man". Later reports refuted this as a publicity stunt by TV Aqui. The reliable gay publication The Advocate revealed in an article "Ricky Martin Coming Out A Lie": "Last week, via a leaked cover line and a vague Twitter post, Puerto Rican magazine TV Aqui suggested that Ricky Martin had inched toward the closet door in its latest issue by saying his heart “could belong to a man or a woman. Now, with the issue on newsstands, it turns out the magazine cover text and Twitter post were nothing more than a ploy to get people to buy the magazine -- because that isn’t what he said at all. In translated text of the video footage, Martin says: "Eh, the heart of Ricky Martin? Look, whether it has or doesn't have a male owner or a female owner, I have never spoken about that topic, so don't…"
Humanitarian work
Main article: Ricky Martín Foundation

Martin is the founder of Fundación Ricky Martin (English: Ricky Martín Foundation), a non-profit organization. Among the events promoted by the foundation was a summer camp, which included Martin's personal participation.

Martin has been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including

    * The Leadership in the Arts Award
    * Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award
    * The Alma Award
    * Vanguard Award
    * International Humanitarian Award by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
    * Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Calcutta (September 2002)

Ricky Martin has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the "Llama y Vive" (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers. For his work against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department named Martin one of its "Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery" in 2005.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk192/Kaulitz_2008/ricky-martin.jpg
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt266/vgomesvictor/0290681B.jpg


I liked him better with Menudo.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/24/09 at 7:27 am

Nice job as usual, Ninny. Thanks for posting.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/24/09 at 12:24 pm


The word of the day...Kitchen
kitchen is a room that is used for cooking and for household jobs such as washing dishes.
http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae243/daryl_039/kitchen.jpg
http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy220/corinnagallagher/DSC02429JPG.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz149/cinemaniac7147/Apartment%20Photos/Kitchen.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l6/jenjen81388/New%20House/Kitchen.jpg
http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae44/nik2202/40thBirthdayPictures018.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj215/Titanpb/George011.jpg
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/animalmotherstemple/DSC01793.jpg
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx274/DustinCavanaugh/CIMG2017.jpg



How appropriate considering we are trying to put our kitchen back together after the disastrous remodeling.



The co-birthday of the day...Ricky Martin

Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known by his stage name Ricky Martin, is a Grammy Award- and Latin Grammy Award- winning, Puerto Rican pop singer who rose to fame, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.

His career has spanned over three decades and has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martín Foundation (in Spanish Fundación Ricky Martin) a non-profit charity organization.

In 2008, he became a single father of twin boys, Matteo and Valentino.
Ricky Martin rose to fame when boy a member of the Latin American boy band Menudo after which he became a solo artist in 1990. He is considered a major star in the world of Latin Pop and is considered to have opened the doors for some of his fellow (Latin American singers).
Solo work

After completing high school, Martin left San Juan and moved to New York City. Later, Martin moved to Cancún where he started acting, first in theater productions, and then in a soap opera ("telenovela") titled Alcanzar Una Estrella II (Reach for a Star 2). A film based on the series was produced in which Martin played "Pablo," earning a Heraldo Award in 1993.

While acting in Mexico, Martin was signed to Sony Discos, the company's Latin imprint, in 1990. He released his first solo album, the Spanish-language Ricky Martin, in 1991, which included the single "Fuego Contra Fuego." The hit release earned gold records in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the United States, and he performed a string of sold-out concert dates across South America.

In 1993, Martin released his second solo album, Me Amarás, which sold more than a million copies worldwide.

In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He received a role as bartender and singer (Miguel Morez) in the American soap opera General Hospital.

In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career through his third album, A Medio Vivir. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds. With the hit "Maria", which epitomizes this new sound. "Maria" broke Martin into Europe through Spain. With the ballad "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo", Martin began his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets.
Broadway

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway production for the first time. He played the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy, in Les Miserables.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve, which was certified platinum by the RIAA and went on to sell eight million copies worldwide. He was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the famous hit "The Cup of Life"/"La Copa de la Vida", that reached number one on the charts in 60 countries.
Crossover to English

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit, George Noriega and his longtime childhood friend (producer/singer) Robi Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests Madonna (on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)") and Meja (Private Emotion). As Turkey was one of the countries where Martin's popularity was at its peak, he sang the song with Sertab Erener, Turkish winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, instead of Meja in Turkish versions of the album.

The first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca," which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa. He followed up with the hit "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at #2 on The Billboard Hot 100. This album became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7 times platinum, selling over 22 million copies worldwide to date.

After the success of Ricky Martin, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. Though the album did debut in the top ten (number four), it failed to reach number one. Three singles were released from Sound Loaded: the first was "She Bangs," which was followed by a duet with Christina Aguilera called "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely". Unlike the first two singles released from Ricky Martin, neither of the first two singles from this album reached the U.S. Top Ten on Billboard's Hot 100; they reached twelve and thirteen respectively. The third single, "Loaded" reached ninety-seven on Billboard's Hot 100. Sound Loaded eventually sold two million copies in the USA.

In 2001, Martin released a Spanish Greatest Hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one in the Latin Charts and stayed there for five weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs Fuego contra fuego and El amor de mi vida. In the same year, he released his English greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin, which went on to sell over one million copies. The album contained no new material save for two remixes of the track Amor. Both remixes were released to radio in some European countries and a single was also released.

In 2003, Martin released a new Spanish album "Almas del Silencio" ("Souls of Silence"). The first single, "Tal Vez", went to number one on the Latin Charts and stayed there for twelve weeks. He said of the new album: "I really needed to go back to focus, to my center, to the beginning. I had the need to search within, and really dig deep, and find those emotions that, because of the adrenaline and the euphoria that I lived for a couple of years, were probably sabotaged." Almas del Silencio debuted at number twelve on the Billboard 200, reached number one on the Latin Albums charts and stayed there for six weeks. The next singles, "Jaleo" and "Y Todo Queda en Nada", reached number one on the Latin Charts, and the album sold more than 1 million copies worldwide .

On October 11, 2005 Martin released his first English language album since 2000's Sound Loaded and the tenth album of his career. Most of the songs on the album, called Life, were co-written by Martin. He commented on the album: "I was really in touch with my emotions. I think this album is very multi-layered, just like life is. It's about feeling anger. It's about feeling joy. It's about feeling uncertainty. It's about feeling. And all my emotions are part of this production." The album debuted at number six on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The first single from the album was "I Don't Care"/"Qué Más Da", featuring guest appearances by Fat Joe, Amerie and drummer Joseph Quevedo "Joey Q".

Another single was released "Drop It on Me", which did not chart. Soon after, Martin announced his Latin American tour called Una Noche con Ricky Martin/One Night Only, promoting his latest album Life. Starting in Latin America, the tour premiered on November 15 in Mexico City. After finishing the first leg of the tour (which included Latin America and the U.S.), he released his next single, "It's Alright" (Spanish version: "Déjate Llevar"). A different version appeared in France, which included additional vocals by French R&B singer M. Pokora. The song went to number 4 in France.

Martin performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in Turin. A few days later, he announced the second leg of his world tour (which included Europe and Africa) called One Night Only/Una Noche Con Ricky Martin World Tour. The second leg started on April 21 in Manchester, U.K., and ended on June 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel, including shows that sold-out in two hours (Italy and Finland). In addition, he performed at the World Cup Fan Party in Berlin (Brandenburger Tor) on June 7, 2006, and at Lebanon's Beiteddine Festival on May 27 at the BIEL seafront hall in Beirut and on May 28 in Egypt , his first concerts in the Arab world following a promise to Queen Noor on his 2005 visit to the Arab Conference in Jordan. During this visit, he recorded an Arabic/Spanglish version of "Drop It on Me", "Enta Omri" with Arabic pop star Cheb Mami. An anticipated 8 month tour ended early due to a lack of advertising.

In 2007, Martin began a international promotional tour titled Blanco y Negro which included a performance at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum and concluded with a presentation at the Madison Square Garden on October 14, 2007

In 2008, Martin released a greatest hits album entitled Ricky Martin 17.
Wiki letter w.svg This section requires expansion.

On June 2009, the singer announced he was working on a new studio album, the first since 2005's 'Life'. The album, which will feature tracks in both English and Spanish, is expected to be ready for spring of 2010, with a first single releasing near the beginning of the year. His collaborators include producer Lester Mendez, who has penned hits for everyone from Nelly Furtado to Carlos Santana. It would be his 9th studio album and his 11th album overall.

The singer also announced through his Twitter account that he's currently penning a book, although the content of said book is still unknown.
MTV Diary and MTV Unplugged

MTV aired "MTV Diary: Ricky Martin" in November 2006, showcasing scenes from the "One Night Only" tour, on the road and onstage. MTV Latin America and MTV Tr3́s co-produced the "Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" show to be taped in Miami on August 17, 2006 and premiered on MTV Latin America, MTV Tr3́s and MTV Puerto Rico in October 2006.

"Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged" was released by Sony BMG on November 7, 2006 in both separate CD and DVD formats, and in May 2007, was re-released together in a CD/DVD combo-package. Available exclusively at Wal-Mart with the original CD purchase is a separate Ricky Martin DVD titled "Making of Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged", which includes a 40 minute behind the scenes documentary and the music video to "Tu Recuerdo". (It should be noted the music video for "Tu Recuerdo" is just an extracted live performance of the song from MTV Unplugged.)

The first single of the album, "Tu Recuerdo", featuring La Mari from Chambao, reached number one on the U.S. Latin Charts. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Latin Charts and number thirty-eight on Billboard 200.

This album includes Puerto Rican influences, particularly "Tu Recuerdo" (based mainly on a Puerto Rican "aguinaldo jíbaro", and finishing with an "aguinaldo orocoveño") and "Pégate", a Puerto Rican plena. Christian Nieves plays the Puerto Rican cuatro on both tracks. Viento de agua and Joseph Quevedo played the plena drums in "Pégate".
Personal life
Ricky Martin at a Puerto Rican Day annual parade in New York City.

Martin has been nominated one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People magazine and its sister magazine People en Español in 2000 and 2006 respectively.

In the past Ricky stated he was in love with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba, with whom he had an off and on again relationship for over 14 years. They even talked of starting a family together. And at one point Ricky Martin planned on proposing. However with the release of "Life", Martin confirmed he and De Alba had parted ways.

During the Livin' la Vida Loca era, Martin's personal life went under the microscope due to his large gay following and he was constantly questioned about his sexual orientation. Neither avoiding the questions nor answering that he is straight stopped the gay rumors. In the magazine Plus 7 Days he said: "I am a modern man, live a full life, do not feel any barriers inside myself," Ricky says. "I perceive the contemporary world as an open forum, where nothing is taboo except criminal activity. If I were gay, why not admit it? ... I am a normal man. I love women and sex. I am a real hot-blooded Puerto Rican, but I have never been attracted by sex with a man."

In The Sunday Express on the gay rumors Martin said: "What are you going to do? I don't have a problem with homosexuality. I'm gay-friendly—I'm not gay."

In August 2008, Ricky became the father of twin boys. The babies were delivered via gestational surrogacy and were already a few weeks old. At the time of the press release, the children were already under Ricky's full-time care. On December 10, 2008, Martin told People magazine that the boys are named Matteo and Valentino. Martin's rep released a statement after the twins' birth, saying, "Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."

In June 2009, Martin spoke about his sexuality in an interview with Hispanic magazine TV Aqui, reportedly hinting that he was bisexual. He stated that his "heart could belong to a woman or a man". Later reports refuted this as a publicity stunt by TV Aqui. The reliable gay publication The Advocate revealed in an article "Ricky Martin Coming Out A Lie": "Last week, via a leaked cover line and a vague Twitter post, Puerto Rican magazine TV Aqui suggested that Ricky Martin had inched toward the closet door in its latest issue by saying his heart “could belong to a man or a woman. Now, with the issue on newsstands, it turns out the magazine cover text and Twitter post were nothing more than a ploy to get people to buy the magazine -- because that isn’t what he said at all. In translated text of the video footage, Martin says: "Eh, the heart of Ricky Martin? Look, whether it has or doesn't have a male owner or a female owner, I have never spoken about that topic, so don't…"
Humanitarian work
Main article: Ricky Martín Foundation

Martin is the founder of Fundación Ricky Martin (English: Ricky Martín Foundation), a non-profit organization. Among the events promoted by the foundation was a summer camp, which included Martin's personal participation.

Martin has been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including

    * The Leadership in the Arts Award
    * Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award
    * The Alma Award
    * Vanguard Award
    * International Humanitarian Award by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
    * Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Calcutta (September 2002)

Ricky Martin has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the "Llama y Vive" (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers. For his work against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department named Martin one of its "Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery" in 2005.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk192/Kaulitz_2008/ricky-martin.jpg
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt266/vgomesvictor/0290681B.jpg



First saw Ricky Martin on General Hospital. Can you say "YUM"? Of course I'm sure people know how I feel about Puerto Rican men.  ;)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/24/09 at 1:30 pm


Quick Quiz Question...

What is the link between Teach Your Children by Crosby Stills & Nash and The Bee Gees?

I know the Bee gees also had a song called "Teach your chldren'

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/24/09 at 1:31 pm


I know the Bee gees also had a song called "Teach your chldren'
That is not the answer I am thinking of.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/24/09 at 1:32 pm


That is not the answer I am thinking of.

Both are 3 man bands?
Bee Gees had a song "Children of the world"

Am I getting closer?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/24/09 at 7:11 pm

Who remembers old school menudo?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 4:01 am



How appropriate considering we are trying to put our kitchen back together after the disastrous remodeling.




First saw Ricky Martin on General Hospital. Can you say "YUM"? Of course I'm sure people know how I feel about Puerto Rican men.  ;)



Cat

I hope the kitchen comes out fine..No do tell you love Puerto Rican men ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 4:01 am


Nice job as usual, Ninny. Thanks for posting.  :)

Glad you liked it. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 4:11 am

The word or phrase of the day...Merry Christmas
used as a greeting at Christmas to say that you hope that somebody has an enjoyable holiday
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l303/Steppyville/gingerbread_man_waving_behind_si-1.gif
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c196/jamesbutters/Merry_Christmas.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/mix111com/merry-2.jpg
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae200/desafio89/myspace/400_1196114114_christmaskittenkkl.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac276/maylovepiano/merry-christmas.jpg
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae194/malaysiandelicacies/merrychristmas.gif
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/Euler5853/Christmas/zz3.gif
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu141/niffynoodles/ilga.gif
http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz308/star_gurl03/MaryChristmas.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 4:15 am

The birthday of the day...Sissy Spacek
Mary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek (born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Her screen debut was in the 1972 film Prime Cut co-starring Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman.

In the 1970s, she began starring in critically-acclaimed films directed by Terrence Malick, Brian de Palma and Robert Altman. Her performance as the blood-spattered title character in de Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie made her famous. She is one of the very few actresses ever nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in a horror film (Carrie).

In 1980, she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as country star Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter. She has been nominated a total of 6 times. Spacek is known mainly as a dramatic actress, but has also made comedies. The films Spacek has starred in have earned over $700 million world wide.  Spacek started out as a country singer, recording one single ("John, You've Gone Too Far This Time"), about John Lennon, an expression of her shock over the Two Virgins cover under the name 'Rainbo'. With the help of her cousin, actor Rip Torn, she was able to enroll in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City.
1970s

Her first credited role was in the 1972 cult classic Prime Cut, in which she played Poppy, a young girl sold into sexual slavery. This was a striking debut, Spacek demonstrating her capacity for combining intense sexuality with a child-like blankness, a characteristic that would mark almost all of her work in the seventies. This role led to TV work which included a small role in The Waltons, where she uttered the well known line "When are you going to stop being John Boy and start being John Man?". But her landmark role of this period and the role that brought her to international attention, came in 1973: Holly in Terrence Malick's Badlands. As Holly, the 15-year old, baton-twirling girlfriend of mass-murderer Kit (played by Martin Sheen), Spacek gave a memorable and sinister performance. Narrating the film's grotesque events in almost comically-listless monotone, Holly is a truly bewildering character, apparently devoid of shock, sentiment, or the capacity for an appropriate response to anything. Spacek has described Badlands as the "most incredible" experience of her career. It was on the set of Badlands that Spacek met art director Jack Fisk, whom she would soon marry.

Spacek's iconic and career-defining role came in 1976 with Brian De Palma's Carrie, in which she played Carrie White, a universally bullied and despised teenager with telekinetic powers. Spacek's fragile beauty and painfully vulnerable charm made Carrie a far more sympathetic character than the character in Stephen King's original novel, and her performance is blistering in its emotional honesty. Yet, incredibly, Spacek had to work hard to persuade director de Palma to engage her for the role, set as he was on an alternative actress, whose identity remains to this day shrouded in mystery. Rubbing Vaseline into her hair, and donning an old sailor-dress her mother had made for her as a child, Spacek turned up to the audition with the odds stacked against her, but blew her competition out of the water. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the film. (Veteran actress Piper Laurie, who played Carrie's religiously maniacal mother Margaret White, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.)

After Carrie Spacek played the small but amusing role of topless house-keeper Linda Murray in Alan Rudolph's bizarre ensemble piece Welcome to LA (1976), but cemented her reputation as one of the best actresses in independent cinema in Robert Altman's 1977 classic 3 Women. As Pinky Rose, the literally vacant waif who will suck the soul out of Shelley Duvall's tragically superficial Millie Lammoreaux, Spacek would reveal an astonishing range, shifting from quasi-retarded child-oaf to glamorously brittle queen bitch within the film's first hour. Altman himself was deeply impressed by her performance, stating: 'She's remarkable, one of the top actresses I've ever worked with. Her resources are like a deep well.' Meanwhile, de Palma now enthused: 'Sissy's a phantom. She has this mysterious way of slipping into a part, letting it take over her. She's got a wider range than any young actress I know.' Spacek also helped to finance then-brother-in-law David Lynch's directorial debut, the instantaneous art-house/horror classic Eraserhead (1976), and is thanked for her trouble in the credits of that film.

In 1979's Heart Beat, Spacek played the debonair socialite Carolyn Cassady, slipping (under the influence of John Heard's Jack Kerouac and Nick Nolte's Neal Cassady) into a frustrating combination of drudgery and (mild) debauchery. The film was not a hit, but emerges as a minor gem, insightful into the hypocrisies of 1950s United States and the disappointments of failed transgression.
1980s

Spacek began the decade with an Oscar in 1980 for Coal Miner's Daughter, in which she played country music star Loretta Lynn. Film critic Roger Ebert credited the success that was Coal Miner's Daughter, "to the performance by Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. With the same sort of magical chemistry she's shown before, when she played the high school kid in Carrie, Spacek at twenty-nine has the ability to appear to be almost any age onscreen. Here she ages from about fourteen to somewhere in her thirties, always looks the age, and never seems to be wearing makeup."
The handprints of Sissy Spacek in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Spacek was also nominated for a Grammy Award for her singing on that film's soundtrack album. She followed this with her own country album, Hangin' Up My Heart in 1983; the album spawned one hit single, "Lonely But Only For You," a song written by K.T. Oslin which reached #15 on the Billboard Country chart.

The 1980s were a solid decade for Spacek. She consolidated her position as one of Hollywood's leading actresses, even if the disquieting 'edge' of her seventies persona was dulled somewhat. She starred alongside Jack Lemmon in Costa-Gavras's political thriller Missing (1982), Mel Gibson in the rural drama The River (1984), and Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange in 1986's Crimes of the Heart. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for all of these roles. Other notable performances of the decade included poignant star turns in husband Jack Fisk's directorial debut Raggedy Man (1981), and opposite Anne Bancroft in the harrowing suicide drama 'Night Mother (1986). She also showed her lighter side by agreeing to play the voice of the brain in the Steve Martin comedy The Man with Two Brains (1983). By the end of 1986 Spacek retired to her farm in Virginia to raise her children and would not appear in another film until 1990.
1990s

The 1990s saw Spacek slowly come back to Hollywood, after her self-imposed hiatus. She had a supporting role as Kevin Costner's wife in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), she made a number of comedies, TV movies, and the occasional interesting film. Most notable were her hilarious turn as the villainous Verena Talbo in 1995's whimsical but underrated ensemble piece The Grass Harp (which reunited her with both Piper Laurie and Jack Lemmon), a fiercely sympathetic supporting performance (opposite Nick Nolte again) as the waitress Margie Fogg in Paul Schrader's terrifying father-son psychodrama Affliction (1997), and a brilliant study in middle-aged, stuttering low confidence, as Rose Straight in David Lynch's charming family epic The Straight Story (1999).
2000s

The last decade has seen Spacek excel in a number of film roles. In 2001, she was nominated again for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Todd Field's In the Bedroom. New York Times film critic Stephen Holden said of her work in the film:

   "Ms. Spacek's performance is as devastating as it is unflashy. With the slight tightening of her neck muscles and a downward twitch of her mouth, she conveys her character's relentlessness, then balances it with enough sweetness to make Ruth seem entirely human. It is one of Ms. Spacek's greatest performances.

Her portrayal of a grieving mother consumed by revenge, Ruth Fowler, won extraordinary praise and garnered the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics Awards for Best Actress.

Other notable performances of this decade include her moving portrayal of quietly unfaithful wife Ruth in Rodrigo Garcia's incredible feminist L.A.-based puzzle Nine Lives (2005), and a recent turn as a woman suffering from Alzheimer's in the television movie Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007). In 2008, Spacek had a cameo appearance in the Christmas movie Four Christmases (2008) and a lead role in the independent drama, Lake City (2008).

Spacek joined the HBO drama Big Love for a multi-episode arc as a powerful Washington, D.C., lobbyist.
Personal life

Spacek married production designer Jack Fisk in 1974. Fisk directed her in the films Raggedy Man and Violets Are Blue and was Oscar-nominated for his production design in 2007's There Will Be Blood. They have two daughters, Schuyler Fisk and Madison Fisk. Schuyler has appeared in several film roles, and is now pursuing a career as a singer. Spacek and her family live on a horse ranch near Charlottesville, Virginia. She is also an ardent crusader for women's rights.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1970 Trash Girl extra at bar uncredited
1972 Prime Cut Poppy
1973 The Girls of Huntington House Sara TV film
Badlands Holly Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1974 Ginger in the Morning Ginger TV film
The Migrants Wanda Trimpin
1975 Katherine Katherine Alman TV film (also known as The Radical)
1976 Carrie Carrie White National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Welcome to L.A. Linda Murray
1977 3 Women Pinky Rose New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
1978 Verna: U.S.O. Girl Verna Vane TV film
1980 Coal Miner's Daughter Loretta Lynn Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Heart Beat Carolyn Cassady
1981 Raggedy Man Nita Longley Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1982 Missing Beth Horman Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1983 The Man with Two Brains Anne Uumellmahaye voice (uncredited)
1984 The River Mae Garvey Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Marie Marie Ragghianti
1986 Violets Are Blue Augusta 'Gussie' Sawyer
'night, Mother Jessie Cates
Crimes of the Heart Rebeca 'Babe'/'Becky' Magrath Botrelle Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1990 The Long Walk Home Miriam Thompson
1991 Hard Promises Christine Ann Coalter
JFK Liz Garrison
1992 A Private Matter Sherri Finkbine TV film
1994 A Place for Annie Susan Lansing TV film
Trading Mom aka "The Mommy Market" Mrs. Mommy Martin; Mama, Snappy French;
Mom, the Nature-Hiker; Natasha, the Circus Performer
1995 The Good Old Boys Spring Renfro Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
The Grass Harp Verena Talbo
Streets of Laredo Lorena Parker TV mini-series
1996 Beyond the Call Pam O'Brien TV film
If These Walls Could Talk Barbara Barrows (segment "1974") TV film
1997 Affliction Margie Fogg
1999 Blast from the Past Helen Thomas Webber Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Straight Story Rose 'Rosie' Straight Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2000 Songs in Ordinary Time Marie Fermoyle TV film
2001 In the Bedroom Ruth Fowler AFI Actress of the Year
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Midwives Sibyl Danforth Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2002 Last Call Zelda Fitzgerald Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Tuck Everlasting Mae Tuck Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2004 A Home at the End of the World Alice Glover
2005 Nine Lives Ruth Locarno International Film Festival Award for Best Actress Ensemble
The Ring Two Evelyn
North Country Alice Aimes
2006 An American Haunting Lucy Bell
Summer Running: The Race to Cure Breast Cancer Mrs. Flora Good
2007 Gray Matters Sydney
Hot Rod Marie Powell
Pictures of Hollis Woods Josie Cahill Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2008 Lake City Maggie
Four Christmases Paula (Brad's Mom)
2009 Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People Narrator TV mini-series
Get Low For People

Unknow
Discography
Albums
Year Album US Country Label
1983 Hangin' Up My Heart 17 Atlantic
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country US CAN Country
1980 "Coal Miner's Daughter" 24 — 7 Coal Miner's Daughter (Soundtrack)
"Back in Baby's Arms" — — 71
1983 "Lonely But Only for You" 15 110 13 Hangin' Up My Heart
1984 "If I Can Just Get Through the Night" 57 — 41
"If You Could Obly see Me Now 79 - -
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q148/crystallake72/02-15-08_1505.jpg
http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae110/theblipsonthescreentheywerejustdancing/Badlands04.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t38/peruvian91288/OW%20Polls/Spacek.jpg
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae202/duhwhateverr/sissy_spacek_carrie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 4:19 am

The co-birthday of the day...Jimmy Buffett...James William "Jimmy" Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is a singer, songwriter, author, businessman, and recently a movie producer best known for his "island escapism" lifestyle and music including hits such as "Margaritaville" (No. 234 on RIAA's list of "Songs of the Century"), and "Come Monday". He has a devoted base of fans known as "Parrotheads". His band is called the Coral Reefer Band.

Aside from his career in music, Buffett is also a best-selling writer and is involved in two restaurant chains named after two of his best known songs, "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Margaritaville". He owns the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain and co-developed the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant concept with OSI Restaurant Partners (parent of Outback Steakhouse), which operates the chain under a licensing agreement with Buffett.Buffett began his musical career in Nashville, Tennessee during the late 1960s as a country artist and recorded his first album, the folk rock Down to Earth, in 1970. During this time Buffett could be frequently found busking for tourists in New Orleans. Country music singer Jerry Jeff Walker took him to Key West on a busking expedition. Buffett then moved to Key West and began establishing the easy-going beach bum persona for which he is known. Following this move, Buffett combined country, folk, and pop music with coastal as well as tropical lyrical themes for a sound sometimes called "gulf and western." Today, he is a regular visitor to the Caribbean island of Saint Barts and other islands where he gets inspiration for many of his songs and some of the characters in his books.

Buffett's third album was the 1973 A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean. A1A followed in 1974, Havana Daydreamin' appeared in 1976, followed by 1977's Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, which featured the breakthrough hit song "Margaritaville". Many fans believe Buffett's best work was represented by these earlier albums ( COBO-Church of Buffett, Orthodox re the canon)

With the untimely death of friend and mentor Jim Croce in September 1973, ABC Dunhill tapped Buffett to fill his space. Earlier, Buffett had visited Croce's farm in Pennsylvania and met with Croce in Florida (see Jimmy Buffett "The Man from Margaritaville Revealed" - Steve Eng page 144 and "Jimmy Buffett Scrap Book" by Mark Humphrey page 120)

During the 1980s, Buffett made far more money off his tours than albums and became known as a popular concert draw. He released a series of albums during the following twenty years, primarily to his devoted audience, and also branched into writing and merchandising. In 1985, Buffett opened the first of the "Margaritaville" restaurants in Key West, bringing new visibility and life to the Margaritaville name. During the 1980s Buffett played at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He briefly changed the name of the band from "Coral Reefers" to the "Coral Reef Band" to suit the HLS&R's request as they thought "Reefers" was a drug related reference. HLS&R is a charity event that provides student grants to children and young adults that compete in agriculture contests (FFA).

Two of the more out-of-character albums were Christmas Island, a collection of Christmas songs, and Parakeets, a collection of Buffett songs sung by children and containing "cleaned-up" lyrics (like "a cold root beer" instead of "a cold draft beer").

In 1997, Buffett collaborated with novelist Herman Wouk to create a short-lived musical based on Wouk's novel, Don't Stop the Carnival. Broadway showed little interest in the play, ( post the failure of Paul Simon's The Capeman) and it only ran for six weeks in Miami. He released the soundtrack for the musical in 1998.

In August 2000 Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band played on the White House lawn for then President Bill Clinton.

In 2003, he partnered in a partial duet with Alan Jackson for the song "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," a number one hit on the country charts. This song won the 2003 Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year. This was Buffett’s first award of any kind for his music in his 30 year career.

Buffett's album, License to Chill, released on July 13, 2004, sold 238,600 copies in its first week of release according to Nielsen SoundScan. With this, Buffett topped the U.S. pop albums chart for the first time in his three-decade career.

Buffett continues to tour throughout the year although he has shifted recently to a more relaxed schedule of around 20–30 dates, and rarely on back-to-back nights, preferring to play only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, thus the title of his 1999 live album Buffett Live — Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. Purchasing tickets is difficult with most of his concerts selling out in minutes.

In the summer of 2005 Buffett teamed up with Sirius radio and introduced channel 31: Radio Margaritaville, and as of November 2008 is also on XM radio channel 55. Until this point Radio Margaritaville was solely an online channel. The channel broadcasts from the Margaritaville restaurant at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, Florida. The channel is still available online at RadioMargaritaville.com.

In August 2006, he released the album Take The Weather With You. The song "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On" on this album refers to 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Also on the album he pays tribute to Merle Haggard with his rendition of "Silver Wings" and covers, with Mark Knopfler playing on the track, "Whoop De Doo."

Of the over 30 albums Jimmy Buffett has released, as of October 2007, he has 8 Gold Albums and 9 Platinum or Multi Platinum Albums. In 2003 Buffett won his first ever Country Music Award (CMA) for his song "It's 5 O'clock Somewhere" with Alan Jackson, and was nominated again in 2007 for the CMA Event of the Year Award for his song "Hey Good Lookin" which featured Alan Jackson and George Strait.

On December 8, 2009, Jimmy Buffett released his 28th studio album entitled Buffet Hotel.
Writing
Jimmy Buffett at the Miami Book Fair International of 1989

Buffett has written three No. 1 best sellers. Tales from Margaritaville and Where Is Joe Merchant? both spent over seven months on the New York Times Best Seller fiction list. His book A Pirate Looks At Fifty went straight to No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller non-fiction list, making him one of seven authors in that list's history to have reached No. 1 on both the fiction and non-fiction lists. The other six authors who have accomplished this are Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Styron, Irving Wallace, Dr. Seuss and Mitch Albom.

Buffett also co-wrote two children's books, The Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls, with his eldest daughter, Savannah Jane Buffett. The original hard cover release of the The Jolly Mon included a cassette tape recording of him and Savannah Jane reading the story accompanied by an original score written by Michael Utley.

Buffett's novel A Salty Piece of Land, was released on November 30, 2004, and the first edition of the book included a CD single of the song "A Salty Piece Of Land", which was recorded for License to Chill. The book was a New York Times best seller soon after its release.

Buffett's latest title, Swine Not?, was released May 13, 2008.

Buffett is currently writing a follow-up to his autobiography A Pirate Looks At Fifty, which he says may take up to ten years to write and complete. s in Florida, Alabama and the Caribbean affected by the four major hurricanes that year.

Buffett performed in Hong Kong on January 18, 2008 for a concert that raised US$63,000 for the Foreign Correspondents' Club Charity Fund. This was his first concert in Hong Kong and it sold out within weeks. Not only did Buffett perform for free, but he also paid for the concertgoers' tequila and beer.

In addition, many Parrothead club activities are focused on charity work, although Buffett is not directly involved with them.
Controversy

The earliest controversy with Buffett was his recording of "God's Own Drunk" found on the album Living and Dying in ¾ Time. In 1983 the son of the late entertainer Lord Buckley sued Buffett for $11 million for copyright infringement claiming that Buffett took parts of the monologue from Buckley's A Tribute to Buckley and claimed it as his own work in "God's Own Drunk". The suit also alleged that Buffett's "blasphemous" rendition presented to the public a distorted impression of Lord Buckley. They got an injunction against Buffett which prevented him from performing the song until the lawsuit was settled or resolved. So, in 1986 when Buffett would get to the part of his show where he would normally perform "God's Own Drunk," he would say that he still isn't allowed to play it because of the lawsuit and instead played a song he wrote called "The Lawyer and the Asshole" in which he accuses Buckley's son and lawyers as being greedy and tells them to "kiss his ass."

On October 6, 2006, it was reported that Buffett had been detained by French custom officials in Saint Tropez for allegedly carrying over 100 pills of ecstasy. Buffett’s luggage was searched after his Dassault Falcon 900 private jet landed at Toulon-Hyères International Airport. He paid a fine of $300 and was released. A spokesperson for Buffett stated the pills in question were prescription drugs, but declined to name the drug or the health problem for which he was being treated. Buffett released a statement that the "ecstasy" was in fact, a Vitamin B supplement known as Foltx.

This was not the first time Buffett had been assumed to be carrying drugs. In January 1996 his Grumman HU-16 airplane nicknamed "Hemisphere Dancer" was shot at by Jamaican police who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana. The aircraft sustained minimal damage. On board the plane with Buffett were U2's Bono, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell, and co-pilot Bill Dindy. The Jamaican government acknowledged the mistake and apologized to Buffett who penned the song "Jamaica Mistaica" for his Banana Wind album based on the experience.

On February 4, 2001, he was ejected from the American Airlines Arena in Miami during a Miami Heat/New York Knicks basketball game for cursing. After the game, referee Joe Forte said that he ordered the singer moved during the fourth quarter because "there was a little boy sitting next to him and a lady sitting by him. He used some words he knows he shouldn't have used."

However, Forte apparently didn't know who he'd just removed from the arena. Heat coach Pat Riley tried to explain who Buffett was to Forte and was censured himself because the referee thought Riley was insulting him by asking if he'd ever been a "Parrothead," the nickname for Buffett fanatics.

Though Buffett didn't comment immediately after the incident, he did appear on The Today Show three days later and talked with Matt Lauer about the ejection.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/ande9837/Jimmy-Buffet.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/cliffainley/buffet.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 4:23 am

* Annie Lennox...Annie Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish musician and recording artist. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lennox showed aptitude in music when she was a child and later studied classical music at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She began her recording career as a member of the British pop band The Tourists, and subsequently formed the synth pop duo Eurythmics with former bandmate David A. Stewart. The duo gained international prominence over the course of the 1980s with singles such as "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".

In the 1990s, Lennox embarked on a solo career beginning with her debut Diva (1992), which produced the hit singles "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass". In 2004, she won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West", written for the original soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Following the release of her fourth studio album Songs of Mass Destruction (2007), Lennox released her first compilation album The Annie Lennox Collection in 2009.

In addition to her career as a musician, Lennox is also a political and social activist, leading such events as an anti-war rally in London on 3 January 2009 in response to the conflict in Gaza. She also objected to the unauthorised use of the 1999 Eurythmics song "I Saved the World Today" in an election broadcast for Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Known as a pop culture icon for her distinctive contralto vocals and visual performances, Lennox has been named "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine. She has earned the distinction of 'most successful female British artist in UK music history' due to her global commercial success since the early 1980s. Including her work within Eurythmics, Lennox is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 80 million records worldwide.
Between 1977 and 1980, Lennox was the lead singer of The Tourists, a moderately successful British pop band and her first collaboration with Dave Stewart. During the time they were in The Tourists, Stewart and Lennox were involved in a relationship, though this had ended by the time they formed Eurythmics.

Lennox and Stewart's second collaboration, the 1980s synthpop duo Eurythmics, resulted in her most notable fame, as the duo's alto, soul-tinged lead singer. Early in Eurythmics' career, Lennox was known for her androgyny, wearing suits and once impersonating Elvis Presley. Eurythmics released a long line of singles in the 1980s, including "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Here Comes the Rain Again","Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves", "Who's That Girl?", "Would I Lie to You?", "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", "Missionary Man", "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart", "Thorn in My Side", "The Miracle of Love" and "Don't Ask Me Why", among others. Though Eurythmics never officially disbanded, Lennox made a fairly clear break from Stewart in 1990. Thereafter, she began a long and equally-successful solo career.

Lennox and Stewart reconvened Eurythmics in the late 1990s with the album Peace, their first album of new material in ten years. A subsequent concert tour was completed, with profits going to Greenpeace. Lennox and Stewart later collaborated on two new pieces for their 2005 Eurythmics compilation album, Ultimate Collection, of which "I've Got a Life" was released as a single in October 2005. The promotional video for the song features Lennox and Stewart performing in the present day, with images of past Eurythmics videos playing on television screens behind them. Lennox also appears in a man's suit with a cane, reminiscent of her "Sweet Dreams" video image from 1983. The single peaked at number fourteen in the UK singles chart and was a number-one U.S. Dance hit.

Lennox has received eight BRIT Awards, the most of any female artist. Four of the awards were given during her time with Eurythmics, and another was given to the duo for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1999. The closest any other female artist has come to this record is Dido, with four awards.

From the beginning of her career, Lennox has experimented with her image - both as an artist and as a woman. She matured as a public figure in the late 20th century, just as MTV and the medium of video were becoming the obvious vehicles for selling contemporary popular music. She has managed her image astutely, both as a means of interpreting and marketing her music; this was most obviously (and expertly) emphasised in the music video for "Little Bird" in 1992, in which many Lennox lookalikes were featured...all dressed as her many different personae from past videos - both solo and Eurythmics eras.
Solo work
Early solo work

Though it was produced by Dave Stewart, the 1988 single with Al Green, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (a cover version of Jackie DeShannon's 1969 hit), was recorded for the soundtrack of the movie Scrooged. Credited to Lennox and Green, it therefore can be considered her first release outside a band identity. This one-off single peaked at #2 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, #9 US Hot 100 and was a top 40 hit in the UK. Lennox performed the song, "Everytime We Say Goodbye," a Cole Porter song, that same year for a cameo appearance in the Derek Jarman film Edward II. She then made a memorable appearance with David Bowie and the surviving members of Queen at 1992's Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at London's Wembley Stadium, performing "Under Pressure".
Diva (1992)
Ending her long association with Stephen Lipson, Lennox's fourth solo album, Songs of Mass Destruction, was recorded in Los Angeles, California, with veteran producer Glen Ballard (known for the production of Alanis Morissette's album, Jagged Little Pill). The album was mixed in Miami, Florida, by Grammy Award-winner Tom Lord-Alge. It was released on 1 October 2007, and is the last studio album of Lennox's contract with BMG. It peaked at #7 in the UK and #9 in the US. The album's first single was "Dark Road", released on 24 September 2007.

Lennox stated that she believed the album consisted of "twelve strong, powerful, really emotive songs that people can connect to." If she achieves that, she says, "I can feel proud of , no matter if it sells ten copies or 50 million."

Lennox described it as "a dark album, but the world is a dark place. It's fraught, it's turbulent. Most people's lives are underscored with dramas of all kinds: there's ups, there's downs - the flickering candle." She added, "Half the people are drinking or drugging themselves to numb it. A lot of people are in pain."

One song on the album, "Sing", is a collaboration between Lennox and 23 prominent female artists: Anastacia, Isobel Campbell, Dido, Céline Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Fergie, Beth Gibbons, Faith Hill, Angelique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Gladys Knight, k.d. lang, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Kelis, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall, and Martha Wainwright. Included among the group are TAC activist members own vocal group known as "The Generics", whose CD of music inspired Lennox to make "Sing".

To promote Songs of Mass Destruction, Lennox embarked on a primarily North American tour called "Annie Lennox Sings", which she announced on 13 September 2007. Lasting throughout October and November, 2007, the tour included 18 stops: San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boulder, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, New York City (two dates), Philadelphia, and Boston. The venues generally were at medium-size theatres, except in New York, where one of the dates was a United Nations fundraiser at midtown restaurant Cipriani. This was the third solo tour of Lennox's career, though she has yet to tour her home country as a solo artist.

Retailer Barnes & Noble has an exclusive version of the album which contains two bonus tracks: an acoustic version of "Dark Road" and a new song, "Don't Take Me Down." Barnes & Noble's version also contains a second disc with the music video of "Dark Road" and audio commentary by Lennox about each song on the album. Artist Carina Round accompanied Lennox on the tour as an opener, promoting her third album, Slow Motion Addict.
The Annie Lennox Collection (2009)

Finishing out her contract with Sony BMG, Lennox released the compilation album The Annie Lennox Collection. Initially intended for release in September 2008, the release date was pushed back several months to allow Lennox to recuperate from a back injury. The compilation was eventually released in the US on 17 February 2009, and in the UK and Europe on 9 March 2009. Included on the tracklisting are songs from her four solo albums, one from the Bram Stoker's Dracula soundtrack, and two new songs. One of these is a cover of Ash's single, "Shining Light", for which a music video has been produced and features Lennox playing all the parts of the band. The single became Lennox's first UK top 40 solo hit since 1995, peaking at #39. The other is a cover of a song by the English band Keane, originally the B-side of their first single in 2000. Lennox renamed the song from its original title "Closer Now" to "Pattern Of My Life". The track was released as the second single (download only), in the UK on 24 May 2009. A limited 3-disc edition of the album included a DVD compilation featuring most of Lennox's solo videos since 1992, and also features a second CD of rarer songs including a version of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" with Alicia Keys and Lennox's Oscar winning "Into the West" from the third Lord of the Rings film.

The album entered the UK album chart at #2 and remained in the top 10 for seven weeks. It is Lennox's fifth top 10 solo album and fourth Top 3 album. The collection debuted and subsequently peaked at #34 on the US Top 200 Billboard Album chart.
Departure from Sony BMG and future

Lennox's recording contract with Sony BMG concluded with the release of "Songs Of Mass Destruction" and her subsequent retrospective album "The Collection", and much was made in the press in late 2007/early 2008 about the apparent animosity between Lennox and the record company. Lennox stated that while on a trip to South Africa in December 2007 to appear at the 46664 campaign in Johannesburg, the regional company office of the label failed to return phone calls and e-mails she made to them for three weeks, and had completely failed to promote the Sing project as planned. Upon her return to the UK, Lennox met with the head of Sony BMG UK, Ged Docherty, who was "mortified" by the problems she had encountered with the South African branch. However the debacle (partly fuelled when Lennox's dissatisfaction with the South African office was made public on her blog) led to press reports falsely stating that she was being dropped by Sony BMG. The record company themselves quickly refuted the rumour stating that Lennox's contract had merely been fulfilled and that they hoped she would consider remaining with them. The British Daily Mirror newspaper subsequently printed a retraction of its story about her being dropped by the label.
Gay icon

Like many strong females in the public eye, Lennox has garnered a prominent following by members of the LGBT community. According to The Advocate, "er distinctive voice and provocative stage persona have made Lennox a longtime gay icon." With Eurythmics' music videos earning regular rotation on MTV in the early 1980s, Lennox took part in the shaping of popular culture alongside other gay icons such as Boy George, Madonna, Morrissey, and Michael Stipe.
AIDS activism

In 1990, Lennox recorded a version of Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" for the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue, a benefit for AIDS awareness. A video was also produced.

Her song 'Sing' was subsequently born out of Lennox's involvement with Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), both of which are human rights groups which seek education and health care for those affected by the HIV AIDS virus. Lennox established a 'Sing' website to promote her activities in support of AIDS awareness issues.

Lennox opened the 2009 Edinburgh Festival of Politics with a stinging attack on Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa. She said that the Pope’s denunciation of condoms on his recent tour of Africa had caused “tremendous harm” and she criticised the Roman Catholic Church for causing widespread confusion on the continent. Lennox also condemned the media’s obessesion with "celebrity culture" for keeping the AIDS pandemic off the front page. In an attempt to counter this, during her address, she wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "HIV positive". Lennox wore similar T-shirts at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, and again while appearing on The Graham Norton Show on 30 November 2009 (where she performed the new song "Full Steam", a duet with with singer David Gray).
Lennox has received a variety of major awards during her career:

American Music Awards

    * 2008 - AMA Award of Merit for her work and her humanitarian efforts

Academy Awards

    * 2004 - Best Original Song (for "Into The West")

Grammy Awards

    * 1984 - Best New Artist (Eurythmics) (nominated)
    * 1986 - Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (Eurythmics) for "Would I Lie to You?" (nominated)
    * 1987 - Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (Eurythmics) for "Missionary Man"
    * 1993 - Album Of The Year for Diva (nominated)
    * 1993 - Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Diva (nominated)
    * 1993 - Best Music Video - Long Form for Diva
    * 1996 - Best Pop Album for Medusa (nominated)
    * 1996 - Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "No More I Love You's"
    * 2004 - Best Pop Album for Bare (nominated)
    * 2005 - Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for "Into The West"

(dates listed above refer to year the awards ceremony was held; all recordings were released previous year to ceremony date)

BRIT Awards

    * 1984 - Best British Female Artist
    * 1986 - Best British Female Artist
    * 1989 - Best British Female Artist
    * 1990 - Best British Female Artist
    * 1993 - Best British Female Solo Artist
    * 1993 - Best British Album (for Diva)
    * 1996 - Best British Female Solo Artist
    * 1999 - Outstanding Contribution to British Music (Eurythmics)

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2004 - Best Original Song - Motion Picture (for "Into The West")

Honorary degrees

    * 2009 - Honorary Degree at the University of Edinburgh (awarded 20th October 2009), in recognition of her work on HIV/AIDS, and her success as a recorded artist.

Other Awards

    * 2002 - Billboard Century Award by Billboard

Other work

    * Lennox became patron of the Master's Course in Humanitarian and Development Practice for Oxford Brookes University, Oxford in 2006. A spokesperson said that the university was "delighted that as a long-term supporter of human rights and social justice campaigns Ms Lennox has agreed to act as patron for its unique MA programme."
    * Lennox has been an active humanitarian throughout her career. During 1999's "Peacetour" for the Eurythmics album Peace, she and Dave Stewart gave all their profits to Amnesty International and Greenpeace.
    * Annie Lennox supports the Burma Campaign UK, an NGO that addresses the suffering in Burma and promotes democratisation.
    * On 25 April 2007, Lennox performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" during the American Idol "Idol Gives Back" fundraising drive.
    * On 11 December the same year she performed on the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast to over 100 countries.
    * She performed at the 'Freddie Mercury Tribute' concert just after his death, singing 'Under Pressure' with David Bowie.
    * In September 2007, Lennox founded the SING Campaign, a global charity aimed at bringing attention and relief to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Inspired by a speech given in South Africa on the subject by Nelson Mandela, Lennox recorded a song and music video called "SING" to launch the effort.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s301/patwonnacott/annie_lennox.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/rebel-woman/annie-lennox-012.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/25/09 at 4:36 am

Wonderful Bios & photos, Ninny. You've outdone yourself again. Thanks for posting and Merry Christmas!!!! :) :) :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/25/09 at 6:56 am


* Annie Lennox...Annie Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish musician and recording artist. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lennox showed aptitude in music when she was a child and later studied classical music at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She began her recording career as a member of the British pop band The Tourists, and subsequently formed the synth pop duo Eurythmics with former bandmate David A. Stewart. The duo gained international prominence over the course of the 1980s with singles such as "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".

In the 1990s, Lennox embarked on a solo career beginning with her debut Diva (1992), which produced the hit singles "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass". In 2004, she won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West", written for the original soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Following the release of her fourth studio album Songs of Mass Destruction (2007), Lennox released her first compilation album The Annie Lennox Collection in 2009.

In addition to her career as a musician, Lennox is also a political and social activist, leading such events as an anti-war rally in London on 3 January 2009 in response to the conflict in Gaza. She also objected to the unauthorised use of the 1999 Eurythmics song "I Saved the World Today" in an election broadcast for Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Known as a pop culture icon for her distinctive contralto vocals and visual performances, Lennox has been named "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine. She has earned the distinction of 'most successful female British artist in UK music history' due to her global commercial success since the early 1980s. Including her work within Eurythmics, Lennox is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 80 million records worldwide.
Between 1977 and 1980, Lennox was the lead singer of The Tourists, a moderately successful British pop band and her first collaboration with Dave Stewart. During the time they were in The Tourists, Stewart and Lennox were involved in a relationship, though this had ended by the time they formed Eurythmics.

Lennox and Stewart's second collaboration, the 1980s synthpop duo Eurythmics, resulted in her most notable fame, as the duo's alto, soul-tinged lead singer. Early in Eurythmics' career, Lennox was known for her androgyny, wearing suits and once impersonating Elvis Presley. Eurythmics released a long line of singles in the 1980s, including "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Here Comes the Rain Again","Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves", "Who's That Girl?", "Would I Lie to You?", "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", "Missionary Man", "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart", "Thorn in My Side", "The Miracle of Love" and "Don't Ask Me Why", among others. Though Eurythmics never officially disbanded, Lennox made a fairly clear break from Stewart in 1990. Thereafter, she began a long and equally-successful solo career.

Lennox and Stewart reconvened Eurythmics in the late 1990s with the album Peace, their first album of new material in ten years. A subsequent concert tour was completed, with profits going to Greenpeace. Lennox and Stewart later collaborated on two new pieces for their 2005 Eurythmics compilation album, Ultimate Collection, of which "I've Got a Life" was released as a single in October 2005. The promotional video for the song features Lennox and Stewart performing in the present day, with images of past Eurythmics videos playing on television screens behind them. Lennox also appears in a man's suit with a cane, reminiscent of her "Sweet Dreams" video image from 1983. The single peaked at number fourteen in the UK singles chart and was a number-one U.S. Dance hit.

Lennox has received eight BRIT Awards, the most of any female artist. Four of the awards were given during her time with Eurythmics, and another was given to the duo for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1999. The closest any other female artist has come to this record is Dido, with four awards.

From the beginning of her career, Lennox has experimented with her image - both as an artist and as a woman. She matured as a public figure in the late 20th century, just as MTV and the medium of video were becoming the obvious vehicles for selling contemporary popular music. She has managed her image astutely, both as a means of interpreting and marketing her music; this was most obviously (and expertly) emphasised in the music video for "Little Bird" in 1992, in which many Lennox lookalikes were featured...all dressed as her many different personae from past videos - both solo and Eurythmics eras.
Solo work
Early solo work

Though it was produced by Dave Stewart, the 1988 single with Al Green, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (a cover version of Jackie DeShannon's 1969 hit), was recorded for the soundtrack of the movie Scrooged. Credited to Lennox and Green, it therefore can be considered her first release outside a band identity. This one-off single peaked at #2 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, #9 US Hot 100 and was a top 40 hit in the UK. Lennox performed the song, "Everytime We Say Goodbye," a Cole Porter song, that same year for a cameo appearance in the Derek Jarman film Edward II. She then made a memorable appearance with David Bowie and the surviving members of Queen at 1992's Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at London's Wembley Stadium, performing "Under Pressure".
Diva (1992)
Ending her long association with Stephen Lipson, Lennox's fourth solo album, Songs of Mass Destruction, was recorded in Los Angeles, California, with veteran producer Glen Ballard (known for the production of Alanis Morissette's album, Jagged Little Pill). The album was mixed in Miami, Florida, by Grammy Award-winner Tom Lord-Alge. It was released on 1 October 2007, and is the last studio album of Lennox's contract with BMG. It peaked at #7 in the UK and #9 in the US. The album's first single was "Dark Road", released on 24 September 2007.

Lennox stated that she believed the album consisted of "twelve strong, powerful, really emotive songs that people can connect to." If she achieves that, she says, "I can feel proud of , no matter if it sells ten copies or 50 million."

Lennox described it as "a dark album, but the world is a dark place. It's fraught, it's turbulent. Most people's lives are underscored with dramas of all kinds: there's ups, there's downs - the flickering candle." She added, "Half the people are drinking or drugging themselves to numb it. A lot of people are in pain."

One song on the album, "Sing", is a collaboration between Lennox and 23 prominent female artists: Anastacia, Isobel Campbell, Dido, Céline Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Fergie, Beth Gibbons, Faith Hill, Angelique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Gladys Knight, k.d. lang, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Kelis, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall, and Martha Wainwright. Included among the group are TAC activist members own vocal group known as "The Generics", whose CD of music inspired Lennox to make "Sing".

To promote Songs of Mass Destruction, Lennox embarked on a primarily North American tour called "Annie Lennox Sings", which she announced on 13 September 2007. Lasting throughout October and November, 2007, the tour included 18 stops: San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boulder, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, New York City (two dates), Philadelphia, and Boston. The venues generally were at medium-size theatres, except in New York, where one of the dates was a United Nations fundraiser at midtown restaurant Cipriani. This was the third solo tour of Lennox's career, though she has yet to tour her home country as a solo artist.

Retailer Barnes & Noble has an exclusive version of the album which contains two bonus tracks: an acoustic version of "Dark Road" and a new song, "Don't Take Me Down." Barnes & Noble's version also contains a second disc with the music video of "Dark Road" and audio commentary by Lennox about each song on the album. Artist Carina Round accompanied Lennox on the tour as an opener, promoting her third album, Slow Motion Addict.
The Annie Lennox Collection (2009)

Finishing out her contract with Sony BMG, Lennox released the compilation album The Annie Lennox Collection. Initially intended for release in September 2008, the release date was pushed back several months to allow Lennox to recuperate from a back injury. The compilation was eventually released in the US on 17 February 2009, and in the UK and Europe on 9 March 2009. Included on the tracklisting are songs from her four solo albums, one from the Bram Stoker's Dracula soundtrack, and two new songs. One of these is a cover of Ash's single, "Shining Light", for which a music video has been produced and features Lennox playing all the parts of the band. The single became Lennox's first UK top 40 solo hit since 1995, peaking at #39. The other is a cover of a song by the English band Keane, originally the B-side of their first single in 2000. Lennox renamed the song from its original title "Closer Now" to "Pattern Of My Life". The track was released as the second single (download only), in the UK on 24 May 2009. A limited 3-disc edition of the album included a DVD compilation featuring most of Lennox's solo videos since 1992, and also features a second CD of rarer songs including a version of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" with Alicia Keys and Lennox's Oscar winning "Into the West" from the third Lord of the Rings film.

The album entered the UK album chart at #2 and remained in the top 10 for seven weeks. It is Lennox's fifth top 10 solo album and fourth Top 3 album. The collection debuted and subsequently peaked at #34 on the US Top 200 Billboard Album chart.
Departure from Sony BMG and future

Lennox's recording contract with Sony BMG concluded with the release of "Songs Of Mass Destruction" and her subsequent retrospective album "The Collection", and much was made in the press in late 2007/early 2008 about the apparent animosity between Lennox and the record company. Lennox stated that while on a trip to South Africa in December 2007 to appear at the 46664 campaign in Johannesburg, the regional company office of the label failed to return phone calls and e-mails she made to them for three weeks, and had completely failed to promote the Sing project as planned. Upon her return to the UK, Lennox met with the head of Sony BMG UK, Ged Docherty, who was "mortified" by the problems she had encountered with the South African branch. However the debacle (partly fuelled when Lennox's dissatisfaction with the South African office was made public on her blog) led to press reports falsely stating that she was being dropped by Sony BMG. The record company themselves quickly refuted the rumour stating that Lennox's contract had merely been fulfilled and that they hoped she would consider remaining with them. The British Daily Mirror newspaper subsequently printed a retraction of its story about her being dropped by the label.
Gay icon

Like many strong females in the public eye, Lennox has garnered a prominent following by members of the LGBT community. According to The Advocate, "er distinctive voice and provocative stage persona have made Lennox a longtime gay icon." With Eurythmics' music videos earning regular rotation on MTV in the early 1980s, Lennox took part in the shaping of popular culture alongside other gay icons such as Boy George, Madonna, Morrissey, and Michael Stipe.
AIDS activism

In 1990, Lennox recorded a version of Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" for the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue, a benefit for AIDS awareness. A video was also produced.

Her song 'Sing' was subsequently born out of Lennox's involvement with Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), both of which are human rights groups which seek education and health care for those affected by the HIV AIDS virus. Lennox established a 'Sing' website to promote her activities in support of AIDS awareness issues.

Lennox opened the 2009 Edinburgh Festival of Politics with a stinging attack on Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa. She said that the Pope’s denunciation of condoms on his recent tour of Africa had caused “tremendous harm” and she criticised the Roman Catholic Church for causing widespread confusion on the continent. Lennox also condemned the media’s obessesion with "celebrity culture" for keeping the AIDS pandemic off the front page. In an attempt to counter this, during her address, she wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "HIV positive". Lennox wore similar T-shirts at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, and again while appearing on The Graham Norton Show on 30 November 2009 (where she performed the new song "Full Steam", a duet with with singer David Gray).
Lennox has received a variety of major awards during her career:

American Music Awards

   * 2008 - AMA Award of Merit for her work and her humanitarian efforts

Academy Awards

   * 2004 - Best Original Song (for "Into The West")

Grammy Awards

   * 1984 - Best New Artist (Eurythmics) (nominated)
   * 1986 - Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (Eurythmics) for "Would I Lie to You?" (nominated)
   * 1987 - Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (Eurythmics) for "Missionary Man"
   * 1993 - Album Of The Year for Diva (nominated)
   * 1993 - Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Diva (nominated)
   * 1993 - Best Music Video - Long Form for Diva
   * 1996 - Best Pop Album for Medusa (nominated)
   * 1996 - Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "No More I Love You's"
   * 2004 - Best Pop Album for Bare (nominated)
   * 2005 - Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for "Into The West"

(dates listed above refer to year the awards ceremony was held; all recordings were released previous year to ceremony date)

BRIT Awards

   * 1984 - Best British Female Artist
   * 1986 - Best British Female Artist
   * 1989 - Best British Female Artist
   * 1990 - Best British Female Artist
   * 1993 - Best British Female Solo Artist
   * 1993 - Best British Album (for Diva)
   * 1996 - Best British Female Solo Artist
   * 1999 - Outstanding Contribution to British Music (Eurythmics)

Golden Globe Awards

   * 2004 - Best Original Song - Motion Picture (for "Into The West")

Honorary degrees

   * 2009 - Honorary Degree at the University of Edinburgh (awarded 20th October 2009), in recognition of her work on HIV/AIDS, and her success as a recorded artist.

Other Awards

   * 2002 - Billboard Century Award by Billboard

Other work

   * Lennox became patron of the Master's Course in Humanitarian and Development Practice for Oxford Brookes University, Oxford in 2006. A spokesperson said that the university was "delighted that as a long-term supporter of human rights and social justice campaigns Ms Lennox has agreed to act as patron for its unique MA programme."
   * Lennox has been an active humanitarian throughout her career. During 1999's "Peacetour" for the Eurythmics album Peace, she and Dave Stewart gave all their profits to Amnesty International and Greenpeace.
   * Annie Lennox supports the Burma Campaign UK, an NGO that addresses the suffering in Burma and promotes democratisation.
   * On 25 April 2007, Lennox performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" during the American Idol "Idol Gives Back" fundraising drive.
   * On 11 December the same year she performed on the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast to over 100 countries.
   * She performed at the 'Freddie Mercury Tribute' concert just after his death, singing 'Under Pressure' with David Bowie.
   * In September 2007, Lennox founded the SING Campaign, a global charity aimed at bringing attention and relief to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Inspired by a speech given in South Africa on the subject by Nelson Mandela, Lennox recorded a song and music video called "SING" to launch the effort.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s301/patwonnacott/annie_lennox.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/rebel-woman/annie-lennox-012.jpg


I remember Annie Lennox with that wild orange hair she had in the 80's.http://astrologyexpressed.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/al.jpg  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 2:03 pm


Wonderful Bios & photos, Ninny. You've outdone yourself again. Thanks for posting and Merry Christmas!!!! :) :) :)

Your Welcome..Merry Christmas :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 2:04 pm


I remember Annie Lennox with that wild orange hair she had in the 80's.http://astrologyexpressed.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/al.jpg  :o

Oh yes the orange hair,I remember it well ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/25/09 at 3:15 pm

If that wasn't 80's I don't know what was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/25/09 at 4:44 pm

Merry Christmas Janine (and all)... :)

Annie Lennox (and The Eurythmics) were one of my favourite band's in the 80's....I just love her voice!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/25/09 at 4:47 pm


Merry Christmas Janine (and all)... :)

Annie Lennox (and The Eurythmics) were one of my favourite band's in the 80's....I just love her voice!

Yup, great band

If that wasn't 80's I don't know what was.

Howard, this is one of your best posts ever. You got that right!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/09 at 5:00 pm


Merry Christmas Janine (and all)... :)

Annie Lennox (and The Eurythmics) were one of my favourite band's in the 80's....I just love her voice!

Merry Christmas..Annie has a great voice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 3:49 am

The word or phrase of the day...Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank and public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Greenland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Nigeria and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population. In South Africa this public holiday is now known as the Day of Goodwill. Though it is not an official holiday in the United States, the name "Boxing Day" for the day after Christmas has some currency among Americans, particularly those that live near the Canada – United States border.The name derives from the tradition of giving seasonal gifts, on the day after Christmas, to less wealthy people and social inferiors, which was later extended to various workpeople such as labourers and servants.

The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day has long included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, the needy and people in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era.

In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their 'Christmas boxes' or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas.

The establishment of Boxing Day as a defined public Holiday under the legislation that created the UK's Bank Holidays started the separation of 'Boxing Day' from the 'Feast of St Stephen' and today it is almost entirely a secular holiday with a tradition of shopping and post Christmas sales starting.
Public holiday

Boxing Day is traditionally celebrated on 26 December, St. Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas Day. Unlike St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day is a secular holiday but is always on 26 December: the public holiday is generally moved to the following Monday if 26 December is a Saturday. If 25 December is a Saturday or Sunday then both the Monday and Tuesday may be public holidays. However, the date of observance of Boxing Day varies between countries.

In Ireland—when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland—the UK's Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the feast day of St Stephen as a non-moveable public holiday on 26 December. Since Partition, the name "Boxing Day" is used only by the authorities in Northern Ireland (which remained part of the United Kingdom). There, Boxing Day is a moveable public holiday in line with the rest of the United Kingdom.

The Banking and Financial Dealings Act of 1971 established "Boxing Day" as a public holiday in Scotland. In the Australian state of South Australia, 26 December is a public holiday known as Proclamation Day
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk59/donnad402/St_20Stephen-Boxing20Day.gif
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr357/_Fantastic_Photos_/Postcards/boxing.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff119/florence1012/Boxing%20Day/bba5.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/honkhonk99/darkjedi/webhunt_winter2007/boxingday.jpg

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r158/Ukulare/BoxingDay.gif
http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq229/Supercodhead/west3.jpg
http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l406/CentralStationWrexham/BOXINGDAYweb.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh161/Jfeln/BoxingDay1966.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 3:54 am

The birthday of the day...John Walsh
John Walsh (born December 26, 1945) is the host of the TV show America's Most Wanted. Walsh is known for his anti-crime activism, which he became involved with following the murder of his son, Adam, in 1981. Twenty-seven years later on December 16, 2008, the now deceased serial killer Ottis Toole was named as the killer of Walsh's son...In the summer of 1979, Walsh was a partner in a hotel management company in Hollywood, Florida. He and his wife, Revé, had a six-year-old son, Adam. On July 27, 1981, Adam was abducted from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall, across from the Hollywood Police station. Revé had dropped Adam off in the Sears toy department while she looked for a lamp. When she returned about 7 minutes later, Adam was missing. Police records in Adam's case released in 1996 show that a 17-year-old security guard asked four boys to leave the department store. Adam is believed to have been one of them. Sixteen days after the abduction, his severed head was found in a drainage canal more than 120 miles away from home. His other remains were never recovered.

Many names had been mentioned in connection to the case in the nearly three decades since the murder, but that of serial killer Ottis Toole most persistently nagged detectives. John Walsh had long said he believed that Toole, a drifter, was responsible for the crime, saying investigators found a pair of green shorts and a sandal similar to what Adam was wearing at Toole's home in Jacksonville, Florida. In January 2007, deceased serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer fell under suspicion for the murder of Adam. This speculation was discounted by Walsh in an America's Most Wanted statement on February 6, 2007.

The Walsh family soon began a campaign to help missing and exploited children. Despite bureaucratic and legislative problems, John and Revé's efforts eventually led to the creation of the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984.

The prime suspect in Adam's abduction and murder, Toole, who died in prison in 1996 while serving a life sentence for other crimes, was officially identified as the killer on December 16, 2008 by the Hollywood Police Department, and the case was considered closed. Over the years, Toole had twice confessed to the killing, but both times he later recanted his admissions. In addition to the Walsh murder, Toole had claimed responsibility for hundreds of other murders, but police determined that most of these confessions were lies. John Walsh was told by Toole's niece that her uncle confessed on his deathbed in prison that he killed Adam.
Aftermath

Following the crime, the Walsh family founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to legislative reform. The centers, originally located in West Palm Beach, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; Orange County, California; and Rochester, New York; merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where John Walsh serves on the Board of Directors.

Today, Walsh continues to testify before Congress and state legislatures on crime, missing children and victims' rights issues. His latest efforts include lobbying for a Constitutional amendment for victims' rights.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (Pub.L. 109-248) was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006 following a two-year journey through the United States Congress and was intensely lobbied for by Walsh and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Primarily, it focuses on a national sex offender registry, tough penalties for not registering as a sex offender following release into society, and access by citizens to state websites that track sex offenders.

By the late 1980s, many malls, department stores, supermarkets, and other such retailers have adopted what is known as a "Code Adam," a movement first made by Wal Mart stores in the southeastern United States. A "Code Adam" is announced when a child is missing in a store or if a child is found by a store employee or patron. If the child is lost or missing, all doors are to be locked and a store employee is posted at every exit, while a description of the child is generally broadcast over the intercom system. "Code Adam" as a term has become synonymous with a missing child, and is a predecessor to an "Amber Alert," which serves as a system of broadcast-driven community notification.
Career in television

John and Revé Walsh were portrayed by actors Daniel J. Travanti and JoBeth Williams in Adam, a 1983 NBC television movie dramatizing the days following Adam's disappearance. The real Walshs appeared at the end of the broadcast to publicize photographs of other children who had vanished but were still missing. Later, a sequel called Adam: His Song Continues was produced and aired.
John Walsh presents a fugitive on America's Most Wanted

Walsh has also been the host of the FOX television show America's Most Wanted since 1988. He was selected as host after the completion of the program's pilot and a lengthy search. By that time, Walsh was already well known because of the murder of his son and his subsequent actions to help missing and exploited children. Walsh continues to host the show, which is now the longest-running show of any kind in FOX history and has contributed to the capture of more than 1,000 fugitives.

Walsh was host of The John Walsh Show, a daily daytime talk show which aired in syndication (mostly on NBC stations, as NBC produced the series) from 2002 to 2004.

In July 2005, Walsh attempted to assist the family of missing teen Natalee Holloway. Walsh was critical of the Aruban crime investigation and, along with television personality Dr. Phil, urged Americans to boycott Aruba. Walsh was a special guest on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that aired on August 14, 2005. The episode visited the home of Colleen Nick, who is the parent of Morgan Nick (disappeared in 1995, still missing). Walsh has featured the Morgan Nick case on America's Most Wanted several times.
Family

After the murder of Adam, the Walshes had three more children: Meghan, Callahan, and Hayden.

Meghan was born a year after Adam was murdered. Revé Walsh told local newspapers at the time that "there is no substitute for Adam." She also said "Meghan will make me miss Adam more. He always wanted a sister." Meghan is currently an artist and resides in New York City.

Callahan was born in 1985, and is currently attending college in Florida, majoring in business, and is involved in music projects. He has considered following in his father's footsteps in television broadcasting and as a political advocate for children.

Hayden (born 1995) is the youngest child. He attends school and somtimes accompanies his father when filming TV shows, including America's Most Wanted. On the July 27, 2006 show of Larry King Live, Larry King said that Hayden resembled Adam.
Tributes

In 2002, rapper Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony wrote a song for the show (AMW) and dedicated it to Adam and John Walsh, encouraging abduction survivors not to keep their abductions a secret, as Bizzy Bone did after being abducted in the early 1980s.

On August 16, 2006, John Walsh's hometown of Auburn, New York named a street after him.

In 2005, John Walsh appeared as himself in Outsiders #18 (January 2005), a comic book series published by DC Comics. In the story, written by Judd Winick, Walsh aided the eponymous superhero team in going public on America's Most Wanted with information regarding a child slave trader, which eventually led to a solid lead gained from the tips that poured in.

For a few years in the early 1990s, due to his presence on the Fox network, Walsh also appeared on their Saturday morning educational kids segments, Totally For Kids. Walsh would appear with the segments' usual roster of child actors to help illustrate scenarios in which children could often be in danger, and the solutions they could seek. Subjects ranged from encounters with strangers to child abuse. Most installments Walsh appeared in culminated with reminder to dial 911 in an emergency, showing a kid dressed up in a phone costume.

A punk rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, named itself "John Walsh" in order to spread a positive message to teens. With lyrics such as "the speeding criminal is the coward," and "Don't spend the years being hurt / Don't spend your life loving jerks," they tackle themes from domestic violence to drunk driving.

In October 2008, John Walsh was awarded the Operation Kids 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award. for his dedication to protecting children and to raise funds for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which Walsh co-founded with his wife.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/Cherrychica2991015/johnwalsh.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd126/furiousgeorge55/johnwalsh.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc173/Chalzbunz/Stacymicspics013.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n246/hypnoticmlmer/web%20icons/johnwalshblack.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 3:57 am

The co-birthday of the day...Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich (born December 26, 1963) is a Danish drummer best known as one of the founders of American heavy metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis prodigy in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age seventeen to pursue his training, but instead of playing tennis, he ended up as a drummer. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper called The Recycler, he met James Hetfield and formed Metallica..Lars' father, Torben Ulrich, who was an acclaimed tennis pro from the late 1940s into the early 1980s, was also a musician, playing jazz with giants such as Stan Getz and Miles Davis; legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich's godfather. In February 1973, Torben Ulrich obtained five passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends could not go, their ticket was handed over to the nine year-old Lars. The young Ulrich found himself mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's Fireball album the very next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring his entrance into the world of rock and roll and later on, heavy metal. As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit from his grandmother at the age of twelve, a Ludwig. Lars' original goal and reason for moving to America was to play tennis, but the plan was later changed when he formed Metallica.

Later on in life, in 1981, Lars discovered a British heavy metal band called Diamond Head. He was so excited about their style of music after getting hold of their 1980 debut Lightning to the Nations that he traveled all the way from San Francisco to London in order to see the band perform live at the Woolwich Odeon. However, the young Lars had not planned the trip out particularly well and was left without anywhere to stay after the gig. Still, he managed to meet the band backstage and explain the lengths he had taken to see them. The band warmed to him and lead guitarist Brian Tatler let him stay with him in Birmingham, where Lars spent the next few weeks touring with the band. Lars still remains a big fan of the band and even helped mix their Best Of album.
Lars spitting water on his fans during a show in London, 15 September 2008.

In the same year Lars met James Hetfield in Downey, California and formed the thrash metal band Metallica. He got the name "Metallica" from a friend, Ron Quintana, who was thinking up names for a heavy metal magazine he was starting up, and Metallica was one of the options, the other being "Metal Mania". Lars encouraged him to pick Metal Mania, and kept the name Metallica for himself. He became known as a pioneer of fast thrash drum beats, featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "Metal Militia" from Kill 'Em All, "Fight Fire With Fire" from Ride the Lightning, "Battery" from Master of Puppets and "Dyers Eve" from ...And Justice for All. He has since been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band, as well as his limited drum techniques, such as the double bass in the song "One" (...And Justice for All) and the opening of "Enter Sandman" (Metallica / "The Black Album"). Since the release of Metallica, Ulrich adopted a more focused and precise style of drumming, and reduced his kit from a 9-piece to a 7-piece.
Personal life

Ulrich has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1988 to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met on tour, but they were divorced in 1990 because of Ulrich's constant absence while touring and recording The Black Album. His second marriage was to Skylar Satenstein, an emergency medicine physician, from 1997 to 2004. They had two sons, Myles (b. August 5, 1998) and Layne (b. May 6, 2001). Satenstein was the inspiration for "Skylar", the love interest for Will Hunting (Matt Damon) in the movie Good Will Hunting, as Satenstein and Damon dated during college. Ulrich and Satenstein divorced in March 2004.

Ulrich has dated Danish actress Connie Nielsen since late 2003, early 2004 and the couple had their first child, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, born in San Francisco on May 21, 2007. Nielsen also has another son named Sebastian (b. 1990).

Ulrich is a noted collector of art. His father, Torben, was also very fond of art and paintings, so Ulrich grew up surrounded by art and music, and both have always been a part of his life. After founding Metallica, he began visiting museums and art galleries during the band's long periods on the road. In an interview from 2002 Ulrich said: "I felt I could lose myself in art and get away from the music world. It became this great hiding place."

In 2008, in an interview with Stereo Warning, he said: "We had art all over the house when I was growing up. It's been a passion of mine for 20-25 years. It's one area where I can go and be myself. It's not about being in Metallica or being the drummer in a rock band. I'm accepted for who I am in the art circles. I love going into artist spaces and galleries and auction houses. It's great because it has absolutely nothing to do with Metallica. It's my place of sanctuary."

When he and the rest of Metallica were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Ulrich was the first Danish person to receive the honor.
In popular culture

Ulrich's involvement in the conflict with Napster was parodied in "Christian Rock Hard", an episode of the satirical animated TV series South Park. In the episode, the children are taught not to download illegally because multi-millionaires like Ulrich now have to wait a little longer to buy extravagant things (also, when Kyle has his "weekly epiphany" and proclaims that bands should be about music, the artists react with "we're just about the money," with Ulrich nodding). Other such references can be found in the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Don't Download This Song" and the MC Lars song "Hurricane Fresh".

Lars made a brief appearance on the Linkin Park live DVD, Live in Texas, dressed up as a green-fisted bunny man during their performance of "From the Inside".

Lars is featured, along with the other Metallica members, in the film The Darwin Awards. He portrays himself at a concert when two of the film's characters are involved in a freak accident as the band performs on stage.

Lars also appears with his band Metallica in the Simpsons episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer".

Lars also made an appearance on the television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Lars made an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show on April 27, 2009.

Lars made an appearance on the Iron Maiden film Flight 666.

Lars made an appearance in the film Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

Lars made an appearance on the Sam Dunn film Global Metal.

Lars is said to be the greatest metal drummer of all time by "Dr. Gregory House" in the episode "Known Unknowns".

Lars has also been announced to have a cameo in Guns N' Roses' new video "Better", which is yet to be released.
Equipment

Ulrich endorses Tama Drums (where he is one of the few endorsees to have a full signature drum kit), Zildjian Cymbals and Remo Drumheads. He is rarely, if ever, seen without these brands onstage. He has, however, been known to use a mixture of brands when recording in the studio, including Ludwig Drums, Gretsch Drums and Sabian Cymbals. Ulrich was an endorser of Calato Regal Tip drumsticks, but changed to Easton Ahead in 1994. Tama Drums has produced two Lars Ulrich Signature Snare drums, one with a steel shell (with diamond plate-like finish) and another made out of bell brass which currently is Tama's most expensive snare drum on the regular catalogue. Both snare drums measure 14x6.5".
Current tour kit (2008–2009)

    * Drums – Tama Starclassic Maple, LU Magnetic Orange
          o 10"×8" Tom
          o 12"×10" Tom
          o 16"×14" Floor Tom
          o 16"×16" Floor Tom
          o 22"×16" Bass Drum (×2)
          o 14"×6.5" Lars Ulrich Signature Snare Drum
                + Note: Ulrich uses the standard Lars Ulrich Signature LU1465 snare live on tour (diamond plate), while he uses both the LU1465 and LU1465BB (bell brass) in the studio, depending on what type of sound he wants.

    * Cymbals – Zildjian
          o 14" Z Custom Dyno Beat Hi-Hats
          o 19" A Custom Projection Crash
          o 18" A Custom Projection Crash (×2)
          o 17" A Custom Projection Crash
          o 18" Oriental China Trash
          o 20" Oriental China Trash
                + Note: Ulrich will occasionally use a 20" A Custom Ping Ride when playing live.

    * Drumheads - Remo
          o Toms — Coated Emperor | Clear Ambassador
          o Bass — Clear Powerstroke 3 | Ebony Powerstroke 3
          o Snare — Coated Controlled Sound (black dot on reverse) | Clear Hazy Ambassador

    * Hardware - Tama and Drum Workshop
          o Tama IronCobra Power-Glide Single Pedal (×2)
          o Tama IronCobra Lever-Glide Hi-Hat Stand
          o Tama Roadpro Cymbal Stand w/Counterweight (×3)
          o Tama Roadpro Cymbal Stand (×2)
          o Tama Roadpro Double Tom Stand
          o Tama Roadpro Snare Stand
          o Tama Cymbal Holder (×2)
          o Tama Multi-Clamp (×2)
          o Tama Hi-Hat Attachment
          o Tama Ergo-Rider Drum Throne
          o DW Drop-Lock Hi-Hat Clutch

    * Other
          o Ahead Lars Ulrich Signature 16-1/4" length, .595" diameter

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/CodeAires/Metallica/Lars%20Ulrich/10.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/CodeAires/Metallica/Lars%20Ulrich/14.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 4:00 am

* Jared Leto..Jared Leto (born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. He has appeared in films such as Fight Club, Girl, Interrupted, Panic Room, American Psycho, Requiem for a Dream, and Chapter 27. He is lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main-songwriter for the American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music, but also accepted some part-time acting roles. Two years later, he landed a role in the TV show My So-Called Life in which he played Jordan Catalano, opposite Claire Danes. After the show ended in 1995, Leto acted in several films such as How to Make an American Quilt, Girl, Interrupted, Urban Legend, The Thin Red Line, Prefontaine and Fight Club.

However, it was his portrayal of heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream in the year 2000, that garnered him more critical praise. The same year he portrayed a misfortuned yuppie colleague of Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman, in Mary Harron's American Psycho. After that, he returned with David Fincher for Panic Room, then teamed up with Jake Gyllenhaal in Highway in 2002, then acted opposite Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone's Alexander, and later with Nicolas Cage in Lord of War.

Leto is a vegan and especially mentions this in interviews where he talked about his increase of weight for the film Chapter 27 (starring alongside Lindsay Lohan) in which he plays John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman. He gained more than 60 pounds for this role.

He is set to star in the film Mr. Nobody playing the role of the eponymous Nemo Nobody. The film is set to be released in 2010.
Music
Main article: 30 Seconds to Mars

Aside from his film career, Jared Leto is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and sole songwriter of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. He started the band in 1998 with his brother, Shannon Leto, who is the band's drummer. The band has released three full-length albums: the eponymous debut 30 Seconds to Mars, 2005's A Beautiful Lie and 2009's This Is War. They began opening for other bands and started their first headlining tour, Forever Night Never Day, in March 2006. In May 2007, the band started touring Europe as the opening act for Linkin Park. In August 2008, Virgin Records filed a $30 million lawsuit against Jared and 30 Seconds to Mars, claiming the band refused to deliver three albums as required by its contract. According to the lawsuit, the band "repudiated" a 1999 contract in July. In late April 2009 the lawsuit with EMI was annulled and 30 Seconds To Mars decided to re-sign with Virgin Records. Their third album This Is War was released on December 8, 2009, while the first single, "Kings and Queens" premiered Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

Leto directed the videos for the songs "The Kill", "From Yesterday" and "Kings & Queens" under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins , and "A Beautiful Lie" under the alias of Angakok Panipaq.

For most shows, Leto uses either one of two custom-made Steve McSwain guitars, a white one called "Pythagoras" or a black one called "Artemis". The guitars: one a baritone and the other with a 25 1/2" scale length, have the image of a gryphon which he drew for McSwain. Occasionally he plays a white Gibson SG 61' Reissue as seen in the video for "A Beautiful Lie". Jared also plays a Gibson Maestro acoustic guitar for acoustic performances. Jared uses Mesa/Boogie amps, more specifically the Triple Rectifier model and matches them with Mesa/Boogie speaker cabinets as well.

Leto has cited how the De Havilland Law from decades ago was instrumental in resolving the band’s contract issues and how Olivia de Havilland, the Gone With the Wind actress, helped in a roundabout way.

Recently, the band collaborated with rapper Kanye West on the song Hurricane from their latest album This Is War.
   * Leto got the award for "Prince of Darkness" at the Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. (Aired October 28, 2006).
   * Leto received an award for Breakthrough Crossover Artist given at the 6th Annual Hollywood Life Awards held in December 2006.

Filmography
Year Movie Character Notes
1994 My So-Called Life Jordan Catalano TV show Brother Shannon Leto also has a minor role in some episodes
Cool and the Crazy Michael
1995 How to Make an American Quilt Beck
1996 The Last of the High Kings (Summer Fling) Frankie Griffin Learned to speak with Irish accent
1997 Prefontaine Steve Prefontaine
Switchback Lane Dixon
1998 Basil Basil
Urban Legend Paul Gardener
The Thin Red Line Second Lieutenant Whyte
1999 Black and White Casey
Fight Club Angelface Had platinum Blonde hair for role
Girl, Interrupted Tobias "Toby" Jacobs
2000 American Psycho Paul Allen
Sunset Strip Glen Walker
Requiem for a Dream Harry Goldfarb Lost 28 pounds for this role.
2002 Panic Room Junior
Highway Jack Hayes Brother Shannon Leto has a role in this movie as well
2003 Phone Booth Actor uncredited cameo
2004 Alexander Hephaestion
2005 Lord of War Vitaly Orlov Learned Russian for this role.
2006 Lonely Hearts Raymond Fernandez
2007 Chapter 27 Mark David Chapman Gained 62 pounds for this role, with Lindsay Lohan.
2010 Mr. Nobody Nemo Nobody
Discography
Main article: 30 Seconds to Mars discography

   * 2002 - 30 Seconds to Mars
   * 2005 - A Beautiful Lie
   * 2009 - This Is War
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff345/THfan22/orig-3627031_0_0_0x0_240x320.jpg
http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr205/CoolSex/4192352983_62ee4f4c62.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/26/09 at 6:52 am


The word or phrase of the day...Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank and public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Greenland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Nigeria and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population. In South Africa this public holiday is now known as the Day of Goodwill. Though it is not an official holiday in the United States, the name "Boxing Day" for the day after Christmas has some currency among Americans, particularly those that live near the Canada – United States border.The name derives from the tradition of giving seasonal gifts, on the day after Christmas, to less wealthy people and social inferiors, which was later extended to various workpeople such as labourers and servants.

The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day has long included giving money and other gifts to charitable institutions, the needy and people in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era.

In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their 'Christmas boxes' or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas.

The establishment of Boxing Day as a defined public Holiday under the legislation that created the UK's Bank Holidays started the separation of 'Boxing Day' from the 'Feast of St Stephen' and today it is almost entirely a secular holiday with a tradition of shopping and post Christmas sales starting.
Public holiday

Boxing Day is traditionally celebrated on 26 December, St. Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas Day. Unlike St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day is a secular holiday but is always on 26 December: the public holiday is generally moved to the following Monday if 26 December is a Saturday. If 25 December is a Saturday or Sunday then both the Monday and Tuesday may be public holidays. However, the date of observance of Boxing Day varies between countries.

In Ireland—when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland—the UK's Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the feast day of St Stephen as a non-moveable public holiday on 26 December. Since Partition, the name "Boxing Day" is used only by the authorities in Northern Ireland (which remained part of the United Kingdom). There, Boxing Day is a moveable public holiday in line with the rest of the United Kingdom.

The Banking and Financial Dealings Act of 1971 established "Boxing Day" as a public holiday in Scotland. In the Australian state of South Australia, 26 December is a public holiday known as Proclamation Day
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e348/hockeycick/Random/41BoxingDay.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w102/blazinwaller/DSCN0405.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x50/heather_6230/2000/Boxing-Day.jpg
http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq229/Supercodhead/west3.jpg
http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l406/CentralStationWrexham/BOXINGDAYweb.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh161/Jfeln/BoxingDay1966.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh39/vedderfanuk/scarlet8-9mths025.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd213/mbielen/boxing2anim.gif
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l24/2girlsinaustralia/IMG_1282.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p68/sdankert/boxing03.jpg



Do they actually go boxing on that day?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 7:02 am


Do they actually go boxing on that day?

I think they go out and buy & exchange more gifts..Like give gifts to the needy and maybe the postal worker or maybe someone like you at the supermarket.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/26/09 at 7:05 am


I think they go out and buy & exchange more gifts..Like give gifts to the needy and maybe the postal worker or maybe someone like you at the supermarket.


like Salvation Army and City Harvest?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 3:07 pm


like Salvation Army and City Harvest?

Could be. I'm sure someone like Phil,Frank or Peter would know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/26/09 at 3:17 pm


Both are 3 man bands?
Bee Gees had a song "Children of the world"

Am I getting closer?
Try again

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/26/09 at 6:14 pm


Try again


Ummm.... Maurice's wife is related to Graham Nash.  Okay...I just made that up...but it might be true!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/26/09 at 6:50 pm

Didn't Jared Leto portray John Lennon's killer in a film a year or so ago? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/26/09 at 7:18 pm

Interesting as usual. Thanks for sharing, Ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 8:21 pm


Didn't Jared Leto portray John Lennon's killer in a film a year or so ago? ???

Yep..Chapter 27    Mark David Chapman    Gained 62 pounds for this role, with Lindsay Lohan.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/09 at 8:30 pm


Interesting as usual. Thanks for sharing, Ninny.

Thanks a lot :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/26/09 at 10:41 pm


Ummm.... Maurice's wife is related to Graham Nash.  Okay...I just made that up...but it might be true!


I know the answer. None of their wives had affairs with Tiger Woods. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/27/09 at 2:18 am


I know the answer. None of their wives had affairs with Tiger Woods. :D


It just hasn't come out yet.... ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/27/09 at 2:20 am


The word or phrase of the day...Boxing Day

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c365/honkhonk99/darkjedi/webhunt_winter2007/boxingday.jpg

He He!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/27/09 at 5:31 am

The word of the day...Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration held in the United States honoring universal African heritage and culture, marked by participants lighting a kinara (candle holder). It is observed from December 26 to January 1 each year, primarily in the United States.

Kwanzaa consists of seven days of celebration, featuring activities such as candle-lighting and libations, and culminating in a feast and gift giving. It was created by Ron Karenga and was first celebrated from December 26, 1966 to January 1, 1967.
Ron Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as the first specifically African American holiday. Although the historical Juneteenth African American holiday had been celebrated since 1867, Karenga said his goal was to "give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning first fruits of the harvest. The choice of Swahili, an East African language, reflects its status as a symbol of Pan-Africanism, especially in the 1960s.

Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the black nationalist movement of the 1960s, and was established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and common humanist principles.

The first Kwanzaa stamp was issued by the United States Postal Service on October 22, 1997, with artwork by Synthia Saint James. In 2004, a second Kwanzaa stamp, designed by Daniel Minter, was issued; this has seven figures in colorful robes symbolizing the seven principles.

During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said that it was meant to be an alternative to Christmas, that Jesus was psychotic, and that Christianity was a white religion that black people should shun. However, as Kwanzaa gained mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so that practicing Christians would not be alienated, then stating in the 1997 Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday."

The origins of Kwanzaa are not secret and are openly acknowledged by those promoting the holiday. Many Christian African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in addition to observing Christmas.
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss330/EliteForumModerator/Happy_Kwanzaa2.gif
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x253/malumez/G-KWANZAA.jpg
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz14/hummer13740/SCAN0006-1.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f221/farktacular/kwanzaacd3.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc75/charles_percible/314161446405_0_ALB.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh103/empressises/KwanzaaCandles.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l300/LawgirlT/kwanzaa.gif
http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo304/mariacarolina118/2edcedef.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/27/09 at 5:36 am

The birthday of the day...John Amos
John Amos (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor and former football player. His television work includes roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades. He has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award.  John Amos (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor and former football player. His television work includes roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades. He has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award.Amos is perhaps best known for playing characters Gordy Howard--weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 until 1973--James Evans, Sr., the sporadically-employed husband of Florida Evans--appearing three times on the sitcom Maude before continuing the role in 57 episodes of Good Times from 1974 to 1976. While playing an chronically unemployed father of three on the show, in real life Amos is only eight years older than the actor who played his oldest son: Jimmie Walker, and nearly 19 years younger than his screen wife, Esther Rolle. Amos, much like series' co-star Rolle, wanted to portray a positive image of an African American family, struggling against the odds in the ghetto of Chicago, but saw the premise slighted by lighter comedy, and expressed dissatisfaction. Unhappy with the scripts and tension with producers, he quit the show after the third season. His character James Evans died in a car accident in the first episode of the fourth season, and the series continued without him.
Other television roles

Amos was part of the Emmy award winning cast on the miniseries Roots, playing the adult Kunta Kinte in 1977. He also portrayed Captain Dolan on television show Hunter from 1984 to 1985. He co-starred in the CBS police drama The District, and guest-starred on a number of other television programs including The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In the House, The A-Team, and Martin as Sgt. Hamilton Strawn (Tommy's father). He was a frequent guest on The West Wing, portraying Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He played a pilot, Buzz Washington, in a remote Alaskan town in the ABC series, Men in Trees. He also appeared in a Season 1 episode of "Touched by An Angel," although he was credited as Jon (not John) Amos. Most recently, he guest starred on USA Network's original drama/comedy Psych. Amos costarred with Anthony Anderson in the TV series All About the Andersons in 2003 and made an appearance on My Name Is Earl in September 2008.

Stage
Amos is the writer and producer of Halley's Comet, a critically acclaimed one-man play that he performs around the world.

Projects In Development
Back In Shape With John Amos and T and Gangs At Sea.
Film roles

Amos has had roles in several films, such as Coming to America, Vanishing Point, The Beastmaster and Die Hard 2. He also starred in Let's Do It Again (1975) as Kansas City Mack with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Amos was also featured in the movie The World's Greatest Athlete with Tim Conway and Jan-Michael Vincent. He was also in Ice Cube's and Dr. Dre's video for Natural Born Killaz and played a police officer in The Players Club. Amos also co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in the 1989 movie Lock Up. In 2006 he played Jud in Dr. Dolittle.Amos has the distinction of winning more TV Land Awards than anyone, taking home trophies for his roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times and the TV miniseries Roots.

Actor and humanitarian John Amos, an outstanding graduate of East Orange High School and the recipient of New Jersey Education Association's (NJEA) 2009 Award for Excellence. The award is granted to New Jersey public school graduates who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in their fields of expertise.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii168/sassyblack40/JohAmos.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i142/Casey_s_b/Outer%20Limits%20Cards/Outer_Limits_John_Amos_Costume_Card.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Entertainment%20Collection/879.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x80/RandiMyles2Go/My%20World/TwithActorJohnAmos.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/27/09 at 5:41 am

The co-birthday of the day...Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon (born Agnes Eckhardt; December 10, 1927) is an American writer and producer.

She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

She is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children. Having a key role in the production of these programs, she was either executive producer or consulting producer for both shows for many years: on One Life to Live from 1968 to 1975, and All My Children from 1970 to 1981. She continued to write the program with Wisner Washam until 1983, and again with him from 1988 to 1992, continuing on as a consultant in recurring capacities until 2000. From 1970 until 1992, every episode of All My Children was written by either Agnes Nixon or her protégé Wisner Washam (her role with One Life to Live was more limited once she surrendered the day-to-day aspects of the show in 1975).

Because of her long career and the number of successful shows she has created or been a part of, she is often termed the "Queen" of the modern soap opera. Her creations and her writing have had the most effect on modern audiences, second only to her mentor Irna Phillips.
Nixon began her career in soaps working for Irna Phillips. Phillips' other protégé around that time was William J. Bell, who also went on to become a noted writer in his own right.

Under Phillips' tutelage, she was a writer on As the World Turns, and was head writer for Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light and, notably, on Another World, where she created the character of Rachel, an early prototype of one of her more lasting creations, Erica Kane.

During her time on Guiding Light, Nixon is believed to have written the first medical-related storyline on a soap opera. A friend of Nixon's had died from cervical cancer, and Nixon wanted to do something to educate women about getting a Pap smear. She wrote it into Guiding Light by having the lead character, Bert Bauer, encounter a cancer scare. This storyline aired in 1962; Nixon had to work around some difficulties of getting this storyline to air, as she could not make use of the words “cancer,” “uterus,” and “Pap test”. However, after this storyline the number of women who took a Pap smear surged dramatically . In 2002 she received a special Sentinel for Health "pioneer award" for her work on Guiding Light.

When she left Another World, she left the tutelage of Phillips (and the restrictions of sponsor Procter & Gamble) to create her own shows.
One Life to Live

By the mid 1960s, Nixon had created the bible for what would become All My Children. ABC executives passed on the program, but asked her to create a show that would reflect a more "contemporary" tone; that creation was One Life to Live. Nixon, "tired of the restraints imposed by the WASPy, non-controversial nature of daytime drama, presented the network with a startingly original premise and cast of characters. Although the show was built along the classic soap formula of a rich family and a poor family, One Life to Live emphasized the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the people of Llanview, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia."

Premiering in 1968, One Life to Live initially reflected changing social structures and attitudes. The first few years of the show were rich in issue stories and characters including Jewish characters, Polish-American families, and the first African-American leads, Carla Gray (Ellen Holly), and Ed Hall (Al Freeman, Jr.). Gray's story, for example, had her develop from a character who was passing as white to one who embodied black pride, with white and black loves along the way, to antagonize racists. One Life to Live has been called "the most peculiarly American of soap operas: the first serial to present a vast array of ethnic types, broad comic situations, a constant emphasis on social issues, and strong male characters."

On July 21, 2008, Nixon appeared on One Life to Live for its 40th anniversary.
All My Children

With the success of One Life to Live, Nixon was given the greenlight for All My Children, which began as a half-hour soap opera in 1970.

The show was successful from its beginning, combining its study of social clashes with acting talent including Ruth Warrick and Rosemary Prinz. Nixon helmed the writing team for over a decade, until 1983.

It is on All My Children that Nixon had the most impact; her long tenure as writer helped shaped the show and its characters. She again introduced many social issues into storylines, including the anti-war movement, homosexuality, the AIDS epidemic, and daytime's first abortion by a major character, in this case Erica Kane. (In a controversial move, the storyline was undone in 2006 and Erica's fetus was revealed to have lived and implanted into a surrogate, a procedure that is medically impossible.)
All My Children was a half-hour show for the first seven years of its run, and virtually none of those episodes exist. ABC erased the tapes of those early episodes so the tapes could be reused. When ABC went to Nixon and said that they wanted her to expand the show to an hour, one of her conditions was that the tapes of the show would be archived and preserved by the network. Episodes began to be saved in 1976, while All My Children expanded to an hour on April 25, 1977.
    * She was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame at a Planet Hollywood restaurant in 1994.
    * She received the Trustees Award for Continued Excellence from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1981.
    * At one point, Nixon raised eyebrows and caused a great deal of upset in the writers' circle by her adamant refusal to join the Writers Guild of America. As the executive producers of her shows she feared that a writers' strike would force her to stop her writing activities, but still be required to produce the show. In spite of this, she has won five Writers Guild of America Awards for Best Written Daytime Serial.
    * Primetime Emmy: Outstanding Program Achievement in Daytime Drama - One Life to Live- shared with Doris Quinlan.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/SteveFrame/AgnesNixon.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/fanfever/fan%20events%202008/studio%20visit/DSCF1239.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/27/09 at 6:04 am


The word of the day...Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration held in the United States honoring universal African heritage and culture, marked by participants lighting a kinara (candle holder). It is observed from December 26 to January 1 each year, primarily in the United States.

Kwanzaa consists of seven days of celebration, featuring activities such as candle-lighting and libations, and culminating in a feast and gift giving. It was created by Ron Karenga and was first celebrated from December 26, 1966 to January 1, 1967.
Ron Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as the first specifically African American holiday. Although the historical Juneteenth African American holiday had been celebrated since 1867, Karenga said his goal was to "give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning first fruits of the harvest. The choice of Swahili, an East African language, reflects its status as a symbol of Pan-Africanism, especially in the 1960s.

Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the black nationalist movement of the 1960s, and was established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and common humanist principles.

The first Kwanzaa stamp was issued by the United States Postal Service on October 22, 1997, with artwork by Synthia Saint James. In 2004, a second Kwanzaa stamp, designed by Daniel Minter, was issued; this has seven figures in colorful robes symbolizing the seven principles.

During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said that it was meant to be an alternative to Christmas, that Jesus was psychotic, and that Christianity was a white religion that black people should shun. However, as Kwanzaa gained mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so that practicing Christians would not be alienated, then stating in the 1997 Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday."

The origins of Kwanzaa are not secret and are openly acknowledged by those promoting the holiday. Many Christian African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in addition to observing Christmas.

Can I find a song with this word......

No.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/27/09 at 6:06 am


Can I find a song with this word......

No.
But in the meantime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k13AsNCgdM

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/27/09 at 7:00 am


The birthday of the day...John Amos
John Amos (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor and former football player. His television work includes roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades. He has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award.  John Amos (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor and former football player. His television work includes roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades. He has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award.Amos is perhaps best known for playing characters Gordy Howard--weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 until 1973--James Evans, Sr., the sporadically-employed husband of Florida Evans--appearing three times on the sitcom Maude before continuing the role in 57 episodes of Good Times from 1974 to 1976. While playing an chronically unemployed father of three on the show, in real life Amos is only eight years older than the actor who played his oldest son: Jimmie Walker, and nearly 19 years younger than his screen wife, Esther Rolle. Amos, much like series' co-star Rolle, wanted to portray a positive image of an African American family, struggling against the odds in the ghetto of Chicago, but saw the premise slighted by lighter comedy, and expressed dissatisfaction. Unhappy with the scripts and tension with producers, he quit the show after the third season. His character James Evans died in a car accident in the first episode of the fourth season, and the series continued without him.
Other television roles

Amos was part of the Emmy award winning cast on the miniseries Roots, playing the adult Kunta Kinte in 1977. He also portrayed Captain Dolan on television show Hunter from 1984 to 1985. He co-starred in the CBS police drama The District, and guest-starred on a number of other television programs including The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In the House, The A-Team, and Martin as Sgt. Hamilton Strawn (Tommy's father). He was a frequent guest on The West Wing, portraying Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He played a pilot, Buzz Washington, in a remote Alaskan town in the ABC series, Men in Trees. He also appeared in a Season 1 episode of "Touched by An Angel," although he was credited as Jon (not John) Amos. Most recently, he guest starred on USA Network's original drama/comedy Psych. Amos costarred with Anthony Anderson in the TV series All About the Andersons in 2003 and made an appearance on My Name Is Earl in September 2008.

Stage
Amos is the writer and producer of Halley's Comet, a critically acclaimed one-man play that he performs around the world.

Projects In Development
Back In Shape With John Amos and T and Gangs At Sea.
Film roles

Amos has had roles in several films, such as Coming to America, Vanishing Point, The Beastmaster and Die Hard 2. He also starred in Let's Do It Again (1975) as Kansas City Mack with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Amos was also featured in the movie The World's Greatest Athlete with Tim Conway and Jan-Michael Vincent. He was also in Ice Cube's and Dr. Dre's video for Natural Born Killaz and played a police officer in The Players Club. Amos also co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in the 1989 movie Lock Up. In 2006 he played Jud in Dr. Dolittle.Amos has the distinction of winning more TV Land Awards than anyone, taking home trophies for his roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times and the TV miniseries Roots.

Actor and humanitarian John Amos, an outstanding graduate of East Orange High School and the recipient of New Jersey Education Association's (NJEA) 2009 Award for Excellence. The award is granted to New Jersey public school graduates who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in their fields of expertise.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii168/sassyblack40/JohAmos.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i142/Casey_s_b/Outer%20Limits%20Cards/Outer_Limits_John_Amos_Costume_Card.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Entertainment%20Collection/879.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x80/RandiMyles2Go/My%20World/TwithActorJohnAmos.jpg


John Amos is a legend.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 5:35 am

The word of the day...Training
Training is the process of learning the skills that you need for a particular job or activity.
Training is physical exercise that you do regularly in order to keep fit or to prepare for an activity such as a race
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx224/geckotoes_photos/Doggies/Training.jpg
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx50/rebeccajmclean/Re-Enactment/R7.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/gostampsgo/Lincoln/lincoln036.jpg
http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/quandra51/boxertraingoktober2009026Small.jpg
http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy156/Metoege/uvs090306-002.jpg
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab194/supersweetponies/Training%20Equipment/2009028-1.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk160/vernebbell/Decorated%20images/Recruit%20Training/P1000182.jpg
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr309/jala_the_dragon/Bellydance%20Training/20091217-003.jpg
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab312/AureliaNSF/Gracie/6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/28/09 at 5:36 am

There's also vocational training.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 6:01 am

The birthday of the day...Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and film producer. He has garnered much critical acclaim for his work in film since the 1990s, including for his portrayals of real-life figures, such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas and Herman Boone.

Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second African American man (after Sidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he received for his role in the 2001 film Training Day


His big break came when he starred in the popular television hospital drama, St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. He was one of a few actors to appear on the series for its entire six-year run. In 1987, after appearing in several minor television, film and stage roles, such as "Carbon Copy" in 1981, A Soldier's Story" in 1984 ,"Hard Lessons" in 1986 and "Power"in the same year. Washington starred as South African Anti-Apartheid political activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom, a role for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989, Washington won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing a defiant, self-possessed ex-slave in the film Glory.

Malcolm X transformed Washington's career, turning him, practically overnight, into one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He turned down several similar roles, such as an offer to play Martin Luther King, Jr., because he wanted to avoid being typecast. The next year, in 1993, he took another risk in his career by playing Joe Miller, the homophobic lawyer of a homosexual man with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks. During the early and mid 1990s, Washington became a renowned Hollywood leading man, starring in several successful thrillers, including The Pelican Brief and Crimson Tide, as well as in comedy Much Ado About Nothing and alongside legendary singer Whitney Houston in the romantic drama The Preacher's Wife.

While filming the 1995 film Virtuosity, Washington refused to kiss his white female co-star, Kelly Lynch, during a romantic scene between their characters. During an interview, Lynch stated that while she wanted to, "Denzel felt very strongly about it. I felt there is no problem with interracial romance. But Denzel felt strongly that the white males, who were the target audience of this movie, would not want to see him kiss a white woman." Lynch further stated, "That's a shame. I feel badly about it. I keep thinking that the world's changed, but it hasn't changed quick enough." A similar situation occurred during the filming of The Pelican Brief when Julia Roberts expressed in an interview her desire to have her character in the film engaged in a romantic relationship with Washington's character.

In 1999, Washington starred in The Hurricane, a movie about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, whose conviction for triple murder was overturned after he had spent almost 20 years in prison. Various newspaper articles have suggested that the controversy over the film's accuracy may have cost Washington the Oscar for which he was nominated. Washington did receive a Golden Globe Award in 2000 and a 'Silberner Bär' (Silver Berlin Bear) at the Berlin International Film Festival for the role.

He also presented the Arthur Ashe ESPY Award to Loretta Claiborne for her courage. He appeared as himself in the end of The Loretta Claiborne Story movie. Washington has been cited as an example of human physical attractiveness due to the symmetry of his facial feature
In 2000, Washington appeared in the Disney film, Remember the Titans, which grossed over $100 million at the United States box office. He was nominated and won an Oscar for Best Actor for his next film, the 2001 cop thriller, Training Day, as Det. Alonzo Harris, a rogue LAPD cop with questionable law-enforcement tactics. The role was a much-acclaimed change-of-pace for the actor, who was known for playing many heroic leads. Washington was the second African-American performer ever to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor, the first being Sidney Poitier, who happened to receive an Honorary Academy Award the same night that Washington won for Best Actor. Washington holds the record for most Oscar nominations by an actor of African descent; so far he has earned five.

After appearing in 2002's box office success, the health care-themed John Q., Washington directed his first film, a well-reviewed drama called Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

Between 2003 and 2004, Washington appeared in a series of thrillers that performed generally well at the box office, including Out of Time, Man on Fire, and The Manchurian Candidate. In 2006 he starred in Inside Man, a Spike Lee-directed bank heist thriller co-starring Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, and Déjà Vu released in November 2006.

In 2007, he co-starred with Russell Crowe in American Gangster. Later, Denzel directed and starred in the drama The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker. Washington next appeared as New York City subway security chief Walter Garber in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a remake of the '70s thriller, The Taking of Pelham One, Two Three, opposite John Travolta and directed by Tony Scott; the film opened in June 2009.
1981 Carbon Copy Roger Porter
1984 License to Kill Martin Sawyer
A Soldier's Story Pfc. Melvin Peterson
1986 Hard Lessons George McKenna
Power Arnold Billings NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1987 Cry Freedom Steve Biko Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1989 The Mighty Quinn Xavier Quinn
For Queen and Country Reuben James Festival du Film Policier de Cognac Award for Best Actor
Glory Pvt. Trip Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
1990 Heart Condition Napoleon Stone
Mo' Better Blues Bleek Gilliam
1991 Ricochet Nick Styles
1992 Mississippi Masala Demetrius Williams NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Malcolm X Malcolm X Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Don Pedro of Aragon
The Pelican Brief Gray Grantham Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
Philadelphia Joe Miller Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Tom Hanks
1995 Crimson Tide Lt. Commander Ron Hunter NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Crimson Tide Lt. Commander Ron Hunter NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
Virtuosity Lt. Parker Barnes
Devil in a Blue Dress Easy Rawlins
1996 Courage Under Fire Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Lone Star Film & Television Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
The Preacher's Wife Dudley
1998 Fallen Detective John Hobbes
He Got Game Jake Shuttlesworth Nominated — Acapulco Black Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
The Siege Special Agent Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard FBI
1999 The Bone Collector Lincoln Rhyme
The Hurricane Rubin "Hurricane" Carter Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Black Reel Award for Best Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2000 Remember the Titans Coach Herman Boone BET Award for Best Actor
Black Reel Award for Best Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
The Loretta Claiborne Story Himself
2001 Training Day Detective Alonzo Harris Academy Award for Best Actor
American Film Institute Award for Actor of the Year - Male - Movies
Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2002 John Q John Quincy Archibald Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Antwone Fisher Dr. Jerome Davenport also as director
Black Reel Award for Best Director
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Producers Guild of America Stanley Kramer Award
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Director
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Director
2003 Out of Time Police Chief Matthias Lee Whitlock Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2004 Man on Fire John Creasy Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
The Manchurian Candidate Major Ben Marco
BET Award for Best Actor
2006 Inside Man Detective Keith Frazier Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Déjà Vu Special Agent Doug Carlin
Nominated — BET Award for Best Actor
2007 American Gangster Frank Lucas Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Great Debaters Melvin B. Tolson also as director
Christopher Award for Best Feature Film
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Director
2009 The Taking of Pelham 123 Walter Garber
2010 The Book of Eli Eli
Unstoppable
Inside Man 2 Det. Keith Frazier
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac352/nia_pull_it_2010/Myspace%20Pics%202009/10101681ADenzel-Washington-Devil-in.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/Denzel-Washington.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg227/yababy2424/denzel.jpg
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww51/Underground896/Denzel_Washington-collage.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/28/09 at 6:03 am


The word of the day...Training
Training is the process of learning the skills that you need for a particular job or activity.
Training is physical exercise that you do regularly in order to keep fit or to prepare for an activity such as a race

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk160/vernebbell/Decorated%20images/Recruit%20Training/P1000182.jpg

Is that our bus in the background?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 6:06 am

The co-birthday of the day...John Legend..John Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American recording artist, musician and actor. He is the recipient of six Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Prior to the release of his debut album, Legend's career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. Legend added his voice to those of other artists, assisting in them reaching chart-topper hits. He lent his voice to that of Kanye West, on Slum Village's "Selfish", and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay-Z's "Encore", and sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor's "High Road." Legend played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything".  Legend released his debut album, Get Lifted, in December 2004. It debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 116,000 copies in its first week. It sold 2.1 million copies in the United States and was certified Platinum by the RIAA; it sold three million copies worldwide. The album produced two singles: "Ordinary People" (US and UK top 30) went straight to number one and "Used to Love U" (US top 100, UK top 30).
2006–2007: Once Again

The first single from his second album, Once Again, was "Save Room". The album was released October 24, 2006, and boasts production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, and will.i.am. In an interview with MTV, Legend said that this album contained his favorite song that he had written to date, entitled "Again." He said he came up with the idea for the song and wrote some of it while sitting on a subway. He stated that the song was also the inspiration for the album's title.

In August 2006, Legend appeared in an episode of Sesame Street. He performed a song entitled "It Feels Good When You Sing a Song", a duet with Hoots the Owl. He also performed during the pregame show of Super Bowl XL in Detroit and the halftime show at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game.
2008–present: Evolver

Legend released his third studio album Evolver, in October 2008. Rapper Andre 3000 of OutKast is featured on the first single of the album on a song titled "Green Light". "It's going to be a surprise for a lot of John Legend fans, because it is a lot more upbeat than John is — than people think John is," Andre insisted. "I was actually happy to hear it. This is a cool John Legend song". The next single from Evolver was confirmed as "Everybody Knows".

Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning "Blues & Soul", Legend explained his reasons for titling the album 'Evolver': "Well I think people sometimes come to expect certain things from certain artists. They expect you to kind of stay in the same place you were at when you started out. Whereas I feel I want my career to be defined by the fact that I'm NOT gonna stay in the same place, and that I'm always gonna try new things and experiment. So, as I think this album represents a manifestation of that, I came up with the tile 'Evolver'."
Collaborations

   * In 2005, he was featured in the Fort Minor song "High Road".
   * In 2006, he is also featured in Sérgio Mendes's collaboration album, Timeless. Legend sang "Please Baby Don't". Additionally, He collaborated with Jay-z (for his Kingdome Come album) for the song "Do U Wanna Ride".
   * In 2007, John lent his vocals for the Rich Boy track "Ghetto Rich".
   * John Legend collaborated with Colombian Rock artist Juanes at the 2008 Latin Grammys. Legend sang in Spanish along with Juanes, on the bilingual version of the song "Si tu estas ahi" also known as "If You Are Out There".
   * He is featured in the Black Eyed Peas song, "Like That". The song "Ordinary People" was originally meant to be for a Black Eyed Peas project, but Legend decided to keep it for himself and recorded the song after he had been signed to Columbia Records.
   * Legend was working with Michael Jackson on a future album. In a Dutch interview with reporter Tom Theunisz he was asked about this collaboration. His response was that he had written one song for the upcoming album, but was unsure about whether Jackson would be using it.
   * Legend also sang "The Girl is Mine" and the national anthem along with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report.
   * Legend is featured on the sixth track, "Heartbreaker", of MSTRKRFT's second album Fist of God.
   * He collaborated with Fergie for her song "Finally" on her 2006 debut album "The Dutchess".
   * Legend is featured in T.I.'s song "Slide Show" on his album Paper Trail. A music video for "Slide Show" was released on August 10, 2009, featuring a video collage; it is unknown as of yet, however, if it is an official single.
   * He is also featured in the song "Magnificent" by Rick Ross. The music video has cameo appearances from DJ Khaled saying and wearing "We the Best!!", Birdman, Ace Hood, Triple C's, and Special Ed. It was released on March 3, 2009, and it was directed by music video director Gil Green. It was filmed at Gulfstream Park Racetrack in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
   * Legend also collaborated with Reggae legend Buju Banton on the track 'Can't Be My Lover'. The track is one of the biggest mixes of R&B and Reggae/Dancehall in years.
   * In 2009, Legend recorded a duet with Brazilian singer Ana Carolina called "Entre Olhares". He sings in English, and she sings in Portuguese.
   * In the Summer of 2009, he record a duet with ex-member of Sin Bandera, Noel Schajris, called "No Importa" (It Doesn't Matter). He sings in English and Spanish.
   * John Legend plans to collaborate with british born talent Stefan Vitalis, to produce a soulful and dynamic record.

Music videos and acting career

John Legend's cover of Stevie Wonder's 1974 hit song Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing appeared in Will Smith/Eva Mendes' Hitch (film) and on the soundtrack of the movie.

The 2007 video for his single, "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", features Alexandre Rodrigues and Melvin Bragg from the critically acclaimed film, City of God.

Legend's songs in movies:

   * "Refuge" appears on the soundtrack to the 2006 film The Second Chance.
   * "Dare to Dream" is in the 2007 movie Pride.
   * "Someday" is part of the soundtrack to the 2007 film August Rush.

Legend has a minor, non-speaking role in the 2008 movie Soul Men where he plays the deceased lead singer of a fictitious soul group that includes Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac.
   * He performed "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star Game in Pittsburgh, PA.

   * He appeared on the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, singing a cover of You Don't Know Me. He also appeared on an episode of the television series "Las Vegas" in February 2007 performing his single "Save Room" solo at the end of the episode.

   * In 2007, he performed with John Mayer and Corinne Bailey-Rae at the Grammy Awards. He later appeared with Bailey Rae in several live performances.

   * Legend appears in a recent commercial for a Lexus SUV, in which Legend is shown listening to Nina Simone's "Backlash Blues" (recorded live in Paris, 1968, on The Great Show LP) and describing his experience with the music. He is also notable for performing closing music in many of Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs' keynote presentations.

   * In January 2008, he sang in a video for Barack Obama produced by Will.I.Am called "Yes We Can".

   * Legend performed "America The Beautiful" at WrestleMania XXIV on Sunday March 30, 2008 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida .

   * In a 2008 Target commercial, Legend performed a piece of his song "Slow Dance" to pitch his new album "available exclusively at Target." The commercial was shown during online streaming episodes of NBC programs.

   * Legend performed several numbers live in front of hundreds of thousands of fans during the July 4, 2008 celebration on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia.

   * Legend performed at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver in September 2008.

   * Legend appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on October 31, 2008. He was a member of the panel and performed "If You're Out There" at the end of the show.

   * Legend appeared on CNN Heroes 2008, which was taped November 22, 2008, and was televised November 27, 2008.

   * John Legend appeared to perform the song in duet with Colombian rock singer Juanes during the 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 13, 2008. The version they performed was sang mostly in Spanish by both singers, with only a few lines in English.

   * On Sunday, January 18, 2009, he performed at the We Are One:The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, singing James Taylor's "Shower the People" with James Taylor and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.

   * On Friday, February 13, 2009, he was a guest and performed on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show. John performed his song, "Everybody Knows" from his album, Evolver.
   * Legend performed at the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Launch party at LAX in Las Vegas on February 12, 2009.
   * Legend performed at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game Halftime show on February 15, 2009
   * John Legend made an appearance on 106 & Park, and brought his new video "Everybody Knows" on Feb. 18, 2009.
   * Legend performed at the 81st Academy Awards on February 22, 2009, singing Down to Earth (Peter Gabriel song) nominated for Best Original Song
   * On an episode of The Colbert Report which aired March 7, 2008, Legend performed "The Girl Is Mine" with Stephen Colbert. It was a remake of the Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney hit. Legend returned to The Colbert Report on April 14, 2008, performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Stephen Colbert, opening the show's week in Philadelphia. He later appeared in Colbert's Christmas special A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All, where he performed an ode to nutmeg.

   * On Sunday, May 17, 2009, Legend was the commencement speaker for the University of Pennsylvania's 2009 graduation ceremonies. Amy Goodman happened to be in the audience, and she televised the speech the following Tuesday, May 19, 2009 on Democracy Now!..

   * On Friday, June 12, 2009 Legend co-hosted ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning on the ESPN2/ESPN Radio simulcast with Mike Greenberg. Legend sat in for Mike Golic.

Charities and endorsements
Legend performs during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

On 7 July 2007, Legend participated in the Live Earth concert in London, performing "Ordinary People". On July 8, 2007, he participated in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, with India.Arie. On July 11, 2007, he participated in the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, with Amy Winehouse.

On September 21, 2008, Legend performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK in conjunction with the Peace One Day concert. He sang Green Light, and If You're Out There.

Legend recently launched The Show Me Campaign, through which his fans are encouraged to donate funds toward improving the living situations and prospects of victims of extreme poverty in Mbola, Tanzania. Legend, in early 2008, began touring with Professor Jeff Sachs of Columbia University's Earth Institute to promote sustainable development as an achievable goal.

Legend returned to his hometown of Springfield, Ohio on Christmas Eve 2007 for a "Coming Home Christmas Benefit Concert" in the auditorium of North High School. The performance featured several local talent from Springfield, including Legend's younger brother Vaughn Anthony Stephens who helped organize the concert. The performance also featured a tribute to Jason Collier and proceeds went to a scholarship fund set up in his name for local high schoolers.

Legend is currently a spokesperson for Bailey's alcoholic beverage. He also spoke on behalf of The Polka Dotz at Milwaukee's 2008 German Fest.
Legend performed and spoke at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Barack Obama Presidential campaign in April 2008. He later performed "If You're Out There" from the album Evolver and a duet of Will.i.am's "Yes we can" at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

Legend performed a half-hour set list in support of Barack Obama in his hometown of Springfield, as well as at The Ohio State University and Wright State University campuses on September 29, 2008.

Legend will contribute a share of the proceeds of some tickets for his August 13, 2009 concert at Madison Square Garden to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj20/rfulks/John_Legend.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b208/J-EEZY/John_Legend.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 6:08 am


Is that our bus in the background?

I know I'm out of shape and could use some training ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/28/09 at 6:10 am


I know I'm out of shape and could use some training ;D
We all need some training after the holiday season.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 6:12 am

* Edgar Winter..Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946, in Beaumont, Texas) is an American musician. Edgar is a multi-instrumentalist, performing on the keyboards, and as a vocalist, saxophonist and percussionist, well-versed in jazz, blues and rock. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band The Edgar Winter Group. He is easily recognized by his albinism.
As teens Edgar and his elder brother Johnny Winter began performing together at local establishments such as Tom's Fish Camp. The two played in R&B and blues groups; Johnny and the Jammers, The Crystaliers, and The Black Plague. By the time he was of college age Edgar had become competent on keyboards, saxophone, bass, guitar and drums. In 1969, Winter appeared with Johnny for two songs ("I Can't Stand It" and "Tobacco Road") at the Woodstock Festival.

After recording with his brother, Edgar was signed to his own Epic Records contract in 1970 and recorded two R&B flavored albums, Entrance and Edgar Winter's White Trash. In 1972 he formed The Edgar Winter Group which included Dan Hartman, Ronnie Montrose and Chuck Ruff. It was with this band that he had his biggest successes: first with the album They Only Come Out at Night (1972) which featured the #1 hit instrumental "Frankenstein" which pioneered the use of the synthesizer as a lead instrument. During the performances, Winter showed his virtuosity performing on the keyboards, synthesizer, trumpet, and drums, all within the confines of the single song on stage. The song reached number one in the U.S. in May 1973 and the top 15 single "Free Ride"; which reached number 14 that same year, then the album Shock Treatment which featured the song "Easy Street."
Winter playing saxophone 2006 in Winter Park, Florida

The preponderance of vocals and songwriting by Hartman on Shock Treatment led to the release of Jasmine Nightdreams (1975) with all vocals by Winter. It was nominally a solo album, but it used the same personnel as the Edgar Winter Group. A full band album followed, the Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer, featuring songs and vocals by Derringer.

Success was waning, however, and Edgar teamed with brother Johnny for a live album of blues and early rock classics, including "Harlem Shuffle" (later a revival hit for the Rolling Stones). The album, Together (1976) also fell below expectations, so the White Trash was reformed. In 1977, they recorded Recycled, and toured as an opening act to support the album. The tour was cut short by a tragic plane crash, which killed some members of the tour's headliner, Lynyrd Skynyrd. This was followed by two solo albums, an attempt at literate disco on the Edgar Winter Album and a return to 1970s rock with Standing on Rock, in 1981. Since then there have been more obscure solo albums and session work, namely with David Lee Roth on Crazy from the Heat in 1985, which included a cover version of the song "Easy Street".

With over 20 albums and many television and radio appearances both to promote his music and to give his opinion on everything politically incorrect, Edgar Winter's music is solidly in the popular vein. Winter's 1970s albums are bluesier than his later albums, but there are blues tunes like "Big City Woman" on his 1990 album Not a Kid Anymore. In 2005, "Frankenstein" was featured in the PlayStation 2 music video game Guitar Hero. It has also been covered by Gary Hoey on the 2003 album Wake Up Call, as well as by Derek Sherinian on his album Inertia. "Free Ride" is the main song used in the Disney/Pixar video game Cars, a video game spin off of the animated film of the same name, the initial guitar riff is used on the menu screens and the full song is featured during game play.

In 2006, Winter joined Hamish Stuart, Rod Argent, Richard Marx, Billy Squier, and Sheila E touring with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. In 2008, he appeared in the 10th All-Starr Band with Colin Hay, Billy Squier, Hamish Stuart, first timer Gary Wright and, on drums, Gregg Bissonette. Winter is a Scientologist. He has appeared in at least seven issues of the Church of Scientology magazine Celebrity between 1995 and 2005, which list the Scientology courses that he has completed.

Winter also produced, arranged, and performed on the album Mission Earth (1986). This album's words and music were written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard is said to have left detailed instructions and audio tapes for the musicians and producers to follow when making the album. Edgar described Mission Earth as "both a return to rock’s primal roots and yet highly experimental." Winter had glowing words for Hubbard when he wrote, "Ron's technical insight of the recording process was outstanding." Winter also described Hubbard's delineation of counter-rhythm in rock as something "which was nothing short of phenomenal, particularly inasmuch as it had then been entirely unexplored and only later heard in the African-based rhythms of Paul Simon's work, some five years after Ron’s analysis.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn68/xodemi123/2353469960100752951S500x500Q85.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i226/admiral810/edgarwinter.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 6:13 am


We all need some training after the holiday season.

So true and there still is New Years Eve Parties to go to.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/28/09 at 6:16 am


So true and there still is New Years Eve Parties to go to.
Maybe training after the New Years Eve Parties.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/09 at 6:16 am


Maybe training after the New Years Eve Parties.

Sounds good :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/28/09 at 6:19 am


Sounds good :)
But lets enjoy the holiday season first.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/28/09 at 5:01 pm


But lets enjoy the holiday season first.


We all do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/28/09 at 6:56 pm

Very nice bios. Thanks for sharing, Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/28/09 at 11:49 pm

Training?  This is my favourite training skit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnSeKHnB_k8

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 2:39 am


Very nice bios. Thanks for sharing, Ninny.  :)

Thanks :)

Training?  This is my favourite training skit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnSeKHnB_k8

Very nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 2:47 am

The word of the day...Cowboy
A cowboy is a male character in a western
A cowboy is a man employed to look after cattle in North America, especially in former times.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa42/shylena035/cowboy.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/dee_p_2006/1217092024b.jpg
http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu231/cobach_tkt_tj/Noviembre090193.jpg
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/FireflyWine/cowboy1.jpg
http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/greeneyedgirlaz/cowboycactus2.jpg
http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/sbachali/Scrapbooking/SPJJ118-Cowboy.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa316/erin_pretender13/country/1759139vewm6k4hqd.gif
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/miklamx/CSS%20Cowboy%20Images/bullpen3.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm109/oklahomacountry/Thinkinaboutyou.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 2:52 am

The birthday of the day...Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight (born December 29, 1938) is an American film and television actor. He came to prominence at the end of the 1960s, with a performance as a would-be hustler in 1969's Best Picture winner, Midnight Cowboy, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination. Throughout the following decades, Voight built his reputation with an array of challenging roles, appearing in such landmark films as Deliverance (1972), and Coming Home (1978), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor. Voight's portrayal of sportscaster/journalist Howard Cosell, in the 2001 biopic Ali, earned critical raves and his fourth Oscar nomination. He starred in the seventh season of 24 as the villain Jonas Hodges.

Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven, as well as brother of singer-songwriter Chip Taylor and geologist Barry Voight.
In 1969, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking Midnight Cowboy, a film that would make his career. Voight played Joe Buck, a naïve male hustler from Texas, adrift in New York City. He comes under the tutelage of Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty thief and con artist. The film explored late sixties New York and the development of an unlikely, but poignant friendship between the two main characters. Directed by John Schlesinger and based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy, the film struck a chord with critics. Because of its controversial themes, the film was released with an X rating and would make history by being the only X-rated feature to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Both Voight and co-star Hoffman were nominated for Best Actor but lost out to John Wayne, star of that year's True Grit.

In 1970 Voight appeared in Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22, and re-teamed with director Paul Williams to star in The Revolutionary, as a left wing college student struggling with his conscience.

Voight appeared in 1972's Deliverance, directed by John Boorman, from a script that poet James Dickey had helped to adapt from his novel of the same name. The story of a canoe trip gone awry in a feral, backwoods America. The film and the performances of Voight and co-star Burt Reynolds received great critical acclaim and were popular with audiences.

On 12 December 1971 Voight married model and actress Marcheline Bertrand. Their son James Haven was born in 1973, followed by daughter Angelina Jolie in 1975. Both children would go on to enter the film business, James as an actor and writer, and Angelina as a movie star in her own right. Angelina went on to receive three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award. She is also the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

Voight played a directionless young boxer in 1973's The All American Boy, then appeared in the 1974 film, Conrack, directed by Martin Ritt. Based on Pat Conroy's autobiographical novel The Water Is Wide, Voight portrayed the title character, an idealistic young schoolteacher sent to teach underprivileged black children on a remote South Carolina island. The same year he appeared in The Odessa File, based on Frederick Forsyth's thriller, playing a young German journalist who discovers a conspiracy to protect former Nazis still operating within Germany. This film first teamed him with the actor-director Maximilian Schell, for whom Voight would appear in 1976's End of the Game, a psychological thriller based on a story by Swiss novelist and playwright, Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

In 1978, Voight portrayed the paraplegic Vietnam veteran Luke Martin in Hal Ashby's film Coming Home. Voight, who was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, for his portrait of an embittered paraplegic, reportedly based on real-life Vietnam veteran-turned-anti-war activist Ron Kovic, with whom Fonda falls in love. The film included a much-talked-about love scene between the two. Jane Fonda won her second Best Actress award for her role, and Voight won for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Voight's marriage to Marcheline Bertrand failed in 1978. The following year, Voight once again put on boxing gloves, starring in 1979's remake of the 1931 Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper vehicle, The Champ, with Voight playing the part of an alcoholic ex-heavyweight and a young Rick Schroder playing the role of his adoring son. The film was an international success, but less popular with American audiences.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1969 Midnight Cowboy Joe Buck BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1970 The Revolutionary "A" Adapted from the novel by Hans Koning
1970 Catch-22 1st Lt. Milo Minderbinder
1972 Deliverance Ed Gentry Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1974 The ODESSA File Peter Miller
Conrack Pat Conroy
1975 End of the Game Walter Tschanz
1978 Coming Home Luke Martin Academy Award for Best Actor
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1979 The Champ Billy Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1982 Lookin' to Get Out Alex Kovac Co-writer
1983 Table for Five J.P. Tannen
1985 Runaway Train Oscar "Manny" Manheim Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
1986 Desert Bloom Jack Chismore
1989 Eternity Edward/James Co-writer
1991 Chernobyl: The Final Warning Dr. Robert Peter Gale (TV)
1992 The Last of His Tribe Professor Alfred Kroeber CableACE Award for Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
The Rainbow Warrior Peter Willcox
1995 Heat Nate
Tin Soldier Yarik Director
1996 Mission: Impossible James Phelps
1997 The Rainmaker Leo F. Drummond Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Rosewood John Wright
Anaconda Paul Sarone
U Turn Blind Man
Most Wanted Gen. Adam Woodward, alias Lt. Col. Grant Casey
1998 Enemy of the State Thomas Brian Reynolds
The General Ned Kenny
1999 Varsity Blues Coach Bud Kilmer
A Dog of Flanders Michel La Grande
Noah's Ark Noah
2001 Zoolander Larry Zoolander
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Lord Richard Croft
Pearl Harbor Franklin D. Roosevelt
Ali Howard Cosell Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Uprising Maj. Gen. Jürgen Stroop Nominated — Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story Siggy (Sigfried Mannheim) Television mini-series
2003 Holes Mr. Sir
2004 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Eddie Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
National Treasure Patrick Gates
SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 Bill Biscane/Kane Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
The Manchurian Candidate Senator Thomas Jordan
The Karate Dog Hamilton Cage Executive Producer
2005 Pope John Paul II John Paul II Nominated — Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2006 The Legend of Simon Conjurer Dr. Crazx
Glory Road Adolph Rupp
2007 Transformers Secretary of Defense John Keller
September Dawn Jacob Samuelson
Bratz Principal Dimly
National Treasure: Book of Secrets Patrick Gates
2008 Pride and Glory Francis Tierney Sr.
An American Carol George Washington
Tropic Thunder Himself Cameo appearance
24: Redemption Jonas Hodges (TV)
Four Christmases Creighton
2009 24 Jonas Hodges (TV)
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/My_Autos_Pages/Celebrities%20Autos/voight.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/Timwilburn/jonvoight2.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll320/vegasbusdriver/jonvoight_0.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg74/vendbien/Jon_Voight_1988.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 2:55 am

The co-birthday..Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor, film producer and director.

He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain.

In 2006, he was one of the top ten most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he received an Honorary César and he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government
In 1987 Law began acting with National Youth Music Theatre. He played various roles in the Edinburgh Fringe-awarded play The Ragged Child. One of his first major stage roles was Foxtrot Darling in Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock In The Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les parents terribles, directed by Sean Mathias. For this play he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Newcomer, and he received the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer.

Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play was reworked and transferred to Broadway in 1995, where Law acted opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees and Cynthia Nixon. This role earned him a Tony Award nomination and the Theatre World Award. In 1989, Law got his first television role in a movie based on the Beatrix Potter children's book, The Tailor of Gloucester. After minor roles in British television, including a two-year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI /Channel 4 short "The Crane", Law had his breakthrough with the British crime drama Shopping, which also featured his future wife Sadie Frost.

In 1997, he became more widely known with his role in the Oscar Wilde bio-pic Wilde. Law won the "Most Promising Newcomer" award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his role as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde. In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca he played the role of a disabled former swimming star living in a eugenics-obsessed dystopia. In Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil he played the role of the ill-fated hustler murdered by an art dealer, played by Kevin Spacey. He also played a mob hitman in Sam Mendes's 1930s period drama Road to Perdition.
2000s

Law was one of the Top Ten 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood, following the criteria of James Ulmer in the Ulmer Scale. On 1 March 2007, he was honoured with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres conferred by the French government, in recognition of his contribution to World Cinema Arts. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, and then again for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Cold Mountain in 2003. Both films were directed by Anthony Minghella.

For The Talented Mr. Ripley he learned to play saxophone and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song "Tu vuò fà l'americano" by Renato Carosone and Nicola Salerno. He learned ballet dancing for the film Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001).

Law, an admirer of Laurence Olivier, used the actor's image in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Using computer graphics, footage of the young Olivier was merged into the film, playing Dr. Totenkopf, a mysterious scientific genius and supervillain.

He portrayed the title character in Alfie, the remake of Bill Naughton's 1966 film, playing the role originated by Michael Caine. He took on another of Caine's earlier roles in the 2007 film Sleuth adapted by Nobel Laureate in Literature Harold Pinter, while Caine played the role originated by Sir Laurence Olivier.

Law is one of three actors who took over the role of actor Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He had this to say about the role:

    "I have always loved Terry Gilliam's films. Their heart, their soul, their mind, always inventive, touching, funny and relevant. When I got the call, it was a double tug. I liked Heath very much as a man and admired him as an actor. To help finish his final piece of work was a tribute I felt compelled to make. To help Terry finish his film was an honour paid to a man I adore. I had a great time on the job. Though we were all there in remembrance, Heath's heart pushed us with great lightness to the finish."

Along with Law, actors Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell portray "three separate dimensions in the film." He appeared opposite Forest Whitaker in the dark sci-fi comedy Repo Men! and as Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's adaption of Sherlock Holmes, alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Rachel McAdams. Law stars as a celebrity supermodel in the film Rage.
Hamlet

In May 2009, Law returned to the London stage to portray the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse West End season at Wyndham's Theatre. The BBC reported "a fine and solid performance" but included other reviews of Law's interpretation that were mixed. There was a further run of the production at Elsinore Castle in Denmark from 25-30 August 2009. In September 2009 the production transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre in New York. Again, the critics failed to agree on the merit of Law's interpretation: London's Daily Mail found only positive reviews, but The Washington Post felt that the much-anticipated performance was "highly disappointing
In 2004, Law launched a campaign to raise £2.5 million towards the Young Vic Theatre's £12.5 million redevelopment project. He is currently Chair of the Young Vic committee and has said that he is proud to help make the Young Vic "a nurturing bed" for young directors. He is an enthusiastic football fan and a supporter of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur. In 2006, he joined Robbie Williams in the "Soccer Aid" celebrity football match to benefit UNICEF.

In 2006, he starred in an anthology of Samuel Beckett readings and performances directed by director Anthony Minghella. With the Beckett Gala Evening at the Reading Town Hall, more than £22,000 was donated for the Macmillan Cancer Support. Also in 2006, Frost and Law directed a Shakespeare play in a South African orphanage. He travelled to Durban with Frost and their children in order to help children who have lost their parents to AIDS. In July 2007, as patron of the charity, he helped kick off the month-long tour of the AIDS-themed musical Thula Sizwe by The Young Zulu Warriors. Also in 2007, he encouraged the Friends of the Earth/The Big Ask campaign, asking British Government to take action against climate change.

Law does charity work for organizations such as Make Poverty History, the Rhys Daniels Trust, and the WAVE Trauma Centre. He supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Pride of Britain Awards.

He is the chair of the Music For Tomorrow Foundation to help rebuild Katrina-devastated New Orleans.

Jude Law is an ambassador of HRH The Prince of Wales' Children and the Arts Foundation. He supports Breast Cancer Care, and in December 2008 he supported the Willow Foundation with a small canvas for their campaign Stars on Canvas. In April 2009 he supported the charity Education Africa with the gift of a mask he had painted and signed himself. The campaign was launched on eBay by Education Africa.

Stars including Dame Judi Dench and Jude Law have helped save St Stephen's Church in Hampstead. The celebrities supported the campaign, which raised £4.5 million to refurbish the Victorian church in north London. The building reopened in March 2009 as an arts and community centre
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1989 The Tailor of Gloucester Sam, Mayor's Stableboy (TV)
1990 Families Nathan Thompson (TV)
1991 The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes Joe Barnes (TV)
1992 The Crane Young Man
1993 The Marshal Bruno (TV)
1994 Shopping Billy
1996 I Love You, I Love You Not Ethan
1997 Bent Stormtrooper
Wilde Lord Alfred Douglas Evening Standard British Film Award — Most Promising Newcomer
Gattaca Jerome Eugene Morrow
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Billy Carl Hanson
1998 Music From Another Room Danny
Final Cut Jude
The Wisdom of Crocodiles Steven Grlscz aka Immortality
1999 eXistenZ Ted Pikul
Presence of Mind Secretary
The Talented Mr. Ripley Dickie Greenleaf BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Suspense
Santa Fe Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Empire Award — Best British Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — London Critics Circle Film Award — British Supporting Actor of the Year
Nominated — MTV Movie Award — Best Musical Performance
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Teen Choice Award — Film Choice Breakout Performance
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Tube Tales (director) "A Bird in the Hand"
2000 Love, Honour and Obey Jude
Happy M'Gee Tony M'Gee
2001 Enemy at the Gates Vasily Zaitsev Nominated — European Film Award Audience Award for Best Actor
Artificial Intelligence: A.I. Gigolo Joe Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Road to Perdition Harlen Maguire Nominated — Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best British Supporting Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003 Cold Mountain W. P. Inman Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — IFTA Award – People's Choice Award for Best International Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best British Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award — Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer
Nominated — Golden Satellite Award - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
2004 I ♥ Huckabees Brad Stand
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Sky Captain / Joseph Sullivan Also Producer
Nominated — MTV Movie Award - Best Kiss shared with Gwyneth Paltrow
Nominated — Visual Effects Society Awards 2004 - Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Visual Effects Film
Alfie Alfie
Closer Dan National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
The Aviator Errol Flynn Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket Voice
ShoWest Convention /ShoWest Award — Male Star of the Year
Nominated — People's Choice Award — Favorite Leading Man
2006 All the King's Men Jack Burden
Breaking & Entering Will Francis
The Holiday Graham Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Cameron Diaz
2007 My Blueberry Nights Jeremy
Sleuth Milo Tindle Also producer
2009 Rage Minx
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Tony (2nd transformation)
Sherlock Holmes Dr. Watson
2010 Repo Men Remy, a repo man
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll239/JWnPooh/Hottest%20Hunks%202/JudeLaw003.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll29/Katriona16/Male/JudeLaw2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 2:59 am

* Mary Tyler Moore..Mary Tyler Moore (born December 29, 1936) is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms.

Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as Dick Van Dyke's wife on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966). She also appeared in a number of films, most notably 1980's Ordinary People, in which she played a role that was the polar opposite of the television characters she had portrayed, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Moore has also been active in charity work and various political causes, particularly on behalf of Animal rights and Diabetes mellitus type 1.
At the age of 17, Moore aspired to be a dancer. She started her career as "Happy Hotpoint", a tiny elf dancing on Hotpoint appliances in TV commercials during the 1950s series Ozzie and Harriet. She filmed 39 TV spots in five days, ultimately earning about $6,000 from the first job of her career. Her time as "Happy Hotpoint" ended when it became difficult to conceal her pregnancy in the dancing elf costume.

Moore anonymously modelled on the covers of a number of record albums and auditioned for the role of the older daughter of Danny Thomas for his long-running hit TV show, but was turned down. Much later, Thomas explained that "no daughter of mine could have that nose." Moore's first regular television role was as a telephone receptionist on the show Richard Diamond, Private Detective; in that series, only her legs were shown and voice heard. About this time, she guest starred on John Cassavetes's NBC detective series Johnny Staccato. In 1960, she guest starred in two episodes, "The O'Mara's Ladies" and "All The O'Mara's Horses", of the William Bendix-Doug McClure NBC western series, Overland Trail. Several months later, she appeared in the first episode, entitled "One Blonde Too Many", of NBC one-season The Tab Hunter Show, a sitcom starring the former teen idol as a bachelor cartoonist.

In 1961, Moore appeared in several bit parts in movies and on television, including Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside Six, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Steve Canyon, Hawaiian Eye, and Lock Up in 1961 where a woman named Laura helped save her from prison.

In 1961, Carl Reiner cast her in The Dick Van Dyke Show, an acclaimed weekly series based on Reiner's own life and career as a writer for Sid Caesar's television variety show, telling the cast from the outset that it would run no more than five years. The show was produced by Danny Thomas's company, and Thomas himself recommended her. He remembered Mary as "the girl with three names" whom he had turned down earlier. Moore's energetic comic performances as Van Dyke's character's wife, begun at age 24 (hence she was 11 years Van Dyke's junior), made both the actress and her signature tight capri pants extremely popular, and she became internationally famous. When she won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Laura Petrie, she said, through her tears, quite incorrectly, "I know this will never happen again!"

In 1970, after having appeared earlier in a pivotal one-hour musical special called "Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman", Moore and husband Grant Tinker successfully pitched a sitcom centered on Moore to CBS. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a half-hour newsroom sitcom featuring Ed Asner as her gruff boss Lou Grant, a character that would later be spun off into an hour-long dramatic series. The premise of the single working woman's life, alternating during the program between work and home, became a television staple that would often be used in the future. After six years of ratings in the top 20, the show slipped to number #39 during its seventh season. Producers argued for its cancellation due to its falling ratings, afraid that the show's legacy might be damaged if it were renewed for another season. To the surprise of the entire cast including Mary Tyler Moore herself, it was announced that they would soon be filming their final episode. After the announcement, the series finished strongly and the final show was the most watched show during the week it aired. The series had become a touchpoint of the Women's Movement because it was one of the first to show, in a serious way, an independent working woman.

After a brief respite, Moore threw herself into a completely different genre. She attempted two failed variety series in a row: Mary, which featured David Letterman, Michael Keaton, Swoosie Kurtz and Dick Shawn in the supporting cast and lasted three episodes, which was re-tooled as The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, a backstage show within a show, with Mary portraying a TV star putting on a variety show. To arouse curiosity and nostalgic feelings, Dick Van Dyke appeared as her guest, but the program was canceled within three months. About this time, she also made a one-off musical/variety special for CBS, titled Mary's Incredible Dream, which featured John Ritter, among others. It did poorly in the ratings and, according to Moore, was never repeated and will likely never be aired again due to legal problems surrounding the show.

In the 1985-86 season, she returned to CBS in a series titled "Mary", which suffered from poor reviews, sagging ratings, and internal strife within the production crew. According to Moore, she asked CBS to pull the show, as she was unhappy with the direction of the program and the producers.

She also starred in the short-lived "warmedy", Annie McGuire, in 1988.

In the mid-1990s, she had a cameo and a guest starring role as herself on two episodes of Ellen. She subsequently also guest starred on Ellen DeGeneres's next TV show, The Ellen Show, in 2001.

In 2004, Moore reunited with her Dick Van Dyke Show castmates for a reunion "episode" called The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited. In August 2005, Moore guest-starred as Christine St. George, a high-strung host of a fictional TV show on three episodes of Fox sitcom That '70s Show. Moore's scenes were shot on the same soundstage where The Mary Tyler Moore Show was filmed in the 1970s.
Theatre

Moore appeared in several Broadway plays. She starred in Whose Life Is It Anyway with James Naughton, which opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on February 24, 1980 and ran for 96 performances, and in Sweet Sue, which opened at the Music Box Theatre (transferred to the Royale Theatre) on Jan. 8, 1988 and ran for 164 performances. She was the star of a new musical version of Breakfast at Tiffany's in December 1966, but the show, titled Holly Golightly, was a notorious flop that closed out-of-town before reaching Broadway. An urban legend has it that when Mary, as Holly, announced that she miscarried her baby, the audience applauded.

She appeared in previews of the Neil Simon play Rose's Dilemma at the off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club in December 2003 but was fired before the show opened, because she was not able to learn her lines.

During the 1980s, Moore and her production company produced five plays: Noises Off, The Octette Bridge Club, Joe Egg, Benefactors, and Safe Sex.
Movies

Moore made her film debut in 1961's X-15. She subsequently appeared in a string of 1960s films (after signing an exclusive contract with Universal Pictures), including 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie with Julie Andrews and 1968's What's So Bad About Feeling Good? and Don't Just Stand There!. In 1969 she starred opposite Elvis Presley as a nun in Change of Habit. Moore's future television castmate Ed Asner also appeared in that film (as a cop). After that film's disappointing reviews and reception at the box office, Mary returned to television, and did not appear in another theatrical film for the next eleven years.

Moore was nominated for the Best Actress for 1980's Ordinary People. Other feature film credits include Six Weeks, Just Between Friends, Flirting with Disaster, Keys to Tulsa, Labor Pains and Cheats.

Moore has appeared in a number of telefilms, such as Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, Run a Crooked Mile, Heartsounds, The Gin Game (based on the Broadway play; it reunited her with Dick Van Dyke again), Mary and Rhoda, Lincoln (as Mary Todd Lincoln), Finnegan Begin Again, The Best Year, Miss Lettie and Me, Stolen Babies and Payback.
In addition to her acting work, Moore is the International Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. In this role, she has used her fame to help raise funds and raise awareness of diabetes mellitus type 1, which she has, almost losing her vision and at least one limb to the disease.

In 2007, in honor of Moore's dedication to the Foundation, JDRF created the "Forever Moore" research initiative which will support JDRF's Academic Research and Development and JDRF's Clinical Development Program. The program works on translating basic research advances into new treatments and technologies for those living with type 1 diabetes.

She also adopted a Golden Retriever puppy from Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue in Hudson, Massachusetts. She also is an animal rights activist and promoted her cause on the Ellen DeGeneres sitcom Ellen. She has worked for animal rights for many years. On the subject of fur, she has said, "Behind every beautiful fur, there is a story. It is a bloody, barbaric story."

She is also a co-founder of Broadway Barks, an annual animal adopt-a-thon held in New York City. Moore and friend Bernadette Peters work to make New York City a no-kill city and to promote adopting animals from shelters.

In honor of her father, George Tyler Moore, who was a life-long American Civil War enthusiast, in 1995 Moore donated funds to acquire an historic structure in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, for Shepherd College (now Shepherd University) to be used as a center for Civil War studies. The center, named the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War is housed in the historic Conrad Shindler house (ca. 1795), which is named in honor of her great, great, great-grandfather, who owned the structure from 1815-52. Moore also contributed to the renovation of the house used as headquarters during 1861-1862 by Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Use of the house had been offered to Jackson by its owner, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Tilghman Moore, commander of the 4th Virginia Infantry and a great-grandfather of Mary Tyler Moore.

Moore supports embryonic stem cell research. When President George W. Bush announced that he would veto the Senate's bill supporting the research, she said, "This is an intelligent human being with a heart, and I don't see how much longer he can deny those aspects of himself.
Filmography
Television

    * Richard Diamond, Private Detective
    * The Tab Hunter Show (1960), guest star in first episode
    * The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966)
    * The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)
    * Rhoda (1974-1978)
    * Phyllis (1976-1977)
    * How To Survive the '70s (special) (1978)
    * Mary (1978)
    * First, You Cry (1978)
    * The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979)
    * Heartsounds (1984)
    * Finnegan Begin Again (1985)
    * Mary (1985-1986)
    * Lincoln (1988)
    * Annie McGuire (1988)
    * The Last Best Year (1990)
    * Thanksgiving Day (TV series) (1990)
    * Stolen Babies (1993)



    * New York News (1995)
    * Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden (1996)
    * Ellen (1996)
    * Payback (1997)
    * Good as Gold (2000)
    * Mary and Rhoda (2000)
    * Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes (2001)
    * The Ellen Show (2001)
    * Miss Lettie and Me (2002)
    * The Gin Game (2003)
    * Blessings (TV movie) (2003)
    * The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (2004)
    * Snow Wonder (2005)
    * That '70s Show (2006)
    * Lipstick Jungle (2008)
    * Oprah (May 19, 2008)
    * "Good Morning America" (March 31, 2009)

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1958 Once Upon a Horse... Dance Hall Girl (uncredited)
1961 X-15 Pamela Stewart
1967 Thoroughly Modern Millie Miss Dorothy Brown
1968 What's So Bad About Feeling Good? Liz
Don't Just Stand There! Martine Randall
1969 Run a Crooked Mile Elizabeth Sutton (TV)
Change of Habit Sister Michelle Gallagher
1980 Ordinary People Beth Jarrett Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1982 Six Weeks Charlotte Dreyfus
1986 Just Between Friends Holly Davis
1996 Flirting with Disaster Pearl Coplin Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Blue Arrow Granny Rose (voice)
1997 Keys to Tulsa Cynthia Boudreau
1998 Reno Finds Her Mom Herself
2000 Labor Pains Esther Raymond
2002 Cheats Mrs. Stark
2009 Against The Current Mom
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll262/BullsEyeRadio/100B3110.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f121/onelatham/mary7.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/29/09 at 6:50 am


The word of the day...Cowboy
A cowboy is a male character in a western
A cowboy is a man employed to look after cattle in North America, especially in former times.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa42/shylena035/cowboy.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/dee_p_2006/1217092024b.jpg
http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu231/cobach_tkt_tj/Noviembre090193.jpg
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt97/FireflyWine/cowboy1.jpg
http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/greeneyedgirlaz/cowboycactus2.jpg
http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/sbachali/Scrapbooking/SPJJ118-Cowboy.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa316/erin_pretender13/country/1759139vewm6k4hqd.gif
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/miklamx/CSS%20Cowboy%20Images/bullpen3.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm109/oklahomacountry/Thinkinaboutyou.jpg



http://dontdatethatdude.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/naked-cowboy2.jpg

don't forget The Naked Cowboy. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 8:52 am



http://dontdatethatdude.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/naked-cowboy2.jpg

don't forget The Naked Cowboy. ;)

But he's not naked ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/29/09 at 2:55 pm


But he's not naked ;D


But he's in his tighty whities.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/09 at 7:14 pm


But he's in his tighty whities.

Yes he is :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/29/09 at 7:22 pm

I've always been a fan of Mary Tyler-Moore but never knew half the things about her you mentioned in her bio, Nnny. Nice job. thanks for posting.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/30/09 at 3:13 am



http://dontdatethatdude.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/naked-cowboy2.jpg

don't forget The Naked Cowboy. ;)


Sounds like Howard is missing Sir Billzy... ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 4:44 am


Sounds like Howard is missing Sir Billzy... ;)

LOL ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 4:48 am

The word of the day...Golfer
A golfer is a person who plays golf for pleasure or as a profession.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l69/YuehanSione/Tonga/5_400.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss67/whothefeck/golfer.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m178/lynscards/golfer.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u261/bnevius/golfer.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj94/Susyt_photos/golfer.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff232/yellowhampster/golfer.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx128/nickie111/GOLFER.jpg
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv177/jacnetpub/Golfer.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 5:00 am

The birthday of the day...Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont Woods (born December 30, 1975), better known as Tiger Woods, is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, he was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2008, having earned an estimated $110 million from winnings and endorsements.

Woods has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player, and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Additionally, Woods is the second golfer to have achieved a career grand slam three times along with Jack Nicklaus. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships and has won at least one event each of the 11 years they have been in existence.

Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record ten times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons. He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year a record-tying four times, and is the only person to be named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year more than once.

Since his record-breaking win at the 1997 Masters Tournament, golf's increased popularity is attributed to Woods' presence. He is credited for dramatically increasing prize money in golf, generating interest in new audiences as the first non-white person to win the Masters, and for drawing the largest TV audiences in golf history. He has been named "Athlete of the Decade" by the Associated Press in December 2009.

On December 11, 2009, Woods announced an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after his past infidelities came to light
With the announcement "Hello world," Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike, Inc. and $20 million from Titleist. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open, tying for 60th place, but went on to win two events in the next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. For his efforts, Woods was named Sports Illustrated's 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a link to his college days at Stanford and a color he believes symbolizes aggression and assertiveness.

The following April, Woods won his first major with a score of 18 under par, The Masters, by a record margin of 12 strokes, becoming the youngest Masters winner and the first African American to do so. He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others. He won another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997, in only his 42nd week as a professional, rose to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings, the fastest-ever ascent to world No. 1. He was named PGA Player of the Year, the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season.

While expectations for Woods were high, his form faded in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won one PGA Tour event. He answered critics of his "slump" and what seemed to be wavering form by maintaining he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon, and was hoping to do better in the future.
1999–2002: Slams

In June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, a victory that marked the beginning of one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance in the history of men's golf. He completed his 1999 campaign by winning his last four starts—including the PGA Championship—and finished the season with eight wins, a feat not achieved in the past 25 years. He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years.

Woods started 2000 with his fifth consecutive victory and began a record-setting season, where he would win three consecutive majors, nine PGA Tour events, and set or tie 27 Tour records. He went on to capture his sixth consecutive victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a comeback for the ages. Trailing by seven strokes with seven holes to play, he finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-stroke victory. His six consecutive wins were the most since Ben Hogan in 1948 and only five behind Byron Nelson's record of eleven in a row. In the 2000 U.S. Open, he broke or tied a total of nine U.S. Open records with his 15-shot win, including Old Tom Morris's record for the largest victory margin ever in a major championship, which had stood since 1862, and became the Tour's all-time career money leader. He led by a record 10 strokes going into the final round, and Sports Illustrated called it "the greatest performance in golf history." In the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews, which he won by eight strokes, he set the record for lowest score to par (−19) in any major tournament, and he holds at least a share of that record in all four major championships. At 24, he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam.

Woods's major championship streak was seriously threatened at the 2000 PGA Championship, however, when Bob May went head-to-head with Woods on Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club. Woods played the last twelve holes of regulation seven under par, and won a three-hole playoff with a birdie on the first hole and pars on the next two. He joined Ben Hogan (1953) as the only other player to win three professional majors in one season. Three weeks later, he won his third straight start on Tour at the Bell Canadian Open, becoming only the second man after Lee Trevino in 1971 to win the Triple Crown of Golf (U.S., British, and Canadian Opens) in one year. Of the twenty events he entered in 2000, he finished in the top three fourteen times. His adjusted scoring average of 67.79 and his actual scoring average of 68.17 were the lowest in PGA Tour history, besting his own record of 68.43 in 1999 and Byron Nelson's average of 68.33 in 1945. He was named the 2000 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, becoming the first and only athlete to be honored twice. Woods was ranked as the twelfth best golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine just four years after he turned professional.

The following season, Woods continued dominating. His 2001 Masters Tournament win marked the only time within the era of the modern Grand Slam that any player has been the holder of all four major championship titles at the same time, a feat now known as the "Tiger Slam." It is not viewed as a true Grand Slam, however, because it was not achieved in a calendar year. Surprisingly, he was not a factor in the three remaining majors of the year, but finished with the most PGA Tour wins in the season, with five. In 2002, he started off strong, joining Nick Faldo (1989–90) and Jack Nicklaus (1965–66) as the only men to have won back-to-back Masters Tournaments.

Two months later, Woods was the only player under par at the U.S. Open, and resurrected buzz about the calendar Grand Slam, which had eluded him in 2000. All eyes were on Woods at the Open Championship, but his third round score of 81 ended Grand Slam hopes. At the PGA Championship, he nearly repeated his 2000 feat of winning three majors in one year, but bogeys at the thirteenth and fourteenth holes in the final round cost him the championship by one stroke. Nonetheless, he took home the money title, Vardon Trophy, and Player of the Year honors for the fourth year in a row.
2003–04: Swing adjustments
Woods putting at Torrey Pines during a practice round at the 108th U.S. Open

The next phase of Woods's career saw him remain among the top competitors on the tour, but lose his dominating edge. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004, falling to second in the PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. In September 2004, his record streak of 264 consecutive weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer came to an end at the Deutsche Bank Championship, when Vijay Singh won and overtook Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Many commentators were puzzled by Woods's "slump," offering explanations that ranged from his rift with swing coach Butch Harmon to his marriage. At the same time, he let it be known that he was again working on changes to his swing, this time in hopes of reducing the wear and tear on his surgically repaired left knee, which was subjected to severe stress in the 1998–2003 version of his swing. Again, he anticipated that once the adjustments were complete, he would return to his previous form.
2005–2007: Resurgence

In the 2005 season, Woods quickly returned to his winning ways. He won the Buick Invitational in January and in March he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral and temporarily return to the Official World Golf Rankings number one position (Singh displaced him once again two weeks later). In April, he finally broke his "drought" in the majors by winning the 2005 Masters Tournament in a playoff, which regained him the number one spot in the World Rankings. Singh and Woods swapped the #1 position several times over the next couple of months, but by early July Woods had reclaimed the top spot for good, propelled further by a victory at the 2005 Open Championship, a win that gave him his 10th major. He went on to win six official money events on the PGA Tour in 2005, topping the money list for the sixth time in his career. His 2005 wins also included two at the World Golf Championships.
Woods on the green at The Masters in 2006.

For Woods, the year 2006 was markedly different from 2005. While he began just as dominantly (winning the first two PGA tournaments he entered on the year) and was in the hunt for his fifth Masters championship in April, he never mounted a Sunday charge to defend his title, allowing Phil Mickelson to claim the green jacket.

Then, on May 3, 2006, Woods's father, mentor and inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Woods took a nine-week hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family. When he returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the rust was evident—he missed the cut at Winged Foot, the first time he had missed the cut at a major as a professional, and ended his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at majors. Still, a tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later showed him poised to defend his Open crown at Hoylake.

At the 2006 Open Championship, Woods almost exclusively used long irons off the tee (he hit driver only one time the entire week—the 16th hole of the first round), he missed just four fairways all week (hitting the fairway 92 percent of the time), and his score of −18 to par (three eagles, nineteen birdies, 43 pars, and seven bogeys) was just one off of his major championship record −19, set at St Andrews in 2000. The victory was an emotional one for Woods, who dedicated his play to his father's memory.

Four weeks later at the 2006 PGA Championship, Woods again won in dominating fashion, making only three bogeys, tying the record for fewest in a major. He finished the tournament at 18-under-par, equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May from 2000. In August 2006, he won his 50th professional tournament at the Buick Open—and at the age of thirty years and seven months, he became the youngest golfer to do so. He ended the year by winning six consecutive PGA Tour events, and won the three most prestigious awards given by the PGA Tour (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Byron Nelson Awards) in the same year for a record seventh time.

At the close of his first eleven seasons, Woods's 54 wins and 12 major wins had surpassed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 51 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for a record-tying fourth time.

Woods and tennis star Roger Federer, who share a major sponsor, first met at the 2006 U.S. Open tennis final. Since then, they have attended each other's events and have voiced their mutual appreciation for each other's talents.

Woods began 2007 with a two-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational for his third straight win at the event and his seventh consecutive win on the PGA Tour. The victory marked the fifth time he had won his first tournament of the season. With this win, he became the third man (after Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead) to win at least five times in three different events on the PGA Tour (his two other events are the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and WGC-CA Championship). He earned his second victory of the year at the WGC-CA Championship for his third consecutive and sixth win overall at the event. With this victory, he became the first player to have three consecutive victories in five different events.

At the 2007 Masters Tournament, Woods was in the final group on the last day of a major for the thirteenth time in his career, but unlike the previous twelve occasions, he was unable to come away with the win. He finished tied for second two strokes behind winner Zach Johnson.
Tiger Woods drives the ball down range at the inaugural Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am Tournament, part of the AT&T National PGA Tour event, July 2007.

Woods earned his third victory of the season by two strokes at the Wachovia Championship, the 24th different PGA Tour tournament he won. He has collected at least three wins in a season nine times in his 12-year career. At the U.S. Open, he was in the final group for the fourth consecutive major championship, but began the day two strokes back and finished tied for second once again. His streak of never having come from behind to win on the final day of a major continued.

In search of a record-tying third consecutive Open Championship, Woods fell out of contention with a second-round 75, and never mounted a charge over the weekend. Although his putting was solid (he sank a 90-footer in the first round), his iron play held him back. "I wasn't hitting the ball as close as I needed to all week," he said, after he finished tied for twelfth, five strokes off the pace.

In early August, Woods won his record 14th World Golf Championships event at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by 8 strokes for his third consecutive and sixth victory overall at the event. He became the first golfer to win the same event three straight times on two different occasions (1999-2001) and (2005-2007). The following week, he won his second straight PGA Championship by defeating Woody Austin by two strokes. He became the first golfer to win the PGA Championship in back-to-back seasons on two different occasions: 1999-2000 and 2006-2007. He became the second golfer, after Sam Snead, to have won at least five events on the PGA Tour in eight different seasons.

Woods earned his 60th PGA Tour victory at the BMW Championship by shooting a course record 63 in the final round to win by two strokes. He sank a fifty-foot putt in the final round and missed only two fairways on the weekend. He led the field in most birdies for the tournament, and ranked in the top five in driving accuracy, driving distance, putts per round, putts per green, and greens in regulation. Woods finished his 2007 season with a runaway victory at the Tour Championship to capture his fourth title in his last five starts of the year. He became the only two-time winner of the event, and the champion of the inaugural FedEx Cup. In his 16 starts on Tour in 2007, his adjusted scoring average was 67.79, matching his own record set in 2000. His substantial leads over the second, third, and fourth players were similar in 2000 (1.46 (Phil Mickelson), 1.52 (Ernie Els), 1.66 (David Duval)) and 2007 (1.50 (Els), 1.51 (Justin Rose), 1.60 (Steve Stricker)).
2008: Injury-shortened season

Woods started the 2008 season with an eight-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational. The win marked his 62nd PGA Tour victory, tying him with Arnold Palmer for fourth on the all time list. This marked his sixth victory at the event, the sixth time he has begun the PGA Tour season with a victory, and his third PGA Tour win in a row. The following week, he was trailing by four strokes going into the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, but made six birdies on the back nine for a dramatic one-stroke victory. He took home his 15th World Golf Championships event at the Accenture Match Play Championship with a record-breaking 8 & 7 victory in the final.

In his next event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods got off to a slow start, finishing the first round at even par and tied for 34th place. After finishing the third round in a five-way tie for first place, he completed his fifth consecutive PGA Tour victory with a dramatic 24-foot putt on the 18th hole to defeat Bart Bryant by a stroke. It was also his fifth career victory in this event. Geoff Ogilvy stopped Woods's run at the WGC-CA Championship, a tournament Woods had won in each of the previous three years. He remains the only golfer to have had more than one streak of at least five straight wins on the PGA Tour.

Despite bold predictions that Woods might again challenge for the Grand Slam, he did not mount a serious charge at the 2008 Masters Tournament, struggling with his putter through each round. He would still finish alone in second, three strokes behind the champion, Trevor Immelman. On April 15, 2008, he underwent his third left knee arthroscopic surgery in Park City, Utah, and missed two months on the PGA Tour. The first surgery he had was in 1994 when he had a benign tumor removed and the second in December 2002. He was named Men's Fitness's Fittest Athlete in the June/July 2008 issue.
Tiger Woods walks off the 8th green at Torrey Pines during a practice round at the 2008 U.S. Open

Woods returned for the 2008 U.S. Open in one of the most anticipated golfing groupings in history between him, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott, the top three golfers in the world. Woods struggled the first day on the course, notching a double bogey on his first hole. He would end the round at +1 (72), four shots off the lead. He scored -3 (68) his second day, still paired with Mickelson, managing 5 birdies, 1 eagle and 4 bogeys. On the third day of the tournament, he started off with a double bogey once again and was trailing by 5 shots with six holes to play. However, he finished the round by making 2 eagle putts, a combined 100 feet (30 m) in length, and a chip-in birdie to take a one shot lead into the final round. His final putt assured that he would be in the final group for the sixth time in the last eight major championships.

On Sunday, June 15, Woods began the day with another double bogey, and trailed Rocco Mediate by one stroke after 71 holes. He winced after several of his tee shots, and sometimes made an effort to keep weight off of his left foot. Woods was behind by one stroke when he reached the final hole. Left with a 12-foot putt for birdie, he made the shot to force an 18-hole playoff with Mediate on Monday. Despite leading by as many as three strokes at one point in the playoff, Woods again dropped back and needed to birdie the 18th to force sudden death with Mediate, and did so. Woods made par on the first sudden death hole; Mediate subsequently missed his par putt, giving Woods his 14th major championship. After the tournament, Mediate said "This guy does things that are just not normal by any stretch of the imagination," and Kenny Perry added, "he beat everybody on one leg."

Two days after winning the U.S. Open, Woods announced that he would be required to undergo reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on his left knee and would miss the remainder of the 2008 golf season including the final two major championships: The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. Woods also revealed that he had been playing for at least 10 months with a torn ligament in his left knee, and sustained a double stress fracture in his left tibia while rehabbing after the surgery he had after the Masters. Publications throughout the world asserted his U.S. Open victory as "epic" and praised his efforts especially after learning of the extent of his knee injury. Woods called it "My greatest ever championship - the best of the 14 because of all the things that have gone on over the past week."

Woods' absence from the remainder of the season caused PGA Tour TV ratings to decline. Overall viewership for the second half of the 2008 season saw a 46.8 percent decline as compared to 2007.
2009: Returning to the PGA Tour

Called "one of the most anticipated returns in sports" by the Associated Press, Woods' first PGA Tour event after an eight month layoff came at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He lost to Tim Clark in the second round. His first stroke play event was the WGC-CA Championship at Doral where he finished 9th (-11). Woods won his first title of the year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he was five strokes behind Sean O'Hair entering the final round. Woods shot a final round 67 and made a 16-foot birdie putt at the final hole to defeat O'Hair by one stroke. Afterwards, he would continue to perform consistently. At The Masters, he finished sixth, four strokes behind eventual winner Ángel Cabrera. Then, despite having the 18-hole lead at the Quail Hollow Championship, he finished two strokes behind Sean O'Hair. At The Players Championship, he played in the final grouping on Sunday, but finished eighth.

Woods won his second event of 2009 at the Memorial Tournament. He trailed by four shots after three rounds but shot a final round 65, which included two consecutive birdies to end the tournament. The win was Woods' fourth at the event. Woods won his third event of the 2009 season on July 5 at the AT&T National, an event hosted by Woods himself. However, for the third time going into a 2009 major, Woods failed to capitalize on his preceding win. Instead, at the 2009 Open Championship, he missed the cut for only the second time in a major championship since turning professional.

On August 2, Woods captured the Buick Open for his fourth win of the season, a three-shot victory over three other players. After firing an opening-round 71 that put him in 95th place and outside of the cutline, Woods responded with a second-round 63, nine-under par, that vaulted him into contention. A third-round 65 put him atop the leaderboard and he coasted to victory with a final-round 69 for a 20-under 268 four-round total. This was the biggest turnaround pro victory to date.

Woods won his 70th career event the following week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He went head-to-head against Pádraig Harrington on Sunday until the 16th, where Harrington made a triple bogey 8 on the par 5 and Woods made birdie. Tiger went on to win the event by 4 strokes over Harrington and Robert Allenby.

At the 2009 PGA Championship, Woods shot a 5-under 67 to take the lead after the first round. He remained leader or co-leader through the second and third rounds. Going into the final round, Woods had a 2 stroke lead at 8-under. However, at the 68th hole, Woods was overtaken for the first time atop the leaderboard by Yang Yong-eun. Yang eventually won the tournament by three strokes over Woods who finished second. It marked the first time that Woods would fail to win a major when leading or co-leading after 54 holes and the first time he had lost any tournament on American soil when leading by more than one shot. It also meant that Woods would end the year without a major for the first time since 2004.

Woods won his 71st career title at the BMW Championship. The win moved him to first place in the FedEx Cup standings going into the final playoff event. It was his fifth win at the BMW Championship (including three wins as the Western Open) and marked the fifth time he had won an event five or more times in his career on the PGA Tour. Woods finished second at The Tour Championship to win his second FedEx Cup title.

At the 2009 Presidents Cup, Woods had an impressive and equally spectacular performance in which he won all five of his matches at the event. He joined his friend Mark O'Meara, who won all five of his matches at the 1996 Presidents Cup, and Shigeki Maruyama, who accomplished this feat in the 1998 Presidents Cup. In all three instances, their respective teams won the competition. Woods was paired with Steve Stricker all four rounds of the competition in foursomes and four-ball. On the first day of foursomes, they won 6 and 4 over the team of Ryo Ishikawa and Geoff Ogilvy. In Friday's match of four-ball, they won over the team of Ángel Cabrera and Geoff Ogilvy, 5 and 3. On Saturday, they beat the team of Tim Clark and Mike Weir after trailing for most of the match by winning the 17th and 18th holes to win 1-up in morning foursomes, and in the afternoon four-ball they defeated the team of Ryo Ishikawa and Y. E. Yang by the score of 4 and 2. In the singles match, Woods was paired with his nemesis from the 2009 PGA Championship, Yang. Yang grabbed the quick 1-up lead on the first hole, but on the third hole lost the lead and Woods went onto win the match by a score of 6 and 5. In addition, Woods was the one who clinched the Cup for the United States, which was his first time ever in his career he had the honor and opportunity to do this in a team event competition.

In November 2009, Woods was paid $3.3 million to play in the JBWere Masters, held at Kingston Heath in Melbourne, Australia from November 12 to 15. The event was sold out for the first time. He went on to win at 14 under par, two strokes over Australian Greg Chalmers, marking his 38th European Tour win and his first win of the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Woods has established several charitable and youth projects.

   * The Tiger Woods Foundation: The Tiger Woods Foundation was established in 1996 by Woods and his father Earl. It focuses on projects for children. Initially these comprised golf clinics (aimed especially at disadvantaged children), and a grant program. Further activities added since then include university scholarships, an association with Target House at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee; the Start Something character development program, which reached one million participants by 2003; and the Tiger Woods Learning Center. The Tiger Woods Foundation recently has teamed up with the PGA Tour to create a new PGA tour event that will take place in the nation's capital (Washington, D.C.) beginning in July, 2007.
   * In The City Golf Clinics and Festivals: Since 1997, the Tiger Woods Foundation has conducted junior golf clinics across the country. The Foundation began the “In the City” golf clinic program in 2003. The first three clinics were held in Indio, California, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and were targeted to all youth, ages 7–17, and their families. Each three-day event features golf lessons on Thursday and Friday of clinic week and a free community festival on Saturday. Host cities invite 15 junior golfers to participate in the annual Tiger Woods Foundation Youth Clinic. This three-day junior golf event includes tickets to Disney Resorts, a junior golf clinic, and an exhibition by Tiger Woods.
   * Tiger Woods Learning Center: This is a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) educational facility in Anaheim, California which opened in February 2006. It is expected to be used by several thousand students each year in grades 4 to 12. The center features seven classrooms, extensive multi-media facilities and an outdoor golf teaching area.
   * Tiger Jam: An annual fundraising concert which has raised over $10 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation. Past performers at Tiger Jam include Sting, Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder.
   * Chevron World Challenge: An annual off-season charity golf tournament. The event carries generous prize money, and in 2007 Woods donated his $1.35 million first-place check to his Learning Center.
   * Tiger Woods Foundation National Junior Golf Team: An eighteen member team which competes in the annual Junior World Golf Championships.

Woods has also participated in charity work for his current caddy, Steve Williams. On April 24, 2006 Woods won an auto racing event that benefited the Steve Williams Foundation to raise funds to provide sporting careers for disadvantaged youth
   * PGA Tour wins (71)
   * European Tour wins (38)
   * Japan Golf Tour wins (2)
   * Asian Tour wins (1)
   * PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)
   * Other professional wins (15)
   * Amateur wins (21)

Major championships
Wins (14)


   * Complete through the 2009 season.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee212/alexis_bk/dynamic_resize.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq242/playboypaul1/tiger-woods-00.jpg
http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq58/1260mjw/tiger_woods.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b43/melvillefan/Tiger%20Conspiracy/s-MENS-FITNESS-large.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 5:04 am

The co-birthday of the day...Davey Jones
Davy Jones (born David Thomas Jones 30 December 1945) is an English pop singer-songwriter and actor best known as a member of The Monkees. Jones was born in Manchester, England on 30 December 1945. He lost his mother to emphysema when he was 14 years old. His father had hopes for him as a jockey, and just after his mother died, his father sent him to live with Basil Foster to train. Basil was approached by a friend who worked in the theatre on the West End of London during casting. Basil said, "I've got the kid." Jones then became more interested in being in show business. As a teenager he appeared on British TV soap operas, including Coronation Street. He appeared to great acclaim in the musical Oliver! as the Artful Dodger, playing the role both in London and on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award. On 9 February 1964, he appeared with the Broadway cast of Oliver on the Ed Sullivan show, the same episode on which The Beatles made their first appearance. Jones says of that night, "I watched the Beatles from the side of the stage, I saw the girls going crazy, and I said to myself, this is it, I want a piece of that."

Ward Sylvester of Screen Gems (then the television division of Columbia Pictures) signed Jones to a contract, following his Ed Sullivan appearance. A pair of American television appearances followed, in episodes of Ben Casey and The Farmer's Daughter. He also recorded a single and album for Colpix Records, which charted but weren't huge hits.

From 1965 to 1971, Jones was a member of The Monkees, a pop-rock group formed expressly for a TV show of the same name. With Screen Gems producing the series, Jones was shortlisted for auditions, as he was the only Monkee who was signed to a deal with the studio, but still had to meet producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider's standards.

He appeared in one episode of The Brady Bunch and in two episodes of Love, American Style. He also appeared, in animated form, on an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies plus Spongebob Squarepants in Spongebob Vs. The Big One as himself.

As a Monkee, Jones sang lead vocals on many of the group's songs, including "I Wanna Be Free" and "Daydream Believer." After the show went off the air and the group disbanded, he continued to perform solo, later joining with fellow-Monkee Micky Dolenz and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart as a short-lived group called Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart.

He guest-starred as himself on the TV Show Sabrina The Teenage Witch and sang Daydream Believer to Sabrina.

In 1978 he appeared with Micky Dolenz in Harry Nilsson's play The Point at the Mermaid Theatre in London. Jones as Oblio and Dolenz as The Count. Also, Jones makes a cameo appearance as himself in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "SpongeBob vs. The Big One" (his appearance was meant to be a pun on Davy Jones' Locker).

In recent years, Jones performed with his former bandmates in reunion tours and appeared in several productions of Oliver! as Fagin. He continued to race horses with some success in his native England, while residing in Beavertown, Pennsylvania, United States. He owns and races horses in the United States and served as a commercial spokesman for Colonial Downs racetrack in Virginia. He has a residence in Stuart, Florida.

In April 2006, Jones recorded the single "Your Personal Penguin," written by children's author Sandra Boynton, as a companion piece to her new board book of the same title. On 1 November 2007, the Boynton book and CD titled "Blue Moo" was released. Davy is featured in the book and on the CD, singing "Your Personal Penguin" and has become a close friend of Boynton as a result of the project. In 2007 Jones also recorded the theme for a campy movie comedy called Sexina: Popstar PI.

Jones also performed in the 2009 Flower Power Concert Series during Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival.

In December 2008, Yahoo Music named Davy Jones #1 teen idol of all time. In 2009 Jones was rated second in a list of 10 best teen idols compiled by Fox News.

In October 2009, Jones put to rest any rumours concerning a Monkees' reunion, stating he has no desire to work with the band. "It's not a case of dollars and cents. It's a case of satisfying yourself," said Jones. "I don't have anything to prove. The Monkees proved it for me."
Singles
Date Label/Catalog # Titles (A-side / B-side) Billboard Top Singles Cashbox Notes
??/1965 Colpix CP-764 Dream Girl / Take Me To Paradise
-

-
Credited as "David Jones."
??/1965 Colpix CP-784 What Are We Going To Do? / This Bouquet
93

94
Credited as "Mr. David Jones."
??/1965 Colpix CP-793 The Girl From Chelsea / Theme For A New Love
-

-
Credited as "David Jones."
04/1971 Bell 986 Do It In The Name Of Love / Lady Jane
-

-
By Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. Released as by "The Monkees" in some countries, this is technically the group's last single during their original run, although by this point they had lost the rights to the name.
06/1971 Bell 45-111 Rainy Jane / Welcome To My Love
52

32

10/1971 Bell 45-136 I Really Love You / Sittin' In The Apple Tree
-

98

11/1971 Bell 45-159 Girl / Take My Love
-

-

01/1972 Bell 45-178 I'll Believe In You / Road To Love
-

-

??/1972 MGM K14458 You're A Lady / Who Was It
-

-

??/1973 MGM K14524 Rubberene / Rubberene
-

-
This single was released as a promo copy only.
05/1978 Warner Brothers 17161 (Hey Ra Ra Ra) Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse / You Don't Have To Be A Country Boy To Sing A Country Song
-

-
Issued in England only to commemorate Mickey Mouse's 50th Birthday
05/1981 Japan JAS-2007 It's Now / How Do You Know
-

-
Released in Japan only.
06/1981 Japan JAS-2010 Dance Gypsy / Can She Do It (Like She Dances)
-

-
Released in Japan only.
03/1982 Pioneer K-1517 Sixteen (Baby, You'll Soon Be Sixteen) / Baby, Hold Out
-

-
Released in Japan only.
12/1984 No Label JJ2001 I'll Love You Forever / When I Look Back On Christmas
-

-
Released in England only.
??/1987 Powderworks 374 After Your Heart / Hippy Hippy Shake
-

-
Released in Australia only.

NOTES: Jones recorded two singles with former Monkee Micky Dolenz and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart under the group name "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart" on Capitol Records in 1975. They were "I Remember The Feeling"/"You & I" (Capitol 4180) and "I Love You (And I'm Glad That I Said It)"/"Savin' My Love For You" (Capitol 4271). Jones also released a single with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork in 1976 titled "Christmas Is My Time of Year" / "White Christmas" (Christmas CDS-700/701) which saw a rerelease in 1986 (Christmas CDS-702/703). Lastly, Jones had an EP release in the UK with Micky Dolenz culling tracks from their performance in Harry Nilsson's "The Point!" performance in London in 1978: "Lifeline" (Jones) / "It's A Jungle Out There" (Dolenz) / "Gotta Get Up" (Jones & Dolenz). It was released as MCA 348.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p61/LBowles65/daveyjones1.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e273/Slim_Teut92/scowl.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 5:13 am

* Michael Nesmith..Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942) is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, perhaps best known for his time in the musical group The Monkees and on the TV series of the same name. Michael Nesmith is notable as a songwriter, including "Different Drum" sung by Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys, as well as executive producer of the cult film Repo Man. In 1981 Nesmith won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts. From 1965 to early 1970, Nesmith and Jones were members of the pop rock band The Monkees, created for the television situation comedy of the same name. The only Monkee to learn of the audition from the famous press advertisement asking for "four insane boys", Nesmith won his role largely by appearing blasé when he auditioned. He further distinguished himself by carrying a bag of laundry to be done on the way home, and wearing a wool cap to keep his hair out of his eyes, riding his motorcycle to the audition. Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered "Wool Hat", and called Nesmith back.

Once he was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs so they could be used in the show. Many of the songs Nesmith wrote for The Monkees, such as "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", "Mary, Mary", and "Listen to the Band" became minor hits. One song he wrote, "You Just May Be The One", is in mixed meter, interspersing 5/4 bars into an otherwise 4/4 structure.

The Gretsch guitar company built a one-off natural finish 12-string electric guitar for Nesmith when he was performing with The Monkees (Gretsch had a promotional deal with the group). He earlier played a customized Gretsch twelve-string, which had originally been a six-string model.

As with the other Monkees, Nesmith came to be frustrated by the manufactured image of the whole project. He was permitted to write and produce two songs per album, and his music was frequently featured in episodes of the series.

The Monkees succeeded in ousting supervisor Don Kirshner (with Nesmith punching a hole in a wall, to make a point with Kirshner and attorney Herb Moelis), and took control of their records and song choices, but they worked as a four-man group on only one album. The band never overcame the credibility problems they faced when word spread that they had not played on their first records (at Nesmith's instigation, calling the band's first non-studio press conference, where he called More of The Monkees "probably the worst record in the history of the world"). However, their singles and albums continued to sell well, until the disastrous release of Head.

Nesmith's last Monkees commitment was a Kool-Aid commercial, in April 1970. With the band's fortunes continuing to fall, Nesmith asked to be released from his contract, and had to pay a default: "I had three years left... at $150,000 a year," which he had to pay back. He continued to feel the financial bite for years afterwards, telling Playboy in 1980 "I had to start telling little tales to the tax man while they were putting tags on the furniture.". Indeed, while Nesmith had continued to produce his compositions with the Monkees, he withheld many of the songs from the final Monkees' albums, only to release them on his post-Monkees solo records.
Later career
Further information: Pacific Arts Corporation

As he prepared for his exit from The Monkees, Nesmith was approached by John Ware of The Corvettes, a band that featured Nesmith's friend John London (who played on some of the earliest pre-Monkees Nesmith 45s as well as numerous Monkees sessions) and had 45s produced by Nesmith for the Dot label in 1969. Ware wanted Nesmith to put together a band. Nesmith said he would be interested only if noted pedal steel player Orville "Red" Rhodes would be a part of the project, and a long musical partnership was born that would continue until Rhodes' untimely death in 1995. The new band was christened Michael Nesmith and the First National Band and went on to record three albums for RCA Records in 1970.

Nesmith has been considered one of the pioneers of country-rock (along with Gram Parsons) and had moderate commercial success with the First National Band. Their second single, Joanne hit #21 on the Billboard chart & #17 on Cashbox, with the follow-up "Silver Moon" making #42 Billboard/#28 Cashbox. Two more singles charted ("Nevada Fighter" #70 Billboard/#73 Cashbox & "Propinquity" #95 Cashbox) and the first two LP's charted in the lower regions of the Billboard album chart. No clear answer has ever been given for the band's breakup, the albums they recorded remain on par with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and New Riders of the Purple Sage as some of the best country-rock music.

Nesmith followed up with the Second National Band, a band that besides Nesmith, consisted of Michael Cohen (keyboards and Moog), Johnny Meeks (bass), Jack Panelli (drums) and the always present Orville Rhodes (pedal steel), as well as an appearance by singer, musician, and songwriter José Feliciano (conga drums). The album, Tantamount to Treason, Volume I, was a commercial and critical disaster. Nesmith then recorded And The Hits Just Keep On Comin', featuring only him on guitar and Red Rhodes on pedal steel.

Nesmith got more heavily involved in producing, and was given a label of his own through Elektra Records, Countryside. It featured a number of artists that were produced by Nesmith, including Garland Frady and Red Rhodes. The staff band at Countryside also helped Nesmith on his next, and last, RCA album, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash.

In the mid-1970s Nesmith briefly collaborated as a songwriter with Linda Hargrove, resulting in the tune "I've Never Loved Anyone More", a hit for Lynn Anderson and recorded by many others, as well as the songs "Winonah" and "If You Will Walk With Me" which were both recorded by Hargrove. Of all three songs, only "Winonah" was recorded by Nesmith himself. During this same period, Nesmith started his multimedia company Pacific Arts, which initially put out audio records, 8-tracks and cassettes, followed in 1981 with "video records." Nesmith recorded a number of LPs for his label, and had a moderate worldwide hit in 1977 with his song "Rio", the single taken from the album From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing.

During this time, Nesmith created a video clip for "Rio" which, in a roundabout way, helped spur Nesmith's creation of a television program called Pop Clips for the Nickelodeon cable network. In 1980, Nesmith's Pop Clips was sold to Time Warner/Amex consortium. Time Warner/Amex developed Pop Clips into the MTV network. Nesmith's single "Cruisin'" was the first video of the MTV generation. Nesmith also won the first Grammy Award (1981) given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts and also had a short-lived series on NBC inspired by the video called "Michael Nesmith in Television Parts". Television Parts concept however included many other artists who were unknown at the time but who went on to become major stars in their own right. Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Whoopi Goldberg, Arsenio Hall all became well known artists after their appearances on Nesmith's show. The basic concept of the show was to have comics render their stand-up routines into short comedy films much like the ones in Elephant Parts. Nesmith assembled writers Jack Handy, William Martin, John Levenstein, and Michael Kaplan; Directors William Dear (who had directed Elephant Parts) and Alan Myerson, and Producer Ward Sylvester to create the show. The half hour show show ran for 8 episodes in the summer of 1985 on NBC Thursday nights in prime time.

Pacific Arts Video became a pioneer in the home video market, producing and distributing a wide variety of videotaped programs. Pacific Arts Video eventually ceased operations after an acrimonious contract dispute with PBS over home video licensing rights and payments for several series, including Ken Burns' The Civil War. The dispute escalated into a law suit that went to jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles. On February 3, 1999, a jury awarded Nesmith and his company Pacific Arts $48.875 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damages, prompting his widely-quoted comment, "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief." PBS appealed the ruling, but the appeal never reached the court, and a settlement was reached with the amount paid to Pacifc Arts and Nesmith results kept confidential.

He was the executive producer for the movies Repo Man, Tapeheads, and Timerider, as well as his own solo recording and film projects. In 1998, Nesmith published his first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora. His latest album, Rays was released on April 4, 2006.

During the 1990s, Nesmith, as Trustee and President of the Gihon foundation, hosted the Council on Ideas, a gathering of intellectuals from different fields who were asked to identify the most important issues of their day and publish the result. The Gihon ceased the program in 2000 and started a new Program for the Performing Arts.

In 1992, Nesmith undertook a concert tour of North America to promote the CD release of his RCA solo albums (although he included the song "Rio", from the album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing. The concert tour ended at the Britt Festival in Oregon. A video, Live at the Britt Festival, and a CD, Live at the Britt Festival were released capturing the 1992 concert .

In 1995, he reunited with the Monkees to record their last studio album (and first to feature all four since Head) titled Justus, released in 1996. He also wrote and directed a Monkees television special, and briefly toured the UK with the band in 1997.

Nesmith's first novel "The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora" was developed originally as an online project and was later published as a hard cover book by St Martin's Press. Nesmith's second novel "The America Gene" was released in July, 2009 as an online download from Videoranch.com.

Nesmith spent a decade as a board of trustees member, nominating member and vice-chair of the American Film Institute and is currently President and chairman of the board of trustees of the Gihon Foundation.

Nesmith's current project is Videoranch 3D, a virtual environment on the internet that hosts live performances at various virtual venues inside the Ranch. He performed live inside Videoranch 3D on May 25, 2009. (http://www.videoranch.com/html/musicrise.html)

In the early 1980s, Nesmith teamed up with satirist P.J. O'Rourke to ride his vehicle Timerider in the annual Baja 1000 roadrace. This is chronicled in O'Rourke's 2009 book Driving Like Crazy.
U.S. Singles
Date Label/Catalog # Titles (A-side / B-side) Billboard Top Singles Cashbox Billboard Adult Contemp Notes
1963 Highness HN-13 Wanderin' / Well Well
-

-

-
Credited as "Mike Nesmith." Vanity pressing.
1963 Omnibus 239 How Can You Kiss Me / Just A Little Love
-

-

-
Credited as "Mike & John & Bill." John London is the bassist, later of Nesmith's First National Band. Bill Sleeper is the drummer. (The trio broke up when Sleeper was drafted into the US Army.)
01/1966 Edan 1001 Just A Little Love / Curson Terrace
-

-

-
A-side is same as Omnibus 239. B-side is credited to "Mike & Tony" and has no Nesmith involvement.
10/1965 Colpix CP-787 The New Recruit / A Journey With Michael Blessing
-

-

-
Credited to "Michael Blessing."
01/1966 Colpix CP-792 Until It's Time For You To Go / What Seems To Be The Trouble Officer
-

-

-
Credited to "Michael Blessing."
04/1966 RCA 47-8807 Do Not Ask For Love / Buttermilk
-

-

-
Credited to "The New Society." A-side has no Nesmith involvement. B-side was verified by Bill Chadwick, member of the group, as having Nesmith as a background vocalist.
07/1968 Dot 45-17152 Tapioca Tundra / Don't Cry Now
-

-

-
Credited to "The Wichita Train Whistle." Group was created and led by Nesmith, though he does not appear on the recordings as either musician or vocalist. "Don't Cry Now" is edited from LP version.
07/1970 RCA 47-9853 Little Red Rider / Rose City Chimes
-

-

-
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band."
08/1970 RCA 74-0368 "Joanne"/ One Rose
21

17

6
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band."
11/1970 RCA 74-0399 Silver Moon / Lady of the Valley
42

28

7
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band."
04/1971 RCA 74-0453 Nevada Fighter / Here I Am
70

73

-
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band." Issued with picture sleeve.
06/1971 RCA 74-0491 Texas Morning / Tumbling Tumbleweeds
-

-

-
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band." Single released as promo with both songs on B-side and "Texas" only on A-side with release #SPS-45-263.
06/1971 RCA 74-0540 I've Just Begun To Care (Propinquity) / Only Bound
-

95

-
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band."
01/1972 RCA 74-0629 Mama Rocker / Lazy Lady
-

-

-
Credited to "Michael Nesmith and the Second National Band." "Mama Rocker" is faded out early versus LP version.
08/1972 RCA 74-0804 Roll With The Flow / Keep On
-

-

-
"Roll With The Flow" is edited from LP version.
1976 RCA 447-0868 Joanne / Silver Moon
-

-

-
Reissue credited to "Michael Nesmith and the First National Band." Early pressings on red label, later pressings on black label.
03/1977 Pacific Arts WIP6373 Rio / Life, The Unsuspecting Captive
-

-

-

06/1978 Pacific Arts PAC-101 Roll With The Flow / I've Just Begun To Care
-

-

-
Both songs are edited from the LP versions.
1978? Pacific Arts PAC-104 Rio / Casablanca Moonlight
-

-

-
Issued with picture sleeve.
06/1979 Pacific Arts PAC-106 Magic / Dance
-

-

-

08/1979 Pacific Arts PAC-108 Cruisin' / Horserace
-

-

-

1998 Collectibles COL-4759 Joanne / Silver Moon
-

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n209/pattygoody/mn9.jpg
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww272/gamblingbee/personal%20pictures/Michael_Nesmith.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 5:28 am

* Jeff Lynne..Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947 in Shard End, Birmingham) is a two-time Ivor Novello Award recipient and Grammy Award-winning English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, guitarist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys. Lynne has produced recordings for artists such as The Beatles, Brian Wilson, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Tom Petty. He has co-written songs with Petty and also with George Harrison whose 1987 album Cloud Nine was co-produced by Lynne and Harrison. His compositions include "Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Livin' Thing", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman".

In 2008, The Washington Times named Lynne the fourth greatest record producer in music history..Lynne contributed songs to The Move's last two albums while formulating, with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, a band built around a fusion of rock and European classical music, a project which would eventually become the highly successful Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Problems led to Wood's departure in 1972, after the band's eponymous first album, leaving Jeff Lynne as the band's dominant creative force. Thereafter followed a succession of band personnel changes and increasingly popular albums: 1973's ELO II and On The Third Day, 1974's Eldorado and 1975's Face the Music.
Electric Light Orchestra (1973) On the Third Day US album cover.

By A New World Record, Lynne had almost completely abandoned the roots of the group for a dense and unique pop-rock sound mixed with studio strings and layered vocals and tight, catchy pop singles. Jeff Lynne's now almost complete creative dominance as producer, songwriter, arranger, lead singer and guitarist could make ELO appear to be an almost solo effort. However, the ELO sound and the focus of Lynne's writing was also indelibly shaped by Louis Clark's co-arranging (notably the large string sections), Bev Bevan's driving, primitivist drumming, and Richard Tandy's integration of then-novel keyboard technology.

The pinnacle of ELO's chart success and worldwide popularity was the expansive 1977 double album Out of the Blue, which was largely conceived in a Swiss chalet during a two-week writing marathon. The band's 1978 world tour featured an elaborate "space ship" set and laser light show. In order to recreate the complex instrumental textures of their albums, the band used pre-recorded supplemental backing tracks in live performances. Although that practice has now become commonplace, it caused considerable derision in the press of the time. Jeff Lynne has often stated that he prefers the creative environment of the studio to the rigours and tedium of touring.

In 1979, Lynne followed up the success of Out of the Blue with Discovery, an album primarily associated with its two disco-flavored singles ("Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London") and with a title that was a word play on "disco" and "very" . However, the remaining seven non-disco tracks on the album reflected Lynne's range as a pop-rock songwriter, including a heavy, mid-tempo rock anthem ("Don't Bring Me Down") that, despite its use of a drum loop, could be considered the antithesis of disco. In an April 2008 interview, Lynne fondly recalled his forays into dance music:
“ I love the force of disco. I love the freedom it gave me to make a different rhythms across it. I enjoyed that really steady driving beat. Just steady as a rock. I’ve always liked that simplicity in the bass drum.

In 1979, Lynne rejected an offer for ELO to headline the Knebworth Concert in the UK, allowing Led Zeppelin to headline instead.

In the absence of any touring to support Discovery, Lynne had time to contribute five tracks to the soundtrack for the 1980 movie musical Xanadu (film). The score yielded a pair of top-40 singles, with "Xanadu" reaching number one in the UK. Nevertheless, Lynne was not integrated into the development of the film and his material subsequently had only superficial attachment to the plot. Despite its later resurgence as a cult favourite, Xanadu performed weakly at the box-office. Lynne subsequently disavowed his limited contribution to the project, although he later re-recorded the title song (with his lead vocal) for the 2000 box-set Flashback. In 2007, the film was loosely adapted into a successful Broadway musical, incorporating almost all of the songs from the original film, and also using two other ELO hits: Strange Magic and Evil Woman.

In 1981, Lynne took the band in a somewhat different direction with the science-fiction themed album Time, reaching number one for two weeks in the UK, producing the second Top 3 single in less than two years, jettisoning the strings in favour of heavily synthesised textures. Following a marginally successful tour, Lynne kept this general approach with 1983's Secret Messages and a final contractually-obligated ELO album Balance of Power in 1986. Although ELO could still get a hit single into the Top 40, Lynne is assumed to have tired of the artistic constraints and promotional demands imposed by the ELO concept. Lynne discusses the contractually-obligated nature of the final albums on the short interview included with the 'Zoom' DVD. With only three remaining official members (Lynne, Bevan and Tandy) and the trending of pop music toward a new generation of video-friendly acts, ELO had run its course and Lynne began devoting his full energy to producing.

During his time in the Electric Light Orchestra, Lynne did manage to release a few recordings under his own name. In 1976, Lynne covered The Beatles songs "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Nowhere Man" for All This and World War II. In 1977, Lynne released his first ever solo single, the disco-flavoured "Doin' That Crazy Thing"/"Goin' Down To Rio". Despite ELO's high profile at that time, it received little airplay and failed to chart. In 1984 Lynne and ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy contributed two original songs "Video!" and "Let It Run" to the film Electric Dreams (he also provided a third song, "Sooner or Later", which was released as the b-side of "Video!"). Lynne also wrote the song "The Story of Me" which was recorded by the Everly Brothers on their comeback album EB84.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/armchair79/JEFF.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii129/renammbd/images-8.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/30/09 at 6:54 am


Sounds like Howard is missing Sir Billzy... ;)


NOPE! :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/30/09 at 6:57 am

Now it looks like he's spending time with Rachel Uchitel.  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/30/09 at 7:36 am


I've always been a fan of Mary Tyler-Moore but never knew half the things about her you mentioned in her bio, Nnny. Nice job. thanks for posting.  :)


I really enjoyed The Mary Tyler Moore Show!  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/30/09 at 7:38 am

That bio on Mike Nesmith made for interesting reading.

Jeff Lynne ... one of the all time greats. He had a purple patch with hose songs mentioned in the bio ("Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Livin' Thing", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman").  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 8:33 am


I really enjoyed The Mary Tyler Moore Show!  :)

As did I. :)

That bio on Mike Nesmith made for interesting reading.

Jeff Lynne ... one of the all time greats. He had a purple patch with hose songs mentioned in the bio ("Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Livin' Thing", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman").  :)

I was thinking it was too much reading, but if you read it..I guess not
ELO had some great songs. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 8:36 am


Now it looks like he's spending time with Rachel Uchitel.  ::)

Doing the party scene together.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/30/09 at 12:10 pm

I met Davey Jones. My mother was working at a theatre and he was one of the actors (preforming in the play The Boyfriend along with Mary Jo Catlett from Differ't Strokes fame as well as other stuff). My mother introduced me to him. She told him that I wanted to go into acting. We shook hands and he asked me about it and I was totally speechless.  :-[  My mother had a big cast party at our house and he was supposed to come to it but didn't.  :\'( :\'( :\'(  I could say that I felt like Marcia Brady but that didn't happen. But Mary Jo Catlett did. I still have her autograph somewhere. I don't think I got Davey's.



BTW, Mike Nesmith was the driving force behind the formation of a little channel called MTV.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 12/30/09 at 12:28 pm


I met Davey Jones. My mother was working at a theatre and he was one of the actors (preforming in the play The Boyfriend along with Mary Jo Catlett from Differ't Strokes fame as well as other stuff). My mother introduced me to him. She told him that I wanted to go into acting. We shook hands and he asked me about it and I was totally speechless.  :-
As did I. :)I was thinking it was too much reading, but if you read it..I guess not
ELO had some great songs. :)


E.L.O, one of the better 70s bands. Telephone Line, Evil woman, Can't get it out of my head...good stuff.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/30/09 at 12:30 pm


I met Davey Jones. My mother was working at a theatre and he was one of the actors (preforming in the play The Boyfriend along with Mary Jo Catlett from Differ't Strokes fame as well as other stuff). My mother introduced me to him. She told him that I wanted to go into acting. We shook hands and he asked me about it and I was totally speechless.  :-[  My mother had a big cast party at our house and he was supposed to come to it but didn't.  :\'( :\'( :\'(  I could say that I felt like Marcia Brady but that didn't happen. But Mary Jo Catlett did. I still have her autograph somewhere. I don't think I got Davey's.



BTW, Mike Nesmith was the driving force behind the formation of a little channel called MTV.




Cat

Wow that is real interesting :) I know I would be nervous meeting anyone famous. Mary Jo was she the second housekeeper?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/30/09 at 1:05 pm


Wow that is real interesting :) I know I would be nervous meeting anyone famous. Mary Jo was she the second housekeeper?



Yup-she was. She was also on M*A*S*H (the Nurses episode where Margaret started crying to the nurses because they never offered her a lousy cup of coffee), on the old Black Flag commercials as well as the "Spirit of the first turkey lovers." I think she also does a voice on Spongebob.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/30/09 at 6:58 pm

Jeff Lynne was also with Traveling Wilburys.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 12/30/09 at 7:39 pm

I'm a big fan of E.L.O. and enjoyed the bio on Jeff Lynne. Thanks for posting, Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:24 am


Jeff Lynne was also with Traveling Wilburys.

Yes he was,with Tom Petty, George Harrison,Roy Orbison & Bob Dylan

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:25 am


I'm a big fan of E.L.O. and enjoyed the bio on Jeff Lynne. Thanks for posting, Ninny.  :)

I've always enjoyed their music. Glad you enjoyed it :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:30 am

The word of the day...Ventriloquist
A ventriloquist is someone who can speak without moving their lips and who entertains people by making their words appear to be spoken by a puppet
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/kitlika/ventriloquist.gif
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m301/OAKLEYRETAIL/Retail%20Assault%202008/RetailAssault2008101.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn185/gwar2d2/IAmBatman%20customs/Ventriloquist.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e18/spraggero1/Ventriloquist.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb201/pavementarian/ramdas.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/Irk-portfolio/vent1.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/pink_hippo_photos/comedy-ventriloquist-2.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu51/666gravedancer666/dummie8.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/WillsonPhotography/_AWW4037.jpg
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr139/HDSCOLLECTIBLES/IMG_4686.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:34 am

The birthday of the day...Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh film, stage and television actor. Considered to be one of film's greatest living actors, he is known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, its sequel, Hannibal, and its prequel, Red Dragon. Other prominent film credits include Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon and Fracture. Hopkins was born and raised in Wales, and became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003 and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
In 1965, after several years in repertory, he was spotted by Sir Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre. Hopkins became Olivier's understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a production of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death. Olivier later noted in his memoir, Confessions of an Actor, that, "A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth."

Despite his success at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in movies. In 1968, he got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I, along with Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and future James Bond star Timothy Dalton, who played Philip II of France.

Although Hopkins continued in theatre (most notably at the National Theatre as Lambert Le Roux in Pravda by David Hare and Howard Brenton and as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra opposite Judi Dench as well as in the Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by John Dexter) he gradually moved away from it to become more established as a television and film actor. He made his small-screen debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. He has since gone on to enjoy a long career, winning many plaudits and awards for his performances. Hopkins was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and a Knight Bachelor in 1993 In 1996, Hopkins was awarded an honorary fellowship from the University of Wales, Lampeter.

Hopkins has stated that his role as Burt Munro, whom he portrayed in his 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian, was his favourite. He also asserted that Munro was the easiest role that he had played because both men have a similar outlook on life.

In 2006, Hopkins was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. In 2008, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.

Hopkins is set to portray Odin, the father of Thor, in the upcoming film adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor.
Acting style

Hopkins is renowned for his preparation for roles. He has confessed in interviews that once he has committed to a project, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed (sometimes upwards of 200) until the lines sound natural to him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This leads to an almost casual style of delivery that belies the amount of groundwork done beforehand. While it can allow for some careful improvisation, it has also brought him into conflict with the occasional director who departs from the script, or demands what the actor views as an excessive number of takes. Hopkins has stated that after he is finished with a scene, he simply discards the lines, not remembering them later on. This is unlike others who usually remember their lines from a film even years later. Richard Attenborough, who has directed Hopkins on five occasions, found himself going to great lengths during the filming of Shadowlands (1993) to accommodate the differing approaches of his two stars (Hopkins and Debra Winger), who shared many scenes. Whereas Hopkins liked to keep rehearsals to a minimum, preferring the spontaneity of a fresh take, Winger rehearsed continuously. To allow for this, Attenborough stood in for Hopkins during Winger's rehearsals, only bringing him in for the last one before a take. The director praised Hopkins for "this extraordinary ability to make you believe when you hear him that it is the very first time he has ever said that line. It's an incredible gift."

In addition, Hopkins is a gifted mimic, adept at turning his native Welsh accent into whatever is required by a character. He duplicated the voice of his late mentor, Laurence Olivier, for additional scenes in Spartacus in its 1991 restoration. His interview on the 1998 relaunch edition of the British TV talk show Parkinson featured an impersonation of comedian Tommy Cooper.
Hannibal Lecter

Hopkins' most famous role is as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992, opposite Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, who won for Best Actress. The film won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is the shortest lead performance to win an Oscar, as Hopkins only appears on screen for little over sixteen minutes. Hopkins reprised his role as Lecter twice (Hannibal in 2001, Red Dragon in 2002). His original portrayal of the character in The Silence of the Lambs has been labelled by the American Film Institute as the number-one film villain. At the time he was offered the role, Hopkins was making a return to the London stage, performing in M. Butterfly. He had come back to Britain after living for a number of years in Hollywood, having all but given up on a career there, saying, "Well that part of my life's over; it's a chapter closed. I suppose I'll just have to settle for being a respectable actor poncing around the West End and doing respectable BBC work for the rest of my life."

Hopkins played the iconic villain in adaptations of the first three of the Lecter novels by Thomas Harris. The author was reportedly very pleased with Hopkins' portrayal of his antagonist. However, Hopkins stated that Red Dragon would feature his final performance as the character, and that he would not reprise even a narrative role in the latest addition to the series, Hannibal Rising.
Hopkins is a talented pianist. In 1986, he released a single called "Distant Star". It peaked at #75 in the UK charts. In 2007, he announced he would retire temporarily from the screen to tour around the world. Hopkins has also written music for the concert hall, in collaboration with Stephen Barton as orchestrator. These compositions include The Masque of Time, given its world premiere with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in October 2008, and Schizoid Salsa.

In 1996, Hopkins directed his first film, August, an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya set in Wales. His first screenplay, an experimental drama called Slipstream, which he also directed and scored, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.

Hopkins is a fan of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, and once remarked in an interview how he would love to appear in the series. Writer John Sullivan saw the interview, and with Hopkins in mind created the character Danny Driscoll, a local villain. However, filming of the new series coincided with the filming of The Silence of the Lambs, making Hopkins unavailable. The role instead went to his friend Roy Marsden.

Hopkins has played many famous historical and fictional characters including:

    * John Quincy Adams (Amistad, 1997)
    * Pierre Bezukhov (War and Peace, 1972)
    * William Bligh (The Bounty, 1984)
    * Donald Campbell (Across the Lake, 1988)
    * Count Galeazzo Ciano (Mussolini and I, 1985)
    * Charles Dickens (The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens, 1970)
    * John Frost (A Bridge Too Far, 1977)
    * Bruno Hauptmann (The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, 1976)
    * Abraham Van Helsing (Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992)
    * Adolf Hitler (The Bunker, 1981)
    * Hrothgar (Beowulf, 2007)
    * Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (The Road to Wellville (film), 1994)
    * Dr. Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
      (Hannibal, 2001) (Red Dragon, 2002)
    * C. S. Lewis (Shadowlands (film), 1993)



    * David Lloyd George (Young Winston, 1972)
    * Marcus Crassus (Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus, 1992)
    * Burt Munro (The World's Fastest Indian, 2005)
    * Richard Nixon (Nixon, 1995)
    * Iago (Othello, 1981)
    * Paul the Apostle (Peter and Paul, 1981)
    * Pablo Picasso (Surviving Picasso, 1996)
    * Ptolemy I Soter (Alexander, 2004)
    * Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1982)
    * Yitzak Rabin (Victory at Entebbe, 1976)
    * Richard Lionheart (The Lion in Winter, 1968)
    * Titus Andronicus (Titus, 1999)
    * Frederick Treves (The Elephant Man, 1980)
    * Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro (The Mask of Zorro, 1998)

Awards

Besides his win for The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins has been Oscar-nominated for The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997).

Hopkins won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1973 for his performance as Pierre Bezukhov in the BBC's production of War and Peace, and additionally for The Silence of the Lambs and Shadowlands. He received nominations in the same category for Magic and The Remains of the Day and as Best Supporting Actor for The Lion in Winter.

He won Emmy Awards for his roles in The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and The Bunker, and was Emmy-nominated for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Great Expectations. He won the directing and the acting award, both for Slipstream, at Switzerland's Locarno International Film Festival.

Hopkins became a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in February 2008.

In 1979 Anthony Hopkins became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1967 A Flea in Her Ear Etienne Plucheux TV
The White Bus Brechtian
1968 The Lion in Winter Richard Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1969 The Looking Glass War John Avery
Hamlet Claudius
Department S Greg Halliday TV
1970 The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens Charles Dickens Television film
Hearts and Flowers Bob TV – Play for Today
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
1971 When Eight Bells Toll Philip Calvert
1972 Young Winston David Lloyd George
War and Peace Pierre Bezukhov British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
A Doll's House Torvald Helmer
1974 The Girl from Petrovka Kostya
QB VII Dr. Adam Kelno
Juggernaut Supt. John McCleod
All Creatures Great and Small Siegfried Farnon TV
The Childhood Friend Alexander Tashkov TV – Play for Today
1976 Dark Victory Dr. Michael Grant TV
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case Bruno Richard Hauptmann Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Victory at Entebbe Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
1977 A Bridge Too Far Lt. Col. John D. Frost
Audrey Rose Elliot Hoover Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1978 Magic Charles "Corky" Withers/Voice of Fats Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
International Velvet Captain Johnson
1979 Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure Capt. Jones TV
1980 The Elephant Man Dr. Frederick Treves
A Change of Seasons Adam Evans
1981 The Bunker Adolf Hitler Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Peter and Paul Paul of Tarsus TV
Othello Othello TV
1982 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Quasimodo TV
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1983 A Married Man John Strickland TV
1984 The Bounty Lieutenant William Bligh
1985 Hollywood Wives Neil Gray TV
Arch of Triumph Dr. Ravic TV
Guilty Conscience Arthur Jamison TV
Mussolini and I Count Galeazzo Ciano TV
CableACE Award for Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
The Good Father Bill Hooper
1987 84 Charing Cross Road Frank Doel Moscow International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
1988 The Dawning Angus Barrie
Across the Lake Donald Campbell CBE TV
A Chorus of Disapproval Dafydd Ap Llewellyn
The Tenth Man Jean Louis Chavel Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1989 Great Expectations Abel Magwitch TV miniseries
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1990 Desperate Hours Tim Comell
1991 The Silence of the Lambs Dr. Hannibal Lecter Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor
Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
One Man's War Joel TV
1992 Freejack Ian McCandless
Spotswood Errol Wallace
Howards End Henry J. Wilcox
Bram Stoker's Dracula Professor Abraham Van Helsing Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Chaplin George Hayden
1993 The Trial The Priest
The Innocent Bob Glass
The Remains of the Day James Stevens David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor also for Shadowlands
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor also for Shadowlands
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor also for Shadowlands
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Shadowlands Jack Lewis BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor also for The Remains of the Day
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor also for The Remains of the Day
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor also for The Remains of the Day
1994 The Road to Wellville Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
Legends of the Fall Col. William Ludlow Western Heritage Awards — Bronze Wrangler for Theatrical Motion Picture shared with Edward Zwick (director), William D. Wittliff (writer/producer) and Brad Pitt (principal actor)
1995 Nixon Richard Nixon Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1996 August Ieuan Davies also directed, composed score
Surviving Picasso Pablo Picasso
1997 The Edge Charles Morse
Amistad John Quincy Adams Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1998 The Mask of Zorro Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro
Meet Joe Black William Parrish Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1999 Instinct Ethan Powell
Titus Titus Andronicus Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
2000 Mission: Impossible II Mission Commander Swanbeck uncredited
The Grinch The Narrator Voice
2001 Hannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Hearts in Atlantis Ted Brautigan
2002 Bad Company Officer Oakes
Red Dragon Dr. Hannibal Lecter
2003 The Human Stain Coleman Silk Hollywood Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting - Male Performer
2004 Alexander Ptolemy I Soter
2005 Proof Robert
The World's Fastest Indian Burt Munro New Zealand Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
2006 Bobby John Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
All the King's Men Judge Irwin
2007 The Devil and Daniel Webster Daniel Webster TV
Slipstream Felix Bonhoeffer
Fracture Theodore "Ted" Crawford
Beowulf Hrothgar
The City of Your Final Destination Adam
2008 Where I Stand: The Hank Greenspun Story Hank Greenspun Voice
Immutable Dream of Snow Lion
2009 Bare Knuckles Xavier Jonas
2010 The Wolfman Sir John Talbot post-production
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger filming
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k74/nicoletteautumn/Anthony_Hopkins.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p122/thisbitch_bucket/Myspace/Hopkins.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q38/dhumire/Hopkins.png
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy313/SMS2906/hopkins.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:37 am

The co-birthday...Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji, 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has won Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Kingsley's first film role was a supporting turn in Fear Is the Key, released in 1972. Kingsley continued starring in bit roles in both film and television, including a role as Ron Jenkins on the soap opera Coronation Street from 1966 to 1967 and regular appearances as a defence counsel in the long-running British legal programme Crown Court. In 1975 he starred as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the BBCs historical drama The Love School. He found fame only years later, starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the Academy Award-winning film Gandhi in 1982, his best-known role to date. The audience also agreed with the critics, and Gandhi was a box-office success. Kingsley won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.
Kingsley at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Kingsley has since appeared in a variety of roles. His credits included the films Turtle Diary, Maurice, Pascali's Island, Without a Clue (as Dr. Watson alongside Michael Caine's Sherlock Holmes), Suspect Zero, Bugsy, which led to an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Sneakers, Dave, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Schindler's List, Silas Marner, Death and the Maiden, Sexy Beast, for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and House of Sand and Fog, which led to yet another Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He won a Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001.

In 1997, he provided voice talent for the video game Ceremony of Innocence. In July 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for his performance in the made-for-TV film Mrs. Harris, in which he played famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower, who was murdered by his jilted lover, Jean Harris. Later that year, Kingsley appeared in an episode of The Sopranos entitled "Luxury Lounge", playing himself. In the show, Christopher Moltisanti and Carmine Lupertazzi offer him a role in the fictional slasher film "Cleaver", which he turns down. Lupertazzi offers him the role on the basis of Kingsley's real-life performance in Sexy Beast. In 2007, Kingsley appeared as a Polish American mobster in the Mafia comedy You Kill Me, and a Middle Eastern oil minister in War, Inc. Kingsley was asked to play Vulture in Spider-Man 3, but was cut out of the storyline.

Kingsley announced SBK-Pictures is bringing the story of the Native American Conley Sisters to the big screen in Whispers Like Thunder. Kingsley will be playing the role of Charles Curtis, the first part-Native American to become vice-president of the United States.
Honours

Kingsley was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. He was knighted in the 2001 New Years Honours list. On promotional material for the 2006 film Lucky Number Slevin, Kingsley was referred to as "Sir Ben Kingsley." At first, the actor was singled out for some criticism, as such titles had generally come to be omitted from professional credits by that time. It was claimed that the inclusion of "Sir" was a mistake by a studio executive.

His demand to be called 'Sir' was documented by the BBC, to some criticism. Since then, Kingsley appears to have altered his stance; credits for his latest films refer to him only as 'Ben Kingsley'. Penelope Cruz was unsure what to call him during the filming of Elegy as someone had told her she needed to refer to him as "Sir Ben". One day it slipped out as such, and she called him that for the rest of the shoot.

In 1984, he won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording for The Words of Gandhi. He was awarded the Indian civilian honor Padma Shri in 1985.

In addition, in 2008, Kingsley was awarded the "Cinema for Peace Honorary Award", for the portrayal of the humanitarian role-models Simon Wiesenthal, Itzhak Stern and Gandhi.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1982 Gandhi Mohandas Gandhi film debut
Academy Award for Best Actor
1983 Betrayal Robert the film version of Harold Pinter's play
1985 Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe Silas Marner
Harem Selim
1986 Turtle Diary William Snow screenplay by Harold Pinter
1987 The Secret of the Sahara (TV) Sholomon
Maurice Lasker-Jones
1988 Pascali's Island Basil Pascali
Without a Clue Dr. John Watson
Testimony - The Story of Shostakovich Dmitri Shostakovich
1989 Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story Simon Wiesenthal
1990 The 5th Monkey Cunda
1991 Bugsy Meyer Lansky Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor
1992 Sneakers Cosmo
Freddie as F.R.O.7 Freddie The Frog Voice
1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer Bruce Pandolfini
Dave Vice President Gary Nance
Schindler's List Itzhak Stern
1994 Death and the Maiden Dr. Roberto Miranda
1995 Species Xavier Fitch
Joseph Potiphar
Moses Moses
1996 Twelfth Night Feste from the play by William Shakespeare
1997 Weapons of Mass Distraction (TV) Julian Messenger
The Assignment Amos
1998 The Tale of Sweeney Todd (TV) Sweeney Todd Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Actor
1999 Alice in Wonderland (TV) Major Caterpillar
The Confession Harry Fertig
2000 What Planet Are YOU From? Graydon
Rules of Engagement Ambassador Mourain
Islam: Empire of Faith Narrator voice only
2001 Anne Frank: The Whole Story Otto Frank Won Screen Actor's Guild Award
Sexy Beast Don Logan Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor
AI: Artificial Intelligence Specialist voice
2002 The Triumph of Love Hermocrates Marivaux's play
Tuck Everlasting Man in the Yellow Suit
2003 House of Sand and Fog Massoud Behrani Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
2004 Thunderbirds "The Hood" loosely based on the super-marionation programme created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson
Suspect Zero Benjamin O'Ryan
2005 A Sound of Thunder Charles Hatton
Oliver Twist Fagin
Mrs. Harris Herman Tarnower
BloodRayne Kagan
2006 The Sopranos (TV) Appearance as himself Season 6, Episode 72 - "Luxury Lounge"
Lucky Number Slevin The Rabbi
2007 You Kill Me Frank Falenczyk
The Last Legion Ambrosinus
The Ten Commandments Narrator (voice)
2008 Elegy David Kepesh
War, Inc. Walken
The Love Guru Guru Tugginmypudha
The Wackness Dr. Squires
Transsiberian Grinko
China's Stolen Children Narrator (voice)
Fifty Dead Men Walking Fergus
2009 Noah's Ark: The New Beginning Narrator (voice) post-production
Whispers Like Thunder Vice President Charles Curtis pre-production
Teen Patti Perci Trachtenberg post-production
Journey to Mecca Narrator (voice)
2010 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Nizam post-production
Shutter Island Dr. John Cawley post-production
2011 Taj Shah Jahan pre-production
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i102/jacobshaven3/kingsley.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c102/Bciaramello/kingsley1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/31/09 at 5:39 am


The word of the day...Ventriloquist
A ventriloquist is someone who can speak without moving their lips and who entertains people by making their words appear to be spoken by a puppet
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/kitlika/ventriloquist.gif
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m301/OAKLEYRETAIL/Retail%20Assault%202008/RetailAssault2008101.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn185/gwar2d2/IAmBatman%20customs/Ventriloquist.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e18/spraggero1/Ventriloquist.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb201/pavementarian/ramdas.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/Irk-portfolio/vent1.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/pink_hippo_photos/comedy-ventriloquist-2.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu51/666gravedancer666/dummie8.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/WillsonPhotography/_AWW4037.jpg
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr139/HDSCOLLECTIBLES/IMG_4686.jpg


Don't forget Waylan Flowers And Madam.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:41 am

*Val Kilmer..Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984), then the cult classic Real Genius (1985), as well as blockbuster action films, including a role in Top Gun and a lead role in Willow.

During the 1990s, Kilmer gained critical respect after a string of films that were also commercially successful, including his roles as Jim Morrison in The Doors, Doc Holliday in 1993's Tombstone, Batman in 1995's Batman Forever, Chris Shiherlis in 1995's Heat and Simon Templar in 1997's The Saint. During the early 2000s, Kilmer appeared in several well-received roles, including The Salton Sea, Spartan, and supporting performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Alexander and as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Top Secret! Nick Rivers Film debut
1985 Real Genius Chris Knight
1986 Top Gun Lt. Tom 'Iceman' Kazanski
The Murders in the Rue Morgue Phillipe Huron TV film
1987 The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains Robert Eliot Burns/Eliot Roberts TV film
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
1988 Willow Madmartigan
1989 Billy the Kid William Bonney
Kill Me Again Jack Andrews
1991 The Doors Jim Morrison Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
1992 Thunderheart Ray Levoi
1993 The Real McCoy J.T. Barker
Tombstone Doc Holliday Based on a true story
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
True Romance Mentor
1995 Batman Forever Bruce Wayne/Batman Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male also for Heat
Heat Chris Shiherlis Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male also for Batman Forever
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Wings of Courage Jean Mermoz IMAX Film
1996 The Island of Dr Moreau Montgomery
The Ghost and the Darkness Col. John Henry Patterson Based on a true story
Dead Girl Dr. Dark
1997 The Saint Simon Templar
1998 The Prince of Egypt Moses/God Voice-over
1999 At First Sight Virgil 'Virg' Adamson
Joe the King Bob Henry
2000 Pollock Willem de Kooning
Red Planet Robby Gallagher
2002 The Salton Sea Danny Parker/ Tom Van Allen Limited release
Prism Award for Best Performance in a Theatrical Feature Film
Hard Cash FBI Agent Mark C. Cornell a.k.a. Run for the Money
2003 Wonderland John Holmes Based on the Wonderland Murders
The Missing Lt. Jim Ducharme
Blind Horizon Frank Kavanaugh
Masked and Anonymous Animal Wrangler
2004 Entourage The Sherpa Episode: "The Script and the Sherpa"
Spartan Robert Scott
Stateside Staff Sergeant Skeer
Alexander Philip
George and the Dragon El Cabillo uncredited
2005 Mindhunters Jake Harris
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Perry Van Shrike/"Gay Perry" Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2006 Summer Love The Wanted Man a.k.a. Dead Man's Bounty
Moscow Zero Andrey
10th & Wolf Murtha
Played Dillon
Déjà Vu Agent Andrew Pryzwarra
The Ten Commandments: The Musical Moses
2007 Have Dreams, Will Travel Henderson
Numb3rs Mason Lancer Episode: "Trust Metric"
2008 Comanche Moon Inish Scull TV mini-series based on the book
Knight Rider voice of KITT TV film based on 1980s TV series
Conspiracy MacPherson direct-to-video
Felon John Smith
Delgo Bogardus voice only
2:22 Maz
Columbus Day John
XIII Mongoose based on Belgian comic book XIII
2008 - 2009 Knight Rider voice of KITT TV series based on the 2008 TV film
2009 The Chaos Experiment Jimmy a.k.a. The Steam Experiment
Streets of Blood Detective Andy Devereaux
American Cowslip Todd Inglebrink
The Thaw Dr. David Kruipen
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Stevie Pruit
Hardwired Virgil
Fake Identity TBA awaiting release
Mr. Nobody The Stranger post-production
2010 Provinces of Night Warren Bloodworth post-production
The Irishman Joe Manditski post-production
MacGruber (I_am_a_loser_who_has_no_respect_for_women)h post-production
Tales of an Ancient Empire Rollo filming
Georgia Dutch Journalist filming
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Lynea/val_kilmer.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u35/_Michael_Selene_/Val_Kilmer.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/31/09 at 5:41 am

Val Kilmer is fantastic.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:46 am

*Donna Summer..Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines; December 31, 1948) is an American singer and songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of music, earning the title "The Queen of Disco".

Summer was trained as a gospel singer before her introduction to the music industry and has always been known for her "powerhouse" vocal delivery. Though she is most notable for her disco hits, Summer's repertoire has expanded to include contemporary R&B, rock, pop, and gospel. Summer is one of the most successful recording artists of the 1970s and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums hit number one on the Billboard charts. She also became the first female artist to have four number-one singles in a thirteen-month period. Summer's website claims that she has sold more than 130 million records worldwide n 1978 Summer acted in the film Thank God It's Friday and released the single "Last Dance". The song brought Summer her third Gold US million-selling single, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and resulting in her first Grammy win. Written by the late Paul Jabara—who also co-wrote "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"—Jabara took home the Oscar after the song was nominated for Song Of The Year. Summer also recorded a side-long version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime... moi non plus" which was very similar in style to "Love to Love You, Baby", initially shelved and later released as a part of the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack.

That same year, Summer released her first live album, entitled Live And More. This was Summer's first Top 10 - as well as #1 album - and her first to reach sales of a million, earning Platinum status. Live And More replaced Linda Ronstadt's Living In The USA at #1 on Billboard's album chart. It included her first #1 American Pop single, a cover of the Jimmy Webb-penned "MacArthur Park" - another Gold-certified US single - originally made famous by the late actor-singer Richard Harris. The studio part of the album included the tracks "One Of A Kind" and "Heaven Knows" which also featured vocals by Joe "Bean" Esposito of the Brooklyn Dreams (group member Bruce Sudano would later become romantically involved with Summer). "Heaven Knows" became another Gold Million seller in the US and another Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 reaching number four.

Summer was a guest artist on KISS bassist Gene Simmons's 1978 eponymous solo album, on the track "Burning Up With Fever".
Bad Girls and the break from disco

In 1979, Summer released the landmark double album Bad Girls. Unusual for a disco album, it mixed rock, funk, blues and soul to electronic beats. It yielded two consecutive singles reaching Platinum status with sales of two million each: the number-one one hits "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls". The number-two hit "Dim All The Lights" would go Gold as another million seller. "Bad Girls" also became Summer's first number-one song on Billboard's R&B singles chart. With U.S. record sales at an all-time apex in 1979, Summer had a run of five straight U.S. Gold singles (three of which went on to Platinum status) that year alone. The single "Hot Stuff" won Summer a second Grammy, winning the first ever award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. (Interestingly, the Grammys had a Best Disco Recording Award only once, in 1980, won by Gloria Gaynor for "I Will Survive".)

Bad Girls became Summer's second number-one double album and the most successful album of her entire career, eventually selling over three million copies in the U.S. Summer and Bruce Sudano grew closer during the making of this album and became engaged. During this period, Summer had two songs in the top three of Billboard's Hot 100 during the same week, with "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff". Just a few months later, she accomplished the same feat again, with "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" and "Dim All the Lights". During the summer of 1979, she played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Summer's first compilation album, On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2, was a global smash and her third straight number-one U.S. double album, also going on to sell over two million copies in the U.S. With this, Summer became the first artist to have three consecutive U.S. number-one double albums. The album also contained two new tracks — "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", the Platinum-selling number-one duet with Barbra Streisand, and the Grammy-nominated Top-5 U.S. Gold hit "On the Radio", a song written for the film Foxes. The Streisand-Summer duet was her fourth and final number-one pop hit in the U.S. — and her fourth number-one single in thirteen months.

Disagreements between Summer and Casablanca Records led to her exit from the label in 1980. Summer was offered a very lucrative deal by David Geffen and became the first artist to be signed to his new Geffen label in 1980.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p14/speedyclick/donna.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb224/devotion_album/Donna/donna_2008e.jpg


* Burton Cummings...Burton Cummings, OC OM (born December 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He was the lead singer and frequent keyboardist for the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. During his 10 years in The Guess Who, from 1965 to 1975, he sang and wrote or co-wrote many songs including "American Woman," "No Time," "Share the Land," "Hand Me Down World," "Undun," "Laughing," "Star Baby", "New Mother Nature," and "These Eyes." His solo career includes many Canadian singles including "Stand Tall", "My Own Way to Rock" and "You Saved My Soul".  In 1969, The Guess Who scored an international hit with "These Eyes", co-written by Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman. It was followed up by hit "Laughing", again written by Cummings and Bachman. Another Guess Who song "Undun" featured Cummings on a jazzy flute solo. In 1970, the band hit No. 1 in Canada with "American Woman."

Ultimately, personal issues between Cummings and bandmate Randy Bachman – partially ignited by Bachman's deepening Mormon religious beliefs—caused a rift in the band. Bachman left and went on to form the band Brave Belt with former Guess Who mate Chad Allan, and later Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Cummings became the band's leader and recorded songs that included: "Share the Land," "Hand Me Down World," "Albert Flasher," "Rain Dance," "Sour Suite," "Glamour Boy," "Star Baby" and "Clap for the Wolfman."
Going Solo

In 1975, after 10 years, Cummings left The Guess Who to become a solo artist and the group disbanded. One of his first projects included providing back-up vocals on Eric Carmen's second solo LP, Boats Against the Current, including "She Did It."

Cummings' subsequent solo hits in Canada included "Stand Tall" (also his biggest American hit, peaking at #10), "I'm Scared," "Break it to Them Gently," and "Fine State of Affairs." Cummings charted outside Canada with "Stand Tall" and "You Saved My Soul." His Dream of a Child album released in 1978 was the biggest Canadian album in history at that time. Cummings released a total of eight solo albums and collections from 1976 to 1990. In 1997 he released a live compilation album of his solo performances entitled Up Close and Alone.

Cummings became a resident of Sherman Oaks, California, and began writing and singing for films in the late 1970s. He currently winters in California and returns to Winnipeg in the summer, living in Canada throughout autumn. Besides his music, Cummings purchased Winnipeg's "Salisbury House" restaurant chain with manager Lorne Saifer and is an avid comic book collector.
The Guess Who returns

In 2000, Cummings, Bachman and original drummer Garry Peterson toured as The Guess Who. Bassist Jim Kale played one show and former Guess Who sidemen Donnie McDougall and Bill Wallace re-joined the line-up through the remainder of the tour in Canada and later in the U.S. The reformed The Guess Who toured with Cummings from 2000 through to the summer of 2003. In 2001, Cummings and the rest of The Guess Who received honorary doctorates at Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba. Cummings was also made a member of the Order of Manitoba. In 2003, the band played at the so-called "SARSstock" concert in Toronto.
Bachman-Cummings

Cummings plays occasional shows with Randy Bachman as The Bachman-Cummings Band, featuring The Carpet Frogs, a band from Toronto and makes occasional appearances at various Canadian casinos as a solo performer. The Bachman-Cummings Band have released a compilation album titled the Bachman-Cummings Song Book featuring songs from The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Cummings' solo career. They have also released an album titled The Thunderbird Trax, which is an album that Cummings and Bachman recorded in Bachman's toolshed in British Columbia in 1987. Previously unreleased until 2006, it was made available exclusively at Bachman-Cummings concerts, and is now available on the Bachman-Cummings website.

The Bachman-Cummings First Time Around CBC TV Special was released on DVD in November 2006 on the Sony BMG label. In June 2007, Bachman and Cummings released an album titled Jukebox that covered various songs from the 1960s that influenced them. A follow-up album to Jukebox as well as a television special have also been discussed
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/jinxfur/BurtonCummingsCanadaday20081.jpg
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss113/7jcg7/BurtonCummings.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/31/09 at 5:47 am


*Donna Summer..Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines; December 31, 1948) is an American singer and songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of music, earning the title "The Queen of Disco".

Summer was trained as a gospel singer before her introduction to the music industry and has always been known for her "powerhouse" vocal delivery. Though she is most notable for her disco hits, Summer's repertoire has expanded to include contemporary R&B, rock, pop, and gospel. Summer is one of the most successful recording artists of the 1970s and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums hit number one on the Billboard charts. She also became the first female artist to have four number-one singles in a thirteen-month period. Summer's website claims that she has sold more than 130 million records worldwide n 1978 Summer acted in the film Thank God It's Friday and released the single "Last Dance". The song brought Summer her third Gold US million-selling single, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and resulting in her first Grammy win. Written by the late Paul Jabara—who also co-wrote "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"—Jabara took home the Oscar after the song was nominated for Song Of The Year. Summer also recorded a side-long version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime... moi non plus" which was very similar in style to "Love to Love You, Baby", initially shelved and later released as a part of the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack.

That same year, Summer released her first live album, entitled Live And More. This was Summer's first Top 10 - as well as #1 album - and her first to reach sales of a million, earning Platinum status. Live And More replaced Linda Ronstadt's Living In The USA at #1 on Billboard's album chart. It included her first #1 American Pop single, a cover of the Jimmy Webb-penned "MacArthur Park" - another Gold-certified US single - originally made famous by the late actor-singer Richard Harris. The studio part of the album included the tracks "One Of A Kind" and "Heaven Knows" which also featured vocals by Joe "Bean" Esposito of the Brooklyn Dreams (group member Bruce Sudano would later become romantically involved with Summer). "Heaven Knows" became another Gold Million seller in the US and another Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 reaching number four.

Summer was a guest artist on KISS bassist Gene Simmons's 1978 eponymous solo album, on the track "Burning Up With Fever".
Bad Girls and the break from disco

In 1979, Summer released the landmark double album Bad Girls. Unusual for a disco album, it mixed rock, funk, blues and soul to electronic beats. It yielded two consecutive singles reaching Platinum status with sales of two million each: the number-one one hits "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls". The number-two hit "Dim All The Lights" would go Gold as another million seller. "Bad Girls" also became Summer's first number-one song on Billboard's R&B singles chart. With U.S. record sales at an all-time apex in 1979, Summer had a run of five straight U.S. Gold singles (three of which went on to Platinum status) that year alone. The single "Hot Stuff" won Summer a second Grammy, winning the first ever award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. (Interestingly, the Grammys had a Best Disco Recording Award only once, in 1980, won by Gloria Gaynor for "I Will Survive".)

Bad Girls became Summer's second number-one double album and the most successful album of her entire career, eventually selling over three million copies in the U.S. Summer and Bruce Sudano grew closer during the making of this album and became engaged. During this period, Summer had two songs in the top three of Billboard's Hot 100 during the same week, with "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff". Just a few months later, she accomplished the same feat again, with "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" and "Dim All the Lights". During the summer of 1979, she played eight sold-out nights at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Summer's first compilation album, On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2, was a global smash and her third straight number-one U.S. double album, also going on to sell over two million copies in the U.S. With this, Summer became the first artist to have three consecutive U.S. number-one double albums. The album also contained two new tracks — "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", the Platinum-selling number-one duet with Barbra Streisand, and the Grammy-nominated Top-5 U.S. Gold hit "On the Radio", a song written for the film Foxes. The Streisand-Summer duet was her fourth and final number-one pop hit in the U.S. — and her fourth number-one single in thirteen months.

Disagreements between Summer and Casablanca Records led to her exit from the label in 1980. Summer was offered a very lucrative deal by David Geffen and became the first artist to be signed to his new Geffen label in 1980.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p14/speedyclick/donna.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb224/devotion_album/Donna/donna_2008e.jpg


* Burton Cummings...Burton Cummings, OC OM (born December 31, 1947) is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He was the lead singer and frequent keyboardist for the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. During his 10 years in The Guess Who, from 1965 to 1975, he sang and wrote or co-wrote many songs including "American Woman," "No Time," "Share the Land," "Hand Me Down World," "Undun," "Laughing," "Star Baby", "New Mother Nature," and "These Eyes." His solo career includes many Canadian singles including "Stand Tall", "My Own Way to Rock" and "You Saved My Soul".  In 1969, The Guess Who scored an international hit with "These Eyes", co-written by Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman. It was followed up by hit "Laughing", again written by Cummings and Bachman. Another Guess Who song "Undun" featured Cummings on a jazzy flute solo. In 1970, the band hit No. 1 in Canada with "American Woman."

Ultimately, personal issues between Cummings and bandmate Randy Bachman – partially ignited by Bachman's deepening Mormon religious beliefs—caused a rift in the band. Bachman left and went on to form the band Brave Belt with former Guess Who mate Chad Allan, and later Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Cummings became the band's leader and recorded songs that included: "Share the Land," "Hand Me Down World," "Albert Flasher," "Rain Dance," "Sour Suite," "Glamour Boy," "Star Baby" and "Clap for the Wolfman."
Going Solo

In 1975, after 10 years, Cummings left The Guess Who to become a solo artist and the group disbanded. One of his first projects included providing back-up vocals on Eric Carmen's second solo LP, Boats Against the Current, including "She Did It."

Cummings' subsequent solo hits in Canada included "Stand Tall" (also his biggest American hit, peaking at #10), "I'm Scared," "Break it to Them Gently," and "Fine State of Affairs." Cummings charted outside Canada with "Stand Tall" and "You Saved My Soul." His Dream of a Child album released in 1978 was the biggest Canadian album in history at that time. Cummings released a total of eight solo albums and collections from 1976 to 1990. In 1997 he released a live compilation album of his solo performances entitled Up Close and Alone.

Cummings became a resident of Sherman Oaks, California, and began writing and singing for films in the late 1970s. He currently winters in California and returns to Winnipeg in the summer, living in Canada throughout autumn. Besides his music, Cummings purchased Winnipeg's "Salisbury House" restaurant chain with manager Lorne Saifer and is an avid comic book collector.
The Guess Who returns

In 2000, Cummings, Bachman and original drummer Garry Peterson toured as The Guess Who. Bassist Jim Kale played one show and former Guess Who sidemen Donnie McDougall and Bill Wallace re-joined the line-up through the remainder of the tour in Canada and later in the U.S. The reformed The Guess Who toured with Cummings from 2000 through to the summer of 2003. In 2001, Cummings and the rest of The Guess Who received honorary doctorates at Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba. Cummings was also made a member of the Order of Manitoba. In 2003, the band played at the so-called "SARSstock" concert in Toronto.
Bachman-Cummings

Cummings plays occasional shows with Randy Bachman as The Bachman-Cummings Band, featuring The Carpet Frogs, a band from Toronto and makes occasional appearances at various Canadian casinos as a solo performer. The Bachman-Cummings Band have released a compilation album titled the Bachman-Cummings Song Book featuring songs from The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Cummings' solo career. They have also released an album titled The Thunderbird Trax, which is an album that Cummings and Bachman recorded in Bachman's toolshed in British Columbia in 1987. Previously unreleased until 2006, it was made available exclusively at Bachman-Cummings concerts, and is now available on the Bachman-Cummings website.

The Bachman-Cummings First Time Around CBC TV Special was released on DVD in November 2006 on the Sony BMG label. In June 2007, Bachman and Cummings released an album titled Jukebox that covered various songs from the 1960s that influenced them. A follow-up album to Jukebox as well as a television special have also been discussed
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/jinxfur/BurtonCummingsCanadaday20081.jpg
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss113/7jcg7/BurtonCummings.jpg


Donna Summer is great,love her music a lot.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 5:48 am


Val Kilmer is fantastic.

He has had a lot of great roles :)


Donna Summer is great,love her music a lot.  :)

I thought you did :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/31/09 at 12:12 pm

I have one word to say about Val Kilmer-YUM!  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/09 at 12:15 pm


I have one word to say about Val Kilmer-YUM!  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Good word ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/10 at 2:40 am


The word of the day...Ventriloquist
A ventriloquist is someone who can speak without moving their lips and who entertains people by making their words appear to be spoken by a puppet
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/kitlika/ventriloquist.gif
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m301/OAKLEYRETAIL/Retail%20Assault%202008/RetailAssault2008101.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn185/gwar2d2/IAmBatman%20customs/Ventriloquist.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e18/spraggero1/Ventriloquist.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb201/pavementarian/ramdas.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193/Irk-portfolio/vent1.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/pink_hippo_photos/comedy-ventriloquist-2.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu51/666gravedancer666/dummie8.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/WillsonPhotography/_AWW4037.jpg
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr139/HDSCOLLECTIBLES/IMG_4686.jpg
I once saw a topless ventriloquist act on stage. I never saw hte lips move.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 5:49 am

The word of the day...Sea
The sea is the salty water that covers about three-quarters of the Earth's surface.
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff330/Lily_Lyrics/sea-side1.jpg
http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab360/luizageorgiana/mare.jpg
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss93/denise960/DSC00322.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h99/WishayKillie/DSCF0110.jpg
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab133/crazyhayzie69/035.jpg
http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad248/KLDsPhotography/Objects/Riggsandwhatnot001.jpg
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss93/denise960/DSC00334.jpg
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab78/lov_890/39698927_b12f98786d.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 5:54 am

For 2010 we are going to do a birthday & a person of the day.
I also thought if Phil wanted to pick someone he could,also Frank & Peter could pick people from Canada & Australia that I may not know.
If anyone has any input let me know. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 5:56 am

The birthday of the day...Frank Langella
Frank A. Langella, Jr. (born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. His Tonys include two for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Edward Albee's Seascape (1975), and Ivan Turgenev's Fortune's Fool (2002), and for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon (2008). Langella was nominated for two other Best Leading Actor in a Play Tonys; first in 1978 for the Edward Gorey-designed revival of Bram Stoker's Dracula and again in 2004 for Stephen Belber's Match.
Langella made his first foray on stage in New York in William Gibson's A Cry of Players, playing a young, highly fictionalized William Shakespeare, opposite Anne Bancroft at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre in 1968, and won film fame in two 1970 films: Mel Brooks' The Twelve Chairs and Frank Perry's Diary of a Mad Housewife, being nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the latter. Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee's Seascape and 1975 and was nominated for another for what may have been the performance for which he was best known for in the early part of his career: the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. Despite his initial misgivings about continuing to play the role, he was persuaded to star opposite Laurence Olivier in the subsequent film version directed by John Badham.

He eschewed the career of a traditional film star by always making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing on Broadway in such plays as Sherlock's Last Case, Strindberg's The Father (winning a Drama Desk Award), Match (Tony Award nomination), and Fortune's Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award.

But Langella would continue to juggle film and television with his stage work, playing Sherlock Holmes in an HBO adaptation (1981) of William Gillette's famous stage play. He repeated the role on Broadway in 1987 in Charles Marowitz's play Sherlock's Last Case. That same year, Langella would also portray the villain Skeletor in Masters of the Universe. In 1988, Langella co-starred in the movie And God Created Woman. In 1993 he made a memorable three-episode appearance on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the devious Jaro Essa. He also appeared as Al Baker in "Dominance", a 2003 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and had a recurring role as Pino in the 2005 short-lived sitcom Kitchen Confidential. On film, he played Claire Quilty in Adrian Lyne's adaptation of Lolita and appeared as a villainous pirate in the summer 1995 release Cutthroat Island. His film work also includes roles in George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) as former CBS chief executive William S. Paley and Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006) as Daily Planet editor Perry White. Langella received critical acclaim as well as the Boston Society of Film Critics Award in 2007 for his sensitive portrayal of an elderly novelist in Starting Out in the Evening.

He was cast as Richard M. Nixon in Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella's third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 film Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard. He received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA nominations for Best Actor for his performance. He was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for the role, losing to Sean Penn's performance in Milk.

In 2000 he played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. He has also appeared in notable off-Broadway productions, including in the title role of Robert Kalfin's Chelsea Theater Center production of The Prince of Homburg, which was filmed by PBS for the Theatre in America series. He recently starred as Sir Thomas More in the 2008 Broadway revival of A Man for All Seasons, which finished its limited run in December.

In late 2009, he starred alongside Cameron Diaz and re-united with Superman Returns co-star James Marsden in the Richard Kelly film The Box.

Langella stars 2010 in the drama-thriller Unknown White Male, which is directed by Jaume-Collet-Serra.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1970 Diary of a Mad Housewife George Prager National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor also for The Twelve Chairs
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Male
The Twelve Chairs Ostap Bender National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor also for Diary of a Mad Housewife
1971 The Deadly Trap Philippe
1972 The Wrath of God De La Plata
1974 The Mark of Zorro Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro
1979 Dracula Count Dracula
1981 Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes
Sphinx Akmed Khazzan
1987 Masters of the Universe Skeletor
1988 And God Created Woman James Tiernan
1991 True Identity Leland Carver
1992 1492: Conquest of Paradise Santangel
1993 Body of Evidence Jeffrey Roston
Dave White House Chief of Staff Bob Alexander
1994 Brainscan Detective Hayden
Doomsday Gun Gerald Bull
Junior Noah Banes
1995 Cutthroat Island Dawg Brown
1996 Eddie Wild Bill Burgess
The Greatest Pharaohs Himself
1997 Lolita Clare Quilty
1998 Small Soldiers Archer (voice)
1999 The Ninth Gate Boris Balkan
2001 Sweet November Edgar Price
The Beast Jackson Burns
2004 House of D Reverend Duncan
The Novice Father Tew
2005 Back in the Day Lt. Bill Hudson
Now You See It... Max
Sweet William Professor Driskoll
Good Night, and Good Luck. William S. Paley Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2006 Superman Returns Perry White
10.5 Apocalypse Dr. Earl Hill
2007 Starting Out in the Evening Leonard Schiller Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2008 The Caller Jimmy Stevens
Frost/Nixon Richard M. Nixon Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Tale of Despereaux the Mayor (voice only)
2009 The Box Arlington Steward
2010 All Good Things TBA Completed
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps Lewis Zabel Post-Production
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/franklangella.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c241/tsamshara/album4/3a6b.jpg
http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt316/godzillavsdracula/Drac798.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/vinniciusp/Fevereiro%202009/04langella.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 6:00 am

The person of the day...Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author. She was a Congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith had previously run for the Republican presidential nomination). She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.
n 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Legislature. In 1968, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York's 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives. Defeating Republican candidate James Farmer, Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 as one of its founding members.

As a freshman, Chisholm was assigned to the House Agricultural Committee. Given her urban district, she felt the placement was irrelevant to her constituents and shocked many by asking for reassignment. She was then placed on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. Soon after, she voted for Hale Boggs as House Majority Leader over John Conyers. As a reward for her support, Boggs assigned her to the much-prized Education and Labor Committee, which was her preferred committee. She was the third highest-ranking member of this committee when she retired from Congress.

All those Chisholm hired for her office were women, half of them black. Chisholm said that during her New York legislative career, she had faced much more discrimination because she was a woman than because she was black.

In the 1972 U.S. presidential election, she made a bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. George McGovern won the nomination in a hotly contested set of primary elections, with Chisholm campaigning in 12 states and winning 28 delegates during the primary process. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, as a symbolic gesture, McGovern opponent Hubert H. Humphrey released his black delegates to Chisholm, giving her a total of 152 first-ballot votes for the nomination. Chisholm's base of support was ethnically diverse and included the National Organization for Women. Chisholm said she ran for the office "in spite of hopeless odds... to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo." Among the volunteers who were inspired by her campaign was Barbara Lee, who continued to be politically active and was elected as a congresswoman 25 years later. Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem attempted to run as Chisholm delegates in New York.

Chisholm created controversy when she visited rival and ideological opposite George Wallace in the hospital soon after his shooting in May 1972, during the 1972 presidential primary campaign. Several years later, when Chisholm worked on a bill to give domestic workers the right to a minimum wage, Wallace helped gain votes of enough Southern congressmen to push the legislation through the House.

From 1977 to 1981, during the 95th Congress and 96th Congress, Chisholm was elected to a position in the House Democratic leadership, as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.

Throughout her tenure in Congress, Chisholm worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents. She was a vocal opponent of the draft and supported spending increases for education, health care and other social services, and reductions in military spending.
Shirley Chisholm (center) with Congressman Edolphus Towns (left) and his wife, Gwen Towns (right)

She announced her retirement from Congress in 1982. Her seat was won by a fellow Democrat, Major Owens, in 1983. After leaving Congress, Chisholm was named to the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She taught there for four years. She also lectured frequently as a public speaker.
In 1975, Chisholm was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Smith College.

In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Shirley Chisholm on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i226/PopTart_2006/Hail%20Eris/dubyapaloozer/chisholm.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s82/lovebirdyu/chisholm.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z58/mjdonovan02/Verde%205/33fc.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f281/thegirlthatplayshardball39/ShirleyChisholm1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/10 at 6:13 am


The word of the day...Sea
The sea is the salty water that covers about three-quarters of the Earth's surface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd_nopTFuZA

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/10 at 6:14 am


For 2010 we are going to do a birthday & a person of the day.
I also thought if Phil wanted to pick someone he could,also Frank & Peter could pick people from Canada & Australia that I may not know.
If anyone has any input let me know. :)
Good Idea, but I may not be able to contribute everyday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 8:35 am


Good Idea, but I may not be able to contribute everyday.

What ever you can do would be appreciated :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/10 at 8:39 am


What ever you can do would be appreciated :)
here goes!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/10 at 8:46 am

British person of the day...Paul Lawrie

Paul Stewart Lawrie MBE (born 1 January 1969) is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999.

CAREER
Lawrie was born in Aberdeen. He turned professional in 1986 and became a member of the European Tour in 1992. He performed steadily without doing much to draw attention to himself, aside from a 6th place finish in the 1993 Open Championship. In his first seven seasons his only top 50 finish on the Order of Merit came in 1996 when he was 21st. However he also finished in the top 100 in all but one of the other six seasons, and picked up a debut tour win at the 1996 Catalan Open.

Lawrie's career was transformed in 1999. After winning the Qatar Masters, which is a European Tour event, early in the season, he went on to win the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie in July. This was the Open where the Frenchman Jean Van de Velde famously threw away a three-shot lead on the final hole. Lawrie won a four-hole playoff against Van de Velde and the American Justin Leonard. An unusual aspect of Lawrie's victory was that he was neither leader or co-leader at any time during his regulation 72 holes, only moving into a share of the lead when the leaders came back to him after he had completed his final round. Also, Lawrie came back from the largest third-round deficit ever faced by a major championship winner; going into the final day, he trailed the leader, Van de Velde, by 10 shots. This is also the record for the biggest final-round comeback on the PGA Tour.

After his major championship victory, Lawrie's game shifted to a higher level without quite moving him into the global elite group of golfers. He finished 9th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1999, 6th in 2001, when he captured the lucrative Dunhill Links Championship, and 10th in 2002, when he won his fifth European Tour title at the Wales Open.

After winning the Open, Lawrie was a member of the PGA Tour for several seasons, while also continuing to compete on the European Tour. He enjoyed little success in the U.S. and when his five year major championship exemption expired at the end of the 2004 season, he lost his PGA Tour card.

European Tour wins (5)
 
1999 Qatar Masters, The Open Championship
2001 Dunhill Links Championship
2002 Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open

Other professional wins
1990 Scottish Assistants Championship
1992 UAP Under 25s Championship, Scottish Brewers Championship
2002 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Match Play Championship

Lawrie was the last European player to win a major until 2007, when that drought was ended by Pádraig Harrington of Ireland in The Open Championship.

Paul Lawrie achieved an albatross in the final round of the 2009 Open Championship.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/Paul_Lawrie_Claret_Jug.jpg

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/paul-lawrie-burn.jpg



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/01/10 at 9:04 am


The word of the day...Sea
The sea is the salty water that covers about three-quarters of the Earth's surface.
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff330/Lily_Lyrics/sea-side1.jpg
http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab360/luizageorgiana/mare.jpg
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss93/denise960/DSC00322.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h99/WishayKillie/DSCF0110.jpg
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab133/crazyhayzie69/035.jpg
http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad248/KLDsPhotography/Objects/Riggsandwhatnot001.jpg
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss93/denise960/DSC00334.jpg
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab78/lov_890/39698927_b12f98786d.gif


There's also Sea of Love.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 12:14 pm


British person of the day...Paul Lawrie

Paul Stewart Lawrie MBE (born 1 January 1969) is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999.

CAREER
Lawrie was born in Aberdeen. He turned professional in 1986 and became a member of the European Tour in 1992. He performed steadily without doing much to draw attention to himself, aside from a 6th place finish in the 1993 Open Championship. In his first seven seasons his only top 50 finish on the Order of Merit came in 1996 when he was 21st. However he also finished in the top 100 in all but one of the other six seasons, and picked up a debut tour win at the 1996 Catalan Open.

Lawrie's career was transformed in 1999. After winning the Qatar Masters, which is a European Tour event, early in the season, he went on to win the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie in July. This was the Open where the Frenchman Jean Van de Velde famously threw away a three-shot lead on the final hole. Lawrie won a four-hole playoff against Van de Velde and the American Justin Leonard. An unusual aspect of Lawrie's victory was that he was neither leader or co-leader at any time during his regulation 72 holes, only moving into a share of the lead when the leaders came back to him after he had completed his final round. Also, Lawrie came back from the largest third-round deficit ever faced by a major championship winner; going into the final day, he trailed the leader, Van de Velde, by 10 shots. This is also the record for the biggest final-round comeback on the PGA Tour.

After his major championship victory, Lawrie's game shifted to a higher level without quite moving him into the global elite group of golfers. He finished 9th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1999, 6th in 2001, when he captured the lucrative Dunhill Links Championship, and 10th in 2002, when he won his fifth European Tour title at the Wales Open.

After winning the Open, Lawrie was a member of the PGA Tour for several seasons, while also continuing to compete on the European Tour. He enjoyed little success in the U.S. and when his five year major championship exemption expired at the end of the 2004 season, he lost his PGA Tour card.

European Tour wins (5)
 
1999 Qatar Masters, The Open Championship
2001 Dunhill Links Championship
2002 Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open

Other professional wins
1990 Scottish Assistants Championship
1992 UAP Under 25s Championship, Scottish Brewers Championship
2002 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Match Play Championship

Lawrie was the last European player to win a major until 2007, when that drought was ended by Pádraig Harrington of Ireland in The Open Championship.

Paul Lawrie achieved an albatross in the final round of the 2009 Open Championship.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/Paul_Lawrie_Claret_Jug.jpg

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/paul-lawrie-burn.jpg





Very nice,Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/01/10 at 12:26 pm


For 2010 we are going to do a birthday & a person of the day.
I also thought if Phil wanted to pick someone he could,also Frank & Peter could pick people from Canada & Australia that I may not know.
If anyone has any input let me know. :)

Frank  may post one from time to time. Hopefully they won;t all be hockey players! ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/01/10 at 12:33 pm

Nice photos of the sea, Ninny. Thanks for posting and Happy New Year!  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/01/10 at 1:45 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-026ZCKR8




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/10 at 1:48 pm


Frank  may post one from time to time. Hopefully they won;t all be hockey players! ;)
I could learn my Hockey players now ?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/01/10 at 3:20 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-026ZCKR8




Cat


This must've been from the 80's.^

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 4:44 pm


Nice photos of the sea, Ninny. Thanks for posting and Happy New Year!  :)

Happy New Year..I'm glad you enjoy the posts :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 4:45 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-026ZCKR8




Cat

Thanks Cat, I love this song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/10 at 4:47 pm


This must've been from the 80's.^

1984

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/10 at 5:45 am

The word of the day...Radio
Radio is the broadcasting of programmes for the public to listen to, by sending out signals from a transmitter.
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss121/yamir240/7.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/Escursionista/b7aeddf2380aeb91ee5f9d258fa9ca7d.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/danielbwr/requestba2.jpg
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr289/eliza6_18/SS850744.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc326/morenoee/IMG_0125.jpg
http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu23/gopherburger/CHIP.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e287/zerepdivad/FordSatRadio.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg219/Memphis1935/IMG_0001-34.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/foxhunter351/Henry%20Radio%203K/HenryRadio3KRFDeckRestoration001-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/10 at 5:49 am

The birthday of the day...Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal as Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996) and his critically acclaimed performance as Tré Styles in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood (1991). His first job as a professional entertainer was as a breakdancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years, before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues (1981) and MacGyver (1985). His first major role was in the John Singleton's box office surprise and critical hit Boyz n the Hood (1991). He followed this success with roles in major films like A Few Good Men (film), Men of Honor (2000), Lightning Jack (1994), and Outbreak (1995).

In 1996, he was cast as an arrogant football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996). The film became a huge box office smash and earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the film became a nationwide catchphrase. In 1997 he had a notable supporting role in As Good As It Gets (1997). The next several years, his films were inconsistently successful. He has also appeared in a series of films which were not as critically or commercially successful, such as Boat Trip (2002), Norbit (2006), and Daddy Day Camp (2007), all of which had either received extremely negative reviews or performed poorly at the box office. Gooding received brief acclaim for his cameo as Nickie Barnes in American Gangster. In 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, he appeared in a television commercial for Hanes underwear, alongside Michael Jordan.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1988 Coming to America Barber Shop Customer
1989 Judgement Night Officer Alvarez
Sing Stanley
1991 Boyz n the Hood Tré Styles
1992 Gladiator Abraham Lincoln Haines
A Few Good Men Cpl. Carl Hammaker
1993 Daybreak Torch (Stephen Tolkin)
Judgment Night Mike Peterson
1994 Lightning Jack Ben Doyle
1995 Outbreak Maj. Salt
The Tuskegee Airmen Billy Roberts
Losing Isaiah Eddie Hughes
1996 Jerry Maguire Rod Tidwell Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award
1997 As Good as It Gets Frank Sachs
Do Me a Favor Liquor Store Clerk
1998 What Dreams May Come Albert Lewis
A Murder of Crows Lawson Russel Produced by Derek Broes
1999 Instinct Theo Caulder
Chill Factor Arlo
2000 Men of Honor BM2/Chief/Senior Chief Carl Brashear
2001 Pearl Harbor Petty Officer Doris Miller
Rat Race Owen Templeton
Zoolander Himself
In the Shadows Draven
2002 Snow Dogs Theodore "Ted" Brooks
2003 Boat Trip Jerry Robinson
The Fighting Temptations Darrin Hill
Radio James Robert "Radio" Kennedy
2004 Home on the Range Buck voice-over
2005 Dirty Salim Adel
Shadowboxer Mikey
2006 End Game Alex Thomas
Lightfield's Home Videos
2007 Norbit Deion Hughes
What Love Is Tom
Daddy Day Camp Charlie Hinton
American Gangster Leroy Barnes
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends Loofah voice-over
2008 Hero Wanted Liam Case
Harold Cromer
Linewatch Michael Dixon
The Way of War David Wolfe
2009 Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Ben Carson TV film
Lies & Illusions Isaac
The Devil's Tomb Mack
Wrong Turn at Tahoe Joshua
Hardwired Luke Gibson
2010 Red Tails TBA
Ticking Clock Lewis Hicks
Hit List Jonas Archer
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t132/howard1024/cuba.jpg
http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt152/deads1972/cubagoodingjr.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mathuisland/CubaGoodingJr3.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/FButts07/Cuba.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/02/10 at 5:51 am


The birthday of the day...Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal as Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996) and his critically acclaimed performance as Tré Styles in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood (1991). His first job as a professional entertainer was as a breakdancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years, before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues (1981) and MacGyver (1985). His first major role was in the John Singleton's box office surprise and critical hit Boyz n the Hood (1991). He followed this success with roles in major films like A Few Good Men (film), Men of Honor (2000), Lightning Jack (1994), and Outbreak (1995).

In 1996, he was cast as an arrogant football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996). The film became a huge box office smash and earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the film became a nationwide catchphrase. In 1997 he had a notable supporting role in As Good As It Gets (1997). The next several years, his films were inconsistently successful. He has also appeared in a series of films which were not as critically or commercially successful, such as Boat Trip (2002), Norbit (2006), and Daddy Day Camp (2007), all of which had either received extremely negative reviews or performed poorly at the box office. Gooding received brief acclaim for his cameo as Nickie Barnes in American Gangster. In 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, he appeared in a television commercial for Hanes underwear, alongside Michael Jordan.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1988 Coming to America Barber Shop Customer
1989 Judgement Night Officer Alvarez
Sing Stanley
1991 Boyz n the Hood Tré Styles
1992 Gladiator Abraham Lincoln Haines
A Few Good Men Cpl. Carl Hammaker
1993 Daybreak Torch (Stephen Tolkin)
Judgment Night Mike Peterson
1994 Lightning Jack Ben Doyle
1995 Outbreak Maj. Salt
The Tuskegee Airmen Billy Roberts
Losing Isaiah Eddie Hughes
1996 Jerry Maguire Rod Tidwell Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award
1997 As Good as It Gets Frank Sachs
Do Me a Favor Liquor Store Clerk
1998 What Dreams May Come Albert Lewis
A Murder of Crows Lawson Russel Produced by Derek Broes
1999 Instinct Theo Caulder
Chill Factor Arlo
2000 Men of Honor BM2/Chief/Senior Chief Carl Brashear
2001 Pearl Harbor Petty Officer Doris Miller
Rat Race Owen Templeton
Zoolander Himself
In the Shadows Draven
2002 Snow Dogs Theodore "Ted" Brooks
2003 Boat Trip Jerry Robinson
The Fighting Temptations Darrin Hill
Radio James Robert "Radio" Kennedy
2004 Home on the Range Buck voice-over
2005 Dirty Salim Adel
Shadowboxer Mikey
2006 End Game Alex Thomas
Lightfield's Home Videos
2007 Norbit Deion Hughes
What Love Is Tom
Daddy Day Camp Charlie Hinton
American Gangster Leroy Barnes
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends Loofah voice-over
2008 Hero Wanted Liam Case
Harold Cromer
Linewatch Michael Dixon
The Way of War David Wolfe
2009 Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Ben Carson TV film
Lies & Illusions Isaac
The Devil's Tomb Mack
Wrong Turn at Tahoe Joshua
Hardwired Luke Gibson
2010 Red Tails TBA
Ticking Clock Lewis Hicks
Hit List Jonas Archer
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t132/howard1024/cuba.jpg
http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt152/deads1972/cubagoodingjr.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mathuisland/CubaGoodingJr3.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/FButts07/Cuba.jpg



and his father Cuba Gooding is part of a group.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/10 at 5:54 am

The person of the day...Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American film actress.

Merkel resembled the popular actress Lillian Gish, and her resemblance allowed her to begin her career as a stand-in for Gish in 1920's Way Down East (she also did stand-in work for Gish in 1928's The Wind). She appeared in a few films during the silent era, including the two-reel Love's Old Sweet Song (1923) filmed by Lee DeForest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. However, she spent most of her time in New York City working on Broadway. Merkel returned to Hollywood and achieved her greatest success with the advent of "talkies".

She played Ann Rutledge in the film Abraham Lincoln (1930) directed by D. W. Griffith. During the 1930s, Merkel became a popular second lead in a number of films, usually playing the wisecracking best friend of the heroine, supporting actresses such as Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Loretta Young, and Dorothy Lamour. With her kewpie doll looks, combined with a strong Southern accent and wry line delivery, she enlivened scores of films of the era and worked with most of the stars of the period.

Merkel was an MGM contract player from 1932 to 1938, appearing in as many as twelve films in a year, often on loan-out to other studios. She was also often cast as leading lady to a number of comedians in their starring pictures, including Jack Benny, Harold Lloyd, and Charles Butterworth.

One of her most famous roles was in the Western Destry Rides Again (1939) in which her character, Lillibelle, gets into a famous "cat-fight" with Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich) over the possession of her husband's trousers, won by Frenchie in a crooked card game. She played the elder daughter to the W. C. Fields character, Egbert Sousé in the 1940 film The Bank Dick.

In the classic musical 42nd Street (1933), Merkel played a streetwise showgirl who was Ginger Rogers's best friend. In the famous "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" number, Merkel and Rogers both sing the immortal lyric, "Matrimony is baloney. She'll be wanting alimony in a year or so. / Still they go and shuffle, shuffle off to Buffalo."

She appeared in both the 1934 and the 1952 film versions of The Merry Widow, playing different roles in each.

Merkel's film career went into decline during the 1940s and although she continued working, it was in much smaller productions. In 1950 she was leading lady to William Bendix in a baseball comedy Kill the Umpire which was a surprise hit. She made a comeback as a middle-aged woman playing mothers and maiden aunts, and in 1956 won a Tony Award for her role on Broadway in The Ponder Heart. She had a major part in the MGM 1959 film, The Mating Game as Paul Douglas's wife and Debbie Reynolds's mother, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Summer and Smoke (1961).

Merkel, whose final film role was in the Elvis Presley film Spinout (1966), has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures, at 6230 Hollywood Boulevard. She died in Los Angeles, California, aged 82, of undisclosed causes.
Filmography
Features

    * Way Down East (1920)
    * The Fifth Horseman (1924)
    * Abraham Lincoln (1930)
    * The Eyes of the World (1930)
    * The Bat Whispers (1930)
    * Command Performance (1930)
    * Don't Bet on Women (1931)
    * Six Cylinder Love (1931)
    * Daddy Long Legs (1931)
    * The Maltese Falcon (1931)
    * The Bargain (1931)
    * Wicked (1931)
    * The Secret Witness (1931)
    * Private Lives (1931)
    * She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)
    * Impatient Maiden (1932)
    * Man Wanted (1932)
    * Huddle (1932)
    * Red-Headed Woman (1932)
    * They Call It Sin (1932)
    * Men Are Such Fools (1932)
    * Whistling in the Dark (1933)
    * 42nd Street (1933)
    * The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)
    * Clear All Wires! (1933)
    * Reunion in Vienna (1933)
    * Midnight Mary (1933)
    * Her First Mate (1933)
    * Broadway to Hollywood (1933)
    * Beauty for Sale (1933)
    * Bombshell (1933)
    * Day of Reckoning (1933)
    * The Women in His Life (1933)
    * This Side of Heaven (1934)
    * Murder in the Private Car (1934)
    * Paris Interlude (1934)
    * The Cat's-Paw (1934)
    * Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
    * Have a Heart (1934)
    * The Merry Widow (1934)
    * Evelyn Prentice (1934)
    * Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935)
    * The Night Is Young (1935)
    * One New York Night (1935)
    * Baby Face Harrington (1935)
    * Murder in the Fleet (1935)
    * Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
    * It's in the Air (1935)
    * Riffraff (1936)
    * Speed (1936)
    * We Went to College (1936)
    * Born to Dance (1936)
    * Don't Tell the Wife (1937)
    * The Good Old Soak (1937)
    * Saratoga (1937)
    * Checkers (1937)
    * True Confession (1937)
    * Four Girls in White (1939)
    * Some Like It Hot (1939)
    * On Borrowed Time (1939)
    * Destry Rides Again (1939)
    * Comin' Round the Mountain (1940)
    * Sandy Gets Her Man (1940)
    * The Bank Dick (1940)
    * Double Date (1941)
    * Road to Zanzibar (1941)
    * Cracked Nuts (1941)
    * The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
    * Twin Beds (1942)
    * This Is the Army (1943)
    * Sweethearts of the U.S.A. (1944)
    * It's a Joke, Son! (1947)
    * The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
    * Man from Texas (1948)
    * Kill the Umpire (1950)
    * My Blue Heaven (1950)
    * Emergency Wedding (1950)
    * Rich, Young and Pretty (1951)
    * A Millionaire for Christy (1951)
    * Golden Girl (1951)
    * With a Song in My Heart (1952)
    * The Merry Widow (1952)
    * I Love Melvin (1953)
    * The Kentuckian (1955)
    * The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956)
    * Bundle of Joy (1956)
    * The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957)
    * The Girl Most Likely (1957)
    * The Mating Game (1959)
    * The Parent Trap (1961)
    * Summer and Smoke (1961)
    * Summer Magic (1963)
    * A Tiger Walks (1964)
    * Spinout (1966)

Short subjects

    * Love's Old Sweet Song (1923)
    * Menu (1933)
    * Hollywood Goes to Town (1938)
    * Quack Service (1943)
    * To Heir Is Human (1944)
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu333/roberttaylorfan/photos/public/studios-ground-4-unamerkel.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/thelastflower/Colorized%20Pictures/unamerkelcolorized.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f257/tallulahbankhead/movie%20stars/unamerkel.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 7:44 am


The word of the day...Radio
Radio is the broadcasting of programmes for the public to listen to, by sending out signals from a transmitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwuy4hHO3YQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/10 at 10:53 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwuy4hHO3YQ

Classic :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/02/10 at 11:54 am



http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/Escursionista/b7aeddf2380aeb91ee5f9d258fa9ca7d.jpg





I think I had one like this-or really close to it.




http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t132/howard1024/cuba.jpg
http://i607.photobucket.com/albums/tt152/deads1972/cubagoodingjr.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mathuisland/CubaGoodingJr3.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/FButts07/Cuba.jpg



Another YUM!



The person of the day...Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American film actress.

Merkel resembled the popular actress Lillian Gish, and her resemblance allowed her to begin her career as a stand-in for Gish in 1920's Way Down East (she also did stand-in work for Gish in 1928's The Wind).



Way Down East was filmed in Vermont. There is a scene where Lillian Gish had to put her hand in the icy water. Because of that, she had trouble with that hand until her dying day.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 12:24 pm


Classic :)
Do you know who it is playing the keyboards for this song?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 12:25 pm


The word of the day...Radio
Radio is the broadcasting of programmes for the public to listen to, by sending out signals from a transmitter.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/Escursionista/b7aeddf2380aeb91ee5f9d258fa9ca7d.jpg
http://www.art-deco-shop.com/gallery/images/0009_large.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 12:27 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEI4U5KyAS0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/02/10 at 3:24 pm

I remember transistor radios.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 3:25 pm


I remember transistor radios.
My transistor radio has been long gone.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/02/10 at 3:32 pm


My transistor radio has been long gone.


now time for Ipods.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 3:38 pm


now time for Ipods.
I do not poccess one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/02/10 at 3:39 pm


I do not poccess one.


me neither.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/10 at 4:17 pm


My transistor radio has been long gone.

Mine too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/10 at 4:17 pm


me neither.

Nor do I.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 4:19 pm

I am stuck for a British person of the day, I will try again tomorrow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/02/10 at 5:07 pm


me neither.

me neither.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/02/10 at 5:08 pm


me neither.
Is it a generation thing?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/02/10 at 5:13 pm


Is it a generation thing?

Not necessarily.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/02/10 at 5:18 pm

I still have my transistor radio. It's in the garage. I don't think I will ever part with it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/02/10 at 11:44 pm

Australian's born on 2 January..

Germaine Greer  (I personally believe this woman to be as mad as a hatter and I have never liked her).

Germaine Greer (born 29 January 1939) is an Australian-born writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century.

Greer's ideas have created controversy ever since her book The Female Eunuch became an international best-seller in 1970, turning her into a household name and bringing her both adulation and opposition. She is also the author of many other books including, Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility (1984); The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause (1991) and Shakespeare's Wife (2007). She currently serves as Professor Emeritus of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick.

Germaine Greer has defined her goal as 'women's liberation' as distinct from 'equality with men'.

Later career

In 1989, Greer was appointed as a special lecturer and fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge, but resigned after attracting negative publicity in 1996 for her actions regarding Dr. Rachael Padman, a transsexual colleague. Greer unsuccessfully opposed Padman's election to a fellowship, on the grounds that Padman had been born male, and Newnham was a women's college. A 25 June 1997 article by Clare Longrigg in The Guardian about the incident, entitled "A Sister with No Fellow Feeling", disappeared from websites on the instruction of the newspaper's lawyers.

Over the years Greer has continued to self-identify as an anarchist or a Marxist. In her books she has dealt very little with political labels of this type, but has reaffirmed her position in interviews. For example, she stated on ABC Television in 2008 that "I ought to confess I suppose that I'm a Marxist. I think that reality comes first and ideology comes second," and elaborated later in the program to a question on whether feminism was the only successful revolution of the 20th century saying:

    "The difficulty for me is that I believe in permanent revolution. I believe that once you change the power structure and you get an oligarchy that is trying to keep itself in power, you have all the illiberal features of the previous regime. What has to keep on happening is a constant process of criticism, renewal, protest and so forth."

Speaking on an interview for 3CR (an Australian community radio), also in 2008, she described herself as "an old anarchist" and reaffirmed that opposition to "hierarchy and capitalism" were at the centre of her politics.

Greer is now retired but retains her position as Professor Emeritus in the Department of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick, Coventry.

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/keziagriffin/greer2.jpghttp://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/chootles/germaine.jpghttp://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s1/Seanchai-peg/Album%20II/germaine_greer.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/02/10 at 11:47 pm

My Australian of the day is:

Stephanie Gilmore.

Stephanie Gilmore is a professional surfer on the Foster's ASP Women's World Tour. She was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia on January 29, 1988 and currently resides in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.

Gilmore's life as a surfer began at age 10 when she stood on a bodyboard. By age 17 she was entering world tour events as a wildcard competitor, which paid off with a victory at the 2005 Roxy Pro Gold Coast. In her next season she won another wildcard event, the 2006 Havaianas Beachley Classic. Gilmore's success on the WQS (World Qualifying Series) tour qualified her for the 2007 Foster's ASP Women's World Tour and she did not disappoint. She won 4 events and claimed the 2007 World Title.

Steph is the daughter of Jeff and Tracy Gilmore, and has two older sisters named Whitney and Bonnie.

Although the 2007 season was Gilmore's rookie year, she captured the Foster's ASP Women's World Title. The title race came down to the final event of the season, the Billabong Pro Maui. She won three events in 2007 to enter the Billabong Pro Maui, and ranked first place in the final event. Gilmore needed a better result than former world champion Sofia Mulanovich and sophomore Silvana Lima, and won the title when both rivals bowed out before her. Gilmore quickly celebrated her title win and then went on to also win the event.
Career Victories

    * 2009
          o Roxy Pro Gold Coast - Australia
          o World Championship Title

    * 2008
          o Billabong Pro - Hawaii
          o Rip Curl Pro Mademoiselle - France
          o Movistar Classic Mancora - Peru
          o Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach - Australia
          o Roxy Pro Sunset Beach - Oahu, Hawaii
          o World Championship Title

    * 2007
          o Billabong Pro - Hawaii
          o Mancora Peru Classic - Peru
          o NAB Beachley Classic - Australia
          o Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach - Australia
          o World Championship Title

    * 2006
          o Havaianas Beachley Classic - Australia (wildcard competitor)

    * 2005
          o Roxy Pro Gold Coast - Australia (wildcard competitor)
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/charihoballer23/Stephanie-Gilmore-001Gal.jpghttp://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp334/rachybum1995/stephanie-gilmore.jpghttp://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z21/coreybeth8/stephanie_gilmore_wideweb__430x321.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/02/10 at 11:49 pm

It feels a bit strange posting about the 2 January when it is 3 January here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/02/10 at 11:55 pm


It feels a bit strange posting about the 2 January when it is 3 January here.

I think you can post for Jan 3. I will shortly.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/02/10 at 11:59 pm


I think you can post for Jan 3. I will shortly.


It's nearly 4.00 pm here.... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/03/10 at 12:03 am

The person of the day...Bobby Hull

Robert Marvin "Golden Jet" Hull, OC (born January 3, 1939) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and perhaps the greatest left winger to ever play the game. Hull was famous for his blonde hair, blinding skating speed, and having the fastest shot, earning him the nickname "the Golden Jet". He possessed the most feared slapshot of his day. In his 23 years in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association, he played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers.

On March 12, 1966, he became the first NHLer to score more than 50 goals in a season, surpassing Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion's hallowed mark of 50 goals.

His slapshot was once clocked at 118.3 mph (190.4 km/h)  (hardest ever clocked) and he could skate 29.7 mph (47.8 km/h
Hull was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. Bobby is one of the most famous hockey platers ever. His son Brett was also a hockey superstar.

Awards and achievements

Art Ross Trophy winner (1960, 1962, and 1966)
NHL First All-Star Team Left Wing (1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1972)
Stanley Cup championship (1961)
NHL Second All-Star Team Left Wing (1963 and 1971)
Hart Memorial Trophy winner (1965 and 1966)
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner (1965)
Lester Patrick Trophy winner (1969)


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/files2008/BobbyHull.jpg
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0903/this.day.sports.history.march12/images/bobby-hull.jpg
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1968/0212_large.jpg
http://www.hockeyforum.com/photopost/data/2/1961_BOBBY_HULL_WITH_STANLEY_CUP.bmp

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/03/10 at 1:34 am

British Person of the day.....George Martin

Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926) is a British record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time.

In 1965 he established the Associated Independent Recording (AIR) Studios. Although officially retired, he is still the chairman of the AIR board.

In recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1996. He is the father of producer Giles Martin, and actor Gregory Paul Martin.

Awards and recognition
Academy Award 1964 - Nomination Scoring of Music (for A Hard Day's Night (film))
Grammy Award 1967 - Best Contemporary Album (as producer of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Grammy Award 1967 - Album Of The Year (as producer of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Grammy Award 1973 - Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) (as arranger of 'Live and Let Die')
BRIT Awards 1977 - Best British Producer (of the past 25 years)
BRIT Awards 1984 - Outstanding Contribution To Music
Grammy Award 1993 - Best Musical Show Album (as producer of 'The Who's Tommy')
Grammy Award 2007 - Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, producer together with Giles Martin, of The Beatles album Love
Grammy Award 2007 - Best Surround Sound Album, producer together with Giles Martin, of The Beatles album Lovehttp://johnniecraig.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/sir_george_martin.jpg

http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages/george%20martin%20and%20the%20beatles.jpg

http://www.morethings.com/music/beatles/images/george_martin/george-martin_paul-mccartney_richard-starkey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:30 am


My Australian of the day is:

Stephanie Gilmore.

Stephanie Gilmore is a professional surfer on the Foster's ASP Women's World Tour. She was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia on January 29, 1988 and currently resides in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.

Gilmore's life as a surfer began at age 10 when she stood on a bodyboard. By age 17 she was entering world tour events as a wildcard competitor, which paid off with a victory at the 2005 Roxy Pro Gold Coast. In her next season she won another wildcard event, the 2006 Havaianas Beachley Classic. Gilmore's success on the WQS (World Qualifying Series) tour qualified her for the 2007 Foster's ASP Women's World Tour and she did not disappoint. She won 4 events and claimed the 2007 World Title.

Steph is the daughter of Jeff and Tracy Gilmore, and has two older sisters named Whitney and Bonnie.

Although the 2007 season was Gilmore's rookie year, she captured the Foster's ASP Women's World Title. The title race came down to the final event of the season, the Billabong Pro Maui. She won three events in 2007 to enter the Billabong Pro Maui, and ranked first place in the final event. Gilmore needed a better result than former world champion Sofia Mulanovich and sophomore Silvana Lima, and won the title when both rivals bowed out before her. Gilmore quickly celebrated her title win and then went on to also win the event.
Career Victories

    * 2009
          o Roxy Pro Gold Coast - Australia
          o World Championship Title

    * 2008
          o Billabong Pro - Hawaii
          o Rip Curl Pro Mademoiselle - France
          o Movistar Classic Mancora - Peru
          o Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach - Australia
          o Roxy Pro Sunset Beach - Oahu, Hawaii
          o World Championship Title

    * 2007
          o Billabong Pro - Hawaii
          o Mancora Peru Classic - Peru
          o NAB Beachley Classic - Australia
          o Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach - Australia
          o World Championship Title

    * 2006
          o Havaianas Beachley Classic - Australia (wildcard competitor)

    * 2005
          o Roxy Pro Gold Coast - Australia (wildcard competitor)
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/charihoballer23/Stephanie-Gilmore-001Gal.jpghttp://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp334/rachybum1995/stephanie-gilmore.jpghttp://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z21/coreybeth8/stephanie_gilmore_wideweb__430x321.jpg

That was real interesting. Surfing is something I would never attempt to do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:31 am


The person of the day...Bobby Hull

Robert Marvin "Golden Jet" Hull, OC (born January 3, 1939) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and perhaps the greatest left winger to ever play the game. Hull was famous for his blonde hair, blinding skating speed, and having the fastest shot, earning him the nickname "the Golden Jet". He possessed the most feared slapshot of his day. In his 23 years in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association, he played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers.

On March 12, 1966, he became the first NHLer to score more than 50 goals in a season, surpassing Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion's hallowed mark of 50 goals.

His slapshot was once clocked at 118.3 mph (190.4 km/h)  (hardest ever clocked) and he could skate 29.7 mph (47.8 km/h
Hull was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. Bobby is one of the most famous hockey platers ever. His son Brett was also a hockey superstar.

Awards and achievements

Art Ross Trophy winner (1960, 1962, and 1966)
NHL First All-Star Team Left Wing (1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1972)
Stanley Cup championship (1961)
NHL Second All-Star Team Left Wing (1963 and 1971)
Hart Memorial Trophy winner (1965 and 1966)
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner (1965)
Lester Patrick Trophy winner (1969)


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/files2008/BobbyHull.jpg
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0903/this.day.sports.history.march12/images/bobby-hull.jpg
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1968/0212_large.jpg
http://www.hockeyforum.com/photopost/data/2/1961_BOBBY_HULL_WITH_STANLEY_CUP.bmp



I saw his name and I thought, I know who Frank is going to do ;D..One of the all-time great hockey players :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:34 am


British Person of the day.....George Martin

Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926) is a British record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time.

In 1965 he established the Associated Independent Recording (AIR) Studios. Although officially retired, he is still the chairman of the AIR board.

In recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1996. He is the father of producer Giles Martin, and actor Gregory Paul Martin.

Awards and recognition
Academy Award 1964 - Nomination Scoring of Music (for A Hard Day's Night (film))
Grammy Award 1967 - Best Contemporary Album (as producer of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Grammy Award 1967 - Album Of The Year (as producer of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Grammy Award 1973 - Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) (as arranger of 'Live and Let Die')
BRIT Awards 1977 - Best British Producer (of the past 25 years)
BRIT Awards 1984 - Outstanding Contribution To Music
Grammy Award 1993 - Best Musical Show Album (as producer of 'The Who's Tommy')
Grammy Award 2007 - Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, producer together with Giles Martin, of The Beatles album Love
Grammy Award 2007 - Best Surround Sound Album, producer together with Giles Martin, of The Beatles album Lovehttp://johnniecraig.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/sir_george_martin.jpg

http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages/george%20martin%20and%20the%20beatles.jpg

http://www.morethings.com/music/beatles/images/george_martin/george-martin_paul-mccartney_richard-starkey.jpg

Thanks Phil, George had a profound effect in our music history. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:42 am

The word of the day...Buffalo
#
A buffalo is a wild animal like a large cow with horns that curve upwards. Buffalo are usually found in southern and eastern Africa. N-COUNT animal
#
A buffalo is the same as a water buffalo. N-COUNT animal
#
A buffalo is the same as a bison.
http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/xJennx426/momscamera205.jpg
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy195/cbrummel/P1010206.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f399/Sensrookie/Rookies%20FT/2007-08/0708HotProspects181.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/komuuk/mudwallowing.jpg
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp352/HorsesRAwesum/Breyerfest%202009/DSC03306.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp141/kyleiiiix3/buffaaalobilll.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265/scotthisey/buffalo.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd221/nativestock/CSCL-14.jpg
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx264/gregbishere/Football%20PC%20/Buffalo%20Bills/009-1.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z251/KellyKyra/Winter%20Weather%20Christmas%202009/IMG_1726.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:44 am


Australian's born on 2 January..

Germaine Greer  (I personally believe this woman to be as mad as a hatter and I have never liked her).

Germaine Greer (born 29 January 1939) is an Australian-born writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century.

Greer's ideas have created controversy ever since her book The Female Eunuch became an international best-seller in 1970, turning her into a household name and bringing her both adulation and opposition. She is also the author of many other books including, Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility (1984); The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause (1991) and Shakespeare's Wife (2007). She currently serves as Professor Emeritus of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick.

Germaine Greer has defined her goal as 'women's liberation' as distinct from 'equality with men'.

Later career

In 1989, Greer was appointed as a special lecturer and fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge, but resigned after attracting negative publicity in 1996 for her actions regarding Dr. Rachael Padman, a transsexual colleague. Greer unsuccessfully opposed Padman's election to a fellowship, on the grounds that Padman had been born male, and Newnham was a women's college. A 25 June 1997 article by Clare Longrigg in The Guardian about the incident, entitled "A Sister with No Fellow Feeling", disappeared from websites on the instruction of the newspaper's lawyers.

Over the years Greer has continued to self-identify as an anarchist or a Marxist. In her books she has dealt very little with political labels of this type, but has reaffirmed her position in interviews. For example, she stated on ABC Television in 2008 that "I ought to confess I suppose that I'm a Marxist. I think that reality comes first and ideology comes second," and elaborated later in the program to a question on whether feminism was the only successful revolution of the 20th century saying:

    "The difficulty for me is that I believe in permanent revolution. I believe that once you change the power structure and you get an oligarchy that is trying to keep itself in power, you have all the illiberal features of the previous regime. What has to keep on happening is a constant process of criticism, renewal, protest and so forth."

Speaking on an interview for 3CR (an Australian community radio), also in 2008, she described herself as "an old anarchist" and reaffirmed that opposition to "hierarchy and capitalism" were at the centre of her politics.

Greer is now retired but retains her position as Professor Emeritus in the Department of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick, Coventry.

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq338/keziagriffin/greer2.jpghttp://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k84/chootles/germaine.jpghttp://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s1/Seanchai-peg/Album%20II/germaine_greer.jpg

She sounds like a complex lady.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:50 am

The birthday of the day...Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945; Dallas, Texas) is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young). He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time. Stills was ranked #28 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Stills, Furay, and Young reunited in Los Angeles and formed the core of Buffalo Springfield. Legend has it that Stills and Furay recognized Young's converted hearse on the streets of LA and flagged him down, a meeting described in the recent solo track "Round the Bend". The band would release three albums (Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield Again, and Last Time Around) and one hit single (Stills' "For What It's Worth") before disbanding.

Stills' guitar playing continually evolved. Early on, it displayed sources in generic rock and roll, blues, and country music, as well as the chordings familiar in the acoustic-folk music scene. Soon Stills' playing showed the influence of his friend Jimi Hendrix and also sometimes the rhythms and riffs of various kinds of Latin music. Stills is notorious for experimenting with the guitar itself. This includes such things as soaking strings in barbecue sauce or flipping pickups to mimic Hendrix playing a right-handed guitar left-handed. He is also known for using unconventional tunings, particularly when performing acoustically. He is also adept at piano, organ and bass and plays some drums. "Stephen had a vision", Nash says. "David and I let him run with it". Stills played nearly every instrument on Crosby, Stills and Nash, earning the nickname Captain Manyhands from Rolling Stone.

During the disintegration of Buffalo Springfield, Stills joined up with ex-Byrd David Crosby and ex-Hollie Graham Nash to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. Cass Elliot invited Graham Nash over to meet Stills and David Crosby at the home of well known folk musician and painter Joni Mitchell, who painted several artworks of the three. Mitchell also contributed the artwork seen on the cover of the CSNY collection album So Far, released in 1974. The cover photo pictured on the trio's first (self-titled) album in 1969 was taken on the back porch of a house in West Hollywood which was torn down the next day. Stills overdubbed much of the musical backing himself for the first Crosby, Stills, and Nash album with only Dallas Taylor's drums and some rhythm guitar from Crosby and Nash. Neil Young was added for their second album, and the group became Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Despite several breakups and reformations, CSN (and sometimes CSNY) still record and tour to this day.

Having played at the Monterey Pop Festival with Buffalo Springfield, and both Woodstock and Altamont with CSNY, Stills performed at all three of the iconic rock festivals of the 1960s.
Solo years

In the wake of CSNY's success, all four members recorded solo albums. In 1970, Stills released his eponymous album debut which featured guests Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix (on what was possibly his last recording before he died), "Mama" Cass Elliot, Booker T Jones and Ringo Starr (credited only as "Richie") as well as contributions from various members of the CSNY band. It provided Stills with the hit single "Love The One You're With" as well as the concert favorite "Black Queen." Stills followed this with Stephen Stills 2, which featured "Change Partners." Even though the song was written before CSN formed, Nash saw it as a metaphor for the many relationships in CSNY, while Stills viewed the band as something much less bland and repetitive.

The next year, Stills teamed up with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman and several CSNY sidemen to form the band Manassas. With Manassas Stills recorded the self-titled double album Manassas. The album was a mixture of blues, folk and Latin music divided into different sections, and is considered by many to be one of Stills' best albums.

During a Manassas tour in France, Stills met and married French singer-songwriter Veronique Sanson. Then he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded two albums: Stills in 1975 and Illegal Stills, a pun on his name, in 1976. The former record found Stills in an uncharacteristically joyful mood; his marriage was going well, his son Chris had just been born, and he was happy living in Colorado. "To Mama From Christopher and the Old Man" was an exceptionally optimistic view of his new family.
Woodstock Reunion, September 7, 1979
Parr Meadows, Ridge, NY Photo: Bob Sanderson

In 1976, Stills attempted a reunion with Neil Young. At one point, Long May You Run was slated to be a CSNY record, but when Crosby and Nash left to fulfill recording and touring obligations, according to both David and Graham the other pair wiped their vocals from the recordings, as Stills and Young decided to go on without their erstwhile partners as The Stills-Young Band. However, Young would leave midway through the resulting tour due to an apparent throat infection. Stills was contractually bound to finish the tour, which he did, but upon returning home, his wife announced she wanted a divorce and wished to move back to France. Stills reunited with Crosby and Nash shortly afterwards, thanks to the efforts of Nash's future wife Susan, who got Nash to forgive Stills for wiping the Crosby and Nash vocals from Long May You Run. This led to the semi-permanent CSN reunion of 1977, which has persisted even though all three have released solo records since then.

In 1979 he travelled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between 2-4 March, alongside Weather Report, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge and Billy Joel, plus an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, with whom he toured the US after the Havana concerts. His performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.

Although Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young had difficulties with their differing individual goals, egos, and musical styles, in the early 1983 Daylight Again DVD from the 1982 CSN tour, Stills introduced the song, "Wasted on the Way", commenting that there were "three buddies who didn't know how to talk to one another for years"... finally 'making friends' getting rich, and it being good". Unfortunately, according to Crosby's biography, it was his lowest point in his crack cocaine addiction which left him nearly bankrupt, in prison without funds for a time.

In 1997, Stills became the first person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice in the same night for his work with CSN and the Buffalo Springfield. Fender guitars crafted a custom guitar and presented it to Stills to commemorate the occasion, this Fender Telecaster style guitar bears an inscription on the neck plate.

2005 saw Stills release Man Alive!, his first solo offering in 14 years. Although not troubling the chart compilers on either side of the Atlantic, the record was critically well received and is regarded by many fans as his best since the mid seventies.

Throughout 2006 and 2007, Stills toured regularly as a solo artist with "The Quartet", which consisted of drummer Joe Vitale, either Mike Finnegan or Todd Caldwell on keyboards, and either Kevin McCormick or Kenny Pasarelli on bass. Often a long acoustic solo section of the show would feature songs rarely played and showcase agile fingerstyle playing in standard and altered tunings. Stills toured Europe as a solo artist for the first time during October 2008.
Discography
With Buffalo Springfield
Date of release Title Recording dates Peak Billboard chart position RIAA Certification
December 1966

Buffalo Springfield

June - September 1966

#80

November 18, 1967

Buffalo Springfield Again

January - September 1967

#44

July 18, 1968

Last Time Around

February 1967 - May 1968

#42

March 1969

The Best of … Retrospective
(compilation)

June 1966 - April 1968

#42

Platinum
1973

Buffalo Springfield (Collection)
(compilation)

June 1966 - May 1968

-

July 17, 2001

Buffalo Springfield (box set)
(compilation)

June 1966 - May 1968

#194

With Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills
Date of release

Title

Peak Billboard chart position

RIAA Certification
July 22, 1968

Super Session

#12

Gold


With Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)
Date of release Title Recording dates Peak Billboard chart position RIAA Certification
May 29, 1969 Crosby, Stills & Nash June 26, 1968 - April 3, 1969 #6 4x Multi-Platinum
March 11, 1970 Déjà Vu July - December 1969 #1 7x Multi-Platinum
April 7, 1971 Four Way Street June 2–July 5, 1970 #1 4x Multi-Platinum
August 19, 1974 So Far
(compilation) 1969-1970 #1 6x Multi-Platinum
June 17 1977 CSN 1976-77 #2 4x Multi-Platinum
June 21, 1982 Daylight Again 1980-1981 #8 Platinum
August 19, 1983 Replay
(compilation) June 6, 1983 #122 -
November 3, 1988 American Dream May 3, 1988 - September 16, 1988 #16 Platinum
June 11, 1990 Live It Up February 1, 1986 - February 5, 1990 #57 -
October 1991 CSN (box set) June 26, 1968 - April 3, 1990 #109 -
August 16, 1994 After The Storm January 27, 1994 - July 1, 1994 #98 -
October 26, 1999 Looking Forward 1996 - 1999 #26 -
March 14, 2005 Greatest Hits 1969-1999 #24
July 22, 2008 Déjà Vu Live 2006 - -
With The Stills-Young Band
Date of release

Title

Recording dates

Peak Billboard chart position

RIAA Certification

""
September 10, 1976

Long May You Run
with Stephen Stills
and the Stills-Young Band

February 16 - June 7, 1976

#26

Gold
Solo albums
Date of release

Title

Peak Billboard chart position

RIAA / CRIA Certifications

Label

Information
November 16, 1970

Stephen Stills

#3

Gold

Atlantic

Studio
June 30, 1971

Stephen Stills 2

#8

Gold

Atlantic

April 12, 1972

Manassas

#4

Gold

Atlantic

April 23, 1973

Down the Road

#7

-

Atlantic

June 1975

Stills

#22

-

Columbia

December 1975

Stephen Stills Live

#42

-

Atlantic

Live
March 1976

Illegal Stills

#30

-

Columbia

Studio
December 1976

Still Stills: The Best of Stephen Stills

#127

-

Atlantic

Compilation
September 1978

Thoroughfare Gap

#83

-

Columbia

Studio
July 1984

Right By You

#75

-

Atlantic

September 1991

Stills Alone

-

-

Vision/Gold Hill

November 2003

Turnin' Back The Pages

-

-

Columbia

Compilation
August 2005

Man Alive!

-

-

Titan/Pyramid

Studio
July 2007

Just Roll Tape

-

-

Eyewall/Rhino

Compilation
September 2009

Pieces

-

-

Rhino/Atlantic

October 2009

Live at Shepherd's Bush

-

-

Rhino

Live
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt41/Mypostergallery/os0160.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff93/sugarcubes_inmytea/Crosby_Stills_Nash_And_Young.gif
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k56/Crowder_02/Great%20Guitarists%202/8372.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/LlamaArse/stephenstills.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 3:54 am

The person of the day...Joy Adamson
Joy Adamson (20 January 1910 in Troppau, Austrian Silesia – 3 January 1980) was a naturalist and author, best known for her book, Born Free, which described her experiences in raising Elsa from cub to lioness. The book Born Free was an international bestseller and printed in several languages and it was made into an Academy Award-winning movie with the same title, Born Free. In addition to these major achievements, Joy was an accomplished artist and many of her paintings are displayed in a museum in Nairobi, Kenya.
Joy Adamson is best known for her conservation effort with Elsa the Lioness. In 1956, George Adamson, then game warden of the Northern Frontier District in Kenya, in the course of his job, shot and killed a lioness as she charged him and another man. He did not realize until later that the lioness was protecting her cubs and nearby were found the lioness' three cubs, which he took home to raise. The cubs did not eat for two days, but soon they were thriving. Early on, George attended to their physical needs, while Joy Adamson and her pet Pati, a rock hyrax, raised them. Joy was completely devoted to the cubs from the beginning. After six months, it became apparent that three growing cubs were too much for the Adamsons and their staff. The two larger cubs, Lustica and the Big One, were sent to a zoo in Rotterdam, but the third, Elsa, the Adamsons kept and remained attached to.

The Adamsons decided to set Elsa free rather than send her to a zoo. They spent many months training her to hunt and survive on her own and were successful in the end: Elsa became the first lioness released successfully, the first to have contact after release, and the first known to have cubs. The Adamsons did their best to keep their distance from the cubs so they would remain wild, but they got close enough to photograph them. Elsa would actually stand between the humans and the cubs if she felt her human friends were getting too close.

After Elsa’s death in January 1961, which was brought on by a disease from a tick bite, the Adamsons worked to rescue young Jespah, Gopa, and Little Elsa from possible execution. Without their mother to feed and guide them, the cubs had become a nuisance, killing livestock and angering the locals. The cubs were always somewhat aloof from their mother’s foster parents, so getting them near enough to capture was a challenge. George constructed three identical cage traps, and after much waiting, the three were captured and transported to neighboring country Tanzania, where they were promised a home at a national park. In The Story of Elsa, a compilation of the books about Elsa, Adamson wrote: "My heart was with them wherever they were. But it was also with these two lions here in front of us; and as I watched this beautiful pair, I realized how all the characteristics of our cubs were inherent in them. Indeed, in every lion I saw during our searches I recognized the intrinsic nature of Elsa, Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa, the spirit of all the magnificent lions in Africa."

In the 1960s, she lived at Elsamere on the shores of Lake Naivasha. Elsamere is now an Education Center and visitors to Kenya can stay there and visit local wildlife.
Writer and celebrity

Using her own notes and George’s journals, Joy Adamson wrote the book Born Free. She submitted it to a number of publishers before it was bought by Harvill Press, part of HarperCollins, and published in 1960, the year it became a number-one New York Times bestseller. The success of the book was largely due not just to the captivating story of Elsa, but to the dozens of photographs of her. Readers had pictures of many of the events of Elsa’s life leading up to her release, and they found the whole story enchanting. All subsequent books by both George and Joy would be filled with photographs.

Born Free received largely favorable reviews from critics who were as spellbound as the public. The Adamsons became known the world over. Adamson, who had worked closely with publishers in order to properly promote the book, was not surprised by its success. She would spend the rest of her life earning money for wildlife, thanks to the popularity of Born Free. It was followed by Living Free, which is about Elsa as a mother to her cubs, and Forever Free, which tells of the release of Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa. She was generous in some ways- all of the proceeds from the books went to fund conservation projects- but she did not share any of the proceeds with George, from whom she separated, though he was a driving force behind Elsa's release and though his journals formed the basis for Born Free.

The 1966 film Born Free, starring husband-and-wife actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna and filmed in the bush over the course of many months, was a worldwide hit. The stars got to know the real Adamsons, and the couples remained friends for life, working for wildlife causes. Travers and McKenna decided to do all of their own scenes with the lions in the film in order to recreate the close relationship that Joy and George Adamson had with Elsa, a serious commitment and risk on the actors’ part, but one that made the film more realistic. Perhaps the most important thing about the filming of Born Free is that some of the lions used for the film gained the same freedom Elsa had. This story was told in a documentary produced by Bill Travers titled The Lions Are Free which was made available on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2005.

The film, which went on to win two Academy Awards, both for music, is a family classic and true to the spirit of Elsa. Six years later, Susan Hampshire took over the role of Joy Adamson in Living Free, a film based on the third “Elsa book,” Forever Free.
On 3 January 1980, in Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Joy Adamson's body was discovered by her assistant, Peter Morson (sometimes reported as Pieter Mawson). He mistakenly assumed that she had been killed by a lion, and this was what was initially reported by the media. Her two former husbands as well as George were alive at the time of her death; Von Klarwill and George Adamson came to the memorial service, but Bally preferred to keep his feelings private and said his goodbyes at the mortuary.

Further police investigation found that Adamson's wounds were too sharp and bloodless to have been caused by an animal, and concluded that she was murdered with a sharp instrument. Paul Nakware Ekai, a discharged labourer formerly employed by Adamson, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, escaping capital punishment by hanging because the judge ruled that he was a minor when the crime was committed.

George Adamson was murdered nine years later, in 1989, near his camp in Kora National Park, while rushing to the aid of a tourist who was being attacked by poachers. George is credited with saving the tourist's life, but his act of bravery cost him his own.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn178/polen_89/za%20saitove/Joy_Adamson_Sitting_And_Pippa_BW_Cr.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x98/melbah/JoyandElsa.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/naturekitty/elsa3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/03/10 at 7:00 am


The word of the day...Buffalo
#
A buffalo is a wild animal like a large cow with horns that curve upwards. Buffalo are usually found in southern and eastern Africa. N-COUNT animal
#
A buffalo is the same as a water buffalo. N-COUNT animal
#
A buffalo is the same as a bison.
http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/xJennx426/momscamera205.jpg
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy195/cbrummel/P1010206.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f399/Sensrookie/Rookies%20FT/2007-08/0708HotProspects181.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/komuuk/mudwallowing.jpg
http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp352/HorsesRAwesum/Breyerfest%202009/DSC03306.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp141/kyleiiiix3/buffaaalobilll.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265/scotthisey/buffalo.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd221/nativestock/CSCL-14.jpg
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx264/gregbishere/Football%20PC%20/Buffalo%20Bills/009-1.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z251/KellyKyra/Winter%20Weather%20Christmas%202009/IMG_1726.jpg


Don't forget Buffalo wings.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 8:05 am


Don't forget Buffalo wings.

Very good Howie :)
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m473/chanfan56/wings.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/03/10 at 6:44 pm

Nice bios. Thanks for posting, Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/03/10 at 7:00 pm


Very good Howie :)
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m473/chanfan56/wings.gif


But they are very spicy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 7:15 pm


Nice bios. Thanks for posting, Ninny.  :)

Thanks Vinny :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/10 at 7:17 pm


But they are very spicy.

To spicy for me..I like them sweet & sour or BBQ.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/03/10 at 7:17 pm

Buffalo Springfield.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/03/10 at 7:17 pm


To spicy for me..I like them sweet & sour or BBQ.


I'm used to spicy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/04/10 at 2:30 am


Very good Howie :)
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m473/chanfan56/wings.gif


But why are they called 'Buffalo wings? :-\\

They look delicious.... :-*

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 4:33 am


Buffalo Springfield.

Yep that's where i got the word of the day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 4:35 am


But why are they called 'Buffalo wings? :-\\

They look delicious.... :-*

They were first made in Buffalo,NY :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 4:50 am

The word of the day...Caddy(Caddie)
In golf, a caddie is a person who carries golf clubs and other equipment for a player
A tea caddy is a small tin in which you keep tea.
A Cadillac car
In computer hardware, a caddy refers to a sheath used to hold some media. If the media is a hard disk drive

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz268/WalterMoores/Misc/regencysarcophagusteacaddy166.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/mkriendeau/IMGP0038-1.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv212/yardsale2780/aaa.jpg
http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae129/pakngahman/1a775db9.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w258/pldarek99/c7745a69.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n289/btienzo/2009/JB%20Golf/IMG_1709.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr44/Glade_Springs/Golf/06.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn242/tanker49_2008/vehicle%20conversions/mikescars009.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc224/Airfilter_01/vegyes/59Caddy.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj160/cowie69/caddy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 4:54 am

The birthday of the day...Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer. annon made her screen debut in 1960 in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, however her small screen debut was in a late 1950s roles was as Mona Elliott, with fellow guest star Franchot Tone, in the episode "The Man Behind the Man" of the 1964 CBS drama, The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the title role. She also made appearances on 77 Sunset Strip, the perennial western series Gunsmoke, The Untouchables and the syndicated Two Faces West in the 1960 episode entitled "Sheriff of the Town".

In 1969, Cannon starred with an ensemble cast led by Natalie Wood in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a film about sexual revolution in which she played Alice. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film, as well as two Golden Globe nominations. Most of Cannon's later roles in the 1970s were less-successful, although she did receive a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination for Such Good Friends (1971). In addition, she became the first Oscar-nominated actress to be nominated in the Best Short Film, Live Action Category for Number One (1976), a project which Cannon produced, directed, wrote and edited. It was a story about adolescent sexual curiosity. In 1978, Cannon starred in Revenge of the Pink Panther. That same year, she appeared opposite Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and James Mason in Heaven Can Wait. This performance earned her a second Oscar nomination and also won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1976, she hosted Saturday Night Live during its first season. She was a guest in the fourth season of The Muppet Show in 1979.

In the 1980s, Cannon, who is also a singer/songwriter, appeared in Honeysuckle Rose (1980) with Willie Nelson, Deathtrap (1982) with Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine, Caddyshack II (1988) and has starred in several TV movies.

In the 1990s, she appeared on the popular television shows Diagnosis Murder and The Practice, as well as being a semi-regular on Ally McBeal. She made appearances in films such as That Darn Cat (1997), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Out to Sea (1997) with the duo Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, and Kangaroo Jack (2003). She also starred on the short-lived sitcom Three Sisters (2001-2002). In 2005 she appeared in Boynton Beach Club, a movie about aging Floridians who have just lost their spouses.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1960 The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond Dixie
This Rebel Breed Wiggles (as Diane Cannon)
1969 Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Alice Henderson New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1971 Doctors' Wives Lorrie Dellman
The Anderson Tapes Ingrid
The Love Machine Judith Austin
The Burglars Lena
Such Good Friends Julie Messinger Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1973 Shamus Alexis Montaigne
The Last of Sheila Christine
1974 Child Under a Leaf Domino
1976 Number One Matt's mother Writer, director, producer, film editor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
1978 Heaven Can Wait Julia Farnsworth Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Revenge of the Pink Panther Simone Legree
1980 Honeysuckle Rose Viv Bonham
Coast to Coast Madie Levrington
1982 Deathtrap Myra Bruhl
Author! Author! Alice Detroit
1988 Rock & Roll Mom Annie Hackett (TV)
She's Having a Baby Herself (uncredited)
Caddyshack II Elizabeth Pearce
1990 The End of Innocence Stephanie (also director and writer)
1991 Jailbirds Rosie LaCroix (TV)
1992 Christmas in Connecticut Elizabeth Blane (TV)
1993 The Pickle Ellen Stone
1997 Allie & Me Karen Schneider
That Darn Cat Mrs. Flint
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag Annette Bennett
Out to Sea Liz LaBreche
1997-2000 Ally McBeal Jennifer 'Whipper' Cone (17 episodes)
1998 The Sender Gina Fairfax
1999 Kiss of a Stranger Leslie
2003 Kangaroo Jack Anna Carbone
2004 After the Sunset Herself at the Basketball Game (uncredited)
2006 Boynton Beach Club Lois
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k14/ronewc/1-ACTORS_ACTRESSES/cannondyan-a.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l168/bacoplely/Celebrity/179f5e98.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/Ca/Cannon/Cannon-D-Deathtrap01.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb311/CopperTop4X4/Celebrities/th7f21552e.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 5:00 am

The person of the day...T.S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888–January 4, 1965) was an Anglo/American poet, playwright, and literary critic, arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. His first notable publication, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, begun in February 1910 and published in Chicago in June 1915, is regarded as a masterpiece of the modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including Gerontion (1920), The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939), and Four Quartets (1945). He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Order of Merit in 1948.

Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was educated at Harvard University. After graduating in 1909, he studied philosophy at the University of Paris for a year, then won a scholarship to Merton College, Oxford in 1914, becoming a British citizen when he was 39. "y poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England," he said of his nationality and its role in his work. "It wouldn't be what it is, and I imagine it wouldn't be so good ... if I'd been born in England, and it wouldn't be what it is if I'd stayed in America. It's a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America For a poet of his stature, Eliot produced a relatively small amount of poetry. He was aware of this early in his career. He wrote to J. H. Woods, one of his former Harvard professors, that, "My reputation in London is built upon one small volume of verse, and is kept up by printing two or three more poems in a year. The only thing that matters is that these should be perfect in their kind, so that each should be an event."

Typically, Eliot first published his poems individually in periodicals or in small books or pamphlets, and then collected them in books. His first collection was Prufrock and Other Observations (1917). In 1920, he published more poems in Ara Vos Prec (London) and Poems: 1920 (New York). These had the same poems (in a different order) except that "Ode" in the British edition was replaced with "Hysteria" in the American edition. In 1925, he collected The Waste Land and the poems in Prufrock and Poems into one volume and added The Hollow Men to form Poems: 1909–1925. From then on, he updated this work as Collected Poems. Exceptions are Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939), a collection of light verse; Poems Written in Early Youth, posthumously published in 1967 and consisting mainly of poems published 1907–1910 in The Harvard Advocate,, and Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909–1917, material Eliot never intended to have published, which appeared posthumously in 1997.

Of his nationality and its role in his work Eliot said: "y poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England." He added: "It wouldn't be what it is, and I imagine it wouldn't be so good ... if I'd been born in England, and it wouldn't be what it is if I'd stayed in America. It's a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America."
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Main article: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

In 1915 Ezra Pound, overseas editor of Poetry magazine, recommended to Harriet Monroe, the magazine's founder, that she publish "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". Although the character Prufrock seems to be middle-aged, Eliot wrote most of the poem when he was only 22. Its now-famous opening lines, comparing the evening sky to "a patient etherised upon a table," were considered shocking and offensive, especially at a time when Georgian Poetry was hailed for its derivations of the 19th century Romantic Poets. The poem follows the conscious experience of a man, Prufrock (relayed in the "stream of consciousness" form characteristic of the Modernists), lamenting his physical and intellectual inertia, the lost opportunities in his life and lack of spiritual progress, with the recurrent theme of carnal love unattained. Critical opinion is divided as to whether the narrator leaves his residence during the course of the narration. The locations described can be interpreted either as actual physical experiences, mental recollections, or even as symbolic images from the sub-conscious mind, as, for example, in the refrain "In the room the women come and go." The poem's structure was heavily influenced by Eliot's extensive reading of Dante Alighieri, in the Italian, and refers to a number of literary works, including Hamlet and those of the French Symbolists.

Its reception in London can be gauged from an unsigned review in The Times Literary Supplement on June 21, 1917: "The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr Eliot is surely of the very smallest importance to anyone, even to himself. They certainly have no relation to poetry…"
The Waste Land
Main article: The Waste Land

In October 1922 Eliot published The Waste Land in The Criterion. It was composed during a period of personal difficulty for Eliot—his marriage was failing, and both he and Vivien were suffering from nervous disorders. The poem is often read as a representation of the disillusionment of the post-war generation. That year Eliot lived in Lausanne, Switzerland to take a treatment and to convalesce from a break-down. There he wrote the final section, "What the Thunder Said," which contains frequent references to mountains. Before the poem's publication as a book in December 1922, Eliot distanced himself from its vision of despair. On November 15, 1922, he wrote to Richard Aldington, saying, "As for The Waste Land, that is a thing of the past so far as I am concerned and I am now feeling toward a new form and style." The poem is known for its obscure nature—its slippage between satire and prophecy; its abrupt changes of speaker, location, and time; its elegiac but intimidating summoning up of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures. Despite this, it has become a touchstone of modern literature, a poetic counterpart to a novel published in the same year, James Joyce's Ulysses. Among its best-known phrases are "April is the cruellest month", "I will show you fear in a handful of dust"; and "Shantih shantih shantih," the Sanskrit word that ends the poem.
The Hollow Men
Main articles: The Hollow Men and The Hollow Men in popular culture

The Hollow Men appeared in 1925. For the critic Edmund Wilson, it marked "the nadir of the phase of despair and desolation given such effective expression in The Waste Land." It is Eliot's major poem of the late twenties. Similar to other work, its themes are overlapping and fragmentary: post-war Europe under the Treaty of Versailles (which Eliot despised: compare Gerontion); the difficulty of hope and religious conversion; and Eliot's failed marriage.

Allen Tate perceived a shift in Eliot's method, writing that, "The mythologies disappear altogether in The Hollow Men." This is a striking claim for a poem as indebted to Dante as anything else in Eliot’s early work, to say little of the modern English mythology—the ‘Old Guy ’ of the Gunpowder Plot—or the colonial and agrarian mythos of Joseph Conrad and James George Frazer, which, at least for reasons of textual history, echo in The Waste Land. The "continuous parallel between contemporaneity and antiquity" that is so characteristic of his mythical method remained in fine form. The Hollow Men contains some of Eliot's most famous lines, most notably its conclusion:

    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but a whimper.

Ash Wednesday
Main article: Ash Wednesday (poem)

Ash Wednesday is the first long poem written by Eliot after his 1927 conversion to Anglicanism. Published in 1930, it deals with the struggle that ensues when one who has lacked faith acquires it. Sometimes referred to as Eliot's "conversion poem," it is richly but ambiguously allusive, and deals with the aspiration to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human salvation, inspired by Dante's Purgatorio. The style is different from the poetry that predates his conversion. Ash Wednesday and the poems that followed had a more casual, melodic, and contemplative method.

Many critics were particularly enthusiastic about it. Edwin Muir maintained that it is one of the most moving poems Eliot wrote, and perhaps the "most perfect," though it was not well-received by everyone. The poem's groundwork of orthodox Christianity discomfited many of the more secular literati.
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Main article: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

In 1930, he published a book of light verse, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, "Old Possum" being Ezra Pound's nickname for him. This first edition had an illustration of the author on the cover. In 1954, the composer Alan Rawsthorne set six of the poems for speaker and orchestra, in a work entitled Practical Cats. After Eliot's death, it became the basis of the musical, Cats, by Andrew Lloyd Webber.Main articles: Murder in the Cathedral, The Rock (play), The Family Reunion, The Cocktail Party, The Confidential Clerk, and The Elder Statesman

With the important exception of his magnum opus Four Quartets, Eliot directed much of his creative energies after Ash Wednesday to writing plays in verse, mostly comedies or plays with redemptive endings. He was long a critic and admirer of Elizabethan and Jacobean verse drama; witness his allusions to Webster, Thomas Middleton, William Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd in The Waste Land. In a 1933 lecture he said: "Every poet would like, I fancy, to be able to think that he had some direct social utility. ... He would like to be something of a popular entertainer, and be able to think his own thoughts behind a tragic or a comic mask. He would like to convey the pleasures of poetry, not only to a larger audience, but to larger groups of people collectively; and the theatre is the best place in which to do it."

After The Waste Land (1922), he wrote that he was "now feeling toward a new form and style." One project he had in mind was writing a play in verse with a jazz tempo featuring Sweeney, a character who had appeared in a number of his poems. Eliot did not finish it. He did publish separately two pieces of what he had written. The two, Fragment of a Prologue (1926) and Fragment of an Agon (1927) were published together in 1932 as Sweeney Agonistes. Although Eliot noted that this was not intended to be a one-act play, it is sometimes performed as one.

A pageant play by Eliot called The Rock was performed in 1934 for the benefit for churches in the Diocese of London. Much of it was a collaborative effort; Eliot accepted credit only for the authorship of one scene and the choruses. George Bell, the Bishop of Chichester, had been instrumental in connecting Eliot with producer E. Martin Browne for the production of The Rock, and later asked Eliot to write another play for the Canterbury Festival in 1935. This one, Murder in the Cathedral, concerning the death of the martyr, Thomas Becket, was more under Eliot's control. After this, he worked on commercial plays for more general audiences: The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk, (1953) and The Elder Statesman (1958). The Broadway production in New York of The Cocktail Party received the 1950 Tony Award for Best Play.
Eliot also made significant contributions to the field of literary criticism, strongly influencing the school of New Criticism. While somewhat self-deprecating and minimizing of his work—he once said his criticism was merely a “by-product” of his “private poetry-workshop”—Eliot is considered by some to be one of the greatest literary critics of the 20th century. The critic William Empson once said, "I do not know for certain how much of my own mind invented, let alone how much of it is a reaction against him or indeed a consequence of misreading him. He is a very penetrating influence, perhaps not unlike the east wind."

In his critical essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Eliot argues that art must be understood not in a vacuum, but in the context of previous pieces of art: “In a peculiar sense ... must inevitably be judged by the standards of the past.” This essay was one of the most important works of the school of New Criticism. Specifically, it introduced the idea that the value of one work of art must be viewed in the context of all previous work, a “simultaneous order” or works. Also important to New Criticism was the idea—as articulated in Eliot’s essay "Hamlet and His Problems”—of an “objective correlative,” which posits a connection among the words of the text and events, states of mind, and experiences. This notion concedes that a poem means what it says, but suggests that there can be a non-subjective judgment based on different readers’ different—but perhaps corollary—interpretations of a work.

More generally, New Critics took a cue from Eliot in regards to his “‘classical’ ideals and his religious thought; his attention to the poetry and drama of the early seventeenth century; his deprecation of the Romantics, especially Shelley; his proposition that good poems constitute ‘not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion'; and his insistence that ‘poets…at present must be difficult.’”

Eliot’s essays were a major factor in the revival of interest in the metaphysical poets. Eliot particularly praised the metaphysical poets' ability to show experience as both psychological and sensual, while at the same time infusing this portrayal with—in Eliot's view—wit and uniqueness. Eliot's essay "The Metaphysical Poets," along with giving new significance and attention to metaphysical poetry, introduced his now well-known definition of "unified sensibility," which is considered by some to mean the same thing as the term "metaphysical."

His 1922 poem The Waste Land—which at the time of its publication, many critics believed to be a joke or hoax—also can be better understood in light of his work as a critic. He had argued that a poet must write “programmatic criticism"; that is, a poet should write to advance his own interests rather than to advance “historical scholarship". Viewed from Eliot's critical lens, The Waste Land likely shows his personal despair about World War I rather than an objective historical understanding of it.

In 1958, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed Eliot to a commission that produced The Revised Psalter (1963). A harsh critic of Eliot's, C. S. Lewis, was also a member of the commission, where their antagonism turned into a friendship
http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww263/rjbarryiv/writers/eliot.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i41/bn4md1/TS_Elliot.jpg
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Poehlein416/Tseliot.jpg
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz349/bamboozlem/essentialeliot.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/04/10 at 5:28 am

I first saw Dyan Cannon in Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice .... I was only 18 and it certainly made an impact. After that film Dyan Cannon and Natalie Wood were two of my favourite actresses!  ::)

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x174/followfocus/Tony%20Nigro/2009/11/2009-11-18-MotW-Bob-and-Carol-and-T.jpghttp://i351.photobucket.com/albums/q474/gibbo4/bcta.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/04/10 at 6:42 am


The word of the day...Caddy(Caddie)
In golf, a caddie is a person who carries golf clubs and other equipment for a player
A tea caddy is a small tin in which you keep tea.
A Cadillac car
In computer hardware, a caddy refers to a sheath used to hold some media. If the media is a hard disk drive

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz268/WalterMoores/Misc/regencysarcophagusteacaddy166.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/mkriendeau/IMGP0038-1.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv212/yardsale2780/aaa.jpg
http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae129/pakngahman/1a775db9.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w258/pldarek99/c7745a69.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n289/btienzo/2009/JB%20Golf/IMG_1709.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr44/Glade_Springs/Golf/06.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn242/tanker49_2008/vehicle%20conversions/mikescars009.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc224/Airfilter_01/vegyes/59Caddy.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj160/cowie69/caddy.jpg


I assumed it was Chevy Chase's birthday when I saw the word of the day Caddy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 7:47 am


I first saw Dyan Cannon in Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice .... I was only 18 and it certainly made an impact. After that film Dyan Cannon and Natalie Wood were two of my favourite actresses!  ::)

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x174/followfocus/Tony%20Nigro/2009/11/2009-11-18-MotW-Bob-and-Carol-and-T.jpghttp://i351.photobucket.com/albums/q474/gibbo4/bcta.jpg

Thanks for the pics. Peter.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 7:49 am


I assumed it was Chevy Chase's birthday when I saw the word of the day Caddy.

That would of been a good guess :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/04/10 at 12:09 pm

Macavity  - The Mystery Cat
By T.S. Eliot


Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless of investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macacity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibit, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbjXHP7XifA




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/04/10 at 1:52 pm


The word of the day...Caddy(Caddie)
In golf, a caddie is a person who carries golf clubs and other equipment for a player
A tea caddy is a small tin in which you keep tea.
A Cadillac car
In computer hardware, a caddy refers to a sheath used to hold some media. If the media is a hard disk drive

A tea caddy for me!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/04/10 at 1:53 pm


The word of the day...Caddy(Caddie)
In golf, a caddie is a person who carries golf clubs and other equipment for a player
A tea caddy is a small tin in which you keep tea.
A Cadillac car
In computer hardware, a caddy refers to a sheath used to hold some media. If the media is a hard disk drive

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz268/WalterMoores/Misc/regencysarcophagusteacaddy166.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/mkriendeau/IMGP0038-1.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv212/yardsale2780/aaa.jpg
http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae129/pakngahman/1a775db9.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w258/pldarek99/c7745a69.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n289/btienzo/2009/JB%20Golf/IMG_1709.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr44/Glade_Springs/Golf/06.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn242/tanker49_2008/vehicle%20conversions/mikescars009.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc224/Airfilter_01/vegyes/59Caddy.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj160/cowie69/caddy.jpg
Which brings us back to Paul Lawrie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 3:15 pm


Macavity  - The Mystery Cat
By T.S. Eliot


Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless of investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macacity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibit, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbjXHP7XifA




Cat



Thanks for sharing..most cats are mysterious ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 3:16 pm


A tea caddy for me!

I never knew there was such a thing until I looked the word up.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/04/10 at 3:18 pm


I never knew there was such a thing until I looked the word up.
It is a common household accessory over here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/10 at 3:20 pm


It is a common household accessory over here.

I see they come in assorted shapes and sizes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/04/10 at 3:25 pm


I assumed it was Chevy Chase's birthday when I saw the word of the day Caddy.

I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not

I first saw Dyan Cannon in Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice .... I was only 18 and it certainly made an impact. After that film Dyan Cannon and Natalie Wood were two of my favourite actresses!  ::)

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x174/followfocus/Tony%20Nigro/2009/11/2009-11-18-MotW-Bob-and-Carol-and-T.jpghttp://i351.photobucket.com/albums/q474/gibbo4/bcta.jpg

Yes, Natalie And Dyan were 2 of my faves from that time period as well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/04/10 at 3:25 pm


I see they come in assorted shapes and sizes.
And can become collector's items.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/04/10 at 3:54 pm


I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not


I used to live near Chevy Chase-the city, not the person.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/04/10 at 4:04 pm



I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not


I used to live near Chevy Chase-the city, not the person.



Cat

Whenever I think of Chevy Chase, I always remember Emily Litella, Gilda Radner's character on SNL.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/04/10 at 4:10 pm


Whenever I think of Chevy Chase, I always remember Emily Litella, Gilda Radner's character on SNL.  :)



That's different, Chedder Cheese. Nevermind.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/04/10 at 4:14 pm



That's different, Chedder Cheese. Nevermind.



Cat

The good old days..and his clumsy imitations of Prez Ford.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/04/10 at 7:00 pm


That would of been a good guess :)


When was his birthday?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 7:17 am


When was his birthday?

October 8th

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 7:25 am

The word of the day...Lonesome
Someone who is lonesome is unhappy because they do not have any friends or do not have anyone to talk to
A lonesome place is one which very few people come to and which is a long way from places where people live.
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp326/blihzzzARD/W1.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z127/maerivitz/lonesome.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh292/xoxogossipgirll/lonesome.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj281/sundayofthisweek/IMG_0018.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/ivisionsofhope/Lonesome.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq247/JulieT814/Lonesome.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac21/linmitch/bvnbv.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i88/joseroxs/loneliness.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll30/fairybitch420/th232539cri51qns3d.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 7:29 am

The birthday of the day...Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.

He began his career appearing in theatre during the late 1950s, moving into small to supporting television and film roles during the early 1960s in such works as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963). He started to land much larger roles during the early 1970s with movies like MASH (1970) and THX 1138 (1971). This was followed by a series of critical successes: The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), Network (1976), The Great Santini (1979), Apocalypse Now (1979), and True Confessions (1981).

Since then Duvall has remained an important presence in both film and television with such productions as Tender Mercies (1983), The Natural (1984), Colors (1988), Lonesome Dove (1989), Stalin (1992), The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996), The Apostle (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Gods and Generals (2003) and Broken Trail (2006)
Duvall began his career in the theatre, making his professional debut Off-Broadway at the Gate Theatre as Frank Gardner in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession on June 25, 1958. Other notable early theatre credits include the role of Doug in the premiere of Michael Shurtleff's Call Me By My Rightful Name in 1961 and the role of Bob Smith in the premiere of William Snyder's The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker in 1962, both at Off-Broadway theatres. He won an Obie Award in 1965 for his performance of Eddie in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge at the Sheridan Square Playhouse; a production directed by Ulu Grosbard and Dustin Hoffman. The following year he made his Broadway debut as Harry Roat, Jr in Frederick Knott's Wait Until Dark.

In 1959, Duvall made his first television appearance on Armstrong Circle Theatre in the episode The Jailbreak. He appeared regularly on television as a guest actor during the 1960s, often in action, suspense, detective, or crime dramas. His appearances during this time include performances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, The Untouchables, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, T.H.E. Cat, and The Mod Squad to name just a few.

Duvall's screen debut was as Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He was cast in the film on the recommendation of screenwriter Horton Foote, who met Duvall at Neighborhood Playhouse during a 1957 production of Foote's play, The Midnight Caller. Foote, who would collaborate with Duvall many more times over the course of their careers, said he believed Duvall had a particular love of common people and ability to infuse fascinating revelations into his roles. Foote has described Duvall as "our number one actor."

After To Kill a Mockingbird, Duvall appeared in a number of films during the 1960s, mostly in mid sized parts but also in a few larger supporting roles. Some of his more notable appearances include the role of Capt. Paul Cabot Winston in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Chiz in Countdown (1968), Gordon in The Rain People (1969), and the notorious malefactor "Lucky" Ned Pepper in True Grit (1969), in which he engaged in a climactic shootout with John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn on horseback.
Mid career: 1970-1989

Duvall became an important presence in American films beginning in the 1970s. He drew a considerable amount of attention in 1970 for his portrayal of Major Frank Burns in the film MASH and for his portrayal of the title role in the cult classic THX 1138 in 1971. His first major critical success were came portraying consigliere (family counsel) Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). The former film earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

He received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and won both a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for his role as Lt. Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979). His line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" from Apocalypse Now is now regarded as iconic in cinema history. The full text is as follows:

    You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. But the smell! You know - that gasoline smell... the whole hill! Smelled like... victory.
    (Pause)
    Some day this war is going to end...

Duvall received a BAFTA Award nomination for his portrayal of television executive Frank Hackett in the critically acclaimed film Network (1976) and garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in The Great Santini (1979) as the hard-boiled Marine and overbearing parent Lt. Col. "Bull" Meechum. The latter role was loosely based on a world-famous Marine aviator, Colonel Donald Conroy. He also portrayed United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower is the television miniseries Ike (1979).

In 1977 Duvall returned to Broadway to appear as Walter Cole in David Mamet's American Buffalo. For his performance he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play. To date, Duvall has not returned to the New York stage.
"You can't concoct or push ahead something other than what you have at that moment as yourself, as that character. It's you at that moment in time. ... Between action and cut, it's a nice world, but you can't force that any more than you can force it in life.."
—Robert Duvall on acting

Duvall continued to appear in important films during the 1980s, including the roles of cynical sportswriter Max Mercy in The Natural (1984) and Los Angeles police officer Bob Hodges in Colors (1988). He won an Oscar for Best Actor as country western singer Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies (1983). Foote was rumored to have written the part for Duvall, who had always wanted to play a country singer and contributed ideas for the character. Foote denied this, claiming he found it too constraining to write roles for specific actors, but he did hope Duvall would be cast. Duvall was said to have written the music, but the actor said he wrote only a few "background, secondary songs." Duvall did do his own singing, insisting it be added to his contract that he sing the songs himself; Duvall said, "What's the point if you're not going to do your own (singing)? They're just going to dub somebody else? I mean, there's no point to that."

Actress Tess Harper, who co-starred, said Duvall inhabited the character so fully that she only got to know Mac Sledge and not Duvall himself. Director Bruce Beresford, too, said the transformation was so believable to him that he could feel his skin crawling up the back of his neck the first day of filming with Duvall. Beresford said of the actor, "Duvall has the ability to completely inhabit the person he's acting. He totally and utterly becomes that person to a degree which is uncanny." Nevertheless, Duvall and Beresford did not get along well during the production and often clashed during filming, including one day in which Beresford walked off the set in frustration.

In 1989, Duvall appeared in the landmark mini-series Lonesome Dove in the role of Augustus "Gus" McCrae. He has stated in several forums, including CBS Sunday Morning, that this particular role was his personal favorite. He won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy Award nomination. For his role as a former Texas Ranger peace officer, Duvall was trained in the use of Walker revolvers by the Texas marksman Joe Bowman.
Later career: 1990-present
President George W. Bush stands with recipients of the 2005 National Medal of Arts on November 9, 2005, in the Oval Office. Among those recognized for their outstanding contributions to the arts were, from left: Leonard Garment, Louis Auchincloss, Paquito D'Rivera, James De Preist, Tina Ramirez, Robert Duvall, and Ollie Johnston.

Duvall has maintained a busy film career, sometimes appearing in as many as four in one year. He received Oscar nominations for his portrayals of evangelical preacher Euliss "Sonny" Dewey in The Apostle (1997) — a film he also wrote and directed — and lawyer Jerome Facher in A Civil Action (1998).

He directed Assassination Tango (2002), a thriller about one of his favorite hobbies, tango. He portrayed General Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals in 2003 and is actually a relative of the Confederate general.

Other roles during this period that displayed the actor's wide range included that of a retiring cop in Falling Down (1992), a Hispanic barber in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993), a New York tabloid editor in The Paper (1994), a rural doctor in Phenomenon (1996), an astronaut in Deep Impact (1998), a trail boss in Open Range (2003), a soccer coach in the comedy Kicking & Screaming (2005), a Las Vegas poker champion in Lucky You and a New York police captain in We Own the Night (both 2007).

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 18, 2003.

Duvall has periodically worked in television during the last two decades. He won a Golden Globe and garnered an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in the 1992 television movie Stalin. He was nominated for an Emmy again in 1997 for portraying Adolf Eichmann in The Man Who Captured Eichmann. In 2006, he won an Emmy for the role of Prentice "Print" Ritter in the revisionist Western miniseries Broken Trail.

In 2005, Duvall was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush at the White House.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1959 Armstrong Circle Theatre Berks Season #10, Episode #2, "The Jailbreak"
1960 Armstrong Circle Theatre Season #10, Episode #16, "Positive Identification"
Playhouse 90 Season #4, Episode #8, "John Brown's Raid"
1961 The Defenders Al Rogart Season #1, Episode #12, "Perjury"
Great Ghost Tales William Wilson Season #1, Episode #1, "William Wilson"
Shannon Joey Nolan Season #1, Episode #10, "The Big Fish"
Cain's Hundred Tom Nugent Season #1, Episode #6, "King of the Mountain"
Route 66 Roman Season #1, Episode #25, "The Newborn"
Route 66 Arnie Season #2, Episode #4, "Birdcage on My Foot"
Naked City Lewis Nunda Season #2, Episode #13, "A Hole in the City"
1962 To Kill a Mockingbird Arthur "Boo" Radley
Naked City L. Francis 'Frank' Childe Season #3, Episode #23, "The One Marked Hot Gives Cold "
Naked City Johnny Meigs Season #4, Episode #6, "Five Cranks for Winter... Ten Cranks for Spring"
Naked City Barney Sonners Season #4, Episode #8, "Torment Him Much and Hold Him Long "
1963 The Untouchables Eddie Moon Season #4, Episode #17, "Blues for a Gone Goose"
The Defenders Luke Jackson Season #2, Episode #24, "Metamorphosis"
Route 66 Lee Winters Season #3, Episode #18, "Suppose I Said I Was the Queen of Spain"
The Twilight Zone Charley Parkes Season #4, Episode #8, "Miniature"
The Virginian Johnny Keel Season #1, Episode #24, "The Golden Door"
Stoney Burke Joby Pierce Season #1, Episode #23, "Joby"
Arrest and Trial Morton Ware Season #1, Episode #10, "The Quality of Justice"
The Fugitive Eric Christian Season #1, Episode #4, "Never Wave Goodbye"
Captain Newman, M.D. Capt. Paul Cabot Winston
1964 The Lieutenant Season #1, Episode #25, "Man with an Edge"
Kraft Suspense Theatre Harvey Farnsworth Season #1, Episode #22, "Portrait of an Unknown Man"
The Outer Limits Adam Ballard Episodes #42, 43, "The Inheritors"
The Outer Limits Louis Mace Episode #31, "The Chameleon"
1965 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Zar Season #1, Episode #20, "The Invaders"
Combat! Karl Season #3, Episode #16, "The Enemy"
The Defenders Bill Andrews Season #4, Episode #30, "Only a Child"
The Fugitive Leslie Sessions Season #2, Episode #16, "Brass Ring"
Nightmare in the Sun Motorcyclist
1966 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Frank Reeser Season #3, Episode #15, "Guilty or Not Guilty"
The F.B.I. Johnny Albin Season #2, Episode #5, "The Scourge"
Combat! Peter Halsman Season #5, Episode #14, "Cry for Help"
Hawk Dick Season #1, Episode #6, "The Theory of the Innocent Bystander"
Felony Squad Albie Froehlich Season #1, Episode #8, "Death of a Dream"
Shane Tom Gary Season #1, Episode #9, "Poor Tom's A-Cold"
T.H.E. Cat Scorpio Season #1, Episode #9, "Crossing at Destino Bay"
Fame Is the Name of the Game Eddie Franchot
The Chase Edwin Stewart
1967 The Time Tunnel Raul Nimon Season #1, Episode #24, "Chase Through Time"
Cimarron Strip Joe Wyman Season #1, Episode #18, "The Roarer"
The Wild Wild West Dr. Horace Humphries Season #3, Episode #10, "The Night of the Falcon "
The F.B.I. Ernie Milden Season #2, Episode #25-26, "The Executioners"
T.H.E. Cat Laurent Season #1, Episode #24, "The Long Chase"
Combat! Michel Season #5, Episode #25, "The Partisan"
Cosa Nostra, Arch Enemy of the FBI Ernie Milden
1968 Flesh and Blood Howard
CBS Playhouse Dr. Margolin Season #2, Episode #1, "The People Next Door"
Run for Your Life Richard Fletcher Season #3, Episode #19, "The Killing Scene"
Judd, for the Defense Raymond Cane Season #1, Episode #24, "Square House"
The F.B.I. Joseph Troy Season #4, Episode #9, "The Harvest"
The Detective Nestor
Countdown Chiz
Bullitt Cab driver
1969 The Mod Squad Matt Jenkins Season #1, Episode #23, "Keep the Faith, Baby"
The F.B.I. Gerald Wilson Season #5, Episode #2, "Nightmare Road"
True Grit Ned Pepper
The Rain People Gordon
1970 M*A*S*H Frank Burns
The Revolutionary Despard
1971 THX 1138 THX 1138
Lawman Vernon Adams
1972 The Godfather Tom Hagen New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid Jesse James
Tomorrow Jackson Fentry
Joe Kidd Frank Harlan
1973 The Outfit Earl Macklin
Badge 373 Eddie Ryan
Lady Ice Ford Pierce
1974 The Conversation The Director uncredited
The Godfather: Part II Tom Hagen
1975 The Killer Elite George Hanson
Breakout Jay Wagner
1976 The Eagle Has Landed Oberst Max Radl
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution Dr. Watson
Network Frank Hackett Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1977 The Greatest Bill McDonald
1978 Ike: The War Years Dwight D. Eisenhower
Invasion of the Body Snatchers Priest on swing uncredited
The Betsy Loren Hardeman III
1979 Ike Dwight D. Eisenhower TV mini-series
Apocalypse Now Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Great Santini Bull Meechum Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
1981 True Confessions Thomas Spellacy Venice Film Festival Pasinetti Cup for Best Actor
The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper Gruen
1983 Tender Mercies Mac Sledge Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
The Terry Fox Story Bill Vigars Nominated — CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Presentation
Angelo My Love n/a Director
1984 The Stone Boy Joe Hillerman
The Natural Max Mercy
1986 Let's Get Harry Norman Shrike
Belizaire the Cajun The Preacher
Waylon Jennings: America Doctor
The Lightship Calvin Caspary Venice Film Festival Pasinetti Cup for Best Actor
1987 Hotel Colonial Roberto Carrasco
1988 Colors Officer Bob Hodges
1989 Lonesome Dove Augustus "Gus" McCrae Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1990 A Show of Force Howard
Days of Thunder Harry Hogge
The Handmaid's Tale The Commander
1991 Rambling Rose Daddy Hilyer Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Convicts Soll
1992 Stalin Josef Stalin Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Newsies Joseph Pulitzer
La Peste Joseph Grand
1993 Falling Down Prendergast
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway Walter
Geronimo: An American Legend Al Sieber
1994 The Paper Bernie White
1995 Something to Talk About Wyly King
The Stars Fell on Henrietta Mr. Cox
The Scarlet Letter Roger Chillingworth
1996 Sling Blade Karl's father Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Man Who Captured Eichmann Adolf Eichmann Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
A Family Thing Earl Pilcher Jr.
Phenomenon Doc Brunder
1997 The Apostle Euliss 'Sonny' Dewey — The Apostle E.F. Writer/Director
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
1998 The Gingerbread Man Dixon Doss
A Civil Action Jerome Facher Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Deep Impact Capt. Spurgeon 'Fish' Tanner
Saturday Night Live various Season #23, Episode #14, hosted by Garth Brooks
2000 Gone in 60 Seconds Otto Halliwell
The 6th Day Dr. Griffin Weir
A Shot at Glory Gordon McLeod
2002 John Q Lt. Frank Grimes
Assassination Tango John J. Anderson Writer/Director
2003 Gods and Generals Gen. Robert E. Lee
Secondhand Lions Hub
Open Range Boss Spearman
2005 American Experience Narrator Season #17, Episode #10, "The Carter Family: Will the Circle"
Kicking & Screaming Buck Weston
Thank You for Smoking Doak "The Captain" Boykin
2006 Broken Trail Prentice "Print" Ritter Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2007 Lucky You Mr. Cheever
We Own the Night Albert Grusinsky
2008 Four Christmases Howard
2009 Crazy Heart Wayne Kramer (post-production)
The Road Old Man
2010 Get Low (post-production)


Awards
Academy Awards
Year Category Film Result
1998 Best Supporting Actor A Civil Action Nominated
1997 Best Leading Actor The Apostle Nominated
1983 Best Leading Actor Tender Mercies Won
1980 Best Leading Actor The Great Santini Nominated
1979 Best Supporting Actor Apocalypse Now Nominated
1972 Best Supporting Actor The Godfather Nominated
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee163/genhandgrenade42/Duvall.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt248/Richlee86/robertduvall.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh179/ronni3298/robertduvall.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q33/debicogburn/Media%20Stuff/My%20Favorite%20Celebs%20and%20Characters/duvall.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 7:33 am

The person of the day...Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914 – January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor.
Kennedy got his break when he was discovered by James Cagney. His first film role was of Cagney's younger brother in City for Conquest in 1940. He portrayed heroic and villainous characters equally, appearing in Western films and police dramas. He also portrayed a surgeon in 1966's Fantastic Voyage.

He starred in several well-received films from the late 1940s to the 1960s, including High Sierra, They Died with Their Boots On, Boomerang, Champion, The Window, The Glass Menagerie, Bright Victory, Bend of the River, The Lusty Men, Rancho Notorious, The Desperate Hours, Lawrence of Arabia, The Man from Laramie, Trial, Peyton Place, Some Came Running, A Summer Place and Elmer Gantry.

He appeared both on the stage and screen, receiving a Tony Award for the role of Biff Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949). Kennedy also inaugurated three other major characters in Miller plays: Chris Keller in All My Sons (1947), John Proctor in The Crucible (1953), and Walter Franz in The Price (1968).
Oscar nominations

He and Claude Rains share the record of four losing nominations for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. He also received a nomination for Best Actor, in Bright Victory (1951).
Year Award Film Winner
1949 Best Supporting Actor Champion Dean Jagger – Twelve O'Clock High
1951 Best Actor Bright Victory Humphrey Bogart – The African Queen
1955 Best Supporting Actor Trial Jack Lemmon – Mister Roberts
1957 Best Supporting Actor Peyton Place Red Buttons – Sayonara
1958 Best Supporting Actor Some Came Running Burl Ives – The Big Country
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/jetdogy/SEPARATED_AT_BIRTH/PAGE_06/13-kieferkennedy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/05/10 at 2:52 pm

"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. But the smell! You know - that gasoline smell... the whole hill! Smelled like... victory."

Classic line from a classic film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/05/10 at 4:29 pm


The person of the day...Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914 – January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor.
Kennedy got his break when he was discovered by James Cagney. His first film role was of Cagney's younger brother in City for Conquest in 1940. He portrayed heroic and villainous characters equally, appearing in Western films and police dramas. He also portrayed a surgeon in 1966's Fantastic Voyage.

He starred in several well-received films from the late 1940s to the 1960s, including High Sierra, They Died with Their Boots On, Boomerang, Champion, The Window, The Glass Menagerie, Bright Victory, Bend of the River, The Lusty Men, Rancho Notorious, The Desperate Hours, Lawrence of Arabia, The Man from Laramie, Trial, Peyton Place, Some Came Running, A Summer Place and Elmer Gantry.

He appeared both on the stage and screen, receiving a Tony Award for the role of Biff Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949). Kennedy also inaugurated three other major characters in Miller plays: Chris Keller in All My Sons (1947), John Proctor in The Crucible (1953), and Walter Franz in The Price (1968).
Oscar nominations

He and Claude Rains share the record of four losing nominations for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. He also received a nomination for Best Actor, in Bright Victory (1951).
Year Award Film Winner
1949 Best Supporting Actor Champion Dean Jagger – Twelve O'Clock High
1951 Best Actor Bright Victory Humphrey Bogart – The African Queen
1955 Best Supporting Actor Trial Jack Lemmon – Mister Roberts
1957 Best Supporting Actor Peyton Place Red Buttons – Sayonara
1958 Best Supporting Actor Some Came Running Burl Ives – The Big Country
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/jetdogy/SEPARATED_AT_BIRTH/PAGE_06/13-kieferkennedy.jpg



the similarity is uncanny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/05/10 at 4:33 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrojFR7jM9E



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/05/10 at 4:34 pm

Lonesome Dove.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 5:13 pm


"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. But the smell! You know - that gasoline smell... the whole hill! Smelled like... victory."

Classic line from a classic film.

Yep ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 5:13 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrojFR7jM9E



Cat

Excellent song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/10 at 5:14 pm


the similarity is uncanny.

I know it's weird

Lonesome Dove.

My inspiration for the word of the day :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/05/10 at 7:30 pm

Nice bio on Arthur Kennedy, Ninny. I've always felt he was underated. Thanks for posting.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 5:29 am


Nice bio on Arthur Kennedy, Ninny. I've always felt he was underated. Thanks for posting.  :)

Thanks Vinny, I didn't know if too many people knew who he was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 5:44 am

The word or phrase of the day...LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters are in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that runs from February to December each year. In 2009, total prize money on the LPGA Tour was just under $47.6 million, a decrease of over $12 million from 2008, and there were 28 total official events, down from 34 in 2008. The 2010 season will see a further reduction in events, with 24 officially announced in November 2009, although the LPGA left open the possibility of one or two more events being added before the 2010 season begins.
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb248/pngc/LPGA.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j189/blondeinmk/LPGA%20Week%202006/ca7cre2.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f332/BadBeagleBar/LPGA/LPGA-2038.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v678/richjob/lpga_trophy.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc185/davidckyu2005/Follow%20through/768d.jpg
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr87/bgchase1/comfortsuites3.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/Doral7777/LPGAHomescreen.png
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/garette2/2005_0614_131726AA.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/garette2/2005_0614_132534AA.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 5:49 am

The birthday of the day...Nancy Lopez
Nancy Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events during her LPGA career, including three major championships.In 1978, her first full season on the LPGA Tour, Lopez won nine tournaments, including at one stretch, five tournaments in a row. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, LPGA Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year and was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. She won another eight times in 1979. She won multiple times in each year from 1980 to 1984, although she played only half-seasons in 1983 and 1984 due to the birth of her first child.

Playing full time again in 1985, Lopez posted five wins, five seconds and five thirds, won the money title, the scoring title and the Player of the Year Award. She was also named Associate Press Female Athlete of the Year for a second time. She played only four tournaments in 1986, when her second daughter was born. But came back to win multiple times in 1987-89 - three times each in 1988 and 1989 - and once again won Player of the Year honors in 1988. Her schedule was curtailed again in the early 1990s when her third daughter was born. In 1992 she won twice. She continued to play short schedules - from 11 to 18 tournaments - through 2002, then in 2003 cut back to just a half dozen or fewer events a year.

Although considered one of the greats in the history of women's golf, and the best player from the late '70s to late '80s, Lopez did not win many majors and never won the U.S. Women's Open. She finished second at the U.S. Women's Open four times, the last coming in 1997 when she became the first golfer to score in the 60s for all four rounds, yet she still lost to Alison Nicholas. Her three major championships all came at the LPGA Championship, in 1978, 1985, and 1989.

Lopez was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987. She was a member of the United States Solheim Cup team in 1990 and was captain of the team in 2005. She retired from regular tournament play in 2002, and then attempted a return in 2007 and 2008. In her return season, she played six tournaments, failed to make the cut in any of the tournaments and only broke 80 in three of the 12 rounds. In 2008 she played in three events, with a low score of 76, never making the cut.

Lopez is the only woman to win LPGA Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year, and the Vare Trophy in the same season (1978). Her company, Nancy Lopez Golf, makes a full line of women's clubs and accessories. She also does occasional television commentary. Her husband, Ray Knight, is a former All-Star baseball player.
Amateur wins

this list may be incomplete

    * 1969 New Mexico Women's Amateur
    * 1970 New Mexico Women's Amateur
    * 1971 New Mexico Women's Amateur
    * 1972 U.S. Girl's Junior, Wonen's Western Junior
    * 1973 Wonen's Western Junior
    * 1974 U.S. Girl's Junior, Wonen's Western Junior
    * 1975 Mexican Amateur
    * 1976 AIAW National Championship, Women's Western Amateur, Women's Trans National Amateur

LPGA Tour wins (48)

    * 1978 (9) Bent Tree Classic, Sunstar Classic, Greater Baltimore Classic, Coca-Cola Classic, Golden Lights Championship, LPGA Championship, Bankers Trust Classic, Colgate European Open, Colgate Far East Open
    * 1979 (8) Sunstar Classic, Sahara National Pro-Am, Women's International, Coca-Cola Classic, Golden Lights Championship, Lady Keystone Open, Colgate European Open, Mary Kay Classic
    * 1980 (3) Women's Kemper Open, The Sarah Coventry, Rail Charity Golf Classic
    * 1981 (3) Arizona Copper Classic, Colgate Dinah Shore, The Sarah Coventry
    * 1982 (2) J&B Scotch Pro-Am, Mazda Japan Classic
    * 1983 (2) Elizabeth Arden Classic, J&B Scotch Pro-Am
    * 1984 (2) Uniden LPGA Invitational, Chevrolet World Championship of Women's Golf
    * 1985 (5) Chrysler-Plymouth Classic, LPGA Championship, Mazda Hall of Fame Championship, Henredon Classic, Portland PING Championship
    * 1987 (2) Sarasota Classic, PING Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
    * 1988 (3) Mazda Classic, Ai Star/Centinela Hospital Classic, Chrysler-Plymouth Classic
    * 1989 (3) LPGA Championship, Atlantic City Classic, Nippon Travel-MBS Classic
    * 1990 (1) MBS LPGA Classic
    * 1991 (1) Sara Lee Classic
    * 1992 (2) Rail Charity Golf Classic, PING Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
    * 1993 (1) Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic
    * 1997 (1) Chick-fil-A Charity Championship

LPGA Majors are shown in bold.

    Note: Lopez won the Colgate Dinah Shore (now known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship) before it became a major championship.

Other wins

    * 1980 JCPenney Mixed Team Classic (with Curtis Strange)
    * 1987 Mazda Champions (with Miller Barber)

Major championships
Wins (3)
Year Championship Winning Score
1978 LPGA Championship 275 (-13)
1985 LPGA Championship 275 (-15)
1989 LPGA Championship 274 (-14)
Results in LPGA majors
Tournament 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Kraft Nabisco Championship ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
LPGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP 1 T10 T19
U.S. Women's Open T18 T2LA CUT 2 T9 T11 T7
du Maurier Classic ... ... ... ... ... 2 T6
Tournament 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Kraft Nabisco Championship ... ... T6 T16 T11 DNP T33 T5 T18 CUT
LPGA Championship T5 T35 T21 T14 1 DNP T28 T24 1 T14
U.S. Women's Open WD T7 DNP T35 T4 DNP T21 T12 2 T14
du Maurier Classic T2 T9 WD T8 DNP DNP T21 T45 9 DNP
Tournament 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Kraft Nabisco Championship T30 CUT T8 T9 T3 T15 T23 T13 T21 T43
LPGA Championship DNP T18 T25 WD T18 T18 T37 T44 WD T65
U.S. Women's Open DNP T16 T7 T35 T28 CUT 2 CUT CUT T46
du Maurier Classic DNP DNP DNP T22 DNP T2 DNP T27 DNP DNP
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Kraft Nabisco Championship T63 CUT CUT WD CUT DNP DNP
LPGA Championship CUT CUT CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Women's Open CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Women's British Open ^ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
LA = Low Amateur
DNP = did not play.
CUT = missed the half=way cut.
"T" = tied
WD = withdrew
Green background for a win. Yellow background for a top-10 finish.
See also

    * Golfers with most LPGA Tour wins
    * Golfers with most LPGA major championship wins

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s90/NomadBreezy/Stuff%20For%20Dad/LOPEZ.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Sports%20Collection/23.jpg
http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz210/pgarvin1/LopezMe1004.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/pltcards/traded/nancylopez3colorsp.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 5:52 am

The person of the day...Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (pronounced /gɪˈlɛspi/; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.

Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, and John Faddis.

In addition to featuring in the epochal moments in bebop, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of what early-jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton referred to as the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop. Dizzy's first professional job was with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra in 1935, after which he joined the respective orchestras of Edgar Hayes and Teddy Hill, essentially replacing Roy Eldridge as first trumpet in 1937. Teddy Hill’s band was where Dizzy Gillespie made his first recording, King Porter Stomp. At this time Dizzy met a young woman named Lorraine from the Apollo Theatre, whom he married in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1993. Dizzy stayed with Teddy Hill’s band for a year, then left and free-lanced with numerous other bands. In 1939, Dizzy joined Cab Calloway's orchestra, with which he recorded one of his earliest compositions, the instrumental Pickin' the Cabbage, in 1940. (Originally released on Paradiddle, a 78rpm backed with a co-composition with Cozy Cole, Calloway's drummer at the time, on the Vocalion label, #5467).

Dizzy left Calloway in late 1941 over a notorious incident with a knife. Calloway did not like how Dizzy played his music, nor did he like the humor that Dizzy gave his performances. Calloway even went so far as to call Dizzy’s music “Chinese Music”. During a performance one night Calloway was playing a solo when one of his band members hit him in the back with a spitball. Calloway was very angry and accused Dizzy first. Dizzy said that he did not throw the spitball and both musicians started arguing. The argument got so bad that Dizzy actually pulled out his weapon.

During his time in Calloway's band, Dizzy Gillespie started writing big band music for bandleaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. He then freelanced with a few bands - most notably Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra, composed of members of the late Chick Webb's band, in 1942.

In 1943, Dizzy joined the Earl Hines orchestra. The legendary big band of Billy Eckstine gave his unusual harmonies a better setting and it was as a member of Eckstine's band that he was reunited with Parker, a fellow member of Hines' more conventional band. In 1945, Dizzy left Eckstine's band because he wanted to play with a small combo. A "small combo" typically comprised no more than five musicians, playing the trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass and drums.
The rise of bebop

Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style. However, it was unpopular in the beginning and was not viewed as positively as swing music was. Bebop was seen as an outgrowth of swing, not a revolution. Swing introducted a diversity of new musicians in the bebop era like Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, and Gillespie. Through these musicians, a new vocabulary of musical phrases was created. With Charlie Parker, Gillespie jammed at famous jazz clubs like Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House, where the first seeds of bebop were planted. Charlie Parker's system also held methods of adding chords to existing chord progressions and implying additional chords within the improvised lines.

Gillespie compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody n' You", "Salt Peanuts", and "A Night in Tunisia". sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, from the Swing music popular at the time. Written in 1942, while Gillespie was playing with Earl Hines' band, the song is noted for have a feature that is common in today's music, a non-walking bass line. The song also displays Afro-Cuban rhythms. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was only issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Gillespie taught many of the young musicians on 52nd Street, like Miles Davis and Max Roach, about the new style of jazz. After a lengthy gig at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles, which left most of the audience ambivalent or hostile towards the new music, the band broke up. Unlike Parker, who was content to play in small groups and be an occasional featured soloist in big bands, Gillespie aimed to lead a big band himself; his first, unsuccessful, attempt to do this was in 1945.

After his work with Parker, Gillespie led other small combos (including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, and Yusef Lateef) and finally put together his first successful big band. Dizzy Gillespie and his band tried to popularize bop and make Dizzy Gillespie a symbol of the new music. He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. He also headlined the 1946 independently-produced musical revue film Jivin' in Be-Bop.

In 1948 Dizzy was involved in a traffic accident when the bicycle he was riding was bumped by an automobile. He was slightly injured, and found that he could no longer hit the B-flat above high C. He won the case, but the jury awarded him only $1000, in view of his high earnings up to that point.

In 1956 he organized a band to go on a State Department tour of the Middle East and earned the nickname "the Ambassador of Jazz". During this time, he also continued to lead a big band that performed throughout the United States and featured musicians including Pee Wee Moore and others. This band recorded a live album at the 1957 Newport jazz festival that featured Mary Lou Williams as a guest artist on piano.
Afro-Cuban music

In the late 1940s, Gillespie was also involved in the movement called Afro-Cuban music, bringing Latin and African elements to greater prominence in jazz and even pop music, particularly salsa. Afro-Cuban jazz is based on traditional Cuban rhythms. Dizzy Gillespie was introduced to Chano Pozo in 1947 by Mario Bauza, a Latin jazz trumpet player. Chano Pozo became Gillespie's conga drummer for his band. Dizzy Gilespie also worked with Mario Bauza in New York jazz clubs on 52nd street and several famous dance clubs such as Palladium and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They played together in the Chick Webb band and Cab Calloway's band, where Gillespie and Bauza became life-long friends. Dizzy helped develop and mature the Afro-Cuban jazz style.

Afro-Cuban jazz was considered bebop-oriented, and some musicians classified it as a modern style or swing. Afro-Cuban jazz was successful because it never decreased in popularity and it always attracted people to dance to its unique rhythms. Gillespie's most famous contributions to Afro-Cuban music are the compositions "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo" (both co-written with Chano Pozo); he was responsible for commissioning George Russell's "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop", which featured the great but ill-fated Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba.
Later years and death
Dizzy Gillespie at Nambassa festival 1981.
Credit: Nambassa Trust and Peter Terry http://www.nambassa.com

Unlike his contemporary Miles Davis, Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career.

In 1960, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 1964 the artist put himself forward as a presidential candidate. He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed "The Blues House," and a cabinet composed of Duke Ellington, (Secretary of State); Miles Davis, (Director of the CIA); Max Roach, (Secretary of Defense); Charles Mingus, (Secretary of Peace); Ray Charles, (Librarian of Congress); Louis Armstrong, (Secretary of Agriculture); Mary Lou Williams, (Ambassador to the Vatican); Thelonious Monk, (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X, (Attorney General). He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller.

Gillespie published his autobiography, To Be or Not to Bop, in 1979.

Gillespie was a vocal fixture in many of John Hubley and Faith Hubley's animated films, such as The Hole, The Hat, and Voyage to Next.

In the 1980s, Dizzy Gillespie led the United Nation Orchestra. For three years Flora Purim toured with the Orchestra and she credits Gillespie with evolving her understanding of jazz after being in the field for over two decades. David Sánchez also toured with the group and was also greatly influenced by Gillespie. Both artists later were nominated for Grammy awards. Gillespie also had a guest appearance on The Cosby Show as well as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie had a cameo on Stevie Wonder's hit "Do I Do". Gillespie's tone gradually faded in the last years in life, and his performances often focused more on his proteges such as Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis; his good-humoured comedic routines became more and more a part of his live act.
Dizzy Gillespie with drummer Bill Stewart at 1984 Stanford Jazz Workshop

In 1988, Gillespie had worked with Canadian flautist and saxophonist Moe Koffman on their prestigious album Oo Pop a Da. He did fast scat vocals on the title track and a couple of the other tracks were played only on trumpet.

In 1989 Gillespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries, appeared in 100 U.S. cities in 31 states and the District of Columbia, headlined three television specials, performed with two symphonies, and recorded four albums. He was also crowned a traditional chief in Nigeria, received the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres -- France's most prestigious cultural award—was named regent professor by the University of California, and received his fourteenth honorary doctoral degree, this one from the Berklee College of Music. In addition, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, Gillespie received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Duke Ellington Award for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader. In 1993 he received the Polar Music Prize in Sweden.
Dizzy Gillespie with the Italian singer Sergio Caputo.

November 26, 1992 at Carnegie Hall in New York, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress was Dizzy's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included: Jon Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "But the musicians played their real hearts out for him, no doubt suspecting that he would not play again. Each musician gave tribute to their friend, this great soul and innovator in the world of jazz."

Gillespie also starred in a film called The Winter in Lisbon released in 2004. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood section of the City of Los Angeles. He is honored by the December 31, 2006 - A Jazz New Year's Eve: Freddy Cole & the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

A longtime resident of Corona, Queens, he died of pancreatic cancer January 6, 1993, aged 75, and was buried in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died, along with Jon Faddis and a select few others.

At the time of his death, Dizzy Gillespie was survived by his widow, Lorraine Willis Gillespie; a daughter, jazz singer Jeanie Bryson; and a grandson, Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá'í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York open to the public.

Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the Bahá'í Faith which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to soul force, in the words of author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years. He is often called the Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador. He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o30/jazz_bread_bucket/DIZZY_1copy.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q285/BrainySkeeta/MUSICIANS/Dizzy_Gillespie.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Dizzy_Gillespie.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc112/jackrude/diz11.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/06/10 at 6:55 am

Dizzy always had that ability to blow and his cheeks would get big.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 7:28 am


Dizzy always had that ability to blow and his cheeks would get big.

I noticed that in his pictures.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/06/10 at 2:51 pm


I noticed that in his pictures.


How did he learn to do that?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 3:00 pm


How did he learn to do that?

I guess experience :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/06/10 at 3:08 pm

I remember he was on an episode of Cosby Show.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/10 at 3:42 pm


I remember he was on an episode of Cosby Show.

I almost forgot that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/06/10 at 3:59 pm

I remember him on the Muppet Show.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 6:01 am


I remember him on the Muppet Show.



Cat

Now that I did forget about :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 6:10 am

The word of the day...Ghost
A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that someone believes they can see or feel.
The ghost of something, especially of something bad that has happened, is the memory of it.
If there is a ghost of something, that thing is so faint or weak that it hardly exists.
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/MaffMoose/img020.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj173/geraldean_2008/emilysghost.jpg
http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss171/gunl/NortonGhost2003.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z31/snowwhiteangel2006/misc/ghost_stairs.gif
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/niascissorhands/ghost_teengaecryingboy.jpg
http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad248/MoonshineVision/PICT0017.jpg
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/xxGothicxxBeautyxx/ghost_adventure.jpg
http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww47/SaralondeDreamcatcher/Halloween/ghosts.gif
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc335/TERRORIZEme/creepy/skeletons/ghost.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 6:14 am

The birthday of the day...Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola; January 7, 1964) is an American actor.

Cage pursued acting as a career, making his debut on television in 1981. Cage has been featured in "bad boy" roles, and has won awards, beginning in 1989 with his Independent Spirit Award, an Academy Award for Best Actor for his lead role in Leaving Las Vegas, and his most recent Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in 2002 for Adaptation.

Cage has appeared in over 60 films including Face/Off (1997), Ghost Rider (2007), and National Treasure (2004). Cage has been married three times: to Patricia Arquette, Lisa Marie Presley, and Alice Kim Cage, his current wife.
n order to avoid the appearance of nepotism as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, he changed his name early in his career from Nicolas Coppola to Nicolas Cage, inspired in part by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage. Since his minor role in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, with Sean Penn, Cage has appeared in a wide range of films, both mainstream and offbeat. He tried out for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncle's film The Outsiders, based on S.E. Hinton's novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. He was also in Coppola's films Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married.

Other Cage roles included appearances in the acclaimed 1987 romantic-comedy Moonstruck, also starring Cher; The Coen Brothers cult-classic comedy Raising Arizona; David Lynch's 1990 offbeat film Wild at Heart; a lead role in Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama Bringing Out the Dead; and Ridley Scott's 2003 quirky drama Matchstick Men, in which he played an agoraphobic, mysophobic, obsessive-compulsive con artist with a tic disorder.

Cage has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, winning once for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. His other nomination was for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in Adaptation. Despite these successes, most of his lower-profile films have performed poorly at the box office compared to his mainstream action/adventure roles. The suspense thriller 8mm (1999) was not a box office success, but is now considered a cult film. He took the lead role in the 2001 film Captain Corelli's Mandolin and learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. In 2005, two offbeat films he headlined, Lord of War and The Weather Man, failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his acting in those roles. Poor reviews for The Wicker Man resulted in low box office sales. The much criticized Ghost Rider (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, was a significant hit, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he starred in Next, which shares the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with The Family Man (2000).

Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. In his second-highest grossing film to date, National Treasure, he plays an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Other action hits include The Rock, in which Cage plays a young FBI chemical weapons expert who infiltrates Alcatraz Island in hopes of neutralizing a terrorist threat, Face/Off, a John Woo film where he plays both a hero and a villain, and World Trade Center, director Oliver Stone's film regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer Werewolf Women of the S.S. from the B-movie double feature Grindhouse.

In recent years, Cage made his directorial debut with Sonny, a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the grim film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theatres. Cage's producing career includes Shadow of the Vampire, the first film from Saturn Films.

In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors in order to pursue other interests. On the The Dresden Files for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer. Cage said:

    I feel I've made a lot of movies already and I want to start exploring other opportunities that I can apply myself to, whether it's writing or other interests that I may develop.

In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a Ring of Honor wrestling show in New York City researching his role for the The Wrestler. Ultimately, Nicolas Cage was replaced in "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke, in a role that has earned a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Rourke.

Wrestler Director Darren Aronofsky, in an interview with slashfilm.com, said of Cage's replacement that:

    Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race.

In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film Bangkok Dangerous. The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinct South-East Asian flavor.

In 2009, Cage starred in sci-fi thriller Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that have already come true lead him to believe the world is going to end at the close of the week, and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mainly negative reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend.

Also in 2009, Cage appeared in the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in Ghost Rider.

Cage will star in the period piece Season of the Witch, playing a 14th-century knight transporting a girl accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which he will play the sorcerer.

It is rumored that he will star in National Treasure 3, which has a possible release date as early as 2011. He would again take the role of Benjamin Gates, a cryptologist-turned-treasure hunter.
Praise and criticism

The acting work of Cage has been praised by influential film critic Roger Ebert who writes, in his "Great Movies" essay about the film Adaptation., that:

    There are often lists of the great living male movie stars: De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, usually. How often do you see the name of Nicolas Cage? He should always be up there. He's daring and fearless in his choice of roles, and unafraid to crawl out on a limb, saw it off and remain suspended in air. No one else can project inner trembling so effectively.... He always seems so earnest. However improbable his character, he never winks at the audience. He is committed to the character with every atom and plays him as if he were him.

Roger Ebert, in response to mixed reviews of Knowing and their focus on criticizing Cage, wrote an article in which he defends both Cage as an actor and the movie which, in stark contrast to other critics, Ebert gave 4/4 stars.

Despite such praise, Cage has his detractors. Cage is often criticized for choosing to star in thrillers and/or big-budget action-adventure movies. Many feel that, in recent years, he has abandoned altogether any desire to star in smaller character-driven dramas, the type of film that initially garnered him praise. Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman wrote an article in March 2009, after the debut of Knowing accusing Cage of such "selling out" In the article, titled "Nicolas Cage: Artist or hack? The choice is his", Gleiberman calls Cage out to return to dramas as opposed to high-paying blockbusters.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Brubaker Extra Uncredited
1981 Best Of Times Nicholas
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Brad's Bud
1983 The Outsiders cameo in rumble scene Uncredited
Valley Girl Randy
Rumble Fish Smokey
1984 Racing with the Moon Nicky and Bud
The Cotton Club Vincent Dwyer
Birdy Sergeant Al Columbato
1986 The Boy in Blue Ned Hanlan
Peggy Sue Got Married Charlie Bodell
1987 Raising Arizona H. I. McDunnough
Moonstruck Ronny Cammareri Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1988 Never on Tuesday Man In Red Sports Car
1989 Vampire's Kiss Peter Leow Festival de Cine de Sitges Award for Best Actor Tied with Sir Michael Gambon for The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
1990 Tempo di uccidere Enrico Silvestri
Fire Birds Jake Preston aka Wings of the Apache
Wild at Heart Sailor
Zandalee Johnny
1992 Honeymoon in Vegas Jack Singer Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1993 Amos & Andrew Amos Odell
Deadfall Eddie
1994 A Century of Cinema Himself
Red Rock West Michael Williams
Guarding Tess Doug Chesnic
It Could Happen to You Charlie Lang
Trapped in Paradise Bill Firpo
1995 Kiss of Death Little Junior Brown
Leaving Las Vegas Ben Sanderson Academy Award for Best Actor
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
San Sebastián International Film Festival Silver Seashell
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1996 The Rock Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
1997 Con Air Cameron Poe
Face/Off Castor Troy/Sean Archer Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1998 City of Angels Seth
Snake Eyes Rick Santoro
1999 8mm Tom Welles
Bringing Out the Dead Frank Pierce
2000 Gone in Sixty Seconds Randall "Memphis" Raines
The Family Man Jack Campbell
Welcome to Hollywood Himself
2001 Italian Soldiers Himself
Captain Corelli's Mandolin Captain Antonio Corelli
Christmas Carol: The Movie Jacob Marley Voice
2002 Windtalkers Sgt. Joe Enders
Adaptation. Charlie and Donald Kaufman Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Sonny Acid Yellow Director
Nominated — Deauville Film Festival Grand Prix du jury
2003 Matchstick Men Roy Waller
2004 National Treasure Benjamin Gates
2005 Lord of War Yuri Orlov
The Weather Man David Spritz
2006 The Ant Bully Zoc Voice
The Wicker Man Edward Malus
World Trade Center John McLoughlin
2007 Ghost Rider Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze
Grindhouse Dr. Fu Manchu Segment Werewolf Women of the S.S.
Next Cris Johnson
National Treasure: Book of Secrets Benjamin Gates
2008 Bangkok Dangerous Joe
2009 Knowing Professor Jonathan "John" Koestler
G-Force Speckles the Mole Voice
Astro Boy Dr. Tenma Voice
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans The Lieutenant
2010 Season of the Witch Lavey post-production
Kick-Ass Damon Macready/ Big Daddy post-production
The Sorcerer's Apprentice Balthazar Blake post-production
http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w331/poli_66/cage-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x298/lalisog/cage-nicolas-photo-nicolas-cage-620.jpg
http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w331/poli_66/tn2_nicolas_cage.jpg
http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w331/poli_66/warlord.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 6:18 am

The person of the day...Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor. oward moved back to the theatre in The Recruiting Officer (1943), where he met the actress Helen Cherry; they married in 1944 and stayed together until Howard's death in 1988; they had no children.

A short part in one of the best British war films, The Way Ahead (1944), provided an entry into the cinema. This was followed by The Way to the Stars (1945), which led to the role for which Howard is probably best remembered, the doctor in the 1945 film Brief Encounter illicitly involved with Celia Johnson's housewife. Directed by David Lean, the film won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and considerable critical acclaim for Howard. Next came two successful Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat thrillers, I See a Dark Stranger (1945) and Green for Danger (1946), followed by They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), to which the roots of British realism in cinema can be traced. In 1947, he was invited by Laurence Olivier to play Petruchio in an Old Vic production of The Taming of the Shrew. Despite The Times declaring, "We can remember no better Petruchio", the opportunity of working again with David Lean, in The Passionate Friends (1949), drew Howard back to film and, although he had a solid reputation as a theatre actor, his dislike of long runs, and the attractions of travel afforded by film, convinced him to concentrate on cinema from this point. The Passionate Friends though, in which Howard played a similar character to Alec in Brief Encounter also featured Ann Todd and Claude Rains, but was not successful.

Howard's film reputation was secured in The Third Man (1949). As Major Calloway, he played the character type with which he became most associated, the slightly dry, slightly crusty, but capable British military officer. He also starred in The Key, (1958; based on a Jan de Hartog novel), for which he received the best actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Sons and Lovers, (1960), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Another notable film was The Heart of the Matter (1953), from another Graham Greene story.

Over time Howard easily shifted to being one of England's finest character actors. Howard's later works included such films as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Father Goose (1964), Morituri (1965), Von Ryan's Express (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Superman (1978), and Gandhi (1982). The Dawning (1988) was his final film. One of his strangest films, and one he took great delight in, was Vivian Stanshall's 1980 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in which he played the title role.

In television, Howard began to find more substantial roles. In 1962, he played Løvborg in Hedda Gabler, her former love, with Ingrid Bergman. He won an Emmy award the following year as Disraeli in The Invincible Mr Disraeli. In the 1970s, he played an abbot in the ITV Saturday Night Theatre production of Catholics (1973). He received an Emmy nomination in 1975 for his role as Abbé Faria in a television version of The Count of Monte Cristo. The decade ended with him reunited with Celia Johnson in Staying On (1980), an adaptation of Paul Scott's sequel to his Raj Quartet novels.

The 1980s saw a revival of Howard's career as a film actor. The role of a Cheyenne Indian in Windwalker (1980) revitalized his acting. He continued with cameo roles, including Judge Broomfield in Gandhi (1982). His final films were White Mischief and The Dawning, both released in 1988.

Howard did not abandon the theatre altogether in 1947, returning to the stage on occasion, most notably as Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard (1954) and the captain in The Father (1964). His last appearance on the British stage was in Waltz of the Toreadors in 1974.

Throughout his film career Howard insisted that all of his contracts held a clause excusing him from work whenever a cricket Test Match was being played.
Howard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Sons and Lovers (1960). He won one BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Key (1958) and was nominated four more times. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie for Hallmark Hall of Fame: Invincible Mr. Disraeli in 1963 and received two other nominations, one as a lead and the other as a supporting actor. He also got three Golden Globe Award nominations.

A British government document leaked to the Sunday Times in 2003 shows that Howard was among almost 300 celebrities to decline honors.
Partial filmography

    * The Way Ahead (1944)
    * Brief Encounter (1945)
    * The Way to the Stars (1945)
    * I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
    * Green for Danger (1946)
    * They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
    * So Well Remembered (1947)
    * The Passionate Friends (1949)
    * The Third Man (1949)
    * Odette (1950)
    * The Clouded Yellow (1951)
    * Outcast of the Islands (1952)
    * The Gift Horse (1952)
    * The Heart of the Matter (1953)
    * The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
    * Run for the Sun (1956)
    * Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    * Interpol (1957)
    * Manuela (1957)
    * The Key (1958)
    * The Roots of Heaven (1958)
    * Sons and Lovers (1960)
    * The Lion (1962)
    * Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
    * Father Goose (1964)
    * Operation Crossbow (1965)
    * Von Ryan's Express (1965)
    * Morituri (1965)
    * The Liquidator (1965)
    * The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
    * Triple Cross (1966)
    * Pretty Polly (1967)
    * The Long Duel (1967)
    * The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
    * Battle of Britain (1969)
    * Ryan's Daughter (1970)
    * Kidnapped (1971)
    * Mary, Queen of Scots (1972)
    * The Offence (1972)
    * Pope Joan (1972)
    * Ludwig (1972)
    * A Doll's House (1973) (TV)
    * 11 Harrowhouse (1974)
    * Persecution (1974)
    * The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) (TV)
    * Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
    * Aces High (1976)
    * Albino (1976)
    * The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
    * Superman (1978)
    * Meteor (1979)
    * The Sea Wolves (1980)
    * Windwalker (1980)
    * Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)
    * Light Years Away, also known as Les Années lumière (1981)
    * The Missionary (1982)
    * Gandhi (1982)
    * Sword of the Valiant (1984)
    * Time After Time (1986)
    * Shaka Zulu (1986)
    * The Dawning (1988)
    * The Unholy (1988)

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk119/lint_clouds/Harvest%20Lily/Trevor_Howard.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l28/spidermanblue/LEAN/bfi-00m-lvi.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/Eye81u812/TrevorHoward.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/07/10 at 6:46 am


The word of the day...Ghost
A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that someone believes they can see or feel.
The ghost of something, especially of something bad that has happened, is the memory of it.
If there is a ghost of something, that thing is so faint or weak that it hardly exists.
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/MaffMoose/img020.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj173/geraldean_2008/emilysghost.jpg
http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss171/gunl/NortonGhost2003.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z31/snowwhiteangel2006/misc/ghost_stairs.gif
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/niascissorhands/ghost_teengaecryingboy.jpg
http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad248/MoonshineVision/PICT0017.jpg
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/xxGothicxxBeautyxx/ghost_adventure.jpg
http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww47/SaralondeDreamcatcher/Halloween/ghosts.gif
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc335/TERRORIZEme/creepy/skeletons/ghost.gif


I'm taking a guess, Patrick Swayze's or Demi Moore's Birthday? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 8:22 am


I'm taking a guess, Patrick Swayze's or Demi Moore's Birthday? ???

No, It's Nicolas Cage(Ghost Rider)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/07/10 at 11:45 am

I liked Nicholas Cage in "Raising Arizona"
Likes that film in general.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 12:28 pm


I liked Nicholas Cage in "Raising Arizona"
Likes that film in general.

I like quite a few of his movies :)
I discovered while doing his profile that he doesn't use the h in his name I thought it was Nicholas ,but it is actually Nicolas :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/07/10 at 12:32 pm

One of my favorite shows.


http://www.syfy.com/ghosthunters/




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/10 at 1:16 pm


One of my favorite shows.


http://www.syfy.com/ghosthunters/




Cat

I've seen preview, but have never checked it out.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/07/10 at 4:01 pm

Not a big fan of Nicholas Cage...but enjoyed the National Treasure movies. Could actually take the whole family (no sex and no swearing)!!  :o

Trevor Howard was a great actor. First saw him in The Third Man (great movie)....and then later on in Mutiny On The Bounty.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/07/10 at 4:08 pm


Not a big fan of Nicholas Cage...but enjoyed the National Treasure movies. Could actually take the whole family (no sex and no swearing)!!  :o





I agree with you on that.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/07/10 at 4:10 pm



I agree with you on that.



Cat


I appreciate you agreeing with me at least once per year!  I guess your obligations have now been fulfilled!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/07/10 at 6:53 pm


I liked Nicholas Cage in "Raising Arizona"
Likes that film in general.


The Weatherman was my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/10 at 6:58 am


Not a big fan of Nicholas Cage...but enjoyed the National Treasure movies. Could actually take the whole family (no sex and no swearing)!!  :o

Trevor Howard was a great actor. First saw him in The Third Man (great movie)....and then later on in Mutiny On The Bounty.

I love the National treasure movies :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/10 at 7:04 am

The word of the day...Spider
A spider is a small creature with eight legs. Most types of spider make structures called webs in which they catch insects for food
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z111/charlottesweb54/Spiders.png
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m458/AwayToTheSky/spiderfcgood3.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p4/T-DAME/spiders.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z277/nicholspeyton/spiders.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t245/dukeofdisc/Spiders.jpg
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt341/tkwi/spiders.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h112/maryhochschild/spiders.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj179/Jenn_2186/Spiders.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/08/10 at 7:07 am

Spiderman's birthday,I'm guessing?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/10 at 7:08 am

The birthday of the day...David Bowie
David Bowie (pronounced /ˈboʊ.iː/, BOH-ee; born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He has been cited as an influence by many musicians and is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his work.

Although he released an album (David Bowie) and several singles earlier, David Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in the autumn of 1969, when the song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era as the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona epitomised a career often marked by musical innovation, reinvention and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame", co-written with John Lennon, and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer identified as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" and its parent album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single "Under Pressure", but reached a commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003-2004 Reality Tour.

In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie ranked 29. Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums, and ranks among the ten best-selling acts in UK pop history. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time
Bowie's first flirtation with fame came in 1969 with his single "Space Oddity," written the previous year but recorded and released to coincide with the first moon landing. This ballad told the story of Major Tom, an astronaut who becomes lost in space, though it has also been interpreted as an allegory for taking drugs. It became a Top 5 UK hit. Bowie put the finishing touches to the track while living with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. Finnigan and Bowie joined forces with Christina Ostrom and the late Barrie Jackson to run a Folk Club on Sunday nights at The Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street, south London. This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab and became extremely popular. In August 1969, The Arts Lab hosted a Free Festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song "Memory of a Free Festival". In 1969 and 1970, "Space Oddity" was used by the BBC during both its Apollo 11 moon landing coverage and its coverage of Apollo 13.

The corresponding album, his second, was released in November 1969 and originally titled David Bowie, which caused some confusion as both of Bowie's first and second albums were released with that name in the UK. In the US the same album originally bore the title Man of Words, Man of Music to overcome that confusion. In 1972, the album was re-released on both sides of the Atlantic by RCA Records as Space Oddity, the title it has kept ever since.

In 1970, Bowie released his third album, The Man Who Sold the World, rejecting the acoustic guitar sound of the previous album and replacing it with the heavy rock backing provided by Mick Ronson, who would be a major collaborator through to 1973. Much of the album resembles British heavy metal music of the period, but the album provided some unusual musical detours, such as the title track's use of Latin sounds and rhythms. The original UK cover of the album showed Bowie in a dress, an early example of his androgynous appearance. In the US, the album was originally released in a cartoonish cover that did not feature Bowie.

His next record, Hunky Dory in 1971, saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity", with light fare such as the droll "Kooks". Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes on tracks such as "Oh! You Pretty Things" (a song taken to UK number twelve by Herman's Hermits' Peter Noone in 1971), the semi-autobiographical "The Bewlay Brothers", and the Buddhist-influenced "Quicksand". Lyrically, the young songwriter also paid unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch", which Bowie's somewhat cryptic liner notes indicate as a Velvet Underground pastiche. As with the single "Changes", Hunky Dory was not a big hit but it laid the groundwork for the move that would shortly lift Bowie into the first rank of stars, giving him four top-ten albums and eight top ten singles in the UK in eighteen months between 1972 and 1973.

Bowie further explored his androgynous persona in June 1972 with the seminal concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which presents a world destined to end in five years and tells the story of the ultimate rock star, Ziggy Stardust. The album's sound combined the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock of Hunky Dory and the fast-paced glam rock pioneered by Marc Bolan's T. Rex. Many of the album's songs have become rock classics, including "Ziggy Stardust," "Moonage Daydream," "Rock & Roll Suicide" and "Suffragette City."

The Ziggy Stardust character became the basis for Bowie's first large-scale tour beginning in 1972, where he donned his famous flaming red mullet and wild outfits, designed by Kansai Yamamoto. The tour featured a three-piece band representing The Spiders from Mars: Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums. This was Bowie’s first tour to visit the US, making his first appearance on 22 September 1972 at Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. The album made number five in the UK on the strength of the number ten placing of the single "Starman". Their success made Bowie a star, and soon the six-month-old Hunky Dory eclipsed Ziggy Stardust, when it peaked at number three on the UK chart. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing" (not released in the US until 1979) peaked at UK number twelve, and "All the Young Dudes", a song he had given to, and produced for, Mott the Hoople, made UK number three.

Around the same time Bowie began promoting and producing his rock and roll heroes, two of whom he met at the popular New York hangout Max's Kansas City: former Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed, whose solo breakthrough Transformer was produced by Bowie and Ronson; and Iggy Pop, whose band, The Stooges, signed with Bowie's management, MainMan Productions, to record their third album, Raw Power. Though he was not present for the tracking of the album, Bowie later performed its much-debated mix. Bowie sang back-up vocals on both Reed's Transformer, and Iggy's The Idiot.

The Spiders From Mars came together again on Aladdin Sane, released in April 1973 and his first number one album in the UK. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", all the new songs were written on ship, bus or trains during the first leg of his US Ziggy Stardust tour. The album's cover, featuring Bowie shirtless with Ziggy hair and a red, black, and blue lightning bolt across his face, has been described as being as "startling as rock covers ever got." Aladdin Sane included the UK number two hit "The Jean Genie", the UK number three hit "Drive-In Saturday", and a rendition of The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together". Mike Garson joined Bowie to play piano on this album, and his solo on the title track has been cited as one of the album's highlights.

Bowie's later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, as well as a few earlier tracks like "Changes" and "The Width of a Circle", were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. His announcement—"Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you."—was preserved in a live recording of the show, filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and belatedly released under the title Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture in 1983 after many years circulating as an audio bootleg.

Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, was released in October 1973, spawning a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. By this time, Bowie had broken up the Spiders from Mars and was attempting to move on from his Ziggy persona. Bowie's own back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with the second David Bowie album (Space Oddity). Hunky Dory's "Life on Mars?" was released as a single in 1973 and made number three in the UK, the same year Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", hit number six.
n 1980, Bowie's style retrogressed, integrating the lessons learnt on Low, Heroes, and Lodger while expanding upon them with chart success. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) included the number one hit "Ashes to Ashes", featuring the textural work of guitar-synthesist Chuck Hammer, and revisiting the character of Major Tom from "Space Oddity". The imagery Bowie used in the song's music video gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic movement and, with many of the followers of this phase being devotees, Bowie visited the London club "Blitz"—the main New Romantic hangout—to recruit several of the regulars (including Steve Strange of the band Visage) to act in the video, renowned as being one of the most innovative of all time.

While Scary Monsters utilised principles that Bowie had learned in the Berlin era, it was considered by critics to be far more direct musically and lyrically, reflecting the transformation Bowie had gone through during his time in Germany and Europe. By 1980 Bowie had divorced his wife Angie, stopped the drug use of the "Thin White Duke" era, and radically changed his concept of the way music should be written. The album had a hard rock edge that included conspicuous guitar contributions from King Crimson's Robert Fripp, The Who's Pete Townshend, and Television's Tom Verlaine. As "Ashes to Ashes" hit number one on the UK charts, Bowie opened a three-month run on Broadway starring in The Elephant Man on 23 September 1980.

In 1981, Queen released "Under Pressure", co-written and performed with Bowie. The song was a hit and became Bowie's third UK number one single. In the same year Bowie made a cameo appearance in the German movie Christiane F. Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, the real-life story of a 13 year-old girl in Berlin who becomes addicted to heroin and ends up prostituting herself. Bowie is credited with "special cooperation" in the credits and his music features prominently in the movie. The soundtrack was released in 1982 and contained a version of "Heroes" sung partially in German that had previously been included on the German pressing of its parent album. The same year Bowie appeared in the BBC's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play Baal. Coinciding with transmission of the film, a five-track EP of songs from the play was released as David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's Baal, recorded at Hansa by the Wall the previous September. It would mark Bowie’s final new release on RCA, as 1983 saw him change record labels from RCA to EMI America. In April 1982, Bowie released "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" with Giorgio Moroder, for director Paul Schrader's film Cat People.
David Bowie on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Bowie scored his first truly commercial blockbuster with Let's Dance in 1983, a slick dance album co-produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers. The title track went to number one in the United States and United Kingdom. The album also featured the singles "Modern Love" and "China Girl", the latter causing something of a stir due to its suggestive promotional video. "China Girl" was a remake of a song which Bowie co-wrote several years earlier with Iggy Pop, who recorded it for The Idiot. In an interview by Kurt Loder, Bowie revealed that the motivation for recording "China Girl" was to help out his friend Iggy Pop financially, contributing to Bowie's history of support for musicians he admired. Let's Dance was also notable as a stepping stone for the career of the late Texan guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played on the album and was to have supported Bowie on the consequent Serious Moonlight Tour. Vaughan, however, never joined the tour after various disputes with Bowie. Vaughan was replaced by the Bowie tour veteran Earl Slick. Frank and George Simms from The Simms Brothers Band appeared as backing vocalists for the tour.

Bowie's next album was originally planned to be a live album recorded on the Serious Moonlight Tour, but EMI demanded another studio album instead. The resulting album, 1984's Tonight, was also dance-oriented, featuring collaborations with Tina Turner and Iggy Pop, as well as various covers, including one of The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows". The album bore the transatlantic Top Ten hit "Blue Jean" whose complete video — the 21-minute short film "Jazzin' for Blue Jean" - reflected Bowie's long-standing interest in combining music with drama. This video would win Bowie his only Grammy to date, for Best Short Form Music Video. It also featured "Loving the Alien", a remix of which was a minor hit in 1985. The album also has a pair of dance rewrites of "Neighborhood Threat" and "Tonight", old songs Bowie wrote with Iggy Pop which had originally appeared on Lust for Life.

In 1985, Bowie performed several of his greatest hits at Wembley for Live Aid. At the end of his set, which comprised "Rebel Rebel", "TVC 15", "Modern Love" and 'Heroes', he introduced a film of the Ethiopian famine, for which the event was raising funds, which was set to the song "Drive" by The Cars. At the event, the video to a fundraising single was premièred – Bowie performing a duet with Mick Jagger on a version of "Dancing in the Street", which quickly went to number one on release. In the same year Bowie worked with the Pat Metheny Group on the song "This Is Not America", which was featured in the film The Falcon and the Snowman. This song was the centrepiece of the album, a collaboration intended to underline the espionage thriller's central themes of alienation and disaffection.
Bowie performing in 1987

In 1986, Bowie contributed several songs to as well as acted in the film Absolute Beginners. The movie was not well reviewed but Bowie's theme song rose to number two in the UK charts. He also took a role in the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth, as Jareth, the Goblin King who steals the baby brother of a girl named Sarah (played by Jennifer Connelly), in order to turn him into a goblin. Bowie wrote five songs for the film, the script of which was partially written by Monty Python's Terry Jones.

Bowie's final solo album of the 80s was 1987's Never Let Me Down, where he ditched the light sound of his two earlier albums, instead offering harder rock with an industrial/techno dance edge. The album, which peaked at number six in the UK, contained hit singles "Day-In, Day-Out", "Time Will Crawl", and "Never Let Me Down". Bowie himself later described it as "my nadir" and "an awful album".

Bowie decided to tour again in 1987, supporting the Never Let Me Down album. The Glass Spider Tour was preceded by nine promotional press shows before the 86-concert tour actually started on 30 May 1987. In addition to the actual band, that included Peter Frampton on lead guitar, five dancers appeared on stage for almost the entire duration of each concert. Taped pieces of dialogue were also performed by Bowie and the dancers in the middle of songs, creating an overtly theatrical effect. Several visual gimmicks were also recreated from Bowie's earlier tours. Critics of the tour described it as overproduced and claimed it pandered to then-current stadium rock trends in its special effects and dancing. However, fans that saw the shows from the Glass Spider Tour were treated to many of Bowie's classics and rarities, in addition to the newer material.
Main article: David Bowie discography

   * David Bowie (1967)
   * Space Oddity (1969)
   * The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
   * Hunky Dory (1971)
   * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
   * Aladdin Sane (1973)
   * Pin Ups (1973)
   * Diamond Dogs (1974)
   * Young Americans (1975)
   * Station to Station (1976)
   * Low (1977)
   * "Heroes" (1977)
   * Lodger (1979)
   * Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
   * Let's Dance (1983)
   * Tonight (1984)
   * Never Let Me Down (1987)
   * Black Tie White Noise (1993)
   * The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
   * 1. Outside (1995)
   * Earthling (1997)
   * 'Hours...' (1999)
   * Heathen (2002)
   * Reality (2003)


In August 1988, Bowie portrayed Pontius Pilate in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/newtonebucket/Influences/davidbowie.jpg
http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae129/JPZ14/letsdance.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w213/KellyJo09/evenmorebowie12.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/13Trixie_Gail/Gorgeous_Guys_1/labrynth.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/10 at 7:12 am

The person of the day...Terry-Thomas
Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens (14 July 1911 – 8 January 1990) was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, with a "toothbrush" moustache, the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as "What an absolute shower!" and "Good show!
Initially billed as Thomas (or Thos) Stevens, he considered the stage name Thomas Terry, but fearing that this might be taken as an attempt to pass himself off as a relation of the actress Ellen Terry, he reversed this to Terry Thomas. In 1948, he affected a hyphen between the two names in order to be more distinctive, largely to stop people calling him "Mr. Thomas" (which he disliked) and, according to biographer Graham McCann, "because it felt right".
Career

He played a variety of exuberant, malevolent and silly characters during the 1960s, and became famous for his humorous portrayal of the archetypal English upper-class cad and bounder. (Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Monte Carlo or Bust; How Sweet It Is!; Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon). In the 1970s he reprised his character from the first two of the films above along with Eric Sykes to make high quality cinema and TV advertisements for Benson and Hedges cigarettes.

In 1966, he played a notable but very different role as an RAF airman travelling through occupied France – and nicknamed "Big Moustache" by his French helpers – in the French film La Grande Vadrouille, which for over forty years remained the most successful film in the history of cinema in France.
Filmography

    * Once in a Million (1935)
    * Rhythm in the Air (1936)
    * Sam Goes Shopping (1939)
    * For Freedom (1940)
    * If You Don't Save Paper (1948) (short) as Shop Assistant
    * A Date with a Dream (1948)
    * Melody Club (1949) as Freddy Forrester
    * What's Cooking (1951) (short) as Husband
    * The Green Man (1956)
    * Private's Progress (1956) as Major Hitchcock
    * Lucky Jim (1957)
    * Brothers in Law (1957)
    * The Naked Truth (1957) as Lord Mayley
    * Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957) as Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts
    * Happy is the Bride (1958) as Policeman
    * Tom Thumb (1958) as Ivan
    * I'm All Right Jack (1959) reprising the role of Major Hitchcock
    * Carlton-Browne of the FO (1959)
    * Too Many Crooks (1959) as Billy Gordon
    * Make Mine Mink (1960) as Major Albert Rayne
    * School for Scoundrels (1960)
    * A Matter of WHO (1961) as Bannister
    * His and Hers (1961) as Reggie Blake
    * Operation Snatch (1962) as Lt. 'Piggy' Wigg
    * The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
    * Bachelor Flat (1962) as Professor Bruce Patterson
    * Kill or Cure (1962) as Jerry Barkey-Rynde
    * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
    * The Mouse on the Moon (1963) as Spender
    * The Wild Affair (1965) as Godfrey Deane
    * You Must Be Joking! (1965) Major Foskett
    * Strange Bedfellows (1965)
    * How to Murder Your Wife (1965) as Charles
    * Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage
    * The Sandwich Man (1966) as Scoutmaster
    * The Daydreamer (1966) as Brigadier Zachary Zilch
    * Our Man in Marrakesh (1966) as El Caid
    * La Grande Vadrouille (1966) as Sir Reginald
    * Top Crack (1966)
    * Munster, Go Home! (1966) as Cousin Freddie Munster
    * Se Tutte le Donne del Mondo (1966) as James
    * Dr. Coppelius (1966)
    * Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967) as Captain Sir Harry Washington-Smythe
    * Arabella (1967) as the hotel manager
    * Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1967)
    * A Guide for the Married Man (1967) as Technical Advisor
    * The Perils of Pauline (1967) as Sten Martin
    * Arriva Dorellik (1967) as Commissario Green
    * Seven Times Seven (1968)
    * Diabolik (1968) as the Minister of Finance
    * How Sweet It Is! (1968) as Gilbert Tilly
    * Sette volte sette (1968) as Police Inspector
    * Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) as Ladislaus Walichek
    * Monte Carlo or Bust (1969) as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, son of Sir Percy of Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
    * It's Your Move (1969) as Il direttore Dorgeant
    * 2000 Years Later (1969) as Goodwyn
    * 12 + 1 (1969) as Albert
    * Arthur!Arthur! (1969)
    * Mur de l'Atlantique, Le (1970) as Perry
    * The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
    * Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
    * The Cherry Picker (1972) as Appleby
    * Special London Bridge Special (1972) as Bus Conductor
    * Robin Hood (1973), as the voice of Sir Hiss (who had a gap between his teeth similar to Terry-Thomas)
    * The Vault of Horror (1973) as Critchit
    * Eroi, Gli (1973) as John Cooper
    * Side by Side (1975) as Max Nugget
    * Spanish Fly (1975) as Sir Percy De Courcy
    * The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)
    * The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
    * The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978), his last film role

http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k362/heyzeus79/terry_thomas.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r258/Michael738/terry-thomas.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh172/angelinadi/blog/tt.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t101/Don_Pedro_X/TerryThomaswithtxt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/10 at 7:12 am


Spiderman's birthday,I'm guessing?

David Bowie..Spiders From Mars

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/08/10 at 10:30 am

Another one of my photos.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2958870997_c967c275ba.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/08/10 at 6:59 pm


The birthday of the day...David Bowie
David Bowie (pronounced /ˈboʊ.iː/, BOH-ee; born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He has been cited as an influence by many musicians and is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his work.

Although he released an album (David Bowie) and several singles earlier, David Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in the autumn of 1969, when the song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era as the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona epitomised a career often marked by musical innovation, reinvention and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame", co-written with John Lennon, and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer identified as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" and its parent album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single "Under Pressure", but reached a commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003-2004 Reality Tour.

In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie ranked 29. Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums, and ranks among the ten best-selling acts in UK pop history. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time
Bowie's first flirtation with fame came in 1969 with his single "Space Oddity," written the previous year but recorded and released to coincide with the first moon landing. This ballad told the story of Major Tom, an astronaut who becomes lost in space, though it has also been interpreted as an allegory for taking drugs. It became a Top 5 UK hit. Bowie put the finishing touches to the track while living with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. Finnigan and Bowie joined forces with Christina Ostrom and the late Barrie Jackson to run a Folk Club on Sunday nights at The Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street, south London. This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab and became extremely popular. In August 1969, The Arts Lab hosted a Free Festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song "Memory of a Free Festival". In 1969 and 1970, "Space Oddity" was used by the BBC during both its Apollo 11 moon landing coverage and its coverage of Apollo 13.

The corresponding album, his second, was released in November 1969 and originally titled David Bowie, which caused some confusion as both of Bowie's first and second albums were released with that name in the UK. In the US the same album originally bore the title Man of Words, Man of Music to overcome that confusion. In 1972, the album was re-released on both sides of the Atlantic by RCA Records as Space Oddity, the title it has kept ever since.

In 1970, Bowie released his third album, The Man Who Sold the World, rejecting the acoustic guitar sound of the previous album and replacing it with the heavy rock backing provided by Mick Ronson, who would be a major collaborator through to 1973. Much of the album resembles British heavy metal music of the period, but the album provided some unusual musical detours, such as the title track's use of Latin sounds and rhythms. The original UK cover of the album showed Bowie in a dress, an early example of his androgynous appearance. In the US, the album was originally released in a cartoonish cover that did not feature Bowie.

His next record, Hunky Dory in 1971, saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity", with light fare such as the droll "Kooks". Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes on tracks such as "Oh! You Pretty Things" (a song taken to UK number twelve by Herman's Hermits' Peter Noone in 1971), the semi-autobiographical "The Bewlay Brothers", and the Buddhist-influenced "Quicksand". Lyrically, the young songwriter also paid unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch", which Bowie's somewhat cryptic liner notes indicate as a Velvet Underground pastiche. As with the single "Changes", Hunky Dory was not a big hit but it laid the groundwork for the move that would shortly lift Bowie into the first rank of stars, giving him four top-ten albums and eight top ten singles in the UK in eighteen months between 1972 and 1973.

Bowie further explored his androgynous persona in June 1972 with the seminal concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which presents a world destined to end in five years and tells the story of the ultimate rock star, Ziggy Stardust. The album's sound combined the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock of Hunky Dory and the fast-paced glam rock pioneered by Marc Bolan's T. Rex. Many of the album's songs have become rock classics, including "Ziggy Stardust," "Moonage Daydream," "Rock & Roll Suicide" and "Suffragette City."

The Ziggy Stardust character became the basis for Bowie's first large-scale tour beginning in 1972, where he donned his famous flaming red mullet and wild outfits, designed by Kansai Yamamoto. The tour featured a three-piece band representing The Spiders from Mars: Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums. This was Bowie’s first tour to visit the US, making his first appearance on 22 September 1972 at Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. The album made number five in the UK on the strength of the number ten placing of the single "Starman". Their success made Bowie a star, and soon the six-month-old Hunky Dory eclipsed Ziggy Stardust, when it peaked at number three on the UK chart. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing" (not released in the US until 1979) peaked at UK number twelve, and "All the Young Dudes", a song he had given to, and produced for, Mott the Hoople, made UK number three.

Around the same time Bowie began promoting and producing his rock and roll heroes, two of whom he met at the popular New York hangout Max's Kansas City: former Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed, whose solo breakthrough Transformer was produced by Bowie and Ronson; and Iggy Pop, whose band, The Stooges, signed with Bowie's management, MainMan Productions, to record their third album, Raw Power. Though he was not present for the tracking of the album, Bowie later performed its much-debated mix. Bowie sang back-up vocals on both Reed's Transformer, and Iggy's The Idiot.

The Spiders From Mars came together again on Aladdin Sane, released in April 1973 and his first number one album in the UK. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", all the new songs were written on ship, bus or trains during the first leg of his US Ziggy Stardust tour. The album's cover, featuring Bowie shirtless with Ziggy hair and a red, black, and blue lightning bolt across his face, has been described as being as "startling as rock covers ever got." Aladdin Sane included the UK number two hit "The Jean Genie", the UK number three hit "Drive-In Saturday", and a rendition of The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together". Mike Garson joined Bowie to play piano on this album, and his solo on the title track has been cited as one of the album's highlights.

Bowie's later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, as well as a few earlier tracks like "Changes" and "The Width of a Circle", were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. His announcement—"Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you."—was preserved in a live recording of the show, filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and belatedly released under the title Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture in 1983 after many years circulating as an audio bootleg.

Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, was released in October 1973, spawning a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. By this time, Bowie had broken up the Spiders from Mars and was attempting to move on from his Ziggy persona. Bowie's own back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with the second David Bowie album (Space Oddity). Hunky Dory's "Life on Mars?" was released as a single in 1973 and made number three in the UK, the same year Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", hit number six.
n 1980, Bowie's style retrogressed, integrating the lessons learnt on Low, Heroes, and Lodger while expanding upon them with chart success. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) included the number one hit "Ashes to Ashes", featuring the textural work of guitar-synthesist Chuck Hammer, and revisiting the character of Major Tom from "Space Oddity". The imagery Bowie used in the song's music video gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic movement and, with many of the followers of this phase being devotees, Bowie visited the London club "Blitz"—the main New Romantic hangout—to recruit several of the regulars (including Steve Strange of the band Visage) to act in the video, renowned as being one of the most innovative of all time.

While Scary Monsters utilised principles that Bowie had learned in the Berlin era, it was considered by critics to be far more direct musically and lyrically, reflecting the transformation Bowie had gone through during his time in Germany and Europe. By 1980 Bowie had divorced his wife Angie, stopped the drug use of the "Thin White Duke" era, and radically changed his concept of the way music should be written. The album had a hard rock edge that included conspicuous guitar contributions from King Crimson's Robert Fripp, The Who's Pete Townshend, and Television's Tom Verlaine. As "Ashes to Ashes" hit number one on the UK charts, Bowie opened a three-month run on Broadway starring in The Elephant Man on 23 September 1980.

In 1981, Queen released "Under Pressure", co-written and performed with Bowie. The song was a hit and became Bowie's third UK number one single. In the same year Bowie made a cameo appearance in the German movie Christiane F. Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, the real-life story of a 13 year-old girl in Berlin who becomes addicted to heroin and ends up prostituting herself. Bowie is credited with "special cooperation" in the credits and his music features prominently in the movie. The soundtrack was released in 1982 and contained a version of "Heroes" sung partially in German that had previously been included on the German pressing of its parent album. The same year Bowie appeared in the BBC's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play Baal. Coinciding with transmission of the film, a five-track EP of songs from the play was released as David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's Baal, recorded at Hansa by the Wall the previous September. It would mark Bowie’s final new release on RCA, as 1983 saw him change record labels from RCA to EMI America. In April 1982, Bowie released "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" with Giorgio Moroder, for director Paul Schrader's film Cat People.
David Bowie on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Bowie scored his first truly commercial blockbuster with Let's Dance in 1983, a slick dance album co-produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers. The title track went to number one in the United States and United Kingdom. The album also featured the singles "Modern Love" and "China Girl", the latter causing something of a stir due to its suggestive promotional video. "China Girl" was a remake of a song which Bowie co-wrote several years earlier with Iggy Pop, who recorded it for The Idiot. In an interview by Kurt Loder, Bowie revealed that the motivation for recording "China Girl" was to help out his friend Iggy Pop financially, contributing to Bowie's history of support for musicians he admired. Let's Dance was also notable as a stepping stone for the career of the late Texan guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played on the album and was to have supported Bowie on the consequent Serious Moonlight Tour. Vaughan, however, never joined the tour after various disputes with Bowie. Vaughan was replaced by the Bowie tour veteran Earl Slick. Frank and George Simms from The Simms Brothers Band appeared as backing vocalists for the tour.

Bowie's next album was originally planned to be a live album recorded on the Serious Moonlight Tour, but EMI demanded another studio album instead. The resulting album, 1984's Tonight, was also dance-oriented, featuring collaborations with Tina Turner and Iggy Pop, as well as various covers, including one of The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows". The album bore the transatlantic Top Ten hit "Blue Jean" whose complete video — the 21-minute short film "Jazzin' for Blue Jean" - reflected Bowie's long-standing interest in combining music with drama. This video would win Bowie his only Grammy to date, for Best Short Form Music Video. It also featured "Loving the Alien", a remix of which was a minor hit in 1985. The album also has a pair of dance rewrites of "Neighborhood Threat" and "Tonight", old songs Bowie wrote with Iggy Pop which had originally appeared on Lust for Life.

In 1985, Bowie performed several of his greatest hits at Wembley for Live Aid. At the end of his set, which comprised "Rebel Rebel", "TVC 15", "Modern Love" and 'Heroes', he introduced a film of the Ethiopian famine, for which the event was raising funds, which was set to the song "Drive" by The Cars. At the event, the video to a fundraising single was premièred – Bowie performing a duet with Mick Jagger on a version of "Dancing in the Street", which quickly went to number one on release. In the same year Bowie worked with the Pat Metheny Group on the song "This Is Not America", which was featured in the film The Falcon and the Snowman. This song was the centrepiece of the album, a collaboration intended to underline the espionage thriller's central themes of alienation and disaffection.
Bowie performing in 1987

In 1986, Bowie contributed several songs to as well as acted in the film Absolute Beginners. The movie was not well reviewed but Bowie's theme song rose to number two in the UK charts. He also took a role in the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth, as Jareth, the Goblin King who steals the baby brother of a girl named Sarah (played by Jennifer Connelly), in order to turn him into a goblin. Bowie wrote five songs for the film, the script of which was partially written by Monty Python's Terry Jones.

Bowie's final solo album of the 80s was 1987's Never Let Me Down, where he ditched the light sound of his two earlier albums, instead offering harder rock with an industrial/techno dance edge. The album, which peaked at number six in the UK, contained hit singles "Day-In, Day-Out", "Time Will Crawl", and "Never Let Me Down". Bowie himself later described it as "my nadir" and "an awful album".

Bowie decided to tour again in 1987, supporting the Never Let Me Down album. The Glass Spider Tour was preceded by nine promotional press shows before the 86-concert tour actually started on 30 May 1987. In addition to the actual band, that included Peter Frampton on lead guitar, five dancers appeared on stage for almost the entire duration of each concert. Taped pieces of dialogue were also performed by Bowie and the dancers in the middle of songs, creating an overtly theatrical effect. Several visual gimmicks were also recreated from Bowie's earlier tours. Critics of the tour described it as overproduced and claimed it pandered to then-current stadium rock trends in its special effects and dancing. However, fans that saw the shows from the Glass Spider Tour were treated to many of Bowie's classics and rarities, in addition to the newer material.
Main article: David Bowie discography

   * David Bowie (1967)
   * Space Oddity (1969)
   * The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
   * Hunky Dory (1971)
   * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
   * Aladdin Sane (1973)
   * Pin Ups (1973)
   * Diamond Dogs (1974)
   * Young Americans (1975)
   * Station to Station (1976)
   * Low (1977)
   * "Heroes" (1977)
   * Lodger (1979)
   * Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
   * Let's Dance (1983)
   * Tonight (1984)
   * Never Let Me Down (1987)
   * Black Tie White Noise (1993)
   * The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
   * 1. Outside (1995)
   * Earthling (1997)
   * 'Hours...' (1999)
   * Heathen (2002)
   * Reality (2003)


In August 1988, Bowie portrayed Pontius Pilate in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/newtonebucket/Influences/davidbowie.jpg
http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae129/JPZ14/letsdance.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w213/KellyJo09/evenmorebowie12.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb267/13Trixie_Gail/Gorgeous_Guys_1/labrynth.jpg


David Bowie is great.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/08/10 at 7:16 pm

I loved Terry-Thomas in the Vault of Horror even though his character got what he deserved. Nice Bio, Ninny. Thanks for posting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/10 at 7:26 pm


I loved Terry-Thomas in the Vault of Horror even though his character got what he deserved. Nice Bio, Ninny. Thanks for posting.

Your Welcome, Vinny :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 4:49 am

The word of the day...Stairway
A stairway is a staircase or a flight of steps, inside or outside a building.
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt145/cecile_022/24kramspoint/DSCN0764.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/Bike_2007/House012.jpg
http://i554.photobucket.com/albums/jj408/watruw8ing4/STX%20House/076.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Wizzard30/Pretoria%20Streetscapes/3656R.jpg
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/divinelove_album/Stairway.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad295/awbriones/places/BagofBeansStairway.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac341/karenjmay/2881%20Alexander/StairwayLeadingto2ndFloor.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac158/bougatsa/IMG_4054.jpg
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff326/sWEETtHANG_/qUOTEZ%20n%20cAPTIONZ/stairwaytoheaven.jpg
http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv54/phungmac/Hong%20Kong%2012-2009/125_0173.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x200/crazybiker_ga/Cruise/IMG_2731.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 4:54 am


I love the National treasure movies :)
I now have number 2 to watch on DVD.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 4:56 am

The birthday of the day...Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page OBE (born 9 January 1944) is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.

Page has been described as "unquestionably one of the all-time most influential, important, and versatile guitarists and songwriters in rock history". In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Page #9 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a member of The Yardbirds (1992) and once as a member of Led Zeppelin (1995).While still a student, Page would often jam on stage at The Marquee with bands such as Cyril Davies' All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and with guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of Brian Howard & The Silhouettes, who asked him to help record a number of singles for Columbia Graphophone Company, including "The Worrying Kind". It wasn't until an offer from Mike Leander of Decca Records that Page was to receive regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording "Diamonds" by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963.

After brief stints with Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, Mike Hurst and the Method, and Mickey Finn and the Blue Men, Page committed himself to full-time session work. As a session guitarist he was known as 'Little Jim' so there was no confusion with Big Jim Sullivan. Page was mainly called in to sessions as "insurance" in instances when a replacement or second guitarist was required by the recording artist. "It was usually myself and a drummer", he explained, "though they never mention the drummer these days, just me ... Anyone needing a guitarist either went to Big Jim or myself"

Page was the favoured session guitarist of producer Shel Talmy, and therefore he ended up doing session work on songs for The Who and The Kinks as a direct result of the Talmy connection. Page's studio output in 1964 included Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By", The Nashville Teens' "Tobacco Road", The Rolling Stones' "Heart of Stone" (released on Metamorphosis), Van Morrison & Them's "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Here Comes the Night", Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" and "My Baby Left Me", and Brenda Lee's "Is It True". Under the auspices of producer Talmy, Page contributed to The Kinks' 1964 debut album and he sat in on the sessions for The Who's first single "I Can't Explain" (although Pete Townshend was reluctant to allow Page's contribution on the final recording, Page did play on the B-side "Bald Headed Woman".)

In 1965 Page was hired by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to act as house producer and A&R man for the newly-formed Immediate Records label, which also allowed him to play on and/or produce tracks by John Mayall, Nico, Chris Farlowe, Twice as Much and Eric Clapton. Page also formed a brief songwriting partnership with then romantic interest, Jackie DeShannon. He also composed and recorded songs for the John Williams (not the classical guitarist) album The Maureeny Wishful Album with Big Jim Sullivan. Page worked as session musician on the Al Stewart album Love Chronicles in 1969, and played guitar on five tracks of Joe Cocker's debut album, With a Little Help from My Friends.

When questioned about which songs he played on, especially ones where there exists some controversy as to what his exact role was, Page often points out that it is hard to remember exactly what he did given the huge number of sessions he was playing at the time.

Although Page recorded with many notable musicians, many of these early tracks are only available through bootlegged copies, several of which were released by the Led Zeppelin fan club in the late 1970s. One of the rarest of these is the early jam session featuring Jimmy Page playing with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, featuring a cover of "Little Queen of Spades" by Robert Johnson. Several songs which featured Page's involvement were compiled on the twin album release: James Patrick Page: Session Man Volume One and James Patrick Page: Session Man Volume Two.

Page decided to leave studio work when the increasing influence of Stax Records on popular music led to the greater incorporation of brass and orchestral arrangements into recordings at the expense of guitars. However, he has stated that his time as a session player served as extremely good schooling for his development as a musician:

   My session work was invaluable. At one point I was playing at least three sessions a day, six days a week! And I rarely ever knew in advance what I was going to be playing. But I learned things even on my worst sessions -- and believe me, I played on some horrendous things. I finally called it quits after I started getting calls to do Muzak. I decided I couldn't live that life anymore; it was getting too silly. I guess it was destiny that a week after I quit doing sessions Paul Samwell-Smith left The Yardbirds, and I was able to take his place. But being a session musician was good fun in the beginning -- the studio discipline was great. They'd just count the song off, and you couldn't make any mistakes.

The Yardbirds
Main article: The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds, 1966. Clockwise from left: Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf, Jim McCarty, and Chris Dreja.

In late 1964, Page was approached about the possibility of replacing Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds, but he declined the offer out of loyalty to his friend. In February 1965 Clapton quit the Yardbirds, and Page was formally offered Clapton's spot, but because he was unwilling to give up his lucrative career as a session musician, and because he was still worried about his health under touring conditions, he suggested his friend, Jeff Beck. On 16 May 1966, drummer Keith Moon, bass player John Paul Jones, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Beck and Page recorded "Beck's Bolero" in London's IBC Studios. The experience gave Page an idea to form a new supergroup featuring Beck, along with The Who's John Entwistle on bass and Keith Moon on drums. However, the lack of a quality vocalist and contractual problems prevented the project from getting off the ground. During this time, Moon suggested the name "Lead Zeppelin" for the first time, after Entwistle commented that the proceedings would take to the air like a lead balloon.

Within weeks, Page attended a Yardbirds concert at Oxford. After the show he went backstage where Paul Samwell-Smith announced that he was leaving the group. Page offered to replace Samwell-Smith and this was accepted by the group. He initially played electric bass with the Yardbirds before finally switching to twin lead guitar with Beck when Chris Dreja moved to bass. The musical potential of the line-up was scuttled, however, by interpersonal conflicts caused by constant touring and a lack of commercial success, although they released one single, "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago". (While Page and Jeff Beck played together in The Yardbirds, the trio of Page, Beck and Clapton never played in the original group at the same time. The three guitarists did appear on stage together at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983.)

After Beck's departure, the Yardbirds remained a quartet. They recorded one album with Page on lead guitar, Little Games. The album received indifferent reviews and was not a commercial success, peaking at only number 80 on the Billboard Music Charts. Though their studio sound was fairly commercial at the time, the band's live performances were just the opposite, becoming heavier and more experimental. These concerts featured musical aspects that Page would later perfect with Led Zeppelin, most notably performances of "Dazed and Confused".

After the departure of Keith Relf and Jim McCarty in 1968, Page reconfigured the group with a new line-up to fulfill unfinished tour dates in Scandinavia. As he said:

   Once decided not to continue, then I was going to continue. And shift the whole thing up a notch ... The whole thing was putting a group together and actually being able to play together. There were a lot of virtuoso musicians around at the time who didn't gel as a band. That was the key: to find a band that was going to fire on all cylinders.

To this end, Page recruited vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham, and he was also contacted by John Paul Jones who asked to join. During the Scandinavian tour the new group appeared as "The New Yardbirds", but soon recalled the old joke by Keith Moon and John Entwistle. Page stuck with that name to use for his new band. Peter Grant changed it to "Led Zeppelin", to avoid a mispronunciation of "Leed Zeppelin."
Led Zeppelin
Main article: Led Zeppelin

Page has explained that he had a very specific idea in mind as to what he wanted Led Zeppelin to be, from the very beginning:

   I had a lot of ideas from my days with The Yardbirds. The Yardbirds allowed me to improvise a lot in live performance and I started building a textbook of ideas that I eventually used in Zeppelin. In addition to those ideas, I wanted to add acoustic textures. Ultimately, I wanted Zeppelin to be a marriage of blues, hard rock and acoustic music topped with heavy choruses -- a combination that had never been done before. Lots of light and shade in the music
For the recording of most of Led Zeppelin material from Led Zeppelin's second album onwards, Page used a Gibson Les Paul guitar with Marshall amplification. During the studio sessions for Led Zeppelin, and later for recording the guitar solo in "Stairway to Heaven", he used a Fender Telecaster (a gift from Jeff Beck). He also used a Danelectro 3021, mainly for slide guitar parts. He usually recorded in studio with a Vox AC30, Fender, and Orange amplification. His use of the Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional MKII fuzzbox ("How Many More Times"), slide guitar ("You Shook Me", "Dancing Days", "In My Time of Dying", "What Is and What Should Never Be"), pedal steel guitar ("Your Time Is Gonna Come", "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", "Tangerine", "That's the Way" and for effect at the very end of "Over the Hills and Far Away"), and acoustic guitar ("Gallows Pole", "Going To California", "Bron-Yr-Aur", "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp") also demonstrated his versatility and creativity as a composer.

Page is famous for playing his guitar with a violin bow, as on the live versions of the songs "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times". This was a technique he developed during his session days, although he was not the first guitarist to use a bow, since Eddie Phillips of The Creation had done so prior to Page. On MTV's Led Zeppelin Rockumentary, Page said that he obtained the idea of playing the guitar with a bow from David McCallum, Sr. who was also a session musician. Page used his Fender Telecaster and later his Gibson Les Paul for his bow solos.

On a number of Led Zeppelin songs Page experimented with feedback devices and a theremin. He used a Wah-wah pedal, both in the traditional method of rocking the pedal back and forth as done by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, but also by simply leaving the pedal fully forward to enhance the treble. The latter technique was used on the solos for "Communication Breakdown" and "Whole Lotta Love," while the former was mostly seen in live performances.
Music production techniques

Page is credited for the innovations in sound recording he brought to the studio during the years he was a member of Led Zeppelin, many of which he had initially developed as a session musician. He developed a reputation for employing effects in new ways and trying out different methods of using microphones and amplification. During the late 1960s, most British music producers placed microphones directly in front of amplifiers and drums, resulting in the sometimes "tinny" sound of the recordings of the era. Page commented to Guitar World magazine that he felt the drum sounds of the day in particular "sounded like cardboard boxes." Instead, Page was a fan of 1950s recording techniques, Sun Studios being a particular favourite. In the same Guitar World interview, Page remarked, "Recording used to be a science", and " used to have a maxim: distance equals depth." Taking this maxim to heart, Page developed the idea of placing an additional microphone some distance from the amplifier (as much as twenty feet) and then recording the balance between the two. By adopting this technique, Page became one of the first British producers to record a band's "ambient sound" - the distance of a note's time-lag from one end of the room to the other.

For the recording of several Led Zeppelin tracks, such as "Whole Lotta Love" and "You Shook Me", Page additionally utilised "reverse echo" - a technique which he claims to have invented himself while with The Yardbirds (he had originally developed the method when recording the 1967 single "Ten Little Indians"). This production technique involved hearing the echo before the main sound instead of after it, achieved by turning the tape over and employing the echo on a spare track, then turning the tape back over again to get the echo preceding the signal.

Page has stated that, as producer, he deliberately changed the audio engineers on Led Zeppelin albums, from Glyn Johns for the first album, to Eddie Kramer for Led Zeppelin II, to Andy Johns for Led Zeppelin III and later albums. He explained that "I consciously kept changing engineers because I didn't want people to think that they were responsible for our sound. I wanted people to know it was me."

John Paul Jones has acknowledged Page's production techniques as being a key component of the success of Led Zeppelin:

   The backwards echo stuff a lot of the microphone techniques were just inspired. Using distance-miking… and small amplifiers. Everybody thinks we go in the studio with huge walls of amplifiers, but doesn’t. He uses a really small amplifier and he just mikes it up really well, so that it fits into a sonic picture.

In an interview Page himself gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, he remarked on his work as a producer:

   Many people think of me as just a riff guitarist, but I think of myself in broader terms... As a producer I would like to be remembered as someone who was able to sustain a band of unquestionable individual talent, and push it to the forefront during its working career. I think I really captured the best of our output, growth, change and maturity on tape -- the multifaceted gem that is Led Zeppelin.
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss205/JamesB_01/jimmy-page.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j282/Zepmobile/pageOak77.jpg
http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss336/Master_Of_Muffins/Jimmy-Page.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii15/76Stiffy48/Jimmy-Page.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 4:57 am


I now have number 2 to watch on DVD.

I wish I did, Missy took our DVD player to a girl's house and now that girl claims it is buried in storage. >:(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 4:58 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNc5o9TU0t0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 5:00 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPOIy4Kb9M4

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 5:01 am

The person of the day...John Gilbert
ohn Gilbert (July 10, 1895 – January 9, 1936) was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.

Known as "the great lover", he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Though he was often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, his decline as a star in fact had to do with studio politics and money and not the sound of his screen voice. According to the actress Eleanor Boardman and others, a fight between Louis B. Mayer and Gilbert erupted at what was to be his marriage to Greta Garbo, for which she failed to turn up, when Mayer made a snide remark. Gilbert promptly knocked his boss down, for which Mayer swore he'd get even. Gilbert's daughter has alleged that Mayer then proceeded to sabotage the recording of his voice by increasing the treble; giving direction of his films to an inexperienced director who was on narcotic pain medication; refusing him good scripts, such as 1930's The Dawn Patrol which directors wanted to star him in; and editing his projects to ruin his films. Born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah to stock company actor parents, he struggled through a childhood of abuse and neglect before moving to Hollywood as a teenager. He first found work as an extra with the Thomas Ince Studios, and soon became a favorite of Maurice Tourneur, who also hired him to write and direct several pictures. He quickly rose through the ranks, building his reputation as an actor in such films as Heart o' the Hills with Mary Pickford. In 1921, Gilbert signed a three year contract with Fox Film Corporation, where he was cast as a romantic leading man. Some of his films for Fox include Monte Cristo, an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo; St. Elmo, an adaptation of a popular book of the period; The Wolf Man, not a horror film, the story of a man who believes he murdered his fiancee's brother while drunk and many others. At the time, Gilbert did not sport his famous mustache, which made his features more uneven and a little less handsome, and Fox plainly did not realize what huge potential he had.

In 1924, he moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he became a full-fledged star with such high-profile films as His Hour directed by King Vidor and written by Elinor Glyn; He Who Gets Slapped (1924), co-starring Lon Chaney, Sr. and Norma Shearer, and directed by Victor Sjöström; and The Merry Widow (1925) directed by Erich von Stroheim and co-starring Mae Murray. In 1925, Gilbert was once again directed by Vidor in the war epic The Big Parade, which became the second highest grossing silent film. His performance in this film made him a major star. The following year, Vidor reunited Gilbert with two of his co-stars from that picture, Renée Adorée and Karl Dane, for the film La Bohème which also starred Lillian Gish.

Gilbert married the successful film actress Leatrice Joy in 1922. The union produced a daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, but the tempestuous marriage only lasted two years. The couple divorced in 1924, with Joy charging that Gilbert was a compulsive philanderer.

In 1926, Gilbert made Flesh and the Devil, his first film with Greta Garbo. They soon began a very public relationship, much to the delight of their fans. Gilbert planned to marry her, but Garbo changed her mind and never showed up for the ceremony. Despite their rocky off-screen relationship, they continued to generate box-office revenue for the studio, and MGM paired them in two more silents Love (1927), a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina, and A Woman of Affairs (1928). The former film was slyly advertised by MGM as "Garbo and Gilbert in Love."
Career decline

Throughout his time at MGM, Gilbert frequently clashed with studio head Louis B. Mayer over creative, social and financial matters. One crucial event occurred on September 8, 1926. While guests were waiting for Garbo to show up for a proposed double wedding ceremony - Garbo and Gilbert with the director King Vidor and his fiancee, actress Eleanor Boardman - Mayer allegedly made a crude remark about Garbo to the distraught Gilbert that caused him to fly into a rage and he physically attacked the mogul. Rumor had it that after that event, Gilbert's career began its downward slide. This story has been disputed by some historians, despite its having been reported over a period of twenty years by one major eyewitness, the other bride, Eleanor Boardman who described Mayer's final look at Gilbert as "terrifying". Gilbert did have a powerful supporter in production head Irving Thalberg. The two were old friends and Thalberg made efforts to reinvigorate Gilbert's career, but Thalberg's failing health probably limited such efforts.

With the coming of sound, Gilbert first spoke in the film His Glorious Night, in which his voice allegedly recorded in a high-pitched tone that made audiences giggle. He spoke again in the all-talking musical Hollywood Revue of 1929, appearing in a Romeo and Juliet Technicolor sequence along with Norma Shearer in which they first played the part straight and then modernized it. Reviewers for the film did not note any problems with Gilbert's voice at this time and, in fact, some praised it. A documentary, The Dawn of Sound: How the Movies Learned to Talk (2007), demonstrates that with improved recording equipment Gilbert's voice was suitably deep.

According to film reviews of the day, audiences actually laughed at Gilbert's overly ardent love-making in His Glorious Night. In one scene, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady (Catherine Dale Owen) while saying over and over again "I love you". This scene was famously later parodied in the MGM musical Singin' in the Rain (1952) where a preview of the fictional The Dueling Cavalier flops disastrously. Director King Vidor stated that Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert's main rival in the 1920s for romantic leads, probably would have suffered the same fate in the talkie era, had he lived.

His Glorious Night has never been shown on television by Turner Entertainment because MGM sold the rights to Paramount for a remake, and Universal - which owns the rights to all pre-1948 Paramount films - has not done anything with it. He appeared in 1931's The Phantom of Paris, a project designed for Lon Chaney to star in until his death from cancer in 1930.

In 1932 MGM made the film Downstairs from Gilbert's original story, in which Gilbert played against type as a scheming, blackmailing chauffeur. The film was well received by critics, but did nothing to restore Gilbert's popularity. Shortly after making the film he married co-star Virginia Bruce; the couple divorced in 1934.

Gilbert starred opposite Garbo for the last time in Queen Christina directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Garbo was top-billed and Gilbert's name beneath the title. The picture failed to revive his career, with his next film, The Captain Hates the Sea, being his last.
Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1755 Vine Street and in 1994, he was honoured with his image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
Selected filmography

   * The Coward (1915) uncredited, directed by Reginald Barker and Thomas H. Ince
   * Hell's Hinges (1916) uncredited, directed by Charles Swickard, William S. Hart and Clifford Smith
   * The Apostle of Vengeance (1916) directed by William S. Hart and Clifford Smith
   * Heart o' the Hills (1919) directed by Joseph De Grasse and Sidney Franklin
   * Cameo Kirby (1923) directed by John Ford
   * He Who Gets Slapped (1924) directed by Victor Sjöström
   * His Hour (1924) directed by King Vidor
   * The Snob (1924) directed by Monta Bell
   * The Wife of the Centaur (1924) directed by King Vidor
   * The Wolf Man directed by Edmund Mortimer
   * The Merry Widow (1925) directed by Erich von Stroheim
   * The Big Parade (1925) directed by King Vidor
   * Ben-Hur (1925)
   * Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)
   * La Bohème (1926) with Lillian Gish
   * Flesh and the Devil (1926) with Greta Garbo
   * Love (1927) with Greta Garbo
   * The Show (1927) with Lionel Barrymore
   * Twelve Miles Out (1927) with Joan Crawford
   * A Woman of Affairs (1928) with Greta Garbo
   * Desert Nights (1929)
   * The Phantom of Paris (1931)
   * Downstairs (1932)
   * Fast Workers (1933)
   * Queen Christina (1933) with Greta Garbo, directed by Rouben Mamoulian
   * The Captain Hates The Sea (1934) with the cast of the Three Stooges

http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv285/stahr_monroe/Matinee%20idols/John.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actors01/gilbert.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actors01/johngilbert.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh200/tnguitargrl/1060222409_l.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 5:59 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNc5o9TU0t0

This was the first time I heard this version :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 7:15 am


This was the first time I heard this version :)
Rodrigo y Gabriela have been play on the online radio station I listen to for some time now, and now are beginning to hit the UK.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 7:19 am

Stairway To Heaven,a great song. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 7:20 am


Stairway To Heaven,a great song. :)
Good song to do in kare-oke!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 7:23 am


Good song to do in kare-oke!


That's if you know the lyrics.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 7:26 am


That's if you know the lyrics.
When singing kare-oke the lyrics on screen to read.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 7:27 am


When singing kare-oke the lyrics on screen to read.


if you can sing good.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 7:28 am


if you can sing good.
It helps.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 7:28 am


It helps.


helps to sound like Jimmy Page.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 7:31 am


helps to sound like Jimmy Page.
That does not matter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 7:33 am


That does not matter.


you're right.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/10 at 7:36 am


you're right.
Just sing in your own style

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 7:46 am


Just sing in your own style



word of advice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 8:47 am


Stairway To Heaven,a great song. :)

Probably in my top 3 songs of all time :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/09/10 at 11:55 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPOIy4Kb9M4



I have heard that version before. I must confess, I think it is pretty good.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/10 at 6:51 pm


Probably in my top 3 songs of all time :)



any others?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/10 at 7:04 pm



any others?

One of my favorites is Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon & Garfunkel.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/09/10 at 7:23 pm

love the staircases. Thanks for posting, Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 1:35 am


The word of the day...Stairway
A stairway is a staircase or a flight of steps, inside or outside a building.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/Annex%20-%20Stewart,%20James%20%28Vertigo%29_01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 1:42 am

British person of the day: Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer-songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early '70s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces proved to be influential on the formation of the heavy metal and punk rock genres, respectively. Both bands were also pioneers of blues-rock.

With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has achieved numerous solo hit singles worldwide, most notably in the UK, where he has garnered six consecutive number one albums and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the USA, with four of these reaching number one. He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.

Awards and recognition:
    * Awarded CBE in 2007 New Year's Honours.
    * Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2005, Stardust ... The Great American Songbook Volume III
    * Diamond Award of World Music Awards show for over 100 million records sold worldwide, 2001.
    * Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1994
    * Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, 2006
    * "Bar none, he's the best singer I've heard in rock 'n' roll. He's also the greatest white soul singer." —Elton John on Rod Stewart
    * "Is this a white guy? You are kidding me!!" Chuck Berry commented when asked what he thought about Stewart's cover of Sweet Little Rock & Roller in an interview by the Belgian Rock magazine Humo in 1975.
    * Rod Stewart played to the largest concert crowd ever, with 3.5 million fans in attendance. This was at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the 1994 New Year’s Eve celebrations.
    * According to Stewart, soul legend James Brown called him music's "best white soul singer" in September 2006

List of bands:
During his career, Rod Stewart has been a member of a number of groups including:
    * Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963)
    * The Hoochie Coochie Men (1964–1965)
    * Soul Agents (1965-1966)
    * Shotgun Express (1966)
    * The Jeff Beck Group (1966–1969)
    * Faces (1969–1975)

Discography: Rod Stewart discography

Stewart's album and single sales total have been variously estimated as more than 100 million, or at 200 million, in either case earning him a place on the list of best-selling music artists.

UK/US number one albums
    * 1971 Every Picture Tells a Story (UK / US)
    * 1972 Never a Dull Moment (UK )
    * 1973 Sing It Again Rod (UK )
    * 1974 Smiler (UK )
    * 1975 Atlantic Crossing (UK )
    * 1976 A Night on the Town (UK )
    * 1977 Foot Loose & Fancy Free (UK / US)
    * 1978 Blondes Have More Fun (US )
    * 1979 Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (UK )
    * 2004 Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3 (US )
    * 2006 Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time (US )
    * 2009 Soulbook

UK/US number one singles
    * 1971 "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe" (UK/US)
    * 1972 "You Wear It Well" (UK)
    * 1975 "Sailing" (UK)
    * 1976 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (US)
    * 1977 "I Don't Want to Talk About It" / "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (UK)
    * 1978 "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (UK, US)
    * 1983 "Baby Jane" (UK)
    * 1990 "Downtown Train" (US Adult Contemporary)
    * 1990 "This Old Heart of Mine" with Ronald Isley (US Adult Contemporary)
    * 1993 "All for Love" (US) (featuring Bryan Adams and Sting, first appearing on the official soundtrack from the movie "The Three Musketeers")
    * 1993 "Have I Told You Lately" (US Adult Contemporary)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002X94Y8.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2009/06/rod-stewart-family.jpg
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_01/RodStewartTH_486x608.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 1:46 am


British person of the day: Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer-songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early '70s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces proved to be influential on the formation of the heavy metal and punk rock genres, respectively. Both bands were also pioneers of blues-rock.

With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has achieved numerous solo hit singles worldwide, most notably in the UK, where he has garnered six consecutive number one albums and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the USA, with four of these reaching number one. He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.

Awards and recognition:
    * Awarded CBE in 2007 New Year's Honours.
    * Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2005, Stardust ... The Great American Songbook Volume III
    * Diamond Award of World Music Awards show for over 100 million records sold worldwide, 2001.
    * Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1994
    * Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, 2006
    * "Bar none, he's the best singer I've heard in rock 'n' roll. He's also the greatest white soul singer." —Elton John on Rod Stewart
    * "Is this a white guy? You are kidding me!!" Chuck Berry commented when asked what he thought about Stewart's cover of Sweet Little Rock & Roller in an interview by the Belgian Rock magazine Humo in 1975.
    * Rod Stewart played to the largest concert crowd ever, with 3.5 million fans in attendance. This was at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the 1994 New Year’s Eve celebrations.
    * According to Stewart, soul legend James Brown called him music's "best white soul singer" in September 2006

List of bands:
During his career, Rod Stewart has been a member of a number of groups including:
    * Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963)
    * The Hoochie Coochie Men (1964–1965)
    * Soul Agents (1965-1966)
    * Shotgun Express (1966)
    * The Jeff Beck Group (1966–1969)
    * Faces (1969–1975)

Discography: Rod Stewart discography

Stewart's album and single sales total have been variously estimated as more than 100 million, or at 200 million, in either case earning him a place on the list of best-selling music artists.

UK/US number one albums
    * 1971 Every Picture Tells a Story (UK / US)
    * 1972 Never a Dull Moment (UK )
    * 1973 Sing It Again Rod (UK )
    * 1974 Smiler (UK )
    * 1975 Atlantic Crossing (UK )
    * 1976 A Night on the Town (UK )
    * 1977 Foot Loose & Fancy Free (UK / US)
    * 1978 Blondes Have More Fun (US )
    * 1979 Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (UK )
    * 2004 Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3 (US )
    * 2006 Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time (US )
    * 2009 Soulbook

UK/US number one singles
    * 1971 "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe" (UK/US)
    * 1972 "You Wear It Well" (UK)
    * 1975 "Sailing" (UK)
    * 1976 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (US)
    * 1977 "I Don't Want to Talk About It" / "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (UK)
    * 1978 "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (UK, US)
    * 1983 "Baby Jane" (UK)
    * 1990 "Downtown Train" (US Adult Contemporary)
    * 1990 "This Old Heart of Mine" with Ronald Isley (US Adult Contemporary)
    * 1993 "All for Love" (US) (featuring Bryan Adams and Sting, first appearing on the official soundtrack from the movie "The Three Musketeers")
    * 1993 "Have I Told You Lately" (US Adult Contemporary)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002X94Y8.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2009/06/rod-stewart-family.jpg
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_01/RodStewartTH_486x608.jpg

In fact it his 65th bithday today, he become a pensioner (he can reitre!)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 1:47 am


In fact it his 65th bithday today, he become a pensioner (he can reitre!)
Do Yah Think I'm Sixty!

Nah! You're 65!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:08 am

The word of the day...Ice
Ice is frozen water.
If you ice a cake, you cover it with icing.
An ice is an ice cream.
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab297/towelcakeshop/icecream.jpg
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k402/CandyApple_015_2008/ice.jpg
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv24/unique_latina2009/ice.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj304/angeljunk/icefish10040.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll285/GTO_Judge/0104101149a.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss40/fashline/akebonoiceshvr.jpg
http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt105/nj_ganga/cross/DSCF1167.jpg
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz83/BananaManda12/BannerforBreakTheIce.jpg
http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af223/rikiternadi/smirnoff-ice.jpg
http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz107/ArtOfSeeking/icesculpture15.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:09 am


love the staircases. Thanks for posting, Ninny.  :)

Your Welcome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:10 am


http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/Annex%20-%20Stewart,%20James%20%28Vertigo%29_01.jpg

Classic :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:11 am


British person of the day: Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer-songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early '70s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces proved to be influential on the formation of the heavy metal and punk rock genres, respectively. Both bands were also pioneers of blues-rock.

With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has achieved numerous solo hit singles worldwide, most notably in the UK, where he has garnered six consecutive number one albums and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the USA, with four of these reaching number one. He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.

Awards and recognition:
    * Awarded CBE in 2007 New Year's Honours.
    * Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, 2005, Stardust ... The Great American Songbook Volume III
    * Diamond Award of World Music Awards show for over 100 million records sold worldwide, 2001.
    * Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1994
    * Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, 2006
    * "Bar none, he's the best singer I've heard in rock 'n' roll. He's also the greatest white soul singer." —Elton John on Rod Stewart
    * "Is this a white guy? You are kidding me!!" Chuck Berry commented when asked what he thought about Stewart's cover of Sweet Little Rock & Roller in an interview by the Belgian Rock magazine Humo in 1975.
    * Rod Stewart played to the largest concert crowd ever, with 3.5 million fans in attendance. This was at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the 1994 New Year’s Eve celebrations.
    * According to Stewart, soul legend James Brown called him music's "best white soul singer" in September 2006

List of bands:
During his career, Rod Stewart has been a member of a number of groups including:
    * Jimmy Powell and the Five Dimensions (1963)
    * The Hoochie Coochie Men (1964–1965)
    * Soul Agents (1965-1966)
    * Shotgun Express (1966)
    * The Jeff Beck Group (1966–1969)
    * Faces (1969–1975)

Discography: Rod Stewart discography

Stewart's album and single sales total have been variously estimated as more than 100 million, or at 200 million, in either case earning him a place on the list of best-selling music artists.

UK/US number one albums
    * 1971 Every Picture Tells a Story (UK / US)
    * 1972 Never a Dull Moment (UK )
    * 1973 Sing It Again Rod (UK )
    * 1974 Smiler (UK )
    * 1975 Atlantic Crossing (UK )
    * 1976 A Night on the Town (UK )
    * 1977 Foot Loose & Fancy Free (UK / US)
    * 1978 Blondes Have More Fun (US )
    * 1979 Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (UK )
    * 2004 Stardust: the Great American Songbook 3 (US )
    * 2006 Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time (US )
    * 2009 Soulbook

UK/US number one singles
    * 1971 "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe" (UK/US)
    * 1972 "You Wear It Well" (UK)
    * 1975 "Sailing" (UK)
    * 1976 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (US)
    * 1977 "I Don't Want to Talk About It" / "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (UK)
    * 1978 "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (UK, US)
    * 1983 "Baby Jane" (UK)
    * 1990 "Downtown Train" (US Adult Contemporary)
    * 1990 "This Old Heart of Mine" with Ronald Isley (US Adult Contemporary)
    * 1993 "All for Love" (US) (featuring Bryan Adams and Sting, first appearing on the official soundtrack from the movie "The Three Musketeers")
    * 1993 "Have I Told You Lately" (US Adult Contemporary)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002X94Y8.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2009/06/rod-stewart-family.jpg
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_01/RodStewartTH_486x608.jpg


Very good choice,if you hadn't picked him I was going to. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:16 am

The birthday of the day...Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar (born January 10, 1953) is a four-time Grammy Award-winning American singer best known for her mezzo-soprano vocal range and establishing herself as one of rock's top vocalists and one of music's top-selling female artists with hit songs such as "Love Is a Battlefield", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", "We Belong" and "Heartbreaker".

Benatar is one of the top-selling female artists of all-time, and one of the 1980s Top Platinum Album Recipients, according to the Recording Industry Association of America with two RIAA-certified Multi-Platinum albums and five RIAA-certified Platinum albums, plus three RIAA-certified Gold albums and 19 Top 40 singles to her credit.

In addition, Benatar is the first female artist featured on MTV, and her music video, You Better Run, is the second video aired by the network following its debut with The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to Andrew and Mildred Andrzejewski, a sheet-metal worker and a beautician. Her family moved to Lindenhurst, New York on Long Island, when she was 3 years old. I have wonderful childhood memories of picking berries in the "woods" by our house, driving to the "docks" on the South Bay to get freshly harvested clams, she recounted once.

Patti (as she was known) became interested in theater and began voice lessons, singing at Daniel Street Elementary School her first solo, a song called “It Must Be Spring,” at age eight. She said, "As a kid, I sang at any choir, any denomination, anywhere I could." At Lindenhurst Senior High School (1967-71), Benatar participated in musical theater, playing Queen Guinevere in the school production of Camelot, marching in the homecoming parade, singing at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, and performing a solo of "The Christmas Song" on a holiday recording of the Lindenhurst High School Choir her senior year.

Benatar was cut off from the rock scene in nearby Manhattan though because her parents were "ridiculously strict - I was allowed to go to symphonies, opera and theater but I couldn't go to clubs. Her musical training was strictly classical and theatrical. She said, "I was singing Puccini and West Side Story but I spent every afternoon after school with my little transistor radio listening to the Rolling Stones..."

Training as a coloratura and accepted to The Juilliard School, Benatar surprised family, friends and teachers by deciding a classical career was not for her and pursued health education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. At 19, after one year at Stony Brook, she dropped out to marry her high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar, an army draftee who trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served with the Army Security Agency at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before being stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia. Specialist (E-4) Dennis Benatar was stationed there for three years, and Pat worked as a bank teller in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1973, Benatar quit her job as a bank teller to pursue a singing career after being inspired by a Liza Minnelli concert she saw in Richmond. She got a job as a singing waitress at a flapper-esque nightclub named The Roaring Twenties and got a gig singing in lounge band Coxon's Army, a regular at Sam Miller's basement club. The band garnered enough attention to be the subject of a never-aired PBS special, and the band's bassist Roger Capps also would go on to be the original bass player for the Pat Benatar Band. The period also yielded Benatar's first and only single until her eventual 1979 debut on Chrysalis Records: "Day Gig" (1974), Trace Records, written and produced by Coxon's Army band leader Phil Coxon and locally released in Richmond. Her big break came in 1975 at an amateur night at the renowned comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. Her rousing rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" earned her a call back by club owner Rick Newman, who would become her manager. Benatar said:

    I came in from Virginia one night. I had straight red hair and I wore a dress. I sang a Judy Garland song and I don’t know what happened, I never sang in New York before in my life, even though I grew up there, everybody just went crazy. I didn't do anything spectacular. I don’t know what happened, it was just one of those magical things. came right in and said, 'Let's talk about you playing here some more...' Newman said, 'It was 2:45 in the morning. We had 30 performers and she was about #27. I was on the other side of the room drinking with some friends--then I suddenly heard this voice!'

The couple headed back to New York following Dennis' discharge from the army, and Benatar went on to be a regular member at Catch A Rising Star for close to three years, until signing a record contract. Catch A Rising Star was not the only break Benatar got in 1975. She landed the part of Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical, The Zinger. Benatar's first foray into rock. The production, which debuted on March 19, 1976, at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island, ran for a month and also featured Beverly D'Angelo and Christine Lahti. Benatar noted: "I was 22 by the time I started to sing rock, so at first I was very conscious of technique and I was overly technical. That proved to be inhibiting so it was a disadvantage until I began to sing intuitively. That’s the only way to sing rock – from your gut level feelings. It's the instinct that the best singers have."

Halloween 1977 proved a pivotal night in Benatar's early, spandexed stage persona. Rather than change out of the vampire costume she had worn to a Greenwich Village cafe party that evening, she went on-stage wearing black tights, black eyeliner and a short black top. Despite performing her usual array of songs, she received a standing ovation. Benatar has said that "he crowd was always polite, but this time they went out of their minds. It was the same songs, sung the same way, and I thought, 'Oh my god ... t's these clothes and this makeup!'"

Between appearances at Catch A Rising Star and recording commercial jingles for Pepsi Cola and a number of regional concerns, she headlined New York City’s famous Tramps nightclub from March 29 - April 1, 1978, where her performance impressed representatives from several record companies. She was signed to Chrysalis Records by founder Terry Ellis the following week."There was a long period of three years, when I spent my time taking demo tapes around and being rejected by one record company after another. Then just two days after the debut concert with the band, we were signed to a record contract..." Recorded in June and July 1979, Benatar debuted the week of August 27, 1979 with the release of I Need A Lover from the album In the Heat of the Night. She said, "My album was the last of a bunch by female singers to come out so I was told not to expect much, even though Mike Chapman was producing."

She won an unprecedented four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Performance from 1980 to 1983 for Crimes of Passion, "Fire and Ice", "Shadows of the Night", and "Love Is a Battlefield". Of the ten Grammy Award ceremonies in the 1980s, Benatar was nominated for Best Female Rock Performance eight times, including for "Invincible" in 1985, "Sex as a Weapon" in 1986, "All Fired Up" in 1988 and in 1989 for "Let's Stay Together".

Benatar also earned Grammy Award nominations in 1985 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female with "We Belong" and in 1986 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group as a member of Artists United Against Apartheid for their single, "Sun City". Benatar is also the winner of three American Music Awards: Favorite Female Pop/Rock Vocalist of 1981 and 1983, and Favorite Female Pop/Rock Video Artist of 1985. Benatar was twice named Rolling Stone magazine's Favorite Female Vocalist, and Billboard magazine ranks her as the most successful female rock vocalist of all time based on overall record sales and the number of hit songs and their charted positions.

Pat Benatar was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame at the Second Induction Award Ceremony and Fundraising Gala held October 30, 2008. In her acceptance letter, she said, “My upbringing, and the values and ideals I learned back in my hometown kept me grounded. I never forget that a small town girl from Lindenhurst, LI actually got the chance to live her dreams.”
Family

Pat and Dennis Benatar divorced in 1979. Pat and band leader/lead guitarist Neil "Spyder" Giraldo married on February 20, 1982. They have two daughters, Haley Egeana (born February 16, 1985) and Hana Juliana (born March 12, 1994).
Benatar's debut album In the Heat of the Night was released in October 1979, and reached #12. It established Benatar as a new force in rock. Producer Mike Chapman, who had worked with Blondie and The Knack, broke his vow not to take on any new artists when he heard Benatar's demo tape. Chapman personally produced three tracks on the album, while his long-time engineer and now independent producer, Peter Coleman (who also supervised Nick Gilder) oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his partner, Nicky Chinn, wrote three original songs for the LP, in addition to a rearranged version of a song they wrote for Sweet, "No You Don't". The album also featured two songs written by Roger Capps and Benatar, as well as "I Need a Lover" written by John Mellencamp, "Don't Let It Show" written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. The album would be Benatar's first RIAA certified platinum album.
Crimes of Passion

In August 1980, Benatar released her second and most popular LP, Crimes of Passion, featuring her signature song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" along with the controversial song Hell is for Children, which was inspired by reading a series of articles in the New York Times about child abuse in America. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (U.S. #9) was her first single to break the U.S. Top 10 and eventually sold more than 1 million copies (at that time, gold status) in the United States alone. The album peaked at U.S. #2 in January 1981 for 6 consecutive weeks (behind Yoko Ono and John Lennon's Double Fantasy) and eventually sold over 5 million copies, and a month later, Benatar won her first Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1980. Other singles released from Crimes of Passion were "Treat Me Right" (US #18) and the Rascal's cover, "You Better Run" (US #42), which gained some later notoriety when it was the second music video ever played on MTV, after the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". The album also featured a changed-tempo cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. Produced by Keith Olsen, Crimes of Passion remained on the US album charts for 93 weeks and in the top 10 for more than six months, eventually becoming her second consecutive platinum certification by the RIAA. In October 1980, Benatar (along with future husband Neil Giraldo) graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Although billed as a solo artist, Benatar recorded and toured with a consistent set of band members over most of her career, who contributed greatly to the writing and producing of songs and are recognizable characters on album photos and in many of her music videos.

    * Neil "Spyder" Giraldo (incorrectly spelled as "Geraldo" in early liner notes/credits) is the distinctive lead guitarist of the band and has performed on all of Benatar's albums. Born in Cleveland on December 29, 1955, Giraldo began playing the guitar at 6-years-old and learned to play the piano at age 12. Giraldo performed in Rick Derringer's touring band before working with Benatar, appearing in a possible bootleg entitled Derringer Live At The Paradise Theater Boston, Massachusetts, July 7, 1978 (UPC 672627400428). Giraldo's appearance on the video for Benatar's "You Better Run" distinguished him as the first guitarist on MTV. The video, the second ever aired on MTV, followed The Buggles, who had no guitar player. In addition to playing lead guitar, Giraldo is credited with composing and producing much of Benatar's work. Giraldo's first outside production credit was on John Waite's debut album Ignition. He has also given a helping musical hand to artists such as The Del-Lords, Rick Springfield, and Kenny Loggins. In addition, Giraldo was the musical composer for the 2005 movie Smile starring Beau Bridges, Linda Hamilton, Sean Astin and directed by Jeffrey Kramer. The soundtrack features an original song by Giraldo and Scott Kempner of The Del-Lords, appearing as The Paradise Brothers, titled "Beautiful Something." Proceeds from the movie go to Operation Smile. The Paradise Brothers also contributed a cover of "Light Of Day" for a Bruce Springsteen Tribute album.
    * Myron Grombacher, who played with Neil in Rick Derringer's touring band, is drummer on nine of Benatar's original albums and has numerous writing credits. Myron is easily recognizable in the music videos, particularly as the mad dentist in Get Nervous.
    * Charlie Giordano performed keyboard duties on five albums, and is identifiable by his glasses and distinctive array of berets, blazers and 80s-style ties. In 2007, he replaced the late Danny Federici in the E Street Band.
    * Mick Mahan is the band's bassist and has performed with Benatar since 1995. The original bassist, Roger Capps, was replaced by Donnie Nossov on Tropico, and then later by Frank Linx.
    * Scott Sheets is credited on rhythm guitar on the first three albums.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e214/bmcgarry/pat_benatar.gif
http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/love90220/pat-benatar_1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e318/gothprincessclair/8_Pat_Benatar_pba021.jpg
http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii472/bernieBsc/music/bentar3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:20 am

The person of the day...Paul Lynde
Paul Edward Lynde (June 13, 1926 – January 10, 1982) was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry McAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie. He was also the regular "center square" guest on the game show, Hollywood Squares, from 1968 to 1981.
Paul Lynde was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and studied drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where his fellow students included Cloris Leachman, Charlotte Rae, Patricia Neal, Jeffrey Hunter and Claude Akins. At Northwestern University, he joined the Upsilon chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma and is listed amongst the most famous members of the fraternity. He graduated in 1948 and moved to New York City, where he initially worked as a stand-up comic.
Career

Lynde made his Broadway debut in the hit revue New Faces of 1952 in which he co-starred with fellow newcomers Eartha Kitt, Alice Ghostley, and Carol Lawrence. In his monologue from that revue, the "Trip of the Month Club," Lynde portrayed a man on crutches recounting his misadventures on the African safari he took with his late wife. The show was filmed and released as New Faces in 1954.

After the revue's run, Lynde co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Stanley opposite Buddy Hackett and Carol Burnett, both of whom were also starting out their careers in show business. In 1960, Lynde returned to Broadway when he was cast as the father in Bye Bye Birdie. He reprised the role in the play's film adaptation, which was released in 1963 and co-starred Dick Van Dyke, Janet Leigh, and Ann-Margret.

Over the years, Lynde made regular appearances on sitcoms such as The Phil Silvers Show, The Munsters, and I Dream of Jeannie, and variety shows such as The Perry Como Show and The Dean Martin Show. Lynde first appeared in episode 26 of Bewitched, "Driving is the Only Way to Fly", as Samantha's driving instructor Harold Harold, before taking on the recurring role of Uncle Arthur, Endora's brother. He was a frequent guest on the Donny and Marie Osmond Show.

Lynde also did extensive voice work on animated cartoons, particularly those of Hanna-Barbera Productions. His most notable roles included Sylvester Sneakly ("The Hooded Claw") in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Mildew Wolf from It's the Wolf (a segment of Cattanooga Cats), and Pertwee from Where's Huddles?. He also voiced the role of Templeton the gluttonous rat in the animated feature Charlotte's Web. Lynde's sardonic inflections added a dimension to such lines as the sly, drawn-out whine, "What's in it for meeee?" Lynde's trademark voice is popular among impressionists. In the 1999 animated Queer Duck the character Bi-Polar Bear (voiced by Billy West) speaks with an imitation of Lynde's voice.

In 1972, Lynde starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom, The Paul Lynde Show, playing an uptight attorney and father at odds with his liberal-minded son-in-law. The series was canceled after only one season. The network then "transferred" Lynde to another comedy series that had debuted in 1972, Temperatures Rising, for the 1973 season, but his presence in the cast did not help flagging ratings and this series, too, was not renewed. The series’ failure reportedly exacerbated Lynde’s pre-existing drinking problem, which led to numerous run-ins with the law and frequent arrests for public intoxication.
Hollywood Squares

In 1966, Lynde debuted on the fledgling game show Hollywood Squares and quickly became its iconic guest. Eventually he assumed a permanent spot as the "center square," a move which ensured that he would be called upon by contestants at least once in almost every round. Though the producers' decision, Universal Studios tour guides told a different tale during the 1970’s. They claimed that Lynde was deathly afraid of earthquakes, and after a taping was interrupted by tremors, he was told by engineers that the center square was the safest.

It was on Hollywood Squares that Lynde was best able to showcase his comedic talents with short, salty one-liners. Many of these gags were thinly-veiled allusions to his homosexuality. Asked "You're the world's most popular fruit. What are you?", Lynde replied, "Humble." In response to the question "How many men on a hockey team?" Lynde quipped, "About half."

Others relied on double entendre, an alleged fondness for deviant behaviors, or dealt with "touchy" subject matter for 1970s television. Examples include:

    Q: What is said to be wasted on the young?
    Lynde: A whipping.

    Q: Paul, what profession is the most common for prostitutes after they retire?
    Lynde: Smuggling.

The show made a habit of asking Lynde about fairy tales and children's stories, making Lynde's punchlines all the more inappropriate. On one episode, Lynde humorously suggested that the Lewis Carroll character Alice was the one to say "I'm late! I'm late!" rather than the White Rabbit, "...and her mother is just sick about it." On another, Lynde claimed that, in The Wizard of Oz, what the Scarecrow really wanted was for the Tin Man to notice him.

Even the more generic punchlines were often punched up by Lynde's trademark snickering delivery. Asked "What is the most abused and neglected part of the body?" Lynde said, "Well, mine may be abused, but it certainly isn't neglected."

Lynde left the show in 1979 after thirteen seasons, but returned for the 1980-81 season.
Personal life

In 1965, Lynde was involved in an accident where his lover, a young actor, fell to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The two had been drinking for hours before 24-year-old James "Bing" Davidson slipped and fell eight stories, an event witnessed by two policemen. Even though the scandal did not ruin his career, the incident offered insight into the precarious life of drinking and partying that Lynde enjoyed.
Death

Lynde was found dead in his Beverly Hills, California, home by friend Paul Barresi on Monday, January 11, 1982. The coroner ruled the death a heart attack. It has been suggested that he might have been dead for two days, but his death appears in most references as having occurred on January 10, 1982.

Lynde's cremated remains are interred in a cemetery near his hometown of Mt. Vernon, OH, at Amity Cemetery, in Amity, OH. He is buried next to his brother Johnny, and his sister Helen. It is also reported that Lynde lies near ill-fated sweetheart James "Bing" Davidson in Amity Cemetery, but this has been unconfirmed.
Legacy

Paul Lynde's popularity has continued after his death. According to cartoon creator/voice actor Seth McFarlane, the voice of Roger the Alien on the Fox television show American Dad! was modelled after him. The voice and humor of Queer Duck character Bi-Polar Bear (voiced by Ren & Stimpy and Futurama actor Billy West), is also done in the style of Paul Lynde.

Actor/Comedian Michael Airington also plays Paul Lynde in the show Oh My Goodness it's Paul Lynde. He plays him in An Evening with Paul Lynde recreating Lynde's 1976 live show and in Off Center: The Paul Lynde Show. Airington Licenses the rights from the Paul Lynde Estate.
Filmography
Television

    * The Red Buttons Show (1955)
    * Stanley (1956–1957)
    * The Perry Como Show (1961–1963)
    * The Munsters (1964)
    * Bewitched (1965) (1966–1971)
    * The Hollywood Squares (1968–1981)
    * Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers (1968–1969)
    * The Cattanooga Cats (1969–1971) (voice)
    * Love, American Style (1969-1974)
    * The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (1969–1971) (voice)
    * Gidget Grows Up (1969)
    * Where's Huddles (1970) (voice)
    * Gidget Gets Married (1972)
    * I Dream of Jeannie (1966–1968)
    * The Paul Lynde Show (1972–1973)
    * The New Temperatures Rising Show (1973–1974)
    * The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)
    * Donny & Marie (1975)
    * 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1977)
    * Paul Lynde at the Movies (1979)


Film

    * New Faces (1954) (also writer)
    * Son of Flubber (1963)
    * Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
    * Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)
    * For Those Who Think Young (1964)
    * Send Me No Flowers (1964)
    * Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
    * The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
    * How Sweet It Is! (1968)
    * Charlotte's Web (1973) (voice)
    * Journey Back to Oz (1974) (voice)
    * Hugo the Hippo (1975) (voice)
    * Rabbit Test (1978)
    * The Villain (1979)
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/hikelady/PaulLynde.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n273/Ziggy869/paul-lynde-02-4-19-4.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n24/terr-bo/paullynde.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l29/Michaelnla3/Paul%20Lynde/NEWPOSTCARDFRI9pmplshow.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:20 am


Very good choice,if you hadn't picked him I was going to. :)
I was worried that you may had prepared for him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:23 am


The word of the day...Ice
Ice is frozen water.
If you ice a cake, you cover it with icing.
An ice is an ice cream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:23 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE
Plagiarist!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:25 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A7tLVIsuNw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:33 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A7tLVIsuNw

So hillarious ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:34 am


So hillarious ;D
It cheered me up for the day!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:35 am


Plagiarist!

Did David Bowie or Queen ever get any money from that?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 6:35 am


It cheered me up for the day!

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:36 am


Did David Bowie or Queen ever get any money from that?
I need to research on that.

Paul would know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 6:39 am


Did David Bowie or Queen ever get any money from that?
"Ice Ice Baby" samples the bassline of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie, who did not initially receive songwriting credit or royalties until after it had become a hit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 6:55 am

Rod Stewart will never retire.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 7:08 am


Rod Stewart will never retire.
His voice will go on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 7:09 am


His voice will go on.


still has had the same hairdo for 20 years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 7:10 am


still has had the same hairdo for 20 years.
His hair has survived.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 7:10 am


"Ice Ice Baby" samples the bassline of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie, who did not initially receive songwriting credit or royalties until after it had become a hit.

They  had to sue first...I believe.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 7:11 am


His hair has survived.

Must be a turn on for all those young ladies ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 7:11 am


His hair has survived.


how does he do that?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 7:12 am


how does he do that?
....keeps in a cardboard box?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 7:13 am


....keeps in a cardboard box?


or tons of hairspray.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 7:16 am


or tons of hairspray.
Hair gel?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 7:16 am


Hair gel?


that could be his trick.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 7:21 am


that could be his trick.
Is there any long term effects in continually using hair gel?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 7:29 am


Is there any long term effects in continually using hair gel?


dry hair or flakes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/10 at 7:37 am


dry hair or flakes.
We need a hair care expert here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/10/10 at 9:04 am

Thanks for the bio's on Pat Benatar and Paul Lynde, Ninny. I have always been a fan of Lynde's and was fortunate enough to see Benatar in concert. She was wonderful and so are you.  :) Great job!  :) :) :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 9:32 am


Thanks for the bio's on Pat Benatar and Paul Lynde, Ninny. I have always been a fan of Lynde's and was fortunate enough to see Benatar in concert. She was wonderful and so are you.  :) Great job!  :) :) :)

Thanks Vinny, I've always been a fan of both myself. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 9:33 am


....keeps in a cardboard box?

Like a wig ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/10/10 at 1:02 pm

One of my sisters had a crush on Rod Stewart. I don't know if she still does-probably.

I LOVE Pat Benatar. I love her Crimes of Passion album. That was one of the albums I played the most in my senior year of high school.

As a kid, I had a gerbil named Paul Lynde.  :D ;D ;D ;D  Seriously. He was the voice of the rat in the movie Charlotte's Web and a gerbil was close to a rat so I named him (or was it a her?  :-\\ :D ;D ;D ) Paul Lynde. I named the other one after my best friend.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/10 at 1:41 pm


One of my sisters had a crush on Rod Stewart. I don't know if she still does-probably.

I LOVE Pat Benatar. I love her Crimes of Passion album. That was one of the albums I played the most in my senior year of high school.

As a kid, I had a gerbil named Paul Lynde.  :D ;D ;D ;D   Seriously. He was the voice of the rat in the movie Charlotte's Web and a gerbil was close to a rat so I named him (or was it a her?  :-\\ :D ;D ;D ) Paul Lynde. I named the other one after my best friend.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Crimes of Passion, great  songs like Hell Is for Children, Treat Me Right,You Better Run & Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/10/10 at 1:49 pm


Crimes of Passion, great  songs like Hell Is for Children, Treat Me Right,You Better Run & Hit Me With Your Best Shot.



I like some of the lesser known songs: I'm Gonna Follow You, Out A Touch, and of course, Wuthering Heights.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/10/10 at 6:18 pm

Pat and Paul eh? Both wonderful in their own way!

My kids think Paul Lynde is freaking hilarious. They see him in episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched (where I bought the DVD's)...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 6:42 pm


We need a hair care expert here.


Sy Sperling?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/10 at 6:42 pm

My favorite is Infatuation.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/10/10 at 11:58 pm

Pat Benatar...loved her songs and she was so hot back in the very early 80s. Hell Is for Children, Treat Me Right, You Better Run. Hit Me With Your Best Shot, We belong, Love is a battlefield.

Paul Lynde. Hilarious man. Center man in Hollywood Squares. Cartoon voices.

2 great celebs!
Thanks ninny!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/11/10 at 12:04 am

Canadian Person of the day

Sir John Alexander Macdonald,

Born January 11,1815 , died June 6, 1891 was the first Prime Minister of Canada and the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation. Macdonald's tenure in office spanned 18 years, making him the second longest serving Prime Minister of Canada. He is the only Canadian Prime Minister to win six majority governments. He was the major proponent of a national railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, linking Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He won praise for having helped forge a nation of sprawling geographic size, with two diverse European colonial origins, numerous Aboriginal nations, and a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and political views.

Queen Victoria knighted John A. Macdonald for playing an integral role in bringing about Confederation. His appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George was announced at the birth of the Dominion, July 1, 1867. An election was held in August which put Macdonald and his Conservative party into power.

http://www.glasel.org/gopherhole/JaMAC.jpg


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 5:11 am



I like some of the lesser known songs: I'm Gonna Follow You, Out A Touch, and of course, Wuthering Heights.



Cat

You can't go wrong with her music.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 5:12 am


Pat and Paul eh? Both wonderful in their own way!

My kids think Paul Lynde is freaking hilarious. They see him in episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched (where I bought the DVD's)...


Pat Benatar...loved her songs and she was so hot back in the very early 80s. Hell Is for Children, Treat Me Right, You Better Run. Hit Me With Your Best Shot, We belong, Love is a battlefield.

Paul Lynde. Hilarious man. Center man in Hollywood Squares. Cartoon voices.

2 great celebs!
Thanks ninny!


I know Paul Lynde was a comic genius, he made Hollywood Squares.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 5:14 am


Canadian Person of the day

Sir John Alexander Macdonald,

Born January 11,1815 , died June 6, 1891 was the first Prime Minister of Canada and the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation. Macdonald's tenure in office spanned 18 years, making him the second longest serving Prime Minister of Canada. He is the only Canadian Prime Minister to win six majority governments. He was the major proponent of a national railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, linking Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He won praise for having helped forge a nation of sprawling geographic size, with two diverse European colonial origins, numerous Aboriginal nations, and a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and political views.

Queen Victoria knighted John A. Macdonald for playing an integral role in bringing about Confederation. His appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George was announced at the birth of the Dominion, July 1, 1867. An election was held in August which put Macdonald and his Conservative party into power.

http://www.glasel.org/gopherhole/JaMAC.jpg




Thanks for the bio, it's nice to learn new things.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 5:23 am

The Word of the day...Crest
    *
      The crest of a hill or a wave is the top of it.
          o
            If you say that you are on the crest of a wave, you mean that you are feeling very happy and confident because things are going well for you.
                +
                  The band are riding on the crest of a wave with the worldwide success of their number-one-selling single.
    *
      When someone crests a hill, they reach the top of it.
          o
            The first wave of marchers crested the hill.
    *
      A bird's crest is a group of upright feathers on the top of its head.
          o
            Both birds had a dark blue crest.
    *
      A crest is a design that is the symbol of a noble family, a town, or an organization.
          o
            On the wall is the family crest.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a214/godskronos/badgerobertson.jpg
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu310/danstiles/familycrest.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h171/razzman68/IM003788.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z235/MrSlim843/Picture011.png
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss95/jcalexand3/Evolution/StanfordCrest.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab281/Jessee2010/needlework_hog4houses_ravcrest5_tb_.gif
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r225/drjenniferperkins/Catholic/ocd4-Copy.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/CGreypaw/Florida%20Vacation%20Photos/Vaughan.jpg
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/fran1981/2006%20In%20a%20Snapshot/c209.jpg
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q41/fredsjeep/GHFC%2012-09%20Hauser%20Geode%20Beds/_MG_3351.jpg
http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo238/ladycrest4/009.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 5:27 am

The birthday of the day...Rod Taylor
Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylor (born January 11, 1930) is an Australian-born actor. Born in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, Taylor was the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor and commercial artist, and the former Mona Thompson, a writer of plays and children's books. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a famous British explorer of outback Australia in the 1800s.

He attended Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College before deciding to become an actor upon seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production in Australia. After acquiring radio and stage experience in Australia (his radio work included a stint on Blue Hills), Taylor moved to the United States in 1954, where he became a leading man in feature films of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1955, Taylor guest-starred in the third episode entitled "The Argonauts" of the first hour-long western television series, Cheyenne, an ABC program starring Clint Walker. Taylor and Edward Andrews played gold seekers Clancy and Duncan, respectively, who are best of friends until they strike it rich, only to see Native Americans release their gold dust to the wind.

In the 1960-1961 television season, Taylor starred as foreign correspondent Glenn Evans in the ABC dramatic series Hong Kong. His principal co-star was Lloyd Bochner. The program faced stiff competition on Wednesday evenings from NBC's Wagon Train.

In 1961, Taylor guest-starred on Marilyn Maxwell's short-lived ABC series Bus Stop. In 1962, he starred in an episode of The DuPont Show of the Week (NBC) entitled The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon, an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, Shannon's Way.

Equally adept at light comedy and drama, Taylor's best-known films are the H.G. Wells science-fiction classic The Time Machine (1960) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). In the latter, Taylor starred as Mitch Brenner, a man whose town and family home in Northern California come under attack from flocks of angry black birds for no discernible reason.

His other films include Sunday in New York, Fate is the Hunter, 36 Hours, Young Cassidy, The Glass Bottom Boat, Darker Than Amber, The Picture Show Man, and Cry of the Innocent.

Prior to that, Taylor had broken into Hollywood with small roles in big pictures like Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957) and Separate Tables (1958).

Taylor was reportedly up for the role of Caucasian martial artist Roper in the Bruce Lee vehicle Enter the Dragon. The 1973 film was directed by Robert Clouse, who had also directed Taylor in 1970's Darker Than Amber. However, Taylor was supposedly deemed too tall for the part, and the role went to John Saxon.

In the 1970s, Taylor turned again to television. He starred in 1971's Bearcats! on CBS and in The Oregon Trail on NBC in 1976. He appeared in 30 episodes of Falcon Crest as well as multiple episodes of Murder, She Wrote and Walker, Texas Ranger.

In 1993, Taylor hosted the documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back, directed by Clyde Lucas. At the end of the special came a mini-sequel, written by David Duncan, the original writer of the George Pal classic. Taylor recreated his role as George, reuniting him with Filby (Alan Young).

Inglourious Basterds from director Quentin Tarantino in 2009 featured Taylor as British prime minister Winston Churchill.

Married to third wife Carol Kikumura, Taylor is the father of former CNN financial reporter Felicia Taylor (born 1964), from an earlier marriage. A life-long artist, he had homes in southern California and in Australia.
Partial filmography

    * King of the Coral Sea (1953) (film debut)
    * Long John Silver (1954)
    * Top Gun (1955)
    * World Without End (1956)
    * The Catered Affair (1956)
    * Giant (1956)
    * Raintree County (1957)
    * Separate Tables (1958)
    * Ask Any Girl (1959)
    * The Time Machine (1960)
    * One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) (voice-Pongo)
    * The Birds (1963)
    * A Gathering of Eagles (1963)
    * The V.I.P.s (1963)
    * Sunday in New York (1963)
    * Fate Is the Hunter (1964)
    * 36 Hours (1965)
    * Young Cassidy (1965)
    * The Liquidator (1965)
    * Do Not Disturb (1965)
    * The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
    * Hotel (1967)



    * Chuka (1967)
    * Dark of the Sun (a.k.a. The Mercenaries) (1968)
    * The High Commissioner (a.k.a. Nobody Runs Forever) (1968)
    * Zabriskie Point (1970)
    * Darker Than Amber (1970), as Travis McGee
    * Powderkeg (1971) (TV)
    * Family Flight (1972) (TV)
    * The Train Robbers (1973)
    * Trader Horn (1973)
    * The Deadly Trackers (1973)
    * A Matter of Wife... And Death (1976)
    * The Oregon Trail (1976) (TV)
    * The Picture Show Man (1977)
    * Cry of the Innocent (1980)
    * A Time to Die (1982)
    * Terror in the Aisles (1984)
    * Time Machine: The Journey Back (1993) (documentary)
    * Point of Betrayal (1995)
    * Welcome to Woop Woop (1998)
    * The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy (1998) (TV)
    * KAW (2007) (TV)
    * Inglourious Basterds (2009)

TV shows

Taylor has had several lead roles in television, from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Among his TV shows are

    * The Twilight Zone (1959, CBS)
    * Hong Kong with co-star Lloyd Bochner (1960, ABC)
    * Bearcats! (1971, CBS)
    * The Oregon Trail as Evan Thorpe, a widower taking his three children from their Illinois farm to the Pacific Northwest by way of the Oregon Trail (1977, NBC)
    * Masquerade (1983)
    * Outlaws (1986)

Among semi-regular appearances or multiple episodes:

    * Playhouse 90
    * General Electric Theater
    * Walker, Texas Ranger
    * Murder She Wrote
    * Falcon Crest
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u286/nejjy/Rodinbookstore.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u286/nejjy/RodTaylor_headshot.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/RodTaylorMaggieSmithTheVIPs.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/lauranoir/Vintage/mug_hongkong.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 5:32 am

The person of the day...Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.

While he regarded himself primarily as a poet who composed novels mainly for financial gain, during his lifetime he was much better known for his novels which earned him a reputation as a great novelist. The bulk of his fictional works, initially published as serials in magazines, were set in the semi-fictional land of Wessex (based on the Dorchester region where he grew up) and explored tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances.

Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well-regarded as his novels and has had a significant influence over modern English poetry, especially after The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s cited Hardy as a major figure.
Hardy's first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, finished by 1867, failed to find a publisher and Hardy destroyed the manuscript so only parts of the novel remain. He was encouraged to try again by his mentor and friend, Victorian poet and novelist George Meredith. Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) were published anonymously. In 1873 A Pair of Blue Eyes, a novel drawing on Hardy's courtship of his first wife, was published under his own name. The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the serialized version of this story (which was published in Tinsley's Magazine between September 1872 and July 1873) in which Henry Knight, one of the protagonists, is left literally hanging off a cliff.

Hardy said that he first introduced Wessex in Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), his next novel. It was successful enough for Hardy to give up architectural work and pursue a literary career. Over the next twenty-five years Hardy produced ten more novels.

The Hardys moved from London to Yeovil and then to Sturminster Newton, where he wrote The Return of the Native (1878). In 1885, they moved for a last time, to Max Gate, a house outside Dorchester designed by Hardy and built by his brother. There he wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887) and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), the last of which attracted criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen woman" and was initially refused publication. Its subtitle, A Pure Woman: Faithfully Presented, was intended to raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle-classes.

Jude the Obscure, published in 1895, met with even stronger negative outcries from the Victorian public for its frank treatment of sex, and was often referred to as "Jude the Obscene". Heavily criticised for its apparent attack on the institution of marriage through the presentation of such concepts as erotolepsy, the book caused further strain on Hardy's already difficult marriage because Emma Hardy was concerned that Jude the Obscure would be read as autobiographical. Some booksellers sold the novel in brown paper bags, and the Bishop of Wakefield is reputed to have burnt his copy. In his postscript of 1912, Hardy humorously referred to this incident as part of the career of the book: "After these verdicts from the press its next misfortune was to be burnt by a bishop — probably in his despair at not being able to burn me".

Despite this criticism, Hardy had become a celebrity in English literature by the 1900s, with several highly successful novels behind him, yet he felt disgust at the public reception of two of his greatest works and gave up writing fiction altogether.
Literary themes

Although he wrote a great deal of poetry, most of it went unpublished until after 1898, thus Hardy is best remembered for the series of novels and short stories he wrote between 1871 and 1895. His novels are set in the imaginary world of Wessex, a large area of south and south-west England, using the name of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that covered the area. Hardy was part of two worlds. He had a deep emotional bond with the rural way of life which he had known as a child, but he was also aware of the changes which were under way and the current social problems, from the innovations in agriculture — he captured the epoch just before the Industrial Revolution changed the English countryside — to the unfairness and hypocrisy of Victorian sexual behaviour.

Hardy critiques certain social constraints that hindered the lives of those living in the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the social constraints that are part of the Victorian status quo, suggesting these rules hinder the lives of all involved and ultimately lead to unhappiness. In Two on a Tower, Hardy seeks to take a stand against these rules and sets up a story against the backdrop of social structure by creating a story of love that crosses the boundaries of class. The reader is forced to consider disposing of the conventions set up for love. Nineteenth-century society enforces these conventions, and societal pressure ensures conformity. Swithin St Cleeve's idealism pits him against contemporary social constraints. He is a self-willed individual set up against the coercive strictures of social rules and mores.
“ In a novel structured around contrasts, the main opposition is between Swithin St Cleeve and Lady Viviette Constantine, who are presented as binary figures in a series of ways: aristocratic and lower class, youthful and mature, single and married, fair and dark, religious and agnostic…she is also deeply conventional, absurdly wishing to conceal their marriage until Swithin has achieved social status through his scientific work, which gives rise to uncontrolled ironies and tragic-comic misunderstandings (Harvey 108). ”

Hardy’s stories take into consideration the events of life and their effects. Fate plays a significant role as the thematic basis for many of his novels. Characters are constantly encountering crossroads, which are symbolic of a point of opportunity and transition. Far From the Madding Crowd tells a tale of lives that are constructed by chance. “Had Bathsheba not sent the valentine, had Fanny not missed her wedding, for example, the story would have taken an entirely different path.” Once things have been put into motion, they will play out. Hardy's characters are in the grips of an overwhelming fate.

Hardy paints a vivid picture of rural life in the 19th century, with all its joys and suffering, as a fatalistic world full of superstition and injustice. His heroes and heroines are often alienated from society and are rarely readmitted. He tends to emphasise the impersonal and, generally, negative powers of fate over the mainly working class people he represents in his novels. Hardy exhibits in his books elemental passion, deep instinct, and the human will struggling against fatal and ill-comprehended laws, a victim also of unforeseeable change. Tess of the d'Urbervilles, for example, ends with:
“ Justice was done, and the President of the Immortals, in Æschylean phrase, had ended his sport with Tess. And the d'Urberville knights and dames slept on in their tombs unknowing. The two speechless gazers bent themselves down to the earth, as if in prayer, and remained thus a long time, absolutely motionless: the flag continued to wave silently. As soon as they had strength they arose, joined hands again, and went on. ”

In particular, Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure is full of the sense of crisis of the later Victorian period (as witnessed in Matthew Arnold's 'Dover Beach'). It describes the tragedy of two new social types, Jude Fawley, a working man who attempts to educate himself, and his lover and cousin, Sue Bridehead, who represents the 'new woman' of the 1890s.

His mastery, as both an author and poet, lies in the creation of natural surroundings making discoveries through close observation and acute sensitiveness. He notices the smallest and most delicate details, yet he can also paint vast landscapes of his own Wessex in melancholy or noble moods. (His eye for poignant detail — such as the spreading bloodstain on the ceiling at the end of Tess of the d'Urbervilles and little Jude's suicide note — often came from clippings from newspaper reports of real events).
Poetry

    For the full text of several poems, see the External links section

In 1898 Hardy published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, a collection of poems written over 30 years. Hardy claimed poetry as his first love, and published collections until his death in 1928. Although not as well received by his contemporaries as his novels, Hardy's poetry has been applauded considerably in recent years, in part because of the influence on Philip Larkin who included many of Hardy's poems in the edition of the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse that Larkin edited in 1973.

In a recent biography on Hardy, Claire Tomalin argues that Hardy became a truly great English poet after the death of his first wife, Emma, beginning with the elegies he wrote in her memory, calling these poems, "one of the finest and strangest celebrations of the dead in English poetry."

Most of his poems deal with themes of disappointment in love and life, and mankind's long struggle against indifference to human suffering. Some, like "The Darkling Thrush" and "An August Midnight", appear as poems about writing poetry, because the nature mentioned in them gives Hardy the inspiration to write those. A vein of regret tinges his often seemingly banal themes. His compositions range in style from the three-volume epic closet drama The Dynasts to smaller, and often hopeful or even cheerful ballads of the moment such as the little-known "The Children and Sir Nameless", a comic poem inspired by the tombs of the Martyns, builders of Athelhampton. A particularly strong theme in the Wessex Poems is the long shadow that the Napoleonic Wars cast over the nineteenth century, for example, in "The Sergeant's Song" and "Leipzig", and the way those memories wind through the English landscape and its inhabitants.

A few of Hardy's poems, such as "The Blinded Bird" (a melancholy polemic against the sport of vinkenzetting), display his love of the natural world and his firm stance against animal cruelty, exhibited in his antivivisectionist views and his membership in the RSPCA.

Composers who have set Hardy's text to music include Gerald Finzi, who produced six song-cycles for poems by Hardy, Benjamin Britten, who based his song-cycle Winter Words on Hardy's poetry, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. Holst also based one of his last orchestral works, Egdon Heath, on Hardy's work. Composer Lee Hoiby's setting of "The Darkling Thrush" became the basis of the multimedia opera Darkling and Timothy Takach, a graduate of St. Olaf, has also put "The Darkling Thrush" into arrangement for a four-part mixed choir.
Works
Prose

Hardy divided his novels and collected short stories into three classes:

Novels of Character and Environment

    * The Poor Man and the Lady (1867, unpublished and lost)
    * Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)
    * Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
    * The Return of the Native (1878)
    * The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
    * The Woodlanders (1887)
    * Wessex Tales (1888, a collection of short stories)
    * Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)
    * Life's Little Ironies (1894, a collection of short stories)
    * Jude the Obscure (1895)

Romances and Fantasies

    * A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)
    * The Trumpet-Major (1880)
    * Two on a Tower (1882)
    * A Group of Noble Dames (1891, a collection of short stories)
    * The Well-Beloved (1897) (first published as a serial from 1892)

Novels of Ingenuity

    * Desperate Remedies (1871)
    * The Hand of Ethelberta (1876)
    * A Laodicean (1881)

Hardy also produced a number of minor tales and a collaborative novel, The Spectre of the Real (1894). An additional short-story collection, beyond the ones mentioned above, is A Changed Man and Other Tales (1913). His works have been collected as the 24-volume Wessex Edition (1912–1913) and the 37-volume Mellstock Edition (1919–1920). His largely self-written biography appears under his second wife's name in two volumes from 1928–1930, as The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1840–1891 and The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, 1892–1928, now published in a critical one-volume edition as The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy, edited by Michael Millgate (1984).

Short stories (with date of first publication)

    * "How I Built Myself A House" (1865)
    * "Destiny and a Blue Cloak" (1874)
    * "The Thieves Who Couldn't Stop Sneezing" (1877)
    * "The Duchess of Hamptonshire" (1878)
    * "The Distracted Preacher" (1879)
    * "Fellow-Townsmen" (1880)
    * "The Honourable Laura" (1881)
    * "What The Shepherd Saw" (1881)
    * "A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four" (1882)
    * "The Three Strangers" (1883)
    * "The Romantic Adventures Of A Milkmaid" (1883)
    * "Interlopers At The Knap" (1884)
    * "A Mere Interlude" (1885) (republished in Penguin Great Loves series)
    * "A Tryst At An Ancient Earthwork" (1885)
    * "Alicia's Diary" (1887)
    * "The Waiting Supper" (1887-88)
    * "The Withered Arm" (1888)
    * "A Tragedy Of Two Ambitions" (1888)
    * "The First Countess of Wessex" (1889)
    * "Anna, Lady Baxby" (1890)
    * "The Lady Icenway" (1890)
    * "Lady Mottisfont" (1890)
    * "The Lady Penelope" (1890)
    * "The Marchioness of Stonehenge" (1890)
    * "Squire Petrick's Lady" (1890)
    * "Barbara Of The House Of Grebe" (1890)
    * "The Melancholy Hussar of The German Legion" (1890)
    * "Absent-Mindedness in a Parish Choir" (1891)



    * "The Winters And The Palmleys" (1891)
    * "For Conscience' Sake" (1891)
    * "Incident in Mr. Crookhill's Life"(1891)
    * "The Doctor's Legend" (1891)
    * "Andrey Satchel and the Parson and Clerk" (1891)
    * "The History of the Hardcomes" (1891)
    * "Netty Sargent's Copyhold" (1891)
    * "On The Western Circuit" (1891)
    * "A Few Crusted Characters: Introduction" (1891)
    * "The Superstitious Man's Story" (1891)
    * "Tony Kytes, the Arch-Deceiver" (1891)
    * "To Please His Wife" (1891)
    * "The Son's Veto" (1891)
    * "Old Andrey's Experience as a Musician" (1891)
    * "Our Exploits At West Poley" (1892-93)
    * "Master John Horseleigh, Knight" (1893)
    * "The Fiddler of the Reels" (1893)
    * "An Imaginative Woman" (1894)
    * "The Spectre of the Real" (1894)
    * "A Committee-Man of 'The Terror'" (1896)
    * "The Duke's Reappearance" (1896)
    * "The Grave By The Handpost" (1897)
    * "A Changed Man" (1900)
    * "Enter a Dragoon" (1900)
    * "Blue Jimmy: The Horse Stealer" (1911)
    * "Old Mrs. Chundle" (1929)
    * "The Unconquerable"(1992)

Poetry

    * The Photograph (1890)
    * Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898)
    * Poems of the Past and Present (1901)
    * The Man He Killed (1902)
    * Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses (1909)
    * The Voice (1912)
    * Satires of Circumstance (1914)
    * Moments of Vision (1917)
    * Collected Poems (1919)
    * Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses (1922)
    * Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs and Trifles (1925)
    * Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres (1928)
    * The Complete Poems (Macmillan, 1976)
    * Selected Poems (Edited by Harry Thomas, Penguin, 1993)
    * Hardy: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets, 1995)
    * Thomas Hardy: Selected Poetry and Nonfictional Prose (St. Martin's Press, 1996)
    * Selected Poems (Edited by Robert Mezey, Penguin, 1998)
    * Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems (Edited by James Gibson, Palgrave, 2001)

Drama

    * The Dynasts (verse drama)
          o The Dynasts, Part 1 (1904)
          o The Dynasts, Part 2 (1906)
          o The Dynasts, Part 3 (1908)
    * The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse (1923) (one-act play)

http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq291/whaskins/cr_hardy.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq251/getbeethoven/Academic/thomashardy.jpg
http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt204/tokinpisces85/1911hardypic.jpg
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/DaveGAwork/HardyWithDog2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/11/10 at 5:41 am

Don't forget The toothpaste Crest. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/11/10 at 6:23 am

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qzd9HIsRWeA/RwpmilbEugI/AAAAAAAABfY/P-eden9-rY8/s400/Rod+Taylor.jpghttp://www.richardsimpkin.com.au/Australian-Legends/ROD-TAYLOR.jpg
Rod Taylor then and Rod Taylor now. It's amazing how much he's changed in appearance. I know he's older now but some actors like Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery are still recognizable in their senior years. I would never have known the third pic was Taylor had I came accross it by accident. Nice Bio on Taylor, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 11:36 am


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qzd9HIsRWeA/RwpmilbEugI/AAAAAAAABfY/P-eden9-rY8/s400/Rod+Taylor.jpghttp://www.richardsimpkin.com.au/Australian-Legends/ROD-TAYLOR.jpg
Rod Taylor then and Rod Taylor now. It's amazing how much he's changed in appearance. I know he's older now but some actors like Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery are still recognizable in their senior years. I would never have known the third pic was Taylor had I came accross it by accident. Nice Bio on Taylor, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the pics Vinny, I was looking for a pic of him that was current. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/11/10 at 12:23 pm


Thanks for the pics Vinny, I was looking for a pic of him that was current. :)

My pleasure.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/11/10 at 3:03 pm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Crest_toothpaste.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/10 at 4:50 pm


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Crest_toothpaste.jpg

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/10 at 4:52 am

The word of the day...Imposter
Someone who is an impostor is dishonestly pretending to be someone else in order to gain an advantage
http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv307/LolcatzFunneiz/imposter.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s73/groggs/imposter.jpg
http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo302/Chandeliergirl/Imposter.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t138/dreamonsj/imposter.jpg
http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww199/jovanwhitemusk/desiger.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/marimoobear/PLUS0124.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp349/danydoo25/Imposter_Thumbnail.gif
http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr192/monkfish_2009/7263885.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/10 at 4:56 am

The birthday of the day...Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American stage, film, and television actor.
Platt makes his decisions about accepting acting roles based on the role being "different from what I just did...I do have to be interested in the role". After Married to the Mob, he appeared in Working Girl (1988), Flatliners (1990), The Three Musketeers (1993), A Time to Kill (1996) and Bulworth (1998). In 1998, Platt and Stanley Tucci played two deadbeat actors who improvise with unsuspecting strangers in The Impostors. Tucci and Platt developed the characters while working on a play at Yale University in 1988, Tucci later completing the screenplay and directing the film.

In 1999, Platt played the wealthy and eccentric crocodile enthusiast Hector in David E. Kelley's Lake Placid, alongside Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda. Platt described Hector as "pretty abrasive and obnoxious at times, but, I hope, he has a way of growing on you. I think David originally thought of him as a great white hunter sort of guy, but when I signed on for the role he sort of wrote him in a different direction."

The short-lived drama Deadline provided Platt's first lead role on television. Created by Dick Wolf, who also created Law & Order, Deadline focused on the lives of newspaper journalists in New York City. Platt starred as Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Wallace Benton, an "unlikely hero". The strong cast, which also included Bebe Neuwirth and Hope Davis, could not compensate for sub-standard writing and the series was soon canceled. After Deadline's failure, Platt avoided work on television until he read a script for The West Wing and signed on for a guest role. He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of no-nonsense White House Counsel Oliver Babish, brought in during season two to compile a defense for President Bartlet and others who covered up his non-disclosure of multiple sclerosis.

His role in the television series Huff as Russell Tupper from 2004 to 2006 was well-received, especially by creator Robert Lowry, who said, "Oliver plays an alcoholic, drug-addicted, sexaholic, workaholic, womanizing misogynist who is adorable. I don't know any actor who could do that. I originally saw Russell as a blond stud, but when I saw what Oliver could do, I realized how much better, richer, and less predictable he was than my idea of the character...Oliver is very committed to the idea that story and dialogue be character-driven and unique". Platt's work was nominated for two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.

In 2005, Platt acted in Harold Ramis's film The Ice Harvest as an unhappy businessman with a trophy wife and two stepchildren who becomes involved with a friend who has stolen $2 million from a Mafia boss. He also played a lard merchant named Papprizzio in Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova, who competes with Casanova (Heath Ledger) for marriage to Francesca (Sienna Miller). Platt won the New York Film Critics Online Award for best supporting actor for his role in Casanova.
Oliver Platt greets fans outside the Nederlander Theatre in Manhattan after a performance of Guys and Dolls on February 21, 2009.

A Broadway production named Shining City was Platt's Broadway debut in 2006. The play was set in Dublin, and Platt's role was the tortured protagonist, John. Shining City's director said, "There is one word to describe Oliver. It's 'humanity.' He's got that everyman quality. He's a contradictory human being with flaws and strengths. And he's loveable. He can simultaneously make you laugh and break your heart. Oliver has brought to the role of John what I expected and more: tremendous inventiveness and sensitivity." Platt visited Dublin to prepare for the role and ensure his performance was authentic. He was nominated for a Tony award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play".

In 2007, Platt played the part of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning. Platt signed onto the project after John Turturro was confirmed as Billy Martin, because, "This thing lives or dies by that portrayal… I think it's great casting. God knows he has the intensity." Platt starred in the pilot episode of The Thick of It, a remake of the British show of the same name in 2007. The series was not picked up by ABC.

Platt recently starred as Nathan Detroit, alongside Lauren Graham as Miss Adelaide, in the Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls which began performances at the Nederlander Theatre on February 3, 2009 and officially opened on March 1, 2009. The production closed on June 14, 2009 after 113 performances.

Platt starred as the White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser in Roland Emmerich's 2012, a disaster film released November 13, 2009.
Personal life

Platt married Mary Camilla Bonsal Campbell (known as Camilla) in September 1992 at the First Congregational Church in Kittery Point, Maine. He now focuses on film and television more than theater because, "I've got a wife and three kids, so film is just the most viable thing for me right now. I still love the theater, but the commitment in time and energy to do live theater is so great, and, frankly, the financial rewards are just not as attractive. When you have a family, you have to think about those things." One of Platt's daughters is named Lily, and is fourteen. Platt has an open plane ticket when filming so he can return home frequently, because his family does not accompany him to filming locations.

Tufts University considered offering their Light on the Hill award to Platt in 2008, which is given to distinguished alumni. Tufts Community Union President Neil DiBiase said Platt was unable to make it to Tufts that semester, and they "would rather wait to find a better opportunity for him to come to campus when his schedule is more available. The point of the award is to get alumni back to campus." The 2008 award was instead given to Jeff Kindler, chief executive of pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Oliver's older brother Adam is a restaurant critic for New York Magazine. Both attended the American School in Japan.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Married to the Mob Ed Benitez
Working Girl Lutz
1989 Crusoe Mr. Newby
1990 Flatliners Randy Steckle
1992 Beethoven Harvey
Diggstown Fitz
1993 Indecent Proposal Jeremy
The Three Musketeers Porthos
Benny & Joon Eric
1995 Funny Bones Tommy Fawkes
Tall Tale Paul Bunyan
The Infiltrator Yaron
1996 Executive Decision Dennis Cahill
A Time to Kill Harry Rex Vonner
1998 Dangerous Beauty Maffio Venier
Bulworth Dennis Murphy
The Impostors Maurice
Dr. Dolittle Dr. Mark Weller
Simon Birch Ben Goodrich
1999 Lake Placid Hector Cyr
Three to Tango Peter Steinberg
Bicentennial Man Rupert Burns
2000 Ready to Rumble Jimmy King
Gun Shy Fulvio Nesstra
2001 Don't Say a Word Dr. Louis Sachs
2002 Liberty Stands Still Victor Wallace
Ash Wednesday Moran
2003 Pieces of April Jim Burns
Hope Springs Doug Reed
2004 Kinsey Herman Wells
2005 The Ice Harvest Pete
Casanova Paprizzio
2007 The Ten Marc Jacobson
Martian Child Jeff
2008 Frost/Nixon Bob Zelnick Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009 Wonder Woman Hades Voice Only
Year One High Priest
Please Give TBA
2012 Carl Anheuser
Television
Year Show Role Notes
2000—2001 Deadline Wallace Benton
2001, 2005 The West Wing White House Counsel Oliver Babish Emmy nomination: "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" (2001)
2003—2007 Queens Supreme Judge Jack Moran
2004—2006 Huff Russell Tupper Emmy nominations: "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" (2005 and 2006),
Golden Globe nomination: "Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television" (2005)
2007 The Thick of It Malcolm Tucker TV pilot
The Bronx Is Burning George Steinbrenner Screen Actors Guild Award nomination: "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries" (2008)
2007—2008 Nip/Tuck Freddy Prune Emmy nomination: "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" (2008)
2009 Bored to Death Richard Antrem
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/LouisXIV/cinema/Modern%20Character%20Actors/Platt.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/Picky_Bing/oliver_platt.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/misserjean/oliver_platt_three_to_tango_001.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f302/Winlailye/OliverPlattSilasHawkins.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/10 at 5:01 am

The person of the day...Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly those featuring detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.

Christie has been referred to by the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling writer of books of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind, along with William Shakespeare. Only the Bible is known to have outsold her collected sales of roughly four billion copies of novels. UNESCO states that she is currently the most translated individual author in the world with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Christie's books have been translated into at least 56 languages.

Her stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run in the world: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2009 is still running after more than 23,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled "The Incident of the Dog's Ball" was found in the attic of the author's daughter. It was published in Britain in September 2009. On November 10, 2009, Reuters announced that the story will be published by The Strand Magazine
Agatha Christie's first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920 and introduced the long-running character detective Hercule Poirot, who appeared in 33 of Christie's novels and 54 short stories.

Her other well known character, Miss Marple, was introduced in The Tuesday Night Club in 1927 (short story), and was based on women like Christie's grandmother and her "cronies".

During the Second World War, Christie wrote two novels, Curtain and Sleeping Murder, intended as the last cases of these two great detectives, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, respectively. Both books were sealed in a bank vault for over thirty years, and were released for publication by Christie only at the end of her life, when she realized that she could not write any more novels. These publications came on the heels of the success of the film version of Murder on the Orient Express in 1974.

Like Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes, Christie was to become increasingly tired of her detective, Poirot. In fact, by the end of the 1930s, Christie confided to her diary that she was finding Poirot “insufferable," and by the 1960s she felt that he was "an ego-centric creep." However, unlike Conan Doyle, Christie resisted the temptation to kill her detective off while he was still popular. She saw herself as an entertainer whose job was to produce what the public liked, and the public liked Poirot.

In contrast, Christie was fond of Miss Marple. However, it is interesting to note that the Belgian detective’s titles outnumber the Marple titles by more than two to one. This is largely because Christie wrote numerous Poirot novels early in her career, while The Murder at the Vicarage remained the sole Marple novel until the 1940s.

Christie never wrote a novel or short story featuring both Poirot and Miss Marple. In a recording, recently re-discovered and released in 2008, Christie revealed the reason for this: "Hercule Poirot, a complete egoist, would not like being taught his business or having suggestions made to him by an elderly spinster lady".

Poirot is the only fictional character to have been given an obituary in The New York Times, following the publication of Curtain in 1975.

Following the great success of Curtain, Christie gave permission for the release of Sleeping Murder sometime in 1976, but died in January 1976 before the book could be released. This may explain some of the inconsistencies compared to the rest of the Marple series — for example, Colonel Arthur Bantry, husband of Miss Marple's friend, Dolly, is still alive and well in Sleeping Murder despite the fact he is noted as having died in books published earlier. It may be that Christie simply did not have time to revise the manuscript before she died. Miss Marple fared better than Poirot, since after solving the mystery in Sleeping Murder she returns home to her regular life in St. Mary Mead.

On an edition of Desert Island Discs in 2007, Brian Aldiss claimed that Agatha Christie told him that she wrote her books up to the last chapter, and then decided who the most unlikely suspect was. She would then go back and make the necessary changes to "frame" that person. The evidence of Christie's working methods, as described by successive biographers, contradicts this claim.
Formula and plot devices

Almost all of Agatha Christie’s books are whodunits, focusing on the English middle and upper classes. Usually, the detective either stumbles across the murder or is called upon by an old acquaintance, who is somehow involved. Gradually, the detective interrogates each suspect, examines the scene of the crime and makes a note of each clue, so readers can analyze it and be allowed a fair chance of solving the mystery themselves. Then, about halfway through, or sometimes even during the final act, one of the suspects usually dies, often because they have inadvertently deduced the killer's identity and need silencing. In a few of her novels, including Death Comes as the End and And Then There Were None, there are multiple victims. Finally, the detective organizes a meeting of all the suspects and slowly denounces the guilty party, exposing several unrelated secrets along the way, sometimes over the course of thirty or so pages. The murders are often extremely ingenious, involving some convoluted piece of deception. Christie’s stories are also known for their taut atmosphere and strong psychological suspense, developed from the deliberately slow pace of her prose.

Twice, the murderer surprisingly turns out to be the narrator of the story.

In four stories, Christie allows the murderer to escape justice (and in the case of the last three, implicitly almost approves of their crimes); these are The Witness for the Prosecution, Murder on the Orient Express, Curtain and The Unexpected Guest. After the dénouement of Taken at the Flood, her sleuth Poirot has the guilty party arrested for the lesser crime of manslaughter. (When Christie adapted Witness into a stage play, she lengthened the ending so that the murderer was also killed.) There are also numerous instances where the killer is not brought to justice in the legal sense but instead dies (death usually being presented as a more 'sympathetic' outcome), for example Death on the Nile, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked House, Appointment with Death and The Hollow. In some cases this is with the collusion of the detective involved. Five Little Pigs, and arguably Ordeal by Innocence, end with the question of whether formal justice will be done unresolved.
Critical reception

Agatha Christie was revered as a master of suspense, plotting, and characterization by most of her contemporaries and, even today, her stories have received glowing reviews in most literary circles. Fellow crime writer Anthony Berkeley Cox was an admitted fan of her work, once saying that nobody can write an Agatha Christie novel but the authoress herself.

However, she does have her detractors, most notably the American novelist Raymond Chandler, who criticised her in his book, The Simple Art of Murder, and the American literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was dismissive of Christie and the detective fiction genre generally in his New Yorker essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".
Stereotyping

Christie occasionally inserted stereotyped descriptions of characters into her work, particularly before the end of the Second World War (when such attitudes were more commonly expressed publicly), and particularly in regard to Italians, Jews, and non-Europeans generally. For example, in the first editions of the collection The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930), in the short story "The Soul of the Croupier," she described "Hebraic men with hook-noses wearing rather flamboyant jewellery"; in later editions the passage was edited to describe "sallow men" wearing same.
Portrayals

Christie has been portrayed on a number of occasions in film and television.

Several biographical programs have been made, such as the 2004 BBC television program entitled Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures, in which she is portrayed by Olivia Williams, Anna Massey, and Bonnie Wright.

Christie has also been portrayed fictionally. Some of these have explored and offered accounts of Christie's disappearance in 1926, including the 1979 film Agatha (with Vanessa Redgrave) and the Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (with Fenella Woolgar). Others, such as 1980 Hungarian film, Kojak Budapesten (not to be confused with the 1986 comedy by the same name) create their own scenarios involving Christie's criminal skill. In the 1986 TV play, Murder by the Book, Christie herself (Peggy Ashcroft) murdered one of her fictional-turned-real characters, Poirot.

Christie has also been parodied on screen, such as in the film Murder by Indecision, which featured the character "Agatha Crispy".
List of works

See List of works by Agatha Christie
Other works based on Christie's books and plays
Plays adapted into novels by Charles Osborne

    * 1998 Black Coffee
    * 1999 The Unexpected Guest
    * 2000 Spider's Web

Plays adapted by other authors

    * 1928 Alibi (dramatized by Michael Morton from the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd)
    * 1936 Love from a Stranger (play) (dramatized by Frank Vosper from the short story Philomel Cottage)
    * 1939 Tea for Three (dramatized by Margery Vosper from the short story Accident)
    * 1940 Peril at End House (dramatized from her novel by Arnold Ridley)
    * 1949 Murder at the Vicarage (dramatized from the novel by Moie Charles and Barbara Toy)
    * 1977 Murder at the Vicarage (dramatized from the novel by Leslie Darbon)
    * 1981 Cards on the Table (dramatized from the novel by Leslie Darbon)
    * 1993 Murder is Easy (dramatized from the novel by Clive Exton)
    * 2005 And Then There Were None (dramatized from the novel by Kevin Elyot)

Movie Adaptations
Year Title Story Based On Other Notes
1928 "The Passing Of Mr. Quin" The Coming of Mr. Quin First Christie film adaptation.
1929 "Die Abenteurer G.m.b.H." The Secret Adversary First Christie foreign film adaptation. German adaptation of The Secret Adversary
1931 "Alibi" The stage play Alibi and the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd First Christie film adaptation to feature Hercule Poirot.
1931 "Black Coffee" Black Coffee None.
1932 "Le Coffret de Laque" Black Coffee French adaptation of Black Coffee.
1934 "Lord Edgware Dies" Lord Edgware Dies None.
1937 "Love from a Stranger" The stage play Love from a Stranger and the short story Philomel Cottage Released in the US as A Night of Terror.
1945 "And Then There Were None" The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None First Christie film adaptation of And Then There Were None.
1947 "Love from a Stranger" The stage play Love from a Stranger and the short story Philomel Cottage Released in the UK as A Stranger Walked In.
1957 "Witness for the Prosecution" The stage play Witness for the Prosecution and the short story The Witness for the Prosecution None.
1960 "The Spider's Web" Spider's Web None.
1961 "Murder, She Said" 4.50 From Paddington First Christie film adaptation to feature Miss Marple.
1963 "Murder at the Gallop" After the Funeral None.
1964 "Murder Most Foul" Mrs. McGinty's Dead None.
1964 "Murder Ahoy!" None An original movie not based on any book, although it borrows some elements of They Do It With Mirrors.
1965 "Gumnaam" And Then There Were None Uncredited adaptation of And Then There Were None.
1965 "Ten Little Indians" The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None None.
1965 "The Alphabet Murders" The A.B.C. Murders None.
1972 "Endless Night" Endless Night None.
1974 "Murder on the Orient Express" Murder on the Orient Express None.
1974 "And Then There Were None" The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None Released in the US as Ten Little Indians.
1978 "Death on the Nile" The stage play Murder on the Nile and the novel Death on the Nile None.
1980 "The Mirror Crack'd" The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side None.
1982 "Evil Under the Sun" Evil Under the Sun None.
1985 "Ordeal by Innocence" Ordeal by Innocence None.
1987 "Desyat Negrityat" The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None Russian film adaptation of And Then There Were None.
1988 "Appointment With Death" The stage play Appointment with Death and the novel Appointment with Death None.
1989 "Ten Little Indians" The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None None.
1995 "Innocent Lies" Towards Zero None.
2005 "Mon petit doigt m'a dit..." By the Pricking of My Thumbs French adaptation of By the Pricking of My Thumbs.
2007 "L'Heure zéro" Towards Zero French adaptation of Towards Zero.
2008 "Le crime est notre affaire" 4.50 From Paddington French adaptation of 4.50 From Paddington

v • d • e
Miss Marple Murder films
Films
Murder, She Said  · Murder at the Gallop  · Murder Most Foul  · Murder Ahoy!  · The Alphabet Murders
Novels
4.50 from Paddington  · After the Funeral  · Mrs. McGinty's Dead
Television Adaptations

    * 1938 Love from a Stranger (TV) (Based on the stage play of the same name from the short story Philomel Cottage)
    * 1947 Love from a Stranger (TV)
    * 1949 Ten Little Indians
    * 1959 Ten Little Indians
    * 1970 The Murder at the Vicarage
    * 1980 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
    * 1982 Spider's Web (TV)
    * 1982 The Seven Dials Mystery
    * 1982 The Agatha Christie Hour
    * 1982 Murder is Easy
    * 1982 The Witness for the Prosecution
    * 1983 The Secret Adversary
    * 1983 Partners in Crime
    * 1983 A Caribbean Mystery
    * 1983 Sparkling Cyanide
    * 1984 The Body in the Library
    * 1985 Murder with Mirrors
    * 1985 The Moving Finger
    * 1985 A Murder is Announced
    * 1985 A Pocket Full of Rye
    * 1985 Thirteen at Dinner
    * 1986 Dead Man's Folly
    * 1986 Murder in Three Acts
    * 1986 The Murder at the Vicarage
    * 1987 Sleeping Murder
    * 1987 At Bertram's Hotel
    * 1987 Nemesis
    * 1987 4.50 from Paddington
    * 1989 The Man in the Brown Suit
    * 1989 A Caribbean Mystery
    * 1991 They Do It with Mirrors
    * 1992 The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
    * 1997 The Pale Horse
    * 2001 Murder on the Orient Express
    * 2003 Sparkling Cyanide'
    * 2004 The Body in the Library
    * 2004 The Murder at the Vicarage
    * 2004 4.50 from Paddington
    * 2005 A Murder is Announced
    * 2005 Sleeping Murder
    * 2006 The Moving Finger
    * 2006 By the Pricking of My Thumbs
    * 2006 The Sittaford Mystery
    * 2007 Hercule Poirot's Christmas (A French film adaptation)
    * 2007 Towards Zero
    * 2007 Nemesis
    * 2007 At Bertram's Hotel
    * 2007 Ordeal by Innocence
    * 2008 A Pocket Full of Rye
    * 2008 Murder Is Easy
    * 2008 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
    * 2008 They Do It with Mirrors
    * 2009 The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

Agatha Christie's Poirot television series

Episodes include:

    * 1990 Peril at End House
    * 1990 The Mysterious Affair at Styles
    * 1994 Hercule Poirot's Christmas
    * 1995 Murder on the Links
    * 1995 Hickory Dickory Dock
    * 1996 Dumb Witness
    * 2000 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
    * 2000 Lord Edgware Dies
    * 2001 Evil Under the Sun
    * 2001 Murder in Mesopotamia
    * 2004 Five Little Pigs
    * 2004 Death on the Nile
    * 2004 Sad Cypress
    * 2004 The Hollow
    * 2005 The Mystery of the Blue Train
    * 2005 Cards on the Table
    * 2005 After the Funeral
    * 2006 Taken at the Flood
    * 2008 Mrs. McGinty's Dead
    * 2008 Cat Among the Pigeons
    * 2008 Third Girl
    * 2008 Appointment with Death
    * 2009 The Clocks
    * 2009 Three Act Tragedy

Graphic novels

Euro Comics India began issuing a series of graphic novel adaptations of Christie's work in 2007.

    * 2007 The Murder on the Links Adapted by François Rivière, Illustrated by Marc Piskic
    * 2007 Murder on the Orient Express Adapted by François Rivière, Illustrated by Solidor (Jean-François Miniac).
    * 2007 Death on the Nile Adapted by Francois Riviere, Illustrated by Solidor (Jean-François Miniac)
    * 2007 The Secret of Chimneys Adapted by François Rivière, Illustrated by Laurence Suhner
    * 2007 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Adapted and illustrated by Bruno Lachard
    * 2007 The Mystery of the Blue Train Adapted and illustrated by Marc Piskic
    * 2007 The Man in the Brown Suit Adapted and illustrated by Alain Paillou
    * 2007 The Big Four Adapted by Hichot and illustrated by Bairi
    * 2007 The Secret Adversary Adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq
    * 2007 The Murder at the Vicarage Adapted and illustrated by "Norma"
    * 2007 Murder in Mesopotamia Adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Chandre
    * 2007 And Then There Were None Adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq
    * 2007 Endless Night Adapted by Francois Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq
    * 2008 Ordeal by Innocence Adapted and illustrated by Chandre
    * 2008 Hallowe'en Party Adapted and illustrated by Chandre

HarperCollins independently began issuing this series also in 2007.

In addition to the titles issued the following titles are also planned for release:

    * 2008 Peril at End House Adapted by Thierry Jollet and illustrated by Didier Quella-Guyot
    * 2009 Dumb Witness Adapted and illustrated by "Marek"

Video games

    * 1988 The Scoop (published by Spinnaker Software and Telarium) (PC)
    * 2005 Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (PC and Wii in 2008).
    * 2006 Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express (PC and Wii in 2009)
    * 2007 Agathe Christie: Death on the Nile (I-Spy" hidden-object game) (PC)
    * 2007 Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun (PC and Wii in 2008)
    * 2008 Agatha Christie: Peril at End House (I-Spy" hidden-object game)
    * 2009 Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders (DS)
    * 2009 Agatha Christie: Dead Man's Folly (PC)

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb286/regocijos/agatha_christie.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg75/krattsbratz/Agatha_christie.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/bsicula/agatha_christie_80.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/NewKuato/agathaperiodico.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/12/10 at 6:43 am


The birthday of the day...Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American stage, film, and television actor.
Platt makes his decisions about accepting acting roles based on the role being "different from what I just did...I do have to be interested in the role". After Married to the Mob, he appeared in Working Girl (1988), Flatliners (1990), The Three Musketeers (1993), A Time to Kill (1996) and Bulworth (1998). In 1998, Platt and Stanley Tucci played two deadbeat actors who improvise with unsuspecting strangers in The Impostors. Tucci and Platt developed the characters while working on a play at Yale University in 1988, Tucci later completing the screenplay and directing the film.

In 1999, Platt played the wealthy and eccentric crocodile enthusiast Hector in David E. Kelley's Lake Placid, alongside Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda. Platt described Hector as "pretty abrasive and obnoxious at times, but, I hope, he has a way of growing on you. I think David originally thought of him as a great white hunter sort of guy, but when I signed on for the role he sort of wrote him in a different direction."

The short-lived drama Deadline provided Platt's first lead role on television. Created by Dick Wolf, who also created Law & Order, Deadline focused on the lives of newspaper journalists in New York City. Platt starred as Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Wallace Benton, an "unlikely hero". The strong cast, which also included Bebe Neuwirth and Hope Davis, could not compensate for sub-standard writing and the series was soon canceled. After Deadline's failure, Platt avoided work on television until he read a script for The West Wing and signed on for a guest role. He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of no-nonsense White House Counsel Oliver Babish, brought in during season two to compile a defense for President Bartlet and others who covered up his non-disclosure of multiple sclerosis.

His role in the television series Huff as Russell Tupper from 2004 to 2006 was well-received, especially by creator Robert Lowry, who said, "Oliver plays an alcoholic, drug-addicted, sexaholic, workaholic, womanizing misogynist who is adorable. I don't know any actor who could do that. I originally saw Russell as a blond stud, but when I saw what Oliver could do, I realized how much better, richer, and less predictable he was than my idea of the character...Oliver is very committed to the idea that story and dialogue be character-driven and unique". Platt's work was nominated for two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.

In 2005, Platt acted in Harold Ramis's film The Ice Harvest as an unhappy businessman with a trophy wife and two stepchildren who becomes involved with a friend who has stolen $2 million from a Mafia boss. He also played a lard merchant named Papprizzio in Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova, who competes with Casanova (Heath Ledger) for marriage to Francesca (Sienna Miller). Platt won the New York Film Critics Online Award for best supporting actor for his role in Casanova.
Oliver Platt greets fans outside the Nederlander Theatre in Manhattan after a performance of Guys and Dolls on February 21, 2009.

A Broadway production named Shining City was Platt's Broadway debut in 2006. The play was set in Dublin, and Platt's role was the tortured protagonist, John. Shining City's director said, "There is one word to describe Oliver. It's 'humanity.' He's got that everyman quality. He's a contradictory human being with flaws and strengths. And he's loveable. He can simultaneously make you laugh and break your heart. Oliver has brought to the role of John what I expected and more: tremendous inventiveness and sensitivity." Platt visited Dublin to prepare for the role and ensure his performance was authentic. He was nominated for a Tony award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play".

In 2007, Platt played the part of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning. Platt signed onto the project after John Turturro was confirmed as Billy Martin, because, "This thing lives or dies by that portrayal… I think it's great casting. God knows he has the intensity." Platt starred in the pilot episode of The Thick of It, a remake of the British show of the same name in 2007. The series was not picked up by ABC.

Platt recently starred as Nathan Detroit, alongside Lauren Graham as Miss Adelaide, in the Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls which began performances at the Nederlander Theatre on February 3, 2009 and officially opened on March 1, 2009. The production closed on June 14, 2009 after 113 performances.

Platt starred as the White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser in Roland Emmerich's 2012, a disaster film released November 13, 2009.
Personal life

Platt married Mary Camilla Bonsal Campbell (known as Camilla) in September 1992 at the First Congregational Church in Kittery Point, Maine. He now focuses on film and television more than theater because, "I've got a wife and three kids, so film is just the most viable thing for me right now. I still love the theater, but the commitment in time and energy to do live theater is so great, and, frankly, the financial rewards are just not as attractive. When you have a family, you have to think about those things." One of Platt's daughters is named Lily, and is fourteen. Platt has an open plane ticket when filming so he can return home frequently, because his family does not accompany him to filming locations.

Tufts University considered offering their Light on the Hill award to Platt in 2008, which is given to distinguished alumni. Tufts Community Union President Neil DiBiase said Platt was unable to make it to Tufts that semester, and they "would rather wait to find a better opportunity for him to come to campus when his schedule is more available. The point of the award is to get alumni back to campus." The 2008 award was instead given to Jeff Kindler, chief executive of pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Oliver's older brother Adam is a restaurant critic for New York Magazine. Both attended the American School in Japan.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Married to the Mob Ed Benitez
Working Girl Lutz
1989 Crusoe Mr. Newby
1990 Flatliners Randy Steckle
1992 Beethoven Harvey
Diggstown Fitz
1993 Indecent Proposal Jeremy
The Three Musketeers Porthos
Benny & Joon Eric
1995 Funny Bones Tommy Fawkes
Tall Tale Paul Bunyan
The Infiltrator Yaron
1996 Executive Decision Dennis Cahill
A Time to Kill Harry Rex Vonner
1998 Dangerous Beauty Maffio Venier
Bulworth Dennis Murphy
The Impostors Maurice
Dr. Dolittle Dr. Mark Weller
Simon Birch Ben Goodrich
1999 Lake Placid Hector Cyr
Three to Tango Peter Steinberg
Bicentennial Man Rupert Burns
2000 Ready to Rumble Jimmy King
Gun Shy Fulvio Nesstra
2001 Don't Say a Word Dr. Louis Sachs
2002 Liberty Stands Still Victor Wallace
Ash Wednesday Moran
2003 Pieces of April Jim Burns
Hope Springs Doug Reed
2004 Kinsey Herman Wells
2005 The Ice Harvest Pete
Casanova Paprizzio
2007 The Ten Marc Jacobson
Martian Child Jeff
2008 Frost/Nixon Bob Zelnick Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009 Wonder Woman Hades Voice Only
Year One High Priest
Please Give TBA
2012 Carl Anheuser
Television
Year Show Role Notes
2000—2001 Deadline Wallace Benton
2001, 2005 The West Wing White House Counsel Oliver Babish Emmy nomination: "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" (2001)
2003—2007 Queens Supreme Judge Jack Moran
2004—2006 Huff Russell Tupper Emmy nominations: "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" (2005 and 2006),
Golden Globe nomination: "Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television" (2005)
2007 The Thick of It Malcolm Tucker TV pilot
The Bronx Is Burning George Steinbrenner Screen Actors Guild Award nomination: "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries" (2008)
2007—2008 Nip/Tuck Freddy Prune Emmy nomination: "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" (2008)
2009 Bored to Death Richard Antrem
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/LouisXIV/cinema/Modern%20Character%20Actors/Platt.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/Picky_Bing/oliver_platt.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/misserjean/oliver_platt_three_to_tango_001.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f302/Winlailye/OliverPlattSilasHawkins.jpg


He's a good actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/10 at 9:12 am


He's a good actor.

Yes he is

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/12/10 at 4:57 pm

I have read many Agatha Christie books, both in English and French.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/10 at 6:10 am


I have read many Agatha Christie books, both in English and French.

I've read a few..only in English.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/10 at 6:15 am

The word of the day...Enchanted
    *
      placed under a spell(= magic words that have special powers)
          o
            an enchanted forest/kingdom
    *
      filled with great pleasure formal
          o
            He was enchanted to see her again after so long.
          o
            The children were enchanted with the present.
http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy43/jessluv27/Enchanted-Pool.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z6/luckyjess333/enchanted_flute.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z6/luckyjess333/enchanted-19.jpg
http://i398.photobucket.com/albums/pp65/IchliebeTokioHotel/Love/tumblr_ktuus28Gez1qzsuffo1_500.jpg
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc335/tazdev3225/Disney%202009/878.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q247/Estildis/Best%20of%20the%2080s%20Cartoon%20Characters/gallery_clipart10.gif
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/blingofreda/Let%20it%20snow%202010/050120101104.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t65/nanc_2007/purple%20fairy/enchanted.gif
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t193/Beatrice52_2007/JOSEPHINE%20WALL/enchanted.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/10 at 6:18 am

The birthday of the day...Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor and race car driver, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd ("McDreamy") on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. He has also recently appeared in several films, including Sweet Home Alabama, The Emperor's Club, Freedom Writers, Enchanted and Made of Honor.
Dempsey was discovered by an invitation to audition for a role in the stage production of Torch Song Trilogy. His audition was successful, and he spent the following four months touring with the company in San Francisco. Dempsey also appeared on MTV on a show Overnight Success by Teri DeSario, where he dances and juggles. He followed this with another tour, Brighton Beach Memoirs, in the lead role, which was directed by Gene Saks. Dempsey has also made notable appearances in the stage productions of On Golden Pond, with the Maine Acting Company, and as Timmy (the Martin Sheen role) in a 1991 Off-Broadway revival of The Subject Was Roses co-starring with John Mahoney and Dana Ivey at the Roundabout Theatre in New York.

Dempsey's first major feature film role was at age 21 with Beverly D'Angelo in the movie In The Mood, the real life WW2 story about Ellsworth Wisecarver who had relationships with older married women which created a national uproar. This was followed by the teen comedy Can't Buy Me Love in 1987 with actress Amanda Peterson and Some Girls with Jennifer Connelly in 1988. In 1989, he had the lead role in the film Loverboy with actress Kirstie Alley and Happy Together with actress Helen Slater. Although the teen comedy and romance roles led to Dempsey being somewhat typecast for a time, he was able to avoid playing the same character as his career progressed.
1990s and 2000s
Dempsey presenting Made of Honor in Madrid

Dempsey made a number of featured appearances in television in the 1990s; he was cast several times in pilots that were not picked up for a full season, including lead roles in the TV versions of the films The Player and About A Boy. However he received good reviews as he portrayed real-life mob boss, Meyer Lansky in 1991, when Mobsters was put on the screen. His first major television role was a recurring role as Will's closeted sportscaster boyfriend on Will & Grace. He went on to play the role of Aaron Brooks, Lily & Judy's psychologically unbalanced brother, on Once & Again. Dempsey received an Emmy nomination in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Aaron. In 1993 he was convincing as a young John F. Kennedy in the 2-part TV mini-series JFK: Reckless Youth. In 2004, he co-starred in the highly acclaimed HBO production, Iron Jawed Angels, opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston. He also appeared as special guest star in The Practice for 3 episodes finale season (8x13-8x15), as a married man who murdered his lover.

Dempsey had a high-profile role as one of the suitors for Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. He also had a role as Detective Kincaid on Scream 3. He is expected to return in a possible Scream 4. Dempsey's most recent roles include the 2007 Disney film Enchanted, and the Paramount Pictures film Freedom Writers where he reunites with his Iron Jawed Angels co-star Hilary Swank. He also voiced the character Kenai in Brother Bear 2.

More recently, Dempsey has starred in Made of Honor as Tom.

Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane are bound for the same big-screen project, joining the estimable ensemble for the romantic comedy Valentine's Day. The Garry Marshall-directed film follows five interconnecting stories about Los Angelinos anticipating (or in some cases dreading) the holiday of love.

He has acquired the rights to the prize-winning novel The Art of Racing in the Rain and will produce and star in the screen version. The film will go into production in 2010.
Grey's Anatomy
Main article: Grey's Anatomy

Dempsey has received significant public attention for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to landing the role of Derek Shepherd, Dempsey auditioned for the role of Dr. Gregory House on another medical show, House. Initially a midseason replacement, the show was very well received and has become a highly rated program. Media attention has been focused on Dempsey's character Derek, often referred to as "McDreamy", for his sex appeal, and the character's romance with intern Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo). Also in a one-off episode of Private Practice, playing the same character as in Grey's Anatomy.

Dempsey was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama at the 2007 Golden Globes for the role. In 2006 Dempsey signed a contract with ABC raising his salary to $225,000 per episode. His success on the show has led to him becoming a spokesman for Mazda and a model for Versace. He has also been the spokesman for several recent State Farm advertisements. In November 2008 he launched an Avon fragrance named Unscripted, and due to its success a second fragrance named Patrick Dempsey 2 was launched in November 2009.

Patrick Dempsey has the same birthday as Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes. Dempsey is four years older than Rhimes making his birthday the 13th of January 1966, whilst Rhimes was born on that date in 1970.
Personal Life
Dempsey at the 2008 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona

He has been married twice. In 1987, he married actress and acting coach Rocky Parker, who appeared with Dempsey in the film In the Mood. The couple divorced in 1994.

On July 31, 1999, Dempsey married Delux Beauty founder Jillian Fink. The couple have three children: a daughter, Talula Fyfe, born on February 20, 2002, and twin sons Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick, born on February 1, 2007. The family resides in Los Angeles and also have homes in Maine and Texas.

Dempsey was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 12. As a result, it is necessary for him to memorize all his lines in order to perform, even for auditions where he was unlikely to get the part.
n 1997, Dempsey's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was treated for the disease and had two relapses and had it treated another two times. In response to his mother's bouts with cancer, Dempsey helped start the Patrick Dempsey Center in his home town of Lewiston, Maine. In October of 2009 Dempsey introduced the first Dempsey Challenge, registration was closed after reaching the goal of 3,500 cyclists, runners and walkers. The event raised more than one million dollars for the center and will become an annual event in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine area.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1985 The Stuff Underground Stuff buyer #2
Heaven Help Us Corbet
1986 Meatballs III: Summer Job Rudy
1987 Can't Buy Me Love Ronald Miller Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy
In the Mood Ellsworth 'Sonny' Wisecarver
1988 Some Girls Michael
In a Shallow Grave Daventry Limited release
1989 Loverboy Randy Bodek
Happy Together Christopher Wooden
1990 Coupe de Ville Robert 'Bobby' Libner
1991 Mobsters Meyer Lansky
Run Charlie Farrow
1993 Bank Robber Billy
1994 With Honors Everett Calloway
Ava's Magical Adventure Jeffrey
1995 Outbreak Jimbo Scott
1997 Hugo Pool Floyd Gaylen Limited release
1998 Denial Sam
The Treat Mike Jonathan Gems film
There's No Fish Food in Heaven The Stranger aka Life in the Fast Lane
1999 Me and Will Fast Eddie
2000 Scream 3 Det. Mark Kincaid
2002 Sweet Home Alabama Andrew Hennings (Melanie's fiance)
The Emperor's Club Older Louis Masoudi
2006 Brother Bear 2 Kenai voice only
Shade Paul Parker Short film
2007 Freedom Writers Scott Casey
Enchanted Robert Philip Nominated— MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (with Amy Adams)
2008 Made of Honor Tom Bailey
2010 Valentine's Day Harrison Copeland
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 A Fighting Choice Kellin Taylor TV movie
Fast Times Mike Damone Television series
1989 The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The Plant 1 episode
1990 The General Motors Playwrights Theater 1 episode "Merry Christmas, Baby"
1993 For Better and for Worse Robert Faldo TV movie
JFK: Reckless Youth John F. Kennedy Miniseries
1995 Bloodknot Tom TV movie
1996 The Right to Remain Silent Tom Harris TV movie
A Season in Purgatory Harrison Burns Miniseries
1997 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Pierre Arronax Miniseries
The Escape Clayton TV movie
The Player Griffin Mill TV movie
1998 The Bible: Jeremiah Jeremiah TV movie
Crime and Punishment Rodya Raskolnikov
2000 Will and Grace Matthew 2000-2001 (3 episodes)
2000 Once and Again Aaron Brooks 2000-2002 (4 episodes)
Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2001 Blonde Cass Miniseries
2003 Lucky 7 Peter Connor
Karen Sisco Carl 1 episode
About a Boy Carl TV movie
2004 Iron Jawed Angels Ben Weissman TV movie
The Practice Dr. Paul Stewart 3 episodes
2005 Grey's Anatomy Derek Shepherd 2005-present (110 episodes)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006)
People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2007, 2008)
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006, 2008)
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005)
Nomination - People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2009)
2009 Private Practice Derek Shepherd TV episode ("The Ex-Life")
http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr338/scrubsfan95/0388_l.jpg
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/zenykaaaaa/Movies/76062.jpg
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/zenykaaaaa/Movies/enchanted3.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm106/stephyblueiz/patrick_dempsey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/10 at 6:23 am

The person of the day...James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Along with Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner, Joyce is a key figure in the development of the modernist novel. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922). Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939).

Although most of his adult life was spent outside the country, Joyce's Irish experiences are essential to his writings and provide all of the settings for his fiction and much of their subject matter. In particular, his rocky early relationship with the Irish Catholic Church is reflected by a similar conflict in his character Stephen Dedalus, who appears in two of his novels. His fictional universe is firmly rooted in Dublin and reflects his family life and the events and friends (and enemies) from his school and college days; Ulysses is set with precision in the real streets and alleyways of the city. As the result of the combination of this attention to one place and his voluntary exile in continental Europe, most notably in Paris, Joyce paradoxically became both one of the most cosmopolitan yet most regionally focused of all the English language writers of his time.
Major works
Dubliners
Main article: Dubliners
Title page saying 'DUBLINERS BY JAMES JOYCE', then a colophon, then 'LONDON / GRANT RICHARDS LTD. / PUBLISHERS'.
The title page of the first edition of Dubliners

Joyce's Irish experiences constitute an essential element of his writings, and provide all of the settings for his fiction and much of its subject matter. His early volume of short stories, Dubliners, is a penetrating analysis of the stagnation and paralysis of Dublin society. The stories incorporate epiphanies, a word used particularly by Joyce, by which he meant a sudden consciousness of the "soul" of a thing. The final and most famous story in the collection, "The Dead", was directed by John Huston as his last feature film in 1987.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Main article: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a nearly complete rewrite of the abandoned novel Stephen Hero. Joyce partially destroyed the original manuscript in a fit of rage during an argument with Nora, who asserted that it would never be published. A Künstlerroman, or story of the personal development of an artist, Portrait is a heavily biographical coming-of-age novel in which Joyce depicts a conflicted young man's gradual growth into artistic self-consciousness. The main character, Stephen Dedalus, is in many ways based upon Joyce himself. Some hints of the techniques Joyce frequently employed in later works, such as stream of consciousness, interior monologue, and references to a character's psychic reality rather than to his external surroundings, are evident throughout this novel. Joseph Strick directed a film of the book in 1977 starring Luke Johnston, Bosco Hogan, T.P. McKenna and John Gielgud.
Exiles and poetry
Main articles: Pomes Penyeach and Chamber Music (book)

Despite early interest in the theatre, Joyce published only one play, Exiles, begun shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and published in 1918. A study of a husband and wife relationship, the play looks back to The Dead (the final story in Dubliners) and forward to Ulysses, which Joyce began around the time of the play's composition.

Joyce also published a number of books of poetry. His first mature published work was the satirical broadside "The Holy Office" (1904), in which he proclaimed himself to be the superior of many prominent members of the Celtic revival. His first full-length poetry collection Chamber Music (referring, Joyce explained, to the sound of urine hitting the side of a chamber pot) consisted of 36 short lyrics. This publication led to his inclusion in the Imagist Anthology, edited by Ezra Pound, who was a champion of Joyce's work. Other poetry Joyce published in his lifetime includes "Gas From A Burner" (1912), Pomes Penyeach (1927) and "Ecce Puer" (written in 1932 to mark the birth of his grandson and the recent death of his father). It was published in Collected Poems (1936).
Ulysses
Main article: Ulysses (novel)
Page saying 'ULYSSES by JAMES JOYCE will be published in the Autumn of 1921 by "SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY" — SYLVIA BEACH — 8, RUE DUPUYTREN, PARIS — VIe'
Announcement of the initial publication of Ulysses.

As he was completing work on Dubliners in 1906, Joyce considered adding another story featuring a Jewish advertising canvasser called Leopold Bloom under the title Ulysses. Although he did not pursue the idea further at the time, he eventually commenced work on a novel using both the title and basic premise in 1914. The writing was completed in October, 1921. Three more months were devoted to working on the proofs of the book before Joyce halted work shortly before his self-imposed deadline, his 40th birthday (2 February 1922).

Thanks to Ezra Pound, serial publication of the novel in the magazine The Little Review began in 1918. This magazine was edited by Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap, with the backing of John Quinn, a New York attorney with an interest in contemporary experimental art and literature. Unfortunately, this publication encountered censorship problems in the United States; serialization was halted in 1920 when the editors were convicted of publishing obscenity. The novel was not published in the United States until 1933.

At least partly because of this controversy, Joyce found it difficult to get a publisher to accept the book, but it was published in 1922 by Sylvia Beach from her well-known Rive Gauche bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. An English edition published the same year by Joyce's patron, Harriet Shaw Weaver, ran into further difficulties with the United States authorities, and 500 copies that were shipped to the States were seized and possibly destroyed. The following year, John Rodker produced a print run of 500 more intended to replace the missing copies, but these were burned by English customs at Folkestone. A further consequence of the novel's ambiguous legal status as a banned book was that a number of "bootleg" versions appeared, most notably a number of pirate versions from the publisher Samuel Roth. In 1928, a court injunction against Roth was obtained and he ceased publication.

With the appearance of both Ulysses and T. S. Eliot's poem, The Waste Land, 1922 was a key year in the history of English-language literary modernism. In Ulysses, Joyce employs stream of consciousness, parody, jokes, and virtually every other literary technique to present his characters. The action of the novel, which takes place in a single day, 16 June 1904, sets the characters and incidents of the Odyssey of Homer in modern Dublin and represents Odysseus (Ulysses), Penelope and Telemachus in the characters of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, parodically contrasted with their lofty models. The book explores various areas of Dublin life, dwelling on its squalor and monotony. Nevertheless, the book is also an affectionately detailed study of the city, and Joyce claimed that if Dublin were to be destroyed in some catastrophe it could be rebuilt, brick by brick, using his work as a model. In order to achieve this level of accuracy, Joyce used the 1904 edition of Thom's Directory—a work that listed the owners and/or tenants of every residential and commercial property in the city. He also bombarded friends still living there with requests for information and clarification.

The book consists of 18 chapters, each covering roughly one hour of the day, beginning around 8 a.m. and ending some time after 2 a.m. the following morning. Each chapter employs its own literary style, and parodies a specific episode in Homer's Odyssey. Furthermore, each chapter is associated with a specific colour, art or science, and bodily organ. This combination of kaleidoscopic writing with an extreme formal schematic structure renders the book a major contribution to the development of 20th-century modernist literature. The use of classical mythology as an organizing framework, the near-obsessive focus on external detail, and the occurrence of significant action within the minds of characters have also contributed to the development of literary modernism. Nevertheless, Joyce complained that, "I may have oversystematised Ulysses," and played down the mythic correspondences by eliminating the chapter titles that had been taken from Homer.
Finnegans Wake
Main article: Finnegans Wake
Front and back of a specimen £10 note. Joyce's face covers the right third of the front. The back has an anonymous ancient face and says 'CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND'.
Joyce as depicted on the Irish £10 banknote, issued 1993–2002

Having completed work on Ulysses, Joyce was so exhausted that he did not write a line of prose for a year. On 10 March 1923 he informed a patron, Harriet Weaver: "Yesterday I wrote two pages—the first I have since the final Yes of Ulysses. Having found a pen, with some difficulty I copied them out in a large handwriting on a double sheet of foolscap so that I could read them. Il lupo perde il pelo ma non il vizio, the Italians say. The wolf may lose his skin but not his vice or the leopard cannot change his spots". Thus was born a text that became known, first, as Work in Progress and later Finnegans Wake.

By 1926 Joyce had completed the first two parts of the book. In that year, he met Eugene and Maria Jolas who offered to serialise the book in their magazine transition. For the next few years, Joyce worked rapidly on the new book, but in the 1930s, progress slowed considerably. This was due to a number of factors, including the death of his father in 1931, concern over the mental health of his daughter Lucia and his own health problems, including failing eyesight. Much of the work was done with the assistance of younger admirers, including Samuel Beckett. For some years, Joyce nursed the eccentric plan of turning over the book to his friend James Stephens to complete, on the grounds that Stephens was born in the same hospital as Joyce exactly one week later, and shared the first name of both Joyce and of Joyce's fictional alter-ego (this is one example of Joyce's numerous superstitions).

Reaction to the work was mixed, including negative comment from early supporters of Joyce's work, such as Pound and the author's brother Stanislaus Joyce. In order to counteract this hostile reception, a book of essays by supporters of the new work, including Beckett, William Carlos Williams and others was organised and published in 1929 under the title Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress. At his 47th birthday party at the Jolases' home, Joyce revealed the final title of the work and Finnegans Wake was published in book form on 4 May 1939.

Joyce's method of stream of consciousness, literary allusions and free dream associations was pushed to the limit in Finnegans Wake, which abandoned all conventions of plot and character construction and is written in a peculiar and obscure language, based mainly on complex multi-level puns. This approach is similar to, but far more extensive than that used by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky. If Ulysses is a day in the life of a city, the Wake is a night and partakes of the logic of dreams. This has led many readers and critics to apply Joyce's oft-quoted description in the Wake of Ulysses as his "usylessly unreadable Blue Book of Eccles" to the Wake itself. However, readers have been able to reach a consensus about the central cast of characters and general plot.

Much of the wordplay in the book stems from the use of multilingual puns which draw on a wide range of languages. The role played by Beckett and other assistants included collating words from these languages on cards for Joyce to use and, as Joyce's eyesight worsened, of writing the text from the author's dictation.

The view of history propounded in this text is very strongly influenced by Giambattista Vico, and the metaphysics of Giordano Bruno of Nola are important to the interplay of the "characters". Vico propounded a cyclical view of history, in which civilisation rose from chaos, passed through theocratic, aristocratic, and democratic phases, and then lapsed back into chaos. The most obvious example of the influence of Vico's cyclical theory of history is to be found in the opening and closing words of the book. Finnegans Wake opens with the words "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs." ("vicus" is a pun on Vico) and ends "A way a lone a last a loved a long the". In other words, the book ends with the beginning of a sentence and begins with the end of the same sentence, turning the book into one great cycle. Indeed, Joyce said that the ideal reader of the Wake would suffer from "ideal insomnia" and, on completing the book, would turn to page one and start again, and so on in an endless cycle of reading.
Legacy
Bronze statue of Joyce standing in a coat and broadbrimmed hat. His head is cocked looking up, his left leg is crossed over his right, his right hand holds a cane, and his left is in his pants pocket, with the left part of his coat tucked back.
Statue of James Joyce on North Earl Street, Dublin

Joyce's work has been subject to intense scrutiny by scholars of all types. He has also been an important influence on writers and scholars as diverse as Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, Flann O'Brien, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Salman Rushdie, Robert Anton Wilson, and Joseph Campbell. Ulysses has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement".

Some scholars, most notably Vladimir Nabokov, have mixed feelings on his work, often championing some of his fiction while condemning other works. In Nabokov's opinion, Ulysses was brilliant, Finnegans Wake horrible—an attitude Jorge Luis Borges shared. In recent years, literary theory has embraced Joyce's innovation and ambition.

Joyce's influence is also evident in fields other than literature. The phrase "Three Quarks for Muster Mark" in Joyce's Finnegans Wake is often called the source of the physicists' word "quark", the name of one of the main kinds of elementary particles, proposed by the physicist Murray Gell-Mann. The French philosopher Jacques Derrida has written a book on the use of language in Ulysses, and the American philosopher Donald Davidson has written similarly on Finnegans Wake in comparison with Lewis Carroll. Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan used Joyce's writings to explain his concept of the sinthome. According to Lacan, Joyce's writing is the supplementary cord which kept Joyce from psychosis.

The work and life of Joyce is celebrated annually on 16 June, Bloomsday, in Dublin and in an increasing number of cities worldwide.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Joyce one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, and stated; "Joyce ... revolutionized 20th century fiction". In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Ulysses No. 1, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man No. 3, on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Works

    * Chamber Music (1907, poems)
    * Dubliners (1914, short story collection)
    * A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916, novel)
    * Exiles (1918, play)
    * Ulysses (1922, novel)
    * Pomes Penyeach (1927, poems)
    * Collected Poems (1936, poems)
    * Finnegans Wake (1939, novel)

Posthumous publications

    * Stephen Hero (precursor to A Portrait; written 1904–06, published 1944)
    * Giacomo Joyce (written 1907, published 1968)
    * Letters of James Joyce Vol. 1 (Ed. Stuart Gilbert, 1957)
    * The Critical Writings of James Joyce (Eds. Ellsworth Mason and Richard Ellman, 1959)
    * Letters of James Joyce Vol. 2 (Ed. Ricard Ellman, 1966)
    * Letters of James Joyce Vol. 3 (Ed. Ricard Ellman, 1966)
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k94/GregBarclay/james_joyce.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k94/GregBarclay/James_Joyce_jpg.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii236/heathermcewenphoto/joyce2.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k94/GregBarclay/james_joyce_m106958.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/13/10 at 3:00 pm


The birthday of the day...Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor and race car driver, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd ("McDreamy") on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. He has also recently appeared in several films, including Sweet Home Alabama, The Emperor's Club, Freedom Writers, Enchanted and Made of Honor.
Dempsey was discovered by an invitation to audition for a role in the stage production of Torch Song Trilogy. His audition was successful, and he spent the following four months touring with the company in San Francisco. Dempsey also appeared on MTV on a show Overnight Success by Teri DeSario, where he dances and juggles. He followed this with another tour, Brighton Beach Memoirs, in the lead role, which was directed by Gene Saks. Dempsey has also made notable appearances in the stage productions of On Golden Pond, with the Maine Acting Company, and as Timmy (the Martin Sheen role) in a 1991 Off-Broadway revival of The Subject Was Roses co-starring with John Mahoney and Dana Ivey at the Roundabout Theatre in New York.

Dempsey's first major feature film role was at age 21 with Beverly D'Angelo in the movie In The Mood, the real life WW2 story about Ellsworth Wisecarver who had relationships with older married women which created a national uproar. This was followed by the teen comedy Can't Buy Me Love in 1987 with actress Amanda Peterson and Some Girls with Jennifer Connelly in 1988. In 1989, he had the lead role in the film Loverboy with actress Kirstie Alley and Happy Together with actress Helen Slater. Although the teen comedy and romance roles led to Dempsey being somewhat typecast for a time, he was able to avoid playing the same character as his career progressed.
1990s and 2000s
Dempsey presenting Made of Honor in Madrid

Dempsey made a number of featured appearances in television in the 1990s; he was cast several times in pilots that were not picked up for a full season, including lead roles in the TV versions of the films The Player and About A Boy. However he received good reviews as he portrayed real-life mob boss, Meyer Lansky in 1991, when Mobsters was put on the screen. His first major television role was a recurring role as Will's closeted sportscaster boyfriend on Will & Grace. He went on to play the role of Aaron Brooks, Lily & Judy's psychologically unbalanced brother, on Once & Again. Dempsey received an Emmy nomination in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Aaron. In 1993 he was convincing as a young John F. Kennedy in the 2-part TV mini-series JFK: Reckless Youth. In 2004, he co-starred in the highly acclaimed HBO production, Iron Jawed Angels, opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston. He also appeared as special guest star in The Practice for 3 episodes finale season (8x13-8x15), as a married man who murdered his lover.

Dempsey had a high-profile role as one of the suitors for Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. He also had a role as Detective Kincaid on Scream 3. He is expected to return in a possible Scream 4. Dempsey's most recent roles include the 2007 Disney film Enchanted, and the Paramount Pictures film Freedom Writers where he reunites with his Iron Jawed Angels co-star Hilary Swank. He also voiced the character Kenai in Brother Bear 2.

More recently, Dempsey has starred in Made of Honor as Tom.

Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane are bound for the same big-screen project, joining the estimable ensemble for the romantic comedy Valentine's Day. The Garry Marshall-directed film follows five interconnecting stories about Los Angelinos anticipating (or in some cases dreading) the holiday of love.

He has acquired the rights to the prize-winning novel The Art of Racing in the Rain and will produce and star in the screen version. The film will go into production in 2010.
Grey's Anatomy
Main article: Grey's Anatomy

Dempsey has received significant public attention for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to landing the role of Derek Shepherd, Dempsey auditioned for the role of Dr. Gregory House on another medical show, House. Initially a midseason replacement, the show was very well received and has become a highly rated program. Media attention has been focused on Dempsey's character Derek, often referred to as "McDreamy", for his sex appeal, and the character's romance with intern Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo). Also in a one-off episode of Private Practice, playing the same character as in Grey's Anatomy.

Dempsey was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama at the 2007 Golden Globes for the role. In 2006 Dempsey signed a contract with ABC raising his salary to $225,000 per episode. His success on the show has led to him becoming a spokesman for Mazda and a model for Versace. He has also been the spokesman for several recent State Farm advertisements. In November 2008 he launched an Avon fragrance named Unscripted, and due to its success a second fragrance named Patrick Dempsey 2 was launched in November 2009.

Patrick Dempsey has the same birthday as Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes. Dempsey is four years older than Rhimes making his birthday the 13th of January 1966, whilst Rhimes was born on that date in 1970.
Personal Life
Dempsey at the 2008 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona

He has been married twice. In 1987, he married actress and acting coach Rocky Parker, who appeared with Dempsey in the film In the Mood. The couple divorced in 1994.

On July 31, 1999, Dempsey married Delux Beauty founder Jillian Fink. The couple have three children: a daughter, Talula Fyfe, born on February 20, 2002, and twin sons Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick, born on February 1, 2007. The family resides in Los Angeles and also have homes in Maine and Texas.

Dempsey was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 12. As a result, it is necessary for him to memorize all his lines in order to perform, even for auditions where he was unlikely to get the part.
n 1997, Dempsey's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was treated for the disease and had two relapses and had it treated another two times. In response to his mother's bouts with cancer, Dempsey helped start the Patrick Dempsey Center in his home town of Lewiston, Maine. In October of 2009 Dempsey introduced the first Dempsey Challenge, registration was closed after reaching the goal of 3,500 cyclists, runners and walkers. The event raised more than one million dollars for the center and will become an annual event in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine area.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1985 The Stuff Underground Stuff buyer #2
Heaven Help Us Corbet
1986 Meatballs III: Summer Job Rudy
1987 Can't Buy Me Love Ronald Miller Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy
In the Mood Ellsworth 'Sonny' Wisecarver
1988 Some Girls Michael
In a Shallow Grave Daventry Limited release
1989 Loverboy Randy Bodek
Happy Together Christopher Wooden
1990 Coupe de Ville Robert 'Bobby' Libner
1991 Mobsters Meyer Lansky
Run Charlie Farrow
1993 Bank Robber Billy
1994 With Honors Everett Calloway
Ava's Magical Adventure Jeffrey
1995 Outbreak Jimbo Scott
1997 Hugo Pool Floyd Gaylen Limited release
1998 Denial Sam
The Treat Mike Jonathan Gems film
There's No Fish Food in Heaven The Stranger aka Life in the Fast Lane
1999 Me and Will Fast Eddie
2000 Scream 3 Det. Mark Kincaid
2002 Sweet Home Alabama Andrew Hennings (Melanie's fiance)
The Emperor's Club Older Louis Masoudi
2006 Brother Bear 2 Kenai voice only
Shade Paul Parker Short film
2007 Freedom Writers Scott Casey
Enchanted Robert Philip Nominated— MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (with Amy Adams)
2008 Made of Honor Tom Bailey
2010 Valentine's Day Harrison Copeland
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 A Fighting Choice Kellin Taylor TV movie
Fast Times Mike Damone Television series
1989 The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The Plant 1 episode
1990 The General Motors Playwrights Theater 1 episode "Merry Christmas, Baby"
1993 For Better and for Worse Robert Faldo TV movie
JFK: Reckless Youth John F. Kennedy Miniseries
1995 Bloodknot Tom TV movie
1996 The Right to Remain Silent Tom Harris TV movie
A Season in Purgatory Harrison Burns Miniseries
1997 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Pierre Arronax Miniseries
The Escape Clayton TV movie
The Player Griffin Mill TV movie
1998 The Bible: Jeremiah Jeremiah TV movie
Crime and Punishment Rodya Raskolnikov
2000 Will and Grace Matthew 2000-2001 (3 episodes)
2000 Once and Again Aaron Brooks 2000-2002 (4 episodes)
Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2001 Blonde Cass Miniseries
2003 Lucky 7 Peter Connor
Karen Sisco Carl 1 episode
About a Boy Carl TV movie
2004 Iron Jawed Angels Ben Weissman TV movie
The Practice Dr. Paul Stewart 3 episodes
2005 Grey's Anatomy Derek Shepherd 2005-present (110 episodes)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006)
People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2007, 2008)
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006, 2008)
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005)
Nomination - People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2009)
2009 Private Practice Derek Shepherd TV episode ("The Ex-Life")
http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr338/scrubsfan95/0388_l.jpg
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/zenykaaaaa/Movies/76062.jpg
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx336/zenykaaaaa/Movies/enchanted3.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm106/stephyblueiz/patrick_dempsey.jpg


A very fine actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/10 at 6:07 am

The word of the day...Inferno
If you refer to a fire as an inferno, you mean that it is burning fiercely and causing great destruction
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss186/Cheapazzgaming/DantesInfernoX3.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s11/rayxmpinc/infernofront-2.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u146/69fresh/AbstractWallpaper75.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/Vampsin/29thjaninfernogc.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o252/moosefranco/Inferno.gif
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb203/millsjp8/inferno.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp104/jwjaz_photos/BLX%20Chalet%20Debonet%202009/MadisonChaletDebonet022.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff270/sweetheart_baby_girl/Picture127.jpg
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll178/bbqsaucereloaded/Inferno.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/10 at 6:10 am

The birthday of the day...Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress.

Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network (1976) after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Chinatown (1974). She has starred in a variety of films, including The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Little Big Man (1970), The Towering Inferno (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Mommie Dearest (1981).
Dunaway appeared on Broadway in 1962 as the daughter of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. Her first screen role was in 1967 in The Happening. In 1967, she was in Hurry Sundown, but that same year, she gained the leading female role in Bonnie and Clyde opposite Warren Beatty, which earned her an Oscar nomination. She also starred in 1968 with Steve McQueen in the caper film The Thomas Crown Affair (and had a small role in the 1999 remake with the same title with Pierce Brosnan).
Dunaway being interviewed by Army Archerd on the red carpet at the 60th Annual Academy Awards, April 11, 1988.

It was in the 1970s that she began to stretch her acting abilities in such films as Three Days of the Condor, Little Big Man, Chinatown, The Three/Four Musketeers, Eyes of Laura Mars, and Network, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress as the scheming TV executive Diana Christensen. She worked with such leading men as Dustin Hoffman, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Duvall.

In the 1980s, although her performances did not waver, the parts grew less compelling. Dunaway would later blame Mommie Dearest (1981) for ruining her career as a leading lady. She received a Razzie Award for Worst Actress, and the critic's despised the film, although the film grossed a moderate $19 million in its first release and was one of the top 30 grossing films of the year. In 1987 she was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Barfly with Mickey Rourke. In a later movie, Don Juan DeMarco (1995), Dunaway co-starred with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.
Faye Dunaway at the ceremony Emmy Award 1994

Dunaway starred in the 1986 made-for-television movie Beverly Hills Madam opposite Melody Anderson, Donna Dixon, Terry Farrell and Robin Givens. In 1993, Dunaway briefly starred in a sitcom with Robert Urich, "It Had to Be You". Dunaway won an Emmy for a 1994 role as a murderer in "It's All in the Game," an episode of the long-running mystery series Columbo.

In 1996, she toured nationally with the stage play Master Class. The story about opera singer Maria Callas was very powerful and well received. Dunaway bought the rights to the Terrence McNally play for possible film development.

In 2006, Dunaway played a character named Lois O'Neill in the sixth season of the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She served as a judge on the 2005 reality show The Starlet, which sought, American Idol-style, to find the next young actress with the potential to become a major star. In the spring of 2007, the direct-to-DVD movie release of Rain, based on the novel by V. C. Andrews and starring Dunaway, was released. In 2009 Dunaway stars in film The Bait by Polish film director and producer Dariusz Zawiślak. The Bait is a contemporary version of a drama Balladyna by Polish 19th - century poet Juliusz Słowacki.

Dunaway has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, which was awarded on October 2, 1996.
Personal life

Dunaway has been married twice, from 1974 to 1979 to Peter Wolf, the lead singer of the rock group The J. Geils Band, and from 1984 to 1987 to Terry O'Neill, a British photographer. She and O'Neill have one child, Liam O'Neill (born 1980). In 2003, despite Dunaway's earlier claims that she had given birth to Liam, Terry revealed that Liam was adopted.

Dunaway is an adult convert to Roman Catholicism.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1967 Hurry Sundown Lou McDowell Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles also for Bonnie and Clyde
The Happening Sandy
Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie Parker Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles also for Hurry Sundown
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1968 The Thomas Crown Affair Vicki Anderson
Amanti Julia
1969 The Extraordinary Seaman Jennifer Winslow
The Arrangement Gwen
A Place for Lovers Julia
1970 Little Big Man Mrs. Louise Pendrake
Puzzle of a Downfall Child Lou Andreas Sand Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1971 The Deadly Trap Jill
Doc Katie Elder
1973 Oklahoma Crude Lena Doyle
The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
1974 Chinatown Evelyn Cross Mulwray Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Towering Inferno Susan Franklin
The Four Musketeers Milady de Winter
1975 Three Days of the Condor Kathy Hale Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 Network Diana Christensen Academy Award for Best Actress
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Voyage of the Damned Denise Kreisler
1978 Eyes of Laura Mars Laura Mars
1979 The Champ Annie
1980 The First Deadly Sin Barbara Delaney
1981 Mommie Dearest Joan Crawford Razzie Award for Worst Actress
Evita Peron Evita Peron
1983 The Wicked Lady Lady Barbara Skelton
1984 Ordeal by Innocence Rachel Argyle
Supergirl Selena
Ellis Island Maud Charteris Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Thirteen at Dinner Jane Wilkinson
1986 Raspberry Ripple Matron + "M"
1987 Barfly Wanda Wilcox Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1988 Midnight Crossing Helen Barton
The Gamble Countess Matilda Von Wallenstein La Partita
Burning Secret Mrs. Sonya Tuchman
1989 Frames from the Edge Herself documentary
On a Moonlit Night Mrs. Colbert In una notte di chiaro di luna
Wait Until Spring, Bandini Mrs. Hildegarde
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Serena Joy
The Two Jakes Evelyn Mulwray voice only
1991 Scorchers Thais
1992 Double Edge Faye Milano Lahav Hatzui
1993 Arizona Dream Elaine Stalker
The Temp Charlene Towne
1995 Unzipped Herself – uncredited Documentary
Don Juan DeMarco Marilyn Mickler
Drunks Becky
1996 Dunston Checks In Mrs. Dubrow
Albino Alligator Janet Boudreaux
The Chamber Lee Cayhall Bowen
1997 In Praise of Older Women Condesa
The Twilight of the Golds Phyllis Gold Nominated — CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Rebecca Mrs. van Hopper TV miniseries
1998 Gia Wilhelmina Cooper Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1999 Love Lies Bleeding Josephine Butler
The Thomas Crown Affair The Psychiatrist
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Yolande of Aragon
2000 The Yards Kitty Olchin
Stanley's Gig Leila
Running Mates Meg Gable Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2001 Yellow Bird Aurora Beavis Short subject – also director
Festival in Cannes Herself Cameo
2002 Mid-Century Blue/Mother
Changing Hearts Betty Miller
The Rules of Attraction Mrs. Eve Denton
Man of Faith Mae West
2003 Blind Horizon Ms. K
2004 Last Goodbye Sean Winston
El Padrino Atty. Gen. Navarro
Jennifer's Shadow Mary Ellen Cassi
2005 Ghosts Never Sleep Kathleen Dolan
2006 Cut Off Marilyn Burton
Love Hollywood Style God
Rain Isabel Hudson
2007 Cougar Club Edith Birnbaum
Say It in Russian Jacqueline de Rossy
The Gene Generation Josephine Hayden
2008 Flick Lieutenant Annie McKenzie
La Rabbia Madre
2009 Dr. Fugazzi Detective Rowland
Midnight Bayou Odette Lifetime made-for-TV movie
Caroline & The Magic Stone Filomena
Balladyna Dr Ash USA-Poland co-production
Guest appearances
Dunaway & Mirosław Baka - Balladyna

    * Grey's Anatomy - Season 5, Episode 16 "An Honest Mistake" as Dr. Margaret Campbell (2009)
    * CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye" January 26, 2006
    * Alias "The Abduction" (2002); "A Higher Echelon" (2003); "The Getaway" (2003), as Ariana Kane
    * Soul Food - Season 3, Episode 1 - "Tonight at Noon" (2002)
    * Road to Avonlea - Season 6, Episode 76 - "What a Tangled Web We Weave" (1995)
    * Columbo: It's All in the Game (1993), as Lauren Staton
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Classic%20Celebrities/faye_dunaway.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/aquilb/fayedunawayedited.jpg
http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq341/lalalexiiii/fayedunaway.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa107/prince-snivel/dunaway_120707.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/10 at 6:13 am

The person of the day...Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a three-time Tony Award winning German-born American actress. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee (who called her "a profoundly truthful actress"). Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, and this curtailed film opportunities, focusing her perforce on New York theatre. She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and authored a best-selling acting text, Respect for Acting. She was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.
Hagen was cast, early on, as Ophelia by the actress-manager Eva LeGallienne. From there, Hagen went on to play the leading ingenue role of Nina in a Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull which featured Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. It was 1938; Hagen was just 18. The New York Times' critic Brooks Atkinson hailed her Nina as "grace and aspiration incarnate". She would go on to play George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan (1951) on Broadway, and Desdemona in a production which toured and played Broadway, featuring Paul Robeson as Shakespeare's Othello and her then-husband Jose Ferrer as Iago. She took over the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire for the national tour, which was directed not by Elia Kazan who had directed the Broadway production but by Harold Clurman. Hagen had had a revelatory experience when she first worked with Clurman in 1947. In Respect for Acting, she credited her discoveries with Clurman as the springboard for what she would later explore with her husband Herbert Berghof: "how to find a true technique of acting, how to make a character flow through me". She played Blanche (on the road and on Broadway) opposite at least four different Stanley Kowalskis, including Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando. Through interviews with her and contemporary criticism, the report is that Hagen's Blanche refocused the audience's sympathies with Blanche rather than with Stanley (where the Brando/Kazan production had leaned). Primarily noted for stage roles, Hagen won her first Tony Award in 1951 for her performance as the self-sacrificing wife Georgie in Clifford Odets' The Country Girl. She won again in 1963 for originating the role of the "I-wear-the-pants-in-this-family-because-somebody's-got-to" Martha in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. (An original cast recording was made of this show.) In 1981 she was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame and in 1999 received a "Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award".

Although she appeared in some movies, because of the Hollywood blacklist she had more limited output in film and on television, not making her cinematic debut until 1972. She would later comment about being blacklisted, "that fact kept me pure".

Although Hagen played characters with German accents in both of her best-known Hollywood films, The Boys from Brazil, in which her scene is with Laurence Olivier, and The Other, she had simply assumed the accent for those roles (Hagen was raised in Wisconsin). She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" for her performance on the television soap opera One Life to Live.

She taught at HB Studio, a well-known New York City acting school on a cobblestone, tree-shaded street in the West Village. She began there in 1947, and married its co-founder, Herbert Berghof, on January 25, 1957. Later in her life, Hagen undertook a return to the stage, earning accolades for leading roles in Mrs. Warren's Profession (1985), Collected Stories, and Mrs. Klein. After Berghof's death in 1990 she became the school's chairperson.

Hagen was an influential acting teacher who taught, among others, Matthew Broderick, Christine Lahti, Jason Robards, Sigourney Weaver, Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Lemmon, Charles Nelson Reilly, Manu Tupou, Debbie Allen and Al Pacino. She was a voice coach to Judy Garland, teaching a German accent, for the picture Judgment at Nuremberg. Garland's performance earned her an Academy Award nomination.

She also wrote Respect for Acting (1973) and A Challenge for the Actor (1991), which advocate realistic acting (as opposed to pre-determined "formalistic" acting). In her mode of realism, the actor puts his own psyche to use in finding identification with the role," trusting that a form will result. In Respect for Acting, Hagen credited director Harold Clurman with a turn-around in her perspective on acting:

    "In 1947, I worked in a play under the direction of Harold Clurman. He opened a new world in the professional theatre for me. He took away my 'tricks'. He imposed no line readings, no gestures, no positions on the actors. At first I floundered badly because for many years I had become accustomed to using specific outer directions as the material from which to construct the mask for my character, the mask behind which I would hide throughout the performance. Mr Clurman refused to accept a mask. He demanded ME in the role. My love of acting was slowly reawakened as I began to deal with a strange new technique of evolving in the character. I was not allowed to begin with, or concern myself at any time with, a preconceived form. I was assured that a form would result from the work we were doing."

Hagen later "disassociated" herself from her first book, Respect for Acting. In Challenge for the Actor she redefined a term which she had initially called "substitution", an esoteric technique for alchemizing elements of an actor's life with his/her character work, calling it "transference" instead. Though Hagen wrote that the actor should identify the character they play with feelings and circumstances from their (the actor's) own life, she also makes clear that

    "Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the characters' actions which reveal the character in the play."

Respect for Acting is used as a textbook for many college acting classes. She also wrote a 1976 cookbook, Love for Cooking. In 2002, she was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President George W. Bush at a ceremony held at the White House.
Personal life

She married José Ferrer in 1938, with whom she had a daughter, Leticia (Lettie) Ferrer, an actor in New York City. They divorced in 1948 partially because of her affair with her Othello co-star Paul Robeson, an affair which was long concealed. She was married to the actor and teacher and director Herbert Berghof from 1957 until his death in 1990. At his death, she said, "You know, we were partners in our work, in everything. We did everything together. Very few people understand what that kind of a loss is like."
Work
Stage

    * The Seagull - 1938
    * The Happiest Days - 1939
    * Key Largo - 1939
    * Vickie - 1942
    * Othello - 1943
    * The Whole World Over - 1947
    * A Streetcar Named Desire - 1947
    * The Country Girl - 1950
    * Saint Joan - 1951
    * In Any Language - 1952
    * The Magic and The Loss - 1954
    * Island of Goats - 1955
    * Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - 1962
    * The Cherry Orchard - 1968
    * You Never Can Tell - 1986
    * Charlotte - 1980
    * Mrs. Klein - 1995
    * Collected Stories - 1998


Film

    * The Other - 1972
    * The Boys from Brazil - 1978
    * A Doctor's Story - 1984
    * Reversal of Fortune - 1990
    * Limón: A Life Beyond Words - 2001

Television

    * Victory - 1945
    * A Month in the Country - 1959
    * The Day Before Sunday - 1970
    * Seasonal Differences - 1987
    * The Sunset Gang - 1991
    * Oz - 1999

See also

    * Stanislavski
    * Mikhail Chekhov
    * Lee Strasberg
    * Stella Adler
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/qteedanzer/300px-Robeson_Hagen_Othello.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/stagechick001/julyceum/JS1567148.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/ger/uta.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v699/bloodyrockgod/Hagen-Virginiawoolf.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/14/10 at 6:54 am


The word of the day...Inferno
If you refer to a fire as an inferno, you mean that it is burning fiercely and causing great destruction
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss186/Cheapazzgaming/DantesInfernoX3.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s11/rayxmpinc/infernofront-2.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u146/69fresh/AbstractWallpaper75.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/Vampsin/29thjaninfernogc.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o252/moosefranco/Inferno.gif
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb203/millsjp8/inferno.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp104/jwjaz_photos/BLX%20Chalet%20Debonet%202009/MadisonChaletDebonet022.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff270/sweetheart_baby_girl/Picture127.jpg
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll178/bbqsaucereloaded/Inferno.jpg


Now that's fire.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/10 at 8:22 am


Now that's fire.

Hot Hot Hot ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/14/10 at 11:09 am


The birthday of the day...Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress.

Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network (1976) after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Chinatown (1974). She has starred in a variety of films, including The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Little Big Man (1970), The Towering Inferno (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Mommie Dearest (1981).
Dunaway appeared on Broadway in 1962 as the daughter of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. Her first screen role was in 1967 in The Happening. In 1967, she was in Hurry Sundown, but that same year, she gained the leading female role in Bonnie and Clyde opposite Warren Beatty, which earned her an Oscar nomination. She also starred in 1968 with Steve McQueen in the caper film The Thomas Crown Affair (and had a small role in the 1999 remake with the same title with Pierce Brosnan).
Dunaway being interviewed by Army Archerd on the red carpet at the 60th Annual Academy Awards, April 11, 1988.

It was in the 1970s that she began to stretch her acting abilities in such films as Three Days of the Condor, Little Big Man, Chinatown, The Three/Four Musketeers, Eyes of Laura Mars, and Network, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress as the scheming TV executive Diana Christensen. She worked with such leading men as Dustin Hoffman, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Duvall.

In the 1980s, although her performances did not waver, the parts grew less compelling. Dunaway would later blame Mommie Dearest (1981) for ruining her career as a leading lady. She received a Razzie Award for Worst Actress, and the critic's despised the film, although the film grossed a moderate $19 million in its first release and was one of the top 30 grossing films of the year. In 1987 she was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Barfly with Mickey Rourke. In a later movie, Don Juan DeMarco (1995), Dunaway co-starred with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.
Faye Dunaway at the ceremony Emmy Award 1994

Dunaway starred in the 1986 made-for-television movie Beverly Hills Madam opposite Melody Anderson, Donna Dixon, Terry Farrell and Robin Givens. In 1993, Dunaway briefly starred in a sitcom with Robert Urich, "It Had to Be You". Dunaway won an Emmy for a 1994 role as a murderer in "It's All in the Game," an episode of the long-running mystery series Columbo.

In 1996, she toured nationally with the stage play Master Class. The story about opera singer Maria Callas was very powerful and well received. Dunaway bought the rights to the Terrence McNally play for possible film development.

In 2006, Dunaway played a character named Lois O'Neill in the sixth season of the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She served as a judge on the 2005 reality show The Starlet, which sought, American Idol-style, to find the next young actress with the potential to become a major star. In the spring of 2007, the direct-to-DVD movie release of Rain, based on the novel by V. C. Andrews and starring Dunaway, was released. In 2009 Dunaway stars in film The Bait by Polish film director and producer Dariusz Zawiślak. The Bait is a contemporary version of a drama Balladyna by Polish 19th - century poet Juliusz Słowacki.

Dunaway has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, which was awarded on October 2, 1996.
Personal life

Dunaway has been married twice, from 1974 to 1979 to Peter Wolf, the lead singer of the rock group The J. Geils Band, and from 1984 to 1987 to Terry O'Neill, a British photographer. She and O'Neill have one child, Liam O'Neill (born 1980). In 2003, despite Dunaway's earlier claims that she had given birth to Liam, Terry revealed that Liam was adopted.

Dunaway is an adult convert to Roman Catholicism.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1967 Hurry Sundown Lou McDowell Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles also for Bonnie and Clyde
The Happening Sandy
Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie Parker Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles also for Hurry Sundown
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1968 The Thomas Crown Affair Vicki Anderson
Amanti Julia
1969 The Extraordinary Seaman Jennifer Winslow
The Arrangement Gwen
A Place for Lovers Julia
1970 Little Big Man Mrs. Louise Pendrake
Puzzle of a Downfall Child Lou Andreas Sand Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1971 The Deadly Trap Jill
Doc Katie Elder
1973 Oklahoma Crude Lena Doyle
The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
1974 Chinatown Evelyn Cross Mulwray Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Towering Inferno Susan Franklin
The Four Musketeers Milady de Winter
1975 Three Days of the Condor Kathy Hale Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 Network Diana Christensen Academy Award for Best Actress
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Voyage of the Damned Denise Kreisler
1978 Eyes of Laura Mars Laura Mars
1979 The Champ Annie
1980 The First Deadly Sin Barbara Delaney
1981 Mommie Dearest Joan Crawford Razzie Award for Worst Actress
Evita Peron Evita Peron
1983 The Wicked Lady Lady Barbara Skelton
1984 Ordeal by Innocence Rachel Argyle
Supergirl Selena
Ellis Island Maud Charteris Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Thirteen at Dinner Jane Wilkinson
1986 Raspberry Ripple Matron + "M"
1987 Barfly Wanda Wilcox Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1988 Midnight Crossing Helen Barton
The Gamble Countess Matilda Von Wallenstein La Partita
Burning Secret Mrs. Sonya Tuchman
1989 Frames from the Edge Herself documentary
On a Moonlit Night Mrs. Colbert In una notte di chiaro di luna
Wait Until Spring, Bandini Mrs. Hildegarde
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Serena Joy
The Two Jakes Evelyn Mulwray voice only
1991 Scorchers Thais
1992 Double Edge Faye Milano Lahav Hatzui
1993 Arizona Dream Elaine Stalker
The Temp Charlene Towne
1995 Unzipped Herself – uncredited Documentary
Don Juan DeMarco Marilyn Mickler
Drunks Becky
1996 Dunston Checks In Mrs. Dubrow
Albino Alligator Janet Boudreaux
The Chamber Lee Cayhall Bowen
1997 In Praise of Older Women Condesa
The Twilight of the Golds Phyllis Gold Nominated — CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Rebecca Mrs. van Hopper TV miniseries
1998 Gia Wilhelmina Cooper Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1999 Love Lies Bleeding Josephine Butler
The Thomas Crown Affair The Psychiatrist
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Yolande of Aragon
2000 The Yards Kitty Olchin
Stanley's Gig Leila
Running Mates Meg Gable Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2001 Yellow Bird Aurora Beavis Short subject – also director
Festival in Cannes Herself Cameo
2002 Mid-Century Blue/Mother
Changing Hearts Betty Miller
The Rules of Attraction Mrs. Eve Denton
Man of Faith Mae West
2003 Blind Horizon Ms. K
2004 Last Goodbye Sean Winston
El Padrino Atty. Gen. Navarro
Jennifer's Shadow Mary Ellen Cassi
2005 Ghosts Never Sleep Kathleen Dolan
2006 Cut Off Marilyn Burton
Love Hollywood Style God
Rain Isabel Hudson
2007 Cougar Club Edith Birnbaum
Say It in Russian Jacqueline de Rossy
The Gene Generation Josephine Hayden
2008 Flick Lieutenant Annie McKenzie
La Rabbia Madre
2009 Dr. Fugazzi Detective Rowland
Midnight Bayou Odette Lifetime made-for-TV movie
Caroline & The Magic Stone Filomena
Balladyna Dr Ash USA-Poland co-production
Guest appearances
Dunaway & Mirosław Baka - Balladyna

    * Grey's Anatomy - Season 5, Episode 16 "An Honest Mistake" as Dr. Margaret Campbell (2009)
    * CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye" January 26, 2006
    * Alias "The Abduction" (2002); "A Higher Echelon" (2003); "The Getaway" (2003), as Ariana Kane
    * Soul Food - Season 3, Episode 1 - "Tonight at Noon" (2002)
    * Road to Avonlea - Season 6, Episode 76 - "What a Tangled Web We Weave" (1995)
    * Columbo: It's All in the Game (1993), as Lauren Staton
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Classic%20Celebrities/faye_dunaway.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r196/aquilb/fayedunawayedited.jpg
http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq341/lalalexiiii/fayedunaway.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa107/prince-snivel/dunaway_120707.jpg

I use to have a huge crush on her back in the 70s in such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Network, The happening, Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown, Towering inferno, little big man. Lovely eyes, cheeks and lips.
She was hot back then.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/10 at 11:28 am


I use to have a huge crush on her back in the 70s in such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Network, The happening, Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown, Towering inferno, little big man. Lovely eyes, cheeks and lips.
She was hot back then.

Yes she was nice looking in her younger years.I mainly remember her from Bonnie & Clyde and Chinatown.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/14/10 at 5:28 pm


I use to have a huge crush on her back in the 70s in such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Network, The happening, Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown, Towering inferno, little big man. Lovely eyes, cheeks and lips.
She was hot back then.


Same for me...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/14/10 at 6:32 pm


Same for me...

http://drnorth.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/faye-dunaway-bonnie-and-clyde.jpg
http://cinematicpassions.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/dunaway-faye-photo-xxl-faye-dunaway-6220471.jpg

A few more for gibbo.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/14/10 at 6:58 pm


http://drnorth.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/faye-dunaway-bonnie-and-clyde.jpg
http://cinematicpassions.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/dunaway-faye-photo-xxl-faye-dunaway-6220471.jpg

A few more for gibbo.



...and bonnie pics they were too.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/14/10 at 6:58 pm


http://drnorth.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/faye-dunaway-bonnie-and-clyde.jpg
http://cinematicpassions.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/dunaway-faye-photo-xxl-faye-dunaway-6220471.jpg

A few more for gibbo.



What film was she famous for?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/14/10 at 7:00 pm


What film was she famous for?

read a few posts above

Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network...

...and bonnie pics they were too.  ;)

yes, Bonnie pics :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/14/10 at 7:01 pm


read a few posts above

Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network...yes, Bonnie pics :)


Thanks,I just did.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/10 at 5:37 am

The word or phrase of the day...Ice Cream
#
Ice cream is a very cold sweet food which is made from frozen cream or a substance like cream and has a flavour such as vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. N-VAR N-MASS

    *
      I'll get you some ice cream.
    *
      ...vanilla ice cream. food and drink

#
An ice cream is an amount of ice cream sold in a small container or a cone made of thin biscuit. N-COUNT

    *
      Do you want an ice cream?
    *
      They stuffed themselves with ice creams, chocolate and lollies.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee175/3isntenough/DSC01320.jpg
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af142/arabolli/icecream.jpg
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac37/GeorgiaMission09/animoto/P1030929.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb30/theamazingkepso/quotes/454247.png
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn183/fataL___wiishes__x3/Photography/icecream.jpg
http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu294/okiemoody/Family/Icecream.jpg
http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af64/zaoldik/bizzare_ice_cream.jpg
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/youwaslonggone/CIMG2999-1.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/mierduka/food/Picture336.jpg
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx22/a_ruth/DSCF0883.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/10 at 5:40 am

The birthday of the day...Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (pronounced /vliːt/; born Don Glen Vliet, January 15, 1941) is an American musician, songwriter and painter, best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called The Magic Band, which was active between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. Van Vliet was chiefly a singer and harmonica player, occasionally playing saxophone, bass clarinet and keyboards. His most characteristic compositions feature an odd mixture of shifting time signatures, atonal melodies, rhythmically complex and dissonant guitar playing, and surreal, non sequitur lyrics. Van Vliet himself was noted for his dictatorial approach to his musicians and his enigmatic persona and relationship with the public, which culminated in his retirement from music and a "new" career as an artist.

Beefheart's early output was rooted in blues-rock, first releasing and drawing attention with the album Safe as Milk in 1967. He however soon began to draw on and innovatively incorporate additional influences, often in competition and occasional collaboration with his childhood friend Frank Zappa. His most critically acclaimed albums, Trout Mask Replica (1969) and Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970), iconoclastically take cues from free jazz, avant-garde and contemporary experimental composition. Frustrated with a lack of commercial success after seven studio albums, and fed up with Van Vliet's paranoia and authoritarianism, the group disbanded in 1974. After a brief flirtation with more conventional rock music — resulting in two albums that he has since disowned — Van Vliet formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and produced three albums, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978), Doc at the Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982), that revisited the eccentricities of his earlier work. While never achieving mainstream commercial success, he has been described as "one of modern music's true innovators" with a "singular body of work virtually unrivalled in its daring and fluid creativity". Van Vliet's music later attracted a devoted following and his influence on fellow musicians, particularly those of the punk, post-punk and New Wave movements, later alternative rock, has been described as "incalculable."

Van Vliet retired from music in the mid-1980s to devote himself to a flourishing and now highly successful career in painting, and he has since made few public appearances. His interest in art dates back to a childhood talent for sculpture. Van Vliet's work, which has been described as modernist, neo-primitive and abstract expressionist, has been exhibited in several countries.
The Magic Band and first records, 1962-1969

Some time after Vliet began using the "Captain Beefheart" stage moniker, during his early collaborations with Frank Zappa, Vic Mortenson and others, the character was sketched out in more fanciful detail. Mortenson explains that "Captain Beefheart was supposed to be a magical character. His thing is he would drink the Pepsi Cola and he could make magic things happen, he could appear or disappear. I told Frank, 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if Captain Beefheart had a Magic Band, and wherever he went, if he wanted the band to appear, he would take a drink of Pepsi, and BINGO there's the band right behind him, 'jukin'?" Vliet was enamoured with the idea, and soon began inviting musicians to join the Magic Band, which became an extension of the "Captain Beefheart" persona.

In early 1965 he was contacted by Alex Snouffer, a local Lancaster rhythm and blues guitarist. Together they assembled the first professional Magic Band. It was at this point that Don Vliet became Don Van Vliet, whilst Alex Snouffer became Alex St. Claire. The first Magic Band was completed with Doug Moon (guitar), Jerry Handley (bass), and Mortenson (drums), the latter soon replaced by Paul Blakely. Doug Moon later left the band due to Van Vliet's developing experimentalism, which he described as "hinting of things to come".

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band signed to A&M and released two 1966 singles, a version of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy," followed by "Moonchild," which was written by David Gates. Both were hits in Los Angeles. The band played music venues that catered to underground artists, such as the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

Sometime in 1966 demos of what became the Safe as Milk material were submitted to A&M. Jerry Moss (the "M" in A&M) reportedly described the new direction as "too negative" and the band was dropped from the label. By the end of 1966 they were signed to Buddah Records and John French had joined on drums. French had the patience required to translate Van Vliet's musical ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) for the other players. In French's absence this role was taken over by Bill Harkleroad.

The Safe as Milk material needed much more work, and 20-year-old guitar prodigy Ry Cooder was asked to help. They began recording in spring 1967, with Richard Perry producing (his first job as producer). Cooder left shortly after recording the album, which was released in September 1967. Among those who took notice were The Beatles; John Lennon and Paul McCartney were known as great admirers of Beefheart. Lennon displayed two of the album's promotional bumper stickers in the sunroom at his home. Later the Beatles planned to sign Beefheart to their experimental Zapple label (plans that were scrapped after Allen Klein took over the group's management).

It was January 27, 1968, that saw one Beefheart's most memorable live performances, when he and The Magic Band performed a set in the middle of Cannes Beach, California. They were then set to audition to play at the 1968 Monterey Pop Festival, an event that saw him suffer severe anxiety attacks in the weeks beforehand. He was able to compose himself on the day of the performance; when the band began to play "Electricity", however, Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked backwards, fell off the ten-foot stage, and landed directly on top on the manager. It was this that made Ry Cooder decide he could no longer work with Van Vliet.

In August, guitarist Jeff Cotton was recruited and by November the Snouffer/Cotton/Handley/French line-up began recording for the second album. It is said to have been intended to be a double album called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper, with one disc recorded live (or live in the studio). What finally emerged in October 1968 was Strictly Personal, released on producer Bob Krasnow's Blue Thumb Records. After the album was released Van Vliet initiated through interviews a myth which alleged that the tapes of the album had been remixed by Krasnow without the band's knowledge, and further, that he had ruined it by adding modish psychedelic effects, particularly phasing. This is included as fact in Jason Ankeny's Allmusic biography. Stewart Mason in his Allmusic review of the album itself would describe it as a "terrific album" and a "fascinating, underrated release", "every bit the equal of Safe as Milk and Trout Mask Replica". Langdon Winner of Rolling Stone would call Strictly Personal "an excellent album. The guitars of the Magic Band mercilessly bend and stretch notes in a way that suggests that the world of music has wobbled clear off its axis." With the lyrics demonstrating "Beefheart's ability to juxtapose delightful humor with frightening insights". This was also the period in which Van Vliet furthered his own mythology through interviews. Earlier recordings of two of the Strictly Personal songs and two other songs were released by Buddah in 1971 under the title Mirror Man. The original release bore a sleeve note claiming that the material had been recorded "one night in Los Angeles in 1965". This was a ruse to circumvent possible copyright issues; the material was actually recorded in November and December 1967.

During his first trip to England in January 1968, Captain Beefheart was briefly represented by mod icon Peter Meaden, an early manager of The Who. The Captain and his band members were initially denied entry to the United Kingdom, because of improper paperwork. After returning to Germany for a few days, the group was permitted to re-enter the UK. By this time, they had terminated their association with Meaden. Alex St. Claire left the band in June 1968 after their return from the European tour and was replaced by teenager Bill Harkleroad. Handley also left the band a few weeks later.
Trout Mask Replica, 1969

Critically acclaimed as Van Vliet's magnum opus, Trout Mask Replica was released in June 1969 on Frank Zappa's newly formed Straight Records label. By this time, the Magic Band had enlisted bassist Mark Boston, a friend of French and Harkleroad. Van Vliet had also begun assigning nicknames to his band members, so Harkleroad became "Zoot Horn Rollo", and Boston became "Rockette Morton", while John French assumed the name "Drumbo", and Jeff Cotton became "Antennae Jimmy Semens". The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in conditions drummer John French described as "cult-like". According to Vliet, the 28 songs on the album were quickly written in roughly eight hours, though band members have stated that he worked on the compositions for roughly 3 weeks using a piano as his writing tool. It took the band about eight months to actually mold the songs into shape.

Trout Mask Replica displayed a wide variety of genres, including blues, avant-garde, experimental music, and rock. The relentless practice prior to recording blended the music into an iconoclastic whole of contrapuntal tempos, featuring slide guitar, polyrhythmic drumming, and honking saxophone and bass clarinet. Van Vliet's vocals range from his signature Howlin' Wolf-inspired growl to frenzied falsetto to laconic, casual ramblings. The instrumental backing was effectively recorded live in the studio, while Van Vliet overdubbed most of the vocals in only partial synch with the music by hearing the slight sound leakage through the studio window.

Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Langdon Winner, to promulgate a number of myths which have subsequently been quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but guitarist Bill Harkleroad later refuted this. Van Vliet claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and bassist Mark Boston to play their instruments from scratch; in fact the pair were already accomplished musicians before joining the band. Last, Van Vliet claimed to have gone a year and half without sleeping. When asked how this was possible, he replied to have only eaten fruit.

Critic Steve Huey of Allmusic writes that the album's influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during the punk and New Wave era." In 2003, the album was ranked fifty-eighth by Rolling Stone in their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: "On first listen, Trout Mask Replica sounds like raw Delta blues", with Beefheart "singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But the seeming sonic chaos is an illusion -- to construct the songs, the Magic Band rehearsed twelve hours a day for months on end in a house with the windows blacked out. (Producer Frank Zappa was then able to record most of the album in less than five hours.) Tracks such as "Ella Guru" and "My Human Gets Me Blues" are the direct predecessors of modern musical primitives such as Tom Waits and PJ Harvey".
Later recordings, 1970-1982

Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) continued in a similarly experimental vein. The album was Van Vliet's most commercially successful in the United Kingdom, spending twenty weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 20. An early promotional music video was made of its title song, and a bizarre television commercial was also filmed that included excerpts from "Woe-Is-uh-Me-Bop," silent footage of masked Magic Band members using kitchen utensils as musical instruments, and Beefheart kicking over a bowl of what appears to be porridge onto a dividing stripe in the middle of a road. The video was rarely played but was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art, where it has been used in several programs. The LP sees the addition of Art Tripp III to the band, who had joined from the Mothers of Invention, playing drums and marimba. Lick My Decals Off, Baby was the first record on which the band were credited as "The Magic Band", rather than "His Magic Band"; journalist Irwin Chusid interprets this change as "a grudging concession of its members' at least semiautonomous humanity."
Van Vliet in 1974 performing as Beefheart

The next two records, The Spotlight Kid (simply credited to "Captain Beefheart") and Clear Spot (credited to "Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band"), both released in 1972, were much more conventional. In 1974, immediately after the recording of Unconditionally Guaranteed—an album which continued the trend towards a more commercial sound heard on several of the Clear Spot tracks—The Magic Band, which had by then coalesced around the core of Art Tripp III, Alex St. Clair, Bill Harkleroad and Rockette Morton, decided they could no longer work with Van Vliet, who was by all accounts a severe taskmaster. They left to form Mallard. Van Vliet quickly formed a new Magic Band of musicians who had no experience with his music and in fact had never heard it. Having no knowledge of the previous Magic Band style they simply improvised what they thought would go with each song, played much slicker versions that have been described as "bar band" versions of Beefheart's songs. A negative review described this incarnation of the Magic Band as the "Tragic Band," a term that has stuck over the years. The one album they recorded, Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) has, like its predecessor Unconditionally Guaranteed, a completely different, almost soft-rock, sound from any other Beefheart record. Neither was well received; drummer Art Tripp recalled that when he and the original Magic Band listened to Unconditionally Guaranteed that they "were horrified. As we listened, it was as though each song was worse than the one which preceded it." Beefheart later disowned both albums, calling them "horrible and vulgar", asking that they not be considered part of his musical output and urging fans who bought them to "take copies back for a refund".

The friendship between Frank Zappa and Van Vliet over the years was sometimes expressed in the form of rivalry as musicians drifted back and forth between Van Vliet and Zappa's respective groups. Their collaborative work can be found on the 1975 album Bongo Fury, along with Zappa rarity collections The Lost Episodes (1996) and Mystery Disc (1996). Particularly notable is Beefheart's vocal on "Willie the Pimp" from Zappa's otherwise instrumental album Hot Rats (1969).

From 1975 to 1977 there were no new records (the original version of Bat Chain Puller was recorded in 1976 but has never been released). In 1978 a completely new band was formed (consisting of Richard Redus, Jeff Moris Tepper, Bruce Fowler, Eric Drew Feldman and Robert Williams). These were from a younger generation of musicians eager to work with him and extremely capable of playing his music. In several cases they had been fans for years, and had learned his music from records.

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller), released in 1978, was largely regarded as a return to form. Described by Ned Ragget of Allmusic to "be manna from heaven for those feeling Beefheart had lost his way on his two Mercury albums". Doc at the Radar Station (1980) helped establish Beefheart's late resurgence as possibly the most consistently creative period of his musical career. Released by Virgin records during the post-punk scene, the music was again accessible by a younger more receptive audience. Van Vliet said at this period, "I'm doing a non-hypnotic music to break up the catatonic state... and I think there is one right now." Steve Huey of Allmusic would cite the album as being "generally acclaimed as the strongest album of his comeback, and by some as his best since Trout Mask Replica", "even if the Captain's voice isn't quite what it once was, Doc at the Radar Station is an excellent, focused consolidation of Beefheart's past and then-present".

In this period, Van Vliet made two appearances on David Letterman's late night television program on NBC, and also performed on Saturday Night Live. The final Beefheart record, Ice Cream for Crow (1982), was recorded with Gary Lucas (who was also Van Vliet's manager), Jeff Moris Tepper, Richard Snyder and Cliff Martinez. This line-up made a video to promote the title track which was rejected by MTV for being "too weird." However, that video was included in the Letterman broadcast on NBC-TV. Soon after, Van Vliet retired from music and established a new career as a painter.
Artistic career, 1982 to present

In the mid 1980s, Van Vliet became somewhat reclusive and abandoned music, stating he could make far more money painting. He was initially dismissed by some critics as "another rock musician dabbling in art for ego's sake". Over the years, however, his work began receiving positive attention. His artwork, like his music, has been seen as extreme and innovative, it commands high prices, some paintings of up to $25,000.
Cross Poked Shadow of a Crow No. 1 (1990)
Rolled Roots Gnarled Like Rakers (1985)

In the early 1980s Van Vliet established an association with the Michael Werner Gallery. Eric Feldman stated later in an interview that at that time Michael Werner told Van Vliet he would need to stop playing music if he wanted to be respected as a painter. Gordon Veneklasen, one of the gallery's directors in 1995 described Van Vliet as an "incredible painter" whose work "doesn't really look like anybody else's work but his own." Van Vliet has been described as a modernist, primitivist and an abstract expressionist. Morgan Falconer of Artforum concurs mentioning both a "neo-primitivist aesthetic" and further stating that his work is influenced by the CoBrA painters. The resemblance to the CoBrA painters is also recognized by art critic Roberto Ohrt. Some have compared it to the work of Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Francis Bacon.

According to Dr. John Lane, director of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco in 1997, although Van Vliet's work has associations with mainstream abstract expressionist painting, more importantly he is a self-taught artist and his painting "has that same kind of edge the music has." Van Vliet has stated of his own work, "I'm trying to turn myself inside out on the canvas. I'm trying to completely bare what I think at that moment" and has stated of precedent influences that there are none. "I just paint like I paint and that's enough influence."

Exhibits in 2007 of his paintings through the late 1990s at both the Anton Kern and Michael Werner Galleries of New York City received favorable reviews, the most recent of which was in 2008. Falconer stated the recent exhibitions show "evidence of a serious, committed artist."
Personal life

Van Vliet is last known to reside in Valhala, a small community near the Mojave Desert, in a mobile home with his wife Janet "Jan" Van Vliet. It was claimed that he stopped painting in the late 1990s. Around that time, it became publicly known that he had become wheelchair-bound and was suffering from a debilitating long-term illness. Cited and considered to most likely be multiple sclerosis. A 2007 interview with Van Vliet through email by Anthony Haden-Guest however, showed him to still be active artistically.

One of Van Vliet's few public appearances since his retirement from music is in the 1993 short documentary Some Yo Yo Stuff by filmmaker Anton Corbijn, described as an "observation of his observations". Around 13 minutes long and shot entirely in black and white, the film shows a noticeably weakened and dysarthric Van Vliet at his residence in California, reading poetry, and philosophically discussing his life, environment, music and art. In 2003 he appeared on the compilation album Where We Live: Stand for What You Stand On: A Benefit CD for EarthJustice singing a version of "Happy Birthday To You" retitled "Happy Earthday". The track is 35 seconds long and was recorded over the telephone.
Legacy

Van Vliet has been the subject of at least one documentary, the BBC's 1997 The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart., which was narrated by BBC disc jockey John Peel. The Magic Band, fronted by John French, with Denny Walley, Mark Boston and Gary Lucas, reformed without Van Vliet in 2003; and in 2005 toured the UK, playing a selection of small venues. John Peel was initially skeptical about the reformed Magic Band. He played a live recording of the band recorded at the 2003 All Tomorrows Parties festival on his show. After playing their set Peel couldn't speak and had to play a record to regain his composure. A year or so later the band did a live session for Peel. The band released two albums. Back To The Front was released on London the based ATP Recordings in 2003. 21st Century Mirror Men, followed in 2005. After playing over 30 shows throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, and just one in the United States, the band concluded their activities in 2006.
Influence

John Peel stated, "If there has ever been such a thing as a genius in the history of popular music, it's Beefheart... I heard echoes of his music in some of the records I listened to last week and I'll hear more echoes in records that I listen to this week." Describing him as a "psychedelic shaman who frequently bullied his musicians and sometimes alarmed his fans; Don somehow remained one of rock's great innocents". Many artists have cited Van Vliet as an influence, beginning with the Edgar Broughton Band, who covered "Dropout Boogie" (mixed with The Shadows' "Apache") as early as 1970. More notable were those emerging during the early days of punk rock, such as the Clash and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols, later of the post-punk band Public Image Ltd. This influence has seen Van Vliet often cited as a protopunk musician.

Cartoonist and writer Matt Groening tells of listening to Trout Mask Replica at the age of 15 and thinking "that it was the worst thing I'd ever heard. I said to myself, they're not even trying! It was just a sloppy cacophony. Then I listened to it a couple more times, because I couldn't believe Frank Zappa could do this to me - and because a double album cost a lot of money. About the third time, I realised they were doing it on purpose; they meant it to sound exactly this way. About the sixth or seventh time, it clicked in, and I thought it was the greatest album I'd ever heard."

Van Vliet's influence on the post-punk bands was demonstrated by Magazine's recording of "I Love You You Big Dummy" in 1978 and the tribute album Fast 'n' Bulbous - A Tribute to Captain Beefheart in 1988, featuring the likes of artists such as the Dog Faced Hermans, The Scientists, The Membranes, Simon Fisher Turner, That Petrol Emotion, the Primevals, The Mock Turtles, XTC, and Sonic Youth, who included a cover of Beefheart's "Electricity" as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of their critically acclaimed album Daydream Nation. The Minutemen were great fans of Beefheart, and were arguably among the few to effectively synthesize his music with their own, especially in their early output, which featured disjointed guitar and irregular, galloping rhythms. Michael Azerrad describes The Minutemen's early as "highly caffeinated Captain Beefheart running down James Brown tunes", and notes that Beefheart was the group's "idol". Mark E. Smith of The Fall would also acknowledge his admiration of Beefheart.

Tom Waits' shift in artistic direction, starting with 1983's Swordfishtrombones, was, Waits claims, a result of his wife introducing him to Van Vliet's music. Guitarist John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has also cited Van Vliet as a prominent influence on the band's 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik as well as his debut solo album Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and stated that during his drug-induced absence, after leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he "would paint and listen to Trout Mask Replica." Black Francis of the Pixies would cite Beefheart's The Spotlight Kid as one of the albums he listened to predominately when first writing songs for the band, citing influence and admiration of Van Vliet generally. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana would also acknowledge the influence of Van Vliet. The White Stripes in 2000 released a 7'' tribute single, Party of Special Things to Do, containing covers of Beefheart's "Party of Special Things to Do", "China Pig" and "Ashtray Heart". Franz Ferdinand cited Beefheart's 1980 album Doc At The Radar Station as a strong influence on their second LP, You Could Have It So Much Better. Placebo briefly named themselves Ashtray Heart, after the track on Doc at the Radar Station; the band's album Battle for the Sun contains a track called "Ashtray Heart". Joan Osborne covered Beefheart's "(His) Eyes are a Blue Million Miles," which appears on Early Recordings. She cites Van Vliet as one of her influences.
Discography
Main article: Captain Beefheart discography

    * Safe as Milk (1967)
    * Strictly Personal (1968)
    * Trout Mask Replica (1969)
    * Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970)
    * Mirror Man (1971)
    * The Spotlight Kid (1972)



    * Clear Spot (1972)
    * Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974)
    * Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974)
    * Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978)
    * Doc at the Radar Station (1980)
    * Ice Cream for Crow (1982)
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj89/Jaqaroo/beefheart.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s122/mark_dirt/Captain%20Beefheart/beefheart2-1.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z181/mastertpot/vlcsnap-10849380.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/larvamachine/LJpics/Captain_Beefheart.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/10 at 5:49 am

The person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 — January 15, 1994) was an American songwriter, singer, pianist, and guitarist who achieved the height of his fame during the 1960s and 1970s. For most of his recordings, he did not use his first name, and was credited only as Nilsson. Among Nilsson's best-known recordings are "Without You", "Jump into the Fire", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

Nilsson's personal and musical style is best described as witty and idiosyncratic, yet always he was a consummate pop craftsman much in demand especially in the late 1960s. He garnered many critical and commercial successes, including two Grammy Awards and two Top 10 singles, despite his tendency to switch styles from one album to the next and his generally iconoclastic decision-making.
Nilsson signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released an album the following year, Pandemonium Shadow Show, which was a critical (if not commercial) success. Music industry insiders were impressed both with the songwriting and with Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals. One such insider was The Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, who bought an entire box of copies of the album to share this new sound with others. With a major-label release, and continued songwriting success (most notably with The Monkees, who had a hit with Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy," after meeting him through their producer Chip Douglas), Nilsson finally felt secure enough in the music business to quit his job with the bank. Monkees member Micky Dolenz maintained a close friendship until Nilsson's death in 1994.

Some of the albums from Derek Taylor's box eventually ended up with the Beatles themselves, who quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have been helped by the track "You Can't Do That", in which Nilsson covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".

Aided by the Beatles' praise, "You Can't Do That" became a minor hit in the US, and a top 10 hit in Canada.

When RCA had asked if there was anything special he wanted as a signing premium, Nilsson asked for his own office at RCA, being used to working out of one. In the weeks after the Apple press conference, Nilsson's office phone began ringing constantly, with offers and requests for interviews and inquiries about his performing schedule. Nilsson usually answered the calls himself, surprising the callers, and answered questions candidly. (He recalled years later the flow of a typical conversation: "When did you play last?" "I didn't." "Where have you played before?" "I haven't." "When will you be playing next?" "I don't.") Nilsson acquired a manager, who steered him into a handful of TV guest appearances, and a brief run of stage performances in Europe set up by RCA. He disliked the experiences he had, though, and decided to stick to the recording studio. He later admitted this was a huge mistake on his part.

Once John Lennon called and praised Pandemonium Shadow Show, which he had listened to in a 36-hour marathon. Paul McCartney called later, also expressing his admiration. Nilsson was disappointed that he didn't receive a call from Ringo Starr or George Harrison, but shortly after a message came, inviting him to London to meet the Beatles, watch them at work, and possibly sign with Apple Corps.

Pandemonium Shadow Show was followed in 1968 by Aerial Ballet, an album that included Nilsson's rendition of Fred Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'". A minor US hit at the time of release (and a top 40 hit in Canada), the song would become extremely popular a year later when it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy, and it would earn Nilsson his first Grammy Award. The song would also become Nilsson's first US top 10 hit, reaching #6, and his first Canadian #1.

Aerial Ballet also contained Nilsson's version of his own composition, One, which was later taken to the top 5 of the US charts by Three Dog Night. Nilsson was also commissioned at this time to write and perform the theme song for the ABC television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father. The result, "Best Friend", was very popular, but Nilsson never released the song on record; an alternate version, "Girlfriend", did appear on the 1995 Personal Best anthology. Late in 1968, The Monkees' notorious experimental film Head premiered, featuring a memorable song-and-dance sequence with Davy Jones and Toni Basil performing Nilsson's composition "Daddy's Song." (This is followed by Frank Zappa's cameo as "The Critic," who dismisses the 1920s-style tune as "pretty white.")

With the success of Nilsson's RCA recordings, Tower re-issued or re-packaged many of their early Nilsson recordings in various formats. All of these re-issues failed to chart, including a 1969 single "Good Times".
Chart success

Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), but used instead in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (USA title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week." Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow."

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. Coconut was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of the Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was famously used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the film Goodfellas.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you", Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album did well, and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
The maverick

This disregard for commercialism in favor of artistic satisfaction showed itself in Nilsson's next release, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973). Performing a selection of pop standards by the likes of Irving Berlin, Kalmar and Ruby, Nilsson sang in front of an orchestra arranged and conducted by veteran Gordon Jenkins in sessions produced by Derek Taylor. While the sessions showcased a talented singer in one of his best performances, this musical endeavor did not do particularly well commercially. The session was filmed, and was broadcast as a television special by the BBC in the UK.

1973 found Nilsson back in California, and when John Lennon moved there during his separation from Yoko Ono, the two musicians rekindled their earlier friendship. Lennon was intent upon producing Nilsson's next album, much to Nilsson's delight. However, their time together in California became known much more for heavy drinking and drug use than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident, they were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken heckling of the Smothers Brothers. Both men also caused property damage during binges, with Lennon trashing a bedroom in Lou Adler's house, and Nilsson throwing a bottle through a thirty-foot hotel window.

To make matters worse, Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord during the sessions for this album, but he hid the injury due to fear that Lennon would call a halt to the production. The resulting album was Pussy Cats. In an effort to clean up, Lennon, Nilsson and Ringo Starr first rented a house together, then Lennon and Nilsson left for New York.

After the relative failure of his latest two albums, RCA Records considered dropping Nilsson's contract. In a show of friendship, Lennon accompanied Nilsson to negotiations, and both intimated to RCA that Lennon and Starr might want to sign with them, once their Apple Records contracts with EMI expired in 1975, but wouldn't be interested if Nilsson were no longer with the label. RCA took the hint and re-signed Nilsson (adding a bonus clause, to apply to each new album completed), but neither Lennon nor Starr switched to RCA.

Nilsson's voice had mostly recovered by his next release, Duit on Mon Dei (1975), but neither it nor its follow-ups, Sandman and …That's the Way It Is (both 1976) met with chart success. Finally, Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album, 1977's Knnillssonn. With his voice strong again, and his songs exploring musical territory reminiscent of Harry or The Point!, Nilsson had every right to expect Knnillssonn to be a comeback album. RCA Victor seemed to agree, and promised Nilsson a substantial marketing campaign for the album. However, the death of Elvis Presley caused RCA Victor to ignore everything except meeting demand for Presley's back catalog, and the promised marketing push never happened. This, combined with RCA Victor releasing a Nilsson Greatest Hits collection without consulting him, prompted Nilsson to leave the label.
London flat

Nilsson's 1970s London flat in the building at 12 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the U.S. for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of chlormethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Winding down

Nilsson's musical work after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and directed by longtime friend Bert Convy. The show was mounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, but never had another production. He wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's movie-musical Popeye (1980), the score of which met with unfavorable reviews. Nilsson's Popeye compositions included several songs that were representative of Nilsson's acclaimed "Point" era, such as "Everything is Food" and "Sweethaven". He recorded one more album, Flash Harry co-produced by Bruce Robb (producer) and Steve Cropper, which was released in the UK but not in the USA. However, Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a "retired musician".

Nilsson was profoundly affected by the murder of his close friend John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and overcame his preference for privacy to make appearances for gun control fundraising.

After a long hiatus from the studio, Nilsson started recording sporadically once again in the mid to late 1980s. Most of these recordings were commissioned songs for movies or television shows. One notable exception was his work on a Yoko Ono Lennon tribute album, "Every Man Has A Woman" (1984) (Polydor); another was a cover of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" recorded for Hal Willner's 1988 tribute album Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films. Nilsson donated his performance royalties from the song to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

In 1991, the Disney CD For Our Children, a compilation of children's music performed by celebrities to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, included Nilsson's original composition Blanket for a Sail, recorded at the Shandaliza Recording Studio in Los Angeles.

In 1985 Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee the various film, TV and multimedia projects he was involved in. He appointed his friend, satirist and screenwriter Terry Southern as one of the principals, and they collaborated on a number of screenplays including Obits (a Citizen Kane style story about a journalist investigating an obituary notice) and The Telephone, a one-hander about an unhinged unemployed actor.

The Telephone was virtually the only Hawkeye project that made it to the screen. It had been written with Robin Williams in mind but he turned it down; comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg then signed on, with Southern's friend Rip Torn directing, but the project was troubled. Torn battled with Goldberg, who interfered in the production and constantly digressed from the script during shooting, and Torn was forced to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the screenplay. Torn, Southern and Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the "official" version from the studio, and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988. The project reportedly had some later success when adapted as a theatre piece in Germany.

In 1990 Hawkeye collapsed and Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation after it was discovered that his financial adviser Cindy Sims had betrayed his trust and embezzled all the funds he had earned as a recording artist. The Nilssons were left with $300 in the bank and a mountain of debt, while Sims served less than two years for her crimes and was released from prison in 1994 without making restitution.

After the death of John Lennon, he began to appear at Beatlefest conventions to raise money for gun control and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to either sing some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance." Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada to sing "Without You" with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. Afterwards, an emotional Ringo Starr embraced Nilsson on stage.

Nilsson's health had deteriorated, and he suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album on January 15, 1994, with producer Mark Hudson who still holds the tapes of that session, and then died that night of heart failure in Agoura Hills, California. The following year, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children, and one son from an earlier marriage. His wife discussed both John Lennon and Nilsson in the film The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which opened September 15 2006. Nilsson himself is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and his good friends producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

In 2006, Harry Nilsson's first grandchild, a boy, was born in California.

In May 2005 WPS1 art radio played tribute to Nilsson with curator Sherrie Fell and brother and sister hosts Bernadette and Harry O'Reilly.

As of November 2008, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.
Discography
Albums

    * Hollywood Dreamer (Recorded In 1962)
    * Spotlight on Nilsson (1966) (Tower Records)
    * Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) (RCA Records)
    * Aerial Ballet (1968) (RCA Records)
    * Skidoo (soundtrack) (1968) (RCA Records)
    * Harry (1969) (RCA Records), US #120
    * Rock n Roll Nilsson (1969) (Pickwick Records)- reissue of Spotlight on Nilsson
    * Nilsson Sings Newman (1970)
    * The Point! (1971) (RCA Records), US #25
    * Aerial Pandemonium Ballet (1971), US #149
    * Nilsson Schmilsson (1971), US #3
    * Son of Schmilsson (1972) (RCA Records), US #12
    * A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973) (RCA Records), US #46
    * Son of Dracula (1974) (RCA Records), US #106
    * Pussy Cats (1974) (RCA Records), US #60
    * A Toot and a Snore in '74 (1974) (John Lennon & Paul McCartney also featuring Stevie Wonder and Harry Nilsson) - a 30 minute studio bootleg
    * Duit on Mon Dei (1975) (RCA Records), US #141
    * Sandman (1976) (RCA Records), US #111
    * …That's the Way It Is (1976) (RCA Records), US #158
    * Knnillssonn (1977) (RCA Records), US #108
    * Flash Harry (1980) (not released in USA) (Mercury Records)
    * Early Tymes (1982) (CBS Records)
    * A touch more Schmilsson in the night (1988) (BMG Records)
    * Harry Nilsson - All Time Greatest Hits(1989), US #140
    * Personal Best: The Harry Nilsson Anthology (1995) (RCA Records)
    * Nilsson: Greatest Hits (2002) (RCA Records)
    * Everybody's Talkin': The Very Best of Harry Nilsson (2006) (Legacy Recordings)

Compilations

    * Performed "Silver Horse", "Dream Love" & "Loneliness" on 'Every Man Has a Woman' (Songs of Yoko Ono), 1984 (one of various artists).
    * Performed Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, 1988 (one of various artists).

Singles

As Bo Pete:

    * 1964: Baa Baa Blacksheep
    * 1964: Do You Wanna (Have Some Fun)

As Johnny Niles:

    * 1964: Donna I Understand

As Nilsson:

    * 1964: Sixteen Tons (Tower 103)
    * 1965: You Can't Take Your Love Away From Me (Tower 136)
    * 1965: The Path That Leads To Trouble (Tower 165)
    * 1966: She's Yours (Tower 244)
    * 1967: Without Her
    * 1967: You Can't Do That (US #122, Canada #10)
    * 1967: River Deep - Mountain High (Canadian release only)
    * 1967: Good Old Desk (European release only)
    * 1968: One
    * 1968: Everybody's Talkin' (initial release -- US #113, Canada #35)
    * 1969: I Will Take You There
    * 1969: Everybody's Talkin' (re-release -- US #6, US A/C #2, Canada #1, Canada A/C #1, UK #23)
    * 1969: Good Times
    * 1969: Maybe
    * 1969: I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City (US #34, US A/C #7, Canada #25, Canada A/C #3)
    * 1970: Waiting (US A/C #40, Canada A/C #31)
    * 1970: Caroline
    * 1970: Down To The Valley (Canada #80)
    * 1971: Me And My Arrow (US #34, US A/C #3, Canada #23, Canada A/C #17)
    * 1971: Without You (US #1, US A/C #1, Canada #1, Canada A/C #24, UK #1)
    * 1972: Jump Into The Fire (US #27, Canada #16)
    * 1972: Coconut (US #8, Canada #5, UK #42)
    * 1972: Spaceman (US #23, Canada #12)
    * 1972: Remember (Christmas) (US #53, US A/C #21, Canada #57, Canada A/C #14)
    * 1973: As Time Goes By (US #86, US A/C #35, Canada A/C #87)
    * 1974: Daybreak (US #39, US A/C #37, Canada #15, Canada A/C #17)
    * 1974: Many Rivers To Cross (US #109, Canada #82, Canada A/C #43)
    * 1974: Subterranean Homesick Blues
    * 1974: Save The Last Dance For Me (UK release only)
    * 1974: Don't Forget Me
    * 1975: A Love Like Yours (Nilsson & Cher)
    * 1975: Kojak Columbo
    * 1976: Something True (UK release only)
    * 1976: Sail Away
    * 1976: Just One Look/Baby I'm Yours (medley), duet with former Supreme Lynda Laurence (UK release only)
    * 1977: Who Done It?
    * 1977: All I Think About Is You (UK #43)
    * 1977: Lean On Me (UK release only)
    * 1978: Ain't It Kinda Wonderful
    * 1980: I Don't Need You (UK release only)
    * 1980: Rain (UK release only)
    * 1982: With A Bullet (only available to attendees of Beatlefest '82)
    * 1984: Loneliness

as Buck Earle:

    * 1972: Joy
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n426/ladygrinningsoul88/nilsson2006125-01_1138188591.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/wundrboi/Harry_Nilsson_publicity_photo.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/bryanclopton/Harry1-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l32/Fred_Fred_Wednesday/The%20Monkees/nilssonandmick.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/10 at 6:54 am

I love Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/10 at 8:58 am


I love Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.  :)

Yum, I like Mint Chocolate Chip, Butter Pecan & Chocolate Almond.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/15/10 at 10:11 am


The person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 — January 15, 1994) was an American songwriter, singer, pianist, and guitarist who achieved the height of his fame during the 1960s and 1970s. For most of his recordings, he did not use his first name, and was credited only as Nilsson. Among Nilsson's best-known recordings are "Without You", "Jump into the Fire", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

Nilsson's personal and musical style is best described as witty and idiosyncratic, yet always he was a consummate pop craftsman much in demand especially in the late 1960s. He garnered many critical and commercial successes, including two Grammy Awards and two Top 10 singles, despite his tendency to switch styles from one album to the next and his generally iconoclastic decision-making.
Nilsson signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released an album the following year, Pandemonium Shadow Show, which was a critical (if not commercial) success. Music industry insiders were impressed both with the songwriting and with Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals. One such insider was The Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, who bought an entire box of copies of the album to share this new sound with others. With a major-label release, and continued songwriting success (most notably with The Monkees, who had a hit with Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy," after meeting him through their producer Chip Douglas), Nilsson finally felt secure enough in the music business to quit his job with the bank. Monkees member Micky Dolenz maintained a close friendship until Nilsson's death in 1994.

Some of the albums from Derek Taylor's box eventually ended up with the Beatles themselves, who quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have been helped by the track "You Can't Do That", in which Nilsson covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".

Aided by the Beatles' praise, "You Can't Do That" became a minor hit in the US, and a top 10 hit in Canada.

When RCA had asked if there was anything special he wanted as a signing premium, Nilsson asked for his own office at RCA, being used to working out of one. In the weeks after the Apple press conference, Nilsson's office phone began ringing constantly, with offers and requests for interviews and inquiries about his performing schedule. Nilsson usually answered the calls himself, surprising the callers, and answered questions candidly. (He recalled years later the flow of a typical conversation: "When did you play last?" "I didn't." "Where have you played before?" "I haven't." "When will you be playing next?" "I don't.") Nilsson acquired a manager, who steered him into a handful of TV guest appearances, and a brief run of stage performances in Europe set up by RCA. He disliked the experiences he had, though, and decided to stick to the recording studio. He later admitted this was a huge mistake on his part.

Once John Lennon called and praised Pandemonium Shadow Show, which he had listened to in a 36-hour marathon. Paul McCartney called later, also expressing his admiration. Nilsson was disappointed that he didn't receive a call from Ringo Starr or George Harrison, but shortly after a message came, inviting him to London to meet the Beatles, watch them at work, and possibly sign with Apple Corps.

Pandemonium Shadow Show was followed in 1968 by Aerial Ballet, an album that included Nilsson's rendition of Fred Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'". A minor US hit at the time of release (and a top 40 hit in Canada), the song would become extremely popular a year later when it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy, and it would earn Nilsson his first Grammy Award. The song would also become Nilsson's first US top 10 hit, reaching #6, and his first Canadian #1.

Aerial Ballet also contained Nilsson's version of his own composition, One, which was later taken to the top 5 of the US charts by Three Dog Night. Nilsson was also commissioned at this time to write and perform the theme song for the ABC television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father. The result, "Best Friend", was very popular, but Nilsson never released the song on record; an alternate version, "Girlfriend", did appear on the 1995 Personal Best anthology. Late in 1968, The Monkees' notorious experimental film Head premiered, featuring a memorable song-and-dance sequence with Davy Jones and Toni Basil performing Nilsson's composition "Daddy's Song." (This is followed by Frank Zappa's cameo as "The Critic," who dismisses the 1920s-style tune as "pretty white.")

With the success of Nilsson's RCA recordings, Tower re-issued or re-packaged many of their early Nilsson recordings in various formats. All of these re-issues failed to chart, including a 1969 single "Good Times".
Chart success

Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), but used instead in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (USA title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week." Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow."

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. Coconut was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of the Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was famously used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the film Goodfellas.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you", Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album did well, and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
The maverick

This disregard for commercialism in favor of artistic satisfaction showed itself in Nilsson's next release, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973). Performing a selection of pop standards by the likes of Irving Berlin, Kalmar and Ruby, Nilsson sang in front of an orchestra arranged and conducted by veteran Gordon Jenkins in sessions produced by Derek Taylor. While the sessions showcased a talented singer in one of his best performances, this musical endeavor did not do particularly well commercially. The session was filmed, and was broadcast as a television special by the BBC in the UK.

1973 found Nilsson back in California, and when John Lennon moved there during his separation from Yoko Ono, the two musicians rekindled their earlier friendship. Lennon was intent upon producing Nilsson's next album, much to Nilsson's delight. However, their time together in California became known much more for heavy drinking and drug use than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident, they were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken heckling of the Smothers Brothers. Both men also caused property damage during binges, with Lennon trashing a bedroom in Lou Adler's house, and Nilsson throwing a bottle through a thirty-foot hotel window.

To make matters worse, Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord during the sessions for this album, but he hid the injury due to fear that Lennon would call a halt to the production. The resulting album was Pussy Cats. In an effort to clean up, Lennon, Nilsson and Ringo Starr first rented a house together, then Lennon and Nilsson left for New York.

After the relative failure of his latest two albums, RCA Records considered dropping Nilsson's contract. In a show of friendship, Lennon accompanied Nilsson to negotiations, and both intimated to RCA that Lennon and Starr might want to sign with them, once their Apple Records contracts with EMI expired in 1975, but wouldn't be interested if Nilsson were no longer with the label. RCA took the hint and re-signed Nilsson (adding a bonus clause, to apply to each new album completed), but neither Lennon nor Starr switched to RCA.

Nilsson's voice had mostly recovered by his next release, Duit on Mon Dei (1975), but neither it nor its follow-ups, Sandman and …That's the Way It Is (both 1976) met with chart success. Finally, Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album, 1977's Knnillssonn. With his voice strong again, and his songs exploring musical territory reminiscent of Harry or The Point!, Nilsson had every right to expect Knnillssonn to be a comeback album. RCA Victor seemed to agree, and promised Nilsson a substantial marketing campaign for the album. However, the death of Elvis Presley caused RCA Victor to ignore everything except meeting demand for Presley's back catalog, and the promised marketing push never happened. This, combined with RCA Victor releasing a Nilsson Greatest Hits collection without consulting him, prompted Nilsson to leave the label.
London flat

Nilsson's 1970s London flat in the building at 12 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the U.S. for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of chlormethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Winding down

Nilsson's musical work after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and directed by longtime friend Bert Convy. The show was mounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, but never had another production. He wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's movie-musical Popeye (1980), the score of which met with unfavorable reviews. Nilsson's Popeye compositions included several songs that were representative of Nilsson's acclaimed "Point" era, such as "Everything is Food" and "Sweethaven". He recorded one more album, Flash Harry co-produced by Bruce Robb (producer) and Steve Cropper, which was released in the UK but not in the USA. However, Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a "retired musician".

Nilsson was profoundly affected by the murder of his close friend John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and overcame his preference for privacy to make appearances for gun control fundraising.

After a long hiatus from the studio, Nilsson started recording sporadically once again in the mid to late 1980s. Most of these recordings were commissioned songs for movies or television shows. One notable exception was his work on a Yoko Ono Lennon tribute album, "Every Man Has A Woman" (1984) (Polydor); another was a cover of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" recorded for Hal Willner's 1988 tribute album Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films. Nilsson donated his performance royalties from the song to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

In 1991, the Disney CD For Our Children, a compilation of children's music performed by celebrities to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, included Nilsson's original composition Blanket for a Sail, recorded at the Shandaliza Recording Studio in Los Angeles.

In 1985 Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee the various film, TV and multimedia projects he was involved in. He appointed his friend, satirist and screenwriter Terry Southern as one of the principals, and they collaborated on a number of screenplays including Obits (a Citizen Kane style story about a journalist investigating an obituary notice) and The Telephone, a one-hander about an unhinged unemployed actor.

The Telephone was virtually the only Hawkeye project that made it to the screen. It had been written with Robin Williams in mind but he turned it down; comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg then signed on, with Southern's friend Rip Torn directing, but the project was troubled. Torn battled with Goldberg, who interfered in the production and constantly digressed from the script during shooting, and Torn was forced to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the screenplay. Torn, Southern and Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the "official" version from the studio, and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988. The project reportedly had some later success when adapted as a theatre piece in Germany.

In 1990 Hawkeye collapsed and Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation after it was discovered that his financial adviser Cindy Sims had betrayed his trust and embezzled all the funds he had earned as a recording artist. The Nilssons were left with $300 in the bank and a mountain of debt, while Sims served less than two years for her crimes and was released from prison in 1994 without making restitution.

After the death of John Lennon, he began to appear at Beatlefest conventions to raise money for gun control and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to either sing some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance." Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada to sing "Without You" with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. Afterwards, an emotional Ringo Starr embraced Nilsson on stage.

Nilsson's health had deteriorated, and he suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album on January 15, 1994, with producer Mark Hudson who still holds the tapes of that session, and then died that night of heart failure in Agoura Hills, California. The following year, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children, and one son from an earlier marriage. His wife discussed both John Lennon and Nilsson in the film The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which opened September 15 2006. Nilsson himself is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and his good friends producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

In 2006, Harry Nilsson's first grandchild, a boy, was born in California.

In May 2005 WPS1 art radio played tribute to Nilsson with curator Sherrie Fell and brother and sister hosts Bernadette and Harry O'Reilly.

As of November 2008, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.
Discography
Albums

    * Hollywood Dreamer (Recorded In 1962)
    * Spotlight on Nilsson (1966) (Tower Records)
    * Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) (RCA Records)
    * Aerial Ballet (1968) (RCA Records)
    * Skidoo (soundtrack) (1968) (RCA Records)
    * Harry (1969) (RCA Records), US #120
    * Rock n Roll Nilsson (1969) (Pickwick Records)- reissue of Spotlight on Nilsson
    * Nilsson Sings Newman (1970)
    * The Point! (1971) (RCA Records), US #25
    * Aerial Pandemonium Ballet (1971), US #149
    * Nilsson Schmilsson (1971), US #3
    * Son of Schmilsson (1972) (RCA Records), US #12
    * A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973) (RCA Records), US #46
    * Son of Dracula (1974) (RCA Records), US #106
    * Pussy Cats (1974) (RCA Records), US #60
    * A Toot and a Snore in '74 (1974) (John Lennon & Paul McCartney also featuring Stevie Wonder and Harry Nilsson) - a 30 minute studio bootleg
    * Duit on Mon Dei (1975) (RCA Records), US #141
    * Sandman (1976) (RCA Records), US #111
    * …That's the Way It Is (1976) (RCA Records), US #158
    * Knnillssonn (1977) (RCA Records), US #108
    * Flash Harry (1980) (not released in USA) (Mercury Records)
    * Early Tymes (1982) (CBS Records)
    * A touch more Schmilsson in the night (1988) (BMG Records)
    * Harry Nilsson - All Time Greatest Hits(1989), US #140
    * Personal Best: The Harry Nilsson Anthology (1995) (RCA Records)
    * Nilsson: Greatest Hits (2002) (RCA Records)
    * Everybody's Talkin': The Very Best of Harry Nilsson (2006) (Legacy Recordings)

Compilations

    * Performed "Silver Horse", "Dream Love" & "Loneliness" on 'Every Man Has a Woman' (Songs of Yoko Ono), 1984 (one of various artists).
    * Performed Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, 1988 (one of various artists).

Singles

As Bo Pete:

    * 1964: Baa Baa Blacksheep
    * 1964: Do You Wanna (Have Some Fun)

As Johnny Niles:

    * 1964: Donna I Understand

As Nilsson:

    * 1964: Sixteen Tons (Tower 103)
    * 1965: You Can't Take Your Love Away From Me (Tower 136)
    * 1965: The Path That Leads To Trouble (Tower 165)
    * 1966: She's Yours (Tower 244)
    * 1967: Without Her
    * 1967: You Can't Do That (US #122, Canada #10)
    * 1967: River Deep - Mountain High (Canadian release only)
    * 1967: Good Old Desk (European release only)
    * 1968: One
    * 1968: Everybody's Talkin' (initial release -- US #113, Canada #35)
    * 1969: I Will Take You There
    * 1969: Everybody's Talkin' (re-release -- US #6, US A/C #2, Canada #1, Canada A/C #1, UK #23)
    * 1969: Good Times
    * 1969: Maybe
    * 1969: I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City (US #34, US A/C #7, Canada #25, Canada A/C #3)
    * 1970: Waiting (US A/C #40, Canada A/C #31)
    * 1970: Caroline
    * 1970: Down To The Valley (Canada #80)
    * 1971: Me And My Arrow (US #34, US A/C #3, Canada #23, Canada A/C #17)
    * 1971: Without You (US #1, US A/C #1, Canada #1, Canada A/C #24, UK #1)
    * 1972: Jump Into The Fire (US #27, Canada #16)
    * 1972: Coconut (US #8, Canada #5, UK #42)
    * 1972: Spaceman (US #23, Canada #12)
    * 1972: Remember (Christmas) (US #53, US A/C #21, Canada #57, Canada A/C #14)
    * 1973: As Time Goes By (US #86, US A/C #35, Canada A/C #87)
    * 1974: Daybreak (US #39, US A/C #37, Canada #15, Canada A/C #17)
    * 1974: Many Rivers To Cross (US #109, Canada #82, Canada A/C #43)
    * 1974: Subterranean Homesick Blues
    * 1974: Save The Last Dance For Me (UK release only)
    * 1974: Don't Forget Me
    * 1975: A Love Like Yours (Nilsson & Cher)
    * 1975: Kojak Columbo
    * 1976: Something True (UK release only)
    * 1976: Sail Away
    * 1976: Just One Look/Baby I'm Yours (medley), duet with former Supreme Lynda Laurence (UK release only)
    * 1977: Who Done It?
    * 1977: All I Think About Is You (UK #43)
    * 1977: Lean On Me (UK release only)
    * 1978: Ain't It Kinda Wonderful
    * 1980: I Don't Need You (UK release only)
    * 1980: Rain (UK release only)
    * 1982: With A Bullet (only available to attendees of Beatlefest '82)
    * 1984: Loneliness

as Buck Earle:

    * 1972: Joy
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n426/ladygrinningsoul88/nilsson2006125-01_1138188591.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/wundrboi/Harry_Nilsson_publicity_photo.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/bryanclopton/Harry1-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l32/Fred_Fred_Wednesday/The%20Monkees/nilssonandmick.jpg



I LOVE Harry Nilsson. One of my favs of his is the Puppy Song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIg8CTRu7e8



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/10 at 10:27 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I04uD371-fI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/10 at 10:27 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I04uD371-fI
My favourite Harry Nillsoon track.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/10 at 12:00 pm

Thanks for sharing Cat & Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/15/10 at 12:04 pm

Harry was a very talented man.
"Without you" is a classic.

I also like "The most beautiful world in the world", 1941, Living without you, Remember (Christmas), girlfriend, good old desk...Everybodys' talkin'...so many nice songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/15/10 at 12:28 pm


Harry was a very talented man.
"Without you" is a classic.

I also like "The most beautiful world in the world", 1941, Living without you, Remember (Christmas), girlfriend, good old desk...Everybodys' talkin'...so many nice songs.



There is also the song "You're Breaking My Heart."  ;) :D ;D ;D


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/10 at 2:46 pm

I also like Neapolitan.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/15/10 at 5:10 pm



There is also the song "You're Breaking My Heart."  ;) :D ;D ;D


Cat

That's a good song. :D .except you are pretty shocked when you hear it for the fist time.
"You're breaking my heart, You're tearing it apart, so..."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/10 at 11:54 pm


The person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 — January 15, 1994) was an American songwriter, singer, pianist, and guitarist who achieved the height of his fame during the 1960s and 1970s. For most of his recordings, he did not use his first name, and was credited only as Nilsson. Among Nilsson's best-known recordings are "Without You", "Jump into the Fire", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

Nilsson's personal and musical style is best described as witty and idiosyncratic, yet always he was a consummate pop craftsman much in demand especially in the late 1960s. He garnered many critical and commercial successes, including two Grammy Awards and two Top 10 singles, despite his tendency to switch styles from one album to the next and his generally iconoclastic decision-making.
Nilsson signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released an album the following year, Pandemonium Shadow Show, which was a critical (if not commercial) success. Music industry insiders were impressed both with the songwriting and with Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals. One such insider was The Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, who bought an entire box of copies of the album to share this new sound with others. With a major-label release, and continued songwriting success (most notably with The Monkees, who had a hit with Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy," after meeting him through their producer Chip Douglas), Nilsson finally felt secure enough in the music business to quit his job with the bank. Monkees member Micky Dolenz maintained a close friendship until Nilsson's death in 1994.

Some of the albums from Derek Taylor's box eventually ended up with the Beatles themselves, who quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have been helped by the track "You Can't Do That", in which Nilsson covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".

Aided by the Beatles' praise, "You Can't Do That" became a minor hit in the US, and a top 10 hit in Canada.

When RCA had asked if there was anything special he wanted as a signing premium, Nilsson asked for his own office at RCA, being used to working out of one. In the weeks after the Apple press conference, Nilsson's office phone began ringing constantly, with offers and requests for interviews and inquiries about his performing schedule. Nilsson usually answered the calls himself, surprising the callers, and answered questions candidly. (He recalled years later the flow of a typical conversation: "When did you play last?" "I didn't." "Where have you played before?" "I haven't." "When will you be playing next?" "I don't.") Nilsson acquired a manager, who steered him into a handful of TV guest appearances, and a brief run of stage performances in Europe set up by RCA. He disliked the experiences he had, though, and decided to stick to the recording studio. He later admitted this was a huge mistake on his part.

Once John Lennon called and praised Pandemonium Shadow Show, which he had listened to in a 36-hour marathon. Paul McCartney called later, also expressing his admiration. Nilsson was disappointed that he didn't receive a call from Ringo Starr or George Harrison, but shortly after a message came, inviting him to London to meet the Beatles, watch them at work, and possibly sign with Apple Corps.

Pandemonium Shadow Show was followed in 1968 by Aerial Ballet, an album that included Nilsson's rendition of Fred Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'". A minor US hit at the time of release (and a top 40 hit in Canada), the song would become extremely popular a year later when it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy, and it would earn Nilsson his first Grammy Award. The song would also become Nilsson's first US top 10 hit, reaching #6, and his first Canadian #1.

Aerial Ballet also contained Nilsson's version of his own composition, One, which was later taken to the top 5 of the US charts by Three Dog Night. Nilsson was also commissioned at this time to write and perform the theme song for the ABC television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father. The result, "Best Friend", was very popular, but Nilsson never released the song on record; an alternate version, "Girlfriend", did appear on the 1995 Personal Best anthology. Late in 1968, The Monkees' notorious experimental film Head premiered, featuring a memorable song-and-dance sequence with Davy Jones and Toni Basil performing Nilsson's composition "Daddy's Song." (This is followed by Frank Zappa's cameo as "The Critic," who dismisses the 1920s-style tune as "pretty white.")

With the success of Nilsson's RCA recordings, Tower re-issued or re-packaged many of their early Nilsson recordings in various formats. All of these re-issues failed to chart, including a 1969 single "Good Times".
Chart success

Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), but used instead in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (USA title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week." Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow."

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. Coconut was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of the Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was famously used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the film Goodfellas.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you", Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album did well, and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
The maverick

This disregard for commercialism in favor of artistic satisfaction showed itself in Nilsson's next release, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973). Performing a selection of pop standards by the likes of Irving Berlin, Kalmar and Ruby, Nilsson sang in front of an orchestra arranged and conducted by veteran Gordon Jenkins in sessions produced by Derek Taylor. While the sessions showcased a talented singer in one of his best performances, this musical endeavor did not do particularly well commercially. The session was filmed, and was broadcast as a television special by the BBC in the UK.

1973 found Nilsson back in California, and when John Lennon moved there during his separation from Yoko Ono, the two musicians rekindled their earlier friendship. Lennon was intent upon producing Nilsson's next album, much to Nilsson's delight. However, their time together in California became known much more for heavy drinking and drug use than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident, they were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken heckling of the Smothers Brothers. Both men also caused property damage during binges, with Lennon trashing a bedroom in Lou Adler's house, and Nilsson throwing a bottle through a thirty-foot hotel window.

To make matters worse, Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord during the sessions for this album, but he hid the injury due to fear that Lennon would call a halt to the production. The resulting album was Pussy Cats. In an effort to clean up, Lennon, Nilsson and Ringo Starr first rented a house together, then Lennon and Nilsson left for New York.

After the relative failure of his latest two albums, RCA Records considered dropping Nilsson's contract. In a show of friendship, Lennon accompanied Nilsson to negotiations, and both intimated to RCA that Lennon and Starr might want to sign with them, once their Apple Records contracts with EMI expired in 1975, but wouldn't be interested if Nilsson were no longer with the label. RCA took the hint and re-signed Nilsson (adding a bonus clause, to apply to each new album completed), but neither Lennon nor Starr switched to RCA.

Nilsson's voice had mostly recovered by his next release, Duit on Mon Dei (1975), but neither it nor its follow-ups, Sandman and …That's the Way It Is (both 1976) met with chart success. Finally, Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album, 1977's Knnillssonn. With his voice strong again, and his songs exploring musical territory reminiscent of Harry or The Point!, Nilsson had every right to expect Knnillssonn to be a comeback album. RCA Victor seemed to agree, and promised Nilsson a substantial marketing campaign for the album. However, the death of Elvis Presley caused RCA Victor to ignore everything except meeting demand for Presley's back catalog, and the promised marketing push never happened. This, combined with RCA Victor releasing a Nilsson Greatest Hits collection without consulting him, prompted Nilsson to leave the label.
London flat

Nilsson's 1970s London flat in the building at 12 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the U.S. for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of chlormethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Winding down

Nilsson's musical work after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and directed by longtime friend Bert Convy. The show was mounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, but never had another production. He wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's movie-musical Popeye (1980), the score of which met with unfavorable reviews. Nilsson's Popeye compositions included several songs that were representative of Nilsson's acclaimed "Point" era, such as "Everything is Food" and "Sweethaven". He recorded one more album, Flash Harry co-produced by Bruce Robb (producer) and Steve Cropper, which was released in the UK but not in the USA. However, Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a "retired musician".

Nilsson was profoundly affected by the murder of his close friend John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and overcame his preference for privacy to make appearances for gun control fundraising.

After a long hiatus from the studio, Nilsson started recording sporadically once again in the mid to late 1980s. Most of these recordings were commissioned songs for movies or television shows. One notable exception was his work on a Yoko Ono Lennon tribute album, "Every Man Has A Woman" (1984) (Polydor); another was a cover of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" recorded for Hal Willner's 1988 tribute album Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films. Nilsson donated his performance royalties from the song to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

In 1991, the Disney CD For Our Children, a compilation of children's music performed by celebrities to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, included Nilsson's original composition Blanket for a Sail, recorded at the Shandaliza Recording Studio in Los Angeles.

In 1985 Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee the various film, TV and multimedia projects he was involved in. He appointed his friend, satirist and screenwriter Terry Southern as one of the principals, and they collaborated on a number of screenplays including Obits (a Citizen Kane style story about a journalist investigating an obituary notice) and The Telephone, a one-hander about an unhinged unemployed actor.

The Telephone was virtually the only Hawkeye project that made it to the screen. It had been written with Robin Williams in mind but he turned it down; comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg then signed on, with Southern's friend Rip Torn directing, but the project was troubled. Torn battled with Goldberg, who interfered in the production and constantly digressed from the script during shooting, and Torn was forced to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the screenplay. Torn, Southern and Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the "official" version from the studio, and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988. The project reportedly had some later success when adapted as a theatre piece in Germany.

In 1990 Hawkeye collapsed and Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation after it was discovered that his financial adviser Cindy Sims had betrayed his trust and embezzled all the funds he had earned as a recording artist. The Nilssons were left with $300 in the bank and a mountain of debt, while Sims served less than two years for her crimes and was released from prison in 1994 without making restitution.

After the death of John Lennon, he began to appear at Beatlefest conventions to raise money for gun control and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to either sing some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance." Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada to sing "Without You" with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. Afterwards, an emotional Ringo Starr embraced Nilsson on stage.

Nilsson's health had deteriorated, and he suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album on January 15, 1994, with producer Mark Hudson who still holds the tapes of that session, and then died that night of heart failure in Agoura Hills, California. The following year, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children, and one son from an earlier marriage. His wife discussed both John Lennon and Nilsson in the film The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which opened September 15 2006. Nilsson himself is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and his good friends producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

In 2006, Harry Nilsson's first grandchild, a boy, was born in California.

In May 2005 WPS1 art radio played tribute to Nilsson with curator Sherrie Fell and brother and sister hosts Bernadette and Harry O'Reilly.

As of November 2008, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.
Discography
Albums

    * Hollywood Dreamer (Recorded In 1962)
    * Spotlight on Nilsson (1966) (Tower Records)
    * Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967) (RCA Records)
    * Aerial Ballet (1968) (RCA Records)
    * Skidoo (soundtrack) (1968) (RCA Records)
    * Harry (1969) (RCA Records), US #120
    * Rock n Roll Nilsson (1969) (Pickwick Records)- reissue of Spotlight on Nilsson
    * Nilsson Sings Newman (1970)
    * The Point! (1971) (RCA Records), US #25
    * Aerial Pandemonium Ballet (1971), US #149
    * Nilsson Schmilsson (1971), US #3
    * Son of Schmilsson (1972) (RCA Records), US #12
    * A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973) (RCA Records), US #46
    * Son of Dracula (1974) (RCA Records), US #106
    * Pussy Cats (1974) (RCA Records), US #60
    * A Toot and a Snore in '74 (1974) (John Lennon & Paul McCartney also featuring Stevie Wonder and Harry Nilsson) - a 30 minute studio bootleg
    * Duit on Mon Dei (1975) (RCA Records), US #141
    * Sandman (1976) (RCA Records), US #111
    * …That's the Way It Is (1976) (RCA Records), US #158
    * Knnillssonn (1977) (RCA Records), US #108
    * Flash Harry (1980) (not released in USA) (Mercury Records)
    * Early Tymes (1982) (CBS Records)
    * A touch more Schmilsson in the night (1988) (BMG Records)
    * Harry Nilsson - All Time Greatest Hits(1989), US #140
    * Personal Best: The Harry Nilsson Anthology (1995) (RCA Records)
    * Nilsson: Greatest Hits (2002) (RCA Records)
    * Everybody's Talkin': The Very Best of Harry Nilsson (2006) (Legacy Recordings)

Compilations

    * Performed "Silver Horse", "Dream Love" & "Loneliness" on 'Every Man Has a Woman' (Songs of Yoko Ono), 1984 (one of various artists).
    * Performed Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, 1988 (one of various artists).

Singles

As Bo Pete:

    * 1964: Baa Baa Blacksheep
    * 1964: Do You Wanna (Have Some Fun)

As Johnny Niles:

    * 1964: Donna I Understand

As Nilsson:

    * 1964: Sixteen Tons (Tower 103)
    * 1965: You Can't Take Your Love Away From Me (Tower 136)
    * 1965: The Path That Leads To Trouble (Tower 165)
    * 1966: She's Yours (Tower 244)
    * 1967: Without Her
    * 1967: You Can't Do That (US #122, Canada #10)
    * 1967: River Deep - Mountain High (Canadian release only)
    * 1967: Good Old Desk (European release only)
    * 1968: One
    * 1968: Everybody's Talkin' (initial release -- US #113, Canada #35)
    * 1969: I Will Take You There
    * 1969: Everybody's Talkin' (re-release -- US #6, US A/C #2, Canada #1, Canada A/C #1, UK #23)
    * 1969: Good Times
    * 1969: Maybe
    * 1969: I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City (US #34, US A/C #7, Canada #25, Canada A/C #3)
    * 1970: Waiting (US A/C #40, Canada A/C #31)
    * 1970: Caroline
    * 1970: Down To The Valley (Canada #80)
    * 1971: Me And My Arrow (US #34, US A/C #3, Canada #23, Canada A/C #17)
    * 1971: Without You (US #1, US A/C #1, Canada #1, Canada A/C #24, UK #1)
    * 1972: Jump Into The Fire (US #27, Canada #16)
    * 1972: Coconut (US #8, Canada #5, UK #42)
    * 1972: Spaceman (US #23, Canada #12)
    * 1972: Remember (Christmas) (US #53, US A/C #21, Canada #57, Canada A/C #14)
    * 1973: As Time Goes By (US #86, US A/C #35, Canada A/C #87)
    * 1974: Daybreak (US #39, US A/C #37, Canada #15, Canada A/C #17)
    * 1974: Many Rivers To Cross (US #109, Canada #82, Canada A/C #43)
    * 1974: Subterranean Homesick Blues
    * 1974: Save The Last Dance For Me (UK release only)
    * 1974: Don't Forget Me
    * 1975: A Love Like Yours (Nilsson & Cher)
    * 1975: Kojak Columbo
    * 1976: Something True (UK release only)
    * 1976: Sail Away
    * 1976: Just One Look/Baby I'm Yours (medley), duet with former Supreme Lynda Laurence (UK release only)
    * 1977: Who Done It?
    * 1977: All I Think About Is You (UK #43)
    * 1977: Lean On Me (UK release only)
    * 1978: Ain't It Kinda Wonderful
    * 1980: I Don't Need You (UK release only)
    * 1980: Rain (UK release only)
    * 1982: With A Bullet (only available to attendees of Beatlefest '82)
    * 1984: Loneliness

as Buck Earle:

    * 1972: Joy
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n426/ladygrinningsoul88/nilsson2006125-01_1138188591.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/wundrboi/Harry_Nilsson_publicity_photo.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/bryanclopton/Harry1-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l32/Fred_Fred_Wednesday/The%20Monkees/nilssonandmick.jpg
Harry Nilsson died at the same address as Keith Moon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/16/10 at 12:54 am



I LOVE Harry Nilsson. One of my favs of his is the Puppy Song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIg8CTRu7e8



Cat


Ditto... :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/10 at 6:48 am

The word of the day...Fog
#
When there is fog, there are tiny drops of water in the air which form a thick cloud and make it difficult to see things. N-VAR

    *
      The crash happened in thick fog.
    *
      These ocean fogs can last for days.

#
A fog is an unpleasant cloud of something such as smoke inside a building or room. N-SING

    *
      ...a fog of stale cigarette smoke. + 'of'

#
You can use fog to refer to a situation which stops people from being able to notice things, understand things, or think clearly. N-SING oft 'in' N

    *
      The most basic facts about him are lost in a fog of mythology. + 'of'
    *
      Synchronizing these attacks may be difficult in the fog of war. + 'of'
    *
      His mind was in a fog when he finally got up.

#
If a window, mirror, or other glass surface fogs or is fogged, it becomes covered with very small drops of water so that you cannot see things clearly through it or in it. V-ERG

    *
      The windows fogged immediately. V
    *
      Water had fogged his diving mask and he couldn't remember how to clear it. V n
    *
      The car windows were fogged with vapor
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/littlequeenie_photo/Nature/Fog.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu12/brude2000/4U2/fog_xlg.jpg
http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac285/southernpoint/barr-fog.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f199/HoldfastOrganicGardening/Sample/Swamp.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss214/DropDeadBianca/Decorated%20images/MyspacePhotos002.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/xxXJCSRXxx/274.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/fuzzyedges_album/fogontesk.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg3/personalcheeseit/Cars/Shadow/100_0172.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv220/supertala/PIC_0047.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/10 at 6:53 am

The birthday of the day...John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an Academy Award winning, American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction. His first major film as director, Dark Star (1974), was a sci-fi black comedy that he cowrote with Dan O'Bannon (who later went on to write Alien, borrowing freely from much of Dark Star). The film reportedly cost only $60,000 and was difficult to make as both Carpenter and O'Bannon completed the film by multitasking, with Carpenter doing the musical score as well as the writing, producing and directing, while O'Bannon acted in the film and did the special effects (which caught the attention of George Lucas who hired him to do work on the special effects for Star Wars). Carpenter's efforts did not go unnoticed as much of Hollywood marveled at his filmmaking abilities within the confines of a shoestring budget.

Carpenter's next film was Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), a low-budget thriller influenced by the films of Howard Hawks, particularly Rio Bravo. As with Dark Star, Carpenter was responsible for many aspects of the film's creation. He not only wrote, directed and scored it, but also edited the film under the pseudonym "John T. Chance" (the name of John Wayne's character in Rio Bravo). Carpenter has said that he considers Assault on Precinct 13 to have been his first real film because it was the first movie that he shot on a schedule. The film was also significant because it marked the first time Carpenter worked with Debra Hill, who played prominently in the making of some of Carpenter's most important films.

Working within the limitations of a $100,000 budget, Carpenter assembled a main cast that consisted of experienced but relatively obscure actors. The two leads were Austin Stoker, who had appeared previously in science fiction, disaster and blaxploitation films, and Darwin Joston, who had worked primarily in television and had once been Carpenter's next-door neighbor.

The film was originally released in the United States to mixed critical reviews and lackluster box-office earnings, but after it was screened at the 1977 London Film Festival, it became a critical and commercial success in Europe and is often credited with launching Carpenter's career. The film subsequently received a critical reassessment in the United States, where it is now generally regarded as one of the best exploitation films of the 1970s.

A long forgotten, but still very note worthy film that Carpenter both wrote and directed was the Lauren Hutton thriller Someone's Watching Me! (aka High Rise) in 1978, a very busy year for the director. This made-for-television movie tells a very simplistic, yet rather effective tale of a single, working woman who, shortly after arriving in L.A., discovers that she is gradually being stalked and constantly observed by an unseen predator in the high rise building across from her apartment. Though a made-for-television film, Someone's Watching Me! does stand out from others of the period. Borrowing heavily from Hitchcock classics, Carpenter slowly builds the suspense and intrigue before the final confrontation ensues, making the most out of the theory that what one can't see is far more interesting than what is shown on the screen. Although it has never received much attention, it's interesting to draw some parallels between the story, concept, and visuals in this film with those featured in the director's next immediate production, Halloween.

Halloween (1978) was a smash hit on release and helped give birth to the slasher film genre. Originally an idea suggested by producer Irwin Yablans (entitled The Babysitter Murders), who envisioned a film about babysitters being menaced by a stalker, Carpenter took the idea and another suggestion from Yablans that it take place during Halloween and developed a story. Carpenter said of the basic concept: "Halloween night. It has never been the theme in a film. My idea was to do an old haunted house movie." The film was written by Carpenter and Debra Hill with Carpenter admitting that the film was inspired by both Dario Argento's Suspiria and William Friedkin's The Exorcist.

Carpenter again worked with a relatively small budget, $320,000. The film grossed over $65 million initially, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time.

Carpenter relied upon taut suspense rather than the excessive gore that would define later slasher films in order to make the menacing nature of the main character, Michael Myers, more palpable. At times, Carpenter has described Halloween in terms that appeared to directly contradict the more thoughtful, nuanced approach to horror that he actually used, such as: "True crass exploitation. I decided to make a film I would love to have seen as a kid, full of cheap tricks like a haunted house at a fair where you walk down the corridor and things jump out at you." The film has often been cited as an allegory on the virtue of sexual purity and the danger of casual sex, although Carpenter has explained that this was not his intent: "It has been suggested that I was making some kind of moral statement. Believe me, I'm not. In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers." Of the later slasher films that largely mimicked Carpenter's work on Halloween, few have met with the same critical success.

In addition to the film's critical and commercial success, Carpenter's self-composed "Halloween Theme" remains a recognizable film music theme to this day.

In 1979, John Carpenter began what was to be the first of several collaborations with actor Kurt Russell when he directed the TV movie Elvis. The made-for-TV movie was a smash hit with viewers and critics, and was also released as a feature film in cinemas outside the U. S. and revived the career of Russell, who was a child actor in the 1960s.
1980s: Continued commercial success

Carpenter followed up the success of Halloween with The Fog (1980), a ghostly revenge tale (co-written by Hill) inspired by horror comics such as Tales from the Crypt and by The Crawling Eye, a 1958 movie about monsters hiding in clouds.

Completing The Fog was an unusually difficult process for Carpenter. After viewing a rough cut of the film, he was dissatisfied with the result. For the only time in his filmmaking career, he had to devise a way to salvage a nearly finished film that did not meet his standards. In order to make the movie more coherent and frightening, Carpenter shot additional footage that included a number of new scenes. Approximately one-third of the finished film is the newer footage.

Despite production problems and mostly negative critical reception, The Fog was another commercial success for Carpenter. The film was made on a budget of $1,000,000, but it grossed over $21,000,000 in the United States alone. Carpenter has said that The Fog is not his favorite film, although he considers it a "minor horror classic".

Carpenter immediately followed The Fog with the science-fiction adventure Escape from New York (1981), which quickly picked up large cult and mainstream audiences as well as critical acclaim.

His next film, The Thing (1982), is notable for its high production values, including innovative special effects by Rob Bottin, special visual effects by matte artist Albert Whitlock, a score by Ennio Morricone and a cast including rising star Kurt Russell and respected character actors such as Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart, Keith David, and Richard Masur. The Thing was made with a budget of $15,000,000, Carpenter's largest up to that point, and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Although Carpenter's film was ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film, The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's version is more faithful to the John W. Campbell, Jr. short story, Who Goes There?, upon which both films were based. Moreover, unlike the Hawks film, The Thing has a dark, pessimistic tone and a bleak ending, which didn't appeal to audiences in the summer of 1982, when it was released in the wake of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Consequently, it did not perform well commercially and was Carpenter's first financial failure. Later, the movie found new life in the home video and cable markets, and it is now widely regarded as one of the best horror films and remakes ever made.

Carpenter's next film, Christine, was the 1983 adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The story revolves around a high-school nerd named Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) who buys a junked 1958 Plymouth Fury which turns out to have supernatural powers. As Cunningham restores and rebuilds the car, he becomes unnaturally obsessed with it, with deadly consequences. Christine did respectable business upon its release and was received well by critics; however, Carpenter has been quoted as saying he directed the film because it was the only thing offered to him at the time.

One of the high points in Carpenter's career came in 1984 with the release of Starman, a film that was critically praised but was only a moderate commercial success. Produced by Michael Douglas, the script was well received by Columbia Pictures, which chose it over the script for E.T. and prompted Steven Spielberg to go to Universal Pictures. Douglas chose Carpenter to be the director because of his reputation as an action director who could also convey strong emotion. Starman was favorably reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and LA Weekly and described by Carpenter as a film he envisioned as a romantic comedy similar to It Happened One Night only with a space alien. The film received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Jeff Bridges' portrayal of Starman and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical Score for Jack Nitzsche.

After seeing footage of Starman, the executive producer of the Superman movie series, Ilya Salkind, offered Carpenter the chance to direct the latest Alexander–Ilya Salkind fantasy epic Santa Claus: The Movie. Salkind made the offer to Carpenter over lunch at The Ritz, and while he loved the idea of breaking from his normal traditions and directing a children's fantasy movie, he requested 24 hours to think over the offer. The next day he had drawn up a list of requirements should he direct the movie; they were: 100 percent creative control, the right to take over scriptwriting duties, being able to co-compose the movie's musical score, total editorial control, the casting of Brian Dennehey as Santa Claus and a $5 million signing-on fee (the same amount that the movie's star Dudley Moore was receiving). Team Salkind were nonplussed by his demands and withdrew their offer for him to direct. Carpenter told Empire magazine ten years later that he wished he'd been less demanding and made the movie because he liked the idea so much and it would have changed critics' views on his limitations as a director.

Following the box office failure of his big-budget action–comedy Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Carpenter struggled to get films financed. He returned to making lower budget films such as Prince of Darkness (1987), a film influenced by the BBC series Quatermass. Although some of the films from this time did pick up a cult audience, he never again realized his mass-market potential.
1990s: Criticism and commercial decline

His 1990s career is characterized by a number of notable misfires: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Village of the Damned (1995) and Escape From L.A. (1996) are examples of films that were critical and box office failures. Notable from this decade is:

    * In the Mouth of Madness (1995), yet another Lovecraftian homage, which did not do well either at the box-office or with critics.
    * Vampires (1998) starred James Woods as the leader of a band of vampire hunters in league with the Catholic Church.

2000s–present: Remakes and Masters of Horror

2001 saw the release of Ghosts of Mars and Carpenter's reputation remains strong; his earlier films are considered classics and (because they have continued to perform well on home video) several have been subjected to big budget remakes. 2005 saw remakes of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog, the latter being produced by Carpenter himself, though in an interview he defined his involvement as, "I come in and say hello to everybody. Go home."

More recently, Rob Zombie has produced and directed Halloween, a re-imagining of John Carpenter's 1978 film. It was released in 2007, and spawned a sequel two years later.

Carpenter returned to the director's chair in 2005 for an episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series as one of the thirteen filmmakers involved in the first season. His episode, Cigarette Burns, aired to generally positive reviews, and positive reactions from Carpenter fans, many of whom regard it as on par with his earlier horror classics. He has since contributed another original episode for the show's second season entitled "Pro-Life", about a young girl who is raped and impregnated by a demon and wants to have an abortion, but whose efforts are halted by her religious fanatic, gun-toting father and her three brothers.

A remake of Escape from New York was planned starring Gerard Butler as Snake Plissken but he has since turned the role down.

In February 2009, It was announced that Carpenter has planned for his newest project, called The Ward, starring Amber Heard. It will be his first movie since 2001's Ghosts of Mars.
Techniques

His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores (usually self-composed). He describes himself as having been influenced by Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nigel Kneale and The Twilight Zone.

With the exception of The Thing, Starman, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man, he has scored all of his films (though some are collaborations), most famously the themes from Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics.

Carpenter is a big fan of widescreen, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of Dark Star) have been filmed in anamorphic with an aspect ratio 2.35:1.
Legacy

With a career that has spanned over thirty years, John Carpenter has attained a reputation as a respected independent filmmaker. Although some of Carpenter's films have not been commercially or critically successful upon initial theatrical release, Carpenter has developed a large cult following through home video releases of his films. Many of his films, most notably The Thing, have been rediscovered on VHS, laserdisc and DVD and have since been embraced by many fans - interesting, as The Thing was initially Carpenter's first big setback. The film was considered excessively dark, did not do well at the box office and Rob Bottin's effects were considered too grotesque for a mainstream audience. Retrospectively, the film has gained much critical appreciation.

Four years later, Big Trouble in Little China was also poorly received by audiences and critics alike, an eclectic mix of genres that was years ahead of its time. This film, like The Thing, found its audience on VHS and DVD years after its theatrical release.

Many of Carpenter's films have been re-released on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features. Examples of such are: the collector's editions of Halloween, Escape From New York, Christine,The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble In Little China and The Fog. Some have been re-issued recently with a new anamorphic widescreen transfer. In the UK, several of Carpenter's films have been released on DVD with audio commentary by Carpenter and his stars (They Live, with actor/wrestler Roddy Piper, Starman with actor Jeff Bridges and Prince of Darkness with actor Peter Jason) that have not been released in the United States .

In recent years, Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies, and his status as a respected filmmaker has been reinforced by American Cinematheque's 2002 retrospective of his films. Moreover, in 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed Halloween to be "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Films
Year Film Credited as
Director Producer Writer Composer Actor Role
1970 The Resurrection of Broncho Billy Yes Yes
1974 Dark Star Yes Yes Yes Yes
1976 Assault on Precinct 13 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Gang Member
1978 Eyes of Laura Mars Yes
Halloween Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Voice of Paul
1980 The Fog Yes Yes Yes Yes Bennett
1981 Escape from New York Yes Yes Yes
Halloween II Yes Yes Yes
1982 The Thing Yes Yes Norwegian in video footage
Halloween III: Season of the Witch Yes Yes
1983 Christine Yes Yes
1984 The Philadelphia Experiment Yes
Starman Yes Yes Man in helicopter
1986 Big Trouble in Little China Yes Yes Yes Yes Worker in Chinatown
Black Moon Rising Yes Yes
The Boy Who Could Fly Yes Coupe de Villes band member
1987 Prince of Darkness Yes Yes Yes
1988 They Live Yes Yes Yes
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers Yes
1992 Memoirs of an Invisible Man Yes Yes Helicopter pilot
1993 The Silence of the Hams Yes Trench coat man
1995 In the Mouth of Madness Yes Yes
Village of the Damned Yes Yes Yes Man at gas station phone
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers Yes
1996 Escape from L.A. Yes Yes Yes
1998 Vampires Yes Yes
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later Yes
2001 Ghosts of Mars Yes Yes Yes
Vampires: Los Muertos Yes
2002 Halloween: Resurrection Yes
2005 Assault on Precinct 13 Yes
The Fog Yes Yes
2007 Halloween Yes
2010 The Ward Yes
2011 Fangland Yes
Year Film Director Producer Writer Composer Actor Role
Credited as

^  I Credited as editor.
^  II Uncredited acting role.
^  III Theme music only.
Highest-grossing films

This is a list of the top 10 highest domestic-grossing films in which Carpenter has directed according to Box Office Mojo. Carpenter's films have grossed domestically a total of more than $282 million, with an average of $18 million per film.
Rank Title Lifetime gross (US$)
1 Halloween 47 million
2 Starman 28 million
3 Halloween II 25.5 million
4 Escape From L.A. 25.4 million
5 Escape From New York 25.2 million
6 The Fog 21.3 million
7 Christine 21.0 million
8 Vampires 20 million
9 Memoirs of an Invisible Man 14.3 million
10 Prince of Darkness 14.1 million
Television
Year Title Credit
1978 Zuma Beach Writer
Someone's Watching Me! Director, writer
1979 Better Late Than Never Writer
Elvis Director
1990 El Diablo Writer
1991 Blood River Writer
1993 Body Bags Director, producer, composer, actor
1999 Silent Predators Writer
2005 Cigarette Burns Director
2006 Pro-Life Director
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/john_carpenter.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh238/iPodBaldasar/Carpenter.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/pauerboys/jcarp.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/phearinc/youcantwin-37.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/16/10 at 6:56 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVCDZaApwV8

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/10 at 6:59 am

The person of the day...Andrew Wyeth
Andrew Newell Wyeth (surname pronounced /ˈwаɪɛθ/; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century and was sometimes referred to as the "Painter of the People," due to his work's popularity with the American public.

In his art, Wyeth's favorite subjects were the land and people around him, both in his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and at his summer home in Cushing, Maine.

One of the most well-known images in 20th-century American art is his painting, Christina's World, currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Dividing his time between Pennsylvania and Maine, Wyeth maintained a realist painting style for over fifty years. He gravitated to several identifiable landscape subjects and models. In 1958, Andrew and Betsy Wyeth purchased and restored "The Mill," a group of 18th-century buildings that appeared often in his work, including Night Sleeper (1979). His solitary walks were the primary means of inspiration for his landscapes. He developed an extraordinary intimacy with the land and sea and strove for a spiritual understanding based on history and unspoken emotion. He typically created dozens of studies on a subject in pencil or loosely brushed watercolor before executing a finished painting, either in watercolor, drybrush (a watercolor style in which the water is squeezed from the brush), or egg tempera.

When Christina Olsen died in the winter of 1969, Wyeth refocused his artistic attention upon Siri Erickson, capturing her naked innocence in Indian Summer (1970). It was a prelude to the Helga paintings.
Helga paintings

In 1986, extensive coverage was given to the revelation of a series of 247 studies of Wyeth's neighbour, the Prussian-born Helga Testorf, painted over the period 1971–85 without the knowledge of either Wyeth's wife or John Testorf, Helga's husband. Helga is a musician, baker, caregiver, and friend of the Wyeths; she met Wyeth when she was attending to Karl Kuerner. She had never modeled before, but quickly became comfortable with the long periods of posing, during which she was observed and painted in intimate detail. The Helga pictures are not an obvious psychological study of the subject, but more an extensive study of her physical landscape set within Wyeth's customary landscapes. She is nearly always unsmiling and passive; yet, within those deliberate limitations, Wyeth manages to convey subtle qualities of character and mood, as he does in many of his best portraits. This extensive study of one subject studied in differing contexts and emotional states is unique in American art.

In 1986, millionaire Leonard E.B. Andrews purchased almost the entire collection, preserving it intact. A very few Helga paintings had already been given away to friends, including the famous Lovers, which had been given as a gift to Wyeth's wife.

The works were exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in 1987 and in a coast-to-coast tour. The Helga works were briefly owned by a private Japanese industrialist, who had agreed to allow additional exhibitions. Since then the collection has returned to the U.S. and has been split up, contrary to the original intentions of many to keep the collection together, and pieces are in many public and private collections. In March 2002, Wyeth painted Gone, his last Helga picture, and it joined the collection on recent tours between 2002–06.
Critical reaction
Late Fall, watercolor on paper, 67.3cm × 47cm, 1981, by Andrew Wyeth.

Wyeth's art has long been controversial. As a representational artist, Wyeth's paintings have sharply contrasted with abstraction, which gained currency in American art in the middle of the 20th century.

Museum exhibitions of Wyeth's paintings have set attendance records, but many art critics have been critical of his work. Peter Schjeldahl, art critic for The Village Voice, derided his paintings as "Formulaic stuff, not very effective even as illustrational 'realism.' " Common criticisms are that Wyeth's art verges on illustration and that his rural subject matter is sentimental.

Admirers of Wyeth's art believe that his paintings, in addition to sometimes displaying overt beauty, contain strong emotional currents, symbolic content, and underlying abstraction. Most observers of his art agree that he is skilled at handling the media of egg tempera (which uses egg yolk as its medium) and watercolor. Wyeth avoided using traditional oil paints. His use of light and shadow let the subjects illuminate the canvas. His paintings and titles suggest sound, as is implied in many paintings, including Distant Thunder (1961) and Spring Fed (1967).

A close friend and student of Wyeth, Bo Bartlett, commented on Wyeth’s reaction to criticism during an interview with Brian Sherwin in 2008: "People only make you swerve. I won’t show anybody anything I’m working on. If they hate it, it’s a bad thing, and if they like it, it’s a bad thing. An artist has to be ingrown to be any good."
Museum collections

Andrew Wyeth's work is in the collections of most major American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the National Gallery of Art; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City; the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock; and the White House, in Washington, DC. Especially large collections of Wyeth's art are in the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine; and the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina. A major retrospective of Andrew Wyeth's work was presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from March 29, 2006 to July 16, 2006.
Honors and awards
Andrew Wyeth (right) receiving the National Medal of Arts from George W. Bush in 2007.

Wyeth was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. He received the 2007 National Medal of Arts. In 1963, Andrew Wyeth became the first painter to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1977, he became the first American artist since John Singer Sargent elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1980, Wyeth became the first living American artist to be elected to Britain's Royal Academy. In 1987, Wyeth received a D.F.A. from Bates College. On November 9, 1988, Wyeth received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States legislature.
Death

On January 16, 2009, Andrew Wyeth died in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, after a brief illness. He was 91 years old.
Influence on pop culture

Wyeth was often referenced by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (a longtime admirer) in his comic strip, Peanuts. In one strip, the character Snoopy was presented with a bill for "psychiatric help" (20¢) and states, "I refuse to sell my Andrew Wyeth." In another strip, Snoopy's prized Van Gogh painting is burned in a fire, and he replaces it with an Andrew Wyeth. Fred Rogers, of the PBS television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, had an Andrew Wyeth painting in the entryway of the studio home, readily seen as he entered and exited.

Tom Duffield, the production designer for the American remake of The Ring (2002), drew inspiration from Wyeth's paintings for the look of the film. M. Night Shyamalan based his movie The Village on paintings by Andrew Wyeth. The Village was filmed in Chadds Ford, not far from Wyeth's studio. Director Philip Ridley has stated that his 1990 film The Reflecting Skin is heavily inspired by the paintings of Andrew Wyeth in its visual style.

The Helga series of paintings became the inspiration for the 1987 Album Man of Colours by the Australian band Icehouse.

In the 90's television series Step by Step, Wyeth's painting "Master Bedroom" can be seen in the Foster's living room.

The Japanese television series Asheesha No Kita Yoshio main characters are bound by a book featuring Wyeth's work, the painting Christina's World is shown especially often.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/clintorama/AndrewWyeth.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/1zuzax1/FACES%20AND%20FIGURES/andrew_wyeth_portrait.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/coenhead/Baseball%20Trip%202007/Baseball2007038.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k150/jojobearauburn/Permanent%20Store%20Pics/Latest%20Permanent%20Store%20Pics/IMG_9657.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/10 at 7:00 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVCDZaApwV8

Nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/16/10 at 7:01 am


Nice.
Today, it is a rainy day in London Town

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/16/10 at 7:28 am


The person of the day...Andrew Wyeth
Andrew Newell Wyeth (surname pronounced /ˈwаɪɛθ/; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century and was sometimes referred to as the "Painter of the People," due to his work's popularity with the American public.

In his art, Wyeth's favorite subjects were the land and people around him, both in his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and at his summer home in Cushing, Maine.

One of the most well-known images in 20th-century American art is his painting, Christina's World, currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Dividing his time between Pennsylvania and Maine, Wyeth maintained a realist painting style for over fifty years. He gravitated to several identifiable landscape subjects and models. In 1958, Andrew and Betsy Wyeth purchased and restored "The Mill," a group of 18th-century buildings that appeared often in his work, including Night Sleeper (1979). His solitary walks were the primary means of inspiration for his landscapes. He developed an extraordinary intimacy with the land and sea and strove for a spiritual understanding based on history and unspoken emotion. He typically created dozens of studies on a subject in pencil or loosely brushed watercolor before executing a finished painting, either in watercolor, drybrush (a watercolor style in which the water is squeezed from the brush), or egg tempera.

When Christina Olsen died in the winter of 1969, Wyeth refocused his artistic attention upon Siri Erickson, capturing her naked innocence in Indian Summer (1970). It was a prelude to the Helga paintings.
Helga paintings

In 1986, extensive coverage was given to the revelation of a series of 247 studies of Wyeth's neighbour, the Prussian-born Helga Testorf, painted over the period 1971–85 without the knowledge of either Wyeth's wife or John Testorf, Helga's husband. Helga is a musician, baker, caregiver, and friend of the Wyeths; she met Wyeth when she was attending to Karl Kuerner. She had never modeled before, but quickly became comfortable with the long periods of posing, during which she was observed and painted in intimate detail. The Helga pictures are not an obvious psychological study of the subject, but more an extensive study of her physical landscape set within Wyeth's customary landscapes. She is nearly always unsmiling and passive; yet, within those deliberate limitations, Wyeth manages to convey subtle qualities of character and mood, as he does in many of his best portraits. This extensive study of one subject studied in differing contexts and emotional states is unique in American art.

In 1986, millionaire Leonard E.B. Andrews purchased almost the entire collection, preserving it intact. A very few Helga paintings had already been given away to friends, including the famous Lovers, which had been given as a gift to Wyeth's wife.

The works were exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in 1987 and in a coast-to-coast tour. The Helga works were briefly owned by a private Japanese industrialist, who had agreed to allow additional exhibitions. Since then the collection has returned to the U.S. and has been split up, contrary to the original intentions of many to keep the collection together, and pieces are in many public and private collections. In March 2002, Wyeth painted Gone, his last Helga picture, and it joined the collection on recent tours between 2002–06.
Critical reaction
Late Fall, watercolor on paper, 67.3cm × 47cm, 1981, by Andrew Wyeth.

Wyeth's art has long been controversial. As a representational artist, Wyeth's paintings have sharply contrasted with abstraction, which gained currency in American art in the middle of the 20th century.

Museum exhibitions of Wyeth's paintings have set attendance records, but many art critics have been critical of his work. Peter Schjeldahl, art critic for The Village Voice, derided his paintings as "Formulaic stuff, not very effective even as illustrational 'realism.' " Common criticisms are that Wyeth's art verges on illustration and that his rural subject matter is sentimental.

Admirers of Wyeth's art believe that his paintings, in addition to sometimes displaying overt beauty, contain strong emotional currents, symbolic content, and underlying abstraction. Most observers of his art agree that he is skilled at handling the media of egg tempera (which uses egg yolk as its medium) and watercolor. Wyeth avoided using traditional oil paints. His use of light and shadow let the subjects illuminate the canvas. His paintings and titles suggest sound, as is implied in many paintings, including Distant Thunder (1961) and Spring Fed (1967).

A close friend and student of Wyeth, Bo Bartlett, commented on Wyeth’s reaction to criticism during an interview with Brian Sherwin in 2008: "People only make you swerve. I won’t show anybody anything I’m working on. If they hate it, it’s a bad thing, and if they like it, it’s a bad thing. An artist has to be ingrown to be any good."
Museum collections

Andrew Wyeth's work is in the collections of most major American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the National Gallery of Art; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City; the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock; and the White House, in Washington, DC. Especially large collections of Wyeth's art are in the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine; and the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina. A major retrospective of Andrew Wyeth's work was presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from March 29, 2006 to July 16, 2006.
Honors and awards
Andrew Wyeth (right) receiving the National Medal of Arts from George W. Bush in 2007.

Wyeth was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. He received the 2007 National Medal of Arts. In 1963, Andrew Wyeth became the first painter to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1977, he became the first American artist since John Singer Sargent elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1980, Wyeth became the first living American artist to be elected to Britain's Royal Academy. In 1987, Wyeth received a D.F.A. from Bates College. On November 9, 1988, Wyeth received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States legislature.
Death

On January 16, 2009, Andrew Wyeth died in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, after a brief illness. He was 91 years old.
Influence on pop culture

Wyeth was often referenced by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (a longtime admirer) in his comic strip, Peanuts. In one strip, the character Snoopy was presented with a bill for "psychiatric help" (20¢) and states, "I refuse to sell my Andrew Wyeth." In another strip, Snoopy's prized Van Gogh painting is burned in a fire, and he replaces it with an Andrew Wyeth. Fred Rogers, of the PBS television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, had an Andrew Wyeth painting in the entryway of the studio home, readily seen as he entered and exited.

Tom Duffield, the production designer for the American remake of The Ring (2002), drew inspiration from Wyeth's paintings for the look of the film. M. Night Shyamalan based his movie The Village on paintings by Andrew Wyeth. The Village was filmed in Chadds Ford, not far from Wyeth's studio. Director Philip Ridley has stated that his 1990 film The Reflecting Skin is heavily inspired by the paintings of Andrew Wyeth in its visual style.

The Helga series of paintings became the inspiration for the 1987 Album Man of Colours by the Australian band Icehouse.

In the 90's television series Step by Step, Wyeth's painting "Master Bedroom" can be seen in the Foster's living room.

The Japanese television series Asheesha No Kita Yoshio main characters are bound by a book featuring Wyeth's work, the painting Christina's World is shown especially often.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/clintorama/AndrewWyeth.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/1zuzax1/FACES%20AND%20FIGURES/andrew_wyeth_portrait.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/coenhead/Baseball%20Trip%202007/Baseball2007038.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k150/jojobearauburn/Permanent%20Store%20Pics/Latest%20Permanent%20Store%20Pics/IMG_9657.jpg



His paintings always reminded me of Norman Rockwell's. A few years ago, we had a poster with one of his paintings and at first I thought it WAS Norman's but it wasn't. They both had the same style, I think. 



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/16/10 at 3:03 pm


The word of the day...Fog
#
When there is fog, there are tiny drops of water in the air which form a thick cloud and make it difficult to see things. N-VAR

    *
      The crash happened in thick fog.
    *
      These ocean fogs can last for days.

#
A fog is an unpleasant cloud of something such as smoke inside a building or room. N-SING

    *
      ...a fog of stale cigarette smoke. + 'of'

#
You can use fog to refer to a situation which stops people from being able to notice things, understand things, or think clearly. N-SING oft 'in' N

    *
      The most basic facts about him are lost in a fog of mythology. + 'of'
    *
      Synchronizing these attacks may be difficult in the fog of war. + 'of'
    *
      His mind was in a fog when he finally got up.

#
If a window, mirror, or other glass surface fogs or is fogged, it becomes covered with very small drops of water so that you cannot see things clearly through it or in it. V-ERG

    *
      The windows fogged immediately. V
    *
      Water had fogged his diving mask and he couldn't remember how to clear it. V n
    *
      The car windows were fogged with vapor
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg18/littlequeenie_photo/Nature/Fog.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu12/brude2000/4U2/fog_xlg.jpg
http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac285/southernpoint/barr-fog.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f199/HoldfastOrganicGardening/Sample/Swamp.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss214/DropDeadBianca/Decorated%20images/MyspacePhotos002.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/xxXJCSRXxx/274.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l177/fuzzyedges_album/fogontesk.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg3/personalcheeseit/Cars/Shadow/100_0172.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv220/supertala/PIC_0047.jpg



fog happens on a rainy day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 3:56 am

The word of the day...Lion
 


      A lion is a large wild member of the cat family that is found in Africa. Lions have yellowish fur, and male lions have long hair on their head and neck.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e36/DrKearse/lion.jpg
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/luzfigueira/lion-2.jpg
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww251/animedragon33/Cats/Lion---Fierce.jpg
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/luzfigueira/lion-5.jpg
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww251/animedragon33/Cats/lion-female.jpg
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll211/gabban18/lion-king_4.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo48/bigbreastedbenbow/SANY0342.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af314/angiehill_bucket/SDC10243.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr213/iztabby/mominRussia019.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 3:59 am

The birthday of the day...James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor of stage and screen, well known for his deep basso voice. To modern audiences, he is known for providing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise.
Jones had his acting career beginnings at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan. In 1953 he was a stage carpenter. During the 1955–1957 seasons he was an actor and stage manager. He performed his first portrayal of Shakespeare’s Othello in this theater in 1955.

His first film role was as a young and trim Lt. Lothar Zogg, the B-52 bombardier in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964, which was more famous for the work of Peter Sellers and Slim Pickens. His first big role came with his portrayal of boxer Jack Jefferson in the film version of the Broadway play The Great White Hope, which was based on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. For his role, Jones was nominated Best Actor by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making him the second African-American male performer (following Sidney Poitier) to receive a nomination.

In 1969, Jones participated in making test films for a proposed children's television series called Sesame Street; these shorts, combined with animated segments, were shown to groups of children to gauge the effectiveness of the then-groundbreaking Sesame Street format. As cited by production notes included in the DVD release Sesame Street: Old School 1969-1974, the short that had the greatest impact with test audiences was one showing bald-headed Jones counting slowly to ten. This and other segments featuring Jones were eventually aired as part of the Sesame Street series itself when it debuted later in 1969 and Jones is often cited as the first celebrity guest on that series, although a segment with Carol Burnett was the first to actually be broadcast.

In the early 1970s, James appeared with Diahann Carroll in a film called Claudine, the story of a woman who raises her six children alone after two failed marriages and one "almost" marriage. Ruppert, played by Jones, is a garbage man who has deep problems of his own. The couple somehow overcomes each other's pride and stubbornness and gets married.
Darth Vader

He has appeared in many roles since, but is well known as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the original trilogy, with Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in postproduction due to Prowse's strong West Country accent being unsuitable for the role. At his own request, he was originally uncredited for the release of the first two films (he would later be credited for the two in the 1997 re-release):
“ When Linda Blair did the girl in The Exorcist, they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no I'm just special effects. But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK I've been denying it, I've been saying it sounds like the uncola nut guy Holder. Geoffrey Holder! ... But for the third one, I said OK, I'll let them put my name on it.

Although uncredited, Jones' voice is briefly heard as Darth Vader at the conclusion of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. When specifically asked whether he had supplied the voice, possibly from a previous recording, Jones told New York Newsday: "You'd have to ask Lucas about that. I don't know." However, on the issue of the voice, the commentary on the DVD release states that, while it will always be uncredited, any true Star Wars fan "should know the answer".

Over the years, Jones reprised his role as the voice of Vader several times: He is credited in the movie Robots with the voice of Darth Vader from a voice module. Playing the king of Zamunda in the comedy Coming to America, he echoed four Darth Vader phrases. He also vocally appeared as Vader in the comedy film The Benchwarmers and the video games Monopoly Star Wars and Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game. Jones' voice is also used for the Jedi Training academy attraction at Disneyland MGM.
Other voiceover work

His other voice roles include Mufasa in the 1994 film Disney animated blockbuster The Lion King, and its sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Archived audio from the former has been used in the Square Enix and Disney crossover game Kingdom Hearts II. He also voiced the Emperor of the Night in Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. He also has done the CNN tagline, "This is CNN"; the opening for NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics; "the Big PI in the Sky" (God) in the computer game Under a Killing Moon; a Claymation film about The Creation; and several guest spots on The Simpsons.
Notable film roles

Jones played the older version of author Alex Haley, in the television mini-series Roots: The Next Generations; the villain Thulsa Doom, in Conan the Barbarian; the character Terence Mann, in the baseball film Field of Dreams; the feared neighbour and owner of the dog Hercules in The Sandlot; King Jaffe Joffer, in Coming to America; Reverend Stephen Kumalo, in Cry, The Beloved Country; and Admiral James Greer, in The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger. He also made a cameo appearance in a penultimate episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Notable stage roles

Jones is an accomplished stage actor as well; he has won Tony awards in 1969 for The Great White Hope and in 1987 for Fences. Othello, King Lear, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Abhorson in Measure for Measure, and Claudius in Hamlet are Shakespearean roles he has played. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.

In February 2008, he began starring on Broadway as Big Daddy in a limited-run, all-African-American production of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen and mounted at the Broadhurst Theatre.

In November 2009, James reprised the role of Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London's West End. This production also stars Sanaa Lathan as Maggie, Phylicia Rashad as Big Mamma, and Adrian Lester as Brick.
Other work

His other works include his portrayal of GDI's commanding general James Solomon in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, a starring role in the television program Under One Roof as widowed police officer Neb Langston for which he received an Emmy nomination, and television and radio advertising for Verizon Business DSL and Verizon Online DSL from Verizon Communications.

Jones appeared in the 1963-1964 television season in an episode of ABC's drama series about college life, Channing starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones. He appeared on the soap opera Guiding Light. He portrayed Thad Green on Mathnet, a parody of Dragnet.

He has played lead characters on television in three series. First, he appeared on the short-lived CBS police drama Paris, which aired during Fall 1979. That show was notable as the first program on which Steven Bochco served as executive producer. The second show aired on ABC between 1990 and 1992, the first season being titled Gabriel's Fire and the second (after a format revision) Pros and Cons. In both formats of that show, Jones played a former policeman wrongly convicted for murder who, upon his release from prison, became a private eye. In 1995, Jones starred in Under One Roof, as Neb Langston, a widowed African-American police officer sharing his home in Seattle with his daughter, his married son and children and Neb's newly adopted son. The show was a mid-season replacement and lasted only six weeks.

In 1986, Jones played a Harvard law professor in the movie Soul Man, with C. Thomas Howell and Rae Dawn Chong. From 1989 to 1993, Jones served as the host of the children's TV series Long Ago and Far Away.

In 1990, Jones did a voiceover for the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror", in which he was the narrator for the Simpsons' version of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven". In 1992, Jones was often seen as the host on the video tele-monitor for the Sea World resort in Orlando, Florida. In 1996, James guest starred in the CBS drama Touched by an Angel as the Angels of Angels in the episode "Clipped Wings". In 1998, Jones starred in the widely acclaimed syndicated program An American Moment (created by James R. Kirk and Ninth Wave Productions). Jones took over the role left by Charles Kuralt, upon Kuralt's death. He has guest-starred on such sitcoms as NBC's Frasier and Will & Grace, and the WB drama Everwood. Jones also lent his voice for a narrative part in the Adam Sandler comedy, Click, released in June 2006. His voice is also used to create an audio version of the King James New Testament.

On April 7, 2005, James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams headed the cast in an African-American Broadway revival version of On Golden Pond, directed by Leonard Foglia and produced by Jeffrey Finn.

On December 15, 2008, Jones made a guest appearance on the sitcom Two and a Half Men.

On October 5, 2009, Jones made a guest appearance on the television series House playing African dictator Antipas Dibala.
Personal life

Jones has been married to actress Cecilia Hart since 1982. They have one child, Flynn Earl Jones. He was previously married to American actress/singer Julienne Marie (born March 21, 1933, Toledo, Ohio); they had no children.

Coincidentally, both of Jones' wives had played Desdemona to Jones' Othello.

Jones was given a key to the city in Detroit, Michigan.
Awards

Academy Awards

    * 1971 Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Great White Hope (Nominated)

Emmy Awards

    * 1964 Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie/East Side/West Side (Nominated)
    * 1990 Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie/By Dawn's Early Light (Nominated)
    * 1991 Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series/Gabriel's Fire
    * 1991 Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie/Heat Wave
    * 1994 Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series/Picket Fences (Nominated)
    * 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series/Under One Roof (Nominated)
    * 1997 Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series/Frasier (Nominated)
    * 1999 Outstanding Performer - Children's Special
    * 2004 Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series/Everwood (Nominated)

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1971 New Star of the Year - Actor/The Great White Hope
    * 1971 Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama/The Great White Hope (Nominated)
    * 1975 Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy/Claudine (Nominated)
    * 1991 Best Actor in a Drama Series/Gabriel's Fire (Nominated)
    * 1992 Best Actor in a Drama Series/Pros and Cons (Nominated)

Independent Spirit Awards

    * 1987 Best Supporting Male/Matewan (Nominated)

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 1996 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role/Cry, the Beloved Country (Nominated)
    * 2009 Life Achievement Award

Tony Awards

    * 1969 Best Leading Actor in a Play/The Great White Hope
    * 1987 Best Leading Actor in a Play/Fences
    * 2005 Best Leading Actor in a Play/On Golden Pond (Nominated)

Other Awards

    * 1991 Common Wealth Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Dramatic Arts

Filmography

    * Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    * The Comedians in Africa (1967)
    * The Comedians (1967)
    * End of the Road (1970)
    * King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
    * The Great White Hope (1970)
    * Malcolm X (1972)
    * The Man (1972)
    * Claudine (1974)
    * The Cay (1974 one-hour TV drama)
    * The UFO Incident (1975 TV-movie)
    * The River Niger (1976)
    * The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
    * Swashbuckler (1976)
    * Deadly Hero (1976)
    * The Greatest (1977)
    * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) (voice)
    * Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    * The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
    * A Piece of the Action (1977)
    * Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
    * Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement (1978)
    * Star Wars Christmas Special (1978 TV special) (voice)
    * Roots: The Next Generations (1979 TV miniseries)
    * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (voice)
    * Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980 TV miniseries)
    * The Creation (1981)
    * The Bushido Blade (1981)
    * The Flight of Dragons (1982) (voice)
    * Conan the Barbarian (1982)
    * Blood Tide (1982)
    * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) (voice)
    * Allen Boesak: Choosing for Justice (1984)
    * City Limits (1985)
    * Soul Man (1986)
    * Gardens of Stone (1987)
    * Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)



    * My Little Girl (1987)
    * Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987) (voice)
    * Matewan (1987)
    * Terrorgram (1988) (voice)
    * Coming to America (1988)
    * Three Fugitives (1989)
    * Field of Dreams (1989)
    * Best of the Best (1989)
    * By Dawn's Early Light (1990)
    * Convicts (1990)
    * The Hunt for Red October (1990)
    * A World Alive (1990)
    * The Ambulance (1990)
    * Grim Prairie Tales (1990)
    * Heatwave (1990)
    * True Identity (1991)
    * Scorchers (1991)
    * The Second Coming (1992)
    * Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992)
    * Patriot Games (1992)
    * Freddie the Frog (1992)
    * Sneakers (1992)
    * Dreamrider (1993)
    * Sommersby (1993)
    * The Sandlot (1993)
    * Excessive Force (1993)
    * The Meteor Man (1993)
    * Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)
    * Africa: The Serengeti (1994)
    * Clean Slate (1994)
    * The Vernon Johns Story (1994)
    * The Lion King (1994) (voice)
    * Clear and Present Danger (1994)
    * Countdown to Freedom: 10 Days That Changed South Africa (1994)
    * Jefferson in Paris (1995)
    * Judge Dredd (1995)
    * Cry, The Beloved Country (1995)
    * A Family Thing (1996)



    * Looking for Richard (1996)
    * Good Luck (1996)
    * Gang Related (1997)
    * What the Deaf Man Heard (1997)
    * New York... Come Visit the World (1998)
    * Primary Colors (1998) (voice)
    * Merlin (1998) (voice)
    * The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998 direct-to-DVD) (voice)
    * Summer's End (1999)
    * Our Friend, Martin (1999) (voice)
    * On the Q.T. (1999)
    * Undercover Angel (1999)
    * The Annihilation of Fish (1999)
    * Fantasia 2000 (1999)
    * Tiberian Sun (1999 video game cut scene)
    * Ennis' Gift (2000)
    * Antietam: A Documentary Drama (2000)
    * The Papp Project (2001)
    * Black Indians: An American Story (2001)
    * Finder's Fee (2001)
    * Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street (2001)
    * Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World (2001)
    * Disney's American Legends (2002)
    * The Great Year (2004)
    * Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004)
    * Robots (2005) (voice)
    * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (voice)
    * The Reading Room (2005)
    * The Sandlot 2 (2005)
    * Malcolm X: Prince of Islam documentary (2006) (narration only)
    * Kingdom Hearts II (2006) (archived audio, voice)
    * The Benchwarmers (2006) (voice)
    * Scary Movie 4 (2006)
    * Click (2006) (voice) (As Himself)
    * The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy (2006)
    * Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
    * Jack and the Beanstalk (2008) (voice)
    * Disneyland Hollywood Studios (2008) (voice)
    * Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2009) (voice)
    * Earth (2009) (voice)
    * House (2009) Dibala
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq166/briansmith2009/Actors/044JamesEJones.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/ualineman/JamesEarlJone.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p188/mcmilkman666/jamessmall.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc73/hancocks_2007/tmp7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 4:07 am

The person of the day...Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna (30 November 1926 – 17 January 2003) was a Emmy award winning American film, television and radio actor and director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, Rambo (First Blood – Rambo III), Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid. He played Walter Denton in the CBS radio and television series Our Miss Brooks and Luke McCoy in the ABC and CBS sitcom The Real McCoys (1957-1963). He was on the rare political dramatic series Slattery's People on CBS. He was Colonel Trautman in the Rambo films. He was also known to have bore a great resemblance to another actor Cliff Robertson.
Crenna got his acting start on radio, appearing in My Favorite Husband, Boy Scout Jamboree, A Date With Judy, The Great Gildersleeve, and Our Miss Brooks. He remained with the cast of the latter show when it moved to television.

He guest starred on I Love Lucy with Janet Waldo and on NBC's 1955-1956 Frontier anthology series in the lead role of the episode entitled "The Ten Days of John Leslie".

When Our Miss Brooks, starring Eve Arden, underwent a change in format - his character Walter Denton was omitted - Crenna joined The Real McCoys. Kathleen Nolan was cast as his young wife, Kate McCoy; they lived on a southern California farm with Grandpa Amos McCoy, played by Walter Brennan. In the last season, 1962-1963, The Real McCoys was shortened to The McCoys, moved from ABC to CBS, and switched from Thursday to Sunday evening. Moreover, Nolan's character died on screen. The widower Luke McCoy then began to court a neighbor, Louise Howard, played by actress Janet De Gore.

Crenna won an Emmy and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the title role of the film The Rape of Richard Beck.

Crenna portrayed California state senator James Slattery in the TV series Slattery's People and received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment (1965) and for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series (1965). He was also nominated in 1965 for a Golden Globe for Best TV Star - Male for the same role. During the 1970s Crenna continued to appear in popular western movies such as Catlow, Breakheart Pass, and A Man Called Noon.

Crenna is perhaps best known today for his role as John Rambo's ex-commanding Officer "Colonel Sam Trautman" in the first three Rambo films, a role he only received after Kirk Douglas left the production a day into the shoot of the first film. He also spoofed the role in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) as an homage to his Rambo character. Crenna appeared as Lt. Frank Janek in seven TV movies 1985-94. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6714 Hollywood Blvd. Crenna was also the inspiration for Col Roy Cambell a character in the Metal Gear Solid series.
Death

Crenna contracted pancreatic cancer but died of heart failure at the age of 76. He was cremated. At the time of his death he had a recurring role in the CBS series Judging Amy. On the show his passing was acknowledged by the death of the character that he portrayed.

Crenna's son Richard Anthony Crenna is also an actor.
Filmography

    * Let's Dance (1950)
    * Red Skies of Montana (1952)
    * The Pride of St. Louis (1952)
    * It Grows on Trees (1952)
    * Our Miss Brooks (1956)
    * Over-Exposed (1956)
    * Ann-Margret: Made in Paris (1965) (short subject)
    * John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
    * Made in Paris (1966)
    * The Sand Pebbles (1966)
    * Wait Until Dark (1967)
    * Star! (1968)
    * Midas Run (1969)
    * Marooned (1969)
    * Doctors' Wives (1971)
    * The Deserter (1971)



    * Red Sky at Morning (1971)
    * Catlow (1971)
    * Un Flic (Fr. aka "Dirty Money" (1972)
    * The Man Called Noon (1973)
    * Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
    * Breakheart Pass (1975)
    * The Evil (1978)
    * Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978)
    * Wild Horse Hank (1979)
    * Stone Cold Dead (1979)
    * Death Ship (1980)
    * Body Heat (1981)
    * First Blood (1982)
    * Table for Five (1983)
    * The Flamingo Kid (1984)
    * Terror in the Aisles (1984) (documentary)
      (archival footage)
    * The Rape of Richard Beck (1985)



    * Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
    * Summer Rental (1985)
    * Rambo III (1988)
    * Leviathan (1989)
    * Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
    * A Pyromaniac's Love Story (1995)
    * Jade (1995)
    * Sabrina (1995)
    * 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997)
    * Wrongfully Accused (1998)
    * Judging Amy (1999)
    * By Dawn's Early Light (2000)
    * Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents (2002) (documentary) (narrator)

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc271/grosbert/Acteur/69232031.gif
http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/dsng1/610520scan0035.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv333/torrentguy/rape_of_richard_beck.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv333/torrentguy/rape_of_richard_beck2-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/17/10 at 6:43 am


The birthday of the day...James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor of stage and screen, well known for his deep basso voice. To modern audiences, he is known for providing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise.
Jones had his acting career beginnings at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan. In 1953 he was a stage carpenter. During the 1955–1957 seasons he was an actor and stage manager. He performed his first portrayal of Shakespeare’s Othello in this theater in 1955.

His first film role was as a young and trim Lt. Lothar Zogg, the B-52 bombardier in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964, which was more famous for the work of Peter Sellers and Slim Pickens. His first big role came with his portrayal of boxer Jack Jefferson in the film version of the Broadway play The Great White Hope, which was based on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. For his role, Jones was nominated Best Actor by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making him the second African-American male performer (following Sidney Poitier) to receive a nomination.

In 1969, Jones participated in making test films for a proposed children's television series called Sesame Street; these shorts, combined with animated segments, were shown to groups of children to gauge the effectiveness of the then-groundbreaking Sesame Street format. As cited by production notes included in the DVD release Sesame Street: Old School 1969-1974, the short that had the greatest impact with test audiences was one showing bald-headed Jones counting slowly to ten. This and other segments featuring Jones were eventually aired as part of the Sesame Street series itself when it debuted later in 1969 and Jones is often cited as the first celebrity guest on that series, although a segment with Carol Burnett was the first to actually be broadcast.

In the early 1970s, James appeared with Diahann Carroll in a film called Claudine, the story of a woman who raises her six children alone after two failed marriages and one "almost" marriage. Ruppert, played by Jones, is a garbage man who has deep problems of his own. The couple somehow overcomes each other's pride and stubbornness and gets married.
Darth Vader

He has appeared in many roles since, but is well known as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Darth Vader was portrayed in costume by David Prowse in the original trilogy, with Jones dubbing Vader's dialogue in postproduction due to Prowse's strong West Country accent being unsuitable for the role. At his own request, he was originally uncredited for the release of the first two films (he would later be credited for the two in the 1997 re-release):
“ When Linda Blair did the girl in The Exorcist, they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no I'm just special effects. But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK I've been denying it, I've been saying it sounds like the uncola nut guy Holder. Geoffrey Holder! ... But for the third one, I said OK, I'll let them put my name on it.

Although uncredited, Jones' voice is briefly heard as Darth Vader at the conclusion of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. When specifically asked whether he had supplied the voice, possibly from a previous recording, Jones told New York Newsday: "You'd have to ask Lucas about that. I don't know." However, on the issue of the voice, the commentary on the DVD release states that, while it will always be uncredited, any true Star Wars fan "should know the answer".

Over the years, Jones reprised his role as the voice of Vader several times: He is credited in the movie Robots with the voice of Darth Vader from a voice module. Playing the king of Zamunda in the comedy Coming to America, he echoed four Darth Vader phrases. He also vocally appeared as Vader in the comedy film The Benchwarmers and the video games Monopoly Star Wars and Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game. Jones' voice is also used for the Jedi Training academy attraction at Disneyland MGM.
Other voiceover work

His other voice roles include Mufasa in the 1994 film Disney animated blockbuster The Lion King, and its sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Archived audio from the former has been used in the Square Enix and Disney crossover game Kingdom Hearts II. He also voiced the Emperor of the Night in Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. He also has done the CNN tagline, "This is CNN"; the opening for NBC's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics; "the Big PI in the Sky" (God) in the computer game Under a Killing Moon; a Claymation film about The Creation; and several guest spots on The Simpsons.
Notable film roles

Jones played the older version of author Alex Haley, in the television mini-series Roots: The Next Generations; the villain Thulsa Doom, in Conan the Barbarian; the character Terence Mann, in the baseball film Field of Dreams; the feared neighbour and owner of the dog Hercules in The Sandlot; King Jaffe Joffer, in Coming to America; Reverend Stephen Kumalo, in Cry, The Beloved Country; and Admiral James Greer, in The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger. He also made a cameo appearance in a penultimate episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Notable stage roles

Jones is an accomplished stage actor as well; he has won Tony awards in 1969 for The Great White Hope and in 1987 for Fences. Othello, King Lear, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Abhorson in Measure for Measure, and Claudius in Hamlet are Shakespearean roles he has played. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2002.

In February 2008, he began starring on Broadway as Big Daddy in a limited-run, all-African-American production of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen and mounted at the Broadhurst Theatre.

In November 2009, James reprised the role of Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London's West End. This production also stars Sanaa Lathan as Maggie, Phylicia Rashad as Big Mamma, and Adrian Lester as Brick.
Other work

His other works include his portrayal of GDI's commanding general James Solomon in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, a starring role in the television program Under One Roof as widowed police officer Neb Langston for which he received an Emmy nomination, and television and radio advertising for Verizon Business DSL and Verizon Online DSL from Verizon Communications.

Jones appeared in the 1963-1964 television season in an episode of ABC's drama series about college life, Channing starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones. He appeared on the soap opera Guiding Light. He portrayed Thad Green on Mathnet, a parody of Dragnet.

He has played lead characters on television in three series. First, he appeared on the short-lived CBS police drama Paris, which aired during Fall 1979. That show was notable as the first program on which Steven Bochco served as executive producer. The second show aired on ABC between 1990 and 1992, the first season being titled Gabriel's Fire and the second (after a format revision) Pros and Cons. In both formats of that show, Jones played a former policeman wrongly convicted for murder who, upon his release from prison, became a private eye. In 1995, Jones starred in Under One Roof, as Neb Langston, a widowed African-American police officer sharing his home in Seattle with his daughter, his married son and children and Neb's newly adopted son. The show was a mid-season replacement and lasted only six weeks.

In 1986, Jones played a Harvard law professor in the movie Soul Man, with C. Thomas Howell and Rae Dawn Chong. From 1989 to 1993, Jones served as the host of the children's TV series Long Ago and Far Away.

In 1990, Jones did a voiceover for the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror", in which he was the narrator for the Simpsons' version of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven". In 1992, Jones was often seen as the host on the video tele-monitor for the Sea World resort in Orlando, Florida. In 1996, James guest starred in the CBS drama Touched by an Angel as the Angels of Angels in the episode "Clipped Wings". In 1998, Jones starred in the widely acclaimed syndicated program An American Moment (created by James R. Kirk and Ninth Wave Productions). Jones took over the role left by Charles Kuralt, upon Kuralt's death. He has guest-starred on such sitcoms as NBC's Frasier and Will & Grace, and the WB drama Everwood. Jones also lent his voice for a narrative part in the Adam Sandler comedy, Click, released in June 2006. His voice is also used to create an audio version of the King James New Testament.

On April 7, 2005, James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams headed the cast in an African-American Broadway revival version of On Golden Pond, directed by Leonard Foglia and produced by Jeffrey Finn.

On December 15, 2008, Jones made a guest appearance on the sitcom Two and a Half Men.

On October 5, 2009, Jones made a guest appearance on the television series House playing African dictator Antipas Dibala.
Personal life

Jones has been married to actress Cecilia Hart since 1982. They have one child, Flynn Earl Jones. He was previously married to American actress/singer Julienne Marie (born March 21, 1933, Toledo, Ohio); they had no children.

Coincidentally, both of Jones' wives had played Desdemona to Jones' Othello.

Jones was given a key to the city in Detroit, Michigan.
Awards

Academy Awards

    * 1971 Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Great White Hope (Nominated)

Emmy Awards

    * 1964 Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie/East Side/West Side (Nominated)
    * 1990 Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie/By Dawn's Early Light (Nominated)
    * 1991 Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series/Gabriel's Fire
    * 1991 Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie/Heat Wave
    * 1994 Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series/Picket Fences (Nominated)
    * 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series/Under One Roof (Nominated)
    * 1997 Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series/Frasier (Nominated)
    * 1999 Outstanding Performer - Children's Special
    * 2004 Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series/Everwood (Nominated)

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1971 New Star of the Year - Actor/The Great White Hope
    * 1971 Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama/The Great White Hope (Nominated)
    * 1975 Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy/Claudine (Nominated)
    * 1991 Best Actor in a Drama Series/Gabriel's Fire (Nominated)
    * 1992 Best Actor in a Drama Series/Pros and Cons (Nominated)

Independent Spirit Awards

    * 1987 Best Supporting Male/Matewan (Nominated)

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 1996 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role/Cry, the Beloved Country (Nominated)
    * 2009 Life Achievement Award

Tony Awards

    * 1969 Best Leading Actor in a Play/The Great White Hope
    * 1987 Best Leading Actor in a Play/Fences
    * 2005 Best Leading Actor in a Play/On Golden Pond (Nominated)

Other Awards

    * 1991 Common Wealth Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Dramatic Arts

Filmography

    * Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    * The Comedians in Africa (1967)
    * The Comedians (1967)
    * End of the Road (1970)
    * King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
    * The Great White Hope (1970)
    * Malcolm X (1972)
    * The Man (1972)
    * Claudine (1974)
    * The Cay (1974 one-hour TV drama)
    * The UFO Incident (1975 TV-movie)
    * The River Niger (1976)
    * The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
    * Swashbuckler (1976)
    * Deadly Hero (1976)
    * The Greatest (1977)
    * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) (voice)
    * Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    * The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
    * A Piece of the Action (1977)
    * Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
    * Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement (1978)
    * Star Wars Christmas Special (1978 TV special) (voice)
    * Roots: The Next Generations (1979 TV miniseries)
    * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (voice)
    * Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980 TV miniseries)
    * The Creation (1981)
    * The Bushido Blade (1981)
    * The Flight of Dragons (1982) (voice)
    * Conan the Barbarian (1982)
    * Blood Tide (1982)
    * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) (voice)
    * Allen Boesak: Choosing for Justice (1984)
    * City Limits (1985)
    * Soul Man (1986)
    * Gardens of Stone (1987)
    * Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)



    * My Little Girl (1987)
    * Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987) (voice)
    * Matewan (1987)
    * Terrorgram (1988) (voice)
    * Coming to America (1988)
    * Three Fugitives (1989)
    * Field of Dreams (1989)
    * Best of the Best (1989)
    * By Dawn's Early Light (1990)
    * Convicts (1990)
    * The Hunt for Red October (1990)
    * A World Alive (1990)
    * The Ambulance (1990)
    * Grim Prairie Tales (1990)
    * Heatwave (1990)
    * True Identity (1991)
    * Scorchers (1991)
    * The Second Coming (1992)
    * Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992)
    * Patriot Games (1992)
    * Freddie the Frog (1992)
    * Sneakers (1992)
    * Dreamrider (1993)
    * Sommersby (1993)
    * The Sandlot (1993)
    * Excessive Force (1993)
    * The Meteor Man (1993)
    * Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)
    * Africa: The Serengeti (1994)
    * Clean Slate (1994)
    * The Vernon Johns Story (1994)
    * The Lion King (1994) (voice)
    * Clear and Present Danger (1994)
    * Countdown to Freedom: 10 Days That Changed South Africa (1994)
    * Jefferson in Paris (1995)
    * Judge Dredd (1995)
    * Cry, The Beloved Country (1995)
    * A Family Thing (1996)



    * Looking for Richard (1996)
    * Good Luck (1996)
    * Gang Related (1997)
    * What the Deaf Man Heard (1997)
    * New York... Come Visit the World (1998)
    * Primary Colors (1998) (voice)
    * Merlin (1998) (voice)
    * The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998 direct-to-DVD) (voice)
    * Summer's End (1999)
    * Our Friend, Martin (1999) (voice)
    * On the Q.T. (1999)
    * Undercover Angel (1999)
    * The Annihilation of Fish (1999)
    * Fantasia 2000 (1999)
    * Tiberian Sun (1999 video game cut scene)
    * Ennis' Gift (2000)
    * Antietam: A Documentary Drama (2000)
    * The Papp Project (2001)
    * Black Indians: An American Story (2001)
    * Finder's Fee (2001)
    * Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street (2001)
    * Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World (2001)
    * Disney's American Legends (2002)
    * The Great Year (2004)
    * Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004)
    * Robots (2005) (voice)
    * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (voice)
    * The Reading Room (2005)
    * The Sandlot 2 (2005)
    * Malcolm X: Prince of Islam documentary (2006) (narration only)
    * Kingdom Hearts II (2006) (archived audio, voice)
    * The Benchwarmers (2006) (voice)
    * Scary Movie 4 (2006)
    * Click (2006) (voice) (As Himself)
    * The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy (2006)
    * Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
    * Jack and the Beanstalk (2008) (voice)
    * Disneyland Hollywood Studios (2008) (voice)
    * Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2009) (voice)
    * Earth (2009) (voice)
    * House (2009) Dibala
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq166/briansmith2009/Actors/044JamesEJones.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/ualineman/JamesEarlJone.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p188/mcmilkman666/jamessmall.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc73/hancocks_2007/tmp7.jpg


He is a legend.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/17/10 at 6:44 am


The word of the day...Lion
 


      A lion is a large wild member of the cat family that is found in Africa. Lions have yellowish fur, and male lions have long hair on their head and neck.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e36/DrKearse/lion.jpg
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/luzfigueira/lion-2.jpg
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww251/animedragon33/Cats/Lion---Fierce.jpg
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/luzfigueira/lion-5.jpg
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww251/animedragon33/Cats/lion-female.jpg
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll211/gabban18/lion-king_4.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo48/bigbreastedbenbow/SANY0342.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af314/angiehill_bucket/SDC10243.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr213/iztabby/mominRussia019.jpg


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/cowardlylion.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 7:14 am


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/cowardlylion.jpg

The cowardly lion, how did I forget him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 7:15 am


He is a legend.  :)

Yes he is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/17/10 at 7:18 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTkgAL-bxVY

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/17/10 at 8:24 am

Not only is James Earl Jones a fabulous actor and has a great voice, I think he has a WONDERFUL smile. I just love his smile.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 10:15 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTkgAL-bxVY

It wouldn't play :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 10:16 am


Not only is James Earl Jones a fabulous actor and has a great voice, I think he has a WONDERFUL smile. I just love his smile.



Cat

He is a very unique gentleman.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/17/10 at 10:18 am


It wouldn't play :\'(
It played on the main YouTube website.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/10 at 2:12 pm


It played on the main YouTube website.

I just listened to it Thanks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/17/10 at 7:12 pm

Lions are kings of the jungle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/18/10 at 12:40 am

British Person of the Day: A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.

Life

A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, England to parents John Vine Milne and Sarah Maria (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, London, a small independent school run by his father. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells who taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.

Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness, the Royal Corps of Signals. After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English humour writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the lighthearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."

He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted".

Literary career
1903 to 1925

After graduating from Cambridge in 1903, A. A. Milne contributed humorous verse and whimsical essays to the British humour magazine Punch, joining the staff in 1906 and becoming an assistant editor.

During this period he published 18 plays and 3 novels, including the murder mystery The Red House Mystery (1922). His son was born in August 1920 and in 1924 Milne produced a collection of children's poems When We Were Very Young, which were illustrated by Punch staff cartoonist E. H. Shepard. A collection of short stories for children Gallery of Children, and other stories that became part of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, were first published in 1925.

Looking back on this period (in 1926) Milne observed that when he told his agent that he was going to write a detective story, he was told that what the country wanted from a "Punch humorist" was a humorous story; when two years later he said he was writing nursery rhymes, his agent and publisher were convinced he should write another detective story; and after another two years he was being told that writing a detective story would be in the worst of taste given the demand for children's books. He concluded that "the only excuse which I have yet discovered for writing anything is that I want to write it; and I should be as proud to be delivered of a Telephone Directory con amore as I should be ashamed to create a Blank Verse Tragedy at the bidding of others."

1926 to 1928

Milne is most famous for his two Pooh books about a boy named Christopher Robin after his son, and various characters inspired by his son's stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Winnie-the-Pooh. Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed bear, originally named "Edward", was renamed "Winnie-the-Pooh" after a Canadian black bear named Winnie (after Winnipeg), which was used as a military mascot in World War I, and left to London Zoo during the war. "The pooh" comes from a swan called "Pooh". E. H. Shepard illustrated the original Pooh books, using his own son's teddy, Growler ("a magnificent bear"), as the model. Christopher Robin Milne's own toys are now under glass in New York.

Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 1926, followed by The House at Pooh Corner in 1928. A second collection of nursery rhymes, Now We Are Six, was published in 1927. All three books were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Milne also published four plays in this period. He also "gallantly stepped forward" to contribute a quarter of the costs of dramatising P. G. Wodehouse's A Damsel in Distress.

1929 onwards

The success of his children's books was to become a source of considerable annoyance to Milne, whose self-avowed aim was to write whatever he pleased and who had, until then, found a ready audience for each change of direction: he had freed pre-war Punch from its ponderous facetiousness; he had made a considerable reputation as a playwright (like his idol J. M. Barrie) on both sides of the Atlantic; he had produced a witty piece of detective writing in The Red House Mystery (although this was severely criticised by Raymond Chandler for the implausibility of its plot). But once Milne had, in his own words, "said goodbye to all that in 70,000 words" (the approximate length of his four principal children's books), he had no intention of producing any reworkings lacking in originality, given that one of the sources of inspiration, his son, was growing older.

His reception remained warmer in America than Britain, and he continued to publish novels and short stories, but by the late 1930s the audience for Milne's grown-up writing had largely vanished: he observed bitterly in his autobiography that a critic had said that the hero of his latest play ("God help it") was simply "Christopher Robin grown up...what an obsession with me children are become!".

Even his old literary home, Punch, where the When We Were Very Young verses had first appeared, was ultimately to reject him, as Christopher Milne details in his autobiography The Enchanted Places, although Methuen continued to publish whatever Milne wrote, including the long poem 'The Norman Church' and an assembly of articles entitled Year In, Year Out (which Milne likened to a benefit night for the author).

He also adapted Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall. The title was an implicit admission that such chapters as Chapter 7, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", could not survive translation to the theatre. A special introduction written by Milne is included in some editions of Grahame's novel.

Several of Milne's children's poems were set to music by the composer Harold Fraser-Simson. His poems have been parodied many times, including with the books When We Were Rather Older and Now We Are Sixty.

After Milne's death, his widow sold the rights to the Pooh characters to the Walt Disney Company, which has made a number of Pooh cartoon movies, as well as a large amount of Pooh-related merchandise.

Royalties from the Pooh characters paid by Disney to the Royal Literary Fund, part-owner of the Pooh copyright, provide the income used to run the Fund's Fellowship Scheme, placing professional writers in U.K. universities.

Works
Novels

    * Lovers in London (1905) (Some consider this more of a short story collection; Milne didn't like it and considered The Day's Play as his first book.)
    * Once on a Time (1917)
    * Mr. Pim (1921) (A novelisation of his play Mr. Pim Passes By (1919))
    * The Red House Mystery (1922)
    * Two People (1931) (Inside jacket claims this is Milne's first attempt at a novel.)
    * Four Days' Wonder (1933)
    * Chloe Marr (1946)

Non-fiction

    * Peace With Honour (1934)
    * It's Too Late Now: The Autobiography of a Writer (1939)
    * War With Honour (1940)
    * Year In, Year Out (1952) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)

Punch articles

    * The Day's Play (1910)
    * Once a Week (1914)
    * The Holiday Round (1912)
    * The Sunny Side (1921)
    * Those Were the Days (1929)

Selections of newspaper articles and introductions to books by others

    * The Chronicles of Clovis by "Saki" (1911)
    * Not That It Matters (1920)
    * By Way of Introduction (1929)

Story collections for children

    * Gallery of Children (1925)
    * Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * The House at Pooh Corner (1928) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * Short Stories

Story collections

    * A Table Near the Band (1950)

Poetry

    * For the Luncheon Interval
    * When We Were Very Young (1924) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * Now We Are Six (1927) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * Behind the Lines (1940)
    * The Norman Church (1948)

Plays

Milne wrote over 25 plays, including:

    * Wurzel-Flummery (1917)
    * Belinda (1918)
    * The Boy Comes Home (1918)
    * Make-Believe (1918) (children's play)
    * The Camberley Triangle (1919)
    * Mr. Pim Passes By (1919)
    * The Red Feathers (1920)
    * The Romantic Age (1920)
    * The Stepmother (1920)
    * The Truth about Blayds (1920)
    * The Dover Road (1921)
    * The Lucky One (1922)
    * The Artist: A Duologue (1923)
    * Give Me Yesterday (1923) (a.k.a. Success in the U.K.)
    * The Great Broxopp (1923)
    * Ariadne (1924)
    * The Man in the Bowler Hat: A Terribly Exciting Affair (1924)
    * To Have the Honour (1924)
    * Portrait of a Gentleman in Slippers (1926)
    * Success (1926)
    * Miss Marlow at Play (1927)
    * The Fourth Wall or The Perfect Alibi (1928)
    * The Ivory Door (1929)
    * Toad of Toad Hall (1929) (adaptation of The Wind in the Willows)
    * Michael and Mary (1930)
    * Other People's Lives (1933) (a.k.a. They Don't Mean Any Harm)
    * Miss Elizabeth Bennet (1936)
    * Sarah Simple (1937)
    * Gentleman Unknown (1938)
    * The General Takes Off His Helmet (1939) in The Queen's Book of the Red Cross
    * The Ugly Duckling (1946)
    * Before the Flood (1951)

http://blog.syracuse.com/shelflife/2008/01/milne.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/19845241.jpg
A A Milne memorial plaque in Ashdown Forest

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/10 at 7:02 am


British Person of the Day: A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.

Life

A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, England to parents John Vine Milne and Sarah Maria (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, London, a small independent school run by his father. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells who taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.

Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness, the Royal Corps of Signals. After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English humour writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the lighthearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."

He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted".

Literary career
1903 to 1925

After graduating from Cambridge in 1903, A. A. Milne contributed humorous verse and whimsical essays to the British humour magazine Punch, joining the staff in 1906 and becoming an assistant editor.

During this period he published 18 plays and 3 novels, including the murder mystery The Red House Mystery (1922). His son was born in August 1920 and in 1924 Milne produced a collection of children's poems When We Were Very Young, which were illustrated by Punch staff cartoonist E. H. Shepard. A collection of short stories for children Gallery of Children, and other stories that became part of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, were first published in 1925.

Looking back on this period (in 1926) Milne observed that when he told his agent that he was going to write a detective story, he was told that what the country wanted from a "Punch humorist" was a humorous story; when two years later he said he was writing nursery rhymes, his agent and publisher were convinced he should write another detective story; and after another two years he was being told that writing a detective story would be in the worst of taste given the demand for children's books. He concluded that "the only excuse which I have yet discovered for writing anything is that I want to write it; and I should be as proud to be delivered of a Telephone Directory con amore as I should be ashamed to create a Blank Verse Tragedy at the bidding of others."

1926 to 1928

Milne is most famous for his two Pooh books about a boy named Christopher Robin after his son, and various characters inspired by his son's stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Winnie-the-Pooh. Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed bear, originally named "Edward", was renamed "Winnie-the-Pooh" after a Canadian black bear named Winnie (after Winnipeg), which was used as a military mascot in World War I, and left to London Zoo during the war. "The pooh" comes from a swan called "Pooh". E. H. Shepard illustrated the original Pooh books, using his own son's teddy, Growler ("a magnificent bear"), as the model. Christopher Robin Milne's own toys are now under glass in New York.

Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 1926, followed by The House at Pooh Corner in 1928. A second collection of nursery rhymes, Now We Are Six, was published in 1927. All three books were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Milne also published four plays in this period. He also "gallantly stepped forward" to contribute a quarter of the costs of dramatising P. G. Wodehouse's A Damsel in Distress.

1929 onwards

The success of his children's books was to become a source of considerable annoyance to Milne, whose self-avowed aim was to write whatever he pleased and who had, until then, found a ready audience for each change of direction: he had freed pre-war Punch from its ponderous facetiousness; he had made a considerable reputation as a playwright (like his idol J. M. Barrie) on both sides of the Atlantic; he had produced a witty piece of detective writing in The Red House Mystery (although this was severely criticised by Raymond Chandler for the implausibility of its plot). But once Milne had, in his own words, "said goodbye to all that in 70,000 words" (the approximate length of his four principal children's books), he had no intention of producing any reworkings lacking in originality, given that one of the sources of inspiration, his son, was growing older.

His reception remained warmer in America than Britain, and he continued to publish novels and short stories, but by the late 1930s the audience for Milne's grown-up writing had largely vanished: he observed bitterly in his autobiography that a critic had said that the hero of his latest play ("God help it") was simply "Christopher Robin grown up...what an obsession with me children are become!".

Even his old literary home, Punch, where the When We Were Very Young verses had first appeared, was ultimately to reject him, as Christopher Milne details in his autobiography The Enchanted Places, although Methuen continued to publish whatever Milne wrote, including the long poem 'The Norman Church' and an assembly of articles entitled Year In, Year Out (which Milne likened to a benefit night for the author).

He also adapted Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall. The title was an implicit admission that such chapters as Chapter 7, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", could not survive translation to the theatre. A special introduction written by Milne is included in some editions of Grahame's novel.

Several of Milne's children's poems were set to music by the composer Harold Fraser-Simson. His poems have been parodied many times, including with the books When We Were Rather Older and Now We Are Sixty.

After Milne's death, his widow sold the rights to the Pooh characters to the Walt Disney Company, which has made a number of Pooh cartoon movies, as well as a large amount of Pooh-related merchandise.

Royalties from the Pooh characters paid by Disney to the Royal Literary Fund, part-owner of the Pooh copyright, provide the income used to run the Fund's Fellowship Scheme, placing professional writers in U.K. universities.

Works
Novels

    * Lovers in London (1905) (Some consider this more of a short story collection; Milne didn't like it and considered The Day's Play as his first book.)
    * Once on a Time (1917)
    * Mr. Pim (1921) (A novelisation of his play Mr. Pim Passes By (1919))
    * The Red House Mystery (1922)
    * Two People (1931) (Inside jacket claims this is Milne's first attempt at a novel.)
    * Four Days' Wonder (1933)
    * Chloe Marr (1946)

Non-fiction

    * Peace With Honour (1934)
    * It's Too Late Now: The Autobiography of a Writer (1939)
    * War With Honour (1940)
    * Year In, Year Out (1952) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)

Punch articles

    * The Day's Play (1910)
    * Once a Week (1914)
    * The Holiday Round (1912)
    * The Sunny Side (1921)
    * Those Were the Days (1929)

Selections of newspaper articles and introductions to books by others

    * The Chronicles of Clovis by "Saki" (1911)
    * Not That It Matters (1920)
    * By Way of Introduction (1929)

Story collections for children

    * Gallery of Children (1925)
    * Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * The House at Pooh Corner (1928) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * Short Stories

Story collections

    * A Table Near the Band (1950)

Poetry

    * For the Luncheon Interval
    * When We Were Very Young (1924) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * Now We Are Six (1927) (illustrated by E. H. Shepard)
    * Behind the Lines (1940)
    * The Norman Church (1948)

Plays

Milne wrote over 25 plays, including:

    * Wurzel-Flummery (1917)
    * Belinda (1918)
    * The Boy Comes Home (1918)
    * Make-Believe (1918) (children's play)
    * The Camberley Triangle (1919)
    * Mr. Pim Passes By (1919)
    * The Red Feathers (1920)
    * The Romantic Age (1920)
    * The Stepmother (1920)
    * The Truth about Blayds (1920)
    * The Dover Road (1921)
    * The Lucky One (1922)
    * The Artist: A Duologue (1923)
    * Give Me Yesterday (1923) (a.k.a. Success in the U.K.)
    * The Great Broxopp (1923)
    * Ariadne (1924)
    * The Man in the Bowler Hat: A Terribly Exciting Affair (1924)
    * To Have the Honour (1924)
    * Portrait of a Gentleman in Slippers (1926)
    * Success (1926)
    * Miss Marlow at Play (1927)
    * The Fourth Wall or The Perfect Alibi (1928)
    * The Ivory Door (1929)
    * Toad of Toad Hall (1929) (adaptation of The Wind in the Willows)
    * Michael and Mary (1930)
    * Other People's Lives (1933) (a.k.a. They Don't Mean Any Harm)
    * Miss Elizabeth Bennet (1936)
    * Sarah Simple (1937)
    * Gentleman Unknown (1938)
    * The General Takes Off His Helmet (1939) in The Queen's Book of the Red Cross
    * The Ugly Duckling (1946)
    * Before the Flood (1951)

http://blog.syracuse.com/shelflife/2008/01/milne.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/19845241.jpg
A A Milne memorial plaque in Ashdown Forest



I was going around singing the Winnie The Pooh song 
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh
Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff
He's Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh
Willy nilly silly old bear :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/10 at 7:08 am

The word of the day...Rent
If you rent something, you regularly pay its owner a sum of money in order to be able to have it and use it yourself
If you rent something to someone, you let them have it and use it in exchange for a sum of money which they pay you regularly.
Rent is the amount of money that you pay regularly to use a house, flat, or piece of land.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f335/mackzekerule/RENT/RENT-2-1.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f335/mackzekerule/RENT/rent.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/master_of_one/RENT/92.png
http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy239/ParksideBrentwood/Flyers/ApartmentForRent1.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/Raisa94/Greennewlyrenaptforrent.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/master_of_one/Iconses/4dea41a2.gif
http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx348/michael_crisson/2010%20BCS%20National%20Championship/100_2241.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/10 at 7:11 am

The birthday of the day...Jesse L. Martin
Jesse Lamont Martin (born Jesse Lamont Watkins; January 18, 1969) is an American theatre, film, and television actor, best known for originating the role of Tom Collins in Rent and as Det. Ed Green in the NBC series Law & Order.
Stage work

After graduation, Martin toured the states with John Houseman's The Acting Company. He appeared in Shakespeare's Rock-in-Roles at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and The Butcher's Daughter at the Cleveland Playhouse, and returned to Manhattan to perform in local theatre, soap operas, and commercials. Finding that auditions, regional theater, and bit parts were no way to support himself, Martin waited tables at several restaurants around the city. He was literally serving a pizza when his appearance on CBS's Guiding Light aired in the same eatery. While the show aired, the whole waitstaff gathered around the bar television to cheer his performance. Often, during the dinner rush, he broke out in song. When he gave his customers their dinner checks, he told them to "keep it, because someday I'll be famous!" Many of his coworkers in the restaurants continue to follow his career and are considered his early "fan club".

Martin made his Broadway debut in Timon of Athens, and then performed in The Government Inspector with Lainie Kazan. While employed at the Moondance Diner, he met the playwright Jonathan Larson, who also worked on the restaurant's staff. In 1996, Larson's musical Rent took the theatre world by storm, with Martin in the part of gay computer geek/philosophy professor Tom Collins. The 1990s update of Puccini's La Bohème earned six Drama Desk Awards, five Obie Awards, four Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Television

Martin soon landed roles on Fox's short-lived 413 Hope St. and Eric Bross' independent film Restaurant (1998). Ally McBeal's creator, David E. Kelley, attended Rent's Broadway premiere and remembered Martin when the show needed a new boyfriend for Calista Flockhart's Ally. Martin's performance as Dr. Greg Butters on Ally McBeal caught David Duchovny's eye, who then cast Martin as a baseball-playing alien in a 1999 episode of The X-Files titled "The Unnatural" that Duchovny wrote and directed.

While still shooting Ally McBeal, Martin heard rumours that actor Benjamin Bratt planned to leave the cast of Law & Order. Martin had tried out for the show years before and won the minor role of a car-radio thief named Earl the Hamster, but decided to wait for a bigger part. With the opportunity presenting itself, Martin approached Law & Order producer Dick Wolf regarding the opening. Wolf hoped to cast him, and upon hearing that CBS and Fox both offered Martin development deals, he gave the actor the part without an audition.

From 1999 to 2008, he played Det. Ed Green on Law & Order. He had a brief hiatus at the end of the 2004–2005 season while he was filming the movie adaptation of Rent in which he reprised the role of Tom Collins. Martin's character was the first detective to be promoted from junior to senior partner. Martin's final episode of Law & Order aired April 23, 2008, as he was replaced by Anthony Anderson. Martin returned to NBC a year later, as the co-star of The Philanthropist.
Future work

Currently in development is Sexual Healing, a film about the last years of singer Marvin Gaye's life. Martin plans to both produce and star in the film. The film, directed by Lauren Goodman, is in pre-production as of 2008.
Stage work

    * Timon of Athens (Broadway premiere) - "Alcibiades' Officer" and "Second Masseur" (1993)
    * The Government Inspector (revival) - Abdulin (1994)
    * Rent - Tom Collins (1996)
    * Bright Lights Big City (Off-Broadway) - Tad

Filmography
Year Film/television Role Other notes
1995 & 1998 New York Undercover Mustapha (1995 episode: "All In The Family") and Kaylen (1998 episode: "Going Native") TV series
1997 413 Hope St. Antonio Collins TV series
Ally McBeal Dr. Greg Butters TV Series
1998 Restaurant Quincy
1999 The X-Files Josh Exley TV Series (Episode 6x19, "The Unnatural")
Deep in My Heart Don Williams TV series
1999–2008 Law & Order Det. Edward Green Regular:198 Episodes (left briefly during the end of the 2004–2005 season)
2002 Buring House of Love Andre Anderson
2003 Season of Youth
2004 A Christmas Carol Ghost of Christmas Present TV movie
2005 Rent Tom Collins repeated his Off-Broadway and Broadway role along with five other original cast members
2008 A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa A Postal Worker cameo, TV Movie
Sexual Healing Marvin Gaye Producer and starring actor, in production as of 2007
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/kharadiva/jesselmartin.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z221/likethembald/JesseLMartin.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/punkrockprincess08/Jesse%20L%20Martin/RENTTheApollo016-vi.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll293/AUTUMNSKYS24/saudah2/lo1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/10 at 7:15 am

The person of the day...Al Waxman
Albert Samuel Waxman, CM, O.Ont (March 2, 1935 – January 18, 2001) was a Canadian actor and director of over 1000 productions on radio, television, film, and stage. He is best known for his starring roles in the television series King of Kensington (CBC) and Cagney & Lacey (CBS).
Waxman's career began at the age of twelve on CBC radio but it wasn't until 1975, when he began playing the role of Larry King on CBC's King of Kensington (1975-1980), that he became a Canadian icon.

In the 1980 award winning film Atlantic City starring Burt Lancaster, Waxman appeared as a rich cocaine buyer with a seemingly endless amount of cash.

During the 1980s Waxman starred as the gruff but endearing Lt Bert Samuels in the highly successful CBS television drama Cagney & Lacey (1981-1989).

During the 1990s Waxman appeared in a variety of films and television shows but began spending more time acting and directing in the theatre. He was also a founding member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

In 1997 he was awarded the best actor Gemini Award for his performance in the television film Net Worth.

Waxman also appeared at the Stratford Festival, beginning with his critically acclaimed performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in 1997. He also directed a memorable Anne Frank at the Stratford Festival in 2000. He was to return to Stratford for his highly anticipated portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 2001. In the wake of Waxman's death one month before rehearsals were to begin Paul Soles accepted the part of Shylock and the play was performed in honour of Waxman.

His last television role was as celestial Judge Othneil in Twice in a Lifetime(1999-2001). The last episode on which he worked right up until the afternoon before his elective heart bypass surgery was about a man, popular in his community, who needed routine bypass surgery but died during the operation. Although some sections of the episode were rewritten, at the end of this final episode Waxman's character is asked rhetorically 'why do the good die young' to which he has no answer. He's then told 'you were quite a warrior'. His response - not merely the end of the episode, but one of Waxman's last lines ever recorded, and spoken with a smile of resignation from the heavens - was: 'I had my day'.

Throughout his career he responded to the need for his services in community work and was involved with charitable causes from coast to coast. He was spokesperson for organisations such as United Appeal, United Jewish Appeal, Israel Bonds, Variety Club, the Muscular Dystrophy Telethons, and Big Brothers (for which he also became an honorary member). From June 1979 to June 1981 he was the National Campaign Chairman for the Canadian Cancer Society, and from 1988-1989 he was an official spokesperson for the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

Al Waxman was accorded many tributes for his volunteer and philanthropic work. In 1978 he was honoured with the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal. In 1989 he was the recipient of the B'nai Brith of Canada Humanitarian Award. In 1996 Waxman was inducted into the Order of Ontario and in 1997 into the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was given the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement in Canadian television. A statue erected for his popularity as a Canadian star actor, director, and humanitarian stands in Kensington Market. The inscription in front of it reads 'There's lots to do down the road, there's always more. Trust your gut instincts. In small matters trust your mind, but in the important decisions of life - trust your heart.'
Death

He died in Toronto during heart surgery on January 18, 2001, at the age of 65. His unexpected passing sent shock waves through the media and across the country that admired him as much for his charity and his indefatigable spirit as for the enormous body of work that he had achieved over his career. The Toronto neighbourhood that his starring role in King of Kensington made famous, Kensington Market, erected a memorial to Waxman following his death.
Fan club

Musician Jaymz Bee of the Bee People, (prior to his work with The Look People, The Royal Jelly Orchestra and various projects) was a founder of the Al Waxman Fan Club. The Fan Club began in 1984 following the heyday of the King of Kensington television show. Bee, his associates Clay Tyson (son of Ian and Sylvia), Bazl Salazar, Bruce J. Scott and artist Max MacDonald would host parties and write songs in honour of Waxman. They even created a dance called "The Waxman Wiggle". Some other Bee People songtitles included: "Have Al Instead", "Al or Nothing", "UniversAl" and "Puff, The Waxman Poodle". While the Fan Club initially appeared to be a publicity stunt, this led to a long and successful association between Jaymz Bee and Al Waxman. Waxman attended some of the Fan Club events as organised by Bee, most of which raised money for charities such as The Canadian Cancer Foundation and Big Brother. Bee attended Waxman's funeral, and joined with his Fan Club to hold a wake in Toronto on 25 January 2001. They had a New Orleans-style funeral march with a jazz band and paraded from The Cameron House to Kensington Market where they recorded his hit TV theme song with Vezi Tayeb at Kensington Sound. The AWFC boasted over 1,000 card carrying members and while the bulk of members were from Toronto, some were as far away as Japan and Africa. President Bee received a terse reply from Buckingham Palace however, notifying him that The Queen does not "join a fan club". Al Waxman realized over the years that this organization, while appearing tongue in cheek, was a group of bonafide fans who enjoyed celebrating "the King of Canada". Members of the now dormant AWFC can still be seen wandering through Kensington Market to shake the hand of the Al Waxman statue that resides there.
Filmography
Movies

    * 1959: Sun In My Eyes
    * 1962: The War Lover
    * 1963: The Victors
    * 1968: Isabel
    * 1970: The Last Act of Martin Weston
    * 1974: Vengeance is Mine
    * 1975: The Clown Murders
    * 1975: My Pleasure is my Business
    * 1979: Wild Horse Hank
    * 1980: Atlantic City
    * 1980: Double Negative
    * 1981: Heavy Metal (voice only)
    * 1981: Tulips
    * 1982: Class of '84
    * 1983: Spasms
    * 1987: Meatballs III
    * 1988: Switching Channels
    * 1989: Collision Course
    * 1989: Malarek
    * 1989: Millennium
    * 1990: Mob Story
    * 1991: Cerro Torre: Scream of Stone
    * 1991: The Hitman
    * 1991: White Light
    * 1992: Live Wire
    * 1992: The Diamond Fleece
    * 1993: Operation Golden Phoenix
    * 1995: Iron Eagle IV
    * 1996: Bogus
    * 1997: The Assignment
    * 1997: Critical Care
    * 1998: At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story
    * 1998: Summer's End
    * 1999: The Hurricane

Television series

    * 1975-1980: King of Kensington
    * 1981: Circus International
    * 1982-1988: Cagney & Lacey
    * 1990-1991: Missing Treasures
    * 1997: Simply Wine and Cheese
    * 1999-2001: Twice in a Lifetime

Television Appearances

    * 1965: For the People
    * 1969: Adventures in Rainbow Country
    * 1979, 1983-1984: The Littlest Hobo
    * 1985: Night Heat
    * 1986: Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
    * 1988: My Secret Identity
    * 1988: Street Legal
    * 1988-1989: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    * 1989: Hard Time on Planet Earth
    * 1989: Murder, She Wrote
    * 1993: Sweating Bullets
    * 1994: They Eat Horses, Don't They?
    * 1996: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
    * 1998: Due South
    * 1998: Twitch City
    * 1998-2000: Power Play

Television specials

    * 1961: The Hired Gun
    * 1963: Man in the Middle
    * 1967: Do Not Fold, Staple, Or Spindle, Or Mutilate
    * 1967: Counter Etiquette. Part 1
    * 1970: The Last Act of Martin Weston
    * 1971: When Michael Calls
    * 1972: The Sloane Affair
    * 1974: A Star is Lost!
    * 1979: Please Don't Eat the Planet (voice only)
    * 1979: Intergalactic Thanksgiving (voice only)
    * 1981: Cagney & Lacey (pilot TV movie)
    * 1988: The Return of Ben Casey
    * 1990: Maggie's Secret
    * 1990: Back to the Beanstalk
    * 1991: I Still Dream of Jeannie
    * 1992: Quiet Killer
    * 1992: The Diamond Fleece
    * 1992: Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story
    * 1992: The Trial of Red Riding Hood
    * 1994: Cagney & Lacey: The Return
    * 1994: Web of Deceit
    * 1994: I Know My Son Is Alive
    * 1994: Death Junction
    * 1995: Net Worth
    * 1995: The Shamrock Conspiracy
    * 1996: Gotti
    * 1996: Holiday Affair
    * 1997: Rescuers: Stories of Courage
    * 1998: Naked City: A Killer at Christmas
    * 1999: In the Company of Spies (TV-1999)
    * 1999: A Saintly Switch
    * 1999: Unforgettable: 100 Years Remembered
    * 2000: The Ride
    * 2000: The Thin Blue Lie
    * 2000: Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (released posthumously)
    * 2000: What Makes a Family (released posthumously)
    * 2000: Messiah From Montreal (released posthumously)

*I can't find a pic on Photobucket

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/18/10 at 7:27 am

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.



        -A. A. Milne

This is one of my favorite Milne poems. (Had to get Granddaughter #1 this book on her last birthday since she turned 6. I will probably get it for Granddaughter #2 for her birthday since she will be turning 6 this year.)


Good choice, Philip.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/18/10 at 4:47 pm

I remember Al Waxman.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/18/10 at 9:57 pm


The person of the day...Al Waxman
Albert Samuel Waxman, CM, O.Ont (March 2, 1935 – January 18, 2001) was a Canadian actor and director of over 1000 productions on radio, television, film, and stage. He is best known for his starring roles in the television series King of Kensington (CBC) and Cagney & Lacey (CBS).
Waxman's career began at the age of twelve on CBC radio but it wasn't until 1975, when he began playing the role of Larry King on CBC's King of Kensington (1975-1980), that he became a Canadian icon.

In the 1980 award winning film Atlantic City starring Burt Lancaster, Waxman appeared as a rich cocaine buyer with a seemingly endless amount of cash.

During the 1980s Waxman starred as the gruff but endearing Lt Bert Samuels in the highly successful CBS television drama Caegney & Lacey (1981-1989).

During the 1990s Waxman appeared in a variety of films and television shows but began spending more time acting and directing in the theatre. He was also a founding member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

In 1997 he was awarded the best actor Gemini Award for his performance in the television film Net Worth.

Waxman also appeared at the Stratford Festival, beginning with his critically acclaimed performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in 1997. He also directed a memorable Anne Frank at the Stratford Festival in 2000. He was to return to Stratford for his highly anticipated portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 2001. In the wake of Waxman's death one month before rehearsals were to begin Paul Soles accepted the part of Shylock and the play was performed in honour of Waxman.

His last television role was as celestial Judge Othneil in Twice in a Lifetime(1999-2001). The last episode on which he worked right up until the afternoon before his elective heart bypass surgery was about a man, popular in his community, who needed routine bypass surgery but died during the operation. Although some sections of the episode were rewritten, at the end of this final episode Waxman's character is asked rhetorically 'why do the good die young' to which he has no answer. He's then told 'you were quite a warrior'. His response - not merely the end of the episode, but one of Waxman's last lines ever recorded, and spoken with a smile of resignation from the heavens - was: 'I had my day'.

Throughout his career he responded to the need for his services in community work and was involved with charitable causes from coast to coast. He was spokesperson for organisations such as United Appeal, United Jewish Appeal, Israel Bonds, Variety Club, the Muscular Dystrophy Telethons, and Big Brothers (for which he also became an honorary member). From June 1979 to June 1981 he was the National Campaign Chairman for the Canadian Cancer Society, and from 1988-1989 he was an official spokesperson for the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

Al Waxman was accorded many tributes for his volunteer and philanthropic work. In 1978 he was honoured with the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal. In 1989 he was the recipient of the B'nai Brith of Canada Humanitarian Award. In 1996 Waxman was inducted into the Order of Ontario and in 1997 into the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was given the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement in Canadian television. A statue erected for his popularity as a Canadian star actor, director, and humanitarian stands in Kensington Market. The inscription in front of it reads 'There's lots to do down the road, there's always more. Trust your gut instincts. In small matters trust your mind, but in the important decisions of life - trust your heart.'
Death

He died in Toronto during heart surgery on January 18, 2001, at the age of 65. His unexpected passing sent shock waves through the media and across the country that admired him as much for his charity and his indefatigable spirit as for the enormous body of work that he had achieved over his career. The Toronto neighbourhood that his starring role in King of Kensington made famous, Kensington Market, erected a memorial to Waxman following his death.
Fan club

Musician Jaymz Bee of the Bee People, (prior to his work with The Look People, The Royal Jelly Orchestra and various projects) was a founder of the Al Waxman Fan Club. The Fan Club began in 1984 following the heyday of the King of Kensington television show. Bee, his associates Clay Tyson (son of Ian and Sylvia), Bazl Salazar, Bruce J. Scott and artist Max MacDonald would host parties and write songs in honour of Waxman. They even created a dance called "The Waxman Wiggle". Some other Bee People songtitles included: "Have Al Instead", "Al or Nothing", "UniversAl" and "Puff, The Waxman Poodle". While the Fan Club initially appeared to be a publicity stunt, this led to a long and successful association between Jaymz Bee and Al Waxman. Waxman attended some of the Fan Club events as organised by Bee, most of which raised money for charities such as The Canadian Cancer Foundation and Big Brother. Bee attended Waxman's funeral, and joined with his Fan Club to hold a wake in Toronto on 25 January 2001. They had a New Orleans-style funeral march with a jazz band and paraded from The Cameron House to Kensington Market where they recorded his hit TV theme song with Vezi Tayeb at Kensington Sound. The AWFC boasted over 1,000 card carrying members and while the bulk of members were from Toronto, some were as far away as Japan and Africa. President Bee received a terse reply from Buckingham Palace however, notifying him that The Queen does not "join a fan club". Al Waxman realized over the years that this organization, while appearing tongue in cheek, was a group of bonafide fans who enjoyed celebrating "the King of Canada". Members of the now dormant AWFC can still be seen wandering through Kensington Market to shake the hand of the Al Waxman statue that resides there.
Filmography
Movies

    * 1959: Sun In My Eyes
    * 1962: The War Lover
    * 1963: The Victors
    * 1968: Isabel
    * 1970: The Last Act of Martin Weston
    * 1974: Vengeance is Mine
    * 1975: The Clown Murders
    * 1975: My Pleasure is my Business
    * 1979: Wild Horse Hank
    * 1980: Atlantic City
    * 1980: Double Negative
    * 1981: Heavy Metal (voice only)
    * 1981: Tulips
    * 1982: Class of '84
    * 1983: Spasms
    * 1987: Meatballs III
    * 1988: Switching Channels
    * 1989: Collision Course
    * 1989: Malarek
    * 1989: Millennium
    * 1990: Mob Story
    * 1991: Cerro Torre: Scream of Stone
    * 1991: The Hitman
    * 1991: White Light
    * 1992: Live Wire
    * 1992: The Diamond Fleece
    * 1993: Operation Golden Phoenix
    * 1995: Iron Eagle IV
    * 1996: Bogus
    * 1997: The Assignment
    * 1997: Critical Care
    * 1998: At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story
    * 1998: Summer's End
    * 1999: The Hurricane

Television series

    * 1975-1980: King of Kensington
    * 1981: Circus International
    * 1982-1988: Cagney & Lacey
    * 1990-1991: Missing Treasures
    * 1997: Simply Wine and Cheese
    * 1999-2001: Twice in a Lifetime

Television Appearances

    * 1965: For the People
    * 1969: Adventures in Rainbow Country
    * 1979, 1983-1984: The Littlest Hobo
    * 1985: Night Heat
    * 1986: Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
    * 1988: My Secret Identity
    * 1988: Street Legal
    * 1988-1989: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    * 1989: Hard Time on Planet Earth
    * 1989: Murder, She Wrote
    * 1993: Sweating Bullets
    * 1994: They Eat Horses, Don't They?
    * 1996: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
    * 1998: Due South
    * 1998: Twitch City
    * 1998-2000: Power Play

Television specials

    * 1961: The Hired Gun
    * 1963: Man in the Middle
    * 1967: Do Not Fold, Staple, Or Spindle, Or Mutilate
    * 1967: Counter Etiquette. Part 1
    * 1970: The Last Act of Martin Weston
    * 1971: When Michael Calls
    * 1972: The Sloane Affair
    * 1974: A Star is Lost!
    * 1979: Please Don't Eat the Planet (voice only)
    * 1979: Intergalactic Thanksgiving (voice only)
    * 1981: Cagney & Lacey (pilot TV movie)
    * 1988: The Return of Ben Casey
    * 1990: Maggie's Secret
    * 1990: Back to the Beanstalk
    * 1991: I Still Dream of Jeannie
    * 1992: Quiet Killer
    * 1992: The Diamond Fleece
    * 1992: Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story
    * 1992: The Trial of Red Riding Hood
    * 1994: Cagney & Lacey: The Return
    * 1994: Web of Deceit
    * 1994: I Know My Son Is Alive
    * 1994: Death Junction
    * 1995: Net Worth
    * 1995: The Shamrock Conspiracy
    * 1996: Gotti
    * 1996: Holiday Affair
    * 1997: Rescuers: Stories of Courage
    * 1998: Naked City: A Killer at Christmas
    * 1999: In the Company of Spies (TV-1999)
    * 1999: A Saintly Switch
    * 1999: Unforgettable: 100 Years Remembered
    * 2000: The Ride
    * 2000: The Thin Blue Lie
    * 2000: Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (released posthumously)
    * 2000: What Makes a Family (released posthumously)
    * 2000: Messiah From Montreal (released posthumously)

*I can't find a pic on Photobucket

The King of Kensington!
Used to watch that show.

Mike Myers ( as a teen) once made a guest appearance on that show, In Canada.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 12:26 am

British Person of the Day: Matthew Webb

Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848–24 July 1883) was the first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. On 25 August 1875 he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours.

Early life and career

He was born at Dawley in Shropshire, one of twelve children of a Coalbrookdale doctor. He joined the merchant navy and served a three-year apprenticeship with Rathbone Brothers of Liverpool.

Whilst serving as second mate on the Cunard Line ship Russia, travelling from New York to Liverpool, he attempted to rescue a man overboard by diving into the sea in the mid-Atlantic. The man was never found, but Webb's daring won him an award of £100 and the Stanhope Medal, and made him a hero of the British press.

English Channel swimming record

In 1873 Webb was serving as captain of the steamship Emerald when he read an account of the failed attempt by J. B. Johnson to swim the English Channel. He became inspired to try himself, and left his job to begin training, first at Lambeth Baths, then in the cold waters of the Thames and the English Channel.

On 12 August 1875 he made his first cross-Channel swimming attempt, but strong winds and poor sea conditions forced him to abandon the swim.

On 24 August 1875 he began a second swim by diving in from the Admiralty Pier at Dover. Backed by three chase boats and smeared in porpoise oil, he set off into the ebb tide at a steady breaststroke. Despite stings from jellyfish and strong currents off Cap Gris Nez which prevented him reaching the shore for five hours, finally, after 21 hours and 45 minutes, he landed near Calais—the first successful cross-channel swim. His zig-zag course across the Channel was over 39 miles (64 km) long.

Later life

After his record swim Captain Webb basked in national and international adulation, and followed a career as a professional swimmer. He licensed his name for merchandising such as commemorative pottery, and wrote a book called The Art of Swimming. A brand of matches was named after him. He participated in exhibition swimming matches and stunts such as floating in a tank of water for 128 hours.

On 27 April 1880 he married Madeline Kate Chaddock, and they had two children, Matthew and Helen.

His final stunt was to be a dangerous swim through the Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara Falls, a feat many observers considered suicidal. Although Webb failed in an attempt at raising interest in funding the event, on 24 July 1883 he jumped into the river from a small boat located near the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge and began his swim. Accounts of the time indicate that in all likelihood Webb successfully survived the first part of the swim, but died in the section of the river located near the entrance to the whirlpool. Webb was interred in Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls, New York.

In 1909, Webb's elder brother Thomas unveiled a memorial in Dawley. On it reads the short inscription: "Nothing great is easy." The memorial was taken away for repair after a lorry collided with it in February 2009. The landmark memorial was returned after full restoration and was hoisted back onto its plinth in Dawley High Street in October 2009.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/features/2003/08/images/webb_credit_museum_270.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:30 am


British Person of the Day: Matthew Webb

Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848–24 July 1883) was the first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. On 25 August 1875 he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours.

Early life and career

He was born at Dawley in Shropshire, one of twelve children of a Coalbrookdale doctor. He joined the merchant navy and served a three-year apprenticeship with Rathbone Brothers of Liverpool.

Whilst serving as second mate on the Cunard Line ship Russia, travelling from New York to Liverpool, he attempted to rescue a man overboard by diving into the sea in the mid-Atlantic. The man was never found, but Webb's daring won him an award of £100 and the Stanhope Medal, and made him a hero of the British press.

English Channel swimming record

In 1873 Webb was serving as captain of the steamship Emerald when he read an account of the failed attempt by J. B. Johnson to swim the English Channel. He became inspired to try himself, and left his job to begin training, first at Lambeth Baths, then in the cold waters of the Thames and the English Channel.

On 12 August 1875 he made his first cross-Channel swimming attempt, but strong winds and poor sea conditions forced him to abandon the swim.

On 24 August 1875 he began a second swim by diving in from the Admiralty Pier at Dover. Backed by three chase boats and smeared in porpoise oil, he set off into the ebb tide at a steady breaststroke. Despite stings from jellyfish and strong currents off Cap Gris Nez which prevented him reaching the shore for five hours, finally, after 21 hours and 45 minutes, he landed near Calais—the first successful cross-channel swim. His zig-zag course across the Channel was over 39 miles (64 km) long.

Later life

After his record swim Captain Webb basked in national and international adulation, and followed a career as a professional swimmer. He licensed his name for merchandising such as commemorative pottery, and wrote a book called The Art of Swimming. A brand of matches was named after him. He participated in exhibition swimming matches and stunts such as floating in a tank of water for 128 hours.

On 27 April 1880 he married Madeline Kate Chaddock, and they had two children, Matthew and Helen.

His final stunt was to be a dangerous swim through the Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara Falls, a feat many observers considered suicidal. Although Webb failed in an attempt at raising interest in funding the event, on 24 July 1883 he jumped into the river from a small boat located near the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge and began his swim. Accounts of the time indicate that in all likelihood Webb successfully survived the first part of the swim, but died in the section of the river located near the entrance to the whirlpool. Webb was interred in Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls, New York.

In 1909, Webb's elder brother Thomas unveiled a memorial in Dawley. On it reads the short inscription: "Nothing great is easy." The memorial was taken away for repair after a lorry collided with it in February 2009. The landmark memorial was returned after full restoration and was hoisted back onto its plinth in Dawley High Street in October 2009.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/features/2003/08/images/webb_credit_museum_270.jpg


Very interesting. Thanks Phil.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:41 am

The word of the day...Coat
A coat is a piece of clothing with long sleeves which you wear over your other clothes when you go outside.
An animal's coat is the fur or hair on its body
If you coat something with a substance or in a substance, you cover it with a thin layer of the substance.
A coat of paint or varnish is a thin layer of it on a surface.
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/qqmickey/20100111101154843833308.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g11/duckdog98604/ColumbiaCoat.jpg
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad127/427SC/DSCN2257.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo195/czmmvc/coat.jpg
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/notshai/coat/IMG_3725.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm95/MrsAlyssaCullen/trench.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/Splatter_c4/johnny.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn125/dyingbull/Raffles_Institution_Coat_of_Arms.png
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn144/sturmmd/P1000119sm.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj312/tomglibbery/coat1.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u126/eawslinky/pubichare.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb13/Clue_in/BashkirCurly.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 4:43 am


Very interesting. Thanks Phil.
For me he is an undiscovered hero that has been lost to history.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:46 am

The birthday of the day...Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music.

In the four-and-a-half decades since her national-chart début, she remains one of the most-successful female artists in the history of the country genre which garnered her the title of 'The Queen of Country Music', with twenty-five number-one singles, and a record forty-one top-10 country albums. She has the distinction of having performed on a top-five country hit in each of the last five decades and is tied with Reba McEntire as the only country artists with No. 1 singles in four consecutive decades.

She is known for her distinctive soprano, sometimes bawdy humor, flamboyant dress sense and voluptuous figure.
n 1967, Parton was asked to join the weekly country-music, syndicated-television program The Porter Wagoner Show, hosted by Porter Wagoner, replacing Norma Jean, one of the most popular country female vocalists at the time, who was newly married and semi-retiring.

Initially, Wagoner's audience was reluctant to warm to Parton and chanted for Norma Jean, but with Wagoner's assistance, she was accepted. Wagoner convinced his label, RCA Victor, to also sign Parton. The label decided to protect their investment by releasing her first single as a duet with Wagoner. The duo's first single, "The Last Thing on My Mind," reached the country Top Ten early in 1968, launching a six-year streak of virtually uninterrupted Top-Ten singles.

Parton's first solo single for RCA, "Just Because I'm a Woman", was released in the summer of 1968 and was a moderate hit, reaching number seventeen. For the remainder of the decade, none of her solo efforts – even "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)," which would later become a standard – were as successful as her duets. The duo was named Vocal Group of the Year in 1968 by the Country Music Association, but Parton's solo records were continually ignored. Wagoner and Parton were both frustrated by her lack of solo success, because he had a significant financial stake in her future – as of 1969, he was her co-producer and owned nearly half of the publishing company Owepar.

By 1970, both Parton and Wagoner had grown frustrated by her lack of solo chart success, and Porter had her sing Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues," a gimmick that worked. The record shot to number three on the charts, followed closely by her first number-one single, "Joshua." For the next two years, she had a number of solo hits – including her signature song "Coat of Many Colors" (number four, 1971) – in addition to her duets. Though she had successful singles, none of them were blockbusters until "Jolene" reached number one in early 1974. Parton stopped traveling with Wagoner after its release, yet she continued to appear on television and sing duets with him until 1976.

She stayed with the Wagoner Show and continued to record duets with him for seven years, then made a break to become a solo artist. In 1974, her song, "I Will Always Love You" (written about her professional break from Wagoner), was released and went to number one on the country-music charts. Around the same time, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that she would have to sign over half of the publishing rights if Presley recorded the song (as was the standard procedure for songs he recorded). Parton refused and that decision is credited with helping to make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years. It was decisions like these, in fact, that caused her to be called "The Iron Butterfly" in show-business circles.
1977–1986: Branching out into pop music

From 1974 to 1980, she consistently charted in the country Top 10, with no fewer than eight singles reaching number one. Parton had her own syndicated-television variety show, Dolly! (1976–1977), and by 1977 had gained the right to produce her own albums, which immediately resulted in diverse efforts like 1977's New Harvest ... First Gathering. In addition to her own hits during the late 1970s, many artists, from Rose Maddox and Kitty Wells to Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt, covered her songs, and her siblings Randy and Stella had recording contracts of their own.

Parton later had commercial success as a pop singer, as well as an actress. Her 1977 album, Here You Come Again, was her first million-seller, and its title track ("Here You Come Again") became her first top-ten single on the pop charts (reaching number three); many of her subsequent singles charted on both pop and country charts, simultaneously. Her albums during this period were developed specifically for pop-crossover success.

In 1978 Parton won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her Here You Come Again album. Following that title track's success, she had further pop hits with "Two Doors Down", "Heartbreaker" (both 1978), "Baby I'm Burning" and "You're the Only One" (both 1979), all of which charted in the pop singles Top 40, and all of which also topped the country-singles chart. On April 3, 1978, Parton performed with Cher on television in Cher... Special in the "Musical Battle to Save Cher's Soul Medley". Parton was dressed in white and, with a team of brightly clad singers, portrayed an angelic host while punk band The Tubes, dressed in black leather and performing "Mondo Bondage", battled to send Cher's soul into eternal damnation.

Parton's commercial success continued to grow during 1980, with three number-one hits in a row: the Donna Summer-written "Starting Over Again," "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You", and "9 to 5."

With less time to spend songwriting as she focused on a burgeoning film career, during the early 1980s Parton recorded a larger percentage of material from noted pop songwriters, such as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Rupert Holmes, Gary Portnoy and Carole Bayer Sager.
Parton in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1983.

"9 to 5", the theme song to the feature film Nine to Five (1980) Parton starred in along with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, not only reached number one on the country charts, but also number one on the pop and the adult-contemporary charts, giving her a triple-number-one hit. Parton became one of the few female country singers to have a number-one single on the country and pop charts simultaneously. It also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

Parton's singles continued to appear consistently in the country Top 10: between 1981 and 1985, she had 12 Top 10 hits; half of those were number-one singles. Parton continued to make inroads on the pop charts as well with a re-recorded version of "I Will Always Love You" from the feature film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) scraping the Top 50 that year and her duet with Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream" (written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb), spent two weeks at number one in 1983.

Most of her albums were dominated by the adult-contemporary pop songs like "Islands in the Stream," and it had been years since she had sung straightforward country. She also continued to explore new business and entertainment ventures such as her Dollywood theme park, that opened in 1986 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Her record sales were still relatively strong, however, with "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Tennessee Homesick Blues" (both 1984); "Real Love" (another duet with Kenny Rogers), "Don't Call it Love" (both 1985); and "Think About Love" (1986) all reaching the country-singles Top 10. ("Tennessee Homesick Blues" and "Think About Love" reached number one. "Real Love" also reached number one on the country-singles chart and also became a modest pop-crossover hit). However, RCA Records didn't renew her contract after it expired that year, and she signed with CBS Records in 1987.
1987–1994: Return to country roots

Along with Harris and Ronstadt, she released the decade-in-the-making Trio (1987) to critical acclaim. The album strongly revitalized Parton's temporarily stalled music career, spending five weeks at number one on Billboard's Country Albums chart, selling several million copies and producing four Top 10 country hits including Phil Spector's "To Know Him Is to Love Him", which went to number one. Trio won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 1987, she revived her television variety show, Dolly

After a further attempt at pop success with 1987's critically and commercially disappointing Rainbow, Parton refocused on recording country material. White Limozeen (1989) produced two number-one hits in "Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That" and "Yellow Roses." Although it looked like Parton's career had been revived, it was actually just a brief revival before contemporary country music came in the early 1990s and moved all veteran artists out of the charts.

A duet with Ricky Van Shelton, "Rockin' Years" (1991) reached number one but Parton's greatest commercial fortune of the decade came when Whitney Houston recorded "I Will Always Love You" for the soundtrack of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992); both the single and the album were massively successful.

She recorded "The Day I Fall In Love" as a duet with James Ingram for the feature film Beethoven's 2nd (1993). The songwriters (Sager, Ingram, and Clif Mangess) were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Parton and Ingram performed the song on the awards telecast.

Similar to her earlier collabrative album with Harris and Ronstadt, Parton recorded Honky Tonk Angels (1994) with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. It was certified a Gold Album by the Recording Industry Association of America and helped revive both Wynette's and Lynn's careers.
Since 1995: career today

In 1995 Parton re-recorded "I Will Always Love You" as a duet with Vince Gill on her album Something Special for which they won the Country Music Association's Vocal Event of the Year Award.

A second and more-contemporary collaboration with Harris and Ronstadt, Trio II (1999), was released and its cover of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" won a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Parton was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

She recorded a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums, beginning with The Grass Is Blue (1999), winning a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, and Little Sparrow (2001), with its cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" winning a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The third, Halos & Horns (2002) included a bluegrass version of the Led Zeppelin classic "Stairway to Heaven".

Parton released Those Were The Days (2005), her interpretation of hits from the folk-rock era of the late 1960s through the early 1970s. It featured such classics as John Lennon's "Imagine", Cat Stevens's "Where Do the Children Play?", Tommy James's "Crimson and Clover", and Pete Seeger's anti-war song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?".

Parton earned her second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Travelin' Thru", which she wrote specifically for the feature film Transamerica (2005). Because of the song's nature of accepting a transgender woman without judgment, Parton received death threats. She also returned to number one on the country charts later in 2005 by lending her distinctive harmonies to the Brad Paisley ballad, "When I Get Where I'm Goin'".

In September 2007, Parton released her first single from her own record company, Dolly Records, entitled, "Better Get to Livin'", which eventually peaked at number forty-eight on the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

Her latest studio album, "Backwoods Barbie", released February 26, 2008, reached number two on the country charts. The album's début at number seventeen on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart has been the highest in her career. The title track and video was released in February 2009. The title song was written as part of her score for 9 to 5: The Musical, an adaptation of her feature film Nine to Five.

After the sudden death of Michael Jackson, whom Parton knew personally, she released a video in which she somberly told of her feelings on Jackson and his death.

On October 27, 2009, Parton released a 4-CD box set entitled "Dolly" which features 99 songs and spans most of her career. She is now set to release her second live DVD and album, "Live From London" in October 2009 which was filmed during her sold out 2008 concerts at London's 02 Arena. She is also currently working on a dance album, "Dance with Dolly", of which she has said should be released very soon.
Parton is a hugely successful songwriter, having begun by writing country-music songs with strong elements of folk music, based upon her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings, and reflecting her family's evangelical-Christian background. Her songs "Coat of Many Colors", "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" have become classics in the field, as have a number of others. As a songwriter, she is also regarded as one of country music's most-gifted storytellers, with many of her narrative songs based on persons and events from her childhood. Parton has listed almost 600 songs with Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) to date and has earned 37 BMI awards for her material. In 2001, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In a 2009 interview with CNN's Larry King Live, Parton indicated that she had written "at least 3,000" songs, having written seriously since the age of seven. Parton went on to say that she writes something every day, be it a song or an idea.
Compositions in films and television and covers

Parton's songwriting has been featured prominently in several films.

In addition to the title song for Nine to Five (1980), she also recorded a second version of "I Will Always Love You" for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982); the second version proved to be another number-one country hit and also managed to reach the pop charts going to number 53 in the U.S.

"I Will Always Love You" has been covered by many country artists, including Ronstadt, on Prisoner In Disguise (1975); Kenny Rogers, on Vote for Love (1996); and LeAnn Rimes, on Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997). Whitney Houston performed it on The Bodyguard (1992) film soundtrack and her version became the best-selling hit ever both written and performed by a female vocalist, with worldwide sales of over twelve million copies.

As a songwriter, Parton has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for "9 to 5" (1980) and "Travelin' Thru" (2005). "Travelin' Thru" did win as Best Original Song award at the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards (2005). The song was also nominated for both the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (2005) and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (also known as the Critics' Choice Awards) for Best Song (2005).

A cover version of "Love Is Like A Butterfly", recorded by singer Clare Torry, was used as the theme music for the British TV show Butterflies.
American Idol appearance

The music-competition, reality-television show American Idol (since 2002) has weekly themes and the April 1–2, 2008, episodes' theme was "Dolly Parton Songs" with the nine then-remaining contestants each singing a Parton composition. Parton participated as a "guest mentor" to the contestants and also performed "Jesus and Gravity" (from Backwoods Barbie and released as a single in March 2008) receiving a standing ovation from the studio audience.
9 to 5: The Musical
Main article: 9 to 5: The Musical

Parton wrote the score (and Patricia Resnick wrote the book) for 9 to 5: The Musical, a musical-theatre adaptation of Parton's feature film Nine to Five (1980). The musical ran at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California, in Fall 2008.

It opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre in New York City, New York, on April 30, 2009, to mixed reviews. The title track of her Backwoods Barbie (2008), was written for the musical's character Doralee.

Developing the musical was not an overnight process. According to a broadcast of the public-radio program Studio 360 (October 29, 2005), in October 2005 Parton was in the midst of composing the songs for a Broadway musical-theatre adaptation of the film. In late June 2007, 9 to 5: the Musical was read for industry presentations. The readings starred Megan Hilty, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Bebe Neuwirth and Marc Kudisch.
Musician

Parton plays the autoharp, banjo, drums, dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, pennywhistle and piano. She began composing songs at the age of four, her mother often writing down the music as she heard Parton singing around the house. Parton often describes her talent as having "the gift of rhyme".
Acting career

During the mid-1970s, Parton wanted to expand her audience base. Although her first attempt, the television variety show Dolly! (1976–1977), had high ratings, it lasted only one season, with Parton requesting to be released from her contract because of the stress it was causing her vocal cords. (She later tried a second television variety show, also entitled Dolly (1987–1988); it also lasted only one season.)
Film

In her first feature film she portrayed a secretary in a co-starring role with Fonda and Tomlin in Nine to Five (1980). Parton received Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and New Star Of The Year – Actress.

She also wrote and recorded the biggest solo hit of her career with the film's title song. It received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Song along with a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song. Released as a single, the song won two Grammy Awards: Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. The song also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and in was placed number 78 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Songs" list released in 2004. Parton was also named Top Female Box Office Star by the Motion Picture Herald in both 1981 and 1982.

Parton's second film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), earned her a second Golden Globe nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

She followed with Rhinestone (1984), co-starring Sylvester Stallone, and Steel Magnolias (1989), with an ensemble cast.

The last leading role for Parton was portraying a plainspoken radio-program host (with listeners telephoning in to share their problems) in Straight Talk (1992), opposite James Woods.

She played an overprotective mother in Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002) with Dave Sheridan, Cameron Richardson and Randy Quaid.

Parton played herself in a cameo appearance in The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) (an adaptation of the long-running television situation comedy of the same name) and also in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) (the sequel to Sandra Bullock's earlier Miss Congeniality (2000)).

She was featured in The Book Lady (2008) a documentary about her campaign for children’s literacy and she was expecting to repeat her television role as Hannah's godmother in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2008) but the character was omitted from the final screenplay.
Television

In addition to her performing appearances on the Wagoner Show in the 1960s and into the 1970s; her two self-titled television variety shows in the 1970s and 1980s; and on American Idol in 2001 and other guest appearances, Parton has also acted in television roles. In 1979 she received an Emmy award nomination as "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Variety Program" for her guest appearance in a Cher special.

She starred in the television movie Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986); Unlikely Angel (1996), portraying an angel sent back to earth following a deadly car crash; and Blue Valley Songbird (1999), where her character lives through her music.

Parton has also done voice work for animation for television series, playing herself in the Alvin & the Chipmunks (episode "Urban Chipmunk", 1983) and the character Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy in The Magic School Bus (episode "The Family Holiday Special", 1994).

Dolly guest starred on an episode of Designing Women (episode "The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century") as herself, the guardian movie star of Charlene's baby. She also appeared in the situation comedy series Reba (episode "Reba's Rules of Real Estate") portraying a real-estate agency owner, and on The Simpsons (episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday", 1999).

She also made cameo appearances on the Disney Channel as "Aunt Dolly" visiting Hannah and her family in the fellow Tennessean Miley Cyrus's series Hannah Montana (episodes "Good Golly, Miss Dolly", 2006, and "I Will Always Loathe You", 2007). The role came about because of her real-life relationship as Cyrus's godmother.
Since the mid-1980s Parton has supported many charitable efforts, particularly in the area of literacy, primarily through her Dollywood Foundation.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Her literacy program, "Dolly Parton's Imagination Library", a part of the Dollywood Foundation, mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. It began in Sevier County but has now been replicated in 566 counties across thirty-six U.S. states (as well as in Canada). In December 2007 it expanded to Europe with the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham, United Kingdom, being the first British locality to receive the books.

The program distributes more than 2.5 million free books to children annually.

In 2006 Parton published a cookbook Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food. The net profits support the Dollywood Foundation.
Other philanthropy

Dollywood has also been noted for bringing jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region.

She has also worked to raise money on behalf of several other causes, including the American Red Cross and a number of HIV/AIDS-related charities.

In December 2006, Parton pledged $500,000 toward a proposed $90-million hospital and cancer center to be constructed in Sevierville in the name of Dr. Robert F. Thomas, the physician who delivered her; she also announced plans for a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the project. The concert went ahead playing to about 8,000 people.

In May 2009, Parton gave the Graduating Commencement Address at the University of Tennessee. Her speech was about her life lessons, and she encouraged the graduates to never stop dreaming.
Awards and honors

Parton is one of the most-honored female country performers of all time. The Record Industry Association of America has certified 25 of her single or album releases as either Gold Record, Platinum Record or Multi-Platinum Record. She has had 26 songs reach number one on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 42 career-top-10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. All inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, paid digital downloads and compilation usage during Parton's career have reportedly topped 100 million records around the world.
Parton during a reception for The Kennedy Center honorees in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on December 3, 2006.

She has received seven Grammy Awards and a total of 45 Grammy Award nominations. At the American Music Awards she has won three awards, but has received 18 nominations. At the Country Music Association, she has received 10 awards and 42 nominations. At the Academy of Country Music, she has won seven awards and 39 nominations. She is one of only six female artists (including Reba McEntire, Barbara Mandrell, Shania Twain, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year (1978). She has also been nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.

She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording in 1984, located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California; a star on the Nashville Star Walk for Grammy winners; and a bronze sculpture on the courthouse lawn in Sevierville. She has called that statue of herself in her hometown "the greatest honor," because it came from the people who knew her.

Parton was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1969, and in 1986 was named one of Ms. Magazine's Women of the Year. In 1986, Parton was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1999, Parton received country music's highest honor, an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Carson-Newman College (Jefferson City, Tennessee) in 1990. This was followed by induction into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2002, Parton ranked number four in CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

She was honored in 2003 with a tribute album called Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton. The artists who recorded versions of Parton's songs included Melissa Etheridge ("I Will Always Love You"), Alison Krauss ("9 to 5"), Twain ("Coat of Many Colors"), Me'Shell NdegéOcello ("Two Doors Down"), Norah Jones ("The Grass is Blue"), and Sinéad O'Connor ("Dagger Through the Heart"); Parton herself contributed a rerecording of the title song, originally the title song for her first RCA album in 1968. Parton was awarded the Living Legend Medal by the U.S. Library of Congress on April 14, 2004, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States.

This was followed in 2005 with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given by the U.S. government for excellence in the arts and is presented by the U.S. President.

On December 3, 2006, Parton received the Kennedy Center Honors from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her lifetime of contributions to the arts. Other 2006 honorees included Zubin Mehta, Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson and Andrew Lloyd Webber. During the show, some of country music's biggest names came to show their admiration. Carrie Underwood performed Parton's hit "Islands in the Stream" with Rogers, Parton's original duet partner. Krauss performed "Jolene" and duetted "Coat of Many Colors" with Twain. McEntire and Reese Witherspoon also came to pay tribute.
Philanthropy-related honors

In 2003, her efforts to preserve the bald eagle through the American Eagle Foundation's sanctuary at Dollywood earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Parton received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution at a ceremony in Nashville on November 8, 2007.

For her work in literacy, Parton has received various awards including:

   * Association of American Publishers - AAP Honors Award (2000)
   * Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (2001) (the first time the seal had been awarded to a person)
   * American Association of School Administrators - Galaxy Award (2002)
   * National State Teachers of the Year - Chasing Rainbows Award (2002)
   * Parents as Teachers National Center - Child and Family Advocacy Award (2003)

On May 8, 2009, Parton gave the commencement speech at the commencement ceremony in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's College of Arts and Sciences. During the ceremony she received an honorary degree, a doctorate of humane and musical letters, from the university. It was only the second honorary degree to be given by the university and in presenting the degree, the university's chancellor, Jimmy G. Cheek, said, "Because of her career not just as a musician and entertainer, but for her role as a cultural ambassador, philanthropist and lifelong advocate for education, it is fitting that she be honored with an honorary degree from the flagship educational institution of her home state."
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn309/ShowPony1/portrait.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o147/Bratt1210/parton_dolly.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss54/HJK101/Dolly%20Parton/is-dolly-parton-dead.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n290/BobbyStClaire/dolly-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:47 am


For me he is an undiscovered hero that has been lost to history.

I know what you mean, I sometimes think I should go back more to find the person of the day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 4:47 am


The word of the day...Coat
A coat is a piece of clothing with long sleeves which you wear over your other clothes when you go outside.
An animal's coat is the fur or hair on its body
If you coat something with a substance or in a substance, you cover it with a thin layer of the substance.
A coat of paint or varnish is a thin layer of it on a surface.
http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/qqmickey/20100111101154843833308.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g11/duckdog98604/ColumbiaCoat.jpg
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad127/427SC/DSCN2257.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo195/czmmvc/coat.jpg
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/notshai/coat/IMG_3725.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm95/MrsAlyssaCullen/trench.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/Splatter_c4/johnny.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn125/dyingbull/Raffles_Institution_Coat_of_Arms.png
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn144/sturmmd/P1000119sm.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj312/tomglibbery/coat1.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u126/eawslinky/pubichare.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb13/Clue_in/BashkirCurly.jpg
Youtube is....

...Service Unavailable

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 4:50 am


Youtube is....

...Service Unavailable
Through Google Videos (on youTube)

Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:52 am

The person of the day...Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B/rock and roll and soul singer and songwriter known for his raw, raspy, passionate vocal delivery.

A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the pop charts as well. Among his best known hits are "In The Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway".

The impact of Pickett's songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Pickett's Atlantic career began with a self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry", which stalled at a lowly #124 on the national charts. Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic next paired him with famed producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a pop duet with New Orleans singer Tammi Lynn, but this single failed to chart completely.

Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965), perhaps his best-remembered hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop {US}, and #12 hit {UK}.

The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, in which producer Jerry Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, which also included bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. (Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the MG's, did not play on any of the Pickett studio sessions.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper later explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here this was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes." The song that resulted from this encounter established Pickett as a star, and also gave Atlantic Records a bona fide hit.
Stax/Fame years (1965-67)

Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965, and was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop). All but "634-5789" were original compositions Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd and/or Steve Cropper; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone. All of these recordings are considered soul classics, and show a range of different styles, from the hard-driving "Midnight Hour" and "Don't Fight It," to the more overtly gospel-influenced "Ninety-Nine and A Half" (which borrowed its title from a gospel standard recorded by The Ward Singers) and the pop-soul of "634-5789".

For his next sessions, Pickett would not return to Stax; the label's owner, Jim Stewart, banned all outside productions in December, 1965. As a result, Wexler took Pickett to Fame studios, another recording studio with an even closer association to Atlantic Records. Located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fame was very influential in shaping soul music, and Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there. This included the highest-charting version ever of the kinetic "Land of 1,000 Dances", which became Pickett's third R&B #1, and his biggest ever pop hit, peaking at #6. The song had previously been a hit for the song's writer, Chris Kenner, and Mexican-American band Cannibal & the Headhunters.

Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two other covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally," (#6 R&B, #23 pop), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway," (another R&B #1 for Pickett, as well as #8 pop). The band heard on almost all of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham and drummer Roger Hawkins.
Later Atlantic years (1967-1972)

Towards the end of 1967, Pickett began recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and also began recording numerous songs by Bobby Womack. The songs "I'm In Love," "Jealous Love," "I've Come A Long Way," "I'm A Midnight Mover," (a Pickett/Womack co-write), and "I Found A True Love" were all Womack-penned hits for Pickett in 1967 and 1968. "I'm In Love" was also a return to the soul ballad genre for Pickett; he would continue to record a mixture of ballads, soul and funk for the rest of his career. Pickett also recorded work by other writers during this era; Rodger Collins' "She's Looking Good" and a cover of the traditional blues standard "Stagger Lee" were also top 40 Pickett hits recorded at American in 1967/68. Womack was the guitarist on all these recordings.

Pickett returned to Fame Studios in late 1968 and early 1969, where he worked with a band that featured guitarist Duane Allman, as well as Muscle Shoals stalwart Hawkins and newly recruited bassist David Hood. A #16 pop hit cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" came from these Fame sessions, as well as the minor hits "Mini-Skirt Minnie" and "Hey Joe".

Late 1969 found Pickett at Criteria Studios in Miami. Hit covers of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (#16 R&B, #92 Pop) and The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" (#4 R&B, #25 Pop), as well as the Pickett original "She Said Yes" (#20 R&B, #68 Pop) came from these sessions.

Pickett then teamed up with established Philadelphia-based hitmakers Gamble and Huff for the 1970 album Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia, which featured his next two hit singles, the funk-oriented "Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9" (#3 R&B, #14 Pop) and the pop number "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You" (#2 R&B, #17 Pop).

Following these two big hits, Pickett returned to Muscle Shoals and the Muscle Shoals band, featuring Hood, Hawkins and Tippy Armstrong. This line-up recorded Pickett's fifth and last R&B #1 hit, "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1", which also peaked at #13 on the pop charts in 1971. Two further hits followed in '71: "Call My Name, I'll Be There" (#10 R&B, #52 Pop) and "Fire and Water" (#2 R&B, #24 Pop), a cover of a song by Free.

Pickett recorded several tracks in 1972 for a planned new album on Atlantic, but after the single "Funk Factory" reached #11 R&B and #58 pop in June of 1972, he left Atlantic for RCA Records. His final Atlantic single, a cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come," was actually culled from Pickett's 1971 album Don't Knock My Love.
Post-Atlantic recording career

Pickett continued to record with some success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was no longer crossing over to the pop charts with any regularity, as none of these songs hit higher than #90 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As the decade continued, the advent of disco put Pickett's soul-based musical style out of step with the then-current trends in R&B, and in pop music in general. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label.

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades, occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts. However, after 1974, he never had another pop hit. His last record was issued in 1999, although he remained fairly active on the touring front until he became ill in 2004.
Personal life and honors

Outside of music, Pickett's personal life was troubled. Even in his 1960s heyday, Pickett's friends found him to be temperamental and preoccupied with guns; Don Covay described him as "young and wild". Then in 1987, as his recording career was drying up, Pickett was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car. In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the mayor's front lawn in Englewood, New Jersey. The following year, he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

In 1993, Pickett was involved in an accident where he struck an 86-year-old pedestrian, Pepe Ruiz, with his car in Englewood. Ruiz, who helped organize the New York animation union, died later that year. Pickett pled guilty to drunken driving charges and received a reduced sentence of one year in jail and five years probation. Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.

Throughout the 1990s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was continually honored for his contributions to music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, his music was prominently featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen character. In 1993, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Pickett was also a popular songwriter, as songs he wrote were recorded by artists like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. & the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, The Jam and Ani DiFranco, among others.

Several years after his release from jail, Pickett returned to the studio and received a Grammy nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now. The comeback also resulted in his being honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. It's Harder Now was voted Comeback Blues Album of the Year and Soul/Blues Album of the Year.

In 2003, he co-starred in the D.A. Pennebaker-directed documentary "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. In 2005, Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. His classic recording of "Mustang Sally" was voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2007.

Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates a year until 2004, when he began suffering from health problems. While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album. But, sadly, he never recovered.
Death

Pickett died of a heart attack January 19, 2006 in the hospital near his Ashburn, Virginia home and was buried in Louisville, Kentucky. Pickett's long-time friend, Little Richard, spoke about him and preached briefly at the funeral. Pickett spent many years in Louisville when his mother moved there from Alabama. He is considered an honorary son of the city. His funeral procession was flanked by well wishers welcoming him home.

He was remembered on March 20, 2006, at NYC's B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce "Big Daddy" Wayne, and Southside Johnny Lyon in front of an audience that included many members of his family, including two brothers.
Discography
Singles
Release date Title Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
1962 "If You Need Me" #64 #30
1963 "It's Too Late" #49 #7
"I'm Down to My Last Heartbreak" #95 #27
"My Heart Belongs to You" (reissue charted in 1965) #109
1964 "I'm Gonna Cry" #124
"Come Home Baby"
1965 "In the Midnight Hour" #21 #1 #12
"Don't Fight It" #53 #4 #29
1966 "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)" #13 #1 #36
"Ninety Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" #53 #13
"Land of 1000 Dances" #6 #1 #22
"Mustang Sally" #23 #6 #28
1967 "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" #29 #19
"I Found a Love - Pt. 1" #32 #6
"You Can't Stand Alone" (A-Side) #70 #26
→ "Soul Dance Number Three" (B-Side) #55 #10
"Funky Broadway" #8 #1 #43
"I'm in Love" (A-Side) #45 #4
→ "Stag-O-Lee" (B-Side) #22 #13
1968 "Jealous Love" (A-Side) #50 #18
→ "I've Come a Long Way" (B-Side) #101 #46
"She's Looking Good" #15 #7
"I'm a Midnight Mover" #24 #6 #38
"I Found a True Love" #42 #11
"A Man and a Half" #42 #20
"Hey Jude" #23 #13 #16
1969 "Mini-skirt Minnie" #50 #19
"Born to Be Wild" #64 #41
"Hey Joe" #59 #29
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" #92 #16
1970 "Sugar, Sugar" (A-Side) #25 #4
→ "Cole, Cooke, and Redding" (B-Side) #91 #11
"She Said Yes" #68 #20
"Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9" #14 #3
1971 "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" #17 #2
"Don't Knock My Love - Pt. 1" #13 #1
"Call My Name, I'll Be There" #52 #10
"Fire and Water" #24 #2
1972 "Funk Factory" #58 #11
"Mama Told Me Not To Come" #99 #16
1973 "Mr. Magic Man" #98 #16
"Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With" #90 #17
"International Playboy" #104 #30
1974 "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie" #103 #20
"Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It" #68
"I Was Too Nice"
1975 "The Best Part of A Man" #26
1976 "Love Will Keep Us Together" #69
1977 "Love Dagger"
1978 "Who Turned You On" #59
"Groovin'" #94
1979 "I Want You" #41
1980 "Live With Me" #95
1981 "Ain't Gonna Give You No More"
"Back On The Right Track"
1987 "Don't Turn Away" #74
"In the Midnight Hour" (re-recording) #62
1988 "Love Never Let Me Down"
Albums

   * In The Midnight Hour (1965, Atlantic) US: #107
   * The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966) US: #21
   * The Best Of Wilson Pickett (1967) US: #35
   * The Wicked Pickett (1967) US: #42
   * The Sound Of Wilson Pickett (1967) US: #54
   * I'm In Love (1967) US: #70
   * The Midnight Mover (1968) US: #91
   * Hey Jude (1968) US: #97
   * Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia (1970) US: #64
   * Right On (1970) US: #197
   * The Best Of Wilson Pickett, Vol. II (1971) US: #73
   * Don't Knock My Love (1972) US: #132
   * Mr. Magic Man (1973, RCA) US: #187
   * Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits (1973) US: #178
   * Miz Lena's Boy (1973, RCA)
   * Pickett In The Pocket (1974, RCA)
   * Live In Japan (1974, RCA)
   * Join Me And Let's Be Free (1975, RCA)
   * Chocolate Mountain (1976, Wicked)
   * Funky Situation (1978, Big Tree)
   * I Want You (1979, EMI)
   * Right Track (1981, EMI)
   * American Soul Man (1987, Motown)
   * A Man And A Half: The Best Of Wilson Pickett (1992, Rhino/Atlantic)
   * It's Harder Now (Bullseye Blues 1999)
   * Live And Burnin' - Stockholm '69 (Soulsville 2009)
   * Live In Germany 1968 (Crypt Records 2009)
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww220/LuckyGoodfellah/Wilson-Pickett-77-1.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Wilson_Pickett.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p219/sam_cucuo/wpickett.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w175/xWhiteBoy12x/wilsonpickett.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 4:52 am


The birthday of the day...Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music.

In the four-and-a-half decades since her national-chart début, she remains one of the most-successful female artists in the history of the country genre which garnered her the title of 'The Queen of Country Music', with twenty-five number-one singles, and a record forty-one top-10 country albums. She has the distinction of having performed on a top-five country hit in each of the last five decades and is tied with Reba McEntire as the only country artists with No. 1 singles in four consecutive decades.

She is known for her distinctive soprano, sometimes bawdy humor, flamboyant dress sense and voluptuous figure.
n 1967, Parton was asked to join the weekly country-music, syndicated-television program The Porter Wagoner Show, hosted by Porter Wagoner, replacing Norma Jean, one of the most popular country female vocalists at the time, who was newly married and semi-retiring.

Initially, Wagoner's audience was reluctant to warm to Parton and chanted for Norma Jean, but with Wagoner's assistance, she was accepted. Wagoner convinced his label, RCA Victor, to also sign Parton. The label decided to protect their investment by releasing her first single as a duet with Wagoner. The duo's first single, "The Last Thing on My Mind," reached the country Top Ten early in 1968, launching a six-year streak of virtually uninterrupted Top-Ten singles.

Parton's first solo single for RCA, "Just Because I'm a Woman", was released in the summer of 1968 and was a moderate hit, reaching number seventeen. For the remainder of the decade, none of her solo efforts – even "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)," which would later become a standard – were as successful as her duets. The duo was named Vocal Group of the Year in 1968 by the Country Music Association, but Parton's solo records were continually ignored. Wagoner and Parton were both frustrated by her lack of solo success, because he had a significant financial stake in her future – as of 1969, he was her co-producer and owned nearly half of the publishing company Owepar.

By 1970, both Parton and Wagoner had grown frustrated by her lack of solo chart success, and Porter had her sing Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues," a gimmick that worked. The record shot to number three on the charts, followed closely by her first number-one single, "Joshua." For the next two years, she had a number of solo hits – including her signature song "Coat of Many Colors" (number four, 1971) – in addition to her duets. Though she had successful singles, none of them were blockbusters until "Jolene" reached number one in early 1974. Parton stopped traveling with Wagoner after its release, yet she continued to appear on television and sing duets with him until 1976.

She stayed with the Wagoner Show and continued to record duets with him for seven years, then made a break to become a solo artist. In 1974, her song, "I Will Always Love You" (written about her professional break from Wagoner), was released and went to number one on the country-music charts. Around the same time, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that she would have to sign over half of the publishing rights if Presley recorded the song (as was the standard procedure for songs he recorded). Parton refused and that decision is credited with helping to make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years. It was decisions like these, in fact, that caused her to be called "The Iron Butterfly" in show-business circles.
1977–1986: Branching out into pop music

From 1974 to 1980, she consistently charted in the country Top 10, with no fewer than eight singles reaching number one. Parton had her own syndicated-television variety show, Dolly! (1976–1977), and by 1977 had gained the right to produce her own albums, which immediately resulted in diverse efforts like 1977's New Harvest ... First Gathering. In addition to her own hits during the late 1970s, many artists, from Rose Maddox and Kitty Wells to Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt, covered her songs, and her siblings Randy and Stella had recording contracts of their own.

Parton later had commercial success as a pop singer, as well as an actress. Her 1977 album, Here You Come Again, was her first million-seller, and its title track ("Here You Come Again") became her first top-ten single on the pop charts (reaching number three); many of her subsequent singles charted on both pop and country charts, simultaneously. Her albums during this period were developed specifically for pop-crossover success.

In 1978 Parton won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her Here You Come Again album. Following that title track's success, she had further pop hits with "Two Doors Down", "Heartbreaker" (both 1978), "Baby I'm Burning" and "You're the Only One" (both 1979), all of which charted in the pop singles Top 40, and all of which also topped the country-singles chart. On April 3, 1978, Parton performed with Cher on television in Cher... Special in the "Musical Battle to Save Cher's Soul Medley". Parton was dressed in white and, with a team of brightly clad singers, portrayed an angelic host while punk band The Tubes, dressed in black leather and performing "Mondo Bondage", battled to send Cher's soul into eternal damnation.

Parton's commercial success continued to grow during 1980, with three number-one hits in a row: the Donna Summer-written "Starting Over Again," "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You", and "9 to 5."

With less time to spend songwriting as she focused on a burgeoning film career, during the early 1980s Parton recorded a larger percentage of material from noted pop songwriters, such as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Rupert Holmes, Gary Portnoy and Carole Bayer Sager.
Parton in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1983.

"9 to 5", the theme song to the feature film Nine to Five (1980) Parton starred in along with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, not only reached number one on the country charts, but also number one on the pop and the adult-contemporary charts, giving her a triple-number-one hit. Parton became one of the few female country singers to have a number-one single on the country and pop charts simultaneously. It also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

Parton's singles continued to appear consistently in the country Top 10: between 1981 and 1985, she had 12 Top 10 hits; half of those were number-one singles. Parton continued to make inroads on the pop charts as well with a re-recorded version of "I Will Always Love You" from the feature film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) scraping the Top 50 that year and her duet with Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream" (written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb), spent two weeks at number one in 1983.

Most of her albums were dominated by the adult-contemporary pop songs like "Islands in the Stream," and it had been years since she had sung straightforward country. She also continued to explore new business and entertainment ventures such as her Dollywood theme park, that opened in 1986 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Her record sales were still relatively strong, however, with "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Tennessee Homesick Blues" (both 1984); "Real Love" (another duet with Kenny Rogers), "Don't Call it Love" (both 1985); and "Think About Love" (1986) all reaching the country-singles Top 10. ("Tennessee Homesick Blues" and "Think About Love" reached number one. "Real Love" also reached number one on the country-singles chart and also became a modest pop-crossover hit). However, RCA Records didn't renew her contract after it expired that year, and she signed with CBS Records in 1987.
1987–1994: Return to country roots

Along with Harris and Ronstadt, she released the decade-in-the-making Trio (1987) to critical acclaim. The album strongly revitalized Parton's temporarily stalled music career, spending five weeks at number one on Billboard's Country Albums chart, selling several million copies and producing four Top 10 country hits including Phil Spector's "To Know Him Is to Love Him", which went to number one. Trio won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 1987, she revived her television variety show, Dolly

After a further attempt at pop success with 1987's critically and commercially disappointing Rainbow, Parton refocused on recording country material. White Limozeen (1989) produced two number-one hits in "Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That" and "Yellow Roses." Although it looked like Parton's career had been revived, it was actually just a brief revival before contemporary country music came in the early 1990s and moved all veteran artists out of the charts.

A duet with Ricky Van Shelton, "Rockin' Years" (1991) reached number one but Parton's greatest commercial fortune of the decade came when Whitney Houston recorded "I Will Always Love You" for the soundtrack of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992); both the single and the album were massively successful.

She recorded "The Day I Fall In Love" as a duet with James Ingram for the feature film Beethoven's 2nd (1993). The songwriters (Sager, Ingram, and Clif Mangess) were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Parton and Ingram performed the song on the awards telecast.

Similar to her earlier collabrative album with Harris and Ronstadt, Parton recorded Honky Tonk Angels (1994) with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. It was certified a Gold Album by the Recording Industry Association of America and helped revive both Wynette's and Lynn's careers.
Since 1995: career today

In 1995 Parton re-recorded "I Will Always Love You" as a duet with Vince Gill on her album Something Special for which they won the Country Music Association's Vocal Event of the Year Award.

A second and more-contemporary collaboration with Harris and Ronstadt, Trio II (1999), was released and its cover of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" won a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Parton was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

She recorded a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums, beginning with The Grass Is Blue (1999), winning a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, and Little Sparrow (2001), with its cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" winning a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The third, Halos & Horns (2002) included a bluegrass version of the Led Zeppelin classic "Stairway to Heaven".

Parton released Those Were The Days (2005), her interpretation of hits from the folk-rock era of the late 1960s through the early 1970s. It featured such classics as John Lennon's "Imagine", Cat Stevens's "Where Do the Children Play?", Tommy James's "Crimson and Clover", and Pete Seeger's anti-war song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?".

Parton earned her second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Travelin' Thru", which she wrote specifically for the feature film Transamerica (2005). Because of the song's nature of accepting a transgender woman without judgment, Parton received death threats. She also returned to number one on the country charts later in 2005 by lending her distinctive harmonies to the Brad Paisley ballad, "When I Get Where I'm Goin'".

In September 2007, Parton released her first single from her own record company, Dolly Records, entitled, "Better Get to Livin'", which eventually peaked at number forty-eight on the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

Her latest studio album, "Backwoods Barbie", released February 26, 2008, reached number two on the country charts. The album's début at number seventeen on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart has been the highest in her career. The title track and video was released in February 2009. The title song was written as part of her score for 9 to 5: The Musical, an adaptation of her feature film Nine to Five.

After the sudden death of Michael Jackson, whom Parton knew personally, she released a video in which she somberly told of her feelings on Jackson and his death.

On October 27, 2009, Parton released a 4-CD box set entitled "Dolly" which features 99 songs and spans most of her career. She is now set to release her second live DVD and album, "Live From London" in October 2009 which was filmed during her sold out 2008 concerts at London's 02 Arena. She is also currently working on a dance album, "Dance with Dolly", of which she has said should be released very soon.
Parton is a hugely successful songwriter, having begun by writing country-music songs with strong elements of folk music, based upon her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings, and reflecting her family's evangelical-Christian background. Her songs "Coat of Many Colors", "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" have become classics in the field, as have a number of others. As a songwriter, she is also regarded as one of country music's most-gifted storytellers, with many of her narrative songs based on persons and events from her childhood. Parton has listed almost 600 songs with Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) to date and has earned 37 BMI awards for her material. In 2001, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In a 2009 interview with CNN's Larry King Live, Parton indicated that she had written "at least 3,000" songs, having written seriously since the age of seven. Parton went on to say that she writes something every day, be it a song or an idea.
Compositions in films and television and covers

Parton's songwriting has been featured prominently in several films.

In addition to the title song for Nine to Five (1980), she also recorded a second version of "I Will Always Love You" for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982); the second version proved to be another number-one country hit and also managed to reach the pop charts going to number 53 in the U.S.

"I Will Always Love You" has been covered by many country artists, including Ronstadt, on Prisoner In Disguise (1975); Kenny Rogers, on Vote for Love (1996); and LeAnn Rimes, on Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997). Whitney Houston performed it on The Bodyguard (1992) film soundtrack and her version became the best-selling hit ever both written and performed by a female vocalist, with worldwide sales of over twelve million copies.

As a songwriter, Parton has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for "9 to 5" (1980) and "Travelin' Thru" (2005). "Travelin' Thru" did win as Best Original Song award at the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards (2005). The song was also nominated for both the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (2005) and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (also known as the Critics' Choice Awards) for Best Song (2005).

A cover version of "Love Is Like A Butterfly", recorded by singer Clare Torry, was used as the theme music for the British TV show Butterflies.
American Idol appearance

The music-competition, reality-television show American Idol (since 2002) has weekly themes and the April 1–2, 2008, episodes' theme was "Dolly Parton Songs" with the nine then-remaining contestants each singing a Parton composition. Parton participated as a "guest mentor" to the contestants and also performed "Jesus and Gravity" (from Backwoods Barbie and released as a single in March 2008) receiving a standing ovation from the studio audience.
9 to 5: The Musical
Main article: 9 to 5: The Musical

Parton wrote the score (and Patricia Resnick wrote the book) for 9 to 5: The Musical, a musical-theatre adaptation of Parton's feature film Nine to Five (1980). The musical ran at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California, in Fall 2008.

It opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre in New York City, New York, on April 30, 2009, to mixed reviews. The title track of her Backwoods Barbie (2008), was written for the musical's character Doralee.

Developing the musical was not an overnight process. According to a broadcast of the public-radio program Studio 360 (October 29, 2005), in October 2005 Parton was in the midst of composing the songs for a Broadway musical-theatre adaptation of the film. In late June 2007, 9 to 5: the Musical was read for industry presentations. The readings starred Megan Hilty, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Bebe Neuwirth and Marc Kudisch.
Musician

Parton plays the autoharp, banjo, drums, dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, pennywhistle and piano. She began composing songs at the age of four, her mother often writing down the music as she heard Parton singing around the house. Parton often describes her talent as having "the gift of rhyme".
Acting career

During the mid-1970s, Parton wanted to expand her audience base. Although her first attempt, the television variety show Dolly! (1976–1977), had high ratings, it lasted only one season, with Parton requesting to be released from her contract because of the stress it was causing her vocal cords. (She later tried a second television variety show, also entitled Dolly (1987–1988); it also lasted only one season.)
Film

In her first feature film she portrayed a secretary in a co-starring role with Fonda and Tomlin in Nine to Five (1980). Parton received Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and New Star Of The Year – Actress.

She also wrote and recorded the biggest solo hit of her career with the film's title song. It received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Song along with a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song. Released as a single, the song won two Grammy Awards: Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. The song also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and in was placed number 78 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Songs" list released in 2004. Parton was also named Top Female Box Office Star by the Motion Picture Herald in both 1981 and 1982.

Parton's second film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), earned her a second Golden Globe nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

She followed with Rhinestone (1984), co-starring Sylvester Stallone, and Steel Magnolias (1989), with an ensemble cast.

The last leading role for Parton was portraying a plainspoken radio-program host (with listeners telephoning in to share their problems) in Straight Talk (1992), opposite James Woods.

She played an overprotective mother in Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002) with Dave Sheridan, Cameron Richardson and Randy Quaid.

Parton played herself in a cameo appearance in The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) (an adaptation of the long-running television situation comedy of the same name) and also in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) (the sequel to Sandra Bullock's earlier Miss Congeniality (2000)).

She was featured in The Book Lady (2008) a documentary about her campaign for children’s literacy and she was expecting to repeat her television role as Hannah's godmother in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2008) but the character was omitted from the final screenplay.
Television

In addition to her performing appearances on the Wagoner Show in the 1960s and into the 1970s; her two self-titled television variety shows in the 1970s and 1980s; and on American Idol in 2001 and other guest appearances, Parton has also acted in television roles. In 1979 she received an Emmy award nomination as "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Variety Program" for her guest appearance in a Cher special.

She starred in the television movie Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986); Unlikely Angel (1996), portraying an angel sent back to earth following a deadly car crash; and Blue Valley Songbird (1999), where her character lives through her music.

Parton has also done voice work for animation for television series, playing herself in the Alvin & the Chipmunks (episode "Urban Chipmunk", 1983) and the character Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy in The Magic School Bus (episode "The Family Holiday Special", 1994).

Dolly guest starred on an episode of Designing Women (episode "The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century") as herself, the guardian movie star of Charlene's baby. She also appeared in the situation comedy series Reba (episode "Reba's Rules of Real Estate") portraying a real-estate agency owner, and on The Simpsons (episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday", 1999).

She also made cameo appearances on the Disney Channel as "Aunt Dolly" visiting Hannah and her family in the fellow Tennessean Miley Cyrus's series Hannah Montana (episodes "Good Golly, Miss Dolly", 2006, and "I Will Always Loathe You", 2007). The role came about because of her real-life relationship as Cyrus's godmother.
Since the mid-1980s Parton has supported many charitable efforts, particularly in the area of literacy, primarily through her Dollywood Foundation.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Her literacy program, "Dolly Parton's Imagination Library", a part of the Dollywood Foundation, mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. It began in Sevier County but has now been replicated in 566 counties across thirty-six U.S. states (as well as in Canada). In December 2007 it expanded to Europe with the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham, United Kingdom, being the first British locality to receive the books.

The program distributes more than 2.5 million free books to children annually.

In 2006 Parton published a cookbook Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food. The net profits support the Dollywood Foundation.
Other philanthropy

Dollywood has also been noted for bringing jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region.

She has also worked to raise money on behalf of several other causes, including the American Red Cross and a number of HIV/AIDS-related charities.

In December 2006, Parton pledged $500,000 toward a proposed $90-million hospital and cancer center to be constructed in Sevierville in the name of Dr. Robert F. Thomas, the physician who delivered her; she also announced plans for a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the project. The concert went ahead playing to about 8,000 people.

In May 2009, Parton gave the Graduating Commencement Address at the University of Tennessee. Her speech was about her life lessons, and she encouraged the graduates to never stop dreaming.
Awards and honors

Parton is one of the most-honored female country performers of all time. The Record Industry Association of America has certified 25 of her single or album releases as either Gold Record, Platinum Record or Multi-Platinum Record. She has had 26 songs reach number one on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 42 career-top-10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. All inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, paid digital downloads and compilation usage during Parton's career have reportedly topped 100 million records around the world.
Parton during a reception for The Kennedy Center honorees in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on December 3, 2006.

She has received seven Grammy Awards and a total of 45 Grammy Award nominations. At the American Music Awards she has won three awards, but has received 18 nominations. At the Country Music Association, she has received 10 awards and 42 nominations. At the Academy of Country Music, she has won seven awards and 39 nominations. She is one of only six female artists (including Reba McEntire, Barbara Mandrell, Shania Twain, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year (1978). She has also been nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.

She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording in 1984, located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California; a star on the Nashville Star Walk for Grammy winners; and a bronze sculpture on the courthouse lawn in Sevierville. She has called that statue of herself in her hometown "the greatest honor," because it came from the people who knew her.

Parton was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1969, and in 1986 was named one of Ms. Magazine's Women of the Year. In 1986, Parton was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1999, Parton received country music's highest honor, an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Carson-Newman College (Jefferson City, Tennessee) in 1990. This was followed by induction into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2002, Parton ranked number four in CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

She was honored in 2003 with a tribute album called Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton. The artists who recorded versions of Parton's songs included Melissa Etheridge ("I Will Always Love You"), Alison Krauss ("9 to 5"), Twain ("Coat of Many Colors"), Me'Shell NdegéOcello ("Two Doors Down"), Norah Jones ("The Grass is Blue"), and Sinéad O'Connor ("Dagger Through the Heart"); Parton herself contributed a rerecording of the title song, originally the title song for her first RCA album in 1968. Parton was awarded the Living Legend Medal by the U.S. Library of Congress on April 14, 2004, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States.

This was followed in 2005 with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given by the U.S. government for excellence in the arts and is presented by the U.S. President.

On December 3, 2006, Parton received the Kennedy Center Honors from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her lifetime of contributions to the arts. Other 2006 honorees included Zubin Mehta, Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson and Andrew Lloyd Webber. During the show, some of country music's biggest names came to show their admiration. Carrie Underwood performed Parton's hit "Islands in the Stream" with Rogers, Parton's original duet partner. Krauss performed "Jolene" and duetted "Coat of Many Colors" with Twain. McEntire and Reese Witherspoon also came to pay tribute.
Philanthropy-related honors

In 2003, her efforts to preserve the bald eagle through the American Eagle Foundation's sanctuary at Dollywood earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Parton received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution at a ceremony in Nashville on November 8, 2007.

For her work in literacy, Parton has received various awards including:

   * Association of American Publishers - AAP Honors Award (2000)
   * Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (2001) (the first time the seal had been awarded to a person)
   * American Association of School Administrators - Galaxy Award (2002)
   * National State Teachers of the Year - Chasing Rainbows Award (2002)
   * Parents as Teachers National Center - Child and Family Advocacy Award (2003)

On May 8, 2009, Parton gave the commencement speech at the commencement ceremony in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's College of Arts and Sciences. During the ceremony she received an honorary degree, a doctorate of humane and musical letters, from the university. It was only the second honorary degree to be given by the university and in presenting the degree, the university's chancellor, Jimmy G. Cheek, said, "Because of her career not just as a musician and entertainer, but for her role as a cultural ambassador, philanthropist and lifelong advocate for education, it is fitting that she be honored with an honorary degree from the flagship educational institution of her home state."
Her original version(which she wrote) of I Will Always Love you is the only version of the song I will listen to.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:54 am


Through Google Videos (on youTube)

Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat



I hate to admit it, but this is the first time I ever saw this. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 4:56 am

Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zJzr-kWsI#

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 4:59 am


Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zJzr-kWsI#
Wonderful!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/19/10 at 5:02 am


I hate to admit it, but this is the first time I ever saw this. :(
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is the first musical produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, over the it has grown from a production to be preformed at schools by schoolchildren, to a full blown musical on Broadway and the West End.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/10 at 6:51 am

Islands In The Stream with Kenny Rogers (1983)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/10 at 6:52 am


The person of the day...Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B/rock and roll and soul singer and songwriter known for his raw, raspy, passionate vocal delivery.

A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the pop charts as well. Among his best known hits are "In The Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway".

The impact of Pickett's songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Pickett's Atlantic career began with a self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry", which stalled at a lowly #124 on the national charts. Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic next paired him with famed producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a pop duet with New Orleans singer Tammi Lynn, but this single failed to chart completely.

Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965), perhaps his best-remembered hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop {US}, and #12 hit {UK}.

The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, in which producer Jerry Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, which also included bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. (Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the MG's, did not play on any of the Pickett studio sessions.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper later explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here this was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes." The song that resulted from this encounter established Pickett as a star, and also gave Atlantic Records a bona fide hit.
Stax/Fame years (1965-67)

Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965, and was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop). All but "634-5789" were original compositions Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd and/or Steve Cropper; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone. All of these recordings are considered soul classics, and show a range of different styles, from the hard-driving "Midnight Hour" and "Don't Fight It," to the more overtly gospel-influenced "Ninety-Nine and A Half" (which borrowed its title from a gospel standard recorded by The Ward Singers) and the pop-soul of "634-5789".

For his next sessions, Pickett would not return to Stax; the label's owner, Jim Stewart, banned all outside productions in December, 1965. As a result, Wexler took Pickett to Fame studios, another recording studio with an even closer association to Atlantic Records. Located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fame was very influential in shaping soul music, and Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there. This included the highest-charting version ever of the kinetic "Land of 1,000 Dances", which became Pickett's third R&B #1, and his biggest ever pop hit, peaking at #6. The song had previously been a hit for the song's writer, Chris Kenner, and Mexican-American band Cannibal & the Headhunters.

Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two other covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally," (#6 R&B, #23 pop), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway," (another R&B #1 for Pickett, as well as #8 pop). The band heard on almost all of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham and drummer Roger Hawkins.
Later Atlantic years (1967-1972)

Towards the end of 1967, Pickett began recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and also began recording numerous songs by Bobby Womack. The songs "I'm In Love," "Jealous Love," "I've Come A Long Way," "I'm A Midnight Mover," (a Pickett/Womack co-write), and "I Found A True Love" were all Womack-penned hits for Pickett in 1967 and 1968. "I'm In Love" was also a return to the soul ballad genre for Pickett; he would continue to record a mixture of ballads, soul and funk for the rest of his career. Pickett also recorded work by other writers during this era; Rodger Collins' "She's Looking Good" and a cover of the traditional blues standard "Stagger Lee" were also top 40 Pickett hits recorded at American in 1967/68. Womack was the guitarist on all these recordings.

Pickett returned to Fame Studios in late 1968 and early 1969, where he worked with a band that featured guitarist Duane Allman, as well as Muscle Shoals stalwart Hawkins and newly recruited bassist David Hood. A #16 pop hit cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" came from these Fame sessions, as well as the minor hits "Mini-Skirt Minnie" and "Hey Joe".

Late 1969 found Pickett at Criteria Studios in Miami. Hit covers of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (#16 R&B, #92 Pop) and The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" (#4 R&B, #25 Pop), as well as the Pickett original "She Said Yes" (#20 R&B, #68 Pop) came from these sessions.

Pickett then teamed up with established Philadelphia-based hitmakers Gamble and Huff for the 1970 album Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia, which featured his next two hit singles, the funk-oriented "Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9" (#3 R&B, #14 Pop) and the pop number "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You" (#2 R&B, #17 Pop).

Following these two big hits, Pickett returned to Muscle Shoals and the Muscle Shoals band, featuring Hood, Hawkins and Tippy Armstrong. This line-up recorded Pickett's fifth and last R&B #1 hit, "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1", which also peaked at #13 on the pop charts in 1971. Two further hits followed in '71: "Call My Name, I'll Be There" (#10 R&B, #52 Pop) and "Fire and Water" (#2 R&B, #24 Pop), a cover of a song by Free.

Pickett recorded several tracks in 1972 for a planned new album on Atlantic, but after the single "Funk Factory" reached #11 R&B and #58 pop in June of 1972, he left Atlantic for RCA Records. His final Atlantic single, a cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come," was actually culled from Pickett's 1971 album Don't Knock My Love.
Post-Atlantic recording career

Pickett continued to record with some success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was no longer crossing over to the pop charts with any regularity, as none of these songs hit higher than #90 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As the decade continued, the advent of disco put Pickett's soul-based musical style out of step with the then-current trends in R&B, and in pop music in general. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label.

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades, occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts. However, after 1974, he never had another pop hit. His last record was issued in 1999, although he remained fairly active on the touring front until he became ill in 2004.
Personal life and honors

Outside of music, Pickett's personal life was troubled. Even in his 1960s heyday, Pickett's friends found him to be temperamental and preoccupied with guns; Don Covay described him as "young and wild". Then in 1987, as his recording career was drying up, Pickett was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car. In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the mayor's front lawn in Englewood, New Jersey. The following year, he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

In 1993, Pickett was involved in an accident where he struck an 86-year-old pedestrian, Pepe Ruiz, with his car in Englewood. Ruiz, who helped organize the New York animation union, died later that year. Pickett pled guilty to drunken driving charges and received a reduced sentence of one year in jail and five years probation. Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.

Throughout the 1990s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was continually honored for his contributions to music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, his music was prominently featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen character. In 1993, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Pickett was also a popular songwriter, as songs he wrote were recorded by artists like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. & the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, The Jam and Ani DiFranco, among others.

Several years after his release from jail, Pickett returned to the studio and received a Grammy nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now. The comeback also resulted in his being honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. It's Harder Now was voted Comeback Blues Album of the Year and Soul/Blues Album of the Year.

In 2003, he co-starred in the D.A. Pennebaker-directed documentary "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. In 2005, Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. His classic recording of "Mustang Sally" was voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2007.

Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates a year until 2004, when he began suffering from health problems. While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album. But, sadly, he never recovered.
Death

Pickett died of a heart attack January 19, 2006 in the hospital near his Ashburn, Virginia home and was buried in Louisville, Kentucky. Pickett's long-time friend, Little Richard, spoke about him and preached briefly at the funeral. Pickett spent many years in Louisville when his mother moved there from Alabama. He is considered an honorary son of the city. His funeral procession was flanked by well wishers welcoming him home.

He was remembered on March 20, 2006, at NYC's B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce "Big Daddy" Wayne, and Southside Johnny Lyon in front of an audience that included many members of his family, including two brothers.
Discography
Singles
Release date Title Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
1962 "If You Need Me" #64 #30
1963 "It's Too Late" #49 #7
"I'm Down to My Last Heartbreak" #95 #27
"My Heart Belongs to You" (reissue charted in 1965) #109
1964 "I'm Gonna Cry" #124
"Come Home Baby"
1965 "In the Midnight Hour" #21 #1 #12
"Don't Fight It" #53 #4 #29
1966 "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)" #13 #1 #36
"Ninety Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" #53 #13
"Land of 1000 Dances" #6 #1 #22
"Mustang Sally" #23 #6 #28
1967 "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" #29 #19
"I Found a Love - Pt. 1" #32 #6
"You Can't Stand Alone" (A-Side) #70 #26
→ "Soul Dance Number Three" (B-Side) #55 #10
"Funky Broadway" #8 #1 #43
"I'm in Love" (A-Side) #45 #4
→ "Stag-O-Lee" (B-Side) #22 #13
1968 "Jealous Love" (A-Side) #50 #18
→ "I've Come a Long Way" (B-Side) #101 #46
"She's Looking Good" #15 #7
"I'm a Midnight Mover" #24 #6 #38
"I Found a True Love" #42 #11
"A Man and a Half" #42 #20
"Hey Jude" #23 #13 #16
1969 "Mini-skirt Minnie" #50 #19
"Born to Be Wild" #64 #41
"Hey Joe" #59 #29
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" #92 #16
1970 "Sugar, Sugar" (A-Side) #25 #4
→ "Cole, Cooke, and Redding" (B-Side) #91 #11
"She Said Yes" #68 #20
"Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9" #14 #3
1971 "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" #17 #2
"Don't Knock My Love - Pt. 1" #13 #1
"Call My Name, I'll Be There" #52 #10
"Fire and Water" #24 #2
1972 "Funk Factory" #58 #11
"Mama Told Me Not To Come" #99 #16
1973 "Mr. Magic Man" #98 #16
"Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With" #90 #17
"International Playboy" #104 #30
1974 "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie" #103 #20
"Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It" #68
"I Was Too Nice"
1975 "The Best Part of A Man" #26
1976 "Love Will Keep Us Together" #69
1977 "Love Dagger"
1978 "Who Turned You On" #59
"Groovin'" #94
1979 "I Want You" #41
1980 "Live With Me" #95
1981 "Ain't Gonna Give You No More"
"Back On The Right Track"
1987 "Don't Turn Away" #74
"In the Midnight Hour" (re-recording) #62
1988 "Love Never Let Me Down"
Albums

   * In The Midnight Hour (1965, Atlantic) US: #107
   * The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966) US: #21
   * The Best Of Wilson Pickett (1967) US: #35
   * The Wicked Pickett (1967) US: #42
   * The Sound Of Wilson Pickett (1967) US: #54
   * I'm In Love (1967) US: #70
   * The Midnight Mover (1968) US: #91
   * Hey Jude (1968) US: #97
   * Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia (1970) US: #64
   * Right On (1970) US: #197
   * The Best Of Wilson Pickett, Vol. II (1971) US: #73
   * Don't Knock My Love (1972) US: #132
   * Mr. Magic Man (1973, RCA) US: #187
   * Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits (1973) US: #178
   * Miz Lena's Boy (1973, RCA)
   * Pickett In The Pocket (1974, RCA)
   * Live In Japan (1974, RCA)
   * Join Me And Let's Be Free (1975, RCA)
   * Chocolate Mountain (1976, Wicked)
   * Funky Situation (1978, Big Tree)
   * I Want You (1979, EMI)
   * Right Track (1981, EMI)
   * American Soul Man (1987, Motown)
   * A Man And A Half: The Best Of Wilson Pickett (1992, Rhino/Atlantic)
   * It's Harder Now (Bullseye Blues 1999)
   * Live And Burnin' - Stockholm '69 (Soulsville 2009)
   * Live In Germany 1968 (Crypt Records 2009)
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww220/LuckyGoodfellah/Wilson-Pickett-77-1.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Wilson_Pickett.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p219/sam_cucuo/wpickett.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w175/xWhiteBoy12x/wilsonpickett.png


he died too soon.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/19/10 at 7:33 am


Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is the first musical produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, over the it has grown from a production to be preformed at schools by schoolchildren, to a full blown musical on Broadway and the West End.



I have a recording of the VERY, VERY first recording of it. I think it came out in 1970? 71? or so. I knew most of the songs from it before most people had ever really heard about it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 9:23 am


he died too soon.  :(

Yes he did :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/10 at 3:25 pm

I'm suprised at Dolly's age,she still has those big breasts. :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 6:34 pm


I'm suprised at Dolly's age,she still has those big breasts. :o

Really I didn't notice :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/19/10 at 8:34 pm

I've always loved Dolly. Thanks for the Bio, Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/10 at 9:26 pm


I've always loved Dolly. Thanks for the Bio, Ninny.  :)

I'm glad you liked it Vinny :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/10 at 5:06 am

The word of the day...Peak(s)
The peak of a process or an activity is the point at which it is at its strongest, most successful, or most fully developed.
When something peaks, it reaches its highest value or its highest level.
Peak times are the times when there is most demand for something or most use of something
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad292/lisagibsonbaby/SDC10933.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/Hornby2006/Mine%202010/NearColumbiaIcefieldAlbertaCanada.jpg
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac228/koplin1/Eagles%20pc%20NFT/RB/other%20rbs/footballcards611.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee139/ocoy-adp/Peaks.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx138/redstocks2000/Chapel.jpg
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww338/guardiangroup/Spruce%20Peak%20Lodge/DSCN1077.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af345/muiqmudq/victoria-peak1.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/bigbearmovies/Covers/folder-139.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh67/Joshiedoozie/twin-peaks.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/10 at 5:10 am

The birthday of the day...David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker and visual artist. Over a lengthy career, Lynch has employed a distinctive and unorthodox approach to narrative filmmaking (dubbed Lynchian), which has become instantly recognizable to many audiences and critics worldwide. Lynch's films are known for surreal, nightmarish and dreamlike images and meticulously crafted sound design. Lynch's work often depicts a seedy underside of small town America (particularly Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks), or sprawling California metropolises (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and his latest release, Inland Empire). Beginning with his experimental film school feature Eraserhead (1977), he has maintained a strong cult following despite inconsistent commercial success.

Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for his films The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Drive (2001), and has also received a screenplay Academy Award nomination for The Elephant Man. Lynch has twice won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film, the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival. The French government awarded him with the Legion of Honor, the country's top civilian honor, as Chevalier in 2002 then Officier in 2007, whilst that same year, The Guardian described Lynch as "the most important director of this era"
n 1971, Lynch moved to Los Angeles, California to study for a Master of Fine Arts degree at the AFI Conservatory. At the Conservatory, Lynch began working on his first feature-length film, Eraserhead, using a $10,000 grant from the AFI. The grant did not provide enough money to complete the film and, due to lack of a sufficient budget, Eraserhead was filmed intermittently until 1977. Lynch used money from friends and family, including boyhood friend Jack Fisk, a production designer and the husband of actress Sissy Spacek, and even took a paper route to finish it. A stark and enigmatic film, Eraserhead tells the story of a quiet young man (Jack Nance) living in an industrial wasteland, whose girlfriend gives birth to a constantly crying mutant baby. Lynch has referred to Eraserhead as "my Philadelphia story", meaning it reflects all of the dangerous and fearful elements he encountered while studying and living in Philadelphia. He said "this feeling left its traces deep down inside me. And when it came out again, it became Eraserhead".

The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasable, but thanks to the efforts of the Elgin Theater distributor Ben Barenholtz, it became an instant cult classic and was a staple of midnight movie showings for the next decade. It was also a critical success, launching Lynch to the forefront of avant-garde filmmaking. The acclaimed film maker Stanley Kubrick said that it was one of his all-time favorite films. It cemented the team of actors and technicians who would continue to define the texture of his work for years to come, including cinematographer Frederick Elmes, sound designer Alan Splet, and actor Jack Nance. Meanwhile, Lynch continued producing short films, and during "a brief lull in the filming of Eraserhead" had produced The Amputee in 1974, revolving around a woman with stumps for limbs (Catherine Coulson) who has them washed by a doctor, played by Lynch himself.
Rise to prominence (1980–1986)
David Lynch on the set of Blue Velvet with the film's main actor Kyle MacLachlan.

Eraserhead brought Lynch to the attention of producer Mel Brooks, who hired him to direct 1980's The Elephant Man, a biopic of deformed Victorian era figure Joseph Merrick (John Hurt). Lynch brought his own distinct surrealist approach to the film, filming it in black and white, although it has still been described as "one of the most conventional" of his films. The Elephant Man was a huge commercial success, and earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods for Lynch. It also established his place as a commercially viable, if somewhat dark and unconventional, Hollywood director. George Lucas, a fan of Eraserhead, offered Lynch the opportunity to direct Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, which he refused, feeling that it would be more Lucas' vision than his own. Meanwhile in 1983 he began the writing and drawing of a comic strip, The Angriest Dog in the World, which featured unchanging graphics alongside cryptic philosophical references. It ran from 1983 until 1992 in the Village Voice, Creative Loafing and other tabloid and alternative publications.

Afterwards, Lynch agreed to direct a big-budget adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune for Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis's De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, on the condition that DEG release a second Lynch project, over which the director would have complete creative control. Although De Laurentiis hoped it would be the next Star Wars, Lynch's Dune (1984) was a critical and commercial dud; it cost $45 million to make, and grossed a mere $27.4 million domestically. Later on, Universal Studios released an "extended cut" of the film for syndicated television; this contained almost an hour of cutting-room-floor footage and new narration. Such was not representative of Lynch's intentions, but the studio considered it more comprehensible than the original two hour version. Lynch objected to these changes and had his name struck from the extended cut, which has "Alan Smithee" credited as the director and "Judas Booth" (a pseudonym which Lynch himself invented, inspired by his own feelings of betrayal) as the screenwriter. The three hour version has since been released on video worldwide.

Lynch's second De Laurentiis-financed project was 1986's Blue Velvet, the story of a college student (Kyle MacLachlan) who discovers his small, idealistic hometown hides a dark side after investigating a severed ear that he found in a field. The film featured performances from Isabella Rossellini as a tormented lounge singer and Dennis Hopper as a crude, psychopathic criminal. Although Lynch had found success previously with The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet's controversy with audiences and critics introduced him into the mainstream, and became a huge critical and moderate commercial success. Thus, the film earned Lynch his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director. The content of the film and its artistic merit drew much controversy from audiences and critics alike in 1986 and onwards. Blue Velvet introduced several common elements of his work, including abused women, the dark underbelly of small towns, and unconventional uses of vintage songs. Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" and Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" are both featured in unconventional ways. It was also the first time Lynch worked with composer Angelo Badalamenti, who would contribute to all of his future full-length films except Inland Empire. Woody Allen, whose film Hannah and Her Sisters was nominated for Best Picture, said that Blue Velvet was his favorite film of the year.
The transition to television (1987–1996)
Lynch at the 1990 Emmy Awards ceremony.

In the late 1980s, Lynch moved from producing films to focusing on television, directing a short film entitled The Cowboy and the Frenchman in 1989 for French television, before meeting the producer Mark Frost, with whom he would go on to collaborate with on a number of projects. Initially, Lynch and Frost planned to create a surreal comedy named One Saliva Bubble, but it never materialised. Instead they created a show entitled Twin Peaks, a drama series set in a small Washington where the popular high school student Laura Palmer has been raped and murdered. To investigate, the FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is called in, eventually unearthing the secrets of many town residents and the supernatural nature of the murder. Lynch himself directed only six episodes of the series, including the feature-length pilot, which debuted on the ABC Network on April 8, 1990. Lynch himself later starred in several episodes of the series as the FBI agent Graham Cole. Twin Peaks gradually rose from cult hit to cultural phenomenon, and because of its originality and success remains one of the most well-known television series of the decade. Catch phrases from the show entered the culture and parodies of it were seen on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. Lynch appeared on the cover of Time magazine largely because of the success of the series.

However, Lynch clashed with the ABC Network on several matters, particularly whether or not to reveal Laura Palmer's killer. The network insisted that the revelation be made during the second season but Lynch wanted the mystery to last as long as the series. Lynch soon became disenchanted with the series, and, as a result, many cast members complained of feeling abandoned. Later he stated that he and Frost had never intended to ever reveal the identity of Laura's killer, that ABC forced him to reveal the culprit prematurely, and that agreeing to do so is one of his biggest professional regrets. Twin Peaks suffered a severe ratings drop and was canceled in 1991. Still, Lynch scripted a prequel to the series about the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer.

Meanwhile, whilst Twin Peaks was in production, the Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Lynch and Badalementi to create a theatrical piece which would only be performed twice at their academy in New York City in 1989 as a part of the New Music America Festival. The result was Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted, which starred such frequent Lynch collaborators as Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage and Michael J. Anderson as well as containing five songs sung by Julee Cruise. David Lynch produced a 50-minute video of the performance in 1990. Following this, Lynch returned to making feature films, after his friend, Monty Montgomery offered him the chance to adapt Barry Gifford's novel, Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula into a film. Lynch agreed, with the result being Wild at Heart, a crime and road movie starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. Despite receiving a muted response from American critics and viewers, it won the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Without Frost this time, he decided to revisit Twin Peaks, making the prequal film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992. The film was a commercial and critical failure in the United States, although was a hit in Japan and British critic Mark Kermode has hailed the film as Lynch's "masterpiece". Meanwhile, Lynch continued working on a series of television shows with Mark Frost. After Twin Peaks, they produced a series of documentaries entitled American Chronicles (1990) which examined life across the United States, the comedy series On the Air (1992), which was cancelled after only three episodes had aired, and the three-episode HBO mini-series Hotel Room (1993) about events that happened in the same hotel room but at different dates in time.
Return to cinema and digital work (1997-2006)
Lynch speaking at an Amazon.com reception in January 2007.

Following his unsuccesful television ventures since Twin Peaks, Lynch returned to making feature films. In 1997 he released the non-linear, noiresque Lost Highway, co-written by Barry Gifford and starring Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette. The film failed commercially and received a mixed response from critics. However, thanks in part to a soundtrack featuring David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins, it helped gain Lynch a new audience of Generation X viewers. Lost Highway was followed in 1999 with the G-rated, Disney-produced The Straight Story, written and edited by Mary Sweeney, which was, on the surface, a simple and humble movie telling the true story of Iowan Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), who rides a lawnmower to Wisconsin to make peace with his ailing brother, played by Harry Dean Stanton. As Le Blanc and Odell stated, the plot made it "seem as far removed from Lynch's earlier works as could be imagined, but in fact right from the very opening, this is entirely his film - a surreal road movie". The film garnered positive reviews and reached a new audience for its director.

The same year, Lynch approached ABC once again with an idea for a television drama. The network gave Lynch the go-ahead to shoot a two-hour pilot for the series Mulholland Drive, but disputes over content and running time led to the project being shelved indefinitely. However, with seven million dollars from the French production company StudioCanal, Lynch completed the pilot as a film, Mulholland Drive. The film is a non-linear narrative surrealist tale of the dark side of Hollywood and stars Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Theroux. The film performed relatively well at the box office worldwide and was a critical success, earning Lynch a Best Director prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival (shared with Joel Coen for The Man Who Wasn't There) and a Best Director award from the New York Film Critics Association.

With the onset of popularity of the internet, Lynch decided to utlilise this new medium, releasing several new series that he had created exclusively on his website, davidlynch.com. In 2002, he created a series of online shorts entitled Dumbland. Intentionally crude both in content and execution, the eight-episode series was later released on DVD. The same year, Lynch released a surreal sitcom via his website - Rabbits, which revolved around a family of humanoid rabbits. Later, he showed his experiments with Digital Video in the form of the Japanese-style horror short Darkened Room.

In 2006, Lynch's latest feature film, Inland Empire was released, being the longest of Lynch's films at almost three hours long. Like Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway before it, the film did not fit to a narrative structure, and starred Lynch regulars Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, and Justin Theroux, with cameos by Naomi Watts and Laura Harring (voices of Suzie and Jane Rabbit), and a performance by Jeremy Irons. Lynch described the piece as "a mystery about a woman in trouble". In an effort to promote the film, Lynch made appearances with a cow and a placard bearing the slogan "Without cheese there would be no Inland Empire".
Documentaries and animation (2007-)

In 2008, Lynch announced that he was working on a road documentary "about his dialogues with regular folk on the meaning of life," with traveling companions including singer Donovan and physicist John Hagelin, two prominent members of the Transcendental Meditation movement.

Lynch currently has two films in production, both of which differ in content from his previous work. One of these is an animation entitled Snootworld, and the other is a documentary on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi consisting of interviews with people who knew him
Filmography
Features
Year Film Oscars BAFTA Golden Globe
Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins
1977 Eraserhead
1980 The Elephant Man 8 7 3 4
1984 Dune 1
1986 Blue Velvet 1 2
1990 Wild at Heart 1 1 1
1992 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
1997 Lost Highway
1999 The Straight Story 1 2
2001 Mulholland Drive 1 2 1 4
2006 Inland Empire
Short films

    * Six Men Getting Sick (1966) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * Absurd Encounter with Fear (1967) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD
    * Fictitious Anacin Commercial (1967) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD
    * The Alphabet (1968) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * The Grandmother (1970) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * The Amputee (1974) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted (1990) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD
    * Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * Darkened Room (2002) - available on the Dynamic 1 DVD
    * Ballerina (2006) - available on the Inland Empire DVD
    * Boat (2007) - available on the Dynamic 1 DVD
    * Bug Crawls (2007) - available on the Dynamic 1 DVD
    * Scissors (2008) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD

Television series
Year  ↓ Series  ↓ Episodes  ↓
1990-1991 Twin Peaks 30
1992 On the Air 7
1993 Hotel Room 3
Online series
Year  ↓ Series  ↓ Episodes  ↓ Available on DVD  ↓
2002 Rabbits The Lime Green Set DVD
2002 Dumbland 8 The Lime Green Set DVD
Out Yonder The Lime Green Set DVD
2009 Interview Project
Music videos
Year  ↓ Song  ↓ Musician  ↓
1982 "I Predict" Sparks
2009 "Shot in the Back of the Head" Moby
Other

In October, 2008, the OMMA Video Conference, Jen Gregono, chief content officer at On Networks, announced that her company signed Lynch to a webisode series based on his book, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity.

In June 2009, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse released an album called Dark Night of the Soul, with a 100+ page booklet with visuals by Lynch. The album contained complete packaging and a blank CD because of some dispute with the record label. The artists involved implied that consumers can get the music online and just burn the blank CD provided.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i203/hrgotsch06/david_lynch.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/michaelalan24/David%20Lynch/Lynch.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e139/jameseric/2007/Lynch.jpg
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll172/a_freak_ann/lynch.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/10 at 5:39 am

The person of the day...Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (4 May 1929(1929-05-04) – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian.

Born in Ixelles, Belgium as Audrey Kathleen Ruston, Hepburn spent her childhood chiefly in the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem, Netherlands, during the Second World War (1939-1945). She studied ballet in Arnhem and then moved to London in 1948, where she continued to train in ballet and worked as a photographer's model. She appeared in a handful of European films before starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi. Hepburn played the lead female role in Roman Holiday (1953), winning an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her performance. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in Ondine (1954).

Hepburn became one of the most successful film actresses in the world and performed with such notable leading men as Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Peter O'Toole, and Albert Finney. She won BAFTA Awards for her performances in The Nun's Story (1959) and Charade (1963), and received Academy Award nominations for Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Wait Until Dark (1967).

She starred as Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady (1964), becoming only the third actor to receive $1,000,000 for a film role. From 1968 to 1975 she took a break from film-making, mostly to spend more time with her two sons. In 1976 she starred with Sean Connery in Robin and Marian. In 1989 she made her last film appearance in Steven Spielberg's Always.

Her war-time experiences inspired her passion for humanitarian work, and although she had worked for UNICEF since the 1950s, during her later life she dedicated much of her time and energy to the organization. From 1988 until 1992, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia. In 1992, Hepburn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In 1999, she was ranked as the third greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.
epburn's first role in a motion picture was in the British film One Wild Oat in which she played a hotel receptionist. She played several more minor roles in Young Wives' Tale, Laughter in Paradise, The Lavender Hill Mob, and Monte Carlo Baby.

During the filming of Monte Carlo Baby Hepburn was chosen to play the lead character in the Broadway play Gigi, which opened on 24 November, 1951, at the Fulton Theatre and ran for 219 performances. The writer Colette, when she first saw Hepburn, reportedly said "Voilà! There's our Gigi!" She won a Theatre World Award for her performance. Hepburn's first significant film performance was in the Thorold Dickinson film Secret People (1952), in which she played a prodigious ballerina. Hepburn did all of her own dancing scenes.
From Hepburn's Roman Holiday screen test which was also used in the promotional trailer for the film.

Her first starring role was with Gregory Peck in the Italian-set Roman Holiday (1952). Producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test (the camera was left on and candid footage of Hepburn relaxing and answering questions, unaware that she was still being filmed, displayed her talents), that he cast her in the lead. Wyler said, "She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting, and we said, 'That's the girl!'"

The movie was to have had Gregory Peck's name above the title in large font with "Introducing Audrey Hepburn" beneath. After filming had been completed, Peck called his agent and, predicting correctly that Hepburn would win the Academy Award for Best Actress, had the billing changed so that her name also appeared before the title in type as large as his.

Hepburn and Peck bonded during filming, and there were rumours that they were romantically involved; both denied it. Hepburn, however, added, "Actually, you have to be a little bit in love with your leading man and vice versa. If you're going to portray love, you have to feel it. You can't do it any other way. But you don't carry it beyond the set." Because of the instant celebrity that came with Roman Holiday, Hepburn's illustration was placed on the 7 September, 1953, cover of TIME.

Hepburn's performance received much critical praise. A. H. Weiler noted in The New York Times, "Although she is not precisely a newcomer to films, Audrey Hepburn, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Ann, is a slender, elfin, and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgment of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future." Hepburn would later call Roman Holiday her dearest movie, because it was the one that made her a star.

After filming Roman Holiday for four months, Hepburn returned to New York and performed in Gigi for eight months. The play was performed in Los Angeles and San Francisco in its last month.

She was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work.
Hollywood stardom
Hepburn in War and Peace (1956)

After Roman Holiday, she filmed Billy Wilder's Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Hepburn was sent to a then young and upcoming fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy to decide on her wardrobe.

When told that "Miss Hepburn" was coming to see him, Givenchy expected to see Katharine. He was disappointed and told her that he didn't have much time for her, but Hepburn asked for just a few minutes to pick out a few pieces for Sabrina. Shortly after, Givenchy and Hepburn developed a lasting friendship, and she was often a muse for many of his designs. They formed a lifelong friendship and partnership.

During the filming of Sabrina, Hepburn and the already-married Holden became romantically involved and she hoped to marry him and have children. She broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy.

In 1954, Hepburn returned to the stage to play the water sprite in Ondine in a performance with Mel Ferrer, whom she would marry later in the year. During the run of the play, Hepburn was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress and the Academy Award, both for Roman Holiday. Six weeks after receiving the Oscar, Hepburn was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress for Ondine. Audrey Hepburn is one of only three actresses to receive a Best Actress Oscar and Best Actress Tony in the same year (the others were Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).

By the mid-1950s, Hepburn was not only one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood, but also a major fashion influence. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognized sense of chic were both admired and imitated. In 1955, she was awarded the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite - Female.

Having become one of Hollywood's most popular box-office attractions, Hepburn co-starred with actors such as Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina, Henry Fonda in War and Peace, Fred Astaire in Funny Face, William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles, Maurice Chevalier and Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon, Anthony Perkins in Green Mansions, Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in The Unforgiven, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner in The Children's Hour, George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Cary Grant in Charade, Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, Peter O'Toole in How to Steal a Million and Sean Connery in Robin and Marian.
from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Rex Harrison called Audrey Hepburn his favourite leading lady, although he initially felt she was badly miscast as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady (many accounts indicate that she became great friends with British actress and dancer Kay Kendall, who was Harrison's wife); Cary Grant loved to humour her and once said, "All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn;" and Gregory Peck became a lifelong friend.

After her death, Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore.

A common perception of the time was that Bogart and Hepburn did not get along. However, Hepburn has been quoted as saying, "Sometimes it's the so-called 'tough guys' that are the most tender hearted, as Bogey was with me."

Funny Face in 1957 was one of Hepburn's favourites because she got to dance with Fred Astaire. Then in 1959's The Nun's Story came one of her most daring roles. Films in Review stated: "Her performance will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen.".

Otto Frank even asked her to play his daughter Anne's onscreen counterpart in the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank, but Hepburn, who was born the same year as Anne was almost 30 years old, and felt too old to play a teenager. The role was eventually given to Millie Perkins.

Hepburn's Holly Golightly in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's became an iconic character in American cinema. She called the role "the jazziest of my career". Asked about the acting challenge of the role, she replied, "I'm an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did." In the film, she wore trendy clothing designed by herself and Givenchy, and added blonde streaks to her brown hair, a look that she would keep off-screen as well.
Hepburn in a scene from the comic thriller Charade (1963).

In 1963, Hepburn starred in Charade, her first and only film with Cary Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina. He was sensitive as to their age difference and requested a script change so that Hepburn's character would be the one to romantically pursue his.

Released after Charade was Paris When It Sizzles, a film that paired Hepburn with William Holden, who nearly ten years before had been her leading man in Sabrina. The film, called "marshmallow-weight hokum", was "uniformly panned"; Behind the scenes, the set was plagued with problems: Holden tried without success to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress; that, combined with his alcoholism made the situation a challenge for the production. Hepburn did not help matters: after principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies. Superstitious, she insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number (she had dressing room 55 for Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s). She insisted that Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.

In 1964, Hepburn starred in My Fair Lady which was said to be the most anticipated movie since Gone with the Wind.

Hepburn was cast as Eliza Doolittle instead of Julie Andrews, who had originated the role on Broadway, but had no film experience as yet. The decision not to cast Andrews was made before Hepburn was chosen. Hepburn initially refused the role and asked Jack Warner to give it to Andrews, but when informed that it would either be her or Elizabeth Taylor, who was also vying for the part, she accepted the role.

The casting of a non-singer in the lead role of a major musical proved to be very controversial. Several critics felt that Hepburn was not believable as a Cockney flower girl, and that at 35 she was rather old for the part since Eliza was supposed to be about 20. However, according to an article in Soundstage magazine, "Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice."

Hepburn recorded vocals, but was later told that her vocals would be replaced by Marni Nixon. She walked off the set but returned early the next day to apologize for her "wicked" behaviour. Footage of several songs with Hepburn's original vocals still exist and have been included in documentaries and the DVD release of the film, though to date, only Nixon's renditions have been released on LP and CD.

Some of her original vocals remained in the film: a section of "Just You Wait" and one line of the verse to "I Could Have Danced All Night". When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "You could tell, couldn't you? And there was Rex, recording all his songs as he acted ... next time —" She bit her lip to keep from saying any more.

Aside from the dubbing, many critics agreed that Hepburn's performance was excellent. Gene Ringgold said, "Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages."

The controversy over Hepburn's casting reached its height at the 1964–65 Academy Awards season, when Hepburn was not nominated for best actress while Andrews was, for Mary Poppins. The media tried to play up a rivalry between the two actresses as the ceremony approached, even though both women denied any such bad feelings existed and got along well. Andrews won the award.

Two for the Road was a non-linear and innovative movie about divorce. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to Albert Finney.

Wait Until Dark in 1967 was a difficult film. It was an edgy thriller in which Hepburn played the part of a blind woman being terrorized. In addition, it was produced by Mel Ferrer and filmed on the brink of their divorce. Hepburn is said to have lost fifteen pounds under the stress. On the bright side, she found co-star Richard Crenna to be very funny, and she had a lot to laugh about with director Terence Young. They both joked that he had shelled his favorite star 23 years before; he had been a British Army tank commander during the Battle of Arnhem. Hepburn's performance was nominated for an Academy Award.
oon after Hepburn's final film role, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; she spoke French, Italian, English, Dutch, and Spanish.

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Those close to her say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. Her first field mission was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek'ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. Of the trip, she said, "I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can't stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, not because there isn't tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can't be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars... I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The 'Third World' is a term I don't like very much, because we're all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering."
In 1992, President George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity. This was awarded posthumously, with her son accepting on her behalf.
In 1992, when Hepburn returned to Switzerland from her visit to Somalia, she began to feel abdominal pains. She went to specialists and received inconclusive results, so she decided to have it examined while on a trip to Los Angeles in October.

On 1 November, doctors performed a laparoscopy and discovered abdominal cancer that had spread from her appendix. It had grown slowly over several years, and metastasized not as a tumor, but as a thin coating encasing over her small intestine. The doctors performed surgery and then put Hepburn through 5-fluorouracil Leucovorin chemotherapy. A few days later, she had an obstruction. Medication was not enough to dull the pain, so on 1 December, she had a second surgery. After one hour, the surgeon decided that the cancer had spread too far and could not be removed.

Because Hepburn was unable to fly on a commercial aircraft, Givenchy arranged for Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from California to Switzerland. Hepburn died of cancer on 20 January 1993, in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, and was interred there.

At the time of her death, she was involved with Robert Wolders, a Dutch actor who was the widower of film star Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend, in the later stage of her marriage to Dotti. After Hepburn's divorce was final, she and Wolders started their lives together, although they never married. In 1989, after nine years with him, she called them the happiest years of her life. "Took me long enough", she said in an interview with Barbara Walters. Walters then asked why they never married. Hepburn replied that they were married, just not formally
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1948 Nederlands in 7 lessen Airline Stewardess Documentary (English: Dutch in Seven Lessons)
1951 One Wild Oat Hotel receptionist
Laughter in Paradise Cigarette girl
Monte Carlo Baby Linda Farell Discovered by French novelist Colette during filming and cast as Gigi for the Broadway play
Young Wives' Tale Eve Lester
The Lavender Hill Mob Chiquita
1952 The Secret People Nora Brentano
Nous irons à Monte Carlo Melissa Walter French version of Monte Carlo Baby (English: We Will Go to Monte Carlo)
1953 Roman Holiday Princess Ann Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1954 Sabrina Sabrina Fairchild Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1956 War and Peace Natasha Rostova Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1957 Funny Face Jo Stockton
Love in the Afternoon Ariane Chavasse/Thin Girl Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1959 Green Mansions Rima Directed by Mel Ferrer
The Nun's Story Sister Luke (Gabrielle van der Mal) BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1960 The Unforgiven Rachel Zachary
1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's Holly Golightly Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Children's Hour Karen Wright
1963 Charade Regina "Reggie" Lampert BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1964 Paris When It Sizzles Gabrielle Simpson
My Fair Lady Eliza Doolittle Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1966 How to Steal a Million Nicole Bonnet
1967 Two for the Road Joanna Wallace Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Wait Until Dark Susy Hendrix Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 Robin and Marian Lady Marian
1979 Bloodline Elizabeth Roffe Her only R-rated film
1981 They All Laughed Angela Niotes
1989 Always Hap
Television and theatre
Year Film Role Notes
1949 High Button Shoes Chorus Girl Musical Theatre
Sauce Tartare Chorus Girl Musical Theatre
1950 Sauce Piquante Featured Player Musical Theatre
1951 Gigi Gigi Opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre, 24 November 1951.
Theatre World Award
1952 CBS Television Workshop Episode entitled "Rainy Day at Paradise Junction"
1954 Ondine Water Nymph Opened on Broadway, 18 February - 26 June, co-starring Mel Ferrer
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1957 Mayerling Maria Vetsera Producers' Showcase live production. Costarring Mel Ferrer as Prince Rudolf. Released theatrically in Europe.
1987 Love Among Thieves Baroness Caroline DuLac Television movie.
1993 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn Herself PBS miniseries;
Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming
Awards and honors
The handprints of Audrey Hepburn in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

She won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Actress for Roman Holiday. She was nominated for Best Actress four more times; for Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Wait Until Dark. She was not nominated for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, one of her most acclaimed performances. For her 1967 nomination, the Academy chose her performance in Wait Until Dark over her critically acclaimed performance in Two for the Road. She lost to Katharine Hepburn (in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). Audrey Hepburn is one of the few people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award.

    * Academy Award: Best Actress for Roman Holiday (1954) and posthumously The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1993).
    * Golden Globe award: Best Motion Picture Actress for Roman Holiday (1954).
    * Tony Award: Best Actress for Ondine (1954) and Special Achievement award (1968).
    * Grammy Award: Best Spoken Word Album for Children (1993) for Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales (posthumous).
    * Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming (1993) for the "Flower Gardens" episode of her documentary series, Gardens of the World (posthumous).

Hepburn won the Henrietta Award in 1955 for the world's favourite actress, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1990 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1992. Hepburn was posthumously awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award later in 1993.

In December 1992, one month before her death, Hepburn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work in UNICEF. This is one of the two highest awards a civilian can receive in the United States. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1652 Vine Street.

In 2003, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp illustrated by Michael J. Deas honouring her as a Hollywood legend and humanitarian. It has a drawing of her which is based on a publicity photo from the movie Sabrina. Hepburn is one of the few non-Americans to be so honoured. As well, in 2008, Canada Post issued a series of stamps based on the work of Yousuf Karsh, one of which was a portrait of Hepburn.

Hepburn was only one of two people to wear the Tiffany Diamond, the other being Mrs. Sheldon Whitheouse at the 1957 Tiffany Ball. Hepburn was a member of the International Best Dressed List and elevated into its Hall of Fame in 1961.

She was posthumously awarded the The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her humanitarian work. She received a posthumous Grammy Award for her spoken word recording, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales in 1994, and in the same year, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, thereby becoming one of a few people to receive an Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award.
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy24/retropop/Audrey%20Hepburn/audreyhepburn-19a59a8f1f9ec80935566.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy24/retropop/Audrey%20Hepburn/audreyhepburn-63741349e5d12be9a5432.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo108/ArmandDuval/audrey-hepburn-1086.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/tiny_tink_pics/audreysotiny.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/20/10 at 6:43 am


The person of the day...Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (4 May 1929(1929-05-04) – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian.

Born in Ixelles, Belgium as Audrey Kathleen Ruston, Hepburn spent her childhood chiefly in the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem, Netherlands, during the Second World War (1939-1945). She studied ballet in Arnhem and then moved to London in 1948, where she continued to train in ballet and worked as a photographer's model. She appeared in a handful of European films before starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi. Hepburn played the lead female role in Roman Holiday (1953), winning an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her performance. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in Ondine (1954).

Hepburn became one of the most successful film actresses in the world and performed with such notable leading men as Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Peter O'Toole, and Albert Finney. She won BAFTA Awards for her performances in The Nun's Story (1959) and Charade (1963), and received Academy Award nominations for Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Wait Until Dark (1967).

She starred as Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady (1964), becoming only the third actor to receive $1,000,000 for a film role. From 1968 to 1975 she took a break from film-making, mostly to spend more time with her two sons. In 1976 she starred with Sean Connery in Robin and Marian. In 1989 she made her last film appearance in Steven Spielberg's Always.

Her war-time experiences inspired her passion for humanitarian work, and although she had worked for UNICEF since the 1950s, during her later life she dedicated much of her time and energy to the organization. From 1988 until 1992, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia. In 1992, Hepburn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In 1999, she was ranked as the third greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.
epburn's first role in a motion picture was in the British film One Wild Oat in which she played a hotel receptionist. She played several more minor roles in Young Wives' Tale, Laughter in Paradise, The Lavender Hill Mob, and Monte Carlo Baby.

During the filming of Monte Carlo Baby Hepburn was chosen to play the lead character in the Broadway play Gigi, which opened on 24 November, 1951, at the Fulton Theatre and ran for 219 performances. The writer Colette, when she first saw Hepburn, reportedly said "Voilà! There's our Gigi!" She won a Theatre World Award for her performance. Hepburn's first significant film performance was in the Thorold Dickinson film Secret People (1952), in which she played a prodigious ballerina. Hepburn did all of her own dancing scenes.
From Hepburn's Roman Holiday screen test which was also used in the promotional trailer for the film.

Her first starring role was with Gregory Peck in the Italian-set Roman Holiday (1952). Producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test (the camera was left on and candid footage of Hepburn relaxing and answering questions, unaware that she was still being filmed, displayed her talents), that he cast her in the lead. Wyler said, "She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting, and we said, 'That's the girl!'"

The movie was to have had Gregory Peck's name above the title in large font with "Introducing Audrey Hepburn" beneath. After filming had been completed, Peck called his agent and, predicting correctly that Hepburn would win the Academy Award for Best Actress, had the billing changed so that her name also appeared before the title in type as large as his.

Hepburn and Peck bonded during filming, and there were rumours that they were romantically involved; both denied it. Hepburn, however, added, "Actually, you have to be a little bit in love with your leading man and vice versa. If you're going to portray love, you have to feel it. You can't do it any other way. But you don't carry it beyond the set." Because of the instant celebrity that came with Roman Holiday, Hepburn's illustration was placed on the 7 September, 1953, cover of TIME.

Hepburn's performance received much critical praise. A. H. Weiler noted in The New York Times, "Although she is not precisely a newcomer to films, Audrey Hepburn, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Ann, is a slender, elfin, and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly-found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgment of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future." Hepburn would later call Roman Holiday her dearest movie, because it was the one that made her a star.

After filming Roman Holiday for four months, Hepburn returned to New York and performed in Gigi for eight months. The play was performed in Los Angeles and San Francisco in its last month.

She was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work.
Hollywood stardom
Hepburn in War and Peace (1956)

After Roman Holiday, she filmed Billy Wilder's Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Hepburn was sent to a then young and upcoming fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy to decide on her wardrobe.

When told that "Miss Hepburn" was coming to see him, Givenchy expected to see Katharine. He was disappointed and told her that he didn't have much time for her, but Hepburn asked for just a few minutes to pick out a few pieces for Sabrina. Shortly after, Givenchy and Hepburn developed a lasting friendship, and she was often a muse for many of his designs. They formed a lifelong friendship and partnership.

During the filming of Sabrina, Hepburn and the already-married Holden became romantically involved and she hoped to marry him and have children. She broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy.

In 1954, Hepburn returned to the stage to play the water sprite in Ondine in a performance with Mel Ferrer, whom she would marry later in the year. During the run of the play, Hepburn was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress and the Academy Award, both for Roman Holiday. Six weeks after receiving the Oscar, Hepburn was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress for Ondine. Audrey Hepburn is one of only three actresses to receive a Best Actress Oscar and Best Actress Tony in the same year (the others were Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).

By the mid-1950s, Hepburn was not only one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood, but also a major fashion influence. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognized sense of chic were both admired and imitated. In 1955, she was awarded the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite - Female.

Having become one of Hollywood's most popular box-office attractions, Hepburn co-starred with actors such as Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina, Henry Fonda in War and Peace, Fred Astaire in Funny Face, William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles, Maurice Chevalier and Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon, Anthony Perkins in Green Mansions, Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in The Unforgiven, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner in The Children's Hour, George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Cary Grant in Charade, Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, Peter O'Toole in How to Steal a Million and Sean Connery in Robin and Marian.
from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Rex Harrison called Audrey Hepburn his favourite leading lady, although he initially felt she was badly miscast as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady (many accounts indicate that she became great friends with British actress and dancer Kay Kendall, who was Harrison's wife); Cary Grant loved to humour her and once said, "All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn;" and Gregory Peck became a lifelong friend.

After her death, Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore.

A common perception of the time was that Bogart and Hepburn did not get along. However, Hepburn has been quoted as saying, "Sometimes it's the so-called 'tough guys' that are the most tender hearted, as Bogey was with me."

Funny Face in 1957 was one of Hepburn's favourites because she got to dance with Fred Astaire. Then in 1959's The Nun's Story came one of her most daring roles. Films in Review stated: "Her performance will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen.".

Otto Frank even asked her to play his daughter Anne's onscreen counterpart in the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank, but Hepburn, who was born the same year as Anne was almost 30 years old, and felt too old to play a teenager. The role was eventually given to Millie Perkins.

Hepburn's Holly Golightly in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's became an iconic character in American cinema. She called the role "the jazziest of my career". Asked about the acting challenge of the role, she replied, "I'm an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did." In the film, she wore trendy clothing designed by herself and Givenchy, and added blonde streaks to her brown hair, a look that she would keep off-screen as well.
Hepburn in a scene from the comic thriller Charade (1963).

In 1963, Hepburn starred in Charade, her first and only film with Cary Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina. He was sensitive as to their age difference and requested a script change so that Hepburn's character would be the one to romantically pursue his.

Released after Charade was Paris When It Sizzles, a film that paired Hepburn with William Holden, who nearly ten years before had been her leading man in Sabrina. The film, called "marshmallow-weight hokum", was "uniformly panned"; Behind the scenes, the set was plagued with problems: Holden tried without success to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress; that, combined with his alcoholism made the situation a challenge for the production. Hepburn did not help matters: after principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies. Superstitious, she insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number (she had dressing room 55 for Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s). She insisted that Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.

In 1964, Hepburn starred in My Fair Lady which was said to be the most anticipated movie since Gone with the Wind.

Hepburn was cast as Eliza Doolittle instead of Julie Andrews, who had originated the role on Broadway, but had no film experience as yet. The decision not to cast Andrews was made before Hepburn was chosen. Hepburn initially refused the role and asked Jack Warner to give it to Andrews, but when informed that it would either be her or Elizabeth Taylor, who was also vying for the part, she accepted the role.

The casting of a non-singer in the lead role of a major musical proved to be very controversial. Several critics felt that Hepburn was not believable as a Cockney flower girl, and that at 35 she was rather old for the part since Eliza was supposed to be about 20. However, according to an article in Soundstage magazine, "Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice."

Hepburn recorded vocals, but was later told that her vocals would be replaced by Marni Nixon. She walked off the set but returned early the next day to apologize for her "wicked" behaviour. Footage of several songs with Hepburn's original vocals still exist and have been included in documentaries and the DVD release of the film, though to date, only Nixon's renditions have been released on LP and CD.

Some of her original vocals remained in the film: a section of "Just You Wait" and one line of the verse to "I Could Have Danced All Night". When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "You could tell, couldn't you? And there was Rex, recording all his songs as he acted ... next time —" She bit her lip to keep from saying any more.

Aside from the dubbing, many critics agreed that Hepburn's performance was excellent. Gene Ringgold said, "Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages."

The controversy over Hepburn's casting reached its height at the 1964–65 Academy Awards season, when Hepburn was not nominated for best actress while Andrews was, for Mary Poppins. The media tried to play up a rivalry between the two actresses as the ceremony approached, even though both women denied any such bad feelings existed and got along well. Andrews won the award.

Two for the Road was a non-linear and innovative movie about divorce. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to Albert Finney.

Wait Until Dark in 1967 was a difficult film. It was an edgy thriller in which Hepburn played the part of a blind woman being terrorized. In addition, it was produced by Mel Ferrer and filmed on the brink of their divorce. Hepburn is said to have lost fifteen pounds under the stress. On the bright side, she found co-star Richard Crenna to be very funny, and she had a lot to laugh about with director Terence Young. They both joked that he had shelled his favorite star 23 years before; he had been a British Army tank commander during the Battle of Arnhem. Hepburn's performance was nominated for an Academy Award.
oon after Hepburn's final film role, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; she spoke French, Italian, English, Dutch, and Spanish.

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Those close to her say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. Her first field mission was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek'ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. Of the trip, she said, "I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can't stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, not because there isn't tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can't be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars... I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The 'Third World' is a term I don't like very much, because we're all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering."
In 1992, President George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity. This was awarded posthumously, with her son accepting on her behalf.
In 1992, when Hepburn returned to Switzerland from her visit to Somalia, she began to feel abdominal pains. She went to specialists and received inconclusive results, so she decided to have it examined while on a trip to Los Angeles in October.

On 1 November, doctors performed a laparoscopy and discovered abdominal cancer that had spread from her appendix. It had grown slowly over several years, and metastasized not as a tumor, but as a thin coating encasing over her small intestine. The doctors performed surgery and then put Hepburn through 5-fluorouracil Leucovorin chemotherapy. A few days later, she had an obstruction. Medication was not enough to dull the pain, so on 1 December, she had a second surgery. After one hour, the surgeon decided that the cancer had spread too far and could not be removed.

Because Hepburn was unable to fly on a commercial aircraft, Givenchy arranged for Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from California to Switzerland. Hepburn died of cancer on 20 January 1993, in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, and was interred there.

At the time of her death, she was involved with Robert Wolders, a Dutch actor who was the widower of film star Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend, in the later stage of her marriage to Dotti. After Hepburn's divorce was final, she and Wolders started their lives together, although they never married. In 1989, after nine years with him, she called them the happiest years of her life. "Took me long enough", she said in an interview with Barbara Walters. Walters then asked why they never married. Hepburn replied that they were married, just not formally
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1948 Nederlands in 7 lessen Airline Stewardess Documentary (English: Dutch in Seven Lessons)
1951 One Wild Oat Hotel receptionist
Laughter in Paradise Cigarette girl
Monte Carlo Baby Linda Farell Discovered by French novelist Colette during filming and cast as Gigi for the Broadway play
Young Wives' Tale Eve Lester
The Lavender Hill Mob Chiquita
1952 The Secret People Nora Brentano
Nous irons à Monte Carlo Melissa Walter French version of Monte Carlo Baby (English: We Will Go to Monte Carlo)
1953 Roman Holiday Princess Ann Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1954 Sabrina Sabrina Fairchild Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1956 War and Peace Natasha Rostova Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1957 Funny Face Jo Stockton
Love in the Afternoon Ariane Chavasse/Thin Girl Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1959 Green Mansions Rima Directed by Mel Ferrer
The Nun's Story Sister Luke (Gabrielle van der Mal) BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1960 The Unforgiven Rachel Zachary
1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's Holly Golightly Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Children's Hour Karen Wright
1963 Charade Regina "Reggie" Lampert BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1964 Paris When It Sizzles Gabrielle Simpson
My Fair Lady Eliza Doolittle Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1966 How to Steal a Million Nicole Bonnet
1967 Two for the Road Joanna Wallace Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Wait Until Dark Susy Hendrix Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 Robin and Marian Lady Marian
1979 Bloodline Elizabeth Roffe Her only R-rated film
1981 They All Laughed Angela Niotes
1989 Always Hap
Television and theatre
Year Film Role Notes
1949 High Button Shoes Chorus Girl Musical Theatre
Sauce Tartare Chorus Girl Musical Theatre
1950 Sauce Piquante Featured Player Musical Theatre
1951 Gigi Gigi Opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre, 24 November 1951.
Theatre World Award
1952 CBS Television Workshop Episode entitled "Rainy Day at Paradise Junction"
1954 Ondine Water Nymph Opened on Broadway, 18 February - 26 June, co-starring Mel Ferrer
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1957 Mayerling Maria Vetsera Producers' Showcase live production. Costarring Mel Ferrer as Prince Rudolf. Released theatrically in Europe.
1987 Love Among Thieves Baroness Caroline DuLac Television movie.
1993 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn Herself PBS miniseries;
Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming
Awards and honors
The handprints of Audrey Hepburn in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

She won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Actress for Roman Holiday. She was nominated for Best Actress four more times; for Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Wait Until Dark. She was not nominated for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, one of her most acclaimed performances. For her 1967 nomination, the Academy chose her performance in Wait Until Dark over her critically acclaimed performance in Two for the Road. She lost to Katharine Hepburn (in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). Audrey Hepburn is one of the few people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award.

    * Academy Award: Best Actress for Roman Holiday (1954) and posthumously The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1993).
    * Golden Globe award: Best Motion Picture Actress for Roman Holiday (1954).
    * Tony Award: Best Actress for Ondine (1954) and Special Achievement award (1968).
    * Grammy Award: Best Spoken Word Album for Children (1993) for Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales (posthumous).
    * Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming (1993) for the "Flower Gardens" episode of her documentary series, Gardens of the World (posthumous).

Hepburn won the Henrietta Award in 1955 for the world's favourite actress, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1990 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1992. Hepburn was posthumously awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award later in 1993.

In December 1992, one month before her death, Hepburn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work in UNICEF. This is one of the two highest awards a civilian can receive in the United States. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1652 Vine Street.

In 2003, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp illustrated by Michael J. Deas honouring her as a Hollywood legend and humanitarian. It has a drawing of her which is based on a publicity photo from the movie Sabrina. Hepburn is one of the few non-Americans to be so honoured. As well, in 2008, Canada Post issued a series of stamps based on the work of Yousuf Karsh, one of which was a portrait of Hepburn.

Hepburn was only one of two people to wear the Tiffany Diamond, the other being Mrs. Sheldon Whitheouse at the 1957 Tiffany Ball. Hepburn was a member of the International Best Dressed List and elevated into its Hall of Fame in 1961.

She was posthumously awarded the The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her humanitarian work. She received a posthumous Grammy Award for her spoken word recording, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales in 1994, and in the same year, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, thereby becoming one of a few people to receive an Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award.
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy24/retropop/Audrey%20Hepburn/audreyhepburn-19a59a8f1f9ec80935566.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy24/retropop/Audrey%20Hepburn/audreyhepburn-63741349e5d12be9a5432.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo108/ArmandDuval/audrey-hepburn-1086.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn168/tiny_tink_pics/audreysotiny.jpg


such a fine actress. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/20/10 at 6:54 am


The birthday of the day...David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker and visual artist. Over a lengthy career, Lynch has employed a distinctive and unorthodox approach to narrative filmmaking (dubbed Lynchian), which has become instantly recognizable to many audiences and critics worldwide. Lynch's films are known for surreal, nightmarish and dreamlike images and meticulously crafted sound design. Lynch's work often depicts a seedy underside of small town America (particularly Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks), or sprawling California metropolises (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and his latest release, Inland Empire). Beginning with his experimental film school feature Eraserhead (1977), he has maintained a strong cult following despite inconsistent commercial success.

Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for his films The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Drive (2001), and has also received a screenplay Academy Award nomination for The Elephant Man. Lynch has twice won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film, the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival. The French government awarded him with the Legion of Honor, the country's top civilian honor, as Chevalier in 2002 then Officier in 2007, whilst that same year, The Guardian described Lynch as "the most important director of this era"
n 1971, Lynch moved to Los Angeles, California to study for a Master of Fine Arts degree at the AFI Conservatory. At the Conservatory, Lynch began working on his first feature-length film, Eraserhead, using a $10,000 grant from the AFI. The grant did not provide enough money to complete the film and, due to lack of a sufficient budget, Eraserhead was filmed intermittently until 1977. Lynch used money from friends and family, including boyhood friend Jack Fisk, a production designer and the husband of actress Sissy Spacek, and even took a paper route to finish it. A stark and enigmatic film, Eraserhead tells the story of a quiet young man (Jack Nance) living in an industrial wasteland, whose girlfriend gives birth to a constantly crying mutant baby. Lynch has referred to Eraserhead as "my Philadelphia story", meaning it reflects all of the dangerous and fearful elements he encountered while studying and living in Philadelphia. He said "this feeling left its traces deep down inside me. And when it came out again, it became Eraserhead".

The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasable, but thanks to the efforts of the Elgin Theater distributor Ben Barenholtz, it became an instant cult classic and was a staple of midnight movie showings for the next decade. It was also a critical success, launching Lynch to the forefront of avant-garde filmmaking. The acclaimed film maker Stanley Kubrick said that it was one of his all-time favorite films. It cemented the team of actors and technicians who would continue to define the texture of his work for years to come, including cinematographer Frederick Elmes, sound designer Alan Splet, and actor Jack Nance. Meanwhile, Lynch continued producing short films, and during "a brief lull in the filming of Eraserhead" had produced The Amputee in 1974, revolving around a woman with stumps for limbs (Catherine Coulson) who has them washed by a doctor, played by Lynch himself.
Rise to prominence (1980–1986)
David Lynch on the set of Blue Velvet with the film's main actor Kyle MacLachlan.

Eraserhead brought Lynch to the attention of producer Mel Brooks, who hired him to direct 1980's The Elephant Man, a biopic of deformed Victorian era figure Joseph Merrick (John Hurt). Lynch brought his own distinct surrealist approach to the film, filming it in black and white, although it has still been described as "one of the most conventional" of his films. The Elephant Man was a huge commercial success, and earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods for Lynch. It also established his place as a commercially viable, if somewhat dark and unconventional, Hollywood director. George Lucas, a fan of Eraserhead, offered Lynch the opportunity to direct Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, which he refused, feeling that it would be more Lucas' vision than his own. Meanwhile in 1983 he began the writing and drawing of a comic strip, The Angriest Dog in the World, which featured unchanging graphics alongside cryptic philosophical references. It ran from 1983 until 1992 in the Village Voice, Creative Loafing and other tabloid and alternative publications.

Afterwards, Lynch agreed to direct a big-budget adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune for Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis's De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, on the condition that DEG release a second Lynch project, over which the director would have complete creative control. Although De Laurentiis hoped it would be the next Star Wars, Lynch's Dune (1984) was a critical and commercial dud; it cost $45 million to make, and grossed a mere $27.4 million domestically. Later on, Universal Studios released an "extended cut" of the film for syndicated television; this contained almost an hour of cutting-room-floor footage and new narration. Such was not representative of Lynch's intentions, but the studio considered it more comprehensible than the original two hour version. Lynch objected to these changes and had his name struck from the extended cut, which has "Alan Smithee" credited as the director and "Judas Booth" (a pseudonym which Lynch himself invented, inspired by his own feelings of betrayal) as the screenwriter. The three hour version has since been released on video worldwide.

Lynch's second De Laurentiis-financed project was 1986's Blue Velvet, the story of a college student (Kyle MacLachlan) who discovers his small, idealistic hometown hides a dark side after investigating a severed ear that he found in a field. The film featured performances from Isabella Rossellini as a tormented lounge singer and Dennis Hopper as a crude, psychopathic criminal. Although Lynch had found success previously with The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet's controversy with audiences and critics introduced him into the mainstream, and became a huge critical and moderate commercial success. Thus, the film earned Lynch his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director. The content of the film and its artistic merit drew much controversy from audiences and critics alike in 1986 and onwards. Blue Velvet introduced several common elements of his work, including abused women, the dark underbelly of small towns, and unconventional uses of vintage songs. Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" and Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" are both featured in unconventional ways. It was also the first time Lynch worked with composer Angelo Badalamenti, who would contribute to all of his future full-length films except Inland Empire. Woody Allen, whose film Hannah and Her Sisters was nominated for Best Picture, said that Blue Velvet was his favorite film of the year.
The transition to television (1987–1996)
Lynch at the 1990 Emmy Awards ceremony.

In the late 1980s, Lynch moved from producing films to focusing on television, directing a short film entitled The Cowboy and the Frenchman in 1989 for French television, before meeting the producer Mark Frost, with whom he would go on to collaborate with on a number of projects. Initially, Lynch and Frost planned to create a surreal comedy named One Saliva Bubble, but it never materialised. Instead they created a show entitled Twin Peaks, a drama series set in a small Washington where the popular high school student Laura Palmer has been raped and murdered. To investigate, the FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is called in, eventually unearthing the secrets of many town residents and the supernatural nature of the murder. Lynch himself directed only six episodes of the series, including the feature-length pilot, which debuted on the ABC Network on April 8, 1990. Lynch himself later starred in several episodes of the series as the FBI agent Graham Cole. Twin Peaks gradually rose from cult hit to cultural phenomenon, and because of its originality and success remains one of the most well-known television series of the decade. Catch phrases from the show entered the culture and parodies of it were seen on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. Lynch appeared on the cover of Time magazine largely because of the success of the series.

However, Lynch clashed with the ABC Network on several matters, particularly whether or not to reveal Laura Palmer's killer. The network insisted that the revelation be made during the second season but Lynch wanted the mystery to last as long as the series. Lynch soon became disenchanted with the series, and, as a result, many cast members complained of feeling abandoned. Later he stated that he and Frost had never intended to ever reveal the identity of Laura's killer, that ABC forced him to reveal the culprit prematurely, and that agreeing to do so is one of his biggest professional regrets. Twin Peaks suffered a severe ratings drop and was canceled in 1991. Still, Lynch scripted a prequel to the series about the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer.

Meanwhile, whilst Twin Peaks was in production, the Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Lynch and Badalementi to create a theatrical piece which would only be performed twice at their academy in New York City in 1989 as a part of the New Music America Festival. The result was Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted, which starred such frequent Lynch collaborators as Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage and Michael J. Anderson as well as containing five songs sung by Julee Cruise. David Lynch produced a 50-minute video of the performance in 1990. Following this, Lynch returned to making feature films, after his friend, Monty Montgomery offered him the chance to adapt Barry Gifford's novel, Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula into a film. Lynch agreed, with the result being Wild at Heart, a crime and road movie starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. Despite receiving a muted response from American critics and viewers, it won the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Without Frost this time, he decided to revisit Twin Peaks, making the prequal film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992. The film was a commercial and critical failure in the United States, although was a hit in Japan and British critic Mark Kermode has hailed the film as Lynch's "masterpiece". Meanwhile, Lynch continued working on a series of television shows with Mark Frost. After Twin Peaks, they produced a series of documentaries entitled American Chronicles (1990) which examined life across the United States, the comedy series On the Air (1992), which was cancelled after only three episodes had aired, and the three-episode HBO mini-series Hotel Room (1993) about events that happened in the same hotel room but at different dates in time.
Return to cinema and digital work (1997-2006)
Lynch speaking at an Amazon.com reception in January 2007.

Following his unsuccesful television ventures since Twin Peaks, Lynch returned to making feature films. In 1997 he released the non-linear, noiresque Lost Highway, co-written by Barry Gifford and starring Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette. The film failed commercially and received a mixed response from critics. However, thanks in part to a soundtrack featuring David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins, it helped gain Lynch a new audience of Generation X viewers. Lost Highway was followed in 1999 with the G-rated, Disney-produced The Straight Story, written and edited by Mary Sweeney, which was, on the surface, a simple and humble movie telling the true story of Iowan Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), who rides a lawnmower to Wisconsin to make peace with his ailing brother, played by Harry Dean Stanton. As Le Blanc and Odell stated, the plot made it "seem as far removed from Lynch's earlier works as could be imagined, but in fact right from the very opening, this is entirely his film - a surreal road movie". The film garnered positive reviews and reached a new audience for its director.

The same year, Lynch approached ABC once again with an idea for a television drama. The network gave Lynch the go-ahead to shoot a two-hour pilot for the series Mulholland Drive, but disputes over content and running time led to the project being shelved indefinitely. However, with seven million dollars from the French production company StudioCanal, Lynch completed the pilot as a film, Mulholland Drive. The film is a non-linear narrative surrealist tale of the dark side of Hollywood and stars Naomi Watts, Laura Harring and Justin Theroux. The film performed relatively well at the box office worldwide and was a critical success, earning Lynch a Best Director prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival (shared with Joel Coen for The Man Who Wasn't There) and a Best Director award from the New York Film Critics Association.

With the onset of popularity of the internet, Lynch decided to utlilise this new medium, releasing several new series that he had created exclusively on his website, davidlynch.com. In 2002, he created a series of online shorts entitled Dumbland. Intentionally crude both in content and execution, the eight-episode series was later released on DVD. The same year, Lynch released a surreal sitcom via his website - Rabbits, which revolved around a family of humanoid rabbits. Later, he showed his experiments with Digital Video in the form of the Japanese-style horror short Darkened Room.

In 2006, Lynch's latest feature film, Inland Empire was released, being the longest of Lynch's films at almost three hours long. Like Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway before it, the film did not fit to a narrative structure, and starred Lynch regulars Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, and Justin Theroux, with cameos by Naomi Watts and Laura Harring (voices of Suzie and Jane Rabbit), and a performance by Jeremy Irons. Lynch described the piece as "a mystery about a woman in trouble". In an effort to promote the film, Lynch made appearances with a cow and a placard bearing the slogan "Without cheese there would be no Inland Empire".
Documentaries and animation (2007-)

In 2008, Lynch announced that he was working on a road documentary "about his dialogues with regular folk on the meaning of life," with traveling companions including singer Donovan and physicist John Hagelin, two prominent members of the Transcendental Meditation movement.

Lynch currently has two films in production, both of which differ in content from his previous work. One of these is an animation entitled Snootworld, and the other is a documentary on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi consisting of interviews with people who knew him
Filmography
Features
Year Film Oscars BAFTA Golden Globe
Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins
1977 Eraserhead
1980 The Elephant Man 8 7 3 4
1984 Dune 1
1986 Blue Velvet 1 2
1990 Wild at Heart 1 1 1
1992 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
1997 Lost Highway
1999 The Straight Story 1 2
2001 Mulholland Drive 1 2 1 4
2006 Inland Empire
Short films

    * Six Men Getting Sick (1966) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * Absurd Encounter with Fear (1967) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD
    * Fictitious Anacin Commercial (1967) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD
    * The Alphabet (1968) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * The Grandmother (1970) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * The Amputee (1974) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted (1990) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD
    * Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995) - available on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD
    * Darkened Room (2002) - available on the Dynamic 1 DVD
    * Ballerina (2006) - available on the Inland Empire DVD
    * Boat (2007) - available on the Dynamic 1 DVD
    * Bug Crawls (2007) - available on the Dynamic 1 DVD
    * Scissors (2008) - available on The Lime Green Set DVD

Television series
Year  ↓ Series  ↓ Episodes  ↓
1990-1991 Twin Peaks 30
1992 On the Air 7
1993 Hotel Room 3
Online series
Year  ↓ Series  ↓ Episodes  ↓ Available on DVD  ↓
2002 Rabbits The Lime Green Set DVD
2002 Dumbland 8 The Lime Green Set DVD
Out Yonder The Lime Green Set DVD
2009 Interview Project
Music videos
Year  ↓ Song  ↓ Musician  ↓
1982 "I Predict" Sparks
2009 "Shot in the Back of the Head" Moby
Other

In October, 2008, the OMMA Video Conference, Jen Gregono, chief content officer at On Networks, announced that her company signed Lynch to a webisode series based on his book, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity.

In June 2009, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse released an album called Dark Night of the Soul, with a 100+ page booklet with visuals by Lynch. The album contained complete packaging and a blank CD because of some dispute with the record label. The artists involved implied that consumers can get the music online and just burn the blank CD provided.

He directed The Elephant Man, one of my all time favourites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/20/10 at 7:37 am

British Person of the Day: Tom Baker

Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981, and for being the narrator of the comedy series Little Britain. He now lives in Rye, East Sussex, England.

Early life

Baker was born in Scotland Road, Liverpool, the son of Mary Jane (née Fleming), a cleaner, and John Stewart Baker, a sailor who was rarely at home. Baker was raised in a working class Catholic and Jewish family. He left school at 15 to become a novice monk and remained in the monastic life for six years, but left after losing his faith, and did his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving for two years from 1955 until 1957. At the same time he took up acting, at first as a hobby.

Career

In 1971, Baker got his first big break with the role of Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra. He also appeared nude in Pier Paolo Pasolini's version of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), released in 1972, as a younger husband of the Wife of Bath.

Doctor Who (1974–1981)

In 1974, Baker took on the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in Play of the Month. Impressed by Baker on meeting him, Letts was convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media, as he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.

He quickly made the part his own. As the Doctor, his eccentric style of dress and speech — particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies — made him an immediately recognisable figure, and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, making him the longest-serving actor in the part on-screen. Baker himself suggested many aspects of the Fourth Doctor's personality. The distinctive scarf came about by accident: James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, and Ms. Pope knitted all the wool she was given; it was Baker who suggested that he wear the resulting — ridiculously over-long — scarf.

The incarnation played by Baker is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only twice: once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and once to David Tennant in 2006.

Tom Baker is not known to be directly related to Colin Baker, who played the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who, nor to Bob Baker, the script-writer for many of the series' episodes.

Baker's sense of humour is like that of the character he played. When asked how he felt about having a star named after him, Baker quipped, "I'm over the moon!" In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Baker was voted the fourth most eccentric star. He was beaten by Björk, Chris Eubank and David Icke.

He continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about his time on the programme. He reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game Destiny of the Doctors. He gets interviewed often in documentaries on the extras of Doctor Who DVD releases from his era as the Doctor and has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories.

In a 2004 interview regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested that he be cast as the Master. In a 2006 interview with The Sun newspaper, he claims that he has not watched any episodes of the new series because he "just can't be bothered". In June 2006, Baker once again expressed interest in the role in a guest column for Radio Times, noting that he "did watch a little bit of the new Doctor Who and I think the new fella, Tennant, is excellent."

While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced since the 1990s by Big Finish (and sometimes the BBC) Baker had until 2009 declined to voice the Doctor, saying he hadn't seen a script he liked. However, in July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title Hornets' Nest, written by well-known author Paul Magrs. Baker has also filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada and also provided narration for several BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories.

More recently, Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius'(released 4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (released on 7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (released 14 August 2008).

In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4’s Last Word to pay tribute to the deceased former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as “the big link in changing my entire life”.

Little Britain

After his work on Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World, in 2001 Baker was cast as a similar narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4, and remained in the role when it transferred to television. Baker has suggested that he was chosen for the part in Little Britain due to his popularity with Walliams and Lucas, part of the generation to whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me" he said in a recent DVD commentary. His eccentric voice-overs include such comments as "The Conservative Party is my favourite political party, after Labour and the Lib Dems", and "If people in Britain want to buy a pet, they go to a pet shop. If they want to buy a pet shop, they go to a pet shop shop. If they want to buy a pet shop shop, then they're just being silly." On the Little Britain Abroad special he remarked " In Paris, Anne is paying a visit to the Louvre. At my age I'm up all night visiting the Louvre". Another trademark of Little Britain's narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence. Songs like Salt n Pepa's "Push It" and House of Pain's "Jump Around" have so far received the Tom Baker treatment.

On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of Series 3 of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 1900 to 2130 GMT. The scripts were written by the same writers as Little Britain (David Walliams and Matt Lucas) and Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as "Hello, tellyviewers. You're watching the BBC One!" and "In half an hour, Jenny Dickens's classic serial Bleak House. But first let's see what the poor people are up to in the first of two visits this evening to the EastEnders."

Film

Baker also appeared in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra as Grigori Rasputin. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his performance, one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and another for Best Newcomer.

Baker appeared as Moore, an artist whose paintings are imbued with voodoo power, in The Vault of Horror (1973), the sequel to Tales from the Crypt (1972); as Koura, the villainous sorcerer, in Ray Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973); and as Halvarth, the Elven healer, in Dungeons & Dragons (2000). In the late 1990s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films. Baker has since stated that he was only approached for "a role" in the film, and when told that it would mean spending months away in New Zealand, he turned down the offer.

Voice acting

Baker has appeared in various radio productions, including a role as "Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister", Sir Edward Marshall-Hall in John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall (1996), and a part in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of The Thirty-nine Steps as Sir Walter Bullivant. He guest starred in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a pastiche series written by Bert Coules) in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square".

From 2000 to 2005 Tom voiced the character Max Bear in the Channel 4 (UK) Max Bear Productions animated series. More recently, he voiced the role of the villain ZeeBad in the 2005 computer-animated film version of The Magic Roundabout.

He is also the narrator of the new children's computer animation series The Beeps which is shown on Five's Milkshake!

He is also the voice artist in the "Fords of Winsford" advert.

In the BBC audio play of John Le Carré's The Russia House, he played the main character, Barley Blair.

He also narrated the popular children's acclaimed TV series Tales of Aesop on BBC which is a series based on Aesop's Fables with beautiful puppet animation.

Video games

Baker also returned to star as the Fourth Doctor in the video game Destiny of the Doctors in 1997. His voice has also featured in Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (2003), Cold Winter (2005) and Little Britain: The Video Game (2007).

Works

Filmography


    * 1971 - Nicholas and Alexandra as Grigori Rasputin
    * 1973 - The Vault of Horror - Moore
    * 1973 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) - Koura
    * 1974 - Frankenstein - The True Story (1974) - Ship's Captain
    * 2000 - Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Television

    * late 1970s - four episodes of the BBC2 series Late Night Story and in each episode, read an eerie tale involving the theme of childhood. Episodes ran for fifteen minutes and were aired before the station closed for the night. One episode entitled Sredni Vashtar by Saki was scheduled to start the second series, but went unscreened due to a writer's strike.
    * 1974-1981 - Doctor Who - The Fourth Doctor
    * 1982 - BBC version of The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sherlock Holmes
    * 1984 - Remington Steele - Interpol agent Anatole Blaylock
    * 1986 - BBC adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil - Father Ferguson
    * 1986 - Blackadder II - episode "Potato" - Captain Redbeard Rum
    * 1990 -The Silver Chair (1990) - Puddleglum
    * 1990 - Douglas Adams's futurology documentary Hyperland - Software Agent
    * 1992 - Cluedo - Professor Plum
    * 1992-1995 - Medics - Professor Geoffrey Hoyt
    * 2000 - revival of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Wyvern
    * 2004-2005 - Monarch of the Glen - Donald MacDonald
    * 2007 - Marple - episode Towards Zero - Frederick Treves
    *  ? - ? "Little Britain USA & Little Britain - Narrator

http://thebadplus.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/08/baker.jpg

http://www.blockbuster.co.uk/bbimages/UK/Glossy/November06/TomBakerBlog/TomBaker1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/20/10 at 7:45 am


The word of the day...Peak(s)
The peak of a process or an activity is the point at which it is at its strongest, most successful, or most fully developed.
When something peaks, it reaches its highest value or its highest level.
Peak times are the times when there is most demand for something or most use of something
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad292/lisagibsonbaby/SDC10933.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/Hornby2006/Mine%202010/NearColumbiaIcefieldAlbertaCanada.jpg
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac228/koplin1/Eagles%20pc%20NFT/RB/other%20rbs/footballcards611.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee139/ocoy-adp/Peaks.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx138/redstocks2000/Chapel.jpg
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww338/guardiangroup/Spruce%20Peak%20Lodge/DSCN1077.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af345/muiqmudq/victoria-peak1.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/bigbearmovies/Covers/folder-139.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh67/Joshiedoozie/twin-peaks.jpg



I thought Dolly Parton was the birthday person of the day-YESTERDAY!!  :D :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/10 at 8:12 am


such a fine actress. :)

Yes a rare talent.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/10 at 8:16 am


British Person of the Day: Tom Baker

Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981, and for being the narrator of the comedy series Little Britain. He now lives in Rye, East Sussex, England.

Early life

Baker was born in Scotland Road, Liverpool, the son of Mary Jane (née Fleming), a cleaner, and John Stewart Baker, a sailor who was rarely at home. Baker was raised in a working class Catholic and Jewish family. He left school at 15 to become a novice monk and remained in the monastic life for six years, but left after losing his faith, and did his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving for two years from 1955 until 1957. At the same time he took up acting, at first as a hobby.

Career

In 1971, Baker got his first big break with the role of Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra. He also appeared nude in Pier Paolo Pasolini's version of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), released in 1972, as a younger husband of the Wife of Bath.

Doctor Who (1974–1981)

In 1974, Baker took on the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in Play of the Month. Impressed by Baker on meeting him, Letts was convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media, as he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.

He quickly made the part his own. As the Doctor, his eccentric style of dress and speech — particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies — made him an immediately recognisable figure, and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, making him the longest-serving actor in the part on-screen. Baker himself suggested many aspects of the Fourth Doctor's personality. The distinctive scarf came about by accident: James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, and Ms. Pope knitted all the wool she was given; it was Baker who suggested that he wear the resulting — ridiculously over-long — scarf.

The incarnation played by Baker is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only twice: once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and once to David Tennant in 2006.

Tom Baker is not known to be directly related to Colin Baker, who played the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who, nor to Bob Baker, the script-writer for many of the series' episodes.

Baker's sense of humour is like that of the character he played. When asked how he felt about having a star named after him, Baker quipped, "I'm over the moon!" In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Baker was voted the fourth most eccentric star. He was beaten by Björk, Chris Eubank and David Icke.

He continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about his time on the programme. He reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game Destiny of the Doctors. He gets interviewed often in documentaries on the extras of Doctor Who DVD releases from his era as the Doctor and has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories.

In a 2004 interview regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested that he be cast as the Master. In a 2006 interview with The Sun newspaper, he claims that he has not watched any episodes of the new series because he "just can't be bothered". In June 2006, Baker once again expressed interest in the role in a guest column for Radio Times, noting that he "did watch a little bit of the new Doctor Who and I think the new fella, Tennant, is excellent."

While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced since the 1990s by Big Finish (and sometimes the BBC) Baker had until 2009 declined to voice the Doctor, saying he hadn't seen a script he liked. However, in July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title Hornets' Nest, written by well-known author Paul Magrs. Baker has also filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada and also provided narration for several BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories.

More recently, Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius'(released 4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (released on 7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (released 14 August 2008).

In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4’s Last Word to pay tribute to the deceased former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as “the big link in changing my entire life”.

Little Britain

After his work on Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World, in 2001 Baker was cast as a similar narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4, and remained in the role when it transferred to television. Baker has suggested that he was chosen for the part in Little Britain due to his popularity with Walliams and Lucas, part of the generation to whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me" he said in a recent DVD commentary. His eccentric voice-overs include such comments as "The Conservative Party is my favourite political party, after Labour and the Lib Dems", and "If people in Britain want to buy a pet, they go to a pet shop. If they want to buy a pet shop, they go to a pet shop shop. If they want to buy a pet shop shop, then they're just being silly." On the Little Britain Abroad special he remarked " In Paris, Anne is paying a visit to the Louvre. At my age I'm up all night visiting the Louvre". Another trademark of Little Britain's narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence. Songs like Salt n Pepa's "Push It" and House of Pain's "Jump Around" have so far received the Tom Baker treatment.

On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of Series 3 of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 1900 to 2130 GMT. The scripts were written by the same writers as Little Britain (David Walliams and Matt Lucas) and Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as "Hello, tellyviewers. You're watching the BBC One!" and "In half an hour, Jenny Dickens's classic serial Bleak House. But first let's see what the poor people are up to in the first of two visits this evening to the EastEnders."

Film

Baker also appeared in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra as Grigori Rasputin. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his performance, one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and another for Best Newcomer.

Baker appeared as Moore, an artist whose paintings are imbued with voodoo power, in The Vault of Horror (1973), the sequel to Tales from the Crypt (1972); as Koura, the villainous sorcerer, in Ray Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973); and as Halvarth, the Elven healer, in Dungeons & Dragons (2000). In the late 1990s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films. Baker has since stated that he was only approached for "a role" in the film, and when told that it would mean spending months away in New Zealand, he turned down the offer.

Voice acting

Baker has appeared in various radio productions, including a role as "Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister", Sir Edward Marshall-Hall in John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall (1996), and a part in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of The Thirty-nine Steps as Sir Walter Bullivant. He guest starred in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a pastiche series written by Bert Coules) in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square".

From 2000 to 2005 Tom voiced the character Max Bear in the Channel 4 (UK) Max Bear Productions animated series. More recently, he voiced the role of the villain ZeeBad in the 2005 computer-animated film version of The Magic Roundabout.

He is also the narrator of the new children's computer animation series The Beeps which is shown on Five's Milkshake!

He is also the voice artist in the "Fords of Winsford" advert.

In the BBC audio play of John Le Carré's The Russia House, he played the main character, Barley Blair.

He also narrated the popular children's acclaimed TV series Tales of Aesop on BBC which is a series based on Aesop's Fables with beautiful puppet animation.

Video games

Baker also returned to star as the Fourth Doctor in the video game Destiny of the Doctors in 1997. His voice has also featured in Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (2003), Cold Winter (2005) and Little Britain: The Video Game (2007).

Works

Filmography


    * 1971 - Nicholas and Alexandra as Grigori Rasputin
    * 1973 - The Vault of Horror - Moore
    * 1973 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) - Koura
    * 1974 - Frankenstein - The True Story (1974) - Ship's Captain
    * 2000 - Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Television

    * late 1970s - four episodes of the BBC2 series Late Night Story and in each episode, read an eerie tale involving the theme of childhood. Episodes ran for fifteen minutes and were aired before the station closed for the night. One episode entitled Sredni Vashtar by Saki was scheduled to start the second series, but went unscreened due to a writer's strike.
    * 1974-1981 - Doctor Who - The Fourth Doctor
    * 1982 - BBC version of The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sherlock Holmes
    * 1984 - Remington Steele - Interpol agent Anatole Blaylock
    * 1986 - BBC adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil - Father Ferguson
    * 1986 - Blackadder II - episode "Potato" - Captain Redbeard Rum
    * 1990 -The Silver Chair (1990) - Puddleglum
    * 1990 - Douglas Adams's futurology documentary Hyperland - Software Agent
    * 1992 - Cluedo - Professor Plum
    * 1992-1995 - Medics - Professor Geoffrey Hoyt
    * 2000 - revival of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Wyvern
    * 2004-2005 - Monarch of the Glen - Donald MacDonald
    * 2007 - Marple - episode Towards Zero - Frederick Treves
    *  ? - ? "Little Britain USA & Little Britain - Narrator

http://thebadplus.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/08/baker.jpg

http://www.blockbuster.co.uk/bbimages/UK/Glossy/November06/TomBakerBlog/TomBaker1.jpg


I always loved his Doctor Who :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/10 at 8:16 am



I thought Dolly Parton was the birthday person of the day-YESTERDAY!!  :D :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

;D ;D ;D that's a good one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/10 at 3:08 am

British Person of the Day: Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 19 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and singer, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.

Beginnings

Alfred Hill was born in Southampton and grew up in Wilton Road, Upper Shirley, where he and his brother attended Taunton's School. During World War II, Hill was one of the students evacuated with the school to Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth. After leaving Bournemouth School, Hill worked variously as a milkman in Eastleigh, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming an assistant stage manager. Inspired by the 'star comedians' of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage, he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working men's clubs and Masonic dinners before graduating to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of Revudeville, a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired. Benny's first job in professional theatre as a performer was as Reg Varney's straight man, beating a then unknown Peter Sellers for the role.

Private life

Hill had only a few friends, although colleagues insist he was never lonely but content with his own company. He never married, although he did propose to three women—one the daughter of a British writer—but was rejected by all three. Although he owned the family home in Southampton he never owned his own home in London, nor a car, preferring to rent, first a large double apartment in Queensgate, London, for 26 years until 1986, and then a small flat in Teddington, within walking distance of the studios of Thames Television where he taped his shows. His mother died in 1976 aged 82 and Benny kept the family house at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton as a shrine to her, not changing anything. Before his move to Teddington, whilst looking for somewhere else to live in the Richmond area of London, he lived at 22 Westrow Gardens. Travelling was the luxury he permitted himself. Hill became a first-degree Francophile, enjoying frequent visits to Marseille. Until the 1980s, he could enjoy anonymity in France's outdoor cafés, public transport, and socialising with local women. Besides mastering French, he could also speak enough German, Dutch and Italian for travel purposes. Hill's overseas holidays were often gathering missions for comedy material, some inspired by foreign surroundings, or borrowed from regional acts.

Early career

Between the end of the war and the dawn of television, Hill worked as a radio performer. His first appearance on television was in 1949 in Hi There. He continued to work intermittently until his career took off with The Benny Hill Show in 1955 on BBC Television. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. He remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV station ATV between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. He also had a short-lived radio programme, Benny Hill Time, on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran for three series from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Films and recordings

Benny Hill's film credits include parts in nine films including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), in which he played the relatively straight role of the Toymaker; The Italian Job (1969); and, finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames shows (1969–73), called The Best of Benny Hill (1974). Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms", (1961), "Pepys Diary", (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963), and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" (1971). He also appeared in the 1986 video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis. Hill's song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)," on the Best of Benny Hill album made the UK chart as Christmas number one single in 1971. A link to the lyrics is provided in the External Links section of this article.

The Benny Hill Show

In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where The Benny Hill Show remained until cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials.

The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, which was literally a "running gag" in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Benny Hill and usually featured scantily-clad women as part of the chase, along with other stock comedy characters such as policemen, vicars, old ladies, and so on. This was commonly filmed using stop motion and time-lapse techniques for comic effect, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, "Yaketty Sax", is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and a small number of films. The Wachowskis used the same style (and musical theme) in a scene in the film V for Vendetta (2006). It also appears in the cult movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Reflecting opinion of the time within certain quarters the 1980s alternative comedian Ben Elton denounced him as a "dirty old man, tearing the clothes off nubile girls". The Independent newspaper opined the vendetta was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context.

In response to such claims his close friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means. An article on 27 May 2006 in The Independent quoted Hill and Dennis Kirkland as saying they believed this misrepresentation demonstrated critics could not have watched his programmes.

In a documentary on Benny Hill, the former head of entertainment at Thames TV who had cancelled the show, John Howard Davies, stated there were three reasons why he did so: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Benny) was looking tired." Benny was devastated by the loss of his show.

US producer Don Taffner heard of Benny's plight and in 1991 produced a new show complete with Benny and his usual team, called Benny Hill's World Tour.

Death

Hill's health began to decline in the mid 1980s. He suffered heart problems, and on 11 February 1992, doctors told him he needed to lose 2 stone of his 17 stone body and recommended a heart bypass. He declined and was diagnosed a week later with renal failure. Benny Hill died on or about 19 April 1992, Easter weekend, alone in his flat at 7 Fairwater House, Twickenham Road, Teddington, South West London, at the age of 68. On 21 April, neighbours called the police, who then found Hill, deceased, sitting in his armchair in front of the television. Ironically on the day Hill purportedly died, a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television. He died of natural causes. His death nearly coincided with that of Frankie Howerd, who had died at the age of 75, on 18 April 1992, only one day before Hill's death.

Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on 28 April, 1992. In October 1992, following rumours that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure. Consequently, only the culprits or the first officer on the scene know whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was reburied with a new coffin lid and a solid slab across the top of the grave.

In Hill's will, he left his estimated £10 million (GBP) estate to his late parents. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, both of whom were also dead. This left his seven nieces and nephews, among whom the money was divided.

http://www.mjukvara.se/blogg/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Benny-Hill.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/funny_songs_benny_hill.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/10 at 3:11 am


British Person of the Day: Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 19 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and singer, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.

Beginnings

Alfred Hill was born in Southampton and grew up in Wilton Road, Upper Shirley, where he and his brother attended Taunton's School. During World War II, Hill was one of the students evacuated with the school to Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth. After leaving Bournemouth School, Hill worked variously as a milkman in Eastleigh, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming an assistant stage manager. Inspired by the 'star comedians' of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage, he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working men's clubs and Masonic dinners before graduating to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of Revudeville, a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired. Benny's first job in professional theatre as a performer was as Reg Varney's straight man, beating a then unknown Peter Sellers for the role.

Private life

Hill had only a few friends, although colleagues insist he was never lonely but content with his own company. He never married, although he did propose to three women—one the daughter of a British writer—but was rejected by all three. Although he owned the family home in Southampton he never owned his own home in London, nor a car, preferring to rent, first a large double apartment in Queensgate, London, for 26 years until 1986, and then a small flat in Teddington, within walking distance of the studios of Thames Television where he taped his shows. His mother died in 1976 aged 82 and Benny kept the family house at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton as a shrine to her, not changing anything. Before his move to Teddington, whilst looking for somewhere else to live in the Richmond area of London, he lived at 22 Westrow Gardens. Travelling was the luxury he permitted himself. Hill became a first-degree Francophile, enjoying frequent visits to Marseille. Until the 1980s, he could enjoy anonymity in France's outdoor cafés, public transport, and socialising with local women. Besides mastering French, he could also speak enough German, Dutch and Italian for travel purposes. Hill's overseas holidays were often gathering missions for comedy material, some inspired by foreign surroundings, or borrowed from regional acts.

Early career

Between the end of the war and the dawn of television, Hill worked as a radio performer. His first appearance on television was in 1949 in Hi There. He continued to work intermittently until his career took off with The Benny Hill Show in 1955 on BBC Television. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. He remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV station ATV between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. He also had a short-lived radio programme, Benny Hill Time, on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran for three series from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Films and recordings

Benny Hill's film credits include parts in nine films including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), in which he played the relatively straight role of the Toymaker; The Italian Job (1969); and, finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames shows (1969–73), called The Best of Benny Hill (1974). Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms", (1961), "Pepys Diary", (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963), and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" (1971). He also appeared in the 1986 video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis. Hill's song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)," on the Best of Benny Hill album made the UK chart as Christmas number one single in 1971. A link to the lyrics is provided in the External Links section of this article.

The Benny Hill Show

In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where The Benny Hill Show remained until cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials.

The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, which was literally a "running gag" in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Benny Hill and usually featured scantily-clad women as part of the chase, along with other stock comedy characters such as policemen, vicars, old ladies, and so on. This was commonly filmed using stop motion and time-lapse techniques for comic effect, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, "Yaketty Sax", is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and a small number of films. The Wachowskis used the same style (and musical theme) in a scene in the film V for Vendetta (2006). It also appears in the cult movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Reflecting opinion of the time within certain quarters the 1980s alternative comedian Ben Elton denounced him as a "dirty old man, tearing the clothes off nubile girls". The Independent newspaper opined the vendetta was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context.

In response to such claims his close friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means. An article on 27 May 2006 in The Independent quoted Hill and Dennis Kirkland as saying they believed this misrepresentation demonstrated critics could not have watched his programmes.

In a documentary on Benny Hill, the former head of entertainment at Thames TV who had cancelled the show, John Howard Davies, stated there were three reasons why he did so: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Benny) was looking tired." Benny was devastated by the loss of his show.

US producer Don Taffner heard of Benny's plight and in 1991 produced a new show complete with Benny and his usual team, called Benny Hill's World Tour.

Death

Hill's health began to decline in the mid 1980s. He suffered heart problems, and on 11 February 1992, doctors told him he needed to lose 2 stone of his 17 stone body and recommended a heart bypass. He declined and was diagnosed a week later with renal failure. Benny Hill died on or about 19 April 1992, Easter weekend, alone in his flat at 7 Fairwater House, Twickenham Road, Teddington, South West London, at the age of 68. On 21 April, neighbours called the police, who then found Hill, deceased, sitting in his armchair in front of the television. Ironically on the day Hill purportedly died, a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television. He died of natural causes. His death nearly coincided with that of Frankie Howerd, who had died at the age of 75, on 18 April 1992, only one day before Hill's death.

Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on 28 April, 1992. In October 1992, following rumours that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure. Consequently, only the culprits or the first officer on the scene know whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was reburied with a new coffin lid and a solid slab across the top of the grave.

In Hill's will, he left his estimated £10 million (GBP) estate to his late parents. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, both of whom were also dead. This left his seven nieces and nephews, among whom the money was divided.

http://www.mjukvara.se/blogg/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Benny-Hill.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/funny_songs_benny_hill.jpg
I cannot locate a good video for Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/10 at 6:10 am


British Person of the Day: Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 19 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and singer, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.

Beginnings

Alfred Hill was born in Southampton and grew up in Wilton Road, Upper Shirley, where he and his brother attended Taunton's School. During World War II, Hill was one of the students evacuated with the school to Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth. After leaving Bournemouth School, Hill worked variously as a milkman in Eastleigh, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming an assistant stage manager. Inspired by the 'star comedians' of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage, he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working men's clubs and Masonic dinners before graduating to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of Revudeville, a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired. Benny's first job in professional theatre as a performer was as Reg Varney's straight man, beating a then unknown Peter Sellers for the role.

Private life

Hill had only a few friends, although colleagues insist he was never lonely but content with his own company. He never married, although he did propose to three women—one the daughter of a British writer—but was rejected by all three. Although he owned the family home in Southampton he never owned his own home in London, nor a car, preferring to rent, first a large double apartment in Queensgate, London, for 26 years until 1986, and then a small flat in Teddington, within walking distance of the studios of Thames Television where he taped his shows. His mother died in 1976 aged 82 and Benny kept the family house at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton as a shrine to her, not changing anything. Before his move to Teddington, whilst looking for somewhere else to live in the Richmond area of London, he lived at 22 Westrow Gardens. Travelling was the luxury he permitted himself. Hill became a first-degree Francophile, enjoying frequent visits to Marseille. Until the 1980s, he could enjoy anonymity in France's outdoor cafés, public transport, and socialising with local women. Besides mastering French, he could also speak enough German, Dutch and Italian for travel purposes. Hill's overseas holidays were often gathering missions for comedy material, some inspired by foreign surroundings, or borrowed from regional acts.

Early career

Between the end of the war and the dawn of television, Hill worked as a radio performer. His first appearance on television was in 1949 in Hi There. He continued to work intermittently until his career took off with The Benny Hill Show in 1955 on BBC Television. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. He remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV station ATV between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. He also had a short-lived radio programme, Benny Hill Time, on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran for three series from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Films and recordings

Benny Hill's film credits include parts in nine films including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), in which he played the relatively straight role of the Toymaker; The Italian Job (1969); and, finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames shows (1969–73), called The Best of Benny Hill (1974). Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms", (1961), "Pepys Diary", (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963), and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" (1971). He also appeared in the 1986 video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis. Hill's song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)," on the Best of Benny Hill album made the UK chart as Christmas number one single in 1971. A link to the lyrics is provided in the External Links section of this article.

The Benny Hill Show

In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where The Benny Hill Show remained until cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials.

The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, which was literally a "running gag" in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Benny Hill and usually featured scantily-clad women as part of the chase, along with other stock comedy characters such as policemen, vicars, old ladies, and so on. This was commonly filmed using stop motion and time-lapse techniques for comic effect, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, "Yaketty Sax", is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and a small number of films. The Wachowskis used the same style (and musical theme) in a scene in the film V for Vendetta (2006). It also appears in the cult movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Reflecting opinion of the time within certain quarters the 1980s alternative comedian Ben Elton denounced him as a "dirty old man, tearing the clothes off nubile girls". The Independent newspaper opined the vendetta was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context.

In response to such claims his close friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means. An article on 27 May 2006 in The Independent quoted Hill and Dennis Kirkland as saying they believed this misrepresentation demonstrated critics could not have watched his programmes.

In a documentary on Benny Hill, the former head of entertainment at Thames TV who had cancelled the show, John Howard Davies, stated there were three reasons why he did so: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Benny) was looking tired." Benny was devastated by the loss of his show.

US producer Don Taffner heard of Benny's plight and in 1991 produced a new show complete with Benny and his usual team, called Benny Hill's World Tour.

Death

Hill's health began to decline in the mid 1980s. He suffered heart problems, and on 11 February 1992, doctors told him he needed to lose 2 stone of his 17 stone body and recommended a heart bypass. He declined and was diagnosed a week later with renal failure. Benny Hill died on or about 19 April 1992, Easter weekend, alone in his flat at 7 Fairwater House, Twickenham Road, Teddington, South West London, at the age of 68. On 21 April, neighbours called the police, who then found Hill, deceased, sitting in his armchair in front of the television. Ironically on the day Hill purportedly died, a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television. He died of natural causes. His death nearly coincided with that of Frankie Howerd, who had died at the age of 75, on 18 April 1992, only one day before Hill's death.

Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on 28 April, 1992. In October 1992, following rumours that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure. Consequently, only the culprits or the first officer on the scene know whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was reburied with a new coffin lid and a solid slab across the top of the grave.

In Hill's will, he left his estimated £10 million (GBP) estate to his late parents. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, both of whom were also dead. This left his seven nieces and nephews, among whom the money was divided.

http://www.mjukvara.se/blogg/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Benny-Hill.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/funny_songs_benny_hill.jpg

Classic simply classic. Both my dad & my husband enjoy him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/10 at 6:15 am

The word of the day...Tourist
A tourist is a person who is visiting a place for pleasure and interest, especially when they are on holiday.
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo245/jodwurz/Animals%20for%20Game%20Room/200px-The_accidental_tourist1988.jpg
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx44/meaghanmaher/roma%20part%201/IMG_0071.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac154/BaileyLeigh88/Colorado%202008/36.jpg
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab307/drew_thompson/DSC00496.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee153/LostWendy/DigitalCamera4012.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh205/niseskills/Tourist.jpg
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww306/lengtarang/tourist.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c5/vcdepmkg/tourist.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/guardiansangel1713/tourist.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/debzgirl/tourist.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/10 at 6:18 am

The birthday of the day...Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an Academy Awards winning American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist.After graduating, Davis served as a window mannequin for Ann Taylor until signing with New York's Zoli modelling agency in 1979. Davis auditioned for roles in many popular movies, including The Terminator’s Sarah Connor, which went to Linda Hamilton. She was working as a model when director Sydney Pollack spotted her and cast her in Tootsie (1982) as a soap opera actress. She followed this up with the part of Wendy Killain in the short-lived television series Buffalo Bill, which aired from June, 1983, to March, 1984. She also wrote the Buffalo Bill episode entitled "Miss WBFL." During the run of Buffalo Bill, In 1983, Geena also appeared as Grace Fallon in an episode of Knight Rider (1982 TV series) entitled "K.I.T.T the Cat". Her television credits from the mid-1980's also include one episode of Riptide, two episodes of Family Ties, and an episode of Remington Steele. This was followed up by a series of her own, Sara, which lasted thirteen episodes.

Davis made her film breakthrough with Fletch, in 1985. This was followed by larger roles in The Fly and Beetlejuice. She received an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Accidental Tourist (1988), and a Best Actress nomination for her role in Thelma and Louise (1991). Davis replaced Debra Winger in the role of Dottie in A League of Their Own (1992) and received a Best Actress Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance. She then co-starred in Hero alongside Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia. Following this, Davis teamed up with then-husband Renny Harlin for the films Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight. She and Harlin co-produced the films. Davis was nominated for Saturn Awards for her performances as Samantha/Charlie in The Long Kiss Goodnight., and as Eleanor Little in Stuart Little, a role she reprised in 2002, and again in 2005.

In 2000-2001, Davis starred in the short-lived sitcom The Geena Davis Show. In early 2004, she guest-starred as Grace Adler's sister, Janet, on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. She most recently starred in the ABC television series Commander in Chief as the first female President of the United States. This role garnered her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2006, and she also was nominated for an Emmy Award and a SAG Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series.
Davis was married to Richard Emmolo (March 25, 1982 – February 26, 1983); actor Jeff Goldblum, with whom she co-starred in three films, Transylvania 6-5000, The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy (1987 – 1990); and Renny Harlin, who directed her in Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1993 – 1998). On September 1, 2001, Davis married Iranian American plastic surgeon Reza Jarrahy MD. They have three children: daughter Alizeh Keshvar (born April 10, 2002) and fraternal twin boys Kian William Jarrahy and Kaiis Steven Jarrahy on May 6, 2004.

Davis is 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and is a member of American Mensa, the society of persons with IQs in the statistical top 2%, with an IQ of 140.
Activism
The handprints of Geena Davis in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Davis is fronting the Women's Sports Foundation campaign Geena Takes Aim in support of Title IX — an Act of Congress focusing on equality in sports opportunities, now expanded to prohibit gender discrimination in United States' educational institutions.

In 2004, while watching children’s television programs and videos with her daughter, Davis noticed what she thought was an imbalance in the ratio of male to female characters. From that starting point, Davis went on to sponsor the largest research project ever undertaken on gender in children’s entertainment (resulting in 4 discrete studies, including one on children’s television) at the Annenberg School for Communication of University of Southern California. The study, directed by Dr. Stacy Smith, shows that there are nearly 3 males to every 1 female character in the nearly 400 G, PG, PG-13, and R-Rated movies the undergraduate team of Annenberg students coded.

In 2005, Davis teamed up with the non-profit group Dads and Daughters to launch a venture dedicated to balancing the number of male and female characters in children's TV and movie programming.

Davis launched The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2007. The Institute’s first focus is an on-the ground program that works collaboratively with the entertainment industry to dramatically increase the presence of female characters in media aimed at children and to reduce stereotyping of both males and females.

For her work in this field she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Bates College in May 2009.
Geena Davis speaking at Bates College on May 31, 2009.
Sports

Davis states that she wasn't an athlete growing up, and that her introduction to archery was in 1997, two years prior to her tryouts.

Geena Davis was one of 300 women competing, in July 1999, for a semifinals berth in the US Olympic archery team, to participate in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. She placed 24th of 300 and did not qualify for the team, but participated as a wild-card entry in the Sydney International Golden Arrow competition.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1982 Tootsie April Page
1985 Fletch
Transylvania 6-5000 Odette
1986 The Fly Veronica Quaife Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
1988 Beetlejuice Barbara Maitland
Earth Girls Are Easy Valerie Gail
The Accidental Tourist Muriel Pritchett Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990 Quick Change Phyllis Potter
1991 Thelma & Louise Thelma Yvonne Dickinson Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress shared with Susan Sarandon
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress tied with Susan Sarandon
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1992 A League of Their Own Dottie Hinson Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Hero Gale Gayley
1993 Princess Scargo and the Birthday Pumpkin Narrator (voice) short subject
1994 Angie Angie Scacciapensieri
Speechless Julia Mann also producer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1995 Cutthroat Island Morgan Adams
1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight Samantha Caine / Charly Baltimore also producer
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
1999 Stuart Little Mrs. Eleanor Little Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mrs. Eleanor Little
2006 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mrs. Eleanor Little voice
2009 Accidents Happen Gloria Conway
Television work
Year Film Role Notes
1983-1984 Buffalo Bill Wendy Killian
1983 Knight Rider Grace Fallon Guest star, "K.I.T.T. The Cat" (Season 2, Episode 6)
1984 Family Ties Karen Nicholson Guest star, two episodes
1984 Riptide Dr. Melba Bozinsky Guest star, "Raiders of the Lost Sub" (Season 1, Episode 12)
1985 Sara Sara McKenna Cancelled after a few months
Secret Weapons Tamara Reshevsky/Brenda
Remington Steele Sandy Dalrymple "Steele in the Chips" (Season 3, Episode 20)
2000-2001 The Geena Davis Show Teddie Cochran
2003 Will & Grace Grace's Sister
2005-2006 Commander in Chief President Mackenzie Allen Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
2008-present Link's Future Mrs. Diane Bolton Season 3-present
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l209/bibou69/Actors/Geena-Davis.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r74/lulu07_01/96135914.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u240/davenia7/geenadavis.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51/Ellie_mae_clampet/geenadavis.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/10 at 6:23 am

The person of the day...Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002) was an award-winning American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer and actress. From her beginnings as a vocalist on local radio, to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, to forging her own sophisticated persona, Lee evolved into a multi-faceted artist and performer, writing music for films, acting, creating conceptual record albums encompassing poetry, jazz, chamber pop, art songs, and other genres in a career that spanned nearly seven decades.
In early 1942, Lee had her first #1 hit, "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place," followed by 1943's "Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally sung by Lil Green), which sold over a million copies and made her famous. She sang with Goodman in two 1943 films, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl.

In March 1943, Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman's band. Peggy said, "David joined Benny's band and there was a ruling that no one should fraternize with the girl singer. But I fell in love with David the first time I heard him play, and so I married him. Benny then fired David, so I quit, too. Benny and I made up, although David didn't play with him anymore. Benny stuck to his rule. I think that's not too bad a rule, but you can't help falling in love with somebody."

When Lee and Barbour left the band, the idea was that he would work in the studios and she would keep house and raise their daughter, Nicki. But she drifted back towards songwriting and occasional recording sessions for the fledgling Capitol Records in 1947, for whom she produced a long string of hits, many of them with lyrics and music by Lee and Barbour, including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "It's a Good Day" (1948). With the release of the smash-hit #1-selling record of 1947, "Mañana," her "retirement" was over.

In 1948, she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating hosts of the NBC Radio musical program Chesterfield Supper Club. She was also a regular on NBC's Jimmy Durante Show during the 1938-48 season.

She left Capitol for a few years in the early 1940s, but returned in 1943. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit "Fever", to which she added her own, uncopyrighted lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet," "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Her relationship with the Capitol label spanned almost three decades, aside from her brief but artistically rich detour (1952-1956) at Decca Records, where she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums Black Coffee (1956). While recording for Decca, Lee had hit singles with the songs "Lover" and "Mr. Wonderful."

She first came to prominence in the 1940s with her #1 hits Somebody Is Taking Your Place and Mañana, having a string of successful albums and top 10 hits in three consecutive decades. However, Peggy Lee is today internationally recognized for her signature song "Fever". Lee was also an accomplished actress, starring in the hit movies The Jazz Singer, Disney's Lady and the Tramp and Pete Kelly's Blues, for which she received the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Peggy Lee is also widely regarded as one of the most influential jazz vocalists of all time, being cited as a mentor to diverse artists such as; Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Madonna and Dusty Springfield.

In her 60-year-long career, Peggy was the recipient of three Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, an Academy Award nomination, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Award; the Presidents Award, the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Living Legacy Award, from the Women's International Center. In 1999 Peggy Lee was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Songwriting

She was also known as a songwriter with such hits as the songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, for which she also supplied the singing and speaking voices of four characters. Her many songwriting collaborators, in addition to Barbour, included Laurindo Almeida, Harold Arlen, Sonny Burke, Cy Coleman, Gene DiNovi, Duke Ellington, Dave Grusin, Dick Hazard, Quincy Jones, Francis Lai, Jack Marshall, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Willard Robison, Lalo Schifrin, Hubie Wheeler, guitarist Johnny Pisano and Victor Young.

She wrote the lyrics for "I Don't Know Enough About You", "It's A Good Day", composed by Dave Barbour, "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'", composed with Duke Ellington, "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", the no.1 hit "Manana (Is Soon Enough For Me)", "Bless You (For The Good That's In You)" with Mel Torme, "What More Can a Woman Do?", "Don't Be Mean to Baby", "New York City Ghost" with Victor Young, "You Was Right, Baby", "Just an Old Love of Mine", "Everything's Movin' Too Fast", "The Shining Sea", "He's A Tramp", "The Siamese Cat Song", "There Will Be Another Spring", "Johnny Guitar" with Victor Young, "Sans Souci" with Sonny Burke, "So What's New?", "Don't Smoke in Bed", "I Love Being Here With You", "Happy With the Blues" with Harold Arlen, "Where Can I Go Without You?", "Things Are Swingin'", "Then Was Then" with Cy Coleman, and many others. The first song that Peggy Lee composed was "Little Fool", published in 1941. "What More Can a Woman Do?" was recorded by Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. "Manana (Is Soon Enough For Me)" was no.1 for 9 weeks on the Billboard singles chart in 1948, from the week of March 13 to May 8. She also added some lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet", "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") to her signature song, "Fever".

During a time when youths began turning to rock'n'roll, she was one of the mainstays of Capitol recordings. She was the first of the "old guard" to recognize this new genre, as is evident in her recordings of the Beatles, Randy Newman, Carole King, James Taylor and other up-and-coming songwriters. From 1957 until her final disc for the company in 1972, she routinely produced a steady stream of two or three albums per year which usually included standards (often arranged in a style quite different from the original), her own compositions, and material from young artists.
Acting career

Lee also acted in several films. In 1952, she played opposite Danny Thomas in a remake of the early Al Jolson film, The Jazz Singer. In 1955, she played a despondent, alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), for which she was nominated for an Oscar. In 1955, she did the speaking and singing voices for multiple characters in Disney's Lady and the Tramp movie. Specifically, she played the human Darling (in the very beginning), the dog Peg, and the two Siamese cats Si and Am. In 1957, Lee guest starred on the short-lived ABC variety program, The Guy Mitchell Show.

In the early 1990s, she retained famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano, who, on her behalf, successfully sued Disney for royalties on Lady and the Tramp. Lee's lawsuit claimed that she was due royalties for video tapes, a technology that did not exist when she agreed to write and perform for Disney.

Never afraid to fight for what she believed in, Lee passionately insisted that musicians be equitably compensated for their work. Although she realized litigation had taken a toll on her health, Lee often quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson on the topic: "God's will will not be made manifest by cowards."

She also successfully sued MCA/Decca with the assistance of noted entertainment attorney, Cy Godfrey.
Personal life

Lee was married four times; each marriage ended in divorce:

    * 1) Musician Dave Barbour (1943-1951); daughter Nicki Lee Foster (born 1943)
    * 2) Actor Brad Dexter (1953)
    * 3) Actor Dewey Martin (1956-1958)
    * 4) Actor Jack Del Rio (1964-1965)

Retirement and death

She continued to perform into the 1990s, sometimes in a wheelchair, and still mesmerized audiences and critics alike. After years of poor health, Lee died of complications from diabetes and a heart attack at the age of 81. She is survived by Nicki Lee Foster, her daughter with Barbour. She is interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles' Westwood neighborhood. On her marker in a garden setting is inscribed, "Music is my life's breath."
Legacy
Academy Awards memoriam omission

She was not featured in Memoriam Tribute during the Academy Awards ceremony. When her family requested she be featured in the following year's ceremony, the Academy stated they did not honor requests and Lee was omitted because her contribution to film and her legacy were not deemed significant enough. The Lee family pointed out that, although she had been omitted, R&B singer/actress Aaliyah, who died a few months earlier, was included though having been in only one moderately successful film, Romeo Must Die (Queen of the Damned had yet to be released). The Academy provided no comment on the oversight.
Awards

Lee was nominated for 12 Grammy Awards, winning Best Contemporary Vocal Performance for her 1969 hit "Is That All There Is?" In 1995 she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lee is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award; the Pied Piper Award from The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); the Presidents Award, from the Songwriters Guild of America; the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement, from the Society of Singers; and the Living Legacy Award, from the Women's International Center. In 1999 she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Carnegie Hall tribute

In 2003, "There'll Be Another Spring: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee" was held at Carnegie Hall. Produced by recording artist Richard Barone, the sold-out event included performances by Cy Coleman, Debbie Harry, Nancy Sinatra, Rita Moreno, Marian McPartland, Chris Connor, Petula Clark and many others. In 2004, Barone brought the event to the Hollywood Bowl and Chicago's Ravinia Festival, with expanded casts including Maureen McGovern, Jack Jones, and Bea Arthur. The Carnegie Hall concert was broadcast as on NPR's "Jazz Set."
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m183/DeborahMcCorkle/lee_peggy.jpg
http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq328/marribizz/oldies/peg138.jpg
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx212/GroovyKitty/Jazz/PeggyLee.jpg
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss6/lorelei24x/Sirens/PeggyLee.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/10 at 6:28 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VscVP_Gt_s&feature=related#

Peggy Lee..Is That All There Is



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYxoAJ3Boyc&feature=related#


Peggy Lee ..Fever

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/21/10 at 6:44 am


British Person of the Day: Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 19 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and singer, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.

Beginnings

Alfred Hill was born in Southampton and grew up in Wilton Road, Upper Shirley, where he and his brother attended Taunton's School. During World War II, Hill was one of the students evacuated with the school to Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth. After leaving Bournemouth School, Hill worked variously as a milkman in Eastleigh, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before he finally got a foot in the door of the entertainment industry by becoming an assistant stage manager. Inspired by the 'star comedians' of British music hall shows, Hill set out to make his mark in show business. For the stage, he changed his first name to 'Benny', in homage to his favourite comedian, Jack Benny. Hill began appearing at working men's clubs and Masonic dinners before graduating to nightclub and theatre jobs. Hill auditioned for Soho's famed Windmill Theatre (home of Revudeville, a popular show of singers, comedians and nude girls), but he was not hired. Benny's first job in professional theatre as a performer was as Reg Varney's straight man, beating a then unknown Peter Sellers for the role.

Private life

Hill had only a few friends, although colleagues insist he was never lonely but content with his own company. He never married, although he did propose to three women—one the daughter of a British writer—but was rejected by all three. Although he owned the family home in Southampton he never owned his own home in London, nor a car, preferring to rent, first a large double apartment in Queensgate, London, for 26 years until 1986, and then a small flat in Teddington, within walking distance of the studios of Thames Television where he taped his shows. His mother died in 1976 aged 82 and Benny kept the family house at 22 Westrow Gardens in Southampton as a shrine to her, not changing anything. Before his move to Teddington, whilst looking for somewhere else to live in the Richmond area of London, he lived at 22 Westrow Gardens. Travelling was the luxury he permitted himself. Hill became a first-degree Francophile, enjoying frequent visits to Marseille. Until the 1980s, he could enjoy anonymity in France's outdoor cafés, public transport, and socialising with local women. Besides mastering French, he could also speak enough German, Dutch and Italian for travel purposes. Hill's overseas holidays were often gathering missions for comedy material, some inspired by foreign surroundings, or borrowed from regional acts.

Early career

Between the end of the war and the dawn of television, Hill worked as a radio performer. His first appearance on television was in 1949 in Hi There. He continued to work intermittently until his career took off with The Benny Hill Show in 1955 on BBC Television. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. He remained mostly with the BBC through to 1968, except for a few sojourns with ITV station ATV between 1957 and 1960 and again in 1967. He also had a short-lived radio programme, Benny Hill Time, on BBC Radio's Light Programme from 1964 to 1966. In addition, he attempted a sitcom anthology, Benny Hill, which ran for three series from 1962 to 1963, in which he played a different character in each episode. In 1964, he played Nick Bottom in an all-star TV film production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Films and recordings

Benny Hill's film credits include parts in nine films including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), in which he played the relatively straight role of the Toymaker; The Italian Job (1969); and, finally, a clip-show film spin-off of his early Thames shows (1969–73), called The Best of Benny Hill (1974). Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms", (1961), "Pepys Diary", (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963), and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" (1971). He also appeared in the 1986 video of the song "Anything She Does" by the band Genesis. Hill's song, "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)," on the Best of Benny Hill album made the UK chart as Christmas number one single in 1971. A link to the lyrics is provided in the External Links section of this article.

The Benny Hill Show

In 1969, his show moved from the BBC to Thames Television, where The Benny Hill Show remained until cancellation in 1989, with an erratic schedule of one-hour specials.

The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, which was literally a "running gag" in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Benny Hill and usually featured scantily-clad women as part of the chase, along with other stock comedy characters such as policemen, vicars, old ladies, and so on. This was commonly filmed using stop motion and time-lapse techniques for comic effect, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, "Yaketty Sax", is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and a small number of films. The Wachowskis used the same style (and musical theme) in a scene in the film V for Vendetta (2006). It also appears in the cult movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Reflecting opinion of the time within certain quarters the 1980s alternative comedian Ben Elton denounced him as a "dirty old man, tearing the clothes off nubile girls". The Independent newspaper opined the vendetta was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context.

In response to such claims his close friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means. An article on 27 May 2006 in The Independent quoted Hill and Dennis Kirkland as saying they believed this misrepresentation demonstrated critics could not have watched his programmes.

In a documentary on Benny Hill, the former head of entertainment at Thames TV who had cancelled the show, John Howard Davies, stated there were three reasons why he did so: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Benny) was looking tired." Benny was devastated by the loss of his show.

US producer Don Taffner heard of Benny's plight and in 1991 produced a new show complete with Benny and his usual team, called Benny Hill's World Tour.

Death

Hill's health began to decline in the mid 1980s. He suffered heart problems, and on 11 February 1992, doctors told him he needed to lose 2 stone of his 17 stone body and recommended a heart bypass. He declined and was diagnosed a week later with renal failure. Benny Hill died on or about 19 April 1992, Easter weekend, alone in his flat at 7 Fairwater House, Twickenham Road, Teddington, South West London, at the age of 68. On 21 April, neighbours called the police, who then found Hill, deceased, sitting in his armchair in front of the television. Ironically on the day Hill purportedly died, a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television. He died of natural causes. His death nearly coincided with that of Frankie Howerd, who had died at the age of 75, on 18 April 1992, only one day before Hill's death.

Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on 28 April, 1992. In October 1992, following rumours that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure. Consequently, only the culprits or the first officer on the scene know whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was reburied with a new coffin lid and a solid slab across the top of the grave.

In Hill's will, he left his estimated £10 million (GBP) estate to his late parents. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, both of whom were also dead. This left his seven nieces and nephews, among whom the money was divided.

http://www.mjukvara.se/blogg/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Benny-Hill.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/funny_songs_benny_hill.jpg


I used to watch The Benny Hill Show on Channel 9 here in New York back in the 80's,such a classic show. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/10 at 6:45 am





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYxoAJ3Boyc&feature=related#


Peggy Lee ..Fever
One of my fav songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/10 at 6:47 am


Classic simply classic. Both my dad & my husband enjoy him.
My early comedy viewing was Benny Hill, so in one sense I grew up with him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/21/10 at 6:47 am


One of my fav songs.


such a sweet song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/21/10 at 6:48 am


My early comedy viewing was Benny Hill, so in one sense I grew up with him.



and his crazy antics.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/10 at 11:08 pm

British Person of the Day: Alf Ramsey

Sir Alfred Ernest "Alf" Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English footballer and manager of the English national football team from 1963 to 1974. His greatest achievement was winning the 1966 World Cup with England on 30 July 1966. They also came third in the 1968 European Championship and reached the quarter-final stage of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship under his management. He was knighted in 1967 in recognition of England's World Cup glory the previous year.

As a player, he had been capped 32 times between 1948 and 1954, scoring three goals, and was part of the Tottenham Hotspur team which in 1951 became the first English team to be champions of the top flight a year after promotion.

Between the end of his playing career and his appointment as England manager, Ramsey was Ipswich Town manager for eight years, taking them from the Third Division to the top of the First Division in that time.

His final job in football was manager of Birmingham City, which he left in March 1978.

Playing career

Ramsey was born in Dagenham, Essex. Having been a gifted amateur as a pupil and as a player for his army regiment, he played for Portsmouth in the London War League in 1942 before moving to Southampton from 1943 to 1949 (since 1944 as a professional), and Tottenham Hotspur after that. He was very successful with Spurs, playing as a right-back in more than 250 cup and league games, and in 1948 made his England debut against Switzerland; he went on to captain his country three times. His last game for England was the 6-3 defeat by Hungary in November 1953, in which he scored a penalty. As a player Ramsey was considered slow: but had excellent positional sense, read the game better than most, had awareness, strength, and excellent distribution for a defender. He was also a specialist penalty kick taker; his coolness and ability to anticipate the goalkeeper earning him the nickname, The General.

Managerial career
Ipswich Town

He retired from playing in 1955 to become manager of Ipswich Town. He guided the Suffolk-based side to third place in the Third Division South in his debut season, the side scoring 106 goals in the 46 league fixtures. Ramsey's second season in charge led to the division title, Ipswich's second at that level, and promotion to the Second Division.

The Suffolk-based side established themselves at the Second Division level for the following three seasons with mid-table finishes. Ramsey also managed his side to moderate success in the FA Cup, reaching the Fifth Round in the 1958-59 season. After three seasons of mid-table finishes, the fourth brought further success to Portman Road as Ramsey guided the Blues to the Second Division title and into the top flight for the first time in the club's history.

Ramsey's Ipswich achieved unprecedented success the following season as he led his side to the Championship in their debut season at the top level. The side had been tipped by virtually all contemporary football pundits and journalists for relegation at the start of the season, making the achievement arguably one of the most remarkable in the history of the League.

Alf Ramsey's tactical astuteness, working with a squad of solid but not outstanding players, baffled and astonished the illustrious football clubs against whom Ipswich were playing. Ramsey had found the style he would take to the England job the following April; choosing players to fit his system on the pitch. He left Ipswich Town in April 1963 having guided them from the Third Division South to the very top of English football.

England

He was appointed England manager in 1963 and immediately caused a stir when he predicted that England would win the next World Cup, which was to be held in England in 1966. This was a bold statement to make, as England's performance on the international stage had been poor up to that point. The World Cup started in 1930: but England refused to participate until 1950, when they suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the U.S.A. When Ramsey took over, he demanded complete control over squad selections. Before Ramsey, Walter Winterbottom had been manager, but selections and other decisions were often carried out by board committees and so forth. When Ramsey took over all of these duties, it led to him being referred to as 'England's first proper manager'.

Ramsey was a firm but fair manager and was often regarded as difficult by the press. He ran a strict regime with his players and made sure that no-one felt that they enjoyed special status, star player or not. In May 1964, after a number of players failed to show up for a meeting in a hotel about a forthcoming tour, amongst them Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton, they eventually returned to their rooms to discover their passports left on their beds. His strict regime didn't suit everyone but the players with real talent and respect for the game responded well to them and had great respect for Ramsey. Very few of those who played for Ramsey spoke ill of him. In the preparations for the 1966 World Cup, Ramsey made sure that no player was confident of a place in the final 22, which resulted in players performing at their highest level. His decision to appoint a young Bobby Moore as captain also showed Ramsey's ability to see great potential in young players. Another one of his abilities was as a master tactician: a quality that he had first shown with his reading of the game as a player. When it came to tactics, Ramsey had revolutionary ideas.

The 1966 World Cup

With his final squad chosen, Ramsey set about winning the World Cup for England. The first group game was against Uruguay and despite an array of attacking talent upfront including Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt, England were held to a 0-0 draw. Ramsey's statement made three years earlier was looking in doubt now: but he remained calm and still experimenting when his side faced Mexico in the next game. Ramsey was using the 4-3-3 system and for each of the group games used a winger, John Connelly against Uruguay, Terry Paine against Mexico and Ian Callaghan against France.

Ramsey dropped Alan Ball and John Connelly and brought in Martin Peters, whose advanced style of play as a midfielder matched just the qualities Ramsey looked for in his system, and Terry Paine. England beat Mexico 2-0 and faced France in their last group match. England went on to beat France 2-0 with Ian Callaghan replacing Terry Paine securing qualification to the knockout rounds. Two difficult situations arose from the final group match, however. After making a vicious tackle and being cautioned, midfielder Nobby Stiles came under flack from the top FIFA officials, who called for Ramsey to drop him from the side. Ramsey was having none of it, and firmly told the FA to inform FIFA that either Stiles would remain in his team or Ramsey himself would resign. Another bad tackle was committed during that match, resulting in Tottenham striker (and one of England's most prolific goal-scorers) Jimmy Greaves being injured and sidelined for the next few matches. Despite having more experienced strikers in his side, Ramsey selected young Geoff Hurst as Greaves's replacement, once again seeing potential in the young West Ham forward. The France match also marked Ramsey's final game with a winger. After it, he dropped Ian Callaghan from his side and brought back Alan Ball to strengthen the midfield.

For the knockout stages, England's first opponents were a notoriously rough Argentina side. Ramsey once again showed his tactical awareness, and, now he was no longer using wingers, he decided to switch from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2. With Ball and Peters operating on the flanks, the midfield now boasted Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton in the centre. After a violent quarter-final (where the Argentine captain Antonio Rattin refused to leave the field after being sent off), England scraped a 1-0 win thanks to Geoff Hurst latching onto a beautiful cross from Martin Peters and heading home a goal. Ramsey came under flack when he stopped his players swapping shirts with the Argentinians in protest at their dirty play and was then reported to have described Argentinian players as "animals".

In the semi-final, England faced a fluent and skillful Portuguese side containing the tournament’s top goal-scorer Eusébio. However, England won a 2-1 victory in a memorable match which saw them concede their first goal of the competition from the penalty spot. Ramsey had found the perfect defensive formula that went unchanged throughout the entire tournament.

On 30 July 1966, Ramsey's promise was fulfilled as England became the World Champions by beating West Germany in a thrilling final. A lot of Ramsey's tactics and decisions proved their worth in this final. Ramsey came under pressure to restore the fit-again Jimmy Greaves to the side: but he stuck to his guns and kept faith with Greaves's replacement, Geoff Hurst, who was to thoroughly vindicate Ramsey's judgement by scoring a hat-trick in a 4-2 win (after extra time) at Wembley. Filling his side with a good balance of experience and youth proved vital when the gruelling final went to extra time. The youth in the team powered England through extra time. A particular example of this was Alan Ball who, at 21, was the youngest player in the England side. Even in extra time, he never showed signs of tiredness and never stopped running - famously setting up Hurst's controversial second goal, as well as having a few chances himself. Even as the match ended with Geoff Hurst scoring England’s fourth goal, Ball was still running down the pitch in case Hurst needed assistance. Rather than a cross from Hurst, Ball was greeted by a number of England fans running onto the pitch who, thinking that the game was already over, had already started celebrating England's victory.

Ramsey remained his usual self during the celebrations: not joining in, but rather opting to let his players soak up their achievement. With his boldly-made promise now fulfilled, Ramsey had proved that the 4-4-2 system could work and had assembled an England team that could compete on the highest level due to physical fitness and good tactics. He remains exemplary as to this day and is the only England manager ever to have won the World Cup.

1966-1970

Despite famously losing to Scotland 3-2 at home in the qualifying competition, England still qualified for the 1968 European Championship, only to lose out in a 1-0 defeat by Yugoslavia in the semi-finals. England had to settle for third place after beating the Soviet Union.

1970-1974

The fortunes of Ramsey's England declined in the 1970s. They entered the 1970 World Cup as one of the favourites and many people thought their squad superior to that of 1966, but having qualified for the later stages after a memorable match against Brazil when Gordon Banks made his famous save from Pele's header, they lost to the Germans 3-2 in the quarter-finals, after having been in the lead 2-0 with only twenty minutes remaining. The blame was put partly on Sir Alf's cautious tactics and partly on the stand-in goalkeeper, Chelsea's Peter Bonetti.

The early 70s saw failure in the 1972 European Championships (again to the Germans), and in a heartbreaking world cup qualifier against Poland at Wembley in October 1973, England failed to qualify for the World Cup. Again while Ramsey's tactics were partly to blame (his inappropriate, mistimed substitutions, for example), England had also been spectacularly denied a win over that would have secured their place by a mixture of poor finishing and incredible goalkeeping from Poland's Jan Tomaszewski. A few months later, Sir Alf was sacked by the FA, many of whose officials had long held apparent grudges against England's finest ever manager. Leo McKinstry has said "England's most successful manager would have had a legacy fit for a hero had it not been for the malevolence of the FA chief Harold Thompson".

Later life and death

The later stages of his career were as a Board director and caretaker manager of Birmingham City and then as technical advisor to Panathinaikos between 1979 and 1980. He also appeared, in illustrated form, in the Roy of the Rovers comic, when he took over as caretaker manager of Melchester Rovers while Roy himself was in a coma. Sir Alf also had a sporadic column in the Daily Mirror in the late 1980s and early 1990s, his thoughts written down by Nigel Clarke.

Sir Alf Ramsey suffered a massive stroke on 9 June 1998, during the 1998 World Cup. By this stage was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He died less than a year later, in a nursing home, on 28 April 1999, at the age of 79 from a heart attack, along with Prostate Cancer.

Honours

As a player


Tottenham Hotspur

    * Second Division Title winner: 1949–50
    * First Division Title winner: 1950–51
    * FA Community Shield winner: 1951

As a manager

Ipswich Town

    * Third Division (South) Title winner: 1956–57
    * Second Division Title winner: 1960–61
    * First Division Title winner: 1961–62
    * FA Charity Shield runner-up: 1962

England

    * FIFA World Cup winner: 1966
    * UEFA European Championships third place: 1968

http://www.fbgames.co.uk/images/siralf.jpg

http://www.fifa.com/mm/photo/classic/coaches/alframsey3_1118_sq_large.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/05/article-0-001A1AA500000258-319_468x286.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/22/10 at 1:36 am

Canadian person of the day: Mike Bossy

http://www.lessignets.com/signetsdiane/calendrier/images/oct/24/3/mike-bossy--with-stanley-cup3.jpg

Michael Dean Bossy (born January 22, 1957 in Montreal, Quebec) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s. Known for his powerful shot, he was among the league's goal scoring leaders and considered one of the greatest bona-fide snipers of the game. His career was cut short by injuries.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1984/0514_large.jpg

Bossy scored a then-record 53 goals as a rookie in the 1977–78 season, won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year, and was named a Second Team All-Star.  In 1980–81, Bossy scored 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season, the first to do so since the great Maurice Richard thirty-six years earlier. Richard was on hand to congratulate Bossy for achieving that milestone.

In the 1980–81 NHL season, he scored 50 goals in the first 50 games of the season. He also recorded nine hat tricks that season, establishing an NHL-record (broken by Gretzky in 1981–82 with 10). Bossy also set a record for goals in a season and playoffs combined with a total of 85, breaking Reggie Leach's record of 80 in 1975-76.  In 1982, Bossy set scoring records for right-wingers with 83 assists and 147 points in 80 games. These would stand until the 1995–96 season when Jaromir Jagr broke both records with 87 assists and 149 points, in what was an 82-game schedule.

Bossy earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1982, and scored 17 goals in three straight playoffs -- 1981, 1982, and 1983 -- the only player ever to do so. In reaching the Stanley Cup Finals five times, between 1980 and 1984, Bossy scored 69 goals. By contrast, in Gretzky's five Stanley Cup Finals playoffs during his peak years with the Edmonton Oilers, he scored 59 goals.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991. His #22 jersey was retired by the Islanders on March 3, 1992. In 1998, he was ranked number 20 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, despite having an injury-shortened career.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/10 at 5:52 am

Thanks Phil & Frank for those 2 great bios. They were 2 guys I knew nothing about, but now do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/22/10 at 5:54 am


Thanks Phil & Frank for those 2 great bios. They were 2 guys I knew nothing about, but now do.
Alf Ramsay is treated as a national hero!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/10 at 5:58 am

The word of the day...Orchard
An orchard is an area of land on which fruit trees are grown.
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu303/southsoundtree/P1030805.jpg
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu303/southsoundtree/P1030804.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/lodgepix/Advertisers/OrchardCountry1.jpg
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt120/TrilliumFae/NH%20Wilderness/92309018.jpg
http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss339/Frankie_Alamo/Horses%20etc%20in%20the%20snow%20-%20UK/IMG_3742.jpg
http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab112/HiddenRelicJamz/Posters%20and%20Promotional/OrchardLounge12-28-09Front.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff159/chdo833/1019071325b.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm34/aliciamlokey3/106.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/10 at 6:02 am

The birthday of the day...Diane Lane
Diane Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American film actress born and raised in New York City. Lane made her screen debut in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time.

Lane has had a movie career spanning across three decades and has appeared in several notable films, including Unfaithful in 2002, which earned her Academy Award, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Lane is also well known for her 2003 film Under the Tuscan Sun.

Timothy Hutton, Christopher Atkins, Matt Dillon were among the actors Lane dated during the 1980s, and later rock star Jon Bon Jovi. She was married to Christopher Lambert, and they had a daughter, Eleanor Jasmine Lambert. The couple were divorced following a prolonged separation in 1994, and she married actor Josh Brolin on August 15, 2004.
Lane's maternal grandmother, Eleanor Scott, was a three-times married Pentecostal preacher of the Apostolic denomination, and Lane was influenced by the theatricality of her grandmother's sermons. Lane began acting professionally at the age of six at the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York, where she appeared in an acclaimed production of Medea. At 12 she had a role in Joseph Papp's production of The Cherry Orchard with Meryl Streep. Also at this time, Lane was enrolled in an accelerated program at Hunter College High School and was put on notice when her grades suffered from her busy schedule. At 13 years old, she turned down a role in Runaways on Broadway to make her feature film debut opposite Laurence Olivier in A Little Romance. At 14 years old, Lane was featured on the cover of Time, which declared her one of Hollywood's "Whiz Kids."

One of few child actors to make a successful transition into adult roles, Lane made a hit with audiences in the back-to-back cult films The Outsiders, starring with future movie stars Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Esteves and Patrick Swayze, and Rumble Fish, starring Dillon, Mickey Rourke, and Nicolas Cage. Subsequently, Andy Warhol proclaimed Lane, "the undisputed female lead of Hollywood's new rat pack." However, the two films that could have catapulted her to star status, Streets of Fire (she turned down Splash and Risky Business for this film) and The Cotton Club, were both commercial and critical failures, and her career languished as a result. After The Cotton Club, Lane dropped out of the movie business and lived with her mother in Georgia.

Lane returned to the business to make The Big Town and Lady Beware, but it was not until 1989's popular and critically acclaimed TV mini-series Lonesome Dove that Lane made another big impression on a sizable audience. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role. She also enjoyed positive reviews for her performance in the independent film My New Gun, which was well received at the Cannes Film Festival. She went on to appear as actress Paulette Goddard in Sir Richard Attenborough's big-budget biopic of Charles Chaplin, Chaplin.

Lane won further praise for her role in 1999's A Walk on the Moon, opposite Viggo Mortensen. One reviewer wrote, "Lane, after years in post-teenaged-career limbo, is meltingly effective." The film's director Tony Goldwyn and producer Dustin Hoffman wanted Lane for the role of housewife Pearl even though she did not look or sound Jewish. Goldwyn said of the actress, "There's also this potentially volcanic sexuality that is in no way self-conscious or opportunistic. I thought all those things mattered more than her looking Jewish." Lane earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. At this time, she was interested in making a film about actress Jean Seberg in which she would play Seberg.

In 2002, Lane starred in Unfaithful, a drama film directed by Adrian Lyne adapted from the French film The Unfaithful Wife. Lane played a housewife who indulges in an adulterous fling with a mysterious book dealer. The film featured several sex scenes. Lyne's repeated takes for these scenes were very demanding for the actors involved, especially for Lane, who had to be emotionally and physically fit for the duration. Unfaithful received mostly mixed to negative reviews, though Lane earned widespread praise for her performance. Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman said, "Lane, in the most urgent performance of her career, is a revelation. The play of lust, romance, degradation, and guilt on her face is the movie's real story". She followed that film up with Under the Tuscan Sun, based on the best-selling book by Frances Mayes.

Lane, in 2008, reunited with Richard Gere for the movie Nights in Rodanthe. It is the third movie Gere and Lane filmed together. The film is based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Sparks. Lane also starred in Jumper, and Untraceable in the same year. Her latest film is Killshot with Mickey Rourke, which was given a limited theatrical release before being released on DVD in 2009.

In 2008, Lane expressed frustration with being typecast and is "gunning for something that's not so sympathetic. I need to be a bitch, and I need to be in a comedy. I've decided. No more Miss Nice Guy". The actress has even contemplated quitting acting and spending more time with her family if she is unable to get these kinds of roles. She said in an interview, "I can't do anything official. My agents won't let me. Between you and me, I don't have anything else coming out".

In 2009, it was announced that Lane will star in Secretariat, a Disney film about the relationship between the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse and his owner, Penny Chenery, whom the actress will be portraying.
Awards

Four days before the New York Film Critics Circle's vote in 2002, Lane was given a career tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. A day before that, Lyne held a dinner for the actress at the Four Seasons Hotel. Critics and award voters were invited to both. She went on to win the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2003, she was named ShoWest's 2003 Female Star of the Year.

Lane ranked at #79 on VH1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars. She was ranked #45 on AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women in 2005, #85 in 2006 and #98 in 2007.
Personal life
Lane with husband Josh Brolin in December 2009

In the early 1980s, Lane dated actors Timothy Hutton, Christopher Atkins, Matt Dillon, and later rock star Jon Bon Jovi. Lane met actor Christopher Lambert in Paris while promoting The Cotton Club in 1984. They had a brief affair and split up. They met again two years later in Rome to make a film together, entitled After the Rain, and in two weeks they were a couple again. Lane and Lambert married in October 1988 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They had a daughter, Eleanor Jasmine Lambert (born September 5, 1993), and were divorced following a prolonged separation in 1994. While making Judge Dredd in 1995, Lane began dating the film's director, Danny Cannon.

Lane became engaged to actor Josh Brolin in July 2003 and they were married on August 15, 2004. On December 20 of that year, she called police after an altercation with him, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. Lane declined to press charges, however, and the couple's spokesperson described the incident as a "misunderstanding".
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1979 A Little Romance Lauren King
1980 Touched by Love Karen aka To Elvis, with Love
1981 Great Performances Charity Royall TV (1 episode)
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains Corinne Burns
Cattle Annie and Little Britches Jenny (Little Britches)
Child Bride of Short Creek Jessica Rae Jacobs TV
1982 National Lampoon Goes to the Movies Liza
Six Pack Breezy
Miss All-American Beauty Sally Butterfield TV
1983 The Outsiders Sherri 'Cherry' Valance
Rumble Fish Patty
1984 Streets of Fire Ellen Aim
The Cotton Club Vera Cicero
1987 Lady Beware Katya Yarno
The Big Town Lorry Dane
1988 Priceless Beauty China
Lonesome Dove Lorena Wood TV miniseries
1990 Vital Signs Gina Wyler
Descending Angel Irina Stroia TV
1992 Knight Moves Kathy Sheppard
My New Gun Debbie Bender
The Setting Sun Cho Renko
Chaplin Paulette Goddard
1993 Indian Summer Jahnvi
Fallen Angels Bernette Stone TV (1 episode)
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Lucy Honicut Marsden TV
1995 A Streetcar Named Desire Stella TV
Judge Dredd Judge Hershey
1996 Wild Bill Susannah Moore
Jack Karen Powell
Mad Dog Time Grace Everly aka Trigger Happy (UK)
1997 The Only Thrill Katherine Fitzsimmons
Murder at 1600 Agent Nina Chance
1998 Gunshy Melissa
Grace & Glorie Gloria TV
1999 A Walk on the Moon Pearl Kantrowitz Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Nominated — Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
2000 My Dog Skip Ellen Morris
The Virginian Molly Stark TV
The Perfect Storm Christina Cotter
2001 Hardball Elizabeth Wilkes
The Glass House Erin Glass
2002 Unfaithful Connie Sumner National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture
2003 Under the Tuscan Sun Frances Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2005 Fierce People Liz Earl
Must Love Dogs Sarah Nolan
2006 Hollywoodland Toni Mannix
2008 Untraceable Jennifer Marsh
Jumper Mary Rice
Nights in Rodanthe Adrienne Willis
2009 Killshot Carmen Colson
2010 Secretariat Penny Chenery
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii256/ungajje/diane-lane.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac274/dcaslan/Diane_Lane.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii9/mastersteedae/Diane-Lane_029.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/stanaker/Celebrities/diane_lane-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/10 at 6:07 am

The person of the day...Ann Miller
Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier, better known as Ann Miller (April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American singer, dancer and actress.
At the age of 13 Miller had been hired as a dancer in the "Black Cat Club" in San Francisco (she had told them she was 18). It was there she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin. This led Miller to be given a contract with RKO in 1936 at the age of 13 (she had also told them she was 18) and she remained there until 1940. The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures. She finally hit her mark (starting in the late 1940s and Early 1950s ) in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town.

Miller popularized pantyhose in the 1940s as a solution to the problem of continual torn stockings during the filming of dance production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs worn by Miller. If torn, the entire garment had to be removed and resewn with a new pair. At Miller's request, hosiery was manufactured for her as a single pantyhose.

Miller was famed for her speed in tap dancing. Studio publicists concocted press releases claiming she could tap 500 times per minute, but in truth, the sound of ultra-fast "500" taps was looped in later. Because the stage floors were slick and slippery, she actually danced in shoes with rubber soles. Later she would loop the sound of the taps while watching the film and actually dancing on a "tap board" to match her steps in the film.

In 1970, satirist Stan Freberg, father of the funny commercial, used Miller and her tap-dancing skills in a television commercial for "Great American Soups." Miller initially plays a housewife asked by her "husband" what she's prepared for dinner. She throws off her house frock to reveal a sequined dance outfit, and the kitchen set splits open to reveal a huge Hollywood stage, showcasing a giant can of soup, atop which Miller sings and dances, accompanied by a double chorus line. At the end of the commercial, she returns to the kitchen set, where the husband character exclaims, "Why do you have to make such a big production out of everything?" According to Freberg, the commercial cost so much to produce that little money was left in the advertising budget to purchase airtime for it. The commercial can be seen on the video accompanying Freberg's boxed set release, "The Tip of the Freberg."

She was known, especially later in her career, for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamor: massive black bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a slash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her lithe figure and long dancer's legs. Her film career effectively ended in 1956 as the studio system lost steam to television, but she remained active in the theatre and on television. She starred on Broadway in the musical "Mame" in 1969, in which she wowed the audience in a tap number created just for her. In 1979 she astounded audiences in the Broadway show Sugar Babies with fellow MGM veteran Mickey Rooney, which toured the United States extensively after its Broadway run. In 1983 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

She appeared in a special 1982 episode of The Love Boat, joined by fellow showbiz legends Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Della Reese, Van Johnson, and Cab Calloway in a storyline that cast them as older relatives of the show's regular characters. In 2001 she took her last role, playing Coco in auteur director David Lynch's critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive. Her last stage performance was a 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in which she played the hardboiled survivor Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the anthemic "I'm Still Here".
Miller with Betty Garrett (left) and Vera-Ellen (right) in On the Town (1949)

Miller also performed a guest appearance on Home Improvement as a dance instructor to Tim and Jill. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ann Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd.

Miller was parodied on Saturday Night Live. She was played by Molly Shannon as a talk show host, with Debbie Reynolds (played by Cheri Oteri), on a show called Leg Up.

She died at the age of 80 from cancer, which had metastasized to her lungs, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Filmography
Features
1934

1935

1936

1937



1938





1940



1941


1942


1943


1944
Anne of Green Gables

The Good Fairy

The Devil on Horseback

New Faces of 1937
The Life of the Party
Stage Door

Radio City Revels
Having Wonderful Time
You Can't Take It with You
Room Service
Tarnished Angel

Too Many Girls
Hit Parade of 1941
Melody Ranch

Time Out for Rhythm
Go West, Young Lady

True to the Army
Priorities on Parade

Reveille with Beverly
What's Buzzin', Cousin?

Hey, Rookie
Jam Session
Carolina Blues
  1945


1946

1948


1949

1950

1951


1952

1953


1954

1955

1956


1976

1994


2001

2003

2004
Eadie Was a Lady
Eve Knew Her Apples

The Thrill of Brazil

Easter Parade
The Kissing Bandit

On the Town

Watch the Birdie

Texas Carnival
Two Tickets to Broadway

Lovely to Look At

Small Town Girl
Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Deep in My Heart

Hit the Deck

The Opposite Sex
The Great American Pastime

Won Ton Ton

A Century of Cinema ♦
That's Entertainment! III

Mulholland Drive

Broadway: The Golden Age ♦

Goodnight, We Love You ♦

    ♦ Documentary

Short subjects
1941

Meet the Stars #8:
  Stars Past and Present
Screen Snapshots
  Series 21, No. 1   1949

Some of the Best
Mighty Manhattan,
  New York's Wonder City'
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc17/aquamal/AnnMiller2.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg268/OSWALDO-05718766/HOLLYWOOD%20STARS/Ann-Miller.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k14/ronewc/1-ACTORS_ACTRESSES/millerann4ws.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/Lovely_Ishtar/Ann%20Miller/annmiller1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/22/10 at 6:58 am


The word of the day...Orchard
An orchard is an area of land on which fruit trees are grown.
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu303/southsoundtree/P1030805.jpg
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu303/southsoundtree/P1030804.jpg
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/lodgepix/Advertisers/OrchardCountry1.jpg
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt120/TrilliumFae/NH%20Wilderness/92309018.jpg
http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss339/Frankie_Alamo/Horses%20etc%20in%20the%20snow%20-%20UK/IMG_3742.jpg
http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab112/HiddenRelicJamz/Posters%20and%20Promotional/OrchardLounge12-28-09Front.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff159/chdo833/1019071325b.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm34/aliciamlokey3/106.jpg




really love the pictures Ninny once in a while I use them as background wallpaper. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/22/10 at 7:36 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB_YKpo3qA8


Ok, so it is not Diane Lane singing but I still love it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/10 at 7:56 am




really love the pictures Ninny once in a while I use them as background wallpaper. :)

I'm glad you like them Howie. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/10 at 8:03 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB_YKpo3qA8


Ok, so it is not Diane Lane singing but I still love it.



Cat

Nice, I see that Jim Steinman who wrote songs for Meatloaf, wrote the song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/22/10 at 8:40 am


Nice, I see that Jim Steinman who wrote songs for Meatloaf, wrote the song.



That is obvious-at least to me. I can spot a Jim Steinman song a mile away. I watched SOF not to long ago for the first time in YEARS (maybe even decades). When that song came on, I said, "That HAS to be Jim Steinman." I was right. Yeah, most of his songs sound the same but I still love them.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/22/10 at 12:40 pm



That is obvious-at least to me. I can spot a Jim Steinman song a mile away. I watched SOF not to long ago for the first time in YEARS (maybe even decades). When that song came on, I said, "That HAS to be Jim Steinman." I was right. Yeah, most of his songs sound the same but I still love them.


Cat

Totally agree with ya on that. Can spot a Steinman song a mile (or kilometer here in Canada) away.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/22/10 at 3:05 pm


The person of the day...Ann Miller
Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier, better known as Ann Miller (April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American singer, dancer and actress.
At the age of 13 Miller had been hired as a dancer in the "Black Cat Club" in San Francisco (she had told them she was 18). It was there she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin. This led Miller to be given a contract with RKO in 1936 at the age of 13 (she had also told them she was 18) and she remained there until 1940. The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures. She finally hit her mark (starting in the late 1940s and Early 1950s ) in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town.

Miller popularized pantyhose in the 1940s as a solution to the problem of continual torn stockings during the filming of dance production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs worn by Miller. If torn, the entire garment had to be removed and resewn with a new pair. At Miller's request, hosiery was manufactured for her as a single pantyhose.

Miller was famed for her speed in tap dancing. Studio publicists concocted press releases claiming she could tap 500 times per minute, but in truth, the sound of ultra-fast "500" taps was looped in later. Because the stage floors were slick and slippery, she actually danced in shoes with rubber soles. Later she would loop the sound of the taps while watching the film and actually dancing on a "tap board" to match her steps in the film.

In 1970, satirist Stan Freberg, father of the funny commercial, used Miller and her tap-dancing skills in a television commercial for "Great American Soups." Miller initially plays a housewife asked by her "husband" what she's prepared for dinner. She throws off her house frock to reveal a sequined dance outfit, and the kitchen set splits open to reveal a huge Hollywood stage, showcasing a giant can of soup, atop which Miller sings and dances, accompanied by a double chorus line. At the end of the commercial, she returns to the kitchen set, where the husband character exclaims, "Why do you have to make such a big production out of everything?" According to Freberg, the commercial cost so much to produce that little money was left in the advertising budget to purchase airtime for it. The commercial can be seen on the video accompanying Freberg's boxed set release, "The Tip of the Freberg."

She was known, especially later in her career, for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamor: massive black bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a slash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her lithe figure and long dancer's legs. Her film career effectively ended in 1956 as the studio system lost steam to television, but she remained active in the theatre and on television. She starred on Broadway in the musical "Mame" in 1969, in which she wowed the audience in a tap number created just for her. In 1979 she astounded audiences in the Broadway show Sugar Babies with fellow MGM veteran Mickey Rooney, which toured the United States extensively after its Broadway run. In 1983 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

She appeared in a special 1982 episode of The Love Boat, joined by fellow showbiz legends Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Della Reese, Van Johnson, and Cab Calloway in a storyline that cast them as older relatives of the show's regular characters. In 2001 she took her last role, playing Coco in auteur director David Lynch's critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive. Her last stage performance was a 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in which she played the hardboiled survivor Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the anthemic "I'm Still Here".
Miller with Betty Garrett (left) and Vera-Ellen (right) in On the Town (1949)

Miller also performed a guest appearance on Home Improvement as a dance instructor to Tim and Jill. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ann Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd.

Miller was parodied on Saturday Night Live. She was played by Molly Shannon as a talk show host, with Debbie Reynolds (played by Cheri Oteri), on a show called Leg Up.

She died at the age of 80 from cancer, which had metastasized to her lungs, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Filmography
Features
1934

1935

1936

1937



1938





1940



1941


1942


1943


1944
Anne of Green Gables

The Good Fairy

The Devil on Horseback

New Faces of 1937
The Life of the Party
Stage Door

Radio City Revels
Having Wonderful Time
You Can't Take It with You
Room Service
Tarnished Angel

Too Many Girls
Hit Parade of 1941
Melody Ranch

Time Out for Rhythm
Go West, Young Lady

True to the Army
Priorities on Parade

Reveille with Beverly
What's Buzzin', Cousin?

Hey, Rookie
Jam Session
Carolina Blues
  1945


1946

1948


1949

1950

1951


1952

1953


1954

1955

1956


1976

1994


2001

2003

2004
Eadie Was a Lady
Eve Knew Her Apples

The Thrill of Brazil

Easter Parade
The Kissing Bandit

On the Town

Watch the Birdie

Texas Carnival
Two Tickets to Broadway

Lovely to Look At

Small Town Girl
Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Deep in My Heart

Hit the Deck

The Opposite Sex
The Great American Pastime

Won Ton Ton

A Century of Cinema ♦
That's Entertainment! III

Mulholland Drive

Broadway: The Golden Age ♦

Goodnight, We Love You ♦

    ♦ Documentary

Short subjects
1941

Meet the Stars #8:
  Stars Past and Present
Screen Snapshots
  Series 21, No. 1   1949

Some of the Best
Mighty Manhattan,
  New York's Wonder City'
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc17/aquamal/AnnMiller2.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg268/OSWALDO-05718766/HOLLYWOOD%20STARS/Ann-Miller.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k14/ronewc/1-ACTORS_ACTRESSES/millerann4ws.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r125/Lovely_Ishtar/Ann%20Miller/annmiller1.jpg


I remember on The episode of Home Improvement.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/23/10 at 5:08 am

The word of the day...Firehouse
fire station: a station housing fire apparatus and firemen
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo195/333peh/Batavia%20Photo%20Visit%202009/FireHouse.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/powerbyaj/2010SpyderScavengerHunt/P1130021.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/aaron9732/Picture182.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn95/lttldevl0/channingjanflyeropenjamprintver.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/firehousepinball/CL/FHPB.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/MeganEndres/firehouse.gif
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc10/ramtownfireco/firehouse.gif
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/SHFD1949/firehouse.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj223/kristinekempf/firehouse.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/23/10 at 5:11 am

The birthday of the day...Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is an American television and film actor, producer and composer. He began his television career in 1976 as Dr. Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series General Hospital, then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the television series MacGyver (1985–1992). Anderson later appeared in films, including Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992), Pandora's Clock (1996) and Firehouse (1997).

In 1997, Anderson returned to television as the lead actor of the series Stargate SG-1, a spin-off of the 1994 film Stargate, directed by Roland Emmerich. He played the lead from 1997–2005 and had a recurring role from 2005-07. He was also featured as a guest actor in the American animation show, The Simpsons in the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Since 1997, the only film Anderson has starred in is Stargate: Continuum released in 2008 as a spin-off film after Stargate SG-1 was cancelled in 2007. He also appears in the follow-up Stargate series Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: Universe (as Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill).
Anderson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Stuart Jay Anderson (died in 2003) and Jocelyn Rhae Carter and was the oldest of four brothers. He has Scottish, German, and Norwegian ancestry. He grew up in Roseville, Minnesota and attended Ramsey High School. As a kid, Anderson wanted to become a professional hockey player; this dream was shattered when he broke both his arms. Anderson developed an early interest in music, art and acting. For a short time he tried to become a jazz musician. Eventually he studied to become an actor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and later at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota but dropped out before he received his degree because he felt "listless". Right after his junior year in high school, Anderson participated with friends in a cross-country bike ride from Minnesota to Alaska. He then moved to San Francisco, then New York, then moved permanently to Los Angeles. At the start he was making a living with juggling among other things.

Anderson's first role was in the American soap opera, General Hospital as Dr. Jeff Webber from 1976 to 1981. In 1982-1983 He starred as Adam in the CBS television series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (based very loosely on the movie of the same name). In the 1983-1984 season, he played Lieutenant Simon Adams on the 22-week Dennis Weaver series Emerald Point N.A.S. on CBS, stealing away Celia Warren (Susan Dey), the wife of naval lawyer Jack Warren (Charles Frank). Anderson then played Tony Kaiser in the acclaimed TV movie Ordinary Heroes, which aired in 1986.

Anderson came to fame in the lead role of Angus MacGyver in the hit television series MacGyver, which lasted from 1985 to 1992 and was highly successful throughout its 7-year run. He would go on to produce two follow-up movies to MacGyver, in 1994. After the cancellation of MacGyver, Anderson stated "MacGyver was seven years of being in virtually every frame that was shot and having absolutely no life at all."

In 1995 he co-starred with John de Lancie in Legend, a comic series of only twelve episodes about a dime novel writer within the Wild West who against his will has to play the role of his own fictional character. Originally written as a TV movie, with the decision to make Legend a series, the original teleplay became the two-hour pilot episode. Anderson was applauded for his roles as Ernest Pratt and Nicodemus Legend by many critics, most notably John Connor from The New York Times. Two episodes of MacGyver released in 1990 ("Serenity" (Season 5, Episode 12) and "MacGyver's Women" (Season 6, Episode 8) ) featured Wild Wild West storylines with a style foreshadowing that of the quirky Legend.
Later career
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Richard Dean Anderson

From 1997 to 2005, Anderson starred as Jack O'Neill in Stargate SG-1, based on the movie Stargate starring Kurt Russell and James Spader. John Symes president of Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer (MGM) called Anderson himself and asked him if he wanted a part in the series. Anderson watched the Stargate film over and over again and came to the conclusion that the film had "great potential" and signed a contract with the Stargate producers. Anderson agreed to become involved with the project if his character was allowed significantly more comedic leeway than Kurt Russell's character in the feature film. He also requested Stargate SG-1 to be more of an ensemble show, so that he would not be carrying the plot alone as on MacGyver. In season eight, he chose to have his character "promoted" to base commander on Don S. Davis's advice. This enabled the late Davis to retire from acting due to his ailing health, and Anderson to take over the smaller role which involved far less on-location shooting so that he could spend more time with his young daughter. The following season, Anderson terminated his status as star and producer of Stargate SG-1 opting to make several guest appearances per season instead, allowing his sizable role to be filled by veteran actors Ben Browder (replacing Anderson as field commander), Claudia Black (replacing Anderson as the comic relief) and Emmy nominee Beau Bridges (replacing Anderson as Base commander).
Anderson at an event with Air Force personnel.

At the Air Force Association's 57th Annual Air Force Anniversary Dinner in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 2004, then-Air Force Chief-of-Staff, General John P. Jumper. presented Anderson with an award because of his role as star and executive producer of Stargate SG-1, a series which portrayed the Air Force in a positive light from its premiere. Anderson was also made an honorary Air Force brigadier general.

A great fan of the television show The Simpsons, which he had continually referenced during his time on SG-1, Anderson was invited in 2005 to guest star on the show. He voiced himself in an episode called "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" in which he is kidnapped by Selma and Patty Bouvier, Marge Simpson's sisters, his MacGyver character having been their longstanding heartthrob. Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor who portrays Homer Simpson (among other characters), made a guest appearance on Stargate SG-1 ("Citizen Joe") and, in describing his unnatural ability to see the life events of Jack O'Neill, made reference to O'Neill's fondness for The Simpsons.

Anderson briefly reprised his role as Angus MacGyver in 2006 when he appeared in a MasterCard commercial during Super Bowl XL. While the plot follows the "MacGyver Formula", it is somewhat satirical of the series, showing unlikely if not impossible solutions to the obstacles faced by Anderson's character (in one shot, he cuts through a thick rope with a pine-scented air freshener). The official MasterCard website for the commercial refers to it as "the Return of MacGyver".

Lee David Zlotoff the creator of MacGyver, announced on May 3, 2008, that a MacGyver film was in production. Anderson has expressed interest in revisiting his role, however there is no word on who will be playing the role of MacGyver in the film.

Anderson cameoed as Angus MacGyver in what seemed to be a Saturday Night Live advertisement parody featuring the show's recurring character MacGruber (portrayed by Will Forte), but was rather a real commercial for both Saturday Night Live and Pepsi, in which the titular character becomes obsessed with the soft drink. This aired three times during the January 31, 2009 SNL broadcast, and the second part aired again during Super Bowl XLIII on the following day.

Anderson has also played the role of General Jack O'Neill in Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe which first aired in October 2009.
Producer and composer career

Anderson composed a song for a soundtrack for MacGyver. He has served as an executive producer only in the five shows in which he has acted himself: MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis, MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday, Stargate SG-1, Firehouse and From Stargate to Atlantis: Sci Fi Lowdown. Anderson composed the song "Eau d'Leo" for the MacGyver episode "The Negotiator".

Together with Michael Greenburg, Anderson created the Gekko Film Corporation. The company was involved with Stargate SG-1, producing every episode from 1997-2007 with the exception of 2006. The company itself has served as Anderson backing agency.
Personal life

Anderson has divided time between Vancouver, Los Angeles, and northern Minnesota. Never married, Anderson has one child with Apryl Prose, who gave birth to their daughter Wylie Quinn Annarose Anderson, on August 2, 1998. They split a few years later. Anderson left Stargate SG-1 because he wanted to spend more time with his daughter:
“ "Being a father, well, I don't know if this is a change, but it makes me want to get out of here faster. Get off the clock. Just 'cause the baby is my reason for living, my reason for coming to work." ”

Anderson has supported Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization trying to stop water pollution. Anderson is a member of the Board of Trustees for Challengers Boys and Girls Club, a youth organization established in 1968 with the help of MacGyver producer Stephen Downing. He received the 1995 Celebrity Award from the Make-a-Wish Foundation because of his commitment to the foundation. He is also a supporter for various Sclerosis Society non-profit organizations and has done several public service announcements to show his support for the various organizations. Anderson is an avid supporter of the Special Olympics and was one of many speakers at the 1991 opening ceremonies. In recent years, he has helped several environmental organizations around the world. He is a member of Board of Advisors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and has worked with the members of Earth Rivers Expeditions to Produce River Project.
Filmography
Starring roles
Year Title Role Other notes
1976 General Hospital Dr. Jeff Webber (1976–1981) TV Series
1982 Young Doctors in Love Drug Dealer (uncredited)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Adam McFadden (1982–1983) TV Series
1983 Emerald Point N.A.S. Navy Lt. Simon Adams TV Series
DC CAB Bad Guy
1985-1992 MacGyver Angus MacGyver (1985–1992) TV Series
1986 Ordinary Heroes Tony Kaiser
Odd Jobs Spud
1992 In the Eyes of a Stranger Jack Rourke TV
Through the Eyes of a Killer Ray Bellano TV
1994 MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis Angus MacGyver TV
Beyond Betrayal Bradley Matthews TV
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday Angus MacGyver TV
1995 Legend Ernest Pratt/Nicodemus Legend TV Series
Past the Bleachers Bill Parish TV
1996 Pandora's Clock Capt. James Holland TV
1997 Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game Mayor Killian Darkwater (voice) Video Game
Firehouse Lt. Michael Brooks TV
1997–2005 Stargate SG-1 Colonel/Brigadier General/Major General Jack O'Neill (USAF) (1997–2005) (recurring 2005-2007) TV Series
2005 Stargate SG-1: The Alliance (Cancelled) AF Brigadier General Jack O'Neill (voice) Video Game
2006 MasterCard Super Bowl XL Commercial Angus MacGyver (never explicitly identified) TV Commercial
2008 Stargate: Continuum Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF Direct-to-DVD Movie
2009 Pepsi "MacGruber" Super Bowl XLIII Commercial MacGyver (named in spot#1, alluded in spots 2 and 3) TV Commercial
TBA Stargate: Revolution Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, USAF Direct-to-DVD Movie
Guest-starring roles
Year Title Role Episode
1981 The Facts of Life Brian Parker 2.16 "Brian and Sylvia"
Today's F.B.I. Andy McFey "The Fugitive"
1982 The Love Boat Carter Randall 5.24 "Isaac Gets Physical/She Brought Her Mother Along/Cold Feet"
1990 The Arsenio Hall Show Himself
The Joan Rivers Show Himself
1991 The Joan Rivers Show Himself
The Arsenio Hall Show Himself
1992 The Arsenio Hall Show Himself
1996 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Himself
1997 Newton's Apple Himself
1998 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Himself
2000 Donny & Marie Himself
The Martin Short Show Himself
National Geographic Explorer Himself "North America's Last True Wilderness"
2004 The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn Himself
Stargate Atlantis Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, USAF 1.1 "Rising (Part 1)"
2005 Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 9.1 "Avalon (Part 1)"
Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF z9.3 "Origin"
2006 The Simpsons Himself (voice) 17.17 "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore"
Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 10.6 "200"
Stargate Atlantis Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 3.6 "The Real World"
Stargate Atlantis Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 3.10/3.11 "The Return"
2007 Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 10.14 "The Shroud"
2009 Stargate Universe Lt. General Jack O'Neill, USAF 1.01 "Air", 1.07 "Earth"
Producer
Year Title Role Other notes
1994 MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis Executive Producer TV
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday Executive Producer TV
1997 Stargate SG-1 Executive Producer TV Series
Firehouse Executive Producer TV
2004 From Stargate to Atlantis: Sci Fi Lowdown Executive Producer TV
Composer
Year Title Other notes
1988 MacGyver TV Series (song "Eau d'Leo" in episode "The Negotiator")
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/rda_bandwidth/firehouse/Firehouse042.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l52/Jellyman_87/RDA.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y147/RayTheBishie/bio1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/mawilson78/mcgyver.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/23/10 at 5:15 am

The person of the day...Freddie Bartholomew
Freddie Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992) was a British child actor, popular in 1930s Hollywood films.

Born in London, England, Bartholomew was abandoned by his parents while a baby, and was raised in London by his aunt, whose name he took. While visiting the United States, Bartholomew was reportedly seen by film producer David O. Selznick who was soon to film Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1935). Selznick had already cast American boy David Holt in the role, but after meeting Bartholomew realised that the character would benefit from being played by a British actor. The all-star film was a success and Bartholomew was cast in a succession of prestigious film productions with some of the most popular stars of the day.

Among his successes of the 1930s were Anna Karenina (1935), with Greta Garbo and Fredric March, Professional Soldier (1935) with Gloria Stuart, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) with Dolores Costello, Lloyds of London (1937) with Madeleine Carroll and Tyrone Power, and Captains Courageous (1937) with Spencer Tracy.

By this time Bartholomew's success and level of fame had caused his parents to attempt to gain custody of him. A protracted legal battle saw much of the wealth Bartholomew had amassed spent on legal fees. He continued acting into the 1940s but was much less popular as a teenaged actor, and by the early 1950s had retired from film.

He established a career in advertising and distanced himself from Hollywood. Bartholomew was said to have been bitter over his lost fortune and his experiences in Hollywood, but by the early 1980s he was working as a producer for the soap opera As The World Turns. Shortly before his death he allowed an interview for the television documentary MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992).

He died from heart failure and emphysema in Sarasota, Florida, at the age of 67.

Bartholomew has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to motion pictures, at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography

    * Toyland (1930)
    * Strip, Strip, Hooray (1931)
    * Fascination (1931)
    * Lily Christine (1932) (uncredited)
    * The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1935)
    * Anna Karenina (1935)
    * Professional Soldier (1935)
    * David Copperfield (1935)
    * Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
    * The Devil is a Sissy (1936)
    * Lloyd's of London (1936)
    * Captains Courageous (1937)
    * Kidnapped (1938)
    * Lord Jeff (1938)
    * Listen, Darling (1938)
    * The Spirit of Culver (1939)
    * Two Bright Boys (1939)
    * Swiss Family Robinson (1940)
    * Tom Brown's School Days (1940)
    * Naval Academy (1941)
    * Cadets on Parade (1942)
    * A Yank at Eton (1942)
    * Junior Army (1942)
    * The Town Went Wild (1944)
    * St. Benny the Dip (1951)

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q186/kac039/movie%20stuff/BartholomewFreddieCaptainsCourageou.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/stefy56/Bg9Rs5BGkKGrHqUH-CkEsMRCS1FzBLHE-1.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/stefy56/img0021al-1.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/stefy56/Listendarling2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/23/10 at 5:39 am


The birthday of the day...Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is an American television and film actor, producer and composer. He began his television career in 1976 as Dr. Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series General Hospital, then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the television series MacGyver (1985–1992). Anderson later appeared in films, including Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992), Pandora's Clock (1996) and Firehouse (1997).

In 1997, Anderson returned to television as the lead actor of the series Stargate SG-1, a spin-off of the 1994 film Stargate, directed by Roland Emmerich. He played the lead from 1997–2005 and had a recurring role from 2005-07. He was also featured as a guest actor in the American animation show, The Simpsons in the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Since 1997, the only film Anderson has starred in is Stargate: Continuum released in 2008 as a spin-off film after Stargate SG-1 was cancelled in 2007. He also appears in the follow-up Stargate series Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: Universe (as Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill).
Anderson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Stuart Jay Anderson (died in 2003) and Jocelyn Rhae Carter and was the oldest of four brothers. He has Scottish, German, and Norwegian ancestry. He grew up in Roseville, Minnesota and attended Ramsey High School. As a kid, Anderson wanted to become a professional hockey player; this dream was shattered when he broke both his arms. Anderson developed an early interest in music, art and acting. For a short time he tried to become a jazz musician. Eventually he studied to become an actor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and later at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota but dropped out before he received his degree because he felt "listless". Right after his junior year in high school, Anderson participated with friends in a cross-country bike ride from Minnesota to Alaska. He then moved to San Francisco, then New York, then moved permanently to Los Angeles. At the start he was making a living with juggling among other things.

Anderson's first role was in the American soap opera, General Hospital as Dr. Jeff Webber from 1976 to 1981. In 1982-1983 He starred as Adam in the CBS television series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (based very loosely on the movie of the same name). In the 1983-1984 season, he played Lieutenant Simon Adams on the 22-week Dennis Weaver series Emerald Point N.A.S. on CBS, stealing away Celia Warren (Susan Dey), the wife of naval lawyer Jack Warren (Charles Frank). Anderson then played Tony Kaiser in the acclaimed TV movie Ordinary Heroes, which aired in 1986.

Anderson came to fame in the lead role of Angus MacGyver in the hit television series MacGyver, which lasted from 1985 to 1992 and was highly successful throughout its 7-year run. He would go on to produce two follow-up movies to MacGyver, in 1994. After the cancellation of MacGyver, Anderson stated "MacGyver was seven years of being in virtually every frame that was shot and having absolutely no life at all."

In 1995 he co-starred with John de Lancie in Legend, a comic series of only twelve episodes about a dime novel writer within the Wild West who against his will has to play the role of his own fictional character. Originally written as a TV movie, with the decision to make Legend a series, the original teleplay became the two-hour pilot episode. Anderson was applauded for his roles as Ernest Pratt and Nicodemus Legend by many critics, most notably John Connor from The New York Times. Two episodes of MacGyver released in 1990 ("Serenity" (Season 5, Episode 12) and "MacGyver's Women" (Season 6, Episode 8) ) featured Wild Wild West storylines with a style foreshadowing that of the quirky Legend.
Later career
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Richard Dean Anderson

From 1997 to 2005, Anderson starred as Jack O'Neill in Stargate SG-1, based on the movie Stargate starring Kurt Russell and James Spader. John Symes president of Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer (MGM) called Anderson himself and asked him if he wanted a part in the series. Anderson watched the Stargate film over and over again and came to the conclusion that the film had "great potential" and signed a contract with the Stargate producers. Anderson agreed to become involved with the project if his character was allowed significantly more comedic leeway than Kurt Russell's character in the feature film. He also requested Stargate SG-1 to be more of an ensemble show, so that he would not be carrying the plot alone as on MacGyver. In season eight, he chose to have his character "promoted" to base commander on Don S. Davis's advice. This enabled the late Davis to retire from acting due to his ailing health, and Anderson to take over the smaller role which involved far less on-location shooting so that he could spend more time with his young daughter. The following season, Anderson terminated his status as star and producer of Stargate SG-1 opting to make several guest appearances per season instead, allowing his sizable role to be filled by veteran actors Ben Browder (replacing Anderson as field commander), Claudia Black (replacing Anderson as the comic relief) and Emmy nominee Beau Bridges (replacing Anderson as Base commander).
Anderson at an event with Air Force personnel.

At the Air Force Association's 57th Annual Air Force Anniversary Dinner in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 2004, then-Air Force Chief-of-Staff, General John P. Jumper. presented Anderson with an award because of his role as star and executive producer of Stargate SG-1, a series which portrayed the Air Force in a positive light from its premiere. Anderson was also made an honorary Air Force brigadier general.

A great fan of the television show The Simpsons, which he had continually referenced during his time on SG-1, Anderson was invited in 2005 to guest star on the show. He voiced himself in an episode called "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" in which he is kidnapped by Selma and Patty Bouvier, Marge Simpson's sisters, his MacGyver character having been their longstanding heartthrob. Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor who portrays Homer Simpson (among other characters), made a guest appearance on Stargate SG-1 ("Citizen Joe") and, in describing his unnatural ability to see the life events of Jack O'Neill, made reference to O'Neill's fondness for The Simpsons.

Anderson briefly reprised his role as Angus MacGyver in 2006 when he appeared in a MasterCard commercial during Super Bowl XL. While the plot follows the "MacGyver Formula", it is somewhat satirical of the series, showing unlikely if not impossible solutions to the obstacles faced by Anderson's character (in one shot, he cuts through a thick rope with a pine-scented air freshener). The official MasterCard website for the commercial refers to it as "the Return of MacGyver".

Lee David Zlotoff the creator of MacGyver, announced on May 3, 2008, that a MacGyver film was in production. Anderson has expressed interest in revisiting his role, however there is no word on who will be playing the role of MacGyver in the film.

Anderson cameoed as Angus MacGyver in what seemed to be a Saturday Night Live advertisement parody featuring the show's recurring character MacGruber (portrayed by Will Forte), but was rather a real commercial for both Saturday Night Live and Pepsi, in which the titular character becomes obsessed with the soft drink. This aired three times during the January 31, 2009 SNL broadcast, and the second part aired again during Super Bowl XLIII on the following day.

Anderson has also played the role of General Jack O'Neill in Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe which first aired in October 2009.
Producer and composer career

Anderson composed a song for a soundtrack for MacGyver. He has served as an executive producer only in the five shows in which he has acted himself: MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis, MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday, Stargate SG-1, Firehouse and From Stargate to Atlantis: Sci Fi Lowdown. Anderson composed the song "Eau d'Leo" for the MacGyver episode "The Negotiator".

Together with Michael Greenburg, Anderson created the Gekko Film Corporation. The company was involved with Stargate SG-1, producing every episode from 1997-2007 with the exception of 2006. The company itself has served as Anderson backing agency.
Personal life

Anderson has divided time between Vancouver, Los Angeles, and northern Minnesota. Never married, Anderson has one child with Apryl Prose, who gave birth to their daughter Wylie Quinn Annarose Anderson, on August 2, 1998. They split a few years later. Anderson left Stargate SG-1 because he wanted to spend more time with his daughter:
“ "Being a father, well, I don't know if this is a change, but it makes me want to get out of here faster. Get off the clock. Just 'cause the baby is my reason for living, my reason for coming to work." ”

Anderson has supported Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization trying to stop water pollution. Anderson is a member of the Board of Trustees for Challengers Boys and Girls Club, a youth organization established in 1968 with the help of MacGyver producer Stephen Downing. He received the 1995 Celebrity Award from the Make-a-Wish Foundation because of his commitment to the foundation. He is also a supporter for various Sclerosis Society non-profit organizations and has done several public service announcements to show his support for the various organizations. Anderson is an avid supporter of the Special Olympics and was one of many speakers at the 1991 opening ceremonies. In recent years, he has helped several environmental organizations around the world. He is a member of Board of Advisors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and has worked with the members of Earth Rivers Expeditions to Produce River Project.
Filmography
Starring roles
Year Title Role Other notes
1976 General Hospital Dr. Jeff Webber (1976–1981) TV Series
1982 Young Doctors in Love Drug Dealer (uncredited)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Adam McFadden (1982–1983) TV Series
1983 Emerald Point N.A.S. Navy Lt. Simon Adams TV Series
DC CAB Bad Guy
1985-1992 MacGyver Angus MacGyver (1985–1992) TV Series
1986 Ordinary Heroes Tony Kaiser
Odd Jobs Spud
1992 In the Eyes of a Stranger Jack Rourke TV
Through the Eyes of a Killer Ray Bellano TV
1994 MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis Angus MacGyver TV
Beyond Betrayal Bradley Matthews TV
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday Angus MacGyver TV
1995 Legend Ernest Pratt/Nicodemus Legend TV Series
Past the Bleachers Bill Parish TV
1996 Pandora's Clock Capt. James Holland TV
1997 Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game Mayor Killian Darkwater (voice) Video Game
Firehouse Lt. Michael Brooks TV
1997–2005 Stargate SG-1 Colonel/Brigadier General/Major General Jack O'Neill (USAF) (1997–2005) (recurring 2005-2007) TV Series
2005 Stargate SG-1: The Alliance (Cancelled) AF Brigadier General Jack O'Neill (voice) Video Game
2006 MasterCard Super Bowl XL Commercial Angus MacGyver (never explicitly identified) TV Commercial
2008 Stargate: Continuum Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF Direct-to-DVD Movie
2009 Pepsi "MacGruber" Super Bowl XLIII Commercial MacGyver (named in spot#1, alluded in spots 2 and 3) TV Commercial
TBA Stargate: Revolution Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, USAF Direct-to-DVD Movie
Guest-starring roles
Year Title Role Episode
1981 The Facts of Life Brian Parker 2.16 "Brian and Sylvia"
Today's F.B.I. Andy McFey "The Fugitive"
1982 The Love Boat Carter Randall 5.24 "Isaac Gets Physical/She Brought Her Mother Along/Cold Feet"
1990 The Arsenio Hall Show Himself
The Joan Rivers Show Himself
1991 The Joan Rivers Show Himself
The Arsenio Hall Show Himself
1992 The Arsenio Hall Show Himself
1996 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Himself
1997 Newton's Apple Himself
1998 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Himself
2000 Donny & Marie Himself
The Martin Short Show Himself
National Geographic Explorer Himself "North America's Last True Wilderness"
2004 The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn Himself
Stargate Atlantis Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, USAF 1.1 "Rising (Part 1)"
2005 Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 9.1 "Avalon (Part 1)"
Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF z9.3 "Origin"
2006 The Simpsons Himself (voice) 17.17 "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore"
Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 10.6 "200"
Stargate Atlantis Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 3.6 "The Real World"
Stargate Atlantis Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 3.10/3.11 "The Return"
2007 Stargate SG-1 Major General Jack O'Neill, USAF 10.14 "The Shroud"
2009 Stargate Universe Lt. General Jack O'Neill, USAF 1.01 "Air", 1.07 "Earth"
Producer
Year Title Role Other notes
1994 MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis Executive Producer TV
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday Executive Producer TV
1997 Stargate SG-1 Executive Producer TV Series
Firehouse Executive Producer TV
2004 From Stargate to Atlantis: Sci Fi Lowdown Executive Producer TV
Composer
Year Title Other notes
1988 MacGyver TV Series (song "Eau d'Leo" in episode "The Negotiator")
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx42/rda_bandwidth/firehouse/Firehouse042.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l52/Jellyman_87/RDA.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y147/RayTheBishie/bio1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/mawilson78/mcgyver.jpg




I remember him on MacGyver.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/23/10 at 7:55 am

The firehouse in Ponce, PR

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/32/41774619_e0b3eb7625.jpg?v=0


This is NOT my photo. I have yet to get a good shot of this building.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/23/10 at 8:03 am


The firehouse in Ponce, PR

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/32/41774619_e0b3eb7625.jpg?v=0


This is NOT my photo. I have yet to get a good shot of this building.



Cat

That's a nice looking firehouse.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/10 at 3:10 am

The word of the day...Fool
If you call someone a fool, you are indicating that you think they are not at all sensible and show a lack of good judgment.
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo204/passage44/2008-fool-moon.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e334/puzzlessue/Holiday/HappyAprilFoolsCanSmiley.gif
http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/jacksonjedi/scentofafool.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e85/kmmy80/Love%20and%20Heartache/4a2240de.jpg
http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp214/darksalamander/Sora_Hit_Fool_.gif
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/neith_album/UFT/Universal_Fantasy_-_0_-_Der_Narr.jpg
http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz158/jimferg/new%20beginnings/mistertbn.jpg
http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/Zapa2Soul/Soul%201/Vesuvius/VU1002-A.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/10 at 3:13 am

The birthday of the day...Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville (born January 24, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American soul and R&B singer. He made his debut in 1966 with the hit single "Tell It Like It Is", a Number One hit on the Billboard R&B charts. Neville did not chart again, however, until 1989, when he collaborated with Linda Ronstadt on three consecutive duets: "Don't Know Much", "All My Life", and "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", of which the first two reached Number One on the Adult Contemporary charts. Neville has released more than 20 singles, including three Number Ones on the Adult Contemporary format, and a fourth on the R&B format.
Aaron Neville has had a career as a solo artist and as one of The Neville Brothers. Of mixed African American and Native American heritage, his music also features Cajun and Creole influences.

Neville first came to public recognition with "Tell It Like It Is" which topped Billboard's R&B chart for five weeks in 1967. It also reached #2 on the Hot 100. A remake of the song was a Top 10 Pop hit for the Rock group Heart featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1981.

In 1989 Neville teamed up with Linda Ronstadt on the album Cry Like A Rainstorm - Howl Like The Wind. Among the duets recorded for the disc were the #1 Grammy-winning hits "Don't Know Much" and "All My Life". "Don't Know Much" was certified Gold while the album was certified Triple Platinum for US sales of more than 3 million.

His other hits have included "Everybody Plays the Fool", his successful 1991 cover of the 1972 Main Ingredient song, that reached #8 on the Hot 100; "Don't Take Away My Heaven", "Hercules" and "Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song)." Neville's biggest solo successes have been on the Adult Contemporary chart, where "Don't Know Much," "All My Life," and "Everybody Plays the Fool" all reached Number One.

In August 2005 his home in Eastern New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina; he evacuated to Memphis, Tennessee before the hurricane hit. He moved to Nashville after the storm, and had yet to return to the city as of early 2008, causing the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to temporarily change its tradition of having the Neville Brothers close the festival. However, the Neville Brothers, including Aaron, returned for the 2008 Jazzfest, which returned to its traditional seven-day format for the first time since Katrina. Neville is in the process of moving back to the New Orleans area, namely the North Shore city of Covington. Neville performed Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" during NBC's A Concert for Hurricane Relief on September 2, 2005.

Aaron signed to SonyBMG's new Burgundy Records label in late 2005 and recorded an album of songs by Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke and others for Bring It on Home…The Soul Classics, released on September 19, 2006. The album, produced by Stewart Levine, features collaborations between Neville and Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Chris Botti, David Sanborn, Art Neville, and others. The album's first single was a remake of The Impressions' 1963 classic "It's All Right."
Aaron Neville with his distinctive mole visible above his right eye (1990)

Neville's career has included work for television, movies and sporting events. Neville sang the National Anthem in the movie The Fan starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. He also sang the anthem at the WWF's SummerSlam 1993 and at WCW Spring Stampede in 1994. Neville sang the theme music to the children's TV series Fisher-Price Little People. He also sang a new version of "Cotton," for Cotton, Inc. which was introduced during the 1992 Summer Olympics. In 1988 he recorded "Mickey Mouse March" for Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, one of Various Artists. In 2006, Neville sang "The Star-Spangled Banner", alongside Queen Of Soul Aretha Franklin and Dr. John on keyboard at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan. In addition, Neville (along with brothers Art and Cyril) did background vocals for the songs "Great Heart", "Bring Back the Magic", "Homemade Music", "My Barracuda", and "Smart Woman (in a Real Short Skirt)" on Jimmy Buffett's Hot Water, released in 1988.

On October 27, 2006, Neville made a guest appearance on an episode of the soap opera The Young and the Restless. He sang "Stand By Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine", from his new album, Bring It on Home…The Soul Classics. In 2008 Aaron released Gold, which includes two CDs of his hits.

Neville's oldest son Ivan is also a musician and released an album, If My Ancestors Could See Me Now, in 1988, which yielded a Top 40 hit with "Not Just Another Girl." Ivan has also performed with the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt, and played bass for Keith Richards on his first solo tour. Ivan then assembled his own band (Ivan Neville's Dumpstphunk)which tours and frequently appears in New Orleans.

Aaron's third son, Jason, is a vocalist and rap artist who has performed with his father and with the Neville Brothers, notably at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Aaron Neville is an inductee of the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday.

In 2009, Aaron Neville, along with the Mt. Zion Mass Choir, released a version of the song “A Change Is Gonna Come” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day.
Spiritual life

Neville is a Roman Catholic with a devotion to St. Jude, to whom he has credited his success and survival. He wears a St. Jude Medal as a left earring.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album Chart Positions Certifications Label
US R&B US Christian US Gospel US Jazz US CAN US CAN
1965 Tell It Like It Is — — — — — — — — Par-Lo Records
1986 Orchid in the Storm — — — — — — — — Rhino
1991 Warm Your Heart 62 — — — 44 25 Platinum Gold A&M
1993 The Grand Tour — — — — 37 — Platinum Gold
Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas — — — — 36 — Platinum Gold
1995 The Tattooed Heart 50 — — — 64 — Gold —
1997 To Make Me Who I Am 73 — — — 188 — — —
2000 Devotion — 28 7 — — — — — Chordant
2002 Humdinger — — — — — — — — EMI
2003 Believe — 14 2 — 191 — — — Telit
Nature Boy: The Standards Album 85 — — 1 — — — — Verve
2005 Gospel Roots — — — — — — — — Chordant
2005 Christmas Prayer 74 14 3 — — — — — EMI Gospel
2006 Mojo Soul — — — — — — — — Music Avenue
Bring It On Home... The Soul Classics 20 — — — 37 — — — Burgundy
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US US AC US R&B US Country CAN CAN AC CAN Country
1960 "Over You" 111 — 21 — — — — Singles only
1966 "Tell It Like It Is" 2 1 1 — — 2 —
1967 "She Took You for a Ride" 92 — — — — — —
1989 "Don't Know Much" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) 2 1 — — 4 1 — Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind
(Linda Ronstadt album)
1990 "All My Life" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) 11 1 — — 10 1 —
"When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) 78 5 — — 29 — —
1991 "Everybody Plays the Fool" 8 1 — — 19 — — Warm Your Heart
"Somewhere Somebody" — 6 — — 43 15 —
1992 "Close Your Eyes" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) — — — — 90 — —
1993 "Don't Take Away My Heaven" 56 4 — — 17 12 — The Grand Tour
"The Grand Tour" 90 — — 38 — — 58
"Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" — 26 — — 37 — —
1994 "I Owe You One" — — — — 51 29 —
"I Fall to Pieces" (w/ Trisha Yearwood) — — — 72 — — — Rhythm, Country and Blues
"Even If My Heart Would Break" (w/ Kenny G.) 122 — — — — — — The Bodyguard soundtrack
"Betcha By Golly, Wow" — — — — 32 — — The Grand Tour
1995 "Can't Stop My Heart from Loving You (The Rain Song)" 99 23 — — — — — The Tattooed Heart
"For the Good Times" — — — — — — —
1996 "Use Me" — — 93 — — — —
"Crazy Love" (w/ Robbie Robertson) — 25 — — — — — Phenomenon (soundtrack)
"That's What My Love Is For" (w/ Anne Murray) — — — — — 15 — Anne Murray (Anne Murray album)
1997 "Say What's in My Heart" — 26 — — — — — To Make Me Who I Am
2006 "It's All Right"A — 28 — — — — — Bring It On Home... The Soul Classics

    * A"It's All Right" peaked at #12 on Hot Contemporary Jazz Songs.

Compilations

    * Love Songs (2003)
    * Gold(2008)
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x99/samuraipizzacriss/aaron_neville.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p82/sabrinanorman/AaronNeville.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m70/funnyguy308/Arm-Aaron-Neville-Tell-Like.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o165/painted_klown/Neville.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/10 at 3:22 am

The person of the day...Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, historian, writer, and artist. He was the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and the first person to be recognised as an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, in the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in World War I, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government. During the war he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He returned as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. In the interwar years, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and led Britain to victory against the Axis powers. Churchill was always noted for his speeches, which became a great inspiration to the British people and embattled Allied forces.

After losing the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951, he again became Prime Minister before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, the Queen granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.
Winston is back"

After the outbreak of World War II, on 3 September 1939 the day Britain declared war on Germany, Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and a member of the War Cabinet, just as he had been during the first part of World War I. When they were informed, the Board of the Admiralty sent a signal to the Fleet: "Winston is back". In this job, he proved to be one of the highest-profile ministers during the so-called "Phoney War", when the only noticeable action was at sea. Churchill advocated the pre-emptive occupation of the neutral Norwegian iron-ore port of Narvik and the iron mines in Kiruna, Sweden, early in the war. However, Chamberlain and the rest of the War Cabinet disagreed, and the operation was delayed until the successful German invasion of Norway.
Churchill wears a helmet during an air raid warning in the Battle of Britain in 1940
Bitter beginnings of the war
See also: Attack on Mers-el-Kébir

On 10 May 1940, hours before the German invasion of France by a lightning advance through the Low Countries, it became clear that, following failure in Norway, the country had no confidence in Chamberlain's prosecution of the war and so Chamberlain resigned. The commonly accepted version of events states that Lord Halifax turned down the post of Prime Minister because he believed he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. Although the Prime Minister does not traditionally advise the King on the former's successor, Chamberlain wanted someone who would command the support of all three major parties in the House of Commons. A meeting between Chamberlain, Halifax, Churchill and David Margesson, the government Chief Whip, led to the recommendation of Churchill, and, as a constitutional monarch, George VI asked Churchill to be Prime Minister and to form an all-party government. Churchill's first act was to write to Chamberlain to thank him for his support.
Churchill takes aim with a Sten submachine gun in June 1941. The man in the pin-striped suit and trilby on Churchill's left is his bodyguard, Walter H. Thompson

Churchill had been among the first to recognise the growing threat of Hitler long before the outset of the Second World War, and his warnings had gone largely unheeded. Although there was an element of British public and political sentiment favouring negotiated peace with a clearly ascendant Germany, among them the Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, Churchill nonetheless refused to consider an armistice with Hitler's Germany. His use of rhetoric hardened public opinion against a peaceful resolution and prepared the British for a long war. Coining the general term for the upcoming battle, Churchill stated in his "finest hour" speech to the House of Commons on 18 June 1940, "I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin." By refusing an armistice with Germany, Churchill kept resistance alive in the British Empire and created the basis for the later Allied counter-attacks of 1942–45, with Britain serving as a platform for the supply of Soviet Union and the liberation of Western Europe.

In response to previous criticisms that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of the war, Churchill created and took the additional position of Minister of Defence. He immediately put his friend and confidant, the industrialist and newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, in charge of aircraft production. It was Beaverbrook's business acumen that allowed Britain to quickly gear up aircraft production and engineering that eventually made the difference in the war.
Winston Churchill walks through the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, 1941

Churchill's speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled British. His first speech as Prime Minister was the famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat". He followed that closely with two other equally famous ones, given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the words:

    ... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

The other:

    Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'.

Churchill with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Field Marshal Alan Brooke, 1944

At the height of the Battle of Britain, his bracing survey of the situation included the memorable line "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", which engendered the enduring nickname The Few for the RAF fighter pilots who won it. One of his most memorable war speeches came on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon at Mansion House in London, in response to the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Churchill stated:

    This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Without having much in the way of sustenance or good news to offer the British people, he took a political risk in deliberately choosing to emphasise the dangers instead.

"Rhetorical power", wrote Churchill, "is neither wholly bestowed, nor wholly acquired, but cultivated." Not all were impressed by his oratory. Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia and himself a gifted phrase-maker, said of Churchill during World War II: "His real tyrant is the glittering phrase so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way." Another associate wrote: "He is... the slave of the words which his mind forms about ideas.... And he can convince himself of almost every truth if it is once allowed thus to start on its wild career through his rhetorical machinery."
Relations with the United States
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943

Churchill's good relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt secured vital food, oil and munitions via the North Atlantic shipping routes. It was for this reason that Churchill was relieved when Roosevelt was re-elected in 1940. Upon re-election, Roosevelt immediately set about implementing a new method of providing military hardware and shipping to Britain without the need for monetary payment. Put simply, Roosevelt persuaded Congress that repayment for this immensely costly service would take the form of defending the US; and so Lend-lease was born. Churchill had 12 strategic conferences with Roosevelt which covered the Atlantic Charter, Europe first strategy, the Declaration by the United Nations and other war policies. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, Churchill's first thought in anticipation of US help was, "We have won the war!" On 26 December 1941, Churchill addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress, asking of Germany and Japan, "What kind of people do they think we are?" Churchill initiated the Special Operations Executive (SOE) under Hugh Dalton's Ministry of Economic Warfare, which established, conducted and fostered covert, subversive and partisan operations in occupied territories with notable success; and also the Commandos which established the pattern for most of the world's current Special Forces. The Russians referred to him as the "British Bulldog".

Churchill's health was fragile, as shown by a mild heart attack he suffered in December 1941 at the White House and also in December 1943 when he contracted pneumonia. Despite this, he travelled over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) throughout the war to meet other national leaders. For security, he usually travelled using the alias Colonel Warden.

Churchill was party to treaties that would redraw post-World War II European and Asian boundaries. These were discussed as early as 1943. At the Second Quebec Conference in 1944 he drafted and, together with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signed a toned-down version of the original Morgenthau Plan, in which they pledged to convert Germany after its unconditional surrender "into a country primarily agricultural and pastoral in its character." Proposals for European boundaries and settlements were officially agreed to by Harry S. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin at Potsdam. Churchill's strong relationship with Harry Truman was also of great significance to both countries. While he clearly regretted the loss of his close friend and counterpart Roosevelt, Churchill was enormously supportive of Truman in his first days in office, calling him, "the type of leader the world needs when it needs him most."
Relations with the Soviet Union
Churchill secretly meets with President Ismet Inönü at the Yenice Station 15 miles (24 km) outside of Adana in south-east Turkey, on 30 January 1943

When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill, a vehement anti-Communist, famously stated "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons," regarding his policy toward Stalin. Soon, British supplies and tanks were flowing to help the Soviet Union.

The settlement concerning the borders of Poland, that is, the boundary between Poland and the Soviet Union and between Germany and Poland, was viewed as a betrayal in Poland during the post-war years, as it was established against the views of the Polish government in exile. It was Winston Churchill, who tried to motivate Mikołajczyk, who was Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, to accept Stalin's wishes, but Mikołajczyk refused. Churchill was convinced that the only way to alleviate tensions between the two populations was the transfer of people, to match the national borders.

As he expounded in the House of Commons on 15 December 1944, "Expulsion is the method which, insofar as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble... A clean sweep will be made. I am not alarmed by these transferences, which are more possible in modern conditions." However the resulting expulsions of Germans were carried out in a way which resulted in much hardship and, according to a 1966 report by the West German Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons, the death of over 2.1 million. Churchill opposed the effective annexation of Poland by the Soviet Union and wrote bitterly about it in his books, but he was unable to prevent it at the conferences.
Winston Churchill at the Yalta Conference, with Roosevelt and Stalin beside him

During October 1944, he and Eden were in Moscow to meet with the Russian leadership. At this point, Russian forces were beginning to advance into various eastern European countries. Churchill held the view that until everything was formally and properly worked out at the Yalta conference, there had to be a temporary, war-time, working agreement with regard to who would run what. The most significant of these meetings were held on 9 October 1944 in the Kremlin between Churchill and Stalin. During the meeting, Poland and the Balkan problems were discussed. Churchill recounted his speech to Stalin on the day:

    Let us settle about our affairs in the Balkans. Your armies are in Rumania and Bulgaria. We have interests, missions, and agents there. Don't let us get at cross-purposes in small ways. So far as Britain and Russia are concerned, how would it do for you to have ninety per cent predominance in Rumania, for us to have ninety per cent of the say in Greece, and go fifty-fifty about Yugoslavia?

Stalin agreed to this Percentages Agreement, ticking a piece of paper as he heard the translation. In 1958, five years after the recount of this meeting was published (in The Second World War), authorities of the Soviet denied that Stalin accepted the "imperialist proposal".

One of the conclusions of the Yalta Conference was that the Allies would return all Soviet citizens that found themselves in the Allied zone to the Soviet Union. This immediately affected the Soviet prisoners of war liberated by the Allies, but was also extended to all Eastern European refugees. Solzhenitsyn called the Operation Keelhaul "the last secret of World War II." The operation decided the fate of up to two million post-war refugees fleeing eastern Europe.
Dresden bombings controversy
Main article: Bombing of Dresden in World War II
Historical footage of the destruction of Dresden, February 1945

Between 13 February and 15 February 1945, British and the US bombers attacked the German city of Dresden, which was crowded with German wounded and refugees. Because of the cultural importance of the city, and of the number of civilian casualties close to the end of the war, this remains one of the most controversial Western Allied actions of the war. Following the bombing Churchill stated in a top secret telegram:

    It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed... I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.

On reflection, under pressure from the Chiefs of Staff and in response to the views expressed by Sir Charles Portal (Chief of the Air Staff,) and Arthur Harris (AOC-in-C of RAF Bomber Command), among others, Churchill withdrew his memo and issued a new one. This final version of the memo completed on 1 April 1945, stated:

    It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of the so called 'area-bombing' of German cities should be reviewed from the point of view of our own interests. If we come into control of an entirely ruined land, there will be a great shortage of accommodation for ourselves and our allies... We must see to it that our attacks do no more harm to ourselves in the long run than they do to the enemy's war effort.

Ultimately, responsibility for the British part of the attack lay with Churchill, which is why he has been criticised for allowing the bombings to happen. The German historian Jörg Friedrich, claims that "Winston Churchill's decision to bomb a shattered Germany between January and May 1945 was a war crime" and writing in 2006 the philosopher A. C. Grayling questioned the whole strategic bombing campaign by the RAF presenting the argument that although it was not a war crime it was a moral crime and undermines the Allies contention that they fought a just war. On the other hand, it has also been asserted that Churchill's involvement in the bombing of Dresden was based on the strategic and tactical aspects of winning the war. The destruction of Dresden, while immense, was designed to expedite the defeat of Germany. As the historian Max Hastings said in an article subtitled, "the Allied Bombing of Dresden": "I believe it is wrong to describe strategic bombing as a war crime, for this might be held to suggest some moral equivalence with the deeds of the Nazis. Bombing represented a sincere, albeit mistaken, attempt to bring about Germany's military defeat." Furthermore British historian, Frederick Taylor asserts that "All sides bombed each other's cities during the war. Half a million Soviet citizens, for example, died from German bombing during the invasion and occupation of Russia. That's roughly equivalent to the number of German citizens who died from Allied raids. But the Allied bombing campaign was attached to military operations and ceased as soon as military operations ceased."
The Second World War ends
Churchill waves to crowds in Whitheall on the day he broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945.

In June 1944, the Allied Forces invaded Normandy and pushed the Nazi forces back into Germany on a broad front over the coming year. After being attacked on three fronts by the Allies, and in spite of Allied failures, such as Operation Market Garden, and German counter-attacks, including the Battle of the Bulge, Germany was eventually defeated. On 7 May 1945 at the SHAEF headquarters in Rheims the Allies accepted Germany's surrender. On the same day in a BBC news flash John Snagge announced that 8 May would be Victory in Europe Day. On Victory in Europe Day, Churchill broadcast to the nation that Germany had surrendered and that a final cease fire on all fronts in Europe would come into effect at one minute past midnight that night. Afterwards Churchill told a huge crowd in Whitheall: "This is your victory." The people shouted: "No, it is yours", and Churchill then conducted them in the singing of Land of Hope and Glory. In the evening he made another broadcast to the nation asserting the defeat of Japan in the coming months. The Japanese later surrendered on 15 August 1945.

As Europe celebrated peace at the end of six years of war, Churchill was concerning on the possibility that the celebrations would soon be brutally interrupted. He concluded that the UK and the US must prepare for the Red Army ignoring previously agreed frontiers and agreements in Europe "to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and the British Empire." According to the Operation Unthinkable plan ordered by Churchill and developed by the British Armed Forces, the Third World War could have started on 1 July 1945 with a sudden attack against the allied Soviet troops. The plan was rejected by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as militarily unfeasible. However this decision didn't stop the further development of the war plans: with the beginning of an arms race, the militarily unfeasible Third World War developed instead into the Cold War doctrine.
Return to government and the decline of the British Empire

After the General Election of 1951, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His third government—after the wartime national government and the brief caretaker government of 1945—lasted until his resignation in 1955. His domestic priorities in his last government were overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crises, which were partly the result of the continued decline of British military and imperial prestige and power. Being a strong proponent of Britain as an international power, Churchill would often meet such moments with direct action. One example was his dispatch of British troops to Kenya to deal with the Mau Mau rebellion. Trying to retain what he could of the Empire, he once stated that, "I will not preside over a dismemberment."
War in Malaya

This was followed by events which became known as the Malayan Emergency. In Malaya, a rebellion against British rule had been in progress since 1948. Once again, Churchill's government inherited a crisis, and Churchill chose to use direct military action against those in rebellion while attempting to build an alliance with those who were not. While the rebellion was slowly being defeated, it was equally clear that colonial rule from Britain was no longer sustainable.
Relations with the United States

Churchill also devoted much of his time in office to Anglo-American relations and although Churchill did not always agree with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Churchill attempted to maintain the Special Relationship with the United States. He made four official transatlantic visits to America during his second term as Prime Minister.
The series of strokes

Churchill had suffered a mild stroke while on holiday in the south of France in the summer of 1949. In June 1953, when he was 78, Churchill suffered a more severe stroke at 10 Downing Street. News of this was kept from the public and from Parliament, who were told that Churchill was suffering from exhaustion. He went to his country home, Chartwell, to recuperate from the effects of the stroke which had affected his speech and ability to walk. He returned to public life in October to make a speech at a Conservative Party conference at Margate. However, aware that he was slowing down both physically and mentally, Churchill retired as Prime Minister in 1955 and was succeeded by Anthony Eden. He suffered another mild stroke in February 1956.
Retirement and death
Churchill spent much of his retirement at his home Chartwell in Kent. He purchased it in 1922 after his daughter Mary was born.

Elizabeth II offered to create Churchill Duke of London, but this was declined due to the objections of his son Randolph, who would have inherited the title on his father's death. After leaving the premiership, Churchill spent less time in parliament until he stood down at the 1964 General Election. As a mere "back-bencher," Churchill spent most of his retirement at Chartwell and at his home in Hyde Park Gate, in London. In the 1959 General Election Churchill's majority fell by more than a thousand, since many young voters in his constituency did not support an 85-year-old who could only enter the House of Commons in a wheelchair. As his mental and physical faculties decayed, he began to lose the battle he had fought for so long against the "black dog" of depression. There was speculation that Churchill may have had Alzheimer's disease in his last years, although others maintain that his reduced mental capacity was merely the result of a series of strokes. In 1963, US President John F. Kennedy, acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed him an Honorary Citizen of the United States, but he was unable to attend the White House ceremony. On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke that left him gravely ill. He died at his home nine days later, at age 90, on the morning of Sunday 24 January 1965, coincidentally 70 years to the day after his father's death.
Funeral
Churchill's grave at St Martin's Church, Bladon

By decree of the Queen, his body lay in state for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral. As his coffin passed down the Thames from Tower Pier to Festival Pier on the Havengore, dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute. The Royal Artillery fired a 19-gun salute (as head of government), and the RAF staged a fly-by of sixteen English Electric Lightning fighters. The coffin was then taken the short distance to Waterloo Station where it was loaded onto a specially prepared and painted carriage as part of the funeral train for its rail journey to Bladon. The funeral also saw one of the largest assemblages of statesmen in the world. The funeral train of Pullman coaches carrying his family mourners was hauled by Bulleid Pacific steam locomotive No. 34051 "Winston Churchill". In the fields along the route, and at the stations through which the train passed, thousands stood in silence to pay their last respects. At Churchill's request, he was buried in the family plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. Churchill's funeral van – Southern Railway Van S2464S – is now part of a preservation project with the Swanage Railway having been repatriated to the UK in 2007 from the USA where it was exported in 1965
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n175/cityondown09/winston-churchill.jpg
http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww241/elford_09/winston_churchill.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/msuwildlifer/Heros/churchill.jpg
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz199/lrich18/London%202010/IMG_0055.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 3:23 am

ninny, up early today?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 3:24 am


The word of the day...Fool
If you call someone a fool, you are indicating that you think they are not at all sensible and show a lack of good judgment.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZHwf5q22g

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 3:26 am


The person of the day...Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, historian, writer, and artist. He was the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and the first person to be recognised as an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, in the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in World War I, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government. During the war he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He returned as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. In the interwar years, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative government.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and led Britain to victory against the Axis powers. Churchill was always noted for his speeches, which became a great inspiration to the British people and embattled Allied forces.

After losing the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951, he again became Prime Minister before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, the Queen granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.
Winston is back"

After the outbreak of World War II, on 3 September 1939 the day Britain declared war on Germany, Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and a member of the War Cabinet, just as he had been during the first part of World War I. When they were informed, the Board of the Admiralty sent a signal to the Fleet: "Winston is back". In this job, he proved to be one of the highest-profile ministers during the so-called "Phoney War", when the only noticeable action was at sea. Churchill advocated the pre-emptive occupation of the neutral Norwegian iron-ore port of Narvik and the iron mines in Kiruna, Sweden, early in the war. However, Chamberlain and the rest of the War Cabinet disagreed, and the operation was delayed until the successful German invasion of Norway.
Churchill wears a helmet during an air raid warning in the Battle of Britain in 1940
Bitter beginnings of the war
See also: Attack on Mers-el-Kébir

On 10 May 1940, hours before the German invasion of France by a lightning advance through the Low Countries, it became clear that, following failure in Norway, the country had no confidence in Chamberlain's prosecution of the war and so Chamberlain resigned. The commonly accepted version of events states that Lord Halifax turned down the post of Prime Minister because he believed he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. Although the Prime Minister does not traditionally advise the King on the former's successor, Chamberlain wanted someone who would command the support of all three major parties in the House of Commons. A meeting between Chamberlain, Halifax, Churchill and David Margesson, the government Chief Whip, led to the recommendation of Churchill, and, as a constitutional monarch, George VI asked Churchill to be Prime Minister and to form an all-party government. Churchill's first act was to write to Chamberlain to thank him for his support.
Churchill takes aim with a Sten submachine gun in June 1941. The man in the pin-striped suit and trilby on Churchill's left is his bodyguard, Walter H. Thompson

Churchill had been among the first to recognise the growing threat of Hitler long before the outset of the Second World War, and his warnings had gone largely unheeded. Although there was an element of British public and political sentiment favouring negotiated peace with a clearly ascendant Germany, among them the Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, Churchill nonetheless refused to consider an armistice with Hitler's Germany. His use of rhetoric hardened public opinion against a peaceful resolution and prepared the British for a long war. Coining the general term for the upcoming battle, Churchill stated in his "finest hour" speech to the House of Commons on 18 June 1940, "I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin." By refusing an armistice with Germany, Churchill kept resistance alive in the British Empire and created the basis for the later Allied counter-attacks of 1942–45, with Britain serving as a platform for the supply of Soviet Union and the liberation of Western Europe.

In response to previous criticisms that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of the war, Churchill created and took the additional position of Minister of Defence. He immediately put his friend and confidant, the industrialist and newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, in charge of aircraft production. It was Beaverbrook's business acumen that allowed Britain to quickly gear up aircraft production and engineering that eventually made the difference in the war.
Winston Churchill walks through the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, 1941

Churchill's speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled British. His first speech as Prime Minister was the famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat". He followed that closely with two other equally famous ones, given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the words:

    ... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

The other:

    Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'.

Churchill with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Field Marshal Alan Brooke, 1944

At the height of the Battle of Britain, his bracing survey of the situation included the memorable line "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", which engendered the enduring nickname The Few for the RAF fighter pilots who won it. One of his most memorable war speeches came on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon at Mansion House in London, in response to the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Churchill stated:

    This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Without having much in the way of sustenance or good news to offer the British people, he took a political risk in deliberately choosing to emphasise the dangers instead.

"Rhetorical power", wrote Churchill, "is neither wholly bestowed, nor wholly acquired, but cultivated." Not all were impressed by his oratory. Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia and himself a gifted phrase-maker, said of Churchill during World War II: "His real tyrant is the glittering phrase so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way." Another associate wrote: "He is... the slave of the words which his mind forms about ideas.... And he can convince himself of almost every truth if it is once allowed thus to start on its wild career through his rhetorical machinery."
Relations with the United States
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943

Churchill's good relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt secured vital food, oil and munitions via the North Atlantic shipping routes. It was for this reason that Churchill was relieved when Roosevelt was re-elected in 1940. Upon re-election, Roosevelt immediately set about implementing a new method of providing military hardware and shipping to Britain without the need for monetary payment. Put simply, Roosevelt persuaded Congress that repayment for this immensely costly service would take the form of defending the US; and so Lend-lease was born. Churchill had 12 strategic conferences with Roosevelt which covered the Atlantic Charter, Europe first strategy, the Declaration by the United Nations and other war policies. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, Churchill's first thought in anticipation of US help was, "We have won the war!" On 26 December 1941, Churchill addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress, asking of Germany and Japan, "What kind of people do they think we are?" Churchill initiated the Special Operations Executive (SOE) under Hugh Dalton's Ministry of Economic Warfare, which established, conducted and fostered covert, subversive and partisan operations in occupied territories with notable success; and also the Commandos which established the pattern for most of the world's current Special Forces. The Russians referred to him as the "British Bulldog".

Churchill's health was fragile, as shown by a mild heart attack he suffered in December 1941 at the White House and also in December 1943 when he contracted pneumonia. Despite this, he travelled over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) throughout the war to meet other national leaders. For security, he usually travelled using the alias Colonel Warden.

Churchill was party to treaties that would redraw post-World War II European and Asian boundaries. These were discussed as early as 1943. At the Second Quebec Conference in 1944 he drafted and, together with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signed a toned-down version of the original Morgenthau Plan, in which they pledged to convert Germany after its unconditional surrender "into a country primarily agricultural and pastoral in its character." Proposals for European boundaries and settlements were officially agreed to by Harry S. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin at Potsdam. Churchill's strong relationship with Harry Truman was also of great significance to both countries. While he clearly regretted the loss of his close friend and counterpart Roosevelt, Churchill was enormously supportive of Truman in his first days in office, calling him, "the type of leader the world needs when it needs him most."
Relations with the Soviet Union
Churchill secretly meets with President Ismet Inönü at the Yenice Station 15 miles (24 km) outside of Adana in south-east Turkey, on 30 January 1943

When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill, a vehement anti-Communist, famously stated "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons," regarding his policy toward Stalin. Soon, British supplies and tanks were flowing to help the Soviet Union.

The settlement concerning the borders of Poland, that is, the boundary between Poland and the Soviet Union and between Germany and Poland, was viewed as a betrayal in Poland during the post-war years, as it was established against the views of the Polish government in exile. It was Winston Churchill, who tried to motivate Mikołajczyk, who was Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, to accept Stalin's wishes, but Mikołajczyk refused. Churchill was convinced that the only way to alleviate tensions between the two populations was the transfer of people, to match the national borders.

As he expounded in the House of Commons on 15 December 1944, "Expulsion is the method which, insofar as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble... A clean sweep will be made. I am not alarmed by these transferences, which are more possible in modern conditions." However the resulting expulsions of Germans were carried out in a way which resulted in much hardship and, according to a 1966 report by the West German Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons, the death of over 2.1 million. Churchill opposed the effective annexation of Poland by the Soviet Union and wrote bitterly about it in his books, but he was unable to prevent it at the conferences.
Winston Churchill at the Yalta Conference, with Roosevelt and Stalin beside him

During October 1944, he and Eden were in Moscow to meet with the Russian leadership. At this point, Russian forces were beginning to advance into various eastern European countries. Churchill held the view that until everything was formally and properly worked out at the Yalta conference, there had to be a temporary, war-time, working agreement with regard to who would run what. The most significant of these meetings were held on 9 October 1944 in the Kremlin between Churchill and Stalin. During the meeting, Poland and the Balkan problems were discussed. Churchill recounted his speech to Stalin on the day:

    Let us settle about our affairs in the Balkans. Your armies are in Rumania and Bulgaria. We have interests, missions, and agents there. Don't let us get at cross-purposes in small ways. So far as Britain and Russia are concerned, how would it do for you to have ninety per cent predominance in Rumania, for us to have ninety per cent of the say in Greece, and go fifty-fifty about Yugoslavia?

Stalin agreed to this Percentages Agreement, ticking a piece of paper as he heard the translation. In 1958, five years after the recount of this meeting was published (in The Second World War), authorities of the Soviet denied that Stalin accepted the "imperialist proposal".

One of the conclusions of the Yalta Conference was that the Allies would return all Soviet citizens that found themselves in the Allied zone to the Soviet Union. This immediately affected the Soviet prisoners of war liberated by the Allies, but was also extended to all Eastern European refugees. Solzhenitsyn called the Operation Keelhaul "the last secret of World War II." The operation decided the fate of up to two million post-war refugees fleeing eastern Europe.
Dresden bombings controversy
Main article: Bombing of Dresden in World War II
Historical footage of the destruction of Dresden, February 1945

Between 13 February and 15 February 1945, British and the US bombers attacked the German city of Dresden, which was crowded with German wounded and refugees. Because of the cultural importance of the city, and of the number of civilian casualties close to the end of the war, this remains one of the most controversial Western Allied actions of the war. Following the bombing Churchill stated in a top secret telegram:

    It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed... I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.

On reflection, under pressure from the Chiefs of Staff and in response to the views expressed by Sir Charles Portal (Chief of the Air Staff,) and Arthur Harris (AOC-in-C of RAF Bomber Command), among others, Churchill withdrew his memo and issued a new one. This final version of the memo completed on 1 April 1945, stated:

    It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of the so called 'area-bombing' of German cities should be reviewed from the point of view of our own interests. If we come into control of an entirely ruined land, there will be a great shortage of accommodation for ourselves and our allies... We must see to it that our attacks do no more harm to ourselves in the long run than they do to the enemy's war effort.

Ultimately, responsibility for the British part of the attack lay with Churchill, which is why he has been criticised for allowing the bombings to happen. The German historian Jörg Friedrich, claims that "Winston Churchill's decision to bomb a shattered Germany between January and May 1945 was a war crime" and writing in 2006 the philosopher A. C. Grayling questioned the whole strategic bombing campaign by the RAF presenting the argument that although it was not a war crime it was a moral crime and undermines the Allies contention that they fought a just war. On the other hand, it has also been asserted that Churchill's involvement in the bombing of Dresden was based on the strategic and tactical aspects of winning the war. The destruction of Dresden, while immense, was designed to expedite the defeat of Germany. As the historian Max Hastings said in an article subtitled, "the Allied Bombing of Dresden": "I believe it is wrong to describe strategic bombing as a war crime, for this might be held to suggest some moral equivalence with the deeds of the Nazis. Bombing represented a sincere, albeit mistaken, attempt to bring about Germany's military defeat." Furthermore British historian, Frederick Taylor asserts that "All sides bombed each other's cities during the war. Half a million Soviet citizens, for example, died from German bombing during the invasion and occupation of Russia. That's roughly equivalent to the number of German citizens who died from Allied raids. But the Allied bombing campaign was attached to military operations and ceased as soon as military operations ceased."
The Second World War ends
Churchill waves to crowds in Whitheall on the day he broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945.

In June 1944, the Allied Forces invaded Normandy and pushed the Nazi forces back into Germany on a broad front over the coming year. After being attacked on three fronts by the Allies, and in spite of Allied failures, such as Operation Market Garden, and German counter-attacks, including the Battle of the Bulge, Germany was eventually defeated. On 7 May 1945 at the SHAEF headquarters in Rheims the Allies accepted Germany's surrender. On the same day in a BBC news flash John Snagge announced that 8 May would be Victory in Europe Day. On Victory in Europe Day, Churchill broadcast to the nation that Germany had surrendered and that a final cease fire on all fronts in Europe would come into effect at one minute past midnight that night. Afterwards Churchill told a huge crowd in Whitheall: "This is your victory." The people shouted: "No, it is yours", and Churchill then conducted them in the singing of Land of Hope and Glory. In the evening he made another broadcast to the nation asserting the defeat of Japan in the coming months. The Japanese later surrendered on 15 August 1945.

As Europe celebrated peace at the end of six years of war, Churchill was concerning on the possibility that the celebrations would soon be brutally interrupted. He concluded that the UK and the US must prepare for the Red Army ignoring previously agreed frontiers and agreements in Europe "to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and the British Empire." According to the Operation Unthinkable plan ordered by Churchill and developed by the British Armed Forces, the Third World War could have started on 1 July 1945 with a sudden attack against the allied Soviet troops. The plan was rejected by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as militarily unfeasible. However this decision didn't stop the further development of the war plans: with the beginning of an arms race, the militarily unfeasible Third World War developed instead into the Cold War doctrine.
Return to government and the decline of the British Empire

After the General Election of 1951, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His third government—after the wartime national government and the brief caretaker government of 1945—lasted until his resignation in 1955. His domestic priorities in his last government were overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crises, which were partly the result of the continued decline of British military and imperial prestige and power. Being a strong proponent of Britain as an international power, Churchill would often meet such moments with direct action. One example was his dispatch of British troops to Kenya to deal with the Mau Mau rebellion. Trying to retain what he could of the Empire, he once stated that, "I will not preside over a dismemberment."
War in Malaya

This was followed by events which became known as the Malayan Emergency. In Malaya, a rebellion against British rule had been in progress since 1948. Once again, Churchill's government inherited a crisis, and Churchill chose to use direct military action against those in rebellion while attempting to build an alliance with those who were not. While the rebellion was slowly being defeated, it was equally clear that colonial rule from Britain was no longer sustainable.
Relations with the United States

Churchill also devoted much of his time in office to Anglo-American relations and although Churchill did not always agree with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Churchill attempted to maintain the Special Relationship with the United States. He made four official transatlantic visits to America during his second term as Prime Minister.
The series of strokes

Churchill had suffered a mild stroke while on holiday in the south of France in the summer of 1949. In June 1953, when he was 78, Churchill suffered a more severe stroke at 10 Downing Street. News of this was kept from the public and from Parliament, who were told that Churchill was suffering from exhaustion. He went to his country home, Chartwell, to recuperate from the effects of the stroke which had affected his speech and ability to walk. He returned to public life in October to make a speech at a Conservative Party conference at Margate. However, aware that he was slowing down both physically and mentally, Churchill retired as Prime Minister in 1955 and was succeeded by Anthony Eden. He suffered another mild stroke in February 1956.
Retirement and death
Churchill spent much of his retirement at his home Chartwell in Kent. He purchased it in 1922 after his daughter Mary was born.

Elizabeth II offered to create Churchill Duke of London, but this was declined due to the objections of his son Randolph, who would have inherited the title on his father's death. After leaving the premiership, Churchill spent less time in parliament until he stood down at the 1964 General Election. As a mere "back-bencher," Churchill spent most of his retirement at Chartwell and at his home in Hyde Park Gate, in London. In the 1959 General Election Churchill's majority fell by more than a thousand, since many young voters in his constituency did not support an 85-year-old who could only enter the House of Commons in a wheelchair. As his mental and physical faculties decayed, he began to lose the battle he had fought for so long against the "black dog" of depression. There was speculation that Churchill may have had Alzheimer's disease in his last years, although others maintain that his reduced mental capacity was merely the result of a series of strokes. In 1963, US President John F. Kennedy, acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed him an Honorary Citizen of the United States, but he was unable to attend the White House ceremony. On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke that left him gravely ill. He died at his home nine days later, at age 90, on the morning of Sunday 24 January 1965, coincidentally 70 years to the day after his father's death.
Funeral
Churchill's grave at St Martin's Church, Bladon

By decree of the Queen, his body lay in state for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral. As his coffin passed down the Thames from Tower Pier to Festival Pier on the Havengore, dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute. The Royal Artillery fired a 19-gun salute (as head of government), and the RAF staged a fly-by of sixteen English Electric Lightning fighters. The coffin was then taken the short distance to Waterloo Station where it was loaded onto a specially prepared and painted carriage as part of the funeral train for its rail journey to Bladon. The funeral also saw one of the largest assemblages of statesmen in the world. The funeral train of Pullman coaches carrying his family mourners was hauled by Bulleid Pacific steam locomotive No. 34051 "Winston Churchill". In the fields along the route, and at the stations through which the train passed, thousands stood in silence to pay their last respects. At Churchill's request, he was buried in the family plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. Churchill's funeral van – Southern Railway Van S2464S – is now part of a preservation project with the Swanage Railway having been repatriated to the UK in 2007 from the USA where it was exported in 1965
I was seven years at the time of the death of Winston Churchill, and I do remember the ocassion of his funeral well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/10 at 3:37 am


ninny, up early today?

Yeah, but I'm going back to bed for a while.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/10 at 3:40 am


I was seven years at the time of the death of Winston Churchill, and I do remember the ocassion of his funeral well.

There was quite a lot of information on him that I left out, because your only allowed so many words. I'm hoping that it was OK.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 3:40 am


Yeah, but I'm going back to bed for a while.
I feeling I know all to well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 3:42 am


There was quite a lot of information on him that I left out, because your only allowed so many words. I'm hoping that it was OK.
It does well we with me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/10 at 5:36 am


The birthday of the day...Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville (born January 24, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American soul and R&B singer. He made his debut in 1966 with the hit single "Tell It Like It Is", a Number One hit on the Billboard R&B charts. Neville did not chart again, however, until 1989, when he collaborated with Linda Ronstadt on three consecutive duets: "Don't Know Much", "All My Life", and "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", of which the first two reached Number One on the Adult Contemporary charts. Neville has released more than 20 singles, including three Number Ones on the Adult Contemporary format, and a fourth on the R&B format.
Aaron Neville has had a career as a solo artist and as one of The Neville Brothers. Of mixed African American and Native American heritage, his music also features Cajun and Creole influences.

Neville first came to public recognition with "Tell It Like It Is" which topped Billboard's R&B chart for five weeks in 1967. It also reached #2 on the Hot 100. A remake of the song was a Top 10 Pop hit for the Rock group Heart featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1981.

In 1989 Neville teamed up with Linda Ronstadt on the album Cry Like A Rainstorm - Howl Like The Wind. Among the duets recorded for the disc were the #1 Grammy-winning hits "Don't Know Much" and "All My Life". "Don't Know Much" was certified Gold while the album was certified Triple Platinum for US sales of more than 3 million.

His other hits have included "Everybody Plays the Fool", his successful 1991 cover of the 1972 Main Ingredient song, that reached #8 on the Hot 100; "Don't Take Away My Heaven", "Hercules" and "Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song)." Neville's biggest solo successes have been on the Adult Contemporary chart, where "Don't Know Much," "All My Life," and "Everybody Plays the Fool" all reached Number One.

In August 2005 his home in Eastern New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina; he evacuated to Memphis, Tennessee before the hurricane hit. He moved to Nashville after the storm, and had yet to return to the city as of early 2008, causing the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to temporarily change its tradition of having the Neville Brothers close the festival. However, the Neville Brothers, including Aaron, returned for the 2008 Jazzfest, which returned to its traditional seven-day format for the first time since Katrina. Neville is in the process of moving back to the New Orleans area, namely the North Shore city of Covington. Neville performed Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" during NBC's A Concert for Hurricane Relief on September 2, 2005.

Aaron signed to SonyBMG's new Burgundy Records label in late 2005 and recorded an album of songs by Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke and others for Bring It on Home…The Soul Classics, released on September 19, 2006. The album, produced by Stewart Levine, features collaborations between Neville and Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Chris Botti, David Sanborn, Art Neville, and others. The album's first single was a remake of The Impressions' 1963 classic "It's All Right."
Aaron Neville with his distinctive mole visible above his right eye (1990)

Neville's career has included work for television, movies and sporting events. Neville sang the National Anthem in the movie The Fan starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. He also sang the anthem at the WWF's SummerSlam 1993 and at WCW Spring Stampede in 1994. Neville sang the theme music to the children's TV series Fisher-Price Little People. He also sang a new version of "Cotton," for Cotton, Inc. which was introduced during the 1992 Summer Olympics. In 1988 he recorded "Mickey Mouse March" for Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, one of Various Artists. In 2006, Neville sang "The Star-Spangled Banner", alongside Queen Of Soul Aretha Franklin and Dr. John on keyboard at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan. In addition, Neville (along with brothers Art and Cyril) did background vocals for the songs "Great Heart", "Bring Back the Magic", "Homemade Music", "My Barracuda", and "Smart Woman (in a Real Short Skirt)" on Jimmy Buffett's Hot Water, released in 1988.

On October 27, 2006, Neville made a guest appearance on an episode of the soap opera The Young and the Restless. He sang "Stand By Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine", from his new album, Bring It on Home…The Soul Classics. In 2008 Aaron released Gold, which includes two CDs of his hits.

Neville's oldest son Ivan is also a musician and released an album, If My Ancestors Could See Me Now, in 1988, which yielded a Top 40 hit with "Not Just Another Girl." Ivan has also performed with the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt, and played bass for Keith Richards on his first solo tour. Ivan then assembled his own band (Ivan Neville's Dumpstphunk)which tours and frequently appears in New Orleans.

Aaron's third son, Jason, is a vocalist and rap artist who has performed with his father and with the Neville Brothers, notably at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Aaron Neville is an inductee of the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday.

In 2009, Aaron Neville, along with the Mt. Zion Mass Choir, released a version of the song “A Change Is Gonna Come” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day.
Spiritual life

Neville is a Roman Catholic with a devotion to St. Jude, to whom he has credited his success and survival. He wears a St. Jude Medal as a left earring.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album Chart Positions Certifications Label
US R&B US Christian US Gospel US Jazz US CAN US CAN
1965 Tell It Like It Is — — — — — — — — Par-Lo Records
1986 Orchid in the Storm — — — — — — — — Rhino
1991 Warm Your Heart 62 — — — 44 25 Platinum Gold A&M
1993 The Grand Tour — — — — 37 — Platinum Gold
Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas — — — — 36 — Platinum Gold
1995 The Tattooed Heart 50 — — — 64 — Gold —
1997 To Make Me Who I Am 73 — — — 188 — — —
2000 Devotion — 28 7 — — — — — Chordant
2002 Humdinger — — — — — — — — EMI
2003 Believe — 14 2 — 191 — — — Telit
Nature Boy: The Standards Album 85 — — 1 — — — — Verve
2005 Gospel Roots — — — — — — — — Chordant
2005 Christmas Prayer 74 14 3 — — — — — EMI Gospel
2006 Mojo Soul — — — — — — — — Music Avenue
Bring It On Home... The Soul Classics 20 — — — 37 — — — Burgundy
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US US AC US R&B US Country CAN CAN AC CAN Country
1960 "Over You" 111 — 21 — — — — Singles only
1966 "Tell It Like It Is" 2 1 1 — — 2 —
1967 "She Took You for a Ride" 92 — — — — — —
1989 "Don't Know Much" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) 2 1 — — 4 1 — Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind
(Linda Ronstadt album)
1990 "All My Life" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) 11 1 — — 10 1 —
"When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) 78 5 — — 29 — —
1991 "Everybody Plays the Fool" 8 1 — — 19 — — Warm Your Heart
"Somewhere Somebody" — 6 — — 43 15 —
1992 "Close Your Eyes" (w/ Linda Ronstadt) — — — — 90 — —
1993 "Don't Take Away My Heaven" 56 4 — — 17 12 — The Grand Tour
"The Grand Tour" 90 — — 38 — — 58
"Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" — 26 — — 37 — —
1994 "I Owe You One" — — — — 51 29 —
"I Fall to Pieces" (w/ Trisha Yearwood) — — — 72 — — — Rhythm, Country and Blues
"Even If My Heart Would Break" (w/ Kenny G.) 122 — — — — — — The Bodyguard soundtrack
"Betcha By Golly, Wow" — — — — 32 — — The Grand Tour
1995 "Can't Stop My Heart from Loving You (The Rain Song)" 99 23 — — — — — The Tattooed Heart
"For the Good Times" — — — — — — —
1996 "Use Me" — — 93 — — — —
"Crazy Love" (w/ Robbie Robertson) — 25 — — — — — Phenomenon (soundtrack)
"That's What My Love Is For" (w/ Anne Murray) — — — — — 15 — Anne Murray (Anne Murray album)
1997 "Say What's in My Heart" — 26 — — — — — To Make Me Who I Am
2006 "It's All Right"A — 28 — — — — — Bring It On Home... The Soul Classics

    * A"It's All Right" peaked at #12 on Hot Contemporary Jazz Songs.

Compilations

    * Love Songs (2003)
    * Gold(2008)
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x99/samuraipizzacriss/aaron_neville.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p82/sabrinanorman/AaronNeville.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m70/funnyguy308/Arm-Aaron-Neville-Tell-Like.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o165/painted_klown/Neville.jpg


Aaron Neville is great,especially his brothers too.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 5:37 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soO0CMnU9Bo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/10 at 5:38 am

His brothers were funk related music.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 5:39 am


His brothers were funk related music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbbOYcEz88

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/10 at 5:41 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbbOYcEz88


They also had songs from the mid 70's on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/10 at 6:08 am


Aaron Neville is great,especially his brothers too.  :)

I need to listen more to their music.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/24/10 at 6:42 am


They also had songs from the mid 70's on.
In the UK The Neville Brothers had their hits in 1989 and 1990.

1989  With God On Our Side #47 
1990  Bird On A Wire #72

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/10 at 3:33 pm


In the UK The Neville Brothers had their hits in 1989 and 1990.

1989  With God On Our Side #47 
1990  Bird On A Wire #72



plus songs from the mid 70's and on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 5:26 am

The word of the day...Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower containing a powerful flashing lamp that is built on the coast or on a small island. Lighthouses are used to guide ships or to warn them of danger.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac309/acal0111/Lighthouse.jpg
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt236/emarmabasa/The_Lighthouse.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/Caboobie_uk/crafts/lighthouse.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii349/Mobey650/Lighthouse.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg240/LaGambler4/SNOW%20GLOBES/lighthouse.gif
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac125/Pensacolalighthouse/pensacolabarbeacon.jpg
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx208/peepclicker/Places/584.jpg
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae167/normajeantenn/bookends/bookendskinkadecoa2.jpg
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac125/Pensacolalighthouse/canstruction200920STOA.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 5:30 am

The person born today...Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (born Stephen; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English novelist, essayist, diarist, epistler, publisher, feminist, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
Woolf began writing professionally in 1905, initially for the Times Literary Supplement with a journalistic piece about Haworth, home of the Brontë family. Her first novel, The Voyage Out, was published in 1915 by her half-brother's imprint, Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd.

This novel was originally entitled Melymbrosia, but Woolf repeatedly changed the draft. An earlier version of The Voyage Out has been reconstructed by Woolf scholar Louise DeSalvo and is now available to the public under the intended title. DeSalvo argues that many of the changes Woolf made in the text were in response to changes in her own life.
Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf at Garsington, 1923.

Woolf went on to publish novels and essays as a public intellectual to both critical and popular success. Much of her work was self-published through the Hogarth Press. She has been hailed as one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century and one of the foremost modernists.

Woolf is considered one of the greatest innovators in the English language. In her works she experimented with stream-of-consciousness and the underlying psychological as well as emotional motives of characters. Woolf's reputation declined sharply after World War II, but her eminence was re-established with the surge of Feminist criticism in the 1970s.

Her work was criticised for epitomizing the narrow world of the upper-middle class English intelligentsia. Some critics judged it to be lacking in universality and depth, without the power to communicate anything of emotional or ethical relevance to the disillusioned common reader, weary of the 1920s aesthetes. She was also criticized by some as an anti-semite, despite her being happily married to a Jewish man. This anti-semitism is drawn from the fact that she often wrote of Jewish characters in stereotypical archetypes and generalizations. The overwhelming and rising 1920s and 30s anti-semitism had an unavoidable influence on Virginia Woolf. She wrote in her diary, "I do not like the Jewish voice; I do not like the Jewish laugh." However, in a 1930 letter to the composer, Ethel Smyth, quoted in Nigel Nicolson's biography,Virginia Woolf, she recollects her boasts of Leonard's Jewishness confirming her snobbish tendencies, "How I hated marrying a Jew- What a snob I was, for they have immense vitality." In another letter to her dear friend Ethel Smyth, Virginia gives a scathing denunciation of Christianity, pointing to its self-righteous "egotism" and stating "my Jew has more religion in one toe nail--more human love, in one hair." Virginia and her husband Leonard Woolf actually hated and feared 1930s fascism with its anti-semitism knowing they were on Hitler's blacklist. Her 1938 book Three Guineas was an indictment of fascism.

Virginia Woolf's peculiarities as a fiction writer have tended to obscure her central strength: Woolf is arguably the major lyrical novelist in the English language. Her novels are highly experimental: a narrative, frequently uneventful and commonplace, is refracted—and sometimes almost dissolved—in the characters' receptive consciousness. Intense lyricism and stylistic virtuosity fuse to create a world overabundant with auditory and visual impressions.

The intensity of Virginia Woolf's poetic vision elevates the ordinary, sometimes banal settings - often wartime environments - of most of her novels. For example, Mrs Dalloway (1925) centres on the efforts of Clarissa Dalloway, a middle-aged society woman, to organize a party, even as her life is paralleled with that of Septimus Warren Smith, a working-class veteran who has returned from the First World War bearing deep psychological scars.

To the Lighthouse (1927) is set on two days ten years apart. The plot centers around the Ramsay family's anticipation of and reflection upon a visit to a lighthouse and the connected familial tensions. One of the primary themes of the novel is the struggle in the creative process that beset painter Lily Briscoe while she struggles to paint in the midst of the family drama. The novel is also a meditation upon the lives of a nation's inhabitants in the midst of war, and of the people left behind. It also explores the passage of time, and how women are forced by society to allow men to take emotional strength from them.

Orlando (1928) has a different quality from all Virginia Woolf's other novels suggested by its subtitle, "A Biography", as it attempts to represent the character of a real person and is dedicated to Vita Sackville-West. It was meant to console Vita for being a girl and for the loss of her ancestral home, though it is also a satirical treatment of Vita and her work. In Orlando the techniques of historical biographers are being ridiculed; the character of a pompous biographer is being assumed in order for it to be mocked.

The Waves (1931) presents a group of six friends whose reflections, which are closer to recitatives than to interior monologues proper, create a wave-like atmosphere that is more akin to a prose poem than to a plot-centered novel.

Her last work, Between the Acts (1941) sums up and magnifies Woolf's chief preoccupations: the transformation of life through art, sexual ambivalence, and meditation on the themes of flux of time and life, presented simultaneously as corrosion and rejuvenation—all set in a highly imaginative and symbolic narrative encompassing almost all of English history. This book is the most lyrical of all her works, not only in feeling but in style being chiefly written in verse.

While nowhere near a simple recapitulation of the coterie's ideals, Woolf's work can be understood as consistently in dialogue with Bloomsbury, particularly its tendency (informed by G.E. Moore, among others) towards doctrinaire rationalism.

Her works have been translated into over 50 languages, by writers of the calibre of Jorge Luis Borges and Marguerite Yourcenar.
Modern scholarship and interpretations

Recently, studies of Virginia Woolf have focused on feminist and lesbian themes in her work, such as in the 1997 collection of critical essays, Virginia Woolf: Lesbian Readings, edited by Eileen Barrett and Patricia Cramer. More controversially, Louise A. DeSalvo reads most of Woolf's life and career through the lens of the incestuous sexual abuse Woolf experienced as a young woman in her 1989 book Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on her Life and Work.

Woolf's fiction is also studied for its insight into shell shock, war, class, and modern British society. Her best-known nonfiction works, A Room of One's Own (1929) and Three Guineas (1938), examine the difficulties female writers and intellectuals face because men hold disproportionate legal and economic power, and the future of women in education and society.

Irene Coates's book Who's Afraid of Leonard Woolf: A Case for the Sanity of Virginia Woolf takes the position that Leonard Woolf's treatment of his wife encouraged her ill health and ultimately was responsible for her death. The position, which is not accepted by Leonard's family, is extensively researched and fills in some of the gaps in the traditional account of Virginia Woolf's life. In contrast, Victoria Glendinning's book Leonard Woolf: A Biography, which is even more extensively researched and supported by contemporaneous writings, argues that Leonard Woolf was not only very supportive of his wife, but enabled her to live as long as she did by providing her with the life and atmosphere she needed to live and write. Accounts of Virginia's supposed anti-semitism (Leonard was a secular Jew) are not only taken out of historical context but greatly exaggerated. Virginia's own diaries support this view of the Woolfs' marriage.

Though at least one biography of Virginia Woolf appeared in her lifetime, the first authoritative study of her life was published in 1972 by her nephew, Quentin Bell.

In 1992, Thomas Caramagno published the book The Flight of the Mind: Virginia Woolf's Art and Manic-Depressive Illness."

Hermione Lee's 1996 biography Virginia Woolf provides a thorough and authoritative examination of Woolf's life and work.

In 2001 Louise DeSalvo and Mitchell A. Leaska edited The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. Julia Briggs's Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life, published in 2005, is the most recent examination of Woolf's life. It focuses on Woolf's writing, including her novels and her commentary on the creative process, to illuminate her life. Thomas Szasz's book My Madness Saved Me: The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf (ISBN 0-7658-0321-6) was published in 2006.

Rita Martin’s play Flores no me pongan (2006) considers Woolf's last minutes of life in order to debate polemical issues such as bisexuality, Jewishness, and war. Written in Spanish, the play was performed in Miami under the direction of actress Miriam Bermudez.
In films

    * Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was an American play (1962) by Edward Albee and film (1966) directed by Mike Nichols (screenplay by Ernest Lehman adapted from the play). Virginia Woolf does not appear as a character. According to the playwright, the title of the play — which is about a dysfunctional university married couple — refers to an academic joke about "who's afraid of living life without false illusions".
    * Virginia Woolf is a character in the film The Hours (2002). She is portrayed by Nicole Kidman.

Bibliography
See also: Bibliography of Virginia Woolf
Novels

    * The Voyage Out (1915)
    * Night and Day (1919)
    * Jacob's Room (1922)
    * Mrs Dalloway (1925)
    * To the Lighthouse (1927)
    * Orlando (1928)
    * The Waves (1931)
    * The Years (1937)
    * Between the Acts (1941)

Short story collections

    * Kew Gardens (1919)
    * Monday or Tuesday (1921)
    * The New Dress (1924)
    * A Haunted House and Other Short Stories (1944)
    * Mrs Dalloway's Party (1973)
    * The Complete Shorter Fiction (1985)

"Biographies"

Virginia Woolf published three books to which she gave the subtitle "A Biography":

    * Orlando: A Biography (1928, usually characterised Novel, inspired by the life of Vita Sackville-West)
    * Flush: A Biography (1933, more explicitly cross-genre: fiction as "stream of consciousness" tale by Flush, a dog; non-fiction in the sense of telling the story of the owner of the dog, Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
    * Roger Fry: A Biography (1940, usually characterised non-fiction, however: " novelistic skills worked against her talent as a biographer, for her impressionistic observations jostled uncomfortably with the simultaneous need to marshall a multitude of facts.")

Non-fiction books

    * Modern Fiction (1919)
    * The Common Reader (1925)
    * A Room of One's Own (1929)
    * On Being Ill (1930)
    * The London Scene (1931)
    * The Common Reader: Second Series (1932)
    * Three Guineas (1938)
    * The Death of the Moth and Other Essays (1942)
    * The Moment and Other Essays (1947)
    * The Captain's Death Bed And Other Essays (1950)
    * Granite and Rainbow (1958)
    * Books and Portraits (1978)
    * Women And Writing (1979)
    * Collected Essays (four volumes)

Drama

    * Freshwater: A Comedy (performed in 1923, revised in 1935, and published in 1976)

Autobiographical writings and diaries

    * A Writer’s Diary (1953) - Extracts from the complete diary
    * Moments of Being (1976)
    * A Moment's Liberty: the shorter diary (1990)
    * The Diary of Virginia Woolf (five volumes) - Diary of Virginia Woolf from 1915 to 1941
    * Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals, 1897-1909 (1990)
    * Travels With Virginia Woolf (1993) - Greek travel diary of Virginia Woolf, edited by Jan Morris
    * The Platform of Time: Memoirs of Family and Friends, Expanded Edition, edited by S. P. Rosenbaum (London, Hesperus, 2008)

Letters

    * Congenial Spirits: The Selected Letters (1993)
    * The Letters of Virginia Woolf 1888-1941 (six volumes, 1975–1980)
    * Paper Darts: The Illustrated Letters of Virginia Woolf (1991)

Prefaces, contributions

    * Selections Autobiographical and Imaginative from the Works of George Gissing ed. Alfred C. Gissing, with an introduction by Virginia Woolf (London & New York, 1929)

Biographies

    * Virginia Woolf by Nigel Nicolson. New York, Penguin Group. 2000
    * Virginia Woolf: A Biography by Quentin Bell. New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972; Revised editions 1990, 1996
    * "Vanessa and Virginia" by Susan Sellers (Two Ravens, 2008; Harcourt 2009)
    * The Unknown Virginia Woolf by Roger Poole. Cambridge UP, 1978.
    * The Invisible Presence: Virginia Woolf and the Mother-Daughter Relationship by Ellen Bayuk Rosenman. Louisiana State University Press, 1986.
    * Virginia Woolf and the politics of style, by Pamela J. Transue. SUNY Press, 1986. ISBN 0887062865.
    * The Victorian heritage of Virginia Woolf: the external world in her novels, by Janis M. Paul. Pilgrim Books, 1987. ISBN 0937664731.
    * Virginia Woolf's To the lighthouse, by Harold Bloom. Chelsea House, 1988. ISBN 1555460348.
    * Virginia Woolf: the frames of art and life, by C. Ruth Miller. Macmillan, 1988. ISBN 0333448804.
    * Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work by Louise DeSalvo. Boston: Little Brown, 1989
    * A Virginia Woolf Chronology by Edward Bishop. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1989.
    * A Very Close Conspiracy: Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf by Jane Dunn. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990
    * Virginia Woolf: A Writer's Life by Lyndall Gordon. New York: Norton, 1984; 1991.
    * Virginia Woolf and war, by Mark Hussey. Syracuse University Press, 1991. ISBN 0815625375.
    * The Flight of the Mind: Virginia Woolf's Art and Manic-Depressive Illness by Thomas D. Caramago. Berkeley: U of California Press, 1992
    * Virginia Woolf by James King. NY: W.W. Norton, 1994.
    * Art and Affection: A Life of Virginia Woolf by Panthea Reid. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
    * Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee. New York: Knopf, 1997.
    * Granite and Rainbow: The Hidden Life of Virginia Woolf by Mitchell Leaska. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
    * The Feminist Aesthetics of Virginia Woolf, by Jane Goldman. Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521794587.
    * Virginia Woolf and the nineteenth-century domestic novel, by Emily Blair. SUNY Press, 2002. ISBN 0791471195.
    * Virginia Woolf: becoming a writer, by Katherine Dalsimer. Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0300092083.
    * Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman by Ruth Gruber. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2005
    * My Madness Saved Me: The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf by Thomas Szasz, 2006
    * Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life, by Julia Briggs. Harcourt, 2006. ISBN 0156032295.
    * The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury by Sarah M. Hall, Continuum Publishing, 2007
    * Virginia Woolf and the Visible World, by Emily Dalgarno. Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0521033608,.
    * A Life of One's Own: A Guide to Better Living through the Work and Wisdom of Virginia Woolf by Ilana Simons, New York: Penguin Press, 2007
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o62/vancrain/virginia_woolf.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k175/jesus-himself/virginia-woolf.jpg
http://i523.photobucket.com/albums/w357/diegoesp/8-virginia-woolf-2.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q95/savearth01/vwoolf.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 5:37 am

The person who died on this day...Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress.

She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared in supporting roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953). She appeared in several popular films during the 1950s, and received BAFTA Award nominations for her performances in Bhowani Junction (1956), On the Beach (1959) and The Night of the Iguana (1964).

She is listed as one of the American Film Institute's greatest stars of all time
In 1941, a Loews Theatres legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in Tarr's studio. At the time, Duhan often posed as an MGM talent scout to meet girls, using the fact that MGM was a subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Tarr's and tried to get Gardner's number, but was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made the offhand comment, "Somebody should send her info to MGM", and the Tarrs did so immediately. Shortly after, Gardner, who at the time was a student at Atlantic Christian College, traveled to New York to be interviewed at MGM's New York office. She was offered a standard contract by MGM, and left school for Hollywood in 1941 with her sister Bappie accompanying her. MGM's first order of business was to provide her a voice coach, as her Carolina drawl was nearly incomprehensible to them.
Oscar nomination

Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Mogambo (1953); the award was won by Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday. Her performance as Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964), was well reviewed, and she was nominated a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe.

Other films include The Hucksters (1947), Showboat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), 1954's The Barefoot Contessa (which some consider to be Gardner's "signature film" which mirrored her real life custom of going barefoot), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Sun Also Rises in which she played party-girl Brett Ashley (1957), and the film version of Neville Shute's best-selling On the Beach, co-starring Gregory Peck. Off-camera, she could be witty and pithy, as in her assessment of director John Ford, who directed Mogambo ("The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!")
Later life

In 1966, Gardner briefly sought the role of Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967). She reportedly called Nichols and said, "I want to see you! I want to talk about this Graduate thing!" Nichols never seriously considered her for the part, but he did visit her hotel, where he later recounted that "she sat at a little French desk with a telephone, she went through every movie star cliché. She said, "All right, let's talk about your movie. First of all, I strip for nobody.'"

Gardner moved to London, England in 1968, undergoing an elective hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had claimed the life of her own mother. That year, she made what some consider to be one of her best films, Mayerling, in which she played the Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Austria opposite James Mason as Emperor Franz Joseph I. She appeared in a number of disaster films throughout the 1970s, notably Earthquake (1974), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), and the Canadian movie City on Fire (1979). Her last movie was Regina Roma (1982).
Marriages and relationships
Mickey Rooney

Soon after her arrival in Los Angeles, Gardner met fellow MGM contract player Mickey Rooney; they married on January 10, 1942 in Ballard, California; she was 19 years old and he was 21. Gardner made several movies before 1946, but it wasn't until she starred in The Killers with Burt Lancaster, that she became a star as well as a sex symbol. Rooney and Gardner divorced in 1943. He later reputedly rhapsodized about their sex life, but Gardner retorted, "Well, honey, he may have enjoyed the sex, but I didn't." She once characterized their marriage as "Love Finds Andy Hardy".
Artie Shaw

Gardner's second marriage was to jazz musician and band leader Artie Shaw, from 1945 to 1946.
Frank Sinatra

Gardner's third and last marriage (1951-1957) was to singer and actor Frank Sinatra. She would later say in her autobiography that of all the men she'd had - that he was the love of her life. Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines. Sinatra was savaged by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment, the Catholic church, and by his fans for leaving his wife for a "femme fatale". His career suffered, while hers prospered - the headlines solidifying her screen siren image. Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). That role and the award revitalized both Sinatra's acting and singing careers. Gardner said of her relationship with Sinatra, "We were great in bed. It was usually on the way to the bidet when the trouble began."

During their marriage Gardner became pregnant twice, but she had two abortions. "MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies", she said. She said years later, "We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?" Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends for the rest of her life.
Howard Hughes

Gardner became a friend of billionaire aviator Howard Hughes in the early to mid-1940s, a close relationship that lasted well into the 1950s. Although he made numerous marriage proposals, Ava did not consider him a romantic interest, as she was put off by his eccentric ways.
Luis Miguel Dominguín

Gardner divorced Sinatra in 1957 and headed to Spain where her friendship with famed writer Ernest Hemingway led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters such as Luis Miguel Dominguín, who became her lover. "It was a sort of madness, honey", she said later of the time.
Final years

After a lifetime of smoking, Gardner suffered from emphysema, in addition to an autoimmune disorder (which may have been lupus). Two strokes in 1986 left her partially paralyzed and bedridden. Although Gardner could afford her medical expenses, Sinatra wanted to pay for her to visit a specialist in the United States, and she allowed him to make the arrangements for a medically-staffed private plane. Her last words (to her housekeeper Carmen), were reportedly, "I'm so tired", before she died of pneumonia at the age of 67. After her death, Sinatra's daughter Tina found him slumped in his room, crying, and unable to speak.

Gardner was not only the love of his life but also the inspiration for one of his most personal songs, "I'm a Fool to Want You", which Sinatra (who received a co-writing credit for the song) recorded twice, toward the end of his contract with Columbia Records and during his years on Capitol Records. ("It was Ava who taught him how to sing a torch song", Sinatra arranger Nelson Riddle was once quoted as saying.) It has been reported that Sinatra attended her funeral, due to the presence of a black limousine parked behind the crowd of 500 mourners. Instead, a hairstylist from Fayetteville, North Carolina had felt that a limousine was the only appropriate mode of transportation to Gardner's funeral. A floral arrangement at Gardner's graveside simply read: "With My Love, Francis".
Last acting roles

Gardner's acting career began to lose momentum after this, and although she continued infrequently to work in films and on television (Knots Landing).
Death

Gardner died in her London home in 1990, from pneumonia, following several years of declining health.
Remembered in song

"Frank and Ava", a song by Suzanne Vega
Gravesite

Gardner was buried in the Sunset Memorial Park, Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her brothers and their parents, Jonah (1878-1938) and Mollie Gardner (1883-1943). The town of Smithfield now has an Ava Gardner Museum.
Film Portrayals

Gardner has been portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden in the TV miniseries Sinatra, Deborah Kara Unger in HBO's The Rat Pack, and Kate Beckinsale in the 2004 Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1941 Shadow of the Thin Man Passerby
H.M. Pulham, Esq. Young Socialite
Babes on Broadway Pitt-Astor Girl
1942 Joe Smith - American Miss Maynard, Secretary
This Time for Keeps Girl in car lighting cigarette
Kid Glove Killer Car Hop
Sunday Punch Ringsider
Calling Dr. Gillespie Graduating student at Miss Hope's
Reunion in France Marie, a salesgirl
1943 Hitler's Madman Franciska Pritric a Student
Ghosts on the Loose Betty
Young Ideas Co-ed
Du Barry Was a Lady Perfume Girl
Swing Fever Receptionist
Lost Angel Hat Check Girl
1944 Two Girls and a Sailor Dream Girl
Three Men in White Jean Brown
Maisie Goes to Reno Gloria Fullerton
Blonde Fever Bit Role
1945 She Went to the Races Hilda Spotts
1946 Whistle Stop Mary
The Killers Kitty Collins
1947 Singapore Linda Grahame/Ann Van Leyden
The Hucksters Jean Ogilvie
1948 One Touch of Venus Venus
1945 The Bribe Elizabeth Hintten
The Great Sinner Pauline Ostrovsky
East Side, West Side Isabel Lorrison
1951 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman Pandora Reynolds
My Forbidden Past Barbara Beaurevel
Show Boat Julie LaVerne
1952 Lone Star Martha Ronda
The Snows of Kilimanjaro Cynthia Green
1953 Knights of the Round Table Guinevere
Ride, Vaquero! Cordelia Cameron
The Band Wagon Herself
Mogambo Honey Bear Kelly Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1954 The Barefoot Contessa Maria Vargas
1956 Bhowani Junction Victoria Jones Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
1957 The Little Hut Lady Susan Ashlow
The Sun Also Rises Lady Brett Ashley
1958 The Naked Maja Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba
1959 On the Beach Moira Davidson Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
1960 The Angel Wore Red Soledad
1963 55 Days at Peking Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
1964 Seven Days in May Eleanor Holbrook
The Night of the Iguana Maxine Faulk Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
1966 The Bible: In The Beginning Sarah
1968 Mayerling Empress Elizabeth
1970 Tam-Lin Michaela Cazaret
1972 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Lily Langtry
1974 Earthquake Remy Royce-Graff
1975 Permission to Kill Katina Petersen
1976 The Blue Bird Luxury
The Cassandra Crossing Nicole Dressler
1977 The Sentinel Miss Logan
1979 City on Fire Maggie Grayson
1980 The Kidnapping of the President Beth Richards
1981 Priest of Love Mabel Dodge Luhan
1982 Regina Roma Mama
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/Mynock9/Film%20and%20Hollywood/GardnerAva_01.jpg
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/Mynock9/Film%20and%20Hollywood/GardnerAva_03.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr229/ruit48/Ava_Gardner_1.jpg
http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o342/Sinned2471/ava-gardner.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/25/10 at 6:00 am

Ava Gardner was one of the handful of true Hollywood beauties.  However, another sad, unhappy life.... :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/25/10 at 6:45 am


The person who died on this day...Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress.

She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared in supporting roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953). She appeared in several popular films during the 1950s, and received BAFTA Award nominations for her performances in Bhowani Junction (1956), On the Beach (1959) and The Night of the Iguana (1964).

She is listed as one of the American Film Institute's greatest stars of all time
In 1941, a Loews Theatres legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in Tarr's studio. At the time, Duhan often posed as an MGM talent scout to meet girls, using the fact that MGM was a subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Tarr's and tried to get Gardner's number, but was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made the offhand comment, "Somebody should send her info to MGM", and the Tarrs did so immediately. Shortly after, Gardner, who at the time was a student at Atlantic Christian College, traveled to New York to be interviewed at MGM's New York office. She was offered a standard contract by MGM, and left school for Hollywood in 1941 with her sister Bappie accompanying her. MGM's first order of business was to provide her a voice coach, as her Carolina drawl was nearly incomprehensible to them.
Oscar nomination

Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Mogambo (1953); the award was won by Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday. Her performance as Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964), was well reviewed, and she was nominated a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe.

Other films include The Hucksters (1947), Showboat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), 1954's The Barefoot Contessa (which some consider to be Gardner's "signature film" which mirrored her real life custom of going barefoot), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Sun Also Rises in which she played party-girl Brett Ashley (1957), and the film version of Neville Shute's best-selling On the Beach, co-starring Gregory Peck. Off-camera, she could be witty and pithy, as in her assessment of director John Ford, who directed Mogambo ("The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!")
Later life

In 1966, Gardner briefly sought the role of Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967). She reportedly called Nichols and said, "I want to see you! I want to talk about this Graduate thing!" Nichols never seriously considered her for the part, but he did visit her hotel, where he later recounted that "she sat at a little French desk with a telephone, she went through every movie star cliché. She said, "All right, let's talk about your movie. First of all, I strip for nobody.'"

Gardner moved to London, England in 1968, undergoing an elective hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had claimed the life of her own mother. That year, she made what some consider to be one of her best films, Mayerling, in which she played the Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Austria opposite James Mason as Emperor Franz Joseph I. She appeared in a number of disaster films throughout the 1970s, notably Earthquake (1974), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), and the Canadian movie City on Fire (1979). Her last movie was Regina Roma (1982).
Marriages and relationships
Mickey Rooney

Soon after her arrival in Los Angeles, Gardner met fellow MGM contract player Mickey Rooney; they married on January 10, 1942 in Ballard, California; she was 19 years old and he was 21. Gardner made several movies before 1946, but it wasn't until she starred in The Killers with Burt Lancaster, that she became a star as well as a sex symbol. Rooney and Gardner divorced in 1943. He later reputedly rhapsodized about their sex life, but Gardner retorted, "Well, honey, he may have enjoyed the sex, but I didn't." She once characterized their marriage as "Love Finds Andy Hardy".
Artie Shaw

Gardner's second marriage was to jazz musician and band leader Artie Shaw, from 1945 to 1946.
Frank Sinatra

Gardner's third and last marriage (1951-1957) was to singer and actor Frank Sinatra. She would later say in her autobiography that of all the men she'd had - that he was the love of her life. Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines. Sinatra was savaged by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment, the Catholic church, and by his fans for leaving his wife for a "femme fatale". His career suffered, while hers prospered - the headlines solidifying her screen siren image. Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). That role and the award revitalized both Sinatra's acting and singing careers. Gardner said of her relationship with Sinatra, "We were great in bed. It was usually on the way to the bidet when the trouble began."

During their marriage Gardner became pregnant twice, but she had two abortions. "MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies", she said. She said years later, "We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?" Gardner and Sinatra remained good friends for the rest of her life.
Howard Hughes

Gardner became a friend of billionaire aviator Howard Hughes in the early to mid-1940s, a close relationship that lasted well into the 1950s. Although he made numerous marriage proposals, Ava did not consider him a romantic interest, as she was put off by his eccentric ways.
Luis Miguel Dominguín

Gardner divorced Sinatra in 1957 and headed to Spain where her friendship with famed writer Ernest Hemingway led to her becoming a fan of bullfighting and bullfighters such as Luis Miguel Dominguín, who became her lover. "It was a sort of madness, honey", she said later of the time.
Final years

After a lifetime of smoking, Gardner suffered from emphysema, in addition to an autoimmune disorder (which may have been lupus). Two strokes in 1986 left her partially paralyzed and bedridden. Although Gardner could afford her medical expenses, Sinatra wanted to pay for her to visit a specialist in the United States, and she allowed him to make the arrangements for a medically-staffed private plane. Her last words (to her housekeeper Carmen), were reportedly, "I'm so tired", before she died of pneumonia at the age of 67. After her death, Sinatra's daughter Tina found him slumped in his room, crying, and unable to speak.

Gardner was not only the love of his life but also the inspiration for one of his most personal songs, "I'm a Fool to Want You", which Sinatra (who received a co-writing credit for the song) recorded twice, toward the end of his contract with Columbia Records and during his years on Capitol Records. ("It was Ava who taught him how to sing a torch song", Sinatra arranger Nelson Riddle was once quoted as saying.) It has been reported that Sinatra attended her funeral, due to the presence of a black limousine parked behind the crowd of 500 mourners. Instead, a hairstylist from Fayetteville, North Carolina had felt that a limousine was the only appropriate mode of transportation to Gardner's funeral. A floral arrangement at Gardner's graveside simply read: "With My Love, Francis".
Last acting roles

Gardner's acting career began to lose momentum after this, and although she continued infrequently to work in films and on television (Knots Landing).
Death

Gardner died in her London home in 1990, from pneumonia, following several years of declining health.
Remembered in song

"Frank and Ava", a song by Suzanne Vega
Gravesite

Gardner was buried in the Sunset Memorial Park, Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her brothers and their parents, Jonah (1878-1938) and Mollie Gardner (1883-1943). The town of Smithfield now has an Ava Gardner Museum.
Film Portrayals

Gardner has been portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden in the TV miniseries Sinatra, Deborah Kara Unger in HBO's The Rat Pack, and Kate Beckinsale in the 2004 Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1941 Shadow of the Thin Man Passerby
H.M. Pulham, Esq. Young Socialite
Babes on Broadway Pitt-Astor Girl
1942 Joe Smith - American Miss Maynard, Secretary
This Time for Keeps Girl in car lighting cigarette
Kid Glove Killer Car Hop
Sunday Punch Ringsider
Calling Dr. Gillespie Graduating student at Miss Hope's
Reunion in France Marie, a salesgirl
1943 Hitler's Madman Franciska Pritric a Student
Ghosts on the Loose Betty
Young Ideas Co-ed
Du Barry Was a Lady Perfume Girl
Swing Fever Receptionist
Lost Angel Hat Check Girl
1944 Two Girls and a Sailor Dream Girl
Three Men in White Jean Brown
Maisie Goes to Reno Gloria Fullerton
Blonde Fever Bit Role
1945 She Went to the Races Hilda Spotts
1946 Whistle Stop Mary
The Killers Kitty Collins
1947 Singapore Linda Grahame/Ann Van Leyden
The Hucksters Jean Ogilvie
1948 One Touch of Venus Venus
1945 The Bribe Elizabeth Hintten
The Great Sinner Pauline Ostrovsky
East Side, West Side Isabel Lorrison
1951 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman Pandora Reynolds
My Forbidden Past Barbara Beaurevel
Show Boat Julie LaVerne
1952 Lone Star Martha Ronda
The Snows of Kilimanjaro Cynthia Green
1953 Knights of the Round Table Guinevere
Ride, Vaquero! Cordelia Cameron
The Band Wagon Herself
Mogambo Honey Bear Kelly Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1954 The Barefoot Contessa Maria Vargas
1956 Bhowani Junction Victoria Jones Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
1957 The Little Hut Lady Susan Ashlow
The Sun Also Rises Lady Brett Ashley
1958 The Naked Maja Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba
1959 On the Beach Moira Davidson Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
1960 The Angel Wore Red Soledad
1963 55 Days at Peking Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
1964 Seven Days in May Eleanor Holbrook
The Night of the Iguana Maxine Faulk Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
1966 The Bible: In The Beginning Sarah
1968 Mayerling Empress Elizabeth
1970 Tam-Lin Michaela Cazaret
1972 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Lily Langtry
1974 Earthquake Remy Royce-Graff
1975 Permission to Kill Katina Petersen
1976 The Blue Bird Luxury
The Cassandra Crossing Nicole Dressler
1977 The Sentinel Miss Logan
1979 City on Fire Maggie Grayson
1980 The Kidnapping of the President Beth Richards
1981 Priest of Love Mabel Dodge Luhan
1982 Regina Roma Mama
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/Mynock9/Film%20and%20Hollywood/GardnerAva_01.jpg
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/Mynock9/Film%20and%20Hollywood/GardnerAva_03.jpg
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr229/ruit48/Ava_Gardner_1.jpg
http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o342/Sinned2471/ava-gardner.jpg


http://img.listal.com/image/503285/600full-ava-gardner.jpg


Ava in 1988.^

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/25/10 at 7:42 am

A couple of my photos.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2469514954_a855acf77f.jpg
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico taken in 2008.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2228399655_fd41e811c5.jpg
Guánica, Puerto Rico

This was taken on our trip to Puerto Rico in February, 2006. Carlos' father was stationed at this lighthouse when he was a cook in the Coast Guard. It was during this time that he met Carlos' mother. It is a shame that it has fallen into disarray. The photo was taken with my film camera. We just went past this lighthouse yesterday.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 8:23 am


A couple of my photos.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2469514954_a855acf77f.jpg
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico taken in 2008.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2228399655_fd41e811c5.jpg
Guánica, Puerto Rico

This was taken on our trip to Puerto Rico in February, 2006. Carlos' father was stationed at this lighthouse when he was a cook in the Coast Guard. It was during this time that he met Carlos' mother. It is a shame that it has fallen into disarray. The photo was taken with my film camera. We just went past this lighthouse yesterday.



Cat



Very nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 8:24 am


Ava Gardner was one of the handful of true Hollywood beauties.  However, another sad, unhappy life.... :-\\

So true,I wonder if she ever found true love :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/25/10 at 7:17 pm


A couple of my photos.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2469514954_a855acf77f.jpg
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico taken in 2008.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2228399655_fd41e811c5.jpg
Guánica, Puerto Rico

This was taken on our trip to Puerto Rico in February, 2006. Carlos' father was stationed at this lighthouse when he was a cook in the Coast Guard. It was during this time that he met Carlos' mother. It is a shame that it has fallen into disarray. The photo was taken with my film camera. We just went past this lighthouse yesterday.



Cat




quite beautiful.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/25/10 at 7:18 pm

Great pics. Thanks for posting.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/25/10 at 7:19 pm


So true,I wonder if she ever found true love :-\\


Was she single or did she marry?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 9:16 pm


Great pics. Thanks for posting.  :)

Your Welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/10 at 9:18 pm


Was she single or did she marry?

She was married to Mickey Rooney,Artie Shaw & Frank Sinatra. she also dated Howard Hughes and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/26/10 at 1:24 am

Canadian person of the day: Wayne Gretzky born January 26, 1961 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Nicknamed "The Great One", Gretzky was called "the greatest player of all time" in Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the NHL. He is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the NHL,and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and coaches. Upon his retirement on April 18, 1999, he held forty regular-season records, fifteen playoff records, and six All-Star records. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season—a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 15 WHA/NHL seasons, 14 of them consecutive. Gretzky's jersey number, 99, has been retired by all teams in the National Hockey League.

Wayne Gretzky held or shared 61 NHL records upon his retirement on April 18, 1999, including 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 all-star records.

http://fearandarrogance.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/wayne-gretzky-si-cover.jpg

The regular season records include most goals in a season (92), most assists in a season (163), and most points in a season (215). He also holds the record for the fastest 50 goals, accomplishing that feat in only 39 games and the record for most goals in a 50 game period (61, which he accomplished twice). In 1983–84, he had a 51-game point-scoring streak that has been compared to "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio's streak in baseball, during which he averaged exactly three points per game, scoring 61 goals and 92 assists for 153 points.

Gretzky set impressive records in both regular season and post-season play, holding the record for most career regular season goals (894), assists (1,963), points (2,857), and hat tricks (50). The next closest player in total points for the regular season is Mark Messier at 1,887. Gretzky's point total including regular season and playoffs stands at an imposing 3,239. Gretzky also had more career assists than any other player has ever gained total points.

His 47 playoff points in 1985 and 31 assists in 1988 are still records for a single post-season round, and he holds the record for career playoff goals (122), assists (260), points (382), hat tricks (10), and game winning goals (24).
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Sports/images-2/wayne-gretzky-edmonton-oilers.jpg
http://www.visiontech-usa.org/2009/Hayden/image006.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/10 at 7:25 am


Canadian person of the day: Wayne Gretzky born January 26, 1961 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Nicknamed "The Great One", Gretzky was called "the greatest player of all time" in Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the NHL. He is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the NHL,and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and coaches. Upon his retirement on April 18, 1999, he held forty regular-season records, fifteen playoff records, and six All-Star records. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season—a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 15 WHA/NHL seasons, 14 of them consecutive. Gretzky's jersey number, 99, has been retired by all teams in the National Hockey League.

Wayne Gretzky held or shared 61 NHL records upon his retirement on April 18, 1999, including 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 all-star records.

http://fearandarrogance.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/wayne-gretzky-si-cover.jpg

The regular season records include most goals in a season (92), most assists in a season (163), and most points in a season (215). He also holds the record for the fastest 50 goals, accomplishing that feat in only 39 games and the record for most goals in a 50 game period (61, which he accomplished twice). In 1983–84, he had a 51-game point-scoring streak that has been compared to "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio's streak in baseball, during which he averaged exactly three points per game, scoring 61 goals and 92 assists for 153 points.

Gretzky set impressive records in both regular season and post-season play, holding the record for most career regular season goals (894), assists (1,963), points (2,857), and hat tricks (50). The next closest player in total points for the regular season is Mark Messier at 1,887. Gretzky's point total including regular season and playoffs stands at an imposing 3,239. Gretzky also had more career assists than any other player has ever gained total points.

His 47 playoff points in 1985 and 31 assists in 1988 are still records for a single post-season round, and he holds the record for career playoff goals (122), assists (260), points (382), hat tricks (10), and game winning goals (24).
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Sports/images-2/wayne-gretzky-edmonton-oilers.jpg
http://www.visiontech-usa.org/2009/Hayden/image006.jpg

I had a feeling you would pick him :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/10 at 7:32 am

The word of the day...Fish
A fish is a creature that lives in water and has a tail and fins. There are many different kinds of fish.
Fish is the flesh of a fish eaten as food.
If you fish, you try to catch fish, either for food or as a form of sport or recreation.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/danakscully64/fish01.jpg
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q47/ceolmor2002/meandmypets042.jpg
http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af211/SKIHNTR/Fish.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy117/settle4nuthin/Softies%20and%20Fish/100_2115.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/danakscully64/molly-light.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/Bernard_090/garrarufa12.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab98/tilesandglass/S2010010-2.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj245/rensimagni/finding-nemo.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/10 at 7:37 am

The birthday of the day...Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedienne, television hostess and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and is also a judge on American Idol, having joined the show in its ninth season.

She has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar's animated film Finding Nemo. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. In 1997, during the fourth season of Ellen, she came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues as well as the coming out process. She has won twelve Emmys and numerous awards for her work and charitable efforts.
DeGeneres started performing stand-up comedy at small clubs and coffeehouses. By 1981 she was the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club in New Orleans. Degeneres describes Woody Allen and Steve Martin as her main influences at this time. In the early 1980s she began to tour nationally, being named Showtime's Funniest Person in America in 1982. In 1986 she appeared for the first time on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who likened her to Bob Newhart. When Carson invited her over for an onscreen chat after her performance, she became the first female comedian in the show's history to whom this honor was bestowed.
Early screen work

Television and film work in the late 1980s and early 1990s included roles on television in Open House and in the film Coneheads.
Ellen (sitcom, 1994–1998)
At the Governor's Ball after the 46th Annual Emmy Awards telecast, Sept. 1994

DeGeneres' comedy material became the basis of the successful 1994-1998 sitcom Ellen, named These Friends of Mine during its first season. The ABC show was popular in its first few seasons due in part to DeGeneres' style of quirky observational humor; it was often referred to as a "female Seinfeld."

Ellen reached its height of popularity in February 1997, when DeGeneres made her homosexuality public on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Subsequently her character on the sitcom came out of the closet in April to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey, that she was gay. The coming out episode, entitled "The Puppy Episode", was one of the highest-rated episodes of the show, but later episodes of the series would fail to match its popularity, and after declining ratings, the show was canceled. DeGeneres returned to the stand-up comedy circuit, and would later re-establish herself as a successful talk show host.
Ellen's Energy Adventure

DeGeneres starred in a series of films for a show named Ellen's Energy Adventure, which is part of the Universe of Energy attraction and pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot. The film also featured Bill Nye, Alex Trebek, Michael Richards and Jamie Lee Curtis. The show revolved around DeGeneres falling asleep and finding herself in an energy-themed version of Jeopardy!, playing against an old rival, portrayed by Curtis, and Albert Einstein. The next film had DeGeneres hosting an educational look at energy, co-hosted with Nye. The ride first opened on September 15, 1996, as Ellen's Energy Crisis but was quickly renamed to the more positive-sounding Ellen's Energy Adventure.
The Ellen Show

DeGeneres returned to series television in 2001 with a new CBS sitcom, The Ellen Show. Though her character was again a lesbian, it was not the central theme of the show.
2001 Emmy Awards

DeGeneres received wide exposure on November 4, 2001 when she hosted the televised broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Presented after two cancellations due to network concerns that a lavish ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks would appear insensitive, the show required a more somber tone that would also allow viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy. DeGeneres received several standing ovations for her performance that evening which included the line: "What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?"

In August 2005, DeGeneres hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony which was held on September 18, 2005. This was three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, making it the second time she hosted the Emmys following a national tragedy. She also hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and in 1997.
Voice acting

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of Dory, a fish with short-term memory loss, in the summer 2003 hit animated Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. The film's director, Andrew Stanton, claimed that he chose her because she "changed the subject five times before one sentence had finished" on her show. For her performance as Dory, DeGeneres won the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for "Best Supporting Actress"; "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie" from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards; and the Annie Award from the International Animated Film Association for "Outstanding Voice Acting". She was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award in the "Best Supporting Actress" category. She also provided the voice of the dog in the prologue of the Eddie Murphy feature film Dr. Dolittle.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show

DeGeneres launched a daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2003. Amid a crop of several celebrity-hosted talk shows surfacing at the beginning of that season, such as those of Sharon Osbourne and Rita Rudner, her show has consistently risen in the Nielsen Ratings and received widespread critical praise. It was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season, winning four, including Best Talk Show. The show has won 25 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air. DeGeneres is known for her dancing and singing with the audience at the beginning of the show and during commercial breaks. She often gives away free prizes and trips to her studio audience with the help of her sponsors.

DeGeneres celebrated her thirty-year class reunion by flying her graduating class to California to be guests on her show in February 2006. She presented Atlanta High School with a surprise gift of a new electronic LED marquee sign.

In May 2006, DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at the Tulane University commencement in New Orleans. Following George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to the podium, she came out in a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes," she said.

The show broadcast for a week from Universal Studios Orlando in March 2007. Guests that week included Jennifer Lopez and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and skits included DeGeneres going on the Hulk Roller Coaster Ride and the Jaws Boat Ride.

In May 2007, DeGeneres was placed on bed rest due to a torn ligament in her back. She continued hosting her show from a hospital bed, tended to by a nurse, explaining "the show must go on, as they say." Guests sat in hospital beds as well.

On May 1, 2009, DeGeneres celebrated her 1000th episode, featuring celebrity guests such as Oprah, Justin Timberlake, and Paris Hilton, among others.
79th Academy Awards
Ellen DeGeneres at the Emmy Awards, 1997

On September 7, 2006, DeGeneres was selected to host the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 25, 2007. This makes her the first openly gay or lesbian person to have hosted the event. During the Awards show DeGeneres said, "What a wonderful night, such diversity in the room, in a year when there's been so many negative things said about people's race, religion and sexual orientation. And I want to put this out there: if there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars, or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that." Reviews of her hosting gig were positive, with one saying, "DeGeneres rocked, as she never forgot that she wasn't just there to entertain the Oscar nominees but also to tickle the audience at home." In fact, Regis Philbin said in an interview that "the only complaint was there's not enough Ellen."

DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award as host of the Academy Awards broadcast.
2007 Writers Guild strike

DeGeneres, like many actors who are also writers, is a member of both the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Thus, although DeGeneres verbally supported the 2007 WGA strike she did not support it when she crossed the picket line the day after the strike began. Her representatives said that she was competing with other first-run syndicated shows during the competitive November sweeps period, and that she could not break her contracts or risk her show lose its time slot. As a show of solidarity with the strikers, DeGeneres omitted her monologue during the strike, typically written by WGA writers. The WGA condemned her while the AFTRA defended her.
Commercial spokeswoman

In November 2004, DeGeneres appeared, dancing, in an ad campaign for American Express. Her most recent American Express commercial, a two-minute black-and-white spot where she works with animals, debuted in November 2006 and was created by Ogilvy and Mather. In 2007, the commercial won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.

DeGeneres began working with Cover Girl Cosmetics in September 2008, for which she has been criticized, as her animal-friendly values clash with Procter and Gamble's (the maker of Cover Girl Cosmetics) animal testing . Her face is the focus of new Cover Girl advertisements starting in January 2009. The beauty campaign will be DeGeneres' first.
American Idol

On September 9, 2009, it was confirmed that DeGeneres would replace Paula Abdul as a judge of the ninth season of American Idol. Her role will start only after the contestant auditions. DeGeneres also reportedly signed a contract to be a judge on the show for at least five seasons.
Personal life

DeGeneres was in a relationship (1997-2000) with former Another World actress Anne Heche who went on to marry cameraman Coley Laffoon. From 2001 to 2004, DeGeneres and actress/director/photographer Alexandra Hedison were in a relationship. They appeared on the cover of The Advocate after their separation had already been announced to the media.

Since 2004, DeGeneres has been in a relationship with former Ally McBeal and Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi. After the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California, DeGeneres announced on a May 2008 show that she and de Rossi were engaged, and gave de Rossi a three-carat pink diamond ring. They were married on August 16, 2008 at their home, with nineteen guests including their respective mothers. The passage of Proposition 8 cast doubt on the legal status of their marriage but a subsequent Supreme Court judgment validated it because it occurred before 4 November 2008.

They live in Beverly Hills, with three dogs and four cats, and both are vegan.

In her book, Love, Ellen, DeGeneres' mother, Betty DeGeneres, describes being initially shocked when her daughter came out as a lesbian, but has become one of her strongest supporters, an active member of Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project. DeGeneres' mother is a breast cancer survivor.

In 2007, Forbes estimated DeGeneres' net worth as US$65 million.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Arduous Moon Herself Short film
1991 Wisecracks Herself Documentary
1993 Coneheads Coach
1994 Trevor Herself Short film
1996 Ellen's Energy Adventure Herself Short film
Mr. Wrong Martha Alston
1998 Goodbye Lover Sgt. Rita Pompano
Dr. Dolittle Prologue Dog Voice
1999 EDtv Cynthia
The Love Letter Janet Hall
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Herself
Finding Nemo Dory Voice
2004 My Short Film Herself Short film
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Women of the Night Herself Comedy Special
1989 Open House Margo Van Mete Episode: "The Bad Seed"
Episode: "Let's Get Physicals"
1992 Laurie Hill Nancy MacIntyre Episode: "Pilot"
Episode: "The Heart Thing"
Episode: "Walter and Beverly"
1994-1998 Ellen Ellen Morgan 109 episodes
1995 Roseanne Dr. Whitman

Episode: "The Blaming of the Shrew"
1998 Mad About You Nancy Bloom Episode: "The Finale"
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Kal Segment: "2000"
2001 On the Edge Operator Segment: "Reaching Normal"
2001-2002 The Ellen Show Ellen Richmond 18 episodes
2003 Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now Herself Comedy Special
MADtv Herself Episode: "9.3"
2004 E! True Hollywood Story Herself
Six Feet Under Herself Parallel Play]]"
2007 Ellen's Really Big Show Herself
Sesame Street Herself Episode: "The Tutu Spell" (uncredited)
Forbes 20 Richest Women in Entertainment Herself
The Bachelorette Herself
2007-2008 American Idol: The Search for a Superstar Herself Episode: "Idol Gives Back 2007"
" Idol Gives Back 2008
2008 Ellen's Even Bigger Really Big Show Herself Comedy Special
2009 Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show Herself Comedy Special
So You Think You Can Dance Guest Judge Week 7; July 22, 2009
2003-present The Ellen DeGeneres Show Herself TV show
2010 American Idol Judge Starting with season 9.
Discography
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Ellen Degeneres: Taste This Stand-up comedy Live CD
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n175/cityondown09/ellen_degeneres.jpg
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx338/ihavefoundit/degeneres.jpg
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab182/duhhkodaa/ellen-degeneres-raccoon.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd230/honeyhoneyhoney/American%20Idol/1263253162_ellen-blog.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/10 at 7:53 am

The person who died on this day...Jose Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992), best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director. He was the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.
Ferrer made his Broadway debut in 1935. In 1940, he played his first starring role on Broadway, the title role in Charley's Aunt, partly in drag. He played Iago in Margaret Webster's 1943 Broadway production of Othello, starring Paul Robeson in the title role, Webster as Emilia, and Ferrer's wife at the time, Uta Hagen, as Desdemona. It became the longest-running production of a Shakespeare play staged in the U.S., a record it still holds. His Broadway directing credits include The Shrike, Stalag 17, The Fourposter, Twentieth Century, Carmelina, My Three Angels, and The Andersonville Trial.
Cyrano de Bergerac

Ferrer may be best-remembered for his performance in the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac, which he first played on Broadway in 1946. Ferrer feared that the production would be a failure in rehearsals due to the open dislike for the play by director Mel Ferrer (who was not related to José), so he called in Joshua Logan (who had directed his star-making performance in Charley's Aunt) to serve as "play doctor" for the production. Logan wrote that he simply had to eliminate pieces of business which director Ferrer had inserted in his staging; they presumably were intended to sabotage the more sentimental elements of the play that the director considered to be corny and in bad taste. The production became one of the hits of the 1946/47 Broadway season, winning José the first Tony Award for his depiction of the long-nosed poet/swordsman (tied with Fredric March for Ruth Gordon's play about her own early years as an actress, Years Ago).

He reprised the role of Cyrano onstage at the New York City Center under his own direction in 1953, as well as in two films: his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1950 film of Edmond Rostand's play directed by Michael Gordon and the 1964 French film Cyrano et d'Artagnan directed by Abel Gance. He also played Cyrano in two television productions, for The Philco Television Playhouse in 1949 and Producers' Showcase in 1953. Ferrer was nominated for an Emmy Award for both presentations, which (taken with his Oscar and Tony) made him the first (and to date, the only) performer to be nominated for all three awards for playing the same character.

Ferrer would go on to voice a highly truncated cartoon version of the play for an episode of The ABC Afterschool Special in 1974, and made his farewell to the part by performing a short passage from the play for the 1986 Tony Awards telecast.
Early films

Ferrer made his film debut in 1948 in the Technicolor epic Joan of Arc as the weak-willed Dauphin opposite Ingrid Bergman. Leading roles in the films Whirlpool (opposite Gene Tierney) (1949) and Crisis (opposite Cary Grant) (1950) followed, and culminated in the 1950 film Cyrano de Bergerac. He next played the role of Toulouse-Lautrec in John Huston's fictional 1952 biopic, Moulin Rouge.
Later stage career

Beginning circa 1950, Ferrer concentrated on film work, but would return to the stage occasionally. In 1959 Ferrer directed the original stage production of Saul Levitt's The Andersonville Trial, about the trial following the revelation of conditions at the infamous Civil War prison. It was a hit and featured George C. Scott. He took over the direction of the troubled musical Juno from Vincent J. Donehue, who had himself taken over from Tony Richardson. The show folded after 16 performances and mixed-to extremely negative critical reaction. The show's commercial failure (along with his earlier flop, Oh, Captain!), was a considerable setback to Ferrer's directing career. Nor did the short-lived The Girl Who Came to Supper do much for his acting career. A notable performance of his later stage career was as Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in the hit musical Man of La Mancha. Ferrer took over the role from Richard Kiley in 1967, and subsequently went on tour with it in the first national company of the show.
Other filmwork

He portrayed the Rev. Davidson in 1953's Miss Sadie Thompson (a remake of Rain) opposite Rita Hayworth; Barney Greenwald, the embittered defense attorney, in 1954's The Caine Mutiny; and operetta composer Sigmund Romberg in the MGM musical biopic Deep in My Heart. In 1955 Ferrer directed himself in the film version of The Shrike, with June Allyson. The Cockleshell Heroes followed a year later, along with The Great Man, both of which he also directed. In 1958 Ferrer directed and appeared in I Accuse! (as Alfred Dreyfus) and The High Cost of Loving. Ferrer also directed, but did not appear in, Return to Peyton Place in 1961 and also the remake of State Fair in 1962.

Ferrer's other notable film roles include the Turkish Bey in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Herod Antipas in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), a budding Nazi in Ship of Fools, a pompous professor in Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), the treacherous Professor Siletski in the 1983 remake of To Be or Not to Be, and Shaddam Corrino IV in Dune in 1984. However, in an interview given in the 1980s, he bemoaned the lack of good character parts for aging stars, and readily admitted that he now took on roles mostly for the money.

In 1979, he had a memorable role as future Justice Abe Fortas, to whom he bore a strong resemblance, in the made-for-television film version of Anthony Lewis' Gideon's Trumpet, opposite Henry Fonda in an Emmy-nominated performance as Clarence Earl Gideon.
Radio and television

Among other radio roles, Ferrer starred as detective Philo Vance in a 1945 series of the same name.

Ferrer, not usually known for regular roles in TV series, had a recurring role as Julia Duffy's WASPy father on the long-running television series, Newhart in the 1980s. He also had a recurring role as elegant and flamboyant attorney Reuben Marino on the soap opera Another World in the early 1980s. He narrated the very first episode of the popular 1964 sitcom Bewitched, in mock documentary style. He also provided the voice of the evil Ben Haramed on the 1968 Rankin/Bass Christmas TV special The Little Drummer Boy.
Awards

Ferrer received his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the Dauphin who eventually becomes King of France in the Ingrid Bergman Joan of Arc in 1948. He went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac in the 1950 film version of Edmond Rostand's play, becoming the first Puerto Rican to win the award, only weeks after being subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee as a suspected Communist, charges that Ferrer vehemently denied and his career was unscathed. (Three other people connected with the film - screenwriter Carl Foreman, director Michael Gordon, and actor Morris Carnovsky, who was seen as Le Bret - were, in fact, blacklisted.) Ferrer was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the second and final time for his portrayal of Toulouse-Lautrec in the 1952 non-musical film Moulin Rouge (no relation to the Nicole Kidman film of the same name).

Ferrer was also nominated for an Emmy Award twice - in 1949 and 1955. Both nominations were for playing the role of Cyrano in two different (and severely truncated) television productions of Cyrano de Bergerac. The first was telecast on Philco Television Playhouse, and the second on Producers' Showcase.

Before entering films, Ferrer won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Cyrano on the Broadway stage in a successful 1946 stage revival of the play. In 1952 Ferrer won a Tony Award for directing three plays (The Shrike, Stalag 17, The Fourposter), in the same season, and earned another for his performance in The Shrike.

In 1985, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Personal life

Ferrer had a decade-long first marriage to famed actress and acting teacher Uta Hagen (1938–1948), with whom he had a daughter, Leticia ("Lettie") Ferrer. His second wife was dancer/actress Phyllis Hill (1948–1953). By his third marriage to Rosemary Clooney (actor George Clooney's aunt), Ferrer had five children: Miguel Jose (born February 7, 1955); Maria P (born August 9, 1956); Gabriel V (born August 1, 1957), Monsita T (born October 13, 1958) and Rafael F (born March 23, 1960). Ferrer and Clooney were married in 1953, divorced in 1961, and remarried in 1964, only to divorce again three years later. Their son, Gabriel Ferrer, is married to singer Debby Boone, daughter of Pat and Shirley Boone.

At the time of his death, he was married to Stella Magee, whom he met in the late sixties. Ferrer died following a brief battle with colon cancer in Coral Gables, Florida in 1992 and was interred in Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in Old San Juan in his native Puerto Rico.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1948 Joan of Arc The Dauphin, Charles VII Directed by Victor Fleming
1949 Whirlpool David Korvo Directed by Otto Preminger
1950 Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac Academy Award for Best Actor
Crisis Raoul Farrago Directed by Richard Brooks
The Secret Fury José
1952 Moulin Rouge Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor
Anything Can Happen Giorgi Papashvily
1953 Miss Sadie Thompson Alfred Davidson
1954 Deep in My Heart Sigmund Romberg
The Caine Mutiny Lt. Barney Greenwald Directed by Edward Dmytryk
1955 The Cockleshell Heroes Major Stringer
The Shrike Jim Downs
1956 The Great Man Joe Harris
1958 The High Cost of Loving Jim 'Jimbo' Fry
I Accuse! Capt. Alfred Dreyfus
1961 Return to Peyton Place
Forbid Them Not Narrator
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Turkish Bey
1963 Verspätung in Marienborn Cowan the Reporter
Nine Hours to Rama Supt. Gopal Das
1964 Cyrano et d'Artagnan Cyrano de Bergerac
1965 Ship of Fools Siegfried Rieber
The Greatest Story Ever Told Herod Antipas
1967 Cervantes Hassan Bey
Enter Laughing Mr. Marlowe
1975 El Clan de los inmorales Inspector Reed
1976 The Big Bus Ironman
Forever Young, Forever Free Father Alberto
Paco Fermin Flores
Voyage of the Damned Manuel Benitez
1977 The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover Lionel McCoy
Who Has Seen the Wind The Ben
The Sentinel Priest of the Brotherhood
Crash! Marc Denne
1978 The Swarm Dr. Andrews
Dracula's Dog Inspector Branco
Fedora Doctor Vando
The Return of Captain Nemo Captain Nemo
1979 Natural Enemies Harry Rosenthal
The Fifth Musketeer Athos
A Life of Sin Bishop
1980 The Big Brawl Domenici
1981 Bloody Birthday Doctor
1982 Blood Tide Nereus
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Leopold
1983 To Be or Not to Be Prof. Siletski
The Being Mayor Gordon Lane
1984 Dune Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
The Evil That Men Do Dr. Hector Lomelin
1987 The Sun and the Moon
1990 Hired to Kill Rallis
Old Explorers Warner Watney
1992 Laam Gong juen ji faan fei jo fung wan
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/redmars29/JoseFerrer.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/Showbiz%20Couples/RosemaryClooney-JoseFerrerandfamily.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/26/10 at 2:08 pm

I found Nemo!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2758112864_67b53c9a54.jpg

Dori

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2757280039_9155d011e8.jpg

And yes, once again, those are my photos.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/10 at 2:19 pm


I found Nemo!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/2758112864_67b53c9a54.jpg

Dori

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2757280039_9155d011e8.jpg

And yes, once again, those are my photos.


Cat



Very nice job :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/26/10 at 2:47 pm


The birthday of the day...Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedienne, television hostess and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and is also a judge on American Idol, having joined the show in its ninth season.

She has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar's animated film Finding Nemo. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. In 1997, during the fourth season of Ellen, she came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues as well as the coming out process. She has won twelve Emmys and numerous awards for her work and charitable efforts.
DeGeneres started performing stand-up comedy at small clubs and coffeehouses. By 1981 she was the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club in New Orleans. Degeneres describes Woody Allen and Steve Martin as her main influences at this time. In the early 1980s she began to tour nationally, being named Showtime's Funniest Person in America in 1982. In 1986 she appeared for the first time on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who likened her to Bob Newhart. When Carson invited her over for an onscreen chat after her performance, she became the first female comedian in the show's history to whom this honor was bestowed.
Early screen work

Television and film work in the late 1980s and early 1990s included roles on television in Open House and in the film Coneheads.
Ellen (sitcom, 1994–1998)
At the Governor's Ball after the 46th Annual Emmy Awards telecast, Sept. 1994

DeGeneres' comedy material became the basis of the successful 1994-1998 sitcom Ellen, named These Friends of Mine during its first season. The ABC show was popular in its first few seasons due in part to DeGeneres' style of quirky observational humor; it was often referred to as a "female Seinfeld."

Ellen reached its height of popularity in February 1997, when DeGeneres made her homosexuality public on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Subsequently her character on the sitcom came out of the closet in April to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey, that she was gay. The coming out episode, entitled "The Puppy Episode", was one of the highest-rated episodes of the show, but later episodes of the series would fail to match its popularity, and after declining ratings, the show was canceled. DeGeneres returned to the stand-up comedy circuit, and would later re-establish herself as a successful talk show host.
Ellen's Energy Adventure

DeGeneres starred in a series of films for a show named Ellen's Energy Adventure, which is part of the Universe of Energy attraction and pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot. The film also featured Bill Nye, Alex Trebek, Michael Richards and Jamie Lee Curtis. The show revolved around DeGeneres falling asleep and finding herself in an energy-themed version of Jeopardy!, playing against an old rival, portrayed by Curtis, and Albert Einstein. The next film had DeGeneres hosting an educational look at energy, co-hosted with Nye. The ride first opened on September 15, 1996, as Ellen's Energy Crisis but was quickly renamed to the more positive-sounding Ellen's Energy Adventure.
The Ellen Show

DeGeneres returned to series television in 2001 with a new CBS sitcom, The Ellen Show. Though her character was again a lesbian, it was not the central theme of the show.
2001 Emmy Awards

DeGeneres received wide exposure on November 4, 2001 when she hosted the televised broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Presented after two cancellations due to network concerns that a lavish ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks would appear insensitive, the show required a more somber tone that would also allow viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy. DeGeneres received several standing ovations for her performance that evening which included the line: "What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?"

In August 2005, DeGeneres hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony which was held on September 18, 2005. This was three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, making it the second time she hosted the Emmys following a national tragedy. She also hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and in 1997.
Voice acting

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of Dory, a fish with short-term memory loss, in the summer 2003 hit animated Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. The film's director, Andrew Stanton, claimed that he chose her because she "changed the subject five times before one sentence had finished" on her show. For her performance as Dory, DeGeneres won the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for "Best Supporting Actress"; "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie" from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards; and the Annie Award from the International Animated Film Association for "Outstanding Voice Acting". She was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award in the "Best Supporting Actress" category. She also provided the voice of the dog in the prologue of the Eddie Murphy feature film Dr. Dolittle.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show

DeGeneres launched a daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2003. Amid a crop of several celebrity-hosted talk shows surfacing at the beginning of that season, such as those of Sharon Osbourne and Rita Rudner, her show has consistently risen in the Nielsen Ratings and received widespread critical praise. It was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season, winning four, including Best Talk Show. The show has won 25 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air. DeGeneres is known for her dancing and singing with the audience at the beginning of the show and during commercial breaks. She often gives away free prizes and trips to her studio audience with the help of her sponsors.

DeGeneres celebrated her thirty-year class reunion by flying her graduating class to California to be guests on her show in February 2006. She presented Atlanta High School with a surprise gift of a new electronic LED marquee sign.

In May 2006, DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at the Tulane University commencement in New Orleans. Following George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to the podium, she came out in a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes," she said.

The show broadcast for a week from Universal Studios Orlando in March 2007. Guests that week included Jennifer Lopez and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and skits included DeGeneres going on the Hulk Roller Coaster Ride and the Jaws Boat Ride.

In May 2007, DeGeneres was placed on bed rest due to a torn ligament in her back. She continued hosting her show from a hospital bed, tended to by a nurse, explaining "the show must go on, as they say." Guests sat in hospital beds as well.

On May 1, 2009, DeGeneres celebrated her 1000th episode, featuring celebrity guests such as Oprah, Justin Timberlake, and Paris Hilton, among others.
79th Academy Awards
Ellen DeGeneres at the Emmy Awards, 1997

On September 7, 2006, DeGeneres was selected to host the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 25, 2007. This makes her the first openly gay or lesbian person to have hosted the event. During the Awards show DeGeneres said, "What a wonderful night, such diversity in the room, in a year when there's been so many negative things said about people's race, religion and sexual orientation. And I want to put this out there: if there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars, or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that." Reviews of her hosting gig were positive, with one saying, "DeGeneres rocked, as she never forgot that she wasn't just there to entertain the Oscar nominees but also to tickle the audience at home." In fact, Regis Philbin said in an interview that "the only complaint was there's not enough Ellen."

DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award as host of the Academy Awards broadcast.
2007 Writers Guild strike

DeGeneres, like many actors who are also writers, is a member of both the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Thus, although DeGeneres verbally supported the 2007 WGA strike she did not support it when she crossed the picket line the day after the strike began. Her representatives said that she was competing with other first-run syndicated shows during the competitive November sweeps period, and that she could not break her contracts or risk her show lose its time slot. As a show of solidarity with the strikers, DeGeneres omitted her monologue during the strike, typically written by WGA writers. The WGA condemned her while the AFTRA defended her.
Commercial spokeswoman

In November 2004, DeGeneres appeared, dancing, in an ad campaign for American Express. Her most recent American Express commercial, a two-minute black-and-white spot where she works with animals, debuted in November 2006 and was created by Ogilvy and Mather. In 2007, the commercial won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.

DeGeneres began working with Cover Girl Cosmetics in September 2008, for which she has been criticized, as her animal-friendly values clash with Procter and Gamble's (the maker of Cover Girl Cosmetics) animal testing . Her face is the focus of new Cover Girl advertisements starting in January 2009. The beauty campaign will be DeGeneres' first.
American Idol

On September 9, 2009, it was confirmed that DeGeneres would replace Paula Abdul as a judge of the ninth season of American Idol. Her role will start only after the contestant auditions. DeGeneres also reportedly signed a contract to be a judge on the show for at least five seasons.
Personal life

DeGeneres was in a relationship (1997-2000) with former Another World actress Anne Heche who went on to marry cameraman Coley Laffoon. From 2001 to 2004, DeGeneres and actress/director/photographer Alexandra Hedison were in a relationship. They appeared on the cover of The Advocate after their separation had already been announced to the media.

Since 2004, DeGeneres has been in a relationship with former Ally McBeal and Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi. After the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California, DeGeneres announced on a May 2008 show that she and de Rossi were engaged, and gave de Rossi a three-carat pink diamond ring. They were married on August 16, 2008 at their home, with nineteen guests including their respective mothers. The passage of Proposition 8 cast doubt on the legal status of their marriage but a subsequent Supreme Court judgment validated it because it occurred before 4 November 2008.

They live in Beverly Hills, with three dogs and four cats, and both are vegan.

In her book, Love, Ellen, DeGeneres' mother, Betty DeGeneres, describes being initially shocked when her daughter came out as a lesbian, but has become one of her strongest supporters, an active member of Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project. DeGeneres' mother is a breast cancer survivor.

In 2007, Forbes estimated DeGeneres' net worth as US$65 million.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Arduous Moon Herself Short film
1991 Wisecracks Herself Documentary
1993 Coneheads Coach
1994 Trevor Herself Short film
1996 Ellen's Energy Adventure Herself Short film
Mr. Wrong Martha Alston
1998 Goodbye Lover Sgt. Rita Pompano
Dr. Dolittle Prologue Dog Voice
1999 EDtv Cynthia
The Love Letter Janet Hall
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Herself
Finding Nemo Dory Voice
2004 My Short Film Herself Short film
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Women of the Night Herself Comedy Special
1989 Open House Margo Van Mete Episode: "The Bad Seed"
Episode: "Let's Get Physicals"
1992 Laurie Hill Nancy MacIntyre Episode: "Pilot"
Episode: "The Heart Thing"
Episode: "Walter and Beverly"
1994-1998 Ellen Ellen Morgan 109 episodes
1995 Roseanne Dr. Whitman

Episode: "The Blaming of the Shrew"
1998 Mad About You Nancy Bloom Episode: "The Finale"
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Kal Segment: "2000"
2001 On the Edge Operator Segment: "Reaching Normal"
2001-2002 The Ellen Show Ellen Richmond 18 episodes
2003 Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now Herself Comedy Special
MADtv Herself Episode: "9.3"
2004 E! True Hollywood Story Herself
Six Feet Under Herself Parallel Play]]"
2007 Ellen's Really Big Show Herself
Sesame Street Herself Episode: "The Tutu Spell" (uncredited)
Forbes 20 Richest Women in Entertainment Herself
The Bachelorette Herself
2007-2008 American Idol: The Search for a Superstar Herself Episode: "Idol Gives Back 2007"
" Idol Gives Back 2008
2008 Ellen's Even Bigger Really Big Show Herself Comedy Special
2009 Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show Herself Comedy Special
So You Think You Can Dance Guest Judge Week 7; July 22, 2009
2003-present The Ellen DeGeneres Show Herself TV show
2010 American Idol Judge Starting with season 9.
Discography
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Ellen Degeneres: Taste This Stand-up comedy Live CD
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n175/cityondown09/ellen_degeneres.jpg
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx338/ihavefoundit/degeneres.jpg
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab182/duhhkodaa/ellen-degeneres-raccoon.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd230/honeyhoneyhoney/American%20Idol/1263253162_ellen-blog.jpg


I love her show.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/10 at 4:07 pm


I love her show.  :)

I don't usually watch it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/10 at 6:32 am

The word of the day...Snow
Snow consists of a lot of soft white bits of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather.
If someone snows you, they persuade you to do something or convince you of something by flattering or deceiving you.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu56/THElablahblah/snow.jpg
http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt352/mbyoh/snow.jpg
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae152/twilight_person/Photo258.jpg
http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt137/Planaproject/DSC_0133.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad207/pacontrolrm/Random/Snow.jpg
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab140/glvictor/Snow_mount.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r120/abaxter1411/PC260053.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/angelanewham/DSC04610.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/okesha/WinterinAshland.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/10 at 6:36 am

The person born on this day...James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American film and television actor. He has been nominated for an Oscar, three Emmy Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards during his career.
Cromwell's first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry. A few weeks later, he began a recurring role as Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family. In 1975 he took his first lead role on television as Bill Lewis in the short-lived Hot l Baltimore, and a year later he made his film debut in Neil Simon's classic detective spoof Murder by Death.

In 1980, Cromwell guest-starred in the two-part pivotal episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" of the long-running television series Little House on the Prairire. He played "Harve Miller," one of "Almanzo Wilder's" (Dean Butler) old friends. He comes to visit Almanzo, who lives with his shy sister, Walnut Grove's school teacher "Eliza Jane." Eliza Jane and Harve spend time together over the next few weeks, and she falls in love, for the first time, with Harve. Eliza, however, misunderstands some comments Harve has made, and he stuns her, at Nellie's restaurant, by announcing he wishes to marry another woman in a different town. Harve is totally unaware that she had feelings of love towards him. She takes Almanzo's wagon to the town of Sleepy Eye to seek him out before he marries someone else. She finally gathers the courage to tell him that she loves him. Instead, he tells Eliza that it is too late, he is already married. Eliza lies to everyone, and claims she is marrying Harve and moving away. This allows seventeen-year-old Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) to take over her job as school teacher, giving Laura and Almanzo desperately needed income, and allowing Laura to move into their home to marry Almanzo at last.

While Cromwell continued with regular television work throughout the 1980s, he made real inroads in film business for his supporting roles in the films Tank and Revenge of the Nerds. His starring roles in the 1990s critically-acclaimed films Babe (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Green Mile, and Snow Falling on Cedars (both 1999) were breakout roles for him, and made him more bankable in Hollywood. He also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot Broken Bow (the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" later reused some of the First Contact footage). He has appeared on other Star Trek television series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, though not as Cochrane (his appearances on these shows predated his role in First Contact), he guest starred in episodes including "The Hunted", "Birthright" (Part I and II) and "Starship Down".

Cromwell also had additional success on television throughout his career. His role as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in the television film RKO 281 earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. The following year, he receive his second Emmy Award nomination for playing Bishop Lionel Stewart on the NBC medical drama series ER. In 2004, he guest-starred as former President D. Wire Newman in the The West Wing episode "The Stormy Present". From 2003 to 2005, Cromwell played George Sibley in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under, which earned him his third Emmy Award nomination in 2003. Along with the rest of his castmates, he was also nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 and 2006. The following year, Cromwell played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Queen (2006), that earned Dame Helen Mirren an Academy Award for Best Actress. He also guest starred as Phillip Bauer, father of lead character Jack, in the sixth season of the Fox thriller drama series 24.

In October 2007, Cromwell played the lead role of James Tyrone Sr. in the Druid Theatre Company's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, at the Gaiety in Dublin as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival's 50th Anniversary. More recently, Cromwell played George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stone's W. (2008), that chronicles the unlikely rise to power of his son up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an interview, Cromwell revealed that Stone had originally offered the role to Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford.
Personal life

He has long been an advocate of leftist causes. In an October 2008 interview, he strongly attacked the Republican Party and the George W. Bush administration, saying their controversial foreign policy would "either destroy us or the entire planet." In the late 1960s, he was a member of "The Committee to Defend The Panthers", a group organized to defend 13 members of the Black Panther Party who had been imprisoned in New York on charges of conspiracy. All thirteen were eventually released. In a 2004 interview with CNN.com, Cromwell praised the Panthers. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety." He became an ethical vegan while playing the character of Farmer Hoggett in the movie Babe in 1995. He frequently speaks out on issues regarding animal cruelty for PETA, largely the treatment of pigs.

Cromwell is known for his unusually tall stature; he stands at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).

Cromwell was married to Anne Ulvestad from 1976 to 1986. They had three children. He married his second wife, Julie Cobb, on 29 May 1986.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1976 Murder by Death Marcel
1978 The Cheap Detective Schnell
1981 Nobody's Perfekt Dr. Carson
1983 The Man with Two Brains Realtor
1984 The House of God Officer Quick
Tank Deputy Euclid Baker
Revenge of the Nerds Mr. Skolnick Credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
Oh, God! You Devil Priest
1985 Explorers Mr. Müller
1986 A Fine Mess Detective Blist
1987 Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise Mr. Skolnick
1988 The Rescue Admiral Rothman
1989 The Runnin' Kind Unknown
Pink Cadillac Motel Desk Clerk
1992 The Babe Brother Mathias
1993 Romeo Is Bleeding Cage
1995 Babe Farmer Arthur Hoggett Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1996 Eraser William Donohue
The People vs. Larry Flynt Charles Keating
Star Trek: First Contact Dr. Zefram Cochrane
1997 Owd Bob Adam MacAdam
L.A. Confidential Captain Dudley Smith Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Education of Little Tree Granpa
1998 Species II Senator Judson Ross
Deep Impact Alan Rittenhouse
Babe: Pig in the City Farmer Arthur Hoggett
1999 The General's Daughter Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell
The Bachelor Priest
The Green Mile Warden Hal Moores Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Snow Falling on Cedars Judge Fielding
2000 Space Cowboys Bob Gerson
2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron The Colonel
The Sum of All Fears President J. Robert Fowler
The Nazi Franz
2003 Blackball Ray Speight
The Snow Walker Walter Shepherd
2004 I, Robot Dr. Alfred Lanning
2005 The Longest Yard Warden Hazen
2006 The Queen Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
2007 Dante's Inferno Virgil
Becoming Jane Reverend Austen
Spider-Man 3 Captain George Stacy
2008 Tortured Jack
W. George H. W. Bush
2009 A Lonely Place for Dying Howard Simons
Flying Into Love Lyndon B. Johnson Pre-production
Surrogates Dr. Lionel Canter
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1974 The Rockford Files Terry Episode 1.3: "The Countess"
All in the Family Stretch Cunningham Appeared in three episodes
1974, 1978 Maude Alfie
Dr. Farrington Episode 3.9: "Last Tango in Tuckahoe"
Episode 6.13: "The Obscene Phone Call"
1975 Hot l Baltimore Bill Lewis Main cast member
Barbary Coast Roy Episode 1.4: "The Ballad of Redwing Jail"
1976 Stranded Jerry Holmes TV film
Insight Norman Episode "Jesus B.C."
The Nancy Walker Show Glen
Once an Eagle J. L. Cleghorne Mini-series
1977 Police Story Lutz Episode 4.20: "Ice Time"
The Girl in the Empty Grave Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr. TV film
M*A*S*H Captain Leo Bardonaro Episode 6.3: "Last Laugh"
Three's Company Detective Lannigan Episode 2.9: "Chrissy's Night Out"
Deadly Game Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr. TV film
1977, 1979, 1981 Barney Miller Sgt. Wilkinson
Neil Spencer
Jason Parrish
Dr. Edmund Danworth Episode 3.20: "Group Home"
Episode 6.6: "Strip Joint"
Episode 7.22: "Liquidation"
Episode 8.5: "Stress Analyzer"
1978 Alice Detective Ralph Hilton Episode 3.9: "Who Ordered the Hot Turkey?"
1979 Eight Is Enough Coach Pollard Episode 3.23: "The Better Part of Valour"
Diff'rent Strokes Father O'Brien Episode 2.7: "Arnold's Hero"
1979, 1980 The White Shadow Mr. Hamilton
Art Commings Episode 1.13: "Mainstream"
Episode 2.22: "The Death of Me Yet?"
1980 Flo Leon Episodes 1.1: "Homecoming" and 1.4: "Take My Sister, Please"
Little House on the Prairie Harve Miller Episodes 7.1: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Part 1" and 7.2: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Part 2"
A Christmas Without Snow Reverend Lohman TV film
1981 Barefoot in the Park Harry Pepper TV film
1982 The Rainmaker Noah Curry TV film
Nurse Paul Moore Episode 2.9: "A Place to Die"
The Wall Francisek TV film
Born to the Wind Fish Belly
Father Murphy Farley Webster Episodes 2.5: "The Reluctant Runaway: Part 1" and 2.6: "The Reluctant Runaway: Part 2"
1984 Buffalo Bill Unknown Episode 2.2: "Jerry Lewis Week"
Gimme a Break! Russell Cosgrove Episode 3.22: "Class of '84"
Spraggue Lieutenant Hurley TV film
Earthlings Simon Ganes TV film
1984-1985 Dallas Gerald Kane Appeared in three episodes
1985 Night Court Alan Episode 2.14: "Nuts About Harry"
Family Ties John Hancock Episode 3.15: "Philadelphia Story"
Riptide Joey Dietz Episode 2.17: "Girls Night Out"
Hardcastle and McCormick Jake Fellows Episode 2.20: "Undercover McCormick"
Knight Rider Curtis Episode 3.18: "Ten Wheel Trouble"
Wildside Fake Buffalo Bill Episode 1.5: "Buffalo Who?"
Hill Street Blues Lowenhandler Episode 5.23: "Grin and Bear It"
Hunter Seymour Robbins Episode 1.19: "Sniper"
The Twilight Zone Obediah Payne Episode 1.6: "Examination Day/A Message from Charity"
1985-1986 Scarecrow and Mrs. King Gregory Episodes 3.4: "Tail of the Dancing Weasel" and 3.18: "Wrong Number"
1986 Amazing Stories Francis Episode 1.15: "One for the Road"
Magnum, P.I. French Policeman Episode 6.21: "Photo Play"; uncredited
The Last Precinct Chief Bludhorn
Dream West Major General David Hunter TV mini-series
1987 Easy Street Quentin Standard Episode 1.13: "Frames and Dames"
Alison's Demise Humboldt Hobson TV film
1988 China Beach Ambassador at Large Roland Weymouth Pilot
Mr. Belvedere Roy Gallagher Episode 5.1: "Fat Cats"
Mama's Boy Unknown
1989 Christine Cromwell Arthur Episode 1.1: "Things That Go Bump in the Night"
1990 Life Goes On Bill Henderson Episode 1.13: "Thacher and Henderson"
Miracle Landing B.J. Cocker TV film
Matlock Judge Raymond Price Episode 5.2: "Nowhere to Turn"
1990, 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation Prime Minister Nayrok
Jaglom Shrek Episode 3.11: "The Hunted"
Episodes 6.16: "Birthright: Part 1" and 6.17: "Birthright: Part 2"
1991 The Young Riders Jacob Episode 2.14: "The Peacemakers"
Jake and the Fatman Havilland Episode 4.19: "It Never Entered My Mind"
In a Child's Name Unknown TV film
1992 Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation Mr. Skolnick TV film; credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
1994 Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love Mr. Skolnick TV film; credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
The Shaggy Dog Charlie 'the Robber' Mulvihill TV film
Home Improvement Fred Episode 4.9: "My Dinner with Wilson"
1995 Renegade Jeremy Sullivan Episode 3.15: "Stalker's Moon"
Picket Fences The Bishop Episode 3.20: "Saint Zach"
Indictment: The McMartin Trial Judge Pounders TV film
Hawkeye Unknown Episode 1.17: "The Visit"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Hanok Episode 4.6: "Starship Down"
1995-1996 Partners Mr. Saxonhouse Episodes 1.11: "Do We Have to Write You a Check?" and 1.18: "Can We Keep Her, Dad?"
1996 Strange Luck Minister Episode 1.13: "Healing Hands"
The Client Officer Joe Denton Episode 1.17: "The High Ground"
1999 A Slight Case of Murder John Edgerson TV film
RKO 281 William Randolph Hearst TV film
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
2000 Fail Safe Gordon Knapp TV play
2001 ER Bishop Stewart Appeared in four episodes
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
Star Trek: Enterprise Dr. Zefram Cochrane Episode 1.1: "Broken Bow: Part 1"
Cromwell also appeared in archive footage in Episode 4.18: "In a Mirror, Darkly"
Citizen Baines Senator Elliot Baines Appeared in all seven episodes
2002 A Death in the Family Joel Lynch TV film
The Magnificent Ambersons Major Amberson TV film
RFK President Lyndon B. Johnson
2003 Angels in America Henry TV mini-series; chapters 1 and 4
2003-2005 Six Feet Under George Sibley Appeared in 27 episodes
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
2004 The West Wing President D. Wire Newman Episode 5.10: "The Stormy Present"
'Salem's Lot Father Donald Callahan TV mini-series
2005 Pope John Paul II Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha
2006 Avenger Paul Devereaux TV film
2007 24 Phillip Bauer Appeared in eight episodes
Masters of Science Fiction Randolph Ludwin Episode 1.6: "Watchbird"
2008 Hit Factor Orson Fierce Also producer
My Own Worst Enemy Alistar Trumble Appeared in six episodes
2009 Strikeout Director TV film
Impact Lloyd TV mini-series
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers Hank Paulson Docu-drama
Theatre

    * Long Day's Journey into Night (2007)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/JamesCromwell.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/thecaptain72/tn_cromwell.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii171/stookiebhoy/patricia_clarkson_james_cromwell_th.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d108/ai108/88c97fcd.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/10 at 6:41 am

The person who died on this day... Andre The Giant
André René Roussimoff (19 May 1946 – 27 January 1993), best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His great size was a result of acromegaly, and led to him being dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World".

In the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Roussimoff briefly held the WWF Championship. In 1993, he was the first inductee into the WWF Hall of Fame.
On 26 March 1973, André made his WWE debut as a "face", defeating Buddy Wolfe in New York's Madison Square Garden.

By the time Vince McMahon, Jr. began to expand his promotion to the national level in the early 1980s, André wrestled exclusively for WWF in the USA, while still holding international engagements. André was mentioned in the 1974 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest paid wrestler in history up to that time. He had earned $400,000 in one year alone during the early 1970s.

André was one of WWF's most beloved "babyfaces" throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. As such, Gorilla Monsoon insisted that André was never defeated for 15 years by pinfall or submission prior to WrestleMania III. This, however, is not true. André actually had lost cleanly in matches outside of the parameters of WWF; a pinfall loss in Mexico to Canek in 1984 and in Japan a submission loss to Antonio Inoki in 1986. He also went sixty-minute time limit draws with the two other major world champions of the day, Harley Race and Nick Bockwinkel.

One of André's feuds pitted him against the Mongolian terror Killer Khan, who was managed by Freddie Blassie. According to the storyline, Khan had broken André's ankle during a match in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop. After a stay at Beth-Israel Hospital in Boston, André returned with payback on his mind. On 14 November 1981 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, André exacted revenge by destroying Khan in what was billed as a "Mongolian Stretcher Match", in which the loser must be taken to the dressing room on a stretcher. In reality, André had snapped his ankle getting out of bed one morning. The injury and subsequent rehabilitation was worked into the existing André/Khan storyline.

Another feud involved a man who considered himself to be "the true giant" of wrestling: Big John Studd. Throughout the early to mid-1980s, André and Studd fought all over the world, battling to try and determine who the real giant of wrestling was. In December 1984, Studd took the feud to a new level, when he and partner Ken Patera knocked out André during a televised tag team match and proceeded to cut off André's hair. André had the last laugh at the first WrestleMania on 31 March 1985 at Madison Square Garden. André conquered Studd in a $15,000 Body Slam Challenge. After slamming Studd, he attempted to give the $15,000 prize to the fans, before having the bag stolen from him by his future manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

The following year, at WrestleMania 2 on 7 April 1986, André continued to display his dominance by winning a twenty-man battle royal that featured top NFL stars and wrestlers. André last eliminated Bret Hart to win the contest. Afterward, André continued his feud with Studd and King Kong Bundy. André was suspended after a no-show; he returned under a mask as "The Giant Machine" part of a team with "Big Machine" (Robert Windham) and "Super Machine" (Bill Eadie) (The Machines gimmick was copied from New Japan Pro Wrestling character "Super Strong Machine", played by Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata). Soon afterwards, Giant Machine disappeared, and André was reinstated, to the approval of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
Heel run (1987–1990)

Feuding Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion
Main article: WrestleMania III

André was turned heel in 1987 so that he could face Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania III. In early 1987, Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years. André came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in WWF for fifteen years." In actuality, André had suffered a handful of countout and disqualification losses in WWF but had never been pinned or forced to submit in a WWF ring. Hogan came out to congratulate André and ended up being the focal point of the interview. A visibly annoyed André walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of "Piper's Pit", Hogan was confronted by Bobby Heenan. Heenan announced that his new protege was André, who then challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, ripping the t-shirt and crucifix from Hogan.

At WrestleMania III, he was billed at 525 lb (238 kg), and the stress of that immense weight on his bones and joints resulted in constant pain. After recent back surgery, he was also wearing a brace underneath his wrestling singlet. Hogan won the match after body slamming André, followed by Hogan's running leg drop finisher. Years later, Hogan claimed that André was so heavy, he felt more like 700 lb (320 kg), and that he actually tore his latissimus dorsi muscle slamming him. Another famous story about the match is that no one knew if André would lose the match. André had agreed to lose the match some time before, mostly for health reasons, though he almost pinned Hogan (albeit unintentionally) in the early goings of the match. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the first time that Hogan had successfully bodyslammed André in a WWF match. A then-heel Hogan bodyslammed a then-face André early in a match in Hamburg, Pennsylvania on 13 September 1980, though André was much lighter and more athletic at the time. This, of course, back in the territorial days of wrestling three years before WWF began its national expansion (André had also previously allowed Harley Race, Kamala, and Stan Hansen to slam him. By the time WrestleMania III had rolled around, the WWF had gone national, giving more meaning to the André-Hogan match that took place then. The feud between André and Hogan simmered during the summer of 1987, even as Roussimoff's health declined. The feud would begin heating up again when each wrestler was named the captain of rival teams at the inaugural Survivor Series event. André's team won the main event after André pinned Bam Bam Bigelow.

In the meantime, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase failed to persuade Hogan to sell him the WWF World Championship. After failing to defeat Hogan in a subsequent series of matches, DiBiase turned to André to win it for him. Acting as his hired gun, André won the WWF title from Hogan on 5 February 1988 in a match where it was later revealed appointed referee Dave Hebner was "detained backstage", and a replacement who DiBiase paid to get plastic surgery to look like Dave (in reality, his twin brother Earl Hebner), made a three count on Hogan while his shoulders were off the mat. After winning, André "sold" the title to DiBiase; the transaction was declared invalid by then-WWF President Jack Tunney and the title was vacated. This was shown on WWF's NBC program The Main Event. At WrestleMania IV, André and Hulk Hogan fought to a double disqualification in a WWF title tournament match (with the idea in the storyline saying that André was again working on DiBiase's behalf in giving DiBiase a clearer path in the tournament). Afterward, André and Hogan's feud died down after a steel cage match held at WrestleFest on 31 July 1988 in Milwaukee. He and DiBiase also wrestled Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage in the main event of SummerSlam; the DiBiase-André team lost, despite apparently having referee Jesse "the Body" Ventura on their side.
WrestleMania VI; The Colossal Connection

André's next major feud was against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. In this storyline, it was said André was deathly afraid of snakes, something Roberts exposed on Saturday Night's Main Event when he threw his snake, Damien, on the frightened André; as a result, André suffered a kayfabe mild heart attack and vowed revenge. During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside during André's matches, causing him to run from the ring in fright (since he knew what was inside the bag). Throughout their feud (which culminated at WrestleMania V), Roberts constantly used Damien to gain a psychological edge over the much larger and stronger André.

During the late summer and fall of 1989, André engaged in a brief feud with then-Intercontinental champion The Ultimate Warrior, where the younger Warrior regularly squashed the aging André. Earlier in 1989, André and the returning Big John Studd reprized their feud, this time with Studd as a face and André as the heel.

André won the World Tag Team Championship with his partner Haku (known collectively as The Colossal Connection) from Demolition on 13 December 1989. Managed by Bobby Heenan, they lost their titles at WrestleMania VI back to Demolition on 1 April 1990. After the match, a furious Heenan slapped André; he responded by knocking Heenan out, much to the delight of the fans. André went into the match as a heel, and left as a face.
Sporadic appearances

André continued to make appearances in the WWF throughout 1990 and 1991. He was scheduled to appear in the 1991 Royal Rumble battle royal but ultimately did not feature in the PPV at all. He came to the aid of The Big Bossman in his WrestleMania VII match against Mr. Perfect. His last major appearance was at SummerSlam in 1991, where he seconded The Bushwhackers in their match against The Natural Disasters. He also made an appearance later in the year to help The British Bulldog who had just won a Battle Royal in London.

On 25 January 2005 WWE released André The Giant, a DVD focusing on the career of André. The DVD is a reissue of the out-of-print André The Giant VHS made by Coliseum Video in 1985, with commentary by Michael Cole and Tazz replacing Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura's commentary on his WrestleMania match with Big John Studd. The video is hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes. Later matches, including André's battles against Hulk Hogan while a heel, are not included on this DVD.

His last U.S. television appearance was in a brief interview on World Championship Wrestling's Clash of the Champions XX special that aired on TBS on 2 September 1992.
Acting career

André branched out into acting in the 1970s and 1980s, making his acting debut playing a Sasquatch ("Bigfoot") on the 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man. He went on to appear in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B.J. and the Bear, and The Fall Guy. He also participated in an episode of Zorro.

Towards the end of his career, André also starred in several movies. He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film — Conan the Destroyer, as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger). But he appeared most notably as Fezzik (his favorite role) in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.

In his final film, he appeared in something of a cameo role as a circus giant in the comedy Trading Mom, which was not released until the year after his death.

André: Heart of the Giant is a movie about André's life and struggles in and out of the wrestling ring.
Legacy

In 1993 when the then-World Wrestling Federation created the WWF Hall of Fame, André the Giant was the first inductee.

André was the inspiration for the 1998 film My Giant, written by his friend Billy Crystal, whom he had met during the filming of The Princess Bride.

Paul Wight, better known as The Big Show and the most similar in body structure to André than any other wrestler since André's death, was originally billed as the son of André the Giant during his stint in WCW (when he was known as simply The Giant) despite no biological relation. While also suffering from acromegaly, unlike André, Wight did get surgery on his pituitary gland in the early 1990s, which successfully halted the progress of his condition. Former wrestler Giant González is currently suffering from similar problems that André had near the end of his life.

André is cited and impersonated in the comedy film I Love You, Man. He is also cited in the Eminem song "Crack a Bottle" in the lyrics "Back when Andre the Giant, mister elephant tusk, picture us and you'll be another one to bite the dust". Andre is also cited in the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin when someone quotes a woman he dated "had hands like Andre The Giant."
Personal life

Roussimoff had one daughter, Robin Christensen, who was born in 1979.

The disease that granted him his immense size eventually began to take its toll on his body. By the late 1980s, André was in constant, near-crippling pain, and his heart struggled to pump blood throughout his massive body.

According to William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride and its respective screenplay, André was having such terrible back pain during the filming of the movie that in the first shooting of a scene where Robin Wright drops about one foot and is caught by André, he fell to one knee and almost dropped her.

In the A&E documentary, Biography, Arnold Skaaland mentions how André wished he could see a Broadway play. Arnold offered to buy tickets, but André then passed up the opportunity, citing how he was too big for the seats and that people behind him would not be able to see. This was cited as a principal reason for why André frequented taverns more than anywhere else. Another story he relates tells of when André was in a bar one night, four men came up to him and began harassing him about his size. At first, André attempted to avoid confrontation, but eventually he proceeded to chase the hecklers until they locked themselves in their car. André then grabbed the car and turned it over with the four people trapped inside. André was never arrested for the incident, presumably since local police officers had a hard time believing four inebriated men's story about an angry giant overturning their car.

He has been unofficially crowned "The Greatest Drunk on Earth" for once consuming 119 12-ounce beers in 6 hours. On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham claimed that André once drank 197 16-ounce beers in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes. In her autobiography, The Fabulous Moolah alleges that André drank 327 beers and passed out in a hotel bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, and because the staff could not move him, they had to leave him there until he regained consciousness.

André was arrested by the Linn County, Iowa sheriff in August 1989 and charged with assault after the 540 lb (240 kg) wrestler allegedly roughed up a local TV cameraman.
Death

André died at the age of 46 in his sleep of a heart attack on January 27, 1993, in a Paris hotel room. He was in Paris to attend the funeral for his father. André's body was cremated in accordance with his wishes and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina.
In wrestling

    * Finishing moves
          o Double underhook suplex
          o Elbow drop pin
          o Kneeling belly to belly piledriver
          o Sit-down splash
          o Standing splash

    * Signature moves
          o Bearhug
          o Big boot
          o Body slam
          o Chokehold
          o Gorilla press slam
          o Head and neck rake
          o Headbutt
          o Repeated hip attacks to a cornered opponent
          o Samoan drop

    * Managers
          o Bobby Heenan
          o Frank Valoi
          o Lou Albano
          o K.Y. Wakamatsu
          o Ted DiBiase

    * Nicknames
          o "The 8th Wonder of the World"
          o "Tiant"
          o "The Immovable Object"

Championships and accomplishments

    * Championship Wrestling from Florida
          o NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
    * International Pro Wrestling
          o IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Nader
    * NWA Tri-State
          o NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
    * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
          o Class of 2002
    * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
          o PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1977, 1982)
          o PWI Match of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan on 2 May
          o PWI Match of the Year (1988) vs. Hulk Hogan at The Main Event
          o PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1988)
          o PWI Editor's Award (1993)
    * Stampede Wrestling
          o Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame
    * World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
          o NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ronald Miller
    * World Wrestling Federation
          o WWF Championship (1 time)
          o WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Haku
          o WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)
    * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
          o Feud of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan
          o Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1989)
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1984) vs. Big John Studd
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1989) vs. The Ultimate Warrior
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1989) vs. The Ultimate Warrior on 31 October
          o Worst Tag Team (1990, 1991) with Giant Baba
          o Worst Wrestler (1989, 1991, 1992)
          o Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Filmography

    * Casse tête chinois pour le judoka (1967)
    * The Six Million Dollar Man - "The Secret of Bigfoot II and I" (1976), Bigfoot
    * B. J. and the Bear - "Snow White and the Seven Lady Truckers" (1981), Manny Felcher
    * The Greatest American Hero - "Heaven Is in Your Genes" (1983), Monster
    * André makes an appearance in "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" music video by Cyndi Lauper, along with several other 80s icon wrestlers like Rowdy Roddy Piper.
    * Conan the Destroyer (1984), Dagoth (uncredited)
    * Micki + Maude (1984), Himself
    * I Like to Hurt People (1985), Himself
    * The Princess Bride (1987), Fezzik
    * The Mommy Market (1994), Circus Giant
    * Symphorien (197?), french sitcom on Quebec television
    * Les Brillants (198?), french sitcom on Quebec television

See also

    * Andre the Giant Has a Posse
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv346/BartlesNBears/andre-the-giant.jpg
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/Andre%20The%20Giant/trumphoganandrecq7.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb213/goliath777/Andre%20the%20Giant/andre3.jpg
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/jcordj66/andre-the-giant1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/27/10 at 7:07 am


The person who died on this day... Andre The Giant
André René Roussimoff (19 May 1946 – 27 January 1993), best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His great size was a result of acromegaly, and led to him being dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World".

In the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Roussimoff briefly held the WWF Championship. In 1993, he was the first inductee into the WWF Hall of Fame.
On 26 March 1973, André made his WWE debut as a "face", defeating Buddy Wolfe in New York's Madison Square Garden.

By the time Vince McMahon, Jr. began to expand his promotion to the national level in the early 1980s, André wrestled exclusively for WWF in the USA, while still holding international engagements. André was mentioned in the 1974 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest paid wrestler in history up to that time. He had earned $400,000 in one year alone during the early 1970s.

André was one of WWF's most beloved "babyfaces" throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. As such, Gorilla Monsoon insisted that André was never defeated for 15 years by pinfall or submission prior to WrestleMania III. This, however, is not true. André actually had lost cleanly in matches outside of the parameters of WWF; a pinfall loss in Mexico to Canek in 1984 and in Japan a submission loss to Antonio Inoki in 1986. He also went sixty-minute time limit draws with the two other major world champions of the day, Harley Race and Nick Bockwinkel.

One of André's feuds pitted him against the Mongolian terror Killer Khan, who was managed by Freddie Blassie. According to the storyline, Khan had broken André's ankle during a match in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop. After a stay at Beth-Israel Hospital in Boston, André returned with payback on his mind. On 14 November 1981 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, André exacted revenge by destroying Khan in what was billed as a "Mongolian Stretcher Match", in which the loser must be taken to the dressing room on a stretcher. In reality, André had snapped his ankle getting out of bed one morning. The injury and subsequent rehabilitation was worked into the existing André/Khan storyline.

Another feud involved a man who considered himself to be "the true giant" of wrestling: Big John Studd. Throughout the early to mid-1980s, André and Studd fought all over the world, battling to try and determine who the real giant of wrestling was. In December 1984, Studd took the feud to a new level, when he and partner Ken Patera knocked out André during a televised tag team match and proceeded to cut off André's hair. André had the last laugh at the first WrestleMania on 31 March 1985 at Madison Square Garden. André conquered Studd in a $15,000 Body Slam Challenge. After slamming Studd, he attempted to give the $15,000 prize to the fans, before having the bag stolen from him by his future manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

The following year, at WrestleMania 2 on 7 April 1986, André continued to display his dominance by winning a twenty-man battle royal that featured top NFL stars and wrestlers. André last eliminated Bret Hart to win the contest. Afterward, André continued his feud with Studd and King Kong Bundy. André was suspended after a no-show; he returned under a mask as "The Giant Machine" part of a team with "Big Machine" (Robert Windham) and "Super Machine" (Bill Eadie) (The Machines gimmick was copied from New Japan Pro Wrestling character "Super Strong Machine", played by Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata). Soon afterwards, Giant Machine disappeared, and André was reinstated, to the approval of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
Heel run (1987–1990)

Feuding Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion
Main article: WrestleMania III

André was turned heel in 1987 so that he could face Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania III. In early 1987, Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years. André came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in WWF for fifteen years." In actuality, André had suffered a handful of countout and disqualification losses in WWF but had never been pinned or forced to submit in a WWF ring. Hogan came out to congratulate André and ended up being the focal point of the interview. A visibly annoyed André walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of "Piper's Pit", Hogan was confronted by Bobby Heenan. Heenan announced that his new protege was André, who then challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, ripping the t-shirt and crucifix from Hogan.

At WrestleMania III, he was billed at 525 lb (238 kg), and the stress of that immense weight on his bones and joints resulted in constant pain. After recent back surgery, he was also wearing a brace underneath his wrestling singlet. Hogan won the match after body slamming André, followed by Hogan's running leg drop finisher. Years later, Hogan claimed that André was so heavy, he felt more like 700 lb (320 kg), and that he actually tore his latissimus dorsi muscle slamming him. Another famous story about the match is that no one knew if André would lose the match. André had agreed to lose the match some time before, mostly for health reasons, though he almost pinned Hogan (albeit unintentionally) in the early goings of the match. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the first time that Hogan had successfully bodyslammed André in a WWF match. A then-heel Hogan bodyslammed a then-face André early in a match in Hamburg, Pennsylvania on 13 September 1980, though André was much lighter and more athletic at the time. This, of course, back in the territorial days of wrestling three years before WWF began its national expansion (André had also previously allowed Harley Race, Kamala, and Stan Hansen to slam him. By the time WrestleMania III had rolled around, the WWF had gone national, giving more meaning to the André-Hogan match that took place then. The feud between André and Hogan simmered during the summer of 1987, even as Roussimoff's health declined. The feud would begin heating up again when each wrestler was named the captain of rival teams at the inaugural Survivor Series event. André's team won the main event after André pinned Bam Bam Bigelow.

In the meantime, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase failed to persuade Hogan to sell him the WWF World Championship. After failing to defeat Hogan in a subsequent series of matches, DiBiase turned to André to win it for him. Acting as his hired gun, André won the WWF title from Hogan on 5 February 1988 in a match where it was later revealed appointed referee Dave Hebner was "detained backstage", and a replacement who DiBiase paid to get plastic surgery to look like Dave (in reality, his twin brother Earl Hebner), made a three count on Hogan while his shoulders were off the mat. After winning, André "sold" the title to DiBiase; the transaction was declared invalid by then-WWF President Jack Tunney and the title was vacated. This was shown on WWF's NBC program The Main Event. At WrestleMania IV, André and Hulk Hogan fought to a double disqualification in a WWF title tournament match (with the idea in the storyline saying that André was again working on DiBiase's behalf in giving DiBiase a clearer path in the tournament). Afterward, André and Hogan's feud died down after a steel cage match held at WrestleFest on 31 July 1988 in Milwaukee. He and DiBiase also wrestled Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage in the main event of SummerSlam; the DiBiase-André team lost, despite apparently having referee Jesse "the Body" Ventura on their side.
WrestleMania VI; The Colossal Connection

André's next major feud was against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. In this storyline, it was said André was deathly afraid of snakes, something Roberts exposed on Saturday Night's Main Event when he threw his snake, Damien, on the frightened André; as a result, André suffered a kayfabe mild heart attack and vowed revenge. During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside during André's matches, causing him to run from the ring in fright (since he knew what was inside the bag). Throughout their feud (which culminated at WrestleMania V), Roberts constantly used Damien to gain a psychological edge over the much larger and stronger André.

During the late summer and fall of 1989, André engaged in a brief feud with then-Intercontinental champion The Ultimate Warrior, where the younger Warrior regularly squashed the aging André. Earlier in 1989, André and the returning Big John Studd reprized their feud, this time with Studd as a face and André as the heel.

André won the World Tag Team Championship with his partner Haku (known collectively as The Colossal Connection) from Demolition on 13 December 1989. Managed by Bobby Heenan, they lost their titles at WrestleMania VI back to Demolition on 1 April 1990. After the match, a furious Heenan slapped André; he responded by knocking Heenan out, much to the delight of the fans. André went into the match as a heel, and left as a face.
Sporadic appearances

André continued to make appearances in the WWF throughout 1990 and 1991. He was scheduled to appear in the 1991 Royal Rumble battle royal but ultimately did not feature in the PPV at all. He came to the aid of The Big Bossman in his WrestleMania VII match against Mr. Perfect. His last major appearance was at SummerSlam in 1991, where he seconded The Bushwhackers in their match against The Natural Disasters. He also made an appearance later in the year to help The British Bulldog who had just won a Battle Royal in London.

On 25 January 2005 WWE released André The Giant, a DVD focusing on the career of André. The DVD is a reissue of the out-of-print André The Giant VHS made by Coliseum Video in 1985, with commentary by Michael Cole and Tazz replacing Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura's commentary on his WrestleMania match with Big John Studd. The video is hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes. Later matches, including André's battles against Hulk Hogan while a heel, are not included on this DVD.

His last U.S. television appearance was in a brief interview on World Championship Wrestling's Clash of the Champions XX special that aired on TBS on 2 September 1992.
Acting career

André branched out into acting in the 1970s and 1980s, making his acting debut playing a Sasquatch ("Bigfoot") on the 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man. He went on to appear in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B.J. and the Bear, and The Fall Guy. He also participated in an episode of Zorro.

Towards the end of his career, André also starred in several movies. He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film — Conan the Destroyer, as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger). But he appeared most notably as Fezzik (his favorite role) in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.

In his final film, he appeared in something of a cameo role as a circus giant in the comedy Trading Mom, which was not released until the year after his death.

André: Heart of the Giant is a movie about André's life and struggles in and out of the wrestling ring.
Legacy

In 1993 when the then-World Wrestling Federation created the WWF Hall of Fame, André the Giant was the first inductee.

André was the inspiration for the 1998 film My Giant, written by his friend Billy Crystal, whom he had met during the filming of The Princess Bride.

Paul Wight, better known as The Big Show and the most similar in body structure to André than any other wrestler since André's death, was originally billed as the son of André the Giant during his stint in WCW (when he was known as simply The Giant) despite no biological relation. While also suffering from acromegaly, unlike André, Wight did get surgery on his pituitary gland in the early 1990s, which successfully halted the progress of his condition. Former wrestler Giant González is currently suffering from similar problems that André had near the end of his life.

André is cited and impersonated in the comedy film I Love You, Man. He is also cited in the Eminem song "Crack a Bottle" in the lyrics "Back when Andre the Giant, mister elephant tusk, picture us and you'll be another one to bite the dust". Andre is also cited in the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin when someone quotes a woman he dated "had hands like Andre The Giant."
Personal life

Roussimoff had one daughter, Robin Christensen, who was born in 1979.

The disease that granted him his immense size eventually began to take its toll on his body. By the late 1980s, André was in constant, near-crippling pain, and his heart struggled to pump blood throughout his massive body.

According to William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride and its respective screenplay, André was having such terrible back pain during the filming of the movie that in the first shooting of a scene where Robin Wright drops about one foot and is caught by André, he fell to one knee and almost dropped her.

In the A&E documentary, Biography, Arnold Skaaland mentions how André wished he could see a Broadway play. Arnold offered to buy tickets, but André then passed up the opportunity, citing how he was too big for the seats and that people behind him would not be able to see. This was cited as a principal reason for why André frequented taverns more than anywhere else. Another story he relates tells of when André was in a bar one night, four men came up to him and began harassing him about his size. At first, André attempted to avoid confrontation, but eventually he proceeded to chase the hecklers until they locked themselves in their car. André then grabbed the car and turned it over with the four people trapped inside. André was never arrested for the incident, presumably since local police officers had a hard time believing four inebriated men's story about an angry giant overturning their car.

He has been unofficially crowned "The Greatest Drunk on Earth" for once consuming 119 12-ounce beers in 6 hours. On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham claimed that André once drank 197 16-ounce beers in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes. In her autobiography, The Fabulous Moolah alleges that André drank 327 beers and passed out in a hotel bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, and because the staff could not move him, they had to leave him there until he regained consciousness.

André was arrested by the Linn County, Iowa sheriff in August 1989 and charged with assault after the 540 lb (240 kg) wrestler allegedly roughed up a local TV cameraman.
Death

André died at the age of 46 in his sleep of a heart attack on January 27, 1993, in a Paris hotel room. He was in Paris to attend the funeral for his father. André's body was cremated in accordance with his wishes and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina.
In wrestling

    * Finishing moves
          o Double underhook suplex
          o Elbow drop pin
          o Kneeling belly to belly piledriver
          o Sit-down splash
          o Standing splash

    * Signature moves
          o Bearhug
          o Big boot
          o Body slam
          o Chokehold
          o Gorilla press slam
          o Head and neck rake
          o Headbutt
          o Repeated hip attacks to a cornered opponent
          o Samoan drop

    * Managers
          o Bobby Heenan
          o Frank Valoi
          o Lou Albano
          o K.Y. Wakamatsu
          o Ted DiBiase

    * Nicknames
          o "The 8th Wonder of the World"
          o "Tiant"
          o "The Immovable Object"

Championships and accomplishments

    * Championship Wrestling from Florida
          o NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
    * International Pro Wrestling
          o IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Nader
    * NWA Tri-State
          o NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
    * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
          o Class of 2002
    * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
          o PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1977, 1982)
          o PWI Match of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan on 2 May
          o PWI Match of the Year (1988) vs. Hulk Hogan at The Main Event
          o PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1988)
          o PWI Editor's Award (1993)
    * Stampede Wrestling
          o Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame
    * World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
          o NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ronald Miller
    * World Wrestling Federation
          o WWF Championship (1 time)
          o WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Haku
          o WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)
    * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
          o Feud of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan
          o Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1989)
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1984) vs. Big John Studd
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1989) vs. The Ultimate Warrior
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1989) vs. The Ultimate Warrior on 31 October
          o Worst Tag Team (1990, 1991) with Giant Baba
          o Worst Wrestler (1989, 1991, 1992)
          o Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Filmography

    * Casse tête chinois pour le judoka (1967)
    * The Six Million Dollar Man - "The Secret of Bigfoot II and I" (1976), Bigfoot
    * B. J. and the Bear - "Snow White and the Seven Lady Truckers" (1981), Manny Felcher
    * The Greatest American Hero - "Heaven Is in Your Genes" (1983), Monster
    * André makes an appearance in "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" music video by Cyndi Lauper, along with several other 80s icon wrestlers like Rowdy Roddy Piper.
    * Conan the Destroyer (1984), Dagoth (uncredited)
    * Micki + Maude (1984), Himself
    * I Like to Hurt People (1985), Himself
    * The Princess Bride (1987), Fezzik
    * The Mommy Market (1994), Circus Giant
    * Symphorien (197?), french sitcom on Quebec television
    * Les Brillants (198?), french sitcom on Quebec television

See also

    * Andre the Giant Has a Posse
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv346/BartlesNBears/andre-the-giant.jpg
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/Andre%20The%20Giant/trumphoganandrecq7.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb213/goliath777/Andre%20the%20Giant/andre3.jpg
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/jcordj66/andre-the-giant1.jpg


Andre was a person you never wanted to mess with,Him And Haku were the best team Bobby Heenan ever created.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/27/10 at 7:29 am

Ok, not gonna post my photos of snow. I have a few times. If you want to see my snow photos, click on the Flikr link on my sig line and click on the link on the right side of the page where it says, "Vermont." You will see ALL my snow photos.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/27/10 at 7:34 am

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/377012/493116

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/27/10 at 7:53 am

I really enjoyed Andre The Giant's wrestling matches. He was huge...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/10 at 8:34 am


Ok, not gonna post my photos of snow. I have a few times. If you want to see my snow photos, click on the Flikr link on my sig line and click on the link on the right side of the page where it says, "Vermont." You will see ALL my snow photos.



Cat

Nice pics, I see the car was buried on Valentines Day '07...nice day to stay home and snuggle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/10 at 8:37 am


http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/377012/493116

I just don't remember them wrestling together..I guess I'm getting old. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/27/10 at 3:13 pm


I just don't remember them wrestling together..I guess I'm getting old. :-\\


They defeated Demolition on December 30th,1989 and lost to Demolition at Wrestlemania 6 on April 1st 1990. Now there's some history for ya.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/27/10 at 3:15 pm


I really enjoyed Andre The Giant's wrestling matches. He was huge...


He was supposed to have a match with Earthquake in 1991 but his heart problems began and looked very ill so all 'Quake did was ingure him as part of the storyline.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/27/10 at 5:07 pm


The person born on this day...James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American film and television actor. He has been nominated for an Oscar, three Emmy Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards during his career.
Cromwell's first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry. A few weeks later, he began a recurring role as Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family. In 1975 he took his first lead role on television as Bill Lewis in the short-lived Hot l Baltimore, and a year later he made his film debut in Neil Simon's classic detective spoof Murder by Death.

In 1980, Cromwell guest-starred in the two-part pivotal episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" of the long-running television series Little House on the Prairire. He played "Harve Miller," one of "Almanzo Wilder's" (Dean Butler) old friends. He comes to visit Almanzo, who lives with his shy sister, Walnut Grove's school teacher "Eliza Jane." Eliza Jane and Harve spend time together over the next few weeks, and she falls in love, for the first time, with Harve. Eliza, however, misunderstands some comments Harve has made, and he stuns her, at Nellie's restaurant, by announcing he wishes to marry another woman in a different town. Harve is totally unaware that she had feelings of love towards him. She takes Almanzo's wagon to the town of Sleepy Eye to seek him out before he marries someone else. She finally gathers the courage to tell him that she loves him. Instead, he tells Eliza that it is too late, he is already married. Eliza lies to everyone, and claims she is marrying Harve and moving away. This allows seventeen-year-old Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) to take over her job as school teacher, giving Laura and Almanzo desperately needed income, and allowing Laura to move into their home to marry Almanzo at last.

While Cromwell continued with regular television work throughout the 1980s, he made real inroads in film business for his supporting roles in the films Tank and Revenge of the Nerds. His starring roles in the 1990s critically-acclaimed films Babe (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Green Mile, and Snow Falling on Cedars (both 1999) were breakout roles for him, and made him more bankable in Hollywood. He also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot Broken Bow (the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" later reused some of the First Contact footage). He has appeared on other Star Trek television series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, though not as Cochrane (his appearances on these shows predated his role in First Contact), he guest starred in episodes including "The Hunted", "Birthright" (Part I and II) and "Starship Down".

Cromwell also had additional success on television throughout his career. His role as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in the television film RKO 281 earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. The following year, he receive his second Emmy Award nomination for playing Bishop Lionel Stewart on the NBC medical drama series ER. In 2004, he guest-starred as former President D. Wire Newman in the The West Wing episode "The Stormy Present". From 2003 to 2005, Cromwell played George Sibley in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under, which earned him his third Emmy Award nomination in 2003. Along with the rest of his castmates, he was also nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 and 2006. The following year, Cromwell played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Queen (2006), that earned Dame Helen Mirren an Academy Award for Best Actress. He also guest starred as Phillip Bauer, father of lead character Jack, in the sixth season of the Fox thriller drama series 24.

In October 2007, Cromwell played the lead role of James Tyrone Sr. in the Druid Theatre Company's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, at the Gaiety in Dublin as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival's 50th Anniversary. More recently, Cromwell played George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stone's W. (2008), that chronicles the unlikely rise to power of his son up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an interview, Cromwell revealed that Stone had originally offered the role to Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford.
Personal life

He has long been an advocate of leftist causes. In an October 2008 interview, he strongly attacked the Republican Party and the George W. Bush administration, saying their controversial foreign policy would "either destroy us or the entire planet." In the late 1960s, he was a member of "The Committee to Defend The Panthers", a group organized to defend 13 members of the Black Panther Party who had been imprisoned in New York on charges of conspiracy. All thirteen were eventually released. In a 2004 interview with CNN.com, Cromwell praised the Panthers. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety." He became an ethical vegan while playing the character of Farmer Hoggett in the movie Babe in 1995. He frequently speaks out on issues regarding animal cruelty for PETA, largely the treatment of pigs.

Cromwell is known for his unusually tall stature; he stands at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m).

Cromwell was married to Anne Ulvestad from 1976 to 1986. They had three children. He married his second wife, Julie Cobb, on 29 May 1986.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1976 Murder by Death Marcel
1978 The Cheap Detective Schnell
1981 Nobody's Perfekt Dr. Carson
1983 The Man with Two Brains Realtor
1984 The House of God Officer Quick
Tank Deputy Euclid Baker
Revenge of the Nerds Mr. Skolnick Credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
Oh, God! You Devil Priest
1985 Explorers Mr. Müller
1986 A Fine Mess Detective Blist
1987 Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise Mr. Skolnick
1988 The Rescue Admiral Rothman
1989 The Runnin' Kind Unknown
Pink Cadillac Motel Desk Clerk
1992 The Babe Brother Mathias
1993 Romeo Is Bleeding Cage
1995 Babe Farmer Arthur Hoggett Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1996 Eraser William Donohue
The People vs. Larry Flynt Charles Keating
Star Trek: First Contact Dr. Zefram Cochrane
1997 Owd Bob Adam MacAdam
L.A. Confidential Captain Dudley Smith Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Education of Little Tree Granpa
1998 Species II Senator Judson Ross
Deep Impact Alan Rittenhouse
Babe: Pig in the City Farmer Arthur Hoggett
1999 The General's Daughter Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell
The Bachelor Priest
The Green Mile Warden Hal Moores Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Snow Falling on Cedars Judge Fielding
2000 Space Cowboys Bob Gerson
2002 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron The Colonel
The Sum of All Fears President J. Robert Fowler
The Nazi Franz
2003 Blackball Ray Speight
The Snow Walker Walter Shepherd
2004 I, Robot Dr. Alfred Lanning
2005 The Longest Yard Warden Hazen
2006 The Queen Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
2007 Dante's Inferno Virgil
Becoming Jane Reverend Austen
Spider-Man 3 Captain George Stacy
2008 Tortured Jack
W. George H. W. Bush
2009 A Lonely Place for Dying Howard Simons
Flying Into Love Lyndon B. Johnson Pre-production
Surrogates Dr. Lionel Canter
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1974 The Rockford Files Terry Episode 1.3: "The Countess"
All in the Family Stretch Cunningham Appeared in three episodes
1974, 1978 Maude Alfie
Dr. Farrington Episode 3.9: "Last Tango in Tuckahoe"
Episode 6.13: "The Obscene Phone Call"
1975 Hot l Baltimore Bill Lewis Main cast member
Barbary Coast Roy Episode 1.4: "The Ballad of Redwing Jail"
1976 Stranded Jerry Holmes TV film
Insight Norman Episode "Jesus B.C."
The Nancy Walker Show Glen
Once an Eagle J. L. Cleghorne Mini-series
1977 Police Story Lutz Episode 4.20: "Ice Time"
The Girl in the Empty Grave Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr. TV film
M*A*S*H Captain Leo Bardonaro Episode 6.3: "Last Laugh"
Three's Company Detective Lannigan Episode 2.9: "Chrissy's Night Out"
Deadly Game Deputy Malcolm Rossiter Jr. TV film
1977, 1979, 1981 Barney Miller Sgt. Wilkinson
Neil Spencer
Jason Parrish
Dr. Edmund Danworth Episode 3.20: "Group Home"
Episode 6.6: "Strip Joint"
Episode 7.22: "Liquidation"
Episode 8.5: "Stress Analyzer"
1978 Alice Detective Ralph Hilton Episode 3.9: "Who Ordered the Hot Turkey?"
1979 Eight Is Enough Coach Pollard Episode 3.23: "The Better Part of Valour"
Diff'rent Strokes Father O'Brien Episode 2.7: "Arnold's Hero"
1979, 1980 The White Shadow Mr. Hamilton
Art Commings Episode 1.13: "Mainstream"
Episode 2.22: "The Death of Me Yet?"
1980 Flo Leon Episodes 1.1: "Homecoming" and 1.4: "Take My Sister, Please"
Little House on the Prairie Harve Miller Episodes 7.1: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Part 1" and 7.2: "Laura Ingalls Wilder: Part 2"
A Christmas Without Snow Reverend Lohman TV film
1981 Barefoot in the Park Harry Pepper TV film
1982 The Rainmaker Noah Curry TV film
Nurse Paul Moore Episode 2.9: "A Place to Die"
The Wall Francisek TV film
Born to the Wind Fish Belly
Father Murphy Farley Webster Episodes 2.5: "The Reluctant Runaway: Part 1" and 2.6: "The Reluctant Runaway: Part 2"
1984 Buffalo Bill Unknown Episode 2.2: "Jerry Lewis Week"
Gimme a Break! Russell Cosgrove Episode 3.22: "Class of '84"
Spraggue Lieutenant Hurley TV film
Earthlings Simon Ganes TV film
1984-1985 Dallas Gerald Kane Appeared in three episodes
1985 Night Court Alan Episode 2.14: "Nuts About Harry"
Family Ties John Hancock Episode 3.15: "Philadelphia Story"
Riptide Joey Dietz Episode 2.17: "Girls Night Out"
Hardcastle and McCormick Jake Fellows Episode 2.20: "Undercover McCormick"
Knight Rider Curtis Episode 3.18: "Ten Wheel Trouble"
Wildside Fake Buffalo Bill Episode 1.5: "Buffalo Who?"
Hill Street Blues Lowenhandler Episode 5.23: "Grin and Bear It"
Hunter Seymour Robbins Episode 1.19: "Sniper"
The Twilight Zone Obediah Payne Episode 1.6: "Examination Day/A Message from Charity"
1985-1986 Scarecrow and Mrs. King Gregory Episodes 3.4: "Tail of the Dancing Weasel" and 3.18: "Wrong Number"
1986 Amazing Stories Francis Episode 1.15: "One for the Road"
Magnum, P.I. French Policeman Episode 6.21: "Photo Play"; uncredited
The Last Precinct Chief Bludhorn
Dream West Major General David Hunter TV mini-series
1987 Easy Street Quentin Standard Episode 1.13: "Frames and Dames"
Alison's Demise Humboldt Hobson TV film
1988 China Beach Ambassador at Large Roland Weymouth Pilot
Mr. Belvedere Roy Gallagher Episode 5.1: "Fat Cats"
Mama's Boy Unknown
1989 Christine Cromwell Arthur Episode 1.1: "Things That Go Bump in the Night"
1990 Life Goes On Bill Henderson Episode 1.13: "Thacher and Henderson"
Miracle Landing B.J. Cocker TV film
Matlock Judge Raymond Price Episode 5.2: "Nowhere to Turn"
1990, 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation Prime Minister Nayrok
Jaglom Shrek Episode 3.11: "The Hunted"
Episodes 6.16: "Birthright: Part 1" and 6.17: "Birthright: Part 2"
1991 The Young Riders Jacob Episode 2.14: "The Peacemakers"
Jake and the Fatman Havilland Episode 4.19: "It Never Entered My Mind"
In a Child's Name Unknown TV film
1992 Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation Mr. Skolnick TV film; credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
1994 Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love Mr. Skolnick TV film; credited as "Jamie Cromwell"
The Shaggy Dog Charlie 'the Robber' Mulvihill TV film
Home Improvement Fred Episode 4.9: "My Dinner with Wilson"
1995 Renegade Jeremy Sullivan Episode 3.15: "Stalker's Moon"
Picket Fences The Bishop Episode 3.20: "Saint Zach"
Indictment: The McMartin Trial Judge Pounders TV film
Hawkeye Unknown Episode 1.17: "The Visit"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Hanok Episode 4.6: "Starship Down"
1995-1996 Partners Mr. Saxonhouse Episodes 1.11: "Do We Have to Write You a Check?" and 1.18: "Can We Keep Her, Dad?"
1996 Strange Luck Minister Episode 1.13: "Healing Hands"
The Client Officer Joe Denton Episode 1.17: "The High Ground"
1999 A Slight Case of Murder John Edgerson TV film
RKO 281 William Randolph Hearst TV film
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
2000 Fail Safe Gordon Knapp TV play
2001 ER Bishop Stewart Appeared in four episodes
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
Star Trek: Enterprise Dr. Zefram Cochrane Episode 1.1: "Broken Bow: Part 1"
Cromwell also appeared in archive footage in Episode 4.18: "In a Mirror, Darkly"
Citizen Baines Senator Elliot Baines Appeared in all seven episodes
2002 A Death in the Family Joel Lynch TV film
The Magnificent Ambersons Major Amberson TV film
RFK President Lyndon B. Johnson
2003 Angels in America Henry TV mini-series; chapters 1 and 4
2003-2005 Six Feet Under George Sibley Appeared in 27 episodes
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
2004 The West Wing President D. Wire Newman Episode 5.10: "The Stormy Present"
'Salem's Lot Father Donald Callahan TV mini-series
2005 Pope John Paul II Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha
2006 Avenger Paul Devereaux TV film
2007 24 Phillip Bauer Appeared in eight episodes
Masters of Science Fiction Randolph Ludwin Episode 1.6: "Watchbird"
2008 Hit Factor Orson Fierce Also producer
My Own Worst Enemy Alistar Trumble Appeared in six episodes
2009 Strikeout Director TV film
Impact Lloyd TV mini-series
The Last Days of Lehman Brothers Hank Paulson Docu-drama
Theatre

    * Long Day's Journey into Night (2007)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/JamesCromwell.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/thecaptain72/tn_cromwell.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii171/stookiebhoy/patricia_clarkson_james_cromwell_th.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d108/ai108/88c97fcd.jpg

I wil always remember him as Stretch Cunningham...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/27/10 at 5:11 pm


Andre was a person you never wanted to mess with,Him And Haku were the best team Bobby Heenan ever created.

I don't remember him and Haku togethr iether..weird...
Recall watching Andre wrestling on TV back in the very early 1970s, in Quebec, as Geant Jean Ferre. he was much slimmer then.
http://www.udenap.org/photos/g/geant_ferre.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/28/10 at 6:27 am

The word of the day...Sunshine
Sunshine is the light and heat that comes from the sun.
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af335/Bwendi/SUNSHiNE.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/bittyskitty94210/words/sunshine.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/Adi_059/Rsrit22Apr09.jpg
http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp185/allyin_wonderland/DSCN0172.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f31/Savagechic08/backgrounds/14v78g9.jpg
http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv169/nayaHR/winter%2009/platak9f.jpg
http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo281/CooperDaKat/sunshine.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/28/10 at 6:31 am

The birthday of the day...Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor. Making his film debut with a minor part in the Back to the Future Part II (1989), he landed a succession of subsequent larger roles and became a critically acclaimed child actor by age 13.

After his high-profile role as the Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he has resisted typecasting by choosing varied roles in critically-acclaimed films such as Bobby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sin City, Green Street and Everything Is Illuminated. Most recently he starred in the film Day Zero (2007) and provided the voice of the main character, Mumble, in the award-winning animated film Happy Feet. He also played an American tourist turned vampire in Paris, je t'aime. In 2005, he started his own record label, Simian Records. His next project is the upcoming Iggy Pop biopic The Passenger.

In 2006, he became a well-known voice actor in video gaming and would soon become the voice of the video game icon, Spyro the Dragon.

In 2008, he set a new world record when he became the first person ever to cross the Victoria Falls on ropes during an appearance on Jack Osbourne's show Adrenaline Junkie.
Wood modeled and did local commercials before moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1988, where he got his first break, a small role in a video by Paula Abdul - "Forever Your Girl," directed by David Fincher. Film work followed almost instantly in Back to the Future Part II (1989). It was Wood's role as Aidan Quinn's son in Barry Levinson's 1990 film Avalon (the third film in the Baltimore trilogy containing 1982's Diner and 1987's Tin Men) that first gave Wood attention, as the film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four Academy Awards.

After a small part in the Richard Gere movie Internal Affairs (1990), he secured his first starring role in Paradise (1991), playing a young boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together. He received good reviews for his performance - some said it was one of the best things about the film - and from there, he went on to co-star with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in Forever Young and with Joseph Mazzello in Radio Flyer (both were released in 1992).
Wood in Radio Flyer

In 1993, he co-starred with Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son, and in the same year he had the lead role in The Adventures of Huck Finn. In 1994 he starred in The War (1994), with Kevin Costner. His performance in this movie gained him a nomination for a 'Young Star Award' (for which he was nominated four times, and won twice), and Roger Ebert said in his review of the film that:

    "Elijah Wood has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor in his age group, in Hollywood history".

Also in 1994, he had the title role in North, and also featured in a Super Bowl commercial for Wavy Lay's potato chips that has him repeatedly exchanging seats with spectators at a football game (including Dan Quayle) using its famous slogan. In 1995 he appeared in the music video for The Cranberries’ "Ridiculous Thoughts". The following year he got the lead role in Flipper (1996), which was not very successful, but the subsequent critical and financial success of Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997) provided a positive development in the young actor's career. As the soulfully dazed and confused Mikey Carver, Wood gave a portrayal remarkable for its rendering of the thoughtfulness and exquisite hopelessness inherent in the character.

In 1997 he starred in Oliver Twist, as The Artful Dodger. 1998's Deep Impact and The Faculty did not allow Wood the same degree of character development, but were great financial successes and further stepping stones in Wood's evolution from winsome child star to impressive young actor.

Wood's next role was as the boyfriend of a wannabe hip-hop groupie in James Toback's Black and White (1999). He followed this with a role as a junior hitman in Chain of Fools.
1999–2003: The Lord of the Rings
Wood as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings

Wood further developed as an actor in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's literary trilogy. His most hotly anticipated project, the 2001 film gave Wood top billing as Frodo Baggins, alongside a glittering cast that included Sir Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean, and Viggo Mortensen. The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand and, before the cast left the country, Jackson gave Wood two gifts: one of the One Ring props used on the set and Sting, Frodo's sword. He was also given a pair of prosthetic "hobbit feet" he wore during filming. That same year, the young actor could be seen in less mystical surroundings, courtesy of Ed Burns' Ash Wednesday, a crime drama that also featured Oliver Platt and Rosario Dawson.

In 2002, Wood lent his voice to the direct-to-video release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. Of course, his most substantial role of 2002 is inarguably his return to the role of hobbit Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

2003 proved to be a similar year for Wood; after two relatively small jobs (his role credited as 'The Guy' in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and his stint as First Assistant Director in Sean Astin's The Long and Short of It served purely as a break for Elijah), he starred in All I Want and once again resumed his role as Frodo Baggins for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), the final installment of Jackson's trilogy.
2004-2006: Recent career

Hot on the heels of the trilogy, Wood quickly appeared in his first post-Frodo role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), playing an ethically challenged lab technician who helps erase heartbreaking memories but then uses his knowledge of the past relationship of an unknowing former patient (played by Kate Winslet) to woo her.
Wood as Kevin in Sin City

Wood's next role was his first villainous role: bespectacled serial killer Kevin in director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller's adaptation of Miller's crime noir comic book series Sin City (2005), appearing opposite Mickey Rourke in the segment "The Hard Goodbye". On May 12, 2005 , Wood hosted a program called MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed, when the new Xbox 360 was launched.

Also in 2005, Wood starred in Everything Is Illuminated, in which he plays a young American Jewish man on a quest to find the woman who once saved his grandfather during the Second World War, and Green Street, as an American college student who falls in with a violent English football firm. Both had limited release, but were critically acclaimed.

Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t'aime, which consists of eighteen 5-minute sections. Each section is directed by a different director. Wood’s section, called "Quartier de la Madeleine", was directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film opened on May 18 at 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was shown at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. First Look Pictures acquired the North American rights, and the film opened in the US in early 2007.

In 2006, he was part of the ensemble cast in Emilio Estevez's Bobby, in which his character gets married to change his draft classification. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released on November 17, 2006 in New York and Los Angeles. Wide release followed on November 23.

In Happy Feet, Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet was released on November 17, 2006 and has grossed over $380 million dollars worldwide. The movie also received a Golden Globe Award nomination and won an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Animated Feature.
2007-Present

Wood has finished filming Day Zero, a drama about the draft, in which he portrays Aaron Feller. The film had its debut at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

On November 19, Wood hosted the special "Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue" for Discovery Kids Channel, for which he has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the category of acting in a children/youth/family special. On January 4, 2007 Wood joined Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to announce the nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Wood also has finished filming The Oxford Murders, film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Guillermo Martínez, in which he plays a graduate student, who investigates a series of bizarre, mathematically-based murders in Oxford. It was released in Spain on January 18, 2008.

Wood also is set to star in The Passenger, a biopic about singer Iggy Pop as young man. He voiced the lead in the animated feature film version of the short film 9.
Other work

In 2005 Wood started his own record label called Simian Records. On September 19, 2006 Wood announced that Simian had signed The Apples in Stereo as their first band, with their new album New Magnetic Wonder released in February 2007. In addition he also directed the music video for "Energy". The other band signed to Simian thus far is Heloise and the Savoir Faire. Wood declared he is a big fan of these two bands.

Wood has also provided voiceovers for videogames, providing the current voice for Spyro the Dragon since 2006's The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, as well as reprising Mumble in the game version of Happy Feet. He also contributed his talents to fellow Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen's album Pandemoniumfromamerica, singing and playing various instruments on the album.

Wood has signed to co-produce the film Black Wings Has My Angel, based on the noir novel of the same name, with Anthony Moody and Rob Malkani of Indalo Productions.

On April 11, 2008, Elijah was the guest host of Channel 4's Friday Night Project.

On April 25, 2009, Elijah was honored with The Midnight Award (San Francisco International Film Festival) as a dynamic young American actor who has made outstanding contributions to independent and Hollywood cinema, and who brings striking intelligence, exemplary talent and extraordinary depth of character to his roles.

Elijah Wood also starred in an episode of Yo! Gabba Gabba entitled "Eat" where he danced and "went crazy" alongside the rest of the Yo! Gabba Gabba crew.
Personal life
Wood in February 2006

Wood keeps his personal life from the media spotlight, and is private about his romantic relationships. He seems to have been in a five year relationship with Pamela Racine from Gogol Bordello and is photographed with her. In an interview about Everything Is Illuminated, director Liev Schreiber commented that Wood has a "generosity of spirit" and a "sincere goodness as a human being." He supported campaigns for charity as Keep a Child Alive or ALDO/YouthAIDS. Wood is a music buff owning 4,000 CDs, citing his favorite band as Smashing Pumpkins.

Wood has a tattoo of the Quenya-mode Tengwar symbol for "nine" below his waist on the right side, a reference to his character as one of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship" got the same tattoo (with the exception of John Rhys-Davies). He received one of the One Ring props from Peter Jackson.

In May 2006, Autograph Collector Magazine published its list of 10 Best & 10 Worst Hollywood Autograph Signers, Wood was ranked #7 of Best Signers.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1989 Back to the Future Part II Video-Game Boy #2 bit part
1990 Child in the Night Luke TV Film
Internal Affairs Sean Stretch minor role
Avalon Michael Kaye major role
The Witness Little Boy short film
1991 Paradise Willard Young
1992 Day-O Day-O TV Film
Forever Young Nat Cooper
Radio Flyer Mike
1993 The Good Son Mark Evans
The Adventures of Huck Finn Huckleberry Finn
1994 North North
The War Stuart 'Stu' Simmons
1996 Flipper Sandy
1997 Oliver Twist Jack 'The Artful Dodger' Dawkins TV Film
The Ice Storm Mikey Carver
1998 Deep Impact Leo Beiderman
The Faculty Casey Connor
1999 The Bumblebee Flies Anyway Barney Snow
Black and White Wren
2000 Chain of Fools Mikey Direct-to-video
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Frodo Baggins
Ash Wednesday Sean Sullivan
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Frodo Baggins
The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina Tom Thumb (voice) Direct-to-video
All I Want aka Try Seventeen Jones Dillon Direct-to-video
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Frodo Baggins
The Long and Short of It First Assistant Director Short Film
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over The Guy Cameo
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Patrick
2005 Sin City Kevin
Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer
Green Street Matt Bucknor
2006 Bobby William Avary
Happy Feet Mumble (Voice)
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Spyro Video Game
2007 Paris, je t'aime David
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Spyro Video Game
Day Zero Aaron Feller US Release: January 18, 2008
2008 The Oxford Murders Martin Spain Release: January 18, 2008
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Spyro Video Game
2009 9 9 (Voice)
2010 The Romantics Chip January 27, 2010 Sundance Film Festival
The Legend of Spyro 3D Spyro (Voice) in production
The Passenger Iggy Pop pre-production
2011 Happy Feet 2 in 3D Mumble (Voice) in production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1994 Frasier Ethan (voice) Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast - TV Episode
1996 Homicide: Life on the Street McPhee Broadman The True Test- TV Episode
Adventures from the Book of Virtues Icarus (voice) Responsibility - TV Episode
1997 Oliver Twist Jack 'The Artful Dodger' Dawkins TV Film
2002 Franklin (TV series) Coyote (voice)
The Electric Playground ? TV Episode
2003 Saturday Night Live Host TV Episode
2004 The Osbournes Himself TV Episode
King of the Hill Jason (voice) Girl, You'll Be a Giant Soon- TV Episode
2006 Robot Chicken William David Reynolds (voice) Sausage Fest - TV Episode
American Dad! Ethan (voice) Iced, Iced Babies - TV Episode
Punk'd Himself TV Episode
Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue Host and Narrator TV Special
2007 Yo Gabba Gabba! Himself TV Episode
2008 Friday Night Project Himself Guest host
2008 Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie Himself Rafting down the Zambezi Became the first person to cross the Victoria Falls on ropes.
Music videos

    * Paula Abdul: Forever Your Girl (1989)
    * The Cranberries: Ridiculous Thoughts (1995)
    * The Apples in Stereo: Energy (as director) (2006)
    * Greg Laswell: How the day sounds (2008)
    * The Lonely Island: On the Ground (2009)

Awards and nominations

Young Star Awards

    * 1995 Nominate Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film The War 1994
    * 1997 Nominated Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film Flipper 1996
    * 1998 Won Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film Deep Impact 1998
    * 1998 Won Best Performance by a Young in a Miniseries/Made for TV Movies Oliver Twist 1997

Young Hollywood Awards

    * 2002 Won Hottest, Coolest Young Veteran - Male N/A

Young Artist Awards

    * 1991 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a TV Movie, Pilot or Special Child in the Night 1990
    * 1991 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Avalon 1990
    * 1992 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Paradise 1991
    * 1993 Won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Radio Flyer 1992
    * 1995 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture North 1994
    * 1997 Nominated Best Performance in a Drama Series - Guest Starring Young Actor Homicide: Life on the Street 1993
    * 1998 Nominated Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor The Ice Storm 1997

Visual Effects Society Awards

    * 2003 Won Best Performance by an Actor in an Effect Film Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002

Teen Choice Awards

    * 2002 Nominated Film - Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure FOTR 2001
    * 2003 Nominated Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure TTT 2002
    * 2004 Nominated Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure ROTK 2003
    * 2005 Nominated Choice Movie Bad Guy Sin City 2005

ShoWest Convention USA

    * 1994 Won Young Star of the Year

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2002 Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture FOTR 2001
    * 2003 Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture TTT 2002
    * 2004 Won Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture ROTK 2003
    * 2007 Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Bobby 2006

Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards

    * 2002 Won Best Ensemble Acting FOTR 2001
    * 2003 Won Best Ensemble Acting TTT 2002
    * 2004 Nominated Best Ensemble Acting ROTK 2003

Online Film Critics Society Awards

    * 2003 Won Best Ensemble ROTK 2003

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

    * 1999 Nominated Favorite Actor - Horror The Faculty 1998
    * 1999 Nominated Favorite Supporting Actor - Sci-Fi Deep Impact 1998

National Board of Review USA

    * 2003 Won Best Acting by an Ensemble ROTK 2003

MTV Movie Awards

    * 2002 Nominated Best On-Screen Team FOTR 2001
    * 2003 Won Best On-Screen Team TTT 2003

Kids' Choice Awards

    * 2002 Nominated Favorite Male Butt Kicker FOTR
    * 2003 Nominated Favorite Male Kicker TTT

Empire Awards UK

    * 2002 Won Best Actor FOTR

DVD Exclusive Awards

    * 2003 Nominated Best Animated Character Performance The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina 2002
    * 2003 Nominated Best Audio Commentary, New Release FOTR
    * 2003 Nominated Best Audio Commentary (New For DVD) TTT

Broadcast Film Critics Awards

    * 2004 Won Best Acting Ensemble ROTK
    * 1999 Nominated Favorite Actor - Horror The Faculty 1998
    * 1999 Nominated Favorite Supporting Actor - Sci-Fi- Deep Impact 1998

Saturn Award

    * 1994 Won Best Performance by a Young Actor The Good Son 1993
    * 1995 Nominated Best Performance by a Younger Actor North 1994
    * 2003 Nominated Best Performance by a Younger Actor TTT
    * 2004 Won Best Actor ROTK

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

    * 2004 Won Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Male ROTK

Hollywood Film Festival

    * 2006 Won Best Ensemble Cast for Bobby

Daytime Emmy Awards

    * 2007 Nominated Outstanding Performer In A Children/Youth/Family Special - Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue 2006

San Francisco International Film Festival

    * 2009 Won The Midnight Award as dynamic young American actor who bring striking intelligence, exemplary talent and extraordinary depth of character to his roles.
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/elijah_wood.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c335/ANAGG/wood-elijah.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc190/sakurasgrl100/Elijah%20Wood/Elijah.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll103/x-so-claiiire-x/AAAAh.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/28/10 at 6:36 am

The person who died on this date...Jim Capaldi
Nicola James "Jim" Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English musician and songwriter and a founding member of Traffic. He drummed with several famous singers and musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Alvin Lee, and Mylon LeFevre. Early days

As a child Capaldi studied the piano and singing with his father, a music teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. In 1961 Capaldi played drums for the Worcester band The Sapphires and in 1963 he formed The Hellions with Dave Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm guitar. In August 1964, Tanya Day took The Hellions to the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany as her backing group. The Spencer Davis Group were staying at the same hotel as The Hellions and it was there that Steve Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason.

Back in Worcester, The Hellions established themselves as busy professionals of sufficient repute to provide backing to visiting performers including Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky-A-Go-Go Club. In 1965 the band released three singles but none charted. Later that year John "Poli" Palmer joined the band on drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist.

The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 in an attempt to reduce their costs but local tastes had changed and the band relaunched themselves as The Revolution with a fourth single that also failed to chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason with Luther Grosvenor and renamed the band Deep Feeling. They played gigs in Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country area where they developed a significant fanbase. Capaldi, Jackson and Palmer wrote original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions repertoire. They recorded several studio tracks which remained unreleased until 2009.
First success

Capaldi and the band played frequently in London and Jimi Hendrix played guitar with them at the Knuckles Club as an unknown musician. Back in Birmingham Capaldi would occasionally join his friends Mason, Winwood and Chris Wood for impromptu performances at The Elbow Room club on Aston High Street. Early in 1967 they formalised this arrangement by forming Traffic and the other members of Deep Feeling disbanded. In 1968, Capaldi, Winwood and Mason contributed backing music to a solo album by Gordon Jackson.

The new band was signed by Island Records and rented a quiet cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire in order to write and rehearse new material. The cottage did not remain quiet and had frequent visitors including Eric Burdon, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend as well as Trevor Burton (of The Move) amongst many others. Capaldi wrote the lyrics for Traffic's first single "Paper Sun", which appeared in the UK singles chart at number 5 in summer 1967. Two more singles were released successfully in 1967 and in December the band released the album Mr. Fantasy, which demonstrated the individual talents of each member. Mason left the band soon after the album's release but returned the following May before finally leaving again in October. Winwood also left Traffic (to form Blind Faith) and the rest reluctantly concluded that the band was over.
Reformation and beyond

Capaldi now tried to form another band with Mason and Wood but the creative tensions that had caused Mason to leave Traffic remained and Wynder K. Frogg only lasted until March 1969. In January 1970 Capaldi and Wood joined Winwood in the studio to record Winwood's solo album. These sessions were so successful that the three of them reformed Traffic (without Mason) to release the album John Barleycorn Must Die. They then toured the UK and the U.S. with a band extended by several session musicians.

Although the next Traffic albums were successful, Capaldi began to develop his solo career and released his first solo album Oh How We Danced in 1972. This set featured contributions from Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, Barry Beckett and Rebop Kwaku Baah as well as several members of Traffic.

He followed this up with Whale Meat Again in 1974 before releasing what many consider to be his masterpiece, Short Cut Draw Blood, the following year. Full of tracks with lyrical bite, the album tackled issues such as the environment, government corruption and drugs. In October 1975 a single taken from the album, a cover version of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts", reached number four in the UK chart and charted worldwide.

Capaldi's first and only solo Top 40 hit in the United States was from his 1982 album Fierce Heart, yielding the hit single "That's Love", which climbed to Number 28 in Billboard's Top 40 in the summer of 1983. The track was a simple arrangement with synthesized drums, electric guitar, and keyboards. Steve Winwood supplied the keyboards with his then-wife Nicole Winwood on background vocals.

Capaldi was noted for the extent of his collaborations with other musicians. In 1973, he played drums at Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert and on some Clapton studio sessions.
Collaborations

Jim Capaldi's success as a lyricist continued throughout his life. He was a five times winner of coveted BMI/Ascap Awards for the "most played compositions in America", and sales of songs written or co-written by him exceeded 25 million units. He numbered Bob Marley among his friends and they travelled together whilst Marley was writing the Catch A Fire album. Capaldi wrote the lyrics to "This Is Reggae Music".

In the 1980s, Capaldi collaborated with Carlos Santana contributing songs and ideas to Santana's projects and in the 1990s he wrote the song "Love Will Keep Us Alive" for the Eagles' successful Hell Freezes Over album. His own 1988 album Some Come Running included Eric Clapton and George Harrison on the track "Oh Lord, Why Lord".

In 1993, Traffic reformed (without Chris Wood, who died in 1983, and Dave Mason) and recorded a new album Far From Home and in 1994 Capaldi toured the U.S. and UK with the band. In 1998 he paired up again with Mason on an extensive American tour.
Marriage/Family

He married Brazilian-born Aninha in 1975 and in 1976 toured with his band Space Cadets before moving to Brazil in 1977. His daughters Tabitha and Tallulah were born in 1977 and 1979, respectively. The Capaldis lived in the Bahia region of Brazil until the beginning of 1980 and while there he became heavily involved with environmental issues. The track "Favella Music" on his 1981 album Let The Thunder Cry arose from his love of Brazil and he worked with several Brazilian composers.
The final years

In 2001, Capaldi's twelfth solo album Living On The Outside featured George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Gary Moore and Ian Paice. George Harrison played guitar on the track "Anna Julia", an English translation of a song by the Brazilian band Los Hermanos and Capaldi played at the Concert for George in 2002.

Outside his music and his environmental activism, Capaldi also assisted his wife in her work with Jubilee Action to help Brazilian street children. He remained professionally active until his final illness prevented him from working on plans for a 2005 reunion tour of Traffic. He died of stomach cancer at 02:30 on 28 January 2005, aged 60. He is survived by his wife and daughters.
Dear Mr Fantasy

Dear Mr Fantasy was a celebration of Jim Capaldi's life and music that took place at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London on Sunday, 21 January 2007. Guests included Bill Wyman, Jon Lord, Gary Moore, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens, Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, his brother, Phil and many more. Dear Mr Fantasy featured the music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic. All profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal.
Solo discography

    * Oh How We Danced (1972)
    * Whale Meat Again (1974)
    * Short Cut Draw Blood (1975)
    * Play It By Ear (1977)
    * Daughter of the Night (1978)
    * Contender (1978)
    * Electric Nights (1979)
    * Sweet Smell of ... Success (1980)
    * Let The Thunder Cry (1981)
    * Fierce Heart (1982)
    * One Man Mission (1984)
    * Some Come Running (1988)
    * Prince of Darkness (1995)
    * Let The Thunder Cry (1999)
    * Living On The Outside (2001)
    * Poor Boy Blue (2004)
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr262/juniorjr2008/JimCapaldiGeorgeHarrison-AnnaJulia.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/tiredofit07/capalldi.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac97/trontxi/front.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/28/10 at 7:02 am


I don't remember him and Haku togethr iether..weird...
Recall watching Andre wrestling on TV back in the very early 1970s, in Quebec, as Geant Jean Ferre. he was much slimmer then.
http://www.udenap.org/photos/g/geant_ferre.jpg


Bobby The Brain Heenan was the brains behind this tag team. After they lost the tag titles Andre slugged Bobby after and turned face and left the crowd in cheers.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/28/10 at 7:04 am


The word of the day...Sunshine
Sunshine is the light and heat that comes from the sun.
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af335/Bwendi/SUNSHiNE.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/bittyskitty94210/words/sunshine.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/Adi_059/Rsrit22Apr09.jpg
http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp185/allyin_wonderland/DSCN0172.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f31/Savagechic08/backgrounds/14v78g9.jpg
http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv169/nayaHR/winter%2009/platak9f.jpg
http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo281/CooperDaKat/sunshine.jpg



Everybody loves The Sunshine. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/28/10 at 10:45 pm

Canadian Person of the day
Sarah Ann McLachlan  born January 28, 1968(1968-01-28)) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.

She is known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range. As of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and eight Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians in the late 1990s.

http://anthonygeorge.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarah-mclachlan1.jpg

http://loadedbow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarahmclachlan.jpg
Since her signing with Nettwerk Records two decades ago, every one of Sarah McLachlan's studio and live albums and videos has been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. Touch (1988) and Solace (1991) were both gold sellers. Her 1994 breakthrough, the 3X-platinum Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, was followed by the digitally enhanced multimedia version of The Freedom Sessions (1995)

Sarah's landmark fifth album, the 10X-platinum Surfacing  (1997), contained two Grammy Award-winning tracks: "Building a Mystery" won for Best Female Pop Vocal and "Last Dance" was voted Best Pop Instrumental. In 1998, the soundtrack of the Wim Wenders film City of Angels reached Number One on the Billboard chart. Featuring the Sarah McLachlan track "Angel," the City of Angels soundtrack achieved 4X platinum sales status

The 1999 Lilith Fair tour gave rise to Sarah's 4X-platinum album Mirrorball and its platinum long-form video counterpart. "I Will Remember You," a track from Mirrorball, earned Sarah her third career Grammy Award, for Best Female Pop Vocal (1999).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/28/10 at 10:47 pm


Canadian Person of the day
Sarah Ann McLachlan  born January 28, 1968(1968-01-28)) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.

She is known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range. As of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and eight Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians in the late 1990s.

http://anthonygeorge.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarah-mclachlan1.jpg

http://loadedbow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarahmclachlan.jpg
Since her signing with Nettwerk Records two decades ago, every one of Sarah McLachlan's studio and live albums and videos has been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. Touch (1988) and Solace (1991) were both gold sellers. Her 1994 breakthrough, the 3X-platinum Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, was followed by the digitally enhanced multimedia version of The Freedom Sessions (1995)

Sarah's landmark fifth album, the 10X-platinum Surfacing  (1997), contained two Grammy Award-winning tracks: "Building a Mystery" won for Best Female Pop Vocal and "Last Dance" was voted Best Pop Instrumental. In 1998, the soundtrack of the Wim Wenders film City of Angels reached Number One on the Billboard chart. Featuring the Sarah McLachlan track "Angel," the City of Angels soundtrack achieved 4X platinum sales status

The 1999 Lilith Fair tour gave rise to Sarah's 4X-platinum album Mirrorball and its platinum long-form video counterpart. "I Will Remember You," a track from Mirrorball, earned Sarah her third career Grammy Award, for Best Female Pop Vocal (1999).



She has some great music. :) 8)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 01/28/10 at 10:52 pm


She has some great music. :) 8)

Yes, she has.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/28/10 at 10:53 pm


Yes, she has.

I like "Possession", "Building A Mystery", "Adia" and "Sweet Surrender." :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/10 at 6:50 am


Canadian Person of the day
Sarah Ann McLachlan  born January 28, 1968(1968-01-28)) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.

She is known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range. As of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and eight Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians in the late 1990s.

http://anthonygeorge.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarah-mclachlan1.jpg

http://loadedbow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarahmclachlan.jpg
Since her signing with Nettwerk Records two decades ago, every one of Sarah McLachlan's studio and live albums and videos has been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. Touch (1988) and Solace (1991) were both gold sellers. Her 1994 breakthrough, the 3X-platinum Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, was followed by the digitally enhanced multimedia version of The Freedom Sessions (1995)

Sarah's landmark fifth album, the 10X-platinum Surfacing  (1997), contained two Grammy Award-winning tracks: "Building a Mystery" won for Best Female Pop Vocal and "Last Dance" was voted Best Pop Instrumental. In 1998, the soundtrack of the Wim Wenders film City of Angels reached Number One on the Billboard chart. Featuring the Sarah McLachlan track "Angel," the City of Angels soundtrack achieved 4X platinum sales status

The 1999 Lilith Fair tour gave rise to Sarah's 4X-platinum album Mirrorball and its platinum long-form video counterpart. "I Will Remember You," a track from Mirrorball, earned Sarah her third career Grammy Award, for Best Female Pop Vocal (1999).



Nice choice :)

I like "Possession", "Building A Mystery", "Adia" and "Sweet Surrender." :)

All good songs :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/29/10 at 6:54 am


Canadian Person of the day
Sarah Ann McLachlan  born January 28, 1968(1968-01-28)) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter.

She is known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range. As of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and eight Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians in the late 1990s.

http://anthonygeorge.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarah-mclachlan1.jpg

http://loadedbow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/sarahmclachlan.jpg
Since her signing with Nettwerk Records two decades ago, every one of Sarah McLachlan's studio and live albums and videos has been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA. Touch (1988) and Solace (1991) were both gold sellers. Her 1994 breakthrough, the 3X-platinum Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, was followed by the digitally enhanced multimedia version of The Freedom Sessions (1995)

Sarah's landmark fifth album, the 10X-platinum Surfacing  (1997), contained two Grammy Award-winning tracks: "Building a Mystery" won for Best Female Pop Vocal and "Last Dance" was voted Best Pop Instrumental. In 1998, the soundtrack of the Wim Wenders film City of Angels reached Number One on the Billboard chart. Featuring the Sarah McLachlan track "Angel," the City of Angels soundtrack achieved 4X platinum sales status

The 1999 Lilith Fair tour gave rise to Sarah's 4X-platinum album Mirrorball and its platinum long-form video counterpart. "I Will Remember You," a track from Mirrorball, earned Sarah her third career Grammy Award, for Best Female Pop Vocal (1999).




I've heard of her,not too familiar with her music.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/10 at 6:59 am

The word of the day...Angels
#
Angels are spiritual beings that some people believe are God's servants in heaven. N-COUNT
#
You can call someone you like very much an angel in order to show affection, especially when they have been kind to you or done you a favour.
If you describe someone as an angel, you mean that they seem to be very kind and good.
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo148/believer40_2008/angels/angels-11.png
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu141/niffynoodles/Angels%202/angels.jpg
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo148/believer40_2008/angels/6xqmsr8-1.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee91/Gypsy48/Angels/m124925752.gif
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu141/niffynoodles/Angels%202/85045b290af17e6807f40224eb6b7f7e.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad90/AviatorX7/LA_Angels_3.gif
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu114/loveej/Angels/o3zn9l7uml6.gif
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu141/niffynoodles/Angels%202/angel-2.gif
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo101/balfargbroxi/charlies-angels.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/29/10 at 7:03 am

http://sylviasgalleryonline.com/images/Angel-7%20Small.jpg


Guardian Angel.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/10 at 7:03 am

The birthday of the day...John Forsthe
John Forsythe (born John Lincoln Freund; January 29, 1918) is an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning three decades, as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father (1957–1962); as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels (1976–1981), and as ruthless and beloved patriarch Blake Carrington on the 1980s soap opera Dynasty (1981–1989). He hosted World of Survival during the 1970s. Forsythe currently appears each year to read children's fiction during the annual Christmas program near his retirement home at the rural resort community of Solvang, California, north of Los Angeles. espite showing initial reluctance, Forsythe began an acting career at the suggestion of his father. He met actress Parker McCormick (December 1918 - July 1980) and the couple married in 1939; they had a son, Dall (born in 1943), but soon divorced.

As a bit player for Warner Brothers, Forsythe successfully appeared in several small parts. As a result he was given a small role in Destination Tokyo (1943). Leaving his movie career for service in World War II, he appeared in the U.S. Army Air Forces play and film Winged Victory, then worked with injured soldiers who had developed speech problems.

Also in 1943, Forsythe met Julie Warren, initially a theatre companion but later a successful actress in her own right, landing a role on Broadway in Around the World. Warren became Forsythe's second wife and in the early 1950s the marriage produced two daughters - Page and Brooke.

In 1947, Forsythe joined the initial class of the soon-to-be prestigious Actors Studio, where he met other promising young actors including Marlon Brando and Julie Harris. During this time he appeared on Broadway in Mister Roberts and The Teahouse of the August Moon.

In 1955, Alfred Hitchcock cast Forsythe in the movie The Trouble with Harry, with Shirley MacLaine in her first movie appearance. The film was unsuccessful at the box office, and Forsythe found high profile movie work harder to find.
Television work
Bachelor Father

In 1957, took a leading role in the situation comedy Bachelor Father for CBS as Bentley Gregg, a playboy lawyer who has to become a father to his niece Kelly (played by Noreen Corcoran), upon the death of her biological parents. The show was an immediate rating hit and moved to NBC the following season and to ABC in the fall of 1961.

On various episodes Forsythe worked with such up-and-coming actresses as Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara Eden, Donna Douglas, Sally Kellerman, Sue Ane Langdon, and Linda Evans (who immediately formed a crush on the much older actor). During the 1961 season, Bachelor Father moved to ABC, but was cancelled that season because of declining ratings.
After Bachelor Father

In the early 1960s, Forsythe returned to acting in movies including Kitten with a Whip (1964) and In Cold Blood (1967). He also attempted two new television programs: The John Forsythe Show on NBC with Guy Marks, Elsa Lanchester, Ann B. Davis, Peggy Lipton, and Forsythe's two young daughters, Page and Brooke. (1965–1966) and To Rome with Love on CBS (1969–1971) with co-star Walter Brennan. Between 1971 and 1977, Forsythe served as narrator on the syndicated nature series, The World of Survival. He was also the announcer for Michelob beer commercials from the 70s through about 1985, notably during the "Weekends were made for Michelob" era.
Charlie's Angels

Forsythe began a 13-year association with Aaron Spelling in 1976, cast in the role of a mysterious unseen millionaire and private investigator Charles Townsend in the crime drama Charlie's Angels (1976-1981). Townsend's voice is heard over a speaker phone, instructing the eponymous Angels of their mission for the episode. Charlie's Angels was a huge success, much as Bachelor Father had been before, and was exported to over 90 countries. Forsythe quickly became the highest paid actor on television.

During this period, Forsythe invested a lot of money in thoroughbred racing, a personal hobby. Gaining respect with the celebrity thoroughbred circuit, he has served on the Board of Directors at the Hollywood Park Racetrack since 1972, and has been on the committee for more than 25 years.

Following heart problems, Forsythe underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1979. This was so successful that he safely returned to work on Charlie's Angels, and also appeared in the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All later that year. By 1980, Charlie's Angels was starting to decline in ratings, but Forsythe remained under contract to Spelling.
Dynasty

In 1981, nearing the end of Charlie's Angels, Forsythe was selected as a last minute replacement for George Peppard in the role of conniving patriarch Blake Carrington in Dynasty. Another Aaron Spelling production, Dynasty was ABC's answer to the highly successful CBS series Dallas. Between 1985 and 1987, Forsythe also appeared as Blake Carrington in the short-lived spin-off series The Colbys.

Dynasty was a hit for Forsythe and proved his most successful role yet. Forsythe and his character became pop culture icons of the 1980s, making him one of Hollywood's leading men and sex symbols. The series explored real-life and fictionalized topics including family feuds, foreign revolutionary gunplay, illegitimate children, sex, drugs, and featured lavish lifestyles and glamorous clothes.

The series reunited Forsythe with Bachelor Father guest star Linda Evans, who had replaced Angie Dickinson to play Blake's compassionate and caring younger wife Krystle. The chemistry between Forsythe and Evans was apparent and as the principal married couple on the show, the two appeared on numerous talk and news magazine shows. During the run of the series, Forsythe, Evans and Collins promoted the Dynasty line of fragrances.

Dynasty came to an end in 1989, after a total of nine seasons, with Forsythe being the only actor to appear in all 220 episodes.

Forsythe was nominated for Emmy awards three times between 1982 and 1984 for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" but each time failed to win. He was also nominated six times for Golden Globes, winning twice. He was nominated five times for the Soap Opera Digest Awards, also winning twice. During this time, Forsythe celebrated his 45th wedding anniversary.
The Powers That Be

In 1992, after a three-year absence, Forsythe returned to series television starring in Norman Lear's situation comedy, The Powers That Be for NBC. The show wasn’t a ratings winner and was swiftly cancelled after only one year.
Post-1990s work and life
Bartholomew John as Forsythe (with Melora Hardin as Linda Evans) in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure (2005)

On August 15, 1994, Forsythe's wife of 51 years, the former Julie Warren, died aged 74 in hospital after he made the difficult decision to turn off her life-support system. She had been in a coma following severe breathing difficulties. In 2002, Forsythe married businesswoman Nicole Carter, twenty-two years his junior. Forsythe has one son, two daughters, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren from his previous marriages.

Forsythe reprised his role as Charlie for the film version of Charlie's Angels (2000) and its sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), but is now retired from acting. Besides spending time with his family, he now enjoys ownership of an art gallery.

In 2005 actor Bartholomew John portrayed Forsythe in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictionalized television movie based on the creation and behind the scenes production of Dynasty.

On May 2, 2006, Forsythe appeared with Dynasty co-stars Linda Evans, Joan Collins, Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Gordon Thomson and Catherine Oxenberg in Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar. The one-hour reunion special of the former ABC series aired on CBS.

It was announced that Forsythe was being treated for colorectal cancer on October 13, 2006. He was discharged from the hospital after one month.
Thoroughbred racing

John Forsythe owned and bred Thoroughbred racehorses for many years and was a member of the Board of Directors of Hollywood Park Racetrack. Among his successes, in partnership with film producer Martin Ritt he won the 1976 Longacres Mile with Yu Wipi. With partner Ken Opstein, he won the 1982 Sixty Sails Handicap with Targa, and the 1993 La Brea Stakes with a daughter of Targa, Mamselle Bebette, which he raced under the name of his Big Train Farm, a stable he named for Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, Walter "Big Train" Johnson,

In the 1980s, John Forsythe served as the regular host for the annual Eclipse Awards. He was the recipient of the 1988 Eclipse Award of Merit for his contibution in promoting the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
Filmography

   * Northern Pursuit (1943)
   * Destination Tokyo (1943)
   * The Captive City (1952)
   * It Happens Every Thursday (1953)
   * The Glass Web (1953)
   * Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
   * American Harvest (Revised Edition) (1955) (short subject) (narrator)
   * The Trouble with Harry (1955)
   * The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)
   * Everything But the Truth (1956)
   * Dubrowsky (1959)
   * Kitten with a Whip (1964)
   * Madame X (1966)
   * In Cold Blood (1967)
   * Silent Treatment (1968)
   * Topaz (1969)
   * The Happy Ending (1969)
   * Goodbye and Amen (1977)
   * ...And Justice for All (1979)
   * Scrooged (1988)
   * Stan and George's New Life (1991)
   * We Wish You a Merry Christmas (1999) (voice) (direct-to-video)
   * Charlie's Angels (2000)
   * Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)

Television work

   * Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)
   * Bachelor Father (1957–1962)
   * The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962)
   * See How They Run (1964)
   * The John Forsythe Show (1965–1966)
   * A Bell for Adano (1967)
   * Shadow on the Land (1968)
   * To Rome With Love (1969–1971)
   * Murder Once Removed (1971)
   * The World of Survival (1971-1977) (narrator)
   * The Letters (1973) (unsold pilot)
   * Lisa, Bright and Dark (1973)
   * Cry Panic (1974)
   * The Healers (1974)
   * Terror on the 40th Floor (1974)
   * The Deadly Tower (1975)
   * Charlie's Angels (1976–1981)
   * Amelia Earhart (1976)
   * Tail Gunner Joe (1977)
   * Emily, Emily (1977)
   * Never Con a Killer (1977) (pilot for The Feather and Father Gang)
   * Cruise Into Terror (1978)
   * With This Ring (1978)
   * The Users (1978)
   * A Time for Miracles (1980)
   * Dynasty (1981–1989)
   * Sizzle (1981)
   * Mysterious Two (1982)
   * On Fire (1987)
   * Miss Universe Pageant (1989)
   * Opposites Attract (1990)
   * Dynasty: The Reunion (1991)
   * The Powers That Be (1992–1993)
   * I Witness Video (host from 1993-1994)
   * People's Century (1995) (miniseries) (narrator in U.S. version)
   * Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar (2006)
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab34/alessandrorasman/Autografi/ForsytheJohn.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/Petri68/filmstars002.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/peytonm18/TTM%20Success%204%20my%20son%20and%20wife/aijgopda.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/gugulino/Claude%20Jade/HitchcockTopazCast.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/10 at 7:05 am


http://sylviasgalleryonline.com/images/Angel-7%20Small.jpg


Guardian Angel.  :)

Very nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/29/10 at 7:06 am


Very nice :)



Thank You.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/10 at 7:10 am

The person who died on this day...Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.
In 1894 he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly: An Elegy" (published in the November 8, 1894 edition of the New York Independent) for fifteen dollars. Proud of this accomplishment he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, but she demurred, wanting to finish college (at St. Lawrence University) before they married. Frost then went on an excursion to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, and asked Elinor again upon his return. Having graduated she agreed, and they were married at Harvard University, where he attended liberal arts studies for two years.

He did well at Harvard, but left to support his growing family. Grandfather Frost had, shortly before his death, purchased a farm for the young couple in Derry, New Hampshire; and Robert worked the farm for nine years, while writing early in the mornings and producing many of the poems that would later become famous. Ultimately his farming proved unsuccessful and he returned to education as an English teacher, at Pinkerton Academy from 1906 to 1911, then at the New Hampshire Normal School (now Plymouth State University) in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

In 1912 Frost sailed with his family to Great Britain, living first in Glasgow before settling in Beaconsfield outside London. His first book of poetry, A Boy's Will, was published the next year. In England he made some important acquaintances, including Edward Thomas (a member of the group known as the Dymock Poets), T.E. Hulme, and Ezra Pound. Pound would become the first American to write a (favorable) review of Frost's work, though Frost later resented Pound's attempts to manipulate his American prosody. Surrounded by his peers, Frost wrote some of his best work while in England.
The Robert Frost Farm in Derry, New Hampshire, where he wrote many of his poems, including "Tree at My Window" and "Mending Wall."

As World War I began, Frost returned to America in 1915. He bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, where he launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing. This family homestead served as the Frosts' summer home until 1938, and is maintained today as 'The Frost Place', a museum and poetry conference site at Franconia. During the years 1916–20, 1923–24, and 1927–1938, Frost taught English at Amherst College, Massachusetts, notably encouraging his students to account for the sounds of the human voice in their writing.

For forty-two years, from 1921 to 1963, Frost spent almost every summer and fall teaching at the Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College, at the mountain campus at Ripton, Vermont. He is credited as a major influence upon the development of the school and its writing programs; the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference gained renown during Frost's time there. The college now owns and maintains his former Ripton farmstead as a national historic site near the Bread Loaf campus. In 1921 Frost accepted a fellowship teaching post at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he resided until 1927; while there he was awarded a lifetime appointment at the University as a Fellow in Letters. The Robert Frost Ann Arbor home is now situated at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Frost returned to Amherst in 1927. In 1940 he bought a 5-acre (2.0 ha) plot in South Miami, Florida, naming it Pencil Pines; he spent his winters there for the rest of his life.

Harvard's 1965 alumni directory indicates Frost received an honorary degree there. Though he never graduated from college, Frost received over 40 honorary degrees, including ones from Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge universities; and he was the only person to receive two honorary degrees from Dartmouth College. During his lifetime the Robert Frost Middle School in Fairfax, Virginia, and the main library of Amherst College were named after him.

Frost was 86 when he spoke and performed a reading of his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961. He died in Boston two years later, on January 29, 1963, of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His epitaph quotes a line from one of his poems: "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

Frost's poems are critiqued in the Anthology of Modern American Poetry (Oxford University Press) where it is mentioned that behind a sometimes charmingly familiar and rural façade, Frost's poetry frequently presents pessimistic and menacing undertones which often are either unrecognized or unanalyzed.

One of the original collections of Frost materials, to which he himself contributed, is found in the Special Collections department of the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts. The collection consists of approximately twelve thousand items, including original manuscript poems and letters, correspondence, and photographs, as well as audio and visual recordings.
Personal life

Robert Frost's personal life was plagued with grief and loss. His father died of tuberculosis in 1885, when Frost was 11, leaving the family with just $8. Frost's mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, Frost had to commit his younger sister, Jeanie, to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost's family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost's wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.

Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliot (1896–1904, died of cholera), daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983), son Carol (1902–1940, committed suicide), daughter Irma (1903–1967), daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth), and daughter Elinor Bettina (died three days after birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost's wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937, and died of heart failure in 1938.
Selected works
Poems

    * After Apple-Picking
    * Acquainted with the Night
    * The Aim Was Song
    * An Old Man's Winter Night
    * The Armful
    * Asking for Roses
    * The Bear
    * Bereft
    * Birches
    * The Black Cottage
    * Bond and Free
    * A Boundless Moment
    * A Brook in the City
    * But Outer Space
    * Choose Something Like a Star
    * A Cliff Dwelling
    * The Code
    * Come In
    * A Considerable Speck
    * The Cow in Apple-Time
    * The Death of the Hired Man
    * Dedication
    * The Demiurge's Laugh
    * Devotion
    * Departmental
    * Desert Places
    * Design
    * Directive
    * A Dream Pang
    * Dust of Snow
    * The Egg and the Machine
    * Evening in a Sugar Orchard
    * The Exposed Nest
    * The Fear
    * Fire and Ice (1916)
    * Fireflies in the Garden
    * The Flower Boat
    * Flower-Gathering
    * For Once, Then Something
    * Fragmentary Blue
    * Gathering Leaves
    * The Generations of Men
    * Ghost House
    * The Gift Outright
    * A Girl's Garden
    * Going for Water
    * Good Hours
    * Good-bye, and Keep Cold
    * The Gum-Gatherer



    * A Hundred Collars
    * Hannibal
    * The Hill Wife
    * Home Burial
    * Hyla Brook
    * In a Disused Graveyard
    * In a Poem
    * In Hardwood Groves
    * In Neglect
    * In White (Frost's Early Version of "Design")
    * Into My Own
    * A Late Walk
    * Leaves Compared with Flowers
    * The Line-Gang
    * A Line-Storm Song
    * The Lockless Door
    * Love and a Question
    * Lure of the West
    * Meeting and Passing
    * Mending Wall
    * A Minor Bird
    * The Mountain
    * Mowing
    * My Butterfly
    * My November Guest
    * The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
    * Neither Out Far Nor in Deep
    * Never Again Would Bird's Song Be the Same
    * Not to Keep
    * Nothing Gold Can Stay
    * Now Close the Windows
    * October
    * On a Tree Fallen across the Road
    * On Looking up by Chance at the Constellations
    * Once by the Pacific (1916)
    * One Step Backward Taken
    * Out, Out- (1916)
    * The Oven Bird
    * Pan With Us
    * A Patch of Old Snow
    * The Pasture
    * Plowmen
    * A Prayer in Spring
    * Provide, Provide
    * Putting in the Seed



    * Quandary
    * A Question
    * Range-Finding
    * Reluctance
    * Revelation
    * The Road Not Taken
    * The Road That Lost its Reason
    * The Rose Family
    * Rose Pogonias
    * The Runaway
    * The Secret Sits
    * The Self-Seeker
    * A Servant to Servants
    * The Silken Tent
    * A Soldier
    * The Sound of the Trees
    * The Span of Life
    * Spring Pools
    * The Star-Splitter
    * Stars
    * Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
    * Storm Fear
    * The Telephone
    * They Were Welcome to Their Belief
    * A Time to Talk
    * To E.T.
    * To Earthward
    * To the Thawing Wind
    * Tree at My Window
    * The Trial by Existence
    * The Tuft of Flowers
    * Two Look at Two
    * Two Tramps in Mud Time
    * The Vanishing Red
    * The Vantage Point
    * War Thoughts at Home
    * What Fifty Said
    * The Witch of Coös
    * The Wood-Pile

Poetry collections

    * North of Boston (David Nutt, 1914; Holt, 1914)
    * Mending Wall
    * Mountain Interval (Holt, 1916)
    * The Road Not Taken
    * Selected Poems (Holt, 1923)

    Includes poems from first three volumes and the poem The Runaway

    * New Hampshire (Holt, 1923; Grant Richards, 1924)
    * Several Short Poems (Holt, 1924)
    * Selected Poems (Holt, 1928)
    * West-Running Brook (Holt, 1928? 1929)
    * The Lovely Shall Be Choosers (Random House, 1929)
    * Collected Poems of Robert Frost (Holt, 1930; Longmans, Green, 1930)
    * The Lone Striker (Knopf, 1933)
    * Selected Poems: Third Edition (Holt, 1934)
    * Three Poems (Baker Library, Dartmouth College, 1935)
    * The Gold Hesperidee (Bibliophile Press, 1935)
    * From Snow to Snow (Holt, 1936)
    * A Further Range (Holt, 1936; Cape, 1937)
    * Collected Poems of Robert Frost (Holt, 1939; Longmans, Green, 1939)
    * A Witness Tree (Holt, 1942; Cape, 1943)
    * Come In, and Other Poems (1943)
    * Steeple Bush (Holt, 1947)
    * Complete Poems of Robert Frost, 1949 (Holt, 1949; Cape, 1951)
    * Hard Not To Be King (House of Books, 1951)
    * Aforesaid (Holt, 1954)
    * A Remembrance Collection of New Poems (Holt, 1959)
    * You Come Too (Holt, 1959; Bodley Head, 1964)
    * In the Clearing (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1962)
    * The Poetry of Robert Frost (New York, 1969)
    * A Further Range (published as Further Range in 1926, as New Poems by Holt, 1936; Cape, 1937)
    * Nothing Gold Can Stay
    * What Fifty Said
    * Fire And Ice
    * A Drumlin Woodchuck

Plays

    * A Way Out: A One Act Play (Harbor Press, 1929).
    * The Cow's in the Corn: A One Act Irish Play in Rhyme (Slide Mountain Press, 1929).
    * A Masque of Reason (Holt, 1945).
    * A Masque of Mercy (Holt, 1947).

Prose

    * The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963; Cape, 1964).
    * Robert Frost and John Bartlett: The Record of a Friendship, by Margaret Bartlett Anderson (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963).
    * Selected Letters of Robert Frost (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1964).
    * Interviews with Robert Frost (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966; Cape, 1967).
    * Family Letters of Robert and Elinor Frost (State University of New York Press, 1972).
    * Robert Frost and Sidney Cox: Forty Years of Friendship (University Press of New England, 1981).
    * The Notebooks of Robert Frost, edited by Robert Faggen (Harvard University Press, January 2007).

Published as

    * Collected Poems, Prose and Plays (Richard Poirier, ed.) (Library of America, 1995) ISBN 978-1-88301106-2.

Pulitzer Prizes

    * 1924 for New Hampshire: A Poem With Notes and Grace Notes
    * 1931 for Collected Poems
    * 1937 for A Further Range
    * 1943 for A Witness Tree
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r150/jray696/robert-frost.gif
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n188/typoblooper/robert_frost.gif
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss61/alliegator21/robert_frost.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/bsicula/robert_frost.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo28/Artful_S/quotes/MDX07.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/29/10 at 7:33 am

My two favs are Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and of course The Road Less Traveled. That one really speaks to me because I feel like I have traveled the Road Less Traveled in my life.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/29/10 at 11:06 am


All good songs :)

As well as "I Will Remember You" (1999) and "Fallen" (2003-04). She also provided vocal on the Delerium song "Silence", which she co-wrote.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 4:51 am

Person of the Day (born to an English father and American mother): Thomas Rolfe

Thomas Rolfe (January 30, 1615 - c. 1675) was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe.

Rolfe was born at Smith's Plantation in Jamestown, Virginia. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virgina. After growing up in England, he married Elizabeth Washington on 13 September 1632, at the St James's Church in Clerkenwell, London. Their daughter Anne was born in 1633. Elizabeth died shortly after Anne’s birth, and in 1635 Rolfe returned to Virginia, leaving his daughter with his cousin, Anthony Rolfe. In 1659, Anne Rolfe married Peter Elwin (1623-1695), of Thurning, Norfolk, England, and left descendants.

Rolfe became a powerful leader in the tribe his grandfather had led.  During this time, he met and married Jane Poythress. He served in the English military until 1675. His only child by his second wife, called Jane Rolfe, was born on October 10, 1650, and in 1675 married Colonel Robert Bolling and herself had two children, John Bolling (born January 26, 1676) and Rebecca Bolling. Many Americans claim descent from Rolfe, including some politicians. In 1675, Rolfe died at the age of 59 or 60, and was survived by his wife and child. Rolfe is buried in Hopewell's Kippax Plantation.

As a result of Thomas Rolfe's birth, the Rolfe family is considered one of the First Families of Virginia. He appears as an infant in the 2005 theatrical film The New World, but does not exist in the 1998 Disney animated straight-to-video film Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, a sequel to the 1995 motion picture.

http://richmondthenandnow.com/Images/Articles/Pocahontas.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 5:39 am


Person of the Day (born to an English father and American mother): Thomas Rolfe

Thomas Rolfe (January 30, 1615 - c. 1675) was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe.

Rolfe was born at Smith's Plantation in Jamestown, Virginia. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virgina. After growing up in England, he married Elizabeth Washington on 13 September 1632, at the St James's Church in Clerkenwell, London. Their daughter Anne was born in 1633. Elizabeth died shortly after Anne’s birth, and in 1635 Rolfe returned to Virginia, leaving his daughter with his cousin, Anthony Rolfe. In 1659, Anne Rolfe married Peter Elwin (1623-1695), of Thurning, Norfolk, England, and left descendants.

Rolfe became a powerful leader in the tribe his grandfather had led.  During this time, he met and married Jane Poythress. He served in the English military until 1675. His only child by his second wife, called Jane Rolfe, was born on October 10, 1650, and in 1675 married Colonel Robert Bolling and herself had two children, John Bolling (born January 26, 1676) and Rebecca Bolling. Many Americans claim descent from Rolfe, including some politicians. In 1675, Rolfe died at the age of 59 or 60, and was survived by his wife and child. Rolfe is buried in Hopewell's Kippax Plantation.

As a result of Thomas Rolfe's birth, the Rolfe family is considered one of the First Families of Virginia. He appears as an infant in the 2005 theatrical film The New World, but does not exist in the 1998 Disney animated straight-to-video film Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, a sequel to the 1995 motion picture.

http://richmondthenandnow.com/Images/Articles/Pocahontas.jpg

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 5:44 am

The word of the day...Groovy
If you describe something as groovy, you mean that it is attractive, fashionable, or exciting.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i38/kevy_nova/087StJmGtDavDur.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/naty199/Annia%20Vermont/anniagroovy.png
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad221/sereejolynne/graphic%20sheets%20bottlecaps%20dogtags%20tiles%20dominos/groovybcetsy.jpg
http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy160/janemckenzie/Best%20of%20South%20America/IMG_1403.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad201/HippieChick1981/Groovy%20Psychedellics/psion005-abstract-digital-art-fract.jpg
http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae292/cherishscloset/custom%20casualwears/DSC_0271.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu288/sewmesane/For%20Sale%20Wovens%20Flannels%20Misc/DSC02803.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/lientecada/groovy.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 5:47 am

The person born on this day...Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboardist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on eight American chart-toppers between 1984 and 1989; seven as a solo artist and one with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", to the dance pop of "Sussudio", to the political statements of his most successful song, "Another Day in Paradise". His international popularity transformed Genesis from a progressive rock group to a regular on the pop charts and an early MTV mainstay.

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with obscure rock group Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. On Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer. As the decade closed, Genesis's first international hit, "Follow You, Follow Me", demonstrated a drastic change from the band's early years.

His concurrent solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2002, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work.
n 1970, Collins answered a Melody Maker classified ad for "...a drummer sensitive to acoustic music, and acoustic twelve-string guitarist". Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums. The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, Trespass (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.
The music video for "Land of Confusion" featured the members of Genesis in puppet form, with the single cover (parodying the With the Beatles album and using puppets from the satirical TV show Spitting Image).

Collins won the audition. Nursery Cryme was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from Nursery Cryme) and once on "More Fool Me" (from Selling England by the Pound).

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned). In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album Seconds Out. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the band's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's A Trick of the Tail, reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as #3 on the UK charts. Said Rolling Stone, "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success.". Following the recording of Genesis's next album Wind and Wuthering guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, on which he sang lead vocals and played drums.

As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album …And Then There Were Three… featured their first UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 40 single, "Follow You, Follow Me".

"Dance on a Volcano" (1976)
Play sound
The first track from Genesis's A Trick of the Tail, this was Collins's first appearance as the group's lead singer. A progressive rock track, it contrasts with the style of his later work.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch. The latter album's title track reached #1 on the American Billboard singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team Spitting Image) but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer". Reviews were generally positive, with Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career; The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's We Can't Dance. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's Turn It on Again: The Hits. When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals. Eventually Turn It On Again: The Tour was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks lineup.
Solo career

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album Duke, "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's Grace and Danger, an album whose main theme is also marriage breakup.

With the recording of his first solo album, Face Value, Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence, as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy".

In September 1981, he made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show The Secret Policeman's Other Ball at the Theatre Royal in London. Collins performed two songs "In The Air Tonight" and "The Roof Is Leaking" accompanying himself on the grand piano. His performance was augmented by Daryl Stuermer on acoustic guitar and banjo. The performance was the first time that Collins had performed live as a soloist and the first time that he performed at a charity show. In addition to performing his two solo songs, Collins joined the chorus on the finale of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" performed by the all-star Secret Police led by Sting, and featuring Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and Donovan. Collins would subsequently team up with Geldof and Ure to play drums on the 1984 Band-Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas", and with Sting to perform together at the Geldof-organized Live Aid in 1985.

Collins's performances were prominently featured on the Secret Policeman's Other Ball - The Music album released in 1982, which was a Top 30 album in the UK, U.S. and other countries. His performance of "In The Air Tonight" was included in both the UK and U.S. versions of the movie of the show. His performance of "The Roof Is Leaking" was included in the U.S.-only home-video sequel The Secret Policeman's Private Parts in 1983.

In 1982 he produced Something's Going On, a solo album by Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida), of ABBA fame. Frida, who had just parted with bandmate and husband Benny Andersson, had been impressed by Collins's solo efforts. Consequently, she approached Collins with her own solo project. The resulting album, featuring Collins on drums, spawned the 1982–83 international smash hit "I Know There's Something Going On" (Russ Ballard) and Collins’s duet with Frida titled "Here We'll Stay." An edit featuring Frida on all vocals was released as a single. A one hour documentary about the making of this album can be seen on Frida - The DVD. Swedish television filmed the whole recording process from day one in the studio to the release party. The programme includes interviews with Phil and Frida, as well as all the musicians on the album.

Songs inspired by Collins’s marital problems formed the bulk of his first two solo albums. His second album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, released in 1982, included songs such as "I Don't Care Anymore". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding Face Value, he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes." There were occasional poppier influences–Face Value's "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. Face Value was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. Hello, I Must Be Going! gave him a UK #1 for his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 U.S. hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached #2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as Melt), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".

A turning point in Collins's musical style came when he was asked to provide the title track for the film Against All Odds, a song which he re-worked to become "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" from an original Face Value session out-take entitled "How Can You Sit There?". The emotionally-charged ballad shot to #1 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK.

In 1984, Collins produced Philip Bailey's Chinese Wall album. He performed a duet on one of the album's tracks, "Easy Lover" which went to #2 on the U.S. pop chart and spent four weeks at #1 in the UK. Collins worked with the horn section of Bailey's band, Earth, Wind & Fire (later known as the Phenix Horns) throughout the 1980s, both on solo and Genesis tracks. By the end of 1984, Collins participated in Bob Geldof's Band Aid charity project, as well as, playing drums on the Band Aid single "Feed The World (Do They Know It's Christmas)", a drum part he laid down in one take (while being filmed).
Collins with drum set and music stand.

Collins released his most successful album, No Jacket Required, in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and an American number one, for the movie White Nights. Collins had three American number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year. No Jacket Required went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

No Jacket Required received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of Rolling Stone ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around." "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny. Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the U.S. and UK.

In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the U.S. concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then flying on a special Concorde flight to the USA enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia.

Howard Jones re-recorded his song "No One Is to Blame", from his Dream into Action album, featuring Phil Collins as drummer, backing vocalist, and producer. He has also played drums on singles for Robert Plant and Tina Turner on their respective albums. Collins also produced and played drums on the Eric Clapton albums Behind the Sun, August, and Journeyman, and appeared in the videos for Clapton's "Pretending" and Bad Love. He also toured with Clapton during 1986 in support of the release of August as the band's drummer, appearing in both of Clapton's concert videos Live from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Collins was also a regular fixture through the 1980s and early 1990s at the Prince's Trust concerts. Collins's solo success, as well as his concurrent career with Genesis, led to a 1985 cover story in Rolling Stone, with the tag reading "Phil Collins Beats the Odds".

In 1988, Collins starred in the movie Buster about the Great Train Robbery, which took place in England in the 1960s. The movie received good reviews and Collins contributed four songs to the films soundtrack. "Two Hearts" -- , which he wrote with Lamont Dozier; a cover of "A Groovy Kind of Love" (originally a 1966 hit for The Mindbenders, lyrics by Toni Wine, and music by Carole Bayer Sager, but with the melody of the Rondo section of Muzio Clementi's "Sonatina in G major", op. 36 no. 5.); "Big Noise", written by Phil Collins and Lamont Dozier, which included Collins on vocals (although the song was not released as a single, an instrumental version of this song appeared as the B-side to the single version of "A Groovy Kind Of Love".) The final song, "Loco In Acapulco", was another collaboration between him and Dozier, with the vocals performed by the legendary Motown group The Four Tops.

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ...But Seriously, featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album Thousand Roads.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins a Grammy for Record of the Year (1990). In the process, it became the last #1 U.S. pop hit of the 1980s. The album ...But Seriously became the first #1 U.S. album of the 1990s. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (#4 U.S., #15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a #4 hit in the U.S.), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Clapton on guitar) (#3 U.S., #7 UK). Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, Serious Hits… Live!, followed.

During this period, Collins appeared on various albums as a guest vocalist. Collins appeared on David Crosby's Thousand Roads album, singing the backing vocals for the single "Hero". Collins also appeared on the Curtis Mayfield album, A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield, covering Mayfield's song "I've Been Trying". He also sang a cover of Elton John's hit "Burn Down the Mission", in Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Collins also sang on Quincy Jones' Q's Jook Joint album, singing "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". Collins also sang on The Songs of West Side Story, providing lead vocals for "Somewhere", which was also released as a single.

Collins’s record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of Both Sides, a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input". Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, Both Sides was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins attempted a return to poppier music with Dance into the Light, which Entertainment Weekly reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins." It included minor hits such as the title track and the Beatles-inspired "It's In Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the U.S., it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Only the title track made a brief appearance on Collins’s then forthcoming Hits collection. Despite this, its subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed The Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of Collins’s and Genesis's hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD A Hot Night in Paris including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from A Trick of the Tail.

A Hits album released in 1998 was very successful, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at #2. Some of Collins’s earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie Tarzan, spent 19 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart - the longest time ever up to that point—and Collins won the Oscar. It was his third nomination in the songwriters category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989.

Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found his most recent studio album, 2002's Testify, to be the worst-reviewed album by the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.


    *
      "In the Air Tonight" (1980)
      Play sound
      The ambiguous lyrics of Collins's first solo hit, "In the Air Tonight", have spawned an urban legend about Collins witnessing of a murder.
      "Sussudio" (1985)
      Play sound
      The dance pop of No Jacket Required, including this number one hit, won Collins a Grammy Award for "Album of the Year".
      "Another Day in Paradise" (1989)
      Play sound
      The last of Collins's seven American number one singles, "Another Day in Paradise", was a topical song that discussed the plight of the homeless, and won Collins a Grammy Award for "Record of the Year".
    * Problems listening to the files? See media help.

Collins reported losing his hearing in one ear, and in 2003 announced his last solo tour. He called it the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. He continued touring through 2006 while working with Disney on a Broadway production of Tarzan, a musical which received generally poor reviews. In 2007, Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates for a tour of Europe and North America. He accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. He has played drums for Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne, Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton, as well as Led Zeppelin.

With the exception of Paul McCartney, Collins is the only recording artist that has ever been a principal member of a band that has sold at least 100 million albums worldwide, and sold at least 100 million albums worldwide as a solo artist. According to Billboard, when his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins has the most top 40 hits on the Billboard charts for the 80s.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z134/elcapitaan/phil-collins.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/Marts86/Phil-Collins.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e81/JoanMcKillip/phil-collins-photo.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/sweetsarajane/phil.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 5:52 am

The person who died on this date ...Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created The Patty Duke Show (1963–66), I Dream of Jeannie (1965–70) and Hart to Hart (1979–84), but it was not until after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game (1982), The Other Side of Midnight (1973) and Rage of Angels (1980) that he became most famous.Sheldon was born Sidney Schechtel in Chicago, Illinois, to parents of Russian Jewish ancestry, Ascher "Otto" Schechtel (1894–1967), manager of a jewelry store, and Natalie Marcus. At 10, he made his first sale, $5 for a poem. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs, attended Northwestern University and contributed short plays to drama groups.

In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, California, where he reviewed scripts and collaborated on a number of B movies. Sheldon enlisted in the military during World War II as a pilot in the War Training Service, a branch of the Army Air Corps, However, his unit was disbanded before Sheldon could see any action. He then returned to civilian life and moved to New York where he began writing musicals for the Broadway stage while continuing to write screenplays for both MGM Studios and Paramount Pictures. He earned a reputation as a prolific writer; for example, at one time he had three musicals on Broadway: a rewritten The Merry Widow, Jackpot, and Dream with Music. His success on Broadway brought him back to Hollywood where his first assignment was The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay of 1947.

When television became the new hot medium, he decided to try his hand in it. "I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch. So I produced The Patty Duke Show, and I did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series." He also wrote for the series Hart to Hart and Nancy. Most famously he wrote the series I Dream of Jeannie, which he also created and produced, which lasted for five seasons from 1965–1970. It was "During the last year of I Dream of Jeannie, I decided to try a novel," he said in 1982. "Each morning from 9 until noon, I had a secretary at the studio take all calls. I mean every single call. I wrote each morning - or rather, dictated - and then I faced the TV business."

In 1969, Sheldon wrote his first novel, The Naked Face, which earned him a nomination for the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America in the category of Best First Novel. His next novel, The Other Side of Midnight, went to #1 on The New York Times bestseller list as did several ensuing novels, a number of which were also made into motion pictures or TV miniseries.

His novels often featured determined women who persevere in a tough world run by hostile men. The novels contained a lot of suspense and devices to keep the reader turning the page:

    "I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

Most of his readers were women. Asked why this was the case he said: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power - their femininity, because men can't do without it." Books were Sheldon's favorite medium. "I love writing books," he commented. "Movies are a collaborative medium, and everyone is second-guessing you. When you do a novel you're on your own. It's a freedom that doesn't exist in any other medium."

Sheldon created, produced and wrote I Dream of Jeannie in his co-production capacity with Screen Gems. He wrote all but two dozen scripts in five years, sometimes using three pseudonyms {"Mark Rowane", "Allan Devon", "Christopher Golato"}, while simultaneously writing scripts for "The Patty Duke Show". He also used the same pseudonyms in writing all seventeen episodes of Nancy. Sheldon did this because, as he later admitted, he felt his name was appearing too often in the credits as creator, producer, copyright owner and writer of his TV series.

Sheldon was married for 30 years to Jorja Curtright Sheldon, a stage and film actress who later became an accomplished and well known interior designer. She died of a heart attack in 1985. He then remarried Alexandra Kostoff, a former child actress and advertising executive of Macedonian origin, in Las Vegas in 1989. His daughter, Mary Sheldon, became a novelist in her own right.

He struggled with bipolar disorder for years; he contemplated suicide at 17 (talked out of it by his father, who discovered him), as detailed in his autobiography published in 2005, The Other Side of Me

Sheldon died on January 30, 2007 from complications arising from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California.

He was cremated. His ashes were interred in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
Awards

Sheldon won an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay (1947) for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, a Tony Award (1959) for his musical Redhead, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on I Dream of Jeannie, an NBC sitcom.
Bibliography
Novels

    * The Naked Face (1970)
    * The Other Side of Midnight (1973)
    * A Stranger in the Mirror (1976)
    * Bloodline (1977)
    * Rage of Angels (1980)
    * Master of the Game (1982)
    * If Tomorrow Comes (1985)
    * Windmills of the Gods (1987)
    * The Sands of Time (1988)
    * Memories of Midnight (1990)
    * The Doomsday Conspiracy (1991)
    * The Stars Shine Down (1992)
    * Nothing Lasts Forever (1994)
    * Morning, Noon and Night (1995)
    * The Best Laid plan (1997)
    * Tell Me Your Dreams (1998)
    * The Sky Is Falling (2001)
    * Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2004)

Autobiography

    * The Other Side of Me (2005)

Broadway Plays

    * The Merry Widow
    * Alice in Arms
    * Redhead
    * Roman Candle
    * Gomes(London)

Films

    * The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
    * Three Guys Named Mike
    * Annie Get Your Gun
    * Dream Wife
    * You're Never Too Young
    * Anything Goes
    * Billy Rose's Jumbo
    * Bloodline

Television

    * I Dream of Jeannie
    * If Tomorrow Comes
    * The Patty Duke Show
    * Hart to Hart
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m221/meg_cess/Sheldon_Sidney_.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee26/jessicademari/11856697.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/jamdin/sidneysheldon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 6:08 am


Thanks Phil :)
I still have the past week to check up on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/10 at 6:44 am


The person born on this day...Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboardist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on eight American chart-toppers between 1984 and 1989; seven as a solo artist and one with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", to the dance pop of "Sussudio", to the political statements of his most successful song, "Another Day in Paradise". His international popularity transformed Genesis from a progressive rock group to a regular on the pop charts and an early MTV mainstay.

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with obscure rock group Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. On Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer. As the decade closed, Genesis's first international hit, "Follow You, Follow Me", demonstrated a drastic change from the band's early years.

His concurrent solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2002, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work.
n 1970, Collins answered a Melody Maker classified ad for "...a drummer sensitive to acoustic music, and acoustic twelve-string guitarist". Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums. The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, Trespass (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.
The music video for "Land of Confusion" featured the members of Genesis in puppet form, with the single cover (parodying the With the Beatles album and using puppets from the satirical TV show Spitting Image).

Collins won the audition. Nursery Cryme was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from Nursery Cryme) and once on "More Fool Me" (from Selling England by the Pound).

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned). In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album Seconds Out. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the band's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's A Trick of the Tail, reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as #3 on the UK charts. Said Rolling Stone, "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success.". Following the recording of Genesis's next album Wind and Wuthering guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, on which he sang lead vocals and played drums.

As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album …And Then There Were Three… featured their first UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 40 single, "Follow You, Follow Me".

"Dance on a Volcano" (1976)
Play sound
The first track from Genesis's A Trick of the Tail, this was Collins's first appearance as the group's lead singer. A progressive rock track, it contrasts with the style of his later work.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch. The latter album's title track reached #1 on the American Billboard singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team Spitting Image) but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer". Reviews were generally positive, with Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career; The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's We Can't Dance. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's Turn It on Again: The Hits. When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals. Eventually Turn It On Again: The Tour was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks lineup.
Solo career

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album Duke, "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's Grace and Danger, an album whose main theme is also marriage breakup.

With the recording of his first solo album, Face Value, Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence, as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy".

In September 1981, he made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show The Secret Policeman's Other Ball at the Theatre Royal in London. Collins performed two songs "In The Air Tonight" and "The Roof Is Leaking" accompanying himself on the grand piano. His performance was augmented by Daryl Stuermer on acoustic guitar and banjo. The performance was the first time that Collins had performed live as a soloist and the first time that he performed at a charity show. In addition to performing his two solo songs, Collins joined the chorus on the finale of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" performed by the all-star Secret Police led by Sting, and featuring Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and Donovan. Collins would subsequently team up with Geldof and Ure to play drums on the 1984 Band-Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas", and with Sting to perform together at the Geldof-organized Live Aid in 1985.

Collins's performances were prominently featured on the Secret Policeman's Other Ball - The Music album released in 1982, which was a Top 30 album in the UK, U.S. and other countries. His performance of "In The Air Tonight" was included in both the UK and U.S. versions of the movie of the show. His performance of "The Roof Is Leaking" was included in the U.S.-only home-video sequel The Secret Policeman's Private Parts in 1983.

In 1982 he produced Something's Going On, a solo album by Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida), of ABBA fame. Frida, who had just parted with bandmate and husband Benny Andersson, had been impressed by Collins's solo efforts. Consequently, she approached Collins with her own solo project. The resulting album, featuring Collins on drums, spawned the 1982–83 international smash hit "I Know There's Something Going On" (Russ Ballard) and Collins’s duet with Frida titled "Here We'll Stay." An edit featuring Frida on all vocals was released as a single. A one hour documentary about the making of this album can be seen on Frida - The DVD. Swedish television filmed the whole recording process from day one in the studio to the release party. The programme includes interviews with Phil and Frida, as well as all the musicians on the album.

Songs inspired by Collins’s marital problems formed the bulk of his first two solo albums. His second album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, released in 1982, included songs such as "I Don't Care Anymore". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding Face Value, he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes." There were occasional poppier influences–Face Value's "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. Face Value was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. Hello, I Must Be Going! gave him a UK #1 for his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 U.S. hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached #2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as Melt), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".

A turning point in Collins's musical style came when he was asked to provide the title track for the film Against All Odds, a song which he re-worked to become "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" from an original Face Value session out-take entitled "How Can You Sit There?". The emotionally-charged ballad shot to #1 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK.

In 1984, Collins produced Philip Bailey's Chinese Wall album. He performed a duet on one of the album's tracks, "Easy Lover" which went to #2 on the U.S. pop chart and spent four weeks at #1 in the UK. Collins worked with the horn section of Bailey's band, Earth, Wind & Fire (later known as the Phenix Horns) throughout the 1980s, both on solo and Genesis tracks. By the end of 1984, Collins participated in Bob Geldof's Band Aid charity project, as well as, playing drums on the Band Aid single "Feed The World (Do They Know It's Christmas)", a drum part he laid down in one take (while being filmed).
Collins with drum set and music stand.

Collins released his most successful album, No Jacket Required, in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and an American number one, for the movie White Nights. Collins had three American number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year. No Jacket Required went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

No Jacket Required received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of Rolling Stone ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around." "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny. Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the U.S. and UK.

In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the U.S. concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then flying on a special Concorde flight to the USA enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia.

Howard Jones re-recorded his song "No One Is to Blame", from his Dream into Action album, featuring Phil Collins as drummer, backing vocalist, and producer. He has also played drums on singles for Robert Plant and Tina Turner on their respective albums. Collins also produced and played drums on the Eric Clapton albums Behind the Sun, August, and Journeyman, and appeared in the videos for Clapton's "Pretending" and Bad Love. He also toured with Clapton during 1986 in support of the release of August as the band's drummer, appearing in both of Clapton's concert videos Live from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Collins was also a regular fixture through the 1980s and early 1990s at the Prince's Trust concerts. Collins's solo success, as well as his concurrent career with Genesis, led to a 1985 cover story in Rolling Stone, with the tag reading "Phil Collins Beats the Odds".

In 1988, Collins starred in the movie Buster about the Great Train Robbery, which took place in England in the 1960s. The movie received good reviews and Collins contributed four songs to the films soundtrack. "Two Hearts" -- , which he wrote with Lamont Dozier; a cover of "A Groovy Kind of Love" (originally a 1966 hit for The Mindbenders, lyrics by Toni Wine, and music by Carole Bayer Sager, but with the melody of the Rondo section of Muzio Clementi's "Sonatina in G major", op. 36 no. 5.); "Big Noise", written by Phil Collins and Lamont Dozier, which included Collins on vocals (although the song was not released as a single, an instrumental version of this song appeared as the B-side to the single version of "A Groovy Kind Of Love".) The final song, "Loco In Acapulco", was another collaboration between him and Dozier, with the vocals performed by the legendary Motown group The Four Tops.

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ...But Seriously, featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album Thousand Roads.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins a Grammy for Record of the Year (1990). In the process, it became the last #1 U.S. pop hit of the 1980s. The album ...But Seriously became the first #1 U.S. album of the 1990s. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (#4 U.S., #15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a #4 hit in the U.S.), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Clapton on guitar) (#3 U.S., #7 UK). Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, Serious Hits… Live!, followed.

During this period, Collins appeared on various albums as a guest vocalist. Collins appeared on David Crosby's Thousand Roads album, singing the backing vocals for the single "Hero". Collins also appeared on the Curtis Mayfield album, A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield, covering Mayfield's song "I've Been Trying". He also sang a cover of Elton John's hit "Burn Down the Mission", in Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Collins also sang on Quincy Jones' Q's Jook Joint album, singing "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". Collins also sang on The Songs of West Side Story, providing lead vocals for "Somewhere", which was also released as a single.

Collins’s record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of Both Sides, a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input". Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, Both Sides was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins attempted a return to poppier music with Dance into the Light, which Entertainment Weekly reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins." It included minor hits such as the title track and the Beatles-inspired "It's In Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the U.S., it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Only the title track made a brief appearance on Collins’s then forthcoming Hits collection. Despite this, its subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed The Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of Collins’s and Genesis's hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD A Hot Night in Paris including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from A Trick of the Tail.

A Hits album released in 1998 was very successful, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at #2. Some of Collins’s earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie Tarzan, spent 19 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart - the longest time ever up to that point—and Collins won the Oscar. It was his third nomination in the songwriters category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989.

Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found his most recent studio album, 2002's Testify, to be the worst-reviewed album by the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.


    *
      "In the Air Tonight" (1980)
      Play sound
      The ambiguous lyrics of Collins's first solo hit, "In the Air Tonight", have spawned an urban legend about Collins witnessing of a murder.
      "Sussudio" (1985)
      Play sound
      The dance pop of No Jacket Required, including this number one hit, won Collins a Grammy Award for "Album of the Year".
      "Another Day in Paradise" (1989)
      Play sound
      The last of Collins's seven American number one singles, "Another Day in Paradise", was a topical song that discussed the plight of the homeless, and won Collins a Grammy Award for "Record of the Year".
    * Problems listening to the files? See media help.

Collins reported losing his hearing in one ear, and in 2003 announced his last solo tour. He called it the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. He continued touring through 2006 while working with Disney on a Broadway production of Tarzan, a musical which received generally poor reviews. In 2007, Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates for a tour of Europe and North America. He accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. He has played drums for Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne, Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton, as well as Led Zeppelin.

With the exception of Paul McCartney, Collins is the only recording artist that has ever been a principal member of a band that has sold at least 100 million albums worldwide, and sold at least 100 million albums worldwide as a solo artist. According to Billboard, when his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins has the most top 40 hits on the Billboard charts for the 80s.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z134/elcapitaan/phil-collins.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/Marts86/Phil-Collins.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e81/JoanMcKillip/phil-collins-photo.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t85/sweetsarajane/phil.jpg



My favorites are Sussudio and In The Air Tonight.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/30/10 at 7:06 am

Great bio's, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/10 at 7:14 am

I almost forgot Land of Confusion.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 7:15 am


I almost forgot Land of Confusion.
That is Genisis, more than Phil Collins as solo.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/10 at 7:20 am


That is Genisis, more than Phil Collins as solo.


I remember the video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 7:45 am


Great bio's, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad you liked them :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 7:47 am


I remember the video.
The song is widely remembered for its music video, which had heavy airplay on MTV. The video drew controversy for its portrayal of Ronald Reagan as being physically and cognitively inept. The video features bizarre puppets by the British television show Spitting Image. After Phil Collins saw a caricatured version of himself on the show, he commissioned the show's creators, Peter Fluck and Roger Law, to create puppets of the entire band, as well as all the characters in the video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 7:47 am


I still have the past week to check up on.

Take your time, you must of had a busy week at work.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 7:48 am


Take your time, you must of had a busy week at work.
Yes it was a busy week, a couple of night I did not go online.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 7:50 am



My favorites are Sussudio and In The Air Tonight.

Those are good songs. My favs are In The Air Tonight, I Wish It Would Rain Down, A Groovy Kind Of Love & Take Me Home.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 7:51 am


Yes it was a busy week, a couple of night I did not go online.

Yeah I noticed that. Glad you got time now to visit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 7:52 am


Yeah I noticed that. Glad you got time now to visit.
It is the weekend now, time off for me and I should really be relaxing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/10 at 8:12 am


It is the weekend now, time off for me and I should really be relaxing.

So true. Does posting help you to relax?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/10 at 8:17 am


So true. Does posting help you to relax?
It is what I am use to doing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/10 at 7:06 pm


The song is widely remembered for its music video, which had heavy airplay on MTV. The video drew controversy for its portrayal of Ronald Reagan as being physically and cognitively inept. The video features bizarre puppets by the British television show Spitting Image. After Phil Collins saw a caricatured version of himself on the show, he commissioned the show's creators, Peter Fluck and Roger Law, to create puppets of the entire band, as well as all the characters in the video.


And it was such a funny video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:20 am


And it was such a funny video.
As the series of Spitting Image was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:20 am


Take your time, you must of had a busy week at work.
I will try now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:22 am


The word of the day...Snow
Snow consists of a lot of soft white bits of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather.
If someone snows you, they persuade you to do something or convince you of something by flattering or deceiving you.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu56/THElablahblah/snow.jpg
http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt352/mbyoh/snow.jpg
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae152/twilight_person/Photo258.jpg
http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt137/Planaproject/DSC_0133.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad207/pacontrolrm/Random/Snow.jpg
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab140/glvictor/Snow_mount.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r120/abaxter1411/PC260053.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/angelanewham/DSC04610.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/okesha/WinterinAshland.jpg
Snow, don't remind me!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:24 am


The word of the day...Snow
Snow consists of a lot of soft white bits of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather.
If someone snows you, they persuade you to do something or convince you of something by flattering or deceiving you.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/SnowOnceMore.jpg

Abbey Road yesterday morning, with a light dusting of snow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:27 am


The word of the day...Snow
Snow consists of a lot of soft white bits of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather.
If someone snows you, they persuade you to do something or convince you of something by flattering or deceiving you.
http://www.lbc.co.uk/mm/photos/2010/01/399/500x/5973.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:30 am


The word of the day...Sunshine
Sunshine is the light and heat that comes from the sun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AbxQ2Q4HeU

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:33 am


The person who died on this date...Jim Capaldi
Nicola James "Jim" Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English musician and songwriter and a founding member of Traffic. He drummed with several famous singers and musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Alvin Lee, and Mylon LeFevre. Early days

As a child Capaldi studied the piano and singing with his father, a music teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. In 1961 Capaldi played drums for the Worcester band The Sapphires and in 1963 he formed The Hellions with Dave Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm guitar. In August 1964, Tanya Day took The Hellions to the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany as her backing group. The Spencer Davis Group were staying at the same hotel as The Hellions and it was there that Steve Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason.

Back in Worcester, The Hellions established themselves as busy professionals of sufficient repute to provide backing to visiting performers including Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky-A-Go-Go Club. In 1965 the band released three singles but none charted. Later that year John "Poli" Palmer joined the band on drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist.

The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 in an attempt to reduce their costs but local tastes had changed and the band relaunched themselves as The Revolution with a fourth single that also failed to chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason with Luther Grosvenor and renamed the band Deep Feeling. They played gigs in Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country area where they developed a significant fanbase. Capaldi, Jackson and Palmer wrote original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions repertoire. They recorded several studio tracks which remained unreleased until 2009.
First success

Capaldi and the band played frequently in London and Jimi Hendrix played guitar with them at the Knuckles Club as an unknown musician. Back in Birmingham Capaldi would occasionally join his friends Mason, Winwood and Chris Wood for impromptu performances at The Elbow Room club on Aston High Street. Early in 1967 they formalised this arrangement by forming Traffic and the other members of Deep Feeling disbanded. In 1968, Capaldi, Winwood and Mason contributed backing music to a solo album by Gordon Jackson.

The new band was signed by Island Records and rented a quiet cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire in order to write and rehearse new material. The cottage did not remain quiet and had frequent visitors including Eric Burdon, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend as well as Trevor Burton (of The Move) amongst many others. Capaldi wrote the lyrics for Traffic's first single "Paper Sun", which appeared in the UK singles chart at number 5 in summer 1967. Two more singles were released successfully in 1967 and in December the band released the album Mr. Fantasy, which demonstrated the individual talents of each member. Mason left the band soon after the album's release but returned the following May before finally leaving again in October. Winwood also left Traffic (to form Blind Faith) and the rest reluctantly concluded that the band was over.
Reformation and beyond

Capaldi now tried to form another band with Mason and Wood but the creative tensions that had caused Mason to leave Traffic remained and Wynder K. Frogg only lasted until March 1969. In January 1970 Capaldi and Wood joined Winwood in the studio to record Winwood's solo album. These sessions were so successful that the three of them reformed Traffic (without Mason) to release the album John Barleycorn Must Die. They then toured the UK and the U.S. with a band extended by several session musicians.

Although the next Traffic albums were successful, Capaldi began to develop his solo career and released his first solo album Oh How We Danced in 1972. This set featured contributions from Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, Barry Beckett and Rebop Kwaku Baah as well as several members of Traffic.

He followed this up with Whale Meat Again in 1974 before releasing what many consider to be his masterpiece, Short Cut Draw Blood, the following year. Full of tracks with lyrical bite, the album tackled issues such as the environment, government corruption and drugs. In October 1975 a single taken from the album, a cover version of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts", reached number four in the UK chart and charted worldwide.

Capaldi's first and only solo Top 40 hit in the United States was from his 1982 album Fierce Heart, yielding the hit single "That's Love", which climbed to Number 28 in Billboard's Top 40 in the summer of 1983. The track was a simple arrangement with synthesized drums, electric guitar, and keyboards. Steve Winwood supplied the keyboards with his then-wife Nicole Winwood on background vocals.

Capaldi was noted for the extent of his collaborations with other musicians. In 1973, he played drums at Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert and on some Clapton studio sessions.
Collaborations

Jim Capaldi's success as a lyricist continued throughout his life. He was a five times winner of coveted BMI/Ascap Awards for the "most played compositions in America", and sales of songs written or co-written by him exceeded 25 million units. He numbered Bob Marley among his friends and they travelled together whilst Marley was writing the Catch A Fire album. Capaldi wrote the lyrics to "This Is Reggae Music".

In the 1980s, Capaldi collaborated with Carlos Santana contributing songs and ideas to Santana's projects and in the 1990s he wrote the song "Love Will Keep Us Alive" for the Eagles' successful Hell Freezes Over album. His own 1988 album Some Come Running included Eric Clapton and George Harrison on the track "Oh Lord, Why Lord".

In 1993, Traffic reformed (without Chris Wood, who died in 1983, and Dave Mason) and recorded a new album Far From Home and in 1994 Capaldi toured the U.S. and UK with the band. In 1998 he paired up again with Mason on an extensive American tour.
Marriage/Family

He married Brazilian-born Aninha in 1975 and in 1976 toured with his band Space Cadets before moving to Brazil in 1977. His daughters Tabitha and Tallulah were born in 1977 and 1979, respectively. The Capaldis lived in the Bahia region of Brazil until the beginning of 1980 and while there he became heavily involved with environmental issues. The track "Favella Music" on his 1981 album Let The Thunder Cry arose from his love of Brazil and he worked with several Brazilian composers.
The final years

In 2001, Capaldi's twelfth solo album Living On The Outside featured George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Gary Moore and Ian Paice. George Harrison played guitar on the track "Anna Julia", an English translation of a song by the Brazilian band Los Hermanos and Capaldi played at the Concert for George in 2002.

Outside his music and his environmental activism, Capaldi also assisted his wife in her work with Jubilee Action to help Brazilian street children. He remained professionally active until his final illness prevented him from working on plans for a 2005 reunion tour of Traffic. He died of stomach cancer at 02:30 on 28 January 2005, aged 60. He is survived by his wife and daughters.
Dear Mr Fantasy

Dear Mr Fantasy was a celebration of Jim Capaldi's life and music that took place at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London on Sunday, 21 January 2007. Guests included Bill Wyman, Jon Lord, Gary Moore, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens, Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, his brother, Phil and many more. Dear Mr Fantasy featured the music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic. All profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal.
Solo discography

    * Oh How We Danced (1972)
    * Whale Meat Again (1974)
    * Short Cut Draw Blood (1975)
    * Play It By Ear (1977)
    * Daughter of the Night (1978)
    * Contender (1978)
    * Electric Nights (1979)
    * Sweet Smell of ... Success (1980)
    * Let The Thunder Cry (1981)
    * Fierce Heart (1982)
    * One Man Mission (1984)
    * Some Come Running (1988)
    * Prince of Darkness (1995)
    * Let The Thunder Cry (1999)
    * Living On The Outside (2001)
    * Poor Boy Blue (2004)
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr262/juniorjr2008/JimCapaldiGeorgeHarrison-AnnaJulia.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/tiredofit07/capalldi.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac97/trontxi/front.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:35 am


The word of the day...Groovy
If you describe something as groovy, you mean that it is attractive, fashionable, or exciting.
http://www.costumebox.com.au/images/P/Groovy%20Baby%20-%20Billy%20Bob%20Costume%20Accessories.detail.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 2:35 am


I still have the past week to check up on.
Doing my bit right now!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:05 am

The word or phrase of the day...High Heels
High-heeled footwear (often abbreviated as high heels or simply heels) is footwear that raises the heel of the wearer's foot significantly higher ...
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/CHAKAL0SA_2008/qoates/Image3.png
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad291/edina-margaret/IMG_0386.jpg
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae269/angelsmom1207/KayLeigh%20Angel%20Warneka/2010_01170052.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l142/kittykat8925/thpumps.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj21/Sillyitsme02/highheelsandglasses.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/darlyndeville/heels.jpg
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt190/lwy_alice/high_heels.jpg
http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx96/toddbaxtor/High_Heels.jpg
http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/xx327/dreamshadows11/Heels.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:07 am


http://www.lbc.co.uk/mm/photos/2010/01/399/500x/5973.jpg

That's cute :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:10 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AbxQ2Q4HeU

Great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:12 am

The person born on this day...Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.
efore receiving worldwide recognition, she appeared on British television with renowned comedians such as Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci and had small parts in such shows as Casualty, The House of Eliott, Lovejoy and Peak Practice, among others. Driver first came to broad public attention when she played the lead role in Circle of Friends in 1995 and then with her Academy Award nominated performance in Good Will Hunting in 1997. In 2003 and 2004, she had a noted recurring role on Will & Grace as Lorraine Finster, the nemesis of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) and daughter of Karen's lover, Lyle Finster (John Cleese). Driver has also worked on several animated features, including Disney's 1999 version of Tarzan and the 1999 dubbed-English version of the Japanese film Princess Mononoke in which she voices the fictional character Lady Eboshi.

On 12 March 2007, Driver made her return to television starring alongside Eddie Izzard on the FX Network show The Riches, a series about a family of Travellers living in an upscale gated community in the suburbs. She was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Dramatic Series.

On November 12, 2009, it was announced that Driver would guest-star in a January 2010 episode of Modern Family. She will play Claire's friend and former co-worker whom she hasn't seen in years. At the end of 2009, Driver began filming a part in the Tiger Aspect television serial The Deep, to be shown on BBC One in 2010.
Music career

Early in her career Driver was a member of a band called "Puff, Rocks and Brown"; the band was signed to a development deal with Island Records, which ended without a release.

She began a low-profile return to music in 2000; the following year, she signed with EMI and Rounder Records and performed at SXSW. Canadian music producer Colin Craig assisted in the eventual release of Everything I've Got in My Pocket, which reached No. 34 in the UK, and a second single, "Invisible Girl" peaking at No. 68. The album was backed by a group including members of the Wallflowers and Pete Yorn's band. Driver wrote 10 of the 11 songs on the album and also covered "Hungry Heart" from Bruce Springsteen's The River. In 2004, Driver was the support act for the Finn Brothers on the UK portion of their world tour.

In 2004, Driver played Carlotta Giudicelli in Joel Schumacher's film of The Phantom of the Opera. Because of the vocal requirements of the role, Driver was the sole cast member to have her voice dubbed. However, she did lend her own voice to Learn to be Lonely, a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber specifically for the film version of his musical (it plays over the closing credits of the movie). Driver released her second album entitled Seastories on 17 July 2007. The 12-track set is produced by Marc "Doc" Dauer, who also produced Everything I've Got in My Pocket. Ryan Adams and Liz Phair are among the list of collaborators for the album.
Personal life

On 13 March 2008, during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, she announced that she was expecting her first child in August. On 5 September 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Henry Story Driver. The father's identity remains private.
Filmography
Features
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Circle of Friends Bernadette 'Benny' Hogan
GoldenEye Irina
1996 Big Night Phyllis
Sleepers Carol Martinez
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Debi Newberry
Mononoke-hime Lady Eboshi
Good Will Hunting Skylar
1998 Hard Rain Karen
The Governess Rosina da Silva
At Sachem Farm Kendal
1999 An Ideal Husband Miss Mabel Chiltern
Tarzan Jane Porter
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Brooke Shields
2000 Return to Me Grace Briggs
Beautiful Mona Higgard
Slow Burn Trina McTeague
2001 High Heels and Low Lifes Shannon
2003 Owning Mahowny Belinda
Hope Springs Vera Edwards
2004 Ella Enchanted Mandy
The Phantom of the Opera Carlotta
2006 The Virgin of Juarez Karina Danes
Delirious
2007 Ripple Effect Kitty
Take Ana
2009 Motherhood Sheila
Betty Anne Waters Abra
2010 Barney's Version Mrs. P
Television

    * Mr. Wroe's Virgins (1993)
    * The Day Today (1994)
    * Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (episode 2, 1994)
    * The Politician's Wife (1995)
    * The X Files (2000)
    * Will & Grace (2003)
    * Freedom2speak v2.0 (2004) (documentary)
    * The Kumars at No. 42
    * The Riches (2007–2008) (television series)

Short Subjects

    * The Zebra Man (1992)
    * Baggage (1997)
    * The Upgrade (2000)
    * D.C. Smalls (2001)
    * Film Trix 2004 (2004)
    * Portrait (2004)

Other

    * Minnie played herself in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, a British sitcom.
    * Minnie provides the voice of adventurer Lara Croft in Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series.
    * Minnie provided the voice of Anne in the videogame Jurassic Park: Trespasser.
    * She played Lilith in the early series of the popular British children's game show, Knightmare.
    * She was given a cut scene in Family Guy's "Saving Private Brian" as having a big head, and the director had difficulty fitting it on stage.

Discography
Albums
Year Album US Heat Label
2004 Everything I've Got in My Pocket 43 Zoë
2007 Seastories 25
Singles
Year Single Album
2004 "Invisible Girl" Everything I've Got in My Pocket
2005 "Everything I've Got in My Pocket"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/krazychild/Minnie%20Driver/minni.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg32/sharkypuffs/minnie-driver.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n204/iheartcher/Minnie%20Driver/0000038285_20070307180611.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n204/iheartcher/Minnie%20Driver/l_13527f4179d6b26d8bcff1264617f46c.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 6:13 am


The word or phrase of the day...High Heels
High-heeled footwear (often abbreviated as high heels or simply heels) is footwear that raises the heel of the wearer's foot significantly higher ...

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx96/toddbaxtor/High_Heels.jpg

That looks painful!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 6:15 am


The person born on this day...Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.
efore receiving worldwide recognition, she appeared on British television with renowned comedians such as Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci and had small parts in such shows as Casualty, The House of Eliott, Lovejoy and Peak Practice, among others. Driver first came to broad public attention when she played the lead role in Circle of Friends in 1995 and then with her Academy Award nominated performance in Good Will Hunting in 1997. In 2003 and 2004, she had a noted recurring role on Will & Grace as Lorraine Finster, the nemesis of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) and daughter of Karen's lover, Lyle Finster (John Cleese). Driver has also worked on several animated features, including Disney's 1999 version of Tarzan and the 1999 dubbed-English version of the Japanese film Princess Mononoke in which she voices the fictional character Lady Eboshi.

On 12 March 2007, Driver made her return to television starring alongside Eddie Izzard on the FX Network show The Riches, a series about a family of Travellers living in an upscale gated community in the suburbs. She was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Dramatic Series.

On November 12, 2009, it was announced that Driver would guest-star in a January 2010 episode of Modern Family. She will play Claire's friend and former co-worker whom she hasn't seen in years. At the end of 2009, Driver began filming a part in the Tiger Aspect television serial The Deep, to be shown on BBC One in 2010.
Music career

Early in her career Driver was a member of a band called "Puff, Rocks and Brown"; the band was signed to a development deal with Island Records, which ended without a release.

She began a low-profile return to music in 2000; the following year, she signed with EMI and Rounder Records and performed at SXSW. Canadian music producer Colin Craig assisted in the eventual release of Everything I've Got in My Pocket, which reached No. 34 in the UK, and a second single, "Invisible Girl" peaking at No. 68. The album was backed by a group including members of the Wallflowers and Pete Yorn's band. Driver wrote 10 of the 11 songs on the album and also covered "Hungry Heart" from Bruce Springsteen's The River. In 2004, Driver was the support act for the Finn Brothers on the UK portion of their world tour.

In 2004, Driver played Carlotta Giudicelli in Joel Schumacher's film of The Phantom of the Opera. Because of the vocal requirements of the role, Driver was the sole cast member to have her voice dubbed. However, she did lend her own voice to Learn to be Lonely, a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber specifically for the film version of his musical (it plays over the closing credits of the movie). Driver released her second album entitled Seastories on 17 July 2007. The 12-track set is produced by Marc "Doc" Dauer, who also produced Everything I've Got in My Pocket. Ryan Adams and Liz Phair are among the list of collaborators for the album.
Personal life

On 13 March 2008, during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, she announced that she was expecting her first child in August. On 5 September 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Henry Story Driver. The father's identity remains private.
Filmography
Features
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Circle of Friends Bernadette 'Benny' Hogan
GoldenEye Irina
1996 Big Night Phyllis
Sleepers Carol Martinez
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Debi Newberry
Mononoke-hime Lady Eboshi
Good Will Hunting Skylar
1998 Hard Rain Karen
The Governess Rosina da Silva
At Sachem Farm Kendal
1999 An Ideal Husband Miss Mabel Chiltern
Tarzan Jane Porter
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Brooke Shields
2000 Return to Me Grace Briggs
Beautiful Mona Higgard
Slow Burn Trina McTeague
2001 High Heels and Low Lifes Shannon
2003 Owning Mahowny Belinda
Hope Springs Vera Edwards
2004 Ella Enchanted Mandy
The Phantom of the Opera Carlotta
2006 The Virgin of Juarez Karina Danes
Delirious
2007 Ripple Effect Kitty
Take Ana
2009 Motherhood Sheila
Betty Anne Waters Abra
2010 Barney's Version Mrs. P
Television

    * Mr. Wroe's Virgins (1993)
    * The Day Today (1994)
    * Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (episode 2, 1994)
    * The Politician's Wife (1995)
    * The X Files (2000)
    * Will & Grace (2003)
    * Freedom2speak v2.0 (2004) (documentary)
    * The Kumars at No. 42
    * The Riches (2007–2008) (television series)

Short Subjects

    * The Zebra Man (1992)
    * Baggage (1997)
    * The Upgrade (2000)
    * D.C. Smalls (2001)
    * Film Trix 2004 (2004)
    * Portrait (2004)

Other

    * Minnie played herself in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, a British sitcom.
    * Minnie provides the voice of adventurer Lara Croft in Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series.
    * Minnie provided the voice of Anne in the videogame Jurassic Park: Trespasser.
    * She played Lilith in the early series of the popular British children's game show, Knightmare.
    * She was given a cut scene in Family Guy's "Saving Private Brian" as having a big head, and the director had difficulty fitting it on stage.

Discography
Albums
Year Album US Heat Label
2004 Everything I've Got in My Pocket 43 Zoë
2007 Seastories 25
Singles
Year Single Album
2004 "Invisible Girl" Everything I've Got in My Pocket
2005 "Everything I've Got in My Pocket"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/krazychild/Minnie%20Driver/minni.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg32/sharkypuffs/minnie-driver.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n204/iheartcher/Minnie%20Driver/0000038285_20070307180611.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n204/iheartcher/Minnie%20Driver/l_13527f4179d6b26d8bcff1264617f46c.jpg
I was going to do Minnie Driver for she was born in England, and decided not to for I just felt she will be one of your choices for today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:18 am

The person who died on this day...Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn (17 August 1879 – 31 January 1974) was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.
elbfisz became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1902. At the time, the fledgling film industry was expanding rapidly and in his spare time, an enraptured Gelbfisz went to see as many movies as possible. Before long, he went into the business with Vaudeville performer Jesse L. Lasky, his brother-in-law at the time, and Adolph Zukor, a theater owner. Together, the three produced their first film, using an ambitious young director named Cecil B. DeMille. Disputes arose between the partners and Gelbfisz left after a few years but their company evolved to later become Paramount Pictures. Shortly before this, he also divorced his first wife, Blanche (née Lasky), with whom he had a daughter, Ruth Anne.
Goldwyn Pictures

In 1916 he partnered with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, using a combination of both names to call their movie-making enterprise the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. Seeing an opportunity, Samuel Gelbfisz then had his name legally changed to Samuel Goldwyn, which he used for the rest of his life. The Goldwyn Company proved moderately successful but it is their "Leo the Lion" trademark for which the organization is most famous. Eventually the company was acquired by Marcus Loew and his Metro Pictures Corporation but by then Samuel Goldwyn had already been forced out by his partners and was never a part of the new studio that became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Goldwyn was married to Blanche Lasky, a sister of one of his partners Jesse, from 1910 to 1915. In 1925, he married actress Frances Howard to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. Their son, Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., would eventually join his father in the business.
Samuel Goldwyn Studio
From the trailer for The Hurricane (1937)
Main article: Samuel Goldwyn Studio

After his departure from Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, he established Samuel Goldwyn Inc., eventually opening Samuel Goldwyn Studio on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood. For 35 years, Goldwyn built a reputation in filmmaking and an eye for finding the talent for making films, although, contrary to some erroneous claims, he did not discover actor Gary Cooper. He used director William Wyler for many of his productions and hired writers such as Ben Hecht, Sidney Howard, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman. (According to legend, at a heated story conference Goldwyn scolded someone--in most accounts Mrs. Parker--who recalled he had once been a glove maker and retorted: "Don't you point that finger at me. I knew it when it had a thimble on it!" Another time, when he demanded a script that ended on a happy note, she said: "I know this will come as a shock to you, Mr. Goldwyn, but in all history, which has held billions and billions of human beings, not a single one ever had a happy ending.")

For more than three decades, Goldwyn made numerous successful films and received Best Picture Oscar nominations for Arrowsmith (1931), Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), and The Little Foxes (1941). The leading actors in several of Goldwyn films were also Oscar-nominated for their performances.

Throughout the 1930s, Goldwyn released all his films through United Artists, but beginning in 1941, and continuing almost through the end of his career, Goldwyn released his films through RKO Radio Pictures.
Oscar
See also: Academy Awards

In 1946, the year he was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, Goldwyn's drama The Best Years of Our Lives, starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In the 1950s Samuel Goldwyn turned to making a number of musicals including the 1955 hit Guys and Dolls starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. This was the only independent film that Goldwyn ever released through MGM. (Goldwyn had previously made several musicals starring Eddie Cantor and Danny Kaye, as well as 1938's The Goldwyn Follies.) Two years later, in 1957, he was awarded The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes.

In his final film, made in 1959, Samuel Goldwyn brought together African-American actors Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Pearl Bailey in a film rendition of the George Gershwin opera, Porgy and Bess. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was nominated for three Oscars, but won only one. It was also a critical and financial failure, and the Gershwin family reportedly disliked the film and eventually pulled it from distribution. The reception of the film was a huge disappointment to Goldwyn.

On March 27, 1971, Goldwyn was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.
Death

Samuel Goldwyn died at his home in Los Angeles in 1974 from natural causes, at the probable age of 94. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. In the 1980s, Samuel Goldwyn Studio was sold to Warner Bros.. There is a theater named for him in Beverly Hills and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1631 Vine Street.
Grandchildren

Samuel Goldwyn's grandsons include Francis Goldwyn, founder of the Manhattan Toy Company and Managing Member of Quorum Associates LLC, actor Tony Goldwyn and film producer John Goldwyn. His granddaughter, Catherine Goldwyn, created Sound Art, a non-profit organization that teaches popular music all over Los Angeles. His other granddaughter, Liz Goldwyn, has a film on HBO called Pretty Things, featuring interviews with queens from the heyday of burlesque. Her book, an extension of the documentary titled, Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens, was published in October 2006 by HarperCollins.
The Samuel Goldwyn Foundation

Samuel Goldwyn's will created a multi-million dollar charitable foundation in his name. Among other endeavors, the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation funds the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, provided construction funds for the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library, and provides ongoing funding for the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Main article: The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Several years after the Sr. Goldwyn's death, his son, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., initiated an independent film and television distribution company dedicated to preserving the integrity of Goldwyn's ambitions and work. The rights to the classic Goldwyn library (among other pre-1996 Goldwyn company holdings) are now held by MGM.
Goldwynisms
Edit-copy purple-wikiq.svg
This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process. If the page can be expanded into an encyclopedic article, rather than a list of quotes, please do so and remove this message.
Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Samuel Goldwyn

Samuel Goldwyn was also known for malapropisms, paradoxes, and other speech errors called 'Goldwynisms' ("A humorous statement or phrase resulting from the use of incongruous or contradictory words, situations, idioms, etc.") being frequently quoted, such as:

   * “A bachelor’s life is no life for a single man.”
   * “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
   * “Anyone who would go to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined!”
   * “Can she sing? She’s practically a Florence Nightingale.”
   * “Color television! Bah, I won’t believe it until I see it in black and white.”
   * “Don’t worry about the war. It’s all over but the shooting.”
   * “Every director bites the hand that lays the golden egg.”
   * “Flashbacks are a thing of the past.”
   * “For your information, just answer me one question!”
   * “Gentlemen, include me out.”
   * “Gentlemen, listen to me slowly.”
   * “Give me a couple of years, and I’ll make that actress an overnight success.”
   * “God makes stars. I just produce them.”
   * “He treats me like the dirt under my feet.”
   * “I don’t care if it doesn’t make a nickel. I just want every man, woman, and child in America to see it.”
   * “I don’t think anyone should write his autobiography until after he’s dead.”
   * “I had a great idea this morning, but I didn’t like it.”
   * “I paid too much for it, but it’s worth it.”
   * “I read part of it all the way through.”
   * “If I look confused it’s because I’m thinking.”
   * “In two words: im-possible.”
   * “I’m willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.”
   * “Keep a stiff upper chin.”
   * “Let’s have some new clichés.”
   * “Modern dancing is old fashioned.”
   * “Our comedies are not to be laughed at.”
   * “Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.”
   * “Tell them to stand closer apart.”
   * “That’s our strongest weak point.”
   * “That’s the kind of ad I like, facts, facts, facts.”
   * “The next time I send a damn fool for something, I go myself.”
   * “There is a statue of limitation.”
   * “They stayed away in droves.”
   * “We have that Indian scene. We can get the Indians from the reservoir.”
   * “Why did you name him Sam? Every Tom, Dick and Harry is named Sam!”
   * “Why should people go out and pay to see bad movies when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing.”
   * “You fail to overlook the crucial point.”
   * “You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.”
   * “How come you did what I told you to do, when you know I don't know what I'm talking about."
   * "I don't want to be surrounded by 'yes men'. I want people who'll disagree with me, even if it costs them their jobs."
   * On the death of Louis B. Mayer: "The reason so many people turned up at his funeral is that they wanted to make sure he was dead."
   * "I want to go where the hand of man has never set foot."
   * "The A-bomb is dynamite."
   * "Destroy the old files, but make copies first."
   * Upon being told that a book he had purchased for filming, The Well of Loneliness, couldn't be filmed because it was about lesbians, he replied: "That's all right, we'll make them Hungarians."
   * Upon being told that a dictionary had included the word "Goldwynism" as synonym for malapropism, he raged: "Goldwynisms! They should talk to Jesse Lasky!"

Having many writers in his employ, Goldwyn may not have come up with all of these on his own. In fact Charlie Chaplin took credit for penning the 'im-possible' line on him; and the "damn fool...I go myself" quote has also been attributed to Michael Curtiz.

These led to the reference in the Cole Porter song Anything Goes:

   " When Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction
   instruct Anna Sten in diction,
   then Anna shows,
   Anything goes!"
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/spssds/united-artists_jolson-fairbanks-pic.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/spssds/samuel-goldwyn_1920s.jpg
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz284/kenya_9/fasl04_sammydavis_slideshow.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:19 am


That looks painful!

Yikes! I know..it's sneakers or flats for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 6:20 am


I was going to do Minnie Driver for she was born in England, and decided not to for I just felt she will be one of your choices for today.

Thanks,I made sure I looked first, because I thought you may pick her. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/31/10 at 7:02 am


The person born on this day...Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.
efore receiving worldwide recognition, she appeared on British television with renowned comedians such as Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci and had small parts in such shows as Casualty, The House of Eliott, Lovejoy and Peak Practice, among others. Driver first came to broad public attention when she played the lead role in Circle of Friends in 1995 and then with her Academy Award nominated performance in Good Will Hunting in 1997. In 2003 and 2004, she had a noted recurring role on Will & Grace as Lorraine Finster, the nemesis of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) and daughter of Karen's lover, Lyle Finster (John Cleese). Driver has also worked on several animated features, including Disney's 1999 version of Tarzan and the 1999 dubbed-English version of the Japanese film Princess Mononoke in which she voices the fictional character Lady Eboshi.

On 12 March 2007, Driver made her return to television starring alongside Eddie Izzard on the FX Network show The Riches, a series about a family of Travellers living in an upscale gated community in the suburbs. She was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Dramatic Series.

On November 12, 2009, it was announced that Driver would guest-star in a January 2010 episode of Modern Family. She will play Claire's friend and former co-worker whom she hasn't seen in years. At the end of 2009, Driver began filming a part in the Tiger Aspect television serial The Deep, to be shown on BBC One in 2010.
Music career

Early in her career Driver was a member of a band called "Puff, Rocks and Brown"; the band was signed to a development deal with Island Records, which ended without a release.

She began a low-profile return to music in 2000; the following year, she signed with EMI and Rounder Records and performed at SXSW. Canadian music producer Colin Craig assisted in the eventual release of Everything I've Got in My Pocket, which reached No. 34 in the UK, and a second single, "Invisible Girl" peaking at No. 68. The album was backed by a group including members of the Wallflowers and Pete Yorn's band. Driver wrote 10 of the 11 songs on the album and also covered "Hungry Heart" from Bruce Springsteen's The River. In 2004, Driver was the support act for the Finn Brothers on the UK portion of their world tour.

In 2004, Driver played Carlotta Giudicelli in Joel Schumacher's film of The Phantom of the Opera. Because of the vocal requirements of the role, Driver was the sole cast member to have her voice dubbed. However, she did lend her own voice to Learn to be Lonely, a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber specifically for the film version of his musical (it plays over the closing credits of the movie). Driver released her second album entitled Seastories on 17 July 2007. The 12-track set is produced by Marc "Doc" Dauer, who also produced Everything I've Got in My Pocket. Ryan Adams and Liz Phair are among the list of collaborators for the album.
Personal life

On 13 March 2008, during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, she announced that she was expecting her first child in August. On 5 September 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Henry Story Driver. The father's identity remains private.
Filmography
Features
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Circle of Friends Bernadette 'Benny' Hogan
GoldenEye Irina
1996 Big Night Phyllis
Sleepers Carol Martinez
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Debi Newberry
Mononoke-hime Lady Eboshi
Good Will Hunting Skylar
1998 Hard Rain Karen
The Governess Rosina da Silva
At Sachem Farm Kendal
1999 An Ideal Husband Miss Mabel Chiltern
Tarzan Jane Porter
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Brooke Shields
2000 Return to Me Grace Briggs
Beautiful Mona Higgard
Slow Burn Trina McTeague
2001 High Heels and Low Lifes Shannon
2003 Owning Mahowny Belinda
Hope Springs Vera Edwards
2004 Ella Enchanted Mandy
The Phantom of the Opera Carlotta
2006 The Virgin of Juarez Karina Danes
Delirious
2007 Ripple Effect Kitty
Take Ana
2009 Motherhood Sheila
Betty Anne Waters Abra
2010 Barney's Version Mrs. P
Television

    * Mr. Wroe's Virgins (1993)
    * The Day Today (1994)
    * Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (episode 2, 1994)
    * The Politician's Wife (1995)
    * The X Files (2000)
    * Will & Grace (2003)
    * Freedom2speak v2.0 (2004) (documentary)
    * The Kumars at No. 42
    * The Riches (2007–2008) (television series)

Short Subjects

    * The Zebra Man (1992)
    * Baggage (1997)
    * The Upgrade (2000)
    * D.C. Smalls (2001)
    * Film Trix 2004 (2004)
    * Portrait (2004)

Other

    * Minnie played herself in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, a British sitcom.
    * Minnie provides the voice of adventurer Lara Croft in Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series.
    * Minnie provided the voice of Anne in the videogame Jurassic Park: Trespasser.
    * She played Lilith in the early series of the popular British children's game show, Knightmare.
    * She was given a cut scene in Family Guy's "Saving Private Brian" as having a big head, and the director had difficulty fitting it on stage.

Discography
Albums
Year Album US Heat Label
2004 Everything I've Got in My Pocket 43 Zoë
2007 Seastories 25
Singles
Year Single Album
2004 "Invisible Girl" Everything I've Got in My Pocket
2005 "Everything I've Got in My Pocket"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/krazychild/Minnie%20Driver/minni.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg32/sharkypuffs/minnie-driver.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n204/iheartcher/Minnie%20Driver/0000038285_20070307180611.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n204/iheartcher/Minnie%20Driver/l_13527f4179d6b26d8bcff1264617f46c.jpg



I remember she was on an episode of Will And Grace.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 01/31/10 at 7:12 am

Interesting bio on Minnie Driver, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/31/10 at 8:03 am


That looks painful!



Yeah, it does.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 9:03 am


Interesting bio on Minnie Driver, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

I'm glad you liked it. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/31/10 at 12:48 pm



Yeah, it does.



Cat
An experience I will never know!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/10 at 1:59 pm


An experience I will never know!

I wouldn't want to know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 5:35 am

The word of the day...Twin(s)
If two people are twins, they have the same mother and were born on the same day.
Twin is used to describe a pair of things that look the same and are close together.
Twin is used to describe two things or ideas that are similar or connected in some way.
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r3/djay_018/6.jpg
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz273/Shanna1024/DSC05263.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/debtony74/sunset/SunsetJumpHonduras.jpg
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/greenhotelnhatrang/SuperiorTwin.jpg
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae332/kENGhLUBsHENGy/myothertwin.jpg
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv248/ladiimizzy19/003-2.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy63/Pockets41/Babies/Delivery063.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg183/twinsetmad/twinsetforsale010.jpg
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab232/sportsmaps/MLB/twins-trans.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/01/10 at 5:37 am

How about The film Twins?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 5:40 am

The person born on this day...Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn (born February 1, 1965) is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-nominated American actress. She came to international attention for her performance on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks. She is also known for her roles in Of Mice and Men, Ruby, Boxing Helena and Rude Awakening, and for portraying actress Elizabeth Taylor in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story. Fenn won her most famous role and made an impression on the public when she was cast by David Lynch and Mark Frost as the tantalizing, reckless Audrey Horne, a high school femme fatale, in the critically acclaimed TV series Twin Peaks. The series ran from 1990 to 1991, and the character of Audrey was one of the most popular with fans, in particular for her unrequited love for FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) and her style from the '50s (with her saddle shoes, plaid skirts, and tight sweaters). Fenn reached cult status with a scene in which she danced to Angelo Badalamenti's music and a scene in which she knotted a cherry stem in her mouth. "With Sherilyn Fenn, Twin Peaks came on and effortlessly destroyed every other show’s sexuality", said co-star James Marshall. "Audrey is a woman-child who dresses like the girls in the '50s and shows her body", said Fenn. "But she's daddy's little girl at the same time." In the show's second season, when the idea of pairing Audrey with Cooper was abandoned, Audrey was paired with other characters like Bobby Briggs (played by Dana Ashbrook) and John Justice Wheeler (Billy Zane). About Audrey, Fenn said:
“ Audrey’s been great for me. She has brought out a side of me that’s more mischievous and fun that I had suppressed, trying to be an adult. She has made it OK to use the power one has as a woman to be manipulative at times, to be precocious. She goes after what she wants vehemently and she takes it. I think that’s really admirable. I love that about her.

Shortly after shooting the Twin Peaks' pilot episode, David Lynch gave her a small part in Wild at Heart, as a girl injured in a car wreck, obsessed by the contents of her purse, opposite Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern. The film won the Golden Palm Award at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. "David’s direction was, ‘Only think of this: bobby pins, lipstick, wallet, comb, that’s it.’ It’s very abstract." "I just pictured her being able to do this", said Lynch of her scene, "she’s like a broken China doll." David Lynch, who once described Sherilyn Fenn as "five feet of heaven in a ponytail" (quoting from a 1958 record by The Playmates), and said that she makes him think of a porcelain doll, said about her:
“ She's a mysterious girl and I think that actresses like her who have a mystery - where there's something hiding beneath the surface - are the really interesting ones.

"He's very creative and unafraid of taking chances," she said of the director. "I really respect him. He's wonderful."

She soon portrayed John Dillinger's girlfriend Billie Frechette in ABC's 1991 gangster TV movie Dillinger opposite Mark Harmon, and shot the neo-noir black comedy Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel in which she played a sultry, seductive femme fatale, opposite Whip Hubley and David Hewlett. After Twin Peaks, Fenn chose to focus on widening her range of roles and was determined to avoid typecasting. "They’ve offered me every variation on Audrey Horne, none of which were as good or as much fun." She turned down the Audrey Horne spin-off series that was offered to her, and unlike most of the cast, chose not to return for the 1992 prequel movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, as she was then shooting Of Mice and Men.
Post-Peaks roles (1992–1995)
Sherilyn Fenn as Sheryl Ann DuJean in Ruby

After two nominations (Emmy and Golden Globe) for Twin Peaks, and a pictorial in Playboy magazine (for which she chose her then boyfriend, Barry Hollywood, to photograph her), Fenn was propelled to stardom and became a major sex symbol, with her Old Hollywood looks. In October 1990, while promoting Twin Peaks, Fenn made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine along with Mädchen Amick and Lara Flynn Boyle. In 1990 Us Magazine chose her as one of the "10 Most Beautiful Women in the World" and in 1991 People magazine chose her as one of the "50 Most Beautiful Women in the World". She posed for photographer Steven Meisel for the autumn-winter 1991-1992 Dolce & Gabbana campaign, for which he photographed her as a classical Hollywood femme fatale. In 1992 photographer George Hurrell took a series of photographs of Sherilyn Fenn, Sharon Stone, Julian Sands, Raquel Welch, Eric Roberts and Sean Penn. In these portraits he recreated his style of the 1930s, with Fenn posing in costumes, hairstyle and makeup of the period.

In 1991, veteran Hollywood acting coach Roy London chose her to star in his directorial debut Diary of a Hitman (nominated for the Critics Award at the 1991 Deauville Film Festival), in which she plays a young mother determined to protect her child from hit-man Forest Whitaker. According to Fenn, the turning point in her career was when she met London in 1990. She credits him with instilling confidence and newfound enthusiasm.
“ I was disillusioned with acting after the pilot of Twin Peaks. I'd been doing low-budget films. I didn't want to walk through movies being a pretty ornament. At 25 I didn't know if I had it. I questioned if there was depth, if there was integrity to me. I was longing to go inside, to do deeper work.

She learned from her beloved teacher "to find the roles that you're passionate about, that speak to you on some level and which will help you grow on some level," which has then become her line of conduct. "A lot of the sentiment that acting should be about an art form rather than mass entertainment and celebrity is at the core of Fenn’s attitude to the business," wrote Jessica Sully in Australian magazine Movie. "I try to keep myself centered," Fenn said. "I don't go to parties and all that. I don't think being seen or being in the right place is going to make me a better actress. I care about my work and try to do what's right in my heart." As Mike Bygrave wrote in Sky Magazine: "One of the keys to understanding Fenn is that when she talks about the characters she plays she's really talking about herself."Fenn was eager to play varied parts that could eclipse her sex-symbol image. "People who think they know me would be surprised that my whole life doesn't revolve around sex," she said. After Twin Peaks, Fenn demanded a no-nudity clause in her contracts. She turned to the independent world, to manage to carve out a career on her own terms as a versatile actress. She worked intensely, choosing varied and unusual roles:
“ The world has certain rules - Hollywood has certain rules - but it doesn't mean you have to play by them, and I don't, or I'd be a miserable person.
Sherilyn Fenn as Curley's wife in Of Mice and Men

A highlight of Fenn's film career is Gary Sinise's film adaptation of Of Mice and Men (nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival) in which she played a sad and lonely country wife, desperately in need to talk to somebody, opposite Sinise and John Malkovich. "Sherilyn’s one of the reasons we got such a great ovation at Cannes", said Sinise. "She’s like a terribly sad angel in this film. Sherilyn plays against just being a sexy and beautiful girl," he added. "Hopefully her performance in my film will show her deep talent because she certainly showed the right mix of innocence and seductiveness for the role. We needed a fresh face but also one who knew what she was doing." "Gary Sinise was one of the first people who didn’t see me like a lot of other people did," she said. "It was a wonderful experience. Horton Foote adapted the novel and he fleshed out my character, and he made her much, much more." The same year saw her starring alongside Danny Aiello, Arliss Howard and Marc Lawrence in John Mackenzie's Ruby, that attempts to unravel the mystery of who killed John F. Kennedy and why, and depicts the events that led Jack Ruby to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald. Fenn plays the part of ambitious stripper Sheryl Ann DuJean, a fictitious character who is a composite of several real-life women including stripper Candy Barr, Marilyn Monroe and Judith Campbell Exner. "She’s got a brain and all the right emotional instincts, and that’s a great combination," said Mackenzie of Fenn.

In 1993 she starred in the romantic comedy Three of Hearts as Kelly Lynch and William Baldwin's love interest. During the shooting the relations between Fenn and director Yurek Bogayevicz became more and more strained as she refused to appear nude in the film. Fenn was also considered for the title role in Roger Vadim's remake of his 1968 film Barbarella that ultimately didn't come off.

Her most notable film role to date was in the controversial Boxing Helena (nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival), directed by David Lynch's daughter Jennifer Chambers Lynch. Fenn portrayed a narcissistic seductress amputated and imprisoned by Julian Sands, who makes her become his personal Venus de Milo in an effort to possess her. Helena was a way for Fenn to avoid being type-cast, with a radically different role from what she’d done in the past:
“ I like taking risks and I decided to put every bit of me into the role.

"Women do feel like they're in a box," she says of the subtext that attracted her to the role. "Society, Hollywood, some men... they want to wrap women up in a neat little package." Both Lynch and Fenn were proud of their work in it but the film - which was overshadowed by the lawsuits against Kim Basinger after she dropped out - ultimately was a critical and commercial failure. However, both women enjoyed their collaboration. "Sherilyn is an amazing actress, a total bundle of energy and a real powerhouse and I think people will see a side of her that we have never seen of Sherilyn anywhere else before," said Lynch of the actress. "I have with Sherilyn something I didn't think I'd ever find and that is the entire whole." "Jennifer’s one of the brightest person I know," said Fenn. "Boxing Helena was something that I think was pretty cool, but people judged it without even having seen it. It’s not perfect, but I think for the story that we were trying to tell, it turned out pretty good. What it signified was really powerful to me: how society puts us in boxes one way or another."
Sherilyn Fenn as the limbless Helena in Boxing Helena

She then starred in Carl Reiner's neo-noir parody Fatal Instinct as Armand Assante's devoted secretary and Sean Young and Kate Nelligan’s rival. She was asked to read for the femme fatale Lola (eventually played by Young), but opted for Assante's lovesick secretary.

Fenn afterward portrayed Potiphar's wife Zulaikha in Showtime's Biblical TV movie Slave of Dreams (released in 1995) opposite Adrian Pasdar and Edward James Olmos. The film was directed by multi-award winning Robert M. Young and produced by Martha and Dino De Laurentiis.

In 1995, she starred in an episode of Tales from the Crypt directed by Robert Zemeckis, alongside Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow, in which she played the lover of Humphrey Bogart, who appeared in the episode via CGI special effects. "It was wonderful working with Bob Zemeckis and Isabella, and everybody was really nice."

After a short break during which she married and gave birth to a son, Fenn was chosen among more than 100 actresses to portray legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor in NBC's 1995 telemovie Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story.
“ Playing Elizabeth Taylor was probably the hardest job I’ve ever done.

"Director Kevin Connor and I arranged a lunch, not an audition," said executive producer Lester Persky. "We knew 10 minutes into our meeting that Sherilyn was it. She has the same striking beauty, and because of that she's experienced some of the things in life and in this business that make Elizabeth such a fascinating person." When she accepted the part, Fenn was unaware that Taylor was suing to stop both broadcast of the film and the unauthorized biography that it is based on. But that didn't let her distract from her work. "I am somebody who doesn't make choices lightly at this point of my life. I'm not somebody who wants to exploit another's woman story or life in any way." Some parallels with her life made it important for Fenn to do the biography. Like Taylor, Fenn's mother married several times. "It's remarkable, to be married so many times. How do you say 'I do' yet again and again and mean it? Maybe she lives her life in the moment, and ferociously believe in love. My mother getting married over and over definitely had an effect on me." Also, Fenn and Taylor both encountered similar experiences in the film business. "There are stereotypes of what a beautiful woman is. She struggled with that. A certain part of her life she went on that calling card. I certainly know I've come into contact with that. ‘You are too pretty,’ I'm told." During the shooting, Fenn fought to keep integrity in the script. Her priority was to respectfully and accurately portray Taylor, and she supported the original screenwriter's effort to concentrate on Taylor the person, not the legend.
“ I fought to keep the integrity of the story because the producer was bringing in a writer that was making it very soapy. They wanted many scenes of her when she was very overweight. I said, ‘I'm not doing that. I'll do one. That's not this woman's life.’ For me it was just: I didn't want to make an impression. I just tried to play the truth of the woman. Not the legend, not the stories that we hear about her. Because even when she was a child, you were seeing a version of her that was manipulated by the studios, so you didn't really see her. I thought the closest she ever came to revealing herself was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and she lost herself in that role. It was cathartic for her to do that in a lot of ways, to let herself be that wild.
Following Rude Awakening, Fenn's work consisted of a lot of episodic TV work. In the middle of the 2000s, she failed to find a role that could re-ignite her career as she got involved into many projects, that went unrealized.

In 2001, she starred in the episode Replica of The Outer Limits, playing a scientist who volunteered to be cloned. She also starred in an episode of Night Visions, as a woman who buys a used car possessed by a vengeful spirit. She was cast as a kindergarten teacher for the pilot of the 2001 American version of the British TV show Blind Men, alongside French Stewart. However, the pilot was not ordered into a series.

In 2002, Fenn was one of several former Twin Peaks stars, such as Dana Ashbrook and Mädchen Amick, to have a recurring role on The WB's Dawson's Creek. She guest-starred in three episodes from the fifth season, as Alex Pearl, the seductive manager of the restaurant where Joshua Jackson works. Fenn was afterwards cast as madcap villain Harley Quinn in The WB's Birds of Prey but was replaced by Mia Sara before the series began. Fenn starred in the original pilot episode but dropped out, due to scheduling conflicts, as the show's creators realized that the character of Harley Quinn would need to be a bigger part of the show She also played a manipulative woman in a season 4 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit opposite Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay and appeared in Watching Ellie.

Fenn played a crime boss in the 2002 film Swindle opposite Tom Sizemore. She had a small role in the critically acclaimed The United States of Leland, opposite Ryan Gosling, in which she played a mother who captivates a troubled teenage boy.
Sherilyn Fenn as Billie Frank in Rude Awakening

In 2003, Fenn appeared on The WB's Gilmore Girls as Sasha, the girlfriend of Jess Mariano's estranged father (played by Rob Estes) in the season three episode Here Comes the Son, which was the backdoor pilot for a California-set spin-off titled Windward Circle, that was to have starred Milo Ventimiglia, Estes and Fenn. The network dropped the project citing cost issues due to filming on location in Venice, California.

She then played the recurring part of Violet Montgomery on Fox's Boston Public (2003-2004), and appeared in Showtime's Cavedweller (2004) opposite Kyra Sedgwick. In 2004, Fenn joined former co-star Mark Harmon in an episode of NCIS, as an amnesiac woman. She was afterwards cast for the 2004 remake of Mister Ed, planned for the Fox network. However, after the pilot was shot, the show's writer/producer Drake Sather committed suicide, and the pilot was not aired.

In 2004, Fenn co-starred opposite Traci Lords and Paul Johansson in Emily Skopov's Novel Romance, released in 2006, in which she played a pregnancy shop owner who can't have children and whose sister decides to become a single mother. She then appeared in the martial arts film Lesser of Three Evils alongside Ho Sung Pak, Peter Greene and Roger Guenveur Smith, as the unbalanced and alcoholic wife of a corrupt detective. The film was released in 2009 under the title Fist of the Warrior.

In 2005, Fenn made a notable appearance on The 4400, playing Jean DeLynn Baker, a 4400 who has the ability to grow toxin-emitting spores on her hands. She also guest-starred on the final episode of Judging Amy.

After finishing the Russia-set action film Treasure Raiders with David Carradine, Fenn starred in the Canadian psychological thriller Presumed Dead, opposite Duncan Regehr, as a detective working on a missing person case, who has to outwit a crime novelist.

In 2006, Fenn reteamed with Amy Sherman-Palladino and reappeared in the sixth and seventh seasons of Gilmore Girls as Anna Nardini, the ex-girlfriend of Luke Danes (played by Scott Patterson) and protective mother to his daughter April. After the 2003 Gilmore Girls spin-off project, Sherman-Palladino wanted to work with Fenn again ever since, and wrote the character of Anna with her in mind. When asked why she cast Fenn for two different roles on Gilmore Girls, Sherman-Palladino said:
“ I love Sherilyn so much and I don't care. One thing about the show is I just want the best people. I've just been looking constantly for a time to work with Sherilyn, and I'm getting very old and I could just get hit by a truck at any minute. I just simply can't put it off that long, so I'd just rather get her in and have her part of my world.

However, after Sherman-Palladino left the show, the direction for the character changed — the producers decided to make her character a villain in a custody battle.

Fenn was cast as the female lead in ABC's 2006 comedy series Three Moons Over Milford but she was ultimately replaced by Elizabeth McGovern. Fenn was slated for a recurring role on CBS' 2006 crime drama Smith, but the show was quickly-canceled.

She appeared in the 2007 Dukes of Hazzard prequel, The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning as Lulu Hogg. "It's just a fun silly role," she said, but Fenn who had already worked with director Robert Berlinger on Rude Awakening, wanted to do so again.

In July 2006, shortly after shooting The Dukes of Hazzard prequel, Fenn stepped behind the camera for the first time and directed in Pittsburgh a documentary film about child enrichment program CosmiKids and its founder Judy Julin. She subsequently joined its executive team in 2007 as executive director of the film and television division.

In July 2008, Fenn filmed The Scenesters, a black comedy made by Los Angeles-based comedy group The Vacationeers, which premiered in October 2009.

In July 2009, Fenn made a guest appearance on In Plain Sight as a lesbian counterfeiter.
Personal life

Fenn lives in Los Angeles. She practices kundalini yoga.

Fenn was reportedly romantically linked to musician Prince, whom she met soon after she arrived in Los Angeles. She was also romantically linked to actor Chris Penn (on the set of their 1984 movie The Wild Life), and photographer Barry Hollywood (whom she chose to photograph her for the December 1990 issue of Playboy magazine).

She became romantically involved with actor Johnny Depp on the set of the 1985 short film Dummies. Director Laurie Frank said: "It was just so gorgeous, and their eyes locked and that was it. They really fell madly in love." Fenn and Depp dated for three and a half years and the couple were reportedly engaged. He later signed a contract to become a series regular on 21 Jump Street, which went into production in Vancouver. In pursuit of their different careers in Los Angeles and Vancouver, the two parted ways.

In 1994, Fenn married guitarist/songwriter Toulouse Holliday, whom she met on the set of Three of Hearts, and gave birth to a son, Myles, in late 1993. The marriage came to an end in 1997.

Her second son, Christian, with IT consultant Dylan Stewart, was born in August 2007.

In 2009 Sherilyn Fenn created a blog named Postcards from the Ledge.
Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

   * 1990: nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series -- Twin Peaks

Golden Globe Awards

   * 1991: nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV -- Twin Peaks

Other recognition

   * Fenn made the cover of such magazines as New York, Rolling Stone (along with Mädchen Amick and Lara Flynn Boyle), In Fashion (along with Billy Idol), Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Face, Details, Sky, and Harper's Bazaar.
   * In 1990 Us Magazine chose her as one of the "10 Most Beautiful Women in the World".
   * In 1991 People chose her as one of the "50 Most Beautiful Women in the World".
   * Fenn posed for photographer Steven Meisel for the autumn-winter 1991-1992 Dolce & Gabbana campaign.
   * In 1992, Fenn posed for photographer George Hurrell.
   * Singer and composer Screamin' Jay Hawkins wrote and recorded the 1993 song entitled "Sherilyn Fenn", featured on his album Stone Crazy. The song is an ode to Fenn, who worked with Hawkins in Two Moon Junction.
   * Fenn is mentioned in the song "Razor Burn" by the punk band Lagwagon on their 1995 album entitled Hoss.
   * In 1995 FHM chose her as one of the "100 sexiest women in the world".
   * In 1996, The Daily Mirror chose her as one of the "World's 100 Most Beautiful Women", and Femme Fatales chose her as one of the "50 sexiest sci-fi actresses".
   * Fenn inspired Norwegian hard rock band Audrey Horne, formed in 2002, named after her character in Twin Peaks.
   * In 2006, Australian men magazine Zoo Weekly chose her as one of the "Top 50 Hottest Babes Ever".

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Wild Life Penny Harlin
1985 Just One of the Guys Sandy
Out of Control Katie
"Dummies" short film
1986 Thrashin' Velvet
The Wraith Keri Johnson
1987 Zombie High Suzi
1988 Two Moon Junction April Delongpre
Crime Zone Helen
1989 True Blood Jennifer Scott aka Edge of Darkness
1990 Backstreet Dreams Lucy
Wild at Heart Girl in accident
Meridian Catherine Bomarzini
1991 Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel Bridget 'Bridey' DeSoto
Diary of a Hitman Jain Zidzyck
1992 Ruby Sheryl Ann 'Candy Cane' DuJean also song performer
Of Mice and Men Curley's wife
1993 Three of Hearts Ellen Armstrong
Boxing Helena Helena
Fatal Instinct Laura Lincolnberry
1997 Lovelife Molly
Just Write Amanda Clark
1998 The Shadow Men Dez Wilson
Darkness Falls Sally Driscoll
Outside Ozona Marcy Duggan Rice
1999 Cement Lyndel
2002 Swindle Sophie Zenn
2003 The United States of Leland Angela Calderon
2006 Novel Romance Liza Normane Stewart filmed in 2004
Whitepaddy Karen Greenly
2007 Treasure Raiders Lena filmed in 2005
2009 Fist of the Warrior Katie Barnes filmed in 2004
The Scenesters A.D.A. Barbara Dietrichson
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985 Cheers Gabrielle episode 4.4 "The Groom Wore Clearasil"
1987 21 Jump Street Diane Nelson episode 1.9 "Blindsided"
1988 Divided We Stand TV pilot — not ordered to series
ABC Afterschool Special Beth pisode 17.2 "A Family Again"
1989 TV 101 Robin Zimmer ep. 1.7, 1.8 "The Last Temptation of Checker"
1990 Twin Peaks Audrey Horne regular (2 seasons, 1990–1991)
Nominated for Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress
Nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
1995 Tales from the Crypt Erika episode 6.15 "You, Murderer"
1997 Friends Ginger episode 3.14 "The One with Phoebe's Ex-Partner"
Prey Dr. Sloan Larkin TV pilot — original unaired pilot
1998 Love, American Style Nancy TV anthology series pilot — not ordered to series
Rude Awakening Billie Frank lead (3 seasons, 1998-2001)
Cupid Helen Davis episode 1.7 "Pick-Up Schticks"
2001 The Outer Limits Nora Griffiths / Nora's clone episode 7.7 "Replica"
Night Visions Charlotte episode 1.8 "Used Car"
Blind Men TV pilot — not ordered to series
2002 Watching Ellie Vanessa ep. 1.5 "Cheetos", 1.7 "Gift"
Dawson's Creek Alexandra 'Alex' Pearl episodes 5.20 "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", 5.21 "After Hours", 5.22 "The Abby"
Birds of Prey Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn TV pilot — original unaired pilot
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Gloria Stanfield ep. 4.2 "Deception"
2003 Gilmore Girls Sasha episode 3.21 "Here Comes the Son"
Boston Public Violet Montgomery recurring (season 4, 2003-2004)
2004 NCIS Jane Doe / Suzzanne McNeil (episode 1.10 "Left for Dead"
Century Cities Bree Clemens episode 1.07 "The Face Was Familiar"
Mister Ed Carlotta Pope TV pilot — not ordered to series
2005 Judging Amy Heather Reid episode 6.22 "My Name Is Amy Gray..."
The 4400 Jean DeLynn Baker episode 2.7 "Carrier"
2006 Gilmore Girls Anna Nardini recurring (seasons 6–7, 2006–2007)
CSI: Miami Gwen Creighton episode 4.22 "Open Water"
Three Moons Over Milford Janet Davis TV pilot — original unaired pilot
Smith Debbie Turkenson episode 1.6 "Six"
2008 House M.D. Mrs. Soellner episode 5.11 "Joy to the World"
2009 In Plain Sight Helen Trask/Helen Traylen episode 2.13 "Let's Get It Ahn"
Television films
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Silence of the Heart Monica
1987 Tales from the Hollywood Hills: A Table at Ciro's Betty
1991 Dillinger Evelyn 'Billie' Frechette
1994 Spring Awakening Margie
1995 Slave of Dreams Zulaikha
Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story Elizabeth Taylor TV miniseries
1996 A Season in Purgatory Kit Bradley TV miniseries
1997 The Don's Analyst Isabella Leoni
1998 Nightmare Street Joanna Burke/Sarah Randolph
2001 Off Season Patty Winslow
2002 Scent of Danger Brenna Shaw
2003 Nightwaves Shelby Naylor
2004 Cavedweller M.T.
Pop Rocks Allison Harden
2005 Officer Down Kathryn Shaunessy aka Assassin in Blue
Deadly Isolation Susan Mandaway
2006 Presumed Dead Det. Mary Anne 'Coop' Cooper
2007 The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning Lulu Hogg
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t354/aka-Fig/the%20Women/sherilyn_fenn_04.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj169/AgentCooper_337/sherilyn_fenn1.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f83/frankie06/sherilynfenn.jpg
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t354/aka-Fig/the%20Women/sherilyn_fenn050.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/01/10 at 5:41 am

I love Sherilynn Finn,She is hot sexy.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 5:45 am


I love Sherilynn Finn,She is hot sexy.  ;)

Yeah my husband remembered she was in Playboy >:( :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/01/10 at 5:47 am


Yeah my husband remembered she was in Playboy >:( :-\\


What year? Hmm..maybe I should Google it.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 5:50 am

The person who died on this day...Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Godwin's mother died when she was eleven days old; afterwards, she and her older half-sister, Fanny Imlay, were raised by her father. When Mary was four, Godwin married his neighbour, Mary Jane Clairmont. Godwin provided his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his liberal political theories. In 1814, Mary Godwin began a romantic relationship with one of her father’s political followers, the married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Together with Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, they left for France and travelled through Europe; upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816 after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet.

In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm in the Bay of La Spezia. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53.

Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish Percy Shelley's works and for her novel Frankenstein, which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826), and her final two novels, Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works such as the travel book Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829–46) support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley's works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin.
Mary Godwin may have first met the radical poet-philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley in the interval between her two stays in Scotland. By the time she returned home for a second time on 30 March 1814, Percy Shelley had become estranged from his wife and was regularly visiting Godwin, whom he had agreed to bail out of debt. Percy Shelley's radicalism, particularly his economic views, which he had imbibed from Godwin's Political Justice (1793), had alienated him from his wealthy aristocratic family: they wanted him to follow traditional models of the landed aristocracy, and he wanted to donate large amounts of the family's money to schemes intended to help the disadvantaged. Percy Shelley therefore had difficulty gaining access to money until he inherited his estate because his family did not want him wasting it on projects of "political justice". After several months of promises, Shelley announced that he either could not or would not pay off all of Godwin's debts. Godwin was angry and felt betrayed.

Mary and Percy began meeting each other secretly at Mary Wollstonecraft's grave in St Pancras Churchyard, and they fell in love—she was nearly seventeen, he nearly twenty-two. To Mary's dismay, her father disapproved and tried to thwart the relationship and salvage the "spotless fame" of his daughter. At about the same time, Godwin learned of Shelley's inability to pay off his loans for him. Mary, who later wrote of "my excessive and romantic attachment to my father", was confused. She saw Percy Shelley as an embodiment of her parents' liberal and reformist ideas of the 1790s, particularly Godwin's view that marriage was a repressive monopoly, which he had argued in his 1793 edition of Political Justice but since retracted. On 28 July 1814, the couple secretly left for France, taking Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, with them, but leaving Percy's pregnant wife behind.

After convincing Mary Jane Godwin, who had pursued them to Calais, that they did not wish to return, the trio travelled to Paris, and then, by donkey, mule, and carriage, through a France recently ravaged by war, to Switzerland. "It was acting in a novel, being an incarnate romance," Mary Shelley recalled in 1826. As they travelled, Mary and Percy read works by Mary Wollstonecraft and others, kept a joint journal, and continued their own writing. At Lucerne, lack of money forced the three to turn back. They travelled down the Rhine and by land to the Dutch port of Marsluys, arriving at Gravesend, Kent, on 13 September 1814.
Half-length oval portrait of a man wearing a black jacket and a white shirt, which is askew and open to his chest.
Percy Bysshe Shelley was inspired by the radicalism of Godwin's Political Justice (1793). When the poet Robert Southey met Shelley, he felt as if he were seeing himself from the 1790s. (Portrait by Amelia Curran, 1819.)

The situation awaiting Mary Godwin in England was fraught with complications, some of which she had not foreseen. Either before or during the journey, she had become pregnant. She and Percy now found themselves penniless, and, to Mary's genuine surprise, her father refused to have anything to do with her. The couple moved with Claire into lodgings at Somers Town, and later, Nelson Square. They maintained their intense programme of reading and writing and entertained Percy Shelley's friends, such as Thomas Jefferson Hogg and the writer Thomas Love Peacock. Percy Shelley sometimes left home for short periods to dodge creditors. The couple's distraught letters reveal their pain at these separations.

Pregnant and often ill, Mary Godwin had to cope with Percy's joy at the birth of his son by Harriet Shelley in late 1814 and his constant outings with Claire Clairmont. She was partly consoled by the visits of Hogg, whom she disliked at first but soon considered a close friend. Percy Shelley seems to have wanted Mary Godwin and Hogg to become lovers; Mary did not dismiss the idea, since in principle she believed in free love. In practice, however, she loved only Percy Shelley and seems to have ventured no further than flirting with Hogg. On 22 February 1815, she gave birth to a two-months premature baby girl, who was not expected to survive. On 6 March, she wrote to Hogg:

   My dearest Hogg my baby is dead—will you come to see me as soon as you can. I wish to see you—It was perfectly well when I went to bed—I awoke in the night to give it suck it appeared to be sleeping so quietly that I would not awake it. It was dead then, but we did not find that out till morning—from its appearance it evidently died of convulsions—Will you come—you are so calm a creature & Shelley is afraid of a fever from the milk—for I am no longer a mother now.

The loss of her child induced acute depression in Mary Godwin, who was haunted by visions of the baby; but she conceived again and had recovered by the summer. With a revival in Percy Shelley's finances after the death of his grandfather, Sir Bysshe Shelley, the couple holidayed in Torquay and then rented a two-storey cottage at Bishopsgate, on the edge of Windsor Great Park. Little is known about this period in Mary Godwin's life, since her journal from May 1815 to July 1816 is lost. At Bishopsgate, Percy wrote his poem Alastor; and on 24 January 1816, Mary gave birth to a second child, William, named after her father and soon nicknamed "Willmouse". In her novel The Last Man, she later imagined Windsor as a Garden of Eden.
Lake Geneva and Frankenstein
Handwritten manuscript of Frankenstein.
Draft of Frankenstein ("It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld my man completed ...")

In May 1816, Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, and their son travelled to Geneva with Claire Clairmont. They planned to spend the summer with the poet Lord Byron, whose recent affair with Claire had left her pregnant. The party arrived at Geneva on 14 May 1816, where Mary called herself "Mrs Shelley". Byron joined them on 25 May, with his young physician, John William Polidori, and rented the Villa Diodati, close to Lake Geneva at the village of Cologny; Percy Shelley rented a smaller building called Maison Chapuis on the waterfront nearby. They spent their time writing, boating on the lake, and talking late into the night.

"It proved a wet, ungenial summer", Mary Shelley remembered in 1831, "and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house". Amongst other subjects, the conversation turned to the experiments of the 18th-century natural philosopher and poet Erasmus Darwin, who was said to have animated dead matter, and to galvanism and the feasibility of returning a corpse or assembled body parts to life. Sitting around a log fire at Byron's villa, the company also amused themselves by reading German ghost stories, prompting Byron to suggest they each write their own supernatural tale. Shortly afterwards, in a waking dream, Mary Godwin conceived the idea for Frankenstein:

   I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.

She began writing what she assumed would be a short story. With Percy Shelley's encouragement, she expanded this tale into her first novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818. She later described that summer in Switzerland as the moment "when I first stepped out from childhood into life"
1840 and 1842, mother and son travelled together on the continent, journeys that Mary Shelley recorded in Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842 and 1843 (1844). In 1844, Sir Timothy Shelley finally died at the age of ninety, "falling from the stalk like an overblown flower", as Mary put it. For the first time, she and her son were financially independent, though the estate proved less valuable than they had hoped.
Photograph of a coffin-shaped granite tomb.
In order to fulfil Mary Shelley's wishes, Percy Florence and his wife Jane had the coffins of Mary Shelley's parents exhumed and buried with her in Bournemouth.

In the mid-1840s, Mary Shelley found herself the target of three separate blackmailers. In 1845, an Italian political exile called Gatteschi, whom she had met in Paris, threatened to publish letters she had sent him. A friend of her son's bribed a police chief into seizing Gatteschi's papers, including the letters, which were then destroyed. Shortly afterwards, Mary Shelley bought some letters written by herself and Percy Bysshe Shelley from a man calling himself G. Byron and posing as the illegitimate son of the late Lord Byron. Also in 1845, Percy Bysshe Shelley's cousin Thomas Medwin approached her claiming to have written a damaging biography of Percy Shelley. He said he would suppress it in return for £250, but Mary Shelley refused.

In 1848, Percy Florence married Jane Gibson St John. The marriage proved a happy one, and Mary Shelley and Jane were fond of each other. Mary lived with her son and daughter-in-law at Field Place, Sussex, the Shelleys' ancestral home, and at Chester Square, London, and accompanied them on travels abroad.

Mary Shelley's last years were blighted by illness. From 1839, she suffered from headaches and bouts of paralysis in parts of her body, which sometimes prevented her from reading and writing. On 1 February 1851, at Chester Square, she died at the age of fifty-three from what her physician suspected was a brain tumour. According to Jane Shelley, Mary Shelley had asked to be buried with her mother and father; but Percy and Jane, judging the graveyard at St Pancras to be "dreadful", chose to bury her instead at St Peter's Church, Bournemouth, near their new home at Boscombe. On the first anniversary of Mary Shelley's death, the Shelleys opened her box-desk. Inside they found locks of her dead children's hair, a notebook she had shared with Percy Bysshe Shelley, and a copy of his poem Adonaïs with one page folded round a silk parcel containing some of his ashes and the remains of his heart.
Literary themes and styles

Mary Shelley lived a literary life. Her father encouraged her to learn to write by composing letters, and her favourite occupation as a child was writing stories. Unfortunately, all of Mary's juvenilia were lost when she ran off with Percy in 1814, and none of her surviving manuscripts can be definitively dated before that year. Her first published work is often thought to have been Mounseer Nongtongpaw, comic verses written for Godwin's Juvenile Library when she was ten and a half; however, the poem is attributed to another writer in the most recent authoritative collection of her works. Percy Shelley enthusiastically encouraged Mary Shelley's writing: "My husband was, from the first, very anxious that I should prove myself worthy of my parentage, and enrol myself on the page of fame. He was forever inciting me to obtain literary reputation."
Novels
Autobiographical elements

Certain sections of Mary Shelley's novels are often interpreted as masked rewritings of her life. Critics have pointed to the recurrence of the father–daughter motif in particular as evidence of this autobiographical style. For example, commentators frequently read Mathilda (1820) autobiographically, identifying the three central characters as versions of Mary Shelley, William Godwin, and Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley herself confided that she modelled the central characters of The Last Man on her Italian circle. Lord Raymond, who leaves England to fight for the Greeks and dies in Constantinople, is based on Lord Byron; and the utopian Adrian, Earl of Windsor, who leads his followers in search of a natural paradise and dies when his boat sinks in a storm, is a fictional portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley. However, as she wrote in her review of Godwin's novel Cloudesley (1830), she did not believe that authors "were merely copying from our own hearts". William Godwin regarded his daughter's characters as types rather than portraits from real life. Some modern critics, such as Patricia Clemit and Jane Blumberg, have taken the same view, resisting autobiographical readings of Mary Shelley's works.
Novelistic genres
" was never heard of more; even her name perished....The private chronicles, from which the foregoing relation has been collected, end with the death of Euthanasia. It is therefore in public histories alone that we find an account of the last years of the life of Castruccio."
— From Mary Shelley, Valperga

Mary Shelley employed the techniques of many different novelistic genres, most vividly the Godwinian novel, Walter Scott's new historical novel, and the Gothic novel. The Godwinian novel, made popular during the 1790s with works such as Godwin's Caleb Williams (1794), "employed a Rousseauvian confessional form to explore the contradictory relations between the self and society", and Frankenstein exhibits many of the same themes and literary devices as Godwin's novel. However, Shelley critiques those Enlightenment ideals that Godwin promotes in his works. In The Last Man, she uses the philosophical form of the Godwinian novel to demonstrate the ultimate meaninglessness of the world. While earlier Godwinian novels had shown how rational individuals could slowly improve society, The Last Man and Frankenstein demonstrate the individual's lack of control over history.

Shelley uses the historical novel to comment on gender relations; for example, Valperga is a feminist version of Scott's masculinist genre. Introducing women into the story who are not part of the historical record, Shelley uses their narratives to question established theological and political institutions. Shelley sets the male protagonist's compulsive greed for conquest in opposition to a female alternative: reason and sensibility. In Perkin Warbeck, Shelley's other historical novel, Lady Gordon stands for the values of friendship, domesticity, and equality. Through her, Shelley offers a feminine alternative to the masculine power politics that destroy the male characters. The novel provides a more inclusive historical narrative to challenge the one which usually relates only masculine events.
Gender

With the rise of feminist literary criticism in the 1970s, Mary Shelley's works, particularly Frankenstein, began to attract much more attention from scholars. Feminist and psychoanalytic critics were largely responsible for the recovery from neglect of Shelley as a writer. Ellen Moers was one of the first to claim that Shelley's loss of a baby was a crucial influence on the writing of Frankenstein. She argues that the novel is a "birth myth" in which Shelley comes to terms with her guilt for causing her mother's death as well as for failing as a parent. In Moers' view, it is a story "about what happens when a man tries to have a baby without a woman ... is profoundly concerned with natural as opposed to unnatural modes of production and reproduction". Victor Frankenstein's failure as a "parent" in the novel has been read as an expression of the anxieties which accompany pregnancy, giving birth, and particularly maternity.

Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar argue in their seminal book The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) that in Frankenstein in particular, Shelley responded to the masculine literary tradition represented by John Milton's Paradise Lost. In their interpretation, Shelley reaffirms this masculine tradition, including the misogyny inherent in it, but at the same time "conceal fantasies of equality that occasionally erupt in monstrous images of rage". Mary Poovey reads the first edition of Frankenstein as part of a larger pattern in Shelley's writing, which begins with literary self-assertion and ends with conventional femininity. Poovey suggests that Frankenstein's multiple narratives enable Shelley to split her artistic persona: she can "express and efface herself at the same time". Shelley's fear of self-assertion is reflected in the fate of Frankenstein, who is punished for his egotism by losing all his domestic ties.

Feminist critics often focus on how authorship itself, particularly female authorship, is represented in and through Shelley's novels. As Shelley scholar Anne K. Mellor explains, Shelley uses the Gothic style not only to explore repressed female sexual desire but also as way to "censor her own speech in Frankenstein". According to Poovey and Mellor, Shelley did not want to promote her own authorial persona and felt deeply inadequate as a writer, and "this shame contributed to the generation of her fictional images of abnormality, perversion, and destruction".

Shelley's writings focus on the role of the family in society and women's role within that family. She celebrates the "feminine affections and compassion" associated with the family and suggests that civil society will fail without them. Shelley was "profoundly committed to an ethic of cooperation, mutual dependence, and self-sacrifice". In Lodore, for example, the central story follows the fortunes of the wife and daughter of the title character, Lord Lodore, who is killed in a duel at the end of the first volume, leaving a trail of legal, financial, and familial obstacles for the two "heroines" to negotiate. The novel is engaged with political and ideological issues, particularly the education and social role of women. It dissects a patriarchal culture that separated the sexes and pressured women into dependence on men. In the view of Shelley scholar Betty T. Bennett, "the novel proposes egalitarian educational paradigms for women and men, which would bring social justice as well as the spiritual and intellectual means by which to meet the challenges life invariably brings". However, Falkner is the only one of Mary Shelley's novels in which the heroine's agenda triumphs. The novel’s resolution proposes that when female values triumph over violent and destructive masculinity, men will be freed to express the "compassion, sympathy, and generosity" of their better natures.
Enlightenment and Romanticism

Frankenstein, like much Gothic fiction of the period, mixes a visceral and alienating subject matter with speculative and thought-provoking themes. Rather than focusing on the twists and turns of the plot, however, the novel foregrounds the mental and moral struggles of the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, and Shelley imbues the text with her own brand of politicised Romanticism, one that criticised the individualism and egotism of traditional Romanticism. Victor Frankenstein is like Satan in Paradise Lost, and Prometheus: he rebels against tradition; he creates life; and he shapes his own destiny. These traits are not portrayed positively; as Blumberg writes, "his relentless ambition is a self-delusion, clothed as quest for truth". He must abandon his family to fulfill his ambition.
Engraving showing a naked man awaking on the floor and another man fleeing in horror. A skull and a book are next to the naked man and a window, with the moon shining through it, is in the background.
The frontispiece to the 1831 Frankenstein by Theodor von Holst, one of the first two illustrations for the novel

Mary Shelley believed in the Enlightenment idea that people could improve society through the responsible exercise of political power, but she feared that the irresponsible exercise of power would lead to chaos. In practice, her works largely criticise the way 18th-century thinkers such as her parents believed such change could be brought about. The creature in Frankenstein, for example, reads books associated with radical ideals but the education he gains from them is ultimately useless. Shelley's works reveal her as less optimistic than Godwin and Wollstonecraft; she lacks faith in Godwin's theory that humanity could eventually be perfected.

As literary scholar Kari Lokke writes, The Last Man, more so than Frankenstein, "in its refusal to place humanity at the center of the universe, its questioning of our privileged position in relation to nature ... constitutes a profound and prophetic challenge to Western humanism." Specifically, Mary Shelley's allusions to what radicals believed was a failed revolution in France and the Godwinian, Wollstonecraftian, and Burkean responses to it, challenge "Enlightenment faith in the inevitability of progress through collective efforts". As in Frankenstein, Shelley "offers a profoundly disenchanted commentary on the age of revolution, which ends in a total rejection of the progressive ideals of her own generation". Not only does she reject these Enlightenment political ideals, but she also rejects the Romantic notion that the poetic or literary imagination can offer an alternative.
Selected list of works
Main article: List of works by Mary Shelley

   * History of Six Weeks' Tour through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, with Letters Descriptive of a Sail round the Lake of Geneva, and of the Glaciers of Chamouni (1817)
   * Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)
   * Mathilda (1819)
   * Valperga; or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca (1823)
   * Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1824)
   * The Last Man (1826)
   * The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830)
   * Lodore (1835)
   * Falkner (1837)
   * The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1839)
   * Contributions to Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men (1835–39), part of Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia
   * Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842, and 1843 (1844)

Collections of Mary Shelley's papers are housed in Lord Abinger's Shelley Collection on deposit at the Bodleian Library, the New York Public Library (particularly The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle), the Huntington Library, the British Library, and in the John Murray Collection.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee55/seppuku79/MaryShelley.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr212/mohansa/17ifksndfoie8r7y398herd08yha0of.jpg
http://i347.photobucket.com/albums/p446/x0AleA0x/MaryShelley.jpg
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab236/B-Millz317/Allen%20and%20Ginter/Non-Baseball%20Base/2008/MaryShelley2008ToppsAllenGinter.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 5:51 am


What year? Hmm..maybe I should Google it.  ;)

1990

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/01/10 at 5:53 am


1990


Thanks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 5:59 am


Thanks.

Your Welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/01/10 at 8:03 am

I have twin nieces.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/10 at 10:30 am


I have twin nieces.



Cat

Nice, I have aunts that are twins.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/02/10 at 5:41 am

The word of the day...Bounty
You can refer to something that is provided in large amounts as bounty.
A bounty is money that is offered as a reward for doing something, especially for finding or killing a particular person
A bounty hunter is someone who tries to find or kill someone in order to get the reward that has been offered.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/hsxjedi/movies/bounty_hunter.jpg
http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy274/Madragon33/Garden%20pics/gardenhaul.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z4/DakotaStorm777/Dog02.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp260/cjcr12/IM000177.jpg
http://i514.photobucket.com/albums/t343/diranine/f4df31d1a85b90_full.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/yesididit/food/9-21-07036.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd143/YnysWitrin/Food/BountyoftheBay.jpg
http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq322/zyck2000/DSC03258.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/02/10 at 5:52 am

The person born on this day...Duane Chapman
Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman (born February 2, 1953 in Denver, Colorado ) is an American bounty hunter, a former bail bondsman. He stars in Dog the Bounty Hunter, a weekly reality television program which is broadcast on the A&E Network (USA), Virgin 1 (both UK and Ireland), Bravo, FOX8/GO!(Australia), and OLN, Canada. (Australia).
Duane Chapman was born in Denver, Colorado. He dropped out of middle school in the seventh grade. According to his book, he walked into his principal's office and said, "fudge you. You never stuck up for me when you knew I was getting beaten at home. You never believed a word I said. I quit!"

Duane Chapman used to be an amateur boxer in his teens, going by the name "Dog Lee", taken from his nickname and middle name. Dog still enjoys weight training, as evidenced by the Bosco episode, during which Dog's workout regimen is featured.

In 1977 Chapman was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was remanded to Huntsville prison in Huntsville, Texas. When he was in prison, Duane and his first wife, LaFonda Honeycutt, divorced. He served 18 months of his 5 year sentence for the murder of Jerry Oliver in Pampa, Texas. Chapman maintains his innocence of murder but suggests he was a legal accessory for not reporting the shooting to the police. He was released on parole. Two of his co-defendants received probation and a third, their alleged shooter, received ten years in prison.

In 2006, he married his fifth wife, Beth Smith, on his television show in Hawaii. They were together for ten years before they married.

Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman also studies Native American History as a hobby.
Bounty hunting

Chapman's career in bounty hunting began when he was in court disputing child support. When he told the judge he did not have the money to pay, the judge offered him a deal to bring in a fugitive in exchange for the judge to pay part of Chapman's child support for Duane Lee and Leland Chapman. He started his first bondsman business in his hometown of Denver, Colorado before moving to Hawaii with five of his children: Leland Chapman, Duane Lee Chapman, Tucker, Baby Lyssa and Barbara Katie. After his mother's death, he moved back to Colorado for a long stay to work alongside his sister, Jolene Chapman, who also started her own bail bond business on 'Bail Bond's Row'. Duane Chapman and his wife Alice Barmore (now known as Beth Chapman) soon joined with him on his bounties and business. Both moved back to Hawaii to open up another office in downtown Honolulu. This business has been extended to within Hawaii to the Big Island and Maui. He has arrested more than 7,000 people.
Arrest by Mexican government
Main article: Andrew Luster

On June 18, 2003, Chapman made news with his hunt and capture of Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who at the time was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Luster had fled the United States in the middle of his trial for drugging and raping a number of women, and was convicted in absentia on 86 counts including multiple rape charges connected to assaults in 1996, 1997 and 2000. Chapman was assisted by his "hunt team", consisting of his son Leland and his associate, Tim Chapman . After Luster's jailing, Duane Chapman was interviewed for a documentary which was published on 2009 August 28 by Dominick Dunne on Power, Privilege, and Justice broadcast via the TruTV network.

On September 14, 2006, days before the expiration of the statute of limitations, Chapman, along with his son Leland Chapman and associate Tim Chapman, were arrested by United States Marshals and jailed in Honolulu on behalf of the Mexican government. Mexican authorities had charged all three with deprivation of liberty, involving the 2003 apprehension of Andrew Luster, because they had not handed Luster over to them. After not obtaining permission to leave the country in 2003, the Mexican Government declared Duane, Leleand and Tim Chapman, fugitives from justice and tried to get them extradited to Mexico for sentencing. After spending one night in the federal detention center in Honolulu, Chapman told reporters: "The federal marshals treated us with great respect. But let me tell you, you never want to go to a federal prison, because it's terrible."

The next day, September 15, 2006, Chapman appeared in a packed Honolulu courtroom with his ankles shackled. Although the judge agreed that the men were not a flight risk, he ordered that each wear an electronic monitoring device around the ankle.  The three men were released on bail ($300,000 for Duane Chapman, $100,000 each for Leland Chapman and Tim Chapman). They were also ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for house arrest.

Beth Chapman was detained and had a hearing after she was caught wearing an A&E body microphone when entering the courthouse for their bond hearing; electronic recording devices are prohibited by law from being carried into federal courthouses. She was released after explaining that she "didn't know they had the mic and transmitter"; the judge was satisfied that no recording was done.

Chapman was fighting extradition in September 2006. His lead attorney Brook Hart reportedly planned to argue that although the charge Chapman faced is a misdemeanor in Mexico, when translated into English it became a felony (kidnapping) under American law. An extradition hearing was set for November 16, 2006, where both sides were to present evidence and witnesses. Chapman has speculated that his arrest was due in part to a possible prisoner exchange agreement between the Mexican and American authorities. According to Chapman, the federal agents 'sold him out', by trading him in for a convicted Mexican drug lord. Duane, Leland, and Tim had their ankle bracelets removed so they could work.

On October 11, 2006, reports surfaced of an open letter dated September 26, 2006, sent on Chapman's behalf by 29 Republican Congressmen to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The letter stated the authors' opposition to Chapman's extradition and requested that Rice deny Mexico's request for same. Subsequently on October 20, 2006, lawyers for Chapman said that the Mexican federal court had granted them an order that halted the criminal case against the bounty hunter until further evidence and witness testimony were gathered.

A court hearing was held on December 22, 2006. The original hearing was postponed because a report from a lower court was not yet received. The court heard both sides of the story, and then decided to recess. Then court proceedings started on January 16, 2007 and the court had up to Tuesday, February 6, 2007 but the deadline was extended.

On February 16, 2007, a Mexican Federal court cleared the way for Duane Chapman to be extradited, ruling there was no reason not to try him with the charge of deprivation of liberty in Mexico. They also added that Mr. Chapman would not last five days in a Mexican prison. In response, on February 23, Hawaii State Representatives Gene Ward, Karen Awana, Rida Cabanilla, Lynn Finnegan, Barbara Marumoto, Colleen Meyer, Kymberly Pine, Joe Bertram, Ken Ito, Marylin Lee, and John Mizuno introduced 'House concurrent resolution 50', "Requesting the President of Mexico and the Second District Court of Guadalajara to drop extradition charges against TV Bounty Hunter, Duane 'Dog' Chapman".

Chapman, along with his lawyer, William C. Bollard, has appeared on numerous media shows. Some of these include: Larry King Live, Greta Van Susteren, Mark and Mercedez Morning Show on Mix 94.1 KMXB in Las Vegas, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on WFLD, Fox 6 News San Diego, The Glenn Beck Program, and THE 9 on Yahoo!.

On March 7, 2007, legislators in the International Affairs Committee of the Hawaii State House passed a resolution that asks the Mexican government to drop the extradition proceedings against Duane, Leland and Tim Chapman.

Honolulu news outlet KHNL reported on August 1, 2007 that the arrest warrant issued for Chapman and his associates may now be invalidated, as a Mexican court has found that the statute of limitations regarding the arrest has expired. The 15-page legal order was released in Spanish and was translated and verified for legal acuity. The case against the bounty hunters may still be open to legal recourse by Mexican prosecutors.

On August 2, 2007, the First Criminal Court in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, dismissed all criminal charges pending against Duane, Tim and Leland Chapman on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. The order effectively canceled all pending charges. The ruling, however, was appealed by the prosecution in order to overturn the lower court's decision. A&E was told that in Mexico, rulings against the prosecution are generally appealed as a matter of principle.

On November 5, 2007, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren dismissed the extradition attempt, saying that even though the cases were appealed, the trio are no longer charged with any offenses.
Racial slur and fall out

In March 2007, during a taped conversation with his son Tucker, Chapman used strong language, including the word "******," when referring to Monique Shinnery, his son's African-American girlfriend:
“ Duane "Dog" Chapman: I don't care if she's a Mexican, a whore or whatever. It's not because she's black, it's because we use the word ****** sometimes here. I'm not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for for 30 years because some fudgeing ****** heard us say ****** and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine. Our career is over! I'm not taking that chance at all! Never in life! Never! Never! If Lyssa was dating a ******, we would all say 'fudge you!' And you know that. If Lyssa brought a black guy home, ya da da... it's not that they're black, it's none of that. It's that we use the word ******. We don't mean you fudgeing scum ****** without a soul. We don't mean that sheesh. But America would think we mean that. And we're not taking a chance on losing everything we got over a racial slur because our son goes with a girl like that. I can't do that, Tucker. You can't expect Gary, Bonnie, Cecily, all them young kids to because 'I'm in love for 7 months' - fudge that! So, I'll help you get another job but you cannot work here unless you break up with her and she's out of your life. I can't handle that sheesh. I got 'em in the parking lot trying to record us. I got that girl saying she's gonna wear a recorder...

Tucker Chapman: I don't even know what to say.


The audiotape, which Tucker sold to the National Enquirer, was posted online on October 31, 2007, and prompted a coalition of civil rights leaders to call for Chapman's popular Dog the Bounty Hunter show on A&E to be canceled. After the tape was made public, A&E announced it was suspending production for the series pending an investigation. Conservative civil rights leader Roy Innis said that Chapman "should not have a show."

On October 31, 2007, Chapman issued a public apology:
“ "My sincerest, heartfelt apologies go out to every person I have offended for my regrettable use of very inappropriate language. I am deeply disappointed in myself for speaking out of anger to my son and using such a hateful term in a private phone conversation. It was completely taken out of context. I was disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character. However, I should have never used that term. I have the utmost respect and aloha for black people – who have already suffered so much due to racial discrimination and acts of hatred. I did not mean to add yet another slap in the face to an entire race of people who have brought so many gifts to this world. I am ashamed of myself and I pledge to do whatever I can to repair this damage I have caused. You see, I live in Hawaii, and we just don't get a whole lotta black people down here in the Aloha State.

"In Hawaii, we have something called Ho'oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. I am meeting with my spiritual advisor, Rev. Tim Storey, and hope to meet with other black leaders so they can see who I really am and teach me the right thing to do to make things right, again.

"I know that all of my fans are deeply disappointed in me, as well, as I have tried to be a model for doing the right thing. I did not do the right thing this time, and hope you will forgive me. We learn from our mistakes, as my story of overcoming a life of crime has proven, and I will learn from this one for the rest of my life."


On November 2, 2007, A&E announced it is removing the show from their schedule "for the foreseeable future." On the same day Yum Brands announced pulling ad support for the TV series.

On December 21, 2007, Roy Innis, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the first to call the A&E network to have the show taken off the air, met with Alicia Colon of The New York Sun and Chapman. Innis stated for the daily newspaper, "After meeting with him and his wife, Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context."

He went on to say, "Duane has taken ownership of the damage of his words and has taken on the responsibility of being a racial healer for our country... I have been with this man several times and had extensive dialogues with him. I consider him and his wife good friends. Duane is a changed man and has a higher purpose. Popular television is a wasteland of meaningless titillation and degradation. The Dog's potential to take his celebrity and turn it into something redeeming for our culture and society is immense. It is for these reasons that we want his television show back on the air."
Renewal of show

Innis' December 2007 statement and a petition with over 40,000 signatures requested the return of Chapman's program. On February 19, 2008, A&E announced that the show would return. Reruns of Dog The Bounty Hunter, along with never before seen episodes from season 4, began airing on June 25, 2008. New episodes (the show's fifth season) began airing on July 16, 2008.

The show is currently into its seventh season, the first episode of which aired on December 2, 2009.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/lompocbraves_2010/DuaneDog.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e317/pooper79/200px-Duane_chapman.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/lompocbraves_2010/Dog.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/rrrcxdixon/duane_beth_chapman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/02/10 at 5:57 am

The person who died on this day...Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff (November 23, 1887 – February 2, 1969) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein, 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, and 1939 film Son of Frankenstein. His popularity following Frankenstein in the early 1930s was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or, on some movie posters, "Karloff the Uncanny".
In 1909, Pratt travelled to Canada and some time later changed his professional name to "Boris Karloff". Some have theorized that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character in the novel The Drums of Jeopardy called "Boris Karlov". However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in silent films (Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in a movie version in 1931). Another possible influence was thought to be a character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novel H.R.H. The Rider which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but as the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character. Karloff always claimed he chose the first name "Boris" because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name. However, his daughter Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of the British foreign service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff himself apparently worried they did feel that way. He did not reunite with his family again until 1933, when he went back to England to make The Ghoul, extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his elder brothers jostled for position around their "baby" brother and happily posed for publicity photographs with him.

Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Co. in 1911 and performed in towns like Kamloops, BC and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1912, while at Regina, Saskatchewan, he was present for a devastating tornado. He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Co., that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year, in an opera house above a hardware store.

Due to the years of difficult manual labor in Canada and the U.S. while trying to establish his acting career, he suffered back problems for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not fight in World War I.
Career in Hollywood
Karloff as The Monster from the Bride of Frankenstein trailer (1935)

Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labor, such as digging ditches and driving a cement truck, to pay the bills. His role as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931) made him a star. A year later, he played another iconic character, Imhotep, in The Mummy.

The five-foot, eleven-inch, brown-eyed Karloff played a wide variety of roles in other genres besides horror. He was memorably gunned down in a bowling alley in the 1932 film Scarface. He played a religious WWI soldier in the 1934 John Ford epic The Lost Patrol. Karloff gave a string of lauded performances in 1930s Universal horror movies, including several with his main rival for heir to the horror throne of Lon Chaney, Sr.: Béla Lugosi, whose refusal to play the monster in Frankenstein made Karloff's subsequent career possible. Karloff played Frankenstein's monster three times, the other films being Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which also featured Lugosi. Karloff would revisit the Frankenstein mythos in film several times after leaving the role. The first would be as the villainous Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein (1944), where Karloff would be contrasted against Glenn Strange's portrayal of the Monster.

Karloff returned to the role of the "mad scientist" in 1958's Frankenstein 1970, as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original inventor. The finale reveals that the crippled Baron has given his own face (i.e., "Karloff's") to the Monster. The actor appeared at a celebrity baseball game as the Monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the Monster stomped into home plate. Norman Z. McLeod filmed a sequence in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Karloff in the Monster make-up, but it was deleted. Karloff donned the headpiece and neck bolts for the final time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66, but he was playing "Boris Karloff," who, within the story, was playing "the Monster."

While the long, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close mutual friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat. Follow-ups included Gift of Gab (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Black Friday (1940), You'll Find Out (also 1940), and The Body Snatcher (1945). During this period he also starred with Basil Rathbone in Tower of London (1939).

From 1945-1946, Karloff appeared in three films for RKO produced by Val Lewton: Isle of the Dead, The Body Snatcher, and Bedlam. In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the Los Angeles Times, Karloff discussed his three-picture deal with RKO, his reasons for leaving Universal Pictures and working with producer Lewton. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course. The latest installment was what he called a "'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in - Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg continues, "Mr. Karloff has great love and respect for Mr. Lewton as the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul".

During this period, Karloff was also a frequent guest on radio programs, whether it was starring in Arch Oboler's Chicago-based Lights Out productions (most notably the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with Fred Allen or Jack Benny.

An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Although Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, (which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway), Karloff reprised the role on television with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Somewhat less successful was his work in the J. B. Priestley play The Linden Tree. He also appeared as Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan with Jean Arthur. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite Julie Harris in The Lark, by the French playwright Jean Anouilh about Joan of Arc, which was also reprised on Hallmark Hall of Fame.

In later years, Karloff hosted and acted in a number of television series, most notably Thriller, Out of This World, and The Veil, the latter of which was never broadcast and only came to light in the 1990s. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared in several films for American International Pictures, including The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, and The Terror, the latter two directed by Roger Corman, and Die, Monster, Die!

During the 1950s Karloff appeared on British TV in the series Colonel March of Scotland Yard, in which he portrayed John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes.

As a guest on The Gisele MacKenzie Show, Karloff sings "Those Were the Good Old Days" from Damn Yankees, while Gisele MacKenzie performs the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On The Red Skelton Show, Karloff guest starred along with horror actor Vincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, with Red Skelton as the monster "Klem Kadiddle Monster." In 1966 Karloff also appeared with Robert Vaughn and Stefanie Powers in the spy series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair." Karloff performed in drag as the titular Mother Muffin. That same year he also played an Indian Maharajah on the adventure series The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Golden Cobra"). In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who thinks he's Don Quixote in a whimsical episode of I Spy ("Mainly on the Plains").

In the mid-1960s, Karloff gained a late-career surge of American popularity when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and provided "the sounds of the Grinch" (the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung not by Karloff, but by American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft). Karloff later won a Grammy in the spoken word category after the story was released as a record.

In 1968 he starred in Targets, a movie directed by Peter Bogdanovich about a young man who embarks on a spree of killings carried out with handguns and high powered rifles. The movie starred Karloff as "retired horror film actor" Byron Orlok (a lightly-disguised version of himself) facing an end of life crisis, resolved through a confrontation with the shooter.

Karloff ended his career appearing in a trio of low-budget Mexican horror films that were shot shortly before his death; all were released posthumously, with the last, The Incredible Invasion, not released until 1971, two years after Karloff's death.
Spoken Word

Other records Karloff made for the children's market included Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Stories, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and, with Cyril Ritchard and Celeste Holm, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
Personal life

In contrast to the sinister characters he played on screen, Karloff was known in real life as a very kind gentleman who gave generously, especially to children's charities. Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed up as Santa Claus every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in a Baltimore hospital.

Karloff was also a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was especially outspoken regarding working conditions on sets that actors were expected to deal with in the mid-1930s (some of which were extremely hazardous). He married six times and had one child, a daughter, by his fifth wife.

In 1931, Boris Karloff took out insurance against premature aging that might be caused by his fright make-up.
Death

Boris Karloff lived out his final years at his cottage, 'Roundabout,' in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. After a long battle with arthritis and emphysema, he contracted pneumonia, succumbing to it in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex, England, on February 2, 1969. He was cremated, following a requested low-key service, at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul's, Covent Garden (The Actors' Church), London, where there is also a plaque.

However, even death could not put an immediate halt to Karloff's media career. Four Mexican films for which Karloff shot his scenes in Los Angeles were released over a two-year period after he had died. They were dismissed, by critics and fans alike as undistinguished efforts. Also, during the run of Thriller, Karloff lent his name and likeness to a comic book for Gold Key Comics based upon the series. After Thriller was cancelled, the comic was retitled Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for nearly a decade after the real Karloff died; the comic lasted until the early 1980s.
Legacy

For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street (for motion pictures) and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard (for television) (Lindsay, 1975).

In 1998, Karloff (as Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy) was featured in a series of "Monster Stamps" issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

In the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, the AI responsible for piloting the mercenary warship Touch and Go is initially created with a spooky voice and demeanour attributed to it being given a 'Karloff Skin'.

Kirk Hammett has been seen using ESP guitars customized to bear images of Boris Karloff as The Mummy and as Frankenstien's monster. He owns the rights to both guitars and is not currently allowing ESP to release them.
Filmography
Further information: Boris Karloff filmography
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa278/Imzyr/boris_karloff.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll93/SuicidalAngelProductions/boris_karloff.jpg
http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv97/SHADOWAGENT1/MH05-008.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r268/vetusta_headcoat/karloff.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/02/10 at 7:01 am


The person born on this day...Duane Chapman
Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman (born February 2, 1953 in Denver, Colorado ) is an American bounty hunter, a former bail bondsman. He stars in Dog the Bounty Hunter, a weekly reality television program which is broadcast on the A&E Network (USA), Virgin 1 (both UK and Ireland), Bravo, FOX8/GO!(Australia), and OLN, Canada. (Australia).
Duane Chapman was born in Denver, Colorado. He dropped out of middle school in the seventh grade. According to his book, he walked into his principal's office and said, "fudge you. You never stuck up for me when you knew I was getting beaten at home. You never believed a word I said. I quit!"

Duane Chapman used to be an amateur boxer in his teens, going by the name "Dog Lee", taken from his nickname and middle name. Dog still enjoys weight training, as evidenced by the Bosco episode, during which Dog's workout regimen is featured.

In 1977 Chapman was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was remanded to Huntsville prison in Huntsville, Texas. When he was in prison, Duane and his first wife, LaFonda Honeycutt, divorced. He served 18 months of his 5 year sentence for the murder of Jerry Oliver in Pampa, Texas. Chapman maintains his innocence of murder but suggests he was a legal accessory for not reporting the shooting to the police. He was released on parole. Two of his co-defendants received probation and a third, their alleged shooter, received ten years in prison.

In 2006, he married his fifth wife, Beth Smith, on his television show in Hawaii. They were together for ten years before they married.

Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman also studies Native American History as a hobby.
Bounty hunting

Chapman's career in bounty hunting began when he was in court disputing child support. When he told the judge he did not have the money to pay, the judge offered him a deal to bring in a fugitive in exchange for the judge to pay part of Chapman's child support for Duane Lee and Leland Chapman. He started his first bondsman business in his hometown of Denver, Colorado before moving to Hawaii with five of his children: Leland Chapman, Duane Lee Chapman, Tucker, Baby Lyssa and Barbara Katie. After his mother's death, he moved back to Colorado for a long stay to work alongside his sister, Jolene Chapman, who also started her own bail bond business on 'Bail Bond's Row'. Duane Chapman and his wife Alice Barmore (now known as Beth Chapman) soon joined with him on his bounties and business. Both moved back to Hawaii to open up another office in downtown Honolulu. This business has been extended to within Hawaii to the Big Island and Maui. He has arrested more than 7,000 people.
Arrest by Mexican government
Main article: Andrew Luster

On June 18, 2003, Chapman made news with his hunt and capture of Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who at the time was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Luster had fled the United States in the middle of his trial for drugging and raping a number of women, and was convicted in absentia on 86 counts including multiple rape charges connected to assaults in 1996, 1997 and 2000. Chapman was assisted by his "hunt team", consisting of his son Leland and his associate, Tim Chapman . After Luster's jailing, Duane Chapman was interviewed for a documentary which was published on 2009 August 28 by Dominick Dunne on Power, Privilege, and Justice broadcast via the TruTV network.

On September 14, 2006, days before the expiration of the statute of limitations, Chapman, along with his son Leland Chapman and associate Tim Chapman, were arrested by United States Marshals and jailed in Honolulu on behalf of the Mexican government. Mexican authorities had charged all three with deprivation of liberty, involving the 2003 apprehension of Andrew Luster, because they had not handed Luster over to them. After not obtaining permission to leave the country in 2003, the Mexican Government declared Duane, Leleand and Tim Chapman, fugitives from justice and tried to get them extradited to Mexico for sentencing. After spending one night in the federal detention center in Honolulu, Chapman told reporters: "The federal marshals treated us with great respect. But let me tell you, you never want to go to a federal prison, because it's terrible."

The next day, September 15, 2006, Chapman appeared in a packed Honolulu courtroom with his ankles shackled. Although the judge agreed that the men were not a flight risk, he ordered that each wear an electronic monitoring device around the ankle.  The three men were released on bail ($300,000 for Duane Chapman, $100,000 each for Leland Chapman and Tim Chapman). They were also ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for house arrest.

Beth Chapman was detained and had a hearing after she was caught wearing an A&E body microphone when entering the courthouse for their bond hearing; electronic recording devices are prohibited by law from being carried into federal courthouses. She was released after explaining that she "didn't know they had the mic and transmitter"; the judge was satisfied that no recording was done.

Chapman was fighting extradition in September 2006. His lead attorney Brook Hart reportedly planned to argue that although the charge Chapman faced is a misdemeanor in Mexico, when translated into English it became a felony (kidnapping) under American law. An extradition hearing was set for November 16, 2006, where both sides were to present evidence and witnesses. Chapman has speculated that his arrest was due in part to a possible prisoner exchange agreement between the Mexican and American authorities. According to Chapman, the federal agents 'sold him out', by trading him in for a convicted Mexican drug lord. Duane, Leland, and Tim had their ankle bracelets removed so they could work.

On October 11, 2006, reports surfaced of an open letter dated September 26, 2006, sent on Chapman's behalf by 29 Republican Congressmen to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The letter stated the authors' opposition to Chapman's extradition and requested that Rice deny Mexico's request for same. Subsequently on October 20, 2006, lawyers for Chapman said that the Mexican federal court had granted them an order that halted the criminal case against the bounty hunter until further evidence and witness testimony were gathered.

A court hearing was held on December 22, 2006. The original hearing was postponed because a report from a lower court was not yet received. The court heard both sides of the story, and then decided to recess. Then court proceedings started on January 16, 2007 and the court had up to Tuesday, February 6, 2007 but the deadline was extended.

On February 16, 2007, a Mexican Federal court cleared the way for Duane Chapman to be extradited, ruling there was no reason not to try him with the charge of deprivation of liberty in Mexico. They also added that Mr. Chapman would not last five days in a Mexican prison. In response, on February 23, Hawaii State Representatives Gene Ward, Karen Awana, Rida Cabanilla, Lynn Finnegan, Barbara Marumoto, Colleen Meyer, Kymberly Pine, Joe Bertram, Ken Ito, Marylin Lee, and John Mizuno introduced 'House concurrent resolution 50', "Requesting the President of Mexico and the Second District Court of Guadalajara to drop extradition charges against TV Bounty Hunter, Duane 'Dog' Chapman".

Chapman, along with his lawyer, William C. Bollard, has appeared on numerous media shows. Some of these include: Larry King Live, Greta Van Susteren, Mark and Mercedez Morning Show on Mix 94.1 KMXB in Las Vegas, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on WFLD, Fox 6 News San Diego, The Glenn Beck Program, and THE 9 on Yahoo!.

On March 7, 2007, legislators in the International Affairs Committee of the Hawaii State House passed a resolution that asks the Mexican government to drop the extradition proceedings against Duane, Leland and Tim Chapman.

Honolulu news outlet KHNL reported on August 1, 2007 that the arrest warrant issued for Chapman and his associates may now be invalidated, as a Mexican court has found that the statute of limitations regarding the arrest has expired. The 15-page legal order was released in Spanish and was translated and verified for legal acuity. The case against the bounty hunters may still be open to legal recourse by Mexican prosecutors.

On August 2, 2007, the First Criminal Court in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, dismissed all criminal charges pending against Duane, Tim and Leland Chapman on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. The order effectively canceled all pending charges. The ruling, however, was appealed by the prosecution in order to overturn the lower court's decision. A&E was told that in Mexico, rulings against the prosecution are generally appealed as a matter of principle.

On November 5, 2007, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren dismissed the extradition attempt, saying that even though the cases were appealed, the trio are no longer charged with any offenses.
Racial slur and fall out

In March 2007, during a taped conversation with his son Tucker, Chapman used strong language, including the word "******," when referring to Monique Shinnery, his son's African-American girlfriend:
“ Duane "Dog" Chapman: I don't care if she's a Mexican, a whore or whatever. It's not because she's black, it's because we use the word ****** sometimes here. I'm not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for for 30 years because some fudgeing ****** heard us say ****** and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine. Our career is over! I'm not taking that chance at all! Never in life! Never! Never! If Lyssa was dating a ******, we would all say 'fudge you!' And you know that. If Lyssa brought a black guy home, ya da da... it's not that they're black, it's none of that. It's that we use the word ******. We don't mean you fudgeing scum ****** without a soul. We don't mean that sheesh. But America would think we mean that. And we're not taking a chance on losing everything we got over a racial slur because our son goes with a girl like that. I can't do that, Tucker. You can't expect Gary, Bonnie, Cecily, all them young kids to because 'I'm in love for 7 months' - fudge that! So, I'll help you get another job but you cannot work here unless you break up with her and she's out of your life. I can't handle that sheesh. I got 'em in the parking lot trying to record us. I got that girl saying she's gonna wear a recorder...

Tucker Chapman: I don't even know what to say.


The audiotape, which Tucker sold to the National Enquirer, was posted online on October 31, 2007, and prompted a coalition of civil rights leaders to call for Chapman's popular Dog the Bounty Hunter show on A&E to be canceled. After the tape was made public, A&E announced it was suspending production for the series pending an investigation. Conservative civil rights leader Roy Innis said that Chapman "should not have a show."

On October 31, 2007, Chapman issued a public apology:
“ "My sincerest, heartfelt apologies go out to every person I have offended for my regrettable use of very inappropriate language. I am deeply disappointed in myself for speaking out of anger to my son and using such a hateful term in a private phone conversation. It was completely taken out of context. I was disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character. However, I should have never used that term. I have the utmost respect and aloha for black people – who have already suffered so much due to racial discrimination and acts of hatred. I did not mean to add yet another slap in the face to an entire race of people who have brought so many gifts to this world. I am ashamed of myself and I pledge to do whatever I can to repair this damage I have caused. You see, I live in Hawaii, and we just don't get a whole lotta black people down here in the Aloha State.

"In Hawaii, we have something called Ho'oponopono, where people come together to resolve crises and restore peace and balance. I am meeting with my spiritual advisor, Rev. Tim Storey, and hope to meet with other black leaders so they can see who I really am and teach me the right thing to do to make things right, again.

"I know that all of my fans are deeply disappointed in me, as well, as I have tried to be a model for doing the right thing. I did not do the right thing this time, and hope you will forgive me. We learn from our mistakes, as my story of overcoming a life of crime has proven, and I will learn from this one for the rest of my life."


On November 2, 2007, A&E announced it is removing the show from their schedule "for the foreseeable future." On the same day Yum Brands announced pulling ad support for the TV series.

On December 21, 2007, Roy Innis, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the first to call the A&E network to have the show taken off the air, met with Alicia Colon of The New York Sun and Chapman. Innis stated for the daily newspaper, "After meeting with him and his wife, Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context."

He went on to say, "Duane has taken ownership of the damage of his words and has taken on the responsibility of being a racial healer for our country... I have been with this man several times and had extensive dialogues with him. I consider him and his wife good friends. Duane is a changed man and has a higher purpose. Popular television is a wasteland of meaningless titillation and degradation. The Dog's potential to take his celebrity and turn it into something redeeming for our culture and society is immense. It is for these reasons that we want his television show back on the air."
Renewal of show

Innis' December 2007 statement and a petition with over 40,000 signatures requested the return of Chapman's program. On February 19, 2008, A&E announced that the show would return. Reruns of Dog The Bounty Hunter, along with never before seen episodes from season 4, began airing on June 25, 2008. New episodes (the show's fifth season) began airing on July 16, 2008.

The show is currently into its seventh season, the first episode of which aired on December 2, 2009.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/lompocbraves_2010/DuaneDog.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e317/pooper79/200px-Duane_chapman.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/lompocbraves_2010/Dog.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/rrrcxdixon/duane_beth_chapman.jpg



Dog,The Bounty Hunter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/10 at 6:03 am

The word of the day...Nurse
A nurse is a person whose job is to care for people who are ill.
If you nurse someone, you care for them when they are ill.
http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu50/kobe_034/DSCF4651.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/Kellycfan267/DH_20703632412-01-15.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/wlittle1686/Medical%20pictures/NH.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r210/jram1203/Videos/IMG_0412.jpg
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz242/Azeus420/JokerNurseGmail.jpg
http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae116/Twinderellas/Birth%20and%20NICU/Pictures/CaydyandTammy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/10 at 6:12 am

The person born on this day...Maura Tierney
Maura Therese Tierney (born February 3, 1965) is an American film and television actress, who is likely best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on NewsRadio and Abby Lockhart on the television medical drama ER. Following ER, Tierney was set to star in the NBC series, Parenthood; however, she left the show after filming the pilot to undergo treatment for breast cancer
After appearing in several plays, she moved to Los Angeles, California and in 1987 got her first break in a role in Walt Disney's made-for-TV film Student Exchange. Tierney's first starring role in a film was in a low-budget, independently-produced film called Dead Women in Lingerie, shot in 24 days. The film never received a theatrical release, although it was released on DVD in 2005.

Tierney continued winning small roles in film and television, though it was not until her leading role in the sitcom NewsRadio from 1995–1999 that she received regular national exposure. While she was a NewsRadio cast member, she also appeared in two successful films (Primal Fear and Forces of Nature), and the even more successful Jim Carrey film Liar Liar.

After NewsRadio was canceled, Tierney decided not to pursue a role in another sitcom:
hen NewsRadio got canceled, ... I thought, there's probably not gonna be something like again for me...So then, when ER called,...that was a way to stay in that would remain interesting for me.

Tierney played Nurse Abigail "Abby" Lockhart on ER, a character that began as a guest appearance as an OB nurse in November 1999, then expanded in February 2000 to a full-time regular part as an ER nurse (and later, after completion of medical school, a full-on ER doctor). Within a year, her work on ER had earned her an Emmy Award nomination, recognition she credits to a "juicy" story arc featuring Sally Field as Lockhart's mother, who suffers from bipolar disorder.

Tierney confirmed in April 2008 that she would be leaving ER shortly after the beginning of the show's fifteenth season. In October 2008, she made her final regular appearance on the series after nearly 10 seasons on the show. She did return to make a cameo appearance on one additional episode later on during the final season.

As of 2007 Tierney's highest-profile film since joining the cast of ER was the 2002 film Insomnia. That same year she also starred in Scotland, Pa., portraying a Lady Macbeth-like character written specifically for her by then-husband Billy Morrissette. She was praised by critics for her performance. She collaborated with NewsRadio writer Joe Furey for a special, "Working with Joe Furey" featurette for Furey's film Love and Support. In 2004, Tierney won the second season tournament of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown against Lauren Graham.

She returned to the stage in May 2006 in an appearance opposite Eric McCormack in the off-Broadway premiere of Some Girl(s). She also appeared in the 2008 films Semi-Pro, Baby Mama, The Go-Getter and Finding Amanda.

Tierney played the role of Laurel in the off-Broadway play Three Changes with Dylan McDermott. from September 16 to October 4, 2008.
Personal life

Tierney married actor-director Billy Morrissette on February 1, 1993, two days before her 28th birthday, after the two met on the set of a never-aired television series. She filed for divorce 13 years later, citing irreconcilable differences. They had no children.

On February 1, 2009, which would have been her own 16th wedding anniversary, she officiated at the wedding of ER castmate/friend, Parminder Nagra and photographer James Stenson.

On December 14, 2009, Maura's father, former Boston City Council President Joseph M. Tierney, died at his Hyde Park home at age 68 after a brief battle with cancer.
Breast cancer

Tierney had been cast to star in the 2009 NBC drama, Parenthood. According to The Hollywood Reporter on July 10, 2009, the series was pushed to midseason. Filming had been scheduled to begin July 27. Production has been postponed for eight weeks to late September, according to NBC, "due to medical evaluation that (Tierney) is undergoing ... e are unable to release further details and ask that you respect her privacy at this time."

On July 13, 2009 it was announced that Tierney would have surgery to remove a tumor from her breast. On September 10, 2009, it was announced that she had left the cast of Parenthood due to schedule conflicts with her cancer treatments, and would not be returning to the show. Lauren Graham replaced her.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Student Exchange Kathy Maltby TV movies.
1988 Crossing the Mob Michelle
The Van Dyke Show
10 episodes Jillian Ryan
1989 Family Ties
Ep: My Best Friend's Girl Darlene
1990 Booker
Ep: Reunion Donna Cofax
Flying Blind Donna TV movie.
1991 Dead Women in Lingerie Molly Field
The Linguini Incident Cecelia
Law & Order
Ep: Aria Patricia 'Patti' Blaine
1992 White Sands Noreen
1993 Fly by Night Denise
The Temp Sharon Derns
1994 Lifestories: Families in Crisis
Ep: A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story
Out of Darkness Meg TV movie.
704 Hauser
5 episodes Cherlyn
1995 Mercy Simonet
NewsRadio
97 episodes
1995-1999 Lisa Miller
1996 Primal Fear Naomi Chance
1997 Liar Liar Audrey Reede
1998 Primary Colors Daisy Green
1999 Forces of Nature Bridget Cahill
Oxygen Det. Madeline Foster
Instinct Lynn Powell
ER
189 episodes
1999-2009 Dr. Abby Lockhart
2000 Mexico City Pam on Phone (voice)
King of the Hill
Ep: Movin' On Up Tanya (voice)
2001 Scotland, Pa Pat McBeth
2002 Insomnia Rachel Clement
Rooftop Kisses Denise
The Nazi Helen
2003 Melvin Goes to Dinner Leslie
2004 Welcome to Mooseport Sally Mannis
2006 Danny Roane: First Time Director Maura Tierney
Diggers Gina
2007 The Go-Getter Hal's Pets
2008 Semi-Pro Lynn
Baby Mama Caroline
Finding Amanda Lorraine Mendon
2009 Rescue Me
6 episodes Kelly McPhee
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/ali9/ER/Banners/maura.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r176/kizzy81/maura-tierney-3.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r176/kizzy81/MT-CHAIR.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt243/suzanneherdman/normal_Image.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/10 at 6:16 am

The person who died on this day...Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music.

Holly was in the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".
Holly saw Elvis Presley sing in Lubbock in 1955 and began to incorporate a rockabilly style into his music, which gradually evolved into rock music. On October 15, he opened on the same bill with Presley in Lubbock, catching the eye of a Nashville talent scout. Holly's transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local show organized by Eddie Crandall, the manager for Marty Robbins.

Following this performance, Decca Records signed him to a contract in February 1956, misspelling his name as "Holly". He adopted it for his professional career. Holly formed his own band, which would later be called the Crickets. It consisted of Holly (lead guitar and vocalist), Niki Sullivan (guitar), Joe B. Mauldin (bass), and Jerry Allison (drums).

They went to Nashville for three recording sessions with producer Owen Bradley. However, he chafed under a restrictive atmosphere that allowed him little input. Among the tracks he recorded was an early version of "That'll Be The Day", which took its title from a line that John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the 1956 film, The Searchers. (This initial version of the song played more slowly and about half an octave higher than the later hit version.) Decca chose to release two singles, "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Modern Don Juan", which failed to make an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly that his contract would not be renewed, insisting however that he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.
Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico

Holly then hired Norman Petty as manager, and the band began recording at Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Petty contacted music publishers and labels, and Brunswick Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed the Crickets on March 19, 1957. Holly signed as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time.

On May 27, "That'll Be The Day" was released as a single, credited to the Crickets to try to bypass Decca's claimed legal rights. When the song became a hit, Decca decided not to press its claim. "That'll Be the Day" topped the US "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on September 23 and was the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November. The Crickets performed "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 1.

Holly managed to bridge the racial divide that marked rock n' roll. While Elvis made black music more acceptable to white audiences, Holly won over an all-black audience when the Crickets were booked at New York's Apollo Theater for August 16–22, 1956. Unlike the immediate response shown in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story, it actually took several performances for the audience to warm to him. In August 1957, the Crickets were the only white performers on a national tour.

As Holly was signed as both a solo artist and as part of the Crickets, two debut albums were released: The "Chirping" Crickets on November 27, 1957 and Buddy Holly on February 20, 1958. His singles "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy!" reached the top ten on both the United States and United Kingdom charts. Buddy Holly and the Crickets toured Australia in January 1958, and the UK in March. Their third and final album, That'll Be the Day, was put together from early recordings and was released in April.
Marriage

In June 1958, he met Maria Elena Santiago, who was working as a receptionist for Murray Deutch, an executive at Peer-Southern Music, a New York music publisher.

Holly managed to have Santiago invited to a luncheon at Howard Johnson's, thanks to Deutch's secretary, Jo Harper. He asked her to have dinner with him that night at P. J. Clarke's. Holly proposed marriage to her on their very first date. "While we were having dinner, he got up and came back with his hands behind his back. He brought out a red rose and said, "This is for you. Would you marry me?" He went to her guardian's house the next morning to get her approval. Santiago at first thought he was kidding, but they married in Lubbock on August 15, 1958, less than two months later. "I'd never had a boyfriend in my life. I'd never been on a date before. But when I saw Buddy, it was like magic. We had something special: love at first sight," she told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on what would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. The newlyweds honeymooned in Acapulco.

Maria Elena traveled on tours, doing everything from the laundry to equipment setup to ensure the group got paid. Although Holly had already begun to become disillusioned with Norman Petty before meeting his bride, it was through Maria Elena and her aunt Provi, who was the head of Latin American music at Peer Southern, that he began to fully realize what was going on with his manager, who was paying the band's royalties into his own company's account.

Holly wrote the song "True Love Ways" about his relationship with his young wife. It was recorded in her presence on October 21, 1958 at Decca's Pythian Temple, with Dick Jacob, Coral-Brunswick's new head of Artists & Repertoire, serving as both producer and conductor of the eighteen-piece orchestra, which included members of the New York Symphony Orchestra, NBC Television's house orchestra and Abraham "Boomie" Richman, formerly of Benny Goodman's band.

It was not until Holly died that many fans became aware of his marriage.
Holly in New York

The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while his bandmates wanted to go back home to Lubbock. As a result, the group split up in late 1958. The Hollys settled in at Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at 9th Street and Fifth Avenue. It was here that he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do", known as the "Apartment Tapes", which were released after his death.

The Hollys frequented many of New York's music venues, including The Village Gate, Blue Note, Village Vanguard, and Johnny Johnson's. Maria Elena reported that Buddy was keen to learn finger-style flamenco guitar and would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. He wanted to develop collaborations between soul singers and rock 'n' roll, hoping to make an album with Ray Charles and gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. He also had ambitions to work in film, like Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran, and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasburg's Actors' Studio, where the likes of Marlon Brando and James Dean had trained.

However, he was still having trouble getting his royalties from Petty, so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends, the Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following their own disputes with their manager Wesley Rose. Yet, with the money still being withheld by Petty and with rent due, Buddy was forced to go back on the road.
Death
Holly's headstone in the City of Lubbock Cemetery
Main article: The Day the Music Died

Buddy was offered the Winter Dance Party by the GAC agency, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on January 23, 1959, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. He assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums) and billed as The Crickets.

The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers, who were subjected to long overnight travel in a bus plagued with a faulty heating system in -25°F (-32°C) temperatures. The bus also broke down several times between stops. Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 2, 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. He, Valens, Richardson, and the pilot were killed en route to Moorhead, Minnesota, when their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of February 3. Don McLean referred to it as "The Day the Music Died" in his song "American Pie".

Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was performed by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at the Hollys' wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis and Phil Everly. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend due to his commitment to the still touring Winter Dance Party. The body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Holly's pregnant wife became a widow after barely six months of marriage and miscarried soon after. María Elena Holly did not attend the funeral and has never visited the grave site. She later told the Avalanche-Journal:

    In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane.

Style

Holly's music was sophisticated for its day, including the use of instruments considered novel for rock and roll, such as the celesta (heard on "Everyday"). Holly was an influential lead and rhythm guitarist, notably on songs such as "Peggy Sue" and "Not Fade Away". While Holly could pump out boy-loves-girl songs with the best of his contemporaries, other songs featured more sophisticated lyrics and more complex harmonies and melodies than had previously appeared in the genre.

Many of his songs feature a unique vocal "hiccup" technique, a glottal stop, to emphasize certain words in any given song, especially the rockers. Other singers (such as Elvis) have used a similar technique, though less obviously and consistently. Examples of this can be found at the start of the raucous "Rave On!": "Weh-eh-ell, the little things you say and do, make me want to be with you-ou..."; in "That'll Be the Day": "Well, you give me all your lovin' and your -turtle dovin'..."; and in "Peggy Sue": "I love you Peggy Sue - with a love so rare and tr-ue ...".
Influence
Buddy Holly statue on the Lubbock Walk of Fame

Holly set the template for the standard rock and roll band: two guitars, bass, and drums. He was also one of the first in the genre to write, produce, and perform his own songs.

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not attend a Holly concert, although they watched his TV appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium; Tony Bramwell, a school friend of McCartney and George Harrison, did. Bramwell met Holly, and freely shared his records with all three. Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as a primary influence. (Their band's name, The Beatles, was chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets.) The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was a close reproduction of Holly's version, released on 1964's Beatles for Sale. During the January 1969 sessions for the Let It Be album, the Beatles played a slow impromptu version of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" — although not written by Holly, it was popularized by him — with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style; the recording was eventually released in the mid-1990s on Anthology 3. Paul McCartney's band Wings recorded their version of "Love is Strange" on their first album Wild Life. In addition, John Lennon recorded a cover version of "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll. McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

A 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959 show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time out of Mind being named Album of the Year:

    And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way.

The Holly mural on 19th Street in Lubbock

Keith Richards attended one of Holly's performances, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. The Rolling Stones had an early hit covering the song.

In an August 24, 1978 Rolling Stone interview, Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest."

Various rock and roll histories have asserted that the singing group The Hollies were named in homage to Buddy Holly. According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly (and years later produced an album covering some of his songs), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.
Discography
Main article: Buddy Holly discography

Buddy Holly released only three albums in his lifetime. Nonetheless, he recorded so prolifically that Coral Records was able to release brand-new albums and singles for 10 years after his death, although the technical quality was very mixed, some being studio quality and others home recordings. Holly's simple demonstration recordings were overdubbed by studio musicians to bring them up to then-commercial standards. The best of these overdubbed records is often considered to be the first posthumous single, the 1959 coupling of "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", produced by Jack Hansen, with added backing vocals by the Ray Charles Singers in simulation of an authentic Crickets record. "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was actually supposed to be the "A" side of the 45, with the backup group effectively echoing Buddy's call-and-response vocal. The Hansen session, in which Holly's last six original compositions were overdubbed, was issued on the 1960 Coral LP The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2. But the best "posthumous" records were the studio recordings, which included "Wishing" and "Reminiscing".

Buddy Holly continued to be promoted and sold as an "active" artist, and his records had a loyal following, especially in Europe. The demand for unissued Holly material was so great that Norman Petty resorted to overdubbing whatever he could find: alternate takes of studio recordings, originally rejected masters, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and the other five 1959 tracks (adding new surf-guitar arrangements), and even Holly's amateur demos from 1954 (where the low-fidelity vocals are often muffled behind the new orchestrations). The last new Buddy Holly album was Giant (featuring the single "Love Is Strange"), issued in 1969. Between the 1959–60 Jack Hansen overdubs, the 1960s Norman Petty overdubs, various alternate takes, and Holly's undubbed originals, collectors can often choose from multiple versions of the same song.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g222/icryintherain101/Buddy_Holly.jpg
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/HotChantal69/buddy-holly-singing.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/mattrgarrett/Buddy.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/Bugsy88/Never%20to%20much%20stuffs/RS274-RS.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/03/10 at 6:43 am


The word of the day...Nurse
A nurse is a person whose job is to care for people who are ill.
If you nurse someone, you care for them when they are ill.
http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu50/kobe_034/DSCF4651.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/Kellycfan267/DH_20703632412-01-15.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/wlittle1686/Medical%20pictures/NH.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r210/jram1203/Videos/IMG_0412.jpg
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz242/Azeus420/JokerNurseGmail.jpg
http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae116/Twinderellas/Birth%20and%20NICU/Pictures/CaydyandTammy.jpg


http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/fire/dscd0180.jpg

They'll check your temperature for you.  ;) ;D^

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/03/10 at 7:50 am

One of my step-daughters is a nurse.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/10 at 9:08 am


One of my step-daughters is a nurse.



Cat

Does she like it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/03/10 at 9:31 am


Does she like it.



I think so. I haven't heard her complain-not even about her hours.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/03/10 at 10:55 am


The person who died on this day...Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music.

Holly was in the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".
Holly saw Elvis Presley sing in Lubbock in 1955 and began to incorporate a rockabilly style into his music, which gradually evolved into rock music. On October 15, he opened on the same bill with Presley in Lubbock, catching the eye of a Nashville talent scout. Holly's transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local show organized by Eddie Crandall, the manager for Marty Robbins.

Following this performance, Decca Records signed him to a contract in February 1956, misspelling his name as "Holly". He adopted it for his professional career. Holly formed his own band, which would later be called the Crickets. It consisted of Holly (lead guitar and vocalist), Niki Sullivan (guitar), Joe B. Mauldin (bass), and Jerry Allison (drums).

They went to Nashville for three recording sessions with producer Owen Bradley. However, he chafed under a restrictive atmosphere that allowed him little input. Among the tracks he recorded was an early version of "That'll Be The Day", which took its title from a line that John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the 1956 film, The Searchers. (This initial version of the song played more slowly and about half an octave higher than the later hit version.) Decca chose to release two singles, "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Modern Don Juan", which failed to make an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly that his contract would not be renewed, insisting however that he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.
Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico

Holly then hired Norman Petty as manager, and the band began recording at Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Petty contacted music publishers and labels, and Brunswick Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed the Crickets on March 19, 1957. Holly signed as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time.

On May 27, "That'll Be The Day" was released as a single, credited to the Crickets to try to bypass Decca's claimed legal rights. When the song became a hit, Decca decided not to press its claim. "That'll Be the Day" topped the US "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on September 23 and was the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November. The Crickets performed "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 1.

Holly managed to bridge the racial divide that marked rock n' roll. While Elvis made black music more acceptable to white audiences, Holly won over an all-black audience when the Crickets were booked at New York's Apollo Theater for August 16–22, 1956. Unlike the immediate response shown in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story, it actually took several performances for the audience to warm to him. In August 1957, the Crickets were the only white performers on a national tour.

As Holly was signed as both a solo artist and as part of the Crickets, two debut albums were released: The "Chirping" Crickets on November 27, 1957 and Buddy Holly on February 20, 1958. His singles "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy!" reached the top ten on both the United States and United Kingdom charts. Buddy Holly and the Crickets toured Australia in January 1958, and the UK in March. Their third and final album, That'll Be the Day, was put together from early recordings and was released in April.
Marriage

In June 1958, he met Maria Elena Santiago, who was working as a receptionist for Murray Deutch, an executive at Peer-Southern Music, a New York music publisher.

Holly managed to have Santiago invited to a luncheon at Howard Johnson's, thanks to Deutch's secretary, Jo Harper. He asked her to have dinner with him that night at P. J. Clarke's. Holly proposed marriage to her on their very first date. "While we were having dinner, he got up and came back with his hands behind his back. He brought out a red rose and said, "This is for you. Would you marry me?" He went to her guardian's house the next morning to get her approval. Santiago at first thought he was kidding, but they married in Lubbock on August 15, 1958, less than two months later. "I'd never had a boyfriend in my life. I'd never been on a date before. But when I saw Buddy, it was like magic. We had something special: love at first sight," she told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on what would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. The newlyweds honeymooned in Acapulco.

Maria Elena traveled on tours, doing everything from the laundry to equipment setup to ensure the group got paid. Although Holly had already begun to become disillusioned with Norman Petty before meeting his bride, it was through Maria Elena and her aunt Provi, who was the head of Latin American music at Peer Southern, that he began to fully realize what was going on with his manager, who was paying the band's royalties into his own company's account.

Holly wrote the song "True Love Ways" about his relationship with his young wife. It was recorded in her presence on October 21, 1958 at Decca's Pythian Temple, with Dick Jacob, Coral-Brunswick's new head of Artists & Repertoire, serving as both producer and conductor of the eighteen-piece orchestra, which included members of the New York Symphony Orchestra, NBC Television's house orchestra and Abraham "Boomie" Richman, formerly of Benny Goodman's band.

It was not until Holly died that many fans became aware of his marriage.
Holly in New York

The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while his bandmates wanted to go back home to Lubbock. As a result, the group split up in late 1958. The Hollys settled in at Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at 9th Street and Fifth Avenue. It was here that he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do", known as the "Apartment Tapes", which were released after his death.

The Hollys frequented many of New York's music venues, including The Village Gate, Blue Note, Village Vanguard, and Johnny Johnson's. Maria Elena reported that Buddy was keen to learn finger-style flamenco guitar and would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. He wanted to develop collaborations between soul singers and rock 'n' roll, hoping to make an album with Ray Charles and gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. He also had ambitions to work in film, like Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran, and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasburg's Actors' Studio, where the likes of Marlon Brando and James Dean had trained.

However, he was still having trouble getting his royalties from Petty, so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends, the Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following their own disputes with their manager Wesley Rose. Yet, with the money still being withheld by Petty and with rent due, Buddy was forced to go back on the road.
Death
Holly's headstone in the City of Lubbock Cemetery
Main article: The Day the Music Died

Buddy was offered the Winter Dance Party by the GAC agency, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on January 23, 1959, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. He assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums) and billed as The Crickets.

The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers, who were subjected to long overnight travel in a bus plagued with a faulty heating system in -25°F (-32°C) temperatures. The bus also broke down several times between stops. Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 2, 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. He, Valens, Richardson, and the pilot were killed en route to Moorhead, Minnesota, when their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of February 3. Don McLean referred to it as "The Day the Music Died" in his song "American Pie".

Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was performed by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at the Hollys' wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis and Phil Everly. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend due to his commitment to the still touring Winter Dance Party. The body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Holly's pregnant wife became a widow after barely six months of marriage and miscarried soon after. María Elena Holly did not attend the funeral and has never visited the grave site. She later told the Avalanche-Journal:

    In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane.

Style

Holly's music was sophisticated for its day, including the use of instruments considered novel for rock and roll, such as the celesta (heard on "Everyday"). Holly was an influential lead and rhythm guitarist, notably on songs such as "Peggy Sue" and "Not Fade Away". While Holly could pump out boy-loves-girl songs with the best of his contemporaries, other songs featured more sophisticated lyrics and more complex harmonies and melodies than had previously appeared in the genre.

Many of his songs feature a unique vocal "hiccup" technique, a glottal stop, to emphasize certain words in any given song, especially the rockers. Other singers (such as Elvis) have used a similar technique, though less obviously and consistently. Examples of this can be found at the start of the raucous "Rave On!": "Weh-eh-ell, the little things you say and do, make me want to be with you-ou..."; in "That'll Be the Day": "Well, you give me all your lovin' and your -turtle dovin'..."; and in "Peggy Sue": "I love you Peggy Sue - with a love so rare and tr-ue ...".
Influence
Buddy Holly statue on the Lubbock Walk of Fame

Holly set the template for the standard rock and roll band: two guitars, bass, and drums. He was also one of the first in the genre to write, produce, and perform his own songs.

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not attend a Holly concert, although they watched his TV appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium; Tony Bramwell, a school friend of McCartney and George Harrison, did. Bramwell met Holly, and freely shared his records with all three. Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as a primary influence. (Their band's name, The Beatles, was chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets.) The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was a close reproduction of Holly's version, released on 1964's Beatles for Sale. During the January 1969 sessions for the Let It Be album, the Beatles played a slow impromptu version of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" — although not written by Holly, it was popularized by him — with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style; the recording was eventually released in the mid-1990s on Anthology 3. Paul McCartney's band Wings recorded their version of "Love is Strange" on their first album Wild Life. In addition, John Lennon recorded a cover version of "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll. McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

A 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959 show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time out of Mind being named Album of the Year:

    And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way.

The Holly mural on 19th Street in Lubbock

Keith Richards attended one of Holly's performances, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. The Rolling Stones had an early hit covering the song.

In an August 24, 1978 Rolling Stone interview, Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest."

Various rock and roll histories have asserted that the singing group The Hollies were named in homage to Buddy Holly. According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly (and years later produced an album covering some of his songs), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.
Discography
Main article: Buddy Holly discography

Buddy Holly released only three albums in his lifetime. Nonetheless, he recorded so prolifically that Coral Records was able to release brand-new albums and singles for 10 years after his death, although the technical quality was very mixed, some being studio quality and others home recordings. Holly's simple demonstration recordings were overdubbed by studio musicians to bring them up to then-commercial standards. The best of these overdubbed records is often considered to be the first posthumous single, the 1959 coupling of "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", produced by Jack Hansen, with added backing vocals by the Ray Charles Singers in simulation of an authentic Crickets record. "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was actually supposed to be the "A" side of the 45, with the backup group effectively echoing Buddy's call-and-response vocal. The Hansen session, in which Holly's last six original compositions were overdubbed, was issued on the 1960 Coral LP The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2. But the best "posthumous" records were the studio recordings, which included "Wishing" and "Reminiscing".

Buddy Holly continued to be promoted and sold as an "active" artist, and his records had a loyal following, especially in Europe. The demand for unissued Holly material was so great that Norman Petty resorted to overdubbing whatever he could find: alternate takes of studio recordings, originally rejected masters, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and the other five 1959 tracks (adding new surf-guitar arrangements), and even Holly's amateur demos from 1954 (where the low-fidelity vocals are often muffled behind the new orchestrations). The last new Buddy Holly album was Giant (featuring the single "Love Is Strange"), issued in 1969. Between the 1959–60 Jack Hansen overdubs, the 1960s Norman Petty overdubs, various alternate takes, and Holly's undubbed originals, collectors can often choose from multiple versions of the same song.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g222/icryintherain101/Buddy_Holly.jpg
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/HotChantal69/buddy-holly-singing.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/mattrgarrett/Buddy.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c78/Bugsy88/Never%20to%20much%20stuffs/RS274-RS.jpg

A very talented man with great songs in short a short period of time.
Just imagine how many more hits we would have heard. He died much too young.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/03/10 at 12:05 pm


A very talented man with great songs in short a short period of time.
Just imagine how many more hits we would have heard. He died much too young.



Totally agree. But not just him but Richie Valens, & Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. AKA The Big Bopper. Truly the day the music died.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/03/10 at 12:56 pm


The person who died on this day...Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff (November 23, 1887 – February 2, 1969) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein, 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, and 1939 film Son of Frankenstein. His popularity following Frankenstein in the early 1930s was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or, on some movie posters, "Karloff the Uncanny".
In 1909, Pratt travelled to Canada and some time later changed his professional name to "Boris Karloff". Some have theorized that he took the stage name from a mad scientist character in the novel The Drums of Jeopardy called "Boris Karlov". However, the novel was not published until 1920, at least eight years after Karloff had been using the name on stage and in silent films (Warner Oland played "Boris Karlov" in a movie version in 1931). Another possible influence was thought to be a character in the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novel H.R.H. The Rider which features a "Prince Boris of Karlova", but as the novel was not published until 1915, the influence may be backward, that Burroughs saw Karloff in a play and adapted the name for the character. Karloff always claimed he chose the first name "Boris" because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name. However, his daughter Sara Karloff publicly denied any knowledge of Slavic forebears, "Karloff" or otherwise. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family. Whether or not his brothers (all dignified members of the British foreign service) actually considered young William the "black sheep of the family" for having become an actor, Karloff himself apparently worried they did feel that way. He did not reunite with his family again until 1933, when he went back to England to make The Ghoul, extremely worried that his siblings would disapprove of his new, macabre claim to world fame. Instead, his elder brothers jostled for position around their "baby" brother and happily posed for publicity photographs with him.

Karloff joined the Jeanne Russell Co. in 1911 and performed in towns like Kamloops, BC and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1912, while at Regina, Saskatchewan, he was present for a devastating tornado. He later took a job as a railway baggage handler and joined the Harry St. Clair Co., that performed in Minot, North Dakota, for a year, in an opera house above a hardware store.

Due to the years of difficult manual labor in Canada and the U.S. while trying to establish his acting career, he suffered back problems for the rest of his life. Because of his health, he did not fight in World War I.
Career in Hollywood
Karloff as The Monster from the Bride of Frankenstein trailer (1935)

Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labor, such as digging ditches and driving a cement truck, to pay the bills. His role as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931) made him a star. A year later, he played another iconic character, Imhotep, in The Mummy.

The five-foot, eleven-inch, brown-eyed Karloff played a wide variety of roles in other genres besides horror. He was memorably gunned down in a bowling alley in the 1932 film Scarface. He played a religious WWI soldier in the 1934 John Ford epic The Lost Patrol. Karloff gave a string of lauded performances in 1930s Universal horror movies, including several with his main rival for heir to the horror throne of Lon Chaney, Sr.: Béla Lugosi, whose refusal to play the monster in Frankenstein made Karloff's subsequent career possible. Karloff played Frankenstein's monster three times, the other films being Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which also featured Lugosi. Karloff would revisit the Frankenstein mythos in film several times after leaving the role. The first would be as the villainous Dr. Niemann in House of Frankenstein (1944), where Karloff would be contrasted against Glenn Strange's portrayal of the Monster.

Karloff returned to the role of the "mad scientist" in 1958's Frankenstein 1970, as Baron Victor von Frankenstein II, the grandson of the original inventor. The finale reveals that the crippled Baron has given his own face (i.e., "Karloff's") to the Monster. The actor appeared at a celebrity baseball game as the Monster in 1940, hitting a gag home run and making catcher Buster Keaton fall into an acrobatic dead faint as the Monster stomped into home plate. Norman Z. McLeod filmed a sequence in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Karloff in the Monster make-up, but it was deleted. Karloff donned the headpiece and neck bolts for the final time in 1962 for a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66, but he was playing "Boris Karloff," who, within the story, was playing "the Monster."

While the long, creative partnership between Karloff and Lugosi never led to a close mutual friendship, it produced some of the actors' most revered and enduring productions, beginning with The Black Cat. Follow-ups included Gift of Gab (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Black Friday (1940), You'll Find Out (also 1940), and The Body Snatcher (1945). During this period he also starred with Basil Rathbone in Tower of London (1939).

From 1945-1946, Karloff appeared in three films for RKO produced by Val Lewton: Isle of the Dead, The Body Snatcher, and Bedlam. In a 1946 interview with Louis Berg of the Los Angeles Times, Karloff discussed his three-picture deal with RKO, his reasons for leaving Universal Pictures and working with producer Lewton. Karloff left Universal because he thought the Frankenstein franchise had run its course. The latest installment was what he called a "'monster clambake,' with everything thrown in - Frankenstein, Dracula, a hunchback and a 'man-beast' that howled in the night. It was too much. Karloff thought it was ridiculous and said so." Berg continues, "Mr. Karloff has great love and respect for Mr. Lewton as the man who rescued him from the living dead and restored, so to speak, his soul".

During this period, Karloff was also a frequent guest on radio programs, whether it was starring in Arch Oboler's Chicago-based Lights Out productions (most notably the episode "Cat Wife") or spoofing his horror image with Fred Allen or Jack Benny.

An enthusiastic performer, he returned to the Broadway stage in the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, in which he played a homicidal gangster enraged to be frequently mistaken for Karloff. Although Frank Capra cast Raymond Massey in the 1944 film, (which was shot in 1941, while Karloff was still appearing in the role on Broadway), Karloff reprised the role on television with Tony Randall and Tom Bosley in a 1962 production on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Somewhat less successful was his work in the J. B. Priestley play The Linden Tree. He also appeared as Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan with Jean Arthur. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work opposite Julie Harris in The Lark, by the French playwright Jean Anouilh about Joan of Arc, which was also reprised on Hallmark Hall of Fame.

In later years, Karloff hosted and acted in a number of television series, most notably Thriller, Out of This World, and The Veil, the latter of which was never broadcast and only came to light in the 1990s. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared in several films for American International Pictures, including The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, and The Terror, the latter two directed by Roger Corman, and Die, Monster, Die!

During the 1950s Karloff appeared on British TV in the series Colonel March of Scotland Yard, in which he portrayed John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March who was known for solving apparently impossible crimes.

As a guest on The Gisele MacKenzie Show, Karloff sings "Those Were the Good Old Days" from Damn Yankees, while Gisele MacKenzie performs the solo, "Give Me the Simple Life". On The Red Skelton Show, Karloff guest starred along with horror actor Vincent Price in a parody of Frankenstein, with Red Skelton as the monster "Klem Kadiddle Monster." In 1966 Karloff also appeared with Robert Vaughn and Stefanie Powers in the spy series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., in the episode "The Mother Muffin Affair." Karloff performed in drag as the titular Mother Muffin. That same year he also played an Indian Maharajah on the adventure series The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Golden Cobra"). In 1967, he played an eccentric Spanish professor who thinks he's Don Quixote in a whimsical episode of I Spy ("Mainly on the Plains").

In the mid-1960s, Karloff gained a late-career surge of American popularity when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and provided "the sounds of the Grinch" (the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung not by Karloff, but by American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft). Karloff later won a Grammy in the spoken word category after the story was released as a record.

In 1968 he starred in Targets, a movie directed by Peter Bogdanovich about a young man who embarks on a spree of killings carried out with handguns and high powered rifles. The movie starred Karloff as "retired horror film actor" Byron Orlok (a lightly-disguised version of himself) facing an end of life crisis, resolved through a confrontation with the shooter.

Karloff ended his career appearing in a trio of low-budget Mexican horror films that were shot shortly before his death; all were released posthumously, with the last, The Incredible Invasion, not released until 1971, two years after Karloff's death.
Spoken Word

Other records Karloff made for the children's market included Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Stories, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and, with Cyril Ritchard and Celeste Holm, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
Personal life

In contrast to the sinister characters he played on screen, Karloff was known in real life as a very kind gentleman who gave generously, especially to children's charities. Beginning in 1940, Karloff dressed up as Santa Claus every Christmas to hand out presents to physically disabled children in a Baltimore hospital.

Karloff was also a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was especially outspoken regarding working conditions on sets that actors were expected to deal with in the mid-1930s (some of which were extremely hazardous). He married six times and had one child, a daughter, by his fifth wife.

In 1931, Boris Karloff took out insurance against premature aging that might be caused by his fright make-up.
Death

Boris Karloff lived out his final years at his cottage, 'Roundabout,' in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. After a long battle with arthritis and emphysema, he contracted pneumonia, succumbing to it in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex, England, on February 2, 1969. He was cremated, following a requested low-key service, at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul's, Covent Garden (The Actors' Church), London, where there is also a plaque.

However, even death could not put an immediate halt to Karloff's media career. Four Mexican films for which Karloff shot his scenes in Los Angeles were released over a two-year period after he had died. They were dismissed, by critics and fans alike as undistinguished efforts. Also, during the run of Thriller, Karloff lent his name and likeness to a comic book for Gold Key Comics based upon the series. After Thriller was cancelled, the comic was retitled Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. An illustrated likeness of Karloff continued to introduce each issue of this publication for nearly a decade after the real Karloff died; the comic lasted until the early 1980s.
Legacy

For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1737 Vine Street (for motion pictures) and 6664 Hollywood Boulevard (for television) (Lindsay, 1975).

In 1998, Karloff (as Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy) was featured in a series of "Monster Stamps" issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

In the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, the AI responsible for piloting the mercenary warship Touch and Go is initially created with a spooky voice and demeanour attributed to it being given a 'Karloff Skin'.

Kirk Hammett has been seen using ESP guitars customized to bear images of Boris Karloff as The Mummy and as Frankenstien's monster. He owns the rights to both guitars and is not currently allowing ESP to release them.
Filmography
Further information: Boris Karloff filmography
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/19867211_edeee41dd7.jpg

A blue plaque for Boris Karloff in Forest Hill Road, East Dulwich, London

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/03/10 at 6:09 pm

Interesting and entertaining bio on Karloff. Thanks for sharing, Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/10 at 6:16 pm


A very talented man with great songs in short a short period of time.
Just imagine how many more hits we would have heard. He died much too young.


Totally agree. But not just him but Richie Valens, & Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. AKA The Big Bopper. Truly the day the music died.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

This is true we lost 3 talented people that day :\'( :\'( :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/10 at 6:18 pm


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/19867211_edeee41dd7.jpg

A blue plaque for Boris Karloff in Forest Hill Road, East Dulwich, London

He was one of the greatest horror actors around

Interesting and entertaining bio on Karloff. Thanks for sharing, Ninny.  :)

I'm glad you liked it. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/03/10 at 6:53 pm


One of my step-daughters is a nurse.



Cat


is she a regular nurse?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 5:18 am

The word of the day...School
A school is a place where children are educated. You usually refer to this place as school when you are talking about the time that children spend there and the activities that they do there.
A school is the pupils or staff at a school.
A privately-run place where a particular skill or subject is taught can be referred to as a school.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/q_t_girl/School/Brittany.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g250/cdewitt557/School.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af71/zappwns/Real-Life-Pics/school-flood.png
http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad196/stephanyamaranta/school.jpg
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv311/happysinner018/xtRatx010.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/DotWorld/3.png
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr342/AthrunXKiraXLalala/scaryastle.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/q_t_girl/School/Dominic-playing-clarinet.jpg
http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/vv128/little_magpie_2009/DSC_3436.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac241/NCItems/KINDER2.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 5:39 am

The person born on this day...Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter and broadcaster whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock.

Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love it to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.

Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album Welcome to My Nightmare. In 2008 he released Along Came a Spider, his 18th solo album. Expanding from his original Detroit rock roots, over the years Cooper has experimented with many different musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, glam metal, hard rock, new wave, pop rock, soft rock, experimental rock and industrial rock. In recent times he has returned more to his garage rock roots.

Alice Cooper is known for his social and witty persona offstage, The Rolling Stone Album Guide going so far as to refer to him as the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". He helped to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and is seen as being the person who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur and, since 2004, a popular radio DJ with his classic rock show Nights with Alice Cooper.

On VH1's "100 Greatest artists of Hard Rock", Cooper was ranked #20..

In 1968, upon learning that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, the band were again in need of another stage name. Furnier recognized that the group needed a gimmick to succeed, and that other bands were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage. He subsequently chose Alice Cooper as the band's name and adopted this stage name as his own.

Early press releases claimed that the name was agreed upon after a session with a Ouija board, during which it was revealed that Furnier was the reincarnation of a 17th century witch named Alice Cooper. However, it is now widely accepted that this story was in fact a publicity stunt—Cooper in later interviews confirmed that the name actually came out of thin air, conjuring an image of "a cute and sweet little girl with a hatchet behind her back". (The name was also once said to be an inside joke associated with a character in the television show Mayberry R.F.D.; Alice Cooper is also the name of Betty Cooper's mother in the Archie comic strips).

In later interviews, Cooper admitted that "Alice Cooper" was only intended to be the name of the band, as Cooper himself used his birth name (Vincent Furnier) during the band's early days. However, as the band played more shows, numerous fans were coming up to Cooper and saying, "Hey, Alice!" Cooper was unaware that the fans were addressing him, and was taken aback by the notion that the fans were mistaking the band's name for his own.

Nonetheless, at the time Cooper and the band realized that the concept of a male playing the role of an androgynous witch, in tattered women's clothing and wearing make-up, would definitely have the potential to cause considerable social controversy and grab headlines. Cooper has stated in interviews that his look was inspired in part by the film Barbarella. "When I saw Anita Pallenberg playing the Great Tyrant in that movie in 1968, wearing long black leather gloves with switchblades coming out of them, I thought, ‘That’s what Alice should look like.’ That, and a little bit of Emma Peel from The Avengers. Alice has also cited What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as an influence on the make up.

" Furnier would later admit that the name change was one of his most important and brilliant career moves.

The classic Alice Cooper group line-up consisted of singer Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier), lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. With the exception of Smith, who graduated from Camelback High School (which is referred to in the song "Alma Mater" on the School's Out album), all of the band members were on the Cortez High School cross-country team, and many of Cooper's stage 'effects' were inspired by their cross-country coach, Emmett Smith (one of Smith's class projects was to build a working guillotine for slicing watermelons). Cooper, Buxton and Dunaway were also art students, and their admiration for the works of surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí would further inspire their future stage antics.

One night, after an unsuccessful gig at a club in Venice, California called The Cheetah, where the band emptied the entire room of patrons after playing just ten minutes, they were approached and enlisted by music manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's seemingly negative impact that night as a force that could be directed in a more positive direction. Shep then managed to arrange an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition, Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock", however, the band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough to sign them on a three-album deal. It was another Zappa signed act, the all-female GTOs, who liked to "dress the Cooper boys up like full size barbie dolls", that played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look. Cooper's first album Pretties for You was released in 1969 and the album had a slight psychedelic feel to the album. Although it touched the US charts for one week at #193, ultimately met with critical and commercial failure.

After an unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper and a live chicken garnered attention from the press, the band decided to capitalize on tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the infamous 'Chicken Incident', which took place at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert in September 1969, was in fact an accident. A chicken somehow made its way on stage during Cooper's performance; not having any experience around farm animals, Cooper presumed that, since the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly. He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting it to fly away; the bird instead plummeted into the first few rows of the crowd occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the animal to pieces.

The next day, the incident made the front page of many national newspapers, and Zappa phoned him to ask if the story, which reported that Cooper had bitten the head off the chicken and drunk its blood on stage, was true. Cooper denied the rumor, whereupon Zappa told him, "Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it", obviously recognising that such kind of publicity would be priceless for the band.

Despite the publicity the band received from the Chicken Incident, their stronger second album, Easy Action, released in 1970, met with the same fate as its predecessor. Music label Warner Bros. Records then purchased Straight Records from Frank Zappa, and the Alice Cooper group was set to receive a higher level of promotion from the more major label. It was around this time that the band, fed up with Californians' indifference to their act, relocated to Cooper's birthplace, Detroit, where their bizarre stage act was much better received. Detroit would remain their steady home base until 1972. "LA just didn’t get it. They were all on the wrong drug for us. They were on acid and we were basically drinking beer. We fit much more in Detroit than we did anywhere else..."
1970s

In 1970, after two failed albums, the Alice Cooper group was teamed up with fledgling producer Bob Ezrin for their third album, the last in their contract with Straight Records, and the band's last chance to create a hit. That hit soon came with the single "I'm Eighteen", released in November 1970, which reached number 21 in the Billboard Hot 100. The album that followed, Love it to Death, released in February 1971, proved to be their breakthrough record, reaching number 35 in the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts. It would be the first of eleven Alice Cooper group and solo albums produced by Ezrin, who is widely seen as being instrumental in helping to create and develop the band's definitive sound. The band's trailblazing mix of glam and increasingly violent stage theatrics stood out in stark contrast to the bearded, denim-clad hippie bands of the time. As Cooper himself stated: "We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love. We wanted to see what was next. It turned out we were next, and we drove a stake through the heart of the Love Generation".

Sporting tight sequined costumes by the prominent rock fashion designer Cindy Dunaway (sister of band member Neal Smith, and wife of band member Dennis Dunaway) and stage shows that involved mock fights and Gothic torture modes being imposed on Cooper, the androgynous stage role now presented a villainous side which posed a potential threat to modern society. With Cooper needing to be punished for his immoral ways, the first of a number of methods of execution were incorporated into the show: the Electric Chair. The success of the band's single, the album, and their tour of 1971, which saw their first and hugely successful tour of Europe (audience members reportedly included Elton John and David Bowie), provided enough encouragement for Warner Bros. to offer the band a new multi-album contract.

Their follow-up album Killer, released in late 1971, continued the commercial success of Love It To Death and included further single success with "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" in early 1972, and "Halo Of Flies", which became a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands. Thematically, Killer expanded on the villainous side of Cooper's androgynous stage role, with its music becoming the soundtrack to the group's morality-based stage show, which by then featured a boa constrictor hugging Cooper onstage and the murderous axe chopping of bloodied dead baby dolls. In addition, the method of execution had developed into death by hanging: The Gallows. By mid-1972, the Alice Cooper show had become infamous, but what the band really needed was a big hit single.

That summer saw the release of the appropriately titled single "School's Out". It went Top 10 in the US, was a #1 single in the UK, and remains a staple on classic rock radio to this day. School's Out the album reached #2 on the US charts and sold over a million copies. The band now relocated to their new mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. With Cooper's on-stage androgynous persona completely replaced with brattiness and machismo, the band's traveling carnival of filth and terror cemented their success with subsequent tours in the US and Europe, and won over devoted fans in droves while at the same time horrifying parents and outraging the social establishment.

In England, Mary Whitheouse, a well known campaigner for values of morality and decency, succeeded in having the BBC ban the video for "School's Out" and Member of Parliament Leo Abse petitioned Home Secretary Reginald Maudling to have the group banned altogether from performing in the country. However, this seemed to have little effect on the band's popularity, as they were selected to be the first band to appear on the television series ABC In Concert in September 1972, and in February 1973 Billion Dollar Babies appeared, which was the band's most commercially successful album. It reached #1 in both the US and UK, and is also viewed by many critics as representing the band's creative peak. "Elected", a 1972 Top 10 UK hit from the album, which inspired one of the first MTV-style story-line promo videos ever made for a song (three years before Queen's promotional video for "Bohemian Rhapsody"), was followed by two more UK Top 10 singles, "Hello Hooray" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", the latter of which was the last UK single from the album; it reached #25 in the US. The title track, featuring guest vocals by Donovan, was also a US hit single. Due to Glen Buxton's health problems, around this time, Mick Mashbir was added to the band (who also played, without credit, on Muscle of Love).

With a string of successful concept albums and several hit singles, the band continued their grueling schedule and toured the US once again. Continued attempts by politicians and pressure groups to ban their shocking act only served to fuel the myth of Alice Cooper further and generate even greater public interest. Their 1973 US tour broke box office records previously set by The Rolling Stones and raised rock theatrics to new heights; the multi-level stage show by then featured numerous special effects, including Billion Dollar Bills, decapitated baby dolls and mannequins, a dental psychosis scene complete with dancing teeth, and the ultimate execution prop and highlight of the show: the guillotine. The guillotine and other stage effects were designed for the band by magician James Randi, who appeared on stage during some of the shows as executioner. The Alice Cooper group had now reached its peak and it was among the most visible and successful acts in the industry. (Cooper's stage antics would influence a host of later bands, including, among others, Kiss, Blue Öyster Cult, GWAR, W.A.S.P. and, later, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie.) Beneath the surface, however, the repetitive schedule of recording and touring had begun to take its toll on the band, and Cooper, who was under the constant pressure of getting into character for that night's show, was consistently sighted nursing a can of beer.

Muscle of Love, released at the end of 1973, was to be the last studio album from the classic line-up, and marked Alice Cooper's last UK Top 20 single of the 1970s with "Teenage Lament '74". A theme song was recorded for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, but a different song of the same name by Lulu was chosen instead. By 1974, the Muscle of Love album had not matched the top-charting success of its predecessor, and the band began to have constant disagreements. Cooper wanted to retain the theatrics in the show that had brought them so much attention, while the rest of the group thought they should be toned down so that they could concentrate more on the music which had given them credibility. Largely as a result of this difference of opinion, the band decided to take a much-needed hiatus.

During this time, Cooper relocated back to Los Angeles and started appearing regularly on TV shows such as Hollywood Squares, and Warner Bros. released the Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits compilation album which featured classic artwork and which performed better than Muscle of Love, reaching the US Top 10. However, the band's feature film Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper (mainly concert footage with a faint storyline and 'comedic' sketches woven throughout), released on a minor theatrical run mostly to drive-in theaters, saw little box office success.

As some of the Alice Cooper band's members had begun recording solo albums Cooper decided to do the same himself, and 1975 saw the release of his first solo album Welcome To My Nightmare. Its success marked the final break with the original members of the band, with Cooper collaborating with their producer Bob Ezrin who recruited Lou Reed's backing band, including guitarist Dick Wagner to play on the album. Spearheaded by the US Top 20 hit "Only Women Bleed", a ballad, the album was released by Atlantic Records in March of that year and became a Top 10 hit for Cooper. It was a concept album, based on the nightmare of a child named Steven, featuring narration by classic horror movie film star Vincent Price (several years after Welcome To My Nightmare, he guested on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and serving as the soundtrack to Cooper's new stage show, which now included more theatrics than ever (including an eight foot tall furry Cyclops which Cooper decapitates and kills).

However, by this time alcohol was clearly affecting Cooper's performances. During the Welcome to My Nightmare tour in Vancouver, and only a few songs into the routine, Cooper tripped over a footlight, staggered a few paces, lost his bearings and plunged head first off the stage and onto the concrete floor of the Pacific Colosseum. Some fans, thinking it was all part of the act, reached through the barriers to pull at his blood-matted hair before bouncers could pull him away for help. He was taken to a local hospital, where medical staff stitched his head wound and provided him with a skullcap. Cooper returned to the venue a couple of hours later and tried to perform a couple of more songs, but within minutes he had to call it a night. The opening act, Suzi Quatro, had already left the building and the remainder of the concert was cancelled.

Accompanying the album and stage show was the TV special The Nightmare, starring Cooper and Vincent Price in person, which aired on US prime-time TV in April 1975. The Nightmare, the first rock music video album ever made (it was later released on home video in 1983 and gained a Grammy Awards nomination for Best Long Form Music Video), was regarded as another groundbreaking moment in rock history. Adding to all that, a concert film, also called Welcome to My Nightmare and filmed live at London's Wembley Arena in September 1975, was released to theaters in 1976. Though it failed at the box office, it later became a midnight movie favorite and a cult classic. Such was the immense success of this solo project that Cooper decided to continue alone as a solo artist, and the original band became officially defunct. It was also during this time that Cooper co-founded the legendary drinking club The Hollywood Vampires, which gave him yet another reason to indulge his continued ample appetite for alcohol.

Following the 1976 US #12 hit "I Never Cry", another ballad, two albums, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell and Lace and Whiskey, and another ballad hit, the US #9 "You and Me", it became clear from his performances during his 1977 US tour that he was in dire need of help with his alcoholism (at his alcoholic peak it was rumoured that Cooper was consuming up to two cases of Budweiser and a bottle of whiskey a day). Following the tour, Cooper had himself hospitalized in a New York sanitarium for treatment, during which time the live album The Alice Cooper Show was released. His experience in the sanitarium was the inspiration for his 1978 semi-autobiographical album From The Inside, which Cooper co-wrote with Bernie Taupin. The release spawned another US Top 20 hit "How You Gonna See Me Now", which peaked at #12, and was yet another ballad, based on his fear of how his wife would react to him after his spell in hospital.

The subsequent tour's stage show was based inside an asylum, and was filmed for Cooper's first home video release, The Strange Case of Alice Cooper, in 1979. Around this time, Cooper performed "Welcome To My Nightmare", "You and Me", and "School's Out" on The Muppet Show (episode # 307) on March 28, 1978 (he played one of the devil's henchmen trying to dupe Kermit the Frog and Gonzo into selling their souls). He also appeared in an against-type casting in the campy role of a piano playing, disco bellboy in Mae West's final film, Sextette. Cooper also led celebrities in raising money to remodel the famous Hollywood Sign in California. Cooper himself contributed over $27,000 to the project, buying an O in the sign in memory of friend and comedian Groucho Marx.
During an interview for the program Entertainment USA in 1986, Cooper stunned interviewer Jonathan King by stating that The Yardbirds were his favorite band of all time. Perhaps King should not have been so taken aback, as Cooper had as far back as 1969 gone on record as saying that it was music from the mid-sixties, and particularly from British bands The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, as well as The Yardbirds, that had had the greatest influence on him. Cooper would later pay homage to The Who by appearing in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who in 1994 at Carnegie Hall in New York, and performing a cover of "My Generation" on the Brutal Planet tour of 2000.

During an interview that Cooper himself conducted with Ozzy Osbourne on his radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper in 2007, Cooper again affirmed his debt of gratitude to these bands, and to The Beatles in particular. During their discussion, Cooper and Osbourne bemoaned the often inferior quality of songwriting coming from contemporary rock artists. Cooper stated that in his opinion the cause of the problem was that certain modern bands "had forgotten to listen to The Beatles".

On the 25th Anniversary DVD of Cabaret, Liza Minelli stated that her good friend, Alice Cooper, had told her that his whole career was based on the movie Cabaret.

Evidence of Cooper's eclectic tastes in both classic and contemporary rock music, from the 1960s to the present, can be seen in the track listings of his radio show; in addition, when Cooper appeared on the BBC Radio 2 program "Tracks of My Years" in September 2007, he cited his favourite tracks of all time as being the following: "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966) by The Rolling Stones, "Turning Japanese" (1980) by The Vapors, "My Sharona" (1979) by The Knack, "Beds Are Burning" (1987) by Midnight Oil, "My Generation" (1965) by The Who, "Welcome To The Jungle" (1987) by Guns N' Roses, "Rebel Rebel" (1974) by David Bowie, "Over Under Sideways Down" (1966) by The Yardbirds, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (2003) by Jet and "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) by The Beatles.

Rob Zombie, former frontman of White Zombie, claims his first "metal moment" was seeing Alice Cooper on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

In a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan stated, "I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter".

In the foreword to Alice Cooper's CD retrospective box set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper, John Lydon of The Sex Pistols pronounced Killer as the greatest rock album of all time, and in 2002 Lydon presented his own tribute program to Cooper on BBC radio.

The Flaming Lips are longtime Alice Cooper fans and used the bass line from "Levity Ball" (an early song from the 1969 release Pretties for You) for their song "The Ceiling Is Bending". They also covered "Sun Arise" for an Alice Cooper tribute album. (Cooper's version, which closes the album Love It To Death, was itself a cover of a Rolf Harris song.)

In 1999 Cleopatra Records released Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper featuring a number of contributions from rock and metal all-star collaborations, including Dave Mustaine, Roger Daltrey, Ronnie James Dio, Slash, Bruce Dickinson, and Steve Jones. The album was notable for the fact that it was possible to assemble a different supergroup for each cover version on the record, which gave an indication of the depth of esteem in which Cooper is held by other eminent musicians within the music industry.

Heavy metal rocker Jon Mikl Thor, also known as Thor, stated in an interview that Alice Cooper was his idol and hero.

A song by alternative rock group They Might Be Giants from their 1994 album John Henry entitled "Why Must I Be Sad?" mentions 13 Cooper songs, and has been described as being "from the perspective of a kid who hears all of his unspoken sadness given voice in the music of Alice Cooper; Alice says everything the kid has been wishing he could say about his alienated, frustrated, teenage world".

Such unlikely non-musician fans of Cooper included Groucho Marx and Mae West, who both reportedly saw the early shows as a form of vaudeville revue, and artist Salvador Dalí, who on attending a show in 1973 described it as being surreal, and made a hologram, First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain.
Personal life

In the period when the Alice Cooper group was signed to Frank Zappa's Straight label, Miss Christine of the GTOs became Cooper's girlfriend. Miss Christine (real name: Christine Frka), who had actually recommended Zappa to the group, died on November 5, 1972 of an overdose. Another long-time girlfriend of Cooper's was Cindy Lang, with whom he lived for several years. They separated in 1975. Lang sued Cooper for palimony, and they eventually settled out of court in the early 1980s. After his separation from Lang, Cooper was briefly linked with sex symbol/actress Raquel Welch. Cooper then reportedly left Welch, however, to marry, on March 20 1976, ballerina instructor/choreographer Sheryl Goddard, who performed in the Alice Cooper show from 1975 to 1982. In November 1983, at the height of Cooper's alcoholism, Sheryl filed for divorce, but by mid-1984, she and Cooper had reconciled. The couple has remained together since. In a 2002 television interview, Cooper claimed that he had "never cheated" on his wife in all the time they had been together. In the same interview, he also claimed that the secret to a lasting and successful relationship is to continue going out on dates with your partner. The couple have three children: elder daughter Calico Cooper (born 1981), an actress and singer who has been performing in the Alice Cooper show since 2000; son Dash (b. 1985), a student at Arizona State University, and also plays in a band called Runaway Phoenix; and younger daughter Sonora Rose (b. 1993).

Cooper, a huge fan of The Simpsons, was asked to contribute a storyline for the September 2004 edition of Bongo Comics's Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, a special Monsters of Rock issue that also included stories plotted by Gene Simmons, Rob Zombie and Pat Boone. Cooper's story featured Homer Simpson being a Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th style killer and Alice and the citizens of Springfield are being stalked by Homer.

On June 20, 2005, ahead of his June–July 2005 tour, Cooper had a wide-ranging interview with interviewer of celebrities Andrew Denton for the Australian ABC Television's Enough Rope. Cooper discussed various issues during a revealing and frank talk, including the horrors of acute alcoholism and his subsequent cure, being a Christian, and his social and work relationship with his family. During the interview, Cooper remarked "I look at Mick Jagger and he's on an 18-month tour and he's six years older than me, so I figure, when he retires, I have six more years. I will not let him beat me when it comes to longevity."




Discography

   See: Alice Cooper discography

Filmography

   See: Alice Cooper filmography

List of Alice Cooper band personnel

   See: list of Alice Cooper personnel
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Alice_Cooper.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/MaidenMan666/fcooper.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb42/WkdLilLady/Alice%20Cooper/clothesadvert.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g216/pookie_kitten/alice_cooper.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 5:44 am

The person who died on this day...Karen Carpenter
Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and drummer. She and her brother, Richard, formed the 1970s duo The Carpenters. Her drumming skills were considerable, but it is for her vocal performances that she is best remembered.

She suffered from anorexia nervosa, a little known disease at the time, and died at the age of 32 from heart failure, later attributed to complications related to her illness.
From 1965 to 1968, Karen, her brother Richard and his college friend Wes Jacobs, a bassist and tuba player, formed The Richard Carpenter Trio. The band played jazz at numerous nightclubs, and also appeared on a TV talent show called Your All American College Show.

Karen, Richard, and other musicians, including Gary Sims and John Bettis, also performed as an ensemble known as Spectrum. Spectrum focused on a harmonious, vocal sound, and recorded many demo tapes in the garage studio of friend and bassist Joe Osborn. Many of those tapes were rejected. According to former Carpenters member John Bettis, those rejections "took their toll."

Finally, in April 1969 A&M Records signed the Carpenters to a recording contract. Karen Carpenter sang most of the songs on the band's first album, "Offering" (later retitled Ticket to Ride). The issued single (later the title track), which was a cover of a Beatles song, became their first single: it reached #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Their next album, 1970's Close to You, featured two massive hit singles: "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun." They peaked at #1 and #2, respectively, on the Hot 100.

Karen Carpenter started out as both the group's drummer and lead singer, and she originally sang all her vocals from behind the drum set. Eventually, she was persuaded to stand at the microphone to sing the band's hits while another musician played the drums, although she still did some drumming. (Former Mouseketeer Cubby O'Brien served as the band's other drummer for many years.)

After the release of Now & Then in 1973, the albums tended to have Karen singing more and drumming less. Karen rarely selected the songs she would sing, and often felt she had very little control over her life. She dieted obsessively and developed anorexia nervosa. At the same time, her brother Richard developed an addiction to Quaaludes.

The Carpenters frequently cancelled tour dates, and they stopped touring altogether after September 4, 1978, when they gave their last live concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In 1981, after the release of the Made in America album (which turned out to be their last) the Carpenters returned to the stage and did some tour dates, including their final live performance in Brazil.
As a drummer

Karen's drumming was praised by fellow drummers Hal Blaine, Cubby O'Brien, Buddy Rich and Modern Drummer magazine. Many people are unaware that Karen had an impeccable ability to play the drums, in part because the public wanted a singing Karen Carpenter, rather than a drumming Karen Carpenter. However, according to Richard Carpenter in an interview, Karen always considered herself a "drummer who sang."

Carpenter started playing the drum set in 1964. She was always enthusiastic about the drums, and taught herself how to play complicated drum lines with "exotic time signatures", according to Richard Carpenter.
Solo album

In 1979, Richard Carpenter took a year off to cure a dependency on quaaludes, and Karen decided to make a solo album with producer Phil Ramone. Her solo work was markedly different from usual Carpenters fare, consisting of adult-oriented and disco/dance-tempo material with more sexual lyrics and the use of Karen's higher vocal register.

The project met a tepid response from Richard and A&M executives in early 1980. The album was shelved by A&M CEO Herb Alpert, in spite of Quincy Jones' attempts to talk Alpert into releasing the record after some tracks had been remixed. A&M made the Carpenters pay $400,000 to cover the cost of recording Karen's unreleased solo album, which was to be charged against the duo's future royalties.

Carpenters fans got a taste of the album in 1989 when some of its tracks (as remixed by Richard) were mixed onto the album Lovelines, the final album of Carpenters' new unreleased material. Seven years later, in 1996, the entire album, featuring mixes approved by Karen before her death and one unmixed bonus track, was finally released.
Personal life

Karen lived with her parents until she was 26 years old. After the Carpenters became successful in the early 1970s, she and her brother bought two apartment buildings in Downey. Called "Close To You" and "Only Just Begun," both apartments can still be found at 8388 5th Street, Downey, California.

In 1976, Karen bought two Century City apartments, gutted them, and turned them into one condominium. Located at 2222 Avenue of the Stars, the doorbell chimed the first six notes of "We've Only Just Begun". As a housewarming gift, her mother gave her a collection of leather-bound classic works of literature. Karen collected Disney memorabilia, loved to play softball and baseball, and listed Petula Clark, Olivia Newton-John and Dionne Warwick among her closest friends.

Karen dated a number of well-known men including Mike Curb, Tony Danza, Mark Harmon, Steve Martin and Alan Osmond. The songwriter Tom Bahler wrote the song "She's Out of My Life" (which eventually became a hit single for Michael Jackson) after she broke up with him because she discovered that he had fathered a child with a married woman.

After a whirlwind romance, Karen married real estate developer Thomas James Burris on August 31, 1980 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the Crystal Room. Burris, a divorcee with an 18-year old son, was nine years older than she was. A new song performed by Karen at the ceremony, "Because We Are In Love," was released in 1981. The couple went to Bora Bora for their honeymoon. Karen called her family from the island and described it as "Boring Boring." The marriage was not a happy one, and the couple filed for divorce in November 1981.

The song "Now", recorded in April 1982, was the last song Karen Carpenter recorded. She recorded it after a two-week intermission in her therapy with psychotherapist Steven Levenkron in New York City for her anorexia. The sight of Karen upon her return to California in April shook Richard and his parents, since she had lost a considerable amount of weight since beginning her therapy with Steven Levenkron. In September 1982, Karen's treatment, which had never convinced her family as being an effective method, took a sinister turn of events when Karen called her psyschotherapist to tell him she felt dizzy and that her heart was beating irregularly. Karen was admitted to Lennox Hospital in New York and hooked up to an intranvenous drip, which would be the cause of her much debated 30 pound weight gain in 8 weeks. Richard recalled visiting her in the hospital, saying 'Karen, this is crap. Don't you understand? This is crap! You're going about this all the wrong way, this guy isn't getting anything accomplished, because you're in a hospital now!'

Karen returned to California in November 1982, determined to reinvigorate her career, finalize her divorce and begin a new album with Richard. She had gained 30 pounds over a two-month stay in New York, and the sudden weight gain (much of which was the result of intravenous feeding) further strained her heart, which was already weak from years of crash dieting. At the height of her illness, Karen was taking ten times the normal daily dose of thyroid replacement medication (equivalent to 1 milligram, as opposed to the normal 100 microgram dose), in order to speed up her metabolism.

On December 17, 1982, Karen made her last public appearance in the "multi-purpose" room of the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, California singing for her godchildren and their classmates who attended the school. She sang Christmas carols for friends.

A few weeks before Karen died, Richard tried to get through to Karen that she was still sick, saying many years later "Karen had marvellous, big brown eyes. And there was just no life in them. " Speaking of a meeting with his sister and Werner Wolfen, the Carpenters' financial advisor, two weeks prior to her death, Richard said:

    Karen was hot as hell at me for even questioning how she looked. And I told her 'the only reason I'm bringing all of this up, and talking to people...is because I'm concerned and because I love you.' And am I glad I said that because within weeks, that was that. She was dead.'"

Death

On February 4, 1983, less than a month before her thirty-third birthday, Karen suffered heart failure at her parents' home in Downey, California. She was taken to Downey Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead twenty minutes later. The LA coroner gave the cause of death as "heartbeat irregularities brought on by chemical imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa." Her divorce was scheduled to have been finalized that day.

The autopsy stated that Karen's death was the result of emetine cardiotoxicity due to anorexia nervosa. Under the anatomical summary, the first item was heart failure, with anorexia as second. The third finding was cachexia, which is extremely low weight and weakness and general body decline associated with chronic disease. Emetine cardiotoxicity implies that Karen abused ipecac syrup, an easily obtained emetic medicine that is only meant to be taken by persons who have accidentally swallowed poison. Agnes and Richard disputed this finding. Both have stated that they never found empty vials of ipecac in her apartment, nor was there any concrete evidence that Karen had been vomiting. Richard believes that Karen was not willing to do this because it could damage her vocal cords, relying on laxatives alone to maintain her low body weight.

Her funeral service took place on February 8, 1983, at the Downey United Methodist Church where the Rev. Charles Neal, an old family friend and their pastor in New Haven, officiated. Carpenter, dressed in a rose colored suit, lay in an open white casket. Over a thousand mourners passed through to say goodbye, among them her friends Dorothy Hamill, Olivia Newton-John, Petula Clark, and Dionne Warwick. Carpenter's estranged husband Tom attended her funeral, where he took off his wedding ring and threw it into the casket.

She was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California. In 2003, she was re-interred, next to her parents, in a mausoleum at the Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California.
After death

Carpenter's death brought lasting media attention to anorexia nervosa and also to bulimia. In the years after Carpenter's death, there were a number of celebrities who decided to go public about their eating disorders, among them Tracey Gold and Diana, Princess of Wales. Medical centers and hospitals began receiving increased contacts from people with these disorders. The general public had little knowledge of anorexia nervosa and bulimia prior to Carpenter's death, making the condition difficult to identify and treat.

Her family started the "Karen A. Carpenter Memorial Foundation," which raised money for research on anorexia nervosa and eating disorders. Today the name of the organization has been changed to the "Carpenter Family Foundation." In addition to eating disorders, the foundation now funds the arts, entertainment and education.
Carpenters' star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On October 12, 1983, the Carpenters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6931 Hollywood Blvd., a few yards from the Kodak Theater. Richard, Harold and Agnes Carpenter attended the inauguration, as did many fans.

In 1987, movie director Todd Haynes used songs by Richard and Karen in his movie Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. In the movie, Haynes portrayed the Carpenters with Barbie dolls, rather than live actors. The movie was later pulled from distribution after Richard Carpenter won a court case involving song royalties; Haynes had not obtained legal permission to use The Carpenters' recordings.

On January 1, 1989, the similarly-titled made-for-TV movie The Karen Carpenter Story aired on CBS with Cynthia Gibb in the title role. Gibb lip-synced the songs to Carpenter's recorded voice. Both films use the song "This Masquerade" in the background while showing Karen's marriage to Burris.
Lists containing Karen Carpenter

1975 - In Playboy's annual opinion poll, its readers voted Karen Carpenter the Best Rock Drummer of the year.

1999 - VH1 ranked Karen Carpenter at #29 on their list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll.

2008 - Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Karen Carpenter number 94 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Albums
Studio albums

    * Offering (later reissued as 'Ticket To Ride') (1969)
    * Close to You (1970)
    * Carpenters (1971)
    * A Song for You (1972)
    * Now & Then (1973)
    * The Singles: 1969-1973 (1973)
    * Horizon (1975)
    * A Kind of Hush (1976)
    * Passage (1977)
    * Christmas Portrait (1978)
    * The Singles: 1974-1978 (1978)
    * Made in America (1981)
    * Voice of the Heart (1983)
    * An Old-Fashioned Christmas (1984)
    * Lovelines (1989)
    * As Time Goes By (2003)

Solo albums

    * Karen Carpenter (1996)

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e270/Retisboy/karen-carpenter.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd283/MyLiFeAsAdOc/Karen_Carpenter.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii111/redrosie83/Karen%20Carpenter/karen_1434.jpg
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac67/NicotineQueen/august%2009/karen-carpenter.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/04/10 at 6:48 am

Wow...Alice Cooper and Karen Carpenter.... I  like them both.  Cooper looked monstrous but sang some of the greatest ballads of the 70's. I read his bio with great interest.

Karen Carpenter was simply one of the greatest female voices of last century. Incredibly under rated....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/04/10 at 6:59 am

I LOVE the Welcome To My Nightmare album. The only Alice Cooper album I have.


I remember when Karen died. So sad. She was such a great talent.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/04/10 at 7:04 am


is she a regular nurse?



As opposed to a irregular nurse?  ???


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/04/10 at 7:06 am


The word of the day...School
A school is a place where children are educated. You usually refer to this place as school when you are talking about the time that children spend there and the activities that they do there.
A school is the pupils or staff at a school.
A privately-run place where a particular skill or subject is taught can be referred to as a school.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/q_t_girl/School/Brittany.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g250/cdewitt557/School.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af71/zappwns/Real-Life-Pics/school-flood.png
http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad196/stephanyamaranta/school.jpg
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv311/happysinner018/xtRatx010.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/DotWorld/3.png
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr342/AthrunXKiraXLalala/scaryastle.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f226/q_t_girl/School/Dominic-playing-clarinet.jpg
http://i676.photobucket.com/albums/vv128/little_magpie_2009/DSC_3436.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac241/NCItems/KINDER2.gif


I can't believe it's been 18 years since I graduated High School.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/04/10 at 7:07 am



As opposed to a irregular nurse?  ???


Cat


What's that supposed to mean?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/04/10 at 7:10 am


I LOVE the Welcome To My Nightmare album. The only Alice Cooper album I have.


I remember when Karen died. So sad. She was such a great talent.



Cat


It was my only Cooper album also. The single Dept of Youth was a bigger hit over here (from memory) than it was in the U.S. (only #67 in The States).

I also didn't realize that Alice Cooper was the band name prior to him becoming a single act.... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/04/10 at 7:11 am

Alice Cooper was at Wrestlemania 2 in Jake Roberts's corner against The HonkyTonk Man.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/04/10 at 7:18 am


It was my only Cooper album also. The single Dept of Youth was a bigger hit over here (from memory) than it was in the U.S. (only #67 in The States).

I also didn't realize that Alice Cooper was the band name prior to him becoming a single act.... ;D



I love Dept of Youth. I don't know if you ever listened to the end as the song starts to fade (it is barely audible) when he asks, "And who gave it to you?" and the kids yell "Donnie Osmond" and he said, "WHAT?"  That always cracks me up.

Of course I do Love Some Folks, Years Ago & Steven. Great songs.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/04/10 at 7:20 am



I love Dept of Youth. I don't know if you ever listened to the end as the song starts to fade (it is barely audible) when he asks, "And who gave it to you?" and the kids yell "Donnie Osmond" and he said, "WHAT?"  That always cracks me up.

Of course I do Love Some Folks, Years Ago & Steven. Great songs.



Cat




YEESSS!  I forgot about that. That was always amusing.... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 8:17 am


Wow...Alice Cooper and Karen Carpenter.... I  like them both.  Cooper looked monstrous but sang some of the greatest ballads of the 70's. I read his bio with great interest.

Karen Carpenter was simply one of the greatest female voices of last century. Incredibly under rated....


I LOVE the Welcome To My Nightmare album. The only Alice Cooper album I have.


I remember when Karen died. So sad. She was such a great talent.



Cat

Yes interesting that they both have different styles, but I also liked both...Karen was one of the greatest, plus a female drummer back in the 70's now you didn't see that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 8:19 am



As opposed to a irregular nurse?  ???


Cat

I was dying to say that but bite my lip ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/04/10 at 11:09 am


Yes interesting that they both have different styles, but I also liked both...Karen was one of the greatest, plus a female drummer back in the 70's now you didn't see that.

Karen..still miss ya. Your sweet voice..a touch of sadness in it...Those carpenter songs...
Classics.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 12:47 pm


Karen..still miss ya. Your sweet voice..a touch of sadness in it...Those carpenter songs...
Classics.

I've been listening to some of their songs today..very nice

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/04/10 at 12:50 pm


I also didn't realize that Alice Cooper was the band name prior to him becoming a single act.... ;D

Neither did I...until I read about it a few months ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/04/10 at 2:10 pm


The person born on this day...Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter and broadcaster whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock.

Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love it to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.

Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album Welcome to My Nightmare. In 2008 he released Along Came a Spider, his 18th solo album. Expanding from his original Detroit rock roots, over the years Cooper has experimented with many different musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, glam metal, hard rock, new wave, pop rock, soft rock, experimental rock and industrial rock. In recent times he has returned more to his garage rock roots.

Alice Cooper is known for his social and witty persona offstage, The Rolling Stone Album Guide going so far as to refer to him as the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". He helped to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and is seen as being the person who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur and, since 2004, a popular radio DJ with his classic rock show Nights with Alice Cooper.

On VH1's "100 Greatest artists of Hard Rock", Cooper was ranked #20..

In 1968, upon learning that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, the band were again in need of another stage name. Furnier recognized that the group needed a gimmick to succeed, and that other bands were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage. He subsequently chose Alice Cooper as the band's name and adopted this stage name as his own.

Early press releases claimed that the name was agreed upon after a session with a Ouija board, during which it was revealed that Furnier was the reincarnation of a 17th century witch named Alice Cooper. However, it is now widely accepted that this story was in fact a publicity stunt—Cooper in later interviews confirmed that the name actually came out of thin air, conjuring an image of "a cute and sweet little girl with a hatchet behind her back". (The name was also once said to be an inside joke associated with a character in the television show Mayberry R.F.D.; Alice Cooper is also the name of Betty Cooper's mother in the Archie comic strips).

In later interviews, Cooper admitted that "Alice Cooper" was only intended to be the name of the band, as Cooper himself used his birth name (Vincent Furnier) during the band's early days. However, as the band played more shows, numerous fans were coming up to Cooper and saying, "Hey, Alice!" Cooper was unaware that the fans were addressing him, and was taken aback by the notion that the fans were mistaking the band's name for his own.

Nonetheless, at the time Cooper and the band realized that the concept of a male playing the role of an androgynous witch, in tattered women's clothing and wearing make-up, would definitely have the potential to cause considerable social controversy and grab headlines. Cooper has stated in interviews that his look was inspired in part by the film Barbarella. "When I saw Anita Pallenberg playing the Great Tyrant in that movie in 1968, wearing long black leather gloves with switchblades coming out of them, I thought, ‘That’s what Alice should look like.’ That, and a little bit of Emma Peel from The Avengers. Alice has also cited What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as an influence on the make up.

" Furnier would later admit that the name change was one of his most important and brilliant career moves.

The classic Alice Cooper group line-up consisted of singer Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier), lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. With the exception of Smith, who graduated from Camelback High School (which is referred to in the song "Alma Mater" on the School's Out album), all of the band members were on the Cortez High School cross-country team, and many of Cooper's stage 'effects' were inspired by their cross-country coach, Emmett Smith (one of Smith's class projects was to build a working guillotine for slicing watermelons). Cooper, Buxton and Dunaway were also art students, and their admiration for the works of surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí would further inspire their future stage antics.

One night, after an unsuccessful gig at a club in Venice, California called The Cheetah, where the band emptied the entire room of patrons after playing just ten minutes, they were approached and enlisted by music manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's seemingly negative impact that night as a force that could be directed in a more positive direction. Shep then managed to arrange an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition, Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock", however, the band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough to sign them on a three-album deal. It was another Zappa signed act, the all-female GTOs, who liked to "dress the Cooper boys up like full size barbie dolls", that played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look. Cooper's first album Pretties for You was released in 1969 and the album had a slight psychedelic feel to the album. Although it touched the US charts for one week at #193, ultimately met with critical and commercial failure.

After an unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper and a live chicken garnered attention from the press, the band decided to capitalize on tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the infamous 'Chicken Incident', which took place at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert in September 1969, was in fact an accident. A chicken somehow made its way on stage during Cooper's performance; not having any experience around farm animals, Cooper presumed that, since the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly. He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting it to fly away; the bird instead plummeted into the first few rows of the crowd occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the animal to pieces.

The next day, the incident made the front page of many national newspapers, and Zappa phoned him to ask if the story, which reported that Cooper had bitten the head off the chicken and drunk its blood on stage, was true. Cooper denied the rumor, whereupon Zappa told him, "Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it", obviously recognising that such kind of publicity would be priceless for the band.

Despite the publicity the band received from the Chicken Incident, their stronger second album, Easy Action, released in 1970, met with the same fate as its predecessor. Music label Warner Bros. Records then purchased Straight Records from Frank Zappa, and the Alice Cooper group was set to receive a higher level of promotion from the more major label. It was around this time that the band, fed up with Californians' indifference to their act, relocated to Cooper's birthplace, Detroit, where their bizarre stage act was much better received. Detroit would remain their steady home base until 1972. "LA just didn’t get it. They were all on the wrong drug for us. They were on acid and we were basically drinking beer. We fit much more in Detroit than we did anywhere else..."
1970s

In 1970, after two failed albums, the Alice Cooper group was teamed up with fledgling producer Bob Ezrin for their third album, the last in their contract with Straight Records, and the band's last chance to create a hit. That hit soon came with the single "I'm Eighteen", released in November 1970, which reached number 21 in the Billboard Hot 100. The album that followed, Love it to Death, released in February 1971, proved to be their breakthrough record, reaching number 35 in the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts. It would be the first of eleven Alice Cooper group and solo albums produced by Ezrin, who is widely seen as being instrumental in helping to create and develop the band's definitive sound. The band's trailblazing mix of glam and increasingly violent stage theatrics stood out in stark contrast to the bearded, denim-clad hippie bands of the time. As Cooper himself stated: "We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love. We wanted to see what was next. It turned out we were next, and we drove a stake through the heart of the Love Generation".

Sporting tight sequined costumes by the prominent rock fashion designer Cindy Dunaway (sister of band member Neal Smith, and wife of band member Dennis Dunaway) and stage shows that involved mock fights and Gothic torture modes being imposed on Cooper, the androgynous stage role now presented a villainous side which posed a potential threat to modern society. With Cooper needing to be punished for his immoral ways, the first of a number of methods of execution were incorporated into the show: the Electric Chair. The success of the band's single, the album, and their tour of 1971, which saw their first and hugely successful tour of Europe (audience members reportedly included Elton John and David Bowie), provided enough encouragement for Warner Bros. to offer the band a new multi-album contract.

Their follow-up album Killer, released in late 1971, continued the commercial success of Love It To Death and included further single success with "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" in early 1972, and "Halo Of Flies", which became a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands. Thematically, Killer expanded on the villainous side of Cooper's androgynous stage role, with its music becoming the soundtrack to the group's morality-based stage show, which by then featured a boa constrictor hugging Cooper onstage and the murderous axe chopping of bloodied dead baby dolls. In addition, the method of execution had developed into death by hanging: The Gallows. By mid-1972, the Alice Cooper show had become infamous, but what the band really needed was a big hit single.

That summer saw the release of the appropriately titled single "School's Out". It went Top 10 in the US, was a #1 single in the UK, and remains a staple on classic rock radio to this day. School's Out the album reached #2 on the US charts and sold over a million copies. The band now relocated to their new mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. With Cooper's on-stage androgynous persona completely replaced with brattiness and machismo, the band's traveling carnival of filth and terror cemented their success with subsequent tours in the US and Europe, and won over devoted fans in droves while at the same time horrifying parents and outraging the social establishment.

In England, Mary Whitheouse, a well known campaigner for values of morality and decency, succeeded in having the BBC ban the video for "School's Out" and Member of Parliament Leo Abse petitioned Home Secretary Reginald Maudling to have the group banned altogether from performing in the country. However, this seemed to have little effect on the band's popularity, as they were selected to be the first band to appear on the television series ABC In Concert in September 1972, and in February 1973 Billion Dollar Babies appeared, which was the band's most commercially successful album. It reached #1 in both the US and UK, and is also viewed by many critics as representing the band's creative peak. "Elected", a 1972 Top 10 UK hit from the album, which inspired one of the first MTV-style story-line promo videos ever made for a song (three years before Queen's promotional video for "Bohemian Rhapsody"), was followed by two more UK Top 10 singles, "Hello Hooray" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", the latter of which was the last UK single from the album; it reached #25 in the US. The title track, featuring guest vocals by Donovan, was also a US hit single. Due to Glen Buxton's health problems, around this time, Mick Mashbir was added to the band (who also played, without credit, on Muscle of Love).

With a string of successful concept albums and several hit singles, the band continued their grueling schedule and toured the US once again. Continued attempts by politicians and pressure groups to ban their shocking act only served to fuel the myth of Alice Cooper further and generate even greater public interest. Their 1973 US tour broke box office records previously set by The Rolling Stones and raised rock theatrics to new heights; the multi-level stage show by then featured numerous special effects, including Billion Dollar Bills, decapitated baby dolls and mannequins, a dental psychosis scene complete with dancing teeth, and the ultimate execution prop and highlight of the show: the guillotine. The guillotine and other stage effects were designed for the band by magician James Randi, who appeared on stage during some of the shows as executioner. The Alice Cooper group had now reached its peak and it was among the most visible and successful acts in the industry. (Cooper's stage antics would influence a host of later bands, including, among others, Kiss, Blue Öyster Cult, GWAR, W.A.S.P. and, later, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie.) Beneath the surface, however, the repetitive schedule of recording and touring had begun to take its toll on the band, and Cooper, who was under the constant pressure of getting into character for that night's show, was consistently sighted nursing a can of beer.

Muscle of Love, released at the end of 1973, was to be the last studio album from the classic line-up, and marked Alice Cooper's last UK Top 20 single of the 1970s with "Teenage Lament '74". A theme song was recorded for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, but a different song of the same name by Lulu was chosen instead. By 1974, the Muscle of Love album had not matched the top-charting success of its predecessor, and the band began to have constant disagreements. Cooper wanted to retain the theatrics in the show that had brought them so much attention, while the rest of the group thought they should be toned down so that they could concentrate more on the music which had given them credibility. Largely as a result of this difference of opinion, the band decided to take a much-needed hiatus.

During this time, Cooper relocated back to Los Angeles and started appearing regularly on TV shows such as Hollywood Squares, and Warner Bros. released the Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits compilation album which featured classic artwork and which performed better than Muscle of Love, reaching the US Top 10. However, the band's feature film Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper (mainly concert footage with a faint storyline and 'comedic' sketches woven throughout), released on a minor theatrical run mostly to drive-in theaters, saw little box office success.

As some of the Alice Cooper band's members had begun recording solo albums Cooper decided to do the same himself, and 1975 saw the release of his first solo album Welcome To My Nightmare. Its success marked the final break with the original members of the band, with Cooper collaborating with their producer Bob Ezrin who recruited Lou Reed's backing band, including guitarist Dick Wagner to play on the album. Spearheaded by the US Top 20 hit "Only Women Bleed", a ballad, the album was released by Atlantic Records in March of that year and became a Top 10 hit for Cooper. It was a concept album, based on the nightmare of a child named Steven, featuring narration by classic horror movie film star Vincent Price (several years after Welcome To My Nightmare, he guested on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and serving as the soundtrack to Cooper's new stage show, which now included more theatrics than ever (including an eight foot tall furry Cyclops which Cooper decapitates and kills).

However, by this time alcohol was clearly affecting Cooper's performances. During the Welcome to My Nightmare tour in Vancouver, and only a few songs into the routine, Cooper tripped over a footlight, staggered a few paces, lost his bearings and plunged head first off the stage and onto the concrete floor of the Pacific Colosseum. Some fans, thinking it was all part of the act, reached through the barriers to pull at his blood-matted hair before bouncers could pull him away for help. He was taken to a local hospital, where medical staff stitched his head wound and provided him with a skullcap. Cooper returned to the venue a couple of hours later and tried to perform a couple of more songs, but within minutes he had to call it a night. The opening act, Suzi Quatro, had already left the building and the remainder of the concert was cancelled.

Accompanying the album and stage show was the TV special The Nightmare, starring Cooper and Vincent Price in person, which aired on US prime-time TV in April 1975. The Nightmare, the first rock music video album ever made (it was later released on home video in 1983 and gained a Grammy Awards nomination for Best Long Form Music Video), was regarded as another groundbreaking moment in rock history. Adding to all that, a concert film, also called Welcome to My Nightmare and filmed live at London's Wembley Arena in September 1975, was released to theaters in 1976. Though it failed at the box office, it later became a midnight movie favorite and a cult classic. Such was the immense success of this solo project that Cooper decided to continue alone as a solo artist, and the original band became officially defunct. It was also during this time that Cooper co-founded the legendary drinking club The Hollywood Vampires, which gave him yet another reason to indulge his continued ample appetite for alcohol.

Following the 1976 US #12 hit "I Never Cry", another ballad, two albums, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell and Lace and Whiskey, and another ballad hit, the US #9 "You and Me", it became clear from his performances during his 1977 US tour that he was in dire need of help with his alcoholism (at his alcoholic peak it was rumoured that Cooper was consuming up to two cases of Budweiser and a bottle of whiskey a day). Following the tour, Cooper had himself hospitalized in a New York sanitarium for treatment, during which time the live album The Alice Cooper Show was released. His experience in the sanitarium was the inspiration for his 1978 semi-autobiographical album From The Inside, which Cooper co-wrote with Bernie Taupin. The release spawned another US Top 20 hit "How You Gonna See Me Now", which peaked at #12, and was yet another ballad, based on his fear of how his wife would react to him after his spell in hospital.

The subsequent tour's stage show was based inside an asylum, and was filmed for Cooper's first home video release, The Strange Case of Alice Cooper, in 1979. Around this time, Cooper performed "Welcome To My Nightmare", "You and Me", and "School's Out" on The Muppet Show (episode # 307) on March 28, 1978 (he played one of the devil's henchmen trying to dupe Kermit the Frog and Gonzo into selling their souls). He also appeared in an against-type casting in the campy role of a piano playing, disco bellboy in Mae West's final film, Sextette. Cooper also led celebrities in raising money to remodel the famous Hollywood Sign in California. Cooper himself contributed over $27,000 to the project, buying an O in the sign in memory of friend and comedian Groucho Marx.
During an interview for the program Entertainment USA in 1986, Cooper stunned interviewer Jonathan King by stating that The Yardbirds were his favorite band of all time. Perhaps King should not have been so taken aback, as Cooper had as far back as 1969 gone on record as saying that it was music from the mid-sixties, and particularly from British bands The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, as well as The Yardbirds, that had had the greatest influence on him. Cooper would later pay homage to The Who by appearing in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who in 1994 at Carnegie Hall in New York, and performing a cover of "My Generation" on the Brutal Planet tour of 2000.

During an interview that Cooper himself conducted with Ozzy Osbourne on his radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper in 2007, Cooper again affirmed his debt of gratitude to these bands, and to The Beatles in particular. During their discussion, Cooper and Osbourne bemoaned the often inferior quality of songwriting coming from contemporary rock artists. Cooper stated that in his opinion the cause of the problem was that certain modern bands "had forgotten to listen to The Beatles".

On the 25th Anniversary DVD of Cabaret, Liza Minelli stated that her good friend, Alice Cooper, had told her that his whole career was based on the movie Cabaret.

Evidence of Cooper's eclectic tastes in both classic and contemporary rock music, from the 1960s to the present, can be seen in the track listings of his radio show; in addition, when Cooper appeared on the BBC Radio 2 program "Tracks of My Years" in September 2007, he cited his favourite tracks of all time as being the following: "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966) by The Rolling Stones, "Turning Japanese" (1980) by The Vapors, "My Sharona" (1979) by The Knack, "Beds Are Burning" (1987) by Midnight Oil, "My Generation" (1965) by The Who, "Welcome To The Jungle" (1987) by Guns N' Roses, "Rebel Rebel" (1974) by David Bowie, "Over Under Sideways Down" (1966) by The Yardbirds, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (2003) by Jet and "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) by The Beatles.

Rob Zombie, former frontman of White Zombie, claims his first "metal moment" was seeing Alice Cooper on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

In a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan stated, "I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter".

In the foreword to Alice Cooper's CD retrospective box set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper, John Lydon of The Sex Pistols pronounced Killer as the greatest rock album of all time, and in 2002 Lydon presented his own tribute program to Cooper on BBC radio.

The Flaming Lips are longtime Alice Cooper fans and used the bass line from "Levity Ball" (an early song from the 1969 release Pretties for You) for their song "The Ceiling Is Bending". They also covered "Sun Arise" for an Alice Cooper tribute album. (Cooper's version, which closes the album Love It To Death, was itself a cover of a Rolf Harris song.)

In 1999 Cleopatra Records released Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper featuring a number of contributions from rock and metal all-star collaborations, including Dave Mustaine, Roger Daltrey, Ronnie James Dio, Slash, Bruce Dickinson, and Steve Jones. The album was notable for the fact that it was possible to assemble a different supergroup for each cover version on the record, which gave an indication of the depth of esteem in which Cooper is held by other eminent musicians within the music industry.

Heavy metal rocker Jon Mikl Thor, also known as Thor, stated in an interview that Alice Cooper was his idol and hero.

A song by alternative rock group They Might Be Giants from their 1994 album John Henry entitled "Why Must I Be Sad?" mentions 13 Cooper songs, and has been described as being "from the perspective of a kid who hears all of his unspoken sadness given voice in the music of Alice Cooper; Alice says everything the kid has been wishing he could say about his alienated, frustrated, teenage world".

Such unlikely non-musician fans of Cooper included Groucho Marx and Mae West, who both reportedly saw the early shows as a form of vaudeville revue, and artist Salvador Dalí, who on attending a show in 1973 described it as being surreal, and made a hologram, First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain.
Personal life

In the period when the Alice Cooper group was signed to Frank Zappa's Straight label, Miss Christine of the GTOs became Cooper's girlfriend. Miss Christine (real name: Christine Frka), who had actually recommended Zappa to the group, died on November 5, 1972 of an overdose. Another long-time girlfriend of Cooper's was Cindy Lang, with whom he lived for several years. They separated in 1975. Lang sued Cooper for palimony, and they eventually settled out of court in the early 1980s. After his separation from Lang, Cooper was briefly linked with sex symbol/actress Raquel Welch. Cooper then reportedly left Welch, however, to marry, on March 20 1976, ballerina instructor/choreographer Sheryl Goddard, who performed in the Alice Cooper show from 1975 to 1982. In November 1983, at the height of Cooper's alcoholism, Sheryl filed for divorce, but by mid-1984, she and Cooper had reconciled. The couple has remained together since. In a 2002 television interview, Cooper claimed that he had "never cheated" on his wife in all the time they had been together. In the same interview, he also claimed that the secret to a lasting and successful relationship is to continue going out on dates with your partner. The couple have three children: elder daughter Calico Cooper (born 1981), an actress and singer who has been performing in the Alice Cooper show since 2000; son Dash (b. 1985), a student at Arizona State University, and also plays in a band called Runaway Phoenix; and younger daughter Sonora Rose (b. 1993).

Cooper, a huge fan of The Simpsons, was asked to contribute a storyline for the September 2004 edition of Bongo Comics's Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, a special Monsters of Rock issue that also included stories plotted by Gene Simmons, Rob Zombie and Pat Boone. Cooper's story featured Homer Simpson being a Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th style killer and Alice and the citizens of Springfield are being stalked by Homer.

On June 20, 2005, ahead of his June–July 2005 tour, Cooper had a wide-ranging interview with interviewer of celebrities Andrew Denton for the Australian ABC Television's Enough Rope. Cooper discussed various issues during a revealing and frank talk, including the horrors of acute alcoholism and his subsequent cure, being a Christian, and his social and work relationship with his family. During the interview, Cooper remarked "I look at Mick Jagger and he's on an 18-month tour and he's six years older than me, so I figure, when he retires, I have six more years. I will not let him beat me when it comes to longevity."




Discography

    See: Alice Cooper discography

Filmography

    See: Alice Cooper filmography

List of Alice Cooper band personnel

    See: list of Alice Cooper personnel
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Alice_Cooper.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/MaidenMan666/fcooper.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb42/WkdLilLady/Alice%20Cooper/clothesadvert.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g216/pookie_kitten/alice_cooper.gif

Hello hurray!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 2:28 pm


Neither did I...until I read about it a few months ago.

Yes  this was in my original copy, but I had too many words :(
The actual ownership of the Alice Cooper name is often cited by intellectual property lawyers and law professors as an example of the value of a single copyright or trademark. Since "Alice Cooper" was originally the name of the band, and not the lead singer (e.g. Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Meat Loaf, etc.), and it was actually owned by the band as whole, Cooper paid, and continues to pay, a yearly royalty to his original bandmates for the right to use the name commercially. Although the exact amount is not known, insiders agree that it is large enough for the other band members to live comfortably on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/04/10 at 2:31 pm


Yes this was in my original copy, but I had too many words :(
The actual ownership of the Alice Cooper name is often cited by intellectual property lawyers and law professors as an example of the value of a single copyright or trademark. Since "Alice Cooper" was originally the name of the band, and not the lead singer (e.g. Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Meat Loaf, etc.), and it was actually owned by the band as whole, Cooper paid, and continues to pay, a yearly royalty to his original bandmates for the right to use the name commercially. Although the exact amount is not known, insiders agree that it is large enough for the other band members to live comfortably on.

Thanks for the explanation on that ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/04/10 at 2:37 pm


I've been listening to some of their songs today..very nice


like Rainy Days And Mondays?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/10 at 5:20 pm


like Rainy Days And Mondays?

Yes and Superstar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Nm_0pC4FM&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh+div-1r-2-HM#

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/04/10 at 6:33 pm

Back in the day, wayyy back in the 70s, we used to sing "School's out" on the last day of school before the summer holidays. Wonder if anyone else on these boards did that?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/04/10 at 8:01 pm

Nice bio on Karen Carpenter, Ninny. I've always liked her. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/04/10 at 9:20 pm

Okay...I admit that I thought the song "Only Women Bleed" was about something else!  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/05/10 at 12:49 am

Sports person of the day: Hank Aaron (born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama)

Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Hank Aaron fifth on their list of "Greatest Baseball Players.
He played 21 seasons with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League, and his last two years (1975–76) with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. His most notable achievement was setting the MLB record for most career home runs with 755, which he held for 33 years until being surpassed by San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds on August 7, 2007.  Many still maintain Aaron holds the record since Barry has been linked with steroids.

http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/1830/110/165092.jpg


He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. He is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975 and won three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. In 1957, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award, while that same year, the Braves won the World Series, his one World Series victory during his career.

http://rhapsodyinbooks.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hank-aaron-6.jpg

Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of important hitting records during his 23-year career. Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (2,297), the most career extra base hits (1,477), and the most career total bases (6,856); he is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third) and runs with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth). He also is in second place in at-bats (12,364), and in third place in games played (3,298). Aaron's nicknames include "Hammer," "Hammerin' Hank"
http://urbansportstalk.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hank-aaron.jpg


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 12:56 am

British Person of the Day: Ben Ainslie

Charles Benedict Ainslie, CBE (born 5 February 1977 in Macclesfield) is an English sailor and three-times Olympic gold medalist. He started sailing at the age of 4 and first competed at the age of 10. Ainslie's first international competition was the 1989 Optimist world championships held in Japan where he placed 37th.

The son of Roderick 'Roddy' Ainslie, who captained a boat that took part in the first Whitbread Round The World Race in 1973, he won a gold medal at the World Youth Championships in 1995 and was awarded the title of British Yachtsman of the Year in 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2002. He was elected ISAF World Sailor of the Year in 1998, 2002 and 2008.

Sailing

Olympic medal record
Sailing
Gold 2008 Beijing Finn
Gold 2004 Athens Finn
Gold 2000 Sydney Laser
Silver 1996 Atlanta Laser

Ainslie was a gold medalist at the 1993 Laser Radial World Championship, gold medalist at the 1993 Laser Radial European Championship, silver medalist at the 1994 IYRU World Youth Sailing Championship in Marathon, Greece and gold medalist at the 1995 IYRU World Youth Sailing Championship in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Ainslie won silver at the 1996 Olympic Games and gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in the Laser class. He put on 40 pounds (18 kg) and moved to the larger Finn class for the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he won gold, a feat he repeated in the 2008 competition. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours after his success in Sydney, and was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2005 New Year Honours following the Athens Games. He was again promoted, to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours, following the Beijing Games.

America's Cup

At the beginning of 2005 he worked in the role of Tactician in the New Zealand based Team New Zealand who were preparing to compete in the challenger selection process to win the right to Challenge for the 32nd America's Cup.

In May 2005 Ainslie took the decision to relinquish the role of tactician and focus on improving his Match Racing skills as helmsman of the 'B' boat used to practice and tune the race boat helmed by Dean Barker.

He is presently skipper on Team Origin.

New Zealand Match Racing Championships

In November 2008, Ainslie finished first place in the New Zealand Match racing Championships

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00791/ben_ainslie4_791788c.jpg

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/0223ainslie/1.JPG

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:41 am


Back in the day, wayyy back in the 70s, we used to sing "School's out" on the last day of school before the summer holidays. Wonder if anyone else on these boards did that?

All the time ;D
Okay...I admit that I thought the song "Only Women Bleed" was about something else!  :-\\

Actually I did too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:43 am


Sports person of the day: Hank Aaron (born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama)

Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Hank Aaron fifth on their list of "Greatest Baseball Players.
He played 21 seasons with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League, and his last two years (1975–76) with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. His most notable achievement was setting the MLB record for most career home runs with 755, which he held for 33 years until being surpassed by San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds on August 7, 2007.  Many still maintain Aaron holds the record since Barry has been linked with steroids.

http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/1830/110/165092.jpg


He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. He is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975 and won three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. In 1957, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award, while that same year, the Braves won the World Series, his one World Series victory during his career.

http://rhapsodyinbooks.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hank-aaron-6.jpg

Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of important hitting records during his 23-year career. Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (2,297), the most career extra base hits (1,477), and the most career total bases (6,856); he is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third) and runs with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth). He also is in second place in at-bats (12,364), and in third place in games played (3,298). Aaron's nicknames include "Hammer," "Hammerin' Hank"
http://urbansportstalk.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hank-aaron.jpg




Nice bio :)  good thing I checked I had picked Hank as my person.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:45 am


Thanks for the explanation on that ;)

Your welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:45 am


Nice bio on Karen Carpenter, Ninny. I've always liked her. Thanks for sharing.  :)

I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:48 am


British Person of the Day: Ben Ainslie

Charles Benedict Ainslie, CBE (born 5 February 1977 in Macclesfield) is an English sailor and three-times Olympic gold medalist. He started sailing at the age of 4 and first competed at the age of 10. Ainslie's first international competition was the 1989 Optimist world championships held in Japan where he placed 37th.

The son of Roderick 'Roddy' Ainslie, who captained a boat that took part in the first Whitbread Round The World Race in 1973, he won a gold medal at the World Youth Championships in 1995 and was awarded the title of British Yachtsman of the Year in 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2002. He was elected ISAF World Sailor of the Year in 1998, 2002 and 2008.

Sailing

Olympic medal record
Sailing
Gold 2008 Beijing Finn
Gold 2004 Athens Finn
Gold 2000 Sydney Laser
Silver 1996 Atlanta Laser

Ainslie was a gold medalist at the 1993 Laser Radial World Championship, gold medalist at the 1993 Laser Radial European Championship, silver medalist at the 1994 IYRU World Youth Sailing Championship in Marathon, Greece and gold medalist at the 1995 IYRU World Youth Sailing Championship in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Ainslie won silver at the 1996 Olympic Games and gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in the Laser class. He put on 40 pounds (18 kg) and moved to the larger Finn class for the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he won gold, a feat he repeated in the 2008 competition. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours after his success in Sydney, and was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2005 New Year Honours following the Athens Games. He was again promoted, to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours, following the Beijing Games.

America's Cup

At the beginning of 2005 he worked in the role of Tactician in the New Zealand based Team New Zealand who were preparing to compete in the challenger selection process to win the right to Challenge for the 32nd America's Cup.

In May 2005 Ainslie took the decision to relinquish the role of tactician and focus on improving his Match Racing skills as helmsman of the 'B' boat used to practice and tune the race boat helmed by Dean Barker.

He is presently skipper on Team Origin.

New Zealand Match Racing Championships

In November 2008, Ainslie finished first place in the New Zealand Match racing Championships

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00791/ben_ainslie4_791788c.jpg

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/04/0223ainslie/1.JPG

Thanks Phil. I tied taking basic sailing lessons in college, all went well till they discovered I couldn't swim ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:54 am

The word of the day...Grapes
#
Grapes are small green or dark purple fruit which grow in bunches. Grapes can be eaten raw, used for making wine, or dried. N-COUNT food
#
If you describe someone's attitude as sour grapes, you mean that they say something is worthless or undesirable because they want it themselves but cannot have it.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb247/af994241/DSC03894.jpg
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308/jojac98/flowers/CIMG2571.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss249/ottawacakemaker/Cake239.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/PatronB/Ebay%20pics/Resize/grapesniagra.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii169/zippyduda/bellucci13gr3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff92/leprechaunlight/CopyofPicture16.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/PatronB/Ebay%20pics/Resize/grapeconcord.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz71/Empire1000/TheGrapesOfWrath.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 4:59 am

The person born on this day...John Carradine
John Carradine (February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns.
Beginning with The Prisoner of Shark Island (1934), Carradine appeared in ten John Ford productions, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Stagecoach (1939). He also portrayed the Biblical hero Aaron in The Ten Commandments (1956). He did considerable stage work, much of which provided his only opportunity to work in a classic drama context. He toured with his own Shakespearean company in the 1940s, playing Hamlet and Macbeth. His Broadway roles included Ferdinand in a 1946 production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the Ragpicker in a 13-month run of Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot, Lycus in a 15-month run of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and DeLacey in the expensive one-night flop Frankenstein in 1981. He also toured in road companies of such shows as Tobacco Road and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in which he was properly emaciated as the cancer-ridden Big Daddy.

Carradine claimed to have appeared in more than 450 movies, but only 225 movies can be documented (his count is closer to fact if theatrical movies, made-for-TV movies and TV shows are included). He often played eccentric, mad or diabolical characters, especially in the horror genre with which he had become identified as a "star" by the mid-1940s. He occasionally, however, did play a "good guy" role, as in The Grapes of Wrath, in which he played Casy, the ill-fated "preacher". He appeared in seemingly dozens of low-budget horror films from the 1940s onwards, in order to finance a touring classical theatre company. He even sang the theme song to one film he appeared in briefly, Red Zone Cuba. He also made more than one hundred television appearances, including CBS's My Friend Flicka, NBC's Overland Trail in the 1960 episode "The Reckoning" and on ABC's Harrigan and Son and The Legend of Jesse James. He made recurring appearances as the mortician, Mr. Gateman, on CBS's The Munsters. In 1985, Carradine won a Daytime Emmy award for his performance as an eccentric old man who lives by the railroad tracks in the Young People's Special, Umbrella Jack.

In 1982, he did the voice of the Great Owl in the animated feature The Secret of NIMH. One of Carradine's final film appearances was Peggy Sue Got Married in 1986. Carradine's last released film credit was Bikini Drive-In, released years after his death.

Carradine's deep, resonant voice earned him the nickname "The Voice". He was also known as the "Bard of the Boulevard" due to his idiosyncratic habit of strolling Hollywood streets while reciting Shakespearean soliloquies, something he always denied.
Personal life

Four of Carradine's five sons became actors: David Carradine, Robert Carradine, Keith Carradine, and Bruce Carradine. David's show, Kung Fu, featured his father John and half-brother Robert in the episode "Dark Angel". John would appear as the same character, the Reverend Serenity Johnson, in two more episodes: "The Nature of Evil" and "Ambush". Keith Carradine portrayed a younger version of his half-brother David's character throughout the series.

Carradine was married four times. His wives were Ardanelle McCool, mother of Bruce and David. Bruce, Ardanelle's son from a previous marriage, was adopted by John. John was married to Ardanelle from 1935 to 1944; Sonia Sorel, mother of Keith, Robert and Chris from 1944 to 1956; Doris Rich from 1957 to 1971, ending in her death; and Emily Cisneros from 1975 to 1988, who survived him.

Carradine suffered from painful and crippling arthritis during his later years, but continued working nonetheless.
Death

On November 27, 1988, Carradine died of natural causes in Milan, Italy at age 82. His final words were: "Milan: What a beautiful place to die".

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, John Carradine has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Blvd.

In 2003, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Filmography
Main article: John Carradine filmography
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac117/janitoroflunacies/men/johncarradine15.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f257/tallulahbankhead/movie%20stars/johncarradine.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f309/uncledougieclh/4stars.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/TheCarradines1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 5:04 am

The person who died on this day...Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne McClure (May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995) was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. Born in Glendale, California, to Donald Reed McClure and the former Clara Clapp, he is best known for his appearances as Trampas in the NBC western series The Virginian.
McClure's The Virginian co-stars were James Drury, Roberta Shore, Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, and Tim Matheson in the later seasons. Before The Virginian, McClure costarred in two other series: (1) as Frank "Flip" Flippen on NBC's western, Overland Trail (1960), with co-star William Bendix, and (2) as Jed Sills on the CBS detective series Checkmate (1960-1962) opposite Anthony George as Don Corey and Sebastian Cabot as Dr. Carl Hyatt. In 1958 and 1959, McClure appeared in three episodes of the syndicated western series 26 Men, stories of the Arizona Rangers. He appeared as Adam Davis in 1959 in the episode "The Court Martial of Trooper Davis" of the syndicated series Mackenzie's Raiders starring Richard Carlson. He was in the third episode of The Twilight Zone, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday".

He also starred in science fiction films such as At the Earth's Core, The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, all three based on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1967, he played the Errol Flynn role in a re-make of Against All Flags titled The King's Pirate. He co-starred on the sitcom Out of This World later in his career. Along with Troy Donahue, he gave his name to the character of Troy McClure on The Simpsons.

On February 5, 1995, McClure died from lung cancer in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 59 and is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery. In addition to his fifth wife, he was survived by three daughters, Valerie and Tane McClure, who is an actress.

McClure has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. That star was unveiled in what proved to be his final public appearance in 1994.
Filmography

    * The Enemy Below (1957)
    * Gidget (1959)
    * The Unforgiven (1960)
    * Because They're Young (1960)
    * The Lively Set! (1964)
    * Shenandoah (1965)
    * Beau Geste (1966)
    * The King's Pirate (1967)
    * Playmates (1972)
    * The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972)
    * "Die blutigen Geier von Alaska" (Germany, 1973)
    * The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
    * At the Earth's Core (1976)
    * The People That Time Forgot (1977)
    * Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
    * Wild and Wooly (1978)
    * The Rebels - Pt. 2 of the Kent Family Chronicles (1979)
    * Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
    * Firebird 2015 A.D. (1981)
    * The House Where Evil Dwells (1982)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * 52 Pick-Up (1986)
    * Omega Syndrome (1986)
    * Prime Suspect (1988)
    * Dark Before Dawn (1988)
    * Battling for Baby (1992)
    * Dead Man's Revenge (1993)
    * Maverick (1994)
    * Riders in the Storm (1995)

Television

    * COronado 9 - Jimmy Hoke in "The Widow of Kill Cove" (1960)
    * Johnny Midnight - Rice in "Mother's Boy" (1960)
    * Overland Trail - Frank Flippin (1960)
    * Checkmate - Jed Stills (1960-1962)
    * The Virginian - Trampas (1962-1971)
    * The Longest Hundred Miles (1967)
    * Barbary Coast - Cash Conover (1975)
    * Satan's Triangle - Lt. J. Haig (1975)
    * Search - C. R. Grover (1972-1973)
    * Roots - Jimmy Brent (1977)
    * Out of This World - Mayor Kyle Applegate (1987-1991)
    * The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1994)
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/doug_mcclure_200x200.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj164/grinder49er/Western%20Stars/dougmcclure01.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/Doug_McClure_300.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/doug.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/10 at 5:39 am


The word of the day...Grapes
#
Grapes are small green or dark purple fruit which grow in bunches. Grapes can be eaten raw, used for making wine, or dried. N-COUNT food
#
If you describe someone's attitude as sour grapes, you mean that they say something is worthless or undesirable because they want it themselves but cannot have it.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb247/af994241/DSC03894.jpg
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308/jojac98/flowers/CIMG2571.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss249/ottawacakemaker/Cake239.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/PatronB/Ebay%20pics/Resize/grapesniagra.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii169/zippyduda/bellucci13gr3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff92/leprechaunlight/CopyofPicture16.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh131/PatronB/Ebay%20pics/Resize/grapeconcord.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz71/Empire1000/TheGrapesOfWrath.jpg


grapes are so delicious.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/05/10 at 5:53 am

One of the pics made me forget about the grapes! ...but mmmmmmm anyway!  ;)

I liked Doug McClure...I remembered seeing him in a pirate movie when I was young (probably The Kings Pirate)... :)

Carradine reminds me of Vincent Price in one of those pics....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 7:17 am


grapes are so delicious.

Yes they are :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 7:19 am


One of the pics made me forget about the grapes! ...but mmmmmmm anyway!  ;)

I liked Doug McClure...I remembered seeing him in a pirate movie when I was young (probably The Kings Pirate)... :)

Carradine reminds me of Vincent Price in one of those pics....

Well I thought Howie would mention that pic ;D
I thought the same thing, that the pic looked like Vincent Price.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/05/10 at 10:26 am


One of the pics made me forget about the grapes! ...but mmmmmmm anyway!  ;)

I liked Doug McClure...I remembered seeing him in a pirate movie when I was young (probably The Kings Pirate)... :)

Carradine reminds me of Vincent Price in one of those pics....

I liked Doug McClure too, and yes, Carradine's resemblance with Vincent Price, agreed.



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/05/10 at 10:29 am

Interesting you chose the food "Grapes" today, because that's the nickname of Canada's most famous hockey personality, Don Cherry, and it's his birthday today (born Feb 5, 1934)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 12:59 pm


Thanks Phil. I tied taking basic sailing lessons in college, all went well till they discovered I couldn't swim ;D
I do not enjoy being on a boat too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/05/10 at 1:06 pm


I do not enjoy being on a boat too.

I like boats, and like to swim.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 2:02 pm


The person who died on this day...Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne McClure (May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995) was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. Born in Glendale, California, to Donald Reed McClure and the former Clara Clapp, he is best known for his appearances as Trampas in the NBC western series The Virginian.
McClure's The Virginian co-stars were James Drury, Roberta Shore, Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, and Tim Matheson in the later seasons. Before The Virginian, McClure costarred in two other series: (1) as Frank "Flip" Flippen on NBC's western, Overland Trail (1960), with co-star William Bendix, and (2) as Jed Sills on the CBS detective series Checkmate (1960-1962) opposite Anthony George as Don Corey and Sebastian Cabot as Dr. Carl Hyatt. In 1958 and 1959, McClure appeared in three episodes of the syndicated western series 26 Men, stories of the Arizona Rangers. He appeared as Adam Davis in 1959 in the episode "The Court Martial of Trooper Davis" of the syndicated series Mackenzie's Raiders starring Richard Carlson. He was in the third episode of The Twilight Zone, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday".

He also starred in science fiction films such as At the Earth's Core, The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, all three based on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1967, he played the Errol Flynn role in a re-make of Against All Flags titled The King's Pirate. He co-starred on the sitcom Out of This World later in his career. Along with Troy Donahue, he gave his name to the character of Troy McClure on The Simpsons.

On February 5, 1995, McClure died from lung cancer in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 59 and is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery. In addition to his fifth wife, he was survived by three daughters, Valerie and Tane McClure, who is an actress.

McClure has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. That star was unveiled in what proved to be his final public appearance in 1994.
Filmography

    * The Enemy Below (1957)
    * Gidget (1959)
    * The Unforgiven (1960)
    * Because They're Young (1960)
    * The Lively Set! (1964)
    * Shenandoah (1965)
    * Beau Geste (1966)
    * The King's Pirate (1967)
    * Playmates (1972)
    * The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972)
    * "Die blutigen Geier von Alaska" (Germany, 1973)
    * The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
    * At the Earth's Core (1976)
    * The People That Time Forgot (1977)
    * Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
    * Wild and Wooly (1978)
    * The Rebels - Pt. 2 of the Kent Family Chronicles (1979)
    * Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
    * Firebird 2015 A.D. (1981)
    * The House Where Evil Dwells (1982)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * 52 Pick-Up (1986)
    * Omega Syndrome (1986)
    * Prime Suspect (1988)
    * Dark Before Dawn (1988)
    * Battling for Baby (1992)
    * Dead Man's Revenge (1993)
    * Maverick (1994)
    * Riders in the Storm (1995)

Television

    * COronado 9 - Jimmy Hoke in "The Widow of Kill Cove" (1960)
    * Johnny Midnight - Rice in "Mother's Boy" (1960)
    * Overland Trail - Frank Flippin (1960)
    * Checkmate - Jed Stills (1960-1962)
    * The Virginian - Trampas (1962-1971)
    * The Longest Hundred Miles (1967)
    * Barbary Coast - Cash Conover (1975)
    * Satan's Triangle - Lt. J. Haig (1975)
    * Search - C. R. Grover (1972-1973)
    * Roots - Jimmy Brent (1977)
    * Out of This World - Mayor Kyle Applegate (1987-1991)
    * The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1994)

Any connection to Troy McClure?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 2:10 pm


Sports person of the day: Hank Aaron (born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama)

Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Hank Aaron fifth on their list of "Greatest Baseball Players.
He played 21 seasons with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League, and his last two years (1975–76) with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. His most notable achievement was setting the MLB record for most career home runs with 755, which he held for 33 years until being surpassed by San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds on August 7, 2007.  Many still maintain Aaron holds the record since Barry has been linked with steroids.

http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/1830/110/165092.jpg


He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. He is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975 and won three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. In 1957, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award, while that same year, the Braves won the World Series, his one World Series victory during his career.

http://rhapsodyinbooks.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hank-aaron-6.jpg

Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of important hitting records during his 23-year career. Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (2,297), the most career extra base hits (1,477), and the most career total bases (6,856); he is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third) and runs with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth). He also is in second place in at-bats (12,364), and in third place in games played (3,298). Aaron's nicknames include "Hammer," "Hammerin' Hank"
http://urbansportstalk.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hank-aaron.jpg



A name for me to remember for Baseball players A-Z

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/10 at 3:00 pm


Yes they are :)


the green ones are good instead of the pitted ones.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/05/10 at 3:02 pm


the green ones are good instead of the pitted ones.

I mostly eat the green grapes too. I haven't found too many pitted grapes of any color

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/10 at 3:04 pm


I mostly eat the green grapes too. I haven't found too many pitted grapes of any color


I think the red ones have pits.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/05/10 at 3:04 pm


I think the red ones have pits.

Some varieties of them probably do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 3:22 pm


the green ones are good instead of the pitted ones.
I like drinking grapes

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/10 at 3:23 pm


I like drinking grapes


I like grape soda.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 3:24 pm


I like grape soda.
It is wine for me, red or white will do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/10 at 3:25 pm


It is wine for me, red or white will do.


grape wine is good on an occasion.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 3:27 pm


grape wine is good on an occasion.
...or relaxing, like at the end of a long hard week at work.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/10 at 3:28 pm


...or relaxing, like at the end of a long hard week at work.


I drink coffee after a hard day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 3:30 pm


I drink coffee after a hard day.
With caffine in it?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/05/10 at 4:08 pm


I like boats, and like to swim.


I'm an Aussie who never learned to swim. I have virtually no buoyancy at all....can't even float on my back. I never go out of my depth... :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 6:01 pm


I'm an Aussie who never learned to swim. I have virtually no buoyancy at all....can't even float on my back. I never go out of my depth... :-\\
I always thought that Australians were good swimmers.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/05/10 at 6:02 pm


I always thought that Australians were good swimmers.


Many are...excepting myself, of course!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/10 at 6:05 pm


Many are...excepting myself, of course!
Understandable, Australia has always had Olympic swimmer and the images of being on a beach next to sea.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/05/10 at 6:07 pm


Understandable, Australia has always had Olympic swimmer and the images of being on a beach next to sea.


I am about an hours drive from the nearest surfing beach. Due to me lack of water skill, I have never tried to surf. Just body surfing...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: seamermar on 02/05/10 at 6:33 pm


The person who died on this day...Doug McClure
he is best known for his appearances as Trampas in the NBC western series The Virginian.


Hi ninny !! just my favour character in that serie which I watched when I was a child.

Trampas is a Spanish word meaning traps.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/05/10 at 8:42 pm


I'm an Aussie who never learned to swim. I have virtually no buoyancy at all....can't even float on my back. I never go out of my depth... :-\\

Am I the only one who swims here?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 9:12 pm


Any connection to Troy McClure?

Actually yes according to Wikipedia:
McClure was based on the typical "washed up" Hollywood actor. B movie actors Troy Donahue and Doug McClure served as inspiration for his name and certain character aspects. Writer Mike Reiss later met Doug McClure's daughter, who revealed that her father had found the homage funny. His children would call their father "Troy McClure" when his back was turned. According to show creator Matt Groening, Phil Hartman was cast in the role due to his ability to pull "the maximum amount of humor" out of any line he was given. McClure's visual appearance is similar to that of Hartman himself.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 9:13 pm


I like grape soda.

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 9:14 pm


I like drinking grapes

Wine gives me hot flashes and well we wont say what champagne does to me. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 9:15 pm


I like boats, and like to swim.

I wish I could
I'm an Aussie who never learned to swim. I have virtually no buoyancy at all....can't even float on my back. I never go out of my depth... :-\\

I do a mean doggy paddle ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/10 at 9:16 pm


Hi ninny !! just my favour character in that serie which I watched when I was a child.

Trampas is a Spanish word meaning traps.

Nice to hear from you old friend :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 12:02 am


Wine gives me hot flashes and well we wont say what champagne does to me. :-[
Never like champagne.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 4:10 am

The word of the day...Umbrella
An umbrella is an object which you use to protect yourself from the rain or hot sun. It consists of a long stick with a folding frame covered in cloth.
Umbrella is used to refer to a single group or description that includes a lot of different organizations or ideas.
Umbrella is used to refer to a system or agreement which protects a country or group of people.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn68/LauReN_The_Lion/umbrella.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f183/dragk913/12345boom.jpg
http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab278/andyman62imvu/redumbrellahear.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc147/Lyzard03/OpenUmbrella.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy186/Miss_Linhii_Love/hearts.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l168/BRANDON101_07/umbrella-logo-mock.jpg
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc335/xaosmeleon/mawaru.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 4:12 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBfHwUxHIk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 4:18 am

The person born on this day...Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee (born 6 February 1922) is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers. Macnee, the older of two sons (he has a younger brother, James), was born Daniel Patrick Macnee in Paddington, London, the son of Dorothea Mary (née Henry) and Daniel "Shrimp" Macnee, a race horse trainer. His maternal grandmother was Frances Alice Hastings, who descended from the Earls of Huntingdon - Macnee has long suggested that he may be a distant relation of Robin Hood, sometimes said to have been a black sheep of the Huntingdon family. Macnee's great-grandfather was Scottish portrait artist Sir Daniel Macnee.

His parents divorced after his mother declared her lesbianism and had a live-in partner (referred to in Macnee's memoirs as "Uncle Evelyn") who helped pay for young Patrick's schooling. He was educated at Eton College, was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and was awarded the Atlantic Star for his service during World War II. After nurturing his acting career in Canada, Macnee appeared in supporting roles in a number of films, notably in the Gene Kelly vehicle Les Girls (as an Old Bailey barrister) and opposite Anthony Quayle in the 1956 war movie The Battle of the River Plate. He had a small role in the 1951 version of Scrooge (A Christmas Carol in the US) as the young Jacob Marley (according to Macnee's official website).
“The Avengers”

Despite numerous roles in theatre, on television and in cinema, Macnee is still best known as John Steed in the series The Avengers (broadcast from 1961 to 1969). Initially, a secondary character — the series was conceived as a vehicle for Ian Hendry, who played an associate of Steed's — Steed (and Macnee) became the centre of the show after Hendry's departure at the end of the first season. He played opposite a succession of female partners who included Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, and finally Linda Thorson. Steed was also the central character of a revival, The New Avengers, in which he was teamed with Purdey, portrayed by Joanna Lumley, and Mike Gambit, played by Gareth Hunt.

Although Macnee evolved the role as the series progressed, the key elements of Steed's persona and appearance were there from very early on: the slightly mysterious demeanour, and increasingly, the light, suave, flirting tone with ladies (and always with his female assistants). Finally, from the episodes with Honor Blackman onwards, the trademark bowler hat and umbrella completed the image. Traditionally associated with London 'city gents', the suit, umbrella and bowler had developed in the post-war years as mufti for ex-servicemen attending Armistice Day ceremonies. Macnee, alongside designer Pierre Cardin, adapted the look into a style all his own, and he went on to design several outfits himself for Steed based on the same basic theme.

During the 1960s, Macnee co-wrote two original novels based upon “The Avengers”: “Dead Duck” and “Deadline”. In 1988, he wrote his autobiography entitled “Blind in One Ear”. In 1995, he hosted a documentary, “The Avengers: The Journey Back”, directed by Clyde Lucas.

When asked in June 1982 which “Avengers” female lead was his favourite, Macnee declined to give a specific answer. "Well, I'd rather not say. To do so would invite trouble," he told TV Week magazine. Macnee did provide his evaluation of the female leads. Of Honor Blackman he said "She was wonderful, presenting the concept of a strong-willed, independent and liberated woman just as that sort of woman was beginning to emerge in society." Diana Rigg was "One of the world's great actresses. A superb comedienne. I'm convinced that one day she'll be Dame Diana." (which actually came true) Linda Thorson was "one of the sexiest women alive" while Joanna Lumley was "superb in the role of Purdey. An actress who is only now realising her immense potential."
Other roles

Macnee's other notable roles have included playing Sir Godfrey Tibbett opposite Roger Moore in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill, as Major Crossley in "The Sea Wolves" (again with Moore), guest roles in "Alias Smith and Jones", "Hart to Hart", "Murder, She Wrote", "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Love Boat". Though Macnee found fame as the heroic Steed, the majority of his guest appearances have been in villainous roles. He also presented the American paranormal series, "Mysteries, Magic and Miracles". Macnee made his Broadway debut as the star of Anthony Shaffer's mystery "Sleuth" in 1972 and subsequently headlined the national tour of that play. .

In 1975, Macnee co-starred as the ship's captain with Peter Falk and Robert Vaughn in the Columbo episode Troubled Waters. He had recurring roles in the crime series Gavilan with Robert Urich and in the 1984 satire on big business, Empire, as the menacing M.D. 'Calvin Cromwell'. In 1984, Macnee appeared in Magnum, P.I. as a retired British agent who believes he is Sherlock Holmes (in a Season four episode entitled "Holmes is Where the Heart is"). He in fact had played Dr. Watson to Roger Moore's Sherlock Holmes in a 1976 TV movie, “Sherlock Holmes in New York” and went on to play Holmes in another TV movie, “The Hound of London” (1993). He played Watson in two TV movies with Christopher Lee (“Incident at Victoria Falls” and “Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady”).

He also appeared in several cult films: in The Howling as 'Dr George Waggner' (named whimsically after the director of 1941's The Wolf Man) and as 'Sir Denis Eton-Hogg' in the rockumentary comedy This Is Spinal Tap. He took over Leo G. Carroll's role as the head of U.N.C.L.E. in The Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in 1983. Patrick starred in the 1990s science fiction series Super Force as E.B. Hungerford (called "MR. H." by lab assistant F.X.) in the pilot and his computer counter-part; his character was killed. Macnee also appeared as a supporting character in the 1989 science fiction parody, Lobster Man From Mars, as Prof. Plocostomos and in Frasier (season 8, episode 11) .

Macnee serves as the narrator for several "behind-the-scenes" featurettes, featured on the James Bond series of DVDs. He lent his voice in a cameo as 'Invisible Jones' in the 1998 critically lambasted film version of The Avengers (in which Steed was played by Ralph Fiennes), and he also featured in two pop videos: in his Steed persona in The Pretenders' video “Don't Get Me Wrong”, and in the Oasis' video of their song “Don't Look Back in Anger” in 1996, with the familiar smart suit and umbrella, but minus the bowler hat. Macnee was the voice of the evil Imperious Leader of the Cylons in the original 1970's version of Battlestar Galactica, and appeared onscreen as Count Iblis - the Imperious Leader apparently based on him.

He has also recorded numerous audio books, most notably for the audio book releases of many novels by Jack Higgins.
Personal life

Macnee has two children, Rupert and Jenny, from his first marriage to Barbara Douglas (from 1942 to 1956). His second marriage (1965 – 1969) was to actress Katherine Woodville. He was married to third wife Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye from 1988 until her death in 2008.

Macnee became an American citizen in 1959.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/LookinUp/patrickmacnee.jpg
http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp85/JustBon/SteedEmma.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/XJPAUL/X%20Marks/Celeb/Movies%20and%20TV/Patrick%20Macnee/PatrickMacnee7.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy63/HummiesPhotos/avengers_fog1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 4:18 am

British Person of the Day: Rick Astley

Richard Paul "Rick" Astley (born 6 February 1966, Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his 1987 hit single in 16 countries, "Never Gonna Give You Up". Astley holds the record for being the only male solo artist to have his first 8 singles reach the Top 10 in the UK and has sold approximately 40 million records worldwide.

After fading into obscurity in the 1990s, Astley made a comeback in 2007 when he became an Internet phenomenon, as his video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" became part of a popular Internet meme known as "Rickrolling". Astley was voted by Internet users "Best Act Ever" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008.

1980s

In 1985, Astley was playing the club circuit as a drummer with a soul band named FBI when he was noticed by the record producer Pete Waterman, who persuaded him to come to London to work at the PWL recording studio. Under the tutelage of the production team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known as Stock Aitken Waterman, Astley was taught about the recording process and groomed for his future career, supposedly starting off as the recording studio 'tea boy'.

His first single was the little-known "When You Gonna", released as a collaboration with Lisa Carter, but his first solo offering was "Never Gonna Give You Up", released in 1987. It became an immediate success, spending five weeks at the top of the British charts and becoming the year's highest-selling single. It was the first of 13 (worldwide) top 30 hit singles for him.

The 1987 album Whenever You Need Somebody also reached number one in the UK, and the hit singles continued, including the title track and a cover of Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love".

On 12 March 1988, "Never Gonna Give You Up" also topped the U.S. singles chart and was followed by a second U.S. #1 on 18 June with his second U.S. single release, "Together Forever". In 1989 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but lost to Tracy Chapman.
The group FBI, from left to right, Kevin Needham, Rick Astley, Will Hopper, Peter Dale, & Greg Smee, in 1984.

In late 1988, Astley released his second album, Hold Me In Your Arms. While the album sold well in Europe, with all its three singles becoming top 10 hits in the UK, his success in the US waned, with only the first single, "She Wants To Dance With Me", making an impact, peaking at #6.

1990s

By the end of the 1980s, Astley had parted company with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman. He achieved one more major success with the 1991 ballad "Cry for Help", which reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. The song was taken from his third album, Free, which featured a move towards soul music, leaving his synth-pop days behind. The album was not as successful as his previous two.

In 1991 the RIAA certified that two million copies of Whenever You Need Somebody had been sold.

His next album, Body and Soul, was released in 1993. The album did not chart in the UK but managed to make the Billboard 200, peaking at #182. The two singles, "The Ones You Love" and "Hopelessly", performed very well on the adult contemporary chart, peaking at #19 and #4 respectively. "Hopelessly" also crossed over and peaked at #31 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart.

For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Astley remained largely out of the spotlight.

2000s

Almost 10 years after Body and Soul, Astley finally returned to the music world and released Keep It Turned On in 2002. The album featured the single "Sleeping", which became a minor club hit, thanks to a set of remixes from U.S. house producer Todd Terry.

In March, 2005, Astley released the album Portrait in which he covered many classic standards such as "Vincent", "Nature Boy" and "Close to You".

In early 2006, Astley withdrew unexpectedly at the eleventh hour from appearing on the BBC TV celebrity/pro duets show Just the Two of Us after committing to do so. This led to criticism from those in the entertainment industry and media. His place was filled by singer Russell Watson, who eventually won the competition. The BBC failed to explain that Astley's withdrawal was due to his wife Lene Bausager being nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for the Sean Ellis film Cashback, where she was the main producer. Astley would have missed a crucial part of the show by attending the awards ceremony and so withdrew before the show began.
Astley at a festival in Singapore.

Based on various music charts in the UK, US and Canada, Astley has charted a grand total of 14 different hit singles and 6 different hit albums, as of March 2006. In April 2008, the album "The Ultimate Collection: Rick Astley" was released by Sony BMG and by early May it had reached #17 on the UK Top 40 Albums Chart.

In September 2008, Rick was nominated for the 'Best Act Ever' award at the MTV Europe Music Awards The push to make Astley the winner of the award continued after the announcement, as well as efforts to encourage MTV to personally invite Astley to the awards ceremony. On 10 October, Astley's website confirmed that an invitation to the awards had been received. On 7 November, following a massive internet campaign by fans, Rick won the award in Liverpool, but was not there in person to receive it. Perez Hilton collected the prize on his behalf.

In 2008, Astley was a headlining act at the Northampton Balloon Festival. In April 2009, he wrote an article for Time Magazine about moot.

Rickroll Internet phenomenon

In 2007 Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme in which an estimated 25 million Internet users were tricked into watching Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by posting it under the name of other popular video titles. The practice is now known as Rickrolling. The phenomenon became so popular that on 1 April 2008, YouTube pranked its users by making every single featured video on the front page a Rickroll.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/rick-astley.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 4:18 am


The person born on this day...Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee (born 6 February 1922) is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers. Macnee, the older of two sons (he has a younger brother, James), was born Daniel Patrick Macnee in Paddington, London, the son of Dorothea Mary (née Henry) and Daniel "Shrimp" Macnee, a race horse trainer. His maternal grandmother was Frances Alice Hastings, who descended from the Earls of Huntingdon - Macnee has long suggested that he may be a distant relation of Robin Hood, sometimes said to have been a black sheep of the Huntingdon family. Macnee's great-grandfather was Scottish portrait artist Sir Daniel Macnee.

His parents divorced after his mother declared her lesbianism and had a live-in partner (referred to in Macnee's memoirs as "Uncle Evelyn") who helped pay for young Patrick's schooling. He was educated at Eton College, was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and was awarded the Atlantic Star for his service during World War II. After nurturing his acting career in Canada, Macnee appeared in supporting roles in a number of films, notably in the Gene Kelly vehicle Les Girls (as an Old Bailey barrister) and opposite Anthony Quayle in the 1956 war movie The Battle of the River Plate. He had a small role in the 1951 version of Scrooge (A Christmas Carol in the US) as the young Jacob Marley (according to Macnee's official website).
“The Avengers”

Despite numerous roles in theatre, on television and in cinema, Macnee is still best known as John Steed in the series The Avengers (broadcast from 1961 to 1969). Initially, a secondary character — the series was conceived as a vehicle for Ian Hendry, who played an associate of Steed's — Steed (and Macnee) became the centre of the show after Hendry's departure at the end of the first season. He played opposite a succession of female partners who included Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, and finally Linda Thorson. Steed was also the central character of a revival, The New Avengers, in which he was teamed with Purdey, portrayed by Joanna Lumley, and Mike Gambit, played by Gareth Hunt.

Although Macnee evolved the role as the series progressed, the key elements of Steed's persona and appearance were there from very early on: the slightly mysterious demeanour, and increasingly, the light, suave, flirting tone with ladies (and always with his female assistants). Finally, from the episodes with Honor Blackman onwards, the trademark bowler hat and umbrella completed the image. Traditionally associated with London 'city gents', the suit, umbrella and bowler had developed in the post-war years as mufti for ex-servicemen attending Armistice Day ceremonies. Macnee, alongside designer Pierre Cardin, adapted the look into a style all his own, and he went on to design several outfits himself for Steed based on the same basic theme.

During the 1960s, Macnee co-wrote two original novels based upon “The Avengers”: “Dead Duck” and “Deadline”. In 1988, he wrote his autobiography entitled “Blind in One Ear”. In 1995, he hosted a documentary, “The Avengers: The Journey Back”, directed by Clyde Lucas.

When asked in June 1982 which “Avengers” female lead was his favourite, Macnee declined to give a specific answer. "Well, I'd rather not say. To do so would invite trouble," he told TV Week magazine. Macnee did provide his evaluation of the female leads. Of Honor Blackman he said "She was wonderful, presenting the concept of a strong-willed, independent and liberated woman just as that sort of woman was beginning to emerge in society." Diana Rigg was "One of the world's great actresses. A superb comedienne. I'm convinced that one day she'll be Dame Diana." (which actually came true) Linda Thorson was "one of the sexiest women alive" while Joanna Lumley was "superb in the role of Purdey. An actress who is only now realising her immense potential."
Other roles

Macnee's other notable roles have included playing Sir Godfrey Tibbett opposite Roger Moore in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill, as Major Crossley in "The Sea Wolves" (again with Moore), guest roles in "Alias Smith and Jones", "Hart to Hart", "Murder, She Wrote", "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Love Boat". Though Macnee found fame as the heroic Steed, the majority of his guest appearances have been in villainous roles. He also presented the American paranormal series, "Mysteries, Magic and Miracles". Macnee made his Broadway debut as the star of Anthony Shaffer's mystery "Sleuth" in 1972 and subsequently headlined the national tour of that play. .

In 1975, Macnee co-starred as the ship's captain with Peter Falk and Robert Vaughn in the Columbo episode Troubled Waters. He had recurring roles in the crime series Gavilan with Robert Urich and in the 1984 satire on big business, Empire, as the menacing M.D. 'Calvin Cromwell'. In 1984, Macnee appeared in Magnum, P.I. as a retired British agent who believes he is Sherlock Holmes (in a Season four episode entitled "Holmes is Where the Heart is"). He in fact had played Dr. Watson to Roger Moore's Sherlock Holmes in a 1976 TV movie, “Sherlock Holmes in New York” and went on to play Holmes in another TV movie, “The Hound of London” (1993). He played Watson in two TV movies with Christopher Lee (“Incident at Victoria Falls” and “Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady”).

He also appeared in several cult films: in The Howling as 'Dr George Waggner' (named whimsically after the director of 1941's The Wolf Man) and as 'Sir Denis Eton-Hogg' in the rockumentary comedy This Is Spinal Tap. He took over Leo G. Carroll's role as the head of U.N.C.L.E. in The Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in 1983. Patrick starred in the 1990s science fiction series Super Force as E.B. Hungerford (called "MR. H." by lab assistant F.X.) in the pilot and his computer counter-part; his character was killed. Macnee also appeared as a supporting character in the 1989 science fiction parody, Lobster Man From Mars, as Prof. Plocostomos and in Frasier (season 8, episode 11) .

Macnee serves as the narrator for several "behind-the-scenes" featurettes, featured on the James Bond series of DVDs. He lent his voice in a cameo as 'Invisible Jones' in the 1998 critically lambasted film version of The Avengers (in which Steed was played by Ralph Fiennes), and he also featured in two pop videos: in his Steed persona in The Pretenders' video “Don't Get Me Wrong”, and in the Oasis' video of their song “Don't Look Back in Anger” in 1996, with the familiar smart suit and umbrella, but minus the bowler hat. Macnee was the voice of the evil Imperious Leader of the Cylons in the original 1970's version of Battlestar Galactica, and appeared onscreen as Count Iblis - the Imperious Leader apparently based on him.

He has also recorded numerous audio books, most notably for the audio book releases of many novels by Jack Higgins.
Personal life

Macnee has two children, Rupert and Jenny, from his first marriage to Barbara Douglas (from 1942 to 1956). His second marriage (1965 – 1969) was to actress Katherine Woodville. He was married to third wife Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye from 1988 until her death in 2008.

Macnee became an American citizen in 1959.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/LookinUp/patrickmacnee.jpg
http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp85/JustBon/SteedEmma.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/XJPAUL/X%20Marks/Celeb/Movies%20and%20TV/Patrick%20Macnee/PatrickMacnee7.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy63/HummiesPhotos/avengers_fog1.jpg
The Avengers, one tv program I can easily watch again with pleasure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 4:23 am

The person who died on this day...Danny Thomas

Danny Thomas (January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy, or The Danny Thomas Show. He is also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He is the father of Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas and Tony Thomas.
Thomas was born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yakhoob in Deerfield, Michigan, to Charles and Margaret Yakhoob (Jacobs). His parents were immigrants from Lebanon. He first performed under his Anglicized birth name, Amos Jacobs, before settling on the stage name, Danny Thomas, which were the first names of two of his brothers. He was raised in Toledo, Ohio, attending St. Francis de Sales Church, Woodward High School and attending The University of Toledo. He married his beloved wife Rose Marie Cassaniti on January 15, 1936, a week after his 24th birthday.
Career

Thomas first reached large audiences on network radio in the 1940s, most notably playing shifty brother-in-law Amos in The Bickersons, which began as sketches on the half-hour music-comedy show Drene Time, co-hosted by Don Ameche and Frances Langford. Thomas also portrayed himself as a slightly scatterbrained Lothario on this show. His other network radio work included a stint as "Jerry Dingle" the postman on Fanny Brice's The Baby Snooks Show, and periodic appearances on the legendary NBC variety program, The Big Show, hosted by stage legend Tallulah Bankhead.

In films, he starred in The Jazz Singer, a 1952 remake of the 1927 original and played songwriter Gus Kahn opposite Doris Day in the 1951 film biography I'll See You in My Dreams. During his successful run on Make Room for Daddy, which was later known as The Danny Thomas Show, Thomas became a successful television producer (with Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Spelling among his partners), working on many popular shows including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Mod Squad. Thomas also produced three series for Walter Brennan: The Real McCoys, The Tycoon and The Guns of Will Sonnett, all on ABC during the late 1950s and 1960s.

He often appeared in cameos on shows he produced, perhaps the most memorable being his portrayal of the tuxedoed, humourlessly droll alien Colac, lord of the planet Twylo, in the classic Dick Van Dyke Show science-fiction spoof, "It May Look Like a Walnut."

In the early seventies, he reunited most of his second Daddy cast (Marjorie Lord, Rusty Hamer, and Angela Cartwright) for a short-lived update of the show, Make Room for Granddaddy. Premised around Danny and Kathy Williams caring for their grandson by daughter Terry, who was away with her husband on a long business assignment, the show barely lasted a season.

A generous philanthropist, Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962. The hospital has treated thousands of children for childhood cancers. In 1996, Peter Doherty, Ph.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was corecipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work related to how the immune system kills virus-infected cells. As a "starving actor" Thomas made a vow: If he found success, he would open a hospital dedicated to St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. A Third Degree Freemason, he was an active member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Shriners), especially in their hospital work for children.

Thomas was one of the original owners of the Miami Dolphins, along with Joe Robbie, although he sold his share soon after purchase. He was also an avid golfer. He claimed a ten golf handicap and once competed with Sam Snead in a charity event. Thomas developed a close relationship with the PGA Tour — two of their tournaments bore his name. The first was the Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic which played in south Florida in 1969; then the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic which played from 1970–1984.

His children are also performers, the most famous being his daughter, Marlo, who is married to Phil Donahue. His son, Tony Thomas, is a television producer, and another daughter, Terre Thomas, is a former actress.

A devout Roman Catholic, Thomas was awarded a papal knighthood by Pope Paul VI. He was named a Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in recognition of his services to both the church and the community. President Ronald Reagan presented Thomas with a Congressional Gold Medal honouring him for his work with St Jude's Hospital.
Death

Thomas died on February 6, 1991, of a heart failure at age 79. He had completed filming a commercial for St. Jude Hospital a few days before his death and this final commercial aired as a tribute to him.

Danny Thomas and his beloved wife Rose Marie (who also died in 2000) are interred in a crypt in a mausoleum on the grounds of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. He was a posthumous recipient of the 2004 Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h20/jrb_photos/DannyThomas.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/leegordon/CharleyTJLeewithDannyThomas.gif
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/DannyPhoto/eb71bb09.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/jedgrn/dtanddc.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 4:26 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBfHwUxHIk

I knew someone would post this :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 4:27 am


The Avengers, one tv program I can easily watch again with pleasure.

I enjoyed it myself :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 4:28 am


British Person of the Day: Rick Astley

Richard Paul "Rick" Astley (born 6 February 1966, Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his 1987 hit single in 16 countries, "Never Gonna Give You Up". Astley holds the record for being the only male solo artist to have his first 8 singles reach the Top 10 in the UK and has sold approximately 40 million records worldwide.

After fading into obscurity in the 1990s, Astley made a comeback in 2007 when he became an Internet phenomenon, as his video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" became part of a popular Internet meme known as "Rickrolling". Astley was voted by Internet users "Best Act Ever" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008.

1980s

In 1985, Astley was playing the club circuit as a drummer with a soul band named FBI when he was noticed by the record producer Pete Waterman, who persuaded him to come to London to work at the PWL recording studio. Under the tutelage of the production team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known as Stock Aitken Waterman, Astley was taught about the recording process and groomed for his future career, supposedly starting off as the recording studio 'tea boy'.

His first single was the little-known "When You Gonna", released as a collaboration with Lisa Carter, but his first solo offering was "Never Gonna Give You Up", released in 1987. It became an immediate success, spending five weeks at the top of the British charts and becoming the year's highest-selling single. It was the first of 13 (worldwide) top 30 hit singles for him.

The 1987 album Whenever You Need Somebody also reached number one in the UK, and the hit singles continued, including the title track and a cover of Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love".

On 12 March 1988, "Never Gonna Give You Up" also topped the U.S. singles chart and was followed by a second U.S. #1 on 18 June with his second U.S. single release, "Together Forever". In 1989 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but lost to Tracy Chapman.
The group FBI, from left to right, Kevin Needham, Rick Astley, Will Hopper, Peter Dale, & Greg Smee, in 1984.

In late 1988, Astley released his second album, Hold Me In Your Arms. While the album sold well in Europe, with all its three singles becoming top 10 hits in the UK, his success in the US waned, with only the first single, "She Wants To Dance With Me", making an impact, peaking at #6.

1990s

By the end of the 1980s, Astley had parted company with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman. He achieved one more major success with the 1991 ballad "Cry for Help", which reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. The song was taken from his third album, Free, which featured a move towards soul music, leaving his synth-pop days behind. The album was not as successful as his previous two.

In 1991 the RIAA certified that two million copies of Whenever You Need Somebody had been sold.

His next album, Body and Soul, was released in 1993. The album did not chart in the UK but managed to make the Billboard 200, peaking at #182. The two singles, "The Ones You Love" and "Hopelessly", performed very well on the adult contemporary chart, peaking at #19 and #4 respectively. "Hopelessly" also crossed over and peaked at #31 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart.

For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Astley remained largely out of the spotlight.

2000s

Almost 10 years after Body and Soul, Astley finally returned to the music world and released Keep It Turned On in 2002. The album featured the single "Sleeping", which became a minor club hit, thanks to a set of remixes from U.S. house producer Todd Terry.

In March, 2005, Astley released the album Portrait in which he covered many classic standards such as "Vincent", "Nature Boy" and "Close to You".

In early 2006, Astley withdrew unexpectedly at the eleventh hour from appearing on the BBC TV celebrity/pro duets show Just the Two of Us after committing to do so. This led to criticism from those in the entertainment industry and media. His place was filled by singer Russell Watson, who eventually won the competition. The BBC failed to explain that Astley's withdrawal was due to his wife Lene Bausager being nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for the Sean Ellis film Cashback, where she was the main producer. Astley would have missed a crucial part of the show by attending the awards ceremony and so withdrew before the show began.
Astley at a festival in Singapore.

Based on various music charts in the UK, US and Canada, Astley has charted a grand total of 14 different hit singles and 6 different hit albums, as of March 2006. In April 2008, the album "The Ultimate Collection: Rick Astley" was released by Sony BMG and by early May it had reached #17 on the UK Top 40 Albums Chart.

In September 2008, Rick was nominated for the 'Best Act Ever' award at the MTV Europe Music Awards The push to make Astley the winner of the award continued after the announcement, as well as efforts to encourage MTV to personally invite Astley to the awards ceremony. On 10 October, Astley's website confirmed that an invitation to the awards had been received. On 7 November, following a massive internet campaign by fans, Rick won the award in Liverpool, but was not there in person to receive it. Perez Hilton collected the prize on his behalf.

In 2008, Astley was a headlining act at the Northampton Balloon Festival. In April 2009, he wrote an article for Time Magazine about moot.

Rickroll Internet phenomenon

In 2007 Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme in which an estimated 25 million Internet users were tricked into watching Rick Astley's video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by posting it under the name of other popular video titles. The practice is now known as Rickrolling. The phenomenon became so popular that on 1 April 2008, YouTube pranked its users by making every single featured video on the front page a Rickroll.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/rick-astley.jpg



Other than "Never Gonna Give You Up" I really don't know any of his songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 5:13 am


I enjoyed it myself :)
I remember watching The Avengers frist time round

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/06/10 at 6:47 am


With caffine in it?


and cream with sugar.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/06/10 at 6:50 am

Rick Astley,always like his videos.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/06/10 at 7:57 am


It is wine for me, red or white will do.



Spumonti for me.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/10 at 8:04 am



Spumonti for me.



Cat

I never got into wine even though I live in Wine Country NY.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 8:15 am



Spumonti for me.



Cat
http://www.luding.ru/media/catalog/drink/it_spumante_elit_big.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/06/10 at 8:32 am


http://www.luding.ru/media/catalog/drink/it_spumante_elit_big.jpg





Yup.


A little info about spumante. Spumante is the grape. Asti is a region in Italy. It is like Champagne. Sparkling wine HAS to be from that region in France to be called Champagne just like spumante HAS to be from the region in Italy for it to be called Asti.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 8:44 am



Yup.


A little info about spumante. Spumante is the grape. Asti is a region in Italy. It is like Champagne. Sparkling wine HAS to be from that region in France to be called Champagne just like spumante HAS to be from the region in Italy for it to be called Asti.



Cat
I forgot the glasses...

http://buycheapwineglasses.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cheap-wine-glasses-2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/06/10 at 8:53 am


I forgot the glasses...

http://buycheapwineglasses.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cheap-wine-glasses-2.jpg



Is that enough for everyone? I think we will need more than 1 bottle for this crowd. I could drink a whole bottle by myself.  :o :o :o



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/10 at 10:28 am



Is that enough for everyone? I think we will need more than 1 bottle for this crowd. I could drink a whole bottle by myself.  :o :o :o



Cat
We need to find a good wine cellar.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/06/10 at 12:05 pm


The Avengers, one tv program I can easily watch again with pleasure.

Me too. We were fortunate to have that British TV show here in Canada.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/06/10 at 7:28 pm

he also had that Nat King Cole hit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/07/10 at 1:47 am


The Avengers, one tv program I can easily watch again with pleasure.


I bought the DVD of the Diana Rigg series years. That show is a blast..... ;D .... and Diana Rigg is just so special I can't even tell you what that woman does for me...... ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 3:17 am


he also had that Nat King Cole hit.
When I Fall In Love

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 3:47 am

British Person of the Day: Hattie Jacques

Josephine Edwina Jaques (7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress, known by the stage name Hattie Jacques.

Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in fourteen Carry On films, often playing the Matron. She had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in his long running television series, Sykes. She also starred in two Norman Wisdom films, The Square Peg and Follow a Star.

Jacques was married to John Le Mesurier from 1949 until their divorce in 1965.

Her final appearance on television was an advertisement for Asda in 1980. She died later that year from a heart attack.

Early life

Hattie Jacques was born Josephine Edwina Jaques in Sandgate, Kent in 1922, the daughter of Robin and Mary Jacques. Her father was an RAF pilot who was killed in a plane crash just 18 months after her birth. Her mother was an amateur actress.

Educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, she served as a nurse in the Red Cross during the Second World War, and worked as a welder in a factory in North London

At the age of 20, she made her theatrical début at the Players' Theatre in London. Almost immediately, she became a regular performer with the company, appearing in music hall revues and playing the Fairy Queen in their Victorian-style pantomimes. It has been reported she sometimes "sang Marie Lloyd songs and ended her act by leaping into the air and doing the splits".

After achieving success in radio, television and film, she returned to the Players' on a regular basis as a performer, writer and director. It was during her time at the Players' that she acquired the nickname 'Hattie' - appearing in a minstrel show called 'Coal Black Mammies for Dixie', she took to the stage blacked up and was likened to the American actress Hattie McDaniel (of Gone with the Wind fame). Thereafter the name stuck.

Radio

In 1947 she was seen at the Players' by Ted Kavanagh, the scriptwriter of It's That Man Again (ITMA), and was invited to join the cast of the radio comedy series (1948-1949) playing the greedy schoolgirl Sophie Tuckshop.

She also performed (1950-1954) in the radio show Educating Archie as Agatha Danglebody. It was on this show that she first worked with Eric Sykes, who was providing scripts for the series.

In 1956, she was asked to join the radio series Hancock's Half Hour, with regulars Tony Hancock, Sid James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. She also appeared in several episodes of Hancock's television series.

Carry On films

She was also appearing in films by this time, and her early films included Scrooge (1951) and a couple of Norman Wisdom comedies, The Square Peg and Follow a Star. In 1958, she joined the Carry On team in Carry On Sergeant and achieved more widespread recognition.

She appeared in fourteen films in the long-running series and portrayed the no-nonsense Matron in five of the films - Carry On Nurse, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Camping, Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On Matron.

Her own personal favourite was Carry On Cabby, in which she was allowed to drop her 'battleaxe' persona and play the romantic lead opposite Sid James.

She was known by the team as a warm, kind-hearted and endearing lady and was close friends with many of her co-stars, including Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims, whom Hattie provided with a great deal of advice and practical help. In return, Sims regarded Hattie as her "greatest friend".

Eric Sykes

She first met Eric Sykes at the Players' Theatre in London. Dazzled by her performance, Sykes came backstage to be introduced. It was to be the beginning of a life-long friendship and partnership.

In 1960 she joined Eric Sykes on his long-running BBC comedy series Sykes, in which they played a brother and sister who got into all sorts of comic scrapes. The joke was that they were meant to be twins, but were physically very unalike, Jacques being short and plump, while Sykes was thin and gangly. The show ran from 1960 to 1965 and was revived from 1972 to 1979. In later years, they teamed up for national and international stage tours of the show, although this put something of a strain on their professional relationship.

Personal life

Hattie Jacques was married to the actor John Le Mesurier from 1949 to 1965. They had two sons. At the time of their divorce, the media were given the impression that the fault was on Le Mesurier's side. It was later revealed that Jacques had been having an affair with a younger man called John Schofield. The 2007 book Hattie: the Authorised Biography says he was a cockney used-car dealer and that Schofield moved into the master bedroom while Le Mesurier retreated to the attic. When Jacques was filming in Rome, Schofield came out to stay and ran off with an Italian heiress. Le Mesurier went along with the charade of it being his fault so as not to damage Jacques's career. She remained on good terms with Le Mesurier and encouraged him to marry his third wife, Joan.

Later years

In her later years, Jacques was plagued by continued ill-health, but she carried on working and supporting her favourite charities, as well as keeping up her busy social life. She died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, where her ashes were also scattered.

Radio performances

    * ITMA (1948 - 1949), Sophie Tuckshop
    * Educating Archie (1950 - 1954), Agatha Danglebody
    * Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1959), Griselda Pugh

Television

    * Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1960), Griselda Pugh
    * Sykes (TV series, 1960 - 1965, 1971 - 1979), Hattie
    * Doctor at Large (1971) as Mrs Askey in 'Cynthia Darling'

Selected films

    * Oliver Twist (1948) singer in the thieves' pub
    * Trottie True (1948) music hall performer
    * Carry On Sergeant (1958), Captain Clark
    * The Square Peg (1958), Gretchen
    * Carry on Nurse (1959), Matron
    * The Navy Lark (1959), Fortune Teller
    * The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959), Ada
    * Carry On Teacher (1959), Grace Short
    * Follow a Star (1959), Dymphna Dobson
    * Make Mine Mink (1960), Nanette Parry
    * Carry On Constable (1960), Sergeant Laura Moon
    * School for Scoundrels (1960), First Instructress
    * In the Doghouse (1961), Gudgeon
    * Carry On Regardless (1961), Sister
    * She'll Have to Go (1962)
    * Carry On Cabby (1963), Peggy
    * Carry On Doctor (1967), Matron
    * Carry On Again Doctor (1969), Matron
    * Monte Carlo or Bust (1969), Lady Journalist
    * The Magic Christian (1969), Ginger Horton
    * Carry On Camping (1969), Miss Haggerd
    * Carry On Loving (1970), Sophie Bliss
    * Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), Beatrice Plummer
    * Carry On Matron (1971), Matron
    * Carry On Abroad (1972), Floella
    * Carry On Dick (1974), Martha Hoggett
    * Rhubarb Rhubarb (1980), Nanny

http://www.didtheydie.com/morgue/images/hattie_jacques.jpg

https://www.spotlight.com/hallfame/portraits/hattie_jacques.jpg


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 3:48 am


British Person of the Day: Hattie Jacques

Josephine Edwina Jaques (7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress, known by the stage name Hattie Jacques.

Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in fourteen Carry On films, often playing the Matron. She had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in his long running television series, Sykes. She also starred in two Norman Wisdom films, The Square Peg and Follow a Star.

Jacques was married to John Le Mesurier from 1949 until their divorce in 1965.

Her final appearance on television was an advertisement for Asda in 1980. She died later that year from a heart attack.

Early life

Hattie Jacques was born Josephine Edwina Jaques in Sandgate, Kent in 1922, the daughter of Robin and Mary Jacques. Her father was an RAF pilot who was killed in a plane crash just 18 months after her birth. Her mother was an amateur actress.

Educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, she served as a nurse in the Red Cross during the Second World War, and worked as a welder in a factory in North London

At the age of 20, she made her theatrical début at the Players' Theatre in London. Almost immediately, she became a regular performer with the company, appearing in music hall revues and playing the Fairy Queen in their Victorian-style pantomimes. It has been reported she sometimes "sang Marie Lloyd songs and ended her act by leaping into the air and doing the splits".

After achieving success in radio, television and film, she returned to the Players' on a regular basis as a performer, writer and director. It was during her time at the Players' that she acquired the nickname 'Hattie' - appearing in a minstrel show called 'Coal Black Mammies for Dixie', she took to the stage blacked up and was likened to the American actress Hattie McDaniel (of Gone with the Wind fame). Thereafter the name stuck.

Radio

In 1947 she was seen at the Players' by Ted Kavanagh, the scriptwriter of It's That Man Again (ITMA), and was invited to join the cast of the radio comedy series (1948-1949) playing the greedy schoolgirl Sophie Tuckshop.

She also performed (1950-1954) in the radio show Educating Archie as Agatha Danglebody. It was on this show that she first worked with Eric Sykes, who was providing scripts for the series.

In 1956, she was asked to join the radio series Hancock's Half Hour, with regulars Tony Hancock, Sid James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. She also appeared in several episodes of Hancock's television series.

Carry On films

She was also appearing in films by this time, and her early films included Scrooge (1951) and a couple of Norman Wisdom comedies, The Square Peg and Follow a Star. In 1958, she joined the Carry On team in Carry On Sergeant and achieved more widespread recognition.

She appeared in fourteen films in the long-running series and portrayed the no-nonsense Matron in five of the films - Carry On Nurse, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Camping, Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On Matron.

Her own personal favourite was Carry On Cabby, in which she was allowed to drop her 'battleaxe' persona and play the romantic lead opposite Sid James.

She was known by the team as a warm, kind-hearted and endearing lady and was close friends with many of her co-stars, including Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims, whom Hattie provided with a great deal of advice and practical help. In return, Sims regarded Hattie as her "greatest friend".

Eric Sykes

She first met Eric Sykes at the Players' Theatre in London. Dazzled by her performance, Sykes came backstage to be introduced. It was to be the beginning of a life-long friendship and partnership.

In 1960 she joined Eric Sykes on his long-running BBC comedy series Sykes, in which they played a brother and sister who got into all sorts of comic scrapes. The joke was that they were meant to be twins, but were physically very unalike, Jacques being short and plump, while Sykes was thin and gangly. The show ran from 1960 to 1965 and was revived from 1972 to 1979. In later years, they teamed up for national and international stage tours of the show, although this put something of a strain on their professional relationship.

Personal life

Hattie Jacques was married to the actor John Le Mesurier from 1949 to 1965. They had two sons. At the time of their divorce, the media were given the impression that the fault was on Le Mesurier's side. It was later revealed that Jacques had been having an affair with a younger man called John Schofield. The 2007 book Hattie: the Authorised Biography says he was a cockney used-car dealer and that Schofield moved into the master bedroom while Le Mesurier retreated to the attic. When Jacques was filming in Rome, Schofield came out to stay and ran off with an Italian heiress. Le Mesurier went along with the charade of it being his fault so as not to damage Jacques's career. She remained on good terms with Le Mesurier and encouraged him to marry his third wife, Joan.

Later years

In her later years, Jacques was plagued by continued ill-health, but she carried on working and supporting her favourite charities, as well as keeping up her busy social life. She died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, where her ashes were also scattered.

Radio performances

    * ITMA (1948 - 1949), Sophie Tuckshop
    * Educating Archie (1950 - 1954), Agatha Danglebody
    * Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1959), Griselda Pugh

Television

    * Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1960), Griselda Pugh
    * Sykes (TV series, 1960 - 1965, 1971 - 1979), Hattie
    * Doctor at Large (1971) as Mrs Askey in 'Cynthia Darling'

Selected films

    * Oliver Twist (1948) singer in the thieves' pub
    * Trottie True (1948) music hall performer
    * Carry On Sergeant (1958), Captain Clark
    * The Square Peg (1958), Gretchen
    * Carry on Nurse (1959), Matron
    * The Navy Lark (1959), Fortune Teller
    * The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959), Ada
    * Carry On Teacher (1959), Grace Short
    * Follow a Star (1959), Dymphna Dobson
    * Make Mine Mink (1960), Nanette Parry
    * Carry On Constable (1960), Sergeant Laura Moon
    * School for Scoundrels (1960), First Instructress
    * In the Doghouse (1961), Gudgeon
    * Carry On Regardless (1961), Sister
    * She'll Have to Go (1962)
    * Carry On Cabby (1963), Peggy
    * Carry On Doctor (1967), Matron
    * Carry On Again Doctor (1969), Matron
    * Monte Carlo or Bust (1969), Lady Journalist
    * The Magic Christian (1969), Ginger Horton
    * Carry On Camping (1969), Miss Haggerd
    * Carry On Loving (1970), Sophie Bliss
    * Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), Beatrice Plummer
    * Carry On Matron (1971), Matron
    * Carry On Abroad (1972), Floella
    * Carry On Dick (1974), Martha Hoggett
    * Rhubarb Rhubarb (1980), Nanny

http://www.didtheydie.com/morgue/images/hattie_jacques.jpg

https://www.spotlight.com/hallfame/portraits/hattie_jacques.jpg

:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/10 at 5:44 am

The word of the day...Champagne
Champagne is an expensive French white wine with bubbles in. It is often drunk to celebrate something
If you say that champagne corks are popping, you mean that people are celebrating something.
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu339/22darkman/champagne.gif
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr151/jwbn/Birthday_n_Gotcha_Club/MONTHLY%20PAWTIES/Jan2010/Champagne.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn49/MoreChampagneSir/IMG_7915.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee197/ladyt065_2007/BOBBYMURRAYFLYERINWHITE.jpg
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab309/Korina22/thchampagnepng-1.png
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/HEARTS/ValentineFlute2.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r320/johng-018/100_1320.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 5:55 am


The word of the day...Champagne
Champagne is an expensive French white wine with bubbles in. It is often drunk to celebrate something
If you say that champagne corks are popping, you mean that people are celebrating something.
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu339/22darkman/champagne.gif
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr151/jwbn/Birthday_n_Gotcha_Club/MONTHLY%20PAWTIES/Jan2010/Champagne.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn49/MoreChampagneSir/IMG_7915.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee197/ladyt065_2007/BOBBYMURRAYFLYERINWHITE.jpg
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab309/Korina22/thchampagnepng-1.png
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/HEARTS/ValentineFlute2.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r320/johng-018/100_1320.jpg
Champagne, I only drink it when I have to.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/10 at 6:11 am

The person born on this day...Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted as the fifth greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central
Rock began doing stand-up comedy in 1985 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star. He slowly rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the TV series Miami Vice. Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy befriended and mentored the aspiring comic. Murphy gave Rock his first film role in Beverly Hills Cop II.
Saturday Night Live

Rock became a cast member of the popular sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1990. He and other new cast members Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade became known as the Bad Boys of SNL. In 1991, he released his first comedy album Born Suspect and won acclaim for his dramatic role as a crack addict in the film New Jack City. His tenure on SNL gave Rock national exposure.
Standup success

A frustrated Rock left Saturday Night Live in 1993, appearing instead as a "special guest" star on the predominately African-American sketch show In Living Color. The show, however, was canceled months later. Rock then decided to concentrate on a film career. He wrote and starred in the mockumentary CB4 but the film was not a success. Acting jobs became scarce, and Rock abandoned Hollywood to concentrate on stand-up comedy.

Rock starred in his first HBO comedy special in 1994 titled Big Ass Jokes. But it was his second stand-up special, 1996's Bring the Pain, that reinvented Rock as one of the best comedians in the industry. His routine, which featured commentaries on race in America, stirred up a great deal of controversy. Rock won two Emmy Awards for that special. Adding to his popularity was his much-publicized role as a commentator for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect during the 1996 Presidential elections which earned him another Emmy nomination. Rock also was the voice for the "Lil Penny" puppet who was the alter ego to basketball star Penny Hardaway in a series of Nike shoe commercials from 1994-1998, and hosted the '97 MTV Video Music Awards.

Rock later had two more HBO comedy specials: Bigger & Blacker in 1999, and Never Scared in 2004. Articles relating to both specials called Rock "the funniest man in America" in Time and Entertainment Weekly. HBO also aired his talk show, The Chris Rock Show, which gained critical acclaim for Rock's interviews with celebrities and politicians. The show won an Emmy for writing. His television work has won him a total of three Emmy Awards and 15 nominations. By the end of the decade, Rock was established as one of the preeminent stand-up comedians and comic minds of his generation.

During this time, Rock also translated his comedy into print form in the book Rock This! and released the Grammy Award-winning comedy albums, Roll with the New, Bigger & Blacker and Never Scared.

Rock's fifth HBO special, Kill the Messenger, premiered on September 27, 2008, and won him another Emmy for outstanding writing for a variety or muic program.
Film and television

It was not until the success of his stand-up act in the late 1990s that Rock began receiving major parts in films. These include roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, both as a writer and director of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife. In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show has garnered both critical and ratings success. The series was nominated for a 2006 Golden Globe for Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy), a 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy, and two 2006 Emmy Awards for costuming and cinematography.
Academy Awards

In early 2005, Rock hosted the 77th Academy Awards ceremony. The decision to have Rock host the awards was seen by some as a chance to bring an "edge" to the ceremony, and to make it more relevant or appealing to younger audiences. Jokingly, Rock opened by saying "Welcome to the 77th and LAST Academy Awards!" During one segment Rock asked, "Who is this guy?" in reference to actor Jude Law seemingly appearing in every movie Rock had seen that year and implied Law was a low-rent Tom Cruise (he made a joke about filmmakers rushing production when unable to get the actors they want: "If you want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law, wait !"). Subsequently, a defensive Sean Penn took the stage to present and said, "In answer to our host's question, Jude Law is one of our finest young actors." (At the time, Penn and Law were shooting All the King's Men.) Law was not the only actor that Rock poked fun at that evening, however—he turned the joke on himself at one point, saying, "If you want Denzel and all you can get is me, wait!" Older Oscar officials were reportedly displeased with Rock's performance, which did not elevate ratings for the ceremony. Rock was also criticized for referring to the Oscars as "idiotic", and asserting that heterosexual men do not watch them, in an interview prior to Oscar night.
Music videos

Rock's first music video was for his song "Your Mother's Got a Big Head" from his album Born Suspect. Rock also made videos for his songs "Champagne" from Roll With the New and "No Sex (In the Champagne Room)" from Bigger & Blacker. Chris Rock also directed and appeared in the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Hump de Bump".

Rock appeared in the Big Daddy Kane music video "Smooth Operator" as a guy getting his hair cut.

He also appeared in Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down", one of the many celebrities seen lip-synching the song.
Comedic style and views

Rock's subject matter typically involves family, politics, romance, music, class relationships, and race relations in the United States. Though not strictly autobiographical, much of his comic standpoint seem rooted in his teenage experience; his strict parents, concerned about the inadequacies of the local school system, arranged to have the adolescent Rock bused to a nearly all-white high school in Bensonhurst (an Italian-ethnic neighborhood of Brooklyn known at the time for poor race relations). In his memoir Rock This, the comedian recalls, "My parents assumed I'd get a better education in a better neighborhood. What I actually got was a worse education in a worse neighborhood. And a whole bunch of ass-whippings."

The comedian has also expressed discomfort with the notion that success in standup comedy—or, indeed, in any aspect of the entertainment industry—should oblige him to serve as a role model. In this position, he finds himself directly at odds with one of his comic idols, Bill Cosby. Cosby has reprimanded Rock both explicitly—for his famous/notorious Niggas vs. Black People track —and implicitly, for heavy use of the word "******." Rock has not wavered from a position explored in his 1996 Roll With The New show, and reiterated in his 1997 memoir: "Why does the public expect entertainers to behave better than everybody else? It's ridiculous...Of course, this is just for black entertainers. You don't see anyone telling Jerry Seinfeld he's a good role model. Because everyone expects whites to behave themselves...Nowadays, you've got to be an entertainer and a leader. It's too much." Often the subject of tabloids, when asked about paparazzi and the other negative aspects of fame, Rock says he accepts the bad with the good: "You can't be happy that fire cooks your food and be mad it burns your fingertips."

At the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, which was broadcast live on the BBC, before introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rock called the crowd "motherfudgeers" and "sheesh" after a brief sigh when he said he was joking. Due to the broadcast being at 5:45pm Rock was immediately cut off, and the BBC made several apologies for his use of the word "motherfudgeer".
Personal life

Rock has been married to Malaak Compton-Rock since November 23, 1996. She is the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, a non-profit, full-service salon that provides free services for women leaving welfare and entering the workforce. They have 2 daughters together, Lola Simone (born June 28, 2002) and Zahra Savannah (born May 22, 2004).

In November 2006, the entertainment news website TMZ.com reported that Rock was filing for divorce after nearly ten years of marriage to Malaak. Two weeks later, however, TMZ reported that Rock had not filed divorce papers, and that it appeared that the couple had been able to work out their differences and stay together. In response to the reports, the Rocks released a statement to the press denouncing them as "untrue rumors and lies".

In 2007, freelance journalist and former actress Kali Bowyer filed a paternity suit against Chris Rock, claiming he was the father of her son, and in need of hospitalization. DNA testing proved that Rock was not the child's father.

Rock currently resides in Alpine, New Jersey.

In 2008, Rock's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2. A DNA test showed that he is descended from the Udeme people of northern Cameroon and that he is 20% Caucasian.
Work
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Playboy Mansion Valet
1988 Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen Himself Direct-to-video Concert film
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka Rib Joint Customer
1989 Who Is Chris Rock? Himself Documentary Short
1991 New Jack City Pookie
1992 Boomerang Bony T
1993 CB4 Albert Brown/M.C. Gusto Also wrote story, screenplay and was co-producer
1995 The Immortals Deke Anthony
Panther Yuck Mouth
1996 Sgt. Bilko 1st Lt. Oster
1997 Beverly Hills Ninja Joey Washington
1998 Dr. Dolittle Rodney Voice
Lethal Weapon 4 Detective Lee Butters
1999 Torrance Rises Himself Documentary short
Dogma Rufus
2000 Nurse Betty Wesley
2001 Down to Earth Lance Barton Also co-writer and executive producer
AI: Artificial Intelligence Mecha Comedian Voice/cameo
Pootie Tang JB/Radio DJ/Pootie's Father Also producer
Osmosis Jones Osmosis Jones Voice
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Chaka Luther King Cameo
2002 Bad Company Jake Hayes/Kevin Pope/Michael Turner
Comedian Himself Documentary
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Himself Cameo
Head of State Mays Gilliam Also director, producer and co-writer
2004 The N-Word Himself Documentary
Paparazzi Pizza Delivery Guy Cameo
2005 The Aristocrats Himself Documentary
Madagascar Marty voice
The Longest Yard Farrell Caretaker
2007 I Think I Love My Wife Richard Marcus Cooper Also director and co-writer
Bee Movie Mooseblood the Mosquito Voice
2008 You Don't Mess with the Zohan Taxi Driver Cameo
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Marty and other zebras Voice
2009 Good Hair Himself Documentary
2010 Death at a Funeral Aaron Also producer, Remake of the 2007 film of the same name
Grown Ups Kurt McKenzie
2012 Madagascar 3 Marty Voice
Discography
Year Album Peak positions Certifications
U.S. U.S.
R&B
1991 Born Suspect – –

    * US: Gold

1997 Roll with the New 93 41

    * US: Platinum

1999 Bigger & Blacker 44 26

    * US: Platinum

2004 Never Scared – –

    * US: Platinum

Television
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Uptown Comedy Express Himself HBO special
Miami Vice Carson Episode: Missing Hours
1990-1993 Saturday Night Live Various Cast member
1993-1994 In Living Color Various Recurring
1994 Big Ass Jokes Himself HBO special
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Maurice/Jasmine Episode: Get a Job
1996-1998 The Moxy Show Flea Uncredited voice role
1996 Martin Valentino Episode: The Love Jones Connection
Homicide: Life on the Street Carver Episode: Requiem for Adena
Bring the Pain Himself HBO special
Politically Incorrect Himself Correspondent
1997 MTV Music Video Awards Himself Host
1997-2000 The Chris Rock Show Himself Cast member, writer
1998 King of the Hill Roger "Booda" Sack Episode: Traffic Jam
1999 MTV Music Video Awards Himself Host
Bigger & Blacker Himself HBO special
2003 MTV Music Video Awards Himself HBO special
2004 77th Academy Awards Himself Host
Never Scared Himself HBO special
2005-2009 Everybody Hates Chris Narrator Creator
2008 Kill the Messenger Himself HBO special
Books

    * Rock This! (Hyperion Books, 1997) - ISBN 0786862890

Tours

    * Bring the Pain (1996)
    * Bigger & Blacker (1999)
    * Black Ambition (2003-2004)
    * No Apologies (2007-2008)

See also

    * Niggas vs. Black People, one of Rock's most famous and controversial bits.
http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr340/hjitj/Chris_Rock.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc1/mommadonna_photos/chris_rock.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 6:15 am


The person born on this day...Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted as the fifth greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central


** My grandson has slobbed on my wireless mouse so at this time I cannot copy or paste anything :-[..I will try again later.
Naughty grandson!!!

You can still copy by using Alt + C and paste by Alt + V, but you still need to highlight for the copying.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/07/10 at 6:42 am

There's also Evelyn "Champagne" King.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/10 at 7:16 am


Naughty grandson!!!

You can still copy by using Alt + C and paste by Alt + V, but you still need to highlight for the copying.

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/10 at 7:24 am


British Person of the Day: Hattie Jacques

Josephine Edwina Jaques (7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress, known by the stage name Hattie Jacques.

Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in fourteen Carry On films, often playing the Matron. She had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in his long running television series, Sykes. She also starred in two Norman Wisdom films, The Square Peg and Follow a Star.

Jacques was married to John Le Mesurier from 1949 until their divorce in 1965.

Her final appearance on television was an advertisement for Asda in 1980. She died later that year from a heart attack.

Early life

Hattie Jacques was born Josephine Edwina Jaques in Sandgate, Kent in 1922, the daughter of Robin and Mary Jacques. Her father was an RAF pilot who was killed in a plane crash just 18 months after her birth. Her mother was an amateur actress.

Educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, she served as a nurse in the Red Cross during the Second World War, and worked as a welder in a factory in North London

At the age of 20, she made her theatrical début at the Players' Theatre in London. Almost immediately, she became a regular performer with the company, appearing in music hall revues and playing the Fairy Queen in their Victorian-style pantomimes. It has been reported she sometimes "sang Marie Lloyd songs and ended her act by leaping into the air and doing the splits".

After achieving success in radio, television and film, she returned to the Players' on a regular basis as a performer, writer and director. It was during her time at the Players' that she acquired the nickname 'Hattie' - appearing in a minstrel show called 'Coal Black Mammies for Dixie', she took to the stage blacked up and was likened to the American actress Hattie McDaniel (of Gone with the Wind fame). Thereafter the name stuck.

Radio

In 1947 she was seen at the Players' by Ted Kavanagh, the scriptwriter of It's That Man Again (ITMA), and was invited to join the cast of the radio comedy series (1948-1949) playing the greedy schoolgirl Sophie Tuckshop.

She also performed (1950-1954) in the radio show Educating Archie as Agatha Danglebody. It was on this show that she first worked with Eric Sykes, who was providing scripts for the series.

In 1956, she was asked to join the radio series Hancock's Half Hour, with regulars Tony Hancock, Sid James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. She also appeared in several episodes of Hancock's television series.

Carry On films

She was also appearing in films by this time, and her early films included Scrooge (1951) and a couple of Norman Wisdom comedies, The Square Peg and Follow a Star. In 1958, she joined the Carry On team in Carry On Sergeant and achieved more widespread recognition.

She appeared in fourteen films in the long-running series and portrayed the no-nonsense Matron in five of the films - Carry On Nurse, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Camping, Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On Matron.

Her own personal favourite was Carry On Cabby, in which she was allowed to drop her 'battleaxe' persona and play the romantic lead opposite Sid James.

She was known by the team as a warm, kind-hearted and endearing lady and was close friends with many of her co-stars, including Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims, whom Hattie provided with a great deal of advice and practical help. In return, Sims regarded Hattie as her "greatest friend".

Eric Sykes

She first met Eric Sykes at the Players' Theatre in London. Dazzled by her performance, Sykes came backstage to be introduced. It was to be the beginning of a life-long friendship and partnership.

In 1960 she joined Eric Sykes on his long-running BBC comedy series Sykes, in which they played a brother and sister who got into all sorts of comic scrapes. The joke was that they were meant to be twins, but were physically very unalike, Jacques being short and plump, while Sykes was thin and gangly. The show ran from 1960 to 1965 and was revived from 1972 to 1979. In later years, they teamed up for national and international stage tours of the show, although this put something of a strain on their professional relationship.

Personal life

Hattie Jacques was married to the actor John Le Mesurier from 1949 to 1965. They had two sons. At the time of their divorce, the media were given the impression that the fault was on Le Mesurier's side. It was later revealed that Jacques had been having an affair with a younger man called John Schofield. The 2007 book Hattie: the Authorised Biography says he was a cockney used-car dealer and that Schofield moved into the master bedroom while Le Mesurier retreated to the attic. When Jacques was filming in Rome, Schofield came out to stay and ran off with an Italian heiress. Le Mesurier went along with the charade of it being his fault so as not to damage Jacques's career. She remained on good terms with Le Mesurier and encouraged him to marry his third wife, Joan.

Later years

In her later years, Jacques was plagued by continued ill-health, but she carried on working and supporting her favourite charities, as well as keeping up her busy social life. She died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, where her ashes were also scattered.

Radio performances

    * ITMA (1948 - 1949), Sophie Tuckshop
    * Educating Archie (1950 - 1954), Agatha Danglebody
    * Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1959), Griselda Pugh

Television

    * Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1960), Griselda Pugh
    * Sykes (TV series, 1960 - 1965, 1971 - 1979), Hattie
    * Doctor at Large (1971) as Mrs Askey in 'Cynthia Darling'

Selected films

    * Oliver Twist (1948) singer in the thieves' pub
    * Trottie True (1948) music hall performer
    * Carry On Sergeant (1958), Captain Clark
    * The Square Peg (1958), Gretchen
    * Carry on Nurse (1959), Matron
    * The Navy Lark (1959), Fortune Teller
    * The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959), Ada
    * Carry On Teacher (1959), Grace Short
    * Follow a Star (1959), Dymphna Dobson
    * Make Mine Mink (1960), Nanette Parry
    * Carry On Constable (1960), Sergeant Laura Moon
    * School for Scoundrels (1960), First Instructress
    * In the Doghouse (1961), Gudgeon
    * Carry On Regardless (1961), Sister
    * She'll Have to Go (1962)
    * Carry On Cabby (1963), Peggy
    * Carry On Doctor (1967), Matron
    * Carry On Again Doctor (1969), Matron
    * Monte Carlo or Bust (1969), Lady Journalist
    * The Magic Christian (1969), Ginger Horton
    * Carry On Camping (1969), Miss Haggerd
    * Carry On Loving (1970), Sophie Bliss
    * Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), Beatrice Plummer
    * Carry On Matron (1971), Matron
    * Carry On Abroad (1972), Floella
    * Carry On Dick (1974), Martha Hoggett
    * Rhubarb Rhubarb (1980), Nanny

http://www.didtheydie.com/morgue/images/hattie_jacques.jpg

https://www.spotlight.com/hallfame/portraits/hattie_jacques.jpg




Thanks Phil. I can honestly say I never heard of her. Were the Carry On movies only popular in the U.K.?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/10 at 7:29 am

The person who died on this day...Nick Adams
Nick Adams (July 10, 1931 – February 7, 1968) was an Academy Award nominated American film and television actor. He has been noted for his supporting roles in successful Hollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s along with his starring role in the ABC television series The Rebel (1959). Decades after Adams' death from a prescription drug overdose at the age of 36 his widely publicized friendships with James Dean and Elvis Presley would stir speculation about both his private life and the circumstances of his death. In an Allmovie synopsis for Adams' last film, reviewer Dan Pavlides wrote, "Plagued by personal excesses, he will be remembered just as much for what he could have done in cinema as what he left behind.
dams was an avid reader of fan magazines and came to believe he could meet agents and directors by being seen at the Warners Theater in Beverly Hills. He got a job there as doorman, usher and maintenance man, which included changing the notices on the theater marquee. He was fired after he put his own name up as a publicity stunt.

Adams' earliest reported paid acting job in Los Angeles was a stage role at the Las Palmas Theater in a comedy called Mr. Big Shot. Although he was paid about $60 a week Adams had to pay $175 for membership in Actors Equity. He also earned $25 one night at the Mocambo nightclub, filling in for Pearl Bailey who had fallen ill. Eight years later Hedda Hopper told Adams she recalled writing about him at the time and he replied by reciting back to her, "Nick Adams, gas station attendant from New Jersey, did an impersonation of Jimmy Cagney and a scene from Glass Menagerie."

After three years of struggle and optimistic self-promotion, his first film role came in 1951, an uncredited one-liner as a Western Union delivery boy in George Seaton's Somebody Loves Me (1952). This allowed him to join the Screen Actors Guild, but he was unable to find steady acting work, even when "creatively" claiming he had appeared with Palance in The Silver Tassie in New York. Undaunted, Adams joined a theater workshop run by Arthur Kennedy. In January 1952 Adams was drafted into the United States Coast Guard.
Supporting actor

Two and a half years later, in June 1954 his ship docked in Long Beach harbor and after a brash audition for director John Ford during which Adams did impressions of James Cagney and other celebrities while dressed in his Coast Guard uniform, he took his accumulated leave and appeared as Seaman Reber in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts. Adams then completed his military service, returned to Los Angeles and at the age of 23, based on his work in the hit film Mr Roberts, was able to secure a powerful agent and signed with Warner Brothers.

Adams had a small role (as Chick) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Also that year Adams played the role of "Bomber" the paper boy in the widely popular film adaptation of Picnic (1955) which was mostly filmed on location in Kansas and starred William Holden, Kim Novak and Susan Strasberg. He was not perceived by casting directors as tall or handsome enough for leading roles but during the late 1950s Adams had supporting roles in several successful television productions and films such as Our Miss Brooks (1956), No Time for Sergeants (1958), Steve Canyon (1958) and Pillow Talk (1959).
James Dean

Adams may have first met James Dean in December 1950 while jitterbugging for a soft drink commercial filmed at Griffith Park. Adams spent three years in the US Coast Guard between the time this commercial was shot in late 1950 and the start of filming for Rebel Without a Cause in March 1955. Actor Jack Grinnage, who played Moose, recalled, "Off the set, Nick, Dennis, and the others would go out together--almost like the gang we portrayed--but Jimmy and Corey Allen... were not a part of that." They became friends during filming. During breaks, Dean and Adams entertained cast and crew with impersonations of Marlon Brando and Elia Kazan (who had directed Dean in East of Eden). A 1955 Warner Brothers press release quoted Dean as saying, "I shall be busy for the rest of 1955, and Nick will be doing film work for the next six months. Come 1956, however, I wouldn't be surprised to find myself with Adams doing a two-a-night nightclub routine--or acting in a comedy by William Shakespeare." When production was wrapped, Dean said in another press release, "I now regard Natalie, Nick and Sal as co-workers; I regard them as friends... about the only friends I have in this town. And I hope we all work together again soon." Following Dean's 1955 death in an automobile accident, Adams overdubbed some of James Dean's lines for the film Giant (these are in Jett Rink's speech at the hotel) and dated co-star Natalie Wood. Adams tried to capitalize on Dean's fame through various publicity stunts, including a claim he was being stalked by a crazed female Dean fan, allowing himself to be photographed at Dean's grave in a contemplative pose, holding flowers and surrounded by mourning, teenaged female fans along with writing articles and doing interviews about Dean for fan magazines. He also claimed to have developed Dean's affection for fast cars, later telling a reporter, "I became a highway delinquent. I was arrested nine times in one year. They put me on probation, but I kept on racing... nowhere."
Elvis Presley

Nick Adams' widely publicized friendship with Elvis Presley began in 1956 on the set of Presley's film Love Me Tender during the second day of shooting. Presley had admired James Dean and when the singer arrived in Hollywood he was encouraged by studio executives to be seen with some of the "hip" new young actors there. Meanwhile his manager Colonel Tom Parker was worried Elvis' new Hollywood acquaintances might influence Presley and even tell him what they were paying their managers and agents (usually a fraction of what Parker was getting). Elaine Dundy called Parker a "master manipulator" who used Nick Adams and others in the entourage (including Parker's own brother-in-law Bitsy Mott) to counter possible subversion against him and control Elvis' movements. She later wrote a scathing characterization of Adams:

    ...brash struggling young actor whose main scheme to further his career was to hitch his wagon to a star, the first being James Dean, about whose friendship he was noisily boastful... this made it easy for Parker to suggest that Nick be invited to join Elvis' growing entourage of paid companions, and for Nick to accept... following Adams' hiring, there appeared a newspaper item stating that Nick and Parker were writing a book on Elvis together.

Dundy also wrote, "Of all Elvis' new friends, Nick Adams, by background and temperament the most insecure, was also his closest." Adams was Dennis Hopper's roommate during this period and the three reportedly socialized together, with Presley "...hanging out more and more with Nick and his friends" and glad his manager "liked Nick." Decades later, Kathleen Tracy recalled Adams often met Presley backstage or at Graceland, where Elvis often asked Adams "to stay over on nights": "He and Elvis would go motorcycle riding late at night and stay up until all hours talking about the pain of celebrity" and enjoying prescription drugs.

Almost forty years later, writer Peter Guaralnick wrote that Presley found it "good running around with Nick ... – there was always something happening, and the hotel suite was like a private clubhouse where you needed to know the secret password to get in and he got to change the password every day." Presley's girlfriend June Juanico complained the singer was always talking about his friend Adams and James Dean. As with Dean, Adams capitalized on his association with Presley, publishing an account of their friendship in May 1957. In August 1958 after Elvis' mother Gladys died, Parker wrote in a letter, "Nicky Admas came out to be with Elvis last Week wich was so very kind of him to be there with his friend."
The Rebel

In 1959 Adams starred in the ABC television series The Rebel playing the character Johnny Yuma, a wandering, ex-Confederate, journal-keeping, sawed-off shotgun toting "trouble-shooter" in the old American west. He is credited as a co-creator of The Rebel but had no role in writing the pilot or any of the series' episodes. Adams had asked his friend Andrew J. Fenady to write the pilot as a starring vehicle for him. The series' only recurring character, publicized as a "Reconstruction beatnik", was played by Adams. He reportedly consulted with John Wayne for tips on how to play the role. Adams wanted Presley to sing the theme song for The Rebel but the show's producer wanted Johnny Cash, who made it a hit. Guest stars appearing on the series during its two year run included Dan Blocker, Johnny Cash, Leonard Nimoy, Tex Ritter and Robert Vaughn. 76 half-hour episodes were filmed before the series was cancelled in 1961. Reruns were syndicated for several years. Adams went back to TV and film work, along with a role in the short-lived but critically successful television series Saints and Sinners.
Twilight of Honor

Adams was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as an unlikeable murder suspect in the film Twilight of Honor (1963) which featured the film debuts of both Linda Evans and Joey Heatherton. He campaigned heavily for the award, spending over $8,000 on ads in trade magazines but many of his strongest scenes had been cut from the movie and he lost to Melvyn Douglas.
Toho Studios

In 1964, Adams had a leading role in an episode (Fun and Games) of The Outer Limits television series. A review of this episode written over three decades later would characterize him as an "underrated actor." By this time Adams' career was stalling. He had high hopes his co-starring performance with Robert Conrad in Young Dillinger (1964) would be critically acclaimed but the project had low production values and both critics and audiences rejected the film. Also that year Adams guest starred in an episode of the short-lived CBS drama The Reporter.

In 1965, after publicly insisting he would never work in films produced outside the US, Adams began accepting parts in Japanese science fiction monster movies (kaiju). He landed major roles in two science fiction epics from Toho Studios in Chiyoda, Tokyo. His first Japanese movie was Frankenstein Conquers the World, in which he played Dr. James Bowen, a radiologist working in Hiroshima who encounters a new incarnation of the Frankenstein monster. Adams next starred in the sixth Godzilla film, Invasion of Astro-Monster (known in the U.S. as Monster Zero), in which he played Astronaut Glenn, journeying to the newly discovered Planet X. In both film plots his character had a love interest with characters portrayed by actress Kumi Mizuno. Actors at Toho Studios later fondly remembered Adams as a "team player". On the set of Monster Zero Adams and co-star Yoshio Tsuchiya (who played the villainous Controller of Planet X) reportedly got along well and played jokes on each other. Adams made four films in Japan during 1965 and 1966. During this time he also co-starred with Boris Karloff in Die, Monster, Die! (1965), a gothic horror–sci fi movie filmed in England.
1967: TV episodes and low budget films
Nick Adams wears an off-the-shelf motorcycle helmet in Mission Mars (1968) shortly before his death.

In early 1967 Disney released Mosby's Marauders, a now mostly forgotten but successful Civil War drama told from a southern perspective with Adams in the role of a cruel Union army sergeant. Adams guest-starred in five episodes of four TV series that year, including an installment of his friend Robert Conrad's The Wild Wild West, an appearance in Combat! and two episodes of Hondo (a short-lived western which also had an ex-Confederate theme). Throughout 1967 and early 1968 he also worked in three low budget films. One of these was Mission Mars (1968) which, having been released the same year as Stanley Kubrick's widely praised 2001: A Space Odyssey, has been described as "rarely seen, and utterly dreadful." Adams' costume for this movie included an off-the-shelf motorcycle helmet. Reacting to Mission Mars over 30 years later, SciFi reviewer Gary Westfahl wrote, "The only quality that Adams could persuasively project on film was a desperate desire to be popular, to be liked.... which helps to explain why Adams got his foot in many doors..." Adams' last US production was a more solid B picture, a stock car movie filmed in Iowa called Fever Heat. His last film appearance was in the little seen Spanish-language western Los Asesinos filmed in Mexico City, Mexico.
Marriage and children
Nick Adams (with props from his TV series The Rebel) and Carol Nugent pose for a publicity photo taken shortly after their marriage

Adams married former child actor Carol Nugent in 1959. Nugent had appeared in an episode of The Rebel. They had two children, Allyson Lee Adams (1960) and Jeb Stuart Adams (1961) who both later pursued careers in the film industry.

Sometimes acrimonious marital problems reportedly interfered with his ability to get lucrative acting parts after 1963. While promoting Young Dillinger during a television appearance on The Les Crane Show in early 1965, Adams "shocked" the viewing audience with an announcement he was leaving his wife—seemingly without telling her first. The couple publicly announced a reconciliation a week later but his career and personal life following this episode have been characterized as a "tragic freefall".

Adams and actress Kumi Mizuno may have had a short affair while he was working in Japan. "That's one of the reasons my parents were divorced", his daughter, playwright Allyson Lee Adams later said. "My dad had a penchant for becoming infatuated with his leading ladies. It was a way for him to take on the role he was playing at the time."

By July 1965 they were legally separated and Carol filed for divorce in September. The following month, while Adams was in Japan, Carol was granted a divorce and custody of the children. In January 1966 Nick and Carol announced another reconciliation on a local television show, Bill John's Hollywood Star Notebook. However in November 1966 Carol resumed the divorce proceedings and obtained a restraining order against him, alleging Adams was "prone to fits of temper" and in an affidavit charged he had "choked her, struck her and threatened to kill her during the past few weeks." On January 20, 1967 Adams was waiting for a court hearing to start when he was served with an $110,000 defamation suit by Carol's boyfriend. Nevertheless, nine days later he was granted temporary custody of the children. His son Jeb Adams later recalled, "He saw it as a competition, basically, more than anything of getting custody of us. But, a matter of a week or two later, he gave us back to my mom" and Carol later regained legal custody of the children.
Death
Adams death certificate

After finishing Los Asesinos (1968) in Mexico Adams bought a plane ticket with his own money and flew to Rome to co-star with Aldo Ray in a SciFi horror movie called Murder in the Third Dimension, but when he got there found the project had been dropped. Susan Strasberg, who had worked with him 13 years earlier on the hit film Picnic and was living in Italy, encountered a thoroughly demoralized Adams in a Rome bar. On the night of February 7, 1968 his lawyer and friend, ex-LAPD officer Erwin Roeder, drove to the actor's house at 2126 El Roble Lane in Beverly Hills to check on him after a missed dinner appointment. Seeing a light on and his car in the garage, Roeder broke through a window and discovered Adams in his upstairs bedroom, slumped dead against a wall.

During the autopsy Dr. Thomas Noguchi found enough paraldehyde, sedatives and other drugs in the body "to cause instant unconsciousness." The death certificate lists "paraldehyde and promazine intoxication" as the immediate cause of death along with the notation accident; suicide; undetermined. During the 1960s drug interaction warnings were not so prominent as they later would be and the American Medical Association has subsequently warned these two types of drugs should never be taken together.

The death of Nick Adams has been cited in articles and books about Hollywood's unsolved mysteries along with speculation by a few of Adams' acquaintances he was murdered (but apparently with no motive ever offered) and claims no trace of paraldehyde (a liquid sedative often given to alcoholics at the time and one of two drugs attributed to his death) was ever found in his home. However, Adams' brother Andrew had become a medical doctor and prescribed the sedative to him. Moreover, a story in The Los Angeles Times reported stoppered bottles with prescription labels were found in the medicine cabinet near the upstairs bedroom where Adams' body was discovered. Through the years Adams' children offered speculation ranging from murder to accidental death, the latter perhaps caused by Raeder while trying to calm the actor's nerves with an unintentionally lethal combination of alcohol and prescription drugs (although the autopsy found no alcohol in Adams' blood). Adams' best friend, actor Robert Conrad, has consistently maintained the death was accidental.

Carol Adams is listed as Adams' spouse on his death certificate, evidence the divorce had not become final when the actor died. She and the children were living only a few blocks from Adams' recently-rented house on Roble Lane.

Nick Adams' remains were buried in Berwick, Pennsylvania. He appeared in over 150 television series episodes and feature films throughout a 20 year career. Half of these were episodes of The Rebel. The back of his gravestone bears a silhouette of Adams in the civil-war era cap from his TV series and reads Nick Adams - the rebel - actor of hollywood screens.
Later published speculation
Adams's sexuality

Decades later, Adams' highly publicized life and death at a young age and his friendships with cultural icons such as James Dean and Elvis Presley along with his reported drug consumption made his private life the subject of many reports and assertions by some writers who have claimed Adams may have been gay or bisexual and may have had intimate relationships with both Dean and Presley. One of the earliest published mentions on this overall topic was made by gossip columnist Rona Barrett in her 1974 autobiography, in which she made no assertion Adams was homosexual or bisexual but claimed Adams had told her, along with a "whole roomful of people -- that he wasn't making it because no one in Hollywood's upper stratosphere would accept his wife." Barret wrote, "This was untrue. She was one of the most refreshing wives in the entire community", and went on to say Adams "had become the companion to a group of salacious homosexuals" who flattered the actor, which affected his judgement and caused him to blame Carol. Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk claimed Mike Connolly (a gay gossip columnist for the Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966) "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis, Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams, and James Dean." According to American Film (1986), "Nick Adams, who was ... gay, was the butt of anti-gay humor in Pillow Talk.

Some writers later called Adams a "Hollywood hustler" or a "street hustler" but one journalist also refers to Adams as a pool hustler who made money in pool halls when he was a teenager in New Jersey and later while struggling to make ends meet during his early years in Hollywood .
Friendship with Dean and Presley

It is uncertain whether James Dean and Adams met before his service in the US Coast Guard (1952-1955) and subsequent role in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). In his 1986 gossip book about gay Hollywood, Conversations With My Elders, Boze Hadleigh claimed actor Sal Mineo told him in 1972, "I didn't hear it from Jimmy (James Dean), who was sort of awesome to me when we did Rebel. But Nick told me they had a big affair." Journalist, screenwriter and author of books about Hollywood, John Gregory Dunne wrote that "James Dean was bisexual, as were Nick Adams and Sal Mineo." In his book Elvis (1981) Albert Goldman wrote, "Nick Adams ingratiated himself with James Dean precisely as he would do a year or so later with Elvis. He offered himself to the shy, emotionally contorted and rebellious Dean, as a friend, a guide, a boon companion, a homosexual lover -- whatever role or service Dean required." According to Eric Braun, "Elvis was attracted by Adams' outgoing personality and the young actors caused quite a stir, cruising round Los Angeles with Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn and others on their Hondas." In 2005 Byron Raphael and Presley biographer Alanna Nash claimed Adams may have "swung both ways" like "Adams' good pal (and Elvis' idol) James Dean. Tongues wagged that Elvis and Adams were getting it on." Earl Greenwood, author and biographer David Bret and Adams' former fan mail secretary Bill Dakota made similar statements. For Adams's friendships with both Dean and Presley, see also Eric Braun, Frightening the Horses: Gay Icons of the Cinema (2002). However, in 2006 Kathleen Tracy noted, "It has since been speculated in Hollywood gossip that Presley and Adams may have shared some sort of intimate encounter. But there's no definitive evidence one way or another."
Studio-arranged dates

Adams regularly dated actresses with whom he made movies. During the mid-1950s photographs of him with actress Natalie Wood were widely publicized in fan magazines. Modern Screen wrote at the time "their relationship has been mostly for fun" and they shared "a tendency toward moodiness and unpredictability." The magazine also reported they had given joint interviews "in which they admitted they adored each other" and "they even came terribly close to getting married" in Las Vegas. The same article also remarked that on one of their trips they "posed for innumerable publicity photographs - that was the real reason for the trip - " and "Right now, both Nick and Natalie are inclined to deny the whole Las Vegas episode." In his 2004 biography Natalie Wood: A Life biographer and screenwriter Gavin Lambert wrote in passing, Wood's "first studio-arranged date with a gay or bisexual actor had been with Nick Adams." In his biography of gay Hollywood agent Henry Willson, Robert Hofler deals with the rise of the studio star system, in which several actors spent time on the homosexual casting couch and dated girls or even entered into sham marriages in order to cover their homosexuality. "In the Henry Willson date pool", the author says, "Nick Adams was one client, among many, who glommed on to Natalie Wood to get his picture taken." Suzanne Finstad cites actor Jack Grinnage, one of the gang members in Rebel Without a Cause, about Nick Adams's and Dennis Hopper's reasons "for getting close to Natalie. 'I remember being in Dennis' dressing room with Nick and Natalie ... I don't know which one of them said this - it was Nick or Dennis - but he said, "We're gonna hang on to her bra straps." Meaning up the career ladder.' Natalie's tutor, who knew Hopper and Adams off set, said, 'Both of those two guys were all over her ... because they could see that this movie was going to be a big thing for Natalie ... they were game for anything in order to be noticed and to get ahead in the business.' "

Actress Olive Sturgess relates: "When Nick and I went out, it was a casual thing – no great love or anything like that. ... I thought he was very troubled ... You could feel he was troubled. It was the manner he had – that was the way he was in real life, always brooding. ... When we went out, it was never on his motorcycle! That's one trick he couldn't pull on me. We always went in a car!"
Lack of confirmation

Because of morality clauses in studio contracts along with practical marketing concerns, most gay and lesbian actors during the 1950s and 1960s were discreet about their sexuality. However, Adams was known in Hollywood for embellishing and inventing stories about his show business experiences and long tried to capitalize on his associations with James Dean and Elvis Presley. In a brief biographical article journalist Bill Kelly wrote Adams "became James Dean's closest pal, although Nick was straight and Dean was bisexual." Moreover there are neither any court documents (such as from the long and drawn out divorce and child custody proceedings between him and his wife), personal letters from Adams nor directly attributable statements by any alleged male lovers to support the assertions.
Quotes
“ I dreamed all my life of being a movie star. Movies were my life.
You had to have an escape when you were raised in a basement.
I saw all the James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield
pictures. Odds against the world... that was my meat. ”
“ I will never make a picture abroad.

— 1963, two years before Adams went to Japan and co-starred in Invasion of Astro-Monster, the sixth Godzilla movie produced by Toho Studios.

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1952 Somebody Loves Me Western Union boy Uncredited
1955 Strange Lady in Town Billy the Kid
Mister Roberts Reber
Rebel Without a Cause Chick
I Died a Thousand Times Bell Boy Uncredited
Picnic Bomber
1956 Our Miss Brooks Gary Nolan
A Strange Adventure Phil Davis Alternative title: White Nightmare
The Last Wagon Ridge
Giant Jett Rink (Voice) Uncredited
1957 Fury at Showdown Tracy Mitchell
Sweet Smell of Success Hot-Dog Stand Customer Uncredited
Playhouse 90 Sandy TV, 1 episode
1958 Sing Boy Sing C.K. Judd
Richard Diamond, Private Detective Mickey Houseman TV, 1 episode
Teacher's Pet Barney Kovac
No Time for Sergeants Pvt. Benjamin B. Whitledge
Wanted: Dead or Alive Andy Martin TV, 1 episode
Cimarron City John Hartman, Jr. TV, 1 episode
Letter to Loretta Chip Davidson TV, 1 episode
Steve Canyon Sgt. Korman TV, 1 episode
1958-1959 Zane Grey Theater George Pelletti TV, 2 episodes
Trackdown Deal Jackford TV, 3 episodes
1958-1961 Wagon Train Sam Upton TV, 2 episodes
1959 Yancy Derringer Duke Alexis TV, 1 episode
Tales of Wells Fargo Ira Watkins TV, 1 episode
The David Niven Show TV, 1 episode
Pillow Talk Tony Walters
The FBI Story John Gilbert "Jack" Graham
1959-1961 The Rebel Johnny Yuma TV, 59 episodes, wrote 38 episodes, credited as creator
1961-1962 The Dick Powell Show Nick Phillips/George Townsend TV, 2 episodes
General Electric Theater Paul Madsen TV, 2 episodes
1962 Checkmate Weiler aka "Kid" TV, 1 episode
Hell is for Heroes Homer
The Interns Dr. Sid Lackland
A Girl Named Tamiko
1962-1963 Saints and Sinners Nick Alexander TV, 3 episodes
1963 The Hook Pvt. V.R. Hackett
Twilight of Honor Ben Brown Alternative title: The Charge is Murder, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
77 Sunset Strip Max Dent TV, 1 episode
1963-1965 Burke's Law Various roles TV, 5 episodes
1963-1967 Combat! Pvt. Mick Hellar/Cpl. Marty Roberts TV, 2 episodes
1964 Arrest and Trial Ronnie Blake TV, 1 episode
The Outer Limits Mike Benson TV, 1 episode
The Reporter Roger TV, 1 episode
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Jason Kemp TV, 1 episode
The Young Lovers Tarragoo
Rawhide Corporal Dasovik TV, 1 episode
1965 Ben Casey Orin Reid TV, 1 episode
Young Dillinger John Dillinger
Frankenstein Conquers the World Dr. James Bowen
Die, Monster, Die! Stephen Reinhart Alternative titles: Monster of Terror & The House at the End of the World
Invasion of Astro-Monster Astronaut Glenn Alternative titles: Godzilla vs. Monster Zero & Invasion of the Astros
1966 Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title KEB agent Uncredited
1966-1968 The Wild Wild West Prince/Sheriff Dave Cord TV, 2 episodes
1967 The Wonderful World of Disney Sergeant Gregg TV, 2 episodes
The Monroes Dave TV, 1 episode
The Killing Bottle John Carter Alternative titles: International Secret Police: Driven to the Wall & Zettai zatsumi
Hondo Apache Kid TV, 2 episodes
1968 Fever Heat Ace Jones
Mission Mars Nick Grant
Los Asesinos Shannon
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll56/Joesmyhero_album/Michael%20Landon/img187.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll56/Joesmyhero_album/Michael%20Landon/img189.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/07/10 at 8:01 am


The word of the day...Champagne
Champagne is an expensive French white wine with bubbles in. It is often drunk to celebrate something
If you say that champagne corks are popping, you mean that people are celebrating something.
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu339/22darkman/champagne.gif
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr151/jwbn/Birthday_n_Gotcha_Club/MONTHLY%20PAWTIES/Jan2010/Champagne.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn49/MoreChampagneSir/IMG_7915.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee197/ladyt065_2007/BOBBYMURRAYFLYERINWHITE.jpg
http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab309/Korina22/thchampagnepng-1.png
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/HEARTS/ValentineFlute2.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r320/johng-018/100_1320.jpg



I thought we already have a discussion about champagne.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/10 at 8:12 am



I thought we already have a discussion about champagne.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

I know I feel like an alcoholic ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 9:30 am


Thanks Phil. I can honestly say I never heard of her. Were the Carry On movies only popular in the U.K.?
The Carry On films are popular in the UK for the bawdy humour, but are now outdated due to PC standards etc.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 10:30 am



I thought we already have a discussion about champagne.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6me5MAHTWo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 10:46 am

Another British Person of the Day (Died This Day): Matt Monro

Matt Monro (1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s. Throughout his 30-year career, he filled cabarets, nightclubs, music halls, and stadiums in Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. He sold more than 100 million records during his lifetime.

Early career

He was born Terence Edward Parsons in Shoreditch, London and attended Duncombe School in Islington. Affectionately nicknamed "the singing bus driver" (because one of his many occupations prior to achieving fame was driving the Number 27 bus from Highgate to Teddington), he got his first break in 1956 when he became a featured vocalist with the BBC Show Band. An important influence on his early career was the pianist Winifred Atwell, who became his mentor, provided him with his stage name, and helped him sign with Decca Records.

In 1957 Monro released Blue and Sentimental, a collection of standards. Despite the album's critical acclaim, Monro languished among the young male singers trying to break through at the end of the 1950s, many of them emulating Frankie Vaughan by recording cover versions of American hits. (Monro even recorded a version of Vaughan's "Garden of Eden" during this period.) A short recording contract with Fontana Records followed.

By the end of the 1950s, Monro's mid-decade fame had evaporated, and he returned to relative obscurity. He and his wife Mickie lived from her wages as a song plugger and his royalties from a TV advertising jingle for Camay soap. In 1959 he recorded a country pastiche song, "Bound for Texas", for The Chaplin Revue, a feature-length compilation of Charlie Chaplin shorts. It would be the first of many Monro soundtrack themes.

International success

Prior to producing the Peter Sellers album Songs For Swinging Sellers in 1960, George Martin asked Monro to record a satirical ditty to help the comedian imitate the song with a Frank Sinatra-type styling. When Sellers heard the recording he decided to use it to open the record rather than record his own version. However, Sellers billed Monro as "Fred Flange," and though it was a demoralizing experience at the time, the incident developed into a lifelong friendship with Martin, who subsequently asked Monro to begin recording with him for EMI's Parlophone record label. Their second single, "Portrait of My Love," reached number three in the UK Singles Chart.

By the following year, he had been named Top International Act by Billboard magazine, and his follow-up hits included "My Kind of Girl" (1961), "Softly as I Leave You" (1962) and the song from the James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963). For the latter, his vocals were not used in the opening titles, as became the standard for the series; they were heard on a radio during the film and over the final credits. At the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, singing "I Love the Little Things," he finished second behind Italy's 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti, despite an "excellent performance of the only English language song of the night." The Austrian entry "Warum Nur Warum?", sung by Udo Jürgens, caught Monro's ear, despite its sixth-place finish, and he recorded an English version titled "Walk Away" (with lyrics by Monro's manager Don Black), earning him another hit single late in 1964. He also had a hit with the The Beatles' "Yesterday" in 1965, releasing the first single of the most recorded song of all time, predating even the Beatles' own. The following year, Monro sang the Oscar winning title song for the film, Born Free, which became his signature tune. The opening scene for the film The Italian Job featured Monro singing "On Days Like These." These two movie themes featured lyrics also written by Don Black, who started his career as a renowned songwriter when Monro challenged him to pen the English lyric that became "Walk Away." On December 31, 1976, Monro performed Walk Away on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver jubilee.

Monro achieved fame in the United States when "My Kind of Girl" (1961) and "Walk Away" (1964) hit the Top 40. In 1966, following the death of Nat King Cole, EMI moved Monro from Parlophone to Capitol. After relocating to California and recording several albums with American arrangers, Monro returned to the UK and began appearing on EMI's Columbia label, his final U.S. album release being Close To You in 1970. This LP contained the uncharted (in the US) but widely played "We're Gonna Change The World", a semi-satirical song about women's liberation.

He continued touring and recording until just before his death, releasing a single and promoting it throughout the UK and Australia in 1984. In one of his final appearances he praised Boy George, noting the importance of quality recordings in all musical genres.

Death and legacy

Monro died from liver cancer in 1985 at the Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London, leaving a widow, Mickie, and three children: Mitchell, Michele, and Matthew. Mitchell, a professional pilot, also died of cancer in 2004. A Memorial was held in Harrow.

The twentieth anniversary of Monro's passing spotlighted the continuing interest in his music, with a Top 10 tribute compilation CD (UK), a No. 1 concert DVD (UK), a BBC TV documentary, and an official website all appearing in 2005. A 2007 compilation CD entitled From Matt With Love reached the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart during its first week of release.

In Autumn 2005 Matt Monro Jr. toured the United Kingdom with a tribute concert commemorating the anniversary. Also, EMI re-released Matt Sings Monro, a 1995 duet album that combined his voice with the senior Monro's. Another posthumous Matt Monro duet, with Cliff Richard, appeared on Richard's duets CD, Two's Company, in 2007.

Monro never recorded a "live" concert album, preferring the technical purity of the recording studio and wanting his public performances to retain an element of uniqueness. However, in the past few years, commercially-released concert albums have emerged following meticulous remastering of radio and television shows, private recordings he commissioned. These include an intimate 1967 cabaret performance from his first tour of Australia; a 1967 BBC concert with Nelson Riddle; a 1966 arena concert before 24,000 fans in Manila; and one of his final concerts, recorded on the last night of his fourteenth and final Australian tour in 1984.

In recent years, many singers riding the resurging wave of retro-pop have cited Matt Monro as a strong influence, including Michael Bublé, Monica Mancini, and Rick Astley. Musicians' biographies regularly note his stylistic influence on their subjects, including Cass Elliot and Karen Carpenter. He continues to feature prominently on radio stations and CD compilations featuring popular easy-listening vocalists.

His music

Most of Monro's recordings were produced or overseen by George Martin. Unlike his contemporaries, Monro recorded very few Tin Pan Alley standards during his career. (The exception was Matt Monro sings Hoagy Carmichael, one of his most highly-regarded albums.) Instead, he and Martin searched for material written by promising newcomers and commissioned English lyrics for dramatic melodies written by European composers. He also covered many of the most popular stage and screen songs of the 1950s and 1960s. Over the years, his recordings featured arrangements by Johnnie Spence, Sid Feller, Billy May, John Barry, Buddy Bregman, Kenny Clayton, Colin Keyes, and Martin himself. Monro also teamed up with Nelson Riddle and Billy May for concerts broadcast by the BBC.

In 1973 Monro released a vocal version of the popular Van der Valk TV-series theme titled "And You Smiled". It was his final hit. In 1977 he recorded "If I Never Sing Another Song", which became a latter-day standard among his contemporaries, its lyrics referring to the "heyday" of fan mail, awards, and other trappings of celebrity that had faded for them.

http://www.gmmy.com/crooners/MATT-3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 10:46 am


Another British Person of the Day (Died This Day): Matt Monro

Matt Monro (1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s. Throughout his 30-year career, he filled cabarets, nightclubs, music halls, and stadiums in Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. He sold more than 100 million records during his lifetime.

Early career

He was born Terence Edward Parsons in Shoreditch, London and attended Duncombe School in Islington. Affectionately nicknamed "the singing bus driver" (because one of his many occupations prior to achieving fame was driving the Number 27 bus from Highgate to Teddington), he got his first break in 1956 when he became a featured vocalist with the BBC Show Band. An important influence on his early career was the pianist Winifred Atwell, who became his mentor, provided him with his stage name, and helped him sign with Decca Records.

In 1957 Monro released Blue and Sentimental, a collection of standards. Despite the album's critical acclaim, Monro languished among the young male singers trying to break through at the end of the 1950s, many of them emulating Frankie Vaughan by recording cover versions of American hits. (Monro even recorded a version of Vaughan's "Garden of Eden" during this period.) A short recording contract with Fontana Records followed.

By the end of the 1950s, Monro's mid-decade fame had evaporated, and he returned to relative obscurity. He and his wife Mickie lived from her wages as a song plugger and his royalties from a TV advertising jingle for Camay soap. In 1959 he recorded a country pastiche song, "Bound for Texas", for The Chaplin Revue, a feature-length compilation of Charlie Chaplin shorts. It would be the first of many Monro soundtrack themes.

International success

Prior to producing the Peter Sellers album Songs For Swinging Sellers in 1960, George Martin asked Monro to record a satirical ditty to help the comedian imitate the song with a Frank Sinatra-type styling. When Sellers heard the recording he decided to use it to open the record rather than record his own version. However, Sellers billed Monro as "Fred Flange," and though it was a demoralizing experience at the time, the incident developed into a lifelong friendship with Martin, who subsequently asked Monro to begin recording with him for EMI's Parlophone record label. Their second single, "Portrait of My Love," reached number three in the UK Singles Chart.

By the following year, he had been named Top International Act by Billboard magazine, and his follow-up hits included "My Kind of Girl" (1961), "Softly as I Leave You" (1962) and the song from the James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963). For the latter, his vocals were not used in the opening titles, as became the standard for the series; they were heard on a radio during the film and over the final credits. At the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, singing "I Love the Little Things," he finished second behind Italy's 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti, despite an "excellent performance of the only English language song of the night." The Austrian entry "Warum Nur Warum?", sung by Udo Jürgens, caught Monro's ear, despite its sixth-place finish, and he recorded an English version titled "Walk Away" (with lyrics by Monro's manager Don Black), earning him another hit single late in 1964. He also had a hit with the The Beatles' "Yesterday" in 1965, releasing the first single of the most recorded song of all time, predating even the Beatles' own. The following year, Monro sang the Oscar winning title song for the film, Born Free, which became his signature tune. The opening scene for the film The Italian Job featured Monro singing "On Days Like These." These two movie themes featured lyrics also written by Don Black, who started his career as a renowned songwriter when Monro challenged him to pen the English lyric that became "Walk Away." On December 31, 1976, Monro performed Walk Away on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver jubilee.

Monro achieved fame in the United States when "My Kind of Girl" (1961) and "Walk Away" (1964) hit the Top 40. In 1966, following the death of Nat King Cole, EMI moved Monro from Parlophone to Capitol. After relocating to California and recording several albums with American arrangers, Monro returned to the UK and began appearing on EMI's Columbia label, his final U.S. album release being Close To You in 1970. This LP contained the uncharted (in the US) but widely played "We're Gonna Change The World", a semi-satirical song about women's liberation.

He continued touring and recording until just before his death, releasing a single and promoting it throughout the UK and Australia in 1984. In one of his final appearances he praised Boy George, noting the importance of quality recordings in all musical genres.

Death and legacy

Monro died from liver cancer in 1985 at the Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London, leaving a widow, Mickie, and three children: Mitchell, Michele, and Matthew. Mitchell, a professional pilot, also died of cancer in 2004. A Memorial was held in Harrow.

The twentieth anniversary of Monro's passing spotlighted the continuing interest in his music, with a Top 10 tribute compilation CD (UK), a No. 1 concert DVD (UK), a BBC TV documentary, and an official website all appearing in 2005. A 2007 compilation CD entitled From Matt With Love reached the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart during its first week of release.

In Autumn 2005 Matt Monro Jr. toured the United Kingdom with a tribute concert commemorating the anniversary. Also, EMI re-released Matt Sings Monro, a 1995 duet album that combined his voice with the senior Monro's. Another posthumous Matt Monro duet, with Cliff Richard, appeared on Richard's duets CD, Two's Company, in 2007.

Monro never recorded a "live" concert album, preferring the technical purity of the recording studio and wanting his public performances to retain an element of uniqueness. However, in the past few years, commercially-released concert albums have emerged following meticulous remastering of radio and television shows, private recordings he commissioned. These include an intimate 1967 cabaret performance from his first tour of Australia; a 1967 BBC concert with Nelson Riddle; a 1966 arena concert before 24,000 fans in Manila; and one of his final concerts, recorded on the last night of his fourteenth and final Australian tour in 1984.

In recent years, many singers riding the resurging wave of retro-pop have cited Matt Monro as a strong influence, including Michael Bublé, Monica Mancini, and Rick Astley. Musicians' biographies regularly note his stylistic influence on their subjects, including Cass Elliot and Karen Carpenter. He continues to feature prominently on radio stations and CD compilations featuring popular easy-listening vocalists.

His music

Most of Monro's recordings were produced or overseen by George Martin. Unlike his contemporaries, Monro recorded very few Tin Pan Alley standards during his career. (The exception was Matt Monro sings Hoagy Carmichael, one of his most highly-regarded albums.) Instead, he and Martin searched for material written by promising newcomers and commissioned English lyrics for dramatic melodies written by European composers. He also covered many of the most popular stage and screen songs of the 1950s and 1960s. Over the years, his recordings featured arrangements by Johnnie Spence, Sid Feller, Billy May, John Barry, Buddy Bregman, Kenny Clayton, Colin Keyes, and Martin himself. Monro also teamed up with Nelson Riddle and Billy May for concerts broadcast by the BBC.

In 1973 Monro released a vocal version of the popular Van der Valk TV-series theme titled "And You Smiled". It was his final hit. In 1977 he recorded "If I Never Sing Another Song", which became a latter-day standard among his contemporaries, its lyrics referring to the "heyday" of fan mail, awards, and other trappings of celebrity that had faded for them.

http://www.gmmy.com/crooners/MATT-3.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/10 at 10:47 am

Introduced by Jimmy Saville...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbS_-biZ_P4

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/07/10 at 6:47 pm

Very nice bio on Nick Adams. He was a talented, but unfortunately an underated actor.  Thanks for sharing, Ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/07/10 at 7:07 pm

I drink champagne on occasions.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/08/10 at 12:34 am


I drink champagne on occasions.
I only drink champagne on occasions.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/08/10 at 12:44 am


I only drink champagne on occasions.

I have never had a desire to drink champagne, or try any alcoholic beverages for that matter. Just my personal preference, that's all.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/08/10 at 4:23 am


I have never had a desire to drink champagne, or try any alcoholic beverages for that matter. Just my personal preference, that's all.

It's a good one to have.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/08/10 at 4:28 am

The word of the day...House
A house is a building in which people live, usually the people belonging to one family.
You can refer to all the people who live together in a house as the house.
#
House is used in the names of types of places where people go to eat and drink. N-COUNT n N

    *
      ...a steak house.
    *
      ...an old Salzburg coffee house.

#
House is used in the names of types of companies, especially ones which publish books, lend money, or design clothes. N-COUNT n N

    *
      Many of the clothes come from the world's top fashion houses.
    *
      Eventually she was fired from her job at a publishing house.

http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq98/mugglio711/house.jpg
http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt205/ShackledBrian/house.jpg
http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo336/GirlsDontPoop216/house.jpg
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad327/cassi_rox64/Items/House.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o60/coffeelover69/the%20house/house1.jpg
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz252/dnsmiller/House/DSCN0014.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/holanders/New%20house/house.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd250/NYelta/kipling.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/08/10 at 4:33 am

The person who was born on this day...John Grisham
John Ray Grisham (born February 8, 1955) is an American author, best known for his popular legal thrillers. Before becoming a writer, he was a successful lawyer and politician. As of 2008, his books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide
John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Southern Baptist parents of modest means. His father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer while his mother was a homemaker. After relocating frequently, the family settled in 1967 in the town of Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where Grisham graduated from Southaven High School. He played as a quarterback for the school football team. Encouraged by his mother, the young Grisham was an avid reader, and was especially influenced by the work of John Steinbeck, whose clarity he admired. His brother Vaughn is one of the main experts on Community Development in the United States, and is a professor of Public Administration at the University of Mississippi.
Education

During 1977, Grisham received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Mississippi State University. Grisham tried for the baseball team at Delta State University, but was dismissed by the coach, who was former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dave "Boo" Ferriss. Grisham and Ferris have since teamed to host a fundraiser for Delta State Baseball, at which the two discussed how and why Ferris dismissed Grisham, telling him he should "stick to the books" after Grisham failed miserably in his attempts to hit a college level curve ball. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. During law school Grisham switched interests from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation. Upon graduation he entered a small-town general law practice for nearly a decade in Southaven, where he focused on criminal law and civil law representing a broad spectrum of clients. As a young attorney he spent much of his time in court proceedings.
Political life

During 1983 he was elected as a democrat to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990. During his time as a legislator, he continued his private law practice in Southaven. He has donated over $100,000 to Democratic Party candidates. During September, 2007 Grisham appeared with Hillary Rodham Clinton, his stated choice for U.S. President in 2008, and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, whom Grisham supported for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Republican John Warner (no relation). Grisham himself had considered challenging former GOP U.S. Senator George Allen, Jr. in the 2006 Virginia Senatorial Election.
Inspiration for first novel

In 1984 at the DeSoto County courthouse in Hernando, Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. According to Grisham's official website, Grisham used his spare time to begin work on his first novel, which "explored what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants." He "spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, the manuscript was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000-copy printing and published it in June 1988."

The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared." That second book, The Firm, became the 7th bestselling novel of 1991. Grisham then produced at least one work a year, most of them very popular bestsellers. He authored seven number-one bestselling novels of the year (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2005).

Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural south, while continuing to pen his legal thrillers.

Publishers Weekly declared Grisham "the bestselling novelist of the 90s," selling a total of 60,742,289 copies. He is also one of only a few authors to sell two million copies on a first printing; others include Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling. Grisham's 1992 novel The Pelican Brief sold 11,232,480 copies in the United States alone.
Courtroom re-appearance

Grisham returned briefly to practice law during 1996 after a five-year hiatus. According to his official website, he "was honoring a commitment he made before he had retired from the law...representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars...Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500." Another tie to the legal community that he continues to hold is his seat on the Board of Directors for the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating the innocent through DNA testing after they have been convicted.
Named in libel suit

On September 28, 2007, Grisham was named in a civil suit in a US District Court, claiming Grisham libeled former Pontotoc County, Oklahoma District Attorney Bill Peterson, former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Gary Rogers, and criminalist Melvin Hett. The suit claimed that Grisham, along with two other authors critical of Peterson and his prosecution of murder cases, conspired to commit libel, generate publicity for themselves by placing the plaintiffs in a false light and intentionally inflict emotional distress. Grisham was named as a result of his non-fiction book, The Innocent Man, about the investigation of the murder of a cocktail waitress in Ada, Oklahoma, and the exoneration by DNA evidence of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz more than 12 years later. The case was dismissed on September 18, 2008, with the judge saying, "The wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz must be discussed openly and with great vigor."
John Grisham Room

The Mississippi State University Libraries, Manuscript Division, maintains the John Grisham Room, an archive containing materials generated during the author's tenure as Mississippi State Representative and relating to his writings.

Grisham's lifelong passion for baseball is evident in his novel A Painted House and in his support of Little League activities in both Oxford, Mississippi, and Charlottesville, Virginia. He wrote the original screenplay for and produced the baseball movie Mickey, starring Harry Connick, Jr.. The movie was released on DVD in April 2004. He remains a fan of Mississippi State University's baseball team and wrote about his ties to the university and the Left Field Lounge in the introduction for the book Dudy Noble Field: A Celebration of MSU Baseball.

Grisham is also well known within the literary community for his efforts to support the continuing literary tradition of his native south. He has endowed scholarships and writer's residencies in the University of Mississippi's English Department and Graduate Creative Writing Program and was the founding publisher of the Oxford American, a magazine devoted to literary writing. The magazine is famous for its annual music issue, copies of which include a compilation CD featuring contemporary and classic Southern musicians in genres ranging from blues and gospel to country-western and alternative rock.

In an October 2006 interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Grisham stated that he usually takes only six months to write a book and that his favorite author was John le Carré.
Family life

Grisham describes himself as a "moderate Baptist," and has performed mission service for his church in Brazil; that country provides the setting for two of his novels: The Testament, which has a strong religious theme; and The Partner. He lives with his wife Renée Jones and their two children, Ty and Shea. Grisham's website states that the "family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm" outside Oxford, Mississippi, "and a home near Charlottesville, Virginia." In 2008, he and Renee bought a condo in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Books
Legal fiction
Complete Collection of John Grisham Novels

    * A Time to Kill (1989)
    * The Firm (1991)
    * The Pelican Brief (1992)
    * The Client (1993)
    * The Chamber (1994)
    * The Rainmaker (1995)
    * The Runaway Jury (1996)
    * The Partner (1997)
    * The Street Lawyer (1998)
    * The Testament (1999)
    * The Brethren (2000)
    * The Summons (2002)
    * The King of Torts (2003)
    * The Last Juror (2004)
    * The Broker (2005)
    * The Appeal (2008)
    * The Associate (2009)

Non-legal fiction

    * A Painted House (2001)
    * Skipping Christmas (2001)
    * Bleachers (2003)
    * Playing for Pizza (2007)
    * Ford County (2009)

Non-fiction

    * The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006)

Film adaptations

    * The Firm (1993)
    * The Pelican Brief (1993)
    * The Client (1994)
    * A Time to Kill (1996)
    * The Chamber (1996)
    * The Rainmaker (1997)
    * The Gingerbread Man (1998) Based on an unpublished short story
    * A Painted House (2003)
    * Runaway Jury (2003)
    * Christmas with the Kranks (2004) Based on the novel 'Skipping Christmas'
    * The Partner (2010)
    * The Associate (2012)
    * The Testament (2012)

Quotes

    * "My success was not planned, but it could only happen in America."
    * "Everything I'm thinking about writing now is about politics or social issues wrapped around a novel."
    * "I'm a famous writer in a country where nobody reads."
    * "You guys have forgotten about my favorite story, Marc Dreier. I haven’t seen a Dreier story in weeks. But it’s incredible. Pretending to be someone else? Taking over a conference room? I knew something was wrong when I read about his 120-foot yacht. When you’ve got a yacht that big you’re living like a billionaire. And you can’t do that as a New York lawyer. I don’t care how big your firm is... And I couldn’t make it any better. I couldn’t improve on it. The sushi restaurant (Dreier) owned? All the cars? The secretaries making $200,000 a year? It’s too much. When I see stuff like that my imagination just goes into overdrive"
    * "You live your life today, not tomorrow, and certainly not yesterday."

See also

    * The Innocence Project
    * List of bestselling novels in the United States
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l78/bquinster/grisham_john.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u84/butterflyfrenzee/JOHN_GRISHAM.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt283/syauqy_arr/john-grisham-1_5248.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/08/10 at 4:39 am

The person who died on this day...Del Shannon
Del Shannon (December 30, 1934 — February 8, 1990) was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, "Runaway", in 1961. Del Shannon was born Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He grew up in Coopersville, a small town near Grand Rapids. There he learned ukulele and guitar and listened to country and western music, including Hank Williams, Hank Snow, and Lefty Frizzell. In 1954, he was drafted into the Army, and while in Germany played guitar in a band called the Cool Flames.

When his service ended, he returned to Battle Creek, Michigan, and worked in a furniture factory as a truck driver and selling carpets. He also found part-time work as a rhythm guitarist in singer Doug DeMott's group, working at the Hi-Lo Club. When DeMott was fired in 1958, Westover took over as leader and singer, giving himself the name Charlie Johnson, and renaming his band the Big Little Show Band.

In early 1959 he added keyboardist Max Crook, who played the Musitron (his own invention of an early synthesizer). Crook had made recordings and persuaded Ann Arbor disc jockey Ollie McLaughlin to hear the band. In turn, McLaughlin took the group's demos to Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik of Talent Artists in Detroit. In July 1960, Westover and Crook signed to become recording artists and composers, recording for Big Top. Balk suggested Westover use a new name, and they came up with Del Shannon, combining a friend's assumed surname with Del from his favorite car, the Cadillac Coupe de Ville.

He flew to New York City, but his first sessions did not produce results. McLaughlin persuaded Shannon and Crook to rewrite and re-record one of their earlier songs, originally called "Little Runaway", using the Musitron as lead instrument. On January 21, 1961, they recorded "Runaway", released as a single in February 1961. It reached #1 in the Billboard chart in April.

Shannon followed with "Hats Off to Larry", which peaked at #5 (Billboard) and #2 on Cashbox in 1961, and the less popular "So Long, Baby," another song of breakup bitterness. "Runaway" and "Hats Off to Larry" were recorded in a day. "Little Town Flirt", in 1962 (with Bob Babbitt), reached #12 in 1963, as did the album of the same name. After these hits, Shannon was unable to keep his momentum in the U.S., but continued his success in England, where he had always been more popular. In 1963, he became the first American to record a cover version of a Beatles song. "From Me to You" charted in the US before the Beatles.

By late 1963, Shannon's relationship with his managers and Big Top had soured and he formed his own label, Berlee, distributed by Diamond Records. Two singles were issued: the apparently Four Seasons-inspired "Sue's Gotta Be Mine" charted moderately, the second didn't. He patched up his relationship with his managers and was placed on Amy in early 1964.

Shannon returned to the charts in 1964, with "Handy Man" (a 1960 hit by Jimmy Jones), "Do You Wanna Dance" (a 1958 hit by Bobby Freeman), and two originals, "Keep Searchin'" (#3 in the UK; #9 in the US), and "Stranger in Town" (1965).

In the latter part of 1964, Shannon produced a demo recording session for a young fellow Michigander named Bob Seger, who would go onto his own stardom much later. Del gave acetates of the session to Dick Clark (Del was on one of Clark's tours in 1965) and by 1966 Bob Seger was recording for Philadelphia's famed Cameo Records label, resulting in some regional hits which would eventually lead to a major-label deal with Capitol Records.

Also in late '64, Del paid tribute to one of his own musical idols, with "Del Shannon sings Hank Williams", Amy Records 8004, released in the closing days of 1964. This was a true concept album, waxed in Detroit with steel player Buddy Gibson and members of The Royaltones, who also backed Del on his Amy Records R 'n' R hits. The album was recorded in hardcore country honky-tonk style and no singles were released (this was two and a half years before "Sgt. Pepper", often erroneously identified as rock's first "concept album").

Shannon opened with Ike and Tina Turner at Dave Hull's Hullabaloo, in Los Angeles, California, on December 22, 1965.

Shannon signed with Liberty in 1966 and covered "The Big Hurt" and the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb". Peter and Gordon released his "I Go To Pieces" in 1965. Shannon also discovered country singer Johnny Carver, who was then working in the Los Angeles area. Del got Carver a contract with Liberty Records subsidiary Imperial Records, writing, producing and arranging both sides of Carver's debut single "One Way Or The Other"/"Think About Her All The Time". Carver went on to have nearly twenty Country-chart hits during the late 60s and 70s. The liner notes to his debut Imperial album acknowledge Del's role in his being brought to the label.

In the late 1960s, not having charted for several years, he turned to production. In 1969, he discovered Smith and arranged their hit "Baby, It's You," which had been a hit for the Shirelles in 1963. In 1970, he produced Brian Hyland's million-seller "Gypsy Woman", a cover of Curtis Mayfield.

During Shannon's Liberty Records tenure, success on a national scale eluded him, but he scored several solid "regional" U.S. chart hits with "The Big Hurt", "Under My Thumb", "She" "Led Along" and "Runaway" (1967 version). The 1967 version of "Runaway" (recorded in England and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham) also did well on Canadian and Australian pop charts. In early '67, Shannon recorded one of Rock's greatest "lost albums" in England, with Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham at the helm. Intended by Oldham as the British answer to "Pet Sounds", "Home And Away" was shelved by Liberty Records, although a handful of singles were issued. It was not until 1978 that all of the tracks were eventually issued (with three non-related tracks) on a British album titled "And The Music Plays On". In 1991, all of the tracks were released, in the U.S.A. as part of the "Del Shannon-The Liberty Years" CD. In 2006, thirty-nine years after it was recorded, "Home And Away" was finally released as a stand-alone collection by EMI Records, in the U.K. This CD collected the eleven original tracks in stereo and the five single releases US, UK and Philippines) in their original monaural mixes.

In September 1967, Del began laying down the tracks for "The Further Adventures Of Charles Westover", which would be highly regarded by fans and critics alike, despite disappointing sales. Shannon's "Pop-Psych" masterpiece yielded two 1968 singles..."Thinkin' It Over" and the haunting "Gemini" (recently the subject of a Pilooski remix). In October 1968, Liberty Records released the 10th (in the USA) and their final Del Shannon single...a cover of Dee Clark's 1961 smash, "Raindrops". This brought to a close a commercially disappointing period in Del's career.

In 1972 he recorded Live In England, released in June 1973. Reviewer Chris Martin critiqued the album favourably, saying that Shannon never improvised, was always true to the original sounds of his music, and that only Lou Christie rivaled his falsetto. In April 1975 Shannon signed with Island Records.

After he and his manager jointly sought back royalties for Shannon, Bug Music was founded in 1975 to administer his songs.

A 1976 article on Shannon's concert at The Roxy Theatre described the singer as "personal, pure and simple rock 'n' roll, dated but gratifyingly undiluted." Shannon sang some of his new rock songs along with classics like "Endless Sleep" and "The Big Hurt." Writer Richard Cromelin said "Shannon's haunting vignettes of heartbreak and restlessness contain something of a cosmic undercurrent which has the protagonist tragically doomed to a bleak, shadowy struggle."

Shannon's career slowed greatly in the 1970s, in part due to alcoholism. English rock singer, Dave Edmunds, produced the Shannon single, "And the Music Plays On", in 1974. In 1978 he stopped drinking, and began work on "Sea of Love", released in the early 1980s. This song came from Shannon's album Drop Down and Get Me, produced by Tom Petty. The album took two years to record and featured Petty's Heartbreakers backing Shannon. RSO Records, which recorded Shannon, folded. The LP was recorded by Network Records and distributed by Elektra Records. Seven songs are Shannon originals with covers of the Everly Brothers, Rolling Stones, Frankie Ford, and "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips. It was Shannon's first album in eight years.

In February 1982 Shannon appeared at the Bottom Line. He performed pop-rock tunes and old hits. New York Times reviewer, Stephen Holden, described an "easygoing pop-country" manner. He was not an "anachronism," yet there seemed no comparison with the newer songs and the best of his vintage material. On "Runaway" and "Keep Searchin," Shannon and his band rediscovered the sound "in which his keen falsetto played off against airy organ obbligatos." In the 1980s Shannon performed "competent but mundane country-rock".

Shannon enjoyed a resurgence after re-recording "Runaway" with new lyrics as the theme for the NBC-TV television program Crime Story. Producer Michael Mann felt this was definitive of the era in which the program was set. The new lyrics replaced "wishin' you were here by me... to end this misery" with “watchin’ all the things go by... some live, while others die,” reflecting the violent, mob-related show.

In 1988, Shannon sang on "The World We Know" with The Smithereens on their album Green Thoughts. Shortly after, in 1990, he recorded with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and there were rumors he would join The Traveling Wilburys after Roy Orbison's death. Previously, in 1975, Shannon had recorded tracks with Lynne, along with "In My Arms Again," a self-penned country song recorded by Warner Brothers, which had signed Shannon in 1984.

Suffering from depression, Shannon committed suicide on February 8, 1990, with a 22 caliber rifle. Following his death, the four surviving Wilburys honored him by recording a version of "Runaway." Lynne also co-produced Shannon's posthumous album, Rock On, released on Silvertone in 1991.

Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and his contribution has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

In 2005, Del Shannon was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. In 2007, Shannon's recording of "Runaway" was voted the #1 Legendary Michigan Song. Del has had two other recordings recognized as Legendary Michigan songs: "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" in 2008 and "Hats Off to Larry" in 2009.
Legacy

In 1990, the country band Southern Pacific covered Shannon's hit "I Go To Pieces" (also a hit in 1965 for Peter & Gordon), with the video dedicated in Shannon's memory.

Tom Petty referenced Shannon and his song "Runaway" on Petty's song "Runnin' Down A Dream" on Full Moon Fever, which was co-produced by Jeff Lynne. Both were members of the Traveling Wilburys, who recorded a cover of "Runaway" during the sessions for Volume 3. Although the track didn't make it onto the final album, two versions have circulated on the bootleg circuit for years, one with Max Crook's famous eight-bar keyboard solo played note-for-note by Jeff Lynne and another, earlier version which features Bob Dylan playing harmonica in place of the keyboard solo.

In 2009, "Runaway" was used in the 21st episode of the 3rd season of the TV series Heroes.
Film and television
Filmography

    * It's Trad, Dad! (aka Ring A Ding Rhythm) (1962)
    * "Daytona Beach Weekend" (1965)
    * The Best of Del Shannon, Rock 'N' Roll's Greatest Hits in Concert, (Live from the Rock & Roll Love Palace, Kissimmee, Florida, 1988). a television program hosted by Wolfman Jack.

Television

    * "American Bandstand" (1961)
    * "The Buddy Deane Show" (1962)
    * Shindig! (1965)
    * "Hulaballoo" (1965)
    * "The Lloyd Thaxton Show" (1965)
    * "Shivaree" (1965)
    * "The Merv Griffin Show" (1965)
    * Hollywood A Go-Go (1965)
    * "Where The Action Is" (1966)
    * Late Night with David Letterman (1986)

Hit singles
Release date Title Chart positions
US UK
3/61 "Runaway" 1 1
6/61 "Hats Off to Larry" 5 6
9/61 "So Long Baby" 28 10
11/61 "Hey! Little Girl" 38 2
3/62 "I Won't Be There" 113 -
3/62 "Ginny In The Mirror" 117 -
6/62 "Cry Myself to Sleep" 99 29
9/62 "The Swiss Maid" 64 2
12/62 "Little Town Flirt" 12 4
4/63 "Two Kinds of Teardrops" 50 5
6/63 "From Me to You" 77 -
8/63 "Two Silhouettes" - 23
11/63 "Sue's Gotta Be Mine" 71 21
3/64 "That's The Way Love Is" 133 -
3/64 "Mary Jane" - 35
7/64 "Handy Man" 22 36
9/64 "Do You Want To Dance" 43 -
11/64 "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)" 9 3
2/65 "Stranger in Town" 30 40
5/65 "Break Up" 95 -
8/65 "Move It On Over" 129 -
5/66 "The Big Hurt" 94 -
9/66 "Under My Thumb" 128 -
2/67 "She" 131 -
9/67 "Runaway" (remake) 112 -
6/69 "Comin' Back To Me" 127 -
12/81 "Sea of Love" 33 -
3/85 "In My Arms Again"A - -

    * APeaked at #56 on Hot Country Songs.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/Del_Shannon_-58.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/delshannon2untitled.jpg
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr131/supercharts_bucket/DelShannon1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/08/10 at 5:40 am

Our House By Madness.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/08/10 at 6:22 am


Our House By Madness.

Good song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/08/10 at 12:16 pm


Our House By Madness.


Good song :)

Indeed it is. Their biggest hit in the US.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/08/10 at 2:48 pm


Our House By Madness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4RWBCEFRo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/08/10 at 2:49 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QnBccG_ChI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/08/10 at 3:56 pm


I have never had a desire to drink champagne, or try any alcoholic beverages for that matter. Just my personal preference, that's all.

I also don't drink anymore, not for..hmm...almost 15 years. My personal choice as well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/08/10 at 3:58 pm


I also don't drink anymore, not for..hmm...almost 15 years. My personal choice as well.

Even though I have been legally old enough to drink for the past 8 1/2 years, I have never had any desire to. I feel that if I were to get drunk, I would become incoherent, and not pleasant to be around.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/08/10 at 4:31 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4RWBCEFRo




Great video.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/10 at 4:27 am

The word of the day...tapestry
A tapestry is a large piece of heavy cloth with a picture sewn on it using coloured threads.
You can refer to something as a tapestry when it is made up of many varied types of people or things. http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss326/kcswonderland/Tapestry%20Round/R008lan201001B.jpg
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss326/kcswonderland/Tapestry%20Round/R013BchengL.jpg
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af307/GraniaDudley/Known%20World%20Tapestry/Tapestry-Leopard.png
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/Schlobben/Tangled%20Web%20Tapestries/tapestry_the_hunt.gif
http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx281/jbear2506/rome/vatican%20museum/VaticanMuseum171.jpg
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af307/GraniaDudley/Known%20World%20Tapestry/Tapestry-Outlands.png
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af307/GraniaDudley/Known%20World%20Tapestry/Tapestry-Butterfly.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/10 at 4:31 am

The person born on this day...Carole King
Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. As a songwriter, she and songwriting partner and husband Gerry Goffin penned over two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have since become standards and reaching number one; as a singer and performer, her iconic album Tapestry topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971, and remained on the charts for over six years.

Carole King's success as a performer was highest in the first half of the 1970s, although she was a successful songwriter long before and long after. She wrote her first #1 hit at the age of 17 in 1959 with Gerry Goffin, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." In 1997 she wrote "The Reason" for Celine Dion.

In 2000 Carole King was named the most successful female songwriter of the 1955-99 pop music era by Joel Whitburn, a Billboard Magazine pop music researcher as she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 during that time. This was featured in the Los Angeles Times.

Carole King has released 25 solo albums, her most successful being Tapestry. Her most recent album is The Living Room Tour, which experienced great success on the charts in its first week alone. This was thanks to marketing through Starbucks and television advertisements.

She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting, along with long-time partner Gerry Goffin.

Carole King holds the record for the longest time for an album by a female to remain on the charts and the longest time for an album by a female to stay at #1 on the charts for Tapestry.
Goffin and King soon formed a songwriting partnership. Working for Aldon Music in the Brill Building, where chart-topping hits were churned out during the 1960s, the Goffin-King partnership first hit it big with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". Recorded by The Shirelles, the song topped the charts in 1961, becoming the first number-one hit by a girl group; it was later recorded by Ben E King, Dusty Springfield, Laura Branigan, Little Eva, Roberta Flack, The Four Seasons, Bryan Ferry and King herself. In 1987 Elton John performed a live version of the song. As with many of King's compositions, the song has been recorded by too many artists to enumerate and continues to be recorded to this day by even newer musical acts, for example, Amy Winehouse.

Goffin and King married in September 1960 and had two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor, both of whom also became musicians.

In 1965, Goffin and King wrote a theme song for Sidney Sheldon's new television series, I Dream of Jeannie, but the song was not used. Instead, an instrumental theme by Hugo Montenegro was used.

Their 1967 song "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a #3 hit for The Monkees, was inspired by their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey. Goffin and King also wrote several songs for Head, the Monkees' feature film.

Goffin and King divorced in 1968. Even after their divorce, Goffin and King remained in touch. At times Carole would consult Goffin on some of the music and songs she was writing and composing. After time, King lost touch with Goffin because of his declining mental health and the effect it had on their children. However, the two remain friends.
Major Hits by Goffin and King
Year Song Original artist U.S. Hot 100 Cover versions
1960 "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" Shirelles 1 Carole King (in 1971), The Four Seasons, Roberta Flack, Amy Winehouse, Melanie, Jackie DeShannon, Len Barry, Bunny Sigler, Cissy Houston, The Platters, Neil Diamond (in 1993), Linda Ronstadt, Angus Tung (in Mandarin), Shirley Kwan and Alan Tam (in Cantonese), Dave Mason and Debbie Gibson (both under the title "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"), The Rocky Fellers, Lorrie Morgan(( Minnie Driver for the film "Beautiful")).
1961 "Take Good Care of My Baby" Bobby Vee 1 Dion and the Belmonts (later in 1961), Bobby Vinton (in 1968), Smokie (in 1981), Bobby Vee, Stephen Collins, Dick Brave
"Some Kind of Wonderful" The Drifters 32 Marvin Gaye (in 1968), Carole King (in 1971); not the same song as the Grand Funk Railroad hit
"Halfway to Paradise" Tony Orlando 39 Billy Fury (1962), Bobby Vinton(1968), Tina Charles(1977)
"Every Breath I Take" Gene Pitney 42 no relation to The Police's "Every Breath You Take"
"Walkin' with My Angel" Bobby Vee 53 Herman's Hermits
1962 "Chains" The Cookies 17 The Beatles (in 1963), Carole King (in 1980)
"Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" Little Eva 12 The Beatles (in 1964, unreleased until 1994)
"The Loco-Motion" Little Eva 1 The Chiffons (in 1963), Emerson Lake & Powell (instrumental), Grand Funk Railroad (in 1974, #1), Carole King (in 1980), Kylie Minogue (in 1988, #3), Tina Turner, Dwight Yoakam
"He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" The Crystals The Motels (in 1982), Hole (in 1994), Grizzly Bear (in 2007)
"Go Away Little Girl" Steve Lawrence 1 Mark Wynter, The Tams, Donny Osmond (in 1971, #1), The Happenings (in 1966, #12)
"Point Of No Return" Gene McDaniels 21
"Crying in the Rain" The Everly Brothers 6 A-ha (in 1990, #1 in Norway), Dave Edmunds
1963 "Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" The Cookies 7
"I Can't Stay Mad At You" Skeeter Davis 7
"Hey Girl" Freddie Scott 10 Donny Osmond (in 1972, #9), George Benson ("Livin' Inside Your Love" in 1977), Carole King (in 1980), Billy Joel (Greatest Hits Volume III in 1997), Bob James & David Sanborn, Bobby Vee (as part of a medley with The Temptations' hit My Girl in 1968, #35)
"One Fine Day" The Chiffons 5 Rita Coolidge (in 1979, #66), Carole King (in 1980, #12), Aaron Neville (in 1993), Natalie Merchant (in 1996)
"Up on the Roof" The Drifters 5 Kenny Lynch (1964),King (in 1970), Laura Nyro (in 1970), James Taylor (in 1979, #28), Neil Diamond (in 1993), Billy Joe Royal, Peter Cincotti
1964 "I Can't Hear You No More" Betty Everett 66 Dusty Springfield (in 1965), King (in 1970), Helen Reddy (in 1976, #29)
"I'm into Something Good" "Earl-Jean" McCrea 38 Herman's Hermits (later in 1964, #13)
"Oh No Not My Baby" Maxine Brown 24 Manfred Mann (in 1965), Dusty Springfield (in 1965), Aretha Franklin (in 1970), Rod Stewart (in 1973, #59), The Partridge Family (Bulletin Board in 1973), King (in 1980 and 2001), Cher (in 1992), Linda Ronstadt (in 1994)
1965 "Don't Forget About Me" Barbara Lewis - Dusty Springfield
1966 "Don't Bring Me Down" The Animals 12 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (in 1986)
"Goin' Back" Dusty Springfield - The Byrds (in 1968, #86), King (in 1980), Larry Lurex (1973) Nils Lofgren,Elkie Brooks Johnny Logan, Diana Ross, Glen Shorrock & Renee Geyer (Aust. 1983)
"I Can't Make It Alone" P.J. Proby - Dusty Springfield, Maria McKee (in 1993)
1967 "Pleasant Valley Sunday" The Monkees 3 The Weisstronauts (in 2008)
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" Aretha Franklin 8 King (in 1971), Laura Nyro (in 1971), Rod Stewart (in 1974), Mary J. Blige (in 1995, #95), Celine Dion (in 1995)
1968 "Porpoise Song" The Monkees 62
"Wasn't Born to Follow" The Byrds King (in 1980)
1970 "Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" Blood, Sweat & Tears 14 Dusty Springfield (non-LP B-Side in 1969), King (in 1980)
Recording artist

In 1966 artist Peter Max introduced King to guru Sri Swami Satchidananda, who became a friend and adviser to King. In 1967 King also had a hit "Windy Day" with The Executives. In 1968, King was hired to co-write two songs for Strawberry Alarm Clock with Toni Stern, "Lady of the Lake" and "Blues for a Young Girl Gone," which appeared on the album, The World in a Seashell.

King began to focus on her own singing career. She sang backup vocals on the demo of Little Eva's hit "The Loco-Motion". She had had a modest hit in 1962 singing one of her own songs, "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (#22 in the US and a top 10 success in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary and Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made #94 in 1963, it would take King eight years to reach the Hot 100 singles chart again as a performer.

As the '60s waned, King helped pioneer a record label, Tomorrow Records, divorced Goffin and married Charles Larkey (of the Myddle Class).

Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King and Danny Kortchmar formed a group called The City, which released one album, Now That Everything's Been Said, but the album was a commercial failure. King then released Writer (1970), a critically acclaimed record, but another commercial failure.
Tapestry and beyond

King followed up Writer in 1971 with Tapestry, featuring new folk-flavored compositions, as well as reinterpretations of two of her early pop hits as a songwriter, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Tapestry was an instant success and was soon recognized as one of the landmark albums of the singer-songwriter genre of the early 1970s. With numerous hit singles, including a #1 hit, Tapestry would remain on the charts for nearly six years and sell over 10 million copies in the United States and over 25 million worldwide. The album garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late", lyrics by Toni Stern); and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend"). The album signalled the era of platinum albums, though it was issued prior to the invention of the platinum certification by the RIAA. It would eventually be certified diamond.

Tapestry became the top-selling solo album ever, a position it held until the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1982. The album was later placed at #36 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. In addition, "It's Too Late" was placed at #469 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Music (1971), Rhymes and Reasons (1972), and Fantasy (1973) followed, each earning either a gold or platinum RIAA certification. Music would produce a top ten hit, "Sweet Seasons" (US #9 and AC #2), Rhymes and Reasons produced another hit, "Been to Canaan" (US #24 and AC #1), and Fantasy produced two hits, "Believe in Humanity" (US #28) and "Corazon" (US #37 and AC #5), as well as another song that charted on the Hot 100, "You Light Up My Life" (US #68 and AC #6).

In 1973, King performed a free concert in New York City's Central Park and broke all previous records for such a concert with over 100,000 people attending.

King also enjoyed major success with her 1974 album Wrap Around Joy and the subsequent tour to promote the album. The album reached number #1 on the Billboard charts and, for only the second time in her career, she had a song reach as high as #2 on the singles chart with "Jazzman." The album also produced her fourth top ten hit, "Nightingale".

In 1975, King scored a number of songs for the animated TV production of Maurice Sendak's work Really Rosie, which was also released as an album by the same name, with lyrics by Sendak.

Thoroughbred (1976) was the last studio album she released under the Ode label. In addition to enlisting her long-time friends such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel, King reunited with Gerry Goffin to write four songs for the album. The songwriting partnership between King and her former husband continued intermittently in later years. King also did a promotional tour for the album in 1976.

In 1977, King collaborated with another songwriting partner Rick Evers on Simple Things, the first release under her contract with a new label distributed by Capitol Records. King married Evers shortly thereafter; he died of a heroin overdose one year later. Simple Things became her first album which failed to reach the top 10 on the Billboard since Tapestry, and it would be her last Gold-certified record by the RIAA, except a compilation entitled Her Greatest Hits released in the following year. Neither Welcome Home (1978), which marked her debut as a co-producer on an album, nor Touch the Sky (1979), reached the top 100.

Pearls - The Songs of Goffin and King (1980) was moderately successful and yielded a hit single, an updated version of "One Fine Day". Pearls marked the end of King's career as a hitmaker and a performer, as no subsequent single release would reach the top 40.
An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. From the album, Rod Stewart's version of "So Far Away" and Celine Dion's cover of "A Natural Woman" were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant ("It's Too Late"), Richard Marx ("Beautiful"), Aretha Franklin ("You've Got a Friend"), Faith Hill ("Where You Lead"), and the Bee Gees ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow?").

In addition to the numerous hit versions of her songs with Gerry Goffin and Tapestry Revisited, many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash #1 hit for James Taylor in 1971 and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit in 1972 with "Where You Lead" twice — by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration." Barbra also covered "No Easy Way Down" in 1971, "Beautiful" and "You've Got A Friend" in 1972, and "Being At War With Each Other" in 1974. The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Richard Carpenter produced a version of "You've Got A Friend" with then teen singer/actor Scott Grimes in 1989. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of I Feel the Earth Move, and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Oh No Not My Baby" in 1993. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love with Carole King singing backup and it became a million-seller and was certified Diamond in France. Jonathan Rayson recorded a new version of "Beautiful" in his 2006 release "Shiny And New". "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern) became the title song of TV show Gilmore Girls.

In 1996 a film very loosely based on her life, Grace of My Heart, was released. In the film an aspiring singer sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
Awards and recognition

    * In 1987, Goffin and King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
    * In 1988, Goffin and King received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award.
    * In 1990, King was inducted, along with Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category for her songwriting achievements.
    * In 2002, King was given the "Johnny Mercer Award" by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
    * In 2004, Goffin and King were awarded the Grammy Trustees Award.
    * King was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Discography
Main article: Carole King discography
See also

    * List of songwriter tandems

http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq352/ophase/Carole_King.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee273/becontree/Carole_King_-_Tapestry.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc314/joeverosmusic/CaroleKing.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/10 at 4:35 am

The person who died on this day...Princess Margaret
The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.

Margaret spent much of her early life in the company of her elder sister and parents, The Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother). Her life changed dramatically in 1936, when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated to marry the divorced American Wallis Simpson. Margaret's father became King in Edward's place, and after her elder sister, Elizabeth, Margaret became second in line to the throne.

During World War II, Margaret and Elizabeth stayed at Windsor Castle, despite government pressure to evacuate to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was not expected to perform any public or official duties, and instead continued her education. After the war, she fell in love with a divorced older man, Group Captain Peter Townsend, her father's equerry. Her father died at around the same time, and her sister Elizabeth became Queen. Many in the government felt that Townsend was an unsuitable husband for the Queen's sister, and the Church of England refused to countenance the marriage. Under pressure, Margaret chose to abandon her plans, and instead accepted the proposal of the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Earl of Snowdon by the Queen. The marriage, despite an auspicious start, soon became unhappy; the couple divorced in 1978.

Margaret was often viewed as a controversial member of the Royal Family. Her divorce earned her negative publicity, and she was romantically linked with several men. Her health gradually deteriorated; a heavy smoker all her adult life, she had a lung operation in 1985, a bout of pneumonia in 1993, and at least three strokes between 1998 and 2001. Margaret died at King Edward VII Hospital, London, on 9 February 2002. After a private funeral, her body was cremated. Two months later, after the death of her mother, Margaret's ashes were interred beside the bodies of her parents in the George VI Memorial Chapel at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Margaret was born Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Rose of York on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland, her mother's ancestral home. At the time of her birth, she was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. Her father was Prince Albert, Duke of York (later George VI), the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. As a grandchild of the Sovereign in the male line, Margaret Rose was styled Her Royal Highness from birth. Her mother was Elizabeth, Duchess of York, the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. The Duchess of York originally wanted the names Ann Margaret, as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter: "I am very anxious to call her Ann Margaret, as I think Ann of York sounds pretty, & Elizabeth and Ann go so well together." King George V disliked the name Ann, but approved of the alternative "Margaret Rose". She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace on 30 October 1930 by Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and her godparents were her uncle the Prince of Wales (for whom his brother, Prince George, stood proxy); her father's cousin Princess Ingrid of Sweden (for whom Lady Patricia Ramsay stood proxy); her great-aunt Princess Victoria; her maternal aunt Lady Rose Leveson-Gower; and her maternal uncle The Hon David Bowes-Lyon.
Princess Margaret (front) with her sister Elizabeth (right) and grandmother Queen Mary (left)

Margaret's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) or Royal Lodge in Windsor. The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family: father, mother and children, but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and dumb were not completely dispelled until Margaret's first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George's wedding in 1934. She was educated alongside her sister, Princess Elizabeth, by their Scottish governess Marion Crawford. Her education was mainly supervised by her mother, who in the words of Randolph Churchill "never aimed at bringing her daughters up to be more than nicely behaved young ladies". When Queen Mary insisted upon the importance of education, the Duchess of York commented, "I don't know what she meant. After all I and my sisters only had governesses and we all married well—one of us very well". Margaret was resentful about her limited education, especially in later years, aiming criticism at her mother. However, Margaret's mother told a friend that she "regretted" that her own daughters did not go to school like other children, and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of King George V.

George V died when Margaret was five, and her uncle succeeded as King Edward VIII. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, Edward abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, who neither the Church of England nor the Commonwealth governments would accept as Queen. The Church would not recognise the marriage of a divorced woman with a living ex-husband as valid. Edward's abdication for love left a reluctant Duke of York in his place as King George VI, and Margaret unexpectedly became second in line to the throne. The family moved into Buckingham Palace; Margaret's room overlooked The Mall.

Margaret was a Brownie in the 1st Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack, formed in 1937. She was also a Girl Guide and later a Sea Ranger. She served as President of Girlguiding UK from 1965 until her death in 2002.

At the outbreak of World War II, Margaret and her sister were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral Castle estate, where they stayed until Christmas 1939 enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze. They spent Christmas at Sandringham House, before moving to Windsor Castle just outside London for much of the remainder of the war. Lord Hailsham wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada, to which their mother famously replied "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave." When Margaret was twelve in 1942 her uncle and godfather, Prince George, was killed in an air crash. Unlike other members of the royal family, Margaret was not expected to undertake any public or official duties during the war. She developed her skills at singing and playing the piano. Her contemporaries thought she was spoilt by her parents, especially her father, who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible, such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of 13. Marion Crawford despaired at the attention Margaret was getting, writing to friends "Could you this year only ask Princess Elizabeth to your party? ... Princess Margaret does draw all the attention and Princess Elizabeth lets her do that." Elizabeth, however, did not mind this, commenting, "oh, it's so much easier when Margaret's there—everybody laughs at what Margaret says". King George described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy.
Post-war years
Margaret (right) and her sister Elizabeth (left) depicted on a stamp celebrating the royal tour of Southern Africa in 1947

Following the end of the war in 1945, Margaret appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with her family and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Afterwards, both Elizabeth and Margaret joined the crowds outside the palace incognito chanting, "we want the King, we want the Queen!". On 1 February 1947, Margaret, Elizabeth and her parents embarked on a state tour of Southern Africa. The three-month long visit was Margaret's first visit abroad, and she later claimed that she remembered "every minute of it". Margaret was chaperoned by Peter Townsend, the King's equerry. Later that year, Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth's wedding. Elizabeth had two children, Charles and Anne, in the next two years, which moved Margaret further down the line of succession.

In 1950, the former royal governess, Marion Crawford, published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in which she described Margaret's "light-hearted fun and frolics" and her "amusing and outrageous ... antics". The royal family were appalled at what they saw as Crawford's invasion of their privacy and breach of trust, as a result of which Crawford was ostracised from royal circles.

As a beautiful young woman, with an 18-inch waist and "vivid blue eyes", Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and the young, aristocratic set, including Sharman Douglas, the daughter of the American ambassador, Lewis W. Douglas. She was often featured in the press at balls, parties, and night-clubs. The number of her official engagements increased, which included a tour of Italy, Switzerland and France, and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as President or Patron.

Her twenty-first birthday party was held at Balmoral in August 1951. The following month her father underwent surgery for lung cancer, and Margaret was appointed one of the Counsellors of State who undertook the King's official duties while he was incapacitated. Within six months, her father was dead and her sister was Queen.
Marriage

Margaret was grief-stricken by her father's death, and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep. She wrote, "He was such a wonderful person, the very heart and centre of our happy family." She was consoled by her deeply-held Christian beliefs. With her widowed mother, Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House, while her sister and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace. Peter Townsend was appointed Comptroller of her mother's household.

By 1953, Townsend was divorced from his first wife; he proposed marriage to Margaret. He was sixteen years older than her, and had two children from his previous marriage. Margaret accepted, and informed the Queen of her desire to marry Townsend. As in 1936, the Church of England refused to countenance the remarriage of the divorced. Queen Mary had recently died, and the Queen was about to be crowned in the Coronation service. After the Coronation, she planned to tour the Commonwealth for six months. The Queen told Margaret, "Under the circumstances, it isn't unreasonable for me to ask you to wait a year." The Queen was counselled by her private secretary to post Townsend abroad, but she refused, instead transferring him from the Queen Mother's household to her own. The British Cabinet refused to approve the marriage, and newspapers reported that the marriage was "unthinkable" and "would fly in the face of Royal and Christian tradition". Prime Minister Churchill informed the Queen that the Commonwealth prime ministers were unanimously against the marriage, and that Parliament would not approve a marriage that would be unrecognised by the Church of England unless Margaret renounced her right of succession. Churchill arranged for Townsend to be posted to Brussels. Polls run by popular newspapers appeared to show that the public supported Margaret's personal choice, regardless of Church teaching or the government's opinion. For two years, press speculation continued. Margaret was told by clerics, incorrectly, that she would be unable to take communion if she married a divorced man. Finally, Margaret issued a statement:

    "I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before others. I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend."

Following some other romantic interests, on 6 May 1960 Margaret married the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey. She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Peter Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman, Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was half his age and bore a striking resemblance to Margaret. The announcement of the engagement, on 26 February 1960, took the press by surprise. Margaret had taken care to conceal the romance from reporters. The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television, and attracted viewing figures of 300 million worldwide. Margaret's corsage was designed by Norman Hartnell, and the honeymoon was spent aboard the royal yacht Britannia on a six-week Caribbean cruise. As a wedding present, Colin Tennant gave her a plot of land on his private Caribbean island, Mustique. The newly-weds moved into rooms in Kensington Palace. In 1961, the Princess's husband was created Earl of Snowdon, whereupon she became formally styled HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. They had two children, both born by Caesarean section at Margaret's request: David, Viscount Linley in 1961 and Lady Sarah in 1964.

The marriage widened Princess Margaret's social circle beyond the Court and aristocracy to include show business celebrities and bohemians, and was seen at the time as reflecting the breakdown of class barriers. The Snowdons experimented with the styles and fashions of the 1960s.
Royal duties

Princess Margaret began her royal duties at an early age. She attended the silver jubilee of her grandparents, George V and Queen Mary, aged five in 1935. She later attended her parents' coronation in 1937. Her first major royal tour occurred when she joined her parents and sister for a tour of South Africa in 1947. Her tour aboard Britannia to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955 created a sensation throughout the West Indies, and calypsos were dedicated to her. As colonies of the British Commonwealth of Nations sought nationhood, Princess Margaret represented the Crown at independence ceremonies in Jamaica in 1962 and Tuvalu and Dominica in 1978. Her visit to Tuvalu was cut short after an illness, which may have been viral pneumonia, and she was flown to Australia to recuperate. Other Overseas tours included the United States in 1963, Japan in 1969 and 1979, the United States and Canada in 1974, Australia in 1975, the Philippines in 1980, Swaziland in 1981, and China in 1987.

The Princess's main interests were welfare charities, music and ballet. She was President of the National Society and of the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Invalid Children's Aid Nationwide (also called 'I CAN'). She was Grand President of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and Colonel-in-Chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. She was also the president or patron of numerous organisations, such as the Northern Ballet Theatre, West Indies Olympic Association, the Girl Guides and the London Lighthouse (an AIDS charity that has since merged with the Terrence Higgins Trust).
Private life
House of Windsor
Badge of the House of Windsor.svg
George VI
  Elizabeth II
  Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Reportedly, her first extramarital affair took place in 1966, with her daughter's godfather, Bordeaux wine producer Anthony Barton, and a year later she had a one-month liaison with Robin Douglas-Home, a nephew of a former British Prime Minister. Margaret claimed that her relationship with Douglas-Home was platonic, but her letters to him (which were later sold) were intimate. Douglas-Home committed suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret. Claims that she was romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger, actor Peter Sellers, and Australian cricketer Keith Miller are unproven. A 2009 biography of actor David Niven asserted based on information from his widow and a good friend of Niven's that he too had had an affair with the princess. Another association was supposed to be with John Bindon, a cockney actor who had spent time in prison. His story, sold to the Daily Mirror, boasted of a close relationship with Margaret and, while it was debatable, the publicity that followed further damaged her reputation.

By the early 1970s, the Snowdons had drifted apart. In September 1973, Colin Tennant introduced Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn. Llewellyn was seventeen years her junior. In 1974, he was a guest at the holiday home she had built on Mustique. It was the first of several visits. Margaret described their relationship as "a loving friendship". Once, when Llewellyn left on an impulsive trip to Turkey, Margaret became emotionally distraught and took an overdose of sleeping tablets. "I was so exhausted because of everything", she later said, "that all I wanted to do was sleep." As she recovered, her ladies-in-waiting kept Lord Snowdon away from her, afraid that seeing him would distress her further.

In February 1976, a picture of Margaret and Llewellyn in swimsuits on Mustique was published on the front page of the tabloid News of the World. The press portrayed Margaret and Llewellyn as a predatory older woman and her toyboy lover. The following month, the Snowdons publicly acknowledged that their marriage was over. There were calls to remove her from the Civil list. Labour MPs denounced her as "a royal parasite", and a "floosie". On 11 July 1978, the Snowdons' divorce was finalised. It was the first divorce of a senior Royal since Princess Victoria of Edinburgh in 1901. In December Snowdon married Lucy Lindsay-Hogg.
Later life

While on a fund-raising tour of the United States in October 1979 on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Margaret became embroiled in the controversy over the assassination of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Mountbatten and members of his family were killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Seated at a dinner reception in Chicago with columnist Abra Anderson and mayor Jane Byrne, Margaret told them that the royal family had been moved by the many letters of condolence from Ireland. The following day, a single press report, written by Anderson's rival Irv Kupcinet, claimed that Margaret had referred to the Irish as "pigs". Margaret, Anderson and Byrne all issued immediate denials, but the damage was already done. The rest of the tour drew demonstrations, and Margaret's security was doubled in the face of physical threats.

In 1981, Llewellyn married Tatiana Soskin, whom he had known for ten years. Margaret remained close friends with them both.

The Princess's later life was marred by illness and disability. She had smoked since at least the age of 15. On 5 January 1985, she had part of her left lung removed; the operation drew parallels with that of her father 30 years earlier. In 1991, she quit smoking, but continued to drink heavily. In January 1993 she was admitted to hospital for pneumonia. She experienced a mild stroke in 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique. Early in the following year, the Princess suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident, which affected her mobility to the extent she required support when walking and sometimes used a wheelchair. In January and March 2001, further strokes were diagnosed, which left her with partial vision and paralysis on the left side. Margaret's last public appearances were at the 101st birthday celebrations of her mother in August 2001, and the 100th birthday celebration of her aunt, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, that December.
Legacy
We thank thee Lord who by thy spirit doth our faith restore
When we with wordly things commune & prayerless close our door
We lose our precious gift divine to worship and adore
Then thou our Saviour, fill our hearts to love thee evermore
—Princess Margaret's epitaph, written by herself is carved on a memorial stone in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

Princess Margaret died in the King Edward VII Hospital on 9 February 2002 at the age of 71, after suffering another stroke. Her funeral was held on 15 February 2002—the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral. In line with the Princess's wishes, the ceremony was a private service for family and friends. It was the last time the Queen Mother was seen in public before her own death six weeks later; she was advised by many not to attend but she insisted on doing so. Unlike most other members of the Royal Family, Princess Margaret was cremated, at Slough Crematorium. Her ashes were placed in the tomb of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, two months later. A state memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 April 2002.

Princess Margaret's nephew, Charles, Prince of Wales, talked about her after her death:

    "My aunt was one of those remarkable people who, apart from being incredibly vital and attractive, and of course when she was young so many people remember her for that vitality and attractiveness and indeed her incredible beauty, but she also, and I think many people do not realise this, but she had such incredible talent."

Observers often characterised her as a spoiled snob capable of cutting remarks or hauteur. She even apparently looked down on her own grandmother, Mary of Teck, because Mary was royal only by marriage, whereas Margaret was royal by birth. Their letters, however, provide no indication of friction between them. She could also, however, be charming and informal. People who came into contact with her could be perplexed by her capricious swings between frivolity and formality. Marion Crawford explained, "Impulsive and bright remarks she made became headlines and, taken out of their context, began to produce in the public eye an oddly distorted personality that bore little resemblance to the Margaret we knew." Margaret's acquaintance Gore Vidal wrote, "She was far too intelligent for her station in life." He recalled a conversation with Margaret, in which she discussed her public notoriety, saying, "It was inevitable: when there are two sisters and one is the Queen, who must be the source of honour and all that is good, while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister."

In June 2006, much of her estate was auctioned by Christie's to meet inheritance tax, though some of the items were sold in aid of charities such as the Stroke Association. A world record price of £1.24 million was set by a Fabergé clock, and the Poltimore tiara, worn for her wedding in 1960, sold for £926,400. The sale of her effects totalled £13,658,000. In April 2007, an exhibition entitled Princess Line - The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret opened at Kensington Palace, showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as Vivienne Westwood inspired by Princess Margaret's 'legacy' of style. Christopher Bailey's Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by Margaret's look from the 1960s.

Princess Margaret's private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and royal-watchers. Her house on Mustique, designed by her husband's uncle the stage designer Oliver Messel, was her favorite holiday destination. Allegations of wild parties and drug taking were made in a documentary broadcast after the Princess's death. Her supposed Mustique indiscretions form an important part of the background of the quasi-historical 2008 film The Bank Job. Princess Margaret was portrayed by Lucy Cohu in the Channel 4 TV drama The Queen's Sister (2005), by Trulie MacLeod in the TV drama The Women of Windsor (1992), and by Hannah Wiltshire in the TV drama Bertie and Elizabeth; she is portrayed silently in the second series première of Ashes to Ashes (2009, set in 1982) and subsequently complains off-camera about one of the principal characters. Her affair with Peter Townsend and the Queen's dealing with this was the subject of the first episode of the Channel 4 Docudrama The Queen in which she was portrayed by Katie McGrath

It is argued that Margaret's most enduring legacy is an accidental one. Perhaps unwittingly, Margaret paved the way for public acceptance of royal divorce. Her life, if not her actions, made the decisions and choices of her sister's children, three of whom divorced, easier than they otherwise would have been.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
Royal styles of
The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Countess of Snowdon Arms.svg
Reference style Her Royal Highness
Spoken style Your Royal Highness
Alternative style Ma'am

    * 21 August 1930 – 11 December 1936: Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret of York
    * 11 December 1936 – 3 October 1961: Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret
    * 3 October 1961 – 9 February 2002: Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Honours

    * CI: Companion of the Crown of India, 12 June 1947
    * GCVO: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1953
    * GCStJ: Dame Grand Cross of St John of Jerusalem, 1956
    * Royal Victorian Chain, 1990
    * Royal Family Order of King George V
    * Royal Family Order of King George VI
    * Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II

Foreign Honours

    * Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, 1948
    * Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar, First Class, 1956
    * Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), 1960
    * Order of the Crown, Lion and Spear of Toro Kingdom (Uganda), 1965
    * Order of the Precious Crown, First Class (Japan), 1971

Honorary military appointments

Australia Australia

    * Colonel-in-Chief, Women's Royal Australian Army Corps

Bermuda Bermuda

    * Colonel-in-Chief, Bermuda Regiment

Canada Canada

    * Colonel-in-Chief, the Highland Fusiliers of Canada
    * Colonel-in-Chief, Princess Louise Fusiliers
    * Colonel-in-Chief, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
    * Colonel-in-Chief, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI)

United Kingdom United Kingdom

    * Colonel-in-Chief, 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars
    * Colonel-in-Chief, Light Dragoons
    * Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)
    * Colonel-in-Chief, Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
    * Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Anglian Regiment
    * Honorary Air Commodore, Royal Air Force Coningsby

Arms
Arms of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Notes
The Princess' personalized coat of arms were those of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with a label for difference.
Countess of Snowdon Arms.svg
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant or 2nd or a lion rampant gules within a double tressure flory counterflory gules 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent
Other elements
The whole differenced by a label of three points Argent, first and third charged with a Tudor rose the second with a thistle proper
Banner
The princess' personal Royal Standard was that of the Sovereign, labelled for difference as in her arms.
Symbolism
As with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. The first and fourth quarters are the arms of England, the second of Scotland, the third of Ireland.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee63/AnneFrank284/margaretG_468x372.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/pssmarieamelie/01.jpg
http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww266/rex74/queenmother.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/09/10 at 5:38 am


The word of the day...tapestry
A tapestry is a large piece of heavy cloth with a picture sewn on it using coloured threads.
You can refer to something as a tapestry when it is made up of many varied types of people or things. http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss326/kcswonderland/Tapestry%20Round/R008lan201001B.jpg
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss326/kcswonderland/Tapestry%20Round/R013BchengL.jpg
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af307/GraniaDudley/Known%20World%20Tapestry/Tapestry-Leopard.png
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/Schlobben/Tangled%20Web%20Tapestries/tapestry_the_hunt.gif
http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx281/jbear2506/rome/vatican%20museum/VaticanMuseum171.jpg
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af307/GraniaDudley/Known%20World%20Tapestry/Tapestry-Outlands.png
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af307/GraniaDudley/Known%20World%20Tapestry/Tapestry-Butterfly.png


those are really gorgeous. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/10 at 6:37 am


those are really gorgeous. :)

I'm glad you like them :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/09/10 at 7:45 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4RWBCEFRo





I used that song in the video I made with some photos I took of the kids.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/09/10 at 7:52 pm

Nice bio on Carol King, Ninny. I grew up listening to her music. Lots of good memories.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/09/10 at 7:59 pm

Tapestry was one of the finest albums of the 70's. Most people had it in their collection...along with 'Best of Bread', 'Eagles Greatest Hits' and America's 'History'

Absolutely loved that album and bought the CD a couple of years ago...(the album quality isn't so hot anymore).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/10/10 at 1:05 am


Nice bio on Carol King, Ninny. I grew up listening to her music. Lots of good memories.  :)
Great singer!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/10 at 4:17 am


Nice bio on Carol King, Ninny. I grew up listening to her music. Lots of good memories.  :)

Thanks :)

Tapestry was one of the finest albums of the 70's. Most people had it in their collection...along with 'Best of Bread', 'Eagles Greatest Hits' and America's 'History'

Absolutely loved that album and bought the CD a couple of years ago...(the album quality isn't so hot anymore).

You got good taste Peter. :)

Great singer!

Yes she is :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/10 at 4:39 am


Interesting you chose the food "Grapes" today, because that's the nickname of Canada's most famous hockey personality, Don Cherry, and it's his birthday today (born Feb 5, 1934)

I just saw this post Don Cherry use to coach the Rochester Americans.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/10 at 4:46 am

The word of the day...Feather
A bird's feathers are the soft covering on its body. Each feather consists of a lot of smooth hairs on each side of a thin stiff centre
If you describe two people as birds of a feather, you mean that they have very similar characteristics, interests, or beliefs.
If you describe something that someone has achieved as a feather in their cap, you mean that they can be proud of it or that it might bring them some advantage.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk263/CND_Emi/feather34l.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k194/craig_x13/feather4.jpg
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/iluizgollo/P1030486a.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l187/x3die_romanticx3/Misc/Picture103.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu80/streetwisepup/jiva/New%20Ebay%20pics/peacock-feather-tickler2.gif
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/uttamdirect/FEATHERSKIRT.jpg
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae96/enigmastery/Sensual/feather-tickle-1.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr48/uneedaluv2/MY%20BACKYARD/265.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac312/mochamist/DSC03273.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/10 at 4:50 am

The person born on this day...Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner (born February 10, 1930) is an American film and television actor of stage and screen, who starred in movies, soap operas and television.

Wagner starred in three American television series that spanned three decades: as playboy-thief-turned-secret-agent, Alexander Mundy, in It Takes a Thief (1968–1970), as Eddie Albert's ex-con man turned crime-fighting partner, Det. Pete T. Ryan, in the con-artist-oriented drama Switch (1975–1978), and as Stefanie Powers's super-rich husband and private-eye partner, Jonathan Hart, in the lighthearted crime drama Hart to Hart (1979–1984). In movies, Wagner is known for his role as Number Two in the Austin Powers films of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He also had a recurring role as Teddy Leopold on the TV sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Wagner's autobiography, Pieces of My Heart: A Life, written with author Scott Eyman, was published on September 23, 2008.
When he was dining with his family at a Beverly Hills restaurant he was "discovered" by talent agent Henry Willson. Making his debut in The Happy Years (1950), he would play minor characters in several military themed films until his performance in With a Song in My Heart (1952) starring Susan Hayward, which would lead to a contract with 20th Century Fox.

His signing on with Fox would lead to a series of films in starring roles including Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and Prince Valiant (1954) as well as smaller, although impressive performances, in A Kiss Before Dying (1956) and Between Heaven and Hell (1956).
Wagner (right), with Jean Peters in the 1954 film Broken Lance

He starred in White Feather (1955) with Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter.

It was during his early career that he became the protégé of veteran actor Clifton Webb, appearing with him in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) and Titanic (1953). His performance earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer in motion pictures. Wagner starred opposite Steve McQueen in The War Lover (1962). Roles soon followed in The Longest Day (1962), The Condemned of Altona and the The Pink Panther. He reunited with McQueen, along with Paul Newman and Faye Dunaway, in the 1974 blockbuster disaster film The Towering Inferno. He reprised his role in the sequel Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).
Career rises

Wagner was convinced by Lew Wasserman in 1968 to make his television series debut starring in It Takes a Thief, after signing with Universal Studios in 1967. While the success of The Pink Panther and Harper began Wagner's comeback, the successful two and a half seasons of his first TV series completed his comeback. In this series he acted with Fred Astaire, who played his father. Astaire was a long-time friend of Wagner's, who had gone to school with Astaire's eldest son, Peter.

In 1972 he produced and cast himself opposite Bette Davis in the television movie Madame Sin, which was released in foreign markets as a feature film.

By the mid-1970s, Wagner's television career was at its peak with the television series Switch opposite Eddie Albert, after re-signing a contract with Universal Studios in 1974. Before Switch, Albert was a childhood television hero of Wagner's, after watching the movie Brother Rat along with a few others. The friendship started in the early 1960s, where he also co-starred in a couple of Albert's movies. After the series' end, the two remained friends until Albert's death on May 26, 2005. Wagner spoke at his funeral, and gave a testimonial about his longtime friendship with him.

In part payment for starring together in the Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg production of the TV movie The Affair Wagner and Wood were given a share in three TV series that the producers were developing for ABC. Only one reached the screen, the very successful TV series Charlie's Angels for which Wagner and Wood had a 50% share, though Wagner was to spend many years in court arguing with Spelling and Goldberg over what was defined as profit.

Wagner and Wood acted together with Laurence Olivier in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (as part of the UK television series Laurence Olivier Presents). Wood also made a small cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Wagner's own television series, Hart to Hart.

His third successful series was Hart to Hart that co-starred Stefanie Powers. Before those roles, Wagner also made guest appearances in the pilot episode of The Streets of San Francisco and as a regular in the UK World War II drama Colditz. He would later be nominated for an Emmy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance in It Takes a Thief and for four Golden Globe awards for his role as Jonathan Hart in Hart to Hart.

Robert Wagner's radio and television career was recognized by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters on January 30, 2009 when they presented him with their Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award.
Return to film and TV
Robert Wagner as Number Two in New Line's Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Wagner's film career received a revival after his role in the Austin Powers series of spy spoofs starring Mike Myers. Wagner played Dr. Evil's henchman Number 2 in all three films: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

He also became the host of Fox Movie Channel's Hour of Stars, featuring original television episodes of The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1955), a series which Wagner had appeared on in his early days with the studio.

In 2007, Wagner had a role in the BBC/AMC series Hustle. In its fourth season premiere, Wagner played a crooked Texan being taken for half a million dollars. As Wagner is considered "a suave icon of American caper television, including It Takes a Thief and Hart to Hart", Robert Glenister (Hustle's fixer, Ash Morgan) commented that "to have one of the icons of that period involved is a great bonus for all of us".

Recently, Wagner played the pivotal role of President James Garfield in the comedy/horror film Netherbeast Incorporated (2007). The role was written with Wagner in mind.

Wagner had a recurring role of a rich suitor to the main characters' mother on the sitcom Two and a Half Men. His most recent appearances on the show were in May 2008.

On November 2, 2009, it was announced that Wagner will guest-star as Tony's father in the 150th episode of NCIS, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Tony and his dad will reunite in the episode, which is slated for January.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships

Wagner had a 4 year romantic relationship with Barbara Stanwyck after they acted together in the movie Titanic. Because of the age difference - he was 22, she was 45 - they kept the affair secret to avoid damage to their careers. When the relationship ended, he graduated to young actresses including Joan Collins and Debbie Reynolds, eventually becoming lasting friends with both.

Wagner became involved with teen actress Natalie Wood and married her on December 28, 1957. The couple soon became involved in financial troubles. At Fox, Wagner's career was slowly being overtaken by newer actors such as Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. The two separated in September 1961 and divorced on April 27, 1962. Wagner, with his career stalled due to a lack of studio support, broke his studio contract with 20th Century Fox. and moved to Europe in search of better film roles.

While in Europe he met an old friend, actress Marion Marshall. After a brief courtship, Wagner, Marshall, and her two children from her marriage to Stanley Donen, in the spring of 1963 moved back to America. Wagner and Marshall married on July 22, 1963 in the Bronx Courthouse. Soon after, they had a daughter, Katie Wagner (born May 11, 1964). The two were together for nearly nine years before they separated in late 1970. They were divorced on April 26, 1971. He then had a relationship with Tina Sinatra.

Wagner kept in contact with Natalie Wood, whose short-lived marriage to Richard Gregson ended in early 1972. Wagner remarried her on July 16, 1972 in a ceremony on a friend's yacht The Ramblin' Rose. On March 9, 1974, the couple had their only child, daughter Courtney. On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood drowned near their yacht Splendour while moored near Catalina Island with Wagner and Christopher Walken, who was co-starring with her in the motion picture Brainstorm. Wagner was devastated by her death and later stated in his autobiography Pieces of My Heart and in several interviews that he went through a daze between the tragedy and her funeral then spent eight days in bed. He subsequently became the legal guardian of Wood's daughter Natasha Gregson.

In early 1982, Wagner began a relationship with actress Jill St. John, who coincidentally was a childhood friend of Natalie Wood and Wagner's Hart to Hart co-star Stefanie Powers. After an eight-year courtship, they were married on May 26, 1990. In the spring of 2000, St. John herself would become involved in an altercation with Lana Wood during a cover shoot for Vanity Fair featuring the actresses of the long running James Bond series. The two women co-starred in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds are Forever.

On September 21, 2006, he became a first time grandfather when his daughter, Katie, gave birth to a son, Riley Wagner-Lewis.

Wagner maintains residences in Los Angeles, California and Aspen, Colorado.

Wagner is currently pitching for a reverse mortgage company, the Senior Lending Network.
Aaron Spelling lawsuit

In June 2000, Wagner sued Aaron Spelling Productions for $20 million for breach of contract and fraud, claiming he had been cheated out of profits from the Fox television series Beverly Hills, 90210. The dispute centered on an agreement between Wagner and the show's creator-producer Aaron Spelling.

In 1988, Wagner agreed to become involved in Spelling's television series Angels 88, then in development, in which Spelling had agreed Wagner would receive a 7.5% gross profit for his participation, regardless of services rendered. However, when the series was initially picked up by Fox and later dropped in favor of Beverly Hills, 90210, Wagner claimed he was entitled to the rights previously agreed upon in their 1988 agreement.
Filmography

Wagner's career as a supporting player in movies was solid in the 1950s, but declined in the 1960s, and he turned to television with great success. His notable roles include:

    * Pvt. Coffman in Halls of Montezuma (1951)
    * Willie Little in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952)
    * Tony Petrakis in Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
    * Gifford "Giff" Rogers in Titanic (1953)
    * Joe Devereaux in Broken Lance (1954)
    * Prince Valiant in Prince Valiant (1954)
    * Josh Tanner in White Feather (1955)
    * Bud Corliss in A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
    * Sam Gifford in Between Heaven and Hell (1956)
    * Christopher Teller in The Mountain (1956)
    * Jesse James in The True Story of Jesse James, directed by Nicholas Ray (1957)
    * Lt. Pell in The Hunters (1958)
    * Chad Bixby, based on Chet Baker in All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960)
    * Lt Ed Boland in The War Lover (1962)
    * George Lytton in The Pink Panther (1963) and Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
    * Allan Taggert in Harper (1966)
    * Mike Banning in Banning (1967)
    * Luther Erding in Winning (1969)
    * Alexander Mundy in It Takes a Thief (1968–70)
    * David Corey in The Name of the Game (1970–1971)
    * Dan Bigelow in The Towering Inferno (1974)
    * Brick Pollitt in Laurence Olivier Presents: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (with then wife Natalie Wood and Laurence Olivier)
    * Pete T. Ryan in Switch (1975–1978)
    * Kevin Harrison in The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979)
    * Jonathan Hart in Hart to Hart (1979–1984)
    * Mike Slade in Windmills of the Gods (1988)
    * Bill Krieger in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
    * Number Two in the Austin Powers movies (1997, 1999, 2002)
    * Tom Baxter in Wild Things (1998)
    * Digicron President in Fatal Error (1999)
    * Amos in Man of Faith (2005)
    * President James Garfield in Netherbeast Incorporated (2007)
    * Mr. Wilson in A Dennis the Menace Christmas (2007)

Other roles

    * Kenny Walsh in the episode "And God Created Vanity" in the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour (1963)
    * Flight Lieutenant/Major Phil Carrington in the BBC series Colditz (1972–1974)
    * Jack Gates in Delirious (1991) (uncredited)
    * Guest starred as Mickey's father in the Seinfeld episode "The Yada Yada" (1997)
    * Guest starred as Jack Fairfield in Hope & Faith (2003)
    * Guest starred in Hollywood Homicide (2003)
    * Alex Avery in the tv series Las Vegas episode Cash Springs Eternal (2006)
    * Guest starred as Teddy, the boyfriend of Alan's and Charlie's mother in Two and a Half Men (2007-2008)
    * Guest starred as Anthony DiNozzo Sr. in "NCIS" (2010)
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx335/ClassicFilms/Actors/young_wagner.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff111/older1guy/robert_wagner_2484_3.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j187/quart_c/0764_01281.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/10 at 4:56 am

The person who died on this day...Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born February 7, 1867, near the village of Pepin, in the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin, to Charles Phillip Ingalls and Caroline Lake (Quiner) Ingalls. She was the second of five children; her siblings were Mary Amelia, who went blind; Carrie Celestia, Charles Frederick, who died when nine months old, and Grace Pearl. Her birth site is commemorated by a period log cabin, the Little House Wayside.

Her paternal immigrant ancestor was Edmund Ingalls born 27 June 1586 in Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, England, and died 16 September 1648 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts.

In Laura's early childhood, her father settled on land not yet open for homesteading in what was then Indian Territory near Independence, Kansas--an experience that formed the basis of Ingalls' novel Little House on the Prairie. Within a few years, her father's restless spirit led them on various moves to a preemption claim in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, living with relatives near South Troy, Minnesota, and helping to run a hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa. After a move from Burr Oak back to Walnut Grove, where Charles Ingalls served as the town butcher and Justice of the Peace, Charles accepted a railroad job in the spring of 1879 which led him to eastern Dakota Territory, where he was joined by the family in the fall of 1879. Over the winter of 1879-1880, Charles landed a homestead, and called DeSmet, South Dakota, home for the rest of his, Caroline, and Mary's lives. After staying the cold winter of 1879–1880 in the Surveyor's House, the Ingalls family watched the town of DeSmet rise up from the prairie in 1880. The following winter, 1880–1881, one of the most severe on record in the Dakotas, was later described by Wilder in her book, The Long Winter. Once the family was settled in DeSmet, she attended school, made many friends, and met homesteader Almanzo Wilder (1857–1949). This time in her life is well documented in the Little House Books.

At the age of 15, Laura accepted her first teaching position, teaching three terms in one-room schools, when not attending school herself in DeSmet. She later admitted that she did not particularly enjoy teaching, but felt the responsibility from a young age to help her family financially, and wage earning opportunities for females were limited. Laura stopped teaching when she married Almanzo Wilder on August 25, 1885. Wilder had achieved a degree of prosperity on his homestead claim, owing to favorable weather in the early 1880s, and the couple's prospects seemed bright. She joined Almanzo in a new home on his claim north of DeSmet and agreed to help him make the claim succeed. On December 5, 1886, she gave birth to Rose Wilder (1886–1968) and later, an unnamed son, who died shortly after birth in 1889.

The first few years of marriage held many trials. Complications from a life-threatening bout of diphtheria left Almanzo partially paralyzed. While he eventually regained nearly full use of his legs, he needed a cane to walk for the remainder of his life. This setback, among many others, began a series of disastrous events that included the death of their unnamed newborn son, the destruction of their home and barn by fire, and several years of severe drought that left them in debt, physically ill, and unable to earn a living from their 320 acres (1.3 km2) of prairie land. The tales of their trials at farming can be found in The First Four Years, a manuscript that was discovered after Rose Wilder Lane's death. Published in 1971, it detailed the hard-fought first four years of marriage on the Dakota prairies.

About 1890, the Wilders left South Dakota and spent about a year resting at Wilder's parents' prosperous Spring Valley Minnesota farm before moving briefly to Westville, Florida. They sought Florida's climate to improve Wilder's health, but being used to living on the dry plains, he wilted in the heat and Southern humidity. In 1892, they returned to DeSmet and bought a small house (although later accounts by Lane mistakenly indicated it was rented). The Wilders received special permission to start their precocious daughter in school early and took jobs (Almanzo as a day laborer, Laura as a seamstress at a dressmaker's shop) to save enough money to once again start a farm.
Rocky Ridge Farm

In 1894, the hard-pressed young couple moved a final time to Mansfield, Missouri, using their savings to make a down payment on a piece of undeveloped property just outside of town. They named the place Rocky Ridge Farm. What began as about 40 acres (0.2 km2) of thickly wooded, stone-covered hillside with a windowless log cabin, over the next 20 years evolved into a 200-acre (0.8 km2), relatively prosperous poultry, dairy, and fruit farm. The ramshackle log cabin was eventually replaced with an impressive 10-room farmhouse and outbuildings.

The couple's climb to financial security was a slow process. Initially, the only income the farm produced was from wagonloads of firewood Almanzo sold for 50 cents in town, the result of the backbreaking work of clearing the trees and stones from land that slowly evolved into fertile fields and pastures. The apple trees did not begin to bear fruit for seven years. Barely able to eke out more than a subsistence living on the new farm, the Wilders decided to move into nearby Mansfield in the late 1890s and rent a small house. Almanzo found work as an oil salesman and general delivery man, while Laura took in boarders and served meals to local railroad workers. Recipes that she used are included in the biography, I Remember Laura, by Stephen W. Hines. Any spare time was spent improving the farm and planning for a better future.

Wilder's parents visited around this time, and presented to the couple, as a gift, the deed to the house they had been renting in Mansfield. This was the economic jump start they needed; they eventually sold the house in town and using the proceeds from the sale, were able to move back to the farm permanently, and to complete Rocky Ridge.

Almanzo died in 1949 at the age of ninety-two, Laura died at the age of ninety on February 10, 1957, both on their Rocky Ridge Farm at Mansfield, Missouri.
Farm diversification
Laura and Almanzo Wilder, 1885

By 1910, Rocky Ridge Farm was established to the point where the Wilders returned there to focus their efforts on increasing the farm's productivity and output. The impressive 10-room farmhouse completed in 1912 stands as a testament to their labors and determination to carve a comfortable and attractive home from the land.

Having learned a hard lesson from focusing solely on wheat farming in South Dakota, the Wilders' Rocky Ridge Farm became a diversified poultry and dairy farm, with an abundant apple orchard. Wilder, always active in various clubs and an advocate for several regional farm associations, was recognized as an authority in poultry farming and rural living, which led to invitations to talk to groups around the region.

Following Rose Wilder Lane's developing writing career also inspired Wilder to do some writing of her own. An invitation to submit an article to the Missouri Ruralist in 1911 led to a permanent position as a columnist and editor with that publication — a position she held until the mid-1920s. She also took a paid position with a Farm Loan Association, dispensing small loans to local farmers from her office in the farmhouse.

Her column in the Ruralist, "As a Farm Woman Thinks," introduced Mrs. A.J. Wilder to a loyal audience of rural Ozarkians, who enjoyed her regular columns, whose topics ranged from home and family to World War I and other world events, to the fascinating world travels of her daughter and her own thoughts on the increasing options offered to women during this era.

While the Wilders were never wealthy until the "Little House" series of books began to achieve popularity, the farming operation and Wilder's income from writing and the Farm Loan Association provided a stable enough living for the Wilders to finally place themselves in Mansfield middle-class society.

Wilder's fellow clubwomen were mostly the wives of business owners, doctors and lawyers, and her club activities took up much of the time that Lane encouraged her to use to develop a writing career for national magazines, as Lane had done. Wilder seemed unable or unwilling to make the leap from writing for the Missouri Ruralist to these higher-paying national markets. The few articles she was able to sell to national magazines were heavily edited by her daughter and placed solely through Lane's established publishing connections.
Retirement

For much of the 1920s and 1930s, between long stints living abroad (including in her beloved adopted country of Albania), Lane lived with the Wilders at Rocky Ridge Farm. As her free-lance writing career flourished, she successfully invested in the booming stock market.

Her newfound financial freedom led her to increasingly assume responsibility for her aging parents' support, as well as providing for the college educations of several young people she "adopted," both in Albania and Mansfield. Lane also took over the farmhouse her parents had built and had a beautiful, modern stone cottage constructed for them as a gift. However, when Lane left the farm for good a few years later, the Wilders, homesick for the house they had built with their own hands, moved back to it, and finished their lives there.

By the late 1920s, they had scaled back the farming operation considerably and Wilder had resigned from her positions with the Missouri Ruralist and the Farm Loan Association. Hired help was installed in the caretaker's house Lane had built on the property, to take care of the remaining farm work that Almanzo, now in his 70s, could no longer easily manage.

A comfortable and worry-free retirement seemed possible for the Wilders until the Stock Market Crash of 1929 wiped out the family's investments. The couple still owned the 200 acres (0.8 km2) farm, but they had invested most of their hard-won savings with Lane's broker. Lane was faced with the grim prospect of selling enough of her writing in a depressed market to maintain the financial responsibilities she had assumed, and the Wilders became dependent on her as their primary source of support.

In 1930, Wilder asked her daughter's opinion about a biographical manuscript she had written about her pioneering childhood. The Great Depression, coupled with the death of her mother in 1924 and her sister Mary in 1928, seem to have prompted her to preserve her memories in a "life story" called "Pioneer Girl." She had also renewed her interest in writing in the hope of generating some income. The first idea for the title of the first of the books was When Grandma was a Little Girl (later Little House in the Big Woods). After its success, Laura continued writing, given mental support and help in the form of sharing her own memories, by her sister Carrie.
Book series collaboration

Controversy surrounds Lane's exact role in what became her mother's famous "Little House" series of books. Some argue that Laura was an "untutored genius," relying on her daughter mainly for some early encouragement and her connections with publishers and literary agents. Others contend that Lane took each of her mother's unpolished rough drafts in hand and completely (and silently) transformed them into the series of books we know today. The truth most likely lies somewhere between these two positions — Wilder's writing career as a rural journalist and credible essayist began more than two decades before the "Little House" series, and Lane's formidable skills as an editor and ghostwriter are well-documented . But Lane's New York literary agent, George T. Bye, turned away the initial drafts, commenting that they lacked drama.

The existing evidence (including ongoing correspondence between the women concerning the development of the series, Lane's extensive personal diaries and Wilder's first person draft manuscripts) tends to reveal an ongoing joint collaboration. The conclusion can be drawn that Wilder's strengths as a compelling storyteller and Lane's considerable skills in dramatic pacing and literary structure contributed to an occasionally tense, but fruitful, collaboration between two talented and headstrong women. In fact, the collaboration seems to have worked both ways: two of Lane's most successful novels, Let the Hurricane Roar (1932) and Free Land (1938), were written at the same time as the "Little House" series and basically re-told Ingalls and Wilder family tales in an adult format. The collaboration also brought the two writers at Rocky Ridge Farm the money they needed to recoup the loss of their investments in the stock market. Simply stated: If Wilder had not written the books, they would not exist — Lane had no interest in writing what she called "juveniles" — but had Lane not edited the books, they might well have never been accepted for publication let alone become famous. Since the initial publication of "Little House in the Big Woods" in 1931, the books have been continually in print and have been translated into 40 different languages.

Whatever the collaboration personally represented to the mother and daughter was never publicly discussed, however. Wilder's first — and smallest — royalty check from Harper was for $500 — the equivalent of $7,300 in 2007 dollars. By the mid-1930s the royalties from the "Little House" books brought a steady and increasingly substantial income to the Wilders for the first time in their 50 years of marriage. Various honors, huge amounts of fan mail and other accolades were granted to Laura Ingalls Wilder. The novels and short stories of Rose Wilder Lane during the 1930s also represented her creative and literary peak. Her name received top billing on the magazine covers where her fiction and articles appeared. The Saturday Evening Post paid her $30,000 (approximately $400,000 in 2007 dollars) to serialize her best-selling novel Free Land, while Let the Hurricane Roar saw an increasing and steady sale, augmented by a radio dramatization starring Helen Hayes. The book remains in print today as Young Pioneers.
Celebrated author

Lane left Rocky Ridge Farm in the late 1930s, establishing homes in Harlingen, Texas, and Danbury, Connecticut. She eventually ceased fiction writing and spent the remainder of her life writing about and promoting her philosophies of personal freedom and liberty. She became one of the more influential American libertarians of the mid-twentieth century.

During these years, Wilder and her husband were frequently alone at Rocky Ridge Farm. Most of the surrounding area (including the property with the stone cottage Lane had built for them) had been sold off, but they still kept some farm animals, and tended their flower beds and vegetable gardens. Almost daily, carloads of fans would stop by, eager to meet "Laura" of the Little House books. The Wilders lived independently and without financial worries until Almanzo's death in 1949, at the age of 92. Wilder was grieved, but determined to remain independent and stay on the farm, despite Lane's requests that her mother come live with her permanently in Connecticut. For the next eight years, she lived alone, looked after by a circle of neighbors and friends who found it hard to believe their very own "Mrs. Wilder" was a world-famous author. She was a familiar figure in Mansfield, being brought into town regularly by her driver to run errands, attend church, or visit friends. She continued an active correspondence with her editors, many fans and friends during these years.

Throughout the 1950s, Lane usually returned to Missouri to spend the winter with her mother. Once, Wilder flew to Connecticut for a visit to Lane's home. In the fall of 1956, Lane went to Mansfield for Thanksgiving, and found her 89-year-old mother severely ill from undiagnosed diabetes and a weakening heart. Several weeks in the hospital seemed to improve the situation somewhat, and Wilder was able to return home on the day after Christmas. But she was very old and very ill, and declined rapidly after that point. Wilder had an extremely competitive spirit going all the way back to the schoolyard as a child, and she had remarked to many people that she wanted to live to be 90, "because Almanzo had". She succeeded. On February 10, 1957, just three days after her 90th birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder died in her sleep in her Mansfield farmhouse.

With Wilder's death in 1957, use of the Rocky Ridge Farmhouse reverted to the farmer who had earlier bought the surrounding land. The local townsfolk put together a non-profit corporation to purchase the house and its grounds, for use as a museum. After some wariness at the notion of seeing the house rather than the books themselves be a shrine to her mother, Lane came to believe that making a museum of it would draw long-lasting attention to the books. She donated the money needed to purchase the house and make it a museum, agreed to make significant contributions each year for its upkeep and also gave many of the family's belongings to help establish what became a popular museum that still draws thousands of visitors each year to Mansfield.

Lane inherited ownership of the "Little House" literary estate for her lifetime only, all rights reverting to the Mansfield library after her death, according to her mother's will. After her death in 1968, Lane's heir, Roger MacBride, gained control of the copyrights. MacBride was Lane's informally-adopted grandson, as well as her business agent, attorney, and heir. All of MacBride's actions carried Lane's apparent approval. In fact, at Lane's request, the copyrights to each of the "Little House" books, as well as those of Lane's own literary works, had been renewed in MacBride's name when the original copyrights expired during the decade between Wilder's and Lane's deaths.

Controversy did not come until after MacBride's death in 1995, when the Laura Ingalls Wilder Branch of the Wright County Library (which Wilder helped found) in Mansfield, Missouri, decided it was worth trying to recover the rights. The ensuing court case was settled in an undisclosed manner, but MacBride's heirs retained the rights. The library received enough to start work on a new building.

The popularity of the "Little House" series of books has grown phenomenally over the years, spawning a multimillion-dollar franchise of mass merchandising, additional spinoff book series (some written by MacBride and his daughter), and the long-running television show, starring Michael Landon. Laura Ingalls Wilder has been portrayed by Melissa Gilbert (1974-1984), Meredith Monroe (1997, 1998) and Kyle Chavarria (2005) in television series.

Wilder once said the reason she wrote her books in the first place was to preserve the stories of her childhood for today's children, to help them to understand how much America had changed during her lifetime.
Legacy

    * Hall of Famous Missourians - Laura Wilder was inducted in 1993

    * Missouri State Capitol -a bronze bust depicting her is on permanent display in the rotunda

    * Missouri Walk of Fame - Wilder was honored on the in 2006. David Ingalls, an Ingalls cousin, accepted the star.

    * Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum - located in Mansfield, Missouri.

    * Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum - located in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

    * Laura Wilder Elementary School - located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

    * Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary - located in Woodinville, Washington

    * List of craters on Venus - Wilder crater located on the planet Venus was named after her.

Bibliography
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Ingalls
Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Laura Ingalls Wilder

    * Little House in the Big Woods (1932)
    * Farmer Boy (1933) - about her husband's childhood on a farm in New York
    * Little House on the Prairie (1935)
    * On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), a Newbery Honor book
    * By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), a Newbery Honor book
    * The Long Winter (1940), a Newbery Honor book
    * Little Town on the Prairie (1941), a Newbery Honor book
    * These Happy Golden Years (1943), a Newbery Honor book
    * On the Way Home (1962, published posthumously) - a diary of the Wilders' move from de Smet to Mansfield, Missouri, edited and added to by Rose Wilder Lane.
    * The First Four Years (1971, published posthumously)
    * West From Home (1974, published posthumously) - Wilder's letters to Almanzo while visiting Lane in San Francisco in 1915
    * The Road Back (Part of A Little House Traveler: Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Journeys Across America, highlighting Laura's previously unpublished record of a 1931 trip with Almanzo to De Smet, South Dakota, and the Black Hills)
    * A Little House Sampler, with Rose Wilder Lane, edited by William Anderson
    * Farm Journalist : Writings from the Ozarks
    * Writings to Young Women (Volume One: On Wisdom and Virtues, Volume Two: On Life As a Pioneer Woman, Volume Three: As Told By Her Family, Friends, and Neighbors)
    * A Little House Reader: A Collection of Writings
    * Laura Ingalls Wilder & Rose Wilder Lane (Letters exchanged by Laura and Rose)
    * Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings
    * Laura's Album (A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by William Anderson)

and others.
Museums and home sites
Further information: Historic sites and museums
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx199/flowerchild64/Laura-Ingalls-Wilder-laura-ingalls-.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn44/smkukla/Laura%20Ingalls%20Wilder/The-Ingalls-Family-laura-ingalls-wi.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn44/smkukla/Laura%20Ingalls%20Wilder/The-Ingalls-Sisters-laura-ingalls-w.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/10/10 at 7:05 am


The word of the day...Feather
A bird's feathers are the soft covering on its body. Each feather consists of a lot of smooth hairs on each side of a thin stiff centre
If you describe two people as birds of a feather, you mean that they have very similar characteristics, interests, or beliefs.
If you describe something that someone has achieved as a feather in their cap, you mean that they can be proud of it or that it might bring them some advantage.
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk263/CND_Emi/feather34l.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k194/craig_x13/feather4.jpg
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/iluizgollo/P1030486a.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l187/x3die_romanticx3/Misc/Picture103.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu80/streetwisepup/jiva/New%20Ebay%20pics/peacock-feather-tickler2.gif
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/uttamdirect/FEATHERSKIRT.jpg
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae96/enigmastery/Sensual/feather-tickle-1.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr48/uneedaluv2/MY%20BACKYARD/265.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac312/mochamist/DSC03273.jpg




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdmEGWqIWEI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/10/10 at 10:36 am


Tapestry was one of the finest albums of the 70's. Most people had it in their collection...along with 'Best of Bread', 'Eagles Greatest Hits' and America's 'History'

Absolutely loved that album and bought the CD a couple of years ago...(the album quality isn't so hot anymore).

I had Tapestry. Some great tunes on there, big album in (I think) 1971.
...and I also had the other 3 albums gibbo mentioned. From this post ( and others) I find that gibbo and I have quite the similar taste in music.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/10/10 at 11:18 am


I had Tapestry. Some great tunes on there, big album in (I think) 1971.
...and I also had the other 3 albums gibbo mentioned. From this post ( and others) I find that gibbo and I have quite the similar taste in music.



My sister had the album. A few years ago, I purchased it on CD. As I was listening to it, I didn't realized that I basically knew the entire album. I guess my sister played it THAT MUCH when I was a kid.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/10/10 at 12:36 pm


The person born on this day...Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner (born February 10, 1930) is an American film and television actor of stage and screen, who starred in movies, soap operas and television.

Wagner starred in three American television series that spanned three decades: as playboy-thief-turned-secret-agent, Alexander Mundy, in It Takes a Thief (1968–1970), as Eddie Albert's ex-con man turned crime-fighting partner, Det. Pete T. Ryan, in the con-artist-oriented drama Switch (1975–1978), and as Stefanie Powers's super-rich husband and private-eye partner, Jonathan Hart, in the lighthearted crime drama Hart to Hart (1979–1984). In movies, Wagner is known for his role as Number Two in the Austin Powers films of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He also had a recurring role as Teddy Leopold on the TV sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Wagner's autobiography, Pieces of My Heart: A Life, written with author Scott Eyman, was published on September 23, 2008.
When he was dining with his family at a Beverly Hills restaurant he was "discovered" by talent agent Henry Willson. Making his debut in The Happy Years (1950), he would play minor characters in several military themed films until his performance in With a Song in My Heart (1952) starring Susan Hayward, which would lead to a contract with 20th Century Fox.

His signing on with Fox would lead to a series of films in starring roles including Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and Prince Valiant (1954) as well as smaller, although impressive performances, in A Kiss Before Dying (1956) and Between Heaven and Hell (1956).
Wagner (right), with Jean Peters in the 1954 film Broken Lance

He starred in White Feather (1955) with Debra Paget and Jeffrey Hunter.

It was during his early career that he became the protégé of veteran actor Clifton Webb, appearing with him in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) and Titanic (1953). His performance earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer in motion pictures. Wagner starred opposite Steve McQueen in The War Lover (1962). Roles soon followed in The Longest Day (1962), The Condemned of Altona and the The Pink Panther. He reunited with McQueen, along with Paul Newman and Faye Dunaway, in the 1974 blockbuster disaster film The Towering Inferno. He reprised his role in the sequel Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).
Career rises

Wagner was convinced by Lew Wasserman in 1968 to make his television series debut starring in It Takes a Thief, after signing with Universal Studios in 1967. While the success of The Pink Panther and Harper began Wagner's comeback, the successful two and a half seasons of his first TV series completed his comeback. In this series he acted with Fred Astaire, who played his father. Astaire was a long-time friend of Wagner's, who had gone to school with Astaire's eldest son, Peter.

In 1972 he produced and cast himself opposite Bette Davis in the television movie Madame Sin, which was released in foreign markets as a feature film.

By the mid-1970s, Wagner's television career was at its peak with the television series Switch opposite Eddie Albert, after re-signing a contract with Universal Studios in 1974. Before Switch, Albert was a childhood television hero of Wagner's, after watching the movie Brother Rat along with a few others. The friendship started in the early 1960s, where he also co-starred in a couple of Albert's movies. After the series' end, the two remained friends until Albert's death on May 26, 2005. Wagner spoke at his funeral, and gave a testimonial about his longtime friendship with him.

In part payment for starring together in the Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg production of the TV movie The Affair Wagner and Wood were given a share in three TV series that the producers were developing for ABC. Only one reached the screen, the very successful TV series Charlie's Angels for which Wagner and Wood had a 50% share, though Wagner was to spend many years in court arguing with Spelling and Goldberg over what was defined as profit.

Wagner and Wood acted together with Laurence Olivier in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (as part of the UK television series Laurence Olivier Presents). Wood also made a small cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Wagner's own television series, Hart to Hart.

His third successful series was Hart to Hart that co-starred Stefanie Powers. Before those roles, Wagner also made guest appearances in the pilot episode of The Streets of San Francisco and as a regular in the UK World War II drama Colditz. He would later be nominated for an Emmy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance in It Takes a Thief and for four Golden Globe awards for his role as Jonathan Hart in Hart to Hart.

Robert Wagner's radio and television career was recognized by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters on January 30, 2009 when they presented him with their Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award.
Return to film and TV
Robert Wagner as Number Two in New Line's Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Wagner's film career received a revival after his role in the Austin Powers series of spy spoofs starring Mike Myers. Wagner played Dr. Evil's henchman Number 2 in all three films: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

He also became the host of Fox Movie Channel's Hour of Stars, featuring original television episodes of The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1955), a series which Wagner had appeared on in his early days with the studio.

In 2007, Wagner had a role in the BBC/AMC series Hustle. In its fourth season premiere, Wagner played a crooked Texan being taken for half a million dollars. As Wagner is considered "a suave icon of American caper television, including It Takes a Thief and Hart to Hart", Robert Glenister (Hustle's fixer, Ash Morgan) commented that "to have one of the icons of that period involved is a great bonus for all of us".

Recently, Wagner played the pivotal role of President James Garfield in the comedy/horror film Netherbeast Incorporated (2007). The role was written with Wagner in mind.

Wagner had a recurring role of a rich suitor to the main characters' mother on the sitcom Two and a Half Men. His most recent appearances on the show were in May 2008.

On November 2, 2009, it was announced that Wagner will guest-star as Tony's father in the 150th episode of NCIS, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Tony and his dad will reunite in the episode, which is slated for January.
Personal life
Marriages and relationships

Wagner had a 4 year romantic relationship with Barbara Stanwyck after they acted together in the movie Titanic. Because of the age difference - he was 22, she was 45 - they kept the affair secret to avoid damage to their careers. When the relationship ended, he graduated to young actresses including Joan Collins and Debbie Reynolds, eventually becoming lasting friends with both.

Wagner became involved with teen actress Natalie Wood and married her on December 28, 1957. The couple soon became involved in financial troubles. At Fox, Wagner's career was slowly being overtaken by newer actors such as Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. The two separated in September 1961 and divorced on April 27, 1962. Wagner, with his career stalled due to a lack of studio support, broke his studio contract with 20th Century Fox. and moved to Europe in search of better film roles.

While in Europe he met an old friend, actress Marion Marshall. After a brief courtship, Wagner, Marshall, and her two children from her marriage to Stanley Donen, in the spring of 1963 moved back to America. Wagner and Marshall married on July 22, 1963 in the Bronx Courthouse. Soon after, they had a daughter, Katie Wagner (born May 11, 1964). The two were together for nearly nine years before they separated in late 1970. They were divorced on April 26, 1971. He then had a relationship with Tina Sinatra.

Wagner kept in contact with Natalie Wood, whose short-lived marriage to Richard Gregson ended in early 1972. Wagner remarried her on July 16, 1972 in a ceremony on a friend's yacht The Ramblin' Rose. On March 9, 1974, the couple had their only child, daughter Courtney. On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood drowned near their yacht Splendour while moored near Catalina Island with Wagner and Christopher Walken, who was co-starring with her in the motion picture Brainstorm. Wagner was devastated by her death and later stated in his autobiography Pieces of My Heart and in several interviews that he went through a daze between the tragedy and her funeral then spent eight days in bed. He subsequently became the legal guardian of Wood's daughter Natasha Gregson.

In early 1982, Wagner began a relationship with actress Jill St. John, who coincidentally was a childhood friend of Natalie Wood and Wagner's Hart to Hart co-star Stefanie Powers. After an eight-year courtship, they were married on May 26, 1990. In the spring of 2000, St. John herself would become involved in an altercation with Lana Wood during a cover shoot for Vanity Fair featuring the actresses of the long running James Bond series. The two women co-starred in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds are Forever.

On September 21, 2006, he became a first time grandfather when his daughter, Katie, gave birth to a son, Riley Wagner-Lewis.

Wagner maintains residences in Los Angeles, California and Aspen, Colorado.

Wagner is currently pitching for a reverse mortgage company, the Senior Lending Network.
Aaron Spelling lawsuit

In June 2000, Wagner sued Aaron Spelling Productions for $20 million for breach of contract and fraud, claiming he had been cheated out of profits from the Fox television series Beverly Hills, 90210. The dispute centered on an agreement between Wagner and the show's creator-producer Aaron Spelling.

In 1988, Wagner agreed to become involved in Spelling's television series Angels 88, then in development, in which Spelling had agreed Wagner would receive a 7.5% gross profit for his participation, regardless of services rendered. However, when the series was initially picked up by Fox and later dropped in favor of Beverly Hills, 90210, Wagner claimed he was entitled to the rights previously agreed upon in their 1988 agreement.
Filmography

Wagner's career as a supporting player in movies was solid in the 1950s, but declined in the 1960s, and he turned to television with great success. His notable roles include:

    * Pvt. Coffman in Halls of Montezuma (1951)
    * Willie Little in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952)
    * Tony Petrakis in Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
    * Gifford "Giff" Rogers in Titanic (1953)
    * Joe Devereaux in Broken Lance (1954)
    * Prince Valiant in Prince Valiant (1954)
    * Josh Tanner in White Feather (1955)
    * Bud Corliss in A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
    * Sam Gifford in Between Heaven and Hell (1956)
    * Christopher Teller in The Mountain (1956)
    * Jesse James in The True Story of Jesse James, directed by Nicholas Ray (1957)
    * Lt. Pell in The Hunters (1958)
    * Chad Bixby, based on Chet Baker in All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960)
    * Lt Ed Boland in The War Lover (1962)
    * George Lytton in The Pink Panther (1963) and Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
    * Allan Taggert in Harper (1966)
    * Mike Banning in Banning (1967)
    * Luther Erding in Winning (1969)
    * Alexander Mundy in It Takes a Thief (1968–70)
    * David Corey in The Name of the Game (1970–1971)
    * Dan Bigelow in The Towering Inferno (1974)
    * Brick Pollitt in Laurence Olivier Presents: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (with then wife Natalie Wood and Laurence Olivier)
    * Pete T. Ryan in Switch (1975–1978)
    * Kevin Harrison in The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979)
    * Jonathan Hart in Hart to Hart (1979–1984)
    * Mike Slade in Windmills of the Gods (1988)
    * Bill Krieger in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
    * Number Two in the Austin Powers movies (1997, 1999, 2002)
    * Tom Baxter in Wild Things (1998)
    * Digicron President in Fatal Error (1999)
    * Amos in Man of Faith (2005)
    * President James Garfield in Netherbeast Incorporated (2007)
    * Mr. Wilson in A Dennis the Menace Christmas (2007)

Other roles

    * Kenny Walsh in the episode "And God Created Vanity" in the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour (1963)
    * Flight Lieutenant/Major Phil Carrington in the BBC series Colditz (1972–1974)
    * Jack Gates in Delirious (1991) (uncredited)
    * Guest starred as Mickey's father in the Seinfeld episode "The Yada Yada" (1997)
    * Guest starred as Jack Fairfield in Hope & Faith (2003)
    * Guest starred in Hollywood Homicide (2003)
    * Alex Avery in the tv series Las Vegas episode Cash Springs Eternal (2006)
    * Guest starred as Teddy, the boyfriend of Alan's and Charlie's mother in Two and a Half Men (2007-2008)
    * Guest starred as Anthony DiNozzo Sr. in "NCIS" (2010)
http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx335/ClassicFilms/Actors/young_wagner.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff111/older1guy/robert_wagner_2484_3.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j187/quart_c/0764_01281.jpg

He is one of my wife's favorites.



My sister had the album. A few years ago, I purchased it on CD. As I was listening to it, I didn't realized that I basically knew the entire album. I guess my sister played it THAT MUCH when I was a kid.

Cat

It's one of those albums that always appears in the list of "Most popular 70s albums"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/10/10 at 1:52 pm



http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn44/smkukla/Laura%20Ingalls%20Wilder/The-Ingalls-Family-laura-ingalls-wi.jpg

Great beard!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 5:50 am

The word of the day...Phonograph
A phonograph is a record player
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/stalkerbynitee/phonograph.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k299/suitofrags/Phonograph.gif
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l139/jvmyka/phonograph.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z279/edceteraLJ/phonograph.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj57/zombiechik7/Birdcage%20Theater/Phonograph.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii151/cameramanlink/Phonograph.jpg
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/electriclotustattoo/09.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv84/datopalooza/nipper1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 5:54 am

The person who was born on this day...Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. His advanced work in these fields was an outgrowth of his early career as a telegraph operator. Edison originated the concept and implementation of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories – a crucial development in the modern industrialized world. His first power station was on Manhattan Island, New York.
Edison became a telegraph operator after he saved three-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being struck by a runaway train. Jimmie's father, station agent J.U. MacKenzie of Mount Clemens, Michigan, was so grateful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator. Edison's first telegraphy job away from Port Huron was at Stratford Junction, Ontario, on the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1866, at the age of 19, Thomas Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where, as an employee of Western Union, he worked the Associated Press bureau news wire. Edison requested the night shift, which allowed him plenty of time to spend at his two favorite pastimes—reading and experimenting. Eventually, the latter pre-occupation cost him his job. One night in 1867, he was working with a lead-acid battery when he spilled sulfuric acid onto the floor. It ran between the floorboards and onto his boss's desk below. The next morning Edison was fired.

One of his mentors during those early years was a fellow telegrapher and inventor named Franklin Leonard Pope, who allowed the impoverished youth to live and work in the basement of his Elizabeth, New Jersey home. Some of Edison's earliest inventions were related to telegraphy, including a stock ticker. His first patent was for the electric vote recorder, (U. S. Patent 90,646), which was granted on June 1, 1869.
Marriages and children
Mina Edison in 1906

On December 25, 1871, Edison married 16-year-old Mary Stilwell, whom he had met two months earlier as she was an employee at one of his shops. They had three children:

    * Marion Estelle Edison (1873–1965), nicknamed "Dot"
    * Thomas Alva Edison, Jr. (1876–1935), nicknamed "Dash"
    * William Leslie Edison (1878–1937) Inventor, graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, 1900.

Mary Edison died on August 9, 1884, possibly from a brain tumor.

On February 24, 1886, at the age of thirty nine, Edison married 20-year-old Mina Miller in Akron, Ohio. She was the daughter of inventor Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua Institution and a benefactor of Methodist charities. They also had three children:

    * Madeleine Edison (1888–1979), who married John Eyre Sloane.
    * Charles Edison (1890–1969), who took over the company upon his father's death and who later was elected Governor of New Jersey. He also took charge of his father's experimental laboratories in West Orange.
    * Theodore Edison (1898–1992), (MIT Physics 1923), had over 80 patents to his credit.

Mina outlived Thomas Edison, dying on August 24, 1947.
Beginning his career
Photograph of Edison with his phonograph, taken by Mathew Brady in 1877

Mary Had a Little Lamb
Play sound
Thomas Edison reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Thomas Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention which first gained him fame was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected by the public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," New Jersey, where he lived. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder and had poor sound quality. The tinfoil recordings could be replayed only a few times. In the 1880s, a redesigned model using wax-coated cardboard cylinders was produced by Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter. This was one reason that Thomas Edison continued work on his own "Perfected Phonograph."
Menlo Park (1876–1881)

Edison's major innovation was the first industrial research lab, which was built in Menlo Park, New Jersey. It was built with the funds from the sale of Edison's quadruplex telegraph. After his demonstration of the telegraph, Edison was not sure that his original plan to sell it for $4,000 to $5,000 was right, so he asked Western Union to make a bid. He was surprised to hear them offer $10,000, which he gratefully accepted. The quadruplex telegraph was Edison's first big financial success, and Menlo Park became the first institution set up with the specific purpose of producing constant technological innovation and improvement. Edison was legally attributed with most of the inventions produced there, though many employees carried out research and development work under his direction. His staff was generally told to carry out his directions in conducting research, and he drove them hard to produce results. The large research group included engineers and other workers.
Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, removed to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. (Note the organ against the back wall)

William J. Hammer, a consulting electrical engineer, began his duties as a laboratory assistant to Edison in December 1879. He assisted in experiments on the telephone, phonograph, electric railway, iron ore separator, electric lighting, and other developing inventions. However, Hammer worked primarily on the incandescent electric lamp and was put in charge of tests and records on that device. In 1880, he was appointed chief engineer of the Edison Lamp Works. In his first year, the plant under General Manager Francis Robbins Upton turned out 50,000 lamps. According to Edison, Hammer was "a pioneer of incandescent electric lighting".
Thomas Edison's first successful light bulb model, used in public demonstration at Menlo Park, December 1879

Nearly all of Edison's patents were utility patents, which were protected for a 17-year period and included inventions or processes that are electrical, mechanical, or chemical in nature. About a dozen were design patents, which protect an ornamental design for up to a 14-year period. As in most patents, the inventions he described were improvements over prior art. The phonograph patent, in contrast, was unprecedented as describing the first device to record and reproduce sounds. Edison did not invent the first electric light bulb, but instead invented the first commercially practical incandescent light. Several designs had already been developed by earlier inventors including the patent he allegedly purchased from Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans. Others who developed early and not commercially practical incandescent electric lamps included Humphry Davy, James Bowman Lindsay, Moses G. Farmer, William E. Sawyer, Joseph Swan and Heinrich Göbel. Some of these early bulbs had such flaws as an extremely short life, high expense to produce, and high electric current drawn, making them difficult to apply on a large scale commercially. In 1878, Edison applied the term filament to the element of glowing wire carrying the current, although the English inventor Joseph Swan had used the term prior to this. Swan developed an incandescent light with a long lasting filament at about the same time as Edison, but it lacked the high resistance needed for central station DC service. Edison took the features of these earlier designs and set his workers to the task of creating longer-lasting bulbs. By 1879, he had produced a new concept: a high resistance lamp in a very high vacuum, which would burn for hundreds of hours. While the earlier inventors had produced electric lighting in laboratory conditions, dating back to a demonstration of a glowing wire by Alessandro Volta in 1800, Edison concentrated on commercial application, and was able to sell the concept to homes and businesses by mass-producing relatively long-lasting light bulbs and creating a complete system for the generation and distribution of electricity.

In just over a decade Edison's Menlo Park laboratory had expanded to occupy two city blocks. Edison said he wanted the lab to have "a stock of almost every conceivable material". A newspaper article printed in 1887 reveals the seriousness of his claim, stating the lab contained "eight thousand kinds of chemicals, every kind of screw made, every size of needle, every kind of cord or wire, hair of humans, horses, hogs, cows, rabbits, goats, minx, camels ... silk in every texture, cocoons, various kinds of hoofs, shark's teeth, deer horns, tortoise shell ... cork, resin, varnish and oil, ostrich feathers, a peacock's tail, jet, amber, rubber, all ores ..." and the list goes on.

Over his desk, Edison displayed a placard with Sir Joshua Reynolds' famous quote: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." This slogan was reputedly posted at several other locations throughout the facility.

With Menlo Park, Edison had created the first industrial laboratory concerned with creating knowledge and then controlling its application.
Carbon telephone transmitter

In 1877–1878, Edison invented and developed the carbon microphone used in all telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s. After protracted patent litigation, in 1892 a federal court ruled that Edison—and not Emile Berliner—was the inventor of the carbon microphone. The carbon microphone was also used in radio broadcasting and public address work through the 1920s.
Electric light
Edison in 1878
Edison speech, 1920s.ogg
Play video
Video clip of Thomas Edison talking about the invention of the light bulb, late 1920s
Main article: Incandescent light bulb

After many experiments with platinum and other metal filaments, Edison returned to a carbon filament. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879; it lasted 40 hours. Edison continued to improve this design and by November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898 (granted on January 27, 1880) for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires". Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways", it was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours. The idea of using this particular raw material originated from Edison's recalling his examination of a few threads from a bamboo fishing pole while relaxing on the shore of Battle Lake in the present-day state of Wyoming, where he and other members of a scientific team had traveled so that they could clearly observe a total eclipse of the sun on July 29, 1878, from the Continental Divide.
U.S. Patent#223898: Electric-Lamp. Issued January 27, 1880.

Edison allegedly bought light bulb U.S. patent 181,613 of Henry Woodward that was issued August 29, 1876, and obtained an exclusive license to Woodward's Canadian patent. These patents covered a carbon rod in a nitrogen filled glass cylinder, and differed substantially from the first commercially practical bulb invented by Edison.

In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with several financiers, including J. P. Morgan and the members of the Vanderbilt family. Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park. It was during this time that he said: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."

George Westinghouse's company bought Philip Diehl's competing induction lamp patent rights (1882) for $25,000, forcing the holders of the Edison patent to charge a more reasonable rate for the use of the Edison patent rights and lowering the price of the electric lamp.

On October 8, 1883, the U.S. patent office ruled that Edison's patent was based on the work of William Sawyer and was therefore invalid. Litigation continued for nearly six years, until October 6, 1889, when a judge ruled that Edison's electric light improvement claim for "a filament of carbon of high resistance" was valid. To avoid a possible court battle with Joseph Swan, whose British patent had been awarded a year before Edison's, he and Swan formed a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain.

Mahen Theatre in Brno in what is now the Czech Republic, was the first public building in the world to use Edison's electric lamps, with the installation supervised by Edison's assistant in the invention of the lamp, Francis Jehl.
Electric power distribution

Edison patented a system for electricity distribution in 1880, which was essential to capitalize on the invention of the electric lamp. On December 17, 1880, Edison founded the Edison Illuminating Company. The company established the first investor-owned electric utility in 1882 on Pearl Street Station, New York City. It was on September 4, 1882, that Edison switched on his Pearl Street generating station's electrical power distribution system, which provided 110 volts direct current (DC) to 59 customers in lower Manhattan.

Earlier in the year, in January 1882 he had switched on the first steam generating power station at Holborn Viaduct in London. The DC supply system provided electricity supplies to street lamps and several private dwellings within a short distance of the station. On January 19, 1883, the first standardized incandescent electric lighting system employing overhead wires began service in Roselle, New Jersey. The key to Edison's fortunes was telegraphy. With knowledge gained from years of working as a telegraph operator, he learned the basics of electricity. This allowed him to make his early fortune with the stock ticker, the first electricity-based broadcast system. Edison patented the sound recording and reproducing phonograph in 1878. Edison was also granted a patent for the motion picture camera or "Kinetograph". He did the electromechanical design, while his employee W.K.L. Dickson, a photographer, worked on the photographic and optical development. Much of the credit for the invention belongs to Dickson. In 1891, Thomas Edison built a Kinetoscope, or peep-hole viewer. This device was installed in penny arcades, where people could watch short, simple films. The kinetograph and kinetoscope were both first publicly exhibited May 20, 1891.

On August 9, 1892, Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph. In April 1896, Thomas Armat's Vitascope, manufactured by the Edison factory and marketed in Edison's name, was used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City. Later he exhibited motion pictures with voice soundtrack on cylinder recordings, mechanically synchronized with the film.

Officially the kinetoscope entered Europe when the rich American Businessman Irving T. Bush (1869–1948) bought from the Continental Commerce Company of Franck Z. Maguire and Joseph D. Bachus a dozen machines. Bush placed from October 17, 1894, the first kinetoscopes in London. At the same time the French company Kinétoscope Edison Michel et Alexis Werner bought these machines for the market in France. In the last three months of 1894 The Continental Commerce Company sold hundreds of kinetoscopes in Europe (i.e. the Netherlands and Italy). In Germany and in Austria-Hungary the kinetoscope was introduced by the Deutsche-österreichische-Edison-Kinetoscop Gesellschaft, founded by the Ludwig Stollwerck of the Schokoladen-Süsswarenfabrik Stollwerck & Co of Cologne. The first kinetoscopes arrived in Belgium at the Fairs in early 1895. The Edison's Kinétoscope Français, a Belgian company, was founded in Brussels on January 15, 1895, with the rights to sell the kinetoscopes in Monaco, France and the French colonies. The main investors in this company were Belgian industrialists. On May 14, 1895, the Edison's Kinétoscope Belge was founded in Brussels. The businessman Ladislas-Victor Lewitzki, living in London but active in Belgium and France, took the initiative in starting this business. He had contacts with Leon Gaumont and the American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. In 1898 he also became a shareholder of the Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France.

In 1901, he visited the Sudbury area in Ontario, Canada, as a mining prospector, and is credited with the original discovery of the Falconbridge ore body. His attempts to actually mine the ore body were not successful, however, and he abandoned his mining claim in 1903. A street in Falconbridge, as well as the Edison Building, which served as the head office of Falconbridge Mines, are named for him.

In 1902, agents of Thomas Edison bribed a theater owner in London for a copy of A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès. Edison then made hundreds of copies and showed them in New York City. Méliès received no compensation. He was counting on taking the film to the US and recapture its huge cost by showing it throughout the country when he realized it had already been shown there by Edison. This effectively bankrupted Méliès. Other exhibitors similarly routinely copied and exhibited each others films. To better protect the copyrights on his films, Edison deposited prints of them on long strips of photographic paper with the U.S. copyright office. Many of these paper prints survived longer and in better condition than the actual films of that era.

Edison's favourite movie was The Birth of a Nation. He thought that talkies had "spoiled everything" for him. "There isn't any good acting on the screen. They concentrate on the voice now and have forgotten how to act. I can sense it more than you because I am deaf."

In 1908, Edison started the Motion Picture Patents Company, which was a conglomerate of nine major film studios (commonly known as the Edison Trust). Thomas Edison was the first honorary fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, which was founded in 1929.
Several places have been named after Edison, most notably the town of Edison, New Jersey. Thomas Edison State College, a nationally known college for adult learners, is in Trenton, New Jersey. Two community colleges are named for him: Edison State College in Fort Myers, Florida, and Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio. There are numerous high schools named after Edison; see Edison High School.

The City Hotel, in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, was the first building to be lit with Edison's three-wire system. The hotel was re-named The Hotel Edison, and retains that name today.

Three bridges around the United States have been named in his honor (see Edison Bridge).
Museums and memorials

In West Orange, New Jersey, the 13.5 acre (5.5 ha) Glenmont estate is maintained and operated by the National Park Service as the Edison National Historic Site. The Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum is in the town of Edison, New Jersey. In Beaumont, Texas, there is an Edison Museum, though Edison never visited there. The Port Huron Museum, in Port Huron, Michigan, restored the original depot that Thomas Edison worked out of as a young newsbutcher. The depot has been named the Thomas Edison Depot Museum. The town has many Edison historical landmarks, including the graves of Edison's parents, and a monument along the St. Clair River. Edison's influence can be seen throughout this city of 32,000. In Detroit, the Edison Memorial Fountain in Grand Circus Park was created to honor his achievements. The limestone fountain was dedicated October 21, 1929.
Companies bearing Edison's name

    * Edison General Electric, merged with Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric
    * Commonwealth Edison, now part of Exelon
    * Consolidated Edison
    * Edison International
          o Southern California Edison
          o Edison Mission Energy
          o Edison Capital
    * Detroit Edison, a unit of DTE Energy
    * Edison Sault Electric Company, a unit of Wisconsin Energy Corporation
    * FirstEnergy
          o Metropolitan Edison
          o Ohio Edison
          o Toledo Edison
    * Edison S.p.A., a unit of Italenergia
    * Boston Edison, a unit of NSTAR, formerly known as the Edison Electric Illuminating Company
    * WEEI radio station in Boston, established by the Edison Electric Illuminating Company (hence the call letters)

Awards named in honor of Edison

The Edison Medal was created on February 11, 1904, by a group of Edison's friends and associates. Four years later the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), later IEEE, entered into an agreement with the group to present the medal as its highest award. The first medal was presented in 1909 to Elihu Thomson and, in a twist of fate, was awarded to Nikola Tesla in 1917. It is the oldest award in the area of electrical and electronics engineering, and is presented annually "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering or the electrical arts."

In the Netherlands, the major music awards are named the Edison Award after him.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers concedes the Thomas A. Edison Patent Award to individual patents since 2000.
Honors and awards given to Edison

The President of the Third French Republic, Jules Grévy, on the recommendation of his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire and with the presentations of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs Louis Cochery, designated Edison with the distinction of an 'Officeer of the Legion of Honour' (Légion d'honneur) by decree on November 10, 1881;

Decree awarding Helmholtz, Bell, and Edison, the Legion of Honour
French Presidential Decree -Award of Legion of Honour to Helholtz, Bell and Edison -10 November 1881 Pg. 1.jpg

French Presidential Decree -Award of Legion of Honour to Helholtz, Bell and Edison -10 November 1881 Pg. 3.jpg

French Presidential Decree -Award of Legion of Honour to Helholtz, Bell and Edison -10 November 1881 Pg. 4.jpg

French Presidential Decree -Award of Legion of Honour to Helholtz, Bell and Edison -10 November 1881 Pg. 5.jpg

In 1983, the United States Congress, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 140 (Public Law 97—198), designated February 11, Edison's birthday, as National Inventor's Day.

In 1887, Edison won the Matteucci Medal. In 1890, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Edison was ranked thirty-fifth on Michael H. Hart's 1978 book The 100, a list of the most influential figures in history. Life magazine (USA), in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the "100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years", noting that the light bulb he promoted "lit up the world". In the 2005 television series The Greatest American, he was voted by viewers as the fifteenth-greatest.

In 2008, Edison was inducted in the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Other items named after Edison

The United States Navy named the USS Edison (DD-439), a Gleaves class destroyer, in his honor in 1940. The ship was decommissioned a few months after the end of World War II. In 1962, the Navy commissioned USS Thomas A. Edison (SSBN-610), a fleet ballistic missile nuclear-powered submarine. Decommissioned on December 1, 1983, Thomas A. Edison was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on April 30, 1986. She went through the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, Washington, beginning on October 1, 1996. When she finished the program on December 1, 1997, she ceased to exist as a complete ship and was listed as scrapped.
In popular culture
Main article: Thomas Edison in popular culture

Thomas Edison has appeared in popular culture as a character in novels, films, comics and video games. His prolific inventing helped make him an icon and he has made appearances in popular culture during his lifetime down to the present day. His history with Nikola Tesla has also provided dramatic tension and is a theme returned to numerous times.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f273/fadams76/thomas-edison.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4/lovetoohateyou/Thomas_Edison.jpg
http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/ab247/calccrazy1dx/Thomas_A_Edison.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 6:00 am

The person who died on this day...Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels. The Dune saga, set in the distant future and taking place over millennia, deals with themes such as human survival and evolution, ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics and power. Dune itself is the "best-selling science fiction novel of all time," and the series is widely considered to be among the classics in the genre.
n 1947 Frank Herbert sold his first science fiction story, "Looking for Something", to Startling Stories.

Frank Herbert did not graduate from college, according to his son Brian, because he wanted to study only what interested him and so did not complete the required courses. After leaving college he returned to journalism and worked at the Seattle Star and the Oregon Statesman; he was a writer and editor for the San Francisco Examiner's California Living magazine for a decade.

His career as a novelist began with the publication of The Dragon in the Sea in 1955, where he used the environment of a 21st century submarine as a means to explore sanity and madness. The book predicted worldwide conflicts over oil consumption and production. It was a critical success but not a major commercial one.
Florence, Oregon, with sand dunes that served as an inspiration for the Dune saga

Herbert began researching Dune in 1959 and was able to devote himself wholeheartedly to his writing career because his wife returned to work full time as an advertising writer for department stores, becoming the main breadwinner during the 1960s. Herbert later related in an interview with Willis E. McNeilly that the novel originated when he was supposed to do a magazine article on sand dunes in the Oregon Dunes near Florence, Oregon, but he became too involved in it and ended up with far more raw material than needed for a single article. The article, entitled "They Stopped the Moving Sands," was never written, but it did serve as the seed for the ideas that led to Dune.

Dune took six years of research and writing to complete. Far longer than commercial science fiction of the time was supposed to run, it was serialized in Analog magazine in two separate parts ("Dune World" and "Prophet of Dune"), in 1963 and 1965. It was then rejected by nearly twenty book publishers before finally being accepted. One editor prophetically wrote back "I might be making the mistake of the decade, but..." before rejecting the manuscript.

Chilton, a minor publishing house in Philadelphia known mainly for its auto-repair manuals, gave Herbert a $7,500 advance, and Dune was soon a critical success. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965 and shared the Hugo Award in 1966 with ...And Call Me Conrad by Roger Zelazny. Dune was the first major ecological science fiction novel, embracing a multitude of sweeping, inter-related themes and multiple character viewpoints, a method that ran through all Herbert's mature work.

The book was not an instant bestseller. By 1968 Herbert had made $20,000 from it, far more than most science fiction novels of the time were generating, but not enough to let him take up full-time writing. However, the publication of Dune did open doors for him. He was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's education writer from 1969 to 1972 and lecturer in general studies and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Washington (1970 – 1972). He worked in Vietnam and Pakistan as social and ecological consultant in 1972. In 1973 he was director-photographer of the television show The Tillers.

    A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating. You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, "Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write." There's no difference on paper between the two.

    – Frank Herbert

By 1972, Herbert retired from newspaper writing and became a full-time fiction writer. During the 1970s and 1980s, Herbert enjoyed considerable commercial success as an author. He divided his time between homes in Hawaii and Washington's Olympic Peninsula; his home on the peninsula was intended to be an "ecological demonstration project". During this time he wrote numerous books and pushed ecological and philosophical ideas. He continued his Dune saga, following it with Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune. Other highlights were The Dosadi Experiment, The Godmakers, The White Plague and the books he wrote in partnership with Bill Ransom: The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor which were sequels to Destination: Void.

Herbert's change in fortune was shadowed by tragedy. In 1974, Beverly underwent an operation for cancer. She lived ten more years, but her health was adversely impacted by the surgery. During this period, Herbert was the featured speaker at the Octocon II science fiction convention at the El Rancho Tropicana in Santa Rosa, California in October 1978. Beverly Herbert died on February 7, 1984, the same year that Heretics of Dune was published. In his afterword to 1985's Chapterhouse Dune, Frank Herbert wrote a moving eulogy for his wife of 38 years.

1984 was a tumultuous year in Herbert's life. During this same year of his wife's death, his career took off with the release of David Lynch's film version of Dune. Despite high expectations, a big-budget production design and an A-list cast, the movie drew mostly poor reviews in the United States. However, despite a disappointing response in the USA, the film was a critical and commercial success in Europe and Japan.

After Beverly's death, Herbert married Theresa Shackleford in 1985, the year he published Chapterhouse Dune, which tied up many of the saga's story threads (though ending with a cliffhanger intended to lead into his planned Dune 7). This would be Herbert's final single work (the anthology Eye was published that year, and Man of Two Worlds was published in 1986). He died of a massive pulmonary embolism while recovering from surgery for pancreatic cancer on February 11, 1986 in Madison, Wisconsin age 65.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f156/rjrunar/Frank_Herbert.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/anc7459/frank_herbert.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b136/whiteminority339/Frank_Herbert.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/11/10 at 7:05 am


The word of the day...Phonograph
A phonograph is a record player
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/stalkerbynitee/phonograph.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k299/suitofrags/Phonograph.gif
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l139/jvmyka/phonograph.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z279/edceteraLJ/phonograph.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj57/zombiechik7/Birdcage%20Theater/Phonograph.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii151/cameramanlink/Phonograph.jpg
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/electriclotustattoo/09.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv84/datopalooza/nipper1.jpg


Wow,how times have changed since the days of The Phonograph.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 9:20 am


Wow,how times have changed since the days of The Phonograph.  :o

That's for sure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/11/10 at 11:56 am


The word of the day...Phonograph
A phonograph is a record player
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv84/datopalooza/nipper1.jpg
The dog's name was Nipper!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/11/10 at 12:03 pm

British Person of the Day: Mary Quant

Mary Quant, OBE, FCSD (born 11 February 1934 in Blackheath, Kent, England) is a British fashion designer, one of the many designers who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants. Born to Welsh parents, Quant went to Blackheath High School then studied illustration at Goldsmiths College before taking a career with a couture milliner. She is also famed for her work on pop art in fashion.

Early career

In November 1955, she teamed up with her husband, Alexander Plunkett-Grene, and a former solicitor, Archie Mcnair, to open a clothes shop on the Kings Road in London called Bazaar. Bazaar's best sellers were small white plastic collars to brighten up black dresses or a black sweat shirt. Black stretch stockings were popular too.

Following the positive reaction to a pair of "mad house pyjamas" designed for the opening, and dissatisfied with the variety of clothes available to her, Quant decided to make her own range of clothing. Initially working solo, she was soon employing a handful of machinists, and by 1966 she was working with 18 different manufacturers concurrently.

She has one son, Orlando.

Miniskirt

Skirts had been getting shorter since about 1958 – a development Mary Quant considered to be practical and liberating, allowing women the ability to run for a bus. The miniskirt, for which she is arguably most famous, became one of the defining fashions of the 1960s. The miniskirt was developed separately by André Courrèges and John Bates, and there is disagreement as to who came up with the idea first. Like most fashion, the short- and ever-shorter skirt was evolving already among individual fashion-minded young women: The designers who adapted it just helped spread the style and, in Quant's case, gave it a name. Mary Quant named the miniskirt after her favorite make of car, the Mini; she loved this car so much, she had one designed especially for her.

In addition to the miniskirt, Mary Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although these are also attributed to Cristobal Balenciaga or John Bates.

Later career

In the late 1960s, Quant popularised hot pants. Through the 1970s and 1980s she concentrated on household goods and make-up, rather than just her clothing lines. At a talk at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2007 she claimed to have invented duvet covers.

In 1988, Quant designed the interior of the Mini (1000) Designer (Originally dubbed the Mini Quant, this name was switched when popularity charts were set against having Quant's name on the car). It featured black and white striped seats with red trimming. The seatbelts were red, and the driving and passenger seats had Quant's signature on the upper left quadrant. The steering wheel had Quant's signature daisy and the bonnet badge had "Mary Quant" written over the signature name. The headlight housings, wheel arches, door handles and bumpers were all nimbus grey, rather than the more common chrome or black finishes. 2000 were released in the UK on 15 June 1988, a number were also released on to foreign markets; however, the numbers for these are hard to come by. The special edition Mini came in two body colours, jet black and diamond white.

She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award.

In 2000, she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd., her cosmetics company, after a Japanese buy-out. There are over 200 Mary Quant Colour shops in Japan, where Quant fashions continue to enjoy more popularity.

http://succesdesign.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mary_quant.jpg

http://www.mookychick.co.uk/images/style/mary-quant-mini4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/11/10 at 2:53 pm


The dog's name was Nipper!


Why was he looking at a phonograph?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/11/10 at 2:59 pm


Why was he looking at a phonograph?
The dog is listening, not looking.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/11/10 at 3:03 pm


The dog is listening, not looking.


Oh I See.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/11/10 at 4:24 pm

This is in Albany, NY.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3579214816_deb066f260.jpg


My grandparents (both sets) lived in Albany and every time we went to visit them, we would always go by this building. I always loved seeing Little Nipper (only in this case it should have been BIG Nipper  :D ;D ;D ;D ) on top of the building.


BTW, this is NOT one of my photos.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/11/10 at 4:33 pm


This is in Albany, NY.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3579214816_deb066f260.jpg


My grandparents (both sets) lived in Albany and every time we went to visit them, we would always go by this building. I always loved seeing Little Nipper (only in this case it should have been BIG Nipper  :D ;D ;D ;D ) on top of the building.


BTW, this is NOT one of my photos.


Cat
I have never seen Nipper so big before.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/11/10 at 4:43 pm


I have never seen Nipper so big before.

I have been to Albany twice, but never noticed this.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 5:49 pm


British Person of the Day: Mary Quant

Mary Quant, OBE, FCSD (born 11 February 1934 in Blackheath, Kent, England) is a British fashion designer, one of the many designers who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants. Born to Welsh parents, Quant went to Blackheath High School then studied illustration at Goldsmiths College before taking a career with a couture milliner. She is also famed for her work on pop art in fashion.

Early career

In November 1955, she teamed up with her husband, Alexander Plunkett-Grene, and a former solicitor, Archie Mcnair, to open a clothes shop on the Kings Road in London called Bazaar. Bazaar's best sellers were small white plastic collars to brighten up black dresses or a black sweat shirt. Black stretch stockings were popular too.

Following the positive reaction to a pair of "mad house pyjamas" designed for the opening, and dissatisfied with the variety of clothes available to her, Quant decided to make her own range of clothing. Initially working solo, she was soon employing a handful of machinists, and by 1966 she was working with 18 different manufacturers concurrently.

She has one son, Orlando.

Miniskirt

Skirts had been getting shorter since about 1958 – a development Mary Quant considered to be practical and liberating, allowing women the ability to run for a bus. The miniskirt, for which she is arguably most famous, became one of the defining fashions of the 1960s. The miniskirt was developed separately by André Courrèges and John Bates, and there is disagreement as to who came up with the idea first. Like most fashion, the short- and ever-shorter skirt was evolving already among individual fashion-minded young women: The designers who adapted it just helped spread the style and, in Quant's case, gave it a name. Mary Quant named the miniskirt after her favorite make of car, the Mini; she loved this car so much, she had one designed especially for her.

In addition to the miniskirt, Mary Quant is often credited with inventing the coloured and patterned tights that tended to accompany the garment, although these are also attributed to Cristobal Balenciaga or John Bates.

Later career

In the late 1960s, Quant popularised hot pants. Through the 1970s and 1980s she concentrated on household goods and make-up, rather than just her clothing lines. At a talk at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2007 she claimed to have invented duvet covers.

In 1988, Quant designed the interior of the Mini (1000) Designer (Originally dubbed the Mini Quant, this name was switched when popularity charts were set against having Quant's name on the car). It featured black and white striped seats with red trimming. The seatbelts were red, and the driving and passenger seats had Quant's signature on the upper left quadrant. The steering wheel had Quant's signature daisy and the bonnet badge had "Mary Quant" written over the signature name. The headlight housings, wheel arches, door handles and bumpers were all nimbus grey, rather than the more common chrome or black finishes. 2000 were released in the UK on 15 June 1988, a number were also released on to foreign markets; however, the numbers for these are hard to come by. The special edition Mini came in two body colours, jet black and diamond white.

She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, and winner of the Minerva Medal, the Society's highest award.

In 2000, she resigned as director of Mary Quant Ltd., her cosmetics company, after a Japanese buy-out. There are over 200 Mary Quant Colour shops in Japan, where Quant fashions continue to enjoy more popularity.

http://succesdesign.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mary_quant.jpg

http://www.mookychick.co.uk/images/style/mary-quant-mini4.jpg

Nice bio Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 5:50 pm


This is in Albany, NY.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3579214816_deb066f260.jpg


My grandparents (both sets) lived in Albany and every time we went to visit them, we would always go by this building. I always loved seeing Little Nipper (only in this case it should have been BIG Nipper  :D ;D ;D ;D ) on top of the building.


BTW, this is NOT one of my photos.


Cat

Is he still there?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/11/10 at 5:57 pm


Is he still there?



I think so.


http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2008/06/25/big-nipper-little-nipper


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/10 at 9:29 pm



I think so.


http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2008/06/25/big-nipper-little-nipper


Cat

I hate to think what would happen if it fell.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/10 at 1:30 am


Is he still there?
If you go to Google Maps, type in "978 Broadway, Albany, NY, United States" and drag the orange man to the indicator, and turn the image around and look upwards, Nipper can be seen.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/10 at 5:12 am


If you go to Google Maps, type in "978 Broadway, Albany, NY, United States" and drag the orange man to the indicator, and turn the image around and look upwards, Nipper can be seen.

Thanks Phil. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/10 at 5:18 am

The word or phrase of the day...Ice Storm
An ice storm occurs when frozen rain or hail blankets a region. Not only do roads freeze, but also ice coats trees, bushes and power lines. Because of the weight of the ice, an ice storm can cause tremendous damage to an area, pulling down trees and power lines. A few past ice storms have caused farmers to lose entire crops or power to be lost for many days.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii49/daleah/IceFrontDrive.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Bozgan/IMG_1838.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2019.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2023.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2029.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2030.jpg
http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/peggyvboone/icestorm1-26-09002.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/krummerm/Ice%20Storms/DSCN5473.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/10 at 5:23 am

The person born on this day...Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci (born February 12, 1980) is an American actress. Ricci received worldwide attention and praise for her performances in films such as The Addams Family (1991), its sequel Addams Family Values (1993), as Wednesday Addams, Casper (1995), The Ice Storm (1997), The Opposite of Sex (1998), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Monster (2003). She recently appeared in the films Black Snake Moan (2007), Penelope, Speed Racer (2008) and New York, I Love You (2009).
A critic for the Bergen Record discovered Ricci at age eight in a school play (The Twelve Days of Christmas) at Edgemont School in Montclair, New Jersey. The critic's son was originally cast in the role, but Ricci got him to hit her and told on him; he lost the role to her as part of his punishment. After this, she became involved in the movie business. She did several commercials starting at the age of six, until she finally got her big screen debut in Mermaids in 1990 as Cher's younger daughter. The young actress made enough of an impression to land more work; later she appeared in the video of the film's soundtrack "The Shoop Shoop Song". The following year, she starred as the morbidly precocious Wednesday Addams in the film adaptation of The Addams Family. The role would help to establish Ricci as an actress known for playing dark, unconventional characters – she went on to play Wednesday again in the film's 1993 sequel, Addams Family Values, which became another box office draw, and more screen time was provided for Ricci's performance as Wednesday.

After this, her popularity increased dramatically, and she became in high demand by the mid-1990s. Her next project, Casper, received mixed critical reviews, but was a major success at the box office, being the year's seventh highest grossing film. After Casper, she starred in Now and Then, a coming-of-age film about four 12-year-old girls and their friendship during the 1970s to the 1990s. Now and Then was another box office success, and received favourable comparisons to Stand by Me, being called "the female version" of the film, and Ricci was becoming a top box office draw. She also starred in a handful of other films with teenage roles such as Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain and That Darn Cat.
Career Breakthrough (1998–2005)

In 1997, Ricci began to appear in more adult roles, beginning with her role as the troubled, sexually curious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee's critically acclaimed The Ice Storm. Ricci subsequently appeared in films like the independent hit Buffalo '66 (in which she played Vincent Gallo's unwitting abductee-turned-girlfriend), John Waters' Pecker, and Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex (as the acid-tongued, manipulative Dede). For her performance as Dede, Ricci won acclaim and was nominated for a Golden Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival's 1998 "It" Girl. Although she missed out on an Academy Award nomination, Entertainment Weekly honored her well-received performance as one of the "Worst Oscar Snubs Ever".

Later films included Sleepy Hollow (alongside Johnny Depp), and Prozac Nation (which featured her first on-screen nude scene). She starred opposite Charlize Theron in the film Monster. During Theron's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, she acknowledged Ricci, calling her the "unsung hero" of the film. Ricci had to turn down the role of Ronna in Go because of scheduling conflicts; the role eventually went to Sarah Polley. Ricci was turned down four times for the role of Dolores Haze in Lolita, and the role eventually went to Dominique Swain. Ricci was originally slated to play the lead in Ghost World (2001), but by the time it was filmed she was too old for the part and had moved on to other projects. Thora Birch (Ricci's co-star in Now And Then) took over the role. Ricci also turned down a role in Loser. Ricci made a cameo appearance on Beck's successful album Guero, providing vocals on "Hell Yes".
Ricci at the Gramercy Park Hotel, 2007

In February 2006, Ricci made a guest appearance as a paramedic in the ABC drama Grey's Anatomy, for which she was nominated for an Emmy award. She was a guest star for seven episodes in the last season of Ally McBeal in 2002 as Debbie 'Liza' Bump, a lawyer who works at Cage & Fish and marries Richard Fish in the last episode. It was initially hoped that Ricci and several other noted guest star appearances would boost Ally McBeal's then declining ratings.

On December 4, 1999, she appeared as the guest host on Saturday Night Live. She performed parodies of Britney Spears and the Olsen Twins. During one of her skits, she accidentally punched actress Ana Gasteyer in the face. The skit was a parody of the Sally Jessy Raphael show, in which she played a 13-year-old runaway who sleeps with dogs, and required her to fake-punch Gasteyer, but accidentally ended up really hitting Gasteyer in the eye. Although Ricci initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she quickly fell back into character.
International success (2006–present)

In 2006, Ricci stated that she feels that at 5 ft 1 in (155 cm) she is "too short" to ever be an A-list actress, saying she tends "to look really small on camera". She has also said that she believes that she does not have much control over her career, specifying that she still has to audition for film parts. Her 2007 film, Black Snake Moan received mixed reviews, with rottentomatoes.com tallying an overall score of 66 percent. On the television program Ebert & Roeper, filmmaker Kevin Smith, filling in for Roger Ebert, described the film as the best of the year thus far and called it Ricci's best performance. Richard Roeper also gave the film a "thumb up" rating. The film earned $4 million, putting it in eighth place for the highest earnings in its opening weekend. For her role in Black Snake Moan, Ricci was required to lose several pounds and wore a forty-pound (18 kg) chain during filming. Apart from having to lose weight, Ricci ate only food items without any nutritional value to achieve her unhealthy appearance. Ricci has starred in Penelope, alongside Reese Witherspoon, a modern day fairytale, and in 2008, she played the female lead in The Wachowski Brothers' feature film adaptation of Speed Racer.

Ricci is currently filming the psychological thriller After.Life in New York with Liam Neeson and Justin Long, and has signed on for three episodes of TNT's crime drama Saving Grace, which recently began its second season. Ricci will play a young detective who temporarily partners with Grace, played by Holly Hunter.
Personal life

Ricci owns her own production company, Blaspheme Films, responsible for Prozac Nation and Pumpkin. Ricci told a magazine in a 2005 interview that she is a Christian. She is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned Parenthood. She will also be appearing in national ads for emergency contraception. She supported John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004. Ricci maintains a close friendship with former child star and actress Gaby Hoffmann, with whom she starred in Now and Then and 200 Cigarettes. She is also a friend of Black Snake Moan co-star Samuel L. Jackson.

After making the top of PETA's worst-dressed list and receiving a letter from the animal rights group, Ricci decided to give up wearing fur. Ricci also owns two dogs (The Sheriff Steve Goldburg and Buzz Goldicci).

In 2004, Ricci appeared as the first model in the Spring/ Summer 2005 Louis Vuitton show, and also appeared in advertisements for the popular French fashion house that year.

In April 2007, Ricci became the national spokesperson for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network for the United States, which assists victims of these crimes and promotes programs that help prevent them from occurring. She cited some of her research in Black Snake Moan role as educational on the importance of the issues that RAINN deals with.

She has cited Pulp Fiction, Lord of the Rings, Gangs of New York, and My Own Private Idaho as her favorite films. She drives a Porsche Boxster. Her favorite musicians are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, The Ramones, R.E.M., The White Stripes, Weezer, and Pixies.

Ricci also has many tattoos: a lion on her right shoulder blade (a reference to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a favorite novel of hers as a child), a fairy on the inside of her right wrist, praying hands on her left hip (this tattoo was originally a bat), a bouquet of sweetpeas on her lower back, the words "Move or Bleed" on the left side of her ribcage, the name "Jack" on her right thigh for a dead pet, a sparrow on her right breast, and a mermaid on her left ankle.

She was briefly engaged to fellow actor Owen Benjamin.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Mermaids Kate Flax Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture
1991 The Hard Way Bonnie
The Addams Family Wednesday Addams Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress – Motion Picture
1993 The Cemetery Club Jessica
Addams Family Values Wednesday Addams
1995 Casper Kathleen 'Kat' Harvey Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress – Feature Film or Video
Now and Then Young Roberta Martin Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Cast – Feature film or Video
Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Beth Easton
1996 Bastard Out of Carolina Dee Dee
The Last of the High Kings Erin Also known as Summer Fling
1997 Little Red Riding Hood Little Red Riding Hood
That Darn Cat Patti Randall Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress – Feature Film or Video
The Ice Storm Wendy Hood Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress – Feature Film or Video
1998 Souvenir Young Orlando (voice)
Buffalo '66 Layla Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress also for The Opposite of Sex and Pecker
Seattle International Film Festival – Golden Space Needle Award – Best Actress also for The Opposite of Sex
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Lucy
The Opposite of Sex Dede Truitt Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress also for Buffalo '66 and Pecker
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Seattle International Film Festival – Golden Space Needle Award – Best Actress also for Buffalo '66
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Small Soldiers Gwendy Doll (voice)
Pecker Shelley Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress also for The Opposite of Sex and Buffalo '66
Desert Blue Ely Jackson
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died Teenage Hooker
1999 200 Cigarettes Val
No Vacancy Lillian
Sleepy Hollow Katrina Van Tassel Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress
Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress – Feature Film or Video
2000 Bless the Child Cheri Post Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress
The Man Who Cried Suzie Character born "Fegele Abramovich"
2001 All Over the Guy Rayna Wyckoff
Prozac Nation Elizabeth Wurtzel
2002 The Gathering Cassie Grant
The Laramie Project Romaine Patterson
Pumpkin Carolyn McDuffy Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress
Miranda Miranda (Alice)
2003 Monster Selby Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Charlize Theron
Anything Else Amanda
2005 Cursed Ellie
2006 Home of the Brave Sarah Schivino
2007 Black Snake Moan Rae
2008 Penelope Penelope Wilhern
Speed Racer Trixie Fontaine Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress
2009 New York, I Love You Camille
After.Life Anna
All's Faire in Love Kate
Television series
Year Film Role Notes
1990 H.E.L.P. Olivia 1 episode
1996 The Simpsons Erin 1 episode
voice
2002 Ally McBeal Liza Bump 7 episodes
Malcolm in the Middle Kelly 1 episode
2005 Joey Mary Teresa 1 episode
2006 Grey's Anatomy Hannah Davies 2 episodes

Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
2009 Saving Grace Offcr. Abby Charles 3 episodes
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d159/adarr33/christina-ricci_2.png
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f164/tomlarkin/christina-ricci-picture-4.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o114/Tejada_bucket/christina_ricci.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/10 at 5:31 am

The person who died on this day...Charles Schulz
Charles Monroe Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist best known worldwide for his Peanuts comic strip. Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post; the first of seventeen single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.

Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he also contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God (Anderson).

Charlie Brown, the principal character for Peanuts, was named after a co-worker at the Art Instruction Schools; Schulz drew much more inspiration from his own life:

    * Like Charlie Brown's parents, Schulz's father was a barber and his mother a housewife.
    * Schulz and Charlie Brown were shy and withdrawn.
    * Schulz had a dog when he was a boy, although unlike Snoopy the beagle, it was a pointer.
    * References to Snoopy's brother Spike living outside of Needles, California were likely influenced by the few years (1928–1930) that the Schulz family lived there; they had moved to Needles to join other family members who had relocated from Minnesota to tend to an ill cousin.
    * Schulz's "Little Red-Haired Girl" was Donna Johnson, an Art Instruction Schools accountant with whom he fell in love. Schulz was planning to propose to her, but before he got an opportunity to do so, she agreed to marry another man.
    * Linus and Shermy were both named for good friends of his (Linus Maurer and Sherman Plepler, respectively).
    * Peppermint Patty was inspired by Patricia Swanson, one of his cousins on his mother's side.

In 1951, Schulz moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The same year, Schulz married Joyce Halverson. His son, Monte, was born at this time, with their three further children being born later, in Minnesota. He painted a wall in that home for his adopted daughter Meredith, featuring Patty, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. The wall was removed in 2001 and donated to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California.

Schulz's family returned to Minneapolis and stayed until 1958. They then moved to Sebastopol, California, where Schulz built his first studio. It was here that Schulz was interviewed for the unaired television documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown. (Some of the footage was eventually used in a later documentary titled Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz. The original documentary is available on DVD from the Charles M. Schulz Museum.)

Schulz's father died while visiting him in 1966, the same year his Sebastopol studio burned down. By 1969, Schulz had moved to Santa Rosa, California, where he lived and worked until his death.
Charles Schulz Highland Arena on Snelling Avenue and Ford Parkway in St. Paul, MN.

Schulz had a long association with ice sports, and both figure skating and ice hockey featured prominently in his cartoons. In Santa Rosa, he was the owner of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena, which opened in 1969 and featured a snack bar called "The Warm Puppy". Schulz's daughter Amy served as a model for the figure skating in the 1980 television special She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. Schulz also was very active in senior ice-hockey tournaments; in 1975, he formed Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament at his Redwood Empire Ice Arena, and in 1981, Schulz was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to the sport of hockey in the United States. In 1998, he hosted the first-ever Over 75 Hockey Tournament. In 2001, Saint Paul renamed The Highland Park Ice Arena the "Charles Schulz Arena" in his honor.

Although Schulz authorized a biography, Rheta Grimsley Johnson's Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz during his lifetime, the first full-scale biography since his death, Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, by David Michaelis, was released in October 2007. The book has been heavily criticized by the Schulz family, with son Monte stating it has "a number of factual errors throughout... factual errors of interpretation" and extensively documenting these errors in a number of essays; for his part, Michaelis maintains that there is "no question" his work is accurate. Although artist Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin & Hobbes) feels that the biography does justice to Schulz's legacy, while giving insight into the emotional impetus of the creation of the strips, cartoonist and critic R.C. Harvey regards the book as falling short both in describing Schulz as a cartoonist and in fulfilling Michaelis' stated aim of "understanding how Charles Schulz knew the world", feeling the biography bends the facts to a thesis rather than evoking a thesis from the facts. A review of Michaelis' biography by Dan Shanahan in the American Book Review (vol 29, no. 6) faults the biography not for factual errors, but for "a predisposition" to finding problems in Schulz's life to explain his art, regardless of how little the material lends itself to Michaelis' interpretations. Shanahan cites, in particular, such things as Michaelis' crude characterizations of Schulz's mother's family, and "an almost voyeuristic quality" to the hundred pages devoted to the breakup of Schulz's first marriage.

In light of David Michaelis' biography and the controversy surrounding his interpretation of the personality that was Charles Schulz, responses from his family reveal some intimate knowledge about the Schulz's persona beyond that of mere artist.
Death
Charles Schulz's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999. This was difficult for Schulz, and he was quoted as saying to Al Roker on The Today Show, "I never dreamed that this would happen to me. I always had the feeling that I would stay with the strip until I was in my early eighties, or something like that. But all of sudden it's gone. I did not take it away. This has been taken away from me."

Schulz died in Santa Rosa of complications from colon cancer at 9:45 p.m. on February 12, 2000. He was buried in Sebastopol's Pleasant Hills Cemetery.

The last original strip ran the day after his death. In it, a statement was included from Schulz that his family wished for the strip to end when he was no longer able to produce it. Schulz had previously predicted that the strip would outlive him, with his reason being that comic strips are usually drawn weeks before their publication. As part of his will, Schulz had requested that the Peanuts characters remain as authentic as possible and that no new comic strips based on them be drawn. United Features has legal ownership of the strip, but his wishes have been honored, although reruns of the strip are still being syndicated to newspapers. New television specials have also been produced since Schulz's death, but the stories are based on previous strips.

Schulz had been asked if, for his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick that football after so many decades. His response: "Oh, no! Definitely not! I couldn't have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century." Yet, in a December 1999 interview, holding back tears, he recounted the moment when he signed the panel of his final strip, saying, “All of a sudden I thought, 'You know, that poor, poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick — he never had a chance to kick the football.'”

He was honored on May 27, 2000, by cartoonists of 42 comic strips paying homage to him and Peanuts.
Awards
Schulz's Congressional Gold Medal

Schulz received the National Cartoonist Society Humor Comic Strip Award in 1962 for Peanuts, the Society's Elzie Segar Award in 1980, their Reuben Award for 1955 and 1964, and their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was also a hockey fan; in 1981, Schulz was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the United States, and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. On June 28, 1996, Schulz was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, adjacent to Walt Disney's. A replica of this star appears outside his former studio in Santa Rosa. Schulz is a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America, for his service to American youth.

On January 1, 1974, Schulz served as the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

On February 10, 2000, Congressman Mike Thompson introduced H.R. 3642, a bill to award Schulz the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor the United States legislature can bestow. The bill passed the House (410-1)(with only Ron Paul voting no and 24 not voting) on February 15, and the bill was sent to the Senate where it passed unanimously on May 2. The Senate also considered a bill S.2060 (introduced by Diane Feinstein). President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on June 20. On June 7, 2001, Schulz's widow Jean accepted the award on behalf of her late husband in a public ceremony.

Schulz was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2007.
Legacy

When the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota first opened, the Amusement Park in the center of the Mall was themed around Schulz' "Peanuts" characters, until the Mall lost the rights to use the branding in 2006.

In 2000, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors rechristened the Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport in his honor. The airport's logo features Snoopy in goggles and scarf, taking to the skies on top of his red doghouse.
The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center

The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa opened on August 17, 2002, two blocks away from his former studio and celebrates his life's work and art of cartooning. A bronze statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy stands in Depot Park in downtown Santa Rosa.
The Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center

The Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center at Sonoma State University is one of the largest libraries in the CSU system and the state of California with a 400,000 volume general collection and with a 750,000 volume automated retrieval system capacity. The $41.5 million building was named after Schulz and his wife donated $5 million needed to build and furnish the structure. The library opened in 2000 and now stands as one of the largest buildings in the university.

Peanuts on Parade has been Saint Paul, Minnesota’s tribute to its favorite native cartoonist. It began in 2000 with the placing of 101 five-foot tall statues of Snoopy throughout the city of Saint Paul. Every summer for the next 4 years statues of a different Peanuts character were placed on the sidewalks of Saint Paul. In 2001 there was Charlie Brown Around Town, 2002 brought Looking for Lucy, then in 2003 along came Linus Blankets Saint Paul, ending in 2004 with Snoopy lying on his doghouse. The statues were auctioned off at the end of each summer, so some remain around the city but others have been relocated. The auction proceeds were used for artists' scholarships and for permanent, bronze statues of the Peanuts characters. These bronze statues are in Landmark Plaza and Rice Park in downtown Saint Paul.

In 2006 Forbes ranked Schulz as the third highest-earning deceased celebrity, having earned $35 million in the previous year. According to Tod Benoit in his book Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die?, Charles M. Schulz's income during his lifetime totaled more than $1.1 billion.
Religion

Schulz touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side.

Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God (Anderson) as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church.

From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist":
“ I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.

In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts.
Influences

The Charles M. Schulz Museum counts Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates) and Bill Mauldin as key influences on Schulz's work. In his own strip, Schulz paid an annual Veterans Day tribute to Mauldin's World War II cartoons.

Critics have also credited George Herriman (Krazy Kat), Roy Crane (Wash Tubbs), Elzie C. Segar (Thimble Theater) and Percy Crosby (Skippy) among Schulz's influences. However,
“ It would be impossible to narrow down three or two or even one direct influence on personal drawing style. The uniqueness of Peanuts has set it apart for years... That one-of-kind quality permeates every aspect of the strip and very clearly extends to the drawing. It is purely his with no clear forerunners and no subsequent pretenders.
— Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, p. 68
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/jadephoenix435/CharlesMSchulz2.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/haisojssj4/heroes%20and%20fighters/Charles_Schulz_congressiona.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j147/melbabs123/DSCF0028.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/12/10 at 5:40 am


The word or phrase of the day...Ice Storm
An ice storm occurs when frozen rain or hail blankets a region. Not only do roads freeze, but also ice coats trees, bushes and power lines. Because of the weight of the ice, an ice storm can cause tremendous damage to an area, pulling down trees and power lines. A few past ice storms have caused farmers to lose entire crops or power to be lost for many days.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii49/daleah/IceFrontDrive.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Bozgan/IMG_1838.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2019.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2023.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2029.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2030.jpg
http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/peggyvboone/icestorm1-26-09002.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/krummerm/Ice%20Storms/DSCN5473.jpg


Wow,reminds me of winter.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/10 at 5:48 am


Thanks Phil. :)
Have you seen Nipper yet?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/10 at 6:44 am

British Person of the day: Thomas Campion

Thomas Campion, (sometimes Campian) (12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet and physician.

Biography

Campion was born in London and studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, but left without taking a degree. He later entered Gray's Inn to study law in 1586. However, he left in 1595 without having been called to the bar. On 10 February 1605 he received his medical degree from the University of Caen.

Campion was first published as a poet in 1591 with five of his works appearing in an edition of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella. The Songs of Mourning: Bewailing the Untimely Death of Prince Henry (1613), were set to music by John Cooper. He also wrote a number of other poems as well as a book on poetry, Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602), in which he criticises the practice of rhyming in poetry.

Campion wrote over one hundred lute songs in the Books of Airs, with the first collection (co-written with Philip Rosseter) appearing in 1601 and four more following throughout the 1610s. He also wrote a number of masques, including Lord Hay's Masque performed in 1607, along with Somerset Masque and The Lord's Masque which premiered in 1613. Some of Campion's works were quite ribald on the other hand, such as "Beauty, since you so much desire" (see media). In 1615 he published a book on counterpoint, A New Way of Making Fowre Parts in Counterpoint By a Most Familiar and Infallible Rule, which was regarded highly enough to be reprinted in 1660.

He was implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, but was eventually exonerated, as it was found that he had delivered a bribe unwittingly.

Campion died in London, possibly of the plague.

Early dictionary writers, such as Fétis saw Campion as a theorist. It was much later on that people began to see him as a composer.

He was the writer of a poem, Cherry Ripe, which is not the later famous poem of that title but has several similarities.

http://chawedrosin.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/thomas_campion.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/10 at 6:57 am


Have you seen Nipper yet?

Yeah i just looked it up, maybe someday I'll see him in person.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/12/10 at 8:32 am

Nice bios, Ninny and Philip. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/10 at 8:54 am


The word or phrase of the day...Ice Storm
An ice storm occurs when frozen rain or hail blankets a region. Not only do roads freeze, but also ice coats trees, bushes and power lines. Because of the weight of the ice, an ice storm can cause tremendous damage to an area, pulling down trees and power lines. A few past ice storms have caused farmers to lose entire crops or power to be lost for many days.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii49/daleah/IceFrontDrive.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Bozgan/IMG_1838.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2019.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2023.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2029.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb282/mystang05-photo/m_icestormpart2030.jpg
http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/peggyvboone/icestorm1-26-09002.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n15/krummerm/Ice%20Storms/DSCN5473.jpg
You have made me feel cold again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/10 at 10:40 pm


You have made me feel cold again.

We've had cold weather here but not the snow that lot of people saw.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/10 at 12:24 am


We've had cold weather here but not the snow that lot of people saw.
Other parts of the UK has snow, but is still cold in London.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 6:00 am

The word of the day...Vertigo
If you get vertigo when you look down from a high place, you feel unsteady and sick.
dizziness: a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
Vertigo (from the Latin vertigin-, vertigo, "dizziness," originally "a whirling or spinning movement," from '''' "I turn" ) is a specific type of dizziness, a major symptom of a balance disorder.
http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu97/westcoastgardener/Arizona%202010/GC16.jpg
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af264/LetariusFury/Warwolf/038.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy141/komandermaut/Vertigo.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g299/themae_fire/vertigo.jpg
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii365/theCYCLEman/vertigo.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u203/baja_dean/vertigo.gif
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gtothes/vertigo.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll8/umbrielthouart/vertigo.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 6:02 am

The person born on this day...Kim Novak
Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning American actress. She is best known for her performance in the classic 1958 film Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and is now an accomplished artist. She currently lives on a ranch in Eagle Point, Oregon, with her veterinarian husband. The 21-year-old Marilyn Novak struck a pose on a stairway for the RKO 3-D motion picture The French Line (1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. Novak received no screen credit. Eventually, she was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and filmed a screen test. Studio chief Harry Cohn was searching for another beauty to replace the rebellious and difficult Rita Hayworth. Novak was signed to a six-month contract. Paramount Pictures had an arrangement whereby budding actresses resided at a "ladies' residence", similar to a sorority, where their personal lives were under supervision.

Columbia decided to make the blonde, buxom actress its version of Marilyn Monroe. Immediately, there was the issue of what to do about her name. Neither Novak nor Columbia wanted to be seen as cashing in on Marilyn Monroe's enormous popularity, so Novak's real first name had to go. She resisted changing it to Kit Marlowe. She and the studio finally settled on the stage name Kim Novak. Cohn told her to lose weight, and he won the battle to make her wear brassieres. She took acting lessons, which she had to pay for herself.

Novak debuted as Lona McLane in Pushover (1954) opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey. Though her role was not the best, her beauty caught the attention of fans and critics alike. She then played the femme fatale role as Janis in Phffft! (1954) opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's reviews were good. People were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail.

After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (1955) opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress. She played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), on loan to United Artists, with Frank Sinatra. The movie was a big hit. She worked with Sinatra again for Pal Joey (1957), which also starred Rita Hayworth. She also starred in Jeanne Eagels (1957) with Jeff Chandler. Her popularity became such that she made the cover of the July 29, 1957 issue of Time Magazine. That same year, she went on strike, protesting at her salary of $1,250 per week.
Kim Novak in Vertigo

In 1958, Novak starred in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed classic thriller Vertigo with James Stewart. Today, the film is considered a masterpiece of romantic suspense, though Novak's performance has a mixed reputation. Critic David Shipman thought it "little more than competent", while David Thomson sees it as "one of the major female performances in the cinema". Hitchcock, rarely one to praise actors, dismissed Novak in a later interview. "You think you're getting a lot," he said of her ability, "but you're not."

Following Vertigo, she reunited with Stewart and Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle (1958), a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not do well at the box office. In 1960, she co-starred with Kirk Douglas in the critically acclaimed Strangers When We Meet also featuring Walter Matthau and Ernie Kovacs.

In 1962, Novak took the leap of producing her own movie, financing her own production company in association with Filmways Productions. Boys' Night Out, in which she starred with James Garner and Tony Randall, marked a turning point in her career when it was not received well either by critics or the public. She continued to act, but took fewer roles as she began to prefer personal activities over acting. She refused to accept many of the sexpot roles she was being offered. She also turned down several strong dramatic roles including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Hustler, Days of Wine and Roses, and The Sandpiper.

Novak was paired with Lemmon for a third and final time in a mystery-comedy, The Notorious Landlady (1962). She played the vulgar waitress Mildred Rogers in a remake of W. Somerset Maugham's drama Of Human Bondage (1964) opposite Laurence Harvey. She starred in Billy Wilder's cult classic Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with Ray Walston and Dean Martin, a film critically panned at the time which has since gained a strong following. After playing the title role in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) with Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, Novak took a break, seeing as little of Hollywood as possible.

Her comeback came in a dual role as a young actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in producer-director Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) with Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine for MGM. It failed miserably. After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in The Great Bank Robbery (1969) opposite Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, and Claude Akins, she stayed away from the screen for four years. She then played the key role of Auriol Pageant in the horror anthology film Tales That Witness Madness (1973). She starred as veteran showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The Third Girl From the Left (1973) with Tony Curtis and played Eve in Satan's Triangle (1975).

In 1979, she played Helga in Just a Gigolo starring David Bowie and then Lola Brewster in an Agatha Christie mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd (1980) with Angela Lansbury, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. She and Taylor portrayed rival actresses. She made occasional television appearances over the years. She co-starred with James Coburn in the TV-movie Malibu (1983) and played Rosa in a revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). From 1986 to 1987, the actress was a cast member of the television series Falcon Crest during the its fourth season in the role of Kit Marlowe (the stage name rejected at the start of her career).

Her most recent appearance on the big screen to date came as a terminally ill writer in the mystery/thriller Liebestraum (1991) for MGM. However, due to battles with the director over how to play the role, her scenes were cut. In a rare interview with Stephen Rebello in the July 2005 issue of Movieline's Hollywood Life, Novak admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her conduct with director Mike Figgis. Since that time, she has turned down many other offers to appear in film and TV.

Novak has not ruled out further acting. In an interview in 2007, she said that she would consider returning to the screen "if the right thing came along."
Honors

For her contribution to motion pictures, Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1995, Novak was ranked 92nd by Empire Magazine on a list of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In 1955 she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer-Female; in 1957 she won another Golden Globe — for World Favorite female actress. In 1997 Kim won an Honorary Berlin Golden Bear Award. In 2002 a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Novak by Eastman Kodak.

New York rock band The Velvet Underground had a song about Kim Novak on their album Loaded, called "New Age".

British designer Alexander McQueen named his first 'It bag', the Novak, after her in 2005.
Personal life

Novak has been married to veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy since March 12, 1976. The couple resides on a ranch where they raise horses and llamas. Novak has two stepchildren.
publicity photo of Novak in 1962

For barely a year, Novak was previously married to English actor Richard Johnson from March 15, 1965 to April 23, 1966. Despite their divorce, the two have remained friends. Novak also dated Sammy Davis, Jr in the late 1950s. She was engaged to director Richard Quine although they never married, according to critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Her home in Eagle Point, Oregon was partially destroyed in a fire on July 24, 2000. A computer containing the only existing draft of her unfinished autobiography was also lost to the fire. "I take it personally as a sign that maybe I’m not supposed to write my biography; maybe the past is supposed to stay buried," Novak said. Among Novak's lost mementos were scripts of some of her most critically acclaimed movies, including Vertigo and Picnic, as well as several paintings. "It made me realize then what was really valuable," she said. "That’s the day I wrote a gratitude list. We’re safe and our animals are safe."

In 2006, Novak was injured in a horseback riding accident. She suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs and nerve damage, but made a full recovery within a year.

Novak is an accomplished artist who expresses herself in watercolor and oil paintings, sculpture, stained glass design and photography. She also writes poetry.
Filmography

    * The French Line (1954) (uncredited)
    * Pushover (1954)
    * Phffft! (1954)
    * Son of Sinbad (1955) (uncredited)
    * 5 Against the House (1955)
    * Picnic (1955)
    * The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
    * The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
    * Jeanne Eagels (1957)
    * Pal Joey (1957)
    * Vertigo (1958)
    * Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
    * Middle of the Night (1959)
    * Strangers When We Meet (1960)
    * Pepe (1960) (cameo)
    * The Notorious Landlady (1962)
    * Boys' Night Out (1962)



    * Showman (1963) (documentary)
    * Of Human Bondage (1964)
    * Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    * The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)
    * The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)
    * The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
    * Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
    * The Third Girl from the Left (1973)
    * Satan's Triangle (1975)
    * The White Buffalo (1977)
    * Just a Gigolo (1979)
    * The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
    * Malibu (1983)
    * Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985)
    * Falcon Crest (14 episodes; 1986-87)
    * I Have Been Very Pleased (1987) (short subject)
    * The Children (1990)
    * Liebestraum (1991)
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss284/Mirna27/Decorated%20images/kim_novak_01.jpg
http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr201/GeorgiaGirl_51/kim_novak_gallery_1.jpg
http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo314/ilovedorisday/KimNovak6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 6:05 am

The person who died on this day...David Janssen
David Janssen (March 27, 1931 – February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive (1963–1967).
Janssen appeared in many television series before he landed programs of his own. In 1956, he and Peter Breck appeared in John Bromfield's syndicated series Sheriff of Cochise in the episode "The Turkey Farmers". Later, he guest starred on NBC's medical drama The Eleventh Hour in the role of Hal Kincaid in the 1962 episode "Make Me a Place", with series co-stars Wendell Corey and Jack Ging. He joined Milner in a 1962 episode of Route 66 as the character Kamo in the episode "One Tiger to a Hill."

Janssen starred in four television series of his own, Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957-60), the hit Quinn Martin produced series, The Fugitive (1963-67), O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971–72) and Harry O (1974–76). At the time, the final episode of The Fugitive held the record for the greatest number of American homes with television sets to watch a series finale, at 72% in August 1967.

His films include To Hell and Back, the autobiography of Audie Murphy, who is considered the most decorated soldier in the military history of the United States; John Wayne's war film The Green Berets (1968), and opposite Gregory Peck in the space story Marooned about three stranded astronauts. Janssen played an alcoholic in the 1977 TV movie A Sensitive, Passionate Man, which co-starred Angie Dickinson.

At the time of his death, Janssen had just begun filming a television movie playing the part of Father Damien, the priest who dedicated himself to the leper colony on the island of Molokai. The part was eventually reassigned to actor Ken Howard.
Personal life

He was married twice, first to Ellie Graham on August 23, 1959 in Las Vegas, Nevada; they divorced on August 25, 1970. He dated actress Rosemary Forsyth for a few years. From October 4, 1975 to his death, he was married to sometime actress and model Dani Crayne Greco (born Darlyne Danielle Swanson, December 25, 1934, Minneapolis, Minnesota). Dani was previously married to singer Buddy Greco; they divorced in April 1974. Ms. Janssen resides in the penthouse of the west tower of The Century Towers in Century City, Los Angeles, California. She is known for her annual Oscars party in the penthouse where the who's who of the film crowd attend.
Death

David Janssen died of a sudden heart attack in 1980 in Malibu, California, two days into the filming of Father Damien, aged 48. Two days earlier, he had a bad dream that he was being carried in a coffin following a heart attack He was interred in the Hillside Memorial Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Selected filmography

    * Francis Goes to West Point (1952)
    * Yankee Buccaneer (1952)
    * Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
    * Cult of the Cobra (1955)
    * The Private War of Major Benson (1955)
    * Francis in the Navy (1955)
    * To Hell and Back (1955)
    * Lux Video Theatre (3 episodes, 1955-1956)
    * Matinee Theater (1 episode, 1956)
    * Never Say Goodbye (1956)
    * Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957-1960)
    * Dondi (1961)
    * Hell to Eternity (1960)
    * Ring of Fire (1961)
    * Target: The Corruptors!, "The Middle Man" episode, February 2, 1962
    * The Fugitive (1963–1967)
    * Warning Shot (1967)
    * The Green Berets (1968)
    * The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
    * Marooned (1969)
    * Where It's At (1969)
    * O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971-1972)
    * Moon of the Wolf (1973)
    * Birds of Prey (1973)
    * Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975)
    * Harry O (1974-1976)
    * The Swiss Conspiracy (1976)
    * Two-Minute Warning (1976)
    * Centennial (1978)
    * S.O.S. Titanic (1979)
    * High Ice (1980)

See also

    * Lifestyle diseases
http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr331/ileana269/5c01f97b.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn19/WadeBallard/AGNES%20MOOREHEAD%20MOTION%20PICTURES/scan0002-1.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/FEN_alumni/FEN-Okinawa%20various%20years/Untitled05b.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/13/10 at 6:31 am

I've always liked Kim Novak, Nice bio, Ninny. Thanks for posting.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 7:20 am


I've always liked Kim Novak, Nice bio, Ninny. Thanks for posting.  :)

Your Welcome Vinny  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/13/10 at 7:21 am


The person born on this day...Kim Novak
Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning American actress. She is best known for her performance in the classic 1958 film Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and is now an accomplished artist. She currently lives on a ranch in Eagle Point, Oregon, with her veterinarian husband. The 21-year-old Marilyn Novak struck a pose on a stairway for the RKO 3-D motion picture The French Line (1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. Novak received no screen credit. Eventually, she was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and filmed a screen test. Studio chief Harry Cohn was searching for another beauty to replace the rebellious and difficult Rita Hayworth. Novak was signed to a six-month contract. Paramount Pictures had an arrangement whereby budding actresses resided at a "ladies' residence", similar to a sorority, where their personal lives were under supervision.

Columbia decided to make the blonde, buxom actress its version of Marilyn Monroe. Immediately, there was the issue of what to do about her name. Neither Novak nor Columbia wanted to be seen as cashing in on Marilyn Monroe's enormous popularity, so Novak's real first name had to go. She resisted changing it to Kit Marlowe. She and the studio finally settled on the stage name Kim Novak. Cohn told her to lose weight, and he won the battle to make her wear brassieres. She took acting lessons, which she had to pay for herself.

Novak debuted as Lona McLane in Pushover (1954) opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey. Though her role was not the best, her beauty caught the attention of fans and critics alike. She then played the femme fatale role as Janis in Phffft! (1954) opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's reviews were good. People were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail.

After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (1955) opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress. She played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), on loan to United Artists, with Frank Sinatra. The movie was a big hit. She worked with Sinatra again for Pal Joey (1957), which also starred Rita Hayworth. She also starred in Jeanne Eagels (1957) with Jeff Chandler. Her popularity became such that she made the cover of the July 29, 1957 issue of Time Magazine. That same year, she went on strike, protesting at her salary of $1,250 per week.
Kim Novak in Vertigo

In 1958, Novak starred in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed classic thriller Vertigo with James Stewart. Today, the film is considered a masterpiece of romantic suspense, though Novak's performance has a mixed reputation. Critic David Shipman thought it "little more than competent", while David Thomson sees it as "one of the major female performances in the cinema". Hitchcock, rarely one to praise actors, dismissed Novak in a later interview. "You think you're getting a lot," he said of her ability, "but you're not."

Following Vertigo, she reunited with Stewart and Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle (1958), a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not do well at the box office. In 1960, she co-starred with Kirk Douglas in the critically acclaimed Strangers When We Meet also featuring Walter Matthau and Ernie Kovacs.

In 1962, Novak took the leap of producing her own movie, financing her own production company in association with Filmways Productions. Boys' Night Out, in which she starred with James Garner and Tony Randall, marked a turning point in her career when it was not received well either by critics or the public. She continued to act, but took fewer roles as she began to prefer personal activities over acting. She refused to accept many of the sexpot roles she was being offered. She also turned down several strong dramatic roles including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Hustler, Days of Wine and Roses, and The Sandpiper.

Novak was paired with Lemmon for a third and final time in a mystery-comedy, The Notorious Landlady (1962). She played the vulgar waitress Mildred Rogers in a remake of W. Somerset Maugham's drama Of Human Bondage (1964) opposite Laurence Harvey. She starred in Billy Wilder's cult classic Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with Ray Walston and Dean Martin, a film critically panned at the time which has since gained a strong following. After playing the title role in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) with Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, Novak took a break, seeing as little of Hollywood as possible.

Her comeback came in a dual role as a young actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in producer-director Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) with Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine for MGM. It failed miserably. After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in The Great Bank Robbery (1969) opposite Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, and Claude Akins, she stayed away from the screen for four years. She then played the key role of Auriol Pageant in the horror anthology film Tales That Witness Madness (1973). She starred as veteran showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The Third Girl From the Left (1973) with Tony Curtis and played Eve in Satan's Triangle (1975).

In 1979, she played Helga in Just a Gigolo starring David Bowie and then Lola Brewster in an Agatha Christie mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd (1980) with Angela Lansbury, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. She and Taylor portrayed rival actresses. She made occasional television appearances over the years. She co-starred with James Coburn in the TV-movie Malibu (1983) and played Rosa in a revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). From 1986 to 1987, the actress was a cast member of the television series Falcon Crest during the its fourth season in the role of Kit Marlowe (the stage name rejected at the start of her career).

Her most recent appearance on the big screen to date came as a terminally ill writer in the mystery/thriller Liebestraum (1991) for MGM. However, due to battles with the director over how to play the role, her scenes were cut. In a rare interview with Stephen Rebello in the July 2005 issue of Movieline's Hollywood Life, Novak admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her conduct with director Mike Figgis. Since that time, she has turned down many other offers to appear in film and TV.

Novak has not ruled out further acting. In an interview in 2007, she said that she would consider returning to the screen "if the right thing came along."
Honors

For her contribution to motion pictures, Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1995, Novak was ranked 92nd by Empire Magazine on a list of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In 1955 she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer-Female; in 1957 she won another Golden Globe — for World Favorite female actress. In 1997 Kim won an Honorary Berlin Golden Bear Award. In 2002 a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Novak by Eastman Kodak.

New York rock band The Velvet Underground had a song about Kim Novak on their album Loaded, called "New Age".

British designer Alexander McQueen named his first 'It bag', the Novak, after her in 2005.
Personal life

Novak has been married to veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy since March 12, 1976. The couple resides on a ranch where they raise horses and llamas. Novak has two stepchildren.
publicity photo of Novak in 1962

For barely a year, Novak was previously married to English actor Richard Johnson from March 15, 1965 to April 23, 1966. Despite their divorce, the two have remained friends. Novak also dated Sammy Davis, Jr in the late 1950s. She was engaged to director Richard Quine although they never married, according to critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Her home in Eagle Point, Oregon was partially destroyed in a fire on July 24, 2000. A computer containing the only existing draft of her unfinished autobiography was also lost to the fire. "I take it personally as a sign that maybe I’m not supposed to write my biography; maybe the past is supposed to stay buried," Novak said. Among Novak's lost mementos were scripts of some of her most critically acclaimed movies, including Vertigo and Picnic, as well as several paintings. "It made me realize then what was really valuable," she said. "That’s the day I wrote a gratitude list. We’re safe and our animals are safe."

In 2006, Novak was injured in a horseback riding accident. She suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs and nerve damage, but made a full recovery within a year.

Novak is an accomplished artist who expresses herself in watercolor and oil paintings, sculpture, stained glass design and photography. She also writes poetry.
Filmography

    * The French Line (1954) (uncredited)
    * Pushover (1954)
    * Phffft! (1954)
    * Son of Sinbad (1955) (uncredited)
    * 5 Against the House (1955)
    * Picnic (1955)
    * The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
    * The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
    * Jeanne Eagels (1957)
    * Pal Joey (1957)
    * Vertigo (1958)
    * Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
    * Middle of the Night (1959)
    * Strangers When We Meet (1960)
    * Pepe (1960) (cameo)
    * The Notorious Landlady (1962)
    * Boys' Night Out (1962)



    * Showman (1963) (documentary)
    * Of Human Bondage (1964)
    * Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    * The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)
    * The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)
    * The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
    * Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
    * The Third Girl from the Left (1973)
    * Satan's Triangle (1975)
    * The White Buffalo (1977)
    * Just a Gigolo (1979)
    * The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
    * Malibu (1983)
    * Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985)
    * Falcon Crest (14 episodes; 1986-87)
    * I Have Been Very Pleased (1987) (short subject)
    * The Children (1990)
    * Liebestraum (1991)
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss284/Mirna27/Decorated%20images/kim_novak_01.jpg
http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr201/GeorgiaGirl_51/kim_novak_gallery_1.jpg
http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo314/ilovedorisday/KimNovak6.jpg


There is a picture of her today somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 7:23 am


There is a picture of her today somewhere.

here's a recent pic taken sometime in the 2000's
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad190/lookovahere/an6vb010p9dn0b0n.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/10 at 7:36 am


The person born on this day...Kim Novak
Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning American actress. She is best known for her performance in the classic 1958 film Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and is now an accomplished artist. She currently lives on a ranch in Eagle Point, Oregon, with her veterinarian husband. The 21-year-old Marilyn Novak struck a pose on a stairway for the RKO 3-D motion picture The French Line (1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. Novak received no screen credit. Eventually, she was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and filmed a screen test. Studio chief Harry Cohn was searching for another beauty to replace the rebellious and difficult Rita Hayworth. Novak was signed to a six-month contract. Paramount Pictures had an arrangement whereby budding actresses resided at a "ladies' residence", similar to a sorority, where their personal lives were under supervision.

Columbia decided to make the blonde, buxom actress its version of Marilyn Monroe. Immediately, there was the issue of what to do about her name. Neither Novak nor Columbia wanted to be seen as cashing in on Marilyn Monroe's enormous popularity, so Novak's real first name had to go. She resisted changing it to Kit Marlowe. She and the studio finally settled on the stage name Kim Novak. Cohn told her to lose weight, and he won the battle to make her wear brassieres. She took acting lessons, which she had to pay for herself.

Novak debuted as Lona McLane in Pushover (1954) opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey. Though her role was not the best, her beauty caught the attention of fans and critics alike. She then played the femme fatale role as Janis in Phffft! (1954) opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's reviews were good. People were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail.

After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (1955) opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress. She played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), on loan to United Artists, with Frank Sinatra. The movie was a big hit. She worked with Sinatra again for Pal Joey (1957), which also starred Rita Hayworth. She also starred in Jeanne Eagels (1957) with Jeff Chandler. Her popularity became such that she made the cover of the July 29, 1957 issue of Time Magazine. That same year, she went on strike, protesting at her salary of $1,250 per week.
Kim Novak in Vertigo

In 1958, Novak starred in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed classic thriller Vertigo with James Stewart. Today, the film is considered a masterpiece of romantic suspense, though Novak's performance has a mixed reputation. Critic David Shipman thought it "little more than competent", while David Thomson sees it as "one of the major female performances in the cinema". Hitchcock, rarely one to praise actors, dismissed Novak in a later interview. "You think you're getting a lot," he said of her ability, "but you're not."

Following Vertigo, she reunited with Stewart and Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle (1958), a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not do well at the box office. In 1960, she co-starred with Kirk Douglas in the critically acclaimed Strangers When We Meet also featuring Walter Matthau and Ernie Kovacs.

In 1962, Novak took the leap of producing her own movie, financing her own production company in association with Filmways Productions. Boys' Night Out, in which she starred with James Garner and Tony Randall, marked a turning point in her career when it was not received well either by critics or the public. She continued to act, but took fewer roles as she began to prefer personal activities over acting. She refused to accept many of the sexpot roles she was being offered. She also turned down several strong dramatic roles including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Hustler, Days of Wine and Roses, and The Sandpiper.

Novak was paired with Lemmon for a third and final time in a mystery-comedy, The Notorious Landlady (1962). She played the vulgar waitress Mildred Rogers in a remake of W. Somerset Maugham's drama Of Human Bondage (1964) opposite Laurence Harvey. She starred in Billy Wilder's cult classic Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with Ray Walston and Dean Martin, a film critically panned at the time which has since gained a strong following. After playing the title role in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) with Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, Novak took a break, seeing as little of Hollywood as possible.

Her comeback came in a dual role as a young actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in producer-director Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) with Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine for MGM. It failed miserably. After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in The Great Bank Robbery (1969) opposite Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, and Claude Akins, she stayed away from the screen for four years. She then played the key role of Auriol Pageant in the horror anthology film Tales That Witness Madness (1973). She starred as veteran showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The Third Girl From the Left (1973) with Tony Curtis and played Eve in Satan's Triangle (1975).

In 1979, she played Helga in Just a Gigolo starring David Bowie and then Lola Brewster in an Agatha Christie mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd (1980) with Angela Lansbury, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. She and Taylor portrayed rival actresses. She made occasional television appearances over the years. She co-starred with James Coburn in the TV-movie Malibu (1983) and played Rosa in a revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). From 1986 to 1987, the actress was a cast member of the television series Falcon Crest during the its fourth season in the role of Kit Marlowe (the stage name rejected at the start of her career).

Her most recent appearance on the big screen to date came as a terminally ill writer in the mystery/thriller Liebestraum (1991) for MGM. However, due to battles with the director over how to play the role, her scenes were cut. In a rare interview with Stephen Rebello in the July 2005 issue of Movieline's Hollywood Life, Novak admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her conduct with director Mike Figgis. Since that time, she has turned down many other offers to appear in film and TV.

Novak has not ruled out further acting. In an interview in 2007, she said that she would consider returning to the screen "if the right thing came along."
Honors

For her contribution to motion pictures, Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1995, Novak was ranked 92nd by Empire Magazine on a list of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In 1955 she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer-Female; in 1957 she won another Golden Globe — for World Favorite female actress. In 1997 Kim won an Honorary Berlin Golden Bear Award. In 2002 a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Novak by Eastman Kodak.

New York rock band The Velvet Underground had a song about Kim Novak on their album Loaded, called "New Age".

British designer Alexander McQueen named his first 'It bag', the Novak, after her in 2005.
Personal life

Novak has been married to veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy since March 12, 1976. The couple resides on a ranch where they raise horses and llamas. Novak has two stepchildren.
publicity photo of Novak in 1962

For barely a year, Novak was previously married to English actor Richard Johnson from March 15, 1965 to April 23, 1966. Despite their divorce, the two have remained friends. Novak also dated Sammy Davis, Jr in the late 1950s. She was engaged to director Richard Quine although they never married, according to critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Her home in Eagle Point, Oregon was partially destroyed in a fire on July 24, 2000. A computer containing the only existing draft of her unfinished autobiography was also lost to the fire. "I take it personally as a sign that maybe I’m not supposed to write my biography; maybe the past is supposed to stay buried," Novak said. Among Novak's lost mementos were scripts of some of her most critically acclaimed movies, including Vertigo and Picnic, as well as several paintings. "It made me realize then what was really valuable," she said. "That’s the day I wrote a gratitude list. We’re safe and our animals are safe."

In 2006, Novak was injured in a horseback riding accident. She suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs and nerve damage, but made a full recovery within a year.

Novak is an accomplished artist who expresses herself in watercolor and oil paintings, sculpture, stained glass design and photography. She also writes poetry.
Filmography

    * The French Line (1954) (uncredited)
    * Pushover (1954)
    * Phffft! (1954)
    * Son of Sinbad (1955) (uncredited)
    * 5 Against the House (1955)
    * Picnic (1955)
    * The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
    * The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
    * Jeanne Eagels (1957)
    * Pal Joey (1957)
    * Vertigo (1958)
    * Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
    * Middle of the Night (1959)
    * Strangers When We Meet (1960)
    * Pepe (1960) (cameo)
    * The Notorious Landlady (1962)
    * Boys' Night Out (1962)



    * Showman (1963) (documentary)
    * Of Human Bondage (1964)
    * Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    * The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)
    * The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)
    * The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
    * Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
    * The Third Girl from the Left (1973)
    * Satan's Triangle (1975)
    * The White Buffalo (1977)
    * Just a Gigolo (1979)
    * The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
    * Malibu (1983)
    * Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985)
    * Falcon Crest (14 episodes; 1986-87)
    * I Have Been Very Pleased (1987) (short subject)
    * The Children (1990)
    * Liebestraum (1991)
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss284/Mirna27/Decorated%20images/kim_novak_01.jpg
http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr201/GeorgiaGirl_51/kim_novak_gallery_1.jpg
http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo314/ilovedorisday/KimNovak6.jpg
We all loved her in Vertigo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 7:55 am


We all loved her in Vertigo

Yes she was great along with Jimmy Stewart :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/10 at 7:56 am


Yes she was great along with Jimmy Stewart :)
Just one great movie by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/13/10 at 12:26 pm


here's a recent pic taken sometime in the 2000's
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad190/lookovahere/an6vb010p9dn0b0n.jpg

She still looks great.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/13/10 at 2:01 pm


Just one great movie by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock.

Yes, love those Hitchcock films. And Vertigo was one of the better ones.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/10 at 2:53 pm


Yes, love those Hitchcock films. And Vertigo was one of the better ones.

True, I also liked Rear Window.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/10 at 3:54 pm


True, I also liked Rear Window.
another brillliant Hitchcock/Stewart movie

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/13/10 at 7:19 pm


here's a recent pic taken sometime in the 2000's
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad190/lookovahere/an6vb010p9dn0b0n.jpg


Thank You Ninny. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/13/10 at 7:28 pm

Novak is a big name ...yet she was only in a handful of 'big' movies!  Picnic and Vertigo would have been her biggest movies ...while ManWith The Golden Arm and Pal Joey were also successful.

I liked her ... but she was never a favourite of mine.

I used to watch Jansen in The Fugitive. I enjoyed him in that show but otherwise I felt he was a fairly one dimensional actor!!!  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/14/10 at 3:00 am

British Person of the Day: Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg (born Simon John Beckingham; 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer and director. He is best known for his starring roles in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run, the comedy series Spaced and his portrayal of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the revamped Star Trek. Much of his major work has been in collaboration with some combination of Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, Dylan Moran and Edgar Wright.

Career

In 1993, he moved to London and performed on the stand-up comedy circuit. In 1995 he took his acclaimed one-man show to the Edinburgh Festival, which led to his being invited to perform at festivals in Adelaide and Melbourne in Australia and Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand, which he did in 1996 and 1997. His work as a stand up attracted the attention of several TV producers, leading to appearances in Asylum, Six Pairs of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies. From 1998 to 2004, Pegg regularly featured on BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge. In 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with Jessica Stevenson. For this project Pegg brought in Nick Frost, his best friend. For his performance in this series, Pegg was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer. Pegg co-wrote (with Spaced director Edgar Wright) and starred in the "romantic zombie comedy" film Shaun of the Dead, released in April 2004. At George A. Romero's invitation, Pegg and Wright made cameo appearances in Romero's film, Land of the Dead. In 2004, Pegg also starred in a spin-off of the television show Danger! 50,000 Volts! called Danger! 50,000 Zombies!, in which he played a zombie hunter named Dr. Russel Fell.

Pegg's other credits include the World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, guest appearances on Black Books, Brass Eye Special, I'm Alan Partridge, The Parole Officer and in the Factory Records story 24 Hour Party People. He also played the mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog, in a series of Big Finish Productions audio plays based on the character from British comic 2000 AD and featured in Guest House Paradiso, a film based on the sitcom Bottom.

Pegg appeared in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio story Invaders From Mars as Don Chaney, and portrayed the Editor in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Long Game". He also narrated the first series of the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential.

Upon completion of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was questioned on whether he would be abandoning the British film industry for bigger and better things, to which he replied "It's not like I'm going to run off and do Mission: Impossible III!" He then promptly went on to do just that, playing Benji Dunn, an I.M.F. technician who assists Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt. In 2006 he played an American character, Gus, in Big Nothing alongside David Schwimmer.

In 2006, Pegg and Wright completed their second film, Hot Fuzz, released in February 2007. The film is a police-action movie homage and also stars Nick Frost. Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London policeman who is transferred to rural Sandford, a fictional village situated in Pegg's home county of Gloucestershire, where grisly events take place.

In 2007, Pegg starred in The Good Night (directed by Jake Paltrow) and Run Fatboy Run directed by David Schwimmer and co-starring Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria.

In 2008, Pegg wrote the dialogue for an English language re-release of the cult 2006 animated Norwegian film, Free Jimmy. Pegg received screenwriting credit for this, and Pegg also voiced one of the main characters in the English language version, which has an international range of actors including Woody Harrelson.

Pegg is co-writing and starring with Nick Frost in an upcoming film entitled Paul, with production expected to begin in June 2009. The plot revolves around characters played by Pegg and Frost road tripping across America. Pegg also announced that he and Wright had the idea for "the concluding part in what we are calling our 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy" (the first two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). It is provisionally called The World Ends. In those films and in Spaced, Pegg typically plays the leading hero while Frost plays the sidekick. However, he has revealed that Paul will reverse this dynamic. Pegg has also stated that Wright will not direct, Paul not being part of their 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy. The completed script appeared on the 2008 Black List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays. Paul received two votes.

Pegg played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the newest Star Trek film, released 8 May 2009. He wore a kilt to the film's United Kingdom premiere, at the Empire Leicester Square theatre. He told Jo Russell's show on Absolute Radio that he is waiting for a Scotty action figure to add to his collection of Simon Pegg action figures from Dr Who, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead. He is currently completing a film, directed by John Landis, about Burke and Hare, the Ulster men who were notorious murderers and bodysnatchers in early nineteenth-century Edinburgh. His likeness was also used for the character of Wee Hughie in the comic book series The Boys; while this was done without Pegg's permission, he quickly became a fan of the title, and even wrote the introduction to the first bound volume.

Movies

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
The World's End (2010)
Paul (2010)
Star Trek (2009)
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)
Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007)
The Good Night (2007)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Grindhouse (2007)
Big Nothing (2006)
Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Free Jimmy (2006)
Land of the Dead (2005)
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Sex & Lies (2004)
The Reckoning (2003)
Final Demand (2003)
24 Hour Party People (2002)
Band of Brothers (2001)
The Parole Officer (2001)
Guest House Paradiso (1999)
Tube Tales (1999)

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bca0simon-pegg-290x400.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 4:52 am


British Person of the Day: Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg (born Simon John Beckingham; 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer and director. He is best known for his starring roles in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run, the comedy series Spaced and his portrayal of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the revamped Star Trek. Much of his major work has been in collaboration with some combination of Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, Dylan Moran and Edgar Wright.

Career

In 1993, he moved to London and performed on the stand-up comedy circuit. In 1995 he took his acclaimed one-man show to the Edinburgh Festival, which led to his being invited to perform at festivals in Adelaide and Melbourne in Australia and Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand, which he did in 1996 and 1997. His work as a stand up attracted the attention of several TV producers, leading to appearances in Asylum, Six Pairs of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies. From 1998 to 2004, Pegg regularly featured on BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge. In 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with Jessica Stevenson. For this project Pegg brought in Nick Frost, his best friend. For his performance in this series, Pegg was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer. Pegg co-wrote (with Spaced director Edgar Wright) and starred in the "romantic zombie comedy" film Shaun of the Dead, released in April 2004. At George A. Romero's invitation, Pegg and Wright made cameo appearances in Romero's film, Land of the Dead. In 2004, Pegg also starred in a spin-off of the television show Danger! 50,000 Volts! called Danger! 50,000 Zombies!, in which he played a zombie hunter named Dr. Russel Fell.

Pegg's other credits include the World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, guest appearances on Black Books, Brass Eye Special, I'm Alan Partridge, The Parole Officer and in the Factory Records story 24 Hour Party People. He also played the mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog, in a series of Big Finish Productions audio plays based on the character from British comic 2000 AD and featured in Guest House Paradiso, a film based on the sitcom Bottom.

Pegg appeared in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio story Invaders From Mars as Don Chaney, and portrayed the Editor in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Long Game". He also narrated the first series of the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential.

Upon completion of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was questioned on whether he would be abandoning the British film industry for bigger and better things, to which he replied "It's not like I'm going to run off and do Mission: Impossible III!" He then promptly went on to do just that, playing Benji Dunn, an I.M.F. technician who assists Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt. In 2006 he played an American character, Gus, in Big Nothing alongside David Schwimmer.

In 2006, Pegg and Wright completed their second film, Hot Fuzz, released in February 2007. The film is a police-action movie homage and also stars Nick Frost. Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London policeman who is transferred to rural Sandford, a fictional village situated in Pegg's home county of Gloucestershire, where grisly events take place.

In 2007, Pegg starred in The Good Night (directed by Jake Paltrow) and Run Fatboy Run directed by David Schwimmer and co-starring Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria.

In 2008, Pegg wrote the dialogue for an English language re-release of the cult 2006 animated Norwegian film, Free Jimmy. Pegg received screenwriting credit for this, and Pegg also voiced one of the main characters in the English language version, which has an international range of actors including Woody Harrelson.

Pegg is co-writing and starring with Nick Frost in an upcoming film entitled Paul, with production expected to begin in June 2009. The plot revolves around characters played by Pegg and Frost road tripping across America. Pegg also announced that he and Wright had the idea for "the concluding part in what we are calling our 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy" (the first two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). It is provisionally called The World Ends. In those films and in Spaced, Pegg typically plays the leading hero while Frost plays the sidekick. However, he has revealed that Paul will reverse this dynamic. Pegg has also stated that Wright will not direct, Paul not being part of their 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy. The completed script appeared on the 2008 Black List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays. Paul received two votes.

Pegg played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the newest Star Trek film, released 8 May 2009. He wore a kilt to the film's United Kingdom premiere, at the Empire Leicester Square theatre. He told Jo Russell's show on Absolute Radio that he is waiting for a Scotty action figure to add to his collection of Simon Pegg action figures from Dr Who, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead. He is currently completing a film, directed by John Landis, about Burke and Hare, the Ulster men who were notorious murderers and bodysnatchers in early nineteenth-century Edinburgh. His likeness was also used for the character of Wee Hughie in the comic book series The Boys; while this was done without Pegg's permission, he quickly became a fan of the title, and even wrote the introduction to the first bound volume.

Movies

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
The World's End (2010)
Paul (2010)
Star Trek (2009)
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)
Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007)
The Good Night (2007)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Grindhouse (2007)
Big Nothing (2006)
Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Free Jimmy (2006)
Land of the Dead (2005)
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Sex & Lies (2004)
The Reckoning (2003)
Final Demand (2003)
24 Hour Party People (2002)
Band of Brothers (2001)
The Parole Officer (2001)
Guest House Paradiso (1999)
Tube Tales (1999)

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bca0simon-pegg-290x400.jpg

I was just about to do him ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 5:05 am

The word of the day...Heart
      Your heart is the organ in your chest that pumps the blood around your body. People also use heart to refer to the area of their chest that is closest to their heart
You can refer to someone's heart when you are talking about their deep feelings and beliefs.
You use heart when you are talking about someone's character and attitude towards other people, especially when they are kind and generous.
If you refer to things of the heart, you mean love and relationships
The heart of something is the most central and important part of it.
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/PicPocket74/coffee%20art/Copyofhearts.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae1/cillymiu/Heart/lovimage0sbnF.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h47/satasiza/heart.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/All_About_Anime/heart.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j301/brunette58/heart-1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/jowanna__daatio/patterns/heart.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn290/RAWRxitsmaya/REAL_HEART.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae1/cillymiu/Heart/shwluvh1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 5:09 am

The person born on this day...Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker, CBE (born 14 February 1944) is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British film industry and Hollywood and was a founding member of the Director's Guild of Great Britain.
Life and career

Parker was born into a working class family in Islington, North London, the son of Elsie Ellen, a dressmaker, and William Leslie Parker, a house painter. He attended Dame Alice Owen's School. Parker started out as a copywriter for advertising agencies in the 1960s and 1970s and later began to write his own television commercial scripts. His most celebrated and enduring advertising work was when he worked for famed London agency Collett Dickenson Pearce where he directed many award winning commercials, including the famous Cinzano vermouth advertisement, starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, shown in the UK.

His film career began through his association with producer David Puttnam, now Lord Puttnam, when he wrote the screenplay for the feature Melody (1971). Puttnam would later produce a number of Parker's films including Midnight Express (1978). This, his breakthrough, was a highly controversial film set in a Turkish prison that was lauded by critics and ended up earning Parker a number of Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture. He was later nominated for Best Director with Mississippi Burning (1988).

Parker has directed a number of off-beat musicals including Bugsy Malone (1976), Fame (1980), Pink Floyd The Wall (1982), The Commitments (1991) and Evita (1996).

He was knighted in the New Year's Honours for 2002. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Sunderland in 2005 of which his long time associate Lord Puttnam is chancellor. Parker is an Arsenal fan and attends their home games.
Controversy

One of his films, Midnight Express, stirred enormous controversy in the world, especially in Turkey. The film derives from a book written by Billy Hayes. Oliver Stone wrote the screenplay of the film and David Puttnam is the producer. After the release of the film, it was and is condemned in Turkey for its portrayal of Turkish people, Turkish institutions and consequently damaging the public image of Turkey.

Unlike Parker, Putnam, Stone and Hayes who were producer, screenwriter and author of the original book respectively expressed their concerns with the film regarding its anti-Turkish agenda. Screenwriter of that film, Oliver Stone, who won an Academy Award for the film, visited Turkey in 2004, made an apology for the portrayal of the Turkish people in the film. In parallel with Stone, an amateur interview with Billy Hayes who is the author of the book that Midnight Express is based on, appeared on YouTube (Part 1 - Part 2) recorded during the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, in which he expressed his disappointment with the film adaptation. In an article for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Hayes stated that the film "depicts all Turks as monsters".

In an interview in 1984, David Puttnam, producer of the film, called the book dishonest. In addition to Putnam, Stone and Hayes, film reviewers described the film as "violent", "national hate-film", "a cultural form that narrows horizons", "confirming the audience’s meanest fears and prejudices and resentments".
Filmography

    * Melody (1971)
    * Our Cissy (1974) (short film)
    * Footsteps (1974) (short film)
    * The Evacuees (1975) (TV)
    * Bugsy Malone (1976)
    * Midnight Express (1978)
    * Fame (1980)
    * Shoot the Moon (1982)
    * Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
    * Birdy (1984)
    * Angel Heart (1987)
    * Mississippi Burning (1988)
    * Come See The Paradise (1990)
    * The Commitments (1991)
    * The Road to Wellville (1994)
    * Evita (1996)
    * Angela's Ashes (1999)
    * The Life of David Gale (2003)
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af338/pawellsphotos/Stardust%20Memories/alanparker.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 5:14 am

The person who died(?) on this day...Saint Valentine
Saint Valentine (in Latin, Valentinus) is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. The name "Valentine", derived from valens (worthy), was popular in Late Antiquity. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name. For this reason this liturgical commemoration was not kept in the Catholic calendar of saints for universal liturgical veneration as revised in 1969. But "Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter and those with him at Rome" remains in the list of saints proposed for veneration by all Catholics.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Valentine the Presbyter is celebrated on July 6, and Hieromartyr Saint Valentine (Bishop of Interamna, Terni in Italy) is celebrated on July 30. The name "Valentine" (Priest Valentio) does not occur in the earliest list of Roman martyrs, compiled by the Chronographer of 354. The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs. The Saint Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connection with February 14 is described either as:

    * A priest in Rome,
    * A bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), or
    * A martyr in the Roman province of Africa.

The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in the Nuremberg Chronicle, (1493); alongside the woodcut portrait of Valentine the text states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner -- until Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor -- whereupon this priest was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn't finish him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate. Various dates are given for the martyrdom or martyrdoms: 269, 270, or 273.

The official Roman Martyrology for February 14 mentions only one Saint Valentine.
Saint Valentine of Terni oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni, from a 14th century French manuscript (BN, Mss fr. 185)

English eighteenth-century antiquarians Alban Butler and Francis Douce, noting the obscurity of Saint Valentine's identity, suggested that Valentine's Day was created as an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia. This idea has lately been contested by Professor Jack Oruch of the University of Kansas. Many of the current legends that characterise Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in England, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love.

While a website of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and other sources give different lists of Saint Valentines, the Catholic Church's official list of recognized saints, the Roman Martyrology lists seven: a martyr (Roman priest or Terni bishop?) buried on the Via Flaminia (February 14); a priest from Viterbo (November 3); a bishop from Raetia who died in about 450 (January 7); a fifth-century priest and hermit (July 4); a Spanish hermit who died in about 715 (October 25); Valentine Berrio Ochoa, martyred in 1861 (November 24); and Valentine Jaunzarás Gómez, martyred in 1936 (September 18).
Earliest church dedications
Saint Valentine receives a rosary from the Virgin, by David Teniers III

Hagiographical sources speak of a Roman priest and a bishop of Terni each buried along the Via Flaminia outside Rome, at different distances from the city, with each venerated on February 14. In the Middle Ages, two Roman churches were dedicated to Saint Valentine. One was the tenth-century church Sancti Valentini de Balneo Miccine or de Piscina, which was rededicated by Pope Urban III in 1186. The other, on the Via Flaminia, was the ancient basilica S. Valentini extra Portam founded by Pope Julius I (337‑352), though not under this dedication. The basilica appellatur Valentini, "is called Valentine's"; but early basilicas were as often called by the name of their former owner as by the saint to whom they were dedicated: see titulus.

This, the earlier and by far more important of the churches, is dedicated to the less prominent of the two saints, Valentine, presbyter of Rome; this was the Basilica S. Valentini extra Portam, the "Basilica of Saint Valentine beyond the Gate" which was situated beyond the Porta Flaminia (the Porta del Popolo, which was the Porta S. Valentini when William of Malmesbury visited Rome). It stood on the right hand side at the second milestone on the Via Flaminia. It had its origins in a funerary chapel on the site of catacombs, which the Liber Pontificalis attributes to a foundation by Pope Julius I (337-352). However, the dedications of two basilicas dedicated by Julius are not specified in the Liber Pontificalis. It was restored or largely rebuilt by Pope Theodore (642‑649) and Pope Leo III (795‑816), enriched with an altar cloth by Pope Benedict II (683‑685) and by gifts of Pope Hadrian I (772‑795), Pope Leo III and Pope Gregory IV (827‑844), so that it had become ecclesia mirifice ornata, "a church marvellously adorned". The monastery of San Silvestro in Capite was annexed to it, and in the surviving epitome of a lost catalogue of the churches of Rome, compiled by Giraldus Cambrensis about 1200, it was hospitale S. Valentini extra urbem, the "hospital of Saint Valentine outside the city". But in the thirteenth century the martyr's relics were transferred to Santa Prassede, and the ancient basilica decayed: in Signorili's catalogue, made in about 1425, it was Ecclesia sancti Valentini extra portam sine muris non habet sacerdotem, "the church of Saint Valentine beyond the gate without walls, has no priest".
In the Golden Legend

The Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, compiled about 1260 and one of the most-read books of the High Middle Ages, gives sufficient details of the saints for each day of the liturgical year to inspire a homily on each occasion. The very brief vita of St Valentine has him refusing to deny Christ before the "Emperor Claudius" in the year 280. Before his head was cut off, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer. Jacobus makes a play with the etymology of "Valentine", "as containing valour".
St. Valentine's Day
For more details on this topic, see Valentine's Day.

Historian Jack Oruch has made the case that the traditions associated with "Valentine's Day", documented in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of Foules and set in the fictional context of an old tradition, had no such tradition before Chaucer. He argues that the speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18th-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. In the French 14th-century manuscript illumination from a Vies des Saints (illustration above), Saint Valentine, bishop of Terni, oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni; there is no suggestion here yet that the bishop was a patron of lovers.
Relics and liturgical celebration

The flower crowned skull of St Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.

In 1836, some relics that were exhumed from the catacombs of Saint Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina, then near (rather than inside) Rome, were identified with St Valentine; placed in a casket, and transported to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, to which they were donated by Pope Gregory XVI. Many tourists visit the saintly remains on St. Valentine's Day, when the casket is carried in solemn procession to the high altar for a special Mass dedicated to young people and all those in love. Alleged relics of St. Valentine also lie at the reliquary of Roquemaure in France, in the Stephansdom in Vienna and also in Blessed John Duns Scotus' church in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland. There is also a gold reliquary bearing the words 'Corpus St. Valentin, M' (Body of St. Valentine, Martyr) at The Birmingham Oratory, UK in one of the side altars in the main church.

    Of greatest interest at this altar is the rich coffin which lies beneath it, containing the body of St. Valentine, a martyr whose relics from the Roman catacombs were given to John Henry Cardinal Newman by Blessed Pius IX in 1847.

The Saint Valentine who is celebrated on February 14 remains in the Catholic Church's official list of saints (the Roman Martyrology), but, in view of the scarcity of information about him, his commemoration was removed from the General Calendar for universal liturgical veneration, when this was revised in 1969. It is included in local calendars of places such as Balzan and Malta, where relics of the saint are claimed to be found. Some still observe the calendars of the Roman Rite from the Tridentine Calendar until 1969, in which Saint Valentine was at first celebrated as a simple feast, until 1955, when Pope Pius XII reduced the mention of Saint Valentine to a commemoration in the Mass of the day. It is kept as a commemoration by Traditionalist Roman Catholics who, in accordance with the authorization given by Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007, use the General Roman Calendar of 1962 and the liturgy of Pope John XXIII's 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, and, as a Simple Feast, by Traditionalist Roman Catholics who use the General Roman Calendar as in 1954.

The feast day of Saint Valentine, priest and martyr, was included in the Tridentine Calendar, with the rank of Simple, on February 14. In 1955, Pope Pius XII reduced the celebration to a commemoration within the celebration of the occurring weekday. In 1969, this commemoration was removed from the General Roman Calendar, but Saint Valentine continues to be recognized as a saint, since he is included in the Roman Martyrology, the Catholic Church's official list of saints. The feast day of Saint Valentine also continues to be included in local calendars of places such as Balzan and Malta, where relics of the saint are claimed to be found.
See also

    * La Fête du Baiser
    * Saint Valentine, 8th century Spanish martyr
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/Osarseph/322012-7.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f249/InsaneAmbiguous/StValentinemosaic.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d42/cha_psh/saint.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/14/10 at 5:24 am


I was just about to do him ;D
Sorry http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/valentine/smiley.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 6:16 am


Sorry http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/valentine/smiley.gif

That's OK :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/14/10 at 6:19 am


That's OK :)
Originally I was going to James Cook, the English explorer, navigator and cartographer, who died this day in 1779 in Hawaii, but the info was far too much to handle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/14/10 at 6:41 am


The word of the day...Heart
      Your heart is the organ in your chest that pumps the blood around your body. People also use heart to refer to the area of their chest that is closest to their heart
You can refer to someone's heart when you are talking about their deep feelings and beliefs.
You use heart when you are talking about someone's character and attitude towards other people, especially when they are kind and generous.
If you refer to things of the heart, you mean love and relationships
The heart of something is the most central and important part of it.
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/PicPocket74/coffee%20art/Copyofhearts.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae1/cillymiu/Heart/lovimage0sbnF.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h47/satasiza/heart.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/All_About_Anime/heart.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j301/brunette58/heart-1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/jowanna__daatio/patterns/heart.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn290/RAWRxitsmaya/REAL_HEART.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae1/cillymiu/Heart/shwluvh1.jpg




http://www.tailgatershandbook.com/Images/Heart.jpg  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/14/10 at 6:45 am

My Heart Will Goo On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saalGKY7ifU

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/14/10 at 6:45 am


My Heart Will Goo On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saalGKY7ifU


a very sad song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 12:33 pm


Originally I was going to James Cook, the English explorer, navigator and cartographer, who died this day in 1779 in Hawaii, but the info was far too much to handle.

I had that a couple of times where it told me I had too many words, sometimes it's hard to distinguish what to keep and what not.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 12:34 pm


My Heart Will Goo On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saalGKY7ifU


a very sad song.

Yes and very beautiful :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/14/10 at 12:37 pm


I had that a couple of times where it told me I had too many words, sometimes it's hard to distinguish what to keep and what not.
Exactly, that was the same reason for me too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/14/10 at 6:44 pm


British Person of the Day: Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg (born Simon John Beckingham; 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer and director. He is best known for his starring roles in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run, the comedy series Spaced and his portrayal of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the revamped Star Trek. Much of his major work has been in collaboration with some combination of Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, Dylan Moran and Edgar Wright.

Career

In 1993, he moved to London and performed on the stand-up comedy circuit. In 1995 he took his acclaimed one-man show to the Edinburgh Festival, which led to his being invited to perform at festivals in Adelaide and Melbourne in Australia and Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand, which he did in 1996 and 1997. His work as a stand up attracted the attention of several TV producers, leading to appearances in Asylum, Six Pairs of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies. From 1998 to 2004, Pegg regularly featured on BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge. In 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with Jessica Stevenson. For this project Pegg brought in Nick Frost, his best friend. For his performance in this series, Pegg was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer. Pegg co-wrote (with Spaced director Edgar Wright) and starred in the "romantic zombie comedy" film Shaun of the Dead, released in April 2004. At George A. Romero's invitation, Pegg and Wright made cameo appearances in Romero's film, Land of the Dead. In 2004, Pegg also starred in a spin-off of the television show Danger! 50,000 Volts! called Danger! 50,000 Zombies!, in which he played a zombie hunter named Dr. Russel Fell.

Pegg's other credits include the World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, guest appearances on Black Books, Brass Eye Special, I'm Alan Partridge, The Parole Officer and in the Factory Records story 24 Hour Party People. He also played the mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog, in a series of Big Finish Productions audio plays based on the character from British comic 2000 AD and featured in Guest House Paradiso, a film based on the sitcom Bottom.

Pegg appeared in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio story Invaders From Mars as Don Chaney, and portrayed the Editor in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Long Game". He also narrated the first series of the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential.

Upon completion of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was questioned on whether he would be abandoning the British film industry for bigger and better things, to which he replied "It's not like I'm going to run off and do Mission: Impossible III!" He then promptly went on to do just that, playing Benji Dunn, an I.M.F. technician who assists Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt. In 2006 he played an American character, Gus, in Big Nothing alongside David Schwimmer.

In 2006, Pegg and Wright completed their second film, Hot Fuzz, released in February 2007. The film is a police-action movie homage and also stars Nick Frost. Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London policeman who is transferred to rural Sandford, a fictional village situated in Pegg's home county of Gloucestershire, where grisly events take place.

In 2007, Pegg starred in The Good Night (directed by Jake Paltrow) and Run Fatboy Run directed by David Schwimmer and co-starring Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria.

In 2008, Pegg wrote the dialogue for an English language re-release of the cult 2006 animated Norwegian film, Free Jimmy. Pegg received screenwriting credit for this, and Pegg also voiced one of the main characters in the English language version, which has an international range of actors including Woody Harrelson.

Pegg is co-writing and starring with Nick Frost in an upcoming film entitled Paul, with production expected to begin in June 2009. The plot revolves around characters played by Pegg and Frost road tripping across America. Pegg also announced that he and Wright had the idea for "the concluding part in what we are calling our 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy" (the first two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). It is provisionally called The World Ends. In those films and in Spaced, Pegg typically plays the leading hero while Frost plays the sidekick. However, he has revealed that Paul will reverse this dynamic. Pegg has also stated that Wright will not direct, Paul not being part of their 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy. The completed script appeared on the 2008 Black List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays. Paul received two votes.

Pegg played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the newest Star Trek film, released 8 May 2009. He wore a kilt to the film's United Kingdom premiere, at the Empire Leicester Square theatre. He told Jo Russell's show on Absolute Radio that he is waiting for a Scotty action figure to add to his collection of Simon Pegg action figures from Dr Who, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead. He is currently completing a film, directed by John Landis, about Burke and Hare, the Ulster men who were notorious murderers and bodysnatchers in early nineteenth-century Edinburgh. His likeness was also used for the character of Wee Hughie in the comic book series The Boys; while this was done without Pegg's permission, he quickly became a fan of the title, and even wrote the introduction to the first bound volume.

Movies

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
The World's End (2010)
Paul (2010)
Star Trek (2009)
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)
Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007)
The Good Night (2007)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Grindhouse (2007)
Big Nothing (2006)
Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Free Jimmy (2006)
Land of the Dead (2005)
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Sex & Lies (2004)
The Reckoning (2003)
Final Demand (2003)
24 Hour Party People (2002)
Band of Brothers (2001)
The Parole Officer (2001)
Guest House Paradiso (1999)
Tube Tales (1999)

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bca0simon-pegg-290x400.jpg


I enjoy his films. Interesting bio, Philip. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Womble on 02/14/10 at 6:47 pm


The word of the day...Heart
      Your heart is the organ in your chest that pumps the blood around your body. People also use heart to refer to the area of their chest that is closest to their heart
You can refer to someone's heart when you are talking about their deep feelings and beliefs.
You use heart when you are talking about someone's character and attitude towards other people, especially when they are kind and generous.
If you refer to things of the heart, you mean love and relationships
The heart of something is the most central and important part of it.
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/PicPocket74/coffee%20art/Copyofhearts.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae1/cillymiu/Heart/lovimage0sbnF.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h47/satasiza/heart.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/All_About_Anime/heart.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j301/brunette58/heart-1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/jowanna__daatio/patterns/heart.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn290/RAWRxitsmaya/REAL_HEART.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae1/cillymiu/Heart/shwluvh1.jpg



Love the heart pics, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/14/10 at 6:51 pm


Originally I was going to James Cook, the English explorer, navigator and cartographer, who died this day in 1779 in Hawaii, but the info was far too much to handle.


I was reading in the Sunday paper all about his death (in Hawaii). They thought he was a living god...then, unfortunately for him, they changed their minds!  :o  There is a monument to James Cook on the big island of Hawaii with the surrounding land deemed as English territory (forever England).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/14/10 at 6:53 pm


Love the heart pics, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Ditto. O0 And a perfect day to post all of that info.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 7:03 pm


Love the heart pics, Ninny. Thanks for sharing.  :)

Thanks Vinny :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/10 at 7:04 pm


Ditto. O0 And a perfect day to post all of that info.

Thanks Jeff :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/15/10 at 7:09 am

The word of the day...Dollhouse
a toy house with small furniture and sometimes dolls in it for children to play with
a house so small that it is likened to a child's plaything
Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer-director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. The show premiered on February 13, 2009 on the Fox network. ...
A dollhouse is a toy home, made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and ...
A Doll's House (Et dukkehjem) is an 1879 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu120/darsvet2/dollhouse.jpg
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu120/darsvet2/dollhouse2.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac93/Fistfulofcoupons/doll-house.gif
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa118/meiweihuang/doll%20house/belledollhouse016edSmall.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj77/PKtech/TV/dollhouse1-liten.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/15/10 at 7:12 am

The person born on this day...Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom (born Patricia Claire Blume; 15 February 1931) is an English film and stage actress
Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Grew) and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales. Her paternal grandparents, originally named Blumenthal, as well as her maternal grandparents, originally named Griewski, were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Bloom attended secondary school at the independent Badminton School in Bristol.
Career

After training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Central School of Speech and Drama, Bloom made her debut on BBC radio programmes. She made her stage debut in 1946, when she was 15, with the Oxford Repertory Theatre. Her London stage debut was in 1947 in the hit Christopher Fry play The Lady's Not For Burning, which also featured the young Richard Burton, starred John Gielgud and Pamela Brown and which, subsequently, was produced, with the aforementioned four, on Broadway in New York. The following year, she received great acclaim for her portrayal of Ophelia in Hamlet, the first of many works by William Shakespeare in which Bloom would appear.

Bloom has appeared in a number of plays and theatrical works in both London and New York. Those works include Look Back in Anger, Rashomon, and Bloom's favorite role, that of Blanche in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. Bloom has also performed in a one woman show that included monologues from several of her stage performances.

Bloom's first film role was in 1948, for the film The Blind Goddess. She was chosen by Charlie Chaplin in 1952 to appear in his film Limelight, which catapulted Bloom to stardom, and remains one of her most memorable roles. She was subsequently featured in a number of "costume" roles in films such as Alexander the Great, The Brothers Karamazov, The Buccaneer, and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Bloom also appeared in Laurence Olivier's film version of Richard III, Ibsen's A Doll's House, The Outrage with Paul Newman and Laurence Harvey, as well as the films The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Look Back in Anger, both with Richard Burton.

In the 1960s she began to play more contemporary roles, including an unhinged housewife in The Chapman Report, a psychologist in the Oscar winning film Charly, and Theodora in The Haunting. She also appeared in the Woody Allen film Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Her most recent appearance in a Hollywood film was in the 1996 Sylvester Stallone film Daylight.

Bloom has appeared on television, perhaps the most memorable of which was her portrayal of Lady Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited (1981). Other roles included two prominent BBC Television productions for director Rudolph Cartier; co-starring with Sean Connery in Anna Karenina (1961), and playing Cathy in Wuthering Heights with Keith Michell as Heathcliff (1962). She also appeared as First Lady Edith Wilson in Backstairs at the White House (1979); as Joy Gresham, the wife of C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands (For that performance she received the BAFTA Award as Best Actress. (1985), and as the older Sophy in the 1992 miniseries The Camomile Lawn on Britain's Channel 4. Her most recent appearance in a miniseries was in the 2006 version of The Ten Commandments.

On continuing television series, she has appeared on the New York-based Law & Order: Criminal Intent. From 1991 to 1993, she portrayed villainess Orlena Grimaldi on the daytime drama As the World Turns. She also had major roles in several of the BBC-Shakespeare Play television presentations and has led workshops on Shakespearean performance practices.

In January 2006, she appeared on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri, a two-hander in which she co-starred with Billy Zane.

In December of 2009, she appeared in the BBC's Doctor Who alongside David Tennant in his final story as the Tenth Doctor, as a Time Lord credited only as "The Woman." though Russell T Davies alludes that the character is supposed to be The Doctor's mother in his book "A Writers Tale"
Personal life

Bloom has married three times. Her first marriage, in 1959, was to actor Rod Steiger, whom she had met when they both performed in the play Rashomon. Their daughter is opera singer Anna Steiger. Steiger and Bloom divorced in 1969. In that same year, Bloom married producer Hillard Elkins. The marriage lasted three years and the couple divorced in 1972. Bloom's third marriage on April 29, 1990 was to writer Philip Roth, her longtime companion. The couple divorced in 1995.

Bloom has written two memoirs about her life and career. The first, Limelight and After: The Education of an Actress, was released in 1982 and was an in-depth look at her career and the film and stage roles she had portrayed. Her second book, Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoir, was published in 1996, and went into greater details about her personal life; she discussed not only her marriages but her romantic relationships with Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier. The book created a stir when Bloom detailed the highly complicated relationship between her and Philip Roth during their marriage. The details Bloom shared were unflattering to Roth, and created a controversy regarding the true nature of their relationship. The character of Eve Frame in Roth's 1998 novel I Married a Communist is clearly intended as a retort.
Selected filmography

   * 1952: Limelight
   * 1953: The Man Between
   * 1955: "Richard III"
   * 1956: Alexander the Great)
   * 1957: The Brothers Karamazov
   * 1958: The Buccaneer
   * 1958: Look Back in Anger
   * 1960: Schachnovelle
   * 1961: The Chapman report
   * 1962: The wonderful world of the Brothers Grimm
   * 1962: The Haunting
   * 1963: Eighty thousand suspects
   * 1964: The Outrage
   * 1965: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
   * 1968: Charly
   * 1968: Three into two won’t go
   * 1968: The illustrated man
   * 1970: A Severed Head
   * 1973: The going up of David Lev
   * 1973: A doll’s house
   * 1976: Islands in the stream
   * 1981: Brideshead Revisited
   * 1981: Clash of the titans
   * 1983: Separate tables
   * 1984: Ellis Island
   * 1985: Ann and Debbie (TV)
   * 1986: Shadows on the sun
   * 1987: Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
   * 1987: Queenie
   * 1988: The lady and the highwayman
   * 1988: Shadow on the sun
   * 1989: Crimes and Misdemeanors
   * 1992: It’s nothing personal
   * 1994: Remember
   * 1994: A village affair
   * 1995: Mighty Aphrodite
   * 1996: Daylight
   * 1997: What the deaf man heard
   * 2000: Yesterday’s children
   * 2000: Love and murder: Love and murder
   * 2002: The Book of Eve
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/ClaireBloomRichardBurton2-1.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww31/haroldfilm/ClaireBloom.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa218/sulamite3/Doctor%20Who/claire-bloom.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/15/10 at 7:13 am


The word of the day...Dollhouse
a toy house with small furniture and sometimes dolls in it for children to play with
a house so small that it is likened to a child's plaything
Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer-director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. The show premiered on February 13, 2009 on the Fox network. ...
A dollhouse is a toy home, made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and ...
A Doll's House (Et dukkehjem) is an 1879 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu120/darsvet2/dollhouse.jpg
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu120/darsvet2/dollhouse2.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac93/Fistfulofcoupons/doll-house.gif
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh82/quiroz923/Doll%20House/dollHouse074.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z269/depot09/barbie_doll_house.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss124/TamariaHolt01/house.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa118/meiweihuang/doll%20house/belledollhouse016edSmall.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj77/PKtech/TV/dollhouse1-liten.jpg


Sorry,never owned a dollhouse. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/15/10 at 7:17 am

The person who died on this day...Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat "King" Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death; he is widely considered one of the most important musical personalities in United States history. Cole's first mainstream vocal hit was his 1943 recording of one of his compositions, "Straighten Up and Fly Right," based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Johnny Mercer invited him to record it for the fledgling Capitol Records label. It sold over 500,000 copies, proving that folk-based material could appeal to a wide audience. Although Cole would never be considered a rocker, the song can be seen as anticipating the first rock and roll records. Indeed, Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.

Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing more pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period by hits such as "The Christmas Song" (Cole recorded that tune four times: on June 14, 1946, as a pure Trio recording, on August 19, 1946, with an added string section, on August 24, 1953, and in 1961 for the double album The Nat King Cole Story; this final version, recorded in stereo, is the one most often heard today), "Nature Boy" (1948), "Mona Lisa" (1950), "Too Young" (the #1 song in 1951), and his signature tune "Unforgettable" (1951). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never totally abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956, for instance, he recorded an all-jazz album After Midnight. Cole had one of his last big hits two years before his death, in 1963, with the classic "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer", which reached #6 on the Pop chart.
Making television history

On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. The Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time.

Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues—many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt worked for industry scale (or even for no pay) in order to help the show save money—The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship. Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.

The last episode of "The Nat King Cole Show" aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show. NBC, as well as Cole himself, had been operating at an extreme financial loss. Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark." This statement, with the passing of time, has fueled the urban legend that Cole's show had to close down despite enormous popularity. In fact, the Cole program was routinely beaten by the competition at ABC, which was then riding high with its travel and western shows. In addition, musical variety series have always been risky enterprises with a fickle public; among the one-season casualties are Frank Sinatra in 1957, Judy Garland in 1963, and Julie Andrews in 1972.

In 1964, Cole made one of his final television appearances on The Jack Benny Program. In his typically magnanimous fashion, Benny allowed his guest star to steal the show. Cole sang “When I Fall in Love” in perhaps his finest and most memorable performance. Cole was introduced as “the best friend a song ever had” and traded very humorous banter with Benny. Cole highlighted a classic Benny skit in which Benny is upstaged by an emergency stand-in drummer. Introduced as Cole’s cousin, five-year-old James Bradley Jr. stunned Benny with incredible drumming talent and participated with Cole in playful banter at Benny’s expense. It would prove to be one of Cole's last performances.
Racism
Unbalanced scales.svg
This article may be inaccurate in or unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (August 2009)
Nat King Cole corner in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Cole fought racism all his life and refused to perform in segregated venues. In 1956, he was assaulted on stage during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, (while singing the song "Little Girl") by three members of the North Alabama White Citizens Council (a group led by Education of Little Tree author Asa "Forrest" Carter, himself not among the attackers), who apparently were attempting to kidnap him. The three male attackers ran down the aisles of the auditorium towards Cole and his band. Although local law enforcement quickly ended the invasion of the stage, the ensuing melée toppled Cole from his piano bench and injured his back. Cole did not finish the concert and never again performed in the South. A fourth member of the group who had participated in the plot was later arrested in connection with the act. All were later tried and convicted for their roles in the crime.

In 1956 he was contracted to perform in Cuba and wanted to stay at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana, but was not allowed to because it operated a color bar. Cole honored his contract, however, and the concert at the Tropicana was a huge success. The following year, he returned to Cuba for another concert, singing many songs in Spanish. There is now a tribute to him in the form of a bust and a jukebox in the Hotel Nacional.
1950s and beyond

Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to rack up hit after hit, including "Smile", "Pretend", "A Blossom Fell", and "If I May". His pop hits were collaborations with well-known arrangers and conductors of the day, including Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, and Ralph Carmichael. Riddle arranged several of Cole's 1950s albums, including his first 10-inch long-play album, his 1953 Nat King Cole Sings For Two In Love. In 1955, his single "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" reached #7 on the Billboard chart. Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, which hit #1 on the album charts in April 1957.

In 1958, Cole went to Havana, Cuba to record Cole Español, an album sung entirely in Spanish. The album was so popular in Latin America, as well as in the USA, that two others of the same variety followed: A Mis Amigos (sung in Spanish and Portuguese) in 1959 and More Cole Español in 1962. A Mis Amigos contains the Venezuelan hit "Ansiedad," whose lyrics Cole had learned while performing in Caracas in 1958. Cole learned songs in languages other than English by rote.

After the change in musical tastes during the late 1950s, Cole's ballad singing did not sell well with younger listeners, despite a successful stab at rock n' roll with "Send For Me" (peaked at #6 pop). Along with his contemporaries Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Bennett, Cole found that the pop singles chart had been almost entirely taken over by youth-oriented acts. In 1960, Nat's longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle left Capitol Records for Frank Sinatra's newly formed Reprise Records label. Riddle and Cole recorded one final hit album, Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. Cole later retooled the concept album into an off-Broadway show, "I'm With You."

Cole did manage to record some hit singles during the 1960s, including the country-flavored hit "Ramblin' Rose" in August 1962 as well as "Dear Lonely Hearts", "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer" (his final hit, reaching #6 pop), and "That Sunday, That Summer".

Cole performed in many short films, sitcoms, and television shows and played W. C. Handy in the film St. Louis Blues (1958). He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia (1953). Cat Ballou (1965), his final film, was released several months after his death.
Death and posthumous achievements
Cole's vault at Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes. He believed smoking kept his voice low. (He would smoke several cigarettes in succession before a recording for this very purpose.) He died of lung cancer on February 15, 1965, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. His funeral was held at St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. His remains were interred inside Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

His last album, L-O-V-E, was recorded in early December 1964—just a few days before he entered the hospital for cancer treatment—and was released just prior to his death. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. A "Best Of" album went gold in 1968. His 1957 recording of "When I Fall In Love" reached #4 in the UK charts in 1987.

In 1983, an archivist for EMI Electrola Records, EMI (Capitol's parent company) Records' subsidiary in Germany, discovered some songs Cole had recorded but that had never been released, including one in Japanese and another in Spanish ("Tu Eres Tan Amable"). Capitol released them later that year as the LP "Unreleased."

Cole was inducted into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1990, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1997 was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In 1991, Mosaic Records released "The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio," an 18-compact-disc set consisting of 349 songs. (This special compilation also was available as a 27 LP set.)

Cole's youngest brother, Freddy Cole, and Cole's daughter Natalie are also singers. In the summer of 1991, Natalie Cole and her father had a hit when Natalie mixed her own voice with her father's 1961 rendition of "Unforgettable" as part of a tribute album to her father's music. The song and album of the same name won seven Grammy awards in 1992.
Marriage, children and other personal details

There has been some confusion as to Cole's actual year of birth. Cole himself used four different dates on official documents: 1915, 1916, 1917, and 1919. However, Nathaniel is listed with his parents and older siblings in the 1920 U.S. Federal census for Montgomery Ward 7 and his age is given as nine months old. Since this is a contemporary record, it is very likely he was born in 1919. This is also consistent with the 1930 census which finds him at age 11 with his family in Chicago's Ward 3. In the 1920 census, the race of all members of the family (Ed, Perlina, Eddie M., Edward D., Evelina and Nathaniel) is recorded as mulatto. Cole's birth year is also listed as 1919 on the Nat King Cole Society's web site.

Cole's first marriage, to Nadine Robinson, ended in 1948. On March 28, 1948 (Easter Sunday), just six days after his divorce from Nadine became final, Cole married singer Maria Hawkins Ellington. Although Maria had sung with Duke Ellington's band, she is not related to Duke Ellington. Maria and Cole were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. They had five children: daughter Natalie (born 1950); adopted daughter Carole (the daughter of Maria's sister), (1944-2009), who died of lung cancer aged 64; adopted son Nat Kelly Cole (1959-1995), who died of AIDS at 36; and twin girls Casey and Timolin (born 1961).

In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Members of the property-owners association told Cole they did not want any undesirables moving in. Cole retorted, "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain." The Ku Klux Klan, still active in Los Angeles well into the 1950s, responded by placing a burning cross on his front lawn.

Cole carried on affairs throughout his marriages. By the time he developed lung cancer, he was estranged from his wife Maria in favor of actress Gunilla Hutton, best known as Nurse Goodbody of "Hee Haw" fame. But he was with Maria during his illness, and she stayed with him until his death. In an interview, Maria expressed no lingering resentment over his affairs. Instead, she emphasized his musical legacy and the class he exhibited in all other aspects of his life.

An official United States postage stamp featuring Cole's likeness was issued in 1994.

In 2000 Cole was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the major influences for early Rock and Roll.
Politics

Cole sang at the 1956 Republican National Convention in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California, on August 23, 1956. There, his "singing of 'That's All There Is To That' was greeted with applause." He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960 to throw his support behind President John F. Kennedy. Cole was also among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961. Cole frequently consulted with President Kennedy (and later President Johnson) on civil rights.
Notable TV appearances (other than his own show)

   * Ed Sullivan: Nat King Cole was on The Ed Sullivan Show six times before his own show ran regularly in 1957. He appeared twice after his show ended, once in 1958
         o Nat King Cole appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show by: (Season, Episode and Production Number, Air Date, Episode Title)
               + Season 9 (380.9-2 02-Oct-1955)
                     # Scheduled: Nat King Cole; "Fanny" cast and Josh Logan
               + Season 9 (383.9-5 23-Oct-1955)
                     # Scheduled: Nat King Cole & wife Maria; Jack Palance and Rod Steiger
               + Season 9 (404.9-26 18-Mar-1956)
                     # Scheduled: Marcel Marceau; Eli Wallach; Nat King Cole and Cesare Siepe
               + Season 9 (405.9-27 25-Mar-1956)
                     # Scheduled: Nat King Cole; Jack Carter and Reese & Davis
               + Season 9 (411.9-33 06-May-1956)
                     # Scheduled: Tony Martin; Nat King Cole; Edie Adams; The Lovers and Will Jordan
               + Season 9 (416.9-38 10-Jun-1956)
                     # Scheduled: Nat King Cole; Bob Hope (on film); Jack Carter and film: "A Short Vision"
               + Season 11 (510.11-29 13-Apr-1958)
                     # Scheduled: Nat King Cole; Mickey Mantle; Yogi Berra and Jack Norworth
               + Season 14 (648.14-16 29-Jan-1961)
                     # Scheduled: Carmen McRae; Carol Channing and Nat King Cole
   * Dinah Shore: Nat King Cole was also on The Dinah Shore Show – singing "Mr. Cole Won’t Rock & Roll" — in the early-1960s.
   * Your Show of Shows ... aka Sid Caesar's Show of Shows - Episode dated September 12, 1953.
   * What's My Line? (Mystery Guest, December 6, 1953)
   * An Evening With Nat King Cole BBC Special 1963.

Discography
Main article: Nat King Cole discography
Filmography
Features

   * Citizen Kane (1941) (off-screen)
   * Here Comes Elmer (1943)
   * Pistol Packin' Mama (1943)
   * Pin Up Girl (1944)
   * Stars on Parade (1944)
   * Swing in the Saddle (1944)
   * See My Lawyer (1945)
   * Breakfast in Hollywood (1946)
   * Killer Diller (1948)
   * Make Believe Ballroom (1949)
   * The Blue Gardenia (1953)
   * Small Town Girl (1953)
   * Rock 'n' Roll Revue (1955)
   * Rhythm and Blues Revue (1955)
   * Basin Street Revue (1956)
   * The Scarlet Hour (1956)
   * Istanbul (1957)
   * China Gate (1957)
   * St. Louis Blues (1958)
   * Night of the Quarter Moon (1959)
   * Schlager-Raketen (1960)
   * Cat Ballou (1965)

Short subjects

   * King Cole Trio & Benny Carter Orchestra (1950)
   * Nat King Cole and Joe Adams Orchestra (1952)
   * Nat King Cole and Russ Morgan and His Orchestra (1953)
   * The Nat King Cole Musical Story (1955)

See also
Music portal

   * List of African American firsts
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/jasongwalls/nat.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r33/musicalheatwave/natkingcole.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o30/jazz_bread_bucket/nat-king-cole2copy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/15/10 at 7:22 am

Unforgettable. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/15/10 at 10:44 am


Unforgettable. :)

Great song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/16/10 at 6:12 am

The word of the day...Crowd
A crowd is a large group of people who have gathered together, for example to watch or listen to something interesting, or to protest about something
A particular crowd is a group of friends, or a set of people who share the same interests or job.
When people crowd around someone or something, they gather closely together around them.
http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad279/thelafayettetheater/crowd.jpg
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt344/Quickrick/shocked-crowd.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx132/michaelvancouver/olympiccrowds030.jpg
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr165/antopatterson/orchardroad-crowd.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv191/Hondo6599/P1030476.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz163/AmberScherer/Live%20Love%20Laugh%20Music/theresalilloveineveryone.jpg
http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv294/Patrick-AUS/Austria/Salzburg/IMG_0934.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz72/ids-houston/IDS%20Craigslist/02-ikeacrowd240x16.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q260/Alisaura/Europe%202009/Dublin%20II/P7250630sml.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/16/10 at 6:14 am

The person born on this day...John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE (16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director.
Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician. After Uppingham School and graduating from Balliol College, Oxford, he worked as an actor.
Career

One of his earliest films, the British Transport Films' documentary Terminus (1960), gained a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two fiction movies, A Kind of Loving (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) were set in the North of England. A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962.

His third Darling (1965) described tartly the modern urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about 'swinging London'. Schlesinger's next movie was Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel. Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969) was internationally acclaimed and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.

His later films include Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976), Yanks (1979), Pacific Heights (1990), A Question of Attribution (1991), The Innocent (1993) and The Next Best Thing (2000).

Schlesinger also directed Timon of Athens (1965) for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the musical I and Albert (1972) at London's Piccadilly Theatre. From 1973 he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre.

Openly gay, Schlesinger dealt with homosexuality in Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday and The Next Best Thing, and two main characters in Marathon Man were at least implicitly gay. Speaking about Midnight Cowboy's unflattering portrayal of homosexuality, he stated that he was against political correctness and the self-censorship it encourages, which would prevent such a film from being made today.

Schlesinger also directed a notable party political broadcast for the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom general election, 1992 which featured Prime Minister John Major returning to Brixton in south London where he had spent his teenage years, which highlighted his humble background, atypical for a Conservative politician. Schlesinger admitted to voting for all three main political parties in the UK at one time or another.

The book and TV series The Glittering Prizes, writer Frederic Raphael, who won the Best Screenwriting Oscar for his work on Schlesinger's film Darling, feature a character believed to be based on Schlesinger.
Death

Schlesinger underwent a quadruple heart bypass in 1998, before suffering a stroke in December 2000. He was taken off life support at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs on July 24, 2003 by his life partner of over 30 years, photographer Michael Childers. Schlesinger died early the following day at the age of 77.
Filmography

Feature and television films

    * A Kind of Loving (1962)
    * Billy Liar (1963)
    * Darling (1965)
    * Far From the Madding Crowd (1967)
    * Midnight Cowboy (1969)
    * Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
    * Visions of Eight (1973)
    * The Day of the Locust (1975)
    * Marathon Man (1976)
    * Yanks (1979)
    * Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
    * Privileged (1982)
    * Separate Tables (1983) (TV)
    * An Englishman Abroad (1983) (TV)
    * The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
    * The Believers (1987)
    * Madame Sousatzka (1988)
    * Pacific Heights (1990)
    * A Question of Attribution (1991) (TV)
    * The Innocent (1993)
    * Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV)
    * Eye for an Eye (1996)
    * The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1998) (TV)
    * The Next Best Thing (2000)
http://i643.photobucket.com/albums/uu156/NerfHerdAnon/Actors/JSchlesinger.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/16/10 at 6:19 am

The person who died on this day...Eddie Foy
Eddie Foy, Sr. (born Edwin Fitzgerald March 9, 1856, in Greenwich Village, New York City; died February 16, 1928, Kansas City, Missouri), was an actor, comedian, dancer and vaudevillian.
Foy's parents, Richard and Mary Fitzgerald immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1855 and lived first in New York's Bowery, then in Greenwich Village, where Eddie was born. Richard Fitzgerald died in an insane asylum in 1862 from syphilis-induced dementia, and his widow took her four children (Eddie was second oldest) to Chicago, where she reportedly at one time tended the mentally ill widow of Abraham Lincoln. Six-year-old Eddie began performing in in the streets and local saloons to support his family. At 15, he changed his name to Foy and with a partner began dancing in bars, traveling throughout the western United States. He worked for a time as a supernumerary in theatrical productions, sharing a stage at times with such leading men of the time as Edwin Booth and Joseph Jefferson. With another partner, Jim Thompson, Foy went west again and gained his first professional recognition in mining camps and cow towns. In one such town, Dodge City, Kansas, Foy and his partner lingered for some time and Foy became acquainted with notable citizens Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday. Foy in later years told of an altercation over a girl with fellow actor Charles Chapin, who was drunkenly taking pot-shots at Foy. The gunfire awakened Wyatt Earp, who disarmed the actor and sent both the players home to sleep it off. Foy is also rumored to have been in Tombstone, Arizona in October 1881 appearing at the local theatre when the Gunfight at the OK Corral occurred on the 26th of that month.

In 1879, Foy married Rose Howland, one of the singing Howland Sisters, who were traveling the same circuit. Three years later, Foy and troupe relocated to Philadelphia and joined the Carncross Minstrels. That same year, however, Rose Foy died in childbirth, as did the child she was delivering. Foy lingered with the troupe for two seasons, then returned to the road. He joined David Henderson's troupe and traveled all around the U.S. dancing, doing comedy, and acting in farces. In San Francisco, he met Lola Sefton and was romantically involved with her for ten years, until her death in 1894. Although some sources claim they were married, no record of their marriage has ever been found, nor apparently did Foy ever state clearly that a marriage had occurred. They had no children.
Return to Chicago
Sheet music for Wedding Bells from Sinbad with Eddie Foy on the cover, 1891

He returned to Chicago in 1888 as the star comedian in variety shows and revues, initially for his own company. He played the variety circuits for years in a series of song and dance acts, eventually rising to musical comedy stardom in such Broadway hits as The Strollers (1901), and Mr. Bluebeard (1903). Foy specialized in eccentric routines and costumes, often appearing in drag to hilarious effect. His upper lip extended well below his teeth, giving him an unusual V-shaped grin, and making him look like he had no upper teeth. As a result he spoke with a slurred lisp that audiences adored.

In 1896, Foy married his third wife, Madeline Morando, a dancer with his company. She gave him eleven children, of whom seven survived. These were: Bryan (1896-1977) who became a producer at Warner Bros; Charley (1898-1984), an actor; Mary (1901-1987); Madeline (1903-1988), an actress; Eddie Jr. (1905-1983) who carved out a successful career as an actor and entertainer on stage and screen, including The Pajama Game, and Bells Are Ringing; Richard (1905-1947) and Irving (1908-2003), a writer. Eddie Jr.'s son, Eddie III, was a casting director with Columbia Pictures for over 40 years.
Eddie Foy's plaque in Eddie Foy Park

Between 1901 and 1912 Foy Sr. played the leading comic roles in a series of musical comedies in New York City and on tour including The Strollers (1901), The Wild Rose (1902), Mr. Bluebeard (1903), Piff! Paff! Pouf! (1904), The Earl and the Girl (1905), The Orchid (1907), Mr Hamlet of Broadway (1908/9), Up and Down Broadway (1910), and Over the River (1912). It was while on tour with Mr. Bluebeard that he became a hero of Chicago’s infamous Iroquois Theater Fire, December 30, 1903. A malfunctioning spotlight set fire to the scenery backstage, and Foy stayed onstage until the last minute, trying to keep the audience from panicking. Unfortunately the theatre’s safety features were woefully inadequate, the theatre personnel untrained, and some of the exits had been locked from the outside; at least 600 people perished. Foy escaped by crawling through a sewer.
Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys
The headstone of Eddie Foy in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Between 1910 and 1913, he formed a family vaudeville act, and "Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys" quickly turned into a national institution. While Eddie was a stern disciplinarian backstage (his wife Madeline died in 1918) he portrayed an indulgent papa onstage, and the Foys toured successfully for over a decade and appeared in one motion picture. When Eddie remarried - to Marie Reilly Coombs - in 1923, the children went their separate ways. A dedicated trouper, the elder Foy continued to appear in vaudeville and starred in the hit Broadway comedy "The Fallen Star" in 1927. He died of a heart attack while headlining on the Orpheum circuit in Kansas City, Mo. at age 71.

All his children except Bryan are buried with their father at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York. The family’s story was filmed in 1955 as The Seven Little Foys, with Bob Hope as Eddie Sr. and James Cagney as George M. Cohan; Charley Foy narrated. Eddie Foy Jr. appeared as his father in several films: Frontier Marshal (1939), Lillian Russell (1940), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Wilson (1944), as well as a television version of The Seven Little Foys with Mickey Rooney (1964).
See also

    * Iroquois Theater Fire
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t275/Elemenopeo/T25%20Actors/T25Foy.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/jadewik/PubPersonal/Tombstone/Billings.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/16/10 at 11:54 am


Unforgettable. :)
Thats what you are.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/16/10 at 3:08 pm

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2415/threesdesignkh5.png

Too bad this didn't last long. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/16/10 at 4:08 pm


http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2415/threesdesignkh5.png

Too bad this didn't last long. :(

I forgot about that show :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/17/10 at 5:57 am


I forgot about that show :)


That show could've lasted a couple of more years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/17/10 at 6:13 am

The word of the day...Backstage
In a theatre, backstage refers to the areas behind the stage.
out of view of the public; behind the scenes; "Working backstage to gain political support for his proposal"
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af182/Kilatsuri/n1674523286_29303_5486212.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm292/horseinside/othersnotothers/IMG_8951.jpg
http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr132/liphoto_bucket/philliplimbackstage.png
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d86/dj_philharmonic/bACKOFTHESTAGEgORGEwa.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac280/lMSAl/Selena%20Gomez/BackstageAtJimmyFallon7.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c378/Chispidedorough/BACKSTREET%20BOYS/normal_125038814537.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af206/Dielicious/DIR%20EN%20GREY/diru_backstage_07.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q95/wandog/Vancouver%20Olympics%202010/Day%205%20-%20Torch%20at%20Pavilion/IMG_2056.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/17/10 at 6:31 am

The person born on this day...Jerry O'Connell
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell (born February 17, 1974) is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan.
O'Connell was born in New York City, the son of Linda (née Witkowski), an art teacher, and Michael O'Connell, an advertising agency art director. His maternal grandfather, Charles S. Witkowski, was the mayor of Jersey City, NJ. O'Connell is of Irish descent on his father's side and Polish ancestry on his mother's. O'Connell was raised in Manhattan with a younger brother Charlie O'Connell, also an actor. O'Connell began his acting career at a young age. As a child, he did commercial work for Duncan Hines cookies. Shortly after at the age of eleven, he landed his first feature film role as the character Vern Tessio in Rob Reiner's Stand by Me. As a teenager, he starred in the Canadian TV series My Secret Identity from 1988–91, and attended Manhattan's Professional Children's School.

O'Connell attended New York University (NYU) from 1991 to 1994, majoring in film. While there, he studied screen writing and competed on the NYU fencing team, serving a stint as captain of the sabre squad. However, he left NYU several credits short of graduation in 1999.
Adult career

O'Connell starred in the sci-fi sitcom My Secret Identity from 1988-1991 as the teen hero who develops superhuman traits. During a summer break from NYU, Jerry starred in the feature film Calendar Girl alongside Jason Priestley and Gabriel Olds. He also appeared in the short-lived ABC sitcom, Camp Wilder with Jay Mohr and Hilary Swank in 1992. In his Junior year, O'Connell auditioned for the TV pilot Sliders. He was offered the role of Quinn Mallory in the series, which ran for three seasons on Fox and two seasons on the Sci-Fi Channel. He served as producer during his fourth and final season, and is credited with writing and directing several episodes.

O'Connell has since gone on to star in such movies as Jerry Maguire, Body Shots, Mission to Mars, Tomcats, Scream 2, and Kangaroo Jack. O'Connell has also tried his hand at screenwriting and sold his first screenplay, for First Daughter, to New Regency in 1999. The film was released in 2004 by 20th Century Fox-based Davis Entertainment. O'Connell served as executive producer on the film, which starred Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton.

O'Connell starred as Detective Woody Hoyt on the NBC crime drama Crossing Jordan (2001) until its cancellation, and was engaged to TV personality Giuliana DePandi. He starred opposite her in the Ugly Betty episode "Derailed". O'Connell has also starred as Hoyt in several episodes of Las Vegas. In 2004, he wore a diaper on Last Call with Carson Daly, during a mock commercial skit for the GoodNites bedwetting product. The National Enquirer caught him filming the skit and printed a photo of him in his diaper.

In 2005, O'Connell guest-starred in one episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. In the episode, entitled "The Clash", he played Captain Marvel.

His younger brother Charlie O'Connell, an alumnus of NYU who was most recently seen as The Bachelor, is also an actor who has appeared with Jerry in several productions, usually playing the brother of Jerry's character, such as in Sliders and Crossing Jordan.

In 2007-08 Jerry O'Connell starred in ABC's Carpoolers, which ran from October 2, 2007 to March 4, 2008. Although it has not appeared in the Fall '08 lineup, it could come back in the future seasons on ABC.

In early 2008, O'Connell acted in a widely circulated Internet video parody of the leaked Tom Cruise video on Scientology. He also co-wrote and appeared in a video parody called "Young Hillary Clinton," satirizing Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign. On February 2, 2008, O'Connell hosted VH1's Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash, which aired the night before Super Bowl XLII and featured musical guests Maroon 5 and Mary J. Blige. On April 28, 2008, O'Connell appeared as a guest star on ABC's Samantha Who?.

In the fall of 2008 O'Connell starred in Fox's Do Not Disturb, costarring Niecy Nash, but Fox cancelled the show after only three episodes.

Most recently, he appeared in the 2009 thriller film Obsessed as "Ben", the best friend and co-worker of the film's protagonist Derek Charles (Idris Elba).

Jerry will appear in Eastwick on ABC, alongside his wife who stars in the series. Jerry will play a good man hiding a horrible secret. His character is a single father, a widower, with a young son who is a part of this secret. Kat will be drawn to him, and she will be put in danger as a result.

O'Connell portrayed Derrick Jones in Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3-D, which also stars Elizabeth Shue.

It has been announced that O'connell will co-star with David Tennant in the new NBC legal drama Rex Is Not Your Lawyer.
Personal life

On July 14, 2007, O'Connell married actress and former model Rebecca Romijn near Los Angeles in Calabasas, California.

A self-proclaimed "Super Super Fan" of The Howard Stern Show, O'Connell placed last in the "Celebrity" version of the "Super Fan Contest" that took place on May 13, 2008. His opponents were Jimmy Kimmel and Jeff Probst. Kimmel ultimately won the contest by a large margin.

After weeks of officially stating that the couple was "trying" to get pregnant, a publicist for the pair confirmed that Romijn was pregnant with twin girls. When talking about having children, O'Connell said "I am excited I am having girls. I know guys are supposed to say, 'I want a boy. I want to play baseball,' but I think I'm going to be good raising girls...I can't wait. They're going to be tough chicks. They're only having sex when I'm dead. If they don't date boys at all and just want to be infatuated with their father, that's what I'm really going for. The nunnery!" O'Connell and Romijn welcomed their twin girls, Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip, on December 28, 2008.

O'Connell enrolled in Southwestern Law School in the fall of 2009.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1986 Stand by Me Vern Tessio
1988 Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach Kid at beach Uncredited
1993 Calendar Girl Scott Foreman
1996 Joe's Apartment Joe
Jerry Maguire Frank Cushman
1997 Scream 2 Derek
1998 Can't Hardly Wait Trip McNeely Uncredited
1999 Body Shots Michael Penorisi
2000 Clayton
Mission to Mars Phil Ohlmyer
2001 Tomcats Michael Delaney
2002 The New Guy Highland Party Twin
Buying the Cow David Collins
2003 Kangaroo Jack Charlie Carbone
2004 Fat Slags Sean Cooley
2005 'Yours, Mine and Ours Max/Mac
2006 The Alibi Businessman
Man About Town David Lilly
Room 6 Lucas Dylan
2008 The Parody Video Tom Cruise Wants You to See Tom Cruise Short film
2009 Baby on Board Curtis
Obsessed Ben
2010 Piranha 3-D Derrick Jones
Cat Tale Biscuit (voice)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 The Room Upstairs Carl 1 episode
1988 The Equalizer Bobby Episode: "The Child Broker"
Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss Ralph Parker TV movie
1988-91 My Secret Identity Andrew Clements Cast member
1989 Charles in Charge David Landon Episode: "The Organization Man"
1990 TGIF Brody Unknown episodes
1992 Camp Wilder Brody Wilder Episode: "See Spot Go"
1995 The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky Mac TV movie
Blue River Lawrence Sellars
1995-99 Sliders Quinn Mallory Cast member
1999 The 60's Brian Herlihy TV movie
2001 Night Visions Andy Episode: "Rest Stop"
2002 Going to California Pete Rossock Episode: "Searching For Eddie Van Halen"
Rome Fire Ryan Wheeler TV movie
2002-7 Crossing Jordan Detective Woody Hoyt Cast member
2003 MADtv Ted Levin Episode: 8.12
2004 Without a Trace Joe Gibson Episode: "Hawks and Handsaws"
The Screaming Cocktail Hour Singer TV series
2004-6 Las Vegas Detective Woody Hoyt 5 episode
2005 Justice League Unlimited Captain Marvel Episode: "Clash"
2007 On the Lot Jerry 'The Move' Episode "6 Cut to 5 & 5 Directors Compete"
Ugly Betty Joel Episode: "Derailed"
The Batman Nightwing 2 episodes: "The Metal Face of Comedy", "Artifacts"
2007-8 Carpoolers Laird Cast member
2008 Samantha Who? Craig Episode: "The Gallery Show"
Do Not Disturb Neal 6 episodes
2009 Midnight Bayou Declan Fitzpatrick TV movie
Eastwick Colin Friesen Episode: "Magic Snow and Creepy Gene"
2010 Rex Is Not Your Lawyer TBA Upcoming TV series
Producer

    * Sliders (1995) TV series (producer: 1998–1999)
    * First Daughter (2004)

Director

    * Sliders (1997) TV series - "Stoker"
    * Sliders (1999) TV series - "Slidecage," "Lipschitz Live," "Data World," "Roads Taken"

Writer

    * Sliders (1999) - "Way out West",
    * First Daughter (2004) - screenplay

Music videos

    * "David Duchovny" - Bree Sharp
    * "Heartbreaker" - Mariah Carey (1999)

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t67/ryu_036/jerry-oconnell.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/LegacyGB/oconnell_chargers.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/DeeLightning/Other/0408.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/17/10 at 6:39 am

The person who died on this day...Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with director Harold Clurman, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the non-profit Actors Studio, in New York City, considered "the nation's most prestigious acting school". In 1969, Strasberg founded the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City and in Hollywood to teach the work he pioneered.

He was the chief proponent of "Method acting" from the 1920s until his death in 1982, and according to acting author Mel Gussow, "he revolutionized the art of acting and had a profound influence on performance in American theater and movies". From his base in New York, he trained several generations of theatre and film's most illustrious talents, including Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Al Pacino and director Elia Kazan.

Former student Elia Kazan directed James Dean in East of Eden (1955), for which Kazan and Dean were nominated for Academy Awards. Dean once wrote that Actors Studio was "the greatest school of the theater the best thing that can happen to an actor". In more recent years, directors like Sidney Lumet have intentionally used actors skilled in Strasberg's "Method".

Kazan, in his autobiography, wrote, "He carried with him the aura of a prophet, a magician, a witch doctor, a psychoanalyst, and a feared father of a Jewish home.... e was the force that held the thirty-odd members of the theatre together, and made them 'permanent.'" :61 Today, Ellen Burstyn, Al Pacino, and Harvey Keitel lead this nonprofit studio dedicated to the development of actors, playwrights, and directors.
Kazan biographer Richard Schickel described Strasberg's first experiences to the "art" of acting:

    He dropped out of high school, worked in a shop that made hairpieces, drifted into the theater via a settlement house company and … had his life-shaping revelation when Stanislavsky brought his Moscow Art Theatre to the United States in 1923. He had seen good acting before, of course, but never an ensemble like this with actors completely surrendering their egos to the work.... e observed, first of all, that all the actors, whether they were playing leads or small parts, worked with the same commitment and intensity. No actors idled about posing and preening (or thinking about where they might dine after the performance). More important, every actor seemed to project some sort of unspoken, yet palpable, inner life for his or her character. This was acting of a sort that one rarely saw on the American stage ... here there was little stress on the psychology of the characters or their interactions.... Strasberg was galvanized. He knew that his own future as an actor – he was a slight and unhandsome man – was limited. But he soon perceived that as a theoretician and teacher of this new 'system' it might become a major force in American theater.

Strasberg eventually left the Clare Tree Major School to study with students of Stanislavsky – Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslavsky – at the American Laboratory Theater. In 1925 Strasberg had his first professional appearance in Processional, a play produced by the Theater Guild. According to Schickel:

    What Strasberg... took away from the Actor's Lab was a belief that just as an actor could be prepared physically for his work with dance, movement and fencing classes, he could be mentally prepared by resort to analogous mental exercises. They worked on relaxation as well as concentration. They worked with nonexistent objects that helped prepare them for the exploration of equally ephemeral emotions. They learned to used “affective memory”, as Strasberg called the most controversial aspect of his teaching — summoning emotions from their own lives to illuminate their stage roles.... Strasberg believed he could codify this system, a necessary precursor to teaching it to anyone who wanted to learn it... e became a director more preoccupied with getting his actors to work in the “correct” way than he was in shaping the overall presentation.


Acting director and teacher
Group Theater

He gained a reputation with the Theater Guild of New York and helped form the Group Theater in New York in 1931. There he created a technique which became known as "the Method" or "method acting." His teaching style owed much to the Russian director, Stanislavsky, whose book, An Actor Prepares, dealt with the psychology of interpretation in acting. He began by directing, but his time was gradually taken up by the training of actors. Called "America’s first true theatrical collective," the Lab immediately offered a few tuition-free scholarships for its three-year program to "promising students".
Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio

Publishers Weekly wrote "The Group Theatre... ith its self-defined mission to reconnect theater to the world of ideas and actions, staged plays that confronted social and moral issues... ith members Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Stella and Luther Adler, Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan and an ill-assorted band of idealistic actors living hand to mouth are seen welded in a collective of creativity that was also a tangle of jealousies, love affairs and explosive feuds." Playwright Arthur Miller said "the Group Theatre was unique and probably will never be repeated. For awhile it was literally the voice of Depression America".

Co-founder Harold Clurman, in describing what Strasberg brought to the Group Theater, wrote:

    Lee Strasberg is one of the few artists among American theater directors. He is the director of introverted feeling, of strong emotion curbed by ascetic control, sentiment of great intensity muted by delicacy, pride, fear, shame. The effect he produces is a clasic hush, tense and tragic, a constant conflict so held in check that a kind of beautiful spareness results. The roots are clearly in the intimate experience of a complex psychology, an acute awareness of human contradiction and suffering.


Actors

In 1947, Elia Kazan, Robert Lewis, and Cheryl Crawford, also members of the Group Theatre, started the Actors Studio as a non-profit workshop for professional and aspiring actors to concentrate on their craft away from the pressures of the commercial theatre. Strasberg assumed leadership of the studio in 1951 as its artistic director. "As a teacher and acting theorist, he revolutionized American actor training and engaged such remarkable performers as Kim Hunter, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Ellen Burstyn, and Al Pacino." Since its inception the Studio has been a nonprofit educational corporation chartered by the state of New York, and has been supported entirely by contributions and benefits.... We have here the possibility of creating a kind of theatre that would be a shining medal for our country", Strasberg said in 1959. UCLA acting teacher Robert Hethmon writes, "The Actors Studio is a refuge. Its privacy is guarded ferociously against the casual intruder, the seeker of curiousities, and the exploiter... he Studio helps actors to meet the enemy within... and contributes greatly to Strasberg's utterly pragmatic views on training the actor and solving his problems ... is kept deliberately modest in its circumstances, its essence being the private room where Lee Strasberg and some talented actors can work."

Strasberg wrote, "At the studio, we do not sit around and feed each other's egos. People are shocked how severe we are on each other." Admission to the Actors Studio was usually by audition with more than a thousand actors auditioning each year and the directors usually conferring membership on only five or six each year. "The Studio was, and is sui generis", said Elia Kazan, proudly. Beginning in a small, private way, with a strictly off-limits-to-outsiders policy, the Studio quickly earned a high reputation in theatre circles. "It became the place to be, the forum where all the most promising and unconventional young actors were being cultivated by sharp young directors..." Actors who have worked at the studio include Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton, Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Patricia Neal, Rod Steiger, Mildred Dunnock, Eva Marie Saint, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Ben Gazzara, Sidney Poitier, Karl Malden, Shelley Winters and Sally Field.
Strasberg acting with Al Pacino in Godfather II

Al Pacino

        The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn't been given the credit he deserves. Brando doesn't give Lee any credit ... Next to Charlie , it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting.

   

Marlon Brando
    Movie stars spawned by Strasberg's Actors Studio were of a new type which is often labeled the "rebel hero", wrote Pamela Wojcik. Historian Sam Staggs writes that "Brando was the hot, sleek engine on the Actors Studio express", and called him " embodiment of Method acting", but Brando was trained primarily by Stella Adler, a former member of the Group Theatre who had a falling out with Strasberg over his interpretations of Stanislavsky's ideas." He based his acting technique on the Method, once stating, "t made me a real actor. The idea is you learn to use everything that happened in your life and you learn to use it in creating the character you're working on. You learn to dig into your unconscious and make use of every experience you ever had."

Playwright Tennessee Williams

James Dean

According to James Dean biographer W. Bast, "Proud of this accomplishment, Dean referred to the studio in a 1952 letter, when he was 21 years old, to his family as 'The greatest school of the theater. It houses great people like Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Arthur Kennedy, Mildred Dunnock ... ery few get into it.... It is the best thing that can happen to an actor. I am one of the youngest to belong.'"

Marilyn Monroe

Film author Maurice Zolotow wrote: "Between The Seven Year Itch and Some Like it Hot only four years elapsed, but her world had changed. She had become one of the most celebrated personalities in the world. She had divorced Joe Di Maggio. She had married Arthur Miller. She had become a disciple of Lee Strasberg. She was seriously studying acting. She was reading good books."

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams' plays have been populated by graduates of the studio, where he felt that "studio actors had a more intense and honest style of acting". He wrote, "They act from the inside out. They communicate emotions they really feel. They give you a sense of life." Williams was also a founder of the group and a key member of its playwright's wing, and later wrote A Streetcar Named Desire, Brando's greatest early role.

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda recalled that at the age of five, she and her brother, actor Peter Fonda, acted out Western stories similar to those her father, Henry Fonda, played in the movies. She attended Vassar College and went to Paris for two years to study art. Upon returning, she met Lee Strasberg and the meeting changed the course of her life, Fonda saying, "I went to the Actor's Studio and Lee Strasberg told me I had talent. Real talent. It was the first time that anyone, except my father--who had to say so--told me I was good. At anything. It was a turning point in my life. I went to bed thinking about acting. I woke up thinking about acting. It was like the roof had come off my life!"
Teaching methods and philosophy

In describing his teaching philosophy, Strasberg wrote, "The two areas of discovery that were of primary importance in my work at the Actors Studio and in my private classes where improvisation and affective memory. It is finally by using these techniques that the actor can express the appropriate emotions demanded of the character".
Methods of teaching

Strasberg demanded great discipline of his actors as well as great depths of psychological truthfulness. He once explained his approach in this way:

    The human being who acts is the human being who lives. That is a terrifying circumstance. Essentially the actor acts a fiction, a dream; in life the stimuli to which we respond are always real. The actor must constantly respond to stimuli that are imaginary. And yet this must happen not only just as it happens in life, but actually more fully and more expressively. Although the actor can do things in life quite easily, when he has to do the same thing on the stage under fictitious conditions he has difficulty because he is not equipped as a human being merely to playact at imitating life. He must somehow believe. He must somehow be able to convince himself of the rightness of what he is doing in order to do things fully on the stage.

According to film critic/author Mel Gussow, Strasberg required that an actor, when preparing for a role, delve not only into the character's life in the play, but also, "ar more importantly, into the character's life before the curtain rises. In rehearsal, the character's prehistory, perhaps going back to childhood, is discussed and even acted out. The play became the climax of the character's existence."
On February 17, 1982, Lee Strasberg died from a heart attack in New York City, aged 80. With him at his death at the hospital were his wife, Anna, and their two sons. He was interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. A day before his unexpected death, he was officially notified that he had been elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame. His last public appearance was on February 14, 1982 at Night of 100 Stars in the Radio City Music Hall, a benefit for the Actors Fund. Along with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, he danced in the chorus line with the Rockettes.

Actress Ellen Burstyn recalled that evening:

    Late in the evening, I wandered into the greenroom and saw Lee sitting next to Anna, watching the taping on the monitor. I sat next to him and we chatted a little. Lee wasn't one for small talk, so I didn't stay long. But before I got up, I said, 'Lee, I've been asked to run for president of Actors Equity.' He reached over and patted me on the back, 'That's wonderful, dahling. Congratulations.' Those were the last words he ever said to me.... Two days later, early in the morning, I was still asleep when the door to my bedroom opened. I woke up and saw my friend and assistant, Katherine Cortez, enter the room and walk toward me.... 'We just got a call. Lee Strasberg died.' No, no, no, I wailed, over and over. 'I'm not ready', and pulled the covers over my head. I had told myself that I must be prepared for this, but I was not prepared. What was I to do now? Who would I work for when I was preparing for a role? Who would I go to when I was in trouble?.... His memorial service was held at the Shubert Theater where A Chorus Line was playing. Lee's coffin was brought down the aisle and placed center stage. Everybody in the theater world came – actors, writers, directors, producers, and most, if not all, his students. He was a giant of the theater and was deeply mourned. Those of us who had the great good fortune to be fertilized and quickened by his genius would feel the loss of him for the rest of our lives.



In an 80th birthday interview, he said that he was looking forward to his next 20 years in the theater. According to friends, he was healthy until the day he died. "It was so unexpected", Al Pacino said. "What stood out was how youthful he was. He never seemed as old as his years. He was an inspiration." Actress Jane Fonda said after hearing of his death, "I'm not sure I even would have become an actress were it not for him. He will be missed, but he leaves behind a great legacy."
Legacy

Influence on American films

"Whether directly influenced by Strasberg or not", wrote acting author Pamela Wojcik, "the new male stars all to some degree or other adapted Method techniques to support their identification as rebels... He recreates romance as a drama of male neuroticism and also invests his characterization 'with an unprecedented aura of verisimilitude'." Acting teacher and author Alison Hodge explains: "Seemingly spontaneous, intuitive, brooding, 'private', lit with potent vibrations from an inner life of conflict and contradiction, their work exemplified the style of heightened naturalism which (whether Brando agrees or not) Lee Strasberg devoted his life to exploring and promoting."

Pamela Wojcik adds:

    Because of their tendency to substitute their personal feelings for those of the characters they were playing, Actors Studio performers were well suited to become Hollywood stars.... In short, Lee Strasberg transformed a socialistic, egalitarian theory of acting into a celebrity-making machine.... It does not matter who 'invented' Marlon Brando or how regularly or faithfully he, Dean, or Clift attended the Studio or studied the Method at the feet of Lee Strasberg. In their signature roles – the most influential performances in the history of American films – these three performers revealed new kinds of body language and new ways of delivering dialogue. In the pauses between words, in the language 'spoken' by their eyes and faces, they gave psychological realism an unprecedented charge. Verbally inarticulate, they were eloquent 'speakers' of emotion. Far less protective of their masculinity than earlier film actors, they enacted emotionally wounded and vulnerable outsiders struggling for self-understanding, and their work shimmered with a mercurial neuroticism... he Method-trained performers in films of the fifties added an enhanced verbal and gesture naturalism and a more vivid inner life.


Actors Studio West

In 1966, Strasberg established Actors Studio West in Los Angeles. In 1969, he founded the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Ellen Burstyn, Al Pacino, and Harvey Keitel lead this nonprofit studio dedicated to the development of actors, playwrights, and directors. In 1974, at the suggestion of his former student Al Pacino, Strasberg acted in a key supporting role alongside Pacino in Godfather II and again in the 1979 film, And Justice for All.
Work on Broadway

Note: All works are plays and the original productions unless otherwise noted.

    * Four Walls (1927) - Actor
    * The Vegetable (1929) - Director
    * Red Rust (1929) - Actor
    * Green Grow the Lilacs (1931) - Actor
    * The House of Connelly (1931) - Co-Director
    * 1931 (1931) - Director
    * Success Story (1932) - Director
    * Men in White (1933) - Director
    * Gentlewoman (1934) - Director
    * Gold Eagle Guy (1934) - Director
    * Paradise Lost (1935) - Produced by Group Theatre
    * Case of Clyde Griffiths (1936) - Director, Produced by Group Theatre
    * Johnny Johnson (1936) - Director, Produced by Group Theatre
    * Many Mansions (1937) - Director
    * Golden Boy (1937) - Produced by Group Theatre
    * Roosty (1938) - Director
    * Casey Jones (1938) - Produced by Group Theatre
    * All the Living (1938) - Director
    * Dance Night (1938) - Director
    * Rocket to the Moon (1938) - Produced by Group Theatre
    * The Gentle People (1939) - Produced by Group Theatre
    * Awake and Sing! (1939), revival - Produced by Group Theatre
    * Summer Night (1939) - Director
    * Night Music (1940) - Produced by Group Theatre
    * The Fifth Column (1940) - Director
    * Clash by Night (1941) - Director
    * A Kiss for Cinderella (1942), revival - Director
    * R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1942), revival - Director
    * Apology (1943) - Producer and Director
    * South Pacific (1943, apparently no relation to the Broadway musical South Pacific) - Director
    * Skipper Next to God (1948) - Director
    * The Big Knife (1949) - Director
    * The Closing Door (1949) - Director
    * The Country Girl (1950) - Co-Producer
    * Peer Gynt (1951), (revival) - Director
    * Strange Interlude (1963), (revival) - Produced by The Actors Studio - Tony Award Co-nomination for Best Producer of a Play
    * Marathon '33 (1963) - Production supervisor
    * The Three Sisters (1964), (revival) - Director, Produced by The Actors Studio

Film acting credits

    * The Godfather Part II (1974; Academy Award nomination: Best Actor in a Supporting Role)
    * The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
    * ... And Justice for All (1979)
    * Going in Style (1979)
    * Gideon's Trumpet (1980)

See also

    * Method acting
    * Notable alumni of the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/roxyboarder21/220px-LeeStrasberg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/17/10 at 12:12 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsxBx4Qdmto&feature=PlayList&p=FF2DBD08925155B5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/17/10 at 12:49 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsxBx4Qdmto&feature=PlayList&p=FF2DBD08925155B5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

I was originally going to pick him as the person of the day, I'm not sure why I changed it :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/17/10 at 2:01 pm


I was originally going to pick him as the person of the day, I'm not sure why I changed it :-\\
A great singer, greatly missed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/17/10 at 3:57 pm


A great singer, greatly missed.

Yes he is :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/17/10 at 5:15 pm


The person born on this day...Jerry O'Connell
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell (born February 17, 1974) is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan.
O'Connell was born in New York City, the son of Linda (née Witkowski), an art teacher, and Michael O'Connell, an advertising agency art director. His maternal grandfather, Charles S. Witkowski, was the mayor of Jersey City, NJ. O'Connell is of Irish descent on his father's side and Polish ancestry on his mother's. O'Connell was raised in Manhattan with a younger brother Charlie O'Connell, also an actor. O'Connell began his acting career at a young age. As a child, he did commercial work for Duncan Hines cookies. Shortly after at the age of eleven, he landed his first feature film role as the character Vern Tessio in Rob Reiner's Stand by Me. As a teenager, he starred in the Canadian TV series My Secret Identity from 1988–91, and attended Manhattan's Professional Children's School.

O'Connell attended New York University (NYU) from 1991 to 1994, majoring in film. While there, he studied screen writing and competed on the NYU fencing team, serving a stint as captain of the sabre squad. However, he left NYU several credits short of graduation in 1999.
Adult career

O'Connell starred in the sci-fi sitcom My Secret Identity from 1988-1991 as the teen hero who develops superhuman traits. During a summer break from NYU, Jerry starred in the feature film Calendar Girl alongside Jason Priestley and Gabriel Olds. He also appeared in the short-lived ABC sitcom, Camp Wilder with Jay Mohr and Hilary Swank in 1992. In his Junior year, O'Connell auditioned for the TV pilot Sliders. He was offered the role of Quinn Mallory in the series, which ran for three seasons on Fox and two seasons on the Sci-Fi Channel. He served as producer during his fourth and final season, and is credited with writing and directing several episodes.

O'Connell has since gone on to star in such movies as Jerry Maguire, Body Shots, Mission to Mars, Tomcats, Scream 2, and Kangaroo Jack. O'Connell has also tried his hand at screenwriting and sold his first screenplay, for First Daughter, to New Regency in 1999. The film was released in 2004 by 20th Century Fox-based Davis Entertainment. O'Connell served as executive producer on the film, which starred Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton.

O'Connell starred as Detective Woody Hoyt on the NBC crime drama Crossing Jordan (2001) until its cancellation, and was engaged to TV personality Giuliana DePandi. He starred opposite her in the Ugly Betty episode "Derailed". O'Connell has also starred as Hoyt in several episodes of Las Vegas. In 2004, he wore a diaper on Last Call with Carson Daly, during a mock commercial skit for the GoodNites bedwetting product. The National Enquirer caught him filming the skit and printed a photo of him in his diaper.

In 2005, O'Connell guest-starred in one episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. In the episode, entitled "The Clash", he played Captain Marvel.

His younger brother Charlie O'Connell, an alumnus of NYU who was most recently seen as The Bachelor, is also an actor who has appeared with Jerry in several productions, usually playing the brother of Jerry's character, such as in Sliders and Crossing Jordan.

In 2007-08 Jerry O'Connell starred in ABC's Carpoolers, which ran from October 2, 2007 to March 4, 2008. Although it has not appeared in the Fall '08 lineup, it could come back in the future seasons on ABC.

In early 2008, O'Connell acted in a widely circulated Internet video parody of the leaked Tom Cruise video on Scientology. He also co-wrote and appeared in a video parody called "Young Hillary Clinton," satirizing Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign. On February 2, 2008, O'Connell hosted VH1's Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash, which aired the night before Super Bowl XLII and featured musical guests Maroon 5 and Mary J. Blige. On April 28, 2008, O'Connell appeared as a guest star on ABC's Samantha Who?.

In the fall of 2008 O'Connell starred in Fox's Do Not Disturb, costarring Niecy Nash, but Fox cancelled the show after only three episodes.

Most recently, he appeared in the 2009 thriller film Obsessed as "Ben", the best friend and co-worker of the film's protagonist Derek Charles (Idris Elba).

Jerry will appear in Eastwick on ABC, alongside his wife who stars in the series. Jerry will play a good man hiding a horrible secret. His character is a single father, a widower, with a young son who is a part of this secret. Kat will be drawn to him, and she will be put in danger as a result.

O'Connell portrayed Derrick Jones in Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3-D, which also stars Elizabeth Shue.

It has been announced that O'connell will co-star with David Tennant in the new NBC legal drama Rex Is Not Your Lawyer.
Personal life

On July 14, 2007, O'Connell married actress and former model Rebecca Romijn near Los Angeles in Calabasas, California.

A self-proclaimed "Super Super Fan" of The Howard Stern Show, O'Connell placed last in the "Celebrity" version of the "Super Fan Contest" that took place on May 13, 2008. His opponents were Jimmy Kimmel and Jeff Probst. Kimmel ultimately won the contest by a large margin.

After weeks of officially stating that the couple was "trying" to get pregnant, a publicist for the pair confirmed that Romijn was pregnant with twin girls. When talking about having children, O'Connell said "I am excited I am having girls. I know guys are supposed to say, 'I want a boy. I want to play baseball,' but I think I'm going to be good raising girls...I can't wait. They're going to be tough chicks. They're only having sex when I'm dead. If they don't date boys at all and just want to be infatuated with their father, that's what I'm really going for. The nunnery!" O'Connell and Romijn welcomed their twin girls, Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip, on December 28, 2008.

O'Connell enrolled in Southwestern Law School in the fall of 2009.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1986 Stand by Me Vern Tessio
1988 Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach Kid at beach Uncredited
1993 Calendar Girl Scott Foreman
1996 Joe's Apartment Joe
Jerry Maguire Frank Cushman
1997 Scream 2 Derek
1998 Can't Hardly Wait Trip McNeely Uncredited
1999 Body Shots Michael Penorisi
2000 Clayton
Mission to Mars Phil Ohlmyer
2001 Tomcats Michael Delaney
2002 The New Guy Highland Party Twin
Buying the Cow David Collins
2003 Kangaroo Jack Charlie Carbone
2004 Fat Slags Sean Cooley
2005 'Yours, Mine and Ours Max/Mac
2006 The Alibi Businessman
Man About Town David Lilly
Room 6 Lucas Dylan
2008 The Parody Video Tom Cruise Wants You to See Tom Cruise Short film
2009 Baby on Board Curtis
Obsessed Ben
2010 Piranha 3-D Derrick Jones
Cat Tale Biscuit (voice)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 The Room Upstairs Carl 1 episode
1988 The Equalizer Bobby Episode: "The Child Broker"
Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss Ralph Parker TV movie
1988-91 My Secret Identity Andrew Clements Cast member
1989 Charles in Charge David Landon Episode: "The Organization Man"
1990 TGIF Brody Unknown episodes
1992 Camp Wilder Brody Wilder Episode: "See Spot Go"
1995 The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky Mac TV movie
Blue River Lawrence Sellars
1995-99 Sliders Quinn Mallory Cast member
1999 The 60's Brian Herlihy TV movie
2001 Night Visions Andy Episode: "Rest Stop"
2002 Going to California Pete Rossock Episode: "Searching For Eddie Van Halen"
Rome Fire Ryan Wheeler TV movie
2002-7 Crossing Jordan Detective Woody Hoyt Cast member
2003 MADtv Ted Levin Episode: 8.12
2004 Without a Trace Joe Gibson Episode: "Hawks and Handsaws"
The Screaming Cocktail Hour Singer TV series
2004-6 Las Vegas Detective Woody Hoyt 5 episode
2005 Justice League Unlimited Captain Marvel Episode: "Clash"
2007 On the Lot Jerry 'The Move' Episode "6 Cut to 5 & 5 Directors Compete"
Ugly Betty Joel Episode: "Derailed"
The Batman Nightwing 2 episodes: "The Metal Face of Comedy", "Artifacts"
2007-8 Carpoolers Laird Cast member
2008 Samantha Who? Craig Episode: "The Gallery Show"
Do Not Disturb Neal 6 episodes
2009 Midnight Bayou Declan Fitzpatrick TV movie
Eastwick Colin Friesen Episode: "Magic Snow and Creepy Gene"
2010 Rex Is Not Your Lawyer TBA Upcoming TV series
Producer

    * Sliders (1995) TV series (producer: 1998–1999)
    * First Daughter (2004)

Director

    * Sliders (1997) TV series - "Stoker"
    * Sliders (1999) TV series - "Slidecage," "Lipschitz Live," "Data World," "Roads Taken"

Writer

    * Sliders (1999) - "Way out West",
    * First Daughter (2004) - screenplay

Music videos

    * "David Duchovny" - Bree Sharp
    * "Heartbreaker" - Mariah Carey (1999)

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t67/ryu_036/jerry-oconnell.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/LegacyGB/oconnell_chargers.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/DeeLightning/Other/0408.jpg



what a great actor.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/10 at 5:52 am



what a great actor.  :)

He sure has changed since Stand By Me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/10 at 6:03 am

The Word of the day...Cuckoo
A cuckoo is a bird that has a call of two quick notes, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.
If you say that someone is living in cloud-cuckoo-land, you are criticizing them because they think there are no problems and that things will happen exactly as they want them to, when this is obviously not the case.
A cuckoo clock is a clock with a door from which a toy cuckoo comes out and makes noises like a cuckoo every hour or half hour.
fathead: a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/probins_pekins/Picture002.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb88/soapydishwater/Guest%20House%20Hens/lowresHelga1.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e53/AimeeLeigh79/CUCKOO.jpg
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad63/naichang/Cuckoo.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq241/dohuyquang/cuckoo.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq180/djgrey2008/cuckoo.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b206/sammy_hain/cuckoo.jpg
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww303/rareitem1996/Cuckoo.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/stevieellen/cuckoo.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/10 at 6:06 am

The person born on this day...Milos Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman (Czech pronunciation: ; born February 18, 1932), better known as Miloš Forman (), is a Czech film director, screenwriter, actor and professor. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both garnering him the Academy Award as a director. He was also nominated for The People vs. Larry Flynt. Forman was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic), the son of Anna (née Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. His parents were Protestants; his father was arrested for distributing banned books during the Nazi occupation and died in Buchenwald in 1944, and his mother died in Auschwitz in 1943. Forman lived with relatives during World War II and later discovered that his biological father was a Jewish architect.

After the war, Forman attended King George College public school in the spa town Poděbrady, where his fellow students were Václav Havel and the Mašín brothers. Later on he studied screenwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Career

Forman directed several Czech comedies in Czechoslovakia. However, in 1968 when the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to end the Prague Spring, he was in Paris negotiating for the production of his first American film. The Czech studio for which he worked fired him, claiming that he was out of the country illegally. He moved to New York, where he later became a professor of film at Columbia University and co-chair (with his former teacher František Daniel) of Columbia's film division. One of his protégées was future director James Mangold, whom Forman had advised about scriptwriting.

In spite of initial difficulties, he started directing in his new home country, and achieved success in 1975 with the adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won five Academy Awards including one for direction. In 1977, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Other notable successes have been Amadeus, which won eight Academy Awards, and The People vs. Larry Flynt, for which he received a Best Director Academy Award Nomination and a Golden Globe win.

Forman's early movies are still very popular among Czechs. Many of the situations and phrases made it into common use: for example, the Czech term zhasnout (to switch lights off) from The Firemen's Ball, associated with petty theft in the movie, has been used to describe the large-scale asset stripping happening in the country during the 1990s.

In 1997 he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Forman co-starred alongside Edward Norton in the actor's directorial debut, Keeping the Faith (2000), as the wise friend to Norton's young, conflicted priest.

In 2009 he received an honorary degree from Emerson College in Boston.
Personal life

In 2006, he received the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation.

Forman's two twin sons Petr Forman and Matěj Forman (born in 1964) are also movie and theatre actors.

Forman became a U.S. citizen in 1977.

Asteroid 11333 Forman was named after Forman.

He is married to Martina Zborilova-Forman. They have twin sons, Jim and Andy. They live in Connecticut.
Filmography
Year Film Oscar nominations Oscar wins
1963 Audition
1964 Black Peter
1965 Loves of a Blonde 1
1967 The Firemen's Ball 1
1971 Taking Off
1973 Visions of Eight
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 9 5
1979 Hair
1981 Ragtime 8
1984 Amadeus 11 8
1989 Valmont 1
1996 The People vs. Larry Flynt 2
1999 Man on the Moon
2006 Goya's Ghosts
2009 The Ghost of Munich
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn231/romadeus/milosforman.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss89/clpix_archive/Out%20and%20About/1997199819991996/court567new3dc.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q305/haloisi-velike/268500-milo-forman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/10 at 6:11 am

The person who died on this day...Johnny Appleseed
Johnny Appleseed (September 26, 1774 – February 18, 1845), born John Chapman, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his great leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples.

He was also a missionary for the Church of the New Jerusalem, or Swedenborgian Church, so named because it teaches the theological doctrines contained in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.He was raised on a small farm on Massachusetts. His favorite place was his father's apple orchard, as he loved apples. When ever settlers passed by, he heard of fertile soils, and that inspired him to plant apple seeds through the frontier.
Heading to the frontier

In 1792, 18-year-old Chapman went west, taking 11-year-old half-brother Nathaniel and his sister Emily (full sister) with him. Their destination was the headwaters of the Susquehanna. There are stories of him practicing his nurseryman craft in the Wilkes-Barre area and of picking seeds from the pomace at Potomac cider mills in the late 1790s. Another story has Chapman living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Grant's Hill in 1794 at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion.

Land records show that John Chapman was in what is today Licking County, Ohio in 1800. Congress had passed resolutions in 1798 to give land there, ranging from 160 to 2,240 acres (65-900 hectares), to Revolutionary War veterans, but soldiers did not actually receive letters of patent to their grants until 1802. By the time the veterans arrived, John's nurseries, located on the Isaac Stadden farm, had trees big enough to transplant.

Nathaniel Chapman arrived with his second family and sister in 1805. At that point, the younger Nathaniel Chapman rejoined the elder, and his sister had gotten married. John spent the rest of his life as an itinerant planter and sometime-preacher.

By 1806, when he arrived in Jackson County, Ohio, wading down the Ohio River with a load of seeds, he was known as Johnny Appleseed.
Business plan

The popular image of Johnny Appleseed had him spreading apple seeds randomly, everywhere he went. In fact, he planted nurseries rather than orchards, built fences around them to protect them from livestock, left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares, and returned every year or two to tend the nursery. Many of these nurseries were located in the Mohican area of north-central Ohio. This area included the towns of Mansfield, Lucas, Perrysville, and Loudonville.

Appleseed's managers were asked to sell trees on credit, if at all possible, but he would accept corn meal, cash or used clothing in barter. The notes did not specify an exact maturity date—that date might not be convenient—and if it did not get paid on time, or even get paid at all, Johnny Appleseed did not press for payment. Appleseed was hardly alone in this pattern of doing business, but he was unusual in remaining a wanderer his entire life.
"Here's your primitive Christian!" Illustration from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1871

He obtained the apple seeds free; cider mills wanted more apple trees planted since it would eventually bring them more business. Johnny Appleseed dressed in the worst of the used clothing he received, giving away the better clothing in barter. He wore no shoes, even in the snowy winter. There was always someone in need he could help out, for he did not have a house to maintain. When he heard a horse was to be put down, he had to buy the horse, buy a few grassy acres nearby, and turn the horse out to recover. If it did, he would give the horse to someone needy, exacting a promise to treat the horse humanely.
Subsistence lifestyle

Chapman often eschewed normal clothing, even in the cold of winter, and generally led a harsh, subsistent lifestyle. Contrary to popular belief, Johnny actually didn't wear pots on his head or torn rags for clothing, although he did go barefoot in summers to save leather. According to Harper's New Monthly Magazine, towards the end of his career, he was present when an itinerant missionary was exhorting an open-air congregation in Mansfield, Ohio. The sermon was long and quite severe on the topic of extravagance, because the pioneers were starting to buy such indulgences as calico and store-bought tea. “Where now is there a man who, like the primitive Christians, is traveling to heaven bare-footed and clad in coarse raiment?” the preacher repeatedly asked, until Johnny Appleseed, his endurance worn out, walked up to the preacher, put his bare foot on the stump which had served as a podium, and said, “Here's your primitive Christian!” The flummoxed sermonizer dismissed the congregation.
Life as a missionary

He spent most of his time traveling from house to house on the frontier. He would tell stories to children, spread the Swedenborgian gospel ("news right fresh from heaven") to the adults, receiving a floor to sleep on for the night, sometimes supper in return. "We can hear him read now, just as he did that summer day, when we were busy quilting up stairs, and he lay near the door, his voice rising denunciatory and thrilling—strong and loud as the roar of wind and waves, then soft and soothing as the balmy airs that quivered the morning-glory leaves about his gray beard. His was a strange eloquence at times, and he was undoubtedly a man of genius", reported a lady who knew him in his later years. He would often tear a few pages from one of Swedenborg's books and leave them with his hosts.

He made several trips back east, both to visit his sister and to replenish his supply of Swedenborgian literature. He typically would visit his orchards every year or two and collect his earnings.
Attitudes towards animals

Johnny Appleseed's beliefs made him care deeply about animals. His concern extended even to insects. Henry Howe, who visited all 88 counties in Ohio in the early 1800s, collected these stories in the 1830s, when Johnny Appleseed was still alive:

    One cool autumnal night, while lying by his camp-fire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes flew in the blaze and were burnt. Johnny, who wore on his head a tin utensil which answered both as a cap and a mush pot, filled it with water and quenched the fire, and afterwards remarked, “God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His creatures.”

    Another time he made a camp-fire at the end of a hollow log in which he intended to pass the night, but finding it occupied by a bear and cubs, he removed his fire to the other end, and slept on the snow in the open air, rather than disturb the bear.

Attitude towards marriage

When Johnny Appleseed was asked why he did not marry, his answer was always that two female spirits would be his wives in the after-life if he stayed single on earth. However, Henry Howe reported that Appleseed had been a frequent visitor to Perrysville, Ohio, where Appleseed is remembered as being a constant snuff customer, with beautiful teeth. He was to propose to Miss Nancy Tannehill there—only to find that he was a day late; she had accepted a prior proposal:

    On one occasion Miss PRICE’s mother asked Johnny if he would not be a happier man, if he were settled in a home of his own, and had a family to love him. He opened his eyes very wide–they were remarkably keen, penetrating grey eyes, almost black–and replied that all women were not what they professed to be; that some of them were deceivers; and a man might not marry the amiable woman that he thought he was getting, after all.

    Now we had always heard that Johnny had loved once upon a time, and that his lady love had proven false to him. Then he said one time he saw a poor, friendless little girl, who had no one to care for her, and sent her to school, and meant to bring her up to suit himself, and when she was old enough he intended to marry her. He clothed her and watched over her; but when she was fifteen years old, he called to see her once unexpectedly, and found her sitting beside a young man, with her hand in his, listening to his silly twaddle.

    I peeped over at Johnny while he was telling this, and, young as I was, I saw his eyes grow dark as violets, and the pupils enlarge, and his voice rise up in denunciation, while his nostrils dilated and his thin lips worked with emotion. How angry he grew! He thought the girl was basely ungrateful. After that time she was no protegé of his.

Johnny Appleseed, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1871
Health

It has been suggested that Johnny may have had Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. One of the primary characteristics of Marfan Syndrome is extra-long and slim limbs. All sources seem to agree that Johnny Appleseed was slim, but while other accounts suggest that he was tall, Harper's describes him as "small and wiry."

Those who propose the Marfan theory suggest that his compromised health may have made him feel the cold less intensely. His long life, however, suggests he did not have Marfan's, and while Marfan's is closely associated with death from cardiovascular complications, Johnny Appleseed died in his sleep, from winter plague (presumably pneumonia).
Gravesite

41°6′36″N 85°7′25″W / 41.11°N 85.12361°W / 41.11; -85.12361

There is some controversy and vagueness concerning the date of his death and his burial. Harper's New Monthly Magazine of November, 1871 (which is taken by many as the primary source of information about John Chapman) says he died in the summer of 1847. The Fort Wayne Sentinel, however, printed his obituary on March 22, 1845, saying that he died on March 18:

    "On the same day in this neighborhood, at an advanced age, Mr. John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed).

    The deceased was well known through this region by his eccentricity, and the strange garb he usually wore. He followed the occupation of a nurseryman, and has been a regular visitor here upwards of 10 years. He was a native of Pennsylvania we understand but his home—if home he had—for some years past was in the neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, where he has relatives living. He is supposed to have considerable property, yet denied himself almost the common necessities of life—not so much perhaps for avarice as from his peculiar notions on religious subjects. He was a follower of Swedenborg and devoutly believed that the more he endured in this world the less he would have to suffer and the greater would be his happiness hereafter—he submitted to every privation with cheerfulness and content, believing that in so doing he was securing snug quarters hereafter.

    In the most inclement weather he might be seen barefooted and almost naked except when he chanced to pick up articles of old clothing. Notwithstanding the privations and exposure he endured, he lived to an extreme old age, not less than 80 years at the time of his death — though no person would have judged from his appearance that he was 60. "He always carried with him some work on the doctrines of Swedenborg with which he was perfectly familiar, and would readily converse and argue on his tenets, using much shrewdness and penetration.

    His death was quite sudden. He was seen on our streets a day or two previous."

The actual site of his grave is disputed as well. Developers of Fort Wayne, Indiana's Canterbury Green apartment complex and golf course claim his grave is there, marked by a rock. That is where the Worth cabin in which he died sat.

However, Steven Fortriede, director of the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) and author of the 1978 "Johnny Appleseed", believes another putative gravesite, one designated as a National Historic Landmark and located in Johnny Appleseed Park in Fort Wayne, is the correct site. Johnny Appleseed Park was known until recently as Archer Park and was the former Archer farm.

The Worth family attended First Baptist Church in Fort Wayne, according to records at ACPL, which has one of the nation's top genealogy collections. According to an 1858 interview with Richard Worth Jr., Chapman was buried "respectably" in the Archer cemetery, and Fortriede believes use of the term "respectably" indicates Chapman was buried in the hallowed ground of Archer cemetery instead of near the cabin where he died.

John H. Archer, grandson of David Archer, wrote in a letter dated October 4, 1900:

    The historical account of his death and burial by the Worths and their neighbors, the Pettits, Goinges, Porters, Notestems, Parkers, Beckets, Whitesides, Pechons, Hatfields, Parrants, Ballards, Randsells, and the Archers in David Archer's private burial grounds is substantially correct. The grave, more especially the common head-boards used in those days, have long since decayed and become entirely obliterated, and at this time I do not think that any person could with any degree of certainty come within fifty feet of pointing out the location of his grave. Suffice it to say that he has been gathered in with his neighbors and friends, as I have enumerated, for the majority of them lie in David Archer's graveyard with him

The Johnny Appleseed Commission to the Common Council of the City of Fort Wayne reported, "as a part of the celebration of Indiana's 100th birthday in 1916 an iron fence was placed in the Archer graveyard by the Horticulture Society of Indiana setting off the grave of Johnny Appleseed. At that time, there were men living who had attended the funeral of Johnny Appleseed. Direct and accurate evidence was available then. There was little or no reason for them to make a mistake about the location of this grave. They located the grave in the Archer burying ground."
Legacy

Despite his altruism and charity, Johnny Appleseed left an estate of over 1,200 acres (500 ha) of valuable nurseries to his sister. He also owned four plots in Allen County, Indiana, including a nursery in Milan Township, Allen County, Indiana, with 15,000 trees. He could have left more if he had been diligent in his bookkeeping. He bought the southwest quarter (160 acres) of section 26, Mohican Township, Ashland County, Ohio, but he did not record the deed and lost the property.

The financial panic of 1837 took a toll on his estate. Trees only brought two or three cents each, as opposed to the "flippenny bit" (about six and a quarter cents) that he usually got. Some of his land was sold for taxes following his death, and litigation used up much of the rest.

A memorial in Fort Wayne's Swinney Park purports to honor him but not to mark his grave. Also in Fort Wayne, since 1975, a Johnny Appleseed Festival has been held in mid-September in Johnny Appleseed Park. Musicians, demonstrators, and vendors dress in early 19th century dress, and offer food and beverages which would have been available then. An outdoor drama is also an annual event in Mansfield, Ohio.

March 11 or September 26 are sometimes celebrated as Johnny Appleseed Day. The September date is Appleseed's acknowledged birthdate, but the March date is sometimes preferred because it is during planting season, even though it is disputed as the day of his death. Other sources report that he died on February 18th.

Johnny Appleseed Elementary School is a public school located in Leominster, MA, his birthplace. Mansfield, Ohio, one of Appleseed's stops in his peregrinations, was home to Johnny Appleseed Middle School until it closed in 1989.

A large terra cotta sculpture of Johnny Appleseed, created by Viktor Schreckengost, decorates the front of the Lakewood High School Civic Auditorium in Lakewood, Ohio. Although the local Board of Education deemed Appleseed too "eccentric" a figure to grace the front of the building, renaming the sculpture simply "Early Settler," students, teachers, and parents alike still call the sculpture by its intended name: "Johnny Appleseed."
In modern culture
1948 Disney movie

Johnny Appleseed is remembered in American popular culture by his traveling song or Swedenborgian hymn ("The Lord is good to me...") which is today sung before meals in some American households.

Many books and films have been based on the life of Johnny Appleseed. One notable account is from the first chapter of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan.

One of the more successful films was Melody Time, the animated 1948 film from Walt Disney Studios featuring Dennis Day. The Legend of Johnny Appleseed, a 19-minute segment, tells the story of an apple farmer who sees others going west, wistfully wishing he was not tied down by his orchard, until an angel appears, singing an apple song, setting Johnny on a mission. When he treats a skunk kindly, all animals everywhere thereafter trust him. The cartoon features lively tunes, and a childlike simplicity of message, offering a bright, well-groomed park environment instead of a dark and rugged malarial swamp, friendly, pet-like creatures instead of dangerous animals, and a lack of hunger, loneliness, disease, and extremes of temperature. Uniquely for a cartoon of its period, it shows Johnny at the moment of his death, followed by his resurrection in heaven and the commitment to "sow the clouds" with apple trees. . This animated short was included in Disney's American Legends, a compilation of four animated shorts. (Note: Showing a character in Heaven is not unique to this cartoon. In Make Mine Music (1946), the segment entitled "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" ends with the whale being killed and then singing in Heaven.)

Supposedly, the only surviving tree planted by Johnny Appleseed is on the farm of Richard and Phyllis Algeo of Nova, Ohio Some marketers claim it is a Rambo, although the Rambo was introduced to America in the 1640s by Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, more than a century before John Chapman was born. Some even make the claim that the Rambo was "Johnny Appleseed's favorite variety", ignoring that he had religious objections to grafting and preferred wild apples to all named varieties. It appears most nurseries are calling the tree the "Johnny Appleseed" variety, rather than a Rambo. Unlike the mid-summer Rambo, the Johnny Appleseed variety ripens in September and is a baking/applesauce variety similar to an Albemarle Pippen. Nurseries offer the Johnny Appleseed tree as an immature apple tree for planting, with scions from the Algeo stock grafted on them. Orchardists do not appear to be marketing the fruit of this tree.

References to Johnny Appleseed abound in popular culture. Johnny Appleseed is a character in Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Apple Inc. uses a "John Appleseed" character in many of its recent adverts, video tutorials, and keynote presentation examples; this was also the alias of Mike Markkula under which he published several programs for the Apple II. Rock music bands NOFX, Guided by Voices, and Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros have all released songs titled "Johnny Appleseed". "Johnny Appleseed" also featured in a comic series in "The Victor" in UK, early Sixties. In Philip Roth's novel American Pastoral, the central character imagines himself as Johnny Appleseed when he moves from Newark to a rural community; in this case the figure stands for an innocent, childlike version of the American pioneer spirit.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b137/loujean/Disney-All-Johnny-Appleseed-360538.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e256/caker23/VANEWappleseed02.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u2/schmoogie813/PicturesSeptember2007-June2008016.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/18/10 at 6:57 am


The Word of the day...Cuckoo
A cuckoo is a bird that has a call of two quick notes, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.
If you say that someone is living in cloud-cuckoo-land, you are criticizing them because they think there are no problems and that things will happen exactly as they want them to, when this is obviously not the case.
A cuckoo clock is a clock with a door from which a toy cuckoo comes out and makes noises like a cuckoo every hour or half hour.
fathead: a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr157/probins_pekins/Picture002.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb88/soapydishwater/Guest%20House%20Hens/lowresHelga1.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e53/AimeeLeigh79/CUCKOO.jpg
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad63/naichang/Cuckoo.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq241/dohuyquang/cuckoo.jpg
http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq180/djgrey2008/cuckoo.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b206/sammy_hain/cuckoo.jpg
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww303/rareitem1996/Cuckoo.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/stevieellen/cuckoo.jpg


I go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/10 at 7:12 am


I go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Love those Cocoa Puffs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/18/10 at 7:23 am


Love those Cocoa Puffs.


It'd always stayed chocolately.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/10 at 9:17 am


It'd always stayed chocolately.

You can't beat chocolate for breakfast ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/18/10 at 7:27 pm


You can't beat chocolate for breakfast ;D


chocolate is nutritious.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/10 at 1:18 pm


The Word of the day...Cuckoo
A cuckoo is a bird that has a call of two quick notes, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.
If you say that someone is living in cloud-cuckoo-land, you are criticizing them because they think there are no problems and that things will happen exactly as they want them to, when this is obviously not the case.
A cuckoo clock is a clock with a door from which a toy cuckoo comes out and makes noises like a cuckoo every hour or half hour.
fathead: a man who is a stupid incompetent fool


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhtHxPI3cxM

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/10 at 1:20 pm


The Word of the day...Cuckoo
A cuckoo is a bird that has a call of two quick notes, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.
If you say that someone is living in cloud-cuckoo-land, you are criticizing them because they think there are no problems and that things will happen exactly as they want them to, when this is obviously not the case.
A cuckoo clock is a clock with a door from which a toy cuckoo comes out and makes noises like a cuckoo every hour or half hour.
fathead: a man who is a stupid incompetent fool


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNjPgE1muTM

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/19/10 at 4:43 pm

I'm sorry but I was away all day. I will do the word & persons of the day tomorrow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/10 at 5:03 pm


I'm sorry but I was away all day. I will do the word & persons of the day tomorrow.
I had not noticed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:30 am


I'm sorry but I was away all day. I will do the word & persons of the day tomorrow.
You will do word & persons of the yesterday tomorrow?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:33 am


You will do word & persons of the yesterday tomorrow?

I'll do one right now :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:38 am


I'll do one right now :)
I was preparing one for earlier today and my Internet link went hatwire and lost the almost completed person, I do not feel in the right mood to do it all again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:42 am

The word of the day...Field(s)
A field is an area of grass, for example in a park or on a farm. A field is also an area of land on which a crop is grown.
A sports field is an area of grass where sports are played.
A field is an area of land or sea bed under which large amounts of a particular mineral have been found
A magnetic, gravitational, or electric field is the area in which that particular force is strong enough to have an effect
A particular field is a particular subject of study or type of activity.
A field is an area of a computer's memory or a program where data can be entered, edited, or stored.
You can refer to the area where fighting or other military action in a war takes place as the field or the field of battle.
Your field of vision or your visual field is the area that you can see without turning your head.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc8/str1nger/Field.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd202/clydegrly/Trip/Tripday1ish002.jpg
http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu105/Hangar519/pics463.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r150/breetie/s5.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/taka_hinte/garibaldi%20field%20study/DSC01667.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/wesleytyler/Desktops/sunflowers11.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx104/healingoasis/Original_movie_poster_for_the_film_.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa259/shadowtheatre/Earth_magnetic_field.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q278/SimplyNiki143/Sports/MINE007.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:44 am


I was preparing one for earlier today and my Internet link went hatwire and lost the almost completed person, I do not feel in the right mood to do it all again.

Ugh I hate when that happens. Were you going to do Gordon Brown?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:45 am


Ugh I hate when that happens. Were you going to do Gordon Brown?
I had someone else in mind, I will try again later on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:47 am


Were you going to do Gordon Brown?
Just looked, there is a lot there on him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:47 am

The person born on this day...Sidney Poitier
ir Sidney Poitier, KBE (pronounced /ˈpwɑːtjeɪ/ or /ˈpwɑːtieɪ/; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.

In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—making him the top box office star of that year. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.

Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."

Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
oitier joined the American Negro Theater, but was rejected by audiences. His tone deafness made him - contrary to what was expected of black actors at the time - unable to sing or dance. Determined to refine his acting skills and rid himself of his noticeable Bahamian accent, he spent the next six months dedicating himself to achieving theatrical success. On his second attempt at the theater, he was noticed and given a leading role in the Broadway production Lysistrata, for which he received excellent reviews. By the end of 1949, he had to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance in No Way Out, as a doctor treating a white bigot, was noticed and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and more prominent than what most black actors of the time were being cast.

Poitier's breakout role was as a member of an incorrigible high school class in Blackboard Jungle (1955). At age twenty-seven though, like most of the actors in the film, he was not a teenager.

Poitier was the first male black actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award (for The Defiant Ones, 1958). Tony Curtis is on record as saying he had approval of Poitier as his co-star. He also said the director's first choice for his role was Robert Mitchum, but Mitchum refused to work with a black man. Curtis made these comments on the 1999 program Private Screenings with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.

He was also the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field in 1963). (James Baskett was the first to receive an Oscar, an Honorary Academy Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney production of Song of the South in 1948, while Hattie McDaniel predated them both, winning as Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1939's Gone with the Wind).

He acted in the first production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 1959, and later starred in the film version released in 1961. He also gave memorable performances in The Bedford Incident (1965), and A Patch of Blue (1965) co-starring Elizabeth Hartman and Shelley Winters. In 1967, he was the most successful draw at the box office, the commercial peak of his career, with three successful films, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; To Sir, with Love and In the Heat of the Night. The last film featured his most successful character, Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania detective whose subsequent career was the subject of two sequels: They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971).

However, Poitier began to be criticized for typecasting himself as playing overidealized black characters who were not permitted to have any sexuality or personality faults, such as his character in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Poitier was aware of this pattern himself, but was conflicted on the matter; he wanted more varied roles, but also felt obliged to set a good example with his characters to defy previous stereotypes as he was the only major black actor in the American film industry at the time. For instance, Poitier, along with his producers, was able to make Virgil Tibbs a dignified and astute detective who is capable of making errors in judgment.
Directorial career

Poitier has directed several films, the most successful being the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, which for years was the highest grossing film directed by a person of African descent. His feature film directorial debut was the western Buck and the Preacher in which Poitier also starred, alongside Harry Belafonte. Poitier replaced original director Joseph Sargent. The trio of Poitier, Cosby, and Belafonte reunited again (with Poitier again directing) in Uptown Saturday Night. Poitier also directed Cosby in Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action, and Ghost Dad. Poitier also directed the first popular dance battle movie Fast Forward in 1985.
Personal life

Poitier was first married to Juanita Hardy from April 29, 1950 until 1965. He has been married to Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian descent, since January 23, 1976. He has four daughters by his first wife and two by his second: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Gina, Anika, Sydney Tamiia.

He has written three autobiographical books, This Life (1980), The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000) and Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter (2008). The second one became an Oprah's Book Club selection. Its translation in Traditional Chinese (ISBN 9570484969) was done by Fongfong Olivia Wei, and subsequently published by Triumph Publishing Company in Taipei, Taiwan in the year 2002.
Later life

In April 1997, Poitier was appointed as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan, a position he currently holds. He is also the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO. During the period of 1998 to 2003, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.

In 2001, Poitier received an Academy Honorary Award for his overall contribution to American cinema.

In August 2009, Poitier received the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Filmography
Actor
Year Film Role Notes
1947 Sepia Cinderella Extra uncredited
1949 From Whence Cometh My Help Himself documentary
1950 No Way Out Dr. Luther Brooks
1951 Cry, The Beloved Country Reverend Msimangu
1952 Red Ball Express Cpl. Andrew Robertson
1954 Go, Man, Go! Inman Jackson
1955 Blackboard Jungle Gregory W. Miller
1956 Good-bye, My Lady Gates
1957 Edge of the City Tommy Tyler Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Something of Value Kimani Wa Karanja
Band of Angels Rau-Ru
The Mark of the Hawk Obam
1958 Virgin Island Marcus
The Defiant Ones Noah Cullen BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1959 Porgy and Bess Porgy Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1960 All the Young Men Sgt. Eddie Towler
1961 A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee Younger Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Paris Blues Eddie Cook
1962 Pressure Point Doctor (Chief Psychiatrist)
1963 The Long Ships Aly Mansuh
Lilies of the Field Homer Smith Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Actor
1965 The Bedford Incident Ben Munceford
The Greatest Story Ever Told Simon of Cyrene
A Patch of Blue Gordon Ralfe Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
The Slender Thread Alan Newell
1966 Duel at Diablo Toller (contract horse dealer)
1967 To Sir, with Love Mark Thackeray
In the Heat of the Night Det. Virgil Tibbs Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Dr. John Wade Prentice
1968 For Love of Ivy Jack Parks
1969 The Lost Man Jason Higgs
1970 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis Narrator documentary
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! Virgil Tibbs
1971 Brother John John Kane
Not Me Boss!!
The Organization Detective Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs SFPD Homicide
1972 Buck and the Preacher Buck
1973 A Warm December Matt Younger
1974 Uptown Saturday Night Steve Jackson
1975 The Wilby Conspiracy Shack Twala
Let's Do it Again Clyde Williams
1977 A Piece of the Action Manny Durrell
1979 Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist Narrator short subject
1988 Shoot to Kill Warren Stantin
Little Nikita* Roy Parmenter
1992 Sneakers Donald Crease
1994 A Century of Cinema Himself documentary
1996 Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick Himself documentary
1997 The Jackal FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston
2001 Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey Narrator documentary
2004 MacKenzie Himself documentary
2008 Mr. Warmth:The Don Rickles Project Himself documentary
Director
Year Film
1972 Buck and the Preacher
1973 A Warm December
1974 Uptown Saturday Night
1975 Let's Do it Again
1977 A Piece of the Action
1980 Stir Crazy
1982 Hanky Panky
1985 Fast Forward
1990 Ghost Dad
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1991 Separate but Equal Thurgood Marshall Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1995 Children of the Dust Gypsy Smith
1996 To Sir, with Love II Mark Thackeray
1997 Mandela and De Klerk Nelson Mandela Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1998 David and Lisa Dr. Jack Miller
1999 The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn Noah Dearborn
Free of Eden Will Cleamons
2001 The Last Brickmaker in America Henry Cobb
Awards and recognition

   * 1958 British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Foreign Actor for The Defiant Ones
   * 1958 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for The Defiant Ones
   * 1963 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies of the Field
   * 1963 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for Lilies of the Field
   * 1963 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for Lilies of the Field
   * 1974 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Because Poitier is a citizen of The Bahamas, a Commonwealth realm that subscribes to the British Honours System, this is a substantive (as opposed to honorary) knighthood, which entitles him to the style "Sir". Poitier does not use the style, nor does his wife use the style "Lady Poitier"
   * 1992 AFI Life Achievement Award
   * 1995 SAG Life Achievement Award
   * 1997 Appointed non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to Japan
   * 1999 Kennedy Center Honors
   * 2000 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
   * 2001 NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award
   * 2001 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album - Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) and Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man
   * 2002 Honorary Oscar - "For his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence"
   * 2009 Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

See also

   * List of African American firsts
   * David Hampton, an impostor who posed as Poitier's son "David" in 1983, which inspired a play and a film, Six Degrees of Separation
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/recipient2.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa304/earlyrizer/sidney_poitier.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k74/nicoletteautumn/SidneyPoitier.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/jojetjes/HisExcellency.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:48 am


Just looked, there is a lot there on him.
I know what to do!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:48 am


Just looked, there is a lot there on him.

Yeah your right.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:50 am

British Person of the Day: Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party. Immediately before this he had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour government from 1997 to 2007 under Tony Blair.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh and spent his early career working as a television journalist. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; first for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. As Prime Minister, he also holds the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Brown's time as Chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England, by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority. Controversial moves included the abolition of advance corporation tax (ACT) relief in his first budget, and the removal in his final budget of the 10 per cent "starting rate" of personal income tax which he had introduced in 1999.

After an initial rise in opinion polls, Brown's time as Prime Minister has seen his approval ratings fall and the Labour Party suffer its worst local election results in 40 years. Despite public and parliamentary pressure on his leadership, he remains leader of the Labour Party.

http://frankowenspaintbrush.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/gordon-brown.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:51 am


British Person of the Day: Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party. Immediately before this he had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour government from 1997 to 2007 under Tony Blair.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh and spent his early career working as a television journalist. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; first for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. As Prime Minister, he also holds the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Brown's time as Chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England, by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority. Controversial moves included the abolition of advance corporation tax (ACT) relief in his first budget, and the removal in his final budget of the 10 per cent "starting rate" of personal income tax which he had introduced in 1999.

After an initial rise in opinion polls, Brown's time as Prime Minister has seen his approval ratings fall and the Labour Party suffer its worst local election results in 40 years. Despite public and parliamentary pressure on his leadership, he remains leader of the Labour Party.

http://frankowenspaintbrush.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/gordon-brown.jpg
During an end-of-term rugby union match at his old school he received a kick to the head and suffered a retinal detachment. This left him blind in his left eye, despite treatment including several operations and weeks spent lying in a darkened room. Later at Edinburgh, while playing tennis, he noticed the same symptoms in his right eye. Brown underwent experimental surgery at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and his eye was saved.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:53 am

The person who died on this day...Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American film actor and star, noted for his athletic physique, distinct smile (which he called "The Grin") and, later, his willingness to play roles that went against his initial "tough guy" image. Initially dismissed as "Mr Muscles and Teeth", in the late 1950s Lancaster abandoned his "all-American" image and gradually came to be regarded as one of the best actors of his generation.

Lancaster was nominated four times for Academy Awards and won once, for his work in Elmer Gantry in 1960. He also won a Golden Globe for that performance, and BAFTA Awards for The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1980).
ough initially unenthusiastic about acting, he returned from service, auditioned for a Broadway play and was offered a role. Although Harry Brown's A Sound of Hunting was not successful, Lancaster's performance drew the attention of a Hollywood agent, Harold Hecht, who introduced him to Hal Wallis who cast Lancaster in The Killers (1946). (Hecht and Lancaster later formed several production companies in the 50's to give Lancaster greater creative control.) The tall, muscular actor won significant acclaim and appeared in two more films the following year. Subsequently, he played in a variety of films, especially in dramas, thrillers, and military and adventure films. In two, The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate, a friend from his circus years, Nick Cravat, played a leading role, and both actors impressed audiences with their acrobatic prowess.

In 1953, Lancaster played one of his best remembered roles with Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity. The American Film Institute acknowledged the iconic status of the scene from that film in which he and Deborah Kerr make love on a Hawaiian beach amid the crashing waves. The organization named it one of "AFI's top 100 Most Romantic Films" of all time. In the mid-1950s, Lancaster went on challenging himself with varied cinematic roles, and he satisfied longtime aspirations by forming a film production partnership, Hecht-Lancaster Productions (eventually Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions) as well, having a pioneering role in the development of independent cinema. His work was recognized in 1960 when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe Award, and the New York Film Critics Award for his performance in Elmer Gantry. In 1966, at the age of 52, Lancaster appeared nude in the film, The Swimmer.

Lancaster made several films over the years with Kirk Douglas, including I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), The Devil's Disciple (1959), Seven Days in May (1964), and Tough Guys (1986), which fixed the notion of the pair as something of a team in the public imagination. Douglas was always second-billed under Lancaster in these films, but with the exception of I Walk Alone, in which Douglas played a villain, their roles were usually more or less the same size.

During the later part of his career, Lancaster left adventure and acrobatic movies behind and portrayed more distinguished characters. This period brought him work on several European productions, with directors such as Luchino Visconti and Bernardo Bertolucci. Lancaster sought demanding roles and, if he liked a part or a director, was prepared to work for much lower pay than he might have earned elsewhere; he even helped to finance movies whose artistic value he believed in. He also mentored directors such as Sydney Pollack and John Frankenheimer and appeared in several TV films.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Lancaster has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life

Lancaster vigorously guarded his private life. He was married three times; his first two ended in divorce: to June Ernst from 1935 to 1946; to Norma Anderson from 1946 to 1969; to Susan Martin from September 1990 until his death. All five of his children were with Anderson: Bill (who became a screenwriter), James, Susan, Joanna, and Sighle (pronounced Sheila). He was romantically involved with Deborah Kerr during the filming of From Here to Eternity in 1953.

Lancaster was an unabashed liberal, who frequently spoke out with support for racial minorities. He was also instrumental in the formation of many liberal groups, through financial support. At one point, he was rumored to be a member of the Communist Party, because of his involvement in many liberal causes. He was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and political movements such as McCarthyism, and he helped pay for the successful defense of a soldier accused of fragging another soldier during the war. In 1968, Lancaster actively supported the presidential candidacy of antiwar Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, and frequently spoke on his behalf in the Democratic primaries. In 1985, Lancaster, a longtime supporter of gay rights, joined the fight against AIDS after his close friend, Rock Hudson, contracted the disease. He campaigned for Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election.
Health problems and death

As Lancaster grew older, heart trouble increasingly hindered him from working. He nearly died during a routine gall bladder operation in January 1980. Following two minor heart attacks he had to undergo an emergency quadruple heart bypass in 1983, after which he was in frail health. He suffered a severe stroke in November 1990, which left him partly paralyzed and with restricted speech. Lancaster died in his Century City apartment in Los Angeles from a third heart attack on October 20, 1994, at the age of 80. He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Westwood Village in Los Angeles.
Filmography and awards
Year Film Role Notes
1946 The Killers 'Swede' Andersen
1947 Brute Force Joe Collins
Desert Fury Tom Hanson
1948 I Walk Alone Frankie Madison
All My Sons Chris Keller
Sorry, Wrong Number Henry Stevenson
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands William Earle 'Bill' Saunders
1949 Criss Cross Steve Thompson / Narrator
Rope of Sand Michael (Mike) Davis
1950 The Flame and the Arrow Dardo Bartoli
Mister 880 Steve Buchanan
1951 Vengeance Valley Owen Daybright
Jim Thorpe -- All-American Jim Thorpe
Ten Tall Men Sgt Mike Kincaid
1952 The Crimson Pirate Capitan Vallo
Come Back, Little Sheba Doc Delaney
1953 South Sea Woman Master Gunnery Sgt. James O'Hearn
From Here to Eternity 1st Sgt. Milton Warden New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Three Sailors and a Girl Marine (uncredited)
1954 His Majesty O'Keefe Captain David Dion O'Keefe/Narrator
Apache Massai
Vera Cruz Joe Erin
1955 The Kentuckian Elias Wakefield (Big Eli) Director
Nominated — Golden Lion
The Rose Tattoo Alvaro Mangiacavallo
1956 Trapeze Mike Ribble Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlin
The Rainmaker Bill Starbuck, aka Bill Smith, Bill Harley, Tornado Johnson Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Marshal Wyatt Earp
Sweet Smell of Success J.J. Hunsecker
1958 Run Silent Run Deep Lt. Jim Bledsoe
Separate Tables John Malcolm
1959 The Devil's Disciple The Rev. Anthony Anderson
1960 The Unforgiven Ben Zachary
Elmer Gantry Elmer Gantry Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1961 The Young Savages Hank Bell
Judgment at Nuremberg Dr. Ernst Janning
1962 Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stroud BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Volpi Cup
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1963 A Child is Waiting Dr. Ben Clark
The Leopard (Gattopardo, Il) Prince Don Fabrizio Salina
The List of Adrian Messenger Cameo
1964 Seven Days in May Gen. James Mattoon Scott
The Train Paul Labiche
1965 The Hallelujah Trail Col. Thaddeus Gearhart
1966 The Professionals Bill Dolworth
1967 All About People Narrator
1968 The Scalphunters Joe Bass
The Swimmer Ned Merrill
1969 Castle Keep Maj. Abraham Falconer
The Gypsy Moths Mike Rettig
1970 Airport Mel Bakersfeld
1971 Lawman Bannock Marshal Jered Maddox
Valdez Is Coming Valdez
1972 Ulzana's Raid McIntosh
1973 Scorpio Cross
Executive Action James Farrington
1974 The Midnight Man Jim Slade Director
Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (Conversation Piece) The Professor David di Donatello for Best Actor
Moses the Lawgiver (TV mini-series) Moses
1976 ' 'Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson Ned Buntline
1900 (Novecento) Alfredo's Grandfather
Victory at Entebbe (TV) Shimon Peres
The Cassandra Crossing Col. Stephen Mackenzie
1977 Twilight's Last Gleaming Gen. Lawrence Dell
The Island of Dr. Moreau Dr. Paul Moreau Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1978 Go Tell the Spartans Maj. Asa Barker
1979 Zulu Dawn Col. Anthony Durnford
1980 Atlantic City Lou Pascal BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
David di Donatello for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1981 Cattle Annie and Little Britches Bill Doolin
La pelle Gen. Mark Clark
1982 Marco Polo TV mini-series TeobaldoVisconti / Pope Gregory X
Verdi (TV mini-series) Narrator in American version
1983 Local Hero Felix Happer Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
The Osterman Weekend Maxwell Danforth
1985 Scandal Sheet Harold Fallen
Little Treasure Delbert Teschemacher
1986 Väter und Söhne - Eine deutsche Tragödie (TV mini-series) Geheimrat Carl Julius Deutz
On Wings of Eagles (TV mini-series) Lieutenant Colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons
Barnum Phineas Taylor 'P.T.' Barnum
1986 Tough Guys Harry Doyle
1987 Il Giorno prima Dr. Herbert Monroe
1988 Rocket Gibraltar Levi Rockwell
1989 Field of Dreams Dr. Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham
La Bottega dell'orefice The Jeweller
I Promessi sposi (TV mini-series) Cardinal Federigo Borromeo
1990 The Phantom of the Opera Gerard Carriere
Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair (TV) Leon Klinghoffer
1991 Separate But Equal (TV) John W. Davis
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t130/killerofthesky/Celebrities/Males/burtl.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/men/kkkkk.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff37/anuki_var/2004-01-28/23a4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 4:54 am


During an end-of-term rugby union match at his old school he received a kick to the head and suffered a retinal detachment. This left him blind in his left eye, despite treatment including several operations and weeks spent lying in a darkened room. Later at Edinburgh, while playing tennis, he noticed the same symptoms in his right eye. Brown underwent experimental surgery at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and his eye was saved.

He was one lucky guy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:54 am


The word of the day...Field(s)
A field is an area of grass, for example in a park or on a farm. A field is also an area of land on which a crop is grown.
A sports field is an area of grass where sports are played.
A field is an area of land or sea bed under which large amounts of a particular mineral have been found
A magnetic, gravitational, or electric field is the area in which that particular force is strong enough to have an effect
A particular field is a particular subject of study or type of activity.
A field is an area of a computer's memory or a program where data can be entered, edited, or stored.
You can refer to the area where fighting or other military action in a war takes place as the field or the field of battle.
Your field of vision or your visual field is the area that you can see without turning your head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNJBopK25I

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:56 am


The person born on this day...Sidney Poitier
ir Sidney Poitier, KBE (pronounced /ˈpwɑːtjeɪ/ or /ˈpwɑːtieɪ/; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.

In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—making him the top box office star of that year. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.

Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."

Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
oitier joined the American Negro Theater, but was rejected by audiences. His tone deafness made him - contrary to what was expected of black actors at the time - unable to sing or dance. Determined to refine his acting skills and rid himself of his noticeable Bahamian accent, he spent the next six months dedicating himself to achieving theatrical success. On his second attempt at the theater, he was noticed and given a leading role in the Broadway production Lysistrata, for which he received excellent reviews. By the end of 1949, he had to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance in No Way Out, as a doctor treating a white bigot, was noticed and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and more prominent than what most black actors of the time were being cast.

Poitier's breakout role was as a member of an incorrigible high school class in Blackboard Jungle (1955). At age twenty-seven though, like most of the actors in the film, he was not a teenager.

Poitier was the first male black actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award (for The Defiant Ones, 1958). Tony Curtis is on record as saying he had approval of Poitier as his co-star. He also said the director's first choice for his role was Robert Mitchum, but Mitchum refused to work with a black man. Curtis made these comments on the 1999 program Private Screenings with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.

He was also the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field in 1963). (James Baskett was the first to receive an Oscar, an Honorary Academy Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney production of Song of the South in 1948, while Hattie McDaniel predated them both, winning as Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1939's Gone with the Wind).

He acted in the first production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 1959, and later starred in the film version released in 1961. He also gave memorable performances in The Bedford Incident (1965), and A Patch of Blue (1965) co-starring Elizabeth Hartman and Shelley Winters. In 1967, he was the most successful draw at the box office, the commercial peak of his career, with three successful films, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; To Sir, with Love and In the Heat of the Night. The last film featured his most successful character, Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania detective whose subsequent career was the subject of two sequels: They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971).

However, Poitier began to be criticized for typecasting himself as playing overidealized black characters who were not permitted to have any sexuality or personality faults, such as his character in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Poitier was aware of this pattern himself, but was conflicted on the matter; he wanted more varied roles, but also felt obliged to set a good example with his characters to defy previous stereotypes as he was the only major black actor in the American film industry at the time. For instance, Poitier, along with his producers, was able to make Virgil Tibbs a dignified and astute detective who is capable of making errors in judgment.
Directorial career

Poitier has directed several films, the most successful being the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, which for years was the highest grossing film directed by a person of African descent. His feature film directorial debut was the western Buck and the Preacher in which Poitier also starred, alongside Harry Belafonte. Poitier replaced original director Joseph Sargent. The trio of Poitier, Cosby, and Belafonte reunited again (with Poitier again directing) in Uptown Saturday Night. Poitier also directed Cosby in Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action, and Ghost Dad. Poitier also directed the first popular dance battle movie Fast Forward in 1985.
Personal life

Poitier was first married to Juanita Hardy from April 29, 1950 until 1965. He has been married to Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian descent, since January 23, 1976. He has four daughters by his first wife and two by his second: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Gina, Anika, Sydney Tamiia.

He has written three autobiographical books, This Life (1980), The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000) and Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter (2008). The second one became an Oprah's Book Club selection. Its translation in Traditional Chinese (ISBN 9570484969) was done by Fongfong Olivia Wei, and subsequently published by Triumph Publishing Company in Taipei, Taiwan in the year 2002.
Later life

In April 1997, Poitier was appointed as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan, a position he currently holds. He is also the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO. During the period of 1998 to 2003, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.

In 2001, Poitier received an Academy Honorary Award for his overall contribution to American cinema.

In August 2009, Poitier received the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Filmography
Actor
Year Film Role Notes
1947 Sepia Cinderella Extra uncredited
1949 From Whence Cometh My Help Himself documentary
1950 No Way Out Dr. Luther Brooks
1951 Cry, The Beloved Country Reverend Msimangu
1952 Red Ball Express Cpl. Andrew Robertson
1954 Go, Man, Go! Inman Jackson
1955 Blackboard Jungle Gregory W. Miller
1956 Good-bye, My Lady Gates
1957 Edge of the City Tommy Tyler Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Something of Value Kimani Wa Karanja
Band of Angels Rau-Ru
The Mark of the Hawk Obam
1958 Virgin Island Marcus
The Defiant Ones Noah Cullen BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1959 Porgy and Bess Porgy Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1960 All the Young Men Sgt. Eddie Towler
1961 A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee Younger Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Paris Blues Eddie Cook
1962 Pressure Point Doctor (Chief Psychiatrist)
1963 The Long Ships Aly Mansuh
Lilies of the Field Homer Smith Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Actor
1965 The Bedford Incident Ben Munceford
The Greatest Story Ever Told Simon of Cyrene
A Patch of Blue Gordon Ralfe Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
The Slender Thread Alan Newell
1966 Duel at Diablo Toller (contract horse dealer)
1967 To Sir, with Love Mark Thackeray
In the Heat of the Night Det. Virgil Tibbs Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Dr. John Wade Prentice
1968 For Love of Ivy Jack Parks
1969 The Lost Man Jason Higgs
1970 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis Narrator documentary
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! Virgil Tibbs
1971 Brother John John Kane
Not Me Boss!!
The Organization Detective Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs SFPD Homicide
1972 Buck and the Preacher Buck
1973 A Warm December Matt Younger
1974 Uptown Saturday Night Steve Jackson
1975 The Wilby Conspiracy Shack Twala
Let's Do it Again Clyde Williams
1977 A Piece of the Action Manny Durrell
1979 Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist Narrator short subject
1988 Shoot to Kill Warren Stantin
Little Nikita* Roy Parmenter
1992 Sneakers Donald Crease
1994 A Century of Cinema Himself documentary
1996 Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick Himself documentary
1997 The Jackal FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston
2001 Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey Narrator documentary
2004 MacKenzie Himself documentary
2008 Mr. Warmth:The Don Rickles Project Himself documentary
Director
Year Film
1972 Buck and the Preacher
1973 A Warm December
1974 Uptown Saturday Night
1975 Let's Do it Again
1977 A Piece of the Action
1980 Stir Crazy
1982 Hanky Panky
1985 Fast Forward
1990 Ghost Dad
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1991 Separate but Equal Thurgood Marshall Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1995 Children of the Dust Gypsy Smith
1996 To Sir, with Love II Mark Thackeray
1997 Mandela and De Klerk Nelson Mandela Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1998 David and Lisa Dr. Jack Miller
1999 The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn Noah Dearborn
Free of Eden Will Cleamons
2001 The Last Brickmaker in America Henry Cobb
Awards and recognition

    * 1958 British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Foreign Actor for The Defiant Ones
    * 1958 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for The Defiant Ones
    * 1963 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies of the Field
    * 1963 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for Lilies of the Field
    * 1963 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for Lilies of the Field
    * 1974 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Because Poitier is a citizen of The Bahamas, a Commonwealth realm that subscribes to the British Honours System, this is a substantive (as opposed to honorary) knighthood, which entitles him to the style "Sir". Poitier does not use the style, nor does his wife use the style "Lady Poitier"
    * 1992 AFI Life Achievement Award
    * 1995 SAG Life Achievement Award
    * 1997 Appointed non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to Japan
    * 1999 Kennedy Center Honors
    * 2000 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
    * 2001 NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award
    * 2001 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album - Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) and Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man
    * 2002 Honorary Oscar - "For his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence"
    * 2009 Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

See also

    * List of African American firsts
    * David Hampton, an impostor who posed as Poitier's son "David" in 1983, which inspired a play and a film, Six Degrees of Separation




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aSFoY3W3NM

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 4:57 am


British Person of the Day: Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party. Immediately before this he had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour government from 1997 to 2007 under Tony Blair.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh and spent his early career working as a television journalist. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; first for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. As Prime Minister, he also holds the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Brown's time as Chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England, by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority. Controversial moves included the abolition of advance corporation tax (ACT) relief in his first budget, and the removal in his final budget of the 10 per cent "starting rate" of personal income tax which he had introduced in 1999.

After an initial rise in opinion polls, Brown's time as Prime Minister has seen his approval ratings fall and the Labour Party suffer its worst local election results in 40 years. Despite public and parliamentary pressure on his leadership, he remains leader of the Labour Party.

http://frankowenspaintbrush.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/gordon-brown.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7R7q1lSZfs

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 5:41 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNJBopK25I

Nice song...I looked at this quick and I thought it said "Fields of Gold String" ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 5:43 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aSFoY3W3NM

It's been awhile since I've seen the movie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/20/10 at 5:49 am

Don't forget...Sally Fields

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss20/SurfinGidget/sallyfield-nc.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 5:51 am


Don't forget...Sally Fields

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss20/SurfinGidget/sallyfield-nc.jpg
...or WC Fields!

http://blog.lakesregionhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/wc-fields.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 5:52 am


It's been awhile since I've seen the movie.
I want my own copy of it, everytime I see the DVD in the shops, it is always expensive.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/20/10 at 7:00 am


Don't forget...Sally Fields

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss20/SurfinGidget/sallyfield-nc.jpg


Now she does commercials for Boniva.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/20/10 at 7:01 am


The person born on this day...Sidney Poitier
ir Sidney Poitier, KBE (pronounced /ˈpwɑːtjeɪ/ or /ˈpwɑːtieɪ/; born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film audiences in the Western world.

In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—making him the top box office star of that year. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.

Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."

Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
oitier joined the American Negro Theater, but was rejected by audiences. His tone deafness made him - contrary to what was expected of black actors at the time - unable to sing or dance. Determined to refine his acting skills and rid himself of his noticeable Bahamian accent, he spent the next six months dedicating himself to achieving theatrical success. On his second attempt at the theater, he was noticed and given a leading role in the Broadway production Lysistrata, for which he received excellent reviews. By the end of 1949, he had to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950). His performance in No Way Out, as a doctor treating a white bigot, was noticed and led to more roles, each considerably more interesting and more prominent than what most black actors of the time were being cast.

Poitier's breakout role was as a member of an incorrigible high school class in Blackboard Jungle (1955). At age twenty-seven though, like most of the actors in the film, he was not a teenager.

Poitier was the first male black actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award (for The Defiant Ones, 1958). Tony Curtis is on record as saying he had approval of Poitier as his co-star. He also said the director's first choice for his role was Robert Mitchum, but Mitchum refused to work with a black man. Curtis made these comments on the 1999 program Private Screenings with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.

He was also the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field in 1963). (James Baskett was the first to receive an Oscar, an Honorary Academy Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in the Walt Disney production of Song of the South in 1948, while Hattie McDaniel predated them both, winning as Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1939's Gone with the Wind).

He acted in the first production of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 1959, and later starred in the film version released in 1961. He also gave memorable performances in The Bedford Incident (1965), and A Patch of Blue (1965) co-starring Elizabeth Hartman and Shelley Winters. In 1967, he was the most successful draw at the box office, the commercial peak of his career, with three successful films, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; To Sir, with Love and In the Heat of the Night. The last film featured his most successful character, Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania detective whose subsequent career was the subject of two sequels: They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971).

However, Poitier began to be criticized for typecasting himself as playing overidealized black characters who were not permitted to have any sexuality or personality faults, such as his character in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Poitier was aware of this pattern himself, but was conflicted on the matter; he wanted more varied roles, but also felt obliged to set a good example with his characters to defy previous stereotypes as he was the only major black actor in the American film industry at the time. For instance, Poitier, along with his producers, was able to make Virgil Tibbs a dignified and astute detective who is capable of making errors in judgment.
Directorial career

Poitier has directed several films, the most successful being the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder comedy Stir Crazy, which for years was the highest grossing film directed by a person of African descent. His feature film directorial debut was the western Buck and the Preacher in which Poitier also starred, alongside Harry Belafonte. Poitier replaced original director Joseph Sargent. The trio of Poitier, Cosby, and Belafonte reunited again (with Poitier again directing) in Uptown Saturday Night. Poitier also directed Cosby in Let's Do It Again, A Piece of the Action, and Ghost Dad. Poitier also directed the first popular dance battle movie Fast Forward in 1985.
Personal life

Poitier was first married to Juanita Hardy from April 29, 1950 until 1965. He has been married to Joanna Shimkus, a Canadian-born former actress of Lithuanian descent, since January 23, 1976. He has four daughters by his first wife and two by his second: Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Gina, Anika, Sydney Tamiia.

He has written three autobiographical books, This Life (1980), The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000) and Life Beyond Measure - letters to my Great-Granddaughter (2008). The second one became an Oprah's Book Club selection. Its translation in Traditional Chinese (ISBN 9570484969) was done by Fongfong Olivia Wei, and subsequently published by Triumph Publishing Company in Taipei, Taiwan in the year 2002.
Later life

In April 1997, Poitier was appointed as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan, a position he currently holds. He is also the ambassador of the Bahamas to UNESCO. During the period of 1998 to 2003, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.

In 2001, Poitier received an Academy Honorary Award for his overall contribution to American cinema.

In August 2009, Poitier received the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Filmography
Actor
Year Film Role Notes
1947 Sepia Cinderella Extra uncredited
1949 From Whence Cometh My Help Himself documentary
1950 No Way Out Dr. Luther Brooks
1951 Cry, The Beloved Country Reverend Msimangu
1952 Red Ball Express Cpl. Andrew Robertson
1954 Go, Man, Go! Inman Jackson
1955 Blackboard Jungle Gregory W. Miller
1956 Good-bye, My Lady Gates
1957 Edge of the City Tommy Tyler Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Something of Value Kimani Wa Karanja
Band of Angels Rau-Ru
The Mark of the Hawk Obam
1958 Virgin Island Marcus
The Defiant Ones Noah Cullen BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1959 Porgy and Bess Porgy Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1960 All the Young Men Sgt. Eddie Towler
1961 A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee Younger Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Paris Blues Eddie Cook
1962 Pressure Point Doctor (Chief Psychiatrist)
1963 The Long Ships Aly Mansuh
Lilies of the Field Homer Smith Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival: Silver Bear for Best Actor
1965 The Bedford Incident Ben Munceford
The Greatest Story Ever Told Simon of Cyrene
A Patch of Blue Gordon Ralfe Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
The Slender Thread Alan Newell
1966 Duel at Diablo Toller (contract horse dealer)
1967 To Sir, with Love Mark Thackeray
In the Heat of the Night Det. Virgil Tibbs Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Dr. John Wade Prentice
1968 For Love of Ivy Jack Parks
1969 The Lost Man Jason Higgs
1970 King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis Narrator documentary
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! Virgil Tibbs
1971 Brother John John Kane
Not Me Boss!!
The Organization Detective Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs SFPD Homicide
1972 Buck and the Preacher Buck
1973 A Warm December Matt Younger
1974 Uptown Saturday Night Steve Jackson
1975 The Wilby Conspiracy Shack Twala
Let's Do it Again Clyde Williams
1977 A Piece of the Action Manny Durrell
1979 Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist Narrator short subject
1988 Shoot to Kill Warren Stantin
Little Nikita* Roy Parmenter
1992 Sneakers Donald Crease
1994 A Century of Cinema Himself documentary
1996 Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick Himself documentary
1997 The Jackal FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston
2001 Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey Narrator documentary
2004 MacKenzie Himself documentary
2008 Mr. Warmth:The Don Rickles Project Himself documentary
Director
Year Film
1972 Buck and the Preacher
1973 A Warm December
1974 Uptown Saturday Night
1975 Let's Do it Again
1977 A Piece of the Action
1980 Stir Crazy
1982 Hanky Panky
1985 Fast Forward
1990 Ghost Dad
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1991 Separate but Equal Thurgood Marshall Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1995 Children of the Dust Gypsy Smith
1996 To Sir, with Love II Mark Thackeray
1997 Mandela and De Klerk Nelson Mandela Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
1998 David and Lisa Dr. Jack Miller
1999 The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn Noah Dearborn
Free of Eden Will Cleamons
2001 The Last Brickmaker in America Henry Cobb
Awards and recognition

   * 1958 British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Foreign Actor for The Defiant Ones
   * 1958 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for The Defiant Ones
   * 1963 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies of the Field
   * 1963 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for Lilies of the Field
   * 1963 Silver Bear for Best Actor (Berlin Film Festival) for Lilies of the Field
   * 1974 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Because Poitier is a citizen of The Bahamas, a Commonwealth realm that subscribes to the British Honours System, this is a substantive (as opposed to honorary) knighthood, which entitles him to the style "Sir". Poitier does not use the style, nor does his wife use the style "Lady Poitier"
   * 1992 AFI Life Achievement Award
   * 1995 SAG Life Achievement Award
   * 1997 Appointed non-resident Bahamian Ambassador to Japan
   * 1999 Kennedy Center Honors
   * 2000 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
   * 2001 NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award
   * 2001 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album - Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) and Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man
   * 2002 Honorary Oscar - "For his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence"
   * 2009 Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

See also

   * List of African American firsts
   * David Hampton, an impostor who posed as Poitier's son "David" in 1983, which inspired a play and a film, Six Degrees of Separation
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/recipient2.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa304/earlyrizer/sidney_poitier.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k74/nicoletteautumn/SidneyPoitier.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/jojetjes/HisExcellency.jpg



a very fine actor. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/20/10 at 7:38 am



http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu105/Hangar519/pics463.jpg




Wow! That guy is out standing in his field.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 8:21 am


Don't forget...Sally Fields

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss20/SurfinGidget/sallyfield-nc.jpg

...or WC Fields!

http://blog.lakesregionhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/wc-fields.jpg

Good choices :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 8:22 am


a very fine actor. :)

Yes he is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 8:23 am



Wow! That guy is out standing in his field.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Nice one ;D ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/20/10 at 10:37 am

Sidney Poitier..Loved him in "Lilies of the field"
Thanks.

Sally Field. Girl with (still) cute cheeks

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/20/10 at 10:46 am

Canadian person of the day:
Philip Anthony "Espo" Esposito, OC (born February 20, 1942 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and is considered to be one of the best to have ever played in the National Hockey League.

http://onestophockeycards.com/Error_69-70_OPC_-__Espo_a_B.jpg

In 1967, he came to Boston Bruins in a blockbuster trade, along with Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield. While the hitherto unremarkable Hodge and Stanfield became stars in the black-and-gold, Esposito blossomed into the greatest scorer of his day, becoming the first NHL player to score 100 points in a season with 126 in the 1969 season. He would top the "century" mark six times in all, including five consecutive seasons between 1971 and 1975 (plus a 99-point season in 1970), capturing the Art Ross Trophy in 1969 and 1971–74 as the top regular season scorer, and leading the league in goals for six straight seasons, (69/70 to 74/75).

http://www.distantreplay.org/NHL/images/players/PhilEspositoBos.jpg

Esposito was named to the NHL's First All-Star team six consecutive times (from 1969–74), and won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1969 and 1974. His Boston fans printed and displayed bumper stickers during his best years to celebrate his scoring: they read, "Jesus saves, Espo scores on the rebound." Esposito, while not a fast or graceful skater, was best known for his unmovable presence in front of the opposition net from which he could score from all angles. Esposito has said: “Scoring is easy. You simply stand in the slot, take your beating and shoot the puck into the net.”

During these great years, centering one of the most renowned forward lines in history with Hodge on right wing and left winger Wayne Cashman, Esposito and fellow superstar Bobby Orr led the Bruins to Stanley Cup victories in 1970 and 1972, and first-place finishes in the league in 1971, 1972, and 1974.

During 1970–71, Esposito shattered the record for most goals scored in a season when he finished up with 76. This record stood until 1982 when Wayne Gretzky scored his 77th, 78th and 79th goal against the Buffalo Sabres on February 24, 1982 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Esposito was on hand to present the game puck to Gretzky. Esposito also set the single season point-scoring record in 1971 with 152, a mark likewise now held by Gretzky. Only three other players have reached the 150 point-scoring plateau — Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nicholls — and only Gretzky, Lemieux, Brett Hull, Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny have scored 76 or more goals in a season. That season also saw Esposito shatter the single season mark for shots on goal with 550, an unsurpassed mark which only one other player has approached within a hundred (Alexander Ovechkin in 2008–09).

After his performance in the Summit Series, where he was the inspirational captain for Team Canada and its leading scorer in the series, he won the 1972 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's outstanding male athlete of the year and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Esposito also scored the first goal of the series and he scored or assisted four times in the deciding game. During that series, his scolding of Canadian fans, who booed the national team after a 5–3 loss to the Soviet Union in Game Four, was credited with firing up his teammates :

    "If the Russian fans boo their players in Moscow like you people are booing us, I'll come back and apologize personally to every one of you, but I really don't think that will happen. We gave it and are doing our best. All of us guys are really disheartened. . . . We came out here because we love Canada. They're a good hockey team, and we don't know what we could do better, but I promise we will figure it out. But it's totally ridiculous — I don't think it is fair that we should be booed."
http://www.1972summitseries.com/photos/esposito_and_tretiak.jpg

He retired in 1981, then only second to Gordie Howe in career goals and total points, and third in assists to Howe and Stan Mikita.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/content/Image/08-12-2009/Phil-Esposito.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/10 at 10:48 am


Canadian person of the day:
Philip Anthony "Espo" Esposito, OC (born February 20, 1942 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) is a retired professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and is considered to be one of the best to have ever played in the National Hockey League.

http://onestophockeycards.com/Error_69-70_OPC_-__Espo_a_B.jpg

In 1967, he came to Boston Bruins in a blockbuster trade, along with Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield. While the hitherto unremarkable Hodge and Stanfield became stars in the black-and-gold, Esposito blossomed into the greatest scorer of his day, becoming the first NHL player to score 100 points in a season with 126 in the 1969 season. He would top the "century" mark six times in all, including five consecutive seasons between 1971 and 1975 (plus a 99-point season in 1970), capturing the Art Ross Trophy in 1969 and 1971–74 as the top regular season scorer, and leading the league in goals for six straight seasons, (69/70 to 74/75).

http://www.distantreplay.org/NHL/images/players/PhilEspositoBos.jpg

Esposito was named to the NHL's First All-Star team six consecutive times (from 1969–74), and won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1969 and 1974. His Boston fans printed and displayed bumper stickers during his best years to celebrate his scoring: they read, "Jesus saves, Espo scores on the rebound." Esposito, while not a fast or graceful skater, was best known for his unmovable presence in front of the opposition net from which he could score from all angles. Esposito has said: “Scoring is easy. You simply stand in the slot, take your beating and shoot the puck into the net.”

During these great years, centering one of the most renowned forward lines in history with Hodge on right wing and left winger Wayne Cashman, Esposito and fellow superstar Bobby Orr led the Bruins to Stanley Cup victories in 1970 and 1972, and first-place finishes in the league in 1971, 1972, and 1974.

During 1970–71, Esposito shattered the record for most goals scored in a season when he finished up with 76. This record stood until 1982 when Wayne Gretzky scored his 77th, 78th and 79th goal against the Buffalo Sabres on February 24, 1982 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Esposito was on hand to present the game puck to Gretzky. Esposito also set the single season point-scoring record in 1971 with 152, a mark likewise now held by Gretzky. Only three other players have reached the 150 point-scoring plateau — Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nicholls — and only Gretzky, Lemieux, Brett Hull, Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny have scored 76 or more goals in a season. That season also saw Esposito shatter the single season mark for shots on goal with 550, an unsurpassed mark which only one other player has approached within a hundred (Alexander Ovechkin in 2008–09).

After his performance in the Summit Series, where he was the inspirational captain for Team Canada and its leading scorer in the series, he won the 1972 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's outstanding male athlete of the year and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Esposito also scored the first goal of the series and he scored or assisted four times in the deciding game. During that series, his scolding of Canadian fans, who booed the national team after a 5–3 loss to the Soviet Union in Game Four, was credited with firing up his teammates :

    "If the Russian fans boo their players in Moscow like you people are booing us, I'll come back and apologize personally to every one of you, but I really don't think that will happen. We gave it and are doing our best. All of us guys are really disheartened. . . . We came out here because we love Canada. They're a good hockey team, and we don't know what we could do better, but I promise we will figure it out. But it's totally ridiculous — I don't think it is fair that we should be booed."
http://www.1972summitseries.com/photos/esposito_and_tretiak.jpg

He retired in 1981, then only second to Gordie Howe in career goals and total points, and third in assists to Howe and Stan Mikita.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/content/Image/08-12-2009/Phil-Esposito.jpg

Always liked Phil, Thanks Frank :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/20/10 at 10:51 am


Always liked Phil, Thanks Frank :)

I saw him last year at an Autograph show. (Didn't get his autograph, charging over $100 for it at the show)
I saw Phil (and Bobby Orr) play a couple of time at the Montreal Forum...back in the day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 12:09 pm



Wow! That guy is out standing in his field.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat
He-He!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/10 at 12:12 pm


I saw him last year at an Autograph show. (Didn't get his autograph, charging over $100 for it at the show)
Disgraceful!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/20/10 at 5:02 pm


Disgraceful!

Some even charge more than that.
Think I'll charge $573.12 for my autograph. Any takers?  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/20/10 at 7:00 pm


Some even charge more than that.
Think I'll charge $573.12 for my autograph. Any takers?  :D



want to negoiate?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 1:42 am


Some even charge more than that.
Think I'll charge $573.12 for my autograph. Any takers?  :D

Is your autograph on ebay?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 1:57 am

British Person of the Day: Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is a British actor and theatre director born in England. Rickman is known for his performances in film as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is also known for his prominent roles as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; as Colonel Brandon in the Oscar-winning 1995 Sense and Sensibility and, more recently, Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Early life

Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working class family, the son of Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker. Rickman's mother was Welsh and a Methodist and his father was of Irish Catholic background. He has one elder brother David, a younger brother Michael and a younger sister Sheila. Rickman attended an infants' school in Acton that followed the Montessori method of education. When he was eight his father died, leaving his mother to bring up four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life," Rickman later said. Rickman excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting, and from Derwentwater Junior School he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he started getting involved in drama. After leaving Latymer, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and made his way as a graphic designer, which he considered a more stable occupation than acting. "Drama school wasn't considered the sensible thing to do at 18," he said. Rickman received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972–1974. While there, he studied Shakespeare's works and supported himself working as a dresser for Sir Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson, and left after winning several prizes such as the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.

Career

After graduating from the RADA, Rickman worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he played with the Court Drama Group, performing in several plays, most notably Romeo And Juliet and A View from the Bridge. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It. He was the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Christopher Hampton, which was a sellout. When the show went across the Atlantic in 1986, Rickman went on with it to Broadway and there earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance.

While with the RSC he shared a house with fellow company member Ruby Wax. Rickman put her into writing comedy and proceeded to direct several of her successful shows. "If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work", he said. In 1992, in an interview for The Big Issue magazine, Rickman said,

"You can act truthfully or you can lie. You can reveal things about yourself or you can hide. Therefore, the audience recognises something about themselves or they don't — You hope they don't leave the theatre thinking 'that was nice...now where's the cab?'"

To television audiences he also became known as Mr. Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of Barchester Towers. He played future Irish Taoiseach and president Éamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins alongside Liam Neeson as the title character. While playing romantic leads in British movies (Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility; Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply), he was generally typecast in Hollywood films as an over-the-top villain (German terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). His role in Die Hard earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Best Heroes/Villains" as the 46th best villain in film history. His performance of Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves also made him known as one of the best actors to portray a villain in films.

Rickman has also played comedic roles in films such as Galaxy Quest, Dogma, and as Emma Thompson's foolish husband in Love Actually. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something the Lord Made. Rickman was cast in 2005 as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. Coincidentally, Rickman and David Learner, who occupied Marvin's costume for the TV adaptation and stage shows, studied together at RADA. He was very busy in 2006 with Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss) which had its debut at the Berlinale, and also Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), directed by Tom Tykwer.

Rickman has performed on stage in Noel Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre and ended in September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan, and director Howard Davies for this Tony Award-winning production.

His previous stage performance was as Mark Antony, opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from 20 October to 3 December 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua. He directed The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995. He also directed the film version in 1996 starring Emma Thompson and her real life mother Phyllida Law.

Rickman has also been featured in several musical works — most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a music video by the band Texas entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards.

Rickman played Severus Snape, the seemingly sinister potions master of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, in the six films of that series to date. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named him one of their favourite people in pop culture, saying that in the Harry Potter films, "he may not be on screen long - but he owns every minute," and that he is capable of "turning a simple retort into a mini-symphony of contempt."

Rickman directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and won the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director. The production is based on the writings of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed on 16 March 2003 by an Israeli armoured bulldozer. The show played at the West End's Playhouse Theatre in London from March to May 2006. The play also ran at both the Galway Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Festival in 2006.

In 1995 Rickman turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. Rickman has taken issue with being labelled as a "villain actor", citing the fact that he has not portrayed a stock villain character since the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991. He has further said that he has continued to portray characters of complex and varying emotions, and does not think it is fair to assign characters a label of good or evil, hero or villain. Prior to the book release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Rickman had spoken on occasion about Snape quite easily, but with the controversy of the character following the events of the sixth book, Rickman refused to speak on the character.

In 2007, Rickman appeared in the critically-acclaimed Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton, alongside Harry Potter co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall; he played antagonist Judge Turpin. According to Miami Herald, Rickman's performance "makes the judge's villainy something to simultaneously savor and despise", with his "oozing moral rot and arrogance". Rickman will also be appearing as The Caterpillar in the upcoming 2010 Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry and Anne Hathaway.

Filmography

1978 Romeo and Juliet
1982 The Barchester Chronicles
1985 Return of the Native
1988 Die Hard
1989 The January Man
1990 Quigley Down Under
1991 Truly Madly Deeply
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991 Close My Eyes
1991 Closet Land
1992 Bob Roberts
1994 Mesmer
1995 An Awfully Big Adventure
1995 Sense and Sensibility
1996 Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny
1996 Michael Collins
1997 The Winter Guest
1998 Judas Kiss
1998 Dark Harbor
1999 Dogma
1999 Galaxy Quest
2000 Help! I'm a Fish!
2000 Blow Dry
2001 The Search for John Gissing
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in United States)
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002 King of the Hill
2003 Love Actually
2004 Something the Lord Made
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2005 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
2006 Snow Cake
2007 Nobel Son
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2008 Bottle Shock
2008 We're Here To Help
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010 Alice in Wonderland
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
2010 The Villa Golitsyn
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Severus-Snape-severus-snape-117858_549_293.jpg

http://www.mtv.com/movies/photos/h/harry_potter_half_blood_prince_cast_071114/alan_rickman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/21/10 at 2:05 am

Loved his turn as Hans Gruber in Die Hard... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 2:18 am


Loved his turn as Hans Gruber in Die Hard... ;D
A great role for him, and I just have recently re-watched that film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 2:19 am


Loved his turn as Hans Gruber in Die Hard... ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTxwg64FHfU

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 2:20 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTxwg64FHfU
The music is not the Beethoven music as used in Die Hard!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/21/10 at 5:47 am


British Person of the Day: Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is a British actor and theatre director born in England. Rickman is known for his performances in film as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is also known for his prominent roles as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; as Colonel Brandon in the Oscar-winning 1995 Sense and Sensibility and, more recently, Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Early life

Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working class family, the son of Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker. Rickman's mother was Welsh and a Methodist and his father was of Irish Catholic background. He has one elder brother David, a younger brother Michael and a younger sister Sheila. Rickman attended an infants' school in Acton that followed the Montessori method of education. When he was eight his father died, leaving his mother to bring up four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life," Rickman later said. Rickman excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting, and from Derwentwater Junior School he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he started getting involved in drama. After leaving Latymer, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and made his way as a graphic designer, which he considered a more stable occupation than acting. "Drama school wasn't considered the sensible thing to do at 18," he said. Rickman received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972–1974. While there, he studied Shakespeare's works and supported himself working as a dresser for Sir Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson, and left after winning several prizes such as the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.

Career

After graduating from the RADA, Rickman worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he played with the Court Drama Group, performing in several plays, most notably Romeo And Juliet and A View from the Bridge. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It. He was the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Christopher Hampton, which was a sellout. When the show went across the Atlantic in 1986, Rickman went on with it to Broadway and there earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance.

While with the RSC he shared a house with fellow company member Ruby Wax. Rickman put her into writing comedy and proceeded to direct several of her successful shows. "If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work", he said. In 1992, in an interview for The Big Issue magazine, Rickman said,

"You can act truthfully or you can lie. You can reveal things about yourself or you can hide. Therefore, the audience recognises something about themselves or they don't — You hope they don't leave the theatre thinking 'that was nice...now where's the cab?'"

To television audiences he also became known as Mr. Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of Barchester Towers. He played future Irish Taoiseach and president Éamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins alongside Liam Neeson as the title character. While playing romantic leads in British movies (Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility; Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply), he was generally typecast in Hollywood films as an over-the-top villain (German terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). His role in Die Hard earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Best Heroes/Villains" as the 46th best villain in film history. His performance of Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves also made him known as one of the best actors to portray a villain in films.

Rickman has also played comedic roles in films such as Galaxy Quest, Dogma, and as Emma Thompson's foolish husband in Love Actually. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something the Lord Made. Rickman was cast in 2005 as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. Coincidentally, Rickman and David Learner, who occupied Marvin's costume for the TV adaptation and stage shows, studied together at RADA. He was very busy in 2006 with Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss) which had its debut at the Berlinale, and also Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), directed by Tom Tykwer.

Rickman has performed on stage in Noel Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre and ended in September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan, and director Howard Davies for this Tony Award-winning production.

His previous stage performance was as Mark Antony, opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from 20 October to 3 December 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua. He directed The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995. He also directed the film version in 1996 starring Emma Thompson and her real life mother Phyllida Law.

Rickman has also been featured in several musical works — most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a music video by the band Texas entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards.

Rickman played Severus Snape, the seemingly sinister potions master of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, in the six films of that series to date. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named him one of their favourite people in pop culture, saying that in the Harry Potter films, "he may not be on screen long - but he owns every minute," and that he is capable of "turning a simple retort into a mini-symphony of contempt."

Rickman directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and won the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director. The production is based on the writings of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed on 16 March 2003 by an Israeli armoured bulldozer. The show played at the West End's Playhouse Theatre in London from March to May 2006. The play also ran at both the Galway Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Festival in 2006.

In 1995 Rickman turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. Rickman has taken issue with being labelled as a "villain actor", citing the fact that he has not portrayed a stock villain character since the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991. He has further said that he has continued to portray characters of complex and varying emotions, and does not think it is fair to assign characters a label of good or evil, hero or villain. Prior to the book release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Rickman had spoken on occasion about Snape quite easily, but with the controversy of the character following the events of the sixth book, Rickman refused to speak on the character.

In 2007, Rickman appeared in the critically-acclaimed Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton, alongside Harry Potter co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall; he played antagonist Judge Turpin. According to Miami Herald, Rickman's performance "makes the judge's villainy something to simultaneously savor and despise", with his "oozing moral rot and arrogance". Rickman will also be appearing as The Caterpillar in the upcoming 2010 Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry and Anne Hathaway.

Filmography

1978 Romeo and Juliet
1982 The Barchester Chronicles
1985 Return of the Native
1988 Die Hard
1989 The January Man
1990 Quigley Down Under
1991 Truly Madly Deeply
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991 Close My Eyes
1991 Closet Land
1992 Bob Roberts
1994 Mesmer
1995 An Awfully Big Adventure
1995 Sense and Sensibility
1996 Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny
1996 Michael Collins
1997 The Winter Guest
1998 Judas Kiss
1998 Dark Harbor
1999 Dogma
1999 Galaxy Quest
2000 Help! I'm a Fish!
2000 Blow Dry
2001 The Search for John Gissing
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in United States)
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002 King of the Hill
2003 Love Actually
2004 Something the Lord Made
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2005 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
2006 Snow Cake
2007 Nobel Son
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2008 Bottle Shock
2008 We're Here To Help
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010 Alice in Wonderland
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
2010 The Villa Golitsyn
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Severus-Snape-severus-snape-117858_549_293.jpg

http://www.mtv.com/movies/photos/h/harry_potter_half_blood_prince_cast_071114/alan_rickman.jpg


Thanks Phil, I've always enjoyed his acting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 5:49 am


Thanks Phil, I've always enjoyed his acting.
As I see more of him, I am liking him more and more.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/21/10 at 5:51 am

The word of the day...Cheers
   *
     a word that people say to each other as they lift up their glasses to drink
   *
     goodbye British English informal
         o
           Cheers then. See you later.
   *
     thank you British English informal
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/cowgirl4/009.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr251/Mistyman5/IM000977.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx51/CartR13/P2050195.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad305/ARCH2010/drink01.jpg
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad334/lauren_hoffman82/TriSummerFY10/kkk.jpg
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab194/auntmaim/BC_DG.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy119/Mikevayne79/Ganbei.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/nicstockman/Cheers.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Amberlynn13/cheers.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/21/10 at 5:52 am


The word of the day...Cheers
    *
      a word that people say to each other as they lift up their glasses to drink
    *
      goodbye British English informal
          o
            Cheers then. See you later.
    *
      thank you British English informal
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/cowgirl4/009.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr251/Mistyman5/IM000977.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx51/CartR13/P2050195.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad305/ARCH2010/drink01.jpg
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad334/lauren_hoffman82/TriSummerFY10/kkk.jpg
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab194/auntmaim/BC_DG.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy119/Mikevayne79/Ganbei.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/nicstockman/Cheers.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Amberlynn13/cheers.jpg
I'll drink to that!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/21/10 at 5:56 am

The person born on this day...Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955), best known as Kelsey Grammer, is an American actor, producer, director, writer, voice artist and comedian best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC situation comedies Cheers (nine years) and Frasier (eleven years), and providing the voice of Sideshow Bob on the Fox animated series The Simpsons. He was nominated for numerous Emmys, including one for playing Frasier Crane on three different sitcoms (the third being a guest appearance on Wings). He has worked as a television producer, director, writer, and a voice artist. Grammer was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands to Sally (née Cranmer), a singer, and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr., a musician and owner of a coffee shop and a bar & grill. He is descended from Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley. His parents' marriage ended when he was young; his mother took him to live with her, and he was raised partly in New Jersey by his maternal grandparents, Evangeline Dimmock and Gordon Cranmer.
Family tragedies

Grammer's family life has been plagued by tragedies. In 1968, when Grammer was thirteen years old, his father, whom he had seen only twice since his parents' divorce, was killed on the front lawn of his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1975, his sister, Karen, was raped and murdered after being abducted outside a Red Lobster restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her boyfriend worked. In 1980, his fraternal twin younger half-brothers were killed by a shark in a scuba diving accident.

Grammer has sworn to prevent his sister's murderer, Freddie Lee Glenn, from being paroled; in July 2009, Glenn was denied parole at least in part due to a letter Grammer submitted to the parole board.
Career
Stage

After leaving Juilliard, he had a three-year internship with the Old Globe Theatre, in San Diego, in the late 1970s, before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He made his Broadway debut in 1981, as "Lennox," in Macbeth, taking the lead role when Philip Anglim withdrew after receiving negative reviews. In 1983, he performed on the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, starring Mandy Patinkin. Also featured on the demo was Christine Baranski, who later starred as Mrs. Lovett to Grammer's Sweeney Todd in the 1999 LA Reprise! production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Grammer then played Michael Cassio in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. On April 18, 2010, Grammer will make his Broadway musical debut playing the role of Georges in a revival of the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical La Cage aux Folles.
Television

His television career began in the early 1980s when he portrayed Stephen Smith in the NBC miniseries Kennedy. Grammer came to broader public attention as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. Grammer's former Juilliard classmate and Broadway co-star Patinkin suggested Grammer to the New York casting director, and he got what was supposed to be a six-episode job but ended up as a regular cast member. The character became the center of the successful spin-off Frasier. Grammer reprised his role of Dr. Frasier Crane in a commercial for Dr Pepper.

In 2001, he negotiated a US$700,000-per-episode salary for Frasier, and his 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975.

In 2005, he returned to series television on Fox, by attempting to create an American adaptation of The Sketch Show, a British sketch show. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Paul F. Tompkins, as well as Lee Mack from the British version of the show. Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were recreated, such as the "California Dreamin'," "English Course," and "Sign Language" sketches. Only six episodes of the show were made, and it was canceled after only four of them had aired.

In addition to being producer, he guest-starred as the Angel of Death on Medium.

In 2007, Grammer returned to the sitcom format as the central character in the American sitcom Back to You, co-starring with Patricia Heaton. It was canceled by Fox after its first season.

Grammer's ABC sitcom Hank was canceled in its first season on Nov 11, 2009, saying at the end, "Honestly, it just wasn't very funny."
Voice work

Grammer's smooth, deep voice and Mid-Atlantic accent make him popular for voiceover work. He has provided the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, winning an Emmy for his work in the episode "The Italian Bob." He has appeared in eleven episodes since the show's inception in 1989, the most recent being "Wedding for Disaster" that aired in early 2009. Grammer supplied the voices for "Stinky Pete the Prospector" in Toy Story 2, Vladimir in the Fox animated movie Anastasia, Zozi the Bear in the subsequently produced prequel Bartok the Magnificent, and the title character in the short-lived animated series Gary the Rat. He provided the opening speech and piano in The Vandals' song "Phone Machine" from the album Fear of a Punk Planet, and sang a rewritten version of the "grinch" on an episode of Just Shoot Me!. He was the voice of the mad scientist, Dr. Frankenollie, in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain.
Production work

His production company, Grammnet Productions, produces the CW sitcoms Girlfriends and The Game, the CBS drama Medium, and is involved in many other projects.
Other work

In film, his recent work includes the role of Dr. Hank McCoy (also known as Beast) in X-Men: The Last Stand and the voice of Snowball in the live-action film adaptation of the George Orwell classic book Animal Farm. Kelsey starred in the movie Swing Vote; the plot is based in part on the tight races for President of the United States, in which the vote is so tight that it comes down to one man's vote to determine the winner. Kelsey plays the Republican incumbent, a role that aligns with his own views. He played another role as General George S. Patton in An American Carol.

As part of his voice-over work, Grammer's voice has been featured in commercials. He was the voice of the original GEICO gecko, a talking reptile created by The Martin Agency in 1999. In the commercial, the gecko pleads for people to stop calling him in error, mistaking gecko for GEICO. Since 2006, Grammer has provided the voice for television commercials advertising the Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Veracruz, and Hyundai Azera. He was chosen because his "refined and luxurious voice" would help build the up-and-coming car maker's new image as an affordable luxury automobile.

Recently he went onto the Internet and started www.KelseyLive.com and developed a new concept which he refers to as a "Branded Social Television Network". The site is a cross between Facebook and MySpace but branded to him then mixed with Amazon as there is shopping and Television where you can find all his old Frasier and Cheers episodes plus other film and TV projects he has done in the past. From his site he plans on developing new content for the net and also the studios. His most current project involves an animated cat call Gary Geezley which is in pre-production currently.
Awards

He won a number of Emmys, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globes for his work on Frasier. He was the first American actor ever to be nominated for multiple Emmy awards for portraying the same character on three different television shows (Cheers, Frasier, and Wings).

Grammer has received at least 45 nominations for major awards and has won on 18 occasions. He has received 14 individual Emmy Award nominations for 4 different television shows (plus an additional 2 as part of the Frasier ensemble) and has won on 5 occasions. At the Golden Globes, he has received eight nominations and twice been victorious. He has received two People's Choice Awards, and in 1999 his directorial skills were recognised with a nomination for a Directors Guild of America award for directing an episode of Frasier. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in X-Men: The Last Stand. On May 22, 2001, he was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television.

The following table gives a selection of the awards he has won.
Year Award Category
1994 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
1995 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
1995 American Comedy Award Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Frasier)
1996 Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series Comedy/Musical (Frasier)
1996 American Comedy Award Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Frasier)
1998 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
2001 Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series Comedy/Musical (Frasier)
2004 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
2006 Emmy Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (The Simpsons)
Personal life
Family

Grammer has been married three times. His first marriage, to dance instructor Doreen Alderman, lasted from 1982 to 1990. They had one daughter, Spencer Grammer (born October 9, 1983), an actress on the CBS Daytime soap opera As the World Turns and the ABC Family show Greek.

His second marriage, to stripper Leigh-Anne Csuhany in 1992, lasted one year. Grammer says that she was abusive and that, after talk of divorce, she attempted suicide, which resulted in the miscarriage of their child. During this marriage, Grammer had a daughter out of wedlock, Greer Kandace (born February 15, 1992), with hair and makeup stylist Barrie Buckner.

Grammer has been married since August 1997 to Camille Donatacci, a former Playboy model. They have a daughter, Mason Olivia (born October 24, 2001), and a son, Jude Gordon (born August 28, 2004), both born via surrogate mother. Grammer and Donatacci have homes in Malibu, California; Colorado; and New York. They have a holiday home on Maui.
Defamation lawsuit

In 1995, Grammer was sued by ex-girlfriend Cerlette Lamme for defamation of character and invasion of privacy over content he included in his autobiography So Far.
Sex tape lawsuit

In 1998, Grammer filed a lawsuit against Internet Entertainment Group, which Grammer claimed had stolen from his home a videotape of him having sex with a woman. IEG countersued Grammer, denying they were in possession of such a tape, and Grammer's suit was eventually dropped. IEG President Seth Warshavsky told the New York Post, "We have been presented with another Kelsey Grammer tape. But we have no plans to air it. We are still evaluating it at this time." Grammer later told Maxim, "Whether or not you’re a celebrity—even if you’re just an old slob with a video camera—you don’t realize you shouldn’t do it. So you throw the tape in the back of a dark closet until your old girlfriend remembers it’s there because you’re famous now and she’s not. But if you’re not prepared to do the time, don’t do the crime."
Copyright lawsuit

In August 2008, Bradley Blakeman, a former aide to George W. Bush, filed a copyright lawsuit in federal court on Long Island over Grammer's movie Swing Vote, claiming that parts of its plot and marketing had been stolen from him. The lawsuit claimed that Blakeman had given a copyrighted screenplay called Go November to Grammer in 2006, and that Grammer agreed to develop the project and star as a Republican president but instead ended up playing a similar role in Swing Vote, which was released on August 1, 2008. Grammer's spokesman dismissed the claims as "frivolous" and a "waste of time". The lawsuit claims that Blakeman's copyrighted screenplay had the same basic plot as Swing Vote.
Substance abuse

Grammer began drinking at age nine and became a frequent abuser of alcohol. In 1988, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for drunk driving and cocaine possession. He was again arrested for cocaine possession in August 1990 and was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $500, and given 300 hours of community service. In January 1991, he was given an additional two years' probation for violating his original probation through additional cocaine use. In September 1996, he flipped his Dodge Viper while intoxicated and subsequently checked in to the Betty Ford Center for 30 days.
Health problems

Grammer suffered a heart attack on May 31, 2008. He told Jay Leno on the July 24, 2008, airing of The Tonight Show that he had to wait one and a half hours for paramedics to arrive. He was hospitalized in Hawaii after he had symptoms while paddle-boating with his wife, Camille. He was released on June 4, 2008, and was listed as "resting comfortably" at his Hawaiian residence. Seven weeks after his attack, Grammer told Entertainment Tonight that, although at the time his spokesman described the attack as mild, it was in fact more severe, almost leading to his death, as his heart had stopped.

Grammer blamed Fox's decision to cancel his TV sitcom Back to You for his health problems, stating that "It was a very stressful time for me, and a surprise that it was cancelled. But you know, everything that doesn't kill us—which it almost did—makes us stronger!"

On June 28, 2008, Grammer checked into an undisclosed New York hospital after complaints of feeling faint. His publicist said that it may have been due to a reaction to medication.
Politics

Grammer is a member of the Republican Party and has expressed an interest in someday running for United States Congress.

Grammer was a celebrity guest at President George W. Bush's first inauguration, along with Drew Carey, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Fred Thompson.

Grammer endorsed Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential primary and later campaigned for John McCain in the general election.

When asked by Maxim magazine about his political ambitions, Grammer replied, "It's a notion I have about the future, to run for office, to do the world some good. Maybe in 15 years or so, there may be a run for office. But I don’t know what I’d run for."
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1992 Galaxies Are Colliding Peter
1995 Runaway Brain Dr. Frankenollie Short film
1996 Down Periscope Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge
1997 Anastasia Vladimir
1998 The Real Howard Spitz Howard Spitz
1999 Animal Farm Napoleon
New Jersey Turnpikes Unknown
Standing on Fishes Verk
Toy Story 2 "Stinky Pete" the Prospector
Bartok the Magnificent Zozi Direct-to-video release
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Narrator Direct-to-video release
2001 15 Minutes Robert Hawkins
Just Visiting Narrator Uncredited
2003 The Big Empty Agent Banks
Barbie of Swan Lake Rothbart Direct-to-video release
2004 Teacher's Pet Dr. Ivan Krank
2005 The Good Humor Man Mr. Skibness Also executive producer
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy/Beast
2007 Even Money Detective Brunner
2008 Swing Vote President Andrew Boone
An American Carol General George S. Patton
2009 Fame Joel Cranston
2010 Crazy on the Outside Frank
Bunyan and Babe Norm Blandsford Post-production
Middle Men Frank Griffin Post-production
TBA Alligator Point TBA
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1982 Macbeth Ross TV film
1983 Kennedy Stephen Smith TV miniseries
1984 Kate & Allie David Hamill Episode 1.1: "Allie's First Date"
George Washington Lt. Stewart TV miniseries
1984-1985 Another World Dr. Canard Recurring role
1984-1993 Cheers Dr. Frasier Crane Appeared in 201 episodes
1986 Crossings Craig Lawson TV miniseries
1987 Biography George Washington Episode: "Benedict Arnold"
J.J. Starbuck Pierce Morgan Episode 1.3: "Murder in E Minor"
1988 Dance 'til Dawn Ed Strull TV film
1989 Top of the Hill Unknown TV film
227 Mr. Anderson Episode 4.24: "For Sale"
1990 The Tracey Ullman Show Mr. Brenna Episode 4.12: "Maria and the Mister"
1990- The Simpsons Sideshow Bob Has appeared in eleven episodes
1991 Baby Talk Russell Episode 1.7: "One Night with Elliot"
1992 Wings Dr. Frasier Crane Episode 3.16: "Planes, Trains and Visiting Cranes"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Bateson Episode 5.18: "Cause and Effect"
1993 Roc Detective Rush Episode 2.25: "To Love and Die on Emerson Street: Part 2"
Beyond Suspicion Ron McNally TV film
1993-2004 Frasier Dr. Frasier Crane Appeared in all 264 episodes;
also executive producer and director of 37 episodes
1994 The Innocent Det. Frank Barlow TV film
1995 The John Larroquette Show Dr. Frasier Crane Episode 3.1: "More Changes"
1996 London Suite Sydney Nichols TV film
1997 Fired Up Tom Whitman Episodes 1.3: "Who's the Boss" and 2.3: "You Don't Know Jack"; also executive producer
1998 The Pentagon Wars Major General Partridge TV film
Just Shoot Me! Narrator Episode 3.10: "How the Finch Stole Christmas"
1999 Animal Farm Snowball TV film
2000 Stark Raving Mad Professor Tuttle 1.17: "The Grade"
2001 Neurotic Tendencies N/A TV film; executive producer, director and writer
2000-2008 Girlfriends Executive producer
2001 The Sports Pages Howard Greene TV film
2002 Mr. St. Nick Nick St. Nicholas/Santa Claus the 21st TV film
2002-2003 In-Laws N/A Executive producer
2003 Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor George Washington TV film
Becker Rick Cooper Episode 5.13: "But I've Got Friends I Haven't Used Yet"
Gary the Rat Gary "The Rat" Andrews Appeared in all 13 episodes;
also executive producer
2004 A Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge TV film
The Soluna Project N/A TV film; executive producer
2005 Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show Various characters Appeared in all four aired episodes;
also executive producer
Out of Practice N/A Directed episodes 1.1 and 1.18
2006 Medium Angel of Death Episode 2.21: "Death Takes a Policy"
Also executive producer
My Ex Life N/A Director
2006-2009 The Game N/A Executive producer
2007 Dash 4 Cash N/A TV film; executive producer
Everybody Hates Chris N/A Directed episode 2.22: "Everybody Hates the Last Day"
2007-2008 Back to You Chuck Darling Appeared in all 17 episodes
Also executive producer
2009 Hank Lead role Also executive producer
Video games

    * The Simpsons Game (2007) - Sideshow Bob

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0146.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0155.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0165.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0131.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/21/10 at 6:01 am

The person who died on this day...Murray the K
Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982) professionally known as Murray the K, was a famous and influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he frequently referred to himself as "the Fifth Beatle". In the late '40s and early '50s, he worked in public relations and as a song plugger, helping to promote tunes like Bob Merrill's "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window." From there, he worked as a radio producer and co-host at WMCA (and briefly thereafter at WMGM), working with personalities such as Laraine Day on the late night interview program "Day At Night" and with Eva Gabor. At the same time, he was doing promotion for several baseball players, including Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, and his radio beginnings may be attributable to his connection with the New York Giants, whose manager, Leo Durocher, was the husband of Laraine Day. His work on those shows earned him his own late-night show that often featured his wife as co-host, as was popular at the time. For a while in the 1950s he was president of the National Conference of Disk Jockeys.
Murray the K Fan Club promo shot
Deejay: from AM to FM
"This meeting of the Swingin' Soiree is now in session!"

Kaufman's big break came in 1958 after he moved to WINS-AM to do the all-night show, which he titled "The Swingin' Soiree." Shortly after his arrival, WINS's high energy star disk jockey, Alan Freed, was indicted for tax evasion and forced off the air. Though Freed's spot was briefly occupied by Bruce Morrow, who later became known as Cousin Brucie on WABC, Murray soon was moved into the 7-11PM time period and remained there for the next seven years, always opening his show with Sinatra and making radio history with his innovative segues, jingles, sound effects, antics, and frenetic, creative programming. Jeff Rice, writing in M/C Journal, says that Tom Wolfe calls Murray "the original hysterical disk jockey"
Murray the K, the "Fifth Beatle"
"The Fifth Beatle"

Murray the K reached his peak of popularity in the mid 1960s when, as the top-rated radio host in New York City, he became an early and ardent supporter and friend of The Beatles. When the Beatles came to New York in February, 1964, Murray was the first DJ they welcomed into their circle, having heard about him and his Brooklyn Fox shows from American acts who visited England. Murray did his radio show from their Plaza Hotel room their first night in New York and accompanied them to Washington, D.C. for their first U.S. concert, was backstage at their Ed Sullivan Show premiere, and roomed with Beatles guitarist George Harrison in Miami, broadcasting his shows from there. He came to be referred to as the "Fifth Beatle," a moniker he said he was given either by Harrison during the train ride to the Beatles' first concert in Washington D.C. or by Ringo Starr at a press conference before that concert. (However, in The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit he is seen christening himself thus in a phone conversation with the Beatles on the morning of their arrival in New York). His radio station WINS picked up on the name and billed him as the Fifth Beatle, a moniker he came to regret. He was invited to the set of A Hard Day's Night in England and made several treks to England during 1964, giving WINS listeners more Beatle exclusives.
The move to FM

By the end of 1964, Murray found out that WINS was going to change to an all news format the following year. He resigned on the air in December '64 (breaking news about the sale of the station and the change in format before the station and Group W released it) and did his last show on February 27 prior to the format change that occurred in April 1965. A year later, in 1966, the FCC ruled that AM and FM radio stations could no longer simply simultaneously broadcast the same content, opening the door for Murray to become program director and primetime dj on WOR-FM — one of the first FM rock stations, soon airing such djs as Rosko and Scott Muni in the new FM format. Murray played long album cuts rather than singles, often playing groups of songs by one artist, or thematically linked songs, uninterrupted by commercials. He combined live in-studio interviews with folk-rock — he called it "attitude music" — and all forms of popular music in a free-form format. He played artists like Bob Dylan and Janis Ian, the long album versions of their songs that came to be known as the "FM cuts". Al Aronowitz quotes Murray as saying, about his this formula, "You didn't have to hype the record any more. The music was speaking for itself."
Dylan

During that time Murray was often a champion of the much-maligned electric Bob Dylan. He introduced him to boos at a huge Forest Hills Tennis Stadium concert in August 1965, saying "It's not rock, it's not folk, it's a new thing called Dylan."

He defended Dylan on a WABC-TV panel:

    "Even in his months of seclusion after the motorcycle accident, WABC-TV dedicated a television show to a discussion of what Bob Dylan was really like. When one member of the panel accused Dylan of all but inventing juvenile delinquency, there was only Murray the K to defend him. 'Is Bob Dylan every kid's father?' Murray asked."

And he played his music, full length, on the radio.
Last years in radio

Murray's WOR-FM radio was a cultural phenomenon and commercially successful, but after a year management wanted more commercial appeal and tried to force Murray to use a set playlist; he refused, then had a heart attack. WOR switched to an oldies format and Murray the K left New York radio to host programs in Toronto - on CHUM -and on WHFS in the Washington D.C. area. He returned to New York in 1970 on the weekend show NBC Monitor and as a fill-in morning dj, and then in 1972 moved to a regular evening weekend program on WNBC radio where Don Imus was broadcasting; he was joined there by the legendary Wolfman Jack, a year later. Although it was low-key, Murray's WNBC show featured his own innovative trademark programming style, including telling stories that were illustrated by selected songs, his unique segues, and his pairing cuts by theme or idiosyncratic associations. In early 1975, he was brought on for a brief stint at legendary Long Island alternative rock station WLIR, and his final New York radio show ran later that year on WKTU-FM after which - already in ill health - he moved to Los Angeles.
1964 Holiday Revue at the Fox
Brooklyn Fox shows

Throughout his New York radio career, Kaufman was renowned for the multi-racial rock 'n' roll shows he produced three or four times a year, usually during the Easter school recess, the week before Labor Day, and between Christmas and New Year at the Brooklyn Fox Theater. Those shows featured the top performers of the era and introduced new acts, such as Dionne Warwick, Chuck Jackson, The Zombies, Little Anthony & The Imperials, the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las, Gene Pitney, Ben E. King, the Four Tops, Wayne Newton, Bobby Vinton (who was the leader of the house band when he asked for a chance to perform as a singer), The Lovin' Spoonful, Cream, and The Who, among many others. He was known for promoting original black and Latino artists rather than white covers of their songs, at a time when that was not popular.
Records, television, stage, and syndication

Throughout his radio career, from the 50s through the 70s, Murray also released numerous LP record albums, often compilations of hits by the acts that appeared in his famous Brooklyn Fox shows. These albums frequently had names such as "Murray the K's Blasts from the Past" or "Murray the K's Sing Along with the Original Golden Gassers".

"Meusurray" (named after a language Murray invented and used quite often on his 1010 WINS radio show) was a single by a girl group called The Delicates, released on the United Artists label. The Delicates were Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti and Peggy Santiglia, known as Murray's "dancing girls". They wrote the song which was arranged by Don Costa. The Delicates also wrote and recorded his "Submarine Race Watcher" theme, used to open and close his radio show. It was during the "twist craze" that Kaufman introduced a song sung by an unidentified artist named, "The Lone Twister". Of course, the artist was Murray.

In the mid-'60s, Kaufman also produced and hosted television variety shows featuring rock performers. The best known was a national broadcast entitled It's What's Happening, Baby which was made under the auspices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The show aired on June 28, 1965 and featured performances by many of the popular artists of the day like Jan & Dean, Mary Wells, the Dave Clark Five, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, The Drifters, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers and Little Anthony & the Imperials That show also introduced the first music video-style programming, pre-dating MTV by 15 years.

In 1967, Murray produced and wrote "Murray the K in New York" which expanded on the music video-style approach he began in It's What's Happening, Baby and featured an eclectic line-up of stars, including The Doors, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Spanky & Our Gang, and The Four Tops with guest appearances by Ed Sullivan and Joe Namath.

Other locally broadcast shows from the period included "Murray the K at Shea" with James Brown and The Four Seasons and "Music in the Year 2000."

In 1968, Murray produced and hosted a studio panel discussion program entitled "The Sound is Now"; it included appearances by Phil Ochs and Sonny and Cher who were grilled by Henry Morgan and Tex McCrary.

Kaufman also created Murray the K's World, a multimedia discothèque in an abandoned airplane hangar at Roosevelt Field on Long Island where live and recorded music played while slides and film were projected.

During the early 1970s, Murray acted as a special consultant to the stage show Beatlemania, and he toured the country giving interviews on behalf of the show.

In Los Angeles in the late 70s he hosted Watermark's syndicated "Soundtrack of the '60s" until ill health forced him to resign and forced the cancellation of "A Salute to Murray the K," a tribute concert slated for Madison Square Garden.
Film

Kaufman was parodied in the film The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash as a radio host named Bill Murray the K, played by actor Bill Murray. Kaufman appeared as a guest star on a 1960s series entitled "Coronet Blue," receiving very good reviews, and also appeared as himself, to not-so-good reviews, in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, a film by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis.

Kaufman also appeared - opposite Harvey Keitel - in the 1975 film That's the Way of the World directed by Sig Shore.
Family and death

He was married six times and had three sons, Peter (Altschuler), Jeff and Keith. His first wife, Anna May, died in childbirth. He was married to his second, Toni, for three years; his third, Beverly, for three months; his fourth, Claire, for about nine years in the 1950s; his fifth, Jackie Hayes (called "Jackie the K"), until about 1973; and finally, his sixth, actress Jackie Zeman for just one year, although they were together for seven years before marrying.

Kaufman died of cancer a week after his 60th birthday on February 21, 1982.
Legacy

He shares writing credit with his mother and Bobby Darin for Darin's breakout song, "Splish Splash"

Beginning in 1960, Kaufman's rock 'n' roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount theater (as co-host with Clay Cole), Manhattan's Academy of Music theater on 14th Street and, predominantly, the Brooklyn Fox theater provided an inter-racial environment in which the performers and the audiences both thrived. The week-long, eight-show-a-day presentations continued throughout the most explosive periods of civil rights unrest in the mid-'60s, culminating in Kaufman's final show at the RKO 58th Street theater in Manhattan with a line-up that included The Who and Cream in their American debuts.

Murray was the author of a 1966 book, Murray the K Tells It Like It Is, Baby.

Kaufman was program director and primetime evening DJ on the nation's first FM rock station WOR-FM, changing the way in which radio listeners heard rock music. During the short run of progressive rock programming - the station switched to an oldies format within the first year - listeners would have been able to hear the full, album versions of songs like Positively Fourth Street and Society's Child which were either played in shorter versions on AM radio or not played at all.

He is mentioned in the 1980 Ramones song Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? as well as Who Will Save Rock 'n' Roll by the Dictators.

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.
Recordings made by Murray Kaufman

    * 1955 Fraternity F-714 "The Crazy Otto Rag" as by Ludwig Von Kaufman/"Out Of The Bushes" as by Murray Kaufman (made before becoming a DJ at WMCA)
    * 1958 Murray Kaufman Part 1/Part 2 (Part 1 is a 1010WINS radio jingle item featuring Murray and the Delicates and his themes; Part 2 is his "Ah, Bey, ah bey, koowi zowa zowa" chant, along with an explanation of its meaning.) The chant was lifted intact from a Thomas J. Valentino music library recording (on the Major Records label) entitled "African Drums With Native Chants" on the A side and "Drums (African)," "Native Work Chant (African)," and "Native Choral Chant (African)" on the B side.
    * 1961 Atlantic 2130 "The Lone Twister"/"Twistin' Up A Storm" as by The Lone Twister

Murray the K's Sing Along with the Original Golden Gassers, 1961
Catchphrases

    * "Ah Bey!"
    * "kooma zowa zowa"
    * "It's what's happening, baby!"
    * "submarine race watching"
    * "blast from the past"
    * "Me-a-surray" language, his own version of pig Latin
    * the "Swingin' Soiree"
    * "golden gassers"
    * the Record Review Board
    * his hats
    * "grand kook"
    * "ain't that a kick in the head"
    * "dancing girls"
    * "play 'em red hot and blue"
    * "the grand commodore"
    * "the halvah plantation"
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr253/jceder/MK78.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k280/FrankAllan/MurrayThe_K.jpg
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/duncanw/stonesmurraytheKConnpoater.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/21/10 at 6:56 am


The person born on this day...Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955), best known as Kelsey Grammer, is an American actor, producer, director, writer, voice artist and comedian best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC situation comedies Cheers (nine years) and Frasier (eleven years), and providing the voice of Sideshow Bob on the Fox animated series The Simpsons. He was nominated for numerous Emmys, including one for playing Frasier Crane on three different sitcoms (the third being a guest appearance on Wings). He has worked as a television producer, director, writer, and a voice artist. Grammer was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands to Sally (née Cranmer), a singer, and Frank Allen Grammer, Jr., a musician and owner of a coffee shop and a bar & grill. He is descended from Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley. His parents' marriage ended when he was young; his mother took him to live with her, and he was raised partly in New Jersey by his maternal grandparents, Evangeline Dimmock and Gordon Cranmer.
Family tragedies

Grammer's family life has been plagued by tragedies. In 1968, when Grammer was thirteen years old, his father, whom he had seen only twice since his parents' divorce, was killed on the front lawn of his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1975, his sister, Karen, was raped and murdered after being abducted outside a Red Lobster restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her boyfriend worked. In 1980, his fraternal twin younger half-brothers were killed by a shark in a scuba diving accident.

Grammer has sworn to prevent his sister's murderer, Freddie Lee Glenn, from being paroled; in July 2009, Glenn was denied parole at least in part due to a letter Grammer submitted to the parole board.
Career
Stage

After leaving Juilliard, he had a three-year internship with the Old Globe Theatre, in San Diego, in the late 1970s, before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He made his Broadway debut in 1981, as "Lennox," in Macbeth, taking the lead role when Philip Anglim withdrew after receiving negative reviews. In 1983, he performed on the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, starring Mandy Patinkin. Also featured on the demo was Christine Baranski, who later starred as Mrs. Lovett to Grammer's Sweeney Todd in the 1999 LA Reprise! production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Grammer then played Michael Cassio in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. On April 18, 2010, Grammer will make his Broadway musical debut playing the role of Georges in a revival of the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical La Cage aux Folles.
Television

His television career began in the early 1980s when he portrayed Stephen Smith in the NBC miniseries Kennedy. Grammer came to broader public attention as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. Grammer's former Juilliard classmate and Broadway co-star Patinkin suggested Grammer to the New York casting director, and he got what was supposed to be a six-episode job but ended up as a regular cast member. The character became the center of the successful spin-off Frasier. Grammer reprised his role of Dr. Frasier Crane in a commercial for Dr Pepper.

In 2001, he negotiated a US$700,000-per-episode salary for Frasier, and his 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshall Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975.

In 2005, he returned to series television on Fox, by attempting to create an American adaptation of The Sketch Show, a British sketch show. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Paul F. Tompkins, as well as Lee Mack from the British version of the show. Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were recreated, such as the "California Dreamin'," "English Course," and "Sign Language" sketches. Only six episodes of the show were made, and it was canceled after only four of them had aired.

In addition to being producer, he guest-starred as the Angel of Death on Medium.

In 2007, Grammer returned to the sitcom format as the central character in the American sitcom Back to You, co-starring with Patricia Heaton. It was canceled by Fox after its first season.

Grammer's ABC sitcom Hank was canceled in its first season on Nov 11, 2009, saying at the end, "Honestly, it just wasn't very funny."
Voice work

Grammer's smooth, deep voice and Mid-Atlantic accent make him popular for voiceover work. He has provided the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, winning an Emmy for his work in the episode "The Italian Bob." He has appeared in eleven episodes since the show's inception in 1989, the most recent being "Wedding for Disaster" that aired in early 2009. Grammer supplied the voices for "Stinky Pete the Prospector" in Toy Story 2, Vladimir in the Fox animated movie Anastasia, Zozi the Bear in the subsequently produced prequel Bartok the Magnificent, and the title character in the short-lived animated series Gary the Rat. He provided the opening speech and piano in The Vandals' song "Phone Machine" from the album Fear of a Punk Planet, and sang a rewritten version of the "grinch" on an episode of Just Shoot Me!. He was the voice of the mad scientist, Dr. Frankenollie, in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain.
Production work

His production company, Grammnet Productions, produces the CW sitcoms Girlfriends and The Game, the CBS drama Medium, and is involved in many other projects.
Other work

In film, his recent work includes the role of Dr. Hank McCoy (also known as Beast) in X-Men: The Last Stand and the voice of Snowball in the live-action film adaptation of the George Orwell classic book Animal Farm. Kelsey starred in the movie Swing Vote; the plot is based in part on the tight races for President of the United States, in which the vote is so tight that it comes down to one man's vote to determine the winner. Kelsey plays the Republican incumbent, a role that aligns with his own views. He played another role as General George S. Patton in An American Carol.

As part of his voice-over work, Grammer's voice has been featured in commercials. He was the voice of the original GEICO gecko, a talking reptile created by The Martin Agency in 1999. In the commercial, the gecko pleads for people to stop calling him in error, mistaking gecko for GEICO. Since 2006, Grammer has provided the voice for television commercials advertising the Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Veracruz, and Hyundai Azera. He was chosen because his "refined and luxurious voice" would help build the up-and-coming car maker's new image as an affordable luxury automobile.

Recently he went onto the Internet and started www.KelseyLive.com and developed a new concept which he refers to as a "Branded Social Television Network". The site is a cross between Facebook and MySpace but branded to him then mixed with Amazon as there is shopping and Television where you can find all his old Frasier and Cheers episodes plus other film and TV projects he has done in the past. From his site he plans on developing new content for the net and also the studios. His most current project involves an animated cat call Gary Geezley which is in pre-production currently.
Awards

He won a number of Emmys, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globes for his work on Frasier. He was the first American actor ever to be nominated for multiple Emmy awards for portraying the same character on three different television shows (Cheers, Frasier, and Wings).

Grammer has received at least 45 nominations for major awards and has won on 18 occasions. He has received 14 individual Emmy Award nominations for 4 different television shows (plus an additional 2 as part of the Frasier ensemble) and has won on 5 occasions. At the Golden Globes, he has received eight nominations and twice been victorious. He has received two People's Choice Awards, and in 1999 his directorial skills were recognised with a nomination for a Directors Guild of America award for directing an episode of Frasier. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in X-Men: The Last Stand. On May 22, 2001, he was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television.

The following table gives a selection of the awards he has won.
Year Award Category
1994 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
1995 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
1995 American Comedy Award Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Frasier)
1996 Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series Comedy/Musical (Frasier)
1996 American Comedy Award Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Frasier)
1998 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
2001 Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series Comedy/Musical (Frasier)
2004 Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Frasier)
2006 Emmy Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (The Simpsons)
Personal life
Family

Grammer has been married three times. His first marriage, to dance instructor Doreen Alderman, lasted from 1982 to 1990. They had one daughter, Spencer Grammer (born October 9, 1983), an actress on the CBS Daytime soap opera As the World Turns and the ABC Family show Greek.

His second marriage, to stripper Leigh-Anne Csuhany in 1992, lasted one year. Grammer says that she was abusive and that, after talk of divorce, she attempted suicide, which resulted in the miscarriage of their child. During this marriage, Grammer had a daughter out of wedlock, Greer Kandace (born February 15, 1992), with hair and makeup stylist Barrie Buckner.

Grammer has been married since August 1997 to Camille Donatacci, a former Playboy model. They have a daughter, Mason Olivia (born October 24, 2001), and a son, Jude Gordon (born August 28, 2004), both born via surrogate mother. Grammer and Donatacci have homes in Malibu, California; Colorado; and New York. They have a holiday home on Maui.
Defamation lawsuit

In 1995, Grammer was sued by ex-girlfriend Cerlette Lamme for defamation of character and invasion of privacy over content he included in his autobiography So Far.
Sex tape lawsuit

In 1998, Grammer filed a lawsuit against Internet Entertainment Group, which Grammer claimed had stolen from his home a videotape of him having sex with a woman. IEG countersued Grammer, denying they were in possession of such a tape, and Grammer's suit was eventually dropped. IEG President Seth Warshavsky told the New York Post, "We have been presented with another Kelsey Grammer tape. But we have no plans to air it. We are still evaluating it at this time." Grammer later told Maxim, "Whether or not you’re a celebrity—even if you’re just an old slob with a video camera—you don’t realize you shouldn’t do it. So you throw the tape in the back of a dark closet until your old girlfriend remembers it’s there because you’re famous now and she’s not. But if you’re not prepared to do the time, don’t do the crime."
Copyright lawsuit

In August 2008, Bradley Blakeman, a former aide to George W. Bush, filed a copyright lawsuit in federal court on Long Island over Grammer's movie Swing Vote, claiming that parts of its plot and marketing had been stolen from him. The lawsuit claimed that Blakeman had given a copyrighted screenplay called Go November to Grammer in 2006, and that Grammer agreed to develop the project and star as a Republican president but instead ended up playing a similar role in Swing Vote, which was released on August 1, 2008. Grammer's spokesman dismissed the claims as "frivolous" and a "waste of time". The lawsuit claims that Blakeman's copyrighted screenplay had the same basic plot as Swing Vote.
Substance abuse

Grammer began drinking at age nine and became a frequent abuser of alcohol. In 1988, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for drunk driving and cocaine possession. He was again arrested for cocaine possession in August 1990 and was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $500, and given 300 hours of community service. In January 1991, he was given an additional two years' probation for violating his original probation through additional cocaine use. In September 1996, he flipped his Dodge Viper while intoxicated and subsequently checked in to the Betty Ford Center for 30 days.
Health problems

Grammer suffered a heart attack on May 31, 2008. He told Jay Leno on the July 24, 2008, airing of The Tonight Show that he had to wait one and a half hours for paramedics to arrive. He was hospitalized in Hawaii after he had symptoms while paddle-boating with his wife, Camille. He was released on June 4, 2008, and was listed as "resting comfortably" at his Hawaiian residence. Seven weeks after his attack, Grammer told Entertainment Tonight that, although at the time his spokesman described the attack as mild, it was in fact more severe, almost leading to his death, as his heart had stopped.

Grammer blamed Fox's decision to cancel his TV sitcom Back to You for his health problems, stating that "It was a very stressful time for me, and a surprise that it was cancelled. But you know, everything that doesn't kill us—which it almost did—makes us stronger!"

On June 28, 2008, Grammer checked into an undisclosed New York hospital after complaints of feeling faint. His publicist said that it may have been due to a reaction to medication.
Politics

Grammer is a member of the Republican Party and has expressed an interest in someday running for United States Congress.

Grammer was a celebrity guest at President George W. Bush's first inauguration, along with Drew Carey, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Fred Thompson.

Grammer endorsed Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential primary and later campaigned for John McCain in the general election.

When asked by Maxim magazine about his political ambitions, Grammer replied, "It's a notion I have about the future, to run for office, to do the world some good. Maybe in 15 years or so, there may be a run for office. But I don’t know what I’d run for."
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1992 Galaxies Are Colliding Peter
1995 Runaway Brain Dr. Frankenollie Short film
1996 Down Periscope Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge
1997 Anastasia Vladimir
1998 The Real Howard Spitz Howard Spitz
1999 Animal Farm Napoleon
New Jersey Turnpikes Unknown
Standing on Fishes Verk
Toy Story 2 "Stinky Pete" the Prospector
Bartok the Magnificent Zozi Direct-to-video release
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Narrator Direct-to-video release
2001 15 Minutes Robert Hawkins
Just Visiting Narrator Uncredited
2003 The Big Empty Agent Banks
Barbie of Swan Lake Rothbart Direct-to-video release
2004 Teacher's Pet Dr. Ivan Krank
2005 The Good Humor Man Mr. Skibness Also executive producer
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand Dr. Henry 'Hank' McCoy/Beast
2007 Even Money Detective Brunner
2008 Swing Vote President Andrew Boone
An American Carol General George S. Patton
2009 Fame Joel Cranston
2010 Crazy on the Outside Frank
Bunyan and Babe Norm Blandsford Post-production
Middle Men Frank Griffin Post-production
TBA Alligator Point TBA
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1982 Macbeth Ross TV film
1983 Kennedy Stephen Smith TV miniseries
1984 Kate & Allie David Hamill Episode 1.1: "Allie's First Date"
George Washington Lt. Stewart TV miniseries
1984-1985 Another World Dr. Canard Recurring role
1984-1993 Cheers Dr. Frasier Crane Appeared in 201 episodes
1986 Crossings Craig Lawson TV miniseries
1987 Biography George Washington Episode: "Benedict Arnold"
J.J. Starbuck Pierce Morgan Episode 1.3: "Murder in E Minor"
1988 Dance 'til Dawn Ed Strull TV film
1989 Top of the Hill Unknown TV film
227 Mr. Anderson Episode 4.24: "For Sale"
1990 The Tracey Ullman Show Mr. Brenna Episode 4.12: "Maria and the Mister"
1990- The Simpsons Sideshow Bob Has appeared in eleven episodes
1991 Baby Talk Russell Episode 1.7: "One Night with Elliot"
1992 Wings Dr. Frasier Crane Episode 3.16: "Planes, Trains and Visiting Cranes"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Bateson Episode 5.18: "Cause and Effect"
1993 Roc Detective Rush Episode 2.25: "To Love and Die on Emerson Street: Part 2"
Beyond Suspicion Ron McNally TV film
1993-2004 Frasier Dr. Frasier Crane Appeared in all 264 episodes;
also executive producer and director of 37 episodes
1994 The Innocent Det. Frank Barlow TV film
1995 The John Larroquette Show Dr. Frasier Crane Episode 3.1: "More Changes"
1996 London Suite Sydney Nichols TV film
1997 Fired Up Tom Whitman Episodes 1.3: "Who's the Boss" and 2.3: "You Don't Know Jack"; also executive producer
1998 The Pentagon Wars Major General Partridge TV film
Just Shoot Me! Narrator Episode 3.10: "How the Finch Stole Christmas"
1999 Animal Farm Snowball TV film
2000 Stark Raving Mad Professor Tuttle 1.17: "The Grade"
2001 Neurotic Tendencies N/A TV film; executive producer, director and writer
2000-2008 Girlfriends Executive producer
2001 The Sports Pages Howard Greene TV film
2002 Mr. St. Nick Nick St. Nicholas/Santa Claus the 21st TV film
2002-2003 In-Laws N/A Executive producer
2003 Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor George Washington TV film
Becker Rick Cooper Episode 5.13: "But I've Got Friends I Haven't Used Yet"
Gary the Rat Gary "The Rat" Andrews Appeared in all 13 episodes;
also executive producer
2004 A Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge TV film
The Soluna Project N/A TV film; executive producer
2005 Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show Various characters Appeared in all four aired episodes;
also executive producer
Out of Practice N/A Directed episodes 1.1 and 1.18
2006 Medium Angel of Death Episode 2.21: "Death Takes a Policy"
Also executive producer
My Ex Life N/A Director
2006-2009 The Game N/A Executive producer
2007 Dash 4 Cash N/A TV film; executive producer
Everybody Hates Chris N/A Directed episode 2.22: "Everybody Hates the Last Day"
2007-2008 Back to You Chuck Darling Appeared in all 17 episodes
Also executive producer
2009 Hank Lead role Also executive producer
Video games

    * The Simpsons Game (2007) - Sideshow Bob

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0146.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0155.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0165.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/AnotherDroolWorthyPic/Kelsey%20Grammer%20Album/0131.jpg


Frasier was such a funny show,still is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/21/10 at 8:23 am


British Person of the Day: Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is a British actor and theatre director born in England. Rickman is known for his performances in film as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is also known for his prominent roles as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; as Colonel Brandon in the Oscar-winning 1995 Sense and Sensibility and, more recently, Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Early life

Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working class family, the son of Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker. Rickman's mother was Welsh and a Methodist and his father was of Irish Catholic background. He has one elder brother David, a younger brother Michael and a younger sister Sheila. Rickman attended an infants' school in Acton that followed the Montessori method of education. When he was eight his father died, leaving his mother to bring up four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life," Rickman later said. Rickman excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting, and from Derwentwater Junior School he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he started getting involved in drama. After leaving Latymer, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and made his way as a graphic designer, which he considered a more stable occupation than acting. "Drama school wasn't considered the sensible thing to do at 18," he said. Rickman received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972–1974. While there, he studied Shakespeare's works and supported himself working as a dresser for Sir Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson, and left after winning several prizes such as the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.

Career

After graduating from the RADA, Rickman worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he played with the Court Drama Group, performing in several plays, most notably Romeo And Juliet and A View from the Bridge. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It. He was the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Christopher Hampton, which was a sellout. When the show went across the Atlantic in 1986, Rickman went on with it to Broadway and there earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance.

While with the RSC he shared a house with fellow company member Ruby Wax. Rickman put her into writing comedy and proceeded to direct several of her successful shows. "If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work", he said. In 1992, in an interview for The Big Issue magazine, Rickman said,

"You can act truthfully or you can lie. You can reveal things about yourself or you can hide. Therefore, the audience recognises something about themselves or they don't — You hope they don't leave the theatre thinking 'that was nice...now where's the cab?'"

To television audiences he also became known as Mr. Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of Barchester Towers. He played future Irish Taoiseach and president Éamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins alongside Liam Neeson as the title character. While playing romantic leads in British movies (Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility; Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply), he was generally typecast in Hollywood films as an over-the-top villain (German terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). His role in Die Hard earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Best Heroes/Villains" as the 46th best villain in film history. His performance of Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves also made him known as one of the best actors to portray a villain in films.

Rickman has also played comedic roles in films such as Galaxy Quest, Dogma, and as Emma Thompson's foolish husband in Love Actually. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something the Lord Made. Rickman was cast in 2005 as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. Coincidentally, Rickman and David Learner, who occupied Marvin's costume for the TV adaptation and stage shows, studied together at RADA. He was very busy in 2006 with Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss) which had its debut at the Berlinale, and also Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), directed by Tom Tykwer.

Rickman has performed on stage in Noel Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre and ended in September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan, and director Howard Davies for this Tony Award-winning production.

His previous stage performance was as Mark Antony, opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from 20 October to 3 December 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua. He directed The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995. He also directed the film version in 1996 starring Emma Thompson and her real life mother Phyllida Law.

Rickman has also been featured in several musical works — most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a music video by the band Texas entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards.

Rickman played Severus Snape, the seemingly sinister potions master of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, in the six films of that series to date. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named him one of their favourite people in pop culture, saying that in the Harry Potter films, "he may not be on screen long - but he owns every minute," and that he is capable of "turning a simple retort into a mini-symphony of contempt."

Rickman directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and won the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director. The production is based on the writings of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed on 16 March 2003 by an Israeli armoured bulldozer. The show played at the West End's Playhouse Theatre in London from March to May 2006. The play also ran at both the Galway Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Festival in 2006.

In 1995 Rickman turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. Rickman has taken issue with being labelled as a "villain actor", citing the fact that he has not portrayed a stock villain character since the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991. He has further said that he has continued to portray characters of complex and varying emotions, and does not think it is fair to assign characters a label of good or evil, hero or villain. Prior to the book release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Rickman had spoken on occasion about Snape quite easily, but with the controversy of the character following the events of the sixth book, Rickman refused to speak on the character.

In 2007, Rickman appeared in the critically-acclaimed Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton, alongside Harry Potter co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall; he played antagonist Judge Turpin. According to Miami Herald, Rickman's performance "makes the judge's villainy something to simultaneously savor and despise", with his "oozing moral rot and arrogance". Rickman will also be appearing as The Caterpillar in the upcoming 2010 Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry and Anne Hathaway.

Filmography

1978 Romeo and Juliet
1982 The Barchester Chronicles
1985 Return of the Native
1988 Die Hard
1989 The January Man
1990 Quigley Down Under
1991 Truly Madly Deeply
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991 Close My Eyes
1991 Closet Land
1992 Bob Roberts
1994 Mesmer
1995 An Awfully Big Adventure
1995 Sense and Sensibility
1996 Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny
1996 Michael Collins
1997 The Winter Guest
1998 Judas Kiss
1998 Dark Harbor
1999 Dogma
1999 Galaxy Quest
2000 Help! I'm a Fish!
2000 Blow Dry
2001 The Search for John Gissing
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in United States)
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002 King of the Hill
2003 Love Actually
2004 Something the Lord Made
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2005 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
2006 Snow Cake
2007 Nobel Son
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2008 Bottle Shock
2008 We're Here To Help
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010 Alice in Wonderland
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
2010 The Villa Golitsyn
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Severus-Snape-severus-snape-117858_549_293.jpg

http://www.mtv.com/movies/photos/h/harry_potter_half_blood_prince_cast_071114/alan_rickman.jpg




I LOVE Alan Rickman. I think he plays a great sleezoid. I love the way he delivers the line in the first Harry Potter "Someone might think you were.....UP to something." I think he is a great actor.

I read this story one time that after Robin Hood, he sent a photo of him on top of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (which was taken towards the end of the movie) to her husband and wrote, "Happy Christmas" on it.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/22/10 at 5:33 am

The word of the day...Garden(s)
In British English, a garden is a piece of land next to a house, with flowers, vegetables, other plants, and often grass. In American English, the usual word is yard, and a garden refers only to land which is used for growing flowers and vegetables.
If you garden, you do work in your garden such as weeding or planting.
Gardens are places like a park that have areas of plants, trees, and grass, and that people can visit and walk around.
Gardens is sometimes used as part of the name of a street.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh118/jaggerkat/canada-butchart-gardens.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Gardens%20and%20Landscapes/752522a1.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh118/jaggerkat/IMGP1938.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r162/Linnie2222/sunnyflowergirl.gif
http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/SarasinArt/gardeningshelf.gif
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u346/hpncgroup/vegetable_garden.jpg
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp166/jpbakshi/Summer280.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss152/kmcclen/IMG_0186.jpg
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/thgg1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/22/10 at 5:36 am

The person born on this day...Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, film producer and film director. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actors, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.

Following a turbulent childhood which was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and two stints in rehab, Barrymore wrote the 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. She successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress with a number of films including Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, and Everyone Says I Love You. Subsequently, she established herself in romantic comedies such as The Wedding Singer and Lucky You.

In 1990, she and partner Nancy Juvonen formed the production company Flower Films, with its first production the 1999 Barrymore film Never Been Kissed. Flower Films has gone on to produce the Barrymore vehicle films Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and Music and Lyrics, as well as the cult film Donnie Darko. Barrymore's more recent projects include He's Just Not That into You, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Everybody's Fine. A recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Barrymore appeared on the cover of the 2007 People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful issue.

Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since then, she has donated over $1 million to the program. In 2007, she became both CoverGirl's newest model and spokeswoman for the cosmetic and the face for Gucci's newest jewelry line.

In 2010 she was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her portrayal of Little Edie in Grey Gardens.
Barrymore's career began when she auditioned for a dog food commercial at eleven months old. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers were afraid she would cry, but she merely laughed, and was hired for the job. She made her film debut in Altered States (1980), in which she got a small part. A year later, she landed the role of Gertie, the younger sister of Elliott, in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her famous. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for her role in Irreconcilable Differences, in which she starred as a young girl divorcing her parents. In a review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert states: "Barrymore is the right actress for this role precisely because she approaches it with such grave calm." He concludes with saying that "The Drew Barrymore character sees right through all of this. She doesn't care about careers, she wants to be given a happy home and her minimum daily requirement of love, and, in a way, the movie is about how Hollywood (and American success in general) tends to cut adults off from the natural functions of parents."
Rebellious era

In the wake of this sudden stardom, Barrymore endured a notoriously troubled childhood. She was already a regular at the famed Studio 54 when she was a little girl, smoking cigarettes at age nine, drinking alcohol by the time she was 11, smoking marijuana at 12, and snorting cocaine at 13. Her nightlife and constant partying became a popular subject with the media. She was in rehab at age 13. A suicide attempt at age 14 put her back in rehab, followed by a three-month stay with singer David Crosby and his wife. The stay was precipitated, Crosby said, because she "needed to be around some people that were committed to sobriety." Barrymore later described this period of her life in her 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. The next year, following a successful juvenile court petition for emancipation, she moved into her own apartment and has never relapsed.
New image

In her late teens, Barrymore forged a new image as she played a manipulative teenage seductress in Poison Ivy (1992), which was a box office failure, but was popular on video and cable. That same year, at the age of 17, she posed nude for the cover of the July issue of Interview magazine with her then-fiancé, actor Jamie Walters, as well as appearing nude in pictures inside the issue. In 1993, Barrymore earned a second Golden Globe nomination for the film Guncrazy. Barrymore would go on to pose nude for the January 1995 issue of Playboy. Steven Spielberg, who directed her in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when she was a child, gave her a quilt for her twentieth birthday with a note that read, "Cover yourself up". Enclosed were copies of her Playboy pictures, with the pictures altered by his art department so that she appeared fully clothed. She would appear nude in five of her films during this period. During a 1995 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Barrymore climbed onto David Letterman's desk and bared her breasts to him, her back to the camera, in celebration of his birthday. She modeled in a series of Guess? jeans ads during this time. She underwent breast reduction surgery in 1992, and has said on the subject:

    I really love my body and the way it is right now. There's something very awkward about women and their breasts because men look at them so much. When they're huge, you become very self-conscious. Your back hurts. You find that whatever you wear, you look heavy in. It's uncomfortable. I've learned something, though, about breasts through my years of pondering and pontificating, and that is: Men love them, and I love that.

Return to prominence

In 1995, Barrymore starred in Boys on the Side opposite Whoopi Goldberg and Mary-Louise Parker, and had a cameo role in Joel Schumacher's film Batman Forever, in which she portrayed a moll to Tommy Lee Jones' character, Two-Face. The following year, she made a cameo in the successful horror film Scream. Barrymore has continued to be highly bankable, and a top box office draw. She was frequently cast in romantic comedies such as Wishful Thinking (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), and Home Fries (1998).
Barrymore at the Tribeca Film Festival, May 2007.

Besides a number of appearances in films produced by her company, Flower Films, including Charlie's Angels, Barrymore had a dramatic role in the comedy/drama Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), playing a teenage mother in a failed marriage with the drug-addicted father (based on the real-life story of Beverly D'Onofrio). In 2002, Barrymore appeared in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, alongside Sam Rockwell and Julia Roberts.
Flower Films

In 1995, Barrymore formed Flower Films, a production company, with business partner Nancy Juvonen. The first film produced by the company was 1999's Never Been Kissed. The second offering from the company was Charlie's Angels (2000), a major box office success in 2000 that helped solidify the standing of both Barrymore and the company.

When the production of Richard Kelly's debut film, Donnie Darko, was threatened, Barrymore stepped forward with financing from Flower Films and took the small role of Karen Pomeroy, the title character's English teacher. Although the film was less than successful at the box office in the wake of 9/11, it reached cult film status after the DVD release, inspiring numerous websites devoted to unraveling the plot twists and meanings.

In 2003, she reprised her role as Dylan Sanders in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in Olive, the Other Reindeer and appeared with Ben Stiller in Duplex in 2003. Flower Films produced 50 First Dates with co-star Adam Sandler's Happy Madison company in 2004. Summing up Barrymore's appeal, Roger Ebert, in his review of 50 First Dates, described Barrymore as having a "smiling, coy sincerity", describing the film as "ingratiating and lovable".

50 First Dates was followed by Fever Pitch (2005), and in 2007, Music and Lyrics and Lucky You. Barrymore's more recent projects include Beverly Hills Chihuahua in 2008, and 2009's He's Just Not That into You, Grey Gardens and Everybody's Fine.

Barrymore's directorial debut film Whip It, was released in October 2009. Whip It starred Ellen Page and Marcia Gay Harden and centered on an obsession with beauty pageants and the Austin, Texas Hurl Scouts roller derby team. Barrymore also co-starred in the film.
Other career highlights

Barrymore began a recurring character in the animated comedy Family Guy as Brian Griffin's simple-minded girlfriend, Jillian. She has since appeared in eight episodes. She was the subject of the 2005 documentary My Date with Drew. In it, an aspiring filmmaker and a fan of Barrymore's, uses his limited resources in an attempt to gain a date with her.

On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Josette Sheeran Shiner, Barrymore, Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Tergat

Barrymore's films have a worldwide box office gross that stands at over $2.3 billion. According to The Hollywood Reporter's annual Star Salary Top 10, she was one of the actresses with the second highest salary per movie for 2006.

On February 3, 2007, Barrymore hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the fifth time, making her the second female host (after Candice Bergen) in the show's history to do so. She hosted again on October 10, 2009, becoming the first female to host six times. Barrymore still holds the record as the youngest celebrity ever to host the show (1982, at age seven).

Barrymore became a CoverGirl Cosmetics' model and spokeswoman in 2007, and was No. 1 in People's annual 100 Most Beautiful People list. In 2007, she was named the new face for the Gucci jewelry line. Barrymore is signed to IMG Models New York City.

In May 2007, Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and later donated $1 million to the cause.
Personal life

In 1991, at the age of 16, Barrymore became engaged to Leland Hayward, grandson of Hollywood producer Leland Hayward. However after a few months, this engagement was called off. Soon afterward, Barrymore was engaged to and lived with musician/actor Jamie Walters in 1992-93.

She was married to Welsh bartender turned bar owner Jeremy Thomas from March 20 to April 28, 1994. Her second marriage was to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002. Green filed for divorce in December 2001. In 2002, Barrymore began dating Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti, soon after they met at a concert. Their five year relationship, however, ended on January 10, 2007. She most recently dated Justin Long, however, they confirmed their split in July 2008. The couple reunited in 2009 and Us Weekly reported that they signed on to co-star in the upcoming film Going the Distance.

In the 1990s Barrymore was frequently described as bisexual, although she said in a 1997 interview that she had not "been with a woman in about two years". In 2004, she was quoted as saying "A woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful. Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else. When I was younger I used to go with lots of women. Totally. I love it". In March 2007, former magazine editor Jane Pratt claimed on her Sirius Satellite Radio show that she had a romance with Barrymore in the mid-nineties.

Barrymore was formerly a vegetarian, but has since begun to eat meat.
Filmography
Actress
Barrymore at the Music and Lyrics London premiere.
Year Film Role Notes
1978 Suddenly, Love Bobbi Graham (Uncredited) TV movie
1980 Bogie Leslie Bogart TV movie
Altered States Margaret Jessup
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Gertie Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1984 Firestarter Charlene "Charlie" McGee Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Irreconcilable Differences Casey Brodsky Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1985 Cat's Eye Our Girl, Amanda (all segments)
1986 Babes in Toyland Lisa Piper TV movie
1989 See You in the Morning Cathy Goodwin
Far From Home Joleen Cox
1991 Motorama Fantasy Girl
1992 2000 Malibu Road Lindsay 6 episodes
Waxwork II: Lost in Time Vampire Victim #1
Poison Ivy Ivy
Guncrazy Anita Minteer Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1993 The Amy Fisher Story Amy Fisher
No Place to Hide Tinsel Hanley
Doppelganger Holly Gooding
Wayne's World 2 Bjergen Kjergen
1994 Inside the Goldmine Daisy
Bad Girls Lilly Laronette
1995 Boys on the Side Holly Pulchik-Lincoln
Mad Love Casey Roberts
Batman Forever Sugar
1996 Everyone Says I Love You Skylar Dandridge
Scream Casey Becker Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1997 Wishful Thinking Lena
Best Men Hope
1998 The Wedding Singer Julia Sullivan Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress also for Ever After
Ever After Danielle de Barbarac Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress also for The Wedding Singer
Home Fries Sally Jackson
1999 Never Been Kissed Josie Geller Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Female
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Olive, the Other Reindeer Olive voice
2000 The Simpsons Sophie (voice) 1 episode
Skipped Parts Fantasy Girl
Titan A.E. Akima voice
Charlie's Angels Dylan Sanders MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
2001 Donnie Darko Karen Pomeroy
Freddy Got Fingered Mr. Davidson's Receptionist
Riding in Cars with Boys Beverly Donofrio
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Penny
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Dylan Sanders Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Dance Sequence with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu
Duplex Nancy Kendricks
2004 50 First Dates Lucy Whitmore MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Female
People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Chemistry
My Date With Drew Herself
2005 Fever Pitch Lindsey Meeks
2006–2009 Family Guy Jillian Russell (voice) 7 episodes
2006 Curious George Maggie voice
2007 Music and Lyrics Sophie Fisher
Lucky You Billie Offer
2008 Beverly Hills Chihuahua Chloe voice
2009 He's Just Not That Into You Mary Harris
Grey Gardens Edith Bouvier Beale Made-for-cable HBO film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Everybody's Fine Rosie
Whip It Smashly Simpson Also Directed by Drew Barrymore
2010 Going the Distance 'Post-production
Director
Year Film Notes
2004 Choose or Lose Presents: The Best Place to Start Director; Documentary
2009 Whip It Directorial debut
Producer credits
Year Film Notes
1999 Never Been Kissed Executive producer
2000 Charlie's Angels Producer
2001 Donnie Darko Executive producer
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Producer
Duplex Producer
2005 Fever Pitch Producer
2009 He's Just Not That Into You Executive producer
Whip It Executive producer
See also

    * Barrymore family
http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz109/zillionaire_2009/903/01/02/Drew-Barrymore-1266208-small.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l101/kreeths/drew-barrymore.jpg
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Drew-Barrymore.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/22/10 at 5:52 am

The person who died on this day...Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. He directed many of the classic short animated cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Sylvester, Pepé Le Pew and the other Warners characters, including Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening and What's Opera, Doc? (all three of which were later inducted into the National Film Registry) and Jones' famous "Hunting Trilogy" of Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, and Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1951–1953).

After his career at Warner Bros. ended in 1962, Jones started Sib Tower 12 Productions and began producing cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including a new series of Tom and Jerry shorts and the television adaptation of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. He later started his own studio, Chuck Jones Productions, which created several one-shot specials, and periodically worked on Looney Tunes related works
Chuck Jones joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, the independent studio that produced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros., in 1933 as an assistant animator. In 1935, he was promoted to animator, and assigned to work with new Schlesinger director Tex Avery. There was no room for the new Avery unit in Schlesinger's small studio, so Avery, Jones, and fellow animators Bob Clampett, Virgil Ross, and Sid Sutherland were moved into a small adjacent building they dubbed "Termite Terrace". When Clampett was promoted to director in 1937, Jones was assigned to his unit; the Clampett unit was briefly assigned to work with Jones' old employer, Ub Iwerks, when Iwerks subcontracted four cartoons to Schlesinger in 1937. Jones became a director (or "supervisor", the original title for an animation director in the studio) himself in 1938 when Frank Tashlin left the studio. Jones' first cartoon was The Night Watchman, which featured a cute kitten who would later evolve into Sniffles the mouse.

Many of Jones' cartoons of the 1930s and early 1940s were lavishly animated, but audiences and fellow Schlesinger staff members found them lacking in genuine humor. Often slow-moving and overbearing with "cuteness", Jones' early cartoons were an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Walt Disney's shorts (especially with such cartoons as Tom Thumb in Trouble and the Sniffles cartoons). Jones finally broke away from traditional animation conventions with the cartoon The Dover Boys in 1942. Jones credits this cartoon as the film where he "learned how to be funny." The Dover Boys is also one of the first uses of Stylized animation in American film, breaking away from the more realistic animation styles influenced by the Disney Studio. This was also the period where Jones created many of his lesser-known characters, including Charlie Dog, Hubie and Bertie, and The Three Bears. Despite their relative obscurity today, the shorts starring these characters represent some of Jones' earliest work that was strictly intended to be funny.

During the World War II years, Jones worked closely with Theodor Geisel (also known as Dr. Seuss) to create the Private Snafu series of Army educational cartoons. Private Snafu comically educated soldiers on topics like spies and laziness in a more risque way than general audiences would have been used to at the time. Jones would later collaborate with Seuss on a number of adaptations of Seuss' books to animated form, most importantly How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1966.
A still from What's Opera, Doc?.

Jones hit his stride in the late 1940s, and continued to make his best-regarded works through the 1950s. Jones-created characters from this period includes Claude Cat, Marc Antony and Pussyfoot, Charlie Dog, Michigan J. Frog, and his three most popular creations, Pepe LePew, the Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote. The Road Runner cartoons, in addition to the cartoons that are considered his masterpieces (all written and conceived by Michael Maltese), Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc? are today hailed by critics as some of the best cartoons ever made.

The staff of the Jones' Unit A were as important to the success of these cartoons as Jones himself. Key members included writer Maltese, layout artist/background designer/co-director Maurice Noble, animator and co-director Abe Levitow, and animators Ken Harris and Ben Washam.

In 1950, Jones and Maltese began working on Rabbit Fire, a short that changed Daffy Duck's personality forever. They decided to make him a totally different character; instead of the wacky, comic relief character he had been, they turned Daffy into a vain, egomaniacal prima donna wanting to steal the spotlight from Bugs Bunny. Of his versions of Bugs and Daffy, Chuck Jones has said, "Bugs is who we want to be. Daffy is who we are."

Jones remained at Warner Bros. throughout the 1950s, except for a brief period in 1953 when Warner closed the animation studio. During this interim, Jones found employment at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he teamed with wit Disney animator Ward Kimball for a four month period of uncredited work on Sleeping Beauty (1959). Upon the reopening of the Warner animation department, Jones left the Disney studio and was rehired and reunited with most of his unit.

In the early-1960s, Jones and his wife Dorothy wrote the screenplay for the animated feature Gay Purr-ee. The finished film would feature the voices of Judy Garland, Robert Goulet and Red Buttons as cats in Paris, France. The feature was produced by UPA, and directed by his former Warner collaborator, Abe Levitow. Jones moonlighted to work on the film, since he had an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. UPA completed the film and made it available for distribution in 1962; it was picked up by Warner Bros. When Warner discovered that Jones had violated his exclusive contract with them, they terminated him. Jones' former animation unit was laid off after completing the final cartoon in their pipeline, The Iceman Ducketh, and the rest of the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio was closed in early 1963. (Jones frequently claimed, including in the aforementioned autobiography, that this happened because Warner finally learned they weren't making Mickey Mouse cartoons).
Jones on his own

With business partner Les Goldman, Jones started an independent animation studio Sib Tower 12 Productions, bringing on most of his unit from Warner Bros., including Maurice Noble and Michael Maltese. In 1963, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contracted with Sib Tower 12 to have Jones and his staff produce new Tom and Jerry cartoons. In 1964, Sib Tower 12 was absorbed by MGM and was renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Jones' animated short film The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics won the 1965 Oscar for Best Animated Short. Jones also directed the classic animated short "The Bear That Wasn't".

As the Tom and Jerry series wound down (it would be discontinued in 1967), Jones moved on to television. In 1966, he produced and directed the TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, featuring the voice and facial features of Boris Karloff. Jones continued to work on TV specials such as Horton Hears a Who! (1970), but his main focus during this time was producing the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, which did lukewarm business when MGM released it in 1970. Jones co-directed 1969's The Pogo Special Birthday Special, based on the Walt Kelly comic strip, and voiced the characters of Porky Pine and Bun Rab.

MGM closed the animation division in 1970, and Jones once again started his own studio, Chuck Jones Productions. He produced a Saturday morning children's TV series for the American Broadcasting Company called The Curiosity Shop in 1971. In 1973, he produced an animated version of the George Selden book The Cricket in Times Square, and would go on to produce two sequels. His most notable work during this period was three animated TV adaptations of short stories from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Brothers, The White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Jones resumed working with Warner Bros. in 1976 with the animated TV adaptation of The Carnival of the Animals with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Jones also produced the 1979 movie The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie which was a compilation of Jones' best theatrical shorts; Jones produced new Road Runner shorts for The Electric Company series and Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979), and even newer shorts were made for Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over (1980).

From 1977-1978, Jones wrote and drew the syndicated comic strip Crawford (also known as Crawford & Morgan) for the Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate.

In 1978, Jones' wife Dorothy died; three years later, he married Marian Dern, the writer of the comic strip Rick O'Shay.
Later years

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Jones was painting cartoon and parody art, sold through animation galleries by his daughter's company, Linda Jones Enterprises. Jones was the creative consultant and character designer for the first Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas special "A Chipmunk Christmas". He was also creating new cartoons for the Internet based on his new character, Thomas Timberwolf. He made a cameo appearance in the 1984 film Gremlins and directed the Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck animated sequences that bookend Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). Jones also directed animated sequences various features such as a lengthy sequence in the 1992 film Stay Tuned and a shorter one seen at the start of the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire. Jones was not a fan of much contemporary animation, terming most of it, especially television cartoons such as those of Hanna-Barbera, "illustrated radio".

In 1988, Jones contributed to the creation of London's Museum of the Moving Image by spending several days working high on scaffolding creating a chase sequence directly onto the high walls of the museum.

Jones was a historical authority as well as a major contributor to the development of animation throughout the 20th century. He received an honorary degree from Oglethorpe University in 1993.

In his later years, Jones became the most vocal alumnus of the Termite Terrace studio, frequently giving lectures, seminars, and working to educate newcomers in the animation field. Many of his principles, therefore, found their way back into the mainstream animation consciousness, and can be seen in films such as The Emperor's New Groove and Lilo & Stitch.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Jones has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7011 Hollywood Blvd.

Jones, whose work had been nominated eight times over his career for an Oscar (winning thrice, for For Scent-imental Reasons, So Much for So Little, and The Dot and the Line), received an Honorary Academy Award in 1996 by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for "the creation of classic cartoons and cartoon characters whose animated lives have brought joy to our real ones for more than half a century." At that year's awards show, Robin Williams, a self-confessed "Jones-aholic," presented the Honorary award to Jones, calling him "The Orson Welles of cartoons."

Jones' final Looney Tunes cartoon was From Hare to Eternity in 1996, which starred Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, with Greg Burson voicing Bugs. The cartoon was dedicated to Friz Freleng, who had passed on in 1995. Jones did produce a few more Looney Tunes-based and non-related cartoons, a noticeable one being Chariots of Fur, his final Road Runner cartoon, in 1994.

Jones, the last surviving animation director from the "Termite Terrace" days of the WB cartoons, died of heart failure in 2002. He was cremated after the funeral service and his ashes were scattered at sea. Cartoon Network aired a 30-second segment with black dots tracing Jones' portrait with the words "We'll miss you - Cartoon Network." fading in on the right-hand side.

After his death, the Looney Tunes cartoon Daffy Duck for President, based on the book that Jones had written and using Jones' style for the characters, originally scheduled to be released in 2000, was released in 2004.
Examples of animated films or short subjects directed by Chuck Jones

    * Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939)
    * Elmer's Candid Camera (1940)
    * Joe Glow, the Firefly (1941)
    * The Dover Boys At Pimento University, or The Rivals Of Roquefort Hall (1942)
    * Fin N' Catty (1943)
    * The Weakly Reporter (1944)
    * Hell-Bent for Election (Franklin D. Roosevelt campaign film, 1944)
    * Fresh Airedale (1945)
    * Fair and Worm-er (1946)
    * A Pest in the House (1947)
    * Scaredy Cat (1948)
    * Long-Haired Hare (1949)
    * For Scent-imental Reasons (1949)
    * Fast and Furry-ous (1949)
    * So Much for So Little (1949, made for Federal Security Agency's Public Health Service)
    * The Rabbit of Seville (1950)
    * The "Hunting Trilogy": Rabbit Fire (1951), Rabbit Seasoning (1952), and Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953)
    * Feed the Kitty (1952)
    * Duck Amuck (1953)
    * Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)
    * Bully for Bugs (1953)
    * Punch Trunk (1953)
    * Feline Frame-Up (1954)
    * One Froggy Evening (1955)
    * Rocket-Bye Baby (1956)
    * What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
    * Robin Hood Daffy (1958)
    * High Note (1960)
    * Now Hear This (1962)
    * The Dot and the Line (1965)
    * The Bear That Wasn't (1967)
    * How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special, 1966)
    * Sesame Street (various cartoon segments, 1969)
    * The Electric Company (1971)
    * Horton Hears A Who! (TV special, 1970)
    * The Phantom Tollbooth (feature film, 1970)
    * Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (TV special, 1975)

See also

    * Warner Bros. Cartoons
    * Warner Bros. Animation
    * A Boy Named Charlie Brown - storyboard

http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp14/MAGNAMANAMOUS/chuck.gif
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x64/stevepiper/Bugs__friend.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r58/Bigfatlien/ChuckJones.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/22/10 at 6:36 am


The person born on this day...Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, film producer and film director. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actors, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.

Following a turbulent childhood which was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and two stints in rehab, Barrymore wrote the 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. She successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress with a number of films including Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, and Everyone Says I Love You. Subsequently, she established herself in romantic comedies such as The Wedding Singer and Lucky You.

In 1990, she and partner Nancy Juvonen formed the production company Flower Films, with its first production the 1999 Barrymore film Never Been Kissed. Flower Films has gone on to produce the Barrymore vehicle films Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and Music and Lyrics, as well as the cult film Donnie Darko. Barrymore's more recent projects include He's Just Not That into You, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Everybody's Fine. A recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Barrymore appeared on the cover of the 2007 People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful issue.

Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since then, she has donated over $1 million to the program. In 2007, she became both CoverGirl's newest model and spokeswoman for the cosmetic and the face for Gucci's newest jewelry line.

In 2010 she was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her portrayal of Little Edie in Grey Gardens.
Barrymore's career began when she auditioned for a dog food commercial at eleven months old. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers were afraid she would cry, but she merely laughed, and was hired for the job. She made her film debut in Altered States (1980), in which she got a small part. A year later, she landed the role of Gertie, the younger sister of Elliott, in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her famous. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for her role in Irreconcilable Differences, in which she starred as a young girl divorcing her parents. In a review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert states: "Barrymore is the right actress for this role precisely because she approaches it with such grave calm." He concludes with saying that "The Drew Barrymore character sees right through all of this. She doesn't care about careers, she wants to be given a happy home and her minimum daily requirement of love, and, in a way, the movie is about how Hollywood (and American success in general) tends to cut adults off from the natural functions of parents."
Rebellious era

In the wake of this sudden stardom, Barrymore endured a notoriously troubled childhood. She was already a regular at the famed Studio 54 when she was a little girl, smoking cigarettes at age nine, drinking alcohol by the time she was 11, smoking marijuana at 12, and snorting cocaine at 13. Her nightlife and constant partying became a popular subject with the media. She was in rehab at age 13. A suicide attempt at age 14 put her back in rehab, followed by a three-month stay with singer David Crosby and his wife. The stay was precipitated, Crosby said, because she "needed to be around some people that were committed to sobriety." Barrymore later described this period of her life in her 1990 autobiography, Little Girl Lost. The next year, following a successful juvenile court petition for emancipation, she moved into her own apartment and has never relapsed.
New image

In her late teens, Barrymore forged a new image as she played a manipulative teenage seductress in Poison Ivy (1992), which was a box office failure, but was popular on video and cable. That same year, at the age of 17, she posed nude for the cover of the July issue of Interview magazine with her then-fiancé, actor Jamie Walters, as well as appearing nude in pictures inside the issue. In 1993, Barrymore earned a second Golden Globe nomination for the film Guncrazy. Barrymore would go on to pose nude for the January 1995 issue of Playboy. Steven Spielberg, who directed her in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when she was a child, gave her a quilt for her twentieth birthday with a note that read, "Cover yourself up". Enclosed were copies of her Playboy pictures, with the pictures altered by his art department so that she appeared fully clothed. She would appear nude in five of her films during this period. During a 1995 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Barrymore climbed onto David Letterman's desk and bared her breasts to him, her back to the camera, in celebration of his birthday. She modeled in a series of Guess? jeans ads during this time. She underwent breast reduction surgery in 1992, and has said on the subject:

    I really love my body and the way it is right now. There's something very awkward about women and their breasts because men look at them so much. When they're huge, you become very self-conscious. Your back hurts. You find that whatever you wear, you look heavy in. It's uncomfortable. I've learned something, though, about breasts through my years of pondering and pontificating, and that is: Men love them, and I love that.

Return to prominence

In 1995, Barrymore starred in Boys on the Side opposite Whoopi Goldberg and Mary-Louise Parker, and had a cameo role in Joel Schumacher's film Batman Forever, in which she portrayed a moll to Tommy Lee Jones' character, Two-Face. The following year, she made a cameo in the successful horror film Scream. Barrymore has continued to be highly bankable, and a top box office draw. She was frequently cast in romantic comedies such as Wishful Thinking (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), and Home Fries (1998).
Barrymore at the Tribeca Film Festival, May 2007.

Besides a number of appearances in films produced by her company, Flower Films, including Charlie's Angels, Barrymore had a dramatic role in the comedy/drama Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), playing a teenage mother in a failed marriage with the drug-addicted father (based on the real-life story of Beverly D'Onofrio). In 2002, Barrymore appeared in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, alongside Sam Rockwell and Julia Roberts.
Flower Films

In 1995, Barrymore formed Flower Films, a production company, with business partner Nancy Juvonen. The first film produced by the company was 1999's Never Been Kissed. The second offering from the company was Charlie's Angels (2000), a major box office success in 2000 that helped solidify the standing of both Barrymore and the company.

When the production of Richard Kelly's debut film, Donnie Darko, was threatened, Barrymore stepped forward with financing from Flower Films and took the small role of Karen Pomeroy, the title character's English teacher. Although the film was less than successful at the box office in the wake of 9/11, it reached cult film status after the DVD release, inspiring numerous websites devoted to unraveling the plot twists and meanings.

In 2003, she reprised her role as Dylan Sanders in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in Olive, the Other Reindeer and appeared with Ben Stiller in Duplex in 2003. Flower Films produced 50 First Dates with co-star Adam Sandler's Happy Madison company in 2004. Summing up Barrymore's appeal, Roger Ebert, in his review of 50 First Dates, described Barrymore as having a "smiling, coy sincerity", describing the film as "ingratiating and lovable".

50 First Dates was followed by Fever Pitch (2005), and in 2007, Music and Lyrics and Lucky You. Barrymore's more recent projects include Beverly Hills Chihuahua in 2008, and 2009's He's Just Not That into You, Grey Gardens and Everybody's Fine.

Barrymore's directorial debut film Whip It, was released in October 2009. Whip It starred Ellen Page and Marcia Gay Harden and centered on an obsession with beauty pageants and the Austin, Texas Hurl Scouts roller derby team. Barrymore also co-starred in the film.
Other career highlights

Barrymore began a recurring character in the animated comedy Family Guy as Brian Griffin's simple-minded girlfriend, Jillian. She has since appeared in eight episodes. She was the subject of the 2005 documentary My Date with Drew. In it, an aspiring filmmaker and a fan of Barrymore's, uses his limited resources in an attempt to gain a date with her.

On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Josette Sheeran Shiner, Barrymore, Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Tergat

Barrymore's films have a worldwide box office gross that stands at over $2.3 billion. According to The Hollywood Reporter's annual Star Salary Top 10, she was one of the actresses with the second highest salary per movie for 2006.

On February 3, 2007, Barrymore hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the fifth time, making her the second female host (after Candice Bergen) in the show's history to do so. She hosted again on October 10, 2009, becoming the first female to host six times. Barrymore still holds the record as the youngest celebrity ever to host the show (1982, at age seven).

Barrymore became a CoverGirl Cosmetics' model and spokeswoman in 2007, and was No. 1 in People's annual 100 Most Beautiful People list. In 2007, she was named the new face for the Gucci jewelry line. Barrymore is signed to IMG Models New York City.

In May 2007, Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and later donated $1 million to the cause.
Personal life

In 1991, at the age of 16, Barrymore became engaged to Leland Hayward, grandson of Hollywood producer Leland Hayward. However after a few months, this engagement was called off. Soon afterward, Barrymore was engaged to and lived with musician/actor Jamie Walters in 1992-93.

She was married to Welsh bartender turned bar owner Jeremy Thomas from March 20 to April 28, 1994. Her second marriage was to comedian Tom Green from July 7, 2001 to October 15, 2002. Green filed for divorce in December 2001. In 2002, Barrymore began dating Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti, soon after they met at a concert. Their five year relationship, however, ended on January 10, 2007. She most recently dated Justin Long, however, they confirmed their split in July 2008. The couple reunited in 2009 and Us Weekly reported that they signed on to co-star in the upcoming film Going the Distance.

In the 1990s Barrymore was frequently described as bisexual, although she said in a 1997 interview that she had not "been with a woman in about two years". In 2004, she was quoted as saying "A woman and a woman together are beautiful, just as a man and a woman together are beautiful. Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else. When I was younger I used to go with lots of women. Totally. I love it". In March 2007, former magazine editor Jane Pratt claimed on her Sirius Satellite Radio show that she had a romance with Barrymore in the mid-nineties.

Barrymore was formerly a vegetarian, but has since begun to eat meat.
Filmography
Actress
Barrymore at the Music and Lyrics London premiere.
Year Film Role Notes
1978 Suddenly, Love Bobbi Graham (Uncredited) TV movie
1980 Bogie Leslie Bogart TV movie
Altered States Margaret Jessup
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Gertie Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1984 Firestarter Charlene "Charlie" McGee Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Irreconcilable Differences Casey Brodsky Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1985 Cat's Eye Our Girl, Amanda (all segments)
1986 Babes in Toyland Lisa Piper TV movie
1989 See You in the Morning Cathy Goodwin
Far From Home Joleen Cox
1991 Motorama Fantasy Girl
1992 2000 Malibu Road Lindsay 6 episodes
Waxwork II: Lost in Time Vampire Victim #1
Poison Ivy Ivy
Guncrazy Anita Minteer Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1993 The Amy Fisher Story Amy Fisher
No Place to Hide Tinsel Hanley
Doppelganger Holly Gooding
Wayne's World 2 Bjergen Kjergen
1994 Inside the Goldmine Daisy
Bad Girls Lilly Laronette
1995 Boys on the Side Holly Pulchik-Lincoln
Mad Love Casey Roberts
Batman Forever Sugar
1996 Everyone Says I Love You Skylar Dandridge
Scream Casey Becker Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1997 Wishful Thinking Lena
Best Men Hope
1998 The Wedding Singer Julia Sullivan Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress also for Ever After
Ever After Danielle de Barbarac Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress also for The Wedding Singer
Home Fries Sally Jackson
1999 Never Been Kissed Josie Geller Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Female
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Olive, the Other Reindeer Olive voice
2000 The Simpsons Sophie (voice) 1 episode
Skipped Parts Fantasy Girl
Titan A.E. Akima voice
Charlie's Angels Dylan Sanders MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
2001 Donnie Darko Karen Pomeroy
Freddy Got Fingered Mr. Davidson's Receptionist
Riding in Cars with Boys Beverly Donofrio
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Penny
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Dylan Sanders Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Dance Sequence with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu
Duplex Nancy Kendricks
2004 50 First Dates Lucy Whitmore MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Female
People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Chemistry
My Date With Drew Herself
2005 Fever Pitch Lindsey Meeks
2006–2009 Family Guy Jillian Russell (voice) 7 episodes
2006 Curious George Maggie voice
2007 Music and Lyrics Sophie Fisher
Lucky You Billie Offer
2008 Beverly Hills Chihuahua Chloe voice
2009 He's Just Not That Into You Mary Harris
Grey Gardens Edith Bouvier Beale Made-for-cable HBO film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Everybody's Fine Rosie
Whip It Smashly Simpson Also Directed by Drew Barrymore
2010 Going the Distance 'Post-production
Director
Year Film Notes
2004 Choose or Lose Presents: The Best Place to Start Director; Documentary
2009 Whip It Directorial debut
Producer credits
Year Film Notes
1999 Never Been Kissed Executive producer
2000 Charlie's Angels Producer
2001 Donnie Darko Executive producer
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Producer
Duplex Producer
2005 Fever Pitch Producer
2009 He's Just Not That Into You Executive producer
Whip It Executive producer
See also

    * Barrymore family
http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz109/zillionaire_2009/903/01/02/Drew-Barrymore-1266208-small.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l101/kreeths/drew-barrymore.jpg
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Drew-Barrymore.jpg


She turned out to be such a hot actress.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/22/10 at 9:45 am


She turned out to be such a hot actress.

Yes she is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/22/10 at 12:16 pm

British Person of the Day: Nigel Planer

Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953 in Westminster, London, England, UK) is an English actor, comedian, novelist and playwright. Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked and Hairspray. He is also long time comedy partner with Peter Richardson.

Career

He was educated at Westminster School, the University of Sussex at Brighton, and LAMDA.

Acting

Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil, the hippie housemate of Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson), Rick (Rik Mayall) and Mike (Christopher Ryan) in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones, which ran from 1982–84. Planer was one of the original cast of The Comic Strip team, pioneers of the alternative comedy movement in the UK. Originally a nightclub stage show, he appeared with its creator Peter Richardson as part of the double act The Outer Limits. Planer and Richardson also wrote the That's Life! parody on Not The Nine O'Clock News. He played Professor Dumbledore in a Harry Potter parody, Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber Pot of Azerbaijan.

Theatre

His first break in the theatre was understudying David Essex as Che Guevara in the original West End run of Evita. Nigel was in the original London cast of Chicago, as Amos Hart. He was a member of the original West End cast of Ben Elton's Queen musical We Will Rock You as Pop. From 10–15 July 2006 he played the part of the narrator in The Rocky Horror Show taking on the role in Manchester and Bromley. He most recently starred as The Wizard in the West End production of Wicked at The Apollo Victoria Theatre. He ended his run on 7 June 2008 and was replaced by Desmond Barrit. He recently appeared on a BBC 4 programme under the guise of 'Nicholas Craig' to be interviewed by Mark Lawson. He took over the role of Wilbur from Ian Talbot in the West End production of Hairspray on 2 February 2009.

Music

Nigel was one of the four members of the 1980s spoof rock band, Bad News, playing Den Dennis. As Neil from The Young Ones, Planer gained a number two hit single in 1984 in the form of "Hole in My Shoe", (originally a hit for Sixties band Traffic). A cover of Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" was a less successful follow up, only reaching No.97 in the charts. After that, an album was produced, entitled Neil's Heavy Concept Album. Nigel also took Neil's stage act on the road in that year as Neil in the "Bad Karma in The UK" tour. This culminated in a month-long run at St. Mary's Hall at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Young Ones also appeared on Cliff Richard's 1986 charity rerecording of "Living Doll", which spent three weeks at number one in the UK.

Voice acting

Nigel is the reader for the audiobook editions of many of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. He also appeared in the television adaptations of both Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and The Colour of Magic, and performed as a voice artist in the games Discworld 2 and Discworld Noir. Discworld Audiobooks narrated by Nigel Planer include (with number in parentheses indicating order of the book in the Discworld series):

    * The Colour of Magic (1)
    * The Light Fantastic (2)
    * Mort (4)
    * Sourcery (5)
    * Wyrd Sisters (6)
    * Pyramids (7)
    * Guards! Guards! (8 )
    * Moving Pictures (10)
    * Reaper Man (11)
    * Witches Abroad (12)
    * Small Gods (13)
    * Lords and Ladies (14)
    * Men at Arms (15)
    * Soul Music (16)
    * Interesting Times (17)
    * Maskerade (18)
    * Feet of Clay (19)
    * Hogfather (20)
    * Jingo (21)
    * The Last Continent (22)
    * Carpe Jugulum (23)

Other voice roles include the narrator of Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids and Dr. Marmalade in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.

Credits

He is arguably best known in Britain for his work in television comedy and satire, including:

    * Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights (1980)
    * Shine on Harvey Moon (1982)
    * The Young Ones (12 episodes) (1982–84)
    * Roll Over Beethoven (1983–84)
    * The Comic Strip Presents… (25 episodes) (1983–2005)
    * King & Castle (1986–88)
    * Filthy Rich & Catflap (6 episodes) (1987)
    * Blackeyes by Dennis Potter (1989)
    * Frankenstein's Baby (1990)
    * Nicholas Craig — The Naked Actor (1990)
    * Nicholas Craig's Interview Masterclass (1990)
    * Nicholas Craig's Masterpiece Theatre (1992)
    * The Nicholas Craig Masterclass (1992)
    * Carry On Columbus (1992)
    * The Magic Roundabout (English adaptation and narrator on previously unseen episodes)
    * Sherlock Holmes (1993)
    * Let's Get Divorced (1994)
    * Wake Up! With Libby And Jonathan (1994)
    * Blackadder the Third
    * Yellowbeard
    * French & Saunders
    * Jonathan Creek
    * The Grimleys (1997–2001)
    * Wicked (2006–08)
    * Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006)
    * Flood (2007)
    * Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (2008)'
    * Hairspray (2009)
    * M.I.High (2009)

He has published several books including the novels The Right Man (2000) (ISBN 0-09-927227-X) and Faking It (2003) (ISBN 0-09-940986-0). Nigel also wrote A Good Enough Dad (1992) (ISBN 0-09-929661-6) after his first son was born, talking about coping with becoming a father.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40248000/jpg/_40248987_neil2bbcok.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Lifeandhealth/Pix/pictures/2009/6/19/1245411566123/Nigel-Planer-001.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/22/10 at 3:00 pm


British Person of the Day: Nigel Planer

Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953 in Westminster, London, England, UK) is an English actor, comedian, novelist and playwright. Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked and Hairspray. He is also long time comedy partner with Peter Richardson.

Career

He was educated at Westminster School, the University of Sussex at Brighton, and LAMDA.

Acting

Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil, the hippie housemate of Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson), Rick (Rik Mayall) and Mike (Christopher Ryan) in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones, which ran from 1982–84. Planer was one of the original cast of The Comic Strip team, pioneers of the alternative comedy movement in the UK. Originally a nightclub stage show, he appeared with its creator Peter Richardson as part of the double act The Outer Limits. Planer and Richardson also wrote the That's Life! parody on Not The Nine O'Clock News. He played Professor Dumbledore in a Harry Potter parody, Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber Pot of Azerbaijan.

Theatre

His first break in the theatre was understudying David Essex as Che Guevara in the original West End run of Evita. Nigel was in the original London cast of Chicago, as Amos Hart. He was a member of the original West End cast of Ben Elton's Queen musical We Will Rock You as Pop. From 10–15 July 2006 he played the part of the narrator in The Rocky Horror Show taking on the role in Manchester and Bromley. He most recently starred as The Wizard in the West End production of Wicked at The Apollo Victoria Theatre. He ended his run on 7 June 2008 and was replaced by Desmond Barrit. He recently appeared on a BBC 4 programme under the guise of 'Nicholas Craig' to be interviewed by Mark Lawson. He took over the role of Wilbur from Ian Talbot in the West End production of Hairspray on 2 February 2009.

Music

Nigel was one of the four members of the 1980s spoof rock band, Bad News, playing Den Dennis. As Neil from The Young Ones, Planer gained a number two hit single in 1984 in the form of "Hole in My Shoe", (originally a hit for Sixties band Traffic). A cover of Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" was a less successful follow up, only reaching No.97 in the charts. After that, an album was produced, entitled Neil's Heavy Concept Album. Nigel also took Neil's stage act on the road in that year as Neil in the "Bad Karma in The UK" tour. This culminated in a month-long run at St. Mary's Hall at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Young Ones also appeared on Cliff Richard's 1986 charity rerecording of "Living Doll", which spent three weeks at number one in the UK.

Voice acting

Nigel is the reader for the audiobook editions of many of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. He also appeared in the television adaptations of both Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and The Colour of Magic, and performed as a voice artist in the games Discworld 2 and Discworld Noir. Discworld Audiobooks narrated by Nigel Planer include (with number in parentheses indicating order of the book in the Discworld series):

    * The Colour of Magic (1)
    * The Light Fantastic (2)
    * Mort (4)
    * Sourcery (5)
    * Wyrd Sisters (6)
    * Pyramids (7)
    * Guards! Guards! (8 )
    * Moving Pictures (10)
    * Reaper Man (11)
    * Witches Abroad (12)
    * Small Gods (13)
    * Lords and Ladies (14)
    * Men at Arms (15)
    * Soul Music (16)
    * Interesting Times (17)
    * Maskerade (18)
    * Feet of Clay (19)
    * Hogfather (20)
    * Jingo (21)
    * The Last Continent (22)
    * Carpe Jugulum (23)

Other voice roles include the narrator of Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids and Dr. Marmalade in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.

Credits

He is arguably best known in Britain for his work in television comedy and satire, including:

    * Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights (1980)
    * Shine on Harvey Moon (1982)
    * The Young Ones (12 episodes) (1982–84)
    * Roll Over Beethoven (1983–84)
    * The Comic Strip Presents… (25 episodes) (1983–2005)
    * King & Castle (1986–88)
    * Filthy Rich & Catflap (6 episodes) (1987)
    * Blackeyes by Dennis Potter (1989)
    * Frankenstein's Baby (1990)
    * Nicholas Craig — The Naked Actor (1990)
    * Nicholas Craig's Interview Masterclass (1990)
    * Nicholas Craig's Masterpiece Theatre (1992)
    * The Nicholas Craig Masterclass (1992)
    * Carry On Columbus (1992)
    * The Magic Roundabout (English adaptation and narrator on previously unseen episodes)
    * Sherlock Holmes (1993)
    * Let's Get Divorced (1994)
    * Wake Up! With Libby And Jonathan (1994)
    * Blackadder the Third
    * Yellowbeard
    * French & Saunders
    * Jonathan Creek
    * The Grimleys (1997–2001)
    * Wicked (2006–08)
    * Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006)
    * Flood (2007)
    * Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (2008)'
    * Hairspray (2009)
    * M.I.High (2009)

He has published several books including the novels The Right Man (2000) (ISBN 0-09-927227-X) and Faking It (2003) (ISBN 0-09-940986-0). Nigel also wrote A Good Enough Dad (1992) (ISBN 0-09-929661-6) after his first son was born, talking about coping with becoming a father.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40248000/jpg/_40248987_neil2bbcok.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Lifeandhealth/Pix/pictures/2009/6/19/1245411566123/Nigel-Planer-001.jpg

Thanks Phil. He was someone who I knew his name, but knew little about.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/23/10 at 6:14 am

The word of the day...Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a vehicle with two wheels and an engine.
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr101/soveriegn73/motorcycle002.jpg
http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu171/jbeambabie/Motorcycle/VTX2.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac160/brianj2656/d757df3e.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd217/epen12/xcs%20motorcycle/testimony.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f194/gidget922/Motorcycle/29.gif
http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae142/nurivan2010/2000_0101AA.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f194/gidget922/Motorcycle/easyrider21ty.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/23/10 at 6:19 am

The person born on this day...Peter Fonda

Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, the brother of Jane Fonda, and the father of Bridget and Justin Fonda (by first wife Susan Brewer, stepdaughter of Noah Dietrich). Fonda is an icon of the counterculture of the 1960s.
Fonda found work on Broadway where he achieved notice in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, before going to Hollywood to make films. He started his film career in romantic leading roles. He debuted in Tammy and the Doctor (1963), which he called "Tammy and the Chuckface". But Fonda's intensity impressed Robert Rossen, the director of Lilith (1964). Rossen envisioned a Jewish actor in the role of Stephen Evshevsky, a mental patient. Fonda earned the role after removing his boss' glasses from his face and putting them on so as to look more "Jewish". He also was in The Victors (1964), an "anti-war war movie" and played the male lead in The Young Lovers (1964), about out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

By the mid-1960s, Peter Fonda was not a conventional "leading man" in Hollywood. As Playboy magazine reported, Fonda had established a "solid reputation as a dropout". He had become outwardly nonconformist and grew his hair long, alienating the "establishment" film industry. Desirable acting work became scarce. In the 1963-1964 season, he appeared in an episode of the ABC drama about college life, Channing.

Through his friendships with members of the Byrds, Fonda visited The Beatles in their rented house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles in August, 1965. While John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were under the influence of LSD, Lennon heard Fonda say, "I know what it's like to be dead". This phrase became the tag line for Lennon's song, "She Said She Said", which appeared in their groundbreaking Revolver (1966) album. In 1966, Fonda was arrested in the anti-war Sunset Strip riot which the police ended forcefully. The band Buffalo Springfield protested the department's handling of the incident in their song "For What It's Worth". Fonda would take a stab at being a singer himself in 1968, recording a 45 for the Chisa label: "November Night" (written by Gram Parsons) b/w "Catch The Wind" (the Donovan song), produced by Hugh Masakela.

Fonda's first counterculture-oriented film role was the lead character Heavenly Blues, a Hells Angels chapter president, in the Roger Corman directed film The Wild Angels (1966). The Wild Angels is still remembered for Fonda's "eulogy" delivered at the fiasco of a fallen Angel's funeral service, which was sampled in the Primal Scream recording "Loaded" (1991), and in other rock songs. Then Fonda played the male lead character in Corman's film The Trip (1967), a take on the experience and consequences of consuming LSD.
Easy Rider
Replica of the "Captain America"-Harley which Fonda rode in Easy Rider, on display in a German Museum.

In 1968, Fonda produced and starred in Easy Rider, the classic film for which he is best known. Easy Rider is about two long-haired bikers traveling through the southwest and southern United States in a world of intolerance and violence. The Fonda character was the charismatic, laconic "Captain America" whose motorcycle jacket bore a large American flag across the back. Dennis Hopper played the garrulous "Billy". Jack Nicholson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as George Hanson, an alcoholic civil rights lawyer who rides along. Fonda co-wrote Easy Rider with Terry Southern and Hopper, who directed.

Hopper filmed the cross-country road trip depicted in Easy Rider almost entirely on location. Fonda had secured funding in the neighborhood of $360,000 - (largely based on the fact he knew that was the budget Roger Corman needed to make The Wild Angels), and they released the film in 1969 to massive international success. Robbie Robertson was so moved by an advance screening that he approached Fonda and tried to convince him to let him write a complete score, even though the film was nearly due for wide release. Fonda refused, using the Byrds' song "Ballad of Easy Rider", Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding" sung by the Byrds' Roger McGuinn. Fonda, Hopper and Southern were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Later work

After the success of Easy Rider, both Hopper and Fonda were in a position to make any film project they wanted. While Hopper chose to make the drug addled jungle epic The Last Movie, (in which Fonda co-starred along with Michelle Phillips), Fonda directed the Western film, The Hired Hand. Fonda took the lead role in a cast that also featured Warren Oates, Verna Bloom and Beat poet Michael McClure. This was followed by the cult-classic "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry", a box-office smash in 1974, and "Open Season", which tanked. He would re-team with Warren Oates in Race With The Devil in 1975, and later would star in "Futureworld", a sequel to "Westworld", which was another box office failure. Despite generating mixed reviews upon its initial release, In 2001, The Hired Hand was fully restored and exhibited at a number of festivals to a generally enthusiastic critical response. Subsequently, the Sundance Channel released a DVD of the film in two separate editions that same year, and the film has since found an audience as a cult Western classic. In 1976, Fonda starred opposite Susan St. James as a musician on the run in "Outlaw Blues". In 1979, Fonda directed and starred in the drama Wanda Nevada alongside Brooke Shields. His father Henry Fonda made a brief appearance as well, making it the only time the father and son appeared together on film. In a later nod to his roles in The Wild Angels and Easy Rider, Fonda also had a cameo as the "Chief Biker" in the 1981 slapstick comedy The Cannonball Run.

Fonda received high-profile critical recognition and universal praise for his role in Ulee's Gold (1997). Fonda portrayed a stoic north Florida beekeeper who, in spite of his tumultuous family life, imparts a sense of integrity to his wayward convict son, and takes risks in acting protectively toward his drug-abusing daughter-in-law. His performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Fonda's movie career has made the more interesting for the extreme contrast between the wide-eyed and questing (though possibly amoral, certainly drug-dealing) rebel motorcyclist in Easy Rider and the upright war-veteran father he played nearly three decades later in Ulee's Gold — a character who tries to share the wisdom of age with his defiantly nihilistic son and who saves his addicted daughter-in-law's life. Two years later, Fonda appeared in the 1999 Steven Soderbergh neo noir crime film The Limey, as the money laundering/celebrity rock music producer Terry Valentine.

In 2002 Fonda was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Fonda lent his voice talent to the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the aging hippie, The Truth.

In 2007, Fonda made a notable return to the big screen in the critically acclaimed remake of the 1957 Western 3:10 to Yuma, appearing alongside Christian Bale and Russell Crowe as the bounty hunter Byron McElroy. The film received two Academy Award nominations, and positive reviews from critics. He also made an appearance in the last scenes of the Biker-comedy Wild Hogs as Damien Blade, founder of the biker gang Del Fuegos and father of Jack, a character played by Ray Liotta. This year also featured Fonda portraying Mephostophiles, one of two main villains in the 2007 film Ghost Rider, and he has also expressed interest in re-playing the character in Ghost Rider 2. In 2009, he appeared in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the sequel to the cult hit, as 'The Roman', the main villain and an old acquaintance of Il Duce, the character played by Billy Connolly.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1963 Tammy and the Doctor Dr. Mark Cheswick
The Victors Weaver Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Male
1964 Lilith Stephen Evshevsky
The Young Lovers Eddie Slocum
1966 The Wild Angels Heavenly Blues
1967 The Trip Paul Groves
1968 Histories extradinaires Baron Wilhelm (segment "Metzengerstein")
1969 Easy Rider Wyatt Nominated — Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay with Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern
Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen with Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern
1971 The Hired hand Harry Collings
The Last Movie Young Sheriff
1973 Idaho Transfer Director
Two People Evan Bonner
1974 Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry Larry Rider
Open Season Ken
1975 Race with the Devil Roger March
92 in the Shade Skelton
1976 Killer Force Bradley
Futureworld Chuck Browning
Fighting Mad Tom Hunter
1977 Outlaw Blues Bobby Ogden
1978 High-Ballin' Rane
1979 Wanda Nevada Beaudray Demerille
1981 Cannonball Run Chief Biker (cameo appearance)
1982 Split Image Kirklander
1983 Peppermint-Frieden Mr. Freedom
Dance of the Dwarfs Harry Bediker
Daijôbu, mai furendo Gonzy Traumerai
Spasms Dr. Tom Brasilian
1985 A Reason to Live Gus Stewart TV movie
Certain Fury Rodney
1987 Hawken's Breed Hawken
1988 Mercenary Fighters Virelli
1989 The Rose Garden Herbert Schluter
1990 Fatal Mission Ken Andrews
1992 South Beach Jake
Family Express Nick
1993 Deadfall Pete
Bodies, Rest & Motion Motorcycle Rider
1994 Molly & Gina Larry Stanton
Love and a .45 Vergil Cheatham
Nadja Dracula/Dr. Van Helsing
1996 Escape from L.A. Pipeline
Grace of My Heart Guru Dave
1997 Ulee's Gold Ulysses 'Ulee' Jackson Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Painted Hero Ray the Cook
1999 The Passion of Ayn Rand Frank Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
The Limey Terry Valentine
2000 South of Heaven, West of Hell Shoshonee Bill
Thomas and the Magic Railroad Grandpa Burnett Stone
Second Skin Merv Gutman
2001 Wooly Boys Stoney
2002 The Laramie Project Doctor Cantway
2004 The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things Grandfather
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas The Truth (voice)
2005 Supernova Dr. Austin Shepard
2007 Ghost Rider Mephistopheles
Wild Hogs Damien Blade
3:10 to Yuma Byron McElroy Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Gathering Thomas Carrier
2008 Japan Alfred
Journey to the Center of the Earth Edward Dennison
2009 The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll August West
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day The Roman
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee91/Gypsy48/Entertainment/Fonda_Peter.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f64/inutero220/people%20and%20things/peter_fonda.jpg
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll266/ka321_2008/KristinPeterfonda.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/23/10 at 6:23 am

The person who died on this day...Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and director, famous as the first half of the comedy double-act Laurel and Hardy, whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th century until after World War II.
Laurel went on to join the Hal Roach studio, and began directing films, including a 1926 production called Yes, Yes, Nanette. He intended to work primarily as a writer and director, but fate stepped in. In 1927, Oliver Hardy, another member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and Laurel was asked to return to acting. Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup and With Love and Hisses. The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year.

Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, including The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, Be Big!, Big Business, and many others. Laurel and Hardy successfully made the transition to talking films with the short Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first feature in one of the revue sequences of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-colour (in Technicolor) musical feature, The Rogue Song. In 1931, their own first starring feature, Pardon Us was released, although they continued to make both features and shorts until 1935, including their 1932 three-reeler The Music Box which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
Trouble at Roach Studio

During the 1930s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach and ended up having his contract terminated. After being tried for drunk driving, he counter-sued the Roach studio. Eventually, the case was dropped and Laurel returned to Roach. Meanwhile, Laurel had divorced his first wife and married Virginia Ruth Rogers in 1935, whom he divorced to marry his third wife Vera Ivanova Shuvalova ("Illeana") in 1938. By 1941, he had once again married Virginia Ruth Rogers.

After returning to Roach studios, the first film Laurel and Hardy made was A Chump at Oxford. Subsequently, they made Saps at Sea, which was their last film for Roach. In April 1940, their contract expired. Roach decided to make a film without Stan Laurel, but with Oliver Hardy, Zenobia.

During the start of Laurel and Hardy's partnership, Stan had a baby girl with Lois (his first wife), born in 1928, and named the baby after his wife, Lois. Stan and his daughter Lois had a very strong relationship. Stan would take Lois onto the sets and try to see her as much as he could, even when he divorced her mother. Stan also had a son, who died just ten days after birth in 1930 .
Fox Studios

In 1939, Laurel and Hardy signed a contract at 20th Century Fox to make one motion picture and nine more over the following five months. During the war years, their work became more standardised and less successful though The Bullfighters, Great Guns and A-Haunting We Will Go did receive some praise. Laurel discovered he had diabetes, so he encouraged Oliver Hardy to make two films without him. In 1946, he divorced Virginia Ruth Rogers and married Ida Kitaeva Raphael. With Ida, he enjoyed a happy marriage until his death.

In 1950, Laurel and Hardy were invited to France to make a feature film. The film, a French/Italian co-production titled Atoll K, was a disaster. (The film was titled Utopia in the US and Robinson Crusoeland in the UK.) Both stars were noticeably ill during the filming. Upon returning home, they spent most of their time recovering. In 1952, Laurel and Hardy toured Europe successfully, and they toured Europe again in 1953.

During this tour, Laurel fell ill and was unable to perform for several weeks. In May 1954, Oliver Hardy had a heart attack and canceled the tour. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series, Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables, based on children's stories, but the plans were delayed because Laurel suffered a stroke. He recovered, and as he was planning to get back to work, Oliver Hardy had a massive stroke on 15 September 1956. Paralyzed and bedridden for several months, he was unable to speak or move.
Hardy's death

On 7 August 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel did not attend his funeral, stating "Babe would understand." Afterward, Laurel decided he would never act again without his long-time friend, but he did write gags and sketches for fellow comedians. People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered.
Life after Laurel and Hardy
Stan Laurel's grave at Forest Lawn. The Birth of Liberty mosaic is visible in the background.

In 1961, Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica. Always gracious to fans, he spent much time answering fan mail. His phone number was listed in the telephone directory, and fans were amazed that they could dial the number and speak to Stan Laurel. Jerry Lewis was among the comedians to visit Laurel, who offered suggestions for Lewis' production of The Bellboy (1960). Lewis had even paid tribute to Laurel by naming his main character Stanley in the film, and having Bill Richmond play a version of Laurel as well.
Death

Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly giving up when he was about seventy years of age. He died on February 23, 1965, several days after suffering a heart attack. Just minutes away from death, Laurel told his nurse he would not mind going skiing right at that very moment. Somewhat taken aback, the nurse replied that she was not aware that he was a skier. "I'm not," said Laurel, "I'd rather be doing that than have all these needles stuck into me!" A few minutes later the nurse looked in on him again and found that he had died.

Dick Van Dyke, a friend, and protege, and occasional impressionist of Laurel's during his later years, gave the eulogy at his funeral. Silent screen comedian Buster Keaton was overheard at Laurel's funeral giving his assessment of the comedian's considerable talents: "Chaplin wasn't the funniest, I wasn't the funniest, this man was the funniest."

Laurel wrote his own epitaph; "If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again." He was buried at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Legacy

    * In 1989 a statue of Laurel was erected in Dockwray Square, North Shields, Northumberland, England where he lived at No. 8 from 1897 to 1902, and where the steps down from the Square to the North Shields Fish Quay were said to have inspired the piano-moving scene in The Music Box. In 2006, BBC Four showed a drama called Stan, based on Laurel meeting Hardy on his deathbed and reminiscing about their career .
    * Laurel's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is situated at 7021 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California.
    * In 2008, a statue of Stan Laurel was unveiled in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on the site of the Eden Theatre .
    * In April 2009, a bronze statue of Laurel and Hardy was unveiled in Ulverston, Cumbria.
    * Above the door of the house where Stan Laurel lived, there is a plaque commemorating the actor.

Filmography
Biography portal

    * Filmography of Stan Laurel (The films of Stan Laurel as an actor without Oliver Hardy)
    * Laurel and Hardy films (The filmography of Laurel and Hardy together)

References

  1. ^ a b Midwinter, Eric (2006). "Laurel, Stan". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37659. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  2. ^ The Laurel & Hardy Forum :: View topic - Plea to save Stan Laurel's school
  3. ^ http://rutherglenacademy.net/famous_ruglonians_1.html
  4. ^ Bowers, Judith (2007). Stan Laurel and other stars of the Panopticon. Birlinn Ltd. pp. 143–147. ISBN 184158617X.
  5. ^ Larry Harnisch (2009-06-21). "Stan Laurel's stormy marriage full of off-screen drama". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then21-2009jun21,0,3596284.story?track=rss/. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  6. ^ Find A Grave
  7. ^ "Stan Laurel Dies. Teamed With Oliver Hardy in 200 Slapstick Films-Played 'Simple' Foil.". New York Times. 24 February 1965. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A1FF63F5812738DDDAD0A94DA405B858AF1D3. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  8. ^ BBC - BBC Four Cinema - Silent Cinema Season
  9. ^ http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/3590723.Laurel_proves_Hardy_after_disaster_delays/ - Statue of Laurel arrives in Bishop Auckland
  10. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/8006614.stm

    * Marriot, AJ (1993). Laurel & Hardy : The British Tours. Hitchen: AJ Marriot.. ISBN 0-9521308-0-7.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh86/blindguidedog/119434-Stan_Laurel.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/FraDiavolo/Stanfamily3.jpg
http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq45/minijb_2008/StanLaurel-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/23/10 at 1:34 pm


The word of the day...Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a vehicle with two wheels and an engine.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkmbLoaORU

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/23/10 at 1:49 pm

Britiah Person of the Day: Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys was born on 23 February 1633 near Fleet Street in London, the son of a tailor. He was educated at St Paul's School in London and Cambridge University. After graduating, Pepys was employed as secretary to Edward Montagu, a distant relative who was a councillor of state during the Cromwellian protectorate and later served Charles II. In 1655, Pepys married 15-year-old Elizabeth Marchant de Saint-Michel, daughter of a Huguenot exile. In 1658, he underwent a dangerous operation for the removal of a bladder stone. Every year on the anniversary of the operation, he celebrated his recovery.

Pepys began his diary on 1 January 1660. It is written in a form of shorthand, with names in longhand. It ranges from private remarks, including revelations of infidelity - to detailed observations of events in 17th century England - such as the plague of 1665, the Great Fire of London and Charles II's coronation - and some of the key figures of the era, including Sir Christopher Wren and Sir Isaac Newton. Fear of losing his eyesight prompted Pepys to stop writing the diary in 1669. He never actually went blind.

In June 1660, Pepys was appointed clerk of the acts to the navy board, a key post in one of the most important of all government departments, the royal dockyards. In 1673, he became secretary to the Admiralty and in the same year a member of parliament for a Norfolk constituency, later representing Harwich. He was responsible for some important naval reforms which helped lay the foundations for a professional naval service. He was also a member of the Royal Society, serving as its president from 1684-1686.

In 1679, Pepys was forced to resign from the Admiralty and was imprisoned on a charge of selling naval secrets to the French, but the charge was subsequently dropped. In 1685, Charles II died and was succeeded by his brother who became James II, who Pepys served as loyally as he had Charles. After the overthrow of James in 1688, Pepys's career effectively came to an end. He was again arrested in 1690, under suspicion of Jacobite sympathies, but was released.

Pepys died in Clapham on the outskirts of London on 26 May 1703.

http://davidwmsims.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/samuelpepys.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/23/10 at 3:04 pm


The word of the day...Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a vehicle with two wheels and an engine.
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr101/soveriegn73/motorcycle002.jpg
http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu171/jbeambabie/Motorcycle/VTX2.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac160/brianj2656/d757df3e.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd217/epen12/xcs%20motorcycle/testimony.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f194/gidget922/Motorcycle/29.gif
http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae142/nurivan2010/2000_0101AA.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f194/gidget922/Motorcycle/easyrider21ty.jpg


I remember The Undertaker had a similar gimmick called American Badass and he rode a motorcycle to the ring in 2002.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/10 at 6:23 am

The word of the day...Suit
A man's suit consists of a jacket, trousers, and sometimes a waistcoat, all made from the same fabric
A woman's suit consists of a jacket and skirt, or sometimes trousers, made from the same fabric.
A particular type of suit is a piece of clothing that you wear for a particular activity.
If something suits you, it is convenient for you or is the best thing for you in the circumstances
A suit is one of the four types of card in a set of playing cards. These are hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades.
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx142/gqchris1683/SUIT/Picture042.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx109/Sparker2010/Rob.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t1/cacks_photos/BoysChristeningSuit2.jpg
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx142/gqchris1683/SUIT/Picture045.jpg
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv33/Glo222/DSC01786.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab64/mrroberttower/EITS/IMG_0039.jpg
http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt317/iluvbrands/DSC_6.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/wartjr2373/SSBB%20Wallpapers/ZeroSuitSamus.png
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l201/Katieso99/playing_cards_by_bertyhell-1.jpg
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac333/Jonathan2051/100_0089.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n20/second2none34/swim.jpg.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/10 at 6:26 am

The person born on this day...Edward James Olmos
Edward James "Eddie" Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is a Mexican American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are Commander/Admiral William Adama in the Battlestar Galactica re-imagined series, Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice, teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver, patriarch Abraham Quintanilla in the film Selena, Detective Gaff in Blade Runner, and narrator El Pachuco in both the stage and film versions of Zoot Suit.
Olmos was born Edward James Olmos in Los Angeles, California, where he was raised, the son of Eleanor (née Huizar) and Pedro Olmos, who was a welder. His father was a Mexican immigrant and his mother Mexican American. He grew up wanting to be a professional baseball player and became the Golden State batting champion. In his teen years, he turned to rock and roll, and became the lead singer for a band he named Pacific Ocean, so-called because it was to be "the biggest thing on the West Coast". He graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. While at Montebello High School, he lost a race for Student Body President to future California Democratic Party Chair Art Torres. For several years Pacific Ocean played various clubs in and around Los Angeles and released a record in 1968. At the same time, he attended classes at East Los Angeles College, including courses in acting.
Career

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Olmos branched out from music into acting, appearing in many small productions, until his big break portraying the narrator, called "El Pachuco," in the play Zoot Suit, which dramatized the World War II-era rioting in California brought about by the tensions between Mexican-Americans and local police. (See Zoot Suit Riots.) The play moved to Broadway, and Olmos earned a Tony award nomination. He subsequently took the role to the filmed version in 1981, and appeared in many other films including Wolfen, Blade Runner and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.

From 1984 to 1989, Olmos starred in his biggest role up to that date as the authoritarian police Lieutenant Martin Castillo in the television series Miami Vice opposite Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, for which he was awarded a Golden Globe and an Emmy in 1985. He was contacted about playing the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation when it was in pre-production in 1986, but he declined.

Returning to film, Olmos received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in Stand and Deliver for his portrayal of real-life math teacher, Jaime Escalante. He directed and starred in American Me in 1992, and also starred in My Family/Mi Familia, a multigenerational story of a Chicano family. In 1997 he starred alongside Jennifer Lopez in the film Selena. Olmos played Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the 2001 movie In the Time of the Butterflies. He also had a recurring role as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roberto Mendoza in the NBC drama The West Wing. From 2002 to 2004, he starred as a recently widowed father of a Latino L.A.-family in the PBS drama American Family: Journey of Dreams.

From 2003 to 2009, he starred as Admiral William Adama in the Sci Fi / SyFy Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and in the television series that followed. He directed four episodes of the show, Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (1.9), Taking a Break from All Your Worries (3.13), Escape Velocity (4.4) and Islanded in a Stream of Stars (4.18). He also directed a television movie of the show, The Plan. Regarding his work on the show, he told CraveOnline, "I'm very grateful for the work that I've been able to do in my life but I can honestly tell you, this is the best usage of television I've ever been a part of to date."

In 2006, he co-produced, directed, and played the bit part of Julian Nava in the HBO movie about the 1968 Chicano Blowouts, Walkout . He also appeared in Snoop Dogg's music video "Vato", featuring B-Real from Cypress Hill. In the series finale of the ABC sitcom George Lopez, titled George Decides to Sta-Local Where It's Familia, he guest-starred as the plant's new multi-millionaire owner. More recently, he has been a spokesperson for Farmers Insurance Group, starring in their Spanish language commercials.
Social Activism

Olmos has often been involved in social activism, especially those affecting the Latino community. During the 1992 Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles, when many people left the city, Olmos went out with a broom and worked to get communities cleaned up and rebuilt. In 1997, Olmos co-founded the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival with Marlene Dermer, George Hernandez and Kirk Whisler. That same year, he co-founded with Kirk Whisler the non-profit organization Latino Literacy Now that has produced 44 Latino Book & Festivals around the USA, attended by over 700,000 people. In 1998, he founded Latino Public Broadcasting and currently serves as its Chairman. Latino Public Broadcasting funds public television programming that focuses on issues affecting Latinos and advocates for diverse perspectives in public television. That same year, he starred in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, a comedy that sought to break Latino stereotypes and transcend the normal stigmas of most Latino-oriented movies. In 1999, Olmos was one of the driving forces that created Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S.1, a book project featuring over 30 award winning photographers, later turned into a Smithsonian traveling exhibition, music CD and HBO special. He also makes frequent appearances at juvenile halls and detention centers to speak to at-risk teenagers. He has also been an international ambassador for UNICEF. In 2001, he was arrested and spent 20 days in prison for taking part in the Navy-Vieques protests against United States Navy target practice bombings of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

On January 5, 2007, he appeared on Puerto Rican Television to blame the Puerto Rican and United States Governments for not cleaning the Island of Vieques after the United States Navy stopped using the island for bombing practice. He also gave $2,300 to New Mexico governor Bill Richardson for his Presidential campaign (the maximum amount for the primaries).
Personal life

In 1971, Olmos married Katija Keel, the daughter of actor Howard Keel. They had two children, Bodie and Mico, before divorcing in 1992. Olmos also has three adopted children: Michael D., Brandon and Tamiko. He married actress Lorraine Bracco in 1994, but she filed for divorce in January 2002 after five years of separation. He is currently married to Puerto Rican actress Lymari Nadal, 30 years his junior.

In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from California State University, Fresno. In 2007, after a seven-year process, he obtained Mexican nationality.

Asteroid 5608 Olmos is named in his honor.
Filmography
Films

    * Alambrista! (1977) - Drunk Yelling at Workers (Credit reads "Edward Olmos")
    * Evening in Byzantium (1978) - Angelo
    * Fukkatsu no hi (1979) - Capt. Lopez
    * Three Hundred Miles for Stephanie (1981) - Art Vela
    * Wolfen (1981) - Eddie Holt
    * Zoot Suit (1981) - El Pachuco
    * Blade Runner (1982) - Gaff
    * The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) - Gregorio Cortez
    * Saving Grace (1985) - Ciolino
    * Stand and Deliver (1988) - Jaime Escalante
    * The Fortunate Pilgrim (1989) - Frank Corbo
    * Triumph of the Spirit (1989) - Gypsy
    * Talent for the Game (1991) - Virgil Sweet
    * American Me (1992) - Montoya Santana
    * Roosters (1993) - Gallo Morales
    * Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills (1994) - Jose Menendez
    * A Million to Juan (1994) - Angel
    * The Burning Season (1994) - Wilson Pinheiro
    * Mirage (1995) - Matteo Juarez
    * My Family (1995) - Paco
    * Dead Man's Walk (1996) - Capt. Salazar
    * The Limbic Region (1996) - Jon Lucca
    * Caught (1996) - Joe
    * 12 Angry Men (1997) - Juror #11
    * Selena (1997) - Abraham Quintanilla Jr.
    * The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (1997) - Roberto Lozano
    * The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998) - Vamanos
    * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998) - Det. Anthony Piscotti
    * Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999) - Salvatore Maranzano
    * The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice) - Chief
    * Gossip (2000) - Detective Curtis
    * The Judge (2001) - Judge Armando
    * In the Time of the Butterflies (2001) Rafael Trujillo
    * Jack and Marilyn (2002) - Pasquel
    * Cerca, La (2005) - Nino
    * Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (2005) - Voice of Mitto
    * Splinter (2006) - Capt. Garcia
    * Walkout (2006) - Julian Nava
    * Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008) (voice) - Diablo
    * The Green Hornet (2010) - Michael Axford

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/tusabes1/EDWARD.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/edward_james_olmos.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l52/Mystiqueband/Edspics028.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/10 at 6:31 am

The person who died on this day...Dennis Weaver
William Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006) better known as Dennis Weaver was an American actor, best known for his work in television, including roles on Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, and the 1971 TV movie Duel.
Weaver was born William Dennis Weaver in Joplin, Missouri, the son of Lena Prather (1892–1970) and Walter Weaver (1890–1967), of Irish, Scottish, English, Cherokee and Osage ancestry. He wanted to be an actor from boyhood. He started college at Joplin Junior College, now Missouri Southern State University and later attended the University of Oklahoma at Norman, where he studied drama and also was a track star, setting records in several events. He served as a pilot in the United States Navy during the Second World War. In 1945, he married Gerry Stowell, with whom he had three children (Rick, Robbie and Rustin). In 1948, he tried out for the U.S. Olympic team in the decathlon. After he finished sixth in the Olympic Trials (only the top three made the team), his college friend Lonny Chapman convinced him to come to New York City to try acting.
Career

Weaver's first role on Broadway came as an understudy to Chapman as Turk Fisher in Come Back, Little Sheba. He eventually took over the role from Chapman in the national touring company. Solidifying his choice to become an actor, Weaver enrolled in The Actors Studio, where he met Shelley Winters. In the beginning of his acting career, he supported his family by doing a number of odd jobs, including selling vacuum cleaners, tricycles and women's hosiery.

In 1952, Winters aided him in getting a contract from Universal Studios. He made his film debut that same year in the movie The Redhead from Wyoming. Over the next three years, he played roles in a series of movies, but still had to work odd jobs to support his family. It was while delivering flowers that he heard he had landed his biggest break — the role of Chester Goode on the new television series Gunsmoke  — which would go on to become the highest-rated and longest-running series in US television history (1955 to 1975). He received an Emmy Award in 1959 for Best Supporting Actor (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series.

Having become famous as Chester, he was cast in an offbeat supporting role in the 1958 Orson Welles film Touch of Evil, in which he nervously repeated, "I'm the night man." In 1961 he did an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Shadow Play" where he was trapped inside his own dream.

From 1964 to 1965, he portrayed a friendly veterinarian in NBC's comedy-drama Kentucky Jones. His next substantial role was as Tom Wedloe on the CBS series Gentle Ben, with co-star Clint Howard, between 1967 and 1969.
Weaver in Duel (1971)

He began appearing on the series McCloud in 1970, for which he received two Emmy Award nominations. In 1974, he was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series and in 1975, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. His frequent use of the affirming Southernism, "There you go," became a catchphrase for the show. During the series, in 1971, he appeared in Duel, a television movie directed by Steven Spielberg. From 1973 to 1975, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Later series during the 1980s (both of which lasted only one season) were Stone in which Weaver played a Joseph Wambaugh-esque police sergeant turned crime novelist, and Buck James, in which he played a Texas-based surgeon and rancher (Buck James was loosely based on real-life Texas doctor Red Duke).

In 1978, Weaver played the trail boss R.J. Poteet in the television miniseries Centennial on the episode titled "The Longhorns." Weaver also appeared in many acclaimed television films. In 1980, he played Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned for involvement in the Lincoln assassination, in The Ordeal Of Doctor Mudd. In 1983, he played a real estate agent addicted to cocaine in Cocaine: One Man's Seduction. Weaver received probably the best reviews of his career when he starred in the 1987 film Bluffing It, in which he played a man who is illiterate. In February 2002, he appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (episode DABF07, "The Lastest Gun in the West") as the voice of aging Hollywood cowboy legend Buck McCoy.

For his contribution to the television industry, Dennis Weaver was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6822 Hollywood Blvd, and on the Dodge City (KS) Trail of Fame. In 1981, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame with the Wrangler Award at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Weaver's most recent work was done on an ABC Family cable television show called Wildfire, where he played Henry, the father of Jean Ritter and the co-owner of Raintree Ranch. He was only on the show for season 1, and died of complications from cancer at the age of 81 on February 24, 2006. He was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.
Personal life

Weaver had been a vegetarian since 1958 and student of yoga and meditation since the 1960s. He was also renowned as an environmentalist, promoting eating lower on the food chain, alternate fuels such as hydrogen and wind power through an educational organization he founded, The Institute of Ecolonomics (a neologism formed by combining "ecology" and "economics"). He was also involved with John Denver's WindStar Foundation. He founded an organisation called Love is Feeding Everyone which provided food for 150,000 needy people a week in Los Angeles.

Weaver was active in liberal political causes. He used his celebrity status in instrumental roles as a fundraiser and organizer for George McGovern's campaign for president in 1972.

In 2004, he led a fleet of alternative fuel vehicles across America in order to raise awareness about America's dependence on oil.

The “Earth Ship,” the personal home he commissioned architect Michael Reynolds to design and build in Ridgway, Colorado during the late 1980s, incorporated recycled materials in its construction and featured advanced eco-technologies.

Weaver was consistently involved with the annual Genesis Awards, which were created by The Ark Trust to honor those in the media who bring attention to the plight and suffering of animals.

    There will come a time … when civilized people will look back in horror on our generation and the ones that preceded it: the idea that we should eat other living things running around on four legs, that we should raise them just for the purpose of killing them! The people of the future will say “meat-eaters!” in disgust and regard us in the same way we regard cannibals and cannibalism – Dennis Weaver

Selected filmography

    * The Lawless Breed (1953)
    * War Arrow (1953)
    * Dangerous Mission (1954)
    * Dragnet (1954)
    * Ten Wanted Men (1955)
    * Seven Angry Men (1955)
    * Chief Crazy Horse (1955)
    * Navy Wife (1956)
    * Touch of Evil (1958)
    * The Gallant Hours (1960)
    * Duel at Diablo (1966)
    * Gentle Giant (1967)
    * Mission Batangas (1968)
    * McCloud:Who Killed Miss U.S.A? (1970) (TV)
    * A Man Called Sledge (1970)
    * Duel (1971)
    * Cry For Justice (1977)
    * Cocaine: One Man's Poison (1983)
    * Two Bits & Pepper (1995)
    * Escape from Wildcat Canyon (1998)
    * Submerged (2000) with Coolio, Maxwell Caulfield, Brent Huff and Nicole Eggert
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/wildfirefan/dennis%20weaver/weaver3.jpg
http://i545.photobucket.com/albums/hh389/cowboy66_03/Pictures%202/DennisWeaver1.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/wildfirefan/dennis%20weaver/mcloud1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/24/10 at 6:57 am


The person born on this day...Edward James Olmos
Edward James "Eddie" Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is a Mexican American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are Commander/Admiral William Adama in the Battlestar Galactica re-imagined series, Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice, teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver, patriarch Abraham Quintanilla in the film Selena, Detective Gaff in Blade Runner, and narrator El Pachuco in both the stage and film versions of Zoot Suit.
Olmos was born Edward James Olmos in Los Angeles, California, where he was raised, the son of Eleanor (née Huizar) and Pedro Olmos, who was a welder. His father was a Mexican immigrant and his mother Mexican American. He grew up wanting to be a professional baseball player and became the Golden State batting champion. In his teen years, he turned to rock and roll, and became the lead singer for a band he named Pacific Ocean, so-called because it was to be "the biggest thing on the West Coast". He graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. While at Montebello High School, he lost a race for Student Body President to future California Democratic Party Chair Art Torres. For several years Pacific Ocean played various clubs in and around Los Angeles and released a record in 1968. At the same time, he attended classes at East Los Angeles College, including courses in acting.
Career

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Olmos branched out from music into acting, appearing in many small productions, until his big break portraying the narrator, called "El Pachuco," in the play Zoot Suit, which dramatized the World War II-era rioting in California brought about by the tensions between Mexican-Americans and local police. (See Zoot Suit Riots.) The play moved to Broadway, and Olmos earned a Tony award nomination. He subsequently took the role to the filmed version in 1981, and appeared in many other films including Wolfen, Blade Runner and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.

From 1984 to 1989, Olmos starred in his biggest role up to that date as the authoritarian police Lieutenant Martin Castillo in the television series Miami Vice opposite Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, for which he was awarded a Golden Globe and an Emmy in 1985. He was contacted about playing the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation when it was in pre-production in 1986, but he declined.

Returning to film, Olmos received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in Stand and Deliver for his portrayal of real-life math teacher, Jaime Escalante. He directed and starred in American Me in 1992, and also starred in My Family/Mi Familia, a multigenerational story of a Chicano family. In 1997 he starred alongside Jennifer Lopez in the film Selena. Olmos played Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the 2001 movie In the Time of the Butterflies. He also had a recurring role as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roberto Mendoza in the NBC drama The West Wing. From 2002 to 2004, he starred as a recently widowed father of a Latino L.A.-family in the PBS drama American Family: Journey of Dreams.

From 2003 to 2009, he starred as Admiral William Adama in the Sci Fi / SyFy Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and in the television series that followed. He directed four episodes of the show, Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (1.9), Taking a Break from All Your Worries (3.13), Escape Velocity (4.4) and Islanded in a Stream of Stars (4.18). He also directed a television movie of the show, The Plan. Regarding his work on the show, he told CraveOnline, "I'm very grateful for the work that I've been able to do in my life but I can honestly tell you, this is the best usage of television I've ever been a part of to date."

In 2006, he co-produced, directed, and played the bit part of Julian Nava in the HBO movie about the 1968 Chicano Blowouts, Walkout . He also appeared in Snoop Dogg's music video "Vato", featuring B-Real from Cypress Hill. In the series finale of the ABC sitcom George Lopez, titled George Decides to Sta-Local Where It's Familia, he guest-starred as the plant's new multi-millionaire owner. More recently, he has been a spokesperson for Farmers Insurance Group, starring in their Spanish language commercials.
Social Activism

Olmos has often been involved in social activism, especially those affecting the Latino community. During the 1992 Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles, when many people left the city, Olmos went out with a broom and worked to get communities cleaned up and rebuilt. In 1997, Olmos co-founded the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival with Marlene Dermer, George Hernandez and Kirk Whisler. That same year, he co-founded with Kirk Whisler the non-profit organization Latino Literacy Now that has produced 44 Latino Book & Festivals around the USA, attended by over 700,000 people. In 1998, he founded Latino Public Broadcasting and currently serves as its Chairman. Latino Public Broadcasting funds public television programming that focuses on issues affecting Latinos and advocates for diverse perspectives in public television. That same year, he starred in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, a comedy that sought to break Latino stereotypes and transcend the normal stigmas of most Latino-oriented movies. In 1999, Olmos was one of the driving forces that created Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S.1, a book project featuring over 30 award winning photographers, later turned into a Smithsonian traveling exhibition, music CD and HBO special. He also makes frequent appearances at juvenile halls and detention centers to speak to at-risk teenagers. He has also been an international ambassador for UNICEF. In 2001, he was arrested and spent 20 days in prison for taking part in the Navy-Vieques protests against United States Navy target practice bombings of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

On January 5, 2007, he appeared on Puerto Rican Television to blame the Puerto Rican and United States Governments for not cleaning the Island of Vieques after the United States Navy stopped using the island for bombing practice. He also gave $2,300 to New Mexico governor Bill Richardson for his Presidential campaign (the maximum amount for the primaries).
Personal life

In 1971, Olmos married Katija Keel, the daughter of actor Howard Keel. They had two children, Bodie and Mico, before divorcing in 1992. Olmos also has three adopted children: Michael D., Brandon and Tamiko. He married actress Lorraine Bracco in 1994, but she filed for divorce in January 2002 after five years of separation. He is currently married to Puerto Rican actress Lymari Nadal, 30 years his junior.

In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from California State University, Fresno. In 2007, after a seven-year process, he obtained Mexican nationality.

Asteroid 5608 Olmos is named in his honor.
Filmography
Films

    * Alambrista! (1977) - Drunk Yelling at Workers (Credit reads "Edward Olmos")
    * Evening in Byzantium (1978) - Angelo
    * Fukkatsu no hi (1979) - Capt. Lopez
    * Three Hundred Miles for Stephanie (1981) - Art Vela
    * Wolfen (1981) - Eddie Holt
    * Zoot Suit (1981) - El Pachuco
    * Blade Runner (1982) - Gaff
    * The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) - Gregorio Cortez
    * Saving Grace (1985) - Ciolino
    * Stand and Deliver (1988) - Jaime Escalante
    * The Fortunate Pilgrim (1989) - Frank Corbo
    * Triumph of the Spirit (1989) - Gypsy
    * Talent for the Game (1991) - Virgil Sweet
    * American Me (1992) - Montoya Santana
    * Roosters (1993) - Gallo Morales
    * Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills (1994) - Jose Menendez
    * A Million to Juan (1994) - Angel
    * The Burning Season (1994) - Wilson Pinheiro
    * Mirage (1995) - Matteo Juarez
    * My Family (1995) - Paco
    * Dead Man's Walk (1996) - Capt. Salazar
    * The Limbic Region (1996) - Jon Lucca
    * Caught (1996) - Joe
    * 12 Angry Men (1997) - Juror #11
    * Selena (1997) - Abraham Quintanilla Jr.
    * The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (1997) - Roberto Lozano
    * The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998) - Vamanos
    * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998) - Det. Anthony Piscotti
    * Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999) - Salvatore Maranzano
    * The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice) - Chief
    * Gossip (2000) - Detective Curtis
    * The Judge (2001) - Judge Armando
    * In the Time of the Butterflies (2001) Rafael Trujillo
    * Jack and Marilyn (2002) - Pasquel
    * Cerca, La (2005) - Nino
    * Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (2005) - Voice of Mitto
    * Splinter (2006) - Capt. Garcia
    * Walkout (2006) - Julian Nava
    * Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008) (voice) - Diablo
    * The Green Hornet (2010) - Michael Axford

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/tusabes1/EDWARD.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/edward_james_olmos.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l52/Mystiqueband/Edspics028.jpg


I think Stand And Deliver was his best work.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/10 at 7:33 am


I think Stand And Deliver was his best work.

Yes he was good in that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/24/10 at 10:17 am

I liked Dennis Weaver in McCLoud, and in the mini-series, Centennial.
Thanks for posting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/10 at 12:54 pm


I liked Dennis Weaver in McCLoud, and in the mini-series, Centennial.
Thanks for posting.

Your welcome :) I always liked McCloud.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/24/10 at 1:02 pm

British Person of the Day: James Quin

James Quin (24 February 1693 – 21 January 1766) was an English actor of Irish descent.

Quin was born in London. He was educated at Dublin, and probably spent a short time at Trinity College.

Soon after his father's death in 1710, he made his first appearance on the stage at Abel in Sir Robert Howard's The Committee at the Smock Alley Theatre. Quin's first London engagement was in small parts at Drury Lane, and he secured his first triumph at Bajazet in Nicholas Rowe's Tamerlane, on 8 November 1715. The next year he appeared as Hotspur at Lincoln's Inn, where he remained for fourteen years.

On 10 July 1718 he was convicted of manslaughter for having killed Bowen, another actor, in a duel which the victim had himself provoked. Quin was not severely punished, the affair being regarded as more of an accident than a crime. The public took a similar view of another episode in which Quin, on being attacked by a young actor who had been angered by the sarcastic criticism of his superior, drew upon him and killed him.

But if he was eager in his own defence he was no less so in that of others. In 1721 a drunken nobleman reeled on to the stage of the theatre and assaulted the manager, Rich, whose life was saved by Quin's prompt armed interference. This resulted in a riot, and thereafter a guard was stationed in all theatres. In 1732 Quin appeared at Covent Garden, returning to Drury Lane from 1734 to 1741, and in 1742 was again at Covent Garden, where he remained until the close of his career. On 14 November 1746 Quin played Horatio and Garrick Lothario to the Calista of Mrs Cibber in Rose's Fair Penitent. The applause of the audience was so great as to disconcert if not actually to alarm the two actors.

Public interest was yet more keenly stimulated in comparing Garrick's and Quin's impersonations of Richard III, the popular verdict being loudly in favor of Garrick. But Quin's Falstaff in King Henry IV was emphatically preferred to the Hotspur of his rival. In consequence of an attempt made by Garrick in 1750-51 to draw him away from Covent Garden, Quin was enabled to extort from his manager a salary of £1000 a year, the highest figure then reached in the profession. Quin's last regular appearance was on 15 May 1757, as Horatio in the Fair Penitent, though in the following year he twice played Falstaff for the benefit of friends. He had retired to Bath, where he lived a happy life, with late hours and much eating and drinking, until his death on 21 January 1766. He was buried in the abbey church at Bath.

Some coolness which had arisen between Quin and Garrick before the former's retirement was dissipated on their subsequent meeting at Chatsworth at the duke of Devonshire's, and Quin paid many a visit to Garrick's villa at Hampton in the latter part of his life. The epitaph in verse on his tomb was written by Garrick. Quin's will displayed a generous nature, and among numerous bequests was one of fifty pounds to "Mr Thomas Gainsborough, limner."

In the Garrick Club in London are two portraits of the actor ascribed to Hogarth, and a portrait by Gainsborough is in Buckingham Palace. His personality was not gracious. His jokes were coarse; his temper irascible; his love of food, his important airs, and his capacity for deep drinking do not command respect; on the other hand, a few of his jokes were excellent, and there was no rancour in him. On many occasions he showed his willingness to help persons in distress. His character is summarised by Smollett in Humphrey Clinker. As an actor his manner was charged with an excess of gravity and deliberation; his pauses were so portentous as in some situations to appear even ludicrous; but he was well fitted for the delivery of Milton's poetry, and for the portrayal of the graver roles in his repertory.

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/4135444/2/istockphoto_4135444-james-quin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 1:38 am

British Person of the Day: Myra Hess

Dame Myra Hess DBE (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was a British pianist.

She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best-known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the gold medal. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Tobias Matthay. Her debut came in 1907 when she played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting. She went on to tour through Britain, the Netherlands and France. Upon her American debut (New York, 24 January 1922) she became a prime favourite in the United States, not only as a soloist, but also as a fine ensemble player.

She garnered greater fame during World War II when, with all concert halls closed, she organised a series of lunchtime concerts at the National Gallery, playing in many herself. For this contribution to maintaining the morale of the populace of London, she was created a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 1941; having previously been created a CBE in 1936. Hess makes a brief appearance performing at one of her lunchtime concerts in the classic 1942 wartime documentary Listen to Britain (directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stuart McAllister).

Hess was most renowned for her interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, but had a wide repertoire ranging from Domenico Scarlatti to contemporary works. She gave the premiere of Howard Ferguson's Piano Sonata and his Piano Concerto. She also played a good amount of chamber music, and performed in a piano duo with Irene Scharrer. She promoted public awareness of the piano duo and two-piano works of Schubert.

She made a well-known arrangement for piano of the chorale prelude "Jesus bleibet meine Freude" (known in English as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring") from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata No. 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben". Her protégés included Clive Lythgoe and Richard and John Contiguglia.

She influenced the City Music Society to form from the lunchtime concerts she organised.

http://image.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages/m/my/myra_hess.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 1:39 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6BPTCveWH8&feature=PlayList&p=8D527853ACFA647F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=46

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/10 at 6:14 am


British Person of the Day: James Quin

James Quin (24 February 1693 – 21 January 1766) was an English actor of Irish descent.

Quin was born in London. He was educated at Dublin, and probably spent a short time at Trinity College.

Soon after his father's death in 1710, he made his first appearance on the stage at Abel in Sir Robert Howard's The Committee at the Smock Alley Theatre. Quin's first London engagement was in small parts at Drury Lane, and he secured his first triumph at Bajazet in Nicholas Rowe's Tamerlane, on 8 November 1715. The next year he appeared as Hotspur at Lincoln's Inn, where he remained for fourteen years.

On 10 July 1718 he was convicted of manslaughter for having killed Bowen, another actor, in a duel which the victim had himself provoked. Quin was not severely punished, the affair being regarded as more of an accident than a crime. The public took a similar view of another episode in which Quin, on being attacked by a young actor who had been angered by the sarcastic criticism of his superior, drew upon him and killed him.

But if he was eager in his own defence he was no less so in that of others. In 1721 a drunken nobleman reeled on to the stage of the theatre and assaulted the manager, Rich, whose life was saved by Quin's prompt armed interference. This resulted in a riot, and thereafter a guard was stationed in all theatres. In 1732 Quin appeared at Covent Garden, returning to Drury Lane from 1734 to 1741, and in 1742 was again at Covent Garden, where he remained until the close of his career. On 14 November 1746 Quin played Horatio and Garrick Lothario to the Calista of Mrs Cibber in Rose's Fair Penitent. The applause of the audience was so great as to disconcert if not actually to alarm the two actors.

Public interest was yet more keenly stimulated in comparing Garrick's and Quin's impersonations of Richard III, the popular verdict being loudly in favor of Garrick. But Quin's Falstaff in King Henry IV was emphatically preferred to the Hotspur of his rival. In consequence of an attempt made by Garrick in 1750-51 to draw him away from Covent Garden, Quin was enabled to extort from his manager a salary of £1000 a year, the highest figure then reached in the profession. Quin's last regular appearance was on 15 May 1757, as Horatio in the Fair Penitent, though in the following year he twice played Falstaff for the benefit of friends. He had retired to Bath, where he lived a happy life, with late hours and much eating and drinking, until his death on 21 January 1766. He was buried in the abbey church at Bath.

Some coolness which had arisen between Quin and Garrick before the former's retirement was dissipated on their subsequent meeting at Chatsworth at the duke of Devonshire's, and Quin paid many a visit to Garrick's villa at Hampton in the latter part of his life. The epitaph in verse on his tomb was written by Garrick. Quin's will displayed a generous nature, and among numerous bequests was one of fifty pounds to "Mr Thomas Gainsborough, limner."

In the Garrick Club in London are two portraits of the actor ascribed to Hogarth, and a portrait by Gainsborough is in Buckingham Palace. His personality was not gracious. His jokes were coarse; his temper irascible; his love of food, his important airs, and his capacity for deep drinking do not command respect; on the other hand, a few of his jokes were excellent, and there was no rancour in him. On many occasions he showed his willingness to help persons in distress. His character is summarised by Smollett in Humphrey Clinker. As an actor his manner was charged with an excess of gravity and deliberation; his pauses were so portentous as in some situations to appear even ludicrous; but he was well fitted for the delivery of Milton's poetry, and for the portrayal of the graver roles in his repertory.

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/4135444/2/istockphoto_4135444-james-quin.jpg

Interesting bio, Thanks Phil.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/10 at 6:16 am


British Person of the Day: Myra Hess

Dame Myra Hess DBE (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was a British pianist.

She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best-known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the gold medal. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Tobias Matthay. Her debut came in 1907 when she played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting. She went on to tour through Britain, the Netherlands and France. Upon her American debut (New York, 24 January 1922) she became a prime favourite in the United States, not only as a soloist, but also as a fine ensemble player.

She garnered greater fame during World War II when, with all concert halls closed, she organised a series of lunchtime concerts at the National Gallery, playing in many herself. For this contribution to maintaining the morale of the populace of London, she was created a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 1941; having previously been created a CBE in 1936. Hess makes a brief appearance performing at one of her lunchtime concerts in the classic 1942 wartime documentary Listen to Britain (directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stuart McAllister).

Hess was most renowned for her interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, but had a wide repertoire ranging from Domenico Scarlatti to contemporary works. She gave the premiere of Howard Ferguson's Piano Sonata and his Piano Concerto. She also played a good amount of chamber music, and performed in a piano duo with Irene Scharrer. She promoted public awareness of the piano duo and two-piano works of Schubert.

She made a well-known arrangement for piano of the chorale prelude "Jesus bleibet meine Freude" (known in English as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring") from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata No. 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben". Her protégés included Clive Lythgoe and Richard and John Contiguglia.

She influenced the City Music Society to form from the lunchtime concerts she organised.

http://image.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages/m/my/myra_hess.jpg

I love your choices, because these are people I never knew about :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/10 at 6:33 am

The word of the day...Runner
A runner is a person who runs, especially for sport or pleasure
The runners in a horse race are the horses taking part.
A drug runner or gun runner is someone who illegally takes drugs or guns into a country.
Someone who is a runner for a particular person or company is employed to take messages, collect money, or do other small tasks for them.
Runners are thin strips of wood or metal underneath something which help it to move smoothly.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff121/blake_yount/Yatesintakerunners2.jpg
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz71/Empire1000/BladeRunner.jpg
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae257/gti1999/100_4788.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss125/Lucas_Adorn/WFRPG%20pics/Gutter-Runner-Front-Face.png
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww36/Brian6809/Drawings/Marathonrunner.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac250/zhandenrich/acuestick%20photo/19948_1127285922300_1831746317_2601.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/10 at 6:37 am

The person born on this day...Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay (pronounced "Courtney"; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Billy Liar (1963) and Dr. Zhivago (1965). Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre. Courtenay received a knighthood in February 2001 for forty years service to cinema and theatre. Tom Courtenay is the President of Hull City A.F.C.'s Official Supporters Club. In 1999 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hull University.
ourtenay was born in Hull, the son of Anne Eliza (née Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter. He attended Kingston High School there. Courtenay studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
Career

Courtenay made his stage début in 1960 with the Old Vic theatre company at the Lyceum, Edinburgh, before taking over from Albert Finney in the title role of Billy Liar at the Cambridge Theatre in 1961. In 1963 he would play that same title role in the film version, directed by John Schlesinger. He said of Albert Finney, "We both have the same problem, overcoming the flat harsh speech of the North."

Courtenay's film debut was in 1962 with Private Potter, directed by Finnish-born director Casper Wrede, who had first spotted Courtenay while he was still at RADA. This was followed by The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, directed by Tony Richardson and Billy Liar, two highly acclaimed films and performances which helped usher in the British New Wave of the early-to-mid '60s. For these performance Courtenay was awarded the 1962 BAFTA Award for most promising newcomer and the 1963 BAFTA Award for best actor respectively. For his role as the dedicated revolutionary leader Pasha Antipov in Doctor Zhivago (1965), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, being beaten out by Martin Balsam. Among his other well-known films is King & Country directed by Joseph Losey, where he played opposite Dirk Bogarde, and Night of the Generals directed by Anatole Litvak.

Despite being catapulted to fame by the aforementioned films, Courtenay has said that he has not particularly enjoyed film acting; and from the mid-1960s concentrated more on stage work. In 1966 Courtenay began a long association with the then newly formed Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, firstly under the direction of Casper Wrede. His first roles there were as Faulkland in Sheridan's The Rivals and the hero of von Kleist's The Prince of Homburg. Since then he has played a variety of roles, including in 1999 the leading role in the theatre's production of King Lear, and in 2001 Uncle Vanya.

Courtenay's working relationship with Wrede returned to film when he played the title role in the latter's 1970 production of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. His best known film role since then was in The Dresser, from Ronald Harwood's play of the same name (in which he also appeared) with Albert Finney. Both Courtenay and Finney received nominations for Best Actor in the 1984 Academy Awards for their roles, losing to Robert Duvall. He played the father of Derek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) in the 1991 film Let Him Have It.

Courtenay's television and radio appearances have been relatively few, but have included She Stoops to Conquer in 1971 on BBC and several Ayckbourn plays. He appeared in I Heard the Owl Call My Name on US television in 1973. In 1994 he starred with Peter Ustinov in a Disney Channel 'made for television' version of The Old Curiosity Shop. Rather unexpecedly, he had a cameo role as the anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the 1995 US TV movie Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye. In 1998 he teamed with Albert Finney again for the acclaimed BBC drama A Rather English Marriage. He played the role of God, opposite Sebastian Graham-Jones, in Ben Steiner's radio play "A Brief Interruption", broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004. Also for Radio 4, he played the title role in Nick Leather's The Domino Man of Lancashire and Maurice in Richard Lumsden's Man in the Moon, both broadcast in 2007. Courtenay also appeared in the 2008 Christmas special of the BBC show The Royle Family, playing the role of Dave's father, David Senior.

In 2002, based on an idea by Michael Godley, Courtenay compiled a one-man show Pretending To Be Me based on the letters and writings of poet Philip Larkin, which first played at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. It later transferred to the Comedy Theatre in the West End in London.

In 2007 Courtenay appeared in two films: Flood, a disaster epic in which London is overwhelmed by floods, and The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the Philip Pullman's novel, playing the part of Farder Coram. In 2008 he appeared in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, playing William Dorrit, and the Christmas edition of The Royle Family, playing David (Senior).
Personal life

Courtenay was married to actress Cheryl Kennedy from 1973 to 1982. In 1988 he married Isabel Crossley, a stage manager at the Royal Exchange Theatre. They have homes in Manchester and Putney in London.

In 2000 Courtenay's memoir Dear Tom: Letters From Home was published to critical acclaim. It comprises a selection of the letters exchanged between Courtenay and his mother, interspersed with his own recollections of life as a young student actor in London in the early 1960s.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1962 Private Potter Private Potter
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Colin Smith BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1963 Billy Liar Billy Fisher Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
1964 King & Country Private Hamp Volpi Cup
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
1965 Operation Crossbow Robert Henshaw
King Rat Lt. Robin Grey
Doctor Zhivago Pasha Antipov Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1967 The Night of the Generals Lance Cpl. Kurt Hartmann
The Day the Fish Came Out The Navigator
1968 A Dandy in Aspic Gatiss
Otley Gerald Arthur Otley
1970 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Ivan Denisovich
1971 To Catch a Spy Baxter Clarke
She Stoops to Conquer Marlow
1983 The Dresser Norman Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1987 Happy New Year Edward Saunders
Leonard Part 6 Frayn
1991 The Last Butterfly Antoine Moreau
Let Him Have it William Bentley
1996 Famous Fred Kenneth
The Boy from Mercury Uncle Tony Cronin
1999 Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? Harold Smith Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
2001 Last Orders Vic National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actor
2002 Nicholas Nickleby Newman Noggs National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
2007 Flood Leonard Morrison
The Golden Compass Farder Coram
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/JessieRobinsfarright.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/10 at 6:41 am

The person who died on this day...Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), born Thomas Lanier Williams, was an American playwright who received many of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee", the state of his father's birth.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. In addition, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and The Night of the Iguana (1961) received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo received the Tony Award for best play. In 1980 he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.
Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi, in the home of his maternal grandfather, the local Episcopal priest. He was of Welsh descent. His father, Cornelius Williams, a hard drinking traveling salesman, favored Tennessee's younger brother Dakin, perhaps because of Tennessee's weakness and effeminacy as a child. His mother, Edwina, was a borderline hysteric. Tennessee Williams would find inspiration in his problematic family for much of his writing.

In 1918, when Williams was seven, the family moved to the University City neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, where he first attended Soldan High School, used in his work The Glass Menagerie and later University City High School. In 1927, at age 16, Williams won third prize (five dollars) for an essay published in Smart Set entitled, "Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport?" A year later, he published "The Vengeance of Nitocris" in Weird Tales.

In the early 1930s Williams attended the University of Missouri, where he joined Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. In the late 1930s, Williams transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for a year, and finally earned a degree in 1938 from the University of Iowa, where he wrote "Spring Storm." By then, Williams had written Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay!. This work was first produced in 1935 by a community theater in Memphis, Tennessee. He later studied at The New School in New York City.
Writer

Williams lived for a time in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. He moved there in 1939 to write for the WPA. He first lived at 722 Toulouse Street, the setting of his 1977 play Vieux Carré. The building is part of The Historic New Orleans Collection. He began writing A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) while living at 632 St. Peter Street. He finished it later in Key West, Florida, where he moved in the 1940s. While in New Orleans, Williams met and fell in love with Frank Merlo, a second generation Sicilian American who had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Tennessee was close to his sister Rose, a slim beauty who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. As was common then, Rose was institutionalized and spent most of her adult life in mental hospitals. When therapies were unsuccessful, she showed more paranoid tendencies. In an effort to treat her, Rose's parents authorized a prefrontal lobotomy, a drastic treatment that was thought to help some mental patients who suffered extreme agitation. Performed in 1937 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the operation incapacitated Rose for the rest of her life. Her surgery may have contributed to his alcoholism and his dependence on various combinations of amphetamines and barbiturates often prescribed by Dr. Max (Feelgood) Jacobson.

Williams worked extremely briefly in the renowned Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan, lasting less than a day.

Williams' relationship with Frank Merlo lasted from 1947 until Merlo's death from cancer in 1963. With that stability, Williams created his most enduring works. Merlo provided balance to many of Williams' frequent bouts with depression and the fear that, like his sister Rose, he would go insane.
Death

Williams died on February 24, 1983.

Reports at the time indicated he choked on an eyedrop bottle cap in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York. The reports said he would routinely place the cap in his mouth, lean back, and place his eyedrops in each eye. The police report, however, suggested his use of drugs and alcohol contributed to his death. Prescription drugs, including barbiturates, were found in the room, and Williams' gag response may have been diminished by the effects of drugs and alcohol.

However, on February 15, 2010, Williams' friend Larry Myers told the New York Post that the autopsy reported that he died of "Acute Seconal Intolerance." The article said that Williams' Key West companion Scott Kenan said that somebody in the coroner's office "created the bottle-cap scenario."

Williams' body was found by director John Uecker who was identified as his secretary and who travelled with Williams, and was staying in a separate room in Williams' suite.

Williams' body was taken to Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel and Williams' funeral took place on March 3, 1983 at Saint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church in New York City. At his brother Dakin's insistence, Williams' body was interred in the Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri, a city he detested. Williams had long told his friends he wanted to be buried at sea at approximately the same place as Hart Crane, a poet he considered to be one of his most significant influences.

Williams left his literary rights to The University of the South in honor of his grandfather, Walter Dakin, an alumnus of the university, which is located in Sewanee, Tennessee. The funds support a creative writing program. When his sister Rose died in 1996 after many years in a mental institution, she bequeathed $7 million from her part of the Williams estate to The University of the South as well.

In 1989, the University City Loop (in a suburb of St. Louis) inducted Tennessee Williams into its St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Afterlife

In late 2009, Williams was inducted into the Poet's Corner at St. John the Divine Episcopalian Church ]. The ceremony seemed geared to elevate the poet and playwright into the pantheon of great English Language writers, including William Faulkner and William Shakespeare. The purpose of the ceremony seemed to be a prayer for the poets fire to continually burn on Earth, as it would in heaven, and included elements choral music, tributes, readings, personal anecdotes from friends, and overall a tone and deliberate selections of choral music and prayer that offered acceptance and forgiveness which seemed to address certain prejudices which may have arisen against the poet in his lifetime so that the man's work could, going forward, be more fully accepted and explored.

Williams at the time of his death had been working on a final play, In Masks Outrageous and Austere ], which attempted to reconcile certain forces and facts of his own life, a theme which ran throughout his work, as Elia Kazan had say. Please see the article in WikiPedia on In Masks Outrageous and Austere for further details.
Works

The "mad heroine" theme that appeared in many of his plays seemed clearly influenced by the life of Williams' sister Rose.
Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was understood to be modeled on Rose. Some biographers believed that the character of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is also based on her.

Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was generally seen to represent Williams' mother, Edwina. Characters such as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer were understood to represent Williams himself. In addition, he used a lobotomy operation as a motif in Suddenly, Last Summer.

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded to A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. These two plays were later filmed, with great success, by noted directors Elia Kazan (Streetcar) with whom Williams developed a very close artistic relationship, and Richard Brooks (Cat). Both plays included references to elements of Williams' life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism. Although The Flowering Peach by Clifford Odets was the preferred choice of the Pulitzer Prize jury in 1955 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was at first considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees, Joseph Pulitzer Jr., chairman of the Board, had seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and thought it worthy of the drama prize. The Board went along with him after considerable discussion.

Williams wrote The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer when he was 29 and worked on it through his life. It seemed an autobiographical depiction of an early romance in Provincetown, Massachusetts. This play was produced for the first time on October 1, 2006 in Provincetown by the Shakespeare on the Cape production company, as part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.

The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer was among several works published by New Directions in the spring of 2008, edited and introduced by Williams scholar Annette J. Saddik. This collection of experimental plays was titled The Traveling Companion and Other Plays.usc

Williams' last play A House Not Meant to Stand is a gothic comedy published in 2008 by New Directions with a foreword by Gregory Mosher and an introduction by Thomas Keith. Williams called his last play a "Southern gothic spook sonata."

Other works by Williams include Camino Real and Sweet Bird of Youth.

His last play went through many drafts as he was trying to reconcile what would be the end of his life]. There are many versions of it, but it is referred to as In Masks Outrageous and Austere and a Wikipedia article may be found on the subject.
Plays

Apprentice plays

    * Candles to the Sun (1936)
    * Spring Storm (1937)
    * Fugitive Kind (1937)
    * Not About Nightingales (1938)
    * I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix (1941)
    * Orpheus Descending (1945)
    * You Touched Me (1945)
    * Stairs to the Roof (1947)

Major plays

    * The Glass Menagerie (1944)
    * A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
    * Summer and Smoke (1948)
    * The Rose Tattoo (1951)
    * Camino Real (1953)
    * Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
    * Baby Doll (1956)
    * Orpheus Descending (1957)
    * Suddenly, Last Summer (1958)
    * Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
    * Period of Adjustment (1960)
    * The Night of the Iguana (1961)
    * The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1962, rewriting of Summer and Smoke)
    * The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963)
    * The Mutilated (1965)
    * The Seven Descents of Myrtle (1968, aka Kingdom of Earth)
    * In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)
    * Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis? (1969)
    * Small Craft Warnings (1972)
    * The Two-Character Play (1973)
    * Out Cry (1973, rewriting of The Two-Character Play)
    * The Red Devil Battery Sign (1975)
    * This Is (An Entertainment) (1976)
    * Vieux Carré (1977)
    * A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1979)
    * Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980)
    * The Notebook of Trigorin (1980)
    * Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981)
    * A House Not Meant to Stand (1982)
    * In Masks Outrageous and Austere (1983)

Novels

    * The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950, filmed 1961)
    * Moise and the World of Reason (1975)

Screenplays

    * The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (1957, filmed 2009)

Short stories

    * The Vengeance of Nitocris (1928)
    * The Field of Blue Children (1939)
    * The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin (1951)
    * Hard Candy: A Book of Stories (1954)
    * Three Players of a Summer Game and Other Stories (1960)
    * The Knightly Quest: a Novella and Four Short Stories (1966)
    * One Arm and Other Stories (1967)
          o One Arm
          o The Malediction
          o The Poet
          o Chronicle of a Demise
          o Desire and the Black Masseur
          o Portrait of a Girl in Glass
          o The Important Thing
          o The Angel in the Alcove
          o The Field of Blue Children
          o The Night of the Iguana
          o The Yellow Bird
    * Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: a Book of Stories (1974)
    * Tent Worms (1980)
    * It Happened the day the Sun Rose, and Other Stories (1981)

One-act collections

Tennessee Williams wrote over 70 one-act plays during his lifetime. The one-acts explored many of the same themes that dominated his longer works. Williams' major collections are published by New Directions in New York City.

    * American Blues (1948)
    * Mister Paradise and Other One-Act Plays
    * Dragon Country: a book of one-act plays (1970)
    * The Traveling Companion and Other Plays
    * 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other Plays (1946 and 1953)
          o «Something wild...» (introduction) (1953)
          o 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1946 and 1953)
          o The Purification (1946 and 1953)
          o The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (1946 and 1953)
          o The Last of My Solid Gold Watches (1946 and 1953)
          o Portrait of a Madonna (1946 and 1953)
          o Auto-da-Fé (1946 and 1953)
          o Lord Byron's Love Letter (1946 and 1953)
          o The Strangest Kind of Romance (1946 and 1953)
          o The Long Goodbye (1946 and 1953)
          o At Liberty (1946)
          o Moony's Kid Don't Cry (1946)
          o Hello from Bertha (1946 and 1953)
          o This Property Is Condemned (1946 and 1953)
          o Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen... (1953)
          o Something Unspoken (1953)
    * The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Volume VI
    * The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Volume VII

Selected works

    * Gussow, Mel and Holditch, Kenneth, eds. Tennessee Williams, Plays 1937-1955 (Library of America, 2000) ISBN 978-1-88301186-4.
          o Spring Storm
          o Not About Nightingales
          o Battle of Angels
          o I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix
          o from 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1946)
                + 27 Wagons Full of Cotton
                + The Lady of Larkspur Lotion
                + The Last of My Solid Gold Watches
                + Portrait of a Madonna
                + Auto-da-Fé
                + Lord Byron's Love Letter
                + This Property Is Condemned
          o The Glass Menagerie
          o A Streetcar Named Desire
          o Summer and Smoke
          o The Rose Tattoo
          o Camino Real
          o from 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1953)
                + "Something Wild"
                + Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen
                + Something Unspoken
          o Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    * Gussow, Mel and Holditch, Kenneth, eds. Tennessee Williams, Plays 1957-1980 (Library of America, 2000) ISBN 978-1-88301187-1.
          o Orpheus Descending
          o Suddenly Last Summer
          o Sweet Bird of Youth
          o Period of Adjustment
          o The Night of the Iguana
          o The Eccentricities of a Nightingale
          o The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
          o The Mutilated
          o Kingdom of Earth (The Seven Descents of Myrtle)
          o Small Craft Warnings
          o Out Cry
          o Vieux Carré
          o A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur

Related Works

A book is coming out soon by a former assistant, Scott. John Uecker is also has directed Williams' plays in addition to creating an edit of In Masks Outrageous and Austere.
See also

    * Lanier family tree
    * Virginia Spencer Carr, friend and biographer of Williams
    * List of unusual deaths
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss216/kantropus/Williams/tennessee.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n209/guwumpki/180px-Tennessee_Williams_NYWTS.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/wintersherald/williams.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/25/10 at 6:49 am

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/11/06/george_harrison_main.jpg

Happy Birthday George Harrison. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/10 at 8:49 am


http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/11/06/george_harrison_main.jpg

Happy Birthday George Harrison. :)

He'd be 67 today :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 12:24 pm


The person born on this day...Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay (pronounced "Courtney"; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Billy Liar (1963) and Dr. Zhivago (1965). Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre. Courtenay received a knighthood in February 2001 for forty years service to cinema and theatre. Tom Courtenay is the President of Hull City A.F.C.'s Official Supporters Club. In 1999 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hull University.
ourtenay was born in Hull, the son of Anne Eliza (née Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter. He attended Kingston High School there. Courtenay studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
Career

Courtenay made his stage début in 1960 with the Old Vic theatre company at the Lyceum, Edinburgh, before taking over from Albert Finney in the title role of Billy Liar at the Cambridge Theatre in 1961. In 1963 he would play that same title role in the film version, directed by John Schlesinger. He said of Albert Finney, "We both have the same problem, overcoming the flat harsh speech of the North."

Courtenay's film debut was in 1962 with Private Potter, directed by Finnish-born director Casper Wrede, who had first spotted Courtenay while he was still at RADA. This was followed by The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, directed by Tony Richardson and Billy Liar, two highly acclaimed films and performances which helped usher in the British New Wave of the early-to-mid '60s. For these performance Courtenay was awarded the 1962 BAFTA Award for most promising newcomer and the 1963 BAFTA Award for best actor respectively. For his role as the dedicated revolutionary leader Pasha Antipov in Doctor Zhivago (1965), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, being beaten out by Martin Balsam. Among his other well-known films is King & Country directed by Joseph Losey, where he played opposite Dirk Bogarde, and Night of the Generals directed by Anatole Litvak.

Despite being catapulted to fame by the aforementioned films, Courtenay has said that he has not particularly enjoyed film acting; and from the mid-1960s concentrated more on stage work. In 1966 Courtenay began a long association with the then newly formed Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, firstly under the direction of Casper Wrede. His first roles there were as Faulkland in Sheridan's The Rivals and the hero of von Kleist's The Prince of Homburg. Since then he has played a variety of roles, including in 1999 the leading role in the theatre's production of King Lear, and in 2001 Uncle Vanya.

Courtenay's working relationship with Wrede returned to film when he played the title role in the latter's 1970 production of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. His best known film role since then was in The Dresser, from Ronald Harwood's play of the same name (in which he also appeared) with Albert Finney. Both Courtenay and Finney received nominations for Best Actor in the 1984 Academy Awards for their roles, losing to Robert Duvall. He played the father of Derek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) in the 1991 film Let Him Have It.

Courtenay's television and radio appearances have been relatively few, but have included She Stoops to Conquer in 1971 on BBC and several Ayckbourn plays. He appeared in I Heard the Owl Call My Name on US television in 1973. In 1994 he starred with Peter Ustinov in a Disney Channel 'made for television' version of The Old Curiosity Shop. Rather unexpecedly, he had a cameo role as the anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the 1995 US TV movie Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye. In 1998 he teamed with Albert Finney again for the acclaimed BBC drama A Rather English Marriage. He played the role of God, opposite Sebastian Graham-Jones, in Ben Steiner's radio play "A Brief Interruption", broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004. Also for Radio 4, he played the title role in Nick Leather's The Domino Man of Lancashire and Maurice in Richard Lumsden's Man in the Moon, both broadcast in 2007. Courtenay also appeared in the 2008 Christmas special of the BBC show The Royle Family, playing the role of Dave's father, David Senior.

In 2002, based on an idea by Michael Godley, Courtenay compiled a one-man show Pretending To Be Me based on the letters and writings of poet Philip Larkin, which first played at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. It later transferred to the Comedy Theatre in the West End in London.

In 2007 Courtenay appeared in two films: Flood, a disaster epic in which London is overwhelmed by floods, and The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the Philip Pullman's novel, playing the part of Farder Coram. In 2008 he appeared in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, playing William Dorrit, and the Christmas edition of The Royle Family, playing David (Senior).
Personal life

Courtenay was married to actress Cheryl Kennedy from 1973 to 1982. In 1988 he married Isabel Crossley, a stage manager at the Royal Exchange Theatre. They have homes in Manchester and Putney in London.

In 2000 Courtenay's memoir Dear Tom: Letters From Home was published to critical acclaim. It comprises a selection of the letters exchanged between Courtenay and his mother, interspersed with his own recollections of life as a young student actor in London in the early 1960s.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1962 Private Potter Private Potter
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Colin Smith BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1963 Billy Liar Billy Fisher Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
1964 King & Country Private Hamp Volpi Cup
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
1965 Operation Crossbow Robert Henshaw
King Rat Lt. Robin Grey
Doctor Zhivago Pasha Antipov Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1967 The Night of the Generals Lance Cpl. Kurt Hartmann
The Day the Fish Came Out The Navigator
1968 A Dandy in Aspic Gatiss
Otley Gerald Arthur Otley
1970 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Ivan Denisovich
1971 To Catch a Spy Baxter Clarke
She Stoops to Conquer Marlow
1983 The Dresser Norman Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1987 Happy New Year Edward Saunders
Leonard Part 6 Frayn
1991 The Last Butterfly Antoine Moreau
Let Him Have it William Bentley
1996 Famous Fred Kenneth
The Boy from Mercury Uncle Tony Cronin
1999 Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? Harold Smith Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
2001 Last Orders Vic National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actor
2002 Nicholas Nickleby Newman Noggs National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
2007 Flood Leonard Morrison
The Golden Compass Farder Coram
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/JessieRobinsfarright.jpg
British and I missed him!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 12:26 pm


http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/11/06/george_harrison_main.jpg

Happy Birthday George Harrison. :)
Believe or not, I read conflicting reports on his date of birth (either yesterday or today), so I do not have GH as the British Person of the Day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/25/10 at 1:16 pm

We should have George Harrison as one of the people of the day-Honorable Mention or something.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/25/10 at 1:24 pm


We should have George Harrison as one of the people of the day-Honorable Mention or something.



Cat

I think so too.


Believe or not, I read conflicting reports on his date of birth (either yesterday or today), so I do not have GH as the British Person of the Day.

I read that too; from what I read, he believed for most of his life that his birthday was the 25th, but other sources give it as the 24th, saying that he was born just a couple minutes before midnight (or something to that effect).

Now I'm looking at his Wiki page and there's a footnote to a source that confirms the 25th as his actual birthday.

Footnote #10:
^ Reliable sources and his birth certificate show his birth date as 25 February, though some sources give 24 February.
So that means today would have been his 67th birthday. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/25/10 at 1:55 pm

Beatle George!

Brought us some lovely songs as "Here comes the sun". "Something", "Give me love, give me peace on earth" and more.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/25/10 at 1:58 pm


Beatle George!

Brought us some lovely songs as "Here comes the sun". "Something", "Give me love, give me peace on earth" and more.


Yeah those are good ones.

Some of his solo hits include "My Sweet Lord", "All Those Years Ago" and "(I've) Got My Mind Set On You", all of which I enjoy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 1:58 pm


I think so too.
I read that too; from what I read, he believed for most of his life that his birthday was the 25th, but other sources give it as the 24th, saying that he was born just a couple minutes before midnight (or something to that effect).

Now I'm looking at his Wiki page and there's a footnote to a source that confirms the 25th as his actual birthday.

Footnote #10:So that means today would have been his 67th birthday. :\'(
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 2:00 pm


Yeah those are good ones.

Some of his solo hits include "My Sweet Lord", "All Those Years Ago" and "(I've) Got My Mind Set On You", all of which I enjoy.
All Those Years Ago is one of my favs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/25/10 at 2:01 pm


:\'(

It's incredible how young George was when he joined the band & how young he was when the Beatles were in Hamburg.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 2:02 pm


It's incredible how young George was when he joined the band & how young he was when the Beatles were in Hamburg.
When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group; this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle". However, the first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/25/10 at 2:02 pm


It's incredible how young George was when he joined the band & how young he was when the Beatles were in Hamburg.

That's right, he was the youngest member of the group. And when they appeared on Ed Sullivan, George was almost 21.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/25/10 at 2:04 pm


When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group; this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle". However, the first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.

I remember hearing about that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/25/10 at 2:56 pm


Beatle George!

Brought us some lovely songs as "Here comes the sun". "Something", "Give me love, give me peace on earth" and more.




My Guitar Gently Weeps.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/25/10 at 4:08 pm



My Guitar Gently Weeps.


Cat

That's another one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/25/10 at 8:30 pm


Beatle George!

Brought us some lovely songs as "Here comes the sun". "Something", "Give me love, give me peace on earth" and more.



1987 Got My Mind Set On You.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 10:26 pm


1987 Got My Mind Set On You.
It had a good pop video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 10:47 pm


I think so too.
I read that too; from what I read, he believed for most of his life that his birthday was the 25th, but other sources give it as the 24th, saying that he was born just a couple minutes before midnight (or something to that effect).

Now I'm looking at his Wiki page and there's a footnote to a source that confirms the 25th as his actual birthday.

Footnote #10:So that means today would have been his 67th birthday. :\'(
Another section of wiki has GH's birthday as 26th February.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/25/10 at 10:50 pm


Another section of wiki has GH's birthday as 26th February.

The footnote that I quoted from his Wiki page states that his birth certificate lists his birthday as the 25th, so I guess we'll go with that.





My Guitar Gently Weeps.


Cat

I know he wrote that one; I guess he sang on the recording too?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/10 at 10:56 pm

British Person of the Day: Margaret Leighton

Margaret Leighton (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English leading actress with an exquisite sense of grandeur and refinement. She created the role of Hannah Jelkes in Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana.

Life and career

Born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, Leighton made her stage debut was as Dorothy in Laugh With Me (1938), which was also performed that year for television on BBC. She went on to become a star of the Old Vic. HerBroadway debut was as the Queen in Henry IV (1946) starring Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson during a visit to America of the Old Vic company, which performed a total of five plays from its repertoire before returning to London.

After appearing in two British films, including the starring role of Flora MacDonald opposite David Niven in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), the tall willowy actress played second female lead in Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn (1949) starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Michael Wilding. She starred with Walter Pidgeon in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer crime/mystery Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951).

Leighton had three husbands: publisher Max Reinhardt (married 1947-divorced 1955); actor Laurence Harvey (married 1957-divorced 1961); and actor Michael Wilding (married 1964-her death 1976). She had no children.

She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Separate Tables (1956); she won another Tony in that category for The Night of the Iguana (1962), playing the luminous Hannah Jelkes (a role played by Deborah Kerr on film) opposite Bette Davis's Maxine Faulk. Leighton was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for Much Ado About Nothing (1959) opposite John Gielgud and for Tchin-Tchin (1962) opposite Anthony Quinn.

She also had a noteworthy list of TV appearances, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey and Burke's Law. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama for Hamlet (1970). And she was nominated for an Emmy in 1966 for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for four episodes of Dr. Kildare. Her last appearance on Broadway was as Birdie Hubbard in a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1967) starring Anne Bancroft as Regina Giddens.

For her film role as Mrs. Maudsley in The Go-Between (1970), Leighton won the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a BAFTA nomination for Best British Actress for her role as Valerie Carrington in Carrington V.C. (1955). She received a Hollywood Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Go-Between.

Margaret Leighton died of multiple sclerosis, aged 53, in Chichester, West Sussex.

Film

    * The Winslow Boy (1948) (British Lion Films) ... Catherine Winslow
    * Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) (London Film Productions) ... Flora MacDonald
    * Under Capricorn (1949) (Warner Bros.) ... Milly
    * The Astonished Heart (1949) (General Film Distributors) ... Leonora Vail
    * The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) (British Lion Films) ... Marguerite Blakeney
    * Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951) (MGM) ... Sgt. Helen Smith
    * Home at Seven (1952) (British Lion Films) ... Janet Preston
    * The Holly and the Ivy (1952) (London Film Productions) ... Margaret Gregory
    * The Teckman Mystery (1954) (Associated Artists Productions) ... Helen Teckman
    * The Good Die Young (1954) (United Artists) ... Eve Ravenscourt
    * Carrington V.C. (1955) (Kingsley-International Pictures) ... Valerie Carrington
    * The Constant Husband (1955) (British Lion Films) ... Miss Chesterman
    * A Passionate Stranger (1955) (British Lion Films) ... Judith Wynter/Leonie
    * The Sound and the Fury (1959) (20th Century Fox) ... Caddy Compson
    * Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) (The Rank Organisation Film Productions) ... Emily Fitzjohn
    * The Third Secret (1964) (20th Century Fox)
    * The Best Man (1964) (United Artists) ... Alice Russell
    * The Loved One (1965) (MGM) ... Mrs. Helen Kenton
    * 7 Women (1966) (MGM) ... Agatha Andrews
    * The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) (Warner Bros.) ... Constance, the Madwoman of Passy
    * The Go-Between (1970) (EMI Distribution) ... Mrs. Maudsley
    * Zee and Co. (1972) (Columbia) ... Gladys ... aka X, Y and Zee (USA)
    * Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) (MGM-EMI) ... Lady Melbourne
    * A Bequest to the Nation (1973) (Universal) ... Lady Frances Nelson
    * From Beyond the Grave (1973) (Warner Bros.) ... Madame Orloff in segment The Elemental
    * Galileo (1975) (The American Film Theatre) ... Elderly Court Lady
    * Trial by Combat (1976) (Combat-Warner Bros.) ... Ma Gore

Television

    * Laugh With Me (1938) (BBC) ... Dorothy
    * As You Like It (1953) (BBC) ... Rosalind
    * An Ideal Husband (1969) (BBC) ... Mrs. Cheveley
    * Hamlet (1970) (NBC) ... Gertrude
    * The Upper Crusts (1973) (series) (ITV) ... Lady Seacroft
    * Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) (NBC) ... Francoise DuVal
    * Great Expectations (1974) (NBC) ... Miss Havisham
    * Space: 1999 (First Season, ep. "Collision Course") (1975) (ITC) ... Arra


http://www.doctormacro1.info/Images/Leighton,%20Margaret/Leighton,%20Margaret_01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 02/26/10 at 12:28 am


The footnote that I quoted from his Wiki page states that his birth certificate lists his birthday as the 25th, so I guess we'll go with that.


I know he wrote that one; I guess he sang on the recording too?

Yes he did, and Eric Clapton also played guitar on that song, back in 1968.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/26/10 at 3:24 am


Yes he did, and Eric Clapton also played guitar on that song, back in 1968.
It has been reported that "Here Comes The Sun" was written/composed in Eric Clapton's garden.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/10 at 6:23 am


British Person of the Day: Margaret Leighton

Margaret Leighton (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English leading actress with an exquisite sense of grandeur and refinement. She created the role of Hannah Jelkes in Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana.

Life and career

Born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, Leighton made her stage debut was as Dorothy in Laugh With Me (1938), which was also performed that year for television on BBC. She went on to become a star of the Old Vic. HerBroadway debut was as the Queen in Henry IV (1946) starring Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson during a visit to America of the Old Vic company, which performed a total of five plays from its repertoire before returning to London.

After appearing in two British films, including the starring role of Flora MacDonald opposite David Niven in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), the tall willowy actress played second female lead in Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn (1949) starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Michael Wilding. She starred with Walter Pidgeon in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer crime/mystery Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951).

Leighton had three husbands: publisher Max Reinhardt (married 1947-divorced 1955); actor Laurence Harvey (married 1957-divorced 1961); and actor Michael Wilding (married 1964-her death 1976). She had no children.

She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Separate Tables (1956); she won another Tony in that category for The Night of the Iguana (1962), playing the luminous Hannah Jelkes (a role played by Deborah Kerr on film) opposite Bette Davis's Maxine Faulk. Leighton was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for Much Ado About Nothing (1959) opposite John Gielgud and for Tchin-Tchin (1962) opposite Anthony Quinn.

She also had a noteworthy list of TV appearances, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey and Burke's Law. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama for Hamlet (1970). And she was nominated for an Emmy in 1966 for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for four episodes of Dr. Kildare. Her last appearance on Broadway was as Birdie Hubbard in a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1967) starring Anne Bancroft as Regina Giddens.

For her film role as Mrs. Maudsley in The Go-Between (1970), Leighton won the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a BAFTA nomination for Best British Actress for her role as Valerie Carrington in Carrington V.C. (1955). She received a Hollywood Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Go-Between.

Margaret Leighton died of multiple sclerosis, aged 53, in Chichester, West Sussex.

Film

    * The Winslow Boy (1948) (British Lion Films) ... Catherine Winslow
    * Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) (London Film Productions) ... Flora MacDonald
    * Under Capricorn (1949) (Warner Bros.) ... Milly
    * The Astonished Heart (1949) (General Film Distributors) ... Leonora Vail
    * The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) (British Lion Films) ... Marguerite Blakeney
    * Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951) (MGM) ... Sgt. Helen Smith
    * Home at Seven (1952) (British Lion Films) ... Janet Preston
    * The Holly and the Ivy (1952) (London Film Productions) ... Margaret Gregory
    * The Teckman Mystery (1954) (Associated Artists Productions) ... Helen Teckman
    * The Good Die Young (1954) (United Artists) ... Eve Ravenscourt
    * Carrington V.C. (1955) (Kingsley-International Pictures) ... Valerie Carrington
    * The Constant Husband (1955) (British Lion Films) ... Miss Chesterman
    * A Passionate Stranger (1955) (British Lion Films) ... Judith Wynter/Leonie
    * The Sound and the Fury (1959) (20th Century Fox) ... Caddy Compson
    * Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) (The Rank Organisation Film Productions) ... Emily Fitzjohn
    * The Third Secret (1964) (20th Century Fox)
    * The Best Man (1964) (United Artists) ... Alice Russell
    * The Loved One (1965) (MGM) ... Mrs. Helen Kenton
    * 7 Women (1966) (MGM) ... Agatha Andrews
    * The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) (Warner Bros.) ... Constance, the Madwoman of Passy
    * The Go-Between (1970) (EMI Distribution) ... Mrs. Maudsley
    * Zee and Co. (1972) (Columbia) ... Gladys ... aka X, Y and Zee (USA)
    * Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) (MGM-EMI) ... Lady Melbourne
    * A Bequest to the Nation (1973) (Universal) ... Lady Frances Nelson
    * From Beyond the Grave (1973) (Warner Bros.) ... Madame Orloff in segment The Elemental
    * Galileo (1975) (The American Film Theatre) ... Elderly Court Lady
    * Trial by Combat (1976) (Combat-Warner Bros.) ... Ma Gore

Television

    * Laugh With Me (1938) (BBC) ... Dorothy
    * As You Like It (1953) (BBC) ... Rosalind
    * An Ideal Husband (1969) (BBC) ... Mrs. Cheveley
    * Hamlet (1970) (NBC) ... Gertrude
    * The Upper Crusts (1973) (series) (ITV) ... Lady Seacroft
    * Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) (NBC) ... Francoise DuVal
    * Great Expectations (1974) (NBC) ... Miss Havisham
    * Space: 1999 (First Season, ep. "Collision Course") (1975) (ITC) ... Arra


http://www.doctormacro1.info/Images/Leighton,%20Margaret/Leighton,%20Margaret_01.jpg


Very fine actress :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/10 at 6:31 am

The word of the day...Valley
A valley is a low stretch of land between hills, especially one that has a river flowing through it.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/bruce868/silicon_valley.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n414/geomariner/Death%20Valley%202006/DeathValley060.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp120/Fire_Krakker/Photographymyass/d3d18909.jpg
http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab112/thedreamsky/BarunValleyNgheKharkaNepal.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz353/denisevickie/Redlands_Valley.jpg
http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx241/jkandn/Australia/nancy011.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc267/Nestonlady/more%20snow/Postcards/OgwenValley.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/10 at 6:35 am

The person born on this day...Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter.
Antoine was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Imperial Records era (1949–1962)

Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, who was also Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino would eventually release 37 Top 40 singles, "Whole Lotta Loving" and "Blue Monday" among them.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks which had not yet been released as singles, the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Fats appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock! and The Girl Can't Help It. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out", he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.
Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he would record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.
Later career (1980s–2005)

In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked any place else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy.

Fats Domino was persuaded to perform out of town periodically for Dianna Chenevert, agent, founder and president of New Orleans based Omni Attractions, during the 1980s and early 1990s. Most of these engagements were in and around New Orleans, but also included a concert in Texas at West End Market Place in downtown Dallas on October 24, 1986.

On October 12, 1983 USA Today reported that Domino was included in Chenevert's "Southern Stars" promotional poster for the agency (along with historically preserving childhood photographs of other famous living musicians from New Orleans and Louisiana on it). Fats provided a photograph of his first recording session, which was the only one he had left from his childhood. Domino autographed these posters, whose recipients included USA Today's Gannett president Al Newharth, and Peter Morton founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. Times-Picayune columnist Betty Guillaud noted on September 30, 1987 that Domino also provided Chenevert with an autographed pair of his shoes (and signed a black grand piano lid) for the Hard Rock location in New Orleans.

Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac automobile. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
Domino and Hurricane Katrina
Graffiti on Domino's home from the time he was rumored dead
Fats Domino's office, June 2007

When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert encouraged Fats to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife's poor health. Unfortunately his house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper and the Coast Guard with the Dominos' location.

Someone thought Fats was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed", which was shown in news photos. On September 1, Domino's agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos stay in his apartment. The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything", Domino said, according to the Post.

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost in Katrina and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the medal that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats.
Post-Katrina activity
President George W. Bush shakes the hand of Fats Domino, wearing a National Medal of Arts, after the President presented it on August 29, 2006, at the musician's home in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The medal was a replacement medal for the one—originally awarded by President Bill Clinton—that was lost in the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina.

Domino was the first artist to be announced as scheduled to perform at the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival. However, he was too ill to perform when scheduled and was only able to offer the audience an on-stage greeting. Domino also released an album Alive and Kickin' in early 2006 to benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians. The title song was recorded after Katrina, but most of the cuts were from unreleased sessions in the 1990s.

On January 12, 2007, Domino was honored with OffBeat magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Best of the Beat Awards held at House of Blues in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared the day "Fats Domino Day in New Orleans" and presented Fats Domino with a signed declaration. OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey and WWL-TV's Eric Paulsen presented Fats Domino with the Lifetime Achievement Award. An all-star musical tribute followed with an introduction by the legendary producer Cosimo Matassa. The Lil' Band O' Gold rhythm section, Warren Storm, Kenny Bill Stinson, David Egan and C.C. Adcock, not only anchored the band, but each contributed lead vocals, swamp pop legend Warren Storm leading off with "Let the Four Winds Blow" and "The Prisoner Song", which he proudly introduced by saying, "Fats Domino recorded this in 1958.. and so did I." The horn section included Lil' Band O' Gold's Dickie Landry, the Iguanas' Derek Huston, and long-time Domino horn men Roger Lewis, Elliot "Stackman" Callier and Herb Hardesty. They were joined by Jon Cleary (who also played guitar in the rhythm section), Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Irma Thomas, George Porter, Jr. (who, naturally, came up with a funky arrangement for "You Keep On Knocking"), Art Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who wrote and debuted a song in tribute of Domino for the occasion. Though Domino didn't perform, those near him recall him playing air piano and singing along to his own songs.

Fats Domino returned to stage on May 19, 2007, at Tipitina's at New Orleans, performing to a full house. A foundation has been formed and a show is being planned for Domino and the restoration of his home, where he intends to return someday. "I like it down there" he said in a February, 2006 CBS News interview.

In September 2007, Domino was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday. In December 2007, Fats Domino was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In May 2009, Domino made an unexpected appearance for The Domino Effect, a namesake concert aimed at raising funds to help rebuild schools and playgrounds damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Influence

He was acknowledged as an important influence on the music of the 1960s and 1970s by some of the top artists of that era. Paul McCartney reportedly wrote the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" in an emulation of Domino's style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 hit "Bad Penny Blues", a record which Joe Meek had engineered. Domino did manage to return to the "Hot 100" charts one final time in 1968—with his own recording of "Lady Madonna". That recording, as well as covers of two other Beatles songs, appeared on his Reprise LP Fats Is Back, produced by Richard Perry and recorded by a band which included New Orleans piano player James Booker; Domino played piano only on one track, "I'm Ready". Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney later recorded Fats Domino songs. Domino's rhythm, accentuating the offbeat as in the song "Be My Guest", was an influence on ska music. Ray Manzarek, keyboard player from The Doors has also stated a big influence from Fats Domino, on the "History of Rock and Roll" documentary series.
Singles discography

Nationally charted hits shown in bold.
A-Side B-Side Year Label + Cat. No. Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
Detroit City Blues The Fat Man 1949 Imperial 5058 2
Boogie-Woogie Baby Little Bee 1950 Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues She's My Baby 1950 Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie Brand New Baby 1950 Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time Korea Blues 1950 Imperial 5099 5
Tired of Crying What's the Matter Baby 1951 Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me Sometimes I Wonder 1951 Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong No, No Baby 1951 Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair Careless Love 1951 Imperial 5145 9
I'll Be Gone You Know I Miss You 1952 Imperial 5167
Goin' Home Reeling and Rocking 1952 Imperial 5180 30 1
Poor Poor Me Trust in Me 1952 Imperial 5197 10
How Long Dreaming 1952 Imperial 5209 9
Nobody Loves Me Cheatin' 1953 Imperial 5220
Going to the River Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1953 Imperial 5231 24 2
Please Don't Leave Me The Girl I Love 1953 Imperial 5240 3
Rose Mary You Said You Loved Me 1953 Imperial 5251 10
Something's Wrong Don't Leave Me This Way 1953 Imperial 5262 6
You Done Me Wrong Little School Girl 1954 Imperial 5272 10
Where Did You Stay Baby Please 1954 Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase I Lived My Life 1954 Imperial 5301
Love Me Don't You Hear Me Calling You 1954 Imperial 5313
I Know Thinking of You 1954 Imperial 5323 14
Don't You Know Helping Hand 1955 Imperial 5340 7
Ain't That a Shame La La 1955 Imperial 5348 10 1 23
All By Myself Troubles of My Own 1955 Imperial 5357 1
Poor Me 1955 Imperial 5369 1
I Can't Go On 1955 Imperial 5369 6
Bo Weevil 1956 Imperial 5375 35 5
Don't Blame It on Me 1956 Imperial 5375 9
I'm in Love Again March 1956 Imperial 5386 3 1 12
My Blue Heaven 19 5
When My Dreamboat Comes Home July 1956 Imperial 5396 14 2
So Long 44 5
Blueberry Hill September 1956 Imperial 5407 2 1 6
Honey Chile 2 29
Blue Monday December 1956 Imperial 5417 5 1 23
What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You 50 12
I'm Walkin' I'm in the Mood for Love February 1957 Imperial 5428 4 1 19
The Rooster Song My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP) 1957 Imperial 147 13 8
Valley of Tears April 1957 Imperial 5442 8 2 25
It's You I Love 6 2
When I See You July 1957 Imperial 5454 29 14
What Will I Tell My Heart 64 12
Wait and See September 1957 Imperial 5467 23 7
I Still Love You 79
The Big Beat December 1957 Imperial 5477 26 15 20
I Want You to Know 32
Yes My Darling Don't You Know I Love You February 1958 Imperial 5492 55 10
Sick and Tired April 1958 Imperial 5515 22 14 26
No, No 55 14
Little Mary Prisoner's Song July 1958 Imperial 5526 48 4
Young School Girl It Must Be Love August 1958 Imperial 5537 92 15
Whole Lotta Loving October 1958 Imperial 5553 6 2 10
Coquette 92 26
Telling Lies January 1959 Imperial 5569 50 13
When the Saints Go Marching In 50
I'm Ready April 1959 Imperial 5585 16 7
Margie Imperial 5585 51 18
I Want to Walk You Home July 1959 Imperial 5606 8 1 14
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday 17 22
Be My Guest October 1959 Imperial 5629 8 2 11
I've Been Around 33 19
Country Boy January 1960 Imperial 5645 25 19
If You Need Me 98
Tell Me That You Love Me April 1960 Imperial 5660 51
Before I Grow Too Old 84 17
Walking to New Orleans June 1960 Imperial 5675 6 2 19
Don't Come Knockin' 21 28
Three Nights a Week August 1960 Imperial 5687 15 8 45
Put Your Arms Around Me Honey 58
My Girl Josephine October 1960 Imperial 5704 14 7 32
Natural Born Lover 38 28
Ain't That Just Like a Woman January 1961 Imperial 5723 33 19
What a Price 22 7
Shu Rah March 1961 Imperial 5734 32
Fell in Love on Monday 32
It Keeps Rainin' I Just Cry May 1961 Imperial 5753 23 18 49
Let The Four Winds Blow Good Hearted Man July 1961 Imperial 5764 15 2
What A Party September 1961 Imperial 5779 22 43
Rockin' Bicycle 83
I Hear You Knocking November 1961 Imperial 5796 67
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) 30 41
You Win Again February 1962 Imperial 5816 22
Ida Jane 90
My Real Name My Heart Is Bleeding May 1962 Imperial 5833 59 22
Dance with Mr. Domino July 1962 Imperial 5863 98
Nothing New (Same Old Thing) 77
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking September 1962 Imperial 5875 79
Stop the Clock 103
Won't You Come on Back Hands Across the Table November 1962 Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo Those Eyes January 1963 Imperial 5909 124
You Always Hurt the One You Love Trouble Blues March 1963 Imperial 5937 102
True Confession Isle of Capri May 1963 Imperial 5959
One Night I Can't Go on This Way 1963 Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again) May 1963 ABC 10444 59
Can't Go on Without You 123
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk) July 1963 ABC 10475 114
I've Got a Right to Cry 128
Red Sails in the Sunset Song For Rosemary 1963 ABC 10484 35 24 34
I Can't Give You Anything But Love Goin' Home August 1963 Imperial 66005 114
Who Cares 1963 ABC 10512 63 27
Just a Lonely Man 1963 ABC 10512 108
Your Cheatin' Heart When I Was Young 1964 Imperial 66016 112
Lazy Lady 1964 ABC 10531 86 34
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire 1964 ABC 10531 122
If You Don't Know What Love Is Something You Got Baby 1964 ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary Packin' Up 1964 ABC 10567 127
Sally Was a Good Old Girl For You 1964 ABC 10584 99
Kansas City Heartbreak Hill 1964 ABC 10596 99
Why Don't You Do Right Wigs 1965 ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart Goodnight Sweetheart 1965 ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It I Left My Heart In San Francisco 1965 Mercury 72463
What's That You Got? It's Never Too Late 1965 Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black Working My Way Up Steady 1967 Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth Wait 'Til It Happens to You 1967 Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better 1968 Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna One for the Highway 1968 Reprise 0763 100
Lovely Rita Wait 'Till It Happens to You 1968 Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey So Swell When You're Well 1969 Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You Have You Seen My Baby 1970 Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same Sweet Patootie 1970 Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job After Hours 1978 Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven -- 1980 Warner Bros. 49610
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j37/billythekidcpr/FATS.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n263/jonahjt/thfats-domino.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/FatsDomino2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/10 at 6:41 am

The person who died on this day...Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. (September 5, 1947 – February 26, 2008), known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.
George "Buddy" Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on September 5, 1947. He was known as a child prodigy, originally playing drums in his father, George Miles, Sr.'s, jazz band, The Bebops, beginning at age 12. Miles Sr. had played upright bass with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon.

In his teens Miles Jr. was often seen hanging out as well as recording at the Universal Promotions Corporation (U.P.C.) recording studios, which later became Rainbow Recording Studios

Miles was given the nickname "Buddy" by his aunt after the drummer Buddy Rich.
Early career

Miles played in a variety of rhythm and blues and soul acts as a teenager, including Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots, the Delfonics and Wilson Pickett. By 1967 he moved to Chicago where he formed the Electric Flag with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Nick Gravenitis was the vocalist on this and other Bloomfield LP's . Major songs from this LP include "Wine" and "Just Got In From Texas," later included on a blues collection. An LP was released in 1984 on cassette called Best of Electric Flag with hits like Sunny and Killing Floor and guitar work by Michael Bloomfield. The blues-soul-rock band made their live debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and released their debut album, A Long Time Comin', the next year. Miles sometimes sang lead vocals for the group in addition to playing drums. The group broke up after their second album and Miles formed the Buddy Miles Express, with Jim McCarty, later the guitarist for Cactus.
Jimi Hendrix

After Electric Flag, Miles would begin involvement with the rock legend Jimi Hendrix. Miles had met Jimi Hendrix in an earlier time when both were acting as sidemen for other artists in the early '60s. The meeting had occurred in Canada in 1964, at a show both were participating in.

Miles said of his first meeting with Hendrix: "He was playing in the Isley Brothers band and I was in Ruby and the Romantics ... had his hair in a pony-tail with long sideburns. Even though he was shy I could tell this guy was different. He looked rather strange, because everyone else was wearing uniforms and he was eating his guitar, doing flip-flops and wearing chains."

This prefaced a later friendship that would result in varied collaborations between the two artists. In 1967, Hendrix and Miles jammed at the Malibu home of Stephen Stills, and went on to play together again at various times, in both Los Angeles and New York in 1968. Hendrix occasionally joined Electric Flag on stage. Soon after, Jimi Hendrix started opening his recording style to include guest artists. And in this mode Hendrix was working in, Buddy Miles quite naturally was invited to participate. Miles took part in the session recordings for Electric Ladyland, playing on the songs "Rainy Day, Dream Away" and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming".

In 1969 an extremely busy Hendrix would somehow find time to produce the first two albums released by Buddy Miles' own band, Buddy Miles Express - Expressway To Your Skull and Electric Church. There was obvious public curiosity as to whether the name of the band "Buddy Miles Express" was influenced by Hendrix's act, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience".

Soon after the release of the groundbreaking Electric Ladyland album, Noel Redding (original Experience bass player) and Mitch Mitchell (the Experience drummer) had both parted company with Hendrix, not least because of constant wrangling between Hendrix's manager (Michael Jeffery) and his producer (Alan Douglas), both vying for control of his career. Everyone wanted a piece of Hendrix's success.

As Buddy Miles explained: "Jimi was not happy. He felt powerless. He couldn't do what he wanted to do.". Hendrix's solution to the problem was to found a short-lived band called Band of Gypsys, and Miles was brought in to join him. One of the notable features for his audience at the time was the fact that all of the players were black. This was a first for Hendrix as an international recording star – although he had, of course, played with the Isley Brothers in his early days – and this choice reflected a move toward reconnecting with his soul roots. It also had the effect of re-associating rock with its African American roots. Originally it was a solo lp , but in the last ten years or so additional cuts from the concerts were released on a three piece cassette box. The band was based in New York City where Hendrix was spending the majority of his time. Hendrix, who was tangled in legal litigation concerning contracts he had signed prior to his becoming internationally recognized, was required to release a record to the Capitol Records label as part of the agreement in court. This fact led to the live recording of his collaboration with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox.

However during a follow up performance a month later, Hendrix had a minor, drug-related meltdown on stage which has also been speculated to have been an act of sabotage on the part of a very frustrated manager Michael Jeffery, who was not a fan of the Band of Gypsys all-black line-up and strong R&B roots. Miles had this to say about the incident years later:

"Jeffery slipped two half-tabs of acid on stage as he went on ... just freaked out. I told Jeffery he was an out-and-out complete idiot and a fudgeing asshole to boot. One of the biggest reasons why Jimi is dead is because of that guy." Miles and Jeffery already had a strained relationship, as Jeffery was always uncomfortable with Hendrix and Miles' close friendship. After this performance at Madison Square Garden in January 1970, Jeffery fired Buddy Miles and the Band of Gypsys was no more.

Miles continued to work with Hendrix during early and mid 1970 after the Jimi Hendrix Experience had failed to re-form to record. Miles would share recording studio drumming duties on songs "Room Full of Mirrors", "Izabella", "Ezy Ryder" and the first version of "Stepping Stone" (for which Mitchell played a final drum track). These songs have been released in several posthumous Hendrix albums.Ironically, the album Band of Gypsys — released in May 1970 — made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic, and stayed in the US charts for over a year. Hendrix died in September 18, 1970, prompting the album to sell even better. There are now videos of Buddy and Randy Hansen covering several of Jimi's songs on a major website.
Post-Hendrix

Buddy Miles went on to produce other records under his own name. A song he had written and recorded with the Band of Gypsys, "Them Changes" was again recorded by Miles with his own band on a release soon after Hendrix's passing on Mercury Records. Miles' former Band Of Gypsys sideman, Billy Cox, performed bass guitar on this track. By this time Miles had dropped the "Buddy Miles Express" act name and shortened it to just his own name. That band included bassist David Hull (who would go on to work with Joe Perry of Aerosmith) and guitarist Charlie Karp. The same band would release a live album entitled Live which again included his by now signature song, "Them Changes". In late 1968, they appeared in the Monkees television special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee which aired in April 1969.

In 1970, while recording the album We Got To Live Together Buddy Miles learned of the death of Hendrix, which he mentions on the inner cover of the album. Released in 1971, We Got To Live Together is produced by Buddy Miles and Robin McBride. It comprises 5 songs including the instrumental "Easy Greasy". High energy drumming with funky overtones and big horns make this album quintessential Buddy. The other cuts on the album are: "Runaway Child (Little Miss Nothin)", "Walking Down the Highway", "We Got To Live Together", "Take It Off Him and Put It On Me". All the songs were written by Buddy Miles with C.Karp except for "Take it Off...".

Buddy also contributed to a number of Cheech and Chong songs. One was "Lost Due To Incompetence (Theme For A Big Green Van) 1978" from the film Up In Smoke. Buddy did an album with Adrian Gurvitz (from the Gun group) in 1973 called Chapter VII (this album has photos of Buddy and his family along with some shots of Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone). Buddy had major success with Them Changes, a soul and pop hit in 70-71.

Miles would see the song released yet a fourth time on a collaborative live record he made with Carlos Santana. This particular version was particularly notable for its intense energy, horn lines and blazing guitar work supplied by a very young and energetic Santana. Miles would then go on to be signed by the '70s-'80s era record label, Casablanca Records, best known for their rock act KISS. Miles' work for the label included the excellent album released under his own name, Bicentennial Gathering Of The Tribes. It would include on its liner notes a quote from President John F Kennedy concerning the American Indians. That quote would include the line "When we neglect the heroic past of the American Indian, we thereby weaken our own heritage." This was interesting in relationship to his former friendship and collaborations with Jimi Hendrix who, in fact, had much American Indian blood in his family line. From 1994 - 1999 Buddy Miles formulated an excellent group in the N.Y.C./area featuring Charlie Torres on Bass Guitar and Vocals . Rod Kohn on Guitar and vocals . Kenn Moutenot on drums / vocals /management . Mark " Muggy Doo " Leach on Hammond B3 and Keyboards. They toured non stop in the United States and over seas with almost one thousand concerts and festivals to their credit. Buddy also composed and recorded many songs with this new version of " The Buddy Miles Express " that is yet to be released.It was Buddy's most enduring live band throughout his illustrious career. This popular touring line up lasted for six fruitful years together with the same members. Part of Miles' appeal as a rock musician was his physical appearance. He drew many stares and smiles as he held court from the drumset in the Electric Flag days, with his American flag or sequined shirts, his high-brushed Afro, and his massive frame and smile. Buddy was an eyeful for the hippies and concertgoers of the day. Once guitarist for the band SNAIL (Cream Records), JOHN ROCKER was guitarist for THE BUDDY MILES EXPRESS too for about 5 - 6 years as well touring throughout North America...
The Unknown Work of Buddy Miles - The Club Fed Sessions

Perhaps the best work Buddy ever did was in collaboration with a team of musician/writers from Marin County, California in late 1984, early 1985. Buddy was in a halfway house in Oakland and commuted every day to the Ice House Studio in San Rafael, CA to work with Pat Craig of the Tazmanian Devils, David Jenkins of Pablo Cruise, Dave Carlson of Tazmanian Devils and other Marin musicians and songwriters including Bill Craig, Tony Marty, and Tony Saunders. The result was an album's worth of material written by Pat Craig, Buddy, David Jenkins, Robbie Long, Bill Craig and Tony Marty. First recorded as a demo at the Ice House, the project was moved to The Record Plant in Sausalito and Jim Gaines of Huey Lewis fame came in to take over production chores. The group produced over 15 songs ranging from funky soul to beautiful ballads, and featuring some of the best singing that Miles ever did. One cut, "When The Train Leaves the Station," featured solos by both Carlos Santana and Neil Schoen. The title song of the proposed album, "Anna", was a beautiful soul stirrer that helped Buddy land his next gig with California Raisins. While the album was being recorded, the Record Plant was taken over by the Federal Government when the owner was busted for drug trafficking. The musicians and employees working there began calling the studio "Club Fed" and that's how "The Club Fed Sessions" came to be. Unfortunately Buddy's reputation of inconsistency and problems with the law closed many doors for him and the album was never released. The Masters remain in the can in the hands of Buddy's former manager, but Pat Craig did manage to digitize some of the better mixes and has offered them from time to time on Ebay as a collector's item under the title "Buddy and Me.". Songs on the demo included "Anna," "Forever in a Moment," "Tonight," "Next to You," and "This Could Be An Everlasting Love." A short-lived band featuring Pat Craig, David Jenkins, Rick Quintanal, Tony Saunders and other Marin musicians played one gig in LA at a concert honoring Vietnam Veterans.
California Raisins

In 1986 Miles performed vocals for the California Raisins claymation ad campaign, most notably singing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and was also lead vocals on two California Raisins albums featuring 1960's R&B covers. In 1986 and 1987, after spending the late 1970s and early 1980s incarcerated for theft, he also rejoined Carlos Santana as a vocalist on Santana's album Freedom.

In 1996, he sat in with rock band Phish at Madison Square Garden.

Through the late 1990s, Miles' charitable side was seen in his band's playing pro bono at several annual tribute concerts for local friend and fan Linda Gillespie, who had been killed in a car accident in the Spring of 1994 in Winthrop Harbor, IL.

Buddy Miles was seen in the Hendrix-family-owned, official video release The Making of Electric Ladyland on Rhino Records. That video featured interviews with the majority of players who were involved in recording the legendary Hendrix album. Miles even went as far as to be video recorded playing his same drum tracks yet again in the studio to the original multi-track recordings of Hendrix. In 1999 Miles appeared on the late Bruce Cameron's album, Midnight Daydream that included other Hendrix alumni Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell along with Jack Bruce and others.

In 2004 Miles reunited yet again with Billy Cox of the Band of Gypsys to re-record songs from the original live album of 1970 with guitarists Eric Gales, Kenny Olsen, Sheldon Reynolds, Andy Aledort, and Gary Serkin. The album, titled The Band Of Gypsys Return, was released in 2006. Until his death, Buddy Miles continued to be active musically and performed many shows with proceeds going to help support victims of natural disasters and other noble causes.

Buddy Miles is credited on sessions with George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic.

In 2005 Buddy Miles began collaborating with Florida based Guitar Virtuoso Tony Smotherman in which the two toured the Southeast with a Blues-Rock Band performing various pieces from Miles' Collaborations with Jimi Hendrix. Miles and Smotherman last performed at the Austin Convention Center at the 2007 Summer NAMM Show with Vernon Reid of Living Colour.

Buddy Miles played his last live dates in 2007, on the West Coast of the United States with special assistance.Also in Texas with Lance Lopez & Collin freekin Keeton. He was forced to cancel the remaining dates because of heart problems.
Death

Buddy Miles died on February 26, 2008, at his home in Austin, Texas at the age of 60. According to his website he died of congestive heart disease, although his publicist Duane Lee told the New York Times that Miles had been suffering recently from congestive heart failure.

There was a history of congestive heart failure in his family. His sister and mother both died of the same illness. It is known that his heart had certainly been struggling, working at only 15%, and his health had been consistently deteriorating over the past few months. According to friends, "he had turned off his defibrillator and was ready for heaven."There was no funeral; Miles was cremated.

The day before Buddy died, he heard Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton playing 'Them Changes' at Madison Square Garden through his cell phone. 'Them Changes' is now part of Clapton's set on tour as a tribute to Buddy.The UK-based newspaper The Independent ran an almost full-page obituary for Buddy Miles in its Friday February 29, 2008 edition. The title for the piece was "Buddy Miles: Flamboyant Hendrix drummer", and can be found on page 47.

Asked how he would like to be remembered by the American music magazine Seconds in 1995, Miles simply said: "The baddest of the bad. People say I'm the baddest drummer. If that's true, thank you world."A memorial concert took place on March 30, 2008 at Threadgill’s on Riverside Drive, South Austin.
Discography
Solo

    * Expressway to Your Skull - Mercury (1968)
    * Electric Church - Mercury (1969)
    * Them Changes - Mercury (1970)
    * We Got to Live Together - Mercury (1970)
    * A Message to the People - Mercury (1971)
    * Buddy Miles Live - Mercury (1971)
    * Booger Bear - Columbia (1973)
    * Chapter VII - Columbia (1973)
    * All the Faces of Buddy Miles - Epic (1974)
    * More Miles Per Gallon - Casablanca (1975)
    * Bicentennial Gathering of the Tribes - Casablanca (1976)
    * Sneak Attack - Atlantic (1981)
    * Hell and Back - Rykodisc (1994)
    * Tribute to Jimi Hendrix - CAS (1997)
    * Miles Away from Home - Hip-O (1997)
    * Blues Berries - Ruf (2002)
    * Changes - SPV (2005)

Collaborative

    * Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys - Capitol (1970)
    * Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! - Columbia (1972)
    * With Carlos Santana - CBS (1972)
    * Hardware - Third Eye Open (1994)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j82/leprechaun007/miles.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp141/theHipsterHolyGrail/Picture3-1.png
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p218/levijackson/buddy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/26/10 at 7:28 am


The word of the day...Valley
A valley is a low stretch of land between hills, especially one that has a river flowing through it.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/bruce868/silicon_valley.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n414/geomariner/Death%20Valley%202006/DeathValley060.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp120/Fire_Krakker/Photographymyass/d3d18909.jpg
http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab112/thedreamsky/BarunValleyNgheKharkaNepal.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz353/denisevickie/Redlands_Valley.jpg
http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx241/jkandn/Australia/nancy011.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc267/Nestonlady/more%20snow/Postcards/OgwenValley.jpg



Man,these are so beautiful,as usual I will use one of them as computer wallpaper.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/26/10 at 8:54 am


The person born on this day...Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter.
Antoine was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Imperial Records era (1949–1962)

Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, who was also Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino would eventually release 37 Top 40 singles, "Whole Lotta Loving" and "Blue Monday" among them.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks which had not yet been released as singles, the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Fats appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock! and The Girl Can't Help It. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out", he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.
Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he would record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.
Later career (1980s–2005)

In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked any place else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy.

Fats Domino was persuaded to perform out of town periodically for Dianna Chenevert, agent, founder and president of New Orleans based Omni Attractions, during the 1980s and early 1990s. Most of these engagements were in and around New Orleans, but also included a concert in Texas at West End Market Place in downtown Dallas on October 24, 1986.

On October 12, 1983 USA Today reported that Domino was included in Chenevert's "Southern Stars" promotional poster for the agency (along with historically preserving childhood photographs of other famous living musicians from New Orleans and Louisiana on it). Fats provided a photograph of his first recording session, which was the only one he had left from his childhood. Domino autographed these posters, whose recipients included USA Today's Gannett president Al Newharth, and Peter Morton founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. Times-Picayune columnist Betty Guillaud noted on September 30, 1987 that Domino also provided Chenevert with an autographed pair of his shoes (and signed a black grand piano lid) for the Hard Rock location in New Orleans.

Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac automobile. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
Domino and Hurricane Katrina
Graffiti on Domino's home from the time he was rumored dead
Fats Domino's office, June 2007

When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert encouraged Fats to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife's poor health. Unfortunately his house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper and the Coast Guard with the Dominos' location.

Someone thought Fats was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed", which was shown in news photos. On September 1, Domino's agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos stay in his apartment. The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything", Domino said, according to the Post.

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost in Katrina and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the medal that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats.
Post-Katrina activity
President George W. Bush shakes the hand of Fats Domino, wearing a National Medal of Arts, after the President presented it on August 29, 2006, at the musician's home in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The medal was a replacement medal for the one—originally awarded by President Bill Clinton—that was lost in the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina.

Domino was the first artist to be announced as scheduled to perform at the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival. However, he was too ill to perform when scheduled and was only able to offer the audience an on-stage greeting. Domino also released an album Alive and Kickin' in early 2006 to benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians. The title song was recorded after Katrina, but most of the cuts were from unreleased sessions in the 1990s.

On January 12, 2007, Domino was honored with OffBeat magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Best of the Beat Awards held at House of Blues in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared the day "Fats Domino Day in New Orleans" and presented Fats Domino with a signed declaration. OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey and WWL-TV's Eric Paulsen presented Fats Domino with the Lifetime Achievement Award. An all-star musical tribute followed with an introduction by the legendary producer Cosimo Matassa. The Lil' Band O' Gold rhythm section, Warren Storm, Kenny Bill Stinson, David Egan and C.C. Adcock, not only anchored the band, but each contributed lead vocals, swamp pop legend Warren Storm leading off with "Let the Four Winds Blow" and "The Prisoner Song", which he proudly introduced by saying, "Fats Domino recorded this in 1958.. and so did I." The horn section included Lil' Band O' Gold's Dickie Landry, the Iguanas' Derek Huston, and long-time Domino horn men Roger Lewis, Elliot "Stackman" Callier and Herb Hardesty. They were joined by Jon Cleary (who also played guitar in the rhythm section), Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Irma Thomas, George Porter, Jr. (who, naturally, came up with a funky arrangement for "You Keep On Knocking"), Art Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who wrote and debuted a song in tribute of Domino for the occasion. Though Domino didn't perform, those near him recall him playing air piano and singing along to his own songs.

Fats Domino returned to stage on May 19, 2007, at Tipitina's at New Orleans, performing to a full house. A foundation has been formed and a show is being planned for Domino and the restoration of his home, where he intends to return someday. "I like it down there" he said in a February, 2006 CBS News interview.

In September 2007, Domino was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday. In December 2007, Fats Domino was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In May 2009, Domino made an unexpected appearance for The Domino Effect, a namesake concert aimed at raising funds to help rebuild schools and playgrounds damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Influence

He was acknowledged as an important influence on the music of the 1960s and 1970s by some of the top artists of that era. Paul McCartney reportedly wrote the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" in an emulation of Domino's style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 hit "Bad Penny Blues", a record which Joe Meek had engineered. Domino did manage to return to the "Hot 100" charts one final time in 1968—with his own recording of "Lady Madonna". That recording, as well as covers of two other Beatles songs, appeared on his Reprise LP Fats Is Back, produced by Richard Perry and recorded by a band which included New Orleans piano player James Booker; Domino played piano only on one track, "I'm Ready". Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney later recorded Fats Domino songs. Domino's rhythm, accentuating the offbeat as in the song "Be My Guest", was an influence on ska music. Ray Manzarek, keyboard player from The Doors has also stated a big influence from Fats Domino, on the "History of Rock and Roll" documentary series.
Singles discography

Nationally charted hits shown in bold.
A-Side B-Side Year Label + Cat. No. Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
Detroit City Blues The Fat Man 1949 Imperial 5058 2
Boogie-Woogie Baby Little Bee 1950 Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues She's My Baby 1950 Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie Brand New Baby 1950 Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time Korea Blues 1950 Imperial 5099 5
Tired of Crying What's the Matter Baby 1951 Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me Sometimes I Wonder 1951 Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong No, No Baby 1951 Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair Careless Love 1951 Imperial 5145 9
I'll Be Gone You Know I Miss You 1952 Imperial 5167
Goin' Home Reeling and Rocking 1952 Imperial 5180 30 1
Poor Poor Me Trust in Me 1952 Imperial 5197 10
How Long Dreaming 1952 Imperial 5209 9
Nobody Loves Me Cheatin' 1953 Imperial 5220
Going to the River Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1953 Imperial 5231 24 2
Please Don't Leave Me The Girl I Love 1953 Imperial 5240 3
Rose Mary You Said You Loved Me 1953 Imperial 5251 10
Something's Wrong Don't Leave Me This Way 1953 Imperial 5262 6
You Done Me Wrong Little School Girl 1954 Imperial 5272 10
Where Did You Stay Baby Please 1954 Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase I Lived My Life 1954 Imperial 5301
Love Me Don't You Hear Me Calling You 1954 Imperial 5313
I Know Thinking of You 1954 Imperial 5323 14
Don't You Know Helping Hand 1955 Imperial 5340 7
Ain't That a Shame La La 1955 Imperial 5348 10 1 23
All By Myself Troubles of My Own 1955 Imperial 5357 1
Poor Me 1955 Imperial 5369 1
I Can't Go On 1955 Imperial 5369 6
Bo Weevil 1956 Imperial 5375 35 5
Don't Blame It on Me 1956 Imperial 5375 9
I'm in Love Again March 1956 Imperial 5386 3 1 12
My Blue Heaven 19 5
When My Dreamboat Comes Home July 1956 Imperial 5396 14 2
So Long 44 5
Blueberry Hill September 1956 Imperial 5407 2 1 6
Honey Chile 2 29
Blue Monday December 1956 Imperial 5417 5 1 23
What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You 50 12
I'm Walkin' I'm in the Mood for Love February 1957 Imperial 5428 4 1 19
The Rooster Song My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP) 1957 Imperial 147 13 8
Valley of Tears April 1957 Imperial 5442 8 2 25
It's You I Love 6 2
When I See You July 1957 Imperial 5454 29 14
What Will I Tell My Heart 64 12
Wait and See September 1957 Imperial 5467 23 7
I Still Love You 79
The Big Beat December 1957 Imperial 5477 26 15 20
I Want You to Know 32
Yes My Darling Don't You Know I Love You February 1958 Imperial 5492 55 10
Sick and Tired April 1958 Imperial 5515 22 14 26
No, No 55 14
Little Mary Prisoner's Song July 1958 Imperial 5526 48 4
Young School Girl It Must Be Love August 1958 Imperial 5537 92 15
Whole Lotta Loving October 1958 Imperial 5553 6 2 10
Coquette 92 26
Telling Lies January 1959 Imperial 5569 50 13
When the Saints Go Marching In 50
I'm Ready April 1959 Imperial 5585 16 7
Margie Imperial 5585 51 18
I Want to Walk You Home July 1959 Imperial 5606 8 1 14
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday 17 22
Be My Guest October 1959 Imperial 5629 8 2 11
I've Been Around 33 19
Country Boy January 1960 Imperial 5645 25 19
If You Need Me 98
Tell Me That You Love Me April 1960 Imperial 5660 51
Before I Grow Too Old 84 17
Walking to New Orleans June 1960 Imperial 5675 6 2 19
Don't Come Knockin' 21 28
Three Nights a Week August 1960 Imperial 5687 15 8 45
Put Your Arms Around Me Honey 58
My Girl Josephine October 1960 Imperial 5704 14 7 32
Natural Born Lover 38 28
Ain't That Just Like a Woman January 1961 Imperial 5723 33 19
What a Price 22 7
Shu Rah March 1961 Imperial 5734 32
Fell in Love on Monday 32
It Keeps Rainin' I Just Cry May 1961 Imperial 5753 23 18 49
Let The Four Winds Blow Good Hearted Man July 1961 Imperial 5764 15 2
What A Party September 1961 Imperial 5779 22 43
Rockin' Bicycle 83
I Hear You Knocking November 1961 Imperial 5796 67
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) 30 41
You Win Again February 1962 Imperial 5816 22
Ida Jane 90
My Real Name My Heart Is Bleeding May 1962 Imperial 5833 59 22
Dance with Mr. Domino July 1962 Imperial 5863 98
Nothing New (Same Old Thing) 77
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking September 1962 Imperial 5875 79
Stop the Clock 103
Won't You Come on Back Hands Across the Table November 1962 Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo Those Eyes January 1963 Imperial 5909 124
You Always Hurt the One You Love Trouble Blues March 1963 Imperial 5937 102
True Confession Isle of Capri May 1963 Imperial 5959
One Night I Can't Go on This Way 1963 Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again) May 1963 ABC 10444 59
Can't Go on Without You 123
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk) July 1963 ABC 10475 114
I've Got a Right to Cry 128
Red Sails in the Sunset Song For Rosemary 1963 ABC 10484 35 24 34
I Can't Give You Anything But Love Goin' Home August 1963 Imperial 66005 114
Who Cares 1963 ABC 10512 63 27
Just a Lonely Man 1963 ABC 10512 108
Your Cheatin' Heart When I Was Young 1964 Imperial 66016 112
Lazy Lady 1964 ABC 10531 86 34
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire 1964 ABC 10531 122
If You Don't Know What Love Is Something You Got Baby 1964 ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary Packin' Up 1964 ABC 10567 127
Sally Was a Good Old Girl For You 1964 ABC 10584 99
Kansas City Heartbreak Hill 1964 ABC 10596 99
Why Don't You Do Right Wigs 1965 ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart Goodnight Sweetheart 1965 ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It I Left My Heart In San Francisco 1965 Mercury 72463
What's That You Got? It's Never Too Late 1965 Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black Working My Way Up Steady 1967 Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth Wait 'Til It Happens to You 1967 Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better 1968 Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna One for the Highway 1968 Reprise 0763 100
Lovely Rita Wait 'Till It Happens to You 1968 Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey So Swell When You're Well 1969 Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You Have You Seen My Baby 1970 Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same Sweet Patootie 1970 Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job After Hours 1978 Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven -- 1980 Warner Bros. 49610
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j37/billythekidcpr/FATS.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n263/jonahjt/thfats-domino.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/FatsDomino2.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdjLINBYEPc

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/26/10 at 9:43 am


Yes he did, and Eric Clapton also played guitar on that song, back in 1968.



I was going to say that but you beat me to it. That song is one song that you just have to CRANK. The neighbors always know whenever we listen to that song.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/26/10 at 3:35 pm

http://www.wrestlingvalley.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/ric_flair_02.jpg


happy birthday To Nature Boy Ric Flair. :) WHOO!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/10 at 7:23 pm


http://www.wrestlingvalley.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/ric_flair_02.jpg


happy birthday To Nature Boy Ric Flair. :) WHOO!

One of a kind.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/26/10 at 9:54 pm

Nice valley pics Janine. I even recognized some Aussie landscape in there somewhere!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 12:44 am


One of a kind.
A wrestler?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/27/10 at 1:10 am


A wrestler?


Yes...from the old days of Harley Race and Bruno Sammartino ...right through until just recently (he kept making appearances). I never liked his character too much!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 1:23 am


Yes...from the old days of Harley Race and Bruno Sammartino ...right through until just recently (he kept making appearances). I never liked his character too much!
Many thanks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 1:26 am

Anglo-American Person of the Day: Elizabeth Taylor

One of the great Hollywood stars of the 20th century, Elizabeth Taylor has had three fairly distinct career personas: as the winsome child star of movies like National Velvet (1944); as a fiery prima donna, the acknowledged "world's most beautiful woman" and star of movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Butterfield 8 (1960); and as an older Hollywood grande dame, tabloid favorite, and friend to pop stars like Elton John and Michael Jackson. Her tempestuous marriage to Welsh actor Richard Burton made them Hollywood's reigning couple in the 1960s: they starred together as lovers in Cleopatra (1963, with Taylor as Cleopatra and Burton as Marc Antony) and then played battling spouses in the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor had seven husbands and eight marriages in all: hotelier Nicky Hilton (1950-51, divorced), actor Michael Wilding (1952-57, divorced), producer Mike Todd (1957 until his 1958 death in a plane crash), singer Eddie Fisher (1959-64, divorced), actor Richard Burton (1964-74, divorced), Burton again (1975-76, divorced again), politician John Warner (1976-82, divorced), and construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991-96, divorced). Taylor won best actress Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Taylor was the first actress to earn a million dollars for one film, for 1963's Cleopatra.

http://www.hecklerspray.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/elizabeth%20taylor.jpg

http://gossips.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tn2_elizabeth_taylor_4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/27/10 at 5:40 am


Yes...from the old days of Harley Race and Bruno Sammartino ...right through until just recently (he kept making appearances). I never liked his character too much!


Well he's The Nature Boy.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/27/10 at 5:41 am


Anglo-American Person of the Day: Elizabeth Taylor

One of the great Hollywood stars of the 20th century, Elizabeth Taylor has had three fairly distinct career personas: as the winsome child star of movies like National Velvet (1944); as a fiery prima donna, the acknowledged "world's most beautiful woman" and star of movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Butterfield 8 (1960); and as an older Hollywood grande dame, tabloid favorite, and friend to pop stars like Elton John and Michael Jackson. Her tempestuous marriage to Welsh actor Richard Burton made them Hollywood's reigning couple in the 1960s: they starred together as lovers in Cleopatra (1963, with Taylor as Cleopatra and Burton as Marc Antony) and then played battling spouses in the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor had seven husbands and eight marriages in all: hotelier Nicky Hilton (1950-51, divorced), actor Michael Wilding (1952-57, divorced), producer Mike Todd (1957 until his 1958 death in a plane crash), singer Eddie Fisher (1959-64, divorced), actor Richard Burton (1964-74, divorced), Burton again (1975-76, divorced again), politician John Warner (1976-82, divorced), and construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991-96, divorced). Taylor won best actress Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Taylor was the first actress to earn a million dollars for one film, for 1963's Cleopatra.

http://www.hecklerspray.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/elizabeth%20taylor.jpg

http://gossips.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tn2_elizabeth_taylor_4.jpg


Now she's confined to a wheelchair.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 5:55 am


Now she's confined to a wheelchair.  :(
I had not realsied that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:00 am


Anglo-American Person of the Day: Elizabeth Taylor

One of the great Hollywood stars of the 20th century, Elizabeth Taylor has had three fairly distinct career personas: as the winsome child star of movies like National Velvet (1944); as a fiery prima donna, the acknowledged "world's most beautiful woman" and star of movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Butterfield 8 (1960); and as an older Hollywood grande dame, tabloid favorite, and friend to pop stars like Elton John and Michael Jackson. Her tempestuous marriage to Welsh actor Richard Burton made them Hollywood's reigning couple in the 1960s: they starred together as lovers in Cleopatra (1963, with Taylor as Cleopatra and Burton as Marc Antony) and then played battling spouses in the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Taylor had seven husbands and eight marriages in all: hotelier Nicky Hilton (1950-51, divorced), actor Michael Wilding (1952-57, divorced), producer Mike Todd (1957 until his 1958 death in a plane crash), singer Eddie Fisher (1959-64, divorced), actor Richard Burton (1964-74, divorced), Burton again (1975-76, divorced again), politician John Warner (1976-82, divorced), and construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991-96, divorced). Taylor won best actress Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Taylor was the first actress to earn a million dollars for one film, for 1963's Cleopatra.

http://www.hecklerspray.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/elizabeth%20taylor.jpg

http://gossips.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tn2_elizabeth_taylor_4.jpg

Good thing I checked this morning, i had a feeling you might pick her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:00 am


Now she's confined to a wheelchair.  :(

I had not realsied that.

Nor did I .

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:01 am


Good thing I checked this morning, i had a feeling you might pick her.
She was born in Hampstead in North London, and I have not located the exact house yet.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:02 am


Nor did I .
checking online...

"Taylor went to the Hollywood Bowl June 8, 2009, to hear Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in concert, her first night out in months. Taylor, bound to a wheelchair by scoliosis, said her mind and soul "were transported by his beauty, his voice, his inner being." The actress posted online messages through the Twitter social network after the Italian tenor's concert Monday night. "I went to see Andrea Bocelli last night. The first time I've been out in months. The Hollywood Bowl allowed me to use my wheelchair," she said."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:08 am

The word of the day...Mice
Mice is the plural of mouse.
A mouse is a small furry animal with a long tail.
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx204/omega24614/Ball%20Python/Mice.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj138/primcindy/mice-1.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/maidog_photos/mice/IMG_5928.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/dottiemadcat/bulk%20cat%20toys/pe---rockin-mice.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/maidog_photos/mice/IMG_5932.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/dottiemadcat/bulk%20cat%20toys/DSC00247.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/bittyskitty94210/animals/animals%202/big_4686041.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o172/lilbbezoe/Picture173.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/Magik_Moonmyst/Nature/Animals/watch_harvest_mice.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/Kawgirl_2007/Small%20Pet%20books/GerbilsRatsandMice.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:11 am


The word of the day...Mice
Mice is the plural of mouse.
A mouse is a small furry animal with a long tail.
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx204/omega24614/Ball%20Python/Mice.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj138/primcindy/mice-1.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/maidog_photos/mice/IMG_5928.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/dottiemadcat/bulk%20cat%20toys/pe---rockin-mice.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/maidog_photos/mice/IMG_5932.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/dottiemadcat/bulk%20cat%20toys/DSC00247.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/bittyskitty94210/animals/animals%202/big_4686041.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o172/lilbbezoe/Picture173.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/Magik_Moonmyst/Nature/Animals/watch_harvest_mice.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/Kawgirl_2007/Small%20Pet%20books/GerbilsRatsandMice.jpg
http://welcometothesalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/mouse_trap_board_and_boxjpg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:12 am

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/MouseTrap.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:14 am


checking online...

"Taylor went to the Hollywood Bowl June 8, 2009, to hear Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in concert, her first night out in months. Taylor, bound to a wheelchair by scoliosis, said her mind and soul "were transported by his beauty, his voice, his inner being." The actress posted online messages through the Twitter social network after the Italian tenor's concert Monday night. "I went to see Andrea Bocelli last night. The first time I've been out in months. The Hollywood Bowl allowed me to use my wheelchair," she said."

My daughter has a curved back and was checked all through school for scoliosis. At least Ms. Taylor is still able to get places.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:14 am


The word of the day...Mice
Mice is the plural of mouse.
A mouse is a small furry animal with a long tail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYiqDyC6qgo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:17 am


The word of the day...Mice
Mice is the plural of mouse.
A mouse is a small furry animal with a long tail.
http://hackedgadgets.com/wp-content/computer_mouse_using_a_real_dead_mouse_4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:18 am

The person born on this day...John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He was of German and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck, Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, had shortened the family name to Steinbeck when he immigrated to the United States. The family farm in Heiligenhaus, Germany, is still today named "Großsteinbeck".

His father, John Steinbeck Sr., served as Monterey County Treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton, a former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion of reading and writing. Steinbeck lived in a small rural town that was essentially a frontier settlement, set amid some of the world's most fertile land. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches and later with migrant workers on Spreckels ranch. He became aware of the harsher aspects of migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which material expressed in such works as Of Mice and Men. He also explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms.

In 1919, Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School and attended Stanford University intermittently until 1925, eventually leaving without a degree. He traveled to New York City and held odd jobs while pursuing his dream of becoming a writer. When he failed to get his work published, he returned to California and worked for a time in 1928 as a tourguide and caretaker at the fish hatchery in Tahoe City, where he would meet tourist Carol Henning, his future first wife.. Steinbeck and Henning were married in January, 1930.

Steinbeck lived most of the years of the great depression and his marriage to Carol in a cottage in Pacific Grove, California on the Monterey Peninsula that was owned by his father. The elder Steinbeck supplied him with the lodging for free, with paper for his manuscripts, and critical loans beginning at the end of 1928 which allowed Steinbeck to give up a punishing warehouse job in San Francisco, and focus on his craft.

After the publication of his Monterey novel Tortilla Flat in 1935, his first clear novelistic success, the Steinbecks emerged from relative poverty and built a summer ranch-home in Los Gatos. In 1940, Steinbeck went on a voyage around the Gulf of California with his influential friend Ed Ricketts, to collect biological specimens. The Log from the Sea of Cortez describes his experiences. Although Carol accompanied Steinbeck on the trip, their marriage was beginning to suffer by this time, and would effectively end in 1941, even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript for the book.

In 1943, Steinbeck filed for divorce against Carol and married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger, with whom he had two children - Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck in 1944 and John Steinbeck IV, who died in 1991. Steinbeck and his second wife divorced in 1948. In December 1950, Steinbeck married stage-manager Elaine Scott within a week of the finalizing of her divorce from actor Zachary Scott. This marriage lasted until Steinbeck's death in 1968.

In 1948, Steinbeck toured the Soviet Union with renowned photographer Robert Capa. They visited Moscow, Kiev, Tbilisi, Batumi and Stalingrad. His book about their experiences, A Russian Journal, was illustrated with Capa's photos. That year he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Steinbeck's gravestone at Salinas cemetery

In 1966, Steinbeck traveled to Tel Aviv to visit the site of Mount Hope, a farm community established in Israel by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Grosssteinbeck, was murdered by Arab marauders on January 11, 1858.

John Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968 of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a life-long smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries.

In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and an urn containing his ashes was interred at his family gravesite at Garden of Memories Memorial Park in Salinas. His ashes were placed with those of the Hamiltons (grandparents). His third wife, Elaine, was buried with him in 2004. He had earlier written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life was the final end to it.
Literary career

Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, published in 1929, is based on the life and death of privateer Henry Morgan. It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of the city of Panama, sometimes referred to as the 'Cup of Gold', and on the woman, fairer than the sun, who was said to be found there.

After Cup of Gold, between 1931 and 1933 Steinbeck produced three shorter works. The Pastures of Heaven, published in 1932, comprised twelve interconnected stories about a valley near Monterey, that was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway American Indian slaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published The Red Pony, a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving in memories of Steinbeck's childhood. To a God Unknown follows the life of a homesteader and his family in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of the land he works.

Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with the novel Tortilla Flat (1935), which won the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. The book portrays the adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I, just before U.S. prohibition. The characters, who are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest, reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life centered around wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. The book was made into the 1942 film Tortilla Flat, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield, a friend of Steinbeck's.

Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people during the Great Depression. These included In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Of Mice and Men, about the dreams of a pair of migrant laborers working the California soil, was critically acclaimed.

The stage adaptation of Of Mice and Men was a hit, starring Broderick Crawford as the mentally child-like but physically powerful itinerant farmhand "Lennie," and Wallace Ford as Lennie's companion, "George." However, Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling Kaufman that the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be a disappointment. Steinbeck would write two more stage plays (The Moon Is Down and Burning Bright).

Of Mice and Men was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood film, in which Lon Chaney, Jr. (who had portrayed the role in the Los Angeles production of the play) was cast as Lennie and Burgess Meredith as "George." Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), based on newspaper articles he had written in San Francisco. The novel would be considered by many to be his finest work. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, even as it was made into a notable film directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the part.

The success of The Grapes of Wrath was not free of controversy, as Steinbeck's liberal political views, portrayal of the negative side of capitalism, and mythical reinterpretation of the historical events of the Dust Bowl migrations led to backlash against the author, especially close to home. In fact, claiming the book was both obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's public schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941.

Of the controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy."

The film versions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (by two different movie studios) were in production simultaneously, allowing Steinbeck to spend a full day on the set of The Grapes of Wrath and the next day on the set of Of Mice and Men.
Ed Ricketts
Ed Ricketts

In the 1930s and 1940s, Ed Ricketts strongly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to collect biological specimens which Ricketts sold for a living and give Steinbeck time off from his writing. Their joint book about a collecting expedition to the Gulf of California in 1940, which was part travelogue and part natural history, published just as the U.S. entered World War II, never found an audience and did not sell well. However, in 1951, Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of the book as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, under his name only (though Ricketts had written some of it). This work remains in print today.

Ricketts was Steinbeck's model for the character of "Doc" in Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954), "Friend Ed" in Burning Bright, and characters in In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Ecological themes recur in Steinbeck's novels of the period.

Steinbeck's close relations with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and split with his wife Carol. Ricketts' biographer Eric Enno Tamm notes that, except for East of Eden (1952), Steinbeck's writing declined after Ricketts' untimely death in 1948.
n 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” On the day of the announcement (Oct. 25) when he was asked by a reporter at a press conference given by his publisher, if he thought he deserved the Nobel, he said: "Frankly, no." In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said:

   the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.
   —Steinbeck Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers: in 1953, he wrote in humor that he considered cartoonist Al Capp "possibly the best writer in the world today." . However, at his own first Nobel Prize press conference he was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: "Hemingway's short stories and nearly everything Faulkner wrote."

In September 1964, Steinbeck was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war there. Thinking of the Vietnam War as a heroic venture, he was considered a hawk for his position on that war. His sons both served in Vietnam prior to his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield (at one point being allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase, while his son and other members of his platoon slept).

After Steinbeck's death, his incomplete novel based on the King Arthur legends of Malory and others, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, was finally published in 1976.

On Feb. 27, 1979, on what would have been his 77th birthday, he was honored by being placed on a U.S. postage stamp.
Legacy
National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California

The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City, reviewer Charles Poore wrote in the New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is: The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain— and the other half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't need the Nobel Prize— the Nobel judges needed him."

Many of Steinbeck's works are on required reading lists in American high schools. In the United Kingdom, Of Mice and Men is one of the key texts used by the examining body AQA for its English Literature GCSE. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools.

At the same time, The Grapes of Wrath has been banned by school boards: In August 1939, Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's public schools and libraries. It was burned in Salinas on two different occasions. In 2003, a school board in Mississippi banned it on the grounds of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with Of Mice and Men ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States.

His books are also commonly referenced in music. Once There Was A War, an alternative metal band from Sayreville, New Jersey, derived their name from one of his novels.
Literary influences

Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as "Steinbeck Country". Most of his early work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel, Cup of Gold, which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. His childhood friend, Max Wagner, a brother of Jack Wagner and who later became a film actor, served as inspiration for The Red Pony. Later he used real American historical conditions and events in the first half of the 20th century, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

His later work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology. One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America.
Cannery Row in Monterey

Steinbeck's boyhood home, a turreted Victorian building in downtown Salinas, has been preserved and restored by the Valley Guild, a nonprofit organization. Fixed menu lunches are served Monday through Saturday, and the house is open for tours during the summer on Sunday afternoons.

The National Steinbeck Center, two blocks away at One Main Street is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author. Dana Gioia (chair of the National Endowment for the Arts) told an audience at the Center, "This is really the best modern literary shrine in the country, and I've seen them all." Its Steinbeckiana includes Rocinante, the camper truck in which Steinbeck made the cross-country trip described in "Travels with Charley."

His father's cottage on Eleventh Street in Pacific Grove, where Steinbeck wrote some of his earliest books, also survives.

In Monterey, Ed Ricketts' laboratory survives (though it is not yet open to the public) and at the corner which Steinbeck describes in Cannery Row, also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hobos of Cannery Row. The sardine cannery next to Doc's lab closed down long ago and the site is now occupied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The town has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from Cannery Row and historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts.
Commemoration

On Feb 27, 1979, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service’s Literary Arts series honoring American writers.

John Steinbeck Official First Day Stamp Cover

On December 5, 2007 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Steinbeck into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. His son, author Thomas Steinbeck, accepted the award on his behalf.
Major works
Of Mice and Men
Main article: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written in the form of a play in 1937. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to work up enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. It encompasses themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl, Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into a movie three times, in 1939 starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., and Betty Field, in 1982 starring Randy Quaid, Robert Blake and Ted Neeley, and in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich.
The Grapes of Wrath
Main article: The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. The book is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The book was made into a film in 1940 starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford.
East of Eden
Main article: East of Eden

Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons - based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry - and the Trasks, reprising stories about the Biblical Adam and his progeny. The book was published in 1952.
Travels With Charley
Main article: Travels With Charley: In Search of America

In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-built camper top — which was rare at the time — and drove across the United States with his faithful 'blue' poodle, Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truck Rocinante after Don Quixote's "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees from Maine to Montana to California, and from there to Texas and Louisiana and back to his home in Long Island. The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.
Bibliography

   * Cup of Gold (1927)
   * The Pastures of Heaven (1932)
   * The Red Pony (1933)
   * To a God Unknown (1933)
   * Tortilla Flat (1935)
   * In Dubious Battle (1936)
   * The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath (1936)
   * Of Mice and Men (1937)
   * The Long Valley (1938)
   * The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
   * The Forgotten Village (1941)
   * Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941)
   * The Moon Is Down (1942)
   * Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team (1942)
   * Cannery Row (1945)
   * The Wayward Bus (1947)
   * The Pearl (1947)
   * A Russian Journal (1948)
   * Burning Bright (1950)
   * The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951)
   * East of Eden (1952)
   * Sweet Thursday (1954)
   * The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication (1957)
   * Once There Was A War (1958)
   * The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
   * Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)
   * America and Americans (1966)
   * Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters (1969)
   * Viva Zapata! (1975)
   * The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)
   * Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath (1989)

Filmography

   * 1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
   * 1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
   * 1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
   * 1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
   * 1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
   * 1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
   * 1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
   * 1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
   * 1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
   * 1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
   * 1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
   * 1956—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
   * 1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
   * 1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
   * 1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
   * 1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
   * 1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r64/meniaf/john-steinbeck-200x308.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/ajgibboney/steinbeck.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t101/marba1065/MySpace%20Books/John_Steinbeck.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:21 am


The person born on this day...John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. He was of German and Irish descent. Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck, Steinbeck's paternal grandfather, had shortened the family name to Steinbeck when he immigrated to the United States. The family farm in Heiligenhaus, Germany, is still today named "Großsteinbeck".

His father, John Steinbeck Sr., served as Monterey County Treasurer. John's mother, Olive Hamilton, a former school teacher, shared Steinbeck's passion of reading and writing. Steinbeck lived in a small rural town that was essentially a frontier settlement, set amid some of the world's most fertile land. He spent his summers working on nearby ranches and later with migrant workers on Spreckels ranch. He became aware of the harsher aspects of migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which material expressed in such works as Of Mice and Men. He also explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, and farms.

In 1919, Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School and attended Stanford University intermittently until 1925, eventually leaving without a degree. He traveled to New York City and held odd jobs while pursuing his dream of becoming a writer. When he failed to get his work published, he returned to California and worked for a time in 1928 as a tourguide and caretaker at the fish hatchery in Tahoe City, where he would meet tourist Carol Henning, his future first wife.. Steinbeck and Henning were married in January, 1930.

Steinbeck lived most of the years of the great depression and his marriage to Carol in a cottage in Pacific Grove, California on the Monterey Peninsula that was owned by his father. The elder Steinbeck supplied him with the lodging for free, with paper for his manuscripts, and critical loans beginning at the end of 1928 which allowed Steinbeck to give up a punishing warehouse job in San Francisco, and focus on his craft.

After the publication of his Monterey novel Tortilla Flat in 1935, his first clear novelistic success, the Steinbecks emerged from relative poverty and built a summer ranch-home in Los Gatos. In 1940, Steinbeck went on a voyage around the Gulf of California with his influential friend Ed Ricketts, to collect biological specimens. The Log from the Sea of Cortez describes his experiences. Although Carol accompanied Steinbeck on the trip, their marriage was beginning to suffer by this time, and would effectively end in 1941, even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript for the book.

In 1943, Steinbeck filed for divorce against Carol and married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger, with whom he had two children - Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck in 1944 and John Steinbeck IV, who died in 1991. Steinbeck and his second wife divorced in 1948. In December 1950, Steinbeck married stage-manager Elaine Scott within a week of the finalizing of her divorce from actor Zachary Scott. This marriage lasted until Steinbeck's death in 1968.

In 1948, Steinbeck toured the Soviet Union with renowned photographer Robert Capa. They visited Moscow, Kiev, Tbilisi, Batumi and Stalingrad. His book about their experiences, A Russian Journal, was illustrated with Capa's photos. That year he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Steinbeck's gravestone at Salinas cemetery

In 1966, Steinbeck traveled to Tel Aviv to visit the site of Mount Hope, a farm community established in Israel by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Grosssteinbeck, was murdered by Arab marauders on January 11, 1858.

John Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968 of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a life-long smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries.

In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and an urn containing his ashes was interred at his family gravesite at Garden of Memories Memorial Park in Salinas. His ashes were placed with those of the Hamiltons (grandparents). His third wife, Elaine, was buried with him in 2004. He had earlier written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life was the final end to it.
Literary career

Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, published in 1929, is based on the life and death of privateer Henry Morgan. It centers on Morgan's assault and sacking of the city of Panama, sometimes referred to as the 'Cup of Gold', and on the woman, fairer than the sun, who was said to be found there.

After Cup of Gold, between 1931 and 1933 Steinbeck produced three shorter works. The Pastures of Heaven, published in 1932, comprised twelve interconnected stories about a valley near Monterey, that was discovered by a Spanish corporal while chasing runaway American Indian slaves. In 1933 Steinbeck published The Red Pony, a 100-page, four-chapter story weaving in memories of Steinbeck's childhood. To a God Unknown follows the life of a homesteader and his family in California, depicting a character with a primal and pagan worship of the land he works.

Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with the novel Tortilla Flat (1935), which won the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. The book portrays the adventures of a group of classless and usually homeless young men in Monterey after World War I, just before U.S. prohibition. The characters, who are portrayed in ironic comparison to mythic knights on a quest, reject nearly all the standard mores of American society in enjoyment of a dissolute life centered around wine, lust, camaraderie and petty theft. The book was made into the 1942 film Tortilla Flat, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield, a friend of Steinbeck's.

Steinbeck began to write a series of "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people during the Great Depression. These included In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Of Mice and Men, about the dreams of a pair of migrant laborers working the California soil, was critically acclaimed.

The stage adaptation of Of Mice and Men was a hit, starring Broderick Crawford as the mentally child-like but physically powerful itinerant farmhand "Lennie," and Wallace Ford as Lennie's companion, "George." However, Steinbeck refused to travel from his home in California to attend any performance of the play during its New York run, telling Kaufman that the play as it existed in his own mind was "perfect" and that anything presented on stage would only be a disappointment. Steinbeck would write two more stage plays (The Moon Is Down and Burning Bright).

Of Mice and Men was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood film, in which Lon Chaney, Jr. (who had portrayed the role in the Los Angeles production of the play) was cast as Lennie and Burgess Meredith as "George." Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath (1939), based on newspaper articles he had written in San Francisco. The novel would be considered by many to be his finest work. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, even as it was made into a notable film directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the part.

The success of The Grapes of Wrath was not free of controversy, as Steinbeck's liberal political views, portrayal of the negative side of capitalism, and mythical reinterpretation of the historical events of the Dust Bowl migrations led to backlash against the author, especially close to home. In fact, claiming the book was both obscene and misrepresented conditions in the county, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's public schools and libraries in August 1939. This ban lasted until January 1941.

Of the controversy, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not healthy."

The film versions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (by two different movie studios) were in production simultaneously, allowing Steinbeck to spend a full day on the set of The Grapes of Wrath and the next day on the set of Of Mice and Men.
Ed Ricketts
Ed Ricketts

In the 1930s and 1940s, Ed Ricketts strongly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck frequently took small trips with Ricketts along the California coast to collect biological specimens which Ricketts sold for a living and give Steinbeck time off from his writing. Their joint book about a collecting expedition to the Gulf of California in 1940, which was part travelogue and part natural history, published just as the U.S. entered World War II, never found an audience and did not sell well. However, in 1951, Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of the book as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, under his name only (though Ricketts had written some of it). This work remains in print today.

Ricketts was Steinbeck's model for the character of "Doc" in Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday (1954), "Friend Ed" in Burning Bright, and characters in In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Ecological themes recur in Steinbeck's novels of the period.

Steinbeck's close relations with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and split with his wife Carol. Ricketts' biographer Eric Enno Tamm notes that, except for East of Eden (1952), Steinbeck's writing declined after Ricketts' untimely death in 1948.
n 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” On the day of the announcement (Oct. 25) when he was asked by a reporter at a press conference given by his publisher, if he thought he deserved the Nobel, he said: "Frankly, no." In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said:

    the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.
    —Steinbeck Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers: in 1953, he wrote in humor that he considered cartoonist Al Capp "possibly the best writer in the world today." . However, at his own first Nobel Prize press conference he was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: "Hemingway's short stories and nearly everything Faulkner wrote."

In September 1964, Steinbeck was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war there. Thinking of the Vietnam War as a heroic venture, he was considered a hawk for his position on that war. His sons both served in Vietnam prior to his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield (at one point being allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase, while his son and other members of his platoon slept).

After Steinbeck's death, his incomplete novel based on the King Arthur legends of Malory and others, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, was finally published in 1976.

On Feb. 27, 1979, on what would have been his 77th birthday, he was honored by being placed on a U.S. postage stamp.
Legacy
National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California

The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City, reviewer Charles Poore wrote in the New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is: The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain— and the other half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't need the Nobel Prize— the Nobel judges needed him."

Many of Steinbeck's works are on required reading lists in American high schools. In the United Kingdom, Of Mice and Men is one of the key texts used by the examining body AQA for its English Literature GCSE. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools.

At the same time, The Grapes of Wrath has been banned by school boards: In August 1939, Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's public schools and libraries. It was burned in Salinas on two different occasions. In 2003, a school board in Mississippi banned it on the grounds of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with Of Mice and Men ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States.

His books are also commonly referenced in music. Once There Was A War, an alternative metal band from Sayreville, New Jersey, derived their name from one of his novels.
Literary influences

Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as "Steinbeck Country". Most of his early work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel, Cup of Gold, which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. His childhood friend, Max Wagner, a brother of Jack Wagner and who later became a film actor, served as inspiration for The Red Pony. Later he used real American historical conditions and events in the first half of the 20th century, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

His later work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology. One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America.
Cannery Row in Monterey

Steinbeck's boyhood home, a turreted Victorian building in downtown Salinas, has been preserved and restored by the Valley Guild, a nonprofit organization. Fixed menu lunches are served Monday through Saturday, and the house is open for tours during the summer on Sunday afternoons.

The National Steinbeck Center, two blocks away at One Main Street is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author. Dana Gioia (chair of the National Endowment for the Arts) told an audience at the Center, "This is really the best modern literary shrine in the country, and I've seen them all." Its Steinbeckiana includes Rocinante, the camper truck in which Steinbeck made the cross-country trip described in "Travels with Charley."

His father's cottage on Eleventh Street in Pacific Grove, where Steinbeck wrote some of his earliest books, also survives.

In Monterey, Ed Ricketts' laboratory survives (though it is not yet open to the public) and at the corner which Steinbeck describes in Cannery Row, also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hobos of Cannery Row. The sardine cannery next to Doc's lab closed down long ago and the site is now occupied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The town has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from Cannery Row and historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts.
Commemoration

On Feb 27, 1979, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service’s Literary Arts series honoring American writers.

John Steinbeck Official First Day Stamp Cover

On December 5, 2007 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Steinbeck into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. His son, author Thomas Steinbeck, accepted the award on his behalf.
Major works
Of Mice and Men
Main article: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written in the form of a play in 1937. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to work up enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. It encompasses themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl, Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into a movie three times, in 1939 starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., and Betty Field, in 1982 starring Randy Quaid, Robert Blake and Ted Neeley, and in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich.
The Grapes of Wrath
Main article: The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. The book is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The book was made into a film in 1940 starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford.
East of Eden
Main article: East of Eden

Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons - based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry - and the Trasks, reprising stories about the Biblical Adam and his progeny. The book was published in 1952.
Travels With Charley
Main article: Travels With Charley: In Search of America

In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-built camper top — which was rare at the time — and drove across the United States with his faithful 'blue' poodle, Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truck Rocinante after Don Quixote's "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees from Maine to Montana to California, and from there to Texas and Louisiana and back to his home in Long Island. The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.
Bibliography

    * Cup of Gold (1927)
    * The Pastures of Heaven (1932)
    * The Red Pony (1933)
    * To a God Unknown (1933)
    * Tortilla Flat (1935)
    * In Dubious Battle (1936)
    * The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath (1936)
    * Of Mice and Men (1937)
    * The Long Valley (1938)
    * The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
    * The Forgotten Village (1941)
    * Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941)
    * The Moon Is Down (1942)
    * Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team (1942)
    * Cannery Row (1945)
    * The Wayward Bus (1947)
    * The Pearl (1947)
    * A Russian Journal (1948)
    * Burning Bright (1950)
    * The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951)
    * East of Eden (1952)
    * Sweet Thursday (1954)
    * The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication (1957)
    * Once There Was A War (1958)
    * The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
    * Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)
    * America and Americans (1966)
    * Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters (1969)
    * Viva Zapata! (1975)
    * The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)
    * Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath (1989)

Filmography

    * 1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
    * 1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
    * 1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
    * 1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
    * 1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
    * 1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
    * 1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
    * 1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
    * 1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
    * 1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
    * 1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
    * 1956—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
    * 1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
    * 1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
    * 1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
    * 1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
    * 1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r64/meniaf/john-steinbeck-200x308.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v641/ajgibboney/steinbeck.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t101/marba1065/MySpace%20Books/John_Steinbeck.jpg
Of Mice and Men is a great book!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:22 am


http://hackedgadgets.com/wp-content/computer_mouse_using_a_real_dead_mouse_4.jpg
http://www.halloween-party-idea.net/images/minnie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:23 am


http://welcometothesalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/mouse_trap_board_and_boxjpg.jpg

I never had that game :(

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/MouseTrap.jpg

Is that going to be enough protection? ;D

http://hackedgadgets.com/wp-content/computer_mouse_using_a_real_dead_mouse_4.jpg

Nice, I have to find one of those. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:23 am

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/1790655244_defd620802.jpg

Oh dear!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:24 am


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/1790655244_defd620802.jpg

Oh dear!

Poor kitty  :(  :-\\  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:25 am


I never had that game :(
I only played it once when I was young.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:26 am

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2537/3912677296_6015981cb2_m.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:28 am

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3592206278_3ccc7c2d2f_m.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:37 am

The person who died on this day...Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright. Milligan was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles.

Milligan wrote and/or edited many books, including Puckoon and his six-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. He is also noted as a popular writer of comical verse, much of his poetry was written for children, including Silly Verse for Kids (1959). After enormous success with the ground-breaking British radio programme, The Goon Show, Milligan translated this success to television with Q5; a surreal sketch show which is credited as a major influence on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India, on 16 April 1918, the son of an Irish-born father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, MSM, RA (1890-1969), who was serving in the British Indian Army. His mother, Florence Mary Winifred Kettleband (1893-1990), was born in England. He spent his childhood in Poona (India) and later in Rangoon, capital of Burma (Myanmar). He was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Poona, and St Paul's Christian Brothers, de la Salle, Rangoon.

He lived most of his life in England and served in the British Army, in the Royal Artillery during World War II.
illigan returned to jazz in the late 1940s and made a precarious living with the Hall trio and other musical comedy acts. He was also trying to break into the world of radio, as either a performer or as a script writer. His first success in radio was as writer for comedian Derek Roy's show. After a delayed start, Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine joined forces in a relatively radical comedy project, The Goon Show. During its first season the BBC titled the show as Crazy People, or in full, "The Junior Crazy Gang featuring those Crazy People, the Goons!", an attempt to make the programme palatable to BBC officials by connecting it with the popular group of theatre comedians known as The Crazy Gang.

The first episode was broadcast on 28 May 1951 on the BBC Home Service. Although he did not perform as much in the early shows Milligan eventually became a lead performer in almost all of the Goon Show episodes, portraying a wide range of characters including Eccles, Minnie Bannister, Willium Mate, Jim Spriggs and the nefarious Count Moriarty. He was also the primary author of most of the scripts, although he co-wrote many scripts with various collaborators, most notably Larry Stephens and Eric Sykes. Most of the early shows were co-written with Stephens (and edited by Jimmy Grafton) but this partnership faltered after Series 3. Milligan wrote most of Series 4 himself, but from Series 5 (coinciding with the birth of the Milligans' second child Sean) and through most of Series 6, Milligan collaborated with Eric Sykes, a development that grew out of Milligan's contemporary business collaboration with Sykes in Associated London Scripts. Milligan and Stephens reunited during Series 6, but towards the end of Series 8 Stephens was sidelined by health problems, and Milligan worked briefly with John Antrobus. The Milligan-Stephens partnership was finally ended by Stephens' untimely death from a brain hemorrage in January 1959 and Milligan later downplayed and disparaged Stephens' contributions.

The Goon Show was recorded before a studio audience, and during the audience warm-up session, Milligan would play the trumpet, while Peter Sellers played on the orchestra's drums. For the first few years the shows were recorded live, direct to 16-inch transcription disc, which required the cast to adhere closely to the script, but by Series 4 the BBC had adopted the use of magnetic tape. Milligan eagerly exploited the possibilities the new technology offered -- the tapes could be edited, so the cast could now ad-lib freely, and tape also enabled the creation of groundbreaking sound effects. Over the first three series Milligan's demands for increasingly complex sound effects (or 'grams', as they were then known) pushed the available technology and the skills of the BBC engineers to their limits -- effects had to be created mechanically (foley) or played back from discs, sometimes requiring the use of four or five turntables running simultaneously. With magnetic tape, these effects could be produced in advance and the BBC engineers were able to create highly complex, tightly edited effects 'stings' that would have been very difficult (if not impossible) to perform using foley or disc. In the later years of the series many Goon Show 'grams' were produced for the series by members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a notable example being the famous "Bloodnok's Stomach" effect, realised by Dick Mills.

Although The Goons elevated Milligan to international stardom, the demands of writing and performing the series took a heavy toll. During Series 3 he suffered the first of several serious mental breakdowns, which also marked the onset of a decades-long cycle of manic/depressive illness. In late 1952, possibly exacerbated by suppressed tensions between the Goons stars, Milligan apparently became irrationally convinced that he had to kill Peter Sellers, but when he attempted to gain entry to Sellers' neighbouring flat, armed with a potato knife, he accidentally walked straight through the plate-glass front door. He was hospitalised, heavily sedated for two weeks, and spent almost two months recuperating; fortunately, a backlog of scripts meant that his illness had little effect on the production of The Goon Show. Milligan later blamed the pressure of writing and performing The Goon Show for both his breakdown and the failure of his first marriage.
Television

Milligan made several forays into television as a writer-performer, in addition to his many guest appearances on interview, variety and sketch comedy series from the 1950s to the 2000s.

The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d (1956) starring Peter Sellers was the first attempt to translate Goon humour to TV; it was followed by A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred, both made during 1956 and directed by Richard Lester, who went on to work with The Beatles. In 1961 Milligan co-wrote two episodes of the popular sitcom Sykes and A..., co-starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques.

The 15-minute series The Telegoons (1963) was the next attempt to transplant The Goons to television, this time using puppet versions of the familiar characters. The initial intention was to 'visualise' original recordings of 1950s Goon Show episodes, but this proved difficult to achieve in practice due to the rapid-fire dialogue and was ultimately frustrated by the BBC's refusal to allow the original audio to be used. 15-minute adaptations of the original scripts by Maurice Wiltshire were used instead, with Milligan, Sellers and Seacombe reuniting to provide the voices; according to a contemporary press report, they received the highest fees the BBC had ever paid for 15-minute shows. Two series were made in 1963 and 1964 and (presumably because it was shot on 35mm film rather than video) the entire series has reportedly been preserved in the BBC archives.

Milligan's next major TV venture was the sketch comedy series The World of Beachcomber (BBC, 1968); it is thought that all 19 episodes are now lost.

In 1968 the three Goons reunited for a televised re-staging of a vintage Goon Show for Thames Television, with John Cleese substituting for the late Wallace Greenslade, but the pilot was not successful and no further programs were made.

In early 1969 Milligan starred in the ill-fated situation comedy Curry & Chips, created and written by Johnny Speight and featuring Milligan's old friend and colleague Eric Sykes. Curry & Chips set out to satirize racist attitudes in Britain in a similar vein to Speight's earlier creation, the hugely successful Till Death Us Do Part, with Milligan 'blacking up' to play Kevin O'Grady, a half-Pakistani/half-Irish factory worker. The series generated numerous complaints because of its frequent use of racist epithets and 'bad language' - one viewer reportedly complained of counting 59 uses of the word "bloody" in one episode - and it was cancelled on the orders of the Independent Broadcasting Authority after only six episodes.

Later that year, Milligan was commissioned by the BBC to write and star in Q5, the first in the innovative "Q" TV series, acknowledged as an important precursor to Monty Python's Flying Circus, which premiered several months later. However there was a hiatus of several years before the BBC commissioned Q6 in 1975. Q7 appeared in 1977, Q8 in 1978, Q9 in 1980 and There's a Lot of It About in 1982. Milligan later complained of the BBC's cold attitude towards the series and stated that he would have made more programs had he been given the opportunity.

The Bed-Sitting Room

In 1961-62, during the long pauses between the matinee and the evening show of Treasure Island, Milligan began talking to Miles about the idea he and John Antrobus were exploring of a dramatized post-nuclear world. This became the one-act play The Bed-Sitting Room, which Milligan co-wrote with John Antrobus, and which premiered at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on 12 February 1962. It was adapted to a longer play, and staged by Miles at London's Mermaid Theatre, making its debut on 31 January 1963. It was a critical and commercial success, and was revived in 1967 with a provincial tour before opening at London's Saville Theatre on 3 May 1967. Finally it was made into a film in 1969.
illustrated in the description of his involvement in theatre, Milligan often ad-libbed. He also did this on radio and television. One of his last screen appearances was in the BBC dramatisation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, and he was (almost inevitably) noted as an ad-libber.

One of Milligan's most famous ad-lib incidents occurred during a visit to Australia in the late 1960s. He was interviewed live on air and remained in the studio for the news broadcast that followed (read by Rod McNeil), during which Milligan constantly interjected, adding his own name to news items. As a result, he was banned from making any further live appearances on the ABC.
Cartoons and art

Milligan contributed occasional cartoons to the satirical magazine Private Eye. Most were visualizations of one-line jokes. For example, a young boy sees the Concorde and asks his father "What's that?". The reply is "That's a flying groundnut scheme, son." Aside from his well-known comedy and poetry, Milligan was a keen painter.
Advertising

In 1967, applying a satirical angle to a fashion for the inclusion of “superman” inspired characters in UK television commercials, Milligan dressed up in a “Bat-Goons” outfit to head up a series of television commercials for British Petroleum. A contemporary reporter found the TV commercials “funny and effective”. From 1980 to 1982, Milligan advertised for the English Tourist Board, playing a Scotsman on a visit around the different regions of England.
He suffered from severe bipolar disorder for most of his life, having at least ten major mental breakdowns, several lasting over a year. He spoke candidly about his condition and its effect on his life:

   I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning - I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going - so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet.

Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales was a fan, and Milligan caused a stir by calling him a "little grovelling bastard" on live television in 1994. He later faxed the prince, saying "I suppose a knighthood is out of the question?" In reality he and the Prince were very close friends, and he was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) (honorary because of his Irish citizenship) in 2000. He had been made an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992.
Campaigning

He was a strident campaigner on environmental matters, particularly arguing against unnecessary noise, such as the use of muzak.

In 1971, Milligan caused controversy by attacking an art exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with a hammer. The exhibit consisted of catfish, oysters and shrimp that were to be electrocuted as part of the exhibition. He was a strong opponent of cruelty to animals and, during an appearance on Room 101, chose fox hunting as a pet hate, and succeeded in banishing it to the eponymous room.

In 1996, he successfully campaigned for the restoration of London's Elfin Oak.

He was also a public opponent of domestic violence, dedicating one of his books to Erin Pizzey.
The grave of Spike Milligan in the grounds of St Thomas, Winchelsea, East Sussex. The epitaph reads "Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", Irish for "I told you I was ill."
Family

Milligan had three children with his first wife June (Marchinie) Marlow: Laura, Seán and Síle. They were married in 1952 and divorced in 1960. He had one daughter with his second wife, Patricia Ridgeway (known as Paddy): the actress Jane Milligan (b. 1966). Jane's first nanny was a New Zealander, Diana Griffiths who lived in the home with them at 127 Holden Road. Milligan and Patricia were married in June 1962 with George Martin as best man. The marriage ended in 1978 with her death. In 1975 Milligan fathered a son, James (born June 1976), in an affair with Margaret Maughan. Another child, a daughter Romany, is suspected to have been born at the same time by a Canadian journalist named Roberta Watt. His last wife was Shelagh Sinclair, to whom he was married from 1983 to his death on 27 February 2002. Four of his children have recently collaborated with documentary makers on a new multi-platform programme called I Told You I Was Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan (2005) and accompanying website.

In October 2008 an array of Milligan's personal effects were to be sold at auction by his third wife, Shelagh, who was moving into a smaller home. These included a grand piano salvaged from a demolition and apparently played every morning by Paul McCartney, a neighbour in Rye in East Sussex.
Death

Even late in life, Milligan's black humour had not deserted him. After the death of friend Harry Secombe from cancer, he said, "I'm glad he died before me, because I didn't want him to sing at my funeral." A recording of Secombe singing was played at Milligan's memorial service. He also wrote his own obituary, in which he stated repeatedly that he "wrote the Goon show and died".

Milligan died from liver disease, at the age of 83, on 27 February 2002, at his home in Rye, East Sussex. On the day of his funeral, 8 March 2002, his coffin was carried to St Thomas's Church in Winchelsea, Sussex, and was draped in the flag of the Republic of Ireland. He had once quipped that he wanted his headstone to bear the words "I told you I was ill." He was buried at St Thomas's Church cemetery in Winchelsea, East Sussex, but the Chichester Diocese refused to allow this epitaph. A compromise was reached with the Irish translation, "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", and additionally in English, "Love, light, peace".
Legacy
The Holden Road plaque

From the 1960s onwards Milligan was a regular correspondent with Robert Graves. Milligan's letters to Graves usually addressed a question to do with classical studies. The letters form part of Graves' bequest to St. John's College, Oxford.

The film of Puckoon, starring Sean Hughes and including Milligan's daughter, the actress Jane Milligan, was released after his death.

Milligan lived for several years in Holden Road, Woodside Park and at The Crescent, Barnet, and was a strong supporter of the Finchley Society. His old house in Woodside Park is now demolished, but there is a blue plaque in his memory on the new house on the site. The Finchley Society is trying to get a statue of him erected in Finchley. There is also a campaign to erect a statue in the London Borough of Lewisham where he grew up (see Honor Oak). After coming to the UK from India in the 1930s he lived at 50 Riseldine Road, Brockley and attended Brownhill Boys' school (later to become Catford Boys' School which was demolished in 1994). Lynsey De Paul is a patron of the Spike Milligan Statue Memorial Fund. There is a plaque and bench located at the Wadestown Library, Wellington New Zealand in an area called Spike Milligan corner.

In a BBC poll in August 1999, Spike Milligan was voted the "funniest person of the last 1000 years". Also, in a 2005 poll to find The Comedians' Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Milligan has been portrayed twice in films. In the adaptation of his novel Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, he was played by Jim Dale, while Milligan himself played his own father. He was also portrayed by Edward Tudor-Pole in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). In a 2008 stage play, Surviving Spike, Milligan was played by the entertainer Michael Barrymore.

On 9 June 2006 it was reported that Professor Richard Wiseman had identified Milligan as the writer of the world's funniest joke as decided by the Laughlab project. Professor Wiseman said the joke contained all three elements of what makes a good gag: anxiety, a feeling of superiority, and an element of surprise.

Eddie Izzard described Milligan as "The Godfather of Alternative Comedy". "From his unchained mind came forth ideas that just had no boundaries. And he influenced a new generation of comedians who came to be known as 'alternative'." Members of Monty Python greatly admired him. In one interview, which was widely quoted at the time, John Cleese stated "Milligan is the Great God to all of us". The Pythons gave Milligan a cameo role in their 1979 film, Monty Python's Life of Brian, when Milligan happened to be holidaying in Tunisia, near where it was being filmed. Graham Chapman gave him a minor part in Yellowbeard.

Apart from those cited above, a number of people have played tribute to Milligan's influence on them, with 49 such people contributing to Maxine Ventham's (2002) book "Spike Milligan: His Part in Our Lives".
Radio comedy shows

   * The Goon Show (1951–1960)
   * The Idiot Weekly (1958–1962)
   * The Omar Khayyam Show (1963–1964)
   * Milligna (or Your Favourite Spike) (1972) The title is based on Milligan's introduction in The Last Goon Show of All as "Spike Milligna, the well-known typing error".
   * The Milligan Papers (1987)

Other radio shows

Milligan contributed his recollections of his childhood in India for the acclaimed 1970s BBC audio history series Plain Tales From The Raj. The series was published in book form in 1975 by Andre Deutsch, edited by Charles Allen.
TV comedy shows

   * The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d
   * A Show Called Fred
   * Son of Fred
   * The World of Beachcomber
   * The Q series: Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, and There's a Lot of It About
   * Curry & Chips

Other notable TV involvement

   * Six-Five Special, first aired on 31 August 1957. Spike Milligan plays an inventor, Mr. Pym, and acts as a butcher in a sketch.
   * This is Your Life, 11 April 1973. With Sellers, Bentine, and many others. Secombe spoke via a TV recording, as did his great friend Robert Graves.
   * In 1975 Milligan co-wrote (with Neil Shand) and co-starred in a BBC TV sitcom called The Melting Pot. Its cast of characters included two illegal Indian immigrants, an Irish landlord, a Chinese Cockney, a Scottish Arab and numerous other racial stereotypes. After screening the pilot, the series was deemed to be too offensive for transmission. Five episodes remain unseen. Some of the characters and situations were reused in Milligan's novel, The Looney.
   * Tiswas - 1981 edition.
   * Guest appearing along with Peter Cook in Kenny Everett's Christmas Show in 1985.
   * Playing a moaning stranger in an episode from 1987 of In Sickness and in Health.
   * Narrator of The Ratties (1987), a children's cartoon series written by Mike Wallis and Laura Milligan, Spike's daughter.
   * The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town ran as a serial in The Two Ronnies in the 1970s.
   * Special guest star of the 18 January 1979 edition of The Muppet Show
   * Guest star in the 3rd episode of the award-winning BBC Scotland drama series Takin' Over the Asylum (1994)
   * Narrated the 1995 TV show Wolves, Witches and Giants. A cartoon based on the book of the same name, it retold classic tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, but with a twist. The programme won the 1995 Royal Television Society award for Best Children's Entertainment, and was nominated for the same award again in 1997.
   * Guest on Series 4, Episode 3 of Room 101 in 1999

Theatre

   * Treasure Island (1961, 1973–1975)
   * The Bed-Sitting Room (1963, 1967) written by Milligan and John Antrobus
   * Oblomov opened at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1964. It was based on the Russian classic by Ivan Goncharov, and gave Milligan the opportunity to play most of the title role in bed. Unsure of his material, on the opening night he improvised a great deal, treating the audience as part of the plot almost, and he continued in this manner for the rest of the run, and on tour as 'Son Of Oblomov'. The show ran at The Comedy Theatre in London's West end in 1965.

Films

   * Down Among the Z Men (1952), played Eccles in a black-and-white secret agent comedy with all the Goons, including early member Michael Bentine and original announcer Andrew Timothy.
   * The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (1956), a Goon-like 2-reel comedy ("Mukkinese" = "mucky knees").
   * The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1960), a silent comedy, Richard Lester's debut film.
   * Country postman Harold Petts in Postman's Knock (1962).
   * The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), post-apocalyptic comedy with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and also Arthur Lowe; written by John Antrobus based on the Milligan/Antrobus play. Milligan had a small role as a postman named "Mate", which was also the name of a Goon Show character.
   * The traffic warden who eats the ticket in The Magic Christian (1969).
   * Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972) as Gryphon.
   * Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (1972), a film of the first volume of his autobiography. Spike played the part of his father. The role of the young Spike Milligan was played by Jim Dale.
   * The decrepit manager of a seedy London hotel in Bruce Beresford's The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972).
   * Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973) children's comedy.
   * Monsieur Bonacieux, husband of Madame Bonacieux (Raquel Welch) in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973).
   * The Great McGonagall (1974), untalented Scottish poet (based on William Topaz McGonagall) angles to become laureate, with Peter Sellers as Queen Victoria.
   * The decrepit Geste family retainer Crumpet in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), with Marty Feldman.
   * A policeman who briefly talks to Dr. Watson and Stapleton when they first arrive on the moors in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
   * The prophet abandoned by his flock in Life of Brian (1979).
   * Monsieur Rimbaud in History of the World, Part I (1981).
   * A royal herald flunkie who accidentally blows a spy's cover in Yellowbeard (1983).

One of Milligan's earlier books
Books

   * Silly Verse for Kids (1959); the 1968 paperback edition omits one poem and adds some from the next two books
   * A Dustbin of Milligan (1961, Dobson Books). Subsequent reprints by Tandem, London, 1965-1975. This book contains a good representation of Milligan's earlier writing style, including poems, cartoons, short stories, letters to Secombe, and his views on some issues.
   * Goblins (1978) A collection of poems
   * The Little Pot Boiler (1963)
   * Puckoon (1963)
   * A Book of Bits, or A Bit of a Book (1965)
   * A Book of Milliganimals (1968)
   * Badjelly the Witch (1973)

   * The Goon Show Scripts (1973). London: Sphere. Milligan's selection of scripts.
   * More Goon Show Scripts (1974, paperback). London: Sphere. ISBN 0-7221-6077-1. Milligan's selection of scripts.
   * The Lost Goon Shows (1987). London: Robson. Milligan's selection of scripts.

   * The Bedsitting Room. First published in Great Britain by Margaret & Jack Hobbs, 1970. Published by Universal-Tandem, 1972. Tandem, 1973. © 1970 Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.
   * The Looney: An Irish Fantasy (1987)
   * The Bedside Milligan
   * "The War (and Peace) Memoirs"
         o The seven memoirs were also recorded as talking books with Spike reciting them in his own inimitable style.
         o Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1971)
         o "Rommel?" "Gunner Who?" (1974)
         o Monty: His Part in My Victory (1976)
               + This and the previous two books were released and publicised as the first, second and third part respectively of a trilogy.
         o Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall (1978)
               + This was announced as the fourth part of his "increasingly misnamed" trilogy.
         o Where Have All the Bullets Gone? (1985)
         o Goodbye Soldier (1986)
         o Peace Work (1992)

   * S(I_am_a_loser_who_has_no_respect_for_women)horpe Revisited, added articles and instant relatives. Michael Joseph, London. Published by Penguin. Copyright, Spike Milligan Productions, 1989. ISBN 07181.3356.0
   * Small Dreams of a Scorpion (1972)
   * Hidden Words: Collected Poems
   * Open Heart University
   * Startling Verse for All the Family
   * Sir Nobonk and the Terrible Dreadful Awful Naughty Nasty Dragon
   * A Mad Medley of Milligan
   * Transports of Delight (Sidgwick & Jackson 1974)
   * More Transports of Delight
   * Depression and How to Survive It (with Professor Anthony Clare), medical biography.
   * It Ends with Magic
   * The Murphy (Virgin, 2001)
   * Milligan's Ark
   * The Spike Milligan Letters (edited by Norma Farnes)
   * More Spike Milligan Letters (edited by Norma Farnes)
   * The Unpublished Spike Milligan BOX 18 (edited by Norma Farnes), London, Fourth Estate, 2006. ISBN 978-0-00-721427-3.
   * The "According to" Books
         o The Bible—the Old Testament According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, October 1993)
         o Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, 1996)
         o D.H.Lawrence's John Thomas and Lady Jane: According to Spike Milligan—Part II of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (Michael Joseph, 1995)
         o Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan (Virgin, 1997)
         o The Hound of the Baskervilles According to Spike Milligan
         o Lady Chatterley's Lover According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, April 1994)
         o Robin Hood According to Spike Milligan (Virgin, 1998)
         o Treasure Island According to Spike Milligan
         o Wuthering Heights According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, 1994)
   * The Essential Spike Milligan (compiled by Alexander Games, 2002), ISBN 0-00-767358-2
   * The Compulsive Spike Milligan (Edited by Norma Farnes, 2004), ISBN 0-00-771702-4
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j210/Coyne53/spike_milligan-s.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x169/unclekalbo/TheGoons-1.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x55/derekclive35/anappleaday_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 6:37 am


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3592206278_3ccc7c2d2f_m.jpg

Now that's just wrong ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:39 am


The person who died on this day...Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright. Milligan was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles.

Milligan wrote and/or edited many books, including Puckoon and his six-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. He is also noted as a popular writer of comical verse, much of his poetry was written for children, including Silly Verse for Kids (1959). After enormous success with the ground-breaking British radio programme, The Goon Show, Milligan translated this success to television with Q5; a surreal sketch show which is credited as a major influence on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India, on 16 April 1918, the son of an Irish-born father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, MSM, RA (1890-1969), who was serving in the British Indian Army. His mother, Florence Mary Winifred Kettleband (1893-1990), was born in England. He spent his childhood in Poona (India) and later in Rangoon, capital of Burma (Myanmar). He was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Poona, and St Paul's Christian Brothers, de la Salle, Rangoon.

He lived most of his life in England and served in the British Army, in the Royal Artillery during World War II.
illigan returned to jazz in the late 1940s and made a precarious living with the Hall trio and other musical comedy acts. He was also trying to break into the world of radio, as either a performer or as a script writer. His first success in radio was as writer for comedian Derek Roy's show. After a delayed start, Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine joined forces in a relatively radical comedy project, The Goon Show. During its first season the BBC titled the show as Crazy People, or in full, "The Junior Crazy Gang featuring those Crazy People, the Goons!", an attempt to make the programme palatable to BBC officials by connecting it with the popular group of theatre comedians known as The Crazy Gang.

The first episode was broadcast on 28 May 1951 on the BBC Home Service. Although he did not perform as much in the early shows Milligan eventually became a lead performer in almost all of the Goon Show episodes, portraying a wide range of characters including Eccles, Minnie Bannister, Willium Mate, Jim Spriggs and the nefarious Count Moriarty. He was also the primary author of most of the scripts, although he co-wrote many scripts with various collaborators, most notably Larry Stephens and Eric Sykes. Most of the early shows were co-written with Stephens (and edited by Jimmy Grafton) but this partnership faltered after Series 3. Milligan wrote most of Series 4 himself, but from Series 5 (coinciding with the birth of the Milligans' second child Sean) and through most of Series 6, Milligan collaborated with Eric Sykes, a development that grew out of Milligan's contemporary business collaboration with Sykes in Associated London Scripts. Milligan and Stephens reunited during Series 6, but towards the end of Series 8 Stephens was sidelined by health problems, and Milligan worked briefly with John Antrobus. The Milligan-Stephens partnership was finally ended by Stephens' untimely death from a brain hemorrage in January 1959 and Milligan later downplayed and disparaged Stephens' contributions.

The Goon Show was recorded before a studio audience, and during the audience warm-up session, Milligan would play the trumpet, while Peter Sellers played on the orchestra's drums. For the first few years the shows were recorded live, direct to 16-inch transcription disc, which required the cast to adhere closely to the script, but by Series 4 the BBC had adopted the use of magnetic tape. Milligan eagerly exploited the possibilities the new technology offered -- the tapes could be edited, so the cast could now ad-lib freely, and tape also enabled the creation of groundbreaking sound effects. Over the first three series Milligan's demands for increasingly complex sound effects (or 'grams', as they were then known) pushed the available technology and the skills of the BBC engineers to their limits -- effects had to be created mechanically (foley) or played back from discs, sometimes requiring the use of four or five turntables running simultaneously. With magnetic tape, these effects could be produced in advance and the BBC engineers were able to create highly complex, tightly edited effects 'stings' that would have been very difficult (if not impossible) to perform using foley or disc. In the later years of the series many Goon Show 'grams' were produced for the series by members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a notable example being the famous "Bloodnok's Stomach" effect, realised by Dick Mills.

Although The Goons elevated Milligan to international stardom, the demands of writing and performing the series took a heavy toll. During Series 3 he suffered the first of several serious mental breakdowns, which also marked the onset of a decades-long cycle of manic/depressive illness. In late 1952, possibly exacerbated by suppressed tensions between the Goons stars, Milligan apparently became irrationally convinced that he had to kill Peter Sellers, but when he attempted to gain entry to Sellers' neighbouring flat, armed with a potato knife, he accidentally walked straight through the plate-glass front door. He was hospitalised, heavily sedated for two weeks, and spent almost two months recuperating; fortunately, a backlog of scripts meant that his illness had little effect on the production of The Goon Show. Milligan later blamed the pressure of writing and performing The Goon Show for both his breakdown and the failure of his first marriage.
Television

Milligan made several forays into television as a writer-performer, in addition to his many guest appearances on interview, variety and sketch comedy series from the 1950s to the 2000s.

The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d (1956) starring Peter Sellers was the first attempt to translate Goon humour to TV; it was followed by A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred, both made during 1956 and directed by Richard Lester, who went on to work with The Beatles. In 1961 Milligan co-wrote two episodes of the popular sitcom Sykes and A..., co-starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques.

The 15-minute series The Telegoons (1963) was the next attempt to transplant The Goons to television, this time using puppet versions of the familiar characters. The initial intention was to 'visualise' original recordings of 1950s Goon Show episodes, but this proved difficult to achieve in practice due to the rapid-fire dialogue and was ultimately frustrated by the BBC's refusal to allow the original audio to be used. 15-minute adaptations of the original scripts by Maurice Wiltshire were used instead, with Milligan, Sellers and Seacombe reuniting to provide the voices; according to a contemporary press report, they received the highest fees the BBC had ever paid for 15-minute shows. Two series were made in 1963 and 1964 and (presumably because it was shot on 35mm film rather than video) the entire series has reportedly been preserved in the BBC archives.

Milligan's next major TV venture was the sketch comedy series The World of Beachcomber (BBC, 1968); it is thought that all 19 episodes are now lost.

In 1968 the three Goons reunited for a televised re-staging of a vintage Goon Show for Thames Television, with John Cleese substituting for the late Wallace Greenslade, but the pilot was not successful and no further programs were made.

In early 1969 Milligan starred in the ill-fated situation comedy Curry & Chips, created and written by Johnny Speight and featuring Milligan's old friend and colleague Eric Sykes. Curry & Chips set out to satirize racist attitudes in Britain in a similar vein to Speight's earlier creation, the hugely successful Till Death Us Do Part, with Milligan 'blacking up' to play Kevin O'Grady, a half-Pakistani/half-Irish factory worker. The series generated numerous complaints because of its frequent use of racist epithets and 'bad language' - one viewer reportedly complained of counting 59 uses of the word "bloody" in one episode - and it was cancelled on the orders of the Independent Broadcasting Authority after only six episodes.

Later that year, Milligan was commissioned by the BBC to write and star in Q5, the first in the innovative "Q" TV series, acknowledged as an important precursor to Monty Python's Flying Circus, which premiered several months later. However there was a hiatus of several years before the BBC commissioned Q6 in 1975. Q7 appeared in 1977, Q8 in 1978, Q9 in 1980 and There's a Lot of It About in 1982. Milligan later complained of the BBC's cold attitude towards the series and stated that he would have made more programs had he been given the opportunity.

The Bed-Sitting Room

In 1961-62, during the long pauses between the matinee and the evening show of Treasure Island, Milligan began talking to Miles about the idea he and John Antrobus were exploring of a dramatized post-nuclear world. This became the one-act play The Bed-Sitting Room, which Milligan co-wrote with John Antrobus, and which premiered at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on 12 February 1962. It was adapted to a longer play, and staged by Miles at London's Mermaid Theatre, making its debut on 31 January 1963. It was a critical and commercial success, and was revived in 1967 with a provincial tour before opening at London's Saville Theatre on 3 May 1967. Finally it was made into a film in 1969.
illustrated in the description of his involvement in theatre, Milligan often ad-libbed. He also did this on radio and television. One of his last screen appearances was in the BBC dramatisation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, and he was (almost inevitably) noted as an ad-libber.

One of Milligan's most famous ad-lib incidents occurred during a visit to Australia in the late 1960s. He was interviewed live on air and remained in the studio for the news broadcast that followed (read by Rod McNeil), during which Milligan constantly interjected, adding his own name to news items. As a result, he was banned from making any further live appearances on the ABC.
Cartoons and art

Milligan contributed occasional cartoons to the satirical magazine Private Eye. Most were visualizations of one-line jokes. For example, a young boy sees the Concorde and asks his father "What's that?". The reply is "That's a flying groundnut scheme, son." Aside from his well-known comedy and poetry, Milligan was a keen painter.
Advertising

In 1967, applying a satirical angle to a fashion for the inclusion of “superman” inspired characters in UK television commercials, Milligan dressed up in a “Bat-Goons” outfit to head up a series of television commercials for British Petroleum. A contemporary reporter found the TV commercials “funny and effective”. From 1980 to 1982, Milligan advertised for the English Tourist Board, playing a Scotsman on a visit around the different regions of England.
He suffered from severe bipolar disorder for most of his life, having at least ten major mental breakdowns, several lasting over a year. He spoke candidly about his condition and its effect on his life:

    I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning - I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going - so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet.

Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales was a fan, and Milligan caused a stir by calling him a "little grovelling bastard" on live television in 1994. He later faxed the prince, saying "I suppose a knighthood is out of the question?" In reality he and the Prince were very close friends, and he was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) (honorary because of his Irish citizenship) in 2000. He had been made an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992.
Campaigning

He was a strident campaigner on environmental matters, particularly arguing against unnecessary noise, such as the use of muzak.

In 1971, Milligan caused controversy by attacking an art exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with a hammer. The exhibit consisted of catfish, oysters and shrimp that were to be electrocuted as part of the exhibition. He was a strong opponent of cruelty to animals and, during an appearance on Room 101, chose fox hunting as a pet hate, and succeeded in banishing it to the eponymous room.

In 1996, he successfully campaigned for the restoration of London's Elfin Oak.

He was also a public opponent of domestic violence, dedicating one of his books to Erin Pizzey.
The grave of Spike Milligan in the grounds of St Thomas, Winchelsea, East Sussex. The epitaph reads "Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", Irish for "I told you I was ill."
Family

Milligan had three children with his first wife June (Marchinie) Marlow: Laura, Seán and Síle. They were married in 1952 and divorced in 1960. He had one daughter with his second wife, Patricia Ridgeway (known as Paddy): the actress Jane Milligan (b. 1966). Jane's first nanny was a New Zealander, Diana Griffiths who lived in the home with them at 127 Holden Road. Milligan and Patricia were married in June 1962 with George Martin as best man. The marriage ended in 1978 with her death. In 1975 Milligan fathered a son, James (born June 1976), in an affair with Margaret Maughan. Another child, a daughter Romany, is suspected to have been born at the same time by a Canadian journalist named Roberta Watt. His last wife was Shelagh Sinclair, to whom he was married from 1983 to his death on 27 February 2002. Four of his children have recently collaborated with documentary makers on a new multi-platform programme called I Told You I Was Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan (2005) and accompanying website.

In October 2008 an array of Milligan's personal effects were to be sold at auction by his third wife, Shelagh, who was moving into a smaller home. These included a grand piano salvaged from a demolition and apparently played every morning by Paul McCartney, a neighbour in Rye in East Sussex.
Death

Even late in life, Milligan's black humour had not deserted him. After the death of friend Harry Secombe from cancer, he said, "I'm glad he died before me, because I didn't want him to sing at my funeral." A recording of Secombe singing was played at Milligan's memorial service. He also wrote his own obituary, in which he stated repeatedly that he "wrote the Goon show and died".

Milligan died from liver disease, at the age of 83, on 27 February 2002, at his home in Rye, East Sussex. On the day of his funeral, 8 March 2002, his coffin was carried to St Thomas's Church in Winchelsea, Sussex, and was draped in the flag of the Republic of Ireland. He had once quipped that he wanted his headstone to bear the words "I told you I was ill." He was buried at St Thomas's Church cemetery in Winchelsea, East Sussex, but the Chichester Diocese refused to allow this epitaph. A compromise was reached with the Irish translation, "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", and additionally in English, "Love, light, peace".
Legacy
The Holden Road plaque

From the 1960s onwards Milligan was a regular correspondent with Robert Graves. Milligan's letters to Graves usually addressed a question to do with classical studies. The letters form part of Graves' bequest to St. John's College, Oxford.

The film of Puckoon, starring Sean Hughes and including Milligan's daughter, the actress Jane Milligan, was released after his death.

Milligan lived for several years in Holden Road, Woodside Park and at The Crescent, Barnet, and was a strong supporter of the Finchley Society. His old house in Woodside Park is now demolished, but there is a blue plaque in his memory on the new house on the site. The Finchley Society is trying to get a statue of him erected in Finchley. There is also a campaign to erect a statue in the London Borough of Lewisham where he grew up (see Honor Oak). After coming to the UK from India in the 1930s he lived at 50 Riseldine Road, Brockley and attended Brownhill Boys' school (later to become Catford Boys' School which was demolished in 1994). Lynsey De Paul is a patron of the Spike Milligan Statue Memorial Fund. There is a plaque and bench located at the Wadestown Library, Wellington New Zealand in an area called Spike Milligan corner.

In a BBC poll in August 1999, Spike Milligan was voted the "funniest person of the last 1000 years". Also, in a 2005 poll to find The Comedians' Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Milligan has been portrayed twice in films. In the adaptation of his novel Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, he was played by Jim Dale, while Milligan himself played his own father. He was also portrayed by Edward Tudor-Pole in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). In a 2008 stage play, Surviving Spike, Milligan was played by the entertainer Michael Barrymore.

On 9 June 2006 it was reported that Professor Richard Wiseman had identified Milligan as the writer of the world's funniest joke as decided by the Laughlab project. Professor Wiseman said the joke contained all three elements of what makes a good gag: anxiety, a feeling of superiority, and an element of surprise.

Eddie Izzard described Milligan as "The Godfather of Alternative Comedy". "From his unchained mind came forth ideas that just had no boundaries. And he influenced a new generation of comedians who came to be known as 'alternative'." Members of Monty Python greatly admired him. In one interview, which was widely quoted at the time, John Cleese stated "Milligan is the Great God to all of us". The Pythons gave Milligan a cameo role in their 1979 film, Monty Python's Life of Brian, when Milligan happened to be holidaying in Tunisia, near where it was being filmed. Graham Chapman gave him a minor part in Yellowbeard.

Apart from those cited above, a number of people have played tribute to Milligan's influence on them, with 49 such people contributing to Maxine Ventham's (2002) book "Spike Milligan: His Part in Our Lives".
Radio comedy shows

    * The Goon Show (1951–1960)
    * The Idiot Weekly (1958–1962)
    * The Omar Khayyam Show (1963–1964)
    * Milligna (or Your Favourite Spike) (1972) The title is based on Milligan's introduction in The Last Goon Show of All as "Spike Milligna, the well-known typing error".
    * The Milligan Papers (1987)

Other radio shows

Milligan contributed his recollections of his childhood in India for the acclaimed 1970s BBC audio history series Plain Tales From The Raj. The series was published in book form in 1975 by Andre Deutsch, edited by Charles Allen.
TV comedy shows

    * The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d
    * A Show Called Fred
    * Son of Fred
    * The World of Beachcomber
    * The Q series: Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, and There's a Lot of It About
    * Curry & Chips

Other notable TV involvement

    * Six-Five Special, first aired on 31 August 1957. Spike Milligan plays an inventor, Mr. Pym, and acts as a butcher in a sketch.
    * This is Your Life, 11 April 1973. With Sellers, Bentine, and many others. Secombe spoke via a TV recording, as did his great friend Robert Graves.
    * In 1975 Milligan co-wrote (with Neil Shand) and co-starred in a BBC TV sitcom called The Melting Pot. Its cast of characters included two illegal Indian immigrants, an Irish landlord, a Chinese Cockney, a Scottish Arab and numerous other racial stereotypes. After screening the pilot, the series was deemed to be too offensive for transmission. Five episodes remain unseen. Some of the characters and situations were reused in Milligan's novel, The Looney.
    * Tiswas - 1981 edition.
    * Guest appearing along with Peter Cook in Kenny Everett's Christmas Show in 1985.
    * Playing a moaning stranger in an episode from 1987 of In Sickness and in Health.
    * Narrator of The Ratties (1987), a children's cartoon series written by Mike Wallis and Laura Milligan, Spike's daughter.
    * The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town ran as a serial in The Two Ronnies in the 1970s.
    * Special guest star of the 18 January 1979 edition of The Muppet Show
    * Guest star in the 3rd episode of the award-winning BBC Scotland drama series Takin' Over the Asylum (1994)
    * Narrated the 1995 TV show Wolves, Witches and Giants. A cartoon based on the book of the same name, it retold classic tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, but with a twist. The programme won the 1995 Royal Television Society award for Best Children's Entertainment, and was nominated for the same award again in 1997.
    * Guest on Series 4, Episode 3 of Room 101 in 1999

Theatre

    * Treasure Island (1961, 1973–1975)
    * The Bed-Sitting Room (1963, 1967) written by Milligan and John Antrobus
    * Oblomov opened at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1964. It was based on the Russian classic by Ivan Goncharov, and gave Milligan the opportunity to play most of the title role in bed. Unsure of his material, on the opening night he improvised a great deal, treating the audience as part of the plot almost, and he continued in this manner for the rest of the run, and on tour as 'Son Of Oblomov'. The show ran at The Comedy Theatre in London's West end in 1965.

Films

    * Down Among the Z Men (1952), played Eccles in a black-and-white secret agent comedy with all the Goons, including early member Michael Bentine and original announcer Andrew Timothy.
    * The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (1956), a Goon-like 2-reel comedy ("Mukkinese" = "mucky knees").
    * The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1960), a silent comedy, Richard Lester's debut film.
    * Country postman Harold Petts in Postman's Knock (1962).
    * The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), post-apocalyptic comedy with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and also Arthur Lowe; written by John Antrobus based on the Milligan/Antrobus play. Milligan had a small role as a postman named "Mate", which was also the name of a Goon Show character.
    * The traffic warden who eats the ticket in The Magic Christian (1969).
    * Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972) as Gryphon.
    * Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (1972), a film of the first volume of his autobiography. Spike played the part of his father. The role of the young Spike Milligan was played by Jim Dale.
    * The decrepit manager of a seedy London hotel in Bruce Beresford's The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972).
    * Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973) children's comedy.
    * Monsieur Bonacieux, husband of Madame Bonacieux (Raquel Welch) in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973).
    * The Great McGonagall (1974), untalented Scottish poet (based on William Topaz McGonagall) angles to become laureate, with Peter Sellers as Queen Victoria.
    * The decrepit Geste family retainer Crumpet in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), with Marty Feldman.
    * A policeman who briefly talks to Dr. Watson and Stapleton when they first arrive on the moors in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
    * The prophet abandoned by his flock in Life of Brian (1979).
    * Monsieur Rimbaud in History of the World, Part I (1981).
    * A royal herald flunkie who accidentally blows a spy's cover in Yellowbeard (1983).

One of Milligan's earlier books
Books

    * Silly Verse for Kids (1959); the 1968 paperback edition omits one poem and adds some from the next two books
    * A Dustbin of Milligan (1961, Dobson Books). Subsequent reprints by Tandem, London, 1965-1975. This book contains a good representation of Milligan's earlier writing style, including poems, cartoons, short stories, letters to Secombe, and his views on some issues.
    * Goblins (1978) A collection of poems
    * The Little Pot Boiler (1963)
    * Puckoon (1963)
    * A Book of Bits, or A Bit of a Book (1965)
    * A Book of Milliganimals (1968)
    * Badjelly the Witch (1973)

    * The Goon Show Scripts (1973). London: Sphere. Milligan's selection of scripts.
    * More Goon Show Scripts (1974, paperback). London: Sphere. ISBN 0-7221-6077-1. Milligan's selection of scripts.
    * The Lost Goon Shows (1987). London: Robson. Milligan's selection of scripts.

    * The Bedsitting Room. First published in Great Britain by Margaret & Jack Hobbs, 1970. Published by Universal-Tandem, 1972. Tandem, 1973. © 1970 Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.
    * The Looney: An Irish Fantasy (1987)
    * The Bedside Milligan
    * "The War (and Peace) Memoirs"
          o The seven memoirs were also recorded as talking books with Spike reciting them in his own inimitable style.
          o Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1971)
          o "Rommel?" "Gunner Who?" (1974)
          o Monty: His Part in My Victory (1976)
                + This and the previous two books were released and publicised as the first, second and third part respectively of a trilogy.
          o Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall (1978)
                + This was announced as the fourth part of his "increasingly misnamed" trilogy.
          o Where Have All the Bullets Gone? (1985)
          o Goodbye Soldier (1986)
          o Peace Work (1992)

    * S(I_am_a_loser_who_has_no_respect_for_women)horpe Revisited, added articles and instant relatives. Michael Joseph, London. Published by Penguin. Copyright, Spike Milligan Productions, 1989. ISBN 07181.3356.0
    * Small Dreams of a Scorpion (1972)
    * Hidden Words: Collected Poems
    * Open Heart University
    * Startling Verse for All the Family
    * Sir Nobonk and the Terrible Dreadful Awful Naughty Nasty Dragon
    * A Mad Medley of Milligan
    * Transports of Delight (Sidgwick & Jackson 1974)
    * More Transports of Delight
    * Depression and How to Survive It (with Professor Anthony Clare), medical biography.
    * It Ends with Magic
    * The Murphy (Virgin, 2001)
    * Milligan's Ark
    * The Spike Milligan Letters (edited by Norma Farnes)
    * More Spike Milligan Letters (edited by Norma Farnes)
    * The Unpublished Spike Milligan BOX 18 (edited by Norma Farnes), London, Fourth Estate, 2006. ISBN 978-0-00-721427-3.
    * The "According to" Books
          o The Bible—the Old Testament According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, October 1993)
          o Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, 1996)
          o D.H.Lawrence's John Thomas and Lady Jane: According to Spike Milligan—Part II of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (Michael Joseph, 1995)
          o Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan (Virgin, 1997)
          o The Hound of the Baskervilles According to Spike Milligan
          o Lady Chatterley's Lover According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, April 1994)
          o Robin Hood According to Spike Milligan (Virgin, 1998)
          o Treasure Island According to Spike Milligan
          o Wuthering Heights According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, 1994)
    * The Essential Spike Milligan (compiled by Alexander Games, 2002), ISBN 0-00-767358-2
    * The Compulsive Spike Milligan (Edited by Norma Farnes, 2004), ISBN 0-00-771702-4
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j210/Coyne53/spike_milligan-s.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x169/unclekalbo/TheGoons-1.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x55/derekclive35/anappleaday_1.jpg

Of course, he died today...

Thanks!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:50 am


The person who died on this day...Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright. Milligan was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles.

Milligan wrote and/or edited many books, including Puckoon and his six-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. He is also noted as a popular writer of comical verse, much of his poetry was written for children, including Silly Verse for Kids (1959). After enormous success with the ground-breaking British radio programme, The Goon Show, Milligan translated this success to television with Q5; a surreal sketch show which is credited as a major influence on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India, on 16 April 1918, the son of an Irish-born father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, MSM, RA (1890-1969), who was serving in the British Indian Army. His mother, Florence Mary Winifred Kettleband (1893-1990), was born in England. He spent his childhood in Poona (India) and later in Rangoon, capital of Burma (Myanmar). He was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Poona, and St Paul's Christian Brothers, de la Salle, Rangoon.

He lived most of his life in England and served in the British Army, in the Royal Artillery during World War II.
illigan returned to jazz in the late 1940s and made a precarious living with the Hall trio and other musical comedy acts. He was also trying to break into the world of radio, as either a performer or as a script writer. His first success in radio was as writer for comedian Derek Roy's show. After a delayed start, Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine joined forces in a relatively radical comedy project, The Goon Show. During its first season the BBC titled the show as Crazy People, or in full, "The Junior Crazy Gang featuring those Crazy People, the Goons!", an attempt to make the programme palatable to BBC officials by connecting it with the popular group of theatre comedians known as The Crazy Gang.

The first episode was broadcast on 28 May 1951 on the BBC Home Service. Although he did not perform as much in the early shows Milligan eventually became a lead performer in almost all of the Goon Show episodes, portraying a wide range of characters including Eccles, Minnie Bannister, Willium Mate, Jim Spriggs and the nefarious Count Moriarty. He was also the primary author of most of the scripts, although he co-wrote many scripts with various collaborators, most notably Larry Stephens and Eric Sykes. Most of the early shows were co-written with Stephens (and edited by Jimmy Grafton) but this partnership faltered after Series 3. Milligan wrote most of Series 4 himself, but from Series 5 (coinciding with the birth of the Milligans' second child Sean) and through most of Series 6, Milligan collaborated with Eric Sykes, a development that grew out of Milligan's contemporary business collaboration with Sykes in Associated London Scripts. Milligan and Stephens reunited during Series 6, but towards the end of Series 8 Stephens was sidelined by health problems, and Milligan worked briefly with John Antrobus. The Milligan-Stephens partnership was finally ended by Stephens' untimely death from a brain hemorrage in January 1959 and Milligan later downplayed and disparaged Stephens' contributions.

The Goon Show was recorded before a studio audience, and during the audience warm-up session, Milligan would play the trumpet, while Peter Sellers played on the orchestra's drums. For the first few years the shows were recorded live, direct to 16-inch transcription disc, which required the cast to adhere closely to the script, but by Series 4 the BBC had adopted the use of magnetic tape. Milligan eagerly exploited the possibilities the new technology offered -- the tapes could be edited, so the cast could now ad-lib freely, and tape also enabled the creation of groundbreaking sound effects. Over the first three series Milligan's demands for increasingly complex sound effects (or 'grams', as they were then known) pushed the available technology and the skills of the BBC engineers to their limits -- effects had to be created mechanically (foley) or played back from discs, sometimes requiring the use of four or five turntables running simultaneously. With magnetic tape, these effects could be produced in advance and the BBC engineers were able to create highly complex, tightly edited effects 'stings' that would have been very difficult (if not impossible) to perform using foley or disc. In the later years of the series many Goon Show 'grams' were produced for the series by members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a notable example being the famous "Bloodnok's Stomach" effect, realised by Dick Mills.

Although The Goons elevated Milligan to international stardom, the demands of writing and performing the series took a heavy toll. During Series 3 he suffered the first of several serious mental breakdowns, which also marked the onset of a decades-long cycle of manic/depressive illness. In late 1952, possibly exacerbated by suppressed tensions between the Goons stars, Milligan apparently became irrationally convinced that he had to kill Peter Sellers, but when he attempted to gain entry to Sellers' neighbouring flat, armed with a potato knife, he accidentally walked straight through the plate-glass front door. He was hospitalised, heavily sedated for two weeks, and spent almost two months recuperating; fortunately, a backlog of scripts meant that his illness had little effect on the production of The Goon Show. Milligan later blamed the pressure of writing and performing The Goon Show for both his breakdown and the failure of his first marriage.
Television

Milligan made several forays into television as a writer-performer, in addition to his many guest appearances on interview, variety and sketch comedy series from the 1950s to the 2000s.

The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d (1956) starring Peter Sellers was the first attempt to translate Goon humour to TV; it was followed by A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred, both made during 1956 and directed by Richard Lester, who went on to work with The Beatles. In 1961 Milligan co-wrote two episodes of the popular sitcom Sykes and A..., co-starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques.

The 15-minute series The Telegoons (1963) was the next attempt to transplant The Goons to television, this time using puppet versions of the familiar characters. The initial intention was to 'visualise' original recordings of 1950s Goon Show episodes, but this proved difficult to achieve in practice due to the rapid-fire dialogue and was ultimately frustrated by the BBC's refusal to allow the original audio to be used. 15-minute adaptations of the original scripts by Maurice Wiltshire were used instead, with Milligan, Sellers and Seacombe reuniting to provide the voices; according to a contemporary press report, they received the highest fees the BBC had ever paid for 15-minute shows. Two series were made in 1963 and 1964 and (presumably because it was shot on 35mm film rather than video) the entire series has reportedly been preserved in the BBC archives.

Milligan's next major TV venture was the sketch comedy series The World of Beachcomber (BBC, 1968); it is thought that all 19 episodes are now lost.

In 1968 the three Goons reunited for a televised re-staging of a vintage Goon Show for Thames Television, with John Cleese substituting for the late Wallace Greenslade, but the pilot was not successful and no further programs were made.

In early 1969 Milligan starred in the ill-fated situation comedy Curry & Chips, created and written by Johnny Speight and featuring Milligan's old friend and colleague Eric Sykes. Curry & Chips set out to satirize racist attitudes in Britain in a similar vein to Speight's earlier creation, the hugely successful Till Death Us Do Part, with Milligan 'blacking up' to play Kevin O'Grady, a half-Pakistani/half-Irish factory worker. The series generated numerous complaints because of its frequent use of racist epithets and 'bad language' - one viewer reportedly complained of counting 59 uses of the word "bloody" in one episode - and it was cancelled on the orders of the Independent Broadcasting Authority after only six episodes.

Later that year, Milligan was commissioned by the BBC to write and star in Q5, the first in the innovative "Q" TV series, acknowledged as an important precursor to Monty Python's Flying Circus, which premiered several months later. However there was a hiatus of several years before the BBC commissioned Q6 in 1975. Q7 appeared in 1977, Q8 in 1978, Q9 in 1980 and There's a Lot of It About in 1982. Milligan later complained of the BBC's cold attitude towards the series and stated that he would have made more programs had he been given the opportunity.

The Bed-Sitting Room

In 1961-62, during the long pauses between the matinee and the evening show of Treasure Island, Milligan began talking to Miles about the idea he and John Antrobus were exploring of a dramatized post-nuclear world. This became the one-act play The Bed-Sitting Room, which Milligan co-wrote with John Antrobus, and which premiered at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on 12 February 1962. It was adapted to a longer play, and staged by Miles at London's Mermaid Theatre, making its debut on 31 January 1963. It was a critical and commercial success, and was revived in 1967 with a provincial tour before opening at London's Saville Theatre on 3 May 1967. Finally it was made into a film in 1969.
illustrated in the description of his involvement in theatre, Milligan often ad-libbed. He also did this on radio and television. One of his last screen appearances was in the BBC dramatisation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, and he was (almost inevitably) noted as an ad-libber.

One of Milligan's most famous ad-lib incidents occurred during a visit to Australia in the late 1960s. He was interviewed live on air and remained in the studio for the news broadcast that followed (read by Rod McNeil), during which Milligan constantly interjected, adding his own name to news items. As a result, he was banned from making any further live appearances on the ABC.
Cartoons and art

Milligan contributed occasional cartoons to the satirical magazine Private Eye. Most were visualizations of one-line jokes. For example, a young boy sees the Concorde and asks his father "What's that?". The reply is "That's a flying groundnut scheme, son." Aside from his well-known comedy and poetry, Milligan was a keen painter.
Advertising

In 1967, applying a satirical angle to a fashion for the inclusion of “superman” inspired characters in UK television commercials, Milligan dressed up in a “Bat-Goons” outfit to head up a series of television commercials for British Petroleum. A contemporary reporter found the TV commercials “funny and effective”. From 1980 to 1982, Milligan advertised for the English Tourist Board, playing a Scotsman on a visit around the different regions of England.
He suffered from severe bipolar disorder for most of his life, having at least ten major mental breakdowns, several lasting over a year. He spoke candidly about his condition and its effect on his life:

    I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning - I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going - so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet.

Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales was a fan, and Milligan caused a stir by calling him a "little grovelling bastard" on live television in 1994. He later faxed the prince, saying "I suppose a knighthood is out of the question?" In reality he and the Prince were very close friends, and he was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) (honorary because of his Irish citizenship) in 2000. He had been made an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992.
Campaigning

He was a strident campaigner on environmental matters, particularly arguing against unnecessary noise, such as the use of muzak.

In 1971, Milligan caused controversy by attacking an art exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with a hammer. The exhibit consisted of catfish, oysters and shrimp that were to be electrocuted as part of the exhibition. He was a strong opponent of cruelty to animals and, during an appearance on Room 101, chose fox hunting as a pet hate, and succeeded in banishing it to the eponymous room.

In 1996, he successfully campaigned for the restoration of London's Elfin Oak.

He was also a public opponent of domestic violence, dedicating one of his books to Erin Pizzey.
The grave of Spike Milligan in the grounds of St Thomas, Winchelsea, East Sussex. The epitaph reads "Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", Irish for "I told you I was ill."
Family

Milligan had three children with his first wife June (Marchinie) Marlow: Laura, Seán and Síle. They were married in 1952 and divorced in 1960. He had one daughter with his second wife, Patricia Ridgeway (known as Paddy): the actress Jane Milligan (b. 1966). Jane's first nanny was a New Zealander, Diana Griffiths who lived in the home with them at 127 Holden Road. Milligan and Patricia were married in June 1962 with George Martin as best man. The marriage ended in 1978 with her death. In 1975 Milligan fathered a son, James (born June 1976), in an affair with Margaret Maughan. Another child, a daughter Romany, is suspected to have been born at the same time by a Canadian journalist named Roberta Watt. His last wife was Shelagh Sinclair, to whom he was married from 1983 to his death on 27 February 2002. Four of his children have recently collaborated with documentary makers on a new multi-platform programme called I Told You I Was Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan (2005) and accompanying website.

In October 2008 an array of Milligan's personal effects were to be sold at auction by his third wife, Shelagh, who was moving into a smaller home. These included a grand piano salvaged from a demolition and apparently played every morning by Paul McCartney, a neighbour in Rye in East Sussex.
Death

Even late in life, Milligan's black humour had not deserted him. After the death of friend Harry Secombe from cancer, he said, "I'm glad he died before me, because I didn't want him to sing at my funeral." A recording of Secombe singing was played at Milligan's memorial service. He also wrote his own obituary, in which he stated repeatedly that he "wrote the Goon show and died".

Milligan died from liver disease, at the age of 83, on 27 February 2002, at his home in Rye, East Sussex. On the day of his funeral, 8 March 2002, his coffin was carried to St Thomas's Church in Winchelsea, Sussex, and was draped in the flag of the Republic of Ireland. He had once quipped that he wanted his headstone to bear the words "I told you I was ill." He was buried at St Thomas's Church cemetery in Winchelsea, East Sussex, but the Chichester Diocese refused to allow this epitaph. A compromise was reached with the Irish translation, "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite", and additionally in English, "Love, light, peace".
Legacy
The Holden Road plaque

From the 1960s onwards Milligan was a regular correspondent with Robert Graves. Milligan's letters to Graves usually addressed a question to do with classical studies. The letters form part of Graves' bequest to St. John's College, Oxford.

The film of Puckoon, starring Sean Hughes and including Milligan's daughter, the actress Jane Milligan, was released after his death.

Milligan lived for several years in Holden Road, Woodside Park and at The Crescent, Barnet, and was a strong supporter of the Finchley Society. His old house in Woodside Park is now demolished, but there is a blue plaque in his memory on the new house on the site. The Finchley Society is trying to get a statue of him erected in Finchley. There is also a campaign to erect a statue in the London Borough of Lewisham where he grew up (see Honor Oak). After coming to the UK from India in the 1930s he lived at 50 Riseldine Road, Brockley and attended Brownhill Boys' school (later to become Catford Boys' School which was demolished in 1994). Lynsey De Paul is a patron of the Spike Milligan Statue Memorial Fund. There is a plaque and bench located at the Wadestown Library, Wellington New Zealand in an area called Spike Milligan corner.

In a BBC poll in August 1999, Spike Milligan was voted the "funniest person of the last 1000 years". Also, in a 2005 poll to find The Comedians' Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Milligan has been portrayed twice in films. In the adaptation of his novel Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall, he was played by Jim Dale, while Milligan himself played his own father. He was also portrayed by Edward Tudor-Pole in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). In a 2008 stage play, Surviving Spike, Milligan was played by the entertainer Michael Barrymore.

On 9 June 2006 it was reported that Professor Richard Wiseman had identified Milligan as the writer of the world's funniest joke as decided by the Laughlab project. Professor Wiseman said the joke contained all three elements of what makes a good gag: anxiety, a feeling of superiority, and an element of surprise.

Eddie Izzard described Milligan as "The Godfather of Alternative Comedy". "From his unchained mind came forth ideas that just had no boundaries. And he influenced a new generation of comedians who came to be known as 'alternative'." Members of Monty Python greatly admired him. In one interview, which was widely quoted at the time, John Cleese stated "Milligan is the Great God to all of us". The Pythons gave Milligan a cameo role in their 1979 film, Monty Python's Life of Brian, when Milligan happened to be holidaying in Tunisia, near where it was being filmed. Graham Chapman gave him a minor part in Yellowbeard.

Apart from those cited above, a number of people have played tribute to Milligan's influence on them, with 49 such people contributing to Maxine Ventham's (2002) book "Spike Milligan: His Part in Our Lives".
Radio comedy shows

    * The Goon Show (1951–1960)
    * The Idiot Weekly (1958–1962)
    * The Omar Khayyam Show (1963–1964)
    * Milligna (or Your Favourite Spike) (1972) The title is based on Milligan's introduction in The Last Goon Show of All as "Spike Milligna, the well-known typing error".
    * The Milligan Papers (1987)

Other radio shows

Milligan contributed his recollections of his childhood in India for the acclaimed 1970s BBC audio history series Plain Tales From The Raj. The series was published in book form in 1975 by Andre Deutsch, edited by Charles Allen.
TV comedy shows

    * The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d
    * A Show Called Fred
    * Son of Fred
    * The World of Beachcomber
    * The Q series: Q5, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, and There's a Lot of It About
    * Curry & Chips

Other notable TV involvement

    * Six-Five Special, first aired on 31 August 1957. Spike Milligan plays an inventor, Mr. Pym, and acts as a butcher in a sketch.
    * This is Your Life, 11 April 1973. With Sellers, Bentine, and many others. Secombe spoke via a TV recording, as did his great friend Robert Graves.
    * In 1975 Milligan co-wrote (with Neil Shand) and co-starred in a BBC TV sitcom called The Melting Pot. Its cast of characters included two illegal Indian immigrants, an Irish landlord, a Chinese Cockney, a Scottish Arab and numerous other racial stereotypes. After screening the pilot, the series was deemed to be too offensive for transmission. Five episodes remain unseen. Some of the characters and situations were reused in Milligan's novel, The Looney.
    * Tiswas - 1981 edition.
    * Guest appearing along with Peter Cook in Kenny Everett's Christmas Show in 1985.
    * Playing a moaning stranger in an episode from 1987 of In Sickness and in Health.
    * Narrator of The Ratties (1987), a children's cartoon series written by Mike Wallis and Laura Milligan, Spike's daughter.
    * The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town ran as a serial in The Two Ronnies in the 1970s.
    * Special guest star of the 18 January 1979 edition of The Muppet Show
    * Guest star in the 3rd episode of the award-winning BBC Scotland drama series Takin' Over the Asylum (1994)
    * Narrated the 1995 TV show Wolves, Witches and Giants. A cartoon based on the book of the same name, it retold classic tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, but with a twist. The programme won the 1995 Royal Television Society award for Best Children's Entertainment, and was nominated for the same award again in 1997.
    * Guest on Series 4, Episode 3 of Room 101 in 1999

Theatre

    * Treasure Island (1961, 1973–1975)
    * The Bed-Sitting Room (1963, 1967) written by Milligan and John Antrobus
    * Oblomov opened at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1964. It was based on the Russian classic by Ivan Goncharov, and gave Milligan the opportunity to play most of the title role in bed. Unsure of his material, on the opening night he improvised a great deal, treating the audience as part of the plot almost, and he continued in this manner for the rest of the run, and on tour as 'Son Of Oblomov'. The show ran at The Comedy Theatre in London's West end in 1965.

Films

    * Down Among the Z Men (1952), played Eccles in a black-and-white secret agent comedy with all the Goons, including early member Michael Bentine and original announcer Andrew Timothy.
    * The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (1956), a Goon-like 2-reel comedy ("Mukkinese" = "mucky knees").
    * The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1960), a silent comedy, Richard Lester's debut film.
    * Country postman Harold Petts in Postman's Knock (1962).
    * The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), post-apocalyptic comedy with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and also Arthur Lowe; written by John Antrobus based on the Milligan/Antrobus play. Milligan had a small role as a postman named "Mate", which was also the name of a Goon Show character.
    * The traffic warden who eats the ticket in The Magic Christian (1969).
    * Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972) as Gryphon.
    * Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (1972), a film of the first volume of his autobiography. Spike played the part of his father. The role of the young Spike Milligan was played by Jim Dale.
    * The decrepit manager of a seedy London hotel in Bruce Beresford's The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972).
    * Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973) children's comedy.
    * Monsieur Bonacieux, husband of Madame Bonacieux (Raquel Welch) in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973).
    * The Great McGonagall (1974), untalented Scottish poet (based on William Topaz McGonagall) angles to become laureate, with Peter Sellers as Queen Victoria.
    * The decrepit Geste family retainer Crumpet in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), with Marty Feldman.
    * A policeman who briefly talks to Dr. Watson and Stapleton when they first arrive on the moors in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
    * The prophet abandoned by his flock in Life of Brian (1979).
    * Monsieur Rimbaud in History of the World, Part I (1981).
    * A royal herald flunkie who accidentally blows a spy's cover in Yellowbeard (1983).

One of Milligan's earlier books
Books

    * Silly Verse for Kids (1959); the 1968 paperback edition omits one poem and adds some from the next two books
    * A Dustbin of Milligan (1961, Dobson Books). Subsequent reprints by Tandem, London, 1965-1975. This book contains a good representation of Milligan's earlier writing style, including poems, cartoons, short stories, letters to Secombe, and his views on some issues.
    * Goblins (1978) A collection of poems
    * The Little Pot Boiler (1963)
    * Puckoon (1963)
    * A Book of Bits, or A Bit of a Book (1965)
    * A Book of Milliganimals (1968)
    * Badjelly the Witch (1973)

    * The Goon Show Scripts (1973). London: Sphere. Milligan's selection of scripts.
    * More Goon Show Scripts (1974, paperback). London: Sphere. ISBN 0-7221-6077-1. Milligan's selection of scripts.
    * The Lost Goon Shows (1987). London: Robson. Milligan's selection of scripts.

    * The Bedsitting Room. First published in Great Britain by Margaret & Jack Hobbs, 1970. Published by Universal-Tandem, 1972. Tandem, 1973. © 1970 Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.
    * The Looney: An Irish Fantasy (1987)
    * The Bedside Milligan
    * "The War (and Peace) Memoirs"
          o The seven memoirs were also recorded as talking books with Spike reciting them in his own inimitable style.
          o Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1971)
          o "Rommel?" "Gunner Who?" (1974)
          o Monty: His Part in My Victory (1976)
                + This and the previous two books were released and publicised as the first, second and third part respectively of a trilogy.
          o Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall (1978)
                + This was announced as the fourth part of his "increasingly misnamed" trilogy.
          o Where Have All the Bullets Gone? (1985)
          o Goodbye Soldier (1986)
          o Peace Work (1992)

    * S(I_am_a_loser_who_has_no_respect_for_women)horpe Revisited, added articles and instant relatives. Michael Joseph, London. Published by Penguin. Copyright, Spike Milligan Productions, 1989. ISBN 07181.3356.0
    * Small Dreams of a Scorpion (1972)
    * Hidden Words: Collected Poems
    * Open Heart University
    * Startling Verse for All the Family
    * Sir Nobonk and the Terrible Dreadful Awful Naughty Nasty Dragon
    * A Mad Medley of Milligan
    * Transports of Delight (Sidgwick & Jackson 1974)
    * More Transports of Delight
    * Depression and How to Survive It (with Professor Anthony Clare), medical biography.
    * It Ends with Magic
    * The Murphy (Virgin, 2001)
    * Milligan's Ark
    * The Spike Milligan Letters (edited by Norma Farnes)
    * More Spike Milligan Letters (edited by Norma Farnes)
    * The Unpublished Spike Milligan BOX 18 (edited by Norma Farnes), London, Fourth Estate, 2006. ISBN 978-0-00-721427-3.
    * The "According to" Books
          o The Bible—the Old Testament According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, October 1993)
          o Black Beauty According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, 1996)
          o D.H.Lawrence's John Thomas and Lady Jane: According to Spike Milligan—Part II of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (Michael Joseph, 1995)
          o Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan (Virgin, 1997)
          o The Hound of the Baskervilles According to Spike Milligan
          o Lady Chatterley's Lover According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, April 1994)
          o Robin Hood According to Spike Milligan (Virgin, 1998)
          o Treasure Island According to Spike Milligan
          o Wuthering Heights According to Spike Milligan (Michael Joseph, 1994)
    * The Essential Spike Milligan (compiled by Alexander Games, 2002), ISBN 0-00-767358-2
    * The Compulsive Spike Milligan (Edited by Norma Farnes, 2004), ISBN 0-00-771702-4
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j210/Coyne53/spike_milligan-s.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x169/unclekalbo/TheGoons-1.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x55/derekclive35/anappleaday_1.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkOAUht3G5o

A classic moment from Spike Milligan at the British Comedy Awards in 1994 called Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales a "little grovelling bastard".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:56 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffkYD2_uTzg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 6:58 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qClVtN1ELgA

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 7:29 am


Of course, he died today...

Thanks!

I thought you would like if I did him :)
I had to leave some things out because there was too many words.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 7:31 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkOAUht3G5o

A classic moment from Spike Milligan at the British Comedy Awards in 1994 called Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales a "little grovelling bastard".

I tried to watch it, but it said it was blocked in my country. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 7:33 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffkYD2_uTzg

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/10 at 7:34 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qClVtN1ELgA

My brains not working, what's the name of the song? I know it but can't think of the title.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/27/10 at 10:13 am


http://welcometothesalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/mouse_trap_board_and_boxjpg.jpg



We had that game. I don't recall ever playing it-I just remembered that it took so long to put it together that I got bored before we actually played.  :D ;D ;D



http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3592206278_3ccc7c2d2f_m.jpg



My niece has that job-SERIOUSLY!!! She recently got a job working at Disneyland in California where she is either Mikey, Minnie, Milo, Stitch, Chip, or Dale.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/27/10 at 10:19 am


My brains not working, what's the name of the song? I know it but can't think of the title.



Rhapsody in Blue-by George Gershwin


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 10:19 am


My brains not working, what's the name of the song? I know it but can't think of the title.
Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 10:20 am



Rhapsody in Blue-by George Gershwin


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc




Cat

Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin
You beat me to it!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/27/10 at 10:23 am


You beat me to it!



My brother (who plays the piano by ear) was going to learn how to play that-using music. He would look at the music, look down at the piano, play a chord, look up at the music, look down at the piano, play a chord, etc. etc. etc. He finally got it where you know what he was trying to play but he stumbled through it. My dad (who could have been a concert pianist in his heyday), came in, sat down at the piano, opened the music and played it as if he played it everyday of his life. The look on my brother's face was...well, let's just say if looks could kill.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/10 at 11:32 am



My brother (who plays the piano by ear) was going to learn how to play that-using music. He would look at the music, look down at the piano, play a chord, look up at the music, look down at the piano, play a chord, etc. etc. etc. He finally got it where you know what he was trying to play but he stumbled through it. My dad (who could have been a concert pianist in his heyday), came in, sat down at the piano, opened the music and played it as if he played it everyday of his life. The look on my brother's face was...well, let's just say if looks could kill.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat
He-He!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/27/10 at 12:50 pm



My brother (who plays the piano by ear) was going to learn how to play that-using music. He would look at the music, look down at the piano, play a chord, look up at the music, look down at the piano, play a chord, etc. etc. etc. He finally got it where you know what he was trying to play but he stumbled through it. My dad (who could have been a concert pianist in his heyday), came in, sat down at the piano, opened the music and played it as if he played it everyday of his life. The look on my brother's face was...well, let's just say if looks could kill.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

I often used to do that when I first began taking private piano lessons in the early 1990s.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/27/10 at 12:53 pm



http://welcometothesalon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/mouse_trap_board_and_boxjpg.jpg


We had that game. I don't recall ever playing it-I just remembered that it took so long to put it together that I got bored before we actually played.  :D ;D ;D

I never owned a copy of it, but a friend of mine did, and we played it together at their home. You're right, it did take a very long time to set it all up. Of course, the mouse trap itself is a Rube Goldberg device! :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/27/10 at 2:56 pm


Nor did I .


She has scoliosis.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/27/10 at 2:57 pm


The word of the day...Mice
Mice is the plural of mouse.
A mouse is a small furry animal with a long tail.
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx204/omega24614/Ball%20Python/Mice.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj138/primcindy/mice-1.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/maidog_photos/mice/IMG_5928.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/dottiemadcat/bulk%20cat%20toys/pe---rockin-mice.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/maidog_photos/mice/IMG_5932.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/dottiemadcat/bulk%20cat%20toys/DSC00247.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/bittyskitty94210/animals/animals%202/big_4686041.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o172/lilbbezoe/Picture173.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/Magik_Moonmyst/Nature/Animals/watch_harvest_mice.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/Kawgirl_2007/Small%20Pet%20books/GerbilsRatsandMice.jpg



I used to own gerbils 22 years ago. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/27/10 at 3:27 pm



I used to own gerbils 22 years ago. :)



I had gerbils, too-way, WAY back in the dark ages.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 12:49 am


I thought you would like if I did him :)
I had to leave some things out because there was too many words.
Thanks.

So many words for a varied life.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 12:50 am


I tried to watch it, but it said it was blocked in my country. :(
Blast!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/28/10 at 4:11 am

Quote from: ninny on February 27, 2010, 11:31:24 PM
I tried to watch it, but it said it was blocked in my country. Sad


Blast!


Same here..... :(  ....and Spike Milligan was probably the funniest guy that ever lived! Maybe only the Pythons could match him... :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 4:36 am


Quote from: ninny on February 27, 2010, 11:31:24 PM
I tried to watch it, but it said it was blocked in my country. Sad

Same here..... :(  ....and Spike Milligan was probably the funniest guy that ever lived! Maybe only the Pythons could match him... :-\\
The Pythons owe a lot to him, the Goons inspired them.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 5:10 am


Quote from: ninny on February 27, 2010, 11:31:24 PM
I tried to watch it, but it said it was blocked in my country. Sad

Same here..... :(  ....and Spike Milligan was probably the funniest guy that ever lived! Maybe only the Pythons could match him... :-\\

The Pythons owe a lot to him, the Goons inspired them.

Lets raise a toast to him
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e105/CommentCrazyGirl/Smileys%20Action/Food%20Drink/gettingdrunksmiley.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 5:14 am


Lets raise a toast to him
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e105/CommentCrazyGirl/Smileys%20Action/Food%20Drink/gettingdrunksmiley.gif
To a very clever and inpsroed man!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 5:14 am


To a very clever and inpsroed man!
...and a raving lunatic!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 5:31 am

The word of the day...Rink
A rink is a large area covered with ice where people go to ice-skate, or a large area of concrete where people go to roller-skate.
http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad260/jaynelehman/DSC03924.jpg
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss318/pnguine/Olympics/IMG_2734.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx132/aladent/Kazakhstan/photos199.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/speedracer93lx/CO%2005/CO%2008/HPIM0089.jpg
http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/mepsu2003/NYC/NYC031.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e307/Mog604/Cloudy%20Religion/IMG_8057.jpg
http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/morephotosandmail/rink.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/kittykaturule/rink.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/28/10 at 5:31 am


The Pythons owe a lot to him, the Goons inspired them.


I'd bet the Goodies also were inspired by Milligan and co...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 5:34 am

The person who was born on this day...Eric Lindros
Eric Bryan Lindros (pronounced /ˈlɪndrɒs/; born February 28, 1973 in London, Ontario) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first overall pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. He retired in November 2007, after playing the 2006–07 season with the Dallas Stars.
As a teenage power forward playing minor hockey, Lindros became nationally famous both for his scoring feats and his ability to physically dominate players older than himself. He attended Monarch Park and later St. Michael's College School in Toronto with his brother and fellow hockey player, Brett Lindros. Both brothers at one time or another (Eric in 1988–89) played for the school's Metro Junior "B" St. Michael's Buzzers before moving up to the OHL. Lindros' play made him the most highly valued amateur player in North America and he was often nicknamed "The Next One", a reference to Wayne Gretzky's moniker "The Great One."

Throughout his career, Lindros has been tagged with various other nicknames, including "The Big E", which was originally the nickname of the USS Enterprise, the famous World War II aircraft carrier. The hype around Lindros during his early career led to an exclusive deal with sports card manufacturer SCORE. Attempting to leverage this arrangement as much as possible, he was even featured on a baseball card showing him as a third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, although the closest he came to a professional baseball career was taking batting practice one day with the Blue Jays.

A controversy arose when Lindros refused to go to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after they drafted him from St. Michael's. Lindros had already stated his intention not to join the Greyhounds, but Greyhounds owner Phil Esposito drafted him anyway, enabling Esposito to sell his share in the team at a higher price. Lindros was traded to the Oshawa Generals instead, and when they played the Greyhounds, some Greyhound players wore black armbands in protest of Lindros' antics.

He played parts of three seasons for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) from 1990 to 1992. During that time, he scored 97 goals and had 119 assists in 95 games played. Lindros helped lead the Generals to the 1990 J. Ross Robertson Cup, and a 1990 Memorial Cup victory. During the 1990–91 OHL season, Lindros won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as top scorer, the Red Tilson Trophy as MVP, the CHL Player of the Year award, and the CHL Top Draft Prospect Award.

On March 6, 2008, the Oshawa Generals retired his #88, just the second number to be retired by the franchise, and it was declared Eric Lindros Day in Oshawa.
1991 NHL Entry Draft

Lindros' entry to the National Hockey League proceeded in much the same manner. Lindros was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. Lindros had signaled in advance that he would never play for the Nordiques, citing distance, lack of marketing potential, and having to speak French. He went as far as to refuse to wear the team's jersey on draft day; the team selected him anyway. The Nordiques president publicly announced that they would make Lindros the centrepiece of their franchise turnaround, and refused to trade Lindros, saying that he would not have a career in the NHL as long as he held out. Because of Lindros' popularity and hype, it is alleged that the NHL President intervened to get the Nordiques to trade him, as it would otherwise damage the image of the league. While he awaited a trade, Lindros spent the time playing with the Oshawa Generals and also participated in the 1992 Winter Olympics, winning a Silver Medal.

In 1992, the Nordiques worked out trades for him with both the New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers. Eventually an arbitrator, Larry Bertuzzi (granduncle of Todd Bertuzzi), ruled in favour of the Flyers, for whom Lindros played from 1992 to 2000, most of the time as the team's captain.

Many consider this trade a key reason that the Colorado Avalanche (the new name of the Nordiques after they relocated before the 1995 season), went on to be an NHL powerhouse. They received in the trade eventual Hart Trophy winner Peter Forsberg, as well as Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, a 1st round selection (Jocelyn Thibault) in 1993, a 1st round selection (later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, later traded to the Washington Capitals - Nolan Baumgartner) in 1994, and $15,000,000 cash. Since the trade, the Avalanche have won eight division titles and two Stanley Cup championships, due in part to the play of Forsberg, and the later addition of Patrick Roy, whom the Avalanche received in a later package deal that included Thibault.

The trade between the Nordiques and the Rangers that was ruled invalid by the arbitrator had Lindros being traded for Doug Weight, Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev, John Vanbiesbrouck, three first round draft picks (1993, 1994 & 1995) and $12 million.
Philadelphia Flyers

With his imposing physical strength and playmaking ability, Lindros established himself as the top player on a Flyers team that had perennially been in contention but always fell short. His time in Philadelphia would see him score points at a phenomenal rate (for much of his first 5 seasons in the NHL, Lindros hovered around 4th all-time in points per game) and become one of the most feared players in the NHL, eventually leading the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in 1997 (which they lost to the Detroit Red Wings); he would also suffer frequent injuries and feud with general manager Bobby Clarke.

Along with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, he played on the "Legion of Doom" line. He scored over 40 goals in each of his first two seasons and won the Hart Trophy as MVP in the lockout-shortened season of 1995 by scoring 29 goals and 41 assists in 46 games. He led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in 1997, handily defeating their three opponents along the way. The Flyers were overmatched against the Detroit Red Wings, however, and were swept in the series, with Lindros managing to score his only goal in the dying minutes of Game 4 to cut the score to 2-1. In 1998, Lindros, only 25 years old, was ranked number 54 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players of all time. The only player of comparable age was No. 37-ranked Jaromir Jagr, who was 26 at the time.

Lindros' relationship with Flyers general manager Bobby Clarke soon deteriorated. He and Clarke feuded in the media, with Clarke questioning his toughness; Lindros spent many games on the injured reserve and suffered a series of concussions, the first in 1998 from a hit delivered by Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis that sidelined him for 18 games. During an April 1, 1999, game against the Nashville Predators, Lindros suffered what was diagnosed as a rib injury. Later that night, the teammate he was sharing a hotel room with, Keith Jones, discovered Lindros lying in a tub, pale and cold. In a call to the Flyers, the trainer was told to put Lindros on a plane that was returning to Philadelphia with injured team mate Mark Recchi. But Jones insisted that Lindros be taken to a nearby hospital and it was discovered Lindros had a collapsed lung caused by internal bleeding of his chest wall. Lindros's father wrote the Flyers a letter in which he stated that if the trainer had followed team orders, Eric would be dead, a statement supported by the doctors who treated him in Nashville.

The following season, he was stripped of his captaincy after criticizing team doctors. Once again plagued by concussions, Lindros returned in the Eastern Conference Finals, in which he played the final two games of the series, the latter of which Lindros suffered yet another concussion after a hit by New Jersey Devils defenseman Scott Stevens. The Flyers lost the final game and the series, and Lindros became a restricted free agent during the off-season. He refused to accept a 2-way qualifying offer with a minor league provision from the Flyers, who still owned his rights. After Lindros was cleared to play in December, the Flyers refused to deal his rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs, as he preferred, and Lindros sat out the rest of 2000–01 NHL season.
New York Rangers

Flyers GM Bobby Clarke eventually traded Lindros to the New York Rangers on August 20, 2001 for Jan Hlaváč, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl, and a 2003 3rd-round draft choice (Štefan Ružička).

He played for the Rangers for the next three seasons. Though his second season with them was the first injury-free one of his career (albeit his first season averaging under one point a game), in 2004 he sustained his eighth concussion. He was given permission by a doctor to resume training; however, two doctors who had never examined or treated him suggested Lindros retire. He again became an unrestricted free agent.
Toronto Maple Leafs

On August 11, 2005, after the NHL labour dispute had wiped out the 2004–05 season, Lindros signed a one-year, $1.55 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2005–06 NHL season. After a steady start to his tenure with Toronto in which he recorded 22 points in 32 games, Lindros suffered a tear of a ligament in his left wrist against the Dallas Stars on December 10, 2005. After a 27 game absence, Lindros returned to the Toronto lineup on February 28, 2006, against the Washington Capitals. His return was short-lived however, as he re-injured his wrist while taking a slapshot in a game against the Ottawa Senators on March 5, 2006, effectively ending his season. He had surgery on the wrist at the Hand and Upper Limb Centre in London, Ontario two days after the game.
Dallas Stars and Retirement

Lindros signed a one-year contract for the 2006–07 NHL season with the Dallas Stars on July 17, 2006.

Lindros officially announced his retirement on November 8, 2007, in London, Ontario.
Post-playing career

On November 11, 2007, three days after his retirement, the NHL Players Association appointed Lindros to the newly created position of NHLPA ombudsman. Lindros had been involved with the organization throughout his career. Lindros cut ties with the NHL Players' Association on February 3, 2009, resigning as ombudsman after 15 months on the job.
Transactions

    * June 22, 1991 - Quebec Nordiques draft Lindros with the 1st overall pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft.
    * June 30, 1992 - Traded by the Quebec Nordiques to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Philadelphia's 1993 1st round draft choice, Philadelphia's 1994 1st round draft choice and $15,000,000.
    * August 20, 2001 - Traded by the Philadelphia Flyers to the New York Rangers in exchange for Jan Hlaváč, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl and the Rangers' 2003 3rd round draft choice (Štefan Ružička).
    * August 11, 2005 - Signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
    * July 17, 2006 - Signed as a free agent with the Dallas Stars.
    * November 8, 2007 - Officially announced his retirement from the NHL.

Awards

    * Named to NHL All-Rookie Team - 1993
    * Hart Memorial Trophy - 1995
    * Lester B. Pearson Award - 1995
    * Bobby Clarke Trophy - 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999
    * Played in 6 All-Star Games - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
    * Won Olympic Silver Medal with Team Canada in 1992 Winter Olympic Games
    * Won Olympic Gold Medal with Team Canada in 2002 Winter Olympic Games
    * #88 retired by his junior team, the Oshawa Generals

Career statistics
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1989–90 Oshawa Generals OHL 25 17 19 36 61 17 18 18 36 76
1990–91 Oshawa Generals OHL 57 71 78 149 189 16 18 20 38 93
1991–92 Oshawa Generals OHL 13 9 22 31 54 — — — — —
1992–93 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 61 41 34 75 147 — — — — —
1993–94 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 65 44 53 97 103 — — — — —
1994–95 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 46 29 41 70 60 12 4 11 15 18
1995–96 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 73 47 68 115 163 12 6 6 12 43
1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 52 32 47 79 136 19 12 14 26 40
1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 63 30 41 71 134 5 1 2 3 17
1998–99 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 71 40 53 93 120 — — — — —
1999–00 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 55 27 32 59 83 2 1 0 1 0
2001–02 New York Rangers NHL 72 37 36 73 138 — — — — —
2002–03 New York Rangers NHL 81 19 34 53 141 — — — — —
2003–04 New York Rangers NHL 39 10 22 32 60 — — — — —
2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 33 11 11 22 43 — — — — —
2006–07 Dallas Stars NHL 49 5 21 26 70 3 0 0 0 4
NHL totals 760 372 493 865 1398 53 24 33 57 122
International play
Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Gold 2002 Salt Lake City Ice hockey
Silver 1992 Albertville Ice hockey

Played for Canada in:

    * 1990 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
    * 1991 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
    * 1991 Canada Cup (championship)
    * 1992 World Junior Championships
    * 1992 Winter Olympics (silver medal)
    * 1993 World Championships
    * 1996 World Cup of Hockey
    * 1998 Winter Olympics
    * 2002 Winter Olympics (gold medal)
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l10/ciazio/Lindros.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac314/masig/NFT/Local/Hockey/Lindros_RC.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee192/FuzzieMonkie28/f701.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 5:40 am


I'd bet the Goodies also were inspired by Milligan and co...
Originally Tim Brooke-Taylor was to be a part of Monty Python, but he felt that he did not have the comedy writing qualitiies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 5:49 am

The person who died on this day.. Henry James
enry James, O.M. (April 15, 1843(1843-04-15) – February 28, 1916) was an American writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.

James spent the last 40 years of his life in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, one year before his death. He is primarily known for the series of novels in which he portrays the encounter of Americans with Europe and Europeans. His method of writing from the point of view of a character within a tale allows him to explore issues related to consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting.

James contributed significantly to the criticism of fiction, particularly in his insistence that writers be allowed the greatest possible freedom in presenting their view of the world. His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue and possibly unreliable narrators in his own novels and tales brought a new depth and interest to narrative fiction. An extraordinarily productive writer, in addition to his voluminous works of fiction he published articles and books of travel, biography, autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays, some of which were performed during his lifetime with moderate success. His theatrical work is thought to have profoundly influenced his later novels and tales.
James was born in New York City into a wealthy family. His father, Henry James Sr. was one of the best-known intellectuals in mid-nineteenth-century America. In his youth James traveled back and forth between Europe and America. He studied with tutors in Geneva, London, Paris, Bologna and Bonn. At the age of 19 he briefly attended Harvard Law School, but preferred reading literature to studying law. James published his first short story, A Tragedy of Errors, two years later, and devoted himself to literature. In 1866–69 and 1871–72 he was a contributor to The Nation and Atlantic Monthly.

From an early age James had read the classics of English, American, French and German literature and Russian classics in translation. His first novel, Watch and Ward (1871), was written while he was traveling through Venice and Paris. After living in Paris, where he was contributor to the New York Tribune, James moved to England in 1876, living first in London and then in Rye, Sussex. During his first years in Europe James wrote novels that portrayed Americans living abroad. In 1905 James visited America for the first time in twenty-five years, and wrote "Jolly Corner".

Among James's masterpieces are Daisy Miller (1879); in which the eponymous protagonist, the young and innocent American Daisy Miller, finds her values in conflict with European sophistication; and The Portrait of a Lady (1881), in which once again a young American woman becomes a victim of her provincialism during her travels in Europe. The Bostonians (1886) is set in the era of the rising feminist movement. What Maisie Knew (1897) depicts a preadolescent girl, who must choose between her parents and a motherly old governess. In The Wings of the Dove (1902) an inheritance destroys the love of a young couple. James considered The Ambassadors (1903) his most "perfect" work of art. James's most famous short story is The Turn of the Screw, a ghost story in which the question of childhood corruption obsesses a governess. Although James is best known for his novels, his essays are now attracting a more general audience.
Grave marking Henry James in Cambridge Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Between 1906 and 1910 James revised many of his tales and novels for the New York edition of his complete works. His autobiography, A Small Boy And Others, appeared in 1913 and was continued in Notes Of A Son And Brother (1914). The third volume, The Middle Years, appeared posthumously in 1917. The outbreak of World War I was a shock for James, and on July 26, 1915 he became a British citizen as a declaration of loyalty to his adopted country and in protest against the America's refusal to enter the war. James suffered a stroke on December 2, 1915, and died in London on February 28, 1916. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes are interred at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Style and themes
Portrait of Henry James, charcoal drawing by John Singer Sargent (1912).

James is one of the major figures of trans-Atlantic literature. His works frequently juxtapose characters from the Old World (Europe), embodying a feudal civilization that is beautiful, often corrupt, and alluring, and from the New World (United States), where people are often brash, open, and assertive and embody the virtues — freedom and a more highly evolved moral character — of the new American society. James explores this clash of personalities and cultures, in stories of personal relationships in which power is exercised well or badly. His protagonists were often young American women facing oppression or abuse, and as his secretary Theodora Bosanquet remarked in her monograph Henry James at Work:

    When he walked out of the refuge of his study and into the world and looked around him, he saw a place of torment, where creatures of prey perpetually thrust their claws into the quivering flesh of doomed, defenseless children of light… His novels are a repeated exposure of this wickedness, a reiterated and passionate plea for the fullest freedom of development, unimperiled by reckless and barbarous stupidity.

Critics have jokingly described three phases in the development of James's prose: "James the First, James the Second, and The Old Pretender" and observers do often group his works of fiction into three periods. In his apprentice years, culminating with the masterwork The Portrait of a Lady, his style was simple and direct (by the standards of Victorian magazine writing) and he experimented widely with forms and methods, generally narrating from a conventionally omniscient point of view. Plots generally concern romance, except for the three big novels of social commentary that conclude this period. In the second period, as noted above, he abandoned the serialized novel and from 1890 to about 1897, he wrote short stories and plays. Finally, in his third and last period he returned to the long, serialized novel. Beginning in the second period, but most noticeably in the third, he increasingly abandoned direct statement in favor of frequent double negatives, and complex descriptive imagery. Single paragraphs began to run for page after page, in which an initial noun would be succeeded by pronouns surrounded by clouds of adjectives and prepositional clauses, far from their original referents, and verbs would be deferred and then preceded by a series of adverbs. The overall effect could be a vivid evocation of a scene as perceived by a sensitive observer. In its intense focus on the consciousness of his major characters, James's later work foreshadows extensive developments in 20th century fiction. Then and later many readers find the late style difficult and unnecessary; his friend Edith Wharton, who admired him greatly, said that there were passages in his work that were all but incomprehensible. H.G. Wells harshly portrayed James as a hippopotamus laboriously attempting to pick up a pea that has got into a corner of its cage. Some critics have claimed that the more elaborate manner was a result of James taking up the practice of dictating to a secretary. He was afflicted with a stutter and compensated by speaking slowly and deliberately. The late style does become more difficult in the years when he dictates, but James also was able to revise typewritten drafts more extensively, and his few surviving drafts show that the later works are more heavily revised and redrafted. In some cases this leads critics to prefer the earlier, unrevised versions of some works because the older style is thought to be closer to the original conception and spirit of the work, Daisy Miller being a case in point: most of the current reprints of this novel contain the unrevised text. On the other hand, the late revision of the early novel The Portrait of a Lady is generally much preferred to the first edition, even by those who dislike the late style, because of the power of the imagery and the depth of characterization, while his shorter late fiction, such as The Turn of the Screw, is considered highly accessible and remains popular with readers.

More important for his work overall may have been his position as an expatriate, and in other ways an outsider, living in Europe. While he came from middle-class and provincial belongings (seen from the perspective of European polite society) he worked very hard to gain access to all levels of society, and the settings of his fiction range from working class to aristocratic, and often describe the efforts of middle-class Americans to make their way in European capitals. He confessed he got some of his best story ideas from gossip at the dinner table or at country house weekends. He worked for a living, however, and lacked the experiences of select schools, university, and army service, the common bonds of masculine society. He was furthermore a man whose tastes and interests were, according to the prevailing standards of Victorian era Anglo-American culture, rather feminine, and who was shadowed by the cloud of prejudice that then and later accompanied suspicions of his homosexuality. Edmund Wilson famously compared James's objectivity to Shakespeare's:

    One would be in a position to appreciate James better if one compared him with the dramatists of the seventeenth century—Racine and Molière, whom he resembles in form as well as in point of view, and even Shakespeare, when allowances are made for the most extreme differences in subject and form. These poets are not, like Dickens and Hardy, writers of melodrama — either humorous or pessimistic, nor secretaries of society like Balzac, nor prophets like Tolstoy: they are occupied simply with the presentation of conflicts of moral character, which they do not concern themselves about softening or averting. They do not indict society for these situations: they regard them as universal and inevitable. They do not even blame God for allowing them: they accept them as the conditions of life.

It is also possible to see many of James's stories as psychological thought-experiments. The Portrait of a Lady may be an experiment to see what happens when an idealistic young woman suddenly becomes very rich. In many of his tales, characters seem to exemplify alternate futures and possibilities, as most markedly in "The Jolly Corner", in which the protagonist and a ghost-doppelganger live alternate American and European lives; and in others, like The Ambassadors, an older James seems fondly to regard his own younger self facing a crucial moment.
Major novels
"Portrait of Henry James", oil painting by John Singer Sargent (1913)

Although any selection of James's novels as "major" must inevitably depend to some extent on personal preference, the following books have achieved prominence among his works in the views of many critics.

The first period of James's fiction, usually considered to have culminated in The Portrait of a Lady, concentrated on the contrast between Europe and America. The style of these novels is generally straightforward and, though personally characteristic, well within the norms of 19th century fiction. Roderick Hudson (1875) is a Künstlerroman that traces the development of the title character, an extremely talented sculptor. Although the book shows some signs of immaturity—this was James's first serious attempt at a full-length novel — it has attracted favorable comment due to the vivid realization of the three major characters: Roderick Hudson, superbly gifted but unstable and unreliable; Rowland Mallet, Roderick's limited but much more mature friend and patron; and Christina Light, one of James's most enchanting and maddening femmes fatale. The pair of Hudson and Mallet has been seen as representing the two sides of James's own nature: the wildly imaginative artist and the brooding conscientious mentor.

Although Roderick Hudson featured mostly American characters in a European setting, James made the Europe–America contrast even more explicit in his next novel. In fact, the contrast could be considered the leading theme of The American (1877). This book is a combination of social comedy and melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted.

James wrote Washington Square (1880), a deceptively simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The book is often compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was not particularly enthusiastic about Jane Austen, so he might not have regarded the comparison as flattering. In fact, James was not enthusiastic about Washington Square itself. He tried to read it over for inclusion in the New York Edition of his fiction (1907–09) but found that he could not. So he excluded the novel from the edition. But other readers have enjoyed the book enough to make it one of the more popular works in the entire Jamesian canon.

In The Portrait of a Lady (1881) James concluded the first phase of his career with a novel that remains his most popular long fiction. The story is of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. The narrative is set mainly in Europe, especially in England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of his early phase, The Portrait of a Lady is described as a psychological novel, exploring the minds of his characters, and almost a work of social science, exploring the differences between Europeans and Americans, the old and the new worlds.

In the 1880s James wrote The Bostonians (1886), a bittersweet tragicomedy that centers on: Basil Ransom, an unbending political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a zealous Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty protégée of Olive's in the feminist movement. The story line concerns the contest between Ransom and Olive for Verena's allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.

James followed with The Princess Casamassima (1886), the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in far left politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The book is something of a lone sport in the Jamesian canon for dealing with such a violent political subject. But it is often paired with The Bostonians, which is concerned with political issues.

Just as James was beginning his ultimately disastrous attempt to conquer the stage, he wrote The Tragic Muse (1890). This novel offers a wide, cheerful panorama of English life and follows the fortunes of two would-be artists: Nick Dormer, who vacillates between a political career and his efforts to become a painter, and Miriam Rooth, an actress striving for artistic and commercial success. A huge cast of supporting characters help and hinder their pursuits. The book reflects James's consuming interest in the theater and is often considered to mark the close of the second or middle phase of his career.

After the failure of his "dramatic experiment" James returned to his fiction and began to probe his characters' consciousness. His style started to grow in complexity to reflect the greater depth of his analysis. The Spoils of Poynton (1897) is a half-length novel that describes the struggle between Mrs. Gereth, a widow of impeccable taste and iron will, and her son Owen over a houseful of precious antique furniture. The story is largely told from the viewpoint of Fleda Vetch, a young woman in love with Owen but sympathetic to Mrs Gereth's anguish over losing the antiques she patiently collected.

James continued the more involved, psychological approach to his fiction with What Maisie Knew (1897), the story of the sensitive daughter of divorced and irresponsible parents. The novel has great contemporary relevance as an unflinching account of a wildly dysfunctional family.

The third period of James's career reached its most significant achievement in three novels published just after the turn of the century. Critic F. O. Matthiessen called this "trilogy" James's major phase, and these novels have certainly received intense critical study. It was the second-written of the books, The Wings of the Dove (1902) that was the first published. This novel tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress stricken with a serious disease, and her impact on the people around her. Some of these people befriend Milly with honorable motives, while others are more self-interested. James stated in his autobiographical books that Milly was based on Minny Temple, his beloved cousin who died at an early age of tuberculosis. He said that he attempted in the novel to wrap her memory in the "beauty and dignity of art".

The next published of the three novels, The Ambassadors (1903), is a dark comedy that follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of his widowed fiancée's supposedly wayward son. Strether is to bring the young man back to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications. The third-person narrative is told exclusively from Strether's point of view. In his preface to the New York Edition text of the novel, James placed this book at the top of his achievements, which has occasioned some critical disagreement. The Golden Bowl (1904) is a complex, intense study of marriage and adultery that completes the "major phase" and, essentially, James's career in the novel. The book explores the tangle of interrelationships between a father and daughter and their respective spouses. The novel focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail and powerful insight.
Shorter narratives
Lamb House in Rye, East Sussex, where James lived from 1897

James was particularly interested in what he called the "beautiful and blest nouvelle", or the longer form of short narrative. Still, he produced a number of very short stories in which he achieved notable compression of sometimes complex subjects. The following narratives are representative of James's achievement in the shorter forms of fiction.

Just as the contrast between Europe and America was a predominant theme in James's early novels, many of his first tales also explored the clash between the Old World and the New. In "A Passionate Pilgrim" (1871), the earliest fiction that James included in the New York Edition, the difference between America and Europe erupts into open conflict, which leads to a sadly ironic ending. The story's technique still seems somewhat inexpert, with passages of local color description occasionally interrupting the flow of the narrative. But James manages to craft an interesting and believable example of what he would call the "Americano-European legend".

James published many stories before what would prove to be his greatest success with the readers of his time, "Daisy Miller" (1878). This story portrays the confused courtship of the title character, a free-spirited American girl, by Winterbourne, a compatriot of hers with much more sophistication. His pursuit of Daisy is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates they meet in Switzerland and Italy. Her lack of understanding of the social mores of the society she so desperately wishes to enter ultimately leads to tragedy.

As James moved on from studies of the Europe-America clash and the American girl in his novels, his shorter works also explored new subjects in the 1880s. "The Aspern Papers" (1888) is one of James's best-known and most acclaimed longer tales. The storyline is based on an anecdote that James heard about a Shelley devotee who tried to obtain some valuable letters written by the poet. Set in a brilliantly described Venice, the story demonstrates James's ability to generate almost unbearable suspense while never neglecting the development of his characters. Another fine example of the middle phase of James's career in short narrative is "The Pupil" (1891), the story of a precocious young boy growing up in a mendacious and dishonorable family. He befriends his tutor, who is the only adult in his life that he can trust. James presents their relationship with sympathy and insight, and the story reaches what some have considered the status of classical tragedy.

"The Altar of the Dead", first published in James's collection Terminations in 1895 after the story failed of magazine publication, is a fable of literally life and death significance. The story explores how the protagonist tries to keep the remembrance of his dead friends, to save them from being forgotten entirely in the rush of everyday events. He meets a woman who shares his ideals, only to find that the past places what seems to be an impassable barrier between them. Although James was not religious in any conventional sense, the story shows a deep spirituality in its treatment of mortality and the transcendent power of unselfish love.

The final phase of James's short narratives shows the same characteristics as the final phase of his novels: a more involved style, a deeper psychological approach, and a sharper focus on his central characters. Probably his most popular short narrative among today's readers, "The Turn of the Screw" (1898) is a ghost story that has lent itself well to operatic and film adaptation. With its possibly ambiguous content and powerful narrative technique, the story challenges the reader to determine if the protagonist, an unnamed governess, is correctly reporting events or is instead an unreliable neurotic with an overheated imagination. To further muddy the waters, her written account of the experience—a frame tale—is being read many years later at a Christmas house party by someone who claims to have known her.

"The Beast in the Jungle" (1903) is almost universally considered to be one of James's finest short narratives, and has often been compared with The Ambassadors in its meditation on experience or the lack of it. The story also treats other universal themes: loneliness, fate, love and death. The parable of John Marcher and his peculiar destiny speaks to anyone who has speculated on the worth and meaning of human life. Among his last efforts in short narrative, "The Jolly Corner" (1908) is usually held to be one of James's best ghost stories. The tale describes the adventures of Spencer Brydon as he prowls the now-empty New York house where he grew up. Brydon encounters a "sensation more complex than had ever before found itself consistent with sanity".
Nonfiction
Photograph of Henry James (1897)

Beyond his fiction, James was one of the more important literary critics in the history of the novel. In his classic essay The Art of Fiction (1884), he argued against rigid proscriptions on the novelist's choice of subject and method of treatment. He maintained that the widest possible freedom in content and approach would help ensure narrative fiction's continued vitality. James wrote many valuable critical articles on other novelists; typical is his insightful book-length study of his American predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne. When he assembled the New York Edition of his fiction in his final years, James wrote a series of prefaces that subjected his own work to the same searching, occasionally harsh criticism.

For most of his life James harbored ambitions for success as a playwright. He converted his novel The American into a play that enjoyed modest returns in the early 1890s. In all he wrote about a dozen plays, most of which went unproduced. His costume drama Guy Domville failed disastrously on its opening night in 1895. James then largely abandoned his efforts to conquer the stage and returned to his fiction. In his Notebooks he maintained that his theatrical experiment benefited his novels and tales by helping him dramatize his characters' thoughts and emotions. James produced a small but valuable amount of theatrical criticism, including perceptive appreciations of Henrik Ibsen.

With his wide-ranging artistic interests, James occasionally wrote on the visual arts. Perhaps his most valuable contribution was his favorable assessment of fellow expatriate John Singer Sargent, a painter whose critical status has improved markedly in recent decades. James also wrote sometimes charming, sometimes brooding articles about various places he visited and lived in. His most famous books of travel writing include Italian Hours (an example of the charming approach) and The American Scene (most definitely on the brooding side).

James was one of the great letter-writers of any era. More than ten thousand of his personal letters are extant, and over three thousand have been published in a large number of collections. A complete edition of James's letters began publication in 2006 with two volumes covering the 1855–1872 period, edited by Pierre Walker and Greg Zacharias. James's correspondents included celebrated contemporaries like Robert Louis Stevenson, Edith Wharton and Joseph Conrad, along with many others in his wide circle of friends and acquaintances. The letters range from the "mere twaddle of graciousness" to serious discussions of artistic, social and personal issues. Very late in life James began a series of autobiographical works: A Small Boy and Others, Notes of a Son and Brother, and the unfinished The Middle Years. These books portray the development of a classic observer who was passionately interested in artistic creation but was somewhat reticent about participating fully in the life around him.

Henry James was only twenty-two when he wrote The Noble School of Fiction for The Nation's first issue in 1865. He wrote, in all, over two hundred essays and book, art and theater reviews for the magazine.
Works

Novels

    * Watch and Ward (1871)
    * Roderick Hudson (1875)
    * The American (1877)
    * The Europeans (1878)
    * Confidence (1879)
    * Washington Square (1880)
    * The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
    * The Bostonians (1886)



    * The Princess Casamassima (1886)
    * The Reverberator (1888)
    * The Tragic Muse (1890)
    * The Other House (1896)
    * The Spoils of Poynton (1897)
    * What Maisie Knew (1897)
    * The Awkward Age (1899)
    * The Sacred Fount (1901)



    * The Wings of the Dove (1902)
    * The Ambassadors (1903)
    * The Golden Bowl (1904)
    * The Whole Family (collaborative novel with eleven other authors, 1908)
    * The Outcry (1911)
    * The Ivory Tower (unfinished, published posthumously 1917)
    * The Sense of the Past (unfinished, published posthumously 1917)

Selected novellas and tales

    * A Passionate Pilgrim (1871)
    * Madame de Mauves (1874)
    * Daisy Miller (1878)
    * Four Meetings (1879)
    * A Bundle of Letters (1879)
    * The Author of Beltraffio (1884)
    * The Romance of Certain Old Clothes (1885)
    * A London Life (1888)
    * The Aspern Papers (1888)
    * The Pupil (1891)



    * The Lesson of the Master (1892)
    * The Real Thing (1892)
    * The Middle Years (1893)
    * The Death of the Lion (1894)
    * The Coxon Fund (1894)
    * The Next Time (1895)
    * The Altar of the Dead (1895)
    * The Figure in the Carpet (1896)
    * The Turn of the Screw (1898)
    * In the Cage (1898)



    * Europe (1899)
    * Paste (1899)
    * The Great Good Place (1900)
    * Mrs. Medwin (1900)
    * The Birthplace (1903)
    * The Beast in the Jungle (1903)
    * The Jolly Corner (1908)

Other

    * French Poets and Novelists (1878)
    * Hawthorne (1879)
    * A Little Tour in France (1884)
    * Partial Portraits (1888)
    * Essays in London and Elsewhere (1893)
    * Picture and Text (1893)
    * Theatricals (1894)



    * Theatricals: Second Series (1895)
    * Guy Domville (1895)
    * William Wetmore Story and His Friends (1903)
    * English Hours (1905)
    * The American Scene (1907)
    * New York Edition (1907–1909), selected "definitive" edition of James's fiction
    * Italian Hours (1909)



    * A Small Boy and Others (1913)
    * Notes on Novelists (1914)
    * Notes of a Son and Brother (1914)
    * Notebooks (various, published posthumously)
    * The Middle Years (unfinished, published posthumously 1917)
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk177/patyo1957/Henry-James.jpg
http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu261/wjames1842/Henry_James_Sr.jpg
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/arte7misa/henryjames460.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/28/10 at 6:45 am



I had gerbils, too-way, WAY back in the dark ages.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat



http://www.pethealthinfo.org.uk/resources/ist2_4688088_black_and_brown_gerbils.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/28/10 at 6:48 am


The word of the day...Rink
A rink is a large area covered with ice where people go to ice-skate, or a large area of concrete where people go to roller-skate.
http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad260/jaynelehman/DSC03924.jpg
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss318/pnguine/Olympics/IMG_2734.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx132/aladent/Kazakhstan/photos199.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/speedracer93lx/CO%2005/CO%2008/HPIM0089.jpg
http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/mepsu2003/NYC/NYC031.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e307/Mog604/Cloudy%20Religion/IMG_8057.jpg
http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/morephotosandmail/rink.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r283/kittykaturule/rink.jpg


I remember roller skating rinks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 7:16 am


I remember roller skating rinks.

I was never good at any kind of skating  :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/28/10 at 10:10 am


I was never good at any kind of skating  :-[
I have not roller skated for ages.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 11:57 am



Rhapsody in Blue-by George Gershwin


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc




Cat

Thanks, I should of known that. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 11:59 am


Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin

I'm enjoying it now :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/10 at 12:01 pm



I used to own gerbils 22 years ago. :)

I'm not into in type of rodent.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/28/10 at 7:20 pm


I have not roller skated for ages.


For me it's been over 20 years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/28/10 at 8:52 pm


I have not roller skated for ages.


For me it's been over 20 years.

For me it's been a little over 13 years. It was on the day after Christmas in 1996.



I'm not into in type of rodent.

Neither am I.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/01/10 at 12:50 am



I had gerbils, too-way, WAY back in the dark ages.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat
Did they keep gerbils as pets in the dark ages?  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/10 at 5:53 am

The word of the day...Tables
A table is a piece of furniture with a flat top that you put things on or sit at.
If you ask for a table in a restaurant, you want to have a meal there.
If someone tables a proposal, they say formally that they want it to be discussed at a meeting.
A table is a written set of facts and figures arranged in columns and rows.
A table is a list of the multiplications of numbers between one and twelve. Children often have to learn tables at school.
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz172/einventory/Desks/MyPictures528.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz172/einventory/Desks/MyPictures359.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff146/finadysoupe/DSC02393.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/causin_trouble/Log%20House/P6180014.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx123/mariaosborn/Living%20Room/Occasional%20Tables/CM421921.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll14/dallasnadeau/Coffee%20Tables%20and%20Trunks/004.jpg
http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad21/johnericfranklin/NonPrimes.png
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/stefy56/mickey_rooney_judy_garland.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo101/GrandMasonRyan/TOC.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/10 at 5:58 am

The person born on this day....David Niven
James David Graham Niven (1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983), known as David Niven, was a English actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Litton, a.k.a. "the Phantom," in The Pink Panther. He was awarded the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor in Separate Tables.
When Niven presented himself at the doors of Central Casting, he found out that he had to have a work permit, to allow him to reside and work in the U.S.

This meant that Niven had to leave U.S. soil, and he left for Mexico, where he worked as a "gun-man", cleaning and polishing the rifles of visiting American hunters. He received his Resident Alien Visa from the American Consulate when his birth certificate arrived from England. He then returned to the U.S. and was accepted by Central Casting as "Anglo-Saxon Type No. 2008."

His first work as an extra was as a Mexican in a Western. This inauspicious start notwithstanding, he then found himself an agent: Bill Hawks. He had several bit parts in 1933, 1934, and 1935, including a non-speaking part in MGM's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), which led to some fortuitous publicity.

Niven thus came to the attention of independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who signed him to a contract and established his career. Niven appeared in 19 movies in the next four years. He had supporting roles in several major films: Rose-Marie (1936), Dodsworth (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937); and leading roles in The Dawn Patrol (1938), Three Blind Mice (1938), and Wuthering Heights (1939), playing opposite such famous stars as Errol Flynn, Loretta Young, and Laurence Olivier. In 1939 he co-starred with Ginger Rogers in the RKO comedy Bachelor Mother, and starred as the eponymous gentleman thief in Raffles.

Niven joined what became known as the Hollywood Raj, a group of British actors in Hollywood. Other members of the group included Boris Karloff, Stan Laurel, Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, and C. Aubrey Smith. He and Errol Flynn shared a house, which they dubbed "Cirrhosis-by-the-Sea".
After the United Kingdom declared war in 1939, Niven returned to Britain and rejoined the Army. He was re-commissioned as a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade on 25 February 1940, and was assigned to a motor training battalion. But he wanted something more exciting, and transferred into the Commandos. He was assigned to a training base at Inverailort House in the Western Highlands. Niven later claimed credit for bringing future Major General Sir Robert Laycock to the Commandos.

Niven also worked with the Army Film Unit. He acted in two films during the war, The First of the Few (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944). Both films were made to win support for the British war effort, especially in the U.S. His Film Unit work included a small part in the deception operation that used minor actor M. E. Clifton James to impersonate Field Marshal Montgomery.

During his work with the Film Unit, Peter Ustinov, though one of the script-writers, had to pose as Niven's batman. (Ustinov also acted in The Way Ahead). Niven in his autobiography explained that there was no military way that he, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, and Ustinov, who had risen only to the rank of Private, could associate, save as an officer and his servant, hence their strange 'act'. Ustinov later appeared with Niven in Death on the Nile (1978).

Niven took part in the Invasion of Normandy, arriving several days after D-Day. He served in the "Phantom Signals Unit", which located and reported enemy positions, and kept rear commanders up to date on changing battle lines. Niven was posted at one time to Chilham in Kent.

Niven remained close-mouthed about the war, despite public interest in celebrities in combat and a reputation for storytelling. He said once: "I will, however, tell you just one thing about the war, my first story and my last. I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne. I found it where they told me I would, but it was among 27,000 others, and I told myself that here, Niven, were 27,000 reasons why you should keep your mouth shut after the war." Niven also had special scorn for the newspaper columnists covering the war who typed out self-glorifying and excessively florid prose about their meagre wartime experiences. Niven stated, "Anyone who says a bullet sings past, hums past, flies, pings, or whines past, has never heard one − they go crack!"

He gave a few details of his war experience in his autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon: his private conversations with Winston Churchill, the bombing of London, and what it was like entering Germany with the occupation forces. Niven first met Churchill at a dinner party in February 1940. Churchill singled him out from the crowd and stated, "Young man, you did a fine thing to give up your film career to fight for your country. Mark you, had you not done so − it would have been despicable."

A few stories have surfaced. About to lead his men into action, Niven eased their nervousness by telling them, "Look, you chaps only have to do this once. But I'll have to do it all over again in Hollywood with Errol Flynn!" Asked by suspicious American sentries during the Battle of the Bulge who had won the World Series in 1943, he answered "Haven't the foggiest idea . . . But I did co-star with Ginger Rogers in Bachelor Mother!"

Niven ended the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel. On his return to Hollywood after the war, he received the Legion of Merit, the highest American order that can be earned by a foreigner. Presented by Eisenhower himself, it honored Niven's work in setting up the BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, a radio news and entertainment station for the Allied forces.
Post-war acting career

In spite of a six-year absence from the screen, Niven came second in the 1945 Popularity Poll of British film stars.

He resumed his career in 1946, now only in starring roles. A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Bishop's Wife (1947), and Enchantment (1948) are all highly regarded. In 1950 he starred in The Elusive Pimpernel, which was made in Britain and was to be distributed by Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwyn pulled out, and the film did not appear in the U.S. for three years.

Niven had a long and complex relationship with Goldwyn, who gave him his first start. But the dispute over The Elusive Pimpernel and Niven's demands for more money led to a long estrangement in the 1950s.

During this period Niven was largely barred from the Hollywood studios. In 1951 to 1956, he made 11 movies, of which two were MGM productions, and the rest were low-budget British or independent productions. However, Niven won a Golden Globe Award for his work in The Moon Is Blue (1953), produced and directed by Otto Preminger.

In 1955 renowned British photographer Cornel Lucas photographed David Niven whilst filming at the Rank Film Studio in Denham. These images can be seen at The Cornel Lucas Collection and are now for most of us the iconic representation of the way in which we remember Niven. A limited edition of British postage stamps was produced using one of Cornel Lucas' images taken during this portrait sitting.

Niven also worked in television. Niven appeared several times on various short-drama shows, and was one of the "four stars" of the dramatic anthology series Four Star Playhouse, appearing in 33 episodes. The show was produced by Four Star Television, which was co-owned by Niven, Robert Montgomery, and Charles Boyer. The show ended in 1955, but Four Star TV became a highly successful TV production company.
from the trailer for The Toast of New Orleans (1950)

Niven's film career took off in 1956, when he starred as Phileas Fogg in Michael Todd's immensely successful production of Around the World in 80 Days.

He appeared in 13 more TV episodes. He won the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor in Separate Tables; ironically, he was also a co-host of the 1959 "Oscar" show.

After Niven won the Academy Award, Goldwyn called with an invitation to his home. In Goldwyn's drawing room, Niven noticed a picture of himself in uniform that he had sent to Goldwyn from England during World War II. In happier times with Goldwyn, he had observed this same picture sitting on Goldwyn's piano. Now years later, the picture was still in the exact same spot. As he was looking at the picture, Goldwyn's wife Frances said "Sam never took it down."

With an Academy Award to his credit, Niven's career continued to improve. In 1959, he became the host of his own TV drama series, The David Niven Show, which ran for 13 episodes that summer.

Over the rest of his career, Niven appeared in over thirty additional movies. These included The Guns Of Navarone (1961), and The Pink Panther (1963), Murder By Death (1976), Death on the Nile (1978), and The Sea Wolves (1980), but also a lot of unmemorable films.

In 1964, he was cast (along with Boyer) in the Four Star series The Rogues. Niven played "Alexander 'Alec' Fleming", one of a family of retired con artists who now fleece villains in the interests of justice. This was his only recurring role on television. The Rogues ran for only one season, but won a Golden Globe award.

In 1967, he appeared as one of seven incarnations of "007" in the James Bond spoof Casino Royale. In fact, Niven had been Bond creator Ian Fleming's first choice to play Bond in Dr. No. Casino Royale co-producer Charles K. Feldman said later that Fleming had written the book with Niven in mind, and therefore had sent a copy to Niven.

Niven was the only James Bond actor mentioned by name in the text of Fleming's novels. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond visits an exclusive ski resort in Switzerland where he is told that David Niven is a frequent visitor and in You Only Live Twice, David Niven is referred to as the only real gentleman in Hollywood.

While co-hosting the 46th Annual Oscars ceremony, A naked man appeared behind him, "streaking" across the stage. Niven responded "Isn't it fascinating to think, that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life, is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?"

In 1974, he hosted David Niven's World for London Weekend Television. This was a series of profiles of contemporary adventurers such as hang gliders, motorcyclists, and mountain climbers. It ran for 21 episodes.

In 1975, he narrated The Remarkable Rocket, a short animation based on a story by Oscar Wilde.

In 1979, he appeared in Escape to Athena, which was produced by his son David jr.

Also in 1979, Niven starred in the television miniseries A Man Called INTREPID, based on the supposed memoir of Sir William Stephenson, a Canadian master spy for British intelligence. (In fact the book was mostly invented by co-author William Stevenson (no relation), Sir William then being very old.)

In July 1982, Blake Edwards brought Niven back for cameo appearances in two final "Pink Panther" movies (Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther), reprising his role as Sir Charles Litton. By this time, Niven was having serious health problems. When the raw footage was reviewed, his voice was inaudible, and his lines had to be dubbed by Rich Little. Niven was not told of this - he learned it from a newspaper report. This was his last film appearance.
In 1980, Niven began experiencing fatigue, muscle weakness, and a warble in his voice. A 1981 interview on Michael Parkinson's talk show alarmed family and friends; viewers wondered if Niven had either been drinking or suffered a stroke. (Another 1981 interview, posted on YouTube, shows Niven on The Merv Griffin Show while publicizing his novel Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly. He blames his slightly slurred voice on the shooting schedule on the film he'd been making; Better Late Than Never.) He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease) later that year. He hosted the 1981 American Film Institute tribute to Fred Astaire, which was his final appearance in Hollywood.

In February 1983, using a false name to avoid publicity, Niven was hospitalised for ten days for treatment, ostensibly for a digestive problem. Afterwards, he returned to his chalet at Chateau d'Oex in Switzerland, where his condition continued to decline. He refused to return to the hospital, and his family supported his decision. Niven died of ALS on 29 July 1983, at age 73.

Bitter, estranged, and plagued by depression, Hjördis showed up drunk at the funeral, having been persuaded to attend by family friend Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Kristina and Fiona told Graham Lord that Hjördis added insult to injury by forbidding them to bury her alongside her husband in the place left for her in his double grave in Switzerland.

Lord wrote that "the biggest wreath, worthy of a Mafia Godfather's funeral, was delivered from the porters at London's Heathrow Airport, along with a card that read: 'To the finest gentleman who ever walked through these halls. He made a porter feel like a king.'"

Niven died on the same day as Raymond Massey, his co-star in The Prisoner of Zenda and A Matter of Life and Death.
Quotations

By Niven:

    * "It really is amazing. Can you imagine being wonderfully overpaid for dressing up and playing games? It's like being Peter Pan."

    * "I've been lucky enough to win an Oscar, write a best-seller — my other dream would be to have a painting in the Louvre. The only way that's going to happen is if I paint a dirty one on the wall of the gentlemen's lavatory."

    * When asked why he seemed so incredibly cheerful all the time: "Well, old bean, life is really so bloody awful that I feel it’s my absolute duty to be chirpy and try and make everybody else happy too."

About Niven:

    * "I don't think his acting ever quite achieved the brilliance or the polish of his dinner-party conversations." — John Mortimer

    * "David's life was Wodehouse with tears." John Mortimer speaking at Niven's memorial service, quoted by Niven biographer Graham Lord.

    * "Niv was the twinkling star, the meteor who lit up every room he entered; I am just the dreary drudge whose job it is to try to tell the truth." — Niven biographer Graham Lord, in the preface to his book Niv.

Filmography

    * There Goes the Bride (1932)
    * Eyes of Fate (1933)
    * Cleopatra (1934)
    * Without Regret (1935)
    * Barbary Coast (1935)
    * A Feather in Her Hat (1935)
    * Splendor (1935)
    * "Mutiny On the Bounty" (1935) extra-uncredited
    * Rose-Marie (1936)
    * Palm Springs (1936)
    * Dodsworth (1936)
    * Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 4 (1936)
    * Thank You, Jeeves! (1936)
    * The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
    * Beloved Enemy (1936)
    * We Have Our Moments (1937)
    * The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
    * Dinner at the Ritz (1937)
    * Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
    * Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
    * Three Blind Mice (1938)
    * The Dawn Patrol (1938)
    * Wuthering Heights (1939)
    * Bachelor Mother (1939)
    * The Real Glory (1939)
    * Eternally Yours (1939)
    * Raffles (1939)
    * The First of the Few (1942)
    * The Way Ahead (1944)
    * A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
    * Magnificent Doll (1946)
    * The Perfect Marriage (1947)
    * The Other Love (1947)



    * The Bishop's Wife (1947)
    * Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948)
    * Enchantment (1948)
    * A Kiss in the Dark (1949)
    * A Kiss for Corliss (1949)
    * The Elusive Pimpernel (1950)
    * The Toast of New Orleans (1950)
    * Happy Go Lovely (1951)
    * Soldiers Three (1951)
    * Appointment with Venus (1951)
    * The Lady Says No (1952)
    * The Moon Is Blue (1953)
    * The Love Lottery (1954)
    * Happy Ever After (1954)
    * Carrington V.C. (1955)
    * The King's Thief (1955)
    * The Birds and the Bees (1956)
    * The Silken Affair (1956)
    * Around the World in 80 Days
    * Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957)
    * The Little Hut (1957)
    * My Man Godfrey (1957)
    * Screen Snapshots: Glamorous Hollywood (1958)
    * Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
    * Separate Tables (1958)
    * Ask Any Girl (1959)
    * Happy Anniversary (1959)
    * Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
    * The Guns of Navarone (1961)
    * The Shortest Day (1962)
    * Conquered City (1962)
    * The Best of Enemies (1962)



    * The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
    * Guns of Darkness (1962)
    * 55 Days at Peking (1963)
    * The Pink Panther (1963)
    * Bedtime Story (1964)
    * Where the Spies Are (1965)
    * Lady L (1965)
    * Eye of the Devil (1966)
    * All Eyes on Sharon Tate (1967)
    * Casino Royale (1967)
    * Prudence and the Pill (1968)
    * The Impossible Years (1968)
    * The Extraordinary Seaman (1969)
    * The Brain (1969)
    * Before Winter Comes (1969)
    * The Statue (1971)
    * King, Queen, Knave (1972)
    * Vampira (1974)
    * Paper Tiger (1975)
    * No Deposit, No Return (1976)
    * The Remarkable Rocket (1975)
    * Murder by Death (1976)
    * Candleshoe (1977)
    * Speed Fever (1978)
    * Death on the Nile (1978)
    * A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
    * Escape to Athena (1979)
    * Rough Cut (1980)
    * The Sea Wolves (1980)
    * Better Late Than Never (1982)
    * Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
    * Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)

Bibliography

    * Niven, David (1951). Round the Rugged Rocks. London: The Cresset Press.
    * Niven, David (1971). The Moon's a Balloon. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-340-15817-4.
    * Niven, David (1975). Bring on the Empty Horses. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-89273-2.
    * Niven, David (1981). Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-10690-7.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y2/Penguin45/DavidNiven.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/cuppa/DavidNiven.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/joemariko/Silver%20Stars/DavidNiven.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/10 at 6:05 am

The person who died on this day...Jackie Coogan
John Leslie "Jackie" Coogan, Jr. (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family. In the interim, he sued his mother and stepfather over his squandered film earnings and provoked California to enact the first known legal protection for the earnings of child performers.
ackie Coogan was born in Los Angeles, California, to John Henry Coogan, Jr. (also known as "Big Jack" or "Jack, Sr.") (1886–1935), the son of John Henry Coogan, Sr. (1853–1932), and Lilian Rita Dolliver Coogan (1892–1977, birth also has been listed at 1895). He began his acting career as an infant in both vaudeville and film, with an uncredited role in the 1917 film Skinner's Baby. Charlie Chaplin discovered him in a Los Angeles vaudeville house, doing the shimmy, a popular dance at the time, on the stage. His father, Jack Coogan, Sr. was also an actor. The boy was a natural mimic, and delighted Chaplin with his abilities in this area. As a child actor, he is best remembered for his role as Charlie Chaplin's irascible sidekick in the film classic The Kid (1921) and for the title role in Oliver Twist, directed by Frank Lloyd, the following year. He was also one of the first stars to get heavily merchandised, with peanut butter, stationery, whistles, dolls, records, and figurines just being a sample of the Coogan merchandise. He also travelled internationally to huge crowds. Many of his early films are lost or unavailable, but Turner Classic Movies recently presented The Rag Man with a new score. Coogan was famous for his pageboy haircut and his The Kid outfit of oversized overalls and cap, which was widely imitated, including by the young Scotty Beckett in the Our Gang films.

He was tutored until the age of ten, after which he attended Urban Military Academy and other prep schools, and then several colleges, including the University of Southern California. In 1932 he left Santa Clara University because of poor grades.

On May 4, 1935, Coogan's father was killed in a car crash in San Diego County that also claimed the life of Coogan's best friend Junior Durkin, a child actor best known as Huckleberry Finn in two films of the early 1930s. The accident took place just short of Coogan's twenty-first birthday; he was the sole survivor of the accident.

Jackie Coogan has his hand and foot prints in concrete out front of Grauman's Chinese Theater (now Mann's Chinese Theater), Ceremony #19, on December 12, 1931 (his former wife Betty Grable, Ceremony #68, on February 15, 1943 also). He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of 1654 Vine Street, just south of Hollywood Blvd.

In November 1933 Brooke Hart, a close friend of Coogan's, from Santa Clara University was kidnapped in San Francisco. After several demands for a $40,000 ransom, police arrested Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes in San Jose. Thurmond admitted that Hart had been murdered on the night he was kidnapped. Both men were then transferred to a prison in San Jose, California. Later a mob broke into the building; Thurmond and Holmes were then hanged in an adjacent park. Coogan is reported to have been one of the mob that prepared and held the lynching rope.
Coogan Bill
Main article: California Child Actor's Bill

As a child star, Coogan earned an estimated $3 to 4 million, but the money was taken by his mother, Lilian, and stepfather, Arthur Bernstein, for extravagances such as fur coats, diamonds, and cars. He sued them in 1938 (at age 23), but after legal expenses, he only received $126,000 of the approx. $250,000 left. When Coogan fell on hard times, Charlie Chaplin gave him some financial support.

The legal battle did, however, bring attention to child actors and resulted in the state of California enacting the California Child Actor's Bill, sometimes known as the Coogan Bill or the Coogan Act. This requires that the child's employer set aside 15% of the child's earnings in a trust, and codifies such issues as schooling, work hours and time-off. Jackie's mother and stepfather attempted to soften the situation by pointing out that the child was having fun and thought he was playing. However, virtually every child star from Baby Peggy on has stated that they were keenly aware that what they were doing was work.
Later years
World War II

Coogan enlisted in the US Army in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he requested a transfer to US Army Air Forces as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. After graduating from glider school, he was made a Flight Officer and he volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In December 1943, the unit was sent to India. He flew British troops, the Chindits, under General Orde Wingate on 5 March 1944, landing them at night in a small jungle clearing 100 miles behind Japanese lines in the Burma campaign.
Television

After the war, Coogan returned to acting, taking mostly character roles and appearing on television. He guest starred as Corbett in two episodes of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane, which aired from 1960-1962. In the 1960-1961 season, he guest starred in the episode "The Damaged Dolls" of the syndicated crime drama The Brothers Brannagan.

Coogan had a regular role in a 1962-1963 NBC series, McKeever and the Colonel. He finally found his most famous television role as Uncle Fester in ABC's The Addams Family (1964–1966). He appeared as a police officer in the Elvis Presley comedy Girl Happy in 1965. He had a role in the 1969 movie Marlowe.

In addition to The Addams Family, he appeared a number of times on the Perry Mason series, and once on Emergency! as a junkyard owner who tries to bribe the paramedics, who have come to inspect his property for fire safety. He also was featured in an episode of The Brady Bunch ("Fender Bender"), Here's Lucy and The Brian Keith Show, and he continued to guest star on television (including multiple appearances on The Partridge Family, The Wild Wild West and Hawaii Five-O) until his retirement in the middle 1970s.
Marriages and children

  1. Betty Grable, married on November 20, 1937, divorced on October 11, 1939. Interment Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood California.
  2. Flower Parry, married on August 10, 1941, divorced on June 29, 1943
        1. One son, John Anthony Coogan (writer/producer 3D digital & film), born March 4, 1942 in Los Angeles, California.
  3. Ann McCormack, married on December 26, 1946, divorced on September 20, 1951
        1. One daughter, Joann Dolliver Coogan born April 2, 1948 in Los Angeles, California.
  4. Dorothea Odetta Hanson, aka. Dorothea Lamphere, best known as Dodie, married on April 1952, they were together until his death
        1. One daughter, Leslie Diane Coogan, born November 24, 1953 in Los Angeles, California. Her son is the actor Keith Coogan, who was born January 13, 1970. He began acting in 1975. Two years after his grandfather's death in 1986 he changed his name to Keith Coogan from Keith Eric Mitchell. He played the oldest son in Adventures in Babysitting.
        2. One son, Christopher Fenton Coogan, born July 9, 1967 in Riverside County, California. He died in a motorcycle accident in Palm Springs, California, on June 29, 1990.

Death

On March 1, 1984, Coogan died of cardiac arrest at the age of 69 at Santa Monica Medical Center in Santa Monica, California. He was buried in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.
Selected filmography

    * Skinner's Baby (Uncredited, 1917)
    * A Day's Pleasure (1919)
    * The Kid (1921)
    * Peck's Bad Boy (1921)
    * My Boy (1921)
    * Nice and Friendly (1922)
    * Trouble (1922)
    * Oliver Twist (1922)
    * Daddy (1923)
    * Circus Days (1923)
    * Long Live the King (1923)
    * A Boy of Flanders (1924)
    * Little Robinson Crusoe (1924)
    * Hello, 'Frisco (1924)
    * The Rag Man (1925)
    * Old Clothes (1925)
    * Johnny Get Your Hair Cut (1927)
    * The Bugle Call (1927)
    * Buttons (1927)
    * Tom Sawyer (1930)
    * Huckleberry Finn (1931)
    * Girl Happy (1965)
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/Japanime-Lover/Movies%20%20Books%20%20Other%20Shows/Actors/Jackie%20Coogan/Jackie-Coogan-1.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/Japanime-Lover/Movies%20%20Books%20%20Other%20Shows/Actors/Jackie%20Coogan/charlie-jackie-film.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/Japanime-Lover/Movies%20%20Books%20%20Other%20Shows/Actors/Jackie%20Coogan/jackie-coogan.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/01/10 at 6:35 am


The person who died on this day...Jackie Coogan
John Leslie "Jackie" Coogan, Jr. (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family. In the interim, he sued his mother and stepfather over his squandered film earnings and provoked California to enact the first known legal protection for the earnings of child performers.
ackie Coogan was born in Los Angeles, California, to John Henry Coogan, Jr. (also known as "Big Jack" or "Jack, Sr.") (1886–1935), the son of John Henry Coogan, Sr. (1853–1932), and Lilian Rita Dolliver Coogan (1892–1977, birth also has been listed at 1895). He began his acting career as an infant in both vaudeville and film, with an uncredited role in the 1917 film Skinner's Baby. Charlie Chaplin discovered him in a Los Angeles vaudeville house, doing the shimmy, a popular dance at the time, on the stage. His father, Jack Coogan, Sr. was also an actor. The boy was a natural mimic, and delighted Chaplin with his abilities in this area. As a child actor, he is best remembered for his role as Charlie Chaplin's irascible sidekick in the film classic The Kid (1921) and for the title role in Oliver Twist, directed by Frank Lloyd, the following year. He was also one of the first stars to get heavily merchandised, with peanut butter, stationery, whistles, dolls, records, and figurines just being a sample of the Coogan merchandise. He also travelled internationally to huge crowds. Many of his early films are lost or unavailable, but Turner Classic Movies recently presented The Rag Man with a new score. Coogan was famous for his pageboy haircut and his The Kid outfit of oversized overalls and cap, which was widely imitated, including by the young Scotty Beckett in the Our Gang films.

He was tutored until the age of ten, after which he attended Urban Military Academy and other prep schools, and then several colleges, including the University of Southern California. In 1932 he left Santa Clara University because of poor grades.

On May 4, 1935, Coogan's father was killed in a car crash in San Diego County that also claimed the life of Coogan's best friend Junior Durkin, a child actor best known as Huckleberry Finn in two films of the early 1930s. The accident took place just short of Coogan's twenty-first birthday; he was the sole survivor of the accident.

Jackie Coogan has his hand and foot prints in concrete out front of Grauman's Chinese Theater (now Mann's Chinese Theater), Ceremony #19, on December 12, 1931 (his former wife Betty Grable, Ceremony #68, on February 15, 1943 also). He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of 1654 Vine Street, just south of Hollywood Blvd.

In November 1933 Brooke Hart, a close friend of Coogan's, from Santa Clara University was kidnapped in San Francisco. After several demands for a $40,000 ransom, police arrested Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes in San Jose. Thurmond admitted that Hart had been murdered on the night he was kidnapped. Both men were then transferred to a prison in San Jose, California. Later a mob broke into the building; Thurmond and Holmes were then hanged in an adjacent park. Coogan is reported to have been one of the mob that prepared and held the lynching rope.
Coogan Bill
Main article: California Child Actor's Bill

As a child star, Coogan earned an estimated $3 to 4 million, but the money was taken by his mother, Lilian, and stepfather, Arthur Bernstein, for extravagances such as fur coats, diamonds, and cars. He sued them in 1938 (at age 23), but after legal expenses, he only received $126,000 of the approx. $250,000 left. When Coogan fell on hard times, Charlie Chaplin gave him some financial support.

The legal battle did, however, bring attention to child actors and resulted in the state of California enacting the California Child Actor's Bill, sometimes known as the Coogan Bill or the Coogan Act. This requires that the child's employer set aside 15% of the child's earnings in a trust, and codifies such issues as schooling, work hours and time-off. Jackie's mother and stepfather attempted to soften the situation by pointing out that the child was having fun and thought he was playing. However, virtually every child star from Baby Peggy on has stated that they were keenly aware that what they were doing was work.
Later years
World War II

Coogan enlisted in the US Army in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he requested a transfer to US Army Air Forces as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. After graduating from glider school, he was made a Flight Officer and he volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In December 1943, the unit was sent to India. He flew British troops, the Chindits, under General Orde Wingate on 5 March 1944, landing them at night in a small jungle clearing 100 miles behind Japanese lines in the Burma campaign.
Television

After the war, Coogan returned to acting, taking mostly character roles and appearing on television. He guest starred as Corbett in two episodes of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane, which aired from 1960-1962. In the 1960-1961 season, he guest starred in the episode "The Damaged Dolls" of the syndicated crime drama The Brothers Brannagan.

Coogan had a regular role in a 1962-1963 NBC series, McKeever and the Colonel. He finally found his most famous television role as Uncle Fester in ABC's The Addams Family (1964–1966). He appeared as a police officer in the Elvis Presley comedy Girl Happy in 1965. He had a role in the 1969 movie Marlowe.

In addition to The Addams Family, he appeared a number of times on the Perry Mason series, and once on Emergency! as a junkyard owner who tries to bribe the paramedics, who have come to inspect his property for fire safety. He also was featured in an episode of The Brady Bunch ("Fender Bender"), Here's Lucy and The Brian Keith Show, and he continued to guest star on television (including multiple appearances on The Partridge Family, The Wild Wild West and Hawaii Five-O) until his retirement in the middle 1970s.
Marriages and children

   1. Betty Grable, married on November 20, 1937, divorced on October 11, 1939. Interment Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood California.
   2. Flower Parry, married on August 10, 1941, divorced on June 29, 1943
         1. One son, John Anthony Coogan (writer/producer 3D digital & film), born March 4, 1942 in Los Angeles, California.
   3. Ann McCormack, married on December 26, 1946, divorced on September 20, 1951
         1. One daughter, Joann Dolliver Coogan born April 2, 1948 in Los Angeles, California.
   4. Dorothea Odetta Hanson, aka. Dorothea Lamphere, best known as Dodie, married on April 1952, they were together until his death
         1. One daughter, Leslie Diane Coogan, born November 24, 1953 in Los Angeles, California. Her son is the actor Keith Coogan, who was born January 13, 1970. He began acting in 1975. Two years after his grandfather's death in 1986 he changed his name to Keith Coogan from Keith Eric Mitchell. He played the oldest son in Adventures in Babysitting.
         2. One son, Christopher Fenton Coogan, born July 9, 1967 in Riverside County, California. He died in a motorcycle accident in Palm Springs, California, on June 29, 1990.

Death

On March 1, 1984, Coogan died of cardiac arrest at the age of 69 at Santa Monica Medical Center in Santa Monica, California. He was buried in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.
Selected filmography

    * Skinner's Baby (Uncredited, 1917)
    * A Day's Pleasure (1919)
    * The Kid (1921)
    * Peck's Bad Boy (1921)
    * My Boy (1921)
    * Nice and Friendly (1922)
    * Trouble (1922)
    * Oliver Twist (1922)
    * Daddy (1923)
    * Circus Days (1923)
    * Long Live the King (1923)
    * A Boy of Flanders (1924)
    * Little Robinson Crusoe (1924)
    * Hello, 'Frisco (1924)
    * The Rag Man (1925)
    * Old Clothes (1925)
    * Johnny Get Your Hair Cut (1927)
    * The Bugle Call (1927)
    * Buttons (1927)
    * Tom Sawyer (1930)
    * Huckleberry Finn (1931)
    * Girl Happy (1965)
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/Japanime-Lover/Movies%20%20Books%20%20Other%20Shows/Actors/Jackie%20Coogan/Jackie-Coogan-1.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/Japanime-Lover/Movies%20%20Books%20%20Other%20Shows/Actors/Jackie%20Coogan/charlie-jackie-film.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o151/Japanime-Lover/Movies%20%20Books%20%20Other%20Shows/Actors/Jackie%20Coogan/jackie-coogan.jpg



http://www.nndb.com/people/341/000044209/coogan1-sized.jpg


Jackie Coogan in later years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/01/10 at 6:48 am


The word of the day...Tables
A table is a piece of furniture with a flat top that you put things on or sit at.
If you ask for a table in a restaurant, you want to have a meal there.
If someone tables a proposal, they say formally that they want it to be discussed at a meeting.
A table is a written set of facts and figures arranged in columns and rows.
A table is a list of the multiplications of numbers between one and twelve. Children often have to learn tables at school.
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz172/einventory/Desks/MyPictures528.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz172/einventory/Desks/MyPictures359.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff146/finadysoupe/DSC02393.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/causin_trouble/Log%20House/P6180014.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx123/mariaosborn/Living%20Room/Occasional%20Tables/CM421921.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll14/dallasnadeau/Coffee%20Tables%20and%20Trunks/004.jpg
http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad21/johnericfranklin/NonPrimes.png
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/stefy56/mickey_rooney_judy_garland.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo101/GrandMasonRyan/TOC.jpg

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/computer/multiplication-tables/times-table-12x12.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/10 at 7:08 am



http://www.nndb.com/people/341/000044209/coogan1-sized.jpg


Jackie Coogan in later years.

Thanks Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/01/10 at 7:10 am


Thanks Howie :)


You're Welcome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/01/10 at 4:46 pm

Canadian person of the day

Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffery; March 1, 1947) is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the patriarch on the ABC television series Growing Pains.

http://tvcrazy.net/images/growing_pains.jpg

Thicke has been married three times. His first marriage to Days of our Lives actress Gloria Loring, from 1970 to 1983, bore him two sons, Brennan and Robin. His second marriage was to the Miss World 1990 pageant winner, Gina Tolleson, from 1992 to 1999, and produced a third son, Carter William. He has been married to Tanya Callau since 2005.
http://www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/alan-thicke21.jpg

His son Robin is a platinum album-selling musician, and his son Brennan was a voice actor for cartoons when he was younger.

Thicke was also the host of his own popular talk show in Canada during the early 1980s, called the The Alan Thicke Show. The show at one point spawned a prime time spin-off titled Prime Cuts, which consisted of edited highlights from the talk show.

Based on the success of his talk show, Thicke was signed to do an American late night talk show Thicke of the Night.

Thicke had a successful career as a TV theme song composer. He often collaborated with his wife Gloria Loring on these projects, which included the themes to the popular sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. He also wrote a number of TV game show themes, including The Wizard of Odds (for which he also sang the vocal introduction), The Joker's Wild, Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Diamond Head Game, Blank Check, Stumpers!, Whew! and the original theme to Wheel of Fortune.

http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/lc/nhl_awards_arrivals_4_190609/alan_thicke_5313763.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 1:47 am

British Person of the Day: Andrew Strauss

Andrew John Strauss, MBE (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is captain of England.

A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss has the ability to accumulate runs without playing big shots, in which respect he has been likened to Graham Thorpe. Also, his technique and more specifically his footwork has been compared to that of the Australian opening batsman Justin Langer, who captained Strauss at Middlesex. Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots. Strauss is also known for his fielding strength at slip or in the covers.

He made his First-class debut in 1998, and made his One Day International (ODI) debut in Sri Lanka in 2003. He quickly rose to fame on his Test match debut replacing the injured Michael Vaughan at Lords against New Zealand in 2004. With scores of 112 and 83 (run out) in an England victory, and the man of the match award, he became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his debut and was close to becoming the first Englishman to score centuries in both innings of his debut. Strauss again nearly scored two centuries (126 and 94 not out) and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 2004. Strauss suffered a drop in form during 2007, and as a result he was left out of the Test squad for England's tour of Sri Lanka, and announced that he was taking a break from cricket. After a poor tour for England, Andrew was recalled into the squad for the 2008 tour of New Zealand, and subsequently reestablished himself in the side with a career-best 177 in the third and final Test of that series, and a further three centuries in 2008.

Having deputised for Michael Vaughan as England captain in 2006, Strauss was appointed on a permanent basis for the 2009 tour of the West Indies following Kevin Pietersen's resignation. He enjoyed success with three centuries, and retained the captaincy into 2009. Strauss captained the England team to a 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes, scoring a series total of 474 runs, more than any other player on either side, including 161 in England's first victory in an Ashes Test at Lord's in 75 years.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/11/09/ANDREW_STRAUSS_gallery__452x400.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/02/10 at 5:41 am


Canadian person of the day

Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffery; March 1, 1947) is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the patriarch on the ABC television series Growing Pains.

http://tvcrazy.net/images/growing_pains.jpg

Thicke has been married three times. His first marriage to Days of our Lives actress Gloria Loring, from 1970 to 1983, bore him two sons, Brennan and Robin. His second marriage was to the Miss World 1990 pageant winner, Gina Tolleson, from 1992 to 1999, and produced a third son, Carter William. He has been married to Tanya Callau since 2005.
http://www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/alan-thicke21.jpg

His son Robin is a platinum album-selling musician, and his son Brennan was a voice actor for cartoons when he was younger.

Thicke was also the host of his own popular talk show in Canada during the early 1980s, called the The Alan Thicke Show. The show at one point spawned a prime time spin-off titled Prime Cuts, which consisted of edited highlights from the talk show.

Based on the success of his talk show, Thicke was signed to do an American late night talk show Thicke of the Night.

Thicke had a successful career as a TV theme song composer. He often collaborated with his wife Gloria Loring on these projects, which included the themes to the popular sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. He also wrote a number of TV game show themes, including The Wizard of Odds (for which he also sang the vocal introduction), The Joker's Wild, Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Diamond Head Game, Blank Check, Stumpers!, Whew! and the original theme to Wheel of Fortune.

http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/lc/nhl_awards_arrivals_4_190609/alan_thicke_5313763.jpg


Man,I miss Growing Pains.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 6:01 am


Man,I miss Growing Pains.  :)

Me too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 6:03 am


British Person of the Day: Andrew Strauss

Andrew John Strauss, MBE (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is captain of England.

A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss has the ability to accumulate runs without playing big shots, in which respect he has been likened to Graham Thorpe. Also, his technique and more specifically his footwork has been compared to that of the Australian opening batsman Justin Langer, who captained Strauss at Middlesex. Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots. Strauss is also known for his fielding strength at slip or in the covers.

He made his First-class debut in 1998, and made his One Day International (ODI) debut in Sri Lanka in 2003. He quickly rose to fame on his Test match debut replacing the injured Michael Vaughan at Lords against New Zealand in 2004. With scores of 112 and 83 (run out) in an England victory, and the man of the match award, he became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his debut and was close to becoming the first Englishman to score centuries in both innings of his debut. Strauss again nearly scored two centuries (126 and 94 not out) and was named man of the match in his first overseas Test match, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 2004. Strauss suffered a drop in form during 2007, and as a result he was left out of the Test squad for England's tour of Sri Lanka, and announced that he was taking a break from cricket. After a poor tour for England, Andrew was recalled into the squad for the 2008 tour of New Zealand, and subsequently reestablished himself in the side with a career-best 177 in the third and final Test of that series, and a further three centuries in 2008.

Having deputised for Michael Vaughan as England captain in 2006, Strauss was appointed on a permanent basis for the 2009 tour of the West Indies following Kevin Pietersen's resignation. He enjoyed success with three centuries, and retained the captaincy into 2009. Strauss captained the England team to a 2–1 victory in the 2009 Ashes, scoring a series total of 474 runs, more than any other player on either side, including 161 in England's first victory in an Ashes Test at Lord's in 75 years.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/11/09/ANDREW_STRAUSS_gallery__452x400.jpg

Cricket is a sport I know nothing about.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 6:04 am

Thanks Frank and Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 6:08 am

The word of the day...Slippery
Something that is slippery is smooth, wet, or oily and is therefore difficult to walk on or to hold.
You can describe someone as slippery if you think that they are dishonest in a clever way and cannot be trusted.
If someone is on a slippery slope, they are involved in a course of action that is difficult to stop and that will eventually lead to failure or trouble
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz144/family_photos_10/Snow%20Day/100_0977.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii248/keasbeyknights/DSCF1144.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/Dcko97/Cody%202-13-14-10/IMG_2581.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Juniorsauer/Slippery.jpg
http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt318/lowellbrown/slippery.png
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/tlawrence1/6221.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 6:16 am

The person born on this day...Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr. March 2, 1962) is an American musician, songwriter and actor, best known as the lead singer and founder of band Bon Jovi. He was also the owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the now suspended Arena Football League. Throughout his career, he has released two solo albums and eleven studio albums with his band which have sold over 120 million albums worldwide.

As a solo artist, he has numerous awards for his work, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for his solo hit: Blaze of Glory. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Monmouth University in 2001. He campaigned for Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election, John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, and Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election.
In October 1984, Bon Jovi supported the group Kiss at the Queens Hall in Leeds.

With the help of their new manager Doc McGhee, the band's debut album, Bon Jovi, was released on January 21, 1984. The album went gold in the US (sales of over 500,000). In 1985, Bon Jovi's second album 7800°Fahrenheit was released, but the response was poor. The turning point came when they brought in songwriter Desmond Child for their third album, Slippery When Wet. With Child co-writing many of their hits on this and future albums the band shot to super-stardom around the world with songs such as "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' On A Prayer", and "Wanted Dead or Alive". The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide since its release in late 1986.

During their 1986-1987 tour, Jon's attempt to give it his all during live shows (plus the tour's exhausting schedule) greatly strained his vocal cords. In the band's Behind The Music special, he notes that his vocal cords were given steroids to help him sing. With the help of a vocal coach, he was able to continue doing the tour. Contrary to popular belief, Bon Jovi did not have voice damage during the New Jersey Syndicate Tour. As recordings from that tour show, his voice was in perfect condition throughout.

The next album from Bon Jovi was New Jersey released in 1988. The album was recorded very shortly after the tour for Slippery, because the band wanted to prove that they were not just a one hit wonder. The resulting album is a fan favorite and a mammoth commercial success, with hit songs such as "Bad Medicine", "Lay Your Hands on Me" and "I'll Be There for You", which are still nightly stalwarts in their live repertoire.

Despite the band achieving massive success, New Jersey almost led to the end of the band as they went straight back out on the road so soon after the heavy touring for their previous album. This constant living on the road almost destroyed the strong bond between the band members. Sambora is noted on the albums as co-writer for many songs, yet he resented the lack of attention that was heaped on Jon alone. As mentioned in VH1's Behind the Music, the band members note that at the end of the tour, each band member went their separate way, even departing in separate jets after the tour ended in Guadalajara, Mexico in early 1990.

Between 1990 and 1992, members of Bon Jovi went their separate ways after the very rigorous two year New Jersey Tour, which exceeded 200 shows on 5 continents. This time off also helped them determine where Bon Jovi would fit within the rapidly changing music scene upon their return.

In 1992, the band returned with the album Keep the Faith. The album was released in November 1992. Produced by Bob Rock, the album signified an ending to their early metal roots in previous albums and introduced a more "rock n roll"-driven groove to the album. Much more complex, lyrically and musically, the album proved that Bon Jovi could still be a viable band in 90's, despite the industry's and audience's growing affinity for Grunge.

In 1994, Bon Jovi released a "greatest hits" album titled Cross Road, which also contained two new tracks: the hit singles "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night". Always, spent six months on the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of Bon Jovi's all-time biggest hits. The song peaked at #4 on the U.S. charts and at #1 in countries across Europe, Asia and in Australia. The single sold very well, going platinum in the U.S. That same year, bassist Alec John Such left the band, the first and only lineup change since Bon Jovi began. Hugh McDonald, who was the bassist on "Runaway", unofficially replaced Such as bassist.

Their sixth studio album These Days was released in June 1995 to the most critical acclaim that the band had ever received. With the album These Days, Bon Jovi took the mature rock sound they had developed on Keep the Faith further. The record as a whole was darker and more downbeat than the usual Bon Jovi flare. By 1996, Bon Jovi had established themselves as a "force" in the music industry, proving much more durable than most of their 80's glam peers.

After another lengthy hiatus of nearly three years, during which several band members worked on independent projects, Bon Jovi regrouped in 1999 to begin work on their next studio album. Their 2000 release, Crush, enjoyed overwhelming success all around the world, thanks in part to the smash-hit single "It's My Life", co-written by famous Swedish producer Max Martin. Crush, which also produced such hits as "Say it isn't so", and helped introduce Bon Jovi to a new, younger fan base.

In late 2002, Bounce, the band's follow-up to Crush, hit stores. Though Bounce did not enjoy the level of success of its predecessor, the album did produce hit singles such as "Everyday" and the title track.
Jon Bon Jovi in the Netherlands on May 26, 2006

Bon Jovi's ninth studio album, Have a Nice Day, was released in September 2005. "Have A Nice Day" was the first single off the new album and the second single from the album "Who Says You Can't Go Home", was released in the U.S. in the spring of 2006. In the U.S. a duet version of "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with country singer Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland was released, and in May 2006, Bon Jovi made history by becoming the first Rock & Roll Band to have a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Chart. On February 11, 2007, Bon Jovi also won a Grammy Award, for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" for "Who Says You Can't Go Home".

In June 2007, Bon Jovi released their studio album, Lost Highway. The album debuted at number #1 on the Billboard charts, the first time that Bon Jovi have had a number one album on the US charts since the release of New Jersey in 1988. Thanks to the band's new country music fanbase, the album sold 292,000 copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., and became Bon Jovi's third US number one album.

On April 6, 2009, it was announced that the Tribeca Film Festival will screen a Bon Jovi documentary called When We Were Beautiful. The film follows the band on the Lost Highway Tour during 2008. The film is directed by Phil Griffin and will be the centerpiece of the festival and is considered a work-in-progress.

In November 2009, Bon Jovi released their latest studio album The Circle.
Solo career
Jon Bon Jovi in January 2009

Jon Bon Jovi recorded a solo album, a soundtrack to the movie "Young Guns II" (in which he also appeared for less than a second), more commonly known as Blaze of Glory. Released in 1990, the album featured high profile guests such as: Elton John, Aldo Nova, Little Richard, and Jeff Beck, among others. The album fared well commercially and received very positive reviews and quickly achieved double platinum status. The title track, "Blaze of Glory", hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Jon an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, but he did not win the award. That same year, however, "Blaze of Glory" was awarded a Golden Globe.

Jon wrote what would become his second solo album, 1997's Destination Anywhere. The album received very positive reviews and was a success across Europe. It was rumored that the record company was pursuing Jon to name the record "These Days, Part 2", since the album was somewhat of a moody progression from These Days. A short movie of the same name was recorded right around the record's release, based entirely on the songs from the record and starring Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon and Whoopi Goldberg. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics played guitar on the record, as well as producing some of the tracks. That year Jon Bon Jovi earned a BRIT Award for Best International Male and also won a MTV Europe Music Award for Best Male.
Personal life

During a stop in Los Angeles on the New Jersey tour in 1989, Bon Jovi secretly took a trip to Las Vegas, where he married his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley (born September 29, 1962) on April 29, 1989 at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Together they have four children: Stephanie Rose, Jesse James, Jake and Romeo. Bon Jovi maintains a strong family foundation to this day.

In 2004, he became founder and primary owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League with fellow band member Richie Sambora. He appeared in several television commercials for the league, typically with John Elway, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Bon Jovi has been a New York Giants fan his entire life, and also has a long-standing friendship with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, demonstrated by Belichick often playing Bon Jovi music at Patriots practices.

Bon Jovi was raised a Roman Catholic and states "I'm what you call a recovering Catholic. I have many major issues with the church."
Charitable work

Bon Jovi has worked on behalf of the Special Olympics, the American Red Cross, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Project Home, The Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation and other groups.

He has been named the first Founding Ambassador of the Habitat for Humanity Ambassador program as part of the international-nonprofit organization’s new advocacy outreach initiative. Bon Jovi has been raising awareness with Habitat for Humanity since 2005 when he provided the funds to build six homes in Philadelphia and built the homes alongside the homeowner families, as well as with members of his Philadelphia Soul Arena Football Team. The construction site also served as the video shoot location for his band’s single, "Who Says You Can’t Go Home". In 2006, Bon Jovi made a $1 million donation to build 28 Habitat homes in Louisiana in partnership with low-income families on the hurricane-stricken coast. In July, 2007, Bon Jovi announced a project that will rehabilitate a block of 15 homes in north Philadelphia. During an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005, the band donated $1 million to the Angel Network foundation.

He is one of 21 artists singing on "Everybody Hurts", a charity single organised by Simon Cowell in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Acting work

Bon Jovi is a credited actor in the movies Moonlight and Valentino, The Leading Man, Destination Anywhere, Homegrown, Little City, No Looking Back, Row Your Boat, Vampires Los Muertos, U-571, Cry Wolf, National Lampoon's Pucked. He also had a supporting role in the movie Pay It Forward, where he played Helen Hunt's abusive ex-husband. His TV series appearances include Sex and the City and an extended stint on Ally McBeal as a plumber who was Ally's boyfriend for a short period of time, as well as a guest appearance on 30 Rock, Las Vegas, and The West Wing.
Presenting

He was guest star on American Idol in May 2007, during the show's "Rock Week" in which the contestants all performed his or his band's songs. On October 13, 2007 Jon hosted the third episode of the 33rd season of Saturday Night Live.
Political activism

As a Democrat, Bon Jovi toured extensively on behalf of Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, appearing at and playing acoustic sets (with Sambora) at rallies for the Kerry-Edwards ticket throughout the United States. Bon Jovi also played as a part of the Live Earth concert at the Meadowlands in 2007, and was introduced by former Vice President Al Gore. In 2008, Jon Bon Jovi supported Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and after she dropped out, he supported Barack Obama, even holding an exclusive fundraiser at his home for him; he will play a 2009 Manhattan fundraiser for now Secretary of State Clinton to lessen some of her $6.3 million dollar campaign debt. On Sunday, January 18, 2009 Bon Jovi performed a duet at the Obama Inauguration Concert of the Sam Cooke classic "A Change is Gonna Come" with Bettye LaVette. On June 4, 2009 Bon Jovi performed an acoustic benefit show for democratic Gov. Jon Corzine at the NJPAC in Newark, New Jersey.

On June 24, 2009, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Andy Madadian recorded a musical message of worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. The handwritten Persian sign in the video translates to "we are one".
Filmography
Year Film Role
1995 Moonlight and Valentino The Painter
1996 The Leading Man Robin Grange
1997 Destination Anywhere -
Little City Kevin
1998 Homegrown Danny
No Looking Back Michael
Row Your Boat Jamey Meadows
2000 U-571 Lieutenant Pete Emmett, Chief Engineer, S-33
Pay It Forward Ricky McKinney
2001-2002 Ally McBeal Victor Morrison (10 Episodes)
2002 Vampires: Los Muertos Derek Bliss
2005 Cry Wolf Rich Walker
2006 National Lampoon's Pucked Frank Hopper
The West Wing Himself
2010 30 Rock Himself
Awards

    * 1985: Kerrang: Sex Object Of The Year
    * 1987: Metal Edge Reader's Choice Awards: Best Male Performer.
    * 1989: American Music Award: Best Pop/Rock Band, Duo or Group; award shared with his band.
    * 1990: Golden Globe: Best Song, Blaze of Glory (from Young Guns II soundtrack).
    * 1990: Academy Awards: Nominated, Original Song, "Blaze of Glory" (from Young Guns II soundtrack).
    * 1991: ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures for YOUNG GUNS II - Blaze of Glory.
    * 1991: MTV Michael Jackson: Video Vanguard Award; shared with his band.
    * 1996: Sky Sport: Special Olympics Awards.
    * 1997: Kerrang Awards: Classic Songwriter.
    * 1997: MTV Europe Music Awards: Best Male.
    * 1998: Brit awards: Best International Male.
    * 1998: ECHO: Best International Male Artist.
    * 2000: People: Sexiest Rock Star.
    * 2001: Humanitarian of the Year by The Food Bank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties for his charitable work on behalf of the people of New Jersey.
    * 2001: Honorary doctorate in Humanities degree from Monmouth University in New Jersey, for his success as an entertainer and his humanitarian work.
    * 2002: People: Sexiest Rock Star.
    * 2002: My VH1 Music Awards: From The Tour to The Tube - Best TV for ,,Ally McBeal".
    * 2003: People: Sexiest Rock Star.
    * 2004: American Music Awards: Received the Award of Merit for their long career.
    * 2005: World Music Awards:KUMAD Received the Diamond Award for sales of 100+ million albums.
    * 2006: Help USA: Tribute Dinner Honnores.
    * 2006: Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame
    * 2006: VH1 Livin' on a Prayer-Greatest Song of the '80's
    * 2007: Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, "Who Says You Can't Go Home?" (with Jennifer Nettles).
    * 2008: VH1 The Greatest: 100 Sexiest Artists (20 - 1): 14th Sexiest Artist
    * 2008: MTV1 The Best: Best Selling Song Of The Decade 1980. Most popular rock song since 1980-s to Present.
    * 2009: Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US CAN UK AUS NZ JAP SPA GER AUT SWI SWE
1990 Blaze of Glory - Young Guns II

    * Released: July 26, 1990
    * Label: Mercury Records

3 — 2 2 3 4 — 4 1 4 1

    * US: 2× Multi-Platinum
    * CAN: 2× Platinum

1997 Destination Anywhere

    * Released: June 17, 1997
    * Label: Mercury Records

31 6 2 4 34 2 1 1 1 1 7

    * CAN: Platinum
    * ITA: Platinum

"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilation albums
Year Album
2001 The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings

    * Released: September 18, 2001
    * Label: Mercury Records

Solo singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US Rock CAN AUS NZ UK IRE GER SWI AUT NL SWE
1990 "Blaze of Glory" 1 1 1 1 1 13 3 16 5 2 16 3 Blaze of Glory
"Miracle" 12 20 6 8 6 29 20 47 20 — 65 15
1991 "Never Say Die" — — — 60 — — — — — — — —
"Dyin' Ain't Much of a Livin'" — — — — — — — — — — — —
1992 "Levon" 37* 27 — — — — — — — — — — Two Rooms
1994 "Please Come Home for Christmas" — — — — — 7 + 6 + — — — — — A Very Special Christmas 2
1997 "Midnight in Chelsea" 27* — 3 17 — 4 13 9 5 8 16 49 Destination Anywhere
"Queen of New Orleans" — — 40 40 — 10 27 66 50 — 40 41
"Janie, Don't Take Your Love to Town" 48* — 18 — — 13 — 38 — 40 61 —
"Ugly" — — — — — — — 75 41 39 — —
2010 "Everybody Hurts" (as part of "Helping Haiti") 121 — 69 28 17 1 1 16 16 — — 25 Charity single
* Airplay/Radio & Records Chart, "—" denotes the single failed to chart or not released

    * + "Please Come Home for Christmas" was originally credited as a solo recording by Jon Bon Jovi when included on the Christmas compilation A Very Special Christmas 2 in 1992, but when released as a single in UK, Ireland and Europe in 1994 it was released as a Bon Jovi single under the band name. The cover artwork of the single was a still from the musicvideo of Jon Bon Jovi and Cindy Crawford and the same Bon Jovi logo as was used on the albums Keep the Faith and Cross Road and the singles taken from them.

Guest singles
Year Single Artist US Country Album
1998 "Bang a Drum" Chris LeDoux 68 One Road Man
Other album appearances
Year Song Artist Album
2009 "Keep the Faith" Jon Bon Jovi & Washington DC Youth Choir Oh Happy Day
With Bon Jovi
Main article: Bon Jovi discography

Studio albums

    * Bon Jovi (1984)
    * 7800° Fahrenheit (1985)
    * Slippery When Wet (1986)
    * New Jersey (1988)
    * Keep the Faith (1992)
    * These Days (1995)
    * Crush (2000)
    * Bounce (2002)
    * Have a Nice Day (2005)
    * Lost Highway (2007)
    * The Circle (2009)



Compilation albums

    * Cross Road (1994)
    * Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi (2001)
    * This Left Feels Right (2003)

Live albums

    * One Wild Night Live 1985-2001 (2001)

Box Sets

    * 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004)

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss188/KowboiCash/Jon%20Bon%20Jovi/JBJ161.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll19/locohicana65/STUFF/42af48da.jpg
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss188/KowboiCash/Jon%20Bon%20Jovi/JBJ157.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 6:30 am

The person who died on this day...Jack Wild
Jack Wild (30 September 1952 – 1 March 2006) was a British actor who achieved fame for his roles in both stage and screen productions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with Ron Moody, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed. For the latter performance (playing the Artful Dodger), he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16. Jack Wild appeared with actor Mark Lester in two films: Oliver! (1968) and Melody (1971)
Wild was born into a working class family in Royton, near Oldham, Lancashire, to a labourer father and a mother who worked as a butcher. Wild moved to Hounslow, West London, with his parents during his childhood. He was discovered whilst playing football, by June, mother of Genesis member Phil Collins. He was asked if he wanted a job, and told her he already had one, that he worked for the milkman. He was educated at the independent Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, London, and had to supplement his parents' modest incomes by working on a stage production of Oliver!, in order to pay his school fees.

It was at the premiere of the 1968 film version of Oliver! that he met brothers Sid and Marty Krofft, who thought Wild would make a good lead for a show they were developing called H.R. Pufnstuf. Wild starred in this American family TV series that launched in 1969, and he was paid $1,000,000 to play 'Jimmy', a boy washed up on 'Living Island' (a magic island) with his best friend Freddy, a talking flute. He was also in the movie Pufnstuf. As well as embarking on a recording career, cutting one album for Capitol Records and two for Buddah Records in the early 1970s, the three albums were called The Jack Wild Album, Everything's Coming Up Roses, and Beautiful World. On top of this he became a favourite for teen magazines of the times and was often featured in interviews, articles and pull-out-posters.

Wild had an older brother named Arthur, who was also an actor and appeared in the London stage version of Oliver!. Arthur Wild died in September 2000.
Problems

Like many child stars, Wild struggled to make the transition to adult stardom, and by 1976 his film career was over. He had begun drinking and smoking regularly at the age of twelve. His alcoholism ruined both his career and his marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Gaynor Jones who left him in 1985 due to his excessive drinking. For a few years Wild, having blown his fortune, was forced to live with his retired father. His alcoholism caused three near-fatal cardiac arrests and resulted in several spells in hospital until he finally stopped drinking in 1989.
Career restarts

Wild went into rehab in 1988 and gave up drinking on 6 March 1989 after joining Alcoholics Victorious. He returned to the big screen in a few minor roles, such as in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He was also reported to be developing a TV situation comedy with Suzi Quatro around the same time, but those plans never materialized into an actual series. For the most part, Wild spent the remainder of his career working in theatre.His last major appearance was as the male lead, `Mouse' in Tayla Goodman's rock musical `Virus'. The show ran for two weeks at the Theatre Royal Nottingham. Jack received rave reviews and left the audience laughing. Director Peter Everett said that Jack was a true Actor of the old school and a perfect gentleman.
Death

Wild died on 1 March 2006, aged 53, after a long battle with oral cancer, which he believed was caused by his alcoholism and smoking. Diagnosed with the disease in 2000, he initially underwent chemotherapy, but later had part of his tongue and both vocal cords removed in July 2004. Because of this surgery, he had lost his speech and had to communicate through his wife, Claire Harding, whom he met when they were appearing in Jack and the Beanstalk in Worthing. He is buried in Toddington Parish Cemetery.
Filmography

    * Danny the Dragon (1967)
    * Oliver! (1968)
    * H.R. Pufnstuf 1969-1971
    * Pufnstuf aka Pufnstuf Zaps the World (1970)
    * Melody (1971)
    * Flight of the Doves (1971)
    * Caterpiller Taxis (1972)
    * The Pied Piper (1972)
    * The Wild Little Bunch (1972)
    * The Fourteen (UK) aka Existence (1973 film) (USA) and The Wild Little Bunch (USA) (1973)
    * Keep It Up Downstairs (1976)
    * Alice (1981)
    * Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
    * Basil (1998)
    * Moussaka & Chips (2005)

See also

    * List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o66/jackwildscans/jackwild1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Dont_Blink17/pufnstuf_1.jpg
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv255/entomologynichic/Artical19.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 8:02 am


Cricket is a sport I know nothing about.
The same applies for me for baseball and American Football (Gridiron).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 8:04 am


The word of the day...Slippery
Something that is slippery is smooth, wet, or oily and is therefore difficult to walk on or to hold.
You can describe someone as slippery if you think that they are dishonest in a clever way and cannot be trusted.
If someone is on a slippery slope, they are involved in a course of action that is difficult to stop and that will eventually lead to failure or trouble
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz144/family_photos_10/Snow%20Day/100_0977.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii248/keasbeyknights/DSCF1144.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/Dcko97/Cody%202-13-14-10/IMG_2581.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Juniorsauer/Slippery.jpg
http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt318/lowellbrown/slippery.png
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/tlawrence1/6221.jpg
http://hygo.co.uk/store/images/wet-floor-sign-floor.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 8:04 am


Thanks Frank and Phil :)
No problem.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 8:07 am


The person who died on this day...Jack Wild
Jack Wild (30 September 1952 – 1 March 2006) was a British actor who achieved fame for his roles in both stage and screen productions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with Ron Moody, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed. For the latter performance (playing the Artful Dodger), he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16. Jack Wild appeared with actor Mark Lester in two films: Oliver! (1968) and Melody (1971)
Wild was born into a working class family in Royton, near Oldham, Lancashire, to a labourer father and a mother who worked as a butcher. Wild moved to Hounslow, West London, with his parents during his childhood. He was discovered whilst playing football, by June, mother of Genesis member Phil Collins. He was asked if he wanted a job, and told her he already had one, that he worked for the milkman. He was educated at the independent Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, London, and had to supplement his parents' modest incomes by working on a stage production of Oliver!, in order to pay his school fees.

It was at the premiere of the 1968 film version of Oliver! that he met brothers Sid and Marty Krofft, who thought Wild would make a good lead for a show they were developing called H.R. Pufnstuf. Wild starred in this American family TV series that launched in 1969, and he was paid $1,000,000 to play 'Jimmy', a boy washed up on 'Living Island' (a magic island) with his best friend Freddy, a talking flute. He was also in the movie Pufnstuf. As well as embarking on a recording career, cutting one album for Capitol Records and two for Buddah Records in the early 1970s, the three albums were called The Jack Wild Album, Everything's Coming Up Roses, and Beautiful World. On top of this he became a favourite for teen magazines of the times and was often featured in interviews, articles and pull-out-posters.

Wild had an older brother named Arthur, who was also an actor and appeared in the London stage version of Oliver!. Arthur Wild died in September 2000.
Problems

Like many child stars, Wild struggled to make the transition to adult stardom, and by 1976 his film career was over. He had begun drinking and smoking regularly at the age of twelve. His alcoholism ruined both his career and his marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Gaynor Jones who left him in 1985 due to his excessive drinking. For a few years Wild, having blown his fortune, was forced to live with his retired father. His alcoholism caused three near-fatal cardiac arrests and resulted in several spells in hospital until he finally stopped drinking in 1989.
Career restarts

Wild went into rehab in 1988 and gave up drinking on 6 March 1989 after joining Alcoholics Victorious. He returned to the big screen in a few minor roles, such as in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He was also reported to be developing a TV situation comedy with Suzi Quatro around the same time, but those plans never materialized into an actual series. For the most part, Wild spent the remainder of his career working in theatre.His last major appearance was as the male lead, `Mouse' in Tayla Goodman's rock musical `Virus'. The show ran for two weeks at the Theatre Royal Nottingham. Jack received rave reviews and left the audience laughing. Director Peter Everett said that Jack was a true Actor of the old school and a perfect gentleman.
Death

Wild died on 1 March 2006, aged 53, after a long battle with oral cancer, which he believed was caused by his alcoholism and smoking. Diagnosed with the disease in 2000, he initially underwent chemotherapy, but later had part of his tongue and both vocal cords removed in July 2004. Because of this surgery, he had lost his speech and had to communicate through his wife, Claire Harding, whom he met when they were appearing in Jack and the Beanstalk in Worthing. He is buried in Toddington Parish Cemetery.
Filmography

    * Danny the Dragon (1967)
    * Oliver! (1968)
    * H.R. Pufnstuf 1969-1971
    * Pufnstuf aka Pufnstuf Zaps the World (1970)
    * Melody (1971)
    * Flight of the Doves (1971)
    * Caterpiller Taxis (1972)
    * The Pied Piper (1972)
    * The Wild Little Bunch (1972)
    * The Fourteen (UK) aka Existence (1973 film) (USA) and The Wild Little Bunch (USA) (1973)
    * Keep It Up Downstairs (1976)
    * Alice (1981)
    * Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
    * Basil (1998)
    * Moussaka & Chips (2005)

See also

    * List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o66/jackwildscans/jackwild1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Dont_Blink17/pufnstuf_1.jpg
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv255/entomologynichic/Artical19.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 9:17 am


:\'(

It's to bad he started drinking & smoking at such a young age.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 9:34 am


It's to bad he started drinking & smoking at such a young age.
I can only assume badly advised on money matters.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/02/10 at 11:08 am

I used to watch H.R. Pufnstuf every week, Saturday mornings. Great stuff. I just adored his accent.
Anyone remember Jack singing (in H.R. Pufnstuf) "I'm a mechanical boy...."?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/02/10 at 11:31 am


I used to watch H.R. Pufnstuf every week, Saturday mornings. Great stuff. I just adored his accent.
Anyone remember Jack singing (in H.R. Pufnstuf) "I'm a mechanical boy...."?
I do not recall seeing that, probably I was watching something else at that time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 11:36 am


I used to watch H.R. Pufnstuf every week, Saturday mornings. Great stuff. I just adored his accent.
Anyone remember Jack singing (in H.R. Pufnstuf) "I'm a mechanical boy...."?

I use to watch it all the time, I had a crush on Jack and Mark Lester

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSy3IJJpHY&feature=related#

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/02/10 at 2:57 pm


I use to watch it all the time, I had a crush on Jack and Mark Lester

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSy3IJJpHY&feature=related#



My sister had a major crush on Mark Lester.


I swear that the writers of H.R. Puffinstuff was puffin' on stuff.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 2:59 pm



My sister had a major crush on Mark Lester.


I swear that the writers of H.R. Puffinstuff was puffin' on stuff.



Cat

Most be true, how else could you come up with that show. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/02/10 at 3:00 pm


The person born on this day...Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr. March 2, 1962) is an American musician, songwriter and actor, best known as the lead singer and founder of band Bon Jovi. He was also the owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the now suspended Arena Football League. Throughout his career, he has released two solo albums and eleven studio albums with his band which have sold over 120 million albums worldwide.

As a solo artist, he has numerous awards for his work, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for his solo hit: Blaze of Glory. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Monmouth University in 2001. He campaigned for Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election, John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, and Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election.
In October 1984, Bon Jovi supported the group Kiss at the Queens Hall in Leeds.

With the help of their new manager Doc McGhee, the band's debut album, Bon Jovi, was released on January 21, 1984. The album went gold in the US (sales of over 500,000). In 1985, Bon Jovi's second album 7800°Fahrenheit was released, but the response was poor. The turning point came when they brought in songwriter Desmond Child for their third album, Slippery When Wet. With Child co-writing many of their hits on this and future albums the band shot to super-stardom around the world with songs such as "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' On A Prayer", and "Wanted Dead or Alive". The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide since its release in late 1986.

During their 1986-1987 tour, Jon's attempt to give it his all during live shows (plus the tour's exhausting schedule) greatly strained his vocal cords. In the band's Behind The Music special, he notes that his vocal cords were given steroids to help him sing. With the help of a vocal coach, he was able to continue doing the tour. Contrary to popular belief, Bon Jovi did not have voice damage during the New Jersey Syndicate Tour. As recordings from that tour show, his voice was in perfect condition throughout.

The next album from Bon Jovi was New Jersey released in 1988. The album was recorded very shortly after the tour for Slippery, because the band wanted to prove that they were not just a one hit wonder. The resulting album is a fan favorite and a mammoth commercial success, with hit songs such as "Bad Medicine", "Lay Your Hands on Me" and "I'll Be There for You", which are still nightly stalwarts in their live repertoire.

Despite the band achieving massive success, New Jersey almost led to the end of the band as they went straight back out on the road so soon after the heavy touring for their previous album. This constant living on the road almost destroyed the strong bond between the band members. Sambora is noted on the albums as co-writer for many songs, yet he resented the lack of attention that was heaped on Jon alone. As mentioned in VH1's Behind the Music, the band members note that at the end of the tour, each band member went their separate way, even departing in separate jets after the tour ended in Guadalajara, Mexico in early 1990.

Between 1990 and 1992, members of Bon Jovi went their separate ways after the very rigorous two year New Jersey Tour, which exceeded 200 shows on 5 continents. This time off also helped them determine where Bon Jovi would fit within the rapidly changing music scene upon their return.

In 1992, the band returned with the album Keep the Faith. The album was released in November 1992. Produced by Bob Rock, the album signified an ending to their early metal roots in previous albums and introduced a more "rock n roll"-driven groove to the album. Much more complex, lyrically and musically, the album proved that Bon Jovi could still be a viable band in 90's, despite the industry's and audience's growing affinity for Grunge.

In 1994, Bon Jovi released a "greatest hits" album titled Cross Road, which also contained two new tracks: the hit singles "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night". Always, spent six months on the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of Bon Jovi's all-time biggest hits. The song peaked at #4 on the U.S. charts and at #1 in countries across Europe, Asia and in Australia. The single sold very well, going platinum in the U.S. That same year, bassist Alec John Such left the band, the first and only lineup change since Bon Jovi began. Hugh McDonald, who was the bassist on "Runaway", unofficially replaced Such as bassist.

Their sixth studio album These Days was released in June 1995 to the most critical acclaim that the band had ever received. With the album These Days, Bon Jovi took the mature rock sound they had developed on Keep the Faith further. The record as a whole was darker and more downbeat than the usual Bon Jovi flare. By 1996, Bon Jovi had established themselves as a "force" in the music industry, proving much more durable than most of their 80's glam peers.

After another lengthy hiatus of nearly three years, during which several band members worked on independent projects, Bon Jovi regrouped in 1999 to begin work on their next studio album. Their 2000 release, Crush, enjoyed overwhelming success all around the world, thanks in part to the smash-hit single "It's My Life", co-written by famous Swedish producer Max Martin. Crush, which also produced such hits as "Say it isn't so", and helped introduce Bon Jovi to a new, younger fan base.

In late 2002, Bounce, the band's follow-up to Crush, hit stores. Though Bounce did not enjoy the level of success of its predecessor, the album did produce hit singles such as "Everyday" and the title track.
Jon Bon Jovi in the Netherlands on May 26, 2006

Bon Jovi's ninth studio album, Have a Nice Day, was released in September 2005. "Have A Nice Day" was the first single off the new album and the second single from the album "Who Says You Can't Go Home", was released in the U.S. in the spring of 2006. In the U.S. a duet version of "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with country singer Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland was released, and in May 2006, Bon Jovi made history by becoming the first Rock & Roll Band to have a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Chart. On February 11, 2007, Bon Jovi also won a Grammy Award, for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" for "Who Says You Can't Go Home".

In June 2007, Bon Jovi released their studio album, Lost Highway. The album debuted at number #1 on the Billboard charts, the first time that Bon Jovi have had a number one album on the US charts since the release of New Jersey in 1988. Thanks to the band's new country music fanbase, the album sold 292,000 copies in its first week on sale in the U.S., and became Bon Jovi's third US number one album.

On April 6, 2009, it was announced that the Tribeca Film Festival will screen a Bon Jovi documentary called When We Were Beautiful. The film follows the band on the Lost Highway Tour during 2008. The film is directed by Phil Griffin and will be the centerpiece of the festival and is considered a work-in-progress.

In November 2009, Bon Jovi released their latest studio album The Circle.
Solo career
Jon Bon Jovi in January 2009

Jon Bon Jovi recorded a solo album, a soundtrack to the movie "Young Guns II" (in which he also appeared for less than a second), more commonly known as Blaze of Glory. Released in 1990, the album featured high profile guests such as: Elton John, Aldo Nova, Little Richard, and Jeff Beck, among others. The album fared well commercially and received very positive reviews and quickly achieved double platinum status. The title track, "Blaze of Glory", hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Jon an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, but he did not win the award. That same year, however, "Blaze of Glory" was awarded a Golden Globe.

Jon wrote what would become his second solo album, 1997's Destination Anywhere. The album received very positive reviews and was a success across Europe. It was rumored that the record company was pursuing Jon to name the record "These Days, Part 2", since the album was somewhat of a moody progression from These Days. A short movie of the same name was recorded right around the record's release, based entirely on the songs from the record and starring Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon and Whoopi Goldberg. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics played guitar on the record, as well as producing some of the tracks. That year Jon Bon Jovi earned a BRIT Award for Best International Male and also won a MTV Europe Music Award for Best Male.
Personal life

During a stop in Los Angeles on the New Jersey tour in 1989, Bon Jovi secretly took a trip to Las Vegas, where he married his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley (born September 29, 1962) on April 29, 1989 at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Together they have four children: Stephanie Rose, Jesse James, Jake and Romeo. Bon Jovi maintains a strong family foundation to this day.

In 2004, he became founder and primary owner of the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League with fellow band member Richie Sambora. He appeared in several television commercials for the league, typically with John Elway, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Bon Jovi has been a New York Giants fan his entire life, and also has a long-standing friendship with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, demonstrated by Belichick often playing Bon Jovi music at Patriots practices.

Bon Jovi was raised a Roman Catholic and states "I'm what you call a recovering Catholic. I have many major issues with the church."
Charitable work

Bon Jovi has worked on behalf of the Special Olympics, the American Red Cross, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Project Home, The Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation and other groups.

He has been named the first Founding Ambassador of the Habitat for Humanity Ambassador program as part of the international-nonprofit organization’s new advocacy outreach initiative. Bon Jovi has been raising awareness with Habitat for Humanity since 2005 when he provided the funds to build six homes in Philadelphia and built the homes alongside the homeowner families, as well as with members of his Philadelphia Soul Arena Football Team. The construction site also served as the video shoot location for his band’s single, "Who Says You Can’t Go Home". In 2006, Bon Jovi made a $1 million donation to build 28 Habitat homes in Louisiana in partnership with low-income families on the hurricane-stricken coast. In July, 2007, Bon Jovi announced a project that will rehabilitate a block of 15 homes in north Philadelphia. During an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005, the band donated $1 million to the Angel Network foundation.

He is one of 21 artists singing on "Everybody Hurts", a charity single organised by Simon Cowell in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Acting work

Bon Jovi is a credited actor in the movies Moonlight and Valentino, The Leading Man, Destination Anywhere, Homegrown, Little City, No Looking Back, Row Your Boat, Vampires Los Muertos, U-571, Cry Wolf, National Lampoon's Pucked. He also had a supporting role in the movie Pay It Forward, where he played Helen Hunt's abusive ex-husband. His TV series appearances include Sex and the City and an extended stint on Ally McBeal as a plumber who was Ally's boyfriend for a short period of time, as well as a guest appearance on 30 Rock, Las Vegas, and The West Wing.
Presenting

He was guest star on American Idol in May 2007, during the show's "Rock Week" in which the contestants all performed his or his band's songs. On October 13, 2007 Jon hosted the third episode of the 33rd season of Saturday Night Live.
Political activism

As a Democrat, Bon Jovi toured extensively on behalf of Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, appearing at and playing acoustic sets (with Sambora) at rallies for the Kerry-Edwards ticket throughout the United States. Bon Jovi also played as a part of the Live Earth concert at the Meadowlands in 2007, and was introduced by former Vice President Al Gore. In 2008, Jon Bon Jovi supported Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and after she dropped out, he supported Barack Obama, even holding an exclusive fundraiser at his home for him; he will play a 2009 Manhattan fundraiser for now Secretary of State Clinton to lessen some of her $6.3 million dollar campaign debt. On Sunday, January 18, 2009 Bon Jovi performed a duet at the Obama Inauguration Concert of the Sam Cooke classic "A Change is Gonna Come" with Bettye LaVette. On June 4, 2009 Bon Jovi performed an acoustic benefit show for democratic Gov. Jon Corzine at the NJPAC in Newark, New Jersey.

On June 24, 2009, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Andy Madadian recorded a musical message of worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. The handwritten Persian sign in the video translates to "we are one".
Filmography
Year Film Role
1995 Moonlight and Valentino The Painter
1996 The Leading Man Robin Grange
1997 Destination Anywhere -
Little City Kevin
1998 Homegrown Danny
No Looking Back Michael
Row Your Boat Jamey Meadows
2000 U-571 Lieutenant Pete Emmett, Chief Engineer, S-33
Pay It Forward Ricky McKinney
2001-2002 Ally McBeal Victor Morrison (10 Episodes)
2002 Vampires: Los Muertos Derek Bliss
2005 Cry Wolf Rich Walker
2006 National Lampoon's Pucked Frank Hopper
The West Wing Himself
2010 30 Rock Himself
Awards

    * 1985: Kerrang: Sex Object Of The Year
    * 1987: Metal Edge Reader's Choice Awards: Best Male Performer.
    * 1989: American Music Award: Best Pop/Rock Band, Duo or Group; award shared with his band.
    * 1990: Golden Globe: Best Song, Blaze of Glory (from Young Guns II soundtrack).
    * 1990: Academy Awards: Nominated, Original Song, "Blaze of Glory" (from Young Guns II soundtrack).
    * 1991: ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures for YOUNG GUNS II - Blaze of Glory.
    * 1991: MTV Michael Jackson: Video Vanguard Award; shared with his band.
    * 1996: Sky Sport: Special Olympics Awards.
    * 1997: Kerrang Awards: Classic Songwriter.
    * 1997: MTV Europe Music Awards: Best Male.
    * 1998: Brit awards: Best International Male.
    * 1998: ECHO: Best International Male Artist.
    * 2000: People: Sexiest Rock Star.
    * 2001: Humanitarian of the Year by The Food Bank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties for his charitable work on behalf of the people of New Jersey.
    * 2001: Honorary doctorate in Humanities degree from Monmouth University in New Jersey, for his success as an entertainer and his humanitarian work.
    * 2002: People: Sexiest Rock Star.
    * 2002: My VH1 Music Awards: From The Tour to The Tube - Best TV for ,,Ally McBeal".
    * 2003: People: Sexiest Rock Star.
    * 2004: American Music Awards: Received the Award of Merit for their long career.
    * 2005: World Music Awards:KUMAD Received the Diamond Award for sales of 100+ million albums.
    * 2006: Help USA: Tribute Dinner Honnores.
    * 2006: Inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame
    * 2006: VH1 Livin' on a Prayer-Greatest Song of the '80's
    * 2007: Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, "Who Says You Can't Go Home?" (with Jennifer Nettles).
    * 2008: VH1 The Greatest: 100 Sexiest Artists (20 - 1): 14th Sexiest Artist
    * 2008: MTV1 The Best: Best Selling Song Of The Decade 1980. Most popular rock song since 1980-s to Present.
    * 2009: Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US CAN UK AUS NZ JAP SPA GER AUT SWI SWE
1990 Blaze of Glory - Young Guns II

    * Released: July 26, 1990
    * Label: Mercury Records

3 — 2 2 3 4 — 4 1 4 1

    * US: 2× Multi-Platinum
    * CAN: 2× Platinum

1997 Destination Anywhere

    * Released: June 17, 1997
    * Label: Mercury Records

31 6 2 4 34 2 1 1 1 1 7

    * CAN: Platinum
    * ITA: Platinum

"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilation albums
Year Album
2001 The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings

    * Released: September 18, 2001
    * Label: Mercury Records

Solo singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US Rock CAN AUS NZ UK IRE GER SWI AUT NL SWE
1990 "Blaze of Glory" 1 1 1 1 1 13 3 16 5 2 16 3 Blaze of Glory
"Miracle" 12 20 6 8 6 29 20 47 20 — 65 15
1991 "Never Say Die" — — — 60 — — — — — — — —
"Dyin' Ain't Much of a Livin'" — — — — — — — — — — — —
1992 "Levon" 37* 27 — — — — — — — — — — Two Rooms
1994 "Please Come Home for Christmas" — — — — — 7 + 6 + — — — — — A Very Special Christmas 2
1997 "Midnight in Chelsea" 27* — 3 17 — 4 13 9 5 8 16 49 Destination Anywhere
"Queen of New Orleans" — — 40 40 — 10 27 66 50 — 40 41
"Janie, Don't Take Your Love to Town" 48* — 18 — — 13 — 38 — 40 61 —
"Ugly" — — — — — — — 75 41 39 — —
2010 "Everybody Hurts" (as part of "Helping Haiti") 121 — 69 28 17 1 1 16 16 — — 25 Charity single
* Airplay/Radio & Records Chart, "—" denotes the single failed to chart or not released

    * + "Please Come Home for Christmas" was originally credited as a solo recording by Jon Bon Jovi when included on the Christmas compilation A Very Special Christmas 2 in 1992, but when released as a single in UK, Ireland and Europe in 1994 it was released as a Bon Jovi single under the band name. The cover artwork of the single was a still from the musicvideo of Jon Bon Jovi and Cindy Crawford and the same Bon Jovi logo as was used on the albums Keep the Faith and Cross Road and the singles taken from them.

Guest singles
Year Single Artist US Country Album
1998 "Bang a Drum" Chris LeDoux 68 One Road Man
Other album appearances
Year Song Artist Album
2009 "Keep the Faith" Jon Bon Jovi & Washington DC Youth Choir Oh Happy Day
With Bon Jovi
Main article: Bon Jovi discography

Studio albums

    * Bon Jovi (1984)
    * 7800° Fahrenheit (1985)
    * Slippery When Wet (1986)
    * New Jersey (1988)
    * Keep the Faith (1992)
    * These Days (1995)
    * Crush (2000)
    * Bounce (2002)
    * Have a Nice Day (2005)
    * Lost Highway (2007)
    * The Circle (2009)



Compilation albums

    * Cross Road (1994)
    * Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi (2001)
    * This Left Feels Right (2003)

Live albums

    * One Wild Night Live 1985-2001 (2001)

Box Sets

    * 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004)

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss188/KowboiCash/Jon%20Bon%20Jovi/JBJ161.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll19/locohicana65/STUFF/42af48da.jpg
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss188/KowboiCash/Jon%20Bon%20Jovi/JBJ157.jpg


I used to love Bonjovi videos. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/02/10 at 3:09 pm

I think Bon Jovi was underrated. Jon and Richie are great singing together and playing acoustically.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/02/10 at 3:39 pm


Most be true, how else could you come up with that show. ;D

I have watched it recently. Weird stuff. I know lots of girls who had a crush on jack in that show.
I used to be afraid of witchie-poo a little.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 3:59 pm


I used to love Bonjovi videos. :)

I think Bon Jovi was underrated. Jon and Richie are great singing together and playing acoustically.

I love Bon Jovi :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/10 at 4:00 pm


I have watched it recently. Weird stuff. I know lots of girls who had a crush on jack in that show.
I used to be afraid of witchie-poo a little.

I never was afraid of her, but was afraid of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/02/10 at 4:05 pm


I never was afraid of her, but was afraid of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz.

Me too.
I have read somewhere that since HR Puff'n stuff looks like the Hamburgler in those old Mcdonalds commercials, not sure if Krofft wanted to sue Mcdonalds or vice versa. My memory isn't as good as it used to be in my younger days.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/02/10 at 11:53 pm


I love Bon Jovi :)

yeah, they've made lots of great songs. O0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/03/10 at 2:07 am

British Person of the Day: Fatima Whitbread

Fatima Whitbread MBE (born 3 March 1961 in London) is an British former javelin thrower and multiple medal-winner.

Early life

Fatima Whitbread was born in north London to a Turkish Cypriot mother and Greek Cypriot father.

At age fourteen, Fatima was adopted by the Whitbread family and she spent her teenage years in Chadwell St Mary, Essex. Fatima's mother had asked them to take her in when she realized that Fatima was spending a lot of time with Margaret Whitbread, a sports coach.

Fatima attended Dilkes County Primary School And The Culverhouse School (Now The Ockendon Maths And Computing College) In South Ockendon, Essex.

Career

Whitbread broke the World Record with a throw of 77.44m in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Championships in Athletics (where she also won the final) and became World Champion in 1987. She became well-known in the UK for her celebratory wiggle after defeating arch-rival Petra Felke in these events. Her performances in 1987 led to her being voted winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Whitbread had won the silver medal at the inaugural World Championships in 1983. She was also well known for her rivalry with fellow English javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson, who won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles with Whitbread finishing in bronze medal position.

In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Whitbread won the silver medal behind Petra Felke, who had broken the world record in the interim.

Later life

In 1997, Whitbread married Andrew Norman at Copthorne in West Sussex and has one son, Ryan. Norman, who represented many athletes professionally, died in 2007.

She was at one time a governor of King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, in the town of Brentwood where she was living.

According to a November 2008 Daily Express article, she owns her own company and is heavily involved with the stadium being used after the 2012 London Olympics.

http://www.olympics.org.uk/images/athlete/Whitbread_Fatima_Action_1.jpg

http://www.archwaysbooks.com/shop_image/product/13700.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/10 at 5:37 am


British Person of the Day: Fatima Whitbread

Fatima Whitbread MBE (born 3 March 1961 in London) is an British former javelin thrower and multiple medal-winner.

Early life

Fatima Whitbread was born in north London to a Turkish Cypriot mother and Greek Cypriot father.

At age fourteen, Fatima was adopted by the Whitbread family and she spent her teenage years in Chadwell St Mary, Essex. Fatima's mother had asked them to take her in when she realized that Fatima was spending a lot of time with Margaret Whitbread, a sports coach.

Fatima attended Dilkes County Primary School And The Culverhouse School (Now The Ockendon Maths And Computing College) In South Ockendon, Essex.

Career

Whitbread broke the World Record with a throw of 77.44m in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Championships in Athletics (where she also won the final) and became World Champion in 1987. She became well-known in the UK for her celebratory wiggle after defeating arch-rival Petra Felke in these events. Her performances in 1987 led to her being voted winner of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Whitbread had won the silver medal at the inaugural World Championships in 1983. She was also well known for her rivalry with fellow English javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson, who won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles with Whitbread finishing in bronze medal position.

In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Whitbread won the silver medal behind Petra Felke, who had broken the world record in the interim.

Later life

In 1997, Whitbread married Andrew Norman at Copthorne in West Sussex and has one son, Ryan. Norman, who represented many athletes professionally, died in 2007.

She was at one time a governor of King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, in the town of Brentwood where she was living.

According to a November 2008 Daily Express article, she owns her own company and is heavily involved with the stadium being used after the 2012 London Olympics.

http://www.olympics.org.uk/images/athlete/Whitbread_Fatima_Action_1.jpg

http://www.archwaysbooks.com/shop_image/product/13700.jpg

Very nice. Funny I too picked an Olympian.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/10 at 5:43 am

The word of the day...Hurdle(s)
A hurdle is a problem, difficulty, or part of a process that may prevent you from achieving something.
Hurdles is a race in which people have to jump over a number of obstacles that are also called hurdles. You can use hurdles to refer to one or more races.
If you hurdle, you jump over something while you are running.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb199/cac_mai_09/Hurdles.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/krazy_kona_rider/hurdles.jpg
http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad176/Croket47/Hurdles.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u164/mena7306/hurdles.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j218/Ethan_721/hurdles.gif
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss276/resumerob/hurdle.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d101/scotth92/Scott_Hurdle.jpg
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss227/jennyandizzy/boomerangg093.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/10 at 5:45 am

The person born on this day...Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two different events. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
Jacqueline Joyner was born March 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was named after Jackie Kennedy. She was inspired to compete in multi-disciplinary track & field events after seeing a 1975 made-for-TV movie about Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Interestingly, Didrikson, the trackster, basketball player, and pro golfer, was chosen the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century. Fifty years later, "Sports Illustrated for Women" magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the greatest female athlete of "all time".
UCLA

Joyner-Kersee attended college at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she starred in both track & field and in women's basketball from 1980-1985. She was a starter in her forward position for each of her first three seasons (1980-81, 81-82, and 82-83)as well as in her senior (fifth) year, 1984-1985. She had red-shirted during the 1983-1984 academic year to concentrate on the heptathalon for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

She scored 1,167 points during her collegiate career, which places her 19th all time for the Bruins as of the 2009 season. She had 752 career rebounds, which places her 9th all-time for the Bruins. In her senior season, the Bruins twice defeated Cheryl Miller-led USC Trojans teams in the UCLA-USC rivalry games. The Bruins advanced to the West Regional semi-finals of the 1985 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament before losing to eventual runner-up Georgia.

She was honored on February 21, 1998 as one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women's basketball. In April 2001, Joyner-Kersee was voted the "Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years." The vote was conducted among the 976 NCAA member schools.
Competition
1984 Summer Olympics

Joyner-Kersee competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won the silver medal in the heptathlon.
1986 Goodwill Games

Joyner-Kersee was the first woman to score over 7,000 points in a heptathlon event (during the 1986 Goodwill Games). In 1986, she received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.
1988 Summer Olympics

In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Joyner-Kersee earned gold medals in both the heptathlon and the long jump. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, she set the still-standing heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. The silver and bronze medalists were Sabine John and Anke Vater-Behmer, both of whom were representing East Germany. Five days later, Joyner won her second gold medal, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3+1⁄4 in) in the long jump.
1991 World Championships Tokyo

She was the red hot favorite to retain both her World titles earned four years earlier in Rome. However her challenge was dramatically halted when, having won the long jump easily with a 7.32 m (24 ft +1⁄4 in) jump no one would beat, she slipped on the take off board and careened head first into the pit, luckily avoiding serious injury. She did, however, strain a hamstring, which led to her having to pull out of the heptathlon during the 200 m at the end of the first day.
1992 Summer Olympics

In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Joyner-Kersee earned her 2nd Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon. She also won the bronze medal in the long jump which was won by her friend Heike Drechsler of Germany.
1996 Summer Olympics

At the Olympic Trials, Joyner-Kersee sustained an injury to her right hamstring. When the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia began, Joyner-Kersee was not fully recovered by the time the heptathlon started. After running the first event, the 100 m hurdles, the pain was unbearable and she withdrew. She was able to recover well enough to compete in the long jump and qualify for the final, but was in sixth place in the final with one jump remaining. Her final jump of 7.00 m (22 ft 11+1⁄2 in) was long enough for her to win the bronze medal. The Atlanta Olympics would be the last Olympics of Joyner-Kersee's long competitive career.
Professional Basketball Career

In 1996 she signed on to play pro basketball for the Richmond Rage of the fledgling American Basketball League. Although she was very popular with the fans, she was less successful on the court. She appeared in only 17 games, and scored no more than four points in any game.
1998 Goodwill Games

Returning to track, Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon again at the 1998 Goodwill Games, scoring 6,502 points.
2000 Olympic Trials

Joyner-Kersee made her final bow in track & field competition in 2000. She was sixth in the long jump (21-10.75) at the Olympic Trials.
Awards and honors

    * 2010 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards honoree.

Current world records

As of August 2008, Joyner-Kersee holds the world record in heptathlon along with six all time best results and her long jump record of 7.49 m is second on the long jump all time list. In addition to heptathlon and long jump, she was a world class athlete in 100 m hurdles and 200 meters being as of June 2006 in top 60 all time in those events.

Sports Illustrated voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.

Joyner-Kersee consistently has maintained that she has competed throughout her career without performance-enhancing drugs.
Personal life

Jackie's brother is the Olympic champion triple jumper Al Joyner, who was married to another Olympic track champion, the late Florence Griffith-Joyner. Jackie married her track coach, Bob Kersee, in 1986.

In 1988, Joyner-Kersee established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which provides youth, adults, and families with the resources to improve their quality of life with special attention directed to East St. Louis, Illinois. In 2007, Jackie Joyner-Kersee along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded the "Athletes for Hope", a charitable organization, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n240/DroppinDymez/jackie.jpg
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p348/dealsavik/Greatest%20Olympians/JackieJoyner.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Martha2hot/jackie_joyner-kersee.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/10 at 5:49 am

The person who died on this day...Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer and comedian.
Born David Daniel Kaminsky to Jewish Ukrainian immigrants in Brooklyn, Kaye became one of the world's best-known comedians. He spent his early youth attending Public School 149 in East New York, Brooklyn, before moving to Thomas Jefferson High School, but he never graduated. He learned his trade in his teenage years in the Catskills as a tummler in the Borscht Belt.
Career

Danny Kaye made his film debut in a 1935 comedy short titled Moon Over Manhattan. In 1937 he signed with New York–based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. Kaye usually played a manic, dark-haired, fast-talking Russian in these low-budget shorts, opposite young hopefuls June Allyson or Imogene Coca. The Kaye series ended abruptly when the studio shut down permanently in 1938.

Kaye scored a personal triumph in 1941, in the hit Broadway comedy Lady in the Dark. His show-stopping number was "Tchaikovsky", by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, in which he sang the names of a whole string of Russian composers at breakneck speed, seemingly without taking a breath.

His feature film debut was in producer Samuel Goldwyn's Technicolor 1944 comedy Up in Arms, a remake of Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor comedy Whoopee! (1930). Goldwyn agonized over Kaye's ethnic, Borscht-belt looks and ordered him to undergo a nose job. Kaye refused, and Goldwyn found another way to brighten Kaye's dark features by lightening his hair, giving him his trademark redheaded locks. Kaye's rubber face and fast patter were an instant hit, and rival producer Robert M. Savini cashed in almost immediately by compiling three of Kaye's old Educational Pictures shorts into a makeshift feature, The Birth of a Star (1945).

Kaye starred in several movies with actress Virginia Mayo in the 1940s, and is well known for his roles in films such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General (1949), On the Riviera (1951) co-starring Gene Tierney, White Christmas (1954, in a role originally intended for Fred Astaire, then Donald O'Connor), Knock on Wood (1954), The Court Jester (1956), and Merry Andrew (1958). Kaye starred in two pictures based on biographies, Hans Christian Andersen (1952) about the Danish story-teller, and The Five Pennies (1959) about jazz pioneer Red Nichols. His wife, writer/lyricist Sylvia Fine, wrote many of the witty, tongue-twisting songs Danny Kaye became famous for. Some of Kaye's films included the theme of doubles, two people who look identical (both played by Danny Kaye) being mistaken for each other, to comic effect. The Kaye-Fine marriage, as was the case with many spouses who worked together in the high-pressure world of film-making, was sometimes stormy.

During World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated rumors that Kaye dodged the draft by manufacturing a medical condition to gain 4-F status and exemption from military service. FBI files show he was also under investigation for supposed links with Communist groups. The allegations were never substantiated, and he was never charged with any associated crime.
Other projects

Kaye starred in a radio program of his own, The Danny Kaye Show, on CBS in 1945–1946. Although it had a stellar cast (including Eve Arden, Lionel Stander, and Big Band leader Harry James), and was scripted by radio notables Goodman Ace, Sylvia Fine, and respected playwright-director Abe Burrows, the show failed to make proper use of its star, and never found an audience. It turned out to be a very bitter experience for both Kaye and Ace. Many episodes survive today, and are notable for Kaye's opening "nonsense" patter.

Kaye was sufficiently popular that he inspired imitations:

    * The 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon Book Revue had a lengthy sequence with Daffy Duck impersonating Kaye singing "Carolina in the Morning" with the Russian accent that Kaye would affect from time to time.
    * Satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer's 1953 song "Lobachevsky" was based on a number that Kaye had done, about the Russian director Constantin Stanislavski, again with the affected Russian accent. Lehrer mentioned Kaye in the opening monologue, citing him as an "idol since childbirth."

When he appeared at the London Palladium music hall in 1948, he "roused the Royal family to shrieks of laughter and was the first of many performers who have turned English variety into an American preserve." Life magazine described his reception as "worshipful hysteria" and noted that the royal family, for the first time in history, left the royal box to see the show from the front row of the orchestra.

He hosted the 24th Academy Awards in 1952. The program was broadcast only on radio. Telecasts of the Oscar ceremony would come later.

He hosted his own variety hour on CBS television, The Danny Kaye Show, from 1963 to 1967. During this period, beginning in 1964, he acted as television host to the annual CBS telecasts of MGM's The Wizard of Oz. Kaye also did a stint as one of the What's My Line? Mystery Guests on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. Kaye later served as a guest panelist on that show. He also appeared on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood.

Danny Kaye was very fond of the legendary arranger Vic Schoen. Schoen had arranged for him on White Christmas, the Court Jester, and albums and concerts with the Andrews Sisters. In the 1960s Vic Schoen was working on a show in Las Vegas with Shirley Temple. He was injured in a car accident. When Danny Kaye heard about the accident, he immediately flew his own plane (Kaye was an avid pilot) to McCarran Airport to pick up Schoen and bring him back to Los Angeles to guarantee the best medical attention.

In 1976, he played the role of Mister Geppetto in a television musical adaptation of Pinocchio with Sandy Duncan in the title role. He guest-starred much later in his career in episodes of The Muppet Show, The Cosby Show and in the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone.

Kaye was the original owner of baseball's Seattle Mariners along with his partner Lester Smith from 1977 to 1981. Prior to that, the lifelong fan of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers recorded a song called "The D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh really? No, O'Malley!)", describing a fictitious encounter with the San Francisco Giants, which was a hit during those clubs' real-life pennant chase of 1962. That song is included on one of the Baseball's Greatest Hits compact discs.

During the 1950s, Kaye visited Australia, where he played "Buttons" in a production of Cinderella in Sydney. In the 1970s Kaye tore a ligament in his leg during the run of the Richard Rodgers musical Two by Two, but went on with the show, appearing with his leg in a cast and cavorting on stage from a wheelchair.

In many of his movies, as well as on stage, Kaye proved to be a very able actor, singer, dancer and comedian. He showed quite a different and serious side as Ambassador for UNICEF and in his dramatic role in the memorable TV movie Skokie, in which he played a Holocaust survivor. Before his death in 1987, Kaye demonstrated his ability to conduct an orchestra during a comical, but technically sound, series of concerts organized for UNICEF fundraising. Kaye received two Academy Awards: an honorary award in 1955 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1982.

In 1980, Kaye hosted and sang in the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland celebration, and hosted the opening celebration for Epcot in 1982 (EPCOT Center at the time), both of which were aired on prime-time American television.

In his later years he took to entertaining at home as chef – he had a special stove installed in his patio – and specialized in Chinese cooking. The theater and demonstration kitchen underneath the library at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York is named for him.

He also had a longstanding interest in medicine and was permitted to observe surgery on several occasions.

He was an accomplished pilot, rated for airplanes ranging from single engine light aircraft to multi-engine jets.

Throughout his life, Kaye donated to various charities. Working alongside UNICEF's Halloween fundraiser founder, Ward Simon Kimball Jr., the actor educated the public on impoverished children in deplorable living conditions overseas and assisted in the distribution of donated goods and funds.

Kaye was enamored of music. While he often claimed an inability to read music, he was quite the conductor, and was said to have perfect pitch. Kaye was often invited to conduct symphonies as charity fundraisers. Over the course of his career he raised over US$5,000,000 in support of musicians pension funds.
The bench at Danny Kaye's grave in Kensico Cemetery

Kaye died in 1987 from a heart attack, following a bout of hepatitis. He left a widow, Sylvia Fine, and a daughter, Dena. He is interred in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. His grave is adorned with a bench that contains friezes of a baseball and bat, an aircraft, a piano, a flower pot, musical notes, and a glove.
Personal life

After Kaye and his wife became estranged, he was allegedly involved with a succession of women, though he and Fine never divorced. The best-known of these women was actress Eve Arden.

There are persistent rumors that Kaye was either homosexual or bisexual and some sources claim that Kaye and Laurence Olivier had a 10-year relationship in the 1950s while Olivier was still married to Vivien Leigh. A biography of Leigh states that the alleged relationship caused her to have a breakdown. The alleged relationship has been denied by Olivier's official biographer, Terry Coleman. Joan Plowright, Olivier's widow, has dealt with the matter in different ways on different occasions: she deflected the question (but alluded to Olivier's "demons") in a BBC interview and was reported saying on another occasion that "I have always resented the comments that it was I who was the homewrecker of Larry's marriage to Vivien Leigh. Danny Kaye was attached to Larry far earlier than I." However, in her memoirs Plowright denies that there had been an affair between the two men. Producer Perry Lafferty reported: “People would ask me, ‘Is he gay? Is he gay?’ I never saw anything to substantiate that in all the time I was with him.” Kaye’s final girlfriend, Marlene Sorosky, reported that he told her, “I’ve never had a homosexual experience in my life. I’ve never had any kind of gay relationship. I’ve had opportunities, but I never did anything about them.”
Honors, awards, tributes

    * Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1981)
    * Asteroid 6546 Kaye
    * Kennedy Center Honor (1984)
    * The song I Wish I Was Danny Kaye on Miracle Legion's 1996 album Portrait of a Damaged Family
    * On June 23, 1987, Kaye was posthumously presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his daughter Dena.

Filmography
Film
# Title Year Role Director Co-stars Filmed in
1. Moon Over Manhattan 1935 Himself Al Christie Sylvia Froos, Marion Martin Black and white
2. Dime a Dance 1937 Eddie Al Christie Imogene Coca, June Allyson Black and white
3. Getting an Eyeful 1938 Russian Al Christie Charles Kemper, Sally Starr Black and white
4. Cupid Takes a Holiday 1938 Nikolai Nikolaevich (bride-seeker) William Watson Douglas Leavitt, Estelle Jayne Black and white
5. Money on Your Life 1938 Russian William Watson Charles Kemper, Sally Starr Black and white
6. Up in Arms 1944 Danny Weems Elliott Nugent Dinah Shore, Dana Andrews Technicolor
7. Wonder Man 1945 Edwin Dingle / Buzzy Bellew H. Bruce Humberstone Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran Technicolor
8. The Kid from Brooklyn 1946 Burleigh Hubert Sullivan Norman Z. McLeod Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden Technicolor
9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1947 Walter Mitty Norman Z. McLeod Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter, Ann Rutherford Technicolor
10. A Song Is Born 1948 Professor Hobart Frisbee Howard Hawks Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Hugh Herbert, Steve Cochran Technicolor
11. It's a Great Feeling 1949 Himself David Bulter Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson Technicolor
12. The Inspector General 1949 Georgi Henry Koster Walter Slezak, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Gene Lockhart Technicolor
13. On the Riviera 1951 Jack Martin / Henri Duran Walter Lang Gene Tierney, Corinne Calvet Technicolor
14. Hans Christian Andersen 1952 Hans Christian Andersen Charles Vidor Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire Technicolor
15. Knock on Wood 1954 Jerry Morgan / Papa Morgan Norman Panama
Mevin Frank Mai Zetterling, Torin Thatcher Technicolor
16. White Christmas 1954 Phil Davis Michael Curtiz Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger VistaVision
Technicolor
17. The Court Jester 1956 Hubert Hawkins Norman Panama
Mevin Frank Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury VistaVision
Technicolor
18. Merry Andrew 1958 Andrew Larabee Michael Kidd Anna Maria, Pier Angeli CinemaScope
Metrocolor
19. Me and the Colonel 1958 Samuel L. Jacobowsky Peter Glenville Curd Jürgens, Nicole Maurey, Françoise Rosay, Akim Tamiroff Black and white
20. The Five Pennies 1959 Red Nichols Melville Shavelson Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Tuesday Weld VistaVision
Technicolor
21. The Millionairess 1960 Tommy True Anthony Asquith Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Alastair Sim, Vittorio de Sica CinemaScope
Eastmancolor
22. On the Double 1961 Pfc. Ernie Williams Melville Shavelson Dana Wynter, Margaret Rutherford, Diana Dors Panavision
Technicolor
23. The Man from the Diner's Club 1963 Ernest Klenk Frank Tashlin Cara Williams, Martha Hyer Black and white
24. The Madwoman of Chaillot 1969 The Ragpicker Bryan Forbes Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer Technicolor
Television

    * Autumn Laughter (1938) (experimental telecast)
    * The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball (1962) (special)
    * The Danny Kaye Show (1963–1967) (series)
    * The Lucy Show: "Lucy Meets Danny Kaye" (1964) (guest appearance)
    * Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) (voice)
    * The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes (1972) (special)
    * An Evening with John Denver (1975) (special)
    * Pinocchio (1976) (special)
    * Peter Pan (1976) (special)
    * The Muppet Show (1978) (guest appearance)
    * Disneyland's 25th Anniversary (1980) (special guest appearance)
    * An Evening with Danny Kaye (1981) (special)
    * Skokie (1981)
    * The New Twilight Zone: "Paladin of the Lost Hour" (1985) (guest appearance)
    * The Cosby Show: "The Dentist" (1986) (guest appearance)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/lindaf3915/DK1.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z245/lauralbates/Danny.gif
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s189/celticpup/Classics/dannykayebook.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/03/10 at 6:36 am


The person who died on this day...Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer and comedian.
Born David Daniel Kaminsky to Jewish Ukrainian immigrants in Brooklyn, Kaye became one of the world's best-known comedians. He spent his early youth attending Public School 149 in East New York, Brooklyn, before moving to Thomas Jefferson High School, but he never graduated. He learned his trade in his teenage years in the Catskills as a tummler in the Borscht Belt.
Career

Danny Kaye made his film debut in a 1935 comedy short titled Moon Over Manhattan. In 1937 he signed with New York–based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. Kaye usually played a manic, dark-haired, fast-talking Russian in these low-budget shorts, opposite young hopefuls June Allyson or Imogene Coca. The Kaye series ended abruptly when the studio shut down permanently in 1938.

Kaye scored a personal triumph in 1941, in the hit Broadway comedy Lady in the Dark. His show-stopping number was "Tchaikovsky", by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, in which he sang the names of a whole string of Russian composers at breakneck speed, seemingly without taking a breath.

His feature film debut was in producer Samuel Goldwyn's Technicolor 1944 comedy Up in Arms, a remake of Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor comedy Whoopee! (1930). Goldwyn agonized over Kaye's ethnic, Borscht-belt looks and ordered him to undergo a nose job. Kaye refused, and Goldwyn found another way to brighten Kaye's dark features by lightening his hair, giving him his trademark redheaded locks. Kaye's rubber face and fast patter were an instant hit, and rival producer Robert M. Savini cashed in almost immediately by compiling three of Kaye's old Educational Pictures shorts into a makeshift feature, The Birth of a Star (1945).

Kaye starred in several movies with actress Virginia Mayo in the 1940s, and is well known for his roles in films such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General (1949), On the Riviera (1951) co-starring Gene Tierney, White Christmas (1954, in a role originally intended for Fred Astaire, then Donald O'Connor), Knock on Wood (1954), The Court Jester (1956), and Merry Andrew (1958). Kaye starred in two pictures based on biographies, Hans Christian Andersen (1952) about the Danish story-teller, and The Five Pennies (1959) about jazz pioneer Red Nichols. His wife, writer/lyricist Sylvia Fine, wrote many of the witty, tongue-twisting songs Danny Kaye became famous for. Some of Kaye's films included the theme of doubles, two people who look identical (both played by Danny Kaye) being mistaken for each other, to comic effect. The Kaye-Fine marriage, as was the case with many spouses who worked together in the high-pressure world of film-making, was sometimes stormy.

During World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated rumors that Kaye dodged the draft by manufacturing a medical condition to gain 4-F status and exemption from military service. FBI files show he was also under investigation for supposed links with Communist groups. The allegations were never substantiated, and he was never charged with any associated crime.
Other projects

Kaye starred in a radio program of his own, The Danny Kaye Show, on CBS in 1945–1946. Although it had a stellar cast (including Eve Arden, Lionel Stander, and Big Band leader Harry James), and was scripted by radio notables Goodman Ace, Sylvia Fine, and respected playwright-director Abe Burrows, the show failed to make proper use of its star, and never found an audience. It turned out to be a very bitter experience for both Kaye and Ace. Many episodes survive today, and are notable for Kaye's opening "nonsense" patter.

Kaye was sufficiently popular that he inspired imitations:

    * The 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon Book Revue had a lengthy sequence with Daffy Duck impersonating Kaye singing "Carolina in the Morning" with the Russian accent that Kaye would affect from time to time.
    * Satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer's 1953 song "Lobachevsky" was based on a number that Kaye had done, about the Russian director Constantin Stanislavski, again with the affected Russian accent. Lehrer mentioned Kaye in the opening monologue, citing him as an "idol since childbirth."

When he appeared at the London Palladium music hall in 1948, he "roused the Royal family to shrieks of laughter and was the first of many performers who have turned English variety into an American preserve." Life magazine described his reception as "worshipful hysteria" and noted that the royal family, for the first time in history, left the royal box to see the show from the front row of the orchestra.

He hosted the 24th Academy Awards in 1952. The program was broadcast only on radio. Telecasts of the Oscar ceremony would come later.

He hosted his own variety hour on CBS television, The Danny Kaye Show, from 1963 to 1967. During this period, beginning in 1964, he acted as television host to the annual CBS telecasts of MGM's The Wizard of Oz. Kaye also did a stint as one of the What's My Line? Mystery Guests on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. Kaye later served as a guest panelist on that show. He also appeared on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood.

Danny Kaye was very fond of the legendary arranger Vic Schoen. Schoen had arranged for him on White Christmas, the Court Jester, and albums and concerts with the Andrews Sisters. In the 1960s Vic Schoen was working on a show in Las Vegas with Shirley Temple. He was injured in a car accident. When Danny Kaye heard about the accident, he immediately flew his own plane (Kaye was an avid pilot) to McCarran Airport to pick up Schoen and bring him back to Los Angeles to guarantee the best medical attention.

In 1976, he played the role of Mister Geppetto in a television musical adaptation of Pinocchio with Sandy Duncan in the title role. He guest-starred much later in his career in episodes of The Muppet Show, The Cosby Show and in the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone.

Kaye was the original owner of baseball's Seattle Mariners along with his partner Lester Smith from 1977 to 1981. Prior to that, the lifelong fan of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers recorded a song called "The D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh really? No, O'Malley!)", describing a fictitious encounter with the San Francisco Giants, which was a hit during those clubs' real-life pennant chase of 1962. That song is included on one of the Baseball's Greatest Hits compact discs.

During the 1950s, Kaye visited Australia, where he played "Buttons" in a production of Cinderella in Sydney. In the 1970s Kaye tore a ligament in his leg during the run of the Richard Rodgers musical Two by Two, but went on with the show, appearing with his leg in a cast and cavorting on stage from a wheelchair.

In many of his movies, as well as on stage, Kaye proved to be a very able actor, singer, dancer and comedian. He showed quite a different and serious side as Ambassador for UNICEF and in his dramatic role in the memorable TV movie Skokie, in which he played a Holocaust survivor. Before his death in 1987, Kaye demonstrated his ability to conduct an orchestra during a comical, but technically sound, series of concerts organized for UNICEF fundraising. Kaye received two Academy Awards: an honorary award in 1955 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1982.

In 1980, Kaye hosted and sang in the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland celebration, and hosted the opening celebration for Epcot in 1982 (EPCOT Center at the time), both of which were aired on prime-time American television.

In his later years he took to entertaining at home as chef – he had a special stove installed in his patio – and specialized in Chinese cooking. The theater and demonstration kitchen underneath the library at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York is named for him.

He also had a longstanding interest in medicine and was permitted to observe surgery on several occasions.

He was an accomplished pilot, rated for airplanes ranging from single engine light aircraft to multi-engine jets.

Throughout his life, Kaye donated to various charities. Working alongside UNICEF's Halloween fundraiser founder, Ward Simon Kimball Jr., the actor educated the public on impoverished children in deplorable living conditions overseas and assisted in the distribution of donated goods and funds.

Kaye was enamored of music. While he often claimed an inability to read music, he was quite the conductor, and was said to have perfect pitch. Kaye was often invited to conduct symphonies as charity fundraisers. Over the course of his career he raised over US$5,000,000 in support of musicians pension funds.
The bench at Danny Kaye's grave in Kensico Cemetery

Kaye died in 1987 from a heart attack, following a bout of hepatitis. He left a widow, Sylvia Fine, and a daughter, Dena. He is interred in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. His grave is adorned with a bench that contains friezes of a baseball and bat, an aircraft, a piano, a flower pot, musical notes, and a glove.
Personal life

After Kaye and his wife became estranged, he was allegedly involved with a succession of women, though he and Fine never divorced. The best-known of these women was actress Eve Arden.

There are persistent rumors that Kaye was either homosexual or bisexual and some sources claim that Kaye and Laurence Olivier had a 10-year relationship in the 1950s while Olivier was still married to Vivien Leigh. A biography of Leigh states that the alleged relationship caused her to have a breakdown. The alleged relationship has been denied by Olivier's official biographer, Terry Coleman. Joan Plowright, Olivier's widow, has dealt with the matter in different ways on different occasions: she deflected the question (but alluded to Olivier's "demons") in a BBC interview and was reported saying on another occasion that "I have always resented the comments that it was I who was the homewrecker of Larry's marriage to Vivien Leigh. Danny Kaye was attached to Larry far earlier than I." However, in her memoirs Plowright denies that there had been an affair between the two men. Producer Perry Lafferty reported: “People would ask me, ‘Is he gay? Is he gay?’ I never saw anything to substantiate that in all the time I was with him.” Kaye’s final girlfriend, Marlene Sorosky, reported that he told her, “I’ve never had a homosexual experience in my life. I’ve never had any kind of gay relationship. I’ve had opportunities, but I never did anything about them.”
Honors, awards, tributes

    * Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1981)
    * Asteroid 6546 Kaye
    * Kennedy Center Honor (1984)
    * The song I Wish I Was Danny Kaye on Miracle Legion's 1996 album Portrait of a Damaged Family
    * On June 23, 1987, Kaye was posthumously presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his daughter Dena.

Filmography
Film
# Title Year Role Director Co-stars Filmed in
1. Moon Over Manhattan 1935 Himself Al Christie Sylvia Froos, Marion Martin Black and white
2. Dime a Dance 1937 Eddie Al Christie Imogene Coca, June Allyson Black and white
3. Getting an Eyeful 1938 Russian Al Christie Charles Kemper, Sally Starr Black and white
4. Cupid Takes a Holiday 1938 Nikolai Nikolaevich (bride-seeker) William Watson Douglas Leavitt, Estelle Jayne Black and white
5. Money on Your Life 1938 Russian William Watson Charles Kemper, Sally Starr Black and white
6. Up in Arms 1944 Danny Weems Elliott Nugent Dinah Shore, Dana Andrews Technicolor
7. Wonder Man 1945 Edwin Dingle / Buzzy Bellew H. Bruce Humberstone Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran Technicolor
8. The Kid from Brooklyn 1946 Burleigh Hubert Sullivan Norman Z. McLeod Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden Technicolor
9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1947 Walter Mitty Norman Z. McLeod Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter, Ann Rutherford Technicolor
10. A Song Is Born 1948 Professor Hobart Frisbee Howard Hawks Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Hugh Herbert, Steve Cochran Technicolor
11. It's a Great Feeling 1949 Himself David Bulter Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson Technicolor
12. The Inspector General 1949 Georgi Henry Koster Walter Slezak, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Gene Lockhart Technicolor
13. On the Riviera 1951 Jack Martin / Henri Duran Walter Lang Gene Tierney, Corinne Calvet Technicolor
14. Hans Christian Andersen 1952 Hans Christian Andersen Charles Vidor Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire Technicolor
15. Knock on Wood 1954 Jerry Morgan / Papa Morgan Norman Panama
Mevin Frank Mai Zetterling, Torin Thatcher Technicolor
16. White Christmas 1954 Phil Davis Michael Curtiz Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger VistaVision
Technicolor
17. The Court Jester 1956 Hubert Hawkins Norman Panama
Mevin Frank Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury VistaVision
Technicolor
18. Merry Andrew 1958 Andrew Larabee Michael Kidd Anna Maria, Pier Angeli CinemaScope
Metrocolor
19. Me and the Colonel 1958 Samuel L. Jacobowsky Peter Glenville Curd Jürgens, Nicole Maurey, Françoise Rosay, Akim Tamiroff Black and white
20. The Five Pennies 1959 Red Nichols Melville Shavelson Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Tuesday Weld VistaVision
Technicolor
21. The Millionairess 1960 Tommy True Anthony Asquith Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Alastair Sim, Vittorio de Sica CinemaScope
Eastmancolor
22. On the Double 1961 Pfc. Ernie Williams Melville Shavelson Dana Wynter, Margaret Rutherford, Diana Dors Panavision
Technicolor
23. The Man from the Diner's Club 1963 Ernest Klenk Frank Tashlin Cara Williams, Martha Hyer Black and white
24. The Madwoman of Chaillot 1969 The Ragpicker Bryan Forbes Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer Technicolor
Television

    * Autumn Laughter (1938) (experimental telecast)
    * The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball (1962) (special)
    * The Danny Kaye Show (1963–1967) (series)
    * The Lucy Show: "Lucy Meets Danny Kaye" (1964) (guest appearance)
    * Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) (voice)
    * The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes (1972) (special)
    * An Evening with John Denver (1975) (special)
    * Pinocchio (1976) (special)
    * Peter Pan (1976) (special)
    * The Muppet Show (1978) (guest appearance)
    * Disneyland's 25th Anniversary (1980) (special guest appearance)
    * An Evening with Danny Kaye (1981) (special)
    * Skokie (1981)
    * The New Twilight Zone: "Paladin of the Lost Hour" (1985) (guest appearance)
    http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y49/lindaf3915/DK1.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z245/lauralbates/Danny.gif
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s189/celticpup/Classics/dannykayebook.jpg


* The Cosby Show: "The Dentist" (1986) (guest appearance)



I remember he was on that episode playing a hilarious doctor.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/10 at 8:51 am


* The Cosby Show: "The Dentist" (1986) (guest appearance)



I remember he was on that episode playing a hilarious doctor.  ;D

I have fond memories of that and of Danny Kaye.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/03/10 at 10:53 am


Very nice. Funny I too picked an Olympian.
Great minds think alike.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/03/10 at 11:22 am

I always loved Danny Kaye.

From Lady In The Dark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh-wOvuOHPE



Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/10 at 11:22 am


Great minds think alike.

so true. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/03/10 at 2:56 pm


Great minds think alike.


Unfortunately...so do loonies!  ;D

Loved The Court Jester... ;D

The vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison...the chalice from the palace holds the brew that is true!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/03/10 at 4:33 pm


Unfortunately...so do loonies!  ;D
It helps!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/04/10 at 3:08 am

British Person (with Irish stock) of the Day: Patsy Kensit

Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit (born 4 March 1968 in Hounslow, West London) is an English actress and former singer well known for her many appearances on television.

Early life

Born to James Henry Kensit and the late Margaret Rose Kensit (née Doohan), a native of Ireland who died from breast cancer, Patsy Kensit has an older brother Jamie. Her mother (1947-93) was a publicist, and her father (1915-87) was an associate of the notorious London gangsters the Kray twins. Nicknamed "Jimmy the Dip", he was also reportedly an associate of the rival Richardsons, running long firms for the gang. He served time in prison before Kensit was born, she believed he was an antiques dealer. Her paternal grandfather was a robber and counterfeiter, and her brother's godfather was Reggie Kray.

Early work

At the age of four, Kensit appeared in a television advert for Birds Eye frozen peas. In 1972, she had her first role in the film For the Love of Ada. Her next film role was two years later in The Great Gatsby starring with Mia Farrow—whom she would later portray in the 1995 biopic Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story.

As a pupil at the Italia Conti Academy stage school, Kensit's first starring roles were in British children's television programmes such as The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982) and Luna. She also appeared as Estella in a BBC adaptation of Great Expectations in 1981 and as Lady Margaret Plantagenet in the 1982 BBC production of Shakespeare's Richard III.

Rise to fame

In 1985 Kensit led a dual career as the lead singer of the band Eighth Wonder and an actress. Eighth Wonder had two Top 40 singles ("I'm Not Scared" UK #7 and "Cross My Heart" UK #13) and appeared on Top of the Pops, while Kensit also starred as Eppie in an adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley. At the time, Kensit infamously stated: "All I want is to be more famous than anything or anyone".

In 1986, she won the lead female role in the film version of Absolute Beginners, based on the book by Colin MacInnes. In November 1987, she sang a duet with the Italian singer and songwriter, Eros Ramazzotti, entitled 'La luce buona delle stelle', which in English translates to 'The Good Light Of The Stars'. In 1988, Eighth Wonder had their only UK top 10 hit with "I'm Not Scared", which was written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys. Although the band's success quickly waned, the song appeared in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2, in which Kensit, now focused solely on being an actress, played Rika van den Haas, a South African consulate secretary with whom cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) falls in love.

Following Lethal Weapon 2, she appeared in 1991's little-seen Twenty-One. Of her role, Variety magazine wrote, "Fans of Kensit get plenty of her; her lovely face and form are always the center of attention. The cool control with which she executes the role is admirable". In 1992, she had a leading role in the British film Blame it on the Bellboy as Miss Carolyn Wright, a desperate real estate dealer in Venice who would stop at nothing to clinch a deal.

Return to fame

In 2004, Kensit joined the cast of British soap opera Emmerdale, playing the character Sadie King, and also regularly featured in the third series of Channel 4's Bo' Selecta! and its 2005 spin-off series A Bear's Tail. Kensit's success as the soap super-bitch and in a popular comedy brought her back to the attention of the British public.

In September and October 2005 she appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Play Your Cards Right before being eliminated by Carol Vorderman, the eventual winner of the series. Kensit was a special guest host on The Friday Night Project on 23 June 2006 with band Placebo. She appeared as The Grand High Witch of all the World at the Children's Party at the Palace in celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006. She also became the voice of online gambling website 32red.com.

Kensit left Emmerdale in September 2006, stating that commuting to Yorkshire and the resultant time away from her sons was too stressful. As part of a dramatic week of episodes which coincided with Jeff Hordley's exit from the show. Hordley's character Cain Dingle and Sadie hatched an elaborate kidnap plan involving Tom King - they set up the transfer of £2 million from the Kings to Cain in order for Tom to be released, however Cain double crossed Sadie. Her last appearance was at an airstrip watching Cain fly away, leaving her penniless and alone.

Kensit has played ward sister Faye Morton in the BBC One medical drama series Holby City since October 2006. Kensit is signed to Models 1 in London.

In 1995, Kensit starred in Angels & Insects, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Rylance, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design and in which she complied with film director Philip Haas' request to bleach her pubic hair. Kensit's last major lead film role was in the Newcastle-based The One and Only.

Marriages

Kensit's penchant for rock front men started when she briefly dated Michael Head of The Pale Fountains whilst Michael was living in Breck Road, Hackney in the early eighties.

Kensit has been married four times, and all her husbands have been musicians of Irish descent. In 1988 she married Dan Donovan of band Big Audio Dynamite. In 1992 she married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds. During her second marriage she gave birth to her first child, James in 1992. In 1997 she married Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Kensit and Gallagher had a son, Lennon, named after John Lennon; they divorced in 2000.

By now Kensit's private life had brought her to as much attention as her acting or singing, as the tabloid newspapers detailed the breakdown of her marriage to Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr and her romance with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. Her career stalled as she focused on her marriage, over which she claimed to cry every day of the marriage until it ended, as it eventually headed towards divorce. This personal downward spiral led to the resumption of her acting career.

After her marriage to Gallagher ended in divorce, Kensit spoke openly about her breast augmentation, which took her bust measurement from a 32B to a 35C. She has three tattoos: on her back; above the blade of her left foot (Gaelic words); and on her ankle. She changed the tattoo of her ex-husband's name from Liam to the name of their son, Lennon.

After reported relationships with Ally McCoist, Calum Best, David Walliams, Matt Holbrook, and in 2005 with Jean-Christophe Novelli, Kensit began dating rap artist and beatboxer Killa Kela. They split up shortly after a year, with Kensit claiming that she did not see a future with Killa.

She later became involved with the DJ Jeremy Healy and announced that she was marrying for a fourth time on 29 November 2007. However, on the 31 March 2008 it was reported that the pair had mutually split and called off their wedding. They eventually married on April 18, 2009, in an event covered by a magazine., but the Daily Mail reported in February 2010 that the couple has now separated.

Partial filmography

    * 1972 - Birds Eye frozen peas (TV advertisements)
    * 1974 - The Great Gatsby
    * 1974 - Gold
    * 1976 - The Blue Bird
    * 1978 - Armchair Thriller 'Quiet as a Nun'
    * 1978 - Lady Oscar
    * 1979 - Hanover Street
    * 1981 - Great Expectations (TV)
    * 1982 - The Adventures of Pollyanna
    * 1982 - Richard III
    * 1982 - Luna (TV)
    * 1984 - Diana (TV)
    * 1985 - Silas Marner (TV)
    * 1986 - Absolute Beginners
    * 1988 - A Chorus of Disapproval
    * 1989 - Lethal Weapon 2
    * 1990 - Kill Cruise (aka Der Skipper)
    * 1990 - Does This Mean We're Married
    * 1991 - Twenty-One
    * 1991 - Timebomb
    * 1992 - Blame It on the Bellboy
    * 1993 - Full Eclipse
    * 1994 - The Turn of the Screw
    * 1995 - Angels & Insects
    * 1995 - Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (as Mia Farrow)
    * 1999 - Speedway Junky
    * 2000 - Best
    * 2002 - The One and Only
    * 2001 - Loves Music, Loves to Dance
    * 2002 - Bad Karma
    * 2003 - Harlequin Romance Series: At the Midnight Hour (1995) (TV)
    * 2003 - Who's Your Daddy?
    * 2004 - Emmerdale (TV)
    * 2004 - Bo' Selecta! (TV)
    * 2006 - Played
    * 2007 - Holby City (TV)
    * 2008 - Who Do You Think You Are? (TV)
    * 2008 - Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live (TV)
    * 2009 - Chris Moyles' Quiz Night (TV)

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00428/travel-graphics-200_428196a.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/04/10 at 5:46 am


British Person (with Irish stock) of the Day: Patsy Kensit

Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit (born 4 March 1968 in Hounslow, West London) is an English actress and former singer well known for her many appearances on television.

Early life

Born to James Henry Kensit and the late Margaret Rose Kensit (née Doohan), a native of Ireland who died from breast cancer, Patsy Kensit has an older brother Jamie. Her mother (1947-93) was a publicist, and her father (1915-87) was an associate of the notorious London gangsters the Kray twins. Nicknamed "Jimmy the Dip", he was also reportedly an associate of the rival Richardsons, running long firms for the gang. He served time in prison before Kensit was born, she believed he was an antiques dealer. Her paternal grandfather was a robber and counterfeiter, and her brother's godfather was Reggie Kray.

Early work

At the age of four, Kensit appeared in a television advert for Birds Eye frozen peas. In 1972, she had her first role in the film For the Love of Ada. Her next film role was two years later in The Great Gatsby starring with Mia Farrow—whom she would later portray in the 1995 biopic Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story.

As a pupil at the Italia Conti Academy stage school, Kensit's first starring roles were in British children's television programmes such as The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982) and Luna. She also appeared as Estella in a BBC adaptation of Great Expectations in 1981 and as Lady Margaret Plantagenet in the 1982 BBC production of Shakespeare's Richard III.

Rise to fame

In 1985 Kensit led a dual career as the lead singer of the band Eighth Wonder and an actress. Eighth Wonder had two Top 40 singles ("I'm Not Scared" UK #7 and "Cross My Heart" UK #13) and appeared on Top of the Pops, while Kensit also starred as Eppie in an adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley. At the time, Kensit infamously stated: "All I want is to be more famous than anything or anyone".

In 1986, she won the lead female role in the film version of Absolute Beginners, based on the book by Colin MacInnes. In November 1987, she sang a duet with the Italian singer and songwriter, Eros Ramazzotti, entitled 'La luce buona delle stelle', which in English translates to 'The Good Light Of The Stars'. In 1988, Eighth Wonder had their only UK top 10 hit with "I'm Not Scared", which was written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys. Although the band's success quickly waned, the song appeared in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2, in which Kensit, now focused solely on being an actress, played Rika van den Haas, a South African consulate secretary with whom cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) falls in love.

Following Lethal Weapon 2, she appeared in 1991's little-seen Twenty-One. Of her role, Variety magazine wrote, "Fans of Kensit get plenty of her; her lovely face and form are always the center of attention. The cool control with which she executes the role is admirable". In 1992, she had a leading role in the British film Blame it on the Bellboy as Miss Carolyn Wright, a desperate real estate dealer in Venice who would stop at nothing to clinch a deal.

Return to fame

In 2004, Kensit joined the cast of British soap opera Emmerdale, playing the character Sadie King, and also regularly featured in the third series of Channel 4's Bo' Selecta! and its 2005 spin-off series A Bear's Tail. Kensit's success as the soap super-bitch and in a popular comedy brought her back to the attention of the British public.

In September and October 2005 she appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Play Your Cards Right before being eliminated by Carol Vorderman, the eventual winner of the series. Kensit was a special guest host on The Friday Night Project on 23 June 2006 with band Placebo. She appeared as The Grand High Witch of all the World at the Children's Party at the Palace in celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006. She also became the voice of online gambling website 32red.com.

Kensit left Emmerdale in September 2006, stating that commuting to Yorkshire and the resultant time away from her sons was too stressful. As part of a dramatic week of episodes which coincided with Jeff Hordley's exit from the show. Hordley's character Cain Dingle and Sadie hatched an elaborate kidnap plan involving Tom King - they set up the transfer of £2 million from the Kings to Cain in order for Tom to be released, however Cain double crossed Sadie. Her last appearance was at an airstrip watching Cain fly away, leaving her penniless and alone.

Kensit has played ward sister Faye Morton in the BBC One medical drama series Holby City since October 2006. Kensit is signed to Models 1 in London.

In 1995, Kensit starred in Angels & Insects, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Rylance, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design and in which she complied with film director Philip Haas' request to bleach her pubic hair. Kensit's last major lead film role was in the Newcastle-based The One and Only.

Marriages

Kensit's penchant for rock front men started when she briefly dated Michael Head of The Pale Fountains whilst Michael was living in Breck Road, Hackney in the early eighties.

Kensit has been married four times, and all her husbands have been musicians of Irish descent. In 1988 she married Dan Donovan of band Big Audio Dynamite. In 1992 she married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds. During her second marriage she gave birth to her first child, James in 1992. In 1997 she married Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Kensit and Gallagher had a son, Lennon, named after John Lennon; they divorced in 2000.

By now Kensit's private life had brought her to as much attention as her acting or singing, as the tabloid newspapers detailed the breakdown of her marriage to Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr and her romance with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. Her career stalled as she focused on her marriage, over which she claimed to cry every day of the marriage until it ended, as it eventually headed towards divorce. This personal downward spiral led to the resumption of her acting career.

After her marriage to Gallagher ended in divorce, Kensit spoke openly about her breast augmentation, which took her bust measurement from a 32B to a 35C. She has three tattoos: on her back; above the blade of her left foot (Gaelic words); and on her ankle. She changed the tattoo of her ex-husband's name from Liam to the name of their son, Lennon.

After reported relationships with Ally McCoist, Calum Best, David Walliams, Matt Holbrook, and in 2005 with Jean-Christophe Novelli, Kensit began dating rap artist and beatboxer Killa Kela. They split up shortly after a year, with Kensit claiming that she did not see a future with Killa.

She later became involved with the DJ Jeremy Healy and announced that she was marrying for a fourth time on 29 November 2007. However, on the 31 March 2008 it was reported that the pair had mutually split and called off their wedding. They eventually married on April 18, 2009, in an event covered by a magazine., but the Daily Mail reported in February 2010 that the couple has now separated.

Partial filmography

    * 1972 - Birds Eye frozen peas (TV advertisements)
    * 1974 - The Great Gatsby
    * 1974 - Gold
    * 1976 - The Blue Bird
    * 1978 - Armchair Thriller 'Quiet as a Nun'
    * 1978 - Lady Oscar
    * 1979 - Hanover Street
    * 1981 - Great Expectations (TV)
    * 1982 - The Adventures of Pollyanna
    * 1982 - Richard III
    * 1982 - Luna (TV)
    * 1984 - Diana (TV)
    * 1985 - Silas Marner (TV)
    * 1986 - Absolute Beginners
    * 1988 - A Chorus of Disapproval
    * 1989 - Lethal Weapon 2
    * 1990 - Kill Cruise (aka Der Skipper)
    * 1990 - Does This Mean We're Married
    * 1991 - Twenty-One
    * 1991 - Timebomb
    * 1992 - Blame It on the Bellboy
    * 1993 - Full Eclipse
    * 1994 - The Turn of the Screw
    * 1995 - Angels & Insects
    * 1995 - Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (as Mia Farrow)
    * 1999 - Speedway Junky
    * 2000 - Best
    * 2002 - The One and Only
    * 2001 - Loves Music, Loves to Dance
    * 2002 - Bad Karma
    * 2003 - Harlequin Romance Series: At the Midnight Hour (1995) (TV)
    * 2003 - Who's Your Daddy?
    * 2004 - Emmerdale (TV)
    * 2004 - Bo' Selecta! (TV)
    * 2006 - Played
    * 2007 - Holby City (TV)
    * 2008 - Who Do You Think You Are? (TV)
    * 2008 - Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live (TV)
    * 2009 - Chris Moyles' Quiz Night (TV)

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00428/travel-graphics-200_428196a.jpg


She was one of my choices for today ;D Thanks for picking her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/04/10 at 5:54 am

The word of the day...Wind
A wind is a current of air that is moving across the earth's surface.
Journalists often refer to a trend or factor that influences events as a wind of a particular kind.
If you are winded by something such as a blow, the air is suddenly knocked out of your lungs so that you have difficulty breathing for a short time.
Wind is the air that you sometimes swallow with food or drink, or gas that is produced in your intestines, which causes an uncomfortable feeling.
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u174/timothyduenas/katrice2.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad350/katfish9/sunny122.jpg
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt253/hoa138/20050730windbell.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad289/AikiiYukii/Wind.gif
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t31/nailed_barnacle/weatherforecast.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/VampyrSephiroth/Sovias/wind.jpg
http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu231/Jonah_Anderson/Outdoors/Hunting2010014.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/bittyskitty94210/words/big_4800493.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/04/10 at 6:11 am

The Person born on this day...Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and The Nightmare Before Christmas; as well in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.
O'Hara was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario in a large Irish Catholic family. She started her acting career at age 20 as a cast member of The Second City in Toronto. She was an understudy for Gilda Radner until she left for Saturday Night Live. Two years later, this theatre troupe created the television series SCTV, on which she became a regular performer. Her memorable characterizations on the show included Las Vegas scorcher Lola Heatherton, buzzer-happy game show contestant Margaret Meehan, raunchy nightclub comedian Dusty Towne, soap opera seductress Sue Ellen and stage actress Sue Bopper Simpson.

In the late 1970s, O'Hara did voice-overs for a number of cartoons, which would continue throughout her career. During a short time in the early 80s when SCTV was in between network deals, she was hired to replace Ann Risley when Saturday Night Live was being retooled in 1981. However, she quit the show without ever appearing on-air, choosing to go back to SCTV when the show signed on with NBC. Her SNL position was then given to fellow Canadian Robin Duke, who had also replaced O'Hara for a season on SCTV.

O'Hara has appeared in many films in the past two decades, including Martin Scorsese's After Hours, as well as parts in two Tim Burton films: Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, which also co-starred her fellow Whose Line Is It Anyway? castmate Greg Proops. She played Kate McCallister in the first two Home Alone films. From 1997 to 2006, she starred in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration. On June 9, 2007, O'Hara was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In May 2008, it was announced that she has signed on to star in the upcoming ABC dramedy Good Behavior.
Personal life

A naturalized U.S. citizen, she married production designer/director Bo Welch in 1992 and has two sons, Matthew (b.1994) and Luke (b.1997). She is the sister of critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara, though she is a singer-songwriter in her own right, having written and performed songs in Christopher Guest's film A Mighty Wind. She has a condition known as Situs Inversus with Dextrocardia meaning that among other things, her heart is on the right side of her body.
Celebrities impersonated on SCTV

    * Liv Ullmann
    * Katharine Hepburn
    * Diane Keaton
    * Joey Heatherton
    * Lola Falana
    * Elizabeth Taylor
    * Brooke Shields
    * Morgan Fairchild
    * Barbara Billingsley
    * Phyllis George



    * Charlotte Rampling
    * Monica Vitti
    * Jane Pauley
    * Rona Barrett
    * Tammy Faye Bakker
    * Angie Dickinson
    * Dorothy Kilgallen
    * Jessica Savitch
    * Linda Blair
    * Judith Crist



    * Rusty Warren
    * Gilda Radner
    * Dinah Shore
    * Joan Sutherland
    * Jane Fonda
    * Joan Embery
    * Candice Bergen
    * Meryl Streep
    * Karen Black
    * Lucille Ball

Filmography
Year Film title Character or role
1983 Rock & Rule Aunt Edith
1985 After Hours Gail
1986 Heartburn Betty
1988 Beetlejuice Delia Deetz
1990 Home Alone Kate McCallister
Betsy's Wedding Gloria Henner
Dick Tracy Texie Garcia
Little Vegas Lexie
1992 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Kate McCallister
There Goes the Neighborhood Jessie Lodge
1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas Sally and Shock (both speaking and singing)
1994 Little Giants Young Boy's Mother
A Simple Twist of Fate April Simon
Wyatt Earp Allie Earp
The Paper Susan
1995 Tall Tale Calamity Jane
1996 The Last of the High Kings Cathleen
Waiting for Guffman Sheila Albertson
1997 Hope (TV) Muriel Macswain
Pippi Longstocking voice of Mrs. Prysselius
1998 Home Fries Mrs. Lever
1999 Late Last Night (TV) the Shrink
Bartok the Magnificent voice of Ludmilla
The Life Before This Sheena
2000 Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big voice
Best in Show Cookie Guggelman Fleck
2001 Speaking of Sex Connie Barker
Committed (TV Series) Liz Larsen
2002 Orange County Cindy Beugler
2003 Six Feet Under Carol Ward
A Mighty Wind Mickey Crabbe
2004 Surviving Christmas Christine Valco
The Wool Cap Gloria
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Justice Strauss
2005 Chicken Little Tina
2006 For Your Consideration Marilyn Hack
Monster House DJ's Mother
Brother Bear 2 Kata
Over The Hedge Penny
Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses Duchess Rowena
2008 Penelope Jessica Wilhern
2009 Away We Go Gloria Farlander
Where the Wild Things Are Judith
Glenn Martin, DDS (TV series) Jackie Martin
Curb your Enthusiasm (TV series) Bam Bam Funkhouser
2010 Five Killers
Discography

    * Finn McCoul (1993)

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s2/HarpoSpoke/CATHERINE_OHARA.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee12/Lovertits1988/ohara.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j320/ledeery/amighty_wind.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e158/desafio05/WaitingForGuffman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/04/10 at 6:17 am

The person who died on this day...John Candy
John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto, Ontario branch of The Second City and for his starring role in the 1993 comedy Cool Runnings. One of his most renowned on-screen performances was that of Del Griffith in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Candy was born and raised in Toronto, the son of Evangeline (née Aker) and Sidney James Candy. He attended Neil McNeil High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Toronto, where he played Grid Iron football.

Candy's first movie role was a small uncredited appearance in the 1973 film Class of '44. He appeared in several other low-budget films in the 1970s. In 1976, Candy played a supporting role (with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived, late-night television talk show, Ninety Minutes Live. That same year, as a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City, he gained wide North American popularity, which grew when he became a cast member on the influential Toronto-based comedy-variety show Second City Television (SCTV). NBC picked the show up in 1981 and it quickly became an alltime fan favourite.
1980s

Among Candy's memorable characterizations for SCTV were unscrupulous street-beat TV personality Johnny LaRue, 3-D horror auteur Doctor Tongue, sycophantic and easily amused talk-show sidekick William B. Williams, and Melonville's corrupt Mayor Tommy Shanks. Other characters included Morgy, from Morgy and Shoo, the cheerful Leutonian clarinetist Yosh Shmenge, who was half of the Happy Wanderers and the subject of the mockumentary The Last Polka, folksy fishin' musician Gil Fisher, handsome if accent-challenged TV actor Steve Roman, hapless children's entertainer Mr. Messenger, corrupt soap opera doctor William Wainwright and smut merchant Harry, "the Guy With the Snake on His Face".

Mimicry was one of Candy's talents, which he used often at SCTV. Celebrities impersonated by Candy include Jerry Mathers, Divine (Glen Milstead), Orson Welles, Julia Child, Richard Burton, Darryl Sittler, Luciano Pavarotti, Jimmy the Greek, Andrew Sarris, Tip O'Neill, Don Rickles, Curly Howard, Merlin Olsen, Jackie Gleason, Tom Selleck, Gordon Pinsent, Ed Asner, Gertrude Stein, Morgy Kneele, Doug McGrath and Hervé Villechaize.

By 1980, he began a more active film career having appeared as a soldier in Steven Spielberg's big-budget comedy 1941 and had a supporting role as a parole officer in The Blues Brothers. A year later, Candy played the lovable, mild-mannered Army recruit Dewey Oxberger in 1981's Stripes, one of the most successful films of the year. In the next two years, Candy did a small cameo in Harold Ramis' National Lampoon's Vacation, appeared on Saturday Night Live twice (hosting in 1983) while still appearing on SCTV.

In 1983, Candy headlined in the film Going Berserk, and was also approached to play the character of accountant Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (completed and released 1984), but ultimately did not get the role because of his conflicting ideas of how to play the character; the part went instead to Rick Moranis. (However, Candy was one of the many celebrities who appeared chanting "Ghostbusters" in Ray Parker, Jr.'s hit "single" for the movie). In 1984, Candy played Tom Hanks' womanizing brother in the hit romantic comedy Splash, considered to be his breakout role.

Throughout the latter half of the 1980s, Candy worked often taking roles in substandard films (even performing the voice of a talking horse in the Bobcat Goldthwait comedy Hot to Trot). Although Candy continued to play supporting roles in films like Spaceballs, he was awarded the opportunity to headline or co-star in such comedy films as Volunteers; Planes, Trains & Automobiles; Brewster's Millions; The Great Outdoors; Armed and Dangerous; Who's Harry Crumb? and Uncle Buck. He also continued to provide memorable bit roles, including a "weird" disc jockey in the comic musical film Little Shop of Horrors, and a state trooper in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird.

He also produced and starred in a Saturday morning animated series on NBC entitled Camp Candy in 1989. The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, featured his two children in supporting roles, and also spawned a brief comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.
1990s

In the early 1990s, Candy's career went into decline after he appeared in a string of critical and commercial failures, including Nothing But Trouble, Delirious and Once Upon A Crime, although he did appear in major successes such as Rookie of the Year (uncredited), The Rescuers Down Under, Cool Runnings, and Home Alone.

Candy attempted to reinvigorate his acting career by broadening his range and playing more dramatic roles. In 1991, Candy appeared in a light romantic comedy-drama, Only the Lonely which saw him as a Chicago cop torn between his overbearing mother (Maureen O'Hara) and his new girlfriend (Ally Sheedy). The same year and in rare form, Candy played a dramatic role as Dean Andrews Jr., a shady Southern lawyer in Oliver Stone's JFK.

In 1991, Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky, and Candy became co-owners of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. The celebrity ownership group attracted a lot of attention in Canada and the team spent a significant amount of money, even signing some highly touted National Football League players. John and the Argonauts took home the 1991 Grey Cup beating Calgary 36 to 21 in the final.
Death

Candy struggled with obesity throughout his adult life. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he gained a large amount of additional weight, making him almost unrecognizable from his years on SCTV. However, he had been making a significant effort to improve his overall health in the last year of his life; he had quit smoking and had begun losing weight.

The 43-year-old Candy died in his sleep from a heart attack on March 4, 1994, while on location in Durango, Mexico, filming Wagons East!

Candy was survived by his wife, Rosemary Margaret (Hobor), whom he married in 1979, and their children, Jennifer and Christopher. His funeral Mass was held at St. Martin of Tours Church. Candy was cremated, and was interred in an upper crypt in Room 7 alcove, in the Mausoleum, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

On March 18, 1994, a special memorial service for Candy, produced by his former improv troupe The Second City, was broadcast across Canada. Following his death, the sign atop comedy club The Laugh Factory honored Candy and fellow comedian Bill Hicks (who had died several days earlier): "Rest in peace; make God laugh."
Legacy

Wagons East! was released in the summer of 1994, completed using a body double in Candy's place.

Candy's final completed movie was Canadian Bacon, a satirical comedy by Michael Moore that was released the year after Candy's death. Candy played American sheriff Bud Boomer who led the "attack" against Canada.

Candy recorded a voice for the TV film The Magic 7 in the early-1990s. The film remained in production for years due to animation difficulties and production delays, and it was shelved.

Candy was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In May 2006, Candy became one of the first four entertainers ever honoured by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp. Blues Brothers 2000 is dedicated to three people, including Candy, who played a supporting role in the original Blues Brothers.

The John Candy Visual Arts Studio at Neil McNeil Catholic High School, in Toronto, Ontario was dedicated in his honour after his death. John Candy, one of the school's most famous alumni, said during one of his annual visits to the school, “My success is simply rooted in the values and discipline and respect for others that I was taught at Neil McNeil.”

A tribute to Candy was hosted by Dan Aykroyd at the 2007 Grey Cup festivities in Toronto in November 2007.

Ween's Chocolate and Cheese album released in 1994 is "dedicated in loving memory to John Candy (1950-1994)".

Candy's daughter, Jennifer is an actress and television producer, having production credits for the television series Prom Queen and Sam Has 7 Friends.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1973 Class of '44 Paule Uncredited
1975 It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time Kopek
1976 Tunnel Vision Cooper
The Clown Murders Ollie
Find the Lady Kopek
1978 The Silent Partner Simonsen
1979 Lost and Found Carpentier
1941 Pvt. Foley
1980 Deadly Companion John also known as Double Negative
The Blues Brothers Burton Mercer
1981 Stripes Ox
Heavy Metal Desk Sergeant Voice
1983 National Lampoon's Vacation Lasky (Guard at 'Walleyworld')
Going Berserk John Bourgignon
1984 Splash Freddie Bauer
1985 Brewster's Millions Spike Nolan
Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird State Trooper
Summer Rental Jack Chester
Volunteers Tom Turtle
1986 Armed and Dangerous Frank Dooley
Little Shop of Horrors Wink Wilkinson
1987 Spaceballs Barf
Planes, Trains & Automobiles Del Griffith
1988 The Great Outdoors Chet Ripley
She's Having a Baby Chet from 'The Great Outdoors' Uncredited
Hot to Trot Don Voice
1989 Who's Harry Crumb? Harry Crumb
Speed Zone! Charlie Cronan
Uncle Buck Buck Russell
1990 Masters of Menace Beer Truck Driver
Home Alone Gus Polinski
The Rescuers Down Under Wilbur Voice
1991 Nothing But Trouble Dennis / Eldona
Career Opportunities C.D. Marsh Uncredited
Only the Lonely Danny Muldoon
Delirious Jack Gable (post production)
JFK Dean Andrews
1992 Once Upon a Crime... Augie Morosco
Boris and Natasha: The Movie Kalishak
1993 Rookie of the Year Cliff Murdoch (Announcer) Uncredited
Cool Runnings Irving 'Irv' Blitzer
1994 Wagons East James Harlow Last film Candy filmed before his death
1995 Canadian Bacon Sheriff Bud Boomer
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1972 Cucumber Weatherman (unknown episodes)
Dr. Simon Locke Richie Episode: "Death Holds the Scale"
1974 The ABC Afternoon Playbreak 2nd Son Episode: "Last Bride of Salem"
Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins (unknown episodes)
1976 The David Steinberg Show Spider Reichman Episode one
Episode two
90 Minutes Live (Various) TV series
1976–1977 Coming Up Rosie Wally Wypyzypychwk TV series
1976–1979 Second City TV (Various) 50 episodes
1977 King of Kensington Bandit Episode: "The Hero"
1980 The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog Pinky TV film
1981 Tales of the Klondike TV mini-series
Saturday Night Live Juan Gavino Episode: "George Kennedy/Miles Davis"
(uncredited)
1981–1983 SCTV Network 90 (Various) 38 episodes
1983 SCTV Channel (Various) Episode: "Maudlin O' the Night"
1984 The New Show (Various) Five episodes
1985 Martin Short: Concert for the North Americas Marcel TV film
The Canadian Conspiracy (Various) TV film
The Last Polka Yosh Shmenge/Pa Shmenge TV film
1987 Really Weird Tales Howard Jensen ('Cursed with Charisma') TV film
1989 The Rocket Boy The Hawk TV film
1990 The Dave Thomas Comedy Show One episode
1992 Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories Narrator Episode: "Blumpoe the Grumpoe Meets Arnold the Cat/Millions of Cats"
1994 Hostage for a Day Yuri Petrovich TV film
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r311/kinzel_c/john_candy.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm163/pacersfan33/25john_candy.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t166/danielpev33/johncandy.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd172/tomdotreed/JohnCandy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/04/10 at 6:26 am


The word of the day...Wind
A wind is a current of air that is moving across the earth's surface.
Journalists often refer to a trend or factor that influences events as a wind of a particular kind.
If you are winded by something such as a blow, the air is suddenly knocked out of your lungs so that you have difficulty breathing for a short time.
Wind is the air that you sometimes swallow with food or drink, or gas that is produced in your intestines, which causes an uncomfortable feeling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XttBzn8bY8

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/04/10 at 6:27 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XttBzn8bY8
Moya (Marie Brennan) is a cousin to Enya.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/04/10 at 6:34 am


The person who died on this day...John Candy
John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto, Ontario branch of The Second City and for his starring role in the 1993 comedy Cool Runnings. One of his most renowned on-screen performances was that of Del Griffith in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Candy was born and raised in Toronto, the son of Evangeline (née Aker) and Sidney James Candy. He attended Neil McNeil High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Toronto, where he played Grid Iron football.

Candy's first movie role was a small uncredited appearance in the 1973 film Class of '44. He appeared in several other low-budget films in the 1970s. In 1976, Candy played a supporting role (with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived, late-night television talk show, Ninety Minutes Live. That same year, as a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City, he gained wide North American popularity, which grew when he became a cast member on the influential Toronto-based comedy-variety show Second City Television (SCTV). NBC picked the show up in 1981 and it quickly became an alltime fan favourite.
1980s

Among Candy's memorable characterizations for SCTV were unscrupulous street-beat TV personality Johnny LaRue, 3-D horror auteur Doctor Tongue, sycophantic and easily amused talk-show sidekick William B. Williams, and Melonville's corrupt Mayor Tommy Shanks. Other characters included Morgy, from Morgy and Shoo, the cheerful Leutonian clarinetist Yosh Shmenge, who was half of the Happy Wanderers and the subject of the mockumentary The Last Polka, folksy fishin' musician Gil Fisher, handsome if accent-challenged TV actor Steve Roman, hapless children's entertainer Mr. Messenger, corrupt soap opera doctor William Wainwright and smut merchant Harry, "the Guy With the Snake on His Face".

Mimicry was one of Candy's talents, which he used often at SCTV. Celebrities impersonated by Candy include Jerry Mathers, Divine (Glen Milstead), Orson Welles, Julia Child, Richard Burton, Darryl Sittler, Luciano Pavarotti, Jimmy the Greek, Andrew Sarris, Tip O'Neill, Don Rickles, Curly Howard, Merlin Olsen, Jackie Gleason, Tom Selleck, Gordon Pinsent, Ed Asner, Gertrude Stein, Morgy Kneele, Doug McGrath and Hervé Villechaize.

By 1980, he began a more active film career having appeared as a soldier in Steven Spielberg's big-budget comedy 1941 and had a supporting role as a parole officer in The Blues Brothers. A year later, Candy played the lovable, mild-mannered Army recruit Dewey Oxberger in 1981's Stripes, one of the most successful films of the year. In the next two years, Candy did a small cameo in Harold Ramis' National Lampoon's Vacation, appeared on Saturday Night Live twice (hosting in 1983) while still appearing on SCTV.

In 1983, Candy headlined in the film Going Berserk, and was also approached to play the character of accountant Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (completed and released 1984), but ultimately did not get the role because of his conflicting ideas of how to play the character; the part went instead to Rick Moranis. (However, Candy was one of the many celebrities who appeared chanting "Ghostbusters" in Ray Parker, Jr.'s hit "single" for the movie). In 1984, Candy played Tom Hanks' womanizing brother in the hit romantic comedy Splash, considered to be his breakout role.

Throughout the latter half of the 1980s, Candy worked often taking roles in substandard films (even performing the voice of a talking horse in the Bobcat Goldthwait comedy Hot to Trot). Although Candy continued to play supporting roles in films like Spaceballs, he was awarded the opportunity to headline or co-star in such comedy films as Volunteers; Planes, Trains & Automobiles; Brewster's Millions; The Great Outdoors; Armed and Dangerous; Who's Harry Crumb? and Uncle Buck. He also continued to provide memorable bit roles, including a "weird" disc jockey in the comic musical film Little Shop of Horrors, and a state trooper in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird.

He also produced and starred in a Saturday morning animated series on NBC entitled Camp Candy in 1989. The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, featured his two children in supporting roles, and also spawned a brief comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.
1990s

In the early 1990s, Candy's career went into decline after he appeared in a string of critical and commercial failures, including Nothing But Trouble, Delirious and Once Upon A Crime, although he did appear in major successes such as Rookie of the Year (uncredited), The Rescuers Down Under, Cool Runnings, and Home Alone.

Candy attempted to reinvigorate his acting career by broadening his range and playing more dramatic roles. In 1991, Candy appeared in a light romantic comedy-drama, Only the Lonely which saw him as a Chicago cop torn between his overbearing mother (Maureen O'Hara) and his new girlfriend (Ally Sheedy). The same year and in rare form, Candy played a dramatic role as Dean Andrews Jr., a shady Southern lawyer in Oliver Stone's JFK.

In 1991, Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky, and Candy became co-owners of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. The celebrity ownership group attracted a lot of attention in Canada and the team spent a significant amount of money, even signing some highly touted National Football League players. John and the Argonauts took home the 1991 Grey Cup beating Calgary 36 to 21 in the final.
Death

Candy struggled with obesity throughout his adult life. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he gained a large amount of additional weight, making him almost unrecognizable from his years on SCTV. However, he had been making a significant effort to improve his overall health in the last year of his life; he had quit smoking and had begun losing weight.

The 43-year-old Candy died in his sleep from a heart attack on March 4, 1994, while on location in Durango, Mexico, filming Wagons East!

Candy was survived by his wife, Rosemary Margaret (Hobor), whom he married in 1979, and their children, Jennifer and Christopher. His funeral Mass was held at St. Martin of Tours Church. Candy was cremated, and was interred in an upper crypt in Room 7 alcove, in the Mausoleum, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

On March 18, 1994, a special memorial service for Candy, produced by his former improv troupe The Second City, was broadcast across Canada. Following his death, the sign atop comedy club The Laugh Factory honored Candy and fellow comedian Bill Hicks (who had died several days earlier): "Rest in peace; make God laugh."
Legacy

Wagons East! was released in the summer of 1994, completed using a body double in Candy's place.

Candy's final completed movie was Canadian Bacon, a satirical comedy by Michael Moore that was released the year after Candy's death. Candy played American sheriff Bud Boomer who led the "attack" against Canada.

Candy recorded a voice for the TV film The Magic 7 in the early-1990s. The film remained in production for years due to animation difficulties and production delays, and it was shelved.

Candy was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In May 2006, Candy became one of the first four entertainers ever honoured by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp. Blues Brothers 2000 is dedicated to three people, including Candy, who played a supporting role in the original Blues Brothers.

The John Candy Visual Arts Studio at Neil McNeil Catholic High School, in Toronto, Ontario was dedicated in his honour after his death. John Candy, one of the school's most famous alumni, said during one of his annual visits to the school, “My success is simply rooted in the values and discipline and respect for others that I was taught at Neil McNeil.”

A tribute to Candy was hosted by Dan Aykroyd at the 2007 Grey Cup festivities in Toronto in November 2007.

Ween's Chocolate and Cheese album released in 1994 is "dedicated in loving memory to John Candy (1950-1994)".

Candy's daughter, Jennifer is an actress and television producer, having production credits for the television series Prom Queen and Sam Has 7 Friends.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1973 Class of '44 Paule Uncredited
1975 It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time Kopek
1976 Tunnel Vision Cooper
The Clown Murders Ollie
Find the Lady Kopek
1978 The Silent Partner Simonsen
1979 Lost and Found Carpentier
1941 Pvt. Foley
1980 Deadly Companion John also known as Double Negative
The Blues Brothers Burton Mercer
1981 Stripes Ox
Heavy Metal Desk Sergeant Voice
1983 National Lampoon's Vacation Lasky (Guard at 'Walleyworld')
Going Berserk John Bourgignon
1984 Splash Freddie Bauer
1985 Brewster's Millions Spike Nolan
Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird State Trooper
Summer Rental Jack Chester
Volunteers Tom Turtle
1986 Armed and Dangerous Frank Dooley
Little Shop of Horrors Wink Wilkinson
1987 Spaceballs Barf
Planes, Trains & Automobiles Del Griffith
1988 The Great Outdoors Chet Ripley
She's Having a Baby Chet from 'The Great Outdoors' Uncredited
Hot to Trot Don Voice
1989 Who's Harry Crumb? Harry Crumb
Speed Zone! Charlie Cronan
Uncle Buck Buck Russell
1990 Masters of Menace Beer Truck Driver
Home Alone Gus Polinski
The Rescuers Down Under Wilbur Voice
1991 Nothing But Trouble Dennis / Eldona
Career Opportunities C.D. Marsh Uncredited
Only the Lonely Danny Muldoon
Delirious Jack Gable (post production)
JFK Dean Andrews
1992 Once Upon a Crime... Augie Morosco
Boris and Natasha: The Movie Kalishak
1993 Rookie of the Year Cliff Murdoch (Announcer) Uncredited
Cool Runnings Irving 'Irv' Blitzer
1994 Wagons East James Harlow Last film Candy filmed before his death
1995 Canadian Bacon Sheriff Bud Boomer
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1972 Cucumber Weatherman (unknown episodes)
Dr. Simon Locke Richie Episode: "Death Holds the Scale"
1974 The ABC Afternoon Playbreak 2nd Son Episode: "Last Bride of Salem"
Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins (unknown episodes)
1976 The David Steinberg Show Spider Reichman Episode one
Episode two
90 Minutes Live (Various) TV series
1976–1977 Coming Up Rosie Wally Wypyzypychwk TV series
1976–1979 Second City TV (Various) 50 episodes
1977 King of Kensington Bandit Episode: "The Hero"
1980 The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog Pinky TV film
1981 Tales of the Klondike TV mini-series
Saturday Night Live Juan Gavino Episode: "George Kennedy/Miles Davis"
(uncredited)
1981–1983 SCTV Network 90 (Various) 38 episodes
1983 SCTV Channel (Various) Episode: "Maudlin O' the Night"
1984 The New Show (Various) Five episodes
1985 Martin Short: Concert for the North Americas Marcel TV film
The Canadian Conspiracy (Various) TV film
The Last Polka Yosh Shmenge/Pa Shmenge TV film
1987 Really Weird Tales Howard Jensen ('Cursed with Charisma') TV film
1989 The Rocket Boy The Hawk TV film
1990 The Dave Thomas Comedy Show One episode
1992 Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories Narrator Episode: "Blumpoe the Grumpoe Meets Arnold the Cat/Millions of Cats"
1994 Hostage for a Day Yuri Petrovich TV film
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r311/kinzel_c/john_candy.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm163/pacersfan33/25john_candy.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t166/danielpev33/johncandy.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd172/tomdotreed/JohnCandy.jpg



Uncle Buck was funny too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/04/10 at 7:46 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XttBzn8bY8

A lot different than this Against The Wind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcDCvQbOdig#

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/04/10 at 8:32 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWvh4S3YWVo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/04/10 at 11:36 am

Two SCTV alum.


The funniest SCTV episode was when they were doing Fantasy Island. I remember my stomach really hurting and crying throughout the entire show from laughing so hard.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/04/10 at 11:43 am


Two SCTV alum.


The funniest SCTV episode was when they were doing Fantasy Island. I remember my stomach really hurting and crying throughout the entire show from laughing so hard.



Cat

SCTV had many funny skits. I remember the fantasy island one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/04/10 at 7:25 pm


SCTV had many funny skits. I remember the fantasy island one.



I don't remember many SCTV skits.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/05/10 at 2:02 am

British Person of the Day: Matt Lucas

Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor. He is perhaps best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain and spoof interview series Rock Profile, as well as for his portrayal of the surreal scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the Reeves and Mortimer comedy panel game Shooting Stars. Lucas played Chancellor Donold David Dongalor, on the BBC/Comedy Central series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.

In May 2007 he placed eighth in the list of the UK's 100 most influential gays and lesbians, in fields as diverse as entertainment, business, politics, and science, by British newspapers The Independent and The Daily Mail.

Personal life

Born in Paddington, London, Lucas comes from a Jewish background, with some of his British-born mother Diana's family fleeing Nazi Germany. Lucas grew up in Stanmore, Greater London; he has an older brother, Howard. He has had alopecia since his childhood, which in interviews he has inconsistently attributed to various events, including a delayed reaction to a car accident at the age of four. He lost all of his hair when he was six years old. Lucas's father John Lucas died of a heart attack in 1996, aged 52, in Brent, Greater London.

He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, the same school as attended by David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen. He went on to study drama in the Faculty of Arts at Bristol University between 1993 and 1995.

Lucas worked for Chelsea F.C. as a sales assistant in the old club shop, though he is a high-profile Arsenal fan.

Lucas is a patron of the The Karen Morris Memorial Trust, a UK charity for leukaemia patients and their families. In April 2004 he appeared on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and won £62,500 for the charity.

Early career

Lucas's association with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer began in 1992. In 1994, Lucas appeared in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. The second series of the show featured Lucas in several sketches. He went on to star with them in Shooting Stars. He quickly rose to fame as George Dawes, the giant baby, who would deliver a string of meaningless gags (often in character) and insults before delivering the score, while sitting at and playing a drum kit. Many of these parts were introduced not in the style of a baby, but of a grown man — indeed, often, he would come on dressed as a specific adult such as Elton John. He also appeared on occasion as Marjorie Dawes, George's mother, who also appears in Little Britain. He also appeared in the Reeves & Mortimer BBC series Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), and Catterick in a variety of roles. Lucas has also written for actor Sacha Baron Cohen.

His music video appearances include; the Damien Hirst-directed video for Blur's "Country House" (as a psychoanalyst) in 1995, "Jesusland" by Ben Folds in 2005, "I'm with Stupid" by the Pet Shop Boys and "Vindaloo" and "Naughty Christmas" by Fat Les.

Lucas ventured into the world of stage musicals in 2002, when he took one of the main roles in Boy George's musical Taboo, at The Venue, London. He played the part of infamous performance artist Leigh Bowery, which required him to wear some outrageous and spectacular outfits and make-up.

Lucas also appeared in a Big Finish audio play based on the long-running BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. The play he featured in was called The One Doctor and was a light-hearted Christmas panto-style play.

Little Britain

Little Britain is commercially Lucas's most successful work. Originally a radio show on BBC Radio 4, it later became a TV series. Little Britain has won numerous TV awards, spawning large DVD sales and merchandising. It plays heavily on memorable catchphrases which have become ingrained in playgrounds and offices around the UK. Lucas plays, among many others, four of the most popular characters in the series, which he writes and acts in along with David Walliams: apparently disabled Andy Pipkin, teenage Bristol chav Vicky Pollard, homophobic homosexual Daffyd Thomas and insensitive slimming club organiser Marjorie Dawes. Lucas has also played many other popular characters including the morbidly obese Bubbles DeVere and Orville The Duck in one sketch.

After Little Britain

In 2005, he took his first role in a television drama, a supporting part as a Venetian Duke in the BBC historical serial Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. Since 2006, Lucas has been the voice of the radio and television character Digit Al, devised as part of a public information campaign on digital switchover. On 26 November 2006 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. He made a cameo appearance in Shaun of the Dead as the cousin of Shaun's friend Yvonne.

In 2007, he released "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", originally by The Proclaimers, with Peter Kay as a charity single for Comic Relief. He performed the single as Little Britain character Andy Pipkin, along with Kay playing as Brian Potter. After being available for less than 48 hours on iTunes alone, the track entered the UK Top 40 at number 3. On 25 March It went to number one, where it stayed for three weeks, selling over 400,000 copies. He also starred as the irrepressible Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, a 2006 television adaptation of the Kenneth Grahame novel.

He has made appearances in Kath & Kim and Neighbours (the latter alongside David Walliams as Little Britain stalwarts Lou and Andy, as well as a cameo role, playing 'Chris' or 'Jammy' at the wedding fayre, in the BBC Three sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Lucas has co written (with Walliams) and performed in a new series of Little Britain USA for HBO. The pair are also writing a movie for Dreamworks.

Lucas was the first celebrity to make an appearance in 2008's Big Brother Celebrity Hijack on E4, working alongside Big Brother in a series containing housemates aged 18–21 with various talents.

In September 2008, whilst on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, Lucas stated that he would play Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

On 9 April 2009, the series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, featuring Matt Lucas as a regular performer, premièred on Comedy Central, the first major comedy series Lucas has done since Little Britain.

http://i44.tinypic.com/24v8x8i.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/27/daffyd_narrowweb__300x414,0.jpg

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00391/littlebritain_682_391888a.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bbch-matt-lucas.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/05/10 at 2:04 am


British Person of the Day: Matt Lucas

Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor. He is perhaps best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain and spoof interview series Rock Profile, as well as for his portrayal of the surreal scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the Reeves and Mortimer comedy panel game Shooting Stars. Lucas played Chancellor Donold David Dongalor, on the BBC/Comedy Central series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.

In May 2007 he placed eighth in the list of the UK's 100 most influential gays and lesbians, in fields as diverse as entertainment, business, politics, and science, by British newspapers The Independent and The Daily Mail.

Personal life

Born in Paddington, London, Lucas comes from a Jewish background, with some of his British-born mother Diana's family fleeing Nazi Germany. Lucas grew up in Stanmore, Greater London; he has an older brother, Howard. He has had alopecia since his childhood, which in interviews he has inconsistently attributed to various events, including a delayed reaction to a car accident at the age of four. He lost all of his hair when he was six years old. Lucas's father John Lucas died of a heart attack in 1996, aged 52, in Brent, Greater London.

He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, the same school as attended by David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen. He went on to study drama in the Faculty of Arts at Bristol University between 1993 and 1995.

Lucas worked for Chelsea F.C. as a sales assistant in the old club shop, though he is a high-profile Arsenal fan.

Lucas is a patron of the The Karen Morris Memorial Trust, a UK charity for leukaemia patients and their families. In April 2004 he appeared on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and won £62,500 for the charity.

Early career

Lucas's association with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer began in 1992. In 1994, Lucas appeared in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. The second series of the show featured Lucas in several sketches. He went on to star with them in Shooting Stars. He quickly rose to fame as George Dawes, the giant baby, who would deliver a string of meaningless gags (often in character) and insults before delivering the score, while sitting at and playing a drum kit. Many of these parts were introduced not in the style of a baby, but of a grown man — indeed, often, he would come on dressed as a specific adult such as Elton John. He also appeared on occasion as Marjorie Dawes, George's mother, who also appears in Little Britain. He also appeared in the Reeves & Mortimer BBC series Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), and Catterick in a variety of roles. Lucas has also written for actor Sacha Baron Cohen.

His music video appearances include; the Damien Hirst-directed video for Blur's "Country House" (as a psychoanalyst) in 1995, "Jesusland" by Ben Folds in 2005, "I'm with Stupid" by the Pet Shop Boys and "Vindaloo" and "Naughty Christmas" by Fat Les.

Lucas ventured into the world of stage musicals in 2002, when he took one of the main roles in Boy George's musical Taboo, at The Venue, London. He played the part of infamous performance artist Leigh Bowery, which required him to wear some outrageous and spectacular outfits and make-up.

Lucas also appeared in a Big Finish audio play based on the long-running BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. The play he featured in was called The One Doctor and was a light-hearted Christmas panto-style play.

Little Britain

Little Britain is commercially Lucas's most successful work. Originally a radio show on BBC Radio 4, it later became a TV series. Little Britain has won numerous TV awards, spawning large DVD sales and merchandising. It plays heavily on memorable catchphrases which have become ingrained in playgrounds and offices around the UK. Lucas plays, among many others, four of the most popular characters in the series, which he writes and acts in along with David Walliams: apparently disabled Andy Pipkin, teenage Bristol chav Vicky Pollard, homophobic homosexual Daffyd Thomas and insensitive slimming club organiser Marjorie Dawes. Lucas has also played many other popular characters including the morbidly obese Bubbles DeVere and Orville The Duck in one sketch.

After Little Britain

In 2005, he took his first role in a television drama, a supporting part as a Venetian Duke in the BBC historical serial Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. Since 2006, Lucas has been the voice of the radio and television character Digit Al, devised as part of a public information campaign on digital switchover. On 26 November 2006 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. He made a cameo appearance in Shaun of the Dead as the cousin of Shaun's friend Yvonne.

In 2007, he released "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", originally by The Proclaimers, with Peter Kay as a charity single for Comic Relief. He performed the single as Little Britain character Andy Pipkin, along with Kay playing as Brian Potter. After being available for less than 48 hours on iTunes alone, the track entered the UK Top 40 at number 3. On 25 March It went to number one, where it stayed for three weeks, selling over 400,000 copies. He also starred as the irrepressible Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, a 2006 television adaptation of the Kenneth Grahame novel.

He has made appearances in Kath & Kim and Neighbours (the latter alongside David Walliams as Little Britain stalwarts Lou and Andy, as well as a cameo role, playing 'Chris' or 'Jammy' at the wedding fayre, in the BBC Three sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Lucas has co written (with Walliams) and performed in a new series of Little Britain USA for HBO. The pair are also writing a movie for Dreamworks.

Lucas was the first celebrity to make an appearance in 2008's Big Brother Celebrity Hijack on E4, working alongside Big Brother in a series containing housemates aged 18–21 with various talents.

In September 2008, whilst on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, Lucas stated that he would play Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

On 9 April 2009, the series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, featuring Matt Lucas as a regular performer, premièred on Comedy Central, the first major comedy series Lucas has done since Little Britain.

http://i44.tinypic.com/24v8x8i.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/27/daffyd_narrowweb__300x414,0.jpg

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00391/littlebritain_682_391888a.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bbch-matt-lucas.jpg
"Yeah, I know."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/05/10 at 4:50 am


British Person of the Day: Matt Lucas

Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor. He is perhaps best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain and spoof interview series Rock Profile, as well as for his portrayal of the surreal scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the Reeves and Mortimer comedy panel game Shooting Stars. Lucas played Chancellor Donold David Dongalor, on the BBC/Comedy Central series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.

In May 2007 he placed eighth in the list of the UK's 100 most influential gays and lesbians, in fields as diverse as entertainment, business, politics, and science, by British newspapers The Independent and The Daily Mail.

Personal life

Born in Paddington, London, Lucas comes from a Jewish background, with some of his British-born mother Diana's family fleeing Nazi Germany. Lucas grew up in Stanmore, Greater London; he has an older brother, Howard. He has had alopecia since his childhood, which in interviews he has inconsistently attributed to various events, including a delayed reaction to a car accident at the age of four. He lost all of his hair when he was six years old. Lucas's father John Lucas died of a heart attack in 1996, aged 52, in Brent, Greater London.

He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, the same school as attended by David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen. He went on to study drama in the Faculty of Arts at Bristol University between 1993 and 1995.

Lucas worked for Chelsea F.C. as a sales assistant in the old club shop, though he is a high-profile Arsenal fan.

Lucas is a patron of the The Karen Morris Memorial Trust, a UK charity for leukaemia patients and their families. In April 2004 he appeared on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and won £62,500 for the charity.

Early career

Lucas's association with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer began in 1992. In 1994, Lucas appeared in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. The second series of the show featured Lucas in several sketches. He went on to star with them in Shooting Stars. He quickly rose to fame as George Dawes, the giant baby, who would deliver a string of meaningless gags (often in character) and insults before delivering the score, while sitting at and playing a drum kit. Many of these parts were introduced not in the style of a baby, but of a grown man — indeed, often, he would come on dressed as a specific adult such as Elton John. He also appeared on occasion as Marjorie Dawes, George's mother, who also appears in Little Britain. He also appeared in the Reeves & Mortimer BBC series Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), and Catterick in a variety of roles. Lucas has also written for actor Sacha Baron Cohen.

His music video appearances include; the Damien Hirst-directed video for Blur's "Country House" (as a psychoanalyst) in 1995, "Jesusland" by Ben Folds in 2005, "I'm with Stupid" by the Pet Shop Boys and "Vindaloo" and "Naughty Christmas" by Fat Les.

Lucas ventured into the world of stage musicals in 2002, when he took one of the main roles in Boy George's musical Taboo, at The Venue, London. He played the part of infamous performance artist Leigh Bowery, which required him to wear some outrageous and spectacular outfits and make-up.

Lucas also appeared in a Big Finish audio play based on the long-running BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. The play he featured in was called The One Doctor and was a light-hearted Christmas panto-style play.

Little Britain

Little Britain is commercially Lucas's most successful work. Originally a radio show on BBC Radio 4, it later became a TV series. Little Britain has won numerous TV awards, spawning large DVD sales and merchandising. It plays heavily on memorable catchphrases which have become ingrained in playgrounds and offices around the UK. Lucas plays, among many others, four of the most popular characters in the series, which he writes and acts in along with David Walliams: apparently disabled Andy Pipkin, teenage Bristol chav Vicky Pollard, homophobic homosexual Daffyd Thomas and insensitive slimming club organiser Marjorie Dawes. Lucas has also played many other popular characters including the morbidly obese Bubbles DeVere and Orville The Duck in one sketch.

After Little Britain

In 2005, he took his first role in a television drama, a supporting part as a Venetian Duke in the BBC historical serial Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. Since 2006, Lucas has been the voice of the radio and television character Digit Al, devised as part of a public information campaign on digital switchover. On 26 November 2006 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. He made a cameo appearance in Shaun of the Dead as the cousin of Shaun's friend Yvonne.

In 2007, he released "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", originally by The Proclaimers, with Peter Kay as a charity single for Comic Relief. He performed the single as Little Britain character Andy Pipkin, along with Kay playing as Brian Potter. After being available for less than 48 hours on iTunes alone, the track entered the UK Top 40 at number 3. On 25 March It went to number one, where it stayed for three weeks, selling over 400,000 copies. He also starred as the irrepressible Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, a 2006 television adaptation of the Kenneth Grahame novel.

He has made appearances in Kath & Kim and Neighbours (the latter alongside David Walliams as Little Britain stalwarts Lou and Andy, as well as a cameo role, playing 'Chris' or 'Jammy' at the wedding fayre, in the BBC Three sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Lucas has co written (with Walliams) and performed in a new series of Little Britain USA for HBO. The pair are also writing a movie for Dreamworks.

Lucas was the first celebrity to make an appearance in 2008's Big Brother Celebrity Hijack on E4, working alongside Big Brother in a series containing housemates aged 18–21 with various talents.

In September 2008, whilst on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, Lucas stated that he would play Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

On 9 April 2009, the series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, featuring Matt Lucas as a regular performer, premièred on Comedy Central, the first major comedy series Lucas has done since Little Britain.

http://i44.tinypic.com/24v8x8i.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/27/daffyd_narrowweb__300x414,0.jpg

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00391/littlebritain_682_391888a.jpg

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bbch-matt-lucas.jpg

Thanks Phil,don't really know him but have heard of Little Britain.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/05/10 at 5:04 am

The word or phrase of the day...Teen Idol
A teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols are child actors. The idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/IdolArticleScans/American%20Idol%201/Kelly01.jpg
http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq348/MegWright08_2008/TEENIDOL.jpg
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt119/michaeljfoxisgroovy/018.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm96/EllaElleGurl/teen_idol_vanessa_hudgens.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/gr8carnac/WITK/grady4.jpg
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp168/alexdanza/FORALLTHELADIES.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h11/kmunster/confessions_group_shot2.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb301/fiorbella_20/watsonchall1.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e365/imasquirrelgirl/idols-Scrapblog/idols-1.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e17/sueb563/Magazines/DSC_0087.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/05/10 at 5:06 am

The person born on this day...Andy Gibb
Andy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was a British/Australian singer, teen idol, and the youngest brother of the members who formed the Bee Gees, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb.
Born Andrew Roy Gibb in Manchester, England, to Barbara (née Pass) and Hugh Gibb, Gibb emigrated with his family to Australia six months after his birth. They settled in Cribb Island, adjacent to Redcliffe, north of Brisbane. He was the youngest of five children and had one older sister, Lesley (1945), and three older brothers, Barry (1946) and twins Maurice (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) and Robin (1949).

Gibb began playing at tourist clubs around Spain's coastal Island of Ibiza, and later on the Isle of Man, as a young teenager.

After returning to Australia in 1975, Gibb began recording a series of his own compositions, one of which was released as a single on the ATA label, owned by Australian performer, Col Joye. "Words and Music" would eventually reach Top Five on the Sydney music charts in 1976. Robert Stigwood who, at the time, was also the Bee Gees' manager signed Gibb to his label, RSO Records. Gibb soon moved to Miami Beach, Florida to begin working on songs with his brother Barry, and co-producers Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson.

Prior to leaving Australia, Gibb had married his girlfriend, Kim Reeder. They had one child, a daughter named Peta Jaye, born 25 January 1978, but the couple was already separated at the time of Peta's birth and would divorce later that year. Gibb reportedly met his daughter only once, in 1981. As of 2007 Peta is known as Peta J. Reeder-Gibb and breeds Staffordshire Bull Terriers as well as being a respected dog show judge in New South Wales, Australia. Peta married Matt Weber on January 19, 2008.
Number 1 hits
The single cover of "I Just Want To Be Your Everything"

In the United States, Gibb became the first male solo artist to chart three consecutive Number One singles on the Billboard Hot 100. In July 1977, he had his first major hit, "I Just Want to Be Your Everything", a song written by his brother Barry, just as his first album Flowing Rivers broke into the US Top 20, on its way to selling over a million copies. The album's second single "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" broke in early 1978 during the time the BeeGee's contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, replacing "Stayin' Alive" at the top of the US charts, and then surpassed by "Night Fever" when it reached number one in mid-March.

Gibb then began work with the Gibb-Galuten-Richardson production team on his second album Shadow Dancing, which was released in April 1978. The title track, written by all four Gibb brothers, was released as a single in the US in April 1978, and in mid-June began a seven week run at number one, achieving platinum status. Two further Top Ten singles, "An Everlasting Love" (which reached number five) and "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" (which reached number nine), a song also released by his brothers (in 1979), were released from the album, which became another million seller.

In 1979, Gibb performed, along with the Bee Gees, ABBA, and Olivia Newton-John (duet with "Rest Your Love On Me"), at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly, broadcast worldwide.

He returned to the studio to begin recording sessions for his final full studio album, After Dark. In March 1980, the last of Gibb's Top Ten singles charted just ahead of the album's release. "Desire", was recorded for the Bee Gees' 1979 album Spirits Having Flown, and featured their original track complete with Andy's original "guest vocal" track. A second single, "I Can't Help It", a duet with family friend Olivia Newton-John, reached the Top Twenty.

Later in the year, Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits was released as a finale to his contract with RSO Records, with two new songs: "Time Is Time" (number 15 in January 1981) and "Me (Without You)" (Gibb's last Top Forty chart entry) shipped as singles. "After Dark" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" were non single songs added to the album, the latter of which was a duet with PP Arnold, who had previously worked with Barry Gibb, including singing uncredited backups on, "Bury Me Down By The River" from Cucumber Castle.
Career Stall-out

During his relationship with Victoria Principal, Gibb worked on several projects outside of the recording studio. These included performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Broadway, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in Los Angeles, and a stint from 1980-1982 as co-host of the television music show Solid Gold. He was fired from both Dreamcoat and Solid Gold due to absenteeism.

According to Broadway producer Zev Bufman, who financed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: "When Andy was at the theater, he was a joy. But he wasn't there enough", adding that of the five people to play Joseph up to that point, Gibb was the best actor. He also said after Gibb's death, "e'd lose him over long weekends. He'd come back on Tuesday, and he'd look beat. He was like a little puppy — so ashamed when he did something wrong. He was all heart, but he didn't have enough muscle to carry through." An unnamed co-star in Dreamcoat was quoted as saying, "I hear he spent most of his time in his hotel room in front of the TV. I guess he was frightened and insecure. That's what happens when you're the baby brother of the Bee Gees." Commenting after Gibb's death, Solid Gold producer Brad Lachman was of a similar sentiment: "... was a very charming, vulnerable and charismatic performer. He clearly meant well. He wasn't being difficult. He was going through problems he couldn't deal with. He wanted everyone to love him. He had so much going for him, and he just couldn't believe it."

His romance with Principal also ended shortly thereafter, but not before he recorded and released a duet of the Everly Brothers' "All I Have To Do Is Dream", in the summer of 1981. This would be Gibb's last official single, and his last US chart entry, peaking at number 51.

His family convinced him to seek treatment for his drug addiction; after a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s, Gibb toured small venues with a stage show of his greatest hits and covers. He also appeared in guest-starring roles on several television situation comedies including Gimme A Break! and Punky Brewster. Following an expansive East Asia tour, he regularly performed shows in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. In 1984 he was the headline performer at the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile, performing two nights in a row. He also held a two-week engagement at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel in March 1986. Gibb declared bankruptcy.

Gibb returned to work alongside brothers Barry and Maurice. Their series of demo recordings with engineer Scott Glasel would eventually secure him a contract with the UK branch of Island Records. One of the demos, "Man On Fire", was released posthumously on a self-titled 1991 Polydor anthology. Another demo, "Arrow Through The Heart" (though unreleased to the present day), would be featured on an episode of VH1's series Behind the Music. It will be available for the first time on his brothers' upcoming Bee Gees Mythology collection, due to be released in 2010.
Death

In March 1988, Gibb celebrated his 30th birthday in London while working on a new album. Soon after, he entered John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, complaining of chest pains. He died on March 10, 1988, just five days after his 30th birthday as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. Just before Gibb's death, it was decided by the group that Andy would join them, which would have made the group a quartet. This did not come to pass, however. The Bee Gees' following album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". Andy Gibb is entombed at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. His father, Hugh, died four years later and was also buried there.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US US R&B CAN UK SWE NOR NZ
1977 Flowing Rivers

    * First studio album
    * Release date: September 1977
    * Label: RSO Records

19 — 9 — 4 — —

    * US certification: Platinum
    * CAN certification: Gold

1978 Shadow Dancing

    * Second studio album
    * Release date: April 1978
    * Label: RSO Records

7 18 1 15 42 8 15

    * US certification: Platinum
    * CAN: certification: Platinum
    * UK certification: Silver

1980 After Dark

    * Third studio album
    * Release date: February 1980
    * Label: RSO Records

21 67 24 — 23 21 —

    * US certification: Gold

"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilations
Year Album details Peak positions
US
1980 Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits

    * Release date: 1980
    * Label: RSO Records

46
1991 Greatest Hits Collection

    * Release date: 1991
    * Label: Polydor Records


2001 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

    * Release date: August 14, 2001
    * Label: Polydor Records


"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US AC US R&B NZ UK AUS
1976 "Words and Music" — — — 29 — 78 Non-album song
1977 "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" 1 8 19 2 26 1 Flowing Rivers
"(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" 1 18 — 25 — 13
1978 "Shadow Dancing" 1 8 11 5 42 11 Shadow Dancing
"An Everlasting Love" 5 8 — 28 10 57
"(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" 9 2 — 27 32 61
1980 "Desire" 4 — 49 38 — 90 After Dark
"I Can't Help It" (with Olivia Newton-John) 12 8 — — — 62
"Time Is Time" 15 29 — — — — Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits
1981 "Me (Without You)" 40 45 — — — —
"All I Have to Do Is Dream" (with Victoria Principal) 51 25 — — — — Non-album song
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w219/debbers1979/6731_andy_gibb_03.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/tweety36c/andy_collage.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/05/10 at 5:09 am

The person who died on this day...John Belushi
John Adam Belushi (pronounced /bɨˈluːʃi/; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician notable for his work on Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon's Animal House, and The Blues Brothers. He was the older brother of James Belushi.
John Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Agnes Belushi (née Samaras), a first generation Albanian-American, and Adam Belushi (b. 1919), an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qytezë, in 1934 at the age of sixteen. The family's name at the time of immigration was Bellios, or Belliors. Belushi was raised in the Albanian Orthodox church and grew up outside Chicago in Wheaton with a brother Jim, five-and-a-half years his junior. He attended Wheaton Central High School, where he met his future wife, Judy Jacklin, and was a middle linebacker for the school's football team.

He attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and the College of DuPage near Chicago.
Career

Belushi's first big break as a comedian occurred in 1971, when he joined The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. Thanks to a caricature of singer Joe Cocker's intense and jerky stage presence, he was cast in National Lampoon's Lemmings, a parody of Woodstock, which played Off-Broadway in 1972 and also showcased future Saturday Night Live (SNL) performers Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest.

From 1973 to 1975, National Lampoon Inc. aired The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a half-hour comedy program syndicated across the country on approximately 600 stations. When original director Michael O'Donoghue quit in 1974, Belushi took over the reins until the show was canceled. Other players on the show included future SNL regulars Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray and Chevy Chase. Belushi married Judy Jacklin (Judy Pisano), an associate producer of The Radio Hour. A number of comic segments first performed on The Radio Hour would be translated into SNL sketches in the show's early seasons.
1975-1979

Belushi achieved national fame for his work on Saturday Night Live, which he joined as an original cast member in 1975. Between seasons of the show, he made one of his best-known movies, Animal House. As several Belushi biographies have noted, on John's 30th birthday (in 1979), he had the number one film in the U.S. (Animal House), the number one album in the U.S. (The Blues Brothers: Briefcase Full of Blues) and Saturday Night Live was the highest-rated late night television program. In the toga party scene in the basement of the fraternity house in Animal House, the uncredited coed dancing with Bluto (Belushi) is his wife. While filming Animal House, Belushi made an appearance at Ithaca College in 1976. When introduced, he came onstage with a chainsaw and cut up the podium.

When interviewed for retrospectives on John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd told stories of John often finishing SNL rehearsals, shows or film shoots and, exhausted, simply walking unannounced into nearby homes of friends or strangers, scrounging around for food and often falling asleep, unable to be located for the following day's work. This was the impetus for the SNL horror-spoof sketch "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave", in which Belushi torments a couple (played by Jane Curtin and Bill Murray) in their home looking for snacks, newspapers and magazines to read, and taking control of their television. SNL also featured a short film by writer Tom Schiller called "Don't Look Back In Anger", where Belushi playing himself as an old man, visits the graves of his now-former cast-members, the last to survive. Ironically, Belushi was the first SNL cast member to die.

Belushi left Saturday Night Live in 1979 to pursue a film career. Belushi would make four more movies; three of them, 1941, Neighbors, and most notably The Blues Brothers were made with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd.
Other movie projects

Dan Aykroyd wrote the roles of Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters and Emmett Fitz-Hume in Spies Like Us with Belushi in mind, and the roles were actually played by Belushi's former SNL castmates Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, respectively. Aykroyd used to joke that the green ghost Slimer in Ghostbusters was "the ghost of John Belushi", given that he had a similar party animal personality.

Released in September 1981, the romantic comedy Continental Divide starred Belushi as Chicago home town hero writer Ernie Souchack who gets put on assignment researching a scientist studying birds of prey in the remote rocky mountains. Belushi's character "Ernie Souchak" was loosely based on popular, now deceased Chicago columnist Mike Royko.

At the time of his death, Belushi was pursuing several movie projects, including Noble Rot, an adaptation of a script by former The Mary Tyler Moore Show writer/producer Jay Sandrich entitled Sweet Deception; noble rot is a benevolent fungus that can infect wine grapes on the vine, helping to produce high quality sweet wines. Belushi was rewriting the script with former Saturday Night Live colleague Don Novello.
Personal life

The "College" sweatshirt Belushi wore in National Lampoon's Animal House was purchased in Carbondale, Illinois, when his brother, Jim, was a student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

According to writer/actor Tim Kazurinsky in the book Live From New York, mentor and close friend Belushi was instrumental in getting fellow Second City alumnus Kazurinsky onto Saturday Night Live in 1981. But during his run on the show, Kazurinsky became very stressed out by its demands. He later called Belushi and said that he needed a ride to the airport because he was quitting and moving back to Chicago. Belushi and his wife picked him up but refused to bring him to the airport, at which Belushi told Kazurinsky that the show's atmosphere can get bad, but that he still had access to major broadcasting airwaves. Instead, Belushi took the performer to a psychiatrist whom he saw for a year, while staying with the show during his run.

It was Belushi who recruited the band Fear and brought them to Cherokee Studios to record songs for the soundtrack of Neighbors, a film he and Aykroyd were starring in. Music producing partners Steve Cropper and Bruce Robb remember recording the music, but nobody knows exactly what happened with the final soundtrack, which was ultimately replaced in the film by a traditional movie score. Cherokee Studios was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers back in the early days of the band. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother and guitar player Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another Blues Brother, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb worked on a number of music projects with the two comedian/musicians, the band Fear and later Aykroyd's movie "Dragnet." "What can I say? John was excessively talented, and I guess you could say he sort of lived life 'excessively.' I think what happened to John had a sobering effect on a lot of people, me included," said music producer Bruce Robb.

Belushi was generous to his friends and family, often lending them money when they asked. He bought his father a ranch near San Diego, and helped set up his old friends in Chicago with their own businesses. He helped his brother Jim find a spot at Second City, where he himself acted in the early days of his career. His generous side also showed during his time in the Blues Brothers; he often played songs by blues artists he thought could use the money from the royalties.
Death
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

On March 5, 1982, Belushi was found dead in his room at Bungalow #3 of the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The cause of death was a speedball, a combined injection of cocaine and heroin. On the night of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams (at the height of his own drug exploits) and Robert De Niro, each of whom left the premises, leaving Belushi in the company of assorted others, including Cathy Smith. His death was investigated by forensic pathologist Dr. Ryan Norris among others, and while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.

Two months later, Smith admitted in an interview with the National Enquirer that she had been with Belushi the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the article "I Killed Belushi" in the Enquirer edition of June 29, 1982, the case was reopened. Smith was extradited from Toronto, arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A plea bargain arrangement reduced the charges to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.

In one of Belushi's last TV appearances, he filmed a cameo for the comedy series Police Squad!. At the suggestion of the show's producer, Robert K. Weiss, Belushi was filmed, face down in a swimming pool, dead. The footage was part of a running gag where the episode's guest-star would not survive past the opening credit sequence without meeting some gruesome end. Also, as noted in one of the commentary tracks on the DVD, John nearly drowned during the filming of the scene. The scene never aired.

Belushi and his friend Dan Aykroyd were slated to present the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 54th Academy Awards, an event held less than four weeks after his death. Aykroyd presented the award alone, commenting on the stage "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this award, given that he was something of a visual effect himself."

Belushi is interred in Abel's Hill Cemetery on Martha's Vineyard Chilmark, Massachusetts. His tombstone reads "He Gave Us Laughter." His gravestone is not above his body. It was moved after operators of the cemetery had found many signs of vandalism and rowdiness where his body lies. He also has a cenotaph at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois.
Tributes
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

John Belushi's life is detailed in the 1985 biography Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi by Bob Woodward. Many friends and relatives of Belushi, including his wife Judy, Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi, agreed to be interviewed at length for the book, but later felt the final product was exploitative and not representative of the John Belushi they knew. The book was later adapted into a feature film in which Belushi was played by Michael Chiklis. Belushi's friends and family boycotted the film, which proved to be critical and caused the movie to be a box-office flop.

The Grateful Dead performed the song "West L.A. Fadeaway" beginning in late 1982. The song, penned by long time lyricist Robert Hunter and sung by Jerry Garcia, contains fairly explicit references to Belushi's death, especially the line "Looking for a chateau, 21 rooms but one will do."

Belushi was portrayed by actors Eric Siegel in Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, Tyler Labine in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (which also features his friendship with Robin Williams), and Michael Chiklis in Wired.

His widow later remarried and is now Judith Belushi Pisano. Her biography (with co-biographer Tanner Colby) of John, Belushi: A Biography is a collection of first-person interviews and photographs, and was published in 2005.

On April 1, 2004, 22 years after his death, Belushi was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after a ten-year lobby by James Belushi and Judith Belushi Pisano. Among those present at the ceremony were Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, and Tom Arnold.

In 2006, Biography Channel aired the "John Belushi" episode of Final 24, a documentary following Belushi in the last 24 hours leading to his death. In 2010, Biography aired a full biography documentation of the life of "John Belushi".
Filmography

    * Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle (1975) (voice) (1979 American dubbed version)
    * Animal House (1978)
    * The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)
    * Goin' South (1978)
    * Old Boyfriends (1979)
    * 1941 (1979)
    * The Blues Brothers (1980)
    * Continental Divide (1981)
    * Neighbors (1981)

SNL characters and impersonations
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Recurring characters

    * Samurai Futaba
    * Captain Ned, one of Miles Cowperthwaite's cronies
    * Jacob Papageorge alias 'Joliet' Jake Blues, from the Blues Brothers
    * Jeff Widette, from the Widettes
    * Kevin (from The Mall sketches)
    * Kuldorth (from The Coneheads)
    * Larry Farber (one half of the Farber couple )
    * Lowell Brock, from the H&L Brock commercials
    * Matt Cooper, from the Land Shark sketches
    * Pete, from the Olympia Cafe
    * Steve Beshekas (who was in real life a good friend of Belushi's since community college)
    * Frank Leary, one of St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus

Celebrity impersonations

    * Al Hirt
    * Babe Ruth
    * Bert Lance
    * Cesar Romero
    * Dino De Laurentiis
    * Ed Ames
    * Ed Asner
    * Elizabeth Taylor
    * Elvis Presley
    * Franklin D. Roosevelt
    * Fred Silverman
    * George Wallace
    * Henry Kissinger
    * Hermann Göring
    * Jack Kerouac
    * Jawaharlal Nehru
    * Jimmy Hoffa
    * Joe Cocker
    * John Lennon
    * Julia Child
    * Leonid Brezhnev
    * Ludwig van Beethoven
    * Marlon Brando
    * Menachim Begin
    * Richard Daley
    * Robert Blake
    * Roy Orbison
    * Sam Peckinpah
    * Sanjay Gandhi
    * Steve Rubell
    * Sun Myung Moon
    * Tip O'Neill
    * Truman Capote
    * Vasiliy Alekseyev
    * William Shatner
    * Woody Hayes
    * Yasser Arafat

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u54/judithdelrio/Belushi.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/ofhsfootball/John%20Belushi/thjohnbelushi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/05/10 at 5:43 am


The person who died on this day...John Belushi
John Adam Belushi (pronounced /bɨˈluːʃi/; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician notable for his work on Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon's Animal House, and The Blues Brothers. He was the older brother of James Belushi.
John Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Agnes Belushi (née Samaras), a first generation Albanian-American, and Adam Belushi (b. 1919), an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qytezë, in 1934 at the age of sixteen. The family's name at the time of immigration was Bellios, or Belliors. Belushi was raised in the Albanian Orthodox church and grew up outside Chicago in Wheaton with a brother Jim, five-and-a-half years his junior. He attended Wheaton Central High School, where he met his future wife, Judy Jacklin, and was a middle linebacker for the school's football team.

He attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and the College of DuPage near Chicago.
Career

Belushi's first big break as a comedian occurred in 1971, when he joined The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. Thanks to a caricature of singer Joe Cocker's intense and jerky stage presence, he was cast in National Lampoon's Lemmings, a parody of Woodstock, which played Off-Broadway in 1972 and also showcased future Saturday Night Live (SNL) performers Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest.

From 1973 to 1975, National Lampoon Inc. aired The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a half-hour comedy program syndicated across the country on approximately 600 stations. When original director Michael O'Donoghue quit in 1974, Belushi took over the reins until the show was canceled. Other players on the show included future SNL regulars Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray and Chevy Chase. Belushi married Judy Jacklin (Judy Pisano), an associate producer of The Radio Hour. A number of comic segments first performed on The Radio Hour would be translated into SNL sketches in the show's early seasons.
1975-1979

Belushi achieved national fame for his work on Saturday Night Live, which he joined as an original cast member in 1975. Between seasons of the show, he made one of his best-known movies, Animal House. As several Belushi biographies have noted, on John's 30th birthday (in 1979), he had the number one film in the U.S. (Animal House), the number one album in the U.S. (The Blues Brothers: Briefcase Full of Blues) and Saturday Night Live was the highest-rated late night television program. In the toga party scene in the basement of the fraternity house in Animal House, the uncredited coed dancing with Bluto (Belushi) is his wife. While filming Animal House, Belushi made an appearance at Ithaca College in 1976. When introduced, he came onstage with a chainsaw and cut up the podium.

When interviewed for retrospectives on John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd told stories of John often finishing SNL rehearsals, shows or film shoots and, exhausted, simply walking unannounced into nearby homes of friends or strangers, scrounging around for food and often falling asleep, unable to be located for the following day's work. This was the impetus for the SNL horror-spoof sketch "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave", in which Belushi torments a couple (played by Jane Curtin and Bill Murray) in their home looking for snacks, newspapers and magazines to read, and taking control of their television. SNL also featured a short film by writer Tom Schiller called "Don't Look Back In Anger", where Belushi playing himself as an old man, visits the graves of his now-former cast-members, the last to survive. Ironically, Belushi was the first SNL cast member to die.

Belushi left Saturday Night Live in 1979 to pursue a film career. Belushi would make four more movies; three of them, 1941, Neighbors, and most notably The Blues Brothers were made with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd.
Other movie projects

Dan Aykroyd wrote the roles of Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters and Emmett Fitz-Hume in Spies Like Us with Belushi in mind, and the roles were actually played by Belushi's former SNL castmates Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, respectively. Aykroyd used to joke that the green ghost Slimer in Ghostbusters was "the ghost of John Belushi", given that he had a similar party animal personality.

Released in September 1981, the romantic comedy Continental Divide starred Belushi as Chicago home town hero writer Ernie Souchack who gets put on assignment researching a scientist studying birds of prey in the remote rocky mountains. Belushi's character "Ernie Souchak" was loosely based on popular, now deceased Chicago columnist Mike Royko.

At the time of his death, Belushi was pursuing several movie projects, including Noble Rot, an adaptation of a script by former The Mary Tyler Moore Show writer/producer Jay Sandrich entitled Sweet Deception; noble rot is a benevolent fungus that can infect wine grapes on the vine, helping to produce high quality sweet wines. Belushi was rewriting the script with former Saturday Night Live colleague Don Novello.
Personal life

The "College" sweatshirt Belushi wore in National Lampoon's Animal House was purchased in Carbondale, Illinois, when his brother, Jim, was a student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

According to writer/actor Tim Kazurinsky in the book Live From New York, mentor and close friend Belushi was instrumental in getting fellow Second City alumnus Kazurinsky onto Saturday Night Live in 1981. But during his run on the show, Kazurinsky became very stressed out by its demands. He later called Belushi and said that he needed a ride to the airport because he was quitting and moving back to Chicago. Belushi and his wife picked him up but refused to bring him to the airport, at which Belushi told Kazurinsky that the show's atmosphere can get bad, but that he still had access to major broadcasting airwaves. Instead, Belushi took the performer to a psychiatrist whom he saw for a year, while staying with the show during his run.

It was Belushi who recruited the band Fear and brought them to Cherokee Studios to record songs for the soundtrack of Neighbors, a film he and Aykroyd were starring in. Music producing partners Steve Cropper and Bruce Robb remember recording the music, but nobody knows exactly what happened with the final soundtrack, which was ultimately replaced in the film by a traditional movie score. Cherokee Studios was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers back in the early days of the band. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother and guitar player Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another Blues Brother, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb worked on a number of music projects with the two comedian/musicians, the band Fear and later Aykroyd's movie "Dragnet." "What can I say? John was excessively talented, and I guess you could say he sort of lived life 'excessively.' I think what happened to John had a sobering effect on a lot of people, me included," said music producer Bruce Robb.

Belushi was generous to his friends and family, often lending them money when they asked. He bought his father a ranch near San Diego, and helped set up his old friends in Chicago with their own businesses. He helped his brother Jim find a spot at Second City, where he himself acted in the early days of his career. His generous side also showed during his time in the Blues Brothers; he often played songs by blues artists he thought could use the money from the royalties.
Death
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

On March 5, 1982, Belushi was found dead in his room at Bungalow #3 of the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The cause of death was a speedball, a combined injection of cocaine and heroin. On the night of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams (at the height of his own drug exploits) and Robert De Niro, each of whom left the premises, leaving Belushi in the company of assorted others, including Cathy Smith. His death was investigated by forensic pathologist Dr. Ryan Norris among others, and while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.

Two months later, Smith admitted in an interview with the National Enquirer that she had been with Belushi the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the article "I Killed Belushi" in the Enquirer edition of June 29, 1982, the case was reopened. Smith was extradited from Toronto, arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A plea bargain arrangement reduced the charges to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.

In one of Belushi's last TV appearances, he filmed a cameo for the comedy series Police Squad!. At the suggestion of the show's producer, Robert K. Weiss, Belushi was filmed, face down in a swimming pool, dead. The footage was part of a running gag where the episode's guest-star would not survive past the opening credit sequence without meeting some gruesome end. Also, as noted in one of the commentary tracks on the DVD, John nearly drowned during the filming of the scene. The scene never aired.

Belushi and his friend Dan Aykroyd were slated to present the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 54th Academy Awards, an event held less than four weeks after his death. Aykroyd presented the award alone, commenting on the stage "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this award, given that he was something of a visual effect himself."

Belushi is interred in Abel's Hill Cemetery on Martha's Vineyard Chilmark, Massachusetts. His tombstone reads "He Gave Us Laughter." His gravestone is not above his body. It was moved after operators of the cemetery had found many signs of vandalism and rowdiness where his body lies. He also has a cenotaph at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois.
Tributes
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

John Belushi's life is detailed in the 1985 biography Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi by Bob Woodward. Many friends and relatives of Belushi, including his wife Judy, Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi, agreed to be interviewed at length for the book, but later felt the final product was exploitative and not representative of the John Belushi they knew. The book was later adapted into a feature film in which Belushi was played by Michael Chiklis. Belushi's friends and family boycotted the film, which proved to be critical and caused the movie to be a box-office flop.

The Grateful Dead performed the song "West L.A. Fadeaway" beginning in late 1982. The song, penned by long time lyricist Robert Hunter and sung by Jerry Garcia, contains fairly explicit references to Belushi's death, especially the line "Looking for a chateau, 21 rooms but one will do."

Belushi was portrayed by actors Eric Siegel in Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, Tyler Labine in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (which also features his friendship with Robin Williams), and Michael Chiklis in Wired.

His widow later remarried and is now Judith Belushi Pisano. Her biography (with co-biographer Tanner Colby) of John, Belushi: A Biography is a collection of first-person interviews and photographs, and was published in 2005.

On April 1, 2004, 22 years after his death, Belushi was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after a ten-year lobby by James Belushi and Judith Belushi Pisano. Among those present at the ceremony were Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, and Tom Arnold.

In 2006, Biography Channel aired the "John Belushi" episode of Final 24, a documentary following Belushi in the last 24 hours leading to his death. In 2010, Biography aired a full biography documentation of the life of "John Belushi".
Filmography

    * Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle (1975) (voice) (1979 American dubbed version)
    * Animal House (1978)
    * The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)
    * Goin' South (1978)
    * Old Boyfriends (1979)
    * 1941 (1979)
    * The Blues Brothers (1980)
    * Continental Divide (1981)
    * Neighbors (1981)

SNL characters and impersonations
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Recurring characters

    * Samurai Futaba
    * Captain Ned, one of Miles Cowperthwaite's cronies
    * Jacob Papageorge alias 'Joliet' Jake Blues, from the Blues Brothers
    * Jeff Widette, from the Widettes
    * Kevin (from The Mall sketches)
    * Kuldorth (from The Coneheads)
    * Larry Farber (one half of the Farber couple )
    * Lowell Brock, from the H&L Brock commercials
    * Matt Cooper, from the Land Shark sketches
    * Pete, from the Olympia Cafe
    * Steve Beshekas (who was in real life a good friend of Belushi's since community college)
    * Frank Leary, one of St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus

Celebrity impersonations

    * Al Hirt
    * Babe Ruth
    * Bert Lance
    * Cesar Romero
    * Dino De Laurentiis
    * Ed Ames
    * Ed Asner
    * Elizabeth Taylor
    * Elvis Presley
    * Franklin D. Roosevelt
    * Fred Silverman
    * George Wallace
    * Henry Kissinger
    * Hermann Göring
    * Jack Kerouac
    * Jawaharlal Nehru
    * Jimmy Hoffa
    * Joe Cocker
    * John Lennon
    * Julia Child
    * Leonid Brezhnev
    * Ludwig van Beethoven
    * Marlon Brando
    * Menachim Begin
    * Richard Daley
    * Robert Blake
    * Roy Orbison
    * Sam Peckinpah
    * Sanjay Gandhi
    * Steve Rubell
    * Sun Myung Moon
    * Tip O'Neill
    * Truman Capote
    * Vasiliy Alekseyev
    * William Shatner
    * Woody Hayes
    * Yasser Arafat

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u54/judithdelrio/Belushi.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/ofhsfootball/John%20Belushi/thjohnbelushi.jpg
A sad loss to the movie and comedy industry.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/05/10 at 7:00 am

http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/%A5Artist%20GIF%20Images/Teena-Marie-Colour-99.jpg

It is also Teena Marie's birthday who was born March 5th,She's 54 today.


Happy Birthday. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/05/10 at 7:02 am


The person born on this day...Andy Gibb
Andy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was a British/Australian singer, teen idol, and the youngest brother of the members who formed the Bee Gees, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb.
Born Andrew Roy Gibb in Manchester, England, to Barbara (née Pass) and Hugh Gibb, Gibb emigrated with his family to Australia six months after his birth. They settled in Cribb Island, adjacent to Redcliffe, north of Brisbane. He was the youngest of five children and had one older sister, Lesley (1945), and three older brothers, Barry (1946) and twins Maurice (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) and Robin (1949).

Gibb began playing at tourist clubs around Spain's coastal Island of Ibiza, and later on the Isle of Man, as a young teenager.

After returning to Australia in 1975, Gibb began recording a series of his own compositions, one of which was released as a single on the ATA label, owned by Australian performer, Col Joye. "Words and Music" would eventually reach Top Five on the Sydney music charts in 1976. Robert Stigwood who, at the time, was also the Bee Gees' manager signed Gibb to his label, RSO Records. Gibb soon moved to Miami Beach, Florida to begin working on songs with his brother Barry, and co-producers Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson.

Prior to leaving Australia, Gibb had married his girlfriend, Kim Reeder. They had one child, a daughter named Peta Jaye, born 25 January 1978, but the couple was already separated at the time of Peta's birth and would divorce later that year. Gibb reportedly met his daughter only once, in 1981. As of 2007 Peta is known as Peta J. Reeder-Gibb and breeds Staffordshire Bull Terriers as well as being a respected dog show judge in New South Wales, Australia. Peta married Matt Weber on January 19, 2008.
Number 1 hits
The single cover of "I Just Want To Be Your Everything"

In the United States, Gibb became the first male solo artist to chart three consecutive Number One singles on the Billboard Hot 100. In July 1977, he had his first major hit, "I Just Want to Be Your Everything", a song written by his brother Barry, just as his first album Flowing Rivers broke into the US Top 20, on its way to selling over a million copies. The album's second single "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" broke in early 1978 during the time the BeeGee's contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, replacing "Stayin' Alive" at the top of the US charts, and then surpassed by "Night Fever" when it reached number one in mid-March.

Gibb then began work with the Gibb-Galuten-Richardson production team on his second album Shadow Dancing, which was released in April 1978. The title track, written by all four Gibb brothers, was released as a single in the US in April 1978, and in mid-June began a seven week run at number one, achieving platinum status. Two further Top Ten singles, "An Everlasting Love" (which reached number five) and "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" (which reached number nine), a song also released by his brothers (in 1979), were released from the album, which became another million seller.

In 1979, Gibb performed, along with the Bee Gees, ABBA, and Olivia Newton-John (duet with "Rest Your Love On Me"), at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly, broadcast worldwide.

He returned to the studio to begin recording sessions for his final full studio album, After Dark. In March 1980, the last of Gibb's Top Ten singles charted just ahead of the album's release. "Desire", was recorded for the Bee Gees' 1979 album Spirits Having Flown, and featured their original track complete with Andy's original "guest vocal" track. A second single, "I Can't Help It", a duet with family friend Olivia Newton-John, reached the Top Twenty.

Later in the year, Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits was released as a finale to his contract with RSO Records, with two new songs: "Time Is Time" (number 15 in January 1981) and "Me (Without You)" (Gibb's last Top Forty chart entry) shipped as singles. "After Dark" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" were non single songs added to the album, the latter of which was a duet with PP Arnold, who had previously worked with Barry Gibb, including singing uncredited backups on, "Bury Me Down By The River" from Cucumber Castle.
Career Stall-out

During his relationship with Victoria Principal, Gibb worked on several projects outside of the recording studio. These included performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Broadway, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in Los Angeles, and a stint from 1980-1982 as co-host of the television music show Solid Gold. He was fired from both Dreamcoat and Solid Gold due to absenteeism.

According to Broadway producer Zev Bufman, who financed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: "When Andy was at the theater, he was a joy. But he wasn't there enough", adding that of the five people to play Joseph up to that point, Gibb was the best actor. He also said after Gibb's death, "e'd lose him over long weekends. He'd come back on Tuesday, and he'd look beat. He was like a little puppy — so ashamed when he did something wrong. He was all heart, but he didn't have enough muscle to carry through." An unnamed co-star in Dreamcoat was quoted as saying, "I hear he spent most of his time in his hotel room in front of the TV. I guess he was frightened and insecure. That's what happens when you're the baby brother of the Bee Gees." Commenting after Gibb's death, Solid Gold producer Brad Lachman was of a similar sentiment: "... was a very charming, vulnerable and charismatic performer. He clearly meant well. He wasn't being difficult. He was going through problems he couldn't deal with. He wanted everyone to love him. He had so much going for him, and he just couldn't believe it."

His romance with Principal also ended shortly thereafter, but not before he recorded and released a duet of the Everly Brothers' "All I Have To Do Is Dream", in the summer of 1981. This would be Gibb's last official single, and his last US chart entry, peaking at number 51.

His family convinced him to seek treatment for his drug addiction; after a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s, Gibb toured small venues with a stage show of his greatest hits and covers. He also appeared in guest-starring roles on several television situation comedies including Gimme A Break! and Punky Brewster. Following an expansive East Asia tour, he regularly performed shows in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. In 1984 he was the headline performer at the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile, performing two nights in a row. He also held a two-week engagement at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel in March 1986. Gibb declared bankruptcy.

Gibb returned to work alongside brothers Barry and Maurice. Their series of demo recordings with engineer Scott Glasel would eventually secure him a contract with the UK branch of Island Records. One of the demos, "Man On Fire", was released posthumously on a self-titled 1991 Polydor anthology. Another demo, "Arrow Through The Heart" (though unreleased to the present day), would be featured on an episode of VH1's series Behind the Music. It will be available for the first time on his brothers' upcoming Bee Gees Mythology collection, due to be released in 2010.
Death

In March 1988, Gibb celebrated his 30th birthday in London while working on a new album. Soon after, he entered John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, complaining of chest pains. He died on March 10, 1988, just five days after his 30th birthday as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. Just before Gibb's death, it was decided by the group that Andy would join them, which would have made the group a quartet. This did not come to pass, however. The Bee Gees' following album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". Andy Gibb is entombed at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. His father, Hugh, died four years later and was also buried there.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US US R&B CAN UK SWE NOR NZ
1977 Flowing Rivers

    * First studio album
    * Release date: September 1977
    * Label: RSO Records

19 — 9 — 4 — —

    * US certification: Platinum
    * CAN certification: Gold

1978 Shadow Dancing

    * Second studio album
    * Release date: April 1978
    * Label: RSO Records

7 18 1 15 42 8 15

    * US certification: Platinum
    * CAN: certification: Platinum
    * UK certification: Silver

1980 After Dark

    * Third studio album
    * Release date: February 1980
    * Label: RSO Records

21 67 24 — 23 21 —

    * US certification: Gold

"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilations
Year Album details Peak positions
US
1980 Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits

    * Release date: 1980
    * Label: RSO Records

46
1991 Greatest Hits Collection

    * Release date: 1991
    * Label: Polydor Records


2001 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

    * Release date: August 14, 2001
    * Label: Polydor Records


"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US AC US R&B NZ UK AUS
1976 "Words and Music" — — — 29 — 78 Non-album song
1977 "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" 1 8 19 2 26 1 Flowing Rivers
"(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" 1 18 — 25 — 13
1978 "Shadow Dancing" 1 8 11 5 42 11 Shadow Dancing
"An Everlasting Love" 5 8 — 28 10 57
"(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" 9 2 — 27 32 61
1980 "Desire" 4 — 49 38 — 90 After Dark
"I Can't Help It" (with Olivia Newton-John) 12 8 — — — 62
"Time Is Time" 15 29 — — — — Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits
1981 "Me (Without You)" 40 45 — — — —
"All I Have to Do Is Dream" (with Victoria Principal) 51 25 — — — — Non-album song
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w219/debbers1979/6731_andy_gibb_03.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/tweety36c/andy_collage.jpg


My favorites were Shadow Dancing and Love is Thicker Than Water.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/05/10 at 7:13 am


http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/%A5Artist%20GIF%20Images/Teena-Marie-Colour-99.jpg

It is also Teena Marie's birthday who was born March 5th,She's 54 today.


Happy Birthday. :)
Any more information on her?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/05/10 at 7:16 am


Any more information on her?




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teena_Marie

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/05/10 at 7:20 am




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teena_Marie
Teena Marie (born Mary Christine Brockert on March 5, 1956) is an American Grammy Award-nominated singer–songwriter–producer. Marie, nicknamed Lady Tee,(sometimes spelled Lady T), is a protegée of late funk legend Rick James, and is notable as one of the few successful white performers of R&B. She sings R&B with strong, robust vocals and plays rhythm guitar, keyboards and congas. She also has written, produced, sung and arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release Irons in the Fire. She has quoted this as being her favorite album. She has a daughter named Alia Rose who, as of 2009, sings under the name Rose Le Beau

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/05/10 at 7:26 am


Teena Marie (born Mary Christine Brockert on March 5, 1956) is an American Grammy Award-nominated singer–songwriter–producer. Marie, nicknamed Lady Tee,(sometimes spelled Lady T), is a protegée of late funk legend Rick James, and is notable as one of the few successful white performers of R&B. She sings R&B with strong, robust vocals and plays rhythm guitar, keyboards and congas. She also has written, produced, sung and arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release Irons in the Fire. She has quoted this as being her favorite album. She has a daughter named Alia Rose who, as of 2009, sings under the name Rose Le Beau



Government also put out a Brockert Law.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/05/10 at 3:46 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqCmGQKmGnw

Man, I listen to that song and it takes me back to another place, another time.



I remember where I was when I heard about John Belushi-I was in basic training my TI (Training Instructor) told us and I thought that it couldn't be real because basic training didn't seem real at all. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgtUrYtEkI0



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/05/10 at 7:09 pm


My favorites were Shadow Dancing and Love is Thicker Than Water.

His albums were one othe first I ever purchased. Liked his stuff. It's in the genes, I guess.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/06/10 at 6:31 am

The word of the day...Wall
A wall is one of the vertical sides of a building or room.
A wall is a long narrow vertical structure made of stone or brick that surrounds or divides an area of land.
The wall of something that is hollow is its side.
A wall of something is a large amount of it forming a high vertical barrier.
You can describe something as a wall of a particular kind when it acts as a barrier and prevents people from understanding something.
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/spaceinthewall/xx3.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/humanbeatmachine/thegetbacks_wall.gif
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae66/NakedGirl7/wall.jpg
http://i541.photobucket.com/albums/gg368/will_f_07/brickscopy.jpg
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq209/lilremie1996/wall-e.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz336/HugoMGM/Wall-E1cpia.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n161/mjfoster77/DSC02573.jpg
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/kaysnave/DSCN3339.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/06/10 at 6:37 am

The person born on this day...David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour CBE (born 6 March 1946) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a record producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charity organizations over the course of his career. In 2003, he was appointed CBE for services to music and philanthropy and was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards.
Gilmour was approached in late December 1967 by drummer Nick Mason, who asked if he would be interested in joining Pink Floyd, which he did in January 1968, making Pink Floyd briefly a five-piece band. He was used to fill in for Syd Barrett's guitar parts when the front man was unable to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances. When Syd Barrett "left" the group (due to his erratic behaviour, the band chose not to pick Barrett up one night for a gig ), Gilmour by default assumed the role of the band's lead guitarist and shared lead vocal duties with bassist Roger Waters and keyboard player Richard Wright in Barrett's stead. However, after the back-to-back successes of The Dark Side of the Moon and then Wish You Were Here, Waters took more control over the band, writing most of Animals and The Wall by himself. Wright was fired during The Wall sessions and the relationship between Gilmour and Waters would further deteriorate during the making of The Wall film and the 1983 Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.

After recording "Animals", Gilmour thought that his musical influence had been underused, and channelled his ideas into his self-titled first solo album (1978), which showcases his signature guitar style, as well as underscoring his songwriting skills. A tune written during the finishing stages of this album, but too late to be used, became "Comfortably Numb" on The Wall.
Gilmour performing in Brussels in 1984, on his About Face tour

The negative atmosphere surrounding the creation of The Wall album and film, compounded by The Final Cut's virtually being a Roger Waters solo album, led Gilmour to produce his second solo album About Face in 1984. He used it to express his feelings about a range of topics, from the murder of John Lennon, to his relationship with Waters. He has since admitted that he also used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. He toured Europe and the US along with support act The Television Personalities, who later disappeared from the line-up after revealing Syd Barrett's address on stage. Mason and Wright also played on the UK leg of the tour, which despite some cancellations eventually turned a profit. When he returned from touring, Gilmour played guitar with a range of artists, and also produced The Dream Academy, who had a top ten hit with "Life in a Northern Town".

In 1985, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was "a spent force creatively". However, in 1986, Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason issued a press release stating that Waters had quit the band and they intended to continue without him. Gilmour assumed full control of the group and produced A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987 with some contributions from Mason and Richard Wright. Wright officially rejoined the band after the release of the album for a lengthy world tour and helped create 1994's The Division Bell as well. Gilmour explained:
“ I had a number of problems with the direction of the band in our recent past, before Roger left. I thought the songs were very wordy and that, because the specific meanings of those words were so important, the music became a mere vehicle for lyrics, and not a very inspiring one. Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here were so successful not just because of Roger's contributions, but also because there was a better balance between the music and the lyrics than there has been in more recent albums. That's what I'm trying to do with A Momentary Lapse of Reason; more focus on the music, restore the balance. ”

In 1986, Gilmour purchased the houseboat Astoria which is moored on the River Thames near Hampton Court, and transformed it into a recording studio. The majority of the two most recent Pink Floyd albums, as well as Gilmour's 2006 solo release On an Island, were recorded there.

On 2 July 2005, Gilmour played with Pink Floyd — including Roger Waters — at Live 8. The performance caused a temporary 1343% sales increase of Pink Floyd's album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. Gilmour donated all of his resulting profits to charities that reflect the goals of Live 8 saying:
Gilmour at Live 8 in July 2005
“ Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert. This is money that should be used to save lives.

Shortly after, he called upon all artists experiencing a surge in sales from Live 8 performances to donate the extra revenue to Live 8 fund-raising. After the Live 8 concert, Pink Floyd were offered £150 million to tour the United States, but the band turned down the offer.

On 3 February 2006, he announced in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Pink Floyd would most likely never tour or write material together again. He said:
“ I think enough is enough. I am 60 years old. I don't have the will to work as much anymore. Pink Floyd was an important part in my life, I have had a wonderful time, but it's over. For me it's much less complicated to work alone. ”

He said that by agreeing to Live 8, he had ensured the story of Floyd would not end on a sour note.
“ There was more than one reason, firstly to support the cause. The second one is the energy consuming an uncomfortable relationship between Roger and me that I was carrying along in my heart. That is why we wanted to perform and to leave the trash behind. Thirdly, I might have regretted it if I declined. ”

On 20 February 2006, Gilmour commented again on Pink Floyd's future when he was interviewed by Billboard.com, stating, "Who knows? I have no plans at all to do that. My plans are to do my concerts and put my solo record out."

In December 2006, Gilmour released a tribute to Syd Barrett, who had died in July that year, in the form of his own version of Pink Floyd's first single "Arnold Layne". Recorded live at London's Royal Albert Hall, the CD single featured versions of the song performed by Pink Floyd's keyboard player (and Gilmour's band member) Richard Wright and special guest artist David Bowie. The single entered the UK Top 75 charts at number nineteen and remained steady for three weeks.

Since their Live 8 appearance in 2005, Gilmour has repeatedly said that there will be no Pink Floyd reunion. However, in a 2007 interview with Phil Manzanera, he stated that he's "not done with it yet" and that he plans on doing "something" in the future. With the death of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright in September 2008, another reunion of the core group members became impossible. Gilmour said of Wright: "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound. Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him."
Other projects

Taking time off from Pink Floyd's schedule, Gilmour also took up various roles as a producer, sideman and even concert sound engineer for a wide variety of acts which included former bandmate Syd Barrett, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, B. B. King, Seal, Sam Brown, Jools Holland, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Alan Parsons, and various charity groups among others.

In 1985, Gilmour was member of Bryan Ferry's band. He played on Ferry's album Boys and Girls, as well as the song "Is Your Love Strong Enough" for the U.S. release of the Ridley Scott-Tom Cruise film Legend. A music video for the latter was created, incorporating Ferry and Gilmour into footage from the film (released as a bonus on the 2002 "Ultimate Edition" DVD release). Later that year, Gilmour played with Ferry at the London Live Aid concert; his first meeting with Ferry's keyboard player Jon Carin, later to tour with Pink Floyd.

David Gilmour also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore. Guitar tech Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in the skit.

He has also recorded four solo albums, all four of which charted in the U.S. Top 40 (2006's On an Island peaked at #6 in 2006, 2008's Live in Gdansk peaked at #26, his 1978 self-titled solo debut peaked at #29 in 1978 and 1984's About Face peaked at #32 in 1984) thus making him the only member of Pink Floyd to have a commercially successful solo career.

In 1994, Gilmour played guitar for the video game Tuneland, along with the additional saxophonist for Pink Floyd, Scott Page.

In 2001 and 2002, he held a small number of acoustic solo concerts in London and Paris, along with a small band and choir, which was documented on the In Concert release. In 2003, Rolling Stone included Gilmour in the list of hundred greatest guitarists of all time.

On 24 September 2004, Gilmour performed a three song set (tracks 28-30) at The Strat Pack concert at London's Wembley Arena, marking the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.

On 6 March 2006, his 60th birthday, he released his third solo album, On an Island, and a day later it was released in the US; it debuted at #1 in the UK charts. The album reached the top five in Germany and Sweden, and the top six in Billboard 200. Produced by Gilmour along with Phil Manzanera and Chris Thomas, the album features orchestrations by renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. The album features David Crosby and Graham Nash on harmonies on the title track, Robert Wyatt on cornet and percussion and Richard Wright on Hammond organ and vocals. Other contributors include Jools Holland, Phil Manzanera, Georgie Fame, Andy Newmark, B. J. Cole, Chris Stainton, Willie Wilson, Rado ‘Bob’ Klose on guitar and Leszek Możdżer on piano. The album also features Gilmour's debut with the saxophone.

Gilmour toured Europe, US and Canada from 10 March to 31 May to promote On an Island. There were 10 shows in the US and Canadian leg of the tour. Pink Floyd alumnus Richard Wright, and frequent Floyd collaborators Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin also accompanied him on the tour. More shows were held in Europe during from July through August in 2006.

In a press release to promote the tour, David Gilmour stated:
“ "I'm rather hoping that with this tour announcement, people will believe me when I say, honestly, this is the only band I plan to tour with!". ”

On an Island peaked the UK charts by reaching number one. On 10 April 2006, the album was certified platinum in Canada, with sales of over 100,000 copies. The album also gave Gilmour his first US Top 10 album as a solo artist.

A video recording of a show from Gilmour's solo tour, entitled Remember That Night - Live At The Royal Albert Hall was released on 17 September 2007. The double DVD, directed by David Mallet, contains over five hours of footage, including an on-the-road documentary and guest appearances by David Bowie and Robert Wyatt. The two and a half hour concert features band members Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Steve DiStanislao on drums, and various Pink Floyd regulars such as Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin. The 20-page booklet accompanying the DVD, features over 80 photos selected from studio recording and touring. The album is now available on Hi-Definition Blu-ray Disc with Dolby TrueHD surround sound. As TrueHD is not a mandatory format for Blu-ray players, and the disc carries no other surround channel, some players will only play it in stereo.

The final show of David Gilmour's On an Island tour was held at the Gdańsk Shipyard on 26 August 2006. The concert was held before a huge crowd of 50,000, and marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of Poland's 1980 revolution. The concert was notable for the inclusion of "A Great Day For Freedom" as part of the encore.

The show was recorded resulting in a live album and DVD release; Live in Gdańsk. The concert was the only occasion on which Gilmour performed the tour material with an orchestra, using the 40-strong string section of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, who was responsible for On An Island's orchestral arrangements.

On 25 May 2009, he participated in a concert held at Union Chapel in Islington, London. The concert was of part of the 'Hidden Gigs' campaign against hidden homelessness that is organized by the Crisis, a UK-based national charity for people homelessness. There he appeared in a collaboration with the Malian musicians Amadou and Mariam.

On 4 July 2009, he joined his friend Jeff Beck onstage at the Royal Albert Hall. David and Jeff traded solos on Jerusalem and closed the show with Hi Ho Silver Lining.
In August 2009, he released an online single, Chicago - Change the World, on which he sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards, to promote awareness of the plight of Gary McKinnon. A re-titled cover of the Graham Nash song Chicago, it featured Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, plus McKinnon himself. It was produced by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Chris Thomas.. A video was also posted on-line.
Musical style

Gilmour is best known for his lead guitar work. Gilmour's solo style is often characterised by blues-influenced phrasing, expressive note bends and sustain. In 2005, Gilmour was rated the 82nd greatest guitarist by Rolling Stone. The website Digital Dream Door ranked Gilmour as the fourteenth greatest rock guitarist. In January 2007, Guitar World readers voted Gilmour's solos, "Comfortably Numb", "Time" and "Money" into the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos ("Comfortably Numb" was voted the 4th greatest solo of all time , "Time" was voted the 21st greatest solo of all time and "Money" was voted the 62nd greatest solo of all time .

In his early career with Pink Floyd, Gilmour played a multitude of Fender Stratocasters. One of his popular guitar solos ("Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2") was played on a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitar equipped with Bigsby tremolo bar and P-90 pickups. In 1996, Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb" was voted as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time in several polls by listeners and critics.

Although mainly known for his guitar work, Gilmour is also a proficient multi-instrumentalist. He also plays bass guitar (which he did on some Pink Floyd tracks), keyboards, banjo, harmonica, drums (as heard on the Syd Barrett solo track "Dominoes", and other songs where he opted to play all the instruments) and lately, the saxophone.
The following is a list of equipment Gilmour either has used on his solo or Pink Floyd recordings, as well as on current or previous tours.
Guitars

   * Fender
         o Stratocaster
               + His main guitar, much modified over the years, is a (1969) 3-colour Sunburst Fender Stratocaster painted over with black as well with a black pickguard and white-coloured pickup covers and knobs, currently with a vintage 1957 reissue "V shape" maple neck. This neck came from his guitar that he used on the About Face tour. It also includes a small toggle switch that combines the neck and bridge pickups (Note this guitar was for brief time fitted with a Kahler locking tremolo system, the system was subsequently un-installed and the removed wood filled with a replacement piece of timber and repainted to match as can be noted by close examination of the guitar behind its reinstalled Fender tremolo). This guitar has a Seymour Duncan SSL-1 bridge pickup, and currently has a strap which once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
               + His main guitar for the post-Roger Waters era Pink Floyd tours in support of A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Delicate Sound of Thunder (dubbed "Another Lapse") and The Division Bell was a Candy Apple Red '57 reissue (made in 1984) fitted with a set of EMG SA active pickups with the two standard tone controls replaced with an EMG SPC mid boost control, and an EXG treble/bass expander (which cuts the mids while boosting bass and treble). On the On an Island tour it was used every night of the tour on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
               + Gilmour is the owner of Strat #0001. However, this is not the first Stratocaster ever made, but the first to be given a serial number. It was last seen at the Strat Pack Concert in Wembley Arena in 2004.
               + Cream coloured '57 reissue. Used at 1984 solo tour and at the early parts of the 1987-1990 tour. In the 1994 tour it was used as spare guitar. Tim Renwick played it with David and the rest of Pink Floyd at their Live 8 set. This Strat was fitted with the same EMG set of pickups and tone circuits as the aforementioned Candy Apple Red '57 reissue and after its use at Live 8, the cream finished guitar's neck was transferred to David's main Black Strat.
               + '57 Lake Placid Blue. (Serial number #0040). Used at The Wall sessions.
               + Double-neck Stratocaster (body was custom made by guitar builder Dick Knight, but the necks were Fender strat necks. Used live (1970-72).
               + Sunburst Stratocaster. '63 rosewood neck with '59 body. This guitar was given to David by Steve Marriott of Humble Pie and the Small Faces, and though David didn't like the guitar enough to use it very long, he preferred the neck to the original one on his black Strat and switched the two. The sunburst Strat was used as his spare and slide guitar in subsequent years (sporting the maple cap neck with a large headstock from the black Strat), and the rosewood neck remained on the black Strat until 1978.
               + White with white pickguard. Used in the late 1960s. Received as a gift from the rest of the band. Stolen in equipment heist in 1970.
               + Gilmour also used a strat equipped with the Doug Wilkes 'Answer' sliding pickup system on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' recording.
               + Doug Wilkes also built Gilmour a Precision-style single pickup bass, which was also used on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' sessions.
         o Telecaster
               + Blonde body with white pickguard. Used on the On an Island tour.
               + '52 Butterscotch Reissues with black pickguard. Used between 1987 and 1995. The first guitar was tuned in Dropped D rather than a standard tuning and was used for "Run Like Hell". The second served as a backup instrument and had a regular guitar tuning. Gilmour used this guitar for Astronomy Domine.
               + '59 Custom Telecaster with sunburst ash body, white binding on the body, rosewood fingerboard, and a white pickguard. There was a Gibson Humbucker placed in the Neck position at a brief point but was removed before it was used on the Animals' recording sessions. Last seen on rehearsals during the On an Island tour.
               + '61 Telecaster used during The Wall recording sessions. Also used live in post-Waters era for "Run Like Hell". Last seen on the Syd Barrett memory concert in 2007.
               + 1960s brown-faded body. Used in the late 1960s.
               + 1960s blonde ash body with white pickguard. His main guitar during his first year with Pink Floyd, which was lost by an airline company in 1968, and prompted Gilmour to buy the brown-faded Telecaster.
         o Esquire
               + '55 Sunburst body aka "The workmate Tele". Neck pickup added. Used at the recording sessions for his first solo album, The Wall recording session and the following tour. Also seen when performing with Paul McCartney in the late 1990s.
         o Lap Steel guitars
               + 1950's Fender 1000 twin neck pedal steel. Used in the early 1970s, purchased from a pawn shop while Gilmour was in Seattle in 1970. Used during recording of "One of These Days" from "Meddle" and "Breathe" and "Great Gig in the Sky" from The Dark Side of the Moon.
               + Fender Deluxe lap steel. First time seen during The Division Bell tour in 1994.
         o Fender Bass VI. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
         o Fender Precision bass guitar
         o Fender Jazz Bass. Used during The Wall recording sessions.

   * Gibson
         o A Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (P-90 pick-ups, Bigsby vibrato bridge). Used for the guitar solo on 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.
         o Gibson: EH150 Lap Steel guitar, "Chet Atkins" classical guitar, & J-200 Celebrity acoustic guitars.
   * Gretsch Duo-Jet
   * Bill Lewis 24-fret Guitar. Used at Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions.
   * Ovation.
         o Ovation Legend 1619-4 steel string & high string guitars. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
         o Ovation Legend 1613-4 nylon string guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
         o Ovation Magnum bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
   * Takamine acoustic guitar.
   * Martin acoustic guitars.
         o Martin D-35.
         o Martin D12-28 12-string acoustic guitar.
         o Martin D-18 acoustic.
   * Taylor acoustics
   * Guild F-512 "antique burst" 12-string guitar.
   * Jose Vilaplana nylon string guitar
   * Steinberger GL. His main guitar during A Momentary Lapse of Reason recording sessions.
   * Charvel Fretless Fender Precision style bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
   * Music Man Fretless Stingray bass guitar. Used by Gilmour while running the house band at the 1991 Amnesty International concert, during Spinal Tap's performance on "Big Bottom". (All guitarists played bass on this song, and Gilmour played a solo.)
   * Jedson lap steel guitars. One red (1977-tuned D-G-D-G-B-E for Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9, 1987-2006: Tuned E-B-E-G-B-E) and one blonde.
   * ZB pedal steel guitar.



Tribute guitars

In November 2006, Fender Custom Shop announced two reproductions of Gilmour's "Black" Strat for release on 22 September 2008. Gilmour's website states the release date was chosen to coincide with the release of his Live in Gdansk album. Both guitars are based on extensive measurements of the original instrument, each featuring varying degrees of wear.

Discography
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd portal

   * A Saucerful of Secrets – 29 June 1968.
   * More – 27 July 1969.
   * Ummagumma – 25 October 1969.
   * Atom Heart Mother – 10 October 1970.
   * Meddle – 30 October 1971.
   * Obscured by Clouds – 3 June 1972.
   * The Dark Side of the Moon – 17 March 1973.
   * Wish You Were Here – 15 September 1975.
   * Animals – 23 January 1977.
   * The Wall – 30 November 1979.
   * The Final Cut – 21 March 1983.
   * A Momentary Lapse of Reason – 8 September 1987.
   * Delicate Sound of Thunder – 22 November 1988.
   * The Division Bell – 30 March 1994.
   * P•U•L•S•E – 29 May 1995.

   For the full discography, see Pink Floyd discography.

Solo
Albums

   * David Gilmour – 25 May 1978
   * About Face – 27 March 1984
   * On an Island – 6 March 2006
   * Live in Gdańsk – 22 September 2008

Soundtracks

   * Fractals: The Colors of Infinity, Documentary - 1994

Singles

   * "There's No Way Out of Here", 1978
   * "Blue Light", March, 1984
   * "Love on the Air", May, 1984
   * "On an Island", 6 March 2006
   * "Smile", 13 June 2006
   * "Arnold Layne" (Live) 26 December 2006

Filmography

   * David Gilmour Live 1984 (VHS) – September 1984
   * David Gilmour in Concert (DVD) – October 2002
   * Remember That Night (DVD/BD) – September 2007
   * Live in Gdańsk (DVD) – September 2008

Collaborations and work for other artists
Year Artist Album / Work
1970 Syd Barrett The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett Barrett
Ron Geesin and Roger Waters "Give Birth to a Smile" on Music from The Body
1974 Unicorn Blue Pine Trees
1975 Roy Harper "The Game" from HQ
1978 Kate Bush Executive producer for two tracks in The Kick Inside
1979 Wings Back to the Egg
1980 Roy Harper "Playing Games", "You (The Game Part II)", "Old Faces", "Short and Sweet" and "True Story" credited to Harper/Gilmour from the album "The Unknown Soldier". Gilmour is credited as a musician on the album.
1982 Kate Bush Vocals on "Pull Out The Pin" in The Dreaming‎
1983 Atomic Rooster Headline news
1984 Paul McCartney No More Lonely Nights in Give My Regards to Broad Street
1985 Supertramp Brother Where You Bound
Bryan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" in Legend
Bryan Ferry Boys and Girls
Bryan Ferry Live Aid (Played with Bryan Ferry's band)
Nick Mason and Rick Fenn "Lie for a Lie" (vocals) in Profiles
Pete Townshend "Give Blood" and "White City Fighting" in White City: A Novel "White City Fighting" credited to Townshend/Gilmour. Also performed live as Deep End.
Arcadia So Red the Rose
The Dream Academy Co-produced The Dream Academy‎
Roy Harper and Jimmy Page Whatever Happened to Jugula?,"Hope" credited to Harper/Gilmour.
1986 Berlin Count Three & Pray
Pete Townshend lead guitar in Pete Townshend's Deep End Live!
1987 Dalbello "Immaculate Eyes" in she
1988 Peter Cetera "You Never Listen To Me" in One More Story
Sam Brown Stop! Guitar on "This Feeling" and "I'll Be In Love"
1989 Kate Bush "Love and Anger" and "Rocket's Tail" in The Sensual World
Paul McCartney "We Got Married" in Flowers in the Dirt
Rock Aid Armenia Smoke on the Water in The Earthquake Album
Warren Zevon Transverse City
1990 Roy Harper "Once" in Once (w/Kate Bush on backing vocals)
Propaganda "Only one word" in 1234
Sam Brown April Moon, vocals on "Troubled Soul"
1991 All About Eve "Are You Lonely" and "Wishing the Hours Away" in Touched by Jesus
1992 Elton John "Understanding Women", in The One
Mica Paris I Put a Spell on You on Later With Jools Holland
1993 Paul Rodgers "Standing Around Crying" in Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
1996 The Who Quadrophenia (1996 Hyde Park concert)
1997 B. B. King "Cryin' Won't Help You Babe" in Deuces Wild
1999 Paul McCartney Run Devil Run
2001 The Triumph of Love soundtrack Plays guitar over several chamber orchestra pieces
2003 Ringo Starr Ringo Rama
2004 Alan Parsons "Return to Tunguska" in A Valid Path
2005 Various artists "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)"
2006 Chris Jagger It's Amazing (What People Throw Away), in Act of Faith
Chris Jagger Junkman in Act of Faith
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm29/icarusxx7/DavidGilmour.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/Jen8153/gilmour.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/06/10 at 6:44 am

The person who died on this day...Pearl Buck
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 — March 6, 1973) also known as Sai Zhen Zhu (Simplified Chinese: 赛珍珠; Pinyin: Sài Zhēnzhū; Traditional Chinese: 賽珍珠), was an award winning American writer who spent the majority of her life in China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces." With no irony, she has been described in China as a Chinese writer.
lthough many of Buck's life experiences and political views are described in her novels, short stories, fiction, children's stories, and the biographies of her parents entitled Fighting Angel (on Absalom) and The Exile (on Carrie). She wrote on a diverse variety of topics including woman's rights, Asian cultures, immigration, adoption, missionary work, and war.

In 1949, outraged that existing adoption services considered Asian and mixed-race children unadoptable, Pearl established Welcome House, Inc., the first international, interracial adoption agency. In nearly five decades of work, Welcome House has placed over five thousand children. In 1964, to support children who were not eligible for adoption, Buck established the Pearl S. Buck Foundation to "address poverty and discrimination faced by children in Asian countries." In 1965, she opened the Opportunity Center and Orphanage in South Korea, and later offices were opened in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. When establishing Opportunity House, Buck said, "The purpose...is to publicize and eliminate injustices and prejudices suffered by children, who, because of their birth, are not permitted to enjoy the educational, social, economic and civil privileges normally accorded to children."

In the late 1960s, Pearl toured West Virginia to raise money to preserve her family farm in Hillsboro, WV. Today The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace is a historic house museum and cultural center. She hoped the house would "belong to everyone who cares to go there," and serve as a "gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life."
Life
The Stulting House at the Pearl Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, West Virginia

Pearl was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia to Caroline Stulting (1857-1921) and Absalom Sydenstricker. Her parents, Southern Presbyterian missionaries, traveled to China soon after their marriage on July 8, 1880, but returned to the United States for Pearl's birth. When Pearl was three months old, the family returned to China, to be stationed first in Zhenjiang (then often known as Jingjiang or, in the Postal Romanization, Tsingkiang). Pearl grew up bilingual, tutored in English by her mother and in classical Chinese by Mr. Kung.
Chinese man in Zhenjiang, c. 1900

The Boxer Uprising greatly affected Pearl and her family. Pearl's Chinese friends deserted her and her family, and there were not as many Western visitors as there once were.

In 1911, Pearl left China to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College, graduating (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1914. From 1914 to 1933, she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but her views later became highly controversial in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, leading to her resignation.

In 1914, Pearl returned to China. She married an agricultural economist missionary, John Lossing Buck, on May 13, 1917, and they moved to Suzhou, Anhui Province, a small town on the Huai River (not be confused with the better-known Suzhou in Jiangsu Province.). It is this region she described later in The Good Earth and Sons.
Nanjing University

From 1920 to 1933, Pearl and John made their home in Nanking (Nanjing), on the campus of Nanjing University, where both had teaching positions. Pearl taught English literature at the University of Nanjing and the Chinese National University. In 1920, the Bucks had a daughter, Carol, afflicted with phenylketonuria. In 1921, Pearl's mother died and shortly afterward her father moved in. In 1924, they left China for John's year of sabbatical and returned to the United States for a short time, during which Pearl earned her Masters degree from Cornell University. In 1925, the Bucks adopted Janice (later surnamed Walsh). That fall, they returned to China.

The tragedies and dislocations that Pearl suffered in the 1920s reached a climax in March 1927, during "Nanking Incident." In a confused battle involving elements of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops, Communist forces, and assorted warlords, several Westerners were murdered. Since Absalom was a missionary, the family decided to stay in Nanjing until the battle reached the city. When violence broke out, a poor Chinese family allowed them to hide in their hut while the family house was looted. The family spent a terrified day in hiding, after which they were rescued by American gunboats. They traveled to Shanghai and then sailed to Japan, where they spent the following year. They later moved back to Nanjing, though conditions remained dangerously unsettled.

In 1935, the Bucks were divorced. Richard Walsh, president of the John Day Company and her publisher, became Pearl Buck's second husband. The couple lived in Pennsylvania.

Pearl S. Buck died of lung cancer on March 6, 1973 in Danby, Vermont and was interred in Green Hills Farm in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. She designed her own tombstone, which does not record her name in English; instead, the grave marker is inscribed with Chinese characters representing the name Pearl Sydenstricker.
The Pearl S. Buck House at Nanjing University

(Simplified Chinese: 賽珍珠故居) Pearl's former residence at Nanjing University is now the Nanjing University Science and Technology Industry Group Building along the West Wall of the university's north campus. U.S. President George H.W. Bush toured the Pearl S. Buck House in October 1998. He expressed that he, like millions of other Americans, had gained an appreciation for the Chinese through Pearl's writing.
Selected bibliography
Autobiographies

    * My Several Worlds (1954)
    * A Bridge For Passing (1962)

Biographies

    * The Exile (1936)
    * Fighting Angel (1936)

Novels
See also: List_of_bestselling_novels_in_the_United_States_in_the_1930s

    * East Wind:West Wind (1930)
    * The House of Earth (1935)
          o The Good Earth (1931)
          o Sons (1933)
          o A House Divided (1935)
    * The Mother (1933)
    * This Proud Heart (1938)
    * The Patriot (1939)
    * Other Gods (1940)
    * China Sky (1941)
    * Dragon Seed (1942)
    * The Promise (1943)
    * China Flight (1943)
    * The Townsman (1945) -- as John Sedges
    * Portrait of a Marriage (1945)
    * Pavilion of Women (1946)
    * The Angry Wife (1947) -- as John Sedges
    * Peony (1948)
    * The Big Wave (1948)
    * A Long Love (1949) -- as John Sedges
    * Kinfolk (1950)
    * God's Men (1951)
    * The Hidden Flower (1952)
    * Come, My Beloved (1953)
    * Voices in the House (1953) -- as John Sedges
    * Imperial Woman (1956)
    * Letter from Peking (1957)
    * Command the Morning (1959)
    * Satan Never Sleeps (1962; see 1962 film Satan Never Sleeps)
    * The Living Reed (1963)
    * Death in the Castle (1965)
    * The Time Is Noon (1966)
    * Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (1967)
    * The New Year (1968)
    * The Three Daughters of Madame Liang (1969)
    * Mandala (1970)
    * The Goddess Abides (1972)
    * All Under Heaven (1973)
    * The Rainbow (1974)

Non-fiction

    * Of Men and Women (1941)
    * How It Happens: Talk about the German People, 1914-1933, with Erna von Pustau (1947)
    * The Child Who Never Grew (1950)
    * The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen (1953) for young readers
    * My Several Worlds (1954)
    * For Spacious Skies (1966)
    * The People of Japan (1966)
    * The Kennedy Women (1970)
    * China as I See It (1970)
    * The Story Bible (1971)
    * Pearl S. Buck's Oriental Cookbook (1972)

Short Stories

    * The First Wife and Other Stories (1933)
    * Today and Forever: Stories of China (1941)
    * Twenty-Seven Stories (1943)
    * Far and Near: Stories of Japan, China, and America (1949)
    * Fourteen Stories (1961)
    * Hearts Come Home and Other Stories (1962)
    * Stories of China (1964)
    * Escape at Midnight and Other Stories (1964)
    * The Good Deed and Other Stories of Asia, Past and Present (1969)
    * Once Upon a Christmas (1972)
    * East and West Stories (1975)
    * Secrets of the Heart: Stories (1976)
    * The Lovers and Other Stories (1977)
    * Mrs. Stoner and the Sea and Other Stories (1978)
    * The Woman Who Was Changed and Other Stories (1979)
    * The Good Deed (1969)
    * "Christmas Day in the Morning"
    * "The Refugee"
    * " The Chinese Children Next Door" for children
    * ″The Enemy"
    * "The Frill"

Awards

    * Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: The Good Earth (1932)
    * William Dean Howells Medal (1935)
    * Nobel Prize in Literature (1938)

Museums and Historic Houses

Several historic sites work to preserve and display artifacts from Pearl's profoundly multicultural life:

    * The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, West Virginia
    * Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
    * The Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association in Zhenjiang, China
    * Pearl S. Buck House in Nanjing, China
    * The Pearl S. Buck Summer Villa, on Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province, China
    * The Pearl Buck Museum in Anhui Province, China
    * The Pearl S. Buck Memorial Hall, Bucheon City, South Korea

See also

    * Christian feminism
    * List of female Nobel laureates

References

  1. ^ Meyers, Mike. "Pearl of the Orient," New York Times. March 5, 2006.
  2. ^ Pearl S. Buck International, "Our History," 2009.
  3. ^ The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, http://www.pearlsbuckbirthplace.com
  4. ^ Buck, Pearl S. My Mother's House. Richwood, WV: Appalachian Press. Pp. 30-1.
  5. ^ Shavit, David (1990), The United States in Asia: a historical dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 480, ISBN 031326788X, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=IWdZTaJdc6UC  (Entry for "Sydenstricker, Absalom")
  6. ^ Peter Conn, Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996) 9, 19-23.
  7. ^ Randolph-Macon Woman's College
  8. ^ Conn, Pearl S. Buck, 70-82.
  9. ^ Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. Ed. Peter Conn. New York: Washington Square Press, 1994. Pp. xviii-xix.
  10. ^ Conn, Peter, Dragon and the Pearl
  11. ^ DDMap.com: 赛珍珠故居, http://nj.ddmap.com/map/25/point-659569-%C8%FC%D5%E4-.htm, retrieved 2010-02-21
  12. ^ "Pearl S. Buck International: Other Pearl S. Buck Historic Places". Psbi.org. 2006-09-30. http://www.psbi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PSBH_Other_PSB_Historic_Places. Retrieved 2010-02-25.

    * Peter J. Conn, Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0521560802.)
    * Elizabeth Johnston Lipscomb, Frances E. Webb Peter J. Conn, eds., The Several Worlds of Pearl S. Buck: Essays Presented at a Centennial Symposium, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, March 26-28, 1992 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0313291527.)
    * Liao Kang, Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Bridge across the Pacific (Westport, CT, London: Greenwood Press, 1997. ISBN 0313301468.)
    * Karen J. Leong, The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0520244238.)
    * Pearl Buck's Portrait of Her Fighting Missionary Father (NY Times, November 29, 1936.)
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z54/MoyerBell/psb4.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z54/MoyerBell/psb3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/10 at 7:22 am


The person born on this day...David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour CBE (born 6 March 1946) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a record producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charity organizations over the course of his career. In 2003, he was appointed CBE for services to music and philanthropy and was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards.
Gilmour was approached in late December 1967 by drummer Nick Mason, who asked if he would be interested in joining Pink Floyd, which he did in January 1968, making Pink Floyd briefly a five-piece band. He was used to fill in for Syd Barrett's guitar parts when the front man was unable to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances. When Syd Barrett "left" the group (due to his erratic behaviour, the band chose not to pick Barrett up one night for a gig ), Gilmour by default assumed the role of the band's lead guitarist and shared lead vocal duties with bassist Roger Waters and keyboard player Richard Wright in Barrett's stead. However, after the back-to-back successes of The Dark Side of the Moon and then Wish You Were Here, Waters took more control over the band, writing most of Animals and The Wall by himself. Wright was fired during The Wall sessions and the relationship between Gilmour and Waters would further deteriorate during the making of The Wall film and the 1983 Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.

After recording "Animals", Gilmour thought that his musical influence had been underused, and channelled his ideas into his self-titled first solo album (1978), which showcases his signature guitar style, as well as underscoring his songwriting skills. A tune written during the finishing stages of this album, but too late to be used, became "Comfortably Numb" on The Wall.
Gilmour performing in Brussels in 1984, on his About Face tour

The negative atmosphere surrounding the creation of The Wall album and film, compounded by The Final Cut's virtually being a Roger Waters solo album, led Gilmour to produce his second solo album About Face in 1984. He used it to express his feelings about a range of topics, from the murder of John Lennon, to his relationship with Waters. He has since admitted that he also used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. He toured Europe and the US along with support act The Television Personalities, who later disappeared from the line-up after revealing Syd Barrett's address on stage. Mason and Wright also played on the UK leg of the tour, which despite some cancellations eventually turned a profit. When he returned from touring, Gilmour played guitar with a range of artists, and also produced The Dream Academy, who had a top ten hit with "Life in a Northern Town".

In 1985, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was "a spent force creatively". However, in 1986, Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason issued a press release stating that Waters had quit the band and they intended to continue without him. Gilmour assumed full control of the group and produced A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987 with some contributions from Mason and Richard Wright. Wright officially rejoined the band after the release of the album for a lengthy world tour and helped create 1994's The Division Bell as well. Gilmour explained:
“ I had a number of problems with the direction of the band in our recent past, before Roger left. I thought the songs were very wordy and that, because the specific meanings of those words were so important, the music became a mere vehicle for lyrics, and not a very inspiring one. Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here were so successful not just because of Roger's contributions, but also because there was a better balance between the music and the lyrics than there has been in more recent albums. That's what I'm trying to do with A Momentary Lapse of Reason; more focus on the music, restore the balance. ”

In 1986, Gilmour purchased the houseboat Astoria which is moored on the River Thames near Hampton Court, and transformed it into a recording studio. The majority of the two most recent Pink Floyd albums, as well as Gilmour's 2006 solo release On an Island, were recorded there.

On 2 July 2005, Gilmour played with Pink Floyd — including Roger Waters — at Live 8. The performance caused a temporary 1343% sales increase of Pink Floyd's album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. Gilmour donated all of his resulting profits to charities that reflect the goals of Live 8 saying:
Gilmour at Live 8 in July 2005
“ Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert. This is money that should be used to save lives.

Shortly after, he called upon all artists experiencing a surge in sales from Live 8 performances to donate the extra revenue to Live 8 fund-raising. After the Live 8 concert, Pink Floyd were offered £150 million to tour the United States, but the band turned down the offer.

On 3 February 2006, he announced in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Pink Floyd would most likely never tour or write material together again. He said:
“ I think enough is enough. I am 60 years old. I don't have the will to work as much anymore. Pink Floyd was an important part in my life, I have had a wonderful time, but it's over. For me it's much less complicated to work alone. ”

He said that by agreeing to Live 8, he had ensured the story of Floyd would not end on a sour note.
“ There was more than one reason, firstly to support the cause. The second one is the energy consuming an uncomfortable relationship between Roger and me that I was carrying along in my heart. That is why we wanted to perform and to leave the trash behind. Thirdly, I might have regretted it if I declined. ”

On 20 February 2006, Gilmour commented again on Pink Floyd's future when he was interviewed by Billboard.com, stating, "Who knows? I have no plans at all to do that. My plans are to do my concerts and put my solo record out."

In December 2006, Gilmour released a tribute to Syd Barrett, who had died in July that year, in the form of his own version of Pink Floyd's first single "Arnold Layne". Recorded live at London's Royal Albert Hall, the CD single featured versions of the song performed by Pink Floyd's keyboard player (and Gilmour's band member) Richard Wright and special guest artist David Bowie. The single entered the UK Top 75 charts at number nineteen and remained steady for three weeks.

Since their Live 8 appearance in 2005, Gilmour has repeatedly said that there will be no Pink Floyd reunion. However, in a 2007 interview with Phil Manzanera, he stated that he's "not done with it yet" and that he plans on doing "something" in the future. With the death of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright in September 2008, another reunion of the core group members became impossible. Gilmour said of Wright: "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound. Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him."
Other projects

Taking time off from Pink Floyd's schedule, Gilmour also took up various roles as a producer, sideman and even concert sound engineer for a wide variety of acts which included former bandmate Syd Barrett, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, B. B. King, Seal, Sam Brown, Jools Holland, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Alan Parsons, and various charity groups among others.

In 1985, Gilmour was member of Bryan Ferry's band. He played on Ferry's album Boys and Girls, as well as the song "Is Your Love Strong Enough" for the U.S. release of the Ridley Scott-Tom Cruise film Legend. A music video for the latter was created, incorporating Ferry and Gilmour into footage from the film (released as a bonus on the 2002 "Ultimate Edition" DVD release). Later that year, Gilmour played with Ferry at the London Live Aid concert; his first meeting with Ferry's keyboard player Jon Carin, later to tour with Pink Floyd.

David Gilmour also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore. Guitar tech Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in the skit.

He has also recorded four solo albums, all four of which charted in the U.S. Top 40 (2006's On an Island peaked at #6 in 2006, 2008's Live in Gdansk peaked at #26, his 1978 self-titled solo debut peaked at #29 in 1978 and 1984's About Face peaked at #32 in 1984) thus making him the only member of Pink Floyd to have a commercially successful solo career.

In 1994, Gilmour played guitar for the video game Tuneland, along with the additional saxophonist for Pink Floyd, Scott Page.

In 2001 and 2002, he held a small number of acoustic solo concerts in London and Paris, along with a small band and choir, which was documented on the In Concert release. In 2003, Rolling Stone included Gilmour in the list of hundred greatest guitarists of all time.

On 24 September 2004, Gilmour performed a three song set (tracks 28-30) at The Strat Pack concert at London's Wembley Arena, marking the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.

On 6 March 2006, his 60th birthday, he released his third solo album, On an Island, and a day later it was released in the US; it debuted at #1 in the UK charts. The album reached the top five in Germany and Sweden, and the top six in Billboard 200. Produced by Gilmour along with Phil Manzanera and Chris Thomas, the album features orchestrations by renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. The album features David Crosby and Graham Nash on harmonies on the title track, Robert Wyatt on cornet and percussion and Richard Wright on Hammond organ and vocals. Other contributors include Jools Holland, Phil Manzanera, Georgie Fame, Andy Newmark, B. J. Cole, Chris Stainton, Willie Wilson, Rado ‘Bob’ Klose on guitar and Leszek Możdżer on piano. The album also features Gilmour's debut with the saxophone.

Gilmour toured Europe, US and Canada from 10 March to 31 May to promote On an Island. There were 10 shows in the US and Canadian leg of the tour. Pink Floyd alumnus Richard Wright, and frequent Floyd collaborators Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin also accompanied him on the tour. More shows were held in Europe during from July through August in 2006.

In a press release to promote the tour, David Gilmour stated:
“ "I'm rather hoping that with this tour announcement, people will believe me when I say, honestly, this is the only band I plan to tour with!". ”

On an Island peaked the UK charts by reaching number one. On 10 April 2006, the album was certified platinum in Canada, with sales of over 100,000 copies. The album also gave Gilmour his first US Top 10 album as a solo artist.

A video recording of a show from Gilmour's solo tour, entitled Remember That Night - Live At The Royal Albert Hall was released on 17 September 2007. The double DVD, directed by David Mallet, contains over five hours of footage, including an on-the-road documentary and guest appearances by David Bowie and Robert Wyatt. The two and a half hour concert features band members Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Steve DiStanislao on drums, and various Pink Floyd regulars such as Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin. The 20-page booklet accompanying the DVD, features over 80 photos selected from studio recording and touring. The album is now available on Hi-Definition Blu-ray Disc with Dolby TrueHD surround sound. As TrueHD is not a mandatory format for Blu-ray players, and the disc carries no other surround channel, some players will only play it in stereo.

The final show of David Gilmour's On an Island tour was held at the Gdańsk Shipyard on 26 August 2006. The concert was held before a huge crowd of 50,000, and marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of Poland's 1980 revolution. The concert was notable for the inclusion of "A Great Day For Freedom" as part of the encore.

The show was recorded resulting in a live album and DVD release; Live in Gdańsk. The concert was the only occasion on which Gilmour performed the tour material with an orchestra, using the 40-strong string section of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, who was responsible for On An Island's orchestral arrangements.

On 25 May 2009, he participated in a concert held at Union Chapel in Islington, London. The concert was of part of the 'Hidden Gigs' campaign against hidden homelessness that is organized by the Crisis, a UK-based national charity for people homelessness. There he appeared in a collaboration with the Malian musicians Amadou and Mariam.

On 4 July 2009, he joined his friend Jeff Beck onstage at the Royal Albert Hall. David and Jeff traded solos on Jerusalem and closed the show with Hi Ho Silver Lining.
In August 2009, he released an online single, Chicago - Change the World, on which he sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards, to promote awareness of the plight of Gary McKinnon. A re-titled cover of the Graham Nash song Chicago, it featured Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, plus McKinnon himself. It was produced by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Chris Thomas.. A video was also posted on-line.
Musical style

Gilmour is best known for his lead guitar work. Gilmour's solo style is often characterised by blues-influenced phrasing, expressive note bends and sustain. In 2005, Gilmour was rated the 82nd greatest guitarist by Rolling Stone. The website Digital Dream Door ranked Gilmour as the fourteenth greatest rock guitarist. In January 2007, Guitar World readers voted Gilmour's solos, "Comfortably Numb", "Time" and "Money" into the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos ("Comfortably Numb" was voted the 4th greatest solo of all time , "Time" was voted the 21st greatest solo of all time and "Money" was voted the 62nd greatest solo of all time .

In his early career with Pink Floyd, Gilmour played a multitude of Fender Stratocasters. One of his popular guitar solos ("Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2") was played on a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitar equipped with Bigsby tremolo bar and P-90 pickups. In 1996, Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb" was voted as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time in several polls by listeners and critics.

Although mainly known for his guitar work, Gilmour is also a proficient multi-instrumentalist. He also plays bass guitar (which he did on some Pink Floyd tracks), keyboards, banjo, harmonica, drums (as heard on the Syd Barrett solo track "Dominoes", and other songs where he opted to play all the instruments) and lately, the saxophone.
The following is a list of equipment Gilmour either has used on his solo or Pink Floyd recordings, as well as on current or previous tours.
Guitars

    * Fender
          o Stratocaster
                + His main guitar, much modified over the years, is a (1969) 3-colour Sunburst Fender Stratocaster painted over with black as well with a black pickguard and white-coloured pickup covers and knobs, currently with a vintage 1957 reissue "V shape" maple neck. This neck came from his guitar that he used on the About Face tour. It also includes a small toggle switch that combines the neck and bridge pickups (Note this guitar was for brief time fitted with a Kahler locking tremolo system, the system was subsequently un-installed and the removed wood filled with a replacement piece of timber and repainted to match as can be noted by close examination of the guitar behind its reinstalled Fender tremolo). This guitar has a Seymour Duncan SSL-1 bridge pickup, and currently has a strap which once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
                + His main guitar for the post-Roger Waters era Pink Floyd tours in support of A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Delicate Sound of Thunder (dubbed "Another Lapse") and The Division Bell was a Candy Apple Red '57 reissue (made in 1984) fitted with a set of EMG SA active pickups with the two standard tone controls replaced with an EMG SPC mid boost control, and an EXG treble/bass expander (which cuts the mids while boosting bass and treble). On the On an Island tour it was used every night of the tour on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
                + Gilmour is the owner of Strat #0001. However, this is not the first Stratocaster ever made, but the first to be given a serial number. It was last seen at the Strat Pack Concert in Wembley Arena in 2004.
                + Cream coloured '57 reissue. Used at 1984 solo tour and at the early parts of the 1987-1990 tour. In the 1994 tour it was used as spare guitar. Tim Renwick played it with David and the rest of Pink Floyd at their Live 8 set. This Strat was fitted with the same EMG set of pickups and tone circuits as the aforementioned Candy Apple Red '57 reissue and after its use at Live 8, the cream finished guitar's neck was transferred to David's main Black Strat.
                + '57 Lake Placid Blue. (Serial number #0040). Used at The Wall sessions.
                + Double-neck Stratocaster (body was custom made by guitar builder Dick Knight, but the necks were Fender strat necks. Used live (1970-72).
                + Sunburst Stratocaster. '63 rosewood neck with '59 body. This guitar was given to David by Steve Marriott of Humble Pie and the Small Faces, and though David didn't like the guitar enough to use it very long, he preferred the neck to the original one on his black Strat and switched the two. The sunburst Strat was used as his spare and slide guitar in subsequent years (sporting the maple cap neck with a large headstock from the black Strat), and the rosewood neck remained on the black Strat until 1978.
                + White with white pickguard. Used in the late 1960s. Received as a gift from the rest of the band. Stolen in equipment heist in 1970.
                + Gilmour also used a strat equipped with the Doug Wilkes 'Answer' sliding pickup system on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' recording.
                + Doug Wilkes also built Gilmour a Precision-style single pickup bass, which was also used on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' sessions.
          o Telecaster
                + Blonde body with white pickguard. Used on the On an Island tour.
                + '52 Butterscotch Reissues with black pickguard. Used between 1987 and 1995. The first guitar was tuned in Dropped D rather than a standard tuning and was used for "Run Like Hell". The second served as a backup instrument and had a regular guitar tuning. Gilmour used this guitar for Astronomy Domine.
                + '59 Custom Telecaster with sunburst ash body, white binding on the body, rosewood fingerboard, and a white pickguard. There was a Gibson Humbucker placed in the Neck position at a brief point but was removed before it was used on the Animals' recording sessions. Last seen on rehearsals during the On an Island tour.
                + '61 Telecaster used during The Wall recording sessions. Also used live in post-Waters era for "Run Like Hell". Last seen on the Syd Barrett memory concert in 2007.
                + 1960s brown-faded body. Used in the late 1960s.
                + 1960s blonde ash body with white pickguard. His main guitar during his first year with Pink Floyd, which was lost by an airline company in 1968, and prompted Gilmour to buy the brown-faded Telecaster.
          o Esquire
                + '55 Sunburst body aka "The workmate Tele". Neck pickup added. Used at the recording sessions for his first solo album, The Wall recording session and the following tour. Also seen when performing with Paul McCartney in the late 1990s.
          o Lap Steel guitars
                + 1950's Fender 1000 twin neck pedal steel. Used in the early 1970s, purchased from a pawn shop while Gilmour was in Seattle in 1970. Used during recording of "One of These Days" from "Meddle" and "Breathe" and "Great Gig in the Sky" from The Dark Side of the Moon.
                + Fender Deluxe lap steel. First time seen during The Division Bell tour in 1994.
          o Fender Bass VI. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
          o Fender Precision bass guitar
          o Fender Jazz Bass. Used during The Wall recording sessions.

    * Gibson
          o A Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (P-90 pick-ups, Bigsby vibrato bridge). Used for the guitar solo on 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.
          o Gibson: EH150 Lap Steel guitar, "Chet Atkins" classical guitar, & J-200 Celebrity acoustic guitars.
    * Gretsch Duo-Jet
    * Bill Lewis 24-fret Guitar. Used at Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions.
    * Ovation.
          o Ovation Legend 1619-4 steel string & high string guitars. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
          o Ovation Legend 1613-4 nylon string guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
          o Ovation Magnum bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
    * Takamine acoustic guitar.
    * Martin acoustic guitars.
          o Martin D-35.
          o Martin D12-28 12-string acoustic guitar.
          o Martin D-18 acoustic.
    * Taylor acoustics
    * Guild F-512 "antique burst" 12-string guitar.
    * Jose Vilaplana nylon string guitar
    * Steinberger GL. His main guitar during A Momentary Lapse of Reason recording sessions.
    * Charvel Fretless Fender Precision style bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
    * Music Man Fretless Stingray bass guitar. Used by Gilmour while running the house band at the 1991 Amnesty International concert, during Spinal Tap's performance on "Big Bottom". (All guitarists played bass on this song, and Gilmour played a solo.)
    * Jedson lap steel guitars. One red (1977-tuned D-G-D-G-B-E for Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9, 1987-2006: Tuned E-B-E-G-B-E) and one blonde.
    * ZB pedal steel guitar.



Tribute guitars

In November 2006, Fender Custom Shop announced two reproductions of Gilmour's "Black" Strat for release on 22 September 2008. Gilmour's website states the release date was chosen to coincide with the release of his Live in Gdansk album. Both guitars are based on extensive measurements of the original instrument, each featuring varying degrees of wear.

Discography
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd portal

    * A Saucerful of Secrets – 29 June 1968.
    * More – 27 July 1969.
    * Ummagumma – 25 October 1969.
    * Atom Heart Mother – 10 October 1970.
    * Meddle – 30 October 1971.
    * Obscured by Clouds – 3 June 1972.
    * The Dark Side of the Moon – 17 March 1973.
    * Wish You Were Here – 15 September 1975.
    * Animals – 23 January 1977.
    * The Wall – 30 November 1979.
    * The Final Cut – 21 March 1983.
    * A Momentary Lapse of Reason – 8 September 1987.
    * Delicate Sound of Thunder – 22 November 1988.
    * The Division Bell – 30 March 1994.
    * P•U•L•S•E – 29 May 1995.

    For the full discography, see Pink Floyd discography.

Solo
Albums

    * David Gilmour – 25 May 1978
    * About Face – 27 March 1984
    * On an Island – 6 March 2006
    * Live in Gdańsk – 22 September 2008

Soundtracks

    * Fractals: The Colors of Infinity, Documentary - 1994

Singles

    * "There's No Way Out of Here", 1978
    * "Blue Light", March, 1984
    * "Love on the Air", May, 1984
    * "On an Island", 6 March 2006
    * "Smile", 13 June 2006
    * "Arnold Layne" (Live) 26 December 2006

Filmography

    * David Gilmour Live 1984 (VHS) – September 1984
    * David Gilmour in Concert (DVD) – October 2002
    * Remember That Night (DVD/BD) – September 2007
    * Live in Gdańsk (DVD) – September 2008

Collaborations and work for other artists
Year Artist Album / Work
1970 Syd Barrett The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett Barrett
Ron Geesin and Roger Waters "Give Birth to a Smile" on Music from The Body
1974 Unicorn Blue Pine Trees
1975 Roy Harper "The Game" from HQ
1978 Kate Bush Executive producer for two tracks in The Kick Inside
1979 Wings Back to the Egg
1980 Roy Harper "Playing Games", "You (The Game Part II)", "Old Faces", "Short and Sweet" and "True Story" credited to Harper/Gilmour from the album "The Unknown Soldier". Gilmour is credited as a musician on the album.
1982 Kate Bush Vocals on "Pull Out The Pin" in The Dreaming‎
1983 Atomic Rooster Headline news
1984 Paul McCartney No More Lonely Nights in Give My Regards to Broad Street
1985 Supertramp Brother Where You Bound
Bryan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" in Legend
Bryan Ferry Boys and Girls
Bryan Ferry Live Aid (Played with Bryan Ferry's band)
Nick Mason and Rick Fenn "Lie for a Lie" (vocals) in Profiles
Pete Townshend "Give Blood" and "White City Fighting" in White City: A Novel "White City Fighting" credited to Townshend/Gilmour. Also performed live as Deep End.
Arcadia So Red the Rose
The Dream Academy Co-produced The Dream Academy‎
Roy Harper and Jimmy Page Whatever Happened to Jugula?,"Hope" credited to Harper/Gilmour.
1986 Berlin Count Three & Pray
Pete Townshend lead guitar in Pete Townshend's Deep End Live!
1987 Dalbello "Immaculate Eyes" in she
1988 Peter Cetera "You Never Listen To Me" in One More Story
Sam Brown Stop! Guitar on "This Feeling" and "I'll Be In Love"
1989 Kate Bush "Love and Anger" and "Rocket's Tail" in The Sensual World
Paul McCartney "We Got Married" in Flowers in the Dirt
Rock Aid Armenia Smoke on the Water in The Earthquake Album
Warren Zevon Transverse City
1990 Roy Harper "Once" in Once (w/Kate Bush on backing vocals)
Propaganda "Only one word" in 1234
Sam Brown April Moon, vocals on "Troubled Soul"
1991 All About Eve "Are You Lonely" and "Wishing the Hours Away" in Touched by Jesus
1992 Elton John "Understanding Women", in The One
Mica Paris I Put a Spell on You on Later With Jools Holland
1993 Paul Rodgers "Standing Around Crying" in Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
1996 The Who Quadrophenia (1996 Hyde Park concert)
1997 B. B. King "Cryin' Won't Help You Babe" in Deuces Wild
1999 Paul McCartney Run Devil Run
2001 The Triumph of Love soundtrack Plays guitar over several chamber orchestra pieces
2003 Ringo Starr Ringo Rama
2004 Alan Parsons "Return to Tunguska" in A Valid Path
2005 Various artists "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)"
2006 Chris Jagger It's Amazing (What People Throw Away), in Act of Faith
Chris Jagger Junkman in Act of Faith
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm29/icarusxx7/DavidGilmour.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/Jen8153/gilmour.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUASiDg-kg4

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/06/10 at 7:24 am


The person born on this day...David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour CBE (born 6 March 1946) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a record producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charity organizations over the course of his career. In 2003, he was appointed CBE for services to music and philanthropy and was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards.
Gilmour was approached in late December 1967 by drummer Nick Mason, who asked if he would be interested in joining Pink Floyd, which he did in January 1968, making Pink Floyd briefly a five-piece band. He was used to fill in for Syd Barrett's guitar parts when the front man was unable to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances. When Syd Barrett "left" the group (due to his erratic behaviour, the band chose not to pick Barrett up one night for a gig ), Gilmour by default assumed the role of the band's lead guitarist and shared lead vocal duties with bassist Roger Waters and keyboard player Richard Wright in Barrett's stead. However, after the back-to-back successes of The Dark Side of the Moon and then Wish You Were Here, Waters took more control over the band, writing most of Animals and The Wall by himself. Wright was fired during The Wall sessions and the relationship between Gilmour and Waters would further deteriorate during the making of The Wall film and the 1983 Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.

After recording "Animals", Gilmour thought that his musical influence had been underused, and channelled his ideas into his self-titled first solo album (1978), which showcases his signature guitar style, as well as underscoring his songwriting skills. A tune written during the finishing stages of this album, but too late to be used, became "Comfortably Numb" on The Wall.
Gilmour performing in Brussels in 1984, on his About Face tour

The negative atmosphere surrounding the creation of The Wall album and film, compounded by The Final Cut's virtually being a Roger Waters solo album, led Gilmour to produce his second solo album About Face in 1984. He used it to express his feelings about a range of topics, from the murder of John Lennon, to his relationship with Waters. He has since admitted that he also used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. He toured Europe and the US along with support act The Television Personalities, who later disappeared from the line-up after revealing Syd Barrett's address on stage. Mason and Wright also played on the UK leg of the tour, which despite some cancellations eventually turned a profit. When he returned from touring, Gilmour played guitar with a range of artists, and also produced The Dream Academy, who had a top ten hit with "Life in a Northern Town".

In 1985, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was "a spent force creatively". However, in 1986, Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason issued a press release stating that Waters had quit the band and they intended to continue without him. Gilmour assumed full control of the group and produced A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987 with some contributions from Mason and Richard Wright. Wright officially rejoined the band after the release of the album for a lengthy world tour and helped create 1994's The Division Bell as well. Gilmour explained:
“ I had a number of problems with the direction of the band in our recent past, before Roger left. I thought the songs were very wordy and that, because the specific meanings of those words were so important, the music became a mere vehicle for lyrics, and not a very inspiring one. Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here were so successful not just because of Roger's contributions, but also because there was a better balance between the music and the lyrics than there has been in more recent albums. That's what I'm trying to do with A Momentary Lapse of Reason; more focus on the music, restore the balance. ”

In 1986, Gilmour purchased the houseboat Astoria which is moored on the River Thames near Hampton Court, and transformed it into a recording studio. The majority of the two most recent Pink Floyd albums, as well as Gilmour's 2006 solo release On an Island, were recorded there.

On 2 July 2005, Gilmour played with Pink Floyd — including Roger Waters — at Live 8. The performance caused a temporary 1343% sales increase of Pink Floyd's album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. Gilmour donated all of his resulting profits to charities that reflect the goals of Live 8 saying:
Gilmour at Live 8 in July 2005
“ Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert. This is money that should be used to save lives.

Shortly after, he called upon all artists experiencing a surge in sales from Live 8 performances to donate the extra revenue to Live 8 fund-raising. After the Live 8 concert, Pink Floyd were offered £150 million to tour the United States, but the band turned down the offer.

On 3 February 2006, he announced in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Pink Floyd would most likely never tour or write material together again. He said:
“ I think enough is enough. I am 60 years old. I don't have the will to work as much anymore. Pink Floyd was an important part in my life, I have had a wonderful time, but it's over. For me it's much less complicated to work alone. ”

He said that by agreeing to Live 8, he had ensured the story of Floyd would not end on a sour note.
“ There was more than one reason, firstly to support the cause. The second one is the energy consuming an uncomfortable relationship between Roger and me that I was carrying along in my heart. That is why we wanted to perform and to leave the trash behind. Thirdly, I might have regretted it if I declined. ”

On 20 February 2006, Gilmour commented again on Pink Floyd's future when he was interviewed by Billboard.com, stating, "Who knows? I have no plans at all to do that. My plans are to do my concerts and put my solo record out."

In December 2006, Gilmour released a tribute to Syd Barrett, who had died in July that year, in the form of his own version of Pink Floyd's first single "Arnold Layne". Recorded live at London's Royal Albert Hall, the CD single featured versions of the song performed by Pink Floyd's keyboard player (and Gilmour's band member) Richard Wright and special guest artist David Bowie. The single entered the UK Top 75 charts at number nineteen and remained steady for three weeks.

Since their Live 8 appearance in 2005, Gilmour has repeatedly said that there will be no Pink Floyd reunion. However, in a 2007 interview with Phil Manzanera, he stated that he's "not done with it yet" and that he plans on doing "something" in the future. With the death of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright in September 2008, another reunion of the core group members became impossible. Gilmour said of Wright: "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound. Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him."
Other projects

Taking time off from Pink Floyd's schedule, Gilmour also took up various roles as a producer, sideman and even concert sound engineer for a wide variety of acts which included former bandmate Syd Barrett, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, B. B. King, Seal, Sam Brown, Jools Holland, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Alan Parsons, and various charity groups among others.

In 1985, Gilmour was member of Bryan Ferry's band. He played on Ferry's album Boys and Girls, as well as the song "Is Your Love Strong Enough" for the U.S. release of the Ridley Scott-Tom Cruise film Legend. A music video for the latter was created, incorporating Ferry and Gilmour into footage from the film (released as a bonus on the 2002 "Ultimate Edition" DVD release). Later that year, Gilmour played with Ferry at the London Live Aid concert; his first meeting with Ferry's keyboard player Jon Carin, later to tour with Pink Floyd.

David Gilmour also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore. Guitar tech Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in the skit.

He has also recorded four solo albums, all four of which charted in the U.S. Top 40 (2006's On an Island peaked at #6 in 2006, 2008's Live in Gdansk peaked at #26, his 1978 self-titled solo debut peaked at #29 in 1978 and 1984's About Face peaked at #32 in 1984) thus making him the only member of Pink Floyd to have a commercially successful solo career.

In 1994, Gilmour played guitar for the video game Tuneland, along with the additional saxophonist for Pink Floyd, Scott Page.

In 2001 and 2002, he held a small number of acoustic solo concerts in London and Paris, along with a small band and choir, which was documented on the In Concert release. In 2003, Rolling Stone included Gilmour in the list of hundred greatest guitarists of all time.

On 24 September 2004, Gilmour performed a three song set (tracks 28-30) at The Strat Pack concert at London's Wembley Arena, marking the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.

On 6 March 2006, his 60th birthday, he released his third solo album, On an Island, and a day later it was released in the US; it debuted at #1 in the UK charts. The album reached the top five in Germany and Sweden, and the top six in Billboard 200. Produced by Gilmour along with Phil Manzanera and Chris Thomas, the album features orchestrations by renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. The album features David Crosby and Graham Nash on harmonies on the title track, Robert Wyatt on cornet and percussion and Richard Wright on Hammond organ and vocals. Other contributors include Jools Holland, Phil Manzanera, Georgie Fame, Andy Newmark, B. J. Cole, Chris Stainton, Willie Wilson, Rado ‘Bob’ Klose on guitar and Leszek Możdżer on piano. The album also features Gilmour's debut with the saxophone.

Gilmour toured Europe, US and Canada from 10 March to 31 May to promote On an Island. There were 10 shows in the US and Canadian leg of the tour. Pink Floyd alumnus Richard Wright, and frequent Floyd collaborators Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin also accompanied him on the tour. More shows were held in Europe during from July through August in 2006.

In a press release to promote the tour, David Gilmour stated:
“ "I'm rather hoping that with this tour announcement, people will believe me when I say, honestly, this is the only band I plan to tour with!". ”

On an Island peaked the UK charts by reaching number one. On 10 April 2006, the album was certified platinum in Canada, with sales of over 100,000 copies. The album also gave Gilmour his first US Top 10 album as a solo artist.

A video recording of a show from Gilmour's solo tour, entitled Remember That Night - Live At The Royal Albert Hall was released on 17 September 2007. The double DVD, directed by David Mallet, contains over five hours of footage, including an on-the-road documentary and guest appearances by David Bowie and Robert Wyatt. The two and a half hour concert features band members Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Steve DiStanislao on drums, and various Pink Floyd regulars such as Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin. The 20-page booklet accompanying the DVD, features over 80 photos selected from studio recording and touring. The album is now available on Hi-Definition Blu-ray Disc with Dolby TrueHD surround sound. As TrueHD is not a mandatory format for Blu-ray players, and the disc carries no other surround channel, some players will only play it in stereo.

The final show of David Gilmour's On an Island tour was held at the Gdańsk Shipyard on 26 August 2006. The concert was held before a huge crowd of 50,000, and marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of Poland's 1980 revolution. The concert was notable for the inclusion of "A Great Day For Freedom" as part of the encore.

The show was recorded resulting in a live album and DVD release; Live in Gdańsk. The concert was the only occasion on which Gilmour performed the tour material with an orchestra, using the 40-strong string section of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, who was responsible for On An Island's orchestral arrangements.

On 25 May 2009, he participated in a concert held at Union Chapel in Islington, London. The concert was of part of the 'Hidden Gigs' campaign against hidden homelessness that is organized by the Crisis, a UK-based national charity for people homelessness. There he appeared in a collaboration with the Malian musicians Amadou and Mariam.

On 4 July 2009, he joined his friend Jeff Beck onstage at the Royal Albert Hall. David and Jeff traded solos on Jerusalem and closed the show with Hi Ho Silver Lining.
In August 2009, he released an online single, Chicago - Change the World, on which he sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards, to promote awareness of the plight of Gary McKinnon. A re-titled cover of the Graham Nash song Chicago, it featured Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, plus McKinnon himself. It was produced by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Chris Thomas.. A video was also posted on-line.
Musical style

Gilmour is best known for his lead guitar work. Gilmour's solo style is often characterised by blues-influenced phrasing, expressive note bends and sustain. In 2005, Gilmour was rated the 82nd greatest guitarist by Rolling Stone. The website Digital Dream Door ranked Gilmour as the fourteenth greatest rock guitarist. In January 2007, Guitar World readers voted Gilmour's solos, "Comfortably Numb", "Time" and "Money" into the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos ("Comfortably Numb" was voted the 4th greatest solo of all time , "Time" was voted the 21st greatest solo of all time and "Money" was voted the 62nd greatest solo of all time .

In his early career with Pink Floyd, Gilmour played a multitude of Fender Stratocasters. One of his popular guitar solos ("Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2") was played on a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitar equipped with Bigsby tremolo bar and P-90 pickups. In 1996, Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb" was voted as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time in several polls by listeners and critics.

Although mainly known for his guitar work, Gilmour is also a proficient multi-instrumentalist. He also plays bass guitar (which he did on some Pink Floyd tracks), keyboards, banjo, harmonica, drums (as heard on the Syd Barrett solo track "Dominoes", and other songs where he opted to play all the instruments) and lately, the saxophone.
The following is a list of equipment Gilmour either has used on his solo or Pink Floyd recordings, as well as on current or previous tours.
Guitars

   * Fender
         o Stratocaster
               + His main guitar, much modified over the years, is a (1969) 3-colour Sunburst Fender Stratocaster painted over with black as well with a black pickguard and white-coloured pickup covers and knobs, currently with a vintage 1957 reissue "V shape" maple neck. This neck came from his guitar that he used on the About Face tour. It also includes a small toggle switch that combines the neck and bridge pickups (Note this guitar was for brief time fitted with a Kahler locking tremolo system, the system was subsequently un-installed and the removed wood filled with a replacement piece of timber and repainted to match as can be noted by close examination of the guitar behind its reinstalled Fender tremolo). This guitar has a Seymour Duncan SSL-1 bridge pickup, and currently has a strap which once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
               + His main guitar for the post-Roger Waters era Pink Floyd tours in support of A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Delicate Sound of Thunder (dubbed "Another Lapse") and The Division Bell was a Candy Apple Red '57 reissue (made in 1984) fitted with a set of EMG SA active pickups with the two standard tone controls replaced with an EMG SPC mid boost control, and an EXG treble/bass expander (which cuts the mids while boosting bass and treble). On the On an Island tour it was used every night of the tour on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
               + Gilmour is the owner of Strat #0001. However, this is not the first Stratocaster ever made, but the first to be given a serial number. It was last seen at the Strat Pack Concert in Wembley Arena in 2004.
               + Cream coloured '57 reissue. Used at 1984 solo tour and at the early parts of the 1987-1990 tour. In the 1994 tour it was used as spare guitar. Tim Renwick played it with David and the rest of Pink Floyd at their Live 8 set. This Strat was fitted with the same EMG set of pickups and tone circuits as the aforementioned Candy Apple Red '57 reissue and after its use at Live 8, the cream finished guitar's neck was transferred to David's main Black Strat.
               + '57 Lake Placid Blue. (Serial number #0040). Used at The Wall sessions.
               + Double-neck Stratocaster (body was custom made by guitar builder Dick Knight, but the necks were Fender strat necks. Used live (1970-72).
               + Sunburst Stratocaster. '63 rosewood neck with '59 body. This guitar was given to David by Steve Marriott of Humble Pie and the Small Faces, and though David didn't like the guitar enough to use it very long, he preferred the neck to the original one on his black Strat and switched the two. The sunburst Strat was used as his spare and slide guitar in subsequent years (sporting the maple cap neck with a large headstock from the black Strat), and the rosewood neck remained on the black Strat until 1978.
               + White with white pickguard. Used in the late 1960s. Received as a gift from the rest of the band. Stolen in equipment heist in 1970.
               + Gilmour also used a strat equipped with the Doug Wilkes 'Answer' sliding pickup system on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' recording.
               + Doug Wilkes also built Gilmour a Precision-style single pickup bass, which was also used on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' sessions.
         o Telecaster
               + Blonde body with white pickguard. Used on the On an Island tour.
               + '52 Butterscotch Reissues with black pickguard. Used between 1987 and 1995. The first guitar was tuned in Dropped D rather than a standard tuning and was used for "Run Like Hell". The second served as a backup instrument and had a regular guitar tuning. Gilmour used this guitar for Astronomy Domine.
               + '59 Custom Telecaster with sunburst ash body, white binding on the body, rosewood fingerboard, and a white pickguard. There was a Gibson Humbucker placed in the Neck position at a brief point but was removed before it was used on the Animals' recording sessions. Last seen on rehearsals during the On an Island tour.
               + '61 Telecaster used during The Wall recording sessions. Also used live in post-Waters era for "Run Like Hell". Last seen on the Syd Barrett memory concert in 2007.
               + 1960s brown-faded body. Used in the late 1960s.
               + 1960s blonde ash body with white pickguard. His main guitar during his first year with Pink Floyd, which was lost by an airline company in 1968, and prompted Gilmour to buy the brown-faded Telecaster.
         o Esquire
               + '55 Sunburst body aka "The workmate Tele". Neck pickup added. Used at the recording sessions for his first solo album, The Wall recording session and the following tour. Also seen when performing with Paul McCartney in the late 1990s.
         o Lap Steel guitars
               + 1950's Fender 1000 twin neck pedal steel. Used in the early 1970s, purchased from a pawn shop while Gilmour was in Seattle in 1970. Used during recording of "One of These Days" from "Meddle" and "Breathe" and "Great Gig in the Sky" from The Dark Side of the Moon.
               + Fender Deluxe lap steel. First time seen during The Division Bell tour in 1994.
         o Fender Bass VI. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
         o Fender Precision bass guitar
         o Fender Jazz Bass. Used during The Wall recording sessions.

   * Gibson
         o A Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (P-90 pick-ups, Bigsby vibrato bridge). Used for the guitar solo on 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.
         o Gibson: EH150 Lap Steel guitar, "Chet Atkins" classical guitar, & J-200 Celebrity acoustic guitars.
   * Gretsch Duo-Jet
   * Bill Lewis 24-fret Guitar. Used at Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions.
   * Ovation.
         o Ovation Legend 1619-4 steel string & high string guitars. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
         o Ovation Legend 1613-4 nylon string guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
         o Ovation Magnum bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
   * Takamine acoustic guitar.
   * Martin acoustic guitars.
         o Martin D-35.
         o Martin D12-28 12-string acoustic guitar.
         o Martin D-18 acoustic.
   * Taylor acoustics
   * Guild F-512 "antique burst" 12-string guitar.
   * Jose Vilaplana nylon string guitar
   * Steinberger GL. His main guitar during A Momentary Lapse of Reason recording sessions.
   * Charvel Fretless Fender Precision style bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
   * Music Man Fretless Stingray bass guitar. Used by Gilmour while running the house band at the 1991 Amnesty International concert, during Spinal Tap's performance on "Big Bottom". (All guitarists played bass on this song, and Gilmour played a solo.)
   * Jedson lap steel guitars. One red (1977-tuned D-G-D-G-B-E for Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9, 1987-2006: Tuned E-B-E-G-B-E) and one blonde.
   * ZB pedal steel guitar.



Tribute guitars

In November 2006, Fender Custom Shop announced two reproductions of Gilmour's "Black" Strat for release on 22 September 2008. Gilmour's website states the release date was chosen to coincide with the release of his Live in Gdansk album. Both guitars are based on extensive measurements of the original instrument, each featuring varying degrees of wear.

Discography
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd portal

   * A Saucerful of Secrets – 29 June 1968.
   * More – 27 July 1969.
   * Ummagumma – 25 October 1969.
   * Atom Heart Mother – 10 October 1970.
   * Meddle – 30 October 1971.
   * Obscured by Clouds – 3 June 1972.
   * The Dark Side of the Moon – 17 March 1973.
   * Wish You Were Here – 15 September 1975.
   * Animals – 23 January 1977.
   * The Wall – 30 November 1979.
   * The Final Cut – 21 March 1983.
   * A Momentary Lapse of Reason – 8 September 1987.
   * Delicate Sound of Thunder – 22 November 1988.
   * The Division Bell – 30 March 1994.
   * P•U•L•S•E – 29 May 1995.

   For the full discography, see Pink Floyd discography.

Solo
Albums

   * David Gilmour – 25 May 1978
   * About Face – 27 March 1984
   * On an Island – 6 March 2006
   * Live in Gdańsk – 22 September 2008

Soundtracks

   * Fractals: The Colors of Infinity, Documentary - 1994

Singles

   * "There's No Way Out of Here", 1978
   * "Blue Light", March, 1984
   * "Love on the Air", May, 1984
   * "On an Island", 6 March 2006
   * "Smile", 13 June 2006
   * "Arnold Layne" (Live) 26 December 2006

Filmography

   * David Gilmour Live 1984 (VHS) – September 1984
   * David Gilmour in Concert (DVD) – October 2002
   * Remember That Night (DVD/BD) – September 2007
   * Live in Gdańsk (DVD) – September 2008

Collaborations and work for other artists
Year Artist Album / Work
1970 Syd Barrett The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett Barrett
Ron Geesin and Roger Waters "Give Birth to a Smile" on Music from The Body
1974 Unicorn Blue Pine Trees
1975 Roy Harper "The Game" from HQ
1978 Kate Bush Executive producer for two tracks in The Kick Inside
1979 Wings Back to the Egg
1980 Roy Harper "Playing Games", "You (The Game Part II)", "Old Faces", "Short and Sweet" and "True Story" credited to Harper/Gilmour from the album "The Unknown Soldier". Gilmour is credited as a musician on the album.
1982 Kate Bush Vocals on "Pull Out The Pin" in The Dreaming‎
1983 Atomic Rooster Headline news
1984 Paul McCartney No More Lonely Nights in Give My Regards to Broad Street
1985 Supertramp Brother Where You Bound
Bryan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" in Legend
Bryan Ferry Boys and Girls
Bryan Ferry Live Aid (Played with Bryan Ferry's band)
Nick Mason and Rick Fenn "Lie for a Lie" (vocals) in Profiles
Pete Townshend "Give Blood" and "White City Fighting" in White City: A Novel "White City Fighting" credited to Townshend/Gilmour. Also performed live as Deep End.
Arcadia So Red the Rose
The Dream Academy Co-produced The Dream Academy‎
Roy Harper and Jimmy Page Whatever Happened to Jugula?,"Hope" credited to Harper/Gilmour.
1986 Berlin Count Three & Pray
Pete Townshend lead guitar in Pete Townshend's Deep End Live!
1987 Dalbello "Immaculate Eyes" in she
1988 Peter Cetera "You Never Listen To Me" in One More Story
Sam Brown Stop! Guitar on "This Feeling" and "I'll Be In Love"
1989 Kate Bush "Love and Anger" and "Rocket's Tail" in The Sensual World
Paul McCartney "We Got Married" in Flowers in the Dirt
Rock Aid Armenia Smoke on the Water in The Earthquake Album
Warren Zevon Transverse City
1990 Roy Harper "Once" in Once (w/Kate Bush on backing vocals)
Propaganda "Only one word" in 1234
Sam Brown April Moon, vocals on "Troubled Soul"
1991 All About Eve "Are You Lonely" and "Wishing the Hours Away" in Touched by Jesus
1992 Elton John "Understanding Women", in The One
Mica Paris I Put a Spell on You on Later With Jools Holland
1993 Paul Rodgers "Standing Around Crying" in Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
1996 The Who Quadrophenia (1996 Hyde Park concert)
1997 B. B. King "Cryin' Won't Help You Babe" in Deuces Wild
1999 Paul McCartney Run Devil Run
2001 The Triumph of Love soundtrack Plays guitar over several chamber orchestra pieces
2003 Ringo Starr Ringo Rama
2004 Alan Parsons "Return to Tunguska" in A Valid Path
2005 Various artists "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)"
2006 Chris Jagger It's Amazing (What People Throw Away), in Act of Faith
Chris Jagger Junkman in Act of Faith
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm29/icarusxx7/DavidGilmour.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/Jen8153/gilmour.jpg


Pink Floyd still rocks.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/10 at 9:55 am


The person born on this day...David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour CBE (born 6 March 1946) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a record producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charity organizations over the course of his career. In 2003, he was appointed CBE for services to music and philanthropy and was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards.
Gilmour was approached in late December 1967 by drummer Nick Mason, who asked if he would be interested in joining Pink Floyd, which he did in January 1968, making Pink Floyd briefly a five-piece band. He was used to fill in for Syd Barrett's guitar parts when the front man was unable to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances. When Syd Barrett "left" the group (due to his erratic behaviour, the band chose not to pick Barrett up one night for a gig ), Gilmour by default assumed the role of the band's lead guitarist and shared lead vocal duties with bassist Roger Waters and keyboard player Richard Wright in Barrett's stead. However, after the back-to-back successes of The Dark Side of the Moon and then Wish You Were Here, Waters took more control over the band, writing most of Animals and The Wall by himself. Wright was fired during The Wall sessions and the relationship between Gilmour and Waters would further deteriorate during the making of The Wall film and the 1983 Pink Floyd album The Final Cut.

After recording "Animals", Gilmour thought that his musical influence had been underused, and channelled his ideas into his self-titled first solo album (1978), which showcases his signature guitar style, as well as underscoring his songwriting skills. A tune written during the finishing stages of this album, but too late to be used, became "Comfortably Numb" on The Wall.
Gilmour performing in Brussels in 1984, on his About Face tour

The negative atmosphere surrounding the creation of The Wall album and film, compounded by The Final Cut's virtually being a Roger Waters solo album, led Gilmour to produce his second solo album About Face in 1984. He used it to express his feelings about a range of topics, from the murder of John Lennon, to his relationship with Waters. He has since admitted that he also used the album to distance himself from Pink Floyd. He toured Europe and the US along with support act The Television Personalities, who later disappeared from the line-up after revealing Syd Barrett's address on stage. Mason and Wright also played on the UK leg of the tour, which despite some cancellations eventually turned a profit. When he returned from touring, Gilmour played guitar with a range of artists, and also produced The Dream Academy, who had a top ten hit with "Life in a Northern Town".

In 1985, Waters declared that Pink Floyd was "a spent force creatively". However, in 1986, Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason issued a press release stating that Waters had quit the band and they intended to continue without him. Gilmour assumed full control of the group and produced A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987 with some contributions from Mason and Richard Wright. Wright officially rejoined the band after the release of the album for a lengthy world tour and helped create 1994's The Division Bell as well. Gilmour explained:
“ I had a number of problems with the direction of the band in our recent past, before Roger left. I thought the songs were very wordy and that, because the specific meanings of those words were so important, the music became a mere vehicle for lyrics, and not a very inspiring one. Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here were so successful not just because of Roger's contributions, but also because there was a better balance between the music and the lyrics than there has been in more recent albums. That's what I'm trying to do with A Momentary Lapse of Reason; more focus on the music, restore the balance. ”

In 1986, Gilmour purchased the houseboat Astoria which is moored on the River Thames near Hampton Court, and transformed it into a recording studio. The majority of the two most recent Pink Floyd albums, as well as Gilmour's 2006 solo release On an Island, were recorded there.

On 2 July 2005, Gilmour played with Pink Floyd — including Roger Waters — at Live 8. The performance caused a temporary 1343% sales increase of Pink Floyd's album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. Gilmour donated all of his resulting profits to charities that reflect the goals of Live 8 saying:
Gilmour at Live 8 in July 2005
“ Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert. This is money that should be used to save lives.

Shortly after, he called upon all artists experiencing a surge in sales from Live 8 performances to donate the extra revenue to Live 8 fund-raising. After the Live 8 concert, Pink Floyd were offered £150 million to tour the United States, but the band turned down the offer.

On 3 February 2006, he announced in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Pink Floyd would most likely never tour or write material together again. He said:
“ I think enough is enough. I am 60 years old. I don't have the will to work as much anymore. Pink Floyd was an important part in my life, I have had a wonderful time, but it's over. For me it's much less complicated to work alone. ”

He said that by agreeing to Live 8, he had ensured the story of Floyd would not end on a sour note.
“ There was more than one reason, firstly to support the cause. The second one is the energy consuming an uncomfortable relationship between Roger and me that I was carrying along in my heart. That is why we wanted to perform and to leave the trash behind. Thirdly, I might have regretted it if I declined. ”

On 20 February 2006, Gilmour commented again on Pink Floyd's future when he was interviewed by Billboard.com, stating, "Who knows? I have no plans at all to do that. My plans are to do my concerts and put my solo record out."

In December 2006, Gilmour released a tribute to Syd Barrett, who had died in July that year, in the form of his own version of Pink Floyd's first single "Arnold Layne". Recorded live at London's Royal Albert Hall, the CD single featured versions of the song performed by Pink Floyd's keyboard player (and Gilmour's band member) Richard Wright and special guest artist David Bowie. The single entered the UK Top 75 charts at number nineteen and remained steady for three weeks.

Since their Live 8 appearance in 2005, Gilmour has repeatedly said that there will be no Pink Floyd reunion. However, in a 2007 interview with Phil Manzanera, he stated that he's "not done with it yet" and that he plans on doing "something" in the future. With the death of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright in September 2008, another reunion of the core group members became impossible. Gilmour said of Wright: "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound. Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously. I have never played with anyone quite like him."
Other projects

Taking time off from Pink Floyd's schedule, Gilmour also took up various roles as a producer, sideman and even concert sound engineer for a wide variety of acts which included former bandmate Syd Barrett, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Elton John, B. B. King, Seal, Sam Brown, Jools Holland, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, The Who, Supertramp, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Alan Parsons, and various charity groups among others.

In 1985, Gilmour was member of Bryan Ferry's band. He played on Ferry's album Boys and Girls, as well as the song "Is Your Love Strong Enough" for the U.S. release of the Ridley Scott-Tom Cruise film Legend. A music video for the latter was created, incorporating Ferry and Gilmour into footage from the film (released as a bonus on the 2002 "Ultimate Edition" DVD release). Later that year, Gilmour played with Ferry at the London Live Aid concert; his first meeting with Ferry's keyboard player Jon Carin, later to tour with Pink Floyd.

David Gilmour also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler, Lemmy from Motorhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore. Guitar tech Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in the skit.

He has also recorded four solo albums, all four of which charted in the U.S. Top 40 (2006's On an Island peaked at #6 in 2006, 2008's Live in Gdansk peaked at #26, his 1978 self-titled solo debut peaked at #29 in 1978 and 1984's About Face peaked at #32 in 1984) thus making him the only member of Pink Floyd to have a commercially successful solo career.

In 1994, Gilmour played guitar for the video game Tuneland, along with the additional saxophonist for Pink Floyd, Scott Page.

In 2001 and 2002, he held a small number of acoustic solo concerts in London and Paris, along with a small band and choir, which was documented on the In Concert release. In 2003, Rolling Stone included Gilmour in the list of hundred greatest guitarists of all time.

On 24 September 2004, Gilmour performed a three song set (tracks 28-30) at The Strat Pack concert at London's Wembley Arena, marking the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.

On 6 March 2006, his 60th birthday, he released his third solo album, On an Island, and a day later it was released in the US; it debuted at #1 in the UK charts. The album reached the top five in Germany and Sweden, and the top six in Billboard 200. Produced by Gilmour along with Phil Manzanera and Chris Thomas, the album features orchestrations by renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. The album features David Crosby and Graham Nash on harmonies on the title track, Robert Wyatt on cornet and percussion and Richard Wright on Hammond organ and vocals. Other contributors include Jools Holland, Phil Manzanera, Georgie Fame, Andy Newmark, B. J. Cole, Chris Stainton, Willie Wilson, Rado ‘Bob’ Klose on guitar and Leszek Możdżer on piano. The album also features Gilmour's debut with the saxophone.

Gilmour toured Europe, US and Canada from 10 March to 31 May to promote On an Island. There were 10 shows in the US and Canadian leg of the tour. Pink Floyd alumnus Richard Wright, and frequent Floyd collaborators Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin also accompanied him on the tour. More shows were held in Europe during from July through August in 2006.

In a press release to promote the tour, David Gilmour stated:
“ "I'm rather hoping that with this tour announcement, people will believe me when I say, honestly, this is the only band I plan to tour with!". ”

On an Island peaked the UK charts by reaching number one. On 10 April 2006, the album was certified platinum in Canada, with sales of over 100,000 copies. The album also gave Gilmour his first US Top 10 album as a solo artist.

A video recording of a show from Gilmour's solo tour, entitled Remember That Night - Live At The Royal Albert Hall was released on 17 September 2007. The double DVD, directed by David Mallet, contains over five hours of footage, including an on-the-road documentary and guest appearances by David Bowie and Robert Wyatt. The two and a half hour concert features band members Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Steve DiStanislao on drums, and various Pink Floyd regulars such as Dick Parry, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin. The 20-page booklet accompanying the DVD, features over 80 photos selected from studio recording and touring. The album is now available on Hi-Definition Blu-ray Disc with Dolby TrueHD surround sound. As TrueHD is not a mandatory format for Blu-ray players, and the disc carries no other surround channel, some players will only play it in stereo.

The final show of David Gilmour's On an Island tour was held at the Gdańsk Shipyard on 26 August 2006. The concert was held before a huge crowd of 50,000, and marked the twenty-sixth anniversary of Poland's 1980 revolution. The concert was notable for the inclusion of "A Great Day For Freedom" as part of the encore.

The show was recorded resulting in a live album and DVD release; Live in Gdańsk. The concert was the only occasion on which Gilmour performed the tour material with an orchestra, using the 40-strong string section of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, who was responsible for On An Island's orchestral arrangements.

On 25 May 2009, he participated in a concert held at Union Chapel in Islington, London. The concert was of part of the 'Hidden Gigs' campaign against hidden homelessness that is organized by the Crisis, a UK-based national charity for people homelessness. There he appeared in a collaboration with the Malian musicians Amadou and Mariam.

On 4 July 2009, he joined his friend Jeff Beck onstage at the Royal Albert Hall. David and Jeff traded solos on Jerusalem and closed the show with Hi Ho Silver Lining.
In August 2009, he released an online single, Chicago - Change the World, on which he sang and played guitar, bass and keyboards, to promote awareness of the plight of Gary McKinnon. A re-titled cover of the Graham Nash song Chicago, it featured Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, plus McKinnon himself. It was produced by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Chris Thomas.. A video was also posted on-line.
Musical style

Gilmour is best known for his lead guitar work. Gilmour's solo style is often characterised by blues-influenced phrasing, expressive note bends and sustain. In 2005, Gilmour was rated the 82nd greatest guitarist by Rolling Stone. The website Digital Dream Door ranked Gilmour as the fourteenth greatest rock guitarist. In January 2007, Guitar World readers voted Gilmour's solos, "Comfortably Numb", "Time" and "Money" into the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos ("Comfortably Numb" was voted the 4th greatest solo of all time , "Time" was voted the 21st greatest solo of all time and "Money" was voted the 62nd greatest solo of all time .

In his early career with Pink Floyd, Gilmour played a multitude of Fender Stratocasters. One of his popular guitar solos ("Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2") was played on a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitar equipped with Bigsby tremolo bar and P-90 pickups. In 1996, Gilmour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour's solo on "Comfortably Numb" was voted as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time in several polls by listeners and critics.

Although mainly known for his guitar work, Gilmour is also a proficient multi-instrumentalist. He also plays bass guitar (which he did on some Pink Floyd tracks), keyboards, banjo, harmonica, drums (as heard on the Syd Barrett solo track "Dominoes", and other songs where he opted to play all the instruments) and lately, the saxophone.
The following is a list of equipment Gilmour either has used on his solo or Pink Floyd recordings, as well as on current or previous tours.
Guitars

    * Fender
          o Stratocaster
                + His main guitar, much modified over the years, is a (1969) 3-colour Sunburst Fender Stratocaster painted over with black as well with a black pickguard and white-coloured pickup covers and knobs, currently with a vintage 1957 reissue "V shape" maple neck. This neck came from his guitar that he used on the About Face tour. It also includes a small toggle switch that combines the neck and bridge pickups (Note this guitar was for brief time fitted with a Kahler locking tremolo system, the system was subsequently un-installed and the removed wood filled with a replacement piece of timber and repainted to match as can be noted by close examination of the guitar behind its reinstalled Fender tremolo). This guitar has a Seymour Duncan SSL-1 bridge pickup, and currently has a strap which once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
                + His main guitar for the post-Roger Waters era Pink Floyd tours in support of A Momentary Lapse of Reason, Delicate Sound of Thunder (dubbed "Another Lapse") and The Division Bell was a Candy Apple Red '57 reissue (made in 1984) fitted with a set of EMG SA active pickups with the two standard tone controls replaced with an EMG SPC mid boost control, and an EXG treble/bass expander (which cuts the mids while boosting bass and treble). On the On an Island tour it was used every night of the tour on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
                + Gilmour is the owner of Strat #0001. However, this is not the first Stratocaster ever made, but the first to be given a serial number. It was last seen at the Strat Pack Concert in Wembley Arena in 2004.
                + Cream coloured '57 reissue. Used at 1984 solo tour and at the early parts of the 1987-1990 tour. In the 1994 tour it was used as spare guitar. Tim Renwick played it with David and the rest of Pink Floyd at their Live 8 set. This Strat was fitted with the same EMG set of pickups and tone circuits as the aforementioned Candy Apple Red '57 reissue and after its use at Live 8, the cream finished guitar's neck was transferred to David's main Black Strat.
                + '57 Lake Placid Blue. (Serial number #0040). Used at The Wall sessions.
                + Double-neck Stratocaster (body was custom made by guitar builder Dick Knight, but the necks were Fender strat necks. Used live (1970-72).
                + Sunburst Stratocaster. '63 rosewood neck with '59 body. This guitar was given to David by Steve Marriott of Humble Pie and the Small Faces, and though David didn't like the guitar enough to use it very long, he preferred the neck to the original one on his black Strat and switched the two. The sunburst Strat was used as his spare and slide guitar in subsequent years (sporting the maple cap neck with a large headstock from the black Strat), and the rosewood neck remained on the black Strat until 1978.
                + White with white pickguard. Used in the late 1960s. Received as a gift from the rest of the band. Stolen in equipment heist in 1970.
                + Gilmour also used a strat equipped with the Doug Wilkes 'Answer' sliding pickup system on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' recording.
                + Doug Wilkes also built Gilmour a Precision-style single pickup bass, which was also used on the 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' sessions.
          o Telecaster
                + Blonde body with white pickguard. Used on the On an Island tour.
                + '52 Butterscotch Reissues with black pickguard. Used between 1987 and 1995. The first guitar was tuned in Dropped D rather than a standard tuning and was used for "Run Like Hell". The second served as a backup instrument and had a regular guitar tuning. Gilmour used this guitar for Astronomy Domine.
                + '59 Custom Telecaster with sunburst ash body, white binding on the body, rosewood fingerboard, and a white pickguard. There was a Gibson Humbucker placed in the Neck position at a brief point but was removed before it was used on the Animals' recording sessions. Last seen on rehearsals during the On an Island tour.
                + '61 Telecaster used during The Wall recording sessions. Also used live in post-Waters era for "Run Like Hell". Last seen on the Syd Barrett memory concert in 2007.
                + 1960s brown-faded body. Used in the late 1960s.
                + 1960s blonde ash body with white pickguard. His main guitar during his first year with Pink Floyd, which was lost by an airline company in 1968, and prompted Gilmour to buy the brown-faded Telecaster.
          o Esquire
                + '55 Sunburst body aka "The workmate Tele". Neck pickup added. Used at the recording sessions for his first solo album, The Wall recording session and the following tour. Also seen when performing with Paul McCartney in the late 1990s.
          o Lap Steel guitars
                + 1950's Fender 1000 twin neck pedal steel. Used in the early 1970s, purchased from a pawn shop while Gilmour was in Seattle in 1970. Used during recording of "One of These Days" from "Meddle" and "Breathe" and "Great Gig in the Sky" from The Dark Side of the Moon.
                + Fender Deluxe lap steel. First time seen during The Division Bell tour in 1994.
          o Fender Bass VI. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
          o Fender Precision bass guitar
          o Fender Jazz Bass. Used during The Wall recording sessions.

    * Gibson
          o A Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (P-90 pick-ups, Bigsby vibrato bridge). Used for the guitar solo on 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.
          o Gibson: EH150 Lap Steel guitar, "Chet Atkins" classical guitar, & J-200 Celebrity acoustic guitars.
    * Gretsch Duo-Jet
    * Bill Lewis 24-fret Guitar. Used at Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions.
    * Ovation.
          o Ovation Legend 1619-4 steel string & high string guitars. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
          o Ovation Legend 1613-4 nylon string guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
          o Ovation Magnum bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
    * Takamine acoustic guitar.
    * Martin acoustic guitars.
          o Martin D-35.
          o Martin D12-28 12-string acoustic guitar.
          o Martin D-18 acoustic.
    * Taylor acoustics
    * Guild F-512 "antique burst" 12-string guitar.
    * Jose Vilaplana nylon string guitar
    * Steinberger GL. His main guitar during A Momentary Lapse of Reason recording sessions.
    * Charvel Fretless Fender Precision style bass guitar. Used during The Wall recording sessions.
    * Music Man Fretless Stingray bass guitar. Used by Gilmour while running the house band at the 1991 Amnesty International concert, during Spinal Tap's performance on "Big Bottom". (All guitarists played bass on this song, and Gilmour played a solo.)
    * Jedson lap steel guitars. One red (1977-tuned D-G-D-G-B-E for Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9, 1987-2006: Tuned E-B-E-G-B-E) and one blonde.
    * ZB pedal steel guitar.



Tribute guitars

In November 2006, Fender Custom Shop announced two reproductions of Gilmour's "Black" Strat for release on 22 September 2008. Gilmour's website states the release date was chosen to coincide with the release of his Live in Gdansk album. Both guitars are based on extensive measurements of the original instrument, each featuring varying degrees of wear.

Discography
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd portal

    * A Saucerful of Secrets – 29 June 1968.
    * More – 27 July 1969.
    * Ummagumma – 25 October 1969.
    * Atom Heart Mother – 10 October 1970.
    * Meddle – 30 October 1971.
    * Obscured by Clouds – 3 June 1972.
    * The Dark Side of the Moon – 17 March 1973.
    * Wish You Were Here – 15 September 1975.
    * Animals – 23 January 1977.
    * The Wall – 30 November 1979.
    * The Final Cut – 21 March 1983.
    * A Momentary Lapse of Reason – 8 September 1987.
    * Delicate Sound of Thunder – 22 November 1988.
    * The Division Bell – 30 March 1994.
    * P•U•L•S•E – 29 May 1995.

    For the full discography, see Pink Floyd discography.

Solo
Albums

    * David Gilmour – 25 May 1978
    * About Face – 27 March 1984
    * On an Island – 6 March 2006
    * Live in Gdańsk – 22 September 2008

Soundtracks

    * Fractals: The Colors of Infinity, Documentary - 1994

Singles

    * "There's No Way Out of Here", 1978
    * "Blue Light", March, 1984
    * "Love on the Air", May, 1984
    * "On an Island", 6 March 2006
    * "Smile", 13 June 2006
    * "Arnold Layne" (Live) 26 December 2006

Filmography

    * David Gilmour Live 1984 (VHS) – September 1984
    * David Gilmour in Concert (DVD) – October 2002
    * Remember That Night (DVD/BD) – September 2007
    * Live in Gdańsk (DVD) – September 2008

Collaborations and work for other artists
Year Artist Album / Work
1970 Syd Barrett The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett Barrett
Ron Geesin and Roger Waters "Give Birth to a Smile" on Music from The Body
1974 Unicorn Blue Pine Trees
1975 Roy Harper "The Game" from HQ
1978 Kate Bush Executive producer for two tracks in The Kick Inside
1979 Wings Back to the Egg
1980 Roy Harper "Playing Games", "You (The Game Part II)", "Old Faces", "Short and Sweet" and "True Story" credited to Harper/Gilmour from the album "The Unknown Soldier". Gilmour is credited as a musician on the album.
1982 Kate Bush Vocals on "Pull Out The Pin" in The Dreaming‎
1983 Atomic Rooster Headline news
1984 Paul McCartney No More Lonely Nights in Give My Regards to Broad Street
1985 Supertramp Brother Where You Bound
Bryan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" in Legend
Bryan Ferry Boys and Girls
Bryan Ferry Live Aid (Played with Bryan Ferry's band)
Nick Mason and Rick Fenn "Lie for a Lie" (vocals) in Profiles
Pete Townshend "Give Blood" and "White City Fighting" in White City: A Novel "White City Fighting" credited to Townshend/Gilmour. Also performed live as Deep End.
Arcadia So Red the Rose
The Dream Academy Co-produced The Dream Academy‎
Roy Harper and Jimmy Page Whatever Happened to Jugula?,"Hope" credited to Harper/Gilmour.
1986 Berlin Count Three & Pray
Pete Townshend lead guitar in Pete Townshend's Deep End Live!
1987 Dalbello "Immaculate Eyes" in she
1988 Peter Cetera "You Never Listen To Me" in One More Story
Sam Brown Stop! Guitar on "This Feeling" and "I'll Be In Love"
1989 Kate Bush "Love and Anger" and "Rocket's Tail" in The Sensual World
Paul McCartney "We Got Married" in Flowers in the Dirt
Rock Aid Armenia Smoke on the Water in The Earthquake Album
Warren Zevon Transverse City
1990 Roy Harper "Once" in Once (w/Kate Bush on backing vocals)
Propaganda "Only one word" in 1234
Sam Brown April Moon, vocals on "Troubled Soul"
1991 All About Eve "Are You Lonely" and "Wishing the Hours Away" in Touched by Jesus
1992 Elton John "Understanding Women", in The One
Mica Paris I Put a Spell on You on Later With Jools Holland
1993 Paul Rodgers "Standing Around Crying" in Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
1996 The Who Quadrophenia (1996 Hyde Park concert)
1997 B. B. King "Cryin' Won't Help You Babe" in Deuces Wild
1999 Paul McCartney Run Devil Run
2001 The Triumph of Love soundtrack Plays guitar over several chamber orchestra pieces
2003 Ringo Starr Ringo Rama
2004 Alan Parsons "Return to Tunguska" in A Valid Path
2005 Various artists "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)"
2006 Chris Jagger It's Amazing (What People Throw Away), in Act of Faith
Chris Jagger Junkman in Act of Faith
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm29/icarusxx7/DavidGilmour.jpg
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/Jen8153/gilmour.jpg
A few years back, I was walking down a road nears Lord's Cricket Ground (in London), when a complete stranger asked me "do I know where David Gilmour's house is?" Then I did not know, and now I still do not know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/06/10 at 10:56 am


Pink Floyd still rocks.  :)

I'll give them their props, but I'm not into Pink Floyd

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/06/10 at 10:56 am


A few years back, I was walking down a road nears Lord's Cricket Ground (in London), when a complete stranger asked me "do I know where David Gilmour's house is?" Then I did not know, and now I still do not know.

Do you want to know?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/10 at 10:57 am


Pink Floyd still rocks.  :)
More like Grey Floyd ?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/10 at 10:57 am


Do you want to know?
Not really.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/10 at 10:59 am


I'll give them their props, but I'm not into Pink Floyd
What song from ANY decade are you currently listening to?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/10 at 11:01 am


What song from ANY decade are you currently listening to?
Which did not feature David Gilmour.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/06/10 at 12:44 pm


More like Grey Floyd ?



:D ;D ;D ;D


I LOVE Pink Floyd. Yeah, I know The Wall is overplayed but I still love it. I have the video of the movie plus I have a video of the all-star "Live At The Berlin Wall"


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244296/


If you care to watch it on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_playlists&search_query=live+at+the+berlin+wall&uni=1




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/06/10 at 2:38 pm


More like Grey Floyd ?


A much better name.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/06/10 at 2:47 pm

http://www.popartdiva.com/ProductImages/LARGES/Parodies/PinkFreud.jpg




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/06/10 at 4:52 pm


Pink Floyd still rocks.  :)

They do. One of the best bands ever.


:D ;D ;D ;D


I LOVE Pink Floyd. Yeah, I know The Wall is overplayed but I still love it. I have the video of the movie plus I have a video of the all-star "Live At The Berlin Wall"


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244296/


If you care to watch it on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_playlists&search_query=live+at+the+berlin+wall&uni=1




Cat

I was fortunate to see them in concert about 25 years ago, before they were grey. "Time" and "Comfortably numb" are still 2 of my all time favorite songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/07/10 at 5:51 am

The word or phrase of the day....Shattered Glass
I can't find a definition for it.
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb311/agc727/shattered.jpg
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt146/dark3y3/shattered-glass.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/shannonmolear/shattered%20glass/brokenglasswindows.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/hails615/Funny/Cars/carmaserati-shattered-glass.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Cherry_Blossom_Kiss/Photo5.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/abbyrw08/martini.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/07/10 at 5:54 am

The person born on this day...Peter Sarsgaard
ohn Peter Sarsgaard (born March 7, 1971) is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the independent films Another Day in Paradise (1995) and Desert Blue (1996). In 1998, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), playing Raoul, the son of Athos. Sarsgaard later achieved critical recognition when he was cast in Boys Don't Cry (1999) as John Lotter. He landed his first leading role in the 2001 film The Center of the World. The following year, he played supporting roles in Empire, The Salton Sea, and K-19: The Widowmaker.

For his portrayal of Charles Lane in Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard won the Online Film Critics Society Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sarsgaard has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy Garden State, the biographical film Kinsey (2004), the drama The Dying Gaul (2005) and big-budget films such as Flightplan (2005), Jarhead (2005), and Orphan (2009).

Sarsgaard has also appeared in Off-Broadway productions including Kingdom of Earth, Laura Dennis, and Burn This. In September 2008, he made his Broadway debut as Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in The Seagull. Sarsgaard appeared in the off-Broadway production of Uncle Vanya in January 2009. Sarsgaard has been in a relationship with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal since 2002. In 2006, the two became engaged and Gyllenhaal gave birth to their daughter, Ramona, on October 3, 2006. On May 2, 2009 Sarsgaard and Gyllenhaal were married in Italy.
Sarsgaard was born at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, where his father was an Air Force engineer and later worked for Monsanto Company and IBM. His family moved over twelve times during his childhood, following his father's job. At the age of seven, Sarsgaard originally wanted to become a soccer player, and took up ballet to help improve his coordination. After suffering several bad concussions while playing soccer, he gave up the sport and became interested in writing and theater.

Sarsgaard attended Fairfield Prep, a Jesuit boys' school in Connecticut, where he became interested in movies. Following his graduation from Fairfield Prep, he attended Bard College, in New York, for two years before transferring to Washington University in St. Louis in 1991, where he co-founded an improvisational comedy troupe "Mama's Pot Roast". While at Washington University, Sarsgaard began performing in plays in an offshoot of New York's Actors Studio; His first role was as the servant Lawrence in Molière's Tartuffe. In 1993, he graduated with a degree in history and moved to New York.
Career
Early work

Sarsgaard branched out with guest roles in television productions filmed in New York City, with Law & Order in 1995, and New York Undercover (1997) as well as an appearance in the 1997 HBO special Subway Stories. He appeared in his first film role in Dead Man Walking (1995), where he was cast as a murdered victim, killed by Sean Penn's character.

His next film roles were in a series of independent features: Another Day in Paradise (1997), part of an ensemble cast that included James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, and Natasha Gregson Wagner, and In Desert Blue (1998), where he had a supporting role in the film. He received his substantial role in the 1998 film The Man in the Iron Mask, where he played Raoul, the ill-fated son of John Malkovich's dueling Musketeer, Athos. The film uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' d'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. The film received ambivalent reviews, but was a success at the box office, earning $182 million worldwide.
Critical success

In 1999, Sarsgaard earned critical recognition in Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry, where he was cast as John Lotter, a violent charismatic ex-convict. The film is based on the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transman who was raped and murdered in 1993 by Lotter and Tom Nissen after they found out he had female genitalia. Boys Don’t Cry received overwhelmingly positive acclaim from critics. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly in his review of the film noted that Sarsgaard and co-star Brendan Sexton III are "ominously authentic as violent Midwestern sociopaths driven to annihilate what they can't control." In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer review: "It's a marvelous performance supported ably by ... Sarsgaard as the unpredictable, sociopathic Lotter." The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. The film was ranked as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies" by Premiere magazine. In regards to his character, as how Sarsgaard made him "likeable, sympathetic even" was because he wanted the audience "to understand why they would hang out with me. If my character wasn't necessarily likable, I wanted him to be charismatic enough that you weren't going to have a dull time if you were with him." In another interview, Sarsgaard said he felt "empowered" by playing John.

He later appeared in the 2001 film The Center of the World, his first leading role, where he plays Richard Longman, a lonely young entrepreneur, who skips out on his company's big initial public offering and pays a stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to fly to Las Vegas with him. Although the film was met with mixed reviews, A.O. Scott of the New York Times, reported that the performances by both Sarsgaard and Parker "provide a rough grain of authenticity, capturing the blunted affect and aimless neediness of people in their 20's struggling to navigate a world of material abundance and impoverished emotional possibility." Scott concluded with, "Mr. Sarsgaard ... makes Richard seem like a genuinely nice guy, too innocent to grasp the sleaziness of his bargain with Florence."

In 2002, Sarsgaard starred in three features, K-19: The Widowmaker, Empire and The Salton Sea. In K-19: The Widowmaker, he portrayed a young Russian sailor lieutenant. The film's budget cost was $100 million to make, but upon release, it grossed $35 million in the United States and $30 million internationally, qualifying it as a box office failure. His next role was in Empire, a crime thriller film, where he was cast in a supporting role. Sarsgaard played a meth addict in D. J. Caruso's The Salton Sea.
Worldwide recognition

2003 marked a significant turning point in Sarsgaard's career, when he starred in the feature film Shattered Glass. He depicted journalist Charles Lane, the lead editor of The New Republic. Shattered Glass is based on the real events of journalist Stephen Glass' career at the The New Republic during the mid-1990s and his fall when his widespread journalistic fraud is exposed. During promotion of the film, Sarsgaard noted of his portrayal of Lane: "I just wanted to get his perspective on the actual events. I think that I tried to have some respect for myself and that way you're respecting the real person you're playing. I've done it a number of times. And it's always a little bit confusing. The best thing to do is just to ignore the fact, I think, that you're playing somebody who is a real life character." According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Peter Sarsgaard is appealingly level, a stolid straight-shooter as Lane". A reviewer from the Chicago Tribune noted that Sarsgaard plays Lane with "great subtlety and grace". The newspaper concluded with, "The character doesn't seethe with personal resentment; when he does a slow burn, he conveys a much deeper sense of a man's value system being violated past the breaking point." Sarsgaard's performance in the film earned him the Best Supporting Actor award from the Online Film Critics Society, his first Golden Globe Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Following the success of Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard starred in several roles. In 2004 he starred in the comedy-drama Garden State, where he played Mark, the sarcastic best friend to Zach Braff's character. In the same year, Sarsgaard portrayed Clyde Martin, in the biographical film Kinsey, a movie about the life of Alfred Kinsey, played by Liam Neeson. Kinsey was Sarsgaard's first film role which featured full frontal nudity. Paul Clinton of CNN reported that Sarsgaard's Clyde Martin "stands out" and "confirms that he's without doubt one of the best character actors of his generation." When asked about his kissing scenes with Neeson in Kinsey, Sarsgaard said:

    It wasn’t as hard as, say, running around with all my gear on in Jarhead. I’d rather go for an awkward moment than physical exertion any day. The only thing that I think get freaked out about when they have to do something like kiss a guy in a movie—when to their knowledge they’re straight—is that they’re afraid they’re going to be turned on. And if you’re not afraid that you’re going to be turned on—meaning that you know what you like—then really it’s not that hard.

In 2005, Sarsgaard starred in the drama The Dying Gaul, where he plays Robert Sandrich, a struggling screenwriter who has written a serious love story about a man and his terminally ill partner. The film garnered favorable reviews. In an interview, Sarsgaard said, he felt like he was playing a character based on Craig Lucas, the director, whom he describes as "elitist in a fun way". Because his character, a screenwriter, is also "elitist," when he sells his soul by compromising his artistic vision, "...the conflict seems bigger. Anyone can sell their soul. Even people with integrity. There's always that temptation to guard against. Which is why it's best to keep as much as possible hidden."

Also in 2005, he had a supporting role in the suspense film The Skeleton Key. His next film role was in Robert Schwentke's thriller Flightplan (2005). In the film, Sarsgaard played an air marshall, who is ordered to keep guard of Jodie Foster's character. Flightplan was screened at a special presentation at the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. Despite the mixed reviews, the film was a financial success, earning $223 million worldwide, making it his highest grossing film to the end of 2008. Sarsgaard's next feature was in Jarhead (2005) opposite Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie is based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir of the same name.

Sarsgaard hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) on January 21, 2006. In his introductory monologue, he tried to point out that he was a nice guy despite his sometimes macabre roles. Video clips were then played of Sarsgaard scaring the SNL cast. One sketch featured the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) global scare, which was still fresh in many minds, and one of the skits included a promotion for the Peter Sarsgaard "SARS-Guard", a reference to the mania of facemasks worn in public by those fearing infection.
Sarsgaard attending the European premiere of The Dark Knight in 2008

In 2007, he starred in supporting roles in Year of the Dog and Rendition. Year of the Dog is a dark comedy about a lonely middle-aged woman, played by Molly Shannon, who finds that animals are the only beings she can truly rely on. Sarsgaard plays Newt, an androgynous dog trainer, and love interest for Shannon's character. He starred alongside Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Reese Witherspoon, and Jake Gyllenhaal in Rendition, a Gavin Hood-directed political thriller about the US policy of extraordinary rendition. Viewed as a sex symbol, Sarsgaard was named one of Salon.com's Sexiest Man Living in 2007. 2008 saw Sarsgaard star in the drama Elegy, based on a Phillip Roth novel, The Dying Animal. The film received favorable good reception amongst critics.

In 2009, Sarsgaard starred alongside Jon Foster and Sienna Miller in the drama The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. It is an adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel of the same name. In the movie, Sarsgaard plays Cleveland, the rebellious bisexual boyfriend of Miller's character. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. His next film appearance was in the thriller Orphan, where he and Vera Farmiga play a married couple who lose a baby and adopt a nine-year-old girl, who is not as innocent as she claims to be. Furthermore in the same year, Sarsgaard starred as David in Lone Scherfig's coming of age film An Education. The role required Sarsgaard to speak in a British accent. An Education drew favorable reviews from critics. According to Variety, "Sarsgaard ... marvelously expresses the savoir faire that has such an impact on Jenny ." Sarsgaard has signed on to appear as a federal agent in the film Knight & Day and will appear alongside Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. In February 2010, it was announced that Sarsgaard had been cast as villain Hector Hammond in the superhero film Green Lantern. The film is set for release in 2011.
Stage career

In 1995, Sarsgaard made his theatrical debut in the Off-Broadway production of Horton Foote's Laura Dennis, which was directed by James Houghton. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Sarsgaard ... emerges as an actor to watch with a performance of breathtaking emotional conviction." The following year he starred in Kingdom of Earth opposite Cynthia Nixon and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. His performance in the play received favorable reviews amongst critics. In October 2002, Sarsgaard returned to theater in a New York production of Lanford Wilson's Burn This, where he replaced Edward Norton.

In 2008, Sarsgaard made his Broadway debut at the Royal Court Theatre of Anton Chekhov's adaptation The Seagull alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Mackenzie Crook and Carey Mulligan. In the production, he plays, Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin, a tortured writer who drives a rival to suicide and a young lover to ruin. For the role, Sarsgaard had been required to speak in a British accent, in which he wanted it to be "less liked by an American audience".

Sarsgaard played Mikhail Lvovich Astrov, a country doctor and philosopher, in the Classic Stage Company's 2009 off-Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in New York City. The cast also included Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mamie Gummer, Denis O'Hare, and George Morfogen. The production, directed by Austin Pendleton, began previews on January 17 and ended its limited run on March 1. Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News gave the production one out of four stars, but complimented his performance, writing that Sarsgaard does a "credible job as the doctor". In the Bloomberg review of Uncle Vanya, John Simon, wrote: "Sarsgaard can't find the right tempi or emphases: shuttling between colorless rattle and silence-studded rallentandos, he fails at both infectious enthusiasm and self- effacing charm."
Personal life
Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal at the New York premiere of An Education in October 2009.

Sarsgaard was raised Catholic and served as an altar boy. In an interview with the New York Times, when asked if he still had Catholic faith, Sarsgaard said: "I like the death-cult aspect of Catholicism. Every religion is interested in death, but Catholicism takes it to a particularly high level. Seriously, in Catholicism, you're supposed to love your enemy. That really impressed me as a kid, and it has helped me as an actor. The way that I view the characters I play is part of my religious upbringing. To abandon curiosity in all personalities, good or bad, is to give up hope in humanity."

Among his most notable romantic relationships, Sarsgaard dated burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and model/actress Shalom Harlow. Early in his film career, he dated and lived with photographer Malerie Marder, a close friend from his days attending Bard College, who had featured Sarsgaard in some of her early work. Sarsgaard has been in a relationship with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and is a close friend of her brother Jake Gyllenhaal, since 2002. In April 2006 they announced their engagement. They have a daughter Ramona, born October 3, 2006, and live in Brooklyn, New York. On May 2, 2009, they married in a small ceremony in Italy.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Dead Man Walking Walter Delacroix
1997 Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground Boy #1 TV
1998 Minor Details Scott
The Man in the Iron Mask Raoul
Desert Blue Billy Baxter
Another Day in Paradise Ty
1999 Freak City Cal Jackson TV
Boys Don't Cry John Lotter
2000 The Cell Julia Hickson's Fiancee Uncredited
Housebound Tom
2001 The Center of the World Richard Longman
Bacon Wagon Cowboy Zombie Victim
2002 Empire Jack
The Salton Sea Jimmy the Finn
K-19: The Widowmaker LT Vadim Radchenko
Unconditional Love Window Washer
2003 Death of a Dynasty Brendon III
Shattered Glass Charles 'Chuck' Lane Golden Globe nomination
2004 Garden State Mark
Kinsey Clyde Martin
2005 The Dying Gaul Robert Sandrich
The Skeleton Key Luke
Flightplan Gene Carson
Jarhead Cpl. Alan Troy
Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony himself guest appearance in episode 8
2007 Year of the Dog Newt
Rendition Alan Smith
2008 Elegy Kenneth Kepesh
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh Cleveland Arning
2009 An Education David
In the Electric Mist Elrod Sykes
Orphan John Coleman
2010 Knight & Day Fitzgerald forthcoming film
2011 Green Lantern Dr. Hector Hammond pre-production
Awards
Year Award Category Film Result
2000 St. Louis International Film Festival Emerging Actor Award Won
2003 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actor Shattered Glass Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor Won
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Performance - Male Won
2004 Chlotrudis Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Male Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Las Palmas Film Festival Best Actor Won
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor Won
Golden Globes Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Nominated
Stockholm International Film Festival Best Actor Garden State Won
2005 Satellite Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical Nominated
Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama Jarhead Nominated
Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama Kinsey Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Glitter Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Male Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Jarhead Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture An Education Nominated
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/xxxxicexxxx/peter%20sarsgaard/1430424_10.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n173/linzzer220/montages/petershottness.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/07/10 at 5:59 am


The word or phrase of the day....Shattered Glass
I can't find a definition for it.
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb311/agc727/shattered.jpg
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt146/dark3y3/shattered-glass.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/shannonmolear/shattered%20glass/brokenglasswindows.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/hails615/Funny/Cars/carmaserati-shattered-glass.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Cherry_Blossom_Kiss/Photo5.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/abbyrw08/martini.jpg
Let me think!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/07/10 at 6:19 am


The word or phrase of the day....Shattered Glass
I can't find a definition for it.
Glass that has been shattered ?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/07/10 at 6:20 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6gqNCiK-Fw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/07/10 at 6:28 am

The person who died on this day...Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928–March 7, 1999) was an American director, writer, producer, and photographer of films, who lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career. Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, his slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in, his technical perfectionism and his reclusiveness about his films and personal life. He worked far beyond the confines of the Hollywood system, maintaining almost complete artistic control and making movies according to the whims and time constraints of no one but himself, but with the rare advantage of big-studio financial support for all his endeavors. Oscar nominated on several occasions as screenwriter and director, his only personal win was for the special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kubrick is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished, innovative and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He directed a number of highly acclaimed and often controversial films that have often been perceived as a reflection of his obsessive and perfectionist nature. His films are characterized by a formal visual style and meticulous attention to detail – his later films often have elements of surrealism and expressionism eschewing structured linear narrative. While often viewed as expressing an ironic pessimism, a few critics feel his films contain a cautious optimism when viewed more carefully. His works are noted as some of the "most original, provocative, and visionary motion pictures ever made".
Upon his return to the United States, Kubrick worked for six months on the Marlon Brando vehicle One-Eyed Jacks (1961). The two clashed over a number of casting decisions, and Brando eventually fired him and decided to direct the picture himself. Kubrick worked on a number of unproduced screenplays, including Lunatic at Large, which Kubrick intended to develop into a movie", until Kirk Douglas asked him to take over Douglas' epic production Spartacus (1960) from Anthony Mann, who had been fired by the studio two weeks into shooting.

Based upon the true story of a doomed uprising of Roman slaves, Spartacus was a difficult production. Creative differences arose between Kubrick and Douglas, and the two reportedly had a stormy working relationship. Frustrated by his lack of creative control, Kubrick later largely disowned the film, which further angered Douglas. The friendship the two men had formed on Paths of Glory was destroyed by the experience of making the film. Years later, Douglas referred to Kubrick as "a talented sheesh."

Despite the on-set troubles, Spartacus was a critical and commercial success and established Kubrick as a major director. However, its embattled production convinced Kubrick to find ways of working with Hollywood financing while remaining independent of its production system, which he called "film by fiat, film by frenzy."

Spartacus is the only Stanley Kubrick film in which Kubrick had no hand in the screenplay, no final cut, no producing credit, nor any say in the casting. It is largely Kirk Douglas' project.

Spartacus would go on to win 4 Oscars with one going to Peter Ustinov, for his turn as slave dealer Batiatus, the only actor to win one under Kubrick's direction.

In 1962, Kubrick moved to England to film Lolita, and he would live there for the rest of his life. The original motivation was to film Lolita in a country with laxer censorship laws. However, Kubrick had to remain in England to film Dr. Strangelove since Peter Sellers was not permitted to leave England at the time as he was involved in divorce proceedings, and the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey required the large capacity of the sound stages of Shepperton studios, which were not available in America. It was after filming the first two of these films in England and in the early planning stages of 2001 that Kubrick decided to settle in England permanently.
Lolita was one of most controversial novels of the century, given its theme. Here, Lolita kisses her stepfather Humbert goodnight while he plays chess with her mother (Shelley Winters). Any kind of overt sexual content had to be toned down significantly for Kubrick's film adaptation, and most of the sexual acts between its title character and Humbert are only hinted at.

Lolita was the first of two times Kubrick worked with British comic actor Peter Sellers, the second being Dr. Strangelove (1964). Sellers' role is that of Clare Quilty, a second older man unknown to Humbert who is involved with Lolita, serving dramatically as Humbert's darker doppelganger. In the novel, Quilty is behind the scenes for most of the story, but Kubrick brings him to the foreground, which resulted in an expansion of his role (even then running to only about half an hour's screen time). Kubrick adds the dramatic device of Quilty's pretending to be multiple characters, allowing Sellers to employ his gift for mock accents.

Critical reception of the film was mixed; many praised it for its daring subject matter, while others were surprised by the lack of intimacy between Lolita and Humbert. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Sue Lyon, who played the title role, won a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer.

Film critic Gene Youngblood holds that stylistically Lolita is a transitional film for Kubrick, "marking the turning point from a naturalistic cinema...to the surrealism of the later films."
Many viewers of Dr. Strangelove did not initially realize that Kubrick had cast Peter Sellers in three roles, all with distinctively different appearances and accents.

Kubrick's next film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), became a cult film and is now considered a classic. Roger Ebert has written that it is the best satirical film ever made. The screenplay—based upon the novel Red Alert, by ex-RAF flight lieutenant Peter George (writing as Peter Bryant)—was cowritten by Kubrick and George, with contributions by American satirist Terry Southern. Red Alert is a serious, cautionary tale of accidental atomic war. However, Kubrick found the conditions leading to nuclear war so absurd that the story became a sinister macabre comedy. Once so reconceived, Kubrick recruited Terry Southern to polish the final screenplay.

The story centers on an American nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, initiated by renegade U.S.A.F. Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden; the character's name is a reference to Jack the Ripper) without official authorization. When Ripper gives his orders, the bombers are all at fail-safe points, before which passing they cannot arm their warheads, and past which, they cannot proceed without direct orders. Once past this point, the planes will only return with a prearranged recall code. The film intercuts between three locales: 1) Ripper's air force base, where RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers) tries to stop the mad Gen. Ripper by obtaining the codes; 2) the Pentagon War Room, where the President of the United States (Sellers) and U.S.A.F. Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) try to develop a strategy with the Soviets to stop Gen. Ripper's B-52 bombers from dropping nuclear bombs on Russia; and 3) Major Kong's (Slim Pickens) B-52 bomber, where he and his crew of airmen (never knowing their orders are false) doggedly try to complete their mission. It soon becomes clear that the bombers may reach Russia, since only Gen. Ripper knows the recall codes. At this point, the character of Dr. Strangelove (Sellers' third role) is introduced. His Nazi-style plans for ensuring the survival of the fittest of the human race in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust are the black-comedy highlight of the film.

Peter Sellers, who had played a small but pivotal part in Lolita, was hired to play four roles in Dr. Strangelove. He eventually played three, due to an injured leg and his difficulty in mastering bomber pilot Major "King" Kong's Texas accent. Kubrick later called Sellers "amazing", but lamented the fact that the actor's manic energy rarely lasted beyond two or three takes. To overcome this problem, Kubrick ran two cameras simultaneously and let Sellers improvise.

The film prefigured the antiwar sentiments which would become explosive only a few years after its release. It was highly irreverent toward war policies of the U.S., which were largely considered sacrosanct up to that time. Eight months after the release of Strangelove, the straight thriller Fail-Safe with a plot remarkably similar to that of Dr. Strangelove was released. The film earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) and the New York Film Critics' Best Director award.
2001 is the first of many Kubrick films to use an all-classical score. Kubrick's famed opening shot of the Sun, Earth and Moon is one of several accompanied by Richard Strauss's majestic fanfarelike Also sprach Zarathustra. Space flight is accompanied by Johann Strauss's graceful The Blue Danube, and all appearances of the monolith are accompanied by the unearthly modernistic Requiem by György Ligeti.

Kubrick spent five years developing his next film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The film was conceived as a Cinerama spectacle and was photographed in Super Panavision 70. Kubrick cowrote the screenplay with science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, expanding on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel." Kubrick reportedly told Clarke that his intention was to make "the proverbial great science fiction film."

2001 begins four million years ago with an encounter between a group of apes and a mysterious black monolith, which seems to trigger in them the ability to use a bone as both a tool and a weapon. Used as the latter allows them to claim a water hole from another group of apes, who have no tool-wielding ability. A victorious ape tosses his bone into the air, at which point the film makes a celebrated jump cut to an orbiting weapons satellite, circa 2000. At this time, a group of Americans at their moon base have dug up a similar monolith. Geological evidence indicates that it was deliberately buried four million years ago. When the sun rises over the monolith, it sends a radio signal to Jupiter. Eighteen months later, the U.S. sends a group of astronauts aboard the spaceship Discovery on a mission to Jupiter, the purpose of which is to investigate the monolith's signal, although this is concealed from the crew. During the flight, the ship's sentient HAL 9000 computer malfunctions but resists disconnection, believing its control of the mission to be crucial. The computer terminates life support for most of the crew before it is successfully shut down. The surviving astronaut, David Bowman (Keir Dullea), in a tiny space pod, encounters another monolith in orbit around Jupiter, whereupon he is hurled into a portal in space at high speed, witnessing many astronomical phenomena. His interstellar journey concludes with his transformation into a mysterious new being resembling a fetus enclosed in an orb of light, last seen gazing at Earth from space.

The $10,000,000 (U.S.) film was a massive production for its time. The groundbreaking visual effects were overseen by Kubrick and were engineered by a team that included a young Douglas Trumbull, who would become famous in his own right for his work on the films Silent Running and Blade Runner. Kubrick extensively used traveling matte photography to film space flight, a technique also used nine years later by George Lucas in making Star Wars, although that film also used motion-control effects that were unavailable to Kubrick at the time. Kubrick made innovative use of slit-scan photography to film the Stargate sequence. The film's striking cinematography was the work of legendary British director of photography Geoffrey Unsworth, who would later photograph classic films such as Cabaret and Superman. Manufacturing companies were consulted as to what the design of both special-purpose and everyday objects would look like in the future. At the time of the movie's release, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that a generation of engineers would design real spacecraft based upon 2001 "…even if it isn't the best way to do it." The film also is a rare instance of portraying space travel realistically, with complete silence in the vacuum of space and a realistic representation of weightlessness.

The film is famous for using classical music in place of an original score. Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and Johann Strauss's The Blue Danube waltz became for a while indelibly associated with the film, especially the former, as it was not well-known to the public prior to the film. Kubrick also used music by contemporary avant-garde Hungarian composer György Ligeti, although some of the pieces were altered without Ligeti's consent. The appearance of Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna, and Requiem on the 2001 soundtrack was the first wide commercial exposure of Ligeti's work. This use of "program" music was not originally planned. Kubrick had commissioned composer Alex North to write a full-length score for the film, but Kubrick became so attached to the temporary soundtrack he had constructed during editing that he dropped the idea of an original score entirely.

Although it eventually became an enormous success, the film was not an immediate hit. Initial critical reaction was extremely hostile, with critics attacking the film's lack of dialogue, slow pacing, and seemingly impenetrable storyline. One of the film's few defenders was Penelope Gilliatt, who called it (in The New Yorker) "some kind of a great film". Word of mouth among young audiences—especially the 1960s counterculture audience, who loved the movie's "Star Gate" sequence, a seemingly psychedelic journey to the infinite reaches of the cosmos—made the film a hit. Despite nominations in the directing, writing, and producing categories, the only Academy Award Kubrick ever received was for supervising the special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, however, many consider it the greatest sci-fi film ever made, and it is a staple on Top 10 lists of all-time.

Artistically, 2001 was a radical departure from Kubrick's previous films. It contains only 45 minutes of spoken dialogue, over a running time of two hours and twenty minutes. The fairly mundane dialogue is mostly superfluous to the images and music. The film's most memorable dialogue belongs to the computer HAL in HAL's exchanges with Dave Bowman. Some argue that Kubrick is portraying a future humanity largely dissociated from its environment. The film's ambiguous, perplexing ending continues to fascinate contemporary audiences and critics. After this film, Kubrick would never experiment so radically with special effects or narrative form, but his subsequent films maintain some level of ambiguity.

Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey are numerous and diverse. Despite having been released in 1968, it still prompts debate today. When critic Joseph Gelmis asked Kubrick about the meaning of the film, Kubrick replied:

   They are the areas I prefer not to discuss, because they are highly subjective and will differ from viewer to viewer. In this sense, the film becomes anything the viewer sees in it. If the film stirs the emotions and penetrates the subconscious of the viewer, if it stimulates, however inchoately, his mythological and religious yearnings and impulses, then it has succeeded.

2001: A Space Odyssey is perhaps Kubrick's most famous and influential film. Steven Spielberg called it his generation's big bang, focusing attention upon the space race. It was a precursor to the explosion of the science fiction film market nine years later, which began with the release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
1970s: A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon
In A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick continued his innovative use of classical music begun in 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, instead of accompanying graceful space flight, the music accompanied violence and rape. The slow-motion fight scene about to commence is choreographed to Rossini's overture to "The Thieving Magpie."

After 2001, Kubrick initially attempted to make a film about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. When financing fell through, Kubrick went looking for a project that he could film quickly on a small budget. He eventually settled on A Clockwork Orange (1971). His adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novel is a dark, shocking exploration of violence in human society. The film was initially released with an X rating in the United States and caused considerable controversy. The film's iconic poster imagery was created by legendary designer Bill Gold.

The story takes place in a futuristic version of Great Britain that is both authoritarian and chaotic. The central character is a teenage hooligan named Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), who, along with his companion "droogs", gleefully torments, beats, robs, tortures, and rapes without conscience or remorse. His brutal beating and murder of an older woman finally lands Alex in prison. Alex undergoes an experimental medical aversion treatment, known as the Ludovico Technique, that inhibits his violent tendencies, though he has no real free moral choice. At the public demonstration of the success of the technique, Alex is treated cruelly but does not fight back; the treatment has made him less than human. He has been conditioned against classical music, his love of which was his one human feature, and apparently all of his sex drive is gone. We further see hints that the promotion of the treatment is politically motivated. After being freed, he is found by his former partners in crime who had betrayed him and who are now policemen, and they beat him mercilessly.

He then comes to the home of a political writer who disdains "the modern age" and is initially sympathetic to Alex's plight until he recognizes Alex as the young man who brutally raped his wife and paralyzed him a few years before. Alex then becomes a pawn in a political game.

The society was sometimes perceived as Communist (as Michel Ciment pointed out in an interview with Kubrick, although he himself didn't feel that way) due to its slight ties to Russian culture. The teenage slang has a heavily Russian vocabulary, which can be attributed to Burgess. There is some evidence to suggest that the society is a socialist one, or at least a society moving out of a failed, Leftist socialism and into a Rightist or fascist society. In the novel, streets have paintings of working men in the style of Russian socialist art, and in the film, there is a mural of socialist artwork with obscenities drawn on it. As well, Alex's residence was shot on actual failed Labour Party architecture (as Malcolm McDowell points out on the DVD commentary), and the name "Municipal Flat Block 18A, Linear North" alludes to socialist-style housing. Later in the film, when the new right-wing government takes power, the atmosphere is certainly more authoritarian than the anarchist air of the beginning. Kubrick's response to Ciment's question remained ambiguous as to exactly what kind of society it is. He held that the film held comparisons between both the left and right end of the political spectrum and that there is little difference between the two. Kubrick stated, "The Minister, played by Anthony Sharp, is clearly a figure of the Right. The writer, Patrick Magee, is a lunatic of the Left. ...They differ only in their dogma. Their means and ends are hardly distinguishable."

Kubrick photographed A Clockwork Orange quickly and almost entirely on location in and around London. Despite the low-tech nature of the film as compared to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick showed his talent for innovation; at one point, he threw "an old Newman Sinclair clockwork mechanism camera" off a rooftop in order to achieve the effect he wanted. For the score, Kubrick enlisted electronic music composer Wendy Carlos—at the time, known as Walter Carlos (Switched-On Bach)—to adapt famous classical works (such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony) for the Moog synthesizer.

It is pivotal to the plot that the lead character, Alex, is fond of classical music, and that the brainwashing Ludovico treatment accidentally conditions him against classical music. As such, it was natural for Kubrick to continue the tradition begun in 2001: A Space Odyssey of using a great deal of classical music in the score. However, in this film, classical music accompanies scenes of violent mayhem and coercive sexuality rather than of graceful space flight and mysterious alien presences. Both Pauline Kael (who generally disliked Kubrick) and Roger Ebert (who often praises Kubrick) found Kubrick's use of juxtaposing classical music and violence in this film unpleasant, Ebert calling it a "cute, cheap, dead-end dimension," and Kael, "self-important." Burgess, in his introduction to his own stage adaptation of the novel, held that ultimately, classical music is what will finally redeem Alex.

The film was extremely controversial because of its explicit depiction of teenage gang rape and violence. It was released in the same year as Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and Don Siegel's Dirty Harry, and the three films sparked a ferocious debate in the media about the social effects of cinematic violence. The controversy was exacerbated when copycat crimes were committed in England by criminals wearing the same costumes as characters in A Clockwork Orange. British readers of the novel noted that Kubrick had omitted the final chapter (also omitted from American editions of the book) in which Alex finds redemption and sanity.

After receiving death threats to himself and his family as a result of the controversy, Kubrick took the unusual step of removing the film from circulation in Britain. It was unavailable in the United Kingdom until its re-release in 2000, a year after Kubrick's death, although it could be seen in continental Europe. The Scala cinema in London's Kings Cross showed the film in the early 1990s, and at Kubrick's insistence, the cinema was sued and put out of business, thus depriving London of one of its very few independent cinemas. It is now the Scala club. In early 1973, Kubrick re-released A Clockwork Orange to cinemas in the United States with footage modified so that it could get its rating reduced to an R. This enabled many more newspapers to advertise it, since in 1972 many newspapers had stopped carrying any advertising for X-rated films due to the new association of that rating with pornography.

Reviewers such as Pauline Kael, who had been critical of Kubrick's previous work, found Barry Lyndon a cold, slow-moving, and lifeless film. Its measured pace and length—more than three hours—put off many American critics and audiences, although it received positive reviews from Rex Reed and Richard Schickel. Time magazine published a cover story about the film, and Kubrick was nominated for three Academy Awards. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, more than any other Kubrick film. Despite this, Barry Lyndon was not a box office success in the U.S., although the film found a great audience in Europe, particularly in France.

As with most of Kubrick's films, Barry Lyndon's reputation has grown through the years, particularly among other filmmakers. Director Martin Scorsese has cited it as his favorite Kubrick film. Steven Spielberg has praised its "impeccable technique", though, when younger, he famously described it "like going through the Prado without lunch."

As in his other films, Kubrick's cinematography and lighting techniques were highly innovative. Most famously, interior scenes were shot with a specially adapted high-speed f/0.7 Zeiss camera lens originally developed for NASA. This allowed many scenes to be lit only with candlelight, creating two-dimensional diffused-light images reminiscent of 18th-century paintings.

Like its two predecessors, the film does not have an original score. Irish traditional songs (performed by The Chieftains) are combined with works such as Antonio Vivaldi's Cello Concerto in B, a Johann Sebastian Bach Double Concerto, George Frideric Handel's Sarabande from the Keyboard Suite in D minor (HWV 448, HG II/ii/4), and Franz Schubert's German Dance No. 1 in C major, Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat, and Impromptu No. 1 in C minor. The music was conducted and adapted by Leonard Rosenman, for which he won an Oscar.

The pace of Kubrick's work slowed considerably after Barry Lyndon, and he did not make another film for five years. The Shining, released in 1980, was adapted from the novel of the same name by bestselling horror writer Stephen King. The film starred Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a failed writer who takes a job as an off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a high-class resort deep in the Colorado mountains. The job requires spending the winter in the isolated hotel with his wife, Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and their young son, Danny, who is gifted with a form of telepathy—the "shining" of the film's title.

As winter takes hold, the family's isolation deepens, and the demons and ghosts of the Overlook Hotel's dark past begin to awake. The hotel displays increasingly horrible, phantasmagoric images to Danny. Meanwhile, Jack is slowly driven mad by the haunted surroundings until he finally collapses into homicidal psychosis.
Documentary short films

   * Day of the Fight (1951)
   * Flying Padre (1951)
   * The Seafarers (1953)

Feature films

Year Title Awards
1953 Fear and Desire
1955 Killer's Kiss
1956 The Killing Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Film from Any Source
1957 Paths of Glory Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Film from Any Source
1960 Spartacus Nominated for 6 Oscars, Won 4: Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Original Score
Nominated for 6 Golden Globes, Won 1: Best Drama Picture, Best Drama Actor, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Supporting Actor
Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Film from Any Source
1962 Lolita Nominated for Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 5 Golden Globes, Won 1: Most Promising Newcomer – Female, Best Drama Actor, Best Drama Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor
Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Actor
1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Nominated for 4 Oscars:Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 6 BAFTA Awards, Won 3: Best British Art Direction, Best British Film, Best Film from any Source, Best British Actor, Best British Screenplay, Best Foreign Actor
1968 2001: A Space Odyssey Nominated for 4 Oscars, Won 1 : Best Special Effects, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Original Screenplay
Nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards, Won 3: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Track, Best Film
1971 A Clockwork Orange Nominated for 4 Oscars: Best Director, Best Editing, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 3 Golden Globes: Best Director, Best Drama Picture, Best Drama Actor
Nominated for 7 BAFTA Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Film, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Track
Won 2 recognitions by The New York Film Critics: Best Director, Best Picture
1975 Barry Lyndon Nominated for 7 Oscars, Won 4: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 2 Golden Globes: Best Director, Best Drama Picture
Nominated for 5 BAFTA Awards, Won 2: Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film
1980 The Shining
1987 Full Metal Jacket Nominated for Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for Golden Globe: Best Supporting Actor
Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards: Best Sound, Best Special Effects
1999 Eyes Wide Shut Nominated for Golden Globe: Best Original Score

This chart is limited to the Oscars, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs.

Kubrick has also been nominated for and won awards from various societies of film critics, film festivals, and both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

In the science fiction world, Kubrick has three times won the especially coveted Hugo Award, a prized mainly for print writing and only secondarily for drama production. He also received four nominations (with one win) of the sci-fi-film-oriented Saturn awards from the Academy of Science Fiction for The Shining, an award that did not exist when Kubrick won his three Hugos.

The least honored of Kubrick's films since 1956's The Killing is 1980's The Shining, which garnered only the above-mentioned four nominations (with one win) for Saturn awards. In addition, The Shining is the only Stanley Kubrick film ever to be nominated for any of the notorious Razzies for worst film element. It was nominated for two.
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/pauerboys/stanley_kubrick.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg131/malasuerte_bucket/stanley_kubrick.jpg


* please note there is a lot more about Stanley Kubrick in Wikipedia*

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/07/10 at 6:29 am


Glass that has been shattered ?

I was going to say that, but thought better of it :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/07/10 at 6:31 am


The person who died on this day...Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928–March 7, 1999) was an American director, writer, producer, and photographer of films, who lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career. Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, his slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in, his technical perfectionism and his reclusiveness about his films and personal life. He worked far beyond the confines of the Hollywood system, maintaining almost complete artistic control and making movies according to the whims and time constraints of no one but himself, but with the rare advantage of big-studio financial support for all his endeavors. Oscar nominated on several occasions as screenwriter and director, his only personal win was for the special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kubrick is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished, innovative and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He directed a number of highly acclaimed and often controversial films that have often been perceived as a reflection of his obsessive and perfectionist nature. His films are characterized by a formal visual style and meticulous attention to detail – his later films often have elements of surrealism and expressionism eschewing structured linear narrative. While often viewed as expressing an ironic pessimism, a few critics feel his films contain a cautious optimism when viewed more carefully. His works are noted as some of the "most original, provocative, and visionary motion pictures ever made".
Upon his return to the United States, Kubrick worked for six months on the Marlon Brando vehicle One-Eyed Jacks (1961). The two clashed over a number of casting decisions, and Brando eventually fired him and decided to direct the picture himself. Kubrick worked on a number of unproduced screenplays, including Lunatic at Large, which Kubrick intended to develop into a movie", until Kirk Douglas asked him to take over Douglas' epic production Spartacus (1960) from Anthony Mann, who had been fired by the studio two weeks into shooting.

Based upon the true story of a doomed uprising of Roman slaves, Spartacus was a difficult production. Creative differences arose between Kubrick and Douglas, and the two reportedly had a stormy working relationship. Frustrated by his lack of creative control, Kubrick later largely disowned the film, which further angered Douglas. The friendship the two men had formed on Paths of Glory was destroyed by the experience of making the film. Years later, Douglas referred to Kubrick as "a talented sheesh."

Despite the on-set troubles, Spartacus was a critical and commercial success and established Kubrick as a major director. However, its embattled production convinced Kubrick to find ways of working with Hollywood financing while remaining independent of its production system, which he called "film by fiat, film by frenzy."

Spartacus is the only Stanley Kubrick film in which Kubrick had no hand in the screenplay, no final cut, no producing credit, nor any say in the casting. It is largely Kirk Douglas' project.

Spartacus would go on to win 4 Oscars with one going to Peter Ustinov, for his turn as slave dealer Batiatus, the only actor to win one under Kubrick's direction.

In 1962, Kubrick moved to England to film Lolita, and he would live there for the rest of his life. The original motivation was to film Lolita in a country with laxer censorship laws. However, Kubrick had to remain in England to film Dr. Strangelove since Peter Sellers was not permitted to leave England at the time as he was involved in divorce proceedings, and the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey required the large capacity of the sound stages of Shepperton studios, which were not available in America. It was after filming the first two of these films in England and in the early planning stages of 2001 that Kubrick decided to settle in England permanently.
Lolita was one of most controversial novels of the century, given its theme. Here, Lolita kisses her stepfather Humbert goodnight while he plays chess with her mother (Shelley Winters). Any kind of overt sexual content had to be toned down significantly for Kubrick's film adaptation, and most of the sexual acts between its title character and Humbert are only hinted at.

Lolita was the first of two times Kubrick worked with British comic actor Peter Sellers, the second being Dr. Strangelove (1964). Sellers' role is that of Clare Quilty, a second older man unknown to Humbert who is involved with Lolita, serving dramatically as Humbert's darker doppelganger. In the novel, Quilty is behind the scenes for most of the story, but Kubrick brings him to the foreground, which resulted in an expansion of his role (even then running to only about half an hour's screen time). Kubrick adds the dramatic device of Quilty's pretending to be multiple characters, allowing Sellers to employ his gift for mock accents.

Critical reception of the film was mixed; many praised it for its daring subject matter, while others were surprised by the lack of intimacy between Lolita and Humbert. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Sue Lyon, who played the title role, won a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer.

Film critic Gene Youngblood holds that stylistically Lolita is a transitional film for Kubrick, "marking the turning point from a naturalistic cinema...to the surrealism of the later films."
Many viewers of Dr. Strangelove did not initially realize that Kubrick had cast Peter Sellers in three roles, all with distinctively different appearances and accents.

Kubrick's next film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), became a cult film and is now considered a classic. Roger Ebert has written that it is the best satirical film ever made. The screenplay—based upon the novel Red Alert, by ex-RAF flight lieutenant Peter George (writing as Peter Bryant)—was cowritten by Kubrick and George, with contributions by American satirist Terry Southern. Red Alert is a serious, cautionary tale of accidental atomic war. However, Kubrick found the conditions leading to nuclear war so absurd that the story became a sinister macabre comedy. Once so reconceived, Kubrick recruited Terry Southern to polish the final screenplay.

The story centers on an American nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, initiated by renegade U.S.A.F. Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden; the character's name is a reference to Jack the Ripper) without official authorization. When Ripper gives his orders, the bombers are all at fail-safe points, before which passing they cannot arm their warheads, and past which, they cannot proceed without direct orders. Once past this point, the planes will only return with a prearranged recall code. The film intercuts between three locales: 1) Ripper's air force base, where RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers) tries to stop the mad Gen. Ripper by obtaining the codes; 2) the Pentagon War Room, where the President of the United States (Sellers) and U.S.A.F. Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) try to develop a strategy with the Soviets to stop Gen. Ripper's B-52 bombers from dropping nuclear bombs on Russia; and 3) Major Kong's (Slim Pickens) B-52 bomber, where he and his crew of airmen (never knowing their orders are false) doggedly try to complete their mission. It soon becomes clear that the bombers may reach Russia, since only Gen. Ripper knows the recall codes. At this point, the character of Dr. Strangelove (Sellers' third role) is introduced. His Nazi-style plans for ensuring the survival of the fittest of the human race in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust are the black-comedy highlight of the film.

Peter Sellers, who had played a small but pivotal part in Lolita, was hired to play four roles in Dr. Strangelove. He eventually played three, due to an injured leg and his difficulty in mastering bomber pilot Major "King" Kong's Texas accent. Kubrick later called Sellers "amazing", but lamented the fact that the actor's manic energy rarely lasted beyond two or three takes. To overcome this problem, Kubrick ran two cameras simultaneously and let Sellers improvise.

The film prefigured the antiwar sentiments which would become explosive only a few years after its release. It was highly irreverent toward war policies of the U.S., which were largely considered sacrosanct up to that time. Eight months after the release of Strangelove, the straight thriller Fail-Safe with a plot remarkably similar to that of Dr. Strangelove was released. The film earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) and the New York Film Critics' Best Director award.
2001 is the first of many Kubrick films to use an all-classical score. Kubrick's famed opening shot of the Sun, Earth and Moon is one of several accompanied by Richard Strauss's majestic fanfarelike Also sprach Zarathustra. Space flight is accompanied by Johann Strauss's graceful The Blue Danube, and all appearances of the monolith are accompanied by the unearthly modernistic Requiem by György Ligeti.

Kubrick spent five years developing his next film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The film was conceived as a Cinerama spectacle and was photographed in Super Panavision 70. Kubrick cowrote the screenplay with science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, expanding on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel." Kubrick reportedly told Clarke that his intention was to make "the proverbial great science fiction film."

2001 begins four million years ago with an encounter between a group of apes and a mysterious black monolith, which seems to trigger in them the ability to use a bone as both a tool and a weapon. Used as the latter allows them to claim a water hole from another group of apes, who have no tool-wielding ability. A victorious ape tosses his bone into the air, at which point the film makes a celebrated jump cut to an orbiting weapons satellite, circa 2000. At this time, a group of Americans at their moon base have dug up a similar monolith. Geological evidence indicates that it was deliberately buried four million years ago. When the sun rises over the monolith, it sends a radio signal to Jupiter. Eighteen months later, the U.S. sends a group of astronauts aboard the spaceship Discovery on a mission to Jupiter, the purpose of which is to investigate the monolith's signal, although this is concealed from the crew. During the flight, the ship's sentient HAL 9000 computer malfunctions but resists disconnection, believing its control of the mission to be crucial. The computer terminates life support for most of the crew before it is successfully shut down. The surviving astronaut, David Bowman (Keir Dullea), in a tiny space pod, encounters another monolith in orbit around Jupiter, whereupon he is hurled into a portal in space at high speed, witnessing many astronomical phenomena. His interstellar journey concludes with his transformation into a mysterious new being resembling a fetus enclosed in an orb of light, last seen gazing at Earth from space.

The $10,000,000 (U.S.) film was a massive production for its time. The groundbreaking visual effects were overseen by Kubrick and were engineered by a team that included a young Douglas Trumbull, who would become famous in his own right for his work on the films Silent Running and Blade Runner. Kubrick extensively used traveling matte photography to film space flight, a technique also used nine years later by George Lucas in making Star Wars, although that film also used motion-control effects that were unavailable to Kubrick at the time. Kubrick made innovative use of slit-scan photography to film the Stargate sequence. The film's striking cinematography was the work of legendary British director of photography Geoffrey Unsworth, who would later photograph classic films such as Cabaret and Superman. Manufacturing companies were consulted as to what the design of both special-purpose and everyday objects would look like in the future. At the time of the movie's release, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that a generation of engineers would design real spacecraft based upon 2001 "…even if it isn't the best way to do it." The film also is a rare instance of portraying space travel realistically, with complete silence in the vacuum of space and a realistic representation of weightlessness.

The film is famous for using classical music in place of an original score. Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra and Johann Strauss's The Blue Danube waltz became for a while indelibly associated with the film, especially the former, as it was not well-known to the public prior to the film. Kubrick also used music by contemporary avant-garde Hungarian composer György Ligeti, although some of the pieces were altered without Ligeti's consent. The appearance of Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna, and Requiem on the 2001 soundtrack was the first wide commercial exposure of Ligeti's work. This use of "program" music was not originally planned. Kubrick had commissioned composer Alex North to write a full-length score for the film, but Kubrick became so attached to the temporary soundtrack he had constructed during editing that he dropped the idea of an original score entirely.

Although it eventually became an enormous success, the film was not an immediate hit. Initial critical reaction was extremely hostile, with critics attacking the film's lack of dialogue, slow pacing, and seemingly impenetrable storyline. One of the film's few defenders was Penelope Gilliatt, who called it (in The New Yorker) "some kind of a great film". Word of mouth among young audiences—especially the 1960s counterculture audience, who loved the movie's "Star Gate" sequence, a seemingly psychedelic journey to the infinite reaches of the cosmos—made the film a hit. Despite nominations in the directing, writing, and producing categories, the only Academy Award Kubrick ever received was for supervising the special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, however, many consider it the greatest sci-fi film ever made, and it is a staple on Top 10 lists of all-time.

Artistically, 2001 was a radical departure from Kubrick's previous films. It contains only 45 minutes of spoken dialogue, over a running time of two hours and twenty minutes. The fairly mundane dialogue is mostly superfluous to the images and music. The film's most memorable dialogue belongs to the computer HAL in HAL's exchanges with Dave Bowman. Some argue that Kubrick is portraying a future humanity largely dissociated from its environment. The film's ambiguous, perplexing ending continues to fascinate contemporary audiences and critics. After this film, Kubrick would never experiment so radically with special effects or narrative form, but his subsequent films maintain some level of ambiguity.

Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey are numerous and diverse. Despite having been released in 1968, it still prompts debate today. When critic Joseph Gelmis asked Kubrick about the meaning of the film, Kubrick replied:

    They are the areas I prefer not to discuss, because they are highly subjective and will differ from viewer to viewer. In this sense, the film becomes anything the viewer sees in it. If the film stirs the emotions and penetrates the subconscious of the viewer, if it stimulates, however inchoately, his mythological and religious yearnings and impulses, then it has succeeded.

2001: A Space Odyssey is perhaps Kubrick's most famous and influential film. Steven Spielberg called it his generation's big bang, focusing attention upon the space race. It was a precursor to the explosion of the science fiction film market nine years later, which began with the release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
1970s: A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon
In A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick continued his innovative use of classical music begun in 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, instead of accompanying graceful space flight, the music accompanied violence and rape. The slow-motion fight scene about to commence is choreographed to Rossini's overture to "The Thieving Magpie."

After 2001, Kubrick initially attempted to make a film about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. When financing fell through, Kubrick went looking for a project that he could film quickly on a small budget. He eventually settled on A Clockwork Orange (1971). His adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novel is a dark, shocking exploration of violence in human society. The film was initially released with an X rating in the United States and caused considerable controversy. The film's iconic poster imagery was created by legendary designer Bill Gold.

The story takes place in a futuristic version of Great Britain that is both authoritarian and chaotic. The central character is a teenage hooligan named Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), who, along with his companion "droogs", gleefully torments, beats, robs, tortures, and rapes without conscience or remorse. His brutal beating and murder of an older woman finally lands Alex in prison. Alex undergoes an experimental medical aversion treatment, known as the Ludovico Technique, that inhibits his violent tendencies, though he has no real free moral choice. At the public demonstration of the success of the technique, Alex is treated cruelly but does not fight back; the treatment has made him less than human. He has been conditioned against classical music, his love of which was his one human feature, and apparently all of his sex drive is gone. We further see hints that the promotion of the treatment is politically motivated. After being freed, he is found by his former partners in crime who had betrayed him and who are now policemen, and they beat him mercilessly.

He then comes to the home of a political writer who disdains "the modern age" and is initially sympathetic to Alex's plight until he recognizes Alex as the young man who brutally raped his wife and paralyzed him a few years before. Alex then becomes a pawn in a political game.

The society was sometimes perceived as Communist (as Michel Ciment pointed out in an interview with Kubrick, although he himself didn't feel that way) due to its slight ties to Russian culture. The teenage slang has a heavily Russian vocabulary, which can be attributed to Burgess. There is some evidence to suggest that the society is a socialist one, or at least a society moving out of a failed, Leftist socialism and into a Rightist or fascist society. In the novel, streets have paintings of working men in the style of Russian socialist art, and in the film, there is a mural of socialist artwork with obscenities drawn on it. As well, Alex's residence was shot on actual failed Labour Party architecture (as Malcolm McDowell points out on the DVD commentary), and the name "Municipal Flat Block 18A, Linear North" alludes to socialist-style housing. Later in the film, when the new right-wing government takes power, the atmosphere is certainly more authoritarian than the anarchist air of the beginning. Kubrick's response to Ciment's question remained ambiguous as to exactly what kind of society it is. He held that the film held comparisons between both the left and right end of the political spectrum and that there is little difference between the two. Kubrick stated, "The Minister, played by Anthony Sharp, is clearly a figure of the Right. The writer, Patrick Magee, is a lunatic of the Left. ...They differ only in their dogma. Their means and ends are hardly distinguishable."

Kubrick photographed A Clockwork Orange quickly and almost entirely on location in and around London. Despite the low-tech nature of the film as compared to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick showed his talent for innovation; at one point, he threw "an old Newman Sinclair clockwork mechanism camera" off a rooftop in order to achieve the effect he wanted. For the score, Kubrick enlisted electronic music composer Wendy Carlos—at the time, known as Walter Carlos (Switched-On Bach)—to adapt famous classical works (such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony) for the Moog synthesizer.

It is pivotal to the plot that the lead character, Alex, is fond of classical music, and that the brainwashing Ludovico treatment accidentally conditions him against classical music. As such, it was natural for Kubrick to continue the tradition begun in 2001: A Space Odyssey of using a great deal of classical music in the score. However, in this film, classical music accompanies scenes of violent mayhem and coercive sexuality rather than of graceful space flight and mysterious alien presences. Both Pauline Kael (who generally disliked Kubrick) and Roger Ebert (who often praises Kubrick) found Kubrick's use of juxtaposing classical music and violence in this film unpleasant, Ebert calling it a "cute, cheap, dead-end dimension," and Kael, "self-important." Burgess, in his introduction to his own stage adaptation of the novel, held that ultimately, classical music is what will finally redeem Alex.

The film was extremely controversial because of its explicit depiction of teenage gang rape and violence. It was released in the same year as Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and Don Siegel's Dirty Harry, and the three films sparked a ferocious debate in the media about the social effects of cinematic violence. The controversy was exacerbated when copycat crimes were committed in England by criminals wearing the same costumes as characters in A Clockwork Orange. British readers of the novel noted that Kubrick had omitted the final chapter (also omitted from American editions of the book) in which Alex finds redemption and sanity.

After receiving death threats to himself and his family as a result of the controversy, Kubrick took the unusual step of removing the film from circulation in Britain. It was unavailable in the United Kingdom until its re-release in 2000, a year after Kubrick's death, although it could be seen in continental Europe. The Scala cinema in London's Kings Cross showed the film in the early 1990s, and at Kubrick's insistence, the cinema was sued and put out of business, thus depriving London of one of its very few independent cinemas. It is now the Scala club. In early 1973, Kubrick re-released A Clockwork Orange to cinemas in the United States with footage modified so that it could get its rating reduced to an R. This enabled many more newspapers to advertise it, since in 1972 many newspapers had stopped carrying any advertising for X-rated films due to the new association of that rating with pornography.

Reviewers such as Pauline Kael, who had been critical of Kubrick's previous work, found Barry Lyndon a cold, slow-moving, and lifeless film. Its measured pace and length—more than three hours—put off many American critics and audiences, although it received positive reviews from Rex Reed and Richard Schickel. Time magazine published a cover story about the film, and Kubrick was nominated for three Academy Awards. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, more than any other Kubrick film. Despite this, Barry Lyndon was not a box office success in the U.S., although the film found a great audience in Europe, particularly in France.

As with most of Kubrick's films, Barry Lyndon's reputation has grown through the years, particularly among other filmmakers. Director Martin Scorsese has cited it as his favorite Kubrick film. Steven Spielberg has praised its "impeccable technique", though, when younger, he famously described it "like going through the Prado without lunch."

As in his other films, Kubrick's cinematography and lighting techniques were highly innovative. Most famously, interior scenes were shot with a specially adapted high-speed f/0.7 Zeiss camera lens originally developed for NASA. This allowed many scenes to be lit only with candlelight, creating two-dimensional diffused-light images reminiscent of 18th-century paintings.

Like its two predecessors, the film does not have an original score. Irish traditional songs (performed by The Chieftains) are combined with works such as Antonio Vivaldi's Cello Concerto in B, a Johann Sebastian Bach Double Concerto, George Frideric Handel's Sarabande from the Keyboard Suite in D minor (HWV 448, HG II/ii/4), and Franz Schubert's German Dance No. 1 in C major, Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat, and Impromptu No. 1 in C minor. The music was conducted and adapted by Leonard Rosenman, for which he won an Oscar.

The pace of Kubrick's work slowed considerably after Barry Lyndon, and he did not make another film for five years. The Shining, released in 1980, was adapted from the novel of the same name by bestselling horror writer Stephen King. The film starred Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a failed writer who takes a job as an off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a high-class resort deep in the Colorado mountains. The job requires spending the winter in the isolated hotel with his wife, Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and their young son, Danny, who is gifted with a form of telepathy—the "shining" of the film's title.

As winter takes hold, the family's isolation deepens, and the demons and ghosts of the Overlook Hotel's dark past begin to awake. The hotel displays increasingly horrible, phantasmagoric images to Danny. Meanwhile, Jack is slowly driven mad by the haunted surroundings until he finally collapses into homicidal psychosis.
Documentary short films

    * Day of the Fight (1951)
    * Flying Padre (1951)
    * The Seafarers (1953)

Feature films

Year Title Awards
1953 Fear and Desire
1955 Killer's Kiss
1956 The Killing Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Film from Any Source
1957 Paths of Glory Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Film from Any Source
1960 Spartacus Nominated for 6 Oscars, Won 4: Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Original Score
Nominated for 6 Golden Globes, Won 1: Best Drama Picture, Best Drama Actor, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Supporting Actor
Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Film from Any Source
1962 Lolita Nominated for Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 5 Golden Globes, Won 1: Most Promising Newcomer – Female, Best Drama Actor, Best Drama Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor
Nominated for BAFTA Award: Best Actor
1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Nominated for 4 Oscars:Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 6 BAFTA Awards, Won 3: Best British Art Direction, Best British Film, Best Film from any Source, Best British Actor, Best British Screenplay, Best Foreign Actor
1968 2001: A Space Odyssey Nominated for 4 Oscars, Won 1 : Best Special Effects, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Original Screenplay
Nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards, Won 3: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Track, Best Film
1971 A Clockwork Orange Nominated for 4 Oscars: Best Director, Best Editing, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 3 Golden Globes: Best Director, Best Drama Picture, Best Drama Actor
Nominated for 7 BAFTA Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Film, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Track
Won 2 recognitions by The New York Film Critics: Best Director, Best Picture
1975 Barry Lyndon Nominated for 7 Oscars, Won 4: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for 2 Golden Globes: Best Director, Best Drama Picture
Nominated for 5 BAFTA Awards, Won 2: Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film
1980 The Shining
1987 Full Metal Jacket Nominated for Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated for Golden Globe: Best Supporting Actor
Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards: Best Sound, Best Special Effects
1999 Eyes Wide Shut Nominated for Golden Globe: Best Original Score

This chart is limited to the Oscars, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs.

Kubrick has also been nominated for and won awards from various societies of film critics, film festivals, and both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

In the science fiction world, Kubrick has three times won the especially coveted Hugo Award, a prized mainly for print writing and only secondarily for drama production. He also received four nominations (with one win) of the sci-fi-film-oriented Saturn awards from the Academy of Science Fiction for The Shining, an award that did not exist when Kubrick won his three Hugos.

The least honored of Kubrick's films since 1956's The Killing is 1980's The Shining, which garnered only the above-mentioned four nominations (with one win) for Saturn awards. In addition, The Shining is the only Stanley Kubrick film ever to be nominated for any of the notorious Razzies for worst film element. It was nominated for two.
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/pauerboys/stanley_kubrick.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg131/malasuerte_bucket/stanley_kubrick.jpg


* please note there is a lot more about Stanley Kubrick in Wikipedia*
My favourite film director and I did not realise till now that to is the date he died.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/07/10 at 6:45 am

http://poorrichkids.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/shattered_glass2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/07/10 at 6:51 am


My favourite film director and I did not realise till now that to is the date he died.

There is so much about his great works that it was hard getting under the word limit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/07/10 at 6:59 am


There is so much about his great works that it was hard getting under the word limit.
A great movie director, with not many films to his name. If he had made plenty of films, he would just become ordinary.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/08/10 at 4:27 am

British Person of the Day: Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame (8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows (1908), one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films.

His Life

Grahame was born on 8 March 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland but in early childhood, after his mother died and his father began to drink heavily, he moved with his younger sister to live with his grandmother on the banks of the River Thames in the Berkshire village of Cookham in southern England. He was an outstanding pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford and wanted to attend Oxford University but was not allowed to do so by his guardian on grounds of cost. Instead he was sent to work at the Bank of England in 1879, and rose through the ranks until retiring as its Secretary in 1908 due to ill health. In addition to ill health, Grahame's retirement was precipitated in 1903 by a strange, possibly political, shooting incident at the bank. Grahame was shot at three times, all of them missed.

Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899, but the marriage was not a happy one. They had only one child, a boy named Alastair (whose nickname was "Mouse") born blind in one eye and plagued by health problems throughout his short life. Alastair eventually committed suicide on a railway track while an undergraduate at Oxford University, two days before his 20th birthday on 7 May 1920. Out of respect for Kenneth Grahame, Alastair's demise was recorded as an accidental death.

Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire in 1932. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. Grahame's cousin Anthony Hope, also a successful author, wrote his epitaph, which reads: "To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time".

Works

While still a young man, Grahame began to publish light stories in London periodicals such as the St. James Gazette. Some of these stories were collected and published as Pagan Papers in 1893, and, two years later, The Golden Age. These were followed by Dream Days in 1898, which contains The Reluctant Dragon.

There is a ten-year gap between Grahame's penultimate book and the publication of his triumph, The Wind in the Willows. During this decade Grahame became a father. The wayward headstrong nature he saw in his little son Alistair (also known as "Mouse") he transformed into the swaggering Mr. Toad, one of its four principal characters. Despite its success, he never attempted a sequel; in the 1990s William Horwood began writing a series of sequels. The book was a hit and is still enjoyed by adults and children today, whether in book form or in the films, while Toad remains one of the most celebrated and beloved characters of the book.

Bibliography

    * Pagan Papers (1893)
    * The Golden Age (1895)
    * Dream Days (1898)
          * Including The Reluctant Dragon (1898)
    * The Headswoman (1898)
    * The Wind in the Willows (1908)

http://www.borderlandsbooks.com/images/books/24140_669.jpg

http://litbirthdays.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/kenneth-grahame.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/08/10 at 5:29 am

The word of the day...Frost
When there is frost or a frost, the temperature outside falls below freezing point and the ground becomes covered in ice crystals
When someone says that there are a particular number of degrees of frost they mean that the temperature is that number of degrees below freezing point.
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac225/blake_4533/IMGP1073.jpg
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac225/blake_4533/IMGP1067.jpg
http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac284/burnsidetreacle2/IMGP1079.jpg
http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww198/Meeshellz41/IMG_7093.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l104/xortin/IMG00016.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q98/graywolf78/Ute%20Pass%20House%20Pics/P1010384.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/08/10 at 5:32 am


British Person of the Day: Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame (8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows (1908), one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films.

His Life

Grahame was born on 8 March 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland but in early childhood, after his mother died and his father began to drink heavily, he moved with his younger sister to live with his grandmother on the banks of the River Thames in the Berkshire village of Cookham in southern England. He was an outstanding pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford and wanted to attend Oxford University but was not allowed to do so by his guardian on grounds of cost. Instead he was sent to work at the Bank of England in 1879, and rose through the ranks until retiring as its Secretary in 1908 due to ill health. In addition to ill health, Grahame's retirement was precipitated in 1903 by a strange, possibly political, shooting incident at the bank. Grahame was shot at three times, all of them missed.

Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899, but the marriage was not a happy one. They had only one child, a boy named Alastair (whose nickname was "Mouse") born blind in one eye and plagued by health problems throughout his short life. Alastair eventually committed suicide on a railway track while an undergraduate at Oxford University, two days before his 20th birthday on 7 May 1920. Out of respect for Kenneth Grahame, Alastair's demise was recorded as an accidental death.

Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire in 1932. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford. Grahame's cousin Anthony Hope, also a successful author, wrote his epitaph, which reads: "To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time".

Works

While still a young man, Grahame began to publish light stories in London periodicals such as the St. James Gazette. Some of these stories were collected and published as Pagan Papers in 1893, and, two years later, The Golden Age. These were followed by Dream Days in 1898, which contains The Reluctant Dragon.

There is a ten-year gap between Grahame's penultimate book and the publication of his triumph, The Wind in the Willows. During this decade Grahame became a father. The wayward headstrong nature he saw in his little son Alistair (also known as "Mouse") he transformed into the swaggering Mr. Toad, one of its four principal characters. Despite its success, he never attempted a sequel; in the 1990s William Horwood began writing a series of sequels. The book was a hit and is still enjoyed by adults and children today, whether in book form or in the films, while Toad remains one of the most celebrated and beloved characters of the book.

Bibliography

    * Pagan Papers (1893)
    * The Golden Age (1895)
    * Dream Days (1898)
          * Including The Reluctant Dragon (1898)
    * The Headswoman (1898)
    * The Wind in the Willows (1908)

http://www.borderlandsbooks.com/images/books/24140_669.jpg

http://litbirthdays.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/kenneth-grahame.jpg

Thanks Phil, it's been a long time since I read The Wind In The Willows :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/08/10 at 5:35 am

The person born on this day...Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an Irish-American actor. Quinn was born in Rockford, Illinois to devoutly Catholic Irish parents. He was raised in Chicago and Rockford, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His father was a professor in literature and his mother was a homemaker. He has three brothers and a sister. His older brother, Declan Quinn, is a noted cinematographer. Though a roofer by trade, Quinn got his start in the Chicago theater at age 19. He trained at the Piven Theatre Workshop.
Career

His first significant film role was in Reckless, followed by a breakthrough role in Desperately Seeking Susan as the character "Dez" (the love interest of the character played by Rosanna Arquette). Quinn next starred in the controversial TV movie An Early Frost, about a young lawyer dying of AIDS (it was broadcast on NBC on November 11, 1985) and co-starred such luminaries as Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara and Sylvia Sidney. He received his first Emmy Award nomination for the role which allowed him to gain recognition in Hollywood.

In 1988 Quinn lost the role of Jesus Christ when Paramount Pictures dropped the controversial Martin Scorsese movie The Last Temptation of Christ. When Universal Pictures picked up the film, the role went to Willem Dafoe. In meantime, Quinn recited in a role as protagonist in the film Crusoe, finished in 1989.

During the 1990s Quinn's career grew immensely. He found work alongside such Hollywood stars as Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall, Johnny Depp in Benny & Joon, Robert Duvall in The Handmaid's Tale and Sir John Gielgud in Haunted. He continually starred in films that allowed him to return to his Irish roots, such as Michael Collins, Song for a Raggy Boy and Evelyn

In 2000, Quinn portrayed Paul McCartney in the VH1 television drama, Two of Us. He later met McCartney at a hotel, and they became good friends. Quinn was able to gain his first regular television role as the lead in the short lived, and controversial NBC drama The Book of Daniel, in 2006 before being canceled after the first three weeks of its run. In 2007, Quinn received his second Emmy nomination for the television movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Personal life

Quinn is married to the actress Elizabeth Bracco, sister of actress Lorraine Bracco. The two met in 1984 at a restaurant and later co-starred in Stakeout. They married in 1987 and have two daughters, one diagnosed with autism. The other has been confirmed to appear as a ghost in The Eclipse.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Reckless Johnny Rourke
1985 Desperately Seeking Susan Dez
1986 The Mission Felipe Mendoza
1987 Stakeout Richard 'Stick' Montgomery
1989 Crusoe Crusoe
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Nick
The Lemon Sisters Frankie McGuinness
Avalon Jules Kaye
1991 At Play in the Fields of the Lord Martin Quarrier
1992 The Playboys Tom Casey
1993 Benny & Joon Benjamin 'Benny' Pearl
1994 Blink Det. John Hallstrom
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Capt. Robert Walton
Legends of the Fall Alfred Ludlow
1995 The Stars Fell on Henrietta Don Day
Haunted Prof. David Ash
1996 Looking for Richard Richmond
Michael Collins Harry Boland
1997 Commandments Seth Warner
The Assignment Lt. Cmdr. Annibal Ramirez/Carlos
1998 This Is My Father Kieran O'Day
Practical Magic Officer Gary Hallet Blockbuster Entertainment Award (nominated)
1999 In Dreams Paul Cooper
Music of the Heart Brian Turner
2000 Songcatcher Tom Bledsoe Sundance Film Festival Award (won)
2002 Stolen Summer Joe O'Malley
Evelyn Nick Barron
2003 Song for a Raggy Boy William Franklin
2004 Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius Harry Vardon
Shadow of Fear Detective Scofield
Return to Sender Frank Nitzche IFTA Awards (nominated-4Xs)
Proud Commodore Alfred Lind
2005 Nine Lives Henry Gotham Awards (nominated)
2007 Dark Matter Reiser
32A Frank Brennan
2008 Wild Child Gerry
2009 A Shine of Rainbows Alec
The Eclipse Nicholas Holden
The 5th Quarter Steven Abbate
Handsome Harry Porter
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985 An Early Frost Michael Pierson NBC TV-Movie

Emmy Award (nominated)
1987 All My Sons Chris Keller TV-Movie
1989 Perfect Witness Sam Paxton HBO TV-Movie
1991 Lies of the Twins James McEwan/Jonathan McEwan TV-Movie
1992 A Private Matter Bob Finkbine HBO TV-Movie
1997 Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone Henry Morton Stanley TV-Movie
2000 See You in My Dreams Joe F. Brown TV-Movie
The Prince and the Pauper Miles Hendon TV-Movie
Two of Us Paul McCartney VH1 TV-Movie
2001 Night Visions Jeremy Bell Episode: The Passenger List
2003 Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor Gen. Benedict Arnold A&E TV-Movie
2004 Plainsong Tom Guthrie CBS TV-Movie
Cavedweller Clint Windsor Showtime Network TV-Movie

Independent Spirit Award (nominated)
Miracle Run Douglas Thomas Lifetime Movie Network TV-Movie
2005 The Exonerated Kerry CourtTV TV-Movie
Empire Falls David Roby HBO Miniseries
Mayday John Berry CBS TV-Movie
2004 - 2005 Third Watch Lieutenant John Miller Episode: Alone Again, Naturally
Episode: Last Will and Testament
Episode: The Hunter, Hunted
Episode: The Greatest Detectives
Episode: Goodbye to Camelot
2006 The Book of Daniel Daniel Webster
2007 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Henry L. Dawes HBO TV-Movie

Emmy Award (nominated)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Ben Nicholson Episode: Savant
2008 Canterbury's Law Matthew "Matt" Furey
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a104/outlander_casting/Dougal/quinnaid.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/AidanQuinn.jpg
http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/ss266/thecityhp/A%20Page/aidanquinn.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/08/10 at 5:43 am

The person who died on this day...Adam Faith
Terence (Terry) Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith (23 June 1940, East Acton, London – 8 March 2003, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) was an English singer, actor and financial journalist. Teen idol turned top actor then financial wizard, Faith was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5. He was also one of the first UK acts to record original songs regularly  Terence Terry Nelhams-Wright was born at 4 Churchfield Road, Acton, London. He was unaware his surname was Nelhams-Wright until he applied for a passport and obtained his birth certificate. He was known as Terry Nelhams. The third in a family of five children, Nelhams grew up in a council house in a working class area of London, where he attended John Perryn Junior school. He started work at 12, delivering and selling newspapers while still at school. His first full-time job was odd-job boy for a silk screen printer.
Music career

Faith became one of Britain's significant early pop stars. At the time, he was distinctive for his hiccupping glottal stops and exaggerated pronunciation. He did not write his own material, and much of his early success was through partnership with songwriter Les Vandyke and John Barry, whose arrangements were inspired by Don Costa's pizzicato arrangements for Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore".

Faith began his musical career in 1957, while working as a film cutter in London in the hope of becoming an actor, singing with and managing a skiffle group, The Worried Men. The group played in Soho coffee bars after work, and became the resident band at The 2i's Coffee Bar, where they appeared on the BBC Television live music programme Six-Five Special. The producer, Jack Good, was impressed by the singer and arranged a solo recording contract with HMV under the name Adam Faith.

His debut record "(Got a) Heartsick Feeling" and "Brother Heartache and Sister Tears" in January 1958, failed to make the charts. Good gave him a part in the stage show of Six-Five Special, along with The John Barry Seven but the show folded after four performances. His second release later that year was a cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential", backed with the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned "Country Music Holiday", but this also failed.

Faith returned to work as a film cutter at National Studios at Elstree until March 1959, when Barry invited him to audition for a BBC TV rock and roll show, Drumbeat. The producer, Stewart Morris, gave him a contract for three shows, extended to the full 22-week run. His contract with HMV had ended, and he sang one track, "I Vibrate", on a six-track EP released by the Fontana record label. Barry's manager, Eve Taylor, got him a contract with Top Rank, but his only record there, "Ah, Poor Little Baby" / "Runk Bunk" produced by Tony Hatch, failed to chart due to a lack of publicity caused by a national printing strike.

Despite the failure, Faith was becoming popular through television appearances. He became an actor by taking drama and elocution lessons, and appeared as a pop singer in the film, Beat Girl. The script called for Faith to sing a songs, and as Barry was arranging Faith's recordings and live Drumbeat material, the film company asked him to write the score. This was the beginning of Barry's career in film music.

Faith's success on Drumbeat enabled another recording contract with Parlophone. His next record in 1959, "What Do You Want?", written by Les Vandyke and produced by Barry and John Burgess, received good reviews in the NME and other papers, as well as being voted a hit on Juke Box Jury. This became his first number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, and his pronounciation of the word 'baby' as 'bay-beh' became a catch phrase.

"What Do You Want?" was the first number one hit for Parlophone, Faith the only pop act on the label.

With songs like "Poor Me" (another chart topper),"Someone Else's Baby" (a UK #2) and "Don't That Beat All", he established himself as a rival to Cliff Richard in British popular music.

A UK variety tour was followed by a 12-week season at Blackpool Hippodrome and an appearance on the Royal Variety Show.

His next release was a double A-side single, "Made You" / "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", Both made the Top Ten, despite a BBC ban for "Made You" for 'a lewd and salacious lyric'. His 1960 novelty record "Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop"), to coincide with his Christmas pantomime, gained a silver disc.

His debut album Adam was released on 4 November 1960 to critical acclaim for the inventiveness of Barry's arrangements and Faith's own performances. The material ranged from standards such as "Summertime", "Hit The Road To Dreamland" and "Singin' In The Rain" to more contemporary songs, such as Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman's "I'm A Man", Johnny Worth's "Fare Thee Well My Pretty Maid", and Howard Guyton's "Wonderful Time".

Still 20 and living with his parents, he bought a house in Hampton Court for £6000, where he moved with his family from their house in Acton. In December 1960 he became the first pop artist to appear on the TV interview series Face to Face with John Freeman.

Faith made six further albums and 35 singles, with a total of 24 chart entries. In the early 1960s, Faith's backing group was The Roulettes.
Film and television career

Faith's teen pop became less popular in the mid-1960s in competition from The Beatles. After a final single in 1968 he parted company with EMI and concentrated on acting. While a musician he had appeared in films such as Beat Girl (1961), Never Let Go, and television dramas such as the Rediffusion/ITV series, No Hiding Place but now he concentrated on repertory theatre. After a number of small parts, he was given a more substantial role in Night Must Fall, playing opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In autumn 1969 he took the lead in a touring production of Billy Liar.

In the 1970s, he went into music management, managing Leo Sayer among others.

He starred as the eponymous hero in the 1970s television series Budgie (LWT/ITV), about an ex-convict, but his career declined after a motorcycle accident in which he almost lost a leg. He restarted with a role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex, in Stardust. He was nominated for a BAFTA award. In 1980 he starred with Roger Daltrey in McVicar and appeared with Jodie Foster in Foxes.

He played the role of James Crane in the 1985 TV movie Minder on the Orient Express - part of the Minder franchise.

From 1992 to 1994, Faith appeared in another TV series, Love Hurts starring with Zoe Wanamaker, and in 2002 he appeared in the BBC series, The House That Jack Built. In 2003, Faith appeared in an episode of Murder in Mind.
Later years

He married Jackie Irving in 1967 and they had one daughter Katya Faith who became a television producer. In 1986, he was hired as a financial journalist, by the Daily Mail and its sister paper The Mail on Sunday.

In 1985, he appeared on a BBC Radio 2 tribute programme to James Dean, written and presented by Terence Pettigrew. You're Tearing Me Apart was aired on the 30th anniversary of Dean's death. Dean had been his idol, and the film Rebel Without A Cause had inspired the teenage Faith to become a singer and actor. "That movie changed my life", he admitted on the programme, which was produced by Harry Thompson, who later found fame as the originator and long-time producer of BBC TV's award-winning Have I Got News For You

Faith had heart problems since 1986, when he had open heart surgery.

In the 1980s, Faith became a financial investments advisor. He had a financial involvement with television's 'Money Channel'. But the channel proved unsuccessful and closed in 2001. Faith was declared bankrupt owing a reported £32 million. He also advised and invested monies for Michael Winner via Sir Nicholas Goodison and also with Roger Levitt's financial group. However, both these investments lost money.

He became ill after his stage performance in the touring production of Love And Marriage at Stoke-on-Trent on the Friday evening, and died at North Staffordshire Hospital of a heart attack early on Saturday, 8 March 2003.

British tabloid newspapers reported his last words as "Channel Five is all sheesh, isn't it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It's a waste of space". Although it is not certain these were his words, it has become an urban myth.
Discography
Singles
Year Title UK Singles Chart
1958 "(Got A) Heartsick Feeling" -
1958 "Country Music Holiday" -
1959 "Ah, Poor Little Baby!" -
1959 "What Do You Want?" #1
1960 "Poor Me" #1
1960 "Someone Else's Baby" #2
1960 "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"/
"Made You" #5
1960 "How About That!" #4
1960 "Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop)" #4
1961 "Who Am I!" / "This is It!" #5
1961 "Easy Going Me" #12
1961 "Don't You Know It?" #12
1961 "The Time Has Come" #4
1962 "Lonesome" #12
1962 "As You Like It" #5
1962 "Don't That Beat All" #8
1962 "Baby Take a Bow" #22
1963 "What Now" #31
1963 "Walkin' Tall" #23
1963 "The First Time" #5
1963 "We Are in Love" #11
1964 "If He Tells You" #25
1964 "I Love Being in Love with You" #33
1964 "Only One Such as You" -
1964 "A Message to Martha (Kentucky Bluebird)" #12
1965 "Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself" #23
1965 "Hand Me Down Things" -
1965 "Someone's Taken Maria Away" #34
1965 "I Don't Need that Kind of Lovin'" -
1966 "Idle Gossip" -
1966 "To Make a Big Man Cry" -
1966 "Cheryl's Goin' Home" #46
1967 "What More Can Anyone Do?" -
1967 "Cowman, Milk Your Cow" -
1967 "To Hell With Love" -
1968 "You Make My Life Worth While" -
1974 "I Survive" -
1974 "Maybe" -
1974 "I Believe in Love" -
1975 "Strung Out Again"/
"Steppin' Stone" -
1976 "Vindictive Attack" -
1978 "What Do You Want?"/
"Poor Me" -
1983 "What Do You Want?"/
"How About That!" -
1993 "Stuck in the Middle" -
Albums



    * Adam (Parlophone) (1960) - UK Number 6
    * Beat Girl (film soundtrack) (Columbia) (1961) - UK Number 11
    * Adam Faith (Parlophone) (1962) - UK Number 20
    * From Adam with Love
    * For You - Love Adam
    * On the Move
    * Faith Alive (Parlophone) (1965) - UK Number 19
    * I Survived
    * Midnight Postcards (PolyGram) (1993) - UK Number 43

Compilation albums



    * The Best of Adam Faith (Starline) (1966)
    * The Best of Adam Faith (MFP) (1971)
    * 24 Golden Greats (Warwick) (1981) - UK Number 61
    * Not Just A Memory (Amy Records) (1983)
    * The Best of Adam Faith (re-issue) (MFP) (1985)
    * The Best of Adam Faith (second re-issue) (MFP) (1989)
    * The Singles Collection (Greatest Hits) (1990)
    * The Best of EMI Years (1994)
    * The Very Best of Adam Faith (MFP/EMI) (1997)
    * Greatest Hits (EMI Gold) (1998)
    * The Very Best of Adam Faith (EMI) (2005)
    * All The Hits (EMI Gold) (2009)
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/crucialmusic/AdamFaithLPback-1.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/AdamFaith1.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/Oldmansteds/AdamFaith.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/08/10 at 6:45 am


The word of the day...Frost
When there is frost or a frost, the temperature outside falls below freezing point and the ground becomes covered in ice crystals
When someone says that there are a particular number of degrees of frost they mean that the temperature is that number of degrees below freezing point.
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac225/blake_4533/IMGP1073.jpg
http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac225/blake_4533/IMGP1067.jpg
http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac284/burnsidetreacle2/IMGP1079.jpg
http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww198/Meeshellz41/IMG_7093.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l104/xortin/IMG00016.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q98/graywolf78/Ute%20Pass%20House%20Pics/P1010384.jpg


I love frost on a cold winter's morning.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/08/10 at 4:29 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuJDmjq-xQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/08/10 at 7:23 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuJDmjq-xQ


I used to watch that on winter evenings.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/09/10 at 12:57 am


The person who died on this day...Adam Faith
Terence (Terry) Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith (23 June 1940, East Acton, London – 8 March 2003, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) was an English singer, actor and financial journalist. Teen idol turned top actor then financial wizard, Faith was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5. He was also one of the first UK acts to record original songs regularly  Terence Terry Nelhams-Wright was born at 4 Churchfield Road, Acton, London. He was unaware his surname was Nelhams-Wright until he applied for a passport and obtained his birth certificate. He was known as Terry Nelhams. The third in a family of five children, Nelhams grew up in a council house in a working class area of London, where he attended John Perryn Junior school. He started work at 12, delivering and selling newspapers while still at school. His first full-time job was odd-job boy for a silk screen printer.
Music career

Faith became one of Britain's significant early pop stars. At the time, he was distinctive for his hiccupping glottal stops and exaggerated pronunciation. He did not write his own material, and much of his early success was through partnership with songwriter Les Vandyke and John Barry, whose arrangements were inspired by Don Costa's pizzicato arrangements for Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore".

Faith began his musical career in 1957, while working as a film cutter in London in the hope of becoming an actor, singing with and managing a skiffle group, The Worried Men. The group played in Soho coffee bars after work, and became the resident band at The 2i's Coffee Bar, where they appeared on the BBC Television live music programme Six-Five Special. The producer, Jack Good, was impressed by the singer and arranged a solo recording contract with HMV under the name Adam Faith.

His debut record "(Got a) Heartsick Feeling" and "Brother Heartache and Sister Tears" in January 1958, failed to make the charts. Good gave him a part in the stage show of Six-Five Special, along with The John Barry Seven but the show folded after four performances. His second release later that year was a cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential", backed with the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned "Country Music Holiday", but this also failed.

Faith returned to work as a film cutter at National Studios at Elstree until March 1959, when Barry invited him to audition for a BBC TV rock and roll show, Drumbeat. The producer, Stewart Morris, gave him a contract for three shows, extended to the full 22-week run. His contract with HMV had ended, and he sang one track, "I Vibrate", on a six-track EP released by the Fontana record label. Barry's manager, Eve Taylor, got him a contract with Top Rank, but his only record there, "Ah, Poor Little Baby" / "Runk Bunk" produced by Tony Hatch, failed to chart due to a lack of publicity caused by a national printing strike.

Despite the failure, Faith was becoming popular through television appearances. He became an actor by taking drama and elocution lessons, and appeared as a pop singer in the film, Beat Girl. The script called for Faith to sing a songs, and as Barry was arranging Faith's recordings and live Drumbeat material, the film company asked him to write the score. This was the beginning of Barry's career in film music.

Faith's success on Drumbeat enabled another recording contract with Parlophone. His next record in 1959, "What Do You Want?", written by Les Vandyke and produced by Barry and John Burgess, received good reviews in the NME and other papers, as well as being voted a hit on Juke Box Jury. This became his first number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, and his pronounciation of the word 'baby' as 'bay-beh' became a catch phrase.

"What Do You Want?" was the first number one hit for Parlophone, Faith the only pop act on the label.

With songs like "Poor Me" (another chart topper),"Someone Else's Baby" (a UK #2) and "Don't That Beat All", he established himself as a rival to Cliff Richard in British popular music.

A UK variety tour was followed by a 12-week season at Blackpool Hippodrome and an appearance on the Royal Variety Show.

His next release was a double A-side single, "Made You" / "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", Both made the Top Ten, despite a BBC ban for "Made You" for 'a lewd and salacious lyric'. His 1960 novelty record "Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop"), to coincide with his Christmas pantomime, gained a silver disc.

His debut album Adam was released on 4 November 1960 to critical acclaim for the inventiveness of Barry's arrangements and Faith's own performances. The material ranged from standards such as "Summertime", "Hit The Road To Dreamland" and "Singin' In The Rain" to more contemporary songs, such as Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman's "I'm A Man", Johnny Worth's "Fare Thee Well My Pretty Maid", and Howard Guyton's "Wonderful Time".

Still 20 and living with his parents, he bought a house in Hampton Court for £6000, where he moved with his family from their house in Acton. In December 1960 he became the first pop artist to appear on the TV interview series Face to Face with John Freeman.

Faith made six further albums and 35 singles, with a total of 24 chart entries. In the early 1960s, Faith's backing group was The Roulettes.
Film and television career

Faith's teen pop became less popular in the mid-1960s in competition from The Beatles. After a final single in 1968 he parted company with EMI and concentrated on acting. While a musician he had appeared in films such as Beat Girl (1961), Never Let Go, and television dramas such as the Rediffusion/ITV series, No Hiding Place but now he concentrated on repertory theatre. After a number of small parts, he was given a more substantial role in Night Must Fall, playing opposite Dame Sybil Thorndike. In autumn 1969 he took the lead in a touring production of Billy Liar.

In the 1970s, he went into music management, managing Leo Sayer among others.

He starred as the eponymous hero in the 1970s television series Budgie (LWT/ITV), about an ex-convict, but his career declined after a motorcycle accident in which he almost lost a leg. He restarted with a role as the manipulative manager of rock star David Essex, in Stardust. He was nominated for a BAFTA award. In 1980 he starred with Roger Daltrey in McVicar and appeared with Jodie Foster in Foxes.

He played the role of James Crane in the 1985 TV movie Minder on the Orient Express - part of the Minder franchise.

From 1992 to 1994, Faith appeared in another TV series, Love Hurts starring with Zoe Wanamaker, and in 2002 he appeared in the BBC series, The House That Jack Built. In 2003, Faith appeared in an episode of Murder in Mind.
Later years

He married Jackie Irving in 1967 and they had one daughter Katya Faith who became a television producer. In 1986, he was hired as a financial journalist, by the Daily Mail and its sister paper The Mail on Sunday.

In 1985, he appeared on a BBC Radio 2 tribute programme to James Dean, written and presented by Terence Pettigrew. You're Tearing Me Apart was aired on the 30th anniversary of Dean's death. Dean had been his idol, and the film Rebel Without A Cause had inspired the teenage Faith to become a singer and actor. "That movie changed my life", he admitted on the programme, which was produced by Harry Thompson, who later found fame as the originator and long-time producer of BBC TV's award-winning Have I Got News For You

Faith had heart problems since 1986, when he had open heart surgery.

In the 1980s, Faith became a financial investments advisor. He had a financial involvement with television's 'Money Channel'. But the channel proved unsuccessful and closed in 2001. Faith was declared bankrupt owing a reported £32 million. He also advised and invested monies for Michael Winner via Sir Nicholas Goodison and also with Roger Levitt's financial group. However, both these investments lost money.

He became ill after his stage performance in the touring production of Love And Marriage at Stoke-on-Trent on the Friday evening, and died at North Staffordshire Hospital of a heart attack early on Saturday, 8 March 2003.

British tabloid newspapers reported his last words as "Channel Five is all sheesh, isn't it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It's a waste of space". Although it is not certain these were his words, it has become an urban myth.
Discography
Singles
Year Title UK Singles Chart
1958 "(Got A) Heartsick Feeling" -
1958 "Country Music Holiday" -
1959 "Ah, Poor Little Baby!" -
1959 "What Do You Want?" #1
1960 "Poor Me" #1
1960 "Someone Else's Baby" #2
1960 "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"/
"Made You" #5
1960 "How About That!" #4
1960 "Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop)" #4
1961 "Who Am I!" / "This is It!" #5
1961 "Easy Going Me" #12
1961 "Don't You Know It?" #12
1961 "The Time Has Come" #4
1962 "Lonesome" #12
1962 "As You Like It" #5
1962 "Don't That Beat All" #8
1962 "Baby Take a Bow" #22
1963 "What Now" #31
1963 "Walkin' Tall" #23
1963 "The First Time" #5
1963 "We Are in Love" #11
1964 "If He Tells You" #25
1964 "I Love Being in Love with You" #33
1964 "Only One Such as You" -
1964 "A Message to Martha (Kentucky Bluebird)" #12
1965 "Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself" #23
1965 "Hand Me Down Things" -
1965 "Someone's Taken Maria Away" #34
1965 "I Don't Need that Kind of Lovin'" -
1966 "Idle Gossip" -
1966 "To Make a Big Man Cry" -
1966 "Cheryl's Goin' Home" #46
1967 "What More Can Anyone Do?" -
1967 "Cowman, Milk Your Cow" -
1967 "To Hell With Love" -
1968 "You Make My Life Worth While" -
1974 "I Survive" -
1974 "Maybe" -
1974 "I Believe in Love" -
1975 "Strung Out Again"/
"Steppin' Stone" -
1976 "Vindictive Attack" -
1978 "What Do You Want?"/
"Poor Me" -
1983 "What Do You Want?"/
"How About That!" -
1993 "Stuck in the Middle" -
Albums



    * Adam (Parlophone) (1960) - UK Number 6
    * Beat Girl (film soundtrack) (Columbia) (1961) - UK Number 11
    * Adam Faith (Parlophone) (1962) - UK Number 20
    * From Adam with Love
    * For You - Love Adam
    * On the Move
    * Faith Alive (Parlophone) (1965) - UK Number 19
    * I Survived
    * Midnight Postcards (PolyGram) (1993) - UK Number 43

Compilation albums



    * The Best of Adam Faith (Starline) (1966)
    * The Best of Adam Faith (MFP) (1971)
    * 24 Golden Greats (Warwick) (1981) - UK Number 61
    * Not Just A Memory (Amy Records) (1983)
    * The Best of Adam Faith (re-issue) (MFP) (1985)
    * The Best of Adam Faith (second re-issue) (MFP) (1989)
    * The Singles Collection (Greatest Hits) (1990)
    * The Best of EMI Years (1994)
    * The Very Best of Adam Faith (MFP/EMI) (1997)
    * Greatest Hits (EMI Gold) (1998)
    * The Very Best of Adam Faith (EMI) (2005)
    * All The Hits (EMI Gold) (2009)
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/crucialmusic/AdamFaithLPback-1.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/AdamFaith1.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/Oldmansteds/AdamFaith.jpg

For whatever reason, Adam faith never made it big in North America

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/09/10 at 12:58 am


For whatever reason, Adam faith never made it big in North America
Just like Cliff Rcihard, I believe?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/09/10 at 1:04 am


Just like Cliff Rcihard, I believe?

Yes, but at least Cliff had some hits in N.A, but not Adam.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/09/10 at 6:19 am

The word of the day...Caravan
A caravan is a vehicle without an engine that can be pulled by a car or van. It contains beds and cooking equipment so that people can live or spend their holidays in it.
A caravan is a group of people and animals or vehicles who travel together.
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab332/arellanotravels/Egypt10/caravan.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv190/tunnex/100_5512.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j236/stephen_tickell/midget_caravan.jpg
http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae346/IainM1970/New%20Caravan/EdinburghMarch2010002.jpg
http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy295/paramore723_photos/Egypt/161.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g178/Gwenvael/Aotearoa%20NZ%20Part%202/DSCN4063.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh184/pob7161/caravan.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/09/10 at 6:22 am

The person born on this day...Robin Trower
Robin Leonard Trower, known as Robin Trower (born 9 March 1945, Catford, South East London, England) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.
Trower grew up in the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England.

In 1962, Trower formed a group that came to be known as The Paramounts, later including fellow Southend High School pupil Gary Brooker. The Paramounts disbanded in 1966 to pursue individual projects. During this time, Trower created a local 3 piece Southend band called 'The Jam' - not to be confused with the later group with Paul Weller. Trower then joined Brooker's new band Procol Harum in 1967, with whom he remained until 1972. After going solo in 1971 (replaced in Procol Harum by Dave Ball), he found the individual identity and style that have brought him acclaim to this day.

Before launching his own eponymous band, he joined singer Frankie Miller, bass player James Dewar, and former Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker to form the short-lived combo Jude. Although this outfit played some well-received gigs, it did not record and soon split up.

Trower retained as bassist Dewar, who took on lead vocals as well, and recruited drummer Reg Isidore (later replaced by Bill Lordan) to form the Robin Trower Band in 1973.

Perhaps Trower's most famous album is Bridge of Sighs (1974). This album, along with his first and third solo albums, was produced by his former Procol Harum bandmate, organist Matthew Fisher. Despite differences, Trower's early power trio work was noted for Hendrixesque influences.

In 1977, feeling he had already proven himself as a performer, Trower ventured into new musical realms, as demonstrated by the release of the In City Dreams album. The 1978 release of Caravan to Midnight was in a different style from the rest of his earlier work, symbolising a change in direction for him. "I am spending much more time and energy and effort on writing and arranging the material," he said at the time, adding "I think music today is suffering greatly from a cleanness. It's too set, too pat, too clever, there's not enough spontaneity."

In the early 1980s, Trower teamed up with former Cream bassist Jack Bruce and his previous drummers Lordan and Isidore, for two albums, BLT (Bruce, Lordan, Trower) and Truce (Trower, Bruce, Isidore).

Trower's album, Living Out of Time (2003), features the return of veteran bandmates Dave Bronze on bass, vocalist Davey Pattison (formerly with Ronnie Montrose's band Gamma) and Pete Thompson on drums - the same lineup as the mid 1980s albums Passion and Take What You Need.

With the same bandmates Trower gave a concert on his 60th birthday in Bonn, Germany. The concert was recorded by the German television channel WDR. It was then released on DVD and subsequently on CD throughout Europe and later the US under the title Living Out Of Time: Live.

In 2007 Trower released a third recording with Jack Bruce, Seven Moons, featuring Gary Husband on drums.

Trower toured the United States and Canada in the summer and autumn of 2006. A 2008 world tour began in Ft. Pierce, Florida on 16 January 2008. Joining Davey Pattison and Pete Thompson was Glenn Letsch (formerly of Gamma) playing bass. European dates began in April. The 29 March 2008 show at the Royal Oak Music Theater in Royal Oak, Michigan was released as a double album on V12 Records.

On Friday, September 25, 2009, Trower was taken ill prior to his performance at the Palace Theater in Greensburg, Pa. An ambulance with paramedics was called to the theater to assist Trower. However, after a delay Trower, thanking the audience for its patience, performed a 90-minute set with his band, including an encore.
Equipment
Trower in 1975

Trower has been a long time proponent of the Fender Stratocaster. He currently uses his custom built Strat (made by the Fender Custom Shop) which comes in Black, Arctic White and Midnight Wine Burst. The guitar is equipped with a 1950s reissue pickup in the neck position, a 1960s reissue in the middle position, and a Texas Special at the bridge. Other features included a custom C-shaped maple neck featuring a large headstock with a Bullet truss-rod system, locking machine heads and a maple fingerboard with narrow-spaced abalone dot position inlays and 21 frets. The Strats he plays live are an exact model of his signature guitar, which is entirely unmodified. During live performances, his guitar is tuned a full step down, to a DGCFAD tuning, instead of the "standard" EADGBE tuning.

Trower is known to use anywhere from one to three 100-Watt Marshall heads with four to six cabinets on stage. Usually two JCM 800s, and a JCM 900. But, has also been known to link 100-Watt Marshall Plexi heads. It is not uncommon for Trower to play at very high volume levels through his rigs, even in relatively small venues, to achieve his desired tone. In studio sessions, Trower uses a mix of amplifiers, such as a Fender Blues Junior and Cornell Plexi Amplifers models to acquire different tonality. Recently, Trower has been using Marshall Vintage Modern 2466 heads live.

He has recently been using Fulltone pedals and effects. He favors the OCD, Distortion Pro, Fat Boost, CLYDE Deluxe Wah, Deja Vibe 2, Soul-Bender, and a BOSS Chromatic Tuner. He runs his Deja Vibe into his distortion pedal to get his famous tone. He was given his own signature Fulltone Robin Trower Overdrive in late 2008.

For his 2009 tour Robin was using his Fender Custom Shop Signature Stratocater into a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner, Fulltone Robin Trower Overdrive, Fulltone Full Drive, Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah, Fulltone Wahfull, and Fulltone DejaVibe 2 into two Marshall Vintage Modern 2466 heads.
Discography
With Procol Harum

    * 1967 Procol Harum
    * 1968 Shine on Brightly
    * 1969 A Salty Dog
    * 1970 Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About (members of Procol Harum, as Liquorice John Death)
    * 1970 Home
    * 1971 Broken Barricades
    * 1991 The Prodigal Stranger
    * 1995 The Long Goodbye

With Robin Trower Band

    * 1973 Twice Removed from Yesterday ----- Certified Gold by RIAA
    * 1974 Bridge of Sighs ----- Certified Gold by RIAA
    * 1975 For Earth Below ----- Certified Gold by RIAA
    * 1976 Robin Trower Live
    * 1976 Long Misty Days ----- Certified Gold by RIAA
    * 1977 In City Dreams ----- Certified Gold by RIAA
    * 1978 Caravan to Midnight
    * 1979 Victims of the Fury
    * 1983 Back It Up
    * 1985 Beyond the Mist
    * 1987 Passion
    * 1988 Take What You Need
    * 1990 In the Line of Fire
    * 1994 20th Century Blues
    * 1995 Live in Concert
    * 1996 In Concert
    * 1997 Someday Blues
    * 1999 This Was Now '74-'98
    * 2000 Go My Way
    * 2004 Living Out of Time
    * 2005 Living Out Of Time: Live (Note: Also available on DVD)
    * 2005 Another Days Blues
    * 2008 RT@RO.08
    * 2009 What Lies Beneath

With Bryan Ferry Band

    * 1993 Taxi (Bryan Ferry Band)
    * 2000 Mamouna (Ferry)
    * 2007 Dylanesque (Bryan Ferry Band)

With Jack Bruce

    * 1981 B.L.T.
    * 1982 Truce
    * 1989 No Stopping Anytime (compilation)
    * 2008 Seven Moons

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/BROTHERBOB1228/MUSIC/trower.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd213/mshootmonger/june20wgarrettrt2.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f113/sylvesterlowery/SN850831.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/09/10 at 6:27 am

The person who died on this day...George Burns
George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.

His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. He enjoyed a career resurrection with a new image as an amiable and unusually active old comedian that began at age 79 and ended shortly before his death at age 100.
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen was born into an Irish Catholic show business family and educated at Star of the Sea Convent School in San Francisco, California in girlhood. She began in vaudeville around 1909, teamed as an Irish-dance act, "The Four Colleens", with her sisters, Bessie, Hazel, and Pearl.

She met George Burns and the two immediately launched a new partnership, with Gracie playing the role of the "straight man" and George delivering the punchlines as the comedian. Burns knew something was wrong when the audience ignored his jokes but snickered at Gracie's questions. Burns cannily flipped the act around: After a Hoboken, New Jersey performance in which they tested the new style for the first time, Burns's hunch proved right. Gracie was the better 'laugh-getter', especially with the "illogical logic" that formed her responses to Burns's prompting comments or questions.

Allen's part was known in vaudeville as a "Dumb Dora" act, named after a very early film of the same name that featured a scatterbrained female protagonist, but her "illogical logic" style was several cuts above the Dumb Dora stereotype, as was Burns's understated straight man. The twosome worked the new style tirelessly on the road, building a following, as well as a reputation for being a reliable "disappointment act" (one that could fill in for another act on short notice). Burns and Allen were so consistently dependable that vaudeville bookers elevated them to the more secure "standard act" status, and finally to the vaudevillian's dream: the Palace Theatre in New York.

Burns wrote their early scripts, but was rarely credited with being such a brilliant comedy writer. He continued to write the act through vaudeville, films, radio, and, finally, television, first by himself, then with his brother Willie and a team of writers. The entire concept of the Burns and Allen characters, however, was one created and developed by Burns.

As the team toured in vaudeville, Burns found himself falling in love with Allen, who was engaged to another performer at the time. After several attempts to win her over, he finally succeeded (by accident) after making her cry at a Christmas party. She told a friend that "if George meant enough to her to make her cry she must be in love with him".

They were married in Cleveland, Ohio on January 7, 1926, somewhat daring for those times, considering Burns's Jewish and Allen's Irish Catholic upbringing. They adopted their daughter, Sandra, in 1934 and son, Ronnie, in 1935. (For her part, Allen also endeared herself to her in-laws by adopting his mother's favorite phrase, used whenever the older woman needed to bring her son back down to earth: "Nattie, you're such a Chuck," using a diminutive of his given name. When Burns's mother died, Allen comforted her grief-stricken husband with the same phrase.)

In later years Burns admitted that, following an argument over a pricey silver table centerpiece Allen wanted, he had a very brief affair with a Las Vegas showgirl. Stricken by guilt, he phoned Jack Benny and told him about the indiscretion. However, Allen overheard the conversation and Burns quietly bought the expensive centerpiece and nothing more was said. Years later, he discovered that Allen had told one of her friends about the episode finishing with "You know, I really wish George would cheat on me again. I could use a new centerpiece."
Stage to screen

Getting a start in motion pictures with a series of comic short films, their feature credits in the mid- to late-1930s included The Big Broadcast; International House (1933), Six of a Kind (1934), The Big Broadcast of 1936, The Big Broadcast of 1937, A Damsel in Distress (1937) in which they danced step for step with Fred Astaire, and College Swing (1938), in which Bob Hope made one of his early film appearances.

Burns and Allen were indirectly responsible for the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby series of "Road" pictures. In 1938, William LeBaron, producer and managing director at Paramount, had a script prepared by Don Hartman and Frank Butler. It was to star Burns and Allen with a young crooner named Bing Crosby. The story did not seem to fit the comedy team's style, so LeBaron ordered Hartman and Butler to rewrite the script to fit two male co-stars: Hope and Crosby. The script was titled Road to Singapore and it made motion picture history when it was released in 1940.
Radio stars

Burns and Allen first made it to radio as the comedy relief for bandleader Guy Lombardo, which did not always sit well with Lombardo's home audience. In his later memoir, The Third Time Around, Burns revealed a college fraternity's protest letter, complaining that they resented their weekly dance parties with their girl friends to "Thirty Minutes of the Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven" had to be broken into by the droll vaudeville team.

In time, though, Burns and Allen found their own show and radio audience, first airing on February 15, 1932 and concentrating on their classic stage routines plus sketch comedy in which the Burns and Allen style was woven into different little scenes, not unlike the short films they made in Hollywood. They were also good for a clever publicity stunt, none more so than the hunt for Gracie's missing brother, a hunt that included Gracie turning up on other radio shows searching for him as well.

The couple was portrayed at first as younger singles, with Allen the object of both Burns's and other cast members affections. Most notably, bandleaders Ray Noble (known for his phrase, "Gracie, this is the first time we've ever been alone") and Artie Shaw played "love" interests to Gracie. In addition, singer Tony Martin played an unwilling love interest of Gracie's, in which Gracie "sexually harassed" him, by threatening to fire him if the romantic interest wasn't returned. In time, however, due to slipping ratings and the difficulty of being portrayed as singles in light of the audience's close familiarity with their real-life marriage, the show adapted in 1940 to present them as the married couple they actually were. For a time, Burns and Allen had a rather distinguished and popular musical director: Artie Shaw, who also appeared as a character in some of the show's sketches. A somewhat different Gracie also marked this era, as the Gracie character could often found to be mean to George.

    George Your mother cut my face out of the picture.
    Gracie Oh George you're being sensitive.
    George I am not! Look at my face! What happened to it?
    Gracie I don't know; it looks like you fell on it.

Or

    Census Taker What do you make?
    Gracie I make cookies and aprons and knit sweaters.
    Census Taker No, I mean what do you earn?
    Gracie George's salary.

As this format grew stale over the years, Burns and his fellow writers redeveloped the show as a situation comedy in the fall of 1941. The reformat focused on the couple's married life and life among various friends, including Elvia Allman as "Tootsie Sagwell," a man-hungry spinster in love with Bill Goodwin, and neighbors, until the characters of Harry and Blanche Morton entered the picture to stay. Like The Jack Benny Program, the new George Burns & Gracie Allen Show portrayed George and Gracie as entertainers with their own weekly radio show. Goodwin remained, his character as "girl-crazy" as ever, and the music was now handled by Meredith Willson (later to be better known for composing the Broadway musical The Music Man). Willson also played himself on the show as a naive, friendly, girl-shy fellow. The new format's success made it one of the few classic radio comedies to completely re-invent itself and regain major fame.
Supporting players

The supporting cast during this phase included Mel Blanc as the melancholy, ironically named "Happy Postman" (his catchphrase was "Remember, keep smiling!"); Bea Benaderet (later Cousin Pearl in The Beverly Hillbillies and the voice of Betty Rubble in The Flintstones) and Hal March (later more famous as the host of The $64,000 Question) as neighbors Blanche and Harry Morton; and the various members of Gracie's ladies' club, the Beverly Hills Uplift Society. One running gag during this period, stretching into the television era, was Burns's questionable singing voice, as Gracie lovingly referred to her husband as "Sugar Throat." The show received and maintained a top ten rating for the rest of its radio life.
New network

The couple took the show to CBS in the fall of 1949, after having spent virtually their entire radio career to date on NBC. Their good friend Jack Benny reached a negotiating impasse with NBC over the corporation he set up ("Amusement Enterprises") to package his show, the better to put more of his earnings on a capital-gains basis and avoid the 80 percent taxes slapped on very high earners in the World War II period. When CBS executive William S. Paley convinced Benny to move to CBS (Paley, among other things, impressed Benny with his attitude that the performers make the network, not the other way around as NBC chief David Sarnoff reputedly believed), Benny in turn convinced several NBC stars to join him, including Burns and Allen. Thus did CBS reap the benefits when Burns and Allen moved to television in 1950.
Television

On television, The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show put faces to the radio characters audiences had come to love. A number of significant changes were seen in the show:

    * A parade of actors portrayed Harry Morton: Hal March, The Life Of Riley alumnus John Brown, veteran movie and television character actor Fred Clark, and future Mister Ed co-star Larry Keating.
    * Burns often broke the fourth wall, and chatted with the home audience, telling understated jokes and commenting wryly about what show characters were doing or undoing. In later shows, he would actually turn on a television and watch what the other characters were up to when he was off camera, then returned to foil the plot.
    * When announcer Bill Goodwin left after the first season, Burns hired veteran radio announcer Harry Von Zell to succeed him. Von Zell was cast as the good-natured, easily-confused Burns and Allen announcer and buddy. He also became one of the show's running gags, when his involvement in Gracie's harebrained ideas would get him fired at least once a week by Burns.
    * The first shows were simply a copy of the radio format, complete with lengthy and integrated commercials for sponsor Carnation Evaporated Milk by Goodwin. However, what worked well on radio appeared forced and plodding on television. The show was changed into the now-standard situation comedy format, with the commercials distinct from the plot.
    * Midway through the run of the television show the Burns' two adopted children, Sandra and Ronald, began to make appearances: Sandy as an occasional drama school classmate of Ronnie, and Ronnie himself as George and Gracie's son, who held his parents' comedy style in befuddled contempt and deemed it unsuitable to the "serious" drama student. In one episode, Ronnie and Sandy, in a plot centered around their school's staging a vaudeville-style show to raise money, performed a remarkable impersonation of their famous parents' stage and radio comedy routines.

Burns and Allen also took a cue from Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's Desilu Productions and formed a company of their own, McCadden Corporation (named after the street on which Burns's brother lived), headquartered on the General Service Studio lot in the heart of Hollywood, and set up to film television shows and commercials. Besides their own hit show (which made the transition from a bi-weekly live series to a weekly filmed version in the fall of 1952), the couple's company produced such television series as The Bob Cummings Show (subsequently syndicated and rerun as Love That Bob); The People's Choice, starring Jackie Cooper; Mona McClusky, starring Juliet Prowse; and Mister Ed, starring Alan Young and a talented "talking" horse. Several of their good friend Jack Benny's 1953-55 filmed episodes were also produced by McCadden for CBS.

George Burns appeared on the Muppet Show.
The George Burns Show

The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show ran on CBS Television from 1950 through 1958, when Burns at last consented to Allen's retirement. The onset of heart trouble in the early 1950s had left her exhausted from full-time work and she had been anxious to stop but couldn't say no to Burns.

Burns attempted to continue the show (for new sponsor Colgate-Palmolive on NBC), but without Allen to provide the classic Gracie-isms, the show expired after a year.
Wendy and Me

Burns subsequently created Wendy and Me, a situation comedy in which he co-starred with Connie Stevens, Ron Harper, and J. Pat O'Malley. Burns acted primarily as the narrator, and secondarily as the advisor to Stevens' Gracie-like character. The first episode involved the middle-aged Burns watching with amusement the activities of his young upstairs neighbor on his television set, apparently via hidden cameras, then breaking the fourth wall and commenting directly to viewers. The series only lasted a year. In a promotion, Burns had joked that "Connie Stevens plays Wendy, and I play 'me'."
Allen's death

After fighting a long battle with heart disease, Gracie Allen suffered a fatal heart attack in her home on August 27, 1964 at the age of 69. She was entombed in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. In his second book, They Still Love Me in Altoona, Burns wrote that he found it impossible to sleep after her death until he decided to sleep in the bed she used during her illness. He also visited her grave once a month, professing to talk to her about whatever he was doing at the time — including, he said, trying to decide whether he really should accept the Sunshine Boys role Jack Benny had to abandon because of his own failing health. He visited the tomb with Ed Bradley during a 60 Minutes interview on November 6, 1988.
The Sunshine Boys

After Gracie's death George immersed himself in work. McCadden Productions co-produced the television series No Time for Sergeants, based on the hit Broadway play; George also produced Juliet Prowse's 1965-'66 NBC situation comedy, Mona McCluskey. At the same time, he toured the U.S. playing nightclub and theater engagements with such diverse partners as Carol Channing, Dorothy Provine, Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Berle Davis. He also performed a series of solo concerts, playing university campuses, New York's Philharmonic Hall and winding up a successful season at Carnegie Hall, where he wowed a capacity audience with his show-stopping songs, dances, and jokes.

In 1974, Jack Benny signed to play one of the lead roles in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (Red Skelton was originally the other). Benny's health had begun to fail, however, and he advised his manager Irving Fein to let longtime friend Burns fill in for him on a series of nightclub dates to which Benny had committed around the U.S.

Burns, who enjoyed working, accepted the job. As he recalled years later:

    "The happiest people I know are the ones that are still working. The saddest are the ones who are retired. Very few performers retire on their own. It's usually because no one wants them. Six years ago Sinatra announced his retirement. He's still working."

But Benny was never able to work on The Sunshine Boys, as he'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, from which he died soon thereafter (December 26, 1974). Burns, heartbroken, said that the only time he ever wept in his life other than Gracie's death was when Benny died. He was chosen to give one of the eulogies at the funeral and said, "Jack was someone special to all of you but he was so special to me…I cannot imagine my life without Jack Benny and I will miss him so very much." Burns then broke down and had to be helped to his seat. People who knew George said that he never could really come to terms with his beloved friend's death.

Burns replaced Benny in the film as well as the club tour, a move that turned out to be one of the biggest breaks of his career; his wise performance as faded vaudevillian Al Lewis earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and secured his career resurgence for good. At age 80, Burns was the oldest Oscar winner in the history of the Academy Awards, a record that would remain until Jessica Tandy won an Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.
Oh, God!

In 1977, Burns made another hit film, Oh, God!, playing the omnipotent title role opposite singer John Denver as an earnest but befuddled supermarket manager, whom God picks at random to revive His message. The image of Burns in a sailor's cap and light springtime jacket as the droll Almighty influenced his subsequent comedic work, as well as that of other comedians. At a celebrity roast in his honor, Dean Martin adapted a Burns crack: "When George was growing up, the Top Ten were the Ten Commandments."

Burns appeared in this character along with Vanessa Williams on the September 1984 cover of Penthouse magazine, the issue which contained the infamous nude photos of Williams, as well as the first appearance of underage pornographic film star Nora Kuzma, better known to the world as Traci Lords. A blurb on the cover even announced "Oh God, she's naked!"

Oh, God! inspired two sequels Oh, God! Book Two (in which the Almighty engages a precocious schoolgirl (Louanne Sirota) to spread the word) and Oh, God! You Devil—in which Burns played a dual role as God and the Devil, with the soul of a would-be songwriter (Ted Wass) at stake.

Burns also provided the voice of God in John Denver's TV special Montana Christmas Skies.
Later films

Burns appeared in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the film based on the Beatles' album of the same name.

Burns continued to work well into his nineties, writing a number of books and appearing in television and films. One of his last films was 18 Again!, based on his half-novelty, country music based hit single, "I Wish I Was 18 Again." In this film, he played a self-made millionaire industrialist who switched bodies with his awkward, artistic, eighteen-year-old grandson (played by Charlie Schlatter).

His last feature film role was the cameo role of Milt Lackey, a 100 year old stand-up comedian, in the comedy mystery Radioland Murders.
Author

Burns was a bestselling author who wrote a total of 10 books:

    * I Love Her, That's Why (1955)
    * Living It Up or They Still Love Me in Altoona (1976)
    * The Third Time Around (1980)
    * How to Live to be 100 or More (1983)
    * Dr. Burns' Prescription for Happiness (1984)
    * Dear George (1986)
    * Gracie, A Love Story (1988)
    * All My Best Friends (1989)
    * Wisdom of the 90s (1991)
    * 100 Years 100 Stories (1996)
In July 1994, Burns fell in his bathtub and had to undergo surgery to remove fluid that had collected on his brain. His health began to decline afterward. All performances celebrating his 100th birthday were canceled. In December 1995, Burns was well enough to attend a Christmas party hosted by Frank Sinatra, where he reportedly caught the flu, which weakened him further. On January 20, 1996, he celebrated his 100th birthday, but was no longer mobile enough to perform and instead spent the evening at home.

On March 9, 1996, just forty-nine days after his milestone birthday, Burns died in his Beverly Hills home of cardiac arrest. His funeral was held three days later at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale. George Burns was buried in his best dark blue suit, light blue shirt and red tie along with three cigars in his pocket, his toupee, his watch that Gracie gave him, his ring, and in his pocket, his keys and his wallet with 10 $100 bills, a five and three ones.

As much as he looked forward to reaching age 100, Burns also stated that he looked forward to death, saying that the day he died he would be with Gracie again in heaven. Upon being interred with Gracie, the crypt's marker was changed to, "Gracie Allen & George Burns—Together Again." George had said that he wanted Gracie to have top billing.
Legacy
The handprints of George Burns in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

    * Burns and Allen were the subjects of Rupert Holmes's play Say Goodnight, Gracie.
    * In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the two humpback whales are named George and Gracie after Burns and Allen.
    * Hooters restaurants had signs that prior to George's death read "We even card George Burns," and following his death were changed to read "We even carded George Burns."
    * The episode "The Deep End" of Robot Chicken features a parody of the movie Kill Bill entitled Kill Bunny with George Burns replacing Pai Mei.
    * The Simpsons referenced Burns in the Season 5 episode titled "Rosebud". In the show, Burns is the younger brother of Montgomery Burns. The character of Mr. Burns, as a kid, leaves his family to live with a rich man (who is actually his paternal grandfather). His father makes the comment, "Oh well. At least we still have his little brother George." The camera flashes to a kid-sized George Burns, who sings a line in his style and then says, "Trust me, it'll be funny when I'm an old man."
    * In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, George Burns appears briefly when Kenny goes to Hell. Along with Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi, he is a ghost who talks to Kenny, and is heard saying, "Hey, fudgeface, you seen Gracie?".
    * In an episode of Boy Meets World, Corey Mathews claims an old educational puberty film starred George Burns.
    * In the film For the Boys, the characters played by Bette Midler and James Caan talk about how their comedy act will be "bigger than Burns and Allen, bigger than Hope and Crosby".
    * In en episode of Mad About You, Paul Reiser's character is working on a documentary on the history of television. In a scene he is reviewing classic television shows, and the viewer can hear Gracie saying, "Well, if we were married they'd call me Mrs. Burns."
    * In Eminem's duel rap song Guilty Conscience, there is a reference to George Burns, "Think about it before you walk in the door first; Look at the store clerk, she's older than George Burns"

Filmography

Features

    * The Big Broadcast (1932)
    * International House (1933)
    * College Humor (1933)
    * Six of a Kind (1934)
    * We're Not Dressing (1934)
    * Many Happy Returns (1934)
    * Love in Bloom (1935)
    * Here Comes Cookie (1935)
    * The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935)
    * College Holiday (1936)
    * A Damsel in Distress (1937)
    * College Swing (1938)
    * Honolulu (1939)
    * The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956) (narrator)
    * The Sunshine Boys (1975)
    * Oh, God! (1977)
    * Movie Movie (1978)
    * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
    * Just You and Me, Kid (1979)
    * Going in Style (1979)
    * Oh, God Book II (1980)
    * Oh, God! You Devil (1984)
    * 18 Again! (1988)
    * A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
    * Radioland Murders (1994)
    * 2010 Mars Men (cancellation)



Short Subjects

    * Lambchops (1929)
    * Fit to Be Tied (1930)
    * Pulling a Bone (1931)
    * The Antique Shop (1931)
    * Once Over, Light (1931)
    * 100% Service (1931)
    * Oh, My Operation (1932)
    * The Babbling Book (1932)
    * Your Hat (1932)
    * Let's Dance (1933)
    * Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933)
    * Walking the Baby (1933)
    * Screen Snapshots: Famous Fathers and Sons (1946)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty (1955)
    * All About People (1967) (narrator)
    * A Look at the World of Soylent Green (1973)
    * The Lion Roars
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c136/Christing/8996d586.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/MutilatorTroy/Burns_Georg88159973_150x200.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a164/geeman28/gburnsjpg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/09/10 at 3:37 pm


The person who died on this day...George Burns
George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.

His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. He enjoyed a career resurrection with a new image as an amiable and unusually active old comedian that began at age 79 and ended shortly before his death at age 100.
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen was born into an Irish Catholic show business family and educated at Star of the Sea Convent School in San Francisco, California in girlhood. She began in vaudeville around 1909, teamed as an Irish-dance act, "The Four Colleens", with her sisters, Bessie, Hazel, and Pearl.

She met George Burns and the two immediately launched a new partnership, with Gracie playing the role of the "straight man" and George delivering the punchlines as the comedian. Burns knew something was wrong when the audience ignored his jokes but snickered at Gracie's questions. Burns cannily flipped the act around: After a Hoboken, New Jersey performance in which they tested the new style for the first time, Burns's hunch proved right. Gracie was the better 'laugh-getter', especially with the "illogical logic" that formed her responses to Burns's prompting comments or questions.

Allen's part was known in vaudeville as a "Dumb Dora" act, named after a very early film of the same name that featured a scatterbrained female protagonist, but her "illogical logic" style was several cuts above the Dumb Dora stereotype, as was Burns's understated straight man. The twosome worked the new style tirelessly on the road, building a following, as well as a reputation for being a reliable "disappointment act" (one that could fill in for another act on short notice). Burns and Allen were so consistently dependable that vaudeville bookers elevated them to the more secure "standard act" status, and finally to the vaudevillian's dream: the Palace Theatre in New York.

Burns wrote their early scripts, but was rarely credited with being such a brilliant comedy writer. He continued to write the act through vaudeville, films, radio, and, finally, television, first by himself, then with his brother Willie and a team of writers. The entire concept of the Burns and Allen characters, however, was one created and developed by Burns.

As the team toured in vaudeville, Burns found himself falling in love with Allen, who was engaged to another performer at the time. After several attempts to win her over, he finally succeeded (by accident) after making her cry at a Christmas party. She told a friend that "if George meant enough to her to make her cry she must be in love with him".

They were married in Cleveland, Ohio on January 7, 1926, somewhat daring for those times, considering Burns's Jewish and Allen's Irish Catholic upbringing. They adopted their daughter, Sandra, in 1934 and son, Ronnie, in 1935. (For her part, Allen also endeared herself to her in-laws by adopting his mother's favorite phrase, used whenever the older woman needed to bring her son back down to earth: "Nattie, you're such a Chuck," using a diminutive of his given name. When Burns's mother died, Allen comforted her grief-stricken husband with the same phrase.)

In later years Burns admitted that, following an argument over a pricey silver table centerpiece Allen wanted, he had a very brief affair with a Las Vegas showgirl. Stricken by guilt, he phoned Jack Benny and told him about the indiscretion. However, Allen overheard the conversation and Burns quietly bought the expensive centerpiece and nothing more was said. Years later, he discovered that Allen had told one of her friends about the episode finishing with "You know, I really wish George would cheat on me again. I could use a new centerpiece."
Stage to screen

Getting a start in motion pictures with a series of comic short films, their feature credits in the mid- to late-1930s included The Big Broadcast; International House (1933), Six of a Kind (1934), The Big Broadcast of 1936, The Big Broadcast of 1937, A Damsel in Distress (1937) in which they danced step for step with Fred Astaire, and College Swing (1938), in which Bob Hope made one of his early film appearances.

Burns and Allen were indirectly responsible for the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby series of "Road" pictures. In 1938, William LeBaron, producer and managing director at Paramount, had a script prepared by Don Hartman and Frank Butler. It was to star Burns and Allen with a young crooner named Bing Crosby. The story did not seem to fit the comedy team's style, so LeBaron ordered Hartman and Butler to rewrite the script to fit two male co-stars: Hope and Crosby. The script was titled Road to Singapore and it made motion picture history when it was released in 1940.
Radio stars

Burns and Allen first made it to radio as the comedy relief for bandleader Guy Lombardo, which did not always sit well with Lombardo's home audience. In his later memoir, The Third Time Around, Burns revealed a college fraternity's protest letter, complaining that they resented their weekly dance parties with their girl friends to "Thirty Minutes of the Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven" had to be broken into by the droll vaudeville team.

In time, though, Burns and Allen found their own show and radio audience, first airing on February 15, 1932 and concentrating on their classic stage routines plus sketch comedy in which the Burns and Allen style was woven into different little scenes, not unlike the short films they made in Hollywood. They were also good for a clever publicity stunt, none more so than the hunt for Gracie's missing brother, a hunt that included Gracie turning up on other radio shows searching for him as well.

The couple was portrayed at first as younger singles, with Allen the object of both Burns's and other cast members affections. Most notably, bandleaders Ray Noble (known for his phrase, "Gracie, this is the first time we've ever been alone") and Artie Shaw played "love" interests to Gracie. In addition, singer Tony Martin played an unwilling love interest of Gracie's, in which Gracie "sexually harassed" him, by threatening to fire him if the romantic interest wasn't returned. In time, however, due to slipping ratings and the difficulty of being portrayed as singles in light of the audience's close familiarity with their real-life marriage, the show adapted in 1940 to present them as the married couple they actually were. For a time, Burns and Allen had a rather distinguished and popular musical director: Artie Shaw, who also appeared as a character in some of the show's sketches. A somewhat different Gracie also marked this era, as the Gracie character could often found to be mean to George.

    George Your mother cut my face out of the picture.
    Gracie Oh George you're being sensitive.
    George I am not! Look at my face! What happened to it?
    Gracie I don't know; it looks like you fell on it.

Or

    Census Taker What do you make?
    Gracie I make cookies and aprons and knit sweaters.
    Census Taker No, I mean what do you earn?
    Gracie George's salary.

As this format grew stale over the years, Burns and his fellow writers redeveloped the show as a situation comedy in the fall of 1941. The reformat focused on the couple's married life and life among various friends, including Elvia Allman as "Tootsie Sagwell," a man-hungry spinster in love with Bill Goodwin, and neighbors, until the characters of Harry and Blanche Morton entered the picture to stay. Like The Jack Benny Program, the new George Burns & Gracie Allen Show portrayed George and Gracie as entertainers with their own weekly radio show. Goodwin remained, his character as "girl-crazy" as ever, and the music was now handled by Meredith Willson (later to be better known for composing the Broadway musical The Music Man). Willson also played himself on the show as a naive, friendly, girl-shy fellow. The new format's success made it one of the few classic radio comedies to completely re-invent itself and regain major fame.
Supporting players

The supporting cast during this phase included Mel Blanc as the melancholy, ironically named "Happy Postman" (his catchphrase was "Remember, keep smiling!"); Bea Benaderet (later Cousin Pearl in The Beverly Hillbillies and the voice of Betty Rubble in The Flintstones) and Hal March (later more famous as the host of The $64,000 Question) as neighbors Blanche and Harry Morton; and the various members of Gracie's ladies' club, the Beverly Hills Uplift Society. One running gag during this period, stretching into the television era, was Burns's questionable singing voice, as Gracie lovingly referred to her husband as "Sugar Throat." The show received and maintained a top ten rating for the rest of its radio life.
New network

The couple took the show to CBS in the fall of 1949, after having spent virtually their entire radio career to date on NBC. Their good friend Jack Benny reached a negotiating impasse with NBC over the corporation he set up ("Amusement Enterprises") to package his show, the better to put more of his earnings on a capital-gains basis and avoid the 80 percent taxes slapped on very high earners in the World War II period. When CBS executive William S. Paley convinced Benny to move to CBS (Paley, among other things, impressed Benny with his attitude that the performers make the network, not the other way around as NBC chief David Sarnoff reputedly believed), Benny in turn convinced several NBC stars to join him, including Burns and Allen. Thus did CBS reap the benefits when Burns and Allen moved to television in 1950.
Television

On television, The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show put faces to the radio characters audiences had come to love. A number of significant changes were seen in the show:

    * A parade of actors portrayed Harry Morton: Hal March, The Life Of Riley alumnus John Brown, veteran movie and television character actor Fred Clark, and future Mister Ed co-star Larry Keating.
    * Burns often broke the fourth wall, and chatted with the home audience, telling understated jokes and commenting wryly about what show characters were doing or undoing. In later shows, he would actually turn on a television and watch what the other characters were up to when he was off camera, then returned to foil the plot.
    * When announcer Bill Goodwin left after the first season, Burns hired veteran radio announcer Harry Von Zell to succeed him. Von Zell was cast as the good-natured, easily-confused Burns and Allen announcer and buddy. He also became one of the show's running gags, when his involvement in Gracie's harebrained ideas would get him fired at least once a week by Burns.
    * The first shows were simply a copy of the radio format, complete with lengthy and integrated commercials for sponsor Carnation Evaporated Milk by Goodwin. However, what worked well on radio appeared forced and plodding on television. The show was changed into the now-standard situation comedy format, with the commercials distinct from the plot.
    * Midway through the run of the television show the Burns' two adopted children, Sandra and Ronald, began to make appearances: Sandy as an occasional drama school classmate of Ronnie, and Ronnie himself as George and Gracie's son, who held his parents' comedy style in befuddled contempt and deemed it unsuitable to the "serious" drama student. In one episode, Ronnie and Sandy, in a plot centered around their school's staging a vaudeville-style show to raise money, performed a remarkable impersonation of their famous parents' stage and radio comedy routines.

Burns and Allen also took a cue from Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's Desilu Productions and formed a company of their own, McCadden Corporation (named after the street on which Burns's brother lived), headquartered on the General Service Studio lot in the heart of Hollywood, and set up to film television shows and commercials. Besides their own hit show (which made the transition from a bi-weekly live series to a weekly filmed version in the fall of 1952), the couple's company produced such television series as The Bob Cummings Show (subsequently syndicated and rerun as Love That Bob); The People's Choice, starring Jackie Cooper; Mona McClusky, starring Juliet Prowse; and Mister Ed, starring Alan Young and a talented "talking" horse. Several of their good friend Jack Benny's 1953-55 filmed episodes were also produced by McCadden for CBS.

George Burns appeared on the Muppet Show.
The George Burns Show

The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show ran on CBS Television from 1950 through 1958, when Burns at last consented to Allen's retirement. The onset of heart trouble in the early 1950s had left her exhausted from full-time work and she had been anxious to stop but couldn't say no to Burns.

Burns attempted to continue the show (for new sponsor Colgate-Palmolive on NBC), but without Allen to provide the classic Gracie-isms, the show expired after a year.
Wendy and Me

Burns subsequently created Wendy and Me, a situation comedy in which he co-starred with Connie Stevens, Ron Harper, and J. Pat O'Malley. Burns acted primarily as the narrator, and secondarily as the advisor to Stevens' Gracie-like character. The first episode involved the middle-aged Burns watching with amusement the activities of his young upstairs neighbor on his television set, apparently via hidden cameras, then breaking the fourth wall and commenting directly to viewers. The series only lasted a year. In a promotion, Burns had joked that "Connie Stevens plays Wendy, and I play 'me'."
Allen's death

After fighting a long battle with heart disease, Gracie Allen suffered a fatal heart attack in her home on August 27, 1964 at the age of 69. She was entombed in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. In his second book, They Still Love Me in Altoona, Burns wrote that he found it impossible to sleep after her death until he decided to sleep in the bed she used during her illness. He also visited her grave once a month, professing to talk to her about whatever he was doing at the time — including, he said, trying to decide whether he really should accept the Sunshine Boys role Jack Benny had to abandon because of his own failing health. He visited the tomb with Ed Bradley during a 60 Minutes interview on November 6, 1988.
The Sunshine Boys

After Gracie's death George immersed himself in work. McCadden Productions co-produced the television series No Time for Sergeants, based on the hit Broadway play; George also produced Juliet Prowse's 1965-'66 NBC situation comedy, Mona McCluskey. At the same time, he toured the U.S. playing nightclub and theater engagements with such diverse partners as Carol Channing, Dorothy Provine, Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Berle Davis. He also performed a series of solo concerts, playing university campuses, New York's Philharmonic Hall and winding up a successful season at Carnegie Hall, where he wowed a capacity audience with his show-stopping songs, dances, and jokes.

In 1974, Jack Benny signed to play one of the lead roles in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (Red Skelton was originally the other). Benny's health had begun to fail, however, and he advised his manager Irving Fein to let longtime friend Burns fill in for him on a series of nightclub dates to which Benny had committed around the U.S.

Burns, who enjoyed working, accepted the job. As he recalled years later:

    "The happiest people I know are the ones that are still working. The saddest are the ones who are retired. Very few performers retire on their own. It's usually because no one wants them. Six years ago Sinatra announced his retirement. He's still working."

But Benny was never able to work on The Sunshine Boys, as he'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, from which he died soon thereafter (December 26, 1974). Burns, heartbroken, said that the only time he ever wept in his life other than Gracie's death was when Benny died. He was chosen to give one of the eulogies at the funeral and said, "Jack was someone special to all of you but he was so special to me…I cannot imagine my life without Jack Benny and I will miss him so very much." Burns then broke down and had to be helped to his seat. People who knew George said that he never could really come to terms with his beloved friend's death.

Burns replaced Benny in the film as well as the club tour, a move that turned out to be one of the biggest breaks of his career; his wise performance as faded vaudevillian Al Lewis earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and secured his career resurgence for good. At age 80, Burns was the oldest Oscar winner in the history of the Academy Awards, a record that would remain until Jessica Tandy won an Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.
Oh, God!

In 1977, Burns made another hit film, Oh, God!, playing the omnipotent title role opposite singer John Denver as an earnest but befuddled supermarket manager, whom God picks at random to revive His message. The image of Burns in a sailor's cap and light springtime jacket as the droll Almighty influenced his subsequent comedic work, as well as that of other comedians. At a celebrity roast in his honor, Dean Martin adapted a Burns crack: "When George was growing up, the Top Ten were the Ten Commandments."

Burns appeared in this character along with Vanessa Williams on the September 1984 cover of Penthouse magazine, the issue which contained the infamous nude photos of Williams, as well as the first appearance of underage pornographic film star Nora Kuzma, better known to the world as Traci Lords. A blurb on the cover even announced "Oh God, she's naked!"

Oh, God! inspired two sequels Oh, God! Book Two (in which the Almighty engages a precocious schoolgirl (Louanne Sirota) to spread the word) and Oh, God! You Devil—in which Burns played a dual role as God and the Devil, with the soul of a would-be songwriter (Ted Wass) at stake.

Burns also provided the voice of God in John Denver's TV special Montana Christmas Skies.
Later films

Burns appeared in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the film based on the Beatles' album of the same name.

Burns continued to work well into his nineties, writing a number of books and appearing in television and films. One of his last films was 18 Again!, based on his half-novelty, country music based hit single, "I Wish I Was 18 Again." In this film, he played a self-made millionaire industrialist who switched bodies with his awkward, artistic, eighteen-year-old grandson (played by Charlie Schlatter).

His last feature film role was the cameo role of Milt Lackey, a 100 year old stand-up comedian, in the comedy mystery Radioland Murders.
Author

Burns was a bestselling author who wrote a total of 10 books:

    * I Love Her, That's Why (1955)
    * Living It Up or They Still Love Me in Altoona (1976)
    * The Third Time Around (1980)
    * How to Live to be 100 or More (1983)
    * Dr. Burns' Prescription for Happiness (1984)
    * Dear George (1986)
    * Gracie, A Love Story (1988)
    * All My Best Friends (1989)
    * Wisdom of the 90s (1991)
    * 100 Years 100 Stories (1996)
In July 1994, Burns fell in his bathtub and had to undergo surgery to remove fluid that had collected on his brain. His health began to decline afterward. All performances celebrating his 100th birthday were canceled. In December 1995, Burns was well enough to attend a Christmas party hosted by Frank Sinatra, where he reportedly caught the flu, which weakened him further. On January 20, 1996, he celebrated his 100th birthday, but was no longer mobile enough to perform and instead spent the evening at home.

On March 9, 1996, just forty-nine days after his milestone birthday, Burns died in his Beverly Hills home of cardiac arrest. His funeral was held three days later at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale. George Burns was buried in his best dark blue suit, light blue shirt and red tie along with three cigars in his pocket, his toupee, his watch that Gracie gave him, his ring, and in his pocket, his keys and his wallet with 10 $100 bills, a five and three ones.

As much as he looked forward to reaching age 100, Burns also stated that he looked forward to death, saying that the day he died he would be with Gracie again in heaven. Upon being interred with Gracie, the crypt's marker was changed to, "Gracie Allen & George Burns—Together Again." George had said that he wanted Gracie to have top billing.
Legacy
The handprints of George Burns in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

    * Burns and Allen were the subjects of Rupert Holmes's play Say Goodnight, Gracie.
    * In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the two humpback whales are named George and Gracie after Burns and Allen.
    * Hooters restaurants had signs that prior to George's death read "We even card George Burns," and following his death were changed to read "We even carded George Burns."
    * The episode "The Deep End" of Robot Chicken features a parody of the movie Kill Bill entitled Kill Bunny with George Burns replacing Pai Mei.
    * The Simpsons referenced Burns in the Season 5 episode titled "Rosebud". In the show, Burns is the younger brother of Montgomery Burns. The character of Mr. Burns, as a kid, leaves his family to live with a rich man (who is actually his paternal grandfather). His father makes the comment, "Oh well. At least we still have his little brother George." The camera flashes to a kid-sized George Burns, who sings a line in his style and then says, "Trust me, it'll be funny when I'm an old man."
    * In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, George Burns appears briefly when Kenny goes to Hell. Along with Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi, he is a ghost who talks to Kenny, and is heard saying, "Hey, fudgeface, you seen Gracie?".
    * In an episode of Boy Meets World, Corey Mathews claims an old educational puberty film starred George Burns.
    * In the film For the Boys, the characters played by Bette Midler and James Caan talk about how their comedy act will be "bigger than Burns and Allen, bigger than Hope and Crosby".
    * In en episode of Mad About You, Paul Reiser's character is working on a documentary on the history of television. In a scene he is reviewing classic television shows, and the viewer can hear Gracie saying, "Well, if we were married they'd call me Mrs. Burns."
    * In Eminem's duel rap song Guilty Conscience, there is a reference to George Burns, "Think about it before you walk in the door first; Look at the store clerk, she's older than George Burns"

Filmography

Features

    * The Big Broadcast (1932)
    * International House (1933)
    * College Humor (1933)
    * Six of a Kind (1934)
    * We're Not Dressing (1934)
    * Many Happy Returns (1934)
    * Love in Bloom (1935)
    * Here Comes Cookie (1935)
    * The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935)
    * College Holiday (1936)
    * A Damsel in Distress (1937)
    * College Swing (1938)
    * Honolulu (1939)
    * The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956) (narrator)
    * The Sunshine Boys (1975)
    * Oh, God! (1977)
    * Movie Movie (1978)
    * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
    * Just You and Me, Kid (1979)
    * Going in Style (1979)
    * Oh, God Book II (1980)
    * Oh, God! You Devil (1984)
    * 18 Again! (1988)
    * A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
    * Radioland Murders (1994)
    * 2010 Mars Men (cancellation)



Short Subjects

    * Lambchops (1929)
    * Fit to Be Tied (1930)
    * Pulling a Bone (1931)
    * The Antique Shop (1931)
    * Once Over, Light (1931)
    * 100% Service (1931)
    * Oh, My Operation (1932)
    * The Babbling Book (1932)
    * Your Hat (1932)
    * Let's Dance (1933)
    * Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933)
    * Walking the Baby (1933)
    * Screen Snapshots: Famous Fathers and Sons (1946)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty (1955)
    * All About People (1967) (narrator)
    * A Look at the World of Soylent Green (1973)
    * The Lion Roars
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c136/Christing/8996d586.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/MutilatorTroy/Burns_Georg88159973_150x200.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a164/geeman28/gburnsjpg.jpg


Say Goodnight Gracie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/09/10 at 4:00 pm


Say Goodnight Gracie.



Goodnight Gracie.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/09/10 at 4:01 pm


The word of the day...Caravan
A caravan is a vehicle without an engine that can be pulled by a car or van. It contains beds and cooking equipment so that people can live or spend their holidays in it.
A caravan is a group of people and animals or vehicles who travel together.
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab332/arellanotravels/Egypt10/caravan.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv190/tunnex/100_5512.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j236/stephen_tickell/midget_caravan.jpg
http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae346/IainM1970/New%20Caravan/EdinburghMarch2010002.jpg
http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy295/paramore723_photos/Egypt/161.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g178/Gwenvael/Aotearoa%20NZ%20Part%202/DSCN4063.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh184/pob7161/caravan.jpg



Caravan of Love.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/09/10 at 4:30 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZhORUIKWtQ&feature=fvw



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/10/10 at 6:53 am

The word of the day...Casino
A casino is a building or room where people play gambling games such as roulette.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac339/astorclassics/_LDC3444.jpg
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab325/melodyschreier/IMG_1786.jpg
http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad239/DeadlyDemon/vegas09063.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/slowpoke02/Winter%20Vacation%2010/DSC00098.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w134/feebreeze/BIG%20FEE%20MOVIE%20FAVS/FEEFAVCASINO.jpg
http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab325/Tiffney8/Spain%20February%202010/DSC00327.jpg
http://i990.photobucket.com/albums/af29/elyseregan/Adelaide3008.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/10/10 at 6:56 am

The person born on this day...Sharon Stone
Sharon Yvonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She first achieved international recognition for her performance in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her role in Casino.
While living in Europe, she decided to quit modeling and become an actress. "So I packed my bags, moved back to New York, and stood in line to be an extra in a Woody Allen movie," she later recalled. While auditioning, she met Michelle Pfeiffer, who recognized her from the pageant she competed in, and the two became friends. Stone was cast for a brief but memorable role in Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), and then had a speaking part a year later in the horror movie Deadly Blessing (1981). When French director Claude Lelouch saw Stone in Stardust Memories, he was so impressed that he cast her in Les Uns et Les Autres (1982) starring James Caan. She was only on screen for two minutes and did not appear in the credits.

Her next role was in Irreconcilable Differences (1984), starring Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long, and a young Drew Barrymore. Stone plays a starlet who breaks up the marriage of a successful director and his screenwriter wife. The story was based on the real-life experience of director Peter Bogdanovich, his set designer wife Polly Platt and Cybill Shepherd, who as a young actress had starred in Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), which co-starred Stone's mother-in-law Cloris Leachman and won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The highlight of Stone's performance is when her cocaine-addict character plays Scarlett O'Hara in a musical pitched as a remake of Gone with the Wind.

Through the rest of the 1980s she appeared in Action Jackson (1988), King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987). She was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performance in Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. She also played the wife of Steven Seagal's character in Above the Law (1988). She appeared in a two-part episode of Magnum, P.I., titled "Echoes of the Mind", where she played identical twins, one a love interest of Tom Selleck's character.

Also in 1988, Stone took over the role of Janice Henry for the filming of the miniseries War and Remembrance.
1990–2004

Her appearance in Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Stone's career a jolt. To coincide with the movie's release, she posed nude for Playboy, showing off the muscles she developed in preparation for the movie (she lifted weights and learned Tae Kwon Do). In 1999, she was rated among the 25 sexiest stars of the century by Playboy.
Sharon Stone in France, 1991

The role that made her a star was that of Catherine Tramell, a brilliant, bisexual serial killer, in Basic Instinct (1992). Stone had to wait and actually turned down offers for the mere prospect to play Tramell (the part was offered to 13 other actresses and considered to 150 women before being offered to Stone). Several better known actresses of the time such as Geena Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith, Kelly Lynch, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Julia Roberts turned down the part mostly because of the nudity required. In the movie’s most notorious scene, Tramell is being questioned by the police and she crosses and uncrosses her legs, revealing the fact she was not wearing any underwear. According to Stone, upon seeing her own vulva in the leg-crossing scene during a screening of the film, she went into the projection booth and slapped director Paul Verhoeven.
At the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

Stone claimed that although she agreed to film the flashing scene with no panties, and although she and Verhoeven had discussed the scene from the beginning of production, she was unaware just how explicit the infamous shot would be. She said, "I knew that we were going to do this leg-crossing thing and I knew that we were going to allude to the concept that I was nude, but I did not think that you would see my vagina in the scene. Later, when I saw it in the screening I was shocked. I think seeing it in a room full of strangers was so disrespectful and so shocking, so I went into the booth and slapped him and left."

Despite this, she claimed in an earlier interview that "it was so fun" watching the film for the first time with strangers. Verhoeven has denied all claims of trickery and said, "As much as I love her, I hate her too, especially after the lies she told the press about the shot between her legs, which was a straight lie". Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who later befriended the actress, also claimed the actress was fully aware of the level of nudity involved in his memoir, Hollywood Animal.

Following this film, she was listed by People as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

In 1992, photographer George Hurrell took a series of photographs of Stone, Sherilyn Fenn, Julian Sands, Raquel Welch, Eric Roberts and Sean Penn. In these portraits he recreated his style of the 1930s, with the actors posing in costumes, hairstyle and makeup of the period.

In November 1995, Stone received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. That same year, Empire chose her as one of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In October 1997, she was ranked among the top 100 movie stars of all time by Empire.

In 1995, she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture for her role as "Ginger" in Martin Scorsese's Casino opposite Robert De Niro. She also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.

In 2001, Stone was linked to a biopic of the German film director Leni Riefenstahl. The prospective director Paul Verhoeven and Riefenstahl herself favoured Stone to portray Riefenstahl in the film. According to Verhoeven, he discussed the project with Stone and she was very interested. Subsequently, Verhoeven pulled out of the project as he wanted to hire a more expensive screenwriter than the producers did.

Stone was hospitalized in late 2001 for a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which was diagnosed as a vertebral artery dissection rather than the more common ruptured aneurysm, and treated with an endovascular coil embolization.

Stone starred opposite actress Ellen DeGeneres in the 2001 HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2, in which she played a lesbian trying to start a family. In 2003, she appeared in three episodes from the eighth season of The Practice. For her performances, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
2004—

Stone attempted a return to the mainstream with a role in the film Catwoman (2004); however, the film was a critical and commercial flop.

After years of litigation, Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction was released on March 31, 2006. A reason for a long delay in releasing the film was reportedly Stone's dispute with the filmmakers over the nudity in the movie; she wanted more, while they wanted less. A group sex scene was cut in order to achieve an R rating from the MPAA for the U.S. release; the controversial scene remained in the U.K. version of the London-based film. Stone told an interviewer, "We are in a time of odd repression and if a popcorn movie allows us to create a platform for discussion, wouldn't that be great?"

Despite an estimated budget of $70 million, it placed only 10th in gross on its debut weekend with a meager $3,200,000, and was subsequently declared a bomb. It ultimately ran in theaters for only 17 days and finished with a total domestic gross of under $6 million. Despite the failure of Basic Instinct 2, Stone has said that she would love to direct and act in a third Basic Instinct film.

She appeared in the drama Alpha Dog opposite Bruce Willis, playing Olivia Mazursky, the mother of a real-life murder victim. Stone wore a fatsuit for the role. In February 2007, Stone found her role as a clinically depressed woman in her latest film, When a Man Falls in the Forest, uplifting, as it challenged what she called "Prozac society." "It was a watershed experience," she said. "I think that we live in a... Prozac society where we're always told we're supposed to have this kind of equilibrium of emotion. We have all these assignments about how we're supposed to feel about something."

In December 2006, she co hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with Anjelica Huston. The concert was in honor of the Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.

In 2007, she appeared in a television commercial demonstrating the symptoms of a stroke.

On January 5, 2010, it was announced that Sharon will be joining the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for a four-episode arc beginning in April 2010. She will play a former cop-turned-prosecutor.
Personal life
Stone in 2004

Stone lives in Beverly Hills, California, and owns a ranch in New Zealand. In March 2006, Stone traveled to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East through a press conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. Stone also has diabetes and loves raspberries .
AIDS research support

In April 2004, she was awarded the National Center for Lesbian Rights Spirit Award in San Francisco for her support and involvement with organizations that serve the lesbian, gay and HIV/AIDS community and performed Can't Get You Out of My Head with Kylie Minogue in Cannes for AIDS research. She was presented the award by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

It has been said that her parents raised her with feminist values. "My dad never raised me to believe that being a woman inhibited any of my choices or my possibilities to succeed. To be a feminist like Dad in that blue-collar, middle-class world is a big stand."
Tanzania controversy

On January 28, 2005, Stone helped solicit pledges for $1 million in five minutes for mosquito nets in Tanzania, turning a panel on African poverty into an impromptu fund-raiser at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Many observers, including UNICEF, criticized her actions by claiming that Stone had reacted instinctively to the words of Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, because she had not done her research on the causes, consequences and methods of preventing malaria; if she had done so, she would have found out that most African governments already distribute free bed nets through public hospitals.

Of the $1 million pledged, only $250,000 was actually raised. In order to fulfill the promise to send $1 million worth of bed nets to Tanzania, UNICEF contributed $750,000. This diverted funds from other UNICEF projects. According to prominent economist Xavier Sala-i-Martín, officials are largely unaware of what happened with the bed nets. Some were delivered to the local airport. These reportedly were stolen and later resurfaced as wedding dresses on the local black market.
Chinese earthquake controversy

Stone sparked criticism for her comments made in an exchange on the red carpet with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News during the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2008. When asked about the 2008 Sichuan earthquake she remarked:

    "Well you know it was very interesting because at first, you know, I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And so I have been very concerned about how to think and what to do about that because I don’t like that. And I had been this, you know, concerned about, oh how should we deal with the Olympics because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that Karma? When you're not nice then the bad things happen to you?"

Observers have also noted that Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the earthquake, is located in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, where ethnic Tibetans comprise over half of the population. According to the Hollywood Reporter, after her comments, one of China's biggest cinema chains released statements stating its company would not show her films in its theaters. The founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, Ng See-Yuen called Stone's comments "inappropriate" and said the UME Cineplex chain would not be releasing her films in the future. Christian Dior advertisements featuring Stone's image were also dropped from all ads in China amid the public uproar. Stone was also struck from the 2008 Shanghai International Film Festival guest list, with the event's organizers considering a permanent ban for the actress.

Dior China had originally posted an apology in Stone's name, but Stone later denies making the apology during an interview with the New York Times, saying "I'm not going to apologize. I’m certainly not going to apologize for something that isn’t real and true — not for face creams," although she does admit she had "sounded like an idiot". The Dalai Lama has reportedly distanced himself from her remark.
Religion

In the early 1990s, Stone became a member of the Church of Scientology. Stone remained with the religion until recently when she converted to Tibetan Buddhism, after fellow actor Richard Gere introduced her to the Dalai Lama. She is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.
Relationships

Stone was first married briefly to George Englund Jr. In 1984, she married television producer Michael Greenburg on the set of The Vegas Strip War, a TV movie he produced and she starred in. The marriage lasted three years. They separated three years later, and their divorce was finalized in 1990.

On February 14, 1998, she married Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner and later San Francisco Chronicle. Stone and Bronstein were divorced in January 2004. They have an adopted son named Roan Joseph Bronstein, born on May 22, 2000. She also adopted her second son, Laird Vonne Stone on May 7, 2005. On June 28, 2006, Stone adopted her third son, Quinn Kelly.

In 2005, during a television interview for her movie Basic Instinct 2, Stone hinted an interest in bisexuality, stating "Middle age is an open-minded period". Stone has said that in the past she's "dated" girls. While filming Basic Instinct, her best girlfriend was there to hold her hand out of camera range during some of the scenes. And in a biography, Naked Instinct, author Frank Sanello details a sexual liaison between Stone and a woman in the bathroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel. In an interview on the Michael Parkinson talk show in England on March 18, 2006, she said she was "straight". However, in January 2008, she was quoted as saying, "Everybody is bisexual to an extent. Now men act like women and it's difficult to have a relationship because I like men in that old-fashioned way. I like masculinity and, in truth, only women do that now".
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Stardust Memories Pretty Girl on train Debut
1981 Les Uns et les autres Girl with Glenn Senior Uncredited
Deadly Blessing Lana Marcus
1982 Not Just Another Affair Lynette TV Movie
Silver Spoons Debbie (TV Series)
1983 Bay City Blues Cathy St. Marie (TV Series)
Remington Steele Jillian Montague (TV Series)
1984 The New Mike Hammer Julie Eland
Magnum, P.I. Diane Dupree and Diedra Dupree (TV Series)
Calendar Girl Murders Cassie Bascomb TV Movie
The Vegas Strip War Sarah Shipman TV Movie
Irreconcilable Differences Blake Chandler
1985 T. J. Hooker Dani Starr
King Solomon's Mines Jesse Huston
1986 Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Ashley Hamilton Ryan TV movie
1987 Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol Claire Mattson
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold Jesse Huston
Cold Steel Kathy Connors
1988 Tears in the Rain Casey Cantrell TV Movie
Action Jackson Patrice Dellaplane
Above the Law Sara Toscani
Badlands 2005 Alex Neil TV movie
1989 Beyond the Stars Laurie McCall
Blood and Sand Doña Sol
War and Remembrance Janice Henry
1990 Total Recall Lori Quaid
1991 He Said, She Said Linda Metzger
Scissors Angie Anderson
Year of the Gun Alison King
Diary of a Hitman Kiki
Where Sleeping Dogs Lie Serena Black
1992 Basic Instinct Catherine Tramell MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
1993 Sliver Carly Norris Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1994 Intersection Sally Eastman
The Specialist May Munro Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1995 The Quick and the Dead Ellen 'The Lady' Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
Roseanne Trailer Park Resident (TV Series)
Casino Ginger McKenna Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1996 Diabolique Nicole Horner
Last Dance Cindy Liggett
1998 Sphere Dr. Elizabeth 'Beth' Halperin
Antz Princess Bala Voice
The Mighty Gwen Dillon Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1999 Gloria Gloria
The Muse Sarah Little Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Simpatico Rosie Carter
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Henny Penny voice
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Fran TV movie
Picking Up the Pieces Candy Cowley
Beautiful Joe Alice 'Hush' Mason
2001 Harold and the Purple Crayon Narrator 2001-2002
2003 Cold Creek Manor Leah Tilson
2004 A Different Loyalty Sally Cauffield
Catwoman Laurel Hedare
The Practice Sheila Carlisle Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series (TV Series)
Kurtlar Vadisi (eng. Valley of the Wolves) Lisa Turkish TV Serial
2005 Higglytown Heroes Nicky - Blind Art Teacher Voice
Will & Grace Dr. Georgia Keller (TV Series)
Broken Flowers Laura Daniels Miller
2006 Alpha Dog Olivia Mazursky
Basic Instinct 2 Catherine Tramell
Huff Dauri Rathburn (TV Series)
Bobby Miriam Ebbers Hollywood Film Festival for Cast of the Year
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 If I Had Known I Was a Genius Gloria Fremont
When a Man Falls in the Forest Karen Fields
Democrazy Patricia Hill Short
2008 The Year of Getting to Know Us Jane Rocket
Five Dollars a Day Dolores Jones
2009 Streets of Blood Nina Ferraro
2010 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Jo Marlowe Four episodes (TV Series)
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/pink_cashmere_26/sharon-stone.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/dezaray25/stone.jpg
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad126/econnisme/yeah/stone.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/10/10 at 6:56 am

I rarely gamble in Casinos.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/10/10 at 6:57 am


The person born on this day...Sharon Stone
Sharon Yvonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She first achieved international recognition for her performance in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her role in Casino.
While living in Europe, she decided to quit modeling and become an actress. "So I packed my bags, moved back to New York, and stood in line to be an extra in a Woody Allen movie," she later recalled. While auditioning, she met Michelle Pfeiffer, who recognized her from the pageant she competed in, and the two became friends. Stone was cast for a brief but memorable role in Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), and then had a speaking part a year later in the horror movie Deadly Blessing (1981). When French director Claude Lelouch saw Stone in Stardust Memories, he was so impressed that he cast her in Les Uns et Les Autres (1982) starring James Caan. She was only on screen for two minutes and did not appear in the credits.

Her next role was in Irreconcilable Differences (1984), starring Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long, and a young Drew Barrymore. Stone plays a starlet who breaks up the marriage of a successful director and his screenwriter wife. The story was based on the real-life experience of director Peter Bogdanovich, his set designer wife Polly Platt and Cybill Shepherd, who as a young actress had starred in Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), which co-starred Stone's mother-in-law Cloris Leachman and won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The highlight of Stone's performance is when her cocaine-addict character plays Scarlett O'Hara in a musical pitched as a remake of Gone with the Wind.

Through the rest of the 1980s she appeared in Action Jackson (1988), King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987). She was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performance in Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. She also played the wife of Steven Seagal's character in Above the Law (1988). She appeared in a two-part episode of Magnum, P.I., titled "Echoes of the Mind", where she played identical twins, one a love interest of Tom Selleck's character.

Also in 1988, Stone took over the role of Janice Henry for the filming of the miniseries War and Remembrance.
1990–2004

Her appearance in Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Stone's career a jolt. To coincide with the movie's release, she posed nude for Playboy, showing off the muscles she developed in preparation for the movie (she lifted weights and learned Tae Kwon Do). In 1999, she was rated among the 25 sexiest stars of the century by Playboy.
Sharon Stone in France, 1991

The role that made her a star was that of Catherine Tramell, a brilliant, bisexual serial killer, in Basic Instinct (1992). Stone had to wait and actually turned down offers for the mere prospect to play Tramell (the part was offered to 13 other actresses and considered to 150 women before being offered to Stone). Several better known actresses of the time such as Geena Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith, Kelly Lynch, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Julia Roberts turned down the part mostly because of the nudity required. In the movie’s most notorious scene, Tramell is being questioned by the police and she crosses and uncrosses her legs, revealing the fact she was not wearing any underwear. According to Stone, upon seeing her own vulva in the leg-crossing scene during a screening of the film, she went into the projection booth and slapped director Paul Verhoeven.
At the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

Stone claimed that although she agreed to film the flashing scene with no panties, and although she and Verhoeven had discussed the scene from the beginning of production, she was unaware just how explicit the infamous shot would be. She said, "I knew that we were going to do this leg-crossing thing and I knew that we were going to allude to the concept that I was nude, but I did not think that you would see my vagina in the scene. Later, when I saw it in the screening I was shocked. I think seeing it in a room full of strangers was so disrespectful and so shocking, so I went into the booth and slapped him and left."

Despite this, she claimed in an earlier interview that "it was so fun" watching the film for the first time with strangers. Verhoeven has denied all claims of trickery and said, "As much as I love her, I hate her too, especially after the lies she told the press about the shot between her legs, which was a straight lie". Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who later befriended the actress, also claimed the actress was fully aware of the level of nudity involved in his memoir, Hollywood Animal.

Following this film, she was listed by People as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

In 1992, photographer George Hurrell took a series of photographs of Stone, Sherilyn Fenn, Julian Sands, Raquel Welch, Eric Roberts and Sean Penn. In these portraits he recreated his style of the 1930s, with the actors posing in costumes, hairstyle and makeup of the period.

In November 1995, Stone received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. That same year, Empire chose her as one of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In October 1997, she was ranked among the top 100 movie stars of all time by Empire.

In 1995, she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture for her role as "Ginger" in Martin Scorsese's Casino opposite Robert De Niro. She also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.

In 2001, Stone was linked to a biopic of the German film director Leni Riefenstahl. The prospective director Paul Verhoeven and Riefenstahl herself favoured Stone to portray Riefenstahl in the film. According to Verhoeven, he discussed the project with Stone and she was very interested. Subsequently, Verhoeven pulled out of the project as he wanted to hire a more expensive screenwriter than the producers did.

Stone was hospitalized in late 2001 for a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which was diagnosed as a vertebral artery dissection rather than the more common ruptured aneurysm, and treated with an endovascular coil embolization.

Stone starred opposite actress Ellen DeGeneres in the 2001 HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2, in which she played a lesbian trying to start a family. In 2003, she appeared in three episodes from the eighth season of The Practice. For her performances, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
2004—

Stone attempted a return to the mainstream with a role in the film Catwoman (2004); however, the film was a critical and commercial flop.

After years of litigation, Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction was released on March 31, 2006. A reason for a long delay in releasing the film was reportedly Stone's dispute with the filmmakers over the nudity in the movie; she wanted more, while they wanted less. A group sex scene was cut in order to achieve an R rating from the MPAA for the U.S. release; the controversial scene remained in the U.K. version of the London-based film. Stone told an interviewer, "We are in a time of odd repression and if a popcorn movie allows us to create a platform for discussion, wouldn't that be great?"

Despite an estimated budget of $70 million, it placed only 10th in gross on its debut weekend with a meager $3,200,000, and was subsequently declared a bomb. It ultimately ran in theaters for only 17 days and finished with a total domestic gross of under $6 million. Despite the failure of Basic Instinct 2, Stone has said that she would love to direct and act in a third Basic Instinct film.

She appeared in the drama Alpha Dog opposite Bruce Willis, playing Olivia Mazursky, the mother of a real-life murder victim. Stone wore a fatsuit for the role. In February 2007, Stone found her role as a clinically depressed woman in her latest film, When a Man Falls in the Forest, uplifting, as it challenged what she called "Prozac society." "It was a watershed experience," she said. "I think that we live in a... Prozac society where we're always told we're supposed to have this kind of equilibrium of emotion. We have all these assignments about how we're supposed to feel about something."

In December 2006, she co hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with Anjelica Huston. The concert was in honor of the Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.

In 2007, she appeared in a television commercial demonstrating the symptoms of a stroke.

On January 5, 2010, it was announced that Sharon will be joining the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for a four-episode arc beginning in April 2010. She will play a former cop-turned-prosecutor.
Personal life
Stone in 2004

Stone lives in Beverly Hills, California, and owns a ranch in New Zealand. In March 2006, Stone traveled to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East through a press conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. Stone also has diabetes and loves raspberries .
AIDS research support

In April 2004, she was awarded the National Center for Lesbian Rights Spirit Award in San Francisco for her support and involvement with organizations that serve the lesbian, gay and HIV/AIDS community and performed Can't Get You Out of My Head with Kylie Minogue in Cannes for AIDS research. She was presented the award by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

It has been said that her parents raised her with feminist values. "My dad never raised me to believe that being a woman inhibited any of my choices or my possibilities to succeed. To be a feminist like Dad in that blue-collar, middle-class world is a big stand."
Tanzania controversy

On January 28, 2005, Stone helped solicit pledges for $1 million in five minutes for mosquito nets in Tanzania, turning a panel on African poverty into an impromptu fund-raiser at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Many observers, including UNICEF, criticized her actions by claiming that Stone had reacted instinctively to the words of Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, because she had not done her research on the causes, consequences and methods of preventing malaria; if she had done so, she would have found out that most African governments already distribute free bed nets through public hospitals.

Of the $1 million pledged, only $250,000 was actually raised. In order to fulfill the promise to send $1 million worth of bed nets to Tanzania, UNICEF contributed $750,000. This diverted funds from other UNICEF projects. According to prominent economist Xavier Sala-i-Martín, officials are largely unaware of what happened with the bed nets. Some were delivered to the local airport. These reportedly were stolen and later resurfaced as wedding dresses on the local black market.
Chinese earthquake controversy

Stone sparked criticism for her comments made in an exchange on the red carpet with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News during the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2008. When asked about the 2008 Sichuan earthquake she remarked:

    "Well you know it was very interesting because at first, you know, I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And so I have been very concerned about how to think and what to do about that because I don’t like that. And I had been this, you know, concerned about, oh how should we deal with the Olympics because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine. And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that Karma? When you're not nice then the bad things happen to you?"

Observers have also noted that Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the earthquake, is located in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, where ethnic Tibetans comprise over half of the population. According to the Hollywood Reporter, after her comments, one of China's biggest cinema chains released statements stating its company would not show her films in its theaters. The founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, Ng See-Yuen called Stone's comments "inappropriate" and said the UME Cineplex chain would not be releasing her films in the future. Christian Dior advertisements featuring Stone's image were also dropped from all ads in China amid the public uproar. Stone was also struck from the 2008 Shanghai International Film Festival guest list, with the event's organizers considering a permanent ban for the actress.

Dior China had originally posted an apology in Stone's name, but Stone later denies making the apology during an interview with the New York Times, saying "I'm not going to apologize. I’m certainly not going to apologize for something that isn’t real and true — not for face creams," although she does admit she had "sounded like an idiot". The Dalai Lama has reportedly distanced himself from her remark.
Religion

In the early 1990s, Stone became a member of the Church of Scientology. Stone remained with the religion until recently when she converted to Tibetan Buddhism, after fellow actor Richard Gere introduced her to the Dalai Lama. She is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.
Relationships

Stone was first married briefly to George Englund Jr. In 1984, she married television producer Michael Greenburg on the set of The Vegas Strip War, a TV movie he produced and she starred in. The marriage lasted three years. They separated three years later, and their divorce was finalized in 1990.

On February 14, 1998, she married Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner and later San Francisco Chronicle. Stone and Bronstein were divorced in January 2004. They have an adopted son named Roan Joseph Bronstein, born on May 22, 2000. She also adopted her second son, Laird Vonne Stone on May 7, 2005. On June 28, 2006, Stone adopted her third son, Quinn Kelly.

In 2005, during a television interview for her movie Basic Instinct 2, Stone hinted an interest in bisexuality, stating "Middle age is an open-minded period". Stone has said that in the past she's "dated" girls. While filming Basic Instinct, her best girlfriend was there to hold her hand out of camera range during some of the scenes. And in a biography, Naked Instinct, author Frank Sanello details a sexual liaison between Stone and a woman in the bathroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel. In an interview on the Michael Parkinson talk show in England on March 18, 2006, she said she was "straight". However, in January 2008, she was quoted as saying, "Everybody is bisexual to an extent. Now men act like women and it's difficult to have a relationship because I like men in that old-fashioned way. I like masculinity and, in truth, only women do that now".
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Stardust Memories Pretty Girl on train Debut
1981 Les Uns et les autres Girl with Glenn Senior Uncredited
Deadly Blessing Lana Marcus
1982 Not Just Another Affair Lynette TV Movie
Silver Spoons Debbie (TV Series)
1983 Bay City Blues Cathy St. Marie (TV Series)
Remington Steele Jillian Montague (TV Series)
1984 The New Mike Hammer Julie Eland
Magnum, P.I. Diane Dupree and Diedra Dupree (TV Series)
Calendar Girl Murders Cassie Bascomb TV Movie
The Vegas Strip War Sarah Shipman TV Movie
Irreconcilable Differences Blake Chandler
1985 T. J. Hooker Dani Starr
King Solomon's Mines Jesse Huston
1986 Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Ashley Hamilton Ryan TV movie
1987 Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol Claire Mattson
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold Jesse Huston
Cold Steel Kathy Connors
1988 Tears in the Rain Casey Cantrell TV Movie
Action Jackson Patrice Dellaplane
Above the Law Sara Toscani
Badlands 2005 Alex Neil TV movie
1989 Beyond the Stars Laurie McCall
Blood and Sand Doña Sol
War and Remembrance Janice Henry
1990 Total Recall Lori Quaid
1991 He Said, She Said Linda Metzger
Scissors Angie Anderson
Year of the Gun Alison King
Diary of a Hitman Kiki
Where Sleeping Dogs Lie Serena Black
1992 Basic Instinct Catherine Tramell MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
1993 Sliver Carly Norris Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1994 Intersection Sally Eastman
The Specialist May Munro Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1995 The Quick and the Dead Ellen 'The Lady' Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
Roseanne Trailer Park Resident (TV Series)
Casino Ginger McKenna Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1996 Diabolique Nicole Horner
Last Dance Cindy Liggett
1998 Sphere Dr. Elizabeth 'Beth' Halperin
Antz Princess Bala Voice
The Mighty Gwen Dillon Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1999 Gloria Gloria
The Muse Sarah Little Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Simpatico Rosie Carter
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Henny Penny voice
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Fran TV movie
Picking Up the Pieces Candy Cowley
Beautiful Joe Alice 'Hush' Mason
2001 Harold and the Purple Crayon Narrator 2001-2002
2003 Cold Creek Manor Leah Tilson
2004 A Different Loyalty Sally Cauffield
Catwoman Laurel Hedare
The Practice Sheila Carlisle Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series (TV Series)
Kurtlar Vadisi (eng. Valley of the Wolves) Lisa Turkish TV Serial
2005 Higglytown Heroes Nicky - Blind Art Teacher Voice
Will & Grace Dr. Georgia Keller (TV Series)
Broken Flowers Laura Daniels Miller
2006 Alpha Dog Olivia Mazursky
Basic Instinct 2 Catherine Tramell
Huff Dauri Rathburn (TV Series)
Bobby Miriam Ebbers Hollywood Film Festival for Cast of the Year
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 If I Had Known I Was a Genius Gloria Fremont
When a Man Falls in the Forest Karen Fields
Democrazy Patricia Hill Short
2008 The Year of Getting to Know Us Jane Rocket
Five Dollars a Day Dolores Jones
2009 Streets of Blood Nina Ferraro
2010 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Jo Marlowe Four episodes (TV Series)
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u116/pink_cashmere_26/sharon-stone.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/dezaray25/stone.jpg
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad126/econnisme/yeah/stone.jpg


She still looks good for 52. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/10/10 at 7:00 am

The person who died on this day...Ray Milland
Ray Milland (January 3, 1907 – March 10, 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best-remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945) and as Oliver Barrett III in the 1970 film, Love Story. Milland was born Reginald Alfred John Truscott-Jones in Neath, Wales, the son of Elizabeth Annie (née Truscott), born Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, and Alfred Jones. Before becoming an actor, he served in the Household Cavalry. An expert shot, he became a member of his company's rifle team, winning many prestigious competitions, including the Bisley Match in England. When his four-year duty service was completed, Milland tried his hand at acting. He was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout while performing on the stage in London, went to America, and signed with Paramount Pictures.

When the Second World War began, Milland tried to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces, but was rejected because of an impaired left hand. He worked as a civilian flight instructor for the Army, and toured with a United Service Organisation (USO) South Pacific troupe in 1944. He married Muriel Weber on September 30, 1932, and they remained together until his death. The couple had a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Victoria.
Career

When working on I Wanted Wings (1941), with Brian Donlevy and William Holden, he went up with a pilot to test a plane for filming. While up in the air, Ray decided to do a parachute jump (being an avid amateur parachutist) but, just before he could disembark, the plane began to sputter, and the pilot told Milland not to jump as they were running low on gas and needed to land. Once on the ground and in the hangar, Ray began to tell his story of how he had wanted to jump. As he did so, the color ran out of the costume man's face. When asked why, he told Ray that the parachute he had worn up in the plane was "just a prop", and that there had been no parachute.

During the filming of Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Milland's character was to have curly hair. Milland's hair was naturally straight, so the studio used hot curling irons on his hair to achieve the effect. Milland felt that it was this procedure that caused him to go prematurely bald, forcing him to go from leading man to supporting player earlier than he would have wished.

The pinnacle of Milland's career and acknowledgement of his serious dramatic abilities came in 1946 when he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of an alcoholic in Billy Wilder's film The Lost Weekend (1945). He was the first Welsh actor to ever win an Oscar. He was also given an award at the first Cannes Film Festival for his performance. In 1951, he gave a strong performance in Close to My Heart, starring with Gene Tierney as a couple trying to adopt a child. In 1954, he starred opposite Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder.

He concentrated on directing for TV and film from the 1955 film A Man Alone and Lisbon for Republic Pictures that he also produced. From directing film he achieved much success directing for television. He returned as a movie character actor in the late 60s and the 70s, notably in the cult classic Daughter of The Mind (1969), in which he was reunited with Gene Tierney, and in Love Story (1970). He also made many television appearances. He starred from 1953–1955 with Phyllis Avery and Lloyd Corrigan in the CBS sitcom Meet Mr. McNutley in the role of a college English and later drama professor at fictitious Lynnhaven College. The program was renamed in its second season as The Ray Milland Show. From 1959–1960, Milland starred in the CBS detective series Markham, but the program failed to capture an audience even though it followed the hit western Gunsmoke, starring James Arness.

In the late 1960s, Milland hosted rebroadcasts of certain episodes of the syndicated western anthology series, Death Valley Days under the title Trails West. Toward the end of his life, Milland appeared twice as Jennifer Hart's father in ABC's Hart to Hart, with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. He also guest starred as Sire Uri in the pilot episode of the original Battlestar Galactica television series.

Milland gave the shortest acceptance speech of any Oscar winner: he simply bowed and left the stage.
Personal life

Milland had a tattoo on his upper right arm of a skull with a snake curled up on top of it with the tail of the snake sticking out through one of the eyes. The tattoo can be seen for a brief moment in the movie Her Jungle Love (1938).

Milland had a near-fatal accident on the set of Hotel Imperial (1939). One scene called for him to lead a cavalry charge through a small village. An accomplished horseman, Milland insisted upon doing this scene himself. As he was making a scripted jump on the horse, his saddle came loose, sending him flying straight into a pile of broken masonry. Laid up in the hospital for weeks with multiple fractures and lacerations, he was lucky to be alive.

Milland died of lung cancer in Torrance, California in 1986, aged 79. He was survived by his wife, the former Muriel Weber, and children.
Wide Eyed in Babylon

Wide Eyed in Babylon was an autobiography written by Ray Milland, published in 1974.

On his parents:

My father was not a cruel or harsh man. Just a very quiet one. I think he was an incurable romantic and consequently a little afraid of his emotions and perhaps ashamed of them... he had been a young hussar in the Boer War and had been present at the relief of Mafeking. He never held long conversations with anyone, except perhaps with me, possibly because I was the only other male in our family. The household consisted of my mother, a rather flighty and coquettish woman much concerned with propriety and what the neighbours thought..
Filmography
Main article: Ray Milland filmography
Further reading

    * Milland, Ray. (1974). Wide-Eyed in Babylon. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-688-00257-9
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l209/bibou69/Actors/RayMilland.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c177/srm1138/02clockraymilland.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v694/unclespellbinder/8%20Ball/Milland1.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/11/10 at 9:44 am

The word of the day... Crash
A crash is an accident in which a moving vehicle hits something and is damaged or destroyed
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/cetane/001.jpg
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/cetane/002.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac25/Tazzyonthemountain/carcrash.jpg
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad53/aundercover/crash/Picture001.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy143/RoccoNacho/carz/car_crash.jpg
http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae90/5280Busa/crash2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e307/the_crazed_guy/site%20photos/Crash_Bandicoot_Cover.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/RedMoon/CrashCourse/CrashCourseTattoo.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/11/10 at 9:50 am

The person of the day....Terrence Howard
Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor, singer, and rapper. Having appeared in film and on television since the late 1980s, Howard had his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television and film roles between 2004 and 2006. Among his roles in movies includes Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash, Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Idlewild, The Brave One. Howard co-starred in Iron Man and reprised the role in the video game adaption, though due to reprise his role in Iron Man 2, was replaced by Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle (his Crash co-star) in October 2008.

His debut pop album, Shine through It, heavily inspired by popular soul singers such as Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, was released in September 2008.
Howard was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Anita Williams and Tyrone Howard. His great-grandmother, Minnie Gentry, was a stage actress, as were his mother and uncles. His parents were both biracial, of African American and Caucasian descent; he experienced racism throughout his childhood. His father was involved in what has been termed the Santa Line Slaying, serving 11 months in prison on manslaughter charges after stabbing another man. At the age of 16, Howard emancipated himself from his parents and was put on welfare; at 18, he moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. He wanted to be a science teacher, though he had a low grade point average in high school and was admitted to the Pratt Institute in New York only after convincing them to give him a special entrance exam. Howard did not complete his education, as he had joined his brother on an audition for The Cosby Show and was cast in the role. Though he did not obtain a degree, Howard claims to be an engineer. Howard had a principal role in a short-lived CBS sitcom, Tall Hopes.

Terrence Howard is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Career

Howard first entered the entertainment world when he portrayed Jackie Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream, an ABC miniseries, now frequently shown as a feature-length movie. Three years later, he made his big film break in 1995's Mr. Holland's Opus. He continued being cast in television and movie roles and co-starred as "Greg Sparks" in the late-1990s television series Sparks with James L. Avery, Sr. and Miguel A. Nunez Jr. Howard also appeared in The Best Man in 1999, in Ashanti's music video for her 2002 single "Foolish" and in Mary J. Blige's video for "Be Without You". Howard also made an appearance on the TV series Family Matters. It has also been announced that Howard will re-team with Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer for a film based on the life of country music legend Charley Pride.

Howard has stated that he looks for characters that "teach him about himself" when choosing his film roles. Howard has also worked as a film producer, receiving such a credit for the film Pride. As of 2008, Howard hosts the PBS' series Independent Lens.

In 2008, he made his Broadway debut, playing Brick in an all-African-American production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen and also starring James Earl Jones (Big Daddy), Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama) and Anika Noni Rose (Maggie). During rehearsals he allegedly attacked and seriously injured musical composer Tex Allen, who claimed to have suffered multiple injuries as a result of being being punched multiple times in the head and face. In October 2008, Allen filed a $5 million lawsuit against Howard.

In October 2008, Howard made a guest appearance in the short film For All Mankind directed by Daniel L. Clifton, filmed on location in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. In 2009, he starred in the movie Fighting.
Personal life

Howard, who lives outside Philadelphia in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, was married to Lori McCommas for 14 years. The couple has three children: two daughters (Aubrey and Heaven) and a son (Hunter). Howard and his wife divorced in 2003 and remarried again in 2005, but have since separated. Press reports have since noted that Howard is "trying to reunite" with his wife Annisa, and that he has stated that he is "chasing after" her. His wife was born Jewish but is raising their children as Jehovah's Witnesses. In an interview with NPR, he said he wanted to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses as well.

In February 2009 it was reported on the The Smoking Gun that Howard was arrested in 2001 for a variety of charges related to a violent attack on his estranged wife, including simple assault, terrorist threats, harassment and stalking. According to police reports, he arrived at her house after an argument on the phone, forced entry into her home by breaking in doors, and chased her into the back yard where he punched her twice in the face with a closed fist. The violent attack ended when Howard's brother stopped it. In 2002 he pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace.

These issues came to light after he reportedly downplayed singer Chris Brown's 2009 arrest for attacking his girlfriend Rihanna. When Howard was asked about the allegations of domestic violence against Brown, he told a reporter from Hollywood.tv "It's just life, man. Chris is a great guy. He'll be all right, and Rihanna knows he loves her, you know? They'll be all right."
Music

Although Howard was not a music artist, he performed in several tracks for Hustle and Flow. The song "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" was written by Three 6 Mafia and produced by DJ Paul. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards, and it is also available in a version by Three 6 Mafia. The songs "Hustle And Flow (It Ain't Over)" and "Whoop That Trick", were composed by Al Kapone. All three tracks were performed by Terrence Howard, and they can be heard in the Hustle & Flow Soundtrack. Howard had been working on his first album since March 2007. The album, titled Shine Through It, was released on September 1, 2008.
Filmography
Films
Year Movie Role Other notes
1992 The Jacksons: An American Dream Adult Jackie Jackson
1993 Who's the Man? Customer
1995 LottoLand Warren
Dead Presidents Cowboy
Mr. Holland's Opus Louis Russ
1996 Sunset Park Spaceman
Johns Jimmy the Warlock
1997 Double Tap Ulysses
1998 Butter Dexter Banks
Spark Byron
The Players Club K.C.
1999 Valerie Flake Hitchhiker
Best Laid Plans Jimmy
The Best Man Quentin NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2000 Big Momma's House Lester Vesco
Love Beat the Hell Outta Me Chris
2001 Investigating Sex Lorenz
Angel Eyes Robby
Glitter Timothy Walker
2002 Hart's War Lt. Lincoln A. Scott
2003 Love Chronicles T-Roy
Biker Boyz Chu Chu
2004 Crash Cameron Thayer Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Florida Film Critics Circle Pauline Kael Breakout Award
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Ray Gossie McKee Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2005 The Salon Patrick
Lackawanna Blues Bill Crosby NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Hustle & Flow Djay Austin Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Artist
BET Award for Best Actor
Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Gotham Award - Breakthrough Award
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Four Brothers Lt. Green Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Animal Darius Allen
Get Rich or Die Tryin' Bama
2006 Idlewild Trumpy
2007 Pride Jim Ellis Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
The Hunting Party Duck (journalist)
The Brave One Detective Mercer
August Rush Richard Jeffries (child counselor)
Awake Dr. Jack Harper
The Perfect Holiday Mr. Bah Humbug
2008 Iron Man Lt. Col James Rhodes (Air Force officer) Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Phillies World Series Champions DVD Narrator
2009 Fighting Harvey Boarden
The Princess and the Frog James voice only
Red Tails Col. A.J. Bullard
2010 Little Murder Drag Hammerman
Television movies
Year Movie Role Other notes
1992 The Jacksons: An American Dream Jackie Jackson
1994 Family Matters John cameo appearance
1995 The O.J. Simpson Story Young A.C
2000 King of the World Cassius Clay
2001 Boycott Ralph Abernathy Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
2005 Their Eyes Were Watching God Amos Hicks
Discography

    * Shine Through It (2008)


Awards

Steve Lehman 6 Gold Star Award™ for Artists' Rights
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l26/NickyTheWhiteUnicorn/terrence_howard.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g303/shashagray_03/Terrence.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/megdays/howard_l.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/11/10 at 10:03 am

The person who died on this day...Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards (July 9, 1928 - March 11, 1996) was an American actor, director, and singer, best known for the role of TV doctor "Ben Casey" Edwards was born Vincent Edward Zoine III in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Julia and Vincento Zoine (a bricklayer), immigrants from Italy. He had a twin brother and was the youngest of seven children. He was a standout on his high school swim team and went on to study at Ohio State University on an athletic scholarship. There, he was part of the university's swim team that won the United States National Championships.
Career

Zoine studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and in 1950, he was signed to a contract by Paramount Pictures, making his film debut as "Vince Edwards" in 1951's Mr. Universe then played the lead next year in Hiawatha. Although he had major or lead roles in several films, including the 1958 film noir, Murder by Contract, it was not until he starred as the title character on the highly successful Ben Casey television series that he achieved a real level of stardom. The medical drama show, which he occasionally directed, ran from 1961 to 1966 and as a result of his popularity, Edwards released several music albums that met with reasonable success. Vince was represented by one of Hollywood's first "Super Agents", Abbey Greshler of Diamond Artists in Hollywood.

When the television series ended, Edwards returned to acting in motion pictures with a major role in the 1968 war drama, The Devil's Brigade. He continued to act in film as well as in guest spots on television plus. He directed a number of episodes in a variety of television series including the original Battlestar Galactica. Edwards made his last film in 1995, after which he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He died in Los Angeles, California the following year and was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr331/ileana269/bencasey.jpg
http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/dsng1/620922scan0040.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/11/10 at 7:42 pm


The person of the day....Terrence Howard
Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor, singer, and rapper. Having appeared in film and on television since the late 1980s, Howard had his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television and film roles between 2004 and 2006. Among his roles in movies includes Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash, Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Idlewild, The Brave One. Howard co-starred in Iron Man and reprised the role in the video game adaption, though due to reprise his role in Iron Man 2, was replaced by Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle (his Crash co-star) in October 2008.

His debut pop album, Shine through It, heavily inspired by popular soul singers such as Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, was released in September 2008.
Howard was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Anita Williams and Tyrone Howard. His great-grandmother, Minnie Gentry, was a stage actress, as were his mother and uncles. His parents were both biracial, of African American and Caucasian descent; he experienced racism throughout his childhood. His father was involved in what has been termed the Santa Line Slaying, serving 11 months in prison on manslaughter charges after stabbing another man. At the age of 16, Howard emancipated himself from his parents and was put on welfare; at 18, he moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. He wanted to be a science teacher, though he had a low grade point average in high school and was admitted to the Pratt Institute in New York only after convincing them to give him a special entrance exam. Howard did not complete his education, as he had joined his brother on an audition for The Cosby Show and was cast in the role. Though he did not obtain a degree, Howard claims to be an engineer. Howard had a principal role in a short-lived CBS sitcom, Tall Hopes.

Terrence Howard is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Career

Howard first entered the entertainment world when he portrayed Jackie Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream, an ABC miniseries, now frequently shown as a feature-length movie. Three years later, he made his big film break in 1995's Mr. Holland's Opus. He continued being cast in television and movie roles and co-starred as "Greg Sparks" in the late-1990s television series Sparks with James L. Avery, Sr. and Miguel A. Nunez Jr. Howard also appeared in The Best Man in 1999, in Ashanti's music video for her 2002 single "Foolish" and in Mary J. Blige's video for "Be Without You". Howard also made an appearance on the TV series Family Matters. It has also been announced that Howard will re-team with Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer for a film based on the life of country music legend Charley Pride.

Howard has stated that he looks for characters that "teach him about himself" when choosing his film roles. Howard has also worked as a film producer, receiving such a credit for the film Pride. As of 2008, Howard hosts the PBS' series Independent Lens.

In 2008, he made his Broadway debut, playing Brick in an all-African-American production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen and also starring James Earl Jones (Big Daddy), Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama) and Anika Noni Rose (Maggie). During rehearsals he allegedly attacked and seriously injured musical composer Tex Allen, who claimed to have suffered multiple injuries as a result of being being punched multiple times in the head and face. In October 2008, Allen filed a $5 million lawsuit against Howard.

In October 2008, Howard made a guest appearance in the short film For All Mankind directed by Daniel L. Clifton, filmed on location in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. In 2009, he starred in the movie Fighting.
Personal life

Howard, who lives outside Philadelphia in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, was married to Lori McCommas for 14 years. The couple has three children: two daughters (Aubrey and Heaven) and a son (Hunter). Howard and his wife divorced in 2003 and remarried again in 2005, but have since separated. Press reports have since noted that Howard is "trying to reunite" with his wife Annisa, and that he has stated that he is "chasing after" her. His wife was born Jewish but is raising their children as Jehovah's Witnesses. In an interview with NPR, he said he wanted to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses as well.

In February 2009 it was reported on the The Smoking Gun that Howard was arrested in 2001 for a variety of charges related to a violent attack on his estranged wife, including simple assault, terrorist threats, harassment and stalking. According to police reports, he arrived at her house after an argument on the phone, forced entry into her home by breaking in doors, and chased her into the back yard where he punched her twice in the face with a closed fist. The violent attack ended when Howard's brother stopped it. In 2002 he pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace.

These issues came to light after he reportedly downplayed singer Chris Brown's 2009 arrest for attacking his girlfriend Rihanna. When Howard was asked about the allegations of domestic violence against Brown, he told a reporter from Hollywood.tv "It's just life, man. Chris is a great guy. He'll be all right, and Rihanna knows he loves her, you know? They'll be all right."
Music

Although Howard was not a music artist, he performed in several tracks for Hustle and Flow. The song "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" was written by Three 6 Mafia and produced by DJ Paul. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards, and it is also available in a version by Three 6 Mafia. The songs "Hustle And Flow (It Ain't Over)" and "Whoop That Trick", were composed by Al Kapone. All three tracks were performed by Terrence Howard, and they can be heard in the Hustle & Flow Soundtrack. Howard had been working on his first album since March 2007. The album, titled Shine Through It, was released on September 1, 2008.
Filmography
Films
Year Movie Role Other notes
1992 The Jacksons: An American Dream Adult Jackie Jackson
1993 Who's the Man? Customer
1995 LottoLand Warren
Dead Presidents Cowboy
Mr. Holland's Opus Louis Russ
1996 Sunset Park Spaceman
Johns Jimmy the Warlock
1997 Double Tap Ulysses
1998 Butter Dexter Banks
Spark Byron
The Players Club K.C.
1999 Valerie Flake Hitchhiker
Best Laid Plans Jimmy
The Best Man Quentin NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2000 Big Momma's House Lester Vesco
Love Beat the Hell Outta Me Chris
2001 Investigating Sex Lorenz
Angel Eyes Robby
Glitter Timothy Walker
2002 Hart's War Lt. Lincoln A. Scott
2003 Love Chronicles T-Roy
Biker Boyz Chu Chu
2004 Crash Cameron Thayer Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Florida Film Critics Circle Pauline Kael Breakout Award
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Ray Gossie McKee Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2005 The Salon Patrick
Lackawanna Blues Bill Crosby NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Hustle & Flow Djay Austin Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Artist
BET Award for Best Actor
Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Gotham Award - Breakthrough Award
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Four Brothers Lt. Green Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Animal Darius Allen
Get Rich or Die Tryin' Bama
2006 Idlewild Trumpy
2007 Pride Jim Ellis Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
The Hunting Party Duck (journalist)
The Brave One Detective Mercer
August Rush Richard Jeffries (child counselor)
Awake Dr. Jack Harper
The Perfect Holiday Mr. Bah Humbug
2008 Iron Man Lt. Col James Rhodes (Air Force officer) Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Phillies World Series Champions DVD Narrator
2009 Fighting Harvey Boarden
The Princess and the Frog James voice only
Red Tails Col. A.J. Bullard
2010 Little Murder Drag Hammerman
Television movies
Year Movie Role Other notes
1992 The Jacksons: An American Dream Jackie Jackson
1994 Family Matters John cameo appearance
1995 The O.J. Simpson Story Young A.C
2000 King of the World Cassius Clay
2001 Boycott Ralph Abernathy Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
2005 Their Eyes Were Watching God Amos Hicks
Discography

    * Shine Through It (2008)


Awards

Steve Lehman 6 Gold Star Award™ for Artists' Rights
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l26/NickyTheWhiteUnicorn/terrence_howard.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g303/shashagray_03/Terrence.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/megdays/howard_l.jpg


He's a cool actor.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/10 at 5:38 am

The word of the day...Shower
A shower is a device for washing yourself. It consists of a pipe which ends in a flat cover with a lot of holes in it so that water comes out in a spray.
A shower is a small enclosed area containing a shower.
A shower is a short period of rain, especially light rain
If you shower a person with presents or kisses, you give them a lot of presents or kisses in a very generous and extravagant way.
A shower is a party or celebration at which the guests bring gifts.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s284/kstoner03/shower.jpg
http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/crankbait09/shower.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg215/magsporter/Baby%20Shower/invitation2070.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg78/starboy170/cool/SHOWERTIME.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/tilestoneworkz/Pocket%20Shower/Redguardingtheshowerpan.jpg
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af82/vversatile27/Shower-Gel_2preview.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp27/jeffsamber/Rain-shower.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/10 at 5:41 am

The person born on this day...James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina. He owns a home in the Town of Washington, Massachusetts in Berkshire County . A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Taylor achieved his major breakthrough in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first #1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a cover of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his classic 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a big resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released.
1970-1973: Breakthrough

Once recovered, Taylor moved to California, keeping Asher as his manager and record producer. In December 1969, he held the recording sessions for his second album there. Entitled Sweet Baby James, and with the participation of Carole King, the album was released in February 1970 and was Taylor's critical and popular triumph, buoyed by the single "Fire and Rain," a song about Taylor's experience in psychiatric institutions and the suicide of his friend, Suzanne Schnerr. Both the album and the single reached #3 in the Billboard charts, with Sweet Baby James selling more than 3 million copies in the United States alone. This success piqued tremendous interest in Taylor - prompting a 1971 Time Magazine cover story - and the single, "Carolina in My Mind," put him back into the charts. Sweet Baby James was received at its time as a folk-rock masterpiece, an album that effectively showcased Taylor's talents to the mainstream public, marked the direction he would take in following years, and made Taylor one of the main forces of the nascent movement. It earned several Grammy Award nominations including one for Album of the Year, and would be listed at #103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. ("Fire and Rain" was also listed #227 on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Songs of All Time).

During the time Sweet Baby James was released, Taylor appeared with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys in a Monte Hellman film, Two-Lane Blacktop. In October 1970, he performed with Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, and the Canadian band Chilliwack at a Vancouver benefit concert that funded Greenpeace's protests of 1971 nuclear weapons tests by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission at Amchitka, Alaska. (This performance was released in 2009 on the album Amchitka, The 1970 Concert That Launched Greenpeace.) In January 1971, sessions for Taylor's next album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, began. Released in April, the album also gained massive critical acclaim and contained Taylor's biggest Pop single in the U.S., a version of the Carole King standard "You've Got a Friend" (featuring backing vocals by Joni Mitchell, which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late July. The album itself reached #2 in the album charts, which would be Taylor's highest position ever on this list). In early 1972, Taylor received his first Grammy Award, for (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male) for "You've Got a Friend" (King also won Song of the Year for the same song on that ceremony). The album went on to sell 2 1/2 million copies in the United States alone.

November 1972 saw the release of Taylor's following album, One Man Dog. A concept album primarily recorded on his home recording studio, it featured cameos by Linda Ronstadt and consisted of eighteen short pieces of music put together. It was received with generally lukewarm reviews and, despite making the Top 10 of the Billboard Album Charts, overall sales were disappointing. The lead single "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" peaked at #18 on the Hot 100, and the follow-up, "One Man Parade", barely reached the Top 75. Almost simultaneously, Taylor married fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon on November 3, in a small ceremony at her Murray Hill, Manhattan apartment. A post-concert party following a Taylor performance at Radio City Music Hall turned into a large-scale wedding party, and the Simon-Taylor marriage would find much public attention over the following years. They had two children, Sarah Maria "Sally" Taylor, born January 7, 1974, and Benjamin Simon "Ben" Taylor, born January 22, 1977.
1974-1976: Career ups and downs

Taylor spent most of 1973 enjoying his new life as a married man, and he didn't return to the recording studio until January 1974, when sessions for his fifth album began. Walking Man was released in June and featured appearances of Paul and Linda McCartney and guitarist David Spinozza. The album was a critical and commercial disaster, being his first album to miss the Top 5 since his contract with Warner. It received poor reviews and sold a mere 300,000 copies in the United States. The title track was a huge disappointment, and failed to even appear on the Top 100 – nevertheless, it stands today as an often reprised fan favorite in concerts).

However, James Taylor's artistic fortunes spiked again 1975 when the Gold album Gorilla reached #6 and provided one of his biggest hit singles, a cover version of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," which featured wife Carly in backing vocals and reached #5 in America and #1 in Canada. On the Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, the track also reached the top, and the follow-up single, the feel-good "Mexico" also reached the Top 5 of that list. A critically very-well received album, Gorilla showcased Taylor's electric, lighter side that was evident on Walking Man. However, it was arguably a more consistent and fresher sounding Taylor with classics such as "Wandering" and "Angry Blues." It also featured a song about his daughter Sally, "Sarah Maria".

Gorilla was followed in 1976 by In the Pocket, Taylor's last studio album to be released under Warner Bros. Records. The album found him with many colleagues and friends, including Art Garfunkel, David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder (who co-wrote a song with Taylor and contributed an harmonica solo). A very melodic album, it was highlighted with the single "Shower the People", an enduring classic that hit #1 Adult Contemporary and almost hit the Top 20 of the Pop Charts. But the album was not very well-received, reaching only #16 and being highly criticized, particularly by Rolling Stone. Nevertheless 1976 was a huge boom year in the recording business - the year of inception of the "Platinum" disc - and In The Pocket was certified Gold.

Finished his contract with Warner, in November the label released Greatest Hits, the album that comprised most of his best work between 1970 and 1976 and it became with time his best-selling album ever. It was certified eleven times platinum in the US, earning a Diamond certification by the RIAA and eventually selling close to twenty million copies worldwide. It still stands as the best-selling folk album by any artist.
1977-1981: Move to Columbia and maintained success

In 1977 Taylor signed with Columbia Records. Between March and April, he quickly recorded his first album for the label. JT, released that June, gave Taylor his best reviews since Sweet Baby James, earning a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year in 1978. Rolling Stone was particularly favorable to the album – "JT is the least stiff and by far the most various album Taylor has done. That's not meant to criticize Taylor's earlier efforts . But it's nice to hear him sounding so healthy." JT reached #4 in the Billboard charts, selling more than 3 million copies in the United States alone. The album's Triple Platinum status ties it with Sweet Baby James as Taylor's all-time biggest selling studio album. It was propelled by the highly successful cover of Jimmy Jones and Otis Blackwell's "Handy Man", which hit #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and reached #4 on the Hot 100, earning Taylor another Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his cover version. The song also topped the Canadian charts. The success of the album propelled the released of two further singles – the rocking "Your Smiling Face" (an enduring live favourite) reached the American Top 20 and "Honey Don't Leave L.A." didn't enjoy much success, barely reaching the Top 75.

Back in the forefront of popular music, Taylor collaborated with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in the recording of a cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", which reached the Top 20 in the U.S. and topped the AC charts in early 1978. After briefly working on Broadway, he took a one-year break, reappearing in the summer of 1979 with the cover-studded Platinum album Flag, featuring a Top 30 version of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "Up on the Roof." Taylor also appeared on the No Nukes concert in Madison Square Garden, where he made a memorable live performance of "Mockingbird" with his wife Carly. The concert appeared on both the No Nukes album and film.

In March 1981, James Taylor released the album Dad Loves His Work, whose themes concerned his relationship with his father, the course his ancestors had taken, and the effect he and Simon had had on each other. The album was another Platinum success, reaching #10 and providing Taylor's final real hit single in a duet with J. D. Souther, "Her Town Too", which reached #5 Adult Contemporary and #11 on the Hot 100 in Billboard. The album's title was, in part, drawn from the reasons for Taylor's divorce from Carly Simon. She gave him an ultimatum: cut back on his music and touring, and spend more time with her and their children, or the marriage was through. The album's title was Taylor's answer, and Simon asked for divorce. (The emotional repercussions of the divorce likely served as at least part of the inspiration for "Her Town Too".)
1981-1996: Troubled times and new beginnings

Simon announced her separation from Taylor in September 1981 – saying "Our needs are different; it seem impossible to stay together" – and their divorce became final in 1983. Taylor was living on West End Avenue in Manhattan and on a methadone maintenance program. Over the course of four months starting in September 1983, spurred on in part by the deaths of his friends John Belushi and Dennis Wilson and in part by the desire to be a better father to his children, he dropped methadone and finally kicked his drug habit for good.

Taylor had thoughts of retiring by the time he played the massive Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro in January 1985. He was encouraged by the nascent democracy in Brazil at the time, buoyed by the positive reception he got from the large crowd and other musicians, and musically energized by the sounds and nature of Brazilian music. "I had... sort of bottomed-out in a drug habit, my marriage with Carly had dissolved, and I had basically been depressed and lost for a while, " he recalled in 1995. "I sort of hit a low spot. I was asked to go down to Rio de Janeiro to play in this festival down there. We put the band together and went down and it was just an amazing response. I played to 300,000 people. They not only knew my music, they knew things about it and were interested in aspects of it that to that point had only interested me. To have that kind of validation right about then was really what I needed. It helped get me back on track." The song "Only a Dream in Rio" was written in tribute to that night, with lines like I was there that very day and my heart came back alive. The October 1985 album, That's Why I'm Here, from which that song came, started a series of studio recordings that, while spaced further apart than his previous records, showed a more consistent level of quality and fewer covers.

On December 14, 1985, Taylor married actress Kathryn Walker at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Taylor's next albums were partially successful – in 1988, he released Never Die Young, highlighted with the charting title track, and in 1991, the platinum New Moon Shine provided Taylor some popular songs with the melancholic "Copperline" and the upbeat "(I've Got to) Stop Thinkin' About That", both hit singles in the AC radio. During the late eighties, he began touring regularly, especially on the summer amphitheater circuit. His later concerts feature songs from throughout his career and are marked by the musicianship of his band and backup singers. The 1993 two-disc (LIVE) album captures this, with a highlight being Arnold McCuller's descants in the codas of "Shower the People" and "I Will Follow." In 1995, Taylor performed the role of the Lord in Randy Newman's Faust.
1997-2003: Successful comeback

After six years since his last studio album, Taylor released Hourglass, an introspective album that gave him the best critical reviews in almost twenty years. The album had much of its focus on Taylor's troubled past and family. "Jump Up Behind Me" paid tribute to his father's rescue of him after The Flying Machine days, and the long drive from New York City back to his home in Chapel Hill. "Enough To Be On Your Way" was inspired by the alcoholism-related death of his brother Alex earlier in the decade. The themes were also inspired by Taylor and Walker's divorce, which took place in 1996. Critics embraced the dark themes on the album, and Hourglass was a huge commercial success, reaching #9 on the Billboard 200 (Taylor's first Top 10 album in sixteen years) and also provided a big adult contemporary hit on "Little More Time With You". The album also gave Taylor his first Grammy since JT, when he was honored with Best Pop Album in 1998.

On February 18, 2001 at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston, Taylor wed for the third time, marrying Caroline ("Kim") Smedvig, the director of public relations and marketing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They had begun dating in 1995, when they met as he appeared with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Part of their relationship was worked into the album October Road, on the song "On the 4th of July." The couple reside in the town of Washington, Massachusetts with their twin boys, Rufus and Henry, born in April 2001 to a surrogate mother via in vitro fertilization.

Flanked by two greatest hit releases, Taylor's Platinum-certified October Road appeared in 2002 to a receptive audience. It featured a number of quiet instrumental accompaniments and passages. Overall, it found Taylor in a more peaceful frame of mind; rather than facing a crisis now, Taylor said in an interview that "I thought I'd passed the midpoint of my life when I was 17." The album appeared in two versions, a single-disc version and a "limited edition" two-disc version which contained three extra songs including a duet with Mark Knopfler, "Sailing to Philadelphia," which also appeared on Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia album. Also in 2002, Taylor teamed with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss in singing "The Boxer" at the Kennedy Center Honors Tribute to Paul Simon. They later recorded the Louvin Brothers duet, "How's the World Treating You?" In 2004, after he chose not to renew his record contract with Columbia/Sony, he released James Taylor: A Christmas Album with distribution through Hallmark Cards.
Taylor's four siblings—Alex, Livingston, Hugh, and Kate—have also been musicians with recorded albums. Livingston is still an active musician; Kate was active in the 1970s but did not record another album until 2003; Hugh operates a bed-and-breakfast with his wife, The Outermost Inn in Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard; and Alex died in 1993. Taylor's children with Carly Simon—Ben and Sally—have also embarked on musical careers.
James Taylor collaborators

The following is a complete list of the musicians who have played or sung with James Taylor either in concert or on recordings.

    * Ray Charles: Piano/ Vocals
    * Jeff Babko: keyboard/organ
    * Phillip Ballou: vocals
    * Dave Bargeron: trombone
    * Gregg Bissonette: drums
    * Michael Brecker: saxophone
    * Randy Brecker: trumpet, vocals
    * Rosemary Butler: vocals
    * Keith Carlock: drums
    * Clifford Carter: keyboards
    * Neil Young: guitar, vocals
    * Valerie Carter: vocals
    * Luis Conte: percussion
    * David Crosby: backing vocals
    * Craig Doerge: keyboards
    * Jerry Douglas: dobro
    * Dan Dugmore: guitar
    * Mark Knopfler: vocals, guitar
    * Steve Edney: vocals
    * Walt Fowler: horns, keyboards
    * Steve Gadd: drums
    * Art Garfunkel: vocals
    * Andrew Gold: harmonium, vocals
    * Larry Goldings: piano, keyboards
    * Chris "Sticks" Rubow: drums
    * Don Grolnick: piano
    * John Guiliton: keyboards
    * Abigale "Gail" Haness: vocals
    * George Harrison: vocals
    * Buzz Heat: guitar



    * Don Henley: backing vocals
    * John Jarvis: keyboards
    * Jimmy Johnson: bass
    * Steve Jordan: drums
    * Carole King: piano, keyboards, vocals
    * Ed Kolakowski: keyboards
    * Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar: electric guitar
    * Russell Kunkel: drums
    * Michael Landau: guitar
    * Charles Larkey: bass
    * David Lasley: vocals
    * Gail Levant: harp
    * Tony Levin: bass
    * Yo-Yo Ma: cello
    * Bob Mann: guitar
    * Lou Marini: reeds, horns
    * Rick Marotta: drums
    * Kate Markowitz: vocals
    * Harvey Mason: drums
    * Linda McCartney: vocals
    * Paul McCartney: bass, vocals
    * Hugh McCracken: harmonica, guitar
    * Arnold McCuller: vocals
    * Clarence McDonald: piano, keyboards
    * Edgar Meyer: double bass
    * Joni Mitchell: backing vocals



    * Andy Muson: bass
    * Milton Nascimento: vocals, guitar
    * Graham Nash: backing vocals
    * Joel Bishop O'Brien: drums
    * Mark O'Connor: fiddle
    * Billy Payne: keyboards
    * Herb Pedersen: banjo
    * John Pizzarelli: guitar
    * Russ Powell: bass
    * Bonnie Raitt: vocals
    * Red Rhodes: pedal steel guitar
    * David Sanborn: saxophone
    * Rick Schlosser: drums
    * Ralph Schuckett: keyboards
    * Michael B. Siegel: bass
    * Carly Simon: vocals
    * Ricky Skaggs: vocals
    * Leland Sklar: bass
    * David Spinozza: guitar
    * J. D. Souther: guitar, vocals
    * Carlos Vega: drums
    * Waddy Wachtel: guitar
    * Joe Walsh: guitar
    * Willie Weeks: bass
    * Owen Young: cello
    * Zachary Wiesner: bass
    * Stevie Wonder: harmonica
    * Andrea Zonn: violin, vocals
    * Elio e le Storie Tese vocals

Dixie Chicks vocals
Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

    * 1971 — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, "You've Got a Friend"
    * 1977 — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, "Handy Man"
    * 1998 — Best Pop Album, Hourglass
    * 2001 — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight"
    * 2003 — Best Country Collaboration With Vocals, "How's the World Treating You" with Alison Krauss
    * 2006 — Grammy Award-sponsored MusiCares Person of the Year. At a black tie ceremony held in Los Angeles, musicians from several eras paid tribute to Taylor by performing his songs, often prefacing them with remarks on his influence on their decisions to become musicians. These artists included Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Taj Mahal, Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Sheryl Crow, India.Arie, the Dixie Chicks, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, and Keith Urban. Paul Simon performed as well, although he was not included in the televised program; Taylor's brother Livingston appeared on stage as a "backup singer" for the finale, along with Taylor's twin boys, Rufus and Henry.

Other recognition
James Taylor Bridge, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    * 1995 — Honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music, Boston, 1995.
    * 2000 — Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2000.
    * 2000 — Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2000.
    * 2003 — The Chapel Hill Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina opened a permanent exhibit dedicated to Taylor. At the same occasion the US-15-501 highway bridge over Morgan Creek, near the site of the Taylor family home and mentioned in Taylor's song "Copperline", was named in honor of Taylor.
    * 2004 — George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, UCLA Spring Sing.
    * 2004 — Ranked 84th in Rolling Stone's list of "The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
    * 2006 — Honorary Doctorate of Music from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Discography
Main article: James Taylor discography

U.S. Billboard Top 10 Albums

    * 1970 – Sweet Baby James (#3)
    * 1971 – Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (#2)
    * 1972 – One Man Dog (#4)
    * 1975 – Gorilla (#6)
    * 1976 – In The Pocket (#16)
    * 1977 – JT (#4)
    * 1979 – Flag (#10)
    * 1981 – Dad Loves His Work (#10)
    * 1997 – Hourglass (#9)
    * 2002 – October Road (#4)
    * 2008 – Covers (#4)

U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles

    * 1970 - "Fire and Rain" (#3)
    * 1971 – "You've Got a Friend" (#1)
    * 1975 – "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (#5)
    * 1977 – "Handy Man" (#4)

Other appearances

    * He provided a guest voice to The Simpsons episode "Deep Space Homer" where he played some of his songs to Homer, Buzz Aldrin, and Race Bannon when they were in space. He also appeared later on in the series when the family put together a jigsaw puzzle. His face was the missing final piece.
    * Performed "Second Star to the Right" on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films in 1988 as one of Various Artists.
    * Taylor performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 2 of the World Series in Boston on October 25, 2007, at Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals in Boston on June 5, 2008, and at the NHL's Winter Classic game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, the first hockey game ever held at Boston's Fenway Park.
    * He appeared on Sesame Street performing the song "Your Smiling Face" although the song was sung "Your Grouchy Face" as he sang it to Oscar the Grouch. He also appeared on the Sesame Street video compilation Silly Songs, and the album In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record, performing the song "Jellyman Kelly".
    * Has appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live six times as a musical guest: in 1976 performing "Shower the People," "Roadrunner" (with David Sanborn), and "Sweet Baby James" (host: Lily Tomlin); in 1979 performing "Johnnie Comes Back," "Up on the Roof," and "Millworker" (host: Michael Palin); in 1980 performing with Paul Simon "Cathy's Clown / Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (host: Paul Simon); in 1988 performing "Never Die Young," "Sweet Potato Pie," and "Lonesome Road" (host: Robin Williams); in 1991 performing "Stop Thinkin' About That," "Shed A Little Light," and "Sweet Baby James" (Host: Steve Martin); and in 1993 performing "Memphis," "Slap Leather," and "Secret of Life" (host: Rosie O'Donnell).
    * He provided background vocals for "Back In The High Life Again" by Steve Winwood in 1986.
    * He performed at a benefit concert supporting John B. Anderson's U.S. presidential campaign at Charleston, West Virginia in 1980.
    * He provided background vocals for "Perfect Love" by Marc Cohn.
    * He appeared on The West Wing.
    * He appeared on the The Johnny Cash Show, singing "Sweet Baby James", "Fire and Rain", and "Country Road", on February 17, 1971.
    * His song "Fire and Rain" was in the movie Remember the Titans.
    * He provided vocals for the song "First Me, Second Me" by the Italian band Elio e le Storie Tese
    * Along with Linda Ronstadt, he did backup vocals for two hit singles on Neil Young's Harvest: "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold". Twenty years later, the two would reunite with Young on his Harvest Moon album, singing backup on "From Hank to Hendrix," "War of Man," and the title track.
    * He made his debut for his 24th album Other Covers on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 10, 2009.
    * He appeared on the final of Star Académie, the Quebec version of American Idol, on April 13, 2009.
    * On May 29, 2009, he made a guest appearance and sang "Sweet Baby James" on the final episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno before Leno was replaced by Conan O'Brien.
    * Taylor appeared briefly in the 2009 movie Funny People, where he played "Carolina on My Mind" for a MySpace corporate event as the opening act for the main character.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o274/nmoore7/james-taylor.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f358/caseylee11/james_taylor.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/10 at 5:48 am

The person who died on this day...Charlie Parker
harles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Parker, with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, is largely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career, and the shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's sobriquet for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology" and "Bird of Paradise."

Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries. Several of Parker's songs have become standards, including "Billie's Bounce", "Anthropology", "Ornithology", and "Confirmation". He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines – such as "Ko-Ko", "Kim", and "Leap Frog" – he was also one of the great blues players. His themeless blues improvisation "Parker's Mood" represents one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Parker fused jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.

Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer. His style – from a rhythmic, harmonic and soloing perspective – influenced countless peers on every instrument.
has been said that, in early 1936, Parker participated in a 'cutting contest' that included Jo Jones on drums, who tossed a cymbal at Parker's feet in impatience with his playing. However, in the numerous interviews throughout his life, Jones made no mention of this incident. Exasperated and determined, in any case, at this time Parker improved the quality of practicing, learning the blues, "Cherokee" and "rhythm changes" in all twelve keys. In this wood-shedding period, Parker mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas of be-bop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said he spent 3-4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day. Rumor has it that he used to play many other tunes in all twelve keys. The story, though undocumented, would help to explain the fact that he often played in unconventional concert pitch key signatures, like E (which transposes to C# for the alto sax). Groups led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten were the leading Kansas City ensembles, and undoubtedly influenced Parker. He continued to play with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time certainly influenced Parker's developing style.

In 1938, Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band. It was said at one point in McShann's band that he "sounded like a machine", owing to his virtuosity without implying a lack of musicality.

As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while in hospital after an automobile accident, and subsequently became addicted to heroin. Heroin would haunt him throughout his life and ultimately contribute to his death.
In NYC

In 1939, Parker moved to New York City. There he pursued a career in music, but held several other jobs as well. He worked for $9 a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack where pianist Art Tatum performed. Parker's later style in some ways recalled Tatum's, with dazzling, high-speed arpeggios and sophisticated use of harmony.

In 1942 Parker left McShann's band and played with Earl Hines for one year. Also in the band was trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie, which is where the soon to be famous duo met for the first time. Unfortunately, this period is virtually undocumented because of the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which no official recordings were made. Nevertheless we know that Parker joined a group of young musicians in after-hours clubs in Harlem such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House and (to a much lesser extent) Minton's Playhouse. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. The beboppers' attitude was summed up in a famous quotation attributed to Monk by Mary Lou Williams: "We wanted a music that they couldn't play" – "they" being the (white) bandleaders who had taken over and profited from swing music. The group played in venues on 52nd Street including the Three Deuces and The Onyx. In his time in New York City, Parker also learned much from notable music teacher Maury Deutsch.
Bebop
Right side view of a Conn 6M "Lady Face" alto sax with highly distinctive underslung octave key, a model that Parker is known to have used.

According to an interview Parker gave in the 1950s: one night in 1939, he was playing "Cherokee" in a jam session with guitarist William 'Biddy' Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled him to play what he had been hearing in his head for some time, by building on the chords' extended intervals, such as ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths. Still with McShann's orchestra, Parker at this time realized that the twelve tones of the chromatic scale can each be quickly led melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.

Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts with comments like Eddie Condon's putdown: "They flat their fifths; we drink ours." The beboppers, in response, called these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Benny Goodman, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.

Because of the 2-year Musicians' Union recording ban on all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944 (part of a struggle to get royalties from record sales for a union fund for out-of-work musicians), much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity; as a result, the new musical concepts only gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Bebop began to grab hold and gain wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.

On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever." The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko" (based on the chords of "Cherokee"), "Now's the Time" (a twelve bar blues incorporating a riff later used in the late 1949 R&B dance hit "The Hucklebuck"), "Billie's Bounce", and "Thriving on a Riff".

Shortly afterwards, the Parker/Gillespie band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, eventually being committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for a six month period.
Addiction

Parker's addiction to heroin, which began in his late teens, caused him to miss gigs and to be fired for being high. To satisfy his habit, he frequently resorted to busking on the streets for drug money, receiving loans from fellow musicians/admirers, pawning his own horn and borrowing other sax players' instruments as a result. Parker's situation was typical of the strong connection between drug abuse and jazz at the time.

Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic due to his habit. Heroin was difficult to obtain after he moved to California for a short time where the drug was less abundant, and Parker began to drink heavily to compensate for this. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Prior to this session, Parker drank about a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1, Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track, "Max Making Wax." When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, going badly off mic. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker in front of the microphone. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars. On his second eight bars, however, Parker begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at Parker. McGhee's bellow is audible on the recording. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing the sub-par performance (and re-recorded the tune in 1953 for Verve, this time in stellar form, but perhaps lacking some of the passionate emotion in the earlier, problematic attempt).

During the night following the "Lover Man" session, Parker was drinking in his hotel room. He entered the hotel lobby stark naked on several occasions and asked to use the phone, but was refused on each attempt; the hotel manager eventually locked him in his room. At some point during the night, he set fire to his mattress with a cigarette, then ran through the hotel lobby wearing only his socks. He was arrested and committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where he remained for six months.

Coming out of the hospital, Parker was initially clean and healthy, and proceeded to do some of the best playing and recording of his career. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo", in reference to his hospital stay. He returned to New York – and his addiction – and recorded dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels that remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach. The highlights of these sessions include a series of slower-tempo performances of American popular songs including "Embraceable You" and "Bird of Paradise" (based on "All the Things You Are").
Charlie Parker with strings

A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky, and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as 'Third Stream Music'; a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session comprised the album Bird With Strings: "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You." The sound of these recordings is rare in Parker's catalog. Parker's improvisations are, relative to his usual work, more distilled and economical. His tone is darker and softer than on his small-group recordings, and the majority of his lines are beautiful embellishments on the original melodies rather than harmonically based improvisations. These are among the few recordings Parker made during a brief period when he was able to control his heroin habit, and his sobriety and clarity of mind are evident in his playing. Parker stated that, of his own records, Bird With Strings was his favorite. Although using classical music instrumentation with jazz musicians was not entirely original, this was the first major work where a composer of bebop was matched with a string orchestra.

Some fans thought it was a "sell out" and a pandering to popular tastes. Time demonstrated Parker's move a wise one: Charlie Parker with Strings sold better than his other releases, and his version of "Just Friends" is seen as one of his best performances. In an interview, he considered it to be his best recording to that date.
Prominence

By 1950, much of the jazz world had fallen under Parker's spell. Many musicians transcribed and copied his solos. Legions of saxophonists imitated his playing note-for-note. In response to these pretenders, Parker's admirer, the bass player Charles Mingus, titled a tune "Gunslinging Bird" (meaning "If Charlie Parker were a gunslinger, there would be a whole lot of dead copycats") featured on the album Mingus Dynasty. In this regard, he is perhaps only comparable to Louis Armstrong: both men set the standard for their instruments for decades, and few escaped their influence.

In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Bud Powell and Max Roach. Unfortunately, the concert clashed with a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott and as a result was poorly attended. Thankfully, Mingus recorded the concert, and the album Jazz at Massey Hall is often cited as one of the finest recordings of a live jazz performance, with the saxophonist credited as "Charlie Chan" for contractual reasons.

At this concert, he played a plastic Grafton saxophone (serial number 10265); later, saxophonist Ornette Coleman used this brand of plastic sax in his early career. Parker had sold his alto saxophone to buy drugs, and at the last minute, he, Dizzy Gillespie and other members of Charlie's entourage went running around Toronto trying to find Parker a saxophone. After scouring all the downtown pawnshops open at the time, they were only able to find a Grafton, which Parker proceeded to use at the concert that night.

Parker was known for often showing up to performances without an instrument, necessitating a loan at the last moment. There are various photos that show him playing a Conn 6M saxophone, a high quality instrument that was noted for having a very fast actionand a unique "underslung" octave key. Some of the photographs showing Parker with a Conn 6M were taken on separate occasions. because Parker can be seen wearing different clothing and there are different backgrounds. However, other photos exist that show Parker holding alto saxophones with a more conventional octave key arrangement, i.e. mounted above the crook of the saxophone e.g. the Martin Handicraft and Selmer Model 22 saxophones, among others. Parker is also known to have performed with a King 'Super 20' saxophone, with a semi-underslung octave key that bears some resemblance to those fitted on modern Yanagisawa instruments. Parker's King Super 20 saxophone was made specially for him in 1947.
Death
Parker's grave at Lincoln Cemetery.

Parker died in the suite of his friend and patron Nica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City while watching The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.

It was well known that Parker never wanted to return to Kansas City, even in death. Parker had told his common-law wife, Chan, that he didn’t want to be buried in the city of his birth; that New York was his home and he didn’t want any fuss or memorials when he died. At the time of his death, though, he hadn’t divorced his previous wife Doris, nor had he officially married Chan, which left Parker in the rather awkward post-mortem situation of having two widows, a scenario that muddied the issue of next of kin and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in his adopted hometown. Dizzy Gillespie was able to co-opt the funeral arrangements that Chan had been putting together and coordinated a ‘lying-in-state’, a Harlem procession officiated by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and a memorial concert before flying Parker's body back to Missouri to be buried there per his mother's wishes. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.

Charlie Parker was survived by his widows Doris Parker and Chan Parker; a stepdaughter, Kim Parker, who is also a musician; and a son, Baird Parker; their later lives are chronicled in Chan Parker's autobiography, My Life in E Flat.

Shortly after Parker died, graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives", the ultimate source for this is usually considered to be the poet Ted Joans.
Musical approach

Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over pre-existing jazz forms and standards, a practice still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" ("How High The Moon"), "Yardbird Suite" ("What Price Love") and "Donna Lee" ("Indiana"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop; however, it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and began to compose their own material .

While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for his tune "Blues for Alice". These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterised by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition although he did employ the use of repetitive (yet relatively rhythmically complex) motifs in many other tunes as well, most notably "Now's The Time".

Parker also contributed a vast rhythmic vocabulary to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in (then) unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist with more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists would have previously avoided. Within this context, Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Via his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published Charlie Parker Omnibook, Parker's uniquely identifiable vocabulary of "licks" and "riffs" dominated jazz for many years to come. Today his concepts and ideas are transcribed, studied, and analyzed by a great deal of jazz students and are part of any player's basic jazz vocabulary.
Discography
Main article: Charlie Parker discography
Awards and recognitions

Grammy Award

Charlie Parker Grammy Award History
Year Category Title Genre Label Result
1974 Best Performance By A Soloist First Recordings! Jazz Onyx Winner

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Charlie Parker: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1945 "Billie's Bounce" Jazz (Single) Savoy 2002
1953 Jazz at Massey Hall Jazz (Album) Debut 1995
1946 "Ornithology" Jazz (Single) Dial 1989
1950 Charlie Parker with Strings Jazz (Album) Mercury 1988

Inductions

Year Inducted Title
2004 Jazz at Lincoln Center: Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
1984 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1979 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame

National Recording Registry

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.

U.S. Postage Stamp

Year Issued Stamp USA Note
1995 32 cents Commemorative stamp U.S. Postal Stamps Photo (Scott #2987)
Musical tributes

    * Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death. It begins with a classically-tinged introduction, and then turns into a slow blues that gradually accumulates layers of overdubbing – one of the earliest experiments in jazz with multiple overdubbing.

    * Deeply touched by Charlie Parker's death, street musician Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory. Moondog affirmed that he had met Charlie Parker in the streets of New York and that they had planned to jam together.

    * The Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section, which to many listeners bring new life to them, whereas others consider the arrangements as somewhat constructed.

    * Saxophonist Phil Woods recorded a tribute concert for Parker, and in an interview stated that he thought Parker had said everything he needed to say.

    * Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the Heavy Weather album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself. The piece featured Jaco Pastorius playing electric fretless bass. (Pastorius had made a name for himself when he included on his debut solo album an astounding rendition of the Charlie Parker and Miles Davis standard "Donna Lee".) The Manhattan Transfer made a vocalese cover version of the composition with lyrics by Jon Hendricks.

    * In 2003 various artists including Serj Tankian and Dan the Automator put out Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project. This album created new songs by remixing Charlie Parker's originals.

    * The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album Pretzel Logic.
    * British jazz-rock band If paid tribute to Parker in the title track of their last album, Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads (1975), including a Parker-styled saxophone solo and the lyrics "The Bird was the man to be heard" and "The music was the word".
    * The avant-garde trombonist George Lewis recorded Homage to Charles Parker (1979), an album that offers a unique combination of electronic music and the blues.
    * TISM's The White Albun (2004) contains the song "Tonight Harry's Practice Visits the Home of Charlie 'Bird' Parker". The song focuses on celebrity resentment and the possibility that taking drugs will make the otherwise dull celebrities more interesting. The title of the song refers to Australian television show Harry's Practice and, more specifically, the segment where Dr. Harry Cooper would visit a celebrity, in this case, the visit is to Charlie "Bird" Parker's house.
    * Sparks released the song "(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing" on their 1994 album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, which prominently features Charlie Parker's name in the lyrics and makes references to his saxophone playing.
    * Duane Allman devised a unique slide guitar technique that enabled him to mimic the sounds of chirping birds, stating in at least one interview that this was his tribute to Parker. This can be heard in numerous live recordings, most notably "Mountain Jam" on The Allman Brothers Band's CDs Eat a Peach and The Fillmore Concerts (shortly before the drum interlude). Another, more delicate, version is in the song "Finding Her" on Boz Scaggs' self-titled debut album, first released in 1969. This technique can also be heard at the end of Derek & the Dominos 1970 hit "Layla" on which Allman played.
    * The Only World by poet Lynda Hull includes the poem "Ornithology" about Charlie Parker.
    * The poem "Song for Bird and Myself" by Jack Spicer was written in memory of Charlie Parker.
    * The song Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come, on the album Foreign Affairs by Tom Waits has a line that goes: with charlie parker on the bandstand not a worry in the world.
    * In the song "Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, the lyrics refer to Parker with the line "birds that blow the meaning into bebop."
    * Richard Thompson references Charlie Parker in his song "Outside of the Inside" on the album The Old Kit Bag (2005).
    * Charlie Parker is referenced in the song "Rothko Chapel" by David Dondero on the album Simple Love (2007).
    * Harry Chapin references Charlie Parker in the song 'There Only Was One Choice' from the 'Dance Band On The Titanic' album.

    * Refused included live recordings of Parker at the end of the song "Liberation Frequency" and transitioned it into "The Deadly Rhythm" on the album The Shape of Punk to Come.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t175/saxequalslove09/charlie-parker.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/jhleija/parker.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/12/10 at 7:06 am


The word of the day...Shower
A shower is a device for washing yourself. It consists of a pipe which ends in a flat cover with a lot of holes in it so that water comes out in a spray.
A shower is a small enclosed area containing a shower.
A shower is a short period of rain, especially light rain
If you shower a person with presents or kisses, you give them a lot of presents or kisses in a very generous and extravagant way.
A shower is a party or celebration at which the guests bring gifts.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s284/kstoner03/shower.jpg
http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/crankbait09/shower.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg215/magsporter/Baby%20Shower/invitation2070.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg78/starboy170/cool/SHOWERTIME.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/tilestoneworkz/Pocket%20Shower/Redguardingtheshowerpan.jpg
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af82/vversatile27/Shower-Gel_2preview.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp27/jeffsamber/Rain-shower.jpg


I love a nice hot shower after work. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/10 at 7:22 am


I love a nice hot shower after work. :)

And when you first get up.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/12/10 at 7:27 am


And when you first get up.


Yes it refreshes you.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/12/10 at 12:28 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2EZUw2mvjs




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/12/10 at 12:42 pm

I also like "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/12/10 at 3:49 pm


The person born on this day...James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina. He owns a home in the Town of Washington, Massachusetts in Berkshire County . A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Taylor achieved his major breakthrough in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first #1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a cover of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his classic 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a big resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released.
1970-1973: Breakthrough

Once recovered, Taylor moved to California, keeping Asher as his manager and record producer. In December 1969, he held the recording sessions for his second album there. Entitled Sweet Baby James, and with the participation of Carole King, the album was released in February 1970 and was Taylor's critical and popular triumph, buoyed by the single "Fire and Rain," a song about Taylor's experience in psychiatric institutions and the suicide of his friend, Suzanne Schnerr. Both the album and the single reached #3 in the Billboard charts, with Sweet Baby James selling more than 3 million copies in the United States alone. This success piqued tremendous interest in Taylor - prompting a 1971 Time Magazine cover story - and the single, "Carolina in My Mind," put him back into the charts. Sweet Baby James was received at its time as a folk-rock masterpiece, an album that effectively showcased Taylor's talents to the mainstream public, marked the direction he would take in following years, and made Taylor one of the main forces of the nascent movement. It earned several Grammy Award nominations including one for Album of the Year, and would be listed at #103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. ("Fire and Rain" was also listed #227 on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Songs of All Time).

During the time Sweet Baby James was released, Taylor appeared with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys in a Monte Hellman film, Two-Lane Blacktop. In October 1970, he performed with Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, and the Canadian band Chilliwack at a Vancouver benefit concert that funded Greenpeace's protests of 1971 nuclear weapons tests by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission at Amchitka, Alaska. (This performance was released in 2009 on the album Amchitka, The 1970 Concert That Launched Greenpeace.) In January 1971, sessions for Taylor's next album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, began. Released in April, the album also gained massive critical acclaim and contained Taylor's biggest Pop single in the U.S., a version of the Carole King standard "You've Got a Friend" (featuring backing vocals by Joni Mitchell, which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late July. The album itself reached #2 in the album charts, which would be Taylor's highest position ever on this list). In early 1972, Taylor received his first Grammy Award, for (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male) for "You've Got a Friend" (King also won Song of the Year for the same song on that ceremony). The album went on to sell 2 1/2 million copies in the United States alone.

November 1972 saw the release of Taylor's following album, One Man Dog. A concept album primarily recorded on his home recording studio, it featured cameos by Linda Ronstadt and consisted of eighteen short pieces of music put together. It was received with generally lukewarm reviews and, despite making the Top 10 of the Billboard Album Charts, overall sales were disappointing. The lead single "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" peaked at #18 on the Hot 100, and the follow-up, "One Man Parade", barely reached the Top 75. Almost simultaneously, Taylor married fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon on November 3, in a small ceremony at her Murray Hill, Manhattan apartment. A post-concert party following a Taylor performance at Radio City Music Hall turned into a large-scale wedding party, and the Simon-Taylor marriage would find much public attention over the following years. They had two children, Sarah Maria "Sally" Taylor, born January 7, 1974, and Benjamin Simon "Ben" Taylor, born January 22, 1977.
1974-1976: Career ups and downs

Taylor spent most of 1973 enjoying his new life as a married man, and he didn't return to the recording studio until January 1974, when sessions for his fifth album began. Walking Man was released in June and featured appearances of Paul and Linda McCartney and guitarist David Spinozza. The album was a critical and commercial disaster, being his first album to miss the Top 5 since his contract with Warner. It received poor reviews and sold a mere 300,000 copies in the United States. The title track was a huge disappointment, and failed to even appear on the Top 100 – nevertheless, it stands today as an often reprised fan favorite in concerts).

However, James Taylor's artistic fortunes spiked again 1975 when the Gold album Gorilla reached #6 and provided one of his biggest hit singles, a cover version of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," which featured wife Carly in backing vocals and reached #5 in America and #1 in Canada. On the Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, the track also reached the top, and the follow-up single, the feel-good "Mexico" also reached the Top 5 of that list. A critically very-well received album, Gorilla showcased Taylor's electric, lighter side that was evident on Walking Man. However, it was arguably a more consistent and fresher sounding Taylor with classics such as "Wandering" and "Angry Blues." It also featured a song about his daughter Sally, "Sarah Maria".

Gorilla was followed in 1976 by In the Pocket, Taylor's last studio album to be released under Warner Bros. Records. The album found him with many colleagues and friends, including Art Garfunkel, David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder (who co-wrote a song with Taylor and contributed an harmonica solo). A very melodic album, it was highlighted with the single "Shower the People", an enduring classic that hit #1 Adult Contemporary and almost hit the Top 20 of the Pop Charts. But the album was not very well-received, reaching only #16 and being highly criticized, particularly by Rolling Stone. Nevertheless 1976 was a huge boom year in the recording business - the year of inception of the "Platinum" disc - and In The Pocket was certified Gold.

Finished his contract with Warner, in November the label released Greatest Hits, the album that comprised most of his best work between 1970 and 1976 and it became with time his best-selling album ever. It was certified eleven times platinum in the US, earning a Diamond certification by the RIAA and eventually selling close to twenty million copies worldwide. It still stands as the best-selling folk album by any artist.
1977-1981: Move to Columbia and maintained success

In 1977 Taylor signed with Columbia Records. Between March and April, he quickly recorded his first album for the label. JT, released that June, gave Taylor his best reviews since Sweet Baby James, earning a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year in 1978. Rolling Stone was particularly favorable to the album – "JT is the least stiff and by far the most various album Taylor has done. That's not meant to criticize Taylor's earlier efforts . But it's nice to hear him sounding so healthy." JT reached #4 in the Billboard charts, selling more than 3 million copies in the United States alone. The album's Triple Platinum status ties it with Sweet Baby James as Taylor's all-time biggest selling studio album. It was propelled by the highly successful cover of Jimmy Jones and Otis Blackwell's "Handy Man", which hit #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and reached #4 on the Hot 100, earning Taylor another Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his cover version. The song also topped the Canadian charts. The success of the album propelled the released of two further singles – the rocking "Your Smiling Face" (an enduring live favourite) reached the American Top 20 and "Honey Don't Leave L.A." didn't enjoy much success, barely reaching the Top 75.

Back in the forefront of popular music, Taylor collaborated with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in the recording of a cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", which reached the Top 20 in the U.S. and topped the AC charts in early 1978. After briefly working on Broadway, he took a one-year break, reappearing in the summer of 1979 with the cover-studded Platinum album Flag, featuring a Top 30 version of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "Up on the Roof." Taylor also appeared on the No Nukes concert in Madison Square Garden, where he made a memorable live performance of "Mockingbird" with his wife Carly. The concert appeared on both the No Nukes album and film.

In March 1981, James Taylor released the album Dad Loves His Work, whose themes concerned his relationship with his father, the course his ancestors had taken, and the effect he and Simon had had on each other. The album was another Platinum success, reaching #10 and providing Taylor's final real hit single in a duet with J. D. Souther, "Her Town Too", which reached #5 Adult Contemporary and #11 on the Hot 100 in Billboard. The album's title was, in part, drawn from the reasons for Taylor's divorce from Carly Simon. She gave him an ultimatum: cut back on his music and touring, and spend more time with her and their children, or the marriage was through. The album's title was Taylor's answer, and Simon asked for divorce. (The emotional repercussions of the divorce likely served as at least part of the inspiration for "Her Town Too".)
1981-1996: Troubled times and new beginnings

Simon announced her separation from Taylor in September 1981 – saying "Our needs are different; it seem impossible to stay together" – and their divorce became final in 1983. Taylor was living on West End Avenue in Manhattan and on a methadone maintenance program. Over the course of four months starting in September 1983, spurred on in part by the deaths of his friends John Belushi and Dennis Wilson and in part by the desire to be a better father to his children, he dropped methadone and finally kicked his drug habit for good.

Taylor had thoughts of retiring by the time he played the massive Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro in January 1985. He was encouraged by the nascent democracy in Brazil at the time, buoyed by the positive reception he got from the large crowd and other musicians, and musically energized by the sounds and nature of Brazilian music. "I had... sort of bottomed-out in a drug habit, my marriage with Carly had dissolved, and I had basically been depressed and lost for a while, " he recalled in 1995. "I sort of hit a low spot. I was asked to go down to Rio de Janeiro to play in this festival down there. We put the band together and went down and it was just an amazing response. I played to 300,000 people. They not only knew my music, they knew things about it and were interested in aspects of it that to that point had only interested me. To have that kind of validation right about then was really what I needed. It helped get me back on track." The song "Only a Dream in Rio" was written in tribute to that night, with lines like I was there that very day and my heart came back alive. The October 1985 album, That's Why I'm Here, from which that song came, started a series of studio recordings that, while spaced further apart than his previous records, showed a more consistent level of quality and fewer covers.

On December 14, 1985, Taylor married actress Kathryn Walker at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Taylor's next albums were partially successful – in 1988, he released Never Die Young, highlighted with the charting title track, and in 1991, the platinum New Moon Shine provided Taylor some popular songs with the melancholic "Copperline" and the upbeat "(I've Got to) Stop Thinkin' About That", both hit singles in the AC radio. During the late eighties, he began touring regularly, especially on the summer amphitheater circuit. His later concerts feature songs from throughout his career and are marked by the musicianship of his band and backup singers. The 1993 two-disc (LIVE) album captures this, with a highlight being Arnold McCuller's descants in the codas of "Shower the People" and "I Will Follow." In 1995, Taylor performed the role of the Lord in Randy Newman's Faust.
1997-2003: Successful comeback

After six years since his last studio album, Taylor released Hourglass, an introspective album that gave him the best critical reviews in almost twenty years. The album had much of its focus on Taylor's troubled past and family. "Jump Up Behind Me" paid tribute to his father's rescue of him after The Flying Machine days, and the long drive from New York City back to his home in Chapel Hill. "Enough To Be On Your Way" was inspired by the alcoholism-related death of his brother Alex earlier in the decade. The themes were also inspired by Taylor and Walker's divorce, which took place in 1996. Critics embraced the dark themes on the album, and Hourglass was a huge commercial success, reaching #9 on the Billboard 200 (Taylor's first Top 10 album in sixteen years) and also provided a big adult contemporary hit on "Little More Time With You". The album also gave Taylor his first Grammy since JT, when he was honored with Best Pop Album in 1998.

On February 18, 2001 at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston, Taylor wed for the third time, marrying Caroline ("Kim") Smedvig, the director of public relations and marketing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They had begun dating in 1995, when they met as he appeared with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Part of their relationship was worked into the album October Road, on the song "On the 4th of July." The couple reside in the town of Washington, Massachusetts with their twin boys, Rufus and Henry, born in April 2001 to a surrogate mother via in vitro fertilization.

Flanked by two greatest hit releases, Taylor's Platinum-certified October Road appeared in 2002 to a receptive audience. It featured a number of quiet instrumental accompaniments and passages. Overall, it found Taylor in a more peaceful frame of mind; rather than facing a crisis now, Taylor said in an interview that "I thought I'd passed the midpoint of my life when I was 17." The album appeared in two versions, a single-disc version and a "limited edition" two-disc version which contained three extra songs including a duet with Mark Knopfler, "Sailing to Philadelphia," which also appeared on Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia album. Also in 2002, Taylor teamed with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss in singing "The Boxer" at the Kennedy Center Honors Tribute to Paul Simon. They later recorded the Louvin Brothers duet, "How's the World Treating You?" In 2004, after he chose not to renew his record contract with Columbia/Sony, he released James Taylor: A Christmas Album with distribution through Hallmark Cards.
Taylor's four siblings—Alex, Livingston, Hugh, and Kate—have also been musicians with recorded albums. Livingston is still an active musician; Kate was active in the 1970s but did not record another album until 2003; Hugh operates a bed-and-breakfast with his wife, The Outermost Inn in Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard; and Alex died in 1993. Taylor's children with Carly Simon—Ben and Sally—have also embarked on musical careers.
James Taylor collaborators

The following is a complete list of the musicians who have played or sung with James Taylor either in concert or on recordings.

    * Ray Charles: Piano/ Vocals
    * Jeff Babko: keyboard/organ
    * Phillip Ballou: vocals
    * Dave Bargeron: trombone
    * Gregg Bissonette: drums
    * Michael Brecker: saxophone
    * Randy Brecker: trumpet, vocals
    * Rosemary Butler: vocals
    * Keith Carlock: drums
    * Clifford Carter: keyboards
    * Neil Young: guitar, vocals
    * Valerie Carter: vocals
    * Luis Conte: percussion
    * David Crosby: backing vocals
    * Craig Doerge: keyboards
    * Jerry Douglas: dobro
    * Dan Dugmore: guitar
    * Mark Knopfler: vocals, guitar
    * Steve Edney: vocals
    * Walt Fowler: horns, keyboards
    * Steve Gadd: drums
    * Art Garfunkel: vocals
    * Andrew Gold: harmonium, vocals
    * Larry Goldings: piano, keyboards
    * Chris "Sticks" Rubow: drums
    * Don Grolnick: piano
    * John Guiliton: keyboards
    * Abigale "Gail" Haness: vocals
    * George Harrison: vocals
    * Buzz Heat: guitar



    * Don Henley: backing vocals
    * John Jarvis: keyboards
    * Jimmy Johnson: bass
    * Steve Jordan: drums
    * Carole King: piano, keyboards, vocals
    * Ed Kolakowski: keyboards
    * Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar: electric guitar
    * Russell Kunkel: drums
    * Michael Landau: guitar
    * Charles Larkey: bass
    * David Lasley: vocals
    * Gail Levant: harp
    * Tony Levin: bass
    * Yo-Yo Ma: cello
    * Bob Mann: guitar
    * Lou Marini: reeds, horns
    * Rick Marotta: drums
    * Kate Markowitz: vocals
    * Harvey Mason: drums
    * Linda McCartney: vocals
    * Paul McCartney: bass, vocals
    * Hugh McCracken: harmonica, guitar
    * Arnold McCuller: vocals
    * Clarence McDonald: piano, keyboards
    * Edgar Meyer: double bass
    * Joni Mitchell: backing vocals



    * Andy Muson: bass
    * Milton Nascimento: vocals, guitar
    * Graham Nash: backing vocals
    * Joel Bishop O'Brien: drums
    * Mark O'Connor: fiddle
    * Billy Payne: keyboards
    * Herb Pedersen: banjo
    * John Pizzarelli: guitar
    * Russ Powell: bass
    * Bonnie Raitt: vocals
    * Red Rhodes: pedal steel guitar
    * David Sanborn: saxophone
    * Rick Schlosser: drums
    * Ralph Schuckett: keyboards
    * Michael B. Siegel: bass
    * Carly Simon: vocals
    * Ricky Skaggs: vocals
    * Leland Sklar: bass
    * David Spinozza: guitar
    * J. D. Souther: guitar, vocals
    * Carlos Vega: drums
    * Waddy Wachtel: guitar
    * Joe Walsh: guitar
    * Willie Weeks: bass
    * Owen Young: cello
    * Zachary Wiesner: bass
    * Stevie Wonder: harmonica
    * Andrea Zonn: violin, vocals
    * Elio e le Storie Tese vocals

Dixie Chicks vocals
Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

    * 1971 — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, "You've Got a Friend"
    * 1977 — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, "Handy Man"
    * 1998 — Best Pop Album, Hourglass
    * 2001 — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight"
    * 2003 — Best Country Collaboration With Vocals, "How's the World Treating You" with Alison Krauss
    * 2006 — Grammy Award-sponsored MusiCares Person of the Year. At a black tie ceremony held in Los Angeles, musicians from several eras paid tribute to Taylor by performing his songs, often prefacing them with remarks on his influence on their decisions to become musicians. These artists included Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Taj Mahal, Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Sheryl Crow, India.Arie, the Dixie Chicks, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, and Keith Urban. Paul Simon performed as well, although he was not included in the televised program; Taylor's brother Livingston appeared on stage as a "backup singer" for the finale, along with Taylor's twin boys, Rufus and Henry.

Other recognition
James Taylor Bridge, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    * 1995 — Honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music, Boston, 1995.
    * 2000 — Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2000.
    * 2000 — Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2000.
    * 2003 — The Chapel Hill Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina opened a permanent exhibit dedicated to Taylor. At the same occasion the US-15-501 highway bridge over Morgan Creek, near the site of the Taylor family home and mentioned in Taylor's song "Copperline", was named in honor of Taylor.
    * 2004 — George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, UCLA Spring Sing.
    * 2004 — Ranked 84th in Rolling Stone's list of "The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
    * 2006 — Honorary Doctorate of Music from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Discography
Main article: James Taylor discography

U.S. Billboard Top 10 Albums

    * 1970 – Sweet Baby James (#3)
    * 1971 – Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (#2)
    * 1972 – One Man Dog (#4)
    * 1975 – Gorilla (#6)
    * 1976 – In The Pocket (#16)
    * 1977 – JT (#4)
    * 1979 – Flag (#10)
    * 1981 – Dad Loves His Work (#10)
    * 1997 – Hourglass (#9)
    * 2002 – October Road (#4)
    * 2008 – Covers (#4)

U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles

    * 1970 - "Fire and Rain" (#3)
    * 1971 – "You've Got a Friend" (#1)
    * 1975 – "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (#5)
    * 1977 – "Handy Man" (#4)

Other appearances

    * He provided a guest voice to The Simpsons episode "Deep Space Homer" where he played some of his songs to Homer, Buzz Aldrin, and Race Bannon when they were in space. He also appeared later on in the series when the family put together a jigsaw puzzle. His face was the missing final piece.
    * Performed "Second Star to the Right" on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films in 1988 as one of Various Artists.
    * Taylor performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 2 of the World Series in Boston on October 25, 2007, at Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals in Boston on June 5, 2008, and at the NHL's Winter Classic game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, the first hockey game ever held at Boston's Fenway Park.
    * He appeared on Sesame Street performing the song "Your Smiling Face" although the song was sung "Your Grouchy Face" as he sang it to Oscar the Grouch. He also appeared on the Sesame Street video compilation Silly Songs, and the album In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record, performing the song "Jellyman Kelly".
    * Has appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live six times as a musical guest: in 1976 performing "Shower the People," "Roadrunner" (with David Sanborn), and "Sweet Baby James" (host: Lily Tomlin); in 1979 performing "Johnnie Comes Back," "Up on the Roof," and "Millworker" (host: Michael Palin); in 1980 performing with Paul Simon "Cathy's Clown / Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (host: Paul Simon); in 1988 performing "Never Die Young," "Sweet Potato Pie," and "Lonesome Road" (host: Robin Williams); in 1991 performing "Stop Thinkin' About That," "Shed A Little Light," and "Sweet Baby James" (Host: Steve Martin); and in 1993 performing "Memphis," "Slap Leather," and "Secret of Life" (host: Rosie O'Donnell).
    * He provided background vocals for "Back In The High Life Again" by Steve Winwood in 1986.
    * He performed at a benefit concert supporting John B. Anderson's U.S. presidential campaign at Charleston, West Virginia in 1980.
    * He provided background vocals for "Perfect Love" by Marc Cohn.
    * He appeared on The West Wing.
    * He appeared on the The Johnny Cash Show, singing "Sweet Baby James", "Fire and Rain", and "Country Road", on February 17, 1971.
    * His song "Fire and Rain" was in the movie Remember the Titans.
    * He provided vocals for the song "First Me, Second Me" by the Italian band Elio e le Storie Tese
    * Along with Linda Ronstadt, he did backup vocals for two hit singles on Neil Young's Harvest: "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold". Twenty years later, the two would reunite with Young on his Harvest Moon album, singing backup on "From Hank to Hendrix," "War of Man," and the title track.
    * He made his debut for his 24th album Other Covers on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 10, 2009.
    * He appeared on the final of Star Académie, the Quebec version of American Idol, on April 13, 2009.
    * On May 29, 2009, he made a guest appearance and sang "Sweet Baby James" on the final episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno before Leno was replaced by Conan O'Brien.
    * Taylor appeared briefly in the 2009 movie Funny People, where he played "Carolina on My Mind" for a MySpace corporate event as the opening act for the main character.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o274/nmoore7/james-taylor.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f358/caseylee11/james_taylor.gif

I like some of his stuff when I'm in a relaxing mood. Pleasant voice.
Fire and rain is nice, You've got a friend, How sweet it is, Handy man, and others.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/13/10 at 2:52 am


I like some of his stuff when I'm in a relaxing mood. Pleasant voice.
Fire and rain is nice, You've got a friend, How sweet it is, Handy man, and others.

Yeah, he had lots of great songs, which I often listen to as well. Also, his arrangement of "Everyday" (originally by Buddy Holly) is excellent.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/10 at 2:59 am

I have several days to catch up on here!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/10 at 8:34 am


I have several days to catch up on here!

Take your time :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/10 at 8:41 am

The word of the day...Solitaire
#
Solitaire is a game for one person in which you move and remove objects on a board, with the aim of having one object left at the end of the game. N-UNCOUNT
#
Solitaire is a card game for only one player. N-UNCOUNT US
#
A solitaire is a diamond or other jewel that is set on its own in a ring or other piece of jewellery.


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad115/ah-designs/JEWELLERY/RSO001.png
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e61/jzkitten/BA/2009%20Quests/Quest%201/GolfSolitaireBSS.png
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad310/dse_dk/NTSC-U%20WiiWare%20Images%20for%20Triiforce/W5IE.png
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/ThomasEWilliams/Tomz%20Stuff/Solitaire2009.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb29/Hanspic/solitaire.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/sugarysweet1353/solitaire.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/suekat777/solitaire.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd319/Lonewolf-KY/SOLITAIRE.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/10 at 8:44 am

The person born on this day...Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939; Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter . His career has spanned over 50 years, during which time he has written many songs for himself and others, often working with lyricists Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody.
Sedaka's father, Mac Sedaka, a taxi driver, was the son of Turkish Jewish immigrants ("Sedaka" is a variant of tzedaka — Hebrew for charity); his mother, Eleanor (Appel) Sedaka, was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent. He grew up in an apartment in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. He is the cousin of singer Eydie Gorme.

He demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class, and when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright. He took to the instrument immediately. In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children, which he attended on Saturdays. He also maintained an interest in popular music, and when he was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. The two began writing together.

The best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits of his early career are "The Diary" (#14, 1958), a song that he offered to Little Anthony and the Imperials; "Oh! Carol" (#9, 1959); "You Mean Everything to Me" (#17, 1960); "Calendar Girl" (#4, 1960); "Stairway to Heaven" (#9, 1960); "Run Samson Run" (top 30, 1960); "Little Devil" (#11, 1961); "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (#6, 1961); "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (#1, 1962); and "Next Door to an Angel" (#5, 1962). "Oh! Carol" refers to Sedaka's Brill Building compatriot and former girlfriend Carole King. King responded with her answer song, "Oh, Neil". A Scopitone exists for "Calendar Girl".

A similar sharing came earlier with Sedaka and singer Connie Francis. As Francis explains at her concerts, she began searching for a new hit after her 1958 single "Who's Sorry Now?". She was introduced to Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, who played every ballad they had written for her. Francis began writing her diary while the two played the last of their songs. After they finished, Francis told them they wrote beautiful ballads but that they were too intellectual for the young generation. Sedaka suggested to Greenfield a song they had written that morning for a girl group. Greenfield protested because the song had been promised to the girl group, but Sedaka insisted on playing "Stupid Cupid". Francis told them they had just played her new hit. Francis' song reached #14 on the Billboard charts.

While Francis was writing her diary, Sedaka asked her if he could read what she had written. After she refused, Sedaka was inspired to write "The Diary", his first hit single. Sedaka and Greenfield wrote many of Connie Francis' hits such as "Fallin'" and "Where the Boys Are".

In 1961, Sedaka began to record some of his hits in Italian. At first he published "Esagerata" and "Un Giorno Inutile", local versions of "Little Devil" and "I Must Be Dreaming". Other recordings were to follow, such as "Tun Non Lo Sai" ("Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"), "Il Re Dei Pagliacci" ("King of Clowns"), "I Tuoi Capricci" ("Look Inside Your Heart"), and "La Terza Luna" ("Waiting For Never") to name only a few. Sedaka also recorded in Spanish, German, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Japanese.

Between 1960 and 1962, Sedaka had eight Top 40 hits, but he was one of many American performers of the era whose popularity declined due to the British Invasion and the evolution of the Rock and Pop genres of music. His commercial success declined rapidly after 1964: he scored only two minor hits in 1965, and none of his 1966 singles charted. His RCA contract was not renewed when it ended in 1967, and he was left without a record label.

Although Sedaka's stature as a recording artist was at a low ebb in the late 1960s, he was able to maintain his career through songwriting. Thanks to the fact that his publisher, Aldon Music, was acquired by Screen Gems, two of his songs were recorded by The Monkees, and other hits in this period written by Sedaka included The Cyrkle's version of "We Had a Good Thing Goin'" and "Workin' on a Groovy Thing", a Top 40 R&B hit for Patti Drew in 1968 and a US Top 20 hit for The 5th Dimension in 1969. Also, "Make the Music Play" was included on Frankie Valli's charting album Timeless.

On an episode of the quiz show I've Got a Secret in 1965, Sedaka's secret was that he was to represent the United States in classical piano at the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, and he played "Fantasie Impromptu" on the show. Panelist Henry Morgan made a point that the Russians, at least older ones, hated rock and roll. Sedaka's participation in the competition, which Van Cliburn had won in 1958, was canceled by the USSR because of Sedaka's rock and roll connection.
1970s comeback

Sedaka revived his solo career in the early 1970s. Despite his waning chart appeal in the USA in the late sixties, he remained very popular as a concert attraction, notably in the UK and Australia. He made several trips to Australia to play cabaret dates, and his commercial comeback began when the single "Star Crossed Lovers" became a major hit there. The song went to #5 nationally in April 1969 -- giving Sedaka his first charting single in four years—and it also came in at #5 in Go-Set magazine's list of the Top 40 Australian singles of 1969.

Later that year, with the support of Festival Records, he recorded a new LP of original material entitled Workin' On A Groovy Thing at Festival Studios in Sydney. It was co-produced by Festival staff producer Pat Aulton, with arrangements by John Farrar (who later achieved international fame for his work with Olivia Newton-John) and backing by Australian session musicians including guitarist Jimmy Doyle (Ayers Rock) and noted jazz musician-composer John Sangster.

The single lifted from the album, "Wheeling West Virginia", reached #20 in Australia in early 1970. The LP is also notable because it was Sedaka's first album to include collaborations with writers other than longtime lyricist Howard Greenfield -- the title track featured lyrics by Roger Atkins and four other songs were co-written with Carole Bayer Sager, who subsequently embarked on a successful collaboration with expatriate Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen.

In 1972, Sedaka embarked on a successful English tour and in June recorded the Solitaire album in England at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, working with the four future members of 10cc. As well as the title track, which was successfully covered by Andy Williams and The Carpenters, it included two UK Top 40 singles, including "Beautiful You" which also charted in America—Sedaka's first US hit in ten years.

A year later he reconvened with the Strawberry team – who had by then charted with their own debut 10cc album – to record The Tra-La Days Are Over, which started the second phase of his career and included his original version of the hit song "Love Will Keep Us Together" (a US #1 hit two years later for Captain & Tennille). This album also marked the effective end of his writing partnership with Greenfield, commemorated by the track "Our Last Song Together"

He worked with Elton John, who signed him to his Rocket Records label (During the ensuing years, Sedaka's records would be distributed in Europe on the Polydor label). Sedaka returned with a flourish, topping the charts twice with "Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood" (both 1975). John provided backing vocals for the latter song. The flipside of "Laughter in the Rain" was "The Immigrant" (US pop #22, US AC #1), a wistful, nostalgic piece dedicated to John Lennon, which recalled the by-gone era when America was welcoming of immigrants, in contrast to the U.S. government's then-refusal to grant Lennon permanent resident status.

Sedaka and Greenfield co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together", a No. 1 hit for Captain and Tennille and the best-selling record of 1975. The song says "Sedaka is back" in the coda; Toni Tennille sang it in an ad lib while laying down background vocals.

In 1975, Sedaka was the opening act for the The Carpenters on their world tour. According to The Carpenters: The Untold Story by Ray Coleman, manager Sherwin Bash fired Sedaka at the request of Richard Carpenter. The firing resulted in a media backlash against The Carpenters after Sedaka publicly announced he was off the tour. This, however, was before Karen and Richard recorded Sedaka's "Solitaire" which became a Top 20 hit for the duo. Richard Carpenter denied that he fired Sedaka for "stealing their show," stating they were proud of Sedaka's success. However, Bash was fired as The Carpenters' manager a short time after.

"Solitaire" would find success again in the 21st century, when American Idol finalist Clay Aiken sang the song when Sedaka appeared as a judge in the second season, won by Ruben Studdard. The "guest judge" has since been eliminated. Aiken explained that the song was his mother's favorite and that she begged him to sing it when she learned that Sedaka would be on the show. After he was awarded a recording contract, he added "Solitaire" as the B-side to his single "The Way," whose sales were faltering. When "Solitaire" moved to the A-side, radio and record sales responded and the single hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart, one of the biggest hits of 2004. Sedaka was invited back to American Idol to celebrate its success and could be seen in the audience several times.

In 1975, Sedaka recorded a new version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do." The 1962 original was fast-tempo and bouncy teen pop, but the remake was slower and in the style of a jazz/torch piano arrangement. Lenny Welch had recorded the song in this style in 1970. It reached #8 on the pop charts in early 1976, making him the second artist to hit the US Top Ten twice with separate versions of the song, and the only artist to return to the Top Ten with a remake of their own #1 hit. (The Ventures had hits in 1960 and 1964 with recordings of "Walk, Don't Run,"and Elton John later accomplished the feat twice, with 1991's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Candle in the Wind 1997".)

Sedaka's second version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The same year, Elvis Presley recorded the Sedaka song "Solitaire". This was followed by a #16 hit in 1976, "Love in the Shadows." In 1980, Sedaka had a Top 20 hit with "Should've Never Let You Go," which he recorded with his daughter, Dara.

Sedaka is also composer of "Is This The Way to Amarillo", a song he wrote for Britain's Tony Christie. It reached #18 on the UK charts in 1971, but #1 when reissued in 2005, thanks to a video starring comedian Peter Kay. Sedaka recorded the song in 1977, when it became a #44 hit. On April 7, 2006, during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Sedaka was presented with an award from the Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums as writer of the best-selling single of the 21st century (so far), "Amarillo."

Ben Folds, an American pop singer, credited Sedaka on his "iTunes Originals" album as inspiration for song publishing. Hearing Sedaka had a song published by the age of 13 gave Folds the goal of also getting a song published by his 13th birthday, despite the fact that Sedaka didn't actually publish his first song until he was 16.
Sedaka today

Sedaka continues to perform. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October 2006.

A concert performance on 26 October 2007 at the Lincoln Center in New York City honored the 50th anniversary of Sedaka's debut in show business. Guests included Captain and Tennille, Natalie Cole, Connie Francis, and Clay Aiken.

During his 2008 Australian tour, Sedaka premiered a new classical orchestral composition entitled "Joie de Vivre". Sedaka also toured the Philippines for his May 17, 2008 concert at the Araneta Coliseum.
Other musical works

In 1985, songs composed by Sedaka were adapted for the Japanese anime TV series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. These included the two opening themes "Zeta - Toki wo Koete" (originally in English as "Better Days are Coming") and "Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete" (originally in English as "For Us to Decide", but the English version was never recorded), as well as the end theme "Hoshizora no Believe" (written as "Bad and Beautiful"). Due to copyright, the songs were replaced for the North American DVD.

In 1994, Sedaka provided the voice for Neil Moussaka, a parody of himself in Food Rocks, an attraction at Epcot from 1994-2006.

A musical comedy based around the songs of Sedaka, titled Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, was written in 2005 by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters; it is now under license to Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

A biographical musical "Laughter in the Rain", produced by Bill Kenwright and Laurie Mansfield, and starring Wayne Smith as Sedaka, had its world premiere at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley on 4th March, 2010. Sedaka himself attended the opening and joined the cast on stage for an impromptu curtain call of the title song.
Personal life

Sedaka attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, graduating in 1956. He has been married to his wife, Leba (Strassberg), since 1962. They have two children: a daughter, Dara, a recording artist and vocalist for television and radio commercials (who sang the female part on the Sedaka duet "Should've Never Let You Go"), and a son, Marc, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles with his wife Samantha and three children.
Pop culture references
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (August 2008)

In the Friends episode "The One With the Two Parties", Ross says that he is wearing the same glasses frames as Neil Sedaka.

In the lyrics to mini-opera "Billy the Mountain", on the album Just Another Band from L.A. by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, it is alleged that Studabacher Hoch "could sing like Neil Sedaka."

In the Boy Meets World episode "Killer Bees", Alan Matthews is being sarcastic when he says he couldn't find tickets to the Neil Sedaka concert.

In Career Day on That '70s Show, Kitty starts out singing "Bad Blood" on the radio, which makes everyone, including Fez and Hyde's mother sing, too, in the lunchroom.

On the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television, Eugene Levy portrays Sedaka during a sketch entitled Farm Film Report Celebrity Blowup. The sketch also features John Candy and Joe Flaherty who make references to Sedaka's career and then watch as he explodes while performing.
Discography
Albums

    * 1959 Neil Sedaka (Rock With Sedaka)
    * 1961 Circulate
    * 1961 Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits (Re-released in 1993 with eight bonus tracks)
    * 1963 Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits (Re-released in 1975 and 1992)(RCA 2627)
    * 1963 Stupid Cupid (RCA Camden album)
    * 1964 Italiano
    * 1969 Workin' On A Groovy Thing (Festival 1969)
    * 1971 Emergence
    * 1972 Neil Sedaka (UK)
    * 1972 Solitaire (UK)
    * 1973 The Tra-La Days Are Over (UK)
    * 1974 Laughter in the Rain (UK)
    * 1974 Live at the Royal Festival Hall (UK; live)
    * 1974 Sedaka's Back (USA)
    * 1975 Overnight Success (UK)
    * 1975 The Hungry Years (USA)
    * 1976 Let's Go Steady Again (RCA Victor edition; Compilation of mid-1960s hits)
    * 1976 Pure Gold (Another compilation of early 1960s hits)
    * 1976 Sedaka Live in Australia at the South Sydney Junior Leagues Club
    * 1976 Steppin' Out
    * 1977 Neil Sedaka's Greatest Hits
    * 1977 Neil Sedaka and Songs — A Solo Concert (Live 2-LP)
    * 1977 A Song
    * 1977 Neil Sedaka and Songs
    * 1978 All You Need Is the Music
    * 1979 In the Pocket
    * 1979 Oh Carol! and Other Big Hits (Re-released in 1989)
    * 1979 Let's Go Steady Again (RCA Camden edition; different compilation from the 1976 RCA Victor album of the same name)
    * 1981 Now!
    * 1984 Come See About Me
    * 1986 The Good Times
    * 1990 All Time Greatest Hits
    * 1991 All Time Greatest Hits Vol. 2
    * 1991 Timeless — The Very Best of Neil Sedaka (Includes both old and new songs)
    * 1993 Love Will Keep Us Together (Compilation and new songs)
    * 1994 Laughter In The Rain: The Best Of Neil Sedaka, 1974-1980
    * 1995 Song Cycle (songs culled from "Emergence" and "Solitaire" , the latter previously unavailable in USA)
    * 1995 Classically Sedaka
    * 1995 Tuneweaver
    * 1997 Tales of Love (and Other Passions)
    * 1999 Neil Sedaka In Italiano (2-CD edition of his 1960s Italian recordings)
    * 2000 The Singer and His Songs
    * 2001 RCA 100th Anniversary Series: The Very Best Of Neil Sedaka
    * 2003 Brighton Beach Memories — Neil Sedaka Sings Yiddish
    * 2003 Oh! Carol: The Complete Recordings, 1955-66 (8-CD box with previously unreleased material)
    * 2004 Stairway To Heaven: The Best Of Neil Sedaka
    * 2005 Love Songs (compilation of slow-rock love songs, most of them B-side songs from the early 1960s)
    * 2006 The Very Best of Neil Sedaka: The Show Goes On (2-CD, 46-track career retrospective with 7 "new" recordings); tie-in with release of DVD (filmed 7 April 2006) in London, Neil Sedaka: Live at the Royal Albert Hall—The Show Goes On
    * 2006 The Miracle of Christmas
    * 2007 The Definitive Collection (2-CD career retrospective including never-released early-career demos)
    * 2007 Oh Carol! (compilation of 1970s hits recorded live in concert)
    * 2008 The Miracle of Christmas (special 2-disc version)
    * 2009 Waking Up Is Hard to Do (children's recording)
    * 2009 Flashback (compilation of Italian recordings)
    * 2009 The Music Of My Life (UK)
    * 2010 The Music Of My Life (US)

Singles

    * "The Diary" (US #14, 1958)
    * "I Go Ape" (US #42, 1959)
    * "Crying My Heart Out For You" (US #111, 1959)
    * "Oh! Carol" (US #9, 1959)
    * "Stairway to Heaven" (US #9, 1960)
    * "You Mean Everything to Me" (US #17, 1960)
    * "Run, Samson, Run" (US #28, 1960)
    * "Calendar Girl" (US #4, 1961)
    * "Little Devil" (US #11, 1961)
    * "Sweet Little You" (US #59, 1961)
    * "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" (US #6, 1962)
    * "King Of Clowns" (US #45, 1962)
    * "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (US #1, 1962)
    * "Next Door to an Angel" (US #5,1962)
    * "Alice In Wonderland" (US #17, 1963)
    * "Let's Go Steady Again" (US #26, 1963)
    * "The Dreamer" (US #47, 1963)
    * "Bad Girl" (US #33, 1963)
    * "The Closest Thing To Heaven" (US #107, 1964)
    * "Sunny" (US #86, 1964)
    * "I Hope He Breaks Your Heart" (US #104, 1964)
    * "Let The People Talk" (US #107, 1965)
    * "The World Through A Tear" (US #76, 1965)
    * "The Answer To My Prayer" (US #89, 1966)
    * "We Can Make It If We Try" (US #121, 1967)
    * "Laughter in the Rain" (US #1 ,US AC #1 1975)
    * "The Immigrant" (US #22, US AC #1 1975) (dedicated to John Lennon)
    * "That's When the Music Takes Me" (US #25, US AC #7 1975)
    * "Bad Blood" w/Elton John (noncredited backing vocal) (US #1 ,US AC #25 1975-76; certified gold; most commercially successful individual US single released in Sedaka's career)
    * "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (US #8,US AC #1 1976)
    * "Love in the Shadows" (US #16,US AC #4 1976)
    * "Steppin' Out" w/Elton John (noncredited backing vocal) (US #36,US AC #45 1976)
    * "You Gotta Make Your Own Sunshine" (US #52,US AC #4 1977)
    * "Amarillo" (US #44, US AC #4 1977)
    * "Alone At Last" (US #104, US AC #17 1977)
    * "Should've Never Let You Go" (US #19, US AC #3 1980)
    * "Letting Go" (US #107, 1980)
    * "My World Keeps Slipping Away" (US AC #36, 1981)
    * "Your Precious Love" (US AC #15 1984)
    * "Rhythm Of The Rain" (US AC #37, 1984)

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Neil_Sedaka.jpg
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab34/alessandrorasman/Autografi/SedakaNeil.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/10 at 8:50 am

The person who died on this day...Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an American actress in film, theater and television. She was also elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene (née Walsh) and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family. Her father was an alcoholic and her parents separated during her childhood.
Career

Stapleton moved to New York City at the age of eighteen, and did modeling to pay the bills. She once said that it was her infatuation with the handsome Hollywood actor Joel McCrea which led her into acting. She made her Broadway debut in the production featuring Burgess Meredith of The Playboy of the Western World in 1946. That same year, she played the role of Iras in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" in a touring production by actress and producer Katharine Cornell. Stepping in because Anna Magnani refused the role due to her limited English, Stapleton won a Tony Award for her role in Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo in 1951. (Magnani's English improved, however, and she was able to play the role in the film version, winning an Oscar.) Stapleton played in other Williams' productions, including Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton and Orpheus Descending (and its film adaptation, The Fugitive Kind), as well as Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic. She won a second Tony Award for Neil Simon's The Gingerbread Lady, which was written especially for her, in 1971. Later Broadway roles included "Birdie" in The Little Foxes opposite Elizabeth Taylor and as a replacement for Jessica Tandy in The Gin Game.

Stapleton's film career, though limited, brought her immediate success, with her debut in Lonelyhearts (1958) earning a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in the 1963 film version of Bye Bye Birdie, in the role of Mama Mae Peterson, with Dick Van Dyke, Janet Leigh, Paul Lynde and Ann-Margret. She was nominated again for an Oscar for Airport (1970) and Woody Allen's Interiors (1978). She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Reds (1981), directed by Warren Beatty, in which she portrayed the Lithuanian-born anarchist, Emma Goldman. She ended her acceptance speech with the quip "I would like to thank everyone I've ever met in my entire life."

Stapleton won a 1968 Emmy Award for her performance in Among the Paths of Eden. She was nominated for the television version of All the King's Men (1959), Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975), and The Gathering (1977). Her more recent appearances included Johnny Dangerously (1984), Cocoon (1985) and its sequel Cocoon: The Return (1988).
Personal life

Stapleton's first husband was Max Allentuck, general manager to the producer Kermit Bloomgarden, and her second, playwright David Rayfiel, from whom she divorced. She had a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Katherine, by her first husband. Her daughter, Katherine Allentuck, garnered good reviews for her single movie role, that of "Aggie" in Summer of '42 (Stapleton herself also had a minor, uncredited role in the film as the protagonist's mother, though only her voice is heard, she does not appear on camera).

Stapleton suffered from anxiety and alcoholism for many years and once told an interviewer, "The curtain came down and I went into the vodka." She also said that her unhappy childhood contributed to her insecurities. In 2006, Maureen Stapleton, who was a heavy smoker, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at her home in Lenox, Massachusetts, at the age of 80.

In 1981 Hudson Valley Community College in Stapleton's childhood city of Troy, New York dedicated a theater in her name.

Stapleton is not related to the actress Jean Stapleton (best known for her role as Edith Bunker on the hit CBS-TV ground-breaking comedy show All in the Family).
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1958 All the King's Men TV; Nominated - Emmy Award
Lonelyhearts Fay Doyle Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1959 The Fugitive Kind Vee Talbot
1961 Vu du pont Beatrice Carbone aka A View from the Bridge
1963 Bye Bye Birdie Mama Mae Peterson
1967 Among the Paths to Eden Mary O'Meaghan TV; Emmy Award
1969 Truman Capote's Trilogy Mary O'Meaghan Reprise of Emmy winning 1967 role
1970 Airport Inez Guerrero Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1971 Plaza Suite Karen Nash Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Summer of '42 Hermie's mother Voice (Uncredited)
1972 Dig Mother
1974 Voyage to Next Mother Earth Voice
1975 Queen of the Stardust Ballroom Beatrice 'Bea' Asher Nominated - Emmy Award
1977 The Gathering Kate Thornton Nominated - Emmy Award
1978 Interiors Pearl Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1979 The Runner Stumbles Mrs. Shandig
Lost and Found Jemmy
1981 Reds Emma Goldman Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
The Fan Belle Goldman
On the Right Track Mary the Bag Lady
1982 The Electric Grandmother Grandmother TV
1984 Johnny Dangerously Ma Kelly
1985 Cocoon Marilyn Luckett
1986 Heartburn Vera
The Cosmic Eye Mother Earth Voice
The Money Pit Estelle
1987 Nuts Rose Kirk
Made in Heaven Aunt Lisa
Sweet Lorraine Lillian Garber
1988 Liberace: Behind the Music Frances Liberace TV
The Thorns Peggy/Mrs. Hamilton TV series
Doin' Time on Planet Earth Helium Balloon Saleslady
Cocoon: The Return Marilyn 'Mary' Luckett
1989 B.L. Stryker Auntie Sue (1 episode) Nominated - Emmy Award
1992 Lincoln Sarah Bush Lincoln TV, voice
Miss Rose White Tanta Perla Nominated - Emmy Award
1994 Trading Mom Mrs. Cavour, the Gardener
The Last Good Time Ida Cutler
1995 Road to Avonlea Maggie MacPhee - 1 episode Nominated - Emmy Award
1996 My Universe Inside Out Voice
1997 Addicted to Love Nana
1998 Wilbur Falls Wilbur Falls High Secretary
2003 Living and Dining Mrs. Lundt

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/13/10 at 10:49 am


The person who died on this day...Neil Sedaka
Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an American actress in film, theater and television. She was also elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.




Oops.  ;)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/10 at 1:46 pm


The person born on this day...Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939; Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter . His career has spanned over 50 years, during which time he has written many songs for himself and others, often working with lyricists Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody.
Sedaka's father, Mac Sedaka, a taxi driver, was the son of Turkish Jewish immigrants ("Sedaka" is a variant of tzedaka — Hebrew for charity); his mother, Eleanor (Appel) Sedaka, was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent. He grew up in an apartment in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. He is the cousin of singer Eydie Gorme.

He demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class, and when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright. He took to the instrument immediately. In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children, which he attended on Saturdays. He also maintained an interest in popular music, and when he was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. The two began writing together.

The best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits of his early career are "The Diary" (#14, 1958), a song that he offered to Little Anthony and the Imperials; "Oh! Carol" (#9, 1959); "You Mean Everything to Me" (#17, 1960); "Calendar Girl" (#4, 1960); "Stairway to Heaven" (#9, 1960); "Run Samson Run" (top 30, 1960); "Little Devil" (#11, 1961); "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (#6, 1961); "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (#1, 1962); and "Next Door to an Angel" (#5, 1962). "Oh! Carol" refers to Sedaka's Brill Building compatriot and former girlfriend Carole King. King responded with her answer song, "Oh, Neil". A Scopitone exists for "Calendar Girl".

A similar sharing came earlier with Sedaka and singer Connie Francis. As Francis explains at her concerts, she began searching for a new hit after her 1958 single "Who's Sorry Now?". She was introduced to Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, who played every ballad they had written for her. Francis began writing her diary while the two played the last of their songs. After they finished, Francis told them they wrote beautiful ballads but that they were too intellectual for the young generation. Sedaka suggested to Greenfield a song they had written that morning for a girl group. Greenfield protested because the song had been promised to the girl group, but Sedaka insisted on playing "Stupid Cupid". Francis told them they had just played her new hit. Francis' song reached #14 on the Billboard charts.

While Francis was writing her diary, Sedaka asked her if he could read what she had written. After she refused, Sedaka was inspired to write "The Diary", his first hit single. Sedaka and Greenfield wrote many of Connie Francis' hits such as "Fallin'" and "Where the Boys Are".

In 1961, Sedaka began to record some of his hits in Italian. At first he published "Esagerata" and "Un Giorno Inutile", local versions of "Little Devil" and "I Must Be Dreaming". Other recordings were to follow, such as "Tun Non Lo Sai" ("Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"), "Il Re Dei Pagliacci" ("King of Clowns"), "I Tuoi Capricci" ("Look Inside Your Heart"), and "La Terza Luna" ("Waiting For Never") to name only a few. Sedaka also recorded in Spanish, German, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Japanese.

Between 1960 and 1962, Sedaka had eight Top 40 hits, but he was one of many American performers of the era whose popularity declined due to the British Invasion and the evolution of the Rock and Pop genres of music. His commercial success declined rapidly after 1964: he scored only two minor hits in 1965, and none of his 1966 singles charted. His RCA contract was not renewed when it ended in 1967, and he was left without a record label.

Although Sedaka's stature as a recording artist was at a low ebb in the late 1960s, he was able to maintain his career through songwriting. Thanks to the fact that his publisher, Aldon Music, was acquired by Screen Gems, two of his songs were recorded by The Monkees, and other hits in this period written by Sedaka included The Cyrkle's version of "We Had a Good Thing Goin'" and "Workin' on a Groovy Thing", a Top 40 R&B hit for Patti Drew in 1968 and a US Top 20 hit for The 5th Dimension in 1969. Also, "Make the Music Play" was included on Frankie Valli's charting album Timeless.

On an episode of the quiz show I've Got a Secret in 1965, Sedaka's secret was that he was to represent the United States in classical piano at the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, and he played "Fantasie Impromptu" on the show. Panelist Henry Morgan made a point that the Russians, at least older ones, hated rock and roll. Sedaka's participation in the competition, which Van Cliburn had won in 1958, was canceled by the USSR because of Sedaka's rock and roll connection.
1970s comeback

Sedaka revived his solo career in the early 1970s. Despite his waning chart appeal in the USA in the late sixties, he remained very popular as a concert attraction, notably in the UK and Australia. He made several trips to Australia to play cabaret dates, and his commercial comeback began when the single "Star Crossed Lovers" became a major hit there. The song went to #5 nationally in April 1969 -- giving Sedaka his first charting single in four years—and it also came in at #5 in Go-Set magazine's list of the Top 40 Australian singles of 1969.

Later that year, with the support of Festival Records, he recorded a new LP of original material entitled Workin' On A Groovy Thing at Festival Studios in Sydney. It was co-produced by Festival staff producer Pat Aulton, with arrangements by John Farrar (who later achieved international fame for his work with Olivia Newton-John) and backing by Australian session musicians including guitarist Jimmy Doyle (Ayers Rock) and noted jazz musician-composer John Sangster.

The single lifted from the album, "Wheeling West Virginia", reached #20 in Australia in early 1970. The LP is also notable because it was Sedaka's first album to include collaborations with writers other than longtime lyricist Howard Greenfield -- the title track featured lyrics by Roger Atkins and four other songs were co-written with Carole Bayer Sager, who subsequently embarked on a successful collaboration with expatriate Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen.

In 1972, Sedaka embarked on a successful English tour and in June recorded the Solitaire album in England at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, working with the four future members of 10cc. As well as the title track, which was successfully covered by Andy Williams and The Carpenters, it included two UK Top 40 singles, including "Beautiful You" which also charted in America—Sedaka's first US hit in ten years.

A year later he reconvened with the Strawberry team – who had by then charted with their own debut 10cc album – to record The Tra-La Days Are Over, which started the second phase of his career and included his original version of the hit song "Love Will Keep Us Together" (a US #1 hit two years later for Captain & Tennille). This album also marked the effective end of his writing partnership with Greenfield, commemorated by the track "Our Last Song Together"

He worked with Elton John, who signed him to his Rocket Records label (During the ensuing years, Sedaka's records would be distributed in Europe on the Polydor label). Sedaka returned with a flourish, topping the charts twice with "Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood" (both 1975). John provided backing vocals for the latter song. The flipside of "Laughter in the Rain" was "The Immigrant" (US pop #22, US AC #1), a wistful, nostalgic piece dedicated to John Lennon, which recalled the by-gone era when America was welcoming of immigrants, in contrast to the U.S. government's then-refusal to grant Lennon permanent resident status.

Sedaka and Greenfield co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together", a No. 1 hit for Captain and Tennille and the best-selling record of 1975. The song says "Sedaka is back" in the coda; Toni Tennille sang it in an ad lib while laying down background vocals.

In 1975, Sedaka was the opening act for the The Carpenters on their world tour. According to The Carpenters: The Untold Story by Ray Coleman, manager Sherwin Bash fired Sedaka at the request of Richard Carpenter. The firing resulted in a media backlash against The Carpenters after Sedaka publicly announced he was off the tour. This, however, was before Karen and Richard recorded Sedaka's "Solitaire" which became a Top 20 hit for the duo. Richard Carpenter denied that he fired Sedaka for "stealing their show," stating they were proud of Sedaka's success. However, Bash was fired as The Carpenters' manager a short time after.

"Solitaire" would find success again in the 21st century, when American Idol finalist Clay Aiken sang the song when Sedaka appeared as a judge in the second season, won by Ruben Studdard. The "guest judge" has since been eliminated. Aiken explained that the song was his mother's favorite and that she begged him to sing it when she learned that Sedaka would be on the show. After he was awarded a recording contract, he added "Solitaire" as the B-side to his single "The Way," whose sales were faltering. When "Solitaire" moved to the A-side, radio and record sales responded and the single hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart, one of the biggest hits of 2004. Sedaka was invited back to American Idol to celebrate its success and could be seen in the audience several times.

In 1975, Sedaka recorded a new version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do." The 1962 original was fast-tempo and bouncy teen pop, but the remake was slower and in the style of a jazz/torch piano arrangement. Lenny Welch had recorded the song in this style in 1970. It reached #8 on the pop charts in early 1976, making him the second artist to hit the US Top Ten twice with separate versions of the song, and the only artist to return to the Top Ten with a remake of their own #1 hit. (The Ventures had hits in 1960 and 1964 with recordings of "Walk, Don't Run,"and Elton John later accomplished the feat twice, with 1991's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Candle in the Wind 1997".)

Sedaka's second version of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The same year, Elvis Presley recorded the Sedaka song "Solitaire". This was followed by a #16 hit in 1976, "Love in the Shadows." In 1980, Sedaka had a Top 20 hit with "Should've Never Let You Go," which he recorded with his daughter, Dara.

Sedaka is also composer of "Is This The Way to Amarillo", a song he wrote for Britain's Tony Christie. It reached #18 on the UK charts in 1971, but #1 when reissued in 2005, thanks to a video starring comedian Peter Kay. Sedaka recorded the song in 1977, when it became a #44 hit. On April 7, 2006, during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Sedaka was presented with an award from the Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums as writer of the best-selling single of the 21st century (so far), "Amarillo."

Ben Folds, an American pop singer, credited Sedaka on his "iTunes Originals" album as inspiration for song publishing. Hearing Sedaka had a song published by the age of 13 gave Folds the goal of also getting a song published by his 13th birthday, despite the fact that Sedaka didn't actually publish his first song until he was 16.
Sedaka today

Sedaka continues to perform. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October 2006.

A concert performance on 26 October 2007 at the Lincoln Center in New York City honored the 50th anniversary of Sedaka's debut in show business. Guests included Captain and Tennille, Natalie Cole, Connie Francis, and Clay Aiken.

During his 2008 Australian tour, Sedaka premiered a new classical orchestral composition entitled "Joie de Vivre". Sedaka also toured the Philippines for his May 17, 2008 concert at the Araneta Coliseum.
Other musical works

In 1985, songs composed by Sedaka were adapted for the Japanese anime TV series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. These included the two opening themes "Zeta - Toki wo Koete" (originally in English as "Better Days are Coming") and "Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete" (originally in English as "For Us to Decide", but the English version was never recorded), as well as the end theme "Hoshizora no Believe" (written as "Bad and Beautiful"). Due to copyright, the songs were replaced for the North American DVD.

In 1994, Sedaka provided the voice for Neil Moussaka, a parody of himself in Food Rocks, an attraction at Epcot from 1994-2006.

A musical comedy based around the songs of Sedaka, titled Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, was written in 2005 by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters; it is now under license to Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

A biographical musical "Laughter in the Rain", produced by Bill Kenwright and Laurie Mansfield, and starring Wayne Smith as Sedaka, had its world premiere at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley on 4th March, 2010. Sedaka himself attended the opening and joined the cast on stage for an impromptu curtain call of the title song.
Personal life

Sedaka attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, graduating in 1956. He has been married to his wife, Leba (Strassberg), since 1962. They have two children: a daughter, Dara, a recording artist and vocalist for television and radio commercials (who sang the female part on the Sedaka duet "Should've Never Let You Go"), and a son, Marc, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles with his wife Samantha and three children.
Pop culture references
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (August 2008)

In the Friends episode "The One With the Two Parties", Ross says that he is wearing the same glasses frames as Neil Sedaka.

In the lyrics to mini-opera "Billy the Mountain", on the album Just Another Band from L.A. by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, it is alleged that Studabacher Hoch "could sing like Neil Sedaka."

In the Boy Meets World episode "Killer Bees", Alan Matthews is being sarcastic when he says he couldn't find tickets to the Neil Sedaka concert.

In Career Day on That '70s Show, Kitty starts out singing "Bad Blood" on the radio, which makes everyone, including Fez and Hyde's mother sing, too, in the lunchroom.

On the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television, Eugene Levy portrays Sedaka during a sketch entitled Farm Film Report Celebrity Blowup. The sketch also features John Candy and Joe Flaherty who make references to Sedaka's career and then watch as he explodes while performing.
Discography
Albums

    * 1959 Neil Sedaka (Rock With Sedaka)
    * 1961 Circulate
    * 1961 Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits (Re-released in 1993 with eight bonus tracks)
    * 1963 Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits (Re-released in 1975 and 1992)(RCA 2627)
    * 1963 Stupid Cupid (RCA Camden album)
    * 1964 Italiano
    * 1969 Workin' On A Groovy Thing (Festival 1969)
    * 1971 Emergence
    * 1972 Neil Sedaka (UK)
    * 1972 Solitaire (UK)
    * 1973 The Tra-La Days Are Over (UK)
    * 1974 Laughter in the Rain (UK)
    * 1974 Live at the Royal Festival Hall (UK; live)
    * 1974 Sedaka's Back (USA)
    * 1975 Overnight Success (UK)
    * 1975 The Hungry Years (USA)
    * 1976 Let's Go Steady Again (RCA Victor edition; Compilation of mid-1960s hits)
    * 1976 Pure Gold (Another compilation of early 1960s hits)
    * 1976 Sedaka Live in Australia at the South Sydney Junior Leagues Club
    * 1976 Steppin' Out
    * 1977 Neil Sedaka's Greatest Hits
    * 1977 Neil Sedaka and Songs — A Solo Concert (Live 2-LP)
    * 1977 A Song
    * 1977 Neil Sedaka and Songs
    * 1978 All You Need Is the Music
    * 1979 In the Pocket
    * 1979 Oh Carol! and Other Big Hits (Re-released in 1989)
    * 1979 Let's Go Steady Again (RCA Camden edition; different compilation from the 1976 RCA Victor album of the same name)
    * 1981 Now!
    * 1984 Come See About Me
    * 1986 The Good Times
    * 1990 All Time Greatest Hits
    * 1991 All Time Greatest Hits Vol. 2
    * 1991 Timeless — The Very Best of Neil Sedaka (Includes both old and new songs)
    * 1993 Love Will Keep Us Together (Compilation and new songs)
    * 1994 Laughter In The Rain: The Best Of Neil Sedaka, 1974-1980
    * 1995 Song Cycle (songs culled from "Emergence" and "Solitaire" , the latter previously unavailable in USA)
    * 1995 Classically Sedaka
    * 1995 Tuneweaver
    * 1997 Tales of Love (and Other Passions)
    * 1999 Neil Sedaka In Italiano (2-CD edition of his 1960s Italian recordings)
    * 2000 The Singer and His Songs
    * 2001 RCA 100th Anniversary Series: The Very Best Of Neil Sedaka
    * 2003 Brighton Beach Memories — Neil Sedaka Sings Yiddish
    * 2003 Oh! Carol: The Complete Recordings, 1955-66 (8-CD box with previously unreleased material)
    * 2004 Stairway To Heaven: The Best Of Neil Sedaka
    * 2005 Love Songs (compilation of slow-rock love songs, most of them B-side songs from the early 1960s)
    * 2006 The Very Best of Neil Sedaka: The Show Goes On (2-CD, 46-track career retrospective with 7 "new" recordings); tie-in with release of DVD (filmed 7 April 2006) in London, Neil Sedaka: Live at the Royal Albert Hall—The Show Goes On
    * 2006 The Miracle of Christmas
    * 2007 The Definitive Collection (2-CD career retrospective including never-released early-career demos)
    * 2007 Oh Carol! (compilation of 1970s hits recorded live in concert)
    * 2008 The Miracle of Christmas (special 2-disc version)
    * 2009 Waking Up Is Hard to Do (children's recording)
    * 2009 Flashback (compilation of Italian recordings)
    * 2009 The Music Of My Life (UK)
    * 2010 The Music Of My Life (US)

Singles

    * "The Diary" (US #14, 1958)
    * "I Go Ape" (US #42, 1959)
    * "Crying My Heart Out For You" (US #111, 1959)
    * "Oh! Carol" (US #9, 1959)
    * "Stairway to Heaven" (US #9, 1960)
    * "You Mean Everything to Me" (US #17, 1960)
    * "Run, Samson, Run" (US #28, 1960)
    * "Calendar Girl" (US #4, 1961)
    * "Little Devil" (US #11, 1961)
    * "Sweet Little You" (US #59, 1961)
    * "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" (US #6, 1962)
    * "King Of Clowns" (US #45, 1962)
    * "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (US #1, 1962)
    * "Next Door to an Angel" (US #5,1962)
    * "Alice In Wonderland" (US #17, 1963)
    * "Let's Go Steady Again" (US #26, 1963)
    * "The Dreamer" (US #47, 1963)
    * "Bad Girl" (US #33, 1963)
    * "The Closest Thing To Heaven" (US #107, 1964)
    * "Sunny" (US #86, 1964)
    * "I Hope He Breaks Your Heart" (US #104, 1964)
    * "Let The People Talk" (US #107, 1965)
    * "The World Through A Tear" (US #76, 1965)
    * "The Answer To My Prayer" (US #89, 1966)
    * "We Can Make It If We Try" (US #121, 1967)
    * "Laughter in the Rain" (US #1 ,US AC #1 1975)
    * "The Immigrant" (US #22, US AC #1 1975) (dedicated to John Lennon)
    * "That's When the Music Takes Me" (US #25, US AC #7 1975)
    * "Bad Blood" w/Elton John (noncredited backing vocal) (US #1 ,US AC #25 1975-76; certified gold; most commercially successful individual US single released in Sedaka's career)
    * "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (US #8,US AC #1 1976)
    * "Love in the Shadows" (US #16,US AC #4 1976)
    * "Steppin' Out" w/Elton John (noncredited backing vocal) (US #36,US AC #45 1976)
    * "You Gotta Make Your Own Sunshine" (US #52,US AC #4 1977)
    * "Amarillo" (US #44, US AC #4 1977)
    * "Alone At Last" (US #104, US AC #17 1977)
    * "Should've Never Let You Go" (US #19, US AC #3 1980)
    * "Letting Go" (US #107, 1980)
    * "My World Keeps Slipping Away" (US AC #36, 1981)
    * "Your Precious Love" (US AC #15 1984)
    * "Rhythm Of The Rain" (US AC #37, 1984)

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Neil_Sedaka.jpg
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab34/alessandrorasman/Autografi/SedakaNeil.jpg


His music is always good to hear. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/10 at 5:28 pm



Oops.  ;)



Cat

Good catch, I hope I didn't jinx poor Neil. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/10 at 6:02 am

The word of the day...Soap
Soap is a substance that you use with water for washing yourself or sometimes for washing clothes
If you soap yourself, you rub soap on your body in order to wash yourself
A soap is the same as a soap opera
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/laurelharrington/Handmadesoap010.jpg
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy288/nadira-cantique/essentialfairnessSoapharga15rb.jpg
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy12/ebuzzle/autumnspice.jpg
http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd336/frenchvanilla777/clinique/Photo005.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu352/azida90/belina%20soap/pic_baby_bonney_baby_soap.gif
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j147/melbabs123/DSCF0277.jpg
http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx240/MKetchuhm/epic-fail-soap-dispenser-fail.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu355/sjmillerAZ/SWEETHEARTSOAPS.jpg
http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae115/SamSnyder/Soap%20Box%20Derby%201968-1970/Z25ID1970Inspection3.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/twins10272005/soap-opera.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/10 at 6:04 am

The person born on this day...Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. Additionally, he has hosted the Academy Awards eight times. Crystal was born in the Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan and grew up in Long Beach, New York, the son of Helen (née Gabler), a housewife, and Jack Crystal, a record company executive and producer of jazz records, who owned and operated the Commodore Record store. His uncle was a musician and songwriter Milt Gabler, and his brother, Richard Crystal, is a television producer. Crystal grew up in a Jewish family that he has described as "large" and "loving". After graduation from Long Beach High School, Crystal attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, on a baseball scholarship, having learned the game from his father, who pitched for St. John's University. Crystal never played a game at Marshall because the program was suspended during his freshman year and he didn't return as a sophomore, staying back in New York with his future wife. He then went on to Nassau Community College, and later attended New York University where he graduated with a B.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1970.

Billy Crystal and his wife Janice have two daughters, actresses Jennifer and Lindsay, and are now grandparents. They reside in Pacific Palisades, California.
Career
Start in television

Crystal returned to New York and performed regularly at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star. He studied film and television direction under Martin Scorsese at New York University. Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first gay characters portrayed on American television. In 1976, Crystal appeared on an episode of All in the Family. He also was on the dais for the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Muhammad Ali on February 19, 1976 where he made dead-on impersonations of both The Champ and sportscaster Howard Cosell. He was scheduled to appear on the first episode of Saturday Night Live (October 11, 1975), but his sketch was cut. He did do a stand-up bit later on that first season as "Bill Crystal", on the April 17, 1976, episode. After hosting a show years later, in 1984, he joined the cast. His most famous recurring sketch was his parody of Fernando Lamas – Fernando, a smarmy talk show host whose catch phrase, "You look... mahvelous!," became a media sensation. Crystal subsequently released an album of his stand-up material titled Mahvelous! in 1985, as well as the single "You Look Marvelous", which peaked at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the same year.
Acting in film and hosting the Oscars

Crystal's first film role was in Joan Rivers's 1978 film Rabbit Test. Crystal also made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid. He holds the record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in the bonus round in the fastest time, 26 seconds.

Crystal appeared briefly in Rob Reiner's 1984 "rockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking Dana Carvey. Crystal's line in the film was "Mime is money." Reiner directed Crystal again in The Princess Bride (1987).

Reiner directed Crystal for a third time in the classic romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), for which Crystal was nominated for a Golden Globe. Many consider Crystal's lead role in this film as his most iconic. Crystal then starred in the buddy comedy City Slickers (1991), which proved very successful both commercially and critically and for which Crystal was nominated for his second Golden Globe.

Following the success of these films, Crystal wrote, directed, and starred in Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Forget Paris (1995). In the former, Crystal played a serious role in aging makeup, as an egotistical comedian who reflects back on his career. He directed the made-for-television movie 61* (2001) based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. This earned Crystal an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

Crystal has continued working in film, including Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002) with Robert De Niro, and in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle as the voice of Calcifer. Pixar originally approached him to provide the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995). He turned down that offer, but regretted it after the film became one of the most popular releases of the year. Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. (2001), which was nominated for the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Crystal hosted the Academy Awards broadcast in 1990–1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2004; and he reportedly turned down hosting the 2006 ceremony to concentrate on his one-man show, 700 Sundays. His eight times as the M.C. is second only to Bob Hope in most ceremonies hosted.
Broadway

Crystal won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays, a two-act, one-man play, which he conceived and wrote about his parents and his childhood growing up on Long Island. He toured the U.S. with the show in 2006 and Australia in 2007.

Following the initial success of the play, Crystal wrote the book 700 Sundays for Warner Books, which was published on October 31, 2005. In conjunction with the book and the play that also paid tribute to his uncle, Milt Gabler, Crystal produced two CD compilations: Billy Crystal Presents: The Milt Gabler Story, which featured his uncle's most influential recordings from Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets; and Billy Remembers Billie featuring Crystal's favorite Holiday recordings.
Philanthropy

In 1986, Crystal started hosting Comic Relief on HBO with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. Founded by Bob Zmuda, Comic Relief raises money for homeless people in the United States.

On September 6, 2005, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Crystal and Jay Leno were the first celebrities to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be auctioned off for Gulf Coast relief.

Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Portraying himself in a video, Crystal introduces museum guests to the genealogy wing of the museum.
New York Baseball

On March 12, 2008, Crystal signed a minor league contract, for a single day, to play with the New York Yankees, and was invited to the team's major league spring training. He wore uniform number 60, in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday. On March 13, in a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Crystal led off as the designated hitter. He managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on 6 pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon. He was released on March 14, his 60th birthday. Although a life-long Yankee fan, he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, even earning a World Series ring in 2001 when the Diamondbacks beat his beloved Yankees.

In the movie City Slickers, Crystal wears a New York Mets baseball cap.
Awards

In addition to his Golden Globe Award-nominations, Emmy Awards, and Tony Award, Crystal won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for 700 Sundays and received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007.
Filmography
Year Title Role Other notes
1977–1981 Soap Jodie Dallas TV series
1977 SST: Death Flight David
1978 Rabbit Test Lionel Carpenter
Human Feelings Angel Made for TV
1980 Animalympics Lodge Turkell Voice
1984 This Is Spinal Tap Morty the Mime
1986 Running Scared Danny Constanzo
1987 The Princess Bride Miracle Max
Throw Momma from the Train Larry Donner
1988 Memories of Me Abbie Writer/Producer
1989 When Harry Met Sally... Harry Burns American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1991 City Slickers Mitch Robbins Executive Producer
American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1992 Horton Hatches the Egg Narrator Voice
Mr. Saturday Night Buddy Young, Jr. Writer/Director/Producer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Mitch Robbins Writer/Producer
1995 Forget Paris Mickey Gordon Writer/Director/Producer
1996 Hamlet First Gravedigger
1997 Deconstructing Harry Larry
Fathers' Day Jack Lawrence
Friends The Gynecologist (with Robin Williams) TV Series
1998 My Giant Sam 'Sammy' Kamin Writer/Producer
1999 Analyze This Dr. Ben Sobel Executive Producer
2000 The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle Mattress salesman Uncredited
2001 61* Director
America's Sweethearts Lee Phillips Writer/Producer
Monsters, Inc. Michael "Mike" Wazowski Voice
2002 Mike's New Car Mike Wazowski Short Film Subject
Voice
Analyze That Dr. Ben Sobel Executive Producer
2004 Howl's Moving Castle Calcifer Voice
2005 Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone Karl Scott Voice
2006 Cars Mike Car Voice
2010 Tooth Fairy Jerry
Saturday Night Live
Characters

    * Al Minkman, a shady businessman
    * Fernando, host of Fernando's Hideaway, a celebrity interview show; based on actor Fernando Lamas
    * Buddy Young, Jr. (an insult comic who appears on Weekend Update)
    * Lew Goldman
    * Ricky, a bowler
    * Tony Minetti, a butcher
    * Willie, a man who, along with his friend, Frankie (played by Christopher Guest), discuss their masochistic tendencies

Impersonations

    * Fernando Lamas
    * Howard Cosell
    * Muhammad Ali
    * John F. Kennedy
    * Joe Franklin
    * Hervé Villechaize
    * Joe Garagiola
    * Adam Ant
    * Prince
    * Sammy Davis, Jr.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i106/thephantommilk/83-Billy-Crystal.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj140/chrismac_13/billycrystal.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/10 at 6:08 am

The person who died on this day...Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976), born William Berkeley Enos in Los Angeles, California, was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer.

Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berkeley's works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances.
Berkeley was born to stage actress Gertrude Berkeley. In addition to her stage work, Gertrude played mother roles in silent films while Busby was still a youngster. Berkeley made his stage debut at five, acting in the company of his performing family. During World War I, Berkeley served as a field artillery lieutenant. Watching soldiers drill may have inspired his later complex choreography. During the 1920s, Berkeley was a dance director for nearly two dozen Broadway musicals, including such hits as A Connecticut Yankee. As a choreographer, Berkeley was less concerned with the terpsichorean skill of his chorus girls as he was with their ability to form themselves into attractive geometric patterns. His musical numbers were among the largest and best-regimented on Broadway.
The “By A Waterfall” production number from Footlight Parade (1933) made use of one of the largest soundstages ever built, constructed especially by Warner Bros. to film Berkeley's creations.

His earliest movie jobs were on Samuel Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor musicals, where he began developing such techniques as a “parade of faces” (individualizing each chorus girl with a loving close-up), and moving his dancers all over the stage (and often beyond) in as many kaleidoscopic patterns as possible. Berkeley's top shot technique (the kaleidoscope again, this time shot from overhead) appeared seminally in the Cantor films, and also the 1932 Universal programmer Night World (where he chorographed the number "Who's Your Little Who-Zis?"). His numbers were known for starting out in the realm of the stage, but quickly exceeding this space by moving into a time and place that could only be cinematic, only to return to shots of an applauding audience and the fall of a curtain. As choreographer, Berkeley was allowed a certain degree of independence in his direction of musical numbers, and they were often markedly distinct from (and sometimes in contrast to) the narrative sections of the films. The numbers he choreographed were mostly upbeat and focused on decoration as opposed to substance; one exception to this is the number “Remember My Forgotten Man” from Gold Diggers of 1933, which dealt with the treatment of soldiers in a post-World War I Depression.

Berkeley's popularity with an entertainment-hungry Great Depression audience was secured when he choreographed four musicals back-to-back for Warner Bros.: 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, the aforementioned Gold Diggers of 1933 and Fashions of 1934, as well as In Caliente and Wonder Bar with Dolores del Río. Berkeley's innovative and often sexually-charged dance numbers have been analyzed at length by cinema scholars. In particular, the numbers have been critiqued for their display (and some say exploitation) of the female form as seen through the “male gaze”, and for their depiction of collectivism (as opposed to traditionally American rugged individualism) in the spirit of Roosevelt's New Deal. Berkeley always denied any deep significance to his work, arguing that his main professional goals were to constantly top himself and to never repeat his past accomplishments.

As the outsized musicals in which Berkeley specialized became passé, he turned to straight directing. The result was 1939's They Made Me a Criminal, one of John Garfield's best films. Berkeley had several well-publicized run-ins with MGM stars such as Judy Garland. In 1943, he was removed as director of Girl Crazy because of disagreements with Garland, although the lavish musical number "I Got Rhythm", which he directed, remained in the picture.

His next stop was at 20th Century-Fox for 1943's The Gang's All Here, in which Berkeley choreographed Carmen Miranda's “Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat” number. The film made money, but Berkeley and the Fox brass disagreed over budget matters. Berkeley returned to MGM in the late 1940s, where among many other accomplishments he conceived the Technicolor finales for the studio's Esther Williams films. Berkeley's final film as choreographer was MGM's Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962).
A typical Busby Berkeley geometrical arrangement of dancers, from Dames (1934)
Later career

In the late 1960s, the camp craze brought the Berkeley musicals back to the forefront. He toured the college and lecture circuit, and even directed a 1930s-style cold medication commercial, complete with a top shot of a dancing clock. In his 75th year, Busby Berkeley returned to Broadway to direct a successful revival of No No Nanette, starring his old Warner Brothers colleague and “42nd Street” star Ruby Keeler.
Personal life

Berkeley was married six times and was survived by his wife Etta Dunn. He was also involved in an alienation of affections lawsuit in 1938 involving Carole Landis. In September 1935, Berkeley was the driver responsible for an automobile accident in which two people were killed, five seriously injured; Berkeley himself was badly cut and bruised. Berkeley, brought to court on a stretcher, heard testimony that Time magazine said made him wince:

    Witnesses testified that motorist Berkeley whizzed down Roosevelt Highway in Los Angeles County one night, cut out of line, crashed headlong into one car, sideswiped another. Some said they smelled liquor on his breath.

Berkeley died on March 14, 1976 in Palm Springs, California at the age of 80 from natural causes.
Selected works



    * A Connecticut Yankee (1927) (Broadway)
    * Whoopee! (1930) (choreographer)
    * Kiki (1931) (choreographer)
    * Palmy Days (1931) (choreographer)
    * Flying High (1931) (choreographer)
    * The Kid from Spain (1932) (choreographer)
    * 42nd Street (1933) (choreographer)
    * Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) (choreographer)
    * Footlight Parade (1933) (choreographer)
    * Roman Scandals (1933) (choreographer)
    * Fashions of 1934 (1934) (director/choreographer of musical numbers)
    * Wonder Bar (1934) (designer of musical numbers)
    * Dames (1934) (director/choreographer of musical numbers)
    * Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) (also director)
    * In Caliente (1935) (director/choreographer of musical numbers)
    * Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936) (director/choreographer of musical numbers)
    * Stage Struck (1936) (director)
    * The Singing Marine (1937) (director/choreographer of musical numbers)
    * Hollywood Hotel (1937) (director)
    * Varsity Show (1937) (director of finale)
    * Gold Diggers in Paris (1938) (director/choreographer of musical numbers)
    * They Made Me a Criminal (1939) (director)
    * Fast and Furious (1939) (director)



    * Broadway Serenade (1939) (director of finale)
    * Babes in Arms (1939) (director)
    * Strike Up the Band (film) (1940) (director)
    * Forty Little Mothers (1940) (director)
    * Ziegfeld Girl (1941) (director of musical numbers)
    * Babes on Broadway (1941) (director)
    * Lady Be Good (1941) (director of musical numbers)
    * For Me and My Gal (1942) (director)
    * Cabin in the Sky (1943) (director of "Shine" sequence)
    * Girl Crazy (1943) (director of "I Got Rhythm" finale)
    * The Gang's All Here (1943 film) (1943) (director)
    * Cinderella Jones (1946) (director)
    * Romance on the High Seas (1948) (choreographer)
    * Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) (director)
    * Two Weeks with Love (1950) (choreographer)
    * Call Me Mister (1951) (choreographer)
    * Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) (choreographer)
    * Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) (choreographer)
    * Small Town Girl (1953) (choreographer)
    * Easy to Love (1953) (choreographer)
    * Rose Marie (1954) (choreographer)
    * Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962) (choreographer)
    * No, No, Nanette (1971) (production supervisor) (Broadway)

In popular culture
This "In popular culture" section may contain minor or trivial references. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances, and remove trivia references. (July 2009)

    * In the movie Brewster's Millions, Marilyn (Brewster's decorator) says, "Shut your eyes, and see....Mesopotamia...meeting...Busby-Berkeley!! "
    * On The Jackie Gleason Show, an hour-long comedy-variety program which ran on the American CBS television network from 1966 to 1970, the June Taylor Dancers often provided dances which created Busby Berkeley-like patterns—shown with an overhead camera—only on a much smaller scale.

    * The "Miss Piggy's Fantasy" musical number from The Great Muppet Caper (1981) involving Miss Piggy and a number of chorus girls is directly influenced by the aesthetic.

    * The music video for the Take That single, "Shine" was inspired by the work of Busby Berkeley.

    * The music video for the Chemical Brothers song "Let Forever Be" features Berkeley-style choreographies.

    * The "Be Our Guest" sequence from Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast movie was inspired by the work of Busby Berkley

    * The ending sequence of the film Jackass Number Two, in which the actors spoof a highly-stylized dance number, is based largely on Busby Berkeley's work.

    * In the film The Big Lebowski, actor Jeff Bridges has a psychedelic dream sequence that mimics the style of Berkeley's choreography.

    * In the film Blazing Saddles, Dom DeLuise plays a cameo role as effeminate film director/choreographer Buddy Bizarre, who is filming a number similar to those made by Busby Berkeley.

    * The new "Bonds Kaledioscope" clothing advertisement is influenced by Busby Berkeley's style.

    * In the British 2006 film Confetti in which three couples compete to have the most original wedding to win a house, one couple have a Hollywood Musicals themed wedding based on the films of Busby Berkeley.

    * In "Hollywood Babble On II", an issue of Shade, The Changing Man, the opening sequence is "just like a Busby Berkeley movie" except all of the performers are plucked from their "ordinary folk" activities and thus unsynchronized until they are all devoured by a shark they fail to jump.

    * In the animated short, "Harvie Krumpet," the lead character is mesmerized by a Busby Berkley television show when he first gets to Australia.

    * The nip/tuck Season 5 part 2 promo featuring the song Flashing lights

    * A number of songs make reference to Busby Berkeley:
          o "The Wonderful Tundra" by The Whiskers
          o "Busby Berkeley Dreams" and "The Way You Say Goodnight" by The Magnetic Fields on 69 Love Songs
          o "Brawl" and "Da' Girlz, They Luv Me" by rapper R.A. The Rugged Man on Die, Rugged Man, Die (2005)

    * Icelandic singer Björk's infamous swan dress at the 2001 Academy Awards was supposedly inspired by Berkeley's musicals.

    * Red Hot Chili Peppers video Aeroplane was influenced by Berkeleys' work.

See also

    * Busby Berkeley using alternate takes to circumvent censorship

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii96/justacineast/busbyberkeley.jpg
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/stefy56/busbygarland.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/14/10 at 6:47 am


The word of the day...Soap
Soap is a substance that you use with water for washing yourself or sometimes for washing clothes
If you soap yourself, you rub soap on your body in order to wash yourself
A soap is the same as a soap opera
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/laurelharrington/Handmadesoap010.jpg
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy288/nadira-cantique/essentialfairnessSoapharga15rb.jpg
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy12/ebuzzle/autumnspice.jpg
http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd336/frenchvanilla777/clinique/Photo005.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu352/azida90/belina%20soap/pic_baby_bonney_baby_soap.gif
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j147/melbabs123/DSCF0277.jpg
http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx240/MKetchuhm/epic-fail-soap-dispenser-fail.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu355/sjmillerAZ/SWEETHEARTSOAPS.jpg
http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae115/SamSnyder/Soap%20Box%20Derby%201968-1970/Z25ID1970Inspection3.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/twins10272005/soap-opera.jpg


soap is always good for killing germs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/10 at 8:18 am


soap is always good for killing germs.

Yes, there are lots of soaps out there and they all do the same thing, it just depends on how much you are willing to pay.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/14/10 at 7:07 pm


Yes, there are lots of soaps out there and they all do the same thing, it just depends on how much you are willing to pay.



and you have these soaps you buy at the dollar store,not good at all.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/10 at 5:16 am

The word of the day...People
People are men, women, and children. People is normally used as the plural of person, instead of `persons'
The people is sometimes used to refer to ordinary men and women, in contrast to the government or the upper classes
A people is all the men, women, and children of a particular country or race.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/katelyncameron/ParisGame020.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/ktkdk/peoplecopy.gif
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm166/crankycrankerson/Amber%20Dubois/ad-people.jpg
http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx247/piratheeaven/P1040638.jpg
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/criticalcorner1/VillagePeople2.jpg
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu308/HannahBooBana05/dreams22iobu0.jpg
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz46/kharhan_2010/Thepeople.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/10 at 5:19 am

The person born on this day...Sly Stone
Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart, March 15, 1943, Denton, Texas) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. Sly & the Family Stone was started in San Francisco, California.
Sylvester was a musical prodigy from a young age. By the time he was seven Sylvester had already become proficient on the keyboards. By the age eleven Sylvester had mastered the guitar, bass, and drums as well. While still in High School, Sylvester learned to play a number of instruments, settling primarily with the guitar, and joined a number of high school bands. One of these was The Viscaynes, a doo-wop group which, Sylvester and his Filipino friend, Frank Arelano, were the only non-white members. The fact that the group was integrated made the Viscaynes "hip" in the eyes of their audiences, and would later inspire Sylvester's idea of a multicultural Family Stone. The Viscaynes released a few local singles, including "Yellow Moon" and "Stop What You Are"; during the same period, Sylvester also recorded a few solo singles under the name Danny Stewart. With his brother, Fred, he formed several short-lived groups, like the Stewart Bros.

The name Sly was a common nickname for Sylvester throughout his years in grade school. A classmate misspelled his name Slyvester and ever since the nickname followed him. In the mid-1960s, Stone worked as a disc jockey for San Francisco, California soul radio station KSOL, where he included white performers such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones into his playlists. During the same period, he worked as a record producer for Autumn Records, producing for San Francisco-area bands such as The Beau Brummels, The Mojo Men, Bobby Freeman, and Grace Slick's first band, the Great Society. Adopting the stage name "Sly Stone," he then formed "The Stoners" in 1966 which included Cynthia Robinson on trumpet. With her he started his next band, Sly and the Family Stone. Stone, Robinson, and Fred Stewart were joined by Larry Graham, Greg Errico, and Jerry Martini, all of whom had studied music and worked in numerous amateur groups. Rosie Stone joined the group soon after. Working around the Bay Area in 1967, this multiracial band made a strong impression. On the first recordings Little Sister: Vet Stone, Mary McCreary, and Elva Mouton did backup vocals. In 1968 sister Rosie Stone (piano and vocals) joined the band.

Stone was influential in guiding KSOL-AM into soul music and started calling the station K-SOUL. The second was a popular soul music station (sans the K-SOUL moniker), at 107.7 FM (now known as KSAN). The current KSOL has a different format and is unrelated to the previous two stations.
Sly & the Family Stone's success

Along with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone were the pioneers of 1970s funk. Their fusion of R&B rhythms, infectious melodies, and psychedelia created a new pop/soul/rock hybrid the impact of which has proven lasting and widespread. Motown producer Norman Whitfield, for example, patterned the label's forays into harder-driving, socially relevant material (such as The Temptations' "Runaway Child" and "Ball of Confusion") based on their sound. The pioneering precedent of Stone's racial, sexual, and stylistic mix, had a major influence in the 1980s on artists such as Prince and Rick James. Legions of artists from the 1990s forward — including Public Enemy, Fatboy Slim, Beck and many others — mined Stone’s seminal back catalog for hook-laden samples.

After a mildly received debut album, A Whole New Thing (1967), Sly & The Family Stone had their first hit single with "Dance to the Music", which was later included on an album of the same name. Although their third album, Life (also 1968), also suffered from low sales, their fourth album, Stand! (1969), became a runaway success, selling over three million copies and spawning a number one hit single, "Everyday People." By the summer of 1969, Sly & The Family Stone were one of the biggest names in music, releasing three more top five singles, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" / "Everybody is a Star", before the end of the year, and appearing at Woodstock.
Personal problems and decline

With the band's newfound fame and success came numerous problems. Relationships within the band were deteriorating; there was friction in particular between the Stone brothers and Larry Graham. Epic requested more product. The Black Panther Party demanded that Stone make his music more militant and more reflective of the black power movement, replace Greg Errico and Jerry Martini with black instrumentalists, and replace manager David Kapralik.

After moving to the Los Angeles area in fall 1969, Stone and his bandmates became heavy users of illegal drugs, primarily cocaine and PCP. As the members became increasingly focused on drug use and partying (Stone carried a violin case filled with illegal drugs wherever he went), recording slowed significantly. Between summer 1969 and fall 1971, the band released only one single, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" / "Everybody Is a Star", released in December 1969. The former song was one of the first recordings to employ the heavy, funky beats that would be featured in the funk music of the following decade. It showcased bass player Larry Graham's innovative percussive playing technique of bass "slapping". Graham later said that he developed this technique in an earlier band in order to compensate for that band's lack of a drummer.

"Thank You" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. The single also peaked at #5 on the R&B chart and remained there for five weeks, while also remaining at #1 on the Pop chart for two weeks in the spring of 1970, before selling over a million copies.

In the fall of 1969, Stone moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles with his then girlfriend Deborah King, later Deborah Santana (wife of Carlos Santana from 1973 until filing for divorce in 2007). The band's fifth album, There's a Riot Goin' On (1971), reflected the turmoil. Most of Riot was recorded with overdubbing as opposed to The Family Stone all playing at the same time; Stone played most of the parts himself and performed more of the lead vocals than usual.

The band's cohesion slowly began to erode, and its sales and popularity began to decline as well. Errico withdrew from the group in 1971 and was eventually replaced with Andy Newmark. Larry Graham and Stone were no longer on friendly terms, and Graham was fired in early 1972 and replaced with Rustee Allen. The band's later releases, Fresh (1973) and Small Talk (1974), featured even less of the band and more of Stone. The band's reputation for not arriving at performances caused promoters to avoid booking them, and after a disastrous engagement at the Radio City Music Hall in January 1975, The Family Stone broke apart completely.
Later years

Stone went on to record four more albums as a solo artist (only High on You (1975) was released under just his name; the other three were released under the "Sly & The Family Stone" name). He also collaborated with Funkadelic on The Electric Spanking of War Babies (1981), but was unable to reinvigorate his career.

Stone did do a short tour with Bobby Womack in the summer of 1984, and he continued to make sporadic appearances on compilations and other artists' records. In 1986, Stone was featured on a track from The Time member Jesse Johnson's solo album Shockadelica called "Crazay". The music video featured Stone on keyboards and vocals, and received some airplay on the BET music network.

In 1987, Stone released a single, "Eek-a-Boo Static Automatic", from the Soul Man soundtrack. He also co-wrote and co-produced "Just Like A Teeter-Totter," which appeared on a Bar-Kays album from 1989.

In 1990, he gave an energetic vocal performance on the Earth, Wind and Fire song, "Good Time." In 1991, he appeared on a cover of "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" performed by the Japanese band 13CATS. And he shared lead vocals with Bobby Womack on "When the Weekend Comes" from Womack's 1993 album I Still Love You. His last major public appearance until 2006 was during the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony where Stone showed up onstage to be entered into the Hall of Fame along with the Family Stone. In 2003, the other six members of the original Family Stone entered the studio to record a new album. Stone was invited to participate, but declined.

Stone reportedly lives near Beverly Hills or Napa Valley with two female assistants, where he records at a home studio and rides his motorcycle. A few home-studio recordings (most likely from the late 1980s) with Stone's voice and keyboards over a drum machine have made their way onto a bootleg. One Stone-penned demo called "Coming Back for More" appears to be autobiographical and includes the verse: "Been so high, I touched the sky and the sky says 'Sly, why you tryin' to get by?' Comin' back for more." His son, Sylvester Jr., told People Magazine in 1997 that his father had composed an album's worth of material, including a tribute to Miles Davis called "Miles and Miles."

On August 15, 2005, Stone drove his younger sister Vet Stone on his motorcycle to Los Angeles' Knitting Factory, where Vet was performing with her Sly & the Family Stone tribute band, the Phunk Phamily Affair. Stone kept his helmet on during the entire performance, and was described by one concertgoer as looking a little like Bootsy Collins. A film crew doing a documentary on Sly & the Family Stone was at the show and apparently captured this rare sighting on film. Stone, according to his web site, is producing and writing material for the group's new album. In addition, Stone renamed the group "Family Stone."

Friends and family say Stone continues to write songs and record in his home studio. Family Stone drummer Greg Errico told Rolling Stone in the March 2006 issue, "Sly's been calling two or three times a day lately, singing over the phone."

A new Stone instrumental can be heard at the artist's Web site . Stone's sister, Vet, said in a recent radio interview that the song will be recorded with vocals.

Live bookings for Sly & the Family Stone had steadily dropped since 1970, because promoters were afraid that Stone or one of the band members might miss the gig, refuse to play, or pass out from drug use. These issues were regular occurrences for the band during the 1970s, and had an adverse effect on their ability to demand money for live bookings. At many of these gigs, concert-goers rioted if the band failed to show up, or if Stone walked out before finishing his set. Ken Roberts became the group's promoter, and later their general manager, when no other representatives would work with the band because of their erratic gig attendance record. In January 1975, the band booked itself at Radio City Music Hall. The famed music hall was only one-eighth occupied, and Stone and company had to scrape together money to return home. Following the Radio City engagement, the band was dissolved.

Rose Stone was pulled out of the band by Bubba Banks, who was by then her husband. She began a solo career, recording a Motown-style album under the name Rose Banks in 1976. Freddie Stone joined Larry Graham's group, Graham Central Station, for a time; after collaborating with his brother one last time in 1979 for Back on the Right Track, he retired from the music industry and eventually became the pastor of the Evangelist Temple Fellowship Center in Vallejo, California. Little Sister was also dissolved; Mary McCrary married Leon Russell and worked with him on music projects. Andy Newmark became a successful session drummer, playing with Roxy Music, B. B. King, Steve Winwood and others.
Lawsuit

Stone filed suit against Jerry Goldstein, the former manager of Sly and the Family Stone for $50 million in January 2010. The suit claims that Goldstein used fraudulent practices to convince him to deliver the rights to his songs to Goldstein. In the suit, he makes the same claim about the Sly and the Family Stone trademark.
Mid 2000s tributes

A Sly & the Family Stone tribute took place at the 2006 Grammy Awards on February 8, 2006, at which Stone gave his first live musical performance since 1987. Sly & the original Family Stone lineup (minus Larry Graham) performed briefly during a tribute to the band, for which the headliners included Steven Tyler, John Legend, Van Hunt, and Robert Randolph. Sporting an enormous blonde mohawk, thick sunglasses, a "Sly" beltbuckle and a silver lamé suit, he joined in on "I Want To Take You Higher." Hunched over the keyboards, he wore a cast on his right hand (the result of a recent motorcycle mishap), and a hunched back caused him to look down through most of the performance. His voice, though strong, was barely audible over the production. Stone walked to the front of the stage toward the end of the performance, sang a verse and then with a wave to the audience, sauntered offstage before the song was over. "He went up the ramp , got on a motorcycle and took off," Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of the Grammy Awards show told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ehrlich said Stone refused to leave his hotel room until he was given a police escort to the show and then waited in his car until the performance began.

A Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, Different Strokes By Different Folks, was released on July 12, 2005 by Starbucks' Hear Music label, and on February 7, 2006 by Epic Records. The project features both cover versions of the band's songs and songs which sample the original recordings. Among the artists for the set are The Roots ("Star", which samples "Everybody is a Star"), Maroon 5 and Ciara ("Everyday People"), John Legend, Joss Stone & Van Hunt ("Family Affair"), the Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am ("Dance to the Music"), and Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Robert Randolph ("I Want to Take You Higher"). Epic Records' version of the tribute album, which included two additional covers ("Don't Call Me ******, Whitey" and "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)") was released in January 2006.
Re-emergence

On Sunday, January 14, 2007 Stone made a short guest appearance at a show of The New Family Stone band he supports at the House of Blues.

On April 1, 2007, Stone appeared with the Family Stone at the Flamingo Las Vegas Showroom, after George Wallace's standup act.

On July 7, 2007 Stone made a short appearance with the Family Stone at the San Jose, CA Summerfest. He sang "Sing a Simple Song" and "If You Want Me to Stay," and walked off stage before the end of "Higher." He wore a baseball cap, dark glasses, a white hooded sweatshirt, baggy pants and gold chains. Stone, who took the stage at about 8:45 p.m., cut the set short, in part, because the promoter was told that the show had to end by 9:00. The band began their set over 90 minutes late reportedly because the stage management was poor and the promoter's band played for 30 minutes longer than scheduled. Stone's 15-minute set came only after his sister, Vet, and the rest of the band performed for 35 minutes. As he exited the stage he told the audience near the front of the stage that he would return. He did return, but only to tell the crowd that the police were shutting down the show. While many blamed Stone for this incident, others believed that the promoter was at fault.

The same scenes were repeated at the Montreux Jazz Festival on the 13th July 2007 with over half the sold-out venue walking out in disgust even earlier than his stage exit.

The same happened again one day later at the Blue Note Records Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Here he left the stage after saying to the audience that "when waking up this morning he realized he was old, and so he needed to take a break now". He did the same again one day later, performing at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

But as the tour progressed, Stone seemed to be more confident and animated, often dancing and engaging the audience. By the time the tour rolled into Paris, things appeared to be improving, and Stone sporting an afro and a headband, performed an energetic and absorbing show, with one his finest performances of "Family Affair." He performed soulful versions of "Stand", "I Want To Take You Higher", "Sing A Simple Song", "If You Want Me To Stay", and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", (which at one point morphed into "Thank you For Talkin' To Me Africa", a track rarely performed in public). But the show was marred by sound problems and the vocals were barely audible through much of the show.

On Memorial Day, May 25, 2009, Stone re-emergeed once again, granting an hour-long interview with KCRW-FM Los Angeles, An NPR affiliate, to discuss his life and career.

On 18 August 2009 the Guardian reported that a forthcoming documentary claims Stone was living on welfare and staying in cheap hotels and campervans. The film alleges that Stone's former manager, Jerry Goldstein, cut off his access to royalty payments following a dispute over a 'debt agreement', forcing Stone to depend on social security payments.

On Labor Day, September 7, 2009, Stone emerged at the 20th annual African Festival of the Arts in Chicago, Il. He performed a 15 minute set during George Clinton's Performance. He performed his popular hits along with George Clinton's band, stealing the show. He left immediately after his short performance.

On December 6, 2009, Sly signed a new recording contract with the LA based Cleopatra Records. A new album is expected sometime in 2010.
Discography

    * 1967: A Whole New Thing
    * 1968: Dance to the Music
    * 1968: Life
    * 1969: Stand!
    * 1971: There's a Riot Goin' On
    * 1973: Fresh
    * 1974: Small Talk
    * 1975: High on You (credited only to "Sly Stone")
    * 1976: Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back
    * 1979: Back on the Right Track
    * 1982: Ain't But the One Way
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/yasmin8279/sly_stone_1.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/djshalope/sly.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/10 at 5:25 am

The person who died on this day...Ron Silver
Ronald Arthur "Ron" Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor, director, producer, radio host and political activist.
Silver made his film debut in Tunnel Vision in 1976. He played downstairs neighbor Gary Levy from 1976-78 in the series Rhoda, a spinoff from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Additional screen roles include a performance as the devoted son of Anne Bancroft in Garbo Talks (1984), an incompetent detective in Eat and Run (1986), the pistol-wielding psychopath stalking Jamie Lee Curtis in 1989's Blue Steel, and the lead in Paul Mazursky's Oscar-nominated Enemies: A Love Story (1989).

Silver starred opposite Jerry Lewis in the critically acclaimed "Garment District Arc" of the crime show Wiseguy (1988). He often said in interviews that growing up the son of a man working in the garment industry was a great help in preparing for the role.

He portrayed defense attorney Alan Dershowitz in the true story Reversal of Fortune (1990), based on the trial of Claus von Bülow. He played a film producer in Best Friends opposite Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn and a famous film director in a 1992 movie that Billy Crystal starred in and directed, Mr. Saturday Night.

Silver was featured as Muhammad Ali's boxing trainer and cornerman Angelo Dundee in the biopic Ali (2001), directed by Michael Mann.

From 2001-02 and again from 2005-06, Silver appeared as presidential campaign advisor Bruno Gianelli on The West Wing. In 1998, he starred opposite Kirstie Alley for season two of her TV comedy series Veronica's Closet.

Silver provided the narration for the 2004 political documentary film FahrenHYPE 9/11 that was produced as a conservative political response to the award-winning and controversial Michael Moore documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11.

He portrayed tennis player Bobby Riggs in the TV docudrama "When Billie Beat Bobby," the story of Riggs' exhibition match against Billie Jean King.

Silver portrayed Robert Shapiro in one of the most watched television shows of all time, American Tragedy, the story of the O.J. Simpson trial.

One of his final film performances was as a judge in another true story, 2006's Find Me Guilty, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Vin Diesel.

From 1991 to 2000, Silver served as president of the Actors' Equity Association.

In February 2008, Silver began hosting The Ron Silver Show on Sirius Satellite Radio, which focused on politics and public affairs. The show aired live from 9–11am ET, during morning drive time, on Indie Talk, Sirius 110.
Personal life and politics

Silver traveled to more than 30 countries and spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. He taught at the high school level and was a social worker for the Department of Social Services.

He was a co-founder in 1989 of the entertainment industry political advocacy organization the Creative Coalition.

Silver was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2000, he co-founded the organization One Jerusalem to oppose the Oslo Peace Agreement. Its purpose is to maintain "a united Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel."

Silver, a Democrat for many years, left the party and became an Independent, and a supporter of President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks, citing those attacks and Democratic policies regarding terrorism as reasons. He spoke at the United States 2004 Republican National Convention, continued to support President Bush, and was appointed Chairman for the Millennium Committee by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Silver and some of his friends said that following his endorsement of President Bush he was ostracized by erstwhile friends and onetime colleagues. In Silver's blog on the Pajamas Media website, he also remarked that his colleagues on the set of The West Wing referred to him as "Ron, Ron, the Neo-Con."

On October 7, 2005, Silver was nominated by President Bush to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace. On September 8, 2006, it was announced that Silver had joined an advisory committee to the Lewis Libby Legal Defense Trust.

President George W. Bush appointed Silver to serve on the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.

Despite Silver's affiliation with Republican Party politics, he still thought of himself as a liberal, albeit a "hawkish" one. In one of his last televised interviews, he told Sky News that Senator John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election had been a "deal breaker" for him. According to the obituary printed by the New York Times, Silver's brother asserted that "Ron ended up voting for Obama in the end".
Death

Silver died on March 15, 2009 of esophageal cancer, which had been diagnosed two years earlier. He was 62 years old. Silver is survived by both parents, brothers Mitchell and Keith, son Adam, and daughter Alexandra.
Work

Television

    * Crossing Jordan
    * Chicago Hope
    * Law & Order
    * Rhoda
    * Skin
    * Veronica's Closet
    * Heat Vision and Jack
    * Billionaire Boys Club
    * The West Wing
    * Wiseguy

Stage

    * Hurlyburly
    * Speed The Plow (Tony and Drama Desk Awards)
    * Social Security



Film

    * Reversal of Fortune
    * Enemies, a Love Story
    * Silkwood
    * Ali
    * Married to It
    * Find Me Guilty
    * Blue Steel
    * The Arrival
    * Word of Honor
    * Best Friends
    * The Entity
    * Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story
    * Silent Rage
    * Garbo Talks
    * Festival in Cannes
    * Jack
    * The Ten
    * Mr. Saturday Night
    * Timecop
    * FahrenHYPE 9/11
    * Live Wire

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/JAIMEDANCE3/RONSILVER2.jpg
http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg470/FindHawkeye/AW%20Hunt%20Puzzle%202/AWHunt17RonSilver.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/10 at 7:13 am

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/djshalope/sly.jpg

Is that him? You must be joking? WTH?  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/10 at 7:43 am


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d142/djshalope/sly.jpg

Is that him? You must be joking? WTH?  :o

i know I thought it was Dennis Rodman at first :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/15/10 at 11:20 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgVOR28iG_o



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/15/10 at 12:30 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgVOR28iG_o



Cat

Probably the song I like best by that group.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/10 at 2:29 pm


i know I thought it was Dennis Rodman at first :-\\


What happened to his classic 'fro?  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/10 at 2:31 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgVOR28iG_o



Cat


one of his best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/16/10 at 1:54 am

People who meet people!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/16/10 at 5:48 am


People who meet people!

Are the luckiest people. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/16/10 at 5:54 am

The word of the day...Spawn
Spawn is a soft, jelly-like substance containing the eggs of fish, or of animals such as frogs.
When fish or animals such as frogs spawn, they lay their eggs.
If something spawns something else, it causes it to happen or to be created.
Spawn is a fictional comic book character created by Todd McFarlane
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/polgas20/DSC00869.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m147/Honza-01/31010Sunflowerspawn2S.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss256/foxwagon930/Eggs_1.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z154/selenegirl14/movei%20icons/SPAWN1.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/samarijack2/FishTank/FrogSpawn.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m147/Honza-01/31010Gumbootspawn2S.jpg
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae285/Cyberwatt/Hive%20Fleet%20Minotaur/IMG_0616.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c175/lax2ams/random/DSC02943.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm51/Ronisan1/Spawn.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/16/10 at 5:55 am


The word of the day...Spawn
Spawn is a soft, jelly-like substance containing the eggs of fish, or of animals such as frogs.
When fish or animals such as frogs spawn, they lay their eggs.
If something spawns something else, it causes it to happen or to be created.
Spawn is a fictional comic book character created by Todd McFarlane
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/polgas20/DSC00869.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m147/Honza-01/31010Sunflowerspawn2S.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss256/foxwagon930/Eggs_1.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z154/selenegirl14/movei%20icons/SPAWN1.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/samarijack2/FishTank/FrogSpawn.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m147/Honza-01/31010Gumbootspawn2S.jpg
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae285/Cyberwatt/Hive%20Fleet%20Minotaur/IMG_0616.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c175/lax2ams/random/DSC02943.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm51/Ronisan1/Spawn.jpg


Wow,I love those pictures. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/16/10 at 5:56 am

The person born on this day...Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane (born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was a popular hero in the 1990s and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.

In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.
McFarlane's first published work was a 1984 backup story in Epic Comics' Coyote. He soon began drawing for both DC Comics and Marvel, with his first major body of work being a two-year run (1985–1987) on DC's Infinity, Inc. In 1987, McFarlane also illustrated several issues of Detective Comics' Batman: Year Two storyline. From there, he moved to Marvel's Incredible Hulk, which he drew from 1987–1988.
McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 cover. (Second printing black & gold edition).

In 1988, McFarlane joined writer David Michelinie on Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man beginning with issue 298. McFarlane was also the first artist to draw the first, full appearance of Eddie Brock, the first original incarnation of the popular villain Venom. He has been credited as the character's co-creator, though this has been a topic of dispute within the comic book industry. (See Eddie Brock: Creation and conception.)

McFarlane's work on Amazing Spider-Man turned him into an industry superstar. In 1990, after a 28-issue run of Amazing Spider-Man, McFarlane told editor Jim Salicrup he'd grown tired of drawing other people's stories and would be leaving the book with issue #328 to write his own work. Salicrup offered McFarlane a new Spider-Man book, prompting the launch of a new monthly title simply called Spider-Man, which McFarlane both wrote and illustrated. Spider-Man #1 sold 2.5 million copies, partially due to the variant covers that were used to encourage collectors into buying more than one edition. McFarlane wrote and illustrated Spider-Man's first 14 issues, as well as #16; many issues of which were crossovers with characters such as Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider. After issue #16 (Nov. 1991), McFarlane left the book due to creative clashes with new editor Danny Fingeroth. He was replaced on the title by future Image Comics co-founder Erik Larsen. It is believed that McFarlane's often bloody and gruesome storylines were the major source of the conflict, as Marvel had not been particularly known for bloody comic books, particularly in such a universally "family friendly" title as Spider-man.
Image comics and Spawn

McFarlane then left Marvel with six other popular artists to form Image Comics, an umbrella company under which each owned a publishing house. McFarlane's studio, Todd McFarlane Productions, published his creation, the occult-themed Spawn. Spawn #1 sold 1.7 million copies, still a record for an independent comic book.
Main article: Spawn (comics)
The cover to Spawn #1 (1992)

Spawn was launched in 1992 with McFarlane as artist/writer for the first 7 issues. Guest writers Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim and Frank Miller were brought on for issues 8 to 11 (respectively) while McFarlane continued as the artist. In order to concentrate on the 1994 Spawn/Batman crossover (with Miller writing), he brought on Grant Morrison (as writer) and Greg Capullo (penciller) from issues #16-#18. Then Andrew Grossberg and Tom Orzechowski took over writing issues #19 and 20 with Capullo still penciling. McFarlane returned as writer/artist for issue 21 and remained so until issue 24. Greg Capullo took over as pencil artist with issue 26, McFarlane remained writer and inker on the book until issue 70.

McFarlane eventually would hand off scripting duties (while still overseeing plotlines) to other writers, and the book continued to retain a respectable following. He has story input and inks covers on occasion.

In 2006 McFarlane announced plans for Spawn/Batman with artist Greg Capullo, which McFarlane wrote and inked, which paid tribute to Jack Kirby. He also began taking an active role in comics publishing again, publishing collections of his Spawn comics in paperback form. Spawn Collection Volume 1 collecting issues 1-12 minus issue 9 (due to royalty issues with Neil Gaiman) and 10 (due to a vow he made to Sim) was released in December 2005. The first volume achieved moderate success, ranking 17 in the top one hundred graphic novels, with pre-order sales of 3227 for that period.
Haunt
Main article: Haunt (comics)

Haunt, an ongoing series co-created by McFarlane and Robert Kirkman, was first announced in 2007, and launched October 7, 2009. The comic is written by Kirkman, penciled by Ryan Ottley, inked by McFarlane, with Greg Capullo providing layouts.
McFarlane Entertainment

Todd McFarlane Productions has also published multiple Spawn spin-off mini-series, but, unlike other Image studios, such as Jim Lee's Wildstorm, McFarlane's studio was never intended to focus on being a comic book company, and had always intended to diversify into other areas, like the short lived Spawntastic Apparel, a T-shirt line. McFarlane increasingly concentrated his own personal attention to those other ventures, which resulted in irregular work as an illustrator. By 1994, he ceased to be the regular illustrator of his own "signature" book, and would only re-visit Spawn sporadically, or as a promotional stunt for the title.

That same year, McFarlane created McFarlane Toys. Its line of meticulously sculpted Spawn action figures changed the entire industry by focusing on more mature consumers and non-traditional action figure inspirations such as musicians. The company has licensed the right to produce action figures of athletes in all four major North American sports — baseball, hockey, football and basketball — and several recent, successful film franchises, including The Terminator, The Matrix and Shrek. He has also created figures of rock musicians, including the members of Kiss, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix and toys related to video games, like Halo 3.

In 1996, McFarlane founded Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In collaboration with New Line Cinema, it produced the 1997 Spawn film and a new Spawn movie, planned in 2008. Spawn, while critically panned, was a modest box office success, earning $54.97 million domestically, a little over $69 million worldwide. It also produced the animated series Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, (featuring voice work by actor Keith David) which aired on HBO from 1997 until 1999. The animated series received significantly more positive press than the film, received two Primetime Emmy awards (including "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour)," and was a moderate success when eventually released on DVD.

The studio has produced acclaimed music videos for Pearl Jam's "Do the Evolution" (1998), KoЯn's "Freak on a Leash" (1999) and Disturbed's "Land of Confusion" (2006). They also produced an animated segment of the film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002). He also fully animated "The Guy", the mascot for Disturbed.
Sports

McFarlane is an avid baseball fan; he briefly tried to achieve a pro career in the sport as a young adult. McFarlane has bought, at auction, multiple balls from Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's 1998 race to establish a record for the greatest number of home runs hit in a single season. McFarlane owns Sosa's 33rd, 61st and 66th home run balls, and McGwire's first, 63rd, 67th, 68th, 69th and 70th. (McGwire's 61st was the ball which tied Roger Maris' then-record, while McGwire's 70th, bought by McFarlane at auction for US $3 million, set a new record at the time — broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds.) He later purchased Bonds' record breaking 73rd home run ball for $450,000.

As well as being a former part owner of the Edmonton Oilers, McFarlane also designed the logo used on the team's alternate (third) jerseys. This jersey has not been worn since 2007.

Recently, baseball pitcher Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox has teamed up with McFarlane, forming 38 Studios (formerly Green Monster Games), LLC. This gaming studio will feature McFarlane's art direction and will also feature R.A. Salvatore as creative director. The studio's focus will be massive multiplayer online games of which Schilling is an avid fan.
Other media

Todd McFarlane continues to spread his influence into other media areas including film, television, gaming, and music.

For the release of Halo 3, McFarlane was enlisted to design a series of action figures.

McFarlane also created the character Necrid for the console versions of the video game Soul Calibur II. Spawn appears as a playable character in the Xbox version of SCII.

A PlayStation 2 game, McFarlane's Evil Prophecy, was released in 2004 by Konami. In it, players battle creatures based on a line of Todd McFarlane's action figures including classic movie monsters such as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula.

In January 2005, McFarlane announced that he was set to produce a half-hour anthology television series for Fox called Twisted Tales, based on the Bruce Jones' comic book to which McFarlane had purchased the rights.

In December 2002, Todd McFarlane directed the music video "Breathe" for Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members that featured Nelly Furtado. He later drew both the Canadian and International covers for their next album Heavy, released October 2003.

Todd McFarlane is also the cartoonist responsible for the cover art of the albums Ten Thousand Fists, released in September 2005 and Indestructible, released June 2008 by metal band Disturbed, and the art in their single "Land of Confusion", as well as that of metal band Iced Earth's 1996 Spawn-based concept album The Dark Saga and Korn's third studio album Follow the Leader, which was released in 1998.

McFarlane is also doing artwork for the Lord of Vermilion game published by Square Enix.
Lawsuits

McFarlane lost judgments in two lawsuits in the 2000s. The first was a 2002 suit in which McFarlane contested with writer Neil Gaiman over the rights to some supporting Spawn characters created by Gaiman in issue #9 of the Spawn series and over payment for later works featuring those characters. In 1997 the two signed a deal in which Gaiman would give his share of characters Angela, Medieval Spawn and Cogliostro to McFarlane in exchange of McFarlane's share of British superhero Marvelman (in reality, what McFarlane actually owned were two trademarks for Miracleman logos, not the character, which would become clear only after the lawsuit concluded). However, this deal was broken by McFarlane, which motivated Neil Gaiman to start the lawsuit. The jury was unanimous in favor of Gaiman. The two were involved in a lengthy dispute over ownership of Miracleman, but no lawsuit has been filed in that dispute. In 2009, Marvel Comics brought resolution to the matter by purchasing the property.

The second was a December 2004 suit in which hockey player Tony Twist sued Todd McFarlane because he named a mobster character in Spawn after Twist.
Awards

McFarlane's work has won him numerous awards over the years, including:

   * a 1992 National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book.
   * a 1992 Inkpot Award
   * McFarlane received the National Football League's Artist of the Year award for 2005, for his work on program covers for the Baltimore Ravens.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/bloodydagger4u666/Todd.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/SICBOY7/todd_nhl.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/16/10 at 6:21 am


Wow,I love those pictures. :)

I'm glad you like them Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/16/10 at 6:26 am

The person who died on this day...Gary Hart
Gary Richard Williams, (January 24, 1942 – March 16, 2008) was a former professional wrestling manager, as well as a professional wrestler in his early career, best known by his ring name Gary Hart. Hart was one of the pivotal driving forces behind what is considered to be World Class Championship Wrestling's "golden years" in the early 1980s.
Gary Hart started out as a wrestler in 1963 in the Illinois and Wisconsin territories. In the late 1960s, he became a manager called "Playboy" Gary Hart.
World Class Championship Wrestling (1979–1987)

Gary Hart became the booker for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW; then known as Big Time Wrestling) in 1979, a position he held on and off until 1987. Hart is largely credited (alongside Bill Mercer, Fritz and David Von Erich) with the success of WCCW, as 1982-1985 are largely considered to be the "Golden Years" of the promotion. Hart created the classic feud between the Von Erichs and the Fabulous Freebirds, as well as introducing memorable characters like the Great Kabuki, the Great Muta, King Kong Bundy, the One Man Gang and the Samoan Swat Team. Hart additionally managed talent such as the lates "Gorgeous" Gino Hernandez and "Gentleman" Chris Adams. Along with booking, he also managed Nord the Barbarian, Abdullah The Butcher, Al Perez and Jeep Swenson under the stable "New Age Management", and always feuded with the top faces of the promotion. In 1984, Hart managed Gentleman Chris Adams, who turned heel and engaged in a major feud with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich. As a result, Adams was propelled to the top of the wrestling world and eventually won the NWA American title in 1985.
Hart in the Georgia and Mid-Atlantic regions of the NWA

During World Class' golden era, Hart was also a manager in the Georgia and Mid-Atlantic regions of the NWA; joining these two areas exclusively in 1983 shortly after the start of the Freebirds-Von Erichs feud, when he left World Class due to a pay dispute. Hart returned to Texas in the summer of 1984 and following a short hiatus in 1986; stayed with the federation until 1988. Hart was also a promoter and manager in San Antonio for Texas All-Star Wrestling, the successor of Joe Blanchard's Southwest Championship Wrestling group; and featured most of the SCW wrestlers, as well as a handful of World Class names (including Chris Adams, Scott Casey and Bruiser Brody). He also worked for the ICW, first as the heel manager of Bruiser Brody, Kevin Sullivan and Mark Lewin. After a kayfabe falling out with Sullivan, Lewin attacked Hart with a sleeper hold. At the tail end of the ICW stint, Hart and Brody were babyfaces.
Hart looking after all of the wrestlers, face or heel

Despite being a heel manager, Hart always looked after all of the wrestlers, face or heel. During one instance, when Adams smashed a wooden chair onto the head of Kevin Von Erich during the 1984 Cotton Bowl event, he noticed blood coming out of Kevin's head. Hart immediately told Adams to exit the ring and return to the dressing room, and advised ring announcer Ralph Pulley that medical aid may be needed. During another bout in 1985, he revived Iceman King Parsons following a sleeperhold applied on him by Mark Lewin.
Noteworthy interviews

Hart, who was known for delivering excellent ringside interviews, participated in one of World Class' most famous outside the ring interviews, when he sat down with Bill Mercer in a 1985 interview outside of Hart's home to talk about his rift with Chris Adams. The interview, which was done on one take, featured Hart pounding the glass table continuously with his fist, calling Adams an egotistical maniac but a very bright young boy, then berating Gino Hernandez calling him a moron and a young punk that is nothing in the wrestling business. As the interview wound down, Hart went on a tirade, vowing revenge against Adams while shoving the tableware and ice tea away and then throwing the table in disgust.

He also conducted a memorable interview on World Championship Wrestling in 1989, berating Dusty Rhodes and his family.
Feuds with fellow heel managers

During his time in World Class, Hart was involved in feuds with fellow heel managers Skandor Akbar and Percy Pringle.
Jim Crockett Promotions

Shortly after the folding of WCCW, Hart continued to manage Al Perez in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988, along with Larry Zbyszko. In 1989, he managed the stable J-Tex Corporation, which included Terry Funk, Dick Slater, Buzz Sawyer, The Dragonmaster, and The Great Muta. They feuded primarily with Ric Flair and Sting, but Ole and Arn Anderson later teamed up with Flair and Sting to even the sides up (and thus bringing back The Four Horseman briefly). J-Tex disbanded in early 1990.
Later career

After leaving WCW, Hart returned to Texas and began a new wrestling promotion in North Dallas, Texas Wrestling Federation, which showcased many former stars of World Class and those who are competing in the USWA/World Class promotion.

During the 1990s, following the demise of the Global Wrestling Federation, Hart and Chris Adams were involved in many Texas-based wrestling promotions, including an ill-fated attempt to revive World Class (billed as World Class II: The Next Generation) at the Dallas Sportatorium. Hart retired in 1999, but made a surprise return in Major League Wrestling, during the promotion's Reloaded Tour on January 9-10, 2004. Hart appeared following the main event (on January 9) pitting Low-Ki against Homicide, where the three laid out several wrestlers from the locker room, as well MLW president Court Bauer.

During the tour, Hart's son Chad (who was trained by Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar and Gary Hart) debuted and wrestled on both events. On January 10, Chad Hart attacked Terry Funk immediately after his barbed-wire "I Quit" match with Steve Corino. It would prove to be MLW's final show, as the promotion folded in February of the same year.
Personal relationship with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez

Hart was close to both Adams and Gino Hernandez; and was very strong in encouraging wrestlers and fellow fans alike not to use controlled substances such as cocaine, GHB,and alcohol; substances that resulted in the deaths of both Adams in 2001 and Hernandez in 1986. Regarding Hernandez, Hart was not able to place a picture of Gino on the wall alongside other wrestlers he managed, due to the failure in encouraging Hernandez to kick the habit. Hart was also despondent over the death of Adams (the victim of a shooting incident during a drunken fight with a former roommate) for a short time as he revealed during the Heroes of World Class DVD that Hart didn't return one of Adams' calls days prior to his death.
Death

Hart died on March 16, 2008, following a heart attack at his home in Euless, TX, after returning from an autograph session in Pennsylvania.

On April 5, 2008; Peach State Pandemonium, an internet wrestling program; aired a two-hour tribute program in the memory of Gary Hart. "Cowboy" Bill Watts, Jack Brisco, James Beard, Abdullah The Butcher, Michael "P.S." Hayes, Kevin Sullivan, George Steele, Skandor Akbar, and Jim Ross were among those who attended.
Autobiography

His autobiography, entitled "My Life In Wrestling...With A Little Help From My Friends," was released in 2009.
In wrestling

    * Wrestlers managed

        * Roddy Piper
        * Low Ki
        * Homicide
        * Great Kabuki
        * Bruiser Brody
        * Brian Adias
        * Chris Adams
        * Toru Tanaka
        * Don Kernodle
        * Buzz Sawyer
        * Mark Lewin
        * Big John Studd
        * One Man Gang
        * Al Perez
        * Nord the Barbarian
        * Jeep Swenson
        * Kendo Nagasaki
        * Killer Khan
        * Abdullah the Butcher
        * Ivan Koloff
        * Black Angus
        * Bob Orton, Jr.
        * Bobby Duncum, Sr.
        * "Killer" Tim Brooks
        * Dingo Warrior
        * Dick Slater
        * Terry Funk
        * The Great Muta
        * Rod Price
        * John Tatum
        * Ron Garvin
        * Kevin Sullivan
        * Larry Zbyszko
        * The Spoiler
        * Pak Song
        * Dusty Rhodes
        * The Samoans (Tio Tio and Reno Tufuuli)
        * Magic Dragon
        * Ron Bass
        * Black Bart
        * Dory Funk Jr.
        * Jerry Lawler
        * Gorgeous George Jr.
        * Bobby Shane

    * Nicknames
          o "Playboy" Gary Hart

Championships and accomplishments

    * Big Time Wrestling

        * NWA American Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with The Spoiler

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/jakeyourbooty/Deceased%20Wrestlers/GaryHart.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee153/brandonryche/01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/16/10 at 10:58 am


Are the luckiest people. :)



People are strange.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/16/10 at 3:00 pm


The person who died on this day...Gary Hart
Gary Richard Williams, (January 24, 1942 – March 16, 2008) was a former professional wrestling manager, as well as a professional wrestler in his early career, best known by his ring name Gary Hart. Hart was one of the pivotal driving forces behind what is considered to be World Class Championship Wrestling's "golden years" in the early 1980s.
Gary Hart started out as a wrestler in 1963 in the Illinois and Wisconsin territories. In the late 1960s, he became a manager called "Playboy" Gary Hart.
World Class Championship Wrestling (1979–1987)

Gary Hart became the booker for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW; then known as Big Time Wrestling) in 1979, a position he held on and off until 1987. Hart is largely credited (alongside Bill Mercer, Fritz and David Von Erich) with the success of WCCW, as 1982-1985 are largely considered to be the "Golden Years" of the promotion. Hart created the classic feud between the Von Erichs and the Fabulous Freebirds, as well as introducing memorable characters like the Great Kabuki, the Great Muta, King Kong Bundy, the One Man Gang and the Samoan Swat Team. Hart additionally managed talent such as the lates "Gorgeous" Gino Hernandez and "Gentleman" Chris Adams. Along with booking, he also managed Nord the Barbarian, Abdullah The Butcher, Al Perez and Jeep Swenson under the stable "New Age Management", and always feuded with the top faces of the promotion. In 1984, Hart managed Gentleman Chris Adams, who turned heel and engaged in a major feud with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich. As a result, Adams was propelled to the top of the wrestling world and eventually won the NWA American title in 1985.
Hart in the Georgia and Mid-Atlantic regions of the NWA

During World Class' golden era, Hart was also a manager in the Georgia and Mid-Atlantic regions of the NWA; joining these two areas exclusively in 1983 shortly after the start of the Freebirds-Von Erichs feud, when he left World Class due to a pay dispute. Hart returned to Texas in the summer of 1984 and following a short hiatus in 1986; stayed with the federation until 1988. Hart was also a promoter and manager in San Antonio for Texas All-Star Wrestling, the successor of Joe Blanchard's Southwest Championship Wrestling group; and featured most of the SCW wrestlers, as well as a handful of World Class names (including Chris Adams, Scott Casey and Bruiser Brody). He also worked for the ICW, first as the heel manager of Bruiser Brody, Kevin Sullivan and Mark Lewin. After a kayfabe falling out with Sullivan, Lewin attacked Hart with a sleeper hold. At the tail end of the ICW stint, Hart and Brody were babyfaces.
Hart looking after all of the wrestlers, face or heel

Despite being a heel manager, Hart always looked after all of the wrestlers, face or heel. During one instance, when Adams smashed a wooden chair onto the head of Kevin Von Erich during the 1984 Cotton Bowl event, he noticed blood coming out of Kevin's head. Hart immediately told Adams to exit the ring and return to the dressing room, and advised ring announcer Ralph Pulley that medical aid may be needed. During another bout in 1985, he revived Iceman King Parsons following a sleeperhold applied on him by Mark Lewin.
Noteworthy interviews

Hart, who was known for delivering excellent ringside interviews, participated in one of World Class' most famous outside the ring interviews, when he sat down with Bill Mercer in a 1985 interview outside of Hart's home to talk about his rift with Chris Adams. The interview, which was done on one take, featured Hart pounding the glass table continuously with his fist, calling Adams an egotistical maniac but a very bright young boy, then berating Gino Hernandez calling him a moron and a young punk that is nothing in the wrestling business. As the interview wound down, Hart went on a tirade, vowing revenge against Adams while shoving the tableware and ice tea away and then throwing the table in disgust.

He also conducted a memorable interview on World Championship Wrestling in 1989, berating Dusty Rhodes and his family.
Feuds with fellow heel managers

During his time in World Class, Hart was involved in feuds with fellow heel managers Skandor Akbar and Percy Pringle.
Jim Crockett Promotions

Shortly after the folding of WCCW, Hart continued to manage Al Perez in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988, along with Larry Zbyszko. In 1989, he managed the stable J-Tex Corporation, which included Terry Funk, Dick Slater, Buzz Sawyer, The Dragonmaster, and The Great Muta. They feuded primarily with Ric Flair and Sting, but Ole and Arn Anderson later teamed up with Flair and Sting to even the sides up (and thus bringing back The Four Horseman briefly). J-Tex disbanded in early 1990.
Later career

After leaving WCW, Hart returned to Texas and began a new wrestling promotion in North Dallas, Texas Wrestling Federation, which showcased many former stars of World Class and those who are competing in the USWA/World Class promotion.

During the 1990s, following the demise of the Global Wrestling Federation, Hart and Chris Adams were involved in many Texas-based wrestling promotions, including an ill-fated attempt to revive World Class (billed as World Class II: The Next Generation) at the Dallas Sportatorium. Hart retired in 1999, but made a surprise return in Major League Wrestling, during the promotion's Reloaded Tour on January 9-10, 2004. Hart appeared following the main event (on January 9) pitting Low-Ki against Homicide, where the three laid out several wrestlers from the locker room, as well MLW president Court Bauer.

During the tour, Hart's son Chad (who was trained by Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar and Gary Hart) debuted and wrestled on both events. On January 10, Chad Hart attacked Terry Funk immediately after his barbed-wire "I Quit" match with Steve Corino. It would prove to be MLW's final show, as the promotion folded in February of the same year.
Personal relationship with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez

Hart was close to both Adams and Gino Hernandez; and was very strong in encouraging wrestlers and fellow fans alike not to use controlled substances such as cocaine, GHB,and alcohol; substances that resulted in the deaths of both Adams in 2001 and Hernandez in 1986. Regarding Hernandez, Hart was not able to place a picture of Gino on the wall alongside other wrestlers he managed, due to the failure in encouraging Hernandez to kick the habit. Hart was also despondent over the death of Adams (the victim of a shooting incident during a drunken fight with a former roommate) for a short time as he revealed during the Heroes of World Class DVD that Hart didn't return one of Adams' calls days prior to his death.
Death

Hart died on March 16, 2008, following a heart attack at his home in Euless, TX, after returning from an autograph session in Pennsylvania.

On April 5, 2008; Peach State Pandemonium, an internet wrestling program; aired a two-hour tribute program in the memory of Gary Hart. "Cowboy" Bill Watts, Jack Brisco, James Beard, Abdullah The Butcher, Michael "P.S." Hayes, Kevin Sullivan, George Steele, Skandor Akbar, and Jim Ross were among those who attended.
Autobiography

His autobiography, entitled "My Life In Wrestling...With A Little Help From My Friends," was released in 2009.
In wrestling

    * Wrestlers managed

        * Roddy Piper
        * Low Ki
        * Homicide
        * Great Kabuki
        * Bruiser Brody
        * Brian Adias
        * Chris Adams
        * Toru Tanaka
        * Don Kernodle
        * Buzz Sawyer
        * Mark Lewin
        * Big John Studd
        * One Man Gang
        * Al Perez
        * Nord the Barbarian
        * Jeep Swenson
        * Kendo Nagasaki
        * Killer Khan
        * Abdullah the Butcher
        * Ivan Koloff
        * Black Angus
        * Bob Orton, Jr.
        * Bobby Duncum, Sr.
        * "Killer" Tim Brooks
        * Dingo Warrior
        * Dick Slater
        * Terry Funk
        * The Great Muta
        * Rod Price
        * John Tatum
        * Ron Garvin
        * Kevin Sullivan
        * Larry Zbyszko
        * The Spoiler
        * Pak Song
        * Dusty Rhodes
        * The Samoans (Tio Tio and Reno Tufuuli)
        * Magic Dragon
        * Ron Bass
        * Black Bart
        * Dory Funk Jr.
        * Jerry Lawler
        * Gorgeous George Jr.
        * Bobby Shane

    * Nicknames
          o "Playboy" Gary Hart

Championships and accomplishments

    * Big Time Wrestling

        * NWA American Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with The Spoiler

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/jakeyourbooty/Deceased%20Wrestlers/GaryHart.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee153/brandonryche/01.jpg


Ah yes,I remember Gary Hart,was a great manager.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/17/10 at 5:33 am

The word of the day...Forest
A forest is a large area where trees grow close together.
A forest of tall or narrow objects is a group of them standing or sticking upright.
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt264/Rawr_81/Landscapes/Autumn_Forest_in_the_Sun.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z15/submarinr/forest.jpg
http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a460/y68475riuhrwe/forest.jpg
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss161/sarbatra/Bosqueenfinlandia.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx293/childofnature/forestpics057.jpg
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz113/RomanV101/forest%20and%20nature%20images/redwood_national_forest_t2051.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n258/quntmphscs/LogginginStateforest.jpg
http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l442/Nethlindorniel/blends/robinhood2009.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/MaeAtNight/Scrap/Other/Extra/Untitled.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/17/10 at 5:37 am

The person born on this day...Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise (pronounced /səˈniːs/; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor and film director. During his career, Sinise has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for Palme d'Or and an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed the film and played the role of George Milton in the movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Sinise was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his role as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. He won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Truman. In 1996, he played a corrupt police officer in the Ron Howard dramatic hit Ransom. In 1998, Sinise was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for the television film George Wallace, a portrayal of the late Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., of Alabama.

Sinise currently stars in CBS's CSI: NY as Detective Mac Taylor. He recently narrated a biography for Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor at the Republican National Convention in support of John McCain's candidacy for President of the United States of America. In December 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal, the second highest civilian medal awarded to U.S. civilians. He received the medal from President George W. Bush for his humanitarian contributions to Iraqi school children and his involvement in the USO. He is the executive producer of Brothers at War, the award winning documentary about an American military family and the Iraq war.
1982, Sinise's career began to take off when he directed and starred in Steppenwolf's production of True West. In 1983, he earned an Obie Award for his direction and a year later appeared with John Malkovich in the PBS' American Playhouse production of the play. In 1988, Gary directed Miles from Home, a movie starring Richard Gere, about two brothers' fight against the foreclosure of the family farm. Sinise has appeared in many films including: Forrest Gump, Of Mice and Men (which he also directed), Apollo 13, Reindeer Games, Snake Eyes, Ransom, Mission to Mars, The Stand, Impostor and The Green Mile. He also narrated the audio books for John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and Of Mice and Men.

In 2004, he began his first regular television series, in the crime drama CSI: New York, in which he plays Detective Mac Taylor. He was credited as a producer from season 2 onwards and also wrote the storyline of an episode. Several episodes have allowed Sinise to demonstrate his musical prowess, including a Season 2 episode where Mac Taylor plays the bass guitar in a jazz club with musicians Kimo and Carol Williams and Danny Gottlieb, members of the Lt. Dan Band, which Sinise and Kimo Williams co-founded in 2003. The band is named for Sinise's character in Forrest Gump.

Apart from his television and movie work, Sinise is the host in the video for the Epcot ride Mission: SPACE, at Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL and the current model for Baume & Mercier watches. He also co-founded Operation Iraqi Children.

Sinise is also the narrator for the Discovery Channel's mini series When We Left Earth in 2008.
Gary Sinise playing bass in the Lt. Dan Band

Sinise was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal by George W. Bush for work he did supporting the U.S Military and humanitarian work supporting Iraqi children.

Sinise narrated Army and Army Reserve Army Strong recruitment ads in late 2008.

Sinise is the Executive Producer—along with David Scantling—of the Iraq War documentary Brothers at War. The film features an American military family and the experiences of three brothers: Jake Rademacher, Isaac Rademacher and Joseph Rademacher.

In 2009, Sinise co-narrated the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. with Joe Mantegna.

Sinise currently serves as the National Spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. He spends much of his time raising awareness for the Memorial and other veterans' service organizations.


In November 2009, Sinise narrated the highly acclaimed World War II in HD on the History Channel.
Personal life

Sinise has been married to actress Moira Harris since 1981 and they have three children together: Sophia Ana (b. 1988), McCanna Anthony (b. 1990), and Ella Jane (b. 1992). In 2003, Sinise was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by Amherst College.
Politics

Sinise's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (17 August 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Sinise has conservative Republican leanings. His CSI: NY co-star Hill Harper, a staunch supporter of President Barack Obama has noted that Sinise's political beliefs are much more conservative (than Harper's) but also says he and Sinise get along with each other on set and have decided not to discuss politics.

In June 2008, Sinise donated $2,300 to the Republican primary campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain.

Nicolle Wallace, a former adviser to George W. Bush and the presidential campaign of John McCain, stated in May 2009 that she believed Sinise could help bring about a resurgence of the Republican Party. Wallace stated, "The natural strengths that an actor brings to politics would come in handy to anyone going up against Obama in 2012. We will need an effective communicator who can stand toe to toe with Obama’s eloquence." Other names mentioned were those of Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno. Sinise later stated he had no intention of entering politics.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Family Secrets Motorcyclist (TV)
True West Austin (TV broadcast of the play)
1989 The Final Days Richard Ben-Veniste (TV)
My Name is Bill W. Ebby, Bill's best friend (TV)
1991 The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad (TV)
1992 Of Mice and Men George Milton Also directed.
A Midnight Clear Vance 'Mother' Wilkins
The Witness Young Soldier (TV)
1993 Jack the Bear Norman Strick
1994 Forrest Gump Lt. Dan Taylor Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Stand Stu Redman (TV miniseries)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1995 Truman Harry S. Truman (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Apollo 13 Ken Mattingly Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Quick and the Dead The Marshal
1996 Ransom Det. Jimmy Shaker
Albino Alligator Milo
1997 George Wallace George C. Wallace (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Snake Eyes Commander Kevin Dunne
1999 The Green Mile Burt Hammersmith
It's the Rage Morgan
That Championship Season Tom Daley (TV)
2000 Bruno Dino Battaglia
Mission to Mars Jim McConnell
Reindeer Games Gabriel Mercer
2002 A Gentleman's Game Foster Pearse
Path to War George Wallace
Made-Up Duncan Tivey
Impostor Spencer Olham
2003 Fallen Angel Terry (TV)
The Human Stain Nathan Zuckerman
Mission: SPACE (Disney Ride) Capcom
2004 The Forgotten Dr. Jack Munce
CSI: NY Det. Mac Taylor (TV series; 2004-present)
The Big Bounce Ray Ritchie
2006 Open Season Shaw (voice)http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/xxxxicexxxx/gary.jpg
2008 When We Left Earth Narrator (TV)
2009 On the Road in Iraq With Our Troops and Gary Sinise Himself
2009 WWII in HD Narrator (TV)
2010 One Last Wish Devon Johnson
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/flower_of_carnage/Famous%20Folk/CSI%20NY/gary-sinise-csi-781956.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/17/10 at 5:42 am

The person who died on this day...Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes (October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of only twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Her sound film debut was The Sin of Madelon Claudet, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She followed that with starring roles in Arrowsmith (with Myrna Loy), A Farewell to Arms (with actor Gary Cooper, whom Hayes admitted to finding extremely attractive), The White Sister, What Every Woman Knows (a reprise from her Broadway hit) and Vanessa: Her Love Story. However, she never became a fan favorite and Hayes did not prefer the medium to the stage.

Hayes eventually returned to Broadway in 1935, where for three years she played the title role in the Gilbert Miller production of Victoria Regina, with Vincent Price as Prince Albert, first at the Broadhurst Theatre and later at the Martin Beck Theatre.

In 1953, she was the first-ever recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre, repeating as the winner in 1969. She returned to Hollywood in the 1950s, and her film star began to rise. She starred in My Son John (1952) and Anastasia (1956), and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as an elderly stowaway in the disaster film Airport (1970). She followed that up with several roles in Disney films such as Herbie Rides Again, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing and Candleshoe. Her performance in Anastasia was considered a comeback—she had suspended her career for several years due to the death of her daughter Mary, and her husband's failing health.

In 1955 the Fulton Theatre was renamed for her. However, business interests in the 1980s wished to raze that theatre and four others to construct a large hotel that included the Marquis Theatre. To accomplish razing this theatre and three others, as well as the Astor Hotel, the business interests received Hayes' consent to raze the theatre named for her, even though she had no ownership interest in the buildings. Parts of the original Helen Hayes theatre on Broadway were used to construct The Shakespeare Center on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, which Hayes dedicated with Joseph Papp in 1982. In 1983 the Little Theater on West 45th Street was re-named The Helen Hayes Theatre in her honor; as was a theatre in Nyack, which has since been re-named the Riverspace-Arts Center.

In 1982, with friend Lady Bird Johnson, she founded the National Wildflower Research Center, now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. The center protects and preserves North America's native plants and natural landscapes.

The Helen Hayes Award for theater in the Washington D.C. area is named in her honor. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6220 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life

Hayes was a Catholic and a pro-business Republican who attended many Republican National Conventions (including the one held in New Orleans in 1988), but she was not as politically vocal as some others (e.g., Adolphe Menjou, Ginger Rogers, John Wayne, etc.) in the Hollywood community of that time.

Hayes wrote three memoirs: A Gift of Joy, On Reflection and My Life in Three Acts. Some of the themes in these books include her return to Roman Catholicism (she had been denied communion from the Church for the length of her marriage to MacArthur, who was a Protestant and a divorcé); and the death of her only daughter, Mary, who was an aspiring actress, from polio at the age of 19. Hayes's adopted son, James MacArthur, also went on to a career in acting, starring in Hawaii Five-O on television. (Hayes herself guest starred on a 1975 episode of Hawaii Five-0, playing the aunt of MacArthur's character.)

Hayes was hospitalized a number of times for her asthma condition, which was aggravated by stage dust, forcing her to retire from legitimate theater in 1971, at age 71. Her last Broadway show was a 1970 revival of Harvey, in which she co-starred with James Stewart. She spent most of her last years writing and raising money for organizations that fight asthma.
Philanthropy

Hayes was also a generous donor of time and money to a number of causes and organizations, including the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City, of which she, along with Mildred Natwick, became a founding member of the company's Board of Advisors in 1981. In 1983, Hayes dedicated Riverside's The Shakespeare Center with New York theatre producer, Joseph Papp, and in 1985 returned to the New York stage in a benefit for the company of A Christmas Carol with the late Raul Julia, Len Cariou, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Carole Shelley, Celeste Holm and Harold Scott, directed by W. Stuart McDowell. The next year Hayes performed a second benefit for the Riverside Shakespeare Company, this time, ironically, at the Marquis Theatre, the same theatre the construction of which had been made possible by the demolition of the original Helen Hayes Theatre three years before. The production featured Rex Smith, Ossie Davis and F. Murray Abraham, produced by McDowell and directed by Robert Small, with Hayes narrating the performance.
Death

Hayes died on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1993 from congestive heart failure in Nyack, New York. Lillian Gish had made Hayes the beneficiary of her estate, but Hayes survived her by less than a month. Hayes was interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York.
Quotes

    * "The hardest years in life are the ones that live upon life itself." (age 64)
    * "If you rest, you rust." (ca. age 60)
    * "From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot in front of the other. But when books are opened you discover you have wings."
    * "I'm absolutely crazy about life...about the value of living and doing. I have a belief, too, that's there's another world out there and that one day I will be joining Charlie and Mary (the daughter who died at 19 from polio) and other people I love, and it consoles me to think about that."

Body of work
Stage and awards
Year Production Role Notes
1905 Miss Hawke's May Ball Irish Dancer
A Midsummer Night's Dream Peaseblossom
1908 Babe in the Woods Boy Babe
1909 Jack the Giant Killer Gibson Girl, Nell Brinkley, Girl impersonators
A Royal Family Prince Charles Ferdinand
Children's Dancing Kermess Impersonation of "The Nell Brinkley Girl"
The Prince Chap Claudia, Age 5
A Poor Relation Patch
1910 Old Dutch Little Mime
The Summer Widowers Pacyche Finnegan, Pinkie's playmate
1911 The Barrier Molly, an Alaskan Child
Little Lord Fauntleroy Cedric Errol
The Never Homes Fannie Hicks, Another Near Orphan
The Seven Sisters Klara, the Youngest Daughter
Mary Jane's Pa
1912 The June Bride The Holder's Child
1913 Flood Victim's Benefit
The Girl with Green Eyes Susie, the Flower Girl
His House in Order Derek Jesson, his son
A Royal Family Prince Charles Ferdinand
The Prince Chap
The Prince and the Pauper Tom Canty and Edward, Prince of Wales
1914 The Prodigal Husband Young Simone
1916 The Dummy Beryl Meredith, the Kidnapper's Hostage
On Trial His Daughter, Doris Strickland
1917 It Pays to Advertise Marie, Maid at the Martins
Romance Suzette
Just a Woman Hired girl
Mile-a-Minute Kendall Beth
Rich Man, Poor Man Linda Hurst
Alma, Where Do You Live? Germain
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Asia
Within the Law
Pollyanna Pollyanna Whittier, The Glad Girl
1918 Penrod
Dear Brutus Margaret, his daughter
1919 On the Hiring Line Dorothy Fessenden, his daughter
Clarence Cora Wheeler
The Golden Age
1920 Bab Bab
1921 The Wren Seeby Olds
The Golden Days Mary Ann
1922 To the Ladies Elsie Beebe
No Siree!: An Anonymous Entertainment by the
Vicious Circus of the Hotel Algonquin
1923 Loney Lee Loney Lee
1924 We Moderns Mary Sundale, their Daughter
The Dragon
She Stoops to Conquer Constance Neville
Dancing Mothers Catherine (Kittens) Westcourt
Quarantine Dinah Partlett
1925 Caesar and Cleopatra Cleopatra
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney Maria
Young Blood Georgia Bissell
1926 What Every Woman Knows Maggie Wylie
1927 Coquette Norma Besant
Ziegfeld Follies of 1927
1928 Coquette Norma Besant London version
1930 Mr. Gilhooley A girl
Petticoat Influence Peggy Chalfont
1931 The Good Fairy Lu
1933 Mary of Scotland Mary Stuart
1935 Caesar and Cleopatra Cleopatra
Victoria Regina Victoria
1936 Victoria Regina Victoria Revival
1938 The Merchant of Venice Portia
What Every Woman Knows
Victoria Regina Victoria Revival
1939 Ladies and Gentlemen Miss Terry Scott
1940 Twelfth Night Viola
1941 Candle in the Wind Madeline Guest
1943 Harriet Harriet Beecher Stowe
1944 Harriet Harriet Beecher Stowe Revival
1947 Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire Mrs. Alice Grey
Happy Birthday Addie Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1948 The Glass Menagerie Amanda Wingfield
1949 Good Housekeeping
1950 The Wisteria Trees Lucy Andree Ransdell
1952 Mrs. McThing Mrs. Howard V. Larue III
1955 Gentleman, The Queens Catherine, Lady Macbeth, Mary and Queen Victoria
The Skin of Our Teeth Mrs. Antrobus
1956 Lovers, Villains and Fools Narrator, Puck and the Chorus from Henry V
The Glass Menagerie The Mother
1958 Time Remembered The Duchess of Pont-Au-Bronc Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1958 A Adventure Lulu Specer
Mid-Summer Rose, the Maid
A Touch of the Poet Nora Melody
1960 The Cherry Orchard Lyuboff Ranevskaya
The Chalk Garden Mrs. Maugham
1962 Shakespeare Revisited: A Program for Two Players
1964 Good Morning Miss Dove Miss Lucerna Dove
The White House Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Edith Wilson, Julia Grant, Leonora Clayton, Mary Todd Lincoln, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Franklin Pierce, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Mrs. James G. Blaine, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Rachel Jackson
1965 Helen Hayes' Tour of the Far East
1966 The Circle
The School for Scandal Mrs. Candour
Right You Are If You Think You Are Signora Frola
We Comrades Three Mother
You Can't Take It With You Olga
1967 The Show-Off Mrs. Fisher Tony Award's Vernon Rice-Drama Desk Award
1968 The Show-Off Mrs. Fisher return engagement
1969 The Front Page Mrs. Grant
1970 Harvey Veta Louise Simmons Nominated - Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1971 Long Day's Journey Into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone
1980 Tony Award's Lawrence Langner Memorial Award
Filmography and awards
Year Film Role Notes
1917 The Weavers of Life Peggy
1920 Babs uncredited
1928 The Dancing Town short subject
1931 Arrowsmith Leora Arrowsmith
The Sin of Madelon Claudet Madelon Claudet Academy Award for Best Actress
1932 A Farewell to Arms Catherine Barkley
The Son-Daughter Lian Wha 'Star Blossom'
1933 The White Sister Angela Chiaromonte
Another Language Stella 'Stell' Hallam
Night Flight Madame Fabian
1934 Crime Without Passion Extra in hotel lobby Uncredited
What Every Woman Knows Maggie Wylie
1935 Vanessa: Her Love Story Vanessa Paris
1938 Hollywood Goes to Town Herself, uncredited short subject
1943 Stage Door Canteen Herself
1952 My Son John Lucille Jefferson
1953 Main Street to Broadway Herself
1956 Anastasia Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1959 Third Man on the Mountain Tourist Uncredited
1961 The Challenge of Ideas Narrator short subject
1970 Airport Ada Quonsett Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1974 Herbie Rides Again Mrs. Steinmetz Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1975 One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing Hettie
1977 Candleshoe Lady St. Edmund
Television appearances and awards
Year Title Role Notes
1950 Showtime, U.S.A. Episode #1.1
The Prudential Family Playhouse The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Pulitzer Prize Playhouse Mary, Queen of Scots The Late Christopher Bean
1951 Pulitzer Prize Playhouse Mary, Queen of Scots Mary of Scotland
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Dark Fleece
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars The Lucky Touch
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Not a Chance
Robert Montgomery Presents Queen Victoria Victoria Regina
Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress (nonspecific role)
1952 Omnibus The Twelve Pound Look
Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress (nonspecific role)
1953 Omnibus The Happy Journey
Omnibus Mom and Leo
Christmas with the Stars
Medallion Theatre Harriet Beecher Stowe "Battle Hymn"
Emmy Award for Best Actress (nonspecific role)
1954 The United States Steel Hour Mrs. Austin Welcome Home
The Best of Broadway Fanny Cavendish The Royal Family
The Motorola Television Hour Frances Parry Side by Side
1955 Producers' Showcase Mrs. Antrobus The Skin of Our Teeth
The Best of Broadway Abby Brewster Arsenic and Old Lace
1956 Omnibus Dear Brutus
Omnibus The Christmas Tie
1957 The Alcoa Hour Mrs. Gilling and the Skyscraper
Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Playhouse 9 Sister Theresa Four Women in Black
1958 Omnibus Mrs. McThing
The United States Steel Hour Mother Seraphim One Red Rose for Christmas
Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1959 Hallmark Hall of Fame Essie Ah, Wilderness!
Play of the Week Madame Ranevskaya The Cherry Orchard
1960 The Bell Telephone Hour Baroness Nadedja von Meck The Music of Romance
Play of the Week Madame Ranevskaya The Velvet Glove
Dow Hour of Great Mysteries The Bat
1961 Michael Shayne Murder Round My Wrist
1963 The Christophers What One Bootmaker Did
1967 Tarzan Mrs. Wilson The Pride of the Lioness
1969 Arsenic and Old Lace Abby Brewster
1970 The Front Page Narrator
1971 Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate Sophie Tate Curtis Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1972 Harvey Veta Louise Simmons
Here's Lucy Mrs. Kathleen Brady Lucy and the Little Old Lady
Ghost Story Miss Gilden Alter-Ego
1973-1974 The Snoop Sisters Ernesta Snoop Nominated - Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series
1974 Black Day for Bluebeard Ernesta Snoop
1975 Hawaii Five-O Aunt Clara Retire in Sunny Hawaii - Forever
Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series
1976 Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers Dr. McCartney miniseries
Victory at Entebbe Etta Grossman-Wise
1978 A Family Upside Down Emma Long Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1980 The Love Boat Agatha Winslow 1 episode
1982 Love, Sidney Mrs. Clovis Pro and Cons
Murder is Easy Lavinia Fullerton
1983 A Caribbean Mystery Miss Marple
1984 Highway to Heaven Estelle Wicks
1985 Murder with Mirrors Miss Marple
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu77/dalechevy32009/PBDHEHA-EC053.jpg
http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp19/MicheleBE_photos/LGwithHelenHayes1976NatlArtistAward.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/17/10 at 6:44 am


The person born on this day...Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise (pronounced /səˈniːs/; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor and film director. During his career, Sinise has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for Palme d'Or and an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed the film and played the role of George Milton in the movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Sinise was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his role as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. He won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Truman. In 1996, he played a corrupt police officer in the Ron Howard dramatic hit Ransom. In 1998, Sinise was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for the television film George Wallace, a portrayal of the late Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., of Alabama.

Sinise currently stars in CBS's CSI: NY as Detective Mac Taylor. He recently narrated a biography for Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor at the Republican National Convention in support of John McCain's candidacy for President of the United States of America. In December 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal, the second highest civilian medal awarded to U.S. civilians. He received the medal from President George W. Bush for his humanitarian contributions to Iraqi school children and his involvement in the USO. He is the executive producer of Brothers at War, the award winning documentary about an American military family and the Iraq war.
1982, Sinise's career began to take off when he directed and starred in Steppenwolf's production of True West. In 1983, he earned an Obie Award for his direction and a year later appeared with John Malkovich in the PBS' American Playhouse production of the play. In 1988, Gary directed Miles from Home, a movie starring Richard Gere, about two brothers' fight against the foreclosure of the family farm. Sinise has appeared in many films including: Forrest Gump, Of Mice and Men (which he also directed), Apollo 13, Reindeer Games, Snake Eyes, Ransom, Mission to Mars, The Stand, Impostor and The Green Mile. He also narrated the audio books for John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and Of Mice and Men.

In 2004, he began his first regular television series, in the crime drama CSI: New York, in which he plays Detective Mac Taylor. He was credited as a producer from season 2 onwards and also wrote the storyline of an episode. Several episodes have allowed Sinise to demonstrate his musical prowess, including a Season 2 episode where Mac Taylor plays the bass guitar in a jazz club with musicians Kimo and Carol Williams and Danny Gottlieb, members of the Lt. Dan Band, which Sinise and Kimo Williams co-founded in 2003. The band is named for Sinise's character in Forrest Gump.

Apart from his television and movie work, Sinise is the host in the video for the Epcot ride Mission: SPACE, at Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL and the current model for Baume & Mercier watches. He also co-founded Operation Iraqi Children.

Sinise is also the narrator for the Discovery Channel's mini series When We Left Earth in 2008.
Gary Sinise playing bass in the Lt. Dan Band

Sinise was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal by George W. Bush for work he did supporting the U.S Military and humanitarian work supporting Iraqi children.

Sinise narrated Army and Army Reserve Army Strong recruitment ads in late 2008.

Sinise is the Executive Producer—along with David Scantling—of the Iraq War documentary Brothers at War. The film features an American military family and the experiences of three brothers: Jake Rademacher, Isaac Rademacher and Joseph Rademacher.

In 2009, Sinise co-narrated the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. with Joe Mantegna.

Sinise currently serves as the National Spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. He spends much of his time raising awareness for the Memorial and other veterans' service organizations.


In November 2009, Sinise narrated the highly acclaimed World War II in HD on the History Channel.
Personal life

Sinise has been married to actress Moira Harris since 1981 and they have three children together: Sophia Ana (b. 1988), McCanna Anthony (b. 1990), and Ella Jane (b. 1992). In 2003, Sinise was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by Amherst College.
Politics

Sinise's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (17 August 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Sinise has conservative Republican leanings. His CSI: NY co-star Hill Harper, a staunch supporter of President Barack Obama has noted that Sinise's political beliefs are much more conservative (than Harper's) but also says he and Sinise get along with each other on set and have decided not to discuss politics.

In June 2008, Sinise donated $2,300 to the Republican primary campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain.

Nicolle Wallace, a former adviser to George W. Bush and the presidential campaign of John McCain, stated in May 2009 that she believed Sinise could help bring about a resurgence of the Republican Party. Wallace stated, "The natural strengths that an actor brings to politics would come in handy to anyone going up against Obama in 2012. We will need an effective communicator who can stand toe to toe with Obama’s eloquence." Other names mentioned were those of Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno. Sinise later stated he had no intention of entering politics.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Family Secrets Motorcyclist (TV)
True West Austin (TV broadcast of the play)
1989 The Final Days Richard Ben-Veniste (TV)
My Name is Bill W. Ebby, Bill's best friend (TV)
1991 The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad (TV)
1992 Of Mice and Men George Milton Also directed.
A Midnight Clear Vance 'Mother' Wilkins
The Witness Young Soldier (TV)
1993 Jack the Bear Norman Strick
1994 Forrest Gump Lt. Dan Taylor Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Stand Stu Redman (TV miniseries)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1995 Truman Harry S. Truman (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Apollo 13 Ken Mattingly Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Quick and the Dead The Marshal
1996 Ransom Det. Jimmy Shaker
Albino Alligator Milo
1997 George Wallace George C. Wallace (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Snake Eyes Commander Kevin Dunne
1999 The Green Mile Burt Hammersmith
It's the Rage Morgan
That Championship Season Tom Daley (TV)
2000 Bruno Dino Battaglia
Mission to Mars Jim McConnell
Reindeer Games Gabriel Mercer
2002 A Gentleman's Game Foster Pearse
Path to War George Wallace
Made-Up Duncan Tivey
Impostor Spencer Olham
2003 Fallen Angel Terry (TV)
The Human Stain Nathan Zuckerman
Mission: SPACE (Disney Ride) Capcom
2004 The Forgotten Dr. Jack Munce
CSI: NY Det. Mac Taylor (TV series; 2004-present)
The Big Bounce Ray Ritchie
2006 Open Season Shaw (voice)http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/xxxxicexxxx/gary.jpg
2008 When We Left Earth Narrator (TV)
2009 On the Road in Iraq With Our Troops and Gary Sinise Himself
2009 WWII in HD Narrator (TV)
2010 One Last Wish Devon Johnson
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/flower_of_carnage/Famous%20Folk/CSI%20NY/gary-sinise-csi-781956.jpg



I like him, He's a fine actor. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/17/10 at 8:56 am


I like him, He's a fine actor. :)

Yes he is. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/17/10 at 4:11 pm


The word of the day...Forest
A forest is a large area where trees grow close together.
A forest of tall or narrow objects is a group of them standing or sticking upright.
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt264/Rawr_81/Landscapes/Autumn_Forest_in_the_Sun.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z15/submarinr/forest.jpg
http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a460/y68475riuhrwe/forest.jpg
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss161/sarbatra/Bosqueenfinlandia.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx293/childofnature/forestpics057.jpg
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz113/RomanV101/forest%20and%20nature%20images/redwood_national_forest_t2051.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n258/quntmphscs/LogginginStateforest.jpg
http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l442/Nethlindorniel/blends/robinhood2009.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/MaeAtNight/Scrap/Other/Extra/Untitled.png

I love 'em all. Very colorful. http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/stpatrick/smiley.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/17/10 at 6:19 pm


The person born on this day...Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise (pronounced /səˈniːs/; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor and film director. During his career, Sinise has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for Palme d'Or and an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed the film and played the role of George Milton in the movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Sinise was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his role as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. He won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Truman. In 1996, he played a corrupt police officer in the Ron Howard dramatic hit Ransom. In 1998, Sinise was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for the television film George Wallace, a portrayal of the late Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., of Alabama.

Sinise currently stars in CBS's CSI: NY as Detective Mac Taylor. He recently narrated a biography for Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor at the Republican National Convention in support of John McCain's candidacy for President of the United States of America. In December 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal, the second highest civilian medal awarded to U.S. civilians. He received the medal from President George W. Bush for his humanitarian contributions to Iraqi school children and his involvement in the USO. He is the executive producer of Brothers at War, the award winning documentary about an American military family and the Iraq war.
1982, Sinise's career began to take off when he directed and starred in Steppenwolf's production of True West. In 1983, he earned an Obie Award for his direction and a year later appeared with John Malkovich in the PBS' American Playhouse production of the play. In 1988, Gary directed Miles from Home, a movie starring Richard Gere, about two brothers' fight against the foreclosure of the family farm. Sinise has appeared in many films including: Forrest Gump, Of Mice and Men (which he also directed), Apollo 13, Reindeer Games, Snake Eyes, Ransom, Mission to Mars, The Stand, Impostor and The Green Mile. He also narrated the audio books for John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and Of Mice and Men.

In 2004, he began his first regular television series, in the crime drama CSI: New York, in which he plays Detective Mac Taylor. He was credited as a producer from season 2 onwards and also wrote the storyline of an episode. Several episodes have allowed Sinise to demonstrate his musical prowess, including a Season 2 episode where Mac Taylor plays the bass guitar in a jazz club with musicians Kimo and Carol Williams and Danny Gottlieb, members of the Lt. Dan Band, which Sinise and Kimo Williams co-founded in 2003. The band is named for Sinise's character in Forrest Gump.

Apart from his television and movie work, Sinise is the host in the video for the Epcot ride Mission: SPACE, at Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL and the current model for Baume & Mercier watches. He also co-founded Operation Iraqi Children.

Sinise is also the narrator for the Discovery Channel's mini series When We Left Earth in 2008.
Gary Sinise playing bass in the Lt. Dan Band

Sinise was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal by George W. Bush for work he did supporting the U.S Military and humanitarian work supporting Iraqi children.

Sinise narrated Army and Army Reserve Army Strong recruitment ads in late 2008.

Sinise is the Executive Producer—along with David Scantling—of the Iraq War documentary Brothers at War. The film features an American military family and the experiences of three brothers: Jake Rademacher, Isaac Rademacher and Joseph Rademacher.

In 2009, Sinise co-narrated the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. with Joe Mantegna.

Sinise currently serves as the National Spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. He spends much of his time raising awareness for the Memorial and other veterans' service organizations.


In November 2009, Sinise narrated the highly acclaimed World War II in HD on the History Channel.
Personal life

Sinise has been married to actress Moira Harris since 1981 and they have three children together: Sophia Ana (b. 1988), McCanna Anthony (b. 1990), and Ella Jane (b. 1992). In 2003, Sinise was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by Amherst College.
Politics

Sinise's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (17 August 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Sinise has conservative Republican leanings. His CSI: NY co-star Hill Harper, a staunch supporter of President Barack Obama has noted that Sinise's political beliefs are much more conservative (than Harper's) but also says he and Sinise get along with each other on set and have decided not to discuss politics.

In June 2008, Sinise donated $2,300 to the Republican primary campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain.

Nicolle Wallace, a former adviser to George W. Bush and the presidential campaign of John McCain, stated in May 2009 that she believed Sinise could help bring about a resurgence of the Republican Party. Wallace stated, "The natural strengths that an actor brings to politics would come in handy to anyone going up against Obama in 2012. We will need an effective communicator who can stand toe to toe with Obama’s eloquence." Other names mentioned were those of Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno. Sinise later stated he had no intention of entering politics.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Family Secrets Motorcyclist (TV)
True West Austin (TV broadcast of the play)
1989 The Final Days Richard Ben-Veniste (TV)
My Name is Bill W. Ebby, Bill's best friend (TV)
1991 The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad (TV)
1992 Of Mice and Men George Milton Also directed.
A Midnight Clear Vance 'Mother' Wilkins
The Witness Young Soldier (TV)
1993 Jack the Bear Norman Strick
1994 Forrest Gump Lt. Dan Taylor Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Stand Stu Redman (TV miniseries)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1995 Truman Harry S. Truman (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Apollo 13 Ken Mattingly Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Quick and the Dead The Marshal
1996 Ransom Det. Jimmy Shaker
Albino Alligator Milo
1997 George Wallace George C. Wallace (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Snake Eyes Commander Kevin Dunne
1999 The Green Mile Burt Hammersmith
It's the Rage Morgan
That Championship Season Tom Daley (TV)
2000 Bruno Dino Battaglia
Mission to Mars Jim McConnell
Reindeer Games Gabriel Mercer
2002 A Gentleman's Game Foster Pearse
Path to War George Wallace
Made-Up Duncan Tivey
Impostor Spencer Olham
2003 Fallen Angel Terry (TV)
The Human Stain Nathan Zuckerman
Mission: SPACE (Disney Ride) Capcom
2004 The Forgotten Dr. Jack Munce
CSI: NY Det. Mac Taylor (TV series; 2004-present)
The Big Bounce Ray Ritchie
2006 Open Season Shaw (voice)http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/xxxxicexxxx/gary.jpg
2008 When We Left Earth Narrator (TV)
2009 On the Road in Iraq With Our Troops and Gary Sinise Himself
2009 WWII in HD Narrator (TV)
2010 One Last Wish Devon Johnson
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/flower_of_carnage/Famous%20Folk/CSI%20NY/gary-sinise-csi-781956.jpg


Lieutenant Dan!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/17/10 at 6:51 pm


Lieutenant Dan!

Oh yes...I did see Forrest Gump and I remember the character 'Lieutenant Dan' quite well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/17/10 at 6:52 pm


Oh yes...I did see Forrest Gump and I remember the character 'Lieutenant Dan' quite well.


and Forrest Gump helped him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 4:55 am


I love 'em all. Very colorful. http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/stpatrick/smiley.gif

Thanks. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 4:59 am

The word of the day...Airplane
An airplane is a vehicle with wings and one or more engines that enable it to fly through the air.

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac39/commoditycity/IMG_0120.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l271/papayalovesyou/Bob1.jpg
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx212/thatlittleboutique/Fabric%20Choices/IMG_4724.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx140/Backwoodspilot/Airplane/Mar2010panel01.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm55/Scooter_in_Korea/Korean_War_Museum_03May2008/KoreanWarMuseum016.jpg
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp333/closelywt/p14700sv275JPG.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z41/bigwheels4g/airplane.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z24/dragonflame88D/airplane.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/aktraveler/Fairbanks/Pioneer%20Park/AirplaneDisplay2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 5:03 am

The person who was born on this day...Peter Graves
Peter Aurness (March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010), known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973. His brother is actor James Arness (born 1923).  Graves was born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a son of Rolf Cirkler Aurness (1894-1982), a businessman, and his wife Ruth (nee Duesler, died 1986), a journalist. Graves' ancestry was Norwegian and German. The family name originally was "Aursnes," but when Rolf's father, Peter Aursnes, immigrated to New York City in 1887, he changed the spelling.

Graves graduated from Southwest High School in 1944, and spent two years in the United States Army Air Force near the end of World War II. He then enrolled at the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill, and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Career
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2010)

Graves appeared in more than seventy films, TV shows and TV movies. He was featured as:

    * The rancher (Broken Wheel Ranch) and adoptive single father, Jim Newton, to a son played by child actor Bobby Diamond on the 1950s NBC television series Fury. The other costars were William Fawcett, who played the housekeeper and general ranch hand Pete Wilkey, and Roger Mobley, who appeared as Joey's friend Homer "Packy" Lambert.
    * Price, a German spy pretending to be a prisoner of war in the World War II film Stalag 17
    * A father on the run from the law in Night of the Hunter
    * Jim Phelps, the leader of the elite Impossible Missions Force in the CBS TV series Mission: Impossible
    * The host of a documentary concerning the Bigfoot craze of the 1970's called The Mysterious Monsters in 1976.
    * Major Noah Cooper, commander of the Fighting 69th squadron in the NBC TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
    * Captain Clarence Oveur in the comedies Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel
    * Colonel John Camden on the WB Network TV series 7th Heaven, with Barbara Rush as his wife, Ruth

From 1960–1961, Graves starred as leading character Christopher Cobb in 34 episodes of the TV series Whiplash. In the story line, Cobb is an American who arrives in Australia in the 1850s to establish the country's first stagecoach line, using a bullwhip rather than a gun to fight the crooks that he encounters. The series also starred Anthony Wickert. Graves also starred in Court Martial as well as guest roles in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Route 66.

In 1967, Graves was recruited by Desilu Studios to replace Steven Hill as the lead actor on Mission: Impossible. Graves played Jim Phelps, the sometimes gruff leader of the Impossible Missions Force or IMF, for the remaining six seasons of the series.

After the series ended in 1973, Graves played a cameo-type support role in the feature film Sidecar Racers in Australia which was released in 1975. Graves also made a guest appearance in the teen soap opera Class of '74 in mid-1974, playing himself.

In 1988, a Hollywood writers' strike resulted in a new Mission: Impossible series being commissioned. Graves was the only original cast member to return as a regular (although others made guest appearances). The series was filmed in Australia, and Graves made his third journey there for acting work. The new version of Mission: Impossible lasted for two seasons, ending in 1990. Bookending his work on Mission: Impossible, Graves starred in two pilot films called Call to Danger, which were an attempt to create a Mission: Impossible-style series in which Graves played a government agent (the Bureau of National Resources) who recruited civilians with special talents for secret missions. The 1960s version of the pilot, according to Patrick White in The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier (which White reports was actually the second such pilot, but Graves was not involved in the first), is credited with winning Graves the role of Phelps; after Mission: Impossible ended in 1973, Graves filmed a third version of the pilot (this one structured as a made-for-TV movie), but it did not sell as a series. The concept was later used in the brief 1980s adventure series Masquerade.
Handprints of Peter Graves in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

During the 1990s, he hosted the documentary series Biography on A&E. He also acted in a number of films featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which subsequently featured running jokes about Graves' Biography work and presumed sibling rivalry with Arness. The films that have been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 include SST: Death Flight, It Conquered the World, Beginning of the End, Parts: The Clonus Horror, and an uncredited voiceover in Attack of the the Eye Creatures. The movie Killers from Space was featured in The Film Crew, Michael J. Nelson's follow-up to MST3K. Graves himself parodied his Biography work in the film Men in Black II, hosting an exposé television show.

In the 1996 film update of Mission: Impossible, the character of Phelps was reimagined as a traitor who murders three fellow IMF agents, a decision that disappointed Graves. Jon Voight was cast as Phelps.

On October 30, 2009 Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2009, AirTran Airways featured Graves in a series of web-only "Internetiquette" videos in which Graves appeared in a pilot's uniform and references classic Airplane! lines. The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless Internet access.

In the summer of 2009, Graves signed on as a spokesperson for reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group (AAG). Graves appeared in a national commercial in which he educated seniors about the benefits of reverse mortgages.
Personal life

Graves was a devout Christian. He was married to Joan Endress from 1950 until his death. Their marriage produced three daughters: Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee, all of whom survive him. Graves had six grandchildren.
Death

Graves died of a heart attack on March 14, 2010, four days prior to his 84th birthday. The actor had just returned from brunch with his wife and children, collapsing before he could enter the house. Although one of his daughters administered CPR, she could not revive him.
Awards

Graves was awarded a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his role as Jim Phelps in the series Mission: Impossible. He also received nominations for an Emmy Award and Golden Globe awards in other seasons of that show. Graves also won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding informational series in 1997 as host of Biography.
Filmography

    * Winning Your Wings (1942) (short subject)
    * Up Front (1951)
    * Fort Defiance (1951)
    * The Congregation (1952)
    * Red Planet Mars (1952)
    * Stalag 17 (1953)
    * War Paint (1953)
    * East of Sumatra (1953)
    * Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
    * Killers from Space (1954)
    * The Yellow Tomahawk (1954)
    * The Raid (1954)
    * Black Tuesday (1954)
    * Fort Yuma (1955)
    * The Long Gray Line (1955)
    * Robbers' Roost (1955)
    * Wichita (1955)
    * The Naked Street (1955)
    * The Night of the Hunter (1955)
    * The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
    * It Conquered the World (1956)
    * Hold Back the Night (1956)
    * Canyon River (1956)
    * Beginning of the End (1957)
    * Bayou (1957)
    * Death in Small Doses (1957)
    * Wolf Larsen (1958)



    * A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
    * A Rage to Live (1965)
    * Texas Across the River (1966)
    * The Ballad of Josie (1967)
    * Mission: Impossible vs. the Mob (1968) (compilation of episodes released to European theaters)
    * Sergeant Ryker (1968)
    * The Five Man Army (1969)
    * Where Have All The People Gone? (1974) (TV movie)
    * Scream of the Wolf (1974)
    * Sidecar Racers (1975)
    * The Mysterious Monsters (1976) (documentary) (narrator)
    * High Seas Hijack (1978) (in English version)
    * The Clonus Horror (1979)
    * Survival Run (1980)
    * Airplane! (1980)
    * The Guns and the Fury (1981)
    * Savannah Smiles (1982)
    * Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    * The Winds of War (1983)
    * Aces Go Places 3 (1984)
    * Number One with a Bullet (1987)
    * War and Remembrance (1988)
    * Addams Family Values (1993)
    * 7th Heaven 11 episodes (1996–2007)
    * House on Haunted Hill (1999)
    * Men in Black II (2002)
    * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
    * House 1 episode (2005)
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e120/fitbear/PeterGraves.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i219/tracyharbur/PeterGravesAmandaBlakeandmydad.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 5:06 am

The person who died on this day...Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English-born American stage and screen actress. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Early in her career she portrayed Mary Shelley and Patty Hearst in feature films, and she received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret. Some of her notable films included Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Her first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox ended in divorce in 1992. In 1994 she married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom she had met when the two appeared in Anna Christie. The couple had two sons, Micheál and Daniel. Richardson's father died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS through the charity amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Richardson died in 2009 following a head injury sustained when she fell during a skiing lesson in Quebec.
Richardson was born and raised in London, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two leading independent schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. Soon after, she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' acclaimed revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005 she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in their revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski.
Film

Richardson portrayed Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalized account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her alleged kidnapping. Her performances opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak, and that same year appeared in Nell opposite Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. Additional film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role of the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the unreleased documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provides narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing."
Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 CBS miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her UK television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and starred in Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC.
Personal life
Richardson in 1999

Richardson's first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox lasted from 1990 to 1992. She married Irish actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared near Millbrook, New York; she had taken American citizenship. Richardson and Neeson have two sons: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996). Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Richardson was actively involved in amfAR, becoming a board of trustees member in 2006, and participated in many other AIDS charities including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

A long-time smoker although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken opponent of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.
Injury and death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: British actress Natasha Richardson dies at age 45

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head", and her death was ruled an accident.

On 19 March, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway and in London's West End as a mark of respect to Richardson. The following day, a private wake was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home, and Richardson was buried near her grandmother Rachel in the church cemetery.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1986 Gothic Mary Shelley
1987 A Month in the Country Alice Keach
1988 Patty Hearst Patty Hearst
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Jean Tatlock
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate/Offred Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
The Comfort of Strangers Mary
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs Edwina Broome Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — Best Actress
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up In Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
Asylum Stella Raphael Executive producer
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Awards — Best Actress
2007 Evening Constance Lord
2008 Wild Child Mrs. Kingsley Final film appearance
TBA The Wildest Dream Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory) Voice only, final performance, Liam Neeson narrated.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Oxbridge Blues Gabriella
1985 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Violet Hunter Episode — "The Copper Beeches"
1987 Ghosts Regina
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
Hostages Jill Morrell
Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef Guest Judge
Theatre
Year Production Role Notes
1983 On the Razzle
Top Girls
Charley's Aunt
1985 The Seagull Nina Plays and Players - Most Promising Newcomer Award
A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena
Hamlet Ophelia
1987 High Society Tracy
1993 Anna Christie Anna London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award (London production)
Outer Critics Circle Award — Outstanding Debut of an Actress
Theatre World Award — Outstanding Debut
Nominated — Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998 Cabaret Sally Bowles Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999 Closer Anna
2003 The Lady from the Sea
2005 A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa177/keancharles/Natasha_Richardson.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk90/notiziegossip/album2/NatashaRichardson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/18/10 at 6:59 am


The person who died on this day...Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English-born American stage and screen actress. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Early in her career she portrayed Mary Shelley and Patty Hearst in feature films, and she received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret. Some of her notable films included Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Her first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox ended in divorce in 1992. In 1994 she married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom she had met when the two appeared in Anna Christie. The couple had two sons, Micheál and Daniel. Richardson's father died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS through the charity amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Richardson died in 2009 following a head injury sustained when she fell during a skiing lesson in Quebec.
Richardson was born and raised in London, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two leading independent schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. Soon after, she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' acclaimed revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005 she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in their revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski.
Film

Richardson portrayed Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalized account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her alleged kidnapping. Her performances opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak, and that same year appeared in Nell opposite Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. Additional film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role of the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the unreleased documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provides narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing."
Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 CBS miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her UK television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and starred in Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC.
Personal life
Richardson in 1999

Richardson's first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox lasted from 1990 to 1992. She married Irish actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared near Millbrook, New York; she had taken American citizenship. Richardson and Neeson have two sons: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996). Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Richardson was actively involved in amfAR, becoming a board of trustees member in 2006, and participated in many other AIDS charities including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

A long-time smoker although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken opponent of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.
Injury and death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: British actress Natasha Richardson dies at age 45

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head", and her death was ruled an accident.

On 19 March, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway and in London's West End as a mark of respect to Richardson. The following day, a private wake was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home, and Richardson was buried near her grandmother Rachel in the church cemetery.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1986 Gothic Mary Shelley
1987 A Month in the Country Alice Keach
1988 Patty Hearst Patty Hearst
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Jean Tatlock
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate/Offred Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
The Comfort of Strangers Mary
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs Edwina Broome Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — Best Actress
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up In Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
Asylum Stella Raphael Executive producer
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Awards — Best Actress
2007 Evening Constance Lord
2008 Wild Child Mrs. Kingsley Final film appearance
TBA The Wildest Dream Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory) Voice only, final performance, Liam Neeson narrated.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Oxbridge Blues Gabriella
1985 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Violet Hunter Episode — "The Copper Beeches"
1987 Ghosts Regina
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
Hostages Jill Morrell
Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef Guest Judge
Theatre
Year Production Role Notes
1983 On the Razzle
Top Girls
Charley's Aunt
1985 The Seagull Nina Plays and Players - Most Promising Newcomer Award
A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena
Hamlet Ophelia
1987 High Society Tracy
1993 Anna Christie Anna London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award (London production)
Outer Critics Circle Award — Outstanding Debut of an Actress
Theatre World Award — Outstanding Debut
Nominated — Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998 Cabaret Sally Bowles Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999 Closer Anna
2003 The Lady from the Sea
2005 A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa177/keancharles/Natasha_Richardson.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk90/notiziegossip/album2/NatashaRichardson.jpg


Gone too soon.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 7:19 am


Gone too soon.  :(

Yes, another tragic accident :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/18/10 at 10:42 am


The word of the day...Airplane
An airplane is a vehicle with wings and one or more engines that enable it to fly through the air.

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac39/commoditycity/IMG_0120.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l271/papayalovesyou/Bob1.jpg
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx212/thatlittleboutique/Fabric%20Choices/IMG_4724.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx140/Backwoodspilot/Airplane/Mar2010panel01.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm55/Scooter_in_Korea/Korean_War_Museum_03May2008/KoreanWarMuseum016.jpg
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp333/closelywt/p14700sv275JPG.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z41/bigwheels4g/airplane.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z24/dragonflame88D/airplane.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/aktraveler/Fairbanks/Pioneer%20Park/AirplaneDisplay2.jpg

AIRPLANE!

Gotta be just about my favorite comedy movie ever.
Peter Graves was the pilot.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/18/10 at 10:45 am

We lost both people of the day.  :\'( :\'( :\'( This is so sad about Natasha Richardson. We have all of the Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett and we have watched all of them at least a million times each-ok, maybe not THAT much but we have watched them so much that we had to replace a few. The other day we were watching Copper Beeches and every time I watched I never really paid attention to the opening credits. This time, a name caught my eye, "Introducing Natasha Richardson"

WHAT??!!! She is in that? All this time of watching that episode I didn't realize it was her until just last week or so.  :-[



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/18/10 at 11:55 am


Gone too soon.  :(


Yes, another tragic accident :\'(

Of course. :\'( :\'( I bet she had lots of potential. Had it not been for that tragic accident, who knows how long she would've lived (naturally)?

She was great in her role as the mom in the "Parent Trap" remake.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/18/10 at 11:57 am


The person who was born on this day...Peter Graves
Peter Aurness (March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010), known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973. His brother is actor James Arness (born 1923).  Graves was born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a son of Rolf Cirkler Aurness (1894-1982), a businessman, and his wife Ruth (nee Duesler, died 1986), a journalist. Graves' ancestry was Norwegian and German. The family name originally was "Aursnes," but when Rolf's father, Peter Aursnes, immigrated to New York City in 1887, he changed the spelling.

Graves graduated from Southwest High School in 1944, and spent two years in the United States Army Air Force near the end of World War II. He then enrolled at the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill, and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Career
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2010)

Graves appeared in more than seventy films, TV shows and TV movies. He was featured as:

    * The rancher (Broken Wheel Ranch) and adoptive single father, Jim Newton, to a son played by child actor Bobby Diamond on the 1950s NBC television series Fury. The other costars were William Fawcett, who played the housekeeper and general ranch hand Pete Wilkey, and Roger Mobley, who appeared as Joey's friend Homer "Packy" Lambert.
    * Price, a German spy pretending to be a prisoner of war in the World War II film Stalag 17
    * A father on the run from the law in Night of the Hunter
    * Jim Phelps, the leader of the elite Impossible Missions Force in the CBS TV series Mission: Impossible
    * The host of a documentary concerning the Bigfoot craze of the 1970's called The Mysterious Monsters in 1976.
    * Major Noah Cooper, commander of the Fighting 69th squadron in the NBC TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
    * Captain Clarence Oveur in the comedies Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel
    * Colonel John Camden on the WB Network TV series 7th Heaven, with Barbara Rush as his wife, Ruth

From 1960–1961, Graves starred as leading character Christopher Cobb in 34 episodes of the TV series Whiplash. In the story line, Cobb is an American who arrives in Australia in the 1850s to establish the country's first stagecoach line, using a bullwhip rather than a gun to fight the crooks that he encounters. The series also starred Anthony Wickert. Graves also starred in Court Martial as well as guest roles in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Route 66.

In 1967, Graves was recruited by Desilu Studios to replace Steven Hill as the lead actor on Mission: Impossible. Graves played Jim Phelps, the sometimes gruff leader of the Impossible Missions Force or IMF, for the remaining six seasons of the series.

After the series ended in 1973, Graves played a cameo-type support role in the feature film Sidecar Racers in Australia which was released in 1975. Graves also made a guest appearance in the teen soap opera Class of '74 in mid-1974, playing himself.

In 1988, a Hollywood writers' strike resulted in a new Mission: Impossible series being commissioned. Graves was the only original cast member to return as a regular (although others made guest appearances). The series was filmed in Australia, and Graves made his third journey there for acting work. The new version of Mission: Impossible lasted for two seasons, ending in 1990. Bookending his work on Mission: Impossible, Graves starred in two pilot films called Call to Danger, which were an attempt to create a Mission: Impossible-style series in which Graves played a government agent (the Bureau of National Resources) who recruited civilians with special talents for secret missions. The 1960s version of the pilot, according to Patrick White in The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier (which White reports was actually the second such pilot, but Graves was not involved in the first), is credited with winning Graves the role of Phelps; after Mission: Impossible ended in 1973, Graves filmed a third version of the pilot (this one structured as a made-for-TV movie), but it did not sell as a series. The concept was later used in the brief 1980s adventure series Masquerade.
Handprints of Peter Graves in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

During the 1990s, he hosted the documentary series Biography on A&E. He also acted in a number of films featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which subsequently featured running jokes about Graves' Biography work and presumed sibling rivalry with Arness. The films that have been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 include SST: Death Flight, It Conquered the World, Beginning of the End, Parts: The Clonus Horror, and an uncredited voiceover in Attack of the the Eye Creatures. The movie Killers from Space was featured in The Film Crew, Michael J. Nelson's follow-up to MST3K. Graves himself parodied his Biography work in the film Men in Black II, hosting an exposé television show.

In the 1996 film update of Mission: Impossible, the character of Phelps was reimagined as a traitor who murders three fellow IMF agents, a decision that disappointed Graves. Jon Voight was cast as Phelps.

On October 30, 2009 Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2009, AirTran Airways featured Graves in a series of web-only "Internetiquette" videos in which Graves appeared in a pilot's uniform and references classic Airplane! lines. The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless Internet access.

In the summer of 2009, Graves signed on as a spokesperson for reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group (AAG). Graves appeared in a national commercial in which he educated seniors about the benefits of reverse mortgages.
Personal life

Graves was a devout Christian. He was married to Joan Endress from 1950 until his death. Their marriage produced three daughters: Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee, all of whom survive him. Graves had six grandchildren.
Death

Graves died of a heart attack on March 14, 2010, four days prior to his 84th birthday. The actor had just returned from brunch with his wife and children, collapsing before he could enter the house. Although one of his daughters administered CPR, she could not revive him.
Awards

Graves was awarded a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his role as Jim Phelps in the series Mission: Impossible. He also received nominations for an Emmy Award and Golden Globe awards in other seasons of that show. Graves also won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding informational series in 1997 as host of Biography.
Filmography

    * Winning Your Wings (1942) (short subject)
    * Up Front (1951)
    * Fort Defiance (1951)
    * The Congregation (1952)
    * Red Planet Mars (1952)
    * Stalag 17 (1953)
    * War Paint (1953)
    * East of Sumatra (1953)
    * Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
    * Killers from Space (1954)
    * The Yellow Tomahawk (1954)
    * The Raid (1954)
    * Black Tuesday (1954)
    * Fort Yuma (1955)
    * The Long Gray Line (1955)
    * Robbers' Roost (1955)
    * Wichita (1955)
    * The Naked Street (1955)
    * The Night of the Hunter (1955)
    * The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
    * It Conquered the World (1956)
    * Hold Back the Night (1956)
    * Canyon River (1956)
    * Beginning of the End (1957)
    * Bayou (1957)
    * Death in Small Doses (1957)
    * Wolf Larsen (1958)



    * A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
    * A Rage to Live (1965)
    * Texas Across the River (1966)
    * The Ballad of Josie (1967)
    * Mission: Impossible vs. the Mob (1968) (compilation of episodes released to European theaters)
    * Sergeant Ryker (1968)
    * The Five Man Army (1969)
    * Where Have All The People Gone? (1974) (TV movie)
    * Scream of the Wolf (1974)
    * Sidecar Racers (1975)
    * The Mysterious Monsters (1976) (documentary) (narrator)
    * High Seas Hijack (1978) (in English version)
    * The Clonus Horror (1979)
    * Survival Run (1980)
    * Airplane! (1980)
    * The Guns and the Fury (1981)
    * Savannah Smiles (1982)
    * Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    * The Winds of War (1983)
    * Aces Go Places 3 (1984)
    * Number One with a Bullet (1987)
    * War and Remembrance (1988)
    * Addams Family Values (1993)
    * 7th Heaven 11 episodes (1996–2007)
    * House on Haunted Hill (1999)
    * Men in Black II (2002)
    * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
    * House 1 episode (2005)
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e120/fitbear/PeterGraves.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i219/tracyharbur/PeterGravesAmandaBlakeandmydad.jpg

That's right...we lost him just a few days ago. How sad it must be for anyone to check out just a couple days before their birthday. :\'( :\'(

Yet the Ventura County Star newspaper lists him as turning 84 today. Not very good editing on their part...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/18/10 at 11:59 am


The word of the day...Airplane
An airplane is a vehicle with wings and one or more engines that enable it to fly through the air.

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac39/commoditycity/IMG_0120.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l271/papayalovesyou/Bob1.jpg
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx212/thatlittleboutique/Fabric%20Choices/IMG_4724.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx140/Backwoodspilot/Airplane/Mar2010panel01.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm55/Scooter_in_Korea/Korean_War_Museum_03May2008/KoreanWarMuseum016.jpg
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp333/closelywt/p14700sv275JPG.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z41/bigwheels4g/airplane.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z24/dragonflame88D/airplane.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/aktraveler/Fairbanks/Pioneer%20Park/AirplaneDisplay2.jpg

Air travel can be fun. I never actually rode in one until I was 11 3/4 years old (due to my early fear of heights). But once I got up in the air, I loved the experience and wondered when we were gonna do it again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/18/10 at 1:36 pm


Of course. :\'( :\'( I bet she had lots of potential. Had it not been for that tragic accident, who knows how long she would've lived (naturally)?

She was great in her role as the mom in the "Parent Trap" remake.


When was that? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 2:43 pm


Air travel can be fun. I never actually rode in one until I was 11 3/4 years old (due to my early fear of heights). But once I got up in the air, I loved the experience and wondered when we were gonna do it again.

I never got on a plane until my early 20's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/10 at 2:44 pm


When was that? ???

1998 with Lindsay Lohan.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/18/10 at 3:51 pm


I never got on a plane until my early 20's.



I was about 11 the first time I flew. I was ok with it back than but the more & more I fly, the more & more I absolutely HATE it with a passion. If I never had to fly again in my life, I would be very happy. But, I married someone who has roots in Puerto Rico and convinced me to buy a house down there.  :-\\ The only way to get to it is by flying because they haven't built the bridge yet.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/18/10 at 4:17 pm

At the time....it was shocking news of Natasha Richardson's death.

Peter Graves...I always think of Mission Impossible, Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef (with a young Robert Wagner), Airplane (or Flying High, as we knew it in Oz)....and he starred in a early 60's western (made in Australia) called ....Whiplash.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/18/10 at 4:20 pm


At the time....it was shocking news of Natasha Richardson's death.

Peter Graves...I always think of Mission Impossible, Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef (with a young Robert Wagner), Airplane (or Flying High, as we knew it in Oz)....and he starred in a early 60's western (made in Australia) called ....Whiplash.



You ever seen a grown man naked?

Joey, have you ever been in a... in a Turkish prison?




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/19/10 at 12:32 am



You ever seen a grown man naked?

Joey, have you ever been in a... in a Turkish prison?

Cat


Well well well, Scraps is a boy dog, isn't he?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/19/10 at 6:58 am

The word of the day...Plain
A plain object, surface, or fabric is entirely in one colour and has no pattern, design, or writing on it.
Something that is plain is very simple in style.
If you describe someone as plain, you think they look ordinary and not at all beautiful.
A plain is a large flat area of land with very few trees on it.
You can use plain before an adjective in order to emphasize it.
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss111/URBANGEAR101/127.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc104/Belfast_Dave/plain_sliced.jpg
http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae250/prelovedwts/Annur%20Plain/PLAIN_MILOS.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u69/premiercelebrations/moses%20baskets/plainwhitemb_jpg.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/empressre/Ollaytaytambo-Cusco-Pisac%20weekend/IMG_0751.jpg
http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt59/maryshomedecor/Western%20Rustic%20Furniture/1-CAM-034.jpg
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz348/ameliaroomdotcom/Coffee/scaleCool20Coaster20JUST20PLAIN20EV.jpg
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx217/Peach_girl07/NWTMensHAGGARGolfClassicFitPlainFro.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc7/salinaharmon/sarahplainandtall.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/19/10 at 7:00 am

The person born on this day...Glenn Close
Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987) and more recently the FX TV series Damages. She has been nominated five times for an Oscar, and has won three Tonys, an Obie, four Emmys, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Close started her professional stage work in 1974 and her film work in 1982, has had a lengthy career as a versatile actress and performer. She is remembered for her chilling roles as the scheming aristocrat The Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons and as the psychotic book editor Alex in Fatal Attraction. She has been nominated for five Academy Awards, for Best Actress in Dangerous Liaisons and Fatal Attraction, and for Best Supporting Actress in The Natural, The Big Chill, and The World According to Garp, her first film. In 1984, Close starred in the critically acclaimed drama Something about Amelia, a Golden Globe winning television movie about a family destroyed by sexual abuse. She played the role of Sunny von Bülow in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune to critical acclaim.

In the 1990s, Close took on challenging roles on television as well. She starred in the highly rated presentation of the 1991 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama Sarah, Plain and Tall (and its two sequels) and also in the made-for-TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995); from these roles she was nominated for 8 Emmys (winning one) and 9 Golden Globes (winning one in 2005 and 2007). She also appeared in the newsroom comedy-drama The Paper (1994), the alien invasion satire Mars Attacks! (1996, as The First Lady), the Disney hit 101 Dalmatians (1996, as the sinister Cruella de Vil) and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000) and the blockbuster Air Force One (1997), as the trustworthy vice-president to Harrison Ford's president. In 2001, she starred in an elaborate production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical South Pacific. In 2005, Close joined the FX crime series The Shield, in which she played a no-nonsense precinct captain. Her appearance on the cop drama was such a success that she is now starring in a new hit series of her own for 2007, Damages (also on FX) instead of continuing her character on The Shield. So far the Academy's Oscar has eluded her, being nominated several times during the 1980s, but never being named the winner.

Close has had an extensive career performing in many Broadway musicals. One of her most notable roles on stage was Norma Desmond in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Sunset Boulevard, for which Close won a Tony award playing the role on Broadway in 1994. Close was also a guest star, at the Andrew Lloyd Webber fiftieth birthday party celebration, in the Royal Albert Hall in 1998. She appeared as Norma Desmond and performed songs from Sunset Boulevard. Close is being considered to reprise the role of Norma Desmond in the long talked- about film of Sunset Boulevard, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The film and cast have not officially been announced. In addition to Sunset Boulevard, Close also won Tony Awards in 1984 for The Real Thing and in 1992 for Death and the Maiden.

Recently, Close performed at Carnegie Hall narrating the violin concerto The Runaway Bunny, a concerto for reader, violin and orchestra, composed and conducted by Glen Roven.

Close won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series for her role in Damages. In an interview after her win, Close admitted her role of Patty Hewes in the series was the role of her life. Also in 2009, she narrated the environmental film Home.
Personal life

In February 2006, Close married her longtime boyfriend David E. (Evans) Shaw. They reside in Scarborough, Maine. The actress was previously married to Cabot Wade (1969–1973) and James Marlas (1984–1987). She has a daughter, Annie Maude Starke, from her previous relationship with John Starke that ended in 1991. Close is an avid New York Mets fan. She has donated money to election campaigns of many Democratic politicians, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards and Barack Obama.

Close is a dog lover and writes a blog for Fetchdog.com, where she interviews other famous people about their relationships with their dogs. She lives in New York City and Wellington, Florida.
Stage productions
Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals
Jim Dale and Glenn Close performing Busker Alley in 2006.

    * Rex (Broadway, 1976), Richard Rodgers-Sheldon Harnick musical about Henry VIII
    * Barnum (Charity Barnum, Broadway, 1980), Cy Coleman musical about Phineas T. Barnum
    * Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond, Broadway, 1994), Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the classic 1950 motion picture Sunset Boulevard
    * Busker Alley (Off-Broadway, 2006, one-performance benefit concert), Sherman Brothers musical based on the 1938 movie St. Martin's Lane, directed by Tony Walton

Broadway plays

    * Love for Love by William Congreve (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, November 1974)
    * The Rules of the Game by Luigi Pirandello (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, December 1974)
    * The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, December 1974)
    * The Crucifer of Blood by Paul Giovanni (Helen Hayes Theatre, September 1978)
    * The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard (Plymouth Theatre, December 1983)
    * Benefactors by Michael Frayn (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, December 1985)
    * Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, February 1992)

Off-Broadway

    * The Crazy Locomotive by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (Chelsea Theater Center, 1977)
    * Uncommon Women and Others (1977)
    * The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, an adaptation of George Moore's short story directed by French director Simone Benmussa.

Tony Awards

    * 1980: Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Barnum (NOM)
    * 1984: Best Actress in a Play - The Real Thing (WIN)
    * 1992: Best Actress in a Play - Death and the Maiden (WIN)
    * 1995: Best Actress in a Musical - Sunset Boulevard (WIN)

Obie Awards

    * 1982: Best Actress in a Play - The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs (WIN)

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1982 The World According to Garp Jenny Fields Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1983 The Big Chill Sarah Cooper Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1984 The Natural Iris Gaines Nomination — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
The Stone Boy Ruth Hillerman
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Jane Porter dubbed Andie MacDowell's voice
1985 Maxie Jan / Maxie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Jagged Edge Teddy Barnes
1987 Fatal Attraction Alex Forrest Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1988 Dangerous Liaisons Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Light Years Queen Ambisextra (voice) French title: Gandahar
1989 Immediate Family Linda Spector
1990 Hamlet Queen Gertrude
Reversal of Fortune Sunny von Bulow
1991 Hook Gutless
Meeting Venus Karin Anderson
1993 The House of the Spirits Ferula Trueba
1994 The Paper Alicia Clark
1996 Mars Attacks! First Lady Marsha Dale
101 Dalmatians Cruella de Vil Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Mary Reilly Mrs. Farraday
1997 In & Out Herself cameo appearance
Air Force One Vice President Kathryn Bennett
Paradise Road Adrienne Pargiter
1999 Tarzan Kala voice
Cookie's Fortune Camille Dixon
2000 102 Dalmatians Cruella de Vil Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Dr. Elaine Keener
2001 The Safety of Objects Esther Gold
2003 Le Divorce Olivia Pace
Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio The Blue Fairy English voice
2004 Heights Diana
The Stepford Wives Claire Wellington
2005 The Chumscrubber Carrie Johnson
Nine Lives Maggie
2006 Hoodwinked! Granny voice
2007 Evening Mrs. Wittenborn
2010 Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil Granny voice
Documentary
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Divine Garbo Herself Greta Garbo documentary
1999 The Lady with the Torch Herself-host The 75th Anniversary of Columbia Pictures
2001 Welcome To Hollywood Herself
2003 What I Want My Words To Do To You: Voices From Inside A Women's Maximum Security Prison Herself
A Closer Walk Narrator Robert Bilheimer film. AIDS epidemic.
2007 Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age Herself
2009 Home Narrator Yann Arthus-Bertrand film.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1975 The Rules of the Game Neighbor
1979 Too Far to Go Rebecca Kuehn
Orphan Train Jessica
1982 The Elephant Man Princess Alexandra
1984 Something About Amelia Gail Bennett Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
1988 Stones for Ibarra Sara Everton
1990 She'll Take Romance
1991 Sarah, Plain and Tall Sarah Wheaton Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
1993 Skylark Sarah Witting Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
1995 Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Television Miniseries or Film
The Simpsons (1995-2008) Mona Simpson
1997 In the Gloaming Janet Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Television Miniseries or Film
1999 Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End Sarah Witting
2000 Baby Adult Sophie (narrator)
2001 The Ballad of Lucy Whipple Arvella Whipple
South Pacific Nellie Forbush
2002 Will and Grace Fanny Lieber Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Guest Actress - Comedy Series
2003 Brush with Fate Cornelia Engelbrecht
The Lion in Winter Eleanor of Aquitaine Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Television Miniseries or Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
2004 Strip Search Karen Moore
The West Wing Evelyn Baker Lang
2005 The Shield Captain Monica Rawling Nominated — Emmy Award for Best Actress - Drama Series
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
2007-present Damages Patty Hewes Emmy Award for Best Actress - Drama Series (2008, 2009)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
Nominated - Golden Globe for Best Actress - Television Series Drama (2010)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress
Other awards

    * 1988: People's Choice Award - Favorite Motion Picture Actress
    * 1992: Golden Camera/ Germany - Best International Actress
    * 2008: Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service - For outstanding achievements in the dramatic arts
    * 2009: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion pictures

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z37/cbeachum/Close.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n63/zagco/GlennClose.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/10 at 7:01 am

She was good in the film with Michael Douglas.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/19/10 at 7:04 am

The person who died on this day...Arthur C. Clarke
Sri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, a collaboration which also produced the film of the same name; and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction.

Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician from 1941–1946. He proposed a satellite communication system in 1945 which won him the Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal in 1963. He was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1947–1950 and again in 1953. Later, he helped fight for the preservation of lowland gorillas.

Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956 largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving, and lived there until his death. He was knighted by the British monarchy in 1998, and was awarded Sri Lanka's highest civil honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005.
While Clarke had a few stories published in fanzines, between 1937 and 1945, his first professional sales appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946: "Loophole" was published in April, while "Rescue Party", his first sale, was published in May. Along with his writing Clarke briefly worked as Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts (1949) before devoting himself to writing full-time from 1951 onward. Clarke also contributed to the Dan Dare series published in Eagle, and his first three published novels were written for children.

Clarke corresponded with C. S. Lewis in the 1940s and 1950s and they once met in an Oxford pub, The Eastgate, to discuss science fiction and space travel. Clarke, after Lewis's death, voiced great praise for him, saying the Ransom Trilogy was one of the few works of science fiction that could be considered literature.

In 1948 he wrote "The Sentinel" for a BBC competition. Though the story was rejected, it changed the course of Clarke's career. Not only was it the basis for A Space Odyssey, but "The Sentinel" also introduced a more mystical and cosmic element to Clarke's work. Many of Clarke's later works feature a technologically advanced but still-prejudiced mankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence. In the cases of The City and the Stars (and its original version, Against the Fall of Night), Childhood's End, and the 2001 series, this encounter produces a conceptual breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution. In Clarke's authorized biography, Neil McAleer writes that: "many readers and critics still consider Arthur C. Clarke's best novel."

Clarke lived in Sri Lanka from 1956 until his death in 2008, having emigrated there when it was still called Ceylon, first in Unawatuna on the south coast, and then in Colombo. Clarke held citizenship of both the UK and Sri Lanka. He was an avid scuba diver and a member of the Underwater Explorers Club. In addition to writing, Clarke and business partner, Mike Wilson set up several diving-related ventures. In 1961, while filming off Great Basses Reef, Wilson found a wreck and retrieved silver coins. Plans to dive on the wreck the following year were stopped when Clarke developed paralysis, ultimately diagnosed as polio. A year later, Clarke observed the salvage from the shore and the surface. The ship, ultimately identified as belonging to the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, yielded fused bags of silver rupees, cannons, and other artifacts, carefully documented, became the basis for The Treasure of the Great Reef. Living in Sri Lanka and learning its history also inspired the backdrop for his novel The Fountains of Paradise in which he described a space elevator. This, he believed, would make rocket based access to space obsolete and, more so than geostationary satellites, would ultimately be his scientific legacy.

His many predictions culminated in 1958 when he began a series of essays in various magazines that eventually became Profiles of the Future published in book form in 1962. A timetable up to the year 2100 describes inventions and ideas including such things as a "global library" for 2005. The same work also contained "Clarke's First Law" and text which would become Clarke's three laws in later editions.
Later years

In the early 1970s Clarke signed a three-book publishing deal, a record for a science-fiction writer at the time. The first of the three was Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, which won him all the main genre awards and has spawned sequels that, along with the 2001 series, formed the backbone of his later career.

In 1975 Clarke's short story "The Star" was not included in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka because of concerns that it might offend Roman Catholics even though it had already been selected. The same textbook also caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare's work with that of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Isaac Asimov.

In the 1980s Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe. In 1986 he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1988 he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, having originally contracted polio in 1962, and needed to use a wheelchair most of the time thereafter. Sir Arthur C Clarke was for many years a Vice Patron of the British Polio Fellowship.

In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to British cultural interests in Sri Lanka". The same year he became the first Chancellor of the International Space University, serving from 1989 to 2004 and he also served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.

In 1994, Clarke appeared in a science fiction film; he portrayed himself in the telefilm Without Warning, an American production about an apocalyptic alien first contact scenario presented in the form of a faux newscast.

On 26 May 2000 he was made a Knight Bachelor "for services to literature" at a ceremony in Colombo. The award of a knighthood had been announced in the 1998 New Year Honours, but investiture with the award had been delayed, at Clarke's request, because of an accusation, by the British tabloid The Sunday Mirror, of paedophilia. The charge was subsequently found to be baseless by the Sri Lankan police. According to The Daily Telegraph (London), the Mirror subsequently published an apology, and Clarke chose not to sue for defamation. Clarke was then duly knighted.

Although he and his home were unharmed by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami, his "Arthur C. Clarke Diving School" at Hikkaduwa was destroyed. He made humanitarian appeals, and the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation worked towards a better disaster notification systems. The school has since been rebuilt.

In September 2007, he provided a video greeting for NASA's Cassini probe's flyby of Iapetus (which plays an important role in 2001: A Space Odyssey). In December 2007 on his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans bidding them good-bye.

Clarke died in Sri Lanka on 19 March 2008 after suffering from breathing problems, according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides. His aide described the cause as respiratory complications and heart failure stemming from post-polio syndrome.

Only a few days before he died, he had reviewed the manuscript of his final work, The Last Theorem, on which he had collaborated by e-mail with his contemporary Frederik Pohl. The book was published after Clarke's death. Clarke was buried in Colombo in traditional Sri Lankan fashion on 22 March. His younger brother, Fred Clarke, and his Sri Lankan adoptive family were among the thousands in attendance.
The Big Three

Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein became known as the "Big Three" of science fiction. Clarke and Heinlein began writing to each other after The Exploration of Space was published in 1951, and first met in person the following year. They remained on cordial terms for many years, including visits in the United States and Sri Lanka. During a 1984 meeting at the home of Larry Niven in California, however, Heinlein attacked Clarke verbally over his views on United States foreign and space policy (especially the Strategic Defense Initiative). Although the two reconciled, formally, they remained distant until Heinlein's death in 1988.

Clarke and Asimov first met in New York City in 1973, and they traded friendly insults and jabs for decades. They established a verbal agreement, the "Clarke–Asimov Treaty", that when asked who was best, the two would say Clarke was the best science fiction writer and Asimov was the best science writer. In 1972, Clarke put the "treaty" on paper in his dedication to Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations.
Position on religion

Themes of religion and spirituality appear in much of Clarke's writing, though his position on "Religion" is ultimately somewhat complicated. He said, "Any path to knowledge is a path to God—or Reality, whichever word one prefers to use". and described himself as 'fascinated by the concept of God'. When he entered the RAF, he insisted that his dog tags be marked "pantheist" rather than the default, Church of England. In 2000, Clarke told the Sri Lankan newspaper, The Island, "I don't believe in God or an afterlife," and he identifies himself as an atheist. He was honoured as a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. He has also described himself as a "crypto-Buddhist", insisting that Buddhism is not a religion. He displayed little interest about religion early in his life, for example, only discovering a few months after marrying his wife, that she had strong Presbyterian beliefs.

In a three-day "dialogue on man and his world" with Alan Watts, Clarke stated that he was biased against religion and said that he could not forgive religions for what he perceived as their inability to prevent atrocities and wars over time.

In a reflection of the dialogue where he more broadly stated "mankind", his introduction to the penultimate episode of Mysterious World, entitled, Strange Skies, Clarke said, "I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers."

Near the very end of that same episode, the last segment of which covered the Star of Bethlehem, he stated that his favourite theory was that it might be a pulsar. Given that pulsars were discovered in the interval between his writing the short story, The Star (1955), and making Mysterious World (1980), and given the more recent discovery of pulsar PSR B1913+16, he said, "How romantic, if even now, we can hear the dying voice of a star, which heralded the Christian era."

Clarke left written instructions for a funeral that stated: "Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral."

A famous quote of Clarke's is often cited: "One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion."
Views on paranormal phenomena

Early in his career, Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal and stated that it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood's End. Citing the numerous promising paranormal claims that were shown to be fraudulent, Clarke described his earlier openness to the paranormal having turned to being "an almost total skeptic" by the time of his 1992 biography. During interviews, both in 1993 and 2004–2005, he stated that he did not believe in reincarnation, citing that there was no mechanism to make it possible, though he stated "I'm always paraphrasing J. B. S. Haldane: 'The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine.'" (He loved quoting Haldane.) He described the idea of reincarnation as fascinating, but favored a finite existence.

Clarke was well known for his television series investigating paranormal phenomena Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers, enough to be parodied in an episode of The Goodies in which his show is canceled after it is claimed he does not exist.
Themes, style, and influences

Clarke's work is marked by an optimistic view of science empowering mankind's exploration of the Solar System, and the world's oceans. Clarke's images of the future often feature a Utopian setting with highly developed technology, ecology, and society, based on the author's ideals. His early published stories would usually feature the extrapolation of a technological innovation or scientific breakthrough into the underlying decadence of his own society.

"The Sentinel" (1948) introduced a religious theme to Clarke's work, a theme that he later explored more deeply in The City and the Stars (and its earlier version, Against the Fall of Night). Surprisingly for a writer who is often held up as an example of hard science fiction's obsession with technology, three of Clarke's novels have this as a theme. Another theme of "The Sentinel" was the notion that the evolution of an intelligent species would eventually make them something close to gods, which was also explored in his 1953 novel Childhood's End. He also briefly touched upon this idea in his novel Imperial Earth. This idea of transcendence through evolution seems to have been influenced by Olaf Stapledon, who wrote a number of books dealing with this theme. Clarke has said of Stapledon's 1930 book Last and First Men that "No other book had a greater influence on my life ... and its successor Star Maker (1937) are the twin summits of literary career".

Clarke also took a major interest in "Inner Space", which can be seen in his stories, Big Game Hunt, The Deep Range and The Shining Ones, as well as Dolphin Island.
Adapted screenplays
2001: A Space Odyssey

Clarke's first venture into film was the Stanley Kubrick directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick and Clarke had met in New York City in 1964 to discuss the possibility of a collaborative film project. As the idea developed, it was decided that the story for the film was to be loosely based on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", written in 1948 as an entry in a BBC short story competition. Originally, Clarke was going to write the screenplay for the film, but Kubrick suggested during one of their brainstorming meetings that before beginning on the actual script, they should let their imaginations soar free by writing a novel first, which the film would be based on upon its completion. "This is more or less the way it worked out, though toward the end, novel and screenplay were being written simultaneously, with feedback in both directions. Thus I rewrote some sections after seeing the movie rushes -- a rather expensive method of literary creation, which few other authors can have enjoyed." The novel ended up being published a few months after the release of the movie.

Due to the hectic schedule of the film's production, Kubrick and Clarke had difficulty collaborating on the book. Clarke completed a draft of the novel at the end of 1964 with the plan to publish in 1965 in advance of the film's release in 1966. After many delays the film was released in the spring of 1968, before the book was completed. The book was credited to Clarke alone. Clarke later complained that this had the effect of making the book into a novelisation, that Kubrick had manipulated circumstances to downplay Clarke's authorship. For these and other reasons, the details of the story differ slightly from the book to the movie. The film contains little explanation for the events taking place. Clarke, on the other hand, wrote thorough explanations of "cause and effect" for the events in the novel. James Randi later recounted that upon seeing 2001 for the first time, Clarke left the movie theatre during the first break crying because he was so upset about how the movie had turned out. Despite their differences, both film and novel were well received.

In 1972, Clarke published The Lost Worlds of 2001, which included his accounts of the production, and alternate versions, of key scenes. The "special edition" of the novel A Space Odyssey (released in 1999) contains an introduction by Clarke in which he documents the events leading to the release of the novel and film.
2010

In 1982 Clarke continued the 2001 epic with a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two. This novel was also made into a film, 2010, directed by Peter Hyams for release in 1984. Because of the political environment in America in the 1980s, the film presents a Cold War theme, with the looming tensions of nuclear warfare not featured in the novel. The film was not considered to be as revolutionary or artistic as 2001, but the reviews were still positive.

Clarke's email correspondence with Hyams was published in 1984. Titled The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, and co-authored with Hyams, it illustrates his fascination with the then-pioneering medium of email and its use for them to communicate on an almost daily basis at the time of planning and production of the film while living on different continents. The book also includes Clarke's list of the best science-fiction films ever made.

Clarke appeared in the film, first as the man feeding the pigeons while Dr. Heywood Floyd is engaged in a conversation in front of the White House. Later, in the hospital scene with David Bowman's mother, an image of the cover of Time portrays Clarke as the American President and Kubrick as the Russian Premier.
Rendezvous with Rama

Clarke's award-winning 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama was optioned many years ago, but is currently in "development hell". Director David Fincher is attached to the project, together with actor Morgan Freeman.
Beyond 2001

2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke's most famous work, was extended well beyond the 1968 movie as the Space Odyssey series. Its 1984 sequel, 2010 was based on Clarke's 1982 novel, 2010: Odyssey Two. There were two further sequels that have not been adapted to the cinema: 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey.

In 2061, Halley's Comet swings back to nearby Earth, and Clarke uses the event as an excuse to take an aged Dr. Heywood Floyd on a romp through the solar system, visiting the comet before crash-landing on Europa, where he discovers the fates of Dave Bowman, HAL 9000, and the Europan life-forms which have been protected by the Monoliths.

With 3001: The Final Odyssey, Clarke returns to examine the character of astronaut Frank Poole, who was killed outside Discovery by HAL in the original novel and film, but whose body was revived in the year 3001.
Essays and short stories

Most of Clarke's essays (from 1934 to 1998) can be found in the book Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (2000). Most of his short stories can be found in the book The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001). Another collection of early essays was published in The View from Serendip (1977), which also included one short piece of fiction, "When the Twerms Came". He wrote short stories under the pseudonyms of E. G. O'Brien and Charles Willis.
Concept of the geostationary communications satellite
Geostationary orbit
Main article: Geostationary orbit

Clarke's most important scientific contribution may be his idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He described this concept in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?, published in Wireless World in October 1945. The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honour.

However, it is not clear that this article was actually the inspiration for the modern telecommunications satellite. John R. Pierce, of Bell Labs, arrived at the idea independently in 1954 and he was actually involved in the Echo satellite and Telstar projects. Moreover, Pierce stated that the idea was "in the air" at the time and certain to be developed regardless of Clarke's publication. In an interview given shortly before his death, Clarke was asked whether he thought communications satellites would become important; he replied

    "I'm often asked why I didn't try to patent the idea of communications satellites. My answer is always, ‘A patent is really a license to be sued.' "

Though different from Clarke's idea of telecom relay, the idea of communicating with satellites in geostationary orbit itself had been described earlier. For example, the concept of geostationary satellites was described in Hermann Oberth's 1923 book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) and then the idea of radio communication with those satellites in Herman Potočnik's (written under the pseudonym Hermann Noordung) 1928 book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums — der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor) sections: Providing for Long Distance Communications and Safety and (possibly referring to the idea of relaying messages via satellite, but not that 3 would be optimal) Observing and Researching the Earth's Surface published in Berlin. Clarke acknowledged the earlier concept in his book Profiles of the Future.
Awards, honours and other recognition

    * He won the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science in 1961.
    * Following the release of 2001, Clarke became much in demand as a commentator on science and technology, especially at the time of the Apollo space program. The fame of 2001 was enough to get the Command Module of the Apollo 13 craft named "Odyssey".
    * Shared a 1969 Academy Award nomination with Stanley Kubrick in the category, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
    * In 1986, Clarke provided a grant to fund the prize money (initially £1,000) for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel published in the United Kingdom in the previous year. In 2001 the prize was increased to £2001, and its value now matches the year (e.g., £2005 in 2005).
    * Clarke received a CBE in 1989, and was knighted in 2000. Clarke's health did not allow him to travel to London to receive the honour personally from the Queen, so the United Kingdom's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka invested him as a Knight Bachelor at a ceremony in Colombo.
    * In 1994, Clarke was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by law professor Glenn Reynolds.
    * In 2000, he was named a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
    * The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter is named in honour of Sir Arthur's works.
    * In 2003, Sir Arthur was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology where he appeared on stage via a 3-D hologram with a group of old friends which included Jill Tarter, Neil Armstrong, Lewis Branscomb, Charles Townes, Freeman Dyson, Bruce Murray and Scott Brown.
    * In 2004, Sir Arthur was awarded the Heinlein Award for outstanding achievement in hard or science-oriented science fiction.
    * In 2005 he lent his name to the inaugural Sir Arthur Clarke Awards — dubbed "the Space Oscars". His brother attended the awards ceremony, and presented an award specially chosen by Arthur (and not by the panel of judges who chose the other awards) to the British Interplanetary Society.
    * On 14 November 2005 Sri Lanka awarded Arthur C. Clarke its highest civilian award, the Sri Lankabhimanya (The Pride of Sri Lanka), for his contributions to science and technology and his commitment to his adopted country.
    * Sir Arthur was the Honorary Board Chair of the Institute for Cooperation in Space, founded by Carol Rosin, and served on the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, a space advocacy organisation originally founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun.
    * An asteroid was named in Clarke's honour, 4923 Clarke (the number was assigned prior to, and independently of, the name - 2001, however appropriate, was unavailable, having previously been assigned to Albert Einstein).
    * A species of ceratopsian dinosaur, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei, discovered in Inverloch in Australia.
    * The Learning Resource Centre at Richard Huish College, Taunton, which Clarke attended when it was Huish Grammar School, is named after him.
    * Clarke was a distinguished vice-president of the H. G. Wells Society, being strongly influenced by H. G. Wells as a science-fiction writer.

Partial bibliography
Main article: List of works by Arthur C. Clarke
Select Novels

    * Prelude to Space (1951)
    * The Sands of Mars (1951)
    * Childhood's End (1953)
    * The City and the Stars (1956)
    * A Fall of Moondust (1961) (Hugo nominee, 1963)
    * 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
    * Rendezvous with Rama (1972) (BSFA and Nebula Awards winner, 1973; Hugo, Campbell, and Locus Awards winner, 1974)
    * A Meeting with Medusa (Nebula Award for best novella) (1972)
    * Imperial Earth (1975)
    * The Fountains of Paradise (1979) (Hugo Award winner, BSFA nominee, 1979; and Nebula Award winner, Locus Award nominee, 1980)
    * 2010: Odyssey Two (1982) (Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1983)
    * The Songs of Distant Earth (1986)
    * 2061: Odyssey Three (1987)
    * 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
    * The Light of Other Days (2000) (with Stephen Baxter)

Short story collections

    * Expedition to Earth (1953)
    * Reach for Tomorrow (1956)
    * Tales from the White Hart (1957)
    * The Other Side of the Sky (1958)
    * Tales of Ten Worlds (1962)
    * The Nine Billion Names of God (1967)
    * The Wind from the Sun (1972)
    * The Best of Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
    * The Sentinel (1983)
    * The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Non-fiction

    * The Exploration of Space. New York: Harper, 1951
    * Voice Across the Sea. New York: Harper, 1958
    * Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age. New York: Harper & Row, 1965
    * Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography. London: Gollancz, 1989
    * Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! : Collected Works 1934-1998. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999
    * The View From Serendip. Random House. ISBN 0394417968.  1977
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/matchufu123/accWinCE.png
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd91/MuadDib34/Arthur_C_Clarke.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/19/10 at 5:56 pm


1998 with Lindsay Lohan.

yes, and I think the remake of the Parent Trap film was Lohan's feature film debut.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/20/10 at 1:05 am

Canadian person of the day

Robert Gordon Orr, OC (born March 20, 1948 in Parry Sound, Ontario) is a retired ice hockey player. A defenceman, he is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time.Orr won two Stanley Cup championships with the Bruins when Boston defeated the St. Louis Blues in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals in four games and the New York Rangers in the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals in six games, scoring the clinching goals in both series, and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP both years.

http://www.hometownhockeyheroes.com/images/Sale%20Images/Bobby%20Orr%20Memorabilia/Bobby-Orr-Bruins-Photo-FW.jpg
http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/2229/85427.jpg

n 1970, he doubled his scoring total from the previous season, to 120 points, six shy of the league record and became the first (and to date, only) defenceman in history to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer. In addition to the Norris and the Art Ross, Orr captured the first of three consecutive Hart Trophies as regular-season MVP and later won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his playoff performance, becoming the first player in history to win four major NHL awards in one season.

Orr went on to lead the Bruins in a march through the playoffs that culminated on May 10, 1970, when he scored one of the most famous goals in hockey history – one that gave Boston its first Stanley Cup since 1941. The goal came off a give-and-go pass with teammate Derek Sanderson at the 40-second mark of the first overtime period in Game Four, helping to complete a sweep of the St. Louis Blues. The subsequent image of a horizontal Orr flying through the air, his arms raised in victory – as he made the shot, he had been tripped by Blues' defenceman Noel Picard while watching the puck pass by goaltender Glenn Hall – became a prize-winning photograph and is arguably the most famous and recognized hockey image of all time.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/playoff.appearance.streaks/images/boston-bruins-bobby-orr(triolo).jpg

Orr led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup again in 1972, leading the league in scoring in the playoffs and scoring the championship-winning goal en route to his second Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, making him the first two-time winner of this award.

His knee problems would take an increasing toll after 1973. Despite being limited by knee injuries which would later force him to retire prematurely, he led the Bruins to another first-place finish in the regular season and the Stanley Cup final in 1974, where they lost to Philadelphia Flyers.

In 1976, despite several knee operations that left him playing in severe pain, Orr was named the most valuable player in the Canada Cup international competition.

On February 12, 2010, Orr was one of the eight bearers of the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

http://www.cic16.org/photos/golf_classic07/BobbyOrr.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/10 at 5:14 am


Canadian person of the day

Robert Gordon Orr, OC (born March 20, 1948 in Parry Sound, Ontario) is a retired ice hockey player. A defenceman, he is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest hockey players of all time.Orr won two Stanley Cup championships with the Bruins when Boston defeated the St. Louis Blues in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals in four games and the New York Rangers in the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals in six games, scoring the clinching goals in both series, and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP both years.

http://www.hometownhockeyheroes.com/images/Sale%20Images/Bobby%20Orr%20Memorabilia/Bobby-Orr-Bruins-Photo-FW.jpg
http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/2229/85427.jpg

n 1970, he doubled his scoring total from the previous season, to 120 points, six shy of the league record and became the first (and to date, only) defenceman in history to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer. In addition to the Norris and the Art Ross, Orr captured the first of three consecutive Hart Trophies as regular-season MVP and later won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his playoff performance, becoming the first player in history to win four major NHL awards in one season.

Orr went on to lead the Bruins in a march through the playoffs that culminated on May 10, 1970, when he scored one of the most famous goals in hockey history – one that gave Boston its first Stanley Cup since 1941. The goal came off a give-and-go pass with teammate Derek Sanderson at the 40-second mark of the first overtime period in Game Four, helping to complete a sweep of the St. Louis Blues. The subsequent image of a horizontal Orr flying through the air, his arms raised in victory – as he made the shot, he had been tripped by Blues' defenceman Noel Picard while watching the puck pass by goaltender Glenn Hall – became a prize-winning photograph and is arguably the most famous and recognized hockey image of all time.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/playoff.appearance.streaks/images/boston-bruins-bobby-orr(triolo).jpg

Orr led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup again in 1972, leading the league in scoring in the playoffs and scoring the championship-winning goal en route to his second Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, making him the first two-time winner of this award.

His knee problems would take an increasing toll after 1973. Despite being limited by knee injuries which would later force him to retire prematurely, he led the Bruins to another first-place finish in the regular season and the Stanley Cup final in 1974, where they lost to Philadelphia Flyers.

In 1976, despite several knee operations that left him playing in severe pain, Orr was named the most valuable player in the Canada Cup international competition.

On February 12, 2010, Orr was one of the eight bearers of the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

http://www.cic16.org/photos/golf_classic07/BobbyOrr.jpg

How did I know you would do him ;D...Very interesting..Thanks Frank. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/10 at 5:20 am

The word of the day...Kiss
If you kiss someone, you touch them with your lips to show affection or sexual desire, or to greet them or say goodbye.
If you kiss something, you touch it lightly with your lips, usually as a sign of respect.
If you say that something kisses another thing, you mean that it touches that thing very gentl
If you blow someone a kiss or blow a kiss, you touch the palm of your hand lightly with your lips, and then blow across your hand towards the person, in order to show them your affection.
If you say that you kiss something goodbye or kiss goodbye to something, you accept the fact that you are going to lose it, although you do not want to.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q138/Valiantus/kiss.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z226/forevermeg2020/kiss.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp209/SOCC3R_ERIC/KISS.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k57/doctari1977/private/kiss.jpg
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Ninja_rox_112/kiss.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss64/nelycutza/KISS/610115638.gif
http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae279/LadyTubbs072504/dhmilydemlips.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d175/amandamarchan/DSCI0411.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee45/gigglybitzuk/misc/kiss-spider-woman-170r.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/10 at 5:22 am

The person who was born on this day...William Hurt
William M. Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an American actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science fiction feature Altered States (1980), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. He subsequently landed the leading role as a sleazy lawyer in the well-received film noir Body Heat (1981).

In 1985, Hurt garnered substantial critical acclaim and multiple acting awards, including an Academy and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for portraying a homosexual window dresser in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). He went on to receive another two Academy Award nominations for his lead performance in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Hurt remained an active stage actor throughout the 1980s, appearing in numerous Off-Broadway productions including Henry V, Fifth of July, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also received his first Tony Award nomination in 1985 for the Broadway play Hurlyburly.

After playing a diversity of character roles in the following decade, Hurt earned his fourth Academy Award nomination for his supporting performance in David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence (2005). His other notable films in recent years have included A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), Mr. Brooks (2007), Into the Wild (2007), The Incredible Hulk (2008), and the upcoming Robin Hood (2010).
urt appeared first on stage, only later turning to film. His first major film role was in the sci-fi hit Altered States which gave him wide recognition for playing an obsessed scientist. His performance with Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, and newcomer Kathleen Turner in Lawrence Kasdan's neo-noir classic Body Heat elevated Hurt to stardom. He received the Best Male Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman for 1985. He has received three additional Oscar nominations; one for Children of a Lesser God, one for Broadcast News and one (for Best Supporting Actor) in A History Of Violence. Hurt also starred in Tuck Everlasting as Angus Tuck.

Often cast as an intellectual, Hurt has put this to good use in many films like Lost in Space and The Big Chill, but he is also effective in other kinds of roles, such as those in I Love You to Death, and David Cronenberg's psychological drama A History of Violence (2005), wherein, with less than 10 minutes of screen time, he plays the creepy mob boss Richie Cusack. That same year, Hurt could be seen as a mysterious government operative in Stephen Gaghan's ensemble drama about the politics of big oil, Syriana.

Hurt has been seen in the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes, in a piece entitled Battleground. He plays "Renshaw", a hitman who receives a package from the widow of a toymaker he killed, unaware of what is waiting inside for him. He appeared in the cast of "Vanya", an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya playing in the Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

He appeared in Sean Penn's film Into the Wild, the true story of Christopher McCandless. Hurt next starred as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in The Incredible Hulk alongside Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth. He also appeared as President Henry Ashton in the 2008 action-thriller Vantage Point. Hurt also played Mr Brooks' alter-ego in Mr. Brooks starring Kevin Costner.

In 2009, Hurt began appearing as a series regular on the critically-acclaimed FX series Damages playing a corporate whistleblower opposite Glenn Close and Marcia Gay Harden. For his role in the series, Hurt earned a 2009 Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category. He stars also 2010 in the Thriller Shadows alongside Cary Elwes and Paula Taylor, directed is the movie by John Penney.

Hurt's 2009 Sundance film The Yellow Handkerchief will be released in theaters on February 26, 2010 by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Personal life

Hurt is fluent in French and maintains a home outside Paris. He was previously married to Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 to 1982.

In the 1980s, Hurt was involved in a lawsuit with Sandra Jennings which alleged that the two shared a common law marriage. While he was still married, Hurt and Jennings began a relationship in Saratoga, New York in the summer of 1981. Jennings became pregnant in the Spring of 1982 which precipitated Hurt's divorce from Mary Beth Hurt, after which Hurt and Jennings relocated to South Carolina, which recognized common law marriages. Hurt and Jennings, never officially married, later separated, and Jennings sued in New York, seeking a court order recognizing their purported common law marriage under South Carolina law. The New York court, which did not recognize common law marriage and was reluctant to recognize a common law marriage originating in South Carolina, found in Hurt's favor that no common law marriage existed.

Additionally, Hurt dated Marlee Matlin for two years, and they lived together during 1986. In her 2009 autobiographical book, I'll Scream Later, Matlin claimed their relationship involved considerable drug abuse and physical abuse by Hurt. In response to the accusations aired on CNN on April 13, 2009, Hurt's agent declined to respond. Hurt issued a statement on April 14, 2009, responding to Matlin's remarks. He stated "My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good."

Hurt has four children: Jeanne with actress Sandrine Bonnaire, Alex with Sandra Jennings and two sons, Sam and William Hurt, from his 1989-92 marriage to Heidi Henderson.

During the filming of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Hurt and a friend were kidnapped at gunpoint and threatened with death.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1978 Verna: U.S.O. Girl Walter TV film
1980 Altered States Professor Edward Jessup Nominated Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor
1981 Eyewitness Daryll Deever
Body Heat Ned Racine
1983 The Big Chill Nick
Gorky Park Arkady Renko
1985 Kiss of the Spider Woman Luis Alberto Molina Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
LAFCA Award for Best Actor
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
NBR Award for Best Actor (tied with Raul Julia for the same film)
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1986 Children of a Lesser God James Leeds Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1987 Broadcast News Tom Grunick Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1988 A Time of Destiny Martin Larraneta
The Accidental Tourist Macon Leary
1990 I Love You to Death Harlan James
Alice Doug Tate
1991 Until the End of the World Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
The Doctor Dr. Jack MacKee
1993 The Plague Doctor Bernard Rieux
1994 Second Best Graham Holt
1995 Smoke Paul Benjamin
1996 A Couch in New York Henry Harriston
Michael Frank Quinlan
Jane Eyre Rochester
1998 Lost in Space Professor John Robinson
Dark City Inspector Frank Bumstead
One True Thing George Gulden
1999 The 4th Floor Greg Harrison
Sunshine Andor Knorr Nominated - Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
The Big Brass Ring William Blake Pellarin
Do Not Disturb Walter Richmond a.k.a. Silent Witness
2000 Contaminated Man David R. Whitman
Frank Herbert's Dune Duke Leto Atreides TV
The Miracle Maker Jairus Voice Only
2001 Rare Birds Restaurateur
A.I. Artificial Intelligence Professor Allen Hobby
The Simian Line Edward
Varian's War Varian Fry
2002 King of Queens Dr. Taber TV
Episode 120: Shrink Wrap
Tuck Everlasting Angus Tuck
Changing Lanes Doyle Gipson's AA Sponsor
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story Robert Hanssen TV
Nearest to Heaven (Au Plus Près du Paradis) Matt
2004 The Blue Butterfly Alan Osborne
The Village Edward Walker
Frankenstein Professor Waldman TV
2005 The King David
A History of Violence Richie Cusack AFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated - OFCS Award for Best Supporting Actor
Neverwas Dr. Peter Reed
Syriana Stan Goff
2006 The Good Shepherd CIA Director Philip Allen
The Legend of Sasquatch John Davis Voice Only
Co-Producer
Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King Jason Renshaw TV miniseries (segment "Battleground")
2007 Mr. Brooks Marshall
Beautiful Ohio Simon Messerman
Noise Mayor Schneer
Into the Wild Walt McCandless Nominated - SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 Vantage Point President Ashton
The Yellow Handkerchief Brett Hanson
The Incredible Hulk General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross
2009 Damages Daniel Purcell TV
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Drama Series
Endgame Willie Esterhuyse
The Countess Gyorgy Thurzo
The River Why H2O in post-production
2010 Robin Hood William Marshal post-production
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff200/Petra210028/WilliamHurt.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/WilliamHurt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/10 at 5:25 am

The person who died on this day...Big John Studd
John William Minton (February 19, 1948 – March 20, 1995) was an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name, Big John Studd. He was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Big John Studd was trained by wrestling legend Killer Kowalski. Together, Studd and Kowalski won the WWWF Tag Team titles in 1976 as the masked Executioners.

After leaving the WWWF, Studd became known as Chuck O'Connor, Captain USA, and The Masked Superstar II at certain points in the Mid-Atlantic. In 1978, Studd teamed with Ken Patera to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles.

Studd also made occasional trips to Canada to wrestle in Emile Duprée's Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling.

On May 25, 1980, Masked Superstar II was unmasked after a match with Blackjack Mulligan in Toronto. After this, Studd was brought into Florida by J.J. Dillon and feuded with Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, (the son of Blackjack Mulligan), and Sweet Brown Sugar.

Studd, who was a heel at this point, had a gimmick of bringing a stretcher to the ring as he would beat his opponents so badly that they'd be taken out on the stretcher.
Studd in a wrestling match between André the Giant and King Kong Bundy with Hillbilly Jim on the ring apron.

Early on in 1982, Studd gained several unsuccessful title shots at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair at the time. Studd jumped to the World Wrestling Federation and became a top challenger for the WWF World Championship, which was held by Hulk Hogan. Studd (now managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) also became involved in a legendary feud with André the Giant. Studd taunted André by proclaiming himself the true giant of professional wrestling and offering $15,000 to anyone who could bodyslam him. This led to a televised tag team match featuring Studd and fellow Heenan Family member Ken Patera against André the Giant and S.D. Jones. The match ended by disqualification after persistent rulebreaking by Studd and Patera, who attacked André afterwards and cut his hair. The André/Studd feud reached its high point at the first WrestleMania, when Studd and André had a $15,000 bodyslam challenge match, which André won. The highlight of André bodyslamming Studd to win the match is one of the most iconic images in wrestling history.

After WrestleMania, Studd formed an alliance with the 468 lb (212 kg) King Kong Bundy. The two attacked André at a WWF house show in the summer of 1985. Studd/Bundy and André continued to feud for the rest of that year and into 1986. Studd participated in the well-publicized 20 man over-the-top battle royal that took place at WrestleMania 2. The battle royale also featured stars from the National Football league. Although André the Giant was also in the battle royale, Studd set his focus on eliminating William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who was fresh from a Super Bowl victory that year. Studd successfully eliminated Perry during the match, only to have Perry to eliminate Studd while the two were shaking hands. André went on to win the battle royale.

After the André feud died down, the team of Studd & Bundy feuded with other established WWF tag teams including The Islanders and the WWF Tag Team Champions, The British Bulldogs. Studd & Bundy faced the Bulldogs for the Tag Team Titles on WWF Championship Wrestling, but they were unsuccessful in winning the match. Studd & Bundy then began arguing in the ring after the match, which seemed to indicate that a feud between the two was forthcoming. However, that would not be the case, and Studd & Bundy continued teaming up regularly for several more months. Studd's last match came on an episode of WWF Superstars (airing 11-15-86), where he teamed with Bundy to defeat The Machines.

After retiring for almost 3 years, Studd announced his return to the WWF on the Brother Love Show in late 1988. An elated Bobby Heenan appeared on the set to welcome Studd back to the Heenan family. Studd however rejected the offer and ran Heenan off the Brother Love set (thus turning face). Studd went on to feud with several members of the Heenan family, including his arch-nemesis André the Giant who had turned heel during Studd's absence. Studd won the 1989 Royal Rumble, which many consider to be the crowning achievement in his WWF career. Studd then served as a special guest referee in the match between Jake "The Snake" Roberts and André the Giant at WrestleMania V. Studd quit the WWF on June 6 1989.

Minton died from liver cancer and Hodgkin's disease on March 20, 1995. He is survived by his son John Minton, Jr., who accepted his plaque upon his posthumous induction to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. Minton, Jr. also participated in the fourth season of WWE Tough Enough.

Studd is referenced in the Limp Bizkit song "N 2Gether Now" featuring Method Man.
Acting career
Filmography

    * Micki + Maude (1984) as himself
    * The Protector (1985) as "Huge Hood"
    * Double Agent (1987) as "Igor"
    * Hyper Space (1989) as "Psycho"
    * Caged in Paradiso (1990) as "Big Man"
    * Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) as "Jack Daniels"
    * Shock 'Em Dead (1991) as "Officer Meak"
    * The Marrying Man (1991) as "Dante"

Television series appearances

    * The A-Team (November 12, 1985) in episode "Body Slam" as himself
    * Hunter (January 10, 1987) in episode "Bad Company" as "Randy"
    * Beauty and the Beast (March 18, 1988) in episode "To Reign in Hell" as "Erlick"

In wrestling

    * Finishing moves
          o Backbreaker
          o Reverse bearhug

    * Signature moves
          o Airplane spin
          o Double underhook suplex
          o Heart punch
          o Low-angle chokeslam
          o Piledriver

    * Managers
          o Freddie Blassie
          o "The Franchise" Justin Lee
          o Bobby Heenan

Championships and accomplishments

    * Championship Wrestling from Florida

        * NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jimmy Garvin

    * European Wrestling Union

        * EWU World Super Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

    * Georgia Championship Wrestling

        * NWA National Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Super Destroyer

    * Maple Leaf Wrestling

        * NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) (1 time)

    * Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

        * NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Ric Flair (1), Ken Patera (1), Masked Superstar #1 (1), and Roddy Piper (1)

    * NWA Big Time Wrestling

        * NWA American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
        * NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bull Ramos

    * NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions

        * NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (1 time)
        * NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Buddy Rose

    * NWA Southern Championship Wrestling

        * NWA Tennessee Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

    * Pro Wrestling Illustrated

        * PWI Tag Team of the Year (1976) – with Killer Kowalski

    * World Championship Wrestling

        * WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)

    * World Wrestling Association

        * WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ox Baker

    * World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment

        * WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)
        * WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Killer Kowalski
        * Royal Rumble (1989)

    * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

        * Most Overrated (1984)

http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/John%20Studd/Big_John_Studd_-_John_William_Minto.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii174/Bigshow79_album/Wrestlers/Big%20John%20Studd/c3f3_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/20/10 at 5:39 am


The person who died on this day...Big John Studd
John William Minton (February 19, 1948 – March 20, 1995) was an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name, Big John Studd. He was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Big John Studd was trained by wrestling legend Killer Kowalski. Together, Studd and Kowalski won the WWWF Tag Team titles in 1976 as the masked Executioners.

After leaving the WWWF, Studd became known as Chuck O'Connor, Captain USA, and The Masked Superstar II at certain points in the Mid-Atlantic. In 1978, Studd teamed with Ken Patera to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles.

Studd also made occasional trips to Canada to wrestle in Emile Duprée's Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling.

On May 25, 1980, Masked Superstar II was unmasked after a match with Blackjack Mulligan in Toronto. After this, Studd was brought into Florida by J.J. Dillon and feuded with Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, (the son of Blackjack Mulligan), and Sweet Brown Sugar.

Studd, who was a heel at this point, had a gimmick of bringing a stretcher to the ring as he would beat his opponents so badly that they'd be taken out on the stretcher.
Studd in a wrestling match between André the Giant and King Kong Bundy with Hillbilly Jim on the ring apron.

Early on in 1982, Studd gained several unsuccessful title shots at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair at the time. Studd jumped to the World Wrestling Federation and became a top challenger for the WWF World Championship, which was held by Hulk Hogan. Studd (now managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) also became involved in a legendary feud with André the Giant. Studd taunted André by proclaiming himself the true giant of professional wrestling and offering $15,000 to anyone who could bodyslam him. This led to a televised tag team match featuring Studd and fellow Heenan Family member Ken Patera against André the Giant and S.D. Jones. The match ended by disqualification after persistent rulebreaking by Studd and Patera, who attacked André afterwards and cut his hair. The André/Studd feud reached its high point at the first WrestleMania, when Studd and André had a $15,000 bodyslam challenge match, which André won. The highlight of André bodyslamming Studd to win the match is one of the most iconic images in wrestling history.

After WrestleMania, Studd formed an alliance with the 468 lb (212 kg) King Kong Bundy. The two attacked André at a WWF house show in the summer of 1985. Studd/Bundy and André continued to feud for the rest of that year and into 1986. Studd participated in the well-publicized 20 man over-the-top battle royal that took place at WrestleMania 2. The battle royale also featured stars from the National Football league. Although André the Giant was also in the battle royale, Studd set his focus on eliminating William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who was fresh from a Super Bowl victory that year. Studd successfully eliminated Perry during the match, only to have Perry to eliminate Studd while the two were shaking hands. André went on to win the battle royale.

After the André feud died down, the team of Studd & Bundy feuded with other established WWF tag teams including The Islanders and the WWF Tag Team Champions, The British Bulldogs. Studd & Bundy faced the Bulldogs for the Tag Team Titles on WWF Championship Wrestling, but they were unsuccessful in winning the match. Studd & Bundy then began arguing in the ring after the match, which seemed to indicate that a feud between the two was forthcoming. However, that would not be the case, and Studd & Bundy continued teaming up regularly for several more months. Studd's last match came on an episode of WWF Superstars (airing 11-15-86), where he teamed with Bundy to defeat The Machines.

After retiring for almost 3 years, Studd announced his return to the WWF on the Brother Love Show in late 1988. An elated Bobby Heenan appeared on the set to welcome Studd back to the Heenan family. Studd however rejected the offer and ran Heenan off the Brother Love set (thus turning face). Studd went on to feud with several members of the Heenan family, including his arch-nemesis André the Giant who had turned heel during Studd's absence. Studd won the 1989 Royal Rumble, which many consider to be the crowning achievement in his WWF career. Studd then served as a special guest referee in the match between Jake "The Snake" Roberts and André the Giant at WrestleMania V. Studd quit the WWF on June 6 1989.

Minton died from liver cancer and Hodgkin's disease on March 20, 1995. He is survived by his son John Minton, Jr., who accepted his plaque upon his posthumous induction to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. Minton, Jr. also participated in the fourth season of WWE Tough Enough.

Studd is referenced in the Limp Bizkit song "N 2Gether Now" featuring Method Man.
Acting career
Filmography

    * Micki + Maude (1984) as himself
    * The Protector (1985) as "Huge Hood"
    * Double Agent (1987) as "Igor"
    * Hyper Space (1989) as "Psycho"
    * Caged in Paradiso (1990) as "Big Man"
    * Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) as "Jack Daniels"
    * Shock 'Em Dead (1991) as "Officer Meak"
    * The Marrying Man (1991) as "Dante"

Television series appearances

    * The A-Team (November 12, 1985) in episode "Body Slam" as himself
    * Hunter (January 10, 1987) in episode "Bad Company" as "Randy"
    * Beauty and the Beast (March 18, 1988) in episode "To Reign in Hell" as "Erlick"

In wrestling

    * Finishing moves
          o Backbreaker
          o Reverse bearhug

    * Signature moves
          o Airplane spin
          o Double underhook suplex
          o Heart punch
          o Low-angle chokeslam
          o Piledriver

    * Managers
          o Freddie Blassie
          o "The Franchise" Justin Lee
          o Bobby Heenan

Championships and accomplishments

    * Championship Wrestling from Florida

        * NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jimmy Garvin

    * European Wrestling Union

        * EWU World Super Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

    * Georgia Championship Wrestling

        * NWA National Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Super Destroyer

    * Maple Leaf Wrestling

        * NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) (1 time)

    * Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

        * NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Ric Flair (1), Ken Patera (1), Masked Superstar #1 (1), and Roddy Piper (1)

    * NWA Big Time Wrestling

        * NWA American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
        * NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bull Ramos

    * NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions

        * NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (1 time)
        * NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Buddy Rose

    * NWA Southern Championship Wrestling

        * NWA Tennessee Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

    * Pro Wrestling Illustrated

        * PWI Tag Team of the Year (1976) – with Killer Kowalski

    * World Championship Wrestling

        * WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)

    * World Wrestling Association

        * WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ox Baker

    * World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment

        * WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)
        * WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Killer Kowalski
        * Royal Rumble (1989)

    * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

        * Most Overrated (1984)

http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/John%20Studd/Big_John_Studd_-_John_William_Minto.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii174/Bigshow79_album/Wrestlers/Big%20John%20Studd/c3f3_1.jpg


I remember the match with Andre The Giant.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/10 at 7:20 am


I remember the match with Andre The Giant.

Me too, I didn't like Big John that much.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:31 am

I shall take this as a day-by-day approach.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:34 am


Are the luckiest people. :)
In the world!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:36 am


Are the luckiest people. :)
In the world!
The word of the day...Forest
A forest is a large area where trees grow close together.
A forest of tall or narrow objects is a group of them standing or sticking upright.
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt264/Rawr_81/Landscapes/Autumn_Forest_in_the_Sun.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z15/submarinr/forest.jpg
http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a460/y68475riuhrwe/forest.jpg
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss161/sarbatra/Bosqueenfinlandia.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx293/childofnature/forestpics057.jpg
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz113/RomanV101/forest%20and%20nature%20images/redwood_national_forest_t2051.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n258/quntmphscs/LogginginStateforest.jpg
http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l442/Nethlindorniel/blends/robinhood2009.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh12/MaeAtNight/Scrap/Other/Extra/Untitled.png
Anyone using these as their Desktop Background?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:37 am


The person born on this day...Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise (pronounced /səˈniːs/; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor and film director. During his career, Sinise has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for Palme d'Or and an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed the film and played the role of George Milton in the movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Sinise was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his role as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump. He won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for his role in Truman. In 1996, he played a corrupt police officer in the Ron Howard dramatic hit Ransom. In 1998, Sinise was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for the television film George Wallace, a portrayal of the late Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., of Alabama.

Sinise currently stars in CBS's CSI: NY as Detective Mac Taylor. He recently narrated a biography for Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor at the Republican National Convention in support of John McCain's candidacy for President of the United States of America. In December 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal, the second highest civilian medal awarded to U.S. civilians. He received the medal from President George W. Bush for his humanitarian contributions to Iraqi school children and his involvement in the USO. He is the executive producer of Brothers at War, the award winning documentary about an American military family and the Iraq war.
1982, Sinise's career began to take off when he directed and starred in Steppenwolf's production of True West. In 1983, he earned an Obie Award for his direction and a year later appeared with John Malkovich in the PBS' American Playhouse production of the play. In 1988, Gary directed Miles from Home, a movie starring Richard Gere, about two brothers' fight against the foreclosure of the family farm. Sinise has appeared in many films including: Forrest Gump, Of Mice and Men (which he also directed), Apollo 13, Reindeer Games, Snake Eyes, Ransom, Mission to Mars, The Stand, Impostor and The Green Mile. He also narrated the audio books for John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and Of Mice and Men.

In 2004, he began his first regular television series, in the crime drama CSI: New York, in which he plays Detective Mac Taylor. He was credited as a producer from season 2 onwards and also wrote the storyline of an episode. Several episodes have allowed Sinise to demonstrate his musical prowess, including a Season 2 episode where Mac Taylor plays the bass guitar in a jazz club with musicians Kimo and Carol Williams and Danny Gottlieb, members of the Lt. Dan Band, which Sinise and Kimo Williams co-founded in 2003. The band is named for Sinise's character in Forrest Gump.

Apart from his television and movie work, Sinise is the host in the video for the Epcot ride Mission: SPACE, at Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL and the current model for Baume & Mercier watches. He also co-founded Operation Iraqi Children.

Sinise is also the narrator for the Discovery Channel's mini series When We Left Earth in 2008.
Gary Sinise playing bass in the Lt. Dan Band

Sinise was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal by George W. Bush for work he did supporting the U.S Military and humanitarian work supporting Iraqi children.

Sinise narrated Army and Army Reserve Army Strong recruitment ads in late 2008.

Sinise is the Executive Producer—along with David Scantling—of the Iraq War documentary Brothers at War. The film features an American military family and the experiences of three brothers: Jake Rademacher, Isaac Rademacher and Joseph Rademacher.

In 2009, Sinise co-narrated the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. with Joe Mantegna.

Sinise currently serves as the National Spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. He spends much of his time raising awareness for the Memorial and other veterans' service organizations.


In November 2009, Sinise narrated the highly acclaimed World War II in HD on the History Channel.
Personal life

Sinise has been married to actress Moira Harris since 1981 and they have three children together: Sophia Ana (b. 1988), McCanna Anthony (b. 1990), and Ella Jane (b. 1992). In 2003, Sinise was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by Amherst College.
Politics

Sinise's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (17 August 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Sinise has conservative Republican leanings. His CSI: NY co-star Hill Harper, a staunch supporter of President Barack Obama has noted that Sinise's political beliefs are much more conservative (than Harper's) but also says he and Sinise get along with each other on set and have decided not to discuss politics.

In June 2008, Sinise donated $2,300 to the Republican primary campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain.

Nicolle Wallace, a former adviser to George W. Bush and the presidential campaign of John McCain, stated in May 2009 that she believed Sinise could help bring about a resurgence of the Republican Party. Wallace stated, "The natural strengths that an actor brings to politics would come in handy to anyone going up against Obama in 2012. We will need an effective communicator who can stand toe to toe with Obama’s eloquence." Other names mentioned were those of Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno. Sinise later stated he had no intention of entering politics.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 Family Secrets Motorcyclist (TV)
True West Austin (TV broadcast of the play)
1989 The Final Days Richard Ben-Veniste (TV)
My Name is Bill W. Ebby, Bill's best friend (TV)
1991 The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad (TV)
1992 Of Mice and Men George Milton Also directed.
A Midnight Clear Vance 'Mother' Wilkins
The Witness Young Soldier (TV)
1993 Jack the Bear Norman Strick
1994 Forrest Gump Lt. Dan Taylor Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Stand Stu Redman (TV miniseries)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1995 Truman Harry S. Truman (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Apollo 13 Ken Mattingly Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Quick and the Dead The Marshal
1996 Ransom Det. Jimmy Shaker
Albino Alligator Milo
1997 George Wallace George C. Wallace (TV)
CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Snake Eyes Commander Kevin Dunne
1999 The Green Mile Burt Hammersmith
It's the Rage Morgan
That Championship Season Tom Daley (TV)
2000 Bruno Dino Battaglia
Mission to Mars Jim McConnell
Reindeer Games Gabriel Mercer
2002 A Gentleman's Game Foster Pearse
Path to War George Wallace
Made-Up Duncan Tivey
Impostor Spencer Olham
2003 Fallen Angel Terry (TV)
The Human Stain Nathan Zuckerman
Mission: SPACE (Disney Ride) Capcom
2004 The Forgotten Dr. Jack Munce
CSI: NY Det. Mac Taylor (TV series; 2004-present)
The Big Bounce Ray Ritchie
2006 Open Season Shaw (voice)http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/xxxxicexxxx/gary.jpg
2008 When We Left Earth Narrator (TV)
2009 On the Road in Iraq With Our Troops and Gary Sinise Himself
2009 WWII in HD Narrator (TV)
2010 One Last Wish Devon Johnson
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/flower_of_carnage/Famous%20Folk/CSI%20NY/gary-sinise-csi-781956.jpg

One very good actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:38 am


Oh yes...I did see Forrest Gump and I remember the character 'Lieutenant Dan' quite well.
One Great film!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:38 am


The person who was born on this day...Peter Graves
Peter Aurness (March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010), known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973. His brother is actor James Arness (born 1923).  Graves was born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a son of Rolf Cirkler Aurness (1894-1982), a businessman, and his wife Ruth (nee Duesler, died 1986), a journalist. Graves' ancestry was Norwegian and German. The family name originally was "Aursnes," but when Rolf's father, Peter Aursnes, immigrated to New York City in 1887, he changed the spelling.

Graves graduated from Southwest High School in 1944, and spent two years in the United States Army Air Force near the end of World War II. He then enrolled at the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill, and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Career
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2010)

Graves appeared in more than seventy films, TV shows and TV movies. He was featured as:

    * The rancher (Broken Wheel Ranch) and adoptive single father, Jim Newton, to a son played by child actor Bobby Diamond on the 1950s NBC television series Fury. The other costars were William Fawcett, who played the housekeeper and general ranch hand Pete Wilkey, and Roger Mobley, who appeared as Joey's friend Homer "Packy" Lambert.
    * Price, a German spy pretending to be a prisoner of war in the World War II film Stalag 17
    * A father on the run from the law in Night of the Hunter
    * Jim Phelps, the leader of the elite Impossible Missions Force in the CBS TV series Mission: Impossible
    * The host of a documentary concerning the Bigfoot craze of the 1970's called The Mysterious Monsters in 1976.
    * Major Noah Cooper, commander of the Fighting 69th squadron in the NBC TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
    * Captain Clarence Oveur in the comedies Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel
    * Colonel John Camden on the WB Network TV series 7th Heaven, with Barbara Rush as his wife, Ruth

From 1960–1961, Graves starred as leading character Christopher Cobb in 34 episodes of the TV series Whiplash. In the story line, Cobb is an American who arrives in Australia in the 1850s to establish the country's first stagecoach line, using a bullwhip rather than a gun to fight the crooks that he encounters. The series also starred Anthony Wickert. Graves also starred in Court Martial as well as guest roles in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Route 66.

In 1967, Graves was recruited by Desilu Studios to replace Steven Hill as the lead actor on Mission: Impossible. Graves played Jim Phelps, the sometimes gruff leader of the Impossible Missions Force or IMF, for the remaining six seasons of the series.

After the series ended in 1973, Graves played a cameo-type support role in the feature film Sidecar Racers in Australia which was released in 1975. Graves also made a guest appearance in the teen soap opera Class of '74 in mid-1974, playing himself.

In 1988, a Hollywood writers' strike resulted in a new Mission: Impossible series being commissioned. Graves was the only original cast member to return as a regular (although others made guest appearances). The series was filmed in Australia, and Graves made his third journey there for acting work. The new version of Mission: Impossible lasted for two seasons, ending in 1990. Bookending his work on Mission: Impossible, Graves starred in two pilot films called Call to Danger, which were an attempt to create a Mission: Impossible-style series in which Graves played a government agent (the Bureau of National Resources) who recruited civilians with special talents for secret missions. The 1960s version of the pilot, according to Patrick White in The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier (which White reports was actually the second such pilot, but Graves was not involved in the first), is credited with winning Graves the role of Phelps; after Mission: Impossible ended in 1973, Graves filmed a third version of the pilot (this one structured as a made-for-TV movie), but it did not sell as a series. The concept was later used in the brief 1980s adventure series Masquerade.
Handprints of Peter Graves in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

During the 1990s, he hosted the documentary series Biography on A&E. He also acted in a number of films featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which subsequently featured running jokes about Graves' Biography work and presumed sibling rivalry with Arness. The films that have been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 include SST: Death Flight, It Conquered the World, Beginning of the End, Parts: The Clonus Horror, and an uncredited voiceover in Attack of the the Eye Creatures. The movie Killers from Space was featured in The Film Crew, Michael J. Nelson's follow-up to MST3K. Graves himself parodied his Biography work in the film Men in Black II, hosting an exposé television show.

In the 1996 film update of Mission: Impossible, the character of Phelps was reimagined as a traitor who murders three fellow IMF agents, a decision that disappointed Graves. Jon Voight was cast as Phelps.

On October 30, 2009 Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2009, AirTran Airways featured Graves in a series of web-only "Internetiquette" videos in which Graves appeared in a pilot's uniform and references classic Airplane! lines. The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless Internet access.

In the summer of 2009, Graves signed on as a spokesperson for reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group (AAG). Graves appeared in a national commercial in which he educated seniors about the benefits of reverse mortgages.
Personal life

Graves was a devout Christian. He was married to Joan Endress from 1950 until his death. Their marriage produced three daughters: Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee, all of whom survive him. Graves had six grandchildren.
Death

Graves died of a heart attack on March 14, 2010, four days prior to his 84th birthday. The actor had just returned from brunch with his wife and children, collapsing before he could enter the house. Although one of his daughters administered CPR, she could not revive him.
Awards

Graves was awarded a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his role as Jim Phelps in the series Mission: Impossible. He also received nominations for an Emmy Award and Golden Globe awards in other seasons of that show. Graves also won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding informational series in 1997 as host of Biography.
Filmography

    * Winning Your Wings (1942) (short subject)
    * Up Front (1951)
    * Fort Defiance (1951)
    * The Congregation (1952)
    * Red Planet Mars (1952)
    * Stalag 17 (1953)
    * War Paint (1953)
    * East of Sumatra (1953)
    * Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
    * Killers from Space (1954)
    * The Yellow Tomahawk (1954)
    * The Raid (1954)
    * Black Tuesday (1954)
    * Fort Yuma (1955)
    * The Long Gray Line (1955)
    * Robbers' Roost (1955)
    * Wichita (1955)
    * The Naked Street (1955)
    * The Night of the Hunter (1955)
    * The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
    * It Conquered the World (1956)
    * Hold Back the Night (1956)
    * Canyon River (1956)
    * Beginning of the End (1957)
    * Bayou (1957)
    * Death in Small Doses (1957)
    * Wolf Larsen (1958)



    * A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
    * A Rage to Live (1965)
    * Texas Across the River (1966)
    * The Ballad of Josie (1967)
    * Mission: Impossible vs. the Mob (1968) (compilation of episodes released to European theaters)
    * Sergeant Ryker (1968)
    * The Five Man Army (1969)
    * Where Have All The People Gone? (1974) (TV movie)
    * Scream of the Wolf (1974)
    * Sidecar Racers (1975)
    * The Mysterious Monsters (1976) (documentary) (narrator)
    * High Seas Hijack (1978) (in English version)
    * The Clonus Horror (1979)
    * Survival Run (1980)
    * Airplane! (1980)
    * The Guns and the Fury (1981)
    * Savannah Smiles (1982)
    * Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    * The Winds of War (1983)
    * Aces Go Places 3 (1984)
    * Number One with a Bullet (1987)
    * War and Remembrance (1988)
    * Addams Family Values (1993)
    * 7th Heaven 11 episodes (1996–2007)
    * House on Haunted Hill (1999)
    * Men in Black II (2002)
    * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
    * House 1 episode (2005)
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e120/fitbear/PeterGraves.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i219/tracyharbur/PeterGravesAmandaBlakeandmydad.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:39 am


The person who died on this day...Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English-born American stage and screen actress. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Early in her career she portrayed Mary Shelley and Patty Hearst in feature films, and she received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret. Some of her notable films included Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Her first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox ended in divorce in 1992. In 1994 she married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom she had met when the two appeared in Anna Christie. The couple had two sons, Micheál and Daniel. Richardson's father died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS through the charity amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Richardson died in 2009 following a head injury sustained when she fell during a skiing lesson in Quebec.
Richardson was born and raised in London, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two leading independent schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. Soon after, she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' acclaimed revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005 she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in their revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski.
Film

Richardson portrayed Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalized account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her alleged kidnapping. Her performances opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak, and that same year appeared in Nell opposite Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. Additional film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role of the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the unreleased documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provides narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing."
Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 CBS miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her UK television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and starred in Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC.
Personal life
Richardson in 1999

Richardson's first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox lasted from 1990 to 1992. She married Irish actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared near Millbrook, New York; she had taken American citizenship. Richardson and Neeson have two sons: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996). Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Richardson was actively involved in amfAR, becoming a board of trustees member in 2006, and participated in many other AIDS charities including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

A long-time smoker although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken opponent of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.
Injury and death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: British actress Natasha Richardson dies at age 45

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head", and her death was ruled an accident.

On 19 March, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway and in London's West End as a mark of respect to Richardson. The following day, a private wake was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home, and Richardson was buried near her grandmother Rachel in the church cemetery.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1986 Gothic Mary Shelley
1987 A Month in the Country Alice Keach
1988 Patty Hearst Patty Hearst
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Jean Tatlock
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate/Offred Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
The Comfort of Strangers Mary
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs Edwina Broome Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — Best Actress
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up In Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
Asylum Stella Raphael Executive producer
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Awards — Best Actress
2007 Evening Constance Lord
2008 Wild Child Mrs. Kingsley Final film appearance
TBA The Wildest Dream Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory) Voice only, final performance, Liam Neeson narrated.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Oxbridge Blues Gabriella
1985 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Violet Hunter Episode — "The Copper Beeches"
1987 Ghosts Regina
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
Hostages Jill Morrell
Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef Guest Judge
Theatre
Year Production Role Notes
1983 On the Razzle
Top Girls
Charley's Aunt
1985 The Seagull Nina Plays and Players - Most Promising Newcomer Award
A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena
Hamlet Ophelia
1987 High Society Tracy
1993 Anna Christie Anna London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award (London production)
Outer Critics Circle Award — Outstanding Debut of an Actress
Theatre World Award — Outstanding Debut
Nominated — Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998 Cabaret Sally Bowles Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999 Closer Anna
2003 The Lady from the Sea
2005 A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa177/keancharles/Natasha_Richardson.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk90/notiziegossip/album2/NatashaRichardson.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:40 am


I never got on a plane until my early 20's.
I never flew in Concorde.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 11:45 am


The person who died on this day...Arthur C. Clarke
Sri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, a collaboration which also produced the film of the same name; and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction.

Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician from 1941–1946. He proposed a satellite communication system in 1945 which won him the Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal in 1963. He was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1947–1950 and again in 1953. Later, he helped fight for the preservation of lowland gorillas.

Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956 largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving, and lived there until his death. He was knighted by the British monarchy in 1998, and was awarded Sri Lanka's highest civil honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005.
While Clarke had a few stories published in fanzines, between 1937 and 1945, his first professional sales appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946: "Loophole" was published in April, while "Rescue Party", his first sale, was published in May. Along with his writing Clarke briefly worked as Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts (1949) before devoting himself to writing full-time from 1951 onward. Clarke also contributed to the Dan Dare series published in Eagle, and his first three published novels were written for children.

Clarke corresponded with C. S. Lewis in the 1940s and 1950s and they once met in an Oxford pub, The Eastgate, to discuss science fiction and space travel. Clarke, after Lewis's death, voiced great praise for him, saying the Ransom Trilogy was one of the few works of science fiction that could be considered literature.

In 1948 he wrote "The Sentinel" for a BBC competition. Though the story was rejected, it changed the course of Clarke's career. Not only was it the basis for A Space Odyssey, but "The Sentinel" also introduced a more mystical and cosmic element to Clarke's work. Many of Clarke's later works feature a technologically advanced but still-prejudiced mankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence. In the cases of The City and the Stars (and its original version, Against the Fall of Night), Childhood's End, and the 2001 series, this encounter produces a conceptual breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution. In Clarke's authorized biography, Neil McAleer writes that: "many readers and critics still consider Arthur C. Clarke's best novel."

Clarke lived in Sri Lanka from 1956 until his death in 2008, having emigrated there when it was still called Ceylon, first in Unawatuna on the south coast, and then in Colombo. Clarke held citizenship of both the UK and Sri Lanka. He was an avid scuba diver and a member of the Underwater Explorers Club. In addition to writing, Clarke and business partner, Mike Wilson set up several diving-related ventures. In 1961, while filming off Great Basses Reef, Wilson found a wreck and retrieved silver coins. Plans to dive on the wreck the following year were stopped when Clarke developed paralysis, ultimately diagnosed as polio. A year later, Clarke observed the salvage from the shore and the surface. The ship, ultimately identified as belonging to the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, yielded fused bags of silver rupees, cannons, and other artifacts, carefully documented, became the basis for The Treasure of the Great Reef. Living in Sri Lanka and learning its history also inspired the backdrop for his novel The Fountains of Paradise in which he described a space elevator. This, he believed, would make rocket based access to space obsolete and, more so than geostationary satellites, would ultimately be his scientific legacy.

His many predictions culminated in 1958 when he began a series of essays in various magazines that eventually became Profiles of the Future published in book form in 1962. A timetable up to the year 2100 describes inventions and ideas including such things as a "global library" for 2005. The same work also contained "Clarke's First Law" and text which would become Clarke's three laws in later editions.
Later years

In the early 1970s Clarke signed a three-book publishing deal, a record for a science-fiction writer at the time. The first of the three was Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, which won him all the main genre awards and has spawned sequels that, along with the 2001 series, formed the backbone of his later career.

In 1975 Clarke's short story "The Star" was not included in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka because of concerns that it might offend Roman Catholics even though it had already been selected. The same textbook also caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare's work with that of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Isaac Asimov.

In the 1980s Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe. In 1986 he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1988 he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, having originally contracted polio in 1962, and needed to use a wheelchair most of the time thereafter. Sir Arthur C Clarke was for many years a Vice Patron of the British Polio Fellowship.

In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to British cultural interests in Sri Lanka". The same year he became the first Chancellor of the International Space University, serving from 1989 to 2004 and he also served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.

In 1994, Clarke appeared in a science fiction film; he portrayed himself in the telefilm Without Warning, an American production about an apocalyptic alien first contact scenario presented in the form of a faux newscast.

On 26 May 2000 he was made a Knight Bachelor "for services to literature" at a ceremony in Colombo. The award of a knighthood had been announced in the 1998 New Year Honours, but investiture with the award had been delayed, at Clarke's request, because of an accusation, by the British tabloid The Sunday Mirror, of paedophilia. The charge was subsequently found to be baseless by the Sri Lankan police. According to The Daily Telegraph (London), the Mirror subsequently published an apology, and Clarke chose not to sue for defamation. Clarke was then duly knighted.

Although he and his home were unharmed by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami, his "Arthur C. Clarke Diving School" at Hikkaduwa was destroyed. He made humanitarian appeals, and the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation worked towards a better disaster notification systems. The school has since been rebuilt.

In September 2007, he provided a video greeting for NASA's Cassini probe's flyby of Iapetus (which plays an important role in 2001: A Space Odyssey). In December 2007 on his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans bidding them good-bye.

Clarke died in Sri Lanka on 19 March 2008 after suffering from breathing problems, according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides. His aide described the cause as respiratory complications and heart failure stemming from post-polio syndrome.

Only a few days before he died, he had reviewed the manuscript of his final work, The Last Theorem, on which he had collaborated by e-mail with his contemporary Frederik Pohl. The book was published after Clarke's death. Clarke was buried in Colombo in traditional Sri Lankan fashion on 22 March. His younger brother, Fred Clarke, and his Sri Lankan adoptive family were among the thousands in attendance.
The Big Three

Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein became known as the "Big Three" of science fiction. Clarke and Heinlein began writing to each other after The Exploration of Space was published in 1951, and first met in person the following year. They remained on cordial terms for many years, including visits in the United States and Sri Lanka. During a 1984 meeting at the home of Larry Niven in California, however, Heinlein attacked Clarke verbally over his views on United States foreign and space policy (especially the Strategic Defense Initiative). Although the two reconciled, formally, they remained distant until Heinlein's death in 1988.

Clarke and Asimov first met in New York City in 1973, and they traded friendly insults and jabs for decades. They established a verbal agreement, the "Clarke–Asimov Treaty", that when asked who was best, the two would say Clarke was the best science fiction writer and Asimov was the best science writer. In 1972, Clarke put the "treaty" on paper in his dedication to Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations.
Position on religion

Themes of religion and spirituality appear in much of Clarke's writing, though his position on "Religion" is ultimately somewhat complicated. He said, "Any path to knowledge is a path to God—or Reality, whichever word one prefers to use". and described himself as 'fascinated by the concept of God'. When he entered the RAF, he insisted that his dog tags be marked "pantheist" rather than the default, Church of England. In 2000, Clarke told the Sri Lankan newspaper, The Island, "I don't believe in God or an afterlife," and he identifies himself as an atheist. He was honoured as a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. He has also described himself as a "crypto-Buddhist", insisting that Buddhism is not a religion. He displayed little interest about religion early in his life, for example, only discovering a few months after marrying his wife, that she had strong Presbyterian beliefs.

In a three-day "dialogue on man and his world" with Alan Watts, Clarke stated that he was biased against religion and said that he could not forgive religions for what he perceived as their inability to prevent atrocities and wars over time.

In a reflection of the dialogue where he more broadly stated "mankind", his introduction to the penultimate episode of Mysterious World, entitled, Strange Skies, Clarke said, "I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers."

Near the very end of that same episode, the last segment of which covered the Star of Bethlehem, he stated that his favourite theory was that it might be a pulsar. Given that pulsars were discovered in the interval between his writing the short story, The Star (1955), and making Mysterious World (1980), and given the more recent discovery of pulsar PSR B1913+16, he said, "How romantic, if even now, we can hear the dying voice of a star, which heralded the Christian era."

Clarke left written instructions for a funeral that stated: "Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral."

A famous quote of Clarke's is often cited: "One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion."
Views on paranormal phenomena

Early in his career, Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal and stated that it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood's End. Citing the numerous promising paranormal claims that were shown to be fraudulent, Clarke described his earlier openness to the paranormal having turned to being "an almost total skeptic" by the time of his 1992 biography. During interviews, both in 1993 and 2004–2005, he stated that he did not believe in reincarnation, citing that there was no mechanism to make it possible, though he stated "I'm always paraphrasing J. B. S. Haldane: 'The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine.'" (He loved quoting Haldane.) He described the idea of reincarnation as fascinating, but favored a finite existence.

Clarke was well known for his television series investigating paranormal phenomena Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers, enough to be parodied in an episode of The Goodies in which his show is canceled after it is claimed he does not exist.
Themes, style, and influences

Clarke's work is marked by an optimistic view of science empowering mankind's exploration of the Solar System, and the world's oceans. Clarke's images of the future often feature a Utopian setting with highly developed technology, ecology, and society, based on the author's ideals. His early published stories would usually feature the extrapolation of a technological innovation or scientific breakthrough into the underlying decadence of his own society.

"The Sentinel" (1948) introduced a religious theme to Clarke's work, a theme that he later explored more deeply in The City and the Stars (and its earlier version, Against the Fall of Night). Surprisingly for a writer who is often held up as an example of hard science fiction's obsession with technology, three of Clarke's novels have this as a theme. Another theme of "The Sentinel" was the notion that the evolution of an intelligent species would eventually make them something close to gods, which was also explored in his 1953 novel Childhood's End. He also briefly touched upon this idea in his novel Imperial Earth. This idea of transcendence through evolution seems to have been influenced by Olaf Stapledon, who wrote a number of books dealing with this theme. Clarke has said of Stapledon's 1930 book Last and First Men that "No other book had a greater influence on my life ... and its successor Star Maker (1937) are the twin summits of literary career".

Clarke also took a major interest in "Inner Space", which can be seen in his stories, Big Game Hunt, The Deep Range and The Shining Ones, as well as Dolphin Island.
Adapted screenplays
2001: A Space Odyssey

Clarke's first venture into film was the Stanley Kubrick directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick and Clarke had met in New York City in 1964 to discuss the possibility of a collaborative film project. As the idea developed, it was decided that the story for the film was to be loosely based on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", written in 1948 as an entry in a BBC short story competition. Originally, Clarke was going to write the screenplay for the film, but Kubrick suggested during one of their brainstorming meetings that before beginning on the actual script, they should let their imaginations soar free by writing a novel first, which the film would be based on upon its completion. "This is more or less the way it worked out, though toward the end, novel and screenplay were being written simultaneously, with feedback in both directions. Thus I rewrote some sections after seeing the movie rushes -- a rather expensive method of literary creation, which few other authors can have enjoyed." The novel ended up being published a few months after the release of the movie.

Due to the hectic schedule of the film's production, Kubrick and Clarke had difficulty collaborating on the book. Clarke completed a draft of the novel at the end of 1964 with the plan to publish in 1965 in advance of the film's release in 1966. After many delays the film was released in the spring of 1968, before the book was completed. The book was credited to Clarke alone. Clarke later complained that this had the effect of making the book into a novelisation, that Kubrick had manipulated circumstances to downplay Clarke's authorship. For these and other reasons, the details of the story differ slightly from the book to the movie. The film contains little explanation for the events taking place. Clarke, on the other hand, wrote thorough explanations of "cause and effect" for the events in the novel. James Randi later recounted that upon seeing 2001 for the first time, Clarke left the movie theatre during the first break crying because he was so upset about how the movie had turned out. Despite their differences, both film and novel were well received.

In 1972, Clarke published The Lost Worlds of 2001, which included his accounts of the production, and alternate versions, of key scenes. The "special edition" of the novel A Space Odyssey (released in 1999) contains an introduction by Clarke in which he documents the events leading to the release of the novel and film.
2010

In 1982 Clarke continued the 2001 epic with a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two. This novel was also made into a film, 2010, directed by Peter Hyams for release in 1984. Because of the political environment in America in the 1980s, the film presents a Cold War theme, with the looming tensions of nuclear warfare not featured in the novel. The film was not considered to be as revolutionary or artistic as 2001, but the reviews were still positive.

Clarke's email correspondence with Hyams was published in 1984. Titled The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, and co-authored with Hyams, it illustrates his fascination with the then-pioneering medium of email and its use for them to communicate on an almost daily basis at the time of planning and production of the film while living on different continents. The book also includes Clarke's list of the best science-fiction films ever made.

Clarke appeared in the film, first as the man feeding the pigeons while Dr. Heywood Floyd is engaged in a conversation in front of the White House. Later, in the hospital scene with David Bowman's mother, an image of the cover of Time portrays Clarke as the American President and Kubrick as the Russian Premier.
Rendezvous with Rama

Clarke's award-winning 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama was optioned many years ago, but is currently in "development hell". Director David Fincher is attached to the project, together with actor Morgan Freeman.
Beyond 2001

2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke's most famous work, was extended well beyond the 1968 movie as the Space Odyssey series. Its 1984 sequel, 2010 was based on Clarke's 1982 novel, 2010: Odyssey Two. There were two further sequels that have not been adapted to the cinema: 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey.

In 2061, Halley's Comet swings back to nearby Earth, and Clarke uses the event as an excuse to take an aged Dr. Heywood Floyd on a romp through the solar system, visiting the comet before crash-landing on Europa, where he discovers the fates of Dave Bowman, HAL 9000, and the Europan life-forms which have been protected by the Monoliths.

With 3001: The Final Odyssey, Clarke returns to examine the character of astronaut Frank Poole, who was killed outside Discovery by HAL in the original novel and film, but whose body was revived in the year 3001.
Essays and short stories

Most of Clarke's essays (from 1934 to 1998) can be found in the book Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (2000). Most of his short stories can be found in the book The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001). Another collection of early essays was published in The View from Serendip (1977), which also included one short piece of fiction, "When the Twerms Came". He wrote short stories under the pseudonyms of E. G. O'Brien and Charles Willis.
Concept of the geostationary communications satellite
Geostationary orbit
Main article: Geostationary orbit

Clarke's most important scientific contribution may be his idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He described this concept in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?, published in Wireless World in October 1945. The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honour.

However, it is not clear that this article was actually the inspiration for the modern telecommunications satellite. John R. Pierce, of Bell Labs, arrived at the idea independently in 1954 and he was actually involved in the Echo satellite and Telstar projects. Moreover, Pierce stated that the idea was "in the air" at the time and certain to be developed regardless of Clarke's publication. In an interview given shortly before his death, Clarke was asked whether he thought communications satellites would become important; he replied

    "I'm often asked why I didn't try to patent the idea of communications satellites. My answer is always, ‘A patent is really a license to be sued.' "

Though different from Clarke's idea of telecom relay, the idea of communicating with satellites in geostationary orbit itself had been described earlier. For example, the concept of geostationary satellites was described in Hermann Oberth's 1923 book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) and then the idea of radio communication with those satellites in Herman Potočnik's (written under the pseudonym Hermann Noordung) 1928 book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums — der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor) sections: Providing for Long Distance Communications and Safety and (possibly referring to the idea of relaying messages via satellite, but not that 3 would be optimal) Observing and Researching the Earth's Surface published in Berlin. Clarke acknowledged the earlier concept in his book Profiles of the Future.
Awards, honours and other recognition

    * He won the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science in 1961.
    * Following the release of 2001, Clarke became much in demand as a commentator on science and technology, especially at the time of the Apollo space program. The fame of 2001 was enough to get the Command Module of the Apollo 13 craft named "Odyssey".
    * Shared a 1969 Academy Award nomination with Stanley Kubrick in the category, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
    * In 1986, Clarke provided a grant to fund the prize money (initially £1,000) for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel published in the United Kingdom in the previous year. In 2001 the prize was increased to £2001, and its value now matches the year (e.g., £2005 in 2005).
    * Clarke received a CBE in 1989, and was knighted in 2000. Clarke's health did not allow him to travel to London to receive the honour personally from the Queen, so the United Kingdom's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka invested him as a Knight Bachelor at a ceremony in Colombo.
    * In 1994, Clarke was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by law professor Glenn Reynolds.
    * In 2000, he was named a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
    * The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter is named in honour of Sir Arthur's works.
    * In 2003, Sir Arthur was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology where he appeared on stage via a 3-D hologram with a group of old friends which included Jill Tarter, Neil Armstrong, Lewis Branscomb, Charles Townes, Freeman Dyson, Bruce Murray and Scott Brown.
    * In 2004, Sir Arthur was awarded the Heinlein Award for outstanding achievement in hard or science-oriented science fiction.
    * In 2005 he lent his name to the inaugural Sir Arthur Clarke Awards — dubbed "the Space Oscars". His brother attended the awards ceremony, and presented an award specially chosen by Arthur (and not by the panel of judges who chose the other awards) to the British Interplanetary Society.
    * On 14 November 2005 Sri Lanka awarded Arthur C. Clarke its highest civilian award, the Sri Lankabhimanya (The Pride of Sri Lanka), for his contributions to science and technology and his commitment to his adopted country.
    * Sir Arthur was the Honorary Board Chair of the Institute for Cooperation in Space, founded by Carol Rosin, and served on the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, a space advocacy organisation originally founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun.
    * An asteroid was named in Clarke's honour, 4923 Clarke (the number was assigned prior to, and independently of, the name - 2001, however appropriate, was unavailable, having previously been assigned to Albert Einstein).
    * A species of ceratopsian dinosaur, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei, discovered in Inverloch in Australia.
    * The Learning Resource Centre at Richard Huish College, Taunton, which Clarke attended when it was Huish Grammar School, is named after him.
    * Clarke was a distinguished vice-president of the H. G. Wells Society, being strongly influenced by H. G. Wells as a science-fiction writer.

Partial bibliography
Main article: List of works by Arthur C. Clarke
Select Novels

    * Prelude to Space (1951)
    * The Sands of Mars (1951)
    * Childhood's End (1953)
    * The City and the Stars (1956)
    * A Fall of Moondust (1961) (Hugo nominee, 1963)
    * 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
    * Rendezvous with Rama (1972) (BSFA and Nebula Awards winner, 1973; Hugo, Campbell, and Locus Awards winner, 1974)
    * A Meeting with Medusa (Nebula Award for best novella) (1972)
    * Imperial Earth (1975)
    * The Fountains of Paradise (1979) (Hugo Award winner, BSFA nominee, 1979; and Nebula Award winner, Locus Award nominee, 1980)
    * 2010: Odyssey Two (1982) (Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1983)
    * The Songs of Distant Earth (1986)
    * 2061: Odyssey Three (1987)
    * 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
    * The Light of Other Days (2000) (with Stephen Baxter)

Short story collections

    * Expedition to Earth (1953)
    * Reach for Tomorrow (1956)
    * Tales from the White Hart (1957)
    * The Other Side of the Sky (1958)
    * Tales of Ten Worlds (1962)
    * The Nine Billion Names of God (1967)
    * The Wind from the Sun (1972)
    * The Best of Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
    * The Sentinel (1983)
    * The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

Non-fiction

    * The Exploration of Space. New York: Harper, 1951
    * Voice Across the Sea. New York: Harper, 1958
    * Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age. New York: Harper & Row, 1965
    * Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography. London: Gollancz, 1989
    * Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! : Collected Works 1934-1998. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999
    * The View From Serendip. Random House. ISBN 0394417968.  1977
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/matchufu123/accWinCE.png
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd91/MuadDib34/Arthur_C_Clarke.jpg
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2008/03/19/2001_460.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/10 at 12:05 pm

British Person of the Day: David Thewlis

David Thewlis (né Wheeler; born 20 March 1963) is an English film, television and stage actor, as well as a writer. He is best known as an actor in the U.S. for his portrayal of Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter movie series.

Early life

Thewlis, second of three children, was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, the son of Maureen (née Thewlis) and Alec Raymond Wheeler. Both of his parents worked at his father's shop, which sold toys in the summer and wallpaper and paint in the winter. As a teenager, he played in a rock band called QED, in which he, Cliff Ashcroft and Chris Swift wrote much of their own music and lyrics. QED played at some of the Blackpool hotels to earn money for equipment and their first recording session at Storm Studios in Blackpool. Later, Thewlis played lead guitar with a punk-rock band called Door 66. As a musician he was "doing nicely, doing good" and did not want to be an actor. He enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London only because his friends did.

Thewlis graduated in 1984. When he went to register with the actors' union, he intended to use Wheeler as his stage name, but a "David Wheeler" already existed. His mother's maiden name was the first that came to mind.

Career

His first acting job was in a play entitled Buddy Holly at the Regal in Greenwich. Thewlis' first major film role was as the rambling street philosopher Johnny in Naked (1993; dir. Mike Leigh), for which he was named best actor by the National Society of Film Critics (United States), the London Film Critics Circle, the Evening Standard, the New York Film Critics' Circle and the Cannes Film Festival. Despite the dark nature of the film, he has been critically acclaimed for the role and it is seen as one of his best roles. The same year he appeared on television as the sexual predator James Jackson in Prime Suspect 3, opposite Helen Mirren and Ciaran Hinds. Prior to this Thewlis's first television appearance was alongside Ken Jones in Valentine Park.

Through the 1990s, Thewlis appeared in a variety of films, mostly fantasy and period, including Restoration (1995), Black Beauty (1994), Total Eclipse (1995) with Leonardo DiCaprio, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), Dragonheart (1996), and Seven Years in Tibet (1997), opposite Brad Pitt (because of this film, Thewlis is barred from entering China). He was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Divorcing Jack (1998), and played Clov in a (2000) television film of Samuel Beckett's Endgame. Notable appearances also include Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged (1998) and Paul McGuigan's Gangster No. 1 (2000), opposite Malcolm McDowell.

He auditioned for the role of Professor Quirrell in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but the role was given to Ian Hart. Despite missing out for the first film, in 2004, he was cast as Remus Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Thewlis did not have to audition for the part as he was director Alfonso Cuarón's first choice for the role. He accepted it on advice from Ian Hart, who told him that Lupin was "the best part in the book". He reprised the role in the fifth and sixth films in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and is slated to play the character again in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which is to be split into two films. He also appears in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Recent credits include Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Terrence Malick's The New World (2005) and The Omen (2006). As a director, he was nominated for a BAFTA for best short film for Hello, Hello, Hello (1995); he has also written, directed and starred in the feature Cheeky (2003). When researching for his role in Kingdom of Heaven, Thewlis went to the Hospitaller museum near his home, and the first thing he saw was a mannequin wearing the exact same costume that he wore in the film.

Personal life

In 1992, Thewlis married director Sara Sugarman; they divorced in 1993. He then had a relationship with Bill Oddie's daughter Kate Hardie.

In 2001 he began a relationship with actress Anna Friel, whom he met on a flight to Cannes. Friel had, coincidentally, starred in Sara Sugarman's 1999 film Mad Cows. They both starred in the 2003 film Timeline although they shared no scenes together.

Together they have one daughter, Gracie Ellen Mary Friel (born 9 July 2005). Thewlis noted that he was "excited" and "not at all scared" by fatherhood, and that he loves children. If he was not an actor he would be a teacher as he believes "the most beautiful sound is a child laughing". During Friel's pregnancy he gave up smoking, began jogging and eating more healthily and lost weight.

Thewlis owns a converted Victorian ballroom in Clerkenwell, whilst Friel owns a house in Windsor, so the couple divide their time in each property. Their house in Windsor is located near the Long Walk and Windsor Castle; Thewlis once recounted that he "can lie in bed and watch the Queen ride by". He also is often mistaken for fellow actor Rhys Ifans: "Twice a week, people come up to me and say, 'You were great in Notting Hill'. The public seem to think we are the same person." Thewlis has also recently published a novel called The Late Hector Kipling (2007).

Filmography

Actor- Filmography:

London Boulevard (2010) .... Jordan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010) .... Remus Lupin
Mr. Nice (2010) .... Jim McCann
Veronika Decides to Die (2009) .... Dr. Blake
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) .... Remus Lupin
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) .... Father
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) .... Remus Lupin
The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007) .... Martin Frost
Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction (2006) .... Roy Washburn
Take 7 (2006) .... Jonathan
New World, The (2005) .... Capt. Wingfield
Kingdom of Heaven (2005) .... Hospitaller
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) .... Remus Lupin
Timeline (2003) .... Robert Doniger
Cheeky (2003) .... Harry Sankey
D.I.Y. Hard (2002)
"Dinotopia" (2002/II) (mini) TV Series .... Cyrus Crabb
Hamilton Mattress (2001) (TV) (voice) .... Hamilton Mattress
Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001) .... Dad
Endgame (2000) (TV) .... Clov
Gangster No. 1 (2000) .... Freddie Mays
Miracle Maker, The (2000) (TV) (voice) .... Judas Iscariot
Love Story (1999/I) (TV)
Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999) .... Nesbit
Besieged (1998) .... Jason Kinsky
Divorcing Jack (1998) .... Dan Starkey
Big Lebowski, The (1998) .... Knox Harrington
Seven Years in Tibet (1997) .... Peter Aufschnaiter
American Perfekt (1997) .... Santini
Island of Dr. Moreau, The (1996) .... Edward Douglas
Dragonheart (1996) .... King Einon
James and the Giant Peach (1996) (voice) .... Earthworm
Restoration (1995) .... John Pearce
Total Eclipse (1995) .... Paul Verlaine
Black Beauty (1994) .... Jerry Barker
"Dandelion Dead" (1993) (mini) TV Series .... Oswald Martin
"Prime Suspect 3" (1993) (mini) TV Series .... James Jackson
Naked (1993) .... Johnny
Trial, The (1993) .... Franz
Black and Blue (1992) (TV) .... Crematorium attendant
Fatale (1992) .... Detective
Journey to Knock (1991) (TV) .... Terry
Screen One: Filipina Dreamgirls (1991) (TV) .... Tim Shanks
Afraid of the Dark (1991) .... Locksmith/Tom Miller
Life Is Sweet (1990) .... Nicola's Lover
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1990) (TV) .... Doctor
Skulduggery (1989) (TV) .... Tony
Resurrected (1989) .... Kevin Deakin
"Bit of a Do, A" (1989) TV Series .... Paul Simcock (Series 1)
Vroom (1988) .... Ringe
Little Dorrit (1988) .... George Braddle
Road (1987) .... Joey
Short and Curlies, The (1987) (TV) .... Clive
"Singing Detective, The" (1986) (mini) TV Series .... 2nd Soldier
"Valentine Park" (1985) TV Series .... Max

Director-Filmography:

Cheeky (2003)
Hello, Hello, Hello (1995)

Writer-Filmography:

Cheeky (2003)
Hello, Hello, Hello (1995)

Himself - filmography:

Discovering Dinotopia (2002) (TV) .... Cyrus

Notable TV Guest Appearances:

"Frank Stubbs Promotes" (1993) playing "Mike Bence" in episode: "Striker" (episode # 1.6) 16 August 1993
"Only Fools and Horses" (1981) playing "Stew" in episode: "It's Only Rock and Roll" (episode # 4.4) 14 March 1985

http://charlespaolino.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/davidthewlis004.jpg

http://palomitasconrefresco.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/david-thewlis.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/20/10 at 1:26 pm


In the world!Anyone using these as their Desktop Background?

I might like to, but not at the moment; I have a nice picturesque desktop background.

Maybe I'll just save them to my pictures folder.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/20/10 at 2:48 pm


Me too, I didn't like Big John that much.


he went from heel to fan favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/20/10 at 3:43 pm


How did I know you would do him ;D...Very interesting..Thanks Frank. :)

Bobby Orr was my favorite player growing up. He was the man. Got my 1st Bobby Orr #4 hockey jersey back in about 1971 or 1972.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/21/10 at 2:48 am

British Person of the Day: Gary Oldman

Almost from the start of his career, Gary Oldman displayed an edgy intensity that brought verve to his portrayals of ambiguous and obsessive personalities. Equally at home as either heroes or villains (although his resume boasted far more of the latter), this lean, wiry actor from South London gained a well-earned reputation as a brilliant chameleon. Decidedly private about his personal life, Oldman was briefly married to actress Uma Thurman, whom he had met during the shooting of “Henry and June” (1990). Despite a twelve-year age difference, the two stars wed soon after the film, but their union would last just two years. An acknowledged inspiration to such young up-and- comers as Bo Barrett, Ryan Gosling and Shia LaBeouf, Oldman’s status as an elder statesman seemed assured. But despite his high standing among fellow actors and scores of critically acclaimed roles under his belt, Oldman had yet to be nominated for an Academy Award – a shame given his stature as one of the most gifted actors of his generation.

The son of a welder and a housewife, Leonard Gary Oldman was born on Mar. 21, 1958 in New Cross, London, England. An academically indifferent student, Oldman dropped out of school at 16 and found a job as a store clerk. He soon discovered his métier on stage, becoming active in the Young People's Theater in Greenwich, England. He later won a scholarship to attend the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent. Graduating in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts, Oldman quickly found regular gigs on stage. Oldman’s hard work and trademark intensity made him a favorite in Glasgow in the mid 1980s, culminating in the lead role in Edward Bond’s socially-conscious drama, “The Pope’s Wedding.” A huge hit with critics, the play earned Oldman’s two of the British stage’s top honors: the Time Out's Fringe Award for Best Newcomer of 1985-86 and the British Theatre Association's Drama Magazine Award as Best Actor of 1985.

Segueing into television in the mid-to-late 1980s, Oldman brought some of his famous intensity to his small screen roles. An early example was evidenced in one of Oldman’s first screen performances as an explosive skinhead in director Mike Leigh's telefilm "Meantime" (BBC, 1983). Oldman later consolidated his wild man persona with two very different, yet similarly doomed iconoclastic figures from English culture: punk rock legend Sid Vicious in the poignant and uncompromising cult classic "Sid and Nancy" (1986), and later the irreverent gay playwright Joe Orton in the finely tuned biopic "Prick up Your Ears" (1987). Though excellent in both roles, Oldman was more remembered for his turn as Vicious, portraying the heroin-addicted bassist in frighteningly accurate fashion. Meanwhile, Oldman continued his exploration of human darkness, traveling to North Carolina to play the mysterious long-lost son of Theresa Russell in Nicolas Roeg's bizarre psychological drama "Track 29" (1987).

In the United States, Oldman displayed his remarkable talent for mimicking American accents and myriad regional dialects. The fruits of his labor resulted in Oldman giving convincing performances as a coldhearted big-city attorney in "Criminal Law" (1988), a down-home Southern fried mental institution inmate in "Chattahoochee" (1990) and an Irish-American gangster in "State of Grace" (1990). But it was his dead-on impersonation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's "JFK" (1991) that truly cemented his status as a human chameleon – few were able to distinguish the actor’s characterization from the stock footage of the real Oswald. Based on the strength of his performance in “JFK,” director Francis Ford Coppola offered him the lead in “Bran Stoker’s Dracula” (1992). As the titular bloodsucker, Oldman proved equally compelling in various incarnations – as a wizened old man, a dapper aristocrat and a snarling monster – standing out amid the lavish makeup and visually sumptuous costumes and sets. Oldman was predictably electrifying in his next outing, playing ruthless wannabe Rastafarian pimp Drexl Spivy in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted "True Romance" (1993). Though Oldman was onscreen for only a few minutes, his dominating performance echoed throughout the rest of the movie.

Like many actors, Oldman had his share of demons to battle – in his case, alcohol. Oldman’s off-screen binges led to occasional brushes with the law, including a 1991 arrest for driving under the influence. After he completed "The Scarlet Letter" (1995), Oldman checked into rehab and underwent treatment. Once sober, he returned to Hollywood to reactivate his career and raise money for “Nil By Mouth” (1997), a dream project he wanted to write and direct. Meanwhile, Oldman was seen in varying degrees of success, making villainous turns in "The Fifth Element" (1997), "Air Force One" (1997) and "Lost in Space" (1998). Finally, he managed to raise enough dough – thanks to an assist from “Fifth Element” director Luc Besson – and was able to make “Nil By Mouth,” a blistering semiautobiographical examination of a working-class family torn apart by alcoholism. From its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up the Best Actress trophy for Kathy Burke (as the abused wife), to its 1998 theatrical release, the film earned substantial critical praise for its unflinching writing, assured direction and stunning performances.

Oldman next lent his vocal talents to the animated feature "The Quest for Camelot" (1998), then made a rare excursion into television to play Pontius Pilate in the CBS miniseries "Jesus” (1999-2000). Later in 2000, he was back on the big screen as a conservative U.S. senator attempting to block the appointment of a female colleague as the first woman vice president in "The Contender," written and directed by Rod Lurie. The timely material – which included a sex scandal and pointed references to embattled U.S. president Bill Clinton – marked the actor's first time as an executive producer. Rumors of a tension-filled the set were rampant prior to the film's release and disputes between Oldman and Lurie soon became fodder for public consumption. Not one to suffer fools, Oldman expressed his unhappiness with his character’s depiction as the villain. While his arguments with Lurie and the film's distributor DreamWorks played out in the press, “The Contender” failed to make its mark with audiences.

Oldman found himself in another situation with his prominent follow-up role as the exorbitantly wealthy, but hideously disfigured Mason Verger in "Hannibal" (2001). Some reported that the actor originally wanted screen credit. But when he was relegated to third billing, he allegedly opted to take no credit at all. Other articles claimed that he did not want to be identified for the sake of surprise, since the character required prosthetics that would render whoever played the role unrecognizable. Producer Dino De Laurentiis clearly stated at a press conference, however, that Oldman was indeed playing the role, pointing out that an actor of that stature deserved to be recognized for his contribution to the film. Although he spent much of his career playing psychotics and sadistic characters, Oldman underwent a career makeover in the mid-2000s similar to that of Sir Ian McKellan. Eschewing his more typical adult-oriented fair, Oldman began accepting a string of roles that played to younger audiences.

Among his likeable, more sympathetic characters was Sirius Black, a recurring character in the “Harry Potter” series. First introduced in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), Oldman reprised his role for its two subsequent sequels, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005) and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2007). Around the same period, Oldman delighted comic book fan boys around the world by taking the role of Gotham City Police Lieutenant (and later Commissioner) Jim Gordon in “Batman Begins” (2005), a re-boot of the lucrative Batman film franchise. Oldman later reprised the role in “The Dark Knight” (2008). He next portrayed several characters in Disney’s 3-D animated take on the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol” (2009), lending both voice and image to Jacob Marley, former business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. Goldman also voiced General Grawl in “Planet 51” (2009), an animated spoof on alien culture and 1950s Americana.

    * Also Credited As:
      Gary Leonard Oldman, Leonard Gary Oldman, Maurice Escargot
    * Born:
      Gary Leonard Oldman on March 21, 1958 in London, England, United Kingdom
    * Job Titles:
      Actor, Director, Screenwriter, Musician, Producer, Sporting goods store clerk

Family

    * Father: Len Oldman. An abusive alcoholic who left his family when Oldman was seven; died of alcoholism c. 1984
    * Mother: Kathleen Oldman. Irish
    * Sister: Laila Morse. Born c. 1947; co-starred in Oldman s directorial debut Nil by Mouth (1997); best known as Mo Harris in the BBC s long-running series EastEnders
    * Son: Alfred Oldman. Born in 1988; mother, Lesley Manville
    * Son: Charlie John Oldman. Born in 1999; mother, Donya Fiorentino
    * Son: Gulliver Flynn Oldman. Born in Aug. 20, 1997; mother, Donya Fiorentino

Significant Others

    * Companion: Isabella Rossellini. Reportedly engaged to be married in 1994, but ended relationship in 1996
    * Wife: Alexandra Edenborough. Married in December 2008 in Santa Barbara, CA
    * Wife: Uma Thurman. Met on the set of State Of Grace (1990); married from 1990-1992
    * Companion: Isabella Rossellini. reportedly became engaged to be married in July 1994; separated in 1996

Education

    * Rose Bruford College, Kent, England, theater arts, BA, 1979

Milestones

    * 1974 Left school at age 16 and worked as a clerk in a sporting goods store
    * 1980 Joined Citizen s Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland; also toured Europe and South America with company
    * 1981 Film acting debut, Colin Gregg s Remembrance
    * 1983 Had a brief part as a skinhead in Mike Leigh s Meantime (BBC)
    * 1985 Came to prominence under the guidance of Max Stafford-Clark (artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre); made London stage debut in Edward Bond s The Pope s Wedding
    * 1986 First starring role in a feature, playing Sex Pistols member Sid Vicious in Alex Cox s Sid and Nancy
    * 1987 Offered a fine turn as playwright Joe Orton in the biopic Prick Up Your Ears
    * 1988 Re-teamed with director Colin Gregg on We Think the World of You ; played a young married man who is the object of a crush of an older gay man (Alan Bates)
    * 1989 American film debut portraying a slick attorney matching wits with a psychopath (Kevin Bacon) in Criminal Law
    * 1990 Portrayed a Southern man erroneously incarcerated in a mental institution in Chattahoochee
    * 1991 Offered an eerie portrayal of the alleged presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the Oliver Stone-directed JFK
    * 1991 With Tim Roth played the title characters in the film version of Tom Stoppard s play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
    * 1992 First US TV appearance in the A&E rebroadcast of the British TV-movie Heading Home
    * 1992 Gave a memorable interpretation of the titular bloodsucker in Francis Ford Coppola s Bram Stoker s Dracula
    * 1993 Delivered a mesmerizing turn as a dreadlocked drug dealer in Tony Scott s True Romance ; scripted by Quentin Tarantino
    * 1994 Cast as Ludwig von Beethoven in the biopic Immortal Beloved
    * 1994 Cast as a crooked cop in Romeo Is Bleeding
    * 1994 Portrayed a murderous DEA agent in Léon/The Professional ; first collaboration with director Luc Besson
    * 1995 Re-teamed with Kevin Bacon for Murder in the First ; played the sadistic prison warden opposite Bacon s portrayal of an Alcatraz inmate
    * 1996 Cast as art representative Albert Milo in Basquiat
    * 1997 Continued in the evil vein as the leader of a terrorist band that hijacks the presidential plane in Air Force One
    * 1997 Feature directorial debut, Nil by Mouth ; also scripted and served as one of the producers along with Luc Besson
    * 1997 Offered a scenery-chewing romp as the villain in Besson s The Fifth Element
    * 1998 Played Dr. Smith in the screen version of Lost in Space
    * 2000 Cast as a conservative US Senator challenging the appointment of a woman to the office of Vice President in The Contender ; also executive produced
    * 2000 Made rare television appearance as Pontius Pilate in the CBS biblical miniseries Jesus
    * 2001 Received an Emmy nomination for two guest appearances in NBC s Friends appearing as Richard Crosby, a pedantic actor who insists that real actors spit on one another when they enunciate
    * 2001 Starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, as Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter
    * 2004 Landed a major role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as Potter s godfather Sirius Black
    * 2005 Cast as Lieutenant Gordon, a detective on the Gotham police force in Christopher Nolan s commercially and critically acclaimed Batman Begins
    * 2005 Reprised role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, adapted from the fourth book in the series
    * 2007 Reprised role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, adapted from the fifth book in the series
    * 2008 Reprised role of Lieutenant Gordon in the second installment of the revived Batman series, The Dark Knight
    * 2009 Lent his voice to the animated sci-fi film, Planet 51
    * 2009 Voiced several character s, including Bob Cratchit, in Robert Zemeckis animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol
    * 2010 Played Carnegie, a corrupted mayor, alongside Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli, the post-apocalyptic drama directed by the Hughes brothers
    * Acted in productions at the Theatre Royal in York, England

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/21/10 at 2:49 am



British Person of the Day: Gary Oldman

Actor Credits

   * The Book of Eli (2010)
     Carnegie
   * Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)
     Bob Cratchit / Marley / Tiny Tim/ Voice of Bob Cratchit/ Marley/ Tiny Tim
   * Planet 51 (2009)
     Voice of General Grawl/ Voice of General Grawl
   * The Unborn (2009)
     Rabbi Sendak
   * The Dark Knight (2008)
     James Gordon
   * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
     Sirius Black
   * The Backwoods (2007)
   * Batman Begins (2005)
     Jim Gordon
   * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
     Sirius Black
   * Dead Fish (2004)
     Lynch
   * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
     Sirius Black
   * Tiptoes (2004)
     Rolfe
   * Interstate 60 (2003)
     OW Grant
   * Sin (2003)
   * Nobody's Baby (2001)
     Buford Dill
   * The Contender (2000)
     Shelly Runyon
   * Lost in Space (1998)
     Dr Smith/ Spider Smith
   * Quest for Camelot (1998)
     Voice of of Sir Ruber
   * Air Force One (1997)
     Ivan Korshunov
   * The Fifth Element (1997)
     Zorg
   * Basquiat (1996)
     Albert Milo
   * Murder in the First (1995)
     Warden Glenn
   * The Scarlet Letter (1995)
     Arthur Dimmesdale
   * Immortal Beloved (1994)
     Ludwig van Beethoven
   * Romeo Is Bleeding (1994)
     Jack Grimaldi
   * The Professional (1994)
     Stansfield
   * True Romance (1993)
     Drexl Spivey
   * Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy (1992)
     Himself
   * Bram Stoker s Dracula (1992)
     Dracula
   * J.F.K. (1991)
     Lee Harvey Oswald
   * Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1991)
     Rosencrantz
   * Chattahoochee (1990)
     Emmett Foley
   * Henry & June (1990)
     Pop
   * State of Grace (1990)
     Jackie
   * Criminal Law (1989)
     Ben Chase
   * Track 29 (1988)
     Martin
   * We Think the World of You (1988)
     Johnny
   * Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
     Joe Orton
   * Sid and Nancy (1986)
     Sid Vicious
   * Honest, Decent and True (1985)
     Derek
   * Remembrance (1981)
     Daniel
   * The Secret World of Superfans
     Himself

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 6:21 am


British Person of the Day: Gary Oldman

Almost from the start of his career, Gary Oldman displayed an edgy intensity that brought verve to his portrayals of ambiguous and obsessive personalities. Equally at home as either heroes or villains (although his resume boasted far more of the latter), this lean, wiry actor from South London gained a well-earned reputation as a brilliant chameleon. Decidedly private about his personal life, Oldman was briefly married to actress Uma Thurman, whom he had met during the shooting of “Henry and June” (1990). Despite a twelve-year age difference, the two stars wed soon after the film, but their union would last just two years. An acknowledged inspiration to such young up-and- comers as Bo Barrett, Ryan Gosling and Shia LaBeouf, Oldman’s status as an elder statesman seemed assured. But despite his high standing among fellow actors and scores of critically acclaimed roles under his belt, Oldman had yet to be nominated for an Academy Award – a shame given his stature as one of the most gifted actors of his generation.

The son of a welder and a housewife, Leonard Gary Oldman was born on Mar. 21, 1958 in New Cross, London, England. An academically indifferent student, Oldman dropped out of school at 16 and found a job as a store clerk. He soon discovered his métier on stage, becoming active in the Young People's Theater in Greenwich, England. He later won a scholarship to attend the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent. Graduating in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts, Oldman quickly found regular gigs on stage. Oldman’s hard work and trademark intensity made him a favorite in Glasgow in the mid 1980s, culminating in the lead role in Edward Bond’s socially-conscious drama, “The Pope’s Wedding.” A huge hit with critics, the play earned Oldman’s two of the British stage’s top honors: the Time Out's Fringe Award for Best Newcomer of 1985-86 and the British Theatre Association's Drama Magazine Award as Best Actor of 1985.

Segueing into television in the mid-to-late 1980s, Oldman brought some of his famous intensity to his small screen roles. An early example was evidenced in one of Oldman’s first screen performances as an explosive skinhead in director Mike Leigh's telefilm "Meantime" (BBC, 1983). Oldman later consolidated his wild man persona with two very different, yet similarly doomed iconoclastic figures from English culture: punk rock legend Sid Vicious in the poignant and uncompromising cult classic "Sid and Nancy" (1986), and later the irreverent gay playwright Joe Orton in the finely tuned biopic "Prick up Your Ears" (1987). Though excellent in both roles, Oldman was more remembered for his turn as Vicious, portraying the heroin-addicted bassist in frighteningly accurate fashion. Meanwhile, Oldman continued his exploration of human darkness, traveling to North Carolina to play the mysterious long-lost son of Theresa Russell in Nicolas Roeg's bizarre psychological drama "Track 29" (1987).

In the United States, Oldman displayed his remarkable talent for mimicking American accents and myriad regional dialects. The fruits of his labor resulted in Oldman giving convincing performances as a coldhearted big-city attorney in "Criminal Law" (1988), a down-home Southern fried mental institution inmate in "Chattahoochee" (1990) and an Irish-American gangster in "State of Grace" (1990). But it was his dead-on impersonation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's "JFK" (1991) that truly cemented his status as a human chameleon – few were able to distinguish the actor’s characterization from the stock footage of the real Oswald. Based on the strength of his performance in “JFK,” director Francis Ford Coppola offered him the lead in “Bran Stoker’s Dracula” (1992). As the titular bloodsucker, Oldman proved equally compelling in various incarnations – as a wizened old man, a dapper aristocrat and a snarling monster – standing out amid the lavish makeup and visually sumptuous costumes and sets. Oldman was predictably electrifying in his next outing, playing ruthless wannabe Rastafarian pimp Drexl Spivy in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted "True Romance" (1993). Though Oldman was onscreen for only a few minutes, his dominating performance echoed throughout the rest of the movie.

Like many actors, Oldman had his share of demons to battle – in his case, alcohol. Oldman’s off-screen binges led to occasional brushes with the law, including a 1991 arrest for driving under the influence. After he completed "The Scarlet Letter" (1995), Oldman checked into rehab and underwent treatment. Once sober, he returned to Hollywood to reactivate his career and raise money for “Nil By Mouth” (1997), a dream project he wanted to write and direct. Meanwhile, Oldman was seen in varying degrees of success, making villainous turns in "The Fifth Element" (1997), "Air Force One" (1997) and "Lost in Space" (1998). Finally, he managed to raise enough dough – thanks to an assist from “Fifth Element” director Luc Besson – and was able to make “Nil By Mouth,” a blistering semiautobiographical examination of a working-class family torn apart by alcoholism. From its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up the Best Actress trophy for Kathy Burke (as the abused wife), to its 1998 theatrical release, the film earned substantial critical praise for its unflinching writing, assured direction and stunning performances.

Oldman next lent his vocal talents to the animated feature "The Quest for Camelot" (1998), then made a rare excursion into television to play Pontius Pilate in the CBS miniseries "Jesus” (1999-2000). Later in 2000, he was back on the big screen as a conservative U.S. senator attempting to block the appointment of a female colleague as the first woman vice president in "The Contender," written and directed by Rod Lurie. The timely material – which included a sex scandal and pointed references to embattled U.S. president Bill Clinton – marked the actor's first time as an executive producer. Rumors of a tension-filled the set were rampant prior to the film's release and disputes between Oldman and Lurie soon became fodder for public consumption. Not one to suffer fools, Oldman expressed his unhappiness with his character’s depiction as the villain. While his arguments with Lurie and the film's distributor DreamWorks played out in the press, “The Contender” failed to make its mark with audiences.

Oldman found himself in another situation with his prominent follow-up role as the exorbitantly wealthy, but hideously disfigured Mason Verger in "Hannibal" (2001). Some reported that the actor originally wanted screen credit. But when he was relegated to third billing, he allegedly opted to take no credit at all. Other articles claimed that he did not want to be identified for the sake of surprise, since the character required prosthetics that would render whoever played the role unrecognizable. Producer Dino De Laurentiis clearly stated at a press conference, however, that Oldman was indeed playing the role, pointing out that an actor of that stature deserved to be recognized for his contribution to the film. Although he spent much of his career playing psychotics and sadistic characters, Oldman underwent a career makeover in the mid-2000s similar to that of Sir Ian McKellan. Eschewing his more typical adult-oriented fair, Oldman began accepting a string of roles that played to younger audiences.

Among his likeable, more sympathetic characters was Sirius Black, a recurring character in the “Harry Potter” series. First introduced in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), Oldman reprised his role for its two subsequent sequels, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005) and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2007). Around the same period, Oldman delighted comic book fan boys around the world by taking the role of Gotham City Police Lieutenant (and later Commissioner) Jim Gordon in “Batman Begins” (2005), a re-boot of the lucrative Batman film franchise. Oldman later reprised the role in “The Dark Knight” (2008). He next portrayed several characters in Disney’s 3-D animated take on the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol” (2009), lending both voice and image to Jacob Marley, former business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. Goldman also voiced General Grawl in “Planet 51” (2009), an animated spoof on alien culture and 1950s Americana.

    * Also Credited As:
      Gary Leonard Oldman, Leonard Gary Oldman, Maurice Escargot
    * Born:
      Gary Leonard Oldman on March 21, 1958 in London, England, United Kingdom
    * Job Titles:
      Actor, Director, Screenwriter, Musician, Producer, Sporting goods store clerk

Family

    * Father: Len Oldman. An abusive alcoholic who left his family when Oldman was seven; died of alcoholism c. 1984
    * Mother: Kathleen Oldman. Irish
    * Sister: Laila Morse. Born c. 1947; co-starred in Oldman s directorial debut Nil by Mouth (1997); best known as Mo Harris in the BBC s long-running series EastEnders
    * Son: Alfred Oldman. Born in 1988; mother, Lesley Manville
    * Son: Charlie John Oldman. Born in 1999; mother, Donya Fiorentino
    * Son: Gulliver Flynn Oldman. Born in Aug. 20, 1997; mother, Donya Fiorentino

Significant Others

    * Companion: Isabella Rossellini. Reportedly engaged to be married in 1994, but ended relationship in 1996
    * Wife: Alexandra Edenborough. Married in December 2008 in Santa Barbara, CA
    * Wife: Uma Thurman. Met on the set of State Of Grace (1990); married from 1990-1992
    * Companion: Isabella Rossellini. reportedly became engaged to be married in July 1994; separated in 1996

Education

    * Rose Bruford College, Kent, England, theater arts, BA, 1979

Milestones

    * 1974 Left school at age 16 and worked as a clerk in a sporting goods store
    * 1980 Joined Citizen s Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland; also toured Europe and South America with company
    * 1981 Film acting debut, Colin Gregg s Remembrance
    * 1983 Had a brief part as a skinhead in Mike Leigh s Meantime (BBC)
    * 1985 Came to prominence under the guidance of Max Stafford-Clark (artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre); made London stage debut in Edward Bond s The Pope s Wedding
    * 1986 First starring role in a feature, playing Sex Pistols member Sid Vicious in Alex Cox s Sid and Nancy
    * 1987 Offered a fine turn as playwright Joe Orton in the biopic Prick Up Your Ears
    * 1988 Re-teamed with director Colin Gregg on We Think the World of You ; played a young married man who is the object of a crush of an older gay man (Alan Bates)
    * 1989 American film debut portraying a slick attorney matching wits with a psychopath (Kevin Bacon) in Criminal Law
    * 1990 Portrayed a Southern man erroneously incarcerated in a mental institution in Chattahoochee
    * 1991 Offered an eerie portrayal of the alleged presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the Oliver Stone-directed JFK
    * 1991 With Tim Roth played the title characters in the film version of Tom Stoppard s play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
    * 1992 First US TV appearance in the A&E rebroadcast of the British TV-movie Heading Home
    * 1992 Gave a memorable interpretation of the titular bloodsucker in Francis Ford Coppola s Bram Stoker s Dracula
    * 1993 Delivered a mesmerizing turn as a dreadlocked drug dealer in Tony Scott s True Romance ; scripted by Quentin Tarantino
    * 1994 Cast as Ludwig von Beethoven in the biopic Immortal Beloved
    * 1994 Cast as a crooked cop in Romeo Is Bleeding
    * 1994 Portrayed a murderous DEA agent in Léon/The Professional ; first collaboration with director Luc Besson
    * 1995 Re-teamed with Kevin Bacon for Murder in the First ; played the sadistic prison warden opposite Bacon s portrayal of an Alcatraz inmate
    * 1996 Cast as art representative Albert Milo in Basquiat
    * 1997 Continued in the evil vein as the leader of a terrorist band that hijacks the presidential plane in Air Force One
    * 1997 Feature directorial debut, Nil by Mouth ; also scripted and served as one of the producers along with Luc Besson
    * 1997 Offered a scenery-chewing romp as the villain in Besson s The Fifth Element
    * 1998 Played Dr. Smith in the screen version of Lost in Space
    * 2000 Cast as a conservative US Senator challenging the appointment of a woman to the office of Vice President in The Contender ; also executive produced
    * 2000 Made rare television appearance as Pontius Pilate in the CBS biblical miniseries Jesus
    * 2001 Received an Emmy nomination for two guest appearances in NBC s Friends appearing as Richard Crosby, a pedantic actor who insists that real actors spit on one another when they enunciate
    * 2001 Starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, as Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter
    * 2004 Landed a major role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as Potter s godfather Sirius Black
    * 2005 Cast as Lieutenant Gordon, a detective on the Gotham police force in Christopher Nolan s commercially and critically acclaimed Batman Begins
    * 2005 Reprised role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, adapted from the fourth book in the series
    * 2007 Reprised role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, adapted from the fifth book in the series
    * 2008 Reprised role of Lieutenant Gordon in the second installment of the revived Batman series, The Dark Knight
    * 2009 Lent his voice to the animated sci-fi film, Planet 51
    * 2009 Voiced several character s, including Bob Cratchit, in Robert Zemeckis animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol
    * 2010 Played Carnegie, a corrupted mayor, alongside Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli, the post-apocalyptic drama directed by the Hughes brothers
    * Acted in productions at the Theatre Royal in York, England


A fine actor :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 6:36 am

The word of the day...Lion
A lion is a large wild member of the cat family that is found in Africa. Lions have yellowish fur, and male lions have long hair on their head and neck
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k244/OhFunkIt/lion.jpg
http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq11/MR2BOY23/lion-stare.jpg
http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt111/mark1234uk/2sideslion.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/hollywood43/myspace%20stuff/The-Lion-King.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s63/ProleArtThreat/White-Lion-Standard.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn260/mzapache58/ANIMALS/th1096085303.jpg
http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/kitesurfing_album/lion-bank4.jpg
http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww320/Anderson_033/Pets%20and%20Animals/lionsound.jpg
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae170/cyhuffman/Lionkin.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 6:38 am

The person born on this day...Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American film and stage actor who played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Nick Tatopoulos in Godzilla and David Lightman in WarGames. He voiced the characters of the adult Simba in The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He voiced Tack  the Cobbler in The Thief and the Cobbler, Adam Flaymen in Bee Movie, alongside Jerry Seinfeld, and Despereaux in The Tale of Despereaux. He played Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers, and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in the Civil War drama Glory.
Broderick was born in New York City, the son of Patricia (née Biow), a playwright, actress, and painter; and James Wilke Broderick, an actor.  Broderick's mother was Jewish, and his father a Catholic  of Irish  descent.  Broderick attended grade school at the City & Country School (a progressive K–8 school in Manhattan) and attended high school at Walden School (a defunct private school in Manhattan  with a strong drama program). After the death of his mother, her paintings were exhibited at the Tibor de Nagy gallery in New York.
Career

Broderick's first major acting role came in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Foote's On Valentine's Day, playing opposite his father, who was a friend of Foote's. This was followed by a lead role in the off-Broadway production of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy; then, a good review by New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow brought him to the attention of Broadway. Broderick commented on the effects of that review in a 2004 60 Minutes II interview:
“ Before I knew it, I was like this guy in a hot play. And suddenly, all these doors opened. And it’s only because Mel Gussow happened to come by right before it closed and happened to like it. It’s just amazing. All these things have to line up that are out of your control. ”
Broderick in Sweden during his promotion of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, December 1986.

He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon Eugene Trilogy including the plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. His first movie role was also written by Neil Simon. Broderick debuted in Max Dugan Returns (1983). His first big hit film was WarGames, a summer hit in 1983. This was followed by the role of Philippe Gaston in Ladyhawke, in 1985.

Broderick then got the role as the charming, clever slacker in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At age 23, Broderick played a high-school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago. The movie remains a 1980s comedy favorite today and is one of Broderick's best-known roles (particularly with teenage audiences). In the 1989 Glory, Broderick received good notices for his portrayal of the American Civil War hero Robert Gould Shaw.

In the 1990s, Broderick took on the role as the adult lion, Simba, in the successful animated film, The Lion King, and also voiced Tack the Cobbler in The Thief and the Cobbler. He won recognition for two dark-comedy roles. The first was that of a bachelor in The Cable Guy. The second was that of a high-school teacher in Alexander Payne's Election.

Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, most notably with his Tony Award–winning performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and his Tony Award–nominated performance in the Mel Brooks' stage version of The Producers in 2001. He continued to make feature films, including the 2005 adaptation of The Producers. Broderick played the role of Leopold “Leo” Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail, but which turns out to be successful.

Broderick reunited with his co-star from The Lion King and The Producers, Nathan Lane, in The Odd Couple, which opened on Broadway in October 2005. He appeared on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28, 2009.
Awards

He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his featured role in the play Brighton Beach Memoirs and one in 1995 for his leading role in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He was also nominated for the Tony Award, Best Actor in a Musical, for the The Producers but lost to Lane. To date, Matthew Broderick is the youngest winner of the Tony Award, Best Featured Actor in a Play.
Personal life
Broderick and his wife Sarah Jessica Parker in 2009.

Broderick met actress Jennifer Grey on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and in 1986 was briefly engaged to her. Broderick met actress Sarah Jessica Parker through her brother. The couple married on May 19, 1997 in a civil ceremony in an historic deconsecrated synagogue on the Lower East Side; and although Broderick considers himself culturally Jewish, the ceremony was performed by his sister, Janet Broderick Kraft, an Episcopal priest. Parker and Broderick have a son, James Wilke Broderick, born on October 28, 2002. On April 28, 2009, it was confirmed that Broderick and Parker were expecting twin girls through surrogacy. Broderick and Parker's surrogate delivered their twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, on June 22, 2009. Marion Loretta Elwell weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces, while Tabitha Hodge was 6 pounds.

Although they live in New York City, they spend a considerable amount of time at their holiday home in County Donegal, Ireland, where Broderick spent his summers as a child. He is left-handed, a fact made evident in his first movie, Max Dugan Returns, in which he plays baseball. Broderick is an avid baseball fan. His favorite team is the New York Mets. He narrated the DVD "Shea Goodbye: 45 Years of Amazin", which chronicled the life of Shea Stadium. Broderick is good friends with his The Producers co-star, Nathan Lane. Fellow '80s teen actor Jon Cryer is often said to look like Broderick; their striking resemblance has been portrayed in two episodes of Cryer's TV show, Two and a Half Men. They also have a house in The Hamptons. Sarah and their son James are also left-handed.
Auto accident

On August 5, 1987, Broderick was in Northern Ireland, vacationing with Grey, when his rented BMW veered into the wrong lane on a country road in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh and smashed head-on into a car driven by Anna Gallagher, 30. She and her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, died instantly.

Broderick spent four weeks in a Belfast hospital with a fractured leg and ribs, collapsed lung and concussion. Grey suffered minor injuries.

Broderick told authorities he had no recollection of the crash and did not know why he was in the wrong lane. "I don't remember the day. I don't remember even getting up in the morning. I don't remember making my bed. What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very strange feeling going on in my leg," he said at the time.

Broderick was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced a prison term of up to five years. He was later convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined $175. The victims' family called the case "a travesty of justice."

Broderick agreed to meet with the family of the two women in the spring of 2003 so that the family could gain some sense of closure on the accident.
Work
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Max Dugan Returns Michael McPhee Debut role
WarGames David Lightman Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1985 1918 Brother
Master Harold...and the Boys Harold "Hally" Nominated — CableACE Award for Actor in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special
Ladyhawke Phillipe Gaston
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ferris Bueller
On Valentine's Day Brother
1987 Project X James "Jimmy" Garrett
1988 She's Having a Baby cameo "Ferris Bueller"
Biloxi Blues Eugene Morris Jerome
Torch Song Trilogy Alan Simon
1989 Family Business Adam McMullen
Glory Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
1990 The Freshman Clark Kellogg / The Narrator
1992 Out on a Limb William "Bill" Campbell
1993 The Night We Never Met Samuel "Sam" Lester
1994 The Lion King Simba the Lion (adult) (voice only)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle Charles MacArthur
The Road to Wellville William "Will" Lightbody
1995 The Thief and the Cobbler Tack the Cobbler (voice only)
1996 The Cable Guy Steven M. Kovacs Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight with Jim Carrey
Infinity Richard Feynman
1997 Addicted to Love Sam
1998 Godzilla Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Simba the Lion (voice only)
Walking to the Waterline Michael Woods
1999 Election James "Jim" McAllister Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Inspector Gadget Inspector Gadget / Robo-Gadget / Jonathan "John" Brown
2000 You Can Count on Me Brian Everett
2003 The Music Man Professor Harold Hill Made for television movie
Good Boy! Canid 3492 the Dog ("Hubble") (voice only)
2004 The Lion King 1½ Simba the Lion (teenager and adult) (voice only)
Marie and Bruce Bruce
The Stepford Wives Walter Kresby
The Last Shot Steven Schats
2005 The Producers Leopold Bloom
2006 Strangers with Candy Roger Beekman
Deck the Halls Steven "Steve" Finch
2007 Then She Found Me Benjamin "Ben" Green
Bee Movie Adam Flayman (voice only)
2008 Diminished Capacity Cooper
Finding Amanda Taylor Peters Mendon Nominated — Prism Award for Performance in a Feature Film
The Tale of Despereaux Despereaux (voice only)
2009 Wonderful World Benjamin "Ben" Singer
2010 Margaret Andrew "Andy" Van Tassel awaiting release
Ghost Stadium Phillip "Phil" Waltersen awaiting release
Stage

    * Torch Song Trilogy (1981)
    * Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983)
    * Biloxi Blues (1985)
    * How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1995) (revival)
    * Night Must Fall (1999) (revival)
    * Taller Than a Dwarf (2000)
    * The Producers (2001–2002, 2003)
    * Short Talks on the Universe (2002)
    * The Foreigner (2004)
    * The Odd Couple (2005) (revival)
    * The Philanthropist (2009) (revival)
    * The Starry Messenger (2009)


Television

    * Faerie Tale Theatre: Cinderella (1985)
    * Master Harold...and the Boys (1985)
    * A Life in the Theater (1993)
    * The Music Man (2003)
    * 30 Rock: "Cooter" (2008)
    * Cyberchase: "Father's Day" (2009)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g89/billie33gd/Matthew%20Broderick/ferris.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g89/billie33gd/Matthew%20Broderick/leo1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/21/10 at 6:41 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUMwu_gXK7Q

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 6:45 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUMwu_gXK7Q

:\'( :\'(  It's not available :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 6:48 am

The person who died on this day...Robert Preston
Robert Preston (June 8, 1918–March 21, 1987) was an American  stage and film actor.
Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. (née Rea) and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express.  After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. He would later serve in the United States Army Air Forces as an intelligence officer with the U.S. 9th Air Force during World War II.

In 1940, he married actress Catherine Craig, to whom he remained married until his death.
Career

Preston appeared in many Hollywood films, predominantly Westerns, but is probably best remembered for his portrayal of "Professor" Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man (1962). He won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production (1957). He appeared on the cover of Time magazine on July 21, 1958. In 1965 he was the male part of a duo-lead musical, "I Do! I Do!" with Mary Martin and in 1974, he starred opposite Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical "Mack and Mabel" as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director.

In 1961, Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President's Council on Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. The song, "Chicken Fat," written by Meredith Willson and performed by Preston with full orchestral accompaniment, was distributed to schools across the nation and played for students in calisthenics every morning. The song later became a surprise novelty hit and a part of many baby-boomers' childhood memories.

In 1979 and 1980, Preston portrayed determined family patriarch Hadley Chisholm in the CBS western miniseries, The Chisholms. Rosemary Harris played his wife, Minerva. The Preston character died in the ninth of the thirteen episodes of the program. Other co-stars were Ben Murphy, Lance Kerwin, Brett Cullen, and James Van Patten. In the story line, the Chisholms lost their land in Virginia by fraud and left for California to begin a new life.

Although he was not known for his singing voice, Preston appeared in several other stage and film musicals, notably Mame (1974) and Victor/Victoria (1982), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. His last role in a theatrical film was in The Last Starfighter (1984), in which he played intergalactic con man/military recruiter "Centauri." Preston said that he based the character of Centauri on Professor Harold Hill. He also starred in the HBO 1985 movie Finnegan Begin Again along with Mary Tyler Moore. His final role was in the TV movie Outrage! (1986).

Preston died of lung cancer in 1987, at the age of 68.
Work
Stage productions

    * The Male Animal (May 15, 1952 - Jan 31, 1953)
    * Men of Distinction (Apr 30, 1953 - May 2, 1953)
    * His and Hers (Jan 7, 1954 - Mar 13, 1954)
    * The Magic and the Loss (Apr 9, 1954 - May 1, 1954)
    * The Tender Trap (Oct 13, 1954 - Jan 8, 1955)
    * Janus (Nov 24, 1955 - Jun 30, 1956)
    * The Hidden River (Jan 23, 1957 - Mar 16, 1957)
    * The Music Man (Dec 19, 1957 - Apr 15, 1961)
    * Too True to be Good (Mar 12, 1963 - Jun 1, 1963)
    * Nobody Loves an Albatross (Dec 19, 1963 - Jun 20, 1964)
    * Ben Franklin in Paris (Oct 27, 1964 - May 1, 1965)
    * The Lion in Winter (Mar 3, 1966 - May 21, 1966)
    * I Do! I Do! (December 5, 1966 - June 15, 1968)
    * Mack & Mabel (Oct 6, 1974 - Nov 30, 1974)
    * Sly Fox (Dec 14, 1976 - Feb 19, 1978)

Filmography

    * King of Alcatraz (1938)
    * Illegal Traffic (1938)
    * Disbarred (1939)
    * Union Pacific (1939)
    * Beau Geste (1939)
    * Typhoon (1940)
    * North West Mounted Police (1940)
    * Moon Over Burma (1940)
    * The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
    * Parachute Battalion (1941)
    * New York Town (1941)
    * Night of January 16th (1941)
    * Pacific Blackout (1941)
    * Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
    * This Gun for Hire (1942)
    * Wake Island (1942)
    * Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
    * Night Plane from Chungking (1943)
    * Wings Up (1943)
    * The Macomber Affair (1947)
    * Variety Girl (1947)
    * Wild Harvest (1947)
    * Big City (1948)
    * Blood on the Moon (1948)
    * Whispering Smith (1948)



    * The Lady Gambles (1949)
    * Tulsa (1949)
    * The Sundowners (1950)
    * Cloudburst (1951)
    * When I Grow Up (1951)
    * Best of the Badmen (1951)
    * My Outlaw Brother (1951)
    * Face to Face (1952)
    * The Last Frontier (1955)
    * Sentinels in the Air (1956) (narrator)
    * The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)
    * The Music Man (1962)
    * How the West Was Won (1962)
    * Island of Love (1963)
    * All the Way Home (1963)
    * Junior Bonner (1972)
    * Child's Play (1972)
    * Mame (1974)
    * Semi-Tough (1977)
    * S.O.B. (1981)
    * Victor/Victoria (1982)
    * The Last Starfighter (1984)
    * Finnegan Begin Again (1985)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k281/wicked1lesmis/robertpreston.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m259/jeffman52001/laststarfighter-e.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/21/10 at 6:49 am

http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/MyWebFilms/Drama/WizardLionClose.jpg

The Cowardly Lion.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 7:15 am


http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/MyWebFilms/Drama/WizardLionClose.jpg

The Cowardly Lion.

Who had courage.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/21/10 at 7:17 am


Who had courage.


he was King of the Forest.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 8:42 am


he was King of the Forest.

Yes he was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/21/10 at 10:21 am


:\'( :\'(  It's not available :-\\
Google Videos may have a version of it?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/21/10 at 11:19 am

It is interesting that Matthew Broderick & Robert Preston are the people of the day together since they both portrayed Prof. Harold Hill in the Music Man. While Matthew did ok, he was no Robert Preston.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 11:20 am


Google Videos may have a version of it?

I went on YouTube and it played just fine.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/10 at 11:21 am


It is interesting that Matthew Broderick & Robert Preston are the people of the day together since they both portrayed Prof. Harold Hill in the Music Man. While Matthew did ok, he was no Robert Preston.



Cat

Wow Cat I never even realized that. Robert Preston was the Music Man.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/21/10 at 2:08 pm


I went on YouTube and it played just fine.
That is good news!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/21/10 at 4:23 pm


It is interesting that Matthew Broderick & Robert Preston are the people of the day together since they both portrayed Prof. Harold Hill in the Music Man. While Matthew did ok, he was no Robert Preston.



Cat


While I don't consider Preston's voice very musical...he did very well in The Music Man. I have this musical on DVD... (along with Camelot, West Side Story and Paint Your Wagon and most of the Rogers and Hammerstein films)  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/21/10 at 4:42 pm


While I don't consider Preston's voice very musical...he did very well in The Music Man. I have this musical on DVD... (along with Camelot, West Side Story and Paint Your Wagon and most of the Rogers and Hammerstein films)  ;)



I have a lot of musicals, too. I didn't like the movie version of Camelot because I thought Vanessa Redgrave was just awful as Guenevere.  8-P  And with West Side Story, why did they always insist on casting people who could not sing or dance in musicals (i.e. Natalie Wood). Yeah, yeah, I know that neither Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin could be considered musical-but at least they sang themselves rather than being dubbed. And Paint Your Wagon was VERY entertaining.  ;D ;D ;D




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/21/10 at 8:27 pm



I have a lot of musicals, too. I didn't like the movie version of Camelot because I thought Vanessa Redgrave was just awful as Guenevere.  8-P  And with West Side Story, why did they always insist on casting people who could not sing or dance in musicals (i.e. Natalie Wood). Yeah, yeah, I know that neither Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin could be considered musical-but at least they sang themselves rather than being dubbed. And Paint Your Wagon was VERY entertaining.  ;D ;D ;D




Cat


I listened to the record of Camelot when Mum and Dad played it (in the 60's)....and came to love the music. I only saw the film for the first time in the 80's and thought Redgrave and Harris were fanatasic (and they were obviously doing their own singing...unlike Natalie Wood). Franco Nero really surprized me with his voice quality though. He had some big songs and performed them excellently.

As for Paint Your Wagon....Marvin actually charted with Wanderin' Star!  :o  I watched that movie just a couple of weeks ago now. 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/10 at 4:47 am


I listened to the record of Camelot when Mum and Dad played it (in the 60's)....and came to love the music. I only saw the film for the first time in the 80's and thought Redgrave and Harris were fanatasic (and they were obviously doing their own singing...unlike Natalie Wood). Franco Nero really surprized me with his voice quality though. He had some big songs and performed them excellently.

As for Paint Your Wagon....Marvin actually charted with Wanderin' Star!  :o  I watched that movie just a couple of weeks ago now. 

I went to the Rochester auditorium and saw Camelot in the mid 1980's and enjoyed it it was memorable because Richard Harris performed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/10 at 4:53 am

The word of the day...Heights
heights is a morphological form of height  /h'aɪt/ listen

    *
      heights plural listen

    *
      The height of a person or thing is their size or length from the bottom to the top.
A particular height is the distance that something is above the ground or above something else mentioned.
A height is a high position or place above the ground.
http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab257/Virraddon/Hiking/PCT%203-14-10/CIMG0325.jpg
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq300/morbalt/WutheringHeights036.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/ancientsummers/General/Henry_wasnt_Afraid_of_Heights.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/TOW-Hutch/DDS_0307.jpg
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae191/TheHiro818/2_5_09_boyle_heights.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y368/bellshirley/R1-7A-1.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/brendakay_bucket/October09080.jpg
http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/Intercession/Our%20Family%20Wedding/4RealKutzChicagoHeightsIL3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/10 at 4:56 am

The person born on this day...Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket and high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest.
Modine, the youngest of seven children, was born in Loma Linda, California, the son of Dolores (née Warner), a bookkeeper, and Mark Alexander Modine, who managed drive-in  theaters.  His father moved the large family when necessary to keep them in food and clothing.

The first move for Modine was from his birthplace in Loma Linda to Imperial Beach, California. The family lived in Imperial Beach for two years before Mark was transferred to Utah. The family's first home was in Salt Lake City where his father became the District Manager for Sero Amusement Company. Mark was the manager of the Lyric Theater in downtown Salt Lake City. It was here that Matthew had his first brush with fame. He met Robert Redford when he visited the Lyric Theater doing publicity for the film Barefoot in the Park.

When Matthew was ten years old, he saw a documentary about the making of the film Oliver!. Inspired by the young actors and their performances, Modine decided to become an actor. At age 11, he found a dance school in Provo, Utah and began taking tap dancing lessons. He also joined the junior high school Glee Club when his family moved to Midvale, Utah.

When Matthew was fourteen, his father was transferred back to Imperial Beach and Matthew began eighth grade at Mar Vista Junior High. He spent sophomore year at Mar Vista High School and performed in a production of Our Town as George Gibbs. In his junior year, Matthew transferred to Southwest High School, but after the murder of a classmate, the school had fears of retaliation and gang violence, so Matthew convinced his parents to allow him to attend Marian Catholic High School. He later transferred and graduated from Mar Vista.

Modine moved to New York to pursue his acting career and struggled to get a foothold. His uncle, a Mormon, convinced Matthew to move to Provo and attend theater classes at Brigham Young University. After a month he realized this was a mistake. Modine moved to Salt Lake City where he began working for United Concerts as a gopher, putting candy and alcohol in the dressing rooms of touring rock and roll bands. After several months he returned to Imperial Beach. The violence and drug and alcohol problems that plagued the border town had begun to take a toll on his friends and it was clear to Matthew that to remain in San Diego could prove disastrous.

Modine moved back to NYC to study acting. It was there that he began working with legendary acting teacher Stella Adler and where he has maintained his residence since 1980.
Career

His first film role was in John Sayles' Baby It's You. His performance caught the eye of director Harold Becker, who cast him in Vision Quest (Crazy for You) based on the novel by Terry Davis. The director Robert Altman propelled Modine to international stardom with his film adaptation of David Rabe's play Streamers. Modine and his fellow castmates won an unprecedented Best Actor prize from the Venice Film Festival for this tragic story of young American soldiers about to be shipped to Vietnam. Modine played Mel Gibson's brother in Mrs. Soffel and starred with Nicolas Cage in Alan Parker's Birdy. The film was awarded a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Modine photographed by Brian Smith

Modine might be best known for his role as "Private Joker," the main character of Stanley Kubrick's 1987 war movie Full Metal Jacket. Afterwards, he played the dangerous young criminal, Treat, in Alan Pakula's film version of the hugely successful play Orphans by writer Lyle Kessler; and the goofy, earnest FBI agent Mike Downey in Jonathan Demme's screwball comedy Married to the Mob opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Modine was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performances in And the Band Played On and What the Deaf Man Heard.

In 1995, he worked opposite Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island. Modine made his feature directorial debut with If... Dog... Rabbit. This came after the success of three short films that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival: When I was a Boy (co-directed with Todd Field) Smoking written by David Sedaris, and Ecce Pirate. Modine's recent short films have played throughout the world.

His most recent films include "The Trail" The Go Go Tales, Transporter 2, Opa!, and Mary, which won a prize at the Venice Film Festival.

In 2003, he guest starred on The West Wing in the episode "The Long Goodbye", as a foil to C. J. Cregg. He portrays the character Marco, who went to high school with Cregg, and helps her deal with her father's steady decline into Alzheimer's disease. He also guest starred in the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Rage" as a serial killer. Modine agreed to the role because he is a longtime friend of Allison Janney. The two appeared in a theatrical production of the play, BREAKING UP directed by Stuart Ross.

Modine plays a hilariously corrupt Majestic City developer named "Sullivan Groff" throughout Season 3 on Weeds. Groff has affairs with Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) and Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins).
Theatre

His theater, Matthew worked in Arthur Miller's Finishing the Picture at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, Miller's Resurrection Blues at London's Old Vic. He played Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird at Connecticut's Hartford Stage. This production became the most successful play in the theatre's 45 year history. He is currently starring in the Broadway revival of The Miracle Worker at the Circle in the Square theatre. This is the first time the play has been produced since its award winning production 50 years ago.
Sports

Modine is a staunch supporter of the NBA and the WNBA. Modine is frequently seen at Madison Square Garden celebrating and cheering his two favorite teams, the NY KNICKS and the NY LIBERTY.
Other work

Full Metal Jacket Diary is a critically acclaimed book written by Modine. The book is a day-to-day account of his experience while working on Full Metal Jacket. In addition to the diary, the book is filled with photos Modine shot using a Rolleiflex camera.

Bicycle For a Day (BFAD) is an environmental initiative Modine created with Charles Finch. Modine directed the BFAD film for Young Global Leaders presented to an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (2006). BFAD's goal is to raise awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions and demonstrate simple things that each of us can do everyday to make a cleaner world. On September 20, 2008 BFAD had its first event at the South Street Seaport in New York City. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke to the 14,000 people who attended the event. Ben Jellen and Lukas Haas sang and performed visitors learned about the two charities BFAD supports, Water Keeper Alliance and American Forests: Global ReLeaf.

Card Carrying Liberal (CCL) is a foundation that Modine started in 2007. The stated aim is to restore the meaning of the word "liberal". Modine believes the ideals of liberalism have been forced into disrepute because of a dishonest attempt to place them only in a political context. The foundation, which does not describe itself as a political entity, also has the objective of protecting the ideals of liberalism and supporting the liberties and human rights that liberal societies helped to establish.
Filmography

    * Private School (1983)
    * Streamers (1983) by Robert Altman
    * Birdy (1984)
    * The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
    * Mrs. Soffel (1984)
    * Vision Quest (1985)
    * Orphans (1987)
    * Full Metal Jacket (1987) by Stanley Kubrick
    * Married to the Mob (1988) by Jonathan Demme
    * Gross Anatomy (1989)
    * Memphis Belle (1990)
    * Pacific Heights (1990) by John Schlesinger
    * Wind (1992)
    * Equinox (1992) by Alan Rudolph
    * Short Cuts (1993) by Robert Altman
    * And the Band Played On (1993, TV)
    * The Browning Version (1994)
    * Cutthroat Island (1995)
    * Bye Bye Love (1995)
    * Fluke (1995)
    * What the Deaf Man Heard (1996)
    * The Maker (1997)
    * The Blackout (1997)
    * The Real Blonde (1997)



    * Any Given Sunday (1999) by Oliver Stone
    * Notting Hill (1999) - Uncredited
    * Flowers for Algernon (2000, TV)
    * In the Shadows (2001)
    * The American (2001, TV)
    * Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (2001, TV)
    * Redeemer (2002, TV)
    * Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
    * Le Divorce (2003) by James Ivory
    * Funky Monkey (2004)
    * The Winning Season (2004, TV)
    * Transporter 2 (2005)
    * Into The West (2005, TV)
    * Kettle of Fish (2006)
    * Mary (2006)
    * The Bedford Diaries (2006, TV)
    * Go Go Tales (2007)
    * The Neighbor (2007)
    * Weeds (2007, TV)
    * Have Dreams, Will Travel (2007)
    * Little Fish, Strange Pond (2009)
    * PoliWood (2009)
    * OPA! (2009)

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j201/RYJALI/Autographs/Matthew_Modine_4x6_Autographs_01.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll284/TravelChick/matthewmodine.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/10 at 5:00 am

The person who died on this day...Dan Hartman
Daniel Earl "Dan" Hartman (December 8, 1950—March 22, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter  and record producer best known for the songs "I Can Dream About You" and "Instant Replay".
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Hartman joined his first band, The Legends, at the age of 13, with his brother, Dave. Hartman played keyboards and wrote much of the band's music. The band released several records, but none was a hit. He joined the Edgar Winter Group and played bass on three of their albums; he wrote the band's second biggest pop hit "Free Ride" in 1972. He launched a solo career in 1976. A re-recorded version of "Free Ride" was used in the movie, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, in 1995.

In late 1978, Hartman reached #1 on the Dance Charts with the discofied single, "Instant Replay", which crossed over to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. Musicians Hartman worked with on the associated album included Vinnie Vincent and G.E. Smith. This was followed by his second chart topper, "Relight My Fire", which featured friend Loleatta Holloway, singing as well, in 1979. "Relight My Fire" later became the theme for the NBC talk show Tomorrow. There was also a cover version of "Instant Replay", which was a one-hit wonder for a boy duo called Yell! (Paul Varney and Daniel James) in January 1990.

He was back in the charts again with the Top 10 single, "I Can Dream About You," which was featured on his new album of the same name as well as the Streets of Fire soundtrack in 1984. The tune reached #6 on the U.S. charts, and (on rerelease in 1985) #12 in the UK. Hartman was featured as a bartender in the video, which received heavy rotation on MTV. In the movie Streets of Fire, the single "I Can Dream About You" was actually sung by Winston Ford, whose vocals were convincingly lip-synched by Stoney Jackson, an African American actor.

In 1984, Hartman also performed "Heart of the Beat" under the band name 3V with Charlie Midnight for the soundtrack of Breakin' directed by Joel Silberg.

In 1985, Hartman scored a third number-one single on the Dance Music charts, "We Are The Young."

During the next decade he worked as a songwriter and producer, and collaborated with such artists as Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul Young, James Brown, Nona Hendryx, Holly Johnson, Living in a Box and Steve Winwood.

In 2009 his song Relight My Fire was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Death

Hartman died of a brain tumor resulting from AIDS on March 22, 1994 in his home in Westport, Connecticut at the age of 43. At the time of his death, his music was enjoying a revival; a cover version of his song, Relight My Fire, became a British number-one hit for Take That and Lulu. Sales of Hartman's solo recordings, group efforts, production, songwriting and compilation inclusions, exceed 50 million records worldwide. He was cremated.

Hartman's solo cover of the Edgar Winter Group's song "Free Ride" was featured in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie the year after his death.
Discography
Albums

    * Who Is Dan Hartman? (1976)
    * Images (1976)
    * Instant Replay (1978) #80 U.S.
    * Relight My Fire (1979) #189 U.S.
    * April Music Recorded Music Library (1981)
    * It Hurts to Be in Love (1982)
    * I Can Dream About You (1984) #55 U.S.
    * White Boy (1986) Never Released
    * New Green Clear Blue (1989)
    * Keep The Fire Burnin' (1994)
    * Super Hits (2004)

Singles
Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B U.S. A.C. U.S. Dance UK Singles Chart Australian Singles Chart Album
1978 "Instant Replay" 29 44 - 1 8 - Instant Replay
1979 "This Is It" 91 - - - 17 -
1979 "Hands Down" - - - 26 - - Relight My Fire
1980 "Vertigo"/"Relight My Fire" (With Loleatta Holloway)" 105 - - 1 - -
1981 "Heaven in Your Arms" 86 - - - - -
1981 "It Hurts to Be in Love" 72 - - 48 - -
1981 "All I Need" - - 41 - - -
1984 "I Can Dream About You" 1 6 60 7 8 12 3 I Can Dream About You
1984 "We Are the Young" 25 58 - 1 - -
1985 "Second Nature" 39 - 19 40 66 -
1985 "Get Outta Town"3 - - - - - -
1994 "Keep the Fire Burnin'" (with Loleatta Holloway) - - - - 49 - Keep the Fire Burnin'

    * 1 Also on the soundtrack for Streets of Fire
    * 2 1985 re-release; originally peaked at #78
    * 3 Also on the soundtrack for Fletch


See also

    * List of number-one dance hits (United States)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
    * List of HIV-positive people
    * List of disco artists (A-E)
    * List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
    * List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s
    * List of people from Pennsylvania
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s64/jukebox31_2007/B0000028W6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/ProgOwl/Musical%20Stuff/DanHartmanBassSuit.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/22/10 at 6:53 am


The person who died on this day...Dan Hartman
Daniel Earl "Dan" Hartman (December 8, 1950—March 22, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter  and record producer best known for the songs "I Can Dream About You" and "Instant Replay".
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Hartman joined his first band, The Legends, at the age of 13, with his brother, Dave. Hartman played keyboards and wrote much of the band's music. The band released several records, but none was a hit. He joined the Edgar Winter Group and played bass on three of their albums; he wrote the band's second biggest pop hit "Free Ride" in 1972. He launched a solo career in 1976. A re-recorded version of "Free Ride" was used in the movie, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, in 1995.

In late 1978, Hartman reached #1 on the Dance Charts with the discofied single, "Instant Replay", which crossed over to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. Musicians Hartman worked with on the associated album included Vinnie Vincent and G.E. Smith. This was followed by his second chart topper, "Relight My Fire", which featured friend Loleatta Holloway, singing as well, in 1979. "Relight My Fire" later became the theme for the NBC talk show Tomorrow. There was also a cover version of "Instant Replay", which was a one-hit wonder for a boy duo called Yell! (Paul Varney and Daniel James) in January 1990.

He was back in the charts again with the Top 10 single, "I Can Dream About You," which was featured on his new album of the same name as well as the Streets of Fire soundtrack in 1984. The tune reached #6 on the U.S. charts, and (on rerelease in 1985) #12 in the UK. Hartman was featured as a bartender in the video, which received heavy rotation on MTV. In the movie Streets of Fire, the single "I Can Dream About You" was actually sung by Winston Ford, whose vocals were convincingly lip-synched by Stoney Jackson, an African American actor.

In 1984, Hartman also performed "Heart of the Beat" under the band name 3V with Charlie Midnight for the soundtrack of Breakin' directed by Joel Silberg.

In 1985, Hartman scored a third number-one single on the Dance Music charts, "We Are The Young."

During the next decade he worked as a songwriter and producer, and collaborated with such artists as Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul Young, James Brown, Nona Hendryx, Holly Johnson, Living in a Box and Steve Winwood.

In 2009 his song Relight My Fire was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Death

Hartman died of a brain tumor resulting from AIDS on March 22, 1994 in his home in Westport, Connecticut at the age of 43. At the time of his death, his music was enjoying a revival; a cover version of his song, Relight My Fire, became a British number-one hit for Take That and Lulu. Sales of Hartman's solo recordings, group efforts, production, songwriting and compilation inclusions, exceed 50 million records worldwide. He was cremated.

Hartman's solo cover of the Edgar Winter Group's song "Free Ride" was featured in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie the year after his death.
Discography
Albums

    * Who Is Dan Hartman? (1976)
    * Images (1976)
    * Instant Replay (1978) #80 U.S.
    * Relight My Fire (1979) #189 U.S.
    * April Music Recorded Music Library (1981)
    * It Hurts to Be in Love (1982)
    * I Can Dream About You (1984) #55 U.S.
    * White Boy (1986) Never Released
    * New Green Clear Blue (1989)
    * Keep The Fire Burnin' (1994)
    * Super Hits (2004)

Singles
Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B U.S. A.C. U.S. Dance UK Singles Chart Australian Singles Chart Album
1978 "Instant Replay" 29 44 - 1 8 - Instant Replay
1979 "This Is It" 91 - - - 17 -
1979 "Hands Down" - - - 26 - - Relight My Fire
1980 "Vertigo"/"Relight My Fire" (With Loleatta Holloway)" 105 - - 1 - -
1981 "Heaven in Your Arms" 86 - - - - -
1981 "It Hurts to Be in Love" 72 - - 48 - -
1981 "All I Need" - - 41 - - -
1984 "I Can Dream About You" 1 6 60 7 8 12 3 I Can Dream About You
1984 "We Are the Young" 25 58 - 1 - -
1985 "Second Nature" 39 - 19 40 66 -
1985 "Get Outta Town"3 - - - - - -
1994 "Keep the Fire Burnin'" (with Loleatta Holloway) - - - - 49 - Keep the Fire Burnin'

    * 1 Also on the soundtrack for Streets of Fire
    * 2 1985 re-release; originally peaked at #78
    * 3 Also on the soundtrack for Fletch


See also

    * List of number-one dance hits (United States)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
    * List of HIV-positive people
    * List of disco artists (A-E)
    * List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
    * List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s
    * List of people from Pennsylvania
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s64/jukebox31_2007/B0000028W6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/ProgOwl/Musical%20Stuff/DanHartmanBassSuit.jpg


Dan Hartman was great,his voice had a lot of soul in it especially the song "I Can Dream About You".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/10 at 10:35 am


Dan Hartman was great,his voice had a lot of soul in it especially the song "I Can Dream About You".

Another one who died to soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/22/10 at 10:49 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03SXIfky1W4



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/22/10 at 10:58 am


I listened to the record of Camelot when Mum and Dad played it (in the 60's)....and came to love the music. I only saw the film for the first time in the 80's and thought Redgrave and Harris were fanatasic (and they were obviously doing their own singing...unlike Natalie Wood). Franco Nero really surprized me with his voice quality though. He had some big songs and performed them excellently.

As for Paint Your Wagon....Marvin actually charted with Wanderin' Star!  :o  I watched that movie just a couple of weeks ago now. 



I think because I was brought up with the recording of the original Broadway production with Julie Andrews and Vanessa just can't hold a candle to her-IMO. (Go to YouTube and check out the song "The Lusty Month of May" both by Julie Andrews and Vanessa Redgrave and you will see what I mean.) I think what really bothered me the most is the fact that the part of Guenevere is supposed to be a soprano and Vanessa is an alto. I think if they cast a soprano in the part, it wouldn't have been so awful to me.



Cat 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/22/10 at 4:03 pm



I think because I was brought up with the recording of the original Broadway production with Julie Andrews and Vanessa just can't hold a candle to her-IMO. (Go to YouTube and check out the song "The Lusty Month of May" both by Julie Andrews and Vanessa Redgrave and you will see what I mean.) I think what really bothered me the most is the fact that the part of Guenevere is supposed to be a soprano and Vanessa is an alto. I think if they cast a soprano in the part, it wouldn't have been so awful to me.



Cat 


I loved Andrews in Sound of Music....and I have checked out her on satge performances in Camelot (on youtube)...yet, I still liked Redgrave in the part!!  I guess whoever you see first in the role tends to 'own' it forever. Lately, I have been hooked on 60's female singers music....Dusty Springfield, Dione Warwick, Petula Clark, Cilla Black, Lulu etc. I always preferred Cilla Black's version of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" ...even though Dione Warwick had a hit with it before her (only by a few weeks). I prefer Cilla's version probably because I identify her with that song. Likewise, I think Dusty S is the greatest but will always prefer Dione W singing certain songs...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/22/10 at 4:07 pm


Dan Hartman was great,his voice had a lot of soul in it especially the song "I Can Dream About You".


Except ..he didn't sing that song!  ;) Even the actual person whose vocals were used did not feature in that video! Here is an extract from the bio above...

"the single "I Can Dream About You" was actually sung by Winston Ford, whose vocals were convincingly lip-synched by Stoney Jackson, an African American actor."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/22/10 at 4:11 pm


I loved Andrews in Sound of Music....and I have checked out her on satge performances in Camelot (on youtube)...yet, I still liked Redgrave in the part!!   I guess whoever you see first in the role tends to 'own' it forever. Lately, I have been hooked on 60's female singers music....Dusty Springfield, Dione Warwick, Petula Clark, Cilla Black, Lulu etc. I always preferred Cilla Black's version of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" ...even though Dione Warwick had a hit with it before her (only by a few weeks). I prefer Cilla's version probably because I identify her with that song. Likewise, I think Dusty S is the greatest but will always prefer Dione W singing certain songs...





I used to think that was true. When I first heard Send in the Clowns by Judy Collins, I didn't like it. Then I heard Glennis Johns do it on the album of A Little Night Music and I loved the way Glennis Johns did it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/22/10 at 4:17 pm



I used to think that was true. When I first heard Send in the Clowns by Judy Collins, I didn't like it. Then I heard Glennis Johns do it on the album of A Little Night Music and I loved the way Glennis Johns did it.



Cat


Yes...there are always exceptions to the rule!  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/22/10 at 6:59 pm


Except ..he didn't sing that song!  ;) Even the actual person whose vocals were used did not feature in that video! Here is an extract from the bio above...

"the single "I Can Dream About You" was actually sung by Winston Ford, whose vocals were convincingly lip-synched by Stoney Jackson, an African American actor."


back then I thought that he was a black guy singing that song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/22/10 at 7:01 pm


back then I thought that he was a black guy singing that song.


So did I ... until my wife advised me that it was not Dan at all... :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/22/10 at 7:04 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=621Nk3Ubz4A

An absolute classic.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/22/10 at 7:39 pm

^ I think so too. I may actually remember it from back in the day, even though I was little at the time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/10 at 9:13 pm


Except ..he didn't sing that song!  ;) Even the actual person whose vocals were used did not feature in that video! Here is an extract from the bio above...

"the single "I Can Dream About You" was actually sung by Winston Ford, whose vocals were convincingly lip-synched by Stoney Jackson, an African American actor."

He did sing the song for the soundtrack..Winston Ford performed it in the movie.

"I Can Dream About You" is a song performed by Dan Hartman on the soundtrack album Streets of Fire from the movie of the same name. Originally released in 1984 as a single off Hartman's album I Can Dream About You, it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The song was performed by Winston Ford in the movie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/23/10 at 5:36 am

The word of the day...Woman
A woman is an adult female human being.
http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy234/desherica/loveme.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/rachilita/capt.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg180/cloezplace/GODMADEWOMAN.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n102/randyow/Favorite%20TV%20movies%201970%20and%20up/wonder-woman.jpg
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx260/ausblonde/Decorated%20images/-Woman/Woman-MaidenInRed.jpg
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab262/monamae/maturewoman.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q1/SapphiresBlue/womanwhugeboobs.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/23/10 at 5:38 am

Could it be Gary Puckett's birthday?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/23/10 at 5:43 am


Could it be Gary Puckett's birthday?

Nope..The person born on this day...Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan (born Yvette Marie Stevens; March 23, 1953) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter best known for such hit songs as "I'm Every Woman", "Ain't Nobody", "I Feel for You" and "Through the Fire". She sang a modernized theme song for the popular children's TV show Reading Rainbow in the show's later years. Khan was featured vocalist in the funk band Rufus with hit songs, "Tell Me Something Good", "You Got The Love", "Once You Get Started", 'Sweet Thing", "Everlasting Love" and "Stay", before launching a solo career. Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in North Chicago, Illinois. Her sister is dance music artist Taka Boom, and her brother is Mark Stevens of the band Aurra. Khan was raised on Chicago's South Side, and at the age of eleven formed her first group, the Crystalettes. She went to Calumet High School and Kenwood Academy on the city's south side and while in high school, she joined the Afro-Arts Theater group, which toured with Motown great Mary Wells. She adopted the African name "Chaka" while working as a volunteer on the Black Panthers' Free Breakfast for Children program in Chicago. During a naming ceremony at the Afro-Arts Theater, a Yoruba priest christened her Chaka Adunne Aduffe Yemoja Hodarhi Karifi (as stated on her official website). After quitting high school in 1969, Chaka joined the group Lyfe, before leaving to join another soul band, The Babysitters, replacing former lead singer Baby Huey. Neither group enjoyed mainstream success, but her fortunes changed when she teamed with ex-American Breed member Kevin Murphy and Andre Fischer to form Rufus. Around this time  she married bass guitarist Hassan Khan.
Life with Rufus (1970-1983)
This section is written like a magazine article; it does not use the direct, balanced tone expected of an encyclopedia. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. Editing help is available. (February 2009)

Rufus debuted in 1973 with a self-titled album on the ABC label. The first album failed to achieve commercial success. However, by decade's end, Rufus was among the most successful funk groups, rivaling the popularity of Earth Wind & Fire, The Commodores, War and The Ohio Players. With the help of Stevie Wonder, Rufus broke into both the pop music and R&B charts in 1974 with the Gold-selling hit "Tell Me Something Good". They followed that hit with another hit single, "You Got The Love", co-written by and featuring a then-unknown Ray Parker, Jr. on lead guitar, which propelled the album Rags To Rufus to Gold status by the summer of 1974.

That year was a very good one for Chaka Khan and the group, for on the strength of the Rags album, a third album was hurriedly finished. Released in October 1974, Rufusized became their second Gold (now Platinum) album, containing multiple radio hits.The fourth album, released in early 1976, was self-titled and contained the Gold single "Sweet Thing". This was the year that their "brand" was immortalized: Chaka's most prominent facial feature became the logo for the band: a big pair of juicy red lips. It came to epitomize the sound, the sexiness, and swagger of the band itself. Throughout the remainder of the 1970s, Rufus and Chaka Khan were rarely off the charts, having a plethora of memorable smash single hits and album favorites, including "Tell Me Something Good", "Once You Get Started", "Sweet Thing", "Hollywood" and "Everlasting Love", among others. The group earned eight platinum albums (Rags To Rufus, Rufusized], Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, Ask Rufus, Street Player, Masterjam, Stompin' At The Savoy, and The Very Best Of Rufus And Chaka Khan) and three Gold singles with "Tell Me Something Good", "Sweet Thing" and "Do You Love What You Feel?".

As a sidebar, Chaka recorded a number of vocals for other popular artists of the period, including background vocals for the Chicago song "Take Me Back to Chicago"; background vocals on the popular 1977 single, "Save It For A Rainy Day" by Singer/Songwriter Stephen Bishop and a 1978 #1 R&B single "Stuff Like That" with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, on Quincy Jones' Stuff Like That, his first Platinum album. Jones subsequently produced the final Platinum Rufus album Masterjam in 1979, yielding the Number one Gold single "Do You Love What You Feel". Members of Rufus rhythm section played on the Quincy Jones- produced Michael Jackson single "Rock With You", which was released around this time.

1983 saw Khan return to Rufus to record her last contractually obligated album Stompin' at the Savoy - Live. The double album contained live versions of Rufus classics, Khan's solo hits and a handful of newly recorded tracks. One of these was the hit "Ain't Nobody", which returned Khan to the top of the urban and top 40 charts (#1 R&B #22 Pop). This song also came back into radio and club play due to its use in the 1984 Orion film Breakin which helped spark off the mainstream street dance era. To make room for the new studio tracks, Warner Brothers omitted live versions of "The Best Of Your Heart", "Hollywood", and "Everlasting Love" (the latter track was later released on the rare 1983 movie soundtrack to Night Shift).
Solo stardom (1978 - )

In 1978, Khan recorded her debut solo album Chaka featuring the Arif Mardin-produced disco anthem "I'm Every Woman" (#1 R&B, #21 Pop,), which was later covered by Whitney Houston. Chaka proved to be a significant hit on the strength of the single written by Ashford & Simpson.

Khan recorded backing vocals for Ry Cooder's Bop Till You Drop in 1979, then cut her second album, Naughty (1980), a huge hit on the R&B charts. The album featured "Clouds" (written by Ashford & Simpson), "Move Me No Mountain", and other songs that displayed Khan's range as a singer. The Naughty album also featured Luther Vandross, Cissy Houston, and a young Whitney Houston singing background vocals. This album is considered one of the great R&B albums of the decade. Chaka can be seen in a cameo appearance in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, singing with the church choir behind James Brown as The Reverend Cleophus James.

Her next album, What Cha' Gonna Do for Me, was a gold seller and included two hit singles on Billboard's R&B Singles chart including the title song (which made #1 on the R&B chart). The album also featured the song "And The Melody Still Lingers On (Night In Tunisia)" with Dizzy Gillespie & Herbie Hancock, which has Chaka hitting "notes that aren't in the book" according to producer Arif Mardin.

Also, in 1981, she appeared on three songs on Rick Wakeman's thematic album 1984.

In 1982, Warner Brothers released Khan's eponymous album, Chaka Khan, again produced by Arif Mardin. This album featured the single "Tearin' It Up", as well as Chaka's reading of Michael Jackson's "Got To Be There". "Slow Dancin'" (a duet with Rick James) was also featured, but her "Be Bop Medley" won a Grammy Award, as well as praise from jazz singer Betty Carter, who praised Khan for her improvisational skills. Chaka Khan received positive reviews, and reviewer David Bertrand Wilson of warr.org has said, "This generated many hits, and it's a lot of fun...her singing here is phenomenal". The song "Got To Be There", from the album, became an R&B top 10 hit. Chaka Khan is a rare collector's item since it remains unreleased on CD in both the United States and Europe and is only available as a Japanese import.

According to the 'Chaka's World' website, Khan was originally scheduled to duet on Tom Browne's hit "Funkin' For Jamaica(N.Y.)", and Dennis Edwards' hit "Don't Look Any Further" (which he went on to perform with Siedah Garrett).
Jazz experiment

In 1982, Khan recorded Echoes of an Era, a collection of jazz standards featuring performances from Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, and Lenny White. This project provided Chaka Khan with her first Grammy Nomination for Best Female Jazz Vocalist.
A New Idea: Fusion of Hip Hop and R&B and Collaborations

In 1984, Chaka released I Feel for You, a Platinum-selling album. This album was launched by its title cut, an Arif Mardin produced, Grammy Award-winning, hip hop-based rendition of a Prince album track with a cameo appearance by Stevie Wonder on harmonica and rap by Melle Mel. This Platinum single became the highest charting single in her career. Due to its popularity, a new trend emerged in the worlds of R&B and Rap music, where fusing R&B and rap vocals on the same track became standard fare. Other standout tracks on the outstanding I Feel for You include the lush pop ballad produced by David Foster,"Through The Fire", which reached #15 on the R&B chart and had a 23-week run on the Hot 100 and , "This Is My Night" arranged by David Frank of the 80's New York based Funk-Synth band The System. "Through the Fire" has since been sampled by Kanye West for his hit single "Through The Wire".

With Chaka's hightened popularity in play, post-"I Feel For You", she became an in-demand guest on a number of popular soundtracks and recordings by her peers, including the Miami Vice soundtrack, "Krush Groove (Can't Stop The Street)" for the movie Krush Groove and co-lead and background vocals for Steve Winwood's #1 hit, "Higher Love".

Chaka's 1986 album, Destiny, an eclectic mix of dance, pop-rock, hip-hop and jazz, contained her #1 R&B Dance/Club hit, "Love Of A Lifetime". Also from Destiny was Chaka's turn at pop-metal "So Close" , which worked to good effect on TV Series Hunter.

In 1995, Khan teamed up with rapper Guru on his solo jazz/hip hop fusion collection Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality for the track "Watch What You Say". The song reached #1 on Billboard's chart.
1990–2004

In 1990, Chaka won another Grammy for "I'll Be Good To You", a duet with Ray Charles which rose to #1 on the R&B charts and was a Top 20 Pop hit.

In 1992, Khan released her album The Woman I Am, for which she received a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance. The album's hit single "Love You All My Lifetime" was penned by German songwriter duo Irmgard Klarmann and Felix Weber, and was produced by David Gamson. According to the "Chaka's World" website, Khan recorded a follow up album Dare You To Love Me, which was to be released in 1995. Warner Brothers postponed and eventually shelved the project (although several of the tracks appeared on a career retrospective titled Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, Vol. 1 and soundtracks such as To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar and Waiting to Exhale (singing the standard "My Funny Valentine").

Khan soon left Warner Brothers for what she felt was a lack of promotion and after the label had decided to release the Epiphany compilation instead of the Dare You To Love Me album in its true form. Prince (who also feuded with the company) assisted Khan in leaving Warner Brothers. Khan eventually made a special agreement with "The Artist" (as Prince then marketed himself), and recorded her next album on his NPG Records label.

The Prince-produced Come 2 My House appeared in 1998 and reached #49 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart despite little promotion. Khan also appeared on new CD's by Prince and Larry Graham for the New Power Generation Label, and she toured in support of the projects.

In the first season of the British comedy television show Big Train (1998), a sketch portrayed Chaka Khan as a sheriff in an Old Western shootout with the three members of the Bee Gees.

In 1999, Khan recorded a newer version of the theme song for the PBS children's show, Reading Rainbow.

Although she sang at both the 2000 Democratic and Republican conventions, Khan says that she is more of a "Democratic-minded person".

In 2001, Khan sang on De La Soul's hit song "All Good?". In 2002 she was an integral part of the documentary about Motown studio musicians The Funk Brothers, Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, in which she performed the classic R&B songs "What's Going On?" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (a duet with Montell Jordan). She won her eighth Grammy Award for the latter performance.

In October 2004, Khan released her cover album ClassiKhan on her own label EarthSong Records, and also through Sanctuary Records. The album of standards featuring the London Symphony Orchestra was recorded primarily at Abbey Road Studios in London and produced by Eve Nelson of Nelson-O'Reilly Productions.

On October 13, 2004, Chaka appeared as featured vocalist with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Henry Panion, presented by Wachovia, at the 2nd Annual Boys and Girls Club "Concert For Kids." Here, she performed jazz favorites arranged by Panion and noted Birmingham, Alabama jazz pianist / vocalist, Ray Reach.

On December 3, 2004, she received an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music. She is also active in the autism community, as she has family members who have been diagnosed with this condition. Her EarthSong Entertainment and Chaka Khan Foundation operate from Beverly Hills, California.
2005-present

Khan's 2005's song "Let Go" originally appeared in the 2008 comedy film Roll Bounce as "Let's Roll". Matthew Knowles opted not to include "Let's Roll" on the film's soundtrack CD.

In early 2006, she signed with Sony BMG's new label Burgundy Records.

Embracing Christianity, Khan participated in a live all-star gospel concert recording for artist Richard Smallwood's "Journey: Live In New York" on the song "Precious Is Your Name". On her official website, Khan credits singer Karen Clark Sheard with being "the voice that helped me find the Holy Ghost". Khan performed a cover version of Sheard's "A Secret Place" along with Richard Smallwood on TBN's show Praise The Lord in October 2006.

In December 2006, Chaka recorded "Do You Hear What I Hear" on the Christmas compilation Breaking For the Holidays produced by Eve Nelson (who also produced Classikhan). The album also featured Vonzell Solomon, Sandra Bernhard, Ben Jelen and many more.

In February 2007, Khan headlined and performed at the NARAS 2007 Grammy Award official post party. In September 2007, she released Funk This, a mix of cover songs and original material. Produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and James "Big Jim" Wright, the album debuted on the R&B Album Chart, selling 35,000 copies in its first week. This marked her highest chart position since her first solo album in 1978 peaked at #1. "Angel," the first single from the album, reached #1 and went on become her first R&B hit in nearly fifteen years. Promoting the album on the Today Show on September 26, 2007, she performed "Angel", and also announced that she would appear in the role of Sofia on Broadway's The Color Purple. Another highlight of the CD is her cover of Foolish Fool, originally by Dee Dee Warwick, who died not long after its release.

Khan opened as Sofia, a role she says she closely identifies with, on January 9, 2008, along with BeBe Winans as Sofia’s husband, Harpo.

In a 2008 interview Khan said that she, unlike other artists, feels very optimistic about the current changes in the recording industry, including music downloading. "I'm glad things are shifting and artists – not labels – are having more control over their art. My previous big record company (Warner Music) has vaults of my recordings that haven't seen the light of day that people need to hear. This includes Robert Palmer's original recording to "Addicted to Love" – which they took my vocals off of! We are working on getting it (and other tracks) all back now." I

On July 4, 2008, Chaka Khan appeared on Good Morning America’s summer concert series. She performed her popularly known songs and songs from her 2007's Funk This. On July 11, the same year, Chaka Khan made an appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. On December 6, she performed at the 2008 Aflac Christmas Party in Columbus, Georgia.

In 2009, Khan performed at The Hollywood Bowl with Chick Corea and friends. She appeared on UK soul singer Beverley Knight's CD 100%, featured on the song "Soul Survivor", which became the third single from the album in 2010. Later in the year, she appeared as a guest star on the new album of Billy Cobham, "Drum 'n' Voice Vol. 3". In November, Chaka Khan received the Soul Train Legends award in Atlanta, Georgia. The year closed with Chaka participating in the very popular Here Come the Girls Tour, a special 20-city Christmas holiday concert tour through the U.K. with singers-songwriters Anastacia and Lulu.
Awards
Grammy Awards

To date, she has had twenty two Grammy Award nominations (including three as a member of Rufus). She received 10 Grammy Awards (including two as a member of Rufus).

    * 2008 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals - Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige - "Disrespectful" Track from album: Funk This
    * 2008 Best R&B Album - Chaka Khan - Funk This
    * 2003 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance - Chaka Khan, The Funk Brothers - "What's Going On" Track from album: Standing In The Shadows Of Motown - Soundtrack (Various Artists)
    * 1993 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - album The Woman I Am
    * 1991 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - Ray Charles, Chaka Khan - "I'll Be Good to You". Track from album: Back On The Block (Quincy Jones)
    * 1985 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - "I Feel for You" Track from album: I Feel for You
    * 1984 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - Chaka Khan (1982 album)
    * 1984 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - Rufus - "Ain't Nobody" Track from album: Stompin' at the Savoy - Live (Rufus)
    * 1984 Best Vocal Arrangement For Two Or More Voices - Arif Mardin, Chaka Khan - "Be Bop Medley" Track from album: Chaka Khan (1982 album)
    * 1975 Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus - Rufus - "Tell Me Something Good" Track from album: Rags To Rufus (Rufus)

Grammy Award nominations

    * 2007 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals - Chaka Khan, Gerald Levert, Yolanda Adams, Carl Thomas - "Everyday (Family Reunion)" Track from album: Madea's Family Reunion - Soundtrack (Various Artists)
    * 1998 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance - Chaka Khan - "Summertime" Track from album: Porgy & Bess (Joe Henderson)
    * 1997 Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals - Brandy, Tamia, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan - "Missing You" Track from album: Set It Off - Soundtrack (Various Artists)
    * 1997 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - Chaka Khan, Meshell Ndegeocello - "Never Miss The Water" Track from compilation album: Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, Vol. 1
    * 1997 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - Luke Cresswell, Fiona Wilkes, Carl Smith, Fraser Morrison, Everett Bradley, Mr. X, Melle Mel, Coolio, Yo-Yo, Chaka Khan, Charlie Wilson, Shaquille O'Neal, Luniz - "Stomp" Track from album: Q's Jook Joint (Quincy Jones)
    * 1996 Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture Or Television - Bruce Hornsby, Chaka Khan - "Love Me Still" Track from album: Clockers - Soundtrack (Various Artists)
    * 1987 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - Destiny
    * 1986 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - I Feel for You
    * 1983 Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - Echoes of an Era
    * 1982 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - What Cha' Gonna Do for Me
    * 1979 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female - Chaka Khan - "I'm Every Woman" Track from album Chaka (1978 album)
    * 1978 Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus - Rufus - Ask Rufus (Rufus)

BET Awards

    * 2006 BET Lifetime Achievement Award (Recipient)
    * 2008 BET Awards: Bet Award (nominated)

Lady Of Soul Awards

    * 1998 Lena Horne Award (Career Achievement) (Recipient)

American Music Award nominations

To date, she has had four American Music Award nominations.

    * 1985 Favorite Female Artist - Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Tina Turner.)
    * 1985 Favorite Female Video Artist - Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Tina Turner.)
    * 1982 Favorite Female Artist - Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Stephanie Mills.)
    * 1981 Favorite Female Artist - Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Diana Ross.)

References:
Discography
Main article: Chaka Khan discography
See also

Rufus discography
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj57/tcb924/chaka.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j43/andrewstames/Chaka.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/23/10 at 5:45 am

Ain't Nobody is one of my favorites.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/23/10 at 5:47 am

The person who died on this day...Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (26 June 1904 – 23 March 1964) was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.

He made an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M. Later he became a popular featured player in Hollywood crime films and mysteries, notably alongside Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet, and as the star of the successful Mr. Moto detective series.  Lorre was born as László Löwenstein into a Jewish family in Rózsahegy (Hungarian)/Rosenberg (German), Kingdom of Hungary, part of Austria-Hungary, now Ružomberok, Slovakia. His parents were Alois and Elvira. When he was a child his family moved to Vienna  where Lorre attended school. He began acting on stage in Vienna at the age of 17, where he worked with Richard Teschner, then moved to Breslau, and Zürich. In the late 1920s, the young 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) actor moved to Berlin where he worked with German playwright Bertolt Brecht, most notably in his Mann ist Mann. He also appeared as Dr. Nakamura in the infamous musical Happy End by Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, alongside Brecht's wife Helene Weigel and other impressive co-stars such as Carola Neher, Oskar Homolka and Kurt Gerron. The German-speaking actor became famous when Fritz Lang cast him as a child killer in his 1931 film M.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Lorre took refuge first in Paris and then London where he was noticed by Ivor Mantagu, Alfred Hitchcock's associate producer for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), who reminded the director about Lorre's performance in M. They first considered him to play the assassin in the film, but wanted to use him in a larger role, despite his limited command of English, which Lorre overcame by learning much of his part phonetically.

Eventually, Lorre went to Hollywood where he specialized in playing wicked or wily foreigners, beginning with Mad Love (1935), directed by Karl Freund. He starred in a series of Mr. Moto movies, a parallel to the better known Charlie Chan series, in which he played a Japanese detective and spy created by John P. Marquand. He did not much enjoy these films—and twisted his shoulder during a stunt in Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation -- but they were lucrative for the studio and gained Lorre many new fans. In 1939, Peter was picked to play the role that would eventually go to Basil Rathbone in Son of Frankenstein. Lorre had to decline the part due to illness.

In 1940, Lorre co-starred with fellow horror actors Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the Kay Kyser movie You'll Find Out. Lorre enjoyed considerable popularity as a featured player in Warner Bros. suspense and adventure films. Lorre played the role of Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and portrayed the character Ugarte in the film classic Casablanca (1942).

Lorre demonstrated a gift for comedy in the role of Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace (filmed in 1941, released 1944). In 1946 he starred with Sydney Greenstreet and Geraldine Fitzgerald in Three Strangers, a suspense film about three people who are joint partners on a winning lottery ticket.

In 1941, Peter Lorre became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

After World War II, Lorre's acting career in Hollywood experienced a downturn, whereupon he concentrated on radio and stage work. In Germany he co-wrote, directed and starred in Der Verlorene (The Lost One) (1951), a critically acclaimed art film in the film noir style. He then returned to the United States where he appeared as a character actor in television and feature films, often spoofing his former "creepy" image. In 1954, he had the distinction of becoming the first actor to play a James Bond villain when he portrayed Le Chiffre in a television adaptation of Casino Royale, opposite Barry Nelson as an American James Bond. (In the spoof-film version of Casino Royale, Ronnie Corbett comments that SMERSH includes among its agents not only Le Chiffre, but also "Peter Lorre and Bela Lugosi.") Also in 1954, Lorre starred alongside Kirk Douglas and James Mason in the hit-classic 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. In the early 1960s he worked with Roger Corman on several low-budgeted, tongue-in-cheek, and very popular films.

In 1956, both Lorre and Vincent Price attended Bela Lugosi's funeral. According to Price, Lorre asked him "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?"

In 1959, Lorre appeared in the episode "Thin Ice" of NBC's espionage drama Five Fingers, starring David Hedison. He appeared in a supporting role in the 1961 film, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. In 1961, he was interviewed on the NBC program Here's Hollywood.
Marriages and family

He was married three times: Celia Lovsky (1934 – 13 March 1945, divorced); Kaaren Verne (25 May 1945 – 1950, divorced) and Annemarie Brenning (21 July 1953 – 23 March 1964, his death). In 1953, Annemarie bore his only child, Catharine. His daughter Catharine made headlines after Hillside Strangler serial killer Kenneth Bianchi confessed to police investigators after his arrest that he and his cousin and partner in crime Angelo Buono had stopped Catharine Lorre disguised as police officers with the intent of abducting and murdering her in 1977, but after learning that she was the daughter of Peter Lorre, the pair let her go. It was only after Bianchi was arrested that Catharine Lorre realized whom she had met.

In 1963 an actor named Eugene Weingand, who was unrelated to Lorre, attempted to trade on his slight resemblance to the actor by changing his name to "Peter Lorie", but his petition was rejected by the courts. After Lorre's death, however, he referred to himself as Lorre's son.
Health and death
Peter Lorre's crypt at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Lorre had suffered for years from chronic gallbladder troubles, for which doctors had prescribed morphine. Lorre became trapped between the constant pain and addiction to morphine to ease the problem. It was during the period of the Moto films that Lorre struggled and overcame this problem.

Overweight and never fully recovered from his addiction to morphine, Lorre suffered many personal and career disappointments in his later years. He died in 1964 of a stroke. Lorre's body was cremated and his ashes interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood. Vincent Price read the eulogy at his funeral.
Legacy

Lorre has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6619 Hollywood Boulevard.
Imitating Lorre
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Lorre's distinctive Viennese-meets Middle American accent and large-eyed face has been a favorite target of comedians and cartoonists.
Books and comics

In the early 1940s, the adventures of Batman and Robin appeared in daily newspapers. One story, The Two-Bit Dictator of Twin Mills, drawn by Batman co-creator Bob Kane, featured a hitman called Jojo who was, according to writer Al Schwartz, made to look like Lorre. Jojo is a highly skilled gunman who, whatever the distance or the circumstances, always hits his target. A mildly eccentric character, he refers to his hits (objects or people) as "flinks". Even Batman, who is used to taking on armed men, hesitates in dealing with this particular gunman head-on or face-to-face. A later story was The Karen Drew Mystery, written by Jack Schiff and drawn by Jack Burnley. This one featured villains drawn to resemble Lorre's occasional co-stars: Sydney Greenstreet as gang leader Mr Wright and Humphrey Bogart as his henchman Merry.

A Lorre-like character (with strong admixtures of Max Schreck) is the focus of Brock Brower's novel The Late, Great Creature.

Science-fiction writer Howard Waldrop wrote a short story entitled "The Effects of Alienation" which includes Peter Lorre as the main character.
Films, television, music and video games

Musician and filker Tom Smith won a Pegasus award for Best Classic Filk Song in 2006 entitled "I Want to be Peter Lorre" which appears on his filk album "Homecoming: MarCon 2005", which includes his vocal impersonation of the actor.

The stop motion film Corpse Bride features "The Maggot", a small green worm who lives inside the title's character head. His features and voice (provided by Enn Reitel) are caricatures of Peter Lorre. "From the very beginning Tim wanted the Maggot to be a Peter Lorre-esque character, and we had a good time working with that and it went through various design changes," says co-director Mike Johnson in the book 'Tim Burton's Corpse Bride; An Invitation to the Wedding.'

On September 11, 2007 Brooklyn-based punk band The World/Inferno Friendship Society released a full-length album about Lorre called Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century, which traces Lorre's film career, drug addiction, and death. It has been performed at the Famous Spiegeltent. The album was subsequently adapted into a multi-media stage production directed by Jay Scheib, which premiered at Webster Hall in New York City on January 9, 2009, and went on to play major arts festivals around the world, including Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston, SC), Luminato Festival (Toronto), Noorderzon Festival (Groningen, Holland) and Theaterformen (Hanover, Germany).
Filmography

    * Die Verschwundene Frau (1929)
    * M (1931)
    * Bomben auf Monte Carlo (1931)
    * Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (1931)
    * Fünf von der Jazzband (1932)
    * Schuss im Morgengrauen (1932)
    * Der Weisse Dämon (1932)
    * Stupéfiants (1932)
    * F.P.1 antwortet nicht (1932)
    * Les Requins du pétrole (1933)
    * Du haut en bas (1933)
    * Was Frauen träumen (1933)
    * Unsichtbare Gegner (1933)
    * The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
    * Mad Love (1935)
    * Crime and Punishment (1935)
    * Secret Agent (1936)
    * Crack-Up (1936)
    * Nancy Steele Is Missing! (1937)
    * Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937)
    * Lancer Spy (1937)
    * Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937)
    * Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938)
    * Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938)
    * I'll Give a Million (1938)
    * Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938)
    * Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939)
    * Danger Island (1939)
    * Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)
    * Strange Cargo (1940)
    * I Was an Adventuress (1940)
    * Island of Doomed Men (1940)
    * Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
    * You'll Find Out (1940)
    * Der Ewige Jude (archive footage) (1940)
    * The Face Behind the Mask (1941)
    * Mr. District Attorney (1941)
    * They Met in Bombay (1941)
    * The Maltese Falcon (1941)
    * All Through the Night
    * Invisible Agent (1942)
    * The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)



    * Casablanca (1942)
    * The Constant Nymph (1943)
    * Background to Danger (1943)
    * The Cross of Lorraine (1943)
    * Passage to Marseille (1944)
    * The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
    * Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
    * The Conspirators
    * Hollywood Canteen (1944)
    * Hotel Berlin (1945)
    * Confidential Agent (1945)
    * Three Strangers (1946)
    * Black Angel (1946)
    * The Chase (1946)
    * The Verdict (1946)
    * The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)
    * My Favorite Brunette (1947)
    * Casbah (1948)
    * Rope of Sand (1949)
    * Quicksand (1950)
    * Double Confession (1950)
    * Der Verlorene (1951) (also directed)
    * Beat the Devil (1953)
    * Casino Royale, a 1954 episode of the television series Climax!
    * 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
    * Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    * Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956) (uncredited)
    * Congo Crossing (1956)
    * The Buster Keaton Story (1957)
    * Silk Stockings (1957)
    * The Story of Mankind (1957)
    * The Sad Sack (1957)
    * Hell Ship Mutiny (1957)
    * The Big Circus (1959)
    * Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
    * Tales of Terror (1962)
    * Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962)
    * The Raven (1963)
    * The Comedy of Terrors (1964)
    * Muscle Beach Party (1964)
    * The Patsy (1964)
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm49/doghouse_riley/People/lorre.jpg
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l332/ditcwildlife/peter.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/23/10 at 5:48 am


Ain't Nobody is one of my favorites.  :)

She's a talented woman :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/23/10 at 1:02 pm

I am woman, hear me roar! Meow, d@nmit.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/23/10 at 1:19 pm


I am woman, hear me roar! Meow, d@nmit.



Cat

Steven Wright: "Women...can't live with 'em...can't shoot 'em"  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/23/10 at 2:58 pm


She's a talented woman :)


One of the best in the business.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/23/10 at 3:59 pm


Steven Wright: "Women...can't live with 'em...can't shoot 'em"  :D



Steven Wright was wrong: It should be Men, you can't live with them, you can't shoot them. I say that ALL THE TIME!!!!!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/23/10 at 4:30 pm


The word of the day...Woman
A woman is an adult female human being.
http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy234/desherica/loveme.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/rachilita/capt.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg180/cloezplace/GODMADEWOMAN.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n102/randyow/Favorite%20TV%20movies%201970%20and%20up/wonder-woman.jpg
(couldn't see the image that was here)
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab262/monamae/maturewoman.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q1/SapphiresBlue/womanwhugeboobs.jpg


Very nice. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/23/10 at 4:33 pm


Ain't Nobody is one of my favorites.  :)

"I Feel For You" is the song of hers that I know the best. Her name is even mentioned several times in the song, courtesy of rapper Melle Mel, who provides rap vocals in the recording.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 2:18 am


The word of the day...Woman
A woman is an adult female human being.
http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy234/desherica/loveme.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/rachilita/capt.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg180/cloezplace/GODMADEWOMAN.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n102/randyow/Favorite%20TV%20movies%201970%20and%20up/wonder-woman.jpg
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx260/ausblonde/Decorated%20images/-Woman/Woman-MaidenInRed.jpg
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab262/monamae/maturewoman.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q1/SapphiresBlue/womanwhugeboobs.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CLGtgovIqc

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 2:19 am


Could it be Gary Puckett's birthday?
Nope, that is October 17th.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 2:23 am

British Person of the Day: Alan Sugar

Alan Michael Sugar was born on 24 March 1947, the son of a tailor.

Alan Sugar went to Brooke House School in London but left at 16 and was briefly a civil service statistician.

It wasn't long before Alan Sugar went into business selling products such as cigarette lighters, intercoms and TV aerials. Sugar founded the home electronics group Amstrad in 1968, the same year that he married his wife, Ann.

In 1985 Sugar had a major breakthrough with the launch of the PCW8256 word processor which, although made of very cheap components, retailed at over £300.

At its peak Amstrad achieved a stock market valuation of £1.2 billion, but the nineties proved a troubled time. In 1997 Amstrad divided into Betacom and Viglen.

Lord Sugar's wealth was estimated to be £790 million and he was 71st on The Sunday Times Rich List in 2006.

An interesting episode in Lord Sugar's life was when he and Terry Venables got together to buy Tottenham Hotspur Football Club on June 21st 1991.

They beat off a late bid from Robert Maxwell for Spurs. In an interview with Channel 4's High Interest programme, Alan Sugar said:

"The only dialogue I had with Rupert Murdoch was when that clown Maxwell came on the scene and knowing that they were in the past arch enemies I think Rupert rang me up one day and said 'what's going on with this football club you're trying to buy and this clown Maxwell is trying to buy also', and I think I might have said to him at the time 'he's got the power of his newspaper to hype up the thing, I haven't got a newspaper so perhaps one of your journalists could put in a good word for me on The Sun, but that was about it"

A Sun headline appeared "20 things you never knew about Tel's Sugar Daddy".

Lord Sugar's relationship with Venables turned acrimonious and court battles ensued. Our Teddy Sheringham biography provides an example of the claims that Sugar made of the footballing world. Alan Sugar has stated that his time at Spurs was "a waste of my life".

In 2005 Alan Sugar entered the world of reality TV when he tested 14 apprentices in a new BBC TV series based on Donald Trump's successful US show The Apprentice.

Alan Sugar was knighted in 2000.

In December 2007, The Telegraph reported that Sir Alan Sugar is to step back from the day-to-day management of Amstrad, which he leaves at the end of June 2008, following its acquisition by BSkyB.

In July 2008 Lord Sugar stepped down as chairman of Amstrad, but he continued his involvement in his various other business interests including Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

On 5 June 2009, Alan Sugar was appointed enterprise tsar in Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle. He was also set to be nominated for a seat in the House of Lords.

On 20 July 2009 he took his seat in the House of Lords as as Baron Sugar of Clapton.

http://politicalanimals.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/alansugar.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 2:25 am


British Person of the Day: Alan Sugar

Alan Michael Sugar was born on 24 March 1947, the son of a tailor.

Alan Sugar went to Brooke House School in London but left at 16 and was briefly a civil service statistician.

It wasn't long before Alan Sugar went into business selling products such as cigarette lighters, intercoms and TV aerials. Sugar founded the home electronics group Amstrad in 1968, the same year that he married his wife, Ann.

In 1985 Sugar had a major breakthrough with the launch of the PCW8256 word processor which, although made of very cheap components, retailed at over £300.

At its peak Amstrad achieved a stock market valuation of £1.2 billion, but the nineties proved a troubled time. In 1997 Amstrad divided into Betacom and Viglen.

Lord Sugar's wealth was estimated to be £790 million and he was 71st on The Sunday Times Rich List in 2006.

An interesting episode in Lord Sugar's life was when he and Terry Venables got together to buy Tottenham Hotspur Football Club on June 21st 1991.

They beat off a late bid from Robert Maxwell for Spurs. In an interview with Channel 4's High Interest programme, Alan Sugar said:

"The only dialogue I had with Rupert Murdoch was when that clown Maxwell came on the scene and knowing that they were in the past arch enemies I think Rupert rang me up one day and said 'what's going on with this football club you're trying to buy and this clown Maxwell is trying to buy also', and I think I might have said to him at the time 'he's got the power of his newspaper to hype up the thing, I haven't got a newspaper so perhaps one of your journalists could put in a good word for me on The Sun, but that was about it"

A Sun headline appeared "20 things you never knew about Tel's Sugar Daddy".

Lord Sugar's relationship with Venables turned acrimonious and court battles ensued. Our Teddy Sheringham biography provides an example of the claims that Sugar made of the footballing world. Alan Sugar has stated that his time at Spurs was "a waste of my life".

In 2005 Alan Sugar entered the world of reality TV when he tested 14 apprentices in a new BBC TV series based on Donald Trump's successful US show The Apprentice.

Alan Sugar was knighted in 2000.

In December 2007, The Telegraph reported that Sir Alan Sugar is to step back from the day-to-day management of Amstrad, which he leaves at the end of June 2008, following its acquisition by BSkyB.

In July 2008 Lord Sugar stepped down as chairman of Amstrad, but he continued his involvement in his various other business interests including Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

On 5 June 2009, Alan Sugar was appointed enterprise tsar in Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle. He was also set to be nominated for a seat in the House of Lords.

On 20 July 2009 he took his seat in the House of Lords as as Baron Sugar of Clapton.

http://politicalanimals.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/alansugar.jpg
"You're fired!"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/24/10 at 4:34 am


"I Feel For You" is the song of hers that I know the best. Her name is even mentioned several times in the song, courtesy of rapper Melle Mel, who provides rap vocals in the recording.

Another good song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/24/10 at 4:35 am


British Person of the Day: Alan Sugar

Alan Michael Sugar was born on 24 March 1947, the son of a tailor.

Alan Sugar went to Brooke House School in London but left at 16 and was briefly a civil service statistician.

It wasn't long before Alan Sugar went into business selling products such as cigarette lighters, intercoms and TV aerials. Sugar founded the home electronics group Amstrad in 1968, the same year that he married his wife, Ann.

In 1985 Sugar had a major breakthrough with the launch of the PCW8256 word processor which, although made of very cheap components, retailed at over £300.

At its peak Amstrad achieved a stock market valuation of £1.2 billion, but the nineties proved a troubled time. In 1997 Amstrad divided into Betacom and Viglen.

Lord Sugar's wealth was estimated to be £790 million and he was 71st on The Sunday Times Rich List in 2006.

An interesting episode in Lord Sugar's life was when he and Terry Venables got together to buy Tottenham Hotspur Football Club on June 21st 1991.

They beat off a late bid from Robert Maxwell for Spurs. In an interview with Channel 4's High Interest programme, Alan Sugar said:

"The only dialogue I had with Rupert Murdoch was when that clown Maxwell came on the scene and knowing that they were in the past arch enemies I think Rupert rang me up one day and said 'what's going on with this football club you're trying to buy and this clown Maxwell is trying to buy also', and I think I might have said to him at the time 'he's got the power of his newspaper to hype up the thing, I haven't got a newspaper so perhaps one of your journalists could put in a good word for me on The Sun, but that was about it"

A Sun headline appeared "20 things you never knew about Tel's Sugar Daddy".

Lord Sugar's relationship with Venables turned acrimonious and court battles ensued. Our Teddy Sheringham biography provides an example of the claims that Sugar made of the footballing world. Alan Sugar has stated that his time at Spurs was "a waste of my life".

In 2005 Alan Sugar entered the world of reality TV when he tested 14 apprentices in a new BBC TV series based on Donald Trump's successful US show The Apprentice.

Alan Sugar was knighted in 2000.

In December 2007, The Telegraph reported that Sir Alan Sugar is to step back from the day-to-day management of Amstrad, which he leaves at the end of June 2008, following its acquisition by BSkyB.

In July 2008 Lord Sugar stepped down as chairman of Amstrad, but he continued his involvement in his various other business interests including Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

On 5 June 2009, Alan Sugar was appointed enterprise tsar in Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle. He was also set to be nominated for a seat in the House of Lords.

On 20 July 2009 he took his seat in the House of Lords as as Baron Sugar of Clapton.

http://politicalanimals.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/alansugar.jpg

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/24/10 at 4:42 am

The word of the day...Peaks
The peak of a process or an activity is the point at which it is at its strongest, most successful, or most fully developed.
When something peaks, it reaches its highest value or its highest level.
The peak level or value of something is its highest level or value.
Peak times are the times when there is most demand for something or most use of something.
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/mlwoodwa/2009-06-Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness/S6300078.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac241/udayamin/Uttarakhand%20Kumaon%20Trip%202010/P1000045.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa156/rongonz/CanadianRockies_0310/26_LakeOHara_00.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l97/thedarkhalf75/Pogo%20sheesh/peakpalacetripeakssolitaireandgamej.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/mlwoodwa/2009-06-Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness/S6300087.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk468/vyvwalsh/Cuzco/Cusco308.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh166/SLTPlus/peaks.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq247/JulieT814/Peaks.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/24/10 at 4:45 am

The person born on this day...Lara Flynn Boyle
Lara Flynn Boyle (born March 24, 1970) is an American film and television actress best known for her performances as Laura Palmer's best friend Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks and Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble  in The Practice. She has had a number of movie roles from the late '80s through the present but has found the most recognition through her roles in television series.
Boyle was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Sally Boyle, a clerical worker, assistant, and manager.  Although she is of mostly Roman Catholic Irish  descent, Boyle also has an Italian-American great-grandfather.  She is named after a character in Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago.  She was raised in Chicago, Illinois  and Wisconsin. Boyle studied at and graduated from The Chicago Academy for the Arts.
Career

Boyle's first film role was a bit part in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), which earned her a SAG card, though her scenes were deleted from the final cut of the film. She then appeared in the mini-series Amerika (1987) and films Poltergeist III (1988) and Dead Poets Society (1989) from which her scenes were deleted, before landing her first major part, that of Donna Hayward in the critically acclaimed series Twin Peaks. When the series ended in 1991, creator David Lynch produced a movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but—largely due to her rise in fame and increased film offers—Boyle chose not to return. Moira Kelly took over the role of Donna for the film.

Boyle spent much of the 1990s making a name for herself in films with varying degrees of success. Some of her most notable roles during that time were:

    * the obsessive and accident-prone Stacy in Wayne's World (1992)
    * the fragile, homeless teen Heather in Where The Day Takes You (1992)
    * psycho secretary-from-hell Kris Bolin in what was geared to be her breakout success, but ultimately became a box-office bust, The Temp (1993)
    * the sultry and manipulative Suzanne of Red Rock West (1993), which solidified her status as a premier femme fatale
    * Alex, the promiscuous beauty in the comedy Threesome (1994)
    * flighty, manically repressed housewife Marianne Byron in Afterglow (1997)

In 1997, Boyle auditioned for the title role in David E. Kelley's Ally McBeal. Although she lost out to Calista Flockhart, the actress impressed Kelley enough to create the role of Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in his other 1997 series, The Practice, specifically for her. She starred on that show until 2003, when - in a dramatic attempt to revamp the show and cut costs - she was unceremoniously dismissed along with most of the cast. The role of Helen earned her an Emmy nomination, as well as several Screen Actors Guild ensemble cast nominations. Boyle also made a crossover appearance in the role of Helen in an episode of Ally McBeal, the show she originally was not cast for. She also did make another uncredited guest appearance on Ally McBeal in its final season.

In 2002, Boyle played a lead role in the blockbuster film Men in Black II as the villainous shapeshifting alien Serleena. She also guest-starred on one of the last episodes of Ally McBeal, this time as Tally Cupp, a completely different role from that which she had played before. Recently, she had a recurring role on several episodes of Huff, playing Melody Coatar, an unstable patient with borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder.

In 2005, Boyle joined the cast of Las Vegas for a seven-episode stint as Monica Mancuso, a new hotel owner. She played Barbara Amiel in the TV true story "Shades of Black", about Amiel's controversial husband, Lord Conrad Black. Boyle also guest-starred as an ambitious reporter involved with the suspects in a possible murder in the Law & Order 2008 episode "Submission".
Personal life

Boyle has dated actors Harrison Ford, Richard Dean Anderson, Kyle MacLachlan, David Spade, Jack Nicholson, and Eric Dane. She has a tattoo on her back from then-boyfriend Jay Penske. She is dyslexic.

She has been married twice. Her first husband was John Patrick Dee III, whom she married on August 11, 1996 and divorced two years later. Her current husband is Donald Ray Thomas II, a real-estate investor, whom she married on December 18, 2006 in San Antonio, Texas. She has two half-brothers, Ethan and Mike Boyle. Mike Boyle is currently a musician in the Chicago indie/pop band "The Howabouts."

Boyle's home in Beverly Hills was built in the 1920s as servants' quarters for Pickfair, the former home of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off Scenes deleted
1988 Poltergeist III Donna Gardner
1989 Terror on Highway 91 Laura Taggart TV movie
How I Got Into College Jessica Kailo
Dead Poets Society Ginny Danburry Scenes deleted
The Preppie Murder Jennifer Levin TV movie
1990 The Rookie Sarah
1991 The Dark Backward Rosarita
Mobsters Mara Motes
Eye of the Storm Sandra Gladstone
May Wine Cammie TV movie
1992 Where the Day Takes You Heather
Wayne's World Stacy
Equinox Beverly Franks
1993 The Temp Kris Bolin
Red Rock West Suzanne Brown/Ann McCord
1994 Threesome Alex
Past Tense Tory Bass/Sabrina James TV movie
Baby's Day Out Laraine Cotwell
The Road to Wellville Ida Muntz
Jacob Rachel TV movie
1995 Cafe Society Pat Ward
1996 The Big Squeeze Tanya Mulhill
1997 Red Meat Ruth
Farmer & Chase Hillary
Afterglow Marianne Byron
1998 Since You've Been Gone Grace Williams TV movie
Happiness Helen Jordan
Susan's Plan Betty Johnson
2000 Chain of Fools Karen
2001 Speaking of Sex Dr. Emily Paige
2002 Men in Black II Serleena
2006 Land of the Blind First Lady
Fwiends.com Yuppy girl Short film
The House Next Door Col Kennedy TV movie
Shades of Black: The Conrad Black Story Barbara Amiel TV movie
2007 Have Dreams, Will Travel Mrs. Reynolds
2009 Baby on Board Mary
Life Is Hot in Cracktown Betty McBain
2010 Cougar Hunting Kathy
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1987 Amerika Jacqueline 'Jessie' Bradford -
1990-1991 Twin Peaks Donna Hayward 1-2
1997-2003 The Practice Helen Gamble 2-7
2004-2005 Huff Melody Coatar 1
2005-2006 Las Vegas Monica Mancuso 3
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1987 Sable 1 Melanie Waterston "Toy Gun" Episode 1
1991 The Hidden Room 1 Nicole "Splinters of Privacy" Episode 2
1995 Legend 1 Theresa Dunleavy "Skeletons in the Closet" Episode 12
1998 The Practice 2 Helen Gamble Making Spirits Bright Episode 10
2002 Ally McBeal 5 Tally Cupp Tom Dooley Episode 18
2008 Law & Order 18 Dawn Talley "Submission" Episode 12
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r405/Ginger1965/lara_flynn_boyle.jpg
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss284/Mirna27/laraflynnboyle.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/24/10 at 4:50 am

The person who died on this day...Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (French pronunciation: ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869–1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) and The Mysterious Island (1875). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater  travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. Consequently he is often referred to as the "Father of science fiction", along with H. G. Wells.  Verne is the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie, with 4223 translations, according to Index Translationum.  Some of his works have been made into films. After completing his studies at the lycée, Verne went to Paris to study law. About 1848, in conjunction with Michel Carré, he began writing librettos  for operettas  (he was co-librettist of Colin-Millard, a one act opera comique by Aristide Hignard). For some years his attentions were divided between the theatre and work, but some travelers' stories which he wrote for the Musée des Familles revealed to him his talent for writing fiction.

When Verne's father discovered that his son was writing rather than studying law, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Verne was forced to support himself as a stockbroker, which he hated despite being somewhat successful at it. During this period, he met Alexandre Dumas, père and Victor Hugo, who offered him writing advice. Dumas would become a close friend of Verne.

Verne also met Honorine de Viane Morel, a widow with two daughters. They were married on 10 January 1857. With her encouragement, he continued to write and actively looked for a publisher. On 3 August 1861, their son, Michel Jean Verne, was born. A classic enfant terrible, Michel was sent to Mettray Penal Colony in 1876 and later married an actress (in spite of Verne's objections), had two children by his 16-year-old mistress, and buried himself in debts. The relationship between father and son did improve as Michel grew older.

Verne's situation improved when he met Pierre-Jules Hetzel, one of the most important French publishers of the 19th century, who also published Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Erckmann-Chatrian, among others. They formed an excellent writer-publisher team until Hetzel's death. Hetzel helped improve Verne's writings, which until then had been repeatedly rejected by other publishers. Hetzel read a draft of Verne's story about the balloon exploration of Africa, which had been rejected by other publishers for being "too scientific". With Hetzel's help, Verne rewrote the story, which was published in 1863 in book form as Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon). Acting on Hetzel's advice, Verne added comical accents to his novels, changed sad endings into happy ones, and toned down various political messages.

In 1864, Verne wrote an admiring study of the works of Edgar Allan Poe (Edgar Poe et ses oeuvres, 1864) and it is not difficult to see Poe's works, published in France as Histoires extraordinaires (Extraordinary Stories), as a source of inspiration for Verne. In fact, Verne was so intrigued by Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" that he penned a sequel to the work entitled "An Antarctic Mystery." Verne set his story eleven years after the disappearance of Pym and recounts through the persona of Jeorling, a man of science, the adventures encountered during an expedition tracing Pym's travels.
A typical Hetzel front cover for a Jules Verne book. The edition is Les Aventures du Capitaine Hatteras au Pôle Nord, type "Aux deux éléphants".

From that point to years after Verne's death, Hetzel published two or more volumes a year. The most successful of these include: Voyage au centre de la terre (Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1864); De la terre à la lune (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865); Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, 1869); and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days), which first appeared in Le Temps in 1872. The series is collectively known as "Les Voyages Extraordinaires" ("extraordinary voyages"). Verne could now live on his writings. But most of his wealth came from the stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1874) and Michel Strogoff (1876), a relatively conventional adventure tale set in Tsarist Russia, which he adapted for the stage with Adolphe d'Ennery. In 1867 Verne bought a small ship, the Saint-Michel, which he successively replaced with the Saint-Michel II and the Saint-Michel III as his financial situation improved. On board the Saint-Michel III, he sailed around Europe. In 1870, he was appointed "Chevalier" (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur. After his first novel, most of his stories were first serialised in the Magazine d'Éducation et de Récréation, a Hetzel biweekly publication, before being published in the form of books. Jules' brother Paul contributed to a non-fiction story "Fortieth Ascent of Mont Blanc" ("Quarantième ascension du Mont-Blanc") to the collection of short stories, Doctor Ox (1874). According to the Unesco Index Translationum, Jules Verne regularly places among the top five most translated authors in the world.
Last years

On 9 March 1886, as Verne approached his own home, his twenty-five-year-old nephew Gaston, who suffered from paranoia, shot twice at him with a gun. One bullet missed, but the second entered Verne's left leg, giving him a permanent limp. Gaston spent the rest of his life in an asylum.

After the deaths of Hetzel and his beloved mother in 1887, Verne began writing darker works. This may have been due partly to changes in his personality, but an important factor was that Hetzel's son, who took over his father's business, was not as rigorous in his edits and corrections as Hetzel Sr. had been.
Verne in 1892

In 1888, Verne entered politics and was elected town councilor of Amiens, where he championed several improvements and served for fifteen years. Though elected from the left he stood with the right on the Dreyfus Affair and was anti-Dreyfusard, although the theme of wrongful conviction and judicial corruption found in "The Kip Brothers", one of his last novels, suggests he may have become a Dreyfusard later in life. In 1905, ill with diabetes, Verne died at his home, 44 Boulevard Longueville (now Boulevard Jules-Verne). His son Michel oversaw publication of his last novels Invasion of the Sea and The Lighthouse at the End of the World. The "Voyages extraordinaires" series continued for several years afterwards in the same rhythm of two volumes a year. It was later discovered that Michel Verne had made extensive changes in these stories, and the original versions were published at the end of the 20th century.

In 1863, Verne wrote Paris in the 20th Century, a novel about a young man who lives in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness and comes to a tragic end. Hetzel thought the novel's pessimism would damage Verne's then booming career, and suggested he wait 20 years to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. It was published in 1993.
Death

Jules Verne died on 24 March, 1905 and was buried in the La Madeleine Cemetery in Amiens. In 2008, efforts were initiated to have him reburied in the Panthéon, alongside France's other literary giants.
Reputation in English-speaking countries
The tomb of Jules Verne in Amiens (Somme); sculpture by Albert Roze (1861-1953).

While Verne is considered in France as an author of quality books for young people, with a good command of his subjects, including technology and politics, his reputation in English-speaking countries suffered for a long time as a result of poor translation.

Some English publishers felt 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea portrayed the British Empire in a bad light, and the first English translator, Reverend Lewis Page Mercier, working under a pseudonym, removed many offending passages. Mrs. Agnes Kinloch Kingston (writing in the name of her husband, W.H.G. Kingston) deleted parts of The Mysterious Island such as those describing the political actions of Captain Nemo in his incarnation as an Indian nobleman freedom fighter. Such negative depictions were not, however, invariable in Verne's works; for example, Facing the Flag features, in the character of Lieutenant Devon, a heroic, self-sacrificing Royal Navy officer worthy of any created by British authors. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea itself, Captain Nemo, there of unidentified nationality, is balanced by Ned Land, a Canadian. Some of Verne's most famous heroes were British (e.g. Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days).

Mercier and subsequent British translators also had trouble with the metric system that Verne used, sometimes dropping significant figures, at other times changing the unit to an Imperial measure without changing the corresponding value. Thus Verne's calculations, which in general were remarkably exact, were converted into mathematical gibberish. Also, artistic passages and sometimes whole chapters were cut to fit the work into a constrained space for publication.

For these reasons, Verne's work initially acquired a reputation in English-speaking countries of not being fit for adult readers. This in turn prevented it from being taken seriously enough to merit new translations, and those of Mercier and others were reprinted decade after decade. Only from 1965 on have some of his novels received more accurate translations, but even today Verne's work has not been fully rehabilitated in the English-speaking world.

Verne's works may also reflect the bitterness France felt in the wake of its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) and the consequent loss of Alsace and Lorraine. The Begum's Millions (Les Cinq cents millions de la Begum) of 1879 gives a highly stereotypical depiction of Germans as monstrously cruel militarists. By contrast, the rare portrayals of Germans are positive in pre-1871 works such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth, in which almost all the protagonists, including the sympathetic first-person narrator, are German.
Hetzel's influence

Hetzel substantially influenced the writings of Verne, who was so happy to finally find a willing publisher that he agreed to almost all changes that Hetzel suggested. Hetzel rejected at least one novel (Paris in the 20th Century), and asked Verne to make significant changes in his other drafts. One of the most important changes Hetzel imposed on Verne was the adoption of a more optimistic tone. Verne was in fact not an enthusiast of technological and human progress, as can be seen in the works he created both before he met Hetzel and after the publisher's death. For example, The Mysterious Island originally ended with the survivors returning to mainland forever nostalgic about the island. Hetzel decided that the heroes should live happily, so in the revised draft, they use their fortunes to build a replica of the island. Many translations are like this. Also, in order not to offend France's then-ally, Russia, the famous Captain Nemo was changed from a Polish refugee avenging the partitions of Poland and the death of his family, killed in the reprisals following the January Uprising, to an Indian prince fighting the British Empire after the Sikh War.
Predictions
A mural in Tampa, Florida commemorating Verne's From the Earth to the Moon.

Jules Verne's novels have been noted for being startlingly accurate anticipations of modern times. Paris in the 20th Century is an often cited example of this as it arguably describes air conditioning, automobiles, the Internet, television, even electricity, and other modern conveniences very similar to their real world counterparts.

Another example is From the Earth to the Moon, which, apart from using a space gun instead of a rocket, is uncannily similar to the real Apollo Program, as three astronauts are launched from the Florida peninsula and recovered through a splash landing. In the book, the spacecraft is launched from "Tampa Town"; Tampa, Florida is approximately 130 miles from NASA's actual launching site at Cape Canaveral.

In other works, Verne predicted the inventions of helicopters, submarines, projectors, jukeboxes, and other later devices.

He also predicted the existence of underwater hydrothermal vents that were not discovered until years after he wrote about them.
Scholars' jokes

Verne, who had a large archive and always kept up with scientific and technological progress, sometimes seemed to joke with the readers, using so-called "scholars' jokes" (that is, a joke that only a scientist may recognise). For instance, in Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, a Manticora beetle helps Cousin Bénédict to escape from imprisonment when Bénédict, unguarded, follows the beetle out of the garden. Since the beetle escapes from Cousin Bénédict by flying away, when in fact the genus is flightless, it is possible that this is one such joke. Another example appears in Mysterious Island, where the main character's dog is attacked by a wild dugong, even though the dugong, like its North American cousin, the manatee, is a herbivorous mammal. Also in Mysterious Island, because of its fauna and flora, the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff asks Cyrus Harding whether the latter believes that islands (like the one they are on) are made especially to be ideal ones for castaways. In From the Earth to the Moon, it was the material used in the creation of the cannon, although in this case it was probably poetic license in order to make the description of the making of the gun far more dramatic, or The Begum's Millions, where the methods used for making steel in "Steel City", described as the most modern steel factory in the world, were rather dated, but, again, much more spectacular to describe. (See Neff, 1978)
Bibliography
Jules Verne in front of creatures from his novels and stories.

Verne wrote numerous works, most famous of which are the 54 novels part of the Voyages Extraordinaires. He also wrote short stories, essays, plays, and poems.

Note: only the dates of the first English translation and the most common translation title are given.
# French publication English translation
Title Year Title Year
1. Cinq Semaines en ballon 1863 Five Weeks in a Balloon 1869
3. Voyage au centre de la Terre 1864 A Journey to the Centre of the Earth 1871
4. De la terre à la lune 1865 From the Earth to the Moon 1865
2. Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras 1866 The Adventures of Captain Hatteras 1874-75
5. Les Enfants du capitaine Grant 1867-68 In Search of the Castaways 1873
6. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers 1869-70 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1872
7. Autour de la lune 1870 Around the Moon 1873
8. Une ville flottante 1871 A Floating City 1874
9. Aventures de trois Russes et de trois Anglais 1872 The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa 1872
10. Le Pays des fourrures 1873 The Fur Country 1873
11. Le Tour du Monde en quatre-vingts jours 1873 Around the World in Eighty Days 1875
12. L'Île mysterieuse 1874-75 The Mysterious Island 1874
13. Le Chancellor 1875 The Survivors of the Chancellor 1875
14. Michel Strogoff 1876 Michael Strogoff 1876
15. Hector Servadac 1877 Off on a Comet 1877
16. Les Indes noires 1877 The Child of the Cavern 1877
17. Un capitaine de quinze ans 1878 Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen 1878
18. Les Cinq Cents Millions de la Bégum 1879 The Begum's Millions 1879
19. Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine 1879 Tribulations of a Chinaman in China 1879
20. La Maison à vapeur 1880 The Steam House 1880
21. La Jangada 1881 Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon 1881
22. L'École des Robinsons 1882 Godfrey Morgan 1883
23. Le Rayon vert 1882 The Green Ray 1883
24. Kéraban-le-têtu 1883 Kéraban the Inflexible 1883-84
25. L'Étoile du sud 1884 The Vanished Diamond 1885
26. L'Archipel en feu 1884 The Archipelago on Fire 1885
27. Mathias Sandorf 1885 Mathias Sandorf 1885
28. Un billet de loterie 1886 The Lottery Ticket 1886
29. Robur-le-Conquérant 1886 Robur the Conqueror 1887
30. Nord contre Sud 1887 North Against South 1887
31. Le Chemin de France 1887 The Flight to France 1888
32. Deux Ans de vacances 1888 Two Years' Vacation 1889
33. Famille-sans-nom 1889 Family Without a Name 1889
34. Sans dessus dessous 1889 The Purchase of the North Pole 1890
35. César Cascabel 1890 César Cascabel 1890
36. Mistress Branican 1891 Mistress Branican 1891
37. Le Château des Carpathes 1892 Carpathian Castle 1893
38. Claudius Bombarnac 1892 Claudius Bombarnac 1894
39. P’tit-Bonhomme 1893 Foundling Mick 1895
40. Mirifiques Aventures de Maître Antifer 1894 Captain Antifer 1895
41. L'Île à hélice 1895 Propeller Island 1896
42. Face au drapeau 1896 Facing the Flag 1897
43. Clovis Dardentor 1896 Clovis Dardentor 1897
44. Le Sphinx des glaces 1897 An Antarctic Mystery 1898
45. Le Superbe Orénoque 1898 The Mighty Orinoco 2002
46. Le Testament d'un excentrique 1899 The Will of an Eccentric 1900
47. Seconde Patrie 1900 The Castaways of the Flag 1923
48. Le Village aérien 1901 The Village in the Treetops 1964
49. Les Histoires de Jean-Marie Cabidoulin 1901 The Sea Serpent 1967
50. Les Frères Kip 1902 The Kip Brothers 2007
51. Bourses de voyage 1903 Traveling Scholarships n/a
52. Un drame en Livonie 1904 A Drama in Livonia 1967
53. Maître du monde 1904 Master of the World 1911
54. L'Invasion de la mer 1905 Invasion of the Sea 2001
55. Paris au XXe siècle (written in 1863) 1994 Paris in the Twentieth Century 1996
Apocryphal and posthumous novels

    * (1885) L'Épave du Cynthia; English translation: The Waif of the Cynthia (1885), with André Laurie (pseudonym of Paschal Grousset), but actually the work of Grousset alone
    * (1905) Le Phare du bout du monde; English translation: The Lighthouse at the End of the World (1923), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1906) Le Volcan d'or; English translation: The Golden Volcano: The Claim on Forty Mile Creek and Flood and Flame (2 vols., 1962), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1907) L'Agence Thompson and Cº; English translation: The Thompson Travel Agency: Package Holiday and End of the Journey (2 vols., 1965), written by Michel Verne
    * (1908) La Chasse au météore; English translation: The Chase of the Golden Meteor (1909), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1908) Le Pilote du Danube; English translation: The Danube Pilot (1967), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1909) Les Naufragés du Jonathan; English translation: The Survivors of the 'Jonathan': The Masterless Man and The Unwilling Dictator (2 vols., 1962), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1910) Le Secret de Wilhelm Storitz; English translation: The Secret of William Storitz (1963), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1919) L'Étonnante Aventure de la mission Barsac; English translation: The Barsac Mission: Into the Niger Bend and The City of the Sahara (2 vols., 1960), written by Michel Verne
    * (1989) Voyage en Angleterre et en Ecosse; English translation: Backwards to Britain (1992), written in 1859
    * (1994) Paris au XXe siècle; English translation: Paris in the Twentieth Century (1996), written in 1863

Short story collections

    * (1874) Le Docteur Ox; English translation: Doctor Ox (1874)
    * (1910) Hier et Demain; English translation: Yesterday and Tomorrow (1965)

Short stories

    * (1851) "Un drame au Mexique"; English translation: "A Drama in Mexico" (1876)
    * (1851) "Un drame dans les airs"; English translation: "A Drama in the Air" (1852)
    * (1852) "Martin Paz"; English translation: "Martin Paz" (1875)
    * (1854) "Maître Zacharius"; English translation: "Master Zacharius" (1874)
    * (1855) "Un hivernage dans les glaces"; English translation: "A Winter Amid the Ice" (1874)
    * (1864) "Le Comte de Chanteleine"; English translation: "The Count of Chanteleine" (n/a)
    * (1865) "Les Forceurs de blocus"; English translation: "The Blockade Runners" (1874)
    * (1872) "Une fantaisie du docteur Ox"; English translation: "Dr. Ox's Experiment" (1874)
    * (1875) "Une ville idéale"; English translation: "An Ideal City" (1965)
    * (1879) "Les Révoltés de la Bounty"; English translation: "The Mutineers of the Bounty" (1879)
    * (1881) "Dix Heures en chasse"; English translation: "Ten Hours Hunting" (1965)
    * (1884) "Frritt-Flacc"; English translation: "Frritt-Flacc" (1892)
    * (1887) "Gil Braltar"; English translation: "Gil Braltar" (1958)
    * (1891) "La Journée d'un journaliste américain en 2889"; English translation: "In the Year 2889" (1889)
    * (1891) "Aventures de la famille Raton"; English translation: "Adventures of the Rat Family" (1993)
    * (1893) "Monsieur Ré-Dièze et Mademoiselle Mi-Bémol"; English translation: "Mr. Ray Sharp and Miss Me Flat" (1965)

Apocryphal short stories

    * (1888) "Un Express de l'avenir"; English translation: "An Express of the Future" (1895), written by Michel Verne
    * (1910) "La Destinée de Jean Morénas"; English translation: "The Fate of Jean Morenas" (1965), written by Michel Verne
    * (1910) "L'Éternel Adam"; English translation: "The Eternal Adam" (1957), written by Michel Verne

Non-fiction works

    * (1857) Salon de 1857 (art criticism); no English translation
    * (1864) "Edgar Poe et ses oeuvres" (Edgar Allan Poe and his works)
    * (1866) Géographie illustrée de la France et de ses colonies; English translation: Illlustrated Geography of France and its Colonies (n/a), with Théophile Lavallée
    * Histoire des grands voyages et des grands voyageurs; English translation: Celebrated Travels and Travellers
          o (1878) Découverte de la terre; English translation: The Exploration of the World (1879)
          o (1879) Les Grand navigateurs du XVIIIème siècle; English translation: The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century (1879)
          o (1880) Les Voyageurs du XIXème siècle; English translation: The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century (1881)

Imitations by other writers

The Wizard of the Sea by Roy Rockwood is a clear copy of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, apart from the first chapter(s). One or two other of Rockwood's titles also seem to (lesser) resemble some of Verne's, eg compare Five Thousand Miles Underground to Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
See also

About Verne:

    * Jules Verne Museum in Nantes, France
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p261/de2family/Verne.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o110/opereysin/Mini_portrait_Jules_Verne.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/24/10 at 6:50 am


The word of the day...Peaks
The peak of a process or an activity is the point at which it is at its strongest, most successful, or most fully developed.
When something peaks, it reaches its highest value or its highest level.
The peak level or value of something is its highest level or value.
Peak times are the times when there is most demand for something or most use of something.
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/mlwoodwa/2009-06-Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness/S6300078.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac241/udayamin/Uttarakhand%20Kumaon%20Trip%202010/P1000045.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa156/rongonz/CanadianRockies_0310/26_LakeOHara_00.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l97/thedarkhalf75/Pogo%20sheesh/peakpalacetripeakssolitaireandgamej.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/mlwoodwa/2009-06-Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness/S6300087.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk468/vyvwalsh/Cuzco/Cusco308.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh166/SLTPlus/peaks.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq247/JulieT814/Peaks.jpg


Man,that's beautiful.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 11:05 am

Death of British Person of the Day: Queen Elizabeth 1

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the only daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. When Elizabeth was two, Anne was beheaded for adultery on the orders of Henry, and Elizabeth was exiled from court. Her childhood was difficult, although she received a thorough Protestant education.

In 1553, Elizabeth's older half-sister Mary became queen. Mary was determined to re-establish Catholicism in England and viewed the Protestant Elizabeth as a direct threat, briefly imprisoning her in the Tower of London. When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558 one of her priorities was to return England to the Protestant faith and one of her greatest legacies was to establish and secure an English form of Protestantism. Elizabeth's reign also saw England significantly expand its trade overseas while at home, Shakespeare, Spenser and Marlowe were at the forefront of a renaissance in poetry and drama.

Catholic challenges and plots persisted through much of Elizabeth's reign. The focus of most of these was Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic with a strong claim to the English throne, who sought exile in England in 1568. Elizabeth imprisoned her and she remained a prisoner for 20 years until Elizabeth was persuaded to agree to her execution in 1587.

The ill-fated Spanish Armada was launched by Philip II of Spain the following year, bringing to a climax the threat posed to English independence from Spain since Elizabeth's accession. Always a popular monarch, and a brilliant public speaker, Elizabeth proved a focus to unite the country against a common enemy.

Despite pressure from her advisers, particularly her chief secretary, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth always refused to marry. She had a close relationship with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and was not averse to using the promise of marriage for diplomatic purposes, but asserted her independence until the end of her life. When she died on 24 March 1603, she was succeeded by the Protestant James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

http://www.edu-negev.gov.il/bs/makif7/english/Elizabeth.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/24/10 at 11:31 am


The person who died on this day...Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (French pronunciation: ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869–1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) and The Mysterious Island (1875). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater  travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. Consequently he is often referred to as the "Father of science fiction", along with H. G. Wells.  Verne is the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie, with 4223 translations, according to Index Translationum.  Some of his works have been made into films. After completing his studies at the lycée, Verne went to Paris to study law. About 1848, in conjunction with Michel Carré, he began writing librettos  for operettas  (he was co-librettist of Colin-Millard, a one act opera comique by Aristide Hignard). For some years his attentions were divided between the theatre and work, but some travelers' stories which he wrote for the Musée des Familles revealed to him his talent for writing fiction.

When Verne's father discovered that his son was writing rather than studying law, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Verne was forced to support himself as a stockbroker, which he hated despite being somewhat successful at it. During this period, he met Alexandre Dumas, père and Victor Hugo, who offered him writing advice. Dumas would become a close friend of Verne.

Verne also met Honorine de Viane Morel, a widow with two daughters. They were married on 10 January 1857. With her encouragement, he continued to write and actively looked for a publisher. On 3 August 1861, their son, Michel Jean Verne, was born. A classic enfant terrible, Michel was sent to Mettray Penal Colony in 1876 and later married an actress (in spite of Verne's objections), had two children by his 16-year-old mistress, and buried himself in debts. The relationship between father and son did improve as Michel grew older.

Verne's situation improved when he met Pierre-Jules Hetzel, one of the most important French publishers of the 19th century, who also published Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Erckmann-Chatrian, among others. They formed an excellent writer-publisher team until Hetzel's death. Hetzel helped improve Verne's writings, which until then had been repeatedly rejected by other publishers. Hetzel read a draft of Verne's story about the balloon exploration of Africa, which had been rejected by other publishers for being "too scientific". With Hetzel's help, Verne rewrote the story, which was published in 1863 in book form as Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon). Acting on Hetzel's advice, Verne added comical accents to his novels, changed sad endings into happy ones, and toned down various political messages.

In 1864, Verne wrote an admiring study of the works of Edgar Allan Poe (Edgar Poe et ses oeuvres, 1864) and it is not difficult to see Poe's works, published in France as Histoires extraordinaires (Extraordinary Stories), as a source of inspiration for Verne. In fact, Verne was so intrigued by Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" that he penned a sequel to the work entitled "An Antarctic Mystery." Verne set his story eleven years after the disappearance of Pym and recounts through the persona of Jeorling, a man of science, the adventures encountered during an expedition tracing Pym's travels.
A typical Hetzel front cover for a Jules Verne book. The edition is Les Aventures du Capitaine Hatteras au Pôle Nord, type "Aux deux éléphants".

From that point to years after Verne's death, Hetzel published two or more volumes a year. The most successful of these include: Voyage au centre de la terre (Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1864); De la terre à la lune (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865); Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, 1869); and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days), which first appeared in Le Temps in 1872. The series is collectively known as "Les Voyages Extraordinaires" ("extraordinary voyages"). Verne could now live on his writings. But most of his wealth came from the stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1874) and Michel Strogoff (1876), a relatively conventional adventure tale set in Tsarist Russia, which he adapted for the stage with Adolphe d'Ennery. In 1867 Verne bought a small ship, the Saint-Michel, which he successively replaced with the Saint-Michel II and the Saint-Michel III as his financial situation improved. On board the Saint-Michel III, he sailed around Europe. In 1870, he was appointed "Chevalier" (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur. After his first novel, most of his stories were first serialised in the Magazine d'Éducation et de Récréation, a Hetzel biweekly publication, before being published in the form of books. Jules' brother Paul contributed to a non-fiction story "Fortieth Ascent of Mont Blanc" ("Quarantième ascension du Mont-Blanc") to the collection of short stories, Doctor Ox (1874). According to the Unesco Index Translationum, Jules Verne regularly places among the top five most translated authors in the world.
Last years

On 9 March 1886, as Verne approached his own home, his twenty-five-year-old nephew Gaston, who suffered from paranoia, shot twice at him with a gun. One bullet missed, but the second entered Verne's left leg, giving him a permanent limp. Gaston spent the rest of his life in an asylum.

After the deaths of Hetzel and his beloved mother in 1887, Verne began writing darker works. This may have been due partly to changes in his personality, but an important factor was that Hetzel's son, who took over his father's business, was not as rigorous in his edits and corrections as Hetzel Sr. had been.
Verne in 1892

In 1888, Verne entered politics and was elected town councilor of Amiens, where he championed several improvements and served for fifteen years. Though elected from the left he stood with the right on the Dreyfus Affair and was anti-Dreyfusard, although the theme of wrongful conviction and judicial corruption found in "The Kip Brothers", one of his last novels, suggests he may have become a Dreyfusard later in life. In 1905, ill with diabetes, Verne died at his home, 44 Boulevard Longueville (now Boulevard Jules-Verne). His son Michel oversaw publication of his last novels Invasion of the Sea and The Lighthouse at the End of the World. The "Voyages extraordinaires" series continued for several years afterwards in the same rhythm of two volumes a year. It was later discovered that Michel Verne had made extensive changes in these stories, and the original versions were published at the end of the 20th century.

In 1863, Verne wrote Paris in the 20th Century, a novel about a young man who lives in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness and comes to a tragic end. Hetzel thought the novel's pessimism would damage Verne's then booming career, and suggested he wait 20 years to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. It was published in 1993.
Death

Jules Verne died on 24 March, 1905 and was buried in the La Madeleine Cemetery in Amiens. In 2008, efforts were initiated to have him reburied in the Panthéon, alongside France's other literary giants.
Reputation in English-speaking countries
The tomb of Jules Verne in Amiens (Somme); sculpture by Albert Roze (1861-1953).

While Verne is considered in France as an author of quality books for young people, with a good command of his subjects, including technology and politics, his reputation in English-speaking countries suffered for a long time as a result of poor translation.

Some English publishers felt 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea portrayed the British Empire in a bad light, and the first English translator, Reverend Lewis Page Mercier, working under a pseudonym, removed many offending passages. Mrs. Agnes Kinloch Kingston (writing in the name of her husband, W.H.G. Kingston) deleted parts of The Mysterious Island such as those describing the political actions of Captain Nemo in his incarnation as an Indian nobleman freedom fighter. Such negative depictions were not, however, invariable in Verne's works; for example, Facing the Flag features, in the character of Lieutenant Devon, a heroic, self-sacrificing Royal Navy officer worthy of any created by British authors. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea itself, Captain Nemo, there of unidentified nationality, is balanced by Ned Land, a Canadian. Some of Verne's most famous heroes were British (e.g. Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days).

Mercier and subsequent British translators also had trouble with the metric system that Verne used, sometimes dropping significant figures, at other times changing the unit to an Imperial measure without changing the corresponding value. Thus Verne's calculations, which in general were remarkably exact, were converted into mathematical gibberish. Also, artistic passages and sometimes whole chapters were cut to fit the work into a constrained space for publication.

For these reasons, Verne's work initially acquired a reputation in English-speaking countries of not being fit for adult readers. This in turn prevented it from being taken seriously enough to merit new translations, and those of Mercier and others were reprinted decade after decade. Only from 1965 on have some of his novels received more accurate translations, but even today Verne's work has not been fully rehabilitated in the English-speaking world.

Verne's works may also reflect the bitterness France felt in the wake of its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) and the consequent loss of Alsace and Lorraine. The Begum's Millions (Les Cinq cents millions de la Begum) of 1879 gives a highly stereotypical depiction of Germans as monstrously cruel militarists. By contrast, the rare portrayals of Germans are positive in pre-1871 works such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth, in which almost all the protagonists, including the sympathetic first-person narrator, are German.
Hetzel's influence

Hetzel substantially influenced the writings of Verne, who was so happy to finally find a willing publisher that he agreed to almost all changes that Hetzel suggested. Hetzel rejected at least one novel (Paris in the 20th Century), and asked Verne to make significant changes in his other drafts. One of the most important changes Hetzel imposed on Verne was the adoption of a more optimistic tone. Verne was in fact not an enthusiast of technological and human progress, as can be seen in the works he created both before he met Hetzel and after the publisher's death. For example, The Mysterious Island originally ended with the survivors returning to mainland forever nostalgic about the island. Hetzel decided that the heroes should live happily, so in the revised draft, they use their fortunes to build a replica of the island. Many translations are like this. Also, in order not to offend France's then-ally, Russia, the famous Captain Nemo was changed from a Polish refugee avenging the partitions of Poland and the death of his family, killed in the reprisals following the January Uprising, to an Indian prince fighting the British Empire after the Sikh War.
Predictions
A mural in Tampa, Florida commemorating Verne's From the Earth to the Moon.

Jules Verne's novels have been noted for being startlingly accurate anticipations of modern times. Paris in the 20th Century is an often cited example of this as it arguably describes air conditioning, automobiles, the Internet, television, even electricity, and other modern conveniences very similar to their real world counterparts.

Another example is From the Earth to the Moon, which, apart from using a space gun instead of a rocket, is uncannily similar to the real Apollo Program, as three astronauts are launched from the Florida peninsula and recovered through a splash landing. In the book, the spacecraft is launched from "Tampa Town"; Tampa, Florida is approximately 130 miles from NASA's actual launching site at Cape Canaveral.

In other works, Verne predicted the inventions of helicopters, submarines, projectors, jukeboxes, and other later devices.

He also predicted the existence of underwater hydrothermal vents that were not discovered until years after he wrote about them.
Scholars' jokes

Verne, who had a large archive and always kept up with scientific and technological progress, sometimes seemed to joke with the readers, using so-called "scholars' jokes" (that is, a joke that only a scientist may recognise). For instance, in Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, a Manticora beetle helps Cousin Bénédict to escape from imprisonment when Bénédict, unguarded, follows the beetle out of the garden. Since the beetle escapes from Cousin Bénédict by flying away, when in fact the genus is flightless, it is possible that this is one such joke. Another example appears in Mysterious Island, where the main character's dog is attacked by a wild dugong, even though the dugong, like its North American cousin, the manatee, is a herbivorous mammal. Also in Mysterious Island, because of its fauna and flora, the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff asks Cyrus Harding whether the latter believes that islands (like the one they are on) are made especially to be ideal ones for castaways. In From the Earth to the Moon, it was the material used in the creation of the cannon, although in this case it was probably poetic license in order to make the description of the making of the gun far more dramatic, or The Begum's Millions, where the methods used for making steel in "Steel City", described as the most modern steel factory in the world, were rather dated, but, again, much more spectacular to describe. (See Neff, 1978)
Bibliography
Jules Verne in front of creatures from his novels and stories.

Verne wrote numerous works, most famous of which are the 54 novels part of the Voyages Extraordinaires. He also wrote short stories, essays, plays, and poems.

Note: only the dates of the first English translation and the most common translation title are given.
# French publication English translation
Title Year Title Year
1. Cinq Semaines en ballon 1863 Five Weeks in a Balloon 1869
3. Voyage au centre de la Terre 1864 A Journey to the Centre of the Earth 1871
4. De la terre à la lune 1865 From the Earth to the Moon 1865
2. Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras 1866 The Adventures of Captain Hatteras 1874-75
5. Les Enfants du capitaine Grant 1867-68 In Search of the Castaways 1873
6. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers 1869-70 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1872
7. Autour de la lune 1870 Around the Moon 1873
8. Une ville flottante 1871 A Floating City 1874
9. Aventures de trois Russes et de trois Anglais 1872 The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa 1872
10. Le Pays des fourrures 1873 The Fur Country 1873
11. Le Tour du Monde en quatre-vingts jours 1873 Around the World in Eighty Days 1875
12. L'Île mysterieuse 1874-75 The Mysterious Island 1874
13. Le Chancellor 1875 The Survivors of the Chancellor 1875
14. Michel Strogoff 1876 Michael Strogoff 1876
15. Hector Servadac 1877 Off on a Comet 1877
16. Les Indes noires 1877 The Child of the Cavern 1877
17. Un capitaine de quinze ans 1878 Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen 1878
18. Les Cinq Cents Millions de la Bégum 1879 The Begum's Millions 1879
19. Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine 1879 Tribulations of a Chinaman in China 1879
20. La Maison à vapeur 1880 The Steam House 1880
21. La Jangada 1881 Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon 1881
22. L'École des Robinsons 1882 Godfrey Morgan 1883
23. Le Rayon vert 1882 The Green Ray 1883
24. Kéraban-le-têtu 1883 Kéraban the Inflexible 1883-84
25. L'Étoile du sud 1884 The Vanished Diamond 1885
26. L'Archipel en feu 1884 The Archipelago on Fire 1885
27. Mathias Sandorf 1885 Mathias Sandorf 1885
28. Un billet de loterie 1886 The Lottery Ticket 1886
29. Robur-le-Conquérant 1886 Robur the Conqueror 1887
30. Nord contre Sud 1887 North Against South 1887
31. Le Chemin de France 1887 The Flight to France 1888
32. Deux Ans de vacances 1888 Two Years' Vacation 1889
33. Famille-sans-nom 1889 Family Without a Name 1889
34. Sans dessus dessous 1889 The Purchase of the North Pole 1890
35. César Cascabel 1890 César Cascabel 1890
36. Mistress Branican 1891 Mistress Branican 1891
37. Le Château des Carpathes 1892 Carpathian Castle 1893
38. Claudius Bombarnac 1892 Claudius Bombarnac 1894
39. P’tit-Bonhomme 1893 Foundling Mick 1895
40. Mirifiques Aventures de Maître Antifer 1894 Captain Antifer 1895
41. L'Île à hélice 1895 Propeller Island 1896
42. Face au drapeau 1896 Facing the Flag 1897
43. Clovis Dardentor 1896 Clovis Dardentor 1897
44. Le Sphinx des glaces 1897 An Antarctic Mystery 1898
45. Le Superbe Orénoque 1898 The Mighty Orinoco 2002
46. Le Testament d'un excentrique 1899 The Will of an Eccentric 1900
47. Seconde Patrie 1900 The Castaways of the Flag 1923
48. Le Village aérien 1901 The Village in the Treetops 1964
49. Les Histoires de Jean-Marie Cabidoulin 1901 The Sea Serpent 1967
50. Les Frères Kip 1902 The Kip Brothers 2007
51. Bourses de voyage 1903 Traveling Scholarships n/a
52. Un drame en Livonie 1904 A Drama in Livonia 1967
53. Maître du monde 1904 Master of the World 1911
54. L'Invasion de la mer 1905 Invasion of the Sea 2001
55. Paris au XXe siècle (written in 1863) 1994 Paris in the Twentieth Century 1996
Apocryphal and posthumous novels

    * (1885) L'Épave du Cynthia; English translation: The Waif of the Cynthia (1885), with André Laurie (pseudonym of Paschal Grousset), but actually the work of Grousset alone
    * (1905) Le Phare du bout du monde; English translation: The Lighthouse at the End of the World (1923), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1906) Le Volcan d'or; English translation: The Golden Volcano: The Claim on Forty Mile Creek and Flood and Flame (2 vols., 1962), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1907) L'Agence Thompson and Cº; English translation: The Thompson Travel Agency: Package Holiday and End of the Journey (2 vols., 1965), written by Michel Verne
    * (1908) La Chasse au météore; English translation: The Chase of the Golden Meteor (1909), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1908) Le Pilote du Danube; English translation: The Danube Pilot (1967), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1909) Les Naufragés du Jonathan; English translation: The Survivors of the 'Jonathan': The Masterless Man and The Unwilling Dictator (2 vols., 1962), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1910) Le Secret de Wilhelm Storitz; English translation: The Secret of William Storitz (1963), modified by Michel Verne
    * (1919) L'Étonnante Aventure de la mission Barsac; English translation: The Barsac Mission: Into the Niger Bend and The City of the Sahara (2 vols., 1960), written by Michel Verne
    * (1989) Voyage en Angleterre et en Ecosse; English translation: Backwards to Britain (1992), written in 1859
    * (1994) Paris au XXe siècle; English translation: Paris in the Twentieth Century (1996), written in 1863

Short story collections

    * (1874) Le Docteur Ox; English translation: Doctor Ox (1874)
    * (1910) Hier et Demain; English translation: Yesterday and Tomorrow (1965)

Short stories

    * (1851) "Un drame au Mexique"; English translation: "A Drama in Mexico" (1876)
    * (1851) "Un drame dans les airs"; English translation: "A Drama in the Air" (1852)
    * (1852) "Martin Paz"; English translation: "Martin Paz" (1875)
    * (1854) "Maître Zacharius"; English translation: "Master Zacharius" (1874)
    * (1855) "Un hivernage dans les glaces"; English translation: "A Winter Amid the Ice" (1874)
    * (1864) "Le Comte de Chanteleine"; English translation: "The Count of Chanteleine" (n/a)
    * (1865) "Les Forceurs de blocus"; English translation: "The Blockade Runners" (1874)
    * (1872) "Une fantaisie du docteur Ox"; English translation: "Dr. Ox's Experiment" (1874)
    * (1875) "Une ville idéale"; English translation: "An Ideal City" (1965)
    * (1879) "Les Révoltés de la Bounty"; English translation: "The Mutineers of the Bounty" (1879)
    * (1881) "Dix Heures en chasse"; English translation: "Ten Hours Hunting" (1965)
    * (1884) "Frritt-Flacc"; English translation: "Frritt-Flacc" (1892)
    * (1887) "Gil Braltar"; English translation: "Gil Braltar" (1958)
    * (1891) "La Journée d'un journaliste américain en 2889"; English translation: "In the Year 2889" (1889)
    * (1891) "Aventures de la famille Raton"; English translation: "Adventures of the Rat Family" (1993)
    * (1893) "Monsieur Ré-Dièze et Mademoiselle Mi-Bémol"; English translation: "Mr. Ray Sharp and Miss Me Flat" (1965)

Apocryphal short stories

    * (1888) "Un Express de l'avenir"; English translation: "An Express of the Future" (1895), written by Michel Verne
    * (1910) "La Destinée de Jean Morénas"; English translation: "The Fate of Jean Morenas" (1965), written by Michel Verne
    * (1910) "L'Éternel Adam"; English translation: "The Eternal Adam" (1957), written by Michel Verne

Non-fiction works

    * (1857) Salon de 1857 (art criticism); no English translation
    * (1864) "Edgar Poe et ses oeuvres" (Edgar Allan Poe and his works)
    * (1866) Géographie illustrée de la France et de ses colonies; English translation: Illlustrated Geography of France and its Colonies (n/a), with Théophile Lavallée
    * Histoire des grands voyages et des grands voyageurs; English translation: Celebrated Travels and Travellers
          o (1878) Découverte de la terre; English translation: The Exploration of the World (1879)
          o (1879) Les Grand navigateurs du XVIIIème siècle; English translation: The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century (1879)
          o (1880) Les Voyageurs du XIXème siècle; English translation: The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century (1881)

Imitations by other writers

The Wizard of the Sea by Roy Rockwood is a clear copy of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, apart from the first chapter(s). One or two other of Rockwood's titles also seem to (lesser) resemble some of Verne's, eg compare Five Thousand Miles Underground to Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
See also

About Verne:

    * Jules Verne Museum in Nantes, France
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p261/de2family/Verne.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o110/opereysin/Mini_portrait_Jules_Verne.jpg

A brilliant man, way ahead of his time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/24/10 at 12:56 pm


Death of British Person of the Day: Queen Elizabeth 1

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the only daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. When Elizabeth was two, Anne was beheaded for adultery on the orders of Henry, and Elizabeth was exiled from court. Her childhood was difficult, although she received a thorough Protestant education.

In 1553, Elizabeth's older half-sister Mary became queen. Mary was determined to re-establish Catholicism in England and viewed the Protestant Elizabeth as a direct threat, briefly imprisoning her in the Tower of London. When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558 one of her priorities was to return England to the Protestant faith and one of her greatest legacies was to establish and secure an English form of Protestantism. Elizabeth's reign also saw England significantly expand its trade overseas while at home, Shakespeare, Spenser and Marlowe were at the forefront of a renaissance in poetry and drama.

Catholic challenges and plots persisted through much of Elizabeth's reign. The focus of most of these was Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic with a strong claim to the English throne, who sought exile in England in 1568. Elizabeth imprisoned her and she remained a prisoner for 20 years until Elizabeth was persuaded to agree to her execution in 1587.

The ill-fated Spanish Armada was launched by Philip II of Spain the following year, bringing to a climax the threat posed to English independence from Spain since Elizabeth's accession. Always a popular monarch, and a brilliant public speaker, Elizabeth proved a focus to unite the country against a common enemy.

Despite pressure from her advisers, particularly her chief secretary, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth always refused to marry. She had a close relationship with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and was not averse to using the promise of marriage for diplomatic purposes, but asserted her independence until the end of her life. When she died on 24 March 1603, she was succeeded by the Protestant James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

http://www.edu-negev.gov.il/bs/makif7/english/Elizabeth.jpg



If I remember my history, Philip II of Spain was married to Mary Tudor AKA Bloody Mary (Elizabeth's sister). After Mary died, Philip wanted to married Elizabeth to keep that alliance with England but Elizabeth refused and that led to the Spanish Armada. 



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 2:27 pm



If I remember my history, Philip II of Spain was married to Mary Tudor AKA Bloody Mary (Elizabeth's sister). After Mary died, Philip wanted to married Elizabeth to keep that alliance with England but Elizabeth refused and that led to the Spanish Armada. 



Cat
...with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/24/10 at 2:27 pm


The word of the day...Peaks
The peak of a process or an activity is the point at which it is at its strongest, most successful, or most fully developed.
When something peaks, it reaches its highest value or its highest level.
The peak level or value of something is its highest level or value.
Peak times are the times when there is most demand for something or most use of something.
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/mlwoodwa/2009-06-Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness/S6300078.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac241/udayamin/Uttarakhand%20Kumaon%20Trip%202010/P1000045.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa156/rongonz/CanadianRockies_0310/26_LakeOHara_00.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l97/thedarkhalf75/Pogo%20sheesh/peakpalacetripeakssolitaireandgamej.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/mlwoodwa/2009-06-Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness/S6300087.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk468/vyvwalsh/Cuzco/Cusco308.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh166/SLTPlus/peaks.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq247/JulieT814/Peaks.jpg
...more Desktop Backgrounds?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/24/10 at 4:15 pm


A brilliant man, way ahead of his time.


Thank you.... 8)  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/24/10 at 7:18 pm


...more Desktop Backgrounds?



and I love them,I'll use them when I get a chance. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:26 am


Man,that's beautiful.  :)

I'm happy you like them :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:27 am


Death of British Person of the Day: Queen Elizabeth 1

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the only daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. When Elizabeth was two, Anne was beheaded for adultery on the orders of Henry, and Elizabeth was exiled from court. Her childhood was difficult, although she received a thorough Protestant education.

In 1553, Elizabeth's older half-sister Mary became queen. Mary was determined to re-establish Catholicism in England and viewed the Protestant Elizabeth as a direct threat, briefly imprisoning her in the Tower of London. When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558 one of her priorities was to return England to the Protestant faith and one of her greatest legacies was to establish and secure an English form of Protestantism. Elizabeth's reign also saw England significantly expand its trade overseas while at home, Shakespeare, Spenser and Marlowe were at the forefront of a renaissance in poetry and drama.

Catholic challenges and plots persisted through much of Elizabeth's reign. The focus of most of these was Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic with a strong claim to the English throne, who sought exile in England in 1568. Elizabeth imprisoned her and she remained a prisoner for 20 years until Elizabeth was persuaded to agree to her execution in 1587.

The ill-fated Spanish Armada was launched by Philip II of Spain the following year, bringing to a climax the threat posed to English independence from Spain since Elizabeth's accession. Always a popular monarch, and a brilliant public speaker, Elizabeth proved a focus to unite the country against a common enemy.

Despite pressure from her advisers, particularly her chief secretary, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth always refused to marry. She had a close relationship with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and was not averse to using the promise of marriage for diplomatic purposes, but asserted her independence until the end of her life. When she died on 24 March 1603, she was succeeded by the Protestant James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

http://www.edu-negev.gov.il/bs/makif7/english/Elizabeth.jpg

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:28 am


A brilliant man, way ahead of his time.

That's for sure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:29 am


Thank you.... 8)  ::)

Oh Lordy ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:35 am

The word of the day...Sun
The sun is the ball of fire in the sky that the Earth goes round, and that gives us heat and light.
You refer to the light and heat that reach us from the sun as the sun.
If you are sunning yourself, you are sitting or lying in a place where the sun is shining on you
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb188/lovebalin8/random%20people/sun.jpg
http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww8/drsyntax/100_1674.jpg
http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx343/marcella_05/holy%202/animated_sun.gif
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa59/unlikeothersouls/Memorial%20Day%20Weekend%202007/sun.jpg
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac309/speedybobie/Picture01.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt296/jazzypoo4u101/decorative-sun.jpg
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz44/Cookie007/350mw_14147830.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/axlequeen90/Travel/P1010263.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:41 am

The person born on this day...Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE  (born 25 March 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight; name change occurred in 1972) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.

In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 37 million copies, becoming the best selling single of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Some of the characteristics of John's musical talent and work include an ability to quickly craft melodies for the lyrics of songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, his former rich tenor (now baritone) voice, his classical and gospel-influenced piano, the sensitive orchestral arrangements of Paul Buckmaster among others, and the on-stage showmanship, especially evident during the 1970s.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998. He entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social movements. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (Third overall, behind only The Beatles and Madonna).
On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha", and an album, Empty Sky. Despite extraordinary reviews, none of the records sold well. John and Taupin now enlisted Gus Dudgeon to produce a follow-up with Paul Buckmaster as musical arranger. Elton John was released in the spring of 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song", only made the US Top 100 peaking at Number 92. After the second single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles (his introduction was provided by Neil Diamond), in August of that year, backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. Playing alongside David Ackles  left him armed with ideas for showmanship, and the exuberant pianist followed Jerry Lee Lewis' style, kicking over the piano bench added to his own touches, performing handstands on the keyboards, John left the critics raving, and drew praise from fellow artists such as Quincy Jones and Bob Dylan.

In the spring of 1970, John was recruited to provide piano and backing vocals on "Back Home", the song recorded by the English football squad preparing to depart to Mexico for the World Cup finals.

Elton John was followed quickly with the concept album Tumbleweed Connection in October 1970, which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. A frenetic pace of releasing two albums a year was now established.

The live album 17-11-70 (11-17-70 in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Introduced by disc jockey Dave Herman, it featured extended versions of John/Taupin's early compositions that illustrate the gospel and boogie-woogie influences on John's piano playing, as well as the interaction between John, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. During the magnum opus 18:20 version of "Burn Down the Mission", the band interpolates Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and a full rendition of The Beatles' "Get Back" before a rampaging conclusion. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the U.S. when an east coast bootlegger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.

John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends".

In 1972, the final piece of what would become known as the Elton John Band fell into place with the addition of Davey Johnstone on guitar and backing vocals. Murray, Olsson, and Johnstone combined with John and Taupin's writing, John's flamboyant performance style, and producer Gus Dudgeon to create a hit-making chemistry for the next five Elton John albums. Known for their instrumental playing, the members of the band were also strong backing vocalists who worked out and recorded many of their vocal harmonies themselves, usually in John's absence.

The band released Honky Chateau, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat".

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first U.S. number one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.) Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.

John then formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee – in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.

In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.

Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".

Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform a song named "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the U.S.). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
Elton John performing live in 1975

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.

The album's release signaled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.

Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the U.S. albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. However, the material was almost universally regarded as not on a par with previous releases. The musical and vocal chemistry Olsson and Murray brought to John's previous releases was seen as lacking by some, both on the album and in the concerts that supported it.

Commercially, John owed much of his success during the mid-1970s to his concert performances. He filled arenas and stadiums worldwide, and was arguably the hottest act in the rock world. John was an unlikely rock idol to begin with, as he was short of stature at 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), chubby, and gradually losing his hair. But he made up for it with impassioned performances and over-the-top fashion sense. Also known for his glasses (he started wearing them as a youth to copy his idol Buddy Holly), his flamboyant stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Mozart among others at his concerts made them a success and created interest for his music.

To celebrate five years of unparalleled success since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also contributed some exemplary piano playing to Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver.

In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the downbeat Blue Moves in October, which contained the memorable but even gloomier hit "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word". His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a peppy duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", a stressed John stated that he was bisexual.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in Rolling Stone'in 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.

During the same period, John made a self-effacing guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.
ohn was deeply affected by the plight of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with AIDS. Along with Michael Jackson, John befriended and supported the boy and his family until White's death in 1990. Himself a mess and confronted by his then-lover, John checked into a Chicago hospital in 1990 to combat his drug abuse, alcoholism, and bulimia. In recovery, he lost weight and underwent hair replacement, and subsequently took up residence in Atlanta, Georgia. Also in 1990, John would finally achieve his first UK number one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks.

The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the unusual writing style that John and Bernie Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. That same year, Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin, a tribute album featuring contributions from many top British and American performers was released. Also in 1991, John's "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael's reverent treatment of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the U.S. and UK. On 24 November 1991, Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. John was one of the few invited to attend the singer's private funeral services.

In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, intending to direct 90 percent of the funds it raised to direct care, and 10 percent to AIDS prevention education. He also announced his intention to donate all future royalties from sales of his singles in the U.S. and UK to AIDS research. That year, he released the U.S. number 8 album The One, his highest-charting release since 1976's Blue Moves, and John and Taupin signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. John performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Show Must Go On" with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, an AIDS charity event held at Wembley Stadium, London. "Bohemian Rhapsody" featured a duet with Axl Rose, a reconciliatory gesture given Rose's previous homophobic reputation.

In September of the same year, he performed "November Rain" with Rose's band Guns N' Roses for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The following year, he released Duets, a collaboration with 15 artists including Tammy Wynette and RuPaul. This also included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, entitled "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts, and a duet with Eric Clapton on "Runaway Train", which also charted.

Along with Tim Rice, John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King, which became the highest-grossing traditionally animated feature of all time. Three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song that year were from The Lion King; "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" eventually won. In versions sung by John, both that and "Circle of Life" became big hits, while the other songs such as "Hakuna Matata" achieved popularity with all ages as well. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. After the release of the soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995. John has also been awarded the honour of Knight Bachelor, entitling him to use the prefix "Sir".

In 1995 John released Made in England (number 3, 1995), which featured the hit single "Believe" (number 15, 1995). Also, a compilation called Love Songs was released the following year.

The year 1997 found extreme highs and lows for John. Early in the year, vestiges of the flamboyant John resurfaced as he threw a 50th birthday party, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends. John also performed with the surviving members of Queen in Paris at the opening night (17 January 1997) of "Le Presbytere N'a Rien Perdu De Son Charme Ni Le Jardin Du Son Éclat", a work by French ballet legend Maurice Bejart which draws upon AIDS and the deaths of Freddie Mercury and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn. This was only the second time the three surviving members of Queen had performed together live since Mercury had died. Later in 1997, two close friends died: designer Gianni Versace was murdered; Diana, Princess of Wales died in a Paris car crash.

In early September, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest- and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually selling 5 million copies in the United Kingdom, 11 million in the U.S., and around 33 million worldwide, with the proceeds of approximately £55 million going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It would later win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, an achievement he has yet to repeat. He has not performed the song since Princess Diana's funeral, as John stated it would only be played once to lend it significance and make it special.

John and Tim Rice again teamed up in 1998 for the production of Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida. The musical was given its world premiere in the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. It went on to Chicago and eventually Broadway under the simplified name, Aida.
2000s
Elton John performs at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, July 2008

In 2000, John and Tim Rice teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks' animated film The Road To El Dorado. In the musical theatre world, addition to a 1998 adaptation of The Lion King for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of Aida in 1999 with lyricist Tim Rice, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. He also released a live compilation album called Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits from the show he did at Madison Square Garden in New York City that same year.

Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End Theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is Lestat: The Musical, based on the Anne Rice vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances.

John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works on 9 October 2006, by The Walt Disney Company.

In March 2007 he performed at Madison Square Garden for a record breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday, the concert was broadcast live and a DVD recording was released as Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden; a greatest-hits compilation CD, Rocket Man – Number Ones, was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo; and his back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download.

He has told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B/hip-hop genre. "I want to work with Pharrell {Williams}, Timbaland, Snoop {Dogg}, Kanye {West}, Eminem and just see what happens."

In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. The show, entitled The Red Piano, was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle. Effectively, he and Celine Dion share performances at Caesar's Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004. On 21 June 2008, he performed his 200th show in Caesars Palace. A DVD/CD package of "The Red Piano" was released through Best Buy in November 2008. A two year global tour was sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas, Nevada, some of the venues of which were new to John. The Red Piano Tour closed in Las Vegas in April 2009.

In a September 2008 interview with GQ Magazine, Elton John said: "I’m going on the road again with Billy Joel again next year" – confirming that the two piano-playing legends would be reuniting for more Face to Face concerts in 2009. The tour began in March and will continue for at least two more years.
John has been associated with AIDS charities since the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage hemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker Glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.
Awards
Main article: List of Elton John awards
Discography
Main article: Elton John discography

Studio albums

    * Empty Sky (1969)
    * Elton John (1970)
    * Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
    * Madman Across the Water (1971)
    * Honky Château (1972)
    * Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)
    * Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
    * Caribou (1974)
    * Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
    * Rock of the Westies (1975)
    * Blue Moves (1976)
    * A Single Man (1978)
    * Victim of Love (1979)
    * 21 at 33 (1980)
    * The Fox (1981)
    * Jump Up! (1982)
    * Too Low for Zero (1983)
    * Breaking Hearts (1984)
    * Ice on Fire (1985)
    * Leather Jackets (1986)
    * Reg Strikes Back (1988)
    * Sleeping with the Past (1989)
    * The One (1992)
    * Duets (1993)
    * Made in England (1995)
    * The Big Picture (1997)
    * Songs from the West Coast (2001)
    * Peachtree Road (2004)
    * The Captain & the Kid (2006)

Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums

    * Friends (soundtrack)
    * The Lion King (1997)
    * Aida (1998)
    * Billy Elliot (2005)
    * Lestat (2005)

Films

    * Elton John: Me, Myself & I (2007) autobiography as himself
    * The Country Bears, U.S. (2002) as himself
    * Spice World, UK (1997) as himself
    * Tommy, UK (1975) as Pinball Wizard
    * Born to Boogie, U.S. (1972) as himself

Elton John Band
Main article: Elton John Band
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg147/gypsy1987/EltonJohn.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j294/enrique314/Wonka/elton_john_show_example.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 5:46 am

The person who died on this day...Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. (August 12, 1929–March 25, 2006), better known as Buck Owens, was an American  singer and guitarist who had 21 number one hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos. Owens and the Buckaroos pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound—a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American Music.

While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of Rock and roll. Owens met his longtime guitarist Don Rich while in the Seattle area. Rich can be heard harmonizing on all of Owens' hits until his death in a motorcycle accident in 1974. The loss of his best friend devastated Owens for years and abruptly halted his career until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988.

Owens co-hosted Hee Haw with Roy Clark. Hee Haw, originally envisioned as country music's answer to Laugh-In, outlived that show and ran for 24 seasons. Owens was co-host from 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his immense musical legacy. But following the death of Rich, a deep depression set in and lasted throughout the remaining years of his stint on Hee Haw. Owens is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Owens was born on a farm in Sherman, Texas to Alvis Edgar Owens, Sr. and his wife Maicie Azel Ellington.  Midway Mall, at 4800 Texoma Parkway, now sits where his farm once was. (U.S. Highway 82 through Sherman was named Buck Owens Freeway in his honor).

"'Buck' was a mule on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in the biography About Buck. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on." He attended public school for grades 1–3 in Garland, Texas.

In 1937, his family moved to Mesa, Arizona, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
Early career

In 1945, Owens co-hosted a radio show called Buck and Britt. In the late 1940s, he became a truck driver and drove through the San Joaquin Valley of California. He was impressed by Bakersfield, where he and his wife settled in 1950. Soon, Owens was frequently traveling to Hollywood for session recording jobs at Capitol Records, playing backup for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sonny James, Wanda Jackson, Del Reeves, Tommy Sands, Tommy Collins, Faron Young and Gene Vincent, and many others.

Owens recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the Pep label, using the pseudonym Corky Jones because he did not want the fact he recorded a rock n' roll tune to hurt his country music career.

Owens' career took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit number 24 on the Billboard country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit number 4, and then "Above and Beyond" hit #3. On April 2, 1960 he performed the song on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee.

In the early 1960s, the countrypolitan sound was popular, with smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced styles used by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, and Patsy Cline, among others. Owens went against the trend, utilizing honky-tonk hillbilly feel, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican polkas he had heard on border radio stations while growing up.

Owens was named the most promising country and western singer of 1960 by Billboard. In 1961, his Top-10-charting duets with Rose Maddox earned them awards as vocal team of the year.

1963's "Act Naturally" became Buck Owens and the Buckaroos' first number 1 hit. The Beatles later recorded a cover of it in 1965. It appears on their Help! album. Ringo Starr later re-recorded the song as a duet with Buck Owens in 1988.

The 1966 album Carnegie Hall Concert was a smash hit and further cemented Buck Owens and the Buckaroos as more than just another honky tonk country band. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos achieved crossover success on to the pop charts. During that year, R&B singer Ray Charles released cover versions of two of Owens' songs that became pop hits: "Crying Time" and "Together Again".

In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured Japan, a then-rare occurrence for a country musician. The subsequent live album, appropriately named Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan, is the first country music album recorded outside the United States.

In 1968 Buck Owens and the Buckaroos performed for President Lyndon Baines Johnson at the White House which was later released as a live album.

Between 1968-1969, Steel Pedal guitar player Tom Brumley and drummer Willie Cantu left the band. Drummer Jerry Wiggins and Steel Pedal guitar player Jay Dee Maness were added to the band. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had two songs reach #1 on the Country music Charts in 1969, "Tall Dark Stranger" and "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass." During this time the variety show Hee Haw starring Buck Owens and the Buckaroos was at its heights of popularity. In 1969, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos recorded a live album, Live in London, where the Buckaroos premiered their rock song "A Happening In London Town" and their version of Chuck Berry's song "Johnny B. Goode".

In the early 1970s, Owens with the Buckaroos enjoyed a string of hit duets with his protege Susan Raye, who subsequently became a popular solo artist, with recordings produced by Owens.

In 1971, the Buckaroos' bass guitarist Doyle Holly left the band to pursue a solo career. Holly was known for his solo ballads with his trademark booming deep voice on Buck Owens and the Buckaroos albums. The departure of Doyle was a setback to the band, as Doyle had received the "Bass Player of the Year" award from the Academy of Country Music the year before in 1970 and served as co-lead vocalist (along with Don Rich) of the Buckaroos. Holly went on to record two solo records in the early 1970s, both were top 20 hits. Holly has subsequently been honored in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and honored with a Block in the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Buck Owens and Don Rich were the only original members left of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, and in the 1970s they struggled to top the Country Music charts. However, the popularity of Hee-Haw was allowing them to enjoy large crowds at indoor arenas.

In 1972, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos finally had another #1 hit, "Made in Japan" after three years of not having a number one song. In April, he added pedal steel guitarist, Jerry Brightman. The band had been without pedal steel since late in 1969 when Maness departed, and Buck returned to his grass roots sound of fiddle, steel, and electric guitars releasing a string of singles including "Arms Full of Empty", "Ain't it Amazing Gracie" and "Ain't Gonna Have Ole Buck (to kick around no more)". Buck's original release of "Streets of Bakersfield" was released in 1972.

On July 17, 1974, Owens' best friend and Buckaroos guitarist Don Rich was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and struck a guard rail on Highway 99 north of Bakersfield. Rich had been on his way to join his family for vacation on the coast at Morro Bay. Owens was devastated. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever."
KUZZ Radio logo featuring a depiction of Owens' trademark guitar

Before the 1960s were done, Owens — with the help of manager Jack McFadden — began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including KNIX-AM and KNIX-FM in Phoenix and KUZZ in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX duo stations to Clear Channel Communications, but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death.

Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists.

Owens recorded for Warner Bros. Records, but Owens and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results; the recordings, made in Nashville, reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. His spirit broken by the depression of Rich's death, he simply allowed himself to be led. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Slowly, during that time, he recovered his equilibrium. Time allowed him to realize that, despite the excellent pay and friendships he'd developed on Hee Haw, the show effectively ruined his musical career by redefining him as a comedian, to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his phenomenal country music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986.
Later career

Dwight Yoakam was largely influenced by Owens' style of music and eventually teamed up with him for a duet of "Streets of Bakersfield" in 1988. Their duet was Owens' first #1 single in 16 years.

The 1990s saw a flood of reissues of his Capitol recordings on compact disc. In 1974, Owens had bought back publishing rights to all of his Capitol recordings, as part of his final contract with the label. His albums had been out of print for nearly 15 years, when he released a retrospective box set in 1990. Encouraged by brisk sales, Owens struck a distribution deal with Sundazed Records of New York, which specializes in reissuing obscure recordings. A bulk of his Capitol catalog was reissued on CD in 1995, 1997 and recently in 2005. Sometime in the 1970s, Owens had also purchased the remaining copies of his original LP albums from Capitol's distribution warehouses across the country. Many of those records (still in the shrinkwrap) were stored by Owens for decades. He often gave them away as gifts and sold them at his nightclub for a premium price some 35 years later.

In August 1999, Owens brought back together the remaining members of his original Buckaroo Band to help him celebrate his 70th Birthday. They performed at Buck's Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. All the original surviving Buckaroos were there. Buck Owens, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley, and Wille Cantu performed old hits from their heyday including "Tiger by the Tail" and "Act Naturally."

Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He was ranked #12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003. In addition, CMT also ranked the Buckaroos #2 in the channel's 20 Greatest Bands in 2005.

Long before Owens became the famous co-host of Hee Haw, his band became known for their signature Bakersfield sound, later emulated by artists such as Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam and Brad Paisley. This sound was originally made possible with two trademark silver-sparkle Fender Telecaster guitars, often played simultaneously by Owens and longtime wing-man Don Rich; Fender had made a "Buck Owens signature Telecaster," and after his death paid tribute to him. In 2003, Paisley blended creative styles with this guitar and his own famous Paisley Telecaster, creating what became known as the Buck-O-Caster. Initially, only two were made; one for Paisley himself and the other presented to Buck during a New Year celebration that Paisley attended in 2004.

Following the death of Rich, Owens' latter trademark was a red, white and blue acoustic guitar, along with a 1974 Pontiac convertible "Nudiemobile", adorned with pistols and silver dollars. A similar car, created by Nudie Cohn for Elvis Presley and later won by Owens in a bet, is now enshrined behind the bar at Owens' Crystal Palace Nightclub in Bakersfield, California.

Owens would hand out replicas of his trademark acoustic guitar to friends, acquaintances and fans. Each would contain a gold plaque with the name of the recipient. Some of these guitars cost $1000 and up.
Death

Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, including pneumonia and a minor stroke suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace.

The Los Angeles Times interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterwards, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from Oregon to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage anyway.

Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do." Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad."

The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the word's "Buck's Place" beneath.

His first wife, country singer Bonnie Owens, died just a month after Owens himself. Little is known about his second wife. His third wife was Jana Jae Greif who was the fiddle player in the "Hee Haw" band, being the first female "Buckaroo". They were married for only a few days before she filed for divorce. Owens had three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s and appeared with his father numerous times on Hee Haw), Michael and Johnny Owens.
People who have covered Owens songs

    * Vocalist–guitarist Johnny Rivers performed a rock version of Owens's "Under Your Spell Again", for his album Meanwhile Back at the Whiskey A GoGo, in 1965.
    * The Beatles and later Ringo Starr recorded versions of "Act Naturally". Starr recorded it as a duet with Owens himself in 1989; The Beatles recorded the song in 1964, a year after Owens released it himself, making it the first song to become a hit on both the Country music charts and the Billboard Top 40 Pop charts.
    * Country artist Dwight Yoakam has cited Owens as an early influence in his career, and even recorded several of Owens's songs for himself. He was also collaborator and duet artist with Owens on the album Streets of Bakersfield.
    * Mark Lanegan included a stunning cover of "Together Again" on his 1999 cover album, I'll Take Care of You.
    * Genre-bending band Cake covered "Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache)" on their album "B-Sides and Rarities.".
    * In 2007, Dwight Yoakam released a tribute album, Dwight Sings Buck.
    * Creedence Clearwater Revival, a rock band that often demonstrated a country flavor, mentioned Owens in the hit, "Lookin' out My Back Door."
    * In 2007 Austin/San Marcos, TX band The Derailers released Under The Influence of Buck, which featured twelve covers of Buck Owens songs, including "Under The Influence of Love" of which the title for this release was based on.

Discography
Main article: Buck Owens discography
See also

    * KUVI-TV, Bakersfield, California – TV station originally owned by Owens
    * KUZZ, Bakersfield, California – radio station originally owned by Owens
    * Doyle Holly – Buckaroo member and solo artist honored in the Country Music Hall of Fame
    * Don Rich – Buckaroo member known for helping to create the Bakersfield sound
    * Jerry Brightman – Owens' pedal steel guitarist from 1972-1976
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn24/rosesnewalbum/26--IMPORTANT%20PEOPLE/Buck_Owens.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/aeroforce1one/Country/BuckOwens.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/25/10 at 6:53 am


The person born on this day...Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE  (born 25 March 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight; name change occurred in 1972) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.

In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 37 million copies, becoming the best selling single of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Some of the characteristics of John's musical talent and work include an ability to quickly craft melodies for the lyrics of songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, his former rich tenor (now baritone) voice, his classical and gospel-influenced piano, the sensitive orchestral arrangements of Paul Buckmaster among others, and the on-stage showmanship, especially evident during the 1970s.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998. He entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social movements. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (Third overall, behind only The Beatles and Madonna).
On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha", and an album, Empty Sky. Despite extraordinary reviews, none of the records sold well. John and Taupin now enlisted Gus Dudgeon to produce a follow-up with Paul Buckmaster as musical arranger. Elton John was released in the spring of 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song", only made the US Top 100 peaking at Number 92. After the second single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles (his introduction was provided by Neil Diamond), in August of that year, backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. Playing alongside David Ackles  left him armed with ideas for showmanship, and the exuberant pianist followed Jerry Lee Lewis' style, kicking over the piano bench added to his own touches, performing handstands on the keyboards, John left the critics raving, and drew praise from fellow artists such as Quincy Jones and Bob Dylan.

In the spring of 1970, John was recruited to provide piano and backing vocals on "Back Home", the song recorded by the English football squad preparing to depart to Mexico for the World Cup finals.

Elton John was followed quickly with the concept album Tumbleweed Connection in October 1970, which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. A frenetic pace of releasing two albums a year was now established.

The live album 17-11-70 (11-17-70 in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Introduced by disc jockey Dave Herman, it featured extended versions of John/Taupin's early compositions that illustrate the gospel and boogie-woogie influences on John's piano playing, as well as the interaction between John, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. During the magnum opus 18:20 version of "Burn Down the Mission", the band interpolates Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" and a full rendition of The Beatles' "Get Back" before a rampaging conclusion. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the U.S. when an east coast bootlegger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.

John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends".

In 1972, the final piece of what would become known as the Elton John Band fell into place with the addition of Davey Johnstone on guitar and backing vocals. Murray, Olsson, and Johnstone combined with John and Taupin's writing, John's flamboyant performance style, and producer Gus Dudgeon to create a hit-making chemistry for the next five Elton John albums. Known for their instrumental playing, the members of the band were also strong backing vocalists who worked out and recorded many of their vocal harmonies themselves, usually in John's absence.

The band released Honky Chateau, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat".

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first U.S. number one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.) Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.

John then formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee – in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.

In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.

Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".

Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform a song named "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the U.S.). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
Elton John performing live in 1975

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.

The album's release signaled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.

Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the U.S. albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. However, the material was almost universally regarded as not on a par with previous releases. The musical and vocal chemistry Olsson and Murray brought to John's previous releases was seen as lacking by some, both on the album and in the concerts that supported it.

Commercially, John owed much of his success during the mid-1970s to his concert performances. He filled arenas and stadiums worldwide, and was arguably the hottest act in the rock world. John was an unlikely rock idol to begin with, as he was short of stature at 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), chubby, and gradually losing his hair. But he made up for it with impassioned performances and over-the-top fashion sense. Also known for his glasses (he started wearing them as a youth to copy his idol Buddy Holly), his flamboyant stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Mozart among others at his concerts made them a success and created interest for his music.

To celebrate five years of unparalleled success since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also contributed some exemplary piano playing to Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver.

In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the downbeat Blue Moves in October, which contained the memorable but even gloomier hit "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word". His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a peppy duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", a stressed John stated that he was bisexual.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in Rolling Stone'in 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.

During the same period, John made a self-effacing guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.
ohn was deeply affected by the plight of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with AIDS. Along with Michael Jackson, John befriended and supported the boy and his family until White's death in 1990. Himself a mess and confronted by his then-lover, John checked into a Chicago hospital in 1990 to combat his drug abuse, alcoholism, and bulimia. In recovery, he lost weight and underwent hair replacement, and subsequently took up residence in Atlanta, Georgia. Also in 1990, John would finally achieve his first UK number one hit on his own, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks.

The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the unusual writing style that John and Bernie Taupin use, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own, and John then putting them to music, with the two never in the same room during the process. That same year, Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin, a tribute album featuring contributions from many top British and American performers was released. Also in 1991, John's "Basque" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental, and a guest concert appearance he had made on George Michael's reverent treatment of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was released as a single and topped the charts in both the U.S. and UK. On 24 November 1991, Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. John was one of the few invited to attend the singer's private funeral services.

In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, intending to direct 90 percent of the funds it raised to direct care, and 10 percent to AIDS prevention education. He also announced his intention to donate all future royalties from sales of his singles in the U.S. and UK to AIDS research. That year, he released the U.S. number 8 album The One, his highest-charting release since 1976's Blue Moves, and John and Taupin signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music for an estimated $39 million over 12 years, giving them the largest cash advance in music publishing history. John performed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Show Must Go On" with Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, an AIDS charity event held at Wembley Stadium, London. "Bohemian Rhapsody" featured a duet with Axl Rose, a reconciliatory gesture given Rose's previous homophobic reputation.

In September of the same year, he performed "November Rain" with Rose's band Guns N' Roses for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The following year, he released Duets, a collaboration with 15 artists including Tammy Wynette and RuPaul. This also included a new collaboration with Kiki Dee, entitled "True Love", which reached the Top 10 of the UK charts, and a duet with Eric Clapton on "Runaway Train", which also charted.

Along with Tim Rice, John wrote the songs for the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King, which became the highest-grossing traditionally animated feature of all time. Three of the five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song that year were from The Lion King; "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" eventually won. In versions sung by John, both that and "Circle of Life" became big hits, while the other songs such as "Hakuna Matata" achieved popularity with all ages as well. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" would also win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. After the release of the soundtrack, the album remained at the top of Billboard's charts for nine weeks. On 10 November 1999, the RIAA certified The Lion King "Diamond" for selling 15 million copies.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995. John has also been awarded the honour of Knight Bachelor, entitling him to use the prefix "Sir".

In 1995 John released Made in England (number 3, 1995), which featured the hit single "Believe" (number 15, 1995). Also, a compilation called Love Songs was released the following year.

The year 1997 found extreme highs and lows for John. Early in the year, vestiges of the flamboyant John resurfaced as he threw a 50th birthday party, costumed as Louis XIV, for 500 friends. John also performed with the surviving members of Queen in Paris at the opening night (17 January 1997) of "Le Presbytere N'a Rien Perdu De Son Charme Ni Le Jardin Du Son Éclat", a work by French ballet legend Maurice Bejart which draws upon AIDS and the deaths of Freddie Mercury and the company's principal dancer Jorge Donn. This was only the second time the three surviving members of Queen had performed together live since Mercury had died. Later in 1997, two close friends died: designer Gianni Versace was murdered; Diana, Princess of Wales died in a Paris car crash.

In early September, Taupin altered the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" for a special version mourning the death of Diana, and John performed it at her funeral in Westminster Abbey. A recorded version, "Candle in the Wind 1997", then became the fastest- and biggest-selling single of all time, eventually selling 5 million copies in the United Kingdom, 11 million in the U.S., and around 33 million worldwide, with the proceeds of approximately £55 million going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It would later win John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, an achievement he has yet to repeat. He has not performed the song since Princess Diana's funeral, as John stated it would only be played once to lend it significance and make it special.

John and Tim Rice again teamed up in 1998 for the production of Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida. The musical was given its world premiere in the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. It went on to Chicago and eventually Broadway under the simplified name, Aida.
2000s
Elton John performs at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, July 2008

In 2000, John and Tim Rice teamed again to create songs for DreamWorks' animated film The Road To El Dorado. In the musical theatre world, addition to a 1998 adaptation of The Lion King for Broadway, John also composed music for a Disney production of Aida in 1999 with lyricist Tim Rice, for which they received the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. He also released a live compilation album called Elton John One Night Only - The Greatest Hits from the show he did at Madison Square Garden in New York City that same year.

Returning again to musical theatre, John composed music for a West End Theatre production of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2005 with playwright Lee Hall. John's only theatrical project with Bernie Taupin so far is Lestat: The Musical, based on the Anne Rice vampire novels. However it was slammed by the critics and closed in May 2006 after 39 performances.

John was named a Disney Legend for his numerous outstanding contributions to Disney's films and theatrical works on 9 October 2006, by The Walt Disney Company.

In March 2007 he performed at Madison Square Garden for a record breaking 60th time for his 60th birthday, the concert was broadcast live and a DVD recording was released as Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden; a greatest-hits compilation CD, Rocket Man – Number Ones, was released in 17 different versions worldwide, including a CD/DVD combo; and his back catalogue - almost 500 songs from 32 albums - became available for legal download.

He has told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans for his next record to be in the R&B/hip-hop genre. "I want to work with Pharrell {Williams}, Timbaland, Snoop {Dogg}, Kanye {West}, Eminem and just see what happens."

In October 2003, John announced that he had signed an exclusive agreement to perform 75 shows over three years at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. The show, entitled The Red Piano, was a multimedia concert featuring massive props and video montages created by David LaChapelle. Effectively, he and Celine Dion share performances at Caesar's Palace throughout the year - while one performs, one rests. The first of these shows took place on 13 February 2004. On 21 June 2008, he performed his 200th show in Caesars Palace. A DVD/CD package of "The Red Piano" was released through Best Buy in November 2008. A two year global tour was sandwiched between commitments in Las Vegas, Nevada, some of the venues of which were new to John. The Red Piano Tour closed in Las Vegas in April 2009.

In a September 2008 interview with GQ Magazine, Elton John said: "I’m going on the road again with Billy Joel again next year" – confirming that the two piano-playing legends would be reuniting for more Face to Face concerts in 2009. The tour began in March and will continue for at least two more years.
John has been associated with AIDS charities since the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage hemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker Glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.
Awards
Main article: List of Elton John awards
Discography
Main article: Elton John discography

Studio albums

    * Empty Sky (1969)
    * Elton John (1970)
    * Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
    * Madman Across the Water (1971)
    * Honky Château (1972)
    * Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)
    * Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
    * Caribou (1974)
    * Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
    * Rock of the Westies (1975)
    * Blue Moves (1976)
    * A Single Man (1978)
    * Victim of Love (1979)
    * 21 at 33 (1980)
    * The Fox (1981)
    * Jump Up! (1982)
    * Too Low for Zero (1983)
    * Breaking Hearts (1984)
    * Ice on Fire (1985)
    * Leather Jackets (1986)
    * Reg Strikes Back (1988)
    * Sleeping with the Past (1989)
    * The One (1992)
    * Duets (1993)
    * Made in England (1995)
    * The Big Picture (1997)
    * Songs from the West Coast (2001)
    * Peachtree Road (2004)
    * The Captain & the Kid (2006)

Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums

    * Friends (soundtrack)
    * The Lion King (1997)
    * Aida (1998)
    * Billy Elliot (2005)
    * Lestat (2005)

Films

    * Elton John: Me, Myself & I (2007) autobiography as himself
    * The Country Bears, U.S. (2002) as himself
    * Spice World, UK (1997) as himself
    * Tommy, UK (1975) as Pinball Wizard
    * Born to Boogie, U.S. (1972) as himself

Elton John Band
Main article: Elton John Band
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg147/gypsy1987/EltonJohn.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j294/enrique314/Wonka/elton_john_show_example.jpg


One of the best.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/10 at 9:32 am


One of the best.  :)

Yes he is. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/25/10 at 12:27 pm

Elton had hit after hit after hit in the 70s.
I like "Your song" the best, with Levon close behind.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/25/10 at 6:54 pm


Elton had hit after hit after hit in the 70s.
I like "Your song" the best, with Levon close behind.


Honky Cat and Mama Can't Buy You Love are one of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/25/10 at 7:10 pm


Honky Cat and Mama Can't Buy You Love are one of my favorites.

You mean, two of your favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/25/10 at 7:46 pm


Elton had hit after hit after hit in the 70s.
I like "Your song" the best, with Levon close behind.



I liked Elton's earlier 70's work more than his later stuff. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road wasa great album. The first song I liked (of his) was Crocodile Rock....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/25/10 at 7:59 pm

Re: Elton John....interestingly, he had only one #1 hit single in Australia (the duet with Kiki Dee). Yet his albums made top 10 for most of the 70's and 80's (unlike US and UK).. The US, UK and Canada had more success in buying singles (with Canada topping the list with 16 #1's...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/25/10 at 11:41 pm



I liked Elton's earlier 70's work more than his later stuff. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road wasa great album. The first song I liked (of his) was Crocodile Rock....

Yes, GYBR was a great album, a double album too. I like Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding on that album as well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/26/10 at 1:39 am


The word of the day...Sun
The sun is the ball of fire in the sky that the Earth goes round, and that gives us heat and light.
You refer to the light and heat that reach us from the sun as the sun.
If you are sunning yourself, you are sitting or lying in a place where the sun is shining on you
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb188/lovebalin8/random%20people/sun.jpg
http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww8/drsyntax/100_1674.jpg
http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx343/marcella_05/holy%202/animated_sun.gif
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa59/unlikeothersouls/Memorial%20Day%20Weekend%202007/sun.jpg
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac309/speedybobie/Picture01.jpg
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt296/jazzypoo4u101/decorative-sun.jpg
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz44/Cookie007/350mw_14147830.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/axlequeen90/Travel/P1010263.jpg
"Here comes the sun"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/26/10 at 6:49 am



I liked Elton's earlier 70's work more than his later stuff. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road wasa great album. The first song I liked (of his) was Crocodile Rock....



and Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/26/10 at 12:03 pm

Two of my favorites are I'm Still Standing & I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/26/10 at 1:34 pm


Two of my favorites are I'm Still Standing & I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues.



Cat


great 80's videos.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/26/10 at 5:36 pm


Two of my favorites are I'm Still Standing & I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues.



Cat


Strangely, he started off huge in the U.S. with the album Honky Chateau and then followed it up wit GYBR.....had lots of top 10 singles etc. Then he was 'on the nose' in the U.S. in the 80's (if record sales are an indication). While Australia only gave him one number 1 single...his albums usually went top 10 through the 80's as well as the 70's. Not certain what that indicates...  :-\\  Perhaps we are a nation of album buyers....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/26/10 at 6:03 pm

Sorry no word or person today..we were at the hospital this morning with Missy..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/26/10 at 6:19 pm


Strangely, he started off huge in the U.S. with the album Honky Chateau and then followed it up wit GYBR.....had lots of top 10 singles etc. Then he was 'on the nose' in the U.S. in the 80's (if record sales are an indication). While Australia only gave him one number 1 single...his albums usually went top 10 through the 80's as well as the 70's. Not certain what that indicates...  :-\\  Perhaps we are a nation of album buyers....



When he was big in the early 70s, I wasn't really a big fan (even though I loved the song Crocodile Rock)-in fact, I didn't like him at all. But over the years, he really grew on me. I think about the time when Someone Saved My Life, I started recognizing his wonderful talent. Now, I think he is a living legend and I think he is GREAT!!!! 



Sorry no word or person today..we were at the hospital this morning with Missy..



I knew that.  :\'(  ((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))

Besides Elton John is big enough to have him as person of the day for TWO days in a row.  ;) :D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/27/10 at 4:52 am

British Person of the Day: Henry Royce

Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, OBE  (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was a pioneering car manufacturer, who with Charles Stewart Rolls  founded the Rolls-Royce company.

Early life

Frederick Henry Royce was born in Alwalton, Huntingdonshire, near Peterborough, the son of James and Mary Royce (maiden name King) and was the youngest of their five children. His family ran a flour mill which they leased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners but the business failed and the family moved to London. His father died in 1872 and Royce had to go out to work selling newspapers and delivering telegrams, having had only one year of formal schooling.

In 1878 he started an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway company at its works in Peterborough thanks to the financial help of an aunt. After three years the money ran out and, after a short time with a tool-making company in Leeds, he returned to London and joined the Electric Light and Power Company. He moved to their Liverpool office in 1882 working on street and theatre lighting.

In 1884 with £20 of savings he entered a partnership with Ernest Claremont, a friend who contributed £50, and they started a business making domestic electric fittings in a workshop in Cooke Street, Hulme, Manchester called F H Royce and Company. In 1894 they started making dynamos and electric cranes and F.H. Royce & Company was registered as a limited liability company. The company was re-registered in 1899 as Royce Ltd with a public share flotation and a further factory opened in Trafford Park, Manchester.

Partnership with Rolls

Following a decline in trade after the Second Boer War, and the arrival of increasing competition in cranes and dynamos from Germany and the United States, Royce began considering the motor car as a potential new product for the company. With his fascination for all things mechanical he became increasingly focused on motor cars and bought first, in 1901, a small De Dion and in 1902 or 1903 a 1901 model two cylinder Decauville. This did not meet his high standards and so he first improved it and then decided to manufacture a car of his own which he did in a corner of the workshop in 1904.

Two more cars were made. Of the three, which were called Royces and had two cylinder engines, one was given to Ernest Claremont and the other sold to one of the other directors, Henry Edmunds. Edmunds was a friend of Charles Rolls who had a car showroom in London selling imported models and showed him his car and arranged the historic meeting between Rolls and Royce at the Midland Hotel, Manchester, on 4 May 1904. In spite of his preference for three or four cylinder cars, Rolls was impressed with the two-cylinder Royce 10 and in a subsequent agreement of 23 December 1904 agreed to take all the cars Royce could make. These would be of two, three, four and six cylinders and would be badged as Rolls-Royces.

The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was unveiled at the Paris Salon in December 1904. In 1906 Rolls and Royce formalised their partnership by creating Rolls-Royce Limited, with Royce appointed chief engineer and works director on a salary of £1,250 per annum plus 4% of the profits in excess of £10,000. Royce thus provided the technical expertise to complement Rolls's financial backing and business acumen. By 1907 the company was winning awards for the engineering reliability of its cars.

Royce & Company remained in business as a separate company making cranes until 1932 when it was bought by Herbert Morris of Loughborough. The last Royce-designed crane was built in 1964.

Henry Royce married Minnie Punt in 1893 and they set up home together in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, and were joined by Royce's mother who lived nearby until her death in 1904 and Minnie's niece Violet. The Royces moved to a newly built house in Knutsford, Cheshire in 1898. Henry Royce and Minnie separated in 1912. After he was taken ill Royce was looked after by a nurse, Ethel Aubin.

Development of Rolls-Royce

Royce had always worked hard and was renowned for never eating proper meals which resulted in his being taken ill first in 1902 and again in 1911. Ill health had forced his move away from Derby in 1912. In the same year, he had a major operation in London and was given only a few months to live by the doctors. In spite of this he returned to work but was prevented from visiting the factory, which had moved to larger premises, fitted out to detailed plans by Royce, in Derby in 1908. He insisted on checking all new designs and engineers and draughtsmen had to take the drawings to be personally checked by him, a daunting prospect with his well-known perfectionism. He had a house built at Le Canadel in the south of France and a further home at Crowborough, East Sussex. In 1917, Henry Royce moved to the village of West Wittering, West Sussex.

In October 1928 he began design of the "R" engine while walking with some of his leading engineers on the beach at West Wittering, sketching ideas in the sand. Less than a year later the “R” engine designed in his studio in the village set a new world air speed record of 357.7 miles per hour and won the Schneider Trophy of 1929. When the Ramsay MacDonald Government decided not to finance the next attempt in 1931, Lucy, Lady Houston felt that Britain must on no account be left out of this contest. She wired the Prime Minister that she would guarantee £100,000 if necessary towards the cost leaving the Government with no alternative but to reverse their previous decision. The result was that Royce found that the "R" could be made to produce more power and the Supermarine S.6B seaplane won the Trophy at 340.08 mph (547.31 km/h) on 13 September 1931. Later that month on the 29th, the same aircraft with an improved engine flew at 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h) – becoming the first craft to fly at over 400 mph (640 km/h) and breaking the world's speed record.

Death

In 1931 Rolls-Royce Ltd. bought out the famous firm of W.O. Bentley. A "20/25" engine was put into a chassis and a Bentley Radiator fitted. An open four seater body completed the picture. The engine was "hotted-up" and the car was taken down to West Wittering to get Royce's approval. They were somewhat apprehensive of what he would say, but he gave it his blessing. He told them that such a fast car should have a means of varying the stiffness of the springing. The night before he died he sat up in bed and drew a sketch on the back of an envelope which he gave to Miss Aubin (his nurse and housekeeper) telling her to see that the "boys" in the factory got it safely. He died before it reached Derby. This was the adjustable shock-absorber. Thus, in 1933 the first Bentley made by Rolls-Royce Ltd. made its appearance and another famous name is carried on.

Following the success of the “R” engine, it was clear that they had an engine that would be of use to the Royal Air Force. As no Government assistance was forthcoming at first, in the national interest, they went ahead with development of what was called the “P.V.12” engine (P.V. standing for Private Venture). The idea was to produce an engine of about the same performance as the “R”, albeit with a much longer life. Royce launched the PV12 in October 1932 but unfortunately did not live to see its completion. The engine completed its first test in 1934, the year after he died. Later, the PV12 became the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and the man who had once humbly signed the visitors’ book at the RAF Calshot seaplane base as “F.H. Royce – Mechanic” would never know how his engines would go on to change the course of the Second World War.

Royce, who lived by the motto "Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble", had already been awarded the OBE after the First World War, and was created a Baronet, of Seaton in the County of Rutland, on 26 June 1930 for his services to British Aviation.

He died at his house Elmstead in West Wittering on 22 April 1933. His last words were reported to be, "I wish I had spent more time in the office."

In 1962 a memorial window dedicated to his memory was unveiled in Westminster Abbey. The window is one of a series designed by Sir J. Ninian Comper and each one is dedicated to the memory of an eminent engineer. He is also commemorated in Royce Hall, student accommodation at Loughborough University.

http://www.derbyshireuk.net/henry_royce.jpg

http://www.derbyarboretum.co.uk/Munuments/Roycestatue.jpg

http://www.bruceongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/rolls-royce.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/27/10 at 6:58 am


Sorry no word or person today..we were at the hospital this morning with Missy..


That's ok,take care of Missy. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/10 at 7:04 am



When he was big in the early 70s, I wasn't really a big fan (even though I loved the song Crocodile Rock)-in fact, I didn't like him at all. But over the years, he really grew on me. I think about the time when Someone Saved My Life, I started recognizing his wonderful talent. Now, I think he is a living legend and I think he is GREAT!!!! 



I knew that.  :\'(  ((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))

Besides Elton John is big enough to have him as person of the day for TWO days in a row.  ;) :D ;D ;D



Cat

So true, he is my alltime favorite who I just had the pleasure of seeing with Billy Joel (Who's no slouch either) I did my senior thesis on him and got a 95.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/10 at 7:18 am


British Person of the Day: Henry Royce

Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, OBE  (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was a pioneering car manufacturer, who with Charles Stewart Rolls  founded the Rolls-Royce company.

Early life

Frederick Henry Royce was born in Alwalton, Huntingdonshire, near Peterborough, the son of James and Mary Royce (maiden name King) and was the youngest of their five children. His family ran a flour mill which they leased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners but the business failed and the family moved to London. His father died in 1872 and Royce had to go out to work selling newspapers and delivering telegrams, having had only one year of formal schooling.

In 1878 he started an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway company at its works in Peterborough thanks to the financial help of an aunt. After three years the money ran out and, after a short time with a tool-making company in Leeds, he returned to London and joined the Electric Light and Power Company. He moved to their Liverpool office in 1882 working on street and theatre lighting.

In 1884 with £20 of savings he entered a partnership with Ernest Claremont, a friend who contributed £50, and they started a business making domestic electric fittings in a workshop in Cooke Street, Hulme, Manchester called F H Royce and Company. In 1894 they started making dynamos and electric cranes and F.H. Royce & Company was registered as a limited liability company. The company was re-registered in 1899 as Royce Ltd with a public share flotation and a further factory opened in Trafford Park, Manchester.

Partnership with Rolls

Following a decline in trade after the Second Boer War, and the arrival of increasing competition in cranes and dynamos from Germany and the United States, Royce began considering the motor car as a potential new product for the company. With his fascination for all things mechanical he became increasingly focused on motor cars and bought first, in 1901, a small De Dion and in 1902 or 1903 a 1901 model two cylinder Decauville. This did not meet his high standards and so he first improved it and then decided to manufacture a car of his own which he did in a corner of the workshop in 1904.

Two more cars were made. Of the three, which were called Royces and had two cylinder engines, one was given to Ernest Claremont and the other sold to one of the other directors, Henry Edmunds. Edmunds was a friend of Charles Rolls who had a car showroom in London selling imported models and showed him his car and arranged the historic meeting between Rolls and Royce at the Midland Hotel, Manchester, on 4 May 1904. In spite of his preference for three or four cylinder cars, Rolls was impressed with the two-cylinder Royce 10 and in a subsequent agreement of 23 December 1904 agreed to take all the cars Royce could make. These would be of two, three, four and six cylinders and would be badged as Rolls-Royces.

The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was unveiled at the Paris Salon in December 1904. In 1906 Rolls and Royce formalised their partnership by creating Rolls-Royce Limited, with Royce appointed chief engineer and works director on a salary of £1,250 per annum plus 4% of the profits in excess of £10,000. Royce thus provided the technical expertise to complement Rolls's financial backing and business acumen. By 1907 the company was winning awards for the engineering reliability of its cars.

Royce & Company remained in business as a separate company making cranes until 1932 when it was bought by Herbert Morris of Loughborough. The last Royce-designed crane was built in 1964.

Henry Royce married Minnie Punt in 1893 and they set up home together in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, and were joined by Royce's mother who lived nearby until her death in 1904 and Minnie's niece Violet. The Royces moved to a newly built house in Knutsford, Cheshire in 1898. Henry Royce and Minnie separated in 1912. After he was taken ill Royce was looked after by a nurse, Ethel Aubin.

Development of Rolls-Royce

Royce had always worked hard and was renowned for never eating proper meals which resulted in his being taken ill first in 1902 and again in 1911. Ill health had forced his move away from Derby in 1912. In the same year, he had a major operation in London and was given only a few months to live by the doctors. In spite of this he returned to work but was prevented from visiting the factory, which had moved to larger premises, fitted out to detailed plans by Royce, in Derby in 1908. He insisted on checking all new designs and engineers and draughtsmen had to take the drawings to be personally checked by him, a daunting prospect with his well-known perfectionism. He had a house built at Le Canadel in the south of France and a further home at Crowborough, East Sussex. In 1917, Henry Royce moved to the village of West Wittering, West Sussex.

In October 1928 he began design of the "R" engine while walking with some of his leading engineers on the beach at West Wittering, sketching ideas in the sand. Less than a year later the “R” engine designed in his studio in the village set a new world air speed record of 357.7 miles per hour and won the Schneider Trophy of 1929. When the Ramsay MacDonald Government decided not to finance the next attempt in 1931, Lucy, Lady Houston felt that Britain must on no account be left out of this contest. She wired the Prime Minister that she would guarantee £100,000 if necessary towards the cost leaving the Government with no alternative but to reverse their previous decision. The result was that Royce found that the "R" could be made to produce more power and the Supermarine S.6B seaplane won the Trophy at 340.08 mph (547.31 km/h) on 13 September 1931. Later that month on the 29th, the same aircraft with an improved engine flew at 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h) – becoming the first craft to fly at over 400 mph (640 km/h) and breaking the world's speed record.

Death

In 1931 Rolls-Royce Ltd. bought out the famous firm of W.O. Bentley. A "20/25" engine was put into a chassis and a Bentley Radiator fitted. An open four seater body completed the picture. The engine was "hotted-up" and the car was taken down to West Wittering to get Royce's approval. They were somewhat apprehensive of what he would say, but he gave it his blessing. He told them that such a fast car should have a means of varying the stiffness of the springing. The night before he died he sat up in bed and drew a sketch on the back of an envelope which he gave to Miss Aubin (his nurse and housekeeper) telling her to see that the "boys" in the factory got it safely. He died before it reached Derby. This was the adjustable shock-absorber. Thus, in 1933 the first Bentley made by Rolls-Royce Ltd. made its appearance and another famous name is carried on.

Following the success of the “R” engine, it was clear that they had an engine that would be of use to the Royal Air Force. As no Government assistance was forthcoming at first, in the national interest, they went ahead with development of what was called the “P.V.12” engine (P.V. standing for Private Venture). The idea was to produce an engine of about the same performance as the “R”, albeit with a much longer life. Royce launched the PV12 in October 1932 but unfortunately did not live to see its completion. The engine completed its first test in 1934, the year after he died. Later, the PV12 became the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and the man who had once humbly signed the visitors’ book at the RAF Calshot seaplane base as “F.H. Royce – Mechanic” would never know how his engines would go on to change the course of the Second World War.

Royce, who lived by the motto "Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble", had already been awarded the OBE after the First World War, and was created a Baronet, of Seaton in the County of Rutland, on 26 June 1930 for his services to British Aviation.

He died at his house Elmstead in West Wittering on 22 April 1933. His last words were reported to be, "I wish I had spent more time in the office."

In 1962 a memorial window dedicated to his memory was unveiled in Westminster Abbey. The window is one of a series designed by Sir J. Ninian Comper and each one is dedicated to the memory of an eminent engineer. He is also commemorated in Royce Hall, student accommodation at Loughborough University.

http://www.derbyshireuk.net/henry_royce.jpg

http://www.derbyarboretum.co.uk/Munuments/Roycestatue.jpg

http://www.bruceongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/rolls-royce.jpg

Thanks Phil..one luxurious car.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/10 at 7:26 am

The word of the day...Shrew
A shrew is a small brown animal like a mouse with a long pointed nose.
a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx3/Eluinstar/Stuff%20for%20Gram/common-shrew-3806.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn6/ratchikndogmous/whitetoothedshrew.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/zsazel/shrew.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/Imdazedandcrazed/shrew.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/hurst2112/shrew.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b117/kortknee828/shrew.jpg
http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o380/Naruto_312/shrew-elephant.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/whiskey_triv/shrew-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/10 at 7:30 am

The person of the day...Michael York
Michael York, OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English actor. He is more recently known among mainstream audiences for his role as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers series of comedy films.
York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May (née Chown), a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores.  York has an older sister, Penelope Anne (born 1940) and younger twin sisters, Caroline and Bridget (born 1947) but Bridget died a few hours after birth, according to his autobiography. He was brought up in Burgess Hill, Sussex.  During his teenage years, York was educated at Bromley Grammar School for Boys, Bromley, Kent and at Oxford University. He began his career in a 1956 production of The Yellow Jacket. In 1959 he made his West End debut with a brief part in a production of Hamlet.
Career

Prior to graduating with a degree in English from the University of Oxford in 1964, York had toured with the National Youth Theatre, also performing with the Oxford University Dramatic Society and the University College Players. After some time with the Dundee Repertory Theatre, York joined the National Theatre where he worked with Franco Zeffirelli during the 1965 staging of Much Ado About Nothing.

York made his film debut as Lucentio in Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967), then was cast as Tybalt in Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. He also starred in an early Merchant Ivory Productions film, The Guru (1969). He played an amoral bisexual drifter in Harold Prince's film Something for Everyone (1970) opposite Angela Lansbury as the countess who hires York as her footman. He then went on to portray the bisexual Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's film version of Cabaret (1972), opposite Liza Minnelli. In 1977 reunited with Zeffirelli as a fiery John the Baptist in Jesus of Nazareth.

York starred as D'Artagnan in the 1973 adaptation of The Three Musketeers and he made his Broadway debut in the original production of Tennessee Williams's Out Cry. One year later the sequel to The Three Musketeers was released (roughly covering events in the second half of the book) titled The Four Musketeers. These two films are still popular and generally accepted as the best film version of the famous Dumas adventure story. Fifteen years later, most of the cast (and crew) joined together in a third film titled The Return of the Musketeers based on the Dumas novel Twenty Years After. York had already been on British TV as Jolyon (Jolly) in The Forsyte Saga (1967). He also played the title character in the film adaptation of Logan's Run (1976).

Since his auspicious early work, York has enjoyed a busy and varied career in film, television, and on the stage. He appeared in two episodes in the second season of the Road to Avonlea series as Ezekiel Crane, the lighthouse keeper of Avonlea and father of Gus Pike. His Broadway theatre credits include Bent (1980), The Crucible (1992), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (1993), and the ill-fated musical The Little Prince and the Aviator (1982), which closed during previews. He also has made many sound recordings as a reader, including Harper Audio's production of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

He appeared in the Babylon 5 episode "A Late Delivery From Avalon" as a delusion-ridden Earthforce gunner. He also appeared as Professor Asher Fleming, a 60 year-old Yale professor and boyfriend of Yale student Paris Geller (Liza Weil) in the fourth season of Gilmore Girls. He performed the voice of the character Ares in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hawk & Dove", as well as a character named Dr. Montague Kane in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Zatanna" and Kanto in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Tools of the Trade". York starred in both The Omega Code and its sequel, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, as Stone Alexander, portraying the Antichrist of Christian eschatology.

York also played President Alexander Bourne of Macronesia (formerly New Australia) on seaQuest 2032, a role that was quickly fleshed out and would have remained a major player in the series had it lasted past the thirteen episodes it was ordered for in its third season before ultimately being canceled. He has played Basil Exposition in all three of the Austin Powers movies. He has made an appearance on The Simpsons as Mason Fairbanks, Homer's possible father in "Homer's Paternity Coot." He was also in the third season finale of Sliders as a character reminiscent of Dr. Moreau. In 2006, York played the Charles Sobhraj-like character, Bernard Fremont, on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He also appeared as himself in several episodes of the third season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and featured in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

York also voiced Petrie's uncle Pterano in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire. York has also featured as the narrator in the audio New Testament project, the Word of Promise, which is being produced by Jim Caviezel. York played King Arthur in a revival of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot, which began its run at the La Mirada Theatre in Southern California, and toured nationally in 2006 and 2007. Recently, has voiced Forever King Patrick in Ben 10: Alien Force.
Personal life

York lives in California, USA. He married Patricia McCallum on 27 March 1968. His stepson is Star Wars producer Rick McCallum.
Filmography

    * 1967 The Taming of the Shrew
    * 1967 Liefdesbekentenissen
    * 1967 Smashing Time
    * 1967 Accident
    * 1968 The Strange Affair
    * 1968 Romeo and Juliet
    * 1969 The Guru
    * 1969 Alfred the Great
    * 1969 Justine
    * 1970 Something for Everyone
    * 1971 La Poudre d'escampette
    * 1971 Zeppelin
    * 1972 Cabaret
    * 1973 The Three Musketeers
    * 1973 England Made Me
    * 1973 Lost Horizon
    * 1974 Great Expectations
    * 1974 Murder on the Orient Express
    * 1975 Conduct Unbecoming
    * 1975 The Four Musketeers
    * 1976 Logan's Run
    * 1976 Seven Nights in Japan
    * 1977 Jesus of Nazareth
    * 1977 The Last Remake of Beau Geste
    * 1977 The Island of Dr. Moreau
    * 1978 Fedora
    * 1978 Much Ado About Nothing
    * 1979 The Riddle of the Sands
    * 1979 A Man Called Intrepid
    * 1980 Final Assignment
    * 1981 The White Lions
    * 1983 The Weather in the Streets
    * 1983 Au Nom de Tous les Miens
    * 1983 The Phantom of the Opera
    * 1984 Success Is the Best Revenge
    * 1984 The Master of Ballantrae
    * 1985 Nevil Shute's the Far Country
    * 1985 James A. Michener's Space
    * 1985 British Rock The First Wave
    * 1986 Storybook Series, Vol. 4
    * 1986 Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth
    * 1986 L'Aube
    * 1986 The Far Country
    * 1986 Sword of Gideon
    * 1986 Dark Mansions
    * 1987 Un Delitto Poco Comune
    * 1987 Lethal Obsession
    * 1988 Il Segreto Del Sahara aka The Secret of the Sahara
    * 1988 Midnight Cop
    * 1988 The Four Minute Mile
    * 1989 The Return of the Musketeers
    * 1989 Till We Meet Again
    * 1989 The Lady and the Highwayman
    * 1990 Night of the Fox
    * 1990 Come See The Paradise
    * 1990 Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends: Ponce de Leon
    * 1991 The Heat of the Day
    * 1991 Eline Vere
    * 1991 Road to Avonlea: All That Glitters
    * 1991 Road to Avonlea: Sea Ghost
    * 1992 Duel of Hearts
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Tulips and Spring Bulbs
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Public Gardens & Trees
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Flower Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Japanese Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Tropical Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Roses & Rose Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Formal Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Country Gardens
    * 1992 Wide Sargasso Sea
    * 1992 The Long Shadow
    * 1993 Batman: The Animated Series: Zatanna
    * 1993 Tracey Ullman Takes On New York
    * 1994 Discretion Assured
    * 1995 Not of This Earth
    * 1996 September
    * 1996 Danielle Steel's The Ring
    * 1996 Babylon 5: A Late Delivery from Avalon
    * 1997 The Long Way Home
    * 1997 True Women
    * 1997 Dark Planet
    * 1997 The Treat
    * 1997 A Christmas Carol
    * 1997 Goodbye America
    * 1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
    * 1997 The Ripper
    * 1998 54
    * 1998 A Dirty Little Business
    * 1998 Perfect Little Angels
    * 1998 One Hell of a Guy
    * 1998 Wrongfully Accused
    * 1998 A Knight in Camelot
    * 1999 Henry James' The Ghostly Rental
    * 1999 The Haunting of Hell House
    * 1999 The Omega Code
    * 1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    * 2000 The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: You Say You Want a Revolution
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: Rebels...With a Cause
    * 2000 Borstal Boy
    * 2000 A Monkey's Tale
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: A Healthy Constitution
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: Taking Liberties
    * 2001 Criminal Desire
    * 2001 Megiddo: The Omega Code 2
    * 2002 Liberty's Kids
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: The Evolution of a Revolution, Part Three - Parties
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: A More Perfect Union, Part Two - Government
    * 2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: The Evolution of a Revolution, Part Four - Posterity
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: A More Perfect Union, Part One - Leadership
    * 2003 La Femme Musketeer
    * 2003 Gilmore Girls: Ted Koppel's Night Out
    * 2004 The Remains of the Piano
    * 2004 Moscow Heat
    * 2004 Gilmore Girls: Luke Can See Her Face
    * 2004 Gilmore Girls: Afterboom
    * 2004 Justice League Unlimited: Hawk and Dove
    * 2004 Gilmore Girls: The Nanny and the Professor
    * 2004 Crusader
    * 2006 Law & Order: Criminal Intent ::Slither
    * 2007 Flatland: The Movie
    * 2008 Świadectwo (Polish and Italian film, as narrator)
    * 2008 Testimony
    * 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
    * 2009 Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Autobiography

    * Accidentally on Purpose (US), Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-79591-0.
    * Travelling Player (UK), Headline. ISBN 0-7472-3306-3.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z229/Swinging_Sixties/1960s%20-%20People/MichaelYork.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/sea2wind/Film%20Picture/MichaelYork.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/10 at 7:40 am

The person who died on this day...Aldo Ray
Aldo Ray (born Aldo DaRe; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor.
Ray was born in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania to a Italian family of five brothers and one sister. In 1944, at the age of eighteen, Ray entered the Navy, where he served as a Frogman until 1946 and saw action at Okinawa with UDT-17.
Early life

Upon leaving the Navy, Ray entered the University of California at Berkeley, but his studies there were brief. Shortly after leaving Berkeley, Ray settled in Crockett, California with his first wife Shirley Green. They had one child, a daughter named Claire DaRe, and Aldo was even elected the 12th Township Constable of Crockett, a small bedroom community just north of San Francisco.

While constable of Crockett, California, Aldo drove his brother Guido to an audition for the film Saturday's Hero. Director David Miller was more interested in Aldo, because, it is rumored, of his voice, than in his brother, and hired him for the small role of a cynical soccer player opposite John Derek and Donna Reed. Columbia Pictures wasted no time in signing Ray to an exclusive contract, and despite having no acting experience, Aldo soon appeared in several films under his birth name, Aldo DaRe.
Hollywood stardom

Ray's husky frame, thick neck and raspy voice made him perfect for playing tough sexy roles. In his first film as Aldo Ray, he starred with Judy Holliday in 1952’s The Marrying Kind, directed by film legend George Cukor. Cukor famously suggested that Ray go to ballet school because he walked too much like a football player. That same year, Ray appeared in Pat and Mike, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in the seventh of their nine films together, and again directed by Cukor.

Ray’s work in Pat and Mike led to his nomination, along with Richard Burton and Robert Wagner, for a Golden Globe as Best Newcomer. Burton won the award that year, but Ray’s career was launched. Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn liked Ray and wanted him for the role in From Here to Eternity that Fred Zinneman insisted that Montgomery Clift have.

The following year, 1953, Aldo’s personal life didn’t go nearly as well as his professional life. Although he and first wife Shirley Green were divorced, he starred opposite Rita Hayworth in Miss Sadie Thompson, a remake of the W. Somerset Maugham story Rain. This began the most productive period of Aldo’s career, preceded by his marriage to actress Jean Marie "Jeff" Donnell in 1954, a marriage that would only last two years.

In 1955, Ray appeared in starring roles in Battle Cry, Three Stripes in the Sun, and one of his best loved films, We're No Angels, in which he starred with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, Basil Rathbone, Leo G. Carroll, and Joan Bennett. By then he was firmly associated with the macho roles that would continue to characterize his work.

During 1956, in between appearances in Three Stripes In The Sun and Men in War, Ray tried his hand at radio, working as a personality and announcer at Syracuse, New York hit music station WNDR. A photo of Ray with a colleague in the WNDR studios, taken as part of a station promotional package, survives and can be found on a WNDR tribute website, although it's not known if any aircheck tapes of his radio shows still exist. By 1957, in any event, he had left WNDR and the radio business and returned to Hollywood. He would appear in 11 films during the following 11 years (1957–68), the busiest period of his film career.

Author Richard Matheson said his best known work, The Incredible Shrinking Man, was inspired by a scene in Ray's Let's Do It Again in which a character puts on someone else's hat and it sinks down past his ears; "I thought, what if a man put on his own hat and that happened?" he recounted in an interview for Stephen King's non fiction work Danse Macabre.

This period of Ray’s career would culminate with a starring role in God's Little Acre, an honest adaptation of Erskine Caldwell’s steamy novel. The film featured Robert Ryan, with whom Ray had also worked in Men in War, and a young Tina Louise in her big screen debut. He was also memorable in The Naked and the Dead, a gritty adaptation of Norman Mailer's novel.

In 1959 he starred in 'Four Desperate Men (The Siege of Pinchgut), The film was filmed on location in Sydney Harbour Australia. 'Pinchgut' is actually 'Fort Denison' located in the Harbour. The film was the last produced by Ealing Studios, a small British Studio which lasted from 1939 to 1959.
Typecasting in the 1960s

By the dawn of the 1960’s Aldo was most often type-cast as the tough guy, capitalizing on his husky good looks and gravelly voice. He also married Johanna Bennet, who continues to work today, under the name Johanna Ray, as a respected casting director. They were divorced in 1967. (Johanna, a long time collaborator with David Lynch, cast Eric DaRe, her son with Aldo, in Lynch’s Twin Peaks series, as well as the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.) Aldo’s work of this decade included The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? and Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round. His best known work of the 1960’s, however, was his portrayal of Sergeant Muldoon, alongside John Wayne, in The Green Berets.

Aldo also did two pilots for television in the 1960’s. Although neither was ever picked up, one, an American adaptation of the British comedy Steptoe and Son, was eventually reworked by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear as a vehicle for Redd Foxx as Sanford and Son.
Career decline in the 1970s

Hollywood’s appetite for Ray’s machismo continued to wane in the 1970’s. He was typically cast as gruff and gravelly rednecks. Perhaps overly eager for work, Aldo even appeared in a pornographic movie, Sweet Savage, in a non-sexual role. This decline continued in the 1980’s. Aldo, diagnosed with throat cancer, accepted virtually any role that came his way in order to maintain his costly health insurance. What was worse, Aldo’s SAG membership was revoked in the 1980s when it was discovered he was acting in non-union productions. His last film was the campy Shock Em Dead in which he appeared with Traci Lords and Troy Donahue.
Return to Crockett, California and Death

In his last years he remained in Crockett, California with his mother and family and friends, where he died on March 27, 1991 at the age of 64. He was cremated and buried in Crockett, with a majority of the residents coming out to pay their respects. Aldo Ray is still considered Crockett California's favorite son and the small Crockett Museum still displays his pictures on a wall depicting his life and times.

The name of Brad Pitt's character Aldo Raine in Quentin Tarantino's movie Inglourious Basterds is a tribute to Aldo Ray.
Filmography

    * Saturday's Hero (1951)
    * My True Story (1951)
    * The Marrying Kind (1952)
    * Pat and Mike (1952)
    * Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)
    * Let's Do It Again (1953)
    * Battle Cry (1955)
    * We're No Angels (1955)
    * Three Stripes In The Sun (1955)
    * Men in War (1957)
    * Nightfall (1957)
    * God's Little Acre (1958)
    * The Naked and the Dead (1958)
    * Four Desperate Men (The Siege of Pinchgut) (1959)
    * Johnny Nobody (1961)
    * Suicide Commando (1966)
    * What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
    * Riot on Sunset Strip (1967)
    * Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
    * The Green Berets (1968)
    * The Power (1968)
    * Dynamite Brothers (East Meets Watts) (1974)
    * Seven Alone (1974)
    * Inside Out (1975)
    * Black Samurai (1977)
    * The Haunted (1979)
    * Don't Go Near the Park (1981)
    * The Secret of NIMH (1982)
    * Evils of the Night (1985)
    * Prison Ship (1988)
    * Shooters (1988)
    * Crime of Crimes (1989)
    * Blood Red (1989)
    * Shock 'Em Dead (1991)
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i15/Nimhster/aldo-ray-crop.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn19/WadeBallard/Jeff%20Donnell/jd50.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/27/10 at 8:55 am


Sorry no word or person today..we were at the hospital this morning with Missy..
I hope it all goes fine for you all.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/10 at 9:25 am


I hope it all goes fine for you all.

Thank You :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/27/10 at 10:50 am


The person of the day...Michael York
Michael York, OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English actor. He is more recently known among mainstream audiences for his role as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers series of comedy films.
York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May (née Chown), a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores.  York has an older sister, Penelope Anne (born 1940) and younger twin sisters, Caroline and Bridget (born 1947) but Bridget died a few hours after birth, according to his autobiography. He was brought up in Burgess Hill, Sussex.  During his teenage years, York was educated at Bromley Grammar School for Boys, Bromley, Kent and at Oxford University. He began his career in a 1956 production of The Yellow Jacket. In 1959 he made his West End debut with a brief part in a production of Hamlet.
Career

Prior to graduating with a degree in English from the University of Oxford in 1964, York had toured with the National Youth Theatre, also performing with the Oxford University Dramatic Society and the University College Players. After some time with the Dundee Repertory Theatre, York joined the National Theatre where he worked with Franco Zeffirelli during the 1965 staging of Much Ado About Nothing.

York made his film debut as Lucentio in Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967), then was cast as Tybalt in Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. He also starred in an early Merchant Ivory Productions film, The Guru (1969). He played an amoral bisexual drifter in Harold Prince's film Something for Everyone (1970) opposite Angela Lansbury as the countess who hires York as her footman. He then went on to portray the bisexual Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's film version of Cabaret (1972), opposite Liza Minnelli. In 1977 reunited with Zeffirelli as a fiery John the Baptist in Jesus of Nazareth.

York starred as D'Artagnan in the 1973 adaptation of The Three Musketeers and he made his Broadway debut in the original production of Tennessee Williams's Out Cry. One year later the sequel to The Three Musketeers was released (roughly covering events in the second half of the book) titled The Four Musketeers. These two films are still popular and generally accepted as the best film version of the famous Dumas adventure story. Fifteen years later, most of the cast (and crew) joined together in a third film titled The Return of the Musketeers based on the Dumas novel Twenty Years After. York had already been on British TV as Jolyon (Jolly) in The Forsyte Saga (1967). He also played the title character in the film adaptation of Logan's Run (1976).

Since his auspicious early work, York has enjoyed a busy and varied career in film, television, and on the stage. He appeared in two episodes in the second season of the Road to Avonlea series as Ezekiel Crane, the lighthouse keeper of Avonlea and father of Gus Pike. His Broadway theatre credits include Bent (1980), The Crucible (1992), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (1993), and the ill-fated musical The Little Prince and the Aviator (1982), which closed during previews. He also has made many sound recordings as a reader, including Harper Audio's production of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

He appeared in the Babylon 5 episode "A Late Delivery From Avalon" as a delusion-ridden Earthforce gunner. He also appeared as Professor Asher Fleming, a 60 year-old Yale professor and boyfriend of Yale student Paris Geller (Liza Weil) in the fourth season of Gilmore Girls. He performed the voice of the character Ares in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hawk & Dove", as well as a character named Dr. Montague Kane in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Zatanna" and Kanto in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Tools of the Trade". York starred in both The Omega Code and its sequel, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, as Stone Alexander, portraying the Antichrist of Christian eschatology.

York also played President Alexander Bourne of Macronesia (formerly New Australia) on seaQuest 2032, a role that was quickly fleshed out and would have remained a major player in the series had it lasted past the thirteen episodes it was ordered for in its third season before ultimately being canceled. He has played Basil Exposition in all three of the Austin Powers movies. He has made an appearance on The Simpsons as Mason Fairbanks, Homer's possible father in "Homer's Paternity Coot." He was also in the third season finale of Sliders as a character reminiscent of Dr. Moreau. In 2006, York played the Charles Sobhraj-like character, Bernard Fremont, on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He also appeared as himself in several episodes of the third season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and featured in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

York also voiced Petrie's uncle Pterano in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire. York has also featured as the narrator in the audio New Testament project, the Word of Promise, which is being produced by Jim Caviezel. York played King Arthur in a revival of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot, which began its run at the La Mirada Theatre in Southern California, and toured nationally in 2006 and 2007. Recently, has voiced Forever King Patrick in Ben 10: Alien Force.
Personal life

York lives in California, USA. He married Patricia McCallum on 27 March 1968. His stepson is Star Wars producer Rick McCallum.
Filmography

    * 1967 The Taming of the Shrew
    * 1967 Liefdesbekentenissen
    * 1967 Smashing Time
    * 1967 Accident
    * 1968 The Strange Affair
    * 1968 Romeo and Juliet
    * 1969 The Guru
    * 1969 Alfred the Great
    * 1969 Justine
    * 1970 Something for Everyone
    * 1971 La Poudre d'escampette
    * 1971 Zeppelin
    * 1972 Cabaret
    * 1973 The Three Musketeers
    * 1973 England Made Me
    * 1973 Lost Horizon
    * 1974 Great Expectations
    * 1974 Murder on the Orient Express
    * 1975 Conduct Unbecoming
    * 1975 The Four Musketeers
    * 1976 Logan's Run
    * 1976 Seven Nights in Japan
    * 1977 Jesus of Nazareth
    * 1977 The Last Remake of Beau Geste
    * 1977 The Island of Dr. Moreau
    * 1978 Fedora
    * 1978 Much Ado About Nothing
    * 1979 The Riddle of the Sands
    * 1979 A Man Called Intrepid
    * 1980 Final Assignment
    * 1981 The White Lions
    * 1983 The Weather in the Streets
    * 1983 Au Nom de Tous les Miens
    * 1983 The Phantom of the Opera
    * 1984 Success Is the Best Revenge
    * 1984 The Master of Ballantrae
    * 1985 Nevil Shute's the Far Country
    * 1985 James A. Michener's Space
    * 1985 British Rock The First Wave
    * 1986 Storybook Series, Vol. 4
    * 1986 Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth
    * 1986 L'Aube
    * 1986 The Far Country
    * 1986 Sword of Gideon
    * 1986 Dark Mansions
    * 1987 Un Delitto Poco Comune
    * 1987 Lethal Obsession
    * 1988 Il Segreto Del Sahara aka The Secret of the Sahara
    * 1988 Midnight Cop
    * 1988 The Four Minute Mile
    * 1989 The Return of the Musketeers
    * 1989 Till We Meet Again
    * 1989 The Lady and the Highwayman
    * 1990 Night of the Fox
    * 1990 Come See The Paradise
    * 1990 Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends: Ponce de Leon
    * 1991 The Heat of the Day
    * 1991 Eline Vere
    * 1991 Road to Avonlea: All That Glitters
    * 1991 Road to Avonlea: Sea Ghost
    * 1992 Duel of Hearts
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Tulips and Spring Bulbs
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Public Gardens & Trees
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Flower Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Japanese Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Tropical Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Roses & Rose Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Formal Gardens
    * 1992 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn: Country Gardens
    * 1992 Wide Sargasso Sea
    * 1992 The Long Shadow
    * 1993 Batman: The Animated Series: Zatanna
    * 1993 Tracey Ullman Takes On New York
    * 1994 Discretion Assured
    * 1995 Not of This Earth
    * 1996 September
    * 1996 Danielle Steel's The Ring
    * 1996 Babylon 5: A Late Delivery from Avalon
    * 1997 The Long Way Home
    * 1997 True Women
    * 1997 Dark Planet
    * 1997 The Treat
    * 1997 A Christmas Carol
    * 1997 Goodbye America
    * 1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
    * 1997 The Ripper
    * 1998 54
    * 1998 A Dirty Little Business
    * 1998 Perfect Little Angels
    * 1998 One Hell of a Guy
    * 1998 Wrongfully Accused
    * 1998 A Knight in Camelot
    * 1999 Henry James' The Ghostly Rental
    * 1999 The Haunting of Hell House
    * 1999 The Omega Code
    * 1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    * 2000 The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: You Say You Want a Revolution
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: Rebels...With a Cause
    * 2000 Borstal Boy
    * 2000 A Monkey's Tale
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: A Healthy Constitution
    * 2000 Founding Fathers: Taking Liberties
    * 2001 Criminal Desire
    * 2001 Megiddo: The Omega Code 2
    * 2002 Liberty's Kids
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: The Evolution of a Revolution, Part Three - Parties
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: A More Perfect Union, Part Two - Government
    * 2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: The Evolution of a Revolution, Part Four - Posterity
    * 2002 Founding Brothers: A More Perfect Union, Part One - Leadership
    * 2003 La Femme Musketeer
    * 2003 Gilmore Girls: Ted Koppel's Night Out
    * 2004 The Remains of the Piano
    * 2004 Moscow Heat
    * 2004 Gilmore Girls: Luke Can See Her Face
    * 2004 Gilmore Girls: Afterboom
    * 2004 Justice League Unlimited: Hawk and Dove
    * 2004 Gilmore Girls: The Nanny and the Professor
    * 2004 Crusader
    * 2006 Law & Order: Criminal Intent ::Slither
    * 2007 Flatland: The Movie
    * 2008 Świadectwo (Polish and Italian film, as narrator)
    * 2008 Testimony
    * 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
    * 2009 Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Autobiography

    * Accidentally on Purpose (US), Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-79591-0.
    * Travelling Player (UK), Headline. ISBN 0-7472-3306-3.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z229/Swinging_Sixties/1960s%20-%20People/MichaelYork.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/sea2wind/Film%20Picture/MichaelYork.jpg



I always thought he was very yummy.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/27/10 at 7:42 pm


The word of the day...Shrew
A shrew is a small brown animal like a mouse with a long pointed nose.
a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx3/Eluinstar/Stuff%20for%20Gram/common-shrew-3806.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn6/ratchikndogmous/whitetoothedshrew.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o208/zsazel/shrew.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d15/Imdazedandcrazed/shrew.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/hurst2112/shrew.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b117/kortknee828/shrew.jpg
http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o380/Naruto_312/shrew-elephant.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd295/whiskey_triv/shrew-1.jpg


they look funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 4:45 am


they look funny.

Yes they do. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 4:50 am

The word of the day...Broadway
a street in New York City where there are many theatres, sometimes used to refer to the US theatre industry in general
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd74/hekkie33/New%20York%20maart%202010/NewYork2010ING038.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv85/SilliMee/broadway_lp_464x326-2.png
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/RichardBastard/zombies_on_broadway.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm233/W_Daninsky/Movie%20Posters/TheLambliesdownonBroadway.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w164/maebven/Off%20Broadway%20Show%20Promo/SleepySunStuLifecopy.jpg
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab313/LaurenStreisandStreep/Barbra%20Streisand/FunnyGirlBroadwayPlaybill.gif
http://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy274/Madragon33/Statue%20of%20Liberty/NYC%20Skyline/Empire%20State%20Building/Times%20Square/Random%20NYC%20pics/DSCN1059.jpg
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab188/breid1988/New%20York/meintimessquare.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 4:52 am

The person born on this day...Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest (born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.
Wiest was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her father was a college dean and former psychiatric social worker for the U.S. Army, and her Scottish-born mother, Anne, worked as a nurse; her parents met in Algiers.  She has two brothers: Greg and Don Wiest. Wiest's original ambition was to be a ballerina, but in late high school she switched her goal to theatre. She made her film debut in It's My Turn (1980),  but did not establish herself as a film actress until her work for Woody Allen in the 1980s.
Stage career

Wiest studied theatre at the University of Maryland, leaving after her third term to tour with a Shakespearean troupe. Later, she had a supporting role in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Ashes. She also acted at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, playing the title role in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. She also understudied a role off-Broadway, in Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

She made her Broadway debut in Robert Anderson's Solitaire/Double Solitaire, taking over in the role of the daughter in 1971. She landed a four-year job as a member of the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in such memorable roles as Emily in Our Town, Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and leading roles in S. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and Shaw's "Heartbreak House." She toured the USSR with the Arena Stage Company.

In 1976, Wiest went to the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and starred in leading roles in Amlin Gray's Pirates and Christopher Durang's A History of the American Film. At Joe Papp's Public Theatre she took over the lead in Ashes, and played Cassandra in Agamemnon, directed by Andrei Şerban.

She appeared in two plays by Tina Howe: Museum and the The Art of Dining. In the latter, Wiest's performance as the shy and awkward authoress Elizabeth Barrow Colt won every off-Broadway theatre award: an Obie Award, a Theatre World Award, and the Clarence Derwent Award, given yearly for the most promising performance in New York theatre.

In early 1980, she appeared on Broadway in Frankenstein, directed by Tom Moore, portrayed Desdemona in Othello opposite James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer and co-starred with John Lithgow in Christopher Durang's romantic screwball comedy Beyond Therapy, directed by John Madden. (A few years later she played opposite Lithgow again in the Herbert Ross film Footloose).

During this time in the 1980s, she received acclaim for her performances in Hedda Gabler, directed by Lloyd Richards at Yale Repertory Theatre, and in Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska, Janusz Glowacki's Hunting Cockroaches, and Lanford Wilson's Serenading Louie.

As Wiest became established as a film actress through her work in Woody Allen's films, she was less frequently available for stage roles. However, she managed to appear onstage the 1990s, in In the Summer House, Square One, Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl, and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare.

In 2003, she appeared with Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei in Oscar Wilde's Salome. In 2005, she starred in Kathleen Tolan's Memory House. She also starred in a production of Wendy Wasserstein's final play Third (directed by Daniel Sullivan) at Lincoln Center.

Her most recent New York theater roles includes performances as Arkadina in an off-Broadway revival of The Seagull (opposite Alan Cumming's Trigorin) and as Kate Keller in a Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, opposite John Lithgow, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes. In 2009, Wiest appeared in the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in a dialogue with Katie Holmes celebrating the life of an American veteran seriously wounded in Iraq, José Pequeño.
Film and television

Under Woody Allen's direction, Wiest won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Hannah and Her Sisters in 1987 and the same award again for Bullets Over Broadway in 1995.

She also acted in three other Woody Allen films: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Radio Days (1987) and September (1987).

Her early screen roles include small roles in It's My Turn and I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can, both starring Jill Clayburgh in the lead roles.

In 1984, she starred in the blockbuster hit Footloose, as the reverend's wife.

She followed her first Oscar success with performances in The Lost Boys (1987) and Bright Lights, Big City (1988). She also starred with Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton in Ron Howard's Parenthood, for which she received her second Oscar nomination.
Wiest in 1990

In 1990, Wiest starred in Edward Scissorhands. She worked with Woody Allen once again, in 1994, for Bullets Over Broadway, a comedy set in 1920s New York City, winning her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Helen Sinclair, a boozy, glamorous, and loud star of the stage.

Other major film roles include Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate (1990) and The Birdcage (1996), Mike Nichols' remake of La Cage aux Folles.

On television, her performance on the series Road to Avonlea, in 1989, garnered her her first Emmy Award, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She received another nomination for her performance in the 1999 telefilm The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, co-starring Sidney Poitier. She starred in the television mini-series The 10th Kingdom in 2000.

From 2000 to 2002, Wiest portrayed interim District Attorney Nora Lewin in the long-running NBC crime drama Law & Order.

Wiest starred alongside Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche in Dan in Real Life (2007) and had a key supporting role in Charlie Kaufman's 2008 film Synecdoche, New York.

In 2008, she appeared as Gabriel Byrne's therapist, Gina Toll, on the HBO television series In Treatment, for which she received her second Emmy Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Seres. She received another nomination (in the same category) for the second season, in 2009, but did not win.
Personal life

Wiest graduated from the University of Maryland in 1969 with a degree in Arts and Sciences.

She was in a long-term relationship with a New York talent agent, Sam Cohn, for many years.

Dianne Wiest has two adopted daughters, Emily (b. 1987) and Lily (b. 1991).
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1980 It's My Turn Gail as Diane Wiest
1982 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can Julie Addison
1983 Face of Rage Rebecca Hammil
Independence Day Nancy Morgan
1984 Falling in Love Isabelle
Footloose Vi Moore
1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo Emma
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Holly Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1987 Radio Days Bea Nominated – BAFTA Award
September Stephanie
The Lost Boys Lucy Emerson
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Mother
1989 Parenthood Helen Buckman Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Cookie Lenore
1990 Edward Scissorhands Peg
1991 Little Man Tate Jane Grierson
1994 Bullets Over Broadway Helen Sinclair Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
Cops and Robbersons Helen Robberson
The Scout Doctor H. Aaron
1995 Drunks Rachel
1996 The Associate Sally Dugan
The Birdcage Louise Keeley Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 Practical Magic Aunt Bridget 'Jet' Owens
The Horse Whisperer Diane Booker
2000 The 10th Kingdom The Evil Queen TV mini-series
2000-2002 Law & Order D.A. Nora Lewin Twice nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2001 I Am Sam Annie Cassell
2002 Merci Docteur Rey Elisabeth Beaumont
2004 The Blackwater Lightship Lily TV
2004 Category 6: Day of Destruction Secretary of Energy Shirley Abbott TV mini-series
2005 Robots Mrs. Copperbottom
2006 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Flori
2007 Dedication Carol
Dan in Real Life Nana Burns
2008 In Treatment Dr. Gina Toll Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series (2008)

Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series (2009)
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (2009)
Passengers Toni
Synecdoche, New York Ellen Bascomb/Millicent Weems
2009 Rage Miss Roth
2010 Rabbit Hole Post-production
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/nullasalus/other%20hot%20women/diannebw.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n115/LordAsmodeus/random%20stuff/DianneWiest.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 4:58 am

The person who died on this day...Emmett Kelly
Emmett Leo Kelly (December 9, 1898 – March 28, 1979), a native of Sedan, Kansas, was an American circus performer, who created the memorable clown figure "Weary Willie," based on the hobos of the Depression era. Kelly began his career as a trapeze artist. By 1923, Emmett Kelly was working his trapeze act with John Robinson's circus when he met and married Eva Moore, another circus trapeze artist. They later performed together as the "Aerial Kellys" with Emmett still performing occasionally as a white face clown.
He started working as a clown full-time in 1931, and it was only after years of attempting to persuade the management that he was able to switch from a white face clown to the hobo clown that he had sketched ten years earlier while working at an art firm. "Weary Willie" was a tragic figure: a clown, who could usually be seen sweeping up the circus rings after the other performers. He tried but failed to sweep up the pool of light of a spotlight. His routine was revolutionary at the time: traditionally, clowns wore white face and performed slapstick stunts intended to make people laugh. Kelly did perform stunts too—one of his most famous acts was trying to crack a peanut with a sledgehammer—but as a tramp, he also appealed to the sympathy of his audience.

From 1942–1956 Kelly performed with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, where he was a major attraction, though he took the 1956 season off to perform as the mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. He also landed a number of Broadway and film roles, including the role of "Willie" in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). He also appeared in the Bertram Mills Circus.

Kelly was a Mystery Guest on the March 11, 1956 broadcast of What's My Line? and answered the panelists' questions with grunts rather than speaking yes or no. When the round was over, panelist Arlene Francis mentioned that Kelly was not allowed to speak while in makeup.

Kelly is depicted in a famous photograph, still in full clown make-up and costume, trying to extinguish the flames of the devastating Hartford Circus Fire that struck the Circus on July 6, 1944, and killed 167 people during the afternoon performance in Hartford, Connecticut. According to eyewitnesses, it was one of few times in which he was seen crying.

Emmett Kelly died at the age of 80 of a heart attack on March 28, 1979, at his home in Sarasota, Florida. He is buried in the Rest Haven Memorial Park, in Lafayette, Indiana.
Legacy
Emmett Kelly, Jr. at the New York World's fair in 1964.

Kelly's son, Emmett Kelly, Jr., did a similar "Weary Willie" character; the two were estranged for many years as a result. Kelly, Jr. claimed that his version of Willie was "less sad", but they seemed quite similar to most observers.

Kelly's boyhood town of Houston, Missouri, named Emmett Kelly Park in his honor and hosts an annual Emmett Kelly Clown Festival, which attracts clowns from across the region including Kelly's grandson, Joey Kelly, who returns every year to perform as a special guest.

The Emmett Kelly Museum is located in Sedan, Kansas.

Kelly was an inaugural inductee to the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989. He was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1994. in 1998, Kelly was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians, and a bronze bust depicting him is on permanent display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i81/whitewolfschiro/emmett-kelly-biography.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m44/cazzy62/CT%20GenTrails/Hartford/emmetkelly2.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/28/10 at 6:47 am


The person who died on this day...Emmett Kelly
Emmett Leo Kelly (December 9, 1898 – March 28, 1979), a native of Sedan, Kansas, was an American circus performer, who created the memorable clown figure "Weary Willie," based on the hobos of the Depression era. Kelly began his career as a trapeze artist. By 1923, Emmett Kelly was working his trapeze act with John Robinson's circus when he met and married Eva Moore, another circus trapeze artist. They later performed together as the "Aerial Kellys" with Emmett still performing occasionally as a white face clown.
He started working as a clown full-time in 1931, and it was only after years of attempting to persuade the management that he was able to switch from a white face clown to the hobo clown that he had sketched ten years earlier while working at an art firm. "Weary Willie" was a tragic figure: a clown, who could usually be seen sweeping up the circus rings after the other performers. He tried but failed to sweep up the pool of light of a spotlight. His routine was revolutionary at the time: traditionally, clowns wore white face and performed slapstick stunts intended to make people laugh. Kelly did perform stunts too—one of his most famous acts was trying to crack a peanut with a sledgehammer—but as a tramp, he also appealed to the sympathy of his audience.

From 1942–1956 Kelly performed with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, where he was a major attraction, though he took the 1956 season off to perform as the mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. He also landed a number of Broadway and film roles, including the role of "Willie" in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). He also appeared in the Bertram Mills Circus.

Kelly was a Mystery Guest on the March 11, 1956 broadcast of What's My Line? and answered the panelists' questions with grunts rather than speaking yes or no. When the round was over, panelist Arlene Francis mentioned that Kelly was not allowed to speak while in makeup.

Kelly is depicted in a famous photograph, still in full clown make-up and costume, trying to extinguish the flames of the devastating Hartford Circus Fire that struck the Circus on July 6, 1944, and killed 167 people during the afternoon performance in Hartford, Connecticut. According to eyewitnesses, it was one of few times in which he was seen crying.

Emmett Kelly died at the age of 80 of a heart attack on March 28, 1979, at his home in Sarasota, Florida. He is buried in the Rest Haven Memorial Park, in Lafayette, Indiana.
Legacy
Emmett Kelly, Jr. at the New York World's fair in 1964.

Kelly's son, Emmett Kelly, Jr., did a similar "Weary Willie" character; the two were estranged for many years as a result. Kelly, Jr. claimed that his version of Willie was "less sad", but they seemed quite similar to most observers.

Kelly's boyhood town of Houston, Missouri, named Emmett Kelly Park in his honor and hosts an annual Emmett Kelly Clown Festival, which attracts clowns from across the region including Kelly's grandson, Joey Kelly, who returns every year to perform as a special guest.

The Emmett Kelly Museum is located in Sedan, Kansas.

Kelly was an inaugural inductee to the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989. He was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1994. in 1998, Kelly was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians, and a bronze bust depicting him is on permanent display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i81/whitewolfschiro/emmett-kelly-biography.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m44/cazzy62/CT%20GenTrails/Hartford/emmetkelly2.gif


he didn't seem like a happy clown.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 6:52 am


he didn't seem like a happy clown.

He wasn't he was "Weary Willie"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/28/10 at 6:54 am


He wasn't he was "Weary Willie"


Is that the same thing? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 8:32 am


Is that the same thing? ???

He was still a clown, but a sad one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/28/10 at 11:48 am

I saw 3 shows on Broadway way back in the dark ages: A Chorus Line, Annie (with Alison Smith), & 42nd Street (with the late, great Jerry Orbach).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 12:52 pm


I saw 3 shows on Broadway way back in the dark ages: A Chorus Line, Annie (with Alison Smith), & 42nd Street (with the late, great Jerry Orbach).



Cat

The only play I ever saw was Camelot, but the play came to Rochester, I've never been to Broadway.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/28/10 at 12:57 pm


The only play I ever saw was Camelot, but the play came to Rochester, I've never been to Broadway.
I still wish to see Camelot

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/28/10 at 1:01 pm


The only play I ever saw was Camelot, but the play came to Rochester, I've never been to Broadway.



I have seen lots of plays-actually been in lots of plays, but those were the only 3 I saw on Broadway. If I could, I would LOVE to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Maybe some day.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 3:08 pm


I still wish to see Camelot

I enjoyed it.


I have seen lots of plays-actually been in lots of plays, but those were the only 3 I saw on Broadway. If I could, I would LOVE to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Maybe some day.



Cat

I would love to go to Broadway and see Phantom also Wicked and i always wanted to see Cats. My son has seen Phantom and Wicked in Toronto, but not Broadway.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/28/10 at 7:16 pm


He was still a clown, but a sad one.


Was he depressed in real life or was that just an act? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/10 at 9:53 pm


Was he depressed in real life or was that just an act? ???

I hope just an act.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/29/10 at 6:32 am

The word of the day...Python
A python is a large snake that kills animals by squeezing them with its body.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss69/sargon2/Misc/python.jpg
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp223/Scalem/snakeweb.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l21/hairfarm67/100_1787a.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu352/robheib2003/MoVieS/monty_python_meaning_life.jpg
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/vomhausecalibre/AlbinoBallPythonbyMarkChua.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz127/h22EFhatch/010.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/29/10 at 6:35 am

The person who was born on this day...Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer and comedic composer. He wrote and performed as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python. Idle was born in South Shields, County Durham (now Tyne and Wear) in Harton Village, the son of Nora Barron (née Sanderson), a health visitor, and Ernest Idle.  His father had served in the Royal Air Force and survived World War II, only to be killed in a hitch-hiking accident on Christmas Eve 1945.  His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and raising a child, so when he was seven, she enrolled him into the Royal Wolverhampton School as a boarder.

The school had begun life as a Victorian orphanage, and during Idle's time was a charitable foundation dedicated to the welfare of children who had lost one or both parents. Its pupils, who were mainly the children of dead English soldiers, still referred to it as the 'Ophney'.

Idle is quoted as saying: "It was a physically abusive, bullying, harsh environment for a kid to grow up in. I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny and subversive at the expense of authority. Perfect training for Python."

Idle stated that the two things that made his life bearable were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite this, he disliked other sports and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema. He was eventually caught watching the X-rated film BUtterfield 8 and stripped of his prefecture, even though by that time he was head boy. Idle had already refused to be senior boy in the school cadet force, as he supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had participated in the yearly Aldermaston March.

Idle maintains that there was little to do at the school and boredom drove him to study hard. He consequently won a place at Cambridge.
Career
College years (1965–67)

Idle attended Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied English. At Pembroke, he was invited to join the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club by the President of the Footlights Club, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Footlights Club member Bill Oddie.

    "I'd never heard of the Footlights when I got there, but we had a tradition of college smoking-concerts, and I sent in some sketches parodying a play that had just been done. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie auditioned me for the Footlights smoker, and that led to me discovering about and getting into the Footlights, which was great."

When Idle joined the Footlights Club, the other members included Graham Chapman and John Cleese, who were also attending the University of Cambridge.

Idle became Footlights President in 1965 and was the first to allow women to join the club.
Before Python (1967–69)

Idle starred in the children's television comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set opposite his future Python fellows Terry Jones and Michael Palin (who were both former University of Oxford students). Terry Gilliam provided animations for the show. Other members of the cast were comic actors David Jason and Denise Coffey.
Monty Python (1969–83)
Main article: Monty Python

Idle wrote for Monty Python mostly by himself, at his own pace, although he sometimes found it difficult in having to present material to the others and make it seem funny without the back-up support of a partner. John Cleese, another member of The Python Group, admitted that this was slightly unfair – when the team voted on which sketches should appear in a show, “he only got one vote” — but says that Idle was an independent person and worked best on his own. Idle himself admitted this was sometimes difficult: “You had to convince five others. And they were not the most un-egotistical of writers, either."

Idle's work in Python is often characterised by an obsession with language and communication: many of his characters have verbal peculiarities, such as the man who speaks in anagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, and the butcher who alternates between rude and polite every time he speaks. A number of his sketches involve extended monologues (for example the customer in the "Travel Agency" sketch who won't stop talking about his unpleasant experiences with holidays), and he would frequently spoof the unnatural language and speech patterns of television presenters. Additionally, like Palin, Idle is said to be the master of insincere characters, from the David Frost-esque Timmy Williams, to small-time crook Stig O'Tracy, who tries to justify the fact that organized crime master Dinsdale Piranha had nailed his head to the floor.

One of the younger members of the team — a year behind Cleese and Chapman at Cambridge — Idle was closest in spirit to the students and teenagers who made up much of Python's fanbase. Python sketches dealing most with contemporary obsessions like pop music, sexual permissiveness and recreational drugs are Idle's work, often characterized by double entendre, sexual references, and other "naughty" subject matter — most famously demonstrated in "Nudge Nudge." Eric Idle originally wrote "Nudge, Nudge" for Ronnie Barker, but it was rejected because there was 'no joke in the words'.

A competent guitarist, Idle composed many of the group's most famous musical numbers, most notably "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", the closing number of Life of Brian, which has grown to become a Python signature tune. He was responsible for the "Galaxy Song" from The Meaning of Life and (with Cleese) "Eric the Half-a-Bee", a whimsical tune that first appeared on the Monty Python's Previous Record album.
Post-Python career (1983–present)

After Python ceased to exist as a regularly active ensemble in the early 1980s, all six members pursued solo projects. Idle's first solo work was his own BBC Radio One show, Radio Five (pre-dating the real Radio Five station by 18 years). This ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and involved Idle performing sketches and links to records, with himself playing nearly all the multi-tracked parts.

On television, Idle created Rutland Weekend Television (RWT), a sketch show on BBC2, written by himself, with music by Neil Innes. RWT was 'Britain's smallest television network'. The name was a parody of London Weekend Television, the independent television franchise that provided Londoners with their ITV services at weekends; Rutland had been England's smallest county, but had recently been 'abolished' in an administrative shake-up. To make the joke complete, the programme went out on a weekday. Other regular performers were David Battley, Henry Woolf, Gwen Taylor and Terence Bayler, and George Harrison made a guest appearance on one episode.

A legacy of RWT was the creation, with Innes, of The Rutles, an affectionate parody of The Beatles. The band became a popular phenomenon, especially in the U.S. where Idle was appearing on Saturday Night Live — fans would send in Beatles LPs with their sleeves altered to show the Rutles. In 1978 the Rutles' mockumentary film All You Need Is Cash, a collaboration between Python members and Saturday Night Live, was aired on NBC television, as written by Idle, with music by Innes. Idle appeared in the film as "Dirk McQuickly" (the Paul McCartney-styled character of the group), as well as the main commentator. Actors appearing in the film included Saturday Night Live's John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, as well as George Harrison and Mick Jagger. Idle wrote and directed The Rutles comeback in 2008 for a live show Rutlemania! to celebrate the 30th anniversary. The performances took place in Los Angeles and New York with a Beatles tribute band.

In 1986, Idle provided the voice of Wreck-Gar, the leader of the Junkions (a race of robots built out of junk that can only speak in movie catchphrases and advertising slogans) in Transformers: The Movie. In 1987 he took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner. In 1989 he appeared in the U.S. comedy television series Nearly Departed, about a ghost who haunts the family inhabiting his former home. The series lasted for six episodes as a summer replacement series.

Idle received good critical notices appearing in projects written and directed by others — such as Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), alongside Robbie Coltrane in Nuns on the Run (1990) and in Casper (1995). He also played Ratty in Terry Jones' version of the The Wind in the Willows (1996). However, his own creative projects — such as the movie Splitting Heirs (1993), a comedy he wrote, starred in and executive-produced — were mostly unsuccessful with critics and audiences.

In 1994, he appeared as Dr. Nigel Channing, chairman of the Imagination Institute and host of an 'Inventor of the Year' awards show in the three-dimensional film Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!, which has been an attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot since 1994 and at Disneyland since 1998. The film also stars Rick Moranis and other members of the cast of the 1989 feature film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In 1999, he reprised the role in the second (and controversial) version of the Journey Into Imagination ride at Epcot, replacing Figment and Dreamfinder as the host. Due to an outcry from Disney fans, Figment was reinstated into the ride. Idle is also writer and star of the three-dimensional film Pirates — 4D for Busch Entertainment Corporation.

In 1995, he voiced Rincewind the "Wizzard" in a computer adventure game based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. In 1996, he reprised his role as Rincewind for the game's sequel, and composed and sang its theme song, "That's Death". In 1998, Idle appeared in the lead role in the poorly received film Burn Hollywood Burn (see Criticism). That same year, he also provided the voice of Devon, a dragon, in Warner Bros. Animated film Quest for Camelot.

In recent years, Idle has worked with people who regard him as a huge inspiration, such as Trey Parker and Matt Stone in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, in which he voiced Dr. Vosknocker. He has also made three appearances on The Simpsons as famous documentarian Declan Desmond, so far the only appearance on the show by a Python. From 1999 to 2000, he played Ian Maxtone-Graham on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. He has also acted as Narrator to the AudioNovel version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and Waddlesworth the parrot in 102 Dalmatians and the video game of the same name.

In late 2003 Idle began a performing tour of several American and Canadian cities entitled The Greedy Bastard Tour. The stage performances consisted largely of music from Monty Python episodes and movies, along with some original post-Python material. In 2005 Idle released The Greedy Bastard Diary, a book detailing the things he and the cast and crew encountered during the year-long tour.

Spamalot is a musical comedy based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The medieval production tells the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they journey on their quest for the Holy Grail. Spamalot features a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Idle and John Du Prez, direction by Mike Nichols, and choreography by Casey Nicholaw.

More recently, Idle provided the voice of Merlin the magician in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek the Third (2007) with his former Python co-star John Cleese, who voiced King Harold, and he is to reprise the role in Shrek Forever After (2010). He reportedly stormed out of Shrek the Third's premiere and said he may sue the producers of the film after seeing them directly copy a gag from his earlier film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The gag in question is banging coconuts together to imitate hoofbeats — a running gag throughout the film.

Idle's play What About Dick? was given a staged reading at two public performances in Hollywood on 10–11 November 2007. The cast included Idle, Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Eddie Izzard, Jane Leeves, Emily Mortimer, Jim Piddock and Tracey Ullman.
Other credits
Writing

Idle has written several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His novels are Hello Sailor and The Road to Mars. In 1976, he produced a spin-off book to Rutland Weekend Television, entitled The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book. In 1982, he wrote a west end farce Pass The Butler, starring Willie Rushton. During his Greedy Bastard Tour of 2003, he wrote the diaries that would be made into The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, published in February 2005.

Idle also wrote the book and co-wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Monty Python's Spamalot, based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It premiered in Chicago before moving to Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004-05 season. Idle won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian" (UK), he was voted 21 in the top 50 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

An example of Idle's idiosyncratic writing is "Ants In Their Pants" — a poem about the sex life of ants. It starts as follows:

    'Where does an ant get its rocks off?
    How does the ant get it on?
    Do ants have it away, say three times a day,
    Is it once a week sex, or p'raps none?'

Bibliography

    * Hello Sailor, novel, 1975  ISBN 0-297-76929-4
    * The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book, 1976  ISBN 0-413-36570-0
    * Pass the Butler, play script, 1982  ISBN 0-413-49990-1
    * The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat, children's book, 1996  ISBN 0-7871-1042-6
    * The Road to Mars, novel, 1998  ISBN 0-7522-2414-X (hardcover), ISBN 0-375-70312-8 (paperback)
    * Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python Souvenir Program, Green street Press (U.S.), 2000
    * The Greedy Bastard Tour Souvenir Program, Green street Press (U.S.), 2003
    * The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, journal, 2005  ISBN 0-06-075864-3
    * Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), co-written, play/musical parody of Monty Python's Life of Brian

Songwriting

Idle is an accomplished songwriter, having composed and performed many of the Pythons' most famous comic pieces, including "Eric the Half-a-Bee", "The Philosophers' Song", "Galaxy Song", "Penis Song (Not the Noel Coward Song)" and, probably his most recognised hit, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", which was written for the closing scene of the Monty Python film Life of Brian, and sung from the crosses during the mass crucifixion. The song has since been covered by Harry Nilsson, Bruce Cockburn, Art Garfunkel and Green Day. Idle, his fellow Pythons, and assorted family and friends performed the song at Graham Chapman's funeral.

In 1990, Idle sang and co-wrote the theme tune to the popular British sitcom One Foot In The Grave. The song was later released, but did poorly in the charts. However, when "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" was adopted as a football chant in the late 1980s, Idle's then neighbour Gary Lineker suggested Idle re-record and release the popular track. This led to a surprise hit, some 12 years after the song's original appearance in Life Of Brian, reaching number 3 in the UK charts and landing Idle a set on Top of the Pops in October 1991.

In 2004, Idle recorded a protest song of sorts, the "FCC Song", in which he lambastes the US Federal Communications Commission for fining him $5,000 for saying the word "fudge" on national radio. Fittingly, the short song contains 14 uses of the said expletive. The song can be downloaded in MP3 and OGG Vorbis format at the Internet Archive. In 2005, he received multiple Tony award nominations for his songwriting work on the Broadway musical Spamalot.

He wrote, produced and performed the song "Really Nice Day" for the movie The Wild.

In June 2007, "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)", a comic oratorio by Idle and John Du Prez premiered at the inaugural Luminato arts festival in Toronto. Idle himself performed during this 50-minute oratorio, along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and members of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. The composer, John Du Prez, was also present. Shannon Mercer, Jean Stilwell, Christopher Sieber, and Theodore Baerg sang the principal parts. The American premiere was at Caramoor (Westchester County, New York) on 1 July 2007. Soloists were the same as in the Toronto performance, but the accompanying chorus was made up of members of New York City's Collegiate Chorale. The show was revised and expanded for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2007, including two sell-out nights at the Sydney Opera House. A tour during the summer of 2008 included performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia, and Houston.
Tributes

An asteroid, 9620 Ericidle, is named in his honour. Also, the Integrated development environment for the Python programming language is called IDLE.

Idle was voted the 21st favourite comedian out of 50 in The Comedian's Comedian 2005 poll by comedians and comedy insiders.
Family

Eric Idle married Lyn Ashley, an Australian, in 1969. They divorced in 1975. They have one son, Carey, born in 1973.

Idle married his current wife, Tania Kosevich, an American, in 1981. They have one daughter, Lily, born in 1990.
Criticism

Idle in recent years has been criticised for commercializing the legacy of Monty Python. In Slate, Sam Anderson wrote in the article "And Now For Something Completely Deficient" that though Idle "has earned a spot in Comedy Heaven for his Python days...his jokey "exposure" of his own exploitation (he has called tours "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python" and "The Greedy Bastard Tour") is more irritating than funny." Of Spamalot, Anderson opined that "Python was formed in reaction to exactly the kind of lazy comedy represented by Spamalot — what Michael Palin once described as the 'easy, catch-phrase reaction' the members had all been forced to pander to in their previous writing jobs".

Spamalot has had mixed reactions from the other Python members. Terry Jones described it as “utterly pointless and full of air”. Cleese lent his support by voicing God in a recorded performance that was integrated into the musical. Palin observed: "It's a great show. It’s not ‘Python’ as we would have written it. But then, none of us would get together and write a ‘Python’ stage show." Terry Gilliam displayed a mixed reaction to the show, calling it "Python-like".

In 1998, Idle appeared in the lead role in the film Burn Hollywood Burn. The film was nominated as 'Worst Picture of the Decade' in the Golden Raspberry Awards (known as the Razzies) — and was awarded five Razzies including 'Worst Picture of the Year'.

In 2000 The AV Club gave the album Eric Idle Sings Monty Python: Live In Concert the title of 'Least Essential Solo Album' of the year. It said "the year's true nadir came from an unexpected source, beloved Monty Pythoner Eric Idle, who preceded his depressingly low-rent, if honestly dubbed "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python" tour with the equally unimpressive, if no less accurately titled Eric Idle Sings Monty Python: Live In Concert."

There has also been criticism of Idle from the other Rutles, who reunited for the Archaeology album in the mid-1990s without him. On the Channel 4 programme What The Pythons Did Next, Rutles drummer John Halsey (aka Barry Wom), said that he had to switch off Idle's The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch after 10 minutes. Innes was more diplomatic on the same show, saying "we used to think he had delusions of grandeur, now we know it's only grandeur".
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z112/DanAgr3/idle.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/KatyRedRose/Celebs/ericidle.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/29/10 at 6:39 am

The person who died on this day...Paul Henreid
Paul Henreid (10 January 1905 – 29 March 1992), whose birthname was Paul Georg Julius Hernreid Ritter von Wassel-Waldingau, was an Austrian  actor and film director.


    *
          o NOTE**According to his SS death record, as well as his tombstone, he was actually born 1/10/1908
Born in Trieste, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Henreid was the son of an aristocratic Viennese banker. He studied theatre in Vienna and debuted on the stage under the direction of Max Reinhardt. He began his film career acting in German films in the 1930s, but left Austria in 1935 for Britain. With the start of World War II, Henreid risked deportation or internment as an enemy alien, but Conrad Veidt spoke for him and he was allowed to remain free in England.  A small role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) then led him to Hollywood.
Career

In 1942, Henreid appeared in his two most important films. In Now, Voyager, he and Bette Davis created one of the screen's most imitated scenes, in which he lights two cigarettes and hands one to her. Henreid's next role was as Victor Laszlo, heroic anti-Nazi leader, in Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

In 1946, Henreid became a citizen of the United States.

He made regular film appearances throughout the 1940s, and in the early 1950s began directing for both film and television. His film credits include The Spanish Main (1945), Of Human Bondage (1946), Song of Love (1947), Thief of Damascus (1952), Siren of Bagdad (1953), and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961). His television directorial credits include Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, Bonanza and The Big Valley. In 1964, Henreid directed Dead Ringer, which starred Bette Davis and featured, in a minor role, the director's daughter, Monika.
Death
Paul Henreid's grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica

Henreid died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. He was buried with a fan letter from one Mildred Jacobs which he received in 1937, before he became famous, and which he said meant more to him than any award he had won.

Henreid has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one (for film) at 6366 Hollywood Boulevard and the other (for television) at 1722 Vine Street.
Filmography
As actor

    * Dawn (1933)
    * Love in Morocco (1933)
    * The Secret of Cavelli (1934)
    * Eva, the Factory Girl (1935)
    * Only a Comedian (1935)
    * Victoria the Great (1937)
    * Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
    * Under Your Hat (1940)
    * Mad Men of Europe (1940)
    * Night Train to Munich (1940)
    * Joan of Paris (1942)
    * Now, Voyager (1942)
    * Casablanca (1942)
    * In Our Time (1944)
    * Between Two Worlds (1944)
    * The Conspirators (1944)
    * Hollywood Canteen (1944)
    * The Spanish Main (1945)
    * Devotion (1946)
    * Of Human Bondage (1946)
    * Deception (1946)
    * Song of Love (1947)



    * Hollow Triumph (1948)
    * Rope of Sand (1949)
    * So Young So Bad (1950)
    * Last of the Buccaneers (1950)
    * Pardon My French (1951) - also French version
    * For Men Only (1952)
    * Thief of Damascus (1952)
    * Stolen Face (1952)
    * Woman in Hiding (1953)
    * Siren of Bagdad (1953)
    * This Song Is for You (1954)
    * Deep in My Heart (1954)
    * Pirates of Tripoli (1955)
    * Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
    * A Woman's Devotion (1956)
    * Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)
    * Holiday for Lovers (1959)
    * Never So Few (1959)
    * Operation Crossbow (1965)
    * Peking Remembered (1967) - documentary, narrator
    * The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
    * Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

As director

    * For Men Only (1952)
    * A Woman's Devotion (1956)
    * Live Fast, Die Young (1958)
    * Girls on the Loose (1958)
    * Dead Ringer (1964)
    * Ballad in Blue (1964)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/hollywood%20men/Paul_Henreid.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r280/Ayres_album/warbond3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/29/10 at 6:52 am


The person who was born on this day...Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer and comedic composer. He wrote and performed as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python. Idle was born in South Shields, County Durham (now Tyne and Wear) in Harton Village, the son of Nora Barron (née Sanderson), a health visitor, and Ernest Idle.  His father had served in the Royal Air Force and survived World War II, only to be killed in a hitch-hiking accident on Christmas Eve 1945.  His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and raising a child, so when he was seven, she enrolled him into the Royal Wolverhampton School as a boarder.

The school had begun life as a Victorian orphanage, and during Idle's time was a charitable foundation dedicated to the welfare of children who had lost one or both parents. Its pupils, who were mainly the children of dead English soldiers, still referred to it as the 'Ophney'.

Idle is quoted as saying: "It was a physically abusive, bullying, harsh environment for a kid to grow up in. I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny and subversive at the expense of authority. Perfect training for Python."

Idle stated that the two things that made his life bearable were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite this, he disliked other sports and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema. He was eventually caught watching the X-rated film BUtterfield 8 and stripped of his prefecture, even though by that time he was head boy. Idle had already refused to be senior boy in the school cadet force, as he supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had participated in the yearly Aldermaston March.

Idle maintains that there was little to do at the school and boredom drove him to study hard. He consequently won a place at Cambridge.
Career
College years (1965–67)

Idle attended Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied English. At Pembroke, he was invited to join the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club by the President of the Footlights Club, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Footlights Club member Bill Oddie.

    "I'd never heard of the Footlights when I got there, but we had a tradition of college smoking-concerts, and I sent in some sketches parodying a play that had just been done. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie auditioned me for the Footlights smoker, and that led to me discovering about and getting into the Footlights, which was great."

When Idle joined the Footlights Club, the other members included Graham Chapman and John Cleese, who were also attending the University of Cambridge.

Idle became Footlights President in 1965 and was the first to allow women to join the club.
Before Python (1967–69)

Idle starred in the children's television comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set opposite his future Python fellows Terry Jones and Michael Palin (who were both former University of Oxford students). Terry Gilliam provided animations for the show. Other members of the cast were comic actors David Jason and Denise Coffey.
Monty Python (1969–83)
Main article: Monty Python

Idle wrote for Monty Python mostly by himself, at his own pace, although he sometimes found it difficult in having to present material to the others and make it seem funny without the back-up support of a partner. John Cleese, another member of The Python Group, admitted that this was slightly unfair – when the team voted on which sketches should appear in a show, “he only got one vote” — but says that Idle was an independent person and worked best on his own. Idle himself admitted this was sometimes difficult: “You had to convince five others. And they were not the most un-egotistical of writers, either."

Idle's work in Python is often characterised by an obsession with language and communication: many of his characters have verbal peculiarities, such as the man who speaks in anagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, and the butcher who alternates between rude and polite every time he speaks. A number of his sketches involve extended monologues (for example the customer in the "Travel Agency" sketch who won't stop talking about his unpleasant experiences with holidays), and he would frequently spoof the unnatural language and speech patterns of television presenters. Additionally, like Palin, Idle is said to be the master of insincere characters, from the David Frost-esque Timmy Williams, to small-time crook Stig O'Tracy, who tries to justify the fact that organized crime master Dinsdale Piranha had nailed his head to the floor.

One of the younger members of the team — a year behind Cleese and Chapman at Cambridge — Idle was closest in spirit to the students and teenagers who made up much of Python's fanbase. Python sketches dealing most with contemporary obsessions like pop music, sexual permissiveness and recreational drugs are Idle's work, often characterized by double entendre, sexual references, and other "naughty" subject matter — most famously demonstrated in "Nudge Nudge." Eric Idle originally wrote "Nudge, Nudge" for Ronnie Barker, but it was rejected because there was 'no joke in the words'.

A competent guitarist, Idle composed many of the group's most famous musical numbers, most notably "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", the closing number of Life of Brian, which has grown to become a Python signature tune. He was responsible for the "Galaxy Song" from The Meaning of Life and (with Cleese) "Eric the Half-a-Bee", a whimsical tune that first appeared on the Monty Python's Previous Record album.
Post-Python career (1983–present)

After Python ceased to exist as a regularly active ensemble in the early 1980s, all six members pursued solo projects. Idle's first solo work was his own BBC Radio One show, Radio Five (pre-dating the real Radio Five station by 18 years). This ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and involved Idle performing sketches and links to records, with himself playing nearly all the multi-tracked parts.

On television, Idle created Rutland Weekend Television (RWT), a sketch show on BBC2, written by himself, with music by Neil Innes. RWT was 'Britain's smallest television network'. The name was a parody of London Weekend Television, the independent television franchise that provided Londoners with their ITV services at weekends; Rutland had been England's smallest county, but had recently been 'abolished' in an administrative shake-up. To make the joke complete, the programme went out on a weekday. Other regular performers were David Battley, Henry Woolf, Gwen Taylor and Terence Bayler, and George Harrison made a guest appearance on one episode.

A legacy of RWT was the creation, with Innes, of The Rutles, an affectionate parody of The Beatles. The band became a popular phenomenon, especially in the U.S. where Idle was appearing on Saturday Night Live — fans would send in Beatles LPs with their sleeves altered to show the Rutles. In 1978 the Rutles' mockumentary film All You Need Is Cash, a collaboration between Python members and Saturday Night Live, was aired on NBC television, as written by Idle, with music by Innes. Idle appeared in the film as "Dirk McQuickly" (the Paul McCartney-styled character of the group), as well as the main commentator. Actors appearing in the film included Saturday Night Live's John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, as well as George Harrison and Mick Jagger. Idle wrote and directed The Rutles comeback in 2008 for a live show Rutlemania! to celebrate the 30th anniversary. The performances took place in Los Angeles and New York with a Beatles tribute band.

In 1986, Idle provided the voice of Wreck-Gar, the leader of the Junkions (a race of robots built out of junk that can only speak in movie catchphrases and advertising slogans) in Transformers: The Movie. In 1987 he took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner. In 1989 he appeared in the U.S. comedy television series Nearly Departed, about a ghost who haunts the family inhabiting his former home. The series lasted for six episodes as a summer replacement series.

Idle received good critical notices appearing in projects written and directed by others — such as Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), alongside Robbie Coltrane in Nuns on the Run (1990) and in Casper (1995). He also played Ratty in Terry Jones' version of the The Wind in the Willows (1996). However, his own creative projects — such as the movie Splitting Heirs (1993), a comedy he wrote, starred in and executive-produced — were mostly unsuccessful with critics and audiences.

In 1994, he appeared as Dr. Nigel Channing, chairman of the Imagination Institute and host of an 'Inventor of the Year' awards show in the three-dimensional film Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!, which has been an attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot since 1994 and at Disneyland since 1998. The film also stars Rick Moranis and other members of the cast of the 1989 feature film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In 1999, he reprised the role in the second (and controversial) version of the Journey Into Imagination ride at Epcot, replacing Figment and Dreamfinder as the host. Due to an outcry from Disney fans, Figment was reinstated into the ride. Idle is also writer and star of the three-dimensional film Pirates — 4D for Busch Entertainment Corporation.

In 1995, he voiced Rincewind the "Wizzard" in a computer adventure game based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. In 1996, he reprised his role as Rincewind for the game's sequel, and composed and sang its theme song, "That's Death". In 1998, Idle appeared in the lead role in the poorly received film Burn Hollywood Burn (see Criticism). That same year, he also provided the voice of Devon, a dragon, in Warner Bros. Animated film Quest for Camelot.

In recent years, Idle has worked with people who regard him as a huge inspiration, such as Trey Parker and Matt Stone in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, in which he voiced Dr. Vosknocker. He has also made three appearances on The Simpsons as famous documentarian Declan Desmond, so far the only appearance on the show by a Python. From 1999 to 2000, he played Ian Maxtone-Graham on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. He has also acted as Narrator to the AudioNovel version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and Waddlesworth the parrot in 102 Dalmatians and the video game of the same name.

In late 2003 Idle began a performing tour of several American and Canadian cities entitled The Greedy Bastard Tour. The stage performances consisted largely of music from Monty Python episodes and movies, along with some original post-Python material. In 2005 Idle released The Greedy Bastard Diary, a book detailing the things he and the cast and crew encountered during the year-long tour.

Spamalot is a musical comedy based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The medieval production tells the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they journey on their quest for the Holy Grail. Spamalot features a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Idle and John Du Prez, direction by Mike Nichols, and choreography by Casey Nicholaw.

More recently, Idle provided the voice of Merlin the magician in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek the Third (2007) with his former Python co-star John Cleese, who voiced King Harold, and he is to reprise the role in Shrek Forever After (2010). He reportedly stormed out of Shrek the Third's premiere and said he may sue the producers of the film after seeing them directly copy a gag from his earlier film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The gag in question is banging coconuts together to imitate hoofbeats — a running gag throughout the film.

Idle's play What About Dick? was given a staged reading at two public performances in Hollywood on 10–11 November 2007. The cast included Idle, Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Eddie Izzard, Jane Leeves, Emily Mortimer, Jim Piddock and Tracey Ullman.
Other credits
Writing

Idle has written several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His novels are Hello Sailor and The Road to Mars. In 1976, he produced a spin-off book to Rutland Weekend Television, entitled The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book. In 1982, he wrote a west end farce Pass The Butler, starring Willie Rushton. During his Greedy Bastard Tour of 2003, he wrote the diaries that would be made into The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, published in February 2005.

Idle also wrote the book and co-wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Monty Python's Spamalot, based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It premiered in Chicago before moving to Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004-05 season. Idle won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian" (UK), he was voted 21 in the top 50 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

An example of Idle's idiosyncratic writing is "Ants In Their Pants" — a poem about the sex life of ants. It starts as follows:

    'Where does an ant get its rocks off?
    How does the ant get it on?
    Do ants have it away, say three times a day,
    Is it once a week sex, or p'raps none?'

Bibliography

    * Hello Sailor, novel, 1975  ISBN 0-297-76929-4
    * The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book, 1976  ISBN 0-413-36570-0
    * Pass the Butler, play script, 1982  ISBN 0-413-49990-1
    * The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat, children's book, 1996  ISBN 0-7871-1042-6
    * The Road to Mars, novel, 1998  ISBN 0-7522-2414-X (hardcover), ISBN 0-375-70312-8 (paperback)
    * Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python Souvenir Program, Green street Press (U.S.), 2000
    * The Greedy Bastard Tour Souvenir Program, Green street Press (U.S.), 2003
    * The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, journal, 2005  ISBN 0-06-075864-3
    * Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), co-written, play/musical parody of Monty Python's Life of Brian

Songwriting

Idle is an accomplished songwriter, having composed and performed many of the Pythons' most famous comic pieces, including "Eric the Half-a-Bee", "The Philosophers' Song", "Galaxy Song", "Penis Song (Not the Noel Coward Song)" and, probably his most recognised hit, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", which was written for the closing scene of the Monty Python film Life of Brian, and sung from the crosses during the mass crucifixion. The song has since been covered by Harry Nilsson, Bruce Cockburn, Art Garfunkel and Green Day. Idle, his fellow Pythons, and assorted family and friends performed the song at Graham Chapman's funeral.

In 1990, Idle sang and co-wrote the theme tune to the popular British sitcom One Foot In The Grave. The song was later released, but did poorly in the charts. However, when "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" was adopted as a football chant in the late 1980s, Idle's then neighbour Gary Lineker suggested Idle re-record and release the popular track. This led to a surprise hit, some 12 years after the song's original appearance in Life Of Brian, reaching number 3 in the UK charts and landing Idle a set on Top of the Pops in October 1991.

In 2004, Idle recorded a protest song of sorts, the "FCC Song", in which he lambastes the US Federal Communications Commission for fining him $5,000 for saying the word "fudge" on national radio. Fittingly, the short song contains 14 uses of the said expletive. The song can be downloaded in MP3 and OGG Vorbis format at the Internet Archive. In 2005, he received multiple Tony award nominations for his songwriting work on the Broadway musical Spamalot.

He wrote, produced and performed the song "Really Nice Day" for the movie The Wild.

In June 2007, "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)", a comic oratorio by Idle and John Du Prez premiered at the inaugural Luminato arts festival in Toronto. Idle himself performed during this 50-minute oratorio, along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and members of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. The composer, John Du Prez, was also present. Shannon Mercer, Jean Stilwell, Christopher Sieber, and Theodore Baerg sang the principal parts. The American premiere was at Caramoor (Westchester County, New York) on 1 July 2007. Soloists were the same as in the Toronto performance, but the accompanying chorus was made up of members of New York City's Collegiate Chorale. The show was revised and expanded for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2007, including two sell-out nights at the Sydney Opera House. A tour during the summer of 2008 included performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia, and Houston.
Tributes

An asteroid, 9620 Ericidle, is named in his honour. Also, the Integrated development environment for the Python programming language is called IDLE.

Idle was voted the 21st favourite comedian out of 50 in The Comedian's Comedian 2005 poll by comedians and comedy insiders.
Family

Eric Idle married Lyn Ashley, an Australian, in 1969. They divorced in 1975. They have one son, Carey, born in 1973.

Idle married his current wife, Tania Kosevich, an American, in 1981. They have one daughter, Lily, born in 1990.
Criticism

Idle in recent years has been criticised for commercializing the legacy of Monty Python. In Slate, Sam Anderson wrote in the article "And Now For Something Completely Deficient" that though Idle "has earned a spot in Comedy Heaven for his Python days...his jokey "exposure" of his own exploitation (he has called tours "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python" and "The Greedy Bastard Tour") is more irritating than funny." Of Spamalot, Anderson opined that "Python was formed in reaction to exactly the kind of lazy comedy represented by Spamalot — what Michael Palin once described as the 'easy, catch-phrase reaction' the members had all been forced to pander to in their previous writing jobs".

Spamalot has had mixed reactions from the other Python members. Terry Jones described it as “utterly pointless and full of air”. Cleese lent his support by voicing God in a recorded performance that was integrated into the musical. Palin observed: "It's a great show. It’s not ‘Python’ as we would have written it. But then, none of us would get together and write a ‘Python’ stage show." Terry Gilliam displayed a mixed reaction to the show, calling it "Python-like".

In 1998, Idle appeared in the lead role in the film Burn Hollywood Burn. The film was nominated as 'Worst Picture of the Decade' in the Golden Raspberry Awards (known as the Razzies) — and was awarded five Razzies including 'Worst Picture of the Year'.

In 2000 The AV Club gave the album Eric Idle Sings Monty Python: Live In Concert the title of 'Least Essential Solo Album' of the year. It said "the year's true nadir came from an unexpected source, beloved Monty Pythoner Eric Idle, who preceded his depressingly low-rent, if honestly dubbed "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python" tour with the equally unimpressive, if no less accurately titled Eric Idle Sings Monty Python: Live In Concert."

There has also been criticism of Idle from the other Rutles, who reunited for the Archaeology album in the mid-1990s without him. On the Channel 4 programme What The Pythons Did Next, Rutles drummer John Halsey (aka Barry Wom), said that he had to switch off Idle's The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch after 10 minutes. Innes was more diplomatic on the same show, saying "we used to think he had delusions of grandeur, now we know it's only grandeur".
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z112/DanAgr3/idle.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/KatyRedRose/Celebs/ericidle.jpg


I always enjoyed his humor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/29/10 at 8:12 am


I always enjoyed his humor.

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/10 at 5:41 am

The word of the day...Sheriff
In the United States, a sheriff is a person who is elected to make sure that the law is obeyed in a particular county.
In Scotland, a sheriff is a legal officer whose chief duty is to act as judge in a Sheriff Court. These courts deal with all but the most serious crimes and with most civil actions
In England and Wales, the Sheriff of a city or county is a person who is elected or appointed to carry out mainly ceremonial duties.
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx11/sgm_sharrow/Obsolete%20US%20Police%20badges/DeputySheriffCusterCo.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m111/wolacademy/Kindergarten%202009-2010/DSCF0197.jpg
http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab276/TheToyStoryFanatic/960_toy_story_blu-ray1.jpg
http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/xx326/ChathamCourthouse/Post-Fire/IMG_2245.jpg
http://i1025.photobucket.com/albums/y313/docpolly10/Doc%20Pollys%20Consignment%20Shoppe/HarlequinIntrigueBooks2010002.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj101/NoWay406/Somer%20Thompson/TeamSomerandSheriff.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/10 at 5:47 am

The person who was born on this day...Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 1945) is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo performer, as well as a member of rock bands the Yardbirds and Cream. He is the only person ever to be inducted three times. Often viewed by critics and fans alike as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time,  Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone  magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"  and #53 on their list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Although Clapton has varied his musical style throughout his career, it has always remained grounded in the blues; despite this focus, he is credited as an innovator in a wide variety of genres. These include blues-rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds) and psychedelic rock (with Cream). Clapton's chart success was not limited to the blues, with chart-toppers in Delta Blues (Me and Mr. Johnson), Adult contemporary ("Tears in Heaven") and reggae (Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff"; he is often credited for bringing reggae and Bob Marley to the mainstream). Two of his most successful recordings were the hit love song "Layla", which he played with the band Derek and the Dominos, and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", which has been his staple song since his days with Cream.
Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in July 1966 (to be replaced by Peter Green) and formed Cream, one of the earliest supergroups. Cream was also one of the earliest "power trios", with Jack Bruce on bass (also of Manfred Mann, the Bluesbreakers and the Graham Bond Organization) and Ginger Baker on drums (another member of the GBO). Before the formation of Cream, Clapton was not well known in the United States; he left the Yardbirds before "For Your Love" hit the American Top Ten, and had yet to perform there.  During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, though Bruce took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material with lyricist Pete Brown.  Cream's first gig was an unofficial performance at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester on 29 July 1966 before their full debut two nights later at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Cream established its enduring legend with the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of their live shows.

In early 1967, Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was rivaled by the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, an acid rock-infused guitarist who used wailing feedback and effects pedals to create new sounds for the instrument. Hendrix attended a performance of the newly formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on 1 October 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a shattering double-timed version of "Killing Floor". In return, top UK stars including Clapton, Pete Townshend, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles avidly attended Hendrix's early club performances. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although Clapton continued to be recognised in UK music polls as the premier guitarist.

Clapton first visited the United States while touring with Cream. In March 1967, Cream performed a nine show stand at the RKO Theater in New York. They recorded Disraeli Gears in New York from 11–15 May 1967. Cream's repertoire varied from soulful pop ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful"). Disraeli Gears featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming. Together, Cream's talents secured themselves as an influential power trio.

In 28 months, Cream had become a commercial success, selling millions of records and playing throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one of the first blues-rock bands to emphasize musical virtuosity and lengthy jazz-style improvisation sessions. Their U.S. hit singles include "Sunshine of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28, 1969) – a live version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues". Though Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as a guitar hero reached new heights, the supergroup was destined to be short-lived. Drug and alcohol use escalated tension between the three members and the conflicts between Bruce and Baker eventually led to Cream's demise. A strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining U.S. tour was another significant factor in the trio's demise, and it affected Clapton profoundly as well.

Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, featured live performances recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968, and was released shortly after Cream disbanded in 1968; it also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and George Harrison. Clapton had met Harrison and become friends with him after the Beatles shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London Palladium. The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in Clapton's playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album. In the same year of release as the White Album, Harrison released his solo debut Wonderwall Music, becoming the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar. Though friends, Clapton would go largely uncredited for his contributions to Harrison's albums due to contractual restraints. The pair would often play live together as each other's guest. A year after Harrison's death in 2001, Clapton helped organise the tribute concert, for which he was musical director.

Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; however, a full reunion took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce, and Baker playing four sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall and three more at New York's Madison Square Garden that October. Recordings from the London shows were released on CD, LP, and DVD in September/December 2005.
Blind Faith & Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
Main articles: Blind Faith and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends

A desultory spell in a second super group, the short-lived Blind Faith (1969), which was composed of Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood of Traffic and Ric Grech of Family, resulted in one LP and one arena-circuit tour. The super group debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on 7 June 1969. They later performed several dates in Scandinavia and began a sold-out American tour in July before their one and only album was released. The LP Blind Faith was recorded in such haste that side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". The album's jacket image of a topless pubescent girl was deemed controversial in the United States and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after less than seven months. While Winwood returned to Traffic, by now Clapton was tired of both the spotlight and the hype that had surrounded Cream and Blind Faith.

Clapton decided to step into the background for a time, touring as a sideman with the American group Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, who had been the support act for Blind Faith's U.S. tour. He also played two dates that fall as a member of The Plastic Ono Band, including the famous performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969, released as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.

Clapton became close friends with Delaney Bramlett, who encouraged him in his singing and writing. During the summer of 1969, Clapton and Bramlett contributed to the Music From Free Creek "supersession" project. Clapton, appearing as "King Cool" for contractual reasons, played with Dr. John on three songs, joined by Bramlett on one track. Jeff Beck also contributed to the sessions as "A. N. Other", though Clapton and Beck did not play together.

Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton, and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote "Let It Rain". The album also yielded the unexpected U.S. #18 hit, J. J. Cale's "After Midnight". Clapton went with Delaney and Bonnie from the stage to the studio with the Dominos to record George Harrison's All Things Must Pass in spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston and Ringo Starr.
1970s
Derek and the Dominos
Main article: Derek and the Dominos

"Layla"
Play sound
27 second sample of the song "Layla", as performed by Derek and the Dominos
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Taking over Delaney & Bonnie's rhythm section—Bobby Whitlock (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums)—Clapton formed a new band which was intended to counteract the "star" cult that had grown up around him and show that he could be a member of an ensemble. The band was called "Eric Clapton and Friends" at first, and the name "Derek and the Dominos" was an accident, which occurred when the band's provisional name of "Eric and the Dynamos" was misread as Derek and the Dominos. Clapton's biography, though, argues that Ashton told Clapton to call the band "Del and the Dominos", Del being his nickname for Clapton. Del and Eric were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos".

Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison had brought him into contact with Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When she spurned his advances, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. This album contained the monster-hit single, love song "Layla", inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nezami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which his friend Ian Dallas had given him. The book moved Clapton profoundly as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her.

Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, who had worked with Clapton on Cream's Disraeli Gears, the band recorded a double-album. The two parts of "Layla" were recorded in separate sessions: the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon composed and played the piano part. The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met first onstage, then played all night in the studio and became friends. Duane first added his slide guitar to "Tell the Truth" on 28 August as well as "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". In four days, the five-piece Dominos recorded "Key to the Highway", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman", and "Why Does Love Got to be So Sad". When September came around, Duane briefly left the sessions for gigs with his own band, and the four-piece Dominos recorded "I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "Keep on Growing". Duane returned to record "I am Yours", "Anyday", and "It's Too Late". On the 9th, they recorded Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the title track. The following day, the final track, "Thorn Tree in the Garden" was recorded.
Eric Clapton in Barcelona, 1974

The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. Many critics would later notice that Clapton played best when in a band composed of dual guitars; working with another guitarist kept him from getting "sloppy and lazy and this was undeniably the case with Duane Allman." It showcased some of Clapton's strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing, with Whitlock also contributing several superb numbers, and his powerful, soul-influenced voice.

Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a blistering version of "Little Wing" as a tribute to him which was added to the album. On 17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix's death, Clapton had purchased a left-handed Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a birthday gift. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a U.S. tour without Allman, who had returned to the Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in the surprisingly strong live double album In Concert. The band had recorded several tracks for a second album in London during the spring of 1971 (five of which were released on the Eric Clapton box-set Crossroads), but the results were mediocre.

A second record was in the works when a clashing of egos took place and Clapton walked, thus disbanding the group. Allman was later killed in a motorcycle accident on 29 October 1971. Although Radle would remain Clapton's bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of alcohol and narcotics), it would be 2003 before Clapton and Whitlock appeared together again (Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the Later with Jools Holland show). Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and years later murdered his mother during a psychotic episode. Gordon was confined to 16-years-to-life imprisonment, later being moved to a mental institution, where he remains today.
Solo career
Yvonne Elliman with Clapton in 1975

Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast to his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense attraction to Pattie Boyd, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England residence. There he nursed his heroin addiction, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and continued the show). In January 1973, The Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert" to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier scene from the movie and leave the set.

In 1974, now partnered with Pattie (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put together a more low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (better known as Marcella Detroit who later recorded in the 1980s pop duo Shakespears Sister). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover-version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was Clapton's first #1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued the trend of 461. The album's original title The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One In Every Crowd) was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here. Clapton continued to release albums and toured regularly. Highlights of the era include No Reason to Cry, whose collaborators included Bob Dylan and The Band, and Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight", another song inspired by Pattie Boyd, and a second J.J. Cale cover, "Cocaine". In 1978 he performed at the Last Waltz, the Bands final concert.

During an August 1976 concert in Birmingham, Clapton provoked a controversy that has continued to follow him when he made pointed remarks from the stage in support of British politician Enoch Powell's efforts to restrict immigration to the UK (see below).
Clapton playing live; the Eishalle theater of Wetzikon, Switzerland, 19 June 1977
On 5 August 1976 Clapton provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in Birmingham. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of controversial political candidate Enoch Powell and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a "black colony". Clapton was quoted telling the audience: "I think Enoch's right ... we should send them all back. Throw the wogs  out! Keep Britain white!"  The latter phrase was at the time a British National Front slogan.  Clapton continued:

    "I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. fudgeing wogs, man. fudgeing Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fudgeing Jamaicans and fudgeing (indecipherable) don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fudgeing wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fudge's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he’s a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he’s our man, he’s on our side, he’ll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he’s on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"

This incident, along with some explicitly pro-fascism remarks made around the same time by David Bowie as well as uses of Nazi-related imagery by Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux, were the main catalysts for the creation of Rock Against Racism, which occurred on 30 April 1978.

In response to his comments, rock photographer Red Saunders and others published an open letter in NME, Melody Maker, Sounds and the Socialist Worker. It read "Come on Eric... Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist". It also concluded, "P.S. Who shot the Sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!".

In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds magazine, Clapton remarked: "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing... I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing onstage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'."

In a 2004 interview with Uncut, Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos." In 2004, Clapton told an interviewer for Scotland on Sunday, "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense". In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton called himself "deliberately oblivious to it all" and wrote, "I had never really understood or been directly affected by racial conflict... when I listened to music, I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was. Interesting, then, that 10 years later, I would be labelled a racist... Since then, I have learnt to keep my opinions to myself. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family." In a December 2007 interview with Melvin Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were "racist".
Awards and honours
Year Award / Recognition
1983

    * Presented the Silver Clef Award from Princess Michael of Kent for outstanding contribution to British music.

1985

    * Presented with BAFTA for Best Original Television Music for Score of Edge of Darkness with Michael Kamen.

1993

    * "Tears In Heaven" won three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Male Pop Vocal Performance. Clapton also won Album of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance for Unplugged and Best Rock Song for "Layla".

1994

    * Awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to music.

2000

    * Inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time, this time as a solo artist. He was earlier inducted as a member of the bands Cream and The Yardbirds.

2004

    * Promoted to CBE, receiving the award from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace as part of the New Year's Honours list.

2006

    * Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (as a member of Cream)

Clapton's music in film and TV

    * Mean Streets (1973) – "I Looked Away"
    * The Hit (1984) – Score
    * Back to the Future (1985) – Heaven Is One Step Away
    * Edge of Darkness (1985) – Soundtrack
    * The Color of Money (1986) – "It's In The Way That You Use It"
    * SpaceCamp (1986 film) – "Forever Man" plays when Tate Donovan's character arrives at the Space Camp.
    * The German car manufacturer Opel and Vauxhall in the UK used the guitar riff of Clapton's "Layla" in its advertising campaign throughout in 1987–95.
    * Lethal Weapon (1987) – Soundtrack with Michael Kamen
    * Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) – "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
    * Goodfellas (1990) – "Layla" and "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * Rush (1991) – Clapton wrote the score
    * Wayne's World (1992) – "Loving your Loving"
    * Peter's Friends (1992) – "Give Me Strength"
    * Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) - Clapton contributed to the score and co-wrote and co-performed the song "It's Probably Me" with Sting and "Runaway Train" with Elton John.
    * True Lies (1994) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * The Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson" (1995) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * Twister (1996) – "Motherless Child"
    * Phenomenon (1996) – "Change the World"
    * The Van (1996) – (Soundtrack)
    * Patch Adams (1998) – "Let It Rain"
    * Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) – "Pilgrim"
    * City Of Angels (1998) – "Further On Up The Road"
    * Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes "Band Candy" and "Forever" (1998) – "Tales of Brave Ulysses"
    * Runaway Bride (1999) – "Blue Eyes Blue "
    * The Story of Us (1999) – "(I) Get Lost" (featured multiple times)
    * Friends episode "The One with the Proposal, Part 2" (2000) - "Wonderful Tonight"
    * Dancing At The Blue Iguana (2000) – "River of Tears"
    * A Knight's Tale (2001) – "Further On Up The Road"
    * Blow (2001) – "Strange Brew"
    * Friends episode "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two" (2002) - "River of Tears"
    * Futurama episode "The 30% Iron Chef" (2002) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * The Sopranos episode "Whitecaps" (2002) – Tony Soprano is seen listening to "Layla" in his Suburban.
    * School Of Rock (2003) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * Starsky & Hutch (2004) – "Cocaine"
    * Anger Management (2004) – "Strange Brew"
    * Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) – "Cocaine"
    * Bad News Bears (2005) – "Cocaine"
    * Lords of Dogtown (2005) – "Strange Brew"
    * Lord of War (2005) – "Cocaine"
    * United States of Tara episode – "Cocaine"

Discography
Main article: Eric Clapton discography
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/junsato/2863787.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/30/10 at 5:48 am


The person who was born on this day...Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 1945) is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo performer, as well as a member of rock bands the Yardbirds and Cream. He is the only person ever to be inducted three times. Often viewed by critics and fans alike as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time,  Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone  magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"  and #53 on their list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Although Clapton has varied his musical style throughout his career, it has always remained grounded in the blues; despite this focus, he is credited as an innovator in a wide variety of genres. These include blues-rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds) and psychedelic rock (with Cream). Clapton's chart success was not limited to the blues, with chart-toppers in Delta Blues (Me and Mr. Johnson), Adult contemporary ("Tears in Heaven") and reggae (Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff"; he is often credited for bringing reggae and Bob Marley to the mainstream). Two of his most successful recordings were the hit love song "Layla", which he played with the band Derek and the Dominos, and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", which has been his staple song since his days with Cream.
Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in July 1966 (to be replaced by Peter Green) and formed Cream, one of the earliest supergroups. Cream was also one of the earliest "power trios", with Jack Bruce on bass (also of Manfred Mann, the Bluesbreakers and the Graham Bond Organization) and Ginger Baker on drums (another member of the GBO). Before the formation of Cream, Clapton was not well known in the United States; he left the Yardbirds before "For Your Love" hit the American Top Ten, and had yet to perform there.  During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, though Bruce took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material with lyricist Pete Brown.  Cream's first gig was an unofficial performance at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester on 29 July 1966 before their full debut two nights later at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Cream established its enduring legend with the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of their live shows.

In early 1967, Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was rivaled by the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, an acid rock-infused guitarist who used wailing feedback and effects pedals to create new sounds for the instrument. Hendrix attended a performance of the newly formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on 1 October 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a shattering double-timed version of "Killing Floor". In return, top UK stars including Clapton, Pete Townshend, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles avidly attended Hendrix's early club performances. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although Clapton continued to be recognised in UK music polls as the premier guitarist.

Clapton first visited the United States while touring with Cream. In March 1967, Cream performed a nine show stand at the RKO Theater in New York. They recorded Disraeli Gears in New York from 11–15 May 1967. Cream's repertoire varied from soulful pop ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful"). Disraeli Gears featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming. Together, Cream's talents secured themselves as an influential power trio.

In 28 months, Cream had become a commercial success, selling millions of records and playing throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one of the first blues-rock bands to emphasize musical virtuosity and lengthy jazz-style improvisation sessions. Their U.S. hit singles include "Sunshine of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28, 1969) – a live version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues". Though Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as a guitar hero reached new heights, the supergroup was destined to be short-lived. Drug and alcohol use escalated tension between the three members and the conflicts between Bruce and Baker eventually led to Cream's demise. A strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining U.S. tour was another significant factor in the trio's demise, and it affected Clapton profoundly as well.

Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, featured live performances recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968, and was released shortly after Cream disbanded in 1968; it also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and George Harrison. Clapton had met Harrison and become friends with him after the Beatles shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London Palladium. The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in Clapton's playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album. In the same year of release as the White Album, Harrison released his solo debut Wonderwall Music, becoming the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar. Though friends, Clapton would go largely uncredited for his contributions to Harrison's albums due to contractual restraints. The pair would often play live together as each other's guest. A year after Harrison's death in 2001, Clapton helped organise the tribute concert, for which he was musical director.

Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; however, a full reunion took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce, and Baker playing four sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall and three more at New York's Madison Square Garden that October. Recordings from the London shows were released on CD, LP, and DVD in September/December 2005.
Blind Faith & Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
Main articles: Blind Faith and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends

A desultory spell in a second super group, the short-lived Blind Faith (1969), which was composed of Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood of Traffic and Ric Grech of Family, resulted in one LP and one arena-circuit tour. The super group debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on 7 June 1969. They later performed several dates in Scandinavia and began a sold-out American tour in July before their one and only album was released. The LP Blind Faith was recorded in such haste that side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". The album's jacket image of a topless pubescent girl was deemed controversial in the United States and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after less than seven months. While Winwood returned to Traffic, by now Clapton was tired of both the spotlight and the hype that had surrounded Cream and Blind Faith.

Clapton decided to step into the background for a time, touring as a sideman with the American group Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, who had been the support act for Blind Faith's U.S. tour. He also played two dates that fall as a member of The Plastic Ono Band, including the famous performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969, released as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.

Clapton became close friends with Delaney Bramlett, who encouraged him in his singing and writing. During the summer of 1969, Clapton and Bramlett contributed to the Music From Free Creek "supersession" project. Clapton, appearing as "King Cool" for contractual reasons, played with Dr. John on three songs, joined by Bramlett on one track. Jeff Beck also contributed to the sessions as "A. N. Other", though Clapton and Beck did not play together.

Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton, and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote "Let It Rain". The album also yielded the unexpected U.S. #18 hit, J. J. Cale's "After Midnight". Clapton went with Delaney and Bonnie from the stage to the studio with the Dominos to record George Harrison's All Things Must Pass in spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston and Ringo Starr.
1970s
Derek and the Dominos
Main article: Derek and the Dominos

"Layla"
Play sound
27 second sample of the song "Layla", as performed by Derek and the Dominos
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Taking over Delaney & Bonnie's rhythm section—Bobby Whitlock (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums)—Clapton formed a new band which was intended to counteract the "star" cult that had grown up around him and show that he could be a member of an ensemble. The band was called "Eric Clapton and Friends" at first, and the name "Derek and the Dominos" was an accident, which occurred when the band's provisional name of "Eric and the Dynamos" was misread as Derek and the Dominos. Clapton's biography, though, argues that Ashton told Clapton to call the band "Del and the Dominos", Del being his nickname for Clapton. Del and Eric were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos".

Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison had brought him into contact with Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When she spurned his advances, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. This album contained the monster-hit single, love song "Layla", inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nezami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which his friend Ian Dallas had given him. The book moved Clapton profoundly as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her.

Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, who had worked with Clapton on Cream's Disraeli Gears, the band recorded a double-album. The two parts of "Layla" were recorded in separate sessions: the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon composed and played the piano part. The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met first onstage, then played all night in the studio and became friends. Duane first added his slide guitar to "Tell the Truth" on 28 August as well as "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". In four days, the five-piece Dominos recorded "Key to the Highway", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman", and "Why Does Love Got to be So Sad". When September came around, Duane briefly left the sessions for gigs with his own band, and the four-piece Dominos recorded "I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "Keep on Growing". Duane returned to record "I am Yours", "Anyday", and "It's Too Late". On the 9th, they recorded Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the title track. The following day, the final track, "Thorn Tree in the Garden" was recorded.
Eric Clapton in Barcelona, 1974

The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. Many critics would later notice that Clapton played best when in a band composed of dual guitars; working with another guitarist kept him from getting "sloppy and lazy and this was undeniably the case with Duane Allman." It showcased some of Clapton's strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing, with Whitlock also contributing several superb numbers, and his powerful, soul-influenced voice.

Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a blistering version of "Little Wing" as a tribute to him which was added to the album. On 17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix's death, Clapton had purchased a left-handed Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a birthday gift. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a U.S. tour without Allman, who had returned to the Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in the surprisingly strong live double album In Concert. The band had recorded several tracks for a second album in London during the spring of 1971 (five of which were released on the Eric Clapton box-set Crossroads), but the results were mediocre.

A second record was in the works when a clashing of egos took place and Clapton walked, thus disbanding the group. Allman was later killed in a motorcycle accident on 29 October 1971. Although Radle would remain Clapton's bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of alcohol and narcotics), it would be 2003 before Clapton and Whitlock appeared together again (Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the Later with Jools Holland show). Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and years later murdered his mother during a psychotic episode. Gordon was confined to 16-years-to-life imprisonment, later being moved to a mental institution, where he remains today.
Solo career
Yvonne Elliman with Clapton in 1975

Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast to his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense attraction to Pattie Boyd, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England residence. There he nursed his heroin addiction, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and continued the show). In January 1973, The Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert" to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier scene from the movie and leave the set.

In 1974, now partnered with Pattie (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put together a more low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (better known as Marcella Detroit who later recorded in the 1980s pop duo Shakespears Sister). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover-version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was Clapton's first #1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued the trend of 461. The album's original title The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One In Every Crowd) was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here. Clapton continued to release albums and toured regularly. Highlights of the era include No Reason to Cry, whose collaborators included Bob Dylan and The Band, and Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight", another song inspired by Pattie Boyd, and a second J.J. Cale cover, "Cocaine". In 1978 he performed at the Last Waltz, the Bands final concert.

During an August 1976 concert in Birmingham, Clapton provoked a controversy that has continued to follow him when he made pointed remarks from the stage in support of British politician Enoch Powell's efforts to restrict immigration to the UK (see below).
Clapton playing live; the Eishalle theater of Wetzikon, Switzerland, 19 June 1977
On 5 August 1976 Clapton provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in Birmingham. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of controversial political candidate Enoch Powell and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a "black colony". Clapton was quoted telling the audience: "I think Enoch's right ... we should send them all back. Throw the wogs  out! Keep Britain white!"  The latter phrase was at the time a British National Front slogan.  Clapton continued:

    "I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. fudgeing wogs, man. fudgeing Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fudgeing Jamaicans and fudgeing (indecipherable) don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fudgeing wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fudge's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he’s a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he’s our man, he’s on our side, he’ll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he’s on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"

This incident, along with some explicitly pro-fascism remarks made around the same time by David Bowie as well as uses of Nazi-related imagery by Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux, were the main catalysts for the creation of Rock Against Racism, which occurred on 30 April 1978.

In response to his comments, rock photographer Red Saunders and others published an open letter in NME, Melody Maker, Sounds and the Socialist Worker. It read "Come on Eric... Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist". It also concluded, "P.S. Who shot the Sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!".

In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds magazine, Clapton remarked: "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing... I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing onstage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'."

In a 2004 interview with Uncut, Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos." In 2004, Clapton told an interviewer for Scotland on Sunday, "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense". In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton called himself "deliberately oblivious to it all" and wrote, "I had never really understood or been directly affected by racial conflict... when I listened to music, I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was. Interesting, then, that 10 years later, I would be labelled a racist... Since then, I have learnt to keep my opinions to myself. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family." In a December 2007 interview with Melvin Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were "racist".
Awards and honours
Year Award / Recognition
1983

    * Presented the Silver Clef Award from Princess Michael of Kent for outstanding contribution to British music.

1985

    * Presented with BAFTA for Best Original Television Music for Score of Edge of Darkness with Michael Kamen.

1993

    * "Tears In Heaven" won three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Male Pop Vocal Performance. Clapton also won Album of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance for Unplugged and Best Rock Song for "Layla".

1994

    * Awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to music.

2000

    * Inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time, this time as a solo artist. He was earlier inducted as a member of the bands Cream and The Yardbirds.

2004

    * Promoted to CBE, receiving the award from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace as part of the New Year's Honours list.

2006

    * Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (as a member of Cream)

Clapton's music in film and TV

    * Mean Streets (1973) – "I Looked Away"
    * The Hit (1984) – Score
    * Back to the Future (1985) – Heaven Is One Step Away
    * Edge of Darkness (1985) – Soundtrack
    * The Color of Money (1986) – "It's In The Way That You Use It"
    * SpaceCamp (1986 film) – "Forever Man" plays when Tate Donovan's character arrives at the Space Camp.
    * The German car manufacturer Opel and Vauxhall in the UK used the guitar riff of Clapton's "Layla" in its advertising campaign throughout in 1987–95.
    * Lethal Weapon (1987) – Soundtrack with Michael Kamen
    * Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) – "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
    * Goodfellas (1990) – "Layla" and "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * Rush (1991) – Clapton wrote the score
    * Wayne's World (1992) – "Loving your Loving"
    * Peter's Friends (1992) – "Give Me Strength"
    * Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) - Clapton contributed to the score and co-wrote and co-performed the song "It's Probably Me" with Sting and "Runaway Train" with Elton John.
    * True Lies (1994) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * The Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson" (1995) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * Twister (1996) – "Motherless Child"
    * Phenomenon (1996) – "Change the World"
    * The Van (1996) – (Soundtrack)
    * Patch Adams (1998) – "Let It Rain"
    * Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) – "Pilgrim"
    * City Of Angels (1998) – "Further On Up The Road"
    * Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes "Band Candy" and "Forever" (1998) – "Tales of Brave Ulysses"
    * Runaway Bride (1999) – "Blue Eyes Blue "
    * The Story of Us (1999) – "(I) Get Lost" (featured multiple times)
    * Friends episode "The One with the Proposal, Part 2" (2000) - "Wonderful Tonight"
    * Dancing At The Blue Iguana (2000) – "River of Tears"
    * A Knight's Tale (2001) – "Further On Up The Road"
    * Blow (2001) – "Strange Brew"
    * Friends episode "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two" (2002) - "River of Tears"
    * Futurama episode "The 30% Iron Chef" (2002) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * The Sopranos episode "Whitecaps" (2002) – Tony Soprano is seen listening to "Layla" in his Suburban.
    * School Of Rock (2003) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
    * Starsky & Hutch (2004) – "Cocaine"
    * Anger Management (2004) – "Strange Brew"
    * Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) – "Cocaine"
    * Bad News Bears (2005) – "Cocaine"
    * Lords of Dogtown (2005) – "Strange Brew"
    * Lord of War (2005) – "Cocaine"
    * United States of Tara episode – "Cocaine"

Discography
Main article: Eric Clapton discography
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg70/junsato/2863787.jpg




always good to hear his music. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/10 at 6:09 am

The person who died on this day...James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American film actor. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of roles,  he is best remembered for playing "tough guys."  In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.

Cagney's seventh film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for its famous grapefruit scene, the film thrust Cagney into the spotlight, making him one of Warners' and Hollywood's biggest stars. In 1938, he received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for Angels with Dirty Faces, before winning in 1942 for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me. Cagney retired for 20 years in 1961, spending time on his farm before returning for a part in Ragtime mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke.
.
Cagney is in stripped pajamas. He looks angry as he reaches across a breakfast table with the grapefruit in his hand.
Cagney smashes a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face in a famous scene from Cagney's breakthrough movie, The Public Enemy (1931)

Warner Brothers′ succession of gangster movie hits, in particular Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson, culminated with the 1931 film The Public Enemy. Due to the strong reviews in his short film career, Cagney was cast as nice-guy Matt Doyle, opposite Edward Woods' role of Tom Powers. However, after the initial rushes, the two were swapped. The film cost only $151,000 to make, but it became one of the first low budget films to gross $1 million.

Cagney received widespread praise for his role. The New York Herald Tribune described his performance as "the most ruthless, unsentimental appraisal of the meanness of a petty killer the cinema has yet devised." He received top billing after the film, but while he acknowledged the importance of the role to his career, he always disputed that it changed the way heroes and leading men were portrayed; he cited Clark Gable's slapping of Barbara Stanwyck six months earlier (in Night Nurse) as more important. Nevertheless, the scene in which Cagney smashes a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face is viewed by many critics as a one of the most famous moments in movie history. The scene itself was a very late addition, and who originally thought of the idea is a matter of debate; producer Darryl Zanuck claimed he thought of it in a script conference, Director William Wellman claimed that the idea came to him when he saw the grapefruit on the table during the shoot, and writers Glasmon and Bright claimed the scene was based on the real life of small-time gangster Hymie Weiss, who threw an omelet into his girlfriend's face. Cagney himself usually cited the writers' version, but the fruit's victim, Clarke, agreed that it was Wellman's idea, saying "I'm sorry I ever agreed to do the grapefruit bit. I never dreamed it would be shown in the movie. Director Bill Wellman thought of the idea suddenly. It wasn't even written into the script."

The impact of the scene was such that filmmakers have mimicked it many times throughout cinema history; the scene from The Big Heat in which Lee Marvin's character throws scalding coffee into the face of Gloria Grahame, and Richard Widmark pushing an old lady down a flight of stairs in Kiss of Death, were influenced by Cagney's portrayal of Tom Powers. Cagney himself was offered grapefruit in almost every restaurant he visited for years after, and Clarke claimed it virtually ruined her career due to typecasting.

Cagney's stubbornness was starting to become well known behind the scenes, not least after his refusal to join in a 100 percent participation charity drive that was being pushed by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Cagney did not object to donating money to charity, but rather to being forced to. Already he had acquired the nickname "The Professional Againster".
Head and shoulders shot of Cagney, looking stern, wearing a suit with a white handkerchief in his pocket.
Along with George Raft, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart, Warner Bros. actors all, Cagney defined what a movie gangster was. In G Men (1934), though, he played a lawyer who joins the FBI.

Warners was quick to combine its two rising gangster stars — Cagney and Robinson — for the 1931 film Smart Money. So keen was the studio to follow up the success of Robinson's Little Caesar that Cagney actual shot Smart Money (for which he received second billing) at the same time as The Public Enemy. As in The Public Enemy, Cagney was required to be physically violent to a woman on screen, a signal that Warners was keen to keep Cagney in the public eye; this time he slapped co-star Evalyn Knapp.


While Cagney was in New York, his brother, who had effectively become his agent, angled for a substantial pay rise and more personal freedom for his brother. Warners' hand was forced by the success of The Public Enemy and of Blonde Crazy, and they eventually offered Cagney an improved contract of $1000 a week. Cagney's first film upon returning from New York was 1932's Taxi!. The film is notable for not only being the first time that Cagney danced on screen, but it was also the last time he would allow himself to be shot at with live ammunition (a relatively common occurrence at the time, as blank cartridges and squibs were considered too expensive and hard to find to be used in most motion picture filming). He had experienced being shot at in The Public Enemy, but during filming for Taxi!, he was almost hit. In his opening scene, Cagney spoke fluent Yiddish, a language he picked up during his boyhood in New York City. The film was again praised by critics, and it was swiftly followed by The Crowd Roars and Winner Takes All.

"I never said, 'MMMmmm, you dirty rat!"
Cagney, in his acceptance speech for the AFI Life Achievement Award, 1974

Taxi! was the source of one of Cagney's most misquoted lines; he never actually said, "MMMmmm, you dirty rat!", a line commonly used by impressionists. The closest he got to it in the film was: "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!"

Despite his success, Cagney was not satisfied with his contract. He wanted more money for his successful films, but he also offered to take a smaller salary should his star wane in the future. Warners refused, and so Cagney once again walked out. He was holding out for $4000 a week, the same amount as Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Kay Francis. Warners refused to cave in this time, and suspended Cagney. Cagney announced that he would do his next three pictures for free if Warners canceled the remaining five years on his contract. He also threatened to quit Hollywood and go back to Columbia University to follow his brothers into medicine. After six months of suspension, a deal was brokered by Frank Capra that gave the actor an improved salary of around $3000 a week, a guarantee of no more than four films a year, and top billing.

Having learned about the block-booking studio system that almost guaranteed them huge profits, Cagney was determined to spread the wealth. He would send money and goods to old friends from his neighborhood, though he did not generally make this known. His insistence on no more than four films a year was based on his having witnessed actors—even teenagers—regularly working 100 hours a week in order to turn out more films. This experience would also be an integral part of his involvement in the formation of the Screen Actors Guild, which came into existence in 1933.
Cagney with his arm around an actress who has her eyes closed.
Cagney and Joan Blondell in Footlight Parade (1933)

Cagney returned to the studio and made Hard to Handle in 1933. This was followed by a steady stream of films, including the highly regarded Footlight Parade, which gave Cagney the chance to return to his song-and-dance roots. The film includes show-stopping scenes in the Busby Berkeley choreographed routines. His next notable film was 1934's Here Comes the Navy which paired him with Pat O'Brien for the first time; the two would continue to have a long friendship.

In 1935, Cagney was listed as one of the Top Ten Moneymakers in Hollywood for the first time, and was cast more frequently outside of gangster roles; he played a lawyer who joins the FBI in G-Men, and he also took on his first, and only, Shakespearean role, as Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Cagney's last movie in 1935 was Ceiling Zero, his third film with Pat O'Brien. Significantly, O'Brien received top billing, which was a clear breach of Cagney's contract. This, combined with the fact that Cagney had made five movies in 1934, again against his contract terms, forced him to bring legal proceedings against Warners for breach of contract. The dispute dragged on for several months. Cagney received calls from David Selznick and Sam Goldwyn, but neither felt in a position to offer him work while the dispute went on. Meanwhile, while being represented by his brother William in court, Cagney went back to New York to search for a country property where he could indulge in his passion for farming.
Independent years (1936–1937)

Cagney spent most of the next year on his farm, and only went back to work when Edward L. Alperson from Grand National films, a newly established, independent studio, approached him to make movies at $100,000 a film and 10% of the profits. Cagney made two films for Grand National: Great Guy and Something to Sing About. He received good reviews for both, but overall the production quality was not up to Warner standards and the films did not do well. A third film was planned (Dynamite) but Grand National ran out of money.
Close up shot of three men in a room, talking.
Humphrey Bogart with Cagney and Jeffrey Lynn in The Roaring Twenties (1939), the last film Bogart and Cagney made together.

The timing was fortunate for Cagney, as the courts decided the Warners lawsuit in Cagney's favor. He had done what many thought unthinkable in that he had taken on the studios and won. Not only did he win the suit, but Warners knew that he was still a star, and invited him back for a five-year, $150,000 a film deal, with no more than two films a year. Cagney would also have full say over what films he did and did not make. Additionally, William Cagney was guaranteed a deal as an assistant producer for the films his brother would star in.

Cagney had established the power of the walkout as keeping the studios to their word. He later explained his reasons, saying: "I walked out because I depended on the studio heads to keep their word on this, that or other promise, and when the promise was not kept, my only recourse was to deprive them of my services." Cagney himself acknowledged the importance of the walkout for other actors in breaking the dominance of the studio system. Normally when stars walked out, the time they were absent was added on to the end of their already long contract, as happened with Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis. Cagney, however, walked out and came back with an improved contract. Many in Hollywood watched the case closely for hints of how future contracts might be handled.

Artistically, the Grand National experiment was a success for Cagney, who was able to move away from his traditional Warners tough guy roles to more sympathetic characters. How far he could have experimented and developed can never be known, but certainly back in the Warners fold he was back playing tough guys.
Return to Warner Bros. (1938–1942)
Head and shoulders shot of Cagney talking to a man in a clerical collar.
Cagney with his pal Pat O'Brien in
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), the sixth of nine feature films they would make together.

Cagney's two films of 1938, Boy Meets Girl and Angels with Dirty Faces, both co-starred Pat O'Brien. The former saw Cagney in a comedy role, and received mixed reviews. Warners had allowed Cagney his change of pace, but was keen to get him back to playing tough guys, which was more lucrative. Ironically, the script for Angels was one that Cagney had hoped to do while with Grand National, but the studio had been unable to secure funding.

Cagney starred as Rocky Sullivan, a gangster fresh out of jail and looking for his former associate, played by Humphrey Bogart, who owes him money. Whilst revisiting his old haunts, he runs into his old friend Jerry Connolly who is now a priest looking after the Dead End Kids. The kids idolize Rocky, much to Connolly's concern. After a messy shoot-out, Sullivan is eventually captured by the police and sentenced to death by electric chair. Connolly pleads with Rocky to "turn yellow" on his way to the chair so that the Kids lose their respect for him, and hopefully avoid a life of crime. Sullivan refuses, but on his way to the chair he begs for his life. The film is ambiguous as to whether this cowardice is real or just for the Kids' benefit. Cagney himself refused to say, insisting he liked the ambiguity. The film is regarded by many as one of Cagney's finest, and garnered him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for 1938. He lost to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town, a role which Cagney had been considered for, but lost out on due to his typecasting. Cagney did, however, win that year's New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.

His earlier insistence on not filming with live ammunition proved to be a good decision; having been told while filming Angels with Dirty Faces that he would do a scene with real machine gun bullets, Cagney refused and insisted the shots be superimposed afterwards. As it turned out, a ricocheting bullet passed through exactly where his head would have been.

During his first year back at Warners, Cagney became the studio's highest earner, earning $324,000. He completed his first decade of movie-making in 1939 with The Roaring Twenties, his first film with Raoul Walsh, and his last with Bogart. It was also his last gangster film for ten years. Cagney again received good reviews; Graham Greene stated that "Mr. Cagney, of the bull-calf brow, is as always a superb and witty actor". The Roaring Twenties was the last film in which a character's violence was explained by poor upbringing, or their environment, as was the case in The Public Enemy. From that point on, violence was attached to mania, as in White Heat. In 1939, Cagney was second to only Gary Cooper in the national wage stakes, earning $368,333.
Cagney on stage and in costume, singing and dancing while the caste watches.
Cagney as George M. Cohan performing "The Yankee Doodle Boy" from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

His next notable career role was playing George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy, a film Cagney himself "took great pride in" and considered his best. Producer Hal Wallis said that having seen Cohan in I'd Rather Be Right, he never considered anyone other than Cagney for the role. Cagney himself, on the other hand, insisted that Fred Astaire had been the first choice and turned it down.

Filming began the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the cast and crew worked in a "patriotic frenzy" as the US' early involvement in World War II gave the cast and crew a feeling that "they might be sending the last message from the free world", according to actress Rosemary DeCamp. Cohan was given a private showing of the film shortly before his death, and thanked Cagney "for a wonderful job". A paid première, with seats ranging from $25 to $25,000, raised $5,750,000 in war bonds for the US treasury.

"Smart, alert, hard-headed, Cagney is as typically American as Cohan himself... It was a remarkable performance, probably Cagney's best, and it makes Yankee Doodle a dandy"
Time magazine

Many critics of the time and since have declared it to be Cagney's best film, drawing parallels between Cohan and Cagney; they both began their careers in vaudeville, had years of struggle before reaching the peak of their profession, were surrounded with family and married early, and both had a wife who was happy to sit back while he went on to stardom. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards (winning three) and Cagney won Best Actor. In his acceptance speech, Cagney said: "I've always maintained that in this business, you're only as good as the other fellow thinks you are. It's nice to know that you people thought I did a good job. And don't forget that it was a good part, too."

Cagney had lost out on Boys' Town to Spencer Tracy, and also lost the role of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in Knute Rockne, All American to his friend Pat O'Brien, both because of the hard-man image that Warners had developed for him. Cagney announced in March 1942 that he and brother William were setting up Cagney Productions to release films though United Artists.
Independent again (1942–1948)

Free of Warners again, Cagney spent some time relaxing on his farm in Martha's Vineyard before volunteering to join the USO. He spent several weeks touring the US, entertaining troops with vaudeville routines and scenes from Yankee Doodle Dandy. In September 1942 he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Almost a year after the creation of his new production company, Cagney Productions produced its first film, Johnny Come Lately, in March 1943. While the main studios were producing patriotic war movies, Cagney was determined to continue dispelling his tough guy image, so he produced a movie that was a "complete and exhilarating exposition of the Cagney 'alter-ego' on film". According to Cagney, the film "made money but it was no great winner", and reviews varied from excellent (Time) to poor (New York's PM).

"I'm here to dance a few jigs, sing a few songs, say hello to the boys, and that's all."
Cagney to British reporters

Following the film's completion, Cagney went back to the USO and toured US military bases in the UK. He refused to do any interviews with the UK press, preferring to concentrate on rehearsals and performances. He gave several shows a day for the Army Signal Corps; called The American Cavalcade of Dance, the show consisted of a history of American dance, from the earliest days to Fred Astaire, and culminated with dances from Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The second movie Cagney's company produced was Blood On the Sun. Insisting on doing his own stunts, Cagney required judo training from expert Ken Kuniyuki and Jack Halloran, a former policeman. The Cagneys had hoped that an action film would appeal more to more audiences, but it fared worse at the box office than Johnny Come Lately. At this time, Cagney heard of young war hero Audie Murphy, who appeared on the front of Life magazine. Cagney thought that Murphy had the looks to be a movie star, and suggested that he come to Hollywood. Murphy, however, could not act, and his contract was loaned out and then sold.

While negotiating the rights for their third independent film, Cagney starred in 20th Century Fox's 13 Rue Madeleine at $300,000 for two months of work. The film was a success, and Cagney was keen to begin production of his new project, an adaptation of William Saroyan's Broadway play The Time of Your Life. Saroyan himself loved the film, but it was a commercial disaster, costing the company half a million dollars to make, and audiences again struggled to accept Cagney out of tough guy roles.

Cagney Productions was in serious trouble; poor returns from the produced films, and a legal dispute with Sam Goldwyn Studio over a rental agreement forced Cagney back to Warners. He signed a distribution-production deal with the studio for the film White Heat, effectively making Cagney Productions a unit of Warner Brothers.
Back to Warners (1949–1955)
Head and shoulders shot of Cagney, wearing black fedora and smiling slightly; scenery in the background.
Cagney as Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949)

Cagney's portrayal of Cody Jarrett in the 1949 film White Heat is one of his most memorable. Cinema had changed in the ten years since Walsh last directed Cagney (in The Roaring Twenties), and the actor's portrayal of gangsters had also changed. Unlike Tom Powers in The Public Enemy, Jarrett is portrayed as a raging lunatic with little or no sympathetic qualities. In the 18 intervening years, Cagney's hair had begun to gray, and he developed a paunch for the first time. He was no longer a romantic commodity, and this was reflected in his portrayal of Jarrett. Cagney himself had the idea of playing Jarrett as psychotic; he later stated that "it was essentially a cheapie one-two-three-four kind of thing, so I suggested we make him nuts. It was agreed so we put in all those fits and headaches."

Cagney's closing lines of the film — "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" — was voted the 18th greatest movie line by the American Film Institute. Likewise, Jarrett's explosion of rage in prison on being told his mother's death is widely hailed as one of Cagney's most memorable performances. Some of the extras on set actually became terrified of the actor because of his violent portrayal. Cagney attributed the performance to his father's alcoholic rages that he had seen as a child, as well as someone that he had seen on a visit to a mental hospital. Cagney described the script as "that extremely rare thing, the perfect script". When the film was released, Snyder reportedly asked how Cagney had so accurately copied his limp, but Cagney himself insisted he had not, having made it up based on personal observation of other people when they limped: "What I did was very simple. I just slapped my foot down as I turned it out while walking. That's all".

His performance earned him another Best Actor Academy Award nomination, 17 years after his first. Reviews were strong, and the film is considered to be one of the best of his later career. In Day he had found a co-star he could build a rapport with such as he had had with Blondell at the start of his career. Day herself was full of praise for Cagney, stating that he was "the most professional actor I've ever known. He was always 'real'. I simply forgot we were making a picture. His eyes would actually fill up when we were working on a tender scene. And you never needed drops to make your eyes shine when Jimmy was on the set."

Cagney's next film was Mister Roberts, directed by John Ford and slated to star Spencer Tracy. It was Tracy's involvement that ensured that Cagney accepted the supporting role, although in the end Tracy did not take part. Cagney had worked with Ford before on What Price Glory?, and they had got on fairly well. However, as soon as Ford met Cagney at the airport, the director warned that they would "tangle asses", which caught Cagney by surprise. He later said: "I would have kicked his brains out. He was so goddamned mean to everybody. He was truly a nasty old man." The next day, Cagney was slightly late on set, and Ford became incensed. Cagney cut short the imminent tirade, saying "When I started this picture, you said that we would tangle asses before this was over. I'm ready now – are you?" Ford walked away and he and Cagney had no more problems, even if he never particularly liked Ford.

Cagney's skill at noticing tiny details in other actor's performances reappeared during the shooting of Mister Roberts. When watching the Kraft Music Hall anthology television show some months before, Cagney had noticed Jack Lemmon performing left-handed. The first thing that Cagney asked Lemmon when they met was if he was still using his left hand. Lemmon was shocked; he had done it on a whim, and thought no-one else had noticed. He said of his costar, "his powers of observation must be absolutely incredible, in addition to the fact that he remembered it. I was very flattered."

The film was a success, securing three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Sound Recording and Best Supporting Actor for Lemmon, who won. While Cagney was not nominated, he had thoroughly enjoyed the production. Filming on Midway Island and in a more minor role meant that he had time to relax and engage in his hobby of painting. He also drew caricatures of the cast and crew.

Honors and legacy

In 1974, Cagney received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Film Institute. Charlton Heston, in announcing that Cagney was to be awarded, called him "One of the most significant figures of a generation when American film was dominant, Cagney, that most American of actors, somehow communicated eloquently to audiences all over the world …and to actors as well."

He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980, and in 1984 Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Cagney was among Stanley Kubrick's favorite actors, and was declared by Orson Welles as "maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera." Warner Brothers would arrange private screenings of Cagney films for Winston Churchill.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1930 The Doorway to Hell Steve Mileaway
Sinners' Holiday Harry Delano
1931 How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots' Himself uncredited
Blonde Crazy Bert Harris
Smart Money Jack
The Millionaire Schofield, Insurance Salesman
The Public Enemy Tom Powers
Other Men's Women Ed "Eddie" Bailey
1932 Winner Take All Jim "Jimmy" Kane
The Crowd Roars Joe Greer
Taxi! Matt Nolan
1933 Lady Killer Dan Quigley
Footlight Parade Chester Kent
The Mayor of Hell Richard "Patsy" Gargan
Picture Snatcher Danny Kean
Hard to Handle Myron C. "Lefty" Merrill
1934 The St. Louis Kid Eddie Kennedy
The Hollywood Gad-About Himself short subject
Here Comes the Navy Chester "Chesty" J. O'Conner
He Was Her Man Flicker Hayes, aka Jerry Allen
Jimmy the Gent "Jimmy" Corrigan
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Extra uncredited
A Midsummer Night's Dream Bottom, the weaver
The Irish in Us Danny O'Hara
G Men "Brick" Davis
Devil Dogs of the Air Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" O'Toole
Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio Himself short subject
A Dream Comes True Himself short subject
Frisco Kid Bat Morgan
1936 Great Guy Johnny "Red" Cave
Ceiling Zero Dizzy Davis
1937 Something to Sing About Terrence "Terry" Rooney stage name of Thadeus McGillicuddy
1938 Angels with Dirty Faces Rocky Sullivan Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
Boy Meets Girl Robert Law
For Auld Lang Syne Himself - Introducing arriving celebrities short subject
1939 The Roaring Twenties Eddie Bartlett
Each Dawn I Die Frank Ross
Hollywood Hobbies Himself short subject
The Oklahoma Kid Jim Kincaid
1940 City for Conquest Danny Kenny (Young Samson)
Torrid Zone Nick "Nicky" Butler
The Fighting 69th Jerry Plunkett
1941 The Bride Came C.O.D. Steve Collins
The Strawberry Blonde T. L. "Biff" Grimes
1942 Yankee Doodle Dandy George M. Cohan Academy Award for Best Actor
Captains of the Clouds Brian MacLean (bush pilot)
1943 Johnny Come Lately Tom Richards
You, John Jones! John Jones short subject
1944 Battle Stations Narrator short subject
1945 Blood on the Sun Nick Condon
1947 13 Rue Madeleine Robert Emmett "Bob" Sharkey aka Gabriel Chavat
1948 The Time of Your Life Joseph T. (who observes people)
1949 White Heat Arthur "Cody" Jarrett
1950 The West Point Story Elwin "Bix" Bixby
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Ralph Cotter
1951 Starlift Himself Cameo
Come Fill the Cup Lew Marsh
1952 What Price Glory? Capt. Flagg
1953 A Lion Is in the Streets Hank Martin
1955 Mister Roberts Capt. Morton
The Seven Little Foys George M. Cohan
Love Me or Leave Me Martin Snyder Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
Run for Cover Matt Dow
1956 These Wilder Years Steve Bradford
Tribute to a Bad Man Jeremy Rodock
1957 Short-Cut to Hell Himself in pre-credits sequence, also director
Man of a Thousand Faces Lon Chaney
1959 Shake Hands with the Devil Sean Lenihan
Never Steal Anything Small Jake MacIllaney
1960 The Gallant Hours Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. also producer
1961 One, Two, Three C.R. MacNamara
1968 Arizona Bushwhackers Narrator
1981 Ragtime Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo
Television

   * The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966) - voice, narrator
   * Terrible Joe Moran (1984)
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb216/CMRenda/James%20Cagney/4226.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/shoelessjoe03/JamesCagney1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/10 at 6:35 am



always good to hear his music. :)

Yes it is. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/30/10 at 11:28 am

Has to be one of my absolutely favs of "Slow Hand".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_jpWumPnxc



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/30/10 at 11:31 am

My "step-cousin" (my step-father's niece) had the "honor" of cleaning out James Cagney's stables.  :D ;D ;D  They were neighbors and as a teen, she got a part-time job at his farm.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/10 at 12:57 pm


My "step-cousin" (my step-father's niece) had the "honor" of cleaning out James Cagney's stables.  :D ;D ;D  They were neighbors and as a teen, she got a part-time job at his farm.



Cat

Hey if I got to meet Jimmy Cagney I would clean the horse sheesh :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/30/10 at 3:02 pm


The person who died on this day...James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986) was an American film actor. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of roles,  he is best remembered for playing "tough guys."  In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.

Cagney's seventh film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for its famous grapefruit scene, the film thrust Cagney into the spotlight, making him one of Warners' and Hollywood's biggest stars. In 1938, he received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for Angels with Dirty Faces, before winning in 1942 for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me. Cagney retired for 20 years in 1961, spending time on his farm before returning for a part in Ragtime mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke.
.
Cagney is in stripped pajamas. He looks angry as he reaches across a breakfast table with the grapefruit in his hand.
Cagney smashes a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face in a famous scene from Cagney's breakthrough movie, The Public Enemy (1931)

Warner Brothers′ succession of gangster movie hits, in particular Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson, culminated with the 1931 film The Public Enemy. Due to the strong reviews in his short film career, Cagney was cast as nice-guy Matt Doyle, opposite Edward Woods' role of Tom Powers. However, after the initial rushes, the two were swapped. The film cost only $151,000 to make, but it became one of the first low budget films to gross $1 million.

Cagney received widespread praise for his role. The New York Herald Tribune described his performance as "the most ruthless, unsentimental appraisal of the meanness of a petty killer the cinema has yet devised." He received top billing after the film, but while he acknowledged the importance of the role to his career, he always disputed that it changed the way heroes and leading men were portrayed; he cited Clark Gable's slapping of Barbara Stanwyck six months earlier (in Night Nurse) as more important. Nevertheless, the scene in which Cagney smashes a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face is viewed by many critics as a one of the most famous moments in movie history. The scene itself was a very late addition, and who originally thought of the idea is a matter of debate; producer Darryl Zanuck claimed he thought of it in a script conference, Director William Wellman claimed that the idea came to him when he saw the grapefruit on the table during the shoot, and writers Glasmon and Bright claimed the scene was based on the real life of small-time gangster Hymie Weiss, who threw an omelet into his girlfriend's face. Cagney himself usually cited the writers' version, but the fruit's victim, Clarke, agreed that it was Wellman's idea, saying "I'm sorry I ever agreed to do the grapefruit bit. I never dreamed it would be shown in the movie. Director Bill Wellman thought of the idea suddenly. It wasn't even written into the script."

The impact of the scene was such that filmmakers have mimicked it many times throughout cinema history; the scene from The Big Heat in which Lee Marvin's character throws scalding coffee into the face of Gloria Grahame, and Richard Widmark pushing an old lady down a flight of stairs in Kiss of Death, were influenced by Cagney's portrayal of Tom Powers. Cagney himself was offered grapefruit in almost every restaurant he visited for years after, and Clarke claimed it virtually ruined her career due to typecasting.

Cagney's stubbornness was starting to become well known behind the scenes, not least after his refusal to join in a 100 percent participation charity drive that was being pushed by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Cagney did not object to donating money to charity, but rather to being forced to. Already he had acquired the nickname "The Professional Againster".
Head and shoulders shot of Cagney, looking stern, wearing a suit with a white handkerchief in his pocket.
Along with George Raft, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart, Warner Bros. actors all, Cagney defined what a movie gangster was. In G Men (1934), though, he played a lawyer who joins the FBI.

Warners was quick to combine its two rising gangster stars — Cagney and Robinson — for the 1931 film Smart Money. So keen was the studio to follow up the success of Robinson's Little Caesar that Cagney actual shot Smart Money (for which he received second billing) at the same time as The Public Enemy. As in The Public Enemy, Cagney was required to be physically violent to a woman on screen, a signal that Warners was keen to keep Cagney in the public eye; this time he slapped co-star Evalyn Knapp.


While Cagney was in New York, his brother, who had effectively become his agent, angled for a substantial pay rise and more personal freedom for his brother. Warners' hand was forced by the success of The Public Enemy and of Blonde Crazy, and they eventually offered Cagney an improved contract of $1000 a week. Cagney's first film upon returning from New York was 1932's Taxi!. The film is notable for not only being the first time that Cagney danced on screen, but it was also the last time he would allow himself to be shot at with live ammunition (a relatively common occurrence at the time, as blank cartridges and squibs were considered too expensive and hard to find to be used in most motion picture filming). He had experienced being shot at in The Public Enemy, but during filming for Taxi!, he was almost hit. In his opening scene, Cagney spoke fluent Yiddish, a language he picked up during his boyhood in New York City. The film was again praised by critics, and it was swiftly followed by The Crowd Roars and Winner Takes All.

"I never said, 'MMMmmm, you dirty rat!"
Cagney, in his acceptance speech for the AFI Life Achievement Award, 1974

Taxi! was the source of one of Cagney's most misquoted lines; he never actually said, "MMMmmm, you dirty rat!", a line commonly used by impressionists. The closest he got to it in the film was: "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!"

Despite his success, Cagney was not satisfied with his contract. He wanted more money for his successful films, but he also offered to take a smaller salary should his star wane in the future. Warners refused, and so Cagney once again walked out. He was holding out for $4000 a week, the same amount as Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Kay Francis. Warners refused to cave in this time, and suspended Cagney. Cagney announced that he would do his next three pictures for free if Warners canceled the remaining five years on his contract. He also threatened to quit Hollywood and go back to Columbia University to follow his brothers into medicine. After six months of suspension, a deal was brokered by Frank Capra that gave the actor an improved salary of around $3000 a week, a guarantee of no more than four films a year, and top billing.

Having learned about the block-booking studio system that almost guaranteed them huge profits, Cagney was determined to spread the wealth. He would send money and goods to old friends from his neighborhood, though he did not generally make this known. His insistence on no more than four films a year was based on his having witnessed actors—even teenagers—regularly working 100 hours a week in order to turn out more films. This experience would also be an integral part of his involvement in the formation of the Screen Actors Guild, which came into existence in 1933.
Cagney with his arm around an actress who has her eyes closed.
Cagney and Joan Blondell in Footlight Parade (1933)

Cagney returned to the studio and made Hard to Handle in 1933. This was followed by a steady stream of films, including the highly regarded Footlight Parade, which gave Cagney the chance to return to his song-and-dance roots. The film includes show-stopping scenes in the Busby Berkeley choreographed routines. His next notable film was 1934's Here Comes the Navy which paired him with Pat O'Brien for the first time; the two would continue to have a long friendship.

In 1935, Cagney was listed as one of the Top Ten Moneymakers in Hollywood for the first time, and was cast more frequently outside of gangster roles; he played a lawyer who joins the FBI in G-Men, and he also took on his first, and only, Shakespearean role, as Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Cagney's last movie in 1935 was Ceiling Zero, his third film with Pat O'Brien. Significantly, O'Brien received top billing, which was a clear breach of Cagney's contract. This, combined with the fact that Cagney had made five movies in 1934, again against his contract terms, forced him to bring legal proceedings against Warners for breach of contract. The dispute dragged on for several months. Cagney received calls from David Selznick and Sam Goldwyn, but neither felt in a position to offer him work while the dispute went on. Meanwhile, while being represented by his brother William in court, Cagney went back to New York to search for a country property where he could indulge in his passion for farming.
Independent years (1936–1937)

Cagney spent most of the next year on his farm, and only went back to work when Edward L. Alperson from Grand National films, a newly established, independent studio, approached him to make movies at $100,000 a film and 10% of the profits. Cagney made two films for Grand National: Great Guy and Something to Sing About. He received good reviews for both, but overall the production quality was not up to Warner standards and the films did not do well. A third film was planned (Dynamite) but Grand National ran out of money.
Close up shot of three men in a room, talking.
Humphrey Bogart with Cagney and Jeffrey Lynn in The Roaring Twenties (1939), the last film Bogart and Cagney made together.

The timing was fortunate for Cagney, as the courts decided the Warners lawsuit in Cagney's favor. He had done what many thought unthinkable in that he had taken on the studios and won. Not only did he win the suit, but Warners knew that he was still a star, and invited him back for a five-year, $150,000 a film deal, with no more than two films a year. Cagney would also have full say over what films he did and did not make. Additionally, William Cagney was guaranteed a deal as an assistant producer for the films his brother would star in.

Cagney had established the power of the walkout as keeping the studios to their word. He later explained his reasons, saying: "I walked out because I depended on the studio heads to keep their word on this, that or other promise, and when the promise was not kept, my only recourse was to deprive them of my services." Cagney himself acknowledged the importance of the walkout for other actors in breaking the dominance of the studio system. Normally when stars walked out, the time they were absent was added on to the end of their already long contract, as happened with Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis. Cagney, however, walked out and came back with an improved contract. Many in Hollywood watched the case closely for hints of how future contracts might be handled.

Artistically, the Grand National experiment was a success for Cagney, who was able to move away from his traditional Warners tough guy roles to more sympathetic characters. How far he could have experimented and developed can never be known, but certainly back in the Warners fold he was back playing tough guys.
Return to Warner Bros. (1938–1942)
Head and shoulders shot of Cagney talking to a man in a clerical collar.
Cagney with his pal Pat O'Brien in
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), the sixth of nine feature films they would make together.

Cagney's two films of 1938, Boy Meets Girl and Angels with Dirty Faces, both co-starred Pat O'Brien. The former saw Cagney in a comedy role, and received mixed reviews. Warners had allowed Cagney his change of pace, but was keen to get him back to playing tough guys, which was more lucrative. Ironically, the script for Angels was one that Cagney had hoped to do while with Grand National, but the studio had been unable to secure funding.

Cagney starred as Rocky Sullivan, a gangster fresh out of jail and looking for his former associate, played by Humphrey Bogart, who owes him money. Whilst revisiting his old haunts, he runs into his old friend Jerry Connolly who is now a priest looking after the Dead End Kids. The kids idolize Rocky, much to Connolly's concern. After a messy shoot-out, Sullivan is eventually captured by the police and sentenced to death by electric chair. Connolly pleads with Rocky to "turn yellow" on his way to the chair so that the Kids lose their respect for him, and hopefully avoid a life of crime. Sullivan refuses, but on his way to the chair he begs for his life. The film is ambiguous as to whether this cowardice is real or just for the Kids' benefit. Cagney himself refused to say, insisting he liked the ambiguity. The film is regarded by many as one of Cagney's finest, and garnered him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for 1938. He lost to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town, a role which Cagney had been considered for, but lost out on due to his typecasting. Cagney did, however, win that year's New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.

His earlier insistence on not filming with live ammunition proved to be a good decision; having been told while filming Angels with Dirty Faces that he would do a scene with real machine gun bullets, Cagney refused and insisted the shots be superimposed afterwards. As it turned out, a ricocheting bullet passed through exactly where his head would have been.

During his first year back at Warners, Cagney became the studio's highest earner, earning $324,000. He completed his first decade of movie-making in 1939 with The Roaring Twenties, his first film with Raoul Walsh, and his last with Bogart. It was also his last gangster film for ten years. Cagney again received good reviews; Graham Greene stated that "Mr. Cagney, of the bull-calf brow, is as always a superb and witty actor". The Roaring Twenties was the last film in which a character's violence was explained by poor upbringing, or their environment, as was the case in The Public Enemy. From that point on, violence was attached to mania, as in White Heat. In 1939, Cagney was second to only Gary Cooper in the national wage stakes, earning $368,333.
Cagney on stage and in costume, singing and dancing while the caste watches.
Cagney as George M. Cohan performing "The Yankee Doodle Boy" from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

His next notable career role was playing George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy, a film Cagney himself "took great pride in" and considered his best. Producer Hal Wallis said that having seen Cohan in I'd Rather Be Right, he never considered anyone other than Cagney for the role. Cagney himself, on the other hand, insisted that Fred Astaire had been the first choice and turned it down.

Filming began the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the cast and crew worked in a "patriotic frenzy" as the US' early involvement in World War II gave the cast and crew a feeling that "they might be sending the last message from the free world", according to actress Rosemary DeCamp. Cohan was given a private showing of the film shortly before his death, and thanked Cagney "for a wonderful job". A paid première, with seats ranging from $25 to $25,000, raised $5,750,000 in war bonds for the US treasury.

"Smart, alert, hard-headed, Cagney is as typically American as Cohan himself... It was a remarkable performance, probably Cagney's best, and it makes Yankee Doodle a dandy"
Time magazine

Many critics of the time and since have declared it to be Cagney's best film, drawing parallels between Cohan and Cagney; they both began their careers in vaudeville, had years of struggle before reaching the peak of their profession, were surrounded with family and married early, and both had a wife who was happy to sit back while he went on to stardom. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards (winning three) and Cagney won Best Actor. In his acceptance speech, Cagney said: "I've always maintained that in this business, you're only as good as the other fellow thinks you are. It's nice to know that you people thought I did a good job. And don't forget that it was a good part, too."

Cagney had lost out on Boys' Town to Spencer Tracy, and also lost the role of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in Knute Rockne, All American to his friend Pat O'Brien, both because of the hard-man image that Warners had developed for him. Cagney announced in March 1942 that he and brother William were setting up Cagney Productions to release films though United Artists.
Independent again (1942–1948)

Free of Warners again, Cagney spent some time relaxing on his farm in Martha's Vineyard before volunteering to join the USO. He spent several weeks touring the US, entertaining troops with vaudeville routines and scenes from Yankee Doodle Dandy. In September 1942 he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Almost a year after the creation of his new production company, Cagney Productions produced its first film, Johnny Come Lately, in March 1943. While the main studios were producing patriotic war movies, Cagney was determined to continue dispelling his tough guy image, so he produced a movie that was a "complete and exhilarating exposition of the Cagney 'alter-ego' on film". According to Cagney, the film "made money but it was no great winner", and reviews varied from excellent (Time) to poor (New York's PM).

"I'm here to dance a few jigs, sing a few songs, say hello to the boys, and that's all."
Cagney to British reporters

Following the film's completion, Cagney went back to the USO and toured US military bases in the UK. He refused to do any interviews with the UK press, preferring to concentrate on rehearsals and performances. He gave several shows a day for the Army Signal Corps; called The American Cavalcade of Dance, the show consisted of a history of American dance, from the earliest days to Fred Astaire, and culminated with dances from Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The second movie Cagney's company produced was Blood On the Sun. Insisting on doing his own stunts, Cagney required judo training from expert Ken Kuniyuki and Jack Halloran, a former policeman. The Cagneys had hoped that an action film would appeal more to more audiences, but it fared worse at the box office than Johnny Come Lately. At this time, Cagney heard of young war hero Audie Murphy, who appeared on the front of Life magazine. Cagney thought that Murphy had the looks to be a movie star, and suggested that he come to Hollywood. Murphy, however, could not act, and his contract was loaned out and then sold.

While negotiating the rights for their third independent film, Cagney starred in 20th Century Fox's 13 Rue Madeleine at $300,000 for two months of work. The film was a success, and Cagney was keen to begin production of his new project, an adaptation of William Saroyan's Broadway play The Time of Your Life. Saroyan himself loved the film, but it was a commercial disaster, costing the company half a million dollars to make, and audiences again struggled to accept Cagney out of tough guy roles.

Cagney Productions was in serious trouble; poor returns from the produced films, and a legal dispute with Sam Goldwyn Studio over a rental agreement forced Cagney back to Warners. He signed a distribution-production deal with the studio for the film White Heat, effectively making Cagney Productions a unit of Warner Brothers.
Back to Warners (1949–1955)
Head and shoulders shot of Cagney, wearing black fedora and smiling slightly; scenery in the background.
Cagney as Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949)

Cagney's portrayal of Cody Jarrett in the 1949 film White Heat is one of his most memorable. Cinema had changed in the ten years since Walsh last directed Cagney (in The Roaring Twenties), and the actor's portrayal of gangsters had also changed. Unlike Tom Powers in The Public Enemy, Jarrett is portrayed as a raging lunatic with little or no sympathetic qualities. In the 18 intervening years, Cagney's hair had begun to gray, and he developed a paunch for the first time. He was no longer a romantic commodity, and this was reflected in his portrayal of Jarrett. Cagney himself had the idea of playing Jarrett as psychotic; he later stated that "it was essentially a cheapie one-two-three-four kind of thing, so I suggested we make him nuts. It was agreed so we put in all those fits and headaches."

Cagney's closing lines of the film — "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" — was voted the 18th greatest movie line by the American Film Institute. Likewise, Jarrett's explosion of rage in prison on being told his mother's death is widely hailed as one of Cagney's most memorable performances. Some of the extras on set actually became terrified of the actor because of his violent portrayal. Cagney attributed the performance to his father's alcoholic rages that he had seen as a child, as well as someone that he had seen on a visit to a mental hospital. Cagney described the script as "that extremely rare thing, the perfect script". When the film was released, Snyder reportedly asked how Cagney had so accurately copied his limp, but Cagney himself insisted he had not, having made it up based on personal observation of other people when they limped: "What I did was very simple. I just slapped my foot down as I turned it out while walking. That's all".

His performance earned him another Best Actor Academy Award nomination, 17 years after his first. Reviews were strong, and the film is considered to be one of the best of his later career. In Day he had found a co-star he could build a rapport with such as he had had with Blondell at the start of his career. Day herself was full of praise for Cagney, stating that he was "the most professional actor I've ever known. He was always 'real'. I simply forgot we were making a picture. His eyes would actually fill up when we were working on a tender scene. And you never needed drops to make your eyes shine when Jimmy was on the set."

Cagney's next film was Mister Roberts, directed by John Ford and slated to star Spencer Tracy. It was Tracy's involvement that ensured that Cagney accepted the supporting role, although in the end Tracy did not take part. Cagney had worked with Ford before on What Price Glory?, and they had got on fairly well. However, as soon as Ford met Cagney at the airport, the director warned that they would "tangle asses", which caught Cagney by surprise. He later said: "I would have kicked his brains out. He was so goddamned mean to everybody. He was truly a nasty old man." The next day, Cagney was slightly late on set, and Ford became incensed. Cagney cut short the imminent tirade, saying "When I started this picture, you said that we would tangle asses before this was over. I'm ready now – are you?" Ford walked away and he and Cagney had no more problems, even if he never particularly liked Ford.

Cagney's skill at noticing tiny details in other actor's performances reappeared during the shooting of Mister Roberts. When watching the Kraft Music Hall anthology television show some months before, Cagney had noticed Jack Lemmon performing left-handed. The first thing that Cagney asked Lemmon when they met was if he was still using his left hand. Lemmon was shocked; he had done it on a whim, and thought no-one else had noticed. He said of his costar, "his powers of observation must be absolutely incredible, in addition to the fact that he remembered it. I was very flattered."

The film was a success, securing three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Sound Recording and Best Supporting Actor for Lemmon, who won. While Cagney was not nominated, he had thoroughly enjoyed the production. Filming on Midway Island and in a more minor role meant that he had time to relax and engage in his hobby of painting. He also drew caricatures of the cast and crew.

Honors and legacy

In 1974, Cagney received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Film Institute. Charlton Heston, in announcing that Cagney was to be awarded, called him "One of the most significant figures of a generation when American film was dominant, Cagney, that most American of actors, somehow communicated eloquently to audiences all over the world …and to actors as well."

He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1980, and in 1984 Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Cagney was among Stanley Kubrick's favorite actors, and was declared by Orson Welles as "maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera." Warner Brothers would arrange private screenings of Cagney films for Winston Churchill.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1930 The Doorway to Hell Steve Mileaway
Sinners' Holiday Harry Delano
1931 How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots' Himself uncredited
Blonde Crazy Bert Harris
Smart Money Jack
The Millionaire Schofield, Insurance Salesman
The Public Enemy Tom Powers
Other Men's Women Ed "Eddie" Bailey
1932 Winner Take All Jim "Jimmy" Kane
The Crowd Roars Joe Greer
Taxi! Matt Nolan
1933 Lady Killer Dan Quigley
Footlight Parade Chester Kent
The Mayor of Hell Richard "Patsy" Gargan
Picture Snatcher Danny Kean
Hard to Handle Myron C. "Lefty" Merrill
1934 The St. Louis Kid Eddie Kennedy
The Hollywood Gad-About Himself short subject
Here Comes the Navy Chester "Chesty" J. O'Conner
He Was Her Man Flicker Hayes, aka Jerry Allen
Jimmy the Gent "Jimmy" Corrigan
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Extra uncredited
A Midsummer Night's Dream Bottom, the weaver
The Irish in Us Danny O'Hara
G Men "Brick" Davis
Devil Dogs of the Air Thomas Jefferson "Tommy" O'Toole
Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio Himself short subject
A Dream Comes True Himself short subject
Frisco Kid Bat Morgan
1936 Great Guy Johnny "Red" Cave
Ceiling Zero Dizzy Davis
1937 Something to Sing About Terrence "Terry" Rooney stage name of Thadeus McGillicuddy
1938 Angels with Dirty Faces Rocky Sullivan Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
Boy Meets Girl Robert Law
For Auld Lang Syne Himself - Introducing arriving celebrities short subject
1939 The Roaring Twenties Eddie Bartlett
Each Dawn I Die Frank Ross
Hollywood Hobbies Himself short subject
The Oklahoma Kid Jim Kincaid
1940 City for Conquest Danny Kenny (Young Samson)
Torrid Zone Nick "Nicky" Butler
The Fighting 69th Jerry Plunkett
1941 The Bride Came C.O.D. Steve Collins
The Strawberry Blonde T. L. "Biff" Grimes
1942 Yankee Doodle Dandy George M. Cohan Academy Award for Best Actor
Captains of the Clouds Brian MacLean (bush pilot)
1943 Johnny Come Lately Tom Richards
You, John Jones! John Jones short subject
1944 Battle Stations Narrator short subject
1945 Blood on the Sun Nick Condon
1947 13 Rue Madeleine Robert Emmett "Bob" Sharkey aka Gabriel Chavat
1948 The Time of Your Life Joseph T. (who observes people)
1949 White Heat Arthur "Cody" Jarrett
1950 The West Point Story Elwin "Bix" Bixby
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Ralph Cotter
1951 Starlift Himself Cameo
Come Fill the Cup Lew Marsh
1952 What Price Glory? Capt. Flagg
1953 A Lion Is in the Streets Hank Martin
1955 Mister Roberts Capt. Morton
The Seven Little Foys George M. Cohan
Love Me or Leave Me Martin Snyder Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
Run for Cover Matt Dow
1956 These Wilder Years Steve Bradford
Tribute to a Bad Man Jeremy Rodock
1957 Short-Cut to Hell Himself in pre-credits sequence, also director
Man of a Thousand Faces Lon Chaney
1959 Shake Hands with the Devil Sean Lenihan
Never Steal Anything Small Jake MacIllaney
1960 The Gallant Hours Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. also producer
1961 One, Two, Three C.R. MacNamara
1968 Arizona Bushwhackers Narrator
1981 Ragtime Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo
Television

   * The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966) - voice, narrator
   * Terrible Joe Moran (1984)
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb216/CMRenda/James%20Cagney/4226.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/shoelessjoe03/JamesCagney1.jpg


have any older pictures of James Cagney?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/10 at 3:12 pm


have any older pictures of James Cagney?  ???

Sorry no.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/30/10 at 3:12 pm


Sorry no.



That's ok.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/30/10 at 4:05 pm

Cagney had a funny dancing style... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/30/10 at 4:13 pm


Cagney had a funny dancing style... ;D



Yeah, but he loved to dance.

My matha thanks you, my fatha thanks you.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/30/10 at 9:43 pm

James Cagney and Lacey would have been a great TV show... ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/31/10 at 4:20 am

The word of the day...Carousel
At an airport, a carousel is a moving surface from which passengers can collect their luggage.
A carousel is a large circular machine with seats, often in the shape of animals or cars. People can sit on it and go round and round for fun.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/karebearlv/125076099369507.gif
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab184/lgavagan/France10236.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/susiewelch/Fall%202009/IMG_0357.jpg
http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae145/harmony2010craigslist/Blown%20Glass%20for%20Craigslist/P1040061.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj178/The_Carnival_Nightmare/The%20Carnival/Carousel.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae14/rachyfication/International%20Sojourn/carouselinavignon.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn75/jmfay/leavenworth%20carousel/leavenworth017-1.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i71/yojanjan-photo/9671ab43.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u160/British_humanities07/DSC00038.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/31/10 at 4:24 am

The person born on this day...Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American  singer and actress of stage, film and television. She starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a prostitute in Elmer Gantry. She is probably best known to 1970s TV audiences as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children in the sitcom/television series, The Partridge Family, co-starring her real-life stepson David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy. Jones was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, to Marjorie Williams, a strict, strong-minded homemaker, and Paul Jones, owners of the Jones Brewing Company. An only child, she was named after Shirley Temple. The family later moved to nearby Smithton, Pennsylvania. Jones could sing almost as soon as she could speak. Encouraged by her summer camp counselors, her family arranged for teenaged Shirley to study twice a week, in Pittsburgh, with the world-renowned singer and teacher, Ralph Lawando. Afterwards, she frequently joined her father for a show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, where she fell in love with the musical theater.
Early stage career

In Manhattan, one of Shirley's friends convinced her to sing for a Broadway agent, Gus Sherman. Sherman was pleased to put Jones under contract, and with her parents' approval, she resettled in New York and gave herself one year to become a Broadway performer. She only had $100 in her pocket. If she didn't succeed, she would move back to Smithton and work as a veterinarian. Her first audition was for a replacement chorus girl in the long-running musical, South Pacific. Rodgers and Hammerstein, writers of South Pacific, saw great potential in Shirley. She became the first and only singer to be put under personal contract with the songwriters. The duo cast her in her second Broadway show, Me and Juliet. On tour, she understudied the lead and earned rave reviews.
Movie actress of the 1950s and 1960s

Jones impressed Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II with her musically-trained voice and was cast as the female lead in the film adaptation of their hit musical Oklahoma! in 1955. Other musicals quickly followed, including Carousel (1956), April Love (1957) and The Music Man (1962), in which she was often typecast as a wholesome, kind character. However, she won a 1960 Oscar for her performance in Elmer Gantry as a woman corrupted by the title character played by Burt Lancaster. Jones' character becomes a prostitute who encounters her seducer years later and takes her revenge. She was reunited with Ron Howard (who had played a role in The Music Man) in The Courtship of Eddie's Father in 1963. Jones landed the role of a lady who fell in love with the professor in Fluffy (1965). In addition, she also has an impressive stage resume, including playing the title character in the Broadway musical Maggie Flynn in 1968.
Prolific character actress

As a teenager, Jones made her debut on an episode of Fireside Theatre. The part led to other roles such as: Gruen Guild Playhouse, Ford Star Jubilee, Playhouse 90, Lux Video Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, The DuPont Show of the Month, Make Room for Daddy, where she played herself, The Comedy Spot, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Name of the Game, McMillan and Wife, Disneyland, The Love Boat, Hotel, Murder, She Wrote, Melrose Place, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, among many others.
TV series
The Partridge Family

In 1970, after her film roles dwindled, and after turning down the role of Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch, which ultimately gave the role to fellow actress Florence Henderson, Jones was more than happy to be the producers' first choice to audition for the lead role of Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family, a sitcom based on the real-life musical family The Cowsills, for ABC. The show focused on a young widowed mother whose five children form a pop/rock group after the entire family painted its signature bus to travel. She was convinced that the combination of music and comedy would be a surefire hit. Jones realized, however, that:
“ The problem with Partridge—though it was great for me and gave me an opportunity to stay home and raise my kids—when my agents came to me and presented it to me, they said if you do a series and it becomes a hit show, you will be that character for the rest of your life and your movie career will go into the toilet, which is what happened. But I have no regrets.

During its first season, it became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were pop culture TV icons. Her real-life twenty-year-old stepson David Cassidy, who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son, Keith, and became the hottest teen idol in the country. The show itself also spawned a number of records and songs performed by David and Shirley. That same year, "I Think I Love You" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart.

While enjoying playing Shirley Partridge, Jones was in a real-life crisis with her emotionally troubled husband. This sitcom also starred a lot of unknown actors and actresses, such as ex-model Susan Dey as the eldest daughter and second child, Laurie; future radio personality Danny Bonaduce as sarcastic son Danny; and future bookstore manager Suzanne Crough as the youngest child, Tracy. Jeremy Gelbwaks played the original Chris Partridge but left the show after the first season because his parents were moving to another state. Future race car driver Brian Forster replaced him during the series' second season in 1971.

By 1974, the ratings had sunk low, David Cassidy finally had had enough of playing Keith Partridge, and one of his teenage fans had died of heart failure from injuries sustained while attending one of his concerts. The Partridge Family was dropped from the prime-time lineup after four seasons and 96 episodes. Though Jones was outraged about the series' cancellation, she held the show together. In fact, it was one of six series to be cancelled that year (along with Room 222, The F.B.I., The Brady Bunch, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, and Here's Lucy) to make room for new shows.

Shirley Jones's friendship with David Cassidy's family began in the mid to late 1950s, when David was just 6, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on The Partridge Family, he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first movie, Oklahoma! (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thought of me in the coldness of the ice any more than she did." Shirley was shocked to hear her real-life stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress (Shirley Jones) 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her." After the show's cancellation, Cassidy remained very close to his half-brothers and the rest of his Partridge Family cast mates, especially Shirley.

Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including A&E Biography, TV Land Confidential, and The Today Show, and he was one of the presenters of his stepmother's Intimate Portrait on Lifetime Television and the defunct reality show In Search of the Partridge Family, where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and the 35th anniversaries of The Partridge Family (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). In addition, Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.
Shirley and other projects

In 1979, Jones tried her hand at television for the second time starring in Shirley which, like, The Partridge Family, fetaured a family headed by a widowed mother, but failed to win ratings, and was canceled toward the middle of the season. Jones also played the "older woman" girlfriend of Drew Carey's character in several episodes of The Drew Carey Show.

She also won fans in the memorable dramatic project There Were Times, Dear, in which she played a loyal wife whose husband is dying of Alzheimer's Disease; she was nominated for an Emmy for this work.

In February 1986, Shirley Jones unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Vine Street just around the corner from Hollywood Boulevard.

Jones had a stellar turn in a rare revival of Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera in 1983. In 2004, Shirley returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street, portraying diva "Dorothy Brock" opposite her son Patrick Cassidy—the first time a mother and son were known to star together on Broadway. In July 2005, Shirley revisited the musical Carousel onstage in Massachusetts portraying "Cousin Nettie". Shirley continues to appear in venues nationwide, in concerts and in speaking engagements.

In July 2006, Jones received an Emmy nomination for her supporting performance in the TV film Hidden Places. Shirley was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for the same film but lost to Helen Mirren for Elizabeth I. She also appeared in 2006's Grandma's Boy, produced by Adam Sandler, as a nymphomaniac senior citizen.

On November 16, 2007, Shirley Jones took stage at the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert at the Ford Center celebrating Oklahoma's 100th birthday. Jones sang the songs "Oklahoma!" and "People Will Say We're In Love" from the musical Oklahoma!.

In early 2008, it was announced that Shirley would play Colleen Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera Days of our Lives.

On August 25, UK label Stage Door Records will release the retrospective collection Shirley Jones - Then & Now featuring 24 songs from Jones's musical career, including songs from the timeless films 'Oklahoma!', 'Carousel' and 'April Love'. The album also features new recordings such as 'Beauty And The Beast', 'Memory' and a sentimental tribute to 'The Music Man'.
Personal life
Jones (left) with First Lady Nancy Reagan, September 29, 1982

She was best friends with her late co-star Gordon MacRae and his ex-wife Sheila, and he was the godfather of her first son, Shaun Cassidy. She also admitted that she had a crush on Gordon when she was young and was starstruck when she worked opposite him on Oklahoma!. She is also the one who convinced MacRae to take the part as Billy Bigelow in Carousel when Frank Sinatra, who'd originally been cast, suddenly dropped out during the first days of filming. According to Jones, Sinatra left because he'd been outraged that the director asked for an additional take on a scene, shouting "Am I being paid twice for this??"

On August 5, 1956, Jones married the actor Jack Cassidy, with whom she had three sons, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan. David Cassidy, Jack's only child from his first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward, became her stepson. Divorcing Cassidy in 1974, she later married comic/actor Marty Ingels on November 13, 1977. Despite drastically different personalities and several separations (she filed, then withdrew, a divorce petition in 2002), they remained married.

Jones's father, Paul, underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1958 but died within days.

Jones is a registered Republican who appeared at the 1988 Republican Convention and sang the National Anthem. She also sang at the 2003 lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., at President George W. Bush's request.

Jones and Shaun Cassidy are the only mother and son to each have a song reach number one on the Billboard Charts. Jones hit #1 with The Partridges' "I Think I Love You" in 1970 (sung with stepson David Cassidy). Shaun followed that in 1977 with "Da Do Ron Ron."

On the evening of December 11, 1976, after Jones had refused an offer of reconciliation from Jack Cassidy, she received news that her ex-husband's penthouse apartment was in flames. Apparently, the fire started from his lit cigarette while he was falling asleep on the couch. The next morning, the firefighters found Cassidy's dead body inside.

In 1979, the National Enquirer ran a story about Jones's consumption of alcoholic beverages and her husband's erratic behavior. Together they filed a $20 million lawsuit that dragged on until 1984 when the Enquirer agreed to a retraction and an out-of-court settlement.

Jones and Ingels wrote an autobiography based on their quirky relationship/marriage, Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story (Morrow, 1990, co-written with Mickey Herskowitz).

Jones is a vegetarian.
Filmography

    * Oklahoma! (1955)
    * Carousel (1956)
    * April Love (1957)
    * Never Steal Anything Small (1959)
    * Bobbikins (1959)
    * Elmer Gantry (1960)
    * Pepe (1960)
    * Two Rode Together (1961)
    * The Music Man (1962)
    * The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)
    * A Ticklish Affair (1963)
    * Dark Purpose (1964)
    * Bedtime Story (1964)
    * Fluffy (1965)
    * The Secret of My Success (1965)
    * The Gulf (1969)
    * The Happy Ending (1969)



    * Oddly Coupled (1970)
    * The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
    * Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
    * Black Devil Doll From Hell (1984)
    * Tank (1984)
    * Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul (1993) (documentary)
    * Cops n Roberts (1995)
    * This Is My Father (1998) (documentary)
    * Gideon (1999)
    * The Adventures of Cinderella's Daughter (2000)
    * Ping! (2000)
    * Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000)
    * Manna from Heaven (2002)
    * The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park (2004)
    * Raising Genius (2004)
    * Grandma's Boy (2006)
    * Christmas Is Here Again (2007) (voice)

Television work

    * Out of the Blue (1968) (unsold pilot)
    * Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969)
    * The Partridge Family (1970-1974)
    * The Girls of Huntington House (1973)
    * The Family Nobody Wanted (1975)
    * Winner Take All (1975)
    * The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975)
    * Yesterday's Child (1977)
    * Evening in Byzantium (1978)
    * Who'll Save Our Children? (1978)
    * A Last Cry for Help (1979)



    * Shirley (1979-1980)
    * The Children of An Lac (1980)
    * Inmates: A Love Story (1981)
    * The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982)
    * Hotel (1983) (pilot for series)
    * Charlie (1989) (unsold pilot)
    * Dog's Best Friend (1997)
    * That '70s Show (2000) (cameo)
    * Hidden Places (2006)
    * Monarch Cove (2006)
    * Days of our Lives (2008)
    * Ruby & The Rockits (2009)

Stage work

    * South Pacific (1953) (Broadway, ensemble role)
    * Me and Juliet (1954) (Chicago)
    * Oklahoma! (1956) (European tour with Jack Cassidy)
    * The Beggar's Opera (1957) (with Jack Cassidy)
    * Wish You Were Here! (1959) (Dallas State Fair Theater with Jack Cassidy)
    * The Sound of Music (1966) (Regional - various)
    * Maggie Flynn (1967) (Broadway with Jack Cassidy)
    * Wait Until Dark (1967) (with Jack Cassidy)
    * The Marriage Band (1972) (with Jack Cassidy)



    * On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1974)
    * Show Boat (1976)
    * The Sound of Music (1977)
    * Bitter Sweet (1982)
    * Love Letters (1994) (with Marty Ingels)
    * The King & I (1994)
    * Love Letters (1995) (with Marty Ingels)
    * 42nd Street (2004) (Broadway with Patrick Cassidy)
    * Carousel (2005)

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww342/beachbabiefl/History%20Pics/shirley-jones.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n411/musicalmystery/Hotties%20of%20the%20week/Shirley_Jones.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/31/10 at 4:29 am

The person who died on this day...Selena
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), best known mononymously as Selena, was a Mexican American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music".  The youngest child of a Mexican-American couple, Selena released her first album at the age of twelve. She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1987 Tejano Music Awards and landed a recording contract with EMI a few years later. Her fame grew throughout the early 1990s, especially in Spanish-speaking countries.

Selena attained further notability in North America after she was murdered at the age of 23 by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club. On April 12, 1995, two weeks after her death, George W. Bush, governor of Texas at the time, declared her birthday "Selena Day" in Texas. Warner Bros. produced Selena, a film based on her life starring Jennifer Lopez in 1997. Selena's life was also the basis of the musical Selena Forever starring Veronica Vazquez as Selena. As of June 2006, Selena was commemorated with a museum and a bronze life-sized statue (Mirador de la Flor in Corpus Christi, Texas), which are visited by hundreds of fans each week.
Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas, to a Mexican  father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and a Mexican-American mother, Marcella Ofelia Samora,  and was raised as a Jehovah's Witness.  She began singing at the age of six; when she was nine her father founded the singing group Selena y Los Dinos, which she fronted. They initially performed at the Quintanilla family's restaurant, PappaGayo's, but the restaurant failed shortly afterwards.

The family soon went bankrupt and was evicted from their home. Taking their musical equipment in an old bus, they relocated to Corpus Christi, Texas. There, they performed wherever they could: at street corners, weddings, quinceañeras, and fairs. Their efforts at spreading their names and talents paid off in 1985 when the fourteen-year-old Selena recorded her first album for a local record company. The album was not sold in stores and her father bought all of the original copies. It was re-released in 1995 under the title Mis Primeras Grabaciones.

Selena did well in school, but as she grew more popular as a musical performer, the travel demands of her performance schedule began to interfere with her education. Her father pulled her out of school altogether when she was in eighth grade. She continued her education on the road; at age seventeen she earned a high school diploma from The American School of Correspondence in Chicago, Illinois. Selena released her third album, Alpha, in 1986.
Success

At the 1987 Tejano Music Awards, Selena won Best Female Vocalist (and dominated the award for the next seven years). In 1988, she released two albums, Preciosa and Dulce Amor. In 1989, José Behar, the former head of the Sony Latin Music division, signed Selena with Capitol/EMI, a record company he founded. He later said that he signed Selena because he thought he had discovered the next Gloria Estefan. Selena signed a contract with Coca-Cola to become one of its advertising spokesmen in Texas that same year, and her concerts drew thousands of people.

In 1988, Selena met Chris Pérez, who had his own band. Two years later, the Quintanilla family hired him to play in Selena's band and they quickly fell in love. At first her father did not approve of their relationship and went as far as firing Pérez from the band. He eventually came to accept the relationship. On April 2, 1992, Selena and Pérez were married in Nueces County, Texas, and Selena added her new husband's surname to her own.

In 1990, Selena released another album, Ven Conmigo, written by her main songwriter and brother Abraham Quintanilla, III. This recording was the first Tejano album recorded by a female artist to achieve gold status. Around the same time, a registered nurse and fan named Yolanda Saldívar approached Selena's father with the idea of starting a fan club. Her wish was granted and she became the club's president; later she became the manager of Selena's clothing boutiques. Selena released another hit album in 1992, Entre a Mi Mundo, which also achieved gold status. Songs from that album, such as "Como La Flor", helped make Selena a star. Her 1993 Selena Live! album won a Grammy award for Best Mexican-American Performance.

"Como La Flor" (1993)
Play sound
The song Como La Flor is one of Selena's best known Spanish songs. 40 second sample.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Selena released her next album, Amor Prohibido, in 1994. The album was nominated for another Grammy award for Mexican-American Album of the Year. She began designing and manufacturing a clothing line in 1994 and opened two boutiques called Selena Etc., one in Corpus Christi and the other in San Antonio. Both were equipped with in-house beauty salons. Hispanic Business magazine reported that the singer earned over five million dollars from these boutiques. Selena also made appearances alongside Erik Estrada in a Latin soap opera titled Dos Mujeres, Un Camino.

Selena and her band continued to receive accolades; Billboard's Premio Lo Nuestro awarded them six prestigious awards including Best Latin Artist and Song of the Year for "Como La Flor". Coca-Cola released a commemorative bottle in her honor to celebrate their five-year relationship. Meanwhile, her duet with the Barrio Boyzz, "Dondequiera Que Estes", raced to the top of the Latin charts. This prompted Selena to tour in New York City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Central America where she was in growing demand. The duet with Salvadoran singer Alvaro Torres, "Buenos Amigos", was also a hit.

By fall of 1994, Amor Prohibido was a commercial success in Mexico and made four number one Latin hits, replacing Gloria Estefan's Mi Tierra on the chart's number one spot. It sold over 400,000 copies by late 1994 in the U.S. and another 50,000 copies in Mexico, reaching gold status. At this point, Selena developed plans to record an English-language album, but continued to tour for Amor Prohibido while beginning preparations for the album. Her next album Selena Live! won Best Mexican-American Album at the 36th Grammy Awards.

In 1995, Selena made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco, which starred Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway; she appeared as a background mariachi singer during the first scene. In February 1995, Selena played a concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in the Houston Astrodome, which attracted over 65,000 fans—more than country stars such as George Strait, Vince Gill and Reba McEntire. Despite her busy schedule, Selena visited local schools to talk to students about the importance of education. She also donated her time to civic organizations such as D.A.R.E. and planned a fund raising concert to help AIDS patients. These demonstrations of community involvement won her loyalty from her fan base. Selena scheduled her English album for release in the summer of 1995. Afraid that her fans would think she was turning her back on them, she was working on a new Tejano album as well. Meanwhile, she planned to open two more boutiques including one in Monterrey, Mexico.
Death

In early 1995, the Quintanillas discovered that Yolanda Saldívar, the president of Selena's fan club (Texas-section) and the manager of her boutiques, was embezzling money from the fan club and decided to fire her. Soon after the fallout, Selena agreed to meet Saldívar in a Days Inn hotel in Corpus Christi on the morning of March 31, 1995 to retrieve paperwork for tax purposes. At the hotel, Selena demanded the missing financial papers. Saldívar delayed the handover by claiming she had been raped in Mexico. The singer drove Saldívar to a local hospital where doctors found no evidence of rape. Saldívar returned to the motel where Selena again demanded the missing financial papers.

Selena told Saldívar that she just couldn't be trusted anymore. At 11:49 am, Yolanda drew a gun from her purse, pointing it at Selena. As the singer turned and left the room, Saldívar shot her once in the back. Critically wounded, Selena ran towards the lobby to get help. She collapsed on the floor as the clerk called 911, with Saldívar chasing her, calling her a bitch. Before collapsing to the floor, Selena named Saldívar as her assailant and gave the room number where she had been shot. After an ambulance and the police arrived on the scene, Selena was transported to a local hospital. She died there from loss of blood at 1:05 p.m., two weeks before her 24th birthday.
After death

Selena's death had widespread impacts. Major networks interrupted their regular programming to break the news; Tom Brokaw referred to Selena as "The Mexican Madonna". Numerous vigils and memorials were held in her honor, and radio stations in Texas played her music non-stop. Her funeral drew approximately 60,000 mourners, many of whom traveled from outside the United States. Among the celebrities who were reported to have immediately phoned the Quintanilla family to express their condolences were Gloria Estefan, Julio Iglesias and Madonna. People magazine published a commemorative issue in honor of Selena's memory and musical career, titled Selena 1971–1995, Her Life in Pictures. A few days afterwards, Howard Stern mocked Selena's murder and burial, poked fun at her mourners, and criticized her music. Stern said, "This music does absolutely nothing for me. Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul... Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth." Stern's comments outraged and infuriated the Hispanic community across Texas. After a disorderly conduct arrest warrant was issued in his name, Stern later made an on-air apology, in Spanish, for his comments. Two weeks after her death, on April 12, George W. Bush, then Governor of Texas, declared Selena's birthday April 16 as "Selena Day" in Texas.

That summer, Selena's album Dreaming of You, a combination of Spanish-language songs and new English-language tracks, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making her the first Hispanic singer to accomplish this feat and the second highest debut after Michael Jackson's HIStory. On its release date, the album sold over 175,000 copies, a record for a female pop singer, and it sold two million copies in its first year. Songs such as "I Could Fall in Love" and "Dreaming of You" were played widely by mainstream English-language radio, with the latter reaching #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, "I Could Fall in Love", while ineligible for the Hot 100 at the time, reached #12 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. David Byrne has paid homage to Selena on his past tours with Tosca Strings by performing their duo God's Child. "Dreaming of You" was certified three times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

In October 1995, a Houston jury convicted Saldívar of first degree murder and sentenced her to life in prison, with the possibility of parole in thirty years. The gun used to kill Selena was later destroyed and the pieces thrown into Corpus Christi Bay.
Legacy

Jennifer Lopez played Selena in a film about her life. Directed by Gregory Nava, the biopic opened with mostly positive reviews. Over 20,000 people auditioned for the leading role in the movie. The film stirred some controversy in the Mexican-American community, since Lopez is Puerto Rican-American and played the role of a singer of Mexican descent. But Selena's fans supported the movie, and Lopez's acting in the film helped elevate her career. Although Lopez succeeded as a pop star a few years later, Selena's voice was dubbed in for all the songs in the movie. For her role, Lopez was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Reliant Stadium in Houston hosted a tribute concert, Selena ¡VIVE!, on April 7, 2005. Held a week after the 10th anniversary of her death, over 65,000 fans attended the concert, which featured high-profile artists including Gloria Estefan, Pepe Aguilar, Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Ana Barbara, Alejandra Guzmán, Ana Gabriel, and Fey. The artists performed renditions of Selena's music, as did her brother, A.B. Quintanilla, who performed with his band Kumbia Kings backed with footage of Selena singing "Baila Esta Cumbia". Broadcast live on the Univision network, Selena ¡VIVE! is the highest-rated and most-viewed Spanish-language show in American television history. The show, which lasted over three hours, scored a 35.9 Nielsen household rating.

The American Bank Center in Corpus Christi named their 2,526-seat concert auditorium, Selena Auditorium, in her memory.
Selected discography
Main articles: Selena discography and Selena videography

Independent Studio albums

    * Selena Y Los Dinos (1984)
    * The New Girl in Town (1985)
    * Alpha (1986)
    * Munequito De Trapo (1987)
    * And The Winner Is... (1987)
    * Preciosa (1988)
    * Dulce Amor (1988)


"Dreaming of You" (1995)
Play sound
One of Selena's English songs, "Dreaming of You peaked at #21 in the Billboard charts. 34 second sample.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

EMI Studio albums

    * Selena (1989)
    * Ven Conmigo (1990)
    * Entre A Mi Mundo (1992)
    * Live! (1993)
    * Amor Prohibido (1994)
    * Dreaming of You (1995)

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Don Juan DeMarco Ranchera singer Minor role
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985–1995 Johnny Canales Show herself TV appearances
1987–1995 Tejano Music Awards herself TV appearances
1993 Dos mujeres, un camino herself
2005 Selena !VIVE! herself honoree
2008 Biography TV series (2 episodes)
2009 Top Trece TV series (1 episode)
2009 Historia de una Leyenda TV series (1 episode)
2010 Famous Crime Scene: Selena TV series (1 episode) featured
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp161/batsarecool09/Selena/Grammy1.jpg
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp161/batsarecool09/Selena/ConcertAstrodome942.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/31/10 at 6:49 am


The word of the day...Carousel
At an airport, a carousel is a moving surface from which passengers can collect their luggage.
A carousel is a large circular machine with seats, often in the shape of animals or cars. People can sit on it and go round and round for fun.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/karebearlv/125076099369507.gif
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab184/lgavagan/France10236.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/susiewelch/Fall%202009/IMG_0357.jpg
http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae145/harmony2010craigslist/Blown%20Glass%20for%20Craigslist/P1040061.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj178/The_Carnival_Nightmare/The%20Carnival/Carousel.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae14/rachyfication/International%20Sojourn/carouselinavignon.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn75/jmfay/leavenworth%20carousel/leavenworth017-1.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i71/yojanjan-photo/9671ab43.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u160/British_humanities07/DSC00038.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma1U1GtgYrI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/31/10 at 10:51 am

As I was reading the paper this morning (specifically, reading the horoscope and realizing that today was March 31) I KNEW that Shirley Jones was going to be the Person of the Day (well, it was a toss up between her & William Daniels). No, the paper didn't say who's birthday it is today, I just know both of them have birthdays today. How? I knew SJ because as a kid, I had THIS album.


http://greg-willis.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/partridge-family.jpg

The reason I know William Daniels because I think he is a terrific actor and stars in one of my absolute favorite movies of ALL time: 1776. So I did a little research on him and his birthday stuck in my head. (Yeah, I have a memory for dates.)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/31/10 at 10:52 am


The person born on this day...Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American  singer and actress of stage, film and television. She starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a prostitute in Elmer Gantry. She is probably best known to 1970s TV audiences as Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children in the sitcom/television series, The Partridge Family, co-starring her real-life stepson David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy. Jones was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, to Marjorie Williams, a strict, strong-minded homemaker, and Paul Jones, owners of the Jones Brewing Company. An only child, she was named after Shirley Temple. The family later moved to nearby Smithton, Pennsylvania. Jones could sing almost as soon as she could speak. Encouraged by her summer camp counselors, her family arranged for teenaged Shirley to study twice a week, in Pittsburgh, with the world-renowned singer and teacher, Ralph Lawando. Afterwards, she frequently joined her father for a show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, where she fell in love with the musical theater.
Early stage career

In Manhattan, one of Shirley's friends convinced her to sing for a Broadway agent, Gus Sherman. Sherman was pleased to put Jones under contract, and with her parents' approval, she resettled in New York and gave herself one year to become a Broadway performer. She only had $100 in her pocket. If she didn't succeed, she would move back to Smithton and work as a veterinarian. Her first audition was for a replacement chorus girl in the long-running musical, South Pacific. Rodgers and Hammerstein, writers of South Pacific, saw great potential in Shirley. She became the first and only singer to be put under personal contract with the songwriters. The duo cast her in her second Broadway show, Me and Juliet. On tour, she understudied the lead and earned rave reviews.
Movie actress of the 1950s and 1960s

Jones impressed Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II with her musically-trained voice and was cast as the female lead in the film adaptation of their hit musical Oklahoma! in 1955. Other musicals quickly followed, including Carousel (1956), April Love (1957) and The Music Man (1962), in which she was often typecast as a wholesome, kind character. However, she won a 1960 Oscar for her performance in Elmer Gantry as a woman corrupted by the title character played by Burt Lancaster. Jones' character becomes a prostitute who encounters her seducer years later and takes her revenge. She was reunited with Ron Howard (who had played a role in The Music Man) in The Courtship of Eddie's Father in 1963. Jones landed the role of a lady who fell in love with the professor in Fluffy (1965). In addition, she also has an impressive stage resume, including playing the title character in the Broadway musical Maggie Flynn in 1968.
Prolific character actress

As a teenager, Jones made her debut on an episode of Fireside Theatre. The part led to other roles such as: Gruen Guild Playhouse, Ford Star Jubilee, Playhouse 90, Lux Video Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, The DuPont Show of the Month, Make Room for Daddy, where she played herself, The Comedy Spot, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Name of the Game, McMillan and Wife, Disneyland, The Love Boat, Hotel, Murder, She Wrote, Melrose Place, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, among many others.
TV series
The Partridge Family

In 1970, after her film roles dwindled, and after turning down the role of Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch, which ultimately gave the role to fellow actress Florence Henderson, Jones was more than happy to be the producers' first choice to audition for the lead role of Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family, a sitcom based on the real-life musical family The Cowsills, for ABC. The show focused on a young widowed mother whose five children form a pop/rock group after the entire family painted its signature bus to travel. She was convinced that the combination of music and comedy would be a surefire hit. Jones realized, however, that:
“ The problem with Partridge—though it was great for me and gave me an opportunity to stay home and raise my kids—when my agents came to me and presented it to me, they said if you do a series and it becomes a hit show, you will be that character for the rest of your life and your movie career will go into the toilet, which is what happened. But I have no regrets.

During its first season, it became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were pop culture TV icons. Her real-life twenty-year-old stepson David Cassidy, who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son, Keith, and became the hottest teen idol in the country. The show itself also spawned a number of records and songs performed by David and Shirley. That same year, "I Think I Love You" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart.

While enjoying playing Shirley Partridge, Jones was in a real-life crisis with her emotionally troubled husband. This sitcom also starred a lot of unknown actors and actresses, such as ex-model Susan Dey as the eldest daughter and second child, Laurie; future radio personality Danny Bonaduce as sarcastic son Danny; and future bookstore manager Suzanne Crough as the youngest child, Tracy. Jeremy Gelbwaks played the original Chris Partridge but left the show after the first season because his parents were moving to another state. Future race car driver Brian Forster replaced him during the series' second season in 1971.

By 1974, the ratings had sunk low, David Cassidy finally had had enough of playing Keith Partridge, and one of his teenage fans had died of heart failure from injuries sustained while attending one of his concerts. The Partridge Family was dropped from the prime-time lineup after four seasons and 96 episodes. Though Jones was outraged about the series' cancellation, she held the show together. In fact, it was one of six series to be cancelled that year (along with Room 222, The F.B.I., The Brady Bunch, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, and Here's Lucy) to make room for new shows.

Shirley Jones's friendship with David Cassidy's family began in the mid to late 1950s, when David was just 6, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on The Partridge Family, he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first movie, Oklahoma! (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thought of me in the coldness of the ice any more than she did." Shirley was shocked to hear her real-life stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress (Shirley Jones) 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her." After the show's cancellation, Cassidy remained very close to his half-brothers and the rest of his Partridge Family cast mates, especially Shirley.

Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including A&E Biography, TV Land Confidential, and The Today Show, and he was one of the presenters of his stepmother's Intimate Portrait on Lifetime Television and the defunct reality show In Search of the Partridge Family, where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and the 35th anniversaries of The Partridge Family (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). In addition, Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.
Shirley and other projects

In 1979, Jones tried her hand at television for the second time starring in Shirley which, like, The Partridge Family, fetaured a family headed by a widowed mother, but failed to win ratings, and was canceled toward the middle of the season. Jones also played the "older woman" girlfriend of Drew Carey's character in several episodes of The Drew Carey Show.

She also won fans in the memorable dramatic project There Were Times, Dear, in which she played a loyal wife whose husband is dying of Alzheimer's Disease; she was nominated for an Emmy for this work.

In February 1986, Shirley Jones unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Vine Street just around the corner from Hollywood Boulevard.

Jones had a stellar turn in a rare revival of Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera in 1983. In 2004, Shirley returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street, portraying diva "Dorothy Brock" opposite her son Patrick Cassidy—the first time a mother and son were known to star together on Broadway. In July 2005, Shirley revisited the musical Carousel onstage in Massachusetts portraying "Cousin Nettie". Shirley continues to appear in venues nationwide, in concerts and in speaking engagements.

In July 2006, Jones received an Emmy nomination for her supporting performance in the TV film Hidden Places. Shirley was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for the same film but lost to Helen Mirren for Elizabeth I. She also appeared in 2006's Grandma's Boy, produced by Adam Sandler, as a nymphomaniac senior citizen.

On November 16, 2007, Shirley Jones took stage at the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert at the Ford Center celebrating Oklahoma's 100th birthday. Jones sang the songs "Oklahoma!" and "People Will Say We're In Love" from the musical Oklahoma!.

In early 2008, it was announced that Shirley would play Colleen Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera Days of our Lives.

On August 25, UK label Stage Door Records will release the retrospective collection Shirley Jones - Then & Now featuring 24 songs from Jones's musical career, including songs from the timeless films 'Oklahoma!', 'Carousel' and 'April Love'. The album also features new recordings such as 'Beauty And The Beast', 'Memory' and a sentimental tribute to 'The Music Man'.
Personal life
Jones (left) with First Lady Nancy Reagan, September 29, 1982

She was best friends with her late co-star Gordon MacRae and his ex-wife Sheila, and he was the godfather of her first son, Shaun Cassidy. She also admitted that she had a crush on Gordon when she was young and was starstruck when she worked opposite him on Oklahoma!. She is also the one who convinced MacRae to take the part as Billy Bigelow in Carousel when Frank Sinatra, who'd originally been cast, suddenly dropped out during the first days of filming. According to Jones, Sinatra left because he'd been outraged that the director asked for an additional take on a scene, shouting "Am I being paid twice for this??"

On August 5, 1956, Jones married the actor Jack Cassidy, with whom she had three sons, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan. David Cassidy, Jack's only child from his first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward, became her stepson. Divorcing Cassidy in 1974, she later married comic/actor Marty Ingels on November 13, 1977. Despite drastically different personalities and several separations (she filed, then withdrew, a divorce petition in 2002), they remained married.

Jones's father, Paul, underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1958 but died within days.

Jones is a registered Republican who appeared at the 1988 Republican Convention and sang the National Anthem. She also sang at the 2003 lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., at President George W. Bush's request.

Jones and Shaun Cassidy are the only mother and son to each have a song reach number one on the Billboard Charts. Jones hit #1 with The Partridges' "I Think I Love You" in 1970 (sung with stepson David Cassidy). Shaun followed that in 1977 with "Da Do Ron Ron."

On the evening of December 11, 1976, after Jones had refused an offer of reconciliation from Jack Cassidy, she received news that her ex-husband's penthouse apartment was in flames. Apparently, the fire started from his lit cigarette while he was falling asleep on the couch. The next morning, the firefighters found Cassidy's dead body inside.

In 1979, the National Enquirer ran a story about Jones's consumption of alcoholic beverages and her husband's erratic behavior. Together they filed a $20 million lawsuit that dragged on until 1984 when the Enquirer agreed to a retraction and an out-of-court settlement.

Jones and Ingels wrote an autobiography based on their quirky relationship/marriage, Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story (Morrow, 1990, co-written with Mickey Herskowitz).

Jones is a vegetarian.
Filmography

    * Oklahoma! (1955)
    * Carousel (1956)
    * April Love (1957)
    * Never Steal Anything Small (1959)
    * Bobbikins (1959)
    * Elmer Gantry (1960)
    * Pepe (1960)
    * Two Rode Together (1961)
    * The Music Man (1962)
    * The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)
    * A Ticklish Affair (1963)
    * Dark Purpose (1964)
    * Bedtime Story (1964)
    * Fluffy (1965)
    * The Secret of My Success (1965)
    * The Gulf (1969)
    * The Happy Ending (1969)



    * Oddly Coupled (1970)
    * The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
    * Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
    * Black Devil Doll From Hell (1984)
    * Tank (1984)
    * Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul (1993) (documentary)
    * Cops n Roberts (1995)
    * This Is My Father (1998) (documentary)
    * Gideon (1999)
    * The Adventures of Cinderella's Daughter (2000)
    * Ping! (2000)
    * Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000)
    * Manna from Heaven (2002)
    * The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park (2004)
    * Raising Genius (2004)
    * Grandma's Boy (2006)
    * Christmas Is Here Again (2007) (voice)

Television work

    * Out of the Blue (1968) (unsold pilot)
    * Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969)
    * The Partridge Family (1970-1974)
    * The Girls of Huntington House (1973)
    * The Family Nobody Wanted (1975)
    * Winner Take All (1975)
    * The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975)
    * Yesterday's Child (1977)
    * Evening in Byzantium (1978)
    * Who'll Save Our Children? (1978)
    * A Last Cry for Help (1979)



    * Shirley (1979-1980)
    * The Children of An Lac (1980)
    * Inmates: A Love Story (1981)
    * The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982)
    * Hotel (1983) (pilot for series)
    * Charlie (1989) (unsold pilot)
    * Dog's Best Friend (1997)
    * That '70s Show (2000) (cameo)
    * Hidden Places (2006)
    * Monarch Cove (2006)
    * Days of our Lives (2008)
    * Ruby & The Rockits (2009)

Stage work

    * South Pacific (1953) (Broadway, ensemble role)
    * Me and Juliet (1954) (Chicago)
    * Oklahoma! (1956) (European tour with Jack Cassidy)
    * The Beggar's Opera (1957) (with Jack Cassidy)
    * Wish You Were Here! (1959) (Dallas State Fair Theater with Jack Cassidy)
    * The Sound of Music (1966) (Regional - various)
    * Maggie Flynn (1967) (Broadway with Jack Cassidy)
    * Wait Until Dark (1967) (with Jack Cassidy)
    * The Marriage Band (1972) (with Jack Cassidy)



    * On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1974)
    * Show Boat (1976)
    * The Sound of Music (1977)
    * Bitter Sweet (1982)
    * Love Letters (1994) (with Marty Ingels)
    * The King & I (1994)
    * Love Letters (1995) (with Marty Ingels)
    * 42nd Street (2004) (Broadway with Patrick Cassidy)
    * Carousel (2005)

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww342/beachbabiefl/History%20Pics/shirley-jones.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n411/musicalmystery/Hotties%20of%20the%20week/Shirley_Jones.jpg

I saw some of the musicals films she was in back in the day. She was good.
But I will always remember her as Shirley Partridge.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/31/10 at 10:56 am


I saw some of the musicals films she was in back in the day. She was good.
But I will always remember her as Shirley Partridge.




She wasn't good. She was OUTSTANDING!!! But yeah, she will always be Shirley Partridge.  ;)



I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/31/10 at 10:56 am


As I was reading the paper this morning (specifically, reading the horoscope and realizing that today was March 31) I KNEW that Shirley Jones was going to be the Person of the Day (well, it was a toss up between her & William Daniels). No, the paper didn't say who's birthday it is today, I just know both of them have birthdays today. How? I knew SJ because as a kid, I had THIS album.


http://greg-willis.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/partridge-family.jpg


Cat

That album ( I think ) had "That'l be the day, "Doesn't someone want to be wanted" and "I'll meet you halfway" two (female sisters) friends of mine played that album, and their 1st one, and "Sound magazine" to death

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/31/10 at 11:26 am


That album ( I think ) had "That'l be the day, "Doesn't someone want to be wanted" and "I'll meet you halfway" two (female sisters) friends of mine played that album, and their 1st one, and "Sound magazine" to death



I think I had all of them except the first one. (My sister had that one). Sound Magazine was my favorite.

This was my favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57KcdDNDN98

Man, listening to that brings me back to another place, another time.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/31/10 at 3:33 pm



I think I had all of them except the first one. (My sister had that one). Sound Magazine was my favorite.

This was my favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57KcdDNDN98

Man, listening to that brings me back to another place, another time.


Cat

Great song :).. I love their songs, once in a while i'll get on YouTube and play a few.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/31/10 at 3:36 pm


As I was reading the paper this morning (specifically, reading the horoscope and realizing that today was March 31) I KNEW that Shirley Jones was going to be the Person of the Day (well, it was a toss up between her & William Daniels). No, the paper didn't say who's birthday it is today, I just know both of them have birthdays today. How? I knew SJ because as a kid, I had THIS album.


http://greg-willis.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/partridge-family.jpg

The reason I know William Daniels because I think he is a terrific actor and stars in one of my absolute favorite movies of ALL time: 1776. So I did a little research on him and his birthday stuck in my head. (Yeah, I have a memory for dates.)



Cat

I missed William's name so my 2nd choice would have been Christopher Walken or Richard Chamberlain

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/31/10 at 4:04 pm



I think I had all of them except the first one. (My sister had that one). Sound Magazine was my favorite.

This was my favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57KcdDNDN98

Man, listening to that brings me back to another place, another time.


Cat

Good song. I like it too. Yes, another place, another time, almost seems like a dream ( just about 40 years ago...)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/31/10 at 4:20 pm

Shirley Jones....I liked everything she ever did!  ::)  Patridge Family is showing on our free-to-air digital tv station. I watch it on Sunday afdternoon (right before the original Charlie's Angels).... :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/31/10 at 4:29 pm


Good song. I like it too. Yes, another place, another time, almost seems like a dream ( just about 40 years ago...)


40 years? Nope, I refused to believe that. It was only something like 5 years ago or so-right?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 03/31/10 at 4:33 pm


40 years? Nope, I refused to believe that. It was only something like 5 years ago or so-right?
Cat


Umm...yeah....and the Partridge family is still on TV on ABC friday nights along with the Brady Bunch.
I can't wait for the American bi-centennial celebrations...can you?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/31/10 at 4:59 pm


Umm...yeah....and the Partridge family is still on TV on ABC friday nights along with the Brady Bunch.
I can't wait for the American bi-centennial celebrations...can you?



200 years ago today...


;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/31/10 at 7:00 pm


Umm...yeah....and the Partridge family is still on TV on ABC friday nights along with the Brady Bunch.
I can't wait for the American bi-centennial celebrations...can you?



and TVLand too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/01/10 at 5:15 am

The word of the day...Gazebo
A gazebo is a small building with open sides. Gazebos are often put up in gardens so that people can sit in them to enjoy the view.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f191/Fuzzyeth/Alpine/Alpine3.jpg
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww133/txrosedjdevildog/The%20Water%20Hole/wedding%20announcements/2010_0212Mexico20090201.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o68/life-in-a-blender/Dept%2056/townsquaregazebo1.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm216/mjhomes/Gazebo.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/lazerlacey/Slide%20Show/gazebo.jpg
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab347/rbrazeau/Domaine%20du%20Lac%20Gagnon%20-%20Chalet%20a%20louer/domaineaubry002.jpg
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab229/riverapcpa/25th%20Anniversary%20at%20Sandals%20Negril/2010-03-23_16-09-23.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/01/10 at 5:19 am

The person born on this day...Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds (born Mary Frances Reynolds; April 1, 1932) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is also a collector of movie memorabilia. Reynolds was also an MGM  contract star. Reynolds was born in El Paso, Texas, the second child of Maxine N. (née Harmon; 1913–1999) and Raymond Francis Reynolds (1903–1986), who was a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad.  Reynolds was a Girl Scout and a troop leader (a scholarship in her name is offered to high-school age Girl Scouts). Her family moved to Burbank, California, in 1939, and she was raised in a strict Nazarene faith. At age 16, while a student at Burbank's John Burroughs High School, Reynolds won the Miss Burbank Beauty Contest, a contract with Warner Brothers, and acquired her new first name.
Career
(from left) Barbara Ruick, Bob Fosse, Reynolds and Bobby Van in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953).

Debbie Reynolds regularly appeared in movie musicals during the 1950s and had several hit records during the period. Her song "Aba Daba Honeymoon" (featured in the 1950 film Two Weeks with Love as a duet with Carleton Carpenter) was a top-three hit in 1951. Her most high-profile film role was in Singin' in the Rain (1952) as Kathy Selden. In Bundle of Joy (1956) she appeared with her then-husband, Eddie Fisher.

Her recording of the song "Tammy" (from her 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor) earned her a gold record, and was the best-selling single by a female vocalist in 1957. It was number one for five weeks on the Billboard pop charts. In the movie (the first of the Tammy film series) she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen.

In 1959 Reynolds recorded her first album for Dot Records, simply called Debbie, which included her own selection of 12 standards including "S’posin'", "Moonglow", "Mean To Me" and "Time After Time". Bing Crosby paid tribute to Reynolds in the sleeve notes accompanying the album thus:
“ Someone recently said, and with reasonable accuracy I would think, that good singers make good actors. Evidence in support of this belief is available in the recent performances of Sinatra and Martin, for instance, but I would like to put forth also the proposition that the reverse is quite true: good actors make good singers. Assuming they can carry a tune. We all know that Debbie is better than a good actress — she’s VERY good, and we all know she can sing with a lilt and a listenable quality that’s genuinely pleasant and agreeable. Witness “Tammy”. It was small surprise to me then that when I listened to this beautiful album she has etched for Dot, I found myself captivated and enchanted. Quite obviously Debbie had spent a great deal of time selecting the songs to be included, because she’s made them her own, and invested them with a sincerity that’s inescapable — of contrasting moods to be sure, but the moods are there, and to me, mighty effective. And that, mes amis, is artistry. ”

Reynolds also scored two other top-25 Billboard hits with "A Very Special Love" (1958) and "Am I That Easy to Forget" (1960) — a pop-music version of a country-music hit made famous by both songwriters Carl Belew (in 1959), Skeeter Davis (in 1960), and several years later by singer Engelbert Humperdinck. During these years she also headlined in major Las Vegas, showrooms.
Marquee listing Reynolds's world premiere at the Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, December 1962.

Her starring role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) led to a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then portrayed Jeanine Deckers in The Singing Nun (1966).

In what Reynolds has called the "stupidest mistake of my entire career", she made headlines in 1970 after instigating a fight with the NBC television network over cigarette advertising on her eponymous television series; NBC cancelled the show.

She continues to make appearances in film and television. From 1999 to its 2006 series finale, she played Grace Adler's ditzy mother Bobbi on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace (1998–2006), which earned her a Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2000. She also plays a recurring role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Halloweentown film series as Aggie Cromwell. Reynolds made a guest appearance as a presenter at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997.

Reynolds has released several albums of both her vintage performances and her later recordings.
Awards and nominations

Reynolds won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Catered Affair (1956).

She has received various nominations for awards including: an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for The Debbie Reynolds Show (1970), a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Mother (1996) and a Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, for her role of Bobbi Adler in the sitcom Will & Grace (2000). In 1996 and 1997, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy, in the American Comedy Awards.

Her foot and hand prints are preserved at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6654 Hollywood Boulevard.

In November 2006, Reynolds received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from Chapman University (Orange, California). On May 17, 2007, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nevada, Reno, (Reno, Nevada) where she had contributed for many years to the film-studies program. In her acceptance speech, she referred to the University as "Nevahda...Arizona".
Personal life

Reynolds has been married three times. She and Eddie Fisher were married in 1955. They are the parents of Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. A public scandal ensued when Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor fell in love, and Reynolds and Fisher were divorced in 1959. Her second marriage, to millionaire businessman Harry Karl, lasted from 1960 to 1973. At its end, she found herself in financial difficulty because of Karl's gambling and bad investments. (Under the community-property laws of California, both spouses in a marriage are legally responsible for debts incurred by either.) Reynolds was married to real-estate developer Richard Hamlett from 1984 to 1996. They purchased Greek Isles Hotel & Casino, a small hotel and casino in Las Vegas, but it was not a success. In 1997, Reynolds was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Reynolds has been active in the Thalians Club, a charitable organization.

She has amassed a large collection of movie memorabilia and displayed them, first in a museum at her Las Vegas hotel and casino during the 1990s and later in a museum close to the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. On several occasions she has auctioned off items from the collection. The collection will re-open in the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, area in the future.

She resides in Los Angeles next door to her daughter Carrie.
Filmography

Features:

    * June Bride (1948)
    * The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950)
    * Three Little Words (1950)
    * Two Weeks with Love (1950)
    * Mr. Imperium (1951)
    * Singin' in the Rain (1952)
    * Skirts Ahoy! (1952)
    * I Love Melvin (1953)
    * The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953)
    * Give a Girl a Break (1954)
    * Susan Slept Here (1954)
    * Athena (1954)
    * Hit the Deck (1955)
    * The Tender Trap (1955)
    * Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
    * The Catered Affair (1956)
    * Bundle of Joy (1956)
    * Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)
    * This Happy Feeling (1958)
    * The Mating Game (1959)
    * Say One for Me (1959)
    * It Started with a Kiss (1959)
    * The Gazebo (1959)
    * The Rat Race (1960)
    * Pepe (1960)
    * The Pleasure of His Company (1961)
    * The Second Time Around (1961)
    * How the West Was Won (1962)
    * Mary, Mary (1963)
    * My Six Loves (1963)
    * The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)



    * Goodbye Charlie (1964)
    * The Singing Nun (1966)
    * Divorce American Style (1967)
    * How Sweet It Is! (1968)
    * What's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
    * Charlotte's Web (1973) (voice)
    * Busby Berkeley (1974) (documentary)
    * That's Entertainment! (1974)
    * Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) (voice in 1998 English dub)
    * The Bodyguard (1992)
    * Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul (1993) (documentary)
    * Heaven & Earth (1993)
    * That's Entertainment! III (1994)
    * Mother (1996)
    * Wedding Bell Blues (1996)
    * In & Out (1997)
    * Halloweentown (1998)
    * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
    * Zack and Reba (1998)
    * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998) (voice)
    * Keepers of the Frame (1999) (documentary)
    * Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000) (voice)
    * Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001)
    * Cinerama Adventure (2002) (documentary)
    * Connie and Carla (2004)
    * Halloweentown High (2004)
    * Return to Halloweentown (2006)
    * Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) (documentary)
    * The Jill & Tony Curtis Story (2008) (documentary)
    * Blaze of Glory (film) (2008) (voice)
    * The Brothers Warner (2008) (documentary)
    * Fay Wray: A Life (2008) (documentary)
    * Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2009) (documentary)

Short subjects:

    * A Visit with Debbie Reynolds (1959)



    * The Story of a Dress (1964)

Television work

    * The Eddie Fisher Show (recurring guest star from 1957–1959)
    * A Date with Debbie (1960)
    * Go!!! (1967)
    * ...And Debbie Makes Six (1968)
    * The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969–1970)
    * Debbie Reynolds and the Sound of Children (1969)
    * Aloha Paradise (1981) (canceled after seven episodes)
    * Sadie and Son (1987)
    * Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989)
    * Movie Memories with Debbie Reynolds (1991–1992)
    * Battling for Baby (1992)
    * Wings (1994)
    * Roseanne (1997)..."Arsenic and Old Mom" as Audrey Conner
    * Halloweentown (1998)



    * The Christmas Wish (1998)
    * Will & Grace (recurring cast member from 1999–2006)
    * A Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story (1999)
    * Virtual Mom (2000)
    * These Old Broads (2001)
    * Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001)
    * Generation Gap (2002) (unsold pilot)
    * Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales (2003)
    * Kim Possible (recurring cast member from (2003–2007) (voice)
    * Pryor Offenses (2004)
    * Halloweentown High (2004)
    * Lolo's Cafe (2006) (voice)
    * Return to Halloweentown (2006)
    * Secret Talents of the Stars (2008) (canceled after one episode)

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j184/darth_sparrow/Actors%20and%20Singers/Debby%20Reynolds/normal_438893p.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa153/josh12s/joshDebbie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/01/10 at 5:26 am

The person who died on this day... Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.  (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American  singer-songwriter and instrumentalist with a three-octave  vocal range.  Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties.

Due to solo hits including "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul".

Notable for fighting the hit-making but restrictive Motown process in which performers and songwriters and producers were kept separate, Gaye proved with albums like his 1971 What's Going On and his 1973 Let's Get It On that he was able to produce music without relying on the system, inspiring fellow Motown artists such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson to do the same.

His mid-1970s work including the Let's Get It On and I Want You albums helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early eighties, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death. Gaye was shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye #6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and ranked #18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Motown started Artist Development to look after artists. Gaye rebelled against receiving the same tuition as his Motown peers, though he'd later regretted that decision.  Eventually he stopped "grooming school" though he took its director Maxine Powell's advice to not perform with his eyes closed as if "to appear that he wasn't asleep".

In June 1961, Gaye issued his first solo recording, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, the second album by Motown. The record featured Broadway standards and jazz-rendered show tunes, and also yielded the R&B ballad single, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide". The record failed. Gaye released two more failed singles, a cover of The Chordettes' "Sandman" and "Soldier's Plea" in 1962. Gaye would find his first success as a co-songwriter on the Marvelettes' 1962 hit, "Beechwood 4-5789".

Gaye scored his first hit single "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" in September. The song, co-written by Gaye, was an autobiographical pun on his nonchalant, moody behavior. Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson with background vocals supplied by Martha & The Vandellas, the recording became a hit on the Hot R&B Songs chart.

The single would be followed by his first Top 40 singles "Hitch Hike", "Pride and Joy" and "Can I Get a Witness", which charted for Gaye in 1963. The success continued with the 1964 singles "You Are a Wonderful One", "Try It Baby", "Baby Don't You Do It" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which became his first signature song.

Gaye contributed to writing and playing drums on the 1964 hit by Martha and the Vandellas, "Dancing in the Street". His work with Smokey Robinson on the 1966 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, spawned consecutive top ten singles in "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar". Due to this success and the singer's well-crafted image, Gaye became a favorite on the teen shows American Bandstand, Shindig!, Hullaballoo and The T.A.M.I. Show. In August 1966, he became just the second Motown act to successfully perform at the Copacabana, though due to label friction, a live album cut from the performances set to be released in 1967 was shelved for nearly 40 years.
A screenshot of a 1967 performance by Gaye and Terrell during taping of the Mike Douglas Show.
Tammi Terrell and I Heard It Through the Grapevine: 1967–1970
Main articles: Tammi Terrell and I Heard It Through the Grapevine

A number of Gaye's hits for Motown were with female artists such as Kim Weston and Mary Wells; the first Gaye/Wells album, 1964's Together, was Gaye's first charting album. However, it was Gaye's work with Tammi Terrell that became the most memorable. Terrell and Gaye were a good standing duet at the time and their first album, 1967's United, birthed the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love".

Real-life couple Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson provided the writing and production for the Gaye/Terrell records. While Gaye and Terrell were not lovers — though rumors persist — they portrayed lovers on record. Gaye claimed that for the songs he was in love with her. On October 14, 1967, while in concert at the homecoming for Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, outside the college town of Farmville, Tammi Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms. She was rushed to Southside Community Hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Contrary to popular belief, the concert was not at Hampton University. The chairperson of the event recounted the events on WFLO FM radio in Farmville in April 2007 for the anniversary of Marvin's passing.

Motown decided to carry on with Gaye/Terrell recordings, issuing the You're All I Need album in 1968, which featured "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". By the final album, Easy in 1969, Terrell's vocals were mostly by Valerie Simpson. Two tracks on Easy were archived Terrell solo songs with Gaye's vocals overdubbed.

Terrell's illness put Gaye in a depression; he refused to acknowledge the success of his song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (About this sound sample (help·info)), released in 1967 by Gladys Knight & The Pips (his was recorded before, but released after theirs), his first #1 hit and the biggest selling single in Motown history to that point, with four million copies sold. His work with producer Norman Whitfield, who produced "Grapevine", resulted in similar success with the singles "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is". Meanwhile, Gaye's marriage was crumbling and he was bored with his music. Wanting creative control, he sought to produce singles for Motown session band The Originals, whose Gaye- produced hits, "Baby I'm For Real" and "The Bells", brought success.
What's Going On: 1970–72
Main article: What's Going On

Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor on March 16, 1970. Gaye was so emotional at her funeral that he talked to her lying in state as if she were going to respond. He went into seclusion and did not perform in concert for nearly two years. Gaye told friends he had thought of quitting music, at one point trying out for the Detroit Lions (where he met acquaintances Mel Farr and Lem Barney), but after the success of his productions with the Originals, Gaye entered the studio on June 1, 1970 and recorded "What's Going On", "God Is Love", and "Sad Tomorrows" - an early version of "Flying High (In The Friendly Sky)". Gaye wanted to release "What's Going On", but Gordy refused, calling the single "the worst record I ever heard". Gaye threatened to leave Motown unless the record was released. Gordy eventually relented and the song was released with little publicity in January 1971. Despite no backing from Motown, the single became a hit, peaking at number-one on the Billboard R&B charts for five weeks. It is also rated the fourth best song of all time by Rolling Stone. After the single's success, Gordy requested an entire album of similar tracks.
Gaye performing live at the Oakland Coliseum during his 1973-1974 tour

The What's Going On album became one of the highlights of Gaye's career and is his best-known work. Both in terms of its funk and jazz-influenced sound and personal lyrical content, it was a departure from his earlier Motown work. Two more of its singles, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", became Top 10 pop hits and #1 R&B hits. The album became one of the most memorable soul albums and, based upon its themes, the concept album became the frontier for soul music. It has been called "the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices".
Let's Get It On and continued success in music: 1972–77
Main articles: Let's Get It On and I Want You (album)

After the release of What's Going On, Motown renegotiated a contract with Gaye that allowed him creative control. The deal was worth $1 million, making Gaye the highest-earning black artist. He moved from Detroit to Los Angeles in 1972 after being offered a chance to write the score to a blaxploitation film. Writing, arranging and producing the movie Trouble Man, Gaye issued the soundtrack and title song in 1972. The soundtrack and single became hits, the single peaking at the top ten in early 1973.

Gaye decided to switch from social to sensual with Let's Get It On in 1973. The album was a departure for its sensual appeal. Yielded by the title track (About this sound sample (help·info)) and tracks such as "Come Get to This", "You Sure Love to Ball", and "Distant Lover", Let's Get It On became Gaye's biggest selling album during his lifetime, surpassing What's Going On. Also, with the title track, Gaye broke his own record at Motown by surpassing the sales of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The album would be hailed "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy."

Gaye began working on his final duet album, this time with Diana Ross for the Diana & Marvin project, an album of duets that began recording in 1972, while Ross was pregnant with her second child, Tracee Ellis Ross. Gaye refused to sing if he couldn't smoke in the studio, so the album was recorded by overdubbing Ross and Gaye at separate sessions. Released in fall 1973, the album yielded the US Top 20 hit singles "You're a Special Part of Me and "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" as well as the UK versions of The Stylistics's "You Are Everything" at #5 and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" at #25, respectively.

In 1976, Gaye released the I Want You LP, which yielded the title track as the number-one R&B single, and the modest charter, "After the Dance." Album tracks such as "Since I Had You" and "Soon I'll Be Loving You Again" geared Gaye towards more funky material. The following year, Gaye released the funk single, "Got to Give It Up, Pt. 1", which became a simultaneous number-one US hit. The single was featured on his Live at the London Palladium album, which partially helped in the album selling over two million copies, becoming one of the top-selling albums of that year. During the same period, Gaye was honored by the United Nations for his charitable work.
Here, My Dear and his final days at Motown: 1978–1981
Main article: Here, My Dear
Gaye performs at the London Palladium in 1977

The following year, shortly after divorcing his wife, Anna, he agreed to remit a portion of his salary and sales of his upcoming album as alimony. The result was 1978's Here, My Dear, which addressed the sour points of his marriage and almost led to Anna filing a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. That album went nowhere and Gaye struggled. By 1979, besieged by tax problems and drug addictions, Gaye filed for bankruptcy and moved to Hawaii, where he lived in a bread van and began working on his follow-up to Here, My Dear, titled In Our Lifetime?.

In 1980, he signed with British promoter Jeffrey Kruger to headline a European tour with stops at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and performances in Amsterdam and England. While in London, Gaye was to headline a Command Performance at the Royal Gala Charity Show for Princess Margaret but the singer showed up seven hours late with Princess Margaret leaving halfway through the concert. While in London, he continued work on Lifetime with a rough draft completed by the fall of the year. When Motown issued the album in January 1981, Gaye accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, releasing an unfinished song ("Far Cry"), altering the album art he requested and removing the question mark from the title, muting its irony. Afterwards, Gaye vowed never to record another project for Motown Records.
Comeback and sudden death: 1982–84
Main articles: Midnight Love, Sexual Healing, and Death of Marvin Gaye

On the advice of Belgian concert promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye moved to Ostend, Belgium, in early 1981 where he enjoyed a brief period of sobriety from drug abuse. Still upset over Motown's decision to release In Our Lifetime, he negotiated a release from the label and signed with Columbia Records in 1982, releasing the Midnight Love album late that year. The album included "Sexual Healing" (About this sound sample (help·info)), which was Gaye's last hit. He wrote it during his 2 month stay in the village Moere, near Ostend. Gaye's friend and lawyer Curtis Shaw calls this Moere-period "the best thing that ever happened to Marvin". The video clip of "Sexual Healing" is recorded in the Casino-Kursaal in Ostend.

The single reached number one on Billboard's R&B chart, where it stayed for ten weeks, later crossing to number three on Billboard's Hot 100. The single sold two million copies in the U.S. earning a platinum certification. The song also gave Gaye his first two Grammy Awards (Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, Best R&B Instrumental) in February 1983. It was nominated for Best R&B Song but lost to George Benson's "Turn Your Love Around".

The following year, he was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance again, this time for the Midnight Love album. In February 1983, Gaye performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NBA All-Star Game, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California, accompanied by Gordon Banks who played the studio tape from stands.. In March 1983, he gave his final performance in front of his old mentor Berry Gordy and the Motown label for Motown 25, performing "What's Going On". He then embarked on a U.S. tour to support his album. The tour, ending in August 1983, was plagued by health problems and Gaye's bouts with depression, and fear over an attempt on his life.

When the tour ended, he isolated himself by moving into his parents' house. He threatened to commit suicide several times after bitter arguments with his father. On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun that Marvin Jr. had given him four months before. Marvin Gaye would have turned 45 the next day. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after it was revealed that Marvin Sr. had been beaten by Marvin Jr. before the killing. Doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor but was deemed fit for trial. Spending his final years in a retirement home, he died of pneumonia in 1998.

In 1987, Marvin Gaye Jr. was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also inducted to Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990.

In 2005, Marvin Gaye Jr. was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. In 2007, two of Gaye's most important recordings, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "What's Going On", were voted Legendary Michigan Songs.
Discography
Main article: Marvin Gaye discography
Top Ten albums

    * 1971: What's Going On (#6 U.S.)
    * 1973: Let's Get It On (#2 U.S.)
    * 1973: Diana & Marvin (#5 UK)
    * 1974: Marvin Gaye Live! (#8 U.S.)
    * 1976: I Want You (#4 U.S.)
    * 1977: Live at the London Palladium (#3 U.S.)
    * 1978: Here, My Dear
    * 1981: In Our Lifetime
    * 1982: Midnight Love (#7 U.S.; #10 UK)
    * 2000: Marvin Gaye: The Love Songs (#8 UK)


U.S. and UK Top Ten singles

    * 1963: "Pride and Joy" (US #10)
    * 1964: "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (US #6)
    * 1965: "I'll Be Doggone" (US #8)
    * 1965: "Ain't That Peculiar" (US #8)
    * 1967: "Your Precious Love" (US #5)
    * 1967: "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You" (US #10)
    * 1968: "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" (US #8)
    * 1968: "You're All I Need to Get By" (US #7)
    * 1968: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (US #1; UK #1)
    * 1969: "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (US #4; UK #5)
    * 1969: "The Onion Song" (UK #9)
    * 1969: "That's The Way Love Is" (US #7)
    * 1970: "Abraham, Martin & John" (UK #9)
    * 1971: "What's Going On" (US #2)
    * 1971: "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" (US #4)
    * 1971: "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" (US #9)
    * 1972: "Trouble Man" (US #7)
    * 1973: "Let's Get It On" (US #1)
    * 1974: "You Are Everything" (UK #5)
    * 1977: "Got to Give It Up" (US #1; UK #7)
    * 1982: "Sexual Healing" (US #3; UK #4)
    * 1985: "Sanctified Lady" (US #2; US R&B singles chart)
    * 1986: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (UK-only re-release)" (UK #8)

Filmography

    * 1965: The T.A.M.I. Show (documentary)
    * 1969: The Ballad of Andy Crocker (television movie)
    * 1971: Chrome & Hot Leather (television movie)
    * 1972: Trouble Man (cameo; soundtrack)
    * 1973: Save the Children (documentary)

Videos and DVDs

    * The Real Thing: In Performance (1964-1981) Motown/Universal 2006

Marvin Gaye in popular culture

    * In "Smooth Operator" by Big Daddy Kane, he refers to Marvin Gaye's Let's Get it On on the third verse saying "...so just play Marvin Gaye and let's get it on."
    * In "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2Pac, the lyrics in the second verse of the song are "I remember Marvin Gaye used to sing to me, he had me feelin' like black was the thing to be." He is also mentioned in "Thugz Mansion" as being in Tupacs heaven: "Seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night, it had me shook."
    * In Stephen King's novel The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, Jake's father has a Marvin Gaye poster hanging in his study.
    * In 1997, R&B singer Aaliyah did a cover to Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" which featured Slick Rick.
    * In the song "Hörst Du mich?" by German Hip Hop band Fettes Brot, the first verse is dedicated to Marvin Gaye.
    * Spandau Ballet's 1983 breakthrough single "True" (written by Martin Kemp) features the line "Listening to Marvin all night long / This is the sound of my soul".
    * In the song "In the Mood" by The Whispers, some of the lyrics in the first verse goes "how about some Marvin Gaye? Feel like some "Sexual Healing"..."
    * Rapper Erick Sermon's song "Music" off of the What's the Worst That Could Happen? soundtrack in 2001 starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito samples Marvin's "I've Got My Music".
    * During the 2008 Summer Olympics, Nike ran ads focused on the United States' Men's Basketball Team featuring Marvin Gaye's 1983 performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the NBA All-Star Game. The reasoning being that the team found inspiration in the way Marvin Gaye performed the song.
    * R&B group Day 26's song entitled "Come With Me" features the line: "Lonely at the crib/had to get up and search for me a honeydip/listening to Sexual Healing".
    * The Prefab Sprout song "When the angels" from their 1985 album "Steve McQueen" was inspired by the death of Marvin Gaye.
    * R&B Trio H-Town's debut single "Knockin' Boots" features the line of "Listening to some Marvin Gaye all night long" on their 1993 debut album Fever for Da Flavor.
    * Rapper Nas on The Tavis Smiley Show says "So It's Like Marvin Gaye" was aired on November 15, 2004.
    * The song entitled 'Dreamworld' on Robin Thicke's third album contains a reference to Marvin Gaye, 'I would say Marvin Gaye, your father didn't want you to die.'
    * Indie rock outfit Low mentions Gaye in their song "In the Drugs": "nd I closed my eyes like Marvin Gaye, but now I've had enough."
    * Eazy E mentions Gaye in the song "8 ball":"Put in the old tape Marvin Gaye's greatest hits Turn the sheesh up had the bass cold whomping Cruising through the east side south of Compton."
    * Rapper The Game mentions Marvin Gaye in the song "Dreams": "Head in the clouds, wonderin' where the hell Marvin Gaye went"
    * Pimp C in the song "Get My Money" mentions him in the intro: "I'ma step up to this mic like Marvin Gaye", and then in the very next song on the album, "Young Prostitute", again in the intro he says: "Marvin Gaye, like Marvin Gaye, bitch".
    * Jamie Foxx in the song Slow Jamz feat. Twista and Kanye West, Jamie mentions " She say she wants some Marvin Gaye, some Luther Vandross, alil Anita, definitely set this party off right."
    * In the Ghostface Killah album Fishscale, the song Jellyfish feat. Cappadonna and Trife contains the line, 'She got body like whats going on/Or some Marvin Gaye **** like lets get it on'
    * On B Dolan's 2010 album, entitled Fallen House Sunken City (Strange Famous Records) 'Marvin' is a poem about the last days of Marvin Gaye.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t207/Buzz2Groove/marvin_gaye.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r23/S_lopez817/gaye-marvin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/01/10 at 6:57 am

Sexual Healing was my favorite video.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/01/10 at 7:15 am


Sexual Healing was my favorite video.  :)

It's a great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/01/10 at 2:44 pm

When I read through "word of the day" quickly, I thought the word was gibbo, not gazebo.That's a close one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/01/10 at 7:36 pm


It's a great song :)



and What's Going On.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/10 at 12:33 am


The word of the day...Carousel
At an airport, a carousel is a moving surface from which passengers can collect their luggage.
A carousel is a large circular machine with seats, often in the shape of animals or cars. People can sit on it and go round and round for fun.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/karebearlv/125076099369507.gif
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab184/lgavagan/France10236.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/susiewelch/Fall%202009/IMG_0357.jpg
http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae145/harmony2010craigslist/Blown%20Glass%20for%20Craigslist/P1040061.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj178/The_Carnival_Nightmare/The%20Carnival/Carousel.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae14/rachyfication/International%20Sojourn/carouselinavignon.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn75/jmfay/leavenworth%20carousel/leavenworth017-1.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i71/yojanjan-photo/9671ab43.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u160/British_humanities07/DSC00038.jpg
Great musical!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/02/10 at 5:24 am


Great musical!

Yes it is. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/02/10 at 5:29 am

The word of the day...Kindergarten
A kindergarten is an informal kind of school for very young children, where they learn things by playing.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e164/blitterbling/Hannah/hgrad2.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj76/tbjhmj/Scrap%20pages%202010/SPMay098copy.jpg
http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac57/amylu72/img011_edited-1.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z222/maulratdsg/kindergarten.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/merman1967/Family/Kindergarten-1.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq252/lifesjourney09/kindergarten.png
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa157/ang3lac/Kindergarten.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/02/10 at 5:32 am

The person born on this day...Linda Hunt
Linda Hunt (born April 2, 1945) is an American  film, stage and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her Academy Award-winning role in 1982's The Year of Living Dangerously. She is currently portraying the role of Henrietta "Hetty" Lange, Office of Special Projects Operations Manager on the CBS Television series NCIS: Los Angeles. Linda Hunt was born in Morristown, New Jersey and raised in Westport, Connecticut,  one of the two daughters of Raymond Davy Hunt, vice president of Harper Fuel Oil on Long Island and Elsie Doying Hunt, a piano teacher who taught at the Westport School of Music and accompanied the Saugatuck Congregational Church  choir.  Linda Hunt attended the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy. She has a sister, Marcia.
Career

Hunt's film debut in 1980 was in Robert Altman's musical comedy Popeye. Two years later, she co-starred as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously, Peter Weir's film adaptation of the novel of the same name. For her role as the male Chinese-Australian photographer, Hunt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1983, becoming the first person to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex (also the first to win playing an Australian character). This was both cross-gender acting and yellowface.

Also a well known stage actress, Hunt has received two Obie awards and a Tony Award nomination for her theatre work. She created the role of Aunt Dan in Wallace Shawn's play Aunt Dan and Lemon. Recently, she portrayed Sister Aloysius in the Pasadena Playhouse production of John Patrick Shanley's Tony Award-winning play Doubt. Her television appearances include recurring roles as Judge Zoey Hiller on David E. Kelley's series The Practice and as Dr. Claire Bryson on Without a Trace. She has narrated several instalments of The American Experience on PBS. She now plays the role of an operations manager and supervisor on the CBS fall show NCIS: Los Angeles with Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J and Daniela Ruah.
Voice work

Beside her acting abilities, Hunt is distinguished by her small stature (she is 4'9"/1.45 m), and her rich, resonant voice, which she has used in numerous documentaries, cartoons, and commercials. She is the on-air host for City Arts & Lectures, a radio program recorded by KQED public radio. Hunt was chosen by Walt Disney Feature Animation to lend her enigmatic speaking and singing voice to Grandmother Willow in the film Pocahontas.

Her voice work also includes the character of "Management" in Carnivàle, and the titan Gaia, who serves as the Narrator in the God of War series of video games. She narrated the introductory film at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
Personal life

Hunt has lived with her partner, Karen Kline, since 1987.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Popeye Mrs. Oxheart
1983 The Year of Living Dangerously Billy Kwan Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1984 Dune Shadout Mapes
The Bostonians Dr. Prance
1985 Eleni Katina
Silverado Stella
1987 Waiting for the Moon Alice B. Toklas
1989 She-Devil Hooper
1990 Kindergarten Cop Miss Schlowski
Carmilla Narrator
1991 If Looks Could Kill Ilsa Grunt
1992 Rain Without Thunder Atwood Society Director
1993 Younger and Younger Frances
Twenty Bucks Angeline
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Regina Krumm
1995 Pocahontas Grandmother Willow voice
1997 The Relic Dr. Ann Cuthbert
Eat Your Heart Out Kathryn
1998 Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World Grandmother Willow voice
2002 Dragonfly Sister Madeline
2005 Auschwitz—Inside the Nazi State Narrator voice
Yours, Mine and Ours Mrs. Munion
God of War Narrator VG—voice
The Great Transatlantic Cable Narrator
2006 Stranger Than Fiction Dr. Mittag-Leffler
2007 The Singing Revolution Narrator
God of War 2 Gaia/Narrator VG--voice
2008 God of War: Chains of Olympus Narrator VG--voice
2010 God of War 3 Gaia VG--voice
Selected television credits
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Fame Mona
1993 Space Rangers Commander Chenault
1997–2002 The Practice Judge Zoey Hiller 24 episodes
2003–2005 Carnivàle Management—voice 9 episodes
2006 Nature Narrator "Christmas in Yellowstone"
2007 The Unit Department of Defense Psychiatrist: Dr. Eudora Hobbs 2 episodes
2008 Without a Trace Dr. Claire Bryson: FBI Psychiatrist 3 episodes
2009-Present NCIS: Los Angeles Henrietta "Hetty" Lange Series regular
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss245/csimiami01/TV%20Shows/1023.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z228/identicinet/novembre2008/linda-hunt-3-sized.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/02/10 at 5:40 am

The person who died on this day...Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American  jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer"  and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed. Rich was born in Brooklyn, New York  to vaudevillians  Robert and Bess Rich.  His talent for rhythm was first noted by his father, who saw that Buddy could keep a steady beat with spoons at the age of one. He began playing drums in vaudeville when he was 18 months old, billed as "Traps the Drum Wonder." At the peak of Rich's childhood career, he was reportedly the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world (after Jackie Coogan).  At 11 he was performing as a bandleader. He received no formal drum instruction, and went so far as to claim that instruction would only degrade his musical talent. He also never admitted to practicing, claiming to play the drums only during performances and was not known to read music. He expressed great admiration for, and was influenced by, the playing of Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, and Jo Jones, among others.
Jazz career

He first played jazz with a major group in 1937 with Joe Marsala and guitarist Jack Lemaire, then played with Bunny Berigan (1938) and Artie Shaw (1939). Rich even instructed a 14-year-old Mel Brooks in drumming for a short while when playing for Shaw. At 21, Rich participated in his first major recording with the Vic Schoen Orchestra (the band that backed the Andrews Sisters). In 1938, he was also hired to play in Tommy Dorsey's orchestra where Rich met and performed with Frank Sinatra. In 1942, Rich left the Dorsey band to join the United States Marine Corps. He rejoined the Dorsey group two years later after leaving the Marines. In 1946, Rich formed his own band with financial support from Sinatra and continued to lead different groups on and off until the early fifties.

In addition to Tommy Dorsey (1939–1942, 1945, 1954–1955), Rich also played with Benny Carter (1942), Harry James (1953-1956–1962, 1964, 1965), Les Brown, Charlie Ventura, and Jazz at the Philharmonic, as well as leading his own band and performing with all-star groups. In the early fifties Rich played with Dorsey and also began to perform with trumpeter Harry James, an association which lasted until 1966. In 1966, Rich left James in order to develop a new big band. For most of the period from 1966 until his death, he led successful big bands in an era when the popularity of big bands had waned from their 1930s and 40s peak. In this later period, Rich continued to play clubs but he had stated in multiple interviews that the great majority of his big band's performances were at high schools, colleges and universities, with club performances done to a much lesser degree. Rich also served as the session drummer for many recordings, where his playing was often much more understated than in his own big-band performances. Especially notable were Rich's sessions for the late-career comeback recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, on which he worked with pianist Oscar Peterson and his famous trio featuring bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis.
TV "guest" appearances

In the 1950s, Rich was a frequent guest on The Steve Allen Show and other television variety shows. Beginning in 1962, Rich was also a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show, among others. One of his most widely seen television performances was in a 1978 episode of The Muppet Show, where he engaged Muppet drummer "Animal" (played by Ronnie Verrell) in a drum battle. Rich won handily, infuriating Animal so much that he broke a drum over Rich's head.
Drumming technique and well known performances

Rich's technique has been one of the most standardized and coveted in drumming. His dexterity, speed and smooth execution are considered "holy grails" of drum technique and has been considered almost next to impossible to duplicate. While Rich typically held his sticks using traditional grip, he was also a skilled "match grip" player, and was one of few drummers to master the one-handed roll on both hands. Some of his more spectacular moves are crossover riffs, where he would criss-cross his arms from one drum to another, sometimes over the arm, and even under the arm at great speed.

He often used contrasting techniques to keep long drum solos from getting mundane. Aside from his energetic explosive displays, he would go into quieter passages. One passage he would use in most solos starts with a simple single-stroke roll on the snare picking up speed and power, then slowly moving his sticks closer to the rim as he gets quieter and then eventually playing on just the rim itself while still maintaining speed. Then he would reverse the effect and slowly move towards the center of the snare while increasing power.

Rich also demonstrated incredible skill at brush technique. On one album, Tatum Group Masterpieces No. 3 along with Lionel Hampton and Art Tatum, Rich plays brushes almost throughout.

Another technique that few drummers have been able to perfect is the stick-trick where he does a fast roll just by slapping his two sticks together in a circular motion. When performing a single-stroke roll, Rich could be clocked at up to 20 strokes per second, a feat now only being approached decades later by Mike Mangini, Jojo Mayer, Matt Smith and others.

In 1942, Rich and drum teacher Henry Adler co-authored the instructional book Buddy Rich's Modern Interpretation of Snare Drum Rudiments, regarded as one of the more popular snare-drum rudiment books written, mainly because of the Buddy Rich imprimatur.

One of Adler's former students introduced Adler to Rich. "The kid told me Buddy played better than Krupa. Buddy was only in his teens at the time and his friend was my first pupil. Buddy played and I watched his hands. Well, he knocked me right out. He did everything I wanted to do, and he did it with such ease. When I met his folks, I asked them who his teacher was. 'He never studied,' they told me. That made me feel very good. I realized that it was something physical, not only mental, that you had to have."

In a 1985 interview, Adler clarified the extent of his teacher-student relationship to Rich and their collaboration on the instructional book:

"I had nothing to do with . That was a result of Tommy Dorsey's introduction to the Buddy Rich book," Adler said. "I used to go around denying it, knowing that Buddy was a natural player. Sure, he studied with me, but he didn't come to me to learn how to hold the drumsticks. I set out to teach Buddy to read. He'd take six lessons, go on the road for six weeks and come back. He didn't have time to practice."

"Tommy Dorsey wanted Buddy to write a book and he told him to get in touch with me. I did the book and Tommy wrote the foreword. Technically, I was Buddy's teacher, but I came along after he had already acquired his technique."

When asked about Rich's ability to read music, Bobby Shew, lead trumpeter in Rich's mid-60s big band replied,

    "No. He’d always have a drummer there during rehearsals to read and play the parts initially on new arrangements... He’d only have to listen to a chart once and he’d have it memorized. We'd run through it and he'd know exactly how it went, how many measures it ran and what he'd have to do to drive it. ...The guy had the most natural instincts."

The West Side Story Medley

Perhaps his most popular later performance was a big band arrangement of a medley derived from the Leonard Bernstein classic West Side Story, first released on the 1966 album Buddy Rich's Swingin' New Big Band

The West Side Story medley is considered by many as one of the most complex and difficult-to-perform big-band arrangements written. Penned by Bill Reddie, Rich received this arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's melodies from the famed musical in the mid-1960s and found it to be very challenging even for him. It consists of many rapid-fire time changes and signatures and took almost a month of constant rehearsals to perfect. It since became a staple in all his performances, clocking in at various lengths from seven to fifteen minutes. Bernstein himself had nothing but praise for it. In 2002, a DVD was released called The Lost West Side Story Tapes that captured a 1985 performance of this along with other numbers. These tapes had been previously thought to have been lost in a fire.
Channel One Suite

After the West Side Story Medley, Rich's most famous performance was the Channel One Suite by Bill Reddie. Like the West Side Story Medley, the Channel One Suite generally was a quite long performance ranging from about 12 minutes to about 26 minutes and usually contained 2 or 3 drum solos. Although 26 minute performances of the Channel One Suite were not incredibly common, they were not unheard of. A recording of one of his live performances was released in 2006 which contained a 26 minute Channel One Suite.
Personality

Although Rich was usually helpful and friendly, he had a short temper. In many instances, he took advantage of the respect he commanded. While he threatened many times to fire members of his band, he seldom did so, and for the most part he lauded his band members during television and print interviews. Rich's temper, mercurial attitude and imposing personality are documented in secret recordings members of his band made during some of his tantrums on tour buses and backstage.

These recordings, long circulated in bootleg form, have done much to fuel the reputation of Rich's personality. The tapes were popular with comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who used three quotes from them more or less verbatim on Seinfeld:

    * "If I have to tell you again, we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!" ("The Opposite")
    * "This guy - this is not my kind of guy." ("The Understudy")
    * "Then let's see how he does, up there, without all the assistance!" ("The Butter Shave")

On one recording, Rich threatens to fire Dave Panichi, a trombonist, for wearing a beard.

Rich's temper was referred in the Beastie Boys song "Sabotage": "I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle."

Dusty Springfield allegedly slapped Rich after several days of "putting up with Rich's insults and show-biz sabotage (at one point, after describing mutiple black singers as being 'second-rate', he introduced Springfield by saying, 'and here's one who's third-rate')".

Band member and lifelong friend David Lucas says that "Rich had a soft heart underneath it all. His favorite song was "It's Not Easy Being Green".

Buddy Rich held a black belt in karate, as mentioned in a CNN television interview with Larry King, c. 1985.
Death and legacy

Buddy Rich remained active until the end of his life, appearing with his Big Band on Michael Parkinson's British talk show Parkinson only a few weeks prior to his death. In the episode, Parkinson kidded Rich about his Donny Osmond kick, by claiming that Rich was the president of Osmond's fan club. Reportedly, prior to heart surgery, when asked by a nurse if he was allergic to anything; he replied, "Yes, Country and Western music!" Days before he died, he was visited by Mel Tormé, who claims that one of Buddy's last requests was "to hear the tapes" that featured his angry outbursts. At the time, Tormé was working on an authorized biography of Rich which was released after Rich's death, titled Traps, The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich.

On April 2, 1987, Rich died of heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. He is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. He was 69.

Since Rich's death, a number of memorial concerts have been held. In 1994, the Rich tribute album Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich was released. Produced by Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart, the album features performances of Rich staples by a number of rock and jazz drummers such as Kenny Aronoff, Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Max Roach and Peart himself, accompanied by the Buddy Rich Big Band. A second volume was issued in 1997.
Discography
Studio and live albums as leader or co-leader

    * 195?: The Flip Phillips / Buddy Rich Trio (Clef Records)
    * 1953: The Swingin' Buddy Rich (Norgran Records)
    * 1955: Sing and Swing with Buddy Rich (Norgran)
    * 1955: Buddy and Sweets (Norgran)
    * 195?: The Lester Young / Buddy Rich Trio (Norgran)
    * 1955: The Wailing Buddy Rich (Norgran)
    * 1955: Krupa and Rich (Clef)
    * 1955: Lionel Hampton / Art Tatum / Buddy Rich Trio (Clef)
    * 1956: Buddy Rich Sings Johnny Mercer (Verve Records)
    * 1956: This One's for Basie (Verve) — re-issued 1967 as Big Band Shout
    * 1957: Buddy Rich Just Sings (Verve)
    * 1958: Buddy Rich in Miami (Verve)
    * 1959: Richcraft (Mercury Records)
    * 1959: Rich Versus Roach (Mercury)
    * 1959: The Voice Is Rich (Mercury)
    * 19??: The Rich Rebellion (Mercury
    * 1960: The Driver (EmArcy Records)
    * 1961: Blues Caravan (Verve)
    * 1961: Playtime (Argo Records)
    * 1962: Burnin' Beat, Buddy Rich & Gene Krupa (Verve)
    * 1966: Swingin' New Big Band (Pacific Jazz Records / Blue Note Records)
    * 1966: The Sounds of '66, Sammy Davis Jr. & Buddy Rich (Reprise Records)
    * 1967: Big Swing Face (Pacific Jazz)
    * 1967: The New One! (Pacific Jazz) — aka Take it Away
    * 1968: Rich Ala Rahka (World Pacific)
    * 1968: Mercy, Mercy (Pacific Jazz)
    * 1969: Buddy & Soul (Pacific Jazz)
    * 1970: Keep the Customer Satisfied (Liberty Records)
    * 1971: Different Drummer (RCA Records)
    * 1971: Buddy Rich in London (RCA) — expanded UK release = Buddy Rich: Very Alive at Ronnie Scott's (RCA (UK))
    * 1972: Stick It (RCA)



    * 1973: The Roar of '74 (Groove Merchant Records)
    * 1974: Very Live at Buddy's Place (Groove Merchant)
    * 1974: Transition (Groove Merchant)
    * 1974: The Last Blues Album, Vol. 1 (Groove Merchant)
    * 1975: Big Band Machine (Groove Merchant)
    * 1976: Speak No Evil (RCA)
    * 1977: Buddy Rich Plays and Plays and Plays (RCA)
    * 1977: Lionel Hampton Presents Buddy Rich (Who's Who In Jazz) — aka Buddy's Cherokee... also released as The Sound of Jazz, Vol 10
    * 1977: Class of '78 (The Great American Gramophone Company) — also released as The Greatest Drummer That Ever Lived with The Best Band I Ever Had
    * 1977: Europe '77 (Magic)
    * 1978: Together Again: For the First Time, Mel Tormé and Buddy Rich (Gryphon / Century) — aka When I Found You
    * 1980: Live at Ronnie Scott's (DRG) — aka The Man from Planet Jazz
    * 1981: The Buddy Rich Band (Universal Special Products)
    * 1983: Rich and Famous (Amway) — aka The Magic of Buddy Rich, aka Buddy Rich - The Man
    * 1985: Mr. Drums: Live on King Street, San Francisco (Café)

Posthumous releases of previously unreleased recordings

    * 2001: Wham! The Buddy Rich Big Band Live (Label M)
    * 2004: No Funny Hats (Lightyear)

Notable compilation albums

    * 1960: The Drum Battle (Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich at JATP) (Verve)
    * 196?: The Best of Buddy Rich (Pacific Jazz)
    * 1969: Super Rich (Verve)
    * 1971: Time Being (Bluebird/RCA)
    * 1987: Compact Jazz: Buddy Rich (Verve)
    * 1990: Compact Jazz: Gene Krupa & Buddy Rich (Verve)
    * 1992: No Jive (Novus)
    * 1998: Buddy Rich: The Legendary '47-'48 Orchestra Vol. 1 (Hep Records)
    * 1998: Buddy Rich: The Legendary '46-'48 Orchestra Vol. 2 (Hep)
    * 2005: Classic EmArcy, Verve, Small Group Buddy Rich Sessions (7 CD Box set, Mosaic Records #232)

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z260/jbasham1/Buddy.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/xayk/My%20Myspace/buddy_rich.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/02/10 at 7:04 am


The word of the day...Kindergarten
A kindergarten is an informal kind of school for very young children, where they learn things by playing.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e164/blitterbling/Hannah/hgrad2.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj76/tbjhmj/Scrap%20pages%202010/SPMay098copy.jpg
http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac57/amylu72/img011_edited-1.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z222/maulratdsg/kindergarten.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/merman1967/Family/Kindergarten-1.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq252/lifesjourney09/kindergarten.png
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa157/ang3lac/Kindergarten.jpg


I remember my kindergarden picture from 1979,that was the picture where I was missing a piece of my bangs,What had happened was my mother was painting and all of a sudden,I grabbed a pair of scissors I cut my own hair and I was forced to take my class picture.The patch of hair missing from my head,To this day I have no recollection whatsoever as to why I did what I did,Hey I was 5.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/02/10 at 10:58 am

WHAT?? Dr. Demento isn't birthday of the day, today?  :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/10 at 11:03 am


Yes it is. :)
I want to see it again!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/02/10 at 3:36 pm


WHAT?? Dr. Demento isn't birthday of the day, today?  :\'( :\'(



Cat

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt99/randolf_012/Randy_Orton_08_Cropped.jpg


And don't forget WWE Superstar Randy Orton,his birthday was yesterday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/02/10 at 4:10 pm


WHAT?? Dr. Demento isn't birthday of the day, today?  :\'( :\'(



Cat

I couldn't remember if i did him before.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/02/10 at 4:34 pm


I couldn't remember if i did him before.



I don't recall you ever doing him.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/10 at 1:55 am

British Person of the Day: Sally Thomsett

Sally Thomsett (born 3 April 1950 in Sussex, England) is a British actress.

She is mainly remembered for starring in the 1970 film The Railway Children and for playing Jo in the TV sitcom, Man About The House (1973-1976). She also appeared in the 1971 movie Straw Dogs, where she played an attractive girl accidentally killed by the mentally handicapped character.

The Railway Children

In 1970 Thomsett was cast as the 11-year old Phyllis, despite the actress being 20 years old at the time - older than Jenny Agutter, who played her on-screen "older" sister Bobbie. Her contract forbade her to reveal her true age during the making of the film and was also not allowed to be seen smoking, drinking, driving her car, or in the company of her boyfriend during the shoot. (She did however make an appearance on BBC children's television shortly after, where the interviewer said "I wouldn't dream of asking a lady her age, but you're obviously quite a bit older than the part you played in the film".) After release, she received a BAFTA award nomination for Best Promising Newcomer.

http://c2.api.ning.com/files/vWoDzNc4Jzfm6Qt11Li781HDM-V6YC1OMO*izQZEBZKiCu9Nz6El-lps4b8N0Cvnn5yQcZAhmVQMIHcl1rMHzEj7lKJu0eTt/187069.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/10 at 1:55 am


British Person of the Day: Sally Thomsett

Sally Thomsett (born 3 April 1950 in Sussex, England) is a British actress.

She is mainly remembered for starring in the 1970 film The Railway Children and for playing Jo in the TV sitcom, Man About The House (1973-1976). She also appeared in the 1971 movie Straw Dogs, where she played an attractive girl accidentally killed by the mentally handicapped character.

The Railway Children

In 1970 Thomsett was cast as the 11-year old Phyllis, despite the actress being 20 years old at the time - older than Jenny Agutter, who played her on-screen "older" sister Bobbie. Her contract forbade her to reveal her true age during the making of the film and was also not allowed to be seen smoking, drinking, driving her car, or in the company of her boyfriend during the shoot. (She did however make an appearance on BBC children's television shortly after, where the interviewer said "I wouldn't dream of asking a lady her age, but you're obviously quite a bit older than the part you played in the film".) After release, she received a BAFTA award nomination for Best Promising Newcomer.

http://c2.api.ning.com/files/vWoDzNc4Jzfm6Qt11Li781HDM-V6YC1OMO*izQZEBZKiCu9Nz6El-lps4b8N0Cvnn5yQcZAhmVQMIHcl1rMHzEj7lKJu0eTt/187069.jpg
I hope the image works well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/03/10 at 6:16 am



I don't recall you ever doing him.



Cat

I must have looked him up for some reason, because when I look people up on Wikipedia if I already did the person they are in a lighter color, so I thought I did him last year...Sorry :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/03/10 at 6:17 am


I hope the image works well.

The image is fine. Wow she played an 11year old and was 20.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/03/10 at 6:23 am

The word of the day...Cooler
A cooler is a container for keeping things cool, especially drinks.
A water cooler is a machine that dispenses drinking water, especially in an office.
wine cooler
a drink made with wine, fruit juice, ice and soda water
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad63/brookejolly1977/DSC03611.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/tofavoryou/GreekCooler.jpg
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/savio7/Fan%20Cooler/usb-fan-cooler-turtle-1.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/tofavoryou/GreekPartyCooler.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g156/CowboyRon80/Posters/MagicCoolerPoster.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m261/g60_2006/IMAGE_197.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f356/caressa105203/wine_cooler_b.jpg
http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/gerilori/Winecooler.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f144/Parallax80/office.jpg
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad318/cjfromla/forsalenovitems041jpgpb.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/03/10 at 6:28 am

The person born on this day...Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage and television.

Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing, which aired on CBS from 1984 to 1986. He has since played both leading and supporting roles in films such as Beetlejuice (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). His performance in the 2003 film The Cooler garnered him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

He currently stars as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He has received two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the oldest of the Baldwin brothers working in Hollywood.
Stage

Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986, in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot alongside theater veterans Zoe Wanamaker, Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher and Charles Keating. This production closed after three months. His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious Money with Kate Nelligan and a highly acclaimed revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. His performance as Stanley Kowalski in the latter garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John Goodman and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at the Public theater alongside Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in a production directed by George C. Wolfe. In 2004, Baldwin starred in a revival of Twentieth Century with Anne Heche.

On June 9, 2005, he appeared in a concert version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific at Carnegie Hall. He starred as Luther Billis, alongside Reba McEntire as Nellie and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile. The production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006. In 2006, Baldwin made theater news in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane.
Television

Baldwin's first major acting role was as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap opera The Doctors from 1980 to 1982. In the fall of 1983, he starred in the short-lived television series Cutter to Houston. He then co-starred in the television series Knots Landing from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray, a four-hour made-for-television miniseries, as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered classmate. The film was adapted by Gore Vidal from the novel by Lucian Truscott.

Between the years of 1998 and 2002, Baldwin was the U.S. narrator for the children's show Thomas and Friends, narrating all 52 episodes of seasons 5 and 6. Baldwin appeared in a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in November 2000, competing against Jon Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Vivica A. Fox and Norm Macdonald. He won $250,000 for PAWS, and used Kim Basinger as one of his "phone-a-friend" partners.

In 2002, Baldwin appeared on two episodes of Friends as Phoebe Buffay's overly enthusiastic love interest, Parker. He also portrayed a recurring character in a number of episodes in season 7 and 8 of Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm - a 'top secret agent' and the lover of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). He also guest-starred in the first live episode of the series. Baldwin wrote an episode of Law & Order entitled "Tabloid", which aired in 1998. He played the role of Dr. Barrett Moore, a retired plastic surgeon, in the series Nip/Tuck.

On July 7, 2007, Baldwin was a host at the American leg of Live Earth, which was broadcast on NBC.

Baldwin currently stars in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which first aired in October 2006. Baldwin had met series creator Tina Fey and one of his co-stars, Tracy Morgan, during several tapings of Saturday Night Live. He has received two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role. Baldwin received his second Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical as Jack Donaghy in 2008, marking his seventh Primetime Emmy nomination and first win. He won again in 2009. Since season 3, Baldwin has been credited as producer of the show.

Baldwin joined TCM’s The Essentials Robert Osborne as co-host beginning in March 2009.

Baldwin co-hosted the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin in 2010. He has hosted Saturday Night Live 14 times as of November 2009.
Film

Baldwin made his theatrical film debut with a minor role in the 1988 film She's Having a Baby. Also in 1988, he appeared in Beetlejuice and Working Girl. He gained further recognition as a leading man with his role as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990).

Baldwin met his future wife Kim Basinger when they played lovers in the 1991 film The Marrying Man. He appeared with Basinger again in The Getaway, a 1994 remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the same name. Next, in a brief role, Baldwin played a ferocious sales executive in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a part added to the film version of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play. Later that year, he starred in Prelude to a Kiss with Meg Ryan, which was based on the Broadway play. The film received a lukewarm reception by critics and grossed only $22 million worldwide.

In 1994, Baldwin made a foray into pulp fiction-based movies with the role of the title character in The Shadow. The film made $48 million. In 1996 and 1997, Baldwin continued to work in several thrillers including The Edge, The Juror and Heaven's Prisoners.

Baldwin shifted towards character acting, beginning with 2001's Pearl Harbor. He played Lt. Col. James Doolittle in the film, which, with a worldwide box office of $449,220,945, remains the highest grossing film Baldwin has appeared in his acting career. Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler. He appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). In 2006, he starred in the film Mini's First Time, alongside Nikki Reed and Luke Wilson. Baldwin performed opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the 2007 romantic comedy, Suburban Girl. In 2009, he co-starred in the hit romantic comedy It's Complicated with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin.

Baldwin directed and starred in an all-star version of The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001. The then-unreleased film became an asset in a federal bank fraud trial when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud while the movie was in production. The film eventually was acquired by The Yari Group without Baldwin's involvement. In 2007, the Yari Film Group announced it would give the film, now titled Shortcut to Happiness, a theatrical release in the spring and cable film network Starz! announced they had acquired pay TV rights for the film. Shortcut to Happiness was finally released in 2008. Baldwin, displeased with the way the film had been cut in post-production, demanded that his directorial credit be changed to the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick".

Baldwin has also worked as voice actor in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.
Radio

On January 12, 2009, Baldwin became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week, the nationally broadcast radio series of the New York Philharmonic. He has recorded two nationally distributed public service radio announcements on behalf of the Save the Manatee Club.
A Promise to Ourselves

In 2008 Alec Baldwin and Mark Tabb published A Promise to Ourselves, which chronicles Baldwin's seven-year battle to remain a part of his daughter's life.

Baldwin contends that after their separation in December 2000, his former wife, Kim Basinger, endeavored to deny him access to his daughter by refusing to discuss parenting, blocking visitation, not providing telephone access, not following court orders, not dropping their daughter off for reasons of it being inconvenient, and directly lobbying the child. He contends she spent over $1.5 million in the effort.

Baldwin called this parental alienation syndrome. Baldwin has called the attorneys in the case "opportunists" and has characterized Basinger's psychologists as part of the "divorce industry". He has faulted them more than Basinger, and writes, "In fact, I blame my ex-wife least of all for what has transpired. She is a person, like many of us, doing the best she can with what she has. She is a litigant, and therefore, one who walks into a courtroom and is never offered anything other than what is served there. Nothing off the menu, ever."

Baldwin wrote that he has spent over a million dollars, has had to put time aside from his career, has had to travel extensively, and needed to find a house in California (he lived in New York), so he could stay in his daughter's life. Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and left an angry voicemail message in response to another unanswered arranged call. He contends that the tape was sold to TMZ, which released the recording despite laws against publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents. Baldwin admitted he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad moment. He later admitted to Playboy in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the voice mail that leaked to the public. Of the incident, he said "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."

During the autumn of 2008, Baldwin toured in support of the book, speaking about his experiences related in it
1987 Forever, Lulu Buck
1988 She's Having a Baby Davis McDonald
Beetlejuice Adam Maitland
Married to the Mob Frank de Marco
Working Girl Mick Dugan
Talk Radio Dan
1989 Great Balls of Fire! Jimmy Swaggart
Tong Tana Narrator Documentary
1990 The Hunt for Red October Jack Ryan
Miami Blues Frederick J. Frenger Jr.
Alice Ed
1991 The Marrying Man Charley Pearl
1992 Prelude to a Kiss Peter Hoskins
Glengarry Glen Ross Blake
1993 Malice Dr. Jed Hill
1994 The Getaway Carter 'Doc' McCoy
The Shadow Lamont Cranston/The Shadow
1995 Two Bits Narrator
1996 Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick Narrator Documentary
The Juror Teacher
Heaven's Prisoners Dave Robicheaux
Looking for Richard Clarence Documentary
Ghosts of Mississippi Bobby DeLaughter
1997 The Edge Robert Green
1998 Thick as Thieves Mackin, The Thief
Mercury Rising Lt. Col. Nicholas Kudrow
1999 The Confession Roy Bleakie
Notting Hill Jeff King
Outside Providence Old Man Dunphy Nominated — Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
"Scout's Honor" Todd Fitter Short film
2000 The Acting Class Himself
Thomas and the Magic Railroad Mr. Conductor
State and Main Bob Barrenger Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Clerks: The Animated Series Leonardo Leonardo
2001 Pearl Harbor Lt. Col. James Doolittle
Cats & Dogs Butch Voice
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Capt. Gray Edwards Voice
The Royal Tenenbaums Narrator Voice
2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash M.Z.M.
2003 The Cooler Shelly Kaplow Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
The Cat in the Hat Lawrence "Larry" Quinn Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Walking with Cavemen Narrator Documentary
"Brighter Days" Himself Short film
Channel Chasers 30-year-old Timmy Turner Voice
2004 Along Came Polly Stan Indursky
Double Dare Documentary
The Last Shot Joe Devine
The Aviator Juan Trippe Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Dennis (Plankton's hired hitman) Voice
2005 Elizabethtown Phil DeVoss
Fun with Dick and Jane Jack McCallister
2006 Mini's First Time Martin
The Departed Capt. George Ellerby National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast
Running with Scissors Norman Burroughs
The Good Shepherd Sam Murach
2007 Suburban Girl Archie Knox
Brooklyn Rules Caesar Manganaro
Shortcut to Happiness Jabez Stone
2008 My Best Friend's Girl Professor Turner
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Makunga Voice
Lymelife Mickey Bartlett
2009 My Sister's Keeper Campbell Alexander
It's Complicated Jacob Adler National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980–1982 The Doctors Billy Allison Aldrich
1983 Cutter to Houston Dr. Hal Wexler
1984 Sweet Revenge Major Alex Breen
1984–1986 Knots Landing Joshua Rush
1985 Hotel Dennis Medford Episode: Distortions
1985 Love on the Run Sean Carpenter
1986 Dress Gray Rysam 'Ry' Slaight TV miniseries
1987 The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory Colonel William B. Travis
1995 A Streetcar Named Desire Stanley Kowalski Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998–2003 Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Himself Narrator
2000 Nuremberg Justice Robert H. Jackson TV miniseries
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2000–2001 Clerks: The Animated Series Leonardo Leonardo
2002 Friends Parker Episodes: "The One in Massapequa," "The One with the Tea Leaves"
2002 Path to War Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense TV movie
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2003 Walking with Cavemen Himself Episodes: "Blood Brothers," "First Ancestors," "Savage Family," "The Survivors"
2003 Second Nature Paul Kane
2003 Dreams & Giants Himself Host
2004 The Fairly OddParents in: Channel Chasers Adult Timmy Turner Voice role
2004 Nip/Tuck Dr. Barret Moore Episode: "Joan Rivers"
2004 Las Vegas Jack Keller Episodes: "Degas Away with It," "Hellraisers & Heartbreakers"
2005 The Simpsons Dr. Caleb Thorn Episode: "Bonfire of the Manatees"
2005 Will & Grace Malcolm Episodes: "The Hole Truth," "Seems Like Old Times," "The Old Man and the Sea," "Alive and Schticking," "Friends with Benefits," "Kiss and Tell"
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series (2005, 2006)
2006 Great Performances Luther Billis Episode: "'South Pacific' in Concert from Carnegie Hall"
2006–Present 30 Rock Jack Donaghy Produced five episodes
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2008, 2009)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series (2006, 2008, 2009)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2007)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
2010 The Marriage Ref Guest Judge Episode: "Pilot"
Awards
Year Award Category Title
1985 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding New Actor in a Prime Time Serial Knots Landing
1992 Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actor Glengarry Glen Ross (Shared with cast)
2000 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Maverick Tribute Award
-
2000 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Best Acting by an Ensemble State and Main (Shared with cast)
2003 Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2006 Best Ensemble The Departed (Shared with cast)
2001 Gemini Award Best Dramatic Mini-Series Nuremberg
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Ensemble Cast State and Main (Shared with cast)
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Ensemble State and Main (Shared with cast)
2004 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role The Cooler
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2005 Hamptons International Film Festival Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement
-
2007 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
Television Critics Association Awards Individual Achievement in Comedy 30 Rock
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2008 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
2009 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2010 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z37/cbeachum/Baldwin.jpg
http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr203/haberci/unlu/AlecBaldwin/01/04.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/03/10 at 6:33 am

The person who died on this day...Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz  singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".  She had a contralto vocal range.

Nicknamed "Sailor" (for her salty speech), "Sassy" and "The Divine One", Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. The National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz", the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989.
Biographies of Vaughan frequently stated that she was immediately thrust into stardom after a winning an Amateur Night performance at Harlem's Apollo Theater. In fact, the story that biographer Leslie Gourse relates seems to be a bit more complex. Vaughan was frequently accompanied by a friend, Doris Robinson, on her trips into New York City. Sometime in the Fall of 1942 (when Sarah was 18 years old), Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete herself as a singer. Vaughan sang "Body and Soul" and won, although the exact date of her victorious Apollo performance is uncertain. The prize, as Vaughan recalled later to Marian McPartland, was US$10 and the promise of a week's engagement at the Apollo. After a considerable delay, Vaughan was contacted by the Apollo in the spring of 1943 to open for Ella Fitzgerald.

Sometime during her week of performances at the Apollo, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Hines, although the exact details of that introduction are disputed. Billy Eckstine, Hines' singer at the time, has been credited by Vaughan and others with hearing her at the Apollo and recommending her to Hines. Hines also claimed to have discovered her himself and offered her a job on the spot. Regardless, after a brief tryout at the Apollo, Hines officially replaced his existing female singer with Vaughan on April 4, 1943.
With Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine: 1943–1944

Vaughan spent the remainder of 1943 and part of 1944 touring the country with the Earl Hines big band that also featured baritone Billy Eckstine. Vaughan was hired as a pianist, reputedly so Hines could hire her under the jurisdiction of the musicians' union (American Federation of Musicians) rather than the singers union (American Guild of Variety Artists), but after Cliff Smalls joined the band as a trombonist and pianist, Sarah's duties became limited exclusively to singing. This Earl Hines band is best remembered today as an incubator of bebop, as it included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker (playing tenor saxophone rather than the alto saxophone that he would become famous with later) and trombonist Bennie Green. Gillespie also arranged for the band, although a recording ban by the musicians union prevented the band from recording and preserving its sound and style for posterity.

Eckstine left the Hines band in late 1943 and formed his own big band with Gillespie, leaving Hines to become the new band's musical director. Parker came along too, and the Eckstine band over the next few years would host a startling cast of jazz talent: Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Art Blakey, Lucky Thompson, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, among others.

Vaughan accepted Eckstine's invitation to join his new band in 1944, giving her an opportunity to develop her musicianship with the seminal figures in this era of jazz. Eckstine's band also afforded her first recording opportunity, a December 5, 1944 date that yielded the song "I'll Wait and Pray" for the Deluxe label. That date led to critic and producer Leonard Feather to ask her to cut four sides under her own name later that month for the Continental label, backed by a septet that included Dizzy Gillespie and Georgie Auld.

Band pianist John Malachi is credited with giving Vaughan the moniker "Sassy", a nickname that matched her personality. Vaughan liked it and the name (and its shortened variant "Sass") stuck with colleagues and, eventually, the press. In written communications, Vaughan often spelled it "Sassie".

Vaughan officially left the Eckstine band in late 1944 to pursue a solo career, although she remained very close to Eckstine personally and recorded with him frequently throughout her life.
Early solo career: 1945–1948

Vaughan began her solo career in 1945 by freelancing in clubs on New York's 52nd Street like the Three Deuces, the Famous Door, the Downbeat and the Onyx Club. Vaughan also hung around the Braddock Grill, next door to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. On May 11, 1945, Vaughan recorded "Lover Man" for the Guild label with a quintet featuring Gillespie and Parker with Al Haig on piano, Curly Russell on double bass and Sid Catlett on drums. Later that month she went into the studio with a slightly different and larger Gillespie/Parker aggregation and recorded three more sides.

After being invited by violinist Stuff Smith to record the song "Time and Again" in October, Vaughan was offered a contract to record for the Musicraft label by owner Albert Marx, although she would not begin recording as a leader for Musicraft until May 7, 1946. In the intervening time, Vaughan made a handful of recordings for the Crown and Gotham labels and began performing regularly at Cafe Society Downtown, an integrated club in New York's Sheridan Square.

While at Cafe Society, Vaughan became friends with trumpeter George Treadwell. Treadwell became Vaughan's manager and she ultimately delegated to him most of the musical director responsibilities for her recording sessions, leaving her free to focus almost entirely on singing. Over the next few years, Treadwell also made significant positive changes in Vaughan's stage appearance. Aside from an improved wardrobe and hair style, Vaughan had her teeth capped, eliminating an unsightly gap between her two front teeth.

Many of Vaughan's 1946 Musicraft recordings became quite well-known among jazz aficionados and critics, including "If You Could See Me Now" (written and arranged by Tadd Dameron), "Don't Blame Me", "I've Got a Crush on You", "Everything I Have is Yours" and "Body and Soul." With Vaughan and Treadwell's professional relationship on solid footing, the couple married on September 16, 1946.

Vaughan's recording success for Musicraft continued through 1947 and 1948. Her recording of "Tenderly" became an unexpected pop hit in late 1947. Her December 27, 1947, recording of "It's Magic" (from the Doris Day film Romance on the High Seas) found chart success in early 1948. Her recording of "Nature Boy" from April 8, 1948, became a hit around the same time as the release of the famous Nat King Cole recording of the same song. Because of yet another recording ban by the musicians union, "Nature Boy" was recorded with an a capella choir as the only accompaniment, adding an ethereal air to a song with a vaguely mystical lyric and melody.
Stardom and the Columbia years: 1948–1953

The musicians union ban pushed Musicraft to the brink of bankruptcy and Vaughan used the missed royalty payments as an opportunity to sign with the larger Columbia record label. Following the settling of the legal issues, her chart successes continued with the charting of "Black Coffee" in the summer of 1949. During her tenure at Columbia through 1953, Vaughan was steered almost exclusively to commercial pop ballads, a number of which had chart success: "That Lucky Old Sun", "Make Believe (You Are Glad When You're Sorry)", "I'm Crazy to Love You", "Our Very Own", "I Love the Guy", "Thinking of You" (with pianist Bud Powell), "I Cried for You", "These Things I Offer You", "Vanity", "I Ran All the Way Home", "Saint or Sinner", "My Tormented Heart", and "Time", among others.

Vaughan also achieved substantial critical acclaim. She won Esquire magazine's New Star Award for 1947 as well as awards from Down Beat magazine continuously from 1947 through 1952, and from Metronome magazine from 1948 through 1953. A handful of critics disliked her singing as being "over-stylized", reflecting the heated controversies of the time over the new musical trends of the late 40's. However, the critical reception to the young singer was generally positive.

Recording and critical success led to numerous performing opportunities, packing clubs around the country almost continuously throughout the years of the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the summer of 1949, Vaughan made her first appearance with a symphony orchestra in a benefit for the Philadelphia Orchestra entitled "100 Men and a Girl." Around this time, Chicago disk jockey Dave Garroway coined a second nickname for her, "The Divine One", that would follow her throughout her career.

With improving finances, in 1949 Vaughan and Treadwell purchased a three-story house on 21 Avon Avenue in Newark, occupying the top floor during their increasingly rare off-hours at home and relocating Vaughan's parents to the lower two floors. However, the business pressures and personality conflicts led to a cooling in the personal relationship between Treadwell and Vaughan. Treadwell hired a road manager to handle Vaughan's touring needs and opened a management office in Manhattan so he could work with clients in addition to Vaughan.

Vaughan's relationship with Columbia Records also soured as she became dissatisfied with the commercial material she was required to record and lackluster financial success of her records. A set of small group sides recorded in 1950 with Miles Davis and Benny Green are among the best of her career, but they were atypical of her Columbia output.
The Mercury years: 1954–1958

In 1953, Treadwell negotiated a unique contract for Vaughan with Mercury Records. She would record commercial material for the Mercury label and more jazz-oriented material for its subsidiary EmArcy. Vaughan was paired with producer Bob Shad and their excellent working relationship yielded strong commercial and artistic success. Her debut Mercury recording session took place in February 1954 and she stayed with the label through 1959. After a stint at Roulette Records (1960 to 1963), Vaughan returned to Mercury from 1964 to 1967.

Vaughan's commercial success at Mercury began with the 1954 hit, "Make Yourself Comfortable", recorded in the fall of 1954, and continued with a succession of hits, including: "How Important Can It Be" (with Count Basie), "Whatever Lola Wants", "The Banana Boat Song", "You Ought to Have A Wife" and "Misty". Her commercial success peaked in 1959 with "Broken Hearted Melody", a song she considered to be "corny", but, nonetheless, became her first gold record and a regular part of her concert repertoire for years to come. Vaughan was reunited with Billy Eckstine for a series of duet recordings in 1957 that yielded the hit "Passing Strangers". Vaughan's commercial recordings were handled by a number of different arrangers and conductors, primarily Hugo Peretti and Hal Mooney.

The jazz "track" of her recording career also proceeded apace, backed either by her working trio or various combinations of stellar jazz players. One of her own favorite albums was a 1954 sextet date that included Clifford Brown.

The latter half of the 1950s often found Vaughan in the company of a veritable who's who of jazz as she followed a schedule of almost non-stop touring. She was featured at the first Newport Jazz Festival in the summer of 1954 and would star in subsequent editions of that festival at Newport and in New York City for the remainder of her life. In the fall of 1954, she performed at Carnegie Hall with the Count Basie Orchestra on a bill that also included Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That fall, she again toured Europe successfully before embarking on a "Big Show" U. S. tour, a grueling succession of start-studded one-nighters that included Count Basie, George Shearing, Erroll Garner and Jimmy Rushing. At the 1955 New York Jazz Festival on Randalls Island, Vaughan shared the bill with the Dave Brubeck quartet, Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, and the Johnny Richards Orchestra

Although the professional relationship between Vaughan and Treadwell was quite successful through the 1950s, their personal relationship finally reached a breaking point and she filed for a divorce in 1958. Vaughan had entirely delegated financial matters to Treadwell, and despite stunning income figures reported through the 1950s, at the settlement Treadwell said that only $16,000 remained. The couple evenly divided that amount and their personal assets, terminating their business relationship.
The 1960s

The exit of Treadwell from Sarah Vaughan's life was also precipitated by the entry of Clyde "C.B." Atkins, a man of uncertain background whom she had met in Chicago and married on September 4, 1959. Although Atkins had no experience in artist management or music, Vaughan wished to have a mixed professional/personal relationship like the one she had with Treadwell. She made Atkins her personal manager, although she was still feeling the sting of the problems she had with Treadwell, and initially kept a slightly closer eye on Atkins. Vaughan and Atkins moved into a house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

When Vaughan's contract with Mercury Records ended in late 1959, she immediately signed on with Roulette Records, a small label owned by Morris Levy, who was one of the backers of New York's Birdland, where she frequently appeared. Roulette's roster also included Count Basie, Joe Williams, Dinah Washington, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross and Maynard Ferguson.

Vaughan began recording for Roulette in April 1960, making a string of strong large ensemble albums arranged and/or conducted by Billy May, Jimmy Jones, Joe Reisman, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, Lalo Schifrin and Gerald Wilson. Surprisingly, she also had some pop chart success in 1960 with "Serenata" on Roulette and a couple of residual tracks from her Mercury contract, "Eternally" and "You're My Baby". She also made a pair of intimate vocal/guitar/double bass albums of jazz standards: After Hours (1961) with guitarist Mundell Lowe and double bassist George Duvivier and Sarah + 2 (1962) with guitarist Barney Kessell and double bassist Joe Comfort.

Vaughan was incapable of having children, so, in 1961, she and Atkins adopted a daughter, Debra Lois. However, the relationship with Atkins proved difficult and violent so, following a series of strange incidents, she filed for divorce in November 1963. She turned to two friends to help sort out the financial wreckage of the marriage: club owner John "Preacher" Wells, a childhood acquaintance, and Clyde "Pumpkin" Golden, Jr. Wells and Golden found that Atkins' gambling and profligate spending had put Vaughan around $150,000 in debt. The Englewood Cliffs house was ultimately seized by the IRS for nonpayment of taxes. Vaughan retained custody of their child and Golden essentially took Atkins place as Vaughan's manager and lover for the remainder of the decade.

Around the time of her second divorce, she also became disenchanted with Roulette Records. Roulette' finances were even more deceptive and opaque than usual in the record business and its recording artists often had little to show for their efforts other than some excellent records. When her contract with Roulette ended in 1963, Vaughan returned to the more familiar confines of Mercury Records. In the summer of 1963, Vaughan went to Denmark with producer Quincy Jones to record four days of live performances with her trio, Sassy Swings the Tivoli, an excellent example of her live show from this period. The following year, she made her first appearance at the White House, for President Johnson.

Unfortunately, the Tivoli recording would be the brightest moment of her second stint with Mercury. Changing demographics and tastes in the 1960s left jazz artists with shrinking audiences and inappropriate material. While Vaughan retained a following large and loyal enough to maintain her performing career, the quality and quantity of her recorded output dwindled even as her voice darkened and her skill remained undiminished. At the conclusion of her Mercury deal in 1967 she was left without a recording contract for the remainder of the decade.

In 1969, Vaughan terminated her professional relationship with Golden and relocated to the West Coast, settling first into a house near Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles and then into what would end up being her final home in Hidden Hills.
Rebirth in the 1970s

Vaughan met Marshall Fisher after a 1970 performance at a casino in Las Vegas and Fisher soon fell into the familiar dual role as Vaughan's lover and manager. Fisher was another man of uncertain background with no musical or entertainment business experience, but—unlike some of her earlier associates—he was a genuine fan devoted to furthering her career.

The seventies also heralded a rebirth in Vaughan's recording activity. In 1971, Bob Shad, who had worked with her as producer at Mercury Records, asked her to record for his new record label, Mainstream Records. Basie veteran Ernie Wilkins arranged and conducted her first Mainstream album, A Time In My Life in November 1971. In April 1972, Vaughan recorded a collection of ballads written, arranged and conducted by Michel Legrand. Arrangers Legrand, Peter Matz, Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson teamed up for Vaughan's third Mainstream album, Feelin' Good. Vaughan also recorded Live in Japan, a live album in Tokyo with her trio in September 1973.

During her sessions with Legrand, Bob Shad presented "Send In The Clowns", a Stephen Sondheim song from the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, to Vaughan for consideration. The song would become her signature, replacing the chestnut "Tenderly" that had been with her from the beginning of her solo career.

Unfortunately, Vaughan's relationship with Mainstream soured in 1974, allegedly in a conflict precipitated by Fisher over an album cover photograph and/or unpaid royalties. This left Vaughan again without a recording contract for three years.

In December 1974, Vaughan played a private concert for the United States President Gerald Ford and French president Giscard d'Estaing during their summit on Martinique.

Also in 1974, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas asked Vaughan to participate in an all-Gershwin show he was planning for a guest appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. The arrangements were by Marty Paich and the orchestra would be augmented by established jazz artists Dave Grusin on piano, Ray Brown on double bass, drummer Shelly Manne and saxophonists Bill Perkins and Pete Christlieb. The concert was a success and Thomas and Vaughan repeated the performance with Thomas' home orchestra in Buffalo, New York, followed by appearances in 1975 and 1976 with symphony orchestras around the country. These performances fulfilled a long-held interest by Vaughan in working with symphonies and she made orchestra performances without Thomas for the remainder of the decade.

In 1977, Vaughan terminated her personal and professional relationship with Marshall Fisher. Although Fisher is occasionally referenced as Vaughan's third husband, they were never legally married. Vaughan began a relationship with Waymond Reed, a trumpet player 16 years her junior who was playing with the Count Basie band. Reed joined her working trio as a musical director and trumpet player and became her third husband in 1978.

In 1977, Tom Guy, a young filmmaker and public TV producer, followed Vaughan around on tour, interviewing numerous artists speaking about her and capturing both concert and behind-the-scenes footage. The resulting sixteen hours of footage was pared down into an hour-and-a-half documentary, Listen To The Sun, that aired on September 21, 1978, on New Jersey Public Television, but was never commercially released.

In 1977, Norman Granz, who was also Ella Fitzgerald's manager, signed Vaughan to his Pablo Records label. Vaughan had not had a recording contract for three years, although she had recorded a 1977 album of Beatles songs with contemporary pop arrangements for Atlantic Records that was eventually released in 1981. Vaughan's first Pablo release was I Love Brazil, recorded with an all-star cast of Brazilian musicians in Rio de Janeiro in the fall of 1977. It garnered a Grammy nomination.

The Pablo contract resulted in a total of seven albums: a second and equally wondrous Brazilian record, "Copacabana", again recorded in Rio (1979), How Long Has This Been Going On? (1978) with a quartet that included pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Louis Bellson; two Duke Ellington Songbook albums (1979); Send In The Clowns (1981) with the Count Basie orchestra playing arrangements primarily by Sammy Nestico; and Crazy and Mixed Up (1982), another quartet album featuring Sir Roland Hanna, piano, Joe Pass, guitar, Andy Simpkins, bass, and Harold Jones drums.

Vaughan and Waymond Reed divorced in 1981.
Vaughan remained quite active as a performer during the 1980s and began receiving awards recognizing her contribution to American music and status as an important elder stateswoman of Jazz. In the summer of 1980, Vaughan received a plaque on 52nd Street outside the CBS Building (Black Rock) commemorating the jazz clubs she had once frequented on "Swing Street" and which had long since been demolished and replaced with office buildings.

A performance of her symphonic Gershwin program with the New Jersey Symphony in 1980 was broadcast on PBS and won her an Emmy Award in 1981 for "Individual Achievement - Special Class". She was reunited with Michael Tilson Thomas for slightly modified version of the Gershwin program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the CBS Records recording, Gershwin Live! won Vaughan the Grammy award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female. In 1985, Vaughan received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1988, Vaughan was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame.

After the conclusion of her Pablo contract in 1982, Vaughan did only a limited amount studio recording. Vaughan made a guest appearance in 1984 on Barry Manilow's 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, an album of original pastiche compositions that featured a number of established jazz artists. In 1984, Vaughan participated in one of the more unusual projects of her career, The Planet is Alive, Let It Live a symphonic piece composed by Tito Fontana and Sante Palumbo on Italian translations of Polish poems by Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II. The recording was made in Germany with an English translation by writer Gene Lees and was released by Lees on his own private label after the recording was turned down by the major labels. In 1986, Vaughan sang two songs, "Happy Talk" and "Bali Ha'i", in the role of Bloody Mary on an otherwise stiff studio recording by opera stars Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras of the score of the Broadway musical South Pacific, while sitting on the studio floor.

Vaughan's final complete album was Brazilian Romance, produced and composed by Sergio Mendes and recorded primarily in the early part of 1987 in New York and Detroit. In 1988, Vaughan contributed vocals to an album of Christmas carols recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and sold in Hallmark Cards stores. In 1989, Quincy Jones' album Back on the Block featured Vaughan in a brief scatting duet with Ella Fitzgerald. This was Vaughan's final studio recording and, fittingly, it was Vaughan's only formal studio recording with Fitzgerald in a career that had begun 46 years earlier opening for Fitzgerald at the Apollo.

Vaughan is featured in a number of video recordings from the 1980s. Sarah Vaughan Live from Monterrey was taped in 1983 or 1984 and featured her working trio with guest soloists. Sass and Brass was taped in 1986 in New Orleans and also features her working trio with guest soloists, including Dizzy Gillespie and Maynard Ferguson. Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One was featured in the American Masters series on PBS.

She was given the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, UCLA Spring Sing.
Death

In 1989, Vaughan's health began to decline, although she rarely betrayed any hints in her performances. Vaughan canceled a series of engagements in Europe in 1989 citing the need to seek treatment for arthritis in the hand, although she was able to complete a later series of performances in Japan. During a run at New York's Blue Note jazz club in 1989, Vaughan received a diagnosis of lung cancer and was too ill to finish the final day of what would turn out to be her final series of public performances.

Vaughan returned to her home in California to begin chemotherapy and spent her final months alternating stays in the hospital and at home. Toward the end, Vaughan tired of the struggle and demanded to be taken home, where she died on the evening of April 3, 1990, while watching a television movie featuring her daughter, a week after her 66th birthday.

Vaughan's funeral was held at Mount Zion Baptist Church at 208 Broadway in Newark, New Jersey which was the same congregation she grew up in, although relocated to a new building. Following the ceremony, a horse-drawn carriage transported her body to its final resting place in Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Hit songs associated with Sarah Vaughan

The listing is not chronological.

  1. If You Could See Me Now
  2. Tenderly
  3. Beautiful Changes
  4. It's Magic (Recorded December 27, 1947 for Musicraft.)
  5. Shulie A Bop
  6. The Nearness of You
  7. Loverman (with Charlie Parker May 11, 1945 for the Guild label, with her own quartet in the 1950s for EmArcy.)
  8. Make Yourself Comfortable (Highest chart position, number 4, November 11, 1954
  9. Broken Hearted Melody (Highest chart position, number 7, September 1959
  10. Passing Strangers (with Billy Eckstine)
  11. Misty
  12. Whatever Lola Wants

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Sarah Vaughan were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Grammy Hall of Fame
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1955 Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown Jazz (Album) Mercury 1999
1946 If You Could See Me Now Jazz (Single) Musicraft 1998
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee62/wichiter/sarah.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p264/lumis09/JAZZ/Sarah_Vaughan.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/03/10 at 6:49 am


The person born on this day...Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage and television.

Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing, which aired on CBS from 1984 to 1986. He has since played both leading and supporting roles in films such as Beetlejuice (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). His performance in the 2003 film The Cooler garnered him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

He currently stars as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He has received two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the oldest of the Baldwin brothers working in Hollywood.
Stage

Baldwin made his Broadway debut in 1986, in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot alongside theater veterans Zoe Wanamaker, Željko Ivanek, Joseph Maher and Charles Keating. This production closed after three months. His other Broadway credits include Caryl Churchill's Serious Money with Kate Nelligan and a highly acclaimed revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. His performance as Stanley Kowalski in the latter garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. Baldwin also received an Emmy nomination for the 1995 television version of the production, in which both he and Jessica Lange reprised their roles, alongside John Goodman and Diane Lane. In 1998, Baldwin played the title role in Macbeth at the Public theater alongside Angela Bassett and Liev Schreiber in a production directed by George C. Wolfe. In 2004, Baldwin starred in a revival of Twentieth Century with Anne Heche.

On June 9, 2005, he appeared in a concert version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific at Carnegie Hall. He starred as Luther Billis, alongside Reba McEntire as Nellie and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile. The production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006. In 2006, Baldwin made theater news in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane.
Television

Baldwin's first major acting role was as Billy Aldrich on the daytime soap opera The Doctors from 1980 to 1982. In the fall of 1983, he starred in the short-lived television series Cutter to Houston. He then co-starred in the television series Knots Landing from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Baldwin starred in Dress Gray, a four-hour made-for-television miniseries, as an honest cadet sergeant who tries to solve the mystery of a murdered classmate. The film was adapted by Gore Vidal from the novel by Lucian Truscott.

Between the years of 1998 and 2002, Baldwin was the U.S. narrator for the children's show Thomas and Friends, narrating all 52 episodes of seasons 5 and 6. Baldwin appeared in a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in November 2000, competing against Jon Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Vivica A. Fox and Norm Macdonald. He won $250,000 for PAWS, and used Kim Basinger as one of his "phone-a-friend" partners.

In 2002, Baldwin appeared on two episodes of Friends as Phoebe Buffay's overly enthusiastic love interest, Parker. He also portrayed a recurring character in a number of episodes in season 7 and 8 of Will & Grace, in which he played Malcolm - a 'top secret agent' and the lover of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). He also guest-starred in the first live episode of the series. Baldwin wrote an episode of Law & Order entitled "Tabloid", which aired in 1998. He played the role of Dr. Barrett Moore, a retired plastic surgeon, in the series Nip/Tuck.

On July 7, 2007, Baldwin was a host at the American leg of Live Earth, which was broadcast on NBC.

Baldwin currently stars in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, which first aired in October 2006. Baldwin had met series creator Tina Fey and one of his co-stars, Tracy Morgan, during several tapings of Saturday Night Live. He has received two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role. Baldwin received his second Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical as Jack Donaghy in 2008, marking his seventh Primetime Emmy nomination and first win. He won again in 2009. Since season 3, Baldwin has been credited as producer of the show.

Baldwin joined TCM’s The Essentials Robert Osborne as co-host beginning in March 2009.

Baldwin co-hosted the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin in 2010. He has hosted Saturday Night Live 14 times as of November 2009.
Film

Baldwin made his theatrical film debut with a minor role in the 1988 film She's Having a Baby. Also in 1988, he appeared in Beetlejuice and Working Girl. He gained further recognition as a leading man with his role as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990).

Baldwin met his future wife Kim Basinger when they played lovers in the 1991 film The Marrying Man. He appeared with Basinger again in The Getaway, a 1994 remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the same name. Next, in a brief role, Baldwin played a ferocious sales executive in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), a part added to the film version of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play. Later that year, he starred in Prelude to a Kiss with Meg Ryan, which was based on the Broadway play. The film received a lukewarm reception by critics and grossed only $22 million worldwide.

In 1994, Baldwin made a foray into pulp fiction-based movies with the role of the title character in The Shadow. The film made $48 million. In 1996 and 1997, Baldwin continued to work in several thrillers including The Edge, The Juror and Heaven's Prisoners.

Baldwin shifted towards character acting, beginning with 2001's Pearl Harbor. He played Lt. Col. James Doolittle in the film, which, with a worldwide box office of $449,220,945, remains the highest grossing film Baldwin has appeared in his acting career. Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler. He appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). In 2006, he starred in the film Mini's First Time, alongside Nikki Reed and Luke Wilson. Baldwin performed opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the 2007 romantic comedy, Suburban Girl. In 2009, he co-starred in the hit romantic comedy It's Complicated with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin.

Baldwin directed and starred in an all-star version of The Devil and Daniel Webster with Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Aykroyd in 2001. The then-unreleased film became an asset in a federal bank fraud trial when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud while the movie was in production. The film eventually was acquired by The Yari Group without Baldwin's involvement. In 2007, the Yari Film Group announced it would give the film, now titled Shortcut to Happiness, a theatrical release in the spring and cable film network Starz! announced they had acquired pay TV rights for the film. Shortcut to Happiness was finally released in 2008. Baldwin, displeased with the way the film had been cut in post-production, demanded that his directorial credit be changed to the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick".

Baldwin has also worked as voice actor in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.
Radio

On January 12, 2009, Baldwin became the host of The New York Philharmonic This Week, the nationally broadcast radio series of the New York Philharmonic. He has recorded two nationally distributed public service radio announcements on behalf of the Save the Manatee Club.
A Promise to Ourselves

In 2008 Alec Baldwin and Mark Tabb published A Promise to Ourselves, which chronicles Baldwin's seven-year battle to remain a part of his daughter's life.

Baldwin contends that after their separation in December 2000, his former wife, Kim Basinger, endeavored to deny him access to his daughter by refusing to discuss parenting, blocking visitation, not providing telephone access, not following court orders, not dropping their daughter off for reasons of it being inconvenient, and directly lobbying the child. He contends she spent over $1.5 million in the effort.

Baldwin called this parental alienation syndrome. Baldwin has called the attorneys in the case "opportunists" and has characterized Basinger's psychologists as part of the "divorce industry". He has faulted them more than Basinger, and writes, "In fact, I blame my ex-wife least of all for what has transpired. She is a person, like many of us, doing the best she can with what she has. She is a litigant, and therefore, one who walks into a courtroom and is never offered anything other than what is served there. Nothing off the menu, ever."

Baldwin wrote that he has spent over a million dollars, has had to put time aside from his career, has had to travel extensively, and needed to find a house in California (he lived in New York), so he could stay in his daughter's life. Baldwin contended that after seven years of these issues, he hit a breaking point, and left an angry voicemail message in response to another unanswered arranged call. He contends that the tape was sold to TMZ, which released the recording despite laws against publishing media related to a minor without the permission of both parents. Baldwin admitted he made a mistake, but asked not to be judged as a parent based on a bad moment. He later admitted to Playboy in June 2009 that he contemplated suicide over the voice mail that leaked to the public. Of the incident, he said "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me. If I committed suicide, would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal."

During the autumn of 2008, Baldwin toured in support of the book, speaking about his experiences related in it
1987 Forever, Lulu Buck
1988 She's Having a Baby Davis McDonald
Beetlejuice Adam Maitland
Married to the Mob Frank de Marco
Working Girl Mick Dugan
Talk Radio Dan
1989 Great Balls of Fire! Jimmy Swaggart
Tong Tana Narrator Documentary
1990 The Hunt for Red October Jack Ryan
Miami Blues Frederick J. Frenger Jr.
Alice Ed
1991 The Marrying Man Charley Pearl
1992 Prelude to a Kiss Peter Hoskins
Glengarry Glen Ross Blake
1993 Malice Dr. Jed Hill
1994 The Getaway Carter 'Doc' McCoy
The Shadow Lamont Cranston/The Shadow
1995 Two Bits Narrator
1996 Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick Narrator Documentary
The Juror Teacher
Heaven's Prisoners Dave Robicheaux
Looking for Richard Clarence Documentary
Ghosts of Mississippi Bobby DeLaughter
1997 The Edge Robert Green
1998 Thick as Thieves Mackin, The Thief
Mercury Rising Lt. Col. Nicholas Kudrow
1999 The Confession Roy Bleakie
Notting Hill Jeff King
Outside Providence Old Man Dunphy Nominated — Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
"Scout's Honor" Todd Fitter Short film
2000 The Acting Class Himself
Thomas and the Magic Railroad Mr. Conductor
State and Main Bob Barrenger Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Clerks: The Animated Series Leonardo Leonardo
2001 Pearl Harbor Lt. Col. James Doolittle
Cats & Dogs Butch Voice
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Capt. Gray Edwards Voice
The Royal Tenenbaums Narrator Voice
2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash M.Z.M.
2003 The Cooler Shelly Kaplow Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
The Cat in the Hat Lawrence "Larry" Quinn Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Walking with Cavemen Narrator Documentary
"Brighter Days" Himself Short film
Channel Chasers 30-year-old Timmy Turner Voice
2004 Along Came Polly Stan Indursky
Double Dare Documentary
The Last Shot Joe Devine
The Aviator Juan Trippe Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Dennis (Plankton's hired hitman) Voice
2005 Elizabethtown Phil DeVoss
Fun with Dick and Jane Jack McCallister
2006 Mini's First Time Martin
The Departed Capt. George Ellerby National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast
Running with Scissors Norman Burroughs
The Good Shepherd Sam Murach
2007 Suburban Girl Archie Knox
Brooklyn Rules Caesar Manganaro
Shortcut to Happiness Jabez Stone
2008 My Best Friend's Girl Professor Turner
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Makunga Voice
Lymelife Mickey Bartlett
2009 My Sister's Keeper Campbell Alexander
It's Complicated Jacob Adler National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980–1982 The Doctors Billy Allison Aldrich
1983 Cutter to Houston Dr. Hal Wexler
1984 Sweet Revenge Major Alex Breen
1984–1986 Knots Landing Joshua Rush
1985 Hotel Dennis Medford Episode: Distortions
1985 Love on the Run Sean Carpenter
1986 Dress Gray Rysam 'Ry' Slaight TV miniseries
1987 The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory Colonel William B. Travis
1995 A Streetcar Named Desire Stanley Kowalski Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1998–2003 Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Himself Narrator
2000 Nuremberg Justice Robert H. Jackson TV miniseries
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2000–2001 Clerks: The Animated Series Leonardo Leonardo
2002 Friends Parker Episodes: "The One in Massapequa," "The One with the Tea Leaves"
2002 Path to War Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense TV movie
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Television Film
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2003 Walking with Cavemen Himself Episodes: "Blood Brothers," "First Ancestors," "Savage Family," "The Survivors"
2003 Second Nature Paul Kane
2003 Dreams & Giants Himself Host
2004 The Fairly OddParents in: Channel Chasers Adult Timmy Turner Voice role
2004 Nip/Tuck Dr. Barret Moore Episode: "Joan Rivers"
2004 Las Vegas Jack Keller Episodes: "Degas Away with It," "Hellraisers & Heartbreakers"
2005 The Simpsons Dr. Caleb Thorn Episode: "Bonfire of the Manatees"
2005 Will & Grace Malcolm Episodes: "The Hole Truth," "Seems Like Old Times," "The Old Man and the Sea," "Alive and Schticking," "Friends with Benefits," "Kiss and Tell"
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series (2005, 2006)
2006 Great Performances Luther Billis Episode: "'South Pacific' in Concert from Carnegie Hall"
2006–Present 30 Rock Jack Donaghy Produced five episodes
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2008, 2009)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series (2006, 2008, 2009)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series (2007)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
2010 The Marriage Ref Guest Judge Episode: "Pilot"
Awards
Year Award Category Title
1985 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding New Actor in a Prime Time Serial Knots Landing
1992 Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actor Glengarry Glen Ross (Shared with cast)
2000 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Maverick Tribute Award
-
2000 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Best Acting by an Ensemble State and Main (Shared with cast)
2003 Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2006 Best Ensemble The Departed (Shared with cast)
2001 Gemini Award Best Dramatic Mini-Series Nuremberg
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards Best Ensemble Cast State and Main (Shared with cast)
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Ensemble State and Main (Shared with cast)
2004 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role The Cooler
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor The Cooler
2005 Hamptons International Film Festival Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement
-
2007 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
Television Critics Association Awards Individual Achievement in Comedy 30 Rock
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2008 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
2009 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
2010 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy 30 Rock
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z37/cbeachum/Baldwin.jpg
http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr203/haberci/unlu/AlecBaldwin/01/04.jpg


Alec Baldwin was in the news a while ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/10 at 6:54 am


The word of the day...Cooler
A cooler is a container for keeping things cool, especially drinks.
A water cooler is a machine that dispenses drinking water, especially in an office.
wine cooler
a drink made with wine, fruit juice, ice and soda water
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad63/brookejolly1977/DSC03611.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/tofavoryou/GreekCooler.jpg
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww126/savio7/Fan%20Cooler/usb-fan-cooler-turtle-1.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/tofavoryou/GreekPartyCooler.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g156/CowboyRon80/Posters/MagicCoolerPoster.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m261/g60_2006/IMAGE_197.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f356/caressa105203/wine_cooler_b.jpg
http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w337/gerilori/Winecooler.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f144/Parallax80/office.jpg
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad318/cjfromla/forsalenovitems041jpgpb.jpg
Steve macQueen was the Cooler King

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/04/10 at 6:29 am

The word of the day...Easter
Easter is a Christian festival when Jesus Christ's return to life is celebrated. It is celebrated on a Sunday in March or April
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e229/cdavoli/happy-easter.jpg
http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad141/SheilaGig/easter.gif
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/urfavgurrl/Happy_Easter.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/eshepard/Easter/Evangeline3219.jpg
http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt209/msparrie/easter/easter_candy.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u124/shenvalcat/happyeasterlily.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/04/10 at 7:03 am

I always loved those Cadbury Creme Eggs with the yolk in the middle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/04/10 at 6:49 pm


I always loved those Cadbury Creme Eggs with the yolk in the middle.

I haven't had them in years

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/04/10 at 6:51 pm


I always loved those Cadbury Creme Eggs with the yolk in the middle.


I haven't had them in years

Neither have I... the last time I can remember eating any was 10 years ago. I might've had one or two since then, but can't remember offhand.


And by the way, I love the Easter pics up above; they are very colorful and festive. 8)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 1:52 am


I always loved those Cadbury Creme Eggs with the yolk in the middle.
Too "Cremey" for me!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:12 am


Neither have I... the last time I can remember eating any was 10 years ago. I might've had one or two since then, but can't remember offhand.


And by the way, I love the Easter pics up above; they are very colorful and festive. 8)

I'm glad you like them. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 5:22 am

British Person of the Day: Nigel Hawthorne

Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister.

Early life

Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England, the son of Agnes Rosemary (née Rice) and Charles Barnard Hawthorne, a physician. He grew up in South Africa, where he was educated at St George's Grammar School, Cape Town and Christian Brothers College. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town but withdrew and returned to the United Kingdom in the 1950s to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Hawthorne made his professional stage debut in 1950, playing Archie Fellows in a Cape Town production of The Shop at Sly Corner.

In a long and varied career, which began with an advert for Mackeson stout and a bit part in Dad's Army, his most famous roles were as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the television series Yes Minister (and Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister), for which he won four BAFTA awards, and as King George III in Alan Bennett's stage play The Madness of George III (Olivier Award) and the film adaptation, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Honours

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and was knighted in 1999.

Personal life and death

An intensely private individual, he was upset at having been involuntarily "outed" as gay in 1995 in the publicity surrounding the Academy Awards, but he did attend the ceremony with his long-time partner Trevor Bentham, speaking openly about being gay in interviews and his autobiography, Straight Face, which was published posthumously.

Hawthorne had several operations for pancreatic cancer, although his immediate cause of death was from a heart attack, aged 72. He was survived by his partner, Trevor Bentham and buried at the Parish Church of Thundridge near Ware, Hertfordshire.

Television

    * Mrs Wilson's Diary (1969) … Roy Jenkins
    * Alma Mater (1971) … Major
    * The Floater (1975)
    * Eleanor Marx: Tussy (1977)
    * Eleanor Marx: Eleanor (1977)
    * Marie Curie (1977) … Pierre Curie
    * Destiny (1978)
    * Holocaust (1978) … General Otto Ohlendorf
    * Warrior Queen (1978) … Catus Decianus
    * Edward and Mrs. Simpson (1978) … Walter Monkton
    * Thomas & Sarah (1979) … Wilson
    * The Knowledge (1979) … Mr. Burgess
    * Yes Minister (1980–1984) … Sir Humphrey Appleby, Permanent Secretary
    * The Tempest (1980) … Stephano
    * A Tale of Two Cities (1980) … Mr. C. J. Stryver
    * Jessie (1980) … Mr. Edmonds
    * Jukes of Piccadilly (1980) … Brinsley Jukes
    * A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to Eldorado (1981)
    * The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) … Magistrate at Esmeralda's trial
    * A Woman Called Golda (1982) … King Abdullah
    * The World Cup: A Captain's Tale (1982)
    * The Critic (1982)
    * The Barchester Chronicles (1982) … Archdeacon Grantly
    * The Tartuffe or Imposter (1983) … Orgon
    * Pope John Paul II (1984) … Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
    * The House (1984)
    * Mapp & Lucia (1985) … Georgie Pillson
    * Jenny's War (1985) … Colonel
    * Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988) … Sir Humphrey Appleby, Cabinet Secretary
    * Spirit of Man (1989) … Rev. Jonathan Guerdon (segment "From Sleep and Shadow")
    * Relatively Speaking (1990) … Philip Carter
    * The Trials of Oz (1991) … Brian Leary
    * Flea Bites (1991) … Kryst
    * Inside (1996) … Colonel Kruger
    * The Fragile Heart (1996) … Edgar Pascoe
    * Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone (1997) … David Livingstone
    * Animal Stories (1998–2000) … Narrator
    * Victoria & Albert (2001) … William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
    * Call Me Claus (2001) … St. Nick

Film

    * Young Winston (1972) (uncredited) … Boer sentry
    * S*P*Y*S (1974) … Croft
    * The Hiding Place (1975) … Pastor De Ruiter
    * Watership Down (1978) (voice) … Campion
    * Sweeney 2 (1978) … Dilke
    * The Sailor's Return (1978) … Mr. Fosse
    * History of the World: Part I (1981) … Citizen official
    * Memoirs of a Survivor (1981) … Victorian father
    * Firefox (1982) … Pyotr Baranovich
    * The Plague Dogs (1982) (voice) … Dr. Robert Boycott
    * Gandhi (1982) … Kinnoch
    * Dead On Time (1983) ... Doctor
    * Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) … Man walking by Crimson Insurance building as anchor is raised
    * The Chain (1984) … Mr. Thorn
    * The Black Cauldron (1985) (voice) … Fflewddur Fflam
    * Turtle Diary (1985) … The publisher
    * Rarg (1988) (voice)
    * King of the Wind (1989) … Achmet
    * En Håndfull tid (1989) … Ted Walker
    * Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992) (voice) … Brigadier G
    * Demolition Man (1993) … Dr. Raymond Cocteau
    * The Madness of King George (1994) … George III
    * Richard III (1995) … George, Duke of Clarence
    * Twelfth Night (1996) … Malvolio
    * Murder in Mind (1997) … Dr. Ellis
    * Amistad (1997) … Martin Van Buren
    * The Object of My Affection (1998) … Rodney Fraser
    * Madeline (1998) … Lord Covington (segment "Lord Cucuface")
    * At Sachem Farm (1998) … Uncle Cullen
    * The Winslow Boy (1999) … Arthur Winslow
    * The Big Brass Ring (1999) … Kim Mennaker
    * Tarzan (1999) (voice) … Professor Porter
    * A Reasonable Man (1999) … Judge Wendon
    * The Clandestine Marriage (1999) … Lord Ogleby

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/870000/images/_872527_top.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2009/2/6/1233916011644/Nigel-Hawthorne-in-King-L-001.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:32 am

The word of the day...Chain
A chain consists of metal rings connected together in a line.
If prisoners are in chains, they have thick rings of metal round their wrists or ankles to prevent them from escaping.
You can refer to feelings and duties which prevent you from doing what you want to do as chains.
A chain of things is a group of them existing or arranged in a line.
A chain of shops, hotels, or other businesses is a number of them owned by the same person or company.
A chain of events is a series of them happening one after another.
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae254/gfuturehk/Chain/NST754.jpg
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae254/gfuturehk/Chain/NST786.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss82/Msbettybug/ChainWeight.jpg
http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy309/midsummersmelody/peoplechainholdinghands.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv342/classicbike09/DSCC26811.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx60/pl4ntm4n/DSC00892.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy62/emiliano030309/HolidayInnmail.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd128/lilipuk_photo/DSCN4460.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:33 am


British Person of the Day: Nigel Hawthorne

Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister.

Early life

Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England, the son of Agnes Rosemary (née Rice) and Charles Barnard Hawthorne, a physician. He grew up in South Africa, where he was educated at St George's Grammar School, Cape Town and Christian Brothers College. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town but withdrew and returned to the United Kingdom in the 1950s to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Hawthorne made his professional stage debut in 1950, playing Archie Fellows in a Cape Town production of The Shop at Sly Corner.

In a long and varied career, which began with an advert for Mackeson stout and a bit part in Dad's Army, his most famous roles were as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the television series Yes Minister (and Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister), for which he won four BAFTA awards, and as King George III in Alan Bennett's stage play The Madness of George III (Olivier Award) and the film adaptation, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Honours

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and was knighted in 1999.

Personal life and death

An intensely private individual, he was upset at having been involuntarily "outed" as gay in 1995 in the publicity surrounding the Academy Awards, but he did attend the ceremony with his long-time partner Trevor Bentham, speaking openly about being gay in interviews and his autobiography, Straight Face, which was published posthumously.

Hawthorne had several operations for pancreatic cancer, although his immediate cause of death was from a heart attack, aged 72. He was survived by his partner, Trevor Bentham and buried at the Parish Church of Thundridge near Ware, Hertfordshire.

Television

    * Mrs Wilson's Diary (1969) … Roy Jenkins
    * Alma Mater (1971) … Major
    * The Floater (1975)
    * Eleanor Marx: Tussy (1977)
    * Eleanor Marx: Eleanor (1977)
    * Marie Curie (1977) … Pierre Curie
    * Destiny (1978)
    * Holocaust (1978) … General Otto Ohlendorf
    * Warrior Queen (1978) … Catus Decianus
    * Edward and Mrs. Simpson (1978) … Walter Monkton
    * Thomas & Sarah (1979) … Wilson
    * The Knowledge (1979) … Mr. Burgess
    * Yes Minister (1980–1984) … Sir Humphrey Appleby, Permanent Secretary
    * The Tempest (1980) … Stephano
    * A Tale of Two Cities (1980) … Mr. C. J. Stryver
    * Jessie (1980) … Mr. Edmonds
    * Jukes of Piccadilly (1980) … Brinsley Jukes
    * A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to Eldorado (1981)
    * The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) … Magistrate at Esmeralda's trial
    * A Woman Called Golda (1982) … King Abdullah
    * The World Cup: A Captain's Tale (1982)
    * The Critic (1982)
    * The Barchester Chronicles (1982) … Archdeacon Grantly
    * The Tartuffe or Imposter (1983) … Orgon
    * Pope John Paul II (1984) … Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
    * The House (1984)
    * Mapp & Lucia (1985) … Georgie Pillson
    * Jenny's War (1985) … Colonel
    * Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988) … Sir Humphrey Appleby, Cabinet Secretary
    * Spirit of Man (1989) … Rev. Jonathan Guerdon (segment "From Sleep and Shadow")
    * Relatively Speaking (1990) … Philip Carter
    * The Trials of Oz (1991) … Brian Leary
    * Flea Bites (1991) … Kryst
    * Inside (1996) … Colonel Kruger
    * The Fragile Heart (1996) … Edgar Pascoe
    * Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone (1997) … David Livingstone
    * Animal Stories (1998–2000) … Narrator
    * Victoria & Albert (2001) … William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
    * Call Me Claus (2001) … St. Nick

Film

    * Young Winston (1972) (uncredited) … Boer sentry
    * S*P*Y*S (1974) … Croft
    * The Hiding Place (1975) … Pastor De Ruiter
    * Watership Down (1978) (voice) … Campion
    * Sweeney 2 (1978) … Dilke
    * The Sailor's Return (1978) … Mr. Fosse
    * History of the World: Part I (1981) … Citizen official
    * Memoirs of a Survivor (1981) … Victorian father
    * Firefox (1982) … Pyotr Baranovich
    * The Plague Dogs (1982) (voice) … Dr. Robert Boycott
    * Gandhi (1982) … Kinnoch
    * Dead On Time (1983) ... Doctor
    * Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) … Man walking by Crimson Insurance building as anchor is raised
    * The Chain (1984) … Mr. Thorn
    * The Black Cauldron (1985) (voice) … Fflewddur Fflam
    * Turtle Diary (1985) … The publisher
    * Rarg (1988) (voice)
    * King of the Wind (1989) … Achmet
    * En Håndfull tid (1989) … Ted Walker
    * Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992) (voice) … Brigadier G
    * Demolition Man (1993) … Dr. Raymond Cocteau
    * The Madness of King George (1994) … George III
    * Richard III (1995) … George, Duke of Clarence
    * Twelfth Night (1996) … Malvolio
    * Murder in Mind (1997) … Dr. Ellis
    * Amistad (1997) … Martin Van Buren
    * The Object of My Affection (1998) … Rodney Fraser
    * Madeline (1998) … Lord Covington (segment "Lord Cucuface")
    * At Sachem Farm (1998) … Uncle Cullen
    * The Winslow Boy (1999) … Arthur Winslow
    * The Big Brass Ring (1999) … Kim Mennaker
    * Tarzan (1999) (voice) … Professor Porter
    * A Reasonable Man (1999) … Judge Wendon
    * The Clandestine Marriage (1999) … Lord Ogleby

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/870000/images/_872527_top.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2009/2/6/1233916011644/Nigel-Hawthorne-in-King-L-001.jpg



Now that's funny, I just did the word Chain for his movie The Chain..he was going to be my person.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:40 am

the person of the day...Michael Moriarty
Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is a three time Emmy and Tony award winning American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons on the TV series Law & Order.
Moriarty, an Irish American,  was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Elinor (née Paul) and George Moriarty,  a police surgeon. His grandfather, George Moriarty, was a third baseman, umpire and manager in the major leagues for nearly 40 years. He attended middle school at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills before transferring to the University of Detroit Jesuit High School for high school.  Moriarty then matriculated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1963, where he was a theatre major. After he received his degree, he left for London, England, where he enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, after receiving a Fulbright Scholarship.
Acting career

In 1973, Moriarty was cast to play the egocentric Henry Wiggen in Bang the Drum Slowly, a film about friendship between two unlikely baseball teammates – the second being Robert De Niro, a slow thinking catcher who becomes terminally ill. In the same year, Moriarty starred in a TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie with Katharine Hepburn. Coincidentally, the film also featured Sam Waterston, who later replaced Moriarty as the Executive Assistant District Attorney on Law & Order. Moriarty's role in Menagerie (as "Jim," the Gentleman Caller; Waterston played the son "Tom") won him an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year. In 1974 he had a starring role as rookie detective Bo Lockley in the acclaimed gritty police drama Report to the Commissioner.

He won a Tony Award in 1974 for his work in Find Your Way Home. Moriarty's career on the screen was slow to develop, while his theatre career was flourishing. He starred as a German SS officer in the television miniseries Holocaust, which earned him another Emmy. Through the 1980s, Moriarty starred in such Larry Cohen movies as Q, The Stuff, It's Alive 3, and A Return to Salem's Lot (much later, he appeared in Cohen's Masters of Horror episode "Pick Me Up"), as well as Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider and The Hanoi Hilton. In 1986, he starred in the fantasy science fiction movie Troll, playing the role of Harry Potter Sr.

From 1990 to 1994, Moriarty starred as Ben Stone on Law & Order. He left the show in 1994, alleging that his departure was a result of his threatening a lawsuit against then-Attorney General Janet Reno, who had cited Law & Order as offensively violent. Moriarty criticized Reno's comment, and claimed that not only did she want to censor shows like Law & Order but also such fare as Murder, She Wrote. He later accused Law & Order executive producer Dick Wolf of not taking his concerns seriously, and claimed that Wolf and other network executives were "caving in" to Reno's "demands" on the issue of TV violence. Moriarty published a full-page advertisement in a Hollywood trade magazine, calling upon fellow artists to stand up with him against attempts to censor TV show content. He subsequently wrote and published The Gift of Stern Angels, his account of this time in his life.

Wolf and others working on Law & Order tell a different story, however. On November 18, 1993, Moriarty and Wolf, along with other television executives, met with Reno to dissuade her from supporting any law that would censor the show. Wolf said that Moriarty overreacted to any effect the law was likely to have on the show. Law & Order producers claim they were forced to remove Moriarty from the series because of "erratic behavior". One example reportedly happened during the filming of the episode "Breeder" when, according to the episode's director, Arthur Forney, Moriarty was unable to deliver his lines with a straight face. Series and network officials deny any connection to his departure and Janet Reno. Wolf also denies that the show has become less violent, graphic or controversial since 1994.

Moriarty performed in Courage Under Fire, Along Came a Spider, Shiloh, Emily of New Moon and James Dean, for which he won his third Emmy. In 2007 he debuted his first feature-length film as screenwriter and performed the role of a man who thinks he is Adolf Hitler in Hitler Meets Christ.
Musical career

In addition to his acting career, Moriarty is a semi-professional jazz pianist and singer, as well as a classical composer. He has recorded three jazz albums (though the first, Reaching Out, went unreleased), and has performed live regularly in both New York and Vancouver, with a jazz trio and quintet. In a 1990 concert review, New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden called Moriarty "a jazz pianist of considerable skill, an oddball singer with more than one vocal personality, and a writer of eccentric, jivey jazz songs".
Personal life

Shortly after leaving Law & Order, Moriarty moved to Canada, declaring himself a political exile. He lived for a time in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was granted Canadian citizenship, and Toronto, Ontario before settling in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Moriarty lives in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, where he still acts, writes and plays music. On the blog Enter Stage Right Moriarty writes that he was a "very bad drunk", but that as of February 1, 2004, he had been sober for three years.
Politics

Moriarty is politically active, describing himself as a "centrist", and sometimes as a "realist". He has written extensively on his opposition to abortion.

In response to a recent interview question as to what the most pressing issue facing the nation was, he stated:

        We will find abortion and the despotic Roe v. Wade decision revealing itself as a virtual burning of the Declaration of Independence and our "inalienable right to life…when created"… not gestated. So the pressing issue will, inevitably, be the Third Millennium's version of American slavery: ABORTION.

Moriarty announced his intention to run for President of the United States in 2008 in an interview in the November 2005 issue of Northwest Jazz Profile, but never formally declared his candidacy. He later endorsed fellow former Law & Order actor Fred Thompson for the presidency. He has been a frequent contributor of numerous political columns to the ESR (Enter Stage Right)'s online Journal of Conservativism.

The website Michael Moriarty Unofficial, Unauthorized, Unsanctioned Home Page, contains editorials by Moriarty, and these, in addition to posts on ESR, contain scathing denunciations of an eclectic array of targets, including Bill Clinton, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, anti-Catholicism, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George W. Bush, both major U.S. political parties, Halliburton, the College of Cardinals, and Islam. Historically, he has been a supporter of the Republican Party. A recent interview contains the following quotes by Moriarty:

        Like the collaborating Vichy government in France under the Nazis, America will surrender to laws and ideologies that contradict the American Constitution and the most simple Human Rights. The Supreme Court took a once individually free nation and corrupted it by the lie of Science that fetuses are, in their first two trimesters, no more than egg yolk. Ultimately, our American Intellectual Supremacists bought the "Population Problem", in the same way Europe fell under the thrall of the so-called "Jewish Problem."

        Islam, in and of itself... is an Allah-worshipping, Kamikaze Nation, exactly like pre-World War II Imperial Japan. Its Bible, the Koran, can be read like Hitler's Mein Kampf. It demands to rule the entire human race. Islam's only idea of freedom of religion is the freedom of Islam to rule everything. Islamic Political Parties should be no more trusted than neo-Nazi, White Supremacists and David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan have been trusted. Tragically, the only language Islam, like Hirohito's Japan, understands is violence. The measures Harry Truman took to end the war with Japan may prove tragically necessary with Islam.}}

He later restated his previous comments towards Islam, deeming that Osama Bin Laden preached a perverted, traitorous form of Islam

        Allah is plumbing your depths. The fear you're now beginning to feel is only the beginning. As you shut walls between your terror and your evil missions, Allah is exuding His presence within every true Muslim. The eyes and ears of Islam are hearing their God and, with all their eyes on you, Osama, witness the clarity of their adoration begin to cloud with the smoky mists of Allah. Merely a wisp of doubt in your followers will grow to a puff of occasional anger, then a stare of growing revelation, and finally, when they again turn their eyes on you, they will see Islam's greatest traitor, Allah's most evil son, and Mohammed's certain enemy.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/MichaelMoriarty.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/belzerfan21/law%20and%20order%20orig/season2team.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:45 am

the person who died on this day...Gene Pitney
Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic. As a performer, his singles charted 16 Top 40 times in the U.S., four in the Top Ten. In the UK he had 22 Top 40 hits and 11 Top Tens. He wrote the early 1960s hits "He's a Rebel", by The Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou", by Rick Nelson.

Pitney was among a small group of early 1960s American acts such as Roy Orbison, Bobby Vinton, The Four Seasons, Jan and Dean, Jay and the Americans, The Beach Boys, and The Supremes who continued to enjoy hits after the British Invasion in the U.S. in 1964.
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon. His early influences were Clyde McPhatter and doo-wop groups like The Crows. He attended Rockville High School, at which he was named "the Rockville Rocket," and where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. He made records as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell  (who later had a solo hit , DumbHead), and in 1959 made a single as Billy Bryan. The first of the two Decca 45s as Jamie and Jane was "Snuggle Up, Baby", a cover of a song Charlie Gracie recorded at Cameo 1957 or early 1958 which remained unreleased until London Records released Gracie's original version in Europe in 1978.
Career
Rise to fame (1961-1964)

Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away". For this song, he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals. This was followed that same year by his first hit, "Town Without Pity". This song, from the film of the same name starring Kirk Douglas, won a Golden Globe Award for best movie song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Pitney was the first pop singer to perform at the Oscars ceremony, singing "Town Without Pity" on 9 April 1962. The song lost the Academy Award to "Moon River".

Pitney wrote songs for others. Notable examples are "He's a Rebel" for The Crystals, Vikki Carr, and Elkie Brooks, "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison, "Rubber Ball" for and also for , and "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson. Ironically, The Crystals' "He's A Rebel" kept Pitney's highest peaking Hot 100 record, "Only Love Can Break a Heart", from the top of that chart on 3 November 1962.

Pitney is remembered for "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", which was associated with the 1962 John Ford film of the same name starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin. Pitney gave a strong performance of the song, which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Although it was peaked at number 4 on the Billboard pop charts, it was never used in the movie because of a publishing dispute between Famous Music and Paramount Pictures.

His 1963 hit, "Mecca", is a precursor to psychedelia in its use of Indian music three years before The Beatles. Exotic instruments became a Pitney trademark, such as the mariachi trumpets in "Lonely Drifter", the ukuleles in "Hawaii", and the gypsy fiddle in "Golden Earrings".

His popularity in the UK market was ensured by the success of "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", by Bacharach-David, at the end of 1963. It reached number 4 at the start of 1964. It was also a hit in the U.S.
Involvement with The Rolling Stones (1964)

Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of the Rolling Stones' early recording sessions in London, including "Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent is uncertain.

The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the Rolling Stones' to become a top-10 hit in the UK. In the U.S. the single stalled at #49, and ending a run of seven Top 40 for Pitney as a performer.
Maintaining popularity

After another low-charting single (1964's "Yesterday's Hero"), Pitney had another string of hit singles in the mid-1960s, with the song of unrequited love, "It Hurts To Be in Love" (U.S. 7) and "I'm Gonna Be Strong" (U.S. 9) in 1964, and "Nobody Needs Your Love" in 1966 (the first two were top 10 in the U.S.; the last two at number two in the UK). "It Hurts To Be in Love" was planned for Neil Sedaka but RCA refused to sell it because he had recorded it outside RCA Victor in violation of his contract. The writers, Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka's voice with Pitney's.

In 1965, Pitney recorded two successful albums with George Jones They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish and German, and twice finished second in the Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Caruso. He had a regional hit with Nessuno Mi Puo' Giudicare.
UK, Australian and European stardom (1966-1970s)

Pitney's career in the U.S. took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the top 40 with "She's a Heartbreaker" in mid-1968 and had a few hits in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but by 1970 he was no longer a hit-maker in the U.S.

Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on UK charts as late as 1974. In Australia, after a fallow period in the early 1970s, Pitney returned to the top 40 charts in 1974, as both Blue Angel (#2) and Trans-Canada Highway (#14 - production by David Mackay) were substantial hits. Pitney continued to place records in the Australian charts through 1976.

In the early 70s, Pitney decided to spend only six months each year on the road.
Later career

Pitney's last hit the UK charts in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, was a duet with Marc Almond. It was a version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. It had been a number five for Pitney in 1967. This brought him his first UK number 1 in late January 1989, staying four weeks. It went to No. 1 elsewhere in Europe. The two appeared on the Terry Wogan television show in Britain, Almond dressed in leather, Pitney in a white tuxedo.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had recorded "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" on their cover album, Kicking Against the Pricks, in 1986. But it never had the success of Pitney-Almond.

On 26 February 1993, Pitney performed at Carnegie Hall in New York on the day of the first World Trade Center18 bombing. On 18 March 2002 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Death

Pitney died on April 5, 2006, aged 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at Cardiff's St. David's Hall was a success, with a standing ovation, ending the show with "Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis. He was survived by his wife, Lynne, and three sons, Todd, Chris and David.
Posthumous tributes

In tribute, Marc Almond recorded "Backstage (I'm Lonely)" for his 2007 covers album Stardom Road.

On 20 September 2007, a plaque to Pitney was unveiled at the town hall in his hometown of Rockville, Connecticut. Members of the family attended. The Gene Pitney Commemorative Committee established a music scholarship in Pitney's name. It is awarded annually to Rockville High School. In October 2008, an international fan convention was held in Rockville.
Discography
Singles

Note that release dates refer to initial release. Pitney's early singles generally appeared one to four months later in the UK/Australia. Many of his later releases are UK/Australia/NZ only.

Sources include Joel Whitburn's Record Research material for the U.S. Top 100, "Bubbling Under" and U.S. Country charts; Tim Rice et al., Guinness Book of Hit Singles for the UK; CHUM Chart for Canada prior to mid-1964, and the Canadian RPM charts thereafter; and The Kent Report for Australia
Release date Title Chart positions
Australia Canada UK U.S Hot 100 U.S. C&W
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Snuggle Up Baby
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Classical Rock And Roll
1960 as Billy Bryan: Cradle of My Arms
1960 Please Come Back
January 1961 (I Wanna) Love My Life Away 29 23 26 39
April 1961 Louisiana Mama
July 1961 Every Breath I Take 42
October 1961 Town Without Pity 31 10 32 13
April 1962 (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance 3 2 4
August 1962 Only Love Can Break a Heart (A-Side) 4 11 2
" If I Didn't Have a Dime (To Play the Jukebox) (B-Side) 4 42 58
December 1962 Half Heaven - Half Heartache 11 4 12
March 1963 Mecca (A-Side) 7 2 12
" Teardrop by Teardrop (B-Side) 130
June 1963 True Love Never Runs Smooth 18 17 21
October 1963 Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa 3 6 5 17
January 1964 That Girl Belongs to Yesterday (A-Side) 9 41 7 49
" Who Needs It (B-Side) 9 41 131
April 1964 Yesterday's Hero (A-Side) 18 36 64
April 1964 Cornflower Blue (B-Side) 18
July 1964 It Hurts to Be In Love 6 2 36 7
July 1964 Lips Are Redder on You
Australian release only 83
October 1964 I'm Gonna Be Strong 5 3 2 9
February 1965 I Must Be Seeing Things (A-Side) 12 6 6 31
February 1965 Marianne (B-Side) 12
April 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night 65 99 16
May 1965 Last Chance to Turn Around 13 4 13
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Louisiana Man (A-Side) 25
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I'm a Fool to Care (B-Side) 115
July 1965 Looking Through the Eyes of Love 34 3 3 28
November 1965 Princess In Rags 13 2 9 37
November 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Big Job 50
January 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Baby Ain't That Fine 15
March 1966 Nessuno Mi Puo' Guidcare 30 115
April 1966 Backstage 29 2 4 25
May 1966 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
That's All It Took 47
June 1966 Nobody Needs Your Love
European release only 2
July? 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Being Together
September 1966 (In the) Cold Light of Day (A-Side) 19 38 115
September 1966 The Boss's Daughter (B-Side) 19
December 1966 Just One Smile (A-Side) 55 8 64
December 1966 Innamorata (B-Side) 55
March 1967 I'm Gonna Listen to Me
March 1967 Animal Crackers (In Cellophane Boxes) 87 106
April 1967 Tremblin'
September 1967 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart 69 5 130
March 1968 The More I Saw of Her
March 1968 Somewhere in the Country
European release only 19
April 1968 She's a Heartbreaker 39 13 16
October 1968 Billy, You're My Friend 31 92 92
November 1968 Yours Until Tomorrow
European release only 34
March 1969 Maria Elena
European release only 25
August 1969 Playing Games of Love
Australian release only 85
December 1969 She Lets Her Hair Down (Early in the Morning) 88 89
March 1970 A Street Called Hope 37
October 1970 Shady Lady 29
1971 Higher and Higher
1971 Gene Are You There?
1972 I Just Can't Help Myself
1972 Summertime Dreamin'
April 1973 24 Sycamore
European release only 34
October 1974 Blue Angel
European/Australian release only 2 39
March 1975 Trans-Canada Highway
European/Australian release only 14
1977 It's Over, It's Over

1977 Dedication

January 1989 Marc Almond & Gene Pitney:
Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart
European release only 24 1
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x206/dancranfield/gene_pitney.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/petertim/genepitney2000diedapril2006.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 5:47 am


The word of the day...Chain

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd128/lilipuk_photo/DSCN4460.jpg

I fell hungry now!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 5:48 am


the person who died on this day...Gene Pitney
Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic. As a performer, his singles charted 16 Top 40 times in the U.S., four in the Top Ten. In the UK he had 22 Top 40 hits and 11 Top Tens. He wrote the early 1960s hits "He's a Rebel", by The Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou", by Rick Nelson.

Pitney was among a small group of early 1960s American acts such as Roy Orbison, Bobby Vinton, The Four Seasons, Jan and Dean, Jay and the Americans, The Beach Boys, and The Supremes who continued to enjoy hits after the British Invasion in the U.S. in 1964.
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon. His early influences were Clyde McPhatter and doo-wop groups like The Crows. He attended Rockville High School, at which he was named "the Rockville Rocket," and where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. He made records as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell  (who later had a solo hit , DumbHead), and in 1959 made a single as Billy Bryan. The first of the two Decca 45s as Jamie and Jane was "Snuggle Up, Baby", a cover of a song Charlie Gracie recorded at Cameo 1957 or early 1958 which remained unreleased until London Records released Gracie's original version in Europe in 1978.
Career
Rise to fame (1961-1964)

Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away". For this song, he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals. This was followed that same year by his first hit, "Town Without Pity". This song, from the film of the same name starring Kirk Douglas, won a Golden Globe Award for best movie song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Pitney was the first pop singer to perform at the Oscars ceremony, singing "Town Without Pity" on 9 April 1962. The song lost the Academy Award to "Moon River".

Pitney wrote songs for others. Notable examples are "He's a Rebel" for The Crystals, Vikki Carr, and Elkie Brooks, "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison, "Rubber Ball" for and also for , and "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson. Ironically, The Crystals' "He's A Rebel" kept Pitney's highest peaking Hot 100 record, "Only Love Can Break a Heart", from the top of that chart on 3 November 1962.

Pitney is remembered for "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", which was associated with the 1962 John Ford film of the same name starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin. Pitney gave a strong performance of the song, which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Although it was peaked at number 4 on the Billboard pop charts, it was never used in the movie because of a publishing dispute between Famous Music and Paramount Pictures.

His 1963 hit, "Mecca", is a precursor to psychedelia in its use of Indian music three years before The Beatles. Exotic instruments became a Pitney trademark, such as the mariachi trumpets in "Lonely Drifter", the ukuleles in "Hawaii", and the gypsy fiddle in "Golden Earrings".

His popularity in the UK market was ensured by the success of "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", by Bacharach-David, at the end of 1963. It reached number 4 at the start of 1964. It was also a hit in the U.S.
Involvement with The Rolling Stones (1964)

Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of the Rolling Stones' early recording sessions in London, including "Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent is uncertain.

The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the Rolling Stones' to become a top-10 hit in the UK. In the U.S. the single stalled at #49, and ending a run of seven Top 40 for Pitney as a performer.
Maintaining popularity

After another low-charting single (1964's "Yesterday's Hero"), Pitney had another string of hit singles in the mid-1960s, with the song of unrequited love, "It Hurts To Be in Love" (U.S. 7) and "I'm Gonna Be Strong" (U.S. 9) in 1964, and "Nobody Needs Your Love" in 1966 (the first two were top 10 in the U.S.; the last two at number two in the UK). "It Hurts To Be in Love" was planned for Neil Sedaka but RCA refused to sell it because he had recorded it outside RCA Victor in violation of his contract. The writers, Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka's voice with Pitney's.

In 1965, Pitney recorded two successful albums with George Jones They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish and German, and twice finished second in the Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Caruso. He had a regional hit with Nessuno Mi Puo' Giudicare.
UK, Australian and European stardom (1966-1970s)

Pitney's career in the U.S. took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the top 40 with "She's a Heartbreaker" in mid-1968 and had a few hits in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but by 1970 he was no longer a hit-maker in the U.S.

Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on UK charts as late as 1974. In Australia, after a fallow period in the early 1970s, Pitney returned to the top 40 charts in 1974, as both Blue Angel (#2) and Trans-Canada Highway (#14 - production by David Mackay) were substantial hits. Pitney continued to place records in the Australian charts through 1976.

In the early 70s, Pitney decided to spend only six months each year on the road.
Later career

Pitney's last hit the UK charts in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, was a duet with Marc Almond. It was a version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. It had been a number five for Pitney in 1967. This brought him his first UK number 1 in late January 1989, staying four weeks. It went to No. 1 elsewhere in Europe. The two appeared on the Terry Wogan television show in Britain, Almond dressed in leather, Pitney in a white tuxedo.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had recorded "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" on their cover album, Kicking Against the Pricks, in 1986. But it never had the success of Pitney-Almond.

On 26 February 1993, Pitney performed at Carnegie Hall in New York on the day of the first World Trade Center18 bombing. On 18 March 2002 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Death

Pitney died on April 5, 2006, aged 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at Cardiff's St. David's Hall was a success, with a standing ovation, ending the show with "Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis. He was survived by his wife, Lynne, and three sons, Todd, Chris and David.
Posthumous tributes

In tribute, Marc Almond recorded "Backstage (I'm Lonely)" for his 2007 covers album Stardom Road.

On 20 September 2007, a plaque to Pitney was unveiled at the town hall in his hometown of Rockville, Connecticut. Members of the family attended. The Gene Pitney Commemorative Committee established a music scholarship in Pitney's name. It is awarded annually to Rockville High School. In October 2008, an international fan convention was held in Rockville.
Discography
Singles

Note that release dates refer to initial release. Pitney's early singles generally appeared one to four months later in the UK/Australia. Many of his later releases are UK/Australia/NZ only.

Sources include Joel Whitburn's Record Research material for the U.S. Top 100, "Bubbling Under" and U.S. Country charts; Tim Rice et al., Guinness Book of Hit Singles for the UK; CHUM Chart for Canada prior to mid-1964, and the Canadian RPM charts thereafter; and The Kent Report for Australia
Release date Title Chart positions
Australia Canada UK U.S Hot 100 U.S. C&W
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Snuggle Up Baby
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Classical Rock And Roll
1960 as Billy Bryan: Cradle of My Arms
1960 Please Come Back
January 1961 (I Wanna) Love My Life Away 29 23 26 39
April 1961 Louisiana Mama
July 1961 Every Breath I Take 42
October 1961 Town Without Pity 31 10 32 13
April 1962 (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance 3 2 4
August 1962 Only Love Can Break a Heart (A-Side) 4 11 2
" If I Didn't Have a Dime (To Play the Jukebox) (B-Side) 4 42 58
December 1962 Half Heaven - Half Heartache 11 4 12
March 1963 Mecca (A-Side) 7 2 12
" Teardrop by Teardrop (B-Side) 130
June 1963 True Love Never Runs Smooth 18 17 21
October 1963 Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa 3 6 5 17
January 1964 That Girl Belongs to Yesterday (A-Side) 9 41 7 49
" Who Needs It (B-Side) 9 41 131
April 1964 Yesterday's Hero (A-Side) 18 36 64
April 1964 Cornflower Blue (B-Side) 18
July 1964 It Hurts to Be In Love 6 2 36 7
July 1964 Lips Are Redder on You
Australian release only 83
October 1964 I'm Gonna Be Strong 5 3 2 9
February 1965 I Must Be Seeing Things (A-Side) 12 6 6 31
February 1965 Marianne (B-Side) 12
April 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night 65 99 16
May 1965 Last Chance to Turn Around 13 4 13
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Louisiana Man (A-Side) 25
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I'm a Fool to Care (B-Side) 115
July 1965 Looking Through the Eyes of Love 34 3 3 28
November 1965 Princess In Rags 13 2 9 37
November 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Big Job 50
January 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Baby Ain't That Fine 15
March 1966 Nessuno Mi Puo' Guidcare 30 115
April 1966 Backstage 29 2 4 25
May 1966 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
That's All It Took 47
June 1966 Nobody Needs Your Love
European release only 2
July? 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Being Together
September 1966 (In the) Cold Light of Day (A-Side) 19 38 115
September 1966 The Boss's Daughter (B-Side) 19
December 1966 Just One Smile (A-Side) 55 8 64
December 1966 Innamorata (B-Side) 55
March 1967 I'm Gonna Listen to Me
March 1967 Animal Crackers (In Cellophane Boxes) 87 106
April 1967 Tremblin'
September 1967 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart 69 5 130
March 1968 The More I Saw of Her
March 1968 Somewhere in the Country
European release only 19
April 1968 She's a Heartbreaker 39 13 16
October 1968 Billy, You're My Friend 31 92 92
November 1968 Yours Until Tomorrow
European release only 34
March 1969 Maria Elena
European release only 25
August 1969 Playing Games of Love
Australian release only 85
December 1969 She Lets Her Hair Down (Early in the Morning) 88 89
March 1970 A Street Called Hope 37
October 1970 Shady Lady 29
1971 Higher and Higher
1971 Gene Are You There?
1972 I Just Can't Help Myself
1972 Summertime Dreamin'
April 1973 24 Sycamore
European release only 34
October 1974 Blue Angel
European/Australian release only 2 39
March 1975 Trans-Canada Highway
European/Australian release only 14
1977 It's Over, It's Over

1977 Dedication

January 1989 Marc Almond & Gene Pitney:
Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart
European release only 24 1
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x206/dancranfield/gene_pitney.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/petertim/genepitney2000diedapril2006.jpg
  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 5:49 am


the person who died on this day...Gene Pitney
Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic. As a performer, his singles charted 16 Top 40 times in the U.S., four in the Top Ten. In the UK he had 22 Top 40 hits and 11 Top Tens. He wrote the early 1960s hits "He's a Rebel", by The Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou", by Rick Nelson.

Pitney was among a small group of early 1960s American acts such as Roy Orbison, Bobby Vinton, The Four Seasons, Jan and Dean, Jay and the Americans, The Beach Boys, and The Supremes who continued to enjoy hits after the British Invasion in the U.S. in 1964.
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon. His early influences were Clyde McPhatter and doo-wop groups like The Crows. He attended Rockville High School, at which he was named "the Rockville Rocket," and where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. He made records as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell  (who later had a solo hit , DumbHead), and in 1959 made a single as Billy Bryan. The first of the two Decca 45s as Jamie and Jane was "Snuggle Up, Baby", a cover of a song Charlie Gracie recorded at Cameo 1957 or early 1958 which remained unreleased until London Records released Gracie's original version in Europe in 1978.
Career
Rise to fame (1961-1964)

Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away". For this song, he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals. This was followed that same year by his first hit, "Town Without Pity". This song, from the film of the same name starring Kirk Douglas, won a Golden Globe Award for best movie song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Pitney was the first pop singer to perform at the Oscars ceremony, singing "Town Without Pity" on 9 April 1962. The song lost the Academy Award to "Moon River".

Pitney wrote songs for others. Notable examples are "He's a Rebel" for The Crystals, Vikki Carr, and Elkie Brooks, "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison, "Rubber Ball" for and also for , and "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson. Ironically, The Crystals' "He's A Rebel" kept Pitney's highest peaking Hot 100 record, "Only Love Can Break a Heart", from the top of that chart on 3 November 1962.

Pitney is remembered for "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", which was associated with the 1962 John Ford film of the same name starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin. Pitney gave a strong performance of the song, which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Although it was peaked at number 4 on the Billboard pop charts, it was never used in the movie because of a publishing dispute between Famous Music and Paramount Pictures.

His 1963 hit, "Mecca", is a precursor to psychedelia in its use of Indian music three years before The Beatles. Exotic instruments became a Pitney trademark, such as the mariachi trumpets in "Lonely Drifter", the ukuleles in "Hawaii", and the gypsy fiddle in "Golden Earrings".

His popularity in the UK market was ensured by the success of "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", by Bacharach-David, at the end of 1963. It reached number 4 at the start of 1964. It was also a hit in the U.S.
Involvement with The Rolling Stones (1964)

Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of the Rolling Stones' early recording sessions in London, including "Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent is uncertain.

The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the Rolling Stones' to become a top-10 hit in the UK. In the U.S. the single stalled at #49, and ending a run of seven Top 40 for Pitney as a performer.
Maintaining popularity

After another low-charting single (1964's "Yesterday's Hero"), Pitney had another string of hit singles in the mid-1960s, with the song of unrequited love, "It Hurts To Be in Love" (U.S. 7) and "I'm Gonna Be Strong" (U.S. 9) in 1964, and "Nobody Needs Your Love" in 1966 (the first two were top 10 in the U.S.; the last two at number two in the UK). "It Hurts To Be in Love" was planned for Neil Sedaka but RCA refused to sell it because he had recorded it outside RCA Victor in violation of his contract. The writers, Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka's voice with Pitney's.

In 1965, Pitney recorded two successful albums with George Jones They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish and German, and twice finished second in the Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Caruso. He had a regional hit with Nessuno Mi Puo' Giudicare.
UK, Australian and European stardom (1966-1970s)

Pitney's career in the U.S. took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the top 40 with "She's a Heartbreaker" in mid-1968 and had a few hits in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but by 1970 he was no longer a hit-maker in the U.S.

Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on UK charts as late as 1974. In Australia, after a fallow period in the early 1970s, Pitney returned to the top 40 charts in 1974, as both Blue Angel (#2) and Trans-Canada Highway (#14 - production by David Mackay) were substantial hits. Pitney continued to place records in the Australian charts through 1976.

In the early 70s, Pitney decided to spend only six months each year on the road.
Later career

Pitney's last hit the UK charts in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, was a duet with Marc Almond. It was a version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. It had been a number five for Pitney in 1967. This brought him his first UK number 1 in late January 1989, staying four weeks. It went to No. 1 elsewhere in Europe. The two appeared on the Terry Wogan television show in Britain, Almond dressed in leather, Pitney in a white tuxedo.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had recorded "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" on their cover album, Kicking Against the Pricks, in 1986. But it never had the success of Pitney-Almond.

On 26 February 1993, Pitney performed at Carnegie Hall in New York on the day of the first World Trade Center18 bombing. On 18 March 2002 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Death

Pitney died on April 5, 2006, aged 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at Cardiff's St. David's Hall was a success, with a standing ovation, ending the show with "Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis. He was survived by his wife, Lynne, and three sons, Todd, Chris and David.
Posthumous tributes

In tribute, Marc Almond recorded "Backstage (I'm Lonely)" for his 2007 covers album Stardom Road.

On 20 September 2007, a plaque to Pitney was unveiled at the town hall in his hometown of Rockville, Connecticut. Members of the family attended. The Gene Pitney Commemorative Committee established a music scholarship in Pitney's name. It is awarded annually to Rockville High School. In October 2008, an international fan convention was held in Rockville.
Discography
Singles

Note that release dates refer to initial release. Pitney's early singles generally appeared one to four months later in the UK/Australia. Many of his later releases are UK/Australia/NZ only.

Sources include Joel Whitburn's Record Research material for the U.S. Top 100, "Bubbling Under" and U.S. Country charts; Tim Rice et al., Guinness Book of Hit Singles for the UK; CHUM Chart for Canada prior to mid-1964, and the Canadian RPM charts thereafter; and The Kent Report for Australia
Release date Title Chart positions
Australia Canada UK U.S Hot 100 U.S. C&W
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Snuggle Up Baby
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Classical Rock And Roll
1960 as Billy Bryan: Cradle of My Arms
1960 Please Come Back
January 1961 (I Wanna) Love My Life Away 29 23 26 39
April 1961 Louisiana Mama
July 1961 Every Breath I Take 42
October 1961 Town Without Pity 31 10 32 13
April 1962 (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance 3 2 4
August 1962 Only Love Can Break a Heart (A-Side) 4 11 2
" If I Didn't Have a Dime (To Play the Jukebox) (B-Side) 4 42 58
December 1962 Half Heaven - Half Heartache 11 4 12
March 1963 Mecca (A-Side) 7 2 12
" Teardrop by Teardrop (B-Side) 130
June 1963 True Love Never Runs Smooth 18 17 21
October 1963 Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa 3 6 5 17
January 1964 That Girl Belongs to Yesterday (A-Side) 9 41 7 49
" Who Needs It (B-Side) 9 41 131
April 1964 Yesterday's Hero (A-Side) 18 36 64
April 1964 Cornflower Blue (B-Side) 18
July 1964 It Hurts to Be In Love 6 2 36 7
July 1964 Lips Are Redder on You
Australian release only 83
October 1964 I'm Gonna Be Strong 5 3 2 9
February 1965 I Must Be Seeing Things (A-Side) 12 6 6 31
February 1965 Marianne (B-Side) 12
April 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night 65 99 16
May 1965 Last Chance to Turn Around 13 4 13
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Louisiana Man (A-Side) 25
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I'm a Fool to Care (B-Side) 115
July 1965 Looking Through the Eyes of Love 34 3 3 28
November 1965 Princess In Rags 13 2 9 37
November 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Big Job 50
January 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Baby Ain't That Fine 15
March 1966 Nessuno Mi Puo' Guidcare 30 115
April 1966 Backstage 29 2 4 25
May 1966 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
That's All It Took 47
June 1966 Nobody Needs Your Love
European release only 2
July? 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Being Together
September 1966 (In the) Cold Light of Day (A-Side) 19 38 115
September 1966 The Boss's Daughter (B-Side) 19
December 1966 Just One Smile (A-Side) 55 8 64
December 1966 Innamorata (B-Side) 55
March 1967 I'm Gonna Listen to Me
March 1967 Animal Crackers (In Cellophane Boxes) 87 106
April 1967 Tremblin'
September 1967 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart 69 5 130
March 1968 The More I Saw of Her
March 1968 Somewhere in the Country
European release only 19
April 1968 She's a Heartbreaker 39 13 16
October 1968 Billy, You're My Friend 31 92 92
November 1968 Yours Until Tomorrow
European release only 34
March 1969 Maria Elena
European release only 25
August 1969 Playing Games of Love
Australian release only 85
December 1969 She Lets Her Hair Down (Early in the Morning) 88 89
March 1970 A Street Called Hope 37
October 1970 Shady Lady 29
1971 Higher and Higher
1971 Gene Are You There?
1972 I Just Can't Help Myself
1972 Summertime Dreamin'
April 1973 24 Sycamore
European release only 34
October 1974 Blue Angel
European/Australian release only 2 39
March 1975 Trans-Canada Highway
European/Australian release only 14
1977 It's Over, It's Over

1977 Dedication

January 1989 Marc Almond & Gene Pitney:
Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart
European release only 24 1
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x206/dancranfield/gene_pitney.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/petertim/genepitney2000diedapril2006.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cxhl8AwOf0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 5:51 am


  :\'(


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIjUaxP7PPE

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:57 am


I fell hungry now!

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 5:58 am


Me too :)
...and we are going out later!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/10 at 5:58 am


  :\'(

He was a great performer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/10 at 6:00 am


He was a great performer.
He died when on tour in Wales.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/05/10 at 6:50 am


the person who died on this day...Gene Pitney
Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic. As a performer, his singles charted 16 Top 40 times in the U.S., four in the Top Ten. In the UK he had 22 Top 40 hits and 11 Top Tens. He wrote the early 1960s hits "He's a Rebel", by The Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou", by Rick Nelson.

Pitney was among a small group of early 1960s American acts such as Roy Orbison, Bobby Vinton, The Four Seasons, Jan and Dean, Jay and the Americans, The Beach Boys, and The Supremes who continued to enjoy hits after the British Invasion in the U.S. in 1964.
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon. His early influences were Clyde McPhatter and doo-wop groups like The Crows. He attended Rockville High School, at which he was named "the Rockville Rocket," and where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. He made records as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell  (who later had a solo hit , DumbHead), and in 1959 made a single as Billy Bryan. The first of the two Decca 45s as Jamie and Jane was "Snuggle Up, Baby", a cover of a song Charlie Gracie recorded at Cameo 1957 or early 1958 which remained unreleased until London Records released Gracie's original version in Europe in 1978.
Career
Rise to fame (1961-1964)

Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away". For this song, he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals. This was followed that same year by his first hit, "Town Without Pity". This song, from the film of the same name starring Kirk Douglas, won a Golden Globe Award for best movie song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Pitney was the first pop singer to perform at the Oscars ceremony, singing "Town Without Pity" on 9 April 1962. The song lost the Academy Award to "Moon River".

Pitney wrote songs for others. Notable examples are "He's a Rebel" for The Crystals, Vikki Carr, and Elkie Brooks, "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison, "Rubber Ball" for and also for , and "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson. Ironically, The Crystals' "He's A Rebel" kept Pitney's highest peaking Hot 100 record, "Only Love Can Break a Heart", from the top of that chart on 3 November 1962.

Pitney is remembered for "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", which was associated with the 1962 John Ford film of the same name starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin. Pitney gave a strong performance of the song, which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Although it was peaked at number 4 on the Billboard pop charts, it was never used in the movie because of a publishing dispute between Famous Music and Paramount Pictures.

His 1963 hit, "Mecca", is a precursor to psychedelia in its use of Indian music three years before The Beatles. Exotic instruments became a Pitney trademark, such as the mariachi trumpets in "Lonely Drifter", the ukuleles in "Hawaii", and the gypsy fiddle in "Golden Earrings".

His popularity in the UK market was ensured by the success of "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", by Bacharach-David, at the end of 1963. It reached number 4 at the start of 1964. It was also a hit in the U.S.
Involvement with The Rolling Stones (1964)

Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of the Rolling Stones' early recording sessions in London, including "Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent is uncertain.

The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the Rolling Stones' to become a top-10 hit in the UK. In the U.S. the single stalled at #49, and ending a run of seven Top 40 for Pitney as a performer.
Maintaining popularity

After another low-charting single (1964's "Yesterday's Hero"), Pitney had another string of hit singles in the mid-1960s, with the song of unrequited love, "It Hurts To Be in Love" (U.S. 7) and "I'm Gonna Be Strong" (U.S. 9) in 1964, and "Nobody Needs Your Love" in 1966 (the first two were top 10 in the U.S.; the last two at number two in the UK). "It Hurts To Be in Love" was planned for Neil Sedaka but RCA refused to sell it because he had recorded it outside RCA Victor in violation of his contract. The writers, Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka's voice with Pitney's.

In 1965, Pitney recorded two successful albums with George Jones They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish and German, and twice finished second in the Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Caruso. He had a regional hit with Nessuno Mi Puo' Giudicare.
UK, Australian and European stardom (1966-1970s)

Pitney's career in the U.S. took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the top 40 with "She's a Heartbreaker" in mid-1968 and had a few hits in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but by 1970 he was no longer a hit-maker in the U.S.

Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on UK charts as late as 1974. In Australia, after a fallow period in the early 1970s, Pitney returned to the top 40 charts in 1974, as both Blue Angel (#2) and Trans-Canada Highway (#14 - production by David Mackay) were substantial hits. Pitney continued to place records in the Australian charts through 1976.

In the early 70s, Pitney decided to spend only six months each year on the road.
Later career

Pitney's last hit the UK charts in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, was a duet with Marc Almond. It was a version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. It had been a number five for Pitney in 1967. This brought him his first UK number 1 in late January 1989, staying four weeks. It went to No. 1 elsewhere in Europe. The two appeared on the Terry Wogan television show in Britain, Almond dressed in leather, Pitney in a white tuxedo.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had recorded "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" on their cover album, Kicking Against the Pricks, in 1986. But it never had the success of Pitney-Almond.

On 26 February 1993, Pitney performed at Carnegie Hall in New York on the day of the first World Trade Center18 bombing. On 18 March 2002 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Death

Pitney died on April 5, 2006, aged 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at Cardiff's St. David's Hall was a success, with a standing ovation, ending the show with "Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis. He was survived by his wife, Lynne, and three sons, Todd, Chris and David.
Posthumous tributes

In tribute, Marc Almond recorded "Backstage (I'm Lonely)" for his 2007 covers album Stardom Road.

On 20 September 2007, a plaque to Pitney was unveiled at the town hall in his hometown of Rockville, Connecticut. Members of the family attended. The Gene Pitney Commemorative Committee established a music scholarship in Pitney's name. It is awarded annually to Rockville High School. In October 2008, an international fan convention was held in Rockville.
Discography
Singles

Note that release dates refer to initial release. Pitney's early singles generally appeared one to four months later in the UK/Australia. Many of his later releases are UK/Australia/NZ only.

Sources include Joel Whitburn's Record Research material for the U.S. Top 100, "Bubbling Under" and U.S. Country charts; Tim Rice et al., Guinness Book of Hit Singles for the UK; CHUM Chart for Canada prior to mid-1964, and the Canadian RPM charts thereafter; and The Kent Report for Australia
Release date Title Chart positions
Australia Canada UK U.S Hot 100 U.S. C&W
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Snuggle Up Baby
1959? Jamie & Jane (Gene Pitney and Ginny Arnell):
Classical Rock And Roll
1960 as Billy Bryan: Cradle of My Arms
1960 Please Come Back
January 1961 (I Wanna) Love My Life Away 29 23 26 39
April 1961 Louisiana Mama
July 1961 Every Breath I Take 42
October 1961 Town Without Pity 31 10 32 13
April 1962 (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance 3 2 4
August 1962 Only Love Can Break a Heart (A-Side) 4 11 2
" If I Didn't Have a Dime (To Play the Jukebox) (B-Side) 4 42 58
December 1962 Half Heaven - Half Heartache 11 4 12
March 1963 Mecca (A-Side) 7 2 12
" Teardrop by Teardrop (B-Side) 130
June 1963 True Love Never Runs Smooth 18 17 21
October 1963 Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa 3 6 5 17
January 1964 That Girl Belongs to Yesterday (A-Side) 9 41 7 49
" Who Needs It (B-Side) 9 41 131
April 1964 Yesterday's Hero (A-Side) 18 36 64
April 1964 Cornflower Blue (B-Side) 18
July 1964 It Hurts to Be In Love 6 2 36 7
July 1964 Lips Are Redder on You
Australian release only 83
October 1964 I'm Gonna Be Strong 5 3 2 9
February 1965 I Must Be Seeing Things (A-Side) 12 6 6 31
February 1965 Marianne (B-Side) 12
April 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night 65 99 16
May 1965 Last Chance to Turn Around 13 4 13
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Louisiana Man (A-Side) 25
June 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
I'm a Fool to Care (B-Side) 115
July 1965 Looking Through the Eyes of Love 34 3 3 28
November 1965 Princess In Rags 13 2 9 37
November 1965 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
Big Job 50
January 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Baby Ain't That Fine 15
March 1966 Nessuno Mi Puo' Guidcare 30 115
April 1966 Backstage 29 2 4 25
May 1966 George & Gene (George Jones & Gene Pitney):
That's All It Took 47
June 1966 Nobody Needs Your Love
European release only 2
July? 1966 Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery:
Being Together
September 1966 (In the) Cold Light of Day (A-Side) 19 38 115
September 1966 The Boss's Daughter (B-Side) 19
December 1966 Just One Smile (A-Side) 55 8 64
December 1966 Innamorata (B-Side) 55
March 1967 I'm Gonna Listen to Me
March 1967 Animal Crackers (In Cellophane Boxes) 87 106
April 1967 Tremblin'
September 1967 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart 69 5 130
March 1968 The More I Saw of Her
March 1968 Somewhere in the Country
European release only 19
April 1968 She's a Heartbreaker 39 13 16
October 1968 Billy, You're My Friend 31 92 92
November 1968 Yours Until Tomorrow
European release only 34
March 1969 Maria Elena
European release only 25
August 1969 Playing Games of Love
Australian release only 85
December 1969 She Lets Her Hair Down (Early in the Morning) 88 89
March 1970 A Street Called Hope 37
October 1970 Shady Lady 29
1971 Higher and Higher
1971 Gene Are You There?
1972 I Just Can't Help Myself
1972 Summertime Dreamin'
April 1973 24 Sycamore
European release only 34
October 1974 Blue Angel
European/Australian release only 2 39
March 1975 Trans-Canada Highway
European/Australian release only 14
1977 It's Over, It's Over

1977 Dedication

January 1989 Marc Almond & Gene Pitney:
Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart
European release only 24 1
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x206/dancranfield/gene_pitney.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/petertim/genepitney2000diedapril2006.jpg


A good singer who died too soon.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/05/10 at 12:24 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mwAK2UFxI




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/05/10 at 1:25 pm

Chain of Fools  Aretha Franklin.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/05/10 at 1:28 pm


The word of the day...Chain
A chain consists of metal rings connected together in a line.
If prisoners are in chains, they have thick rings of metal round their wrists or ankles to prevent them from escaping.
You can refer to feelings and duties which prevent you from doing what you want to do as chains.
A chain of things is a group of them existing or arranged in a line.
A chain of shops, hotels, or other businesses is a number of them owned by the same person or company.
A chain of events is a series of them happening one after another.
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae254/gfuturehk/Chain/NST754.jpg
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae254/gfuturehk/Chain/NST786.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss82/Msbettybug/ChainWeight.jpg
http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy309/midsummersmelody/peoplechainholdinghands.jpg
http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/vv342/classicbike09/DSCC26811.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx60/pl4ntm4n/DSC00892.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy62/emiliano030309/HolidayInnmail.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd128/lilipuk_photo/DSCN4460.jpg



...As well as the "Chain of Songs" or "Chain of Names" or TV shows or movies or...anything in the Penguin Boards Games.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/05/10 at 1:29 pm

One Chain Don't Make No Prision.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 6:10 am


...As well as the "Chain of Songs" or "Chain of Names" or TV shows or movies or...anything in the Penguin Boards Games.

Good examples :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 04/06/10 at 6:14 am

Ball and Chain


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdsPKDt96wE&feature=related

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 6:18 am

The word of the day...Natural
If you say that it is natural for someone to act in a particular way or for something to happen in that way, you mean that it is reasonable in the circumstances.
Natural behaviour is shared by all people or all animals of a particular type and has not been learned.
Someone with a natural ability or skill was born with that ability and did not have to learn it.
Natural things exist or occur in nature and are not made or caused by people.
Someone's natural parent is their biological father or mother, as opposed to an adult who is looking after them or has adopted them. Someone's natural child is their biological son or daughter, as opposed to a child they are looking after or have adopted
http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae276/AquariumWranglers/DSC01166.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg117/CHADOWSHADOW/layniechadowpics007.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab64/nermmqe66/08-1.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu282/bewafa/planning_natural_bridges.jpg
http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad9/Jinxx-chan97/Picture16.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o143/lizeth2007/cherry-blossom-natural-pink-1.jpg
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/muddkids/Onsies/bodysuithresnaturalhres.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 6:21 am

The person born on this day...Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American  screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer  of film and television. His films include Bugsy, The Natural and Rain Man. Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Violet "Vi" (née Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in furniture and appliance business.  His family is of Russian Jewish descent.  After growing up in Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School, Levinson attended Baltimore City Community College, and American University in Washington, D.C. before moving to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with would-be drug smuggler (and basis for the movie Blow) George Jung.
Career

Levinson's first writing work was for variety shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. After some success as a screenwriter — notably the Mel Brooks comedies Silent Movie (1976) and High Anxiety (1977) (in which he played a bellboy) and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written by then-wife Valerie Curtin) …And Justice for All (1979) — Levinson began his career as a director with Diner (1982), for which he had also written the script and which earned him a Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.
Levinson.

Diner was the first of a series of films set in the Baltimore of Levinson's youth. The others were Tin Men (1987), a story of aluminum-siding salesmen in the 1960s starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito; the immigrant family saga Avalon (which featured Elijah Wood in one of his earliest screen appearances), and Liberty Heights (1999).

His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man (1988) with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (in which Levinson also appeared as an actor). The film won four Academy Awards including Best Director for Levinson. Another notable film in his career was the 1984 baseball drama The Natural starring Robert Redford, who would later direct Quiz Show and cast Levinson as television personality Dave Garroway. Levinson also directed Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Toys (1992), both with Robin Williams, and the critically acclaimed Bugsy (1991) with Warren Beatty.

He directed Dustin Hoffman again in Wag the Dog (1997), a political comedy co-starring Robert DeNiro about a war staged in a film studio. Levinson had been an uncredited co-writer on Hoffman's hit comedy Tootsie in 1982. He partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the film production company Baltimore Pictures, until the duo parted ways in 1994.

Levinson has been a producer or executive producer for such major productions as The Perfect Storm directed by Wolfgang Petersen (2000); Analyze That (2002), starring DeNiro as a neurotic mob boss and Billy Crystal as his therapist, and Possession (2002), based on the best-selling novel by A. S. Byatt.

He has a television production company with Tom Fontana (The Levinson/Fontana Company) and served as executive producer for a number of series, including Homicide: Life on the Street (which ran on NBC from 1993-1999) and the HBO prison drama Oz. Levinson also played a main role in the short-lived TV series The Jury, where he played a judge (the role was uncredited).

Levinson published his first novel, Sixty-Six (ISBN 0-7679-1533-X), in 2003. Like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in the 1960s. He directed two webisodes of the American Express ads "The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman".

In 2004, Levinson was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.

Levinson directed a documentary PoliWood about the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The documentary, produced by Tim Daly, Robin Bronk and Robert E. Baruc, had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
Personal life

Levinson grew up in a Jewish family. He married his writing collaborator Valerie Curtin in 1975. They divorced seven years later. He later married Dianna Rhodes, whom he met in Baltimore while filming Diner. He is the father Sam, Jack, Michelle and Patrick Levinson.

He is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

Currently, he resides with his two sons and wife in Redding, Connecticut.
Filmography
Year Film Oscar wins Oscar nominations
1982 Best Friends
1982 Diner 1
1984 The Natural 4
1985 Young Sherlock Holmes 1
1987 Tin Men
1987 Good Morning Vietnam 1
1988 Rain Man 4 8
1990 Avalon 4
1991 Bugsy 2 10
1992 Toys 2
1994 Jimmy Hollywood
1994 Disclosure
1996 Sleepers 1
1997 Wag the Dog 2
1998 Sphere
1999 Liberty Heights
2000 An Everlasting Piece
2001 Bandits
2004 Envy
2006 Man of the Year
2008 What Just Happened
2009 a remake of The Saint television series - -
2009 PoliWood - a documentary - -
2009 The Band that Wouldn't Die - a documentary - -
2010 Boone's Lick - -
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu83/maybs89/BruceWillisBarryLevinsonandBillyBob.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w151/Stampwithtaste/Mikes%20Album/MikeandLevinson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 6:33 am

The person who died on this day...Greer Garson
Greer Garson, CBE (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Actress award for Mrs. Miniver (1942). She was often cast in films with Walter Pidgeon as her co-star. Greer Garson was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson in Manor Park, Essex (now Greater London), England in 1904. She was the only child of George Garson (1865–1906), a clerk born in London, but with Scottish lineage, and his Irish  wife, Nancy ("Nina") Sophia Greer (d. 1958). Her maternal grandfather was David Greer, a RIC sergeant in Castlewellan, Co Down, Ireland in the 1880s and who later became a land steward to the Annesleys' wealthy landlords, who built the town of Castlewellan. He lived in a large detached house built on the lower part of what was known as Pig Street or known locally as the Back Way near Shilliday’s builder’s yard. The house was called ‘Claremount’ and today the street is named Claremount Avenue. It was often reported that Garson was born in this house. She was, in fact born in London, but spent much of her childhood in Castlewellan.

She was educated at King's College London, where she earned degrees in French and 18th century literature, and at the University of Grenoble in France . She had intended to become a teacher, but instead began working with an advertising agency, and appeared in local theatrical productions.
Career
Garson in Pride and Prejudice (1940)

Greer Garson's early professional appearances were on stage, starting at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in January 1932. She appeared on television during its earliest years (the late 1930s), most notably starring in a thirty-minute production of an excerpt of Twelfth Night in May 1937, with Dorothy Black. These live transmissions were part of the BBC's experimental service from Alexandra Palace and this is the first known instance of a Shakespeare play performed on television.

Louis B. Mayer discovered Garson while he was in London looking for new talent. Garson was signed to a contract with MGM in late 1937, but did not begin work on her first film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, until late 1938. She received her first Oscar nomination for the role, but lost to Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind. She received critical acclaim the next year for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1940 film, Pride and Prejudice.

Garson starred with Joan Crawford in When Ladies Meet in 1941, and that same year became a major box office star with the sentimental Technicolor drama Blossoms in the Dust, which brought her the first of five consecutive Best Actress Oscar nominations, tying Bette Davis' 1938-1942 record, a record that still stands. Garson won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942 for her role as a strong British wife and mother in the middle of World War II in Mrs. Miniver. (Guinness Book of World Records credits her with the longest Oscar acceptance speech, at five minutes and 30 seconds, after which the Academy Awards instituted a time limit.) She was also nominated for Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), and The Valley of Decision (1945).
Garson and co-star Walter Pidgeon in Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Garson was partnered with Clark Gable, after his return from war service, in Adventure (1945). The film was advertised with the catch-phrase "Gable's back and Garson's got him!" Gable argued for "He put the Arson in Garson"; she countered "She Put the Able in Gable!"; thereafter, the safer catchphrase was selected. Garson's popularity dropped somewhat in the late 1940s, but she remained a prominent film star until the mid-1950s, as she was known for her gorgeous red hair.

In 1951, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She made only a few films after her MGM contract expired in 1954. In 1958, she received a warm reception on Broadway in Auntie Mame, replacing Rosalind Russell, who had gone to Hollywood to make the film version. In 1960, Garson received her seventh and final Oscar nomination for Sunrise at Campobello, in which she played Eleanor Roosevelt, this time losing to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8.

Garson's last film, in 1967, was Disney's The Happiest Millionaire, although she made infrequent television appearances. In 1968, she narrated the children's television special The Little Drummer Boy, which went on to become a classic children's Christmas television program which was broadcast annually for many years.
Personal life

Garson was married three times. Her first marriage, on 28 September 1933, was to Edward Alec Abbot Snelson (1904–1992), later Sir Edward, a British civil servant who became a noted judge and expert in Indian and Pakistani affairs. The actual marriage reportedly lasted only a few weeks, but was not formally dissolved until 1943.

Her second husband, whom she married (at age 39) in 1943, was Richard Ney (1915–2004), the younger actor (28 years old) who played her son in Mrs. Miniver. They divorced in 1947, with Garson claiming that Ney called her a "has-been" and belittled her age, as well as testimony from Garson that he also physically abused her. Ney eventually became a respected stock-market analyst and financial consultant.

That same year, she married a millionaire Texas oilman and horse breeder, E. E. "Buddy" Fogelson (1900–1987), and in 1967, the couple retired to their "Forked Lightning Ranch" in New Mexico. They purchased the U.S. Hall of Fame champion Thoroughbred Ack Ack from the estate of Harry F. Guggenheim in 1971, and were highly successful as breeders. They also maintained a home in Dallas, Texas, where Garson funded the Greer Garson Theater facility at Southern Methodist University.

Garson donated millions for the construction of the Greer Garson Theater at the College of Santa Fe and The Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University on three conditions: 1) that the stage be circular, 2) that the premiere production be William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and 3) that it have large ladies' rooms.

Garson was a devout Presbyterian.
Death

Greer Garson died from heart failure in Dallas on 6 April 1996, at the age of 91. She is interred there in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1939 Goodbye, Mr. Chips Katherine Chipping Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
Remember? Linda Bronson Holland
1940 The Miracle of Sound Herself colour test for Blossoms in the Dust
Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet
1941 Blossoms in the Dust Edna Kahly Gladney Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
When Ladies Meet Mrs. Claire Woodruff
1942 Mrs. Miniver Mrs. Kay Miniver Winner - Academy Award for Best Actress
Random Harvest Paula Ridgeway
1943 The Youngest Profession Herself - Guest Star
Madame Curie Marie Curie Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
1944 Mrs. Parkington Susie "Sparrow" Parkington Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
1945 The Valley of Decision Mary Rafferty Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
Adventure Emily Sears
1947 Desire Me Marise Aubert
1948 Julia Misbehaves Julia Packett
1949 That Forsyte Woman Irene Forsyte
1950 Screen Actors Herself - uncredited short subject
The Miniver Story Mrs. Kay Miniver
1951 The Law and the Lady Jane Hoskins aka Lady Jane Loverly
1953 Scandal at Scourie Mrs. Victoria McChesney
Julius Caesar Calpurnia
1954 Her Twelve Men Jan Stewart
1955 Strange Lady in Town Dr. Julia Winslow Garth
1960 Sunrise at Campobello Eleanor Roosevelt Golden Globe
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
Pepe Herself Cameo appearance
1966 The Singing Nun Mother Prioress
1967 The Happiest Millionaire Mrs. Cordelia Biddle
1968 The Little Drummer Boy "Our Story Teller" as Ms. Greer Garson
1978 Little Women Aunt Kathryn March
1986 Directed by William Wyler Herself documentary
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv24/tonygash/ggcolor12.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj296/darwyn_2008/movie%20stars/174845Greer-Garson-Posters.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 6:37 am


Ball and Chain


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdsPKDt96wE&feature=related

Now she has natural talent. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/06/10 at 10:42 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0Vto0n5DA



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/06/10 at 2:55 pm


The word of the day...Natural
If you say that it is natural for someone to act in a particular way or for something to happen in that way, you mean that it is reasonable in the circumstances.
Natural behaviour is shared by all people or all animals of a particular type and has not been learned.
Someone with a natural ability or skill was born with that ability and did not have to learn it.
Natural things exist or occur in nature and are not made or caused by people.
Someone's natural parent is their biological father or mother, as opposed to an adult who is looking after them or has adopted them. Someone's natural child is their biological son or daughter, as opposed to a child they are looking after or have adopted
http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae276/AquariumWranglers/DSC01166.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg117/CHADOWSHADOW/layniechadowpics007.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab64/nermmqe66/08-1.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu282/bewafa/planning_natural_bridges.jpg
http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad9/Jinxx-chan97/Picture16.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o143/lizeth2007/cherry-blossom-natural-pink-1.jpg
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/muddkids/Onsies/bodysuithresnaturalhres.jpg


very nice pictures Ninny.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 4:01 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0Vto0n5DA



Cat

Another great talent.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 4:01 pm


very nice pictures Ninny.  :)

Thanks Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/10 at 4:03 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mwAK2UFxI




Cat

How did i miss this :-[ I love this song. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/06/10 at 5:00 pm


How did i miss this :-[ I love this song. :)

The Chain: Great song from one of the best albums ever, which RULED through my early years of high school.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/06/10 at 5:29 pm


How did i miss this :-[ I love this song. :)



One of my all-time favorites of Fleetwood Mac. (Tusk is another one.)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/10 at 6:19 am



One of my all-time favorites of Fleetwood Mac. (Tusk is another one.)



Cat

Fleetwood Mac is one of my favorite bands :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/10 at 6:26 am

The word or phrase of the day...Rush Hour
The rush hour is one of the periods of the day when most people are travelling to or from work.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/ladyb918/LOLpigeons/HatezRushHour.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac277/taiwan2010/18946_246821040915_541470915_376672.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee189/Trev0n/rush.jpg
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p344/mizz_reggie00/norfolkrushhour.jpg
http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd335/Tatsume/rush_hour.jpg
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp279/kleine_rosa_kuchen/Wonderland/rush_hour.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/wanderingwoman1/California/HPIM0420.jpg
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m321/KellyCallihan85/Wyoming043.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/10 at 6:30 am

The person born on this day...Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE  (born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong  actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer.

In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1970s and has appeared in over 100 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons and video games. Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. n 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stuntwork. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo had seen Chan's performance in the John Woo  film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury.  His stage name was changed to Sing Lung (Chinese: 成龍, literally "become the dragon") to emphasise his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name was Lei Siu-lung (Chinese: 李小龍, meaning "Little Dragon"). The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, resulting in little improvement at the box office.

Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. Under director Yuen Woo-ping, Chan was allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience. Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.

Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu. He also gave Chan the opportunity to co-direct The Fearless Hyena with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.
Success of the action comedy genre: 1980–1987
The film Police Story, nicknamed "Glass Story" for its stunt work, is set in a modern period.

Willie Chan had become Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by audiences in favour of established American actors like Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.

After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.

Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master went on to beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as Hong Kong cinema's top star.

Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which won the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards. Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy. In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a US-influenced action comedy in which Chan performed his own stunts. It was named the "Best Movie" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1987, Chan played "Asian Hawk", an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success to date, grossing over HK $35 million.
Acclaimed sequels and Hollywood breakthrough: 1988–1998
Chan in his Hollywood breakthrough film Rumble in the Bronx.

In 1988 Chan starred alongside Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao for the last time to date, in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy.

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. This was followed by Armour of God II: Operation Condor, and Police Story 3, for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1994, Chan reprised his role as Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II, which was listed in Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies. Another sequel, Police Story 4: First Strike, brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets. Jackie Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix, a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes.

Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars. The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3 in the United States under the title Supercop, which grossed a total of US $16,270,600. Jackie's first huge blockbuster success came when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hour, grossing US$130 million in the United States alone. This film made a star of Jackie Chan, in Hollywood. As a publicity stunt, Jackie also wrote his autobiography in collaboration with Jeff Yang entitled I Am Jackie Chan.
Dramatization and fame in Hollywood: 1999–present

In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I? After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced Gorgeous, a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships. Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture.
Jackie Chan plays an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood: a burglar with gambling problems.

Despite further success with Shanghai Noon in 2000, Rush Hour 2 in 2001 and Shanghai Knights in 2003, Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the film-making process. In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG). His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and the hit film Rob-B-Hood (2006).

Chan's next release was Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million. However, it performed poorly in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend. The filming of The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan's first onscreen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, was completed on 24 August 2007 and the film was released in April 2008. Chan voiced the character Master Monkey in the DreamWorks Animation film, Kung Fu Panda, released in June 2008, appearing with stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie. In addition, he has signed up to assist Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's upcoming film Wushu, which is currently in pre-production. The film will star Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.

In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan. The film was released on 2 April 2009. According to his blog, Chan wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years. The film is expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and has a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. Chan originally stated that he would start filming on 1 April 2008, but that date had passed. Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico, leaving the status of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac up in the air. In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his girlfriend. In Little Big Soldier, Chan stars, alongside Leehom Wang in a non-martial arts movie based on the Warring States Period.

On 22 June 2009, Chan left Los Angeles to begin filming The Karate Kid, a remake of the original in Beijing.
Stunts
Jackie Chan prepares to slide down the side of a high rise building in New Police Story

Jackie Chan performs most of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration for his more comedic stunts were films such as The General directed by and starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts. Since its establishment in 1983, Chan has used the team in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.

The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult for Chan to get insurance, especially in the United States, where his stunt work is contractually limited. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor", which emphasizes "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions, in which he performs all his own stunts". In addition, he holds an unrecognised record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, having shot over 2900 retakes for a complex scene involving a badminton game in Dragon Lord.

Chan has been injured numerous times attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions. Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that Chan performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.
Filmography and screen persona
Further information: Jackie Chan filmography

Jackie Chan created his screen persona as a response to Bruce Lee, and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. In contrast to Lee's characters, who were typically stern, morally upright heroes, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular guys (often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends or families) who always triumph in the end despite the odds. Additionally, Chan has stated that he deliberately styles his movement to be the opposite of Lee's: where Lee held his arms wide, Chan holds his tight to the body; where Lee was loose and flowing, Chan is tight and choppy. Despite the success of the Rush Hour series, Chan has stated that he is not a fan of it since he neither appreciates the action scenes in the movie, nor understands American humour. In the same interview Chan said that while he is not enamored with the films he makes in the U.S., and has repeatedly shown a lack of enthusiasm for some of his biggest Hollywood projects fearing that Chinese viewers may not understand them, he uses the high salaries from these pictures to fund Chinese projects that he is more interested in.

In recent years, the aging Chan grew tired of being typecast as an action hero, prompting him to act with more emotion in his latest films. In New Police Story, he portrayed a character suffering from alcoholism and mourning his murdered colleagues. To further shed the image of Mr. Nice Guy, Chan played an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood starring as Thongs, a burglar with gambling problems. During a news conference in Shanghai on 28 March 2004, Chan referred to the recently concluded Republic of China presidential election, 2004 in Taiwan, in which Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected as President and Vice-President as "the biggest joke in the world."  Chan's comments were criticised by Parris Chang, a Taiwanese legislator and senior member of the DPP, who called for the government of Taiwan to take punitive steps against Chan for his comments, such as banning his movies and barring him the right to visit Taiwan.  Some 50 police and security personnel were required to separate protesters from Chan, as they were attempting to spit at him when he arrived at Taipei airport for a charity sponsored by cable TV channel TVBS on 18 June 2008.  Chan insisted that his remarks were not intended to insult the people of Taiwan.

Referring to his participation in the torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chan spoke out against demonstrators who disrupted the relay several times attempting to draw attention to a wide-ranging number of grievances against the Chinese government, including China's human rights record and the political status of Taiwan. He warned that he would lash out against anyone planning to stop him from carrying the Olympic Torch, saying, "Demonstrators better not get anywhere near me."

On 18 April 2009, during a panel discussion at the annual Boao Forum for Asia titled "Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry Potential," Chan said "...in the 10 years after Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, I can gradually see, I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not." Chan went on to say, "If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic." He also added, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." Chan however complained about the quality of Chinese goods, saying, "...a Chinese TV might explode." but shied away from criticizing the Chinese government for banning his 2009 film Shinjuku Incident. Chan's comments prompted an angry response from some legislators and other prominent figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Hong Kong Legislator Leung Kwok-hung said that Chan "insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets." The Hong Kong Tourism Board stated that it had received 164 comments and complaints from the public over Chan's remarks. A spokesman for Chan told reporters that the actor was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry rather than Chinese society at large and that certain people with "ulterior motives deliberately misinterpreted what he said.
Founded in 1988, the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation offers scholarships and active help to Hong Kong's young people through a variety of worthy causes. Over the years, the foundation has broadened its scope to include provision of medical services, aid to victims of natural disaster or illness, and projects where the major beneficiaries are Hong Kong people or organizations. Major donation projects of The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation:

    * The Jackie Chan Gymnasium at Lingnan University
    * The Jackie Chan Challenge Cup Intercollegiate Invitation Tournament
    * The Jackie Chan Family Unit, Hong Kong Girl Guides Association Jockey Club Beas River Lodge
    * The Jackie Chan Whole Person Development Center
    * Renovation of the Bethanie Site, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
    * Medical Funding in Mainland China (Operation Smile)
    * Medical Donation in Hong Kong (Queen Mary Hospital, SARS Relief)
    * Support for the Performing Arts
    * Youth Development Programs

The Dragon's Heart Foundation

The Dragon's Heart Foundation was founded in 2005 to fulfill the desperate needs of children and the elderly in remote areas of China. Since 2005, the Dragon's Heart Foundation has built over a dozen schools, provided books, fees, and uniforms, and has raised millions of dollars to give much-needed educational opportunities for the poor. In addition, the Dragon's Heart Foundation provides for the elderly with donations of warm clothing, wheelchairs, and other items. Jackie often travels to the remote locations to attend groundbreakings or school openings, and to lend support and encouragement.
Awards and nominations

Hong Kong Film Awards

    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Dragon Lord
    * Best Actor Nomination for Project A
    * Best Actor Nomination for Heart of Dragon
    * Best Actor Nomination for Police Story
    * Best Director Nomination for Police Story
    * Best Picture for Rouge
    * Best Actor Nomination for Mr Canton and Lady Rose
    * Best Actor Nomination for Police Story 3: Super Cop
    * Best Actor Nomination for Crime Story
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Crime Story
    * Best Actor Nomination for Rumble in the Bronx
    * Best Action Choreography for Rumble in the Bronx
    * Best Actor Nomination for Police Story 4: First Strike
    * Best Actor Nomination for Who Am I?
    * Best Action Choreography for Who Am I?
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Gorgeous
    * Best Actor Nomination for New Police Story
    * Professional Spirit Award
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for The Myth
    * Best Original Film Song Nomination for The Myth
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Rob-B-Hood

(10 Best Actor Nominations, 6 Best Action Choreography Nominations, 1 Best Picture Nomination, 1 Best Director Nomination, 1 Best Original Film Song Nomination)
Personal life

In 1982, Jackie Chan married Lin Feng-Jiao (aka Joan Lin), a Taiwanese actress. That same year, the two had a son, singer and actor Jaycee Chan.

"In a 1999 scandal, he acknowledged all but paternity of a daughter with 1990 Miss Asia Pageant winner Elaine Ng," although paparazzi had also linked Jackie to "everyone from the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng to sultry pop star and actress Anita Mui."

He speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and English fluently, and also speaks some Korean and Japanese, as well as a little Spanis
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w241/sahduk/jackiechan.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/taylorspectacular00/jackie-chan.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/10 at 6:36 am

The person who died on this day...Walter Huston
Walter Huston (pronounced /ˈwɔːltər ˈhjuːstən/; April 6, 1884 – April 7, 1950) was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston. He was also the adoptive grandfather of Pablo, a boy from Mexico who was adopted by John. Born Walter Houghston in Toronto, Ontario  to an Ulster-Scottish father and a Scottish Canadian mother, he began his Broadway career in 1924. Once talkies began in Hollywood, he achieved fame in character roles. His first major role was in 1929's The Virginian with Gary Cooper. He appeared in the Broadway theatrical adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel Dodsworth  in 1934 and the play's film version two years later.

Huston stayed busy throughout the 1930s and 1940s, both on stage and screen (becoming one of America's most distinguished actors); he performed "September Song" in the original Broadway production of Knickerbocker Holiday in 1938. Among his films are Rain (1932), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) and Mission to Moscow (1943), a pro-Soviet World War II propaganda film as Ambassador Joseph E. Davies. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1948 for his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which was directed by his son, John Huston. His last film was The Furies in 1950 with Barbara Stanwyck.

Along with Anthony Veiller, he narrated the Why We Fight series of World War II documentaries directed by Frank Capra.

He died in Hollywood from an aortic aneurysm, one day after his 66th birthday.

Walter Huston has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6626 Hollywood Blvd.
Partial filmography (with co-stars)

    * The Lady Lies (1929) with Claudette Colbert
    * The Virginian (1929) with Gary Cooper
    * The Virtuous Sin (1930) with Kay Francis
    * The Bad Man (1930)
    * The Beast of the City (1932) with Jean Harlow and Jean Hersholt
    * American Madness (1932) with Pat O'Brien
    * Rain (1932) with Joan Crawford
    * Gabriel Over the White House (1933) with Franchot Tone
    * Dodsworth (1936) with Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor, and David Niven
    * Rhodes of Africa (1936)
    * The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) with James Craig, Edward Arnold, and Anne Shirley
    * Swamp Water (1941) with Walter Brennan and Anne Baxter
    * The Shanghai Gesture (1942) with Gene Tierney
    * Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) with James Cagney
    * The Outlaw (1943) with Thomas Mitchell and Jane Russell
    * Edge of Darkness (1943) with Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan
    * Mission to Moscow (1943)
    * And Then There Were None (1945)
    * Dragonwyck (1946) with Gene Tierney and Vincent Price
    * Duel in the Sun (1946) with Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, and Jennifer Jones
    * The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) with Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt
    * The Furies (1950) with Wendell Corey and Barbara Stanwyck

Academy Awards and nominations

    * 1937 - Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - Dodsworth
    * 1942 - Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Devil and Daniel Webster
    * 1943 - Nominated Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Yankee Doodle Dandy
    * 1949 - Won Best Actor in a Supporting Role - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

In popular culture

    * Huston was mentioned in the 1994 western-comedy City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold and the "Walter Huston dance" after finding the buried gold.

See also

    * Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk119/lint_clouds/Columbine/Walter_Huston_in_The_Treasure_of_th.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh179/mdffyx/2010/virginian.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/07/10 at 6:43 am


The word or phrase of the day...Rush Hour
The rush hour is one of the periods of the day when most people are travelling to or from work.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/ladyb918/LOLpigeons/HatezRushHour.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac277/taiwan2010/18946_246821040915_541470915_376672.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee189/Trev0n/rush.jpg
http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p344/mizz_reggie00/norfolkrushhour.jpg
http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd335/Tatsume/rush_hour.jpg
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp279/kleine_rosa_kuchen/Wonderland/rush_hour.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/wanderingwoman1/California/HPIM0420.jpg
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m321/KellyCallihan85/Wyoming043.jpg


I hate rush hour (in general)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/10 at 7:42 am


I hate rush hour (in general)

I don't have to deal with it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/07/10 at 11:08 am


The person born on this day...Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE  (born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong  actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer.

In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1970s and has appeared in over 100 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons and video games. Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. n 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stuntwork. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo had seen Chan's performance in the John Woo  film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury.  His stage name was changed to Sing Lung (Chinese: 成龍, literally "become the dragon") to emphasise his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name was Lei Siu-lung (Chinese: 李小龍, meaning "Little Dragon"). The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, resulting in little improvement at the box office.

Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. Under director Yuen Woo-ping, Chan was allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience. Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.

Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu. He also gave Chan the opportunity to co-direct The Fearless Hyena with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.
Success of the action comedy genre: 1980–1987
The film Police Story, nicknamed "Glass Story" for its stunt work, is set in a modern period.

Willie Chan had become Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by audiences in favour of established American actors like Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.

After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.

Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master went on to beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as Hong Kong cinema's top star.

Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which won the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards. Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy. In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a US-influenced action comedy in which Chan performed his own stunts. It was named the "Best Movie" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1987, Chan played "Asian Hawk", an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success to date, grossing over HK $35 million.
Acclaimed sequels and Hollywood breakthrough: 1988–1998
Chan in his Hollywood breakthrough film Rumble in the Bronx.

In 1988 Chan starred alongside Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao for the last time to date, in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy.

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. This was followed by Armour of God II: Operation Condor, and Police Story 3, for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1994, Chan reprised his role as Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II, which was listed in Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies. Another sequel, Police Story 4: First Strike, brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets. Jackie Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix, a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes.

Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars. The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3 in the United States under the title Supercop, which grossed a total of US $16,270,600. Jackie's first huge blockbuster success came when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hour, grossing US$130 million in the United States alone. This film made a star of Jackie Chan, in Hollywood. As a publicity stunt, Jackie also wrote his autobiography in collaboration with Jeff Yang entitled I Am Jackie Chan.
Dramatization and fame in Hollywood: 1999–present

In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I? After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced Gorgeous, a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships. Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture.
Jackie Chan plays an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood: a burglar with gambling problems.

Despite further success with Shanghai Noon in 2000, Rush Hour 2 in 2001 and Shanghai Knights in 2003, Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the film-making process. In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG). His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and the hit film Rob-B-Hood (2006).

Chan's next release was Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million. However, it performed poorly in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend. The filming of The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan's first onscreen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, was completed on 24 August 2007 and the film was released in April 2008. Chan voiced the character Master Monkey in the DreamWorks Animation film, Kung Fu Panda, released in June 2008, appearing with stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie. In addition, he has signed up to assist Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's upcoming film Wushu, which is currently in pre-production. The film will star Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.

In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan. The film was released on 2 April 2009. According to his blog, Chan wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years. The film is expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and has a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. Chan originally stated that he would start filming on 1 April 2008, but that date had passed. Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico, leaving the status of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac up in the air. In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his girlfriend. In Little Big Soldier, Chan stars, alongside Leehom Wang in a non-martial arts movie based on the Warring States Period.

On 22 June 2009, Chan left Los Angeles to begin filming The Karate Kid, a remake of the original in Beijing.
Stunts
Jackie Chan prepares to slide down the side of a high rise building in New Police Story

Jackie Chan performs most of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration for his more comedic stunts were films such as The General directed by and starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts. Since its establishment in 1983, Chan has used the team in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.

The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult for Chan to get insurance, especially in the United States, where his stunt work is contractually limited. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor", which emphasizes "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions, in which he performs all his own stunts". In addition, he holds an unrecognised record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, having shot over 2900 retakes for a complex scene involving a badminton game in Dragon Lord.

Chan has been injured numerous times attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions. Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that Chan performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.
Filmography and screen persona
Further information: Jackie Chan filmography

Jackie Chan created his screen persona as a response to Bruce Lee, and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. In contrast to Lee's characters, who were typically stern, morally upright heroes, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular guys (often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends or families) who always triumph in the end despite the odds. Additionally, Chan has stated that he deliberately styles his movement to be the opposite of Lee's: where Lee held his arms wide, Chan holds his tight to the body; where Lee was loose and flowing, Chan is tight and choppy. Despite the success of the Rush Hour series, Chan has stated that he is not a fan of it since he neither appreciates the action scenes in the movie, nor understands American humour. In the same interview Chan said that while he is not enamored with the films he makes in the U.S., and has repeatedly shown a lack of enthusiasm for some of his biggest Hollywood projects fearing that Chinese viewers may not understand them, he uses the high salaries from these pictures to fund Chinese projects that he is more interested in.

In recent years, the aging Chan grew tired of being typecast as an action hero, prompting him to act with more emotion in his latest films. In New Police Story, he portrayed a character suffering from alcoholism and mourning his murdered colleagues. To further shed the image of Mr. Nice Guy, Chan played an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood starring as Thongs, a burglar with gambling problems. During a news conference in Shanghai on 28 March 2004, Chan referred to the recently concluded Republic of China presidential election, 2004 in Taiwan, in which Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected as President and Vice-President as "the biggest joke in the world."  Chan's comments were criticised by Parris Chang, a Taiwanese legislator and senior member of the DPP, who called for the government of Taiwan to take punitive steps against Chan for his comments, such as banning his movies and barring him the right to visit Taiwan.  Some 50 police and security personnel were required to separate protesters from Chan, as they were attempting to spit at him when he arrived at Taipei airport for a charity sponsored by cable TV channel TVBS on 18 June 2008.  Chan insisted that his remarks were not intended to insult the people of Taiwan.

Referring to his participation in the torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chan spoke out against demonstrators who disrupted the relay several times attempting to draw attention to a wide-ranging number of grievances against the Chinese government, including China's human rights record and the political status of Taiwan. He warned that he would lash out against anyone planning to stop him from carrying the Olympic Torch, saying, "Demonstrators better not get anywhere near me."

On 18 April 2009, during a panel discussion at the annual Boao Forum for Asia titled "Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry Potential," Chan said "...in the 10 years after Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, I can gradually see, I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not." Chan went on to say, "If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic." He also added, "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." Chan however complained about the quality of Chinese goods, saying, "...a Chinese TV might explode." but shied away from criticizing the Chinese government for banning his 2009 film Shinjuku Incident. Chan's comments prompted an angry response from some legislators and other prominent figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Hong Kong Legislator Leung Kwok-hung said that Chan "insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets." The Hong Kong Tourism Board stated that it had received 164 comments and complaints from the public over Chan's remarks. A spokesman for Chan told reporters that the actor was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry rather than Chinese society at large and that certain people with "ulterior motives deliberately misinterpreted what he said.
Founded in 1988, the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation offers scholarships and active help to Hong Kong's young people through a variety of worthy causes. Over the years, the foundation has broadened its scope to include provision of medical services, aid to victims of natural disaster or illness, and projects where the major beneficiaries are Hong Kong people or organizations. Major donation projects of The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation:

    * The Jackie Chan Gymnasium at Lingnan University
    * The Jackie Chan Challenge Cup Intercollegiate Invitation Tournament
    * The Jackie Chan Family Unit, Hong Kong Girl Guides Association Jockey Club Beas River Lodge
    * The Jackie Chan Whole Person Development Center
    * Renovation of the Bethanie Site, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
    * Medical Funding in Mainland China (Operation Smile)
    * Medical Donation in Hong Kong (Queen Mary Hospital, SARS Relief)
    * Support for the Performing Arts
    * Youth Development Programs

The Dragon's Heart Foundation

The Dragon's Heart Foundation was founded in 2005 to fulfill the desperate needs of children and the elderly in remote areas of China. Since 2005, the Dragon's Heart Foundation has built over a dozen schools, provided books, fees, and uniforms, and has raised millions of dollars to give much-needed educational opportunities for the poor. In addition, the Dragon's Heart Foundation provides for the elderly with donations of warm clothing, wheelchairs, and other items. Jackie often travels to the remote locations to attend groundbreakings or school openings, and to lend support and encouragement.
Awards and nominations

Hong Kong Film Awards

    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Dragon Lord
    * Best Actor Nomination for Project A
    * Best Actor Nomination for Heart of Dragon
    * Best Actor Nomination for Police Story
    * Best Director Nomination for Police Story
    * Best Picture for Rouge
    * Best Actor Nomination for Mr Canton and Lady Rose
    * Best Actor Nomination for Police Story 3: Super Cop
    * Best Actor Nomination for Crime Story
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Crime Story
    * Best Actor Nomination for Rumble in the Bronx
    * Best Action Choreography for Rumble in the Bronx
    * Best Actor Nomination for Police Story 4: First Strike
    * Best Actor Nomination for Who Am I?
    * Best Action Choreography for Who Am I?
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Gorgeous
    * Best Actor Nomination for New Police Story
    * Professional Spirit Award
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for The Myth
    * Best Original Film Song Nomination for The Myth
    * Best Action Choreography Nomination for Rob-B-Hood

(10 Best Actor Nominations, 6 Best Action Choreography Nominations, 1 Best Picture Nomination, 1 Best Director Nomination, 1 Best Original Film Song Nomination)
Personal life

In 1982, Jackie Chan married Lin Feng-Jiao (aka Joan Lin), a Taiwanese actress. That same year, the two had a son, singer and actor Jaycee Chan.

"In a 1999 scandal, he acknowledged all but paternity of a daughter with 1990 Miss Asia Pageant winner Elaine Ng," although paparazzi had also linked Jackie to "everyone from the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng to sultry pop star and actress Anita Mui."

He speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and English fluently, and also speaks some Korean and Japanese, as well as a little Spanis
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w241/sahduk/jackiechan.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn21/taylorspectacular00/jackie-chan.jpg

I have seen over 15 movies that Jackie was in. He does the most amazing stunts. Great stuff.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/07/10 at 12:15 pm


I don't have to deal with it.


We have rush hour here-all both cars.  :D ;D ;D ;D


Ok, we have a little bit more than that-but not much.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/10 at 12:25 pm


I have seen over 15 movies that Jackie was in. He does the most amazing stunts. Great stuff.

Wow , I've seen a few but not that many.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/07/10 at 12:30 pm


I have seen over 15 movies that Jackie was in. He does the most amazing stunts. Great stuff.


Wow , I've seen a few but not that many.

Me neither. I enjoy his movies and the stunts that he performs.

I've seen all three films of the Rush Hour series, as well as Twin Dragons (1999), Rumble In The Bronx (1995?), and a couple others from the 90's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/07/10 at 1:08 pm


Wow , I've seen a few but not that many.

Well, my wife is Chiese from Hong Kong, so she has suggested a few. I have seen many of them with English subtitles only ( from the 80s)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/07/10 at 7:03 pm

Jackie Chan is tremendous with the stunts that he does even at his age.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/10 at 5:35 am

The word of the day...Tiptoe(s)
If you tiptoe somewhere, you walk there very quietly without putting your heels on the floor when you walk.
If you do something on tiptoe or on tiptoes, you do it standing or walking on the front part of your foot, without putting your heels on the ground.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc283/lilfalcongirl/tiptoes.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b97/Kdarnell/MichaelJackson.png
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f288/mrrmaidjes/tiptoes.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z292/scarysherri07/tiptoes.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s183/eat_soap/thth8933346c.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y99/svgymnast/thtiptoes.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/chantellell/d967c967.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x207/jouloca/caratulas/Tiptoes.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/10 at 5:39 am

The person who was born on this day...Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette (born April 8, 1968) is an American actress and director. She plays the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium. Arquette was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda "Mardi" Olivia (née Nowak), an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher and therapist.  Arquette's mother was Jewish, the daughter of a Holocaust refugee from Poland, and Arquette's father was a convert to Islam and a descendant of explorer Meriwether Lewis.  Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette, and her siblings are actors Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond and David Arquette. Arquette is the sister-in-law of Courteney Cox, who is married to her brother David.

Arquette was raised in Virginia and California.
Career

At the age of seventeen, Arquette was first cast in a role for Pretty Smart (1986). A year later, she gained attention for her starring role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, playing Kristen Parker. She won a CableACE Award in 1991 for her portrayal of a deaf epileptic in Wildflower. In 1993, she starred in Tony Scott's True Romance. Soon after, her career took off, and she has since appeared in such critically acclaimed movies as Ed Wood as the 'worst ever' film director's eventual wife, Beyond Rangoon, Ethan Frome, Lost Highway, Little Nicky, Stigmata, Bringing Out the Dead, Human Nature, Disney's Holes, and Flirting with Disaster.

In January 2005, she began starring in her first television series, NBC's Medium. Her role as psychic Allison DuBois won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2005, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe in 2006 and 2007, a SAG award in 2006 and 2010, and an Emmy Award in 2007 and 2008.
Personal life

In April 1995, Arquette married Nicolas Cage (with whom she would later co-star in Bringing Out the Dead in 1999). They separated after nine months, but acted as a couple in public until Cage filed for divorce in February 2000. The divorce petition was withdrawn, but Arquette filed again in November 2000.

In 1997, after her mother died of breast cancer, Arquette worked to raise awareness about the disease. She has run in the annual Race for the Cure, and in 1999 was the spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day, which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and education.

Arquette has a son, Enzo (born January 3, 1989) with musician Paul Rossi.

While filming Holes she discovered she was pregnant. Daughter Harlow Olivia Jane was born on February 20, 2003. She and actor Thomas Jane became engaged in 2002 and married on June 25, 2006 at the Palazzo Contarini in Venice, Italy. In January 2009, Arquette filed for divorce from Jane on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, but a couple of weeks later, the couple reconciled and Arquette requested to abandon the divorce petition.
Filmography
Year Title Role
1986 Pretty Smart Zero
1987 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors Kristen Parker
1988 Far North Jilly
1990 Prayer of the Rollerboys Casey
1991 The Indian Runner Dorothy
Wildflower Alice
1992 Trouble Bound Kit Clifton
Inside Monkey Zetterland Grace Zetterland
1993 True Romance Alabama Worley
Ethan Frome Mattie Silver
1994 Ed Wood Kathy O'Hara
Holy Matrimony Havana
1995 Beyond Rangoon Laura Bowman
1996 Flirting with Disaster Nancy
Infinity Arline Greenroom
1997 Lost Highway Renee Madison/Alice Wakefield
Nightwatch Katherine
1998 The Hi-Lo Country Mona Birk
1999 Bringing Out the Dead Mary Burke
Goodbye Lover Sandra Dunmore
Stigmata Frankie Paige
2000 Little Nicky Valerie Veran
2001 Human Nature Lila Jute
2002 The Badge Scarlet
Searching for Debra Winger Herself
2003 Deeper Than Deep Linda Lovelace
Tiptoes Lucy
Holes Miss Katherine/Kissin' Kate Barlow
Abby Singer Cameo
2005–present Medium (TV series) Allison DuBois
2006 Fast Food Nation Cindy
2013 Boyhood Mom
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Patricia-Arquette.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt244/Ruuum/patricia-arquette-picture-10.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/10 at 5:44 am

The person who died on this day...Ryan White
Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990)  was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed in December 1984, was given six months to live. Despite doctors having said he posed no risk to other students, AIDS was poorly understood at the time, and when White tried to return to school, many parents and teachers in Kokomo rallied against his attendance.  A lengthy legal battle with the school system ensued, and media coverage of the case made White into a national celebrity and spokesman for AIDS research and public education. He appeared frequently in the media with celebrities such as Elton John, Michael Jackson and Phil Donahue. Surprising his doctors, White lived five years longer than predicted and died in April 1990, one month prior to his high school graduation.

Before White, AIDS was a disease widely associated with the male homosexual community, because it was first diagnosed there. That perception shifted as White and other prominent HIV-infected people, such as Magic Johnson, the Ray brothers and Kimberly Bergalis, appeared in the media to advocate for more AIDS research and public education to address the epidemic. The U.S. Congress passed a major piece of AIDS legislation, the Ryan White Care Act, shortly after White's death. The Act was reauthorized in 2006 and again on October 30, 2009; its Ryan White Programs are the largest provider of services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.
Ryan White was born at St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Kokomo, Indiana, to Jeanne Elaine Hale and Hubert Wayne White. When he was six days old, doctors diagnosed him with severe Hemophilia A, a hereditary blood coagulation disorder associated with the x chromosome, which causes even minor injuries to result in severe bleeding. For treatment, he received transfusions of Factor VIII, a blood product created from pooled plasma  of non-hemophiliacs, an increasingly common treatment for hemophiliacs at the time.

Healthy for most of his childhood, he became extremely ill with pneumonia in December 1984. On December 17, 1984, during a partial-lung removal procedure, White was diagnosed with AIDS. The scientific community knew little about AIDS at the time: scientists had only realized earlier that year that HIV was the cause of AIDS. White had received a contaminated treatment of Factor VIII that was infected with HIV. Because HIV had only been recently identified as the AIDS virus, much of the pooled factor VIII concentrate supply was tainted because doctors did not know how to test for the disease, and donors did not know they were infected. Among hemophiliacs treated with blood-clotting factors between 1979 and 1984, nearly 90% became infected with HIV. At the time of his diagnosis, his T-cell count had dropped to 25 (a healthy individual without HIV will have around 1,200). Doctors predicted White had only six months to live.

After the diagnosis, White was too ill to return to school, but by spring had begun to feel better. His mother asked if he could return to school, but was told by school officials that he should not. On June 30, 1985, a formal request to permit re-admittance to school was denied by Western School Corporation superintendent James O. Smith, sparking a legal battle that lasted for eight months.
Battle with schools
Timeline of legal battle
1985–86 school year
June 30 Superintendent James O. Smith denies White admittance to school.
Aug. 26 First day of school. White is allowed to listen to his classes via telephone.
Oct. 2 School principal upholds decision to prohibit White.
Nov. 25 Indiana Department of Education rules that White must be admitted.
Dec. 17 The school board votes 7–0 to appeal the ruling.
Feb. 6 Indiana DOE again rules White can attend school, after inspection by Howard County health officers.
Feb. 13 Howard County health officer determines White is fit for school.
Feb. 19 Howard County judge refuses to issue an injunction against White.
Feb. 21 White returns to school. A different judge grants a restraining order that afternoon to again bar him.
Mar. 2 White's opponents hold an auction in the school gymnasium to raise money to keep White out.
April 9 White's case is presented in Circuit Court.
April 10 Circuit Court Judge Jack R. O'Neill dissolves restraining order. Ryan returns to school.
July 18 Indiana Court of Appeals declines to hear any further appeals.

Western Middle School in Russiaville, faced enormous pressure from many parents and faculty to bar White from the campus after his diagnosis became widely known. 117 parents (from a school of 360 total students) and 50 teachers signed a petition encouraging school leaders to ban White from school. Due to the widespread fear and ignorance about AIDS, the principal and later the school board assented. The White family filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban. The Whites initially filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. The court, however, declined to hear the case until administrative appeals had been resolved. On November 25, an Indiana Department of Education officer ruled that the school must follow the Indiana Board of Health guidelines and that White must be allowed to attend school.

The ways in which HIV spread were not fully understood in the 1980s. Scientists knew it spread via blood and was not transmittable by any sort of casual contact, but as recently as 1983, the American Medical Association had thought that "Evidence Suggests Household Contact May Transmit AIDS", and the belief that the disease could spread easily persisted. Children with AIDS were still rare: at the time of White's rejection from school, the Centers for Disease Control knew of only 148 cases of pediatric AIDS in the United States. Many families in Kokomo believed his presence posed an unacceptable risk. When White was permitted to return to school for one day in February 1986, 151 of 360 students stayed home. He also worked as a paperboy, and many of the people on his route canceled their subscriptions, believing that HIV could be transmitted through newsprint.

The Indiana state health commissioner, Dr. Woodrow Myers, who had extensive experience treating AIDS patients in San Francisco, and the Federal Centers for Disease Control both notified the board that White posed no risk to other students, but the school board and many parents ignored their statements. In February 1986, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study of 101 people who had spent three months living in close but non-sexual contact with people with AIDS. The study concluded that the risk of infection was "minimal to nonexistent," even when contact included sharing toothbrushes, razors, clothing, combs and drinking glasses; sleeping in the same bed; and hugging and kissing.

When White was finally readmitted in April, a group of families withdrew their children and started an alternative school. Threats of violence and lawsuits persisted. According to White's mother, people on the street would often yell, "we know you're queer" at Ryan. The editors and publishers of the Kokomo Tribune, which supported White both editorially and financially, were also called homosexuals and threatened with death for their actions.

White attended Western Middle School for eighth grade for the entire 1986–87 school year, but was deeply unhappy and had few friends. The school required him to eat with disposable utensils and use separate bathrooms. Threats continued. When a bullet was fired through the Whites' living room window, the family decided to leave Kokomo. After finishing the school year, his family moved to Cicero, Indiana, where White enrolled at Hamilton Heights High School. On August 31, 1987, a "very nervous" White was greeted by school principal Tony Cook, school system superintendent Bob G. Carnal, and a handful of students who had been educated about AIDS and were unafraid to shake White's hand.
National spokesman

The publicity of White's trial catapulted him into the national spotlight, amidst a growing wave of AIDS coverage in the news media. Between 1985 and 1987, the number of news stories about AIDS in the American media doubled. While isolated in middle school, White appeared frequently on national television and in newspapers to discuss his tribulations with the disease. Eventually he became known as a poster boy for the AIDS crisis, appearing in fundraising and educational campaigns for the disorder. White participated in numerous public benefits for children with AIDS. Many celebrities appeared with White, starting during his trial and continuing for the rest of his life, to help publicly destigmatize socializing with people with AIDS. Singers John Cougar Mellencamp, Elton John and Michael Jackson, actor Matt Frewer, diver Greg Louganis, President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan, Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight and basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all befriended White. He also was a friend to many children with AIDS or other potentially debilitating conditions.

For the rest of his life he appeared frequently on Phil Donahue's talk show. His celebrity crush, Alyssa Milano of the then-popular TV show Who's the Boss?, met White and gave him a kiss. Elton John helped the family purchase their home in Cicero. Elton John had loaned Jeanne White $16,500 to put toward a down payment on the Cicero home. In high school White drove a red Mustang convertible, a gift from Michael Jackson. Despite the fame and donations, White stated that he disliked the public spotlight, loathed remarks that seemingly blamed his mother or his upbringing for his illness, and emphasized that he would be willing at any moment to trade his fame for freedom from the disease.
Search Wikisource Wikisource has the speech Ryan gave before the commission:
White's speech

In 1988, White spoke before President Reagan's AIDS Commission. White told the commission of the discrimination he had faced when he first tried to return to school, but how education about the disease had made him welcome in the town of Cicero. White emphasized his differing experiences in Kokomo and Cicero as an example of the power and importance of AIDS education.

In 1989, ABC aired the television movie The Ryan White Story, starring Lukas Haas as Ryan, Judith Light as Jeanne and Nikki Cox as his sister Andrea. White had a small cameo appearance in the film, playing a boy also suffering from HIV who befriends Haas. Others in the film included Sarah Jessica Parker as a sympathetic nurse, George Dzundza as his doctor, and George C. Scott as White's attorney, who legally argued against school board authorities. Nielsen estimated that the movie was seen by 15 million viewers. Some residents of Kokomo felt that the movie portrayed their entire town in an unfairly negative light. After the film aired, the office of Kokomo mayor Robert F. Sargent was flooded with complaints from across the country, although Sargent had not been elected to the office during the time of the controversy.

By the spring of 1990, White's health was deteriorating rapidly. In his final public appearance, he hosted an after-Oscars party with former president Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan in California. Although his health was deteriorating, White spoke to the Reagans about his date to the prom and his hopes of attending college.
Death
"We owe it to Ryan to make sure that the fear and ignorance that chased him from his home and his school will be eliminated. We owe it to Ryan to open our hearts and our minds to those with AIDS. We owe it to Ryan to be compassionate, caring and tolerant toward those with AIDS, their families and friends. It's the disease that's frightening, not the people who have it."
—Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, April 11, 1990

On March 29, 1990, several months before his high school class graduated and before his senior prom, White entered Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis with a respiratory infection. As his condition deteriorated he was placed on a ventilator and sedated. He was visited by Elton John and the hospital was deluged with calls from well-wishers. White died on Palm Sunday, April 8, 1990.

Over 1,500 people attended White's funeral on April 11, a standing-room-only event held at the Second Presbyterian Church on Meridian Street in Indianapolis. White's pallbearers included Elton John, football star Howie Long and Phil Donahue. Elton John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral and also trained the Hamilton Heights High School choir to sing with him. The funeral was also attended by Michael Jackson and First Lady Barbara Bush. On the day of the funeral, former president Reagan—who had been widely criticized for failing to mention AIDS in any speeches until 1987 although he had spoken on the issue in press conferences beginning in 1985—wrote a tribute to White that appeared in The Washington Post. Reagan's statement about AIDS and White's funeral were seen as indicators of how greatly White had helped change perceptions of AIDS.

White is buried in Cicero, close to the home of his mother. In the year following his death, his grave was vandalized on four occasions. As time passed, however, White's grave became a 'shrine' for his admirers.
Legacy

White was one of a handful of highly visible people with AIDS in the 1980s and early 1990s who helped change the public perception of the disease. White, along with actor Rock Hudson, was one of the earliest public faces of AIDS. Along with later public figures who became associated with HIV/AIDS, such as the Ray brothers, Magic Johnson, Kimberly Bergalis and Freddie Mercury, White helped to increase public awareness that HIV/AIDS was a significant epidemic.

Numerous charities formed around White's death. The Indiana University Dance Marathon, started in 1991, raises money for the Riley Hospital for Children. Between 1991 and 2008, this event helped raise over $5 million for children at Riley. The money raised has also helped found the Ryan White Infectious Disease Clinic at the hospital to take care of the nation's sickest children. White's personal physician, with whom he was close friends, Dr. Martin Kleiman, became the Ryan White Professor of AIDS Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. In a 1993 interview, prominent gay rights and AIDS activist Larry Kramer said, "I think little Ryan White probably did more to change the face of this illness and to move people than anyone. And he continues to be a presence through his mom, Jeanne White. She has an incredibly moving presence as she speaks around the world."

In 1992, White's mother founded the national nonprofit Ryan White Foundation. The foundation worked to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS-related issues, with a focus on hemophiliacs like Ryan White, and on families caring for relatives with the disease. The foundation was active throughout the 1990s, with donations reaching $300,000 a year in 1997. Between 1997 and 2000, however, AIDS donations declined nationwide by 21%, and the Ryan White Foundation saw its donation level drop to $100,000 a year. In 2000, White's mother closed the foundation, and merged its remaining assets with AIDS Action, a larger charity. She became a spokeswoman for AIDS activism and continues to arrange speaking events through the site devoted to her son, ryanwhite.com. White's high school, Hamilton Heights, has had a student-government sponsored annual Aids Walk, with proceeds going to a Ryan White Scholarship Fund.

White's death inspired Elton John to create the Elton John AIDS Foundation. White also became the inspiration for a handful of popular songs. Elton John donated proceeds from The Last Song which appears on his album The One to a Ryan White fund at Riley Hospital. Michael Jackson dedicated the song "Gone Too Soon" from his Dangerous album to White, as did 1980s pop star Tiffany with the song "Here in My Heart" on her New Inside album. In November 2007, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis opened an exhibit called "The Power of Children: Making a Difference" which featured White along with Anne Frank and Ruby Bridges.
Ryan White and public perception of AIDS
See also: HIV/AIDS in the United States

In the early 1980s, AIDS was known as gay-related immune deficiency, because the disease had first been identified among primarily homosexual communities in New York City and San Francisco. At the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, the disease was thought to be a "homosexual problem" and was largely ignored by policy makers. White's diagnosis demonstrated to many that AIDS was not exclusive to homosexuals. In his advocacy for AIDS research, White himself always rejected any criticism of homosexuality.

White was seen by some as an "innocent victim" of the AIDS epidemic. White and his family strongly rejected the language of "innocent victim" because the phrase was often used to imply that homosexuals with AIDS were "guilty". White's mother told The New York Times, "Ryan always said, 'I'm just like everyone else with AIDS, no matter how I got it.' And he would never have lived as long as he did without the gay community. The people we knew in New York made sure we knew about the latest treatments way before we would have known in Indiana. I hear mothers today say they're not gonna work with no gay community on anything. Well, if it comes to your son's life, you better start changing your heart and your attitude around."
Ryan White Care Act
Main article: Ryan White Care Act
President Obama signs the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009.

In August 1990, four months after White's death, Congress enacted The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act (often known simply as the Ryan White Care Act), in his honor. The act is the United States' largest federally funded program for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Ryan White Care Act funds programs to improve availability of care for low-income, uninsured and under-insured victims of AIDS and their families.

Ryan White programs are "payer of last resort," which subsidize treatment when no other resources are available. The act was reauthorized in 1996, 2000 and 2006 and remains an active piece of legislation today. The program provides some level of care for around 500,000 people a year and, in 2004, provided funds to 2,567 organizations. The Ryan White programs also provide funding and technical assistance to local and state primary medical care providers, support services, healthcare provider and training programs.

The Ryan White Act was set to expire on September 30, 2009, although efforts began to obtain an extension to the act. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 was signed on October 30, 2009 by President Barack Obama, who announced plans to remove a ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by individuals with HIV. Obama called the 22-year ban a decision "rooted in fear rather than fact"
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh177/mitchellchapman/Ryan.jpg
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww259/bam_promotions/ryanandmichael.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 04/08/10 at 6:38 am

Ryan White is the face of what should never have happen, but happens because of small minds.  RIP Ryan the world is a better place for you having been in it. 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/08/10 at 6:52 am

Tiptoe through The Tulips.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/10 at 8:23 am


Ryan White is the face of what should never have happen, but happens because of small minds.  RIP Ryan the world is a better place for you having been in it. 

So true and there are still a lot of narrow minded people out there. >:( :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/10 at 8:26 am


Tiptoe through The Tulips.

I remember when Tiny Tim sang that song on Johnny Carson, I also remember when he married Miss Vicki.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/08/10 at 11:45 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/10 at 12:49 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0




Cat

Classic ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/08/10 at 7:02 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0




Cat


That was funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/08/10 at 7:28 pm


That was funny.

Yes, just about everything done on Laugh-In was funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/09/10 at 6:50 am


Yes, just about everything done on Laugh-In was funny.

I remember sneaking downstairs to watch Laugh-In. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/09/10 at 6:56 am

The word of the day...Postcards
A postcard is a piece of thin card, often with a picture on one side, which you can write on and send to people without using an envelope
A picture postcard is a postcard with a photograph of a place on it. People often buy picture postcards of places they visit when on holiday.
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/daniela_sandu/My%20postcards/ro-bucegi.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/daniela_sandu/My%20postcards/ro-marasesti.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/daniela_sandu/My%20postcards/ro27.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/daniela_sandu/My%20postcards/ro30.jpg
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/daniela_sandu/My%20postcards/buzau.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh150/phyllislovesjesus/GENERAL/bulletin%20sets/postcards_36.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z315/juliemeryl/postcards-from-the-edge.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu357/jamierizzuto/e5326f21.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/09/10 at 7:02 am

The person born on this day...Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films. Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale "Nita" (née Jordan) Quaid, a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician.  He is the younger brother of actor Randy Quaid. Quaid has Irish  and Cajun  (French) ancestry.  He attended Pershing Middle School in Houston. He studied Chinese and dance at Bellaire High School  in Bellaire, Texas, and later in college, at the University of Houston, under drama coach Cecil Pickett.
Career

After his brother, Randy, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Last Detail (1973), Quaid dropped out of the University of Houston before graduating and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career of his own. He initially had trouble finding work but began to gain notice when he appeared in Breaking Away (1979) and earned good reviews for his role in The Right Stuff (1983).

Known for his grin, Quaid has appeared in both comedic and dramatic roles. Quaid had starring roles in the films Enemy Mine (1985) and Innerspace (1987). He also achieved acclaim for his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire! (1989).

Quaid's career lost steam in the early 1990s, after he fought and kicked a cocaine addiction. He continued to garner positive reviews in a variety of films, however, such as Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp (1994). He starred in the remake of The Parent Trap (1998), playing the part of the twins' father, and as an aging pro football quarterback in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday (1999). Some of Quaid's more recent film credits include Far From Heaven (2002), The Flight of the Phoenix (2004), In Good Company (2004), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Yours, Mine and Ours (2005), Vantage Point (2008), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), and Pandorum (2009).

He will portray U.S. President Bill Clinton, alongside Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton, in the 2010 film The Special Relationship.
Awards

For his role in Far From Heaven (2002) he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He received nominations for Best Supporting Actor from the Golden Globe Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Personal life
Quaid golfing in 2006.

Quaid was raised in the Baptist faith and is currently a practicing Christian.

Quaid and actress P.J. Soles were married on November 25, 1978. The couple were divorced on January 23, 1983. On February 14, 1991, he and Meg Ryan were married. Quaid and Ryan have a son, Jack Henry (born April 24, 1992). They were divorced on June 16, 2001.

Quaid married Kimberly Buffington, an Austin, Texas, real-estate agent, on July 4, 2004. The couple had twins, born via a gestational carrier, on November 8, 2007, in Santa Monica, California. Their son Thomas Boone was born first at 8:26 a.m. and weighed six pounds, twelve ounces (3.06 kg). Daughter Zoe Grace was born two minutes later weighing five pounds, nine ounces (2.52 kg).

On November 18, 2007, hospital staff mistakenly gave Quaid's twelve-day-old twins a dosage of heparin 1,000 times the common dosage for infants. Their attorney said the newborns will "be fine now", but Quaid filed a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer, Baxter Healthcare, claiming that packaging for the two doses of heparin are not different enough. In May 2008, the Quaids testified before the United States House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking U.S. Congress not to preempt the right to sue drug manufacturers for negligence under state law.

In addition to acting, Quaid is a musician and plays with his band, the Sharks. Quaid also has a pilot's license and is a scratch golfer. In 2005, he was named as the top golfer among the "Hollywood set" by Golf Digest. He lends his name to the annual "Dennis Quaid Charity Weekend" (formerly the "Jiffy Lube/Dennis Quaid Charity Classic") in Austin. The golf tournament attracts numerous celebrities with the proceeds split among local children's charities. He is a member of the Bel-Air Country Club in Bel-Air, California, and tries to stay at homes on private courses when he is on the road.

Quaid works with the charity, International Hospital for Children in New Orleans, Louisiana. He makes trips to Central America to help build medical clinics and transport sick children back to the U.S. for treatment they cannot get locally.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1975 Crazy Mama Bellhop (uncredited)
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Shark, Baseball Pitcher
September 30, 1955 Frank
1978 Our Winning Season Paul Morelli
The Seniors Alan
1979 Breaking Away Mike
1980 The Long Riders Ed Miller
Gorp Mad Grossman
1981 All Night Long Freddie Dupler
Caveman Lar
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia Travis Child
Stripes Extra at Graduation Ceremony (uncredited)
1983 Tough Enough Art Long
Jaws 3-D Michael 'Mike' Brody
The Right Stuff Gordon Cooper
1984 Dreamscape Alex Gardner
1985 Enemy Mine Willis Davidge
1987 The Big Easy Det. Remy McSwain Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Innerspace Lt. Tuck Pendleton
Suspect Eddie Sanger
1988 D.O.A. Dexter Cornell
Everybody's All-American Gavin Grey
1989 Great Balls of Fire! Jerry Lee Lewis
1990 Come See The Paradise Jack McGurn
Postcards from the Edge Jack Faulkner
1993 Wilder Napalm Wallace Foudroyant/Biff the Clown
Undercover Blues Jefferson 'Jeff' Blue
Flesh and Bone Arlis Sweeney
1994 A Century of Cinema Himself (documentary)
Wyatt Earp Doc Holliday
1995 Something to Talk About Eddie Bichon
1996 Dragonheart Bowen
1997 Gang Related Joe Doe/William
Switchback Frank LaCrosse
1998 Savior Joshua Rose/Guy
The Parent Trap Nick Parker
Playing by Heart Hugh
1999 Any Given Sunday Jack 'Cap' Rooney
2000 Frequency Frank Sullivan Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Suspense
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Traffic Arnie Metzger Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Dinner with Friends Gabe
2002 The Rookie Jimmy Morris
Far from Heaven Frank Whitaker Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2003 Cold Creek Manor Cooper Tilson
2004 The Alamo Sam Houston
The Day After Tomorrow Jack Hall
In Good Company Dan
Flight of the Phoenix Frank Towns
2005 Yours, Mine and Ours Frank Beardsley
2006 American Dreamz President Joseph Staton
2007 Battle for Terra Roven (voice)
2008 Vantage Point Thomas Barnes
Smart People Lawrence Wetherhold
The Express Ben Schwartzwalder
2009 Horsemen Aidan Breslin
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra General Hawk
Pandorum Payton
2010 Legion Bob Hanson
The Special Relationship Bill Clinton (post-production)
2011 Soul Surfer (Filming)
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa89/VenomCarnage/Quaid.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x231/ReneeAshleyBaker/Dennis-Quaid.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/09/10 at 7:07 am

The person who died on this day...Brook Benton
Brook Benton (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988) was an American  singer and songwriter  who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.

He made a comeback in 1970 with the ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia." Benton scored over 50 Billboard chart hits as an artist, and also wrote hits for other performers.
Benjamin Franklin Peay was born on September 19, 1931 in Lugoff, South Carolina. When Peay was young he enjoyed gospel music and wrote songs. So in 1948 he went to New York  to pursue his music career. He went in and out of gospel groups such as The Langfordaires, The Jerusalem Stars, and The Golden Gate Quartet. Returning to his home state, he joined a R&B singing group, The Sandmen, and went back to New York to get a big break with his group. The Sandmen had limited success, and their label, Okeh Records, decided to push Peay as a solo artist, changing his name to Brook Benton, apparently at the suggestion of label executive Marv Halsman.

Brook earned a good living writing songs and co-producing albums. He wrote songs for artists such as Nat King Cole, Clyde McPhatter (for whom he wrote the hit "A Lover's Question"), and Roy Hamilton. Soon he released his first minor hit, "A Million Miles from Nowhere". Later he went on to the Mercury label, which would eventually bring him larger success.
Big break

Finally in 1959 he made his breakthrough with his hits "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly". "It's Just a Matter of Time" peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, while "Endlessly" made it to #12. Both of the first two hits were written by Benton with Clyde Otis. They were originally offered to Nat King Cole, but when Otis became an A&R official at Mercury, he convinced Benton to sign with the label and record them himself, while asking Cole not to record the songs as planned. He followed this success with a series of hits, including "So Many Ways" (#6), "Hotel Happiness" (#3), "Think Twice" (#11), "Kiddio" (#7), and "The Boll Weevil Song" (#2). In 1960, he had two top 10 hit duets with Dinah Washington: "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (#5) and "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)" (#7).

He also recorded his own version of "Take Good Care of Her" in 1962. In the mid- and late 1960's, Benton recorded for RCA Records and Reprise Records with minimal commercial success. In 1969 he signed with Cotillion Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, where the next year he had his last major hit with "Rainy Night in Georgia".

Benton eventually charted 49 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with other songs charting on Billboard's rhythm and blues, easy listening, and Christmas music charts. The last album made by Benton was Fools Rush In, which was released posthumously in 2005. At one point he was recording on Groove Records.
Death

Brook died of complications from spinal meningitis in Queens, New York City, at the age of 56 on April 9, 1988. Singer Elvis Presley once told his friend, Marty Lacker, that Brook Benton was one of his biggest influences.
Discography
Albums
Year Album U.S. Pop
1959 This Time of Year 12
1961 Golden Hits 82
1961 The Boll Weevil Song And 11 Other Great Hits 70
1962 If You Believe 77
1962 Singing the Blues - Lie to Me 40
1963 Golden Hits, Volume 2 82
1967 Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got) 156
1969 Do Your Own Thing 189
1970 Brook Benton Today 27
1970 Homestyle 199
1977 The Incomparable Brook Benton - 20 Greatest Hits (Warwick) -
Singles
Year Single US Pop US R&B US AC UK Singles Chart Album
1958 "A Million Miles from Nowhere" 82 - - - -
1959 "Endlessly" 12 3 - 28 -
1959 "Hurtin' Inside" 78 23 - - -
1959 "This Time of the Year" - - - - This Time of the Year
1959 "It's Just a Matter of Time" 3 1 - - It's Just a Matter of Time
1959 "So Close" 38 5 - - -
1959 "So Many Ways" 6 1 - - -
1959 "Thank You Pretty Baby" 16 1 - - -
1959 "With All My Heart" 82 - - - -
1960 "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (with Dinah Washington) 5 1 - - -
1960 "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" 24 5 - 50 Songs I Love to Sing
1960 "Someday You'll Want Me to Want You" 93 - - - -
1960 "Kiddio" 7 1 - 41 -
1960 "A Rockin' Good Way" (with Dinah Washington) 7 1 - - -
1960 "The Same One" 16 21 - - -
1960 "The Ties That Bind" 37 15 - - -
1961 "For My Baby" 28 2 - - -
1961 "Frankie and Johnny" 20 14 6 - The Boll Weevil Song
1961 "It's Just a House Without You" 45 - 8 - -
1961 "Think Twice" 11 6 - - -
1961 "The Boll Weevil Song" 2 2 1 30 The Boll Weevil Song
1962 "Hit Record" 45 19 - - -
1962 "Lie to Me" 13 3 - - Singing The Blues
1962 "Revenge" 15 12 - - -
1962 "Shadrack" 19 - - - -
1962 "The Lost Penny" 77 - - - -
1962 "Still Waters Run Deep" 89 - - - -
1962 "Walk on the Wild Side" 43 - - - -
1963 "Hotel Happiness" 3 2 - - -
1963 "I Got What I Wanted" 28 4 14 - Singing The Blues
1963 "Dearer Than Life" 59 - - - -
1963 "My True Confession" 22 7 8 - Singing The Blues
1963 "Two Tickets to Paradise" 32 15 8 - -
1964 "Another Cup of Coffee" 47 47 13 - -
1964 "Going Going Gone" 35 35 - - -
1964 "A House is Not a Home" 75 75 13 - -
1964 "Too Late to Turn Back Now" 43 43 14 - -
1964 "Lumberjack" 53 53 15 - -
1964 "Do It Right" 67 67 - - -
1965 "Love Me Now" 100 - 37 - -
1965 "Mother Nature, Father Time" 53 26 9 - Mother Nature, Father Time
1967 "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)" 78 - 37 - -
1968 "Weakness in a Man" - - 36 - -
1968 "Do Your Own Thing" 99 - 26 - -
1969 "Nothing Can Take the Place of You" 74 11 - - -
1970 "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" 45 31 4 - Home Style
1970 "My Way" 72 25 35 - Today
1970 "Rainy Night in Georgia" 4 1 2 - Today
1971 "Shoes" 67 18 18 - -
1978 "Making Love is Good for You" - 49 - - -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/brook_benton.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/BrookBenton-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/09/10 at 3:08 pm


The person who died on this day...Brook Benton
Brook Benton (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988) was an American  singer and songwriter  who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.

He made a comeback in 1970 with the ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia." Benton scored over 50 Billboard chart hits as an artist, and also wrote hits for other performers.
Benjamin Franklin Peay was born on September 19, 1931 in Lugoff, South Carolina. When Peay was young he enjoyed gospel music and wrote songs. So in 1948 he went to New York  to pursue his music career. He went in and out of gospel groups such as The Langfordaires, The Jerusalem Stars, and The Golden Gate Quartet. Returning to his home state, he joined a R&B singing group, The Sandmen, and went back to New York to get a big break with his group. The Sandmen had limited success, and their label, Okeh Records, decided to push Peay as a solo artist, changing his name to Brook Benton, apparently at the suggestion of label executive Marv Halsman.

Brook earned a good living writing songs and co-producing albums. He wrote songs for artists such as Nat King Cole, Clyde McPhatter (for whom he wrote the hit "A Lover's Question"), and Roy Hamilton. Soon he released his first minor hit, "A Million Miles from Nowhere". Later he went on to the Mercury label, which would eventually bring him larger success.
Big break

Finally in 1959 he made his breakthrough with his hits "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly". "It's Just a Matter of Time" peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, while "Endlessly" made it to #12. Both of the first two hits were written by Benton with Clyde Otis. They were originally offered to Nat King Cole, but when Otis became an A&R official at Mercury, he convinced Benton to sign with the label and record them himself, while asking Cole not to record the songs as planned. He followed this success with a series of hits, including "So Many Ways" (#6), "Hotel Happiness" (#3), "Think Twice" (#11), "Kiddio" (#7), and "The Boll Weevil Song" (#2). In 1960, he had two top 10 hit duets with Dinah Washington: "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (#5) and "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)" (#7).

He also recorded his own version of "Take Good Care of Her" in 1962. In the mid- and late 1960's, Benton recorded for RCA Records and Reprise Records with minimal commercial success. In 1969 he signed with Cotillion Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, where the next year he had his last major hit with "Rainy Night in Georgia".

Benton eventually charted 49 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with other songs charting on Billboard's rhythm and blues, easy listening, and Christmas music charts. The last album made by Benton was Fools Rush In, which was released posthumously in 2005. At one point he was recording on Groove Records.
Death

Brook died of complications from spinal meningitis in Queens, New York City, at the age of 56 on April 9, 1988. Singer Elvis Presley once told his friend, Marty Lacker, that Brook Benton was one of his biggest influences.
Discography
Albums
Year Album U.S. Pop
1959 This Time of Year 12
1961 Golden Hits 82
1961 The Boll Weevil Song And 11 Other Great Hits 70
1962 If You Believe 77
1962 Singing the Blues - Lie to Me 40
1963 Golden Hits, Volume 2 82
1967 Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got) 156
1969 Do Your Own Thing 189
1970 Brook Benton Today 27
1970 Homestyle 199
1977 The Incomparable Brook Benton - 20 Greatest Hits (Warwick) -
Singles
Year Single US Pop US R&B US AC UK Singles Chart Album
1958 "A Million Miles from Nowhere" 82 - - - -
1959 "Endlessly" 12 3 - 28 -
1959 "Hurtin' Inside" 78 23 - - -
1959 "This Time of the Year" - - - - This Time of the Year
1959 "It's Just a Matter of Time" 3 1 - - It's Just a Matter of Time
1959 "So Close" 38 5 - - -
1959 "So Many Ways" 6 1 - - -
1959 "Thank You Pretty Baby" 16 1 - - -
1959 "With All My Heart" 82 - - - -
1960 "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (with Dinah Washington) 5 1 - - -
1960 "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" 24 5 - 50 Songs I Love to Sing
1960 "Someday You'll Want Me to Want You" 93 - - - -
1960 "Kiddio" 7 1 - 41 -
1960 "A Rockin' Good Way" (with Dinah Washington) 7 1 - - -
1960 "The Same One" 16 21 - - -
1960 "The Ties That Bind" 37 15 - - -
1961 "For My Baby" 28 2 - - -
1961 "Frankie and Johnny" 20 14 6 - The Boll Weevil Song
1961 "It's Just a House Without You" 45 - 8 - -
1961 "Think Twice" 11 6 - - -
1961 "The Boll Weevil Song" 2 2 1 30 The Boll Weevil Song
1962 "Hit Record" 45 19 - - -
1962 "Lie to Me" 13 3 - - Singing The Blues
1962 "Revenge" 15 12 - - -
1962 "Shadrack" 19 - - - -
1962 "The Lost Penny" 77 - - - -
1962 "Still Waters Run Deep" 89 - - - -
1962 "Walk on the Wild Side" 43 - - - -
1963 "Hotel Happiness" 3 2 - - -
1963 "I Got What I Wanted" 28 4 14 - Singing The Blues
1963 "Dearer Than Life" 59 - - - -
1963 "My True Confession" 22 7 8 - Singing The Blues
1963 "Two Tickets to Paradise" 32 15 8 - -
1964 "Another Cup of Coffee" 47 47 13 - -
1964 "Going Going Gone" 35 35 - - -
1964 "A House is Not a Home" 75 75 13 - -
1964 "Too Late to Turn Back Now" 43 43 14 - -
1964 "Lumberjack" 53 53 15 - -
1964 "Do It Right" 67 67 - - -
1965 "Love Me Now" 100 - 37 - -
1965 "Mother Nature, Father Time" 53 26 9 - Mother Nature, Father Time
1967 "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)" 78 - 37 - -
1968 "Weakness in a Man" - - 36 - -
1968 "Do Your Own Thing" 99 - 26 - -
1969 "Nothing Can Take the Place of You" 74 11 - - -
1970 "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" 45 31 4 - Home Style
1970 "My Way" 72 25 35 - Today
1970 "Rainy Night in Georgia" 4 1 2 - Today
1971 "Shoes" 67 18 18 - -
1978 "Making Love is Good for You" - 49 - - -
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/brook_benton.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z104/darko47darko/BrookBenton-1.jpg


Rainy Night In Georgia was my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/09/10 at 4:12 pm

I thought Brooke Benton was Barbi Benton for a moment and eagerly scrolled to the pics. What a disappointment!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/10 at 6:05 am


I thought Brooke Benton was Barbi Benton for a moment and eagerly scrolled to the pics. What a disappointment!  ;)

That's funny ;D
Just for you
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/sogoishi/Cult%20Sirens/BarbieBenton_nude_picture_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/10 at 6:13 am

The word of the day...Buffalo
A buffalo is a wild animal like a large cow with horns that curve upwards. Buffalo are usually found in southern and eastern Africa.

A buffalo is the same as a water buffalo.

A buffalo is the same as a bison
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/jimwolfemusic/Band%20Promos/Buffalo1877.jpg
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq210/lindas_gallery/bison.jpg
http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii446/Frida-photos/Cine/buffalo_66_006.jpg
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/cp27bossy/buffalo/pominvillegreen.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j163/SteveFinMD/helens1.jpg
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv32/stanlawson/buffalowildwings.png
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/reuannod/coins/78B1918buffalonickel.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa222/ljnavarre/buffalo3.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj264/jmann172/buffalo-bills.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/10 at 6:16 am

The person born on this day...Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American  actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing the title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller film The Sixth Sense that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently appeared in leading roles in several high-profile Hollywood films including Pay It Forward and A.I. He made his Broadway debut in 2008 in a revival of American Buffalo, co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer
Osment was born in Los Angeles, California;  the son of Theresa Osment (née Seifert), a teacher, and Michael Eugene Osment,  a theater and film actor, both natives of Alabama. He has one sister, four years younger, actress and singer-songwriter Emily Osment. Osment’s parents described his childhood as a “good old-fashioned Southern upbringing,” and his father said that when Osment was learning to speak, he deliberately avoided using baby talk when communicating with his son.

Raised as a Catholic, Osment was a straight-A student at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California. As a child, he was talented in many sports, including basketball, football, wrestling, and golf.
Career
Osment in 2001

Osment's acting career began at the age of four, when his mother took him to a new Ikea store; a talent scout was there looking for new actors, and Osment put his name down. He got called back for an audition, and was asked to describe the biggest thing he had ever seen; Osment described an IMAX theater screen, and won the part in a Pizza Hut TV commercial, advertising their "Big Foot" pizza. The commercial launched his career; later that year he starred in the ABC TV sitcom Thunder Alley, his first role in series television. His first feature film role was as Forrest Gump's son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 movie of the same name. He also had a small part in another 1994 film, Mixed Nuts. Throughout the rest of 1990s, Osment played regular and/or recurring roles in various TV series; including The Jeff Foxworthy Show and the final season of Murphy Brown, where he replaced Dylan Christopher as Murphy's son, Avery. In addition, he made numerous guest appearances on shows including The Larry Sanders Show, Walker, Texas Ranger (as a child dying from AIDS), Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, and an emotional episode of Ally Mcbeal; "Angels and Blimps", in which he played a child dying from leukemia. He starred in the 1996 film Bogus, alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu, and appeared in the 1998 made-for-TV movie The Lake, with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as I'll Remember April (1999), with future The Sixth Sense co-star Trevor Morgan.

Osment first achieved major stardom in 1999, when he appeared in the blockbuster film The Sixth Sense, co-starring Bruce Willis. For his portrayal of Cole Sear, a psychic child, Osment won Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second-youngest performer ever to receive an Academy nomination for a supporting role, but lost the final Oscar vote to Michael Caine (with whom he would later work, appearing together in Secondhand Lions). One of Osment's lines in The Sixth Sense, "I see dead people", became a popular catchphrase and is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. He made three minor (voice-only) guest appearances on the animated TV series Family Guy in 2000.

The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another future co-star, Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, Pay It Forward (2000). The following year, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: A.I., cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award for Best Younger Actor, and another critical acclaim. In reviewing the movie, critic Roger Ebert claimed that: "Osment, who is onscreen in almost every scene, is one of the best actors now working". Also in 2001, Osment starred in the Polish film, Edges of the Lord, as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States.

Osment has lent his voice to animated films such as The Country Bears, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and The Jungle Book 2. He returned to live action with the 2003 film, Secondhand Lions.

More recently, Osment was the voice of Sora, the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts video game series (English-language edition). Osment also voiced the character of Takeshi Jinno, in the English version of the Immortal Grand Prix anime TV series.

He next appeared in Home of the Giants, playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He is currently working on Montana Amazon as both an actor and executive producer. The film co-stars Olympia Dukakis and is expected to be released in 2010.

Osment made his Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in November 2008, playing the role of "Bobby", a young heroin addict, in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo; co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer. The show opened to mixed reviews, and a provisional statement was made on November 20, 2008, that it would close after the first week. Osment was given one sentence in the New York Times review of the production: "Mr. Osment’s facial stubble and slumping posture fail to override the impression that he’s giving a perfect School of Disney juvenile performance." Newsday, however, said "Haley Joel Osment... has a sweet, haunting neediness as a slacker who appears to recognize a kind of death in himself."
Personal life

According to Osment's official website, he follows a mostly vegetarian diet (though he does like chicken and fish), and in an interview with Daniel Robert Epstein, Osment mentioned that he plays the guitar and piano. He currently attends New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Osment is an avid golfer who began playing at the age of 7. He played for the U.S. team in the All-Star Cup 2005, under team leader Mark O'Meara, and has participated in the Annual Michael Douglas & Friends Celebrity Golf Tournament.

Osment was involved in a single-driver automobile accident on July 20, 2006, in which he struck a brick mailbox and overturned his car while driving near his home. The accident resulted in injuries including a broken rib, fractured right shoulder blade, cuts and abrasions. In connection with this incident, Osment pleaded no contest to one count each of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol and drug possession on October 19, 2006. He was sentenced to three years probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1500, and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump, Jr.
Mixed Nuts Little Boy
1996 Bogus Albert Franklin
For Better or Worse Danny
1997 Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas Chip Voice (direct-to-video)
1998 Ransom of Red Chief Andy Dorset (TV movie)
1999 The Sixth Sense Cole Sear Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
I'll Remember April Peewee Clayton
2000 Pay It Forward Trevor McKinney
Discover Spot Spot the Dog Voice
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence David Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Edges of the Lord Romek
2002 The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Zephyr Voice
The Country Bears Beary Barrington Voice
2003 Secondhand Lions Walter
The Jungle Book 2 Mowgli Voice
2005 Immortal Grand Prix Takeshi Jinno Anime TV series; Voice (English-language)
2007 Home of the Giants Robert "Gar" Gartland
2010 Montana Amazon Womple
Truth & Treason Helmuth Hübener
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2/brezerandpippin/sensibility01b.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w275/kids4you/HaleyJoelOsment.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/10 at 6:30 am

The person who died on this day...Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell (October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American film actress.

Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. She made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in films for 20th Century Fox. She played the lead role in Forever Amber (1947), and received positive reviews for her work in Unfaithfully Yours (1948) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949). Although she continued acting throughout the 1950s, she never again achieved the same success.
Born Monetta Eloyse Darnell in Dallas, Texas, as one of five children, to Calvin Darnell and Pearl Brown, Darnell was a model by the age of 11, and was acting on the stage by the age of 13. She was chosen by a talent scout to go to Hollywood, and by age 15, she was signed to a contract at 20th Century Fox.  She featured in her first film Hotel for Women in 1939, followed by roles in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, Hangover Square and My Darling Clementine. In 1943, she was cast, uncredited, as the Virgin Mary in The Song of Bernadette.

In 1947, Darnell won the starring role in the highly anticipated movie Forever Amber, based on a bestselling historical novel that was denounced as being immoral at that time. The character, Amber, was so named because of her hair color, and this is the only major film in which Darnell — normally known for her raven hair and somewhat Latin looks — appears as a redhead. Publicity at the time compared the novel Forever Amber to Gone with the Wind. The search for the actress to portray Amber, a beauty who uses men to make her fortune in 17th-century England, was modeled on the extensive process that led to the casting of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. But the film did not live up to its hype.

The following year, Darnell portrayed Daphne de Carter in the Preston Sturges' comedy Unfaithfully Yours (1948), also starring Rex Harrison, and as one of the three wives in the comedy/drama A Letter to Three Wives (1949). Darnell's hard-edged performance in the latter won her the best reviews of her career. She was widely tipped to win an Academy Award nomination for this part, but, when this did not happen, her career began to wane. Aside from her starring role opposite Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier in the groundbreaking No Way Out (1950), her later films were rarely noteworthy, and her appearances were increasingly sporadic thereafter. Further hampering Darnell's career was the actress's alcoholism and weight gain. Darnell's last work as an actress was in a stage production in Atlanta in early 1965.
Personal life and death

Darnell was married to cameraman J. Peverell Marley (1943–1952), brewery heir Philip Leibmann (1954–55), and pilot Merle Roy Robertson (1957–1963). Darnell and her first husband adopted a daughter, Charlotte Mildred "Lola" Marley, the actress's only child.
Linda Darnell in a May 1944 pin-up photo for Yank, the Army Weekly.

Darnell's last performances as an actress were in a play in Atlanta in early 1965. She died on April 10, 1965, at age 41, from burns she received in a house fire in Glenview, Illinois. She had been staying there with friends while preparing for a stage role in the Chicago area. Her 1940 film, Star Dust, had played on television the night of the fire, and it was widely reported that Darnell had fallen asleep with a lit cigarette while watching it. Some more sensational reports claimed she was intoxicated and despondent over her career. But biographer Ronald L. Davis, in his book Hollywood Beauty, wrote that there was no evidence that any of these stories were true, or that Darnell was in any way responsible for the blaze. By his account, Darnell was burned over 90 percent of her body because rather than jump from the window as her friend's daughter had already done, Darnell tried to make it to the front door. She reached the door but the doorknob was too hot to touch.

Her ashes are interred at the Union Hill Cemetery, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the family plot of her son-in-law. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Linda Darnell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1631 Vine Street.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1939 Day-Time Wife Jane Norton
1940 Star Dust Carolyn Sayres
1940 Brigham Young Zina Webb - The Outsider Alternative title: Brigham Young: Frontiersman
1940 The Mark of Zorro Lolita Quintero
1941 Blood and Sand Carmen Espinosa
1941 Rise and Shine Louise Murray
1942 The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe Virginia Clemm
1943 City Without Men Nancy Johnson Alternative title: Prison Farm
1944 Buffalo Bill Dawn Starlight
1944 It Happened Tomorrow Sylvia Smith/Sylvia Stevens
1944 Sweet and Low-Down Trudy Wilson
1945 Hangover Square Netta Longdon
1945 Fallen Angel Stella
1946 Anna and the King of Siam Tuptim
1946 Centennial Summer Edith Rogers
1946 My Darling Clementine Chihuahua
1947 Forever Amber Amber St. Clair
1948 Unfaithfully Yours Daphne De Carter
1949 A Letter to Three Wives Lora Mae Hollingsway
1949 Slattery's Hurricane Mrs. Aggie Hobson
1950 Two Flags West Elena Kenniston
1950 No Way Out Edie Johnson
1951 The 13th Letter Denise Turner
1951 The Guy Who Came Back Dee Shane
1952 Saturday Island Lt. Elizabeth Smythe
1952 Blackbeard the Pirate Edwina Mansfield
1953 Second Chance Clare Shepperd, alias Clare Sinclair
1954 This Is My Love Vida Dove
1955 It Happens in Roma Renata Adorni Alternative title: The Last Five Minutes
1956 Dakota Incident Amy Clarke
1957 Zero Hour! Ellen Stryker
1965 Black Spurs Sadie
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1956 The 20th Century Fox Hour Lily Martyn 1 episode
Screen Director's Playhouse Ellen 1 episode
1958 Playhouse 90 Meg Lyttleton 1 episode
Climax! Helen Randall 1 episode
Wagon Train Dora Gray Fogelberry 2 episodes
1959 77 Sunset Strip Zina Felice 1 episode
1964 Burke's Law Monica Crenshaw 1 episode
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/brettrules1980/linda-darnell-1-sized.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/ld.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/10/10 at 7:03 am


The word of the day...Buffalo
A buffalo is a wild animal like a large cow with horns that curve upwards. Buffalo are usually found in southern and eastern Africa.

A buffalo is the same as a water buffalo.

A buffalo is the same as a bison
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/jimwolfemusic/Band%20Promos/Buffalo1877.jpg
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq210/lindas_gallery/bison.jpg
http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii446/Frida-photos/Cine/buffalo_66_006.jpg
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/cp27bossy/buffalo/pominvillegreen.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j163/SteveFinMD/helens1.jpg
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv32/stanlawson/buffalowildwings.png
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/reuannod/coins/78B1918buffalonickel.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa222/ljnavarre/buffalo3.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj264/jmann172/buffalo-bills.gif




I love Buffalo Wings with Bleu Cheese.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/10/10 at 11:25 am

Once again I have plenty to catch up on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/10/10 at 2:20 pm


That's funny ;D
Just for you
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/sogoishi/Cult%20Sirens/BarbieBenton_nude_picture_1.jpg


Now you're talking.... ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/10 at 5:04 am

The word of the day...Map
A map is a drawing of a particular area such as a city, a country, or a continent, showing its main features as they would appear if you looked at them from above.
A map is a drawing that gives special information about an area.
To map an area means to make a map of it.
If you say that someone or something put a person, thing, or place on the map, you approve of the fact that they made it become well-known and important.
http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz199/ssserpentine/the%20forgotten%20TORA/map.png
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae261/Asahina_Harima/map_rokugan.jpg
http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww79/JewishSniper118/map.gif
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy25/herbike/Birthday66054.jpg
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae153/TheBlueRocky/ayrimmap.png
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz112/Emi_Weathers/HernandoGin11x17.png
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab4/Luk77/MAP.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg71/BlackHC/undeadgroundx.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/10 at 5:06 am

The person born on this day...Vincent Gallo
Vincent Gallo  (born April 11, 1961) is an Italian-American film actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer-songwriter, and painter. Although he has had minor roles in mainstream films such as Goodfellas, he is most associated with independent movies, including Buffalo '66, which he wrote, directed, did the music for and starred in, The Brown Bunny, which he also wrote, directed, produced, starred in and photographed, Arizona Dream, The Funeral and Palookaville  . In the late 70's and early 1980s, Gallo was a painter in the New York City art scene showing with famed art dealer Annina Nosei, performed in a rap duo and was part of the first Hip Hop television broadcast Graffiti Rock, and played in a industrial band called Bohack which released an album title It Took Several Wives. In the 1990s, Gallo played in two noise bands, Bunny and RRIICCEE. In the early 2000s, he released several solo recordings on WARP records. Gallo is known for his outspoken views and generally hostile nature, once stating: "I stopped painting in 1990 at the peak of my success just to deny people my beautiful paintings; and I did it out of spite."
Gallo was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Janet, a hair-dresser, and Vincenzo Vito Gallo, also a hairdresser and professional gambler.  Both of his parents emigrated from Sicily.  Gallo lived in New York City 1978-2002 and traveled around most of Europe living briefly in Paris and Rome. Gallo's first creative project was as a member of the New York City-based post-punk  band GRAY whose members included famed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Films

Gallo has modeled, most notably for Calvin Klein, and been photographed by Richard Avedon. He first began painting, then racing motorcycles, and finally became an actor.

During Gallo's artistic period in the 1980s, when he worked as a musician and painter in New York City, he also began experimenting with film. He made the short film "If You Feel Froggy, Jump" and appeared in a film called the "New York Beat Movie" (1981) with painter Jean Michel Basquiat. In 1984, Gallo acted in "The Way It Is" (1984), which included actors Steve Buscemi and Rockets Redglare. After starring in the obscure 1989 film Doc's Kingdom, he began acting in small parts in more well-known films such as Goodfellas, The House of the Spirits, and The Perez Family. French director Claire Denis hired Gallo to act in several films such as the "short film Keep It for Yourself, the made-for-TV U.S. Go Home, and its follow-up feature Nénette et Boni (1996)."

Gallo acted in the film Arizona Dream, with Johnny Depp, in the cult comedy Palookaville, and in The Funeral, and had a lead role in the film Truth or Consequences, N.M. (film)

In 1998, his debut film Buffalo '66 was nominated for, but did not win, an award for "Best First Feature" at the Independent Spirit Awards. Gallo made this drama for $1.5 M, serving as writer, director, lead actor, and composer/performer of the soundtrack. The release of Buffalo '66 "...gained him a solid fan base". Gallo proceeded to act in the crime drama Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby, the drama Stranded: Náufragos, the thriller Hide and Seek, and the romantic comedy Get Well Soon. Gallo appeared in another Claire Denis film, an erotic/horror movie called Trouble Every Day.

In 2003, Gallo starred in and directed the film The Brown Bunny. The film, which chronicles a motorcycle racer's cross country road trip, co-starred Chloë Sevigny. The film, which contained a scene of Sevigny performing unsimulated oral sex upon Gallo, received overwhelmingly negative critical response to its initial cut and became a media scandal, in part due to Gallo's use of a still image from a sex scene on a promotional billboard. According to Andrea LeVasseur of the Allmovie, The Brown Bunny "premiered to much derision at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival."

A war of words erupted between Gallo and popular film critic Roger Ebert in 2003 regarding Ebert's statement that The Brown Bunny was the worst film in the history of Cannes. Gallo retorted by calling Ebert a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader" and put a hex on Ebert, wishing him colon cancer. Ebert then responded, paraphrasing a statement once made by Winston Churchill that "although I am fat, one day I will be thin, but Mr. Gallo will still have been the director of The Brown Bunny." Regarding Gallo's alleged hex, Ebert quipped "the video of my colonoscopy is more entertaining than your movie," a comment that Gallo later claimed to find funny.

A shorter, re-edited version of the film played later in 2003 at the Toronto International Film Festival (although it retained the controversial sex scene). While not receiving the highest praise, neither did it garner the same level of derision as the Cannes version. Ebert responded favorably to this second edit, and the pair reconciled amicably thereafter.

Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired multi-territory distribution rights for the film in February 2005. Sony Pictures Entertainment also released the film on DVD in North America in August 2005.

Gallo has recently appeared as a model in H&M Spring 2009 Collection with Eva Herzigova.
Music

Gallo played electric bass and sang in the mid-1970s in several adolescent garage bands such as Blue Mood, a progressive rock cover band named Zephyr (not the late 1960s band) which did one performance in New York State, and the Plastics. At the age of 16, Gallo moved to New York City and was a later member of the band, Gray, with visual artist Jean Michel Basquiat (who was not yet famous). Gray played at clubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB's, Hurrahs, and the Mudd Club. A few of Gray's recordings appear on the soundtrack for the film Downtown 81. In the early 1980s, Gallo performed solo as the Nonsexuals, rapped in a duo called Trouble Deuce under the name Prince Vince (along with Nick Nice, who went under the name DJ High Priest).

Gallo played in a band called Bohack which recorded an album entitled It Took Several Wives. When Bohack disbanded, Gallo turned his attention to acting, directing, and composing in films. He wrote songs for the soundtrack of the 1998 film Buffalo 66. He played in a rock band with Lukas Haas called Bunny, and Gallo put out his own CD which he wrote. performed and produced under Warp Records, titled "When". Bunny did a Japanese tour and recorded an album for Sony with producer Eddie Offord. In Japan, for his 2001 When tour, Josh Klinghoffer and Carla Azar of Autolux supported him as his tour band.

In 2002 he released "Recordings of Music for a Film", which is a remastered version of his older music. He also did shows with Jim O'Rourke playing on bass. Gallo has also performed shows with Sean Lennon, whom he collaborated with on an album they completed in 2004, that has yet to be released. Nikolai Haas, Lukas Haas's younger brother, was a drummer for a few of Gallo's shows. Gallo also curated one weekend of the UK music festival All Tomorrow's Parties in April 2005. His friends John Frusciante and PJ Harvey appeared on the bill. Gallo selected Yoko Ono as a headline act, and also performed with her and her son Sean Lennon at this event.

Gallo's most recent musical project is the band RRIICCEE, with Hole co-founder Eric Erlandson, which plays only improvised music.
Music videos

Gallo also appears in the following music videos by other artists: "Grounded" by My Vitriol (2001), "Cosmopolitan Bloodloss" by Glassjaw (2003), "99 Problems" by Jay-Z (2004), and "Bitter" by Lit.

Gallo directed music videos for the songs "Going Inside" by John Frusciante, and "Anemone" by L'Arc-en-Ciel.
Personal life and political ideology

Gallo is a supporter of the Republican Party, and has been seen at a New York fashion show with George W. Bush's daughters Barbara and Jenna. He has stated that his fantasy is "becoming more like the stereotype of the Republican Party." He also wishes to look "more like George Will." In his own words, Gallo "considered himself a radical, always, but an extremely conservative radical".

Gallo is godfather to Chris Squire's son.
Filmography
Actor

    * Promises Written in Water (2010)
    * Tetro (2009)
    * Metropia (2009)
    * Oliverio Rising (2007)
    * Dirt (2007-TV)
    * Moscow Zero (2006)
    * The Brown Bunny (2003)
    * Stranded: Náufragos (2001)
    * Get Well Soon (2001)
    * Trouble Every Day (2001)
    * Hide and Seek (2000)
    * Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999)
    * Buffalo 66 (1998)
    * L.A. Without a Map (1998)
    * Truth or Consequences, NM (1997)
    * Nénette et Boni (1996)
    * The Funeral (1996)
    * Basquiat (1996)
    * Palookaville (1996)
    * The Perez Family (1995)
    * Arizona Dream (1993)
    * The House of the Spirits (1993)
    * Goodfellas (1990)
    * Doc's Kingdom (1987)
    * The Gunlover (1986)
    * The Way It Is (1985)

Writer/director

    * Promises Written in Water (2010)
    * The Brown Bunny (2003)
    * Buffalo ’66 (1998)

Discography
Albums

    * It Took Several Wives - (1982), released on Family Friend Records (as Bohack)
    * The Way It Is Soundtrack - (1984), released on Rojo Records
    * Buffalo 66 Soundtrack - (1998), released on Will Records
    * When - (2001), released on Warp Records (as Vincent Gallo)
    * Recordings Of Music For Film - (2002), released on Warp Records

Singles

    * "So Sad" EP - (2001), released on Warp Records
    * "Honey Bunny" 7" - (2001), released on Warp Records
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv77/julie_dc2205/gallo.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo102/lysandre_2008/vincent-gallo-776791.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/11/10 at 5:10 am

As soon as I saw the word 'map' ... this came to mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/10 at 5:11 am

The person who died on this day...Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (pronounced /ˈvɒnɨɡət/; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American novelist who wrote works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). He was known for his humanist beliefs as well as being honorary president of the American Humanist Association. He is widely considered one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to fifth-generation German-American parents Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., and Edith Lieber. Both his father and grandfather attended MIT and were architects in the Indianapolis firm Vonnegut & Bohn; his great-grandfather was the founder of the Vonnegut Hardware Company, an Indianapolis institution.  Vonnegut graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in May 1940, and was accepted to attend Cornell University beginning that fall. At Cornell, he served as assistant managing editor and associate editor for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun, and majored in chemistry.  While attending Cornell, he was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity, following in the footsteps of his father. While at Cornell, Vonnegut enlisted in the U.S. Army.  The army transferred him to the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee to study mechanical engineering.  On May 14, 1944, Mothers' Day, his mother committed suicide by sleeping pill overdose.
Vonnegut's first short story, "Report on the Barnhouse Effect"  appeared in the February 11, 1950 edition of Collier's (it has since been reprinted in his short story collection, Welcome to the Monkey House). His first novel was the dystopian novel Player Piano (1952), in which human workers have been largely replaced by machines. He continued to write short stories before his second novel, The Sirens of Titan, was published in 1959.  Through the 1960s, the form of his work changed, from the relatively orthodox structure of Cat's Cradle (which in 1971 earned him a Master's Degree) to the acclaimed, semi-autobiographical Slaughterhouse-Five, given a more experimental structure by using time travel as a plot device.

These structural experiments were continued in Breakfast of Champions (1973), which included many rough illustrations, lengthy non-sequiturs and an appearance by the author himself, as a deus ex machina.

   "This is a very bad book you're writing," I said to myself.
   "I know," I said.
   "You're afraid you'll kill yourself the way your mother did," I said.
   "I know," I said.

Deadeye Dick, although mostly set in the mid-twentieth century, foreshadows the turbulent times of contemporary America; it ends prophetically with the lines "You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages — they haven't ended yet." The novel explores themes of social isolation and alienation that are particularly relevant in the postmodern world. Society is seen as openly hostile or indifferent at best, and popular culture as superficial and excessively materialistic.

Vonnegut attempted suicide in 1984 and later wrote about this in several essays.

Breakfast of Champions became one of his best-selling novels. It includes, in addition to the author himself, several of Vonnegut's recurring characters. One of them, science fiction author Kilgore Trout, plays a major role and interacts with the author's character.

In 1974, Venus on the Half-Shell, a book by Philip José Farmer in a style similar to that of Vonnegut and attributed to Kilgore Trout, was published. This caused some confusion among readers, as for some time many assumed that Vonnegut wrote it; when the truth of its authorship came out, Vonnegut was reported as being "not amused". In an issue of the semi-prozine The Alien Critic/Science Fiction Review, published by Richard E. Geis, Farmer claimed to have received an angry, obscenity-laden telephone call from Vonnegut about it.

In addition to recurring characters, there are also recurring themes and ideas. One of them is ice-nine (a central wampeter in his novel Cat's Cradle).

Although many of his novels involved science fiction themes, they were widely read and reviewed outside the field, not least due to their anti-authoritarianism. For example, his seminal short story Harrison Bergeron graphically demonstrates how an ethos like egalitarianism, when combined with too much authority, engenders horrific repression.

In much of his work, Vonnegut's own voice is apparent, often filtered through the character of science fiction author Kilgore Trout (whose name is based on that of real-life science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon), characterized by wild leaps of imagination and a deep cynicism, tempered by humanism. In the foreword to Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut wrote that as a child, he saw men with locomotor ataxia, and it struck him that these men walked like broken machines; it followed that healthy people were working machines, suggesting that humans are helpless prisoners of determinism. Vonnegut also explored this theme in Slaughterhouse-Five, in which protagonist Billy Pilgrim "has come unstuck in time" and has so little control over his own life that he cannot even predict which part of it he will be living through from minute to minute. Vonnegut's well-known phrase "So it goes", used ironically in reference to death, also originated in Slaughterhouse-Five and became a slogan for anti-Vietnam War protestors in the 1960s. "Its combination of simplicity, irony, and rue is very much in the Vonnegut vein."

With the publication of his novel Timequake in 1997, Vonnegut announced his retirement from writing fiction. He continued to write for the magazine In These Times, where he was a senior editor, until his death in 2007, focusing on subjects ranging from contemporary U. S. politics to simple observational pieces on topics such as a trip to the post office. In 2005, many of his essays were collected in a new bestselling book titled A Man Without a Country, which he insisted would be his last contribution to letters.

An August 2006 article reported:

   He has stalled finishing his highly anticipated novel If God Were Alive Today — or so he claims. "I've given up on it... It won't happen... The Army kept me on because I could type, so I was typing other people's discharges and stuff. And my feeling was, 'Please, I've done everything I was supposed to do. Can I go home now?' That's what I feel right now. I've written books. Lots of them. Please, I've done everything I'm supposed to do. Can I go home now?"

The April 2008 issue of Playboy featured the first published excerpt from Armageddon in Retrospect, the first posthumous collection of Vonnegut's work. The book itself was published in the same month. It included never before published short stories by the writer and a letter that was written to his family during WWII when Vonnegut was captured as a prisoner of war. The book also contains drawings that Vonnegut himself drew and a speech he wrote shortly before his death. The introduction of the book was written by his son, Mark Vonnegut.

Vonnegut also taught at Harvard University, where he was a lecturer in English, and the City College of New York, where he was a Distinguished Professor. In a 2003 interview Vonnegut said, "I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka 'Christians,' and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities,or 'PPs.'" When asked how he was doing at the start of a 2003 interview, he replied: "I'm mad about being old and I'm mad about being American. Apart from that, OK."

In A Man Without a Country, he wrote that "George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography." He did not regard the 2004 election with much optimism; speaking of Bush and John Kerry, he said that "no matter which one wins, we will have a Skull and Bones President at a time when entire vertebrate species, because of how we have poisoned the topsoil, the waters and the atmosphere, are becoming, hey presto, nothing but skulls and bones."

In 2005, Vonnegut was interviewed by David Nason for The Australian. During the course of the interview Vonnegut was asked his opinion of modern terrorists, to which he replied, "I regard them as very brave people." When pressed further Vonnegut also said that "They are dying for their own self-respect. It's a terrible thing to deprive someone of their self-respect. It's your culture is nothing, your Race is nothing, you're nothing ... It is sweet and noble—sweet and honourable I guess it is—to die for what you believe in." (This last statement is a reference to the line "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" from Horace's Odes, or possibly to Wilfred Owen's ironic use of the line in his Dulce Et Decorum Est.) Nason took offense at Vonnegut's comments and characterized him as an old man who "doesn't want to live any more ... and because he can't find anything worthwhile to keep him alive, he finds defending terrorists somehow amusing." Vonnegut's son, Mark, responded to the article by writing an editorial to the Boston Globe in which he explained the reasons behind his father's "provocative posturing" and stated that "If these commentators can so badly misunderstand and underestimate an utterly unguarded English-speaking 83-year-old man with an extensive public record of saying exactly what he thinks, maybe we should worry about how well they understand an enemy they can't figure out what to call."

A 2006 interview with Rolling Stone stated, " ... it's not surprising that he disdains everything about the Iraq War. The very notion that more than 2,500 U.S. soldiers have been killed in what he sees as an unnecessary conflict makes him groan. 'Honestly, I wish Nixon were president,' Vonnegut laments. 'Bush is so ignorant.' "

Though he was a dissident to the end, Vonnegut held a bleak view on the power of artists to effect change. "During the Vietnam War," he told an interviewer in 2003, "every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high.
In his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:

  1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
  2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
  3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
  4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
  5. Start as close to the end as possible.
  6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
  7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
  8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Vonnegut qualifies the list by adding that Flannery O'Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that.

In Chapter 18 of his book Palm Sunday, "The Sexual Revolution", Vonnegut grades his own works. He states that the grades "do not place me in literary history" and that he is comparing "myself with myself." The grades are as follows:

   * Player Piano: B
   * The Sirens of Titan: A
   * Mother Night: A-plus
   * Cat's Cradle: A-plus
   * God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: A
   * Slaughterhouse-Five: A-plus
   * Welcome to the Monkey House: B-minus
   * Happy Birthday, Wanda June: D
   * Breakfast of Champions: C
   * Slapstick: D
   * Jailbird: A
   * Palm Sunday: C

Vonnegut was a master of satire, but he was humble about satire as a tool we can use to preserve our sanity in an insane world: "I guess it works some. Just telling people, 'You are not alone. There are a lot of others who feel as you do.' We’re a terribly lonesome society."
Appearances

   * Vonnegut played himself in a cameo in 1986's Back to School, in which he is hired by Rodney Dangerfield's Thornton Melon to write a paper on the topic of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. Recognizing the work as not Melon's own, Professor Turner tells him, "Whoever did write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut."
   * Vonnegut also made brief cameos in the film adaptations of his novels Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions. Mother Night was directed by Keith Gordon, who starred as Dangerfield's son in Back to School.
   * Vonnegut appeared as part of the Enron "Why" advertising campaign.
   * He made a guest appearance on the 2002 DVD released by 1 Giant Leap, leading the producers of the film to say, "Probably the most unbelievable result in our whole production was getting Kurt Vonnegut to agree to an interview". In the film, Vonnegut states, "Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God. It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life I can listen to music and it makes such a difference".
   * Vonnegut narrates and wrote the narrative of two oratorios with composer Dave Soldier recorded by the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, A Soldier's Story based on the execution of Private Eddie Slovik and Ice-9 Ballads, adapted from Cat's Cradle.
   * Vonnegut recorded a number of first-person voice overs for Ken Burns's documentary The Civil War and included one of a young soldier reflecting on a visit with a prostitute.
   * Vonnegut appears briefly in the 2005 dramatic documentary The American Ruling Class playing himself.
   * Vonnegut appears briefly in the 2005 Dutch release of the three part BBC documentary D-Day to Berlin. The allies journey to victory, telling about his memories of the bombing of Dresden
   * In August 2006, Kurt Vonnegut was interviewed on the national, weekly public radio program, The Infinite Mind, from inside the 3-D virtual on-line community Second Life. The program made broadcast history as the first to be taped inside a virtual world, and it was the author's last face-to-face sit-down interview. The host was The Infinite Mind's John Hockenberry, who was with Vonnegut in the studio as the program was taped. Vonnegut's virtual interview was taped in front of a virtual audience of 100 people from around the world a the 16-acre virtual broadcast center created by producer Bill Lichtenstein and Lichtenstein Creative Media which produces The Infinite Mind. The 38-minute "machinima" video of Vonnegut's last interview is available on You Tube, and as of March 2010 it has had more than 100,000 views.
   * In 2007 Vonnegut is featured in the film Never Down as Robert and appears in several scenes.

Tributes

   * The 2009 Hollywood adaptation of Vonnegut's story "Harrison Bergeron", a film entitled 2081 is dedicated "To Kurt Vonnegut, Jr."
   * At the annual Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library McFadden Memorial Lecture at Butler University in Indianapolis, on April 27, 2007, where Vonnegut was being honored posthumously, his son Mark delivered a speech that the author wrote for the event, and which was reported as the last thing he wrote. It ends with this: "I thank you for your attention, and I'm outta here."
   * Following his death, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central gave Vonnegut a small tribute frame before the closing credits with his own famous phrase on death--"so it goes." There was also a short clip of him being interviewed by Jon Stewart, in which he joked that chlamydia, giraffes and hippopotamuses are evidence of evolution being controlled by a divine power.
   * Filmmaker Michael Moore included Vonnegut in the dedications for his 2007 film Sicko; at the end of the film, the words "Thank You Kurt Vonnegut for Everything" appear on the screen.
   * The satirical newspaper The Onion contained a tribute to Vonnegut soon after he died, with a reference to his work Slaughterhouse-Five stating that he shouldn't be referred to as dead "without checking Dresden for his younger self first."
   * On November 11, 2007, Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver, reintroduced Kurt's Mile High Malt to celebrate the late author's birthday. The beer was originally created by Vonnegut's grandfather, Albert Lieber, of the Indianapolis Brewery, using coffee as the secret ingredient. Kurt's Mile High Malt was first brewed in 1996 thanks to Wynkoop Founder and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a friend of Vonnegut's. At Vonnegut's request, coffee was added to the Mile High Malt, making it a close recreation to his grandfather's original.
   * When Vonnegut died, members of the Alplaus Vounteer Fire Department in New York lowered the American flag to half mast, hung the funeral shroud, and rang a fire bell in accordance with the traditional 5-5-5 alarm used to honor fallen brothers. Vonnegut's name still appears on an old active fire-fighters roster, located next to a screen-print that he donated to the department.
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq292/drumin4urlovin/kurt-vonnegut.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r265/swedensqueen/vonnegut.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/10 at 5:12 am


As soon as I saw the word 'map' ... this came to mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdRgBAY278

Now that's funny I actually watched Bonanza the other day, and DanDan loves the theme and be-bops to it :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/11/10 at 5:16 am


Now that's funny I actually watched Bonanza the other day, and DanDan loves the theme and be-bops to it :)


Hey ...I be-bop to it too... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/11/10 at 6:08 am

British Person of the Day: Lisa Stansfield

Lisa Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer.

Early years

Stansfield was born in Heywood, Lancashire in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982. She won it singing The Human League track "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of". The series was produced by the then Head of Light Entertainment at Granada TV, Johnny Hamp.

After releasing several unsuccessful singles in her mid-teens, she co-hosted a Children's TV pop show, Razzmatazz with Alistair Pirrie; additionally, Stansfield could be seen in 1983 children's television series The Krankies Klub, alongside comedian Jimmy Cricket and pop rock band Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. She became an international celebrity in the early 1990s.

Career

Her British band Blue Zone saw modest success with the single "Jackie", where she achieved some success with her guest vocals on Coldcut's record "People Hold On". She is probably best known for her first UK number-one single, "All Around the World" (1989), which also peaked at number three in the United States Billboard Hot 100 the following year. Other worldwide hits from her solo debut album Affection include "This Is the Right Time" (featuring a house music influence production by Coldcut with Mark Saunders), "Live Together", "What Did I Do to You" and "You Can't Deny It". "All Around the World" was the second song by a white female singer to hit number one on the Billboard R&B chart; (the first being "Ooo La La La" by Teena Marie in 1988);"You Can't Deny It" also topped that chart. Affection went platinum in the United States and sold a total of five million singles worldwide.

In 1990, Stansfield was among a handful of high profile artists to participate in the Red Hot + Blue charity disc (which honoured Cole Porter's songwriting and benefitted AIDS research). She got to show her swing and jazz chops on the song "Down in the Depths", which was one of few traditional renditions to appear on the album. Thus began an illustrious and respected tradition of Stansfield offering jazz and torch songs to outside projects (most recently she sang "I've Got the World on a String" for the Mona Lisa Smile soundtrack). This is likely what got her noticed for consideration as the female lead in the independent film Swing (1999), where she was to sing the majority of the film's songs as well as act.

In 1992, Stansfield won a BRIT Award as best British female solo artist. Her second album Real Love did not quite live up to the success of Affection; it did spawn four Top 40 singles on the European charts: "Change", "All Woman", "Time to Make You Mine" and "Set Your Loving Free". "All Woman" became Stansfield's third number one single on the Billboard R&B chart and due to the success of that song, the album went gold.

She continued recording disco-influenced soul throughout the 1990s. Her third album So Natural (1993) spawned three Top 40 European singles including the title track (UK number 15), "In All the Right Places" (UK number 8 ), and "Little Bit of Heaven" (UK number 32), but the album was never released in the United States. She had continued success throughout Europe, but her popularity in North America had diminished.

Her self-titled fourth album Lisa Stansfield (1997) was a hit in Europe with two Top Ten singles: "People Hold On" (re-released as a dance mix by the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and "The Real Thing," and the Top 40 track "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" (a remake of Barry White's 1973 hit); upon being released in North America, the album received some mainstream attention, but much more in the dance clubs where remixes were very successful (an astonishing four singles: "Never Never Gonna Give You Up", "Never Gonna Fall", "I'm Leavin'", "People Hold On" reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart). It charted modestly peaking at number 30 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 55 on the Billboard 200. Also in the U.S., "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" also became Stansfield's last Top 40 R&B hit, and final Hot 100 hit. Subsequently, the remix album was released due to Stansfield's reinterest from the dance community. The music video for "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" was an eye-catcher featuring a nude Stansfield strolling a city street, acquiring a few items of clothing along the way. VH1 featured the clip and even gave it the Pop-Up Video treatment.

Her 2001 album Face Up was less successful, barely charting and with a lack of publicity but featured the singles "Let's Just Call It Love" and "8-3-1" and found her experimenting with newer styles of R&B such as 2-step while continuing with her established sound. Stansfield's husband, Ian Devaney, delivered an arrangement for the ballad "How Could You", which displayed his love of Burt Bacharach's legacy. Only one single was released in the United Kingdom.

Following the release of Face Up, a greatest hits collection called Biography was released, which sold well in the United Kingdom and Europe. Stansfield then parted ways with Arista/BMG records (ending an eighteen year association with the label). Stansfield signed with ZTT Records for the United Kingdom, and her 2004 release The Moment was produced by Trevor Horn, well-known for his work with Seal, Grace Jones and Frankie Goes to Hollywood among others. The album would be distributed in Europe by Edel. Featuring the singles "Treat Me Like a Woman" (released as a "double A side" with "Easier") and "If I Hadn't Got You" a song written by Chris Braide with ex-Squeeze songwriter Chris Difford. The album found her exploring more pop oriented album and focusing on lush ballads.

Despite this, as with her previous release, the album and supporting singles were not a success. At the time of the project's release, ZTT Records was gearing large amounts of its resources into re-marketing its music catalogue and producing the Trevor Horn concert for The Prince's Trust and its accompanying double CD, Produced by Trevor Horn. The release of "Treat Me Like a Woman" was delayed twice. Her record label eventually paired it with the album "Easier". Later that year ZTT dropped her from their record label. A DVD of Stansfield's Ronnie Scott's performance in 2003 was released in 2005.

Stansfield also has a career in acting; she starred in the 1999 film Swing with actor Hugo Speer, and recorded covers of swing classics and a few original songs written in the style for the soundtrack. She later appeared on a London stage in The Vagina Monologues. In 2006, she guest-starred in the series Goldplated. In 2007, she starred in a Marple episode ("Ordeal by Innocence") and later joined the cast of The Edge of Love.

In 1998 Stansfield was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party (UK).

Discography can be view here

http://www.celebsquotes.com/l/lisa-stansfield/lisa-stansfield.jpg




Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/10 at 6:45 am


British Person of the Day: Lisa Stansfield

Lisa Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer.

Early years

Stansfield was born in Heywood, Lancashire in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982. She won it singing The Human League track "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of". The series was produced by the then Head of Light Entertainment at Granada TV, Johnny Hamp.

After releasing several unsuccessful singles in her mid-teens, she co-hosted a Children's TV pop show, Razzmatazz with Alistair Pirrie; additionally, Stansfield could be seen in 1983 children's television series The Krankies Klub, alongside comedian Jimmy Cricket and pop rock band Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. She became an international celebrity in the early 1990s.

Career

Her British band Blue Zone saw modest success with the single "Jackie", where she achieved some success with her guest vocals on Coldcut's record "People Hold On". She is probably best known for her first UK number-one single, "All Around the World" (1989), which also peaked at number three in the United States Billboard Hot 100 the following year. Other worldwide hits from her solo debut album Affection include "This Is the Right Time" (featuring a house music influence production by Coldcut with Mark Saunders), "Live Together", "What Did I Do to You" and "You Can't Deny It". "All Around the World" was the second song by a white female singer to hit number one on the Billboard R&B chart; (the first being "Ooo La La La" by Teena Marie in 1988);"You Can't Deny It" also topped that chart. Affection went platinum in the United States and sold a total of five million singles worldwide.

In 1990, Stansfield was among a handful of high profile artists to participate in the Red Hot + Blue charity disc (which honoured Cole Porter's songwriting and benefitted AIDS research). She got to show her swing and jazz chops on the song "Down in the Depths", which was one of few traditional renditions to appear on the album. Thus began an illustrious and respected tradition of Stansfield offering jazz and torch songs to outside projects (most recently she sang "I've Got the World on a String" for the Mona Lisa Smile soundtrack). This is likely what got her noticed for consideration as the female lead in the independent film Swing (1999), where she was to sing the majority of the film's songs as well as act.

In 1992, Stansfield won a BRIT Award as best British female solo artist. Her second album Real Love did not quite live up to the success of Affection; it did spawn four Top 40 singles on the European charts: "Change", "All Woman", "Time to Make You Mine" and "Set Your Loving Free". "All Woman" became Stansfield's third number one single on the Billboard R&B chart and due to the success of that song, the album went gold.

She continued recording disco-influenced soul throughout the 1990s. Her third album So Natural (1993) spawned three Top 40 European singles including the title track (UK number 15), "In All the Right Places" (UK number 8 ), and "Little Bit of Heaven" (UK number 32), but the album was never released in the United States. She had continued success throughout Europe, but her popularity in North America had diminished.

Her self-titled fourth album Lisa Stansfield (1997) was a hit in Europe with two Top Ten singles: "People Hold On" (re-released as a dance mix by the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and "The Real Thing," and the Top 40 track "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" (a remake of Barry White's 1973 hit); upon being released in North America, the album received some mainstream attention, but much more in the dance clubs where remixes were very successful (an astonishing four singles: "Never Never Gonna Give You Up", "Never Gonna Fall", "I'm Leavin'", "People Hold On" reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart). It charted modestly peaking at number 30 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 55 on the Billboard 200. Also in the U.S., "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" also became Stansfield's last Top 40 R&B hit, and final Hot 100 hit. Subsequently, the remix album was released due to Stansfield's reinterest from the dance community. The music video for "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" was an eye-catcher featuring a nude Stansfield strolling a city street, acquiring a few items of clothing along the way. VH1 featured the clip and even gave it the Pop-Up Video treatment.

Her 2001 album Face Up was less successful, barely charting and with a lack of publicity but featured the singles "Let's Just Call It Love" and "8-3-1" and found her experimenting with newer styles of R&B such as 2-step while continuing with her established sound. Stansfield's husband, Ian Devaney, delivered an arrangement for the ballad "How Could You", which displayed his love of Burt Bacharach's legacy. Only one single was released in the United Kingdom.

Following the release of Face Up, a greatest hits collection called Biography was released, which sold well in the United Kingdom and Europe. Stansfield then parted ways with Arista/BMG records (ending an eighteen year association with the label). Stansfield signed with ZTT Records for the United Kingdom, and her 2004 release The Moment was produced by Trevor Horn, well-known for his work with Seal, Grace Jones and Frankie Goes to Hollywood among others. The album would be distributed in Europe by Edel. Featuring the singles "Treat Me Like a Woman" (released as a "double A side" with "Easier") and "If I Hadn't Got You" a song written by Chris Braide with ex-Squeeze songwriter Chris Difford. The album found her exploring more pop oriented album and focusing on lush ballads.

Despite this, as with her previous release, the album and supporting singles were not a success. At the time of the project's release, ZTT Records was gearing large amounts of its resources into re-marketing its music catalogue and producing the Trevor Horn concert for The Prince's Trust and its accompanying double CD, Produced by Trevor Horn. The release of "Treat Me Like a Woman" was delayed twice. Her record label eventually paired it with the album "Easier". Later that year ZTT dropped her from their record label. A DVD of Stansfield's Ronnie Scott's performance in 2003 was released in 2005.

Stansfield also has a career in acting; she starred in the 1999 film Swing with actor Hugo Speer, and recorded covers of swing classics and a few original songs written in the style for the soundtrack. She later appeared on a London stage in The Vagina Monologues. In 2006, she guest-starred in the series Goldplated. In 2007, she starred in a Marple episode ("Ordeal by Innocence") and later joined the cast of The Edge of Love.

In 1998 Stansfield was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party (UK).

Discography can be view here

http://www.celebsquotes.com/l/lisa-stansfield/lisa-stansfield.jpg






I was thinking of doing her too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/11/10 at 6:47 am


I was thinking of doing her too :)
So she has not been missed today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/11/10 at 6:56 am


British Person of the Day: Lisa Stansfield

Lisa Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer.

Early years

Stansfield was born in Heywood, Lancashire in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982. She won it singing The Human League track "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of". The series was produced by the then Head of Light Entertainment at Granada TV, Johnny Hamp.

After releasing several unsuccessful singles in her mid-teens, she co-hosted a Children's TV pop show, Razzmatazz with Alistair Pirrie; additionally, Stansfield could be seen in 1983 children's television series The Krankies Klub, alongside comedian Jimmy Cricket and pop rock band Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. She became an international celebrity in the early 1990s.

Career

Her British band Blue Zone saw modest success with the single "Jackie", where she achieved some success with her guest vocals on Coldcut's record "People Hold On". She is probably best known for her first UK number-one single, "All Around the World" (1989), which also peaked at number three in the United States Billboard Hot 100 the following year. Other worldwide hits from her solo debut album Affection include "This Is the Right Time" (featuring a house music influence production by Coldcut with Mark Saunders), "Live Together", "What Did I Do to You" and "You Can't Deny It". "All Around the World" was the second song by a white female singer to hit number one on the Billboard R&B chart; (the first being "Ooo La La La" by Teena Marie in 1988);"You Can't Deny It" also topped that chart. Affection went platinum in the United States and sold a total of five million singles worldwide.

In 1990, Stansfield was among a handful of high profile artists to participate in the Red Hot + Blue charity disc (which honoured Cole Porter's songwriting and benefitted AIDS research). She got to show her swing and jazz chops on the song "Down in the Depths", which was one of few traditional renditions to appear on the album. Thus began an illustrious and respected tradition of Stansfield offering jazz and torch songs to outside projects (most recently she sang "I've Got the World on a String" for the Mona Lisa Smile soundtrack). This is likely what got her noticed for consideration as the female lead in the independent film Swing (1999), where she was to sing the majority of the film's songs as well as act.

In 1992, Stansfield won a BRIT Award as best British female solo artist. Her second album Real Love did not quite live up to the success of Affection; it did spawn four Top 40 singles on the European charts: "Change", "All Woman", "Time to Make You Mine" and "Set Your Loving Free". "All Woman" became Stansfield's third number one single on the Billboard R&B chart and due to the success of that song, the album went gold.

She continued recording disco-influenced soul throughout the 1990s. Her third album So Natural (1993) spawned three Top 40 European singles including the title track (UK number 15), "In All the Right Places" (UK number 8 ), and "Little Bit of Heaven" (UK number 32), but the album was never released in the United States. She had continued success throughout Europe, but her popularity in North America had diminished.

Her self-titled fourth album Lisa Stansfield (1997) was a hit in Europe with two Top Ten singles: "People Hold On" (re-released as a dance mix by the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and "The Real Thing," and the Top 40 track "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" (a remake of Barry White's 1973 hit); upon being released in North America, the album received some mainstream attention, but much more in the dance clubs where remixes were very successful (an astonishing four singles: "Never Never Gonna Give You Up", "Never Gonna Fall", "I'm Leavin'", "People Hold On" reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart). It charted modestly peaking at number 30 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 55 on the Billboard 200. Also in the U.S., "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" also became Stansfield's last Top 40 R&B hit, and final Hot 100 hit. Subsequently, the remix album was released due to Stansfield's reinterest from the dance community. The music video for "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" was an eye-catcher featuring a nude Stansfield strolling a city street, acquiring a few items of clothing along the way. VH1 featured the clip and even gave it the Pop-Up Video treatment.

Her 2001 album Face Up was less successful, barely charting and with a lack of publicity but featured the singles "Let's Just Call It Love" and "8-3-1" and found her experimenting with newer styles of R&B such as 2-step while continuing with her established sound. Stansfield's husband, Ian Devaney, delivered an arrangement for the ballad "How Could You", which displayed his love of Burt Bacharach's legacy. Only one single was released in the United Kingdom.

Following the release of Face Up, a greatest hits collection called Biography was released, which sold well in the United Kingdom and Europe. Stansfield then parted ways with Arista/BMG records (ending an eighteen year association with the label). Stansfield signed with ZTT Records for the United Kingdom, and her 2004 release The Moment was produced by Trevor Horn, well-known for his work with Seal, Grace Jones and Frankie Goes to Hollywood among others. The album would be distributed in Europe by Edel. Featuring the singles "Treat Me Like a Woman" (released as a "double A side" with "Easier") and "If I Hadn't Got You" a song written by Chris Braide with ex-Squeeze songwriter Chris Difford. The album found her exploring more pop oriented album and focusing on lush ballads.

Despite this, as with her previous release, the album and supporting singles were not a success. At the time of the project's release, ZTT Records was gearing large amounts of its resources into re-marketing its music catalogue and producing the Trevor Horn concert for The Prince's Trust and its accompanying double CD, Produced by Trevor Horn. The release of "Treat Me Like a Woman" was delayed twice. Her record label eventually paired it with the album "Easier". Later that year ZTT dropped her from their record label. A DVD of Stansfield's Ronnie Scott's performance in 2003 was released in 2005.

Stansfield also has a career in acting; she starred in the 1999 film Swing with actor Hugo Speer, and recorded covers of swing classics and a few original songs written in the style for the soundtrack. She later appeared on a London stage in The Vagina Monologues. In 2006, she guest-starred in the series Goldplated. In 2007, she starred in a Marple episode ("Ordeal by Innocence") and later joined the cast of The Edge of Love.

In 1998 Stansfield was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party (UK).

Discography can be view here

http://www.celebsquotes.com/l/lisa-stansfield/lisa-stansfield.jpg







How weird is this? I'm listening to her at this moment as her birthday is today.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/10 at 8:52 am


How weird is this? I'm listening to her at this moment as her birthday is today.  :o

Very cool :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 5:50 am

The word of the day...Bubblegum
Bubble gum is a sweet substance similar to chewing gum. You can blow it out of your mouth so it makes the shape of a bubble.
Bubblegum is a type of chewing gum especially designed to blow a out of the mouth. Bubblegum is available in many different colors and flavors. ..
a disparaging term from the 60s and 70s, referring to pop music perceived as being so frivolous that it would only appeal to pre-teens, or someone .
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj44/sylvanacmar/bubblegum.gif
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/jtemeott/DSC_0409.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj55/allilyn_2008/ohsnap.png
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj70/D0NT0NYABR0WN08/6op9jza.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g294/mahamolko/i%20like/BUBBLEGUM_BALLS.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/babydelbs/bubblegum.png
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f233/camnatcar/bubblegum.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a216/foxii_chick101/bubblegum.png
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r90/ACEhannah/bbg100.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 5:57 am

The person born on this day...David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (born April 12, 1950) is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as Shirley Jones's eldest son, Keith Partridge, in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974. (Jones is Cassidy's stepmother in real life.) He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and still performs today.
David Cassidy was born at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City, New York, the son of actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. As his parents were frequently touring on the road, he spent his early years being raised by his maternal grandparents in a middle class neighborhood in West Orange, New Jersey.  In 1956, he found out from neighbor children that his parents had been divorced for over two years and had not even told him.

In 1956, his father married actress Shirley Jones, and three half-brothers were born: Shaun (1958), Patrick (1962) and Ryan (1966).
Career

On January 2, 1969, Cassidy made his professional debut in the Broadway musical The Fig Leaves Are Falling, which closed after 4 performances. Fortunately, a casting director saw the show and asked Cassidy to make a screen test. In 1969, he moved to Los Angeles.

After signing with Universal Studios in 1969, Cassidy featured in episodes of the TV series Ironside, Marcus Welby, M.D., Adam-12 and Bonanza. In 1970, he took the part of Keith Partridge, son of Shirley Partridge, who was played by Cassidy's real stepmother and series' lead, Shirley Jones. According to an episode profiling her on A&E Biography, "Shirley Jones: Hollywood's Musical Mom", Cassidy said that he wanted to hate his stepmother, but after his mother's real-life divorce, she immediately stepped in and he began to love her.

The Partridge Family series creator Bernard Slade and producers Paul Junger Witt and Robert "Bob" Claver did not care whether Cassidy could sing, knowing only that his androgynous good looks would guarantee success. But shortly after production began, Cassidy convinced music producer Wes Farrell that he was good enough and he was promoted to lead singer for show's recordings. Once I Think I Love You became a hit, Cassidy began work on solo albums as well. Within the first year he had produced his own single, "Cherish" (from the album of the same title), which reached #9 in the US, and began tours that featured Partridge tunes and his own hits. He became a teen idol.

On and off the show, Cassidy had a strong bond with his stepmother. He and co-star Danny Bonaduce did not get along with Jeremy Gelbwaks, (who played their brother, Chris) during its first season. In the second season, Gelbwaks was replaced by Brian Forster, who stayed until the series' end.

Ten albums by The Partridge Family and five solo albums were produced during the show. David also became an instant drawcard with spectacular sellout concerts successes in major arenas around the world. These concerts produced mass hysteria resulting in the media coining the term Cassidymania. By way of example, he played to two sellout crowds of 56,000 each at the Houston Astrodome in Texas over one weekend in 1972. His concert in New York's Madison Square Gardens sold out in one day and resulted in riots after the show. His concert tours of the UK sold out and included six sellout concerts at Wembley over one weekend in 1973. In Australia in 1974, the mass hysteria was such that there were calls to have him deported from the country, especially after the madness at his 33,000 audience concert at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

A turning point in his live rock concerts (while still filming The Partridge Family) was a gate stampede which killed a teenage girl. At a show in London's White City Stadium on May 26, 1974, 650 were injured in a crush at the front of the stage. Thirty were taken to hospital, and one, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, died on May 30 from injuries. The show was the penultimate date on a world tour. A deeply affected Cassidy faced the press, trying to make sense of what had happened. Out of respect for the family and to avoid turning the girl's funeral into a media circus, Cassidy did not attend the service. He did, however, speak to Bernadatte's parents and sent flowers. Cassidy stated at the time that this would haunt him until the day he died.

Of approximately $500 million that The Partridge Family and Cassidy merchandising made internationally, he was allegedly paid only $15,000. Cassidy's 1994 autobiography C'mon Get Happy: Fear And Loathing On The Partridge Family Bus provides an account of most aspects of his fame, including contracts, money and his fanatical worldwide fan following.

Cassidy always maintained that he hated the "bubblegum pop" style of music on The Partridge Family and wanted to be taken seriously as a hard rock musician. Rebelling against the squeaky-clean character of Keith Partridge, Cassidy gave a candid interview about his active sex life and former illegal drug use for Rolling Stone. The article included a provocative, partially nude photo by Annie Leibovitz. Upon publication on May 11, 1972, the public was shocked, as 38 percent of the audience for The Partridge Family were children. Cassidy was disappointed that the article was written in a such a vague way that different readers drew different inferences from it; these included some speculations that he was coming out as a gay man. Coca-Cola canceled plans for sponsoring a proposed David Cassidy TV special, and other companies that used his image for product endorsements also threatened to cancel. Cassidy heeded his manager's advice to try and avoid further blunders.

By this point, Cassidy had decided to quit both touring and acting in The Partridge Family, concentrating instead on recording and song-writing. International success continued, mostly in Great Britain and Germany, when he released three well-received solo albums on RCA between 1975 and 1977. Cassidy became first to have a hit with I Write The Songs, a Top 20 record in Great Britain before the song became Barry Manilow's signature tune. Cassidy's recording was produced by the song's author-composer, Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys.

In 1978, Cassidy starred in an episode of Police Story titled "A Chance To Live", for which he received an Emmy nomination. NBC created a show based on it called David Cassidy: Man Under Cover but it was canceled after one season. However the format was used in a well-received Fox TV series 21 Jump Street, with Johnny Depp in the role Cassidy vacated.

In 1985, music success continued with the Arista release of the single The Last Kiss (#6 in the UK), with backing vocals by George Michael, which was included on the album Romance. These went gold in Europe and Australia and Cassidy supported them with a sellout tour of the UK which resulted in the Greatest Hits Live compilation of 1986. George Michael cited Cassidy as a major career influence and interviewed Cassidy for David Litchfield's prestigious Ritz Newspaper. Cassidy returned to the American Top 40 with his 1990 Lyin' To Myself, released on Enigma. In 1998, he had a AC hit with "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" from his album Old Trick, New Dog. His 2001 album Then and Now went platinum internationally and returned Cassidy to the Top 5 of the UK album charts for the first time since 1974.

Cassidy has performed in musical theatre. In 1981, he toured in a revival of a pre-Broadway production of Little Johnny Jones, a show originally produced in 1904 with music, lyrics, and book by George M. Cohan. (The show is excerpted in the biographic film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), when James Cagney sings Give My Regards to Broadway and The Yankee Doodle Boy.) However, Cassidy received negative reviews and was replaced by another former teen idol, Donny Osmond, by the time the show reached Broadway. Cassidy was a replacement for the lead in the original 1982 Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He appeared in London's West End production of Time and returned to Broadway in Blood Brothers alongside Petula Clark and his half-brother, Shaun Cassidy. In concert performances in 1990, Cassidy hired his recalcitrant TV brother Danny Bonaduce as his warm-up act. In 1996, he replaced Michael Crawford in the Las Vegas show EFX, re-writing it into one of the Strip's favorite shows - although Cassidy was forced to resign after he injured his foot during a performance. He also created The Rat Pack is Back, in which he made guest appearances as Bobby Darin, and which ran successfully. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Las Vegas show At the Copa, with Sheena Easton as both the young and old versions of the lead character, Johnny Flamingo. In 2005, Cassidy played the manager of Aaron Carter's character in the film Popstar. In 2006, he made a guest appearance for BBC Children in Need performing live, then assisting Terry Wogan collecting donations from the studio audience.

He co-starred alongside his brother Patrick in a 2009 ABC Family short-lived comedy series entitled Ruby & The Rockits, a show created by his brother Shaun.
Personal life

Cassidy's first wife was actress Kay Lenz, whom he married in 1977 and divorced in 1982. His second wife was South African sportswoman Meryl Tanz, whom he married in 1984. This marriage ended in 1985. On March 30, 1991, Cassidy married Sue Shifrin-Cassidy, by whom he has a son, Beau Devin Cassidy. He also has a daughter, actress Katie Cassidy (born in 1986), from his relationship with 1970s model Sherry Benedon.

The Globe reported that Cassidy once slept with his Partridge Family co-star Susan Dey. He said he loved the teenage actress like a sister when they were shooting The Partridge Family but that she was (unbeknownst to Cassidy) in love with him. Shirley Jones told Cassidy that Dey had "a giant crush" on him and encouraged him to "look at her". After the wrap party at the end of the show's run, Dey confided her feelings and the couple made a half-hearted attempt to spend one night together, but Cassidy was very uncomfortable and deeply regretted it. It was reported in The Globe that Cassidy said "I find a certain sluttiness very attractive in a woman, and Susan just didn't have it. She was sweetness and innocence, a good girl, and I couldn't think of her as anything but my sister whom I love dearly to this day." Cassidy has had very little contact with Dey since the end of The Partridge Family. In his autobiography, he wrote "Communications were terminated from her end, not mine" and that "I still love Susan in some special way. I can never let that go".

Cassidy has written another memoir that was published in the UK in March 2007. Could It Be Forever? My Story gives details of his personal life.
Discography (solo)

The following are sourced from the performer's fan site
Singles

    * "Cherish" (1971 US#9)
    * "Could It Be Forever" (1972 US#37 UK#2)
    * "How Can I Be Sure" (1972 US#25 UK#1)
    * "Rock Me Baby" (1972 US#38 UK#11)
    * "I Am a Clown" / "Some Kind of Summer" (1973 UK#3)
    * "Daydream" (1973)
    * "Daydreamer" / "The Puppy Song" (1973 UK#1)
    * "If I Didn't Care" (1974 UK#9)
    * "Please Please Me" (1974 UK#16)
    * "I Write the Songs" / "Get It Up for Love" (1975 UK#11)
    * "Darlin'" (1975 UK#16)
    * "Tomorrow" (1976 UK#12)
    * "Breakin' Down Again" (1976)
    * "Gettin' It in the Streets" (1976)
    * "Saying Goodbye Ain't Easy (We'll Have to Go Away)" (1977)
    * "Hurt So Bad" (1979)
    * "The Last Kiss" (1985 UK#6)
    * "Romance (Let Your Heart Go)" (1985 UK#54)
    * "Someone" (1985 UK#86)
    * "Live EP" (1986)
    * "Lyin' to Myself" (1990 US#27)
    * "For All the Lonely" (1992)
    * "I Think I Love You (new version)" (1998)
    * "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" (1998 US#21 (AC))


Albums

    * Cherish (1972)
    * Rock Me Baby (1972)
    * Dreams are Nuthin' More than Wishes (1973)
    * Cassidy Live! (1974)
    * David Cassidy's Greatest Hits (1974)
    * David Cassidy Forever (1975)
    * The Higher They Climb (1975)
    * Home Is Where the Heart Is (1976)
    * Getting It In The Street (1976)
    * Romance (1985)
    * Greatest Hits Live (1986)
    * David Cassidy (1990)
    * Didn't You Used to Be? (1992)
    * Old Trick New Dog (1996)
    * David Cassidy's Partridge Family Favorites (1998)
    * When I'm a Rock 'n' Roll Star (1998)
    * Then and Now (2001)
    * A Touch of Blue (2003)
    * David Cassidy Part II - The Remix (2007)

Musical Albums

    * Blood Brothers (musical album) (1995)
    * EFX (cast album) (1997)

Discography (The Partridge Family)

    * The Partridge Family Album (1970)
    * Up To Date (1971)
    * Sound Magazine (1971)
    * Christmas Card (1971)
    * Shopping Bag (1972)
    * At Home With Their Greatest Hits (1972)
    * The Partridge Family Notebook (1972)



    * Crossword Puzzle (1973)
    * Bulletin Board (1973)
    * World of the Partridge Family (1974)
    * Greatest Hits (1989) (first time on CD)
    * The Definitive Collection (2001)
    * Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family (2005)

Feature film filmography

    * The Night the City Screamed (1980)
    * Instant Karma (1990)
    * The Spirit of '76 (1990)
    * Popstar (2005)
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/mrsmichaeljoejackson/david14.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s95/inxsary/David%20Cassidy/40f2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 6:05 am

The person who died on this day...Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945; pronounced /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROE-zə-velt) was the 32nd President of the United States  and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he was often referred to by his initials, FDR. Roosevelt won his first of four presidential elections in 1932, while the United States was in the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and economic activism is often credited with keeping the country's economic crisis from developing into a political crisis. He led the United States through most of World War II, and died in office of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly before the war ended.

Roosevelt named his approach to the economic situation the New Deal; it consisted of legislation pushed through Congress as well as executive orders. Executive orders included the bank holiday declared when he first came to office; legislation created new government agencies, such as the Works Progress Administration and the National Recovery Administration, with the intent of creating new jobs for the unemployed. Other legislation provided direct assistance to individuals, such as the Social Security Act.

As World War II began in 1939, with Japanese occupation of countries on the western Pacific rim and the rise of Hitler in Germany, FDR kept the US on an ostensibly neutral course. In March 1941, Roosevelt provided Lend-Lease aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany, with Great Britain the recipient of the most assistance. With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt immediately asked for and received a declaration of war against Japan. Germany subsequently declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. The nearly total mobilization of the US economy to support the war effort caused a rapid economic recovery.

Roosevelt dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterwards. FDR's coalition melded together such disparate elements as Southern whites and African Americans in the cities of the North. Roosevelt's political impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the United Nations and Bretton Woods as examples of his administration's wide ranging impact. Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.
See also: Roosevelt family and Delano family

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in the Hudson Valley town of Hyde Park, New York. His father, James Roosevelt, and his mother, Sara, were each from wealthy old New York families, of Dutch and French ancestry respectively. Franklin was their only child. His paternal grandmother, Mary Rebecca Aspinwall, was a first cousin of Elizabeth Monroe, wife of the fifth U.S. President, James Monroe. One of his ancestors was John Lothropp, also an ancestor of Benedict Arnold and Joseph Smith, Jr. One of his distant relatives from his mother's side is the author Laura Ingalls Wilder. His maternal grandfather Warren Delano II, a descendant of Mayflower passengers Richard Warren, Isaac Allerton, Degory Priest, and Francis Cooke, during a period of twelve years in China made more than a million dollars in the tea trade in Macau, Canton, and Hong Kong, but upon returning to the United States, he lost it all in the Panic of 1857. In 1860, he returned to China and made a fortune in the notorious but highly profitable opium trade supplying opium-based medication to the U. S. War Department during the American Civil War, although not exclusively.
Roosevelt in 1893.

Roosevelt grew up in an atmosphere of privilege. Sara was a possessive mother, while James was an elderly and remote father (he was 54 when Franklin was born). Sara was the dominant influence in Franklin's early years. Frequent trips to Europe made Roosevelt conversant in German and French. He learned to ride, shoot, row, and play polo and lawn tennis.

Roosevelt went to Groton School, an Episcopal boarding school in Massachusetts. He was heavily influenced by its headmaster, Endicott Peabody, who preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Roosevelt went to Harvard, where he lived in luxurious quarters and was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He was also president of The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper. While he was at Harvard, his fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became President, and Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero. In 1902, he met his future wife Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore's niece, at a White House reception (they had previously met as children, but this was their first serious encounter). Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed. They were both descended from Claes Martensz van Rosenvelt (Roosevelt), who arrived in New Amsterdam (Manhattan) from the Netherlands in the 1640s. Rosenvelt's (Roosevelt) two grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began the Long Island and Hudson River branches of the Roosevelt family, respectively. Eleanor and Theodore Roosevelt were descended from the Johannes branch, while FDR came from the Jacobus branch.

Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School in 1905, but dropped out in 1907 because he had passed the New York State Bar exam. In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious Wall Street firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn, dealing mainly with corporate law. He was first initiated in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was initiated into Freemasonry on October 11, 1911 at Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York City
When Roosevelt was inaugurated March 4, 1933 (32 days after Hitler, FDR's World War II nemesis, was appointed Chancellor of Germany), the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Farmers were in deep trouble as prices fell by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million were homeless. Due to the lack of employment, organized crime and outlaws were on the rise, such as John Dillinger. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states, as well as the District of Columbia had closed their banks.  The New York Federal Reserve Bank was unable to open on the 5th, as huge sums had been withdrawn by panicky customers in previous days.  Beginning with his inauguration address, Roosevelt began blaming the economic crisis on bankers and financiers, the quest for profit, and the self-interest basis of capitalism:
“ Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence....The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery and reform." Relief was urgently needed by tens of millions of unemployed. Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal. Reform meant long-term fixes of what was wrong, especially with the financial and banking systems. Roosevelt's series of radio talks, known as fireside chats, presented his proposals directly to the American public.
First New Deal, 1933–1934

Roosevelt's "First 100 Days" concentrated on the first part of his strategy: immediate relief. From March 9 to June 16, 1933, he sent Congress a record number of bills, all of which passed easily. To propose programs, Roosevelt relied on leading Senators such as George Norris, Robert F. Wagner and Hugo Black, as well as his Brain Trust of academic advisers. Like Hoover, he saw the Depression caused in part by people no longer spending or investing because they were afraid.

His inauguration on March 4, 1933 occurred in the middle of a bank panic, hence the backdrop for his famous words: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The very next day Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act which declared a "bank holiday" and announced a plan to allow banks to reopen. However, the number of banks that opened their doors after the "holiday" was fewer than the number that had been open before. This was his first proposed step to recovery. To give Americans confidence in the banks, Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall Act that created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers during the depression in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, a mother of seven children at age 32, March 1936.

    * Relief measures included the continuation of Hoover's major relief program for the unemployed under the new name, Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The most popular of all New Deal agencies, and Roosevelt's favorite, was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which hired 250,000 unemployed young men to work on rural local projects. Congress also gave the Federal Trade Commission broad new regulatory powers and provided mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners. Roosevelt expanded a Hoover agency, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, making it a major source of financing to railroads and industry. Roosevelt made agriculture relief a high priority and set up the first Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The AAA tried to force higher prices for commodities by paying farmers to take land out of crops and to cut herds.
    * Reform of the economy was the goal of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933. It tried to end cutthroat competition by forcing industries to come up with codes that established the rules of operation for all firms within specific industries, such as minimum prices, agreements not to compete, and production restrictions. Industry leaders negotiated the codes which were then approved by NIRA officials. Industry needed to raise wages as a condition for approval. Provisions encouraged unions and suspended anti-trust laws. The NIRA was found to be unconstitutional by unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on May 27, 1935. Roosevelt opposed the decision, saying "The fundamental purposes and principles of the NIRA are sound. To abandon them is unthinkable. It would spell the return to industrial and labor chaos." In 1933, major new banking regulations were passed. In 1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission was created to regulate Wall Street, with 1932 campaign fundraiser Joseph P. Kennedy in charge.
    * Recovery was pursued through "pump-priming" (that is, federal spending). The NIRA included $3.3 billion of spending through the Public Works Administration to stimulate the economy, which was to be handled by Interior Secretary Harold Ickes. Roosevelt worked with Republican Senator George Norris to create the largest government-owned industrial enterprise in American history, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built dams and power stations, controlled floods, and modernized agriculture and home conditions in the poverty-stricken Tennessee Valley. The repeal of prohibition also brought in new tax revenues and helped him keep a major campaign promise.
    * In a controversial move, Roosevelt gave Executive Order 6102 which made all privately held gold of American citizens property of the US Treasury. This gold confiscation by executive order was argued to be unconstitutional, but Roosevelt's executive order asserts authority to do so based on the "War Time Powers Act" of 1917. Gold bullion remained illegal for Americans to own until President Ford rescinded the order in 1974.

Roosevelt tried to keep his campaign promise by cutting the regular federal budget, including 40% cuts to veterans' benefits and cuts in overall military spending. He removed 500,000 veterans and widows from the pension rolls and slashed benefits for the remainder. Protests erupted, led by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Roosevelt held his ground, but when the angry veterans formed a coalition with Senator Huey Long and passed a huge bonus bill over his veto, he was defeated. He succeeded in cutting federal salaries and the military and naval budgets. He reduced spending on research and education.

Roosevelt also kept his promise to push for repeal of Prohibition. In April 1933, he issued an Executive Order redefining 3.2% alcohol as the maximum allowed. That order was preceded by Congressional action in the drafting and passage of the 21st Amendment, which was ratified later that year.
Second New Deal, 1935–1936
Dust storms were frequent during the 1930s; this one occurred in Texas in 1935. See the Dust Bowl.

After the 1934 Congressional elections, which gave Roosevelt large majorities in both houses, there was a fresh surge of New Deal legislation. These measures included the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which set up a national relief agency that employed two million family heads. However, even at the height of WPA employment in 1938, unemployment was still 12.5% according to figures from Michael Darby. The Social Security Act, established Social Security and promised economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick. Senator Robert Wagner wrote the Wagner Act, which officially became the National Labor Relations Act. The act established the federal rights of workers to organize unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes.

While the First New Deal of 1933 had broad support from most sectors, the Second New Deal challenged the business community. Conservative Democrats, led by Al Smith, fought back with the American Liberty League, savagely attacking Roosevelt and equating him with Marx and Lenin. But Smith overplayed his hand, and his boisterous rhetoric let Roosevelt isolate his opponents and identify them with the wealthy vested interests that opposed the New Deal, setting Roosevelt up for the 1936 landslide. By contrast, the labor unions, energized by the Wagner Act, signed up millions of new members and became a major backer of Roosevelt's reelections in 1936, 1940 and 1944
Third term, 1941–1945
Policies
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet at Argentia, Newfoundland aboard HMS Prince of Wales during their 1941 secret meeting to develop the Atlantic Charter.

Roosevelt's third term was dominated by World War II, in Europe and in the Pacific. Roosevelt slowly began re-armament in 1938 since he was facing strong isolationist sentiment from leaders like Senators William Borah and Robert Taft who supported re-armament. By 1940, it was in high gear, with bipartisan support, partly to expand and re-equip the United States Army and Navy and partly to become the "Arsenal of Democracy" supporting the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, the Republic of China and (after June 1941), the Soviet Union. As Roosevelt took a firmer stance against the Axis Powers, American isolationists—including Charles Lindbergh and America First—attacked the President as an irresponsible warmonger. Unfazed by these criticisms and confident in the wisdom of his foreign policy initiatives, FDR continued his twin policies of preparedness and aid to the Allied coalition. On December 29, 1940, he delivered his Arsenal of Democracy fireside chat, in which he made the case for involvement directly to the American people, and a week later he delivered his famous Four Freedoms speech in January 1941, further laying out the case for an American defense of basic rights throughout the world.

The military buildup spurred economic growth. By 1941, unemployment had fallen to under 1 million. There was a growing labor shortage in all the nation's major manufacturing centers, accelerating the Great Migration of African Americans workers from the Southern United States, and of underemployed farmers and workers from all rural areas and small towns. The homefront was subject to dynamic social changes throughout the war, though domestic issues were no longer Roosevelt's most urgent policy concerns.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt extended Lend-Lease to the Soviets. During 1941, Roosevelt also agreed that the U.S. Navy would escort Allied convoys as far east as Great Britain and would fire upon German ships or submarines (U-boats) of the Kriegsmarine if they attacked Allied shipping within the U.S. Navy zone. Moreover, by 1941, U.S. Navy aircraft carriers were secretly ferrying British fighter planes between the UK and the Mediterranean war zones, and the British Royal Navy was receiving supply and repair assistance at American naval bases in the United States.

Thus, by mid-1941, Roosevelt had committed the U.S. to the Allied side with a policy of "all aid short of war." Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on August 14, 1941, to develop the Atlantic Charter in what was to be the first of several wartime conferences. In July 1941, Roosevelt ordered Henry Stimson, Secretary of War to begin planning for total American military involvement. The resulting "Victory Program," under the direction of Albert Wedemeyer, provided the President with the estimates necessary for the total mobilization of manpower, industry, and logistics to defeat the "potential enemies" of the United States. The program also planned to dramatically increase aid to the Allied nations and to have ten million men in arms, half of whom would be ready for deployment abroad in 1943. Roosevelt was firmly committed to the Allied cause and these plans had been formulated before the Attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan.
A 1999 survey by C-SPAN found that by a wide margin academic historians consider Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Roosevelt the three greatest presidents, consistent with other surveys.  Roosevelt is the sixth most admired person from the 20th century by US citizens, according to Gallup.

Both during and after his terms, critics of Roosevelt questioned not only his policies and positions, but also the consolidation of power that occurred because of his lengthy tenure as president, his service during two major crises, and his enormous popularity. The rapid expansion of government programs that occurred during Roosevelt's term redefined the role of the government in the United States, and Roosevelt's advocacy of government social programs was instrumental in redefining liberalism for coming generations.

Roosevelt firmly established the United States' leadership role on the world stage, with pronouncements such as his Four Freedoms speech, forming a basis for the active role of the United States in the war and beyond.

After Franklin's death, Eleanor Roosevelt continued to be a forceful presence in U.S. and world politics, serving as delegate to the conference which established the United Nations and championing civil rights. Many members of his administration played leading roles in the administrations of Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, each of whom embraced Roosevelt's political legacy.

Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park is now a National historic site and home to his Presidential library. His retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia is a museum operated by the state of Georgia. His summer retreat on Campobello Island is maintained by the governments of both Canada and the United States as Roosevelt Campobello International Park; the island is accessible by way of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge.

The Roosevelt Memorial is located in Washington, D.C. next to the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin, and Roosevelt's image appears on the Roosevelt dime. Many parks and schools, as well as an aircraft carrier and a Paris subway station and hundreds of streets and squares both across the US and the rest of the world have been named in his honor.

Reflecting on Roosevelt's presidency, "which brought the United States through the Great Depression and World War II to a prosperous future", said FDR's biographer Jean Edward Smith in 2007, "He lifted himself from a wheelchair to lift the nation from its knees."
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj148/thedude4283/FDR.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz355/what_is_love98/uewb_09_img0610.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/12/10 at 6:42 am


The word of the day...Bubblegum
Bubble gum is a sweet substance similar to chewing gum. You can blow it out of your mouth so it makes the shape of a bubble.
Bubblegum is a type of chewing gum especially designed to blow a out of the mouth. Bubblegum is available in many different colors and flavors. ..
a disparaging term from the 60s and 70s, referring to pop music perceived as being so frivolous that it would only appeal to pre-teens, or someone .
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj44/sylvanacmar/bubblegum.gif
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/jtemeott/DSC_0409.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj55/allilyn_2008/ohsnap.png
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj70/D0NT0NYABR0WN08/6op9jza.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g294/mahamolko/i%20like/BUBBLEGUM_BALLS.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/babydelbs/bubblegum.png
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f233/camnatcar/bubblegum.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a216/foxii_chick101/bubblegum.png
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r90/ACEhannah/bbg100.jpg




I always liked Bubbleyum Bubblegum.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 7:28 am



I always liked Bubbleyum Bubblegum.

Yeah Bubble Yum was better than Hubba Bubba :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: apollonia1986 on 04/12/10 at 10:26 am

I thought Bubble Yum and Hubba Hubba were the same thing!  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/12/10 at 10:39 am


The person born on this day...David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (born April 12, 1950) is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as Shirley Jones's eldest son, Keith Partridge, in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974. (Jones is Cassidy's stepmother in real life.) He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and still performs today.
David Cassidy was born at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City, New York, the son of actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. As his parents were frequently touring on the road, he spent his early years being raised by his maternal grandparents in a middle class neighborhood in West Orange, New Jersey.  In 1956, he found out from neighbor children that his parents had been divorced for over two years and had not even told him.

In 1956, his father married actress Shirley Jones, and three half-brothers were born: Shaun (1958), Patrick (1962) and Ryan (1966).
Career

On January 2, 1969, Cassidy made his professional debut in the Broadway musical The Fig Leaves Are Falling, which closed after 4 performances. Fortunately, a casting director saw the show and asked Cassidy to make a screen test. In 1969, he moved to Los Angeles.

After signing with Universal Studios in 1969, Cassidy featured in episodes of the TV series Ironside, Marcus Welby, M.D., Adam-12 and Bonanza. In 1970, he took the part of Keith Partridge, son of Shirley Partridge, who was played by Cassidy's real stepmother and series' lead, Shirley Jones. According to an episode profiling her on A&E Biography, "Shirley Jones: Hollywood's Musical Mom", Cassidy said that he wanted to hate his stepmother, but after his mother's real-life divorce, she immediately stepped in and he began to love her.

The Partridge Family series creator Bernard Slade and producers Paul Junger Witt and Robert "Bob" Claver did not care whether Cassidy could sing, knowing only that his androgynous good looks would guarantee success. But shortly after production began, Cassidy convinced music producer Wes Farrell that he was good enough and he was promoted to lead singer for show's recordings. Once I Think I Love You became a hit, Cassidy began work on solo albums as well. Within the first year he had produced his own single, "Cherish" (from the album of the same title), which reached #9 in the US, and began tours that featured Partridge tunes and his own hits. He became a teen idol.

On and off the show, Cassidy had a strong bond with his stepmother. He and co-star Danny Bonaduce did not get along with Jeremy Gelbwaks, (who played their brother, Chris) during its first season. In the second season, Gelbwaks was replaced by Brian Forster, who stayed until the series' end.

Ten albums by The Partridge Family and five solo albums were produced during the show. David also became an instant drawcard with spectacular sellout concerts successes in major arenas around the world. These concerts produced mass hysteria resulting in the media coining the term Cassidymania. By way of example, he played to two sellout crowds of 56,000 each at the Houston Astrodome in Texas over one weekend in 1972. His concert in New York's Madison Square Gardens sold out in one day and resulted in riots after the show. His concert tours of the UK sold out and included six sellout concerts at Wembley over one weekend in 1973. In Australia in 1974, the mass hysteria was such that there were calls to have him deported from the country, especially after the madness at his 33,000 audience concert at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

A turning point in his live rock concerts (while still filming The Partridge Family) was a gate stampede which killed a teenage girl. At a show in London's White City Stadium on May 26, 1974, 650 were injured in a crush at the front of the stage. Thirty were taken to hospital, and one, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, died on May 30 from injuries. The show was the penultimate date on a world tour. A deeply affected Cassidy faced the press, trying to make sense of what had happened. Out of respect for the family and to avoid turning the girl's funeral into a media circus, Cassidy did not attend the service. He did, however, speak to Bernadatte's parents and sent flowers. Cassidy stated at the time that this would haunt him until the day he died.

Of approximately $500 million that The Partridge Family and Cassidy merchandising made internationally, he was allegedly paid only $15,000. Cassidy's 1994 autobiography C'mon Get Happy: Fear And Loathing On The Partridge Family Bus provides an account of most aspects of his fame, including contracts, money and his fanatical worldwide fan following.

Cassidy always maintained that he hated the "bubblegum pop" style of music on The Partridge Family and wanted to be taken seriously as a hard rock musician. Rebelling against the squeaky-clean character of Keith Partridge, Cassidy gave a candid interview about his active sex life and former illegal drug use for Rolling Stone. The article included a provocative, partially nude photo by Annie Leibovitz. Upon publication on May 11, 1972, the public was shocked, as 38 percent of the audience for The Partridge Family were children. Cassidy was disappointed that the article was written in a such a vague way that different readers drew different inferences from it; these included some speculations that he was coming out as a gay man. Coca-Cola canceled plans for sponsoring a proposed David Cassidy TV special, and other companies that used his image for product endorsements also threatened to cancel. Cassidy heeded his manager's advice to try and avoid further blunders.

By this point, Cassidy had decided to quit both touring and acting in The Partridge Family, concentrating instead on recording and song-writing. International success continued, mostly in Great Britain and Germany, when he released three well-received solo albums on RCA between 1975 and 1977. Cassidy became first to have a hit with I Write The Songs, a Top 20 record in Great Britain before the song became Barry Manilow's signature tune. Cassidy's recording was produced by the song's author-composer, Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys.

In 1978, Cassidy starred in an episode of Police Story titled "A Chance To Live", for which he received an Emmy nomination. NBC created a show based on it called David Cassidy: Man Under Cover but it was canceled after one season. However the format was used in a well-received Fox TV series 21 Jump Street, with Johnny Depp in the role Cassidy vacated.

In 1985, music success continued with the Arista release of the single The Last Kiss (#6 in the UK), with backing vocals by George Michael, which was included on the album Romance. These went gold in Europe and Australia and Cassidy supported them with a sellout tour of the UK which resulted in the Greatest Hits Live compilation of 1986. George Michael cited Cassidy as a major career influence and interviewed Cassidy for David Litchfield's prestigious Ritz Newspaper. Cassidy returned to the American Top 40 with his 1990 Lyin' To Myself, released on Enigma. In 1998, he had a AC hit with "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" from his album Old Trick, New Dog. His 2001 album Then and Now went platinum internationally and returned Cassidy to the Top 5 of the UK album charts for the first time since 1974.

Cassidy has performed in musical theatre. In 1981, he toured in a revival of a pre-Broadway production of Little Johnny Jones, a show originally produced in 1904 with music, lyrics, and book by George M. Cohan. (The show is excerpted in the biographic film Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), when James Cagney sings Give My Regards to Broadway and The Yankee Doodle Boy.) However, Cassidy received negative reviews and was replaced by another former teen idol, Donny Osmond, by the time the show reached Broadway. Cassidy was a replacement for the lead in the original 1982 Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He appeared in London's West End production of Time and returned to Broadway in Blood Brothers alongside Petula Clark and his half-brother, Shaun Cassidy. In concert performances in 1990, Cassidy hired his recalcitrant TV brother Danny Bonaduce as his warm-up act. In 1996, he replaced Michael Crawford in the Las Vegas show EFX, re-writing it into one of the Strip's favorite shows - although Cassidy was forced to resign after he injured his foot during a performance. He also created The Rat Pack is Back, in which he made guest appearances as Bobby Darin, and which ran successfully. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Las Vegas show At the Copa, with Sheena Easton as both the young and old versions of the lead character, Johnny Flamingo. In 2005, Cassidy played the manager of Aaron Carter's character in the film Popstar. In 2006, he made a guest appearance for BBC Children in Need performing live, then assisting Terry Wogan collecting donations from the studio audience.

He co-starred alongside his brother Patrick in a 2009 ABC Family short-lived comedy series entitled Ruby & The Rockits, a show created by his brother Shaun.
Personal life

Cassidy's first wife was actress Kay Lenz, whom he married in 1977 and divorced in 1982. His second wife was South African sportswoman Meryl Tanz, whom he married in 1984. This marriage ended in 1985. On March 30, 1991, Cassidy married Sue Shifrin-Cassidy, by whom he has a son, Beau Devin Cassidy. He also has a daughter, actress Katie Cassidy (born in 1986), from his relationship with 1970s model Sherry Benedon.

The Globe reported that Cassidy once slept with his Partridge Family co-star Susan Dey. He said he loved the teenage actress like a sister when they were shooting The Partridge Family but that she was (unbeknownst to Cassidy) in love with him. Shirley Jones told Cassidy that Dey had "a giant crush" on him and encouraged him to "look at her". After the wrap party at the end of the show's run, Dey confided her feelings and the couple made a half-hearted attempt to spend one night together, but Cassidy was very uncomfortable and deeply regretted it. It was reported in The Globe that Cassidy said "I find a certain sluttiness very attractive in a woman, and Susan just didn't have it. She was sweetness and innocence, a good girl, and I couldn't think of her as anything but my sister whom I love dearly to this day." Cassidy has had very little contact with Dey since the end of The Partridge Family. In his autobiography, he wrote "Communications were terminated from her end, not mine" and that "I still love Susan in some special way. I can never let that go".

Cassidy has written another memoir that was published in the UK in March 2007. Could It Be Forever? My Story gives details of his personal life.
Discography (solo)

The following are sourced from the performer's fan site
Singles

    * "Cherish" (1971 US#9)
    * "Could It Be Forever" (1972 US#37 UK#2)
    * "How Can I Be Sure" (1972 US#25 UK#1)
    * "Rock Me Baby" (1972 US#38 UK#11)
    * "I Am a Clown" / "Some Kind of Summer" (1973 UK#3)
    * "Daydream" (1973)
    * "Daydreamer" / "The Puppy Song" (1973 UK#1)
    * "If I Didn't Care" (1974 UK#9)
    * "Please Please Me" (1974 UK#16)
    * "I Write the Songs" / "Get It Up for Love" (1975 UK#11)
    * "Darlin'" (1975 UK#16)
    * "Tomorrow" (1976 UK#12)
    * "Breakin' Down Again" (1976)
    * "Gettin' It in the Streets" (1976)
    * "Saying Goodbye Ain't Easy (We'll Have to Go Away)" (1977)
    * "Hurt So Bad" (1979)
    * "The Last Kiss" (1985 UK#6)
    * "Romance (Let Your Heart Go)" (1985 UK#54)
    * "Someone" (1985 UK#86)
    * "Live EP" (1986)
    * "Lyin' to Myself" (1990 US#27)
    * "For All the Lonely" (1992)
    * "I Think I Love You (new version)" (1998)
    * "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" (1998 US#21 (AC))


Albums

    * Cherish (1972)
    * Rock Me Baby (1972)
    * Dreams are Nuthin' More than Wishes (1973)
    * Cassidy Live! (1974)
    * David Cassidy's Greatest Hits (1974)
    * David Cassidy Forever (1975)
    * The Higher They Climb (1975)
    * Home Is Where the Heart Is (1976)
    * Getting It In The Street (1976)
    * Romance (1985)
    * Greatest Hits Live (1986)
    * David Cassidy (1990)
    * Didn't You Used to Be? (1992)
    * Old Trick New Dog (1996)
    * David Cassidy's Partridge Family Favorites (1998)
    * When I'm a Rock 'n' Roll Star (1998)
    * Then and Now (2001)
    * A Touch of Blue (2003)
    * David Cassidy Part II - The Remix (2007)

Musical Albums

    * Blood Brothers (musical album) (1995)
    * EFX (cast album) (1997)

Discography (The Partridge Family)

    * The Partridge Family Album (1970)
    * Up To Date (1971)
    * Sound Magazine (1971)
    * Christmas Card (1971)
    * Shopping Bag (1972)
    * At Home With Their Greatest Hits (1972)
    * The Partridge Family Notebook (1972)



    * Crossword Puzzle (1973)
    * Bulletin Board (1973)
    * World of the Partridge Family (1974)
    * Greatest Hits (1989) (first time on CD)
    * The Definitive Collection (2001)
    * Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family (2005)

Feature film filmography

    * The Night the City Screamed (1980)
    * Instant Karma (1990)
    * The Spirit of '76 (1990)
    * Popstar (2005)
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx318/mrsmichaeljoejackson/david14.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s95/inxsary/David%20Cassidy/40f2.jpg

Keith Partridge...most of the girls I grew up with just fell in love with him in the early 70s.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 11:14 am


I thought Bubble Yum and Hubba Hubba were the same thing!  :(

No Hubba Bubba is by Wrigleys, where Bubble Yum was originally made by lifesavers who sold it to Hersheys.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 11:16 am


Keith Partridge...most of the girls I grew up with just fell in love with him in the early 70s.

He was a little to old for me, I had a crush on the kid who pretended to play the drums(Brian Forster)

I just looked him up and he's only 4 days younger than me, plus he is the great great great grandson of Charles Dickens. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/12/10 at 1:03 pm

My mother & step-father met at the FDR estate in Hyde Park, NY. The Park Service held a New Years' Eve party there one year. My mother's best friend worked for the Park Service and "dragged" my mother to the party & my step-father's sister-in-law also worked for the Park Service and he was "dragged" to the party. It was pretty much "love at first sight" because they got married 6 months later (the only reason why they waited so long was because my mother's divorce from my dad was not yet final). After that, every time we went to the FDR estate or the Vanderbilt mansion (also in Hyde Park and just down the road from the FDR place), we got the VIP treatment. I got to see a lot of the mansion that most tourists do not get to see.


Going off on a tangent. The stables from the Vanderbilt mansion was turned into a playhouse back in the late 60s early 70s. My mother as well as two of my sisters worked there. That was where I met Pat O'Brien, James Whitmore, Joan Fontaine, Betty Grable, & William Shatner.



Cat   

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 2:24 pm


My mother & step-father met at the FDR estate in Hyde Park, NY. The Park Service held a New Years' Eve party there one year. My mother's best friend worked for the Park Service and "dragged" my mother to the party & my step-father's sister-in-law also worked for the Park Service and he was "dragged" to the party. It was pretty much "love at first sight" because they got married 6 months later (the only reason why they waited so long was because my mother's divorce from my dad was not yet final). After that, every time we went to the FDR estate or the Vanderbilt mansion (also in Hyde Park and just down the road from the FDR place), we got the VIP treatment. I got to see a lot of the mansion that most tourists do not get to see.


Going off on a tangent. The stables from the Vanderbilt mansion was turned into a playhouse back in the late 60s early 70s. My mother as well as two of my sisters worked there. That was where I met Pat O'Brien, James Whitmore, Joan Fontaine, Betty Grable, & William Shatner.



Cat   

Nice, very nice indeed. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/12/10 at 7:08 pm


Yeah Bubble Yum was better than Hubba Bubba :)



and what about Big League Chew.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/12/10 at 7:24 pm

David Cassidy had a major influence in my learning how to play guitar and sing.  It really did impress the chicks at parties etc.  I couln't talk directly to them without nerves...but I could sing and play songs..and that acted as an ice breaker. I must have been okay back then 'cos they didn't run off in the middle of the song.  ;D ::)

I even wanted my hair to 'bounce' when I walked...just like Keith Partridge!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/12/10 at 7:30 pm


David Cassidy had a major influence in my learning how to play guitar and sing.  It really did impress the chicks at parties etc.  I couln't talk directly to them without nerves...but I could sing and play songs..and that acted as an ice breaker. I must have been okay back then 'cos they didn't run off in the middle of the song.  ;D ::)

I even wanted my hair to 'bounce' when I walked...just like Keith Partridge!

It's even more amazing that all of this occurred in the last 3 months only  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/10 at 7:36 pm



and what about Big League Chew.

Yuck :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/12/10 at 7:40 pm


It's even more amazing that all of this occurred in the last 3 months only  :D


If you could see my hair (or lack thereof) you would know this to be untue... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/13/10 at 5:43 am


Yuck :D


What was yuck about it?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/10 at 6:15 am


What was yuck about it?



It wasn't my cup of tea.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/10 at 6:32 am

The word of the day...Carnival
A carnival is a public festival during which people play music and sometimes dance in the streets.
A carnival is a travelling show which is held in a park or field and at which there are machines to ride on, entertainments, and games
A carnival ofsomething such as colours or sounds is a bright or exciting mixture of them.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk9/englishtim/DSCF5115.jpg
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz113/i_love_sxm/13321_399139317118_511177118_487822.jpg
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu169/Shannon_Renee_Walker/2-sweet-beauty_-nirrimi-photography.jpg
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp277/JanaKJ/10%20Spring%20Break%20AZ/AZSpringBreak2010058.jpg
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv74/tnsabellacruiser/Mics%20pic/CARNIV2comix-2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/10 at 6:34 am

The person born on this day...Howard Keel
Howard Keel (April 13, 1919 – November 7, 2004) was an American  actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s.
Harry Keel was born in Gillespie, Illinois, to Navyman-turned-coalminer Homer Keel and his wife, Grace Osterkamp Keel. (It is often stated that his birth name was Harold Leek; this was a mistake made by the MGM publicity department in the 1950s.)

Young Harry spent his childhood in poverty. As a young boy in Gillespie one of his teachers, Miss Rosa Burke, noticed Harry wasn't eating any lunch. From that day forward, Miss Burke would pack two lunches,—one for herself and one for Harry. When Harry became famous and would perform near Gillespie, Miss Burke was always sent tickets to attend his performances.

After his father's death in 1930, he and his mother moved to California, where he graduated from Fallbrook High School at the age of 17 and took various odd jobs until finally settling at Douglas Aircraft Company, where he became a traveling representative.
Career and personal life

At the age of 20, he was overheard singing by his landlady, Mom Rider, and was encouraged to take vocal lessons. One of his musical heroes was the great baritone Lawrence Tibbett and Howard would later say that finding out that his own voice was a basso cantante was one of the greatest disappointments of his life. Nevertheless, his first public performance came in the summer of 1941 when he played the role of Samuel the Prophet in Handel's oratorio Saul and David (singing a duet with bass-baritone George London).

Just a couple years after this, in 1943, Harold met and married his first wife, actress Rosemary Cooper. In 1945 Harold briefly understudied for John Raitt in the Broadway hit Carousel, before being assigned to Oklahoma! by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was during this time, he accomplished a feat that has never been duplicated: he performed the leads in both shows on the same day.

In 1947 Oklahoma! became the first American musical, post-war, to travel to London, England, and Harold went with it. On the opening night, 30 April, at the Drury Lane Theatre, the capacity audience (which included the future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom) demanded fourteen encores. Harold Keel was hailed as the next great star and was the toast of the West End.

During the London run, the marriage of Harold and Rosemary ended in divorce, and Harold fell in love with a young member of the show's chorus, dancer Helen Anderson. They married in January 1949 and, a year later, Harold - now called Howard - became a father for the first time to daughter Kaija.

While living in London, Keel made his film debut as Howard Keel at the British Lion studio in Elstree, in The Small Voice (1948), released in the US as Hideout, playing an escaped convict, holding up a playwright and his wife in their English country cottage.

Additional Broadway credits include Saratoga, No Strings, and Ambassador. He appeared at The Muny in St. Louis, MO as General Waverly in White Christmas (2000), Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1996); Emile de Becque in South Pacific (1992), and Adam in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1978).
MGM years

From London's West End, Howard ended up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer making his film musical debut as Frank Butler in the movie version of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun (1950).

Howard's MGM career was to be a frustrating business. MGM never seemed to know quite what to do with him and, outside of plum roles in the films Show Boat (1951), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Kismet (1955), he was forced into a stream of unremarkable musicals and B-films. On loan-out at Warner Brothers, he played Wild Bill Hickok in Calamity Jane (1953), a highly popular, Oscar-winning musical filmed in 1953, starring Doris Day in one of her most famous screen roles. This film was Warner Brothers' answer to Annie Get Your Gun, also including the smash hit song "Secret Love".

There were two more children born to Howard and Helen, daughter Kirstine in 1952 and son Gunnar in 1955. Soon after, Howard was released from his contract and returned to his first love, the stage.
1960s and early 1970s

As America's taste in entertainment changed, finding jobs became harder and harder for Howard. The 1960s held little chance for career advancement, with a round of nightclub work, B-Westerns and summer stock.

Under the strain, Howard began to drink heavily, and his marriage to Helen crumbled. They divorced in 1970.

But 1970 proved to be fortuitous for Howard after all. He was set up on a blind date with airline stewardess Judy Magamoll, who was 25 years his junior and had never even heard of him. Years later Howard would say it was love at first sight, but the age difference bothered him tremendously. For Judy, however, it wasn't a problem, and with the aid of Robert Frost's poem "What Fifty Said", she convinced him to try the relationship. They were married in December 1970 and his drinking problem soon ceased. He resumed his routine of nightclub, cabaret and summer stock jobs with his new wife at his side, and, in 1971-72, appeared briefly in the West End and Broadway productions of the flop musical, Ambassador.

Then, in 1974, Howard became a father for the fourth time, to daughter Leslie Grace.
The Love Boat, Dallas, and his revived career

Howard continued to tour, his wife and daughter in tow, but by 1980 he had had enough of struggling to find work and he moved his family to Oklahoma, intending to join an oil company. They had barely settled there when Howard was called back to California to appear with Jane Powell on an episode of The Love Boat. While he was there, he was told that the producers of the smash hit television series Dallas wanted to talk to him. After several cameo appearances, Howard joined the show permanently as the dignified, if hot tempered, oil baron Clayton Farlow and his career reached heights it had never seen before.
Recording career

With his renewed fame, Howard began his first solo recording career at age 64, as well as a wildly successful concert career in the UK. He released an album in 1984 called "With Love", that sold poorly, thus indicating that though the American public were happy to see him as a supporting actor on hit TV show, they were not prepared for a full resumption of his previous stardom. In January 1986 he underwent double heart bypass surgery.

Even after Dallas he continued to sing, and kept his voice in remarkable shape. In 1994, he and Judy moved to Palm Desert, CA. The Keels were always active in charity events, helping their community and were well loved amongst the residents. In particular, Howard and Judy attended the annual Howard Keel Golf Classic at Mere Golf Club in Cheshire, England, which raised money for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). He attended for many years, up until the year of his death.
Death

Howard died at his home in Palm Desert on November 7, 2004, six weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He is survived by Judy, his wife of 34 years, his four children, ten grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at various favorite places including Mere Golf Club, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and in Tuscany, Italy.
Family

Keel had four children, three with second wife Helen Anderson – two daughters, Katija Liane (born January 14, 1950) and Kirstine Elizabeth (born June 21, 1952), and a son, Gunnar Louis (born June 3, 1955) – and one with his third wife Judy – a daughter, Leslie Grace (born September 1, 1974).
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1948 The Small Voice Boke as Harold Keel
1950 Annie Get Your Gun Frank Butler
Pagan Love Song Hazard Endicott
1951 Three Guys Named Mike Mike Jamison
Show Boat Gaylord Ravenal
Across the Wide Missouri Narrator
Texas Carnival Slim Shelby
Callaway Went Thataway Stretch Barnes/ Smoky Callaway Alternate title: The Star Said No
1952 Desperate Search Vince Heldon
Lovely to Look At Tony Naylor
The Hoaxters Narrator Short Subject
1953 Fast Company Rick Grayton
Ride, Vaquero! King Cameron
Calamity Jane Wild Bill Hickok
Kiss Me Kate Fred Graham / 'Petruchio'
1954 Rose Marie Capt. Mike Malone
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Adam Pontipee
Deep in My Heart Specialty in 'My Maryland'
1955 Jupiter's Darling Hannibal
Kismet The Poet
1959 Floods of Fear Donovan
The Big Fisherman Simon Peter
1961 Armored Command Col. Devlin
1962 The Day of the Triffids Bill Masen
1966 Waco 'Waco'
1967 Red Tomahawk Capt. Tom York
The War Wagon Levi Walking Bear
1968 Arizona Bushwhackers Lee Travis
1994 That's Entertainment! III Himself
2002 My Father's House Roy Mardis
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1957 Zane Grey Theater Will Gorman 1 episode - Gift from a Gunman
1958 Roberta John Kent TV Movie
1961 Tales of Wells Fargo Justin Brox 1 episode - Casket 7.3
1963 Death Valley Days Diamond Jim Brady 1 episode - Diamond Jim Brady
1964 Kiss Me Kate Fred Graham TV Movie
1965 Run for Your Life Hardie Rankin 1 episode - The Time of the Sharks
1967 The Red Skelton Show Police Officer McGoogle 1 episode - A Christmas Urchin
1969 Here's Lucy 1 episode - Lucy's Safari
Insight 1 episode - Is the 11:59 Late This Year?
1976 The Quest Shanghai Pierce 1 episode - Seventy-Two Hours
1981-1983 The Love Boat Duncan Harlow 2 episodes
Long Time No See/The Bear Essence/Kisses and Makeup
Maid for Each Other/Lost and Found/Then There Were Two
1981-1991 Dallas Clayton Farlow 208 episodes
1982 Fantasy Island Guest Star 1 episode - The Big Bet/Nancy and the Thunderbirds
1984 Entertainment Express 1 episode - Episode #2.2
1991 Good Sports Sonny Gordon 1 episode - The Return of Nick
Murder, She Wrote Larry Thorson 1 episode - A Killing in Vegas
1994 Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is Capt. Quentin "Jack" Jackson TV Movie
1995 Walker Texas Ranger Daniel Lamont 1 episode - Blue Movies
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac130/Troy059/Art%20and%20people/Actors/thhowardkeel2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m69/Nurrantiel/Pics/c2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/10 at 6:52 am

The person who died on this day...Michel Brière
Michel Edouard Brière (October 21, 1949 – April 13, 1971) was an NHL hockey player whose career was cut short due to an automobile accident in 1970.
Briere was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third round (#26 overall) in the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft. During his junior career with the Shawinigan Bruins, Briere was a dominant force, scoring 129 goals, 191 assists, and 320 points in 100 games.

"He asked for a bigger bonus and said, 'I'm going to be here for 20 years.."
—Jack Riley, The first General Manager of the Penguins , detailing the contract negotiations with rookie Michel Briere before the 1969-70 season

During his first/only NHL season, Briere would be a core component to the Penguins as they went to the 2nd round of the playoffs in the 1969–70 season. He scored 12 goals and 32 assists, finishing third in team scoring with 44 points. At this time, many scouts were predicting that the slightly-built but fast and nimble Briere would be a top NHL star for years to come. Briere was even being compared to the likes of Phil Esposito and Bobby Clarke, who were also young phenoms.

On November 1, 1969, Pittsburgh's rookie center scored his first NHL goal by beating Minnesota North Stars' goaltender Ken Broderick at the 15:15 mark of the third period.

He raised his game in the playoffs, leading the team in scoring with eight points. Briere netted the first overtime goal in franchise history on April 12, 1970. Briere scored the game-winner - and series clincher - at 8:28 of the first overtime period against the Oakland Seals in front of 3,028 fans at the Oakland Coliseum. The sweep of the Seals was the first playoff series victory for the Penguins.

The Penguins finished just two victories short of the Stanley Cup final, losing to St. Louis in the semifinals.

Briere finished the playoffs with five goals, including three game-winning goals, and was named the Penguins' rookie of the year.
Tragedy

Briere returned to Quebec to marry his childhood sweetheart Michele Beaudoin. Briere and Beaudin, who had a 1-year-old son, Martin, were to be married on June 6, 1970.

Tragedy struck at 9 p.m. on May 15, 1970 when Briere was involved in a single-car crash with two friends.

Briere was ejected from his Orange 1970 Mercury Cougar along Highway 117 in Val-d'Or just 70 miles from his hometown of Malartic. The Pens' rookie suffered major head trauma. Briere was flown 300 miles by government plane to Notre Dame Hospital in Montreal where Dr. Claude Bertrand, a leading Canadian neuro-surgeon, performed the first of four brain surgeries and delivered his prognosis that Briere had a 50-50 chance of living.

While Briere was hospitalized, the Penguins started pre-season conditioning near Brantford, Ontario. Then-trainer Ken Carson added Briere's name to the back of a jersey. The jersey, along with Briere's equipment bag, traveled with the team for the 1970-71 season.

Ten months later Briere was transferred to Montreal's Marie-Clarac Rehabilitation Hospital on March 27, 1971. The Pens finished the regular season at home on April 4 - a 1-1 tie with St. Louis - and missed the playoffs. Nine days later, after spending the last 11 months in a coma, Briere died at 4:20 p.m. on April 13, 1971.

Six members of the Penguins, including Jack Riley, Carson and Coach Red Kelly, attended the funeral outside Montreal. A memorial service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh in which most of the team officials and some players attended.
Legacy

Briere's number 21 was not retired immediately by the team, but no one ever wore it again. A framed jersey hung in the Igloo Club (inside the Pittsburgh Civic Arena) with his photo. That was the only visible sign the number was retired.

"No one ever asked to wear that number (21). If they had, I would have told them Mike's story."
—Ken Carson, Penguins equipment manager telling about the "unofficial" retirement of Michel Briere's number

Briere and Mario Lemieux are the only two players in Penguins' history to have their numbers retired. Briere's number was officially retired on January 5, 2001; just nine days after Lemieux returned to once again wear his number 66.

The QMJHL renamed its MVP award the Michel Briere Memorial Trophy in 1972. The Pittsburgh Penguins also present the Michel Briere Rookie of the Year Award annually to the seasons' best rookie player
Career statistics
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 12 32 44 20 10 5 3 8 17
NHL totals 76 12 32 44 20 10 5 3 8 17
See also

    * List of ice hockey players who died during their playing career
    * Pittsburgh Penguins All-Time Draft Picks

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/13/10 at 10:50 am

Michel Briere

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ghxo00vYNZ4/SWGIwDMCQ3I/AAAAAAAAATw/PG2HzTWJgDE/s400/Picture+5.png
http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/images/1969/Round%203/69026.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/10 at 2:15 pm


Michel Briere

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ghxo00vYNZ4/SWGIwDMCQ3I/AAAAAAAAATw/PG2HzTWJgDE/s400/Picture+5.png
http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/images/1969/Round%203/69026.jpg



Thanks Frank :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/13/10 at 3:08 pm

I love summer carnivals,especially the Ferris Wheel.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/10 at 8:13 pm


I love summer carnivals,especially the Ferris Wheel.  :)

It's been a while since I was on a ferris wheel, but I did enjoy riding them (unless you were stuck up top)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/14/10 at 6:47 am

The word or phrase of the day...Coal Miner
A coal miner is a person whose job is mining coal.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q225/jpartin98/COAL20MINER20WHITE.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/glasscottage/Politics/ACoalMiner.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z158/raysdodge2002/allpics180.jpg
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/thcmsd.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd91/paulawv/coalminer.jpg
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/casey_m760/Ems.png
http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/af260/class-08/l_8843e3880390265b71156e30247fa6351.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg54/poetknowit/CoalMinersPrayer.jpg


* Let us remember all miners who have lost their lives in their work*

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/14/10 at 6:50 am

The person of the day...Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn (born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1934) is an American country music singer-songwriter; she was one of the leading country vocalists and songwriters during the 1960s.

In the '60s and '70s, Lynn achieved over 70 hits as a solo artist and a duet partner.

Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, was made into a hit Academy Award-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones in 1980.

Including solo and duet work, Loretta Lynn has released 16 number one country hits over the course of her career.
Born to Melvin "Ted" Webb (1906–1959) and Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb (1912–1981) and named in honor of Loretta Young,  Loretta Webb was the second of eight children; her youngest sister is country singer Crystal Gayle. She is also, on her mother's side, distantly related to country singer Patty Loveless. Lynn grew up in Butcher Hollow, a section of Van Lear, a mining community near Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky. Her mother, Clara, was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee  ancestry. Her father, Ted, was a coal miner, storekeeper, and farmer. She was married to Oliver Vanetta Lynn, commonly known as "Doolittle," "Doo," or "Mooney" (for running moonshine), on January 10, 1948, at 13 years of age.  In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, Lynn moved to the logging community Custer, Washington, with her husband, at the age of 16. The Lynns had four children - Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Cissy and Ernest Ray - by the time Loretta was 19, and subsequently had twin girls, Peggy and Patsy (named after Patsy Cline).

Lynn always had a passion for music. Before getting married, she regularly sang at churches and in local concerts. After she married, she stopped singing in public, wishing rather to focus on her family life. Instead, she passed her love of music on to her children, often singing to them around the house. When Loretta was 24, Doolittle bought her a guitar as an anniversary present, which she taught herself to play.
Childhood home of Loretta Lynn

Even though they were married for nearly 50 years and had six children together, the Lynn's marriage was reportedly rocky up to Doolittle's death in 1996. In her 2002 autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and in an interview with CBS News the same year, Lynn recounts how her husband cheated on her regularly and once left her while she was giving birth. Lynn and her husband also fought frequently, but, she said, "he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice."
Music career
1960 – 1966: Early country success

Lynn began singing in local clubs and later with a band, The Trailblazers, which included her brother Jay Lee Webb. Lynn appeared in a televised Tacoma, Washington talent contest, hosted by Buck Owens, which was seen by Norm Burley, one of the founders of Zero Records.

Zero Records president Don Grashey arranged a recording session in Hollywood, where four of Lynn's own compositions were recorded: "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," "Whispering Sea," "Heartache Meet Mister Blues," and "New Rainbow." Her first release featured "Whispering Sea" and "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl." With their initial support, Lynn went on to become one of country music’s greats.

Lynn signed her first contract on February 1, 1960, with Zero Records. She recorded her first release in March of that year, with bandleader Speedy West on steel guitar, Harold Hensely on fiddle, Roy Lanham on guitar, Al Williams on bass, and Muddy Berry on drums. The material was recorded at United-Western Recorders, in Hollywood, CA and engineered by Don Blake and produced by Grashey.

In 1960, under the Zero label, Lynn recorded "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl." The Lynns toured the country to promote the release to country stations, while Grashey and Del Roy took the music to KFOX in Long Beach, California. When the Lynns reached Nashville, the song was a minor hit, climbing to #14 on Billboard's C & W Chart, and Lynn began cutting demo records for the Wilburn Brothers' Publishing Company. Through the Wilburns, Lynn was able to secure a contract with Decca Records.

Her relationship with the Wilburn Brothers and her appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, beginning in 1960, helped Lynn become the number one female recording artist in country music. Lynn's contract with the Wilburn Brothers gave them the publishing rights to her material. She was still fighting to regain these rights 30 years after ending her business relationship with them, but was ultimately denied the publishing rights. Lynn stopped writing music in the 1970s because of these contracts.

Although Kitty Wells had become the first major female country vocalist during the 1950s, by the time Lynn recorded her first record, only three other women - Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, and Jean Shepard - had become top stars. By the end of 1962, it was clear that Lynn was on her way to becoming the fourth. Lynn credits Cline as her mentor and best friend during those early years, and as fate would have it, Lynn would follow her as the most popular country vocalist of the early '60s and, eventually, the 1970s.

Lynn released her first Decca single, "Success," in 1962, and it went straight to Number 6, beginning a string of Top 10 singles that would run through the rest of the decade and throughout the next. She was a hard honky-tonk singer for the first half of the '60s and rarely strayed from the genre. Between this time, Lynn soon began to regularly hit the Top 10 after 1964 with "Before I'm Over You", which peaked at #4, followed by "Wine, Women, and Song", which peaked at #3. In late 1964, Lynn also recorded a duet album with Lynn's idol and Country performer, Ernest Tubb. Their lead single, "Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be" peaked within the Top 15. Together, the pair recorded two more albums, "Singin' Again" (1967) and If we Put Our Heads Together (1969). In 1965, Lynn's solo career continued with three major hits that year, "Happy Birthday", "Blue Kentucky Girl" (later recorded and made a Top 10 hit in the 70s by Emmylou Harris), and "The Home You're Tearing Down". Lynn's label issued two albums that year, Songs from My Heart and Blue Kentucky Girl. While most of these songs were Top 10 Country hits, none of them reached #1.

Her first self-penned song to crack the Top Ten, 1966’s "Dear Uncle Sam”, was among the very first recordings to recount the human costs of the Vietnam War. In the latter half of the decade, although she still worked within the confines of honky tonk, her sound became more personal, varied, and ambitious, particularly lyrically. Beginning with 1966's Number 2 hit "You Ain't Woman Enough," Lynn began writing songs with a feminist viewpoint, which was unheard of in country music.
1967 – 1980: Breakthrough success

In 1967, she reached #1 with "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)". Lynn's album, Don't Come Home A' Drinkin, went to number one and became one of the first albums by a female country artist to be reach sales of 500,000 copies. Lynn's next album, Fist City was released in 1967. The title track became Lynn's second #1 hit in early 1968 and the other single from the album, "What Kind of a Girl (Do You Think I Am)" peaked within the Top 10. In 1968 her next studio album, Your Squaw Is on the Warpath spawned two Top 5 Country hits, the title track and "You've Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me)". In 1969 her next single, "Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone)" was Lynn's third chart-topper, followed by a subsequent Top 10, "To Make a Man (Feel Like a Man)".

Lynn was reportedly once inspired to write a song about a real woman who she suspected was flirting with her husband. The song, "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" was an instant hit and became one of Lynn's all-time best. Despite some criticism, Lynn's openness and honesty drew fans from around the nation, including some who were not previously familiar with country music.

Lynn's career continued to be successful into the 1970s, especially following the success of Lynn's hit "Coal Miner's Daughter", which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1970. "Coal Miner's Daughter" tells the story of Lynn's life growing up in rural Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. The song would later serve as the impetus for the best-selling biography (1976) and the Oscar-winning biopic starring Sissy Spacek (1980), both of which share the song's title. The song became Lynn's first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #83. Lynn would have a series of singles that would chart low on the Hot 100 between 1970 and 1975.

In 1971, she began a professional partnership with Conway Twitty. As a duo, Lynn and Twitty had five consecutive Number 1 hits between 1971 and 1975: "After the Fire Is Gone" (1971), "Lead Me On" (1971), "Lousiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), and "Feelins'" (1974). The hit-streak kick-started what would become one of the most successful duos of country history. For four consecutive years (1972–1975), Lynn and Twitty were named the "Vocal Duo of the Year" by the Country Music Association. In addition to their five Number 1 singles, they had seven other Top 10 hits between 1976 and 1981.

As a solo artist, Lynn's career continued to be very successful into 1971, achieving her fifth #1 solo hit, "One's on the Way", written by poet and songwriter, Shel Silverstein. The songs that didn't reach the top spot peaked within the Top 10 during this time, "I Wanna Be Free", "You're Lookin' At Country" and 1972's "Here I Am Again", all released on separate albums. The next year, she became the first country star on the cover of Newsweek. In 1973, "Rated X" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Chart, and was considered one of Lynn's most controversial hits. The next year Lynn's next single, "Love Is the Foundation" also became a #1 Country hit from her album of the same name. The second and last single from that album, "Hey Loretta" became a Top 5 hit. Lynn continued to reach the Top 10 until the end of the decade, including with 1975's "The Pill", considered to be the first song to discuss birth control, other than an obscure 1967 song in French, Pilule d'Or (The Golden Pill) by Luc Dominique, the former Singing Nun.

Her unique material, which sassily and bluntly addressed issues in the lives of many women (particularly in the South), made her stand out among female country vocalists. As a songwriter, Lynn believed no topic was off limits, as long as it spoke to other women, and many of her songs were autobiographical.

In 1977, Lynn recorded Tribute album to friend and Country-pop singer, Patsy Cline, who died in a plane crash in 1963. The album covered some of Cline's biggest hits. The two singles Lynn released from the album, "She's Got You" and "Why Can't He Be You" became major hits. "She's Got You", which formerly went to #1 by Cline in 1962, went to #1 again that year by Lynn. "Why Can't He Be You" peaked at #7 shortly afterward.

Lynn enjoyed enormous success on country radio until the early 1980s, when a more pop-flavored type of country music began to dominate the market. Even so, Lynn was able to stay within the country Top 10 up until the end of the 1970s; however, most of her music by the late '70s had a slick pop sound to it. Lynn had her last Number 1 hit in early 1978 with her solo single, "Out of My Head and Back In My Bed." In 1979, Lynn had two Top 5 hits, "I Can't Feel You Anymore" and "I've Got a Picture Of Us on My Mind," each from separate albums.

Lynn was always adored by her fans while she was touring on her bus named Loretta Lynn. She often would sit for an hour or more on a stage giving autographs to her fans after a performance. Once in Salisbury, Md., the town's newspaper editor interviewed her while she was signing autographs. Editor Mel Toadvine asked her why she took so much time to sign autographs while more than 100 people stood in line all the way to the front of the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center. "These people are my fans," she told Toadvine. "I'll stay here until the very last one wants my autograph. Without these people, I am nobody; I love these people," she said.

In 1976, Lynn released Coal Miner's Daughter, an autobiography whose title came from her #1 record of 1970. It became a New York Times bestseller and was made into a film in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek as Lynn and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband, Doolittle. Spacek won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the part. Due mostly to the critical and commercial success of the film, Lynn gained more "mainstream" attention in the early 1980s, starring in two primetime specials on NBC.

In 1979 Loretta Lynn became the spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble, Crisco Oil, and started doing TV commercials and print ads for them until 1989.
1980 – 1989: Continued success

The '80s featured more hits ("Pregnant Again," "Naked In The Rain," "Somebody Led Me Away"). Her 1980 and 1981 albums, Loretta and Lookin' Good spawned these hits. Lynn was the first woman in country music to have 50 Top 10 hits. Her last Top 10 record as a soloist was "I Lie" in 1982, but her releases continued to chart until the end of the decade. Lynn continued to have Top 20 hits throughout the 1980s. One of her last solo releases was 1985's "Heart Don't Do This to Me," which reached #19; her last Top 20 hit. In 1993, Lynn stopped releasing singles and focused more on touring than promoting. As a concert artist, she remained a top draw throughout her career, but by the early 1990s she drastically cut down the number of personal appearances due to the fragile health of her husband, who died in 1996.

Lynn's 1985 album, Just a Woman spawned a Top 40 hit. In 1987, Lynn lent her voice to a song on k.d. Lang's album, Shadowland with other Country stars, Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee called "Honky Tonk Angels Medley".

Lynn's 1988 album Who Was That Stranger would be her last solo album for a major record company until 2004. She remained one of country music’s most popular and well-loved stars. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
1990 – present: Later music career

Lynn returned to the public eye in 1993 with the trio album Honky Tonk Angels, recorded with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, and the following year released a three-CD boxed set chronicling her career. In 1995, she taped a seven-week series on the Nashville Network (TNN) titled Loretta Lynn & Friends, and performed about 50 dates that year as well. The album's charting single, a cover of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" reached #68. The album became very successful for the trio, peaking at #6 on the Top Country Albums chart and #42 on the main Billboard album chart. It sold over 800,000 copies in the United States, earning them a "Gold"-certified album by the RIAA shortly after its release.

In 2000, Lynn released her first album in several years, entitled Still Country. In it, she included a song, "I Can't Hear the Music," as a tribute to her late husband. She also released her first new single in over 10 years from the album, "Country In My Genes". While the album gained positive critical notices, sales were low in comparison with her releases in the 1970s. In 2002, Lynn published her second autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and in 2004, she published a cookbook, You're Cookin' It Country.

In 2004, Lynn made a comeback with the highly successful album Van Lear Rose, the second album on which Lynn either wrote or co-wrote every song. The album was produced by her "friend forever" Jack White of The White Stripes, and featured guitar work and backup vocals by White. Her collaboration with White allowed Lynn to reach new audiences and generations, even garnering high praise in magazines that specialize in mainstream and alternative rock music, such as Spin and Blender. Rolling Stone voted the album the second best of the year for 2004. (White has long been an admirer of Lynn and claims she is his favorite singer. He has covered several songs of hers, including the controversial "Rated X.")

Loretta Lynn is working on the follow-up to 2004's Van Lear Rose, plus a new CD of re-recorded versions of some of her hits over the past 45 years. Both CDs are set for release during 2010.
Lynn has been married only once; to her husband "Doolittle Lynn". They were married in 1948, shortly before she reached the age of 14,  in Kentucky. The Lynn family had four children before Loretta turned 19, and then had twins in the early 60s: Peggy and Patsy Lynn. Patsy Lynn was named in honor of Patsy Cline. Lynn's twin daughters formed their own Country music duo group, The Lynns, in 1998 and released two singles off their debut album on Reprise Records and were nominated for "Vocal Duo of the Year" by the Country Music Association.

On July 22, 1984, Jack Benny Lynn, Loretta's eldest son, drowned while trying to ford the Duck River at the family ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Jack was 34 at the time of his death.
Family

Lynn is the second of eight children. Some of her siblings, including Jay Lee Webb and Peggy Sue, have pursued short-lived country music careers in the past . The most successful of Lynn's siblings to gain success on the Country charts is Crystal Gayle, who is best-known for a series of Country-pop crossover ballads in the late 70s and 80s, including the #1 Country and #2 Pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Gayle had other #1 hits as well. Gayle and Lynn have previously toured together. Lynn is also distantly related to country singer Patty Loveless, who was raised around the same area Lynn had been raised as a child.
Current home and life

Lynn owns a ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, billed as "The 7th Largest Attraction in Tennessee," featuring a recording studio, museums, lodging, and other attractions. The ranch is centered around her large plantation home, along with a replica of her Butcher Hollow cabin. She no longer lives in the plantation home, but tours of the house are available. In 2006, Lynn underwent shoulder surgery after injuring herself in a fall.
Honors and awards
Main article: List of Loretta Lynn awards

Lynn has written over 160 songs and released 70 albums. She has had ten Number 1 albums and sixteen Number 1 singles on the country charts. Lynn has won dozens of awards from many different institutions, including four Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, and ten Academy of Country Music awards.

In 1972, Lynn was the first woman named "Entertainer of the Year" by the Country Music Association, and is one of six women to have received CMA's highest award. She was named "Artist of the Decade" for the 1970s by the Academy of Country Music. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She was also the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 2003. Lynn is also ranked 65th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2001, VH1's television special 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll placed Lynn at #65 on their countdown. More remarkably, in 2002, Lynn also placed at #3 on CMT television's special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music, hosted by Billy Campbell. At Number 1 was Lynn's friend and mentor, Patsy Cline. 2001-Coal Miner's Daughter named among "NPR's 100 Most Significant Songs of the 20th Century".

On March 17, 2007, Berklee College of Music presented Lynn an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree for her contribution to the world of country music. The degree was presented to her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. In 2008 Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City. To date Lynn has been inducted into more music Hall Of Fames than any other female recording artist. 2010 seen the country music icon receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her 45 years in country music.
Controversies

In her heyday, Lynn was not a stranger to controversy. She possibly had more banned songs than any other artist in the history of country music, including "Rated X," about the double standards divorced women face, "Wings Upon Your Horns," about the loss of teenage virginity, and "The Pill," lyrics by T. D. Bayless, about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song "Dear Uncle Sam," released in 1966 during the Vietnam War, describes a wife's anguish at the loss of a husband to war. It has been included in live performances during the current Iraq War.
Discography
Main article: Loretta Lynn discography
See also

    * Academy of Country Music
    * List of country musicians
    * Country Music Hall of Fame

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee229/amy_whatley/loretta.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss54/HJK101/Cher/Loretta%20Lynn/loretta20lynn1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/14/10 at 6:56 am

The person who died on this day...Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock & roll and stage and screen acting.
Newley was born in the London working class district of Hackney, the son of Frances Grace Newley and George Kirby, a shipping clerk.  He was Jewish on his mother's side.  His parents, who had never married, separated during his early childhood, and he was brought up by his single mother.  Newley was evacuated  during the Luftwaffe bombing of London during the Blitz and was thereby exposed to the performing arts when he was tutored during this time by George Pescud, a former British music hall entertainer.

Although recognised as very bright by his teachers back in London, he was uninterested in school, and by the age of fourteen was working as an office boy for an insurance company when he read an ad in the Daily Telegraph, headed "Boy Actors Urgently Wanted". He applied to the advertisers, the prestigious Italia Conti Stage School, only to discover that the fees were too high. Nevertheless, after a brief audition, he was offered a job as an office boy on a salary of only 30 shillings (£1.50) a week, but also including free tuition at the school. He naturally accepted and his career was to be launched. Whilst serving tea one afternoon he caught the eye of producer Geoffrey de Barkus, who cast Newley as "Dusty" in the children's serial, The Adventures of Dusty Bates.
Career

Newley's first major film role was as Dick Bultitude in Peter Ustinov's Vice Versa (1948) followed by the Artful Dodger in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948), based on the classic Charles Dickens story. He made a successful transition from child star to contract player in British films of the 1950s (broken up by a short stint in the armed forces), to a top-of-the-pops crooner in the 1960s. During the 1950s he appeared in many British radio programmes and for a time appeared as Cyril in Floggits starring Elsie and Doris Waters. But it was probably the film Idol on Parade that changed his career direction the most. In the film he played a rock singer called up for national service.

He wrote ballads, many with Leslie Bricusse, that became signature hits for Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett. During the 1960s he also added his greatest accomplishments on the London West End theatre and Broadway theatre stage, in Hollywood films and British and American television. In the 1970s he remained active, particularly as a Las Vegas and Catskills Borscht Belt resort performer and talk show guest, but his career had begun to flounder. He had taken risks that eventually led to his downfall in Hollywood. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he worked to achieve a comeback. He died of kidney cancer at the age of 67, soon after he had become a grandfather.
Music

Newley had a successful pop music career as a vocalist, which started in May 1959 with the song "I've Waited So Long" a number 3 hit in the UK charts thanks largely to the exposure it received as being featured in the film "Idol On Parade". This was quickly followed by his number 6 hit "Personality" and then two number-one hits in early 1960: "Why" (originally a 1959 U.S. hit for Frankie Avalon) and "Do You Mind?" (written by Lionel Bart). As a songwriter, he won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I?", but he was also well-known for "Gonna Build a Mountain", "Once in a Lifetime", "On a Wonderful Day Like Today", "The Joker" and comic novelty songs such as "That Noise" and "The Oompa-Loompa Song", and his versions of "Strawberry Fair" and "Pop Goes the Weasel". He wrote songs that others made hits including "Goldfinger" (the title song of the James Bond film, Goldfinger, music by John Barry), and "Feeling Good", which became a hit for Nina Simone and the rock band Muse. With Leslie Bricusse, he wrote the musical Stop the World - I Want to Get Off in which he also performed, earning a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. The play was made into a (poorly-received) film version in 1966, but Newley was unable to star in it due to a schedule conflict. The other musicals for which he co-wrote music and lyrics with Bricusse included The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd (1965) and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), based on the children's book by Roald Dahl.

The consensus of critics and fans rates "Pure Imagination", "Ain't It Funny", "Love Is a Now and Then Thing", and "In My Solitude" at the top of the list. Amongst the many compilations now available are Anthony Newley: The Decca Years (1959–1964), Once in a Lifetime: The Anthony Newley Collection (1960–1971), and Anthony Newley's Greatest Hits (Deram). When he collaborated with Bricusse, they referred to themselves as the team of 'Brickman and Newburg', with Newburg concentrating mainly on the music and Brickman on the lyrics. Ian Frasier often did their arrangements and it has been suggested that his contributions were more extensive than has been acknowledged. For the songs from Hieronymous Merkin, Newley collaborated with Herbert Kretzmer.
The comedy album Fool Brittania, starring Newley, Joan Collins and Peter Sellers

In 1963, Newley had a hit comedy album called Fool Britannia!, the result of improvisational satires of the British Profumo scandal of the time by a team of Newley, his then-wife Joan Collins, and Peter Sellers. Newley's contributions to Christmas music are highlighted by his rendition of "The Coventry Carol" which appears on many anthologies. He also wrote and recorded a novelty Christmas song called "Santa Claus is Elvis". And there is a notorious album of spoken poetry which has Newley appearing in the nude on the sleeve with a similarly-attired young model.

In his later years as a mature singer Newley recorded songs from Fiddler on the Roof and Scrooge. He enjoyed his final popular success onstage when he starred in the latter musical which showed in London and toured UK cities including Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, in the 1990s. At the time of his death he had been working on a musical of Shakespeare's Richard III.

In May 2010 Stage Door Records released a compilation of unreleased Newley recordings entitled 'Newley Discovered'. The album produced with the Anthony Newley Society and Newley's family contains the concept recordings for Newley's self-penned movie musicals 'Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?', 'Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory' and 'Mr. Quilp'.

In recognition of his creative skills and body of work, Newley was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.
Acting

The short-lived 1960 ATV series, The Strange World of Gurney Slade, in which Newley starred and also featured Bernie Winters, continues to have a cult following owing to its postmodern premise that the Newley character is trapped inside a television programme. Apart from a repeat of one episode on Channel 4 in 1992, it has not been seen in the UK in recent years. The show's theme tune by composer Max Harris, which was later utilised in the "animated clock" segments on the BBC children's show Vision On, may be better known today than the series itself. The piano figure prominent in the recording was lifted (unacknowledged) from Mose Allison's song "Parchman Farm".

Newley played Matthew Mugg in the original Doctor Dolittle and the repressed English businessman opposite Sandy Dennis in the original Sweet November. He also hosted Lucille Ball on a whirlwind tour of mod London in the Lucy TV special "Lucy in London." He performed in the autobiographical, Fellini-esque and X-rated Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, which he also directed and co-wrote with Herman Raucher. He performed in 'Quilp' (based on Dickens's 'The Old Curiosity Shop'), for which he composed some songs ('Love Has the Longest Memory of All'). His last feature role in the cast of the long-running British TV soap opera EastEnders was to have been a regular role, but Newley had to withdraw after a few months when his health began to fail.
Personal life
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010)

Newley was married to Ann Lynn from 1956 to 1963, but the marriage ended in divorce. A son, Simon, was born to them but died in infancy from a congenital infirmity. He then was married to the actress Joan Collins from 1963 to 1971. The couple had two children, Tara Newley and Sacha Newley. Tara became a broadcaster in England and Sacha is a renowned portrait artist based in New York and represented by four paintings in the National Portrait Gallery (United States) in Washington, D.C.. Newley's third wife was former air hostess Dareth Rich, and they also had two children, Shelby and Christopher. In an episode of Angela and Friends (Sky One) Tara Newley also mentioned another sister, a third living daughter of Newley's.

Newley had been raised by his mother Grace, and, from the age of eight onward, by his stepfather, Ronald Gardner. Gardner wound up in Beverly Hills working as a chauffeur but soon ran off with another woman. Newley searched, with the help of a detective, for his biological father, George Kirby and effected a reunion. Newley bought his father a house in Beverly Hills, in the hope that he would reunite with Grace, but this did not happen. Newley died on 14 April 1999, in Jensen Beach, Florida, from renal cancer at the age of 67. He was said to have died in the arms of his companion, the designer Gina Fratini. He was survived by his five children, a granddaughter Miel, and his mother Grace, then aged 96, who has subsequently died. Since then two more grandchildren have been born: Weston (Tara's second child) and Ava Grace (Sacha's first, with his wife Angela Tassoni).

Newley's life is the subject of a biography by Garth Bardsley called Stop the World (London: Oberon, 2003). Although Newley alluded to some degree of bisexual activity in 1960s in his epic autobiographical film, Merkin, the allegation in the Bardsley biography that he had been "kept" by an older man while he struggled to restart his career in the 1950s was a shock to his fans. In 2007 the actress Anneke Wills published a memoir that details her involvement with Newley just before he took up with Collins, producing a daughter named Polly who perished in a car accident.
Discography
Singles

    * 1959 I've Waited So Long/ Sat'day Night Rock-A-Boogie (Decca F11127, reached #3 in UK)
    * 1959 Idle On Parade/ Idle Rock-A-Boogie (Decca F11137)
    * 1959 Personality/ My Blue Angel (Decca F11142, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1959 Someone To Love/ It's All Over (Decca F11163)
    * 1960 Why/ Anything You Wanna Do (Decca F1194, reached #1 in UK)
    * 1960 Do You Mind/ Girls Were Made To Love And Kiss (Decca F11220, reached #1 in UK)
    * 1960 If She Should Come To You/ Lifetime Of Happiness (Decca F11254, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1960 Strawberry Fair/ A Boy Without A Girl (Decca F11295, reached #3 in UK)
    * 1961 And The Heavens Cried/ Lonely Boy And Pretty Girl (Decca F11331, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1961 Pop Goes The Weasel/ Bee Bom (Decca F11362, reached #12 in UK)
    * 1961 What Kind of Fool Am I?/ Once In A Lifetime (Decca F11376, reached #36 in UK)
    * 1962 D-Darling/ I'll Walk Beside You (Decca F11419, reached #25 in UK)
    * 1962 That Noise/ The Little Golden Clown (Decca F11486, reached #34 in UK)
    * 1963 There's No Such Thing As Love/ She's Just Another Girl (Decca F11636)
    * 1963 The Father Of Girls/ I Love Everything About You (Decca F11767)
    * 1964 Tribute/ Lament To A Hero (Decca F11818)
    * 1966 Why Can't You Try To Didgeridoo/ Is There A Way Back To Your Arms (RCA RCA1518; RCA 47-8785)
    * 1966 Moogies Bloogies (recorded with Delia Derbyshire)
    * 1967 Something In Your Smile/ I Think I Like You (RCA RCA1637)
    * 1968 I'm All I Need/ When You Gotta Go (MCA MU1061)
    * 1968 Sweet November (Warner Bros. Records 7174)

EPs

    * 1959 "Idle On Parade" - I've Waited So Long/Idle Rock-a-boogie/Idle On Parade/Sat'day Night Rock-a-boogie (Decca DFE6566)
    * 1960 "Tony's Hits" - Why/Anything You Wanna Do/Personality/My Blue Angel (Decca DFE6629, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1960 "More Hits From Tony" - If She Should Come To You/Girls Were Made To Love And Kiss/Do You Mind/Lifetime Of Happiness (Decca DFE6655)
    * 1961 "This Time The Dream's On Me" - Gone With The Wind/This Time The Dream's On Me/It's The Talk Of The Town/What's The Good About Goodbye? (Decca DFE6687 )

Albums
Studio albums

    * 1955 "Cranks" (HMV CLP1082)
    * 1960 "Love is a Now & Then Thing" (Decca LK4343; London LL3156)
    * 1961 "Tony" (Decca LK4406; London PS244)
    * 1964 "In My Solitude" (Decca LK4600, RCA Victor LSP2925 )
    * 1965 "Who Can I Turn to?" (RCA Victor LSP3347 ; RCA Victor LSP3347 )
    * 1966 "Who Can I Turn to?" (RCA Victor 7737 ; RCA Victor 7737 )
    * 1966 "Newley Delivered" (Decca LK4654)
    * 1966 "Newley Recorded" (RCA Victor RD7873; RCA Victor LSP3614)
    * 1966 "The Genius of Anthony Newley" (London PS361)
    * 1967 "Anthony Newley Sings Songs from Doctor Doolittle" (RCA Victor LSP3839)
    * 1969 "The Romantic World of Anthony Newley" (Decca SPA45)
    * 1970 "For You" (Bell Records 1101)
    * 1971 "Pure Imagination" (MGM SE4781)
    * 1972 "Ain't It Funny" (MGM/Verve MV5096)
    * 1977 "The Singers and His Songs" (United Artists LA718-G)
    * 1985 "Mr Personality" (Decca Tab 84)
    * 1992 "Too Much Woman" (BBI (CD); GNP/Crescendo 2243)

Compilations

    * 1962 This Is Tony Newley (London LL362)
    * 1963 Peak Performances (London LL3283)
    * 1969 The Best of Anthony Newley (RCA Victor LSP4163)
    * 1990 Anthony Newley's Greatest Hits (Deram 820 694)
    * 1990 Greatest Hits (Decca)
    * 1995 The Best of Anthony Newley (GNP Crescendo)
    * 1996 The Very Best of Anthony Newley (Carlton 30364 00122)
    * 1997 The Very Best of Anthony Newley (Spectrum Music 552 090-2)
    * 1997 Once in a Lifetime: The Collection (Razor & Tie RE 2145-2)
    * 2000 A Wonderful Day Like Today (Camden)
    * 2000 On a Wonderful Day Like Today: The Anthony Newley Collection (BMG 74321 752592)
    * 2000 Decca Years 1959-1964 (Decca 466 918-2)
    * 2001 Best of Anthony Newley (Decca)
    * 2002 What Kind of Fool Am I? (Armoury)
    * 2002 Remembering Anthony Newley: The Music, the Life, the Legend (Prism Leisure)
    * 2003 Stop the World! (Blitz)
    * 2004 Love Is a Now and Then Thing/In My Solitude (Vocalion)
    * 2004 Pure Imagination/Ain't It Funny (Edsel)
    * 2005 The Magic of Anthony Newley (Kala)
    * 2006 Anthology (Universal/Spectrum)
    * 2006 Anthony Newley Collection (Universal/Spectrum)
    * 2006 Newley Delivered (Dutton Vocalion
    * 2007 Best of Anthony Newley (Sony)
    * 2007 Best of Anthony Newley (Camden)
    * 2010 Newley Discovered (Stage Door Records)

Filmography

    * Dusty Bates (1947)
    * The Guinea Pig (1948)
    * Vice Versa (1948)
    * Oliver Twist (1948)
    * A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (1949)
    * Don't Ever Leave Me (1949)
    * Vote for Huggett (1949)
    * Highly Dangerous (1950)
    * The Little Ballerina (1951)
    * Those People Next Door (1952)
    * Top of the Form (1953)
    * The Blue Peter (1954)
    * Up to His Neck (1954)
    * Port Afrique (1954)
    * Above Us the Waves (1955)
    * The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
    * High Flight (1956)
    * The Last Man to Hang (1956)
    * X the Unknown (1956)
    * Port Afrique (1956) .... Pedro
    * How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957)
    * Fire Down Below (1957)
    * The Good Companions (1957)
    * The Man Inside (1958)
    * No Time to Die (1958)
    * The Heart of a Man (1959)
    * The Lady Is a Square (1959)
    * Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959)
    * The Bandit of Zhobe (1959)
    * Idle on Parade (1959)
    * In the Nick (1960)
    * Let's Get Married (1960)
    * Jazz Boat (1960)
    * The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963)
    * Doctor Dolittle (1967)
    * Sweet November (1968 film)
    * Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)
    * Summertree (1971) as director
    * The Old Curiosity Shop (1975)
    * It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975)
    * Alice in Wonderland/Alice Through the Looking Glass (1985)
    * The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)
    * Coins in the Fountain (1990)
    * Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992)
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Entertainment%20Collection/1081.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff297/pingu2541/Album%20Covers/AnthonyNewleyTheRomanticWorldOf.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/14/10 at 7:03 am


The person who died on this day...Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock & roll and stage and screen acting.
Newley was born in the London working class district of Hackney, the son of Frances Grace Newley and George Kirby, a shipping clerk.  He was Jewish on his mother's side.  His parents, who had never married, separated during his early childhood, and he was brought up by his single mother.  Newley was evacuated  during the Luftwaffe bombing of London during the Blitz and was thereby exposed to the performing arts when he was tutored during this time by George Pescud, a former British music hall entertainer.

Although recognised as very bright by his teachers back in London, he was uninterested in school, and by the age of fourteen was working as an office boy for an insurance company when he read an ad in the Daily Telegraph, headed "Boy Actors Urgently Wanted". He applied to the advertisers, the prestigious Italia Conti Stage School, only to discover that the fees were too high. Nevertheless, after a brief audition, he was offered a job as an office boy on a salary of only 30 shillings (£1.50) a week, but also including free tuition at the school. He naturally accepted and his career was to be launched. Whilst serving tea one afternoon he caught the eye of producer Geoffrey de Barkus, who cast Newley as "Dusty" in the children's serial, The Adventures of Dusty Bates.
Career

Newley's first major film role was as Dick Bultitude in Peter Ustinov's Vice Versa (1948) followed by the Artful Dodger in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948), based on the classic Charles Dickens story. He made a successful transition from child star to contract player in British films of the 1950s (broken up by a short stint in the armed forces), to a top-of-the-pops crooner in the 1960s. During the 1950s he appeared in many British radio programmes and for a time appeared as Cyril in Floggits starring Elsie and Doris Waters. But it was probably the film Idol on Parade that changed his career direction the most. In the film he played a rock singer called up for national service.

He wrote ballads, many with Leslie Bricusse, that became signature hits for Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett. During the 1960s he also added his greatest accomplishments on the London West End theatre and Broadway theatre stage, in Hollywood films and British and American television. In the 1970s he remained active, particularly as a Las Vegas and Catskills Borscht Belt resort performer and talk show guest, but his career had begun to flounder. He had taken risks that eventually led to his downfall in Hollywood. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he worked to achieve a comeback. He died of kidney cancer at the age of 67, soon after he had become a grandfather.
Music

Newley had a successful pop music career as a vocalist, which started in May 1959 with the song "I've Waited So Long" a number 3 hit in the UK charts thanks largely to the exposure it received as being featured in the film "Idol On Parade". This was quickly followed by his number 6 hit "Personality" and then two number-one hits in early 1960: "Why" (originally a 1959 U.S. hit for Frankie Avalon) and "Do You Mind?" (written by Lionel Bart). As a songwriter, he won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I?", but he was also well-known for "Gonna Build a Mountain", "Once in a Lifetime", "On a Wonderful Day Like Today", "The Joker" and comic novelty songs such as "That Noise" and "The Oompa-Loompa Song", and his versions of "Strawberry Fair" and "Pop Goes the Weasel". He wrote songs that others made hits including "Goldfinger" (the title song of the James Bond film, Goldfinger, music by John Barry), and "Feeling Good", which became a hit for Nina Simone and the rock band Muse. With Leslie Bricusse, he wrote the musical Stop the World - I Want to Get Off in which he also performed, earning a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. The play was made into a (poorly-received) film version in 1966, but Newley was unable to star in it due to a schedule conflict. The other musicals for which he co-wrote music and lyrics with Bricusse included The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd (1965) and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), based on the children's book by Roald Dahl.

The consensus of critics and fans rates "Pure Imagination", "Ain't It Funny", "Love Is a Now and Then Thing", and "In My Solitude" at the top of the list. Amongst the many compilations now available are Anthony Newley: The Decca Years (1959–1964), Once in a Lifetime: The Anthony Newley Collection (1960–1971), and Anthony Newley's Greatest Hits (Deram). When he collaborated with Bricusse, they referred to themselves as the team of 'Brickman and Newburg', with Newburg concentrating mainly on the music and Brickman on the lyrics. Ian Frasier often did their arrangements and it has been suggested that his contributions were more extensive than has been acknowledged. For the songs from Hieronymous Merkin, Newley collaborated with Herbert Kretzmer.
The comedy album Fool Brittania, starring Newley, Joan Collins and Peter Sellers

In 1963, Newley had a hit comedy album called Fool Britannia!, the result of improvisational satires of the British Profumo scandal of the time by a team of Newley, his then-wife Joan Collins, and Peter Sellers. Newley's contributions to Christmas music are highlighted by his rendition of "The Coventry Carol" which appears on many anthologies. He also wrote and recorded a novelty Christmas song called "Santa Claus is Elvis". And there is a notorious album of spoken poetry which has Newley appearing in the nude on the sleeve with a similarly-attired young model.

In his later years as a mature singer Newley recorded songs from Fiddler on the Roof and Scrooge. He enjoyed his final popular success onstage when he starred in the latter musical which showed in London and toured UK cities including Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, in the 1990s. At the time of his death he had been working on a musical of Shakespeare's Richard III.

In May 2010 Stage Door Records released a compilation of unreleased Newley recordings entitled 'Newley Discovered'. The album produced with the Anthony Newley Society and Newley's family contains the concept recordings for Newley's self-penned movie musicals 'Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?', 'Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory' and 'Mr. Quilp'.

In recognition of his creative skills and body of work, Newley was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.
Acting

The short-lived 1960 ATV series, The Strange World of Gurney Slade, in which Newley starred and also featured Bernie Winters, continues to have a cult following owing to its postmodern premise that the Newley character is trapped inside a television programme. Apart from a repeat of one episode on Channel 4 in 1992, it has not been seen in the UK in recent years. The show's theme tune by composer Max Harris, which was later utilised in the "animated clock" segments on the BBC children's show Vision On, may be better known today than the series itself. The piano figure prominent in the recording was lifted (unacknowledged) from Mose Allison's song "Parchman Farm".

Newley played Matthew Mugg in the original Doctor Dolittle and the repressed English businessman opposite Sandy Dennis in the original Sweet November. He also hosted Lucille Ball on a whirlwind tour of mod London in the Lucy TV special "Lucy in London." He performed in the autobiographical, Fellini-esque and X-rated Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, which he also directed and co-wrote with Herman Raucher. He performed in 'Quilp' (based on Dickens's 'The Old Curiosity Shop'), for which he composed some songs ('Love Has the Longest Memory of All'). His last feature role in the cast of the long-running British TV soap opera EastEnders was to have been a regular role, but Newley had to withdraw after a few months when his health began to fail.
Personal life
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010)

Newley was married to Ann Lynn from 1956 to 1963, but the marriage ended in divorce. A son, Simon, was born to them but died in infancy from a congenital infirmity. He then was married to the actress Joan Collins from 1963 to 1971. The couple had two children, Tara Newley and Sacha Newley. Tara became a broadcaster in England and Sacha is a renowned portrait artist based in New York and represented by four paintings in the National Portrait Gallery (United States) in Washington, D.C.. Newley's third wife was former air hostess Dareth Rich, and they also had two children, Shelby and Christopher. In an episode of Angela and Friends (Sky One) Tara Newley also mentioned another sister, a third living daughter of Newley's.

Newley had been raised by his mother Grace, and, from the age of eight onward, by his stepfather, Ronald Gardner. Gardner wound up in Beverly Hills working as a chauffeur but soon ran off with another woman. Newley searched, with the help of a detective, for his biological father, George Kirby and effected a reunion. Newley bought his father a house in Beverly Hills, in the hope that he would reunite with Grace, but this did not happen. Newley died on 14 April 1999, in Jensen Beach, Florida, from renal cancer at the age of 67. He was said to have died in the arms of his companion, the designer Gina Fratini. He was survived by his five children, a granddaughter Miel, and his mother Grace, then aged 96, who has subsequently died. Since then two more grandchildren have been born: Weston (Tara's second child) and Ava Grace (Sacha's first, with his wife Angela Tassoni).

Newley's life is the subject of a biography by Garth Bardsley called Stop the World (London: Oberon, 2003). Although Newley alluded to some degree of bisexual activity in 1960s in his epic autobiographical film, Merkin, the allegation in the Bardsley biography that he had been "kept" by an older man while he struggled to restart his career in the 1950s was a shock to his fans. In 2007 the actress Anneke Wills published a memoir that details her involvement with Newley just before he took up with Collins, producing a daughter named Polly who perished in a car accident.
Discography
Singles

    * 1959 I've Waited So Long/ Sat'day Night Rock-A-Boogie (Decca F11127, reached #3 in UK)
    * 1959 Idle On Parade/ Idle Rock-A-Boogie (Decca F11137)
    * 1959 Personality/ My Blue Angel (Decca F11142, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1959 Someone To Love/ It's All Over (Decca F11163)
    * 1960 Why/ Anything You Wanna Do (Decca F1194, reached #1 in UK)
    * 1960 Do You Mind/ Girls Were Made To Love And Kiss (Decca F11220, reached #1 in UK)
    * 1960 If She Should Come To You/ Lifetime Of Happiness (Decca F11254, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1960 Strawberry Fair/ A Boy Without A Girl (Decca F11295, reached #3 in UK)
    * 1961 And The Heavens Cried/ Lonely Boy And Pretty Girl (Decca F11331, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1961 Pop Goes The Weasel/ Bee Bom (Decca F11362, reached #12 in UK)
    * 1961 What Kind of Fool Am I?/ Once In A Lifetime (Decca F11376, reached #36 in UK)
    * 1962 D-Darling/ I'll Walk Beside You (Decca F11419, reached #25 in UK)
    * 1962 That Noise/ The Little Golden Clown (Decca F11486, reached #34 in UK)
    * 1963 There's No Such Thing As Love/ She's Just Another Girl (Decca F11636)
    * 1963 The Father Of Girls/ I Love Everything About You (Decca F11767)
    * 1964 Tribute/ Lament To A Hero (Decca F11818)
    * 1966 Why Can't You Try To Didgeridoo/ Is There A Way Back To Your Arms (RCA RCA1518; RCA 47-8785)
    * 1966 Moogies Bloogies (recorded with Delia Derbyshire)
    * 1967 Something In Your Smile/ I Think I Like You (RCA RCA1637)
    * 1968 I'm All I Need/ When You Gotta Go (MCA MU1061)
    * 1968 Sweet November (Warner Bros. Records 7174)

EPs

    * 1959 "Idle On Parade" - I've Waited So Long/Idle Rock-a-boogie/Idle On Parade/Sat'day Night Rock-a-boogie (Decca DFE6566)
    * 1960 "Tony's Hits" - Why/Anything You Wanna Do/Personality/My Blue Angel (Decca DFE6629, reached #6 in UK)
    * 1960 "More Hits From Tony" - If She Should Come To You/Girls Were Made To Love And Kiss/Do You Mind/Lifetime Of Happiness (Decca DFE6655)
    * 1961 "This Time The Dream's On Me" - Gone With The Wind/This Time The Dream's On Me/It's The Talk Of The Town/What's The Good About Goodbye? (Decca DFE6687 )

Albums
Studio albums

    * 1955 "Cranks" (HMV CLP1082)
    * 1960 "Love is a Now & Then Thing" (Decca LK4343; London LL3156)
    * 1961 "Tony" (Decca LK4406; London PS244)
    * 1964 "In My Solitude" (Decca LK4600, RCA Victor LSP2925 )
    * 1965 "Who Can I Turn to?" (RCA Victor LSP3347 ; RCA Victor LSP3347 )
    * 1966 "Who Can I Turn to?" (RCA Victor 7737 ; RCA Victor 7737 )
    * 1966 "Newley Delivered" (Decca LK4654)
    * 1966 "Newley Recorded" (RCA Victor RD7873; RCA Victor LSP3614)
    * 1966 "The Genius of Anthony Newley" (London PS361)
    * 1967 "Anthony Newley Sings Songs from Doctor Doolittle" (RCA Victor LSP3839)
    * 1969 "The Romantic World of Anthony Newley" (Decca SPA45)
    * 1970 "For You" (Bell Records 1101)
    * 1971 "Pure Imagination" (MGM SE4781)
    * 1972 "Ain't It Funny" (MGM/Verve MV5096)
    * 1977 "The Singers and His Songs" (United Artists LA718-G)
    * 1985 "Mr Personality" (Decca Tab 84)
    * 1992 "Too Much Woman" (BBI (CD); GNP/Crescendo 2243)

Compilations

    * 1962 This Is Tony Newley (London LL362)
    * 1963 Peak Performances (London LL3283)
    * 1969 The Best of Anthony Newley (RCA Victor LSP4163)
    * 1990 Anthony Newley's Greatest Hits (Deram 820 694)
    * 1990 Greatest Hits (Decca)
    * 1995 The Best of Anthony Newley (GNP Crescendo)
    * 1996 The Very Best of Anthony Newley (Carlton 30364 00122)
    * 1997 The Very Best of Anthony Newley (Spectrum Music 552 090-2)
    * 1997 Once in a Lifetime: The Collection (Razor & Tie RE 2145-2)
    * 2000 A Wonderful Day Like Today (Camden)
    * 2000 On a Wonderful Day Like Today: The Anthony Newley Collection (BMG 74321 752592)
    * 2000 Decca Years 1959-1964 (Decca 466 918-2)
    * 2001 Best of Anthony Newley (Decca)
    * 2002 What Kind of Fool Am I? (Armoury)
    * 2002 Remembering Anthony Newley: The Music, the Life, the Legend (Prism Leisure)
    * 2003 Stop the World! (Blitz)
    * 2004 Love Is a Now and Then Thing/In My Solitude (Vocalion)
    * 2004 Pure Imagination/Ain't It Funny (Edsel)
    * 2005 The Magic of Anthony Newley (Kala)
    * 2006 Anthology (Universal/Spectrum)
    * 2006 Anthony Newley Collection (Universal/Spectrum)
    * 2006 Newley Delivered (Dutton Vocalion
    * 2007 Best of Anthony Newley (Sony)
    * 2007 Best of Anthony Newley (Camden)
    * 2010 Newley Discovered (Stage Door Records)

Filmography

    * Dusty Bates (1947)
    * The Guinea Pig (1948)
    * Vice Versa (1948)
    * Oliver Twist (1948)
    * A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (1949)
    * Don't Ever Leave Me (1949)
    * Vote for Huggett (1949)
    * Highly Dangerous (1950)
    * The Little Ballerina (1951)
    * Those People Next Door (1952)
    * Top of the Form (1953)
    * The Blue Peter (1954)
    * Up to His Neck (1954)
    * Port Afrique (1954)
    * Above Us the Waves (1955)
    * The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
    * High Flight (1956)
    * The Last Man to Hang (1956)
    * X the Unknown (1956)
    * Port Afrique (1956) .... Pedro
    * How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957)
    * Fire Down Below (1957)
    * The Good Companions (1957)
    * The Man Inside (1958)
    * No Time to Die (1958)
    * The Heart of a Man (1959)
    * The Lady Is a Square (1959)
    * Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959)
    * The Bandit of Zhobe (1959)
    * Idle on Parade (1959)
    * In the Nick (1960)
    * Let's Get Married (1960)
    * Jazz Boat (1960)
    * The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963)
    * Doctor Dolittle (1967)
    * Sweet November (1968 film)
    * Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)
    * Summertree (1971) as director
    * The Old Curiosity Shop (1975)
    * It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975)
    * Alice in Wonderland/Alice Through the Looking Glass (1985)
    * The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)
    * Coins in the Fountain (1990)
    * Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992)
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Entertainment%20Collection/1081.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff297/pingu2541/Album%20Covers/AnthonyNewleyTheRomanticWorldOf.jpg



Was he in Alice In Wonderland?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/14/10 at 8:55 am



Was he in Alice In Wonderland?  ???

The 1985 version

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/14/10 at 11:04 am

It's Pete Rose's birthday today too , He's 69.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/14/10 at 11:23 am

It is funny because just about 2 days ago, I was watching this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inSuqXWcqpM



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/10 at 5:38 am

The word of the day...Touch
If you touch something, you put your hand onto it in order to feel it or to make contact with it
If two things are touching, or if one thing touches  another, or if you touch two things, their surfaces come into contact with each other
Your sense of touch is your ability to tell what something is like when you feel it with your hands.
To touch something means to strike it, usually quite gently.
If something has not been touched, nobody has dealt with it or taken care of it.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd312/CIELO_060/love/1fa9c97971ceea3fdc039bevj9.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz94/dreadasaur/duntouch.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/IPulledTheTriger/Secrets/touch.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm221/onenatv/atouchofevil.jpg
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss120/dezilwa/Most%20Unusual/TOUCHTHESTARS.jpg
http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac153/ltown24/nails/DSC01509.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c314/kat_landers/kids/101_0124.jpg
http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo290/DanaNicole76/memorial/notes_link.jpg
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo32/oej156/IMG_3077.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/10 at 5:40 am

The person of the day...Samantha Fox
Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox (born 15 April 1966 in Mile End, London) is an English former glamour model and dance-pop  singer of the 1980s. The eldest daughter of the late Patrick John Fox and Carole Ann Wilken, Samantha Karen Fox comes from a family of market traders in the East End of London. She has a sister, Vanessa, who is six years younger, and a half-sister, Frederica, from her father's second marriage.

She attended St Thomas More RC School, Haringey, and took a keen interest in the theatre from an early age. She first appeared on a theatre stage at the age of three, and was enrolled in the Anna Scher Theatre School from the age of 5. Her first television appearance came in 1976, at the age of 10, in a BBC play entitled No Way Out. Following on from this, she started at the Judi Dench Mountview Theatre School, near her home in Haringey, at the age of 11.

Interested in music from an early age, she formed her first band, with Richard Smart on guitar and Bob Day on tambourine, at the age of 14. Her first record deal came a year later, with Lamborghini Records. However, both her theatre and music careers went on hold when her modelling career took off.
Modelling career

In early 1983, Carole Fox photographed her teenage daughter wearing lingerie and submitted several pictures to the The Sunday People newspaper's "Face and Shape of 1983" amateur modeling contest. Judged joint runner-up in the contest, Fox had her pictures published, and was soon after invited for a test shoot for The Sun newspaper's Page Three feature. Her parents gave their consent for their daughter to pose topless, and on Tuesday, 22 February 1983, Fox's first Page Three photograph was published under the headline "Sam, 16, Quits A-Levels for Ooh-Levels".

Fox's Cockney background, bubbly-blonde looks, winning smile, and 36D breasts made her an enormously popular Page Three model. After famously insuring her breasts for a quarter of a million pounds sterling, she won The Sun's Page Three Girl of the Year award for three consecutive years between 1984 and 1986. She also posed nude for several British men's magazines and was a UK Penthouse Pet, but very few full-frontal shots were ever published.

Fox retired from Page Three modelling in 1986, at the age of 20, by which time she had arguably become Britain's premiere sex symbol of the era. In 1995, aged 29, she made a one-off appearance in The Sun to promote Page Three's 25th anniversary week. After receiving an overwhelmingly positive reader response, she appeared in the slot every day during the anniversary week, with Friday's final topless picture given away as an A3-sized poster. In 1996, aged 30, she appeared in the October issue of Playboy magazine.

Fox's father Patrick, a former carpenter, managed her career until 1991, when Fox hired accountants to trace over £1 million that she believed he had embezzled from her accounts. She then sued her father, who by then had divorced and remarried, and in May 1995 she was awarded a £363,000 court settlement. Patrick Fox died in 2000, at which time he and Fox had not spoken for almost a decade.

Samantha Fox was, in a online vote held by the British Newspaper the Daily Star, voted by its readers, as 'The best page 3 pin up ever' in September 2008. As a result of the poll win, she appeared topless for the first time in 12 years in the Daily Star although on page 5, not page 3.
Music career

In the late-1980s, Fox began a successful singing career, producing three albums in three years (1986-1988), and working with notable music producers such as Stock Aitken Waterman and Full Force.
Touch Me (1986)

Samantha Fox released her debut single, "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", when she was 19 years old in March 1986. The single made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic (#3 in the UK; #4 in the US). It also topped the charts in many countries, including Canada, South Africa and Australia. Her debut live performance came at Peter Stringfellow's club Hippodrome.

Her second single "Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)" also made #10 in the UK though fared less well in the US. The third release from the album, "Hold On Tight" managed to secure a top thirty placing in the UK singles chart (#26) while the final single, "I'm All You Need" just narrowly missed the UK Top 40 (#41).
Samantha Fox (1987)

Within a year, Fox had released her 2nd album in 1987 for Jive Records titled Samantha Fox. The first single released from the album, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", enabled her to achieve her third (and final) top ten hit in the UK (#8), though it only managed to peak at #80 on the US Billboard charts. The track was produced by the legendary production team Stock/Aitken/Waterman. The second single release, "I Surrender (To the Spirit of the Night)", failed to match the success of its predecessor in the UK and peaked at #25 in the UK. The next two releases, "I Promise You (Get Ready)" and "True Devotion," both failed altogether to make the UK Top 40 singles chart. "True Devotion" was a substantial radio hit in Canada.

As a result of the disappointments in previous singles released from the album, the fifth and final single, "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)," turned the fortunes of the album around and managed to secure a top ten placing on the US Billboard charts (#3), becoming her biggest hit to date in the US and scoring Fox another Top 40 hit on the UK Singles chart (#31). The track was a different sound for Fox, being produced by the US hip-hop producers Full Force. These would continue to work with Samantha on subsequent albums and achieve similar success with her stateside, whereas her changed sound did not fare as well for her with European listeners, who preferred the Euro-pop sound of her earlier music.
I Wanna Have Some Fun (1988)

The following year, Fox released her 3rd album in 1988 for Jive Records, titled I Wanna Have Some Fun. The album was produced by various producers covering the Euro-pop sound. Two tracks "Next To Me" and the title track reunited her for Full Force, where another reunion with Stock Aitken Waterman saw her record a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You", and the SAW original "You Started Something". The first single released from the album was "Love House".

The second single released in the UK, "I Only Wanna Be With You," managed to secure her her biggest hit in over a year, peaking in the Top Twenty at #16. The first single release in the US fared even better. The title selection, "I Wanna Have Some Fun," produced by Full-Force, managed to peak in the US Top Ten at #8. (Though released as the third single in the UK, it only managed a #63 placing.) The American release, as the follow-up, of "I Only Wanna Be With You" peaked inside the US Billboard Top 40 at #31. No further singles were released from the album.
Just One Night (1991)

After a 3-year break, Fox released her fourth album for Jive Records in 1991, titled Just One Night.

The first single lifted from the album Hurt Me Hurt Me (But The Pants Stay On) was another Full Force production. Unfortunately the lead single failed to make an impression in either the UK or US charts. Second single Another Woman, originally produced by Ralf-Rene Maue, was remixed by PWL stable-mate Phil Harding for release and performed moderately on some European charts. A third single, the albums title track, was also released.

A bonus track, "Now I Lay Me Down" (again a Full Force production), was featured in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and on the accompanying soundtrack.
1990s

In 1992, Jive released Samantha's first official compilation, Greatest Hits, which featured three new tracks.

Fox co-wrote and performed the track "Go For The Heart" for UK submission in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. (Note: Track submitted as performed by SOX featuring Chris Bonacci and Lorraine McKintosh) The track placed 4th in preliminary public voting and was therefore not selected as the representative track. The track was a modest hit throughout some European territories.

In 1997, she released a new album 21st Century Fox. The album performed moderately throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Without a worldwide distribution deal the album suffered from little promotion and a staggered release schedule. Singles "The Reason Is You", "Deeper", "Let Me Be Free" and "Perhaps" made little chart impression (although "Let Me Be Free" was a Top 20 hit in The Netherlands) despite Fox making numerous television appearances to promote the album. The album remains a firm favourite with fans. In 1999 Sam was cast in her first stage musical, Tayla Goodman's Virus, but she had to withdraw when the backer pulled his money. Director Peter Everett said that Sam's withdrawal from the show was a great loss, as thousands of fans were eagerly awaiting her stage appearance.
2000s

In 2004, Fox teamed up with Mats Söderlund (alias Günther) in order to do a remake of "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)".

In November 2005, Fox released her latest album, Angel with an Attitude in Canada produced by Joe Barrucco

The album was reissued in Australia to coincide with the Countdown Tour and included a new version of "Touch Me".

2008 saw the release of "Midnight Lover", a Euro-dance collaboration with Greek production team Zante Dilemma.

In September 2009, Fox was a guest vocalist on the track "Tomorrow (Is Another Day)", by Marc Mysterio. In October 2009 Fox's first three albums were reissued in the US with bonus tracks. Scheduled for December 2009 is a new Greatest Hits set, both in single cd and double cd formats, both of which included and the new Marc Mysterio single "Tomorrow", on which Fox provides guest vocals..

The double disc set features unreleased tracks from Stock Aitken and Waterman.
Filmography

Fox's pictures gained her such fandom in India that she was invited to star in a Bollywood film Rock Dancer. This was written and directed by V. Menon, starring Shammi Kapoor, Kamal Sadanah, Ronit Roy, Sharon Prabhakar, Javed Jaffri, Johnny Lever etc. It also featured guest appearances from Govinda, and was produced by Subbir Mukherjee.

Fox also featured in It’s Been Real, written and directed by Steve Varnom and starring John Altman, and The Match, written and directed by Michael Davis and starring Pierce Brosnan, Ian Holm, Tom Sizemore, Neil Morrissey, David Hayman and Ilar Blair.

On From Under the Cork Tree, Fall Out Boy have a track called "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me" which references the movie Sixteen Candles and Samantha Fox's album Touch Me. (The title also references the posthumous dance hit by Elvis Presley, "A Little Less Conversation.")
Other sidelines

Fox's career quieted down as she grew older, and she was not as commercially successful in her singing as she had once been.

In 1986 Fox was featured in a strip poker game (Samantha Fox Strip Poker) for Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX, BBC Micro, and Amstrad CPC.

In 1989, Fox co-presented the BRIT Awards with Mick Fleetwood, which became notorious for turning into a shambles; Fox has asserted in interviews since that the autocue did not work properly that night, leading to utter chaos during the show's live TV broadcast. She spent a year in New York presenting pop promo videos for MTV, and she made other attempts at TV presenting, including an interview with Rolf Harris, which was ill-fated even before it started as Fox referred to her interviewee as "Ralph" on several occasions, although he got his own back by resting his beard against her neck and tickling her with it. She appeared on the sitcom Charles In Charge in 1990 where she played the role of "Samantha Steele," a fictional rock star whose agent pushes her to romance Charles (Scott Baio) in order to get the paparazzi to print it in the tabloids. In the story line, it was done for career publicity reasons since people seem to enjoy some controversy. She also appeared in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for Spring Break, where she sang her various then current hits to thousands of college students.

Fox featured in the ITV programme An Audience With... Ken Dodd, during which she asked him how he liked to use his famous tickling stick , a multicoloured feather duster. Dodd responded by nonchalantly moving into the audience and letting the item stroke Fox's collar, before violently plunging down it her cleavage, making her scream and giggle.

In 2003, she appeared in ("reality television") show The Club, competing against Richard Blackwood and Dean Gaffney by trying to run the most successful bar in "The Club," which was full of celebrity guests such as Katie "Jordan" Price.

In 2008, Fox and her lover Myra took part in Celebrity Wife Swap, exchanging with Freddie Starr and his wife Donna.

In November 2009 she took part in ITV's I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. She was voted out on the 16th day.
Personal life

Fox was twice linked to Australian con man Peter Foster. They dated in 1986-87 and then, after a seven year separation, they reunited in 1994 for a year. They were at one time reportedly engaged to be married. Fox described Foster as "the love of my life". She has also been in relationships with Paul Stanley, the singer and rhythm guitarist for the band KISS; and also with Spanish bullfighter Rafi Camino.

In 1994, it was reported that Fox had become a born-again Christian. That year, she played at the Christian arts festival Greenbelt.

She has become distant from Peter Foster and said:

    I'm old enough now to know that I'd never be taken in again by the likes of Peter Foster. But then, I was 22 and impressionable. My parents had split and here was a man who was clever, manipulative and domineering. I came close to marrying him because I was so vulnerable.

    —Samantha Fox,

Some time after the Bai Lin Tea controversy he suggested that Samantha and he make a film about their lives, but she sent a refusal via her lawyer.

Rumours regarding Fox's sexual orientation began to surface in 1999 when she judged a lesbian beauty pageant, and many people said they believed that the woman she lived with at the time, Australian Cris Bonacci, formerly guitarist with Girlschool, was more than just her manager.

In February 2003, she made a statement about her personal life:

    "But I can't keep saying, 'Maybe,' or denying it. It is time to let people know where my heart is. People keep trying to say I'm a lesbian. I don't know what I am. All I know is that I'm in love with Myra . I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Fox participated in the television show Celebrity Wife Swap with Stratton.

Part of her reluctance to come out was due to fears of how some of her fans might react to her being in relationship with a woman, as she had already had to deal with obsessed fans and stalkers.

In August 2009, Samantha Fox announced her plans to have a civil partnership with her long term girlfriend and manager, Myra Stratton.
Charitable activity

Samantha Fox donated her favourite bra to a charity auction which allowed fans to buy a piece of celebrity clothing. Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association's Strip It Off three-day auction which began on 4 March 2008 saw members of the public bidding for stars' garments in order to raise money for the deaf blind charity.
Discography
Main article: Samantha Fox discography
Albums

    * 1986: Touch Me
    * 1987: Samantha Fox
    * 1988: I Wanna Have Some Fun
    * 1991: Just One Night
    * 1992: Greatest Hits
    * 1998: 21st Century Fox
    * 2002: Watching You Watching Me
    * 2005: Angel with an Attitude
    * 2009: Greatest Hits
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b41/Kodabear08/Samantha.jpg
http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj391/watt_69/SamanthaFox5.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/10 at 5:48 am

The person who died on this day...Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age.

Regarded as one of the greatest and most inscrutable movie stars ever produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the Hollywood studio system, Garbo received a 1954 Honorary Academy Award "for her unforgettable screen performances" and in 1999 was ranked as the fifth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute  Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm, Sweden, the youngest of three children of Karl Alfred Gustafsson (1871–1920) and Anna Lovisa Johansson (1872–1944).  Garbo's older brother and sister were Sven Alfred (1898–1967) and Alva Maria (1903–1926). The family lived in a small apartment at Blekingegatan No. 32 in Stockholm. She stated in the book Garbo On Garbo (p. 33) that her relationship with her mother was not strained.
Becoming an actress
c. 1920

When Gustafsson was 14 years old, her father, to whom she was extremely close, died. She was forced to leave school and go to work. Her first job was as a soap-lather girl in a barbershop. One day a young man by the name of Kristian Bergström, son of the founder of PUB department store, Paul U. Bergström, entered the barbershop for a shave. He eventually offered her a job as a clerk at PUB. She accepted the offer and started to work for PUB in July 1920 where she would also model for newspaper advertisements. Her first motion picture aspirations came when she appeared in two short film advertisements (the first for the department store where she worked). They were eventually seen by comedy director Erik Arthur Petschler and he gave her a part in his upcoming film Peter the Tramp (1922).

From 1922 to 1924, Gustafsson studied at the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. While there, she met director Mauritz Stiller who worked as a teacher. He trained her in cinema acting technique, gave her the stage name 'Greta Garbo', and cast her in a major role in the silent film Gösta Berlings Saga (The Story of Gösta Berling) in 1924, a dramatization of the famous novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf. She starred in Gösta Berling opposite Swedish film actor Lars Hanson, then appeared in the 1925 German film Die freudlose Gasse (The Joyless Street or The Street of Sorrow) directed by G. W. Pabst and co-starring Asta Nielsen.
During filming of Die freudlose Gasse (1925)

She and Stiller were brought to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Louis B. Mayer when Gösta Berlings Saga caught his attention. On viewing the film during a visit to Berlin, Mayer was impressed with Stiller's direction, but was much more taken with Garbo's acting and screen presence. According to Mayer's daughter, Irene Mayer Selznick, with whom he screened the film, it was the gentle feeling and expression that emanated from her eyes which so impressed her father.

Unfortunately, her relationship with Stiller came to an end as her fame grew and he struggled in the studio system. He was fired by MGM and returned to Sweden in 1927, where he died the following year. Garbo was also a close friend of Einar Hanson, a Swedish actor who worked with her and Pabst on The Joyless Street, and then came to Hollywood to work at MGM and Paramount Pictures. Einar Hanson was killed in an auto accident in 1927, after leaving a dinner with Garbo and Stiller. Garbo's sister Alva died of cancer in 1926 at the age of 23 after appearing in one feature film in Sweden, adding to the melancholy Garbo felt at being in Hollywood. MGM refused to allow Garbo to attend her sister's funeral in Sweden. She was only able to return there for a visit in 1928.
Life in Hollywood
Question book-new.svg
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)
Greta Garbo in 1932

The most well received of Garbo's silent movies were Flesh and the Devil (1927), Love (1927) and The Mysterious Lady (1928). She starred in the first two with the popular leading man John Gilbert. Her name was linked with his in a much publicized romance, and she was said to have left him standing at the altar in 1926, when she changed her mind about getting married.

Having achieved enormous success as a silent movie star, she was one of the few actors or actresses who made the transition to talkies, though she delayed the shift for as long as possible. Her film The Kiss (1929) was the last film MGM made without dialogue (it used a soundtrack with music and sound effects only).

Her voice was first heard on screen in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (1930), which was publicized with the slogan "Garbo Talks". The movie was a huge success. In 1931 Garbo made a German version of the movie.

Garbo appeared as the World War I spy Mata Hari (1931). She was next part of an all-star cast in Grand Hotel (1932) in which she played a Russian ballerina.

She then had a contract dispute with MGM, and signed a new contract with the studio in July 1932, departing for Sweden later the same month. She exercised her new control by having her leading man in Queen Christina (1933), Laurence Olivier, replaced with Gilbert. In 1935, David O. Selznick wanted her cast as the dying heiress in Dark Victory, but she insisted on doing Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Bette Davis would eventually play the Judith Traherne role in Dark Victory and score her third Oscar nomination.

Her role as the doomed courtesan in Camille (1936), opposite Robert Taylor and directed by George Cukor, would be regarded by Garbo as her finest acting performance. She then starred opposite Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka (1939), directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

Garbo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Anna Christie (1930), Romance (1930), Camille (1937) and Ninotchka (1939).

Garbo received praise from many fellow actors:

    Her instinct, her mastery over the machine, was pure witchcraft. I cannot analyse this woman's acting. I only know that no one else so effectively worked in front of a camera. —Bette Davis

During Garbo's Hollywood career, she was frequently caricatured in the animated cartoons of the day. These include Warner Brothers' Porky's Road Race, Speaking of the Weather (both directed by Frank Tashlin) and Hollywood Steps Out (directed by Tex Avery). She is also caricatured in Disney's Mickey's Gala Premiere, among others.
Later career
Greta Garbo together with her mother Anna Gustafsson during a trip in USA 1939.

Ninotchka was a successful attempt at lightening Garbo's image and making her less exotic. The comedy, Garbo's first, was marketed with the tagline, "Garbo laughs!". The follow-up film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), attempted to capitalize by casting Garbo in a romantic comedy, where she played a double role that featured her dancing, and tried to make her into "an ordinary girl". The film, Garbo's last, was directed by George Cukor, and was a critical (though not a commercial) failure.

It is often reported that Garbo chose to retire from cinema after this film's failure, but already by 1935 she was becoming more choosy about her roles, and eventually years passed without her agreeing to do another film. By her own admission, Garbo felt that after World War II the world changed, perhaps forever.

In 1949, Garbo filmed several screen tests as she considered reentering the movie business to shoot La Duchesse de Langeais directed by Walter Wanger; otherwise she never stepped in front of a movie camera again. The plans for this film collapsed when financing failed to materialize, and these tests were lost for 40 years, before resurfacing in someone's garage. They were included in the 2005 TCM documentary Garbo, and show her still radiant at age 43. There were suggestions that she might appear as the "Duchess de Guermantes" in a film adaptation of Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past: but this never came to fruition. She was offered many roles over the years, but always turned them down.

Her last interview was probably with the entertainment writer Paul Callan of the British newspaper Daily Mail during the Cannes Film Festival. Meeting at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc, Callan began "I wonder..." before Garbo cut in with "Why wonder?" and stalked off, making it one of the shortest interviews ever published.

She gradually withdrew from the entertainment world and moved to a secluded life in New York City, refusing to make any public appearances. Until her death, Garbo sightings were considered sport for paparazzi photographers. In 1974, pornographic filmmaker Peter De Rome tracked Garbo across New York and shot unauthorized footage of her for inclusion in his X-rated feature Adam & Yves.

Despite these attempts to flee from fame, she was nevertheless voted Best Silent Actress of the Century (her compatriot Ingrid Bergman winning the Best Sound Actress) in 1950, and was once designated as the most beautiful woman who ever lived by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Private life
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)
A veiled Garbo in dark coat and hat writes at a counter.
Filling out U.S. citizenship paperwork in 1950

Soon after her career took off, Garbo became known as a recluse; throughout her lifetime she conducted no interviews, signed no autographs, attended no social functions and answered no fan mail. Today she is often associated with her famous line from Grand Hotel: "I want to be alone". However, Garbo later commented, "I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference." Garbo neither married nor had children; she lived alone.

Garbo suffered from periods of depression, and has been described in various private letters as being narcissistic, possessive, and supposedly ashamed of her father, a latrine cleaner.

There was some speculation that Garbo was bisexual, that she had intimate relationships with women as well as men, such as the actor John Gilbert. They starred together for the first time in the classic Flesh and the Devil in 1926. Their on-screen erotic intensity soon translated into an off-camera romance, and by the end of production Garbo had moved in with Gilbert. Gilbert allegedly proposed to her three times before she finally accepted. When a marriage was finally arranged in 1926, she failed to show up at the ceremony. After the affair ended, and Gilbert's career collapsed with sound films, Garbo showed great loyalty to him and insisted that he appear with her in 1933's Queen Christina, despite the objection of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer.

Garbo was introduced to stage and screen actress Lilyan Tashman at a tennis party in 1927 and allegedly had an affair with her. The two became inseparable companions who went shopping, swimming, and to Tashman's garden cottage.

In 1931, Garbo befriended the writer and socialite Mercedes de Acosta, introduced to her by the author Salka Viertel. According to de Acosta, the pair ultimately began a sporadic and volatile romance, punctuated by long periods of Garbo ignoring her and disregarding her many love letters. After about a year, the relationship ended, but they maintained contact. Following de Acosta's claims about her many trysts with Garbo, in her controversial autobiography Here Lies the Heart in 1960, the pair were permanently estranged.

According to the memoir written by dancer, model, and silent film actress Louise Brooks, she and Garbo had a brief liaison. Brooks described Garbo as masculine but a "charming and tender lover".

The 1995 biography Garbo relates Garbo's relationships—which were often just close friendships—with actor George Brent, conductor Leopold Stokowski, nutritionist Gayelord Hauser, photographer Cecil Beaton, and her manager George Schlee, husband of designer Valentina.
Secluded retirement
Gravestone of Greta Garbo

Garbo felt her movies had their proper place in history and would gain in value. On 9 February 1951, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1954 she was awarded a special Academy Award.

In 1953, she bought a seven-room apartment in New York City at 450 East 52nd Street, where she lived for the rest of her life.

She would at times jet-set with some of the world's best known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and Cecil Beaton, but chose to live a private life. She was known for taking long walks through the New York streets dressed casually and wearing large sunglasses, always avoiding prying eyes, the paparazzi, and media attention. Garbo did, however, receive one last flurry of publicity when nude photos, taken with a long-range lens, were published in People in 1976. Trim and relaxed, she was enjoying a swim.

Garbo lived the last years of her life in absolute seclusion. Having invested very wisely, particularly in commercial property along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, she was known for extreme frugality, and was very wealthy.

She died in New York Hospital on 15 April 1990, aged 84, as a result of pneumonia and renal failure. She had previously been successfully treated for breast cancer.

She was cremated, and after a long legal battle her ashes were finally interred at the Skogskyrkogården Cemetery in her native Stockholm. She left her entire estate, estimated at $20,000,000 USD to her niece, Gray Reisfield of New Jersey.

For her contributions to cinema, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard. In addition, in September 2005, the United States Postal Service and Swedish Posten jointly issued two commemorative stamps bearing her likeness.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1920 Mr and Mrs Stockholm Go Shopping Elder sister former title: How Not To Dress
The Gay Cavalier Extra uncredited
1921 Our Daily Bread Companion
The Scarlet Angel Extra uncredited
1922 Peter the Tramp Greta
1924 The Story of Gösta Berling Elizabeth Dohna directed by Mauritz Stiller
1925 Die freudlose Gasse Greta Rumfort The Joyless Street
1926 The Torrent Leonora Moreno aka La Brunna First American movie
The Temptress Elena
Flesh and the Devil Felicitas directed by Clarence Brown
1927 Love Anna Karenina directed by Edmund Goulding
1928 The Divine Woman Marianne Only a 9 minute reel exists. Source: The Mysterious Lady DVD
The Mysterious Lady Tania Fedorova
A Woman of Affairs Diana Merrick Furness
1929 Wild Orchids Lillie Sterling
The Single Standard Arden Stuart Hewlett
The Kiss Irene Guarry
1930 Anna Christie Anna Christie Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
Garbo's first talkie
Romance Madame Rita Cavallini Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
1931 Anna Christie Anna Christie MGM's German version of Anna Christie, released early 1931
Inspiration Yvonne Valbret
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) Susan Lenox
Mata Hari Mata Hari
1932 Grand Hotel Grusinskaya
As You Desire Me Zara aka Marie
1933 Queen Christina Queen Christina
1934 The Painted Veil Katrin Koerber Fane
1935 Anna Karenina Anna Karenina New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
1936 Camille Marguerite Gautier Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
1937 Conquest Countess Marie Walewska
1939 Ninotchka Nina Ivanovna 'Ninotchka' Yakushova Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
1941 Two-Faced Woman Karin Borg Blake
http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt37/nsunshine10/Greta_Garbo_intro.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z15/wop_salad/Greta-Garbo.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/15/10 at 6:52 am

http://spin1038.com/wp-content/files/2009/11/celeb-6.jpg

At 44 she is still smokin hot.  :o  Who didn't have fantasies about her growing up in the 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/10 at 7:21 am


http://spin1038.com/wp-content/files/2009/11/celeb-6.jpg

At 44 she is still smokin hot.  :o  Who didn't have fantasies about her growing up in the 80's.

I didn't :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/15/10 at 10:09 am


I didn't :D



Same here.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/10 at 11:01 am



Same here.



Cat

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/15/10 at 3:11 pm


http://spin1038.com/wp-content/files/2009/11/celeb-6.jpg

At 44 she is still smokin hot.  :o  Who didn't have fantasies about her growing up in the 80's.


My buddy has a large poster of Samantha on his wall during the 80s. I remember that very well.
Kim Wilde too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/15/10 at 6:58 pm


http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj391/watt_69/SamanthaFox5.jpg



My buddy has a large poster of Samantha on his wall during the 80s. I remember that very well.
Kim Wilde too.


I liked them both.... :)  Umm...I meant Fox and Wilde that is... ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/15/10 at 7:02 pm



My buddy has a large poster of Samantha on his wall during the 80s. I remember that very well.
Kim Wilde too.


Do you have a poster of Madonna from back in the 80's? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/10 at 4:50 am

The word of the day...House
A house is a building in which people live, usually the people belonging to one family.
You can refer to all the people who live together in a house as the house.
House is used in the names of types of places where people go to eat and drink
House is used in the names of types of companies, especially ones which publish books, lend money, or design clothes
You can refer to the two main bodies of Britain's parliament and the United States of America's legislature as the House  or a House.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c7/cyrenschant/House/Front.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr215/cken1774/House.jpg
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx26/tsukimusic/For%20JA/House.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q206/daddyoh70/Abandoned_House.jpg
http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/oo336/GirlsDontPoop216/house.jpg
http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/ac219/carlataone/Clean-the-House.jpg
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz15/eltamia/Our%20house/330Downing106.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/4acesup/Entertainment/Movies/Big_mommas_house.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/10 at 4:54 am

The person born on this day...Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence  (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, director, and producer. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. Lawrence has acted in numerous movie roles and starred in his own television series, Martin, which ran from 1992 to 1997. Martin Lawrence born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. where his father, John Lawrence, served in the U.S. Military.  After his parents divorced in 1973,  Lawrence rarely saw his father, who worked as a police officer at the time.  His mother, Chlora, began working several jobs to support her family.  During his teen years, Lawrence excelled at boxing.  While living in Maryland, he attended Thomas G. Pullen School of Creative and Performing Arts (Landover, Maryland), Fairmont Heights High School (Fairmount Heights, Maryland), Eleanor Roosevelt High School  and also Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Maryland, becoming a Mid-Atlantic Golden Gloves boxing contender.
Career

Lawrence moved to Los Angeles and found his way to the legendary Kings Wood comedy club. Shortly after appearing at the Wood, he won a performance spot on Star Search, a popular show in the United States. He did well on the show and made it to the final round before ultimately losing. However, executives at Columbia TriStar Television saw Martin's performance and offered him the role of "Maurice" on the television sitcom What's Happening Now!!; this was his first acting job. Upon cancellation of that show, Lawrence found bit parts in various films and television roles. His breakthrough role was as Cee in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. Other roles followed in films such as the House Party series and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Boomerang. During this period, entertainment mogul Russell Simmons selected him to host the groundbreaking series Def Comedy Jam on HBO. Def Comedy Jam gave many comedians (including Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer) mainstream exposure.

During his stint with Def Comedy Jam, Lawrence appeared in his own hit series, Martin, which aired on FOX. The show ran from 1992 to 1997 and was an enormous success. "Martin" was the flagship of FOX's Thursday-night line-up, which drew millions of viewers away from NBC's "Must See TV" line-up. He hosted Saturday Night Live on February 19, 1994, where he made crude remarks about women's genitalia and personal hygiene; the monologue was completely edited out of NBC reruns and syndicated versions, and Lawrence was banned from the show for the rest of his life. "Martin"'s ratings continued to skyrocket so much that FOX became more of a contender against NBC and came closer to being considered among the top television networks. SNL was rumored to have invited Martin back to the show months later. It was said that he declined the offer. After Martin ended its run, Lawrence found ample work in comedy films. He often starred as the second lead opposite actors including Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Tim Robbins. Many of his films were blockbusters at the box office, including Boomerang (1992), Bad Boys (1995), Blue Streak (1999), Big Momma's House (2000) and Bad Boys 2 (2003). He also starred in critical and box office failures including Black Knight (2001) and National Security (2002). Regardless, his salary steadily increased to over $10 million per film role. He continues to work in film, with such films as Big Momma's House 2, which opened #1 at the North American box office and grossed almost $28 million its first weekend, and Wild Hogs (2007), in which he plays a bored suburbanite seeking adventure on the open road in a biker comedy alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen and William H. Macy.

In 2006, Lawrence appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, during which Lawrence briefly brought back to life some of the characters he'd portrayed on Martin.

At the 2009 BET Awards he appeared in a spoof movie trailer with Jamie Foxx for a fictitious movie that featured, respectively, their infamous TV characters Sheneneh Jenkins and Ugly Wanda.

Lawrence has reportedly signed on to star in an upcoming comedy titled Back To Africa. According to Variety, Lawrence will play a working-class man from Queens, New York who discovers that he is the heir to the throne of an African country and travels there to claim his birthright. Lawrence will serve as a producer on the film, which will be released via his Runteldat imprint and Alcon Entertainment. A release date for the film has not been announced. Also Produced show on tvone called Love that Girl
Personal life

Lawrence was engaged to Lark Voorhies in 1993.

He married Patricia Southall, a former Miss Virginia USA, in January 1995. Lawrence has a daughter with Southall named Jasmine Page, born on January 15, 1996. They divorced in September 1996. Lawrence also has two other daughters, Lyana and America, born in 2001 and 2003.

In 1996, Lawrence's Martin co-star, Tisha Campbell-Martin, filed a lawsuit against Lawrence and the show's producers for sexual harassment and verbal and physical assaults. HBO Studios settled the lawsuit so the show's final season could be completed. Campbell-Martin agreed to complete the season on the condition that she not appear in any scenes in the last two episodes with Lawrence. No criminal charges were ever filed and the accusations were never brought to court.

In the mid-1990s, Lawrence began abusing psychotropic drugs, and during filming of A Thin Line Between Love and Hate lashed out in a violent outburst on the set. He became increasingly erratic and was arrested after he reportedly brandished a pistol and screamed at tourists on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. He was also arrested at Burbank Airport for carrying a loaded gun in his suitcase. In March 1997, Lawrence was arrested again after assaulting a man in a Hollywood nightclub.

During August 1999, Lawrence slipped into a three-day coma after collapsing from heat exhaustion while jogging in 100-degree heat while wearing several layers of heavy clothing. He recovered in the hospital after very nearly dying and running a body temperature of 107 °F (41.7 °C), his breathing assisted by a respirator.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1989 Do The Right Thing Cee
1990 House Party Bilal
1991 Talkin' Dirty After Dark Terry
House Party 2 Bilal
1992 Boomerang Tyler
1994 You So Crazy Himself stand-up acting
executive producer and writer
1995 Bad Boys Marcus Burnett
1996 A Thin Line Between Love and Hate Narrator/Darnell 'Deeny/'D'/D.W.' Wright also director, exc. producer,music supervisor and writer
1997 Nothing to Lose Terrance Paul Davidson
1999 Life Claude Banks
Blue Streak Miles Logan/Detective Malone
2000 Big Momma's House Malcolm Turner/Big Momma also executive producer
2001 What's the Worst That Could Happen? Kevin Caffery
Black Knight Jamal Walker/Skywalker
2002 Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat Himself also executive producer
stand-up acting/writer
2003 National Security Earl Montgomery also executive producer
Bad Boys II Marcus Burnett
2005 Rebound Roy McCormick/Preacher Don also executive producer
2006 Big Momma's House 2 Malcolm Turner/Big Momma
Open Season Boog voice
2007 Wild Hogs Bobby Davis
2008 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Dr. RJ Stevens/Roscoe Steven Jenkins, Jr.
College Road Trip Chief James Porter
2010 Death at a Funeral Ryan Parlson
2012 Big Momma's House 3 Malcolm Turner/Big Momma
Television

    * What's Happening Now!! (cast member from 1987–1988) - Maurice
    * A Little Bit Strange (1989) (unsold pilot)
    * Hammer, Slammer, & Slade (1990) (unsold pilot)
    * Private Times (1991) (unsold pilot)
    * Martin (1992–1997) - Martin Payne
    * Def Comedy Jam (host from 1992–1993)
    * Love That Girl (executive producer)

Albums
Year Album Chart Positions
US US Hip-Hop
1993 Martin Lawrence Live Talkin' sheesh 76 10
1995 Funk It - 35
Awards and nominations

    * Blockbuster Entertainment Award
          o nominated with Eddie Murphy for Favorite Comedy Team (2000) for the movie Life
          o nominated for Favorite Actor (2001) for the movie Big Momma's House
    * NAACP Image Award
          o won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1995) for the series Martin
          o won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1996) for the series Martin
          o nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1997) for the series Martin
    * Kids' Choice Award
          o nominated for Favorite Television Actor (1995) for the series Martin
          o nominated for Favorite Television Actor (1996) for the series Martin
          o nominated for Favorite Movie Actor (2001) for the movie Big Momma's House
    * MTV Movie Award
          o nominated with Will Smith for Best On-Screen Duo (1996) for the movie Bad Boys
          o nominated for the movie Big Momma's House
          o nominated with Will Smith for Best On-Screen Team (2003) for the movie Bad Boys II
    * ShoWest - Male Star of Tomorrow (1995)
    * Teen Choice Award - nominated for Wipeout Scene of the Summer (2000) for the movie Big Momma's House
    * BET Comedy Award - won Icon Comedy Award (2005)
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k200/sassysage25/thmartin_lawrence.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd201/santitoy/28martinlawrence.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/10 at 4:58 am

The person who died on this day...David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE (25 March 1908 – 16 April 1991) was a British filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, and A Passage to India. Acclaimed and praised by directors such as Steven Spielberg  and Stanley Kubrick,  Lean was voted 9th greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute Sight & Sound "Directors Top Directors" poll 2002.  Lean has four films in the top eleven of the British Film Institute's Top 100 British Films. David Lean was born in Croydon, Surrey (now part of Greater London), to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former Helena Tangye (niece of Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye). His parents were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park School in Reading. His younger brother, Edward Tangye Lean (1911–1974), founded the original Inklings  literary club when a student at Oxford University.
Film career
Editing

Lean started at the bottom, as a clapperboard assistant. By 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including those of Gaumont Pictures and Movietone. His career in feature films began with Freedom of the Seas in 1934 and Escape Me Never in 1935.

He edited Gabriel Pascal's film productions of two George Bernard Shaw plays, Pygmalion (1938) and Major Barbara (1941). He edited Powell & Pressburger's 49th Parallel (1941) and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942). After this last film, Lean began his directing career, after editing more than two dozen features by 1942. As Tony Sloman wrote in 1999, "As the varied likes of David Lean, Robert Wise, Terence Fisher and Dorothy Arzner have proved, the cutting rooms are easily the finest grounding for film direction."

For Lean's final film, A Passage to India (1984), he chose to both direct and edit, and the two roles were given precisely equal status in the film's credits. Lean was nominated for Academy Awards in directing, editing, and writing for the film.
Directing

His first work as a director was in collaboration with Noël Coward on In Which We Serve (1942), and he later adapted several of Coward's plays into successful films. These included This Happy Breed (1944), Blithe Spirit (1945) and Brief Encounter (1945). Two celebrated Charles Dickens adaptations followed - Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). The 2 latter films were the first of many films of his that starred Alec Guinness, who he considered to be his "good luck charm". He frequently cast Guinness in many of his films later on. The Sound Barrier (1952) had a screenplay by the playwright Terence Rattigan and Hobson's Choice (1954) was based on the play by Harold Brighouse.

Summertime (1955), marked a new direction for Lean. It was shot entirely on location in Venice. U.S.-financed, the film starred Katharine Hepburn as a middle-aged American woman who has a romance while on holiday in Venice. In the following years, Lean made the epics for which he is best known: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Academy Award, followed by another for Lawrence of Arabia, (1962). Doctor Zhivago (1965) was another major hit. In addition, Lean directed some scenes of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) while George Stevens was doing location work in Nevada. Most of his scenes involved Claude Rains and Jose Ferrer, both of whom had previously worked with Lean on Lawrence of Arabia. Following the moderately successful Ryan's Daughter in 1970, he did not direct another film until A Passage to India (1984), which would be his last.

From 1977 until 1980, Lean and Robert Bolt were working on a film adaptation of Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian by Richard Hough, which is a dramatized account of the Mutiny on the Bounty. It was originally written to be a two-part film, the first film was titled "The Lawbreakers" which dealt with the voyage out to Tahiti and the subsequent mutiny, and the second named "The Long Arm" that studied the journey of the mutineers after the mutiny, as well as the admiralty's response in sending out the frigate HMS Pandora and her famous box in which some of the mutineers were imprisoned. Lean could not find financial backing for both films after Warner Bros. withdrew from the project. Lean decided to combine it into one, and even looked at a seven-part TV series. The project suffered a further setback when Bolt suffered a massive stroke and was unable to continue writing. Melvyn Bragg ended up writing a considerable portion of the script. Lean was ultimately forced to abandon the project. The project was eventually released as The Bounty.

During the last years of his life, Lean was in pre-production of a film version of Joseph Conrad's Nostromo. Lean assembled an all star cast for his film, including Marlon Brando, Paul Scofield, Anthony Quinn, Peter O'Toole, Christopher Lambert, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Quaid and Georges Corraface as the title character. Lean also wanted Alec Guinness to play Doctor Monyghan, but the aged actor turned him down in a letter from 1989: "I believe I would be disastrous casting. The only thing in the part I might have done well is the crippled crab-like walk." Steven Spielberg came on board as producer, with the backing of Warner Bros., but after several rewrites and disagreements on the script, Spielberg left the project and was replaced by Serge Silberman, a respected producer at Greenwich Film Productions. The project went through several writers; among those were Christopher Hampton and Robert Bolt. But in the end, Lean decided to write the film himself with the assistance of Maggie Unsworth, with whom he had worked on the scripts for Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and The Passionate Friends. Originally Lean considered filming in Mexico, but later decided to film in London and Madrid, partly to secure O'Toole, who had insisted he would only take part if the film was shot close to home. Nostromo had a total budget of $46m and was just six weeks away from filming at the time of Lean's death of throat cancer. It was rumoured that fellow film director John Boorman would be taking over direction, but the production collapsed and Nostromo soon became a BBC television mini-series.

Lean was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1973, and was knighted in 1984.
BAFTA

Lean was one of the founding members of the British Film Academy (later the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA) and was appointed its first chairman in 1947.
Reputation

David Lean received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1990, being one of only three non-Americans to receive the award.

Lean is the most represented director on the BFI Top 100 British films list, having a total of seven films on the list, and four films in the top eleven. Lean's films in general have always been extremely popular with the general public, with The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago among the highest-grossing films of all time. While Ryan's Daughter and A Passage to India were less successful on release, they have found wide and appreciative audiences since their release on DVD.

As Lean himself pointed out, his films are often admired by fellow directors as a showcase of the filmmaker's art. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese in particular were huge fans of Lean's epic films, and claimed him as one of their primary influences. Both Spielberg and Scorsese also helped in the 1989 restoration of Lawrence of Arabia which, when released, greatly revived Lean's reputation.

George Lucas has referenced Lean's films, Lawrence of Arabia in particular, throughout his Star Wars film series. John Milius, Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, Stanley Kubrick, and Sydney Pollack also claimed influence from Lean's films. Mel Brooks is also an admirer and parodied several of Lean's films in his sci-fi spoof Spaceballs. More recently, Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) has cited Lean's works, particularly Doctor Zhivago, as an important influence on his work, and Baz Luhrmann has named Lean as one of the inspirations for his 2008 epic Australia.
Personal life

Lean was a long-term resident of Limehouse, East London. His home on Narrow Street is still owned by his family. He was married six times, had one son, and was divorced five times. He was survived by his last wife, Sandra Cooke.

  1. Isabel Lean (28 June 1930 – 1936) (his first cousin) — one son, Peter
  2. Kay Walsh (23 November 1940 – 1949)
  3. Ann Todd (21 May 1949 – 1957)
  4. Leila Matkar (4 July 1960 – 1978)
  5. Sandra Hotz (28 October 1981 – 1984)
  6. Sandra Cooke (15 December 1990 – 16 April 1991)

Filmography
Main article: David Lean filmography and awards in his films
Awards

Lean was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards: seven for Best Director, one for Best Adapted Screenplay, and one for Best Film Editing, the latter two being for A Passage to India. Out of these nominations, Lean won two Oscars, both in the category of Best Director, for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). With seven nominations in the category of Best Director, Lean is the third most nominated director in Oscar history, tied with Fred Zinnemann and behind Billy Wilder (8 nominations) and William Wyler (12 nominations).

Lean was also nominated for four Golden Globe awards for Best Director, winning three, for The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n181/engelbertestrada/davidlean1.jpg
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm285/Werklozer/davidlean.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/10 at 6:48 am


The person born on this day...Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence  (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, director, and producer. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. Lawrence has acted in numerous movie roles and starred in his own television series, Martin, which ran from 1992 to 1997. Martin Lawrence born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. where his father, John Lawrence, served in the U.S. Military.  After his parents divorced in 1973,  Lawrence rarely saw his father, who worked as a police officer at the time.  His mother, Chlora, began working several jobs to support her family.  During his teen years, Lawrence excelled at boxing.  While living in Maryland, he attended Thomas G. Pullen School of Creative and Performing Arts (Landover, Maryland), Fairmont Heights High School (Fairmount Heights, Maryland), Eleanor Roosevelt High School  and also Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Maryland, becoming a Mid-Atlantic Golden Gloves boxing contender.
Career

Lawrence moved to Los Angeles and found his way to the legendary Kings Wood comedy club. Shortly after appearing at the Wood, he won a performance spot on Star Search, a popular show in the United States. He did well on the show and made it to the final round before ultimately losing. However, executives at Columbia TriStar Television saw Martin's performance and offered him the role of "Maurice" on the television sitcom What's Happening Now!!; this was his first acting job. Upon cancellation of that show, Lawrence found bit parts in various films and television roles. His breakthrough role was as Cee in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. Other roles followed in films such as the House Party series and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Boomerang. During this period, entertainment mogul Russell Simmons selected him to host the groundbreaking series Def Comedy Jam on HBO. Def Comedy Jam gave many comedians (including Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer) mainstream exposure.

During his stint with Def Comedy Jam, Lawrence appeared in his own hit series, Martin, which aired on FOX. The show ran from 1992 to 1997 and was an enormous success. "Martin" was the flagship of FOX's Thursday-night line-up, which drew millions of viewers away from NBC's "Must See TV" line-up. He hosted Saturday Night Live on February 19, 1994, where he made crude remarks about women's genitalia and personal hygiene; the monologue was completely edited out of NBC reruns and syndicated versions, and Lawrence was banned from the show for the rest of his life. "Martin"'s ratings continued to skyrocket so much that FOX became more of a contender against NBC and came closer to being considered among the top television networks. SNL was rumored to have invited Martin back to the show months later. It was said that he declined the offer. After Martin ended its run, Lawrence found ample work in comedy films. He often starred as the second lead opposite actors including Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Tim Robbins. Many of his films were blockbusters at the box office, including Boomerang (1992), Bad Boys (1995), Blue Streak (1999), Big Momma's House (2000) and Bad Boys 2 (2003). He also starred in critical and box office failures including Black Knight (2001) and National Security (2002). Regardless, his salary steadily increased to over $10 million per film role. He continues to work in film, with such films as Big Momma's House 2, which opened #1 at the North American box office and grossed almost $28 million its first weekend, and Wild Hogs (2007), in which he plays a bored suburbanite seeking adventure on the open road in a biker comedy alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen and William H. Macy.

In 2006, Lawrence appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, during which Lawrence briefly brought back to life some of the characters he'd portrayed on Martin.

At the 2009 BET Awards he appeared in a spoof movie trailer with Jamie Foxx for a fictitious movie that featured, respectively, their infamous TV characters Sheneneh Jenkins and Ugly Wanda.

Lawrence has reportedly signed on to star in an upcoming comedy titled Back To Africa. According to Variety, Lawrence will play a working-class man from Queens, New York who discovers that he is the heir to the throne of an African country and travels there to claim his birthright. Lawrence will serve as a producer on the film, which will be released via his Runteldat imprint and Alcon Entertainment. A release date for the film has not been announced. Also Produced show on tvone called Love that Girl
Personal life

Lawrence was engaged to Lark Voorhies in 1993.

He married Patricia Southall, a former Miss Virginia USA, in January 1995. Lawrence has a daughter with Southall named Jasmine Page, born on January 15, 1996. They divorced in September 1996. Lawrence also has two other daughters, Lyana and America, born in 2001 and 2003.

In 1996, Lawrence's Martin co-star, Tisha Campbell-Martin, filed a lawsuit against Lawrence and the show's producers for sexual harassment and verbal and physical assaults. HBO Studios settled the lawsuit so the show's final season could be completed. Campbell-Martin agreed to complete the season on the condition that she not appear in any scenes in the last two episodes with Lawrence. No criminal charges were ever filed and the accusations were never brought to court.

In the mid-1990s, Lawrence began abusing psychotropic drugs, and during filming of A Thin Line Between Love and Hate lashed out in a violent outburst on the set. He became increasingly erratic and was arrested after he reportedly brandished a pistol and screamed at tourists on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. He was also arrested at Burbank Airport for carrying a loaded gun in his suitcase. In March 1997, Lawrence was arrested again after assaulting a man in a Hollywood nightclub.

During August 1999, Lawrence slipped into a three-day coma after collapsing from heat exhaustion while jogging in 100-degree heat while wearing several layers of heavy clothing. He recovered in the hospital after very nearly dying and running a body temperature of 107 °F (41.7 °C), his breathing assisted by a respirator.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1989 Do The Right Thing Cee
1990 House Party Bilal
1991 Talkin' Dirty After Dark Terry
House Party 2 Bilal
1992 Boomerang Tyler
1994 You So Crazy Himself stand-up acting
executive producer and writer
1995 Bad Boys Marcus Burnett
1996 A Thin Line Between Love and Hate Narrator/Darnell 'Deeny/'D'/D.W.' Wright also director, exc. producer,music supervisor and writer
1997 Nothing to Lose Terrance Paul Davidson
1999 Life Claude Banks
Blue Streak Miles Logan/Detective Malone
2000 Big Momma's House Malcolm Turner/Big Momma also executive producer
2001 What's the Worst That Could Happen? Kevin Caffery
Black Knight Jamal Walker/Skywalker
2002 Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat Himself also executive producer
stand-up acting/writer
2003 National Security Earl Montgomery also executive producer
Bad Boys II Marcus Burnett
2005 Rebound Roy McCormick/Preacher Don also executive producer
2006 Big Momma's House 2 Malcolm Turner/Big Momma
Open Season Boog voice
2007 Wild Hogs Bobby Davis
2008 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Dr. RJ Stevens/Roscoe Steven Jenkins, Jr.
College Road Trip Chief James Porter
2010 Death at a Funeral Ryan Parlson
2012 Big Momma's House 3 Malcolm Turner/Big Momma
Television

    * What's Happening Now!! (cast member from 1987–1988) - Maurice
    * A Little Bit Strange (1989) (unsold pilot)
    * Hammer, Slammer, & Slade (1990) (unsold pilot)
    * Private Times (1991) (unsold pilot)
    * Martin (1992–1997) - Martin Payne
    * Def Comedy Jam (host from 1992–1993)
    * Love That Girl (executive producer)

Albums
Year Album Chart Positions
US US Hip-Hop
1993 Martin Lawrence Live Talkin' sheesh 76 10
1995 Funk It - 35
Awards and nominations

    * Blockbuster Entertainment Award
          o nominated with Eddie Murphy for Favorite Comedy Team (2000) for the movie Life
          o nominated for Favorite Actor (2001) for the movie Big Momma's House
    * NAACP Image Award
          o won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1995) for the series Martin
          o won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1996) for the series Martin
          o nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1997) for the series Martin
    * Kids' Choice Award
          o nominated for Favorite Television Actor (1995) for the series Martin
          o nominated for Favorite Television Actor (1996) for the series Martin
          o nominated for Favorite Movie Actor (2001) for the movie Big Momma's House
    * MTV Movie Award
          o nominated with Will Smith for Best On-Screen Duo (1996) for the movie Bad Boys
          o nominated for the movie Big Momma's House
          o nominated with Will Smith for Best On-Screen Team (2003) for the movie Bad Boys II
    * ShoWest - Male Star of Tomorrow (1995)
    * Teen Choice Award - nominated for Wipeout Scene of the Summer (2000) for the movie Big Momma's House
    * BET Comedy Award - won Icon Comedy Award (2005)
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k200/sassysage25/thmartin_lawrence.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd201/santitoy/28martinlawrence.jpg


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o167/FcKaLLYaLL/shanaynay.gif

Who remembers Sha Nay Nay? ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/10 at 7:25 am


http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o167/FcKaLLYaLL/shanaynay.gif

Who remembers Sha Nay Nay? ;D

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/16/10 at 11:51 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_vBBjqF3g


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqn5AIdd-9k


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/10 at 12:49 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_vBBjqF3g


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqn5AIdd-9k


Cat

2 great songs :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/10 at 2:27 pm

Our House was a good song by Madness,reached #1 in 1983.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/17/10 at 6:29 am

The word of the day...Boulevard
A boulevard is a wide street in a city, usually with trees along each side
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b322/icyhotahs/Europe/Prague/Day%201/100_4724.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff23/Mariek1984/IMGP0556.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/ICEGATOR-FAN/WDW%20December%202009/HS-22-SunsetBlvd.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn26/Wurdsje/Foto/Antwerpen/b179e3b1.jpg
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q64/missmatisse13/boulevard.jpg
http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo154/BAROQUELIVRES/boulevard.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb311/big_harleyl/bOULEVARD.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee221/mshdsign/LA%202008/SD530102.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f323/ZeratulPy/sunset_boulevard.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/17/10 at 6:32 am

The person who was born on this day...William Holden
William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American  film actor.

Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954, and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the top stars of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 stars of the year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list as #25. Holden, eldest of three sons (brothers were Robert & Richard), was born as William Franklin Beedle, Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, the son of Mary Blanche (née Ball), a schoolteacher, and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist.  The family, which moved to South Pasadena, California when he was three, was of English descent; Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors emigrated in the 17th century to Millenback, Lancaster County, Virginia in the U.S. from England.

After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Contrary to legend and theatre publicity, he did not study at the Pasadena Playhouse, nor was he discovered in a play there. Rather, he was spotted by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937 while appearing as an old man in a play at the Playbox, a separate and private theatre owned by Pasadena Playhouse director Gilmor Brown. His first film role was in Prison Farm the following year.
Hollywood's "Golden Boy"

His first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), in which he played a violinist turned boxer. That was followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town.

After Columbia Pictures picked up half of his contract, he alternated between starring in several minor pictures for Paramount and Columbia before serving as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he acted in training films. Beginning in 1950, his career took off when Billy Wilder tapped him to star as the down-at-the-heels screenwriter Joe Gillis who is taken in by faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard, for which Holden earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Following this breakthrough film, he played a series of roles that combined good looks with cynical detachment, including a prisoner-of-war entrepreneur in Stalag 17 (1953), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a pressured young engineer/family man in Executive Suite (1954), an acerbic stage director in The Country Girl (1954), a conflicted jet pilot in the Korean War film The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a wandering braggart in Picnic (1955), a dashing war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), an ill-fated prisoner in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and a WWII tug boat captain in The Key (1958).

He also played a number of sunnier roles in light comedy, such as the handsome architect pursuing virginal Maggie McNamara in the controversial Production Code-breaking The Moon is Blue (1953), as Judy Holliday's tutor in Born Yesterday (1950), as a playwright captivated by Ginger Rogers' character in Forever Female (1953) and as Humphrey Bogart's younger brother, a playboy, in Sabrina (1954), which also starred Audrey Hepburn.

Holden starred in his share of forgettable movies — which he was forced to do by studio contracts — such as Paris When It Sizzles (1964), also co-starring Audrey Hepburn. By the mid-1960s, his roles were having less critical and commercial impact.
Later career

In 1969, Holden starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch, winning much acclaim. Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Noel, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. This film was originally released in the United States as The Christmas Tree and on home video as When Wolves Cry.

Five years later, he starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno. He was also praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's Network (1976), playing an older version of the character type he had perfected in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. In 1980, Holden appeared in The Earthling with child actor Ricky Schroder, playing a loner dying of cancer who goes to the Australian outback to end his days, meets a young boy whose parents have been killed in an accident, and teaches him how to survive. Schroder later named one of his sons Holden.

During his last years, he also appeared in When Time Ran Out and Blake Edwards's S.O.B.. While his second Irwin Allen was a critical and commercial failure and largely disliked by Holden himself, his other last film directed by Edwards was more successful and a Golden Globe-nominated picture.
Personal life
Brenda Marshall, 1952

Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce (after many long separations) in 1971. They had two sons, Peter Westfield (born in 1944) and Scott Porter (born in 1946, died 2005, San Diego, CA). He also adopted his wife's daughter Virginia from her first marriage.

Although never involved in politics himself, he was best man at the marriage of his friend Ronald Reagan to Nancy Davis in 1952. He maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, Kenya, (founded 1959) became a mecca for the international jet set.

In 1974, he began a relationship with actress Stefanie Powers which sparked her interest in animal welfare. After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch.

His younger brother, Robert W. "Bobbie" Beedle, was a Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in World War II, on January 5, 1945. After The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) was released, Beedle was remembered by his squadron-mates as having been very much like Holden's character Lt. Harry Brubaker.
Death

In late 1980 Holden reportedly was diagnosed with lung cancer after visiting a lung specialist in Hanover. Holden was alone and intoxicated in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, when he apparently slipped on a throw rug, severely lacerated his head on a night table, and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least half-an-hour after the fall but may not have realized the severity of the injury and did not summon aid or was unable to call for help. His body was found on November 16, 1981, but forensic evidence suggests Holden likely died four days earlier. He was 63 years old.

Holden was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Filmography
Features

    * Prison Farm (1938) (uncredited)
    * Million Dollar Legs (1939) (uncredited)
    * Golden Boy (1939)
    * Invisible Stripes (1939)
    * Our Town (1940)
    * Those Were the Days! (1940)
    * Arizona (1940)
    * I Wanted Wings (1941)
    * Texas (1941)
    * The Fleet's In (1942)
    * The Remarkable Andrew (1942)
    * Meet the Stewarts (1942)
    * Young and Willing (1943)
    * Blaze of Noon (1947)
    * Dear Ruth (1947)
    * Variety Girl (1947)
    * The Man from Colorado (1948)
    * Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
    * Apartment for Peggy (1948)
    * The Dark Past (1948)
    * Streets of Laredo (1949)
    * Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
    * Dear Wife (1949)
    * Father Is a Bachelor (1950)
    * Sunset Boulevard (1950)
    * Union Station (1950)
    * Born Yesterday (1950)
    * Force of Arms (1951)
    * Submarine Command (1951)
    * Boots Malone (1952)
    * The Turning Point (1952)
    * Stalag 17 (1953)
    * The Moon Is Blue (1953)
    * Forever Female (1953)



    * Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
    * Executive Suite (1954)
    * Sabrina (1954)
    * The Country Girl (1954)
    * The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
    * Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
    * Picnic (1955)
    * The Proud and Profane (1956)
    * Toward the Unknown (1956)
    * The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
    * The Key (1958)
    * The Horse Soldiers (1959)
    * The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
    * Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
    * The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
    * The Lion (1962)
    * Paris, When It Sizzles (1964)
    * The 7th Dawn (1964)
    * Alvarez Kelly (1966)
    * Casino Royale (1967)
    * The Devil's Brigade (1968)
    * The Wild Bunch (1969)
    * The Christmas Tree (1969)
    * Wild Rovers (1971)
    * The Revengers (1972)
    * Breezy (1973)
    * Open Season(1974)
    * The Towering Inferno (1974)
    * Network (1976)
    * Fedora (1978)
    * Damien: Omen II (1978)
    * Ashanti (1979)
    * The Earthling (1980)
    * When Time Ran Out (1980)
    * S.O.B. (1981)

Short subjects

    * Reconnaissance Pilot (1943)
    * Wings Up (1943)
    * You Can Change the World (1951)

Awards and nominations
Academy Award

    * Best Actor Nomination for Sunset Boulevard (1951)
    * Best Actor Award for Stalag 17 (1953)
    * Best Actor Nomination for Network (1977)

BAFTA Award

    * Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Picnic (1955)
    * Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Network (1976)

Emmy Award

    * Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Award for The Blue Knight (film) (1974)
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg15/WelshWitch118/bill2.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o66/carriechiz/myspace/bh.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/17/10 at 6:36 am

The person who died on this day...Eddie Cochran
Edward Ray Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician and an important influence on popular music during the late 1950s, early 1960s Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, as Edward Ray Cochran.  His parents were from Oklahoma and he always stated in interviews that he was from Oklahoma. He took music lessons in school, but quit the band to play drums. Also, rather than taking piano lessons, he began learning guitar, playing the country music he heard on the radio. In 1955, Cochran's family moved to Bell Gardens, California. As his guitar playing improved, he formed a band with two friends from his junior high school. During a show featuring many performers at an American Legion hall, he met Hank Cochran (later a country music songwriter). Although they were not related, they recorded as The Cochran Brothers and began performing together.  Eddie Cochran also worked as a session musician, and began writing songs, making a "demo" with Jerry Capehart, his future manager.
Guitars

When playing with Hank Cochran, Eddie Cochran played a Gibson electric acoustic guitar with a single florentine cutaway. This guitar featured a pair of Gibson P90 pickups, sometimes called 'dog ear' pickups due to their shape.

Later, Cochran moved to a 1956 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Western model, which Eddie had modified. He replaced the neck position De Armond Dynasonic pickup with a black covered Gibson P-90 pickup. He also used Martin acoustic guitars.
Solo success

In 1956, Boris Petroff asked Cochran if he would appear in the musical comedy film The Girl Can't Help It. He agreed and sang a song called "Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie. In 1957, Cochran starred in his second film, Untamed Youth and also had his first hit, "Sittin' in the Balcony," one of the few songs he recorded that were written by other songwriters (in this case John D. Loudermilk). "Twenty Flight Rock" was written by AMI staff writer Ned Fairchild. AMI granted Cochran a co-writer credit, but no royalties, a common arrangement by which publishers move songs from demos to commercial recordings. This allowed Cochran to re-write or add to the song to turn it into a rock and roll song. Fairchild, who was not a rock and roll performer, merely provided the initial form of the song which Cochran later turned into a rock and roll song. His co-writing credit reflects his changes and contributions to the final product.

However, his most famous hit, "Summertime Blues" (co-written with Jerry Capehart), was an important influence on music in the late 1950s, both lyrically and musically. (The song, released on Liberty recording #55144, charted #8 on August 25, 1958.) Cochran's brief career included only a few more hits, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", "My Way", "Weekend","Teenage Heaven"' "Sitting in the Balcony"' "Three Stars", "Nervous Breakdown", and his posthumous UK number one hit "Three Steps to Heaven." In 1959, he backed Skeets McDonald at Columbia's studios for "You Oughta See Grandma Rock" and "Heart Breaking Mama."
Death

On Saturday, April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m., while on tour in the United Kingdom, 21-year-old Cochran died in a traffic accident in a taxi (a Ford Consul, not, as widely quoted, a London Hackney carriage) traveling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, on the A4. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill, where a plaque now commemorates the event (no other car was involved). Cochran was thrown through the windscreen, suffered severe head injuries, and was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash, Vincent sustaining injuries that would shorten his career and affected him for the rest of his life.

The taxi driver, George Martin, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for 15 years, and sent to prison for six months.

The car and other items from the crash were impounded at the local police station until a coroners' inquest could be held. At that time, David Harman, better known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, was a police cadet at the station. He taught himself to play guitar on Cochran's impounded Gretsch. Coincidentally, earlier in the tour, the same guitar had been carried to the car for Cochran by a young fan called Mark Feld, later to become famous as Marc Bolan of T.Rex and who, in a further coincidence, was also killed while a passenger in a single-car automobile accident.

Eddie Cochran is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California. A posthumous album, My Way, was released in 1964.
Posthumous releases and honors

Cochran was a prolific performer, and the British Label, Rockstar Records, has released more of his music posthumously than had been released during his life. The company is still looking for unpublished songs.

One of his posthumous releases was "Three Stars," a tribute to J.P. Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper, and Eddie's friends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, who had all died together in a plane crash just one year earlier. It was originally written and recorded by Tommy Dee just hours after the deaths were officially reported, and Cochran recorded his version the day after. His voice broke during the lyrics about Valens and Holly.

In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His pioneering contribution to the genre of rockabilly has also been recognised by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Several of his songs have been re-released since his death, such as "C'mon Everybody," which was a number 14 hit in 1988 in the UK.

Cochran's life is chronicled in several publications, including Don’t Forget Me – The Eddie Cochran Story, written by Julie Mundy and Darrel Higham (ISBN 0-8230-7931-7), and Three Steps To Heaven, written by Bobby Cochran (ISBN 0-634-03252-6).

On 2 June 2008, The Very Best of Eddie Cochran was released by EMI Records.
Influence

One of the first rock & roll artists to write his own songs and overdub tracks, Cochran is credited with being one of the first to use an unwound third string, in order to 'bend' notes up a whole tone - an innovation (imparted to UK guitarist Joe Brown, who secured much session work as a result) which has since become an essential part of the standard rock guitar vocabulary. Artists such as The Clash, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Rod Stewart, Motorhead, Humble Pie, Lemmy Kilmister, UFO (band), T. Rex, The Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Cliff Richard, The Who, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, The Sex Pistols, Rush, Buck Owens, Tiger Army, Dion, Simple Minds, Guitar Wolf, Paul McCartney, Alan Jackson, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, and Jimi Hendrix have covered his songs.

It was because Paul McCartney knew the chord and words to "Twenty Flight Rock" that he became a member of The Beatles. John Lennon was so impressed that he invited Paul to play with his band, The Quarrymen. Jimi Hendrix performed "Summertime Blues" early in his career, and Pete Townshend of The Who was heavily influenced by Cochran's guitar style ("Summertime Blues" was a Who live staple at one time and is featured on their Live At Leeds album). Glam rock artist Marc Bolan had his main Les Paul model refinished in a transparent orange to resemble the Gretsch 6120 guitar played by Cochran, who was his music hero.. He was also a heavy influence on the nascent rockabilly guitar legend Brian Setzer from Stray Cats, who plays a 6120 just like Cochran, whom he portrayed in the film La Bamba. Cochran is easily one of the first musicians, alongside Chuck Berry, that the late Rory Gallagher was always quick to mention as a strong influence on his musical taste and performance.

In 1988, "C'mon Everybody" was used by Levi Strauss & Co. in an advertisement to promote its 501 Jeans catalogue and re-released as a promotional single, hitting #14 in the UK charts. The advertisement told a story of how the narrator, Sharon Sheeley, attracted Cochran by wearing her 501s.
Discography

Chart positions from Billboard Hot 100.
Hit Singles

    * "Drive In Show" b/w "Am I Blue? Liberty F55087 (July 1957) #82
    * "Summertime Blues" b/w "Love Again" Liberty F55144 (July 1958) #8
    * "C'mon Everybody" b/w "Don't Ever Let Me Go" Liberty F55166 (October 1958) #35
    * "Teenage Heaven" b/w "I Remember" Liberty 55177 (February 1959) #99
    * "Somethin' Else" b/w "Boll Weevil Song" Liberty 55203 (July 1959) #58

Albums

    * Singin' To My Baby Liberty LRP-3061 (November 1957)
    * 12 of His Biggest Hits Liberty LRP-3172 (April 1960) reissued as The Eddie Cochran Memorial Album (May 1960)
    * Never To Be Forgotten Liberty LRP-3220 (5 January 1962)
    * Cherished Memories (December 1962)
    * The Best Of Eddie Cohran Liberty-EMI U.K. (1985) (The mono 16 track LP/cassette is from the Rock 'N' Roll Masters series.)
    * Greatest Hits Curb Records (1990)
    * Singin' to My Baby and Never To Be Forgotten EMI Records (1993)
    * The Very Best of Eddie Cochran (June 2008)
    * Eddie Cochran Story (6 July 2009)

Literature

    * Bobby Cochran with Susan Van Hecke: Three Steps to Heaven: The Eddie Cochran Story. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard 2003. ISBN 0-634-03252-6
    * Julie Mundy and Darrel Higham: Don't Forget Me: The Eddie Cochran Story. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company 2000. ISBN 0-8230-7931-7
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/mattrgarrett/eddie_cochran.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s181/normanmckenna/Eddie%20Cochran/scan0019.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/17/10 at 2:50 pm


The word of the day...Boulevard
A boulevard is a wide street in a city, usually with trees along each side
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b322/icyhotahs/Europe/Prague/Day%201/100_4724.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff23/Mariek1984/IMGP0556.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/ICEGATOR-FAN/WDW%20December%202009/HS-22-SunsetBlvd.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn26/Wurdsje/Foto/Antwerpen/b179e3b1.jpg
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q64/missmatisse13/boulevard.jpg
http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo154/BAROQUELIVRES/boulevard.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb311/big_harleyl/bOULEVARD.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee221/mshdsign/LA%202008/SD530102.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f323/ZeratulPy/sunset_boulevard.jpg



Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/18/10 at 6:15 am

The word of the day...Kids
You can refer to a child as a kid.
Young people who are no longer children are sometimes referred to as kids.
You can refer to your younger brother as your kid  brother and your younger sister as your kid sister.
A kid is a young goat
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii144/MeliCrush/Bands%20and%20Music/Forever-the-Sickest-Kids.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc44/Quaggy_Mire/Dramas/WUAS/Kids.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac79/aussie_babe_2010/medomshaebree.jpg
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz254/josie361/Kids/0118143857.jpg
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/kirby3521/kirralukesamjake.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab208/imatoofcleaner/DSCF0417.jpg
http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy236/addieburt/haitianlittleboys.jpg
http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af48/simon-white/stuff053.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z62/kellimom/Kelli%20and%20Kids%20pics/kiddos.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z56/mccabesniece/ththbaby-goats0012.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/18/10 at 6:19 am

The person born on this day...Rick Moranis
Frederick Alan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) is a retired Canadian  comedian, actor and musician. Coming to prominence in the 1980s on Second City Television, before moving on to appearances in several Hollywood films including Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of Horrors; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Little Giants; Parenthood; and My Blue Heaven.

In 1996-1997, Moranis announced that because he had other obstacles in his life, he would retire from acting, though he occasionally does voice-over work. Moranis was born in Toronto, Ontario, and went to high school at the Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School. He went to elementary school with Geddy Lee, frontman of the rock band Rush.
SCTV
Main article: Second City Television

He followed that with his work at SCTV, enjoying particular success portraying "Bob" of Bob and Doug McKenzie. Doug was played by Canadian actor Dave Thomas.

His other SCTV characterizations include motor-mouthed film producer Larry Siegel, terminally ill rock star Clay Collins, smooth-voiced VJ Gerry Todd, pop star Linsk Minyk from the fictional country Leutonia, kid-brother amateur comic Skip Bittman, head cheese butcher Carl Scutz, and morning homily intellect Rabbi Karlov.
Feature films
The handprints of Rick Moranis in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

After his SCTV work, Moranis had a busy film career that lasted over a decade. In a 2004 interview, Moranis talked about the kinds of films he enjoyed the most:
“ On the last couple of movies I made — big-budget Hollywood movies — I really missed being able to create my own material. In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff, whether it was Ghostbusters or Spaceballs. By the time I got to the point where I was "starring" in movies, and I had executives telling me what lines to say, that wasn't for me. I’m really not an actor. I'm a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody’s precious words work.
Retirement

He left the film industry in 1997, a few years after the 1991 loss of his wife, Anne, to liver cancer. He later explained that he "pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it".

As of 2004, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program at Humber College.

In 2005, Moranis released an album entitled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics which Moranis says follow in the comic tradition of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller, Kinky Friedman, and Jim Stafford. The album was produced by Tony Scherr, and is distributed through ArtistShare, as well as Moranis' official web site. Commenting on the origins of the songs, he said that in 2003, "out of the blue, I just wrote a bunch of songs. For lack of a better explanation, they’re more country than anything. And I actually demoed four or five of them, and I'm not sure at this point what I’m going to do with them—whether I’m going to fold them into a full-length video or a movie. But, boy, I had a good time doing that".

On December 8, 2005, The Agoraphobic Cowboy was announced as a nominee for the 2006 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. (A previous album by Moranis was entitled You, Me, The Music, and Me (1989)). On February 3, 2006, Moranis performed Press Pound on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and discussed the development of his music career.

In November 2007, Moranis reunited with Dave Thomas for a 24th anniversary special of Bob and Doug McKenzie, titled Bob and Doug McKenzie's 2-4 Anniversary. The duo shot new footage for this special. Thomas subsequently created a new animated Bob and Doug McKenzie series, Bob & Doug, for his company Animax Entertainment. Moranis declined to voice the role of Bob, which was taken over by Dave Coulier, but remains involved in the series as an executive producer.

On June 24, 2008, Moranis declined to come out of retirement to join the other cast members of Ghostbusters in the production of a new video game based on the films. The following year, Ghostbusters' Harold Ramis told Entertainment Weekly of a proposed Ghostbusters 3 that, "Everybody said they'd do it". Ramis later stated to Student Life "Rick won’t do it. Rick has retired from show business. But everyone else says they’ll do it." However, Cinematical recently reported that Moranis may come out of retirement to reprise his role as Louis Tully.
Discography
Albums

    * The Great White North (1981)
    * You, Me, the Music and Me (1989)
    * The Agoraphobic Cowboy (2005)

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Strange Brew Bob McKenzie
1984 Hockey Night Coach
The Wild Life Harry
Ghostbusters Louis Tully
Streets of Fire Billy Fish
1985 Brewster's Millions Morty King
1986 Little Shop of Horrors Seymour Krelborn
Head Office Howard Gross
Club Paradise Barry Nye
1987 Spaceballs Lord Dark Helmet
1989 The Rocket Boy Automatic Safety System
Ghostbusters II Louis Tully
Parenthood Nathan Huffner
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Wayne Szalinski
1990 My Blue Heaven Barney Coopersmith
1991 L.A. Story Gravedigger uncredited
1992 Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Wayne Szalinski
1993 Splitting Heirs Henry Bullock
1994 Little Giants Danny O'Shea
The Flintstones Barney Rubble
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience Wayne Szalinski
1996 Big Bully David Leary
1997 Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves Wayne Szalinski
2001 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys The Toy Taker / Mr. Cuddles the Teddy Bear voice
2003 Brother Bear Rutt voice
2006 Brother Bear 2 Rutt voice
Audio/Video

    * Rock Radio Scrapbook 1973, with a RealAudio clip of Rick Allen from June 1973
    * Rick Moranis Radio Interview with Chris Comer & Rob Ervin April 18, 2006
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee271/falloutbabe209/rick-moranis.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r202/corinnemic/moranis-rick.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/18/10 at 6:24 am

The person who died on this day...Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (pronounced /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German:   ( listen); 14 March 1879–18 April 1955) was a German-born Swiss-American  theoretical physicist, philosopher  and author who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics.  He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."

His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of light by gravity and gravitational lensing, the first fluctuation dissipation theorem which explained the Brownian movement of molecules, the photon theory and wave-particle duality, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the semiclassical version of the Schrödinger equation, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation.

Einstein published more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein additionally wrote and commentated prolifically on numerous philosophical and political issues. Albert Einstein (pronounced /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German:   ( listen); 14 March 1879–18 April 1955) was a German-born Swiss-American  theoretical physicist, philosopher  and author who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics.  He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."

His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of light by gravity and gravitational lensing, the first fluctuation dissipation theorem which explained the Brownian movement of molecules, the photon theory and wave-particle duality, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the semiclassical version of the Schrödinger equation, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation.

Einstein published more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein additionally wrote and commentated prolifically on numerous philosophical and political issues.
* There is too much to put here, so you can go to Wikipedia to read more on him
http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx32/crystalmojo/Albert-Einstein-quote-1.jpg
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo203/am_special_one/Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/18/10 at 6:56 am


The word of the day...Kids
You can refer to a child as a kid.
Young people who are no longer children are sometimes referred to as kids.
You can refer to your younger brother as your kid  brother and your younger sister as your kid sister.
A kid is a young goat
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii144/MeliCrush/Bands%20and%20Music/Forever-the-Sickest-Kids.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc44/Quaggy_Mire/Dramas/WUAS/Kids.jpg
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac79/aussie_babe_2010/medomshaebree.jpg
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz254/josie361/Kids/0118143857.jpg
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/kirby3521/kirralukesamjake.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab208/imatoofcleaner/DSCF0417.jpg
http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy236/addieburt/haitianlittleboys.jpg
http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af48/simon-white/stuff053.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z62/kellimom/Kelli%20and%20Kids%20pics/kiddos.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z56/mccabesniece/ththbaby-goats0012.jpg


I remember when I was a kid.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/18/10 at 11:41 am


I remember when I was a kid.


Did you look like this?
http://www.missouridairygoats.com/images/legend-goat.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/18/10 at 7:19 pm


Did you look like this?
http://www.missouridairygoats.com/images/legend-goat.jpg



Cat


BAAAA!  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 6:43 am

The word of the day...Buxom
If you describe a woman as buxom, you mean that she looks healthy and attractive and has a rounded body and big breasts.
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l367/grumpygrimone/c0da46cf.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af76/1971ALW/3034805943.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa249/nebulax/melons.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq161/chef333/100_0170.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z83/cate8089/Darwin/Hookers%20Ball%202002/dd60scd.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z287/SwineyLOTR/Ren%20Faires/DSC01297.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f210/pip_longfellow/changeling%202006/f17b.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 6:46 am

The person born on this day...Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield (April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress working both on Broadway and in Hollywood. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s,  Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes.

While Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box office successes. She won the Theatre World Award, a Golden Globe and a Golden Laurel. As the demand for blonde bombshells declined in the 1960s, Mansfield was relegated to low-budget film melodramas and comedies, but remained a popular celebrity.

In her later career she continued to attract large crowds in foreign countries and in lucrative and successful nightclub tours. Mansfield had been a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times. She died in an automobile accident at age 34. Mansfield's husband at the time, Paul Mansfield, hoped the birth of their child would discourage her interest in acting. When it did not, he agreed to move to Los Angeles in late 1954 to help further her career.  Between a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as a candy vendor at a movie theatre, Mansfield studied drama at UCLA. Her movie career began with bit parts at Warner Brothers. She was signed by the studio after one of its talent scouts discovered her in a production at the Pasadena Playhouse. Mansfield had small roles in Female Jungle (1954), and in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) which starred Jack Webb.

In 1955, Paul Wendkos offered her the dramatic role of Gladden in The Burglar, his film adaptation of David Goodis' novel. The film was done in film noir style, and Mansfield appeared alongside Dan Duryea and Martha Vickers. The Burglar was released two years later when Mansfield's fame was at its peak. She was successful in this straight dramatic role, though most of her subsequent film appearances would be either comedic in nature or capitalize on her sex appeal. She made two more movies with Warner Brothers, one of which gave her a minor role as Angel O'Hara, opposite Edward G. Robinson, in Illegal (1955).

In 1955, she enjoyed a successful Broadway run acting in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. Returning to Hollywood she starred in the film production of Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956). This was Mansfield's first starring role and she portrayed an outrageously voluptuous but apparently tone-deaf girlfriend of a retired racketeer. The film features some early performances from Fats Domino, The Platters and Little Richard.
Film career
Hollywood films

On May 3, 1956, Mansfield signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. She then played a straight dramatic role in The Wayward Bus in 1957. With her role in this film she attempted to move away from her "dumb blonde" image and establish herself as a serious actress. This film was adapted from John Steinbeck's novel, and the cast included Dan Dailey and Joan Collins. The film enjoyed reasonable success at the box office. She won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year - Actress, beating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood, for her performance as a "wistful derelict" in The Wayward Bus. It was "generally conceded to have been her best acting," according to The New York Times, in a fitful career hampered by her flamboyant image, distinctive voice ("a soft-voiced coo punctuated with squeals"), voluptuous figure, and limited acting range.

Mansfield reprised her role of Rita Marlowe in the 1957 movie version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, co-starring Tony Randall and Joan Blondell. The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? were popular successes in their day and are considered classics.
In Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

Mansfield's fourth starring role in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me (1957) in which she received prominent billing alongside Cary Grant. However, in the film itself she is little more than comedy relief while Grant's character shows a preference for a sleek, demure redhead portrayed by fashion model Suzy Parker.

Kiss Them for Me was a box office disappointment and would prove to be her final starring role in a mainstream Hollywood studio film. The movie was described as "vapid" and "ill-advised". It was also one of the last attempts of 20th Century Fox to publicize her.

The continuing publicity around her physical presence failed to sustain her career. Mansfield was offered a part opposite Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle, but had to turn it down due to pregnancy.
1960s films

Despite the publicity and her public popularity, good film roles dried up for Mansfield after 1959. She kept busy in a series of low-budget films, mostly made in Europe. Fox tried to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman in his ill-fated first attempt at comedy, Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, but Mansfield's Wayward Bus co-star Joan Collins was selected for the role. In 1960 Fox lent her to appear in two independent gangster thrillers in England. These were Too Hot to Handle, which was directed by Terence Young and co-starred Karlheinz Böhm, and The Challenge, co-starring Anthony Quayle. Fox also lined up "Playgirl After Dark" and It Happened in Athens. This Olympic-themed movie was filmed in Greece and would not be released until 1962. Despite receiving top billing in It Happened in Athens, Mansfield was relegated to a colorful, scantily-clad supporting role.
In Promises! Promises!, the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star in the nude.

In 1963, Tommy Noonan persuaded Mansfield to become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude with a starring role in the film Promises! Promises!. Photographs of a naked Mansfield on the set were published in Playboy. In one notorious set of images, Mansfield stares at one of her breasts, as does her male secretary and a hair stylist, then grasps it in one hand and lifts it high. The sold-out issue resulted in an obscenity charge for Hugh Hefner, which was later dropped. Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, but it enjoyed box office success elsewhere. As a result of the film's success, Mansfield landed on the Top 10 list of Box Office Attractions for that year. The autobiographical book, Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World, she wrote together with Mickey Hargitay, was published right after Promises! Promises! and contains 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film printed on glossy paper.

By 1962 Mansfield still commanded high prices as a live performer, though she openly yearned to establish a more sophisticated image. She announced that she wanted to study acting in New York, in apparent emulation of Marilyn Monroe's stint with the Actors' Studio. But her reliance on the racy publicity that had set her path to fame would also prove to be her downfall. Fox did not renew its contract with her in 1962.

In 1963 Mansfield appeared in the low-budget West German movie Homesick for St. Pauli with Austrian-born schlager singer Freddy Quinn. She played Evelyne, a sexy American singer who is traveling to Hamburg by ship. She is followed by an Elvis-like American pop star played by Quinn. Mansfield sang two German songs in the movie, though her speaking voice was dubbed. Despite her film career setbacks Mansfield remained a highly visible personality through the early 1960s through her publicity antics and stage performances. For her last film Single Room Furnished, Mansfield acted without make up and had worn a black wig to break out of the stereotype.
Publicity stunts
with jockeys Johnny Longden, Eddie Arcaro and Willie Shoemaker at Jockeys' Ball in Los Angeles, Calif., 1957

Mansfield appeared in about 2,500 newspaper photographs between September 1956 and May 1957, and had about 122,000 lines of newspaper copy written about her during this time. Because of the successful media blitz, Mansfield was a household name. Throughout her career, Mansfield was compared by the media to the reigning sex symbol of the period, Marilyn Monroe. Of this comparison, she said, "I don't know why you people like to compare me to Marilyn or that girl, what's her name, Kim Novak. Cleavage, of course, helped me a lot to get where I am. I don't know how they got there." Even with her film roles drying up she was widely considered to be Monroe's primary rival in a crowded field of contenders that included Mamie Van Doren (whom Mansfield considered her professional nemesis), Diana Dors, Cleo Moore, Barbara Nichols, Joi Lansing, and Sheree North.
Sophia Loren (left) and Jayne Mansfield (right), at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills

In April 1957, her bosom was the feature of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect attention from Sophia Loren during a dinner party in the Italian star's honor. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image showed Loren raising an eyebrow at the American actress who, sitting between Loren and her dinner companion, Clifton Webb, had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple. A similar incident, resulting in the full exposure of both breasts, occurred during a film festival in West Berlin, when Mansfield was wearing a low-cut dress and her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, picked her up so she could bite a bunch of grapes hanging overhead at a party; the movement caused her breasts to erupt out of the dress. The photograph of that episode was a UPI sensation, appearing in newspapers and magazines with the word "censored" hiding the actress's exposed bosom. The world media was quick to condemn Mansfield's stunts, and one editorial columnist wrote, "We are amused when Miss Mansfield strains to pull in her stomach to fill out her bikini better. But we get angry when career-seeking women, shady ladies, and certain starlets and actresses ... use every opportunity to display their anatomy unasked." Mansfield's most celebrated physical attributes would fluctuate in size due to her pregnancies and breast feeding five children. Her smallest measurement was 40D (which she was throughout the 50s), and largest at 46DD, when measured by the press in 1967. According to Playboy, her measurement was 40D-21-36 and her height was 5'6". According to her autopsy report, she was 5'8".

By the late 1950s, Mansfield began to generate a great deal of negative publicity due to her repeated successful attempts to expose her breasts in carefully staged public "accidents". Her bosom was so much a part of her public persona that talk-show host Jack Paar once welcomed the actress to The Tonight Show by saying, "Here they are, Jayne Mansfield", a line that was written for Paar by Dick Cavett and became the title of her biography by Raymond Strait. Early in her career, the prominence of her breasts was considered problematic, leading her to be cut from her first professional assignment, an advertising campaign for General Electric, which depicted several young women in bathing suits relaxing around a pool.
Career outside film
Stage work

Mansfield acted on stage as well as in film. In 1955, she went to New York and appeared in a prominent role in the Broadway production of George Axelrod's comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. The New York Times described the "commendable abandon" of her scantily clad rendition of Rita Marlowe in the play, "a platinum-pated movie siren with the wavy contours of Marilyn Monroe.

In October 1957, Mansfield went on a 16-country tour of Europe for 20th Century Fox. She also appeared in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bus Stop, which were well reviewed and co-starred Hargitay. Dissatisfied with her film roles, Mansfield and Hargitay headlined at the Dunes in Las Vegas in an act called The House of Love, for which the actress earned $35,000 a week. It proved to be such a hit that she extended her stay, and 20th Century Fox Records subsequently recorded the show for an album called Jayne Mansfield Busts Up Las Vegas, in 1962.

With her film career floundering, she still commanded a salary of $8,000-$25,000 per week for her nightclub act. She traveled all over the world with it. In 1967, the year she died, Mansfield's time was split between nightclub performances and the production of her last film, Single Room Furnished, a low-budget production directed by then-husband Matt Cimber.
Recordings

In addition to singing in English and German in a number of films, in 1964, Mansfield released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me, on which she recited Shakespeare's sonnets and poems by Marlowe, Browning, Wordsworth, and others against a background of Tchaikovsky's music. The album cover depicted a bouffant-coiffed Mansfield with lips pursed and breasts barely covered by a fur stole, posing between busts of the Russian composer and the Bard of Avon.

The New York Times described the album as the actress reading "30-odd poems in a husky, urban, baby voice". The paper's reviewer went on to state that "Miss Mansfield is a lady with apparent charms, but reading poetry is not one of them."

Jimi Hendrix played bass and lead guitar for Mansfield in 1965 on two songs, "As The Clouds Drift By" and "Suey", released together on two sides. According to Hendrix historian Steven Roby (Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix, Billboard Books) this collaboration happened because they shared the same manager.
Television

Though her acting roles were becoming marginalized, in 1964 Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant in Gilligan's Island, claiming that the role, which eventually was given to Tina Louise, epitomized the stereotype she wished to rid herself of.

Mansfield toured with Bob Hope for the USO and appeared on numerous television programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jack Benny Show (where she played the violin), The Steve Allen Show, Down You Go, The Match Game (one rare episode exists with her as a team captain), and The Jackie Gleason Show. Mansfield's television roles included appearances in Burke's Law and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. On returning from New York to Hollywood, she made several television appearances, including several spots as a featured guest star on game shows.

In 1962, Mansfield appeared with Brian Keith in ABC's Follow the Sun dramatic series in an acclaimed episode entitled "The Dumbest Blonde" in which her character "Scottie" is a beautiful blonde who feels insecure in the high society of her older boyfriend, played by Keith. The plot was based on the film of Born Yesterday.
Personal life

Mansfield was married three times, divorced twice, and had five children. Reportedly she also had affairs and sexual encounters with numerous individuals, including Claude Terrail (the owner of the Paris restaurant La Tour d'Argent), Robert F. Kennedy, John F Kennedy the Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, and Anton LaVey.

She secretly married Paul Mansfield on January 28, 1950. The couple had a public wedding on May 10, 1950 and were divorced on January 8, 1958. During this marriage they had one child, Jayne Marie Mansfield. Two weeks before her mother's death, Jayne Marie, then 16, accused her mother's boyfriend, Sam Brody, of beating her. The girl's statement to officers of the West Los Angeles police department the following morning implicated her mother in encouraging the abuse, and days later, a juvenile-court judge awarded temporary custody of Jayne Marie to a great-uncle, W.W. Pigue.

Mansfield married Miklós Hargitay, an actor and bodybuilder, (publicly known as Mickey Hargitay, who won the Mr. Universe title in 1955) on January 13, 1958 at The Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The unique glass chapel made public and press viewing of the wedding much easier. Jayne herself wore a transparent wedding gown, adding to the occasion's publicity aspect. The couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico in May 1963. The Mexican divorce was initially declared invalid in California, and the two reconciled in October 1963. After the birth of their third child, Mansfield sued for the Juarez divorce to be declared legal and won. The divorce was recognized in the United States on August 26, 1964. She had previously filed for divorce on May 4, 1962, but told reporters, "I'm sure we will make it up." Their acrimonious divorce had the actress accusing Hargitay of kidnapping one of her children to force a more favorable financial settlement. During this marriage she had three children — Miklós Jeffrey Palmer Hargitay (born December 21, 1958), Zoltán Anthony Hargitay (born August 1, 1960), and Mariska Magdolina Hargitay (born January 23, 1964), an actress best known for her role as Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In November 1957 (shortly before her marriage to Hargitay), Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallee at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the Pink Palace. Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 worth of free merchandise while paying only $76,000 for the mansion itself (a large sum nonetheless when the average house cost under $7,500 at the time ).

Mansfield married Matt Cimber (alias Matteo Ottaviano, né Thomas Vitale Ottaviano) an Italian-born film director on September 24, 1964. The couple separated on July 11, 1965, and filed for divorce on July 20, 1966. Cimber was a director with whom the actress had become involved when he directed her in a widely praised stage production of Bus Stop in Yonkers, New York, which costarred Hargitay. Cimber took over managing her career during their marriage. With him she had one son, Antonio Raphael Ottaviano (alias Tony Cimber, born October 17, 1965).

She had a brief affair with Jan Cremer, a young Dutch writer who dedicated his 1965 autobiographical novel, I, Jan Cremer, to her.. Jan Cremer wrote a large part of his book I, Jan Cremer - III about their relationship. She also had a well-publicized relationship in 1963 with the singer Nelson Sardelli, whom she said she planned to marry once her divorce from Hargitay was finalized. Work on her last film, Single Room Furnished, was suspended as her marriage to director Matt Cimber began to collapse in the wake of Mansfield's alcohol abuse, open infidelities, and her claim to Cimber that she had only ever been happy with her former lover, Nelson Sardelli.

At the time of her death, Mansfield was accompanied by Sam Brody, her married divorce lawyer and lover at the time.
Death
Gravestone, picture taken in 2007

While in Biloxi, Mississippi, for an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club, Mansfield stayed at the Cabana Courtyard Apartments, which were near the supper club. After a June 28, 1967 evening engagement, Mansfield, Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, along with the actress's children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska, set out in Stevens' 1966 Buick Electra 225 for New Orleans, where Mansfield was to appear in an early morning television interview. Prior to leaving Biloxi, the party made a stop at the home of Rupert and Edna O'Neal, a family that lived nearby. After a late dinner with the O'Neals, during which the last photographs of Ms. Mansfield were taken, the party set out for New Orleans. On June 29 at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90, the car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed because of a truck spraying mosquito fogger. The automobile struck the rear of the semi tractor and went under it. Riding in the front seat, the adults were killed instantly. The children in the rear survived with minor injuries.
The cenotaph at Hollywood Forever, with incorrect birth year

Rumors that Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, though she did suffer severe head trauma. This urban legend was spawned by the appearance in police photographs of a crashed automobile with its top virtually sheared off, and what resembles a blonde-haired head tangled in the car's smashed windshield. It is believed that this was either a wig that Mansfield was wearing or was her actual hair and scalp. The death certificate stated that the immediate cause of Mansfield's death was a "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain." Following her death, the NHTSA began requiring an underride guard, a strong bar made of steel tubing, to be installed on all tractor-trailers. This bar is also known as a Mansfield bar, and on occasions as a DOT bar.

Mansfield's funeral was held on July 3, in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. The ceremony was officiated by a Methodist minister, though Mansfield, who long tried to convert to Catholicism, had become interested in Judaism at the end of her life through her relationship with Sam Brody. She is interred in Fairview Cemetery, southeast of Pen Argyl. Her gravestone reads "We Live to Love You More Each Day". A memorial cenotaph, showing an incorrect birth year, was erected in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California. The cenotaph was placed by The Jayne Mansfield Fan Club and has the incorrect birth year because Mansfield herself tended to provide incorrect information about her age.
Legacy

Shortly after Mansfield's funeral, Mickey Hargitay sued his former wife's estate for more than $275,000 to support the children, whom he and his third and last wife, Ellen Siano, would raise. Mansfield's youngest child, Tony, was raised by his father, Matt Cimber, whose divorce from the actress was pending when she was killed. In 1968, wrongful-death lawsuits were filed on behalf of Jayne Marie Mansfield and Matt Cimber, the former for $4.8 million and the latter for $2.7 million. The Pink Palace was sold and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot, and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year. Much of her estate is managed by CMG Worldwide, an intellectual property management company.
Recognition
See also: Jayne Mansfield in popular culture

    * In February 1955, Mansfield was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy, in which she subsequently appeared over 30 times.
    * Although Mansfield was reluctant to appear in the play, she received the Theatre World Award of 1956 for her performance in the Broadway production of George Axelrod's comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.
    * Mansfield won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year - Actress
    * Mansfield won a Golden Laurel in 1959 for Top Female Musical Performance for her role in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, a western spoof directed by Raoul Walsh, although the songs were performed by Connie Francis.
    * In 1963, Mansfield was voted one of the Top 10 Box Office Attractions by an organization of American theater owners for her performance in Promises! Promises!, a film banned in areas around the US.
    * Mansfield has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography
Year Movie Title Role Director Note
1955 Hell on Frisco Bay Mario's Dance Partner at Nightclub Frank Tuttle
1955 Female Jungle Candy Price Bruno VeSota Alternative title: The Hangover
1955 Pete Kelly's Blues Cigarette Girl Jack Webb
1955 Illegal Angel O'Hara Lewis Allen
1956 The Girl Can't Help It Jerri Jordan Frank Tashlin
1957 The Burglar Gladden Paul Wendkos
1957 The Wayward Bus Camille Oakes Victor Vicas
1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Rita Marlowe Frank Tashlin Alternative title: Oh! For a Man! (UK)
1957 Kiss Them for Me Alice Kratzner Stanley Donen
1958 The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw Kate Raoul Walsh The three musical numbers in this movie - "In the valley of love", "Strolling down the lane with Billy", and "If the San Francisco Hills could only talk" - were only lip-synced by Jayne Mansfield; the singing voice was provided by Connie Francis. Of these three, only "In the valley of love" was released on record, albeit only in the United Kingdom and Japan.
1960 The Challenge Billy John Gilling Alternative title: It Takes a Thief (US)
1960 Too Hot to Handle Midnight Franklin Terence Young Alternative title: Playgirl After Dark (US)
1960 The Loves of Hercules Queen Dianira/Hippolyta Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia Alternative titles Gli Amori di Ercole (Italy), Les Amours d'Hercule (France), Hercules vs. the Hydra (TV title)
1961 The George Raft Story Lisa Lang Joseph M. Newman Alternative title: Spin of a Coin (UK)
1962 Lykke og krone Documentary
1962 It Happened In Athens Eleni Costa Andrew Marton
1963 Heimweh nach St. Pauli Evelyne Werner Jacobs Alternative title: Homesick for St. Pauli (US)
1963 Promises! Promises! Sandy Brooks King Donovan
1964 L'Amore Primitivo Dr. Jane Luigi Scattini Alternative title: Primitive Love (US)
1964 Panic Button Angela George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo Alternative title: Let's Go Bust (US)
1964 Dog Eat Dog Darlene Richard E. Cunha, Gustav Gavrin Alternative titles: When Strangers Meet (UK), Einer frißt den anderen (West Germany), La morte vestita di dollari (Italy)
1965 The Loved One Scenes deleted
1966 The Las Vegas Hillbillys Tawny Arthur C. Pierce Alternative title: Country Music (US)
1966 The Fat Spy Junior Wellington Joseph Cates
1967 A Guide for the Married Man Technical Adviser (Girl with Harold) Gene Kelly
1967 Spree Documentary
1967 Mondo Hollywood Documentary
1968 The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield Documentary
1968 Single Room Furnished Johnnie/Mae/Eileen Matt Cimber Posthumous release
Discography
Albums

    * Jayne Mansfield Busts up Las Vegas (20th Century Fox, 1962)
    * Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me (MGM, 1964)
    * I Wanna Be Loved By You (Golden Options, 2000)
    * Dyed Blondes (Recall Records, 2002)
    * Too Hot to Handle (Blue Moon, France, 2003)

Singles

    * That Makes It (The Las Vegas Hillbillys)
    * Too Hot to Handle (Too Hot to Handle)
    * Little Things Mean a Lot
    * As The Clouds Drift By (with Jimi Hendrix, A-side)
    * Suey (with Jimi Hendrix, B-side)
    * You Were Made for Me
    * Wo Ist Der Mann (Homesick for St. Pauli)
    * Snicksnack-Snucklchen (Homesick for St. Pauli)
    * It's a Living

Theater performances

    * Death of a Salesman (1953)
    * Bus Stop (1965)
    * Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1966)
    * Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955–1956)
    * Rabbit Habit (1965)

Books

    * Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World (Holloway House; 1963; co-author: Mickey Hargitay)
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l117/hayley1_03/Jayne-Mansfieldarticle.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u265/katie77950/mansfield_j.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 6:50 am

The person who died on this day...Layne Staley
Layne Thomas Staley (August 22, 1967 – c. April 5, 2002) was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains, which was formed in Seattle, Washington  in 1987 by Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s. The band became known for its distinct vocal style, which often included the "snarl-to-a-scream" vocals of Staley,  as well as the harmonized vocals of Staley and Cantrell.  Staley was also a member of the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99. He struggled throughout his career with severe drug addiction, which eventually led to his death in April 2002. Layne Staley was born to Phil Staley and Nancy McCallum (née Layne) in Kirkland, Washington.  He was seven years old when his parents divorced, after which he was raised by his mother and stepfather, Jim Elmer. He took his stepfather's name while in high school and was known for some time as Layne Elmer.  In early 2002, shortly before his death, he would describe the experience of witnessing his parents' divorce: "My world became a nightmare, there were just shadows around me. I got a call saying that my dad had died, but my family always knew he was around doing all kind of drugs. Since that call I always was wondering, 'Where is my dad?' I felt so sad for him and I missed him. He dropped out of my life for 15 years."  In that same interview he hinted that his parents' break-up and his father's drug use were at least partially responsible for his own drug problems, and also said that he was convinced that if he became a celebrity his dad would return.

Staley began playing drums at age 12; he played in several glam bands in his early teens, but by this point, Staley had aspirations of becoming a singer. In 1985, Staley formed a band called Sleze, which also featured future Second Coming members Johnny Bacolas and James Bergstrom. With the addition of guitarist Nick Pollock in 1986, Sleze morphed into Alice N' Chains, a band which Staley said "dressed in drag and played speed metal." The new band performed around the Seattle area playing Slayer and Armored Saint covers. Staley met guitarist Jerry Cantrell while working at Music Bank rehearsal studios, where the two struggling musicians became roommates, and lived in a rehearsal space they shared. Alice N' Chains soon disbanded and Staley joined a funk band who at the time also required a guitarist. He asked Cantrell to join as a sideman. Cantrell agreed on condition that Staley join Cantrell's band Diamond Lie, which at the time included drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr. Eventually the funk project broke up and in 1987 Staley joined Cantrell on a full time basis. Diamond Lie played in clubs around the Pacific Northwest, often stretching 15 minutes of material into a 45-minute set. The band eventually took the name of Alice in Chains.
Alice in Chains
Main article: Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains released their debut album Facelift on August 21, 1990. The second single, "Man in the Box", with lyrics written by Staley, became a huge hit. "Man in the Box" is widely recognized for its distinctive "wordless opening melody, where Layne Staley's peculiar, tensed-throat vocals are matched in unison with an effects-laden guitar" followed by "portentous lines like: 'Jesus Christ/Deny your maker' and 'He who tries/Will be wasted' with Cantrell's drier, and less-urgent voice." Facelift has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA for sales of two million copies in the United States. The band toured in support of the album for two years before releasing the acoustic EP Sap in early 1992. In September 1992, Alice in Chains released Dirt. The critically-acclaimed album, also the band's most successful, debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, and was certified quadruple platinum. The band did not tour in support of Dirt for very long, due to Staley's drug addiction. While touring, Starr left the band due to personal reasons and was replaced by Mike Inez.

Although Cantrell wrote or co-wrote along with Kinney, Starr, and Inez almost all of the music for Alice in Chains, Staley wrote more and more lyrics as time went on, eventually receiving credit for about half the lyrics from their entire catalog as well as writing three songs musically and lyrically—"Hate to Feel", "Angry Chair" and "Head Creeps". Staley's lyrics are largely viewed as having often dealt with his struggle against heroin addiction, God, and other personal troubles. The album Dirt showcased the former in songs like "Sickman", "Junkhead", "God Smack" and "Angry Chair", the only single for which Staley wrote the music as well as the lyrics.

1994 saw the release of Alice in Chains' second acoustic EP, Jar of Flies. It debuted at number one, making it the first Alice in Chains release—and the first-ever EP—to do so. The other members of Alice in Chains, seeing Staley's deteriorating condition, opted not to tour in support of Jar of Flies. Following its release, Staley entered a rehabilitation clinic and began to work on a side project with several Seattle musicians, including Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees. The band worked on material for several months and eventually scheduled a show at the Crocodile Cafe under the name The Gacy Bunch. Within a few weeks, the band changed its name to Mad Season. In January 1995, Mad Season performed two songs on Pearl Jam's Self-Pollution satellite radio broadcast, "Lifeless Dead" and "I Don't Know Anything". The band completed an album, titled Above, which was released in March 1995. The first single, "River of Deceit", became a modest success on alternative radio, and "I Don't Know Anything" still receives occasional airplay. A live performance filmed at the Moore Theatre in Seattle was released in August 1995 as a home video, Live at the Moore.

During Alice in Chains' hiatus, reports of Staley's addiction began to gain widespread circulation in fan and media communities, in part from changes to his physical condition brought on by prolonged heroin abuse. He struggled tremendously. Referencing Staley's guest-singing appearance with Tool on the song "Opiate", the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, "At KISW-FM's 'Rockstock' concert at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton in May 1994—just a month after the death of Kurt Cobain—Staley made a surprise appearance. He looked sickly and wore a wool ski mask to hide his face." Some of the more persistent and unsubstantiated rumors, ranging from gangrene to missing fingers, surfaced during this period. Mark Arm of Mudhoney is quoted as saying: "I remember seeing him in '95… he turned up and was totally green, and my stomach turned at that point—watching somebody on a track that they couldn't get off."

Alice in Chains regrouped to record Alice in Chains, sometimes referred to as "Tripod" (largely due to the image of Jerry Cantrell's three-legged dog, Sunshine, featured on the cover), which was released late in 1995. The self–titled album debuted at the top of the U.S. charts, and has since been awarded—along with Facelift and Jar of Flies—double platinum status. With the exceptions of "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", and "Over Now", the lyrics are all written by Staley, making this album his greatest lyrical contribution to the band's catalogue. To accompany the album, the band released a home video, The Nona Tapes, in which they poked fun at the rumors of Staley's addiction, but the band lapsed again, failing to complete tours planned in support of the album. When asked about the frustration of not touring to support the record, Cantrell provided some insight into how Staley's addictions led to repercussive tensions within the band: "Very frustrating, but we stuck it out. We rode the good times together, and we stuck together through the hard times. We never stabbed each other in the back and spilled our guts and do that kind of bullsheesh that you see happen a lot."

During the band's appearance on MTV Unplugged, Staley was visibly weak and emaciated, but still able to deliver a strong performance. He made his last performance on July 3, 1996, in Kansas City, Missouri, while Alice in Chains were touring with Kiss after their Unplugged appearance. In October 1996, Staley's ex-fiancée, Demri Lara Parrott, died from secondary complications caused by drug use (bacterial endocarditis). "Drugs worked for me for years," Staley told Rolling Stone in 1996, "and now they're turning against me, now I'm walking through hell."
Final years: 1997–2002

Staley remained out of the spotlight until February 26, 1997, when he and the other members of Alice in Chains attended the Grammy Awards after "Again" (from the self-titled album) was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. In September 1998, Staley re-emerged to help record two tracks ("Get Born Again" and "Died") with Alice in Chains, which were released on the Music Bank box set in 1999. Additional reports of Staley's deteriorating condition persisted in the midst of the sessions. Dirt producer Dave Jerden—who was originally chosen by the band for the production—said, "Staley weighed 80 pounds…and was white as a ghost." Cantrell refused to comment on the singer's appearance, simply replying "I'd rather not comment on that…", and band manager Susan Silver said she hadn't seen the singer since "last year". Staley was thought to have left behind his "self-imposed rock & roll exile" when in November 1998 he laid down additional vocal tracks as part of a supergroup called Class of '99, featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros. The group recorded parts one and two of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" for the soundtrack to Robert Rodriguez's 1998 horror/sci-fi film, The Faculty, with a music video filmed for part two. While the other members of the band were filmed specifically for the video, Staley's appearance consisted of footage pulled from Mad Season's 1995 Live at the Moore video. On July 19, 1999, syndicated radio program Rockline was hosting Cantrell, Inez, and (via telephone) Kinney for a discussion on the release of Nothing Safe: Best of the Box, when, unexpectedly, Staley called in to participate in the discussion.

Charles R. Cross would later say that they had Staley's obituary on stand-by at The Rocket in the late 1990s. Upon the retirement of Alice in Chains' manager, Susan Silver, in 1998, The Rocket published an article asking the question "But who's to wipe and clean Alice in Chains now?", supposedly a jab at the rumors of Staley's addiction. Joe Ehrbar, the editor of The Rocket at that time, said, "A few days later, we received a package containing a jar of piss and a bag of sheesh, with a note attached saying, 'Wipe and change this, motherfudgeers!.' It had to be from Layne. What a classic response.'"

From 1999 to 2002, Staley became more reclusive; little is known about the details of his life during this period. Staley's mother owns the last known photo of Staley, taken in November 2001, which features him holding his new-born nephew, Oscar. This photo has never been released to the public, and may never be, due to Staley's sickly physical appearance. Other than this rare incident, Staley was not seen often by family or friends. In his last interview, Staley stated, "Don't try to contact any AIC (Alice in Chains) members. They are not my friends." Kinney has commented on Staley's final years and isolation period:

    "I kept trying to make contact...Three times a week, like clockwork, I'd call him, but he'd never answer. Every time I was in the area, I was up in front of his place yelling for him...Even if you could get in his building, he wasn't going to open the door. You'd phone and he wouldn't answer. You couldn't just kick the door in and grab him, though there were so many times I thought about doing that. But if someone won't help themselves, what, really, can anyone else do?"

In his last interview, given in early 2002 months before his death, Staley admitted, "I know I'm near death, I did crack and heroin for years. I never wanted to end my life this way." Staley's physical appearance had become even worse than before: he had lost several teeth, his skin was sickly pale, and he was severely gaunt. In the same interview Staley spoke of the damage caused by his heroin addiction:

    "I'm not using drugs to get high like many people think. I know I made a big mistake when I started using this sheesh. It's a very difficult thing to explain. My liver is not functioning, and I'm throwing up all the time and sheeshting my pants. The pain is more than you can handle. It's the worst pain in the world. Dope sick hurts the entire body."

As far as published reports are concerned, such as Blender's "We Left Him Alone", close friends such as Matt Fox have said, "If no one heard from him for weeks, it wasn’t unusual." Further in the article, reporter Pat Kearny provides a glimpse into Staley's daily life and public routine:

    "It appears that Staley’s last few weeks were typically empty. According to an employee of the Rainbow, a neighborhood bar close to Staley’s condo, the singer was a frequent patron, stopping by at least once a week. 'He minded his own business,' said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous. Staley would never buy anything to drink, the employee said, but would simply sit at a small table in the back corner of the bar and 'nod off. We just left him alone'."

Staley's close friend Mark Lanegan had much of the same to say with respect to Staley's isolation: "He didn't speak to anybody as of late… It's been a few months since I talked to him. But for us to not talk for a few months is par for the course."

On April 19, 2002, Layne's mother placed a call with 911 to say "she hadn't heard from… in about two weeks." Staley was found dead in his home after his mother and stepfather went to his condo with the police. As reported by Rick Anderson of the Seattle Weekly, his body was surrounded by various drug possessions and paraphernalia: "When police kicked in the door to Layne Staley's University District apartment on April 20, there, on a couch, lit by a flickering TV, next to several spray-paint cans on the floor, not far from a small stash of cocaine, near two crack pipes on the coffee table, reposed the remains of the rock musician." The article also stated that the 6'1" Staley weighed just 86 pounds when his body was discovered. The autopsy report later concluded that Staley had died after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball".
Post-death

An informal memorial was held for Staley on the night of April 20 at the Seattle Center which was attended by at least 100 fans and friends, including Cantrell, Starr, Inez, Kinney and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. Cantrell dedicated his 2002 solo album, Degradation Trip, released two months after Staley's death, to his memory. Following Staley's death, Alice in Chains officially disbanded. For the next several years, the band refused to perform together out of respect for Staley. In 2005, the remaining members reunited for a benefit concert for victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami, with several vocalists filling in for Staley, including Patrick Lachman from Damageplan, Phil Anselmo of Pantera and Down fame, Wes Scantlin from Puddle of Mudd, Maynard James Keenan from Tool (a friend of Staley's), and Ann Wilson from Heart, who had previously worked with Alice in Chains when she sang on the Sap EP (performing backing vocals on the songs "Brother" and "Am I Inside"). Following positive response, the band decided to reunite formally in 2006.

In an interview with MTV News, Kinney noted that the band would use the reunion concerts to pay tribute to the songs and to Staley. William DuVall, a member of Cantrell's solo touring band (who often sang Staley's parts on the Alice in Chains songs that Cantrell performed), was announced to sing Staley's part for the reunion shows. In the same interview, Kinney noted the reunion didn't necessarily foretell a future for Alice in Chains:

    "If we found some other dude, I'd love to move on, write some cool tunes and change the name and go on like that. I don't see continuing as Alice and replacing somebody… We're not trying to replace Layne. We want to play these songs one more time, and if it seems like the right thing to do, it'll happen. I don't know how long it will go or where it will take us. It's kind of a tribute to Layne and our fans, the people who love these songs."

The reformed Alice in Chains (with Duvall) are also known to have an intermission to include a five-minute filmed tribute in between sets to Staley. The title track to Alice in Chains' 2009 album, Black Gives Way to Blue, was written as a tribute to Staley.
Legacy

Cold's song "The Day Seattle Died" (from the 2003 album, Year of the Spider) was an ode to Staley, as well as Kurt Cobain, who were both figureheads of the grunge rock movement. In addition, Staind featured a song called "Layne" in memory to the singer on the 2003 album, 14 Shades of Grey. Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, also recorded a song eulogizing Staley, titled "4/20/02" (the day Vedder heard the news and subsequently wrote the song). The song featured only Vedder singing and playing the guitar in a ukulele-inspired tuning, and was released as a hidden track on Pearl Jam's 2003 B-sides and rarities album, Lost Dogs. Zakk Wylde also wrote a song about Staley called "Layne" on Black Label Society's 2004 album, Hangover Music Vol. VI. A further tribute entitled "Layne to Rest" was recorded by former Babes in Toyland frontwoman Kat Bjelland with her band Katastrophy Wife for the 2004 album, All Kneel. Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman stated that their song "Shadow" (an outtake from the 2008 album, Scars & Souvenirs) was written about Staley.

Staley's influence has likewise been felt in other genres. Two books have been written about him, both authored by Adriana Rubio—Layne Staley: Angry Chair and the more recent, Layne Staley: Get Born Again, which was described as "a 'brand new book' that has been revised and updated with the inclusion of two new chapters: 'Hate to Feel' and 'Get Born Again' as a revival of the acclaimed Angry Chair book." On September 28, 2006, Blabbermouth.net reported on a movie project related to Rubio's most recent book on Staley: "According to a press release from ARTS Publications, Argentinean journalist/author Adriana Rubio has been contacted by writer/director Eric Moyer from Philadelphia about turning her biography of late Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, titled Layne Staley: Get Born Again, into a movie." Music Historian Maxim W. Furek released the comprehensive The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin, i-Universe. ISBN 978-0-595-46319-0, that revisited the tragic deaths of numerous grunge artists.

Staley ranked #27 on Hit Parader magazine's list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" (published in the November 2006 issue). Staley was an inspiration for the title of Metallica's 2008 album, Death Magnetic. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett brought a photograph of Staley to the studio where Metallica was recording. "That picture was there for a long time," said Hammett, "I think it pervaded James' psyche."
Layne Staley Fund

In 2002, Staley's mother, Nancy McCallum, and Jamie Richards, a drug and alcohol counselor, formed the Layne Staley Fund, a non-profit organization that raises money for drug treatment and works with the Seattle music community. It holds a yearly tribute in August, on or around Staley's birthday.
Discography
Alice in Chains
Main article: Alice in Chains discography
Other appearances
Year Album details Band Notes
1993 Desire Walks On

    * Released: November 16, 1993
    * Label: Capitol

Heart Guest vocals on the song "Ring Them Bells".
1995 Above

    * Released: March 14, 1995
    * Label: Columbia

Mad Season U.S. #24, Gold
Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon

    * Released: October 10, 1995
    * Label: Hollywood

Vocals on "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier".
L.O.V.Evil

    * Released: December 15, 1995
    * Label: Red Rocket

Second Coming Guest vocals on the song "It’s Coming After".
1998 The Faculty: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture

    * Released: December 8, 1998
    * Label: Sony

Class of '99 Vocals on "Another Brick in the Wall" part 2.
http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp183/sh3lby2192/Staley-1.jpg
http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu300/tstamlynn/staley.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/19/10 at 6:56 am


The word of the day...Buxom
If you describe a woman as buxom, you mean that she looks healthy and attractive and has a rounded body and big breasts.
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l367/grumpygrimone/c0da46cf.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af76/1971ALW/3034805943.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa249/nebulax/melons.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq161/chef333/100_0170.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z83/cate8089/Darwin/Hookers%20Ball%202002/dd60scd.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z287/SwineyLOTR/Ren%20Faires/DSC01297.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f210/pip_longfellow/changeling%202006/f17b.jpg


WOW,so many boobs!  :o :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 8:04 am


WOW,so many boobs!  :o :o

LOL ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/19/10 at 11:38 am

Personally, I think Jayne Mansfield is SOOOO much better than Marlyn Monroe on so many aspects. I think she was a better actress, she was prettier, and she was extremely smart. And she wasn't a druggie/alcoholic like Marlyn was. It was such a shame that her life was cut so short.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/19/10 at 1:55 pm


LOL ;D


I thought the word of the day was very sexy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/19/10 at 6:25 pm


WOW,so many boobs!  :o :o

Yes...a shameful attempt to get more male traffic on this thread!  Ninny...I'm so shocked!  ;) ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:34 am


Yes...a shameful attempt to get more male traffic on this thread!  Ninny...I'm so shocked!  ;) ;D

Who me :-X ;D ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:45 am

The word of the day...Gardens
In British English, a garden is a piece of land next to a house, with flowers, vegetables, other plants, and often grass. In American English, the usual word is yard, and a garden  refers only to land which is used for growing flowers and vegetables.
If you garden, you do work in your garden such as weeding or planting.
Gardens are places like a park that have areas of plants, trees, and grass, and that people can visit and walk around.
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Gardens%20and%20Landscapes/0a5e3283.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c114/MissDazey/powell2.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad88/skyee13/31514Kyoto.jpg
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad56/CapitolHillHousing/Burke%20Gilman%20Gardens/Burke_Gilman_Gardens_Sign2.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt199/yorkifrankphotos/Sister%20Week/DSCN1512.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/entwife_2006/AprilLG010.jpg
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/Ceridwen_of_Tir/Vegetable-Garden.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/mrsmarv/Garden/HolidaysWineriesGarden076.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:48 am

The person born on this day...Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American stage and screen actress. With a career that has spanned thirty-five years and six Academy Award nominations (including two wins), she may be most notable for her performances in Frances, Tootsie, Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky, and Grey Gardens. Lange, the third of four children, was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of Dorothy Florence (née Sahlman) and Albert John Lange, who was a teacher and salesman.  Her maternal grandparents were of Finnish descent, while her paternal grandparents were German, Polish, and Dutch.  She studied art briefly at the University of Minnesota before going to Paris, France, where she studied mime with Étienne Decroux. She returned to New York City, New York in 1973 and took acting lessons while working as a waitress and a fashion model for the Wilhelmina Models agency. She was discovered by the fashion illustrator Antonio in 1974.
Career
Film

In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis cast her in his motion picture remake of King Kong, which started and almost ended her career. Although the King Kong remake was a top moneymaker for Paramount Pictures, critics were not kind to the film and Lange did not appear in another film for three years, when Bob Fosse cast her as the glamorous figure of death in All That Jazz (1979). The unfavorable reviews were devastating but critics took notice with her impressive turn in Bob Rafelson's remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).

Her performance in her next film, Frances (1982), in which she portrayed actress Frances Farmer, was highly lauded and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received two Academy Award nominations that year, the other for Best Supporting Actress in the comedy Tootsie (1982), for which she won. She continued giving impressive performances through the 1980s and 1990s in films such as Sweet Dreams (1985) (playing country/western singer Patsy Cline), Music Box (1989), Men Don't Leave (1990), and Blue Sky (1994), directed by Tony Richardson, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She portrayed the wife to the legendary Scottish hero in Rob Roy alongside Liam Neeson (1995).

Since 2000, Lange has mostly appeared in supporting roles on screen. In her most recent film, Grey Gardens (2009) , a remake of the 1970s cult documentary, she played Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale which earned her an Emmy Award.
Broadway/Stage

In 1992, Lange made her Broadway-theatre début in New York City opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. She appeared in the West End in London, United Kingdom, in 2000, as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. In 2005, she returned to Broadway in another Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie with Christian Slater.
Humanitarian work and political views

She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence."
Personal life

Lange was married to photographer Paco Grande from 1970-1981. Since 1982, she has lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard. She has three children, Aleksandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.

Lange currently lives in New York City.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1976 King Kong Dwan Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1979 All That Jazz Angelique
1980 How to Beat the High Co$t of Living Louise
1981 Notre Dame of the Cross uncredited documentary
The Postman Always Rings Twice Cora Papadakis
The Best Little Girl in the World TV
1982 Tootsie Julie Nichols Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Frances Frances Farmer Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Moscow International Film Festival Prize for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1984 Country Jewell Ivy Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1985 Sweet Dreams Patsy Cline Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Maggie TV
1986 Crimes of the Heart Margaret 'Meg' Magrath
1988 Far North Kate
Everybody's All-American Babs Rogers Grey
1989 Music Box Ann Talbot Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1990 Men Don't Leave Beth Macauley
1991 Cape Fear Leigh Bowden
1992 O Pioneers! Alexandra Bergson Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Night and the City Helen Nasseros
1994 A Century of Cinema Herself documentary
Blue Sky Carly Marshall Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1995 Losing Isaiah Margaret Lewin
Rob Roy Mary MacGregor
A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1997 A Thousand Acres Ginny Cook Smith Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's Herself uncredited; documentary
1998 Hush Martha Baring
Cousin Bette Cousin Bette
1999 Titus Tamora Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2001 Prozac Nation Mrs. Wurtzel
2003 XXI Century documentary
Masked and Anonymous Nina Veronica
Big Fish Older Sandra Bloom
Normal Irma Applewood Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2004 Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines Narrator documentary
2005 The Needs of Kim Stanley documentary
Broken Flowers Carmen
Don't Come Knocking Doreen
Neverwas Katherine Pierson
2006 Bonneville Arvilla
2007 Sybil Dr. Cornelia Wilbur TV
Nominated — Prism Award for Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries
2009 Grey Gardens "Big Edie" TV
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated: Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/sogoishi/Jessica%20Lange/jessica_lange27.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/sogoishi/Jessica%20Lange/jessica_lange2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 7:00 am

The person who died on this day...Rachel Scott
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 students and one teacher, along with the two perpetrators, in one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history.

She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. The program's speakers include her father, Darrell Scott, and brother, Craig Scott. Her mother, Beth Nimmo, has also authored books and is the speaker for Rachel Joy Scott Ministries, to perpetuate her daughter's legacy.Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981, one of five children of Darrell Scott (born 1949) and Beth Nimmo. Her older sisters are Bethanee (born 1975) and Dana (born 1976) and her two younger brothers are Craig (born 1983) and Mike (born 1984). Her father had formerly pastored a church in Lakewood, Colorado, but left the ministry when the marriage ended in divorce in 1989.  The following year, Beth and the children moved to the Littleton, Colorado, area, where she remarried in 1995.  Darrell Scott became a sales manager for a food company in the Denver area and had joint custody of the children with their mother.  As a child, she attended Governor's Ranch Elementary School, and subsequently Ken Caryl Middle School. Coincidentally, she knew Dylan Klebold since kindergarten, and she would remain in the same classes with him up until her death (the two were both members of Columbine's theater production club).

At the time of her death, the 17-year old Columbine High School junior was an aspiring writer and actress, having had the leading role in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church near Littleton and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
The day of the shooting
See also: Columbine High School massacre

Rachel Scott was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside of the school's library. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.

Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range. The FBI later concluded that this interaction did not take place. Some accounts attributed this version of events to Castaldo, who was severely wounded in the attack himself. Although his mother told a Dateline NBC interviewer about the exchange, Castaldo denied telling this story in a December, 1999, Time magazine interview. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel by name for her beliefs.
Funeral

Scott's funeral on April 24, 1999, was attended by more than 2,000 people and was televised nationwide. It was the most watched event on CNN up to that point, surpassing even the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Roger Rosenblatt of Time magazine wrote in his commentary that her funeral was "... ineradicable because of the photograph of your bright and witty face, now sadly familiar to the country, and because of the loving and admiring testimonies of your family."
"Rachel’s Challenge"

Scott's father, Darrell, decided shortly after the Columbine tragedy to resign his job and speak to youth groups and communities, along with Scott's mother, Beth Nimmo, in a non-profit organization called Columbine Redemption. Beginning in December, 1999, Columbine Redemption published a monthly magazine, Rachel's Journal, providing articles by her family and guest columnists, and excerpts from her writings, along with profiles of other Columbine victims, such as teacher William David "Dave" Sanders.
The April 2000 issue of the Rachel's Journal monthly magazine, with its theme "Triumph from Tragedy"

Later, Scott established Rachel's Challenge as a non-profit organization, to perpetuate his daughter's example and the two-page "Code of Ethics" she wrote a month before her death. Its mission statement is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people". The Rachel’s Challenge presentations are given in schools and communities by members of her family and other speakers, using video footage of the Columbine High School massacre and its aftermath, combined with Scott’s drawings and writings, in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, and teen suicide. As of 2009, Rachel's Challenge has developed a team of 30 speakers addressing young people in schools and colleges worldwide about Rachel's example. The Rachel's Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign's goals on a long-term basis.

Darrell Scott has co-authored three books about his daughter's life and her impact, urging students to practice compassion and kindness. Newsweek magazine said of him in October 2006, "Though the wounds from his daughter's death will never truly heal, Scott has devoted his life to preventing future Columbines ...the Rachel's Challenge non-profit organization — under Scott’s leadership — has reached out to thousands of schools to deliver a "chain reaction" of hope through school assemblies, workshops and outreach programs." Scott told Newsweek, "...principals and teachers always need to be on the lookout for that kid who's isolated, or that's quiet, who always stays to himself, because that's typically the type of kid who ends up exploding. They also need to create an atmosphere in the school where students share with someone if they ever hear or see a threat. We know there have been numerous school shootings prevented because a student saw another student writing that he wanted to kill someone or something like that. I think that taking every single threat of any kind seriously is of utmost importance, and again to me it's cultivating an atmosphere, a climate and a culture where everyone's accepted. Because when people feel accepted they're not going to do something like Eric and Dylan did."

Scott’s younger brother Craig, a 16-year old Columbine High School sophomore at the time of the shootings, was physically unharmed but witnessed several classmates being killed in the school library as he huddled under a table with two other boys, both of whom were slain. The next day, he was interviewed at length by Katie Couric on the Today show. The tearful interview, which NBC did not interrupt with normally scheduled station breaks, was described a year later by USA Today as "one of the most indelible moments of the tragedy".

Craig wrote of his sister Rachel, "...her love for people was less conditional than anyone I knew... It didn't matter to her what you looked like or who your friends were. Another thing I liked and respected so much was that she made it clear... what her beliefs were".

He continues to make frequent speaking appearances on behalf of Rachel's Challenge, urging teens to strive for a classroom "atmosphere of kindness and compassion" to stem school violence. He is also periodically interviewed on various television programs, such as 20/20, Dateline NBC, and the Today show, to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.
Recent years
Craig Scott with then-United States President George W. Bush at a White House meeting on October 10, 2006

At the White House Conference on School Safety held in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2006, Craig Scott addressed the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education, saying, in part, "Kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred, and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence. We've seen bullying stopped, incidents where a student came up with hit lists or plans to shoot up his school, and told either the speaker or told the teacher about their plans, but had a change of heart. How have we done it? We've done it with a simple story of a young girl who believed in compassion, Rachel Joy Scott. But my sister is not the only one who believes in kindness, and she's not been the only one in her brave stance against the injustice willing to stand up for the one who gets put down in school, to sit by the student that sits all alone at lunch, and to talk to or reach out to the one who is consistently ignored or made fun of. She literally has inspired millions of people to continue the chain reaction she started...".

In the aftermath of the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre, Darrell and Craig Scott were interviewed on various television programs, such as Showbiz Tonight, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Fox & Friends, and Geraldo at Large, to share their thoughts about school violence and to remember Rachel Scott near the eighth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Craig Scott urged viewers on the Oprah show two days later to refrain from too much focus on the shooter, saying "I have found students that actually idolize the two shooters at Columbine... We've focused on my sister, who's so compassionate and kind. And from that, that's the opposite of that anger and hatred."

On April 20, 2009, the tenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings, Darrell Scott told NBC interviewer Natalie Morales on the Today show, "We've seen a lot of lives changed from her story and our program, Rachel's Challenge, has touched literally 13 million lives over the last ten years". He said that from September, 2008, to April, 2009, his organization received 105 emails from teens dissuaded from suicide because of attending a Rachel's Challenge program. In a separate interview aired the same day, Craig Scott told Morales that, "I meet a lot of hurting students out there and I share with them my hurtful story, but I'm not just carrying a sob story around ... I'm trying to share with them some of the things that I learned to get through it and to be a better person because of it". As of 2008, Craig Scott has spoken to more than one million people in making appearances for Rachel's Challenge, while pursuing a career in filmmaking. He hopes to produce inspirational films and is on the board of directors of the American Screenwriters Association.
Awards

Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.

In June, 2009, Darrell Scott was selected in a nationwide vote of more than 750,000 baseball fans as the Colorado Rockies "All-Stars Among Us" winner, based on individual public service for his efforts in starting the Rachel's Challenge campaign. He was honored along with the other 29 winners representing all major league baseball teams as part of the pregame ceremonies at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14, 2009.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Kellie8907/idols/rachel.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e184/juicyboix12/Rachel.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/20/10 at 12:20 pm


The person who died on this day...Rachel Scott
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 students and one teacher, along with the two perpetrators, in one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history.

She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. The program's speakers include her father, Darrell Scott, and brother, Craig Scott. Her mother, Beth Nimmo, has also authored books and is the speaker for Rachel Joy Scott Ministries, to perpetuate her daughter's legacy.Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981, one of five children of Darrell Scott (born 1949) and Beth Nimmo. Her older sisters are Bethanee (born 1975) and Dana (born 1976) and her two younger brothers are Craig (born 1983) and Mike (born 1984). Her father had formerly pastored a church in Lakewood, Colorado, but left the ministry when the marriage ended in divorce in 1989.  The following year, Beth and the children moved to the Littleton, Colorado, area, where she remarried in 1995.  Darrell Scott became a sales manager for a food company in the Denver area and had joint custody of the children with their mother.  As a child, she attended Governor's Ranch Elementary School, and subsequently Ken Caryl Middle School. Coincidentally, she knew Dylan Klebold since kindergarten, and she would remain in the same classes with him up until her death (the two were both members of Columbine's theater production club).

At the time of her death, the 17-year old Columbine High School junior was an aspiring writer and actress, having had the leading role in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church near Littleton and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
The day of the shooting
See also: Columbine High School massacre

Rachel Scott was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside of the school's library. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.

Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range. The FBI later concluded that this interaction did not take place. Some accounts attributed this version of events to Castaldo, who was severely wounded in the attack himself. Although his mother told a Dateline NBC interviewer about the exchange, Castaldo denied telling this story in a December, 1999, Time magazine interview. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel by name for her beliefs.
Funeral

Scott's funeral on April 24, 1999, was attended by more than 2,000 people and was televised nationwide. It was the most watched event on CNN up to that point, surpassing even the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Roger Rosenblatt of Time magazine wrote in his commentary that her funeral was "... ineradicable because of the photograph of your bright and witty face, now sadly familiar to the country, and because of the loving and admiring testimonies of your family."
"Rachel’s Challenge"

Scott's father, Darrell, decided shortly after the Columbine tragedy to resign his job and speak to youth groups and communities, along with Scott's mother, Beth Nimmo, in a non-profit organization called Columbine Redemption. Beginning in December, 1999, Columbine Redemption published a monthly magazine, Rachel's Journal, providing articles by her family and guest columnists, and excerpts from her writings, along with profiles of other Columbine victims, such as teacher William David "Dave" Sanders.
The April 2000 issue of the Rachel's Journal monthly magazine, with its theme "Triumph from Tragedy"

Later, Scott established Rachel's Challenge as a non-profit organization, to perpetuate his daughter's example and the two-page "Code of Ethics" she wrote a month before her death. Its mission statement is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people". The Rachel’s Challenge presentations are given in schools and communities by members of her family and other speakers, using video footage of the Columbine High School massacre and its aftermath, combined with Scott’s drawings and writings, in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, and teen suicide. As of 2009, Rachel's Challenge has developed a team of 30 speakers addressing young people in schools and colleges worldwide about Rachel's example. The Rachel's Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign's goals on a long-term basis.

Darrell Scott has co-authored three books about his daughter's life and her impact, urging students to practice compassion and kindness. Newsweek magazine said of him in October 2006, "Though the wounds from his daughter's death will never truly heal, Scott has devoted his life to preventing future Columbines ...the Rachel's Challenge non-profit organization — under Scott’s leadership — has reached out to thousands of schools to deliver a "chain reaction" of hope through school assemblies, workshops and outreach programs." Scott told Newsweek, "...principals and teachers always need to be on the lookout for that kid who's isolated, or that's quiet, who always stays to himself, because that's typically the type of kid who ends up exploding. They also need to create an atmosphere in the school where students share with someone if they ever hear or see a threat. We know there have been numerous school shootings prevented because a student saw another student writing that he wanted to kill someone or something like that. I think that taking every single threat of any kind seriously is of utmost importance, and again to me it's cultivating an atmosphere, a climate and a culture where everyone's accepted. Because when people feel accepted they're not going to do something like Eric and Dylan did."

Scott’s younger brother Craig, a 16-year old Columbine High School sophomore at the time of the shootings, was physically unharmed but witnessed several classmates being killed in the school library as he huddled under a table with two other boys, both of whom were slain. The next day, he was interviewed at length by Katie Couric on the Today show. The tearful interview, which NBC did not interrupt with normally scheduled station breaks, was described a year later by USA Today as "one of the most indelible moments of the tragedy".

Craig wrote of his sister Rachel, "...her love for people was less conditional than anyone I knew... It didn't matter to her what you looked like or who your friends were. Another thing I liked and respected so much was that she made it clear... what her beliefs were".

He continues to make frequent speaking appearances on behalf of Rachel's Challenge, urging teens to strive for a classroom "atmosphere of kindness and compassion" to stem school violence. He is also periodically interviewed on various television programs, such as 20/20, Dateline NBC, and the Today show, to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.
Recent years
Craig Scott with then-United States President George W. Bush at a White House meeting on October 10, 2006

At the White House Conference on School Safety held in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2006, Craig Scott addressed the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education, saying, in part, "Kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred, and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence. We've seen bullying stopped, incidents where a student came up with hit lists or plans to shoot up his school, and told either the speaker or told the teacher about their plans, but had a change of heart. How have we done it? We've done it with a simple story of a young girl who believed in compassion, Rachel Joy Scott. But my sister is not the only one who believes in kindness, and she's not been the only one in her brave stance against the injustice willing to stand up for the one who gets put down in school, to sit by the student that sits all alone at lunch, and to talk to or reach out to the one who is consistently ignored or made fun of. She literally has inspired millions of people to continue the chain reaction she started...".

In the aftermath of the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre, Darrell and Craig Scott were interviewed on various television programs, such as Showbiz Tonight, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Fox & Friends, and Geraldo at Large, to share their thoughts about school violence and to remember Rachel Scott near the eighth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Craig Scott urged viewers on the Oprah show two days later to refrain from too much focus on the shooter, saying "I have found students that actually idolize the two shooters at Columbine... We've focused on my sister, who's so compassionate and kind. And from that, that's the opposite of that anger and hatred."

On April 20, 2009, the tenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings, Darrell Scott told NBC interviewer Natalie Morales on the Today show, "We've seen a lot of lives changed from her story and our program, Rachel's Challenge, has touched literally 13 million lives over the last ten years". He said that from September, 2008, to April, 2009, his organization received 105 emails from teens dissuaded from suicide because of attending a Rachel's Challenge program. In a separate interview aired the same day, Craig Scott told Morales that, "I meet a lot of hurting students out there and I share with them my hurtful story, but I'm not just carrying a sob story around ... I'm trying to share with them some of the things that I learned to get through it and to be a better person because of it". As of 2008, Craig Scott has spoken to more than one million people in making appearances for Rachel's Challenge, while pursuing a career in filmmaking. He hopes to produce inspirational films and is on the board of directors of the American Screenwriters Association.
Awards

Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.

In June, 2009, Darrell Scott was selected in a nationwide vote of more than 750,000 baseball fans as the Colorado Rockies "All-Stars Among Us" winner, based on individual public service for his efforts in starting the Rachel's Challenge campaign. He was honored along with the other 29 winners representing all major league baseball teams as part of the pregame ceremonies at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14, 2009.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Kellie8907/idols/rachel.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e184/juicyboix12/Rachel.jpg



Thank you, ninny for honoring the students of Columbine. It was so tragic.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/20/10 at 3:01 pm

http://www.tvparty.com/bgifs18/mg11.jpg


How about The Magic Garden?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:19 pm



Thank you, ninny for honoring the students of Columbine. It was so tragic.



Cat

Your welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 4:49 am

The word of the day...Taxi
A taxi is a car driven by a person whose job is to take people where they want to go in return for money.
When an aircraft taxis along the ground, or when a pilot taxis a plane somewhere, it moves slowly along the ground.
http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu266/PetetheCat/taxi.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp104/lacrymosa8/DSCN1071.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/Joe-Blogs/Baoshan/IM002135.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac319/radiotaxi_xanthis/PANELLADIKIAPERGIATAXI-THESSALON-21.jpg
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y310/TriCityCab/TriCityCabwebcardresize.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh136/AkikoSamaN/Asian%20Macros%20XD/f175f780.jpg
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt44/brandonaki360/For%20Trade/DSCF4753.jpg
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae177/fc13100/Atlanta%20FLL%20Day2/IMG_8061.jpg
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu224/Tucson99s/2010%20March%2013th%20Pound%20Rides/Readytotaxi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 4:52 am

The person born on this day...Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born April 21, 1951) is an American  actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which Danza was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award  for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his role on the sitcom  The Tony Danza Show.
Danza was born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Anne Cammisa (1925-1993) and Matty Iadanza (1920-1983). Anne was born in Campobello di Mazara (Trapani) Sicily and immigrated to the United States with five brothers and sisters in 1929. Danza has one younger brother, Matty Jr. (born 1954), who owns a restaurant in Los Angeles called Matty's on Melrose. When Danza was 14, he and his family relocated to the Long Island community of Malverne, and Danza attended Malverne High School, graduating in 1969 and was said to score a near perfect SAT score.. Danza earned a bachelor's degree in history education from the University of Dubuque, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship, graduating in 1973. It was during his first year of college that he got the Robert Crumb Keep on Truckin' tattoo on his upper right arm. In a 1985 interview in Us Weekly magazine, Danza remarked, "I was playing pool with a guy who had all these tattoos, and I wanted to be friends."  Danza now also sports a "Keep Punching"/boxing gloves tattoo on his right shoulder.  Also while in college, Danza met and married his first wife, Rhonda (Yeoman) Iadanza, and they have two children together.

Shortly after his college graduation, Danza was discovered by a producer at a boxing gymnasium in New York. He then earned a spot on the television show Taxi.

From 1976 to 1979, Danza was a professional boxer with a 9-3 record, with all of his fights, wins and losses, ending by knockout.

In 1986, Danza married for the second time, to Tracy Robinson. The couple divorced in 2007 and have two daughters, Katherine (born 1987) and Emily (born 1993).

In 2005, Tony Danza became a grandfather when his son Marc and his wife, Julie, had a son, Nicholas. In 2008, Danza and his son Marc published a cookbook Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook.
Acting and show business

Danza is best known for his roles in Taxi (1978-1983), in which he played cab driver and part-time boxer, "Tony Banta," and Who's the Boss? (1984-1992), portraying a retired baseball player working as a housekeeper and single father, "Tony Micelli."

Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997), not to be confused with his talk show of the same name. He had a role in the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002. He took his first role with a nonspeaking part as a poker player in National Lampoon's Animal House.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice. His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh.

In 2002, Danza released his debut album The House I Live In as a 1950s-style crooner.

Danza hosted his own TV talk show, The Tony Danza Show, a nationally syndicated program produced each weekday morning in his hometown of New York (where it aired live). On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him. Neither he nor Wallace was wearing a helmet at the time. Danza returned to go-kart racing on October 20, 2005, to challenge IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but his brakes malfunctioned and he skidded into a wall, unharmed. His daytime talk show ended in May 2006; the last live episode aired on May 26, 2006. The last episode was celebrated with performers from the Ringling Brothers Traveling Circus.

He starred on Broadway as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, from December 19, 2006, to March 11, 2007.

As of August 2007, he is continuing his starring role in The Producers at the Paris Las Vegas.

He reprised his role as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, at the Paris Las Vegas from August 13, 2007, to February 9, 2008.

In May 2008, Danza released, Don't Fill Up On the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook, a cookbook written by him and his son Marc, a chef.

In September 2008, it was reported that Danza will host The Contender Season 4. The full season was recorded in Singapore and will start December 3, 2008, on the Versus TV sports channel.

In August 2009, it was reported that Danza will star in a new A&E reality show "Teach" in which he will co-instruct a 10th Grade English class at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. Filming has begun since September 8, 2009 during the school hours.

The mathcore band The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza is named after Tony Danza.
Filmography

    * The Hollywood Knights (1980) ... Duke went by the name of Tony Nancy listed in credits
    * Going Ape! (1981) ... Foster
    * Cannonball Run II (1984) ... Terry
    * Mr. Thompson and His Bananas (1988) ... Geraldo Thompson
    * She's Out of Control (1989) ... Doug Simpson
    * I'm From Hollywood (1992) ... Cameo
    * Angels in the Outfield (1994) ... Mel Clark
    * Illtown (1996) ... D'Avalon
    * Dear God (1996) ... Himself
    * Glam (1997) ... Sid
    * The Girl Gets Moe (1997) (on video) ... Moe
    * A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997) ... Louie Crisci
    * Meet Wally Sparks (1997) ... New York Cab Driver
    * The Whisper (2004) .... Simon
    * Crash (2005) ... Fred
    * The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009) ... Chickie
    * Aftermath (2009) .... King
    * Firedog (2010) (voice) .... Rocky

TV appearances

    * Taxi (1978) (series) ... Tony Banta
    * Murder Can Hurt You (1980) ... Pony Lambretta
    * Single Bars, Single Women (1984) ... Dennis
    * Who's the Boss? (1984) (series) ... Anthony Morton "Tony" Micelli
    * Doing Life (1986) ... Jerry Rosenberg
    * Freedom Fighter (1988) ... Vic Ross
    * The Whereabouts of Jenny (1991) ... Rowdy Patron
    * Baby Talk (1991) (series) (voice) ... Baby Mickey Campbell
    * Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace (1991) ... Constible Farace
    * The Mighty Jungle (1994) (series) (voice) ... Vinnie, the Alligator
    * Deadly Whispers (1995) ... Tom Acton
    * Hudson Street (1995) (series) ... Tony Canetti
    * Sinatra: 80 Years My Way (1995) ... Cameo
    * Freakazoid! (1996) ... Cameo Reference
    * Berenstain Bears (1985) ... voices
    * Bob Hope: Laughing with the Presidents (1996) ... Co-host
    * North Shore Fish (1996) ... Sal
    * 12 Angry Men (1997) ... Juror #7
    * The Tony Danza Show (1997) (series) ... Tony DiMeo
    * The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon (1998) ... Barney Gorman
    * Noah (1998) ... Norman Waters
    * The Practice (1999)
    * Family Law (2000) ... Joe Celano
    * Miss America Pageant (2001) ... Host
    * Stealing Christmas (2003) ... Jack Clayton
    * The Tony Danza Show (2004 – 2006) (talk show) ... Host
    * All My Children (2005) (guest) ... Hotel Mgr.
    * Rita Rocks (2008) ... Jay's Boss
    * The Contender 4 (2008) ... Host
    * Hannity (2009) ... Special Guest
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/angievelarde/Tony_Danza.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r162/nativewolf74/danza.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 4:57 am

the person who died on this day...Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978), born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter  who has been described by Allmusic's Richie Unterberger as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".  She emerged in the mid 1960s while still a teenager, performing on the folk revival scene where she displayed her mastery of traditional singing and interpretation. Her song, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", written during these early years, has been covered by numerous artists and is regarded as a classic of its type.

Denny's renown grew after her death, and her songs have been covered by many other artists. She is considered a founder of the British folk rock movement and perhaps its most important female singer and personality. It has been suggested that her effortless and smooth vocal delivery still sets the standard for many of today's female folk-based singers.

Over a ten year career Sandy Denny left an extensive legacy and remains influential. She is remembered for the crystal-clear purity but also the strength of her voice as well as her pivotal involvement with the British folk rock movement, where, as a member of Fairport Convention, she moved the band away from west coast American cover versions and into performing traditional material and original compositions. She is also noted for her duet with Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin's fourth album in 1971, on the song "The Battle of Evermore", and to date she remains the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album.
Denny was born at Nelson Hospital, Kingston Road, Merton Park, London and studied classical piano as a child.  Her Scottish grandmother was a singer of traditional songs. At an early age Denny showed an interest in singing, despite the disapproval of her strict parents. Sandy Denny attended Coombe Girls' School in Kingston upon Thames. After leaving school, she started training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Early career

In 1965, after graduating from the Kingston School of Art she enrolled at the Wimbledon College of Art (Night Class) in London, where she became involved in the folk club on campus. Contemporaries included John Renbourn, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton. After her first public appearance at the Barge in Kingston-Upon-Thames Sandy started working the folk club circuit in the evenings with an American-influenced repertoire, including songs by Tom Paxton, together with folk songs. She travelled in to Earls Court to play at The Troubadour folk club, where a member of Strawbs heard her. In 1967, she was invited to join the band, and recorded one album with them in Denmark. The album includes an early version of her best-known (and widely covered) song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes. Judy Collins recorded the song, helping to bring attention to Sandy Denny.

Denny's earliest professional recordings were made in mid-1967 for the Saga Records label, featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries including a boyfriend of this period, Jackson C. Frank. They were released on the albums Alex Campbell and his Friends and Sandy and Johnny. These recordings were collected on the 1970 album It's Sandy Denny.
Professional career

Following the departure of Judy Dyble after their debut album, Fairport Convention conducted auditions in 1968 for a replacement singer, and Denny became the obvious choice. Simon Nicol has said "it was a one horse race really ... she stood out like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes". Initially recording three albums with them including the influential Liege & Lief, Denny is credited with encouraging Fairport Convention to explore the traditional British folk repertoire, and is thus regarded as a key figure in the development of British folk rock.

Denny left Fairport Convention in 1969, after recording and, very briefly, touring Liege & Lief. The other members of Fairport were interested in exploring folk rock, but Denny wanted to develop her own songwriting. She formed her own band, Fotheringay, which included her boyfriend, Australian born Trevor Lucas, but dissolved the group after one album to record solo albums, with several members of Fairport Convention as guests. The North Star Grassman and the Ravens and Sandy remain her most popular solo albums and Melody Maker twice voted her the "Best Female Singer" in 1971 and 1972. In 1973, she married Lucas and returned to Fairport Convention in 1975 for a world tour and another album, Rising for the Moon, which featured several of her own compositions.

During her solo period, Denny appeared in a brief cameo on Lou Reizner's version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and duetted memorably with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin's 1971 album (Led Zeppelin IV), becoming the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.

Together with contemporaries including Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings, she participated in a one-off project called The Bunch to record a collection of rock and roll era standards released under the title of "Rock On".

She gained a devoted cult following, but remained deprecating of her talent and unsure of her true direction. Some of her best-loved recordings are interpretations of British traditional songs. Denny herself was unsure as to whether she wanted to continue in that vein (in the manner of Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior) or that of a singer-songwriter like Joni Mitchell. She yearned for success in the mass market, but her shy, unpredictable nature and insecurity about her appearance were impediments. Her solo albums feature efforts in all three directions, gaining her a reputation for charming eclecticism rather than the stardom she and Lucas craved.

Her charisma and extraordinary alto voice were never in doubt. The stress of the Fairport Convention world tour in 1974 made it apparent that Denny's heavy drinking and smoking were damaging her voice, inclining her to put elaborate string arrangements on her last two solo albums, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz and Rendezvous, which were not well received by the critics. Denny began to question her career goals and turned her attention to raising a family. Her substance abuse became critical and her behaviour began to worry and even alienate most of her fellow musicians, including Lucas and her erstwhile Fairport Convention colleagues.

A live album, Gold Dust, was released in 1998.
Death

In March 1978, while on holiday with her parents in Cornwall, Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase. A month after the fall she collapsed at a friend's home; four days later she died in Atkinson Morley Hospital. Her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain haemorrhage. It has been suggested that Denny's problems arose from substance abuse and uncertainty about her career path, but Jill Broun, a close friend, attributes the haemorrhage to a brain tumour. This would also explain the headaches and collapses which she suffered for some time prior to her death, the fall down stairs at her parents' home and her final fatal collapse. She is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.

At the time of her death she was living apart from Trevor Lucas and her daughter Georgia, who had travelled to Lucas' native Australia. Lucas died in 1989 of heart failure.
Tributes, references

    * Former Fairport Convention bandmate Richard Thompson's tune "That's All, Amen, Close The Door" on 1999's Mock Tudor is about Sandy Denny.

    * Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention recorded the tribute "Song for Sandy" on his 1983 solo album The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone.

    * In 1998, a variety of Daylily was named after her.

    * Mandy Morton and Spriguns changed the title of their 1978 album to Magic Lady after hearing of Denny's death while recording.

    * Dave Cousins of Strawbs wrote "Ringing Down the Years" in memory of Sandy Denny as early as 1978-1979, and the song was first published as a single in 1979. The song is the title track on the Strawbs 1991 album Ringing Down the Years, and is also found on the CD Georgia On Our Mind, published for the benefit of Sandy Denny's daughter.

    * The New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Paul Metsers wrote a tribute, "Sandy's Song", which appears on his 1981 album Caution to the Wind.

    * Yo La Tengo covered Sandy Denny's song "By the Time it Gets Dark" on their 1998 EP, Little Honda.

    * Mark Olson's (founding member of the Jayhawks) 2007 album The Salvation Blues has a song entitled "Sandy Denny".

    * The Ocean Colour Scene's song "She's Been Writing" (from the North Atlantic Drift album) is about Sandy Denny.

    * Kate Bush's song, "Blow Away (For Bill)" on her album Never for Ever, mentions Sandy Denny. In this song Kate Bush ponders the existence of an afterlife and recalls departed friends and musicians. Buddy Holly and Marc Bolan are among the others mentioned.

    * The song "Remember", on the Groove Armada album Lovebox (2003), is composed of Denny's vocals, sampled from her song "Autopsy" (from Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking album), backed by The London Community Gospel Choir.

    * Philip Lynott of Thin Lizzy recorded "A Tribute to Sandy Denny", the instrumental version of which was played at his funeral in January 1986 at Howth, Dublin, by a local band Clann Éadair. The song was written by band member Pearse 'Snowy' McLaughlin and released by Irish independent label Crashed Records. It was one of Lynott's last recorded vocals.

    * Tim Rogers mentions Sandy Denny in a song about turning twenty-eight on his 1999 album What Rhymes With Cars And Girls. The lyric is "you dreamt she sang like Sandy Denny and smoked like a malle tree".

    * In the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" was voted "Favourite Folk Track of All Time" by the audience.

    * Ex-Marillion frontman Fish covered "Solo" on his 1993 album Songs from the Mirror.

    * Paul Westerberg included the first few lines of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" at the end of the song "Folk Star" on his 2004 album Folker.

    * Linde Nijland recorded the album of cover versions, Linde Nijland sings Sandy Denny, in 2003.

    * In April 2008, a tribute concert was held at The Troubadour in London, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Denny's death. Those taking part included Martin Carthy, Linda Thompson and Joe Boyd.

    * A further tribute concert, ‘The Lady: A Tribute to Sandy Denny’, took place at London’s Southbank Centre, in December 2008, earning a 4* review in The Guardian. Backed by members of Bellowhead, artists on that occasion included Marc Almond, Jim Moray, Dave Swarbrick, PP Arnold and Mary Epworth.

    * In 2008, Bob Harris made the BBC Radio 2 documentary portrait "The Sandy Denny Story: Who knows where the time goes", including Sandy Denny archive interview material and interviews with Robert Plant, Joe Boyd, Linde Nijland, Richard Thompson and others. The documentary was awarded silver at the Sony Radio Awards in 2009.

Discography
Albums
Year Title Context Type
1967 Alex Campbell and his Friends Alex Campbell Studio
1967 Sandy and Johnny Sandy and Johnny Studio
1968 All Our Own Work Sandy Denny and the Strawbs Studio
1968 - 69 Heyday Fairport Convention Studio
1969 (January) What We Did on Our Holidays Fairport Convention Studio
1969 (June) Unhalfbricking Fairport Convention Studio
1969 (December) Liege & Lief Fairport Convention Studio
1970 (June) Fotheringay Fotheringay Studio
1970 It's Sandy Denny Compilation
1971 (September) The North Star Grassman and the Ravens Solo Studio
1972 Rock On The Bunch Studio
1972 (September) Sandy Solo Studio
1973 (June) Like an Old Fashioned Waltz Solo Studio
1974 Fairport Live Convention Fairport Convention Live
1975 Rising for the Moon Fairport Convention Studio
1977 Rendezvous Solo Studio
1985 Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (boxed set) Mixed Compilation
1991 Sandy Denny and the Strawbs Sandy Denny and the Strawbs Reissue
1997 The BBC Sessions 1971-1973 Solo Studio
1998 Gold Dust Solo Live
2000 No More Sad Refrains: The Anthology (2 CD set) Mixed Compilation
2004 A Boxful of Treasures (5 CD set) Mixed Compilation
2007 Live at the BBC (boxed set) Solo Studio
2008 Fotheringay 2 Fotheringay Studio
Singles
Year Title Context Catalogue
1968 "Meet On The Ledge"/"Throwaway Street Puzzle" Fairport Convention Island Records WIP 6047
1969 "Si Tu Dois Partir"/"Genesis Hall" Fairport Convention Island Records WIP 6064
1970 "Peace In The End"/"Winter Winds" Fotheringay Island Records WIP 6085
1972 "When Will I Be Loved?"/"Willie & the Hand Jive" The Bunch Island Records WIP 6130
1972 "Listen, Listen"/"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" Solo Island Records WIP 6142
1974 "Whispering Grass"/"Until the Real Thing Comes Along" Solo Island Records WIP 6176
1974 "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz"/"Friends" Solo Island Records WIP 6195
1977 "Candle in the Wind"/"Still Waters Run Deep" Solo Island Records WIP 6391
Guest appearances

    * 1969, The Young Tradition's album Galleries (Transatlantic TRA 172)
    * 1970, Stefan Grossman's album The Ragtime Cowboy Jew (Transatlantic) backing vocals in the chorus of "A Pretty Little Tune"
    * 1971, Iain Matthews' (then: Ian Matthews) album If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (Vertigo), his first solo album, she provided piano and backing vocals.
    * 1971, "The Battle of Evermore" on Led Zeppelin's fourth album, where she sings a duet with Robert Plant; in the footnotes of that album's sleeve notes, she is credited and has her own rune symbol of three triangles much like the symbols chosen by the other members of Led Zeppelin.
    * 1972, two tracks, "Here In Silence" and "Man of Iron" for the film Pass of Arms
    * 1972, stage version of the Who's Tommy performed with the London Symphony Orchestra; Sandy plays the nurse and sings "It's a Boy"
    * 1975, Charlie Drake's "You Never Know" single for Charisma Records (CB270), produced by Peter Gabriel
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj105/ponettee/sandy52-1.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x45/sixpense_2691/RobertPlantandSandyDenny.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/21/10 at 6:48 am


The person born on this day...Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born April 21, 1951) is an American  actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which Danza was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award  for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his role on the sitcom  The Tony Danza Show.
Danza was born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Anne Cammisa (1925-1993) and Matty Iadanza (1920-1983). Anne was born in Campobello di Mazara (Trapani) Sicily and immigrated to the United States with five brothers and sisters in 1929. Danza has one younger brother, Matty Jr. (born 1954), who owns a restaurant in Los Angeles called Matty's on Melrose. When Danza was 14, he and his family relocated to the Long Island community of Malverne, and Danza attended Malverne High School, graduating in 1969 and was said to score a near perfect SAT score.. Danza earned a bachelor's degree in history education from the University of Dubuque, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship, graduating in 1973. It was during his first year of college that he got the Robert Crumb Keep on Truckin' tattoo on his upper right arm. In a 1985 interview in Us Weekly magazine, Danza remarked, "I was playing pool with a guy who had all these tattoos, and I wanted to be friends."  Danza now also sports a "Keep Punching"/boxing gloves tattoo on his right shoulder.  Also while in college, Danza met and married his first wife, Rhonda (Yeoman) Iadanza, and they have two children together.

Shortly after his college graduation, Danza was discovered by a producer at a boxing gymnasium in New York. He then earned a spot on the television show Taxi.

From 1976 to 1979, Danza was a professional boxer with a 9-3 record, with all of his fights, wins and losses, ending by knockout.

In 1986, Danza married for the second time, to Tracy Robinson. The couple divorced in 2007 and have two daughters, Katherine (born 1987) and Emily (born 1993).

In 2005, Tony Danza became a grandfather when his son Marc and his wife, Julie, had a son, Nicholas. In 2008, Danza and his son Marc published a cookbook Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook.
Acting and show business

Danza is best known for his roles in Taxi (1978-1983), in which he played cab driver and part-time boxer, "Tony Banta," and Who's the Boss? (1984-1992), portraying a retired baseball player working as a housekeeper and single father, "Tony Micelli."

Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997), not to be confused with his talk show of the same name. He had a role in the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002. He took his first role with a nonspeaking part as a poker player in National Lampoon's Animal House.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice. His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh.

In 2002, Danza released his debut album The House I Live In as a 1950s-style crooner.

Danza hosted his own TV talk show, The Tony Danza Show, a nationally syndicated program produced each weekday morning in his hometown of New York (where it aired live). On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him. Neither he nor Wallace was wearing a helmet at the time. Danza returned to go-kart racing on October 20, 2005, to challenge IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but his brakes malfunctioned and he skidded into a wall, unharmed. His daytime talk show ended in May 2006; the last live episode aired on May 26, 2006. The last episode was celebrated with performers from the Ringling Brothers Traveling Circus.

He starred on Broadway as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, from December 19, 2006, to March 11, 2007.

As of August 2007, he is continuing his starring role in The Producers at the Paris Las Vegas.

He reprised his role as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, at the Paris Las Vegas from August 13, 2007, to February 9, 2008.

In May 2008, Danza released, Don't Fill Up On the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook, a cookbook written by him and his son Marc, a chef.

In September 2008, it was reported that Danza will host The Contender Season 4. The full season was recorded in Singapore and will start December 3, 2008, on the Versus TV sports channel.

In August 2009, it was reported that Danza will star in a new A&E reality show "Teach" in which he will co-instruct a 10th Grade English class at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. Filming has begun since September 8, 2009 during the school hours.

The mathcore band The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza is named after Tony Danza.
Filmography

    * The Hollywood Knights (1980) ... Duke went by the name of Tony Nancy listed in credits
    * Going Ape! (1981) ... Foster
    * Cannonball Run II (1984) ... Terry
    * Mr. Thompson and His Bananas (1988) ... Geraldo Thompson
    * She's Out of Control (1989) ... Doug Simpson
    * I'm From Hollywood (1992) ... Cameo
    * Angels in the Outfield (1994) ... Mel Clark
    * Illtown (1996) ... D'Avalon
    * Dear God (1996) ... Himself
    * Glam (1997) ... Sid
    * The Girl Gets Moe (1997) (on video) ... Moe
    * A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997) ... Louie Crisci
    * Meet Wally Sparks (1997) ... New York Cab Driver
    * The Whisper (2004) .... Simon
    * Crash (2005) ... Fred
    * The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009) ... Chickie
    * Aftermath (2009) .... King
    * Firedog (2010) (voice) .... Rocky

TV appearances

    * Taxi (1978) (series) ... Tony Banta
    * Murder Can Hurt You (1980) ... Pony Lambretta
    * Single Bars, Single Women (1984) ... Dennis
    * Who's the Boss? (1984) (series) ... Anthony Morton "Tony" Micelli
    * Doing Life (1986) ... Jerry Rosenberg
    * Freedom Fighter (1988) ... Vic Ross
    * The Whereabouts of Jenny (1991) ... Rowdy Patron
    * Baby Talk (1991) (series) (voice) ... Baby Mickey Campbell
    * Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace (1991) ... Constible Farace
    * The Mighty Jungle (1994) (series) (voice) ... Vinnie, the Alligator
    * Deadly Whispers (1995) ... Tom Acton
    * Hudson Street (1995) (series) ... Tony Canetti
    * Sinatra: 80 Years My Way (1995) ... Cameo
    * Freakazoid! (1996) ... Cameo Reference
    * Berenstain Bears (1985) ... voices
    * Bob Hope: Laughing with the Presidents (1996) ... Co-host
    * North Shore Fish (1996) ... Sal
    * 12 Angry Men (1997) ... Juror #7
    * The Tony Danza Show (1997) (series) ... Tony DiMeo
    * The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon (1998) ... Barney Gorman
    * Noah (1998) ... Norman Waters
    * The Practice (1999)
    * Family Law (2000) ... Joe Celano
    * Miss America Pageant (2001) ... Host
    * Stealing Christmas (2003) ... Jack Clayton
    * The Tony Danza Show (2004 – 2006) (talk show) ... Host
    * All My Children (2005) (guest) ... Hotel Mgr.
    * Rita Rocks (2008) ... Jay's Boss
    * The Contender 4 (2008) ... Host
    * Hannity (2009) ... Special Guest
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/angievelarde/Tony_Danza.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r162/nativewolf74/danza.jpg



http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/mb/Lizas_At_The_Palace_departures_041208/tony_danza_2201377.jpg

Here is Tony with gray hair.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 7:50 am


http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/mb/Lizas_At_The_Palace_departures_041208/tony_danza_2201377.jpg

Here is Tony with gray hair.

Thanks Howie

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/21/10 at 3:11 pm

Hard to believe he is almost 60.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 5:06 pm


Hard to believe he is almost 60.

That's what I was thinking.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/21/10 at 7:14 pm


Hard to believe he is almost 60.


and I remember him from Who's The Boss.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 4:25 am

The word of the day...Nights
nights is a morphological form of night
The night is the part of each day when the sun has set and it is dark outside, especially the time when people are sleeping
The night is the period of time between the end of the afternoon and the time that you go to bed, especially the time when you relax before going to bed
A particular night is a particular evening when a special event takes place, such as a show or a play
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy316/superfly2000/NWN/10174.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e109/johnd456/PinupNightsApril2010_0001424x600-1.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt243/JonaSapien2010/thwastefridaynightswithyou.jpg
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm476/laiken-/qoutes/friends-3.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c158/leinahtan31/Image0517.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa162/leo-gio/LS/Otown_bkg-1.jpg
http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af152/stifler159b/City/city.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk280/KingSean_album/steven%20seagal/Harrison%20Ford/SixDaysSevenNights.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg360/howardshaw815/2009/09-23-09_1952.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 4:29 am

The person born on this day...Glenn Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell (born April 22, 1936 in Delight, Arkansas) is a Grammy, Dove Award-winning and two time Golden Globe-nominated American  country pop singer, guitarist  and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a television variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour  on CBS television.

Campbell's hits include John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman", Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights" and Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy". Campbell made history by winning a Grammy in both country and pop categories in 1967: "Gentle on My Mind" snatched the country honors, and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" won in pop. He owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the CMA and the ACM, and took the CMA's top honor as Entertainer of the Year.

During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and racked up 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Of his 75 trips up the charts, 27 landed in the Top 10. Campbell was hand-picked by actor John Wayne to play alongside him in the 1969 film True Grit, which gave Campbell a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, and gave Wayne his only Academy Award. Campbell sang and had a hit with the title song (by the same name) which was nominated for an Academy Award. He performed it live at that year's Academy Awards Show.

In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Campbell, one of twelve children born right outside the tiny community of Delight in Pike County, Arkansas, in a town called Billstown, then a community of fewer than one hundred residents, started playing guitar as a youth without learning to read music. Though widely reported that Glen is a seventh son of a seventh son, that information is not true. Campbell said that at the age of one and a half he almost drowned but was revived. He often reflects on this and thanks God for giving him a second chance at life

By the time he was eighteen, he was touring the South as part of the Western Wranglers. In 1958, he moved to Los Angeles to become a session musician. He was part of the 1959 line-up of the group The Champs, famous for their instrumental "Tequila".

Campbell was in great demand as a session musician in the 1960s. He was part of the famous studio musicians clique known as "The Wrecking Crew," many of whom went from session to session together as the same group. In addition to Campbell, Hal Blaine on drums, Leon Russell on piano, Carol Kaye on bass guitar, and Al Casey on guitar were part of this elite group of session musicians that defined many pop and rock recordings of the era. They were also heard on Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" recordings in the early 1960s.

He is heard on some of the biggest-selling records of the era by such artists as Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, The Kingston Trio, Merle Haggard, The Monkees, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, The Troggs, Frankie Laine, The Association, Jan & Dean, and The Mamas & the Papas.

He was a touring member of The Beach Boys, filling in for Brian Wilson in 1964 and 1965. He played guitar on the group's Pet Sounds album, among other recordings. On tour, he played bass guitar and sang falsetto harmonies.

Other classics featuring his guitar playing include: "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers, and "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees.

He can be seen briefly in the 1965 film Baby the Rain Must Fall, playing guitar in support of Steve McQueen.

Campbell was also the uncredited lead vocalist on "My World Fell Down" by the psychedelic rock act Sagittarius, which became a minor hit in 1967.
Late 1960s

As a solo artist, he had moderate success regionally with his first single, "Turn Around, Look at Me." "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry" and "Kentucky Means Paradise" (cut with a bluegrass group called the Green River Boys) were similarly popular within only a small section of the country audience.

In 1962, Campbell signed with Capitol Records and released two instrumental albums and a number of vocal albums during his first five years with the label. However, despite releasing singles written by Brian Wilson ("Guess I'm Dumb" in 1965) and Buffy Sainte-Marie the same year ("The Universal Soldier"), Campbell was not achieving major success as a solo artist. It was rumored that Capitol was considering dropping him from the label in 1966, when he was teamed with producer Al DeLory, and together they collaborated on 1967's Dylanesque "Gentle On My Mind," written by John Hartford.

The overnight success of "Gentle On My Mind" proved Campbell was ready to break through to the mainstream. It was followed by the even bigger triumph of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" later in 1967, and "I Wanna Live" and "Wichita Lineman" in 1968.

Campbell would win two Grammy Awards, for his performances on "Gentle on My Mind" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."

His biggest hits in 1968-69 were with evocative songs written by Jimmy Webb: "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Where's The Playground, Susie?" and "Galveston." An album of mainly Webb-penned compositions, Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, was released in 1974, but it produced no hit single records.

"Wichita Lineman" was selected as one of the greatest songs of the 20th century by Mojo magazine in 1997 and by Blender in 2001.
1970s: The Goodtime Hour, Rhinestone Cowboy, and Southern Nights

After he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for television's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour variety show, Campbell hosted his own weekly variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, from January 1969 through June 1972. At the height of his popularity, a 1970 biography by Freda Kramer, The Glen Campbell Story, was published.

With Campbell's session-work connections, he hosted major names in music on his show including: The Beatles (on film), David Gates and Bread, The Monkees, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller and helped launch the careers of Anne Murray, Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed who were regulars on his Goodtime Hour program.

In 1973, banjo player Carl Jackson joined Campbell's band for 12 years and went on to win two Grammy awards.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Campbell released a long series of singles and appeared in the movies True Grit (1969) with John Wayne and Kim Darby and Norwood (1970) with Kim Darby and Joe Namath.

In 1971, Campbell took his show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on the road for two nights to The Muny in Forest Park, (the largest and oldest outdoor theater in America) in St. Louis, Missouri.

After the cancellation of his CBS series in 1972, Campbell remained a regular on network television. He co-starred in a made-for-television movie, Strange Homecoming with Robert Culp and up and coming teen idol, Leif Garrett. He hosted a number of television specials, including 1976's Down Home, Down Under with Olivia Newton-John. He co-hosted the American Music Awards from 1976–78 and headlined the 1979 NBC special, "Glen Campbell: Back To Basics" with guest-stars Seals and Crofts and Brenda Lee. He was a guest on many network talk and variety shows, including: Donny & Marie, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Cher, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, Merv Griffin, The Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack, DINAH!, Evening at Pops with Arthur Fiedler and The Mike Douglas Show. From 1982–83 he hosted a 30 minute syndicated music show on NBC, The Glen Campbell Music Show.

In the mid-1970s, he had more big hits with "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Southern Nights" (both U.S. #1 hits), "Sunflower" (U.S. #39) (written by Neil Diamond), and "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)." (U.S. #11).

"Rhinestone Cowboy" was Campbell's largest-selling single, initially with over 2 million copies sold in a matter of months. Campbell had heard the songwriter Larry Weiss' version while on tour of Australia in 1974 and felt it was the perfect song for him to record. It was included in the Jaws movie parody song "Mr. Jaws" which also reached the top 10 in 1975. "Rhinestone Cowboy" continues to be used in movie soundtracks and TV shows, including "Desperate Housewives", Daddy Day Care, and High School High. It was the inspiration for the 1984 Dolly Parton/Sylvester Stallone movie Rhinestone.

Campbell made a techno/pop version of the song in 2002 with UK artists Rikki & Daz and went to the top 10 in the UK with the dance version and related music video.

"Southern Nights," by Allen Toussaint, his other #1 pop-rock-country crossover hit was generated with the help of Jimmy Webb who turned Campbell onto the song and Jerry Reed who inspired the famous guitar lick introduction to the song, which was the most-played jukebox number of 1977.
1980s–2000s: Later Career and Country Music Hall of Fame Induction

After his #1 crossover chart successes in the mid- to late 1970s, Campbell's career cooled off. He left Capitol Records in 1981 after a reported dispute over the song "Highwayman" written by Jimmy Webb that the label would not release as a single. The song would become a #1 country hit in 1985 when it was performed by The Highwaymen, a quartet of country legends: Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.

Campbell made a cameo appearance in the 1980 Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can, for which he recorded the title song.

Although he would never reach the top 40 pop charts after 1978, Glen Campbell continued to reach the country top 10 throughout the 1980s with songs such as "Faithless Love", "A Lady Like You", "Still Within The Sound of My Voice" and "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" (a duet with Steve Wariner).

When Campbell began having trouble reaching the charts, he began to abuse himself with drugs. At the same time, he was frequently featured in the tabloids, particularly during his affair with Tanya Tucker. By 1989, however, he had quit drugs and was regularly reaching the country Top 10; songs like "She's Gone, Gone, Gone" were extremely popular.

In the 1990s, Campbell had slowed from recording, though he has not quit entirely. In all, over 40 of his albums reached the charts. In 1992, he voiced the character of Chanticleer in the animated film, Rock-A-Doodle. In 1994, his autobiography, Rhinestone Cowboy, was published.

In 1992 he began headlining the 4,000 seat Grand Palace theatre in Branson, Missouri. He would go on to open his own 2,000 seat theatre in the tourist town in 1994. The theatre was named The Glen Campbell Goodtime Theatre. Later he would leave his permanent residence in the Branson theatre district and would appear in limited engagements at the Grand Palace and Andy Williams’ Moon River Theatre.

In 1999 Campbell was featured on VH-1's Behind the Music, A&E Network's Biography in 2001, and on a number of CMT programs. Campbell ranked 29th on CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.

He is also credited with giving Alan Jackson his first big break. Campbell met Jackson's wife (a flight attendant with Piedmont Airlines) at the Atlanta Airport and gave her his publishing manager's business card. Jackson went to work for Campbell's music publishing business in the early 1990s and later had many of his hit songs published in part by Campbell's company, Seventh Son Music. Campbell also served as an inspiration to Keith Urban. Urban cites Campbell as a strong influence on his performing career.

Although for almost a decade Campbell had professed his sobriety to fans at concerts and in his autobiography, in November 2003 he was arrested for drunk driving that included a charge of battery to a police officer (later dropped). He was sentenced to 10 days in jail and community service, due to the high level of intoxication.

In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In February 2008, Glen performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at The Sydney Opera House in his 'Farewell to Australia' tour. In the lead up to the tour, Campbell spoke with Country HQ in Dec 2007 in an interview where he not only reflected on his stellar career, but also his plans for the upcoming tour and more details on proposed CD with songwriter Jimmy Webb.

It was announced in April 2008 that Campbell was returning to his signature label, Capitol, to release his new album, Meet Glen Campbell. The album was released on August 19. With this album he has branched off in a different musical direction, covering tracks from artists such as Travis, U2, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jackson Browne and Foo Fighters. It is Campbell's first release on Capitol in over 15 years. Musicians from Cheap Trick and Jellyfish contributed to the album as well. The first single, a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", was released to radio in July 2008. Glen Campbell was a musical guest on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson on February 13, 2009. Glen sang "Rhinestone Cowboy."
Personal life

Campbell has been married 4 times and is the father of eight children, now ranging in age from 20 to 52 (5 sons and 3 daughters). Shortly after his second wife Billie divorced him in 1975, he had an affair with and later married singer Mac Davis' second wife, Sarah Barg, in 1976. They had one child together (Dillon) and then divorced. Subsequently, in his mid 40s he had a relationship with the 21 year-old country star Tanya Tucker. He has been married to Kimberly Woolen since 1982. Woolen was a Radio City Music Hall Rockette when she and Glen met on a blind date in 1981. A few near-death drug experiences and an ultimatum from his wife led him to give up drugs and claim to give up alcohol. They have three children together. Glen's eldest daughter, Debby, has been touring across the globe with her father since 1987 and performs many of the duets made famous by Campbell with Bobbie Gentry and Anne Murray.

In November 2003, Campbell was arrested on drunk driving and hit and run charges. According to the police report, Campbell drove his BMW into another auto at a Phoenix intersection. He left the accident scene, but was arrested at his nearby home. After he was booked into a Maricopa County lockup, Campbell kneed a sergeant in the thigh--for which the country star was hit with an aggravated assault on a police officer charge. Campbell plead guilty in May 2004 to extreme DUI and leaving the scene of an accident and received a 10-day jail sentence.

Glen is an avid golfer and hosted his namesake GLEN CAMPBELL LOS ANGELES OPEN Golf Tournament at the Riveria Country Club from 1971-83. It was a major event on the PGA circuit. Glen was ranked in the top #15 celebrity golfers list by Golf Digest magazine in 2005.
Discography
Main article: Glen Campbell discography
Videography
Main article: Glen Campbell videos
Industry Awards

Academy of Country Music

    * 1967 Album of the Year - Gentle on My Mind
    * 1967 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1968 Album of the Year - Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
    * 1968 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1968 TV Personality of the Year
    * 1971 TV Personality of the Year
    * 1975 Single of the Year - "Rhinestone Cowboy"

American Music Awards

    * 1976 Favorite Pop/Rock Single - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
    * 1976 Favorite Country Single - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
    * 1977 Favorite Country Album - Rhinestone Cowboy

Country Music Association

    * 1968 Entertainer of the Year
    * 1968 Male Vocalist of the Year

Country Music Association of Great Britain

    * 1974 Entertainer of the Year

Country Music Hall of Fame

    * Inducted in 2005

Gospel Music Association (Dove Awards)

    * 1986 Album by a Secular Artist - No More Night
    * 1992 Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year - "Where Shadows Never Fall"
    * 2000 Country Album of the Year - A Glen Campbell Christmas

Grammy Awards

    * 1967 Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male - "Gentle on My Mind"
    * 1967 Best Country & Western Recording - "Gentle on My Mind"
    * 1967 Best Vocal Performance, Male - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
    * 1967 Best Contemporary Male Solo Vocal Performance - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
    * 1968 Album of the Year - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
    * 2000 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "Wichita Lineman"
    * 2004 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
    * 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "Gentle on My Mind"

Musicians Hall of Fame

    * Inducted in 2007 (as a member of The Wrecking Crew)

Q Awards

    * 2008 Q Legend Award

Filmography
Year Title Role
1965 Baby the Rain Must Fall Band Member
1967 The Cool Ones Patrick
1969 True Grit La Boeuf
1970 Norwood Norwood Pratt
1980 Any Which Way You Can Singer at Lion Dollar Cowboy Bar
1986 Uphill All the Way Capt. Hazeltine
1991 Rock-A-Doodle Chanticleer (voice)
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p102/lee_2111/10103225AGlen-Campbell-Posters.jpg
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx114/theumms/Glen-Campbell-Mugshot.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 4:34 am

The person who died on this day...Pat Tillman
Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was an American football player who left his professional sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He joined the United States Army Rangers and served multiple tours in combat before he was killed by friendly fire in the mountains of Afghanistan. Details about the circumstances surrounding his death have been the subject of controversy and military investigations.
Pat Tillman was born in San Jose, California. He started his college career as a linebacker  for Arizona State University in 1994, when he secured the last remaining scholarship for the team. Tillman excelled as a linebacker at Arizona State, despite being relatively small for the position at five-feet eleven-inches (1.80 m) tall. As a senior, he was voted the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Academically, Tillman majored in marketing  and graduated in three and a half years with a 3.84 GPA.

In the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman was selected as the 226th pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman moved over to play the safety position in the NFL and started ten of sixteen games in his rookie season.

At one point in his NFL career, Tillman turned down a five-year, $9 million contract offer from the St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to the Cardinals.

Sports Illustrated football writer Paul Zimmerman (Dr. Z) named Tillman to his 2000 NFL All-Pro team after Tillman finished with 155 tackles (120 solo), 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 9 pass deflections and 1 interception for 30 yards.

Tillman finished his career with totals of 238 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 interceptions for 37 yards, 3 forced fumbles, 2 pass deflections, and 3 fumble recoveries in 60 career games. In addition he also had 1 rush attempt for 4 yards and returned 3 kickoffs for 33 yards.

In May 2002, eight months after the September 11, 2001, attacks and after completing the fifteen remaining games of the 2001 season which followed the attacks (at a salary of $512,000 per year), Tillman turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army.
Military career

He enlisted, along with his brother Kevin, who gave up the chance of a career in professional baseball. The two brothers completed the Ranger Indoctrination Program in late 2002 and were assigned to the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington. He resided in University Place with his wife before being deployed to Iraq. After participating in the initial invasion of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he graduated from Ranger School.
Religious and political beliefs

According to speakers at his funeral, he was very well-read, having read a number of religious texts including the Bible, Qur’an and Book of Mormon as well as transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; his younger brother Rich stated that he "is not with God... He was not religious." Another article quotes him as having told then-general manager of the Seattle Seahawks Bob Ferguson in December 2003 that "you know I'm not religious".

The September 25, 2005, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that Tillman held views which were critical of the Iraq war. According to Tillman's mother, a friend of Tillman had arranged a meeting with author Noam Chomsky, a prominent critic of American foreign and military policy, to take place after his return from Afghanistan. Chomsky has confirmed this.
Death

Tillman was subsequently deployed to Afghanistan again. On April 22, 2004, he was killed in a friendly fire incident while on patrol. The specific details of his death and its aftermath are currently being investigated by the US Congress.

The Army initially claimed that Tillman and his unit were attacked in an apparent ambush on a road outside of the village of Sperah about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Khost, near the Pakistan border. An Afghan militia soldier was killed, and two other Rangers were injured as well.

The Army Special Operations Command initially claimed that there was an exchange with hostile forces. After a lengthy investigation conducted by Brigadier General Jones, the U.S. Department of Defense concluded that both the Afghan militia soldier's and Pat Tillman's deaths were due to friendly fire aggravated by the intensity of the firefight.

A more thorough investigation concluded that no hostile forces were involved in the firefight and that two allied groups fired on each other in confusion after a nearby explosive device was detonated.

On July 26, 2007, the AP received official documents stating that the investigating doctors performing the autopsy suspected that Tillman was murdered.
Controversy surrounding Tillman's death

A report described in The Washington Post on May 4, 2005, (prepared upon the request of Tillman's family) by Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones revealed that in the days immediately following Tillman's death, U.S. Army investigators were aware that Tillman was killed by friendly fire, shot three times to the head. Jones reported that senior Army commanders, including Gen. John Abizaid, knew of this fact within days of the shooting but nevertheless approved the awarding of the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and a posthumous promotion.

Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal approved the Silver Star citation on April 28, 2004, which gave a detailed account of Tillman's death including the phrase "in the line of devastating enemy fire", but the next day he sent a P4 memo warning senior government members that Tillman might actually have been killed by friendly fire. Top commanders within the U.S. Central Command, including former Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) General John Abizaid, should have been notified by the P4 memo, which described Tillman's "highly possible" fratricide, four days before Tillman's nationally televised memorial service during which he was lauded as a war hero for dying while engaging the enemy.

Jones reported that members of Tillman's unit burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent attempt to hide the fact that he was killed by friendly fire. Perhaps most tragically, his notebook, in which, according to author Jon Krakauer, Tillman had recorded some of his thoughts on Afghanistan, was also burned, a blatant violation of protocol. Several soldiers were subsequently punished for their actions by being removed from the United States Army Rangers. Jones believed that Tillman should retain his medals and promotion, since, according to Jones, he intended to engage the enemy and, in Jones's opinion, behaved heroically.

Tillman's family was not informed of the finding that he was killed by friendly fire until weeks after his memorial service, although at least some senior Army officers knew of that fact prior to the service. According to author and journalist Jon Krakauer's book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, the extensive cover-up that followed his death included the military ordering Tillman's comrades to lie to his family at the funeral. Tillman's parents have sharply criticized the Army's handling of the incident; Tillman's father charges that the Army "purposely interfered in the investigation" because of the effect it could have on their recruiting efforts, while Tillman's mother charges that "this lie was to cover their image".

His mother Mary Tillman told The Washington Post, "The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting." Tillman's father, Patrick Tillman, Sr., was incensed by the coverup of the cause of his son's death, which he attributed to a conscious decision by the leadership of the U.S. Army to protect the Army's image.
“ After it happened, all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this. They purposely interfered with the investigation; they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy.

He also blamed high-ranking Army officers for presenting "outright lies" to the family and to the public.

Later, Tillman's father suggested in a letter to The Washington Post that the Army hierarchy's purported mistakes were part of a pattern of conscious misconduct:
“ With respect to the Army's reference to 'mistakes in reporting the circumstances of death': those 'mistakes' were deliberate, calculated, ordered (repeatedly), and disgraceful — conduct well beneath the standard to which every soldier in the field is held.

These complaints and allegations led the Pentagon's Inspector General to open a further inquiry into Tillman's death in August 2005.

On March 4, 2006, the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General directed the Army to open a criminal investigation of Tillman's death. The Army's Criminal Investigative Division will determine if Tillman's death was the result of negligent homicide.

On March 26, 2007, the Pentagon released their report on the events surrounding Tillman's death and coverup. The report reads in part:
“ ...we emphasize that all investigators established the basic facts of CPL Tillman's death -- that it was caused by friendly fire, that the occupants of one vehicle in CPL Tillman's platoon were responsible, and that circumstances on the ground caused those occupants to misidentify friendly forces as hostile. None of the investigations suggested that CPL Tillman's death was anything other than accidental. Our review, as well as the investigation recently completed by Army CID, obtained no evidence contrary to those key findings.

On April 24, 2007, his brother Kevin Tillman, testifying at a congressional hearing, stated, "The deception surrounding this case was an insult to the family: but more importantly, its primary purpose was to deceive a whole nation. We say these things with disappointment and sadness for our country. Once again, we have been used as props in a Pentagon public relations exercise."

After Kevin's testimony Pete Geren, acting secretary of the Army stated to reporters, "We as an Army failed in our duty to the Tillman family, the duty we owe to all the families of our fallen soldiers: Give them the truth, the best we know it, as fast as we can."

Tillman's diary was never returned to his family, and its whereabouts are not publicly known.

One investigation of the autopsy report and photographs by two forensic pathologists in November, 2006, concluded that Tillman was most likely killed as a result of fire from a M249 light machine gun, previously designated the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). The M249 uses the same ammunition as the M16 but is capable of a substantially higher rate of fire. The higher rate of fire would have allowed for a competent user to place three bullets within a several inch target from forty or fifty yards away, even from a moving vehicle.

On July 26, 2007, Chris Matthews reported on Hardball that Tillman's death may have been a case of fragging - specifically that the bullet holes were tight and neat, suggesting a shot at close range. Matthews based his speculation on a report from the doctors who investigated Tillman's body. The following day the Associated Press reported that a doctor who examined Tillman's body after his death wrote, "The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," also noting that the wound entrances appeared as though he had been shot with an M16 rifle from less than 10 yards (9 m) away. A possible motive, however, has never been identified. According to one of his fellow soldiers, Tillman "was popular among his fellow soldiers and had no enemies".

In addition:

    * There has never been evidence of enemy fire found on the scene, and no members of Tillman's group had been hit by enemy fire.
    * The three-star general who withheld details of Tillman's death from his parents for a number of months, told investigators he (the general) had a bad memory, and could not recall details of his actions on more than 70 occasions.
    * Army attorneys congratulated each other in emails for impeding criminal investigation as they concluded Tillman's death was the result of friendly fire, and that only administrative, or non-criminal, punishment was indicated.
    * Army doctors told the investigators that these wounds suggested murder and urged them to launch a criminal investigation
    * It has been revealed that there were never-before-mentioned US snipers in the second group that had encountered Tillman's squad

Congressional inquiries

On April 24, 2007, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, the last soldier to see Pat Tillman alive, testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he was warned by superiors not to divulge information that a fellow soldier killed Tillman, especially to the Tillman family. Later, Pat Tillman's brother Kevin Tillman, who was also in the convoy traveling behind his brother at the time of the 2004 incident in Afghanistan but did not witness it, testified that the military tried to spin his brother's death to deflect attention from emerging failings in the Afghan war.

Thereafter the committee sought further information. The Bush administration turned over thousands of documents, described as "mostly press clippings," but refused to release others, citing "executive branch confidentiality interests." The committee's chair, Democrat Henry Waxman, and its ranking minority member, Republican Thomas M. Davis, wrote a joint letter describing the disclosure as "inadequate," saying, "The document production from the White House sheds virtually no light on these matters."

On August 13, 2007, Sports Illustrated reported that twenty U.S. military veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan asked the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, to help secure the release of all documents relating to the death of Pat Tillman.

On July 14, 2008 the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a proposed report titled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield: The Tillman and Lynch Episodes". The committee stated that its "investigation was frustrated by a near universal lack of recall" among "senior officials at the White House" and the military. It concluded:

    The pervasive lack of recollection and absence of specific information makes it impossible for the Committee to assign responsibility for the misinformation in Corporal Tillman’s and Private Lynch’s cases. It is clear, however, that the Defense Department did not meet its most basic obligations in sharing accurate information with the families and with the American public.

Reactions to Tillman's death
Memorials and tributes
Tillman's portrait - Faces of the Fallen gallery - Arlington National Cemetery.

After his death, the Pat Tillman Foundation was established to carry forward its view of Tillman's legacy by inspiring and supporting those striving for positive change in themselves and the world around them.

A highway bypass around the Hoover Dam will have a bridge bearing Tillman's name. When completed in September 2010, the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge will span the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona.

Lincoln Law School of San Jose has established the Pat Tillman Scholarship in honor of Tillman. Tillman's father, Patrick Kevin Tillman, earned his Juris Doctor from Lincoln in 1983.

On Sunday, September 19, 2004, all teams of the NFL wore a memorial decal on their helmets in honor of Pat Tillman. The Arizona Cardinals continued to wear this decal throughout the 2004 season. Former Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer requested to also wear the decal for the entire season but the NFL turned him down saying his helmet would not be uniform with the rest of the Denver Broncos. Plummer would later grow a full beard and his hair long in honor of Tillman, who had such a style in the NFL before cutting his hair and shaving his beard off to fit military uniform guidelines. Plummer, now retired from the NFL, has since gone back to cutting his hair short but maintains the beard.
A memorial to Pat Tillman was created at Sun Devil Stadium, where he played football for the Sun Devils and the Cardinals.

In 2005, Mike Ricci of the Phoenix Coyotes switched his uniform number to 40 in honor of Tillman.

The Cardinals retired his number 40, and Arizona State did the same for the number 42 he wore with the Sun Devils. The Cardinals have named the plaza surrounding their University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza. Later, on November 12, 2006, during a Cardinals game versus the Cowboys, a bronze statue was revealed in his honor. ASU also named the entryway to Sun Devil Stadium the "Pat Tillman Memorial Tunnel" and made a "PT-42" patch that they placed on the neck of their uniforms a permanent feature.

Pat Tillman's high school, Leland High School in San Jose, California, renamed its football field after him.

In 2004, the NFL donated $250,000 to the United Service Organizations to build a USO center in memory of Tillman. The Pat Tillman USO Center, the first USO center in Afghanistan, opened on Bagram Air Base on April 1, 2005.

Forward Operating Base Tillman is close to the Pakistan border, near the village of Lwara in Paktia Province, Afghanistan.

On Saturday, April 15, 2006, more than 10,000 participants turned out for Pat's Run in Tempe, Arizona. The racers traveled along the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) course around Tempe Town Lake to the finish line, on the 42-yard (38 m) line of Sun Devil Stadium in order to commemorate the number which he wore as a Sun Devil and was later retired in his honor. A second race took place in San Jose. Sponsored by the Pat Tillman Foundation, a total of 14,000 runners took part. In 2005, about 6,000 took part in a single race in Tempe.

Just south of San Jose, California, in the small community of New Almaden where Pat Tillman grew up, a memorial was constructed near the Almaden Quicksilver County Park. This memorial was dedicated in September 2007 during the annual New Almaden Day celebration.

The skateboarding bulldog featured on YouTube and in an Apple iPhone commercial was named after Tillman.

Two books about Tillman were published in 2009. Jon Krakauer, best-selling author of Into Thin Air and Into the Wild, chronicles Tillman's story in Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, published by Doubleday on September 15. Meanwhile, Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, also wrote a book about her son, Boots on the Ground by Dusk, which was released in April.

Following Tillman's death, the Ohio State Linebackers Corp consisting of A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, and Anthony Schlegel, as well as center Nick Mangold grew their hair in tribute to Tillman, imitating Tillman's trademark locks.

In September 2008, Rory Fanning, a fellow Army Ranger who was stationed with Tillman in Fort Lewis, WA, began his "Walk for Pat" — a walk across the United States in an effort to raise money and awareness for the Pat Tillman Foundation. The stated fundraising goal is $3.6 million — the value of the contract Tillman turned down when he decided to enlist in the military.

The Pacific-10 Conference football defensive player of the year is named in his honor.
Controversial criticisms

After reports of Tillman's anti-war views became public, Ted Rall who had previously written a comic calling Tillman a "fool" and "idiot", said that he was wrong to have assumed Tillman to be a "right wing poster child" when Tillman regarded the invasion of Iraq as illegal.

Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, Regimental Executive Officer at Forward Operating Base Salerno on Khowst, Afghanistan under which Tillman was serving at the time of his death, and who led the second investigation into Tillman's death, has made controversial statements about the Tillman family’s search for the truth based on Tillman's apparent agnosticism. In comments to ESPN, Kauzlarich said: "These people have a hard time letting it go. It may be because of their religious beliefs" and "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don’t believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing and now he is no more... I do not know how an atheist thinks, I can only imagine that would be pretty tough." Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich conducted the second investigation into Tillman's death which lasted a week, from May 8, 2004, to May 15, 2004. Brigadier General Rodney Johnson, the Commanding General of the United States Army Criminal Investigations Command, testified before Congress that he found these statements "totally unacceptable." Acting Department of Defense Inspector General Thomas Gimble also testified that he was "shocked" that Lt. Col. Kauzlarich would make these statements. According to AP analysis, Kauzlarich may be one of three lower level officers expected to be punished whose names have not yet been released by the military. Tillman's mother continues to reject the Pentagon's characterization of the officers' offenses as "errors" in reporting Tillman's death, because several officers have said they made conscious decisions not to tell the Tillman family that friendly fire was suspected.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z268/ocbaseball03/Patrick-Tillman.gif
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u117/SPhan48/tillman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/22/10 at 6:48 am


The word of the day...Nights
nights is a morphological form of night
The night is the part of each day when the sun has set and it is dark outside, especially the time when people are sleeping
The night is the period of time between the end of the afternoon and the time that you go to bed, especially the time when you relax before going to bed
A particular night is a particular evening when a special event takes place, such as a show or a play
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy316/superfly2000/NWN/10174.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e109/johnd456/PinupNightsApril2010_0001424x600-1.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt243/JonaSapien2010/thwastefridaynightswithyou.jpg
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm476/laiken-/qoutes/friends-3.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c158/leinahtan31/Image0517.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa162/leo-gio/LS/Otown_bkg-1.jpg
http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af152/stifler159b/City/city.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk280/KingSean_album/steven%20seagal/Harrison%20Ford/SixDaysSevenNights.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg360/howardshaw815/2009/09-23-09_1952.jpg



Nights On Broadway-Bee Gees

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 8:12 am



Nights On Broadway-Bee Gees

Good song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/22/10 at 11:54 am



Nights On Broadway-Bee Gees

Excellent song. One of the 1st albums I ever bought, Bee Gees - Main Course.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/22/10 at 12:03 pm

We are the knights who say NI!

Oh wait, that is nights, not knights.

That's different. Never mind.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/22/10 at 12:05 pm


We are the knights who say NI!

Oh wait, that is nights, not knights.

That's different. Never mind.

Cat

Cat is posting spam spam spam spam spam again... :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/22/10 at 12:19 pm


Cat is posting spam spam spam spam spam again... :D



But I don't like spam.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/22/10 at 7:15 pm



But I don't like spam.



Cat


Spam is good.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/22/10 at 10:21 pm


I remember sneaking downstairs to watch Laugh-In. :)

I hadn't been well acquainted with that show until I saw its reruns on the now-defunct TRIO channel around 2002 or so. I'd like to see it again someday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/22/10 at 10:22 pm


Spam is good.

If it's the lunchmeat, I suppose it would be.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/23/10 at 12:09 am


We are the knights who say NI!

Oh wait, that is nights, not knights.

That's different. Never mind.



Cat

I didn't catch the Emily Litella part until now...
shame on me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:53 am


Cat is posting spam spam spam spam spam again... :D
Lovely spam, wonderful spam!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:55 am

British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.

Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:56 am


British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.

Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.
He is to been allege to be born on April 23rd, three days before the baptism, for back then it was a tradition to baptise the baby three days after the birth.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:57 am


He is to been allege to be born on April 23rd, three days before the baptism, for back then it was a tradition to baptise the baby three days after the birth.
btw, he died on 23 April in 1616.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/23/10 at 6:42 am


British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.

Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.



To Be or not To Be.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 12:08 pm



To Be or not To Be.
That is the question.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 12:14 pm


He is to been allege to be born on April 23rd, three days before the baptism, for back then it was a tradition to baptise the baby three days after the birth.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/Holiday180.jpg

A photo of the grave of William Shakespeare I took back in 2008.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/23/10 at 12:20 pm

Lord, what fools these mortals be.

-OR-

Lord, what foods these morsels be.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/23/10 at 1:55 pm



To Be or not To Be.

Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find'st about me
To Edmund Earl of Gloucester, seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death!

William Shakespeare..or..I am the walrus.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 2:40 pm


Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find'st about me
To Edmund Earl of Gloucester, seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death!

William Shakespeare..or..I am the walrus.
Goo goo g' joob

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 2:47 pm


British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.

Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.

Thanks Phil :) I think I may have heard of him :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 2:52 pm

The word of the day...Temple
A temple (from the Latin word templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur.  It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the dwelling places of a god or gods. This tradition dates back to prehistoric times.  For the ancient Egyptians, the word pr could refer not only to a house, but also to a sacred structure since it was believed that the gods resided in houses.  The word "temple" (which dates to about the 6th century BCE), despite the specific set of meanings associated with the religion of the ancient Rome, has now become quite widely used to describe a house of worship  for any number of religions and is even used for time periods prior to the Romans.
http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww86/socrates5/thailandwat.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/fjdehaan/P1030310.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn29/aangelinsf/jimhair14811.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz321/riana_budiani/100420101923.jpg
http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu41/hellomoe/fly.jpg
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd357/Carollowery2008/3rdDay001.jpg
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae340/msimps2/IMG_0622.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 2:53 pm


Thanks Phil :) I think I may have heard of him :D
I suffered from him at school, but now I appreciate him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 2:56 pm

The person born on this day...Shirley Temple
Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is a former American child actress. She began her screen career in 1932 at the age of three, and, in 1934, skyrocketed to superstardom in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Academy Award in February 1935, and blockbusting super hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid to late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Temple's box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she left the film industry at the age of twelve to attend high school. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid to late teens, and retired completely from the silver screen in 1950 at the age of twenty-one. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–1938) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.

In 1958, Temple returned to show biz with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on various television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of many corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress, and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

In 1945, seventeen-year-old Temple married Army Air Force sergeant John Agar, who, after being discharged from the service, entered the acting profession. The couple made two films together before Temple divorced him on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. She received custody of their daughter Linda Susan and the restoration of her maiden name in the process. In January 1950, Temple met the conservative scion of a patrician California family and United States Navy Silver Star recipient Charles Alden Black. She married him in December 1950 following the finalization of her divorce and retired from films the same day, to become a homemaker. Her son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. was born in 1952 and her daughter, Lori Alden Black was born in 1954.
The Baby Burlesks were eight 10–11 minute films produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont that satirized contemporary motion pictures, celebrities, events, and politics.  The casts were composed entirely of preschoolers who wore adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with enormous safety pins on the bottom.  Universal Studios put up 75 percent of the backing for the Baby Burlesks and a proposed Universal contract for Temple guaranteeing two years of work, twenty-four films, and plenty of benefits but pay only for days before the camera. Expenses and rehearsals (sometimes as many as ten days) were not remunerated.  Temple was sometimes disciplined at the studio by being confined to a small "black box" isolation chamber with only a block of ice to sit upon.  Her first day on the job entailed almost twelve hours of work with two naps. She took home a $10.00 check, a considerable sum at the time.  Her films thereafter usually demanded four days of shooting, days of unpaid rehearsals, and publicity photo shoots.

Temple made her screen debut in April 1932 with Runt Page, a spoof of the play and film The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was the only film in the series dubbed by adults. The remaining films in the series would by voiced by the children themselves. Temple's first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies, and her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches.
Two-reelers and first feature films

Temple appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. In order to underwrite film production costs at Educational, Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs.

While under contract for Educational, Temple was loaned-out to other studios. Her first appearance in a feature film was a barely visible role in The Red-Haired Alibi for Tower Productions, Inc. in 1932. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and, again, was loaned out for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros..
Fox Films

In February 1934, she signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned out for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros.-First National. Fox publicists did their best to promote Temple as a wunderkind of some sort, but Mrs. Temple conducted her own interviews, often correcting the hyperbole of others and requiring interviewers to submit copy for her approval.

In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Temple's breakthrough film. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Temple well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to US$1,250 a week, and her mother's to $150 as coach and hairdresser. In June, Temple garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.
Bright Eyes and Academy Award

She finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the first feature film crafted specifically for her talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. In the film's one musical number, she introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film (more than any other Temple film up to that time) demonstrated her ability to portray a fully dimensional character and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man.

In February 1935, Temple received a special miniature Oscar statuette in recognition of her contributions to film entertainment in 1934. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Twentieth Century-Fox
1934

In 1934, Fox Films faced serious financial difficulties and merged with producer Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter, studio head Zanuck focused his attention and resources upon cultivating Temple's superstar status. Temple was the studio's greatest asset, and, after four successful films—Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes—the public adored her. The studio's top priority became developing projects, vehicles, and stories for Temple, and, to that end, the "Shirley Temple Story Development" team of nineteen writers went to work creating eleven original stories and adaptions of the classics.
Analysis

Under the development team, Temple's films would propose a simple natural solution to the Great Depression's woes—open one's heart and give of oneself. On the screen, her goodness, innocence, and charm would melt the hearts of cold authority figures like military officers, corporation heads, and orphanage matrons, and touch the lives of the grumpy, the wizened, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results.
Eleanor Roosevelt seated with Temple immediately to her left. The two are looking at each other apparently engaged in conversation.
Temple and Eleanor Roosevelt (July 1938)

Temple films were seen as generating hope and optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just a fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."

Most Temple films were cheaply made ($200,000 or $300,000 per picture) comedy-dramas with songs and dances added, sentimental and melodramatic situations aplenty, and little in the way of production values. Her film titles are a clue to the way she was marketed—Curly Top and Dimples, and her "little" pictures such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Temple often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil, for example, or wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. As Temple matured into a pre-adolescent, the formula was altered slightly to encourage her naturalness, naïveté, and tomboyishness to come forth and shine while her infant innocence, which had served her well at six but was inappropriate for her tweens, was toned down.
1935–1936

At Zanuck's request, Temple's parents agreed to four films a year from their daughter (rather than the three they wished), and the child star's contract was reworked with bonuses to sweeten the deal. A succession of films followed: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel in 1935. Curly Top and The Littlest Dudeeeet were named to Variety's list of top box office draws for 1935. In 1936, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were released.
1937–1939

Based on Temple's many screen successes, Zanuck decided to increase budgets and production values for her films. In 1937, John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite) and a top-drawer cast was secured that included Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. The film was a critical and commercial hit, but British film critic Graham Greene muddied the waters in October 1937 when he wrote in a British magazine that Temple was a "complete totsy" and accused her of being too nubile for a nine-year-old:

    Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.

Temple and Twentieth Century-Fox sued for libel and won. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in England until she turned twenty-one, at which time it was used to build a youth center in England.

The only other Temple film released in 1937 was Heidi, a story suited to her maturing personality. Her blond hair had darkened to ash blond and the ringlets brushed back into soft curls. Her theatrical instincts had sharpened and she suggested the Dutch song and dance dream sequence and its placement within the film. After minor disagreements about the dance steps with the other children in the scene, director Allan Dwan had badges made with 'Shirley Temple Police' inscribed upon them. Every child was issued one after swearing allegiance and obedience to Temple.

In 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were released. The latter two were critical duds with Corner the first Temple film to falter at the box office. The following year, Zanuck secured the rights to the children's novel, A Little Princess, believing the book would be an ideal vehicle for Temple. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and chose it to be her first Technicolor feature. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success with Temple's acting at its peak. Convinced Temple would make the transition from child star to teenage actress, Zanuck declined a substantial offer from MGM to star Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and cast her instead in the banal Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century-Fox. The film dropped Temple from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
1940

In 1940, Temple starred in two consecutive flops at Twentieth Century-Fox (The Blue Bird and Young People). Zanuck preferred to disassociate himself and the studio from a child star whose career was clearly finished. Temple's parents were furious but bought up the remainder of her contract in 1940 and sent her at the age of twelve to Westlake School for Girls, an exclusive and pricey country day school in Los Angeles. At the studio, Temple's bungalow was renovated, all traces of her tenure expunged, and the building reassigned as an office complex.
Last films and retirement
MGM

Within a year of her departure from Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM signed Temple for her comeback. Plans were made to team her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series, but her comeback film became Kathleen (1941), a story about an unhappy teenager, her busy, rich Dad, and her female psychologist. The film flopped and her MGM contract was cancelled after mutual consent.
Other studios

Miss Annie Rooney (1942, United Artists) followed, but it bombed. The actress retired for almost two years from films, throwing herself into school life and activities. In 1944, David O. Selznick signed Temple to a personal four-year contract. She appeared in two wartime hits for him: Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick however became involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in developing Temple's career. She was loaned-out to other studios with Kiss and Tell (1945, Columbia), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947, RKO), and Fort Apache (1948, RKO) being the few good films among a string of duds.

Although her 1947–9 films did not lose money, most had a cheap B look about them and her performances were colorless and apathetic. Selznick suggested she move to Italy with her daughter, study the culture, gain maturity as an actress, and even change her name. He made it clear she had been detrimentally typecast in Hollywood and her career was in perilous straits. After auditioning (and being rejected) in August 1950 for the role of Peter Pan on the Broadway stage, Temple took stock, admitted her recent movies had been poor fare, and announced her official retirement from films on December 16, 1950—the same day she married Charles Alden Black.
Temple-related merchandise and endorsements

Many Temple-inspired products were manufactured and released during the 1930s. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company's first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.

A mug, a pitcher, and a cereal bowl in cobalt blue with a decal of Temple were given away as a premium with Wheaties. Successfully-selling Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and accessories, soap, dishes, cutout books, sheet music, mirrors, paper tablets, and numerous other items. Before 1935 ended, Temple's income from licensed merchandise royalties would exceed $100,000, doubling her income from her movies. In 1936, her income would top $200,000 from royalties. She endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
In popular culture

    * The Shirley Temple was invented for Temple by a Chasen's bartender; the adult version of the drink is called a "Dirty Shirley"
    * "Shirley Temple's Pussy" was a former name used by the Stone Temple Pilots
    * Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were named after Temple
    * Magic Circle Club: the character "Curley Dimples" was a spoof of Temple
    * Hairspray: "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" references Temple
    * Interpol's "The Specialist" references Temple
    * Weird Al Yankovic's "Confessions Part III" references Temple
    * Phish's "The Wolfman's Brother" references Temple
    * Carol Burnett often aped Temple's "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    * The Brady Bunch: "The Snooper Star", Cindy believes that she is going to become the next Shirley Temple
    * Family Guy: "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie Griffin sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * Shrek the Third: Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Riker says that he serves on the USS Lollipop
    * Gilmore Girls: "Rory’s Birthday Party", Lorelai drinks a Shirley Temple, and references the Good Ship Lollipop
    * Mork & Mindy: "Pilot (1)", Mork does an impersonation of Temple
    * Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye uses Temple as "evidence" that the "ideal beauty" is a blue-eyed white girl
    * That '70s Show: "My Wife", Hyde, Jackie, Eric, and Donna sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/twentybeauties/TwentyBeautiesMontage/shirleytemple.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/chenta_91/Shirley_Temple.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 3:01 pm

The person who died on this day...John Mills
Sir John Mills, CBE (22 February 1908 – 23 April 2005) was an English actor, who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. Lewis Ernest Watts Mills was born at the Watts Naval School in North Elmham, Norfolk, England, and grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk. He was educated at Norwich High School for Boys  (which since its move after World War II to Langley Park, Loddon, is now known as Langley School), where it is said that his initials can still be seen carved into the brickwork on the side of the building in Upper St Giles Street. He made his acting debut on the stage of the Sir John Leman School in Beccles in a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream when he played the part of Puck.

Mills took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut at the London Hippodrome in The Five O'Clock Girl in 1929. He also starred in the Noël Coward revue Words and Music. He made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932), and appeared as Colley in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr Chips, opposite Robert Donat.

In September 1939, at the start of World War II, Mills enlisted in the Royal Engineers. He was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. But in 1942 he received a medical discharge because of a stomach ulcer . He starred in Noël Coward's In Which We Serve.

Mills took the lead in Great Expectations in 1946, and subsequently made his career playing traditionally British heroes such as Captain Robert Falcon Scott in Scott of the Antarctic (1948). Over the next decade he became particularly associated with war dramas, such as The Colditz Story (1954), Above Us the Waves (1955) and Ice-Cold in Alex (1958). He often acted in the roles of people who are not at all exceptional, but become heroes due to their common sense, generosity and right judgement. Altogether he appeared in over 120 films.

From 1959 through the mid-1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley. Their first film together was the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay, in which John plays a police detective investigating a murder that Hayley's character witnessed. Following Hayley's rise to fame in Pollyanna (1960) and the 1961 family comedy The Parent Trap, John and Hayley again starred together, in the 1965 teen sailing adventure The Truth About Spring, the 1964 drama The Chalk Garden (with Deborah Kerr in the lead role), and the 1966 comedy-drama The Family Way, in which John plays an insecure, overbearing father and Hayley plays his son's newlywed wife.

As Col. Barrow in "Tunes of Glory", Mills won the best Actor Award at the 1960 Venice Film Festival. For his role as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970) — a complete departure from his usual style — Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His most famous television role was probably as the title character in Quatermass for ITV in 1979. Also on the small screen, in 1974 he starred as Captain Tommy "The Elephant" Devon in the six-part television drama series The Zoo Gang, about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II, with Brian Keith, Lilli Palmer, and Barry Morse.

Mills also starred as Gus: The Theatre Cat in the filmed version of the musical Cats in 1998.

In 2002 Mills released his extensive home movie footage in a documentary film entitled John Mills' Moving Memories, with interviews with Mills, his children Hayley, Juliet and Jonathon and Richard Attenborough. The film was directed and edited by Marcus Dillistone, and features behind the scenes footage and stories from films such as Ice-Cold in Alex and Dunkirk. In addition the film also includes home footage of many of John Mills' friends and fellow cast members including Sir Laurence Olivier, Harry Andrews, Walt Disney, David Niven, Sir Dirk Bogarde, Sir Rex Harrison and Tyrone Power.
Honours

He was appointed a Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1960. In 1976 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2002, he received a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the highest award given by the Academy, and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company.
Family
The Wick on Richmond Hill in Richmond, Greater London, was the family home for many years.

His sister Annette Mills was known for being the partner of the puppet "Muffin", in the BBC Television series Muffin the Mule between 1946 and 1955.

His first wife was the actress Aileen Raymond. They were married in 1927 and divorced in 1941.

His second wife was the dramatist Mary Hayley Bell. Their marriage on 16 January 1941 lasted 64 years, until his death in 2005. They were married in a rushed civil ceremony, due to the war, and it was not until 60 years later that they had their union blessed by a church. They had two daughters, Juliet, star of television's Nanny and the Professor and Hayley, a Disney child star noted for starring in Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, and one son, Jonathan Mills. In 1947 he appeared with his daughters in the film So Well Remembered. Mills' grandson by his daughter Hayley, Crispian Mills, is a musician, best known for his work with the alternative rock group Kula Shaker.
Death

In the years leading up to his death, he appeared on television only on special occasions, his sight having failed almost completely in 1992. After that, his film roles were brief but notable cameos.

He died aged 97 on 23 April 2005 in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, following a chest infection. A few months after Sir John's death, Mary Hayley Bell (Lady Mills) died on 1 December 2005.
Selected filmography

    * Britannia of Billingsgate (1933)
    * Brown on Resolution (later reissued in the UK as Forever England) (1935)
    * Charing Cross Road (1935)
    * The First Offence (1936)
    * O.H.M.S. (1937)
    * Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
    * Cottage to Let (1941)
    * In Which We Serve (1942)
    * We Dive at Dawn (1943)
    * This Happy Breed (1944)
    * Waterloo Road (1944)
    * The Way to the Stars (1945)
    * Great Expectations (1946)
    * So Well Remembered (1947)
    * Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
    * The History of Mr Polly (1949)
    * Morning Departure (1950)
    * The Rocking Horse Winner (1950, also produced)
    * The Long Memory (1952)
    * Hobson's Choice (1954)
    * The Colditz Story (1955)
    * Above Us the Waves (1955)
    * War and Peace (1956)
    * It's Great to Be Young (1956)
    * The Vicious Circle (1957)
    * Ice-Cold in Alex (1958)
    * Dunkirk (1958)
    * I Was Monty's Double (1958)
    * Tiger Bay (1959) — (with daughter Hayley Mills)



    * Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
    * Tunes of Glory (1960)
    * The Singer Not the Song (1961)
    * Flame in the Streets (1961)
    * Tiara Tahiti (1962)
    * The Truth About Spring (1964) - (with daughter Hayley Mills)
    * The Chalk Garden (1964) - (with daughter Hayley Mills)
    * King Rat (1965)
    * The Family Way (1966)
    * The Wrong Box (1966)
    * Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
    * Run Wild, Run Free (1969)
    * Ryan's Daughter (1970)
    * Dulcima (1971)
    * Young Winston (1972)
    * Oklahoma Crude (1973)
    * The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
    * Zulu Dawn (1979)
    * Gandhi (1982)
    * When the Wind Blows (1986)
    * Who's That Girl (1987)
    * Night of the Fox (1990)
    * Deadly Advice (1993)
    * Hamlet (1996)
    * Bean (1997)
    * Bright Young Things (2003)
    * Lights 2 (2005)

Stage performances

    * The Good Companions (1974)
    * Great Expectations (1976)
    * Cats (1998)
    * Goodbye, Mr. Chips
    * Of Mice and Men

Principal television performances

    * Dundee and the Culhane (1967)
    * The Zoo Gang (1974)
    * Quatermass (1979)
    * Young at Heart (1980-1982)
    * Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f297/jameswright52/john_mills_9.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/3b082eb7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 3:24 pm


The person born on this day...Shirley Temple
Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is a former American child actress. She began her screen career in 1932 at the age of three, and, in 1934, skyrocketed to superstardom in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Academy Award in February 1935, and blockbusting super hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid to late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Temple's box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she left the film industry at the age of twelve to attend high school. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid to late teens, and retired completely from the silver screen in 1950 at the age of twenty-one. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–1938) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.

In 1958, Temple returned to show biz with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on various television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of many corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress, and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

In 1945, seventeen-year-old Temple married Army Air Force sergeant John Agar, who, after being discharged from the service, entered the acting profession. The couple made two films together before Temple divorced him on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. She received custody of their daughter Linda Susan and the restoration of her maiden name in the process. In January 1950, Temple met the conservative scion of a patrician California family and United States Navy Silver Star recipient Charles Alden Black. She married him in December 1950 following the finalization of her divorce and retired from films the same day, to become a homemaker. Her son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. was born in 1952 and her daughter, Lori Alden Black was born in 1954.
The Baby Burlesks were eight 10–11 minute films produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont that satirized contemporary motion pictures, celebrities, events, and politics.  The casts were composed entirely of preschoolers who wore adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with enormous safety pins on the bottom.  Universal Studios put up 75 percent of the backing for the Baby Burlesks and a proposed Universal contract for Temple guaranteeing two years of work, twenty-four films, and plenty of benefits but pay only for days before the camera. Expenses and rehearsals (sometimes as many as ten days) were not remunerated.  Temple was sometimes disciplined at the studio by being confined to a small "black box" isolation chamber with only a block of ice to sit upon.  Her first day on the job entailed almost twelve hours of work with two naps. She took home a $10.00 check, a considerable sum at the time.  Her films thereafter usually demanded four days of shooting, days of unpaid rehearsals, and publicity photo shoots.

Temple made her screen debut in April 1932 with Runt Page, a spoof of the play and film The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was the only film in the series dubbed by adults. The remaining films in the series would by voiced by the children themselves. Temple's first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies, and her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches.
Two-reelers and first feature films

Temple appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. In order to underwrite film production costs at Educational, Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs.

While under contract for Educational, Temple was loaned-out to other studios. Her first appearance in a feature film was a barely visible role in The Red-Haired Alibi for Tower Productions, Inc. in 1932. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and, again, was loaned out for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros..
Fox Films

In February 1934, she signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned out for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros.-First National. Fox publicists did their best to promote Temple as a wunderkind of some sort, but Mrs. Temple conducted her own interviews, often correcting the hyperbole of others and requiring interviewers to submit copy for her approval.

In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Temple's breakthrough film. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Temple well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to US$1,250 a week, and her mother's to $150 as coach and hairdresser. In June, Temple garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.
Bright Eyes and Academy Award

She finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the first feature film crafted specifically for her talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. In the film's one musical number, she introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film (more than any other Temple film up to that time) demonstrated her ability to portray a fully dimensional character and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man.

In February 1935, Temple received a special miniature Oscar statuette in recognition of her contributions to film entertainment in 1934. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Twentieth Century-Fox
1934

In 1934, Fox Films faced serious financial difficulties and merged with producer Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter, studio head Zanuck focused his attention and resources upon cultivating Temple's superstar status. Temple was the studio's greatest asset, and, after four successful films—Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes—the public adored her. The studio's top priority became developing projects, vehicles, and stories for Temple, and, to that end, the "Shirley Temple Story Development" team of nineteen writers went to work creating eleven original stories and adaptions of the classics.
Analysis

Under the development team, Temple's films would propose a simple natural solution to the Great Depression's woes—open one's heart and give of oneself. On the screen, her goodness, innocence, and charm would melt the hearts of cold authority figures like military officers, corporation heads, and orphanage matrons, and touch the lives of the grumpy, the wizened, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results.
Eleanor Roosevelt seated with Temple immediately to her left. The two are looking at each other apparently engaged in conversation.
Temple and Eleanor Roosevelt (July 1938)

Temple films were seen as generating hope and optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just a fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."

Most Temple films were cheaply made ($200,000 or $300,000 per picture) comedy-dramas with songs and dances added, sentimental and melodramatic situations aplenty, and little in the way of production values. Her film titles are a clue to the way she was marketed—Curly Top and Dimples, and her "little" pictures such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Temple often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil, for example, or wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. As Temple matured into a pre-adolescent, the formula was altered slightly to encourage her naturalness, naïveté, and tomboyishness to come forth and shine while her infant innocence, which had served her well at six but was inappropriate for her tweens, was toned down.
1935–1936

At Zanuck's request, Temple's parents agreed to four films a year from their daughter (rather than the three they wished), and the child star's contract was reworked with bonuses to sweeten the deal. A succession of films followed: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel in 1935. Curly Top and The Littlest Dudeeeet were named to Variety's list of top box office draws for 1935. In 1936, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were released.
1937–1939

Based on Temple's many screen successes, Zanuck decided to increase budgets and production values for her films. In 1937, John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite) and a top-drawer cast was secured that included Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. The film was a critical and commercial hit, but British film critic Graham Greene muddied the waters in October 1937 when he wrote in a British magazine that Temple was a "complete totsy" and accused her of being too nubile for a nine-year-old:

    Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.

Temple and Twentieth Century-Fox sued for libel and won. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in England until she turned twenty-one, at which time it was used to build a youth center in England.

The only other Temple film released in 1937 was Heidi, a story suited to her maturing personality. Her blond hair had darkened to ash blond and the ringlets brushed back into soft curls. Her theatrical instincts had sharpened and she suggested the Dutch song and dance dream sequence and its placement within the film. After minor disagreements about the dance steps with the other children in the scene, director Allan Dwan had badges made with 'Shirley Temple Police' inscribed upon them. Every child was issued one after swearing allegiance and obedience to Temple.

In 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were released. The latter two were critical duds with Corner the first Temple film to falter at the box office. The following year, Zanuck secured the rights to the children's novel, A Little Princess, believing the book would be an ideal vehicle for Temple. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and chose it to be her first Technicolor feature. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success with Temple's acting at its peak. Convinced Temple would make the transition from child star to teenage actress, Zanuck declined a substantial offer from MGM to star Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and cast her instead in the banal Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century-Fox. The film dropped Temple from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
1940

In 1940, Temple starred in two consecutive flops at Twentieth Century-Fox (The Blue Bird and Young People). Zanuck preferred to disassociate himself and the studio from a child star whose career was clearly finished. Temple's parents were furious but bought up the remainder of her contract in 1940 and sent her at the age of twelve to Westlake School for Girls, an exclusive and pricey country day school in Los Angeles. At the studio, Temple's bungalow was renovated, all traces of her tenure expunged, and the building reassigned as an office complex.
Last films and retirement
MGM

Within a year of her departure from Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM signed Temple for her comeback. Plans were made to team her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series, but her comeback film became Kathleen (1941), a story about an unhappy teenager, her busy, rich Dad, and her female psychologist. The film flopped and her MGM contract was cancelled after mutual consent.
Other studios

Miss Annie Rooney (1942, United Artists) followed, but it bombed. The actress retired for almost two years from films, throwing herself into school life and activities. In 1944, David O. Selznick signed Temple to a personal four-year contract. She appeared in two wartime hits for him: Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick however became involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in developing Temple's career. She was loaned-out to other studios with Kiss and Tell (1945, Columbia), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947, RKO), and Fort Apache (1948, RKO) being the few good films among a string of duds.

Although her 1947–9 films did not lose money, most had a cheap B look about them and her performances were colorless and apathetic. Selznick suggested she move to Italy with her daughter, study the culture, gain maturity as an actress, and even change her name. He made it clear she had been detrimentally typecast in Hollywood and her career was in perilous straits. After auditioning (and being rejected) in August 1950 for the role of Peter Pan on the Broadway stage, Temple took stock, admitted her recent movies had been poor fare, and announced her official retirement from films on December 16, 1950—the same day she married Charles Alden Black.
Temple-related merchandise and endorsements

Many Temple-inspired products were manufactured and released during the 1930s. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company's first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.

A mug, a pitcher, and a cereal bowl in cobalt blue with a decal of Temple were given away as a premium with Wheaties. Successfully-selling Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and accessories, soap, dishes, cutout books, sheet music, mirrors, paper tablets, and numerous other items. Before 1935 ended, Temple's income from licensed merchandise royalties would exceed $100,000, doubling her income from her movies. In 1936, her income would top $200,000 from royalties. She endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
In popular culture

    * The Shirley Temple was invented for Temple by a Chasen's bartender; the adult version of the drink is called a "Dirty Shirley"
    * "Shirley Temple's Pussy" was a former name used by the Stone Temple Pilots
    * Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were named after Temple
    * Magic Circle Club: the character "Curley Dimples" was a spoof of Temple
    * Hairspray: "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" references Temple
    * Interpol's "The Specialist" references Temple
    * Weird Al Yankovic's "Confessions Part III" references Temple
    * Phish's "The Wolfman's Brother" references Temple
    * Carol Burnett often aped Temple's "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    * The Brady Bunch: "The Snooper Star", Cindy believes that she is going to become the next Shirley Temple
    * Family Guy: "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie Griffin sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * Shrek the Third: Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Riker says that he serves on the USS Lollipop
    * Gilmore Girls: "Rory’s Birthday Party", Lorelai drinks a Shirley Temple, and references the Good Ship Lollipop
    * Mork & Mindy: "Pilot (1)", Mork does an impersonation of Temple
    * Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye uses Temple as "evidence" that the "ideal beauty" is a blue-eyed white girl
    * That '70s Show: "My Wife", Hyde, Jackie, Eric, and Donna sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/twentybeauties/TwentyBeautiesMontage/shirleytemple.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/chenta_91/Shirley_Temple.png
How different would The Wizard of OZ been is Shirley Temple would had been Dorothy?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/23/10 at 7:13 pm


The person born on this day...Shirley Temple
Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is a former American child actress. She began her screen career in 1932 at the age of three, and, in 1934, skyrocketed to superstardom in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Academy Award in February 1935, and blockbusting super hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid to late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Temple's box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she left the film industry at the age of twelve to attend high school. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid to late teens, and retired completely from the silver screen in 1950 at the age of twenty-one. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–1938) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.

In 1958, Temple returned to show biz with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on various television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of many corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress, and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

In 1945, seventeen-year-old Temple married Army Air Force sergeant John Agar, who, after being discharged from the service, entered the acting profession. The couple made two films together before Temple divorced him on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. She received custody of their daughter Linda Susan and the restoration of her maiden name in the process. In January 1950, Temple met the conservative scion of a patrician California family and United States Navy Silver Star recipient Charles Alden Black. She married him in December 1950 following the finalization of her divorce and retired from films the same day, to become a homemaker. Her son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. was born in 1952 and her daughter, Lori Alden Black was born in 1954.
The Baby Burlesks were eight 10–11 minute films produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont that satirized contemporary motion pictures, celebrities, events, and politics.  The casts were composed entirely of preschoolers who wore adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with enormous safety pins on the bottom.  Universal Studios put up 75 percent of the backing for the Baby Burlesks and a proposed Universal contract for Temple guaranteeing two years of work, twenty-four films, and plenty of benefits but pay only for days before the camera. Expenses and rehearsals (sometimes as many as ten days) were not remunerated.  Temple was sometimes disciplined at the studio by being confined to a small "black box" isolation chamber with only a block of ice to sit upon.  Her first day on the job entailed almost twelve hours of work with two naps. She took home a $10.00 check, a considerable sum at the time.  Her films thereafter usually demanded four days of shooting, days of unpaid rehearsals, and publicity photo shoots.

Temple made her screen debut in April 1932 with Runt Page, a spoof of the play and film The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was the only film in the series dubbed by adults. The remaining films in the series would by voiced by the children themselves. Temple's first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies, and her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches.
Two-reelers and first feature films

Temple appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. In order to underwrite film production costs at Educational, Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs.

While under contract for Educational, Temple was loaned-out to other studios. Her first appearance in a feature film was a barely visible role in The Red-Haired Alibi for Tower Productions, Inc. in 1932. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and, again, was loaned out for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros..
Fox Films

In February 1934, she signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned out for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros.-First National. Fox publicists did their best to promote Temple as a wunderkind of some sort, but Mrs. Temple conducted her own interviews, often correcting the hyperbole of others and requiring interviewers to submit copy for her approval.

In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Temple's breakthrough film. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Temple well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to US$1,250 a week, and her mother's to $150 as coach and hairdresser. In June, Temple garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.
Bright Eyes and Academy Award

She finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the first feature film crafted specifically for her talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. In the film's one musical number, she introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film (more than any other Temple film up to that time) demonstrated her ability to portray a fully dimensional character and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man.

In February 1935, Temple received a special miniature Oscar statuette in recognition of her contributions to film entertainment in 1934. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Twentieth Century-Fox
1934

In 1934, Fox Films faced serious financial difficulties and merged with producer Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter, studio head Zanuck focused his attention and resources upon cultivating Temple's superstar status. Temple was the studio's greatest asset, and, after four successful films—Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes—the public adored her. The studio's top priority became developing projects, vehicles, and stories for Temple, and, to that end, the "Shirley Temple Story Development" team of nineteen writers went to work creating eleven original stories and adaptions of the classics.
Analysis

Under the development team, Temple's films would propose a simple natural solution to the Great Depression's woes—open one's heart and give of oneself. On the screen, her goodness, innocence, and charm would melt the hearts of cold authority figures like military officers, corporation heads, and orphanage matrons, and touch the lives of the grumpy, the wizened, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results.
Eleanor Roosevelt seated with Temple immediately to her left. The two are looking at each other apparently engaged in conversation.
Temple and Eleanor Roosevelt (July 1938)

Temple films were seen as generating hope and optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just a fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."

Most Temple films were cheaply made ($200,000 or $300,000 per picture) comedy-dramas with songs and dances added, sentimental and melodramatic situations aplenty, and little in the way of production values. Her film titles are a clue to the way she was marketed—Curly Top and Dimples, and her "little" pictures such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Temple often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil, for example, or wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. As Temple matured into a pre-adolescent, the formula was altered slightly to encourage her naturalness, naïveté, and tomboyishness to come forth and shine while her infant innocence, which had served her well at six but was inappropriate for her tweens, was toned down.
1935–1936

At Zanuck's request, Temple's parents agreed to four films a year from their daughter (rather than the three they wished), and the child star's contract was reworked with bonuses to sweeten the deal. A succession of films followed: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel in 1935. Curly Top and The Littlest Dudeeeet were named to Variety's list of top box office draws for 1935. In 1936, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were released.
1937–1939

Based on Temple's many screen successes, Zanuck decided to increase budgets and production values for her films. In 1937, John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite) and a top-drawer cast was secured that included Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. The film was a critical and commercial hit, but British film critic Graham Greene muddied the waters in October 1937 when he wrote in a British magazine that Temple was a "complete totsy" and accused her of being too nubile for a nine-year-old:

    Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.

Temple and Twentieth Century-Fox sued for libel and won. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in England until she turned twenty-one, at which time it was used to build a youth center in England.

The only other Temple film released in 1937 was Heidi, a story suited to her maturing personality. Her blond hair had darkened to ash blond and the ringlets brushed back into soft curls. Her theatrical instincts had sharpened and she suggested the Dutch song and dance dream sequence and its placement within the film. After minor disagreements about the dance steps with the other children in the scene, director Allan Dwan had badges made with 'Shirley Temple Police' inscribed upon them. Every child was issued one after swearing allegiance and obedience to Temple.

In 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were released. The latter two were critical duds with Corner the first Temple film to falter at the box office. The following year, Zanuck secured the rights to the children's novel, A Little Princess, believing the book would be an ideal vehicle for Temple. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and chose it to be her first Technicolor feature. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success with Temple's acting at its peak. Convinced Temple would make the transition from child star to teenage actress, Zanuck declined a substantial offer from MGM to star Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and cast her instead in the banal Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century-Fox. The film dropped Temple from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
1940

In 1940, Temple starred in two consecutive flops at Twentieth Century-Fox (The Blue Bird and Young People). Zanuck preferred to disassociate himself and the studio from a child star whose career was clearly finished. Temple's parents were furious but bought up the remainder of her contract in 1940 and sent her at the age of twelve to Westlake School for Girls, an exclusive and pricey country day school in Los Angeles. At the studio, Temple's bungalow was renovated, all traces of her tenure expunged, and the building reassigned as an office complex.
Last films and retirement
MGM

Within a year of her departure from Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM signed Temple for her comeback. Plans were made to team her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series, but her comeback film became Kathleen (1941), a story about an unhappy teenager, her busy, rich Dad, and her female psychologist. The film flopped and her MGM contract was cancelled after mutual consent.
Other studios

Miss Annie Rooney (1942, United Artists) followed, but it bombed. The actress retired for almost two years from films, throwing herself into school life and activities. In 1944, David O. Selznick signed Temple to a personal four-year contract. She appeared in two wartime hits for him: Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick however became involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in developing Temple's career. She was loaned-out to other studios with Kiss and Tell (1945, Columbia), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947, RKO), and Fort Apache (1948, RKO) being the few good films among a string of duds.

Although her 1947–9 films did not lose money, most had a cheap B look about them and her performances were colorless and apathetic. Selznick suggested she move to Italy with her daughter, study the culture, gain maturity as an actress, and even change her name. He made it clear she had been detrimentally typecast in Hollywood and her career was in perilous straits. After auditioning (and being rejected) in August 1950 for the role of Peter Pan on the Broadway stage, Temple took stock, admitted her recent movies had been poor fare, and announced her official retirement from films on December 16, 1950—the same day she married Charles Alden Black.
Temple-related merchandise and endorsements

Many Temple-inspired products were manufactured and released during the 1930s. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company's first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.

A mug, a pitcher, and a cereal bowl in cobalt blue with a decal of Temple were given away as a premium with Wheaties. Successfully-selling Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and accessories, soap, dishes, cutout books, sheet music, mirrors, paper tablets, and numerous other items. Before 1935 ended, Temple's income from licensed merchandise royalties would exceed $100,000, doubling her income from her movies. In 1936, her income would top $200,000 from royalties. She endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
In popular culture

    * The Shirley Temple was invented for Temple by a Chasen's bartender; the adult version of the drink is called a "Dirty Shirley"
    * "Shirley Temple's Pussy" was a former name used by the Stone Temple Pilots
    * Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were named after Temple
    * Magic Circle Club: the character "Curley Dimples" was a spoof of Temple
    * Hairspray: "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" references Temple
    * Interpol's "The Specialist" references Temple
    * Weird Al Yankovic's "Confessions Part III" references Temple
    * Phish's "The Wolfman's Brother" references Temple
    * Carol Burnett often aped Temple's "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    * The Brady Bunch: "The Snooper Star", Cindy believes that she is going to become the next Shirley Temple
    * Family Guy: "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie Griffin sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * Shrek the Third: Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    * Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Riker says that he serves on the USS Lollipop
    * Gilmore Girls: "Rory’s Birthday Party", Lorelai drinks a Shirley Temple, and references the Good Ship Lollipop
    * Mork & Mindy: "Pilot (1)", Mork does an impersonation of Temple
    * Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye uses Temple as "evidence" that the "ideal beauty" is a blue-eyed white girl
    * That '70s Show: "My Wife", Hyde, Jackie, Eric, and Donna sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/twentybeauties/TwentyBeautiesMontage/shirleytemple.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/chenta_91/Shirley_Temple.png


What she doing these days? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/23/10 at 8:10 pm

I was always a fan of Shirley Temple. I think she was extremely talented at a very young age. I don't know of any 4 or 5 year old who could do what she could.

The whole Mills family were also talented. I still consider Pollyanna one of the all-time family classics (and I have the DVD).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 2:49 am


What she doing these days? ???
Living in graceful retirement.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:05 am

British Person of the Day: Paula Yates

Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960  – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television  programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.

Early life

Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.

In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.

Career

Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.

In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".

After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.

Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".

Personal life

Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof  on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.

Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.

Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.

On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide.  She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."

Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.

While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.

In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.

Death

On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.

Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.

In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg

http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:10 am


British Person of the Day: Paula Yates

Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960  – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television  programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.

Early life

Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.

In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.

Career

Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.

In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".

After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.

Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".

Personal life

Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof  on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.

Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.

Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.

On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide.  She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."

Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.

While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.

In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.

Death

On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.

Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.

In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg

http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg

Thanks Phil...Another life that ended before it should have. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:11 am


British Person of the Day: Paula Yates

Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960  – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television  programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.

Early life

Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.

In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.

Career

Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.

In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".

After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.

Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".

Personal life

Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof  on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.

Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.

Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.

On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide.  She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."

Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.

While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.

In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.

Death

On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.

Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.

In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg

http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg


A life cut short. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:14 am


Thanks Phil...Another life that ended before it should have. :(
A short and tragic life.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:19 am

The word of the day...Owl
The Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament.

Living owls are divided into two families: the typical owls, Strigidae; and the barn-owls, Tytonidae.
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Animals/owl1.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz330/lilandrap/Violet/owl.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k134/birdofprey25/Delta%20and%20OWL/Sarahthebarnowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv335/snowypads/Owl%20and%20Monkey%20Haven/SnowyOwl1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/OWLS/Owl-JennysCreationsBLINKINGOWLANI.gif
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz288/smokeweedeveryday_2010/whiteowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv336/marjoromijn/uil/owl.gif
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/dunc_89/dsc-0089.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy27/petrajlea/lelu1/ph376.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff16/Peacewave07/t14042r0isd.jpg









Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:20 am

http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/uploads/products/x_the_owl.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:22 am

The person born on this day...Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand (pronounced /ˈstraɪsænd/ STRYE-sand; born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, director and songwriter. She has won two Academy Awards,  nine Grammy Awards,  four Emmy Awards,  a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award,  and a Peabody Award.

She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and the best-selling female recording artist of all time, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list and the only female recording artist in the top ten. Her achievement is all the more remarkable, as she is the only artist who was not a part of the rock n roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jamie Foxx and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an Oscar for a leading role and also recording a #1 pop single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most Top 10 albums of any female recording artist; a total of 31 to her credit since 1963. Streisand also has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest Top 10 albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number 1 albums in five consecutive decades. Her RIAA tally shows she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.

After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple Platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a nomination for Album of the Year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, Lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released—the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.

The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at #1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the #2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart a duet with the legendary Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.

In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century."

In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.

Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on her acting and directing duties as well as her burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin. In 1997, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Céline Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at #1 on the pop charts.

Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number one female singer in the U.S., with at least two #1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A 2-disc live album of the concert entitled Timeless: Live in Concert was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in early 2000.

In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

Streisand's most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their previous Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th Birthday Album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC Television November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.

In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with the featured stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.

Streisand's 20-concert tour set record box-office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006 show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999 show being the house record and the highest grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.

A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.

In February 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Streisand as the #2 top-earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has become deeper over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century.

On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what will be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.

On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, Streisand: Live In Concert, highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.

On September 26, 2009, Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village.

On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album titled Love is the Answer, produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut after her interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, promoting the album. This album was a big success, debuting straight at #1 on the Billboard 200 and registering her biggest weekly-sales since 1997. This made Streisand the only artist in history to achieve #1 albums in five different decades.

On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.
Film career
in Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first (and only) time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! directed by Gene Kelly (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).

During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976; this was the first time a woman had received this award.

Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).

From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in five films since.

Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand is also the writer of Yentl, something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written Yentl."

In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.

In 2005 Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith Co. and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. As of December 2008, Streisand stated she is considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart — a project Ms. Streisand has worked on since the mid-1990s Streisand has been seen shooting scenes for sequel to 2004's Meet the Fockers. Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand is one of several actresses interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard (Meryl Streep and Glenn Close were also interested), although Paramount Pictures has delayed the film
In 2000, Barbra Streisand was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Music awards

Streisand's works have been nominated for over 56 Grammy Awards; she won 10 of these, including two special awards. She has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii430/barbra4everinmyheart/default-barbra-streisand.jpg
http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac195/SOCKMEISTER_2009/barbra_streisand_19621.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:22 am


http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/uploads/products/x_the_owl.jpg

Cool owl :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:23 am


The person born on this day...Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand (pronounced /ˈstraɪsænd/ STRYE-sand; born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, director and songwriter. She has won two Academy Awards,  nine Grammy Awards,  four Emmy Awards,  a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award,  and a Peabody Award.

She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and the best-selling female recording artist of all time, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list and the only female recording artist in the top ten. Her achievement is all the more remarkable, as she is the only artist who was not a part of the rock n roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jamie Foxx and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an Oscar for a leading role and also recording a #1 pop single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most Top 10 albums of any female recording artist; a total of 31 to her credit since 1963. Streisand also has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest Top 10 albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number 1 albums in five consecutive decades. Her RIAA tally shows she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.

After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple Platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a nomination for Album of the Year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, Lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released—the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.

The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at #1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the #2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart a duet with the legendary Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.

In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century."

In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.

Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on her acting and directing duties as well as her burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin. In 1997, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Céline Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at #1 on the pop charts.

Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number one female singer in the U.S., with at least two #1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A 2-disc live album of the concert entitled Timeless: Live in Concert was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in early 2000.

In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

Streisand's most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their previous Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th Birthday Album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC Television November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.

In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with the featured stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.

Streisand's 20-concert tour set record box-office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006 show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999 show being the house record and the highest grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.

A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.

In February 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Streisand as the #2 top-earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has become deeper over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century.

On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what will be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.

On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, Streisand: Live In Concert, highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.

On September 26, 2009, Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village.

On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album titled Love is the Answer, produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut after her interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, promoting the album. This album was a big success, debuting straight at #1 on the Billboard 200 and registering her biggest weekly-sales since 1997. This made Streisand the only artist in history to achieve #1 albums in five different decades.

On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.
Film career
in Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first (and only) time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! directed by Gene Kelly (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).

During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976; this was the first time a woman had received this award.

Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).

From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in five films since.

Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand is also the writer of Yentl, something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written Yentl."

In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.

In 2005 Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith Co. and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. As of December 2008, Streisand stated she is considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart — a project Ms. Streisand has worked on since the mid-1990s Streisand has been seen shooting scenes for sequel to 2004's Meet the Fockers. Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand is one of several actresses interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard (Meryl Streep and Glenn Close were also interested), although Paramount Pictures has delayed the film
In 2000, Barbra Streisand was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Music awards

Streisand's works have been nominated for over 56 Grammy Awards; she won 10 of these, including two special awards. She has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii430/barbra4everinmyheart/default-barbra-streisand.jpg
http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac195/SOCKMEISTER_2009/barbra_streisand_19621.jpg


a talented person.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:23 am


The word of the day...Owl
The Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament.

Living owls are divided into two families: the typical owls, Strigidae; and the barn-owls, Tytonidae.
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Animals/owl1.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz330/lilandrap/Violet/owl.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k134/birdofprey25/Delta%20and%20OWL/Sarahthebarnowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv335/snowypads/Owl%20and%20Monkey%20Haven/SnowyOwl1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/OWLS/Owl-JennysCreationsBLINKINGOWLANI.gif
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz288/smokeweedeveryday_2010/whiteowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv336/marjoromijn/uil/owl.gif
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/dunc_89/dsc-0089.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy27/petrajlea/lelu1/ph376.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff16/Peacewave07/t14042r0isd.jpg


It's a hoot!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:24 am


Cool owl :)


From Mr.Rogers.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:26 am

The person who died on this day...Bud Abbott
William Alexander “Bud” Abbott (October 2, 1895 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, producer  and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.
Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey into a show business family. His parents worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus: his mother, Rae (née Fisher), was a bareback rider and his father, Harry, was an advance man. Abbott dropped out of school as a child and began working at Coney Island. When Bud was 16, his father, now an employee of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, installed him in the box office of the Casino Theater  in Brooklyn. Eventually, Abbott began putting together touring burlesque shows. In 1918, he married Betty Smith, a burlesque dancer and comedienne. Shortly after his marriage, Abbott and his new wife began producing a vaudeville  "tab show" called Broadway Flashes. This show toured on the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit.  Around 1924, Bud started performing as a straight man in an act with Betty. As his stature grew, Abbott began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.
Lou Costello and Hollywood

Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930s. Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows, while Costello was a rising comic. They formally teamed up in 1936 and performed together in burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and cinemas.

In 1938, they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith Hour radio show, which led to the duo appearing in a Broadway musical, The Streets of Paris. In 1940, Universal signed Abbott and Costello for their first film, One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routines, including an abbreviated version of "Who's On First?" A common misconception is that Abbott and Costello are the only two non-baseball players who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The comedic duo are not members of the Cooperstown society anymore than the sports writers and broadcasters who are acknowledged by separate awards. However, a plaque honoring and a gold record and transcript of their famous sketch has been included in the museum collection since 1956, making them one of the few non-baseball players or managers to have a memorial in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

During World War II, Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid stars in the world. Between 1940 and 1956 they made 36 films, and earned a percentage of the profits on each. They were popular on radio throughout the 1940s, primarily on their own program which ran from 1942 until 1947 on NBC and from 1947 to 1949 on ABC. In the 1950s they brought their comedy to live television on The Colgate Comedy Hour, and launched their own half-hour series, The Abbott and Costello Show.

Norman and Betty Abbott, the children of Bud Abbott's sister Olive, started on their own careers with help from their uncle: Betty as the script girl on Breakfast at Tiffany's and Norm directed live TV. After Olive's husband abandoned his family (allegedly going for a pack of smokes and never coming home), Abbott supported them. Bud changed everyone's name back to Abbott and raised them as his own children. He also adopted two children with his wife Betty.

Abbott's great-grandniece and granddaughter of Norman Abbott, Kathleen Abbott aka Lisa Bay, was born to Chrissy Abbott in 1966, while Chrissy was attending Beverly Hills High School, and is the adopted sister of director Michael Bay.
Strain and split

Relations between the two partners had been strained for years. In their early burlesque days, their salaries were split 60%-40%, favoring Abbott, because the straight man was always viewed as the more valuable member of the team. That was changed to 50%-50% after they became burlesque stars.

However, other accounts state that the 60%-40% split was Costello's idea. "A Good Straight Man is hard to find" is attributed to Costello. Yet, the sixty-forty split had long irked Costello. Later, after Buck Privates made them movie stars, Costello insisted that the split be reversed in his favor, and it remained sixty-forty for the remainder of their careers. Costello's other demand, that the team be renamed "Costello and Abbott," was rejected by Universal Studios. The result was a "permanent chill" between the two partners, according to Lou's daughter Chris Costello, in her biography Lou's on First. The partners' relationship was also strained by Abbott's battle with alcohol, which began when he took to heavy enough drinking in order to combat the effects of epilepsy. (To make things worse, Costello's wife also had a problem with alcohol.)

The team's popularity waned in the 1950s, and they were further bedeviled by tax issues—the IRS demanded heavy back taxes, forcing the partners (both of whom had been serious gamblers) to sell most if not all of their assets (including Costello's rights to their television show). Abbott and Costello parted ways formally in July 1957. Lou Costello died on March 3, 1959.
Later years

Abbott attempted to begin performing again in 1960, with a new partner, Candy Candido, and received good reviews. But Abbott called it quits, remarking that "No one could ever live up to Lou." On TV, he performed in a dramatic episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Joke's On Me" in 1961. A few years later, Bud provided his own voice for the Hanna-Barbera animated series Abbott and Costello, with Stan Irwin providing the voice of Lou Costello.

Bud and Betty Abbott were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud Jr. in 1942 and Vickie in 1949. Bud Jr. died on January 19, 1997 at the age of 57.

Bud Abbott has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located on 6333 Hollywood Boulevard, the motion pictures star is located on 1611 Vine Street, and the TV star is located on 6740 Hollywood Boulevard.
Death

Abbott suffered from epilepsy throughout his life. In the early 1960s, he suffered the first in a series of strokes. In 1972, he broke his hip and shortly after that was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Abbott died of the disease at the age of 78 on April 24, 1974, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. His wife Betty died in 1981.

When Groucho Marx was asked about Abbott shortly after his death, his response was that Abbott was "the greatest straight man ever."
Honors and awards

Abbott received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting(posthumously) from the Garden State Film Festival in 2006 and was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Vickie Abbott Wheeler.

Abbott is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1940 One Night in the Tropics Abbott Film Debut
1941 Buck Privates Slicker Smith
In the Navy Smoky Adams
Hold That Ghost Chuck Murray
Keep 'Em Flying Blackie Benson
1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy Duke
Rio Rita Doc
Pardon My Sarong Algy Shaw
Who Done It? Chick Larkin
1943 It Ain't Hay Grover Mickridge
Hit The Ice Flash Fulton
1944 In Society Eddie Harrington
Lost in a Harem Peter Johnson
1945 Here Come The Co-Eds Slats McCarthy
The Naughty Nineties Dexter Broadhurst
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood Buzz Kurtis
1946 Little Giant John Morrison/Tom Chandler
The Time of Their Lives Cuthbert/Dr. Greenway
1947 Buck Privates Come Home Slicker Smith Sequel to Buck Privates
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap Duke Egan
1948 The Noose Hangs High Ted Higgins Also Producer (uncredited)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Chick Young
Mexican Hayride Harry Lambert
10,000 Kids and a Cop Himself Documentary short
1949 Africa Screams Buzz Johnson
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Casey Edwards
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Bud Jones
1951 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Bud Alexander
Comin' Round The Mountain Al Stewart
1952 Jack and the Beanstalk Mr. Dinklepuss Also Producer
Lost in Alaska Tom Watson
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd Rocky Stonebridge Also Executive Producer
1953 Abbott and Costello Go to Mars Lester
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Slim
1955 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops Harry Pierce
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Peter Patterson
1956 Dance With Me Henry Bud Flick
1965 The World of Abbott and Costello - Compilation Film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1952-1954 The Abbott and Costello Show Bud Abbott 52 Episodes
1961 General Electric Theater Ernie Kauffman Episode: "The Joke's On Me" (04/16/61)
1967-1968 The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show Abbott (Voice) 156 Episodes
As himself

   * ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999) (TV) (voice)
   * The Century: America's Time (1999) (TV Mini Series)
   * This Is Your Life (1956) (TV Series)
   * Toast of the Town (1955) (TV Series)
   * Screen Snapshots Series 33, No. 10: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
   * News of the Day (1952)
   * The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951) (Host, 1951-1954)
   * Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949)
   * 10,000 Kids and a Cop (1948)
   * Picture People No. 10: Hollywood at Home (1942)
   * Meet the People (1941)
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/BudAbbott.jpg
http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af136/ScaredSillyByPaulCastiglia/66689_202x152.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:27 am


The word of the day...Owl
The Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6bNlbbyZKY

It involves owls.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:28 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx37_33Xzmg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:28 am


It's a hoot!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s49/angelina0783/woodsyowl.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:29 am


From Mr.Rogers.

Yes X the Owl :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:35 am


The person who died on this day...Bud Abbott
William Alexander “Bud” Abbott (October 2, 1895 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, producer  and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.
Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey into a show business family. His parents worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus: his mother, Rae (née Fisher), was a bareback rider and his father, Harry, was an advance man. Abbott dropped out of school as a child and began working at Coney Island. When Bud was 16, his father, now an employee of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, installed him in the box office of the Casino Theater  in Brooklyn. Eventually, Abbott began putting together touring burlesque shows. In 1918, he married Betty Smith, a burlesque dancer and comedienne. Shortly after his marriage, Abbott and his new wife began producing a vaudeville  "tab show" called Broadway Flashes. This show toured on the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit.  Around 1924, Bud started performing as a straight man in an act with Betty. As his stature grew, Abbott began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.
Lou Costello and Hollywood

Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930s. Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows, while Costello was a rising comic. They formally teamed up in 1936 and performed together in burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and cinemas.

In 1938, they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith Hour radio show, which led to the duo appearing in a Broadway musical, The Streets of Paris. In 1940, Universal signed Abbott and Costello for their first film, One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routines, including an abbreviated version of "Who's On First?" A common misconception is that Abbott and Costello are the only two non-baseball players who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The comedic duo are not members of the Cooperstown society anymore than the sports writers and broadcasters who are acknowledged by separate awards. However, a plaque honoring and a gold record and transcript of their famous sketch has been included in the museum collection since 1956, making them one of the few non-baseball players or managers to have a memorial in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

During World War II, Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid stars in the world. Between 1940 and 1956 they made 36 films, and earned a percentage of the profits on each. They were popular on radio throughout the 1940s, primarily on their own program which ran from 1942 until 1947 on NBC and from 1947 to 1949 on ABC. In the 1950s they brought their comedy to live television on The Colgate Comedy Hour, and launched their own half-hour series, The Abbott and Costello Show.

Norman and Betty Abbott, the children of Bud Abbott's sister Olive, started on their own careers with help from their uncle: Betty as the script girl on Breakfast at Tiffany's and Norm directed live TV. After Olive's husband abandoned his family (allegedly going for a pack of smokes and never coming home), Abbott supported them. Bud changed everyone's name back to Abbott and raised them as his own children. He also adopted two children with his wife Betty.

Abbott's great-grandniece and granddaughter of Norman Abbott, Kathleen Abbott aka Lisa Bay, was born to Chrissy Abbott in 1966, while Chrissy was attending Beverly Hills High School, and is the adopted sister of director Michael Bay.
Strain and split

Relations between the two partners had been strained for years. In their early burlesque days, their salaries were split 60%-40%, favoring Abbott, because the straight man was always viewed as the more valuable member of the team. That was changed to 50%-50% after they became burlesque stars.

However, other accounts state that the 60%-40% split was Costello's idea. "A Good Straight Man is hard to find" is attributed to Costello. Yet, the sixty-forty split had long irked Costello. Later, after Buck Privates made them movie stars, Costello insisted that the split be reversed in his favor, and it remained sixty-forty for the remainder of their careers. Costello's other demand, that the team be renamed "Costello and Abbott," was rejected by Universal Studios. The result was a "permanent chill" between the two partners, according to Lou's daughter Chris Costello, in her biography Lou's on First. The partners' relationship was also strained by Abbott's battle with alcohol, which began when he took to heavy enough drinking in order to combat the effects of epilepsy. (To make things worse, Costello's wife also had a problem with alcohol.)

The team's popularity waned in the 1950s, and they were further bedeviled by tax issues—the IRS demanded heavy back taxes, forcing the partners (both of whom had been serious gamblers) to sell most if not all of their assets (including Costello's rights to their television show). Abbott and Costello parted ways formally in July 1957. Lou Costello died on March 3, 1959.
Later years

Abbott attempted to begin performing again in 1960, with a new partner, Candy Candido, and received good reviews. But Abbott called it quits, remarking that "No one could ever live up to Lou." On TV, he performed in a dramatic episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Joke's On Me" in 1961. A few years later, Bud provided his own voice for the Hanna-Barbera animated series Abbott and Costello, with Stan Irwin providing the voice of Lou Costello.

Bud and Betty Abbott were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud Jr. in 1942 and Vickie in 1949. Bud Jr. died on January 19, 1997 at the age of 57.

Bud Abbott has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located on 6333 Hollywood Boulevard, the motion pictures star is located on 1611 Vine Street, and the TV star is located on 6740 Hollywood Boulevard.
Death

Abbott suffered from epilepsy throughout his life. In the early 1960s, he suffered the first in a series of strokes. In 1972, he broke his hip and shortly after that was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Abbott died of the disease at the age of 78 on April 24, 1974, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. His wife Betty died in 1981.

When Groucho Marx was asked about Abbott shortly after his death, his response was that Abbott was "the greatest straight man ever."
Honors and awards

Abbott received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting(posthumously) from the Garden State Film Festival in 2006 and was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Vickie Abbott Wheeler.

Abbott is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1940 One Night in the Tropics Abbott Film Debut
1941 Buck Privates Slicker Smith
In the Navy Smoky Adams
Hold That Ghost Chuck Murray
Keep 'Em Flying Blackie Benson
1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy Duke
Rio Rita Doc
Pardon My Sarong Algy Shaw
Who Done It? Chick Larkin
1943 It Ain't Hay Grover Mickridge
Hit The Ice Flash Fulton
1944 In Society Eddie Harrington
Lost in a Harem Peter Johnson
1945 Here Come The Co-Eds Slats McCarthy
The Naughty Nineties Dexter Broadhurst
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood Buzz Kurtis
1946 Little Giant John Morrison/Tom Chandler
The Time of Their Lives Cuthbert/Dr. Greenway
1947 Buck Privates Come Home Slicker Smith Sequel to Buck Privates
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap Duke Egan
1948 The Noose Hangs High Ted Higgins Also Producer (uncredited)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Chick Young
Mexican Hayride Harry Lambert
10,000 Kids and a Cop Himself Documentary short
1949 Africa Screams Buzz Johnson
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Casey Edwards
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Bud Jones
1951 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Bud Alexander
Comin' Round The Mountain Al Stewart
1952 Jack and the Beanstalk Mr. Dinklepuss Also Producer
Lost in Alaska Tom Watson
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd Rocky Stonebridge Also Executive Producer
1953 Abbott and Costello Go to Mars Lester
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Slim
1955 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops Harry Pierce
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Peter Patterson
1956 Dance With Me Henry Bud Flick
1965 The World of Abbott and Costello - Compilation Film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1952-1954 The Abbott and Costello Show Bud Abbott 52 Episodes
1961 General Electric Theater Ernie Kauffman Episode: "The Joke's On Me" (04/16/61)
1967-1968 The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show Abbott (Voice) 156 Episodes
As himself

    * ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999) (TV) (voice)
    * The Century: America's Time (1999) (TV Mini Series)
    * This Is Your Life (1956) (TV Series)
    * Toast of the Town (1955) (TV Series)
    * Screen Snapshots Series 33, No. 10: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
    * News of the Day (1952)
    * The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951) (Host, 1951-1954)
    * Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949)
    * 10,000 Kids and a Cop (1948)
    * Picture People No. 10: Hollywood at Home (1942)
    * Meet the People (1941)
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/BudAbbott.jpg
http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af136/ScaredSillyByPaulCastiglia/66689_202x152.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:35 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng
The only thing I know about baseball.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/24/10 at 12:24 pm


http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s49/angelina0783/woodsyowl.jpg



I was thinking the exact same thing.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng




Classic.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/24/10 at 4:53 pm


http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s49/angelina0783/woodsyowl.jpg

Now the commercial theme is going through my head....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:02 pm




Classic.



Cat

Agreed. O0 Those guys did some classic bits.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:07 pm

Who's On First?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:08 pm


Who's On First?

That's right.

What's the guy's name on second base?

I don't know. He's on third.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:09 pm


That's right.

What's the guy's name on second base?

I don't know. He's on third.


Who's On Third?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:15 pm


Who's On Third?

No, Who is on First.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:15 pm


No, Who is on First.


Who's First?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:22 pm


Who's First?

Yes, that's where he is.

In the later portion comedy routine, Bud responded to Lou's queries of "Who" with "Naturally", indicating that that was who to throw the ball to in order to record an out at first base. Lou took this to mean that Naturally was the first baseman's name. "No, you throw it to Who!" "Well whoever it is, better get it." "Don't worry about Who, he'll get it."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:37 am



I was thinking the exact same thing.






Classic.



Cat

One of if not the greatest comedy routines of all time. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:43 am

The word of the day...Scent
  1.  A distinctive, often agreeable odor. See synonyms at fragrance, smell.
  2. A perfume: an expensive French scent.
  3. An odor left by the passing of an animal.
  4. The trail of a hunted animal or fugitive.
  5. The sense of smell: a bear's keen scent.
  6. A hint of something imminent; a suggestion: caught the scent of a reconciliation.
http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy249/bokibear/MY%20THESIS/IMG_3127.jpg
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af309/grgperez4/Wonder%20Wafers%20Scents/CleanCar_JPG_Web.jpg
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv26/NeshebaofEspiritE/Kyra%20Simone/WebVersion.jpg
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy170/Isobael_Liu/Flora/SV300006copy.jpg
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt81/serpico9/Scent_of_a_woman.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd283/dvangel34/RLRomance1.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/lukacsemil/DSC_0097.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/HRFANATICS/TEALIGHTS/SparklingSnow.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:46 am

The person born on this day...Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is best known for his roles as Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon, Tony Montana in Scarface, Carlito Brigante in the 1993 film Carlito's Way, Frank Serpico in Serpico, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman, Lt. Vincent Hanna in Heat, and Roy Cohn  in Angels in America. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992 for his role in Scent of a Woman after receiving seven previous nominations It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin  addict, that would bring Pacino to the attention of director  Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as Michael Corleone in the blockbuster 1972 Mafia film The Godfather. Although several established actors, including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and a little-known Robert De Niro also wanted to portray Michael Corleone, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives.  Pacino's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, and offered a prime example of his early acting style, described by Halliwell's Film Guide as "intense" and "tightly clenched".

In 1973, Pacino starred in the popular Serpico, based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico who went undercover to expose the corruption of fellow officers. That same year he co-starred in Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the successful sequel The Godfather Part II, acclaimed as being comparable to the original. In 1975, he enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz. It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who also directed him in Serpico a few years earlier, and for both films Pacino was nominated for Best Actor.

In 1977, Pacino starred as a race-car driver in Bobby Deerfield, directed by Sydney Pollack, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for his portrayal of the title role, losing out to Richard Burton, who won for Equus.
With Lee Strasberg in The Godfather II

During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All. He continued performing onstage, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III for a record run on Broadway, despite poor notices from critics.
1980s

Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s, and his appearances in the controversial Cruising and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned. However, 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian DePalma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role. Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned but did well at the box office, grossing over US$45 million domestically. Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Cuban drug dealer/lord Tony Montana.

In 1985, Pacino worked on his most personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play by the English writer Heathcote Williams. He starred in the play, remounting it with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 50-minute film version. It was later released as part of the Pacino: An Actor's Vision box set in 2007.

His 1985 film Revolution was a commercial and critical failure, resulting in a four-year hiatus from films, during which Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately." Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love.

His greatest stage success of the decade was David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.
1990s

Pacino received an Oscar nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy (1990), followed by a return to one of his most famous characters, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990). In 1991, Pacino starred in Frankie and Johnny with Michelle Pfeiffer, who co-starred with Pacino in Scarface. He would finally win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman (1992). That year, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role (as did Jamie Foxx in 2004).

During the 1990s, Pacino had acclaimed performances in such crime dramas as Carlito's Way (1993), Donnie Brasco (1997), and the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider (1999). In 1995, Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat, in which he and fellow film icon Robert De Niro appeared on-screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes). In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical feature Looking for Richard, and was praised for his role as Satan in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate in 1997. Pacino also starred in Oliver Stone's critically acclaimed Any Given Sunday in 1999.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but has won two Golden Globes during the last decade, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2001 for lifetime achievement in motion pictures, and the second, for Best Performance by an Actor for his role as McCarthyite Roy Cohn in the highly praised HBO miniseries Angels in America in 2004. Pacino also won an Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role.

Pacino's stage work during this period include revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie and Oscar Wilde's Salome.
2000s

Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: The Game, ostensibly because his voice had changed dramatically since playing Michael in the first two Godfather films. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.

Rising director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name. The film and Pacino's performance were critically lauded and the film did moderately well at the box office. Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America. Pacino still acts on stage and has dabbled in film directing. His film festival-screened Chinese Coffee has earned good notices. On the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, he is one of only two actors to appear on both lists: on the "heroes list" as Frank Serpico and on the "villains list" as Michael Corleone (the other being Arnold Schwarzenegger, for his roles as the Terminator). Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice.

On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award. On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.

He starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Andy Garcia as the villain Willy Bank, a casino tycoon who is targeted out of revenge by Danny Ocean and his crew. The film received generally favorable reviews.

On June 19, 2007, a boxed set titled Pacino: An Actor's Vision was released, containing three rare Al Pacino films: The Local Stigmatic, Looking For Richard and Chinese Coffee, as well as a documentary, Babbleonia. Pacino produced prologues and epilogues for the discs containing the films.

88 Minutes was released on April 18, 2008 in the United States, having already been released in various other countries in 2007. The film was critically panned, although critics found the fault to be in the plot instead of Pacino's acting. In Righteous Kill, Pacino's next scheduled film, Pacino and Robert De Niro co-star as New York detectives searching for a serial killer. Rapper 50 Cent also stars in it. The film was released to theaters on September 12, 2008. In Rififi, a remake of the 1955 French original based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton, Pacino will play a career thief just out of prison who finds his wife has left him; in his anger, he starts planning a heist. Also Pacino is set to play surrealist Salvador Dalí in the film Dali & I: The Surreal Story. Pacino is playing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in an HBO Films biopic entitled You Don't Know Jack, which is scheduled to premiere in April 2010. In December 2009, Pacino bought the rights to the Philip Roth novel "The Humbling", about a worn out stage actor who finds new hope and erotic adventures with a younger woman. The film is in pre-production.
Personal life

While Pacino has never married, he has three children. The first, Julie Marie (b. 1989), is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, Anton James and Olivia Rose (b. January 25, 2001), with ex-girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo, whom he dated from 1996 until 2003. Pacino also had a relationship with Diane Keaton, his co-star in the Godfather Trilogy. The on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1969 Me, Natalie Tony Film debut
1971 The Panic in Needle Park Bobby
1972 The Godfather Michael Corleone Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Salary: US$35,000
1973 Scarecrow Francis Lionel 'Lion' Delbuchi
Serpico Frank Serpico Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor
Salary: US$15,000
1974 The Godfather Part II Michael Corleone BAFTA Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Salary: US$500,000 + 10% profit
1975 Dog Day Afternoon Sonny Wortzik BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1977 Bobby Deerfield Bobby Deerfield Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1979 …And Justice for All Arthur Kirkland Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1980 Cruising Steve Burns
1982 Author! Author! Ivan Travalian Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1983 Scarface Tony Montana Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1985 Revolution Tom Dobb
1989 Sea of Love Frank Keller Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1990 The Local Stigmatic Graham Filmed in 1985
Dick Tracy Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Salary: US$4,500,000
The Godfather Part III Michael Corleone Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Salary: US$5,000,000
1991 Frankie and Johnny Johnny
1992 Glengarry Glen Ross Ricky Roma Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Scent of a Woman Frank Slade Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1993 Carlito's Way Carlito 'Charlie' Brigante
1995 Two Bits Gitano Sabatoni
Heat Lt. Vincent Hanna
1996 Looking for Richard Director/Narrator/Richard III Directors Guild Award — Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
City Hall John Pappas
1997 Donnie Brasco Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero
The Devil's Advocate John Milton
1999 The Insider Lowell Bergman
Any Given Sunday Tony D'Amato
2000 Chinese Coffee Harry Levine Also director; filmed in 1997
2002 Insomnia Will Dormer
S1m0ne Viktor Taransky Salary: US$11,000,000
People I Know Eli Wurman
2003 The Recruit Walter Burke
Gigli Starkman
Angels in America Roy Cohn Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Actor in A Mini-Series or Television Movie
2004 The Merchant of Venice Shylock
2005 Two for the Money Walter Abrams
2007 Ocean's Thirteen Willie Bank
2008 88 Minutes Dr. Jack Gramm
Righteous Kill Detective David "Rooster" Fisk
2009 Salomaybe? Himself / King Herod Also Director, Post-production
You Don't Know Jack Dr. Jack Kevorkian Film TV, Post-production
2010 Mary Mother of Christ Herod Pre-production
Awards and nominations
For more details on this topic, see List of awards and nominations received by Al Pacino.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/baconman25/al_pacino.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc74/shyindabuff/Pacino.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/25/10 at 6:50 am

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00359/drdeathpacino_359679s.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:50 am

The person who died on this day...Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur (May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both roles. A stage actress both before and after her television success, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Vera Charles in the original cast of Mame (1966). Arthur was born Bernice Frankel to Jewish  parents Philip and Rebecca Frankel in New York City on May 13, 1922.  In 1933 her family moved to Cambridge, Maryland, where her parents operated a women's clothing shop. She attended Linden Hall High School, an all girls school in Lititz, Pennsylvania, before enrolling in the now-defunct Blackstone College for Girls in Blackstone, Virginia, where she was active in drama productions.
Career
Theater

From 1947, Beatrice Arthur studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with German director Erwin Piscator. Arthur began her acting career as a member of an off Broadway theater group at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City in the late 1940s. On stage, her roles included Lucy Brown in the 1954 Off-Broadway premiere of Marc Blitzstein's English-language adaptation of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, Yente the Matchmaker in the 1964 premiere of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, and a 1966 Tony Award-winning portrayal of Vera Charles to Angela Lansbury's Mame. She reprised the role in the 1974 film version opposite Lucille Ball. In 1981, she appeared in Woody Allen's The Floating Light Bulb. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1994 portraying the Duchess of Krakenthorp, a speaking role, in Gaetano Donizetti's La fille du régiment.
Television

In 1971, Arthur was invited by Norman Lear to guest-star on his sitcom All in the Family, as Maude Findlay, the cousin of Edith Bunker. An outspoken liberal feminist, Maude was the antithesis to the bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker, who decried her as a "New Deal fanatic". Then nearly 50, Arthur's tart turn appealed to viewers and to executives at CBS, who, she would later recall, asked "'Who is that girl? Let's give her her own series.'"

That show, previewed in her second All in the Family appearance, would be simply titled Maude. The show, debuting in 1972, would find her living in the affluent community of Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York, with her husband Walter (Bill Macy) and divorced daughter Carol (Adrienne Barbeau). Her performance in the role garnered Arthur several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, including her Emmy win in 1977 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

It would also earn a place for her in the history of the women's liberation movement. The groundbreaking series didn't shirk from addressing serious sociopolitical topics of the era that were fairly taboo for a sitcom, from the Vietnam War, the Nixon Administration and Maude's bid for a Congressional seat to divorce, menopause, drug use, alcoholism, nervous breakdown and spousal abuse. A prime example, "Maude's Dilemma", was a two-part episode in which Maude's character grapples with a late-life pregnancy, ultimately deciding to have an abortion. The episode aired two months before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the Roe v. Wade decision. Though abortion was legal in New York State, it was illegal in many regions of the country and so controversial that dozens of affiliates refused to broadcast the episode. A reported 65 million viewers watched the two episodes either in their first run that November or the following summer as a re-run. By 1978, however, Arthur decided to move on from the series.

That year, she costarred in The Star Wars Holiday Special, in which she had a song and dance routine in the Mos Eisley Cantina. She hosted The Beatrice Arthur Special on CBS on January 19, 1980, which paired the star in a musical comedy revue with Rock Hudson, Melba Moore and Wayland Flowers and Madame.

After appearing in the short-lived 1983 sitcom Amanda's (an adaptation of the British series Fawlty Towers), Arthur was cast in the sitcom The Golden Girls in 1985, in which she played Dorothy Zbornak, a divorced substitute teacher living in a Miami house owned by Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). Her other roommates included widow Rose Nylund (Betty White) and Dorothy's Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). Getty was actually a year younger than Arthur in real life, and was heavily made up to look significantly older. The series became a hit, and remained a top-ten ratings fixture for six seasons. Her performance led to several Emmy nominations over the course of the series and an Emmy win in 1988. Arthur decided to leave the show after seven years, and in 1992 the show was moved from NBC to CBS and retooled as The Golden Palace in which the other three actresses reprised their roles. Arthur made a guest appearance in a two-part episode.
Film

Arthur also sporadically appeared in films, reprising her stage role as Vera Charles in the 1974 film adaption of Mame, opposite Lucille Ball. Additionally, Arthur portrayed overbearing mother Bea Vecchio in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), and had a cameo as a Roman unemployment clerk in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part 1 (1981).
Later career

After Arthur left The Golden Girls, she made several guest appearances on television shows and organized and toured in her one-woman show, alternately titled An Evening with Bea Arthur and And Then There's Bea. She made a guest appearance on the American cartoon Futurama, in the Emmy-nominated episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", as the voice of the Femputer who ruled the giant Amazonian women. She also appeared in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle as Mrs. White, Dewey's babysitter, in a first-season episode. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance. She also appeared as Larry David's mother on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In 2002, she returned to Broadway starring in Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, a collection of stories and songs (with musician Billy Goldenberg) based on her life and career. The show was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. The previous year had been the category's first, and there had been only one nominee. That year, Arthur was up against solo performances by soprano Barbara Cook, comedian John Leguizamo, and Arthur's fellow student in Piscator's program at The New School, actress Elaine Stritch, who won for Elaine Stritch: At Liberty.

In addition to appearing in a number of programs looking back at her own work, Arthur performed in stage and television tributes for Jerry Herman, Bob Hope and Ellen DeGeneres. In 2005, she participated in the Comedy Central roast of Pamela Anderson, where she recited explicit passages from Anderson's book Starstruck.
Influences

In 1999, Arthur told an interviewer of the three influences in her career: "Sid Caesar taught me the outrageous; Lee Strasberg taught me what I call reality; and , Lotte Lenya, whom I adored, taught me economy."
Personal life and death

Arthur was married twice, first to Robert Alan Aurthur, a screenwriter, television, and film producer and director, whose surname she took and kept (though with a modified spelling), and second to director Gene Saks from 1950 to 1978 with whom she had two sons, Matthew (born in 1961), an actor, and Daniel (born in 1964), a set designer.

In 1972 she moved to the Greater Los Angeles Area and sublet her apartment on Central Park West in New York City and her country home in Bedford, New York.

Arthur was a committed animal rights activist and frequently supported People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaigns. Arthur joined PETA in 1987 after a Golden Girls anti-fur episode. Arthur wrote letters, made personal appearances and placed ads against the use of furs, foie gras, and farm animal cruelty by KFC suppliers. She appeared on Judge Judy as a witness for an animal rights activist, and, along with Pamela Anderson insisted on a donation to PETA in exchange for appearing on Comedy Central.

Arthur's longtime championing of civil rights for women, the elderly, and the Jewish & LGBT communities—in her two television roles and through her charity work and personal outspokenness—has led her to be cited as an LGBT icon.

Arthur died at her home in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 25, 2009, shortly before her 87th birthday. She had been ill from cancer, and her body was cremated after her death.

On April 28, 2009, the Broadway community paid tribute to Arthur by dimming the marquees of New York City's Broadway theater district in her memory for one minute at 8:00 P.M.

Arthur's surviving co-stars from The Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan and Betty White, commented on her death via telephone on an April 27 episode of Larry King Live as well as other news outlets such as ABC. Longtime friends Adrienne Barbeau (with whom she had worked on Maude) and Angela Lansbury (with whom she had worked in Mame) released amicable statements: Barbeau said, "We've lost a unique, incredible talent. No one could deliver a line or hold a take like Bea and no one was more generous or giving to her fellow performers"; and Lansbury said, "She became and has remained my Bosom Buddy I am deeply saddened by her passing, but also relieved that she is released from the pain".

Arthur bequeathed $300,000 to The Ali Forney Center, a New York City organization that provides housing for homeless LGBT youths.
Awards

Arthur won the American Theatre Wing's Tony Award in 1966 as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance that year as Vera Charles in the original Broadway production of Jerry Herman's musical Mame.

She later received the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series twice, once in 1977 for Maude and again in 1988 for The Golden Girls. She was inducted into the Academy's Hall of Fame in 2008.

On June 8, 2008, The Golden Girls was awarded the Pop Culture award at the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards. Arthur (in one of her final public appearances) accepted the award with co-stars Rue McClanahan and Betty White.
Television credits

   * Kraft Television Theatre (1951–1958)
   * Studio One (1951–1953)
   * Max Liebman Presents: Kaleidoscope (1955)
   * Caesar's Hour (regular performer 1954–1956)
   * The Seven Lively Arts (1958)
   * Omnibus (1958)
   * Hallmark Hall of Fame (1958)
   * The George Gobel Show (1959)
   * The Perry Como Show (1961)
   * All in the Family (1971 & 1972)
   * Maude (1972–1978)
   * The 45th Annual Academy Awards (1973)
   * The Mike Douglas Show (1974 & 1980)
   * The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1990)
   * Dinah (1975 & 1976)
   * Saturday Night Live (1976 & 1979)
   * Cos (1976)
   * Laugh-In (1977)
   * CBS: On the Air (1978)
   * The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
   * The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979)
   * The Beatrice Arthur Special (1980)
   * Soap (1980)
   * History of the World Part I (1981)
   * Omnibus (1981)
   * Nights of 100 Stars (1982)
   * Broadway Plays Washington on Kennedy Center Tonight (1982)
   * Amanda's (1983) (series; lasted 4 months)
   * a.k.a. Pablo (1984)
   * P.O.P. (1984)
   * The Golden Girls (1985–1992)
   * Circus of the Stars #10 (1985)
   * NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
   * Walt Disney World's 15th Birthday Celebration (1986)
   * Late Night with David Letterman (1986)
   * The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1986)
   * The 13th Annual People's Choice Awards (1987)
   * This is Your Life" (1987)
   * The 41st Annual Tony Awards (1987)
   * Comic Relief '87 (1987)
   * Family Comedy Hour (1987)
   * Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration (1988)
   * Circus of the Stars #13 (1988)
   * My First Love (1988)
   * Empty Nest (1989)
   * Aspel & Company (1990)
   * Night of 100 Stars III (1990)
   * The 42nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1990)
   * Dame Edna's Hollywood (1991)
   * The Howard Stern Show (1992)
   * Guest Night (1992)
   * 6th Annual Americam Comedy Awards (1992)
   * The Golden Palace (1992)
   * This Joint Is Jumpin' (1993)
   * The 47th Annual Tony Awards (1993)
   * Boulevard Bio (1993)
   * Sean's Show (1993)
   * Jerry Herman's Broadway at the Hollywood Bowl (1994)



   * Bob Hope: Happy 91st Birthday, Bob (1994)
   * 50 Years of Funny Females (1995)
   * The 50th Annual Tony Awards (1996)
   * Dave's World (cast member 1996 & 1997)
   * The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1997)
   * The RuPaul Show (1998)
   * Ellen: A Hollywood Tribute, Part 1" (1998)
   * The 53rd Annual Tony Awards (1999)
   * Beggars and Choosers (1999)
   * The Martin Short Show (1999)
   * So Graham Norton (2000)
   * Intimate Portrait: Rue McClanahan (2000)
   * Malcolm in the Middle, as Dewey's babysitter on the Season 1 finale (2000)
   * E! True Hollywood Story: All in the Family (2000)
   * Intimate Portrait: Estelle Getty (2001)
   * Futurama as "Femputer" in the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" (2001)
   * Today (2001)
   * The View (2002)
   * CBS News Sunday Morning (2002)
   * The Rosie O'Donnell Show (2002)
   * Good Morning America (2002)
   * The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2002)
   * The Big O! True West Hollywood Story (2002)
   * TV Most Censored Moments (2002)
   * TV Tales: The Golden Girls (2002)
   * Open Mike with Mike Bullard (2002)
   * Because I Said So (2002)
   * Inside TV Land: Taboo TV (2002)
   * Intimate Portrait: Bea Arthur (2003)
   * TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV (2003)
   * Rove Live (2003)
   * Through The Keyhole (2003)
   * Broadway: The Golden Age by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
   * The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments (2003)
   * Today with Des and Mel (2003)
   * Richard and Judy (2003)
   * The Terry and Gaby Show (2003)
   * The Second Annual TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV (2004)
   * The Best of So Graham Norton (2004)
   * Inside TV Land: Primetime Politics (2004)
   * TV's Greatest Sidekicks (2004)
   * Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (2005)
   * TV Land Confidential (2005)
   * Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David's deceased mother on the Season 5 finale (2005)
   * Entertainment Tonight (2006)
   * Biography: Bea Arthur (2006)
   * The View (2007)
   * TV Land Confidential (2007)
   * Entertainment Tonight (2007)
   * Back to the Grind (2007)
   * Entertainment Weekly & TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons (2007)
   * Entertainment Tonight (2008)
   * The 6th Annual TV Land Awards (2008)
   * Entertainment Tonight (2008)

Theater performances

   * Lysistrata (1947)
   * The Dog Beneath the Skin (1947)
   * Yerma (1947)
   * No Exit (1948)
   * The Taming of the Shrew (1948)
   * Six Characters in Search of an Author (1948)
   * The Owl and the Pussycat (1948)
   * Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1949)
   * Yes is for a Very Young Man (1949)
   * The Creditors (1949)
   * Heartbreak House (1949)
   * Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1951)
   * Personal Appearance (1951)
   * Candle Light (1951)
   * Love or Money (1951)
   * The Voice of the Turtle (1951)
   * The New Moon (1953)
   * The Threepenny Opera (1954)
   * What's the Rush? (1955)
   * Shoestring Revue (1955)
   * Plain and Fancy (1955)
   * Seventh Heaven (1955)
   * Mistress of the Inn (1956)
   * Ziegfeld Follies (1956)
   * Nature's Way (1957)
   * Ulysses in Nighttown (1958)
   * The Gay Divorcee at the Cherry Lane (1960)
   * A Matter of Position (1962)
   * Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
   * Mame (1966)
   * The Floating Lightbulb (1981)
   * La Fille du Regiment (1994)
   * Bermuda Avenue Triangle (1995–1996)
   * Angela Lansbury - A Celebration (November 17, 1996) (benefit concert)
   * After Play (1997–1998)
   * Strike Up The Band (2000)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Westport, Connecticut (July 28–30, 2000)
   * And Then There's Bea United States Tour (April 24, 2001 – January 13, 2002)
   * Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends in New York, New York (January 29, 2002 – April 14, 2002)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Santa Fe, New Mexico (September 24, 2002)
   * And Then There's Bea in Melbourne, Australia (October 15–27, 2002)
   * And Then There's Bea in Sydney, Australia (October 29 – November 10, 2002)



   * Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends in Toronto, Canada (November 20 – December 8, 2002)
   * And Then There's Bea in Johannesburg, South Africa (August 12–24, 2003)
   * And Then There's Bea in Cape Town, South Africa (August 26 – September 7, 2003)
   * Bea Arthur at The Savoy in London, England (September 15 – October 18, 2003)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Los Angeles, California (January 31 – February 1, 2004)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Saugatuck, Michigan (May 22–23, 2004)
   * A Celebration of Life in Washington, D.C. (May 26, 2004)
   * Bea Arthur at the El Portal in North Hollywood, California (August 5–8, 2004)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Provincetown, Massachusetts (August 21, 2004)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Columbus, Georgia (October 30, 2004)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Nyack, New York (March 4–6, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Fort Wayne, Indiana (April 17, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Mount Pleasant, Michigan (April 19, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Atlantic City, New Jersey (June 3–4, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Holmdel, New Jersey (June 7, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Las Vegas, Nevada (August 27, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Hampton, Virginia (September 16–17, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Alexandria, Virginia (September 22, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Geneva, New York (September 24, 2005)
   * Bea Arthur Back on Broadway (at 95th Street) in New York, New York (November 21, 2005)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in San Francisco, California (January 7, 2006)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Salem, Oregon (January 21, 2006)
   * Bea Arthur Back at the El Portal in North Hollywood, California (February 16–19, 2006)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in Scottsdale, Arizona (February 24–25, 2006)
   * An Evening with Bea Arthur in University Park, Illinois (March 19, 2006)
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o22/morgannaskye/bea3.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n405/sandygalesmith/Golden%20Girls/imagesCAV4BLQ0.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/25/10 at 6:52 am

http://anotherkcblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/bea-arthur-73.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/25/10 at 11:34 am

Happy 70th birthday Al Pacino.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/25/10 at 5:24 pm


http://anotherkcblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/bea-arthur-73.jpg

God will get you for that, Walter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/25/10 at 7:01 pm


God will get you for that, Walter.



Back in her younger days.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/25/10 at 7:15 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilV5K8tw_6o



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:19 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilV5K8tw_6o



Cat

2 classy ladies :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:30 am

The word of the day...Seasons
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.

Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to go into hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant.

During May, June and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to more direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the southern hemisphere in November, December and January. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the summer months which increases the solar flux. However, due to seasonal lag, June, July and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January and February are the hottest months in the southern hemisphere.

In temperate and subpolar regions generally four calendar based seasons are recognized: spring (adj. vernal), summer (adj. estival), autumn (adj. autumnal), and winter (adj. hibernal). However, ecologists in Europe and Australia are increasingly using a six season model for temperate climate regions that includes pre-spring (adj. prevernal) and late summer (adj. seritonal) as distinct seasons along with the traditional four (See Ecological Seasons below).

In some tropical and subtropical regions it is more common to speak of the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season versus the dry season, because the amount of precipitation may vary more dramatically than the average temperature. For example, in Nicaragua, the dry season is called Summer (Oct to May) and the rainy season is called Winter (Apr to Nov) even though it is located in the northern hemisphere.

In other tropical areas a three-way division into hot, rainy and cool season is used.

In some parts of the world, special "seasons" are loosely defined based upon important events such as a hurricane season, tornado season or a wildfire season.

Chinese seasons are traditionally based on 24 periods known as solar terms, and begin at the midpoint of solstices and equinoxes.
http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss101/frank_ro/seasons.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p117/Kelaos/CalendarSeasonsColourA.jpg
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt81/HareFratsheid/n141.jpg
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz23/sallychengsun-UI/seasons/DSC01067.jpg
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz23/sallychengsun-UI/seasons/asian.jpg
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/GI-Joe73/SEASONs%20%20HOLIDAYs/_happyspringjpg.jpg
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz23/sallychengsun-UI/seasons/pumpkinspumpkinsandpumpkins.jpg
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/GI-Joe73/SEASONs%20%20HOLIDAYs/29mx384.gif
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz23/sallychengsun-UI/seasons/DSC01083.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg47/estherabcdef/Peace_Love_Happiness/THE%204%20Seasons/summerr-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/26/10 at 5:34 am

Could it be Frankie Valli's birthday by any chance? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:34 am

The person born on this day...Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she debuted on television. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on the The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show combining comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from movie parodies to character pieces which featured the many talents of Burnett herself who created and played several well-known and distinctive characters. he hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the 9th season),  Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a young Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make.  She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes and the rest is history.

Burnett became known for her acting and talent, and for ending each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to the grandmother who had raised her to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her.

A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers through parodies of films ("Went With the Wind"), television ("As the Stomach Turns") and commercials. Burnett and team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.

The show also became known for its closing theme song, with the following lyrics:

   I'm so glad we had this time together
   Just to have a laugh or sing a song
   Seems we just get started and before you know it
   Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'

During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. On the Lifetime Channel's "Intimate Portrait" biography on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"

The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show, to date. It continues to have success in syndicated reruns. She was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."
Other roles

Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.

Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password — an association she maintained until the early 1980s.

Burnett was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series, Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's The Family sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She also played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the night-time soap opera Falcon Crest, co-starring with Dabney Coleman, Charles Grodin, Teri Garr and Gregory Harrison.

Burnett returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You when she played Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).

Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds), and raising hell for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005 episode celebrating the 35th anniversary of the program. Due to scheduling conflicts, the scene was shot on the Los Angeles set of General Hospital instead of the New York City set where All My Children is taped.

In 2008, she had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan.

In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
Personal life

The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was idea of spacious."

She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer. On November 24, 2001, she married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.

In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager, but overcame the addictions with the help of her husband. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother.
Lawsuits
Main article: Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.

Burnett drew attention in 1981, when she sued the National Enquirer for libel after the tabloid newspaper described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal, and eventually settled out of court.

She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "car fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.

In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her charwoman character in an episode of Family Guy. At the time, Seth MacFarlane, creator and producer of Family Guy, issued the statement that much of Burnett's own success was in the field of parodying others. On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge.
Awards and recognition
Emmy Awards

   * 1962 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
   * 1963 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
   * 1969, 1970, 1971 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1972 - Outstanding Variety Series - Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
   * 1972 - Nominated for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Musical - Variety and Popular Music, Jule and Carol at Lincoln Center
   * 1973 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
   * 1974 - Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
   * 1974 - Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
   * 1975 - Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
   * 1976, 1977, 1978 - Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
   * 1977 - Nominated for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
   * 1979 - Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
   * 1983 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
   * 1993 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
   * 1995 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
   * 1997 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
   * 1998 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
   * 2002 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
   * 2009 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Golden Globe Awards

   * 1968 - Best TV Star - Female, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 - Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 - Nominated for Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1973 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
   * 1979 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
   * 1982 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
   * 1983 - Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical, Annie
   * 1983 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
   * 1991 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company

Other

   * On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Burnett would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.
   * She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
   * She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
   * Burnett was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors at the age of 70.
   * Former president George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.
   * She received a Peabody Award in 1963.
   * Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., which is close to the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.
   * A Facebook Page was created on April 7, 2010 to encourage NBC and Carol Burnett to let Carol host Saturday Night Live (SNL)

Work
Television

   * The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
   * Stanley (1956–1957)
   * Omnibus (October 1956)
   * The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
   * Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
   * The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode Cavender is Coming- 1962)
   * An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
   * Calamity Jane (1963)
   * Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
   * The Entertainers (1964–1965)
   * The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
   * Carol + 2 (1967)
   * Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
   * The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
   * The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
   * Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
   * Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
   * 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
   * Out to Lunch (1974)
   * Twigs (1975)
   * Cher (1975)
   * Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
   * All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, and 2005)
   * Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
   * The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
   * Friendly Fire (1979)
   * Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
   * The Tenth Month (1979)
   * Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
   * Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice' (1982)
   * Between Friends (1983)
   * Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
   * Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
   * Magnum P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
   * The Laundromat (1985)
   * Follies in Concert (1986)
   * Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
   * Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
   * Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
   * Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
   * Hostage (1988)
   * Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
   * Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
   * The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
   * The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
   * Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
   * Seasons of the Heart (1994)
   * Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
   * Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
   * The Marriage Fool (1998)
   * Putting It Together (2000)
   * Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
   * The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
   * Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
   * Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
   * American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
   * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance)

Filmography

   * Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
   * Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
   * Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
   * Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
   * The Front Page (1974)
   * A Wedding (1978)
   * Health (1980)
   * The Four Seasons (1981)
   * Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
   * Annie (1982)
   * 6 Weeks (1982)
   * Noises Off... (1992)
   * Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
   * Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
   * The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
   * Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
   * Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
   * Post Grad (2009)
   * Rapunzel (2010) (voice)

Stage

   * Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
   * Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
   * Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
   * Putting It Together (1999)
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373/SaturnMauve/Celebs/CarolBurnett2.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/RZander/220px-Carol_burnett_show_2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:35 am


Could it be Frankie Valli's birthday by any chance? ???

Good guess, but no.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/26/10 at 5:36 am


The person born on this day...Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she debuted on television. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on the The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show combining comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from movie parodies to character pieces which featured the many talents of Burnett herself who created and played several well-known and distinctive characters. he hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the 9th season),  Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a young Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make.  She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes and the rest is history.

Burnett became known for her acting and talent, and for ending each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to the grandmother who had raised her to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her.

A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers through parodies of films ("Went With the Wind"), television ("As the Stomach Turns") and commercials. Burnett and team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.

The show also became known for its closing theme song, with the following lyrics:

   I'm so glad we had this time together
   Just to have a laugh or sing a song
   Seems we just get started and before you know it
   Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'

During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. On the Lifetime Channel's "Intimate Portrait" biography on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"

The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show, to date. It continues to have success in syndicated reruns. She was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."
Other roles

Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.

Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password — an association she maintained until the early 1980s.

Burnett was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series, Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's The Family sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She also played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the night-time soap opera Falcon Crest, co-starring with Dabney Coleman, Charles Grodin, Teri Garr and Gregory Harrison.

Burnett returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You when she played Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).

Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds), and raising hell for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005 episode celebrating the 35th anniversary of the program. Due to scheduling conflicts, the scene was shot on the Los Angeles set of General Hospital instead of the New York City set where All My Children is taped.

In 2008, she had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan.

In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
Personal life

The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was idea of spacious."

She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer. On November 24, 2001, she married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.

In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager, but overcame the addictions with the help of her husband. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother.
Lawsuits
Main article: Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.

Burnett drew attention in 1981, when she sued the National Enquirer for libel after the tabloid newspaper described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal, and eventually settled out of court.

She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "car fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.

In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her charwoman character in an episode of Family Guy. At the time, Seth MacFarlane, creator and producer of Family Guy, issued the statement that much of Burnett's own success was in the field of parodying others. On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge.
Awards and recognition
Emmy Awards

   * 1962 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
   * 1963 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
   * 1969, 1970, 1971 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1972 - Outstanding Variety Series - Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
   * 1972 - Nominated for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Musical - Variety and Popular Music, Jule and Carol at Lincoln Center
   * 1973 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
   * 1974 - Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
   * 1974 - Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
   * 1975 - Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
   * 1976, 1977, 1978 - Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
   * 1977 - Nominated for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
   * 1979 - Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
   * 1983 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
   * 1993 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
   * 1995 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
   * 1997 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
   * 1998 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
   * 2002 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
   * 2009 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Golden Globe Awards

   * 1968 - Best TV Star - Female, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 - Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 - Nominated for Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
   * 1973 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
   * 1979 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
   * 1982 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
   * 1983 - Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical, Annie
   * 1983 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
   * 1991 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company

Other

   * On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Burnett would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.
   * She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
   * She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
   * Burnett was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors at the age of 70.
   * Former president George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.
   * She received a Peabody Award in 1963.
   * Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., which is close to the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.
   * A Facebook Page was created on April 7, 2010 to encourage NBC and Carol Burnett to let Carol host Saturday Night Live (SNL)

Work
Television

   * The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
   * Stanley (1956–1957)
   * Omnibus (October 1956)
   * The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
   * Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
   * The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode Cavender is Coming- 1962)
   * An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
   * Calamity Jane (1963)
   * Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
   * The Entertainers (1964–1965)
   * The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
   * Carol + 2 (1967)
   * Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
   * The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
   * The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
   * Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
   * Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
   * 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
   * Out to Lunch (1974)
   * Twigs (1975)
   * Cher (1975)
   * Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
   * All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, and 2005)
   * Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
   * The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
   * Friendly Fire (1979)
   * Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
   * The Tenth Month (1979)
   * Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
   * Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice' (1982)
   * Between Friends (1983)
   * Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
   * Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
   * Magnum P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
   * The Laundromat (1985)
   * Follies in Concert (1986)
   * Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
   * Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
   * Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
   * Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
   * Hostage (1988)
   * Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
   * Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
   * The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
   * The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
   * Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
   * Seasons of the Heart (1994)
   * Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
   * Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
   * The Marriage Fool (1998)
   * Putting It Together (2000)
   * Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
   * The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
   * Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
   * Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
   * American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
   * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance)

Filmography

   * Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
   * Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
   * Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
   * Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
   * The Front Page (1974)
   * A Wedding (1978)
   * Health (1980)
   * The Four Seasons (1981)
   * Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
   * Annie (1982)
   * 6 Weeks (1982)
   * Noises Off... (1992)
   * Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
   * Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
   * The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
   * Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
   * Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
   * Post Grad (2009)
   * Rapunzel (2010) (voice)

Stage

   * Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
   * Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
   * Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
   * Putting It Together (1999)
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373/SaturnMauve/Celebs/CarolBurnett2.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/RZander/220px-Carol_burnett_show_2.jpg



always enjoyed The Carol Burnett Show. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:44 am

The person who died on this day...Irene Ryan
Irene Ryan (October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress, one of the few entertainers who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television  and Broadway.

She is most widely known for her portrayal of "Granny" on the long-running TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971), for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead)" in 1963 and 1964.
Some reports claim that Irene Ryan, who was born Irene Noblette, was born in San Francisco, California. She was born to an American  father and an Irish immigrant mother.

Before her role as "Granny" on The Beverly Hillbillies, Ryan was an established vaudeville, radio, and movie actress, though not as well known prior to her television stint. Ryan and her first husband, writer-comedian Tim Ryan, were popular in vaudeville. Their type of double act, known in show business as a "Dumb Dora" routine and epitomized by George Burns and Gracie Allen, had the dizzy woman saying silly things and frustrating the straight-man "boyfriend" or husband." The couple, billed as "Tim and Irene," had their own series of short subjects in the 1930s for Educational Pictures, and later worked in feature films for Monogram Pictures.

After splitting with Tim Ryan, Irene Ryan toured with comedian Bob Hope and made regular appearances on his radio show. She continued to work in motion pictures of the late 1940s and early 1950s, generally playing fussy or nervous women. Ryan made her first television sitcom appearance on Where's Raymond?, starring musical-comedy actor Ray Bolger, in 1954.
The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971)

In 1962, Ryan was cast as Daisy "Granny" Moses, the matriarch of the Clampett clan, in the CBS-TV comedy series The Beverly Hillbillies. The sitcom ran on the CBS network from 1962 to 1971, and after the show ended Ryan established the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, providing annual scholarships for promising student actors. According to Filmways Publicist Ted Switzer, series creator and producer Paul Henning had decided to cast Bea Benaderet as Granny; however, when Ryan read for the role, “with her hair tied back in a bun and feisty as all get out, she just blew everyone away.” Al Simon (executive producer) and Henning immediately said: “That’s Granny.” Later when Benaderet saw Ryan’s tryout, she agreed. Benaderet was then cast as cousin Pearl.
Pippin (1972)

In 1972 Ryan helped to create and also starred in the role of Berthe in the Bob Fosse-directed Broadway musical Pippin, in which she sang the number "No Time At All"., which mentions, "a man who calls me Granny". In 1973, Ryan was posthumously nominated for Broadway's 1973 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) for her performance in the musical. After Ryan's passing, the role of Berthe was assumed by veteran actress Dorothy Stickney for the remainder of Pippin's Broadway run.
Marriage

Tim and Irene Ryan were married in 1922 and divorced in 1942. Irene married her second husband, Harold E. Knox, in 1946; they divorced in 1961.

Ryan was a distant cousin of the actress Mary Castle, who appeared with Jim Davis in the syndicated western series Stories of the Century.
Death

In April 1973, Ryan suffered a stroke during a performance of the musical Pippin on Broadway. Earlier in the year, her friend and fellow Beverly Hillbillies cast member, Nancy Kulp, had tried to persuade her not to go to New York for the musical. She had been diagnosed with a brain tumor some time previously, but reportedly was never made aware of it. Several days after she fell ill, Irene Ryan died on April 26, 1973. She was 70. Pallbearers at Ryan's California funeral included Hillbillies co-stars Buddy Ebsen and Max Baer, Jr., along with Beverly Hillbillies creator Paul Henning. The funeral was also attended by Donna Douglas, Harriet E. McGibbon, Louie Nye, and others associated with the series. Her body was interred in a mausoleum crypt at the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, California, beside her sister, Anna Thompson.
Legacy and charitable causes

Having no living relatives, Ryan left more than $1,000,000 estate to fund the Irene Ryan Foundation, which donates scholarships to young theater arts students involved with the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r250/cathiwarren/Ryan-Irene-Granny-BevHillBillies.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii55/AustinKRMH/TV-Movies/irenesons.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:45 am



always enjoyed The Carol Burnett Show. :)

Me too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/26/10 at 10:52 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B7LZkJtFo



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/26/10 at 11:31 am

What I remember most about Carol was her tugging at her ear at the end of the show.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 12:38 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B7LZkJtFo



Cat

I never saw that before.it was different

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/26/10 at 3:00 pm


What I remember most about Carol was her tugging at her ear at the end of the show.


Yeah,what was that about? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/26/10 at 4:03 pm


Yeah,what was that about? ???



The story was when she first started her show, she wanted to tell her grandmother (who basically raised her) that she loved her but she wasn't allowed to. She came up with the tugging of her left ear as a way to tell her grandmother that she loved her. Then it became the same message but only to her kids (and then her grandkids).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 5:57 am

The word of the day...Day
A day (symbol d) is a unit of time equivalent to approximately 24 hours. It is not an SI unit but it is accepted for use with SI.  The SI unit of time is the second.

The word 'day' can also refer to the (roughly) half of the day that is not night, also known as 'daytime'. Both refer to a length of time. Within these meanings, several definitions can be distinguished. 'Day' may also refer to a day of the week or to a calendar date, as in answer to the question "On which day?".
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af161/StreetPalace/JToriawedding2.jpg
http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp236/Keefers_/Keefers_Fathers%20Day/Keefers_FathersDay70.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/day/403cc237a84d273485f6612291414047.jpg
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/day/000b051AYQ5.jpg
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae256/malaeddi/04192010199.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z316/bettyboop6896/Friendship%20Day/FriendshipDayAngelsAug2.gif
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn155/sandyp313/comments/great%20day/magicaljj.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h280/Leonard_Wilson/SN854182.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t322/rexegreyes/121769.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 6:00 am

The person who was born on this day...Peter Ham
Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter  and guitarist, best known as the leader of the group Badfinger. Ham was born in Swansea, South Wales. He formed a local rock group called The Panthers around 1961. This group would undergo several name and lineup changes before it became The Iveys in 1965. The band was relocated to London by The Mojos manager, Bill Collins, in 1966, and they continued to perform for three years throughout the United Kingdom. As it was, Ham eventually became the prominent songwriter for the band, as a Revox was made available by Collins to encourage him. Ray Davies of The Kinks took an initial interest in the group, although tracks produced by Davies did not surface commercially until decades later. In 1968, The Iveys came to the attention of Mal Evans (The Beatles personal assistant) and were eventually signed to the Beatles' Apple  label after approval from all four Beatles, who were reportedly impressed by the band's songwriting abilities.
In Badfinger

The Iveys changed their name to Badfinger with the single release of "Come And Get It," a composition written by Paul McCartney, and it became a worldwide Top Ten hit. Ham had initially protested using a non-original to promote the band, as he had gained confidence in the group's compositions, but he was quickly convinced of the springboard effect of having a likely hit single. His own creative perseverance paid off eventually, as his "No Matter What" composition became another Top Ten worldwide hit after its release in late 1970 . He followed up writing two more worldwide hits with "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue." His greatest songwriting success came with his co-written composition "Without You" - a worldwide #1 when covered by Harry Nilsson and released in 1972. The song has since become a ballad standard and is covered by hundreds of singers from many genres worldwide. An Ivor Novello award for Song Of The Year was issued in 1973 along with Grammy nominations. In 1972, Ham's group Badfinger was picked up by Warner Bros. Records, as the Apple label was crumbling and it seemed the band was primed for major recognition.
Death

During the Warner Bros. Records era from 1973-75, Badfinger became embroiled in many internal, financial and managerial problems and their music languished. By 1975, with no income and his business manager non-communicative, Ham became despondent and he hanged himself in the garage of his Surrey home. His blood alcohol was .27%. He was 27 years old. He left behind a pregnant girlfriend (his daughter was born one month after his death). Ham's suicide note was accusatory toward Badfinger's business manager, Stan Polley, stating: "P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me." Many of Polley's artist-clients also accused him of corruption over the years. More than a decade after Ham's death, Polley pleaded Nolo contendere to unrelated embezzlement and money laundering charges, but no collection of restitution was ever made. News of Ham's death was not widely disseminated at the time, as no public comment was made by The Beatles, Apple Corps Ltd or Warner Bros. Records.
Legacy

Ham is often credited as being one of the earliest purveyors of the power pop genre, but his most widespread effect in popular music is the ballad "Without You," written with Badfinger bandmate Tom Evans (who also later committed suicide). Two collections of Ham's home demo recordings have been posthumously released: 1997's 7 Park Avenue and 1999's Golders Green.
Discography

(with Badfinger, except where noted)

    * Maybe Tomorrow (1969 with "The Iveys")
    * Magic Christian Music (1970)
    * No Dice (1970)
    * Straight Up (1971)
    * Ass (1973)
    * Badfinger (1974)
    * Wish You Were Here (1974)
    * 7 Park Avenue (1997 as "Pete Ham")
    * Golders Green (1999 as "Pete Ham")
    * Head First (2000)

Ham also appeared as a guest artist on

    * The Concert for Bangladesh (the concert, the album, and the film)
    * All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (album)
    * "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr (single)

Compositions of note

    * "No Matter What" (Billboard charting #8, by Badfinger)
    * "Without You" (Billboard charting #1 by Harry Nilsson, #3 by Mariah Carey, #28 by Clay Aiken).
    * "Day After Day " (Billboard charting #4, Cash Box charting #1, both by Badfinger)
    * "Baby Blue" (Billboard charting #14 by Badfinger)
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u247/Gimel66/People/Petheam9.jpg
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp304/frodosaweener/poster_Ham_color_Cooke_6.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 6:03 am

The person who died on this day...Al Hirt

Al Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American  trumpeter  and bandleader.  He is best remembered for his million selling recordings of "Java", and the accompanying album, Honey in the Horn (1963). His nicknames included 'Jumbo' and 'The Round Mound of Sound'.
Biography

Alois Maxwell Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer. At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop. He would play in the Junior Police Band with the children of Alcide Nunez, and by the age of 16, Hirt was playing professionally, often with his friend Pete Fountain. During this time, he was hired to play at the local horse racing track, beginning a six-decade connection to the sport.

In 1940, Hirt went to Cincinnati, Ohio to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Dr. Frank Simon (a former soloist with the John Philip Sousa Orchestra). After a stint as a bugler in the United States Army during World War II, Hirt performed with various Swing big bands, including those of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Ina Ray Hutton.

In 1950, Hirt became first trumpet and soloist with Horace Heidt's Orchestra.

Hirt then returned to New Orleans, working with various Dixieland groups and leading his own bands. Despite Hirt's statement years later "I'm not a jazz trumpeter and never was a jazz trumpeter", he made a few recordings where he demonstrated ability to play in that style during the 1950s, with bandleader Monk Hazel and a few other recordings on the local Southland Records label.

Hirt's virtuoso dexterity and fine tone on his instrument soon attracted the attention of national labels. Hirt posted twenty two albums on the Billboard charts in the 1950s and 1960s. The albums Honey In The Horn and Cotton Candy were both in the Top 10 best sellers for 1964, the same year Hirt scored a hit single with his cover of Allen Toussaint's tune "Java" (Billboard #4), and later won a Grammy Award for the same recording. Both Honey in the Horn and "Java" sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.

Hirt's Top 40 charted hit "Sugar Lips" in 1964 would be later used as the theme song for the NBC daytime game show Eye Guess, hosted by Bill Cullen and originally airing during the mid-to-late 1960s.

"Green Hornet Theme"
Play sound
Sample from Green Hornet Theme from album "The Horn Meets The Hornet" RCA 1966
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Hirt was chosen to record the frenetic theme for the 1960s TV show "The Green Hornet", by famed arranger and composer Billy May. Thematically reminiscent of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, it showcased Hirt's technical prowess. The recording again gained public attention in 2003 when it was used in the film Kill Bill.

From the mid 1950s to early 1960s, Hirt and his band played nightly at Dan's Pier 600 at the corner of St. Louis and Bourbon Street. The club was owned by his business manager, Dan Levy, Sr. In 1962 Hirt opened his own club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which he ran until 1983. He also became a minority owner in the NFL expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967.

In 1962, in an effort to showcase him in a different musical setting, Hirt was teamed with arranger and composer Billy May and producer Steve Sholes to record an album titled Horn A Plenty that was a departure from the Dixieland material that he was generally associated with. Covering an eclectic variety of popular, standard and show tunes, it featured a big-band supplemented by timpani, french horns and harp.

"Memories Of You"
Play sound
Sample from Memories Of You from "Horn A Plenty" RCA 1962
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

On February 8, 1970, while performing in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, Hirt was injured while riding on a float. It is popularly believed that he was struck in the mouth by a thrown piece of concrete or brick. Factual documentation of the details of the incident is sparse, consisting primarily of claims made by Hirt after the incident. Whatever the actual cause of his injuries, Hirt underwent surgery and had to wait a while and then practice slowly to make a return to the club scene. This incident was parodied in a Saturday Night Live skit from their second season Mardi Gras special, the "Let's Hit Al Hirt in the Mouth with a Brick Contest".

In 1987, Hirt played a solo rendition of "Ave Maria" for Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans.

In 1999, Hirt died, aged 76, in New Orleans of liver failure, after spending the previous year in a wheelchair due to edema in his leg. Despite the bout with edema, Hirt continued to play in local clubs including Chris Owens Club. Hirt was laid to rest in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

Hirt had eight children, ten grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. In 1990, he married Beverly Estabrook Essel, a friend of 40 years.

He is referred to in Lieutenant Hauk's broadcast in the film, Good Morning Vietnam.
Discography

    * 30 Greatest Trumpet Hits of All Time
    * A Living Legend
    * Al (He's The King) Hirt and His Band
    * Al Hirt
    * Al Hirt at the Mardi Gras
    * Al Hirt Blows His Own Horn
    * Al Hirt Plays Bert Kaempfert
    * Beauty and the Beard (with Ann-Margret)
    * Cotton Candy
    * Have a Merry Little Al Hirt
    * Here in my Heart
    * Honey in the Horn
    * Horn A Plenty
    * In Love With You
    * Jumbo's Gumbo
    * Live at Carnegie Hall
    * Le Roi De La Trompette
    * Louisiana Man
    * Music to Watch Girls By
    * Our Man in New Orleans
    * 'Pops' Goes The Trumpet
    * Soul in the Horn
    * Struttin' Down Royal Street
    * Sugar Lips
    * Super Jazz
    * Swingin' Dixie! At Dan's Pier 600
    * That Honey Horn Sound
    * The Best of Al Hirt
    * The Best of Al Hirt Volume 2
    * The Best of Dixieland Jazz
    * The Greatest Horn in The World
    * The Happy Trumpet
    * The High-flying Trumpet of Al Hirt
    * The Horn Meets The Hornet
    * They're Playing Our Song
    * This is Al Hirt
    * Trumpet and Strings
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q285/BrainySkeeta/MUSICIANS/AlHirt.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz353/joecicalese/DSCF8119.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/27/10 at 10:01 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMigXnXMhQ4



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 10:53 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMigXnXMhQ4



Cat

Love this song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/27/10 at 3:15 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/27/10 at 3:17 pm


Love this song :)



Enjoyable song.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 4:55 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk

Nice Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 5:40 am

The word of the day...Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE (), a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Piëch and Porsche families. Porsche SE is headquartered  in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.

Porsche SE has two main subsidiaries – Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (which stands for Doktor Ingenieur honoris causa Ferdinand Porsche Aktiengesellschaft), often shortened to Porsche AG, and Volkswagen AG. Porsche AG is the subsidiary of Porsche SE which is responsible for the actual production and manufacture of the Porsche automobile line, and Volkswagen AG is the parent company of the Volkswagen Group, which includes (but is not limited to) the automotive marques Audi, Bentley Motors, Bugatti Automobiles and Lamborghini.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg17/pbapi/api-test/porsche.jpg
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af333/tauto09/porschehitam.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll17/ilmadikz/959.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w150/Porsche911_2007/Porsche%20Oldtimers/PorscheSpeedsterGray2.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w150/Porsche911_2007/Porsche%20Oldtimers/Porsche_550_Spyder_01_1600.jpg
http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad152/928S_photos/Image0150.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k202/kenernst2000/100210.jpg












Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 5:48 am

The person born on this day...Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself  in the situation comedy Seinfeld  (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.

In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld appeared on the seventh season of Larry David's HBO original series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company;  his mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.

Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, from which he continued to Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater. He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.

In 1979, Seinfeld had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode and found that there was no script for him.

In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.
Seinfeld
Main article: Seinfeld

Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998; but the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.
Post-Seinfeld
1998–2006

After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as most other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.

In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, entitled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006 Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
2007

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.
2008

On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The adverts, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" adverts, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld adverts on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.
2009

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which took place later in the year.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these adverts were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The adverts were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The adverts largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14.
2010

Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld is also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref.
Books

Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.

In 2003, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.

Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.

In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.

Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.
Lawsuit

On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. In separate court papers, lawyers for Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals when "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea," including a 1971 book. They called the lawsuit "opportunistic." On September 10, 2009, the federal judge on this case threw out the plagiarism claims. Lapine's attorney has indicated that she plans to appeal the dismissal. The defamation charges against Jerry Seinfeld have not yet been adjudicated.
Personal life

Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.

Seinfeld and his wife have three children, one daughter and two sons. Daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000 in New York City, son Julian Kal on March 1, 2003 in New York City, and Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005 at New York's Cornell Medical Center. His son Julian's middle name is Kal, which is the first name of Seinfeld's father. Kal is also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Kal-El (Superman). Seinfeld's best friend is fellow comedian Larry Miller.

In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and subsequently to four Democratic primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.

Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."

On March 29, 2008, Seinfeld was driving in East Hampton, New York when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed. After trying to stop the car using the emergency brake, which also failed, he swerved to keep the car from entering an intersection with a highway and ended up rolling the car onto its side, stopping yards from the highway. The wreck was attributed to mechanical failure. Seinfeld did not require medical attention and returned to his East Hampton home.

At some point in the 1970s, Seinfeld was introduced to Scientology by his high school auto mechanics teacher and took a couple of courses. In spite of not having continued since then, he claims that Scientology had taught him important things about communication.
Personal wealth

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld, in 1998, was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. Seinfeld still generates more revenue than most current shows, through syndication and DVD sales. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show beyond its final season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that twelve-month period.
Car collection

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s, for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.

A current tally puts Seinfeld at 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that his collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law. In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Ratings Game Network Rep
1999 Pros & Cons Prison Man #2
2002 Comedian Himself
2004 A Uniform Used to Mean Something Himself
Hindsight Is 20/20 Himself
2007 Bee Movie Barry B. Benson Voice, Producer
Nominated — Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Benson Frankie
1989 - 1998 Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)
Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1997 NewsRadio Himself
2000 Dilbert Comp-U-Comp
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself (cameo)
2007 30 Rock Himself ("SeinfeldVision")
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
2010 The Marriage Ref Executive Producer
Writing credits for Seinfeld

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

    * The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
    * Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
    * The Stake Out (with Larry David)
    * The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

    * The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
    * The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
          o Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
    * The Busboy (with Larry David)
    * The Jacket (with Larry David)
    * The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
    * The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

    * The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

    * The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

    * The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
    * The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
    * The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

    * The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

    * The Cadillac (with Larry David)
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww239/1halfelfpaladin/jerry-seinfeld.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x64/bloodstainedangel5/jerry_seinfeld.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 5:57 am

The person who died on this day...Mick Ronson
Michael "Mick" Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger  and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of The Spiders from Mars band.

He also had a solo career, the most notable example of which was his Slaughter On 10th Avenue album, that reached No. 9 on the UK album charts. Ronson also guested on various different bands' releases after his time with Bowie. He was named the 64th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone. Michael Ronson was born in Beverley Road, Hull, East Yorkshire, in 1946, then moved to Greatfield, Hull. As a child he played piano, recorder, violin, and harmonium. He initially wanted to be a cellist, but moved to guitar  when he got hooked on Duane Eddy and The Yardbirds. He joined his first band, The Mariners, in November 1963 at the age of 17. His stage debut with The Mariners was in support of the Keith Herd Band at Elloughton Village Hall, a gig for which the band travelled 35 miles and got paid 10 shillings (50p). While Ronson was working with The Mariners, another local Hull group - The Crestas - recruited him on the advice of The Mariners' bassist John Griffiths. With Ronson on board the Crestas gained a solid reputation, making regular appearances at local halls: Mondays at the Halfway House in Hull, Thursdays at the Ferryboat Hotel, Fridays at the Regal Ballroom in Beverley, and Sundays at the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby.

In 1965, Ronson left The Crestas to try his luck in London. He took a part time job as a mechanic, and before long, he teamed up with a band called The Voice, replacing Miller Anderson. Soon afterward, Crestas' drummer Dave Bradfield made the trip down to London when the Voice's drummer left. After playing just a few dates with the group, Ronson and Bradfield returned from a weekend in Hull to find their gear piled at their flat and a note explaining that the rest of the group had gone to the Bahamas. Ronson stayed in London and teamed up briefly with a soul band called The Wanted, before eventually returning to Hull.

In 1966, Ronson joined Hull's top local band, The Rats, joining singer Benny Marshall, bassist Jeff Appleby, and drummer Jim Simpson (who was subsequently replaced by Clive Taylor and then John Cambridge). The group played the local circuit, and also made a few unsuccessful trips to London and Paris.

In 1967 The Rats recorded the one-off psychedelic track, "The Rise And Fall Of Bernie Gripplestone" at Fairview Studios in Hull, and can be heard on the 2008 release Front Room Masters - Fairview Studios 1966-1973 (Front Room Masters). 1968 saw the band change their name briefly to Treacle and book another recording session at Fairview Studios in 1969, before reverting to their original name. Around this time, Ronson was recommended by Rick Kemp to play guitar on Michael Chapman's Fully Qualified Survivor LP.

When John Cambridge left The Rats to join his former Hullabaloos bandmate Mick Wayne in Junior's Eyes, he was replaced by Mick "Woody" Woodmansey. In November 1969, the band recorded a final session at Fairview, taping "Telephone Blues" and "Early In Spring".

In March 1970, during the recording sessions for Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, Ronson played guitar on the track 'Madman Across the Water'. This song however was not included in the original release. The recording featuring Ronson only saw the light of day on the 1992 compilation album Rare Masters and the 1995 reissue of the "Tumbleweed Connection" album.
Bowie era

Early in 1970, John Cambridge came back to Hull in search of Ronson, intent upon recruiting him for a new David Bowie backing band called The Hype. He found Ronson marking out a rugby pitch, one of his duties as a Parks Department gardener for Hull City Council. Having failed in his earlier attempts in London, Ronson was reluctant, but eventually agreed to accompany Cambridge to a meeting with David Bowie. Two days later, on 5 February, Ronson made his debut with Bowie on John Peel's national BBC Radio 1 Sunday Show.

The Hype played their first gig at The Roundhouse on 22 February with a line-up that included Bowie, Ronson, Cambridge, and producer/bassist Tony Visconti. The group dressed up in superhero costumes, with Bowie as Rainbowman, Visconti as Hypeman, Ronson as Gangsterman, and Cambridge as Cowboyman. This performance was filmed and recorded and is currently in the vaults owned by MainMan. Also on the bill that day were Bachdenkel, Groundhog and Caravan. The following day they performed at the Streatham Arms in London under the pseudonym of 'Harry The Butcher'. They also performed on 28 February at the Basildon Arts Lab experimental music club at the Basildon Arts Centre in Essex. Billed as 'David Bowie's New Electric Band' so new they haven't got a name yet! Also on the bill were High Tide, Overson and Iron Butterfly. Strawbs were due to perform but were replaced by David Bowie's New Electric Band. John Cambridge departed on 30 March, again replaced by Woody Woodmansey. In April 1970, Ronson, Woodmansey, and Tony Visconti commenced recording Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World album, with Ronson's Jeff Beck-influenced guitar work to the fore.

During the sessions for The Man Who Sold The World, the trio of Ronson, Visconti, and Woodmansey - still under The Hype moniker - signed to Vertigo Records. The group recruited Benny Marshall from The Rats as vocalist, and entered the studio to record an album. By the time a single appeared, The Hype had been re-christened Ronno. "The Fourth Hour of My Sleep" was released on Vertigo to an indifferent reception in January 1971. The song was written by Tucker Zimmerman, a friend of Visconti's, and not Bob Dylan as many sources have suggested. The B-side was a Ronson/Marshall composition called "Powers of Darkness". The Ronno album was never completed.

David Bowie's backing ensemble, which by now included Trevor Bolder who had replaced Tony Visconti on bass guitar duties and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, were used in the recording of Hunky Dory. The departure of Visconti also meant that Ronson, with Bowie, took over the arrangements, whilst Ken Scott co-produced with Bowie. Very different from the heavy rock of the preceding album, Ronson's orchestral arrangements showcased a far more melodic batch of Bowie compositions. Hunky Dory was perhaps their most collaborative album, which the sleeve notes acknowledge.

It was this band, minus Rick Wakeman, that became known as The Spiders From Mars from the title of the next Bowie album. Again, Ronson was a key part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album, providing string arrangements and various instrumentation, as well as handling the lead guitar duties. This album returned to the rock oriented music of the earlier album, with Ronson's guitar heroics providing the perfect frame for Bowie's doomed rock star role. Ronson and Bowie achieved some notoriety over the concerts promoting this album, when Bowie would simulate fellatio on Ronson's guitar as he played.

Ronson co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer with Bowie, playing lead guitar on the album and piano on the song "Perfect Day". Again with Bowie, he recut the track "The Man Who Sold The World" for Lulu, released as a single in the UK, and played on a few tracks on the Dana Gillespie album Weren't Born a Man.

Ronson appeared on the 1972 country-rock album Bustin' Out by Pure Prairie League, where he did the string ensemble arrangements and contributed guitar and vocals on several tracks.

His guitar work was next heard on Bowie's Aladdin Sane and 1973's covers album Pin Ups. Many people had begun to believe that Ronson's contribution to Bowie's output was becoming indispensable, so it was quite a surprise that he was absent from the Diamond Dogs album (although he played on the "1980 Floor Show", featuring songs which appeared on the record).
Later work

After leaving Bowie's entourage after the "Farewell Concert" in 1973, Ronson released three solo albums. His solo debut Slaughter On 10th Avenue, featured a brave version of Elvis Presley's song, "Love Me Tender", as well as Ronson's most famous solo track - "Only After Dark". In addition, his sister, Margaret Ronson, provided the backing vocals for the set. Between this and the 1975 follow-up, Ronson had a short-lived stint with Mott the Hoople. He then became a long-time collaborator with former Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter, commencing with the album Ian Hunter and featuring the UK singles chart hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", including a spell touring as the Hunter Ronson Band. In 1980, the live album Welcome to the Club was released, including a couple of Ronson showcases, which curiously also had a few new studio tracks - one being a Hunter/Ronson song.

In 1982, Ronson worked with John Mellencamp on his American Fool album, and in particularly the song "Jack & Diane"

    "I owe Mick Ronson the hit song, Jack & Diane. Mick was very instrumental in helping me arrange that song, as I'd thrown it on the junk heap. Ronson came down and played on three or four tracks and worked on the American Fool record for four or five weeks. All of a sudden, for 'Jack & Diane', Mick said 'Johnny, you should put baby rattles on there.' I thought, 'What the fudge does put baby rattles on the record mean? So he put the percussion on there and then he sang the part 'let it rock, let it roll' as a choir-ish-type thing, which had never occurred to me. And that is the part everybody remembers on the song. It was Ronson's idea." (John Mellencamp, Classic Rock Magazine, January 2008, p.61)

"Jack and Diane," was a No. 1 hit for four weeks and sent 'American Fool' to the top of the charts.

In 1990, Ronson again collaborated with Hunter on the album, Yui Orta, this time getting joint credit - the album was detailed as being by "Hunter/Ronson". In 1993, he again appeared on a David Bowie album; Black Tie White Noise playing on the track "I Feel Free", originally recorded by Cream. Ronson and Bowie had already covered this track live some 20 years earlier whilst touring as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

His second and third solo albums were Play Don't Worry in 1975, and Heaven And Hull in 1994. The latter set was only partly completed at the time of Ronson's death and was released posthumously. Artists involved with the album represented a wide range of musical styles and included several artists produced by Ronson: John Mellencamp, Joe Elliott, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Chrissie Hynde, and Martin Chambers.

Besides Bowie and Hunter, Ronson went on to work as a musician, writer and record producer with many other acts including Slaughter & The Dogs (who took their name from the Ronson album Slaughter on 10th Avenue), Morrissey, The Wildhearts, The Rich Kids (featuring post-Sex Pistols Glen Matlock and post-Slik/pre-Ultravox Midge Ure), Elton John, Johnny Cougar, T-Bone Burnett, Dalbello, Benny Mardones, Iron City Houserockers and the Italian band Moda, which featured Andrea Chimenti on vocals. He did not restrict his influence behind the recording desk to just established acts. His production work appears on albums by more obscure artists, such as The Payolas, Phil Rambow and Los Illegals. Ronson produced the The Visible Targets, a Seattle group, on their 1983 5-track EP "Autistic Savant." He had a lifetime passion for helping unheralded artists get a chance to shine, and he assisted many local bands along the way.

Ronson was also a member of Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" live band, and can be seen both on and off-stage in the film of the tour. He also made a connection with ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn during this time, which led to him producing and contributing guitar and arrangements to McGuinn's 1976 solo album Cardiff Rose.

In 1982, he participated on lead guitar in a short lived band with Hilly Michaels on drums and Les Fradkin on Bass Guitar. One of their recordings from this group ("Spare Change") appears on the 2006 CD: Les Fradkin- Goin' Back.

In 1987, Ronson made an appearance on a record by Geffen band, The Toll. Ronson plays signature riffs on the band's song, "Stand In Winter", from the album The Price of Progression, produced by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero.

In 1992 he produced Morrissey's Your Arsenal album, helping to redirect Morrissey's career after the album Kill Uncle.

His last, high profile, live performance was his appearance at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. He played on "All The Young Dudes" with David Bowie and Ian Hunter, and "Heroes" with Bowie.

Ronson's last ever recorded session was as a guest on the 1993 Wildhearts album Earth Vs The Wildhearts, where he played the guitar solo on the song "My Baby Is A Headfudge".

Ronson was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but had grown disenchanted with the faith before his death.

Ronson died of liver cancer on 29 April 1993 at the age of 46. In his memory, the Mick Ronson Memorial Stage was constructed in Queens Gardens in his hometown of Hull. There is also a street named after him on Bilton Grange Estate, not far from where he lived.
Equipment

Throughout his career with Bowie, Ronson used a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty". While working on the Chapman album he noticed the singer's natural finish acoustic, which had been paint-stripped to improve treble response. Ronson directed a roadie to do the same for his Les Paul. Essential effects include a Vox Tonebender fuzz, a Vox or Crybaby wah, and a Coloursound fuzz/wah/swell pedal. In the post-Bowie era, Ronson tended towards a blue, rosewood-board Fender Telecaster and also used Mesa/Boogie combos.
Discography
Solo

    * Slaughter On 10th Avenue (1974 - UK No. 9)
    * Play Don't Worry (1975 - UK No. 29)
    * Heaven and Hull (1994)
    * Just Like This (recorded in 1976, released in 1999)
    * Showtime (live in 1976 and 1989, released in 1999)
    * Indian Summer (recorded in 1981-2, released in 2001)


With David Bowie

    * The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
    * Hunky Dory (1971)
    * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972)
    * Aladdin Sane (1973)
    * Pin Ups (1973)
    * Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture (1983)
    * Black Tie White Noise (1993)
    * Bowie at the Beeb (2000)
    * Live Santa Monica '72 (2008)

With Bob Dylan

    * Hard Rain (1976)
    * The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue (2002)
http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp185/DeVeeWee/MickRonson.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj54/strippermavis/41185X62CZL__SL500_AA240_.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/29/10 at 6:39 am


The person born on this day...Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself  in the situation comedy Seinfeld  (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.

In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld appeared on the seventh season of Larry David's HBO original series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company;  his mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.

Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, from which he continued to Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater. He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.

In 1979, Seinfeld had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode and found that there was no script for him.

In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.
Seinfeld
Main article: Seinfeld

Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998; but the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.
Post-Seinfeld
1998–2006

After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as most other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.

In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, entitled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006 Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
2007

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.
2008

On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The adverts, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" adverts, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld adverts on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.
2009

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which took place later in the year.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these adverts were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The adverts were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The adverts largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14.
2010

Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld is also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref.
Books

Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.

In 2003, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.

Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.

In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.

Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.
Lawsuit

On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. In separate court papers, lawyers for Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals when "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea," including a 1971 book. They called the lawsuit "opportunistic." On September 10, 2009, the federal judge on this case threw out the plagiarism claims. Lapine's attorney has indicated that she plans to appeal the dismissal. The defamation charges against Jerry Seinfeld have not yet been adjudicated.
Personal life

Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.

Seinfeld and his wife have three children, one daughter and two sons. Daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000 in New York City, son Julian Kal on March 1, 2003 in New York City, and Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005 at New York's Cornell Medical Center. His son Julian's middle name is Kal, which is the first name of Seinfeld's father. Kal is also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Kal-El (Superman). Seinfeld's best friend is fellow comedian Larry Miller.

In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and subsequently to four Democratic primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.

Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."

On March 29, 2008, Seinfeld was driving in East Hampton, New York when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed. After trying to stop the car using the emergency brake, which also failed, he swerved to keep the car from entering an intersection with a highway and ended up rolling the car onto its side, stopping yards from the highway. The wreck was attributed to mechanical failure. Seinfeld did not require medical attention and returned to his East Hampton home.

At some point in the 1970s, Seinfeld was introduced to Scientology by his high school auto mechanics teacher and took a couple of courses. In spite of not having continued since then, he claims that Scientology had taught him important things about communication.
Personal wealth

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld, in 1998, was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. Seinfeld still generates more revenue than most current shows, through syndication and DVD sales. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show beyond its final season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that twelve-month period.
Car collection

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s, for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.

A current tally puts Seinfeld at 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that his collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law. In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Ratings Game Network Rep
1999 Pros & Cons Prison Man #2
2002 Comedian Himself
2004 A Uniform Used to Mean Something Himself
Hindsight Is 20/20 Himself
2007 Bee Movie Barry B. Benson Voice, Producer
Nominated — Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Benson Frankie
1989 - 1998 Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)
Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1997 NewsRadio Himself
2000 Dilbert Comp-U-Comp
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself (cameo)
2007 30 Rock Himself ("SeinfeldVision")
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
2010 The Marriage Ref Executive Producer
Writing credits for Seinfeld

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

    * The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
    * Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
    * The Stake Out (with Larry David)
    * The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

    * The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
    * The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
          o Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
    * The Busboy (with Larry David)
    * The Jacket (with Larry David)
    * The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
    * The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

    * The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

    * The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

    * The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
    * The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
    * The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

    * The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

    * The Cadillac (with Larry David)
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww239/1halfelfpaladin/jerry-seinfeld.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x64/bloodstainedangel5/jerry_seinfeld.jpg



I never miss Seinfeld at 1130pm every weekday night even though it's repeats.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/29/10 at 6:42 am

http://imgcover-2.vodconcepts.com/image/star/138/Porsche_Lynn-1383.0.jpg

Porsche Lynn.(ex porn actress)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 8:54 am


http://imgcover-2.vodconcepts.com/image/star/138/Porsche_Lynn-1383.0.jpg

Porsche Lynn.(ex porn actress)

I'll pass ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/29/10 at 10:50 am


The person born on this day...Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself  in the situation comedy Seinfeld  (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.

In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld appeared on the seventh season of Larry David's HBO original series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company;  his mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.

Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, from which he continued to Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater. He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.

In 1979, Seinfeld had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode and found that there was no script for him.

In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.
Seinfeld
Main article: Seinfeld

Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998; but the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.
Post-Seinfeld
1998–2006

After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as most other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.

In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, entitled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006 Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
2007

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.
2008

On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The adverts, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" adverts, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld adverts on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.
2009

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which took place later in the year.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these adverts were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The adverts were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The adverts largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14.
2010

Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld is also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref.
Books

Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.

In 2003, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.

Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.

In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.

Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.
Lawsuit

On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. In separate court papers, lawyers for Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals when "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea," including a 1971 book. They called the lawsuit "opportunistic." On September 10, 2009, the federal judge on this case threw out the plagiarism claims. Lapine's attorney has indicated that she plans to appeal the dismissal. The defamation charges against Jerry Seinfeld have not yet been adjudicated.
Personal life

Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.

Seinfeld and his wife have three children, one daughter and two sons. Daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000 in New York City, son Julian Kal on March 1, 2003 in New York City, and Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005 at New York's Cornell Medical Center. His son Julian's middle name is Kal, which is the first name of Seinfeld's father. Kal is also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Kal-El (Superman). Seinfeld's best friend is fellow comedian Larry Miller.

In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and subsequently to four Democratic primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.

Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."

On March 29, 2008, Seinfeld was driving in East Hampton, New York when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed. After trying to stop the car using the emergency brake, which also failed, he swerved to keep the car from entering an intersection with a highway and ended up rolling the car onto its side, stopping yards from the highway. The wreck was attributed to mechanical failure. Seinfeld did not require medical attention and returned to his East Hampton home.

At some point in the 1970s, Seinfeld was introduced to Scientology by his high school auto mechanics teacher and took a couple of courses. In spite of not having continued since then, he claims that Scientology had taught him important things about communication.
Personal wealth

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld, in 1998, was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. Seinfeld still generates more revenue than most current shows, through syndication and DVD sales. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show beyond its final season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that twelve-month period.
Car collection

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s, for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.

A current tally puts Seinfeld at 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that his collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law. In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Ratings Game Network Rep
1999 Pros & Cons Prison Man #2
2002 Comedian Himself
2004 A Uniform Used to Mean Something Himself
Hindsight Is 20/20 Himself
2007 Bee Movie Barry B. Benson Voice, Producer
Nominated — Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Benson Frankie
1989 - 1998 Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)
Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1997 NewsRadio Himself
2000 Dilbert Comp-U-Comp
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself (cameo)
2007 30 Rock Himself ("SeinfeldVision")
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
2010 The Marriage Ref Executive Producer
Writing credits for Seinfeld

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

    * The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
    * Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
    * The Stake Out (with Larry David)
    * The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

    * The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
    * The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
          o Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
    * The Busboy (with Larry David)
    * The Jacket (with Larry David)
    * The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
    * The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

    * The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

    * The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

    * The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
    * The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
    * The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

    * The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

    * The Cadillac (with Larry David)
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww239/1halfelfpaladin/jerry-seinfeld.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x64/bloodstainedangel5/jerry_seinfeld.jpg




Am I the only one who did not like his show?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 1:28 pm



Am I the only one who did not like his show?



Cat

No.Thank God there is someone else. Tim gets mad because I'll leave the room if he watches it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/29/10 at 6:53 pm



Am I the only one who did not like his show?



Cat


I thought it was an ok show,Cosmo Kramer was a pisser.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 04/29/10 at 10:28 pm


No.Thank God there is someone else. Tim gets mad because I'll leave the room if he watches it.

It's one of the few shows of the 90s that I liked.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 4:24 am

The word of the day...Outlaw(s)
An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law".

In the common law of England, a "Writ of Outlawry" made the pronouncement Caput gerat lupinum ("Let his be a wolf's head," literally "May he bear a wolfish head") with respect to its subject, using "head" to refer to the entire person (cf. "per capita") and equating that person with a wolf in the eyes of the law: Not only was the subject deprived of all legal rights because the law no longer deemed him human, but others were permitted to kill him on sight as if he was a wolf or other wild animal. Outlawry was thus one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the law to protect himself, whether from mob or vigilante justice for his alleged crime or from unrelated victimization such as robbery or murder.

Though the judgment of outlawry is now obsolete (even though it inspired the pro forma Outlawries Bill which is still to this day introduced in the British House of Commons during the State Opening of Parliament), romanticised outlaws became stock characters in several fictional settings. This was particularly so in the United States, where outlaws were popular subjects of newspaper coverage and stories in the 19th century, and 20th century fiction and Western movies. Thus, "outlaw" is still commonly used to mean those violating the law or, by extension, those living that lifestyle, whether actual criminals evading the law or those merely opposed to "law-and-order" notions of conformity and authority (such as the "outlaw country" music movement in the 1970s).

The term "bandit" is now largely considered to be part of the English slang lexicon.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn169/The_Murphman/OxfordOutlaws2010.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l105/argel_arballo/Outlaws2.jpg
http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab251/davis8184/outlaws.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn290/texasbelle_02/LLB%20graphics/outlaws.jpg
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l375/slack_1791/outlaws.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z86/mulcahys1/outlaws.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z191/BusylilMaw/outlaws.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x146/jencoias/Outlaws.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 4:28 am

The person born on this day...Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American  country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor and activist. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, and remains iconic, especially in American popular culture.

Now in his 70s, Willie Nelson continues to tour and has performed in concerts and fundraisers with other major musicians, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews. He also continues to record albums prolifically in new genres that embrace reggae, blues, jazz, folk, and popular music. Nelson was born and raised in Abbott, Texas, the son of Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson, a mechanic and pool hall owner.  His grandparents William Alfred Nelson and Nancy Elizabeth Smothers gave him mail-order music lessons starting at age six. He wrote his first song when he was seven and was playing in a local band at age nine.  Willie played the guitar, while his sister Bobbie played the piano. He met Bud Fletcher, a fiddler, and two siblings joined his band, Bohemian Fiddlers, while Nelson was in high school. While he was in high school he took part in the Future Farmers of America organization.

Beginning in high school Nelson worked as a disc jockey (DJ) for local radio stations. He had short DJ stints with KHBR in Hillsboro, Texas, and later with KBOP in Pleasanton, Texas, while singing locally in honky tonk bars.

Nelson graduated from Abbott High School in 1951. He joined the Air Force the same year but was discharged after nine months due to back problems. He then studied agriculture at Baylor University for one year in 1954.

In 1956, Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, to begin a musical career, recording "Lumberjack," which was written by Leon Payne. The single sold fairly well, but did not establish a career. Nelson continued to work as a radio announcer in Vancouver and sing in clubs. He sold a song called "Family Bible" for $50; the song was a hit for Claude Gray in 1960, has been covered widely and is often considered a gospel music classic.
Popular songwriter

Nelson moved to Nashville in 1960, but was unable to land a record label contract. He did, however, receive a publishing contract at Pamper Music. After Ray Price recorded Nelson's "Night Life" (reputedly the most covered country song of all time), Nelson joined Price's touring band as a bass player. While playing with Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, many of Nelson's songs became hits for some of country and pop music's biggest stars of the time. These songs include "Funny How Time Slips Away" (Billy Walker), "Hello Walls" (Faron Young), "Pretty Paper" (Roy Orbison) and most famously, "Crazy" (Patsy Cline). Willie later did an album with Ray Price in 1980 called San Antonio Rose. Nelson signed with Liberty Records in 1961 and released several singles, including "Willingly" (sung with his soon-to-be second wife, Shirley Collie) and "Touch Me".

He was unable to impress Nashville producers with his singing voice, and Nelson's singing career in Nashville did not take off. Demo recordings from his years as a songwriter for Pamper Music were later discovered and released as Crazy: The Demo Sessions (2003).
Nelson signed with Atlantic Records and released Shotgun Willie (1973), which won excellent reviews but did not sell well. Phases and Stages (1974), a concept album inspired by his divorce, included the hit single "Bloody Mary Morning." Nelson then moved to Columbia Records, where he was given complete creative control over his work. The result was the critically acclaimed, massively popular concept album, Red Headed Stranger (1975). Although Columbia was reluctant to release an album with primarily a guitar and piano for accompaniment, Nelson insisted (with the assistance of Waylon Jennings) and the album was a huge hit, partially because it included a popular cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (written by Fred Rose in 1945). "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" became Nelson's first number one hit as a singer.

Along with Nelson, Waylon Jennings was also achieving success in country music in the early 1970s, and the pair were soon combined into a genre called outlaw country ("outlaw" because it did not conform to Nashville standards). Nelson's outlaw image was cemented with the release of the album Wanted! The Outlaws (1976, with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser), country music's first platinum album. Nelson continued to top the charts with hit songs during the late 1970s, including "Good Hearted Woman" (a duet with Jennings), "Remember Me", "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time", "Uncloudy Day", "I Love You a Thousand Ways", and "Something to Brag About" (a duet with Mary Kay Place).

In 1978, Nelson released two more platinum albums, Waylon and Willie (a collaboration with Jennings that included "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," which was written and originally recorded as a hit single by Ed Bruce a couple of years earlier), and Stardust, an unusual album of popular standards. It was produced by Booker T. Jones. Though most observers predicted that Stardust would ruin his career, it ended up being one of his most successful recordings. Willie also had a notable success with the LP titled Half Nelson, including such great artists as Ray Charles.
Acting career

Nelson began acting, appearing in The Electric Horseman (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Thief (1981), and Barbarosa (1982). Also in 1982 he played "Red Loon" in Coming Out of the Ice with John Savage. In 1984 he starred in the movie Songwriter with Kris Kristofferson guest starring. He then had the lead role in the film version of his concept album Red Headed Stranger (1986), Wag the Dog (1997), Gone Fishin' (1997) as Billy 'Catch' Pooler, the 1986 TV movie Stagecoach (with Johnny Cash), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) and Surfer, Dude (2008).

He has continued acting since his early successes, but usually in smaller roles and cameos, some of which involve his status as a cannabis activist and icon. One of his more popular recent cameos was a performance in Half Baked as an elderly "Historian Smoker" who, while smoking marijuana, would reminisce about how things used to be in his younger years. Nelson also appeared as himself in the 2006 movie Beerfest, looking for teammates to join him in a mythical world-championship cannabis-smoking contest held in Amsterdam. That same week Willie Nelson recorded, "Weed with Willie" with Toby Keith.

He has made guest appearances on Miami Vice (1986's "El Viejo" episode), Delta, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons, Monk, Adventures in Wonderland, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, King of the Hill, Bones, The Colbert Report and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

He played country singer-songwriter Johnny Dean in the 1997 film Wag the Dog. He played Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard, the 2005 cinematic treatment of the television series, and was the only member of the big screen cast to reprise the role in the TV/DVD movie prequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007). He also briefly appeared in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

In 2008, Willie appeared in the movie Swing Vote where he played himself, an idol of the character played by Kevin Costner.
Hits, excesses, and Farm Aid

The Eighties saw a series of hit singles: "Midnight Rider" (1980; a cover of the Allman Brothers song, which Nelson recorded for The Electric Horseman soundtrack), "On the Road Again" (1982) from the movie Honeysuckle Rose and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (a duet with Julio Iglesias). There were also more popular albums, including Pancho & Lefty (1982, with Merle Haggard), WWII (1982, with Waylon Jennings) and Take it to the Limit (1983, with Waylon Jennings).

In the mid-1980s, Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash formed a group called The Highwaymen. They unexpectedly achieved massive success, including platinum record sales and worldwide touring. Meanwhile, he became more and more involved in charity work, such as singing on the We are the World single in 1984 and establishing the Farm Aid concerts in 1985.

In 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) handed Nelson a bill for $16.7 million in back taxes and seized most of his assets to help pay the charges. He released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits going straight to the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who gave his possessions back to him or rented them at a nominal fee. He sued accounting firm Price Waterhouse, contending that they put him into tax shelters that were later disallowed. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. His debts were paid by 1993.

In 1996, Willie Nelson was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 singing a cover of their 1964 song "The Warmth of the Sun" with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.
In 2004, Nelson and his wife Annie became partners with Bob and Kelly King in the building of two Pacific Bio-diesel plants, one in Salem, Oregon, and the other at Carl's Corner, Texas (the Texas plant was founded by Carl Cornelius, a longtime Nelson friend and the namesake for Carl's Corner). In 2005, Nelson and several other business partners formed Willie Nelson Biodiesel  ("Bio-Willie"), a company that is marketing bio-diesel bio-fuel to truck stops. The fuel is made from vegetable oil (mainly soybean oil), and can be burned without modification in diesel engines.

Nelson is a co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advisory board. He has worked with NORML for years for marijuana legalization and has produced commercials for NORML that have appeared on Pot TV programs. He has also recorded a number of radio commercials for the organization. In 2005, Nelson and his family hosted the first annual "Willie Nelson & NORML Benefit Golf Tournament," which appeared on the cover of High Times magazine.

On January 9, 2005, Nelson headlined an all-star concert at Austin Music Hall to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Tsunami Relief Austin to Asia raised an estimated $120,000 for UNICEF and two other organizations.

Nelson was a supporter of Kinky Friedman's campaign in the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election. In 2005, he recorded a radio advertisement asking for support to put Friedman on the ballot as an independent candidate. Friedman promised Willie a job in Austin as the head of a new Texas Energy Commission due to Nelson's support of bio-fuels. (Friedman was on the ballot but came in fourth with 12.43 percent, losing to Republican Rick Perry).

Nelson supported Dennis Kucinich's campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. He raised money, appeared at events, composed a song ("Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?"), and contributing a quote for the front cover of Kucinich's book for the campaign.

In January 2008, Nelson filed suit against the Texas Democratic Party. Nelson alleges that the party violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution when it refused to allow co-plaintiff Dennis Kucinich to appear on the primary ballot because he had scratched out part of the loyalty oath on his application.

Nelson is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.

Nelson is an advocate for horses and their treatment. He has been campaigning for passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311) with the Animal Welfare Institute. He is on the Board of Directors and has adopted a number of horses from Habitat for Horses.

In March 2007, Ben & Jerry's released a new flavor, "Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler Ice Cream". Nelson's proceeds will be donated to Farm Aid. The flavor has been re-released and is now available, after Ben & Jerry's voluntary recall of 250,000 pints of the new flavor on March 19, 2007, as wheat was incorrectly excluded from the list of ingredients.

Willie Nelson founded the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute in April 2007. Nelson and his daughter Amy Nelson wrote a song called "A Peaceful Solution", which they released into the public domain, and encouraged artists to render their own version of the song, which he would feature on the Institute's web site.

Nelson questions the official story of what happened on September 11. On February 4, 2008, Nelson appeared on Alex Jones's radio show and talked about the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, stating his belief that the Twin Towers and WTC7 were imploded: "I saw one fall and it was just so symmetrical, I said wait a minute I just saw that last week at the casino in Las Vegas and you see these implosions all the time and the next one fell and I said hell there's another one - and they're trying to tell me that an airplane did it and I can't go along with that."

Nelson released the song "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other," a song promoting the awareness and acceptance of homosexuality, in reference to gay cowboys, as a digital single through the iTunes Music Store on Valentine's Day 2006, shortly after the release of the film Brokeback Mountain. The song was encouraged by Nelson's tour manager and close friend David Anderson, who said "This song obviously has special meaning to me in more ways than one. I want people to know more than anything—gay, straight, whatever—just how cool Willie is and … his way of thinking, his tolerance, everything about him." Regarding the song, Nelson quoted "The song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out. I'm just opening the door."
Filmography
Year Movie
1979 The Electric Horseman
1980 Honeysuckle Rose
1981 Thief
1982 Barbarosa
1984 Songwriter
1986 Red Headed Stranger
1986 Stagecoach
1988 Once Upon a Texas Train
1988 Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
1996 Starlight
1997 Gone Fishin'
1997 Wag the Dog
1998 Half Baked
1999 Outlaw Justice
1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
2002 The Country Bears
2002 The Long Kill
2003 The Austin Disaster, 1911
2005 The Dukes of Hazzard
2006 Beerfest
2006 Broken Bridges
2006 Monk (TV series)
2007 The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning
2007 Blonde Ambition
2007 Fighting with Anger
2008 Swing Vote
2008 Surfer Dude
2008 Shoot Out of Luck
2008 The Boom Boom Room
2008 Beer For My Horses
2008 A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All
Books
Willie: Autobiography 1988 Bud Shrake ISBN 0-8154-1080-8
The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes 2002 ISBN 0-375-50731-0
The Tao of Willie 2006 Turk Pipkin ISBN 1-59240-197-X
Willie Nelson: An Epic Life 2008 Joe Nick Patoski ISBN 0-316-01778-7
Awards
Year Organization Award
1975 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1976 CMA Awards Vocal Duo of the Year
1976 CMA Awards Single of the Year
1976 CMA Awards Album of the Year
1977 American Music Awards Favorite Single
1978 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1978 Grammy Best Country Performance by Duo/Group W/Vocals
1979 CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year
1979 ACM Entertainer of the Year
1980 Grammy Best Country Song
1982 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1982 CMA Awards Single of the Year
1982 CMA Awards Album of the Year
1982 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1982 ACM Single of the Year
1982 ACM Album of the Year
1983 CMA Awards Vocal Duo of the Year
1983 American Music Awards Favorite Album
1984 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1984 ACM Single of the Year
1985 ACM Single of the Year
1986 American Music Awards Favorite Single
1986 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1987 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1990 Grammy Legend Awards
1995 TNN/Music City News Minnie Pearl Award
1995 TNN/Music City News Living Legend
1999 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
2002 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Video Collaboration of the Year
2002 CMA Awards Vocal Event of the Year
2003 CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music #4 ranking
2003 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
2004 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Video Collaboration of the Year
2008 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
Archives

An important collection of Willie Nelson materials (1975-1994) is preserved at the Wittliff collections of Southwestern Writers, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX. The collection contains song lyrics, screenplays, letters, concert programs, tour itineraries, posters, articles, clippings, personal effects, promotional items, souvenirs, and documents. There are examples of Nelson's talent as a songwriter, material reflecting his success as a concert artist, and memorabilia. The collection contains documentation on how the funds collected through Farm Aid were used; Nelson's trouble with the IRS is also documented. Most of the material was collected by Bill Wittliff, a friend of Willie Nelson's who wrote or co-wrote three of the films in which Willie Nelson starred: Honeysuckle Rose (film) (1980), Barbarosa (film) (1982), and Red Headed Stranger (1986).
See also
Austin portal

    * Academy of Country Music
    * Austin Dam (until 1911 failure, and afterward until 1942 failure) (in Pennsylvania in the US)
    * Best selling music artists
    * Country Music Association
    * Evergreen, Colorado
    * Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame
    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of country musicians
    * Music of Austin
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p66/uncooldooz/nelson_willie.jpg
http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq25/kelsey140821_2008/willie_nelson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 4:33 am

The person who died on this day...Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". Blues musicians Big Bill Morganfield and Larry "Mud Morganfield" Williams are his sons. A major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s,  Muddy was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1915, he was actually born at Jug's Corner in neighboring Issaquena County, Mississippi.  Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s he had reported his birth year as 1913 on both his marriage license and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. On the other hand, the 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. The Social Security Death Index, relying on his Social Security card application, lists him as being born April 5, 1915.

His grandmother Della Grant raised him after his mother died shortly after his birth. His fondness for playing in mud earned him the nickname "Muddy" at an early age. He later changed it to "Muddy Water" and finally "Muddy Waters". He started out on harmonica but by age seventeen he was playing the guitar at parties emulating two blues artists who were extremely popular in the south, Son House and Robert Johnson. "His thick heavy voice, the dark coloration of his tone and his firm, almost solid, personality were all clearly derived from House," wrote music critic Peter Guralnick in Feel Like Going Home, "but the embellishments which he added, the imaginative slide technique and more agile rhythms, were closer to Johnson."

On November 20, 1932 Muddy married Mabel Berry; Robert Nighthawk played guitar at the wedding, and the party reportedly got so wild the floor fell in. Mabel left Muddy three years later when Muddy's first child was born - the child's mother was Leola Spain, sixteen years old, "married to a man named Steve" and "going with a guy named Tucker". Leola was the only one of his girlfriends with whom Muddy would stay in touch throughout his life; they never married. By the time he finally cut out for Chicago in 1943, there was another Mrs. Morganfield left behind, a girl called Sallie Ann.
Early career

In 1940, Muddy moved to Chicago for the first time. He played with Silas Green a year later, and then returned to Mississippi. In the early part of the decade he ran a juke joint, complete with gambling, moonshine and a jukebox; he also performed music there himself. In the summer of 1941 Alan Lomax went to Stovall, Mississippi, on behalf of the Library of Congress to record various country blues musicians. "He brought his stuff down and recorded me right in my house," Muddy recalled in Rolling Stone, "and when he played back the first song I sounded just like anybody's records. Man, you don't know how I felt that Saturday afternoon when I heard that voice and it was my own voice. Later on he sent me two copies of the pressing and a check for twenty bucks, and I carried that record up to the corner and put it on the jukebox. Just played it and played it and said, `I can do it, I can do it.'" Lomax came back again in July 1942 to record Muddy again. Both sessions were eventually released as Down On Stovall's Plantation on the Testament label.

In 1943, Muddy headed back to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician. He lived with a relative for a short period while driving a truck and working in a factory by day and performing at night. Big Bill Broonzy, one of the leading bluesmen in Chicago at the time, helped Muddy break into the very competitive market by allowing him to open for his shows in the rowdy clubs. In 1945, his uncle Joe Grant gave him his first electric guitar which enabled him to be heard above the noisy crowds.

In 1946, he recorded some tunes for Mayo Williams at Columbia but they weren't released at the time. Later that year he began recording for Aristocrat, a newly-formed label run by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1947, he played guitar with Sunnyland Slim on piano on the cuts "Gypsy Woman" and "Little Anna Mae." These were also shelved, but in 1948 "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" became big hits and his popularity in clubs began to take off. Soon after, Aristocrat changed their label name to Chess Records and Muddy's signature tune "Rollin' Stone" also became a smash hit.
Success

Initially, the Chess brothers would not allow Muddy to use his own musicians in the recording studio; instead he was provided with a backing bass by Ernest "Big" Crawford, or by musicians assembled specifically for the recording session, including "Baby Face" Leroy Foster and Johnny Jones. Gradually Chess relented, and by September 1953 he was recording with one of the most acclaimed blues groups in history: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica; Jimmy Rogers on guitar; Elga Edmonds (a.k.a. Elgin Evans) on drums; Otis Spann on piano. The band recorded a series of blues classics during the early 1950s, some with the help of bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, including "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Number 8 on the R&B charts), "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Number 4), and "I'm Ready". These three were "the most macho songs in his repertoire," wrote Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone. "Muddy would never have composed anything so unsubtle. But they gave him a succession of showstoppers and an image, which were important for a bluesman trying to break out of the grind of local gigs into national prominence."

Muddy, along with his former harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs and recent southern transplant Howlin' Wolf, reigned over the early 1950s Chicago blues scene, his band becoming a proving ground for some of the city's best blues talent. While Little Walter continued a collaborative relationship long after he left Muddy's band in 1952, appearing on most of Muddy's classic recordings throughout the 1950s, Muddy developed a long-running, generally good-natured rivalry with Wolf. The success of Muddy's ensemble paved the way for others in his group to break away and enjoy their own solo careers. In 1952 Little Walter left when his single "Juke" became a hit, and in 1955 Rogers quit to work exclusively with his own band, which had been a sideline until that time. Although he continued working with Muddy's band, Otis Spann enjoyed a solo career and many releases under his own name beginning in the mid-1950s.
England and low profile

Muddy headed to England in 1958 and shocked audiences (whose only previous exposure to blues had come via the acoustic folk/blues sounds of acts such as Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and Big Bill Broonzy) with his loud, amplified electric guitar and thunderous beat. His performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960, helped turn on a whole new generation to Waters' sound. He expressed dismay when he realized that members of his own race were turning their backs on the genre while a white audience had shown increasing respect for the blues.

However, for the better part of twenty years (since his last big hit in 1956, "I'm Ready") Muddy was put on the back shelf by the Chess label and recorded albums with various "popular" themes: Brass And The Blues, Electric Mud, etc. In 1967, he joined forces with Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf to record the Super Blues and The Super Super Blues Band pair of albums of Chess blues standards. In 1972 he went back to England to record The London Muddy Waters Sessions with Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech and Mitch Mitchell — but their playing was not up to his standards. "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people, it ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man."

Muddy's sound was basically Delta blues electrified, but his use of microtones, in both his vocals and slide playing, made it extremely difficult to duplicate and follow correctly. "When I plays onstage with my band, I have to get in there with my guitar and try to bring the sound down to me," he said in Rolling Stone. "But no sooner than I quit playing, it goes back to another, different sound. My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play."
Comeback
Waters in Ontario, Canada, 1971
Courtesy: Jean-Luc Ourlin

Muddy's long-time wife Geneva died of cancer on March 15, 1973. A devastated Muddy was taken to a doctor and told to quit smoking, which he did. Gaining custody of some of his "outside kids", he moved them into his home, eventually buying a new house in suburban, mostly white Westmont, IL. Another teenage daughter turned up while on tour in New Orleans; Big Bill Morganfield was introduced to his Dad after a gig in Florida. Florida was also where Muddy met his future wife, the 19-year-old Marva Jean Brooks whom he nicknamed "Sunshine".

On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Band's farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The concert was released as both a record and a film, The Last Waltz, featuring a performance of "Mannish Boy" with Paul Butterfield on harmonica.

In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Muddy, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. His "comeback" LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to the original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier, thanks to Winter's production. Former sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award-winning album and a brief but well-received tour followed.

The Muddy Waters Blues Band at the time included guitarists Bob Margolin and Luther Johnson, pianist Pinetop Perkins, harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. On "Hard Again", Winter played guitar in addition to producing; Muddy asked James Cotton to play harp on the session, and Cotton brought his own bassist Charles Calmese. According to Margolin's liner notes, Muddy did not play guitar during these sessions. The album covers a broad spectrum of styles, from the opening of "Mannish Boy", with shouts and hollers throughout, to the old-style Delta blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied", with a National Steel solo by Winter, to Cotton's screeching intro to "The Blues Had a Baby", to the moaning closer "Little Girl". Its live feel harks back to the Chess Records days, and it evokes a feeling of intimacy and cooperative musicianship. The expanded reissue includes one bonus track, a remake of the 1950s single "Walking Through the Park". The other outtakes from the album sessions appear on King Bee. Margolin's notes state that the reissued album was remastered but that remixing was not considered to be necessary. Hard Again was the first studio collaboration between Waters and Winter, who produced his final four albums, the others being I'm Ready, King Bee, and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live, for Blue Sky, a Columbia Records subsidiary.

In 1978 Winter recruited two of Muddy's cohorts from the early '50s, Big Walter Horton and Jimmy Rogers, and brought in the rest of his touring band at the time (harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, guitarist Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, and bassist Calvin Jones) to record Waters' I'm Ready LP, which came close to the critical and commercial success of Hard Again.

The comeback continued in 1979 with the lauded LP Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. "Muddy was loose for this one," wrote Jas Obrecht in Guitar Player, "and the result is the next best thing to being ringside at one of his foot-thumping, head-nodding, downhome blues shows." On the album, Muddy is accompanied by his touring band, augmented by Johnny Winter on guitar. The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the album has an energetic feel. King Bee the following year concluded Waters' reign at Blue Sky, and these last four LPs turned out to be his biggest-selling albums ever. King Bee was the last album Muddy Waters recorded. Coming last in a trio of studio outings produced by Johnny Winter, it is also a mixed bag. During the sessions for King Bee, Waters, his manager, and his band were involved in a dispute over money. According to the liner notes by Bob Margolin, the conflict arose from Waters' health being on the wane and consequently playing fewer engagements. The bandmembers wanted more money for each of the fewer gigs they did play in order to make ends meet. Ultimately a split occurred and the entire band quit. Because of the tensions in the studio preceding the split, Winter felt the sessions had not produced enough solid material to yield an entire album. He subsequently filled out King Bee with outtakes from earlier Blue Sky sessions and the cover photograph was by David Michael Kennedy. For the listener, King Bee is a leaner and meaner record. Less of the good-time exuberance present on the previous two outings is present here. The title track, "Mean Old Frisco", "Sad Sad Day", and "I Feel Like Going Home", are all blues with ensemble work. The Sony Legacy issue features completely remastered sound and Margolin's notes, and also hosts two bonus tracks from the King Bee sessions that Winter didn't see fit to release the first time.

In 1981, Waters was invited to perform at ChicagoFest, the city's top outdoor music festival. He was joined onstage by Johnny Winter — who had successfully produced Waters’ most recent albums — and played classics like “Mannish Boy,” “Trouble No More” and “Mojo Working” to a new generation of fans. This historic performance was made available on DVD in 2009 by Shout! Factory.

In 1982, declining health dramatically curtailed Muddy's performance schedule. Muddy Waters' last public performance took place when he sat in with Eric Clapton's band at a Clapton concert in Florida in autumn of 1982.
Influence

His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, folk, jazz, and country. He also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract.

His 1958 tour of England marked possibly the first time amplified, modern urban blues was heard there, although on his first tour he was the only one amplified. His backing was provided by Englishman Chris Barber's trad jazz group. (One critic retreated to the toilets to write his review because he found the band so loud).

The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone", (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). Hendrix recalled "the first guitar player I was aware of was Muddy Waters. I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death". Cream covered "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream, as Eric Clapton was a big fan of Muddy Waters when he was growing up, and his music influenced Clapton's music career. The song was also covered by Canned Heat at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival and later adapted by Bob Dylan on the album Modern Times. One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love", is lyrically based upon the Muddy Waters hit "You Need Love", written by Willie Dixon. Dixon wrote some of Muddy Waters' most famous songs, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (a big radio hit for Etta James, as well as the 1970s rock band Foghat), "Hoochie Coochie Man," which The Allman Brothers Band famously covered, and "I'm Ready", which was covered by Humble Pie. In 1993, Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of Muddy Waters songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" (among others) in collaboration with a number of famous guitarists such as Brian May and Jeff Beck.

Angus Young of the rock group AC/DC has cited Muddy Waters as one of his influences. The song title "You Shook Me All Night Long" came from lyrics of the Muddy Waters song "You Shook Me", written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962.

Muddy Waters' songs have been featured in long-time fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Casino and Goodfellas. Muddy Waters' 1970s recording of his mid-'50s hit "Mannish Boy" (a.k.a. "I'm A Man") was used in Goodfellas and the hit film Risky Business.

Screenwriter David Simon has written an unproduced teleplay about Muddy Waters' life.

The 2006 Family Guy episode "Saving Private Brian" includes a parody of Muddy Waters trying to pass a kidney stone; his screams of pain form a call and response with the Chicago blues band in his bathroom.

In 2008, Jeffrey Wright portrayed Muddy in the biopic Cadillac Records, a film about the rise and fall of Chess Records and the lives of its recording artists. A second 2008 film about Leonard Chess and Chess Records, Who Do You Love, also covers Muddy's time at Chess Records.

In 2009, in the movie, The Boat that Rocked (pirate radio in the UK) the cryptic message that late night DJ Bob gives to Carl to give to Carl's mother is "Muddy Waters Rocks."
Death

On April 30, 1983 Muddy Waters died in his sleep, at his home in Westmont, Illinois. At his funeral at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, throngs of blues musicians and fans showed up to pay tribute to one of the true originals of the art form. "Muddy was a master of just the right notes," John P. Hammond, told Guitar World magazine. "It was profound guitar playing, deep and simple... more country blues transposed to the electric guitar, the kind of playing that enhanced the lyrics, gave profundity to the words themselves." Two years after his death, Chicago honored him by designating the one-block section between 900 and 1000 E. 43rd Street near his former home on the south side "Honorary Muddy Waters Drive" More recently, the Chicago suburb of Westmont, where Waters lived the last decade of his life, named a section of Cass Avenue near his home "Honorary Muddy Waters Way". Following Waters' death, B.B. King told Guitar World, "It's going to be years and years before most people realize how greatly he contributed to American music". Attesting to the historic place of Muddy Waters in the development of the blues in Mississippi, a Mississippi Blues Trail marker has been placed in Clarksdale, Mississippi by the Mississippi Blues Commission designating the site of Muddy Waters' cabin to commemorate his importance.
Awards and recognitions
Grammy Awards
Muddy Waters Grammy Award History
Year Category Title Genre Label Result
1971 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording They Call Me Muddy Waters folk MCA/Chess winner
1972 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording The London Muddy Waters Session folk MCA/Chess winner
1975 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album folk MCA/Chess winner
1977 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Hard Again folk Blue Sky winner
1978 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording I'm Ready folk Blue Sky winner
1979 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live folk Blue Sky winner
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed four songs of Muddy Waters of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Year Recorded Title
1950 Rollin' Stone
1954 Hoochie Coochie Man
1955 Mannish Boy
1957 Got My Mojo Working
The Blues Foundation Awards
Muddy Waters: Blues Music Awards
Year Category Title Result
1994 Reissue Album of the Year The Complete Plantation Recordings Winner
1995 Reissue Album of the Year One More Mile Winner
2000 Traditional Blues Album of the Year The Lost Tapes of Muddy Waters Winner
2002 Historical Blues Album of the Year Fathers and Sons Winner
2006 Historical Album of the Year Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Recordings, Volume 2, 1952-1958 Winner
Inductions
Year Inducted Title
1980 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame
1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1992 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

U.S. Postage Stamp
Year Stamp USA Note
1994 29 cents Commemorative stamp U.S. Postal Service Photo
uddy Waters released approximately sixty singles (120 "sides") during his career, sixteen of which made the charts. These were issued on Chess Records, except for his 1941 recordings for the Library of Congress and his 1947 – early 1950 singles, which were issued on Aristocrat Records. The chart information is the peak position the single reached on the Billboard R&B chart.
Year Title Chart no.
1941 "Country Blues" —
"I Be's Troubled" —
1948 "(I Feel Like) Going Home" 11
"I Can't Be Satisfied" —
1950 "Rollin' and Tumblin'" —
"Rollin' Stone" —
"Walkin' Blues" —
"Louisiana Blues" 10
1951 "Long Distance Call" 8
"Honey Bee" 10
"Still a Fool" 9
1952 "She Moves Me" 10
"Standing Around Crying" —
1953 "Turn the Lamp Down Low (Baby Please Don't Go)" —
"Blow Wind Blow" —
"Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)" 6
1954 "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" 3
"Just Make Love to Me (I Just Want to Make Love to You)" 4
"I'm Ready" 4
1955 "I Want to Be Loved" —
"Manish Boy" aka "Mannish Boy" 5
"Sugar Sweet" 11
1956 "Trouble No More" 7
"Forty Days and Forty Nights" 7
"Don't Go No Farther" 9
"Just to Be with You" —
"Rock Me" —
"Got My Mojo Working" —
1957 "I Live the Life I Love (I Love the Life I Live)" —
1958 "She's Nineteen Years Old" —
"Close to You" 9
1959 "I Feel So Good" —
1962 "You Shook Me" —
"You Need Love" —
1964 "The Same Thing" —
"You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" —

Muddy Waters also recorded several singles as a sideman with Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Otis Spann, and others.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o130/DJROGERS1989/MUDDY-1.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e290/hyprokronix/Muddy/muddy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/30/10 at 7:05 am

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/wales.jpg

Outlaw Josie Wales

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 9:28 am


http://www.badassoftheweek.com/wales.jpg

Outlaw Josie Wales

good one :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/30/10 at 2:19 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izclfaHqdxs

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 6:17 am

The word of the day...Morning
The word morning originally referred to the sunrise. Morning precedes midday, afternoon, and night  in the sequence of a day.

Morning is the part of the day usually reckoned from dawn to noon. The name (which comes from the Middle English word morwening) was formed from the analogy of evening using the word "morn" (in Middle English morwen), and originally meant the coming of the sunrise as evening meant the beginning of the close of the day. The Middle English morwen dropped over time and became morwe, then eventually morrow, which properly means "morning", but was soon used to refer to the following day (i.e., "tomorrow"), as in other Germanic languages—English is unique in restricting the word to the newer usage.

Morning may also be used in a strictly personal sense, to refer to the period immediately following waking up, irrespective of the current time of day. In this sense, morning encompasses the (mostly menial) prerequisites for full productivity and life in public (i.e. cleaning, a morning meal—often breakfast, dressing, etc). The boundaries of such morning periods are by necessity idiosyncratic, but they are typically considered to have ended on reaching a state of full readiness for the day's productive activity. This modern permutation of morning is due largely to the worldwide spread of electricity, and the concomitant independence from natural light sources
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/Euler5853/Good%20Morning/ButterflyYellowTulips-morning.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/morning/90451499.gif
http://i775.photobucket.com/albums/yy39/caseyd418/morning.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee91/Gypsy48/Morning/ssjpg.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/morning/sunshine-1.gif
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy164/giterdone3_33/003.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa103/calif-ua/others/230420101431.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 6:22 am

The person born on this day...Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins (born May 1, 1939; Seattle, Washington) is an American  singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records (which has included folk, show tunes, pop, rock and roll and standards); and for her social activism.
As a child, Collins studied classical piano with Antonia Brico, making her public debut at age 13, performing Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos. Dr. Brico took a dim view, both then and later, of Collins' developing interest in folk music, which led her to the difficult decision to discontinue her piano lessons. Years later, when Collins had become internationally known through her music, she invited Dr. Brico to one of her concerts in Denver. When they met after the performance, Brico took both of Judy's hands in hers, looked wistfully at her fingers and said, "Little Judy -- you really could have gone places." Still later, Collins discovered, ironically, that Brico herself had made a living when she was younger playing jazz and ragtime piano (Singing Lessons, pp. 71-72). She also had the fortune of meeting many musicians through her father, a remarkable man who, despite being blind, was a Seattle radio disc jockey.

However, it was the music of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and the traditional songs of the folk revival of the early 1960s, that piqued Collins' interest and awoke in her a love of lyrics. Three years after her debut as a piano prodigy, she was playing guitar. Her music became popular at the University of Connecticut where her husband taught. She performed at parties and for the campus radio station along with David Grisman and Tom Azarian. She eventually made her way to Greenwich Village, New York City, where she busked and played in clubs until she signed with Elektra Records, a record label with which she was associated for 35 years. In 1961, Collins released her first album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, at the age of 22.

At first, she sang traditional folk songs or songs written by others — in particular the protest poets of the time, such as Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan. She recorded her own versions of important songs from the period, such as Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger's "Turn, Turn, Turn." Collins was also instrumental in bringing little-known musicians to a wider public. For example, Collins recorded songs by Canadian poet Leonard Cohen, who became a close friend over the years. She also recorded songs by singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Robin Williamson and Richard Fariña long before they gained national acclaim.

While Collins' first few albums comprised straightforward guitar-based folk songs, with 1966's In My Life, she began branching out and including work from such diverse sources as the Beatles, Cohen, Jacques Brel, and Kurt Weill. Mark Abramson produced and Joshua Rifkin arranged the album, adding lush orchestration to many of the numbers. The album was regarded as a major departure for a folk artist and set the course for Collins' subsequent work over the next decade.

With her 1967 album Wildflowers, also produced by Mark Abramson and arranged by Rifkin, Collins began to record her own compositions, the first of which was entitled "Since You've Asked". The album also provided Collins with a major hit, and a Grammy award, in Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now," which reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Collins' 1968 album, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, was produced by David Anderle and featured back-up guitar by Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), with whom she was romantically involved at the time. (She was the inspiration for Stills's CSN classic "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"). Time Goes had a mellow country sound, and included Ian Tyson's "Someday Soon" and the title track written by the UK singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. The album also featured Collins' composition "My Father" and one of the first covers of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire."

By the 1970s, Collins had a solid reputation as an art song singer and folksinger and had begun to stand out for her own compositions. She was also known for her broad range of material: her songs from this period include the traditional Christian hymn "Amazing Grace," the Stephen Sondheim Broadway ballad "Send in the Clowns" (both of which were top 20 hits as singles), a recording of Joan Baez's "A Song for David," and her own compositions, such as "Born to the Breed."

In the 1970s, Collins guest starred on The Muppet Show, where she sang "I Know An Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly". Collins also appeared several times on Sesame Street, where she performed "Fishermen's Song" with a chorus of Anything Muppet fishermen, sang a trio with Biff and Sully using the word "yes," and even starred in a modern musical fairy tale skit called "The Sad Princess".

She sang the theme song of the Rankin-Bass TV movie The Wind in the Willows.
Judy Collins at the Miami Book Fair International of 1987

In more recent years Collins has taken to writing, producing a memoir, Trust Your Heart, in 1987, and a novel, Shameless. A more recent memoir, Sanity and Grace, tells of her son Clark's death in January 1992. Though her record sales are not what they once were, she still records and tours in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. She performed at US President Bill Clinton's first inauguration in 1993, singing "Amazing Grace" and "Chelsea Morning." (The Clintons have stated that they named their daughter, Chelsea, after Collins' recording of the song.) In 2006, she sang "This Little Light of Mine" in a commercial for Eliot Spitzer.

In 2008, she oversaw an album featuring artists ranging from Dolly Parton and Joan Baez to Rufus Wainwright and Chrissie Hynde covering her compositions; she also released a collection of Beatles covers, and she received an honorary doctorate from Pratt Institute on May 18 of that year.

Collins joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers. She was also a judge for the 7th Independent Music Awards.
Activism

Like many other folk singers of her generation, Collins was drawn to social activism. Her political idealism also led her to compose a ballad entitled "Che" in honor of the 1960s revolutionary icon Che Guevara.

Collins sympathized with the Yippie movement, and was friendly with its leaders, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. On March 17, 1968, she attended Hoffman's press conference at the Americana Hotel in New York to announce the party's formation. In 1969, she testified in Washington, DC in support of the Chicago Seven; during her testimony, she began singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", and was admonished by prosecutor Tom Foran and judge Julius Hoffman.

She is currently a representative for UNICEF and campaigns on behalf of the abolition of landmines. In 1992, Collins' son, Clark Taylor, committed suicide at age 33, after a long bout with depression and substance abuse; since his death, she has also become a strong advocate of suicide prevention.
Personal life

Collins has been married twice. Her first marriage in 1958 to Peter Taylor produced her only child, Clark C. Taylor. The marriage ended in divorce in 1965.

In 1962, shortly after her debut at Carnegie Hall, Collins was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent six months recuperating in a sanitorium.

Collins later admitted suffering from bulimia after she had quit smoking in the 1970s. "I went straight from the cigarettes into an eating disorder," she told People Magazine in 1992. "I started throwing up. I didn't know anything about bulimia, certainly not that it is an addiction or that it would get worse. My feelings about myself, even though I had been able to give up smoking and lose 20 lbs., were of increasing despair." She also talks at length, in Singing Lessons (pp. 172-190, 238-240) about her years of addiction to alcohol, the damage it did to her personal and musical life, and how it contributed to her feelings of depression. She says that, although she tried other drugs in the 1960s, alcohol was always her primary drug of choice, just as it had been for her father. She entered a rehabilitation program in Pennsylvania in 1978, and she has maintained her sobriety ever since, even through such traumatic events as the suicide of her only son, Clark, after his final relapse (previous section).

In April 1996, she married a designer and fellow activist Louis Nelson. They live together in New York City.
Awards and recognition

    * Grammy Award, Best Folk Performance or Folk Recording, "Both Sides Now", 1968
    * Stephen Sondheim won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year, "Send in the Clowns", in 1975, it was believed, largely on the strength of Collins' performance of the song on her album Judith
    * Nominated with Jill Godmillow for an Academy Award for the documentary "Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman" (1975), about her classical piano instructor, conductor Antonia Brico.
    * Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Pratt Institute, May 2009

Discography
Further information: Judy Collins discography
Charted singles
Year Song US Hot 100 US A.C. Album
1967 "Hard Lovin' Loser" 97 - In My Life
1968 "Both Sides Now" 8 3 Wildflowers
1969 "Someday Soon" 55 37 Who Knows Where The Times Goes
1969 "Chelsea Morning" 78 25 (single only)
1969 "Turn! Turn! Turn!/To Everything There Is A Season" 69 28 Recollections
1970 "Amazing Grace" 15 5 Whales & Nightingales
1971 "Open The Door (Song For Judith)" 90 23 Living
1973 "Cook With Honey" 32 10 True Stories And Other Dreams
1973 "Secret Gardens" 122 - True Stories And Other Dreams
1975 "Send In The Clowns" 36 8 Judith
1977 "Send In The Clowns" (re-release) 19 15 Judith
1979 "Hard Times For Lovers" 66 16 Hard Times For Lovers
1984 "Home Again" (duet with T.G. Sheppard) - 42 Home Again
1990 "Fires Of Eden" - 31 Fires Of Eden
Filmography

    * Baby's Bedtime (1992)
    * Baby's Morningtime (1992)
    * Junior (1994), playing the operator of a spa for pregnant women opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger
    * Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (1998)
    * A Town Has Turned to Dust (1998), telefilm based on a Rod Serling science-fiction story
    * The Best of Judy Collins (1999)
    * Intimate Portrait: Judy Collins (2000)
    * Judy Collins Live at Wolf Trap (2003)
    * Wildflower Festival (2003) (DVD with guest artists Eric Andersen, Arlo Guthrie, and Tom Rush)

Bibliography

    * Trust Your Heart (1987)
    * Amazing Grace (1991)
    * Shameless (1995)
    * Singing Lessons (1998)
    * Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength (2003)
    * The Seven T's : Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy (2007)
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd291/mcvielover/bio1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd291/mcvielover/judic.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 6:26 am

The person who died on this day...Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), best known as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S.  professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to "Macho Man" Randy Savage. She died as a result of a drug and alcohol overdose in 2003 at the age of 42 in the home she shared with Lex Luger. While working at International Championship Wrestling shows, Hulette met Randall Poffo, a wrestling performer with the stage name "Macho Man" Randy Savage. They eventually married.
World Wrestling Federation
1985-1987

In 1985, the WWF was doing an angle where all the managers in the promotion were bidding for Randy Savage's services. During a match on July 30, 1985, several managers were at ringside in hopes that he would name one of them as his new manager. After the match, Savage thanked the managers for their consideration and then asked that his new manager come to ringside. An unnamed woman then came down to the ring, and announcer Bruno Sammartino remarked, "She must be some sort of movie star." It was later revealed that her name was Miss Elizabeth. Elizabeth's WWF debut aired on the August 24, 1985, edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, and from that point on, she was the manager of Randy Savage.

Miss Elizabeth's first major angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Miss Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of matches. Their feud was one of the WWF's most popular of the 1980s; it carried on for more than a year, thanks to the feral Steele's continued innocent crush on Elizabeth. She also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.

After injuring Steamboat's larynx, Savage lost his Intercontinental Title to Steamboat at WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987. The Savage-Steamboat match concluded with Steamboat defeating Savage. Steamboat later lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man. Honky's insistence that he was the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time instigated a challenge from Savage, the former champion. In their match, which aired on the October 3, 1987, edition of NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event, Honky shoved Elizabeth to the mat before assaulting Savage with a guitar. Elizabeth ran backstage and persuaded Hulk Hogan to rescue Savage to form The Mega Powers, running off Honky and his allies, Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
1988-1989

The year 1988 was a pivotal one for Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Hulk Hogan, who had been the champion and the foundation upon which the WWF's popularity was built, lost the WWF World championship belt in a match against André the Giant. André the Giant then forfeited the belt to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase due to an arrangement that they had prior to the match. President Jack Tunney declared that the belt cannot be forfeited to another individual. A tournament was held at WrestleMania IV to declare a new champion, which Randy Savage won, pinning Dibiase (with Hogan's help) in the finals.

At the first ever SummerSlam, The Mega Powers teamed up against André the Giant and Ted DiBiase, The Mega Bucks with Jesse Ventura as the referee. Most of the pre-match build-up centered around Elizabeth, who by this time was at the peak of her popularity. The tease for the match was that if things got bad, Elizabeth, billed as the secret weapon of The Mega Powers, was going to wear a bikini under her fancy clothes. Towards the end of match, André and Dibiase were in control, so Elizabeth got up on the apron and ripped her skirt off to reveal a red bikini bottom, which distracted both André and DiBiase. The Mega Powers quickly took advantage of the situation and won the match after Ventura made a reluctant three-count (Savage rode Ventura's arm down to the mat to finalize the count).

Miss Elizabeth became the catalyst for the breakup of the Savage–Hogan relationship. During a 1989 tag team match that pitted the Mega Powers against The Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman), Savage was thrown onto Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and, as the match continued, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention. Upon his return to the ring, Hogan was greeted with anger from Savage for having abandoned him in the midst of a match. Savage slapped his partner and left the ring area. Hogan continued the match, winning singlehandedly. Hogan exited the ring and reached the backstage area, where Savage attacked him, turning Savage heel. Following his WrestleMania V loss to Hogan, Savage replaced Miss Elizabeth in favor of Sensational Sherri.

For the remainder of 1989, Elizabeth's appearances were very sporadic. Elizabeth appeared at SummerSlam '89 and managed Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake as they headlined the show against Randy Savage and Zeus with Sensational Sherri. Elizabeth also appeared at a few matches managing Hulk Hogan in matches against Randy Savage. Elizabeth also briefly co-hosted WWF Wrestling Spotlight with Vince McMahon.
1990-1992

Savage remained a heel for many more months, eventually dubbing himself "The Macho King" after defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the WWF's "king" title in the September of 1989. After Savage and Sherri began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire near the end of 1989, Miss Elizabeth joined forces with Rhodes and Sapphire at WrestleMania VI, where the two couples were engaged in the WWF's first mixed tag-team match. When Sherri attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation, kneeling down behind Sherri just as Miss Elizabeth pushed her. Sherri lost her balance and gave Sapphire enough advantage to pin Sherri for the win.

Miss Elizabeth disappeared from WWF television until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Upon his loss, Sherri began beating and kicking the defeated man until Elizabeth, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair and threw her out of the ring, reuniting Savage and Elizabeth. Macho Man punctuated the reunion by holding down the ropes for Elizabeth after years of her doing it for him.

The couple then held a heavily promoted on-air wedding billed as "The Match Made in Heaven" at SummerSlam 1991 in New York's Madison Square Garden (the couple were officially married on December 30, 1984). At the wedding reception, Elizabeth opened a gift package containing a live snake, which frightened her; newly-turned-heel Jake "The Snake" Roberts and The Undertaker crashed the reception and attacked Savage. This started a feud between Roberts and Savage, where Elizabeth quickly figured prominently. The first high-profile Savage-Roberts match was at the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, where, after Savage gained a pinfall victory, Roberts beat down Savage, then forced Elizabeth to beg him to stop the beating. Apparently dissatisfied with her begging, Roberts grabbed her by the hair and slapped her across her face. On the February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Roberts, with a steel chair in tow, was waiting in the backstage area for Elizabeth and Savage to come through the curtain after a match. Roberts was about to strike Elizabeth with the chair, but Undertaker stopped him. This started Undertaker's feud with his former ally.

In her final WWF angle, WWF Champion Ric Flair bragged that he dated Elizabeth before Savage met her. Flair's tagline was, "She was mine before she was yours." He showed photos of himself with Elizabeth in casual situations, which were later printed in an issue of WWF Magazine. Flair, with Mr. Perfect as his "executive consultant", said that they were going to show a nude photo of Elizabeth on the screen at WrestleMania VIII, although this did not occur. Nonetheless, Flair's claims set up his WrestleMania VIII match with Savage. During the match, Elizabeth made her way to ringside, against the wishes of WWF officials. After Savage pinned Flair to win the WWF Championship, an angry Flair cornered Elizabeth and began to kiss her; Elizabeth slapped Flair away, and Savage began beating Flair until ring officials broke the two up. Elizabeth's final WWF appearance took place on April 19, 1992 during an overseas tour of England; in that match, Savage pinned Shawn Michaels after Elizabeth, who had earlier been sent backstage, returned to prevent Sherri's interference on Michaels' behalf. Despite her departure, the Elizabeth-Flair storyline continued through most of the spring — the most notable highlight was Flair and Mr. Perfect playing a voice mail from a woman identifying herself as Elizabeth, saying she was "waiting at home" and that she "loved" him — until the Savage-Michaels match from England was aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling in June; the publication of the actual Savage-Elizabeth photos in WWF Magazine came at about that same time.

Shortly after Elizabeth's final appearance, she and Savage divorced. After the decree was finalized late that summer, Savage issued a statement that was printed in WWF Magazine revealing that he and Elizabeth were no longer together, and thanking the fans for their support through the years. The publication of Savage's statement marked, at the time, a rare acknowledgement of the wrestlers' private lives for both the WWF and its flagship publication. Savage continued with the WWF for two more years, and except for the statement in WWF Magazine, his divorce from Elizabeth was neither referred to nor figured into any of Savage's future feuds.
World Championship Wrestling
1996-1998

In January 1996, Miss Elizabeth returned to wrestling as a valet for Savage. She later turned against Savage and became Ric Flair's valet in the Four Horsemen. She later turned against the Four Horsemen and joined the New World Order (nWo) alongside Savage and Hogan. In June 1998, she parted ways with Savage once again by joining Hogan's side of the nWo, nWo Hollywood. Then, she accompanied Eric Bischoff on his way to the ring for the next few months.

Elizabeth briefly married Cary Lubetsky, a South Florida attorney, on December 6th, 1997. The wedding was held at the Cuban Hebrew Temple in Miami Beach. The marriage was short-lived, as the couple soon separated and were officially divorced on April 19th, 1999.
1999

On the January 4 episode of Nitro, Elizabeth was seen talking to police detectives. According to the storyline, she claimed that Bill Goldberg was stalking her and that he even accosted her by the water cooler. She then filed charges against Goldberg. Goldberg was arrested later that night for aggravated stalking and taken into custody by police. However, later that night, Elizabeth admitted that she was lying. As it turned out, Elizabeth was a pawn for the nWo so that Goldberg would be unable to have his scheduled title match with Kevin Nash later that night. Due to Goldberg's apparent absence, the returning Hulk Hogan took Goldberg's title shot in the match that became known as "The Fingerpoke of Doom". Soon after, Elizabeth accompanied Lex Luger, and sometimes Kevin Nash, to ringside. However, Luger injured his biceps at a February 1999 house show and they soon took time off the road.
2000

In February, Elizabeth managed the short-lived partnership between Luger and Ric Flair. The three of them were known as Team Package. The trio's main goal was to take down Hulk Hogan, whom Luger had been publicly challenging to a match during the previous few weeks. Hogan made his return to WCW during the February 2 edition of WCW Thunder, and while his back was turned during an interview segment, Elizabeth came into the ring, baseball bat raised. However, Hogan quickly turned around and easily out-muscled the bat from her possession. As a receipt for her dastardly act, and in a throwback to his attacks on Sensational Sherri in the World Wrestling Federation, Hogan picked up Liz and held her up high in the air and delivered his patented atomic drop. However, Elizabeth no-sold the maneuver and quickly rolled out of the ring. Later that week, Hogan called into Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show to discuss his program with Luger, not to mention Elizabeth no-selling his atomic drop maneuver on the previous edition of Thunder. Hogan claimed that Elizabeth refused to take a bigger bump because she wasn't wearing any panties underneath her skirt. Shortly thereafter, Team Package went their separate ways as they fought various members of The New Blood. Elizabeth engaged in short-lived feuds with Vince Russo and Kimberly Page. On May 8, 2000, Elizabeth wrestled in her first official match against Daffney. She then competed in matches against Rhonda Singh and Madusa.

WCW released Elizabeth from her contract on August 17, 2000.
Later life

Despite being let go by WCW, Elizabeth and Luger stayed together as a couple. Friends of Elizabeth said the two were planning on getting married sometime in 2003. After her departure from wrestling, Hulette began working the front desk at Main Event Fitness in Marietta, Georgia, a gym that Luger had owned for years after he and Steve Borden opened it during their wrestling heyday.

Elizabeth was advertised to make her first wrestling appearance since her departure from WCW during the World Wrestling All-Stars tour of Europe in November 2002 and December 2002 alongside Luger. She accompanied Luger on the tour overseas, but didn't appear on a single show. Elizabeth never made another wrestling appearance after her release from WCW. Luger ended up winning and losing the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in matches with Sting during the tour.

On April 19, 2003, Elizabeth was involved in a domestic dispute with Luger, who allegedly struck her in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia. Cobb County police found Elizabeth with two bruised eyes, a bump on her head, and a cut lip. Luger was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2,500 bond. Two days later on April 21, Luger was arrested for driving under the influence after rear-ending another car while driving his Porsche. According to the report on the arrest, Luger had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and could not locate his driver's license. Luger had a 9-mm handgun in the car. Elizabeth was a passenger in the vehicle, and was sent home in a taxicab. Luger was also driving with a suspended license for not appearing in court on March 5, 2003, for a hearing on a previous offense (driving with expired tags and having no proof of insurance).
Death

On May 1, 2003, in Marietta, Georgia, Luger called 9-1-1 from his home and reported that Elizabeth was not breathing. She did not respond to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was later determined to be "acute toxicity". Luger's phone call was later aired on an episode of WWE Confidential. Luger was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, temazepam and alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. Luger pled guilty to the charges on February 3, 2005. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 5 years probation.
In wrestling

    * Wrestlers managed
          o Randy Savage
          o Hulk Hogan
          o Ric Flair
          o Eric Bischoff
          o Lex Luger
          o Sting
          o Dusty Rhodes
          o Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

    * Faction Affiliations
          o The Mega Powers
          o Four Horsemen
          o nWo
          o Millionaire's Club
          o Magnificent Seven

Championships and accomplishments

    * World Wrestling Federation
          o Slammy Award for Woman of the Year (1987)
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/Miss%20Elizabeth/Miss_Elizabeth_-_Elizabeth_Hulet-2.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x259/thetorturerack/MissElizabeth.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/01/10 at 10:55 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 2:47 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw



Cat

Another great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/01/10 at 2:51 pm


The person who died on this day...Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), best known as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S.  professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to "Macho Man" Randy Savage. She died as a result of a drug and alcohol overdose in 2003 at the age of 42 in the home she shared with Lex Luger. While working at International Championship Wrestling shows, Hulette met Randall Poffo, a wrestling performer with the stage name "Macho Man" Randy Savage. They eventually married.
World Wrestling Federation
1985-1987

In 1985, the WWF was doing an angle where all the managers in the promotion were bidding for Randy Savage's services. During a match on July 30, 1985, several managers were at ringside in hopes that he would name one of them as his new manager. After the match, Savage thanked the managers for their consideration and then asked that his new manager come to ringside. An unnamed woman then came down to the ring, and announcer Bruno Sammartino remarked, "She must be some sort of movie star." It was later revealed that her name was Miss Elizabeth. Elizabeth's WWF debut aired on the August 24, 1985, edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, and from that point on, she was the manager of Randy Savage.

Miss Elizabeth's first major angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Miss Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of matches. Their feud was one of the WWF's most popular of the 1980s; it carried on for more than a year, thanks to the feral Steele's continued innocent crush on Elizabeth. She also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.

After injuring Steamboat's larynx, Savage lost his Intercontinental Title to Steamboat at WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987. The Savage-Steamboat match concluded with Steamboat defeating Savage. Steamboat later lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man. Honky's insistence that he was the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time instigated a challenge from Savage, the former champion. In their match, which aired on the October 3, 1987, edition of NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event, Honky shoved Elizabeth to the mat before assaulting Savage with a guitar. Elizabeth ran backstage and persuaded Hulk Hogan to rescue Savage to form The Mega Powers, running off Honky and his allies, Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
1988-1989

The year 1988 was a pivotal one for Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Hulk Hogan, who had been the champion and the foundation upon which the WWF's popularity was built, lost the WWF World championship belt in a match against André the Giant. André the Giant then forfeited the belt to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase due to an arrangement that they had prior to the match. President Jack Tunney declared that the belt cannot be forfeited to another individual. A tournament was held at WrestleMania IV to declare a new champion, which Randy Savage won, pinning Dibiase (with Hogan's help) in the finals.

At the first ever SummerSlam, The Mega Powers teamed up against André the Giant and Ted DiBiase, The Mega Bucks with Jesse Ventura as the referee. Most of the pre-match build-up centered around Elizabeth, who by this time was at the peak of her popularity. The tease for the match was that if things got bad, Elizabeth, billed as the secret weapon of The Mega Powers, was going to wear a bikini under her fancy clothes. Towards the end of match, André and Dibiase were in control, so Elizabeth got up on the apron and ripped her skirt off to reveal a red bikini bottom, which distracted both André and DiBiase. The Mega Powers quickly took advantage of the situation and won the match after Ventura made a reluctant three-count (Savage rode Ventura's arm down to the mat to finalize the count).

Miss Elizabeth became the catalyst for the breakup of the Savage–Hogan relationship. During a 1989 tag team match that pitted the Mega Powers against The Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman), Savage was thrown onto Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and, as the match continued, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention. Upon his return to the ring, Hogan was greeted with anger from Savage for having abandoned him in the midst of a match. Savage slapped his partner and left the ring area. Hogan continued the match, winning singlehandedly. Hogan exited the ring and reached the backstage area, where Savage attacked him, turning Savage heel. Following his WrestleMania V loss to Hogan, Savage replaced Miss Elizabeth in favor of Sensational Sherri.

For the remainder of 1989, Elizabeth's appearances were very sporadic. Elizabeth appeared at SummerSlam '89 and managed Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake as they headlined the show against Randy Savage and Zeus with Sensational Sherri. Elizabeth also appeared at a few matches managing Hulk Hogan in matches against Randy Savage. Elizabeth also briefly co-hosted WWF Wrestling Spotlight with Vince McMahon.
1990-1992

Savage remained a heel for many more months, eventually dubbing himself "The Macho King" after defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the WWF's "king" title in the September of 1989. After Savage and Sherri began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire near the end of 1989, Miss Elizabeth joined forces with Rhodes and Sapphire at WrestleMania VI, where the two couples were engaged in the WWF's first mixed tag-team match. When Sherri attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation, kneeling down behind Sherri just as Miss Elizabeth pushed her. Sherri lost her balance and gave Sapphire enough advantage to pin Sherri for the win.

Miss Elizabeth disappeared from WWF television until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Upon his loss, Sherri began beating and kicking the defeated man until Elizabeth, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair and threw her out of the ring, reuniting Savage and Elizabeth. Macho Man punctuated the reunion by holding down the ropes for Elizabeth after years of her doing it for him.

The couple then held a heavily promoted on-air wedding billed as "The Match Made in Heaven" at SummerSlam 1991 in New York's Madison Square Garden (the couple were officially married on December 30, 1984). At the wedding reception, Elizabeth opened a gift package containing a live snake, which frightened her; newly-turned-heel Jake "The Snake" Roberts and The Undertaker crashed the reception and attacked Savage. This started a feud between Roberts and Savage, where Elizabeth quickly figured prominently. The first high-profile Savage-Roberts match was at the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, where, after Savage gained a pinfall victory, Roberts beat down Savage, then forced Elizabeth to beg him to stop the beating. Apparently dissatisfied with her begging, Roberts grabbed her by the hair and slapped her across her face. On the February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Roberts, with a steel chair in tow, was waiting in the backstage area for Elizabeth and Savage to come through the curtain after a match. Roberts was about to strike Elizabeth with the chair, but Undertaker stopped him. This started Undertaker's feud with his former ally.

In her final WWF angle, WWF Champion Ric Flair bragged that he dated Elizabeth before Savage met her. Flair's tagline was, "She was mine before she was yours." He showed photos of himself with Elizabeth in casual situations, which were later printed in an issue of WWF Magazine. Flair, with Mr. Perfect as his "executive consultant", said that they were going to show a nude photo of Elizabeth on the screen at WrestleMania VIII, although this did not occur. Nonetheless, Flair's claims set up his WrestleMania VIII match with Savage. During the match, Elizabeth made her way to ringside, against the wishes of WWF officials. After Savage pinned Flair to win the WWF Championship, an angry Flair cornered Elizabeth and began to kiss her; Elizabeth slapped Flair away, and Savage began beating Flair until ring officials broke the two up. Elizabeth's final WWF appearance took place on April 19, 1992 during an overseas tour of England; in that match, Savage pinned Shawn Michaels after Elizabeth, who had earlier been sent backstage, returned to prevent Sherri's interference on Michaels' behalf. Despite her departure, the Elizabeth-Flair storyline continued through most of the spring — the most notable highlight was Flair and Mr. Perfect playing a voice mail from a woman identifying herself as Elizabeth, saying she was "waiting at home" and that she "loved" him — until the Savage-Michaels match from England was aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling in June; the publication of the actual Savage-Elizabeth photos in WWF Magazine came at about that same time.

Shortly after Elizabeth's final appearance, she and Savage divorced. After the decree was finalized late that summer, Savage issued a statement that was printed in WWF Magazine revealing that he and Elizabeth were no longer together, and thanking the fans for their support through the years. The publication of Savage's statement marked, at the time, a rare acknowledgement of the wrestlers' private lives for both the WWF and its flagship publication. Savage continued with the WWF for two more years, and except for the statement in WWF Magazine, his divorce from Elizabeth was neither referred to nor figured into any of Savage's future feuds.
World Championship Wrestling
1996-1998

In January 1996, Miss Elizabeth returned to wrestling as a valet for Savage. She later turned against Savage and became Ric Flair's valet in the Four Horsemen. She later turned against the Four Horsemen and joined the New World Order (nWo) alongside Savage and Hogan. In June 1998, she parted ways with Savage once again by joining Hogan's side of the nWo, nWo Hollywood. Then, she accompanied Eric Bischoff on his way to the ring for the next few months.

Elizabeth briefly married Cary Lubetsky, a South Florida attorney, on December 6th, 1997. The wedding was held at the Cuban Hebrew Temple in Miami Beach. The marriage was short-lived, as the couple soon separated and were officially divorced on April 19th, 1999.
1999

On the January 4 episode of Nitro, Elizabeth was seen talking to police detectives. According to the storyline, she claimed that Bill Goldberg was stalking her and that he even accosted her by the water cooler. She then filed charges against Goldberg. Goldberg was arrested later that night for aggravated stalking and taken into custody by police. However, later that night, Elizabeth admitted that she was lying. As it turned out, Elizabeth was a pawn for the nWo so that Goldberg would be unable to have his scheduled title match with Kevin Nash later that night. Due to Goldberg's apparent absence, the returning Hulk Hogan took Goldberg's title shot in the match that became known as "The Fingerpoke of Doom". Soon after, Elizabeth accompanied Lex Luger, and sometimes Kevin Nash, to ringside. However, Luger injured his biceps at a February 1999 house show and they soon took time off the road.
2000

In February, Elizabeth managed the short-lived partnership between Luger and Ric Flair. The three of them were known as Team Package. The trio's main goal was to take down Hulk Hogan, whom Luger had been publicly challenging to a match during the previous few weeks. Hogan made his return to WCW during the February 2 edition of WCW Thunder, and while his back was turned during an interview segment, Elizabeth came into the ring, baseball bat raised. However, Hogan quickly turned around and easily out-muscled the bat from her possession. As a receipt for her dastardly act, and in a throwback to his attacks on Sensational Sherri in the World Wrestling Federation, Hogan picked up Liz and held her up high in the air and delivered his patented atomic drop. However, Elizabeth no-sold the maneuver and quickly rolled out of the ring. Later that week, Hogan called into Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show to discuss his program with Luger, not to mention Elizabeth no-selling his atomic drop maneuver on the previous edition of Thunder. Hogan claimed that Elizabeth refused to take a bigger bump because she wasn't wearing any panties underneath her skirt. Shortly thereafter, Team Package went their separate ways as they fought various members of The New Blood. Elizabeth engaged in short-lived feuds with Vince Russo and Kimberly Page. On May 8, 2000, Elizabeth wrestled in her first official match against Daffney. She then competed in matches against Rhonda Singh and Madusa.

WCW released Elizabeth from her contract on August 17, 2000.
Later life

Despite being let go by WCW, Elizabeth and Luger stayed together as a couple. Friends of Elizabeth said the two were planning on getting married sometime in 2003. After her departure from wrestling, Hulette began working the front desk at Main Event Fitness in Marietta, Georgia, a gym that Luger had owned for years after he and Steve Borden opened it during their wrestling heyday.

Elizabeth was advertised to make her first wrestling appearance since her departure from WCW during the World Wrestling All-Stars tour of Europe in November 2002 and December 2002 alongside Luger. She accompanied Luger on the tour overseas, but didn't appear on a single show. Elizabeth never made another wrestling appearance after her release from WCW. Luger ended up winning and losing the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in matches with Sting during the tour.

On April 19, 2003, Elizabeth was involved in a domestic dispute with Luger, who allegedly struck her in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia. Cobb County police found Elizabeth with two bruised eyes, a bump on her head, and a cut lip. Luger was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2,500 bond. Two days later on April 21, Luger was arrested for driving under the influence after rear-ending another car while driving his Porsche. According to the report on the arrest, Luger had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and could not locate his driver's license. Luger had a 9-mm handgun in the car. Elizabeth was a passenger in the vehicle, and was sent home in a taxicab. Luger was also driving with a suspended license for not appearing in court on March 5, 2003, for a hearing on a previous offense (driving with expired tags and having no proof of insurance).
Death

On May 1, 2003, in Marietta, Georgia, Luger called 9-1-1 from his home and reported that Elizabeth was not breathing. She did not respond to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was later determined to be "acute toxicity". Luger's phone call was later aired on an episode of WWE Confidential. Luger was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, temazepam and alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. Luger pled guilty to the charges on February 3, 2005. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 5 years probation.
In wrestling

    * Wrestlers managed
          o Randy Savage
          o Hulk Hogan
          o Ric Flair
          o Eric Bischoff
          o Lex Luger
          o Sting
          o Dusty Rhodes
          o Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

    * Faction Affiliations
          o The Mega Powers
          o Four Horsemen
          o nWo
          o Millionaire's Club
          o Magnificent Seven

Championships and accomplishments

    * World Wrestling Federation
          o Slammy Award for Woman of the Year (1987)
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/Miss%20Elizabeth/Miss_Elizabeth_-_Elizabeth_Hulet-2.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x259/thetorturerack/MissElizabeth.jpg


She was such a great manager,Why did Lex Luger have to drug her?  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/01/10 at 2:52 pm


The word of the day...Morning
The word morning originally referred to the sunrise. Morning precedes midday, afternoon, and night  in the sequence of a day.

Morning is the part of the day usually reckoned from dawn to noon. The name (which comes from the Middle English word morwening) was formed from the analogy of evening using the word "morn" (in Middle English morwen), and originally meant the coming of the sunrise as evening meant the beginning of the close of the day. The Middle English morwen dropped over time and became morwe, then eventually morrow, which properly means "morning", but was soon used to refer to the following day (i.e., "tomorrow"), as in other Germanic languages—English is unique in restricting the word to the newer usage.

Morning may also be used in a strictly personal sense, to refer to the period immediately following waking up, irrespective of the current time of day. In this sense, morning encompasses the (mostly menial) prerequisites for full productivity and life in public (i.e. cleaning, a morning meal—often breakfast, dressing, etc). The boundaries of such morning periods are by necessity idiosyncratic, but they are typically considered to have ended on reaching a state of full readiness for the day's productive activity. This modern permutation of morning is due largely to the worldwide spread of electricity, and the concomitant independence from natural light sources
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/Euler5853/Good%20Morning/ButterflyYellowTulips-morning.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/morning/90451499.gif
http://i775.photobucket.com/albums/yy39/caseyd418/morning.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee91/Gypsy48/Morning/ssjpg.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/morning/sunshine-1.gif
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy164/giterdone3_33/003.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa103/calif-ua/others/230420101431.jpg


I love my morning breakfast.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/01/10 at 3:58 pm


She was such a great manager,Why did Lex Luger have to drug her?  :(

I remember her with Macho Man. That time period, wrestling was great!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 8:32 pm


I remember her with Macho Man. That time period, wrestling was great!

You can say that again :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:26 am

The word of the day...Galaxy
This article is about the astronomical structure. For other uses, see Galaxy (disambiguation).
NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 17,000 parsecs in diameter and approximately 20 million parsecs distant.

A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The name is from the Greek root galaxias , meaning "milky," a reference to the Milky Way galaxy. Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (107) stars up to giants with one trillion (1012) stars, all orbiting the galaxy's center of mass. Galaxies may contain many multiple star systems, star clusters, and various interstellar clouds. The Sun is one of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy; the Solar System includes the Earth and all the other objects that orbit the Sun.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/marcitosss/Wallpp%20PC/galaxy.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/truongan_bucket/Andromedagalaxy.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac243/TARRUMAN/CicFlyer.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/ptcs-photies/galaxy20counters.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu51/lowpricerock/Granite%20Colors/GalaxyBlack.jpg
http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab174/kencoolet/My%20Personal%20Portfolios/josh2.jpg
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww69/YoungShizzAlbum/My%20Photos/wcwwzw1ysgmdcgkguwof.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 05/02/10 at 5:34 am

I love sitting on a park bench with a cup of coffee in the city in the early morning on a day like today.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:50 am

The person born on this day...David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE  (born 2 May 1975)  is an English footballer who currently plays in midfield  for Milan in Serie A,  on loan from Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy.  He is also an established member of the England national team.

Twice runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year and in 2004 the world's highest-paid footballer, Beckham was the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches. He was Google's most searched of all sports topics in both 2003 and 2004. With such global recognition he has become an elite advertising brand and a top fashion icon. Beckham was captain of England from 15 November 2000 until the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, during which he played 58 times. Since then he has continued to represent his country and earned his much-publicised hundredth cap for England against France on 26 March 2008. He is currently England's most-capped outfield player with 115 appearances.

Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for four seasons, clinching the La Liga championship in his final season with the club.

In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave Real Madrid and sign a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy became effective on 1 July 2007 and gave him the highest player salary in MLS history. His playing contract with Galaxy in 2007, 2008 and 2009 was worth $6.5m per year. He debuted for the team on 21 July 2007 in a friendly versus Chelsea at The Home Depot Center, and on 15 August, he had his first start with the team, scoring his first goal in the 2007 SuperLiga semi-final. His first league start then came on 18 August in front of a record crowd at Giants Stadium.

Beckham is married to former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham (née Adams). The couple have three sons and currently reside in Beverly Hills, California.
Beckham was part of a group of young players at the club who guided the club to win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992, with Beckham scoring in the second leg  of the final against Crystal Palace. He made his first appearance for United's first-team that year, as a substitute in a League Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion, and signed his first professional contract shortly afterwards. United reached the final of the Youth Cup again the following year, with Beckham playing in their defeat by Leeds United, and he won another medal in 1994 when the club's reserve team won their league, although he didn't play in any first team games that season.

On 7 December 1994, Beckham made his UEFA Champions League debut, scoring a goal in a 4–0 victory at home to Galatasaray in the final game of the group stage. However, this victory was of little use as they finished third out of four in their group behind FC Barcelona on goal difference.

He then went to Preston North End on loan for part of the 1994–95 season to get some first team experience. He impressed, scoring two goals in five appearances, notably scoring directly from a corner kick. Beckham returned to Manchester and finally made his Premier League debut for Manchester United on 2 April 1995, in a goal-less draw against Leeds United.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had a great deal of confidence in the club's young players. Beckham was part of a group of young talents Ferguson brought in to United in the 1990s ("Fergie's Fledglings"), which included Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville. When experienced players Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, and Andrei Kanchelskis left the club after the end of the 1994–95 season, his decision to let youth team players replace them instead of buying star players from other clubs (United had been linked with moves for players including Darren Anderton, Marc Overmars, and Roberto Baggio, but no major signings were made that summer), drew a great deal of criticism. The criticism increased when United started the season with a 3–1 defeat at Aston Villa, with Beckham scoring United's only goal of the game; however, United won their next five matches and the young players performed well.

Beckham swiftly established himself as United's right-sided midfielder (rather than a right-winger in the style of his predecessor Andrei Kanchelskis) and helped them to win the Premier League title and FA Cup double that season, scoring the winner in the semi-final against Chelsea and also provided the corner that Eric Cantona scored from in the FA Cup Final. Beckham's first title medal had, for a while, looked like it wouldn't be coming that season, as United were still 10 points adrift of leaders Newcastle United at the turn of the new year, but Beckham and his team-mates had overhauled the Tynesiders at the top of the league by mid March and they remained top until the end of the season.

Despite playing regularly (and to a consistently high standard) for Manchester United, Beckham did not break into the England squad before Euro 96.

At the beginning of the 1996–97 season David Beckham was given the number 10 shirt that had most recently been worn by Mark Hughes. On 17 August 1996 (the first day of the Premier League season), Beckham became something of a household name when he scored a spectacular goal in a match against Wimbledon. With United leading 2–0, Beckham noticed that Wimbledon's goalkeeper Neil Sullivan was standing a long way out of his goal, and hit a shot from the halfway line that floated over the goalkeeper and into the net. When Beckham scored his famous goal, he did so in shoes custom-made for Charlie Miller ("Charlie" embroidered on boots), which had been given to Beckham by mistake. During the 1996–97 season, he became an automatic first-choice player at United helping them to retain the Premier League championship, and being voted PFA Young Player of the Year by his peers.

On 18 May 1997, Eric Cantona retired as a player and left the coveted number 7 shirt free, and with Teddy Sheringham arriving from Tottenham Hotspur as Cantona's successor, Beckham left his number 10 shirt for Sheringham and picked up the number 7 jersey. Some fans had felt the number 7 shirt should be retired after Cantona had himself retired, but the shirt number remains in use to this day (most recently by another England star Michael Owen).

United started the 1997–98 season well but erratic performances in the second half of the season saw United finish second behind Arsenal.

In the 1998–99 season, he was part of the United team that won The Treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a unique feat in English football. There had been speculation that the criticism that he had received after being sent off in the World Cup would lead to him leaving England, but he decided to stay at Manchester United.

To ensure they would win the Premier League title, United needed to win their final league match of the season, at home to Tottenham Hotspur (with reports suggesting that the opposition would allow themselves to be easily beaten to prevent their deadly local rivals Arsenal from retaining the title), but Tottenham took an early lead in the match. Beckham scored the equaliser and United went on to win the match and the league.

Beckham played centre-midfield in United's FA Cup final win over Newcastle United and for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, since United's first string centre-midfielders were suspended for the match. United were losing the match 1–0 at the end of normal time, but won the trophy by scoring two goals in injury time. Both of the goals came from corners taken by Beckham. Those crucial assists, coupled with great performances over the rest of the season, led to him finishing runner up to Rivaldo for 1999's European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
Beckham in a match against Bristol Rovers

Despite Beckham's achievements in the 1998–99 season, he was still unpopular among some opposition fans and journalists, and he was criticised after being sent off for a deliberate foul in Manchester United's World Club Championship match against Necaxa. It was suggested in the press that his wife was a bad influence on him, and that it might be in United's interests to sell him, but his manager publicly backed him and he stayed at the club. During the 1999–2000 season, there was a talk of a transfer to Juventus in Italy, but this never happened.

By the early 2000s, the relationship between Ferguson and Beckham had begun to deteriorate, possibly as a result of Beckham's fame and commitments away from football. In 2000, Beckham was given permission to miss training to look after his son Brooklyn, who had gastroenteritis, but Ferguson was furious when Victoria Beckham was photographed at a London Fashion Week event on the same night, claiming that Beckham would have been able to train if Victoria had looked after Brooklyn that day. He responded by fining Beckham the maximum amount that was permitted (two weeks' wages – then £50,000) and dropping him for a crucial match against United's rivals Leeds United. He later criticised Beckham for this in his autobiography, claiming he had not been "fair to his teammates" Beckham had a good season for his club, though, and helped United to win the Premier League by a record margin.

   "He was never a problem until he got married. He used to go into work with the academy coaches at night time, he was a fantastic young lad. Getting married into that entertainment scene was a difficult thing – from that moment, his life was never going to be the same. He is such a big celebrity, football is only a small part."' – Alex Ferguson speaking about Beckham's marriage in 2007.

Beckham helped United retain the Premier League title in 1999–2000 by an 18-point margin – after being pushed by Arsenal and Leeds United for much of the season, United won their final 11 league games of the season, with Beckham scoring five goals during this fantastic run of form. He managed six league goals that season, and scored eight goals in all competitions.

He was a key player in United's third successive league title in 2000–01 – only the fourth time that any club had achieved three league titles in a row. He scored nine goals that season, all in the Premier League.

On 10 April 2002, Beckham was injured during a Champions League match against Deportivo La Coruña, breaking the second metatarsal bone in his left foot. There was speculation in the British media that the injury might have been caused deliberately, as the player who had injured Beckham was Argentine Aldo Duscher, and England and Argentina were due to meet in that year's World Cup. The injury prevented Beckham from playing for United for the rest of the season and they missed out on the Premier League title to Arsenal (also being knocked out of the European Cup by Bayer Leverkusen on away goals in the semi-finals), but he signed a three-year contract in May, following months of negotiations with the club, mostly concerning extra payments for his image rights. The income from his new contract, and his many endorsement deals, made him the highest-paid player in the world at the time.

2001–02 was arguably Beckham's best season as a United player, though. He scored 11 goals in 28 league games, and a total of 16 goals in 42 games in all competitions, the best tally of his career.

Following an injury early in the 2002–03 season, Beckham was unable to regain his place on the Manchester United team, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær having replaced him on the right side of midfield. His relationship with his manager deteriorated further on 15 February 2003 when, in the changing room following an FA Cup defeat to Arsenal, a furious Alex Ferguson threw or kicked a boot that struck Beckham over the eye, causing a cut that required stitches. The incident led to a great deal of transfer speculation involving Beckham, with bookmakers offering odds on whether he or Ferguson would be first to leave the club. Although the team had started the season badly, their results improved greatly from December onwards and they won the league, with Beckham managing a total of 11 goals in 52 games in all competitions.

He was still a first-choice player for England, however, and he was awarded an OBE for services to football on 13 June 2003.

Beckham had made 265 Premier league appearances for United and scored 61 goals. He also made 81 Champions league appearances, scoring 15 goals. Beckham won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, one European Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, and one FA Youth Cup in the space of 12 years. By this stage, he was their joint second longest serving player behind Ryan Giggs (having joined them at the same time as Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes).
It was confirmed on 11 January 2007 that David Beckham would be leaving Real Madrid to join Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy. The following day, Beckham's official press conference was held in conjunction with the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.

I'm coming there not to be a superstar. I'm coming there to be part of the team, to work hard and to hopefully win things. With me, it's about football. I'm coming there to make a difference. I'm coming there to play football ... I'm not saying me coming over to the States is going to make soccer the biggest sport in America. That would be difficult to achieve. Baseball, basketball, American football, they've been around. But I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could make a difference.
Beckham on going to America
From ESPN
Beckham (centre) scores his first goal for LA Galaxy

Beckham's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy took effect on 11 July, and on 13 July, was officially unveiled as a Galaxy player at The Home Depot Center. Beckham chose to wear number 23. It was announced that Galaxy jersey sales had already reached a record figure of over 250,000 prior to this formal introduction.

On 21 July, Beckham made his Galaxy debut after coming on in the 78th minute in a 1–0 loss to Chelsea during the World Series of Soccer. Two weeks later, Beckham made his league debut as a substitute on 9 August versus DC United. Beckham returned to the pitch the following week, again facing DC United, in the SuperLiga semi-final on 15 August. During this game he had many firsts with the Galaxy; his first start, first yellow card and first game as team captain. He also scored his first goal for the team, from a free kick, and also made his first assist, for Landon Donovan in the second half. These goals gave the team a 2–0 victory, and a place in the North American SuperLiga final versus Pachuca on 29 August.

During the SuperLiga final against Pachuca, Beckham injured his right knee, with an MRI scan revealing that he had sprained his medial collateral ligament and would be out for six weeks. He returned to play in the final home match of the season. The Galaxy were eliminated from playoff contention on 21 October, in the final MLS match of the season, a 1–0 loss to the Chicago Fire. Beckham played as a substitute in the match, bringing his season totals to eight matches played (5 league); one goal scored (0 league); and three assists (2 league).
David Beckham was the Los Angeles Galaxy captain

Beckham trained with Arsenal from 4 January 2008 for three weeks, until he returned to the Galaxy for pre-season training. Beckham scored his first league goal with the Galaxy on 3 April against the San Jose Earthquakes in the 9th minute. On 24 May 2008, the Galaxy defeated the Kansas City Wizards 3–1, giving the Galaxy their first winning record in two years and moving the club into first place in the Western Conference. In the match Beckham scored an empty-net goal from 70 yards out. The goal marked the second time in Beckham's career that he had scored from his own half, the other being a 1996 goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Overall, however, the Galaxy had a disappointing year, failing to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.

After his return from Milan, many LA fans showed dislike and anger towards him as he missed the first half of the season and several held up signs saying "Go home fraud", and "Part time player". However, the Galaxy had a much more successful season than in previous years, rising from third to first in the Western Conference during Beckham's time with them. He remained a key part of the squad which saw Galaxy win the 2009 Western Conference final after a 2–0 overtime victory over the Houston Dynamo. In the final on 22 November 2009, the Galaxy lost to Real Salt Lake by 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw. Beckham also scored in the shootout.
International goals

As of 28 October 2009
Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Reports
1. 26 June 1998 Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens Colombia 2–0 2–0 1998 World Cup
2. 24 March 2001 Anfield, Liverpool Finland 2–1 2–1 World Cup 2002 qualification
3. 25 May 2001 Pride Park, Derby Mexico 3–0 4–0 Friendly match
4. 6 June 2001 Olympic Stadium, Athens Greece 2–0 2–0 World Cup 2002 qualification
5. 6 October 2001 Old Trafford, Manchester Greece 2–2 2–2 World Cup 2002 qualification
6. 10 November 2001 Old Trafford, Manchester Sweden 1–0 1–1 Friendly match
7. 7 June 2002 Sapporo Dome, Sapporo Argentina 1–0 1–0 2002 World Cup
8. 12 October 2002 theelné pole, Bratislava Slovakia 1–1 2–1 Euro 2004 qualification
9. 16 October 2002 St Mary's Stadium, Southampton Macedonia 1–1 2–2 Euro 2004 qualification
10. 29 March 2003 Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz Liechtenstein 2–0 2–0 Euro 2004 qualification
11. 2 April 2003 Stadium of Light, Sunderland Turkey 2–0 2–0 Euro 2004 qualification
12. 20 August 2003 Portman Road, Ipswich Croatia 1–0 3–1 Friendly match
13. 6 September 2003 Gradski, Skopje Macedonia 2–1 2–1 Euro 2004 qualification
14. 18 August 2004 St James' Park, Newcastle Ukraine 1–0 3–0 Friendly match
15. 9 October 2004 Old Trafford, Manchester Wales 2– 0 2–0 World Cup 2006 qualification
16. 30 March 2005 St James' Park, Newcastle Azerbaijan 2– 0 2–0 World Cup 2006 qualification
17. 25 June 2006 Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart Ecuador 1–0 1–0 World Cup 2006
Discipline

Former manager Alex Ferguson said that he "practised with a discipline to achieve an accuracy that other players wouldn't care about." He maintained his training routine at Real Madrid and even when his relationship with management was strained in early 2007, Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón and manager Fabio Capello praised Beckham for maintaining his professionalism and commitment to the club.

Beckham was the first England player ever to collect two red cards and the first England captain to be sent off. Beckham's most notorious red card was during the 1998 FIFA World Cup after Argentina's Diego Simeone had fouled him, Beckham lashed out with his leg and the Argentine fell.

He amassed 41 yellow cards and four red cards for Real Madrid.
Honours
Club
Manchester United

   * Premier League: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03
   * FA Cup: 1996, 1999
   * UEFA Champions League: 1998–99
   * Intercontinental Cup: 1999
   * Community Shield: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
   * FA Youth Cup: 1992

Real Madrid

   * La Liga: 2006–07
   * Supercopa de España: 2003

Los Angeles Galaxy

   * Western Conference: 2009

Individual

   * PFA Young Player of the Year: 1996/97
   * Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 1996/97
   * UEFA Club Player of the Year: 1999
   * FIFA World Player of the Year: 1999 Runner-up
   * Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/3 – 2001/2)
         o Overall Team of the Decade
         o Goal of the Decade (17 August 1996)
   * BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 2001
   * FIFA World Player of the Year: 2001 Runner-up
   * FIFA 100
   * ESPY Award – Best Male Soccer Player: 2004
   * ESPY Award – Best MLS Player: 2008
   * English Football Hall of Fame: 2008

Orders and special awards

   * Officer in the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II: 2003
   * United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador (2005–present)
   * "Britain's Greatest Ambassador" – 100 Greatest Britons awards
   * The Celebrity 100, number 15 – Forbes, 2007
   * Number 1 on the list of the 40 most influential men under the age of 40 in the UK – Arena, 2007
   * Time 100: 2008

Statistics
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Manchester United 1992–93 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
1993–94 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Preston North End (loan) 1994–95 5 2 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 5 2
Manchester United 1994–95 4 0 2 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 10 1
1995–96 33 7 3 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 40 8
1996–97 36 8 2 1 0 0 10 2 1 1 49 12
1997–98 37 9 4 2 0 0 8 0 1 0 50 11
1998–99 34 6 7 1 1 0 12 2 1 0 55 9
1999–2000 31 6 – 0 0 12 2 5 0 48 8
2000–01 31 9 2 0 0 0 12 0 1 0 46 9
2001–02 28 11 1 0 0 0 13 5 1 0 43 16
2002–03 31 6 3 1 5 1 13 3 0 0 52 11
Total 265 62 24 6 12 1 83 15 10 1 399 87
Real Madrid 2003–04 32 3 4 2 – 7 1 0 0 43 6
2004–05 30 4 0 0 – 8 0 0 0 38 4
2005–06 31 3 3 1 – 7 1 0 0 41 5
2006–07 23 3 2 1 – 6 0 0 0 31 4
Total 116 13 9 4 – 28 2 0 0 153 19
Los Angeles Galaxy 2007 5 0 0 0 – – 2 1 7 1
2008 25 5 0 0 – – 0 0 25 5
Milan (loan) 2008–09 18 2 0 0 – 0 0 2 0 20 2
Los Angeles Galaxy 2009 11 2 0 0 – – 4 0 15 2
Total 41 7 0 0 – – 6 1 47 8
Milan (loan) 2009–10 11 0 0 0 – 2 0 0 0 13 0
Total 29 2 0 0 – 2 0 2 0 33 2
Career total 456 86 33 10 12 1 113 17 15 2 632 116
David Beckham Academy

In 2005, Beckham founded the David Beckham Academy football school, operating from two sites: in London and in Los Angeles, California. Further sites are planned at Cabo São Roque in Natal, Brazil, and in Asia.

It was announced in late 2009 that Beckham's Academy in London was "likely to close by the end of the year", with a mobile academy, travelling around the UK, taking its place.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz128/nenyta1/Foto-David-Beckham-Modelo-camiseta-.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/girslilmonkey/soccer/beckham.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:51 am


I love sitting on a park bench with a cup of coffee in the city in the early morning on a day like today.   :)

Sounds like a nice way to start the day :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:55 am

The person who died on this day...J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation  (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a large and efficient crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modern innovations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.

Late in life, and after his death, Hoover became an increasingly controversial figure. His critics have accused him of exceeding the jurisdiction of the FBI. He used the FBI to harass political dissenters and activists, to amass secret files on political leaders, and to collect evidence using illegal methods. It is because of Hoover's long and controversial reign that FBI directors are now limited to 10-year terms
Hoover was born on New Year's Day 1895 in Washington, DC, to Anna Marie Scheitlin, who was descended from a line of Swiss mercenaries, and Dickerson Naylor Hoover, Sr., of English and German ancestry, and grew up in the Eastern Market. Annie's uncle had been the Swiss honorary consul general to the US. Hoover worked at the Library of Congress during college  and also became a member of Kappa Alpha Order (Alpha Nu 1914). In 1917, Hoover obtained a law degree from The George Washington University. While a law student, Hoover became interested in the career of Anthony Comstock, the New York City US Postal Inspector, who waged prolonged campaigns against fraud and vice (including pornography  and information on birth control) a generation earlier.
FBI career

During World War I, Hoover found work with the Justice Department. He was soon promoted to head of the Enemy Aliens Registration Section. In 1919, he became head of the new General Intelligence Division of the Justice Department (see the Palmer Raids). From there, in 1921, he joined the Bureau of Investigation as deputy head, and in 1924, the Attorney General made him the acting director. On May 10, 1924, Hoover was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to be the sixth director of the Bureau of Investigation, following President Warren Harding's death and in response to allegations that the prior director, William J. Burns, was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal. When Hoover took over the Bureau of Investigation, it had approximately 650 employees, including 441 Special Agents.

Hoover was noted as sometimes being capricious in his leadership; he frequently fired FBI agents, singling out those whom he thought "looked stupid like truck drivers" or he considered to be "pinheads". He also relocated agents who had displeased him to career-ending assignments and locations. Melvin Purvis was a prime example; he was one of the most effective agents in capturing and breaking up 1930s gangs and received substantial public recognition, but a jealous Hoover maneuvered him out of the FBI.
Gangster wars

In the early 1930s, an epidemic of bank robberies in the Midwest was orchestrated by colorful criminal gangs who took advantage of superior firepower and fast getaway cars to bedevil local law enforcement agencies. To the chagrin and embarrassment of authorities, such robbers were often viewed as somewhat noble in their assaults upon the banking industry, which at the time was evicting many farmers and families from their homesteads. That empathy reached the point that many of these desperadoes, particularly John Dillinger (who became famous for leaping over bank cages and his repeated escapes from jails and police traps), were de facto folk heroes whose exploits frequently made headlines. State officials began to implore Washington to aid them in containing this lawlessness. The fact that the robbers frequently took stolen cars across state lines (a federal offense) gave Hoover and his men the authority to pursue them. Things did not go as planned however, and there were some embarrassing foul-ups on the part of the FBI, particularly clashes with the Dillinger gang. A raid on a summer lodge named "Little Bohemia" in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, left an agent and a hapless civilian bystander dead, along with others wounded. All the gangsters escaped. Hoover realized that his job was now on the line, and he pulled out all stops to capture the culprits. Hoover was particularly fixated on eliminating Dillinger, whose misdeeds he considered to be insults aimed directly at him and "his" bureau. In late July 1934, Purvis, the Director of Operations in the Chicago office, received a tip on Dillinger's whereabouts. The tip paid off when Dillinger was located and killed outside the Biograph Theater.

In the same period, there were numerous Mafia shootings as a result of Prohibition, while Hoover continued to deny the very existence of organized crime. Frank Costello helped encourage this view by feeding Hoover, "an inveterate horseplayer" known to send Special Agents to place $100 bets for him, tips on sure winners through their mutual friend, gossip columnist Walter Winchell. Hoover went on to say the Bureau had "much more important functions" than arresting bookmakers and gamblers.

Due to several highly-publicized captures or shootings of outlaws and bank robbers including Dillinger, Alvin Karpis, and Machine Gun Kelly, the Bureau's powers were broadened and it was re-named the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. In 1939, the FBI became pre-eminent in the field of domestic intelligence. Hoover made changes, such as expanding and combining fingerprint files in the Identification Division to compile the largest collection of fingerprints ever. Hoover also helped to greatly expand the FBI's recruitment and create the FBI Laboratory, a division established in 1932 to examine evidence found by the FBI.
Investigation of subversion and radicals

Hoover was concerned about subversion, and under his leadership, the FBI spied upon tens of thousands of suspected subversives and radicals. Hoover tended to exaggerate the dangers of these "subversives", and many times overstepped his bounds in his pursuit of eliminating that perceived threat.

The FBI had some successes against actual subversives and spies. However, in the Quirin affair during World War II, when German U-boats set two small groups of Nazi agents ashore in Florida and Long Island to cause acts of sabotage within the country, the members of these teams were apprehended only after one of the would-be saboteurs contacted the FBI, confessed everything, and then betrayed the other seven men. Nevertheless, President Harry Truman wrote in his memoirs: "The country had reason to be proud of and have confidence in our security agencies. They had kept us almost totally free of sabotage and espionage during World War II".1

Another example of Hoover's concern over subversion was his handling of the Venona Project. The FBI inherited a pre-World War II joint project with the British to eavesdrop on Soviet spies in the UK and the United States. It was not initially realized that espionage was being committed, but due to multiple wartime Soviet use of one-time pad ciphers, which are normally unbreakable, redundancies were created, enabling some intercepts to be decoded, which established the espionage. Hoover kept the intercepts—America's greatest counterintelligence secret—in a locked safe in his office, choosing not to inform President Truman, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath, or two Secretaries of State—Dean Acheson and General George Marshall—while they held office. He informed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the Venona Project in 1952.

According to documents declassified in 2007, Hoover maintained a list of 12,000 Americans suspected of disloyalty with the intention of detaining them and to do so by suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Hoover submitted his plan to Truman at the outbreak of the Korean War, but there is no evidence that Truman accepted the plan.
COINTELPRO years
Main article: COINTELPRO

In 1956, Hoover was becoming increasingly frustrated by Supreme Court decisions that limited the Justice Department's ability to prosecute people for their political opinions, most notably, Communists. At this time he formalized a covert "dirty tricks" program under the name COINTELPRO.

This program remained in place until it was revealed to the public in 1971, and was the cause of some of the harshest criticism of Hoover and the FBI. COINTELPRO was first used to disrupt the Communist Party, and later organizations such as the Black Panther Party, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s SCLC, the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party and others. Its methods included infiltration, burglaries, illegal wiretaps, planting forged documents and spreading false rumors about key members of target organizations. Some authors have charged that COINTELPRO methods also included inciting violence and arranging murders. In 1975, the activities of COINTELPRO were investigated by the "United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities" called the Church Committee after its chairman, Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho) and these activities were declared illegal and contrary to the Constitution. Hoover amassed significant power by collecting files containing large amounts of compromising and potentially embarrassing information on many powerful people, especially politicians. According to Laurence Silberman, appointed Deputy Attorney General in early 1974, FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley thought such files either did not exist or had been destroyed. After The Washington Post broke a story in January 1975, Kelley searched and found them in his outer office. The House Judiciary Committee then demanded that Silberman testify about them. An extensive investigation of Hoover's files by David Garrow showed that Hoover and next-in-command William Sullivan, as well as the FBI itself as an agency, were responsible.

In 1956, several years before he targeted King, Hoover had a public showdown with T.R.M. Howard, a civil rights leader from Mound Bayou, Mississippi. During a national speaking tour, Howard had criticized the FBI's failure to thoroughly investigate the racially motivated murders of George W. Lee, Lamar Smith, and Emmett Till. Hoover not only wrote an open letter to the press singling out these statements as "irresponsible" but secretly enlisted the help of NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall in a campaign to discredit Howard.
Response to Mafia and civil rights groups

In the 1950s, evidence of Hoover's unwillingness to focus FBI resources on the Mafia became grist for the media and his many detractors, after famed reporter Jack Anderson exposed the immense scope of the Mafia's organized crime network, a threat Hoover had long downplayed. Hoover's retaliation and continual harassment of Anderson lasted into the 1970s. His moves against people who maintained contacts with subversive elements, some of whom were members of the civil rights movement, also led to accusations of trying to undermine their reputations. The treatment of Martin Luther King, Jr. and actress Jean Seberg are two cited examples.

Hoover personally directed the FBI investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The House Select Committee on Assassinations issued a report in 1979 critical of the performance by the FBI, the Warren Commission as well as other agencies. The report also criticized what it characterized as the FBI's reluctance to thoroughly investigate the possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the president.
Late career and death

Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson each considered dismissing Hoover as FBI Director, but all of them ultimately concluded that the political cost of doing so would be too great.

Hoover maintained strong support in Congress until his death in 1972 from the effects of high blood pressure. Operational command of the Bureau passed to Associate Director Clyde Tolson. Soon thereafter, President Richard Nixon appointed L. Patrick Gray, a Justice Department official with no FBI experience, as Acting Director, with W. Mark Felt remaining as Associate Director. Being passed over to head the FBI is said to have contributed to Felt's decision to become the informant later referred to as "Deep Throat".
Legacy

Hoover was a consultant to Warner Brothers on a 1959 theatrical film about the FBI, The FBI Story, and in 1965 on Warner Brothers' long-running spin-off television series, The F.B.I. Hoover personally made sure that Warner Brothers would portray the FBI more favorably than other crime dramas of the times.

In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) under Senator Richard Schweiker, which had re-opened the investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy, reported that Hoover's FBI "failed to investigate adequately the possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the President". The HSCA further reported that Hoover's FBI "was deficient in its sharing of information with other agencies and departments".

The FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC is named after Hoover. Because of the controversial nature of Hoover's legacy, there have been periodic proposals to rename it. In 2001, Senator Harry Reid sponsored an amendment to strip Hoover's name from the building. "J. Edgar Hoover's name on the FBI building is a stain on the building", Reid said. However, the Senate never adopted the amendment.
Personal life
Sexuality
Clyde Tolson (left) and Hoover relaxing on the beach in Los Angeles, 1939

Since the 1940s, unsubstantiated rumors have circulated that Hoover was a homosexual. It has been suggested that Clyde Tolson, an associate director of the FBI who was Hoover's heir, may also have been his lover.

Some authors have dismissed the rumors about Hoover's sexuality and his relationship with Tolson in particular as unlikely, while others have described them as probable or even "confirmed", and still others have reported the rumors without stating an opinion. Hoover described Tolson as his alter ego: the men not only worked closely together during the day, but also took meals, went to night clubs and vacationed together. This closeness between the two men is often cited as evidence that they were lovers, though some FBI employees who knew them, such as Mark Felt, say that the relationship was merely "brotherly".

Tolson inherited Hoover's estate and moved into his home, having accepted the American flag that draped Hoover's casket. Tolson is buried a few yards away from Hoover in the Congressional Cemetery. Attorney Roy Cohn, an associate of Hoover during the 1950s investigations of Communists and himself a closeted homosexual, opined that Hoover was too frightened of his own sexuality to have anything approaching a normal sexual or romantic relationship.

In his 1993 biography Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover, journalist Anthony Summers quoted a witness, "society divorcee" Susan Rosenstiel, (who later served time at Rikers Island for perjuring herself in a 1971 case) who claimed to have seen Hoover engaging in cross-dressing in the 1950s; she claimed that on two occasions she witnessed Hoover wearing a fluffy black dress with flounces and lace, stockings, high heels and a black curly wig, at homosexual orgies.

    In 1958 the bisexual millionaire distiller and philanthropist Lewis Solon Rosenstiel asked Susan , his fourth wife, if—having been previously married to another bisexual man for nine years—she had ever seen "a homosexual orgy". Although she had once surprised her sixty-eight-year-old husband in bed with his attorney, Roy Cohn, Susan told Summers that she had never before been invited to view sex between men. With her consent, the couple went one day, soon after this odd question, to Manhattan's Plaza Hotel. Cohn, a former aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy and a Republican power broker, met them at the door. As she and her husband entered the suite, "Susan said, she recognized a third man: J. Edgar Hoover", director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whom she had met previously at her New York City Upper East Side townhouse. Hoover, Lewis had explained, gave him access to influential politicians; he returned these favors, in part, by paying the director's gambling debts.

Summers also said that the Mafia had blackmail material on Hoover, and that as a consequence, Hoover had been reluctant to aggressively pursue organized crime. Although never corroborated, the allegation of cross-dressing has been widely repeated, and "J. Edna Hoover" has become the subject of humor on television, in movies and elsewhere. In the words of author Thomas Doherty, "For American popular culture, the image of the zaftig FBI director as a Christine Jorgensen wanna-be was too delicious not to savor." Most biographers consider the story of Mafia blackmail to be unlikely in light of the FBI's investigations of the Mafia. Along these lines Truman Capote, who helped spread the rumors, once remarked that he was more interested in making Hoover angry than determining whether the rumors were true.

Hoover hunted down and threatened anyone who made insinuations about his sexuality. He also spread destructive, unsubstantiated rumors that Adlai Stevenson was gay to damage the liberal governor's 1952 Presidential Campaign. His extensive secret files contained surveillance material on Eleanor Roosevelt's alleged lesbian lovers, speculated to be acquired for the purpose of blackmail.

The opening of Soviet archives revealed evidence that there was a Soviet campaign to discredit the United States which used allegations of homosexuality to discredit Hoover. Hoover's biographer Richard Hack, however, reported that Hoover was romantically linked to actress Dorothy Lamour in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and that after Hoover's death, Lamour did not deny rumors that she had had an affair with Hoover in the years between her two marriages. Hack additionally reports that during the 1940s and 1950s, Hoover so often attended social events with Lela Rogers, the divorced mother of dancer and actress Ginger Rogers, that many of their mutual friends assumed the pair would eventually marry.

A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Washington Post revealed that longtime Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti, a special assistant and confidant to President Lyndon Johnson, was investigated by Hoover's FBI in 1964. The investigation, which was carried out despite Valenti's two-year marriage to Johnson's personal secretary, focused on rumors that he was having a gay relationship with a commercial photographer friend.
Masonic connections

Hoover was a "devoted" Freemason and was coronated a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason in the Southern Scottish Rite Jurisdiction. He was raised a Master Mason on November 9, 1920, in Federal Lodge No. 1, Washington, DC, just two months before his 26th birthday. During his 52 years with the Craft, he received innumerable medals, awards and decorations. Eventually In 1955, he was coroneted a Thirty-third Degree Inspector General Honorary and awarded the Scottish Rite's highest recognition, the Grand Cross of Honour in 1965 by the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction. Today a J. Edgar Hoover room exists within the House of the Temple. The room contains many of Hoover's personal papers and records.
Honors

    * In 1938, Hoover received an honorary doctorate from Oklahoma Baptist University during the commencement exercises in which he was the speaker.
    * In 1950, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded Hoover an honorary knighthood in the Order of the British Empire. This entitled him to the postnominal letters KBE, but not to the use of the title "Sir" (because he was a US citizen).
    * In 1955, Hoover received the National Security Medal from President Eisenhower.
    * In 1966, he received the Distinguished Service Award from President Lyndon B. Johnson for his service as director of the FBI.
    * The FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, is named the J. Edgar Hoover Building after him.
    * On Hoover's death, Congress voted its permission for his body to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, an honor that, at the time, had been accorded to twenty-one other Americans.
    * Congress also voted that a memorial book be published to honor Hoover's memory. J. Edgar Hoover: Memorial Tributes in the Congress of the United States and Various Articles and Editorials Relating to His Life and Work was published in 1974.

Portrayals

J. Edgar Hoover has been portrayed many times in the media. Some notable portrayals include:

    * In the 1971 Woody Allen movie Bananas, J. Edgar Hoover was portrayed by a large-framed African-American actress, Dorothi Fox.
    * Broderick Crawford and James Wainwright portrayed Hoover in the Larry Cohen film The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Dolph Sweet in the TV Miniseries King (1978).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Ernest Borgnine in the TV-movie Blood Feud (1983).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Vincent Gardenia in the TV-movie Kennedy (1983).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Treat Williams in the TV-movie J. Edgar Hoover (1987).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Kevin Dunn in the movie Chaplin (1992).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Pat Hingle in the TV-movie Citizen Cohn (1992).
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Richard Dysart, both in the TV-movie Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair (1993) and in Mario Van Peebles' 1995 film Panther.
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Bob Hoskins in the Oliver Stone drama Nixon (1995).
    * Hoover was portrayed by Canadian actor David Fredericks in two episodes of The X-Files, as well as on its sister show Millennium.
    * Hoover was originally portrayed by Eric Jordan Young in the musical Dillinger, Public Enemey Number One.
    * Hoover was portrayed by actor Billy Crudup in the Michael Mann film Public Enemies (2009).
    * In an Animaniacs short parodying World War II propaganda, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are collecting silk stockings for the effort and Hoover comes to eagerly collect them personally.
    * In the video game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Hoover leads the raid on the Innsmouth gold refinery.
    * Hoover serves as a major antagonist in James Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy.
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq116/mikemike302/hoover-1.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/ProfessorofTruth/475px-Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/02/10 at 7:06 am


I remember her with Macho Man. That time period, wrestling was great!


Wrestling isn't as great as it was back in the 1980's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/02/10 at 7:11 am

http://s0.ilike.com/play#War:Galaxy:22850:s297484.8790615.962.0.2.46%2Cstd_fbc0accbb01541ebbf75c63f4bb45b4d


Galaxy-War

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/02/10 at 12:03 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSonoNcQLmo



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/02/10 at 7:08 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSonoNcQLmo



Cat


Oh Wow,The Incredible Shrinking Woman,thanks for finding that Cat. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/03/10 at 12:20 pm

The word of the day..Bunch
a : a number of things of the same kind <a bunch of grapes> b  : group 2a <a bunch of friends> c :  a considerable amount : lot <a bunch of money
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j311/Tinywales/GrappenhallHeys/bunch_of_pansies.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac94/jonasbrothersFAN_forever/My%20ADVENTURES/DSC01070.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/DiverJohn/Plants/JavaFernMedium.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t76/ABT1974/outer%20banks%20bike%20week%202010/100_3585.jpg
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae339/My-world-of-dreams/abunchofvioletonapicture.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Scyllaca/Church%20Baby%20Shower/ButtStuff.jpg
http://i546.photobucket.com/albums/hh435/ms_chrystyne/allmixtureofyourfriendpixwithus.jpg
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt150/cool007_2009/GrapesVines.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/03/10 at 12:22 pm

The person born on this day..Ann B. Davis
Ann Bradford Davis (born May 5, 1926)  is an American television actress.

Davis achieved prominence for her role in The Bob Cummings Show for which she twice won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She later played the part of Alice, the housekeeper in The Brady Bunch series.
Davis's first success was as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz in the sitcom The Bob Cummings Show on NBC. She auditioned for the role because her friend's boyfriend was a casting director and recommended her for the part.  She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series twice out of four nominations for this role. On February 9, 1960, Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the 1965–1966 television season, she appeared as Miss Wilson, a physical education teacher at a private girls' academy in San Francisco, in John Forsythe's NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show. For a period in the 1960s and 1970s, Davis was known for her appearances in television commercials for the Ford Motor Company, particularly for the mid-sized Ford Fairlane models. Davis was featured in commercials for Minute Rice until the mid-1980s.

From 1969 to 1974, Davis played housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch television series. Since then, she has returned to take part in various Brady Bunch TV movies, including The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). She also reprised her role as Alice Nelson two short-lived Brady Bunch spin-off television series: The Brady Brides (1981) and The Bradys (1990), both of which lasted only six episodes. She also made a cameo appearance as a truck driver named "Schultzy", a reference to her days on The Bob Cummings Show, in The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995.

In the early 1990s, Davis focused on theater. She performed in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and a world tour production of Crazy For You.

Davis never completely retired from acting; in her later years she appeared in several disposable mop commercials featuring famous television domestics, and has appeared in a number of Brady Bunch reunion projects, most recently TV Land's The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years. On April 22, 2007, The Brady Bunch was awarded the TV Land Pop Culture Award on the 5th annual TV Land Awards. Davis and other cast members accepted the award, and she received a standing ovation.
Personal life

Davis was born in Schenectady, New York, the daughter of Marguerite (née Stott) and Cassius Miles Davis. She has an identical twin, Harriet, and an older brother Evans.

When Davis was three, she and her family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Strong Vincent High School, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. She originally enrolled in the University of Michigan as a pre-med major, however, she changed her mind and went into drama after seeing her older brother's performance of Oklahoma! Davis graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1948 with a degree in drama and speech.

In 1976, she sold her home in Los Angeles to move to Denver, Colorado, where she joined an Episcopal community led by Bishop William C. Frey. The community later relocated to Ambridge, Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Leon Springs, Texas in a religious community
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/mydogcolbyjack/Ann_B__Davis.gif
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/ann_davis.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/03/10 at 12:29 pm

The person who died on this day...Suzy Parker
Suzy Parker (October 28, 1932–May 3, 2003) was an American model and actress active from 1947 into the early 1960s. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s when she appeared on the cover of dozens of magazines, advertisements, and in movie and television roles. She appeared in several Revlon advertisements, but she also appeared in advertisements for many other cosmetic companies as well, as no model had an exclusive make-up contract until Lauren Hutton (for Revlon and Revlon's Ultima) and Karen Graham (Estée Lauder) signed them in the early 1970s. She was the first model to earn $100,000 per year and the only fashion model to have a Beatles song named after her, even if an unreleased one
Suzy Parker was born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker in San Antonio, Texas, to George (May 27, 1895 – June 7, 1958) and Elizabeth Parker (December 31, 1897 – November 1965). Her parents married around 1916. They had three daughters in a row: Dorian Leigh (Dorian Elizabeth Parker) born on April 23, 1917; Florian Avaline (Cissy/Cissie), born May 5, 1918, and Georgiabell Laura, born July 29, 1919.  In 1931, 12 years after her last child was born, Elizabeth thought she was going through menopause. Instead, she was five months pregnant when she learned she was expecting another baby.  Elizabeth's fourth daughter, was named after three friends. Dorian, however, told her mom to name her Cecilia Renee Ann Parker so she would have obscence initials. Her parents caught on to Dorian's games.. Her father didn't like the name and called her Susie. A French Vogue  photographer changed the spelling to Suzy.

Suzy's family later moved to Highland Park, New Jersey, and to Florida. It was her 15-years-older sister, Dorian, who introduced her to agent Eileen Ford when she was just 15 years old.
Career

Three of the Parker sisters were very tall, standing between 5'10" and 6'1". Dorian was the sole exception, standing 5'5". In 1944, Dorian was writing advertising copy when a co-worker encouraged Dorian to go to the Conover Modeling Agency to try modeling. (The agency of Harry Sayles Conover was active 1939–1959.)

One of Dorian's first advertisements was for Revlon. Charles Revson (who later wanted to marry her) hired her for "Poison Apple," one of Revlon's first all-color, nationwide ads.

Dorian was one of the top models in the world, arguably referred to as the "world's first supermodel" (along with Lisa Fonssagrives). When Suzy was about age 15, Dorian telephoned The Ford Modeling Agency and told Eileen Ford and Jerry Ford that she would sign on with them if they also took her younger sister, sight unseen. Anxious to represent Dorian, they agreed. Expecting to meet a similarly petite, extremely thin, flawless, pale-faced, electric blue-eyed, raven-haired younger version of Dorian, they were shocked to meet Suzy for the first time at a restaurant. At the meeting, the Fords said, "Oh, my God!" Suzy was already 5'10", big-boned, and had carrot red hair, pale-green eyes, and freckles. Suzy later became more famous than Dorian.

Suzy's photo appeared in Life magazine at age 15. That same year, one of her first magazine advertisements was for DeRosa Jewelry. Although she still lived with her parents in Florida, she stayed in New York City with Dorian when she had modeling assignments there. Dorian introduced Suzy to her fashion-photographer friends, Irving Penn, Horst P. Horst, John Rawlings, and a young Richard Avedon. Suzy became Avedon's muse. At age 61, she said, "The only joy I ever got out of modeling was working with Dick Avedon."

Parker became the so-called signature face of the Coco Chanel brand. Chanel herself became a close confidante, giving Parker advice on men and money as well as creating numerous Chanel outfits for her.

She was the first model to earn $200 per hour and $100,000 per year. Vogue declared her one of the faces of the confident, post-war American woman.

However, by 1955, she owed income taxes on her modeling income from previous years, amounting to more than $60,000 in back taxes and rapidly accumulating penalties, an enormous amount at the time. Fortunately, Jerry Ford paid her tax bill and found her assignments. She worked also non-stop for Vogue, Revlon, Hertz, Westinghouse, Max Factor, Bliss, DuPont, Simplicity, Smirnoff, and Ronson shavers, to name a few. She also was on the covers of about 70 magazines around the world, including Vogue, Elle, Life, Look, Redbook, Paris Match and McCall's.

Avedon suggested Suzy for the movie Funny Face (1957). Fred Astaire's role was based on Avedon, whose photos appeared in the movie. Audrey Hepburn's role was inspired by Suzy, just as Hepburn's role in Breakfast at Tiffany's was supposedly based on Dorian's promiscuous lifestyle. Suzy appeared in the movie for only about two minutes.

Her other credits included Kiss Them for Me opposite Cary Grant (1957), The Best of Everything (1959), Ten North Frederick starring Gary Cooper (1959), Circle of Deception (1960) during which she met future husband Bradford Dillman, Flight from Ashiya (1964), Chamber of Horrors (1966) and dramatic roles in TV shows such as Burke's Law and The Twilight Zone plus appearances as herself on a number of quiz shows like I've Got a Secret.

After marrying her third husband, Dillman, in 1963, and suffering further injuries in another car accident in 1964, she mostly retired from modeling and acting to live a quiet life in Montecito, California, with her family.
Personal life

Parker was married three times. In about 1950, Suzy and her high-school sweetheart, Ronald (last name unknown), drove to Georgia to secretly marry. Some references however state that her first husband's name was Charles. Suzy said that she married him in a bikini with a raincoat on top, adding, "He was very good-looking, and it was just a sheer disaster." The young couple drove back to Florida where she was still living with her parents who were upset because of her age and because Ronald was part Cherokee. They moved to Pennsylvania and rented a house near where Dorian was living with her husband and children. Suzy was already modeling in the United States and Europe while Ronald was attending the University of Pennsylvania as a freshman.

Suzy met journalist Pierre de la Salle (Pitou) at a Jacques Fath party outside of Paris. She and Dorian were modeling together and separately on this trip with photographer Richard Avedon. She came back to the United States and asked Ronald for a divorce. Ronald would only agree to a quick divorce if Suzy gave him a large monetary settlement and paid for plastic surgery on his nose and his acting lessons. Suzy agreed, and they obtained a quick divorce in Mexico, which became final in 1953. Purportedly when Ronald could not get acting jobs, he committed suicide. Suzy and Pierre continued to date for years despite Pierre's numerous infidelities. She also was paying for his high cost-of-living expenses. They married about 1957 or 1958, but the couple kept it a secret.

In 1958, Suzy was a passenger in a car her father was driving when they were hit by an oncoming train. Supposedly neither heard nor saw the train until it slammed into the car. Her father died of his injuries at the hospital. Suzy checked into the hospital with broken bones and embedded glass (with her face untouched) under the name Mrs. Pierre de la Salle. The press jumped on this, and Pierre continued to deny that they were married. Soon thereafter, a photo spread of the couple appeared in the August 19, 1958, Look magazine cover story about Suzy. Suzy began psychotherapy to cope with her rocky marriage and the death of her beloved father.

After recovering from her injuries, Suzy became pregnant and Pierre left. She said, "He didn't want to be a father. I already hired a nanny... he was gone, history." She gave birth to their daughter Georgia Belle Florian Coco Chanel de la Salle in December 1959, whose godmother was close-friend Chanel. A March 14, 1977, People magazine article featured Suzy trying to launch her then 17-year-old daughter Georgia as a model. However, Georgia modeled only a few times during and after college. By 2006, Georgia's father Pierre de la Salle was in his 70s and living with then-wife Berenice, whom he married in 1977, in Mammoth Lakes, California.

In 1960, Suzy met actor Bradford Dillman on the set of their movie, Circle of Deception. She was still married to de la Salle but no longer living with him. Bradford was ending his first marriage and dating Juliette Greco at the time. Suzy obtained a divorce and married Bradford in 1963 on board a boat at sea. She changed her name to Suzy Parker Dillman following the marriage.

Suzy mostly retired from modeling and acting by 1964. After she married Dillman, she also became a stepmother to his two children, Jeffrey and Pamela and wanted to stay home to be a mother and cook. Like her sister Dorian Leigh, who was a Cordon-bleu level chief, Suzy was also an excellent cook.

Suzy had three more children with Bradford: Dinah (b. 1965), Charlie (b. 1967), and Christopher (b. 1969). The family lived in the Bel-Air district of Los Angeles until Dinah was bitten by a rattlesnake in the yard and almost died.. They then moved to Montecito in the Santa Barbara area, where Suzy remained until her death in 2003.
Last years

A self-described tomboy in her teens, she broke several bones as a result. Parker also broke bones in a serious car accident in 1958 that killed her father. In 1964 she was nervously rehearsing for her famous appearance in the well-known Twilight Zone episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" when she was in another car accident. Suzy had long suffered from allergies and, in the 1990s, developed ulcers. During surgery for an ulcer, her vital signs disappeared on the operating table, but she was resuscitated. She never fully recovered and developed more ulcers and diabetes. She had multiple hip surgeries, and then her kidneys began to fail. She spent the last five years of her life in and out of the hospital.
Death

Suzy decided to end dialysis treatments. She returned home to die surrounded by family at her orchard in Montecito where she died at aged 70 on May 3, 2003. She was survived by two of her three sisters: Dorian Leigh (who died in 2008 at the age 91 and reportedly did not attend her sister's funeral due to a long estrangement) and Florian ("Cissie", "Cissy"), as of 2009, the sole surviving Parker sister. Her husband, Bradford Dillman, her four children, and two stepchildren also survived her.
Filmography

    * Funny Face (1957)
    * Kiss Them for Me (1957)
    * Ten North Frederick (1958)
    * The Best of Everything (1959)
    * A Circle of Deception (1960)
    * The Interns (1962)
    * Flight from Ashiya (1964)
    * Chamber of Horrors (1966)

Television

    * Producers' Showcase (2 episodes, 1957)
    * Playhouse 90 (1 episode, 1957)
    * Burke's Law (2 episodes, 1963)
    * The Twilight Zone "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," (1 episode, 1964)
    * Dr. Kildare (1 episode, 1964)
    * The Rogues (1 episode, 1964)
    * Vacation Playhouse (1 episode, 1965)
    * Tarzan (1 episode, 1966)
    * Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1 episode, 1967)
    * It Takes a Thief (1 episode, 1968)
    * Night Gallery (1 episode, 1970)
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee298/shelbershelbs/Parker01.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m468/thecatist/vogue%20covers/april1954suzyparker.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/03/10 at 12:59 pm


The person born on this day..Ann B. Davis
Ann Bradford Davis (born May 5, 1926)  is an American television actress.

Davis achieved prominence for her role in The Bob Cummings Show for which she twice won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She later played the part of Alice, the housekeeper in The Brady Bunch series.
Davis's first success was as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz in the sitcom The Bob Cummings Show on NBC. She auditioned for the role because her friend's boyfriend was a casting director and recommended her for the part.  She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series twice out of four nominations for this role. On February 9, 1960, Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the 1965–1966 television season, she appeared as Miss Wilson, a physical education teacher at a private girls' academy in San Francisco, in John Forsythe's NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show. For a period in the 1960s and 1970s, Davis was known for her appearances in television commercials for the Ford Motor Company, particularly for the mid-sized Ford Fairlane models. Davis was featured in commercials for Minute Rice until the mid-1980s.

From 1969 to 1974, Davis played housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch television series. Since then, she has returned to take part in various Brady Bunch TV movies, including The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). She also reprised her role as Alice Nelson two short-lived Brady Bunch spin-off television series: The Brady Brides (1981) and The Bradys (1990), both of which lasted only six episodes. She also made a cameo appearance as a truck driver named "Schultzy", a reference to her days on The Bob Cummings Show, in The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995.

In the early 1990s, Davis focused on theater. She performed in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and a world tour production of Crazy For You.

Davis never completely retired from acting; in her later years she appeared in several disposable mop commercials featuring famous television domestics, and has appeared in a number of Brady Bunch reunion projects, most recently TV Land's The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years. On April 22, 2007, The Brady Bunch was awarded the TV Land Pop Culture Award on the 5th annual TV Land Awards. Davis and other cast members accepted the award, and she received a standing ovation.
Personal life

Davis was born in Schenectady, New York, the daughter of Marguerite (née Stott) and Cassius Miles Davis. She has an identical twin, Harriet, and an older brother Evans.

When Davis was three, she and her family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Strong Vincent High School, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. She originally enrolled in the University of Michigan as a pre-med major, however, she changed her mind and went into drama after seeing her older brother's performance of Oklahoma! Davis graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1948 with a degree in drama and speech.

In 1976, she sold her home in Los Angeles to move to Denver, Colorado, where she joined an Episcopal community led by Bishop William C. Frey. The community later relocated to Ambridge, Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Leon Springs, Texas in a religious community
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/mydogcolbyjack/Ann_B__Davis.gif
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/ann_davis.jpg


happy birthday Alice.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 6:18 am

The word of the day...Pipeline
#  A conduit of pipe, especially one used for the conveyance of water, gas, or petroleum products.
# A direct channel by which information is privately transmitted.
# A system through which something is conducted, especially as a means of supply:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad224/eliz0853/alaska%202010/100_1368.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g164/michellec923/pipeline__aaron_chang_.jpg
http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/sKyDiVeR11/Pipeline.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/DeathWarrent/Pipeline.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z6/trockalot/Alaska/74a4.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j211/mymy71491/pipeline.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 6:34 am

The person who died on this day...Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009)  was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, actor David DeLuise, and actor Michael DeLuise  DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Vincenza "Jennie" (née DeStefano), a homemaker, and John DeLuise, a civil servant (garbage collector). He was the second born and had an older brother named Nicholas "Nick" DeLuise.   DeLuise graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. He later attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Career

DeLuise generally appeared in comedic parts, although an early appearance (in the movie Fail-Safe as a nervous enlisted airman) showed a possible broader range. His first acting credit was as a regular performer in the television show The Entertainers in 1964. He gained early notice for his supporting turn in the Doris Day film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby panned the film but singled out the actor, stating, "he best of the lot, however, is a newcomer, Dom DeLuise, as a portly, bird-brained spy."

In the 1970s and 1980s, he often co-starred with Burt Reynolds. Together they appeared in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. DeLuise was the host of the television show Candid Camera from 1991 to 1992.

DeLuise also lent his voice for animated films and was a particular staple of Don Bluth's features, playing major roles in The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, A Troll in Central Park and All Dogs Go to Heaven along with their respective sequels and spinoff series. He also lent his voice to Fagin in the Walt Disney film Oliver & Company and made guest appearances on several animated TV series.
The handprints of Dom DeLuise in Atlantic City, NJ.

TV producer Greg Garrison hired DeLuise to appear as a specialty act on The Dean Martin Show. DeLuise ran through his "Dominick the Great" routine, a riotous example of a magic act gone wrong, with host Martin as a bemused volunteer from the audience. Dom's catch phrase, with an Italian accent, was "No Applause Necessary, Save-a to the End." The show went so well that DeLuise was soon a regular on Martin's program, participating in both songs and sketches. Garrison also featured DeLuise in his own hour-long comedy specials for ABC. (Martin was often just off-camera when these were taped, and his distinctive laugh can be heard loud and clear.)

DeLuise was probably best known as a regular in Mel Brooks's films. He appeared in The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Brooks's late wife, actress Anne Bancroft, directed Dom in Fatso (1980). He also had a cameo in Johnny Dangerously as the Pope and in Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie as a wayward Hollywood talent agent who comes across Kermit the Frog singing "The Rainbow Connection" in the film's opening scene.

DeLuise exhibited his comedic talents while playing the speaking part of the jailer Frosch in the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, playing the role in four separate revivals of the work at the Met between December 1989 and January 1996. In the production, while the singing was in German, the spoken parts were in English. A lifelong opera fan, he also portrayed the role of L'Opinion Publique in drag for the Los Angeles Opera's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

An avid cook and author of several books on cooking, in recent years he appeared as a regular contributor to a syndicated home improvement radio show, On The House with The Carey Brothers, giving listeners tips on culinary topics. He was also a friend and self-proclaimed "look-alike" of famous Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. He also wrote seven children's books.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American comedic actor Dom DeLuise dies at age 75

DeLuise died at age 75 on May 4, 2009, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was hospitalized at the time, suffering from kidney failure and respiratory problems due to complications from diabetes and high blood pressure. He died from kidney failure and respiratory complications from cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were buried with his parents in New York City. His family was by his side at the time of his death.
Filmography

    * Diary of a Bachelor (1964)
    * Fail-Safe (1964)
    * The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
    * The Busy Body (1967)
    * What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
    * The Twelve Chairs (1970)
    * Norwood (1970)
    * Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
    * Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)
    * Blazing Saddles (1974)
    * The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
    * Silent Movie (1976)
    * The World's Greatest Lover (1977)
    * Sextette (1978)
    * The End (1978)
    * The Cheap Detective (1978)
    * The Muppet Movie (1979) (cameo)
    * Hot Stuff (1979) (also director)
    * The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
    * Fatso (1980)
    * Wholly Moses (1980)
    * Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
    * History of the World, Part I (1981)
    * The Cannonball Run (1981)
    * Peter-No-Tail (1981) (voice in English dubbed version)
    * The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
    * The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * Johnny Dangerously (1984)
    * Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
    * An American Tail (1986) (voice)
    * A Taxi Driver in New York (1987)
    * Spaceballs (1987) (voice only)
    * Going Bananas (1988)
    * Oliver & Company (1988) (voice)
    * The Princess and the Dwarf (1989)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) (voice)
    * Loose Cannons (1990)
    * Driving Me Crazy (1991) (aka "Trabbi Goes to Hollywood")
    * An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (voice)
    * Munchie (1992) (voice only)
    * The Magic Voyage (1992) (voice)
    * Almost Pregnant (1992)
    * The Skateboard Kid (1993) (voice only)
    * Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
    * Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
    * Don't Drink the Water (1994)
    * The Silence of the Hams (1994)
    * A Troll in Central Park (1994) (voice)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (voice)
    * Red Line (1996)
    * Boys Will Be Boys (1997)
    * The Good Bad Guys (1997)
    * Between the Sheets (1998) (Cameo)
    * The Godson (1998)
    * An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) (voice)
    * Baby Geniuses (1999)
    * An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) (voice)
    * Lion of Oz (2000) (voice)
    * The Brainiacs.com (2000)
    * It's All About You (2001)
    * My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception (2001)
    * Remembering Mario (2003) (voice only)
    * Girl Play (2004)
    * Breaking the Fifth (2004)
    * Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm (2006) (voice)

Television

    * The Entertainers (1964–1965)
    * The Dean Martin Summer Show (regular performer in 1966)
    * The Dom DeLuise Show (1968) (summer replacement for Jackie Gleason)
    * The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (regular performer from 1971–1972)
    * The Roman Holidays (1972) (cancelled after four months)
    * The Dean Martin Show (regular performer from 1972–1973)
    * Lotsa Luck (1973–1974)
    * Only with Married Men (1974)
    * The Muppet Show (1977)
    * Happy (1983) (also executive producer)
    * Amazing Stories, episode: Guilt Trip (1985)
    * The Dom DeLuise Show (1987–1988)
    * 21 Jump Street (1989)
    * B.L. Stryker, episode: Die Laughing (1989)
    * Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas (1991) (voice)
    * Fievel's American Tails (1991–1992) (voice)
    * Candid Camera (host from 1991–1992)
    * The Ren & Stimpy Show (cast member from 1993–1995) (voice)
    * Married... With Children (1993) (voice)
    * Burke's Law (1994–1995)
    * seaQuest DSV (1994)
    * The Magic School Bus (TV series) (1994 - Episode Get Ready, Set, Dough) (voice)
    * Alef Bet Blast-Off Lights of Freedom "Pharaoh" (1995)
    * Tin Soldier (1995)
    * Shari's Passover Surprise (1996)
    * Beverly Hills 90210, episode: I Only Have Eyes for You (1997)
    * 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997)
    * Dexter's Laboratory (1997 - episode: Koosalagoopagoop, voice of "Koosie")
    * Cow and Chicken
    * Hercules: The Animated Series
    * Rugrats (Guest Star)
    * Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1998)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1999) (voice)
    * Charlie Horse Music Pizza (1998–1999)
    * Stargate SG-1 episode "Urgo" (2000)
    * Emeril (2001)
    * Always Greener (2001)
    * Robot Chicken (2005) (guest voice)
    * Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (voice)

Video Games

    * Toonstruck (1996) (voice)
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac249/joeljacobie/dom_deluise1.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/AnPmc/DomDeluis-796316.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: 2kidsami on 05/04/10 at 7:25 am


The person who died on this day...Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009)  was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, actor David DeLuise, and actor Michael DeLuise  DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Vincenza "Jennie" (née DeStefano), a homemaker, and John DeLuise, a civil servant (garbage collector). He was the second born and had an older brother named Nicholas "Nick" DeLuise.   DeLuise graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. He later attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Career

DeLuise generally appeared in comedic parts, although an early appearance (in the movie Fail-Safe as a nervous enlisted airman) showed a possible broader range. His first acting credit was as a regular performer in the television show The Entertainers in 1964. He gained early notice for his supporting turn in the Doris Day film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby panned the film but singled out the actor, stating, "he best of the lot, however, is a newcomer, Dom DeLuise, as a portly, bird-brained spy."

In the 1970s and 1980s, he often co-starred with Burt Reynolds. Together they appeared in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. DeLuise was the host of the television show Candid Camera from 1991 to 1992.

DeLuise also lent his voice for animated films and was a particular staple of Don Bluth's features, playing major roles in The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, A Troll in Central Park and All Dogs Go to Heaven along with their respective sequels and spinoff series. He also lent his voice to Fagin in the Walt Disney film Oliver & Company and made guest appearances on several animated TV series.
The handprints of Dom DeLuise in Atlantic City, NJ.

TV producer Greg Garrison hired DeLuise to appear as a specialty act on The Dean Martin Show. DeLuise ran through his "Dominick the Great" routine, a riotous example of a magic act gone wrong, with host Martin as a bemused volunteer from the audience. Dom's catch phrase, with an Italian accent, was "No Applause Necessary, Save-a to the End." The show went so well that DeLuise was soon a regular on Martin's program, participating in both songs and sketches. Garrison also featured DeLuise in his own hour-long comedy specials for ABC. (Martin was often just off-camera when these were taped, and his distinctive laugh can be heard loud and clear.)

DeLuise was probably best known as a regular in Mel Brooks's films. He appeared in The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Brooks's late wife, actress Anne Bancroft, directed Dom in Fatso (1980). He also had a cameo in Johnny Dangerously as the Pope and in Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie as a wayward Hollywood talent agent who comes across Kermit the Frog singing "The Rainbow Connection" in the film's opening scene.

DeLuise exhibited his comedic talents while playing the speaking part of the jailer Frosch in the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, playing the role in four separate revivals of the work at the Met between December 1989 and January 1996. In the production, while the singing was in German, the spoken parts were in English. A lifelong opera fan, he also portrayed the role of L'Opinion Publique in drag for the Los Angeles Opera's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

An avid cook and author of several books on cooking, in recent years he appeared as a regular contributor to a syndicated home improvement radio show, On The House with The Carey Brothers, giving listeners tips on culinary topics. He was also a friend and self-proclaimed "look-alike" of famous Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. He also wrote seven children's books.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American comedic actor Dom DeLuise dies at age 75

DeLuise died at age 75 on May 4, 2009, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was hospitalized at the time, suffering from kidney failure and respiratory problems due to complications from diabetes and high blood pressure. He died from kidney failure and respiratory complications from cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were buried with his parents in New York City. His family was by his side at the time of his death.
Filmography

    * Diary of a Bachelor (1964)
    * Fail-Safe (1964)
    * The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
    * The Busy Body (1967)
    * What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
    * The Twelve Chairs (1970)
    * Norwood (1970)
    * Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
    * Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)
    * Blazing Saddles (1974)
    * The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
    * Silent Movie (1976)
    * The World's Greatest Lover (1977)
    * Sextette (1978)
    * The End (1978)
    * The Cheap Detective (1978)
    * The Muppet Movie (1979) (cameo)
    * Hot Stuff (1979) (also director)
    * The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
    * Fatso (1980)
    * Wholly Moses (1980)
    * Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
    * History of the World, Part I (1981)
    * The Cannonball Run (1981)
    * Peter-No-Tail (1981) (voice in English dubbed version)
    * The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
    * The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * Johnny Dangerously (1984)
    * Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
    * An American Tail (1986) (voice)
    * A Taxi Driver in New York (1987)
    * Spaceballs (1987) (voice only)
    * Going Bananas (1988)
    * Oliver & Company (1988) (voice)
    * The Princess and the Dwarf (1989)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) (voice)
    * Loose Cannons (1990)
    * Driving Me Crazy (1991) (aka "Trabbi Goes to Hollywood")
    * An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (voice)
    * Munchie (1992) (voice only)
    * The Magic Voyage (1992) (voice)
    * Almost Pregnant (1992)
    * The Skateboard Kid (1993) (voice only)
    * Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
    * Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
    * Don't Drink the Water (1994)
    * The Silence of the Hams (1994)
    * A Troll in Central Park (1994) (voice)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (voice)
    * Red Line (1996)
    * Boys Will Be Boys (1997)
    * The Good Bad Guys (1997)
    * Between the Sheets (1998) (Cameo)
    * The Godson (1998)
    * An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) (voice)
    * Baby Geniuses (1999)
    * An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) (voice)
    * Lion of Oz (2000) (voice)
    * The Brainiacs.com (2000)
    * It's All About You (2001)
    * My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception (2001)
    * Remembering Mario (2003) (voice only)
    * Girl Play (2004)
    * Breaking the Fifth (2004)
    * Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm (2006) (voice)

Television

    * The Entertainers (1964–1965)
    * The Dean Martin Summer Show (regular performer in 1966)
    * The Dom DeLuise Show (1968) (summer replacement for Jackie Gleason)
    * The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (regular performer from 1971–1972)
    * The Roman Holidays (1972) (cancelled after four months)
    * The Dean Martin Show (regular performer from 1972–1973)
    * Lotsa Luck (1973–1974)
    * Only with Married Men (1974)
    * The Muppet Show (1977)
    * Happy (1983) (also executive producer)
    * Amazing Stories, episode: Guilt Trip (1985)
    * The Dom DeLuise Show (1987–1988)
    * 21 Jump Street (1989)
    * B.L. Stryker, episode: Die Laughing (1989)
    * Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas (1991) (voice)
    * Fievel's American Tails (1991–1992) (voice)
    * Candid Camera (host from 1991–1992)
    * The Ren & Stimpy Show (cast member from 1993–1995) (voice)
    * Married... With Children (1993) (voice)
    * Burke's Law (1994–1995)
    * seaQuest DSV (1994)
    * The Magic School Bus (TV series) (1994 - Episode Get Ready, Set, Dough) (voice)
    * Alef Bet Blast-Off Lights of Freedom "Pharaoh" (1995)
    * Tin Soldier (1995)
    * Shari's Passover Surprise (1996)
    * Beverly Hills 90210, episode: I Only Have Eyes for You (1997)
    * 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997)
    * Dexter's Laboratory (1997 - episode: Koosalagoopagoop, voice of "Koosie")
    * Cow and Chicken
    * Hercules: The Animated Series
    * Rugrats (Guest Star)
    * Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1998)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1999) (voice)
    * Charlie Horse Music Pizza (1998–1999)
    * Stargate SG-1 episode "Urgo" (2000)
    * Emeril (2001)
    * Always Greener (2001)
    * Robot Chicken (2005) (guest voice)
    * Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (voice)

Video Games

    * Toonstruck (1996) (voice)
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac249/joeljacobie/dom_deluise1.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/AnPmc/DomDeluis-796316.jpg
I loved Dom!  He was sooo exuberant - I can still remember him from the glad bag (????  maybe it was ziploc - or some other kitchen product) commercials.  I think Billy Mayes patterened himself off of Dom.    He was awesome in every movie - but he always acted like himself.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 9:02 am


I loved Dom!  He was sooo exuberant - I can still remember him from the glad bag (????  maybe it was ziploc - or some other kitchen product) commercials.  I think Billy Mayes patterened himself off of Dom.    He was awesome in every movie - but he always acted like himself.

Agreed Dom was a rare talent :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/04/10 at 12:12 pm


Agreed Dom was a rare talent :)

Yes, he was hilarious. I really liked the show 'Lotsa Luck". Wonder if anyone else remembers that TV show other than I?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/04/10 at 2:57 pm

Man I miss Dom,He was such a funny and a pisser of a comedian. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 6:16 pm


Yes, he was hilarious. I really liked the show 'Lotsa Luck". Wonder if anyone else remembers that TV show other than I?

Sadly no I don't recall it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/04/10 at 6:28 pm

A waitress at a restaurant that one of my best friends & I used to go to A LOT told us that Dom used to go there frequently. Unfortunately, he never came in when we were there. Also, an ex-boyfriend of mine told me that he talked to him on the phone once (he worked for ADT).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 5:21 am

The word of the day...LumberjackA lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era (before 1945) when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest. Because of its historical ties, the term lumberjack has become ingrained in popular culture through folklore, media, and spectator sports. The work was difficult, dangerous, intermittent, low-paying, and primitive in living conditions, but the men built a traditional culture that celebrated strength, masculinity, confrontation with danger, and resistance to modernization.
http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz7/qstoys/DSC_9086.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb250/cornerstone86/lumberjack.jpg
http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq23/focker08/lumberjack.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn278/MrsBiadas06/lumberjack.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t174/driskellagain/lumberjack.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp27/queenofpith/lumberjack.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/hezzyw/Lumberjack.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 5:25 am

The person born on this day...Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.

Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam".

Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and, most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television. Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the second child and only son of Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey) and Edward Moreton Palin.  His father was an engineer working for a steel firm. He started his education at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, and later Shrewsbury School. His sister Angela was nine years older than he. Despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1986.

When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of A Christmas Carol. At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue and read a Shakespeare play to his mother while playing all the parts. After his school days in 1962 he went on to read modern history at Brasenose College, Oxford. With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at a university Christmas party. Terry Jones, also a student in Oxford, saw that performance and began writing together with Hewison and Palin. In the same year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-Operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-Op drama festival. He also performed in the Oxford Revue with Jones.

In 1966 he married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk, where he has returned in recent years to live. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's play East of Ipswich. The couple have three children and a grandchild. While still a baby, his son William briefly appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film".

After finishing university in 1965 Palin became a presenter on a comedy pop show called Now! for the television contractor Television Wales and the West. At the same time Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, for assistance in writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages. Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various BBC programmes, such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Billy Cotton Bandshow, and The Illustrated Weekly Hudd. They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called Diversions. They were also in the team of writers working for The Frost Report, whose other members included Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh, and future Monty Python members Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, The Frost Report was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, Terry Gilliam, was at that time an American citizen) worked together. During the run of The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring John Bird: The Late Show and A series of Bird's. For A series of Bird's the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving.

Following The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, and the successful children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and David Jason. The show also featured musical numbers by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, including future Monty Python musical collaborator Neil Innes. The animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set were made by Terry Gilliam, who joined the cast on Cleese's recommendation and began working with the Palin/Jones team for the first time. Eager to work with Palin sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in How to Irritate People together with Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The Palin/Jones team were reunited for The Complete and Utter History of Britain.

During this period Cleese contacted Palin about doing the show that would ultimately become Monty Python's Flying Circus. On the strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality. At the same time the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had led Palin, Jones, Idle, and Gilliam to be offered their own series and, while it was still in production, Palin agreed to Cleese's proposal and brought along Idle, Jones, and Gilliam. Thus the formation of the Monty Python troupe has been referred to as a result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.
Monty Python
Main article: Monty Python
Palin performs The Lumberjack Song, with Connie Booth as his "best girl."

In Monty Python, Palin played various roles, which ranged from manic enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song, or host of the game show "Blackmail") to unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor, Cheese Shop proprietor, or Postal Clerk). As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese. He also played timid, socially inept characters such as Arthur Putey, the man who sits idly by as a marriage counsellor (Eric Idle) makes love to his wife (Carol Cleveland), and a chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer.

Palin frequently co-wrote sketches with Terry Jones, including "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam". Some sketches Palin wrote by himself (or began by himself), such as the "Spanish Inquisition sketch", which included the catchphrase "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Other performances

After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. They had earlier colloborated on the play "Secrets" from the BBC series Black and Blue in 1973. Palin also appeared in All You Need Is Cash (1978) as Eric Manchester (based on Derek Taylor), the press agent for The Rutles.

In 1980, Palin wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film.

In 1982, Palin wrote and starred in The Missionary, co-starring Maggie Smith. In it, he plays the Reverend Charles Fortescue, who is recalled from Africa to aid prostitutes.

He appeared in Terry Gilliam's films Time Bandits, Jabberwocky, and Brazil. His biggest international role in a movie outside of Python was as stuttering would-be assassin Ken Pile in A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was such a success that Cleese reunited the main cast almost a decade later to make Fierce Creatures.

After filming for Fierce Creatures finished, Palin went on a travel journey for a BBC documentary and, returning a year later, found that the end of Fierce Creatures had failed at test screenings and had to be reshot.

Apart from Fierce Creatures, Palin's last film role was a small part in The Wind in the Willows, a film directed by and starring Terry Jones. Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face. Palin was in the cast of You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy as a subplot novelist, but his role was eventually cut entirely for reasons that remain opaque.

He also assisted Campaign for Better Transport (UK) and others with campaigns on sustainable transport, particularly those relating to urban areas, and has been president of the campaign since 1986.

Palin has also appeared in serious drama. In 1991 Palin worked as producer and actor in the film American Friends based upon a real event in the life of his great grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford. In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in Alan Bleasdale's Channel 4 drama series G.B.H..

Palin also had a small cameo role in Australian soap opera Home and Away. He played an English surfer with a fear of sharks, who interrupts a heart-to-heart between two main characters to ask whether there were any sharks in the sea. This was filmed while he was in Australia for the Full Circle series, with a segment about the filming of the role featuring in the series.
Television documentaries
Travel

Palin's first travel documentary was part of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World, in which, humorously reminiscing about his childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled throughout the UK by train, from London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Inverness. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him.

In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In a quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great grandmother — Brita Gallagher — who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the Great Famine (1845-1849), bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line.

Starting in 1989, Palin appeared as presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after the veteran TV globetrotter Alan Whicker and journalist Miles Kington turned down presenting the first of these, Around the World in 80 Days, that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows. These programmes have been broadcast around the world in syndication, and were also sold on VHS tape and later on DVD:

    * Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (Travel 1988; Programme release 1989): travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous Jules Verne story without using aircraft.
    * Pole to Pole (Travel 1991; Programme release 1992): travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa.
    * Full Circle with Michael Palin (Travel 1996/97; Programme release 1997): in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean counter-clockwise; a journey of 80,000 kilometres starting on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait and taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
    * Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999): retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway through the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
    * Sahara with Michael Palin (Travel 2001/02; Programme release 2002): in which he trekked around and through the world's largest desert.
    * Himalaya with Michael Palin (Travel 2003/04; Programme release 2004): in which he travels through the Himalaya region.
    * Michael Palin's New Europe (Travel 2006/07; Programme release 2007): in which he travels through Central and Eastern Europe.

Following each trip, Palin wrote a book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, Around the World in 80 Days, contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.)

All seven of these books were also made available as audio books, and all of them are read by Palin himself. Around the World in 80 Days and Hemingway Adventure are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions, although the unabridged versions can be very difficult to find.

For four of the trips a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of the landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads.

Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon termed the "Palin effect": areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions — for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in Peru after Palin visited Machu Picchu. In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer, Palin named Peru's Pongo de Mainique (canyon below the Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world".
Art and history

In recent years, Palin has written and presented occasional documentary programmes on artists that interest him. The first, on Scottish painter Anne Redpath, was Palin on Redpath in 1997. In The Bright Side of Life (2000), Palin continued on a Scottish theme, looking at the work of the Scottish Colourists. Two further programmes followed on European painters; Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse (2004) and Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi (2005), about the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi. The DVD Michael Palin on Art contains all these documentaries except for the Matisse programme.

In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after the war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of northern France and Belgium for the programme, called The Last Day of World War One, produced for the BBC's Timewatch series.
Recognition
Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge.

Each member of Monty Python has an asteroid named after him. Palin's is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.

In honour of his achievements as a traveller, especially rail travel, Palin has two British trains named after him. In 2002, Virgin Trains' new £5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221130 was named "Michael Palin" - it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys. Also, National Express East Anglia have named a British Rail Class 153 (unit number 153335) after him. In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society in Dublin.

Palin was instrumental in setting up the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in 1993.

In recognition of his services to the promotion of geography, Palin was awarded the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March 2009, along with a Fellowship to the Society.

In June 2009 Palin was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bibliography
Travel books

    * Around the World in 80 Days (1989) ISBN 0-563-20826-0
    * Pole to Pole (1992) ISBN 0-563-37065-3
    * Full Circle (1997) ISBN 0-563-37121-8
    * Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999) ISBN 0-297-82528-3
    * Sahara (2002) ISBN 0-297-84303-6
    * Himalaya (2004) ISBN 0-297-84371-0
    * New Europe (2007) ISBN 0-297-84449-0

All his travel books can be read at no charge, complete and unabridged, on his website.
Autobiography (contributor)

    * The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003) ISBN 0-7528-5293-0

Diaries

    * Diaries 1963-1979. 2006. ISBN 0-297-84436-9
    * Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood - The Film Years. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2009. ISBN 978-0-297-84440-2

Fiction

    * Hemingway's chair (1995) ISBN 0-7493-1930-5
    * Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls w/Terry Jones, illus Martin Honeysett, Frank Bellamy et al. (1974) ISBN 0-413-32740-X
    * Dr Fegg's Encyclopaedia of all world knowledge (1984) (expanded reprint of the above, with Terry Jones and Martin Honeysett) ISBN 0-8722-6005-4

Children's books

    * Small Harry and the Toothache Pills (1982) ISBN 0-416-23690-1
    * Limerics or The Limerick Book (1985) ISBN 0-09-161540-2
    * Cyril and the House of Commons (1986) ISBN 1-85145-078-5
    * Cyril and the Dinner Party (1986) ISBN 1-85145-069-6
    * The Mirrorstone with Alan Lee and Richard Seymour (1986) ISBN 0-224-02408-6

Plays

    * The Weekend (1994) ISBN 0-413-68940-9

Selected filmography

    * And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
    * Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
    * Three Men in a Boat (1975)
    * Jabberwocky (1977)
    * Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
    * Time Bandits (1981)
    * Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
    * The Missionary (1982)
    * Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
    * A Private Function (1984)
    * Brazil (1985)
    * A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
    * American Friends (1991)
    * The Wind in the Willows (1996)
    * The Willows in Winter (1996)
    * Fierce Creatures (1997)

Television

    * Now! (October 1965 – middle 1966)
    * The Ken Dodd Show
    * Billy Cotton Bandshow
    * The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
    * The Frost Report. (10 March 1966 – 29 June 1967)
    * The Late Show (15 October 1966 - 1 April 1967)
    * A Series of Bird's (1967) (3 October 1967 - 21 November 1967 screenwriter (guest stars)
    * Twice a Fortnight (21 October 1967 - 23 December 1967)
    * Do Not Adjust Your Set (26 December 1967 - 14 May 1969)
    * Broaden Your Mind (1968)
    * How to Irritate People (1968)
    * Marty (TV series) (1968)
    * The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969)
    * Monty Python's Flying Circus (5 October 1969–5 December 1974)
    * Saturday Night Live (Hosted January 27th, 1979) with Musical Guests The Doobie Brothers
    * Ripping Yarns (1976-1979)
    * Great Railway Journeys of the World, episode title "Confessions of a Trainspotter" (1980)
    * East of Ipswich (1987) writer
    * Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
    * GBH (1991)
    * Pole to Pole (1992)
    * Great Railway Journeys, episode title "Derry to Kerry" (1994)
    * Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997)
    * Palin On Redpath (1997)
    * Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999)
    * Michael Palin On... The Colourists (2000)
    * Sahara with Michael Palin (2002)
    * Life on Air (2002)
    * Himalaya with Michael Palin (2004)
    * Michael Palin's New Europe (2007)
    * Around the World in 20 Years (30 December 2008)

Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films

    * 1982 Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing for Time Bandits (shared with Terry Gilliam)

Evening Standard British Film Awards

    * 1986 Won - "Peter Sellers Award for Comedy"

Writers' Guild of Great Britain

    * 1991 Won - Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for "Film - Screenplay" for American Friends (shared with Tristram Powell)

DVD Exclusive Awards

    * 2001 Nominated - "Video Premiere Award for Best Audio Commentary" for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (shared with John Cleese and Eric Idle)

British Comedy Awards

    * 2002 Won - British Comedy Award for "Lifetime Achievement"

BAFTA Awards

    * 1984 Nominated - BAFTA Award for "Best Original Song" (the award was discontinued after the 1985 ceremonies) for Every Sperm is Sacred from The Meaning of Life (shared with André Jacquemin, Dave Howman and Terry Jones)

    * 1989 Won - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Fish Called Wanda (as Ken Pile)

    * 1992 Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for G.B.H.

    * 2005 Won - BAFTA Special Award

    * 2009 Won - BAFTA Special Award as part of the Monty Python team for outstanding contribution to film and television

Radio

    * Biggles Flies North read by Michael Palin (2008-01-07 BBC Radio)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k320/radar27j/palin.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk297/retrogrl_fan/palin_hand4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 5:50 am

The person who died on this day...George Sidney
George Sidney (October 4, 1916 – May 5, 2002) was an American  film director and film producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Born in Long Island City, New York, Sidney began his career as an assistant at MGM until being assigned to direct the Our Gang  comedies, which MGM had just acquired from Hal Roach, in 1938. Sidney, then age 21, was the youngest Our Gang  senior director ever, and was only nine years older than the eldest Our Gang kid, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer's brother Harold.

After a year of working on Our Gang shorts, Sidney moved on to the Crime Does Not Pay series and popular Pete Smith specialties. He soon graduated to features, including The Harvey Girls (1946), The Three Musketeers (1948), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), The Red Danube (1950), Kiss Me, Kate (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Pal Joey (1957), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas (1964). His last film was Half a Sixpence (1967).

Sidney became good friends with MGM animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Hanna and Barbera's Jerry Mouse appeared alongside Gene Kelly in Sidney's film Anchors Aweigh (1945). After MGM close its animation studio in 1957, Sidney helped Hanna and Barbera form a deal with Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, to form the successful television animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions, for which Sidney served as a boardmember for ten years. Sidney later featured Hanna-Barbera's Fred Flintstone and Huckleberry Hound in Bye Bye Birdie.

Sidney was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award four times, starting with the lush Technicolor remake of Show Boat. In 1958 he was presented with a Golden Globe Award for Best World Entertainment Through Musical Films. For his work in the art of cinema, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died of complications from lymphoma in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 85. He was interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.

Motion picture actor George Sidney (1876-1945, born Samuel Greenfield) was his uncle.
Awards and nominations
Year Group Award Film Result
1952 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Show Boat Nominated
1953 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Scaramouche Nominated
1954 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Young Bess Nominated
1957 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures The Eddy Duchin Story Nominated
1959 Directors Guild of America DGA Honorary Life Member Award
-
Won
1986 Directors Guild of America Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award
-
Won
1998 Directors Guild of America President's Award
-
Won
1995 Golden Apple Award Louella Parsons Award
-
Won
1958 Golden Globe Award Best World Entertainment Through Musical Films
-
Won
1993 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival King Vidor Memorial Award
-
Won
Filmography

The following films are a partial listing of his films:

    * The Swinger (1966)
    * Viva Las Vegas (1964)
    * Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
    * Pal Joey (1957)
    * The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
    * Jupiter's Darling (1955)
    * Kiss Me Kate (1953)
    * Young Bess (1953)
    * Scaramouche (1952)
    * Show Boat (1951)
    * Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
    * Key to the City (1950)
    * The Red Danube (1949)
    * The Three Musketeers (1948)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/05/10 at 6:57 am


The person born on this day...Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.

Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam".

Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and, most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television. Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the second child and only son of Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey) and Edward Moreton Palin.  His father was an engineer working for a steel firm. He started his education at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, and later Shrewsbury School. His sister Angela was nine years older than he. Despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1986.

When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of A Christmas Carol. At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue and read a Shakespeare play to his mother while playing all the parts. After his school days in 1962 he went on to read modern history at Brasenose College, Oxford. With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at a university Christmas party. Terry Jones, also a student in Oxford, saw that performance and began writing together with Hewison and Palin. In the same year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-Operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-Op drama festival. He also performed in the Oxford Revue with Jones.

In 1966 he married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk, where he has returned in recent years to live. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's play East of Ipswich. The couple have three children and a grandchild. While still a baby, his son William briefly appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film".

After finishing university in 1965 Palin became a presenter on a comedy pop show called Now! for the television contractor Television Wales and the West. At the same time Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, for assistance in writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages. Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various BBC programmes, such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Billy Cotton Bandshow, and The Illustrated Weekly Hudd. They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called Diversions. They were also in the team of writers working for The Frost Report, whose other members included Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh, and future Monty Python members Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, The Frost Report was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, Terry Gilliam, was at that time an American citizen) worked together. During the run of The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring John Bird: The Late Show and A series of Bird's. For A series of Bird's the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving.

Following The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, and the successful children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and David Jason. The show also featured musical numbers by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, including future Monty Python musical collaborator Neil Innes. The animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set were made by Terry Gilliam, who joined the cast on Cleese's recommendation and began working with the Palin/Jones team for the first time. Eager to work with Palin sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in How to Irritate People together with Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The Palin/Jones team were reunited for The Complete and Utter History of Britain.

During this period Cleese contacted Palin about doing the show that would ultimately become Monty Python's Flying Circus. On the strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality. At the same time the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had led Palin, Jones, Idle, and Gilliam to be offered their own series and, while it was still in production, Palin agreed to Cleese's proposal and brought along Idle, Jones, and Gilliam. Thus the formation of the Monty Python troupe has been referred to as a result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.
Monty Python
Main article: Monty Python
Palin performs The Lumberjack Song, with Connie Booth as his "best girl."

In Monty Python, Palin played various roles, which ranged from manic enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song, or host of the game show "Blackmail") to unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor, Cheese Shop proprietor, or Postal Clerk). As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese. He also played timid, socially inept characters such as Arthur Putey, the man who sits idly by as a marriage counsellor (Eric Idle) makes love to his wife (Carol Cleveland), and a chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer.

Palin frequently co-wrote sketches with Terry Jones, including "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam". Some sketches Palin wrote by himself (or began by himself), such as the "Spanish Inquisition sketch", which included the catchphrase "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Other performances

After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. They had earlier colloborated on the play "Secrets" from the BBC series Black and Blue in 1973. Palin also appeared in All You Need Is Cash (1978) as Eric Manchester (based on Derek Taylor), the press agent for The Rutles.

In 1980, Palin wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film.

In 1982, Palin wrote and starred in The Missionary, co-starring Maggie Smith. In it, he plays the Reverend Charles Fortescue, who is recalled from Africa to aid prostitutes.

He appeared in Terry Gilliam's films Time Bandits, Jabberwocky, and Brazil. His biggest international role in a movie outside of Python was as stuttering would-be assassin Ken Pile in A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was such a success that Cleese reunited the main cast almost a decade later to make Fierce Creatures.

After filming for Fierce Creatures finished, Palin went on a travel journey for a BBC documentary and, returning a year later, found that the end of Fierce Creatures had failed at test screenings and had to be reshot.

Apart from Fierce Creatures, Palin's last film role was a small part in The Wind in the Willows, a film directed by and starring Terry Jones. Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face. Palin was in the cast of You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy as a subplot novelist, but his role was eventually cut entirely for reasons that remain opaque.

He also assisted Campaign for Better Transport (UK) and others with campaigns on sustainable transport, particularly those relating to urban areas, and has been president of the campaign since 1986.

Palin has also appeared in serious drama. In 1991 Palin worked as producer and actor in the film American Friends based upon a real event in the life of his great grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford. In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in Alan Bleasdale's Channel 4 drama series G.B.H..

Palin also had a small cameo role in Australian soap opera Home and Away. He played an English surfer with a fear of sharks, who interrupts a heart-to-heart between two main characters to ask whether there were any sharks in the sea. This was filmed while he was in Australia for the Full Circle series, with a segment about the filming of the role featuring in the series.
Television documentaries
Travel

Palin's first travel documentary was part of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World, in which, humorously reminiscing about his childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled throughout the UK by train, from London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Inverness. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him.

In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In a quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great grandmother — Brita Gallagher — who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the Great Famine (1845-1849), bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line.

Starting in 1989, Palin appeared as presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after the veteran TV globetrotter Alan Whicker and journalist Miles Kington turned down presenting the first of these, Around the World in 80 Days, that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows. These programmes have been broadcast around the world in syndication, and were also sold on VHS tape and later on DVD:

    * Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (Travel 1988; Programme release 1989): travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous Jules Verne story without using aircraft.
    * Pole to Pole (Travel 1991; Programme release 1992): travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa.
    * Full Circle with Michael Palin (Travel 1996/97; Programme release 1997): in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean counter-clockwise; a journey of 80,000 kilometres starting on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait and taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
    * Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999): retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway through the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
    * Sahara with Michael Palin (Travel 2001/02; Programme release 2002): in which he trekked around and through the world's largest desert.
    * Himalaya with Michael Palin (Travel 2003/04; Programme release 2004): in which he travels through the Himalaya region.
    * Michael Palin's New Europe (Travel 2006/07; Programme release 2007): in which he travels through Central and Eastern Europe.

Following each trip, Palin wrote a book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, Around the World in 80 Days, contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.)

All seven of these books were also made available as audio books, and all of them are read by Palin himself. Around the World in 80 Days and Hemingway Adventure are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions, although the unabridged versions can be very difficult to find.

For four of the trips a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of the landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads.

Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon termed the "Palin effect": areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions — for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in Peru after Palin visited Machu Picchu. In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer, Palin named Peru's Pongo de Mainique (canyon below the Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world".
Art and history

In recent years, Palin has written and presented occasional documentary programmes on artists that interest him. The first, on Scottish painter Anne Redpath, was Palin on Redpath in 1997. In The Bright Side of Life (2000), Palin continued on a Scottish theme, looking at the work of the Scottish Colourists. Two further programmes followed on European painters; Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse (2004) and Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi (2005), about the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi. The DVD Michael Palin on Art contains all these documentaries except for the Matisse programme.

In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after the war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of northern France and Belgium for the programme, called The Last Day of World War One, produced for the BBC's Timewatch series.
Recognition
Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge.

Each member of Monty Python has an asteroid named after him. Palin's is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.

In honour of his achievements as a traveller, especially rail travel, Palin has two British trains named after him. In 2002, Virgin Trains' new £5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221130 was named "Michael Palin" - it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys. Also, National Express East Anglia have named a British Rail Class 153 (unit number 153335) after him. In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society in Dublin.

Palin was instrumental in setting up the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in 1993.

In recognition of his services to the promotion of geography, Palin was awarded the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March 2009, along with a Fellowship to the Society.

In June 2009 Palin was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bibliography
Travel books

    * Around the World in 80 Days (1989) ISBN 0-563-20826-0
    * Pole to Pole (1992) ISBN 0-563-37065-3
    * Full Circle (1997) ISBN 0-563-37121-8
    * Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999) ISBN 0-297-82528-3
    * Sahara (2002) ISBN 0-297-84303-6
    * Himalaya (2004) ISBN 0-297-84371-0
    * New Europe (2007) ISBN 0-297-84449-0

All his travel books can be read at no charge, complete and unabridged, on his website.
Autobiography (contributor)

    * The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003) ISBN 0-7528-5293-0

Diaries

    * Diaries 1963-1979. 2006. ISBN 0-297-84436-9
    * Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood - The Film Years. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2009. ISBN 978-0-297-84440-2

Fiction

    * Hemingway's chair (1995) ISBN 0-7493-1930-5
    * Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls w/Terry Jones, illus Martin Honeysett, Frank Bellamy et al. (1974) ISBN 0-413-32740-X
    * Dr Fegg's Encyclopaedia of all world knowledge (1984) (expanded reprint of the above, with Terry Jones and Martin Honeysett) ISBN 0-8722-6005-4

Children's books

    * Small Harry and the Toothache Pills (1982) ISBN 0-416-23690-1
    * Limerics or The Limerick Book (1985) ISBN 0-09-161540-2
    * Cyril and the House of Commons (1986) ISBN 1-85145-078-5
    * Cyril and the Dinner Party (1986) ISBN 1-85145-069-6
    * The Mirrorstone with Alan Lee and Richard Seymour (1986) ISBN 0-224-02408-6

Plays

    * The Weekend (1994) ISBN 0-413-68940-9

Selected filmography

    * And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
    * Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
    * Three Men in a Boat (1975)
    * Jabberwocky (1977)
    * Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
    * Time Bandits (1981)
    * Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
    * The Missionary (1982)
    * Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
    * A Private Function (1984)
    * Brazil (1985)
    * A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
    * American Friends (1991)
    * The Wind in the Willows (1996)
    * The Willows in Winter (1996)
    * Fierce Creatures (1997)

Television

    * Now! (October 1965 – middle 1966)
    * The Ken Dodd Show
    * Billy Cotton Bandshow
    * The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
    * The Frost Report. (10 March 1966 – 29 June 1967)
    * The Late Show (15 October 1966 - 1 April 1967)
    * A Series of Bird's (1967) (3 October 1967 - 21 November 1967 screenwriter (guest stars)
    * Twice a Fortnight (21 October 1967 - 23 December 1967)
    * Do Not Adjust Your Set (26 December 1967 - 14 May 1969)
    * Broaden Your Mind (1968)
    * How to Irritate People (1968)
    * Marty (TV series) (1968)
    * The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969)
    * Monty Python's Flying Circus (5 October 1969–5 December 1974)
    * Saturday Night Live (Hosted January 27th, 1979) with Musical Guests The Doobie Brothers
    * Ripping Yarns (1976-1979)
    * Great Railway Journeys of the World, episode title "Confessions of a Trainspotter" (1980)
    * East of Ipswich (1987) writer
    * Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
    * GBH (1991)
    * Pole to Pole (1992)
    * Great Railway Journeys, episode title "Derry to Kerry" (1994)
    * Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997)
    * Palin On Redpath (1997)
    * Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999)
    * Michael Palin On... The Colourists (2000)
    * Sahara with Michael Palin (2002)
    * Life on Air (2002)
    * Himalaya with Michael Palin (2004)
    * Michael Palin's New Europe (2007)
    * Around the World in 20 Years (30 December 2008)

Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films

    * 1982 Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing for Time Bandits (shared with Terry Gilliam)

Evening Standard British Film Awards

    * 1986 Won - "Peter Sellers Award for Comedy"

Writers' Guild of Great Britain

    * 1991 Won - Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for "Film - Screenplay" for American Friends (shared with Tristram Powell)

DVD Exclusive Awards

    * 2001 Nominated - "Video Premiere Award for Best Audio Commentary" for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (shared with John Cleese and Eric Idle)

British Comedy Awards

    * 2002 Won - British Comedy Award for "Lifetime Achievement"

BAFTA Awards

    * 1984 Nominated - BAFTA Award for "Best Original Song" (the award was discontinued after the 1985 ceremonies) for Every Sperm is Sacred from The Meaning of Life (shared with André Jacquemin, Dave Howman and Terry Jones)

    * 1989 Won - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Fish Called Wanda (as Ken Pile)

    * 1992 Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for G.B.H.

    * 2005 Won - BAFTA Special Award

    * 2009 Won - BAFTA Special Award as part of the Monty Python team for outstanding contribution to film and television

Radio

    * Biggles Flies North read by Michael Palin (2008-01-07 BBC Radio)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k320/radar27j/palin.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk297/retrogrl_fan/palin_hand4.jpg


I like him,he's pretty funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 10:28 am


I like him,he's pretty funny.

Yes he is :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/05/10 at 11:41 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOMxz-O7Sc&feature=related



You KNEW someone had to post this.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/05/10 at 11:44 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOMxz-O7Sc&feature=related



You KNEW someone had to post this.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day
    He's a lumberjack and he's okay
    He sleeps all night and he works all day

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea
    He cuts down trees...
    He's a lumberjack...

I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
   
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 9:18 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOMxz-O7Sc&feature=related



You KNEW someone had to post this.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Yes indeed ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 9:19 pm


I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day
     He's a lumberjack and he's okay
     He sleeps all night and he works all day

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea
     He cuts down trees...
     He's a lumberjack...

I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
   
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa



Lets all sing a long :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 5:56 am

The word of the day...Chimes
#
hen a bell or a clock chimes, it makes ringing sounds. Verb

    *
      He heard the front doorbell chime. V
    *
      ...as the Guildhall clock chimed three o'clock. V n
    *
      ...a mahogany chiming clock. V-ing

#
A chime is a ringing sound made by a bell, especially when it is part of a clock. Noun (countable)

    *
      At that moment a chime sounded from the front of the house.
    *
      The ceremony started as the chimes of midnight struck. + 'of'

#
Chimes are a set of small objects which make a ringing sound when they are blown by the wind. Noun (plural) usu supp N

    *
      ...the haunting sound of the wind chimes.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t311/carolynwhitlock/FischerChimes.jpg
http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/ligman_2010/Jeff%20Afghanistan/Jingletruck.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/kenzo3_bucket/chimes.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd144/qt_karelle/8adb.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y232/jakecron/chimes.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s115/RIPxOPENxTHExSKY/Chimes.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/bjkeddington/PumpkinFuneralBirthdayVegas054.jpg
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo38/mntnmnw/Picture019.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 6:33 am

The person born on this day...Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, writer, actor, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television  and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and impressive early work and despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios, which resulted in many of his films being severely edited and others left unreleased. He has thus been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."

Welles first found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds which, performed in the style of a news broadcast, caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an extraterrestrial invasion was occurring and being reported by newscasters. Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO in which he starred in the iconic role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, especially The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces. In 2002 he was voted the greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute's poll of Top Ten Directors. Welles, who was also an extremely well regarded actor, was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest film actors of all time. He was also celebrated as a Shakespearean stage actor and was known for his distinctive baritone voice.

Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
RKO Pictures president George Schaefer eventually offered Welles what generally is considered the greatest contract ever offered to an untried director: complete artistic control. RKO signed Welles in a two-picture deal; including script, cast, crew, and most importantly, final cut, although Welles had a budget limit for his projects. With this contract in hand, Welles (and nearly the entire Mercury Theatre troupe) moved to Hollywood. He commuted weekly to New York to maintain his commitment to The Campbell Playhouse.

Welles toyed with various ideas for his first project for RKO Pictures, settling on an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which he worked on in great detail. He planned to film the action with a subjective camera. When a budget was drawn up, RKO's enthusiasm cooled because it was greater than the previously agreed limit. RKO also declined to approve another Welles project, The Smiler with the Knife, ostensibly because they lacked faith in Lucille Ball's ability to carry the leading lady role.

In a sign of things to come, Welles left The Campbell Playhouse in 1940 due to creative differences with the sponsor. The show continued without him, produced by John Houseman. In perhaps another sign of things to come, Welles's first experience on a Hollywood film was narrator for RKO's 1940 production of The Swiss Family Robinson.
Citizen Kane
Main article: Citizen Kane
Production
Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)

RKO, having rejected Welles' first two movie proposals, agreed on the third offer Citizen Kane, which Welles co-wrote, produced, directed and performed the lead role.

Welles found a suitable film project in an idea he conceived with screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, (who was then writing radio plays for The Campbell Playhouse). Initially entitled, American, it eventually became Welles's first feature film (also his most famous and honored role), Citizen Kane (1941).

Mankiewicz based his original notion on an exposé of the life of William Randolph Hearst whom he knew socially but now hated, having once been great friends with Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Mankiewicz had been banished from her company because of his perpetual drunkenness. Mankiewicz, a notorious gossip, exacted revenge with his unflattering depiction of Davies in Citizen Kane for which Welles bore most of the criticisms. Welles also had a connection with Davies through his first wife.

Kane's megalomania was modeled loosely on Robert McCormick, Howard Hughes and Joseph Pulitzer as Welles wanted to create a broad, complex character, intending to show him in the same scenes from several points of view. The use of multiple narrative perspectives in Conrad's Heart of Darkness influenced the treatment.

Supplying Mankiewicz with 300 pages of notes, Welles urged him to write the first draft of a screenplay under John Houseman, who was posted to ensure Mankiewicz stayed sober. On Welles's instruction, Houseman wrote the opening narration as a pastiche of The March of Time newsreels. Orson Welles explained to Peter Bogdanovich about the writers working separately by saying, "I left him on his own finally, because we'd started to waste too much time haggling. So, after mutual agreements on storyline and character, Mank went off with Houseman and did his version, while I stayed in Hollywood and wrote mine." Taking these drafts, Welles drastically condensed and rearranged them, then added scenes of his own. The industry accused Welles of underplaying Mankiewicz's contribution to the script but Welles countered the attacks by saying, "At the end, naturally, I was the one making the picture, after all--who had to make the decisions. I used what I wanted of Mank's and, rightly or wrongly, kept what I liked of my own."

Charles Foster Kane is based loosely on parts of Hearst's life. Nonetheless, autobiographical allusions to Welles were worked in, most noticeably in the treatment of Kane's childhood and particularly, regarding his guardianship. Welles then added features from other famous American lives to create a general and mysterious personality rather than the narrow journalistic portrait intended by Mankiewicz, whose first drafts included scandalous claims about the death of the film director Thomas Ince.

Once the script was completed, Welles attracted some of Hollywood's best technicians, including cinematographer Gregg Toland, who walked into Welles's office and announced he wanted to work on the picture. Welles later described Toland as "the fastest cameraman who ever lived." For the cast, Welles primarily used actors from his Mercury Theatre. He invited suggestions from everyone but only if they were directed through him. Filming Citizen Kane took ten weeks.
Reaction

Mankiewicz handed a copy of the final shooting script to his friend, Charles Lederer, husband of Welles's ex-wife, Virginia Nicholson as well as being the nephew of Hearst's mistress Marion Davies. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper saw a small ad in a newspaper for a preview screening of Citizen Kane and went. Hopper, realizing immediately that the film was based on features of Hearst's life, reported this back to him and threatened to give "Hollywood, Private Lives" if that was what it wanted. Thus began the struggle over the attempted suppression of Citizen Kane.

Hearst's media outlets boycotted the film. They exerted enormous pressure on the Hollywood film community by threatening to expose fifteen years of suppressed scandals and the fact that most of the studio bosses were Jewish. At one point, the heads of the major studios jointly offered RKO the cost of the film in exchange for the negative and all existing prints, fully intending to burn them. RKO declined and the film was given a limited release. Hearst intimidated theater chains by threatening to ban advertising for any of their other films in any of his papers if they showed Citizen Kane.

While the film was well-received critically, by the time it reached the general public the publicity had waned. It garnered nine Academy Award nominations (Orson nominated as a producer, director, writer, and actor), but won only for Best Original Screenplay, shared by Mankiewicz and Welles. Although it basically was ignored at the Academy Awards, Citizen Kane now is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Andrew Sarris called it "the work that influenced the cinema more profoundly than any American film since The Birth of a Nation."

The delay in its release and its uneven distribution contributed to its average result at the box office, making back its budget and marketing but RKO lost any chance of a major profit. The fact that Citizen Kane ignored many Hollywood conventions also meant that the film confused and angered the 1940s cinema public. Exhibitor response was scathing; most theater owners complained bitterly about the adverse audience reaction and the many walkouts. Only a few saw fit to acknowledge Welles's artistic technique. RKO shelved the film and did not re-release it until 1956.

During the 1950s, the film came to be seen by young French film critics such as François Truffaut as exemplifying the "auteur theory", in which the director is the "author" of a film. Truffaut, Godard and others inspired by Welles's example made their own films, giving birth to the Nouvelle Vague. In the 1960s Citizen Kane became popular on college campuses as a film-study exercise and as an entertainment subject. Its frequent revivals on television, home video and DVD have enhanced its "classic" status and ultimately it recouped its costs. The film still is considered by most film critics and historians to be one of the greatest motion pictures in cinema history.
The Magnificent Ambersons

Welles's second film for RKO was The Magnificent Ambersons, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Booth Tarkington. George Schaefer hoped to make back the money lost by Citizen Kane. Ambersons already had been adapted for The Campbell Playhouse by Welles for the stage, and he then wrote the screen adaptation. Toland was not available, so Stanley Cortez was named cinematographer. The meticulous Cortez, however, was slow and the film lagged behind schedule and over budget. Prior to productions, Welles' contract was renegotiated, revoking his right to control the final cut.
Joseph Cotten as Eugene Morgan in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

At RKO's request, simultaneously, Welles worked on an adaptation of Eric Ambler's spy thriller, Journey into Fear, which he co-wrote with Joseph Cotten. In addition to acting in the film, Welles also was producer. Direction was credited solely to Norman Foster. Welles later stated that they were in such a rush that the director of each scene was determined by whoever was closest to the camera.

Welles then was offered a new radio series by CBS. Called The Orson Welles Show, it was a half-hour variety show of short stories, comedy skits, poetry, and musical numbers. Joining the original Mercury Theatre cast for the show, was Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket, "on loan from Walt Disney". The variety format was unpopular with listeners and Welles soon was forced to limit the content of the show simply to telling a one half-hour story for the entirety of each episode.
It's All True

To further complicate matters during the production of Ambersons and Journey into Fear, Welles was approached by Nelson Rockefeller and Jock Whitney to produce a documentary film about South America. This was at the behest of the federal government's Good Neighbor policy, a wartime propaganda effort designed to prevent Latin America from allying with the Axis powers. Welles saw his involvement as a form of national service, since his physical condition excused him from direct military service.

Expected to film the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Welles rushed to finish the editing on Ambersons and his acting scenes in Journey into Fear. Ending his CBS radio show, he lashed together a rough cut of Ambersons with Robert Wise, who had edited Citizen Kane, and left for Brazil. Wise was to join him in Rio to complete the film, but never arrived. A provisional final cut arranged via phone call, telegram, and shortwave radio was previewed without Welles's approval in Pomona in a double bill, to a mostly negative audience response, particularly to the character of Aunt Fanny played by Agnes Moorehead. Whereas Schaefer argued that Welles be allowed to complete his own version of the film, and that an archival copy be kept with the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, RKO disagreed. With Welles in South America, there was no practical means of having him edit the film.

Major changes occurred at RKO in 1942. Floyd Odlum took over control of the studio and began changing its direction. Rockefeller, the most significant backer of the Brazil project, left the RKO board of directors. Around the same time, the principal sponsor of Welles at RKO, studio president George Schaefer, resigned. The changes throughout RKO caused reevaluations of many projects. RKO took control of Ambersons, formed a committee which was ordered to edit the film into what the studio considered a commercial format. They removed fifty minutes of Welles's footage, re-shot sequences, rearranged the scene order, and added a happy ending. Koerner released the shortened film on the bottom of a double-bill with the Lupe Vélez comedy, Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost. Ambersons was an expensive flop for RKO, although it received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead.

Welles's South American documentary, entitled It's All True, budgeted at one million dollars with half of its budget coming from the U.S. Government upon completion, grew in ambition and budget while Welles was in South America. While the film originally was to be a documentary on Carnaval, Welles added a new story which recreated the journey of the jangadeiros, four poor fishermen who had made a 1,500-mile (2,400 km) journey on their open raft to petition Brazilian President Vargas about their working conditions. The four had become national folk heroes; Welles first read of their journey in Time. Their leader, Jacare, died during a filming mishap. RKO, in limited contact with Welles, attempted to rein in the production. Most of the crew and budget were withdrawn from the film. In addition, the Mercury staff was removed from the studio in the U.S.

Welles requested resources to finish the film. He was given a limited amount of black-and-white stock and a silent camera. He completed the sequence, but RKO refused to support any further production on the film. Surviving footage was released in 1993, including a rough reconstruction of the "Four Men on a Raft" segment. Meanwhile, RKO asserted in public that Welles had gone to Brazil without a screenplay and that he had squandered a million dollars. Their official company slogan for the next year was, "Showmanship in place of Genius" -- which was taken as a slight against Welles.
Director for hire (1943–1946)

On returning to Hollywood, Welles found no studios interested in hiring him as a film director after the twin disasters of The Magnificent Ambersons and It's All True. Welles next worked on radio. CBS offered him two weekly series, Hello Americans, based on the research he'd done in Brazil, and Ceiling Unlimited, sponsored by Lockheed, a wartime salute to advances in aviation. Both featured several members of his original Mercury Theatre troupe. Within a few months, Hello Americans was canceled and Welles was replaced as host of Ceiling Unlimited by Joseph Cotten. Welles guest-starred on a great variety of shows, notably guest-hosting Jack Benny shows for a month in 1943. He took an increasingly active role in American and international politics and used journalism to communicate his forceful ideas widely.

In 1943, Welles married Rita Hayworth. They had one child, Rebecca Welles, and divorced five years later in 1948. In between, Welles found work as an actor in other directors' films. He starred in the 1944 film adaptation of Jane Eyre, trading credit as associate producer for top billing over Joan Fontaine. He also had a cameo in the 1944 wartime salute Follow the Boys, in which he performed his Mercury Wonder Show magic act and "sawed" Marlene Dietrich in half after Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn refused to allow Hayworth to perform.

In 1944, Welles was offered a new radio show, broadcast only in California, Orson Welles's Almanac. It was another half-hour variety show, with Mobil Oil as sponsor. After the success of his stand-in hosting on The Jack Benny Show, the focus was primarily on comedy. His hosting on the Jack Benny show included several self-deprecating jokes and story lines about his being a "genius" and overriding any ideas advanced by other cast members. The trade papers were not eager to accept Welles as a comedian, and Welles often complained on-air about the poor quality of the scripts. When Welles started his Mercury Wonder Show a few months later, traveling to Armed Forces camps and performing magic tricks and doing comedy, the radio show was broadcast live from the camps and the material took on a decidedly wartime flavor. Of his original Mercury actors, only Agnes Moorehead remained working with him. The series was cancelled by year's end due to poor ratings.

While he found no studio willing to hire him as a film director, Welles's popularity as an actor continued. Pabst Blue Ribbon gave Welles their radio series This Is My Best to direct, but after one month he was fired for creative differences. He started writing a political column for the New York Post, again called Orson Welles's Almanac. While the paper wanted Welles to write about Hollywood gossip, Welles explored serious political issues. His activism for world peace took considerable amounts of his time. The Post column eventually failed in syndication because of contradictory expectations and was dropped by the Post.
Post-war work (1946–1948)
The Stranger

In 1946, International Pictures released Welles's film, The Stranger, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Welles. Sam Spiegel produced the film, which follows the hunt for a Nazi war criminal living under an alias in America. While Anthony Veiller was credited with the screenplay, it had been rewritten by Welles and John Huston. Disputes occurred during the editing process between Spiegel and Welles. The film became a box office success and it helped his standing with the studios.

In the summer of 1946, Welles directed a musical stage version of Around the World in Eighty Days, with a comedic and ironic rewriting of the Jules Verne novel by Welles, incidental music and songs by Cole Porter, and production by Mike Todd, who would later produce the successful film version with David Niven. When Todd pulled out from the lavish and expensive production, Welles alone supported the finances. When he ran out of money at one point, he convinced Columbia president Harry Cohn to send him enough to continue the show, and in exchange, Welles promised to write, produce, direct, and star in a film for Cohn for no further fee. The stage show soon failed, due to poor box-office, with Welles unable to claim the losses on his taxes. The complicated financial arrangements concerning the show, its losses, and Welles's arrangement with Cohn, resulted in a tax dispute with the IRS.

At the same time in 1946 he began two new radio series, The Mercury Summer Theatre for CBS and Orson Welles Commentaries for ABC. While Summer Theatre featured half-hour adaptations of some of the classic Mercury radio shows from the 1930s, the first episode was a condensation of his Around the World stage play, and remains the only record of Cole Porter's music for the project. Several original Mercury actors returned for the series, as well as Bernard Herrmann. It only was scheduled for the summer months, and Welles invested his earnings into his failing stage play. Commentaries was a political vehicle for him, continuing the themes from his New York Post column. Again, Welles lacked a clear focus, until the NAACP brought to his attention the case of Isaac Woodard. Welles brought significant attention to Woodard's cause. Soon Welles was being hanged in effigy in the South and theaters refused to show the The Stranger in several southern states.
Welles as Michael O'Hara in The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
The Lady from Shanghai

The film Welles was obliged to make for Cohn helping him complete Around the World in Eighty Days ended up being The Lady from Shanghai, filmed in 1947 for Columbia Pictures. Intended to be a modest thriller, the budget skyrocketed after Cohn suggested that Welles's then-estranged second wife Rita Hayworth co-star. Cohn disliked Welles's rough-cut, particularly the confusing plot and lack of close-ups, and was not in sympathy with Welles' Brechtian use of irony and black comedy, especially in a farcical courtroom scene. Cohn ordered extensive editing and re-shoots. After heavy editing by the studio, approximately one hour of Welles's first cut had been removed, including much of a climactic confrontation scene in an amusement park funhouse. While expressing displeasure at the cuts, Welles was appalled particularly by the soundtrack, objecting to the musical score. The film was considered a disaster in America at the time of release, though the closing shootout in a hall of mirrors has since become one of the touchstones of film noir. Not long after release, Welles and Hayworth finalized their divorce. Although The Lady From Shanghai was acclaimed in Europe, it was not embraced in the U.S. for several decades. Influential modern critics including David Kehr have subsequently declared it a masterpiece, with Kehr calling it "the weirdest great movie ever made." A similar situation occurred when Welles suggested to Charlie Chaplin that he star in a film directed by Welles based on the life of the French serial killer, Henri Désiré Landru. Instead, Chaplin adapted the idea for his own film, Monsieur Verdoux, with Welles officially credited for the idea.
Macbeth

In 1948 Welles convinced Republic Pictures to let him direct a low-budget version of Macbeth, which featured extremely stylized sets and costumes, and a cast of actors lip-syncing to a prerecorded soundtrack, one of many innovative cost-cutting techniques Welles deployed in an attempt to make an epic film from B-movie resources. The script, adapted by Welles, is a violent reworking of the Shakespearean original, freely cutting and pasting lines into new contexts via a collage technique, and recasting Macbeth as a clash of pagan and proto-Christian ideologies. Some of the voodoo trappings of the famous Welles/Houseman Negro Theatre stage adaptation are also visible, especially in the film's characterization of the Weird Sisters, who create an effigy of Macbeth as a charm to enchant him. Of all Welles' post-Kane Hollywood productions, Macbeth is closest to Citizen Kane in its use of long takes and deep focus photography. Shots of the increasingly isolated Scottish king looming in the foreground while other characters address him from deep in the background overtly reference Kane.

Republic initially trumpeted the film as an important work but decided it did not care for the Scottish accents on the soundtrack and held up general release for almost a year after early negative press reaction, which included Life Magazine's comment that Welles' film "doth foully slaughter Shakespeare.'" Welles left for Europe, while his co-producer and life-long supporter Richard Wilson reworked the soundtrack. Welles ultimately returned and cut twenty minutes from the film at Republic's request and recorded narration to cover the gaps. The film was decried as another disaster. Macbeth had its share of influential fans in Europe, especially the French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, who hailed the film's "crude, irreverent power" and careful shot design, and described the characters as haunting “the corridors of some dreamlike subway, an abandoned coal mine, and ruined cellars oozing with water.” In the late 1970s, a fully restored version of Macbeth was released that followed Welles's original vision, and all prints of the truncated continuity have gradually been withdrawn from circulation, turning Welles compulsory recut, which has the distinction of being created by the director himself, into something of a lost work.
    * itizen Kane was nominated for numerous prizes at the 1941 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role. The only Oscar won, however, was Best Original Screenplay, which Welles shared with Herman J. Mankiewicz. Welles later gave his statuette to cinematographer Gary Garver as payment for services rendered. Also, the film The Magnificent Ambersons  was nominated for Best Picture, a year later.
    * The Stranger was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1947. Welles himself was awarded a Career Golden Lion in 1970.
    * In 1952, Welles's Othello won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
    * Welles was nominated for Best Foreign Actor in a Leading Role at the 1968 BAFTA Awards for his performance in Chimes at Midnight.
    * Welles was given the first Career Golden Lion award in the Venice Film Festival in 1970.
    * In 1970, Welles won an Honorary Academy Award for "superlative and distinguished service in the making of motion pictures." In light of his poor treatment by the Academy and by the American film industry in general, Welles did not attend the ceremony.
    * In 1970, he was awarded the French Légion d'honneur, the highest civilian decoration in France. Welles was also a distinguished Foreign Member of the Académie française, succeeded by Peter Ustinov.
    * Welles was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film Institute in 1975.
    * In 1978, Welles was presented with the Los Angeles Film Critics Career Achievement Award.
    * Welles was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1979.
    * In 1982, Welles was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards for his role in Butterfly, and won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his role on Donovan's Brain.
    * Welles was awarded a Fellowship of the British Film Institute in 1983.
    * In 1984, Welles was given the D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America.
    * In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Welles as the 16th Greatest Male Star of All Time.
    * When asked to describe Welles's influence, Jean-Luc Godard remarked: "Everyone will always owe him everything." (Ciment, 42)
    * A highly divergent genus of Hawaiian spiders "Orsonwelles" is named in his honour (Hormiga et al 2003)

Filmography and awards
Further information: Orson Welles filmography
Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Orson Welles
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/captainjack83/orson-welles.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/ben0220/wellesbig.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/06/10 at 6:34 am

May 6
George Clooney
Alma Ajazi
Gabourey Sidibe
Tom Bergeron
Bob Seger


Is it also one of these people's birthdays?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 6:41 am

The person who died on this day...Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 — 6 May 1991) was an English character actor.
Wilfrid Hyde White was born at the rectory in Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, the son of William Edward White, canon of Gloucester Cathedral, and his wife, Ethel Adelaide Drought. He was educated at Marlborough College, where he decided on an acting career — his uncle was the actor J. Fisher White. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his stage début as Maitland in the Evans-Valentine hit comedy Tons of Money (1922) at Ryde, Isle of Wight, and his London début as a juror in Beggar on Horseback (1925) at the Queen's. On 17 December 1927, he married Blanche Hope Aitken (b. 1896/1897), who used the stage name Blanche Glynne; they had one son.

He worked steadily on the stage, including a tour of South Africa in 1932 before making his film debut, in Josser on the Farm credited as "Hyde White" in 1934. He appeared in the George Formby comedy Turned Out Nice Again in 1941 and after a memorable supporting role in The Third Man, he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. Two-Way Stretch probably shows best the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period. Hyde-White's debonair, often roguish charm was instantly recognizable; ‘his unfailing imperturbability and unruffled acceptance of every eventuality made him an ideal choice for light comedy of the drawing room school’. From 1962 to 1965 he also starred in the BBC radio comedy The Men from the Ministry.

After the death of his first wife, Hyde-White married the American actress Ethel Korenman (stage name Ethel Drew) in 1957. They had a son, the actor Alex Hyde-White, and a daughter.
My Fair Lady

Hyde-White was increasingly busy on screen, usually as lords, gentlemen, or conmen, often "smallish roles which he somehow succeeded in making appear bigger," such as The Browning Version as the headmaster, and in his own favourite role, as the bogus Reverend Fowler (alias "Soapy" Stevens) in Two Way Stretch. In that year he was in Hollywood for Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe, and many films in the film capital followed. In particular, he co-starred in My Fair Lady from the Lerner and Loewe musical as Colonel Pickering, the avuncular companion of Rex Harrison's Professor Higgins. It was a role which brought him international recognition.

He continued to act on the stage, and played opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra in 1951. He also appeared on Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards as best actor.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he featured in the US TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica and The Associates.

His television movies and guest appearances kept him busy from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. His lifestyle had been expensive to maintain in real life, exemplified by Rolls-Royces, racehorses, and mistresses, which led to his being declared bankrupt in London in 1979. His wife left him. Chastened, he managed to give up his gambling on horses for a year, becoming even busier on television.
Later career

He appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. Although the first, Dagger of the Mind (1972), was set in England and concerned Columbo paying a visit to Scotland Yard, Hyde White's ongoing tax problems in Britain meant that, unlike other cast members Falk, Honor Blackman, Richard Basehart, Bernard Fox, John Fraser and Arthur Malet, he was unable to take part in location filming in the UK. His scenes as a butler were filmed instead in California, at a supposed country house. His second appearance was in the episode Last Salute to the Commodore (1976).

His career was somewhat revived by the television series The Associates, in which he played the senior partner of a New York law firm. He also memorably portrayed Barkley, an employee of wealthy businessman U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason) in the film The Toy. His last film appearance was in the British/West German co-production Fanny Hill.
Final years and death

In 1985, White became a resident of the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, for his last few years being almost bedridden. He died of congestive heart failure on 6 May 1991 (6 days before his 88th birthday), survived by his wife and children.
Selected filmography

    * Josser on the Farm (1934)
    * Admirals All (1935)
    * Rembrandt (1936)
    * Elephant Boy (1937)
    * Back Room Boy (1942)
    * The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947)
    * The Winslow Boy (1948)
    * Quartet (1948)
    * The Passionate Friends (1949)
    * Adam and Evelyne (1949)
    * The Third Man (1949)
    * Last Holiday (1950)
    * Trio (1950)
    * Highly Dangerous (1950)
    * The Browning Version (1951)
    * Outcast of the Islands (1952)
    * Top Secret (1952)
    * The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
    * The Million Pound Note (1953)
    * Betrayed (1954)
    * The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955)
    * The Silken Affair (1956)
    * The Vicious Circle (1957)
    * Carry On Nurse (1959)
    * Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959)
    * North West Frontier (1959)



    * Libel (1959)
    * Two-Way Stretch (1960)
    * Let's Make Love (1960)
    * On the Double (1961)
    * On the Fiddle (1961)
    * In Search of the Castaways (1962)
    * Crooks Anonymous (1962)
    * My Fair Lady (1964)
    * John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
    * You Must Be Joking! (1965)
    * Ten Little Indians (1965)
    * The Sandwich Man (1966)
    * The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
    * Mission: Impossible: Echo of Yesterday (1967) (TV)
    * Run a Crooked Mile (1969) (TV)
    * The Magic Christian (1969)
    * Gaily, Gaily (1969)
    * The Cherry Picker (1972)
    * Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972)
    * Columbo: Last Salute to the Commodore (1976)
    * The Cat and the Canary (1979)
    * Oh, God! Book II (1980)
    * Xanadu (1980)
    * The Toy (1982)
    * Fanny Hill (1983)
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z180/IrishSkye/80sKid%20nostalgia/Buck%20Rogers/buck_cast01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/06/10 at 6:44 am


The person who died on this day...Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 — 6 May 1991) was an English character actor.
Wilfrid Hyde White was born at the rectory in Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, the son of William Edward White, canon of Gloucester Cathedral, and his wife, Ethel Adelaide Drought. He was educated at Marlborough College, where he decided on an acting career — his uncle was the actor J. Fisher White. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his stage début as Maitland in the Evans-Valentine hit comedy Tons of Money (1922) at Ryde, Isle of Wight, and his London début as a juror in Beggar on Horseback (1925) at the Queen's. On 17 December 1927, he married Blanche Hope Aitken (b. 1896/1897), who used the stage name Blanche Glynne; they had one son.

He worked steadily on the stage, including a tour of South Africa in 1932 before making his film debut, in Josser on the Farm credited as "Hyde White" in 1934. He appeared in the George Formby comedy Turned Out Nice Again in 1941 and after a memorable supporting role in The Third Man, he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. Two-Way Stretch probably shows best the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period. Hyde-White's debonair, often roguish charm was instantly recognizable; ‘his unfailing imperturbability and unruffled acceptance of every eventuality made him an ideal choice for light comedy of the drawing room school’. From 1962 to 1965 he also starred in the BBC radio comedy The Men from the Ministry.

After the death of his first wife, Hyde-White married the American actress Ethel Korenman (stage name Ethel Drew) in 1957. They had a son, the actor Alex Hyde-White, and a daughter.
My Fair Lady

Hyde-White was increasingly busy on screen, usually as lords, gentlemen, or conmen, often "smallish roles which he somehow succeeded in making appear bigger," such as The Browning Version as the headmaster, and in his own favourite role, as the bogus Reverend Fowler (alias "Soapy" Stevens) in Two Way Stretch. In that year he was in Hollywood for Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe, and many films in the film capital followed. In particular, he co-starred in My Fair Lady from the Lerner and Loewe musical as Colonel Pickering, the avuncular companion of Rex Harrison's Professor Higgins. It was a role which brought him international recognition.

He continued to act on the stage, and played opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra in 1951. He also appeared on Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards as best actor.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he featured in the US TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica and The Associates.

His television movies and guest appearances kept him busy from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. His lifestyle had been expensive to maintain in real life, exemplified by Rolls-Royces, racehorses, and mistresses, which led to his being declared bankrupt in London in 1979. His wife left him. Chastened, he managed to give up his gambling on horses for a year, becoming even busier on television.
Later career

He appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. Although the first, Dagger of the Mind (1972), was set in England and concerned Columbo paying a visit to Scotland Yard, Hyde White's ongoing tax problems in Britain meant that, unlike other cast members Falk, Honor Blackman, Richard Basehart, Bernard Fox, John Fraser and Arthur Malet, he was unable to take part in location filming in the UK. His scenes as a butler were filmed instead in California, at a supposed country house. His second appearance was in the episode Last Salute to the Commodore (1976).

His career was somewhat revived by the television series The Associates, in which he played the senior partner of a New York law firm. He also memorably portrayed Barkley, an employee of wealthy businessman U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason) in the film The Toy. His last film appearance was in the British/West German co-production Fanny Hill.
Final years and death

In 1985, White became a resident of the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, for his last few years being almost bedridden. He died of congestive heart failure on 6 May 1991 (6 days before his 88th birthday), survived by his wife and children.
Selected filmography

    * Josser on the Farm (1934)
    * Admirals All (1935)
    * Rembrandt (1936)
    * Elephant Boy (1937)
    * Back Room Boy (1942)
    * The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947)
    * The Winslow Boy (1948)
    * Quartet (1948)
    * The Passionate Friends (1949)
    * Adam and Evelyne (1949)
    * The Third Man (1949)
    * Last Holiday (1950)
    * Trio (1950)
    * Highly Dangerous (1950)
    * The Browning Version (1951)
    * Outcast of the Islands (1952)
    * Top Secret (1952)
    * The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
    * The Million Pound Note (1953)
    * Betrayed (1954)
    * The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955)
    * The Silken Affair (1956)
    * The Vicious Circle (1957)
    * Carry On Nurse (1959)
    * Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959)
    * North West Frontier (1959)



    * Libel (1959)
    * Two-Way Stretch (1960)
    * Let's Make Love (1960)
    * On the Double (1961)
    * On the Fiddle (1961)
    * In Search of the Castaways (1962)
    * Crooks Anonymous (1962)
    * My Fair Lady (1964)
    * John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
    * You Must Be Joking! (1965)
    * Ten Little Indians (1965)
    * The Sandwich Man (1966)
    * The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
    * Mission: Impossible: Echo of Yesterday (1967) (TV)
    * Run a Crooked Mile (1969) (TV)
    * The Magic Christian (1969)
    * Gaily, Gaily (1969)
    * The Cherry Picker (1972)
    * Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972)
    * Columbo: Last Salute to the Commodore (1976)
    * The Cat and the Canary (1979)
    * Oh, God! Book II (1980)
    * Xanadu (1980)
    * The Toy (1982)
    * Fanny Hill (1983)
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z180/IrishSkye/80sKid%20nostalgia/Buck%20Rogers/buck_cast01.jpg



I remember that guy,Battlestar Galactica.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 9:51 am


May 6
George Clooney
Alma Ajazi
Gabourey Sidibe
Tom Bergeron
Bob Seger


Is it also one of these people's birthdays?  ???

I know..it's hard to just pick one person..I know that last year I did more than one person so a lot of them are repeats :-[
I don't even know the 2nd person listed and the 3rd person just started acting. I try to pick people who have more of an impact in peoples lives.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/06/10 at 11:02 am

Rosebud

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/06/10 at 12:28 pm


Rosebud



You know, I have NEVER seen that movie.  :-[



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/06/10 at 4:44 pm



You know, I have NEVER seen that movie.  :-[



Cat

Take a chance and watch it. It's not bad. I don't think it's as good as everyone says, but it's pretty good.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/06/10 at 5:28 pm

Sports person of the day: Wilie Mays

William Howard "Willie" Mays, Jr. (born May 6, 1931) is a retired American baseball player who played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/Mays.jpg

Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs. Mays is one of four NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa and Albert Pujols. Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
The 1954 series is perhaps best remembered for "The Catch," an over-the-shoulder running grab by Mays in deep center field of the Polo Grounds of a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz during the eighth inning of Game 1. Considered the iconic image of Mays' playing career and one of baseball's most memorable fielding plays, the catch prevented two Indians runners from scoring, preserving a tie game. The Giants won the game in the 10th inning, with Mays scoring the winning run.

http://fullcountpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/willie-mays.jpg

Mays' first Major League manager, Leo Durocher, said of Mays: "He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw, and field. And he had that other ingredient that turns a superstar into a super superstar. He lit up the room when he came in. He was a joy to be around."

Upon his Hall of Fame induction, Mays was asked who was the best player that he had seen during his career. Mays replied, "I thought I was." Ted Williams once said "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0905/this.day.sports.history.may28/images/willie-mays.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/06/10 at 7:29 pm


I know..it's hard to just pick one person..I know that last year I did more than one person so a lot of them are repeats :-[
I don't even know the 2nd person listed and the 3rd person just started acting. I try to pick people who have more of an impact in peoples lives.


It's ok,take your time.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/06/10 at 8:37 pm



You know, I have NEVER seen that movie.  :-[



Cat


Strangely...it is one of the few classics I haven't yet seen as well.... :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/06/10 at 8:40 pm


Take a chance and watch it. It's not bad. I don't think it's as good as everyone says, but it's pretty good.


There's just something about Awesome Wells that I don't like. Although I enjoyed his performance in The Third Man (with Joseph Cotton....and all that Zither music).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:50 pm



You know, I have NEVER seen that movie.  :-[



Cat

I've only seen bits and pieces.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:51 pm


Sports person of the day: Wilie Mays

William Howard "Willie" Mays, Jr. (born May 6, 1931) is a retired American baseball player who played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/Mays.jpg

Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs. Mays is one of four NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa and Albert Pujols. Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
The 1954 series is perhaps best remembered for "The Catch," an over-the-shoulder running grab by Mays in deep center field of the Polo Grounds of a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz during the eighth inning of Game 1. Considered the iconic image of Mays' playing career and one of baseball's most memorable fielding plays, the catch prevented two Indians runners from scoring, preserving a tie game. The Giants won the game in the 10th inning, with Mays scoring the winning run.

http://fullcountpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/willie-mays.jpg

Mays' first Major League manager, Leo Durocher, said of Mays: "He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw, and field. And he had that other ingredient that turns a superstar into a super superstar. He lit up the room when he came in. He was a joy to be around."

Upon his Hall of Fame induction, Mays was asked who was the best player that he had seen during his career. Mays replied, "I thought I was." Ted Williams once said "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0905/this.day.sports.history.may28/images/willie-mays.jpg



He had an amazing career.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:57 pm

The word or phrase of the day...Pied Piper
# a leader who entices people to follow (especially to their doom)
# the title character in a German folk tale and in a poem by Robert Browning
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Hilary3160/2nd%20May%202010/DSCF0861.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/bonnieusascot/PHOTOS/pied.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/forthtay/pied_piper_final.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/elysamac/Betsie/thepiedpiper.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/ladybeabea/PiedPiper.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq248/trumpetmanjez/Picture2.png
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u296/azdimd/the_pied_piper.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg224/charlie_is_our_boy/Hpim0687.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:59 pm

The person born on this day...Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), All About Eve (1950), The Razor's Edge (1946) and The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and Catherine Wright;  her maternal grandfather was the architect  Frank Lloyd Wright. Baxter's father was a prominent executive with the Seagrams Distillery Co. and she was raised in New York City in a well-to-do home, and attended the prestigious Brearley School.  At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway. During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of the famed teacher Maria Ouspenskaya.
Career
Baxter as Eve Harrington, from the trailer for All About Eve (1950)

At 16 Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, losing out to Joan Fontaine because director Alfred Hitchcock considered her "too young" for the role, but the strength of that first foray into movie acting secured her a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Her first movie role was in 20 Mule Team in 1940. She was chosen by director Orson Welles to appear in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in 1946's The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1950, she was chosen to co-star in All About Eve, largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who had initially been chosen to co-star in the film; the original idea being to have her character gradually come to visually mirror Colbert's over the course of the film. Baxter received a nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington. Later during that decade, Baxter also continued to act in professional theater. According to a program from the production, Baxter appeared on Broadway in 1953 opposite Tyrone Power in Charles Laughton's John Brown's Body, a play based upon the narrative poem by Stephen Vincent Benét (though the Internet Broadway Database states that Power's co-star was Judith Anderson). In 1953 she appeared opposite Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess.
Baxter with Yul Brynner, from the trailer for The Ten Commandments (1956)

Baxter is also remembered for her role as the Egyptian princess Nefertiri opposite Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's award winning The Ten Commandments (1956).

Baxter appeared regularly on television in the 1960s. For example, she did a stint as one of the What's My Line? "Mystery Guests" on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. She also starred as guest villain "Zelda the Great" in two episodes of the superhero show Batman. She appeared as another villain, "Olga, Queen of the Cossacks," opposite Vincent Price's "Egghead" in three episodes of the show's third season. She also played an old flame of Raymond Burr on his crime series Ironside.

Baxter returned to Broadway during the 1970s in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, but this time in the "Margo Channing" role played by Bette Davis in the film. (She was replacing Lauren Bacall, who won a Tony Award in the role.)

In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and stand-in host on the popular daytime TV talk-fest The Mike Douglas Show, since Baxter and host Mike Douglas were friends. She portrayed a homicidal movie star on an episode of Columbo called "Requiem for a Fallen Star."

In 1983, Baxter starred in the television series Hotel, replacing Bette Davis in the cast after Davis was taken ill.

Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life

In the 1950s Baxter was married to and then divorced from actor John Hodiak; they had a daughter, Katrina.

In 1960 Baxter married her second husband, Randolph Galt. They left Hollywood to briefly live on a cattle station in the Australian outback before moving to New Mexico and Hawaii before settling back in Brentwood, California. She told the story in her memoir Intermission: A True Story. In the book, Baxter blamed the failure of her first marriage to Hodiak on herself. Baxter and Galt had two daughters - Melissa, an interior designer, and Maginel, a Roman Catholic nun in Rome.

Baxter was briefly married again in 1977 to David Klee, a prominent stockbroker, but was widowed when he died unexpectedly from illness. Baxter never remarried. They had purchased a sprawling property in Easton, Connecticut which was extensively remodeled, but Klee did not live to see the renovations completed. The house was architecturally reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's flat-roofed 'Prairie School Architecture' structures. Baxter remodeled the living-room fireplace to resemble the one in her grandfather's masterpiece, Fallingwater. Although Baxter maintained a residence in West Hollywood, California, she considered her beloved Connecticut home to be her primary residence.

She was a lifelong friend of the late costume designer Edith Head, whom she first met on the set of The Ten Commandments and who also appeared in a cameo role with Baxter in the Columbo episode in which Baxter starred. Upon Head's death in 1981, Baxter's daughter, Melissa, who was also a goddaughter of Head, was bequeathed her extraordinary collection of jewelry.
Death

Baxter died from a brain aneurysm on December 12, 1985, while walking down Madison Avenue in New York City. She is buried on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright at Lloyd Jones Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She was survived by her three daughters.
Filmography

    * 20 Mule Team (1940)
    * The Great Profile (1940)
    * Charley's Aunt (1941)
    * Swamp Water (1941)
    * The Pied Piper (1942)
    * The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
    * Crash Dive (1943)
    * Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
    * The North Star (1943)
    * The Sullivans (1944)
    * The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
    * Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
    * Guest in the House (1944)
    * A Royal Scandal (1945)
    * Smoky (1946)
    * Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
    * The Razor's Edge (1946)
    * Blaze of Noon (1947)
    * Mother Wore Tights (1947) (narrator)
    * Homecoming (1948)
    * The Walls of Jericho (1948)
    * The Luck of the Irish (1948)
    * Yellow Sky (1949)
    * You're My Everything (1949)
    * A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
    * All About Eve (1950)



    * Follow the Sun (1951)
    * The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
    * O. Henry's Full House (1952)
    * My Wife's Best Friend (1952)
    * I Confess (1953)
    * The Blue Gardenia (1953)
    * Carnival Story (1954) (also cameo in German version titled Carnival of Love)
    * Bedevilled (1955)
    * One Desire (1955)
    * The Spoilers (1955)
    * The Come On (1956)
    * The Ten Commandments (1956)
    * Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957)
    * Three Violent People (1957)
    * Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
    * Cimarron (1960)
    * The DuPont Show with June Allyson, as Louise in "The Dance Man" (CBS, 1960)
    * Mix Me a Person (1962)
    * Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
    * The Family Jewels (1965) (Cameo)
    * Seven Vengeful Women (1966)
    * The Busy Body (1967)
    * Fools' Parade (1971)
    * The Late Liz (1971)
    * Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973)
    * Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd10/mmtrbfan83_84/anne-baxter.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/us/AnneBaxtershinymetal.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/07/10 at 12:59 pm


The word or phrase of the day...Pied Piper
# a leader who entices people to follow (especially to their doom)
# the title character in a German folk tale and in a poem by Robert Browning
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Hilary3160/2nd%20May%202010/DSCF0861.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/bonnieusascot/PHOTOS/pied.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/forthtay/pied_piper_final.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/elysamac/Betsie/thepiedpiper.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/ladybeabea/PiedPiper.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq248/trumpetmanjez/Picture2.png
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u296/azdimd/the_pied_piper.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg224/charlie_is_our_boy/Hpim0687.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJiJkV_rCk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/07/10 at 1:04 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AMGpqP6Ds



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 1:05 pm

The person who died on this day...Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE  (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was born in New York City, the son of actor Douglas Fairbanks, and his first wife, Anna Beth Sully. His parents divorced when he was nine years old.  He lived with his mother in New York, California, Paris and London.
Hollywood

Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's first icons, noted for such swashbuckling adventure films as The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad. Largely on the basis of his father's name, Fairbanks, Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures at age 14. After making some undistinguished films, he took to the stage, where he impressed his father, his stepmother Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin, who encouraged him to continue with acting.

He began his career during the silent film era. He initially played mainly supporting roles in a range of films featuring many of the leading female players of the day: Belle Bennett in Stella Dallas (1925), Esther Ralston in An American Venus (1926) and Pauline Starke in Women Love Diamonds (1927). In the last years of the silent period he was upped to star billing opposite Loretta Young in several pre-Code films and Joan Crawford in Our Modern Maidens (1929). He supported John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in Woman of Affairs (1929). Progressing to sound, he played opposite Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning role in the film Morning Glory (1933).

With Outward Bound (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), Little Caesar (1931), and Gunga Din (1939), his movies began to have more commercial success.
Marriages

His first notable relationship was with the actress Joan Crawford, whom he began to date seriously during the filming of Our Modern Maidens. On June 3, 1929, at St Malachy in New York City, Crawford and Fairbanks married. Fairbanks was only 19 and Crawford was several years older.

They went on a delayed honeymoon to England, where he was entertained by Noël Coward and Prince George, Duke of Kent. He became active in both society and politics, but Crawford was far more interested in her career and had an affair with Clark Gable. The couple divorced in 1933.

Despite their divorce, Fairbanks was quick to defend Crawford when her adopted daughter Christina Crawford, published Mommie Dearest, a scathing biography of Crawford's personal life. He firmly stated, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in Mommie Dearest is not the Joan Crawford I knew back then."

On April 22, 1939, Fairbanks married Mary Lee Hartford (née Mary Lee Epling), a former wife of Huntington Hartford, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company heir. They remained together until her death in 1988, and had three daughters: Daphne, Victoria, and Melissa.

On May 30, 1991, Fairbanks wed Vera Lee Shelton, a merchandiser for QVC Network Inc.
World War II
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000 (aged 90)
CDRDouglasFairbanks.jpg

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., "Father of the U.S. Navy Beach Jumpers"
Place of birth New York City
Place of death New York City
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1941–1954
Rank Captain
Unit Beach Jumpers
Battles/wars World War II

   * Operation Husky
   * Operation Dragoon

Awards Legion of Merit, Italian War Cross, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star,

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Honorary)
Other work Actor

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him a special envoy to South America.

Although celebrated as an actor, Fairbanks was commissioned a reserve officer in the United States Navy at the onset of World War II and assigned to Lord Louis Mountbatten's Commando staff in England.

Having witnessed (and participated in) British training and cross-channel harassment operations emphasizing the military art of deception, Fairbanks attained a depth of understanding and appreciation of military deception then unheard of in the United States Navy. Lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to Virginia Beach where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, who was preparing U.S. Naval forces for the invasion of North Africa.

Fairbanks convinced Hewitt of the advantages of such a unit, then repeated the proposal at Hewett's behest to Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations. King thereupon issued a secret letter on March 5, 1943 charging the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with the recruitment of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for the Beach Jumper program.

The Beach Jumpers' mission would simulate amphibious landings with a very limited force. Operating dozens of kilometers from the actual landing beaches and utilizing their deception equipment, the Beach Jumpers would lure the enemy into believing that theirs was the principal landing.

United States Navy Beach Jumpers saw their initial action in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Throughout the remainder of the war, the Beach Jumpers conducted their hazardous, shallow-water operations throughout the Mediterranean.

For his planning the diversion-deception operations and his part in the amphibious assault on Southern France, Lieutenant Commander Fairbanks was awarded the United States Navy's Legion of Merit with bronze V (for valor), the Italian War Cross for Military Valor, the French Légion d'honneur and the Croix de guerre with Palm, and the British Distinguished Service Cross. Fairbanks was also awarded the Silver Star for valor displayed while serving on PT boats.

He was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in 1949. Fairbanks stayed in the Naval Reserve after the war and ultimately retired a captain in 1954.
Post-war years

Fairbanks returned to Hollywood at the conclusion of World War II, but as a confirmed Anglophile, he spent a considerable amount of his time in the United Kingdom, where he was well known in the highest social circles. Between 1954 and 1956 he also made a number of half-hour programs at one of the smaller Elstree film studios as part of a syndicated anthology series for television called Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents. The College of Arms in London granted Fairbanks a coat of arms symbolising the U.S. and Britain united across the blue Atlantic Ocean by a silken knot of friendship.

It has been claimed that Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was one of the naked men in the incriminating photos used as evidence in the divorce trial of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in 1963.

He was good friends with Sir Laurence Olivier, and was one of the contributors to a documentary by The South Bank Show called Laurence Olivier: A Life. He was also a close friend of Sir Rex Harrison and was a presenter at Harrison's New York City memorial service.

Fairbanks died of a heart attack in New York at the age of 90 and is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California, in the same crypt as his father.
Legacy

Fairbanks has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 6318 Hollywood Boulevard and one for television at 6665 Hollywood Boulevard.
Partial filmography

   * Stephen Steps Out (1923)
   * The Air Mail (1925)
   * Wild Horse Mesa (1925)
   * Stella Dallas (1925)
   * The American Venus (1926)
   * Padlocked (1926)
   * Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926)
   * Man Bait (1927)
   * Women Love Diamonds (1927)
   * Is Zat So? (1927)
   * A Texas Steer (1927)
   * Dead Man's Curve (1928)
   * Modern Mothers (1928)
   * The Toilers (1928)
   * The Power of the Press (1928)
   * The Barker (1928)
   * A Woman of Affairs (1928)
   * Hollywood Snapshots #11 (1929) (short subject)
   * The Forward Pass (1929)
   * The Jazz Age (1929)
   * Our Modern Maidens (1929)
   * Little Caesar (1931)
   * I Like Your Nerve (1931)



   * Union Depot (1932)
   * Scarlet Dawn (1932)
   * Parachute Jumper (1933)
   * Captured! (1933)
   * Morning Glory (1933)
   * Catherine the Great (1934)
   * Man of the Moment (1935)
   * The Amateur Gentleman (1936)
   * The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
   * Joy of Living (1938)
   * The Rage of Paris (1938)
   * Having Wonderful Time (1938)
   * The Young in Heart (1938)
   * Gunga Din (1939)
   * Green Hell (1940)
   * Angels Over Broadway (1940)
   * The Corsican Brothers (1941)
   * Sinbad the Sailor (1947)
   * The Exile (1947)
   * That Lady in Ermine (1948)
   * The Triangle (1953)
   * The Genie (1953)
   * Ghost Story (1981)
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67/bbg_07/o_DOUGLAS_FAIRBANKS_JR_copyJPG.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/JAIMEDANCE3/LUCILLE%20BALL/Douglas_Fairbanks_Jr.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 1:08 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJiJkV_rCk

Good song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/07/10 at 1:10 pm


The person born on this day...Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), All About Eve (1950), The Razor's Edge (1946) and The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and Catherine Wright;  her maternal grandfather was the architect  Frank Lloyd Wright. Baxter's father was a prominent executive with the Seagrams Distillery Co. and she was raised in New York City in a well-to-do home, and attended the prestigious Brearley School.  At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway. During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of the famed teacher Maria Ouspenskaya.
Career
Baxter as Eve Harrington, from the trailer for All About Eve (1950)

At 16 Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, losing out to Joan Fontaine because director Alfred Hitchcock considered her "too young" for the role, but the strength of that first foray into movie acting secured her a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Her first movie role was in 20 Mule Team in 1940. She was chosen by director Orson Welles to appear in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in 1946's The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1950, she was chosen to co-star in All About Eve, largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who had initially been chosen to co-star in the film; the original idea being to have her character gradually come to visually mirror Colbert's over the course of the film. Baxter received a nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington. Later during that decade, Baxter also continued to act in professional theater. According to a program from the production, Baxter appeared on Broadway in 1953 opposite Tyrone Power in Charles Laughton's John Brown's Body, a play based upon the narrative poem by Stephen Vincent Benét (though the Internet Broadway Database states that Power's co-star was Judith Anderson). In 1953 she appeared opposite Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess.
Baxter with Yul Brynner, from the trailer for The Ten Commandments (1956)

Baxter is also remembered for her role as the Egyptian princess Nefertiri opposite Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's award winning The Ten Commandments (1956).

Baxter appeared regularly on television in the 1960s. For example, she did a stint as one of the What's My Line? "Mystery Guests" on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. She also starred as guest villain "Zelda the Great" in two episodes of the superhero show Batman. She appeared as another villain, "Olga, Queen of the Cossacks," opposite Vincent Price's "Egghead" in three episodes of the show's third season. She also played an old flame of Raymond Burr on his crime series Ironside.

Baxter returned to Broadway during the 1970s in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, but this time in the "Margo Channing" role played by Bette Davis in the film. (She was replacing Lauren Bacall, who won a Tony Award in the role.)

In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and stand-in host on the popular daytime TV talk-fest The Mike Douglas Show, since Baxter and host Mike Douglas were friends. She portrayed a homicidal movie star on an episode of Columbo called "Requiem for a Fallen Star."

In 1983, Baxter starred in the television series Hotel, replacing Bette Davis in the cast after Davis was taken ill.

Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life

In the 1950s Baxter was married to and then divorced from actor John Hodiak; they had a daughter, Katrina.

In 1960 Baxter married her second husband, Randolph Galt. They left Hollywood to briefly live on a cattle station in the Australian outback before moving to New Mexico and Hawaii before settling back in Brentwood, California. She told the story in her memoir Intermission: A True Story. In the book, Baxter blamed the failure of her first marriage to Hodiak on herself. Baxter and Galt had two daughters - Melissa, an interior designer, and Maginel, a Roman Catholic nun in Rome.

Baxter was briefly married again in 1977 to David Klee, a prominent stockbroker, but was widowed when he died unexpectedly from illness. Baxter never remarried. They had purchased a sprawling property in Easton, Connecticut which was extensively remodeled, but Klee did not live to see the renovations completed. The house was architecturally reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's flat-roofed 'Prairie School Architecture' structures. Baxter remodeled the living-room fireplace to resemble the one in her grandfather's masterpiece, Fallingwater. Although Baxter maintained a residence in West Hollywood, California, she considered her beloved Connecticut home to be her primary residence.

She was a lifelong friend of the late costume designer Edith Head, whom she first met on the set of The Ten Commandments and who also appeared in a cameo role with Baxter in the Columbo episode in which Baxter starred. Upon Head's death in 1981, Baxter's daughter, Melissa, who was also a goddaughter of Head, was bequeathed her extraordinary collection of jewelry.
Death

Baxter died from a brain aneurysm on December 12, 1985, while walking down Madison Avenue in New York City. She is buried on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright at Lloyd Jones Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She was survived by her three daughters.
Filmography

    * 20 Mule Team (1940)
    * The Great Profile (1940)
    * Charley's Aunt (1941)
    * Swamp Water (1941)
    * The Pied Piper (1942)
    * The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
    * Crash Dive (1943)
    * Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
    * The North Star (1943)
    * The Sullivans (1944)
    * The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
    * Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
    * Guest in the House (1944)
    * A Royal Scandal (1945)
    * Smoky (1946)
    * Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
    * The Razor's Edge (1946)
    * Blaze of Noon (1947)
    * Mother Wore Tights (1947) (narrator)
    * Homecoming (1948)
    * The Walls of Jericho (1948)
    * The Luck of the Irish (1948)
    * Yellow Sky (1949)
    * You're My Everything (1949)
    * A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
    * All About Eve (1950)



    * Follow the Sun (1951)
    * The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
    * O. Henry's Full House (1952)
    * My Wife's Best Friend (1952)
    * I Confess (1953)
    * The Blue Gardenia (1953)
    * Carnival Story (1954) (also cameo in German version titled Carnival of Love)
    * Bedevilled (1955)
    * One Desire (1955)
    * The Spoilers (1955)
    * The Come On (1956)
    * The Ten Commandments (1956)
    * Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957)
    * Three Violent People (1957)
    * Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
    * Cimarron (1960)
    * The DuPont Show with June Allyson, as Louise in "The Dance Man" (CBS, 1960)
    * Mix Me a Person (1962)
    * Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
    * The Family Jewels (1965) (Cameo)
    * Seven Vengeful Women (1966)
    * The Busy Body (1967)
    * Fools' Parade (1971)
    * The Late Liz (1971)
    * Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973)
    * Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd10/mmtrbfan83_84/anne-baxter.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/us/AnneBaxtershinymetal.jpg

I liked her voice, sexy kind of voice. I'll always remember her from the 10 Commandments.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 1:11 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AMGpqP6Ds



Cat

Not bad.I never heard the song before.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/07/10 at 1:12 pm


Not bad.I never heard the song before.



Listened to it as I was posting it. Brings me back to another place, another time in my life.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/07/10 at 1:14 pm


Not bad.I never heard the song before.

I haven't heard that since high school. Eons ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/07/10 at 2:55 pm


The word or phrase of the day...Pied Piper
# a leader who entices people to follow (especially to their doom)
# the title character in a German folk tale and in a poem by Robert Browning
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Hilary3160/2nd%20May%202010/DSCF0861.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/bonnieusascot/PHOTOS/pied.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/forthtay/pied_piper_final.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/elysamac/Betsie/thepiedpiper.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/ladybeabea/PiedPiper.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq248/trumpetmanjez/Picture2.png
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u296/azdimd/the_pied_piper.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg224/charlie_is_our_boy/Hpim0687.jpg


I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon with The Pied Piper.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 05/08/10 at 12:57 am


I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon with The Pied Piper.

I'm not sure if I've seen that one or not.


Was it this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgZShxrcXvk
(Sorry about the picture quality; it's just that the person who uploaded this had obviously taped it off their VCR way back in the day.)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/08/10 at 4:09 am

I have plenty to catch up on here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 5:58 am


I have plenty to catch up on here.

Welcome to the weekend Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 6:05 am

The word of the day...Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes  of Eurasia.

Lands typically referred to as "prairie" tend to be in North America. The term encompasses much of the area referred to as the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. In the U.S., the area is constituted by most or all of the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, and sizable parts of the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota. The Central Valley of California is also prairie. The Canadian Prairies occupy vast areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd187/FroggieLegs/Wyoming%202010/Devils%20Tower%20and%20upper%20NE%20Wyoming/Picture059.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n149/mc_man/Prairie.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m103/luvabean/Prairie.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/chorelle/Prairie.jpg
http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu241/sweet-777/prairie.gif
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc12/katydid1959/Prairie.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/lighningflash10292/prairie.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee234/optieye12/RocaBerryFarmandSunbeamLakeRVRes-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 6:07 am

The person born on this day...Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls' (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009 her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released.Born in Los Angeles, California, Gilbert was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon, he changed his name to Paul Gilbert to get a Screen Actors Guild card) and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane (later Barbara Gilbert, Barbara Abeles, Barbara Gilbert Cowan). Barbara was the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. The couple later adopted a son, Jonathan Gilbert, who co-starred with Melissa as Willie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. When Melissa was 8 her parents divorced. Barbara then married Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Abeles (also known as Sara Gilbert), born January 29, 1975. On February 12, 1975, while Melissa was at her mother's home with the flu, Paul Gilbert suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56.

Barbara's marriage to Abeles also ended in divorce.

With Hollywood connections in her family background and a natural ability for entertaining at a very young age, Gilbert had already done dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She then tried out for the role of Michael Landon's middle daughter, Laura Ingalls on NBC's 2-hour pilot of the book Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon loved her instantly. Growing up she was unfamiliar with Landon, having never met him or watched "Bonanza." Gilbert attended school with his daughter, Leslie Landon who guested on Little House as a teen and then played school teacher Etta Plumb during the last season. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura, beating out over 500 child actresses for this part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later Gilbert began filming the series.

Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. Landon became her surrogate father both on and off the set. Gilbert spent weekends and vacations with the Landons. As a teen, she dated Michael Landon Jr. and they went to their proms together. A rift, however, developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.

Gilbert had no contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983/1984 season. Seven years later, on May 9, 1991, when she saw a gaunt-looking Landon on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson discussing his pancreatic cancer, she was compelled to finally telephone him. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bed-ridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael in honor of Landon.
Career after Little House

Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as "The Queen of the television movies and mini-series" having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the television mini-series, Zoya, in St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Montreal, and New York, she was pregnant with her second child.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 2006, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient looking to reconstruct her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog in a season 4 episode of Nip/Tuck.

Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. Although their respective characters were enemies for years, in real life, they are close friends.

In 2008 and through 2009, Gilbert plays Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. This world premiere production at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was directed by Francesca Zambello and also stars Kara Lindsay as Laura. The show ran through October 19 and is on a US National tour for 2009–10.

For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985. Her then fiance, Rob Lowe, was present with her when her star was unveiled during the ceremony. She is one of the youngest actresses to have been honored with a star.
Screen Actor's Guild Presidency

Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a contentious election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Rhoda actress Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In 2003, she was re-elected, defeating Kent McCord with 50% of the vote to his 42%. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term and she was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
Personal life

At 17, she reconnected with then little-known actor Rob Lowe, also 17. They met briefly when they were about 14. In 1981, Melissa, in her convertible, saw Lowe stopped next to her at a red light. Gilbert dated Lowe on-and-off for six years. During this time, both had affairs with other famous people. Melissa dated Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Scott Baio, and Billy Idol. After Lowe's failed romance with Princess Stéphanie, he suddenly proposed to Gilbert. While making wedding plans, Gilbert found out she was pregnant. Upon being informed of the pregnancy, Lowe ended their relationship. Gilbert miscarried days later..

Heart-broken, Gilbert left for New York City to star in the play A Shayna Maidel. Gilbert was set up with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actors Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, only seven weeks after she ended her relationship with Rob Lowe. Gilbert became pregnant months later. US Magazine featured a very pregnant Gilbert wrapped in a sheer sheet and named her one of "America's Ten Most Beautiful Women" in 1988. On May 1, 1989, she gave birth to Dakota Paul Brinkman. After Dakota's birth, the couple began to have marital problems and divorced 1992.

Only weeks after Gilbert's divorce filing, Bruce Boxleitner's ex-wife (Kathryn Holcomb) set Bruce up with Gilbert. Holcomb by then was married to actor, Ian Ogilvy. Gilbert had met Boxleitner as a teenager when they both were on Battle of the Network Stars. Gilbert introduced herself as she had a pin-up of him in her locker. Boxleitner ignored her as she was a teen and he was many years older than her. The couple was on-and-off for over a year. They were engaged twice and Boxleitner broke up with her each time. After re-uniting for a third time, they finally married on January 1, 1995 in her mother's living room. Gilbert quickly became pregnant, but went into premature labor more than two months before her due date. She gave birth to a son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, named in honor of Michael Landon, on October 6, 1995. His middle name is in honor of Garret Peckinpah, her friend Sandy Peckinpah's son, who had died suddenly of meningitis at age 16.

Gilbert is also stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons with Holcomb, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985).

She has battled alcoholism and drug abuse, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Circus, Lions, Tigers and Melissas Too -
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Kelly Sullivan TV movie
1979 Nutcracker Fantasy Clara Voice
The Miracle Worker Helen Keller TV movie / Nominated for an Emmy Award
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank TV movie
1981 Splendor in the Grass Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis TV movie
1983 Choices of the Heart Jean Donovan TV movie
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Family Secrets Sara Calloway TV movie
1985 Sylvester Charlie
1986 Drug Free Kids: A Parents' Guide - Direct-to-video
Choices Terry Granger TV movie
The Penalty Phase Leah Furman TV movie
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife Marian TV movie
1988 Killer Instinct Dr. Lisa DaVito TV movie
1989 Ice House Kay
1990 Without Her Consent Emily Briggs TV movie
Forbidden Nights Judith Shapiro TV movie
Joshua's Heart Claudia TV movie
Donor Dr. Kristine Lipton TV movie
The Lookalike Gina/Jennifer TV movie
1992 With a Vengeance Janet King/Vanessa TV movie
1993 Family of Strangers Julie TV movie
With Hostile Intent Miranda Berkley TV movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Shari Karney TV movie
House of Secrets Marion Ravinel TV movie
Dying to Remember Lynn Matthews TV movie
1994 The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story Mary Bennett TV movie
Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story Melissa Prentice TV movie
Cries from the Heart Karen TV movie
1995 Zoya Zoya Ossipov TV movie
1996 Christmas in My Hometown
(a.k.a. A Holiday for Love) Emma Murphy TV movie
1997 Seduction in a Small Town Sarah Jenks TV movie
Childhood Sweetheart? Karen Carlson TV movie
1998 Her Own Rules Meredith Sanders TV movie
1999 Murder at 75 Birch Gwen Todson TV movie
The Soul Collector Rebecca TV movie
Switched at Birth Sarah Barlow TV movie
2000 A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle Donielle TV movie
2001 Sanctuary Jo Ellen Hathaway TV movie
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Taylor Singer TV movie
2004 Heart of the Storm Cassie Broadbeck
2005 Thicker Than Water Natalie Jones TV movie
2007 Sacrifices of the Heart originally titled Spring Thaw Kate Weston/Anne Weston TV movie
Safe Harbour Ophelia Direct-to-video
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1974–83 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1–9 Won two Young Artist Awards. Also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1992 Stand By Your Man Rochelle Dumphy 1
1992–95 Batman: The Animated Series Barbara Gordon/Batgirl 2–3 Voice
1994–95 Sweet Justice Kate Delacroy 1
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1972 Gunsmoke 18 Spratt's Child "The Judgement" Episode 4
Emergency! 2 Jenny "Dinner Date" Episode 10
1978 The Love Boat 2 Rocky "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky" Episode 3
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre 4 Gerda "The Snow Queen" Episode 2
1991 The Hidden Room 1 - "Spirit Cabinet" Episode 4
1996 Babylon 5 3 Anna Sheridan "War Without End: Part 2"
"Shadow Dancing"
"Z'ha'dum" Episode 17
Episode 21
Episode 22
1998 The Outer Limits 4 Teresa Janovitch "Relativity Theory" Episode 6
Touched by an Angel 5 Michelle Tanner "The Peacemaker" Episode 10
2002 Providence 4 Lorna Berlin "Smoke and Mirrors" Episode 21
Presidio Med 1 Grace Bennett "Once Upon a Family" Episode 7
2005 7th Heaven 9 Marie Wagner "Honor Thy Mother" Episode 18
2006 Nip/Tuck 4 Shari Noble "Shari Noble" Episode 4
2009 Chelsea Lately 3 Herself "Chelsea Lately" Episode 131
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x132/coc3nhep/melissa_gilbert22.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o293/chrisballyballard/melissagilbert1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 6:10 am

The person who died on this day...George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. (October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994) was an American  film and television actor. He secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and he played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s television series Banacek, but he is probably best known to younger audiences for his role as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-chomping leader of a renegade commando squad, in the 1980s television show The A-Team.
George Peppard, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of building contractor George Peppard, Sr. and opera singer Vernelle Rohrer. He graduated from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan.

Peppard enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at 17 on July 8, 1946 and rose to rank of Corporal in the 10th Marines, leaving the Marines at the end of his enlistment in January 1948.

From 1948 to 1949, he studied Civil Engineering at Purdue University where he was a member of the Purdue Playmakers theatre troupe and Beta Theta Pi. He then transferred to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1955.
Acting career

Peppard made his stage debut in 1949 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. After moving to New York, Peppard enrolled in The Actors Studio, where he studied the Method with Lee Strasberg. His first work on Broadway led to his first television appearance, with a young Paul Newman, in The United States Steel Hour (1956). Peppard’s Broadway appearance in The Pleasure of His Company (1958) led to an MGM contract. Prior to a strong film debut in The Strange One (1957), he was discovered playing the illegitimate son of Robert Mitchum's character in the popular melodrama Home from the Hill (1960).

His good looks, elegant manner and superior acting skills landed Peppard his most famous film role as Paul Varjak in Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn. This role boosted him briefly to a major film star. His leading roles in that film's wake included How the West Was Won in 1962, The Victors in 1963, The Carpetbaggers in 1964 and The Blue Max in 1966.

Peppard developed a tendency to choose tough guy roles in big, ambitious pictures where he was somewhat overshadowed by ensemble casts; for example, his role as German pilot Bruno Stachel, an obsessively competitive officer from humble beginnings who challenges the Prussian aristocracy during World War I in The Blue Max (1966). For this role, Peppard learned to fly, earned a private pilot's license and did much of his own stunt flying, although stunt pilot Derek Piggott was at the controls for the famous under-the-bridge scene.

Due to Peppard's tendencies toward alcohol, his career devolved into a string of B films, except for a brief moment of notable success with the highly successful TV series Banacek (1972–74), (part of the NBC Mystery Movie series), and one of his most critically acclaimed, though rarely seen, performances in the TV movie Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case (1975).

Among the disappointing films was the 1970 Western, Cannon for Cordoba, in which Peppard played the steely Captain Rod Douglas, who has been put in charge of gathering a group of soldiers on a dangerous mission into Mexico, and 1967's Rough Night in Jericho in which he co-starred with Dean Martin. Peppard appeared in the short-lived (half a season) Doctors' Hospital (1975) and several other television films. He was in the science fiction film Damnation Alley in 1977. With fewer interesting film roles coming his way, he acted in, directed and produced the drama Five Days from Home in 1979.

In a rare game show appearance, Peppard did a week of shows on Password Plus in 1979. Out of five shows, one was never broadcast on NBC (but aired much later on GSN) due to a rant where he expressed dissatisfaction with NBC executives watching "as if you're some sort of crook." Peppard was never asked to return to the show again.
Dynasty

In 1981, Peppard was offered, and accepted, the role of Blake Carrington in the TV series Dynasty. During the filming of the pilot episode, which also featured Linda Evans and Bo Hopkins, Peppard repeatedly clashed with the show's producers, Richard and Esther Shapiro; among other things, he felt that his role was too similar to that of J.R. Ewing in the series Dallas. Three weeks later, before filming was to begin on additional episodes, Peppard was fired and the part was offered to John Forsythe; the scenes with Peppard were reshot.
The A-Team

In the early 1980s, George Peppard re-emerged as a television star for his role as Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith in the action adventure series The A-Team, acting alongside Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz. In the series, the A-Team was a crack squad of renegade commandos on the run from the military for a crime they did not commit while serving in the Vietnam war. The A-Team made a living as soldiers of fortune, albeit only helping people with a just grievance.

"Hannibal" Smith was the leader of the A-Team, distinguished by his cigar smoking, black leather gloves, disguises and catch phrase, "I love it when a plan comes together." The show ran five seasons on NBC from 1983–1987. It made Peppard known to a younger generation and is arguably his most well-known role. The role was reportedly written with James Coburn in mind, but went to Peppard when Coburn had to pull out.
Man against the Mob

Peppard's last series was an intended occasional series of television movie features entitled "Man against the Mob" set in the 1940s. In these TV detective films, Peppard played Los Angeles Police Detective Sgt. Frank Doakey. The second film "Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders" was broadcast in December 1989. A third film in this series was planned, but Peppard died before it was filmed.
Personal life

Peppard married five times, and was the father of three children:

    * Helen Davies (1954–1964): two children, Bradford and Julie
    * Elizabeth Ashley (1966–1972), his co-star in The Carpetbaggers: one son, Christian
    * Sherry Boucher-Lytle (1975–1979), originally from Springhill in north Louisiana
    * Alexis Adams (1984–1986)
    * Laura Taylor (1992–1994)

Death

A life-long smoker, Peppard was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1992 and subsequently quit. Cancer never forced his retirement from acting, and Peppard completed a pilot for a new series in 1994 (a Matlock spin-off) shortly before his death. Peppard died on May 8, 1994, in Los Angeles, California. Although he was still being treated for lung cancer, the direct cause of death was pneumonia. He is buried in Northview Cemetery in Dearborn, Michigan.
Awards

    * 1960 NBR Award (National Board of Review of Motion Pictures) for Home from the Hill as Best Supporting Actor
    * 1961 BAFTA Award Nomination (British Academy Award) for Home From The Hill
    * 1961 Promising newcomer to leading film roles
    * Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Category Motion Pictures, 6675 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles)

Filmography

    * The Tigress (1992)
    * Ultra Warrior (1990)
    * Night of the Fox (1990)
    * The A-Team (1983–1987)
    * Hit Man (1982)
    * Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981)
    * Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1981)
    * Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
    * Crisis in Mid-Air (1979)
    * From Hell to Victory (1979)
    * Five Days from Home (1979)
    * Damnation Alley (1977)
    * Doctors' Hospital (1975–76)
    * Newman's Law (1974)
    * Banacek (1972–1974) TV series
    * The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
    * One More Train to Rob (1971)
    * Cannon for Cordoba (1970)
    * The Executioner (1970)
    * Pendulum (1969)
    * House of Cards (1968)
    * What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
    * P.J. (1968)
    * Rough Night in Jericho (1967)
    * Tobruk (1967)
    * The Blue Max (1966)
    * The Third Day (1965)
    * Operation Crossbow (1965)
    * The Carpetbaggers (1964)
    * The Victors (1963)
    * How the West Was Won (1962)
    * Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
    * The Subterraneans (1960)
    * Home from the Hill (1960)
    * Pork Chop Hill (1959)
    * The Strange One (1957)
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h162/Dark_Enigma_2006/George_Peppard7.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/deondrap/Actors%20and%20Actresses/g_peppard_bio_.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/08/10 at 6:40 am


Welcome to the weekend Phil :)
Thanks!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 7:00 am


I have plenty to catch up on here.


Hey Phil.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 7:02 am


The person born on this day...Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls' (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009 her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released.Born in Los Angeles, California, Gilbert was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon, he changed his name to Paul Gilbert to get a Screen Actors Guild card) and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane (later Barbara Gilbert, Barbara Abeles, Barbara Gilbert Cowan). Barbara was the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. The couple later adopted a son, Jonathan Gilbert, who co-starred with Melissa as Willie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. When Melissa was 8 her parents divorced. Barbara then married Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Abeles (also known as Sara Gilbert), born January 29, 1975. On February 12, 1975, while Melissa was at her mother's home with the flu, Paul Gilbert suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56.

Barbara's marriage to Abeles also ended in divorce.

With Hollywood connections in her family background and a natural ability for entertaining at a very young age, Gilbert had already done dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She then tried out for the role of Michael Landon's middle daughter, Laura Ingalls on NBC's 2-hour pilot of the book Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon loved her instantly. Growing up she was unfamiliar with Landon, having never met him or watched "Bonanza." Gilbert attended school with his daughter, Leslie Landon who guested on Little House as a teen and then played school teacher Etta Plumb during the last season. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura, beating out over 500 child actresses for this part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later Gilbert began filming the series.

Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. Landon became her surrogate father both on and off the set. Gilbert spent weekends and vacations with the Landons. As a teen, she dated Michael Landon Jr. and they went to their proms together. A rift, however, developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.

Gilbert had no contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983/1984 season. Seven years later, on May 9, 1991, when she saw a gaunt-looking Landon on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson discussing his pancreatic cancer, she was compelled to finally telephone him. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bed-ridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael in honor of Landon.
Career after Little House

Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as "The Queen of the television movies and mini-series" having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the television mini-series, Zoya, in St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Montreal, and New York, she was pregnant with her second child.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 2006, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient looking to reconstruct her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog in a season 4 episode of Nip/Tuck.

Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. Although their respective characters were enemies for years, in real life, they are close friends.

In 2008 and through 2009, Gilbert plays Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. This world premiere production at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was directed by Francesca Zambello and also stars Kara Lindsay as Laura. The show ran through October 19 and is on a US National tour for 2009–10.

For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985. Her then fiance, Rob Lowe, was present with her when her star was unveiled during the ceremony. She is one of the youngest actresses to have been honored with a star.
Screen Actor's Guild Presidency

Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a contentious election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Rhoda actress Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In 2003, she was re-elected, defeating Kent McCord with 50% of the vote to his 42%. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term and she was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
Personal life

At 17, she reconnected with then little-known actor Rob Lowe, also 17. They met briefly when they were about 14. In 1981, Melissa, in her convertible, saw Lowe stopped next to her at a red light. Gilbert dated Lowe on-and-off for six years. During this time, both had affairs with other famous people. Melissa dated Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Scott Baio, and Billy Idol. After Lowe's failed romance with Princess Stéphanie, he suddenly proposed to Gilbert. While making wedding plans, Gilbert found out she was pregnant. Upon being informed of the pregnancy, Lowe ended their relationship. Gilbert miscarried days later..

Heart-broken, Gilbert left for New York City to star in the play A Shayna Maidel. Gilbert was set up with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actors Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, only seven weeks after she ended her relationship with Rob Lowe. Gilbert became pregnant months later. US Magazine featured a very pregnant Gilbert wrapped in a sheer sheet and named her one of "America's Ten Most Beautiful Women" in 1988. On May 1, 1989, she gave birth to Dakota Paul Brinkman. After Dakota's birth, the couple began to have marital problems and divorced 1992.

Only weeks after Gilbert's divorce filing, Bruce Boxleitner's ex-wife (Kathryn Holcomb) set Bruce up with Gilbert. Holcomb by then was married to actor, Ian Ogilvy. Gilbert had met Boxleitner as a teenager when they both were on Battle of the Network Stars. Gilbert introduced herself as she had a pin-up of him in her locker. Boxleitner ignored her as she was a teen and he was many years older than her. The couple was on-and-off for over a year. They were engaged twice and Boxleitner broke up with her each time. After re-uniting for a third time, they finally married on January 1, 1995 in her mother's living room. Gilbert quickly became pregnant, but went into premature labor more than two months before her due date. She gave birth to a son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, named in honor of Michael Landon, on October 6, 1995. His middle name is in honor of Garret Peckinpah, her friend Sandy Peckinpah's son, who had died suddenly of meningitis at age 16.

Gilbert is also stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons with Holcomb, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985).

She has battled alcoholism and drug abuse, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Circus, Lions, Tigers and Melissas Too -
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Kelly Sullivan TV movie
1979 Nutcracker Fantasy Clara Voice
The Miracle Worker Helen Keller TV movie / Nominated for an Emmy Award
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank TV movie
1981 Splendor in the Grass Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis TV movie
1983 Choices of the Heart Jean Donovan TV movie
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Family Secrets Sara Calloway TV movie
1985 Sylvester Charlie
1986 Drug Free Kids: A Parents' Guide - Direct-to-video
Choices Terry Granger TV movie
The Penalty Phase Leah Furman TV movie
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife Marian TV movie
1988 Killer Instinct Dr. Lisa DaVito TV movie
1989 Ice House Kay
1990 Without Her Consent Emily Briggs TV movie
Forbidden Nights Judith Shapiro TV movie
Joshua's Heart Claudia TV movie
Donor Dr. Kristine Lipton TV movie
The Lookalike Gina/Jennifer TV movie
1992 With a Vengeance Janet King/Vanessa TV movie
1993 Family of Strangers Julie TV movie
With Hostile Intent Miranda Berkley TV movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Shari Karney TV movie
House of Secrets Marion Ravinel TV movie
Dying to Remember Lynn Matthews TV movie
1994 The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story Mary Bennett TV movie
Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story Melissa Prentice TV movie
Cries from the Heart Karen TV movie
1995 Zoya Zoya Ossipov TV movie
1996 Christmas in My Hometown
(a.k.a. A Holiday for Love) Emma Murphy TV movie
1997 Seduction in a Small Town Sarah Jenks TV movie
Childhood Sweetheart? Karen Carlson TV movie
1998 Her Own Rules Meredith Sanders TV movie
1999 Murder at 75 Birch Gwen Todson TV movie
The Soul Collector Rebecca TV movie
Switched at Birth Sarah Barlow TV movie
2000 A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle Donielle TV movie
2001 Sanctuary Jo Ellen Hathaway TV movie
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Taylor Singer TV movie
2004 Heart of the Storm Cassie Broadbeck
2005 Thicker Than Water Natalie Jones TV movie
2007 Sacrifices of the Heart originally titled Spring Thaw Kate Weston/Anne Weston TV movie
Safe Harbour Ophelia Direct-to-video
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1974–83 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1–9 Won two Young Artist Awards. Also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1992 Stand By Your Man Rochelle Dumphy 1
1992–95 Batman: The Animated Series Barbara Gordon/Batgirl 2–3 Voice
1994–95 Sweet Justice Kate Delacroy 1
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1972 Gunsmoke 18 Spratt's Child "The Judgement" Episode 4
Emergency! 2 Jenny "Dinner Date" Episode 10
1978 The Love Boat 2 Rocky "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky" Episode 3
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre 4 Gerda "The Snow Queen" Episode 2
1991 The Hidden Room 1 - "Spirit Cabinet" Episode 4
1996 Babylon 5 3 Anna Sheridan "War Without End: Part 2"
"Shadow Dancing"
"Z'ha'dum" Episode 17
Episode 21
Episode 22
1998 The Outer Limits 4 Teresa Janovitch "Relativity Theory" Episode 6
Touched by an Angel 5 Michelle Tanner "The Peacemaker" Episode 10
2002 Providence 4 Lorna Berlin "Smoke and Mirrors" Episode 21
Presidio Med 1 Grace Bennett "Once Upon a Family" Episode 7
2005 7th Heaven 9 Marie Wagner "Honor Thy Mother" Episode 18
2006 Nip/Tuck 4 Shari Noble "Shari Noble" Episode 4
2009 Chelsea Lately 3 Herself "Chelsea Lately" Episode 131
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x132/coc3nhep/melissa_gilbert22.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o293/chrisballyballard/melissagilbert1.jpg


She grew up to be very pretty.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 8:39 am


She grew up to be very pretty.

yes she did. I named my daughter after her. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/08/10 at 12:53 pm

I always likd Geroge Peppard. The Blue Max, Breakfast at Tiffany's, How the west was won, and Banacek

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/08/10 at 12:54 pm


yes she did. I named my daughter after her. :)

Really? what 's your daughter's name?  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 12:57 pm


yes she did. I named my daughter after her. :)



Melissa Gilbert?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/08/10 at 12:58 pm



Melissa Gilbert?

Nope, just "Gilbert"  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 1:01 pm


Nope, just "Gilbert"   :D



a daughter named Gilbert?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/08/10 at 4:31 pm

I have an uncle named Gilbert.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/09/10 at 1:47 am

British Person of the Day: J. M. Barrie 

Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, the son of a weaver. He was the ninth of ten children. Barrie's childhood was difficult, as his father David was distant to the point of neglect and his mother Margaret, though loving, became severely depressed after the death of her son David in 1867. Barrie craved his mother's attention, but had difficulty breaking through her grief. He wrote a glowing biography of Margaret after her death in 1896, and his relationship with her would remain an influence throughout his life. Conversely, Barrie rarely mentioned his father in his writings.

Barrie left home to attend school at the age of 13. He became interested in theatre and literature early on and was a diligent student, earning his Master's degree from Dumfries Academy at the University of Edinburgh in 1882. Barrie worked briefly as a journalist before moving to London, where he wrote freelance, in 1885. Three years later, he published his first novel, a humorous work entitled Better Dead. Many novels and plays followed, some using Barrie's Scottish background as inspiration. His first play, The Little Minister, began as a book in 1891 and was dramatized to great success in 1897.

Barrie's friends and acquaintances read as a Who's Who of Victorian literature, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, and A. A. Milne. Barrie married actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but their marriage was childless and allegedly unconsummated and ended in divorce in 1909 following Mary's infidelity. Barrie first met the Llewelyn-Davies, who would become his surrogate family, in Kensington Gardens in 1897.

Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies and the stories he made up for the boys inspired the first literary incarnation of Peter Pan, in the 1901 adult novel The Little White Bird. The character was named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies and the Greek god Pan. Later, the story evolved into a stage play premiering in December 1904 and finally emerged as the 1911 novel. The book's heroine, Wendy, takes her name from a nickname of Barrie's, and the novel was responsible for popularizing the name for girls, as it was a quite a rare name before. J. M. Barrie became the Llewelyn-Davies boys' guardian and trustee after their father's death in 1907 and unofficially adopted them when their mother died in 1910.

Peter Pan made Barrie a beloved celebrity in England and beyond. He became a baronet in 1913 and received the Order of Merit in 1922. Later, he became the lord rector of St. Andrew's University and the chancellor of Edinburgh University. J. M. Barrie died on 3 June 1937.

Though his children's books brought joy to many, J. M. Barrie was in many ways a tortured figure whose tragic childhood never left him. Some biographers have speculated that Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, was a veiled expression of Barrie's own predicament, as he never grew past five feet (1.5 meters). Others believe that Peter Pan may refer to Barrie's brother David, who died as a child. J. M. Barrie also suffered the death of two of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, George at the age of 22 on the World War I front, and Michael in a swimming accident and possible suicide just a month before his 21st birthday. However, he remained close to the other Llewelyn-Davies and had continued success as a playwright and author.

Works

    * Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
    * Better Dead (1888)
    * A Window in Thrums (1889)
    * My Lady Nicotine (1890), republished in 1926 with subtitle A Study in Smoke
    * The Little Minister (1891)
    * Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood (1896)
    * Margaret Ogilvy (1896)
    * Tommy and Grizel (1900)
    * Quality Street (1901)
    * The Admirable Crichton (1902)
    * The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington Gardens (1902)
    * Peter Pan (1904)
    * Pantaloon (1905)
    * Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
    * What Every Woman Knows (1906)
    * When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought (1908)
    * Peter and Wendy (novel) (1911)
    * Dear Brutus (1917)
    * Echoes of the War (1918)
    * The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), basis for the movie Seven Days Leave (1930), starring Gary Cooper
    * A New World (1918)
    * Barbara's Wedding (1918)
    * A Well-Remembered Voice (1918)
    * Alice Sit-By-The-Fire (1919)
    * Mary Rose (1920)
    * Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932)
    * The Boy David (1936)
    * story treatment for film As You Like It (1936)
    * Stories by English Authors: London (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
    * Stories by English Authors: Scotland (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
    * The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford (preface)

http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/james-barrie.jpg

http://cravenhillgardens.org/stock/chg-plaque-jmbarrie-360.jpg
On a house opposite Kensington Gardens in London.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/437080380_8e83cb62bf.jpg
The Peter Pan staute in Kensington Gardens in London.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:43 am


Nope, just "Gilbert"   :D


;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:44 am


British Person of the Day: J. M. Barrie 

Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, the son of a weaver. He was the ninth of ten children. Barrie's childhood was difficult, as his father David was distant to the point of neglect and his mother Margaret, though loving, became severely depressed after the death of her son David in 1867. Barrie craved his mother's attention, but had difficulty breaking through her grief. He wrote a glowing biography of Margaret after her death in 1896, and his relationship with her would remain an influence throughout his life. Conversely, Barrie rarely mentioned his father in his writings.

Barrie left home to attend school at the age of 13. He became interested in theatre and literature early on and was a diligent student, earning his Master's degree from Dumfries Academy at the University of Edinburgh in 1882. Barrie worked briefly as a journalist before moving to London, where he wrote freelance, in 1885. Three years later, he published his first novel, a humorous work entitled Better Dead. Many novels and plays followed, some using Barrie's Scottish background as inspiration. His first play, The Little Minister, began as a book in 1891 and was dramatized to great success in 1897.

Barrie's friends and acquaintances read as a Who's Who of Victorian literature, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, and A. A. Milne. Barrie married actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but their marriage was childless and allegedly unconsummated and ended in divorce in 1909 following Mary's infidelity. Barrie first met the Llewelyn-Davies, who would become his surrogate family, in Kensington Gardens in 1897.

Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies and the stories he made up for the boys inspired the first literary incarnation of Peter Pan, in the 1901 adult novel The Little White Bird. The character was named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies and the Greek god Pan. Later, the story evolved into a stage play premiering in December 1904 and finally emerged as the 1911 novel. The book's heroine, Wendy, takes her name from a nickname of Barrie's, and the novel was responsible for popularizing the name for girls, as it was a quite a rare name before. J. M. Barrie became the Llewelyn-Davies boys' guardian and trustee after their father's death in 1907 and unofficially adopted them when their mother died in 1910.

Peter Pan made Barrie a beloved celebrity in England and beyond. He became a baronet in 1913 and received the Order of Merit in 1922. Later, he became the lord rector of St. Andrew's University and the chancellor of Edinburgh University. J. M. Barrie died on 3 June 1937.

Though his children's books brought joy to many, J. M. Barrie was in many ways a tortured figure whose tragic childhood never left him. Some biographers have speculated that Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, was a veiled expression of Barrie's own predicament, as he never grew past five feet (1.5 meters). Others believe that Peter Pan may refer to Barrie's brother David, who died as a child. J. M. Barrie also suffered the death of two of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, George at the age of 22 on the World War I front, and Michael in a swimming accident and possible suicide just a month before his 21st birthday. However, he remained close to the other Llewelyn-Davies and had continued success as a playwright and author.

Works

    * Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
    * Better Dead (1888)
    * A Window in Thrums (1889)
    * My Lady Nicotine (1890), republished in 1926 with subtitle A Study in Smoke
    * The Little Minister (1891)
    * Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood (1896)
    * Margaret Ogilvy (1896)
    * Tommy and Grizel (1900)
    * Quality Street (1901)
    * The Admirable Crichton (1902)
    * The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington Gardens (1902)
    * Peter Pan (1904)
    * Pantaloon (1905)
    * Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
    * What Every Woman Knows (1906)
    * When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought (1908)
    * Peter and Wendy (novel) (1911)
    * Dear Brutus (1917)
    * Echoes of the War (1918)
    * The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), basis for the movie Seven Days Leave (1930), starring Gary Cooper
    * A New World (1918)
    * Barbara's Wedding (1918)
    * A Well-Remembered Voice (1918)
    * Alice Sit-By-The-Fire (1919)
    * Mary Rose (1920)
    * Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932)
    * The Boy David (1936)
    * story treatment for film As You Like It (1936)
    * Stories by English Authors: London (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
    * Stories by English Authors: Scotland (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
    * The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford (preface)

http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/james-barrie.jpg

http://cravenhillgardens.org/stock/chg-plaque-jmbarrie-360.jpg
On a house opposite Kensington Gardens in London.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/437080380_8e83cb62bf.jpg
The Peter Pan staute in Kensington Gardens in London.


Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:49 am

The word of the day...Woman
A woman (irregular plural: women) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman  is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv71/mycircleoflife/Thewomen-movie.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Dr_Dozzy/Gamer%20Army/women.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii310/MCART1131/women-jazz-web2.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz315/lulusback/Laura/KarensPictures034.jpg
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af92/H-DAtlanta/womenriders2.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/markrossiter/Varanasi%201989/Varanasicrouchingwomen.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:51 am

The person born on this day...Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE (born 9 May 1936) is a British Labour politician and former actress, who is the Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn, a constituency first fought in the 2010 general election, and was re-elected in the closest result of the entire election due to the Tories targeting her new constituency. She retained her seat with a majority of 42 votes.  She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate, having been first elected in 1992. As an actress, she won Academy Awards for Women in Love and A Touch of Class. ackson was born in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Cheshire  (now Merseyside) where her father was a bricklayer.
Education

Jackson was educated at the West Kirby County Grammar School for Girls, then worked for two years in a Boots chemist shop, before studying at RADA in Bloomsbury.
Career in acting

Having studied acting at RADA, Jackson made her professional stage debut in Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables in 1957, and her film debut in This Sporting Life in 1963. Subsequently a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for four years, she worked for director Peter Brook in several productions, including of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade as Charlotte Corday. Jackson also appeared in the film version.
Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class.

Fame came with Jackson's starring role in the controversial Women in Love (1969) for which she won her first Academy Award for Best Actress, and another controversial role as Tchaikovsky's nymphomaniac wife in Ken Russell's The Music Lovers added to her image of being prepared to do almost anything for her art. She confirmed this by having her head shaved in order to play Queen Elizabeth I of England in the BBC's 1971 blockbuster serial, Elizabeth R. She received two Emmy Awards for her work in this series. She also appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971, playing Cleopatra in a comedy sketch. This led to many other appearances on the show, including the Christmas Shows of 1971 and 1972.

Filmmaker Melvin Frank saw her comedic potential and offered her the lead female role in his next project. She earned a second Academy Award for Best Actress for A Touch of Class (1973). Eric and Ernie apparently sent her a telegram saying: 'Stick with us kid, and we'll get you a third!'. She also portrayed Queen Elizabeth in a film about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. She has been recognized as one of Britain's leading actresses. In 1978, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

The Glenda Jackson Theatre, on the Borough Road campus of Wirral Metropolitan College, Birkenhead, was named after her in 1983. It closed in 2003, and was demolished by Wirral Council, to make way for a new housing estate, in 2004.
Career in politics

Jackson retired from acting in order to enter the House of Commons in the 1992 general election as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate. After the 1997 general election, she was appointed a junior minister in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, with responsibility for London Transport, a post she resigned before an attempt to be nominated as the Labour Party candidate for the election of the first Mayor of London in 2000. The nomination was eventually won by Frank Dobson, who lost the election to Ken Livingstone, the independent candidate. In the 2005 general election, she received 14,615 votes, representing 38.29% of the votes cast in the constituency.

As a high profile backbencher she became a regular critic of Blair over his plans to introduce top-up fees in England. She also called for him to resign following the Judicial Enquiry by Lord Hutton in 2003 surrounding the reasons for going to war in Iraq and the death of government adviser Dr. David Kelly. Jackson was generally considered to be a traditional left-winger, often disagreeing with the dominant Blairite governing Third Way faction in the Labour Party.

By October 2005, her problems with Blair's leadership swelled to a point where she threatened to challenge the Prime Minister as a stalking horse candidate in a leadership contest if he didn't stand down within a reasonable amount of time. On 31 October 2006, Jackson was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.

Her constituency boundaries changed for the 2010 general election. The Gospel Oak and Highgate wards became part of Holborn & St Pancras, and the new Hampstead & Kilburn ward will switched into Brent to include Brondesbury, Kilburn and Queens Park wards (from the old Brent East and Brent South seats). On 6 May 2010, Jackson was elected as the MP for the new Hampstead and Kilburn constituency with a margin of 42 votes over Conservative Christopher Philp and Liberal Democrat Edward Fordham. Due to both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats targeting the seat highly, she had the closest result and smallest majority of any MP in the 2010 election.

She has one son by her ex-husband, Roy Hodges, whom she married in 1958 and divorced in 1976.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1963 This Sporting Life Singer at party Uncredited
1967 Benefit of the Doubt Bit part
Marat/Sade Inmate portraying Charlotte Corday
1968 Tell Me Lies Guest
The Wednesday Play Julie Let's Murder Vivaldi
Negatives Vivien
1969 Women in Love Gudrun Brangwen Academy Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
ITV Saturday Night Theatre Marina Palek Salve Regina
1970 Play of the Month Howards End
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
The Music Lovers Nina (Antonina Milyukova)
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Alex Greville BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Boy Friend Rita Uncredited
Mary, Queen of Scots Queen Elizabeth I David di Donatello Special David
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Elizabeth R Queen Elizabeth I TV mini-series
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1972 The Triple Echo Alice
1973 A Touch of Class Vicki Allessio Academy Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Prize San Sebastián for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
A Bequest to the Nation Lady Hamilton
1974 The Maids Solange
1975 The Romantic Englishwoman Elizabeth Fielding
Il Sorriso del grande tentatore Sister Geraldine
Hedda Hedda Gabler David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Incredible Sarah Sarah Bernhardt Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1977 Nasty Habits Sister Alexandra
1978 House Calls Ann Atkinson
Stevie Stevie Smith Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Class of Miss MacMichael Conor MacMichael
1979 Lost and Found Tricia
1980 Hopscotch Isobel von Schonenberg
Health Isabella Garnell
1981 The Patricia Neal Story Patricia Neal TV
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1982 The Return of the Soldier Margaret Grey
Giro City Sophie
1984 Sakharov Yelena Bonner (Sakharova) TV
CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1985 Turtle Diary Neaera Duncan
1987 Beyond Therapy Charlotte
Business as Usual Babs Flynn
1988 Strange Interlude Nina Leeds TV
Salome's Last Dance Herodias / Lady Alice
1989 The Rainbow Anna Brangwen
King of the Wind Queen Caroline
Doombeach Miss
1990 T-Bag's Christmas Ding Dong Vanity Bag TV
The Real Story of Humpty Dumpty Glitch the Witch (voice)
1991 The House of Bernarda Alba Bernarda Alba TV
A Murder of Quality Ailsa Brimley TV
1992 The Secret Life of Arnold Bax Harriet Cohen TV
1994 A Wave of Passion: The Life of Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Kollontai TV (voice)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/BathshebaSunrise/GlendaJackson.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d25/bookwriter/df.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/09/10 at 5:57 am


The person born on this day...Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE (born 9 May 1936) is a British Labour politician and former actress, who is the Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn, a constituency first fought in the 2010 general election, and was re-elected in the closest result of the entire election due to the Tories targeting her new constituency. She retained her seat with a majority of 42 votes.  She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate, having been first elected in 1992. As an actress, she won Academy Awards for Women in Love and A Touch of Class. ackson was born in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Cheshire  (now Merseyside) where her father was a bricklayer.
Education

Jackson was educated at the West Kirby County Grammar School for Girls, then worked for two years in a Boots chemist shop, before studying at RADA in Bloomsbury.
Career in acting

Having studied acting at RADA, Jackson made her professional stage debut in Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables in 1957, and her film debut in This Sporting Life in 1963. Subsequently a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for four years, she worked for director Peter Brook in several productions, including of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade as Charlotte Corday. Jackson also appeared in the film version.
Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class.

Fame came with Jackson's starring role in the controversial Women in Love (1969) for which she won her first Academy Award for Best Actress, and another controversial role as Tchaikovsky's nymphomaniac wife in Ken Russell's The Music Lovers added to her image of being prepared to do almost anything for her art. She confirmed this by having her head shaved in order to play Queen Elizabeth I of England in the BBC's 1971 blockbuster serial, Elizabeth R. She received two Emmy Awards for her work in this series. She also appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971, playing Cleopatra in a comedy sketch. This led to many other appearances on the show, including the Christmas Shows of 1971 and 1972.

Filmmaker Melvin Frank saw her comedic potential and offered her the lead female role in his next project. She earned a second Academy Award for Best Actress for A Touch of Class (1973). Eric and Ernie apparently sent her a telegram saying: 'Stick with us kid, and we'll get you a third!'. She also portrayed Queen Elizabeth in a film about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. She has been recognized as one of Britain's leading actresses. In 1978, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

The Glenda Jackson Theatre, on the Borough Road campus of Wirral Metropolitan College, Birkenhead, was named after her in 1983. It closed in 2003, and was demolished by Wirral Council, to make way for a new housing estate, in 2004.
Career in politics

Jackson retired from acting in order to enter the House of Commons in the 1992 general election as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate. After the 1997 general election, she was appointed a junior minister in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, with responsibility for London Transport, a post she resigned before an attempt to be nominated as the Labour Party candidate for the election of the first Mayor of London in 2000. The nomination was eventually won by Frank Dobson, who lost the election to Ken Livingstone, the independent candidate. In the 2005 general election, she received 14,615 votes, representing 38.29% of the votes cast in the constituency.

As a high profile backbencher she became a regular critic of Blair over his plans to introduce top-up fees in England. She also called for him to resign following the Judicial Enquiry by Lord Hutton in 2003 surrounding the reasons for going to war in Iraq and the death of government adviser Dr. David Kelly. Jackson was generally considered to be a traditional left-winger, often disagreeing with the dominant Blairite governing Third Way faction in the Labour Party.

By October 2005, her problems with Blair's leadership swelled to a point where she threatened to challenge the Prime Minister as a stalking horse candidate in a leadership contest if he didn't stand down within a reasonable amount of time. On 31 October 2006, Jackson was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.

Her constituency boundaries changed for the 2010 general election. The Gospel Oak and Highgate wards became part of Holborn & St Pancras, and the new Hampstead & Kilburn ward will switched into Brent to include Brondesbury, Kilburn and Queens Park wards (from the old Brent East and Brent South seats). On 6 May 2010, Jackson was elected as the MP for the new Hampstead and Kilburn constituency with a margin of 42 votes over Conservative Christopher Philp and Liberal Democrat Edward Fordham. Due to both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats targeting the seat highly, she had the closest result and smallest majority of any MP in the 2010 election.

She has one son by her ex-husband, Roy Hodges, whom she married in 1958 and divorced in 1976.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1963 This Sporting Life Singer at party Uncredited
1967 Benefit of the Doubt Bit part
Marat/Sade Inmate portraying Charlotte Corday
1968 Tell Me Lies Guest
The Wednesday Play Julie Let's Murder Vivaldi
Negatives Vivien
1969 Women in Love Gudrun Brangwen Academy Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
ITV Saturday Night Theatre Marina Palek Salve Regina
1970 Play of the Month Howards End
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
The Music Lovers Nina (Antonina Milyukova)
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Alex Greville BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Boy Friend Rita Uncredited
Mary, Queen of Scots Queen Elizabeth I David di Donatello Special David
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Elizabeth R Queen Elizabeth I TV mini-series
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1972 The Triple Echo Alice
1973 A Touch of Class Vicki Allessio Academy Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Prize San Sebastián for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
A Bequest to the Nation Lady Hamilton
1974 The Maids Solange
1975 The Romantic Englishwoman Elizabeth Fielding
Il Sorriso del grande tentatore Sister Geraldine
Hedda Hedda Gabler David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Incredible Sarah Sarah Bernhardt Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1977 Nasty Habits Sister Alexandra
1978 House Calls Ann Atkinson
Stevie Stevie Smith Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Class of Miss MacMichael Conor MacMichael
1979 Lost and Found Tricia
1980 Hopscotch Isobel von Schonenberg
Health Isabella Garnell
1981 The Patricia Neal Story Patricia Neal TV
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1982 The Return of the Soldier Margaret Grey
Giro City Sophie
1984 Sakharov Yelena Bonner (Sakharova) TV
CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1985 Turtle Diary Neaera Duncan
1987 Beyond Therapy Charlotte
Business as Usual Babs Flynn
1988 Strange Interlude Nina Leeds TV
Salome's Last Dance Herodias / Lady Alice
1989 The Rainbow Anna Brangwen
King of the Wind Queen Caroline
Doombeach Miss
1990 T-Bag's Christmas Ding Dong Vanity Bag TV
The Real Story of Humpty Dumpty Glitch the Witch (voice)
1991 The House of Bernarda Alba Bernarda Alba TV
A Murder of Quality Ailsa Brimley TV
1992 The Secret Life of Arnold Bax Harriet Cohen TV
1994 A Wave of Passion: The Life of Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Kollontai TV (voice)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/BathshebaSunrise/GlendaJackson.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d25/bookwriter/df.jpg
I know she won her constituency vote, but did not realise with a margin of 42 votes, that was close!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:57 am

The person who died on this day...Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American film actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. (1950). He also co-starred with Richard Rust in the NBC  legal drama Sam Benedict, which aired during the 1962-1963 television season.
Born in New York, New York, O'Brien made his film debut in 1938, and gradually built a career as a highly regarded supporting actor. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces and appeared in the Air Forces' Broadway play and film Winged Victory.

He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a harried publicity agent in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and was also nominated for his role as an alcoholic U.S. senator in Seven Days in May (1964). Prior to that, O'Brien had an acclaimed role in 1950's D.O.A. as a poisoned man who sets out to find his own murderer before he dies.

His other notable films include The Killers (1946), White Heat (1949), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Longest Day (1962), Fantastic Voyage (1966), and The Wild Bunch (1969).

From 1950 to 1952, O'Brien starred in the radio drama "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar". He appeared extensively in television, including the 1957 live 90-minute broadcast on Playhouse 90 of The Comedian, a drama written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer in which Mickey Rooney portrays a television comedian while O'Brien plays a writer driven to the brink of insanity.

In the 1957-1958 television season, O'Brien guest-starred three times in Harbor Command, Wendell Corey's syndicated drama about the United States Coast Guard. From 1959-1960, O'Brien portrayed the title role in the syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight, the story of a New York City actor-turned-private detective. Two years after Johnny Midnight, he was cast as lawyer Sam Benedict.

O'Brien had roles on many television series, including an appearance on October 20, 1961, in the episode "The Invisible Government," along with Felicia Farr, in ABC's Target: The Corruptors!. He played Buck Denholt in the 1964 episode entitled "The Color of Sunset" on NBC's medical drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour starring Ralph Bellamy and Jack Ging. He also appeared as Roger Conning in the 1964 episode "Tide of Darkness" on the ABC drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point, starring Paul Richards.

In the mid-1960s, O'Brien co-starred with Roger Mobley and Harvey Korman in the "Gallegher" episodes of NBC's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
Personal life

He was divorced from actresses Nancy Kelly and Olga San Juan. San Juan was the mother of his three children, including television producer Bridget O'Brien and actors Maria O'Brien and Brendan O'Brien.

He died in Inglewood, California, of Alzheimer's disease and was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Edmond O'Brien has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1725 Vine Street, and a second star at 6523 Hollywood Blvd. for his contribution to the television industry.
Filmography

   * Prison Break (1938) (extra role)
   * The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
   * A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (1941)
   * Parachute Battalion (1941)
   * Obliging Young Lady (1942)
   * Powder Town (1942)
   * The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)
   * Winged Victory (1944)
   * The Killers (1946)
   * The Web (1947)
   * A Double Life (1947)
   * Another Part of the Forest (1948)
   * For the Love of Mary (1948)
   * Fighter Squadron (1948)
   * An Act of Murder (1948)
   * Task Force (1949) (voice)
   * White Heat (1949)
   * Backfire (1950)
   * D.O.A. (1950)
   * 711 Ocean Drive (1950)
   * Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
   * The Admiral Was a Lady (1950)
   * The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951)
   * Two of a Kind (1951)
   * Warpath (1951)
   * The Greatest Show on Earth (1952; unbilled cameo appearance)
   * Denver and Rio Grande (1952)
   * The Turning Point (1952)
   * Man in the Dark (1953)
   * Cow Country (1953)
   * The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
   * Julius Caesar (1953)
   * China Venture (1953)
   * The Bigamist (1953)
   * Shield for Murder (1954)



   * The Shanghai Story (1954)
   * The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
   * Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
   * D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)
   * A Cry in the Night (1956)
   * 1984 (1956)
   * The Rack (1956)
   * The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
   * The Big Land (1957)
   * Stopover Tokyo (1957)
   * The World Was His Jury (1958)
   * Sing, Boy, Sing (1958)
   * L’ Ambitieuse (1959)
   * Up Periscope (1959)
   * The Last Voyage (1960)
   * The 3rd Voice (1960)
   * The Great Impostor (1961)
   * Man-Trap (1961)
   * Moon Pilot (1962)
   * The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
   * Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
   * The Longest Day (1962)
   * Seven Days in May (1964)
   * Rio Conchos (1964)
   * Sylvia (1965)
   * Synanon (1965)
   * Fantastic Voyage (1966)
   * Peau d'espion (1967)
   * Le Vicomte règle ses comptes (1967)
   * The Wild Bunch (1969)
   * The Love God? (1969)
   * Dream No Evil (1970)
   * The Other Side of the Wind (1972)
   * They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
   * Lucky Luciano (1974)
   * 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:59 am


I know she won her constituency vote, but did not realise with a margin of 42 votes, that was close!

I never knew till now that she ran for office.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/09/10 at 7:00 am


The word of the day...Woman
A woman (irregular plural: women) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman  is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv71/mycircleoflife/Thewomen-movie.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Dr_Dozzy/Gamer%20Army/women.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii310/MCART1131/women-jazz-web2.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz315/lulusback/Laura/KarensPictures034.jpg
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af92/H-DAtlanta/womenriders2.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/markrossiter/Varanasi%201989/Varanasicrouchingwomen.jpg




Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 8:34 am


Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman.

Great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/09/10 at 12:25 pm


British Person of the Day: J. M. Barrie 

Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, the son of a weaver. He was the ninth of ten children. Barrie's childhood was difficult, as his father David was distant to the point of neglect and his mother Margaret, though loving, became severely depressed after the death of her son David in 1867. Barrie craved his mother's attention, but had difficulty breaking through her grief. He wrote a glowing biography of Margaret after her death in 1896, and his relationship with her would remain an influence throughout his life. Conversely, Barrie rarely mentioned his father in his writings.

Barrie left home to attend school at the age of 13. He became interested in theatre and literature early on and was a diligent student, earning his Master's degree from Dumfries Academy at the University of Edinburgh in 1882. Barrie worked briefly as a journalist before moving to London, where he wrote freelance, in 1885. Three years later, he published his first novel, a humorous work entitled Better Dead. Many novels and plays followed, some using Barrie's Scottish background as inspiration. His first play, The Little Minister, began as a book in 1891 and was dramatized to great success in 1897.

Barrie's friends and acquaintances read as a Who's Who of Victorian literature, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, and A. A. Milne. Barrie married actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but their marriage was childless and allegedly unconsummated and ended in divorce in 1909 following Mary's infidelity. Barrie first met the Llewelyn-Davies, who would become his surrogate family, in Kensington Gardens in 1897.

Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies and the stories he made up for the boys inspired the first literary incarnation of Peter Pan, in the 1901 adult novel The Little White Bird. The character was named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies and the Greek god Pan. Later, the story evolved into a stage play premiering in December 1904 and finally emerged as the 1911 novel. The book's heroine, Wendy, takes her name from a nickname of Barrie's, and the novel was responsible for popularizing the name for girls, as it was a quite a rare name before. J. M. Barrie became the Llewelyn-Davies boys' guardian and trustee after their father's death in 1907 and unofficially adopted them when their mother died in 1910.

Peter Pan made Barrie a beloved celebrity in England and beyond. He became a baronet in 1913 and received the Order of Merit in 1922. Later, he became the lord rector of St. Andrew's University and the chancellor of Edinburgh University. J. M. Barrie died on 3 June 1937.

Though his children's books brought joy to many, J. M. Barrie was in many ways a tortured figure whose tragic childhood never left him. Some biographers have speculated that Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, was a veiled expression of Barrie's own predicament, as he never grew past five feet (1.5 meters). Others believe that Peter Pan may refer to Barrie's brother David, who died as a child. J. M. Barrie also suffered the death of two of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, George at the age of 22 on the World War I front, and Michael in a swimming accident and possible suicide just a month before his 21st birthday. However, he remained close to the other Llewelyn-Davies and had continued success as a playwright and author.

Works

    * Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
    * Better Dead (1888)
    * A Window in Thrums (1889)
    * My Lady Nicotine (1890), republished in 1926 with subtitle A Study in Smoke
    * The Little Minister (1891)
    * Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood (1896)
    * Margaret Ogilvy (1896)
    * Tommy and Grizel (1900)
    * Quality Street (1901)
    * The Admirable Crichton (1902)
    * The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington Gardens (1902)
    * Peter Pan (1904)
    * Pantaloon (1905)
    * Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
    * What Every Woman Knows (1906)
    * When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought (1908)
    * Peter and Wendy (novel) (1911)
    * Dear Brutus (1917)
    * Echoes of the War (1918)
    * The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), basis for the movie Seven Days Leave (1930), starring Gary Cooper
    * A New World (1918)
    * Barbara's Wedding (1918)
    * A Well-Remembered Voice (1918)
    * Alice Sit-By-The-Fire (1919)
    * Mary Rose (1920)
    * Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932)
    * The Boy David (1936)
    * story treatment for film As You Like It (1936)
    * Stories by English Authors: London (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
    * Stories by English Authors: Scotland (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
    * The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford (preface)

http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/james-barrie.jpg

http://cravenhillgardens.org/stock/chg-plaque-jmbarrie-360.jpg
On a house opposite Kensington Gardens in London.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/437080380_8e83cb62bf.jpg
The Peter Pan staute in Kensington Gardens in London.




I will always have a special place in my heart for Peter Pan. On my 8th birthday, there was a school trip to see the play (which a girl from our school played Michael. ) My mother was one of the chaperons. I didn't have my permission slip and made a comment to my teacher about not having it with my mother standing right there. My teacher said, "I think we can let it slide this time."

After the show, my class ate lunch outside (a beautiful spring day). I had to go to the little girls room and my teacher gave me the trash to dump on my way. Before I could get back outside, half my class came up to me and told me that my teacher wanted to see me. They made it sound so urgent and I wondered if I was in trouble. When I went back outside, there was a birthday cake for me.  :)  It turned out to be one of the best birthdays I had. Oh yeah, one of my gifts that year was a picture book of (what else?) Peter Pan.


I once wrote a children's story (that I never did have published). In the story, there is one boy who is referred to Tinkerbell. When I was contemplating having it published, I looked into royalties on it. After doing some research, I found out that the royalties for Peter Pan are owned by The Great Ormond Street Hospital which were given to them by Barrie before his death and was confirmed after.

A few years back, they were seeking someone to write a sequel. They found Geraldine McCaughrean who wrote Peter Pan in Scarlet which was published in 2004.


http://www.gosh.org/peterpan/ 



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/09/10 at 12:30 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBnxqEVKlk




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/09/10 at 1:48 pm

Wow,Helen Reddy has a website.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 8:44 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBnxqEVKlk




Cat

Another great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 5:46 am

The word of the day...Humanitarian
a person promoting human welfare and social reform
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd39/EXMRSRICE/diana12.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa135/StandWithUs/humanitarian.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z257/JCoscino/Humanitarian.jpg
http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj400/steverfee/image-1.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i185/itsmynature/humanitarian.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r148/lindseypogue/angelina-joliehumanitarian.jpg
http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx266/GATOmedals/medals/humanitarianmedal.png
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t279/chernwarner/Humanitarian.jpg
http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc341/RajAhten_2008/610x3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 5:49 am

The person born on this day...Bono
Paul David Hewson, KBE (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer and musician, best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2.  Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes.  During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone.  As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.

Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organized and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticized for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time, among other awards and nominations.
On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.

The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it.'" When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.

Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.
Bono playing guitar on the U2 360° Tour.

During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fudgeing brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fudge" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.
U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005.

In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all time.

Bono and his bandmates were criticized in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimize their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.
Collaborations

In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Zucchero, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and BB King. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of Slide Away as a duet with Hutchence.
Other endeavours

In 1992 Bono bought and hired people to refurbish Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel with The Edge, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel. The Edge and Bono have recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the upcoming Spider-Man Musical. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club. However, it was reported on 28 April 1998 that this was not the case with Bono saying "it's rubbish. I've been to a couple of games and I'm a fan, but I've got no financial connections."

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail". The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake", and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."

Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).

In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical Across the Universe. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's Entropy and 2000's Million Dollar Hotel, the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film Sightings of Bono, adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.
Humanitarian work
Bono with President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2006

Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organizations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.

In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organization Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.

Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organized by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organize the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.
Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006

Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.

In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, Time named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organized a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
Bono at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, 2008.

In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.

Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organization. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.

In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.

On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. Kipling's The White Man's Burden) that criticized stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for " the legitimate voices of Africa and a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy.

On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely canceled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.

The organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.

In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.
Bono after accepting the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007.

Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.

In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funneled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimize taxes."

Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."

In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had traveled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.

Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.

However, in 2009, Bono and his U2 bandmates came under fire for moving a substantial portion of their wealth to a tax haven in order to avoid paying Irish taxes on royalties.
See also

    * Timeline of U2
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae199/mjvacco02/The%20Great%20Bands/bono11.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e15/Rachel_1234/Bono.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 5:55 am

The person who died on this day...Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver (February 13, 1932 – May 10, 1990), stage name of Charlotte Gercke, was an Emmy-nominated American  actress, television director and aviator. Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child. In June 1949, Oliver joined her mother in Southern California, where Ruth Hale Oliver was in the process of becoming a well-known Hollywood astrologer. Oliver made a decision to embark upon a career as an actress and chose the stage name Susan Oliver.
Early career 1955-1958

By September 1949, using her new name, Oliver returned to the East Coast to begin drama studies at Swarthmore College, followed by professional training at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. After working in summer stock, regional theater and in unbilled bits in daytime and primetime TV shows and commercials, she made her first major television appearance playing a supporting role in the July 31, 1955 episode of the live drama series Goodyear TV Playhouse, and quickly progressed to leading parts in other shows.
Broadway

In 1957, Oliver did numerous TV shows and a starring role in a movie. She began the year with an important ingenue part, as the daughter of an 18th century Manhattan family, in her first Broadway play, Small War on Murray Hill, a Robert E. Sherwood comedy. Also in 1957, Oliver replaced Mary Ure as the female lead in the Broadway production of John Osborne's play, Look Back in Anger.
Television and films

The play's short run was immediately followed by larger roles in live TV plays on Kaiser Aluminum Hour, The United States Steel Hour and Matinee Theater. Oliver then went to Hollywood, where she appeared in the November 14, 1957 episode of Climax!, one of the few live drama series based on the West Coast, as well as in a number of filmed shows, including one of the first episodes of NBC's Wagon Train, aired on October 30, 1957. Three years later, she appeared with Brad Johnson in the November 9, 1960, Wagon Train episode entitled "The Cathy Eckhardt Story". She performed the title role of "Country Cousin," an installment of Father Knows Best broadcast on March 5, 1958. She appeared in an episode of John Cassavetes's 1959-1960 detective series, Johnny Staccato.

In July 1957, Oliver was chosen for the title role in her first motion picture, The Green-Eyed Blonde, a low-budget independent melodrama released by Warner Brothers in December on the bottom half of a double bill. It is the only motion picture on which Oliver received top billing.

At the close of the year, Oliver returned to New York, appearing in Robert Alan Aurthur's "The Thundering Wave," the December 12, 1957 broadcast of the prestigious live drama series Playhouse 90. Her performance in the John Frankenheimer-directed teleplay was well-received and she was invited to Playhouse 90 two more times, March 26, 1959 and January 21, 1960.

As the next year began, Oliver continued to be a part of the Golden Age of TV Drama, acting in the February 26, 1958 episode of Kraft Television Theatre and "The Woman Who Turned to Salt", the June 16, 1958 installment of Suspicion, an hour-long suspense anthology series produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Oliver's entry, directed by Robert Stevens, also starred Michael Rennie along with Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia.
Patate

In mid-1958, Oliver began rehearsals for a co-starring role in Patate, her second Broadway play. Its seven-performance run was even shorter than that of Small War on Murray Hill but won Oliver a Theatre World Award for "outstanding breakout performance." It was her last Broadway appearance.
West Coast career 1959-1980

Oliver spent the remainder of her career in Hollywood, going on to play in more than 100 television shows, five made-for-TV movies, as well as 12 theatrical features. She appeared in three more episodes of Wagon Train, four episodes of The Virginian, three episodes each of Adventures in Paradise, Route 66 and Dr. Kildare as well as "Never Wave Goodbye," a critically praised October 8–15, 1963 two-part episode of The Fugitive. On April 12, 1961 she appeared in an episode of The Naked City, "A Memory of Crying." That same year, she guest starred in the NBC anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

She was fourth-billed in her second theatrical feature, 1959's The Gene Krupa Story. Her next movie was the 1960 Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Butterfield 8.

The subsequent three-year period between 1960 and 1963 saw Oliver do more than 30 guest-star appearances in primetime series as well as a fourth feature film in the role of psychiatric nurse Cathy Clark in Warner Brothers 1963 hospital melodrama The Caretakers. Robert Stack, Polly Bergen and Joan Crawford were top-billed, along with two stars of the studio's 1960-62 TV detective series Surfside 6, Diane McBain and Van Williams. In the film's tangential plotline, however, Williams' doctor character is drawn to Oliver, as evidenced by their only scene together, a brief dinner sequence.

In 1963, Oliver guest starred on the Aaron Spelling series "Burke's Law" where she played Janet Fielding, the secretary of a murdered psychologist. She was lured from her desk by a phone call indicating her mother was involved in a car accident, which proved to be false.

At the end of 1963, Oliver filmed a guest-starring spot on the ABC western The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, which featured 12-year-old Kurt Russell in the title role. The 26-episode series about a westward-bound wagon train originally focused on the relationship between the boy and his free-spirited Scottish physician father (Dan O'Herlihy). The 13th episode, however, introduced the new wagonmaster Linc Murdock, played by Charles Bronson who, along with Russell's Jaimie, became the focus of the remaining storylines.

"The Day of the Reckoning", shown on March 15, 1964 as the show's final installment, presented Oliver as Maria, Murdock's former love. With an eye towards expanding it, the filming was done on color stock and additional scenes were lensed to bring the running time to 75 minutes, the pre-commercial length of a 90-minute TV "movie of the week". Entitled Guns of Diablo the "movie" has a cast composed of familiar TV faces from the 1960s and further betrays its origins by including the prominent commercial break fade-ins and outs typical of TV product from that era.

By January 1965, the film, with Bronson billed first, Oliver second and Russell third above the title, already had showings in West German cinemas and was later released to theaters in other parts of Europe as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America to capitalize on Bronson's eventual worldwide popularity.

In addition to six TV shows in 1964, Oliver had major roles in three features — Looking for Love , The Disorderly Orderly and, most prominently, Your Cheatin' Heart, in which she was second-billed as Audrey Williams, wife of country music legend Hank Williams, portrayed by George Hamilton. Hamilton, along with a number of other guest stars, also popped up in a cameo appearance in Looking for Love, a Connie Francis vehicle, with Oliver in support as Connie's friend.

The Frank Tashlin-directed Disorderly Orderly was another entry in the then-popular Jerry Lewis theatrical series. Amidst the wild slapstick, Oliver was cast in an oddly serious role as a beautiful former cheerleader from Lewis's high school days.
The Andy Griffith Show

One of Oliver's 1964 TV appearances was an infrequent outing on a sitcom. As in The Disorderly Orderly, her handful of comedy acting turns were played relatively straight, including an episode of CBS' top-rated The Andy Griffith Show called "Prisoner of Love." The storyline plays out almost entirely in the holding cell area of the Mayberry town jail.
The Twilight Zone

In the Rod Serling-scripted "People Are Alike All Over", the last of three entries helmed for the series by veteran movie director Mitchell Leisen, Roddy McDowall stars as Sam Conrad, an astronaut who lands on Mars, which he finds to be inhabited by a seemingly-human race, one of whom was played by Oliver. She is the romantic interest of McDowall's character.
Star Trek

Four years later, Oliver was cast in a storyline which evoked similar themes, "The Cage", the unsold 1964 pilot episode of Star Trek. In what could have been a pivotal role of her career, she portrays Vina, the lone survivor of a long-ago crash landing on the distant planet Talos IV, whose idealized image becomes the irresistible fulfillment of love for Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter). Although the network executives saw no fault with the ensemble cast, "The Cage" is believed to have been deemed "too cerebral" and, in a rare move, NBC asked for a revised pilot, made a year later with William Shatner as Captain Kirk.

Seen ten weeks after Star Trek's September premiere, the November 17–24, 1966 two-part episode "The Menagerie" incorporated, in re-edited form, about 80 percent of "The Cage"'s footage. "The Menagerie" was well-received by the science-fiction community and garnered a Hugo Award for dramatic presentation, although Oliver and Hunter were not recalled to film any additional revised scenes. Twenty-two years later, less than two years before Oliver's death (Jeffrey Hunter died in 1969), "The Cage" was finally telecast to a new generation of fans as a 1988 syndicated special, hosted by Gene Roddenberry. Finally, in the end-credit still images seen in early episodes of Star Trek, fans also take note of a striking visual of Oliver as the archetypal green-skinned "Orion Slave Girl". It is her portrayal that created a fair standard for other actresses in this type of Star Trek role.
Additional genre performances

Remaining with the genre, Oliver was seen in two episodes of Quinn Martin's Larry Cohen-created alien-impostors-on-Earth series, The Invaders, "The Ivy Curtain" (March 21, 1967) and "Inquisition" (March 26, 1968), as well as playing the unreliable associate of dwarf-like recurring villain mastermind Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn) in "The Night Dr. Loveless Died", the September 29, 1967 episode of The Wild Wild West. She also appeared in non-genre episodes of Thriller ("Choose a Victim", January 24, 1961, directed by Richard Carlson, the star of a number of 1950s sci-fi films, such as It Came from Outer Space) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (in the title role of "Annabel", November 1, 1962, scripted by Psycho's Robert Bloch from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, and directed by another actor, Paul Henreid.

In a brief footnote, twelve years after her Twilight Zone performance, Oliver was seen in one of the stories on the January 5, 1972 episode of the Rod Serling-hosted Night Gallery. In the 15-minute ghost tale "The Tune in Dan's Cafe", she is the unhappily-married wife of Pernell Roberts, as the couple experiences an emotional epiphany, triggered by the single song ("If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry", sung by Jerry Wallace) emanating from a cafeteria jukebox.
Final theatrical films

Oliver spent most of 1966 in the continuing role of the tragic Ann Howard on ABC's prime-time serial Peyton Place, and in 1967 had her a role in one of the first movies to portray the newly emerging counterculture, The Love-Ins. In the independently produced film, Richard Todd starred as a Timothy Leary-like professor who promotes himself into an LSD-advocating media star. He lures Oliver's character into his hallucinogenic world, impregnates and rebuffs her, causing her to suffer a breakdown. In response, her former lover, underground publisher James MacArthur, who has been supporting the demagogue in his paper, assassinates him at one of his mass rallies. Oliver's most memorable scene depicts her LSD "trip" in which she visualizes herself as "Alice in Wonderland". At the scene's abrupt conclusion, the image disintegrates as she tears off the remnants of her clothing. The sensational nature of the film caused it to be banned in the United Kingdom.

Oliver co-starred in three medium- to low-budget features released from 1968-69. She was one of two female leads in A Man Called Gannon, a western with Anthony Franciosa, which was a little-noticed remake of the 1955 Kirk Douglas vehicle Man Without a Star. It received spotty local distribution at the end of 1968 and into 1969.

The remaining two films, Change of Mind and The Monitors may be considered science fiction, although neither fits into the traditional definition of the genre. Change of Mind was filmed in Toronto by Robert Stevens, who had directed Oliver eleven years earlier in the episode of Suspicion. Despite the recently-found freedom of cinematic subject matter, the specter of implied miscegenation was still reflected in the prejudices of the period, thus consigning Mind to exploitation grindhouses upon its release on October 1, 1969.

Monitors, the last of the three titles, was released a week later, on October 8, 1969. The independently made, poorly distributed satire was filmed in Chicago by The Second City troupe and depicted derby-wearing, slogan-chanting aliens who pacify Earth "for its own good" by negating human emotions and turning America into a passive nation, which spends its time watching brainwashed celebrities appear in TV ads designed to perpetuate the regime. Guy Stockwell and Oliver starred as the leaders of an opposition underground dedicated to the overthrow of the ostensibly benevolent alien dictatorship. The numerous familiar faces in the film included Sherry Jackson, Larry Storch, Avery Schreiber, Keenan Wynn, Ed Begley and Peter Boyle, with "alien TV" cameo appearances by Alan Arkin, Adam Arkin, Xavier Cugat, Stubby Kaye, Jackie Vernon and even the gravelly voiced U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, who died a month before the film's release.
Carter's Army

At the start of the following decade, Oliver appeared in the first of her five made-for-TV-movies, all of which placed her in supporting roles. Carter's Army, co-scripted by Aaron Spelling, premiered January 27, 1970 as one of the entries on ABC's Tuesday night 90-minute Movie of the Week. Oliver, as the sole female member of the cast, appears in a 10-minute role as Anna, a war widow in 1944 Germany, helping captain Beau Carter (Stephen Boyd), a racially insensitive Southerner, and his all-black platoon capture a vital roadway over a dam. Following Oliver's controversial turn in Change of Mind, Carter's Army again (briefly) raises the flag of "forbidden" romance as Anna kisses the second-in-command, African-American lieutenant Wallace (Robert Hooks). Michael Weldon in his Psychotronic Video Guide write-up of the film's video version, Black Brigade, credits Oliver with "TV's first interracial kiss".

Third-billed in Carter's Army (after Boyd and Hooks), a year later Oliver fell to sixth (after Gene Barry, Lloyd Bridges, Diane Baker, Joseph Cotten and Sidney Blackmer) in her second made-for-TV film, NBC's Do You Take This Stranger?. The two-hour identity-switch suspenser, broadcast January 18, 1971, gave Oliver three scenes, but left most of the dramatics to the other cast members.
Emmy nomination

During 1975-76 she was a regular cast member of the soap opera Days of our Lives and received her only Emmy nomination (for "Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress") in the 3-hour October 25, 1976 NBC made-for-TV movie, Amelia Earhart. Playing Amelia's (Susan Clark) friend and mentor, aviatrix Neta Snook, was a natural for Oliver, a genuine flying enthusiast who piloted her own aircraft. The two were further connected by a near-birthdate — "Snookie" (as she is called in the film), 80 years old at the time of production, was born on February 14 (1896) to Oliver's February 13. Neta Snook, who ultimately continued past her 95th birthday, died on March 23, 1991, outlived Oliver by ten-and-a-half months.

Oliver's final three theatrical features were dispersed between 1974 and 1979. In the first, 1974's Ginger in the Morning, she appeared with another rarely-seen black hairdo (apparently not a wig, since her hair stylist received a separate credit). Monte Markham was billed first and Oliver second, but audiences first saw her 45 minutes into the 90-minute film, which gave its real star fourth billing: "and Sissy Spacek as Ginger."

Three years later, Oliver had a supporting role in a theatrical movie, an obscure Spanish-made item entitled Nido de viudas, which was barely shown in Los Angeles in December 1977 as Widow's Nest. Despite a cast which included Oscar winners Patricia Neal and Lila Kedrova, the film quickly disappeared and has remained obscure.

At the end of the 1970s, Oliver appeared in her last theatrically released motion picture. It was a reunion with her old friend Jerry Lewis in his self-directed comeback vehicle, Hardly Working, in which she was second-billed as Jerry's long-suffering sister. Following the pattern of her earlier dramatic turn in The Disorderly Orderly, this role was a straight one, as the better part of an unhappy comedy which sat on the shelf for over two years before receiving a perfunctory release in 1980-81.
Director

By the late 1970s, with acting assignments becoming scarcer, Oliver turned to part-time directing. In 1977, twenty-eight years after her early experiences in Japan, she wrote and directed Cowboysan, a short film which presents the fantasy scenario of a Japanese actor and actress playing leads in an American western.

Oliver also directed several TV episodes, including the October 25, 1982 installment of M*A*S*H and the December 4, 1983 entry of one of its sequel series, Trapper John, M.D., whose title character was her former Night Gallery co-star Pernell Roberts.
Late career

Oliver continued to act through the 1980s, playing supporting roles in her final two films, Tomorrow's Child and International Airport, both TV movies made for ABC. "Child," broadcast on March 22, 1982, was the second of two consecutive TV films about the then-sensational topic of surrogate motherhood (the first one, CBS' The Gift of Life was seen on March 16). "Airport," shown on May 25, 1985, was an all-star unsold pilot integrating multiple stories and characters into a plot-driven mix of suspense and danger at a giant airport. Produced by Aaron Spelling, it had most of the multi-star elements typical of his successful shows Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, which had already hosted Oliver in its January 24, 1981 episode.

In Oliver's last fully active year, she also appeared in the February 21, 1985 episode of Magnum, P.I. and two episodes of Murder, She Wrote, March 31 and December 1. The February 12, 1987 episode of Simon and Simon

The January 10, 1988 episode of the NBC domestic drama Our House and the November 6, 1988 episode of the syndicated horror anthology Freddy's Nightmares. In the "Nightmares" hour-long entry "Judy Miller, Come on Down," she appears in the second half-hour as a mysteriously gloomy maid who arrives at the young title character's home and reveals herself to "Judy" as seemingly her own gray-haired future self. In Oliver's final scene, she turns away from "Judy" and leaves the house, disappearing into the fog.
Susan Oliver
Aviator and author

After surviving a 1966 plane crash which almost took her life, Oliver co-piloted her Piper Comanche to victory in 1970 in the 2760-mile transcontinental race known as the "Powder Puff Derby", which resulted in her being named Pilot of the Year.

In 1967 she became the fourth woman to fly a single-engined aircraft solo across the Atlantic Ocean and the second to do it from New York City. She was attempting to fly to Moscow, her odyssey ended in Denmark after the government of the Soviet Union denied her permission to enter its air space. Oliver wrote about her aviation exploits and philosophy of life in an autobiography published in 1983 as Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey.
Death

A heavy smoker, Susan Oliver died from lung cancer in Woodland Hills, California, on May 10, 1990.

Her age at death was 58, but in the city of her birth, the New York Times obituary stated that she was 61 years old. Virtually all older editions of printed reference works have perpetuated outdated biographical details, giving her birth year as 1936 or 1937 although, according to the (relatively minor) Times obit, the actual year would have to be 1929.

As of the 2000s, the majority of biographical references have accepted 1932 as the most likely year. Additional details have been provided by the passenger manifest of the USAT General Daniel I. Sultan and Swarthmore College registration records. The manifest listed Charlotte Gercke as departing Yokohama, Japan, on May 28, 1949, and arriving in San Francisco on June 7. Her age on the manifest was given as 17, confirming the birth year as 1932. Swarthmore records also confirm this, showing that a student named Susan Oliver, born February 13, 1932, attended classes from September 1949 to May 1950
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/us/bbbbbbbbbbb.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f232/miss_minty/4th%20World/Visions/SusanOliver3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/10/10 at 6:43 am


The person born on this day...Bono
Paul David Hewson, KBE (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer and musician, best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2.  Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes.  During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone.  As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.

Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organized and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticized for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time, among other awards and nominations.
On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.

The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it.'" When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.

Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.
Bono playing guitar on the U2 360° Tour.

During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fudgeing brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fudge" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.
U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005.

In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all time.

Bono and his bandmates were criticized in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimize their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.
Collaborations

In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Zucchero, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and BB King. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of Slide Away as a duet with Hutchence.
Other endeavours

In 1992 Bono bought and hired people to refurbish Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel with The Edge, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel. The Edge and Bono have recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the upcoming Spider-Man Musical. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club. However, it was reported on 28 April 1998 that this was not the case with Bono saying "it's rubbish. I've been to a couple of games and I'm a fan, but I've got no financial connections."

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail". The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake", and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."

Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).

In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical Across the Universe. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's Entropy and 2000's Million Dollar Hotel, the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film Sightings of Bono, adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.
Humanitarian work
Bono with President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2006

Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organizations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.

In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organization Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.

Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organized by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organize the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.
Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006

Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.

In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, Time named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organized a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
Bono at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, 2008.

In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.

Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organization. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.

In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.

On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. Kipling's The White Man's Burden) that criticized stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for " the legitimate voices of Africa and a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy.

On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely canceled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.

The organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.

In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.
Bono after accepting the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007.

Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.

In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funneled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimize taxes."

Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."

In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had traveled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.

Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.

However, in 2009, Bono and his U2 bandmates came under fire for moving a substantial portion of their wealth to a tax haven in order to avoid paying Irish taxes on royalties.
See also

    * Timeline of U2
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae199/mjvacco02/The%20Great%20Bands/bono11.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e15/Rachel_1234/Bono.jpg



Bobo is everywhere.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 7:30 am



Bobo is everywhere.  :o

Bobo ;D  Bono is everywhere :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/10/10 at 6:34 pm


Bobo ;D  Bono is everywhere :)


Oh Snap,I mean Bono Sorry Ninny,I forgot I wrote Bobo.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 5:52 am

The word of the day...Parade
A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind. In Britain the term parade is usually reserved for either military parades or other occasions where participants march in formation; for celebratory occasions the word procession  is more usual. In the Canadian Forces the term also has several less formal connotations.

Protest demonstrations can also take the form of a parade, but in such cases are usually referred to as a march instead.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n60/reversebutcher/parade.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x155/brendabeharrell/Sweden/disneyland184.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e148/doktor_musak/BW005.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x155/brendabeharrell/Sweden/disneyland060.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x155/brendabeharrell/Sweden/disneyland053.jpg
http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv293/Brightest_Star99/mummersparade.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad351/mpersinger12/Pageants/Picture212.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff147/triton911bj/Mine/081.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn132/slherz05/outdoors042.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 5:59 am

The person born on this day...Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer  and lyricist  widely considered one of the greatest songwriters  in history.

His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous. The song sparked an international dance craze in places as far away as Russia, which also "flung itself into the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania." Over the years he was known for writing music and lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, with his aim being to "reach the heart of the average American" whom he saw as the "real soul of the country."

He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him "a legend" before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards. Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including "Easter Parade", "White Christmas", "Happy Holiday", "This is the Army, Mr. Jones", and "There's No Business Like Show Business". His Broadway musical and 1942 film, This is the Army, with Ronald Reagan, had Kate Smith singing Berlin's "God Bless America" which was first performed in 1938. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Celine Dion recorded it as a tribute, making it #1 on the charts.

Berlin's songs have reached the top of the charts 25 times and have been re-recorded countless times by singers including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney, Diana Ross, Bing Crosby, Rita Reys, Frankie Laine, Johnnie Ray, Al Jolson, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. Composer Douglas Moore sets Berlin apart from all other contemporary songwriters, and includes him instead with Stephen Foster, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg, as a "great American minstrel" – someone who has "caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe." Composer George Gershwin called him "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music - he is American music."
From this early position, Hamm writes, his "meteoric rise as a songwriter" in Tin Pan Alley and then on Broadway, began with his first world-famous hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band," in 1911. As a result of his instant notoriety, he was the feature performer later that year at Oscar Hammerstein's vaudeville house, where he introduced dozens of other songs to the audience. The New York Telegraph wrote a story about the event, reporting that a "delegation of two hundred of his friends from the pent and huddled East Side appeared... to see 'their boy.'" The news story added that "all the little writer could do was to finger the buttons on his coat while tears ran down his cheeks--in a vaudeville house!":ix

Music historian Richard Corliss, wrote about the song in a Time magazine profile of Berlin in 2001:

   "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911). It was a march, not a rag, and its savviest musicality comprised quotes from a bugle call and "Swanee River". But the tune, which revived the ragtime fervor that Scott Joplin had stoked a decade earlier, made Berlin a songwriting star. On its first release and subsequent releases, the song was consistently near the top of the charts: Bessie Smith, in 1927, and Louis Armstrong, in 1937; # 1 by Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell; Al Jolson, in 1947. Johnny Mercer in 1945, and Nellie Lutcher in 1948. Add Ray Charles's big-band version in 1959, and "Alexander" had a dozen hit versions in a bit under a half century.

Despite its success, the song was not initially recognized as a hit: at a private audition of the song to Broadway producer Jesse Lasky, Lasky’s response was uncertain, although he did put it in his “Folies” show. After a number of performances as an instrumental, the song did not impress audiences, and was soon dropped from the show’s score, causing Berlin to regard it as a “dead failure.” But later that year, after writing lyrics to the music, it played again in another Broadway Review, and Variety news weekly proclaimed the song "the musical sensation of the decade.":68 Composer George Gershwin, foreseeing its influence, said, "The first real American musical work is "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Berlin had shown us the way; it was now easier to attain our ideal.":117
Sparking a national dance craze
Enjoying early success circa 1911

Berlin was "flabbergasted," by the sudden international popularity of the song, and began to ask himself "Why? Why?" Berlin later wrote,

   And I got an answer. The melody... started the heels and shoulders of all America and a good section of Europe to rocking. The lyric, silly though it was, was fundamentally right.:69

Quotes- Irving Berlin once said, "Talent is only a starting point." He meant that, although he undisputably had talent, he would never have become famous if he hadn't made something of his talent.

"Watch Your Step"

Furia writes that the international success of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" gave ragtime "new life and sparked a national dance craze." Two dancers who expressed that craze were Irene and Vernon Castle. In 1914, Berlin wrote a ragtime revue, "Watch Your Step," which starred the couple and showcased their talents on stage. That musical revue became Berlin's first complete score and Furia notes that "its songs radiated musical and lyrical sophistication." Berlin's ragtime songs, he adds, had "quickly come to signify modernism, and Berlin caught the cultural struggle between Victorian gentility and the purveyors of liberation, indulgence, and leisure with songs such as "Play a Simple Melody." That particular song, according to Furia, also became the first of his famous "double" songs in which two different melodies and lyrics are counterpointed against one another.

Variety called it "The First Syncopated Musical," where the "sets and the girls were gorgeous." But most of the success or otherwise of the show was riding on the Berlin name, according to Whitcomb. He notes that Variety... marked the show as a "terrific hit" from opening night alone:

   Irving Berlin stands out like the Times building does in the Square. That youthful marvel of syncopated melody is proving things in 'Watch Your Step', firstly that he is not alone a rag composer, and that he is one of the greatest lyric writers America has ever produced.... Besides rags Berlin wrote a polka that was very pretty, and he intermingled ballads with trots, which, including the grand opera medley, gives 'Watch Your Step' all the kind of music there is.:173

Whitcomb also points out the irony that Russia, the country Berlin's family was forced to leave, flung itself into "the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania":

   ... like a display of medieval religious frenzy; some seemed to be doing a dance of death. Lady Diana Manners, at a London ball reviving the Age of Chivalry, was escorted by Prince Felix Yusupov. This young man, a recent Oxford undergraduate, had an impeccable Russian noble lineage: a descendant of Frederick of Prussia, he was heir to the largest estate in Russia, he would be richer than the Tsar. He was exquisite and heavily bejewelled, but Lady Diana was irritated by his 'wriggling around the ballroom like a demented worm, screaming for 'more ragtime and more champagne'.:183

Lady Diana Manners was apparently not alone in her dislike of ragtime. A newspaper clipping found in Berlin's scrapbook included an article titled, "Calls Ragtime Insanity Sign":

   "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a public menace.... The authority for these statements is Dr. Ludwig Gruener of Berlin, a German who has devoted twenty years' study to the criminally insane.... He says, 'Hysteria is the form of insanity that an abnormal love for ragtime seems to produce. It is as much a mental disease as acute mania—it has the same symptoms. When there is nothing done to check this form it produces idiocy'. He also stated that 90 percent of the inmates of the American asylums he has visited are abnormally fond of ragtime.:23

Simple and romantic ballads

In future years he made every effort to write lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, once stating:

   My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country. The highbrow is likely to be superficial, overtrained, supersensitive. The lowbrow is warped, subnormal. My public is the real people.

With Al Jolson, star of The Jazz Singer,
circa 1927

Berlin also created songs out of his own sadness. In 1912, he married Dorothy Goetz, the sister of songwriter E. Ray Goetz. She died six months later of typhoid fever contracted during their honeymoon in Havana. The song he wrote to express his grief, "When I Lost You," was his first ballad. It was an immediate popular hit and sold more than a million copies. In 1916, he collaborated with Victor Herbert on the score of "The Century Girl."

He began to realize that the slang of ragtime would be an "inappropriate idiom for serious romantic expression," and over the next few years would begin to adapt his style by writing more love songs. In 1915 he wrote the hit, "I Love a Piano," which was an erotic, but comical, ragtime love song (Read lyrics).

By 1918 he had written hundreds of songs, mostly topical, which enjoyed brief popularity. Many of the songs were for the new dances then appearing, such as the "grizzly bear," "chicken walk," or fox trot. After a Hawaiian dance craze began, he wrote "That Hula-Hula," and then did a string of southern songs, such as "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam." During this period he was creating a few new songs every week, including numerous rags and songs aimed at the various immigrant cultures arriving from Europe. Furia tells of a train trip Berlin was on where he decided to entertain the fellow passengers. Later on they asked him how he knew so many hit songs, and Berlin would modestly reply, "I wrote them.":53

One of the key songs that Berlin wrote in his transition from ragtime to lyrical ballads was "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," which was considered one of Berlin's "first big guns," according to historian Alec Wilder. The song was written for Ziegfeld's Follies of 1919 and became the musical's leading song. Its popularity was so great that it became the theme for all of Ziegfeld's revues, and later the theme song in the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld (Watch). Wilder puts it "on a level with Jerome Kern's "pure melodies," and in comparison with Berlin's earlier music, finds it "extraordinary that such a development in style and sophistication should have taken place in a single year.":53
World War I

On 1 April 1917 President Woodrow Wilson declared that America would enter World War I, and, as Whitcomb writes:

   The beleaguered Allies would be rescued from the evil Central Powers by a noble American game-plan and a barrel of morals.... The whistle was blown, the game was on. There must be no shirkers or doubters in the team. Americans must pull together as one man or else. Said President Wilson: 'Woe to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way in this day of high resolution!' Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, and, especially, German-Americans, must now be plain, straight-ahead Americans.

   Tin Pan Alley would do its duty and support the slogan at the time that "Music is essential to win the war." Berlin joined the effort and wrote, "For Your Country and My Country," adding "we must speak with the sword not the pen to show our appreciation to America for opening up her heart and welcoming every immigrant group." He then joined with George Meyer and his old colleague Edgar Leslie in a song that demanded an end to ethnicity: "Let's All Be Americans Now.":197

"Yip Yip Yaphank"

In 1917 Berlin was drafted into the army, and the news of his induction became headline news: "Army Takes Berlin!" one paper read. However, the army only wanted Berlin, now aged 30, to do what he knew best: to write songs of patriotism. Hence, while stationed at Camp Upton in New York, he composed an all-soldier musical revue titled "Yip Yip Yaphank," written to be patriotic tribute to the United States Army. By the following summer the show was taken to Broadway where it also included a number of hits, including "Mandy" and "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," which he performed himself. The shows earned $150,000 for a camp service center. One song he wrote for the show but decided not use, he would introduce twenty years later: "God Bless America."

According to Whitcomb, "at the grand finale, General Bell made a thank-you speech from his box, while Sergeant Berlin, on stage, declined to utter a word. Then, under orders from the War Department, Sergeant Berlin led the entire 300-person cast off the stage, marching them down the theater's aisles, singing 'We're on Our Way to France,' all to tumultuous applause. The cast carried off their little producer like he was victor ludorum." Berlin's mother, having seen her son perform for the first (and last) time in her life, was shocked. The soldier-actors continued out into the downtown street and up the plank to the waiting troop carrier. "Tin Pan Alley had joined hands with real life," writes Whitcomb.:199Watch
1920 to 1940

Berlin returned to Tin Pan Alley after the war and in 1921 created a partnership with Sam Harris to build the Music Box Theater. He maintained an interest in the theater throughout his life, and even in his last years was known to call the Shubert Organization, his partner, to check on the receipts. In its early years, the theater was a showcase for revues by Berlin. As theater owner, producer and composer, he looked after every detail of his shows, from the costumes and sets to the casting and musical arrangements.

According to Berlin biographer David Leopold, the theater, located at 239 West 45th St., was the only Broadway house built to accommodate the works of a songwriter. It was the home of Berlin's "Music Box Revue" from 1921 to 1925 and "As Thousands Cheer" in 1933 and today includes an exhibition devoted to Berlin in the lobby.
Various hit songs

By 1926, Berlin had written the scores to two editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and four "Music Box Revues." Life magazine called him the "Lullaby Kid," noting that "couples at country-club dances grew misty-eyed when the band went into "Always," because they were positive that Berlin had written it just for them. When they quarreled and parted in the crepuscular bitter-sweetness of the 1920s, it was Berlin who gave eloquence to their heartbreak by way of "What'll I Do" and "Remember" and "All Alone."

"What'll I Do?" (1924)

This ballad of love and longing, was a #1 hit for Paul Whiteman and had five other top-12 renditions in 1924. Twenty-four years later the song went to #22 for Nat Cole and #23 for Frank Sinatra.

"Always" (1925)

Written when he fell in love with Ellin Mackay who later became his wife. The song became two #1's (for Vincent Lopez and George Olsen) in its first incarnation. There were four more hit versions in 1944-45. In 1959 Sammy Turner took the song to #2 on the R&B chart. It became Patsy Cline's postmortem anthem and hit #18 on the country chart in 1980, 17 years after her death, and a tribute musical called "Patsy Cline ... Always," played a two-year Nashville run that ended in 1995.

Blue Skies" (1926)

Written after his first daughter's birth as a song just for her. In it he distilled his feelings about being married and a father for the first time: "Blue days, all of them gone; nothing but blue skies, from now on." #1 for Ben Selvin with five other hits in 1927, besides being the first song performed by Al Jolson in the first feature sound film, "The Jazz Singer that same year." In 1946 it returned to the top 10 on the charts with Count Basie and Benny Goodman. In 1978, Willie Nelson made the song a #1 country hit — 52 years after it was written.

"Marie" (1929)

A waltz-time hit became #2 by Rudy Vallee and in 1937 reached #1 with Tommy Dorsey. It was again in the charts in 1953 and a #15 for the Bachelors in 1965 – 36 years after its first appearance.

"Puttin' on the Ritz" (1930)

An instant standard with one of Berlin's most "intricately syncopated choruses," is associated with Fred Astaire, who danced to it in the 1946 film "Blue Skies." It was first sung by Harry Richman in 1930 and became a #1 hit, and in 1939 Clark Gable sang it in the movie "Idiot's Delight."

"Say It Isn't So" (1932)

Rudy Vallee performed it on his radio show and the song, it was a #1 hit for George Olsen and awarded top-10 positions with versions by Connee Boswell and Ozzie Nelson's band. In 1963 Aretha Franklin produced a single of the song in 1963 – 31 years later. Furia notes that when Rudy Vallee first introduced the song on his radio show, the "song not only became an overnight hit, it saved Vallee's marriage: The Vallees had planned to get a divorce, but after Vallee sang Berlin's romantic lyrics on the air, "both he and his wife dissolved in tears" and decided to stay together.

"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (1937)

Performed by Dick Powell in the 1937 film "On the Avenue." Later it had four top-12 versions, including Billie Holiday, and Les Brown, who took it to #1.
"God Bless America" (1938)
Singing "God Bless America" at the Pentagon memorial dedication, September 11, 2008

Written by Berlin twenty years earlier, he filed it away until 1938, when Kate Smith's manager asked Berlin if he had a patriotic song Smith might sing to mark the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day. It was "a simple plea for divine protection in a dark time — a plangent anthem in just 40 words," writes Corliss. It quickly became the second National Anthem after America entered World War II, and over the decades, has earned millions for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, to whom Berlin assigned all royalties. The phrase "God Bless America" was taken from Berlin's mother:

   While he was growing up on the Lower East Side, she would say "God bless America" often, to indicate that, without America, her family would have had no place to go. The Economist magazine wrote that by writing "God Bless America", Berlin was "producing a deep-felt paean to the country that had given him what he would have said was everything. It is a melody that still makes his fellow countrymen want to stand up and place their hands over their hearts."

On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, U.S. Senators and Congressmen stood on the Capitol steps and sang it after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Two nights later, when Broadway turned its lights back on, the casts of numerous shows led theatergoers in renditions of the same song.

Richard Corliss notes that the next day, at an official requiem at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., it was played by the U.S. Army Orchestra. The following Monday, to mark the reopening of the New York Stock Exchange, New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani joined traders in singing it. That evening, as major league baseball games resumed around the country it replaced "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as the theme song of the seventh-inning stretch. Over the following weeks, everyone — Celine Dion, Marc Anthony, New York City Police Department officer Daniel Rodriguez, the whole country — sang "God Bless America."

Describing the mood at the time and the significance of the song, Corliss wrote in Time magazine that December:

   In times of crisis, the nation loses its short-term cultural memory — puts aside idiot movie comics, suicidal rock lyrics, must-see reality TV and the pursuit of the moral triviality that is Gary Condit — and, like a senior citizen finding solace in the distant past, rekindles that old feeling. In pop culture, at least for a while, many Americans traded in cool pop culture for warm, sarcasm for sentiment, alienation for community. In the blink of a national tragedy, we went from jaded to nice, just like that.

The popularity of the song, when it was first introduced in 1938, was also related to its release near the end of the Depression which had gone on for nine years. As a result, one writer concludes that the song's introduction at that time "enshrines a strain of official patriotism intertwined with a religious faith that runs deep in the American psyche. Patriotic razzle-dazzle, sophisticated melancholy and humble sentiments: Berlin songs span the emotional terrain of America with a thoroughness that others may have equaled but none have surpassed."

The song has also been adopted by various sports teams over the years. The Philadelphia Flyers hockey team started playing it before crucial contests, and won some 80% of those games – including all three when Kate Smith arrived to sing it in person. "Many credited Smith for lifting the crowd and the team to new heights," notes columnist John Bacon. When the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team pulled off the "greatest upset in sports history," referred to as the "Miracle on Ice," the players spontaneously broke into a chorus – not of "The Star Spangled Banner," but "God Bless America," with ESPN TV noting, "Americans were overcome by patriotism."
The New York Times, after his death in 1989, wrote, "Irving Berlin set the tone and the tempo for the tunes America played and sang and danced to for much of the 20th century." An immigrant from Russia, his life became the "classic rags-to-riches story that he never forgot could have happened only in America."  During his career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs,  and was a legend by the time he turned 30. He went on to write the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films,  with his songs nominated for Academy Awards on eight occasions. Music historian Susannah McCorkle writes that "in scope, quantity, and quality his work was amazing."
Berlin receiving Medal of Merit from President Eisenhower, 1954

During his six-decade career, from 1907 to 1966, he produced sheet music, Broadway shows, recordings, and scores played on radio, in films and on television, and his tunes continue to evoke powerful emotions for millions around the world. He wrote songs like "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cheek to Cheek", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Blue Skies" and "Puttin' On the Ritz." Some of his songs have become holiday anthems, such as "Easter Parade," "White Christmas," and "Happy Holiday." "White Christmas" alone sold over 50 million records, won an ASCAP and an Academy Award, and is one of the most frequently played songs ever written. According to McCorkle, of the top five songwriters in America, only Berlin and Cole Porter wrote both their words and music.

In 1938 "God Bless America" became the unofficial national anthem of the United States, and on September 11, 2001, members of the House of Representatives stood on the steps of the Capitol and solemnly sang "God Bless America" together. The song returned to #1 shortly after 9/11, when Celine Dion recorded it as the title track of a 9/11 benefit album. The following year, the Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp of Berlin. By then, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of New York had received more than $10 million in royalties from "God Bless America" as a result of Berlin's donation of royalties. According to music historian Gary Giddins, "No other songwriter has written as many anthems.... No one else has written as many pop songs, period... his gift for economy, directness, and slang, presents Berlin as an obsessive, often despairing commentator on the passing scene.":405

In 1934 Life Magazine put him on its cover, and inside hailed "this itinerant son of a Russian cantor" as "an American institution." And again in 1943 Life described his songs,

   They possess a permanence not generally associated with Tin Pan Alley products and it is more than remotely possible that in days to come Berlin will be looked upon as the Stephen Foster of the 20th century.

At various times his songs were also rallying cries for different causes: he produced musical editorials supporting Al Smith and Dwight Eisenhower as presidential candidates; he wrote songs opposing Prohibition; defending the gold standard; calming the wounds of the Great Depression; helping the war against Hitler; and in 1950 wrote an anthem for the state of Israel. Biographer David Leopold adds that "We all know his songs... they are all part of who we are."

At his 100th-birthday celebration in May 1988, violinist Isaac Stern said, "the career of Irving Berlin and American music were intertwined forever - American music was born at his piano," while songwriter Sammy Cahn pointed out that "If a man, in a lifetime of 50 years, can point to six songs that are immediately identifiable, he has achieved something. Irving Berlin can sing 60 that are immediately identifiable... you couldn't have a holiday without his permission." Composer Douglas Moore added:

   It's a rare gift which sets Irving Berlin apart from all other contemporary songwriters. It is a gift which qualifies him, along with Stephen Foster, Walt Whitman, Vachel Lindsay and Carl Sandburg, as a great American minstrel. He has caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe.

ASCAP's records show that 25 of Berlin's songs reached the top of the charts and were re-recorded by dozens of famous singers over the years, such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney, Diana Ross, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald. In 1924, when Berlin was 36, his biography, The Story of Irving Berlin, was being written by Alexander Woollcott. In a letter to Woollcott, Jerome Kern offered what one writer said "may be the last word" on the significance of Irving Berlin:

   

Awards and celebrations

   * Received the Army's Medal of Merit on Oct. 2, 1945 from General George C. Marshall, at the direction of President Harry S. Truman, in appreciation for writing the music and lyrics to "This Is the Army."
   * Won a Tony Award in 1951 for Best Score for the musical, Call Me Madam.
   * Received a special Congressional Gold Medal in 1954 from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for contributing the song, "God Bless America." Berlin had also written three songs for his candidacy, including "I Like Ike."
   * Won a Special Tony Award (New York City) in 1963 for his contributions to the American musical.
   * Awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1968.
   * Was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
   * Was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 by President Gerald Ford
   * Won a Lawrence Langner Tony Award (New York City) in 1978 for his distinguished life in the American theater.
   * Awarded (in absentia,) a Medal of Liberty during centennial celebrations for the Statue of Liberty in 1986.
   * His 100th-birthday celebration concert for the benefit of Carnegie Hall and ASCAP on May 11, 1988.
   * Awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Musical scores

The following list includes scores mostly produced by Berlin. Although some of the plays using his songs were later adapted to films, the list will not include the film unless he was the primary composer.
Stage

   * "Watch Your Step" (1914)
   * "Stop! Look! Listen!" (1915)
   * "The Century Girl" (1916)
   * "Yip! Yip! Yaphank" (1918)
   * "Ziegfeld Follies" (1919)
   * "Music Box Revue" (1921)
   * "Music Box Revue" (1922)
   * "Music Box Revue" (1923)
   * "Music Box Revue" (1924)



   * "The Cocoanuts" (1925)
   * "Face the Music" (1932)
   * "As Thousands Cheer" (1933)
   * "Louisiana Purchase" (1940)
   * "This Is the Army" (1942)
   * "Annie Get Your Gun" (1946)
   * "Miss Liberty" (1949)
   * "Call Me Madam" (1950)
   * "Mr. President" (1962)

Film scores

   * Puttin' on the Ritz (1929)
   * The Cocoanuts (1929)
   * Top Hat (1935)
   * Follow the Fleet (1936)
   * On the Avenue (1937)
   * Carefree (1938)
   * Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
   * Second Fiddle (1939)



   * Holiday Inn (1942)
   * This Is the Army (1943)
   * Easter Parade (1948)
   * Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
   * Call Me Madam (1953)
   * There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
   * White Christmas (1954)

Song lists
Main article: List of Irving Berlin songs
Further information: List of 850 Irving Berlin songs
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo359/hsheets_17/irving-berlin.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z58/mjdonovan02/Verde%203/c5b4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 6:03 am

The person who died on this day...Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican  singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady  and reggae  bands The Wailers (1964–1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.

Marley's best known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album, Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, being 10 times Platinum (Diamond) in the U.S., and selling 20 million copies worldwide  Bob Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley.  A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names.  His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a Jamaican of English descent, whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old.  Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60.  Marley was teased as a youth because of his mixed racial origins, and faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected: "I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white."   Although Marley recognized his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African.  In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. It was at a jam session with Higgs and Livingston that Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set, Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.
Musical career
The Wailers
Main article: The Wailers (reggae band)
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Vivien Goldman: An interview with Bob Marley's biographer

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.

Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement, and started to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again. Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialize The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album … they were just demos for record companies to listen to." Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions which is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of the effort to break Marley into American charts. According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". The Wailers' first album, Catch a Fire, was released worldwide in 1973, and sold well. It was followed a year later by Burnin', which included the songs "Get Up, Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff". Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
A crowd of people standing in water and listening to a band perform on stage.
Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park during the Uprising Tour
Main article: Bob Marley & The Wailers

Despite the breakup, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organized by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "the people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded his Exodus and Kaya albums. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis . In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with 13 tracks, was released in 1978 to critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jammin'" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances. Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the April 17 celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions, including "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.
Later years
Illness

In July 1977, Marley was found to have acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, in a wound reportedly picked up in a friendly football match. After the album Uprising was released in May 1980 the band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest ever concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour. Shortly afterwards his health deteriorated and he became very ill, the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months he boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.
Death and posthumous reputation

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, accepting that he was going to die, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, he was taken to hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life." Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Fender Stratocaster (some accounts say it was a Gibson Les Paul ). A month before his death, he had also been awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.

In 1994 Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard".
Religion

Rastafari movement
Flag of Ethiopia (1897).svg
Main doctrines
Jah · Afrocentrism · Ital · Zion · Cannabis use
Central figures

Queen of Sheba · King Solomon · Haile Selassie · Marcus Garvey · Leonard Howell · God
Key scriptures
Bible · Kebra Nagast · The Promise Key · Holy Piby · My Life and Ethiopia's Progress · Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
Branches and festivals
Mansions · United States · Shashamane · Grounation Day
Notable individuals
Bob Marley · Peter Tosh · Walter Rodney · Mutabaruka · Benjamin Zephaniah
See also:
Vocabulary · Persecution · Dreadlocks · Reggae · Ethiopian Christianity · Index of Rastafari articles
This box: view • talk • edit

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became a leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a distinct month). As genuine Rastas practice a diet excluding meat, which is known as Ital, Marley was a vegetarian. He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptized by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 4, 1980.
Wife and children

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are:

  1. Sharon, born November 23, 1964, to Rita in previous relationship
  2. Cedella born August 23, 1967, to Rita
  3. David "Ziggy", born October 17, 1968, to Rita
  4. Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita
  5. Robert "Robbie", born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams
  6. Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt
  7. Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
  8. Stephanie, born August 17, 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
  9. Julian, born June 4, 1975, to Lucy Pounder
  10. Ky-Mani, born February 26, 1976, to Anita Belnavis
  11. Damian, born July 21, 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on May 30, 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, (for example ) also list Imani Carole, born May 22, 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.
Discography
Main article: Bob Marley and The Wailers discography
Tours

    * Apr–Jul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour (England, USA)
    * Oct–Nov 1973: Burnin' Tour (USA, England)
    * Jun–Jul 1975: Natty Dread Tour (USA, Canada, England)
    * Apr–Jul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour (USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, England, Wales)
    * May–Jun 1977: Exodus Tour (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England)
    * May–Aug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium)
    * Apr–May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii)
    * Oct 1979–Jan 1980: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas, Gabon)
    * May–Sep 1980: Uprising Tour (Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, USA)

Awards and honours
A five pointed pink star inlaid in the sidewalk with Bob Marley written on it.
Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * 1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone)
    * June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations
    * February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Jamaican Order of Merit
    * March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    * 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus (Time)
    * February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
    * February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
    * 2004: Rolling Stone ranked him #11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
    * "One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC
    * Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.
    * 2006: A plaque dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.
    * 2010 "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).

Film adaptation(s)

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on February 6, 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww357/lion_corbus/Bob-Marley.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/monieboo1/Bob-Marley--.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/11/10 at 10:41 am

I remember Bob Marley died in my last few weeks of High School, in fact a few of the guys had a "pot party" a week or so after he died to celebrate his life. This is a true story.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 12:30 pm


I remember Bob Marley died in my last few weeks of High School, in fact a few of the guys had a "pot party" a week or so after he died to celebrate his life. This is a true story.


How else to remember him, than jammin with a joint ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/11/10 at 12:36 pm


How else to remember him, than jammin with a joint ;D

That's pretrty much how those guys at school felt. I think they had a great time. It was a sad year as we had lost John Lennon some 5 months before that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/11/10 at 2:59 pm


The person who died on this day...Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican  singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady  and reggae  bands The Wailers (1964–1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.

Marley's best known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album, Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, being 10 times Platinum (Diamond) in the U.S., and selling 20 million copies worldwide  Bob Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley.  A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names.  His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a Jamaican of English descent, whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old.  Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60.  Marley was teased as a youth because of his mixed racial origins, and faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected: "I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white."   Although Marley recognized his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African.  In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. It was at a jam session with Higgs and Livingston that Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set, Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.
Musical career
The Wailers
Main article: The Wailers (reggae band)
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Vivien Goldman: An interview with Bob Marley's biographer

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.

Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement, and started to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again. Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialize The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album … they were just demos for record companies to listen to." Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions which is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of the effort to break Marley into American charts. According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". The Wailers' first album, Catch a Fire, was released worldwide in 1973, and sold well. It was followed a year later by Burnin', which included the songs "Get Up, Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff". Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
A crowd of people standing in water and listening to a band perform on stage.
Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park during the Uprising Tour
Main article: Bob Marley & The Wailers

Despite the breakup, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organized by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "the people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded his Exodus and Kaya albums. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis . In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with 13 tracks, was released in 1978 to critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jammin'" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances. Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the April 17 celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions, including "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.
Later years
Illness

In July 1977, Marley was found to have acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, in a wound reportedly picked up in a friendly football match. After the album Uprising was released in May 1980 the band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest ever concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour. Shortly afterwards his health deteriorated and he became very ill, the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months he boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.
Death and posthumous reputation

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, accepting that he was going to die, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, he was taken to hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life." Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Fender Stratocaster (some accounts say it was a Gibson Les Paul ). A month before his death, he had also been awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.

In 1994 Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard".
Religion

Rastafari movement
Flag of Ethiopia (1897).svg
Main doctrines
Jah · Afrocentrism · Ital · Zion · Cannabis use
Central figures

Queen of Sheba · King Solomon · Haile Selassie · Marcus Garvey · Leonard Howell · God
Key scriptures
Bible · Kebra Nagast · The Promise Key · Holy Piby · My Life and Ethiopia's Progress · Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
Branches and festivals
Mansions · United States · Shashamane · Grounation Day
Notable individuals
Bob Marley · Peter Tosh · Walter Rodney · Mutabaruka · Benjamin Zephaniah
See also:
Vocabulary · Persecution · Dreadlocks · Reggae · Ethiopian Christianity · Index of Rastafari articles
This box: view • talk • edit

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became a leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a distinct month). As genuine Rastas practice a diet excluding meat, which is known as Ital, Marley was a vegetarian. He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptized by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 4, 1980.
Wife and children

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are:

   1. Sharon, born November 23, 1964, to Rita in previous relationship
   2. Cedella born August 23, 1967, to Rita
   3. David "Ziggy", born October 17, 1968, to Rita
   4. Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita
   5. Robert "Robbie", born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams
   6. Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt
   7. Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
   8. Stephanie, born August 17, 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
   9. Julian, born June 4, 1975, to Lucy Pounder
  10. Ky-Mani, born February 26, 1976, to Anita Belnavis
  11. Damian, born July 21, 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on May 30, 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, (for example ) also list Imani Carole, born May 22, 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.
Discography
Main article: Bob Marley and The Wailers discography
Tours

    * Apr–Jul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour (England, USA)
    * Oct–Nov 1973: Burnin' Tour (USA, England)
    * Jun–Jul 1975: Natty Dread Tour (USA, Canada, England)
    * Apr–Jul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour (USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, England, Wales)
    * May–Jun 1977: Exodus Tour (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England)
    * May–Aug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium)
    * Apr–May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii)
    * Oct 1979–Jan 1980: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas, Gabon)
    * May–Sep 1980: Uprising Tour (Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, USA)

Awards and honours
A five pointed pink star inlaid in the sidewalk with Bob Marley written on it.
Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * 1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone)
    * June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations
    * February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Jamaican Order of Merit
    * March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    * 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus (Time)
    * February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
    * February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
    * 2004: Rolling Stone ranked him #11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
    * "One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC
    * Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.
    * 2006: A plaque dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.
    * 2010 "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).

Film adaptation(s)

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on February 6, 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww357/lion_corbus/Bob-Marley.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/monieboo1/Bob-Marley--.jpg



WOW OMG almost 30 years ago when he died.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/11/10 at 3:00 pm


The word of the day...Parade
A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind. In Britain the term parade is usually reserved for either military parades or other occasions where participants march in formation; for celebratory occasions the word procession  is more usual. In the Canadian Forces the term also has several less formal connotations.

Protest demonstrations can also take the form of a parade, but in such cases are usually referred to as a march instead.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n60/reversebutcher/parade.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x155/brendabeharrell/Sweden/disneyland184.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e148/doktor_musak/BW005.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x155/brendabeharrell/Sweden/disneyland060.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x155/brendabeharrell/Sweden/disneyland053.jpg
http://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv293/Brightest_Star99/mummersparade.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad351/mpersinger12/Pageants/Picture212.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff147/triton911bj/Mine/081.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn132/slherz05/outdoors042.jpg


The Memorial Day parade is coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 4:11 pm


The Memorial Day parade is coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Yes it is :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/11/10 at 5:00 pm

The parade goes right past our house on Spring Fling (the Saturday before Memorial Day).



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyUl0aYK8Ws




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 5:39 am

The word of the day...Raindrops
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to other kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface. On Earth, it is the condensation  of atmospheric water vapor into drops of water heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated leading to rainfall: cooling the air or adding water vapour to the air. Virga is precipitation that begins falling to the earth but evaporates before reaching the surface; it is one of the ways air can become saturated. Precipitation forms via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Rain drops range in size from oblate, pancake-like shapes for larger drops, to small spheres for smaller drops.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz320/Zadakov/P4201204JPG_effected.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz163/wildwolf100/Nature/raindrops.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac168/skilletfreako/pictures2009082.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp345/misssylviii/raindrops-3.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp34/hollifer89/IMG_2725.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj143/lexinw/k.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 5:42 am

The person born on this day...Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach (pronounced /ˈbækəræk/, BAK-ə-rak; born May 12, 1928) is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is reknown for his popular hit songs and compositions from the early 1960's through the 1980's, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick. Following on with the initial success of this collaboration, Bacharach went on to produce hits with other greats such as Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry.

As of 2006, Bacharach had written 70 Top 40 hits in the US, and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK.
Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Irma (née Freeman) and Bert Bacharach, a syndicated newspaper columnist.  He is of German-Jewish descent.  Bacharach studied music at McGill University, the Mannes School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, California. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Henry Cowell. After leaving the Army, Bacharach worked as a pianist, sometimes playing solo and sometimes accompanying singers such as Vic Damone, Polly Bergen, Steve Lawrence, the Ames Brothers and Paula Stewart (who became his first wife). For some years he was musical arranger for Marlene Dietrich as well as touring with her.
Early songwriting work

In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were introduced while at the Brill Building in New York City, and began their writing partnership. Almost a year later, they received a significant career break when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins for Columbia Records, becoming a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Country charts in late 1957. Soon after, "Magic Moments" was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and became a No. 4 U.S. hit in February of that year. These two songs hit No. 1 in the UK back-to-back ("The Story of My Life" in a version by Michael Holiday), giving Burt and lyricist Hal David the honor of being the first songwriters in UK history to have written consecutive No. 1 hits. In 1959, their song "Make Room for the Joy" was featured in Columbia's film musical "Jukebox Rhythm," sung by Jack Jones.

In the early 1960s, Bacharach wrote well over a hundred songs with David. Bacharach and David were associated throughout the sixties with Dionne Warwick, a conservatory-trained vocalist whom the duo met in 1961. She began working for the duo when they needed a singer to "demo" their songs for other artists. Bacharach and David noticed that Warwick's demos often surpassed the quality of the performances others were recording. They started writing a portion of their work specifically with Warwick in mind, which led to one of the most successful teams in music history.

Over a 20-year period, beginning in the early 1960s, Warwick charted 38 singles co-written or produced by Bacharach, including 22 Top-40, 12 Top-20, and nine Top-10 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts. During the early '60s, Bacharach also collaborated with Bob Hilliard on a number of songs such as "Mexican Divorce" for The Drifters, "Any Day Now" for Chuck Jackson, and "Dreamin' All the Time" and "Pick Up the Pieces" for Jack Jones.

Other singers of his songs in the 60s and 70s included Dusty Springfield ("The Look of Love" from Casino Royale), (a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Wishin' and Hopin"), Cilla Black (a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Anyone Who Had A Heart"), ("Alfie"), The Shirelles, The Beatles ("Baby, It's You"), The Carpenters ("(They Long to Be) Close to You"), Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes ("Walk On By" on the Hot Buttered Soul album), B.J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head"), Tom Jones ("What's New, Pussycat"), Engelbert Humperdinck ("I'm A Better Man"), The Stranglers, The Drifters, Jack Jones ("Wives and Lovers"), Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now is Love"), Gene Pitney, Herb Alpert, Jerry Butler and Luther Vandross in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bacharach songs were adapted by jazz artists of the time, such as Stan Getz, Cal Tjader and Wes Montgomery. The Bacharach/David composition, "My Little Red Book", originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the film What's New, Pussycat?, and promptly covered by Love in 1966, has become a rock music standard; however, according to Robin Platts' book "Burt Bacharach and Hal David", the composer did not like this version.

Bacharach composed and arranged the soundtrack of the 1967 film Casino Royale which was "The Look of Love", performed by Dusty Springfield. Bacharach and David also collaborated with Broadway producer David Merrick on the 1968 musical production of Promises, Promises, which yielded hit songs (including the title tune). The year 1969 featured, perhaps, the most successful Bacharach-David collaboration, with the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", which was written for and prominently featured in the acclaimed film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Style

Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd, changing meters. It tends toward a greater climactic effect than most popular music, especially greater than most popular music of the period with which he is most associated. Bacharach has arranged, conducted, and co-produced much of his recorded output.

An example of his distinctive use of changing meter is found in "Promises, Promises" (from his score for the musical of the same name). His style is sometimes also associated with particular instrumental combinations he is assumed to favor or to have favored, including the prominent use of the flugelhorn in such works as "Walk on By", "Nikki", and "Toledo".
1970's and 1980's

In 1970, Johnny Mathis issued a double-LP album set, "Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert," for Columbia. It consisted of 21 tracks in a heavyweight gatefold picture sleeve. The Bert Kaempfert tracks were done in the arrangement style of the German composer and orchestra leader, and the Bacharach tracks were in the American's upbeat style.

In 1973, Bacharach and David were commissioned to score the Ross Hunter-produced revival of the 1937 film, Lost Horizon for Columbia Pictures. The result was a critical and commercial disaster, and resulted in a flurry of lawsuits between the composer and the lyricist, as well as from Warwick. She reportedly felt abandoned when Bacharach and David refused to work together. Bacharach tried several solo projects (including the 1977 album Futures), but the projects failed to yield hits.

By the early 1980s, Bacharach's marriage to Angie Dickinson had ended, but a new partnership with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager proved rewarding, both commercially and personally. The two married and collaborated on several major hits during the decade, including "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross), "Heartlight" (Neil Diamond), "Making Love" (Roberta Flack), "On My Own" (Michael McDonald with Patti Labelle), and perhaps most memorably, "That's What Friends Are For" in 1985, actually the second single which reunited Bacharach and singer Warwick. The profits for the latter song were given to AIDS research. Bacharach's 1980s tunes showed a new sound.

Other artists continued to revive Bacharach's earlier hits, giving them a new audience in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples included Naked Eyes' 1983 pop hit version of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", Ronnie Milsap's 1982 country version of "Any Day Now", and others. Bacharach continued a concert career, appearing at auditoriums throughout the world, often featuring large orchestras as accompaniment. He occasionally joined with Warwick, appearing in sold-out concerts in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
1990's and beyond

In 1996, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner recorded an album of nine Bacharach standards that featured Tyner's trio with an orchestra arranged and conducted by John Clayton. In 1998, Bacharach co-wrote and recorded a Grammy-winning album with Elvis Costello, Painted from Memory, on which the compositions began to take on the sound of his earlier work. In 2006, he recorded a jazz album with Trijntje Oosterhuis and the Metropole Orchestra called The Look of Love (Burt Bacharach Songbook) which was released in November that year. Bacharach collaborated with Cathy Dennis in 2002 to write an original song for the Pop Idol winner Will Young. This was "What's In Goodbye", and it appears on Young's debut album From Now On. During July 2002, Young was a guest vocalist at two of Bacharach's concerts, one at the Hammersmith Apollo and the other at Liverpool Pops.

Another star treatment of his compositions was the 2003 album Here I Am featuring Ronald Isley, revisiting a number of his 1960s compositions, and also the Vandross arrangement of A House Is Not a Home.

Bacharach's 2005 solo album At This Time saw a departure from past works in that Bacharach penned his own lyrics, some of which dealt with political themes. Guest stars on some tracks included Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright.

He worked with hip-hop producer Dr. Dre on his recent album At This Time and is expected to work on Dr. Dre's Detox album.

On October 24, 2008, Bacharach opened the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse in London, performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra accompanied by guest vocalists Adele, Beth Rowley and Jamie Cullum. The concert was a retrospective look back at his unparalleled six-decade career, including classics such as "Walk On By", "The Look of Love", "I Say a Little Prayer", "What The World Needs Now", "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "24 Hours from Tulsa" and "Make It Easy On Yourself", featuring Jamie Cullum.

In early 2009 Bacharach worked with Italian soul singer Karima Ammar and produced her critically acclaimed debut single Come In Ogni Ora. The song has been heard during the 59th Sanremo Music Festival and also features him playing piano.
Film and Television

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach was featured in a dozen TV musical and variety specials videotaped in the UK for ITC, several were nominated for Emmy awards for direction (by Dwight Hemion). The guests included artists such as Joel Grey, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Barbra Streisand. Bacharach and David did the score for a short-lived ABC-TV series, ABC Stage 67, for a show titled On the Flip Side, starring Rick Nelson as a faded pop star trying for a comeback. While the series' ratings were dismal, the soundtrack showcased Bacharach's abilities to try different kinds of musical styles, ranging from (almost) 1960s rock, to pop, ballads, and Latin-tinged dance numbers.

In 1969, Harry Betts arranged a new "Movie of the Week" theme for the ABC Movie of the Week, a TV series which eventually ran on various nights of the week until 1975. In making the ABC theme sound "contemporary" Betts adapted the instrumental composition "Nikki"(named for Bacharach's daughter)for ABC. The arrangement by Harry Betts is published by MCA Duchess Music Corporation (BMI.)

Also during the 1970s, Bacharach and then-wife Angie Dickinson appeared in several TV commercials for Martini & Rossi beverages, and even penned a short jingle ("Say Yes") for the spots. Bacharach also occasionally appeared on TV/variety shows, such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and many others.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Bacharach had cameo roles in Hollywood movies including all three Austin Powers movies. His music is credited as providing inspiration for these movies, partially stemming from Bacharach's score for the 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale. During subsequent Bacharach concert tours, each show would open with a very brief video clip from the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, with Mike Myers (as Austin Powers) uttering "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Burt Bacharach."

Bacharach appeared as a celebrity performer and guest vocal coach for contestants on the television show, "American Idol" during the 2006 season, during which an entire episode was dedicated to his music. In late 2006, Bacharach appeared as the celebrity in a Geico auto insurance commercial, where he sings and plays the piano. He translates the customer's story through song ("I was hit...in the rear!")

In 2008, Bacharach featured in the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He performed similar shows in the same year at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and with the Sydney Symphony.
Legacy and influence

    * Songwriter Jimmy Webb has acknowledged Bacharach's influence on his work. So did singer-songwriters Laura Nyro and Mark Hollis.
    * On Status Quo's album Heavy Traffic, Track number 8 is named "Diggin' Burt Bacharach."
    * In interviews, Donald Fagen from Steely Dan has frequently cited Bacharach's combination of "Ravel-like harmony and street corner soul" as an early influence. Bacharach has praised Steely Dan's Aja highly.
    * On the cover of Oasis' first album Definitely Maybe, there is a framed picture of Bacharach to the left resting up against the sofa. Later, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher performed a duet of "This Guy's In Love With You" live with Bacharach. Gallagher admits to having stolen elements of that same song when composing the Oasis track "Half the World Away".
    * Alternative-avant garde guitarist and composer Leonid Soybelman released an album named Much Ado About Burt Bacharach's Walk On By.
    * The British duo Swing Out Sister cites Bacharach as a major influence as well.
    * Composer, singer, and songwriter Mary Edwards used Bacharach-influenced motifs on her debut album "A Smile in the Mind".
    * The British band Saint Etienne were influenced heavily by Bacharach's piano motifs.
    * Beach Boys lead man Brian Wilson has cited Bacharach as a heavy influence on his songwriting.
    * Welsh rock/electronic/psychedelic band Super Furry Animals were influenced by Bacharach's distinctive sound.

Personal Life
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Bacharach has been married four times. His first marriage was to Paula Stewart, which lasted five years (1953–58). His second marriage was to actress Angie Dickinson, which lasted fifteen years (1965–80). Bacharach and Dickinson had a daughter, Nikki, who is now deceased (see Angie_Dickinson#Personal_life). His third marriage was to lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, which lasted nine years (1982–91). Bacharach and Bayer Sager collaborated on a number of musical pieces, and had a son, Cristopher. Bacharach married his current wife, Jane Hansen, in 1993; they have two children.
Film appearances

    * Analyze This
    * Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
    * Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    * Austin Powers in Goldmember
    * Bruce Almighty

Discography
Albums

    * Hitmaker! Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits (1965)
    * What's New Pussycat (Film Soundtrack) (1965)
    * After the Fox (Film Soundtrack) (1966)
    * Reach Out (1967)
    * Casino Royale (Film Soundtrack) (1967)
    * On The Flip Side (Television soundtrack) (1967)
    * Make it Easy on Yourself (1969)
    * Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Film Soundtrack) (1969)
    * Promises, Promises (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (1969)
    * Burt Bacharach (1971)
    * Lost Horizon (Film soundtrack) (1973)
    * Burt Bacharach in Concert (1974)
    * Living Together (1974)
    * Futures (1977)
    * Woman (1979)
    * Arthur (Film soundtrack) (1981)
    * Night Shift (Film soundtrack) (1982)
    * Arthur 2: On The Rocks (Film soundtrack) (1988)
    * One Amazing Night (1998)
    * Painted From Memory with Elvis Costello (1998)
    * The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection (2001)
    * Motown Salutes Bacharach (2002)
    * Isley Meets Bacharach: Here I Am with Ronald Isley (2003)*
    * Blue Note Plays Burt Bacharach (2004)
    * At This Time (2005)
    * Colour Collection (2007)
    * Marlene Dietrich with the Burt Bacharach Orchestra (2007)
    * Burt Bacharach: Live at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Live) (2008)

Singles

    * "The Story of My Life" Marty Robbins, US No. 15, C&W No. 1, 1957 - his first hit. Michael Holiday UK No. 1, Gary Miller UK No. 14, Dave King UK No. 20, Alma Cogan UK No. 25
    * "Magic Moments" (Perry Como, US No. 4 / UK No. 1, 1957/1958 – his first big pop hit)
    * "The Blob" (The Five Blobs, US No. 33 1958 with Mack David—brother of Hal David—from the movie The Blob)
    * "Heavenly" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
    * "Faithfully" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
    * "With Open Arms" Jane Morgan US No. 39 1959
    * "Tower of Strength" Gloria Lynne 1961, Gene McDaniels US No. 5 1961, Frankie Vaughan UK No. 1 1961
    * "Another Tear Falls" Gene McDaniels, 1961, Walker Brothers UK No. 12 1966.
    * "Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, US No. 8 1962, then The Beatles, 1963, then Smith, 1969 US No. 8)
    * "Please Stay" (The Drifters, US No. 14 1961; The Cryin' Shames, UK No. 26 1966; Marc Almond, 2001)
    * "Any Day Now" (Chuck Jackson, US No. 23 1962, Elvis Presley, 1969, then Ronnie Milsap, US No. 14 1982)
    * "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" (Gene Pitney, US No. 4 1962)
    * "Only Love Can Break a Heart" (Gene Pitney, US No. 2 1962)
    * "Don't Make Me Over" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 21 1962) (The Swinging Blue Jeans, UK No. 31 1966) (Petula Clark in 1976), (Sybil, 1989)
    * "Make It Easy On Yourself" (Dionne Warwick, demo 1962, then Jerry Butler), US No. 20 1962, then The Walker Brothers, US No. 16, UK No. 1 1965); then Dionne Warwick live from Garden State Arts Center, USNo. 37 1970)
    * "Don't You Believe It" Andy Williams US No. 39 1962
    * "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" (Gene Pitney, US No. 17, UK No. 5 1963)
    * "Be True To Yourself" Bobby Vee US No. 34 1963
    * "Blue on Blue" (Bobby Vinton, US No. 3 1963)
    * "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 8, UK No. 42, 1963; then Cilla Black, UK No. 1 1964; Dusty Springfield, 1964; Tim Curry, 1978; Luther Vandross, 1986; Linda Ronstadt, 1991; Maureen McGovern, 1992; Olivia Newton-John, 2004; Shelby Lynne, 2007)
    * "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (Richard Chamberlain, 1963, then Dionne Warwick, 1964, Dusty Springfield, 1964, Johnny Mathis and The Carpenters US No. 1, UK No. 6 1970). In 1969 Grammy nominee Record of the Year.
    * "True Love Never Runs Smooth" Don and Juan, 1963, Gene Pitney US No. 21 1963.
    * "Wives and Lovers" (Jack Jones, US No. 14 1963). Grammy nominee Record of the Year and Song of the Year
    * "Wishin' and Hopin'" (Dionne Warwick, 1963, then Dusty Springfield US No. 6 1964, Merseybeats UK No. 13 1964, Ani DiFranco (on the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack), 1997, Stephanie McIntosh, 2006)
    * "Walk On By" Dionne Warwick, US No. 6, UK No. 8 1964, then Isaac Hayes, US No. 30 1969 and The Stranglers in 1978) 1983 Jo Jo Zep, 1989 Sybil, 2006 Seal
    * "Reach Out for Me" Lou Johnson, 1964, then Dionne Warwick, US No. 20, Canada No. 12, UK No. 23 1964
    * "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" Tommy Hunt, 1962 Dusty Springfield, UK No. 3 1964, Dionne Warwick, US No. 26 1966, then The White Stripes, 2003)
    * "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Lou Johnson, 1964 then Sandie Shaw, UK No. 1, 1964, Dionne Warwick, 1967,then Naked Eyes, 1982)
    * "A House Is Not a Home" (Brook Benton, 1964; Dionne Warwick, 1964; Barbra Streisand, 1971; Luther Vandross, 1981)
    * "A Message to Martha" Lou Johnson, UK No. 36 1964, Adam Faith, UK No. 12, 1964, Recorded as "Message to Michael" Dionne Warwick, US No. 8 1966, Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo in 1970
    * "You'll Never Get to Heaven" 1964 Dionne Warwick US No. 32, UK No. 12, Canada No. 23, then Stylistics, US No. 23, 1973 UK No. 24 (EP) 1976)
    * "What the World Needs Now Is Love" 1965 Jackie DeShannon US No. 7, then Dionne Warwick 1967, then Daniel Johnston, 1988; Dionne Warwick and the Hip-Hop Nation United, 1998
    * "Long After Tonight Is All Over" Jimmy Radcliffe UK No. 40 1965
    * "What's New Pussycat?" (Tom Jones, US No. 3, UK No. 11 1965, from the film What's New, Pussycat?)

    Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1965.

    * "Here I Am" (Dionne Warwick, 1965, from the film What's New, Pussycat?, US No. 65 AC No. 11, Canada No. 19)
    * "Trains and Boats and Planes" Burt Bacharach, UK No. 4 1965, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, UK No. 12 1965, Dionne Warwick, US No. 22 1966.
    * "My Little Red Book" (Manfred Mann, June 1965) (Love, 1966) (Tony Middleton, 1965)
    * "Are You There (With Another Girl)?" Dionne Warwick US No. 39 1966
    * "Alfie" (Cilla Black, 1966 UK No. 8, US No. 95, then Cher, US No. 32 1966, then Dionne Warwick, US No. 15, No. 5 R&B 1967, originally from the movie of the same name). Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1966. Won Bacharach a Grammy for instrumental arrangement in 1967. Everything But The Girl 1986.
    * "The Windows of the World" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 32 1967)
    * "I Say a Little Prayer" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 4 1967, then Aretha Franklin US No. 10, UK No. 4 1968, then Diana King, 1997)
    * "The Look of Love" (Dusty Springfield, US No. 22 1967, from the soundtrack of the movie Casino Royale, then Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, US No. 4 1968, Roger Williams, 1969, Gladys Knight & the Pips, UK No. 21 1973). Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.
    * "Casino Royale" Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass US No. 27, UK No. 27 1967.
    * "One Less Bell to Answer" (Keely Smith, 1967, then The 5th Dimension, 1970 US No. 2, then (Dionne Warwick), 1971)
    * "This Guy's in Love with You" (Herb Alpert, US No. 1, (4 weeks), UK No. 3 1968; Dionne Warwick), US No. 7 1969

    This song was also recorded much later by Oasis' Noel Gallagher in tribute to Bacharach on his 70th Birthday. According to Robin Platts' book What The World Needs Now the song was not written with Alpert, a non-singer with limited range, in mind, but was altered to suit him. Originally written as "This Girl's In Love With You" and recorded with that title by Dionne Warwick.

    * "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (Dionne Warwick, 1968 US No. 10, UK No. 8)
    * "Promises, Promises" (Dionne Warwick, 1968 US No. 19, and Jill O'Hara, 1968). Warwick's version was released prior to the opening of the show and the release of the Broadway cast album. Bacharach recorded Dionne's version to help the cast learn the difficult tune. The B" side of Warwick's single was another Bacharach/David tune from the show "Whoever You Are (I Love You)". The Broadway soundtrack won Bacharach a Grammy in 1969.
    * "The April Fools" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 37 1969, from the film The April Fools, US No. 37, AC No. 8, Canada No. 32)
    * "I'm a Better Man (For Having Loved You)" Engelbert Humperdinck US No. 38, UK No. 15, 1969.
    * "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (B.J. Thomas, US No. 1, 1969, UK No. 38 1970 Johnny Mathis 1969 in Great Britain, Sacha Distel, UK No. 10 1970, Bobbie Gentry UK No. 40, 1970. from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1969. The movie score by Bacharach won the Academy Awards and Grammy for Original Score. Grammy nominee for Song of the Year
    * "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" Bobbie Gentry (UK No. 1, 1969), Dionne Warwick US No. 6 1970, Anne Murray in 1971, originally from the musical Promises, Promises). Grammy nominee Song of the Year
    * "Everybody's Out Of Town" B.J. Thomas US No. 26 1970
    * "Let Me Go To Him" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US No. 32 AC No. 5, Canada No. 30)
    * "Paper Mache" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US No. 43, AC No. 6)
    * "The Green Grass Starts to Grow" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US No. 43, AC No. 2, Canada No. 35)
    * "Who Gets the Guy" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US No. 57 R & B 41, AC No. 6)
    * "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross, 1981, from the movie Arthur). Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1981. Grammy nominee for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
    * "That's What Friends Are For" (1982)

    This song was originally written for the movie Night Shift and performed on the soundtrack by Rod Stewart. In 1986, a version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John became an enormous hit, raising millions for AIDS charities. The song also won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Grammy nominee for Record of the Year

    * "On My Own" (Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, US no. 1, 1986)
    * "Love Power" (Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne, US no. 12, AC No. 1, 1987)
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k169/Alvar00/Opus/Burt-Bacharach.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/gpgaal/BurtBacharach.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 5:49 am

The person who died on this day...Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943.  "Mr. C", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records for RCA and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings was not matched by any other artist of the time.

A popular television performer and recording artist, Perry Como produced numerous hit records with record sales so high the label literally stopped counting at Como's behest. His weekly television shows and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world and his popularity seemingly had no geographical or language boundaries. He was equally at ease in live performance and in the confines of a recording studio. His appeal spanned generations and he was widely respected for both his professional standards and the conduct in his personal life. In the official RCA Records Billboard Magazine memorial, his life was summed up in these few words: "50 years of music and a life well lived. An example to all." One of the many factors in his success was Como's insistence on his principles of good taste; if he considered something to be in bad or poor taste, it wasn't in the broadcast or show. While his performance of "Ave Maria" was a tradition of his holiday television programs, Como refused to sing it at live performances, saying, "It's not the time or place to do it.", even though it was the number one request of his audiences.

Composer Ervin Drake said of him, "... ccasionally someone like Perry comes along and won't 'go with the flow' and still prevails in spite of all the bankrupt others who surround him and importune him to yield to their values. Only occasionally."
In 1945, Como recorded the pop ballad "Till the End of Time"  (based on Chopin's "Heroic Polonaise"), which marked the beginning of a highly successful career.  He also became the first pop singer to reach the 2 million sales mark with two records in release at the same time - "Till the End of Time" and "If I Loved You", that same year.  Como was the first artist to have ten records sell more than one million copies. Similarly, his television show achieved a much higher rating than that of any other vocalist to date. Como's average yearly record sales were 4 million, beginning in 1943; RCA turned out 4 million Perry Como records in one week in 1946, setting a record at the time.

Como had, according to Joel Whitburn's compilations of the U.S. Pop Charts, fourteen songs that reached #1 on at least one of the three Billboard charts (sales, disc-jockeys, jukeboxes): "Till The End Of Time" (1945); "Prisoner of Love" (1946); "Surrender" (1946); "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba" (1947); "A - You're Adorable" (1949); "Some Enchanted Evening" (1949); "Hoop-De-Doo" (1950); "If" (1951); "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" (1952); "No Other Love" (1953); "Wanted" (1954); "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)" (1956); "Round And Round" (1957); and "Catch a Falling Star" (1957).

On March 14, 1958, the RIAA certified Como's hit single, "Catch a Falling Star" as its first ever Gold Record. "Catch a Falling Star" was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. The pair were also responsible for penning "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." Como won the 1958 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, male for "Catch a Falling Star". His final Top 40 hit was a cover of Don McLean's "And I Love You So", recorded in 1973.

He recorded many albums of songs for the RCA Victor label between 1952 and 1987, and is credited with numerous gold records. Como had so many recordings achieve gold-record status that he refused to have many of them certified. It was this characteristic which made him so different from his peers, and which endeared him to legions of fans throughout the world. Over the decades, Como is reported to have sold millions of records, but he commonly suppressed these figures.

By the 1980s, the atmosphere of recording had changed dramatically from his early days at RCA Victor. Como's recording sessions had previously been filled with laughter and joy. In his 1959 recording of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", listeners with headphones can hear him burst into laughter during one orchestra passage. But in later years, the sessions deteriorated into much more sombre occasions. For this reason, he walked away from his final studio-produced recordings in the early 1980s. He returned to record a final album for RCA with his trusted friend and associate Nick Perito in 1987. His recording of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" was almost autobiographical, a fitting end to a long and successful recording career. Como recorded only once more, in 1994, privately, for his well-known Christmas Concert in Ireland.
Vocal characteristics

Perry Como credited Bing Crosby for influencing his voice and style. Perry Como's voice is widely known for its good-natured vocal acrobatics as portrayed in his highly popular novelty songs such as "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)". But there was another side to Perry Como described by music critic Gene Lees in his sleeve note to Como's 1968 album "Look To Your Heart":

    Despite his immense popularity, Como is rarely given credit for what, once you stop and think of it, he so clearly is: one of the great singers and one of the great artists of our time. Perhaps the reason people rarely talk about his formidable attributes as a singer is that he makes so little fuss about them. That celebrated ease of his has been too little understood. Ease in any art is the result of mastery over the details of the craft. You get them together to the point where you can forget about how you do things and concentrate on what you are doing. Como got them together so completely that the muscles don’t even show. It seems effortless, but a good deal of effort has gone into making it seem so. Como is known to be meticulous about rehearsal of the material for an album. He tries things out in different keys, gives the song thought, makes suggestions, tries it again, and again, until he is satisfied. The hidden work makes him look like Mr. Casual, and too many people are taken in by it — but happily so. I have of necessity given a good deal of thought and study to the art of singing, and Como's work consistently astonishes me. He is a fantastic technician. Listen in this album to the perfection of his intonation, the beauty of the sound he produces, the constant comfortable breath control. And take notice of his high notes. Laymen are often impressed by the high note you can hear for five blocks. Professionals know that it is far more difficult to hit a high note quietly. Como lights on a C or D at the top of a tune as softly as a bird on a branch, not even shaking it. And then there's his phrasing. A number of our best singers phrase well. The usual technique is to rethink the lyrics of a song to see how they would come out if you were saying them, and then approximate in singing the normal speech inflections and rhythms. This often involves altering the melody, but it is a legitimate practice and when done well can be quite striking. But Como is beyond that. He apparently does not find it necessary to change the melodic line in order to infuse a song with emotion. A great jazz trumpeter once told me, "After fifteen years of playing, I’ve come to the conclusion that the hardest thing to do is to play melody, play it straight and get feeling into it." Como has been doing this from the beginning. Stylistically, he comes out of the Bing Crosby-Russ Colombo school. That was all a long time ago. Como has been his own man for many years now. He sounds like nobody else. And nobody sounds like him, either. He is hard to imitate precisely because his work is so free of tricks and gimmicks. There are no mannerisms for another singer to pick up from him. All one can do is try to sing as well and as honestly as Como, and any singer who does that will end up sounding like himself, not Como.

Films
Perry Como as Nicky Ricci performing "Here Comes Heaven Again" in 1946 Doll Face.

Como's Hollywood type good looks earned him a 7 year contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1943. He made 5 films - Something for the Boys (1944), Doll Face (1945), March of Time (1945), If I'm Lucky (1946), and Words and Music (1948), but he never appeared to be truly comfortable with the medium. In 1985, Como related the story of his first film role experience in "Something for the Boys": he sat ready to work in his dressing room for 2 weeks without being called. Como spent the next 2 weeks playing golf, still not missed by the studio. Another problem at the time was there were less musicals being made by the studios; audiences weren't going to the box office for this type of film. He was put into a sort of stock company, where the actors or actresses were used only when the studio needed to fill out a schedule. In 1948, Como asked for and received a release from the remainder of his Fox contract. Quoting Como, "I was wasting their time and they were wasting mine." Como received some movie offers that pleased him while he was doing the weekly television shows, but there was just never enough time to pursue the film work.


Television
Photograph of Perry Como singing, superimposed on an illustration of a microphone and accompanied by advertising copy, including the slogan "Mutual makes music...".
Perry Como for Chesterfield, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays over the coast-to-coast Mutual Radio Network-1954

Perry Como made the move to television when NBC initially televised the Chesterfield Supper Club radio program on December 24, 1948. A very special guest on that first television show was Como's 8 year old son, Ronnie, as part of a boys' choir. During the 1949-50 season, it became a weekly half-hour offering on Sunday nights, directly opposite Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. In 1950, Perry moved to CBS and the show's title was changed to The Perry Como Show, again sponsored by Liggett & Myers' Chesterfield cigarettes. Como hosted this informal 15 minute musical variety series on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, immediately following the CBS Television News (later known as Douglas Edwards with the News). The Faye Emerson Show was initially broadcast in the same time slot on Tuesday and Thursday.

Como's 15-minute television show, which was also simulcast on radio via the Mutual Broadcasting System for several years, continued through the early 1950s until he moved back to NBC in the fall of 1955 on Saturdays with a weekly hour long variety show featuring additional musical and production numbers, comedy sketches and guest stars.

Como's "Dream Along With Me" became the show's opening theme song, "Mr. C." received the first of many batches of "stacks and stacks of letters" requesting him to sing a specific song, and it was here where he began wearing his trademark cardigan sweaters. The show's closing theme was, "You Are Never Far From Me". Perry's announcer on the broadcasts, Frank Gallop, became a foil for Como's jokes; he was an invisible "voice from the clouds" on the show's first season. There was as much fun at rehearsals as on the show itself. In December 1955, viewers were able to see first-hand what Perry did for a living before he was a professional singer. Actor Kirk Douglas was one of Como's television guests; Douglas had grown a beard for his Vincent Van Gogh role in "Lust For Life", which finished filming that week. Como shaved Douglas' movie beard live on national television. On September 15, 1956, the season premiere of The Perry Como Show was broadcast from NBC's new color television studios at the New York Ziegfeld Theatre, making it one of the first weekly color TV shows. In 1959, Como moved to Wednesday nights, hosting the Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall for the next eight years, the last four seasons (1963–67) as monthly specials alternating with Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Andy Williams Show, and finally The Road West.

Como became the highest-paid performer in the history of television to that date, earning mention in the Guinness Book of World Records. Prior to this, Como competed with Jackie Gleason in what was billed the "Battle of the Giants", and won. This is now rarely mentioned, in part because Como commonly downplayed his own achievements, and also because the two men were friends-with the weekly "winner" phoning the weekly "loser" for some mock gloating. An example of his popularity can be found in the following: in 1956, Life Magazine conducted a poll of young women, asking them which man in public life most fit the concept of their ideal husband: it was Perry Como. At one point, his television show was broadcast in at least 12 other countries. Como also had control of the show which would replace his during the summer television hiatus. While "Mr. C." was having a holiday, viewers would see "Perry Presents", beginning in 1959.

Como had numerous Christmas television specials, beginning on Christmas Eve 1948, and continuing to 1994, when his final Christmas special was recorded in Ireland. They were recorded in many countries, including the Holy Land, Mexico, and Canada, as well as many locations throughout the United States. Between 1963 and 1986, Como's television appearances began tapering off, gradually becoming limited to seasonal and holiday specials with the emphasis being on Christmas. The 1987 Christmas special was cancelled at the behest of Como; ABC was willing to offer him only a Saturday 10 PM time slot for it 3 weeks before the holiday. Perry filled the yearly gap for his fans until 1994 with live Christmas concerts in various locations.
A farewell concert from Ireland

Como's final Christmas special was filmed in Dublin's Point Theater before an audience of 4,500 people, including Irish President Mary Robinson. Perry Como's Irish Christmas was a PBS production. Como appeared to be in less than the best of health; though the finished version of the show is less than 90 minutes long, the taping of it took over 4 hours. The performance is heartbreaking because it was evident he was not well, but at the same time, heart-warming, because despite all that, Como perservered and sang those songs for his fans this one last time. At the show's conclusion, Como apologized to his Dublin audience for a performance he felt was not up to his usual standards.

During his visit to Dublin, Como visited a barber shop called The Como on Thomas Street. The owners, lifelong fans who had named their business in his honor, had sent photographs of the shop and letters to Como inviting him to visit, and he did. Photos of Como with the barbers were framed in the shop. The Como closed in 2002 but it remains a household name in The Liberties.
Hometown honors
Singing statue of Perry Como in downtown Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Canonsburg has always been very proud to be the birthplace of Perry Como, honoring him three times over the course of his life. The first of these events took place September 14, 1946, when Third Street (where Perry worked in the barber shop of Steve Fragapane) was renamed "Perry Como Avenue". Perry, Roselle, and Como's mother, Lucy, attended the ceremonies and banquet held at the State Armory. A second ceremony marking Perry Como Day took place August 24, 1977. But their most ambitious project began in 1997-a statue of the singer. The planned statue had the blessing of Como's wife, Roselle, who passed away the year before it was unveiled on May 15, 1999; Como wasn't present at the unveiling because of poor health. The inscription on the base, "To This Place God Has Brought Me", was a favorite saying of Como's; the musical feature was added in 2002.

The Como celebration crossed the Atlantic in August 2002. Palena, Italy, (birthplace of Como's parents) had a long-standing weeklong festival in honor of the singer. A smaller verson of the statue was taken to Palena by the mayor of Canonsburg, Anthony Colaizzo. Perry's son, David, and his wife were also in attendance when the town of Palena re-named a street for Como.

In 2007, the local McDonald's was totally rebuilt. The new building decor features memorabilia of Como along with that of fellow singer and Canonsburg native, Bobby Vinton. There is also a children's playground in Canonsburg (on Giffin Avenue) named for Como. In downtown Canonsburg, all of the tree grates are marked with information about the records that sold a million copies and the town clock hourly plays one of the hits of Como, Vinton, or the Four Coins, also from Canonsburg.

Perry Como never forgot about Canonsburg either. One of the things he did to give a helping hand to his home town was to convince his record label, RCA, to open a record-pressing plant there. Those who needed to raise funds for local projects like Boys' and Girls' Clubs found him always ready to do whatever was needed.
Death

Como died in his sleep on May 12, 2001 at his home in Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida, six days before his eighty-ninth birthday. He was reported to have suffered from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease during the final two years of his life. His Funeral Mass took place at St. Edward's Catholic Church in Palm Beach, Florida; He and Roselle are buried at Riverside Memorial Park, Tequesta (Palm Beach County), Florida.
Trivia
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2008)

    * In downtown Gettysburg, there are two statues in front of the house where Lincoln stayed the night before he gave the Gettysburg Address. One is of Lincoln with his left arm raised, using his stove-pipe hat to point to the window of the room in which he stayed. His right hand is on the arm of a "tourist," as if he's showing the tourist the room. The tourist depicted is Perry Como, in his famous cardigan sweater.

    * The comedy show SCTV featured a popular sketch with Eugene Levy as "Perry Como: Still Alive!" in which the singer was portrayed as so laid-back that he sang while lying down on the stage. The sketch became well enough known to have been mentioned in obituaries, which reported that Como had been greatly amused by it.

    * Como's 1974 RCA Recording "Christmas Dream", complete with warm lyrics and charming vocal accompaniment from The London Boy Singers, was used in the holocaust / Nazi-pursuit film The Odessa File, forming a memorably ironic, bitter and satirical introduction to the film as Jon Voight drives through a modern brightly lit Hamburg at Christmas.

    * Como was referenced in the series finale of Seinfeld, in which Jerry Seinfeld, Kramer, George Costanza, and Elaine Benes's attorney Jackie Chiles tells Costanza: "I want the jury to see Perry Como! No one's gonna convict Perry Como!" Chiles wanted Costanza to look like a friendly man, and not a felon, in his court appearance.

    * Como was also referenced on the animated show The Angry Beavers. In the episode "The Mom from U.N.C.L.E.", Norbert and Daggett's mother says they look "strong and handsome, just like Perry Como.".

    * His version of Jingle Bells topped Billboard magazine's Hot Ringtones chart in the December 16, 2006 issue, meaning that Como has had chart-topping songs 61 years apart.

    * In The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", Dan Hollis receives a Perry Como album as a surprise birthday present. His inability to play the album at his leisure becomes the catalyst for his breakdown and tragic rebellion against little Anthony Fremont (Bill Mumy), who dislikes any singers' voices ("No singing while the music's playin'!").

    * Como is mentioned in the third sketch of the 48th show of the second season of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (also featuring Wailing Whale episodes 5 & 6), which was first released on May 13, 1961.

    * Como is mentioned in the song "Without Love" from the musical Hairspray, the characters claiming that, "Without love/Life's like making out with Perry Como."

    * Perry Como is mentioned, along with other celebrities, in Peggy Lee's "A Doodlin' Song".

    * An episode of Animaniacs featured a character named "Perry Coma" -- whose singing is so laid-back it puts others to sleep.

    * In 2007, Perry Como was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

    * "Temptation," a song popularized by Como, is a staple of the Michigan Marching Band during University of Michigan football games.

    * The song "Magic Moments" can be heard during the "lifesaver" trick performed by magician Dan Sperry.

    * The song "Papa Loves Mambo" was in the Game Bioshock.

    * Both in Italy and Perry Como are named after his grandfather, who was a member of the Italian Parliament in 1914.

    * The song Seattle, is used as a chant by fans of the Seattle Sounders FC of the Major League Soccer.

Hit Records

(Songs that reached the US top-100 or the UK top-40)

Between 1944 and 1958, Perry Como had 48 hits on Billboard's charts.
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC UK US Country
1943 "Goodbye, Sue" 20
"There'll Soon Be a Rainbow" 18
1944 "Have I Stayed Away Too Long?" 14
"Long Ago (and Far Away)" 8
"I Love You" 16
"Lili Marlene" 13
1945 "I Dream of You" 10
"Confessin'" 12
"More and More" 14
"Temptation" 15
"I'm Gonna Love That Gal" (gold record) 4
"If I Loved You" 3
"Till the End of Time"(gold record) 1(9 weeks)
"(Did You Ever Get) That Feeling In the Moonlight" 9
"Dig You Later (A Hubba Hubba Hubba)"(gold record) 3
"Here Comes Heaven Again" 12
1946 "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"(gold record) 5
"You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)" 5
"Prisoner of Love"(gold record) 1(3 weeks)
"All Through the Day" 8
"They Say It's Wonderful" 4
"If You Were the Only Girl In the World" 14
"Surrender" 1 (a week)
"More Than You Know" 19
"A Garden In the Rain" 22
"If I'm Lucky" 19
"Winter Wonderland" 10
1947 "Sonata" 9
"That's the Beginning of the End" 19
"I Want To Thank Your Folks" 21
"That's Where I Came In" 21
"Chi-baba, Chi-baba (My Bambino Go To Sleep)"(gold record) 1 (3 weeks)
"When You Were Sweet Sixteen" 2
"I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" (with Ted Weems) 2
"So Far" 11
"A Fellow Needs a Girl" 25
"Two Loves Have I" 21
"White Christmas" 23
1948 "Pianissimo" 21
"Because"(gold record) 4
"Haunted Heart" 23
"Laroo, Laroo, Lilli Bolero" 20
"Rambling Rose" 18
1949 "Far Away Places" 4
"N'yot N'yow (The Pussy Cat Song)" 20
"Blue Room" 18
"Forever and Ever" 2
"I Don't See Me In Your Eyes Anymore" 11
"A--You're Adorable" 2*
"Some Enchanted Evening"(gold record) 1 (5 weeks)
"Bali Ha'i" 5
"Just One Way To Say I Love You" 23
"Let's Take An Old Fashioned Walk" 15
"Give Me Your Hand" 23
"A Dreamer's Holiday" 3
"I Wanna Go Home" 18
"The Lord's Prayer" 28
"Ave Maria" 22
1950 "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" 14
"Hoop-Dee-Doo" 2*
"On the Outgoing Tide" 16
"I Cross My Fingers" 25
"Patricia" 7
"A Bushel and a Peck"(w/ Betty Hutton) 3
"You're Just In Love" 5
1951 "If"(gold record) 1 (6 weeks)
"Zing Zing Zoom Zoom" 12
"Hello, Young Lovers" 27
"There's No Boat Like a Rowboat" 20
"There's a Big Blue Cloud (Next To Heaven)" 25
"Rollin' Stone" 24
"With All My Heart and Soul" 28
"It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas" 19
1952 "Tulips and Heather" 16
"Please Mr. Sun" 12
"Noodlin' Rag" 23
"One Little Candle" 18
"Maybe"(w/ Eddie Fisher) 3
"Watermelon Weather"(w/ Eddie Fisher) 19
"My Love and Devotion" 22
"To Know You (Is To Love You)" 19
"Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes"(gold record) 1 (5 weeks) 1 (5 weeks)
"Lies" 30
1953 "Wild Horses" 6
"I Confess" 17
"Say You're Mine Again" 3
"My One and Only One" 11
"No Other Love" 2*
"Keep It Gay" 30
"Pa-Paya Mama" 11
"You Alone" 9
1954 "Wanted"(gold record) 1 (8 weeks) 4
"Look Out the Window (And See How I'm Standing In the Rain)" 24
"Idle Gossip" 3
"Hit and Run Affair" 15
"There Never Was a Night So Beautiful" 21
"Papa Loves Mambo"(gold record) 4 16
"The Things I Didn't Do" 22
"Home For the Holidays" 8
1955 "Ko-Ko-Mo (I Love You So)" 2
"Chee Chee o-Chee"(w/ Jaye P. Morgan) 12
"Two Lost Souls"(w/ Jaye P. Morgan) 18
"Tina Marie" 5 24
"Fooled" 20
"All At Once You Love Her" 11
"The Rose Tattoo" 79
1956 "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)" 2* 4
"Juke Box Baby" 10 22
"More" 4 10
"Glendora" 8 18
"Somebody Up There Likes Me" 18
"Dream Along With Me" 85
"Moonlight Love" 42
"Chincherinchee" 59
1957 "Round and Round" 2*
"Mi Casa, Su Casa" 50
"The Girl With the Golden Braids" 13
"My Little Baby" 48
"Dancin'" 76
"Just Born (To Be Your Baby)" 12
"Ivy Rose" 18
"Jingle Bells" 74
1958 "Catch a Falling Star"(gold record) 2* 9
"Magic Moments" 4 1 (8 weeks)
"Kewpie Doll" 6 9
"Dance Only With Me" 19
"I May Never Pass This Way Again" 15
"Moon Talk" 28 17
"Love Makes the World Go 'Round" 33 6
"Mandolins In the Moonlight" 47 13
1959 "Tomboy" 29 10
"I Know" 47 13
1960 "Delaware" 22 3
"I Know What God Is" 81
"Make Someone Happy" 80
1961 "You're Following Me" 92
1962 "Caterina" 23 6 37
1963 "(I Love You) Don't You Forget It" 39 16
1965 "Dream On Little Dreamer" 25 3
"Oowee, Oowee" 88 18
1967 "Stop! And Think It Over" 92 1
1968 "The Father of Girls" 92 10
1969 "Seattle" 38 2
1970 "It's Impossible" 10 1 4
1971 "I Think of You" 53 5 14
1973 "And I Love You So" 29 1 3
"For the Good Times" 7
"Walk Right Back" 33
1974 "I Want To Give" 31
"Christmas Dream" 92

    * When the peak position is marked with an asterisk, the song reached #1 in one (or two) of the three specific Billboard charts (sales, disc-jockeys, jukeboxes), but not on the overall Top-100. Regarding the peak positions of the songs between 1940 and 1955, priority was given to the sales chart, since an overall chart does not exist.
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd329/sutrisno2629/WESTERN%20ARTIST/perry-como.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee89/muscovy_2000/GuessWhoImage.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/12/10 at 7:01 am


The word of the day...Raindrops
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to other kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface. On Earth, it is the condensation  of atmospheric water vapor into drops of water heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated leading to rainfall: cooling the air or adding water vapour to the air. Virga is precipitation that begins falling to the earth but evaporates before reaching the surface; it is one of the ways air can become saturated. Precipitation forms via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Rain drops range in size from oblate, pancake-like shapes for larger drops, to small spheres for smaller drops.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz320/Zadakov/P4201204JPG_effected.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz163/wildwolf100/Nature/raindrops.jpg
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac168/skilletfreako/pictures2009082.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp345/misssylviii/raindrops-3.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp34/hollifer89/IMG_2725.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj143/lexinw/k.jpg


Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/12/10 at 10:43 am

Burt Bacharach. Musical genius. So many fantastic songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 1:33 pm


Burt Bacharach. Musical genius. So many fantastic songs.

That's so true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 1:33 pm


Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head...

Nice

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/12/10 at 2:54 pm


Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head...

One of my favorite songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/12/10 at 5:44 pm

I didn't appreciate Burt Bacharach back when I was youger. I now believe he is perhaps the greatest modern day composer...on a par with Lennon and McCartney (but completely different).

Some of his tunes done with Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black were  (and still are) iconic songs that will last the test of time. Very much like Irving Berlin or Cole Porters tunes...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/12/10 at 7:21 pm


Nice


Was that Paul Anka? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/12/10 at 7:27 pm


Was that Paul Anka? ???


B. J. Thomas had a big hit with it..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/12/10 at 7:29 pm


B. J. Thomas had a big hit with it..



Thanks Gibbo.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/13/10 at 12:55 am


I didn't appreciate Burt Bacharach back when I was youger. I now believe he is perhaps the greatest modern day composer...on a par with Lennon and McCartney (but completely different).

Some of his tunes done with Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black were  (and still are) iconic songs that will last the test of time. Very much like Irving Berlin or Cole Porters tunes...

Very well put.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/13/10 at 6:33 am

The word of the day...Fingertip(s)
The extreme end or tip of a finger.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u202/halfemptyfilms/fingertips.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/Guardician/Fingertips.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq9/esteedle/fingertips.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a225/XBroken_X/fingertips.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r137/iherd/fingertips.jpg
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu123/vandazuli/Fingertips-Catharsis.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z291/joryah/dallas4.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k59/hopenotdope25/cutecutecute.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/13/10 at 6:41 am

The person born on this day...Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950; name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris)  is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Blind from birth, Wonder signed with Tamla Records at the age of eleven and continues to perform and record for the label. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever won by a male solo artist.  On December 1, 2009, he was named a UN Messenger of Peace.
By age 13, Wonder had a major hit, "Fingertips (Pt. 2)", a 1963 single taken from a live recording of a Motor Town Revue performance, issued on the album, Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius. The song, featuring Wonder on vocals, bongos, and harmonica, and a young Marvin Gaye on drums, was a #1 hit on the U.S. pop and R&B charts and launched him into the public consciousness.

In 1968 he recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the pseudonym (and title) Eivets Rednow, which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backwards. The album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of "Alfie", only reached number 66 on the U.S. Pop charts and number 11 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1968 and 1970 such as "I Was Made to Love Her"; "For Once in My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a former company secretary for Motown and songwriter. For his next album known as Where I'm Coming From, his newly-wed wife Syreeta gave him a helping hand with the writing and producing aspects, with the permission of Gordy. The album flopped in the charts. Reaching his twenty-first birthday on May 21, 1971, he allowed his Motown contract to expire.

In 1970, Wonder co-wrote, and played numerous instruments on, the hit "It's a Shame" for fellow Motown act The Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his on-going negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy.
Classic period: 1972–76

Wonder independently recorded two albums, which he used as a bargaining tool while negotiating with Motown. Eventually the label agreed to his demands for full creative control and the rights to his own songs; the 120-page contract shattered precedent at Motown and additionally gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. Wonder returned to Motown in March 1972 with Music of My Mind. Unlike most previous artist LPs on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, B-sides and covers, Music of My Mind was an actual LP, a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically Wonder began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself. This started the so-called "classic period" of Wonder's career during the 1970s. Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with synthesiser pioneers Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil).

"Superstition" (reduced quality)
Play sound
from Talking Book by Stevie Wonder, Motown 1972-10-27. Sample from Stevie Wonder Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection, Motown, 1996-12-10
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Released in the fall of 1972, Talking Book featured the number-one hit "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. The song, originally intended for rock guitarist Jeff Beck, features a rocking groove that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. Talking Book also featured "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which also peaked at number-one. During the same time as the album's release, Stevie Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to reach a wider audience, and to allieviate the negative effects from pigeon holing as a result of being an R&B artist in America. Wonder's touring with The Rolling Stones on their 1972 American Tour was also a factor behind the success of both "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life". Between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards. On an episode of the children's television show Sesame Street that aired in April 1973, Wonder and his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original song called "Sesame Street Song", which demonstrated his abilities with the "talk box".

Political considerations were brought into greater focus than ever before on his next album, Innervisions, released in 1973. The album featured "Higher Ground" (#4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant "Living for the City" (#8). Both songs reached number 1 on the R&B charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole. Innervisions generated three more Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album is ranked #23 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina, when a car he was riding in rear-ended a flatbed truck, sliding under the back of the truck causing the bed to crash through the windshield, striking Wonder in the head. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste.

Despite the setback Wonder eventually recovered all of his musical faculties, and re-appeared in concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974 in a performance that highlighted both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City". The album Fulfillingness' First Finale appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the #1 "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (a political protest song aimed at Richard Nixon) and the Top Ten "Boogie On Reggae Woman". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.

The same year Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session which would become known by the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74, likely the only known post-Beatles recording of John Lennon and Paul McCartney playing together. He also co-wrote and produced the Syreeta Wright album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta.

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historical "Wonder Dream Concert" in Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican Institute for the Blind benefit concert. Along with Wonder, the three original Wailers — Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer — performed together for the last time.

By 1975, in his 25th year, Stevie Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974 for Innervisions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness' First Finale. The following year, singer songwriter Paul Simon won the Grammy for Album of the Year for Still Crazy After All These Years. In his acceptance speech, Simon jokingly thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year, a quip that proved prophetic.

The double album-with-extra-EP Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognisable and accomplished albums in pop music history. The album became the first of an American artist to debut straight at #1 in the Billboard charts, where it remained for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks, became #1 Pop/R&B hits "I Wish" and "Sir Duke". The baby-celebratory "Isn't She Lovely" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "Love's in Need of Love Today" (which years later Wonder would perform at the post-September 11, 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon) and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammies. The album ranks 56th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

After such a concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder stopped recording for three years, releasing only the 3 LP Looking Back, an anthology of his first Motown period. The albums Wonder released during this period were very influential on the music world: the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said that these albums "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade"; Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five, with three in the top 90; while in 2005 Kanye West said of his own work, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?"
Commercial period: 1979–90

It was in Wonder's next phase that he began to commercially reap the rewards of his legendary classic period. The '80s saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances.

This period had a muted beginning, for when Wonder did return, it was with the soundtrack album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979), featured in the film The Secret Life of Plants. Mostly instrumental, the album was panned at the time of its release but has come to be regarded by some critics as an unusual classic. In this year Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit "Let's Get Serious", performed by Jermaine Jackson and (ranked by Billboard as the #1 R&B single of 1980).

Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-selling single album, and its single "Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday. The album also included "Master Blaster (Jammin')", his tribute to Bob Marley, "All I Do", and the sentimental ballad, "Lately", which was later covered by Jodeci and S Club 7.

In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his '70s work with Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium, which included four new songs: the ten-minute funk classic "Do I Do" (which included legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie), "That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B side), "Front Line", a narrative about a soldier in the Vietnam War that Stevie Wonder wrote and sang in the 1st person, and "Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. Wonder also gained a #1 hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "Ebony and Ivory".

In 1983, Wonder performed the song "Stay Gold", the theme to Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Often mistakenly attributed solely to Stevie Wonder, the music is by Carmine Coppola, while Wonder wrote the lyric.

In 1983 Wonder scheduled an album to be entitled People Work, Human Play." The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for The Woman in Red. The lead single, "I Just Called to Say I Love You", was a #1 pop and R&B hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, where it was placed 13th in the list of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for "Best Song" in 1985.The album also featured a guest appearance by Dionne Warwick, singing the duet "It's You" with Stevie and a few songs of her own. The following year's In Square Circle featured the #1 pop hit "Part-Time Lover". The album also has a Top 10 Hit with "Go Home." It also featured the ballad "Overjoyed" which was originally written for Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants but didn't make the album. He performed "Overjoyed" on Saturday Night Live when he was the host. He was also featured in Chaka Khan's cover of Prince's "I Feel For You", alongside Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica, which was a huge hit. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on Eurythmics' single, "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", all huge hits.

By 1985, Stevie Wonder was an American icon, the subject of good-humored jokes about blindness and affectionately impersonated by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live. Wonder sometimes joined in the jokes himself; in The Motown Revue Smokey Robinson presented Wonder with an award plaque, which he pretended to read for the audience– and to notice a spelling mistake. He was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African famine relief, "We Are the World", and he was part of another charity single the following year (1986), the AIDS-inspired "That's What Friends Are For". He also played the harmonica on the album Dreamland Express by John Denver in the song "If Ever", a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews. He also wrote the track "I Do Love You" for The Beach Boys' 1985 self-titled album. Stevie Wonder also played the harmonica on a track called "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from "Showboat" on the "The Broadway Album" by Barbra Streisand.

In 1986, Stevie Wonder appeared on The Cosby Show, as himself, in the episode "A Touch of Wonder," where Theo and Denise Huxtable get in a car crash with the singer's limousine and he invites them to his studio for a song.

In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's Bad album on the duet "Just Good Friends". The song was performed live on one occasion in Sydney, Australia when Wonder made a surprise appearance at Jackson's show at the Parramatta Stadium. Michael Jackson also sang a duet with him titled "Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album Characters. This was a minor hit single as were "Skeletons" and "You Will Know". In the fall of 1988, Wonder dueted with Julio Iglesias on the hit single "My Love", which appeared on Iglesias' album Non Stop and was a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic.

Wonder has recorded with Jon Gibson, a Christian Soul musician, in a remake of his own song, "Have a Talk With God", covered by Gibson on which Wonder plays harmonica. The two men met in the early 1980s through a shared music agent.
A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards  (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song,  and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll  and Songwriters  halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize.  American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time.  In June 2009 he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award.

He has ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Wonder is the first Motown artist and second African American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red.
Impact
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer influenced popular music. Some major musicians and other public figures who cite Wonder as an idol or a major influence on them are Stevie Ray Vaughan, India.Arie, Barack Obama, Blackstreet, Gloria Estefan, Musiq Soulchild, George Michael, The Neptunes, Luciano Pavarotti, Tupac Shakur, Will Smith, Coolio, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Babyface, Kelis, Donnell Jones, Jermaine Jackson, Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross, N'Sync, Glenn Lewis, Dru Hill, Boyz 2 Men, Alicia Keys, Eric Hutchinson, Carrie Underwood, Elton John, John Legend, Prince, Anthony Kiedis (lead vocalist of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Sting, Beyoncé Knowles, Aaliyah, Brandy, Justin Timberlake, Ashanti, Shogo Hamada, Jason Kay (lead vocalist of Jamiroquai), Utada Hikaru, Ken Hirai, Whitney Houston, Wang Leehom, Lenny Kravitz, Glenn Hughes and Erykah Badu.

Wonder has appeared as guest musician/vocalist on numerous recordings by other artists, including Carly Simon, Busta Rhymes, Quincy Jones, Sting, Pointer Sisters, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Jeff Beck, Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Preston, James Taylor, Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Queen Latifah, The Supremes, Babyface, The Beach Boys, Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross, The Temptations, Gloria Estefan, Andrae Crouch, Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, John Denver, BeBe Winans, Julio Iglesias, Don Henley, Take 6, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Rod Stewart, The Gap Band, 'NSYNC, The Manhattan Transfer, Donna Summer, Eurythmics, B.B. King, Sergio Mendes, Jon Gibson ("Have a Talk With God"), Paula Abdul, and Whitney Houston.

Vocalists Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Carl Anderson, and Angela Winbush all began their careers in the 1970s as backup vocalists for Wonder as part of "Wonderlove".

Wonder's songs are renowned for being quite difficult to sing. He has a very developed sense of harmony and uses many extended chords utilizing extensions such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, b5s, etc. in his compositions. Many of his melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. Many of his vocal melodies are also melismatic, meaning that a syllable is sung over several notes. In the American Idol Hollywood Performances, judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs. Some of his best known and most frequently covered songs are played in keys which are more often found in jazz than in pop and rock. For example, "Superstition", "Higher Ground" and "I Wish" are in the key of E flat minor, and feature distinctive riffs in the E flat minor pentatonic scale (i.e. largely on the black notes of the keyboard).

Wonder played a large role in bringing synthesizers to the forefront of popular music. With the help of Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, he developed many new textures and sounds never heard before. In 1981, Wonder became the first owner of an E-mu Emulator. It was Wonder's urging that led Raymond Kurzweil to create the first electronic synthesizers that realistically reproduced the sounds of orchestral instruments; Wonder had become acquainted with the inventor as an early user and evangelist of his reading machine, the technology for which would prove instrumental in the success of the Kurzweil K250.
Songs sampled by other musicians

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble covered "Superstition" and Wonder makes a cameo appearance in the official music video for the song. The elements of "Love's In Need of Love Today" were used by 50 Cent in the song "Ryder Music", and Warren G sampled "Village Ghetto Land" for his song "Ghetto Village." "Pastime Paradise" would become an interpolation for Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" while Will Smith would use "I Wish" as the basis for the theme song to his movie, Wild Wild West. George Michael and Mary J. Blige covered "As" in the late 90's. In 1999, Salome De Bahia made a Brazilian version of "Another Star". Tupac Shakur sampled "That Girl" for his hit song "So Many Tears". Red Hot Chili Peppers covered "Higher Ground" in 1989 on their "Mother's Milk" album. John Legend covered his song "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" for the 2005 film, Hitch. Mary Mary, did a cover of his song, "You Will Know" on their 2002 album, Incredible. Australian soul artist Guy Sebastian recorded a cover of I wish on his Beautiful Life album.

Additional songs by Stevie Wonder have also been sampled or re-made. Wonder is one of the most sampled artists/singers ever.
Personal life

Wonder has been married twice—to Motown singer Syreeta Wright from 1970 until their divorce in 1972; and since 2001, to fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. He has seven children from his two marriages and several relationships.

His daughter, Aisha Morris, was the inspiration for his hit single "Isn't She Lovely." Aisha Morris is a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings, including his 2005 album, A Time 2 Love. Wonder has two sons with Kai Milla Morris; the older is named Kailand and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father. The younger son, Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born May 13, 2005, his father's 55th birthday.

In May 2006, Wonder's mother died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 76. During his September 8, 2008 UK concert in Birmingham he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss. "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around".

Wonder is an activist for civil rights and endorsed 2008 United States Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama, who would later be elected 44th President of the United States, the first African American to do so. Apparently, the respect is more than mutual, as Obama responded to a Rolling Stone interview question that asked him who his musical heroes are by saying:

   "If I had one, it would have to be Stevie Wonder. When I was just at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie Wonder had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we've ever seen."

Children

   * Aisha Morris (born April 1975) (by Yolanda Simmons)
   * Keita Morris (by Yolanda Simmons)
   * Kwame Morris
   * Mumtaz Morris (by Melody McCulley)
   * Sophia Morris
   * Kailand Morris (by Kai Milla Morris)
   * Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris (born May 13, 2005) (by Kai Milla Morris)

Wonder's children are by wife Kai Milla Morris, Yolanda Simmons and Melody McCulley. He never married Simmons or McCulley.
Charting discography
Main article: Stevie Wonder discography
Singles
Year Title Chart positions
US
US R&B US Dance US AC UK
1963 "Fingertips - Pt. 2" 1 - - - -
1966 "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" 3 - - - -
1966 "Blowin' in the Wind" 9 - - - -
1966 "A Place in the Sun" 9 - - - -
1967 "I Was Made to Love Her" 2 - - - 5
1968 "For Once in My Life" 2 - - - 3
1968 "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" 7 - - - -
1969 "My Cherie Amour" 4 - - - 4
1969 "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" 7 - - - 2
1970 "Never Had A Dream Come True" - - - - 5
1970 "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" 3 - - - -
1970 "Heaven Help Us All" 8 - - - -
1971 "We Can Work It Out" 13 - - - -
1971 "If You Really Love Me" 8 - - - -
1972 "Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" 33 - - - -
1972 "Superstition" 1 - - - -
1973 "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" 1 - - - 3
1973 "Higher Ground" 4 - - - -
1973 "Living for the City" 8 - - - -
1974 "He's Misstra Know It All" - - - - 8
1974 "You Haven't Done Nothin'"
(with The Jackson 5) 1 - - - -
1974 "Boogie On Reggae Woman" 3 - - - -
1977 "I Wish" 1 - - - 4
1977 "Sir Duke" 1 - - - 2
1977 "Another Star" 32 - - - -
1977 "As" 36 - - - -
1979 "Send One Your Love" 4 - - - -
1980 "Master Blaster (Jammin)" 3 - - - 2
1980 "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" - - - - 7
1981 "Lately" - - - - 3
1981 "Happy Birthday" 7 - - - 2
1981 "That Girl" 3 - - - -
1982 "Do I Do" 7 - - - 5
1982 "Ebony and Ivory" (with Paul McCartney) 1 - - - 1
1982 "Ribbon in the Sky" - 9 - - -
1984 "I Just Called to Say I Love You" 1 1 - 1 1
1985 "Part-Time Lover" 1 1 1 1 2
1985 "That's What Friends Are For"
(with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Gladys Knight) 1 - - - -
1985 "Love Light In Flight" 17 4 6 10 -
1986 "Go Home" 10 2 1 1 -
1986 "Land Of La La" 86 19 - - -
1986 "Overjoyed" 24 8 - 1 -
1987 "Skeletons" 19 1 20 - -
1988 "Get It" (with Michael Jackson) 80 4 - - -
1988 "My Eyes Don t Cry" - 6 12 - -
1988 "You Will Know" 77 1 - - -
1989 "With Each Beat Of My Heart" - 28 - - -
1990 "Keep Our Love Alive" - 24 - - -
1991 "Fun Day (From "Jungle Fever")" - 6 - - -
1991 "Gotta Have You (From "Jungle Fever")" 92 3 - - -
1992 "These Three Words" - 7 - - -
1995 "For Your Love" 53 11 - 30 -
1995 "Tomorrow Robins Will Sing" - 60 - - -
1995 "Treat Myself" - 92 - - -
1999 "Happy Birthday" - 70 - - -
2005 "From The Bottom Of My Heart" - 52 - 25 -
2005 "Shelter In The Rain" - 93 - - -
2005 "So What The Fuss" 96 34 - 40 -
U.S. and UK albums
Year Album Chart positions
US
US R&B UK

1963 Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius 1 - -
1972 Talking Book 3 - 16
1973 Innervisions 4 - 6
1974 Fulfillingness' First Finale 1 - 5
1976 Songs in the Key of Life 1 - 2
1979 Journey through the Secret Life of Plants 4 - 7
1980 Hotter than July 2 - 2
1982 Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium 4 - 8
1984 The Woman in Red 4 1 2
1985 In Square Circle 5 1 5
1987 Characters 17 1 33
1995 Conversation Peace 17 2 8
1996 Natural Wonder - 88 -
1997 Song Review A Greatest Hits Collection - 100 19
2000 At the Close of a Century - 100 -
2002 The Definitive Collection 35 28 -
2004 Best Of Stevie Wonder: 20th Century Masters Christmas Collection - 90 -
2005 A Time To Love 5 2 24
2007 Number 1's 171 40 23
Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

Wonder has received 25 Grammy Awards: including a Lifetime Achievement Award
Year Award Title
1973 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "Superstition"
1973 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male "Superstition"
1973 Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male "You are the Sunshine of My Life"
1973 Album of the Year Innervisions
1973 Best Producer* Innervisions
1974 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "Living for the City"
1974 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "Boogie On Reggae Woman"
1974 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Fulfillingness' First Finale
1974 Album of the Year Fulfillingness' First Finale
1974 Best Producer* Fulfillingness' First Finale
1976 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "I Wish"
1976 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Songs in the Key of Life
1976 Best Producer of the Year* N/A
1976 Album of the Year Songs in the Key of Life
1985 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance In Square Circle
1986 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
(awarded to Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Wonder) "That's What Friends Are For"
1995 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "For Your Love"
1995 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "For Your Love"
1996 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award General
1998 Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)
(awarded to Herbie Hancock, Robert Sadin, and Wonder) "St. Louis Blues"
1998 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "St. Louis Blues"
2002 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
(awarded to Wonder and Take 6) "Love's in Need of Love Today"
2005 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance "From the Bottom of My Heart"
2005 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
(awarded to Beyoncé and Wonder) "So Amazing"
2006 Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals (awarded to Tony Bennett and Wonder) "For Once In My Life"
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c144/sarrrruh_/stevie-wonder.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s47/atsylvester/stevie_wonder.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/13/10 at 6:44 am

The person who died on this day...Gary Cooper
Frank James “Gary” Cooper (May 7, 1901 – May 13, 1961) was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made. His career spanned from 1925 until shortly before his death, and comprised more than one hundred films.

Cooper received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice for Sergeant York and High Noon. He also received an Honorary Award in 1961 from the Academy.

Decades later, the American Film Institute named Cooper among the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars, ranking 11th among males from the Classical Hollywood cinema period. In 2003, his performances as Will Kane in High Noon, Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees, and Alvin York in Sergeant York made the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list, all of them as heroes.
Cooper was born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Montana, one of two sons of a Bedfordshire, England, farmer turned American lawyer and judge, Charles Henry Cooper (1865-1946), and Kent, England-born Alice (née Brazier) Cooper (1873-1967).  His mother hoped for their two sons to receive a better education than that available in Montana and arranged for the boys to attend Dunstable Grammar School in Bedfordshire, England  between 1910 and 1913. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Mrs. Cooper brought her sons home and enrolled them in a Bozeman, Montana, high school.

When Cooper was 13, he injured his hip in a car accident. He returned to his parents' ranch near Helena to recuperate by horseback riding at the recommendation of his doctor. Cooper studied at Iowa's Grinnell College until the spring of 1924, but did not graduate. He had tried out, unsuccessfully, for the college's drama club. He returned to Helena, managing the ranch and contributing cartoons to the local newspaper. In 1924, Cooper's father left the Montana Supreme Court bench and moved with his wife to Los Angeles. Gary, unable to make a living as an editorial cartoonist in Helena, joined them, moving there that same year, reasoning that he "would rather starve where it was warm, than to starve and freeze too."
Hollywood

Failing as a salesman of electric signs and theatrical curtains, as a promoter for a local photographer and as an applicant for newspaper work in Los Angeles, Cooper found work as an actor in 1925. He earned money as an "extra" in the motion picture industry, usually cast as a cowboy. He is known to have had an uncredited role in the 1925 Tom Mix Western, Dick Turpin. The following year, he had screen credit in a two-reeler, Lightnin' Wins, with actress Eileen Sedgwick as his leading lady.

After the release of this short film, Cooper accepted a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures. He changed his name to Gary in 1925, following the advice of casting director Nan Collins, who felt it evoked the "rough, tough" nature of her native Gary, Indiana.
Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town with Jean Arthur (1936).

"Coop," as he was called by his peers, went on to appear in over 100 films. He became a major star with his first sound picture, The Virginian, in 1929. The lead in the screen adaptation of A Farewell to Arms (1932) and the title role in 1936's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town furthered his box office appeal. Cooper was producer David O. Selznick's first choice for the role of Rhett Butler in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. When Cooper turned down the role, he was passionately against it. He is quoted as saying, "Gone with the Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling flat on his nose, not me". Alfred Hitchcock wanted him to star in Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Saboteur (1942). Cooper later admitted he had made a "mistake" in turning down the director. For the former film, Hitchcock cast look-alike Joel McCrea instead.
Gary Cooper and Joan Fontaine holding their Oscars at an Academy Awards after party in 1942.

In 1942, Cooper won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the title character in Sergeant York. Alvin York refused to authorize a movie about his life unless Gary Cooper portrayed him.

In 1953, Cooper won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon, considered his finest role. Ill with an ulcer, he wasn't present to receive his Academy Award in February 1953. He asked John Wayne to accept it on his behalf, a bit of irony in light of Wayne's stated distaste for the film.

Cooper continued to appear in films almost to the end of his life. Among his later box office hits was his portrayal of a Quaker farmer during the American Civil War in William Wyler's Friendly Persuasion in 1956. His final motion picture was a British film, The Naked Edge (1961), directed by Michael Anderson. Among his final projects was narrating an NBC documentary, The Real West, in which he helped clear up myths about famous Western figures.

Cooper appeared in live radio "remakes" of several of his films.
Congressional testimony

In 1944, Cooper joined the anti-communist Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. While filming Good Sam, he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on October 23 1947, characterized as a "friendly" witness. Asked if he had observed "communistic influence in Hollywood", Cooper named no one in particular but said he had "turned down quite a few scripts because I thought they were tinged with communistic ideas"; he also said he had heard statements such as "don't you think the Constitution of the United States is about a 150 years out of date?" and "perhaps this would be a more efficient government without a Congress"— statements he characterized as "very un-American." He also told the committee the following:

        Several years ago, when communism was more of a social chit-chatter in parties for offices, and so on when communism didn't have the implications that it has now, discussion of communism was more open and I remember hearing statements from some folks to the effect that the communistic system had a great many features that were desirable. It offered the actors and artists — in other words, the creative people — a special place in government where we would be somewhat immune from the ordinary leveling of income. And as I remember, some actor's name was mentioned to me who had a house in Moscow which was very large — he had three cars, and stuff, with his house being quite a bit larger than my house in Beverly Hills at the time — and it looked to me like a pretty phony come-on to us in the picture business. From that time on, I could never take any of this pinko mouthing very seriously, because I didn't feel it was on the level.

Cooper's testimony occurred a month before the Hollywood blacklist was established.
Personal life

Cooper had high-profile relationships with actresses Clara Bow, Lupe Vélez, and the American-born socialite-spy Countess Carla Dentice di Frasso (née Dorothy Caldwell Taylor, formerly wife of British pioneer aviator Claude Grahame-White). He is also believed to have had an affair with actor Anderson Lawler, with whom he lived, and who introduced him to Hollywood society.

On December 15, 1933, Cooper wed Veronica Balfe, (May 27 1913 - February 16 2000), known as "Rocky." Balfe was a New York Roman Catholic socialite who had briefly acted under the name of Sandra Shaw. She appeared in the film No Other Woman, but her most widely seen role was in King Kong, as the woman dropped by Kong. Her third and final film was Blood Money. Her father was governor of the New York Stock Exchange, and her uncle was Cedric Gibbons. During the 1930s she also became the California state women's skeet shooting champion. They had one child, Maria, now Maria Cooper Janis, married to classical pianist Byron Janis.

Eventually, Cooper's wife persuaded Cooper to convert to Catholicism in 1958. After he was married, but prior to his conversion, Cooper had affairs with several famous co-stars, including Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, and Patricia Neal. He pressured Neal to have an abortion in 1950, since fathering a child out of wedlock could have destroyed his career. Cooper's daughter Maria, when she was a little girl, famously spat at Neal, but many years later, the two became friends. Cooper separated from his wife between 1951 and 1954.

Cooper was friends with Ernest Hemingway and spent many vacations with the writer in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Death

In April 1960, Cooper underwent surgery for prostate cancer after it had spread to his colon. It spread to his lungs and bones shortly thereafter.

Cooper was too ill to attend the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1961, so his close friend James Stewart accepted the honorary Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and the next day newspapers ran the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer." One month later, on May 13, 1961, Cooper succumbed to cancer.

Cooper was originally interred in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California. Years later, by May 1974 his body was removed from Holy Cross Cemetery, when his wife Veronica remarried and moved to New York, and she had Cooper's body relocated to Long Island's Sacred Heart Cemetery, in Southampton, New York. His widow Veronica "Rocky" Cooper-Converse died in 2000, and was buried near her beloved actor husband at Sacred Heart Cemetery.
Legacy

    * For his contribution to the film industry, Cooper has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd.
    * In 1966, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
    * Cooper was mentioned in the lyrics to Irving Berlin's song "Puttin' on the Ritz": "Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper, (super duper)".
    * Charlton Heston often cited Cooper as a childhood role model, and later worked with him on The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). Heston praised Cooper for doing his own stunts despite his age and poor health.
    * Gary Cooper's photograph from High Noon was used on a famous poster for campaign before first free elections in communist Poland in 1989.
    * In the HBO series The Sopranos, Tony Soprano on more than one occasion remarks on his admiration for Gary Cooper, the "strong, silent type".
    * In September 2009, Cooper was featured on a commemorative U.S. postage stamp.

Filmography
Further information: Gary Cooper filmography
http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae243/buster1_05/GaryCooper.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l40/headphonescream/steichen_gary_cooper_b.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/13/10 at 6:56 am


The person born on this day...Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950; name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris)  is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Blind from birth, Wonder signed with Tamla Records at the age of eleven and continues to perform and record for the label. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever won by a male solo artist.  On December 1, 2009, he was named a UN Messenger of Peace.
By age 13, Wonder had a major hit, "Fingertips (Pt. 2)", a 1963 single taken from a live recording of a Motor Town Revue performance, issued on the album, Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius. The song, featuring Wonder on vocals, bongos, and harmonica, and a young Marvin Gaye on drums, was a #1 hit on the U.S. pop and R&B charts and launched him into the public consciousness.

In 1968 he recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the pseudonym (and title) Eivets Rednow, which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backwards. The album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of "Alfie", only reached number 66 on the U.S. Pop charts and number 11 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1968 and 1970 such as "I Was Made to Love Her"; "For Once in My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a former company secretary for Motown and songwriter. For his next album known as Where I'm Coming From, his newly-wed wife Syreeta gave him a helping hand with the writing and producing aspects, with the permission of Gordy. The album flopped in the charts. Reaching his twenty-first birthday on May 21, 1971, he allowed his Motown contract to expire.

In 1970, Wonder co-wrote, and played numerous instruments on, the hit "It's a Shame" for fellow Motown act The Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his on-going negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy.
Classic period: 1972–76

Wonder independently recorded two albums, which he used as a bargaining tool while negotiating with Motown. Eventually the label agreed to his demands for full creative control and the rights to his own songs; the 120-page contract shattered precedent at Motown and additionally gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate. Wonder returned to Motown in March 1972 with Music of My Mind. Unlike most previous artist LPs on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, B-sides and covers, Music of My Mind was an actual LP, a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically. Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically Wonder began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself. This started the so-called "classic period" of Wonder's career during the 1970s. Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with synthesiser pioneers Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil).

"Superstition" (reduced quality)
Play sound
from Talking Book by Stevie Wonder, Motown 1972-10-27. Sample from Stevie Wonder Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection, Motown, 1996-12-10
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Released in the fall of 1972, Talking Book featured the number-one hit "Superstition", which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. The song, originally intended for rock guitarist Jeff Beck, features a rocking groove that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations. Talking Book also featured "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which also peaked at number-one. During the same time as the album's release, Stevie Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to reach a wider audience, and to allieviate the negative effects from pigeon holing as a result of being an R&B artist in America. Wonder's touring with The Rolling Stones on their 1972 American Tour was also a factor behind the success of both "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life". Between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards. On an episode of the children's television show Sesame Street that aired in April 1973, Wonder and his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original song called "Sesame Street Song", which demonstrated his abilities with the "talk box".

Political considerations were brought into greater focus than ever before on his next album, Innervisions, released in 1973. The album featured "Higher Ground" (#4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant "Living for the City" (#8). Both songs reached number 1 on the R&B charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole. Innervisions generated three more Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album is ranked #23 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina, when a car he was riding in rear-ended a flatbed truck, sliding under the back of the truck causing the bed to crash through the windshield, striking Wonder in the head. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste.

Despite the setback Wonder eventually recovered all of his musical faculties, and re-appeared in concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974 in a performance that highlighted both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City". The album Fulfillingness' First Finale appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the #1 "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (a political protest song aimed at Richard Nixon) and the Top Ten "Boogie On Reggae Woman". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.

The same year Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session which would become known by the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74, likely the only known post-Beatles recording of John Lennon and Paul McCartney playing together. He also co-wrote and produced the Syreeta Wright album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta.

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historical "Wonder Dream Concert" in Kingston, Jamaica, a Jamaican Institute for the Blind benefit concert. Along with Wonder, the three original Wailers — Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer — performed together for the last time.

By 1975, in his 25th year, Stevie Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974 for Innervisions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness' First Finale. The following year, singer songwriter Paul Simon won the Grammy for Album of the Year for Still Crazy After All These Years. In his acceptance speech, Simon jokingly thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year, a quip that proved prophetic.

The double album-with-extra-EP Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognisable and accomplished albums in pop music history. The album became the first of an American artist to debut straight at #1 in the Billboard charts, where it remained for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks, became #1 Pop/R&B hits "I Wish" and "Sir Duke". The baby-celebratory "Isn't She Lovely" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "Love's in Need of Love Today" (which years later Wonder would perform at the post-September 11, 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon) and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammies. The album ranks 56th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

After such a concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder stopped recording for three years, releasing only the 3 LP Looking Back, an anthology of his first Motown period. The albums Wonder released during this period were very influential on the music world: the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said that these albums "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade"; Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five, with three in the top 90; while in 2005 Kanye West said of his own work, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?"
Commercial period: 1979–90

It was in Wonder's next phase that he began to commercially reap the rewards of his legendary classic period. The '80s saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances.

This period had a muted beginning, for when Wonder did return, it was with the soundtrack album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979), featured in the film The Secret Life of Plants. Mostly instrumental, the album was panned at the time of its release but has come to be regarded by some critics as an unusual classic. In this year Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit "Let's Get Serious", performed by Jermaine Jackson and (ranked by Billboard as the #1 R&B single of 1980).

Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-selling single album, and its single "Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday. The album also included "Master Blaster (Jammin')", his tribute to Bob Marley, "All I Do", and the sentimental ballad, "Lately", which was later covered by Jodeci and S Club 7.

In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his '70s work with Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium, which included four new songs: the ten-minute funk classic "Do I Do" (which included legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie), "That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B side), "Front Line", a narrative about a soldier in the Vietnam War that Stevie Wonder wrote and sang in the 1st person, and "Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. Wonder also gained a #1 hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "Ebony and Ivory".

In 1983, Wonder performed the song "Stay Gold", the theme to Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Often mistakenly attributed solely to Stevie Wonder, the music is by Carmine Coppola, while Wonder wrote the lyric.

In 1983 Wonder scheduled an album to be entitled People Work, Human Play." The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for The Woman in Red. The lead single, "I Just Called to Say I Love You", was a #1 pop and R&B hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, where it was placed 13th in the list of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for "Best Song" in 1985.The album also featured a guest appearance by Dionne Warwick, singing the duet "It's You" with Stevie and a few songs of her own. The following year's In Square Circle featured the #1 pop hit "Part-Time Lover". The album also has a Top 10 Hit with "Go Home." It also featured the ballad "Overjoyed" which was originally written for Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants but didn't make the album. He performed "Overjoyed" on Saturday Night Live when he was the host. He was also featured in Chaka Khan's cover of Prince's "I Feel For You", alongside Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica, which was a huge hit. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on Eurythmics' single, "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", all huge hits.

By 1985, Stevie Wonder was an American icon, the subject of good-humored jokes about blindness and affectionately impersonated by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live. Wonder sometimes joined in the jokes himself; in The Motown Revue Smokey Robinson presented Wonder with an award plaque, which he pretended to read for the audience– and to notice a spelling mistake. He was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African famine relief, "We Are the World", and he was part of another charity single the following year (1986), the AIDS-inspired "That's What Friends Are For". He also played the harmonica on the album Dreamland Express by John Denver in the song "If Ever", a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews. He also wrote the track "I Do Love You" for The Beach Boys' 1985 self-titled album. Stevie Wonder also played the harmonica on a track called "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from "Showboat" on the "The Broadway Album" by Barbra Streisand.

In 1986, Stevie Wonder appeared on The Cosby Show, as himself, in the episode "A Touch of Wonder," where Theo and Denise Huxtable get in a car crash with the singer's limousine and he invites them to his studio for a song.

In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's Bad album on the duet "Just Good Friends". The song was performed live on one occasion in Sydney, Australia when Wonder made a surprise appearance at Jackson's show at the Parramatta Stadium. Michael Jackson also sang a duet with him titled "Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album Characters. This was a minor hit single as were "Skeletons" and "You Will Know". In the fall of 1988, Wonder dueted with Julio Iglesias on the hit single "My Love", which appeared on Iglesias' album Non Stop and was a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic.

Wonder has recorded with Jon Gibson, a Christian Soul musician, in a remake of his own song, "Have a Talk With God", covered by Gibson on which Wonder plays harmonica. The two men met in the early 1980s through a shared music agent.
A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards  (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song,  and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll  and Songwriters  halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize.  American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time.  In June 2009 he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award.

He has ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Wonder is the first Motown artist and second African American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red.
Impact
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

Wonder's success as a socially conscious musical performer influenced popular music. Some major musicians and other public figures who cite Wonder as an idol or a major influence on them are Stevie Ray Vaughan, India.Arie, Barack Obama, Blackstreet, Gloria Estefan, Musiq Soulchild, George Michael, The Neptunes, Luciano Pavarotti, Tupac Shakur, Will Smith, Coolio, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Babyface, Kelis, Donnell Jones, Jermaine Jackson, Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross, N'Sync, Glenn Lewis, Dru Hill, Boyz 2 Men, Alicia Keys, Eric Hutchinson, Carrie Underwood, Elton John, John Legend, Prince, Anthony Kiedis (lead vocalist of Red Hot Chili Peppers), Sting, Beyoncé Knowles, Aaliyah, Brandy, Justin Timberlake, Ashanti, Shogo Hamada, Jason Kay (lead vocalist of Jamiroquai), Utada Hikaru, Ken Hirai, Whitney Houston, Wang Leehom, Lenny Kravitz, Glenn Hughes and Erykah Badu.

Wonder has appeared as guest musician/vocalist on numerous recordings by other artists, including Carly Simon, Busta Rhymes, Quincy Jones, Sting, Pointer Sisters, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Jeff Beck, Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Preston, James Taylor, Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Queen Latifah, The Supremes, Babyface, The Beach Boys, Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross, The Temptations, Gloria Estefan, Andrae Crouch, Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, John Denver, BeBe Winans, Julio Iglesias, Don Henley, Take 6, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Rod Stewart, The Gap Band, 'NSYNC, The Manhattan Transfer, Donna Summer, Eurythmics, B.B. King, Sergio Mendes, Jon Gibson ("Have a Talk With God"), Paula Abdul, and Whitney Houston.

Vocalists Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Carl Anderson, and Angela Winbush all began their careers in the 1970s as backup vocalists for Wonder as part of "Wonderlove".

Wonder's songs are renowned for being quite difficult to sing. He has a very developed sense of harmony and uses many extended chords utilizing extensions such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, b5s, etc. in his compositions. Many of his melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. Many of his vocal melodies are also melismatic, meaning that a syllable is sung over several notes. In the American Idol Hollywood Performances, judge Randy Jackson repeatedly stated the difficulty of Wonder's songs. Some of his best known and most frequently covered songs are played in keys which are more often found in jazz than in pop and rock. For example, "Superstition", "Higher Ground" and "I Wish" are in the key of E flat minor, and feature distinctive riffs in the E flat minor pentatonic scale (i.e. largely on the black notes of the keyboard).

Wonder played a large role in bringing synthesizers to the forefront of popular music. With the help of Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, he developed many new textures and sounds never heard before. In 1981, Wonder became the first owner of an E-mu Emulator. It was Wonder's urging that led Raymond Kurzweil to create the first electronic synthesizers that realistically reproduced the sounds of orchestral instruments; Wonder had become acquainted with the inventor as an early user and evangelist of his reading machine, the technology for which would prove instrumental in the success of the Kurzweil K250.
Songs sampled by other musicians

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble covered "Superstition" and Wonder makes a cameo appearance in the official music video for the song. The elements of "Love's In Need of Love Today" were used by 50 Cent in the song "Ryder Music", and Warren G sampled "Village Ghetto Land" for his song "Ghetto Village." "Pastime Paradise" would become an interpolation for Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" while Will Smith would use "I Wish" as the basis for the theme song to his movie, Wild Wild West. George Michael and Mary J. Blige covered "As" in the late 90's. In 1999, Salome De Bahia made a Brazilian version of "Another Star". Tupac Shakur sampled "That Girl" for his hit song "So Many Tears". Red Hot Chili Peppers covered "Higher Ground" in 1989 on their "Mother's Milk" album. John Legend covered his song "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" for the 2005 film, Hitch. Mary Mary, did a cover of his song, "You Will Know" on their 2002 album, Incredible. Australian soul artist Guy Sebastian recorded a cover of I wish on his Beautiful Life album.

Additional songs by Stevie Wonder have also been sampled or re-made. Wonder is one of the most sampled artists/singers ever.
Personal life

Wonder has been married twice—to Motown singer Syreeta Wright from 1970 until their divorce in 1972; and since 2001, to fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. He has seven children from his two marriages and several relationships.

His daughter, Aisha Morris, was the inspiration for his hit single "Isn't She Lovely." Aisha Morris is a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings, including his 2005 album, A Time 2 Love. Wonder has two sons with Kai Milla Morris; the older is named Kailand and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father. The younger son, Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born May 13, 2005, his father's 55th birthday.

In May 2006, Wonder's mother died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 76. During his September 8, 2008 UK concert in Birmingham he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss. "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around".

Wonder is an activist for civil rights and endorsed 2008 United States Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama, who would later be elected 44th President of the United States, the first African American to do so. Apparently, the respect is more than mutual, as Obama responded to a Rolling Stone interview question that asked him who his musical heroes are by saying:

   "If I had one, it would have to be Stevie Wonder. When I was just at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie Wonder had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we've ever seen."

Children

   * Aisha Morris (born April 1975) (by Yolanda Simmons)
   * Keita Morris (by Yolanda Simmons)
   * Kwame Morris
   * Mumtaz Morris (by Melody McCulley)
   * Sophia Morris
   * Kailand Morris (by Kai Milla Morris)
   * Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris (born May 13, 2005) (by Kai Milla Morris)

Wonder's children are by wife Kai Milla Morris, Yolanda Simmons and Melody McCulley. He never married Simmons or McCulley.
Charting discography
Main article: Stevie Wonder discography
Singles
Year Title Chart positions
US
US R&B US Dance US AC UK
1963 "Fingertips - Pt. 2" 1 - - - -
1966 "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" 3 - - - -
1966 "Blowin' in the Wind" 9 - - - -
1966 "A Place in the Sun" 9 - - - -
1967 "I Was Made to Love Her" 2 - - - 5
1968 "For Once in My Life" 2 - - - 3
1968 "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" 7 - - - -
1969 "My Cherie Amour" 4 - - - 4
1969 "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" 7 - - - 2
1970 "Never Had A Dream Come True" - - - - 5
1970 "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" 3 - - - -
1970 "Heaven Help Us All" 8 - - - -
1971 "We Can Work It Out" 13 - - - -
1971 "If You Really Love Me" 8 - - - -
1972 "Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" 33 - - - -
1972 "Superstition" 1 - - - -
1973 "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" 1 - - - 3
1973 "Higher Ground" 4 - - - -
1973 "Living for the City" 8 - - - -
1974 "He's Misstra Know It All" - - - - 8
1974 "You Haven't Done Nothin'"
(with The Jackson 5) 1 - - - -
1974 "Boogie On Reggae Woman" 3 - - - -
1977 "I Wish" 1 - - - 4
1977 "Sir Duke" 1 - - - 2
1977 "Another Star" 32 - - - -
1977 "As" 36 - - - -
1979 "Send One Your Love" 4 - - - -
1980 "Master Blaster (Jammin)" 3 - - - 2
1980 "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" - - - - 7
1981 "Lately" - - - - 3
1981 "Happy Birthday" 7 - - - 2
1981 "That Girl" 3 - - - -
1982 "Do I Do" 7 - - - 5
1982 "Ebony and Ivory" (with Paul McCartney) 1 - - - 1
1982 "Ribbon in the Sky" - 9 - - -
1984 "I Just Called to Say I Love You" 1 1 - 1 1
1985 "Part-Time Lover" 1 1 1 1 2
1985 "That's What Friends Are For"
(with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Gladys Knight) 1 - - - -
1985 "Love Light In Flight" 17 4 6 10 -
1986 "Go Home" 10 2 1 1 -
1986 "Land Of La La" 86 19 - - -
1986 "Overjoyed" 24 8 - 1 -
1987 "Skeletons" 19 1 20 - -
1988 "Get It" (with Michael Jackson) 80 4 - - -
1988 "My Eyes Don t Cry" - 6 12 - -
1988 "You Will Know" 77 1 - - -
1989 "With Each Beat Of My Heart" - 28 - - -
1990 "Keep Our Love Alive" - 24 - - -
1991 "Fun Day (From "Jungle Fever")" - 6 - - -
1991 "Gotta Have You (From "Jungle Fever")" 92 3 - - -
1992 "These Three Words" - 7 - - -
1995 "For Your Love" 53 11 - 30 -
1995 "Tomorrow Robins Will Sing" - 60 - - -
1995 "Treat Myself" - 92 - - -
1999 "Happy Birthday" - 70 - - -
2005 "From The Bottom Of My Heart" - 52 - 25 -
2005 "Shelter In The Rain" - 93 - - -
2005 "So What The Fuss" 96 34 - 40 -
U.S. and UK albums
Year Album Chart positions
US
US R&B UK

1963 Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius 1 - -
1972 Talking Book 3 - 16
1973 Innervisions 4 - 6
1974 Fulfillingness' First Finale 1 - 5
1976 Songs in the Key of Life 1 - 2
1979 Journey through the Secret Life of Plants 4 - 7
1980 Hotter than July 2 - 2
1982 Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium 4 - 8
1984 The Woman in Red 4 1 2
1985 In Square Circle 5 1 5
1987 Characters 17 1 33
1995 Conversation Peace 17 2 8
1996 Natural Wonder - 88 -
1997 Song Review A Greatest Hits Collection - 100 19
2000 At the Close of a Century - 100 -
2002 The Definitive Collection 35 28 -
2004 Best Of Stevie Wonder: 20th Century Masters Christmas Collection - 90 -
2005 A Time To Love 5 2 24
2007 Number 1's 171 40 23
Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

Wonder has received 25 Grammy Awards: including a Lifetime Achievement Award
Year Award Title
1973 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "Superstition"
1973 Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male "Superstition"
1973 Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male "You are the Sunshine of My Life"
1973 Album of the Year Innervisions
1973 Best Producer* Innervisions
1974 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "Living for the City"
1974 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "Boogie On Reggae Woman"
1974 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Fulfillingness' First Finale
1974 Album of the Year Fulfillingness' First Finale
1974 Best Producer* Fulfillingness' First Finale
1976 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "I Wish"
1976 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Songs in the Key of Life
1976 Best Producer of the Year* N/A
1976 Album of the Year Songs in the Key of Life
1985 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance In Square Circle
1986 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
(awarded to Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Wonder) "That's What Friends Are For"
1995 Best Rhythm & Blues Song "For Your Love"
1995 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "For Your Love"
1996 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award General
1998 Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)
(awarded to Herbie Hancock, Robert Sadin, and Wonder) "St. Louis Blues"
1998 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "St. Louis Blues"
2002 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
(awarded to Wonder and Take 6) "Love's in Need of Love Today"
2005 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance "From the Bottom of My Heart"
2005 Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
(awarded to Beyoncé and Wonder) "So Amazing"
2006 Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals (awarded to Tony Bennett and Wonder) "For Once In My Life"
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c144/sarrrruh_/stevie-wonder.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s47/atsylvester/stevie_wonder.jpg



Always loved Stevie Wonder,he is one of the best.He worked together with Gary Byrd to produce the song "The Crown" in 1983.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0U92sN-Eo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/13/10 at 11:10 am


B. J. Thomas had a big hit with it..



I saw B.J. Thomas in concert-TWICE! Not saying that I am a big B.J. Thomas fan but the first time was back in 1978 (?). He was touring with Debbie Boone. A friend of mine wanted to go and didn't want to go alone so I said, "What the hell." The second time was a few years ago when he was touring with Billy Joe Royal. The firefighters put on concerts and I buy tickets to help them out.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/13/10 at 1:52 pm



I saw B.J. Thomas in concert-TWICE! Not saying that I am a big B.J. Thomas fan but the first time was back in 1978 (?). He was touring with Debbie Boone. A friend of mine wanted to go and didn't want to go alone so I said, "What the hell." The second time was a few years ago when he was touring with Billy Joe Royal. The firefighters put on concerts and I buy tickets to help them out.



Cat

I liked his version of Hooked On A Feeling.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/13/10 at 2:30 pm


I liked his version of Hooked On A Feeling.



I love that song and even though BJ did it ok and I like it, but I like Blue Swede's version much better.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/13/10 at 6:36 pm


I liked his version of Hooked On A Feeling.


Yes...I liked that version too. I think I had it on the "24 Happening Hits" album.... :)  Along with.... Build Me Up Buttercup and one of those 1910 Fruitgum Co. songs (might have been Indian Giver :-\\). 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/13/10 at 6:50 pm



I love that song and even though BJ did it ok and I like it, but I like Blue Swede's version much better.



Cat

Yeah the Ouga Chaka's are pretty cool. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/13/10 at 7:12 pm


Yeah the Ouga Chaka's are pretty cool. ;D



yeah the beginning is funny. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/14/10 at 4:56 am

The word of the day...Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, the term refers to a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean. It is also used sometimes to describe a large saline lake that lacks a natural outlet, such as the Caspian Sea. Seas are smaller than oceans.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/Kittykatkat_123_2009/DSC02517.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac271/Sigrid0405/078.jpg
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae267/hongjohn/DSC06554.jpg
http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz140/ninagoestorussia/Sochi/DSCF2576.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af344/brigitte77_photos/Morje2008014.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/suevarra/CANCUN/87f1.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll298/cerian23/Alaska/overcastsea.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq256/tts_posters_2008/Movies/3770front.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/14/10 at 4:59 am

The person who was born on this day...Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto, May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was a two-time grammy award winning American  singer, Oscar nominated actor and accomplished musician.

Darin performed widely in a range of music genres, including pop, jazz, folk and country. Although unknown to his public, his health was dangerously fragile and strongly motivated him to succeed within the limited lifetime he feared he would, and ultimately did, have.

He was also an actor, singer/songwriter and music business entrepreneur. His wish for a legacy was "to be remembered as a human being and as a great performer." Among his many other contributions, he became a goodwill ambassador for the American Heart Association.
Bobby Darin was born to a poor, working-class family of mostly Italian descent in The Bronx. The person thought to be his father (who was actually his grandfather) died in jail a few months before he was born. It was the height of the Great Depression, and he once remarked that his crib was a cardboard box, then later a dresser drawer. He was initially raised by his mother Polly and his sister Nina, subsisting on Home Relief until Nina later married and started a family with her new husband Charlie Maffia. It was not until Darin was an adult that he learned Nina, who was 17 years his senior, was in fact his birth mother, and that Polly, the woman he thought was his mother, was really his grandmother.  He was never told the identity of his real father, other than being told that his birth father had no idea Nina was pregnant, and thus never knew that Bobby was even born. Polly mothered him well, despite her own medical history resulting in her addiction to morphine. It was Polly who took the young Bobby to what was left of the old vaudeville  circuit in New York, places like the Bronx Opera House, and the RKO Jefferson in Manhattan, where he received his first showbiz inspiration, and where he saw performers like Sophie Tucker, whom he loved.

Darin was frail and sickly as an infant and, beginning at the age of 8, was stricken with multiple recurring bouts of rheumatic fever. The illness left him with a seriously weakened heart. Overhearing a doctor tell his mother he would be lucky to reach the age of 16, Darin lived with the constant knowledge that his life would be short, which further motivated him to use his talents. He was driven by his poverty and illness to make something of his life and, with his innate talent for music, by the time he was a teenager he could play several instruments, including piano, drums and guitar. He later added harmonica and xylophone.

An outstanding student, Darin graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and went on to attend Hunter College on a scholarship. Wanting a career in the New York theater, he dropped out of college to play small nightclubs around the city with a musical combo. In the resort area of the Catskill Mountains, he was both a busboy and an entertainer. For the most part teenage Bobby was a comedy drummer and an ambitious but unpolished vocalist.

As was common with first-generation Americans at the time, he changed his Italian surname to one that sounded less ethnic. He chose the name "Bobby" because he had been called that as a child. He allegedly chose Darin because he had seen a malfunctioning electrical sign at a Chinese restaurant reading "DARIN DUCK" rather than "MANDARIN DUCK", and he thought "Darin" looked good. Later, he said that the name was randomly picked out of the telephone book, either by himself or by his publicist. It has also been suggested that he amended the word "daring" to suit his ambitions. None of these stories has been verified.
Music career

What really moved things along for Darin was his songwriting partnership, formed in 1955, with fellow Bronx Science student Don Kirshner. In 1956 his agent negotiated a contract for him with Decca Records, where Bill Haley & His Comets had risen to fame. However, this was a time when rock and roll was still in its infancy and the number of capable record producers and arrangers in the field was extremely limited.

A member of the now famous Brill Building gang of once-struggling songwriters who later found success, Darin was introduced to then up-and-coming singer Connie Francis. Bobby's manager arranged for Darin to help write several songs for Connie in order to help jump-start her singing career. Initially the two artists couldn't see eye to eye on potential material, but after several weeks Bobby and Connie developed a romantic interest in one another. Purportedly, Connie had a very strict Italian father who would separate the couple whenever possible. When Connie's father learned that Bobby had suggested the two lovers elope after one of Connie's shows, he ran Darin out of the building while waving a gun telling Bobby to never see his daughter again.

Bobby saw Connie only twice more after this happened, once when the two were scheduled to sing together for a television show and again later when Connie was spotlighted on the TV series This Is Your Life. Connie has said that not marrying Bobby was the biggest mistake of her life. She used the title words of the song "My First Real Love," (a Darin-Kirshner song she'd recorded and on which Darin had played drums), when she said, "Well, he was my first real love and I never stopped loving him all my life." Connie Francis said too that she and Darin would sometimes go to the Apollo Theater to see artists like James Brown and Ray Charles, 'we were the only white people in the audience', and when Darin did record first for Decca early in 1956 it was a piece of black music, pioneered by the Louisiana songster Leadbelly, Rock Island Line - though the immediate inspiration was Lonnie Donegan's skiffle version. He sang it on the Dorsey Brothers T.V Show, a big deal at the time, with the lyrics written on the palms of his hands in case he forgot them, which he did. But the songs recorded at Decca did very little business.

Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records (ATCO), where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. There, after three mediocre recordings, his career took off in 1958 when he wrote and recorded "Splish Splash." The song was an instant hit, selling more than a million copies. "Splish Splash" was written with radio DJ Murray "Murray the K" Kaufman, who bet Darin that he could not write a song that started out with the words "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother. On a snow-bound night in early 1958, Darin went in the studio alone and recorded a demo of "Splish Splash." They eventually shared writing credits with her. This was followed by more hits recorded in the same style.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover," a ballad that became a multi-million seller. Along came financial success and with it came the ability to demand more so-called creative control. Some at the label wanted a Fats Domino-ish album, but Darin's devoted publicist and advisor Harriet 'Hesh' Wasser wanted a 'great, swinging, standard album,' and, as she later told it, they were walking down 57th street when Darin told her "Hesh, don't worry, you'll get your album." His next record, "Mack the Knife", was the classic standard from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera: Darin gave the tune a vamping jazz-pop interpretation, which he consciously modeled on the style of Frankie Laine. The song went to No. 1 on the charts for nine weeks, sold over a million copies, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960. Darin was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year. "Mack The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. He followed "Mack" with "Beyond the Sea", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet's French hit song "La Mer."

The tracks were produced by Atlantic founders, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün with staff producer Jerry Wexler and featured brilliant arrangements by Richard Wess. Propelled by the success of "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea", Darin became a hot commodity. He set all-time attendance records at the famed Copacabana nightclub in New York City, where it was not unusual for fans to line up all the way around the block to get tickets when Darin performed there. The Copacabana sold so many seats for Darin's shows that they had to fill the dance floor, normally part of the performance area, with extra seating. Darin also headlined at the major casinos in Las Vegas.

Sammy Davis Jr., an exceptionally multi-talented and dynamic performer himself, was quoted as saying that Bobby Darin was "the only person I never wanted to follow" after seeing him perform in Las Vegas. However, Davis was among those who appeared on the 1959 telecast of This Is Your Life, along with George Burns and relatives and friends, that surprised and honored Darin at NBC's Burbank, California studios.

Darin had a significant role in fostering new talent. Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson and Wayne Newton opened his nightclub performances when they were virtually unknown. Early on, at the Copacabana, he insisted that black comic George Kirby be his opening act. His request was grudgingly granted by Jules Podell, the manager of the Copacabana.

In the 1960s, Darin also owned and operated a highly successful music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio) and signed Wayne Newton to TM, giving him a song that was originally sent to Darin to record. That record went on to become Newton's breakout hit, "Danke Schoen". He also was a mentor to Roger McGuinn, who worked for Darin at TM Music and played the 12 string guitar in Darin's nightclub band before going off to form The Byrds. Darin also produced football great Rosey Grier's 1964 LP, "Soul City," and "Made in the Shade" for Jimmy Boyd.

In 1962, Darin also began to write and sing country music, with hit songs including "Things" (U.S. #3) (1962), "You're the Reason I'm Living" (U.S. #3), and "18 Yellow Roses" (U.S. #10). The latter two were on Capitol Records, which he joined in 1962, before returning to Atlantic four years later. The song "Things" was sung by Dean Martin in the 1967 TV special Movin' With Nancy, starring Nancy Sinatra, which was released to home video in 2000.
Acting career

In addition to music, Darin became a motion picture actor. In 1960, he appeared twice as himself in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier and set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. In 1960, he was the only actor ever to have been signed contractually to five major Hollywood film studios. He wrote music for several films and acted in them as well. In his first major film, Come September, a romantic comedy designed to capitalize on his popularity with the teenage and young adult audience, he met and co-starred with 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee. They fell in love and were married in 1960. The couple had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (born 1961) and later divorced in 1967.

Wanting his acting to be taken seriously, he took on more meaningful movie roles, and in 1962, he won the Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Male Newcomer" for his role in Pressure Point.

In 1963, Darin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a shell-shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D.. At the Cannes Film Festival, where his records—in particular "Beyond the Sea"—brought him a wide following, he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor.
Later years

Darin's musical output became more "folky" as the 1960s progressed and he became more politically aware and active. In 1966, he had another big hit record, but this time it was with folksinger Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter," adding another style to his vast repertoire. The song secured Darin's return to the Top 10 after a two-year absence. Jim (Roger) McGuinn, the future leader of the Byrds, was part of his performing band. Darin traveled with Robert Kennedy and worked on the politician's 1968 presidential campaign. He was with Kennedy the day he traveled to Los Angeles on June 4, 1968 for the California Primary, and was at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated. Darin was devastated by this news.

Afterwards, Darin sold his house and most of his possessions and lived in seclusion in a trailer near Big Sur for nearly a year. Coming back to Los Angeles in 1969, Darin started another record company, Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. He wrote the very popular "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969. He said of his first Direction Records album, "The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers. The album is solely of compositions designed to reflect my thoughts on the turbulent aspects of modern society." During this time, he was billed under the name "Bob Darin," grew a mustache, and stopped wearing a hairpiece. Within two years, however, all of these changes were discontinued.

At the beginning of the 1970s, he continued to act and to record, including several albums with Motown Records and a couple of films. In January 1971, he underwent his first heart surgery in an attempt to correct some of the heart damage he had lived with since childhood. He spent most of the year recovering from the surgery.

In 1972, he starred in his own TV variety show on NBC, The Bobby Darin Amusement Company, which ran until his death in 1973. Darin married Andrea Yeager in June 1973. He made TV guest appearances and also remained a top draw at Las Vegas, where, owing to his poor health, he was often administered oxygen after his performances.
Death

In 1973, Darin's ill health took a turn for the worse. After failing to take medication (prescribed to protect his heart) before a dental visit, he developed blood poisoning. This weakened his body and badly affected one of his heart valves. On December 11 of that year, Darin entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for surgery to repair the two artificial heart valves he received in the previous 1971 operation. On December 19, the surgery began. A five-man surgical team worked for over six hours to repair his damaged heart. However, although the surgery was initially successful, Darin died minutes afterward in the recovery room without regaining consciousness on December 20, 1973, at age 37.
Legacy

In 1990, singer Paul Anka made the speech for Darin's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Righteous Brothers refer to Darin in their song Rock and Roll Heaven, a tribute to late musicians, which was released months after Darin's death. The duo also make a reference to hill road. In 2000, actor Kevin Spacey, a lifelong fan of Darin, acquired the film rights to his story. Spacey directed and produced the film, and played Bobby Darin; as well as co-writing the script. The film is named after one of Darin's top hits, Beyond the Sea. With the consent of the Darin estate, Steve Blauner, and archivist Jimmy Scalia, the movie's opening was at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Despite strong studio promotion, critical reaction was poor , and box office results were disappointing. However, the movie spurred a renewed interest in Darin, which has resulted in the release of "never heard before" material. His pianist, Roger Kellaway, has recorded two albums of Darin's music as well. Spacey was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor for the movie. He also occasionally did concert tours, performing many of Darin's hits as a tribute to the singer.

In a 2003 episode of the NBC television series American Dreams, Duncan Sheik portrays Darin and performs Beyond the Sea on American Bandstand. Brittany Snow's character, Meg Pryor, is assigned as Darin's liaison during the show.

On Monday, May 14, 2007, Darin was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. This tribute honors Darin for his contribution to making Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and acknowledges his reputation as one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century. The sponsorship fee for this star was raised entirely by fan donations.

In December 2007, Darin was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Darin had a custom car built called the "Dream Car," designed by Andy DiDia; it is on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation.

On December 13, 2009, the Recording Academy announced that Darin would receive a Lifetime Achievement Award (post-mortem) at the 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony.
Biopic
Main article: Beyond the Sea (film)

Beyond the Sea is a 2004 biographical film based on the life of Darin, which takes its title from the Darin song of the same name. Kevin Spacey, who stars in the lead role and used his own singing voice for the musical numbers, co-wrote, directed, and co-produced the film which depicts Darin's rise to teen idol success in both the music and film industry during the 1950s and 60s, as well as his marriage to Sandra Dee, portrayed by Kate Bosworth.

As early as 1986, Barry Levinson intended to direct a film based on the life of Darin, and he began pre-production on the project in early 1997. When he eventually vacated the director's position, Spacey, along with Darin's son Dodd, acquired the film rights. Beyond the Sea was released in December 2004 to mixed reviews from critics and bombed at the box office. However, Dodd Darin, Sandra Dee and former Darin manager Steve Blauner responded with enthusiastic feedback to Spacey's work on the film. Despite the mixed reviews, some critics praised Spacey's performance, largely due to his decision to use his own singing voice. He also received a Golden Globe nomination.
Discography
Singles
Release date Title Flip side Record label Chart Positions
US Charts Cashbox UK R&B
1956 Rock Island Line / Timber Decca 29883
Silly Willy / Blue Eyed Mermaid Decca 29922
The Greatest Builder Of Them All / Hear Them Bells Decca 30031
1957 Dealer In Dreams / Help Me Decca 30225
Million Dollar Baby / Talk To Me Atco 6092
Don't Call My Name / Pretty Betty Atco 6103
1958 Silly Willy / Dealer In Dreams Decca 30737
Just In Case You Change Your Mind / So Mean Atco 6109
Splish Splash/ Judy Don't Be Moody US Atco 6117/ UK London 8666 3 2 18 1
Early in the Morning / Now We're One Brunswick 55073 (See below)
Early in the Morning / Now We're One Atco 6121 24 25 8
Queen of the Hop Lost Love US Atco 6127/UK London 8737 9 12 24 6
Mighty Mighty Man / You're Gone Atco 6128
1959 Plain Jane While I'm Gone Atco 6133 38 30
Dream Lover Bullmoose US Atco 6140/UK London 8867 2 3 1 4
Mack the Knife Was There A Call For Me US Atco 6147/UK London 8939 1 1 1 6
1960 Beyond the Sea (the French hit song "La Mer") That's The Way Love Is US Atco 6158/UK London 9034 6 7 8 15
Clementine Tall Story US Atco 6161/UK London 9086 21 13 8
Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?/ US Atco 6167/UK London 9142 19 16 34
I'll Be There 79
Beachcomber Autumn Blues Atco 6173 100 50
Artificial Flowers/ Atco 6179 20 19
::above Shown as "Bobby Darin at the Piano"
Somebody To Love 45 58
Christmas Auld Lang Syne/ Atco 6183 51 50
Child Of God 95 95
She's Tanfastic! Moments Of Love Atco/Ferrion Inc. -- --
::above Special premium record
1961 Lazy River Oo-Ee Train US Atco 6188/UK London 9303 14 18 2
Nature Boy Look For My True Love US Atco 6196/UK London 9375 40 31 24
Theme From "Come September" Walk Back To Me US Atco 6200/UK London 9407 113 55 50
::Shown as "Bobby Darin & His Orchestra"
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby Sorrow Tomorrow US Atco 6206/UK London 9429 5 7 10
Irresistible You/ US Atco 6214/UK London 9474 15 16
Multiplication 30 26 5
1962 What'd I Say (Part 1)/ What'd I Say (Part 2) Atco 6221 24 6
Things Jailer Bring Me Water US Atco 6229/UK London 9575 3 10 2
If A Man Answers/All By Myself US Capitol 4837/UK Capitol 15272 32 28 24
True, True Love 105
Baby Face You Know How US Atco 6236/UK London 9624 42 38 40
I Found a New Baby Keep-A-Walkin' Atco 6244 90
1963 You're the Reason I'm Living Now You're Gone Capitol 4897 3 5
18 Yellow Roses Not For Me US Capitol 4970/UK Capitol 15306 10 12 37 28
Treat My Baby Good Down So Long Capitol 5019 43 38
Be Mad Little Girl Since You've Been Gone Capitol 5079 64 74
1964 I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now As Long As I'm Singing Capitol 5126 93 83
Milord Golden Earrings Atco 6297 45 39
Swing Low Sweet Chariot / Similau Atco 6316 -- --
The Things In This House Wait By The Water Capitol 5257 86 89
1965 Minnie The Moocher / Hard Headed Hannah Atco 6334 -- --
Hello, Dolly! Golden Earrings Capitol 5359 79 --
Venice Blue (Que C'est Triste Venise) A World Without You Capitol 5399 133 94
When I Get Home / Lonely Road Capitol 5443 -- --
Gyp The Cat / That Funny Feeling Capitol 5481 -- --
1966 We Didn't Ask To Be Brought Here Funny What Love Can Do Atlantic 2305 117 --
Silver Dollar / The Breaking Point Atlantic 2317 -- --
Mame Walking In The Shadow Of Love Atlantic 2329 53 63
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? / Merci, Cheri Atlantic 2341 -- --
If I Were a Carpenter Rainin' US Atlantic 2350/UK Atlantic 584051 8 9 9
The Girl That Stood Beside Me Reason To Believe Atlantic 2367 66 65
Lovin' You / Amy Atlantic 2376 32 43
The Lady Came From Baltimore / I Am 62 73
1967 Darling Be Home Soon/ Hello, Sunshine Atlantic 2420 93 --
Talk To The Animals / After Today Atlantic 2433 -- --
Talk To The Animals / She Knows Atlantic 2433 105 --
1968 Long Line Rider/ Change Direction 350 79 66
1969 Me & Mr. Hohner / Song for A Dollar Direction 351 123 --
Distractions (Part 1) / Jive Direction 352 111 --
::Shown as "Bob Darin"
1970 Sugar Man (9 To 5) / Jive's Alive Direction 4000 -- --
Baby May / Sweet Reason Direction 4001 -- --
Maybe We Can Get It Together / Rx Pyro (Prescription: Fire) Direction 4002 -- --
1971 Melody / Someday We'll Be Together Motown 1183 -- --
Simple Song Of Freedom / I'll Be Your Baby Tonight Motown 1193 -- --
1972 Sail Away / Something In Her Love Motown 1203 -- --
1973 Average People / Something In Her Love Motown 1217 -- --
Happy Something In Her Love Motown 1217 67 59
1979 Dream Lover/ UK Lightning 9017 -- -- 64
Mack The Knife -- -- 64
1987 Beyond The Sea Mack The Knife Atlantic 89166 -- --

Early In The Morning
    Darin approached Brunswick Records with "Early In the Morning." Brunswick was impressed, but as Darin was still under contract to Atlantic Records' subsidiary, Atco, the song was released by "The Ding Dongs". New York deejays liked the record and Atco soon discovered the deception. Brunswick was forced to turn over the masters to Atco which released the record under the name, "The Rinky Dinks". In the UK where it had to compete with a version by Buddy Holly, rush released by Brunswick, the single was released under Darin's own name.http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g277/Sharkey2_2006/bobby.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/barth14/darin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/14/10 at 5:05 am

The person who died on this day...Robert Stack
Robert Langford Modini Stack (January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. In addition to acting in over 40 films, he also appeared on the television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.
Stack was born in Los Angeles, California, but spent his early childhood growing up in Europe. He became fluent in French and Italian at an early age, but he did not learn English until returning to Los Angeles. Raised by his mother, Mary Elizabeth (née Wood), Stack's parents divorced when Stack was a year old, and his father, James Langford Stack, a wealthy advertising agency owner, died when Stack was nine. Stack always spoke of his mother with the greatest respect and love. When he wrote his autobiography, Straight Shooting, he included a picture of him and his mother. He captioned it, "Me and my best girl." Stack's grandfather was an opera singer from Illinois named Charles Wood, who went by the name "Modini."

By the time he was twenty, Stack had achieved minor fame as a sportsman. He was an avid polo player and shooter. He and his brother won the International Outboard Motor Championships, in Venice, Italy; and, at age 16, he became a member of the All-American Skeet Team. He set two world records in skeet shooting and became National Champion. In 1971, he was inducted into the National Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame.

Stack was a regular columnist for Gun World magazine.
Career

Stack took drama courses at the Bridgewater State College. His deep voice and good looks attracted producers in Hollywood. When Stack visited the lot of Universal Studios at age 20, producer Joe Pasternak offered him an opportunity to enter the business. Recalled Stack, "He said, 'How'd you like to be in pictures? We'll make a test with Helen Parrish, a little love scene.' Helen Parrish was a beautiful girl. 'Gee, that sounds keen,' I told him. I got the part." Stack's first film, which teamed him with Deanna Durbin, was First Love, in 1939; this film was considered controversial at the time. He was the first actor to give Durbin an on-screen kiss.

Stack won acclaim for his next role, The Mortal Storm (1940). He played a young man who joins the Nazi party. This film was among the first to speak out against Adolf Hitler. As a youth, Stack admitted that he had a crush on Carole Lombard and in 1942 he appeared with her in To Be or Not To Be. He admitted he was terrified going into this role. He credits Lombard with giving him many tips on acting and with being his mentor. Lombard was killed in a plane crash shortly before the film was released.

During World War II, Stack served as gunnery instructor in the United States Navy. He continued his movie career and appeared in such films as Fighter Squadron (1948), A Date with Judy (1948) and Bwana Devil (1952). In 1954, Stack was given his most important movie role. He appeared opposite John Wayne in The High and the Mighty. Stack played the pilot of an airliner who comes apart under stress after the airliner encounters engine trouble.

In 1957, Stack was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Written on the Wind.

Stack depicted the crimefighting Eliot Ness in the television drama The Untouchables (1959–63). The show portrayed the ongoing battle between gangsters and federal agents in a Prohibition-era Chicago. The show brought Stack a best actor Emmy Award in 1960.

Stack also starred in three other drama series, rotating the lead with Tony Franciosa and Gene Barry in the lavish The Name of the Game (1968–1971), Most Wanted, (1976) and Strike Force (1981). Interestingly, in The Name of the Game, he played a former federal agent turned true-crime journalist, evoking memories of his role as Ness. In both Most Wanted and Strike Force he played a tough, incorruptible police captain commanding an elite squad of special investigators, also evoking the Ness role. Eventually, he would reprise the role in a 1991 TV movie, The Return of Eliot Ness.

Known for his steadfast, humorless demeanor, he made fun of his own persona in comedies such as 1941 (1979), Airplane! (1980), Caddyshack II (1988), Beavis and Butthead Do America (1996) and BASEketball (1998). He also provided the voice for the character Ultra Magnus in Transformers: The Movie (1986).

Stack appeared in the television mini-series Hollywood Wives in 1985, and appeared in several episodes of the popular primetime soap opera Falcon Crest in 1986. Ironically, Stack's series "Strike Force" was scheduled opposite "Falcon Crest", where it quickly folded. He began hosting Unsolved Mysteries in 1987. He thought very highly of the interactive nature of the show, saying that it created a "symbiotic" relationship between viewer and program, and that the hotline was a great crime-solving tool. Unsolved Mysteries aired from 1987 to 2002, first as specials in 1987 (Stack did not host all the specials), then as a regular series on NBC (1988–1997), then on CBS (1997–1999) and finally on Lifetime (2001–2002). Stack served as the show's host during its entire original series run. Unsolved Mysteries is now hosted by Dennis Farina.

For a brief period between 2001–2002, Stack played the voice of Stoat Muldoon, a character featured on the computer-animated television series, Butt-Ugly Martians on Nickelodeon. The show was cancelled due to poor ratings.
Personal life
Stack at the 60th Academy Awards

Stack was married to actress Rosemarie Bowe from 1956 until his death.

Stack underwent radiation therapy for prostate cancer in October 2002. He died of a heart attack on May 14, 2003.

Stack is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California.
Filmography
Films

    * First Love (1939)
    * The Mortal Storm (1940)
    * A Little Bit of Heaven (1940)
    * Nice Girl? (1941)
    * Badlands of Dakota (1941)
    * To Be or Not to Be (1942)
    * Eagle Squadron (1942)
    * Men of Texas (1942)
    * Keeping Fit (1942)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood in Uniform (1943)
    * A Date with Judy (1948)
    * Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)
    * Fighter Squadron (1948)
    * Mr. Music (1950)
    * The Bullfighter and the Lady (1951)
    * My Outlaw Brother (1951)
    * Bwana Devil (1952)
    * War Paint (1953)
    * Sabre Jet (1953)
    * Conquest of Cochise (1953)
    * The Iron Glove (1954)
    * The High and the Mighty (1954)
    * House of Bamboo (1955)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Shower of Stars (1955)
    * Good Morning Miss Dove (1955)
    * Written on the Wind (1956) ‡
    * The Tarnished Angels (1958)
    * The Gift of Love (1958)
    * John Paul Jones (1959)
    * The Last Voyage (1960)
    * The Caretakers (1963)
    * Is Paris Burning? (1966)
    * Sail to Glory (1967)
    * The Corrupt Ones (1967)
    * Action Man (1967)
    * Alone, Unarmed, and Unafraid (1968)
    * Story of a Woman (1970)
    * Second Wind (1978)
    * 1941 (1979)
    * Airplane! (1980)
    * Uncommon Valor (1983)
    * Born American (1986)
    * Big Trouble (1986)
    * The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
    * Dangerous Curves (1988)
    * Plain Clothes (1988)
    * Caddyshack II (1988)
    * Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
    * Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996)
    * Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)
    * BASEketball (1998)
    * Hercules: Zero to Hero (1999)
    * Mumford (1999)
    * Recess: School's Out (2001)
    * Killer Bud (2001)
    * From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff (2002)

‡ Denotes he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Television

    * King of the Hill (2001)
    * Unsolved Mysteries (1987)

Books

    * Straight Shooting (with Mark Evans) (1980) ISBN 0-02-613320-2
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt336/rouillardranch/Robert_Stack.jpg
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af338/pawellsphotos/Stardust%20Memories/robertstack.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/14/10 at 10:55 am

Some of my photos from Puerto Rico.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4047321270_ddf488c6d6.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2541889453_e6363495fe.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/14/10 at 11:22 am


Some of my photos from Puerto Rico.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4047321270_ddf488c6d6.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2541889453_e6363495fe.jpg



Cat



That's beautiful Cat.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/14/10 at 11:23 am


The word of the day...Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, the term refers to a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean. It is also used sometimes to describe a large saline lake that lacks a natural outlet, such as the Caspian Sea. Seas are smaller than oceans.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/Kittykatkat_123_2009/DSC02517.jpg
http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac271/Sigrid0405/078.jpg
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae267/hongjohn/DSC06554.jpg
http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz140/ninagoestorussia/Sochi/DSCF2576.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af344/brigitte77_photos/Morje2008014.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/suevarra/CANCUN/87f1.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll298/cerian23/Alaska/overcastsea.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq256/tts_posters_2008/Movies/3770front.jpg


Sea of Love.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/14/10 at 11:23 am



That's beautiful Cat.  :)



Thanks, Howard. (And karma to ya.)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/14/10 at 11:24 am



Thanks, Howard. (And karma to ya.)



Cat


Were those the pictures from your trip? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/14/10 at 11:42 am


Were those the pictures from your trip? ???



Each one was from a different trip-but yeah, I took them all.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/14/10 at 11:43 am



Each one was from a different trip-but yeah, I took them all.



Cat


weather was good?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/14/10 at 7:38 pm


Some of my photos from Puerto Rico.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4047321270_ddf488c6d6.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2541889453_e6363495fe.jpg



Cat

Very nice pics, Cat :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 2:00 am


Some of my photos from Puerto Rico.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4047321270_ddf488c6d6.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2541889453_e6363495fe.jpg



Cat
Wonderful pictures!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/15/10 at 2:25 am


Some of my photos from Puerto Rico.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4047321270_ddf488c6d6.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2541889453_e6363495fe.jpg



Cat


It sure looks pretty over there Cat.

Bobby Darrin's Beyond The Sea is a favourite of mine...      and Robert Stack brings back old memories of watching the Untouchables on TV.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/15/10 at 5:11 am

The word or phrase of the day...Poolhall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall (or parlour/parlor, room or club) (sometimes written poolhall, snookerhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments often serve alcohol and may have gaming machines, darts, foosball and other games on the side.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff150/jabfmn/poolhall.jpg
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz45/Damanni/poolhall.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v680/lfcutie908/e896c716.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o68/jjsalatajr/poolhall.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd111/killtherock8/Poolhall_junkies.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/mrsmrtile/poolhall-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/15/10 at 5:14 am

The person born on this day...Chazz Palminteri
Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri (born May 15, 1952) is an American actor and writer, best known for his performances in The Usual Suspects, A Bronx Tale, Mulholland Falls and his Academy Award nominated role for Best Supporting Actor in Bullets Over Broadway.
Palminteri, an Italian American,  was born in the Bronx, New York, the son of Rose, a homemaker, and Lorenzo Palminteri, a bus driver.  The Bronx has had considerable influence on his work, particularly in A Bronx Tale, a play which he wrote and adapted into a 1993 film which starred him and Robert De Niro. The film was acclaimed and opened doors to Palminteri as an actor, and supporting roles in Hollywood films such as The Usual Suspects and Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway followed. Palminteri was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the latter, but he lost to Martin Landau for Ed Wood.

Palminteri has had acclaimed dramatic performances in films such as The Perez Family, Jade and Diabolique, as well as comedic roles in films such as Analyze This and Down to Earth. During its run, Palminteri did many advertisements for Vanilla Coke, in which he portrayed a mob boss who would threaten celebrities if they didn't praise the taste of the product in question, and then let them walk away with the Vanilla Coke to "reward their curiosity", touching on its slogan at the time. Palminteri has voiced characters in various animated films, the most notable being 2006's Hoodwinked.

He made his directorial debut with the 2002 television film, "Women vs. Men". He has also directed the 2004 film Noel which starred Alan Arkin and Susan Sarandon. Palminteri's recent efforts include A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Running Scared and Arthur and the Minimoys.

Chazz Palminteri starred on Broadway in A Bronx Tale the semi-autobiographical one-man show he first performed off-Broadway in 1989. The production, directed by Jerry Zaks and with music by John Gromada, began previews October 4, 2008 at the Walter Kerr Theatre and opened on October 25, running for 18 weeks. Palminteri plays 18 roles in "A Bronx Tale," which depicts a rough childhood on the streets of the Bronx. The play ran for two months at Playhouse 91 in 1989. Robert De Niro saw this show there and made his directorial debut with the big-screen version, co-starring with Palminteri.

On October 26, 2009, it was announced that Palminteri will guest-star on Modern Family later this season.
Personal life

Palminteri lives in Bedford, New York. He describes himself as a 'very spritual,' devout Roman Catholic. He is married to actress Gianna Ranaudo, with whom he has two children: Dante Lorenzo (born October 11, 1995) and Gabriella Rose (born December 25, 2001). He is a self-avowed New York Yankees fan, and is often heard as caller "Chazz from Bedford" on WFAN-AM, a sports radio station.
Filmography

    * Home Free All (1984), Truck Highjacker
    * The Last Dragon (1985), Hood #2
    * Hill Street Blues (1986), Sonny Cappelito -television
    * Glory Years (1987), Drummond -television
    * Matlock (1987), Army Officer -television
    * Dallas (1989), Frank -television
    * Valerie (1989), Leslie -television
    * Peter Gunn (1989), Soldier -television
    * Wiseguy (1989), Peter Alatorre -television
    * Oscar (1991), Connie
    * Innocent Blood (1992), Tony
    * There Goes the Neighborhood (1992), Lyle Corrente
    * A Bronx Tale (1993), Sonny LoSpecchio -also screenwriter
    * Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Cheech
    * The Usual Suspects (1995), Dave Kujan, US Customs
    * The Perez Family (1995), Lt. John Pirelli
    * The Last Word (1995), Ricky
    * Jade (1995), Matt Gavin
    * In The Mix (1995), Frank
    * Diabolique (1996), Guy Baran
    * Faithful (1996), Tony -also writer
    * Dante and the Debutante (1996) -writer and producer
    * Mulholland Falls (1996), Elleroy Coolidge
    * Scar City (1998), Lieutenant Laine Devon
    * Hurlyburly (1998), Phil
    * A Night at the Roxbury (1998), Benny Zadir -uncredited
    * Analyze This (1999), Primo Sidone
    * Excellent Cadavers (1999), Giovanni Falcone
    * Oz (1999) -HBO directed episode, "Unnatural Disasters"
    * Dilbert (1999), Leonardo da Vinci -TV Episode (voice)
    * Stuart Little (1999), Smokey, the Chief Alley-Cat -voice
    * Down to Earth (2001), King
    * Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001), Buster -Video (voice)
    * Boss of Bosses (2001), Paul Castellano -television
    * One Eyed King (2001), Eddie Dugan
    * Poolhall Junkies (2002), Joe
    * One Last Ride (2003), Tweat
    * Just Like Mona (2003)
    * Noel (2004), Arizona -also directed
    * Hoodwinked! (2005), Woolworth -voice
    * Kojak (2005), Captain Frank McNeil -television
    * Animal (2005), Kassada -video
    * In the Mix (2005), Frank
    * Running Scared (2006), Detective Rydell
    * Push (2006), Vince
    * A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), Monty
    * Little Man (2006), Mafia Kingpin Mr. Walken
    * Arthur and the Minimoys (2006), The Travel Agent -voice
    * Body Armour (2007), Maxwell
    * The Dukes (2007), George -also co-produced
    * Yonkers Joe (2008), Yonkers Joe
    * Jolene (2008), Sal
    * Once More with Feeling (2009), Frank Gregorio
    * Hollywood & Wine (2009), Geno Scarpaci
    * Modern Family (ABC) (2010), Shorty
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/DTrent/Chazz%20Palminteri/9c91face.gif
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/DTrent/Chazz%20Palminteri/be6f1bf6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/15/10 at 5:21 am

The person who died on this day...June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003)  was a singer, songwriter, actress, comedian  and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp  and acted in several films and television shows June Carter Cash was born Valerie June Carter in Maces Spring, Virginia to Maybelle Carter and Ezra Carter. She was born into country music and performed with the Carter Family from the young age of ten, beginning in 1939. In March 1943, when the Carter Family trio stopped recording together after the WBT  contract, Maybelle Carter, with encouragement from her husband Ezra, formed "Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters" with her daughters, Helen, Anita, and June. The new group first aired on radio station WRTD in Richmond, Virginia, on June 1. Doc (Addington) and Carl (McConnell)—Maybelle's brother and cousin, respectively—joined them in late 1945. June, then 16, was a co-announcer with Ken Allyn and did the commercials on the radio shows for "Red Star Flour", "Martha White," and "Thalhimers Department Store," just to name a few. For the next year, the Carters and Doc and Carl did show dates within driving range of Richmond, through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. June later said she had to work harder at her music than her sisters, but she had her own special talent—comedy. A highlight of the road shows was her "Aunt Polly" comedy routine. Carl McConnell wrote in his memoirs that June was "a natural born clown, if there ever was one." She attended John Marshall High School during this period.

In the late 1940s, Maybelle & The Carter Sisters, along with their lead guitarist, a young Chet Atkins, were living in Springfield, Missouri, and performing regularly at KWTO. Ezra "Eck" Carter, Maybelle's husband and manager of group, steadfastly declined numerous offers from the Grand Ole Opry to move the act to Nashville, Tennessee, because the Opry would not permit Atkins to accompany the group onstage. Atkins's reputation as a guitar player had begun to spread, and studio musicians were fearful that he would displace them as a 'first-call' player if he came to Nashville. Finally, in 1950, Opry management relented and the group, along with Atkins, became part of the Opry company. Here the family befriended Hank Williams and Elvis Presley (to whom they were distantly related), and June met Johnny Cash.

With her thin and lanky frame, June Carter often played a comedic foil during the group's performances alongside other Opry stars Faron Young and Webb Pierce.
Career highlights

June Carter Cash is best known for singing and songwriting, but she was also an author, actress, comedian, philanthropist, and humanitarian. Director Elia Kazan saw her perform at the Grand Ole Opry in 1955 and encouraged her to study acting. She studied with Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Her acting roles included Mrs. "Momma" Dewey in Robert Duvall's 1998 movie The Apostle, Sister Ruth, wife to Johnny Cash's character Kid Cole, on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-1997), and Clarise on Gunsmoke in 1957. June was also "Momma James" in The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James.

As a singer, she had both a solo career and a career singing with first her family and later her husband. As a solo artist, she became somewhat successful with upbeat country tunes of the 1950s like "Jukebox Blues" and, with her exaggerated breaths, the comedic hit "No Swallerin' Place" by Frank Loesser. June also recorded "The Heel" in the 1960s along with many other songs. She won a Grammy award in 1999 for her solo album, Press On. Her last album, Wildwood Flower, was released posthumously in 2003 and won two additional Grammys. It contains bonus video enhancements showing extracts from the film of the recording sessions, which took place at the Carter Family estate in Hiltons, Virginia, on September 18-20, 2002. The songs on the album include "Big Yellow Peaches," "Sinking in the Lonesome Sea," "Temptation," and the trademark staple "Wildwood Flower."

Her autobiography was published in 1979, and she wrote a memoir, From the Heart, almost 10 years later.
Personal life

Carter was married three times and had one child with each husband. All three of her children would go on to have successful careers in country music.

She was married first to honky-tonk singer Carl Smith from July 9, 1952, until their divorce in 1956. Together they wrote "Time's A-Wastin'". They had a daughter, Rebecca Carlene Smith, aka Carlene Carter, a country musician.

June's second marriage was to Edwin "Rip" Nix, a former football player, police officer, and race car driver, on November 11, 1957. They had a daughter, Rozanna Lea aka Rosie, on July 13, 1958. The couple divorced in 1966. Rosie Nix Adams was a country/rock singer. On October 24, 2003, Rosie died on a bus from possible carbon monoxide poisoning.

In 1968, Johnny Cash proposed to Carter during a live performance at London Arena in London, Ontario, marrying on March 1, 1968. At Carter's funeral, her stepdaughter, Rosanne Cash, stated that "if being a wife were a corporation, June would have been a CEO. It was her most treasured role."

In 1967, the couple won a Grammy award in the Best Country & Western Performance, Duet, Trio Or Group (vocal or instrumental) category for the song "Jackson". In 1970, they won again in the Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal category for the song "If I Were a Carpenter".

John Carter Cash, born March 3, 1970, is the only child of Johnny and June Carter Cash. He is a songwriter and producer.

Carter was a longtime supporter of SOS Children's Villages. In 1974 the Cashes donated money to help build a village near their home in Barrett Town, Jamaica, which they visited frequently, playing the guitar and singing songs to the children in the village.
Death

June Carter Cash died in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 15, 2003, of complications following heart valve replacement surgery, surrounded by her family and her husband of 35 years, Johnny Cash (who himself would die less than 4 months later on September 12, 2003). Both are buried in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near their home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Awards

In 1999, she won a Grammy Award for her album Press On. Her last album, Wildwood Flower, was released posthumously in 2003 and won two additional Grammys. She ranked #31 in CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music in 2002. She was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Film portrayal

June Carter was played by Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line, a 2005 biopic of Johnny Cash (played by Joaquin Phoenix). The film largely focuses on the development of their relationship over the course of 13 years, from their first meeting to her finally accepting his proposal for marriage. Witherspoon's portrayal led her to receive many awards for her role, including an Academy Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Witherspoon also performed all vocals for the role, singing many of June's famous songs, including "Juke Box Blues" and "Jackson" with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash.
Discography
Albums
Year Album Chart Positions
US Bluegrass US Country
1975 Appalachian Pride — —
1999 Press On — —
It's All in the Family — —
2003 Wildwood Flower 2 33
Louisiana Hayride — —
2005 Keep on the Sunny Side: June Carter Cash - Her Life in Music — —
Church in the Wildwood: A Treasury of Appalachian Gospel — —
Ring of Fire: The Best of June Carter Cash — —
2006 Early June — —
Albums with Johnny Cash
Year Album Chart Positions
US Country US
1967 Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter 5 —
1973 Johnny Cash and His Woman 32 —
1978 Johnny & June — —
2006 16 Biggest Hits: Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash 26 126
June Carter and Johnny Cash: Duets — —
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country CAN Country
1949 "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (w/ Homer and Jethro) 9 — Singles only
1956 "Juke Box Blues" — —
1971 "A Good Man" 27 12
2003 "Keep On the Sunny Side" — — Wildwood Flower
Singles with Johnny Cash
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country US CAN Country CAN CAN AC
1965 "It Ain't Me Babe" 4 58 — — — Orange Blossom Special
1967 "Jackson" 2 — — — — Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
"Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" 6 — — — — Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter
1970 "If I Were a Carpenter" 2 36 1 13 11 Hello, I'm Johnny Cash
1971 "No Need to Worry" 15 — 7 — — International Superstar
1972 "If I Had a Hammer" 29 — — — — Any Old Wind That Blows
1973 "The Loving Gift" 27 — 22 — —
"Allegheny" 69 — 35 — — Johnny Cash and His Woman
1976 "Old Time Feeling" 26 — 24 — — Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
See also

    * Walk the Line
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f242/buttaplaydtoast/JuneCarterCash.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b89/john_deere_roxmysox/RaNdOmnEsS/carter-cash.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/15/10 at 6:59 am


The word or phrase of the day...Poolhall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall (or parlour/parlor, room or club) (sometimes written poolhall, snookerhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments often serve alcohol and may have gaming machines, darts, foosball and other games on the side.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff150/jabfmn/poolhall.jpg
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz45/Damanni/poolhall.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v680/lfcutie908/e896c716.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o68/jjsalatajr/poolhall.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd111/killtherock8/Poolhall_junkies.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/mrsmrtile/poolhall-1.jpg



I remember when I used to play pool,I was ok wasn't great.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/15/10 at 11:07 am


Very nice pics, Cat :)



Wonderful pictures!




It sure looks pretty over there Cat.




Thanks everyone (and karma to you all).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/15/10 at 11:11 am



I remember when I used to play pool,I was ok wasn't great.

I only tried once, and I  was not to good. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 11:21 am


The word or phrase of the day...Poolhall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall (or parlour/parlor, room or club) (sometimes written poolhall, snookerhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments often serve alcohol and may have gaming machines, darts, foosball and other games on the side.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff150/jabfmn/poolhall.jpg
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz45/Damanni/poolhall.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v680/lfcutie908/e896c716.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o68/jjsalatajr/poolhall.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd111/killtherock8/Poolhall_junkies.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc220/mrsmrtile/poolhall-1.jpg
Pool Hall Richard ~ Rod Stewart

Not on YouTube!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/15/10 at 11:24 am


I only tried once, and I  was not to good. :-[

I played pool yesterday evening. Won one game, lost one game.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 11:25 am


I played pool yesterday evening. Won one game, lost one game.
I used to play and always lose!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/15/10 at 11:28 am


I used to play and always lose!

I win some, lose some, just like table tennis ( which I also played yesterday against a good opponent.)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/15/10 at 11:52 am

Never got into pool-but I love to get into a pool.  ;)



http://www.aquaticdesignconstruction.com/sitebuilder/images/POOL_AND_WATERFALL.1-402x287.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: DJ Blaze on 05/15/10 at 12:24 pm

Here's my runner-up for a word of the day...

ELASTICITY! Meaning: the property of elastic.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 12:27 pm


Never got into pool-but I love to get into a pool.  ;)



http://www.aquaticdesignconstruction.com/sitebuilder/images/POOL_AND_WATERFALL.1-402x287.jpg



Cat
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gTJMEP-c2fo/SEUw1OZLIVI/AAAAAAAAARA/aYRkF6BvyOQ/s400/guitarSwimmingPool.jpg

How about this for a pool?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/15/10 at 12:29 pm


Here's my runner-up for a word of the day...

ELASTICITY! Meaning: the property of elastic.



Here I thought it was a city where they make rubber bands.  :D ;D ;D ;D




http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gTJMEP-c2fo/SEUw1OZLIVI/AAAAAAAAARA/aYRkF6BvyOQ/s400/guitarSwimmingPool.jpg

How about this for a pool?



WAY COOL!!!! I SOOOOO want that!




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/15/10 at 12:33 pm



Here I thought it was a city where they make rubber bands.  :D ;D ;D ;D


WAY COOL!!!! I SOOOOO want that!



Cat

If it were an electric guitar, the swimming result could be quite shocking.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 12:48 pm



Here I thought it was a city where they make rubber bands.  :D ;D ;D ;D




WAY COOL!!!! I SOOOOO want that!




Cat
There is another great swimming pool, I must find the picture of ASAP!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 12:49 pm


There is another great swimming pool, I must find the picture of ASAP!
Found it!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/10 at 12:50 pm



Here I thought it was a city where they make rubber bands.  :D ;D ;D ;D




WAY COOL!!!! I SOOOOO want that!




Cat
http://cf2.vgtstatic.com/thumbll/2/8/28610-v1.jpg

Once owned by Liberace

How about this one?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/15/10 at 1:05 pm


http://cf2.vgtstatic.com/thumbll/2/8/28610-v1.jpg

Once owned by Liberace

How about this one?





I thought it was cool until I found out it was owned by Liberace.  8-P  :D ;D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/15/10 at 2:26 pm


I used to play and always lose!


I always scratched.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/15/10 at 4:15 pm

Hey...we've got trouble!  Right here in River City! With a capital T...that rhymes with P ...and that stands for POOL!!! 

I used to play quite a bit of pool, snooker and billiards. I had some good games .... but mostly when I had a few drinks. I worked out that the alcohol corrected the natural imbalance in my brain.  :D  I also played better darts when under the influence as well.... :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/16/10 at 4:07 am


I always scratched.
You always used to scratch the table?  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/10 at 4:56 am


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gTJMEP-c2fo/SEUw1OZLIVI/AAAAAAAAARA/aYRkF6BvyOQ/s400/guitarSwimmingPool.jpg

How about this for a pool?

That's cool

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/10 at 4:58 am


You always used to scratch the table?  ;D

I did the first time I played, my friend's dad was pissed. :( :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/10 at 5:01 am

The word of the day...Matador
1.  A bullfighter who performs the final passes and kills the bull.
2. Games One of the highest trumps in certain card games.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x113/danynbanflnblwasa/matador.jpg
http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy247/tolstoyvox/Matador.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss40/pogi_25_igop/matador.jpg
http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/eberlyh/Sevilla/DSC01593.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh57/Teresa2008a/matador.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/bennifer77/matador.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m134/quee80/Matador_Vol_07-08_Danish-cdcovers_c.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/16/10 at 5:05 am


The word of the day...Matador
1.  A bullfighter who performs the final passes and kills the bull.
2. Games One of the highest trumps in certain card games.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/bennifer77/matador.jpg

Ouch!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/16/10 at 5:07 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNkVduTKO8

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/16/10 at 5:07 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNkVduTKO8
Toredor, Matador same thing?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/10 at 5:08 am

The person born on this day...Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE  (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist who holds Irish and American citizenship. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982-87).

After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak and The Thomas Crowne Affair. He took over from Timothy Dalton as secret agent James Bond, starring in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day (1995- 2002). He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing and James Bond 007: Nightfire. Since playing Bond he has starred in such successes as The Matador (nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005) and Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008).

In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.

He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1977 until her early death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001, becoming an American citizen in 2004.
After graduating from the Drama Centre in 1975, Brosnan began working as an acting assistant stage manager at the York Theatre Royal, making his acting debut in Wait Until Dark. Within six months, he was selected by playwright Tennessee Williams to play the role of McCabe in the British première of The Red Devil Battery Sign.  His performance caused a stir in London and Brosnan still has the telegram sent by Williams, stating only "Thank God for you, my dear boy".  He continued his career making brief appearances in films such as The Long Good Friday (1980) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980), as well as early television performances in The Professionals, Murphy's Stroke, and Play for Today. He became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America.  He followed this with his 1982 Masterpiece Theatre  documentary that chronicled the life of Lady Nancy Astor– the first woman to sit in British Parliament. His portrayal of the love-deprived Robert Gould Shaw II garnered him a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1982, Brosnan moved to southern California and rose to popularity in the United States playing the title role in the NBC romantic detective series Remington Steele. The Washington Post noted that same year that Brosnan "could make it as a young James Bond." After Remington Steele ended in 1987, Brosnan went on to appear in several films, including The Fourth Protocol (1987), a Cold War thriller in which he starred alongside Michael Caine, The Deceivers and James Clavell's Noble House both in (1988), and The Lawnmower Man (1992). In 1992, he shot a pilot for NBC called Running Wilde, playing a reporter for Auto World magazine. Jennifer Love Hewitt played his daughter, but the pilot never aired. In 1993 he played a supporting role in the comedy film Mrs Doubtfire. He also appeared in several television films, including Death Train (1993) and Night Watch (1995), a spy thriller set in Hong Kong.
James Bond (1995–2004)

Brosnan first met James Bond films producer Albert R. Broccoli on the sets of For Your Eyes Only because his first wife was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act… he's my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore. It was reported by both Entertainment Tonight and the National Enquirer, that Brosnan was going to inherit another role of Moore's, that of The Saint, Simon Templar. Brosnan denied the rumours in July 1993 but added, "it's still languishing there on someone's desk in Hollywood."

In 1986, Timothy Dalton was approached for the Bond role; his involvement with the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr kept Dalton from being able to accept it. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role– notably Sam Neill– but were ultimately passed over by Broccoli. Remington Steele was about to end, so Brosnan was offered the role, but the publicity revived Remington Steele and Brosnan had to decline the role of James Bond, owing to his contract.

By then, Dalton had become available again, and he accepted the role for The Living Daylights (1987), and Licence to Kill (1989). Legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in the cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady) and put the series on a hiatus, which lasted six years. GoldenEye was originally written with Dalton as Bond, but he turned it down. On 7 June 1994, Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play Bond.

Brosnan was signed for a three-film deal with the option of a fourth. He first appeared as Bond in 1995's GoldenEye to much critical praise. Critic James Berardinelli described him as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm." GoldenEye grossed US $350 million worldwide. It had the fourth highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995. It was the most successful Bond film at that time without inflation.
A well-dressed man and a glamorous woman toast each other holding champagne glasses.
Brosnan (right) as James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Generously open to fresh ideas, he accepted the role of Grey Owl, in the Canadian series of short historical movies known as "The Heritage Minutes."

In 1996, Brosnan formed a film production company entitled "Irish DreamTime" along with producing partner Beau St. Clair. Three years later the company's first studio project, The Thomas Crown Affair, was released and met both critical and box-office success. Brosnan returned in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough, which were also successful. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth time as Bond in Die Another Day. The film received very mixed reviews but was still a success at the box office. Brosnan himself subsequently criticised many aspects of his fourth Bond movie. During the promotion, he mentioned that he would like to continue his role as James Bond: "I'd like to do another, sure. Connery did six. Six would be a number, then never come back."

Brosnan asked EON Productions when accepting the role, to be allowed to work on other projects between Bond films. The request was granted, and for every Bond film, Brosnan appeared in at least two other mainstream films, including several he produced. Brosnan played a wide range of roles in between his Bond film appearances, ranging from a scientist in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!, to a volcanologist in Dante's Peak and the title role in Grey Owl, a biopic about Englishman Archibald Stansfeld Belaney who adopted the Ojibwa name Grey Owl and become one of Canada's first conservationists.

Shortly after the release of Die Another Day, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth time. Brosnan kept in mind that both aficionados and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role until he was 58, but he was receiving popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth instalment. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role. Throughout 2004, it was rumored that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM and EON Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me"; this is thought by some to be a failed negotiating ploy. In October 2004, Brosnan said he considered himself dismissed from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times, and in February 2005 he posted on his website that he was finished with the role. Daniel Craig took over the role on 14 October 2005. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Brosnan was asked what he thought of Craig as the new James Bond. He replied, "I'm looking forward to it like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor and he's going to do a fantastic job". He reaffirmed this support in an interview to the International Herald Tribune, stating that " on his way to becoming a memorable Bond."

During his tenure on the James Bond films, Brosnan also took part in James Bond video games. In 2002, Brosnan's likeness was used as the face of Bond in the James Bond video game Nightfire (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield). In 2004, Brosnan starred in the Bond game Everything or Nothing, contracting for his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice-work for the character. He also starred along with Jamie Lee Curtis and Geoffrey Rush in "The Tailor of Panama" in 2001.
Post-James Bond (2004–present)

Since 2004, Brosnan has talked of backing a film about Caitlin Macnamara, wife of poet Dylan Thomas, the title role to be played by Miranda Richardson. Brosnan's first post-Bond role was that of Daniel Rafferty in 2004's Laws of Attraction. Garreth Murphy, of entertainment.ie, described Brosnan's performance as "surprisingly effective, gently riffing off his James Bond persona and supplementing it with a raffish energy". In the same year, Brosnan starred in After the Sunset alongside Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson. The film elicited generally negative reviews and a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Brosnan's next film was 2005's The Matador. He starred as Julian Noble, a jaded, boozy assassin who meets a travelling salesman (Greg Kinnear) in a Mexican bar. The film was better received than After the Sunset and garnered more positive reviews. Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times called Brosnan's performance the best of his career. Brosnan was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy but lost to Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line. In December 2005, Brosnan was reported to be attached to star in The November Man, an adaptation of Bill Grainger's novel, There Are No Spies, but the project was cancelled in 2007.

In 2007, Brosnan appeared in the film Seraphim Falls alongside fellow Irishman Liam Neeson. The film was released for limited screenings on 26 January 2007 to average reviews. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times noted that Brosnan and Neeson made "fine adversaries;" Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter thought that they were "hard-pressed to inject some much-needed vitality into their sparse lines." During the same year, Brosnan spoke of making a western with fellow Irishmen Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney and making an adaptation of the 1990 novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. It was suggested that Brosnan would play the ship's captain, Jaggery, joining Saoirse Ronan and Morgan Freeman.
Smiling cast members standing in a row for a group photo.
Brosnan (2nd from the left) with the cast of Mamma Mia! and ABBA (1st, 5th, and 6th from left and 2nd from right)

In 2008, Brosnan joined Meryl Streep in the film adaption of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!. He played Sam Carmichael, one of three men rumoured to be the father of lead Amanda Seyfried, while Streep played her mother. Judy Craymer, producer to the film, said "Pierce brings a certain smooch factor, and we think he'll have great chemistry with Meryl in a romantic comedy." Brosnan's preparation in singing for the role included walking up and down the coast and singing karaoke to his own voice for about six weeks, followed by rehearsals in New York which he noted he "sounded dreadful." Brosnan's singing in the film was generally disparaged by critics, with his singing compared in separate reviews to the sound of a water buffalo, a donkey, and a wounded raccoon. In September 2008, Brosnan provided the narration for Thomas the Tank Engine in Thomas and Friends and The Great Discovery.

In 2009, Brosnan starred in The Big Biazarro, (alternative title The Ace), an adaptation of the Leonard Wise novel, directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall. Brosnan takes the role of a card player who mentors a headstrong protégé. Also In 2009, Brosnan finished the well-received The Ghost Writer, playing a British Prime Minister during the Iraq war years, directed and produced by Roman Polanski. The film won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He starred as Charles Hawkins in the film Remember Me and as Chiron in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, both released in 2010.
Personal life

Brosnan met Australian actress Cassandra Harris through David Harris, one of Richard Harris' nephews, in 1974, shortly after he left drama school. On meeting her he has described his feelings saying "What a beautiful looking woman. I never for an instant thought she was someone I'd spend 17 years of my life with. I didn't think of wooing her, or attempting to woo her; I just wanted to enjoy her beauty and who she was." They began dating, and eventually bought a house in Wimbledon in 1979. They lived with her children, Charlotte (born 27 November 1971) and Christopher (born 6 October 1972), and after their natural father Dermot Harris died in 1986, he adopted them and they took the surname Brosnan. They married on 27 December 1980 and had one son together, Sean, who was born on 13 September 1983.

Financially, Brosnan was concerned about earning enough money to get by at this time, and supplemented their income by working in West End productions, and a television film about Irish horse racing. Soon after Harris appeared in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only in 1981, with a bank loan, they moved to southern California where Brosnan had his first interview in Hollywood for Remington Steele, and subsequently no longer had financial worries.

When Remington Steele was sent to Ireland to film an episode there, generating significant publicity in doing so, Brosnan was briefly reunited with his father who visited his hotel. Brosnan had expected to see a very tall man, but describes his father as, "a man of medium stature, pushed-back silver hair, flinty eyes and a twizzled jaw. He had a very strong Kerry accent." However, Brosnan expresses regret that they met under such circumstances in a public environment rather than on his own terms which would have given him the opportunity to speak privately with him.

While filming The Deceivers in Rajasthan, India in 1987, his wife Cassandra Harris became seriously ill. She was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer and she died as a result of the illness in December 1991, aged 39. Brosnan struggled to cope with her cancer and death and has said; "A young woman making her way through life, as a mother, as an actress. When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes. Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying. And it was that way through the chemotherapy, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look. Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children."

Harris had always wanted Brosnan to play the role of James Bond, and in 1995, some four years after her death, Brosnan achieved this when he appeared in GoldenEye.

In 2001, Brosnan married American journalist Keely Shaye Smith in Co.Mayo, Ireland, and they have two sons together, Dylan Thomas Brosnan (birth 13 January 1997) and Paris Beckett Brosnan (birth 27 February 2001).

In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Brosnan an honorary OBE for his "outstanding contribution to the British film industry". As an Irish citizen, he is ineligible to receive the full OBE honour, which is awarded only to a citizen of the Commonwealth realms. In 2002, Brosnan was also awarded an Honorary degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology and, one year later, the University College Cork.

Pierce Brosnan is a fan of the football team Rangers F.C.

On 23 September 2004, Brosnan became a citizen of the United States, but has retained his Irish citizenship. Brosnan said that "my Irishness is in everything I do. It's the spirit of who I am, as a man, an actor, a father. It's where I come from." Brosnan was asked by a fan if it annoyed him when people get his nationality confused. He said: "It amuses me in some respects that they should confuse me with an Englishman when I'm dyed-in-the-wool, born and bred Irishman...I don't necessarily fly under any flag. But no, it doesn't bother me."
Environmental and charitable work

Brosnan supported John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election and is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage. An outspoken environmentalist, In 2004, he was named 'Best-dressed Environmentalist' by the Sustainable Style Foundation.

Brosnan first became aware of nuclear disarmament at the age of nine when worldwide condemnation of the 1962 U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada headlined international news. During the 1990s, he participated in news conferences in Washington, D.C. to help Greenpeace draw attention to the issue. Brosnan boycotted the French GoldenEye premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program. From 1997 to 2000, Brosnan and wife Smith worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio. The couple with Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford and Daryl Hannah successfully fought the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu and would cause damage to the marine life there; the State Lands Commission eventually denied the lease to build the terminal. In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility. Brosnan is also listed as a member of the Sea Shepherd's Board of Advisors.

Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. He trained early on as an artist, but later shifted to theatre; during his first wife's terminal illness, he withdrew from acting to be with her and took up painting again for therapeutic reasons, producing colourful landscapes and family portraits. He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit "environmental, children's and women's health charities." Since Harris's death, Brosnan has been an advocate for cancer awareness and, in 2006, he served as spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day, a breast cancer fundraiser which raises millions of dollars and raises more money in a single day than any other breast cancer fundraiser.

In May 2007, Brosnan and Smith donated $100,000 to help replace a playground on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where they own a home. On 7 July 2007, Brosnan presented a film at Live Earth in London. He also recorded a television advertisement for the cause. Brosnan lives with his family in Malibu, California.

Pierce Brosnan has been an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2001. Pierce recorded a special announcement to mark the launch of UNICEF's "Unite for Children. Unite against AIDS" Campaign with Liam Neeson.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1979 Murphy's Stroke Edward O'Grady TV-Movie
1980 The Long Good Friday 1st Irishman
The Mirror Crack'd Actor playing 'Jamie' Uncredited role
1981 Manions of America Rory O'Manion TV miniseries
1986 Nomads Jean Charles Pommier
Remington Steele: The Steele That Wouldn't Die Remington Steele
1987 Taffin Mark Taffin
The Fourth Protocol Valeri Petrofsky/James Edward Ross
1988 The Deceivers William Savage
Noble House Ian Dunross TV miniseries
1989 Around the World in 80 Days Phileas Fogg TV miniseries
The Heist Neil Skinner TV-Movie
1990 Mister Johnson Harry Rudbeck
1991 Murder 101 Charles Lattimore TV-Movie
Victim of Love Paul Tomlinson TV-Movie
1992 The Lawnmower Man Dr. Lawrence Angelo
Live Wire Danny O'Neill
1993 Mrs. Doubtfire Stuart Dunmeyer
Death Train Michael 'Mike' Graham TV-Movie
Entangled Garavan
The Broken Chain Sir William Johnson TV-Movie
1994 Love Affair Ken Allen
Don't Talk to Strangers Douglas Patrick Brody TV-Movie
1995 Night Watch Michael 'Mike' Graham TV-Movie
GoldenEye James Bond Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor, First Role alongside Sean Bean
1996 Mars Attacks! Professor Donald Kessler
The Mirror Has Two Faces Alex
1997 Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe
Tomorrow Never Dies James Bond Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema
Dante's Peak Harry Dalton
1998 Quest for Camelot King Arthur
The Nephew Joe Brady also producer
1999 Grey Owl Archibald "Grey Owl" Belaney
The World Is Not Enough James Bond Empire Award for Best Actor
The Match John MacGhee also producer
The Thomas Crown Affair Thomas Crown also producer
2001 The Tailor of Panama Andrew Osnard
2002 Die Another Day James Bond Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Evelyn Desmond Doyle also producer
2004 After the Sunset Max Burdett
Laws of Attraction Daniel Rafferty also executive producer
2005 The Matador Julian Noble Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role - Film
2006 Seraphim Falls Gideon
2007 Butterfly on a Wheel Tom Ryan also producer
Married Life Richard Langley
2008 Mamma Mia! Sam Carmichael Nominated — National Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
Won — Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor
Thomas and Friends: The Great Discovery Narrator Guest role
2009 The Greatest Allen Brewer
2010 The Ghost Writer Adam Lang
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Chiron
Remember Me Charles Hawkins
Oceans Narrator
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bea2/Pierce.jpg
http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss20/Nym_photo/brosnan.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/10 at 5:10 am

The person who died on this day...Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer.

Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian, and became internationally famous for his performances on Broadway and in Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and the only black member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack".

At the age of three Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and "uncle" as the Will Mastin Trio, toured nationally, and after military service, returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a well received nightclub performance at Ciro's after the 1951 Academy Awards, with the trio, became a recording artist, and made his first film performances as an adult later that decade. Losing his left eye in a car accident in 1954, he converted to Judaism and appeared in the first Rat Pack movie, Ocean's Eleven, in 1960. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956's Mr Wonderful, Davis returned to the stage in 1964's Golden Boy, and in 1966 had his own TV variety show, The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. Davis's career slowed in the late sixties, but he scored a hit record with "The Candy Man", in 1972, and became a star attraction in Las Vegas.

As an African-American, Davis was the victim of racism throughout his life, and was a large financial supporter of various civil rights causes. Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and attracted criticism after physically embracing Richard Nixon in 1970. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap — I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles.

After reuniting with Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before dying of throat cancer in 1990. He died heavily in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, and his estate was the subject of complicated legal battles.

Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
While in the service, however, he joined an integrated entertainment Special Services unit, and found that the spotlight removed some of the prejudice. "My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking." he said.
Sammy Davis, Jr. (left) with Walter Reuther (center) and Roy Wilkins (right) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.

After he was discharged, Davis rejoined the dance act which played at a wide variety of spots around Portland, Oregon, and began to achieve success on his own as he was singled out for praise by critics. The next year, he released his second album. The next move in his growing career was to appear in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful in 1956.

In 1959, he became a member of the "Rat Pack", which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra, and included such fellow performers as Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Shirley MacLaine. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering of fast-living friends "the Clan", but Sammy voiced his opposition, saying that it invoked thoughts about the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit"; undeterred, the media continued to refer to them as the Rat Pack.

Davis was a headliner at The Frontier Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for many years yet was required (as were all black performers in the 1950s) to accept accommodations in a rooming house on the west side of the city, rather than allowed to sleep in the hotels as his white fellow entertainers were. And no stage dressing rooms were provided for black performers, so they were required to wait outside by the swimming pool between acts.

During his early years in Las Vegas, he and such other African-American artists as Nat King Cole and Count Basie could entertain on the stage but often could not sleep at the hotels at which they performed, could not gamble in the casinoes, and could not dine or drink in the hotel restaurants and bars. After he achieved superstar success, Davis refused to work at businesses which practiced racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas casinos. Davis was particularly proud of this accomplishment.

In 1964, Davis was starring in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own New York-based afternoon talk show during the day. When he could get a day off from the theater, he would either be in the studio recording new songs, or else performing live, often at charity benefits as far away as Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas, or doing television variety specials in Los Angeles. Even at the time, Sam knew he was cheating his family of his company, but he couldn't help himself; as he later said, he was incapable of standing still.

Although he was still a huge draw in Las Vegas, Davis's musical career had sputtered out by the latter years of the 1960s, although he had a #11 hit (#1 on the Easy Listening singles chart) with "I've Gotta Be Me" in 1969. An attempt to update his sound and reconnect with younger people resulted in some embarrassing "hip" musical efforts with the Motown record label. But then, even as his career seemed at its nadir, Sammy had an unexpected worldwide smash hit with "Candy Man". Although he didn't particularly care for the song and was chagrined that he was now best known for it, Davis made the most of his new opportunity and revitalized his career. Although he enjoyed no more Top 40 hits, he did enjoy some extra popularity with his performance of the theme song from the T.V. series Baretta (1975–1978) which was not released as a single but was given extensive radio play and he remained a successful live act beyond Vegas for the remainder of his career. He would still occasionally land television and film parts, including high-profile cameo visits to the All in the Family (during which he kisses Archie Bunker (Carrol O'Connor) on the cheek), and with wife Altovise Davis on Charlie's Angels. In the 1970s, he also appeared in a series of memorable commercials in Japan for Suntory whiskey.

On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special entitled Movin' With Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is famous for Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses in U.S. television history.

In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee, and in the U.S. he joined Sinatra and Martin in a radio commercial for a Chicago car dealership.

Davis was one of the first male celebrities to admit to watching television soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the American Broadcasting Company. This admission led to his making a cameo appearance on General Hospital and playing the recurring character Chip Warren on One Life to Live for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980. He was also a game show fan, making a cameo on the ABC version of Family Feud in 1979, and hosting a question with Richard Dawson watching from the sidelines. He appeared on Tattletales with third wife Altovise Davis in the 1970s. He also made a cameo during an episode of the NBC version of Card Sharks in 1981.

Davis was an avid photographer who enjoyed shooting family and acquaintances. His body of work was detailed in a 2007 book by Burt Boyar. "Jerry gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter, during the Ciro's period, early '50s", Boyar quotes Davis. "And he hooked me." Davis used a medium format camera later on to capture images. Again quoting Davis, "Nobody interrupts a man taking a picture to ask... 'What's that ****** doin' here?' ". His catalogue of photos include rare shots of his father dancing onstage as part of the Will Mastin Trio and intimate snapshots of close friends Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole, and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were represented, in his images of Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. His most revealing work comes in photographs of wife May Britt and their three children, Tracey, Jeff and Mark.

Davis was an enthusiastic shooter and gun owner. He participated in fast-draw competition and was said to be capable of drawing and firing a Colt Single Action revolver in less than a quarter of a second. Davis was extremely skilled at fast and fancy gun spinning, and several times appeared on T.V. variety shows showing off this skill. He appeared in several western films and as a guest star on several "Golden Age" T.V. westerns too.
Car accident and conversion

Davis nearly died in an automobile accident on November 19, 1954 in San Bernardino, California, as he was making a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The accident occurred at a fork in U.S. Highway 66 at Cajon Blvd and Kendall Drive. Davis lost his left eye as a result, and wore an eye patch for at least six months following the accident. He appeared on What's My Line wearing the patch. Later, he was fitted for a glass eye, which he wore for the rest of his life. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor told him about the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. Prompted by this conversation, Davis — who was born to a Catholic mother and Protestant father — began studying the history of Jews and converted to Judaism several years later. One passage from his readings, describing the endurance of the Jewish people, intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millennia of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush". In many ways, the accident marked a turning point in Davis's career, taking him from a well-known entertainer to a national celebrity and icon.
Marriages

In the mid-1950s, Sammy was involved with Kim Novak, who was a valuable star under contract to Columbia Studios. The head of the studio, Harry Cohn, was worried about the negative effect this would have on the studio because of the prevailing taboo against miscegenation. He called his old friend, the mobster Johnny Roselli, who was asked to tell Sammy that he had to stop the affair with Novak. Roselli arranged for Davis to be kidnapped for a few hours to throw a scare into him. His hastily-arranged and soon-dissolved marriage to black dancer Loray White in 1958 was an attempt to quiet the controversy.

In 1960, Davis caused controversy again when he married white Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail while starring in the Broadway musical adaptation of Golden Boy from 1964-1966 (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor). At the time Davis appeared in the play, interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 US states, and only in 1967 were those laws ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. The couple had one daughter and adopted two sons. Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife. They divorced in 1968, after Davis admitted to having had an affair with singer Lola Falana. That year, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy. They were married on May 11, 1970 by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. They adopted a child, and remained married until Davis's death in 1990.
Political beliefs
Sammy Davis, Jr. in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House with President Richard Nixon, 4 March 1973

Although Davis had been a voting Democratic, he had felt a distinct lack of respect from the John F. Kennedy White House. He had been removed from the bill of the inaugural party hosted by Sinatra for the new President because of Davis's recent interracial marriage to May Britt on November 13, 1960.

In the early 1970s, Davis famously supported Republican President Richard M. Nixon (and gave the startled President a hug on live TV). The incident was very controversial, and Davis was given a hostile reception by his peers, despite the intervention of Jesse Jackson. Previously he had won over their respect with his performance as Joe Wellington Jr. in Golden Boy and his participation in the Civil Rights Movement. Nixon invited Davis to sleep in the White House in 1973, which is believed to be the first time an African-American was invited to do so. Davis spent the night in the Queen's Bedroom. Unlike Frank Sinatra, Davis voted Democratic for president again after the Nixon administration, supporting the campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988.
Death

Davis died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990, of complications from throat cancer. Earlier, when he was told he could be saved by surgery, Davis replied he would rather keep his voice than have a part of his throat removed; the result of that decision seemed to cost him his life. However, a few weeks prior to his death his entire larynx was removed during surgery. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California next to his father and Will Mastin.
Portrayals

Davis was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the HBO movie The Rat Pack, a made-for-TV movie about the pack of entertainers. Cheadle won a Golden Globe award for his performance.

Davis was frequently portrayed by Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live.

Davis was portrayed on the popular sketch comedy show In Living Color by Tommy Davidson, most notably a parody of the movie Ghost, in which the ghost of Davis enlists the help of Whoopi Goldberg to communicate with his wife.

David Raynr also portrayed Davis in the miniseries Sinatra, a TV movie about the life of Frank Sinatra.

Davis was also portrayed by Keith Powell in an episode of 30 Rock entitled "Subway Hero".

In the 1993 film Waynes World 2, Tim Meadows portrays Davis in the dream sequence with Michael A. Nickles as Jim Morrison.

In September 2009, the musical Sammy: Once in a Lifetime premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego with book, music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, and additional songs by Bricusse and Anthony Newley. The title role was played by Broadway veteran and Tony Award nominee Obba Babatundé.
Honors and awards
Grammy Awards
Year Category Song Result Notes
2002 Grammy Hall of Fame Award "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Inducted Recorded in 1962
2001 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
1972 Pop Male Vocalist "Candy Man" Nominee
1962 Record of the Year "What Kind of Fool Am I" Nominee
1962 Male Solo Vocal Performance "What Kind of Fool Am I" Nominee
Emmy Awards
Category Program Result
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration Winner
1989 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series The Cosby Show Nominee
1980 Outstanding Cameo Appearance in a Daytime Drama Series One Life to Live Nominee
1966 Outstanding Variety Special The Swinging World of Sammy Davis Jr. Nominee
1956 Best Specialty Act — Single or Group Sammy Davis Jr. Nominee
Other honors
Year Category Organization Program Result
2008 International Civil Rights
Walk of Fame Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site Inducted
2006 Las Vegas Walk of Stars front of Riviera Hotel Inducted
? Hollywood Walk of Fame Star at 6254 Hollywood Blvd.
1989 NAACP Image Award NAACP Winner
1987 Kennedy Center Honors John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts Honoree
1977 Best TV Actor — Musical/Comedy Golden Globe Sammy and Company (1975) Nominee
1974 Special Citation Award National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Winner
1968 NAACP Spingarn Medal Award NAACP Winner
1965 Best Actor — Musical Tony Award Golden Boy Nominee
Discography
Hit Records
Year Single Chart positions
U.S. U.S.
AC Country UK
1954 "Hey There" 16 19
"The Red Grapes" 28
1955 "Something's Gotta Give" 9 11
"Love Me Or Leave Me" 12 8
"That Old Black Magic" 13 16
"I'll Know" 87
1956 "Five" 71
"Earthbound" 46
"New York's My Home" 59
"In a Persian Market" 28
"All of You" 28
1960 "Happy To Make Your Acquaintance"(with Carmen McRae) 46
1962 "What Kind of Fool Am I" 17 6 26
"Gonna Build a Mountain" flip
"Me and My Shadow"(with Frank Sinatra) 64 18 20
"Sam's Song"(with Dean Martin) 94
1963 "As Long As She Needs Me" 59 19
"The Shelter of Your Arms" 17 6
1964 "Choose" 112
"Be Bom" 135
"Don't Shut Me Out" 106
1965 "If I Ruled the World" 135
"No One Can Live Forever" 117 33
1967 "Don't Blame the Children" 37
1968 "Lonely Is the Name" 93 12
"Break My Mind" 106
"I've Gotta Be Me" 11 1
1969 "Rhythm of Life" 124
"I Have But One Life To Live" 119
1972 "The Candy Man" 1 1
"The People Tree" 92 16
1973 "I'd Be a Legend In My Time" 116 29
1974 "Singin' In the Rain" 16
"That's Entertainment" 41
1975 "Chico and the Man" 24
"Song and Dance Man" 32
1976 "Baretta's Theme" 101 42
1982 "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" 89
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Reprise Records

    * 1961 The Wham of Sam!
    * 1962 Sammy Davis, Jr. Belts the Best of Broadway
    * 1962 The Sammy Davis, Jr. All-Star Spectacular
    * 1962 What Kind of Fool Am I - and Other Show-Stoppers
    * 1963 As Long as She Needs Me
    * 1963 Sammy Davis, Jr. at the Cocoanut Grove
    * 1964 Sammy Davis, Jr. Salutes the Stars of the London Palladium
    * 1964 The Shelter of Your Arms
    * 1964 California Suite
    * 1964 Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings the Big Ones for Young Lovers
    * 1965 When the Feeling Hits You! (With Sam Butera and the Witnesses)
    * 1965 If I Ruled the World
    * 1965 The Nat King Cole Songbook
    * 1965 Sammy's Back on Broadway
    * 1966 The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show
    * 1966 A Man Called Adam
    * 1966 The Sounds of '66
    * 1966 Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays
    * 1966 That's All!
    * 1967 Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings the Complete 'Dr. Dolittle'
    * 1968 Lonely Is The Name
    * 1968 I've Gotta Be Me
    * 1968 Sammy Davis Jr.'s Greatest Hits - The Top Twelve
    * 1969 The Goin's Great


Decca Records

    * 1955 Starring Sammy Davis, Jr.
    * 1955 Just for Lovers
    * 1956 Mr Wonderful
    * 1956 Here's Looking at You
    * 1957 Sammy Swings
    * 1957 It's All Over but the Swingin'
    * 1957 Boy Meets Girl (with Carmen McRae)
    * 1957 Sammy Swings
    * 1958 Mood to Be Wooed
    * 1958 Mr. Entertainment
    * 1958 All The Way...and Then Some!
    * 1959 Sammy Davis, Jr. at Town Hall
    * 1959 Porgy And Bess (With Carmen McRae)
    * 1960 Sammy Awards
    * 1960 I Gotta Right To Swing
    * 1963 Forget-Me-Nots For First Nighters
    * 1965 Try a Little Tenderness

Verve Records

    * 1965 Our Shining Hour (with The Count Basie Orchestra)

Motown Records

    * 1970 Something for Everyone
    * 1984 Hello Detroit (12 inch single)

MGM Records

    * 1972 Sammy Davis Jr. Now
    * 1974 That's Entertainment!
    * 1977 In Person '77
    * 1979 Hearin' Is Believin'

Filmography

    * Rufus Jones for President (1933)
    * Seasoned Greetings (1933)
    * Sweet and Low (1947)
    * Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
    * Anna Lucasta (1959)
    * Porgy and Bess (1959)
    * Ocean's Eleven (1960)
    * Pepe (1960)
    * Sergeants 3 (1962)
    * The Threepenny Opera (1962)
    * Convicts 4 (1962)
    * Johnny Cool (1963)
    * Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
    * Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
    * The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World (1965)(title song)
    * A Man Called Adam (1966)
    * Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?) (1966)
    * Salt and Pepper (1968)
    * The Fall (1969)



    * Sweet Charity (1969)
    * One More Time (1970)
    * Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970)
    * Diamonds Are Forever (1971; deleted scene)
    * Save the Children (1973)
    * Gone with the West (1975)
    * Sammy Stops the World (1978)
    * The Cannonball Run (1981)
    * Heidi's Song (1982)
    * Cracking Up (1983)
    * Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * That's Dancing! (1985)
    * Knights of the City (1986)
    * The Perils of P.K. (1986)
    * Moon Over Parador (1988)
    * Tap (1989)
    * The Kid Who Loved Christmas (1990, last role)

Stage

    * Mr. Wonderful (1957), musical
    * Golden Boy (1964), musical - Tony Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical
    * Sammy (1974), special performance featuring Davis with the Nicholas Brothers
    * Stop the World - I Want to Get Off (1978) musical revival

TV

    * The Patty Duke Show - 1965 - Sammy Davis plays himself. Patty needs to arrange for a Hollywood Star to perform at her high school prom. Sammy notices Patty wearing a sandwich sign asking for help from any Hollywood star. Sammy wants to help Patty out but Sammy's agent does not like the idea and does not contact Patty. Sammy contacts Patty by phone but she does not believe it is him. He then shows up at the prom and puts on a show.
    * I Dream of Jeannie - 1967 - on the episode "The Greatest Entertainer in the World". Tony needs Sammy Davis Jr. to entertain for General Peterson's 10th anniversary at NASA, but he is previously booked. Jeannie comes to the rescue by creating a duplicate of Sammy.
    * All in the Family - 1972 - Sammy Davis plays himself. In the episode, he leaves his briefcase in Archie Bunker's cab and goes to Archie's house to retrieve it. He meets Archie, Edith, Mike, Gloria, and Lionel Jefferson. When Sammy Davis Jr. and Archie talk, Sammy quickly discovers that Archie is prejudiced, even though Archie believes that he is not. During a family conversation Archie has before Sammy arrives, Archie tells the others to avoid mentioning Sammy's glass eye. Archie then asks Sammy, "Would you like cream and sugar in your eye?" meaning to say coffee. At the end of the show, Munson, the owner of the cab who brings back the briefcase, takes a photo of Archie and Sammy. Right before the flash goes off, Sammy kisses Archie on the cheek, to Archie's surprise.
    * The Jeffersons - 1984 Sammy Davis plays himself, where he is staying at an apartment directly next door to The Jeffersons'. Only Louise knows he is there, and Sammy asks her to hide his presence until he leaves.
    * The Cosby Show - 1989 Sammy Davis plays Ray Palomino.
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/whtchocolate5/sammy_davis_jr.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/NastyNate34/SammyDavisJr.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/16/10 at 6:53 am


You always used to scratch the table?  ;D


When you shoot for the white ball,It's called scratching.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/16/10 at 6:56 am


The person who died on this day...Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer.

Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian, and became internationally famous for his performances on Broadway and in Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and the only black member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack".

At the age of three Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and "uncle" as the Will Mastin Trio, toured nationally, and after military service, returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a well received nightclub performance at Ciro's after the 1951 Academy Awards, with the trio, became a recording artist, and made his first film performances as an adult later that decade. Losing his left eye in a car accident in 1954, he converted to Judaism and appeared in the first Rat Pack movie, Ocean's Eleven, in 1960. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956's Mr Wonderful, Davis returned to the stage in 1964's Golden Boy, and in 1966 had his own TV variety show, The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. Davis's career slowed in the late sixties, but he scored a hit record with "The Candy Man", in 1972, and became a star attraction in Las Vegas.

As an African-American, Davis was the victim of racism throughout his life, and was a large financial supporter of various civil rights causes. Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and attracted criticism after physically embracing Richard Nixon in 1970. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap — I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles.

After reuniting with Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before dying of throat cancer in 1990. He died heavily in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, and his estate was the subject of complicated legal battles.

Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
While in the service, however, he joined an integrated entertainment Special Services unit, and found that the spotlight removed some of the prejudice. "My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking." he said.
Sammy Davis, Jr. (left) with Walter Reuther (center) and Roy Wilkins (right) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.

After he was discharged, Davis rejoined the dance act which played at a wide variety of spots around Portland, Oregon, and began to achieve success on his own as he was singled out for praise by critics. The next year, he released his second album. The next move in his growing career was to appear in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful in 1956.

In 1959, he became a member of the "Rat Pack", which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra, and included such fellow performers as Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Shirley MacLaine. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering of fast-living friends "the Clan", but Sammy voiced his opposition, saying that it invoked thoughts about the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit"; undeterred, the media continued to refer to them as the Rat Pack.

Davis was a headliner at The Frontier Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for many years yet was required (as were all black performers in the 1950s) to accept accommodations in a rooming house on the west side of the city, rather than allowed to sleep in the hotels as his white fellow entertainers were. And no stage dressing rooms were provided for black performers, so they were required to wait outside by the swimming pool between acts.

During his early years in Las Vegas, he and such other African-American artists as Nat King Cole and Count Basie could entertain on the stage but often could not sleep at the hotels at which they performed, could not gamble in the casinoes, and could not dine or drink in the hotel restaurants and bars. After he achieved superstar success, Davis refused to work at businesses which practiced racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas casinos. Davis was particularly proud of this accomplishment.

In 1964, Davis was starring in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own New York-based afternoon talk show during the day. When he could get a day off from the theater, he would either be in the studio recording new songs, or else performing live, often at charity benefits as far away as Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas, or doing television variety specials in Los Angeles. Even at the time, Sam knew he was cheating his family of his company, but he couldn't help himself; as he later said, he was incapable of standing still.

Although he was still a huge draw in Las Vegas, Davis's musical career had sputtered out by the latter years of the 1960s, although he had a #11 hit (#1 on the Easy Listening singles chart) with "I've Gotta Be Me" in 1969. An attempt to update his sound and reconnect with younger people resulted in some embarrassing "hip" musical efforts with the Motown record label. But then, even as his career seemed at its nadir, Sammy had an unexpected worldwide smash hit with "Candy Man". Although he didn't particularly care for the song and was chagrined that he was now best known for it, Davis made the most of his new opportunity and revitalized his career. Although he enjoyed no more Top 40 hits, he did enjoy some extra popularity with his performance of the theme song from the T.V. series Baretta (1975–1978) which was not released as a single but was given extensive radio play and he remained a successful live act beyond Vegas for the remainder of his career. He would still occasionally land television and film parts, including high-profile cameo visits to the All in the Family (during which he kisses Archie Bunker (Carrol O'Connor) on the cheek), and with wife Altovise Davis on Charlie's Angels. In the 1970s, he also appeared in a series of memorable commercials in Japan for Suntory whiskey.

On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special entitled Movin' With Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is famous for Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses in U.S. television history.

In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee, and in the U.S. he joined Sinatra and Martin in a radio commercial for a Chicago car dealership.

Davis was one of the first male celebrities to admit to watching television soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the American Broadcasting Company. This admission led to his making a cameo appearance on General Hospital and playing the recurring character Chip Warren on One Life to Live for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980. He was also a game show fan, making a cameo on the ABC version of Family Feud in 1979, and hosting a question with Richard Dawson watching from the sidelines. He appeared on Tattletales with third wife Altovise Davis in the 1970s. He also made a cameo during an episode of the NBC version of Card Sharks in 1981.

Davis was an avid photographer who enjoyed shooting family and acquaintances. His body of work was detailed in a 2007 book by Burt Boyar. "Jerry gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter, during the Ciro's period, early '50s", Boyar quotes Davis. "And he hooked me." Davis used a medium format camera later on to capture images. Again quoting Davis, "Nobody interrupts a man taking a picture to ask... 'What's that ****** doin' here?' ". His catalogue of photos include rare shots of his father dancing onstage as part of the Will Mastin Trio and intimate snapshots of close friends Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole, and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were represented, in his images of Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. His most revealing work comes in photographs of wife May Britt and their three children, Tracey, Jeff and Mark.

Davis was an enthusiastic shooter and gun owner. He participated in fast-draw competition and was said to be capable of drawing and firing a Colt Single Action revolver in less than a quarter of a second. Davis was extremely skilled at fast and fancy gun spinning, and several times appeared on T.V. variety shows showing off this skill. He appeared in several western films and as a guest star on several "Golden Age" T.V. westerns too.
Car accident and conversion

Davis nearly died in an automobile accident on November 19, 1954 in San Bernardino, California, as he was making a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The accident occurred at a fork in U.S. Highway 66 at Cajon Blvd and Kendall Drive. Davis lost his left eye as a result, and wore an eye patch for at least six months following the accident. He appeared on What's My Line wearing the patch. Later, he was fitted for a glass eye, which he wore for the rest of his life. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor told him about the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. Prompted by this conversation, Davis — who was born to a Catholic mother and Protestant father — began studying the history of Jews and converted to Judaism several years later. One passage from his readings, describing the endurance of the Jewish people, intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millennia of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush". In many ways, the accident marked a turning point in Davis's career, taking him from a well-known entertainer to a national celebrity and icon.
Marriages

In the mid-1950s, Sammy was involved with Kim Novak, who was a valuable star under contract to Columbia Studios. The head of the studio, Harry Cohn, was worried about the negative effect this would have on the studio because of the prevailing taboo against miscegenation. He called his old friend, the mobster Johnny Roselli, who was asked to tell Sammy that he had to stop the affair with Novak. Roselli arranged for Davis to be kidnapped for a few hours to throw a scare into him. His hastily-arranged and soon-dissolved marriage to black dancer Loray White in 1958 was an attempt to quiet the controversy.

In 1960, Davis caused controversy again when he married white Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail while starring in the Broadway musical adaptation of Golden Boy from 1964-1966 (for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor). At the time Davis appeared in the play, interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 US states, and only in 1967 were those laws ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. The couple had one daughter and adopted two sons. Davis performed almost continuously and spent little time with his wife. They divorced in 1968, after Davis admitted to having had an affair with singer Lola Falana. That year, Davis started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in Golden Boy. They were married on May 11, 1970 by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. They adopted a child, and remained married until Davis's death in 1990.
Political beliefs
Sammy Davis, Jr. in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House with President Richard Nixon, 4 March 1973

Although Davis had been a voting Democratic, he had felt a distinct lack of respect from the John F. Kennedy White House. He had been removed from the bill of the inaugural party hosted by Sinatra for the new President because of Davis's recent interracial marriage to May Britt on November 13, 1960.

In the early 1970s, Davis famously supported Republican President Richard M. Nixon (and gave the startled President a hug on live TV). The incident was very controversial, and Davis was given a hostile reception by his peers, despite the intervention of Jesse Jackson. Previously he had won over their respect with his performance as Joe Wellington Jr. in Golden Boy and his participation in the Civil Rights Movement. Nixon invited Davis to sleep in the White House in 1973, which is believed to be the first time an African-American was invited to do so. Davis spent the night in the Queen's Bedroom. Unlike Frank Sinatra, Davis voted Democratic for president again after the Nixon administration, supporting the campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988.
Death

Davis died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990, of complications from throat cancer. Earlier, when he was told he could be saved by surgery, Davis replied he would rather keep his voice than have a part of his throat removed; the result of that decision seemed to cost him his life. However, a few weeks prior to his death his entire larynx was removed during surgery. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California next to his father and Will Mastin.
Portrayals

Davis was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the HBO movie The Rat Pack, a made-for-TV movie about the pack of entertainers. Cheadle won a Golden Globe award for his performance.

Davis was frequently portrayed by Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live.

Davis was portrayed on the popular sketch comedy show In Living Color by Tommy Davidson, most notably a parody of the movie Ghost, in which the ghost of Davis enlists the help of Whoopi Goldberg to communicate with his wife.

David Raynr also portrayed Davis in the miniseries Sinatra, a TV movie about the life of Frank Sinatra.

Davis was also portrayed by Keith Powell in an episode of 30 Rock entitled "Subway Hero".

In the 1993 film Waynes World 2, Tim Meadows portrays Davis in the dream sequence with Michael A. Nickles as Jim Morrison.

In September 2009, the musical Sammy: Once in a Lifetime premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego with book, music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, and additional songs by Bricusse and Anthony Newley. The title role was played by Broadway veteran and Tony Award nominee Obba Babatundé.
Honors and awards
Grammy Awards
Year Category Song Result Notes
2002 Grammy Hall of Fame Award "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Inducted Recorded in 1962
2001 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
1972 Pop Male Vocalist "Candy Man" Nominee
1962 Record of the Year "What Kind of Fool Am I" Nominee
1962 Male Solo Vocal Performance "What Kind of Fool Am I" Nominee
Emmy Awards
Category Program Result
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration Winner
1989 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series The Cosby Show Nominee
1980 Outstanding Cameo Appearance in a Daytime Drama Series One Life to Live Nominee
1966 Outstanding Variety Special The Swinging World of Sammy Davis Jr. Nominee
1956 Best Specialty Act — Single or Group Sammy Davis Jr. Nominee
Other honors
Year Category Organization Program Result
2008 International Civil Rights
Walk of Fame Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site Inducted
2006 Las Vegas Walk of Stars front of Riviera Hotel Inducted
? Hollywood Walk of Fame Star at 6254 Hollywood Blvd.
1989 NAACP Image Award NAACP Winner
1987 Kennedy Center Honors John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts Honoree
1977 Best TV Actor — Musical/Comedy Golden Globe Sammy and Company (1975) Nominee
1974 Special Citation Award National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Winner
1968 NAACP Spingarn Medal Award NAACP Winner
1965 Best Actor — Musical Tony Award Golden Boy Nominee
Discography
Hit Records
Year Single Chart positions
U.S. U.S.
AC Country UK
1954 "Hey There" 16 19
"The Red Grapes" 28
1955 "Something's Gotta Give" 9 11
"Love Me Or Leave Me" 12 8
"That Old Black Magic" 13 16
"I'll Know" 87
1956 "Five" 71
"Earthbound" 46
"New York's My Home" 59
"In a Persian Market" 28
"All of You" 28
1960 "Happy To Make Your Acquaintance"(with Carmen McRae) 46
1962 "What Kind of Fool Am I" 17 6 26
"Gonna Build a Mountain" flip
"Me and My Shadow"(with Frank Sinatra) 64 18 20
"Sam's Song"(with Dean Martin) 94
1963 "As Long As She Needs Me" 59 19
"The Shelter of Your Arms" 17 6
1964 "Choose" 112
"Be Bom" 135
"Don't Shut Me Out" 106
1965 "If I Ruled the World" 135
"No One Can Live Forever" 117 33
1967 "Don't Blame the Children" 37
1968 "Lonely Is the Name" 93 12
"Break My Mind" 106
"I've Gotta Be Me" 11 1
1969 "Rhythm of Life" 124
"I Have But One Life To Live" 119
1972 "The Candy Man" 1 1
"The People Tree" 92 16
1973 "I'd Be a Legend In My Time" 116 29
1974 "Singin' In the Rain" 16
"That's Entertainment" 41
1975 "Chico and the Man" 24
"Song and Dance Man" 32
1976 "Baretta's Theme" 101 42
1982 "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" 89
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Reprise Records

    * 1961 The Wham of Sam!
    * 1962 Sammy Davis, Jr. Belts the Best of Broadway
    * 1962 The Sammy Davis, Jr. All-Star Spectacular
    * 1962 What Kind of Fool Am I - and Other Show-Stoppers
    * 1963 As Long as She Needs Me
    * 1963 Sammy Davis, Jr. at the Cocoanut Grove
    * 1964 Sammy Davis, Jr. Salutes the Stars of the London Palladium
    * 1964 The Shelter of Your Arms
    * 1964 California Suite
    * 1964 Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings the Big Ones for Young Lovers
    * 1965 When the Feeling Hits You! (With Sam Butera and the Witnesses)
    * 1965 If I Ruled the World
    * 1965 The Nat King Cole Songbook
    * 1965 Sammy's Back on Broadway
    * 1966 The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show
    * 1966 A Man Called Adam
    * 1966 The Sounds of '66
    * 1966 Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays
    * 1966 That's All!
    * 1967 Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings the Complete 'Dr. Dolittle'
    * 1968 Lonely Is The Name
    * 1968 I've Gotta Be Me
    * 1968 Sammy Davis Jr.'s Greatest Hits - The Top Twelve
    * 1969 The Goin's Great


Decca Records

    * 1955 Starring Sammy Davis, Jr.
    * 1955 Just for Lovers
    * 1956 Mr Wonderful
    * 1956 Here's Looking at You
    * 1957 Sammy Swings
    * 1957 It's All Over but the Swingin'
    * 1957 Boy Meets Girl (with Carmen McRae)
    * 1957 Sammy Swings
    * 1958 Mood to Be Wooed
    * 1958 Mr. Entertainment
    * 1958 All The Way...and Then Some!
    * 1959 Sammy Davis, Jr. at Town Hall
    * 1959 Porgy And Bess (With Carmen McRae)
    * 1960 Sammy Awards
    * 1960 I Gotta Right To Swing
    * 1963 Forget-Me-Nots For First Nighters
    * 1965 Try a Little Tenderness

Verve Records

    * 1965 Our Shining Hour (with The Count Basie Orchestra)

Motown Records

    * 1970 Something for Everyone
    * 1984 Hello Detroit (12 inch single)

MGM Records

    * 1972 Sammy Davis Jr. Now
    * 1974 That's Entertainment!
    * 1977 In Person '77
    * 1979 Hearin' Is Believin'

Filmography

    * Rufus Jones for President (1933)
    * Seasoned Greetings (1933)
    * Sweet and Low (1947)
    * Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
    * Anna Lucasta (1959)
    * Porgy and Bess (1959)
    * Ocean's Eleven (1960)
    * Pepe (1960)
    * Sergeants 3 (1962)
    * The Threepenny Opera (1962)
    * Convicts 4 (1962)
    * Johnny Cool (1963)
    * Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
    * Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
    * The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World (1965)(title song)
    * A Man Called Adam (1966)
    * Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?) (1966)
    * Salt and Pepper (1968)
    * The Fall (1969)



    * Sweet Charity (1969)
    * One More Time (1970)
    * Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970)
    * Diamonds Are Forever (1971; deleted scene)
    * Save the Children (1973)
    * Gone with the West (1975)
    * Sammy Stops the World (1978)
    * The Cannonball Run (1981)
    * Heidi's Song (1982)
    * Cracking Up (1983)
    * Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * That's Dancing! (1985)
    * Knights of the City (1986)
    * The Perils of P.K. (1986)
    * Moon Over Parador (1988)
    * Tap (1989)
    * The Kid Who Loved Christmas (1990, last role)

Stage

    * Mr. Wonderful (1957), musical
    * Golden Boy (1964), musical - Tony Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical
    * Sammy (1974), special performance featuring Davis with the Nicholas Brothers
    * Stop the World - I Want to Get Off (1978) musical revival

TV

    * The Patty Duke Show - 1965 - Sammy Davis plays himself. Patty needs to arrange for a Hollywood Star to perform at her high school prom. Sammy notices Patty wearing a sandwich sign asking for help from any Hollywood star. Sammy wants to help Patty out but Sammy's agent does not like the idea and does not contact Patty. Sammy contacts Patty by phone but she does not believe it is him. He then shows up at the prom and puts on a show.
    * I Dream of Jeannie - 1967 - on the episode "The Greatest Entertainer in the World". Tony needs Sammy Davis Jr. to entertain for General Peterson's 10th anniversary at NASA, but he is previously booked. Jeannie comes to the rescue by creating a duplicate of Sammy.
    * All in the Family - 1972 - Sammy Davis plays himself. In the episode, he leaves his briefcase in Archie Bunker's cab and goes to Archie's house to retrieve it. He meets Archie, Edith, Mike, Gloria, and Lionel Jefferson. When Sammy Davis Jr. and Archie talk, Sammy quickly discovers that Archie is prejudiced, even though Archie believes that he is not. During a family conversation Archie has before Sammy arrives, Archie tells the others to avoid mentioning Sammy's glass eye. Archie then asks Sammy, "Would you like cream and sugar in your eye?" meaning to say coffee. At the end of the show, Munson, the owner of the cab who brings back the briefcase, takes a photo of Archie and Sammy. Right before the flash goes off, Sammy kisses Archie on the cheek, to Archie's surprise.
    * The Jeffersons - 1984 Sammy Davis plays himself, where he is staying at an apartment directly next door to The Jeffersons'. Only Louise knows he is there, and Sammy asks her to hide his presence until he leaves.
    * The Cosby Show - 1989 Sammy Davis plays Ray Palomino.
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/whtchocolate5/sammy_davis_jr.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/NastyNate34/SammyDavisJr.jpg


always will be The Candy Man.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/10 at 8:13 am


always will be The Candy Man.  :)

Same for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/16/10 at 12:17 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNkVduTKO8



One of my favorites operas.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 05/16/10 at 1:15 pm


She grew up to be very pretty. (Melissa Gilbert)

Yes, she did. Especially in the last picture there.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 05/16/10 at 1:19 pm


I have an uncle named Gilbert.



Cat

I had a friend named Gilbert who lived in my old neighborhood. He was a year and a half older than me, and we mainly knew each other during the early-to-mid 1990's, when we would ride our bikes around the neighborhood. He had plans to join me for one of my birthday celebrations, but he backed out that morning because he was feeling under the weather.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 05/16/10 at 1:20 pm


The word of the day...Woman
A woman (irregular plural: women) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv71/mycircleoflife/Thewomen-movie.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Dr_Dozzy/Gamer%20Army/women.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii310/MCART1131/women-jazz-web2.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz315/lulusback/Laura/KarensPictures034.jpg
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af92/H-DAtlanta/womenriders2.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/markrossiter/Varanasi%201989/Varanasicrouchingwomen.jpg



Perfect for Mother's Day. :) And very nice too.


(I'm just catching up on posts here.)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/16/10 at 7:05 pm

http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/pictures/t/titosantana/04.jpg

El Matador Tito Santana

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/17/10 at 7:31 am


Perfect for Mother's Day. :) And very nice too.


(I'm just catching up on posts here.)

Thanks :) Take your time and enjoy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/17/10 at 7:36 am

The word of the day...Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinct feel.
http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss46/Dragorloth/velvet.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee303/greg-janiceallen/Acc%20-%20Settee%20and%20Chair%20Sets/IMG_2935.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/cokelino/Movies/velvet.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/rednurse35-2007/redbg.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o18/photocarscas/MVC-926B.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/Dracco2/DSCN3395.jpg
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/CrystalLee_yona/69877375-02.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/17/10 at 7:39 am

The person who was born on this day...Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Over the next ten years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films. He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer of the film's script.

He was unable to build on his success for several years, until a featured role in Apocalypse Now (1979) brought him attention. He subsequently appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983), and received critical recognition for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He directed Colors (1988), and portrayed King Koopa in the film version of Super Mario Bros. (1993) and the villain in Speed (1994). Hopper's more recent work includes a leading role in the television series Crash.

Hopper is a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor whose works are exhibited worldwide.
Hopper was reported to have an uncredited role in Johnny Guitar in 1954 but he has stated that he was not even in Hollywood when this film was made.  Hopper made his debut on film cast in two seminal roles with James Dean (whom he admired immensely) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Dean's death in a 1955 car accident affected the young Hopper deeply and it was shortly afterwards that he got into a confrontation with veteran director Henry Hathaway on the film From Hell To Texas. Hopper refused directions for eighty takes over several days.

In his book Last Train to Memphis, American popular music historian Peter Guralnick says that in 1956, when Elvis Presley was making his first film in Hollywood, Hopper was roommates with fellow actor Nick Adams and the three became friends and socialized together. Hopper moved to New York and studied at Lee Strasberg's acting school.

Hopper had a supporting role as "Babalugats," the bet-taker in Cool Hand Luke (1967). Hopper acted in mainstream films including The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969). Both of these films starred John Wayne, and in both Hopper's character is killed. During the production of True Grit, he became well acquainted with Wayne.

In 1969, Hopper teamed with Peter Fonda, Terry Southern, and Jack Nicholson to make Easy Rider. Hopper won wide acclaim as the director for his improvisational methods and innovative editing. The production was plagued by creative differences and personal acrimony between Fonda and Hopper, the dissolution of Hopper's marriage to Hayward, his unwillingness to leave the editor's desk, and his accelerating abuse of drugs and alcohol.

In 1971, Hopper released The Last Movie. Expecting an accessible follow-up to Easy Rider, audiences were treated to artistic flourishes (the inclusion of "scene missing" cards) and a hazily existentialist plot that dabbled in non-linearity and the absurd. After finishing first at the Venice Film Festival, the film was dismissed by audiences and critics alike during its first domestic engagement in New York City. During the tumultuous editing process, Hopper ensconced himself in Taos, New Mexico for almost an entire year. In between contesting Fonda's rights to the majority of the residual profits from Easy Rider, he married Michelle Phillips in October 1970. Citing spousal abuse and his various addictions, she filed for divorce a week after their wedding.

Hopper was able to sustain his lifestyle and a measure of celebrity by acting in numerous low budget and European films throughout the 1970s as the archetypical "tormented maniac", including Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Tracks (1976), and The American Friend (1977). With Francis Ford Coppola's blockbuster Apocalypse Now (1979), Hopper returned to prominence as a hypomanic Vietnam-era photojournalist. Stepping in for an overwhelmed director, Hopper won praise in 1980 for his directing and acting in Out of the Blue. Immediately thereafter, Hopper starred as an addled short-order cook "Cracker" in the Neil Young/Dean Stockwell low-budget collaboration Human Highway. Production was reportedly often delayed by his unreliable behavior. Peter Biskind states in the New Hollywood history Easy Riders, Raging Bulls that Hopper's cocaine intake had reached three grams a day by this time period, complemented by an additional thirty beers, marijuana, and Cuba libres.
Hopper with Jack Nicholson at the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990.

After staging a "suicide attempt" (really more of a daredevil act) in a coffin using 17 sticks of dynamite during an "art happening" at the Rice University Media Center (reportedly filmed by film professor Brian Huberman) and later disappearing into the Mexican desert during a particularly extravagant bender, Hopper entered a drug rehabilitation program in 1983. During this period, he gave critically-acclaimed performances in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983).

It was not until he portrayed the gas-huffing, obscenity-screaming iconic villain Frank Booth in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) that his career revived. After reading the script, Hopper called Lynch and told him "You have to let me play Frank Booth. Because I am Frank Booth!" Hopper won critical acclaim and several awards for this role and the same year received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Hoosiers.

In 1988, Hopper directed the critically-acclaimed Colors. He was nominated for an Emmy award for the 1991 HBO films Paris Trout and Doublecrossed (in which he played real life drug smuggler and DEA informant Barry Seal). He starred in Super Mario Bros. a 1993 critical and commercial failure loosely based on the video game of the same name as King Koopa. Despite the failure of the film, it led to several villainous roles in the following years. He co-starred in the 1994 blockbuster Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

In 1995, Hopper played a greedy TV self help guru, Dr. Luther Waxling in Search and Destroy. The same year, he starred as Deacon, the one-eyed nemesis of Kevin Costner in Waterworld. In 2003, Hopper was in the running for the dual lead in the indie horror drama Firecracker, but was ousted at the last minute in favor of Mike Patton. His last major feature film appearance was in the 2008 film Elegy with Sir Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and Debbie Harry.
Television work

Hopper debuted in an episode of the Richard Boone television series Medic in 1955, portraying a young epileptic.

He appeared as an arrogant young gunfighter, the Utah Kid, in the 1956 episode "Quicksand" of the first hour-long television western television series, ABC's Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker. In the story line, the Kid gave Cheyenne Bodie no choice but to kill him in a gunfight.

He subsequently appeared in over 140 episodes of television shows such as Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Defenders, The Investigators, The Legend of Jesse James, The Big Valley, The Time Tunnel, The Rifleman and Combat!.

Hopper teamed with Nike in the early 1990s to make a series of television commercials. He appeared as a "crazed referee" in those ads. He portrayed villain Victor Drazen in the first season of the popular drama 24 on the Fox television network.

Hopper starred in the NBC 2005 television series E-Ring, a drama set at The Pentagon, but the series was cancelled after fourteen episodes aired in the USA. Hopper appeared in all 22 episodes that were filmed. He also played the part of record producer Ben Cendars in the Starz television series Crash.
Photography and art

Hopper is a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor. His photography is known for portraits from the 1960s. His painting style ranges from abstract impressionism to photorealism and often includes references to his cinematic work and to other artists.

Ostracized by the Hollywood film studios due to his reputation for being a "difficult" actor, Hopper eventually turned to photography in the 1960s with a camera bought for him by his first wife, Brooke Hayward. During this period he created the cover art for the Ike & Tina Turner album River Deep - Mountain High (released in 1966).

Hopper became a prolific photographer, and noted writer Terry Southern profiled Hopper in Better Homes and Gardens magazine as an up and coming photographer "to watch" in the mid 1960s.

He began working as a painter and a poet as well as a collector of art in the 1960s as well, particularly Pop Art. One of the first art works Hopper owned was an early print of Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans bought for $75.

On March 30, 2010, it was announced that Hopper was on the "short list" for Jeffrey Deitch's inaugural show at MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

On April 15, 2010, Deitch confirmed that Hopper's work, curated by Julian Schnabel, will indeed be the focus of his debut at MOCA.
Personal life
Hopper in 2008

Hopper has been married five times and has four children:

    * Brooke Hayward (born 1937), daughter of Leland Hayward and Margaret Sullavan); married 1961 – divorced 1969, 1 child, daughter Marin Hopper (born on June 26, 1962)
    * Michelle Phillips (born 1944); married 31 October 1970 - divorced 8 November 1970
    * Daria Halprin (born 1948); married 1972 - divorced 1976, 1 child, daughter Ruthanna Hopper (born circa 1974)
    * Katherine LaNasa (born 1966); married June 17, 1989 – divorced April 1992, 1 child, son Henry Lee Hopper (born on September 11, 1990)
    * Victoria Duffy (born 1968); married April 13, 1996 – separated January 12, 2010, 1 child, daughter Galen Grier Hopper (born on March 26, 2003)

Hopper has two granddaughters, Violet Goldstone and Ella Brill.

In 1999, actor Rip Torn filed a defamation lawsuit against Hopper over a story Hopper told on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Hopper claimed that Torn pulled a knife on him during pre-production of the film Easy Rider. According to Hopper, Torn was originally cast in the film but was replaced with Jack Nicholson after the incident. According to Torn's suit, it was actually Hopper who pulled the knife on him. A judge ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was ordered to pay US$475,000 in damages. Hopper then appealed but the judge again ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was required to pay another US$475,000 in punitive damages.

According to Newsmeat, Hopper donated US$2,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2004 and an equal amount in 2005. In Al Franken's book Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, the author recounts a warm, cordial encounter between Hopper and then-Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

In 2008, Hopper starred in An American Carol, a right-leaning comedy, with Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, and James Woods.

Hopper lives in Venice, California and owns property in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Hopper has been honored with the rank of commander of France's National Order of Arts and Letters, at a ceremony in Paris.

Hopper supported Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential election. Hopper confirmed this in an election day appearance on the ABC daytime show The View. He said his reason for not voting Republican was the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate.
Divorce from Victoria Duffy

On January 14, 2010, he filed for divorce from his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy. After citing her "outrageous conduct", and stating Duffy was "insane", "inhuman", and "volatile", Hopper was granted a restraining order against her on February 11, 2010, and as a result, she has been forbidden to come within ten feet of him or contact him in any way. On March 9, 2010, Duffy refused to move out of the Hopper home, despite the court's order that she do so by March 15.

On March 23, 2010, Hopper filed papers in court alleging Duffy had absconded with $1.5 million of his art, refused his requests to return it, and then had "left town." In March 2010, a judge ruled that Duffy must stay at least 10 feet away from Hopper.

On April 5, 2010, a court ruled that Duffy can continue living on Hopper's property, and that he must pay $12,000 per month spousal and child support for their daughter Galen. Hopper did not attend the hearing. On May 12, 2010, a hearing was held in front of Judge Amy Pellman in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court to decide who to designate on Hopper's life insurance policy which currently lists his wife as beneficiary. A very ill Hopper did not appear in court though his estranged wife did - case BD518046. The judge ruled that the policy should not be changed at present.
Illness

On September 30, 2009, news media reported that Hopper had been rushed to a New York hospital for an unspecified condition. Hopper, 73, was reportedly brought into an unidentified Manhattan hospital by an ambulance on Monday wearing an oxygen mask and “with numerous tubes visible.” On October 2, he was discharged, after receiving treatment for dehydration.

On October 29, Hopper's manager reported that Hopper has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. In January 2010, it was reported that Hopper's cancer had metastasized to his bones.

As of March 23, 2010, Hopper reportedly weighed only 100 pounds and is unable to carry on long conversations. According to papers filed in his divorce court case, Hopper is terminally ill and is unable to undergo chemotherapy to treat his prostate cancer. According to his lawyer, as reported on March 25, he is dying from cancer.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hopper at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2010

On March 18, 2010, it was announced that Hopper would be honored with the 2,403rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the iconic Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Surrounded by friends including Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, David Lynch, Michael Madsen, family, and fans, he attended its addition to the sidewalk on March 26, 2010. The star was sponsored by Starz Entertainment.
Collaborations

On the Gorillaz album Demon Days, Hopper is the narrator of the song "Fire Coming out of the Monkey's Head."
Filmography
Features

    * Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
    * I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
    * Giant (1956)
    * Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
    * The Story of Mankind (1957)
    * Sayonara (1957) (voice only)
    * From Hell to Texas (1958)
    * The Young Land (1959)
    * Key Witness (1960)
    * Night Tide (1961)
    * Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of (1964)
    * The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
    * Queen of Blood (1966)
    * The Trip (1967)
    * Cool Hand Luke (1967)
    * The Glory Stompers (1968)
    * Hang 'Em High (1968)
    * Panic in the City (1968)
    * Easy Rider (1969) (Director)
    * True Grit (1969)
    * The Festival Game (1970) (documentary)
    * The American Dreamer (1971) (documentary)
    * The Last Movie (1971) (Director)
    * The Other Side of the Wind (1972) (unfinished)
    * Crush Proof (1972)
    * Kid Blue (1973)
    * Tracks (1976)
    * Mad Dog Morgan (1976)
    * The American Friend (1977)
    * The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1977)
    * Flesh Color (1978)
    * Last In, First Out (1978)
    * Apocalypse Now (1979)
    * Bloodbath (1979)
    * Out of the Blue (1980) (Director)
    * Reborn (1981)
    * King of the Mountain (1981)
    * Neil Young: Human Highway (1982)
    * Rumble Fish (1983)
    * The Osterman Weekend (1983)
    * White Star (1983)
    * The Dynamite Coffin Stunt (1983)
    * Jungle Warriors (1984)
    * The Inside Man (1984)
    * My Science Project (1985)
    * Riders of the Storm (1986)
    * The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
    * River's Edge (1986)
    * Blue Velvet (1986)
    * Hoosiers (1986)
    * Running Out of Luck (1987)
    * Black Widow (1987)
    * Straight to Hell (1987)
    * O.C. and Stiggs (1987)
    * The Pick-up Artist (1987)
    * Blood Red (1989)
    * Chattahoochee (1989)
    * Flashing on the Sixties, A Tribal Docment directed by Lisa Law (1989)
    * Flashback (1990)
    * Hollywood Mavericks (1990) (documentary)
    * Catchfire (1990) (Director)
    * Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990) (documentary)
    * Motion & Emotion (1990) (documentary)
    * Sunset Heat (1991)
    * Paris Trout (1991)
    * Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) (documentary)
    * Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas (1991) (documentary)
    * The Indian Runner (1991)
    * Eye of the Storm (1991)
    * SnowwhiteRosered (1991) (documentary)
    * Nails (1992) (1992)
    * Red Rock West (1992)
    * The Revenge of the Dead Indians (1993)
    * Boiling Point (1993)
    * Super Mario Bros. (1993)
    * True Romance (1993)
    * Chasers (1994)
    * Speed (1994)
    * Search and Destroy (1995)
    * Waterworld (1995)
    * Cannes Man (1996)
    * Carried Away (1996)
    * Space Truckers (1996)
    * Basquiat (1996)
    * The Last Days of Frankie the Fly (1996)
    * Top of the World (1997)
    * The Good Life (1997)
    * The Blackout (1997)
    * Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997) (documentary)
    * Road Ends (1997)
    * Black Dahlia (1998) (video game)
    * Michael Angel (1998)
    * Meet the Deedles (1998)
    * Tycus (1998)
    * Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius (1999) (documentary) (narrator)
    * The Prophet's Game (1999)
    * Lured Innocence (1999)
    * The Source (1999) (documentary)
    * EDtv (1999)
    * Straight Shooter (1999)
    * Jesus' Son (1999)
    * The Venice Project (1999)
    * Bad City Blues (1999)
    * The Spreading Ground (2000)
    * Jason and the Argonauts (2000)
    * Luck of the Draw (2000)
    * Welcome to Hollywood (2000)
    * Held for Ransom (2000)
    * Ticker (2001)
    * Choke (2001)
    * Knockaround Guys (2001)
    * Jazz Seen: The Life and Times of William Claxton (2001) (documentary)
    * L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to Serve (2001)
    * 1 Giant Leap (2002) (documentary)
    * I Don't Know Jack (2002) (documentary)
    * Unspeakable (2002)
    * Leo (2002)
    * Venice: Lost and Found (2002) (documentary)
    * The Piano Player (2002)
    * Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) (documentary)
    * A Decade Under the Influence (2003) (documentary)
    * Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die) (2003) (documentary)
    * The Night We Called It a Day (2003)
    * Legacy (2004)
    * The Keeper (2004)
    * The Last Ride (2004)
    * Out of Season (2004)
    * Tell Them Who You Are (2004) (documentary)
    * Inside Deep Throat (2005) (documentary) (narrator)
    * House of 9 (2005)
    * Hoboken Hollow (2005)
    * Americano (2005)
    * Land of the Dead (2005)
    * Going Through Splat: The Life and Work of Stewart Stern (2005) (documentary)
    * Champion (2005) (documentary)
    * The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005)
    * Land of the Dead (2005)
    * Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005) (documentary)
    * Tainted Love (2006)
    * The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006) (documentary)
    * Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi (2006) (documentary) (narrator)
    * 10th & Wolf (2006)
    * Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (2006) (documentary)
    * 3055 Jean Leon (2006) (documentary)
    * Memory (2006)
    * By the Ways: A Journey with William Eggleston (2007) (documentary)
    * Hell Ride (2008)
    * Sleepwalking (2008)
    * Bananaz (2008) (documentary)
    * Elegy (2008)
    * Générations 68 (2008) (documentary)
    * Swing Vote (2008)
    * Chelsea on the Rocks (2008) (documentary)
    * Palermo Shooting (2008)
    * Ferlinghetti: A City Light (2008) (documentary)
    * An American Carol (2008)
    * Shooting Palermo (2008) (documentary)
    * The Brothers Warner (2008) (documentary)
    * No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos (2008) (documentary)
    * Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero (2008) (documentary)
    * The Last Film Festival (2009)
    * Forever (2009)
    * Deadly Creatures (2009) (video game)

Upcoming

    * Alpha and Omega (2010)

Short subjects

    * The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys (1964)
    * Screen Test#1 (1965)
    * Screen Test#2 (1965)
    * Screen Test#3 (1966)
    * Screen Test#4 (1966)
    * Luke (1967)
    * A Hero of Our Time (1985)
    * New Scenes from America (2003)

Awards

Academy Awards

    * (1970) Nominated - Best Original Screenplay / Easy Rider (shared with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern)
    * (1987) Nominated - Best Supporting Actor / Hoosiers

Golden Globe Awards

    * (1987) Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture / Hoosiers
    * (1987) Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture / Blue Velvet

Primetime Emmy Awards

    * (1991) Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie / Paris Trout

Cannes Film Festival Awards

    * (1969) Won - Best First Work Award / Easy Rider
    * (1969) Nominated - Palme d'Or / Easy Rider
    * (1980) Nominated - Palme d'Or / Out of the Blue

Directors Guild of America Award

    * (1970) Nominated - Outstanding Directing - Feature Film / Easy Rider

Independent Spirit Awards

    * (1987) Nominated - Best Male Lead / Blue Velvet

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

    * (1987) Won - Best Supporting Actor / Blue Velvet

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

    * (1987) Won - Best Supporting Actor / Blue Velvet & Hoosiers

MTV Movie Awards

    * (1995) Won - Best Villain / Speed

National Society of Film Critics Awards

    * (1970) Won - Special Award ("For the director, co-writer and co-star") / Easy Rider
    * (1987) Won - Best Supporting Actor / Blue Velvet

Writers Guild of America Award

    * (1970) Nominated - Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen / Easy Rider (shared with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern)
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg44/chapscannon/dennis-hopper-1971.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa174/denverbiblio/DennisHopper.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/17/10 at 7:44 am

The person who died on this day...Bruce Fairbairn
Bruce Earl Fairbairn (December 30, 1949 - May 17, 1999) was a Canadian musician and international record producer from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999 and is considered one of the best of his era. His most successful productions are Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi  and 'Pump' by Aerosmith. He was originally a trumpet player and then started a career as a record producer for Canadian rock band Prism. He won the Canadian music industry Producer of the Year  Juno Award 3 times. He produced albums for many famous international artists such as Loverboy, Blue Öyster Cult, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Scorpions, Van Halen, Chicago, The Cranberries, INXS, KISS  and Yes. His style was notable for introducing dynamic horn arrangements into rock music productions. Fairbairn died suddenly on May 17, 1999 due to unknown causes.

This particular Bruce Fairbairn is not to be confused with a U.S.-born actor of the same name who played Officer Chris Owens on the ABC television series The Rookies during the mid-1970s and, later, the character of Sheldon Ganz on the NBC television series L.A. Law. Loverboy

Fairbairn first reached international success with Canadian rock band Loverboy. It was the first band he produced other than Prism. Despite producing 4 Prism albums that all reached platinum or double platinum status in Canada, none of them broke into the lucrative US market. The self-titled Loverboy album did and began his career of hits with "Turn Me Loose" and "The Kid Is Hot Tonite." His work for Blue Öyster Cult (1983's The Revölution by Night) and Krokus' (1984 The Blitz) made him a well-known hard-rock producer as well as 1985's The Big Prize by Canadian AOR group Honeymoon Suite. With protegé Bob Rock, Fairbairn established Vancouver's Little Mountain Sound Studios.
Slippery When Wet

Fairbairn's biggest commercial success is Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and made him a top rate international record producer. The album sold over twenty-two million copies.
Permanent Vacation

His next major production, Aerosmith's 1987 album Permanent Vacation, generated a series of hits including "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel" and "Rag Doll".
Continued international success

In 1988 Fairbairn produced another Bon Jovi album, New Jersey, which holds the record for the hard rock album to spawn the most Top 10 singles, with five singles charting on the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and which sold over seven million copies. Fairbain also produced Aerosmith's follow-up, 1989's Pump, which had sales in excess of seven million and was widely acclaimed by critics, and won him another "Producer of the Year" Juno Award.

The 1990s saw Fairbairn working with a string of internationally influential hard rock acts. 1990 brought AC/DC's The Razor's Edge, as well as Poison's Flesh and Blood. In 1993, he produced another Aerosmith commercial smash, Get a Grip, which racked up sales of seven million and solidified the band's growing representation as international media stars. Next Fairbairn produced the Scorpions' Face the Heat; and in 1995 Van Halen's Balance. In late 1996 and through early 1997 he produced INXS' "comeback" album Elegantly Wasted which while garnering mixed reviews, obtained sales that were higher than INXS' previous albums. A year later, Fairbairn produced The Cranberries (To the Faithful Departed), and Psycho Circus a 1998-reunion of KISS. His last fully-completed project was The Atomic Fireballs Torch This Place for Atlantic Records.
Sudden death

After completing recording sessions for a forthcoming release from Yes (The Ladder), on May 17, 1999 Fairbairn was found dead by Jon Anderson in his Vancouver home. He was survived by his wife Julie, with whom he had three sons: Scott, Kevin and Brent. A memorial, "A Celebration of the Life of Bruce Earl Fairbairn", held at the Vancouver Chan Centre was attended by more than 300 people. Highlighted by reminiscences from close friends, the event included musical performances from Jon Anderson and Steve Howe performing the song "Nine Voices" from Yes' The Ladder sessions, as well as Tom Keenleyside, David Sinclair and finally, "Taps" played on Bruce's trumpet by son Brent.

In March 2000, Fairbairn was posthumously awarded the "Canadian Music Hall of Fame" Juno Award for his work.
Production style
Production discography

    * 1977: Prism - Prism
    * 1978: Prism - See Forever Eyes
    * 1979: Prism - Armageddon
    * 1980: Prism - Young and Restless
    * 1980: Loverboy - Loverboy (2x Platinum)
    * 1980: The Skids - Days in Europa (Second Version)
    * 1981: Loverboy - Get Lucky (4x Platinum)
    * 1982: Strange Advance - Worlds Away
    * 1983: Blue Öyster Cult - The Revölution by Night
    * 1983: Loverboy - Keep It Up (2x Platinum)
    * 1984: Krokus - The Blitz (Gold)
    * 1984: Fast Forward - Living in Fiction
    * 1985: Black n' Blue - Without Love
    * 1985: Honeymoon Suite - The Big Prize
    * 1986: Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet (12x Platinum)
    * 1987: Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation (5x Platinum)
    * 1987: Rock and Hyde - Under the Volcano
    * 1987: Loverboy - Wildside (Gold)
    * 1988: Dan Reed Network - Dan Reed Network
    * 1988: Bon Jovi - New Jersey (7x Platinum)
    * 1989: Aerosmith - Pump (7x Platinum)
    * 1989: Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell
    * 1990: AC/DC - The Razors Edge (5x Platinum)
    * 1990: Paul Laine - Stick it in Your Ear
    * 1990: Poison - Flesh and Blood (3x Platinum)
    * 1991: Dan Reed Network - The Heat
    * 1991: AC/DC - Live (3x Platinum)
    * 1993: Aerosmith - Get a Grip (7x Platinum)
    * 1993: Scorpions - Face the Heat
    * 1994: Jackyl - Push Comes to Shove (Gold)
    * 1995: Van Halen - Balance (3x Platinum)
    * 1995: Chicago - Night and Day: Big Band
    * 1996: The Cranberries - To the Faithful Departed (2x Platinum)
    * 1997: INXS - Elegantly Wasted
    * 1998: KISS - Psycho Circus (Gold)
    * 1998: Atomic Fireballs - Torch This Place
    * 1999: Yes - The Ladder

See also
Music of Canada portal

    * Music of Canada
    * Canadian Music Hall of Fame
** I can't find a pic on Photobucket*

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/17/10 at 11:26 am

Bill Paxton is 55 today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/17/10 at 12:46 pm


Bill Paxton is 55 today.

Happy birthday Bill
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t228/clyde67890/billpaxton.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/17/10 at 1:57 pm


The word of the day...Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinct feel.
http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss46/Dragorloth/velvet.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee303/greg-janiceallen/Acc%20-%20Settee%20and%20Chair%20Sets/IMG_2935.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/cokelino/Movies/velvet.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t54/rednurse35-2007/redbg.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o18/photocarscas/MVC-926B.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/Dracco2/DSCN3395.jpg
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/CrystalLee_yona/69877375-02.jpg


Black Velvet-Alaynnah Myles

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/17/10 at 1:59 pm


The person who was born on this day...Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Over the next ten years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films. He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer of the film's script.

He was unable to build on his success for several years, until a featured role in Apocalypse Now (1979) brought him attention. He subsequently appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983), and received critical recognition for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He directed Colors (1988), and portrayed King Koopa in the film version of Super Mario Bros. (1993) and the villain in Speed (1994). Hopper's more recent work includes a leading role in the television series Crash.

Hopper is a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor whose works are exhibited worldwide.
Hopper was reported to have an uncredited role in Johnny Guitar in 1954 but he has stated that he was not even in Hollywood when this film was made.  Hopper made his debut on film cast in two seminal roles with James Dean (whom he admired immensely) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Dean's death in a 1955 car accident affected the young Hopper deeply and it was shortly afterwards that he got into a confrontation with veteran director Henry Hathaway on the film From Hell To Texas. Hopper refused directions for eighty takes over several days.

In his book Last Train to Memphis, American popular music historian Peter Guralnick says that in 1956, when Elvis Presley was making his first film in Hollywood, Hopper was roommates with fellow actor Nick Adams and the three became friends and socialized together. Hopper moved to New York and studied at Lee Strasberg's acting school.

Hopper had a supporting role as "Babalugats," the bet-taker in Cool Hand Luke (1967). Hopper acted in mainstream films including The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and True Grit (1969). Both of these films starred John Wayne, and in both Hopper's character is killed. During the production of True Grit, he became well acquainted with Wayne.

In 1969, Hopper teamed with Peter Fonda, Terry Southern, and Jack Nicholson to make Easy Rider. Hopper won wide acclaim as the director for his improvisational methods and innovative editing. The production was plagued by creative differences and personal acrimony between Fonda and Hopper, the dissolution of Hopper's marriage to Hayward, his unwillingness to leave the editor's desk, and his accelerating abuse of drugs and alcohol.

In 1971, Hopper released The Last Movie. Expecting an accessible follow-up to Easy Rider, audiences were treated to artistic flourishes (the inclusion of "scene missing" cards) and a hazily existentialist plot that dabbled in non-linearity and the absurd. After finishing first at the Venice Film Festival, the film was dismissed by audiences and critics alike during its first domestic engagement in New York City. During the tumultuous editing process, Hopper ensconced himself in Taos, New Mexico for almost an entire year. In between contesting Fonda's rights to the majority of the residual profits from Easy Rider, he married Michelle Phillips in October 1970. Citing spousal abuse and his various addictions, she filed for divorce a week after their wedding.

Hopper was able to sustain his lifestyle and a measure of celebrity by acting in numerous low budget and European films throughout the 1970s as the archetypical "tormented maniac", including Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Tracks (1976), and The American Friend (1977). With Francis Ford Coppola's blockbuster Apocalypse Now (1979), Hopper returned to prominence as a hypomanic Vietnam-era photojournalist. Stepping in for an overwhelmed director, Hopper won praise in 1980 for his directing and acting in Out of the Blue. Immediately thereafter, Hopper starred as an addled short-order cook "Cracker" in the Neil Young/Dean Stockwell low-budget collaboration Human Highway. Production was reportedly often delayed by his unreliable behavior. Peter Biskind states in the New Hollywood history Easy Riders, Raging Bulls that Hopper's cocaine intake had reached three grams a day by this time period, complemented by an additional thirty beers, marijuana, and Cuba libres.
Hopper with Jack Nicholson at the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990.

After staging a "suicide attempt" (really more of a daredevil act) in a coffin using 17 sticks of dynamite during an "art happening" at the Rice University Media Center (reportedly filmed by film professor Brian Huberman) and later disappearing into the Mexican desert during a particularly extravagant bender, Hopper entered a drug rehabilitation program in 1983. During this period, he gave critically-acclaimed performances in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983).

It was not until he portrayed the gas-huffing, obscenity-screaming iconic villain Frank Booth in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) that his career revived. After reading the script, Hopper called Lynch and told him "You have to let me play Frank Booth. Because I am Frank Booth!" Hopper won critical acclaim and several awards for this role and the same year received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Hoosiers.

In 1988, Hopper directed the critically-acclaimed Colors. He was nominated for an Emmy award for the 1991 HBO films Paris Trout and Doublecrossed (in which he played real life drug smuggler and DEA informant Barry Seal). He starred in Super Mario Bros. a 1993 critical and commercial failure loosely based on the video game of the same name as King Koopa. Despite the failure of the film, it led to several villainous roles in the following years. He co-starred in the 1994 blockbuster Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

In 1995, Hopper played a greedy TV self help guru, Dr. Luther Waxling in Search and Destroy. The same year, he starred as Deacon, the one-eyed nemesis of Kevin Costner in Waterworld. In 2003, Hopper was in the running for the dual lead in the indie horror drama Firecracker, but was ousted at the last minute in favor of Mike Patton. His last major feature film appearance was in the 2008 film Elegy with Sir Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and Debbie Harry.
Television work

Hopper debuted in an episode of the Richard Boone television series Medic in 1955, portraying a young epileptic.

He appeared as an arrogant young gunfighter, the Utah Kid, in the 1956 episode "Quicksand" of the first hour-long television western television series, ABC's Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker. In the story line, the Kid gave Cheyenne Bodie no choice but to kill him in a gunfight.

He subsequently appeared in over 140 episodes of television shows such as Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Defenders, The Investigators, The Legend of Jesse James, The Big Valley, The Time Tunnel, The Rifleman and Combat!.

Hopper teamed with Nike in the early 1990s to make a series of television commercials. He appeared as a "crazed referee" in those ads. He portrayed villain Victor Drazen in the first season of the popular drama 24 on the Fox television network.

Hopper starred in the NBC 2005 television series E-Ring, a drama set at The Pentagon, but the series was cancelled after fourteen episodes aired in the USA. Hopper appeared in all 22 episodes that were filmed. He also played the part of record producer Ben Cendars in the Starz television series Crash.
Photography and art

Hopper is a prolific photographer, painter, and sculptor. His photography is known for portraits from the 1960s. His painting style ranges from abstract impressionism to photorealism and often includes references to his cinematic work and to other artists.

Ostracized by the Hollywood film studios due to his reputation for being a "difficult" actor, Hopper eventually turned to photography in the 1960s with a camera bought for him by his first wife, Brooke Hayward. During this period he created the cover art for the Ike & Tina Turner album River Deep - Mountain High (released in 1966).

Hopper became a prolific photographer, and noted writer Terry Southern profiled Hopper in Better Homes and Gardens magazine as an up and coming photographer "to watch" in the mid 1960s.

He began working as a painter and a poet as well as a collector of art in the 1960s as well, particularly Pop Art. One of the first art works Hopper owned was an early print of Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans bought for $75.

On March 30, 2010, it was announced that Hopper was on the "short list" for Jeffrey Deitch's inaugural show at MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

On April 15, 2010, Deitch confirmed that Hopper's work, curated by Julian Schnabel, will indeed be the focus of his debut at MOCA.
Personal life
Hopper in 2008

Hopper has been married five times and has four children:

    * Brooke Hayward (born 1937), daughter of Leland Hayward and Margaret Sullavan); married 1961 – divorced 1969, 1 child, daughter Marin Hopper (born on June 26, 1962)
    * Michelle Phillips (born 1944); married 31 October 1970 - divorced 8 November 1970
    * Daria Halprin (born 1948); married 1972 - divorced 1976, 1 child, daughter Ruthanna Hopper (born circa 1974)
    * Katherine LaNasa (born 1966); married June 17, 1989 – divorced April 1992, 1 child, son Henry Lee Hopper (born on September 11, 1990)
    * Victoria Duffy (born 1968); married April 13, 1996 – separated January 12, 2010, 1 child, daughter Galen Grier Hopper (born on March 26, 2003)

Hopper has two granddaughters, Violet Goldstone and Ella Brill.

In 1999, actor Rip Torn filed a defamation lawsuit against Hopper over a story Hopper told on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Hopper claimed that Torn pulled a knife on him during pre-production of the film Easy Rider. According to Hopper, Torn was originally cast in the film but was replaced with Jack Nicholson after the incident. According to Torn's suit, it was actually Hopper who pulled the knife on him. A judge ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was ordered to pay US$475,000 in damages. Hopper then appealed but the judge again ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was required to pay another US$475,000 in punitive damages.

According to Newsmeat, Hopper donated US$2,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2004 and an equal amount in 2005. In Al Franken's book Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, the author recounts a warm, cordial encounter between Hopper and then-Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

In 2008, Hopper starred in An American Carol, a right-leaning comedy, with Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, and James Woods.

Hopper lives in Venice, California and owns property in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Hopper has been honored with the rank of commander of France's National Order of Arts and Letters, at a ceremony in Paris.

Hopper supported Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential election. Hopper confirmed this in an election day appearance on the ABC daytime show The View. He said his reason for not voting Republican was the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate.
Divorce from Victoria Duffy

On January 14, 2010, he filed for divorce from his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy. After citing her "outrageous conduct", and stating Duffy was "insane", "inhuman", and "volatile", Hopper was granted a restraining order against her on February 11, 2010, and as a result, she has been forbidden to come within ten feet of him or contact him in any way. On March 9, 2010, Duffy refused to move out of the Hopper home, despite the court's order that she do so by March 15.

On March 23, 2010, Hopper filed papers in court alleging Duffy had absconded with $1.5 million of his art, refused his requests to return it, and then had "left town." In March 2010, a judge ruled that Duffy must stay at least 10 feet away from Hopper.

On April 5, 2010, a court ruled that Duffy can continue living on Hopper's property, and that he must pay $12,000 per month spousal and child support for their daughter Galen. Hopper did not attend the hearing. On May 12, 2010, a hearing was held in front of Judge Amy Pellman in downtown Los Angeles Superior Court to decide who to designate on Hopper's life insurance policy which currently lists his wife as beneficiary. A very ill Hopper did not appear in court though his estranged wife did - case BD518046. The judge ruled that the policy should not be changed at present.
Illness

On September 30, 2009, news media reported that Hopper had been rushed to a New York hospital for an unspecified condition. Hopper, 73, was reportedly brought into an unidentified Manhattan hospital by an ambulance on Monday wearing an oxygen mask and “with numerous tubes visible.” On October 2, he was discharged, after receiving treatment for dehydration.

On October 29, Hopper's manager reported that Hopper has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. In January 2010, it was reported that Hopper's cancer had metastasized to his bones.

As of March 23, 2010, Hopper reportedly weighed only 100 pounds and is unable to carry on long conversations. According to papers filed in his divorce court case, Hopper is terminally ill and is unable to undergo chemotherapy to treat his prostate cancer. According to his lawyer, as reported on March 25, he is dying from cancer.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hopper at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2010

On March 18, 2010, it was announced that Hopper would be honored with the 2,403rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the iconic Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Surrounded by friends including Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, David Lynch, Michael Madsen, family, and fans, he attended its addition to the sidewalk on March 26, 2010. The star was sponsored by Starz Entertainment.
Collaborations

On the Gorillaz album Demon Days, Hopper is the narrator of the song "Fire Coming out of the Monkey's Head."
Filmography
Features

    * Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
    * I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
    * Giant (1956)
    * Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
    * The Story of Mankind (1957)
    * Sayonara (1957) (voice only)
    * From Hell to Texas (1958)
    * The Young Land (1959)
    * Key Witness (1960)
    * Night Tide (1961)
    * Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of (1964)
    * The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
    * Queen of Blood (1966)
    * The Trip (1967)
    * Cool Hand Luke (1967)
    * The Glory Stompers (1968)
    * Hang 'Em High (1968)
    * Panic in the City (1968)
    * Easy Rider (1969) (Director)
    * True Grit (1969)
    * The Festival Game (1970) (documentary)
    * The American Dreamer (1971) (documentary)
    * The Last Movie (1971) (Director)
    * The Other Side of the Wind (1972) (unfinished)
    * Crush Proof (1972)
    * Kid Blue (1973)
    * Tracks (1976)
    * Mad Dog Morgan (1976)
    * The American Friend (1977)
    * The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1977)
    * Flesh Color (1978)
    * Last In, First Out (1978)
    * Apocalypse Now (1979)
    * Bloodbath (1979)
    * Out of the Blue (1980) (Director)
    * Reborn (1981)
    * King of the Mountain (1981)
    * Neil Young: Human Highway (1982)
    * Rumble Fish (1983)
    * The Osterman Weekend (1983)
    * White Star (1983)
    * The Dynamite Coffin Stunt (1983)
    * Jungle Warriors (1984)
    * The Inside Man (1984)
    * My Science Project (1985)
    * Riders of the Storm (1986)
    * The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
    * River's Edge (1986)
    * Blue Velvet (1986)
    * Hoosiers (1986)
    * Running Out of Luck (1987)
    * Black Widow (1987)
    * Straight to Hell (1987)
    * O.C. and Stiggs (1987)
    * The Pick-up Artist (1987)
    * Blood Red (1989)
    * Chattahoochee (1989)
    * Flashing on the Sixties, A Tribal Docment directed by Lisa Law (1989)
    * Flashback (1990)
    * Hollywood Mavericks (1990) (documentary)
    * Catchfire (1990) (Director)
    * Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990) (documentary)
    * Motion & Emotion (1990) (documentary)
    * Sunset Heat (1991)
    * Paris Trout (1991)
    * Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) (documentary)
    * Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas (1991) (documentary)
    * The Indian Runner (1991)
    * Eye of the Storm (1991)
    * SnowwhiteRosered (1991) (documentary)
    * Nails (1992) (1992)
    * Red Rock West (1992)
    * The Revenge of the Dead Indians (1993)
    * Boiling Point (1993)
    * Super Mario Bros. (1993)
    * True Romance (1993)
    * Chasers (1994)
    * Speed (1994)
    * Search and Destroy (1995)
    * Waterworld (1995)
    * Cannes Man (1996)
    * Carried Away (1996)
    * Space Truckers (1996)
    * Basquiat (1996)
    * The Last Days of Frankie the Fly (1996)
    * Top of the World (1997)
    * The Good Life (1997)
    * The Blackout (1997)
    * Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997) (documentary)
    * Road Ends (1997)
    * Black Dahlia (1998) (video game)
    * Michael Angel (1998)
    * Meet the Deedles (1998)
    * Tycus (1998)
    * Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius (1999) (documentary) (narrator)
    * The Prophet's Game (1999)
    * Lured Innocence (1999)
    * The Source (1999) (documentary)
    * EDtv (1999)
    * Straight Shooter (1999)
    * Jesus' Son (1999)
    * The Venice Project (1999)
    * Bad City Blues (1999)
    * The Spreading Ground (2000)
    * Jason and the Argonauts (2000)
    * Luck of the Draw (2000)
    * Welcome to Hollywood (2000)
    * Held for Ransom (2000)
    * Ticker (2001)
    * Choke (2001)
    * Knockaround Guys (2001)
    * Jazz Seen: The Life and Times of William Claxton (2001) (documentary)
    * L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to Serve (2001)
    * 1 Giant Leap (2002) (documentary)
    * I Don't Know Jack (2002) (documentary)
    * Unspeakable (2002)
    * Leo (2002)
    * Venice: Lost and Found (2002) (documentary)
    * The Piano Player (2002)
    * Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) (documentary)
    * A Decade Under the Influence (2003) (documentary)
    * Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die) (2003) (documentary)
    * The Night We Called It a Day (2003)
    * Legacy (2004)
    * The Keeper (2004)
    * The Last Ride (2004)
    * Out of Season (2004)
    * Tell Them Who You Are (2004) (documentary)
    * Inside Deep Throat (2005) (documentary) (narrator)
    * House of 9 (2005)
    * Hoboken Hollow (2005)
    * Americano (2005)
    * Land of the Dead (2005)
    * Going Through Splat: The Life and Work of Stewart Stern (2005) (documentary)
    * Champion (2005) (documentary)
    * The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005)
    * Land of the Dead (2005)
    * Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005) (documentary)
    * Tainted Love (2006)
    * The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006) (documentary)
    * Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi (2006) (documentary) (narrator)
    * 10th & Wolf (2006)
    * Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (2006) (documentary)
    * 3055 Jean Leon (2006) (documentary)
    * Memory (2006)
    * By the Ways: A Journey with William Eggleston (2007) (documentary)
    * Hell Ride (2008)
    * Sleepwalking (2008)
    * Bananaz (2008) (documentary)
    * Elegy (2008)
    * Générations 68 (2008) (documentary)
    * Swing Vote (2008)
    * Chelsea on the Rocks (2008) (documentary)
    * Palermo Shooting (2008)
    * Ferlinghetti: A City Light (2008) (documentary)
    * An American Carol (2008)
    * Shooting Palermo (2008) (documentary)
    * The Brothers Warner (2008) (documentary)
    * No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos (2008) (documentary)
    * Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero (2008) (documentary)
    * The Last Film Festival (2009)
    * Forever (2009)
    * Deadly Creatures (2009) (video game)

Upcoming

    * Alpha and Omega (2010)

Short subjects

    * The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys (1964)
    * Screen Test#1 (1965)
    * Screen Test#2 (1965)
    * Screen Test#3 (1966)
    * Screen Test#4 (1966)
    * Luke (1967)
    * A Hero of Our Time (1985)
    * New Scenes from America (2003)

Awards

Academy Awards

    * (1970) Nominated - Best Original Screenplay / Easy Rider (shared with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern)
    * (1987) Nominated - Best Supporting Actor / Hoosiers

Golden Globe Awards

    * (1987) Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture / Hoosiers
    * (1987) Nominated - Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture / Blue Velvet

Primetime Emmy Awards

    * (1991) Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie / Paris Trout

Cannes Film Festival Awards

    * (1969) Won - Best First Work Award / Easy Rider
    * (1969) Nominated - Palme d'Or / Easy Rider
    * (1980) Nominated - Palme d'Or / Out of the Blue

Directors Guild of America Award

    * (1970) Nominated - Outstanding Directing - Feature Film / Easy Rider

Independent Spirit Awards

    * (1987) Nominated - Best Male Lead / Blue Velvet

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

    * (1987) Won - Best Supporting Actor / Blue Velvet

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

    * (1987) Won - Best Supporting Actor / Blue Velvet & Hoosiers

MTV Movie Awards

    * (1995) Won - Best Villain / Speed

National Society of Film Critics Awards

    * (1970) Won - Special Award ("For the director, co-writer and co-star") / Easy Rider
    * (1987) Won - Best Supporting Actor / Blue Velvet

Writers Guild of America Award

    * (1970) Nominated - Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen / Easy Rider (shared with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern)
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg44/chapscannon/dennis-hopper-1971.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa174/denverbiblio/DennisHopper.jpg


and still hanging in there. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/18/10 at 5:26 am

The word of the day...Night
Night or nighttime is the period of time when the sun is below the horizon. The opposite of night is day (or "daytime" to distinguish it from "day" as used for a 24-hour period). The start and end times of night vary based on factors such as season, latitude, longitude  and timezone.
http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac16/ELENOUA-2009/EVERY-DAY/GOOD%20NIGHT/EEE.jpg
http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a455/chezboots/Stadiums/nrl_night.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss250/LONERANGERZOMBIE/NIGHT.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad87/bball_legend7/vancouver_night_cityscape.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz169/Kry-241/cities-72.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/18/10 at 5:39 am

Good Night.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/18/10 at 5:45 am

The person born on this day...Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (pronounced /ˈfeɪ/; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, who gave her their AP Entertainer of the Year award.

After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1992, Fey moved to Chicago to take classes at the improvisational comedy group The Second City, where she became a featured player in 1994. Three years later, Fey became a writer for the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). She was promoted to the position of head writer in 1999. The following year, Fey was added to the cast of SNL. During her time there, she was co-anchor of the show's Weekend Update segment. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created her own television series called 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series.

In 2004, Fey made her film debut as writer and co-star of the teen comedy Mean Girls. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside Amy Poehler. In 2009, Fey won an Emmy Award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL.
Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a township just outside of Philadelphia. She is the daughter of Zenovia "Jeanne" (née Xenakes),  a brokerage employee of Greek ancestry,  and Donald Fey, a university grant proposal-writer of German and Scottish ancestry.  She has a brother, who is eight years older, named Peter.

Fey was exposed to comedy early. She recalls:

    I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein. We would also watch Saturday Night Live, or Monty Python, or old Marx Brothers movies. My dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners. We were not allowed to watch The Flintstones though: my dad hated it because it ripped off The Honeymooners. I actually have a very low level of Flintstones knowledge for someone my age.

She also grew up watching Second City Television (SCTV) and cites Catherine O'Hara as a role model.

Fey attended Cardington Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby. By middle school, she knew she was interested in comedy, even doing an independent-study project on the subject in eighth grade. Fey attended Upper Darby High School, where she was an honor student, a member of the choir, drama club, and tennis team, and co-editor of the school's newspaper. Following her graduation in 1988, Fey enrolled at the University of Virginia, where she studied playwriting and acting. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama.
Career
Early career

After graduating, Fey originally had plans to do graduate work in drama at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, but "I just got this feeling like it wasn't going to work out ... they were going to take my money and then cut me from the program." She moved to Chicago anyway, knowing about the improvisational comedy troupe, The Second City. She took night classes at Second City, and had a day job working at the front desk of a YMCA facility in Evanston to pay for her classes. Once her Second City training began, she immersed herself in the "cult of improvisation", becoming, as she described it later, "like one of those athletes trying to get into the Olympics. It was all about blind focus. I was so sure that I was doing exactly what I'd been put on this earth to do, and I would have done anything to make it onto that stage. Not because of SNL, but because I wanted to devote my life to improv. I would have been perfectly happy to stay at Second City forever."

In 1994, she joined the cast of The Second City, where she performed eight shows a week, for two years. She was also in the revues Citizen Gates (1996) and Paradigm Lost (1997), where she performed alongside Scott Adsit, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Jenna Jolovitz, and Jim Zulevic. Improvisation became an important influence on her initial understanding of what it means to be an actress, as she noted in an interview for The Believer in November 2003:

    When I started, improv had the biggest impact on my acting. I studied the usual acting methods at college – Stanislavsky and whatnot. But none of it really clicked for me. My problem with the traditional acting method was that I never understood what you were supposed to be thinking about when you're onstage. But at Second City, I learned that your focus should be entirely on your partner. You take what they're giving you and use it to build a scene. That opened it up for me. Suddenly it all made sense. It's about your partner. Not what you're going to say, not finding the perfect mannerisms or tics for your character, not what you're going to eat later. Improv helped to distract me from my usual stage bullsheesh and put my focus somewhere else so that I could stop acting. I guess that's what method acting is supposed to accomplish anyway. It distracts you so that your body and emotions can work freely. Improv is just a version of method acting that works for me.

While in Chicago, Fey also made what she later described as an "amateurish" attempt at stand-up comedy. She also performed at the ImprovOlympic theater.
Saturday Night Live (1997–2006)

While performing shows with the Second City in 1997, Fey submitted several scripts to NBC's variety show Saturday Night Live (SNL), at the request of their head writer Adam McKay, a former performer at Second City. She was hired as a writer for SNL following a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and moved to New York. Fey told The New Yorker, "I’d had my eye on the show forever, the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter." Originally, Fey "struggled" at SNL. Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire. Fey went on to write a series of parodies, including one of ABC's morning talk show The View. She co-wrote the "Sully and Denise" sketches with Rachel Dratch, who plays one of the teens.

Fey played an extra in one of the episodes in 1998, and after watching herself, decided to diet, by which she lost 30 pounds. She told The New York Times, "I was a completely normal weight. But I was here in New York City, I had money and I couldn't buy any clothes. After I lost weight, there was interest in putting me on camera." In 1999, McKay stepped down as head writer, which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position. She became SNL's first female head writer, a milestone she downplays in light of the fact that there have not been very many head writers.

In 2000, Fey began performing in sketches, and she and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of SNL's Weekend Update segment. Fey admitted she did not ask to audition, but that Michaels approached her. Michaels explained that there was "chemistry" between Fey and Fallon. Michaels, however, revealed that choosing Fey was "kind of risky" at the time. Her role in Weekend Update was well received by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "...Fey delivers such blow darts – poison filled jokes written in long, precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in Update history – with such a bright, sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful." Dennis Miller, a former cast member of SNL and anchor of Weekend Update, was pleased with Fey as one of the anchors for the segment: "...Fey might be the best Weekend Update anchor who ever did it. She writes the funniest jokes". Robert Bianco of USA Today, however, commented that he was "not enamored" with the pairing.

In 2001, Fey and the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL's 25th anniversary special. The following year at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, she and the writing team won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.

The pairing of Fey and Fallon ended in May 2004 when Fallon last appeared as a cast member. He was replaced by Amy Poehler. It was the first time that two women co-anchored Weekend Update. Fey revealed that she "hired" Poehler as her co-host for the segment. The reception to the teaming of Fey and Poehler was positive, with Rachel Sklar of the Chicago Tribune noting that the pairing "has been a hilarious, pitch-perfect success as they play off each other with quick one-liners and deadpan delivery".

The 2005-2006 season was her last, as she thereafter departed to develop 30 Rock.
30 Rock (2006–present)
Main article: 30 Rock
Fey filming an episode of 30 Rock at Rockefeller Center in October 2007.

In 2002, Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC, who rejected it. The pilot was reworked to revolve around an SNL style series, and was accepted by NBC. She signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to remain in her SNL head writer position at least through the 2004–2005 television season. As part of the contract, Fey was to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal. She began developing the pilot project under the working title Untitled Tina Fey Project. The pilot, directed by Adam Bernstein, centered on the head writer of a variety show and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile star and its executive producer. In October 2006, the pilot aired on NBC as 30 Rock. Although the episode received generally favorable reviews, it finished third in its timeslot.

The network renewed the series for a second season, which began in October 2007. The show's third season premiered on October 30, 2008. The premiere episode set records for the highest ratings of the series. In January 2009, NBC renewed 30 Rock for the 2009–2010 season.

In 2007, Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year, Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In early 2010, Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress.
Sarah Palin
See also: Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin
Web promo for 2008 web video of Palin (Fey) and Clinton (Poehler) from NBC.com.

In September and October 2008 Fey guested on SNL to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On the 34th season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey imitated Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". The sketch quickly became NBC.com's most-watched viral video ever, with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday. Fey reprised this role on the October 4 show, and on the October 18 show where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin. The October 18 show had the best ratings of any SNL show since 1994. The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin. Fey returned to SNL in April 2010, and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled "Sarah Palin Network".

In December 2009, Entertainment Weekly put her impersonation on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, writing, "Fey's freakishly spot-on SNL impersonation of the wannabe VP (and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty) made for truly transcendent television."
Other work

In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two-woman show Dratch & Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The production was well received by critics. Tim Townsend of The Wall Street Journal in review of Dratch & Fey, wrote that the fun part of watching them perform was "seeing how comfortable they are with each other". He concluded that the production "isn't about two women being funny. Dratch and Fey are just funny. Period." One of the SNL sketches, "Sully and Denise", originated at Second City in Chicago.

On August 13, 2007, Fey made a guest appearance on the children's television series Sesame Street, in the episode, "The Bookaneers". She appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007 episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America. Fey has appeared in Disney's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bündchen as Wendy Darling. She has also done commercials for American Express credit card.

On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. For this appearance, she was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Fey also returned to the Weekend Update desk for a special Mother's Day episode on May 8, 2010.
Feature films

In 2002, Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin & Orloff. She made her debut as writer and co-star of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. The film received favorable reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $129 million worldwide.
Fey with Amy Poehler at the premiere of Baby Mama in New York.

In a 2004 interview, Fey expressed that she would like to write and direct movies in which she has small parts. As of April 2006, Fey has been working on a movie script for Paramount Pictures, which will feature Sacha Baron Cohen, by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill that is based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. In 2007, she was cast in the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the teens' mother, a giant burrito.

Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama. The movie was written and directed by Michael McCullers. The plot concerns Kate (Fey), a business woman, who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: Angie (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. Baby Mama received mixed reviews, but many critics enjoyed Fey's performance. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Fey is a delight to watch throughout. Able to convey Kate's intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections, she never melodramatizes her situation; nor does her efficient, perfectionist side become overbearing." The movie grossed over $64 million at the box office.

Fey's projects after 2008 include her lending her voice to the character Lisa in the English language version of the Japanese animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (titled Ponyo for its U.S. release). In 2009, she appeared in The Invention of Lying, alongside Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Christopher Guest. Her next film role was in Shawn Levy's comedy Date Night, a feature that focuses on a married couple, played by Fey and Steve Carell, who go on a date; however, the night goes awry for the two. In addition, she has agreed to do voice work for the DreamWorks animated film MegaMind.
In the media

Fey was ranked in the Hot 100 List at number 80 on Maxim magazine in 2002. She was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003, and one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2007, she was included in People's 100 Most Beautiful issue. Also in 2007, Fey placed seventh on the Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com. She repeated the appearance the following year, however, being voted as number one on the list.

In 2001, Entertainment Weekly named Fey as one of their Entertainers of the Year for her work on Weekend Update. She again was named one of the magazine's Entertainers of the Year in 2007, and placed number two in 2008. In 2009, Fey was named as Entertainment Weekly's fifth individual in their 15 Entertainers of the 2000s list. The newspaper editors and broadcast producers of the Associated Press voted Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008, citing her impression of Sarah Palin on SNL. She has appeared on the annual Celebrity 100 list by Forbes in 2008 and 2009 at No. 99 and No. 86.

In 2007, the New York Post included Fey in New York's 50 Most Powerful Women, ranking her at number 33. Fey was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2007 and 2009, as selected annually by Time magazine. Fey's featured article for the 2009 list was written by 30 Rock co-star, Alec Baldwin. She was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008.
Personal life
Fey and Jeff Richmond in April 2010

Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, composer on 30 Rock. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. They have a daughter—Alice Zenobia Richmond—who was born on September 10, 2005, during Fey's tenure at SNL. Fey returned to the show on October 22, saying "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I have only a verbal agreement." In April 2009, Fey and Richmond purchased a $3.4 million apartment in the Upper West Side in New York City.

Fey has a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek. Responding to questions about its origin, Fey was quoted in the November 25, 2001, New York Times article as saying: "It's a childhood injury that was kind of grim. And it kind of bums my parents out for me to talk about it". But in an interview with Fey and Richmond in the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, Richmond revealed the scar resulted from a slashing incident, which happened when she was five. Richmond said: "It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen." She has said she was reluctant to discuss the incident in part because "It's impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it." Fey favors the right (non-scar) side of her face when acting as her character Liz Lemon.

Her charity work includes support of Autism Speaks, an organization that sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards, Fey wore a blue puzzle piece to raise awareness for the organization. In April 2008, she participated in Night of Too Many Stars, a comedy show benefit for autism education.

Fey is also a supporter of Mercy Corps, a global relief and development organization, in their campaign to end world hunger. Fey narrated a video for Mercy Corps's Action Center in New York City, describing hunger as a symptom of many wider world problems. She also supports the Love Our Children USA organization, which fights violence against children, who named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009. She is the 2009 national spokesperson for the Light The Night Walk, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Detailed works
As a writer
Year/s Title Medium Notes
1997–2006 Saturday Night Live TV Head writer 1999–2006
2004 Mean Girls Film Screenplay adapted from Queen Bees and Wannabes
2006–present 30 Rock TV Episodes written:

Season 1: (8/21) "Pilot", "The Aftermath", "Tracy Does Conan", "The Head and the Hair"*, "Black Tie"*, "Up All Night", "The C Word", "Hiatus"
Season 2: (4/15) "SeinfeldVision", "Somebody to Love"*, "MILF Island"*, "Cooter"
Season 3: (4) "Do-Over", "Christmas Special"*, "St. Valentine's Day"*, "The Bubble", "The Natural Order"*
*denotes episode co-written.
(Source: IMDb.com)
As an actress
Year/s Title Medium Role/s Notes
1998–2006, 2008, 2010 Saturday Night Live TV Multiple Includes being a cast member from 1998 to 2006, host of Weekend Update (2000–2006), guest in 2008 and 2010, and made five appearances impersonating Sarah Palin.
1999 Upright Citizens Brigade TV Kerri Downey One Episode
2002 Martin & Orloff Film Southern Women
2004 Mean Girls Film Ms. Norbury
2006 Artie Lange's Beer League Film Gym Secretary
2006–present 30 Rock TV Liz Lemon
2008 Baby Mama Film Kate Holbrook
2009 Ponyo Film Lisa Voice (English version)
The Invention of Lying Film Shelley
2010 Date Night Film Claire Foster
MegaMind Film Roxanne Ritchi Voice
(Source: IMDb.com)
Awards and nominations

The following awards are categorized under the year they were announced (and not necessarily the year covered by the award ceremony).
Year Award Category Work Result
2001 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Saturday Night Live Nominated
Comedy/Variety special Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special Won
2002 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Won
WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Nominated
2003 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
WGA Award Comedy/Variety Series Nominated
Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live: NBC 75th Anniversary Special Nominated
2004 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress: Comedy Nominated
2005 People's Choice Awards Favorite Funny Female Star Nominated
Teen Choice Award Choice Comedian Nominated
WGA Award Best Adapted Screenplay Mean Girls Nominated
2007 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
Writing for a Comedy Series "Tracy Does Conan" for 30 Rock Nominated
WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
New Series Nominated
Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live Won
2008 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Won
Writing for a Comedy Series "Cooter" for 30 Rock Won
Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series Won
Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated
WGA Award Comedy Series Won
2009 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Won
Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series Won
Ensemble in a Comedy Series Won
WGA Award Comedy Series Won
Episodic Comedy "Cooter" for 30 Rock Nominated
Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live Won
Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
2010 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Nominated
Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series Won
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s89/googoodolls56/tina_fey.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr252/foamysfry57/tina_fey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/18/10 at 5:47 am


The person born on this day...Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (pronounced /ˈfeɪ/; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, who gave her their AP Entertainer of the Year award.

After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1992, Fey moved to Chicago to take classes at the improvisational comedy group The Second City, where she became a featured player in 1994. Three years later, Fey became a writer for the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). She was promoted to the position of head writer in 1999. The following year, Fey was added to the cast of SNL. During her time there, she was co-anchor of the show's Weekend Update segment. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created her own television series called 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series.

In 2004, Fey made her film debut as writer and co-star of the teen comedy Mean Girls. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside Amy Poehler. In 2009, Fey won an Emmy Award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL.
Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a township just outside of Philadelphia. She is the daughter of Zenovia "Jeanne" (née Xenakes),  a brokerage employee of Greek ancestry,  and Donald Fey, a university grant proposal-writer of German and Scottish ancestry.  She has a brother, who is eight years older, named Peter.

Fey was exposed to comedy early. She recalls:

    I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein. We would also watch Saturday Night Live, or Monty Python, or old Marx Brothers movies. My dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners. We were not allowed to watch The Flintstones though: my dad hated it because it ripped off The Honeymooners. I actually have a very low level of Flintstones knowledge for someone my age.

She also grew up watching Second City Television (SCTV) and cites Catherine O'Hara as a role model.

Fey attended Cardington Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby. By middle school, she knew she was interested in comedy, even doing an independent-study project on the subject in eighth grade. Fey attended Upper Darby High School, where she was an honor student, a member of the choir, drama club, and tennis team, and co-editor of the school's newspaper. Following her graduation in 1988, Fey enrolled at the University of Virginia, where she studied playwriting and acting. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama.
Career
Early career

After graduating, Fey originally had plans to do graduate work in drama at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, but "I just got this feeling like it wasn't going to work out ... they were going to take my money and then cut me from the program." She moved to Chicago anyway, knowing about the improvisational comedy troupe, The Second City. She took night classes at Second City, and had a day job working at the front desk of a YMCA facility in Evanston to pay for her classes. Once her Second City training began, she immersed herself in the "cult of improvisation", becoming, as she described it later, "like one of those athletes trying to get into the Olympics. It was all about blind focus. I was so sure that I was doing exactly what I'd been put on this earth to do, and I would have done anything to make it onto that stage. Not because of SNL, but because I wanted to devote my life to improv. I would have been perfectly happy to stay at Second City forever."

In 1994, she joined the cast of The Second City, where she performed eight shows a week, for two years. She was also in the revues Citizen Gates (1996) and Paradigm Lost (1997), where she performed alongside Scott Adsit, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Jenna Jolovitz, and Jim Zulevic. Improvisation became an important influence on her initial understanding of what it means to be an actress, as she noted in an interview for The Believer in November 2003:

    When I started, improv had the biggest impact on my acting. I studied the usual acting methods at college – Stanislavsky and whatnot. But none of it really clicked for me. My problem with the traditional acting method was that I never understood what you were supposed to be thinking about when you're onstage. But at Second City, I learned that your focus should be entirely on your partner. You take what they're giving you and use it to build a scene. That opened it up for me. Suddenly it all made sense. It's about your partner. Not what you're going to say, not finding the perfect mannerisms or tics for your character, not what you're going to eat later. Improv helped to distract me from my usual stage bullsheesh and put my focus somewhere else so that I could stop acting. I guess that's what method acting is supposed to accomplish anyway. It distracts you so that your body and emotions can work freely. Improv is just a version of method acting that works for me.

While in Chicago, Fey also made what she later described as an "amateurish" attempt at stand-up comedy. She also performed at the ImprovOlympic theater.
Saturday Night Live (1997–2006)

While performing shows with the Second City in 1997, Fey submitted several scripts to NBC's variety show Saturday Night Live (SNL), at the request of their head writer Adam McKay, a former performer at Second City. She was hired as a writer for SNL following a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and moved to New York. Fey told The New Yorker, "I’d had my eye on the show forever, the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter." Originally, Fey "struggled" at SNL. Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire. Fey went on to write a series of parodies, including one of ABC's morning talk show The View. She co-wrote the "Sully and Denise" sketches with Rachel Dratch, who plays one of the teens.

Fey played an extra in one of the episodes in 1998, and after watching herself, decided to diet, by which she lost 30 pounds. She told The New York Times, "I was a completely normal weight. But I was here in New York City, I had money and I couldn't buy any clothes. After I lost weight, there was interest in putting me on camera." In 1999, McKay stepped down as head writer, which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position. She became SNL's first female head writer, a milestone she downplays in light of the fact that there have not been very many head writers.

In 2000, Fey began performing in sketches, and she and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of SNL's Weekend Update segment. Fey admitted she did not ask to audition, but that Michaels approached her. Michaels explained that there was "chemistry" between Fey and Fallon. Michaels, however, revealed that choosing Fey was "kind of risky" at the time. Her role in Weekend Update was well received by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "...Fey delivers such blow darts – poison filled jokes written in long, precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in Update history – with such a bright, sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful." Dennis Miller, a former cast member of SNL and anchor of Weekend Update, was pleased with Fey as one of the anchors for the segment: "...Fey might be the best Weekend Update anchor who ever did it. She writes the funniest jokes". Robert Bianco of USA Today, however, commented that he was "not enamored" with the pairing.

In 2001, Fey and the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL's 25th anniversary special. The following year at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, she and the writing team won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.

The pairing of Fey and Fallon ended in May 2004 when Fallon last appeared as a cast member. He was replaced by Amy Poehler. It was the first time that two women co-anchored Weekend Update. Fey revealed that she "hired" Poehler as her co-host for the segment. The reception to the teaming of Fey and Poehler was positive, with Rachel Sklar of the Chicago Tribune noting that the pairing "has been a hilarious, pitch-perfect success as they play off each other with quick one-liners and deadpan delivery".

The 2005-2006 season was her last, as she thereafter departed to develop 30 Rock.
30 Rock (2006–present)
Main article: 30 Rock
Fey filming an episode of 30 Rock at Rockefeller Center in October 2007.

In 2002, Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC, who rejected it. The pilot was reworked to revolve around an SNL style series, and was accepted by NBC. She signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to remain in her SNL head writer position at least through the 2004–2005 television season. As part of the contract, Fey was to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal. She began developing the pilot project under the working title Untitled Tina Fey Project. The pilot, directed by Adam Bernstein, centered on the head writer of a variety show and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile star and its executive producer. In October 2006, the pilot aired on NBC as 30 Rock. Although the episode received generally favorable reviews, it finished third in its timeslot.

The network renewed the series for a second season, which began in October 2007. The show's third season premiered on October 30, 2008. The premiere episode set records for the highest ratings of the series. In January 2009, NBC renewed 30 Rock for the 2009–2010 season.

In 2007, Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year, Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In early 2010, Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress.
Sarah Palin
See also: Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin
Web promo for 2008 web video of Palin (Fey) and Clinton (Poehler) from NBC.com.

In September and October 2008 Fey guested on SNL to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On the 34th season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey imitated Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". The sketch quickly became NBC.com's most-watched viral video ever, with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday. Fey reprised this role on the October 4 show, and on the October 18 show where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin. The October 18 show had the best ratings of any SNL show since 1994. The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin. Fey returned to SNL in April 2010, and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled "Sarah Palin Network".

In December 2009, Entertainment Weekly put her impersonation on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, writing, "Fey's freakishly spot-on SNL impersonation of the wannabe VP (and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty) made for truly transcendent television."
Other work

In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two-woman show Dratch & Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The production was well received by critics. Tim Townsend of The Wall Street Journal in review of Dratch & Fey, wrote that the fun part of watching them perform was "seeing how comfortable they are with each other". He concluded that the production "isn't about two women being funny. Dratch and Fey are just funny. Period." One of the SNL sketches, "Sully and Denise", originated at Second City in Chicago.

On August 13, 2007, Fey made a guest appearance on the children's television series Sesame Street, in the episode, "The Bookaneers". She appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007 episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America. Fey has appeared in Disney's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bündchen as Wendy Darling. She has also done commercials for American Express credit card.

On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. For this appearance, she was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Fey also returned to the Weekend Update desk for a special Mother's Day episode on May 8, 2010.
Feature films

In 2002, Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin & Orloff. She made her debut as writer and co-star of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. The film received favorable reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $129 million worldwide.
Fey with Amy Poehler at the premiere of Baby Mama in New York.

In a 2004 interview, Fey expressed that she would like to write and direct movies in which she has small parts. As of April 2006, Fey has been working on a movie script for Paramount Pictures, which will feature Sacha Baron Cohen, by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill that is based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. In 2007, she was cast in the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the teens' mother, a giant burrito.

Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama. The movie was written and directed by Michael McCullers. The plot concerns Kate (Fey), a business woman, who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: Angie (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. Baby Mama received mixed reviews, but many critics enjoyed Fey's performance. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Fey is a delight to watch throughout. Able to convey Kate's intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections, she never melodramatizes her situation; nor does her efficient, perfectionist side become overbearing." The movie grossed over $64 million at the box office.

Fey's projects after 2008 include her lending her voice to the character Lisa in the English language version of the Japanese animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (titled Ponyo for its U.S. release). In 2009, she appeared in The Invention of Lying, alongside Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Christopher Guest. Her next film role was in Shawn Levy's comedy Date Night, a feature that focuses on a married couple, played by Fey and Steve Carell, who go on a date; however, the night goes awry for the two. In addition, she has agreed to do voice work for the DreamWorks animated film MegaMind.
In the media

Fey was ranked in the Hot 100 List at number 80 on Maxim magazine in 2002. She was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003, and one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2007, she was included in People's 100 Most Beautiful issue. Also in 2007, Fey placed seventh on the Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com. She repeated the appearance the following year, however, being voted as number one on the list.

In 2001, Entertainment Weekly named Fey as one of their Entertainers of the Year for her work on Weekend Update. She again was named one of the magazine's Entertainers of the Year in 2007, and placed number two in 2008. In 2009, Fey was named as Entertainment Weekly's fifth individual in their 15 Entertainers of the 2000s list. The newspaper editors and broadcast producers of the Associated Press voted Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008, citing her impression of Sarah Palin on SNL. She has appeared on the annual Celebrity 100 list by Forbes in 2008 and 2009 at No. 99 and No. 86.

In 2007, the New York Post included Fey in New York's 50 Most Powerful Women, ranking her at number 33. Fey was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2007 and 2009, as selected annually by Time magazine. Fey's featured article for the 2009 list was written by 30 Rock co-star, Alec Baldwin. She was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008.
Personal life
Fey and Jeff Richmond in April 2010

Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, composer on 30 Rock. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. They have a daughter—Alice Zenobia Richmond—who was born on September 10, 2005, during Fey's tenure at SNL. Fey returned to the show on October 22, saying "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I have only a verbal agreement." In April 2009, Fey and Richmond purchased a $3.4 million apartment in the Upper West Side in New York City.

Fey has a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek. Responding to questions about its origin, Fey was quoted in the November 25, 2001, New York Times article as saying: "It's a childhood injury that was kind of grim. And it kind of bums my parents out for me to talk about it". But in an interview with Fey and Richmond in the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, Richmond revealed the scar resulted from a slashing incident, which happened when she was five. Richmond said: "It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen." She has said she was reluctant to discuss the incident in part because "It's impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it." Fey favors the right (non-scar) side of her face when acting as her character Liz Lemon.

Her charity work includes support of Autism Speaks, an organization that sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards, Fey wore a blue puzzle piece to raise awareness for the organization. In April 2008, she participated in Night of Too Many Stars, a comedy show benefit for autism education.

Fey is also a supporter of Mercy Corps, a global relief and development organization, in their campaign to end world hunger. Fey narrated a video for Mercy Corps's Action Center in New York City, describing hunger as a symptom of many wider world problems. She also supports the Love Our Children USA organization, which fights violence against children, who named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009. She is the 2009 national spokesperson for the Light The Night Walk, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Detailed works
As a writer
Year/s Title Medium Notes
1997–2006 Saturday Night Live TV Head writer 1999–2006
2004 Mean Girls Film Screenplay adapted from Queen Bees and Wannabes
2006–present 30 Rock TV Episodes written:

Season 1: (8/21) "Pilot", "The Aftermath", "Tracy Does Conan", "The Head and the Hair"*, "Black Tie"*, "Up All Night", "The C Word", "Hiatus"
Season 2: (4/15) "SeinfeldVision", "Somebody to Love"*, "MILF Island"*, "Cooter"
Season 3: (4) "Do-Over", "Christmas Special"*, "St. Valentine's Day"*, "The Bubble", "The Natural Order"*
*denotes episode co-written.
(Source: IMDb.com)
As an actress
Year/s Title Medium Role/s Notes
1998–2006, 2008, 2010 Saturday Night Live TV Multiple Includes being a cast member from 1998 to 2006, host of Weekend Update (2000–2006), guest in 2008 and 2010, and made five appearances impersonating Sarah Palin.
1999 Upright Citizens Brigade TV Kerri Downey One Episode
2002 Martin & Orloff Film Southern Women
2004 Mean Girls Film Ms. Norbury
2006 Artie Lange's Beer League Film Gym Secretary
2006–present 30 Rock TV Liz Lemon
2008 Baby Mama Film Kate Holbrook
2009 Ponyo Film Lisa Voice (English version)
The Invention of Lying Film Shelley
2010 Date Night Film Claire Foster
MegaMind Film Roxanne Ritchi Voice
(Source: IMDb.com)
Awards and nominations

The following awards are categorized under the year they were announced (and not necessarily the year covered by the award ceremony).
Year Award Category Work Result
2001 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Saturday Night Live Nominated
Comedy/Variety special Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special Won
2002 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Won
WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Nominated
2003 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
WGA Award Comedy/Variety Series Nominated
Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live: NBC 75th Anniversary Special Nominated
2004 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress: Comedy Nominated
2005 People's Choice Awards Favorite Funny Female Star Nominated
Teen Choice Award Choice Comedian Nominated
WGA Award Best Adapted Screenplay Mean Girls Nominated
2007 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
Writing for a Comedy Series "Tracy Does Conan" for 30 Rock Nominated
WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
New Series Nominated
Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live Won
2008 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Won
Writing for a Comedy Series "Cooter" for 30 Rock Won
Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series Won
Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated
WGA Award Comedy Series Won
2009 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Won
Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series Won
Ensemble in a Comedy Series Won
WGA Award Comedy Series Won
Episodic Comedy "Cooter" for 30 Rock Nominated
Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live Won
Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
2010 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Nominated
Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series Won
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s89/googoodolls56/tina_fey.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr252/foamysfry57/tina_fey.jpg


She's cool.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/18/10 at 5:51 am

The person who died on this day...Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is best remembered for her roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden. Born in Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth Montgomery was the child of actor Robert Montgomery and his wife, Broadway actress Elizabeth Bryan Allen.  She had an older sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery, who died as an infant, and a brother, Robert Montgomery, Jr., who was born in 1936.  After graduating from The Spence School, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for three years.
Career
Early years

Montgomery made her television debut in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents (later appearing on occasion as a member of his "summer stock" company of performers), and her film debut in 1955 in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell.

Her early career consisted of starring vehicles and appearances in live television dramas and series, such as Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, Johnny Staccato, The Twilight Zone, The Eleventh Hour, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1954 she lost out on co-starring with Marlon Brando in the film On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan.

She was featured in a role as a socialite with Henry Silva and Sammy Davis, Jr. in the offbeat 1963 gangster film Johnny Cool and, the same year, with Dean Martin and Carol Burnett in the motion picture comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?, directed by Daniel Mann. Nevertheless, Alfred Hitchcock had her in mind to play the sister-in-law of Sean Connery, who sees herself as a rival to the troubled heroine in the movie Marnie, but Montgomery was unavailable owing to her commitment to a new television show: Bewitched.
Bewitched
Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York as Samantha and Darrin Stephens in Bewitched in 1967.

Montgomery played the central role of lovable witch Samantha Stephens with Dick York (and later Dick Sargent) as her husband in the ABC situation comedy Bewitched. She also played the role of Samantha's cousin, Serena. The show became a rating success (it was, at the time, the highest rated series ever for the network). It enjoyed an eight-year run from 1964 to 1972 and remains popular through syndication and DVD releases. The show had even been given the 'green light' for a ninth season by the network, but Montgomery, wishing to do other things, backed out. She also provided the voice of Samantha for an episode of The Flintstones.

Montgomery received five Emmy Award and four Golden Globe nominations for her role. At its creative peak, Bewitched was considered one of the most sophisticated sitcoms on the air and it cleverly explored contemporary themes and social issues within a fantasy context.
After Bewitched

Montgomery returned to Samantha-like twitching of her nose and on-screen magic in a series of Japanese television commercials (1980-83) for "Mother" chocolate biscuits and cookies by confectionery conglomerate Lotte Corp. These Japanese commercials provided a lucrative salary for Montgomery while remaining out of sight from non-Japanese fans and Hollywood industry.

In the United States, Montgomery spent much of her later career pursuing dramatic roles that took her as far away from the good-natured Samantha as possible. Among her later roles, including performances that brought her Emmy Award nominations for playing a rape victim in A Case of Rape (1974), for her portrayal of Lizzie Borden in William Bast's The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), and for her role as a strong woman facing hardship in 1820s Ohio in the mini-series The Awakening Land (1978).

In 1977, Montgomery played a police detective having an interracial affair with her partner, played by O.J. Simpson in A Killing Affair. She made a chilling villain in the 1985 picture Amos, playing a nurse in a state home who terrorized residents portrayed by Kirk Douglas and Dorothy McGuire.

One of her last roles was in an episode for Batman: The Animated Series entitled "Showdown," in which she played a barmaid; this was also her final work to be screened, as the episode aired posthumously. Her last television movies were the highly-rated Edna Buchanan detective series - the second and final film of the series received its first airing on May 9, 1995, only days before she passed away.
Personal life

Montgomery was first married to New York socialite Frederick Gallatin Cammann in 1954; the marriage lasted barely a year. She was married to actor Gig Young from 1956 to 1963, and then to director-producer William Asher from 1963 until their 1973 divorce. They had three children: William Asher, Jr. (July 24, 1964), Robert Asher (October 5, 1965) and Rebecca Asher (June 17, 1969). The latter two pregnancies were incorporated into Bewitched as Samantha's pregnancies with Tabitha (primarily Erin Murphy, with twin Diane) and Adam Stephens. In 1971, while filming the eighth season of Bewitched, she fell in love with director Richard Michaels and moved in with him after the season ended. This was another major factor in canceling plans for a ninth season. The relationship lasted two and a half years.

She entered her fourth and final marriage to actor Robert Foxworth, on January 28, 1993, after living with him for nearly twenty years. She remained married to Foxworth until her death.
Political activism

In June 1992, Montgomery and her former Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent, who had remained good friends, were Grand Marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. Montgomery had liberal political views, being an outspoken champion of women's rights and gay rights throughout her life, sharply contrasting with her conservative father, who was once a media advisor to President Dwight Eisenhower.

During Bewitched's run, she was a vocal critic of the Vietnam War. In the late 1980s and early 1990s she narrated a series of political documentaries, including Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) and the Academy Award winning The Panama Deception (1992).
Charity work

Throughout the last year of her life, Montgomery was a volunteer for the Los Angeles Unit of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), a non-profit organization which records educational books on specially formatted CDs and in downloadable formats for disabled people. In 1994, Montgomery produced several radio and television public service announcements for the organization's Los Angeles Unit. In January 1995, she recorded the 1952 edition of When We Were Very Young for RFB&D.

Montgomery's enthusiastic support for RFB&D sparked nationwide interest in the organization's work. Her strong support for RFB&D ultimately led her to enthusiastically agree to be the honorary chairman for its Los Angeles Unit's third annual Record-A-Thon, slated for June 3, 1995. She lent her name to all letters of appeal for the event and was planning to be one of its celebrity readers for the day.

After her death, the Los Angeles Unit of RFB&D dedicated the 1995 Record-A-Thon to Montgomery and secured 21 celebrities to assist in the reading of the book Chicken Soup for the Soul, which was also dedicated to her memory.
Illness and death

Montgomery was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the spring of 1995. She had ignored the flu-like symptoms during the filming of Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan and acted too late. Unwilling to die in a hospital, and with no hope of recovery, she elected to return to her Beverly Hills home that she shared with Foxworth. She died there, in the company of her children and husband, on May 18, 1995, eight weeks after her diagnosis. Montgomery was 62 years old.

A memorial service was held on June 18, 1995, at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Herbie Hancock provided the music, and Dominick Dunne spoke about their early days as friends in New York. Other speakers included her husband, Robert Foxworth, who read out sympathy cards from fans; her nurse; her brother, daughter and stepson. She was cremated at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
Posthumous

On April 19, 1998, an event auction/sale of her clothing was held by her family to benefit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation of Los Angeles. Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on the series, modeled the clothing that was auctioned.

In June 2005, a statue of Montgomery as Samantha Stephens was erected in Salem, Massachusetts.

A star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame was presented in honor of Montgomery's work in television on January 4, 2008. The location of the star is 6533 Hollywood Blvd.

William Clift is developing a biopic film of Montgomery starring Christina Applegate.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1955 The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell Margaret Lansdowne
1963 Johnny Cool Darien "Dare" Guinness
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Mellisa Morris
1965 How to Stuff a Wild Bikini Bwana's Daughter, The Witches Witch Uncredited
1988 Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair Narrator Documentary film
1992 The Panama Deception Narrator Documentary film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1951-1956 Robert Montgomery Presents Various roles 27 episodes
1953-1954 Armstrong Circle Theatre Ellen Craig 2 episodes
1954-1957 Kraft Television Theatre Various roles 7 episodes
1955-1958 Studio One Various roles 3 episodes
1956 Warner Bros. Presents Laura Woodruff 1 episode
Climax! Betsy 1 episode
1958 Playhouse 90 Mary Brecker 1 episode
DuPont Show of the Month Miss Kelly 1 episode
Cimmarron City Ellen Wilson 1 episode
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Karen 1 episode
1960 The Untouchables Rusty Heller 1 episode
One Step Beyond Lillie Clarke 1 episode
1961 The Twilight Zone The Woman 1 episode
1963-1964 Burke's Law Stacy Evans
Smitty 2 episodes
1964-1972 Bewitched Samantha Stephens 254 episodes
1965 The Flintstones Samantha Stephens (Voice) 1 episode
1972 The Victim Kate Wainwright Television movie
1973 Mrs. Sundance Etta Place Television movie
1974 A Case of Rape Ellen Harrod Television movie
1975 The Legend of Lizzie Borden Lizzie Borden Television movie
1976 Dark Victory Katherine Merrill Television movie
1977 A Killing Affair Vikki Eaton Television movie
1978 The Awakening Land Sayward Luckett Wheeler Miniseries
1979 Jennifer: A Woman's Story Jennifer Prince Television movie
Act of Violence Catherine McSweeney Television movie
1980 Belle Starr Belle Starr Television movie
1981 When the Circus Came to Town Mary Flynn Television movie
1982 The Rules of Marriage Joan Hagen Television movie
1983 Missing Pieces Sara Scott Television movie
1984 Second Sight: A Love Story Alaxandra McKay Television movie
1985 Amos Daisy Daws Television movie
Between the Darkness and the Dawn Abigail Foster Television movie
1990 Face to Face Dr. Diana Firestone Television movie
1991 Sins of the Mother Ruth Coe Television movie
1992 With Murder in Mind Gayle Wolfer Television movie
1993 The Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story Blanche Taylor Moore Television movie
1994 The Corpse Had a Familiar Face Edna Buchanan Television movie
1995 Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan Edna Buchanan Television movie
Batman: The Animated Series Barmaid (Voice) 1 episode
Award nominations
Year Award Result Category Film or series
1961 Emmy Award Nominated Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The Untouchables
1966 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1967 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1968 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1969 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1970 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1974 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series A Case of Rape
1975 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1978 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series The Awakening Land
1965 Golden Globe Award Nominated Best TV Star (Female) Bewitched
1967 Nominated Best TV Star (Female) Bewitched
1969 Nominated Best TV Star (Female) Bewitched
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/huckababy49/Elizabeth%20Montgomery/ElizabethMontgomery-5.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/huckababy49/Elizabeth%20Montgomery/Elizabeth-elizabeth-montgomery-7903.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/18/10 at 5:59 am


She's cool.

yep

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 05/18/10 at 7:21 am

Statue of "Samantha Stevens"  Salem Massachusetts.("The Witch City")


http://www.lobeliaslair.com/images/bewitchedstatue.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/18/10 at 7:51 am


Statue of "Samantha Stevens"  Salem Massachusetts.("The Witch City")


http://www.lobeliaslair.com/images/bewitchedstatue.jpg

Very nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/18/10 at 10:26 am

I can see Russia from my house.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/18/10 at 11:10 am

I used to watch Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched just to see her. Very beautiful woman.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/18/10 at 3:25 pm


The person who died on this day...Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is best remembered for her roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden. Born in Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth Montgomery was the child of actor Robert Montgomery and his wife, Broadway actress Elizabeth Bryan Allen.  She had an older sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery, who died as an infant, and a brother, Robert Montgomery, Jr., who was born in 1936.  After graduating from The Spence School, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for three years.
Career
Early years

Montgomery made her television debut in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents (later appearing on occasion as a member of his "summer stock" company of performers), and her film debut in 1955 in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell.

Her early career consisted of starring vehicles and appearances in live television dramas and series, such as Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, Johnny Staccato, The Twilight Zone, The Eleventh Hour, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1954 she lost out on co-starring with Marlon Brando in the film On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan.

She was featured in a role as a socialite with Henry Silva and Sammy Davis, Jr. in the offbeat 1963 gangster film Johnny Cool and, the same year, with Dean Martin and Carol Burnett in the motion picture comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?, directed by Daniel Mann. Nevertheless, Alfred Hitchcock had her in mind to play the sister-in-law of Sean Connery, who sees herself as a rival to the troubled heroine in the movie Marnie, but Montgomery was unavailable owing to her commitment to a new television show: Bewitched.
Bewitched
Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York as Samantha and Darrin Stephens in Bewitched in 1967.

Montgomery played the central role of lovable witch Samantha Stephens with Dick York (and later Dick Sargent) as her husband in the ABC situation comedy Bewitched. She also played the role of Samantha's cousin, Serena. The show became a rating success (it was, at the time, the highest rated series ever for the network). It enjoyed an eight-year run from 1964 to 1972 and remains popular through syndication and DVD releases. The show had even been given the 'green light' for a ninth season by the network, but Montgomery, wishing to do other things, backed out. She also provided the voice of Samantha for an episode of The Flintstones.

Montgomery received five Emmy Award and four Golden Globe nominations for her role. At its creative peak, Bewitched was considered one of the most sophisticated sitcoms on the air and it cleverly explored contemporary themes and social issues within a fantasy context.
After Bewitched

Montgomery returned to Samantha-like twitching of her nose and on-screen magic in a series of Japanese television commercials (1980-83) for "Mother" chocolate biscuits and cookies by confectionery conglomerate Lotte Corp. These Japanese commercials provided a lucrative salary for Montgomery while remaining out of sight from non-Japanese fans and Hollywood industry.

In the United States, Montgomery spent much of her later career pursuing dramatic roles that took her as far away from the good-natured Samantha as possible. Among her later roles, including performances that brought her Emmy Award nominations for playing a rape victim in A Case of Rape (1974), for her portrayal of Lizzie Borden in William Bast's The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), and for her role as a strong woman facing hardship in 1820s Ohio in the mini-series The Awakening Land (1978).

In 1977, Montgomery played a police detective having an interracial affair with her partner, played by O.J. Simpson in A Killing Affair. She made a chilling villain in the 1985 picture Amos, playing a nurse in a state home who terrorized residents portrayed by Kirk Douglas and Dorothy McGuire.

One of her last roles was in an episode for Batman: The Animated Series entitled "Showdown," in which she played a barmaid; this was also her final work to be screened, as the episode aired posthumously. Her last television movies were the highly-rated Edna Buchanan detective series - the second and final film of the series received its first airing on May 9, 1995, only days before she passed away.
Personal life

Montgomery was first married to New York socialite Frederick Gallatin Cammann in 1954; the marriage lasted barely a year. She was married to actor Gig Young from 1956 to 1963, and then to director-producer William Asher from 1963 until their 1973 divorce. They had three children: William Asher, Jr. (July 24, 1964), Robert Asher (October 5, 1965) and Rebecca Asher (June 17, 1969). The latter two pregnancies were incorporated into Bewitched as Samantha's pregnancies with Tabitha (primarily Erin Murphy, with twin Diane) and Adam Stephens. In 1971, while filming the eighth season of Bewitched, she fell in love with director Richard Michaels and moved in with him after the season ended. This was another major factor in canceling plans for a ninth season. The relationship lasted two and a half years.

She entered her fourth and final marriage to actor Robert Foxworth, on January 28, 1993, after living with him for nearly twenty years. She remained married to Foxworth until her death.
Political activism

In June 1992, Montgomery and her former Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent, who had remained good friends, were Grand Marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. Montgomery had liberal political views, being an outspoken champion of women's rights and gay rights throughout her life, sharply contrasting with her conservative father, who was once a media advisor to President Dwight Eisenhower.

During Bewitched's run, she was a vocal critic of the Vietnam War. In the late 1980s and early 1990s she narrated a series of political documentaries, including Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) and the Academy Award winning The Panama Deception (1992).
Charity work

Throughout the last year of her life, Montgomery was a volunteer for the Los Angeles Unit of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), a non-profit organization which records educational books on specially formatted CDs and in downloadable formats for disabled people. In 1994, Montgomery produced several radio and television public service announcements for the organization's Los Angeles Unit. In January 1995, she recorded the 1952 edition of When We Were Very Young for RFB&D.

Montgomery's enthusiastic support for RFB&D sparked nationwide interest in the organization's work. Her strong support for RFB&D ultimately led her to enthusiastically agree to be the honorary chairman for its Los Angeles Unit's third annual Record-A-Thon, slated for June 3, 1995. She lent her name to all letters of appeal for the event and was planning to be one of its celebrity readers for the day.

After her death, the Los Angeles Unit of RFB&D dedicated the 1995 Record-A-Thon to Montgomery and secured 21 celebrities to assist in the reading of the book Chicken Soup for the Soul, which was also dedicated to her memory.
Illness and death

Montgomery was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the spring of 1995. She had ignored the flu-like symptoms during the filming of Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan and acted too late. Unwilling to die in a hospital, and with no hope of recovery, she elected to return to her Beverly Hills home that she shared with Foxworth. She died there, in the company of her children and husband, on May 18, 1995, eight weeks after her diagnosis. Montgomery was 62 years old.

A memorial service was held on June 18, 1995, at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Herbie Hancock provided the music, and Dominick Dunne spoke about their early days as friends in New York. Other speakers included her husband, Robert Foxworth, who read out sympathy cards from fans; her nurse; her brother, daughter and stepson. She was cremated at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
Posthumous

On April 19, 1998, an event auction/sale of her clothing was held by her family to benefit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation of Los Angeles. Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on the series, modeled the clothing that was auctioned.

In June 2005, a statue of Montgomery as Samantha Stephens was erected in Salem, Massachusetts.

A star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame was presented in honor of Montgomery's work in television on January 4, 2008. The location of the star is 6533 Hollywood Blvd.

William Clift is developing a biopic film of Montgomery starring Christina Applegate.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1955 The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell Margaret Lansdowne
1963 Johnny Cool Darien "Dare" Guinness
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Mellisa Morris
1965 How to Stuff a Wild Bikini Bwana's Daughter, The Witches Witch Uncredited
1988 Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair Narrator Documentary film
1992 The Panama Deception Narrator Documentary film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1951-1956 Robert Montgomery Presents Various roles 27 episodes
1953-1954 Armstrong Circle Theatre Ellen Craig 2 episodes
1954-1957 Kraft Television Theatre Various roles 7 episodes
1955-1958 Studio One Various roles 3 episodes
1956 Warner Bros. Presents Laura Woodruff 1 episode
Climax! Betsy 1 episode
1958 Playhouse 90 Mary Brecker 1 episode
DuPont Show of the Month Miss Kelly 1 episode
Cimmarron City Ellen Wilson 1 episode
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Karen 1 episode
1960 The Untouchables Rusty Heller 1 episode
One Step Beyond Lillie Clarke 1 episode
1961 The Twilight Zone The Woman 1 episode
1963-1964 Burke's Law Stacy Evans
Smitty 2 episodes
1964-1972 Bewitched Samantha Stephens 254 episodes
1965 The Flintstones Samantha Stephens (Voice) 1 episode
1972 The Victim Kate Wainwright Television movie
1973 Mrs. Sundance Etta Place Television movie
1974 A Case of Rape Ellen Harrod Television movie
1975 The Legend of Lizzie Borden Lizzie Borden Television movie
1976 Dark Victory Katherine Merrill Television movie
1977 A Killing Affair Vikki Eaton Television movie
1978 The Awakening Land Sayward Luckett Wheeler Miniseries
1979 Jennifer: A Woman's Story Jennifer Prince Television movie
Act of Violence Catherine McSweeney Television movie
1980 Belle Starr Belle Starr Television movie
1981 When the Circus Came to Town Mary Flynn Television movie
1982 The Rules of Marriage Joan Hagen Television movie
1983 Missing Pieces Sara Scott Television movie
1984 Second Sight: A Love Story Alaxandra McKay Television movie
1985 Amos Daisy Daws Television movie
Between the Darkness and the Dawn Abigail Foster Television movie
1990 Face to Face Dr. Diana Firestone Television movie
1991 Sins of the Mother Ruth Coe Television movie
1992 With Murder in Mind Gayle Wolfer Television movie
1993 The Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story Blanche Taylor Moore Television movie
1994 The Corpse Had a Familiar Face Edna Buchanan Television movie
1995 Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan Edna Buchanan Television movie
Batman: The Animated Series Barmaid (Voice) 1 episode
Award nominations
Year Award Result Category Film or series
1961 Emmy Award Nominated Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The Untouchables
1966 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1967 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1968 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1969 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1970 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Bewitched
1974 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series A Case of Rape
1975 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1978 Nominated Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series The Awakening Land
1965 Golden Globe Award Nominated Best TV Star (Female) Bewitched
1967 Nominated Best TV Star (Female) Bewitched
1969 Nominated Best TV Star (Female) Bewitched
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/huckababy49/Elizabeth%20Montgomery/ElizabethMontgomery-5.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/huckababy49/Elizabeth%20Montgomery/Elizabeth-elizabeth-montgomery-7903.jpg


and they did a Bewitched remake as a film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/18/10 at 4:12 pm


I used to watch Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched just to see her. Very beautiful woman.


She was a particular favourite of mine too.  ::)  I used to dream of her coming to me in the middle of the night.  Oh no ..... she's Lizzie Borden!!!  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 6:07 am


I can see Russia from my house.



Cat

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 6:08 am


She was a particular favourite of mine too.  ::)   I used to dream of her coming to me in the middle of the night.  Oh no ..... she's Lizzie Borden!!!  :o

Now that's an interesting dream.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 6:12 am

The word of the day...Glass
This article is about the material. For other uses, see Glass (disambiguation).
Moldavite, a natural glass formed by meteorite impact, from Besednice, Bohemia
A modern greenhouse in Wisley Garden, England, made from float glass
Clear glass light bulb

A glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material. Glasses are typically brittle, and often optically transparent. Glass is commonly used for windows, bottles, modern hard drives and eyewear; examples of glassy materials include soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovy-glass, and aluminium oxynitride. The term glass developed in the late Roman Empire. It was in the Roman glassmaking center at Trier, now in modern Germany, that the late-Latin term glesum originated, probably from a Germanic word for a transparent, lustrous substance.

Strictly speaking, a glass is defined as an inorganic product of fusion which has been cooled through its glass transition to the solid state without crystallising. Many glasses contain silica as their main component and glass former. The term "glass" is, however, often extended to all amorphous solids (and melts that easily form amorphous solids), including plastics, resins, or other silica-free amorphous solids. In addition, besides traditional melting techniques, any other means of preparation are considered, such as ion implantation, and the sol-gel method. Commonly, glass science and physics deal only with inorganic amorphous solids, while plastics and similar organics are covered by polymer science, biology and further scientific disciplines.

Glass plays an essential role in science and industry. The optical and physical properties of glass make it suitable for applications such as flat glass, container glass, optics and optoelectronics material, laboratory equipment, thermal insulator (glass wool), reinforcement fiber (glass-reinforced plastic, glass fiber reinforced concrete), and art.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/GuidingEmber/Glass/frosted_glass.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h286/M-hael/2ndHDR-Glass.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/glasscottage/OpalescentGlass.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/torichase/glass/94g.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/torichase/glass/waxd.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/torichase/glass/barup.jpg
http://i1041.photobucket.com/albums/b418/plasterite/Table.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 6:18 am

The person who was born on this day...Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (pronounced /ˈtaʊnzənd/; born 19 May 1945) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for The Who, as well as for his own solo career. His career with The Who spans more than forty years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the rock era,  and, according to Eddie Vedder, "possibly the greatest live band ever."

Townshend is the primary songwriter for the Who, having written well over one hundred songs for the band's eleven studio albums, including concept albums, and the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia and popular rock and roll radio staples including Who's Next, plus dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rare compilations such as Odds and Sods. He has also written over one hundred songs that have appeared on his solo albums and various compilations by other performers, as well as radio jingles, and television theme songs. Although known primarily as a guitarist, he is also an accomplished singer, keyboardist, and also plays other instruments, such as banjo, accordion, synthesizer, piano, bass guitar and drums, on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to a wide array of other artist's recordings. Peter Townshend has never had formal lessons in any of the instruments he plays.

Townshend has also been a contributor and author of newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, as well as collaborating as a lyricist (and composer) for many other musical acts. Townshend was ranked #3 in Dave Marsh's list of Best Guitarists in The New Book of Rock Lists and #50 in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list: 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
After The High Numbers once again became The Who, Townshend wrote several successful singles for the band, including "I Can't Explain", "Pictures of Lily", "Substitute", and "My Generation". Townshend became known for his eccentric stage style during the band's early days, often interrupting concerts with lengthy introductions of songs, swinging his right arm against the guitar strings in his signature move; a windmill style, often smashing guitars on stage, and often repeatedly throwing his guitars into his amplifiers and speaker cabinets. The first incident of guitar-smashing was brought about because Townshend accidentally broke the neck of his guitar on the low roof of an early concert venue at the Railway Tavern in Harrow. The stage whilst only being about a foot high brought the roof to within less than 7 feet. It was an accident waiting to happen. After smashing the instrument to pieces, he carried on by grabbing another guitar and acting as if the broken guitar had been part of the act. Drummer Keith Moon was delighted; he loved attention and destruction on any level, and smashed his drum kit as well. The press sensationalized the incidents. The on-stage destruction of instruments soon became a regular part of The Who's performances that was further dramatized with pyrotechnics, (an idea which came from Moon). At a concert in Germany, a police officer walked up to him, pointed his gun at him, and ordered Townshend to stop smashing the guitar. Townshend, always a voluble interview subject, would later relate these antics to German/British artist Gustav Metzger's theories on Auto-destructive art, to which he had been exposed at art school. However, on several occasions, he admitted that the destruction was a gimmick that set the band out apart from the others, and gave them the publicity edge that they needed to be noticed.
Townshend with Roger Daltrey, 1976

The Who thrived, and continue to thrive, despite the deaths of two of the original members. They are regarded by many rock critics as one of the best live bands from a period of time that stretched from the mid-1960s to the 2000s, the result of a unique combination of high volume, showmanship, a wide variety of rock beats, and a high-energy sound that alternated between tight and free-form. The Who continue to perform critically acclaimed sets in the 21st century, including highly regarded performances at The Concert For New York City in 2001, the 2004 Isle of Wight Festival, Live 8 in 2005 and the 2007 Glastonbury Festival.

Townshend remained the primary songwriter and leader of the group, writing over one hundred songs which appeared on the band's eleven studio albums. Among his most well-known accomplishments are the creation of Tommy, for which the term "rock opera" was coined, and a second pioneering rock opera, Quadrophenia; his dramatic stage persona; his use of guitar feedback as sonic technique; and the introduction of the synthesizer as a rock instrument. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling throughout his career and remains the musician most associated with the rock opera form. Many studio recordings also feature Townshend on piano or keyboards, though keyboard-heavy tracks increasingly featured guest artists in the studio, such as Nicky Hopkins, John Bundrick or Chris Stainton.

Townshend is one of the key figures in the development of feedback in rock guitar. When asked who first used feedback, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore said, "Pete Townshend was definitely the first. But not being that good a guitarist, he used to just sort of crash chords and let the guitar feedback. He didn't get into twiddling with the dials on the amplifier until much later. He's overrated in England, but at the same time you find a lot of people like Jeff Beck and Hendrix getting credit for things he started. Townshend was the first to break his guitar, and he was the first to do a lot of things. He's very good at his chord scene, too." Similarly, when Jimmy Page was asked about the development of guitar feedback, he said, "I don't know who really did feedback first; it just sort of happened. I don't think anybody consciously nicked it from anybody else. It was just going on. But Pete Townshend obviously was the one, through the music of his group, who made the use of feedback more his style, and so it's related to him. Whereas the other players like Jeff Beck and myself were playing more single note things than chords."

Many rock guitarists have cited Townshend as an influence, such as Slash, Alex Lifeson, Steve Jones, Joey Ramone and Ace Frehley.
Solo career

In addition to his work with The Who, Townshend has been sporadically active as a solo recording artist. Between 1969 and 1971 Townshend, along with other devotees to Meher Baba, recorded a trio of albums devoted to his teachings: Happy Birthday, I Am, and With Love. In response to bootlegging of these, he compiled his personal highlights (and "Evolution", a collaboration with Ronnie Lane), and released his first major-label solo title, 1972's Who Came First. It was a moderate success and featured demos of Who songs as well as a showcase of his acoustic guitar talents. He collaborated with The Faces' bassist and fellow Meher Baba devotee Ronnie Lane on a duet album (1977's Rough Mix). Townshend's solo breakthrough, following the death of Who drummer Keith Moon, was the 1980 release Empty Glass, which included a top-10 single, "Let My Love Open the Door", with long-time friend and guitarist, David Gilmour. This release was followed in 1982 by All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, which included the popular radio track "Slit Skirts". While not a huge commercial success, noted music critic Timothy Duggan listed it as "Townshend's most honest and introspective work since Quadrophenia." Through the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s Townshend would again experiment with the rock opera and related formats, releasing several story-based albums including White City: A Novel (1985), The Iron Man: A Musical (1989), and Psychoderelict (1993). Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero Hank Marvin for Paul McCartney's "Rockestra" sessions, along with other respected rock musicians such as David Gilmour, John Bonham and Ronnie Lane.

Townshend has also recorded several concert albums, including one featuring a supergroup he assembled called Deep End, who performed just two concerts and a television show session for The Tube, to raise money for a charity supporting drug addicts. In 1984 Townshend published a collection of short stories entitled Horse's Neck. He has also reported that he is writing an autobiography. In 1993 he and Des McAnuff wrote and directed the Broadway adaptation of the Who album Tommy, as well as a less successful stage musical based on his solo album The Iron Man, based upon the book by Ted Hughes. McAnuff and Townshend later co-produced the animated film The Iron Giant, also based on the Hughes story.

A production described as a Townshend rock-opera and titled The Boy Who Heard Music debuted as part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Summer Theater program in July, 2007.
Recent Who work

From the mid-1990s through the present, Townshend has participated in a series of tours with the surviving members of The Who, including a 2002 tour that continued despite Entwistle's death.

In February 2006, a major world tour by The Who was announced to promote their first new album since 1982. Townshend published a semi-autobiographical story The Boy Who Heard Music as a serial on a blog beginning in September 2005. The blog closed in October 2006, as noted on Townshend's website. It is now owned by a different user and does not relate to Townshend's work in any way. On 25 February 2006, he announced the issue of a mini-opera inspired by the novella for June 2006. In October 2006 The Who released their first album in 26 years, Endless Wire.

The Who performed at the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show on 7 February 2010, playing a medley of songs that included "Pinball Wizard", "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", "See Me Feel Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Hearing loss

Townshend suffers from partial deafness and tinnitus believed to be the result of Noise-induced hearing loss; in other words, his extensive exposure to loud music. Some such incidents include a Who concert at the Charlton Athletic Football Club, London, on 31 May 1976 that was listed as the "Loudest Concert Ever" by the Guinness Book of Records, where the volume level was measured at 126 decibels 32 metres from the stage. Townshend has also attributed the start of his hearing loss to Keith Moon's famous exploding drum set during The Who's 1967 appearance on the The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In 1989, Townshend gave the initial funding to allow the formation of the non-profit hearing advocacy group H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers).

After the Who performed at half-time at the Super Bowl XLIV, Townshend stated that he is concerned that his tinnitus has grown to such a point that he might be forced to discontinue performing with the band altogether. He told Rolling Stone, "If my hearing is going to be a problem, we’re not delaying shows. We're finished. I can’t really see any way around the issue." Neil Young introduced him to an audiologist who gave him the possible option of a hearing device to use, and although The Who have cancelled their spring touring schedule, Townshend planned a test run with the aid at their one remaining London concert on 30 March 2010, to ascertain the feasibility of continuing to perform with The Who.
Interviews
Townshend leaping into air in concert

From The Who's emergence on the British musical landscape, Pete Townshend could always be counted upon for a good interview. By early 1966 he had become the band's spokesman, interviewed separately from the band for the BBC television series A Whole Scene Going admitting that the band used drugs and that he considered The Beatles' backing tracks "flippin' lousy". In a 1967 interview, however, Townshend complimented one of The Beatles' songs: "I think "Eleanor Rigby" was a very important musical move forward. It certainly inspired me to write and listen to things in that vein." Throughout the 1960s Townshend made regular appearances in the pages of British music magazines, but it was a very long interview he gave to Rolling Stone in 1968 that sealed his reputation as one of rock's leading intellectuals and theorists.

Townshend gave interview after interview to the newly risen underground press, not only providing them with a star for their covers, but firmly establishing his reputation as a commentator on the rock 'n' roll scene. In addition, he wrote his own articles, starting a regular monthly column in Melody Maker, and contributing to Rolling Stone with an article on his guru Meher Baba and a review of The Who's album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.

Townshend has withdrawn from the press on occasion. On his 30th birthday, Townshend discussed his feelings that The Who were failing to journalist Roy Carr, making unflattering comments on fellow Who member Roger Daltrey and other leading members of the British rock community. Carr printed his remarks in the NME causing strong friction within The Who and embarrassing Townshend. Feeling betrayed, he stopped interviews with the press for over two years.

Nevertheless, Townshend has maintained close relationships with journalists, and sought them out in 1982 to describe his two-year battle with cocaine and heroin. Some of those press members turned on him in the 1980s as the punk rock revolution led to widespread dismissal of the old guard of rock, Townshend attacked two of them, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, in the song "Jools And Jim" on his album Empty Glass after they made some derogatory remarks about Who drummer Keith Moon. Meanwhile several journalists denounced Townshend for what they saw as a betrayal of the idealism about rock music he had espoused in his earlier interviews when The Who participated in a tour sponsored by Schlitz in 1982 and by Miller Brewing in 1989. Townshend's 1993 concept album Psychoderelict offers a scathing commentary on journalists in the character of Ruth Streeting, who attempts to scandalize the main character, Ray High.

On 25 October 2006, Townshend declined at the last minute to do a scheduled interview with Sirius Satellite Radio star Howard Stern after Stern's co-host Robin Quivers and sidekick Artie Lange made joking references to his 2003 arrest. Stern conducted an interview instead with Roger Daltrey and repeatedly expressed regret about the utterances of his on-air colleagues, stating that they did not reflect his own feelings of respect for Townshend.

Later in 2006, Townshend appeared on the Living Legends radio show in an exclusive interview with Opal Bonfante. The interview, broadcasted worldwide on Radio London, was his first live interview in 15 years. Townshend spoke about his forthcoming UK tour, his online novella and his memories of the old pirate radio stations.

Also in late 2006, Townshend granted an interview with author Mark Wilkerson, which led to Wilkerson's 2008 biography Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend.

In a BBC Radio 4 interview, first broadcast on 27 October 2009, Townshend informed the audience that from the time he was involved in writing the music for the Who's first album, he has been influenced by the works of the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell.
Pete Townshend has woven a long history of involvement with various charities and other philanthropic efforts throughout his career, both as a solo artist and with The Who. His first solo concert, for example, was a 1974 benefit show which was organized to raise funds for the Camden Square Community Play Center.

The earliest public example of Townshend’s involvement with charitable causes was in 1968, when Townshend donated the use of his former Wardour Street apartment to the Meher Baba Association. The following year, the association was moved to another Townshend-owned apartment, the Eccleston Square former residence of wife Karen. Townshend sat on a committee which oversaw the operation and finances of the centre. "The committee sees to it that it is open a couple of days a week, and keeps the bills paid and the library full," he wrote in a 1970 Rolling Stone article.

In 1969 and 1972 Townshend produced two limited-release albums, Happy Birthday and I Am, for the London-based Baba association. This led to 1972’s Who Came First, a more widespread release, 15 percent of the revenue of which went to the Baba association. A further limited release, With Love, was released in 1976. A limited-edition boxed set of all three limited releases on CD, Avatar, was released in 2000, with all profits going to the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India, which provided funds to a dispensary, school, hospital and pilgrimage centre.

In July 1976, Townshend opened Meher Baba Oceanic, a London activity centre for Baba followers which featured film dubbing and editing facilities, a cinema and a recording studio. In addition, the centre served as a regular meeting place for Baba followers. Townshend offered very economical (reportedly £1 per night) lodging for American followers who needed an overnight stay on their pilgrimages to India. "For a few years, I had toyed with the idea of opening a London house dedicated to Meher Baba," he wrote in a 1977 Rolling Stone article. "In the eight years I had followed him, I had donated only coppers to foundations set up around the world to carry out the Master’s wishes and decided it was about time I put myself on the line. The Who had set up a strong charitable trust of its own which appeased, to an extent, the feeling I had that Meher Baba would rather have seen me give to the poor than to the establishment of yet another so-called 'spiritual center'." Townshend also embarked on a project dedicated to the collection, restoration and maintenance of Meher Baba-related films. The project was known as MEFA, or Meher Baba European Film Archive.
Children's charities

Townshend has been an active champion of children’s charities. The debut of Pete Townshend’s stage version of Tommy took place at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse in July 1992. The show was earmarked as a benefit for the London-based Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation, an organization which helps children with autism and mental retardation.

Townshend performed at a 1995 benefit organized by Paul Simon at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theatre, for The Children’s Health Fund. The following year, Townshend performed at a benefit for the annual Bridge School Benefit, a California facility for children with severe speech and physical impairments with concerts organized by Neil and Pegi Young. In 1997, Townshend established a relationship with Maryville Academy, a Chicago area children’s charity. Between 1997 and 2002, Townshend played five benefit shows for Maryville Academy, raising at least $1,600,000. His 1998 album A Benefit for Maryville Academy was made to support their activities and proceeds from the sales of his release were donated to them.

As a member of The Who, Pete Townshend has also performed a series of concerts, beginning in 2000, benefitting the Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK, raising several million pounds. In 2005, Townshend performed at New York’s Gotham Hall for Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope, an annual children's charity fundraiser, and donated a smashed guitar to the Pediatric Epilepsy Project.
Drug rehabilitation

Townshend has also advocated for drug rehabilitation. In a 1985 radio interview, he said:
“ What I’m most active in doing is raising money to provide beds in clinics to help people that have become victims of drug abuse. In Britain, the facilities are very, very, very lean indeed ... although we have a national health service, a free medical system, it does nothing particularly for class A drug addicts – cocaine abusers, heroin abusers ... we’re making a lot of progress ... the British government embarked on an anti-heroin campaign with advertising, and I was co-opted by them as a kind of figurehead, and then the various other people co-opted me into their own campaigns, but my main work is raising money to try and open a large clinic. ”

The "large clinic" Townshend was referring to was a plan he and drug rehabilitation experimenter Meg Patterson had devised to open a drug treatment facility in London; however, the plan failed to come to fruition. Two early 1979 concerts by The Who raised £20,000 for Patterson’s Pharmakon Clinic in Sussex.

Further examples of Townshend’s drug rehabilitation activism took place in the form of a 1984 benefit concert, an article he wrote a few days later for Britain’s Mail On Sunday urging better care for the nation’s growing number of drug addicts, and the formation of a charitable organization, Double-O Charities, to raise funds for the causes he’d recently championed. Townshend also personally sold fund-raising anti-heroin T-shirts at a series of UK Bruce Springsteen concerts, and reportedly financed a trip for former Clash drummer Topper Headon to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. Townshend's 1985–86 band, Deep End, played two benefits at Brixton Academy in 1985 for Double-O Charities.
Amnesty International

In 1979, Townshend became the first major rock musician to donate his services to the human rights organization Amnesty International when he performed three songs for its benefit show The Secret Policeman's Ball - performances that were released on record and seen in the film of the show. Townshend's acoustic performances of three of his songs ("Pinball Wizard", "Drowned", and "Won't Get Fooled Again") were subsequently cited as having been the forerunner and inspiration for the "unplugged" phenomenon in the 1990s. Townshend had been invited to perform for Amnesty by Martin Lewis, the producer of The Secret Policeman's Ball who stated later that Townshend's participation had been the key to his securing the subsequent participation for Amnesty (in the 1981 sequel show) of Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins and Bob Geldof. Other performers inspired to support Amnesty International in future Secret Policeman's Ball shows and other benefits because of Townshend's early commitment to the organization include Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour and U2 singer Bono who in 1986 told Rolling Stone magazine: "I saw The Secret Policeman's Ball and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...."
Miscellaneous efforts

Highlights of Pete Townshend’s other public charitable efforts include the following:

    * A 1972 Tommy performance which raised nearly £10,000 for the Stars Organization for Spastics charity.
    * A 1979 Rock Against Racism benefit concert, organized to raise money to pay the legal costs of those arrested in a London area anti-racism demonstration. Townshend helped organize the show, topped the bill, and supplied the event lighting and equipment.
    * A 1981 Rock Against Unemployment benefit concert, part of the People’s March For Jobs campaign.
    * A 1982 Prince’s Trust Gala Benefit performance.
    * Performing with The Who at the 1985 Live Aid concert.
    * Involvement in fundraising supportive of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.
    * Performing in a 1986 Royal Albert Hall benefit show for the victims of a Colombian Volcano disaster which killed over 25,000 people.
    * A 2001 benefit show for San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse which raised approximately $100,000.
    * Performing in Rock the Dock, a 1998 benefit for striking Liverpool dock workers.
    * Organizing an online auction in 2000 to raise funds for Oxfam's emergency services to help those affected by floods in Mozambique and a combination of drought and food shortages in Ethiopia. Among the auctioned items were a selection of gold and platinum awards, letters from celebrities such as Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney, and musical instruments (including a smashed Rickenbacker guitar and the guitar on which Townshend composed the Who classic "Behind Blue Eyes"). The centerpiece of the auction, however, was a 1957 Fender Stratocaster which was given to Townshend as a gift by Eric Clapton after Townshend had helped arrange Clapton’s 1973 recovery from his own heroin addiction, and comeback show at the Rainbow. The guitar was ultimately purchased by Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger and David Bowie, and presented to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
    * Performing with The Who at the 2001 all-star The Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden, honouring policemen and emergency personnel killed in the 11 September attacks.
    * Performing at the Royal Albert Hall in a 2004 Ronnie Lane tribute show which served as a fundraiser for both Lane’s family and multiple sclerosis research.
    * Performing with The Who at the 2005 Live 8 concert.
    * In 1998, Townshend was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the UK Labour Party. He refused to let Michael Moore use "Won't Get Fooled Again" in Fahrenheit 9/11, saying that he watched Bowling for Columbine and wasn't convinced.
    * Performing with The Who in Detroit in 2008, donating all profits to Focus: HOPE and Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Operation Ore investigation and police caution

Townshend was cautioned by the British police in 2003 as part of Operation Ore. Following a news leak that Townshend was among the subjects of the investigation, he publicly stated that on one occasion he had used a credit card to access a website advertising child pornography. Townshend, who had posted essays on his personal website in 2002 as part of his campaign against the widespread availability of child pornography on the internet, said that he had entered the site for research purposes and had not downloaded any images. A four-month police investigation, including forensic examination of all of his computers, established that Townshend was not in possession of any illegal downloaded images. Instead of pressing charges, the police elected to caution him, stating, "It is not a defence to access these images for research or out of curiosity." In a statement issued by his lawyer, Townshend said, "I accept that I was wrong to access this site, and that by doing so, I broke the law, and I have accepted the caution that the police have given me."
Discography
Main article: Pete Townshend discography
Guest appearances

    * "Because You're Young" with David Bowie on Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
    * "Ball and Chain" with Elton John on Jump Up! (1982)
    * "Lonely at the Top" and "Hard Women" with Mick Jagger on She's the Boss (1985)
    * "Substitute" with The Ramones on Acid Eaters (1993)
    * "Joy" and "Gun" with Mick Jagger on Goddess in the Doorway (2001)
    * "Slow Burn" with David Bowie on Heathen (2002)

In 1968 Townshend helped assemble a band called Thunderclap Newman consisting of three musicians he knew. Pianist Andy Newman (an old art school friend), drummer John "Speedy" Keen (who had written "Armenia City in the Sky" for The Who to record for their 1967 album The Who Sell Out) and teenage guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (later to join Wings). Townshend produced the band and played bass on their recordings under the tongue-in-cheek pseudonym "Bijou Drains". Their first recording was the single "Something in the Air", which became a number one hit in the UK and a substantial hit elsewhere in the world. Following this success, Townshend produced their sole album, Hollywood Dream.

In 1971, Townshend, along with Keith Moon and Ronnie Lane, backed Mike Heron (of the Incredible String Band) on one song "Warm Heart Pastry" from Heron's first solo LP, Smiling Men with Bad Reputations. On the album notes, they're listed as "Tommy and the Bijoux". Also present on the track was John Cale on viola.

In 1984, Townshend contributed lyrics to two songs ("Love on The Air" and "All Lovers are Deranged") on David Gilmour's solo album About Face.

For albums Townshend composed as a member of The Who, see their entry. Not included are albums by other artists on which Townshend played as a session musician. Through much of 2005, Pete Townshend recorded and performed alongside his partner Rachel Fuller, a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter.

In 2006, Townshend opened a website for implementation of The Lifehouse Method based on his 1971 Lifehouse concept. This website is in collaboration with composer Lawrence Ball and software developer David Snowden. Applicants at the website can input data to compose a musical "portrait" which the musical team may then develop into larger compositions for a planned concert or series of concerts to be announced.
Awards

    * BRIT Awards 1983 - Life Achievement Award
    * Tony Award 1993 - Best Original Score (music & lyrics) - The Who's Tommy (tie)
    * Grammy Awards 1993 - Best Musical Show Album (as composer and lyricist of The Who's Tommy)

    * Kennedy Center Honors 2008

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee63/AnneFrank284/townshend.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/rrstrychnine/PETE_large.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 6:24 am

The person who died on this day...Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier) (July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and served as First Lady during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. She was later married to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis from 1968 until his death in 1975. In later years she had a successful career as a book editor. She is remembered for her contributions to the arts and historic preservation, her style and elegance, and her public stoicism in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination.Jacqueline and then-Senator John Kennedy belonged to the same social circle and often attended the same functions.  In May 1952, at a dinner party organized by mutual friends, they were formally introduced for the first time  The two began dating soon afterward, and their engagement  was officially announced on June 25, 1953.

Bouvier married Kennedy on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island in a Mass celebrated by Boston's Archbishop Richard Cushing. An estimated 700 guests attended the ceremony and 1,200 attended the reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm.

The wedding cake was created by Plourde's Bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts. The wedding dress, now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and the dresses of her attendants were created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City.

The two honeymooned in Acapulco, Mexico, and settled in McLean, Virginia.

Jacqueline suffered a miscarriage in 1955 and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in 1956. That same year, the couple sold their estate, Hickory Hill to Robert and Ethel Kennedy and moved to a townhouse on N Street in Georgetown. Kennedy subsequently gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and a son, John, in 1960, both via Caesarian section.
Name Birth Death Notes
Arabella Kennedy August 23, 1956 August 23, 1956 Stillborn daughter.
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy November 27, 1957 Married to Edwin Schlossberg; has two daughters and a son. She is the last surviving child of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. November 25, 1960 July 16, 1999 Magazine publisher and lawyer. Married to Carolyn Bessette. Both Kennedy and his wife died in a plane crash, as did Lauren Bessette, Carolyn's sister, on July 16, 1999, off Martha's Vineyard in a Piper Saratoga II HP piloted by Kennedy.
Patrick Bouvier Kennedy August 7, 1963 August 9, 1963 Died from Hyaline Membrane Disease, today more commonly called Infant respiratory distress syndrome, at the age of two days.
First Lady of the United States
Campaign for Presidency
Jacqueline Kennedy campaigning alongside her husband in Appleton, Wisconsin, in March 1960

On January 2, 1960, John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Presidency and launched his nationwide campaign. Though she had initially intended to take an active role in the campaign, Kennedy learned that she was pregnant shortly after the campaign commenced. Due to her previous difficult pregnancies, Kennedy's doctor instructed her to stay at home. From Georgetown, Kennedy participated in her husband's campaign by answering letters, taping television commercials, giving televised and printed interviews, and writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column, "Campaign Wife." She made rare personal appearances.
As First Lady
Mrs. Kennedy, the president, André Malraux, Marie-Madeleine Lioux Malraux, Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson having just descended White House Grand Staircase on their way to a dinner with the French cultural minister, April 1962. Mrs. Kennedy wears a gown designed by Oleg Cassini.

In the general election on November 8, 1960, John F. Kennedy narrowly beat Republican Richard Nixon in the U.S. presidential election. A little over two weeks later, Mrs. Kennedy gave birth to the couple's first son, John, Jr. When her husband was sworn in as president on January 20, 1961, Kennedy became, at age 31, one of the youngest First Ladies in history, behind Frances Folsom Cleveland and Julia Tyler. Former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower was reportedly unhappy with the idea of John F. Kennedy coming into office following her husband's term. Despite new First Lady Jackie having given birth to her son John Jr. via caesarean section two weeks prior, Mamie refused to inform Jackie that there was a wheelchair available for her to use while showing Mrs. Kennedy the various sections of the White House. Seeing Mamie's displeasure during the tour, Jackie kept her composure while in Mrs. Eisenhower's presence, finally collapsing in private once the new First Lady returned home. When Mamie Eisenhower was later questioned as to why she would do such a thing, the former First Lady simply stated, "Because she never asked."

Like any First Lady, Kennedy was thrust into the spotlight and while she did not mind giving interviews or being photographed, she preferred to maintain as much privacy as possible for herself and her children.

Kennedy is remembered for reorganizing entertainment for White House Social events, seeking to restore several White House interiors, her taste in clothing worn during Kennedy's Presidency, her popularity among foreign dignitaries, and leading the country in mourning after her husband's assassination in 1963.

Kennedy ranks among the most popular of First Ladies.
Social success

As First Lady, Kennedy devoted much of her time to planning social events at the White House and other state properties. She often invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, and musicians to mingle with politicians, diplomats, and statesmen.

Perhaps due to her skill at entertaining, Kennedy proved quite popular among international dignitaries. When Soviet Premier Khrushchev was asked to shake President Kennedy's hand for a photo, Krushchev said, "I'd like to shake her hand first." Jacqueline was well received in Paris, France, when she visited with Kennedy, and when she traveled with Lee to India in 1962.
The President and Mrs. Kennedy at La Morita, Venezuela, on December 16, 1961
White House restoration
The White House Blue Room as redecorated by Stéphane Boudin in 1962. Boudin chose the period of the Madison administration, returning much of the original French Empire style furniture.

The restoration of the White House was Jacqueline Kennedy's first major project. She was dismayed during her pre-inauguration tour of the White House to find little of historic significance in the house. The rooms were furnished with undistinguished pieces that she felt lacked a sense of history. Her first efforts, begun her first day in residence (with the help of society decorator Sister Parish), were to make the family quarters attractive and suitable for family life and included the addition of a kitchen on the family floor and rooms for her children. Upon almost immediately exhausting the funds appropriated for this effort, she established a fine arts committee to oversee and fund the restoration process; she also asked early American furniture expert Henry du Pont to consult.

Her skillful management of this project was hardly noted at the time, except in terms of gossipy shock at repeated repainting of a room, or the high cost of the antique Zuber wallpaper panels installed in the family dining room ($12,000 in donated funds), but later accounts have noted that she managed the conflicting agendas of Parish, du Pont, and Boudin with seamless success; she initiated publication of the first White House guidebook, whose sales further funded the restoration; she initiated a Congressional bill establishing that White House furnishings would be the property of the Smithsonian Institution, rather than available to departing ex-presidents to claim as their own; and she wrote personal requests to those who owned pieces of historical interest that might be, and later were, donated to the White House.

On February 14, 1962, Mrs. Kennedy took American television viewers on a tour of the White House with Charles Collingwood of CBS. In the tour she said, "I just feel that everything in the White House should be the best—the entertainment that's given here. If it's an American company you can help, I like to do that. If not—just as long as it's the best." Working with Rachel Lambert Mellon, Mrs. Kennedy oversaw redesign and replanting of the White House Rose Garden and the East Garden, which was renamed the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden after her husband's assassination. Her efforts on behalf of restoration and preservation at the White House left a lasting legacy in the form of the White House Historical Association, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House which was based upon her White House Furnishings Committee, a permanent Curator of the White House, the White House Endowment Trust, and the White House Acquisition Trust.

Broadcasting of the White House restoration greatly helped the Kennedy administration. The United States sought international support during the Cold War, which it achieved by affecting public opinion. Mrs. Kennedy’s celebrity and high profile status made viewing the tour of the White house very desirable. The tour was taped and distributed to 106 countries since there was a great demand from the elite as well as people in power to see the film. In 1962 at the 14th Annual Emmy Awards (NBC, May 22), Bob Newhart emceed from the Hollywood Palladium; Johnny Carson from the New York Astor Hotel; and NBC newsman David Brinkley hosted at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington D.C. and took the spotlight as a special Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Trustees Award was given to Jacqueline Kennedy for her CBS-TV tour of the White House. Lady Bird Johnson accepted for the camera-shy First Lady. The actual Emmy statuette is on display in the Kennedy Library located in Boston, Massachusetts. Focus and admiration for Jacqueline Kennedy took negative attention away from her husband. By attracting worldwide public attention, the First Lady gained allies for the White House and international support for the Kennedy administration and its Cold War policies.
Foreign trips

Before the Kennedys visited France, a television special was shot in French with Mrs. Kennedy on the White House lawn. When the Kennedys visited France, she'd already won the hearts of the French people, impressing the French public with her ability to speak French. At the conclusion of the visit, Time magazine seemed delighted with the First Lady and noted, "There was also that fellow who came with her." Even President Kennedy joked, "I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris — and I have enjoyed it!"
Pakistani President Ayub Khan and Jacqueline Kennedy with Sardar.

At the urging of John Kenneth Galbraith, President Kennedy's ambassador to India, Mrs. Kennedy undertook a tour of India and Pakistan, taking her sister Lee Radziwill along with her, which was amply documented in photojournalism of the time as well as in Galbraith's journals and memoirs. At the time, Ambassador Galbraith noted a considerable disjunction between Mrs Kennedy's widely-noted concern with clothes and other frivolity and, on personal acquaintance, her considerable intellect.

While in Karachi she found some time to take a ride on a camel with her sister. In Lahore, Pakistani President Ayub Khan presented Mrs. Kennedy with a much-photographed horse, Sardar (the Urdu term meaning ‘leader’). Jackie chose Sardar to serve as the ceremonial riderless horse during her husband's funeral. Subsequently this gift was widely misattributed to the king of Saudi Arabia, including in the various recollections of the Kennedy White House years by President Kennedy's friend, journalist and editor Benjamin Bradlee. It has never become clear whether this general misattribution of the gift was carelessness or a deliberate effort to deflect attention from the USA's preference for Pakistan over India. While at a reception for herself at Shalimar Gardens, Mrs. Kennedy told guests "all my life I've dreamed of coming to the Shalimar Gardens. It's even lovelier than I'd dreamed. I only wish my husband could be with me." While in Lahore, she had a friendly chat with Iranian Empress Farah Pahlavi, whom many compared to Mrs. Kennedy.
Death of youngest son
Main article: Patrick Bouvier Kennedy

Early in 1963, Kennedy became pregnant again and curtailed her official duties. She spent most of the summer at the Kennedys' rented home on Squaw Island, near the Kennedy family's Cape Cod compound at Hyannis Port, where she went into premature labor on August 7, 1963. She gave birth to a boy, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, via emergency Caesarian section at Otis Air Force Base, five and a half weeks prematurely. His lungs were not fully developed, and he died at Boston Children's Hospital of hyaline membrane disease (now known as respiratory distress syndrome) on August 9, 1963. The couple was devastated by the loss of their infant son, and that tragedy brought them closer together than ever before.
Assassination and funeral of John F. Kennedy
John & Jacqueline Kennedy at Love Field in Dallas on the day of the assassination
The Presidential limousine before the assassination. Jacqueline is in the back seat to the President's left.
Jackie wearing her blood-stained pink Chanel suit while Johnson took oath of office as president.
Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, John Jr., Caroline, and Peter Lawford depart the U.S. Capitol after a lying-in-state ceremony for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, November 24, 1963
Main article: John F. Kennedy assassination

On November 21, 1963, the First Couple left the White House for a political trip to Texas, stopping in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth that day. After a breakfast on November 22, the Kennedys flew from Carswell Air Force Base to Dallas's Love Field on Air Force One, accompanied by Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie. A 9.5-mile (15.3 km) motorcade was to take them to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a lunch. Mrs. Kennedy was seated next to her husband in the limousine, with the Governor and his wife seated in front of them. Vice President Johnson and his wife followed in another car in the motorcade.

After the motorcade turned the corner onto Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, Mrs. Kennedy heard what she thought to be a motorcycle backfiring, and did not realize that it was a gunshot until she heard Governor Connally scream. Within 8.4 seconds, two more shots had rung out, and she leaned toward her husband. The final shot struck the President in the head. Mrs. Kennedy, shocked, climbed out of the back seat and half crawled over the trunk of the car (she later had no recollection of having done this). Her Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, later told the Warren Commission that he thought she had been reaching across the trunk for a piece of the President's skull that had been blown off. Hill ran to the car and leapt onto it, directing Mrs. Kennedy back to her seat. The car rushed to Dallas's Parkland Hospital, and on arrival there, the president's body was rushed into a trauma room. Mrs. Kennedy, for the moment, remained in a room for relatives and friends of patients just outside.

A few minutes into her husband's treatment, Mrs. Kennedy, accompanied by the President's doctor, Admiral George Burkley, left her folding chair outside Trauma Room One and attempted to enter the operating room. Nurse Doris Nelson stopped her and attempted to bar the door to prevent Mrs. Kennedy from entering. She persisted, and the President's doctor suggested that she take a sedative, which she refused. "I want to be there when he dies," she told Burkley. He eventually persuaded Nelson to grant her access to Trauma Room One, saying "It's her right, it's her prerogative".

Later, when the casket arrived, the widow removed her wedding ring and slipped it onto the President's finger. She told aide Ken O'Donnell, "Now I have nothing left."

After the president's death, Mrs. Kennedy refused to remove her blood-stained clothing, and regretted having washed the blood off her face and hands. She continued to wear the blood-stained pink suit as she went on board Air Force One and stood next to Johnson when he took the oath of office as President. She told Lady Bird Johnson, "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."

Mrs. Kennedy took an active role in planning the details of the state funeral for her husband, which was based on Abraham Lincoln's. The funeral service was held at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington D.C., and the burial at Arlington National Cemetery; the widow led the procession there on foot and would light the eternal flame at the grave site, a flame that had been created at her request. Lady Jean Campbell reported back to The London Evening Standard: "Jacqueline Kennedy has given the American people… one thing they have always lacked: Majesty."

Following the assassination and the media coverage which had focused intensely on her during and after the burial, Mrs. Kennedy stepped back from official public view. She did, however, make a brief appearance in Washington to honor the Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, who had climbed aboard the limousine in Dallas to try to shield her and the President.
During her widowhood, Jacqueline was romantically linked by the press to a few men, notably David Ormsby-Gore and Roswell Gilpatric. But in June 1968 when her brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, she came to fear for her life and that of her children, saying "If they're killing Kennedys, then my children are targets...I want to get out of this country."  On October 20, 1968 she married Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy, Greek shipping magnate, who was able to provide her family with the privacy and security she needed for herself and her children.

The wedding took place on Skorpios, Onassis's private island in the Ionian Sea, Greece. After her marriage to Onassis, Jacqueline lost her Secret Service protection and her Franking Privilege, both of which are entitlements to a widow of the President of the United States. As a result of the marriage, the media gave her the nickname "Jackie O." which has remained a popular shorthand reference to her. She became the target of paparazzi who were following her.

Then tragedy struck again, as Aristotle Onassis's only son Alexander died in a plane crash in January 1973. Onassis's health began deteriorating rapidly and he died in Paris, on March 15, 1975. Jacqueline's financial legacy was severely limited under Greek law, which dictated how much a non-Greek surviving spouse could inherit. After two years of legal battle, she eventually accepted from Christina Onassis, Onassis's daughter and sole heir, a settlement of $26,000,000, waiving all other claims to the Onassis estate.
Later years
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

Onassis's death in 1975 made Mrs. Onassis, then 46, a widow for the second time. Now that her children were older, she decided to find work that would be fulfilling to her. Since she had always enjoyed writing and literature, in 1975 Jacqueline accepted a job offer as an editor at Viking Press. But, in 1978, the President of Viking Press, Thomas H. Guinzburg, authorized the purchase of the Jeffrey Archer novel Shall We Tell the President?, which was set in a fictional future presidency of Edward M. Kennedy and described an assassination plot against him. Although Guinzburg cleared the book purchase and publication with Mrs. Onassis, upon the publication of a negative Sunday New York Times review which asserted that Mrs. Onassis held some blame for its publication, she abruptly resigned from Viking Press the next day. She then moved to Doubleday as an associate editor under an old friend, John Sargent, living in New York City, Martha's Vineyard and the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts. From the mid 1970s until her death, her companion was Maurice Tempelsman, a Belgian-born industrialist and diamond merchant who was long separated from his wife.

She also continued to be the subject of much press attention, most notoriously involving the photographer Ron Galella. He followed her around and photographed her as she went about her day-to-day activities, obtaining candid, iconic photos of her. She ultimately obtained a restraining order against him and the situation brought attention to paparazzi-style photography. In 1995, John F. Kennedy Jr. allowed Galella to photograph him at public events.

Among the many books she edited was Larry Gonick's The Cartoon History of the Universe. He expressed his gratitude in the acknowledgments in Volume 2. Mrs. Onassis's continuing charisma is indicated by the delight the Canadian author Robertson Davies took in discovering that at a commencement exercise at an American university at which he was being honored, Jacqueline Kennedy was on hand, circulating among the honorees.
Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1986 during a visit from the President and First Lady, Ronald and Nancy Reagan

Jacqueline Onassis also appreciated the contributions of African-American writers to the American literary canon. She encouraged Dorothy West, her neighbor on Martha's Vineyard and the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, to complete The Wedding, a multi-generational story about race, class, wealth, and power in the United States. The novel received great literary acclaim when it was published by Doubleday in 1995; in 1998 Oprah Winfrey introduced the story via a television film of the same name starring Halle Berry. Dorothy West acknowledged Jacqueline Onassis's kind encouragement in the foreword.

She also worked to preserve and protect America’s cultural heritage. The notable results of her hard work include Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C, and Grand Central Terminal, New York's beloved historic railroad stations. While she was First Lady, she helped to stop the destruction of historic homes in Lafayette Square, because she felt that these buildings were an important part of the nation’s capital and played an essential role in its history. Later, in New York City, she led a historic preservation campaign to save and renovate Grand Central Terminal from demolition. A plaque inside the terminal acknowledges her prominent role in its preservation. In the 1980s, she was a major figure in protests against a planned skyscraper at Columbus Circle which would have cast large shadows on Central Park; the project was cancelled, but a large twin towered skyscraper would later fill in that spot in 2003, the Time Warner Center.

From her apartment windows in New York City she had a splendid view of a glass enclosed wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which displays the Temple of Dendur. This was a gift from Egypt to the United States in gratitude for the generosity of the Kennedy administration, who had been instrumental in saving several temples and objects of Egyptian antiquity that would otherwise have been flooded after the construction of the Aswan Dam.
Death

In 1993, Mrs. Onassis was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. Her diagnosis was announced to the public in February. The family and doctors were initially optimistic, and she stopped smoking at the insistence of her daughter. Onassis continued her work with Doubleday, but curtailed her schedule. By April, the cancer had spread, and she made her last trip home from New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center on May 18, 1994. A large crowd of well-wishers, tourists, and reporters gathered on the street outside her apartment. Onassis died in her sleep at 10:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, two and a half months before her 65th birthday. In announcing her death, Jacqueline's son, John Kennedy Jr. stated, "My mother died surrounded by her friends and her family and her books, and the people and the things that she loved. She did it in her own way, and on her own terms, and we all feel lucky for that."

Onassis' funeral was held on May 23 at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan - the church where she was baptized in 1929. At her funeral, her son John described three of her attributes as the love of words, the bonds of home and family, and the spirit of adventure. She was buried alongside President Kennedy, their son Patrick, and their stillborn daughter Arabella at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

In her will, Onassis left her children Caroline and John an estate valued at $200 million by its executor
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/thogue3717/jackieo.jpg
http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx183/liacohen/ML/jacquelinekoml.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/19/10 at 6:51 am


The person who died on this day...Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier) (July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and served as First Lady during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. She was later married to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis from 1968 until his death in 1975. In later years she had a successful career as a book editor. She is remembered for her contributions to the arts and historic preservation, her style and elegance, and her public stoicism in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination.Jacqueline and then-Senator John Kennedy belonged to the same social circle and often attended the same functions.  In May 1952, at a dinner party organized by mutual friends, they were formally introduced for the first time  The two began dating soon afterward, and their engagement  was officially announced on June 25, 1953.

Bouvier married Kennedy on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island in a Mass celebrated by Boston's Archbishop Richard Cushing. An estimated 700 guests attended the ceremony and 1,200 attended the reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm.

The wedding cake was created by Plourde's Bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts. The wedding dress, now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and the dresses of her attendants were created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City.

The two honeymooned in Acapulco, Mexico, and settled in McLean, Virginia.

Jacqueline suffered a miscarriage in 1955 and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in 1956. That same year, the couple sold their estate, Hickory Hill to Robert and Ethel Kennedy and moved to a townhouse on N Street in Georgetown. Kennedy subsequently gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and a son, John, in 1960, both via Caesarian section.
Name Birth Death Notes
Arabella Kennedy August 23, 1956 August 23, 1956 Stillborn daughter.
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy November 27, 1957 Married to Edwin Schlossberg; has two daughters and a son. She is the last surviving child of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. November 25, 1960 July 16, 1999 Magazine publisher and lawyer. Married to Carolyn Bessette. Both Kennedy and his wife died in a plane crash, as did Lauren Bessette, Carolyn's sister, on July 16, 1999, off Martha's Vineyard in a Piper Saratoga II HP piloted by Kennedy.
Patrick Bouvier Kennedy August 7, 1963 August 9, 1963 Died from Hyaline Membrane Disease, today more commonly called Infant respiratory distress syndrome, at the age of two days.
First Lady of the United States
Campaign for Presidency
Jacqueline Kennedy campaigning alongside her husband in Appleton, Wisconsin, in March 1960

On January 2, 1960, John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Presidency and launched his nationwide campaign. Though she had initially intended to take an active role in the campaign, Kennedy learned that she was pregnant shortly after the campaign commenced. Due to her previous difficult pregnancies, Kennedy's doctor instructed her to stay at home. From Georgetown, Kennedy participated in her husband's campaign by answering letters, taping television commercials, giving televised and printed interviews, and writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column, "Campaign Wife." She made rare personal appearances.
As First Lady
Mrs. Kennedy, the president, André Malraux, Marie-Madeleine Lioux Malraux, Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson having just descended White House Grand Staircase on their way to a dinner with the French cultural minister, April 1962. Mrs. Kennedy wears a gown designed by Oleg Cassini.

In the general election on November 8, 1960, John F. Kennedy narrowly beat Republican Richard Nixon in the U.S. presidential election. A little over two weeks later, Mrs. Kennedy gave birth to the couple's first son, John, Jr. When her husband was sworn in as president on January 20, 1961, Kennedy became, at age 31, one of the youngest First Ladies in history, behind Frances Folsom Cleveland and Julia Tyler. Former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower was reportedly unhappy with the idea of John F. Kennedy coming into office following her husband's term. Despite new First Lady Jackie having given birth to her son John Jr. via caesarean section two weeks prior, Mamie refused to inform Jackie that there was a wheelchair available for her to use while showing Mrs. Kennedy the various sections of the White House. Seeing Mamie's displeasure during the tour, Jackie kept her composure while in Mrs. Eisenhower's presence, finally collapsing in private once the new First Lady returned home. When Mamie Eisenhower was later questioned as to why she would do such a thing, the former First Lady simply stated, "Because she never asked."

Like any First Lady, Kennedy was thrust into the spotlight and while she did not mind giving interviews or being photographed, she preferred to maintain as much privacy as possible for herself and her children.

Kennedy is remembered for reorganizing entertainment for White House Social events, seeking to restore several White House interiors, her taste in clothing worn during Kennedy's Presidency, her popularity among foreign dignitaries, and leading the country in mourning after her husband's assassination in 1963.

Kennedy ranks among the most popular of First Ladies.
Social success

As First Lady, Kennedy devoted much of her time to planning social events at the White House and other state properties. She often invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, and musicians to mingle with politicians, diplomats, and statesmen.

Perhaps due to her skill at entertaining, Kennedy proved quite popular among international dignitaries. When Soviet Premier Khrushchev was asked to shake President Kennedy's hand for a photo, Krushchev said, "I'd like to shake her hand first." Jacqueline was well received in Paris, France, when she visited with Kennedy, and when she traveled with Lee to India in 1962.
The President and Mrs. Kennedy at La Morita, Venezuela, on December 16, 1961
White House restoration
The White House Blue Room as redecorated by Stéphane Boudin in 1962. Boudin chose the period of the Madison administration, returning much of the original French Empire style furniture.

The restoration of the White House was Jacqueline Kennedy's first major project. She was dismayed during her pre-inauguration tour of the White House to find little of historic significance in the house. The rooms were furnished with undistinguished pieces that she felt lacked a sense of history. Her first efforts, begun her first day in residence (with the help of society decorator Sister Parish), were to make the family quarters attractive and suitable for family life and included the addition of a kitchen on the family floor and rooms for her children. Upon almost immediately exhausting the funds appropriated for this effort, she established a fine arts committee to oversee and fund the restoration process; she also asked early American furniture expert Henry du Pont to consult.

Her skillful management of this project was hardly noted at the time, except in terms of gossipy shock at repeated repainting of a room, or the high cost of the antique Zuber wallpaper panels installed in the family dining room ($12,000 in donated funds), but later accounts have noted that she managed the conflicting agendas of Parish, du Pont, and Boudin with seamless success; she initiated publication of the first White House guidebook, whose sales further funded the restoration; she initiated a Congressional bill establishing that White House furnishings would be the property of the Smithsonian Institution, rather than available to departing ex-presidents to claim as their own; and she wrote personal requests to those who owned pieces of historical interest that might be, and later were, donated to the White House.

On February 14, 1962, Mrs. Kennedy took American television viewers on a tour of the White House with Charles Collingwood of CBS. In the tour she said, "I just feel that everything in the White House should be the best—the entertainment that's given here. If it's an American company you can help, I like to do that. If not—just as long as it's the best." Working with Rachel Lambert Mellon, Mrs. Kennedy oversaw redesign and replanting of the White House Rose Garden and the East Garden, which was renamed the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden after her husband's assassination. Her efforts on behalf of restoration and preservation at the White House left a lasting legacy in the form of the White House Historical Association, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House which was based upon her White House Furnishings Committee, a permanent Curator of the White House, the White House Endowment Trust, and the White House Acquisition Trust.

Broadcasting of the White House restoration greatly helped the Kennedy administration. The United States sought international support during the Cold War, which it achieved by affecting public opinion. Mrs. Kennedy’s celebrity and high profile status made viewing the tour of the White house very desirable. The tour was taped and distributed to 106 countries since there was a great demand from the elite as well as people in power to see the film. In 1962 at the 14th Annual Emmy Awards (NBC, May 22), Bob Newhart emceed from the Hollywood Palladium; Johnny Carson from the New York Astor Hotel; and NBC newsman David Brinkley hosted at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington D.C. and took the spotlight as a special Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Trustees Award was given to Jacqueline Kennedy for her CBS-TV tour of the White House. Lady Bird Johnson accepted for the camera-shy First Lady. The actual Emmy statuette is on display in the Kennedy Library located in Boston, Massachusetts. Focus and admiration for Jacqueline Kennedy took negative attention away from her husband. By attracting worldwide public attention, the First Lady gained allies for the White House and international support for the Kennedy administration and its Cold War policies.
Foreign trips

Before the Kennedys visited France, a television special was shot in French with Mrs. Kennedy on the White House lawn. When the Kennedys visited France, she'd already won the hearts of the French people, impressing the French public with her ability to speak French. At the conclusion of the visit, Time magazine seemed delighted with the First Lady and noted, "There was also that fellow who came with her." Even President Kennedy joked, "I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris — and I have enjoyed it!"
Pakistani President Ayub Khan and Jacqueline Kennedy with Sardar.

At the urging of John Kenneth Galbraith, President Kennedy's ambassador to India, Mrs. Kennedy undertook a tour of India and Pakistan, taking her sister Lee Radziwill along with her, which was amply documented in photojournalism of the time as well as in Galbraith's journals and memoirs. At the time, Ambassador Galbraith noted a considerable disjunction between Mrs Kennedy's widely-noted concern with clothes and other frivolity and, on personal acquaintance, her considerable intellect.

While in Karachi she found some time to take a ride on a camel with her sister. In Lahore, Pakistani President Ayub Khan presented Mrs. Kennedy with a much-photographed horse, Sardar (the Urdu term meaning ‘leader’). Jackie chose Sardar to serve as the ceremonial riderless horse during her husband's funeral. Subsequently this gift was widely misattributed to the king of Saudi Arabia, including in the various recollections of the Kennedy White House years by President Kennedy's friend, journalist and editor Benjamin Bradlee. It has never become clear whether this general misattribution of the gift was carelessness or a deliberate effort to deflect attention from the USA's preference for Pakistan over India. While at a reception for herself at Shalimar Gardens, Mrs. Kennedy told guests "all my life I've dreamed of coming to the Shalimar Gardens. It's even lovelier than I'd dreamed. I only wish my husband could be with me." While in Lahore, she had a friendly chat with Iranian Empress Farah Pahlavi, whom many compared to Mrs. Kennedy.
Death of youngest son
Main article: Patrick Bouvier Kennedy

Early in 1963, Kennedy became pregnant again and curtailed her official duties. She spent most of the summer at the Kennedys' rented home on Squaw Island, near the Kennedy family's Cape Cod compound at Hyannis Port, where she went into premature labor on August 7, 1963. She gave birth to a boy, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, via emergency Caesarian section at Otis Air Force Base, five and a half weeks prematurely. His lungs were not fully developed, and he died at Boston Children's Hospital of hyaline membrane disease (now known as respiratory distress syndrome) on August 9, 1963. The couple was devastated by the loss of their infant son, and that tragedy brought them closer together than ever before.
Assassination and funeral of John F. Kennedy
John & Jacqueline Kennedy at Love Field in Dallas on the day of the assassination
The Presidential limousine before the assassination. Jacqueline is in the back seat to the President's left.
Jackie wearing her blood-stained pink Chanel suit while Johnson took oath of office as president.
Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, John Jr., Caroline, and Peter Lawford depart the U.S. Capitol after a lying-in-state ceremony for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, November 24, 1963
Main article: John F. Kennedy assassination

On November 21, 1963, the First Couple left the White House for a political trip to Texas, stopping in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth that day. After a breakfast on November 22, the Kennedys flew from Carswell Air Force Base to Dallas's Love Field on Air Force One, accompanied by Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie. A 9.5-mile (15.3 km) motorcade was to take them to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a lunch. Mrs. Kennedy was seated next to her husband in the limousine, with the Governor and his wife seated in front of them. Vice President Johnson and his wife followed in another car in the motorcade.

After the motorcade turned the corner onto Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, Mrs. Kennedy heard what she thought to be a motorcycle backfiring, and did not realize that it was a gunshot until she heard Governor Connally scream. Within 8.4 seconds, two more shots had rung out, and she leaned toward her husband. The final shot struck the President in the head. Mrs. Kennedy, shocked, climbed out of the back seat and half crawled over the trunk of the car (she later had no recollection of having done this). Her Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, later told the Warren Commission that he thought she had been reaching across the trunk for a piece of the President's skull that had been blown off. Hill ran to the car and leapt onto it, directing Mrs. Kennedy back to her seat. The car rushed to Dallas's Parkland Hospital, and on arrival there, the president's body was rushed into a trauma room. Mrs. Kennedy, for the moment, remained in a room for relatives and friends of patients just outside.

A few minutes into her husband's treatment, Mrs. Kennedy, accompanied by the President's doctor, Admiral George Burkley, left her folding chair outside Trauma Room One and attempted to enter the operating room. Nurse Doris Nelson stopped her and attempted to bar the door to prevent Mrs. Kennedy from entering. She persisted, and the President's doctor suggested that she take a sedative, which she refused. "I want to be there when he dies," she told Burkley. He eventually persuaded Nelson to grant her access to Trauma Room One, saying "It's her right, it's her prerogative".

Later, when the casket arrived, the widow removed her wedding ring and slipped it onto the President's finger. She told aide Ken O'Donnell, "Now I have nothing left."

After the president's death, Mrs. Kennedy refused to remove her blood-stained clothing, and regretted having washed the blood off her face and hands. She continued to wear the blood-stained pink suit as she went on board Air Force One and stood next to Johnson when he took the oath of office as President. She told Lady Bird Johnson, "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."

Mrs. Kennedy took an active role in planning the details of the state funeral for her husband, which was based on Abraham Lincoln's. The funeral service was held at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington D.C., and the burial at Arlington National Cemetery; the widow led the procession there on foot and would light the eternal flame at the grave site, a flame that had been created at her request. Lady Jean Campbell reported back to The London Evening Standard: "Jacqueline Kennedy has given the American people… one thing they have always lacked: Majesty."

Following the assassination and the media coverage which had focused intensely on her during and after the burial, Mrs. Kennedy stepped back from official public view. She did, however, make a brief appearance in Washington to honor the Secret Service agent, Clint Hill, who had climbed aboard the limousine in Dallas to try to shield her and the President.
During her widowhood, Jacqueline was romantically linked by the press to a few men, notably David Ormsby-Gore and Roswell Gilpatric. But in June 1968 when her brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, she came to fear for her life and that of her children, saying "If they're killing Kennedys, then my children are targets...I want to get out of this country."  On October 20, 1968 she married Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy, Greek shipping magnate, who was able to provide her family with the privacy and security she needed for herself and her children.

The wedding took place on Skorpios, Onassis's private island in the Ionian Sea, Greece. After her marriage to Onassis, Jacqueline lost her Secret Service protection and her Franking Privilege, both of which are entitlements to a widow of the President of the United States. As a result of the marriage, the media gave her the nickname "Jackie O." which has remained a popular shorthand reference to her. She became the target of paparazzi who were following her.

Then tragedy struck again, as Aristotle Onassis's only son Alexander died in a plane crash in January 1973. Onassis's health began deteriorating rapidly and he died in Paris, on March 15, 1975. Jacqueline's financial legacy was severely limited under Greek law, which dictated how much a non-Greek surviving spouse could inherit. After two years of legal battle, she eventually accepted from Christina Onassis, Onassis's daughter and sole heir, a settlement of $26,000,000, waiving all other claims to the Onassis estate.
Later years
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

Onassis's death in 1975 made Mrs. Onassis, then 46, a widow for the second time. Now that her children were older, she decided to find work that would be fulfilling to her. Since she had always enjoyed writing and literature, in 1975 Jacqueline accepted a job offer as an editor at Viking Press. But, in 1978, the President of Viking Press, Thomas H. Guinzburg, authorized the purchase of the Jeffrey Archer novel Shall We Tell the President?, which was set in a fictional future presidency of Edward M. Kennedy and described an assassination plot against him. Although Guinzburg cleared the book purchase and publication with Mrs. Onassis, upon the publication of a negative Sunday New York Times review which asserted that Mrs. Onassis held some blame for its publication, she abruptly resigned from Viking Press the next day. She then moved to Doubleday as an associate editor under an old friend, John Sargent, living in New York City, Martha's Vineyard and the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts. From the mid 1970s until her death, her companion was Maurice Tempelsman, a Belgian-born industrialist and diamond merchant who was long separated from his wife.

She also continued to be the subject of much press attention, most notoriously involving the photographer Ron Galella. He followed her around and photographed her as she went about her day-to-day activities, obtaining candid, iconic photos of her. She ultimately obtained a restraining order against him and the situation brought attention to paparazzi-style photography. In 1995, John F. Kennedy Jr. allowed Galella to photograph him at public events.

Among the many books she edited was Larry Gonick's The Cartoon History of the Universe. He expressed his gratitude in the acknowledgments in Volume 2. Mrs. Onassis's continuing charisma is indicated by the delight the Canadian author Robertson Davies took in discovering that at a commencement exercise at an American university at which he was being honored, Jacqueline Kennedy was on hand, circulating among the honorees.
Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1986 during a visit from the President and First Lady, Ronald and Nancy Reagan

Jacqueline Onassis also appreciated the contributions of African-American writers to the American literary canon. She encouraged Dorothy West, her neighbor on Martha's Vineyard and the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, to complete The Wedding, a multi-generational story about race, class, wealth, and power in the United States. The novel received great literary acclaim when it was published by Doubleday in 1995; in 1998 Oprah Winfrey introduced the story via a television film of the same name starring Halle Berry. Dorothy West acknowledged Jacqueline Onassis's kind encouragement in the foreword.

She also worked to preserve and protect America’s cultural heritage. The notable results of her hard work include Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C, and Grand Central Terminal, New York's beloved historic railroad stations. While she was First Lady, she helped to stop the destruction of historic homes in Lafayette Square, because she felt that these buildings were an important part of the nation’s capital and played an essential role in its history. Later, in New York City, she led a historic preservation campaign to save and renovate Grand Central Terminal from demolition. A plaque inside the terminal acknowledges her prominent role in its preservation. In the 1980s, she was a major figure in protests against a planned skyscraper at Columbus Circle which would have cast large shadows on Central Park; the project was cancelled, but a large twin towered skyscraper would later fill in that spot in 2003, the Time Warner Center.

From her apartment windows in New York City she had a splendid view of a glass enclosed wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which displays the Temple of Dendur. This was a gift from Egypt to the United States in gratitude for the generosity of the Kennedy administration, who had been instrumental in saving several temples and objects of Egyptian antiquity that would otherwise have been flooded after the construction of the Aswan Dam.
Death

In 1993, Mrs. Onassis was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. Her diagnosis was announced to the public in February. The family and doctors were initially optimistic, and she stopped smoking at the insistence of her daughter. Onassis continued her work with Doubleday, but curtailed her schedule. By April, the cancer had spread, and she made her last trip home from New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center on May 18, 1994. A large crowd of well-wishers, tourists, and reporters gathered on the street outside her apartment. Onassis died in her sleep at 10:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, two and a half months before her 65th birthday. In announcing her death, Jacqueline's son, John Kennedy Jr. stated, "My mother died surrounded by her friends and her family and her books, and the people and the things that she loved. She did it in her own way, and on her own terms, and we all feel lucky for that."

Onassis' funeral was held on May 23 at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan - the church where she was baptized in 1929. At her funeral, her son John described three of her attributes as the love of words, the bonds of home and family, and the spirit of adventure. She was buried alongside President Kennedy, their son Patrick, and their stillborn daughter Arabella at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

In her will, Onassis left her children Caroline and John an estate valued at $200 million by its executor
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/thogue3717/jackieo.jpg
http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx183/liacohen/ML/jacquelinekoml.jpg


She was such a beautiful woman.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 8:51 am


She was such a beautiful woman.  :)

yes a vision of loveliness.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/19/10 at 10:42 am


yes a vision of loveliness.

I never thought she was a beautiful as others thought she was. Am I the only one?  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/10 at 1:25 pm


I never thought she was a beautiful as others thought she was. Am I the only one?  :-\\

No everyone sees things differently. Some think Paris Hilton is good looking, I don't.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/19/10 at 3:59 pm


No everyone sees things differently. Some think Paris Hilton is good looking, I don't.

Neither do I .But I do agree she (Jackie Kennedy) had style.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/19/10 at 4:21 pm


I never thought she was a beautiful as others thought she was. Am I the only one?  :-\\


I don't think it was so much of beauty as it was class. I find it interesting how Jack was part of the "upper crust" so to speak, but I thought Jackie out-classed him by FAR.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/19/10 at 5:48 pm


I never thought she was a beautiful as others thought she was. Am I the only one?  :-\\


She had some spark..but I never considered her beautiful. But then...I never considered Princess Diana beautiful either! :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/19/10 at 5:49 pm


I don't think it was so much of beauty as it was class. I find it interesting how Jack was part of the "upper crust" so to speak, but I thought Jackie out-classed him by FAR.



Cat


Cat...you hit the nail on the head here....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/19/10 at 6:50 pm


Cat...you hit the nail on the head here....

Cat's a nail hitter. Well put Cat.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/19/10 at 7:00 pm


No everyone sees things differently. Some think Paris Hilton is good looking, I don't.


Paris Hilton is a slut.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/19/10 at 7:05 pm


Paris Hilton is a slut.

No use sitting on the fence Howard, tell us how you really feel about her :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/19/10 at 7:07 pm


No use sitting on the fence Howard, tell us how you really feel about her :D


I have nothing good to say. :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/20/10 at 1:50 am


Paris Hilton is a slut.
She cannot sing either!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/20/10 at 2:43 am


She cannot sing either!


...or act .... (even in a real life porn video). 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 6:39 am


Paris Hilton is a slut.

;D WTG Howie

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/20/10 at 6:43 am


;D WTG Howie


Thanks Ninny,She's not my type.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 6:49 am

The word of the day...Friend(s)
a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.
2.
a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter:
a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile: Who goes there? Friend or foe?
4.
a member of the same nation, party, etc.
5.
(initial capital letter) a member of the Religious Society of Friends; a Quaker.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/KYNDRA_ROSE/Friend.gif
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/viewjonghyun/friend.gif
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/ammy121511/lo.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cutiepie525/me%20and%20the%20best%20friend/lovee002.jpg
http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad253/pegelsmac_2010/friend%20graphics/yytt119208Miricaleoffriendship.jpg
http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv7/Fraust/Friend/DSC00201.jpg
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww272/Haupikachu/Photo0429.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o291/ShanellGolson28/l_29a7dc3beb364a09abf3daaaab1d64ec.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/20/10 at 6:50 am

I don't have as many friends as I used to.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 6:52 am

The person born on this day...Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE  (born on 20 May 1944 in Sheffield, England) is an English rock/blues musician, composer  and actor  who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of the Beatles. He is the recipient of several awards, including a 1983 Grammy Award for his song "Up Where We Belong", a duet which he performed with Jennifer Warnes. He was ranked #97 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers list In 1966, after a year-long hiatus from music, Cocker teamed up with Chris Stainton, who he had met several years before, to form the Grease Band.  The Grease Band was named after Cocker read an interview with jazz musician Jimmy Smith, where Smith described another musician as "having a lot of grease". Like the Avengers, Cocker's group mostly played in pubs in and around Sheffield. The Grease Band came to the attention of Denny Cordell, the producer of Procol Harum, the Moody Blues and Georgie Fame. Minus the Grease Band, Cocker recorded a single for Cordell in a London studio, "Marjorine". He then moved to London with Chris Stainton and the Grease Band was dissolved. Cordell set Cocker up with a residency at the Marquee Club in London and a "new" Grease Band was formed with keyboardist Tommy Eyre and Chris Stainton.

After minor success in the U.S. with the single "Marjorine", he entered the big time with a groundbreaking rearrangement of "With a Little Help from My Friends", another Beatles cover, which was later used as the opening theme for The Wonder Years. The recording features lead guitar from Jimmy Page, drumming by BJ Wilson, backing vocals from Sue and Sunny and Tommy Eyre on organ. The single made the Top Ten on the British charts, remained there for thirteen weeks and eventually reached number one on 9 November, 1968. It also reached number 68 on the US charts.

The new touring lineup of Cocker's Grease Band featured Henry McCullough on lead guitar; he would go on to briefly play with McCartney's Wings. After touring the UK with the Who in autumn 1968 and Gene Pitney and Marmalade in early Winter 1969, the Grease Band embarked on their first tour of the US in spring 1969. His album With A Little Help from my Friends was released soon after his arrival and made number 35 on the American charts, eventually going Gold.
Joe Cocker at Woodstock (1969)

During his US tour, Cocker played at several large festivals, including the Newport Rock Festival and the Denver Pop Festival. In August, Denny Cordell heard about the planned concert in Woodstock, New York and convinced organiser Artie Kornfeld to book Cocker and the Grease Band for the Woodstock Festival. The group had to be flown into the festival by helicopter due to the large crowds. They performed several songs, including "Delta Lady", "Something's Comin' On", "Let's Go Get Stoned", "I Shall Be Released", and "With a Little Help from My Friends". Cocker would later say that the experience was "like an eclipse... it was a very special day."

Directly after Woodstock, Cocker released his second album, Joe Cocker!. Impressed by his cover of "With A Little Help From my Friends", Paul McCartney and George Harrison allowed Cocker to use their songs "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "Something" for the album. Recorded during a break in touring in the spring and summer, the album reached number 11 on the US charts and garnered a second UK hit with the Leon Russell song, "Delta Lady".

Throughout 1969 he was featured on variety TV shows like the The Ed Sullivan Show and This Is Tom Jones. Onstage, he exhibited an idiosyncratic physical intensity, flailing his arms and playing air guitar, occasionally giving superfluous cues to his band. At the end of the year Cocker was unwilling to embark on another US tour, so he dissolved the Grease Band.
Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1969–1970)

Despite Cocker's reluctance to venture out on the road again, an American tour had already been booked so he had to quickly form a new group in order to fulfill his contractual obligations. It proved to be a large group of more than 30 players (including three drummers, backing vocalists Rita Coolidge and Claudia Lennear, and pianist/bandleader Leon Russell). The new group was christened "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" by Denny Cordell after the Noël Coward song of the same name. His music at this time evolved into a more bluesy type of rock, often compared to that of The Rolling Stones and Matt Gilson. During the ensuing Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, (later described by drummer Jim Keltner as "a big, wild party") Cocker toured 48 cities, recorded a live album, and received very positive reviews from Time and Life for his performances. However, the pace of the tour was exhausting. Russell and Cocker had personal problems and Cocker became depressed and began drinking excessively as the tour wound down in May 1970. Meanwhile, he enjoyed several chart entries in the U.S. with "Cry Me a River" and "Feelin' Alright" by Dave Mason. His cover of the Box Tops' hit "The Letter", which appeared on the live album and film, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, became his first U.S. Top Ten hit. After spending several months in Los Angeles, Cocker returned home to Sheffield where his family became increasingly concerned with his deteriorating physical and mental health.
On the road (1972–1982)

In early 1972, after nearly two years away from music, Cocker went on tour with a group that Chris Stainton had formed. He opened with a performance in Madison Square Garden which was attended by about 20,000 people. After touring the US, he embarked on a European tour where he played to large audiences in Milan and Germany. He then returned to the US for another tour in autumn 1972. During these tours the group cut the songs that would be part of his newest album, Joe Cocker. A mixture of live songs and studio recordings, the album peaked at number 30 on the US charts.

In October 1972, when Cocker toured Australia, he and six members of his entourage were arrested in Adelaide by police for possession of marijuana. The next day in Melbourne, assault charges were laid after a brawl at the Commodore Chateau Hotel, and Cocker was given 48 hours to leave the country by the Australian Federal Police. This caused huge public outcry in Australia, as Cocker was a high-profile overseas artist and had a strong support base, especially amongst the baby boomers who were coming of age and able to vote for the first time. It sparked hefty debate about the use and legalisation of marijuana in Australia and gained Cocker the nickname of "the Mad Dog". Shortly after the Australian tour, Stainton retired from his music career to establish his own recording studio. After his friend's departure and estrangement from longtime producer Denny Cordell, Cocker sank into depression and began using heroin. In June 1973 he kicked the habit, but continued to drink heavily.

At the end of 1973, Cocker returned to the studio to record a new album, I Can Stand A Little Rain. The album, released in August 1974, was number 11 on the US charts and one single, a cover of Billy Preston's You Are So Beautiful, reached the number 5 slot. Despite positive reviews for the album, Cocker struggled with live performances, largely due to his problems with alcohol. In January 1975, he released a second album that had been recorded at the same time as I Can Stand a Little Rain, Jamaica Say You Will. To promote his new album, Cocker embarked on another tour of Australia, made possible by the country's new Labour government. In late 1975, he contributed vocals on a number of the tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album. He also recorded a new album in a Kingston, Jamaica studio, Stingray. However, record sales were disappointing; the album reached only number 70 on the US charts.

In 1976, Cocker performed "Feelin' Alright" on Saturday Night Live. John Belushi joined him on stage doing his famous impersonation of Cocker's stage movements. At the time, Cocker was $800,000 in debt to A&M Records and struggling with alcoholism. Several months later, he met producer Michael Lang, who agreed to manage him on the condition that he stay sober. With a new band, Cocker embarked on a tour of New Zealand, Australia, and South America. He then recorded a new album with session work by Steve Gadd and Chuck Rainey, Luxury You Can Afford. Despite an autumn 1978 US tour to promote the album, it received mixed reviews and only sold around 300,000 copies.

In 1979, Cocker joined the "Woodstock in Europe" tour, which featured musicians like Arlo Guthrie and Richie Havens who had played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. He also performed in New York's Central Park to an audience of 20,000 people. The concert was recorded and released as the live album, Live in New York. He also toured Europe and appeared on the German television recording ampitheathre, Rockpalast, the first of many performances on the show. In 1982, Cocker recorded a song with jazz group the Crusaders on their album Standing Tall. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award and Cocker performed it with the Crusaders at the awards ceremony. Cocker then released a new reggae-influenced album, Sheffield Steel recorded with the Compass Point All Stars, produced by Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin.
Later career (1982–present)

In 1982, at the behest of producer Stewart Levine, Cocker recorded the duet "Up Where We Belong" with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. The song was an international hit, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo. The duet also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song while Cocker and Warnes performed the song at the awards ceremony. Several days later, he was invited to perform "You Are So Beautiful" with Ray Charles in a television tribute to the musician. He then joined singer Ronnie Lane's 1983 tour to raise money for the London-based organisation Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis. Musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Chris Stainton also participated in the tour which included a performance at Madison Square Garden. While on another tour that year, Cocker was arrested by Austrian police after refusing to perform because of inadequate sound equipment. The charges were eventually dropped and Cocker was released. Shortly after the incident, he released his ninth studio album, Civilized Man. His next album Cocker was dedicated to his mother, Madge, who died when he was recording in the studio. A track from the album, "You Can Leave Your Hat On" was featured in the 1986 film 9½ Weeks. The album eventually went Platinum on the European charts. His 1987 album Unchain My Heart was nominated for a Grammy Award, although it did not win. One Night of Sin was also a commercial success, surpassing Unchain My Heart in sales.

Throughout the 1980s, Cocker continued to tour around the world, playing to large audiences in Europe, Australia and the United States. In 1988, he performed at London's Royal Albert Hall and appeared on The Tonight Show. He also performed for President George H. W. Bush at an inauguration concert in February 1989. In 1992, his version of Bryan Adams' "Feels Like Forever" made the UK Top 40.
Cocker performing in Hallandale, Florida in 2003

Cocker performed the opening set at Woodstock '94 as one of the few alumni who played at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. Cocker was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for services to music. To celebrate receiving his award in mid December 2007, Cocker played two concerts in London and in his home town of Sheffield.

In 2007, Cocker appeared playing minor characters in the film Across the Universe, as the lead singer on another Beatles hit, "Come Together".

In April and May 2009, Cocker conducted a mammoth North American tour in support of his latest album Hymn for My Soul. He is also planning a new studio release for 2010 that will feature a modern look at classic rhythm and blues.
Personal life

In 1963, Cocker began dating Eileen Webster, also a resident of Sheffield. The couple dated intermittently for the next thirteen years, separating permanently in 1976. In 1978, Cocker moved onto a ranch owned by Jane Fonda in Santa Barbara, California. Pam Baker, a local summer camp director and fan of Cocker's music convinced the actress to rent the house to Cocker. Baker began dating Cocker and they eventually married on 11 October 1987. The couple currently reside on the Mad Dog Ranch in Crawford, Colorado.

Cocker is not related to fellow Sheffield-born musician Jarvis Cocker, despite this being a rumour (particularly in Australia, where Jarvis' father Mack Cocker was a radio DJ who allowed listeners to believe he was Cocker's brother).
Discography

   For a comprehensive list of recordings see Joe Cocker discography.

Studio albums

   * With a Little Help from My Friends (1969)
   * Joe Cocker! (1969)
   * Joe Cocker (aka Something to Say) (1972/1973)
   * I Can Stand a Little Rain (1974)
   * Jamaica Say You Will (1975)
   * Stingray (1976)
   * Luxury You Can Afford (1978)
   * Sheffield Steel (1982)
   * Civilized Man (1984)
   * Cocker (1986)
   * Unchain My Heart (1987)
   * One Night of Sin (1989)
   * Night Calls (1991/US: 1992)
   * Have a Little Faith (1994)
   * Organic (1996)
   * Across from Midnight (1997)
   * No Ordinary World (1999/US: 2000)
   * Respect Yourself (2002)
   * Heart & Soul (2004/US: 2005)
   * Hymn for My Soul (2007/US: 2008)
   * Upcoming album (2010)

Further reading

   * Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
   * The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits - ISBN 0-85112-250-7
   * Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7
   * Guinness Rockopedia - ISBN 0-85112-072-5
   * The Great Rock Discography - 5th Edition - ISBN 1-84195-017-3
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/ysla4851/JOECOCKERGREATESTHITS.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh181/WillHughes2010/joe_cocker.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 6:53 am


I don't have as many friends as I used to.

Either do I. :( :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/20/10 at 6:55 am

He also did a good version of The Boxtops The Letter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/20/10 at 6:56 am


Either do I. :( :-\\


My friend Robert who lives Upstate works so I haven't seen him in 3 years
Randy works on the docks of The South Street Seaport so I rarely see him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 7:01 am

The person who died on this day...Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American comedienne and actress, best known for her five years as part of the original cast of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award. Radner's death at age 42 from ovarian cancer helped increase public awareness of the disease and the need for earlier detection and treatment.
Radner was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Jewish  parents Henrietta (née Dworkin), a legal secretary, and Herman Radner, a businessman.  She grew up in Detroit with a nanny, Elizabeth Clementine Gillies, whom she called "Dibby" (and on whom she based her famous character Emily Litella),  and an older brother named Michael. She attended the University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe.

Radner was close to her father, who operated Detroit's Seville Hotel, where many nightclub performers and actors stayed while performing in the city. Her father, who died when she was fourteen, took her on trips to New York to see Broadway shows.
College

Radner enrolled at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she made a lifelong platonic friend of fellow student, David Saltman, who wrote a biography of her after her death. Radner joined Saltman and his girlfriend on a trip to Paris in the summer of 1966. Saltman wrote that he was so affectionate with his girlfriend that they left Radner to fend for herself during much of their sightseeing. Later, when details of Radner's eating disorder surfaced, Saltman wrote that he realized she had been in a quandary over the French food, but had no one with whom she could discuss her situation.
Career

In Ann Arbor, Radner began her broadcasting career as the weather girl for college radio station WCBN, but dropped out in her senior year to follow her then-boyfriend, a Canadian sculptor named Jeff Rubinoff, to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In Toronto, she made her professional acting debut in the 1972 production of Godspell with future stars Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber and Martin Short. Afterward, Radner joined the Toronto Second City comedy troupe.
1970s

Radner was a featured player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour, a comedy program syndicated to some 600 U.S. radio stations from 1973 to 1975. Fellow cast members included John Belushi, Richard Belzer, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray.
Saturday Night Live

Radner gained name recognition as one of the original "Not Ready For Prime Time Players", a member of the freshman group on the first season of Saturday Night Live. She was the first actor cast for the show. Between 1975 and 1980, she created such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, an obnoxious woman with wild black hair who would tell stories about the gross habits of celebrities on the show's "Weekend Update" news segment, inspired in name and appearance by Rose Ann Scamardella, a news anchor at WABC-TV in New York City. Other SNL characters included "Baba Wawa," a spoof of Barbara Walters (see also Barbara Walters' reaction to it), and Emily Litella, an elderly hearing-impaired woman who gave angry and misinformed editorial replies on "Weekend Update" on topics such as "violins on television," the "Eagle Rights Amendment," "presidential erections," "busting school children", and "protecting endangered feces." Once corrected on her misunderstanding, Litella would end her segment with a polite "Never mind." Later on, she would answer Jane Curtin's frustration with a simple "Bitch!" Radner parodied such celebrities as Lucille Ball, Patti Smith, and Olga Korbut in SNL sketches. Radner won an Emmy Award in 1978 for her work on SNL.
Radner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Radner battled bulimia during her time on the show. She once told a reporter that she had thrown up in every toilet in Rockefeller Center. She had a relationship with SNL castmate Bill Murray that ended badly. Although few details were made public at the time, Radner wrote about it in her autobiography.

In 1979, incoming NBC President Fred Silverman offered Radner her own prime time variety show, which she ultimately turned down. That year, she was one of the hosts of the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly.

Alan Zweibel, who co-created the Roseanne Roseannadanna character and co-wrote all of Roseanne's dialogue, recalled that Radner, one of three original SNL cast members who stayed away from cocaine, chastised him for using it.

Radner had mixed emotions about the fans and strangers who recognized her in public. She sometimes became "angry when she was approached, but upset when she wasn't."
Broadway

In 1979, Radner appeared on Broadway in a successful one-woman show entitled Gilda Radner - Live From New York. The show featured racier material, such as the song Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals. In 1981, the show was filmed as Gilda Live!, co-starring Paul Shaffer and Don Novello, and was released as a film and an album recording. During the production, she met her first husband, G. E. Smith, a musician who also worked on the show. They were married in a civil ceremony in 1980.

In 1980, Radner starred opposite Sam Waterston in the Jean Kerr show, Lunch Hour, as a pair whose spouses are having an affair, and in response invent one of their own, consisting of trysts on their lunch hour. The show ran for over seven months.
Gene Wilder

Radner met actor Gene Wilder on the set of the Sidney Poitier film Hanky Panky, when the two appeared together. She described their first meeting as "love at first sight." She was unable to resist her attraction to Wilder as her marriage with guitarist G.E. Smith deteriorated. Radner went on to make a second film, The Woman in Red, in 1984 with Wilder and their relationship grew. The two were married on September 18, 1984 in the south of France. The pair made a third film together, Haunted Honeymoon, in 1986.
Illness

After experiencing severe fatigue and suffering from pain in her upper legs on the set of Haunted Honeymoon, Radner sought medical treatment. After 10 months of false diagnoses, she learned that she had ovarian cancer in October 1986. Even with Wilder's support, she suffered extreme physical and emotional pain during chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.
Remission

After Radner was told she had gone into remission, she wrote a memoir about her life and struggle with the illness, called It's Always Something (a catchphrase of her character Roseanne Roseannadanna). Life magazine did a March 1988 cover story on her illness, entitled Gilda Radner's Answer to Cancer: Healing the Body with Mind and Heart.

In 1988, Radner guest-starred on It's Garry Shandling's Show on Showtime, to great critical acclaim. When Shandling asked her why she had not been seen for a while, she replied "Oh, I had cancer. What did you have?" Shandling's reply: "A very bad series of career moves." She planned to host an episode of SNL that year, but a writers' strike caused the cancellation of the rest of the season.
Death

In the fall of 1988, when biopsies and a saline wash of her abdomen showed no signs of cancer, Radner was put on a maintenance chemotherapy treatment to prolong her remission. But later that same year, she learned that her cancer had returned after a routine blood test showed her levels of the tumor marker CA-125 had increased. She was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on May 17, 1989 for a CAT scan. Anxious with fear that she would never wake up, she was given a sedative but passed into a coma. She did not regain consciousness and died three days later at 6:20 am on May 20, 1989; Wilder was at her side.

Gene Wilder had this to say about her death:

    She went in for the scan – but the people there could not keep her on the gurney. She was raving like a crazed woman – she knew they would give her morphine and was afraid she’d never regain consciousness. She kept getting off the cart as they were wheeling her out. Finally three people were holding her gently and saying, "Come on Gilda. We’re just going to go down and come back up." She kept saying, "Get me out, get me out!" She’d look at me and beg me, "Help me out of here. I’ve got to get out of here." And I’d tell her, "You’re okay honey. I know. I know." They sedated her, and when she came back, she remained unconscious for three days. I stayed at her side late into the night, sometimes sleeping over. Finally a doctor told me to go home and get some sleep. At 4 am on Saturday, I heard a pounding on my door. It was an old friend, a surgeon, who told me, "Come on. It’s time to go." When I got there, a night nurse, whom I still want to thank, had washed Gilda and taken out all the tubes. She put a pretty yellow barrette in her hair. She looked like an angel. So peaceful. She was still alive, and as she lay there, I kissed her. But then her breathing became irregular, and there were long gaps and little gasps. Two hours after I arrived, Gilda was gone. While she was conscious, I never said goodbye.

Her funeral was held in Connecticut on May 24, 1989. In lieu of flowers, her family requested that donations be sent to The Wellness Community. Her gravestone reads: Gilda Radner Wilder - Comedienne - Ballerina 1946-1989. She was interred at Long Ridge Union Cemetery in Stamford.

By coincidence, the news of her death broke on early Saturday afternoon (Eastern Standard Time), while Steve Martin was rehearsing as the guest host for that night's season finale of Saturday Night Live. Saturday Night Live personnel, including Lorne Michaels, Mike Myers and Phil Hartman, had not known she was so close to death. They scrapped one of their planned sketches and instead, Martin introduced a video clip of a 1978 sketch in which he and Radner parodied an old Hollywood romantic couple's dance. He cried during his introduction.
Legacy

Wilder established the Gilda Radner Ovarian Detection Center at Cedars-Sinai to screen high-risk candidates (such as women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent) and run basic diagnostic tests. He testified before a Congressional committee that Radner's condition had been misdiagnosed and that if doctors had inquired more deeply into her family background they would have learned that her grandmother, aunt and cousin had all died of ovarian cancer and might have attacked the disease earlier.

Radner's death from ovarian cancer did help to raise awareness of early detection and the connection to familial epidemiology. The media attention in the two years after Radner's death led to registry of 450 families with familial ovarian cancer at the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, a research database registry at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. The registry was later renamed the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (GRFOCR). In 1996, Gene Wilder and Registry founder Steven Piver, one of Radner's medical consultants, published Gilda's Disease: Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ovarian Cancer. Through Wilder's efforts and those of others, awareness of ovarian cancer and its symptoms has continued to grow.

In 1991, Gilda's Club, a network of affiliate clubhouses where people living with cancer, their friends and families, can meet to learn how to live with cancer, was founded. The center was named for a quip from Radner, who said, "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to." Many Gilda's Clubs have opened across the United States and in Canada.

In 2002, the ABC television network aired a television movie about her life: Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, starring Jami Gertz as Radner.
Awards and honors

Radner won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music" for her performance on Saturday Night Live in 1977. She posthumously won a Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Recording" in 1990.

In 1992, Radner was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for her achievements in arts and entertainment. On June 27, 2003, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Parts of W. Houston Street in New York City and Lombard Street in Toronto have both been re-named "Gilda Radner Way." Chester Street in White Plains, NY was also renamed Gilda Radner Way.
Filmography
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1974 Jack: A Flash Fantasy Jill of Hearts
The Gift of Winter Nicely, Malicious, Narrator voice
1974-1975 Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins voice
1975-1980 Saturday Night Live cast member Emmy Award
1978 All You Need Is Cash Mrs. Emily Pules
The Muppet Show Herself Guest Star
Witch's Night Out Witch voice
1979 Bob & Ray, Jane, Laraine & Gilda Herself
1980 Animalympics Barbara Warbler, Brenda Springer, Coralee
Perrier, Tatiana Tushenko, Doree Turnell voice
Films
Year Film Role Other notes
1973 The Last Detail Nichiren Shoshu Member
1979 Mr. Mike's Mondo Video Herself
1980 Gilda Live Herself, various characters
First Family Gloria Link
1982 Hanky Panky Kate Hellman
It Came from Hollywood Herself documentary
1984 The Woman in Red Ms. Millner
1985 Movers & Shakers Livia Machado
1986 Haunted Honeymoon Vickie Pearle
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w38/timlr67/Y42OBCA10F5X1CA7X3I5YCAD4JU0GCAO6JR.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc177/chickensf/images-3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/20/10 at 7:05 am

She was a legend.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/20/10 at 10:27 am


The person who died on this day...Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American comedienne and actress, best known for her five years as part of the original cast of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award. Radner's death at age 42 from ovarian cancer helped increase public awareness of the disease and the need for earlier detection and treatment.
Radner was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Jewish  parents Henrietta (née Dworkin), a legal secretary, and Herman Radner, a businessman.  She grew up in Detroit with a nanny, Elizabeth Clementine Gillies, whom she called "Dibby" (and on whom she based her famous character Emily Litella),  and an older brother named Michael. She attended the University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe.

Radner was close to her father, who operated Detroit's Seville Hotel, where many nightclub performers and actors stayed while performing in the city. Her father, who died when she was fourteen, took her on trips to New York to see Broadway shows.
College

Radner enrolled at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she made a lifelong platonic friend of fellow student, David Saltman, who wrote a biography of her after her death. Radner joined Saltman and his girlfriend on a trip to Paris in the summer of 1966. Saltman wrote that he was so affectionate with his girlfriend that they left Radner to fend for herself during much of their sightseeing. Later, when details of Radner's eating disorder surfaced, Saltman wrote that he realized she had been in a quandary over the French food, but had no one with whom she could discuss her situation.
Career

In Ann Arbor, Radner began her broadcasting career as the weather girl for college radio station WCBN, but dropped out in her senior year to follow her then-boyfriend, a Canadian sculptor named Jeff Rubinoff, to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In Toronto, she made her professional acting debut in the 1972 production of Godspell with future stars Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber and Martin Short. Afterward, Radner joined the Toronto Second City comedy troupe.
1970s

Radner was a featured player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour, a comedy program syndicated to some 600 U.S. radio stations from 1973 to 1975. Fellow cast members included John Belushi, Richard Belzer, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray.
Saturday Night Live

Radner gained name recognition as one of the original "Not Ready For Prime Time Players", a member of the freshman group on the first season of Saturday Night Live. She was the first actor cast for the show. Between 1975 and 1980, she created such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, an obnoxious woman with wild black hair who would tell stories about the gross habits of celebrities on the show's "Weekend Update" news segment, inspired in name and appearance by Rose Ann Scamardella, a news anchor at WABC-TV in New York City. Other SNL characters included "Baba Wawa," a spoof of Barbara Walters (see also Barbara Walters' reaction to it), and Emily Litella, an elderly hearing-impaired woman who gave angry and misinformed editorial replies on "Weekend Update" on topics such as "violins on television," the "Eagle Rights Amendment," "presidential erections," "busting school children", and "protecting endangered feces." Once corrected on her misunderstanding, Litella would end her segment with a polite "Never mind." Later on, she would answer Jane Curtin's frustration with a simple "Bitch!" Radner parodied such celebrities as Lucille Ball, Patti Smith, and Olga Korbut in SNL sketches. Radner won an Emmy Award in 1978 for her work on SNL.
Radner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Radner battled bulimia during her time on the show. She once told a reporter that she had thrown up in every toilet in Rockefeller Center. She had a relationship with SNL castmate Bill Murray that ended badly. Although few details were made public at the time, Radner wrote about it in her autobiography.

In 1979, incoming NBC President Fred Silverman offered Radner her own prime time variety show, which she ultimately turned down. That year, she was one of the hosts of the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly.

Alan Zweibel, who co-created the Roseanne Roseannadanna character and co-wrote all of Roseanne's dialogue, recalled that Radner, one of three original SNL cast members who stayed away from cocaine, chastised him for using it.

Radner had mixed emotions about the fans and strangers who recognized her in public. She sometimes became "angry when she was approached, but upset when she wasn't."
Broadway

In 1979, Radner appeared on Broadway in a successful one-woman show entitled Gilda Radner - Live From New York. The show featured racier material, such as the song Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals. In 1981, the show was filmed as Gilda Live!, co-starring Paul Shaffer and Don Novello, and was released as a film and an album recording. During the production, she met her first husband, G. E. Smith, a musician who also worked on the show. They were married in a civil ceremony in 1980.

In 1980, Radner starred opposite Sam Waterston in the Jean Kerr show, Lunch Hour, as a pair whose spouses are having an affair, and in response invent one of their own, consisting of trysts on their lunch hour. The show ran for over seven months.
Gene Wilder

Radner met actor Gene Wilder on the set of the Sidney Poitier film Hanky Panky, when the two appeared together. She described their first meeting as "love at first sight." She was unable to resist her attraction to Wilder as her marriage with guitarist G.E. Smith deteriorated. Radner went on to make a second film, The Woman in Red, in 1984 with Wilder and their relationship grew. The two were married on September 18, 1984 in the south of France. The pair made a third film together, Haunted Honeymoon, in 1986.
Illness

After experiencing severe fatigue and suffering from pain in her upper legs on the set of Haunted Honeymoon, Radner sought medical treatment. After 10 months of false diagnoses, she learned that she had ovarian cancer in October 1986. Even with Wilder's support, she suffered extreme physical and emotional pain during chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.
Remission

After Radner was told she had gone into remission, she wrote a memoir about her life and struggle with the illness, called It's Always Something (a catchphrase of her character Roseanne Roseannadanna). Life magazine did a March 1988 cover story on her illness, entitled Gilda Radner's Answer to Cancer: Healing the Body with Mind and Heart.

In 1988, Radner guest-starred on It's Garry Shandling's Show on Showtime, to great critical acclaim. When Shandling asked her why she had not been seen for a while, she replied "Oh, I had cancer. What did you have?" Shandling's reply: "A very bad series of career moves." She planned to host an episode of SNL that year, but a writers' strike caused the cancellation of the rest of the season.
Death

In the fall of 1988, when biopsies and a saline wash of her abdomen showed no signs of cancer, Radner was put on a maintenance chemotherapy treatment to prolong her remission. But later that same year, she learned that her cancer had returned after a routine blood test showed her levels of the tumor marker CA-125 had increased. She was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on May 17, 1989 for a CAT scan. Anxious with fear that she would never wake up, she was given a sedative but passed into a coma. She did not regain consciousness and died three days later at 6:20 am on May 20, 1989; Wilder was at her side.

Gene Wilder had this to say about her death:

    She went in for the scan – but the people there could not keep her on the gurney. She was raving like a crazed woman – she knew they would give her morphine and was afraid she’d never regain consciousness. She kept getting off the cart as they were wheeling her out. Finally three people were holding her gently and saying, "Come on Gilda. We’re just going to go down and come back up." She kept saying, "Get me out, get me out!" She’d look at me and beg me, "Help me out of here. I’ve got to get out of here." And I’d tell her, "You’re okay honey. I know. I know." They sedated her, and when she came back, she remained unconscious for three days. I stayed at her side late into the night, sometimes sleeping over. Finally a doctor told me to go home and get some sleep. At 4 am on Saturday, I heard a pounding on my door. It was an old friend, a surgeon, who told me, "Come on. It’s time to go." When I got there, a night nurse, whom I still want to thank, had washed Gilda and taken out all the tubes. She put a pretty yellow barrette in her hair. She looked like an angel. So peaceful. She was still alive, and as she lay there, I kissed her. But then her breathing became irregular, and there were long gaps and little gasps. Two hours after I arrived, Gilda was gone. While she was conscious, I never said goodbye.

Her funeral was held in Connecticut on May 24, 1989. In lieu of flowers, her family requested that donations be sent to The Wellness Community. Her gravestone reads: Gilda Radner Wilder - Comedienne - Ballerina 1946-1989. She was interred at Long Ridge Union Cemetery in Stamford.

By coincidence, the news of her death broke on early Saturday afternoon (Eastern Standard Time), while Steve Martin was rehearsing as the guest host for that night's season finale of Saturday Night Live. Saturday Night Live personnel, including Lorne Michaels, Mike Myers and Phil Hartman, had not known she was so close to death. They scrapped one of their planned sketches and instead, Martin introduced a video clip of a 1978 sketch in which he and Radner parodied an old Hollywood romantic couple's dance. He cried during his introduction.
Legacy

Wilder established the Gilda Radner Ovarian Detection Center at Cedars-Sinai to screen high-risk candidates (such as women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent) and run basic diagnostic tests. He testified before a Congressional committee that Radner's condition had been misdiagnosed and that if doctors had inquired more deeply into her family background they would have learned that her grandmother, aunt and cousin had all died of ovarian cancer and might have attacked the disease earlier.

Radner's death from ovarian cancer did help to raise awareness of early detection and the connection to familial epidemiology. The media attention in the two years after Radner's death led to registry of 450 families with familial ovarian cancer at the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, a research database registry at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. The registry was later renamed the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (GRFOCR). In 1996, Gene Wilder and Registry founder Steven Piver, one of Radner's medical consultants, published Gilda's Disease: Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ovarian Cancer. Through Wilder's efforts and those of others, awareness of ovarian cancer and its symptoms has continued to grow.

In 1991, Gilda's Club, a network of affiliate clubhouses where people living with cancer, their friends and families, can meet to learn how to live with cancer, was founded. The center was named for a quip from Radner, who said, "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to." Many Gilda's Clubs have opened across the United States and in Canada.

In 2002, the ABC television network aired a television movie about her life: Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, starring Jami Gertz as Radner.
Awards and honors

Radner won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music" for her performance on Saturday Night Live in 1977. She posthumously won a Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Recording" in 1990.

In 1992, Radner was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for her achievements in arts and entertainment. On June 27, 2003, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Parts of W. Houston Street in New York City and Lombard Street in Toronto have both been re-named "Gilda Radner Way." Chester Street in White Plains, NY was also renamed Gilda Radner Way.
Filmography
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1974 Jack: A Flash Fantasy Jill of Hearts
The Gift of Winter Nicely, Malicious, Narrator voice
1974-1975 Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins voice
1975-1980 Saturday Night Live cast member Emmy Award
1978 All You Need Is Cash Mrs. Emily Pules
The Muppet Show Herself Guest Star
Witch's Night Out Witch voice
1979 Bob & Ray, Jane, Laraine & Gilda Herself
1980 Animalympics Barbara Warbler, Brenda Springer, Coralee
Perrier, Tatiana Tushenko, Doree Turnell voice
Films
Year Film Role Other notes
1973 The Last Detail Nichiren Shoshu Member
1979 Mr. Mike's Mondo Video Herself
1980 Gilda Live Herself, various characters
First Family Gloria Link
1982 Hanky Panky Kate Hellman
It Came from Hollywood Herself documentary
1984 The Woman in Red Ms. Millner
1985 Movers & Shakers Livia Machado
1986 Haunted Honeymoon Vickie Pearle
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w38/timlr67/Y42OBCA10F5X1CA7X3I5YCAD4JU0GCAO6JR.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc177/chickensf/images-3.jpg

I loved her as Emily Litella and Roseanne Roseanna Danna

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/20/10 at 10:46 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIi3xuU4mc



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/20/10 at 10:55 am

Well Jane, it just goes to show ya it's always somethin'.


I read Gilda's autobiography. It was really heart wrenching because it ended on such a high note saying that she was going to beat the cancer only to succumb to it shortly after she finished writing the book.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 1:29 pm


Well Jane, it just goes to show ya it's always somethin'.


I read Gilda's autobiography. It was really heart wrenching because it ended on such a high note saying that she was going to beat the cancer only to succumb to it shortly after she finished writing the book.



Cat

I never read her book. I wish she had beaten it, it's the same cancer that took my mom :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/20/10 at 1:55 pm


I never read her book. I wish she had beaten it, it's the same cancer that took my mom :\'(



I am so sorry. Cancer (no matter what kind) is a very nasty thing.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/20/10 at 7:30 pm



I am so sorry. Cancer (no matter what kind) is a very nasty thing.



Cat


and it's hardly cured. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/10 at 8:22 pm


and it's hardly cured. :(

They have made improvements. People are living longer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/20/10 at 10:38 pm


Well Jane, it just goes to show ya it's always somethin'.


I read Gilda's autobiography. It was really heart wrenching because it ended on such a high note saying that she was going to beat the cancer only to succumb to it shortly after she finished writing the book.



Cat

I remember that. Extremely sad.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/21/10 at 5:33 am

The word of the day...Stripe(s)
  A long narrow band distinguished, as by color or texture, from the surrounding material or surface.
b. A textile pattern of parallel bands or lines on a contrasting background.
c. A fabric having such a pattern.
2. A strip of cloth or braid worn on a uniform to indicate rank, awards received, or length of service; a chevron.
3. Sort; kind: "All Fascists are not of one mind, one stripe" (Lillian Hellman).
http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/kjaafrica/Stripes-1.jpg
http://i1039.photobucket.com/albums/a474/ebrenna3/stripes.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg93/iloverichdorks/Green-Stripes.jpg
http://i983.photobucket.com/albums/ae311/SimplyTrendy/DSCN2124.jpg
http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab260/BabyLegs_Photo_Contest/BabyLegs%20Photo%20Contest/SkyeWheeler_2_JessicaWheeler.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/gonsolvis1/2795349833a3814049408b339997986l.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/pior_ubb/stripes.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/Mujitsu/stripes.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/21/10 at 5:36 am

The person born on this day...Judge Reinhold
Edward Ernest "Judge" Reinhold, Jr. (born May 21, 1957) is an American actor, perhaps best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop, Ruthless People, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and The Santa Clause.
Reinhold was born Edward Ernest Reinhold, Jr., in Wilmington, Delaware, the son of a trial lawyer.  His nickname, "Judge", was given to him by his father when he was young. He was raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, until his family moved to Martin County, Florida, prior to his junior year in high school.

After his education at the North Carolina School of the Arts, he performed at various regional theatres, including Burt Reynolds' Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Florida.
Career

Reinhold has appeared in more than 75 films. His first appearance on screen was in a music video for the Pat Benatar song "Shadows of the Night," in which he played an unnamed co-pilot. Reinhold's first major film role was as high school senior Brad Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High along with then-unknown actors Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nicolas Cage. He later played Detective Billy Rosewood, the junior police detective sent to trail Eddie Murphy, in Beverly Hills Cop. He has reprised this role in the two sequels and in 1986, he starred in Ruthless People.

Reinhold appeared in two widely released films, Beverly Hills Cop III and The Santa Clause, in 1994. He has reprised the role of Dr. Neil Miller for the Santa Clause sequels as well. Reinhold appeared as himself on two episodes of the third season of Arrested Development, headlining a fictional court TV show called Mock Trial with J. Reinhold.

Reinhold was nominated for an Emmy for a role on Seinfeld in which he played the infamous "close talker" who developed an obsession with Jerry's parents. He has also been seen in Steven Spielberg's epic miniseries, Into the West.

Reinhold was recently featured in the political satire Swing Vote which opened August 1, 2008.

Reinhold's first name has been the subject of comedy in both Clerks: The Animated Series and Arrested Development, both times with him playing himself appointed as a judge in a court of law. Also in Fanboys, Billy Dee Williams plays a judge called Reinhold.

Reinhold is credited as the whistler on the Martini Ranch song "Reach".
Personal life

Reinhold has worked with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America's Smart Moves program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was reported in December 2009 that Reinhold had moved to Arkansas and was involved in suicide prevention efforts for veterans.
Filmography
Year Title Role
1981 Stripes Elmo
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Brad Hamilton
Pandemonium Glen Dandy
1983 The Lords of Discipline Macabbee
1984 Beverly Hills Cop Det. William "Billy" Rosewood
Gremlins Gerald
Roadhouse 66 Beckman Hallsgood Jr.
1986 Ruthless People Ken Kessler
Off Beat Joe Gower
Head Office Jack Issel
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Det. William Rosewood
1988 Vice Versa Marshall Seymour
1989 Rosalie Goes Shopping Priest
1990 Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will? Harmony
1991 Zandalee Thierry Martin
1992 Black Magic Alex Gage
1993 Bank Robber Officer Gross
1994 Seinfeld Aaron (the "close talker")
The Santa Clause Dr. Neil Miller
Beverly Hills Cop III Sgt. William Rosewood
1999 My Brother the Pig Richard Caldwell
NetForce Will Stiles
2000 Beethoven's 3rd Richard Newton
Clerks: The Animated Series Himself (voice)
2001 Beethoven's 4th Richard Newton
2002 The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause Dr. Neil Miller
Dead in a Heartbeat Lt. Tom Royko
2003 The King of Queens Dr. Roy Crawford
Thanksgiving Family Reunion Dr. Mitch Snyder
2004 The Hollow Carl Cranston
2005 Into the West Douglas Hillman
Teen Titans Negative Man (Voice)
The Boondocks Mr. Uberwitz (voice)
2006 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause Dr. Neil Miller
Arrested Development Himself
2008 Swing Vote Walt
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd126/furiousgeorge55/JudgeReinhold.jpg
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo59/1957Girl/fast-times-reinhold.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/21/10 at 5:52 am

The person who died on this day...John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (pronounced /ˈɡiːlɡʊd/; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937. He was known for his beautiful speaking of verse and particularly for his warm and expressive voice, which his colleague Sir Alec Guinness likened to "a silver trumpet muffled in silk".  Gielgud is one of the few entertainers who have won an Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.
Although he began to appear in British films as early as 1924, making his debut in the silent movie Who Is the Man?, he would not make an impact in the medium until the last decades of his life. His early film roles were sporadic and included the lead in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), Benjamin Disraeli in The Prime Minister (1940), Cassius in Julius Caesar (1953) (BAFTA Award for Best British Actor), George, Duke of Clarence to Olivier's Richard III (1955), and Henry IV to Orson Welles' Falstaff in Chimes at Midnight (1966). A brief glimpse of his Hamlet from the gravediggers scene appears in the Humphrey Jennings short A Diary for Timothy (1945). But he lost his aversion to filming in the late 1960s, and by the 1980s and 1990s he had thrown himself into the medium with a vengeance, so much so that it was jokingly said that he was prepared to do almost anything for his art. He won an Academy Award for his supporting role as a sardonic butler in the 1981 comedy Arthur, starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli, a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Providence (1977), and a BAFTA Award for Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and his performances in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), The Elephant Man (1981), and Shine (1996) were critically acclaimed. In 1991, Gielgud was able to satisfy his life's ambition by immortalizing his Prospero  on screen in Peter Greenaway's extremely offbeat version of The Tempest, a film called Prospero's Books in which Gielgud voiced every single character in the play.

Television also developed as one of the focal points of his career, with Gielgud giving a particularly notable performance in Brideshead Revisited (1981). He won an Emmy Award for Summer's Lease (1989) and televised his stage performances of A Day by the Sea (1957), Home (1970), No Man's Land (1976) and his final theatre role in The Best of Friends as Sydney Cockerell in the 1991 Masterpiece Theatre Production, along with Patrick McGoohan and Dame Wendy Hiller. In 1983, he made his second onscreen appearance with fellow theatrical knights Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson (following Olivier's own Richard III) in a television miniseries about composer Richard Wagner. In 1996 he played a wizard in the TV adaptation of Gulliver's Travels. Gielgud and Ralph Richardson were the first guest stars on Second City Television. Playing themselves, they were in Toronto during their tour of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land. According to Dave Thomas, in his book, SCTV: Behind the Scenes, their sketch stank and the actors gave a bad performance. Gielgud's final television performance was on film in Merlin in 1998, his final television studio appearance having been in A Summer Day's Dream recorded in 1994 for the BBC 2 Performance series.

Gielgud was one of the few people who has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award.

Gielgud's final onscreen appearance in a major release motion picture was as Pope Paul IV in Elizabeth which was released in 1998. His final acting performance was in a film adaptation of Samuel Beckett's short play Catastrophe, opposite longtime collaborator Harold Pinter and directed by American playwright David Mamet; Gielgud died mere weeks after production was completed at the age of 96 of natural causes.
Personal life

Gielgud lived and thrived in an era when there was a conspiracy of silence around homosexuality outside of theatrical circles. And so, not too long after he was knighted, Gielgud endured a horrific humiliation. In 1953, Gielgud was convicted of "persistently importuning for immoral purposes" (cottaging) in a Chelsea mews, i.e., he was arrested for trying to pick up a man in a public lavatory. There was much discussion behind closed doors about whether his career could endure the ignominy, but he continued to rehearse the play in which he was scheduled to direct and act. Instead of being rejected by the public, he received a standing ovation at the play's initial opening in Liverpool, in part because of his co-star Sybil Thorndike, who seized him as he stood in the wings unable to bring himself to make his first entrance and brought him onstage, whispering "Come on, John darling, they won't boo me." Biographer Sheridan Morley writes that while Gielgud never denied being homosexual, he always tried to be discreet about it and felt humiliated by the ordeal. Some speculate that it helped to bring to public attention a crusade to decriminalise homosexuality in England and Wales.

The 'Gielgud case' of 1953, above, was dramatised by critic turned playwright Nicholas de Jongh in the play Plague Over England and performed at the Finborough, a small London theatre, in 2008, with Jasper Britton as Gielgud. In 2009 the play was presented for a limited run at the Duchess Theatre, in London's West End, with Michael Feast (who had worked with Gielgud) in the main role.

Gielgud's long-standing professional relationship with producer Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont had its personal side as well. It included that Gielgud's first significant lover, playwright John Perry, left Gielgud for Beaumont. Later, Perry went on to partner Beaumont in the H.M. Tennent organization under which Gielgud continued to work. Beaumont, himself closeted outside the theatrical community, was a very powerful, classy producer. He stood behind Gielgud during the 1953 scandal, and, with Perry, took the risk of backing Gielgud's Queens' Theatre season. However, Morley's biography states: "Binkie...was..to keep him.....on such an extremely tight salary that it wasn't until Gielgud first escaped to Hollywood in 1953 that he began to earn the kind of money that Olivier and Richardson and Redgrave had earned for decades."

In the same biography, Keith Baxter remarks on Gielgud's private life: "...the theatre was always much more important to John G. than any private relationship..."

Longtime partner Martin Hensler died just a few months before Gielgud's own death in 2000 (Morley 2002, p. 23). He publicly acknowledged Hensler as his partner only in 1988, in the programme notes for The Best of Friends, which was his final stage performance. Gielgud would avoid Hollywood for over a decade for fear of being denied entry because of the arrest.

Laurence Olivier's friendship with Gielgud was peppered with barely acknowledged competitive tension, for, while Olivier's fame as a film actor eventually eclipsed Gielgud's, Gielgud had been the great Shakespearean actor when Olivier was just coming up and that was hard for Olivier to forget. Gielgud maintained a very close relationship with Olivier's second wife, Vivien Leigh, throughout their marriage, divorce, and her long struggle with manic depression. In Curtain (1991), Michael Korda's novel based on the marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, Gielgud becomes Philip Chagrin.

Another fictionalised Gielgud – this time given the family name John Terry – appeared around the same time as de Jongh's play in Nicola Upson's detective novel An Expert in Murder, a crime story woven around the original production of Richard of Bordeaux.

John Gielgud was cremated at Oxford Crematorium.
Awards and honours

    * He was knighted in the 1953 coronation honours, became a Companion of Honour in 1977, and was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1996.

    * The National Portrait Gallery, London commissioned artist David Remfry to paint a portrait of Sir John for the collection in 1980.

    * The Globe Theatre in London was renamed the Gielgud Theatre in 1994 in his honour.

Laurence Olivier Awards

    * 1985: Special Award

Academy Awards

    * 1964: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor, for Becket
    * 1981: Winner for Best Supporting Actor, for Arthur

Emmy Awards

    * 1982: Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special, for Brideshead Revisited
    * 1984: Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special, for The Master of Ballantrae
    * 1985: Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special, for Romance on the Orient Express
    * 1989: Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a miniseries or Special, for War and Remembrance
    * 1991: Winner for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, for Summer's Lease

Tony Awards

    * 1948: Winner for Outstanding Foreign Company, The Importance of Being Earnest
    * 1959: Winner, Special Award, for contribution to theatre for his extraordinary insight into the writings of Shakespeare as demonstrated in his one-man show, Ages of Man
    * 1961: Winner for Best Director (Dramatic), for Big Fish, Little Fish, a play by Hugh Wheeler
    * 1963: Nominated for Best Director (Dramatic), for The School for Scandal
    * 1965: Nominated for Best Actor (Dramatic), for Tiny Alice
    * 1971: Nominated for Best Actor (Dramatic), for Home

Evening Standard Awards

    * 1970 Co-winner for Best Actor for Home (with Ralph Richardson)
    * 1975 Winner for Best Actor for No Man's Land
    * 1982 Winner, Special Award for Lifetime Achievement

Grammy Awards

    * 1959: Nominated for Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording, for Ages of Man
    * 1964: Nominated for Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording, for Hamlet with Richard Burton, Hume Cronyn, Alfred Drake, George Voskovec, Eileen Herlie, William Redfield and George Rose
    * 1964: Nominated for Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording, for Ages of Man, Volume 2 (One Man in His Time) Part Two - Shakespeare
    * 1979: Winner for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording, for Ages of Man - Recordings from Shakespeare
    * 1982: Nominated for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording, for No Man's Land with Ralph Richardson
    * 1983: Nominated for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording, for Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats with Irene Worth
    * 1986: Nominated for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording, for Gulliver
    * 1988: Nominated for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording, for A Christmas Carol
    * 1989: Nominated for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording, for Sir John Gielgud Reads Alice in Wonderland
    * 1991: Nominated for Best Album for Children, for The Emperor's New Clothes with Mark Isham

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

    * 1977: Best Actor, for Providence
    * 1981: Best Supporting Actor, for Arthur

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

    * 1981: Best Supporting Actor, for Arthur
    * 1985: Best Supporting Actor, for Plenty

There is also the Sir John Gielgud Award for "Excellence in the Dramatic Arts" presented by the US-based Shakespeare Guild. Past winners include Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh, Glen Joseph, Kevin Kline and Judi Dench
Other interests

Sir John Gielgud believed that animals should not be exploited. He was particularly fond of birds and joined PETA's campaign against the foie gras industry in the early 1990s, narrating PETA's video exposé of the force-feeding of geese and ducks. Many chefs and restaurateurs who saw that video dropped foie gras from their menus. Sir John received PETA’s Humanitarian of the Year Award twice, in 1994 and 1999.

Following his death it was revealed that late in his life he had made financial contributions to the lobby group Stonewall, but had insisted that his support not be made public.

He also authored several books, including his memoirs in An Actor and His Time, Early Stages and Distinguished Company. He also co-wrote, with John Miller, Acting Shakespeare.
Selected filmography

    * The Good Companions (1933)
    * Secret Agent (1936)
    * Julius Caesar (1953)
    * Richard III (1955)
    * Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    * Saint Joan (1957)
    * The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)
    * Becket (1964)
    * Hamlet (1964)
    * Chimes at Midnight (1965)
    * The Loved One (1965)
    * Sebastian (1968)
    * The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
    * Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
    * Julius Caesar (1970)
    * Eagle in a Cage (1972)
    * Lost Horizon (1973)
    * Frankenstein: The True Story (1973)
    * 11 Harrowhouse (1974)
    * Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
    * Gold (1974)
    * Providence (1977)
    * Caligula (1979)
    * The Human Factor (1979)
    * The Elephant Man (1980)
    * The Formula (1980)
    * Lion of the Desert (1981)
    * Arthur (1981)
    * Chariots of Fire (1981)
    * Gandhi (1982)
    * Wagner (1983)
    * The Wicked Lady (1983)
    * The Master of Ballantrae (1984)
    * The Far Pavilions (1984)
    * Plenty (1985)
    * The Canterville Ghost (1986)
    * Time After Time (1986)
    * The Whistle Blower (1986)
    * Appointment with Death (1988)
    * Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
    * Getting it Right (1989)
    * Prospero's Books (1991)
    * Shining Through (1992)
    * The Power of One (1992)
    * Scarlett (1994)
    * First Knight (1995)
    * Haunted (1995)
    * Hamlet (1996)
    * Shine (1996)
    * Merlin (1998)
    * Elizabeth (1998)
    * Catastrophe (2000)

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/seftons/gielgud-color.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/blackpainter/JohnGielgud/pic19783.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/21/10 at 6:56 am


The person born on this day...Judge Reinhold
Edward Ernest "Judge" Reinhold, Jr. (born May 21, 1957) is an American actor, perhaps best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop, Ruthless People, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and The Santa Clause.
Reinhold was born Edward Ernest Reinhold, Jr., in Wilmington, Delaware, the son of a trial lawyer.  His nickname, "Judge", was given to him by his father when he was young. He was raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, until his family moved to Martin County, Florida, prior to his junior year in high school.

After his education at the North Carolina School of the Arts, he performed at various regional theatres, including Burt Reynolds' Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Florida.
Career

Reinhold has appeared in more than 75 films. His first appearance on screen was in a music video for the Pat Benatar song "Shadows of the Night," in which he played an unnamed co-pilot. Reinhold's first major film role was as high school senior Brad Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High along with then-unknown actors Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nicolas Cage. He later played Detective Billy Rosewood, the junior police detective sent to trail Eddie Murphy, in Beverly Hills Cop. He has reprised this role in the two sequels and in 1986, he starred in Ruthless People.

Reinhold appeared in two widely released films, Beverly Hills Cop III and The Santa Clause, in 1994. He has reprised the role of Dr. Neil Miller for the Santa Clause sequels as well. Reinhold appeared as himself on two episodes of the third season of Arrested Development, headlining a fictional court TV show called Mock Trial with J. Reinhold.

Reinhold was nominated for an Emmy for a role on Seinfeld in which he played the infamous "close talker" who developed an obsession with Jerry's parents. He has also been seen in Steven Spielberg's epic miniseries, Into the West.

Reinhold was recently featured in the political satire Swing Vote which opened August 1, 2008.

Reinhold's first name has been the subject of comedy in both Clerks: The Animated Series and Arrested Development, both times with him playing himself appointed as a judge in a court of law. Also in Fanboys, Billy Dee Williams plays a judge called Reinhold.

Reinhold is credited as the whistler on the Martini Ranch song "Reach".
Personal life

Reinhold has worked with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America's Smart Moves program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was reported in December 2009 that Reinhold had moved to Arkansas and was involved in suicide prevention efforts for veterans.
Filmography
Year Title Role
1981 Stripes Elmo
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Brad Hamilton
Pandemonium Glen Dandy
1983 The Lords of Discipline Macabbee
1984 Beverly Hills Cop Det. William "Billy" Rosewood
Gremlins Gerald
Roadhouse 66 Beckman Hallsgood Jr.
1986 Ruthless People Ken Kessler
Off Beat Joe Gower
Head Office Jack Issel
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Det. William Rosewood
1988 Vice Versa Marshall Seymour
1989 Rosalie Goes Shopping Priest
1990 Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will? Harmony
1991 Zandalee Thierry Martin
1992 Black Magic Alex Gage
1993 Bank Robber Officer Gross
1994 Seinfeld Aaron (the "close talker")
The Santa Clause Dr. Neil Miller
Beverly Hills Cop III Sgt. William Rosewood
1999 My Brother the Pig Richard Caldwell
NetForce Will Stiles
2000 Beethoven's 3rd Richard Newton
Clerks: The Animated Series Himself (voice)
2001 Beethoven's 4th Richard Newton
2002 The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause Dr. Neil Miller
Dead in a Heartbeat Lt. Tom Royko
2003 The King of Queens Dr. Roy Crawford
Thanksgiving Family Reunion Dr. Mitch Snyder
2004 The Hollow Carl Cranston
2005 Into the West Douglas Hillman
Teen Titans Negative Man (Voice)
The Boondocks Mr. Uberwitz (voice)
2006 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause Dr. Neil Miller
Arrested Development Himself
2008 Swing Vote Walt
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd126/furiousgeorge55/JudgeReinhold.jpg
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo59/1957Girl/fast-times-reinhold.png


He's ok,not really that funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/21/10 at 7:58 am


He's ok,not really that funny.

Yeah he's more of a side-kick supporting act.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/21/10 at 10:46 am

Ruthless People is one of the funniest movies EVER but unfortunately, it was not very mainstream which I don't understand. It had a FANTASTIC cast: Bette Midler, Danny DeVito, Helen Slater, and of course Judge Reinhold.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/21/10 at 11:17 am


Ruthless People is one of the funniest movies EVER but unfortunately, it was not very mainstream which I don't understand. It had a FANTASTIC cast: Bette Midler, Danny DeVito, Helen Slater, and of course Judge Reinhold.


Cat

It was a very funny movie. One of the best comedies from the 80s for sure.
I have always liked Judge Reinhold.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/21/10 at 2:23 pm


It was a very funny movie. One of the best comedies from the 80s for sure.
I have always liked Judge Reinhold.


How about that film where he traded bodies? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/10 at 5:55 am

The word of the day...Sunshine
The light or the direct rays from the sun.
b. The warmth given by the sun's rays.
c. A location or surface on which the sun's rays fall.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p274/sylviatjan/SUNSHINE/SunnyDay180510001.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a438/elmoz333/sunshot1.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad74/franko10_photo/IM002472.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/AlyTownsend/IMG_9636.jpg
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz211/uuhshawntay/Randomness/DSCN9113.jpg
http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/ShelbyMakeout/30.jpg
http://i894.photobucket.com/albums/ac146/stahlblausport/DSC02675.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/10 at 5:58 am

The person born on this day...Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including the 1969 film Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth, and with Yul Brynner in Westworld  in 1973.
Benjamin was born in New York City, New York, the son of a garment industry worker.  He attended the High School of Performing Arts  and graduated from Northwestern University where he was involved in many plays and studied in the Northwestern theater school.

He married actress Paula Prentiss on October 26, 1961 and they have two children. He and Prentiss appeared together in the short-lived television series He & She (1967-68), as well as the film Catch-22 (1970). In 1978, he starred in the ambitious, but short-lived, television series Quark.

Benjamin starred in 1969's Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novel by Philip Roth. After appearing with a star-studded cast in the 1970 Mike Nichols film version of another best-seller, Catch-22, he starred in Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker and yet another film based on a famous Roth novel, 1972's Portnoy's Complaint, in the title role.

He played a sexually ambiguous murder suspect in The Last of Sheila (1973), a mystery conceived and co-scripted by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim. And in an imaginative Michael Crichton story that year, Westworld, Benjamin played a man vacationing as a make-believe cowboy in a theme park where he ends up being stalked by a robot gunslinger played by Yul Brynner, a variation of Brynner's iconic role in The Magnificent Seven.

Then he returned to comedy, with a supporting role as a harried theatrical agent in the Neil Simon hit The Sunshine Boys opposite Walter Matthau and George Burns and as Matthau's colleague at an ineptly run hospital in 1978's House Calls. Benjamin also played a frustrated fiance of a woman who falls for the vampire Count Dracula in the surprise box-office smash Love at First Bite (1979) starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.

Turning to directing, Benjamin's first project was the 1982 hit comedy My Favorite Year, which brought an Oscar nomination to its star, Peter O'Toole. Benjamin went on to direct a number of Hollywood films, mainly comedies, including City Heat (1984) with Clint Eastwood and The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks. He directed Cher in the 1990 film Mermaids.

The most recent film Benjamin has directed was 2006's A Little Thing Called Murder, based on a true story, which featured Judy Davis as a con artist and killer in cahoots with her son.

Benjamin's acting appearances have become less frequent. They include a small role in the Woody Allen 1997 comedy Deconstructing Harry. He directed and appeared in Marci X, a 2003 comedy starring Lisa Kudrow.

His most recent roles came in 2008's Henry Poole Is Here and the television series Pushing Daisies.
Acting filmography

    * Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
    * Catch-22 (1970)
    * Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
    * The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971)
    * The Steagle (1971)
    * Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
    * The Last of Sheila (1973)
    * Westworld (1973)
    * The Sunshine Boys (1975)
    * Quark (1977–78)
    * House Calls (1978)
    * Love At First Bite (1979)
    * Scavenger Hunt (1979)
    * Witches' Brew (1980)
    * The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
    * How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980)
    * First Family (1980)
    * Saturday the 14th (1981)
    * Lift (1992)
    * Deconstructing Harry (1997)
    * The Pentagon Wars (1998)
    * The Shrink Is In (2001)
    * Marci X (2003)
    * Keeping Up with the Steins (2006)
    * Henry Poole Is Here (2008)

Directing filmography

    * My Favorite Year (1982)
    * Racing with the Moon (1984)
    * City Heat (1984)
    * The Money Pit (1986)
    * Little Nikita (1988)
    * My Stepmother is an Alien (1988)
    * Downtown (1990)
    * Mermaids (1990)
    * Made in America (1993)
    * Milk Money (1994)
    * Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)
    * The Pentagon Wars (1998)
    * Marci X (2003)
    * A Little Thing Called Murder (2006)
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Entertainment%20Collection/653.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/carose59/dw%20and%20lj/HeShe.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/10 at 6:04 am

The person who died on this day...Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Rutherford, DBE (May 11, 1892 – May 22, 1972) was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. She is best-known for her 1960s performances as Miss Marple in several films based loosely on Agatha Christie's novels.
Born in the Surrey town of Balham, Margaret Taylor Rutherford was the only child of William Rutherford Benn and his wife, the former Florence Nicholson. Her father's brother Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet was a British politician, and her first cousin once removed is British politician Tony Benn.

Rutherford's father suffered from mental illness, having suffered a nervous breakdown on his honeymoon, and was confined to an asylum. He was eventually released on holiday and on 4 March 1883, he murdered his father, Reverend Julius Benn, a Congregational church minister, by bludgeoning him to death with a chamberpot; shortly afterward, William tried to kill himself as well, by slashing his throat with a pocketknife. After the murder, William Benn was confined to the Broadmoor aslyum for the criminally insane. Several years later he was released, reportedly cured of his mental affliction, changed his surname to Rutherford, and returned to his wife.

As an infant Rutherford and her parents moved to India but she was returned to Britain when she was three to live with an aunt, professional governess Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon, England, after her mother committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Her father returned to England as well. His continued mental illness resulted in his being confined once more to Broadmoor in 1904; he died in 1921.

Rutherford was educated at the independent Wimbledon High School and at RADA.
Career

Having worked as a teacher of elocution, she went into acting later in life - making her stage debut at the Old Vic in 1925 at the age of thirty-three. Her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were out of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many of the most successful British films of the mid-twentieth century. "I never intended to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at all", Rutherford wrote in her autobiography. In most of these films, she had originally played the role on stage. She married the actor Stringer Davis in 1945. They often appeared together in films.

In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn Langley Simmons, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.

In 1957, Rutherford appeared as Cynthia Gordon in the episode "The Kissing Bandit" of the American sitcom filmed in England, Dick and the Duchess, starring Patrick O'Neal and Hazel Court. In 1961, Rutherford first played the film role with which she was most often associated in later life, that of Miss Marple in a series of four films loosely based on the novels of Agatha Christie. Rutherford, then age seventy, insisted on wearing her own clothes for the part and having her husband appear alongside her.

In 1964, George Harrison, when asked who his favourite girl film star was by Cathy McGowan on Ready Steady Go!, replied "Margaret Rutherford".

Rutherford won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe for The VIPs (1963), as the absent-minded Duchess of Brighton, opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. She also played Mistress Quickly in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight in 1966.

She was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961, and raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.
Later life and death

She suffered from Alzheimer's disease at the end of her life. Sir John Gielgud wrote: "Her last appearance at the Haymarket Theatre with Sir Ralph Richardson in The Rivals, an engagement which she was finally obliged to give up after a few weeks, was a most poignant struggle against her obviously failing powers."

Dame Margaret Rutherford is buried along with her husband, Stringer Davis, who died in August 1973, in the graveyard of St. James Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England.
Selected stage performances

    * Blithe Spirit
    * The Way of the World
    * The Importance of Being Earnest, as Miss Prism and in New York (1947) as Lady Bracknell, directed by John Gielgud
    * The School for Scandal
    * The Solid Gold Cadillac (1965)
    * The Rivals

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1936 Talk of the Devil Housekeeper
Dusty Ermine Evelyn Summers aka Miss Butterby, old gang moll
Troubled Waters Bit role uncredited
1937 Missing, Believed Married Lady Parke
Catch As Catch Can Maggie Carberry
Big Fella Nanny uncredited
Beauty and the Barge Mrs. Baldwin
1941 Spring Meeting Aunt Bijou
Quiet Wedding Magistrate
1943 Yellow Canary Mrs. Towcester
The Demi-Paradise Rowena Ventnor
1944 English Without Tears Lady Christabel Beauclerk
1945 Blithe Spirit Madame Arcati
1947 While the Sun Shines Dr. Winifred Frye
Meet Me at Dawn Madame Vernore
1948 Miranda Nurse Carey
1949 Passport to Pimlico Professor Hatton-Jones
1950 The Happiest Days of Your Life Muriel Whitchurch
Quel bandito sono io
(UK title: Her Favorite Husband) Mrs. Dotherington
1951 The Magic Box Lady Pond
1952 Curtain Up Catherine Beckwith/Jeremy St. Claire
Miss Robin Hood Miss Honey
The Importance of Being Earnest Miss Letitia Prism
Castle in the Air Miss Nicholson
1953 Innocents in Paris Gwladys Inglott
Trouble in Store Miss Bacon
1954 The Runaway Bus Miss Cynthia Beeston
Mad About Men Nurse Carey
Aunt Clara Clara Hilton
1955 An Alligator Named Daisy Prudence Croquet
1957 The Smallest Show on Earth Mrs. Fazackalee
Just My Luck Mrs. Dooley
1959 I'm All Right Jack Aunt Dolly
1961 On the Double Lady Vivian
Murder, She Said Miss Jane Marple
1963 Murder at the Gallop Miss Jane Marple
The Mouse on the Moon Grand Duchess Gloriana XIII
The V.I.P.s The Duchess of Brighton Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe
1964 Murder Most Foul Miss Jane Marple
Murder Ahoy! Miss Jane Marple
1965 Chimes at Midnight Mistress Quickly
The Alphabet Murders Miss Jane Marple uncredited cameo
1967 A Countess from Hong Kong Miss Gaulswallow
Arabella Princess Ilaria
The Wacky World of Mother Goose Mother Goose voice
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/PatriotOne/MargaretRutherford011.jpg
http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae243/buster1_05/MargaretRutherford.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/22/10 at 6:47 am


The person born on this day...Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin (born May 22, 1938) is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including the 1969 film Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth, and with Yul Brynner in Westworld  in 1973.
Benjamin was born in New York City, New York, the son of a garment industry worker.  He attended the High School of Performing Arts  and graduated from Northwestern University where he was involved in many plays and studied in the Northwestern theater school.

He married actress Paula Prentiss on October 26, 1961 and they have two children. He and Prentiss appeared together in the short-lived television series He & She (1967-68), as well as the film Catch-22 (1970). In 1978, he starred in the ambitious, but short-lived, television series Quark.

Benjamin starred in 1969's Goodbye, Columbus, based on the novel by Philip Roth. After appearing with a star-studded cast in the 1970 Mike Nichols film version of another best-seller, Catch-22, he starred in Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker and yet another film based on a famous Roth novel, 1972's Portnoy's Complaint, in the title role.

He played a sexually ambiguous murder suspect in The Last of Sheila (1973), a mystery conceived and co-scripted by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim. And in an imaginative Michael Crichton story that year, Westworld, Benjamin played a man vacationing as a make-believe cowboy in a theme park where he ends up being stalked by a robot gunslinger played by Yul Brynner, a variation of Brynner's iconic role in The Magnificent Seven.

Then he returned to comedy, with a supporting role as a harried theatrical agent in the Neil Simon hit The Sunshine Boys opposite Walter Matthau and George Burns and as Matthau's colleague at an ineptly run hospital in 1978's House Calls. Benjamin also played a frustrated fiance of a woman who falls for the vampire Count Dracula in the surprise box-office smash Love at First Bite (1979) starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.

Turning to directing, Benjamin's first project was the 1982 hit comedy My Favorite Year, which brought an Oscar nomination to its star, Peter O'Toole. Benjamin went on to direct a number of Hollywood films, mainly comedies, including City Heat (1984) with Clint Eastwood and The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks. He directed Cher in the 1990 film Mermaids.

The most recent film Benjamin has directed was 2006's A Little Thing Called Murder, based on a true story, which featured Judy Davis as a con artist and killer in cahoots with her son.

Benjamin's acting appearances have become less frequent. They include a small role in the Woody Allen 1997 comedy Deconstructing Harry. He directed and appeared in Marci X, a 2003 comedy starring Lisa Kudrow.

His most recent roles came in 2008's Henry Poole Is Here and the television series Pushing Daisies.
Acting filmography

    * Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
    * Catch-22 (1970)
    * Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
    * The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971)
    * The Steagle (1971)
    * Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
    * The Last of Sheila (1973)
    * Westworld (1973)
    * The Sunshine Boys (1975)
    * Quark (1977–78)
    * House Calls (1978)
    * Love At First Bite (1979)
    * Scavenger Hunt (1979)
    * Witches' Brew (1980)
    * The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
    * How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980)
    * First Family (1980)
    * Saturday the 14th (1981)
    * Lift (1992)
    * Deconstructing Harry (1997)
    * The Pentagon Wars (1998)
    * The Shrink Is In (2001)
    * Marci X (2003)
    * Keeping Up with the Steins (2006)
    * Henry Poole Is Here (2008)

Directing filmography

    * My Favorite Year (1982)
    * Racing with the Moon (1984)
    * City Heat (1984)
    * The Money Pit (1986)
    * Little Nikita (1988)
    * My Stepmother is an Alien (1988)
    * Downtown (1990)
    * Mermaids (1990)
    * Made in America (1993)
    * Milk Money (1994)
    * Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)
    * The Pentagon Wars (1998)
    * Marci X (2003)
    * A Little Thing Called Murder (2006)
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u222/rlspear/Entertainment%20Collection/653.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/carose59/dw%20and%20lj/HeShe.jpg


I like this guy,haven't seen many of his films in quite a while.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/22/10 at 6:48 am


The word of the day...Sunshine
The light or the direct rays from the sun.
b. The warmth given by the sun's rays.
c. A location or surface on which the sun's rays fall.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p274/sylviatjan/SUNSHINE/SunnyDay180510001.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a438/elmoz333/sunshot1.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad74/franko10_photo/IM002472.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx108/AlyTownsend/IMG_9636.jpg
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz211/uuhshawntay/Randomness/DSCN9113.jpg
http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab173/ShelbyMakeout/30.jpg
http://i894.photobucket.com/albums/ac146/stahlblausport/DSC02675.jpg


Good Day Sunshine The Beatles.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/10 at 7:55 am


I like this guy,haven't seen many of his films in quite a while.

I know, I think he mostly directs movies now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/10 at 7:57 am


Good Day Sunshine The Beatles.

Sunshine On My Shoulders -John Denver

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/22/10 at 2:28 pm

And there was a film called Sunshine.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/22/10 at 2:42 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPUmE-tne5U



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/22/10 at 4:33 pm

....and don't forget John Denver had a big hit with Sunshine too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/22/10 at 5:27 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_4DsNFQS98



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/22/10 at 5:30 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPUmE-tne5U

Cat

A great summer type song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_4DsNFQS98



Cat

One of his best songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/10 at 6:01 am

Lots of great Sunshine songs :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/10 at 6:07 am

The word of the day...Game(s)
A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational  tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong solitaire, or some Video Games).

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role. According to Chris Crawford, the requirement for player interaction puts activities such as jigsaw puzzles and solitaire "games" into the category of puzzles rather than games.

Attested as early as 2600 BC, games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg264/jew-lee-uhh/photography/games.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll7/DONNA55122/COMMODORE/games.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss70/cgoetze/games/princeofpersiatheforgottensands.png
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss70/cgoetze/games/sbkxsuperbikeworldchampionship.png
http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae347/standrewsepiscopal/100_2165.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/CloneTrooperX/Game%20Boxes/DSCF2862.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/10 at 6:11 am

The person born on this day...Jewel
Jewel Kilcher  (born May 23, 1974),  professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet. She has received three Grammy Award nominations and has sold twenty-seven million albums worldwide, and almost twenty million in the United States alone.

Kilcher debuted on February 28, 1995, with the album, Pieces of You, which became one of the best selling debut albums of all time, going platinum twelve times. One single from the album, "Who Will Save Your Soul", peaked at #11 on Billboard's Hot 100; two others, "You Were Meant for Me" and "Foolish Games", each reached #2 and were included in Billboard's 1997 year-end singles chart. During her career, she has released several albums, frequently switching genres between working on her albums. Perfectly Clear, her first country record, was released on The Valory Music Co. in 2008. It debuted at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart and featured three singles, "Stronger Woman", "I Do", and "Til It Feels Like Cheating". Jewel released her first independent album Lullaby in May 2009. Her latest single, Stay Here Forever, is available on the 2010 movie soundtrack Valentine's Day and will appear on her upcoming album Sweet and Wild out June 2010.
n 1993, Michael Balzary (better known as Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) met Jewel after he saw her perform at a local cafe. They went back to her van, in which she was living, and she gave a few songs to him. He described her voice as being "beautiful" and "breathtaking."

Jewel was discovered in August 1993, when John Hogan, the lead singer from a local San Diego band, Rust, whom Inga Vainshtein was managing at the time, called to tell her about a girl surfer who sang at a local coffee shop on Thursdays. Vainshtein drove to Innerchange coffee shop with a rep from Atlantic Records, and after the show they called Danny Goldberg, the head of Atlantic Record's west coast operations. At the time, Jewel did not even have a demo. Mr. Goldberg offered to pay for Jewel to record some of her songs. Ms. Vainshtein, a former film studio executive, became Jewel's manager and was instrumental in creating a major bidding war, which led to Jewel's deal with Atlantic Records and her subsequent appearance on the cover of Time Magazine, the first ever by an Atlantic artist. Her first studio recording session was with Bruce Robb (producer) who produced, engineered, and mixed her demos. She cut her debut album, Pieces of You, when she was nineteen and it was released in 1995. Jewel recorded Pieces of You in a studio on Neil Young's ranch, and was backed by his band, The Stray Gators, who played on Neil Young's "Harvest" and "Harvest Moon" albums. The album Pieces of You was produced by Ben Keith, who played steel guitar in The Stray Gators. Part of the album was cut live at the Innerchange Coffeehouse in San Diego where she had risen to local fame. The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for an impressive two years, reaching number four at its peak. The album spawned the popular hits "You Were Meant for Me", "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Foolish Games". The album was a huge success and eventually sold more than 12 million copies in the United States alone.
Peak

Due to her successes, Jewel was chosen to sing the American national anthem at the opening of the Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998 in San Diego. She was introduced as "San Diego's own Jewel!" However, she was criticized for lip-syncing the anthem to a digitally recorded track of her own voice. This was especially noticeable due to her missing her cue and not mouthing the first words. Super Bowl producers have since admitted that they attempt to have all performers prerecord their vocal.

Jewel parted ways with Inga Vainshtein, her original manager in February 1998. At the time she was in talks with Daniel Lanois about producing what would have become her 2nd album. However, upon letting Vainshtein go, and handing her career management to her mother, she abruptly changed creative direction, and instead of Lanois ended up going with Patrick Leonard, who created a much more pop album. It was released in November 1998 Spirit. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 4 million copies in the United States. At the time, Jewel was criticized for alienating her core fan base and the album sales were viewed as somewhat disappointing. The song "Hands" hit #6 on the Hot 100. Other singles followed, a new version of "Jupiter (Swallow the Moon)", "What's Simple Is True", the theme song to her upcoming movie, and the charity single "Life Uncommon".

A year later, in November 1999, Jewel released Joy: A Holiday Collection. The album sold over a million copies and peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. She released a cover of "Joy to the World" from the album.

In November 2001, the album This Way was released. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S., standing as her most critically acclaimed album to date. Jewel hit the Top 30 with the song "Standing Still". Other singles released were "Break Me", "This Way" and "Serve the Ego", the latter giving Jewel her first number-one club hit.
0304 Era

In 2003, Jewel released the album 0304. She writes in the liner notes,

    "I wanted to make a record that was a modern interpretation of big band music. A record that was lyric driven, like Cole Porter, that also had a lot of swing. And a lot of it is thanks to Lester, because when I told him I wanted to make a record that combined dance, urban, and folk music, he didn't look at me like I was crazy."

Following the limited success of "Serve the Ego", Jewel moved to a more pop-oriented sound with the release of the single "Intuition". The song, which strays from her usual folk style with simple guitar instrumentation, starts off with a French accordion and experiments with dance-pop beats using synthesizers. The song was successful, reaching #5 on the Billboard Adult Top 40. Despite the different sound style, the song is lyrically similar to her previous work. It has a number of references to culture, including mentioning celebrities such as pop star Jennifer Lopez, model Kate Moss, magazines, film culture, and commercialism.
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland Era

On May 2, 2006, Jewel released her sixth album, Goodbye Alice In Wonderland. The album received mixed reviews, but still managed to debut at #8 on the Billboard Albums Chart. The album sold 82,000 copies in its first week out. The lead single "Again and Again" had moderate success on Adult Top 40 Radio, peaking at #16. The second single, "Good Day", was released to radio in late June but failed to gain any traction on the radio airplay charts. A video for "Stephenville, TX", her next single, was seen on Yahoo! Launch. After a photo shoot at her Texas ranch, Jewel spontaneously decided to have photographer Kurt Markus shoot the music video for the song Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. According a single review appearing in the Market Wire business journal, widely duplicated in publicity material by her PR team "The homegrown clip beautifully reflects both the song's organic, intimate sound and its powerfully autobiographical story."

As of December 2006, the album had sold barely 270,000 copies, making it the first Jewel album not to achieve Gold certification quickly. Despite this, CMT music critic Timothy Duggan praised the album: "This album showcases Jewel's unique talent as a lyricist, alongside a definite growth in her musicianship. It is what 'Pieces of You' might have been had Jewel had the musical knowledge then that she has now. A very satisfying work, all in all." Rolling Stone however, called the album "overdone and undercooked" with a rating of 2 stars out of 5.

Jewel released a video for the new song "Quest for Love" as the lead single from the movie Arthur and the Invisibles. The song is only available on the soundtrack for Arthur and the Invisibles, which was released January 2007.
Perfectly Clear Era

In early February 2007, Jewel recorded a duet with Jason Michael Carroll, "No Good in Goodbye", that was featured on Carroll's debut CD, Waitin' in the Country. She also made a promotional appearance on the T in Boston for the Verizon Yellow Pages, playing songs on a moving subway car and then doing an hour-long acoustic concert in South Station for a large crowd of adoring fans. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Jewel confirmed that she is no longer affiliated with a record label, confirming rumors that Atlantic Records failed to renew her contract after the lackluster sales of her then-latest album. She also hinted that she would like to do a country album next. She is working with John Rich of Big & Rich fame. He says that she is "probably one of the greatest American singer-songwriters we have had." He also said that "every label in Nashville" was talking to her at the time.

In November 2007, Jewel was signed to Valory Records, a newly formed division of the independent Big Machine Records label. Her first country album, Perfectly Clear, was released on June 3, 2008, selling 48,000 units in its first week. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country Album Chart and #8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart (the same position as her previous album, Goodbye Alice In Wonderland, but sold 35,000 fewer units in its first week). In its second week on the charts, the album dropped to #25 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the Country Albums chart, with estimated second week sales of 15,000 units.

Its lead single, "Stronger Woman", was released to country radio on January 17, 2008, and entered the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. On the April 26, 2008 country charts it peaked at #13. The next single, "I Do", released to radio on June 23, 2008. The video for the single featured her cowboy husband, Ty Murray. This song peaked at #38. Following it was "Till It Feels Like Cheating" which peaked at #57.

Perfectly Clear was released in Australia in late May 2009. It was then released across Europe by Humphead Records in June 2009. The European release of the album also includes the music video for "Stronger Woman".
Lullaby Era

In early 2009, it was announced that Jewel would release a new studio album titled Lullaby, a collection of lullabies, which she described as 'not just for children, but also adults'. Its lead single 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' was issued to iTunes on March 17. The album was released on May 5. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" was #1 on The Top Children's Songs the week of release. She also has recorded a duet with R&B singer Tyrese in conjunction with the release of his comic, Mayhem. The song is titled "Make It Last". It was intended to be used for the soundtrack to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen but did not appear on the final tracklisting.
Sweet and Wild Era

In January 2010, Jewel released a new single, "Stay Here Forever", from the soundtrack to the film Valentine's Day. It is also the lead-off single to Jewel's upcoming ninth studio album Sweet and Wild and is slated for release on June 8, 2010. The single debuted at #58 on the Hot Country Songs chart and reached #34 in May 2010. "Satisfied" was released as the albums' second single on May 17, 2010.
Film and theatre

Jewel starred in the 1999 Ang Lee film Ride with the Devil. Jewel also starred as Dorothy in the 1995 "Dreams Come True" production of "The Wizard of Oz" (available on VHS). She had a cameo as herself in Walk Hard.
Television
Date Title Role Note
1995 VH1's VH1 Duets
Herself
In an episode led by Melissa Etheridge, Jewel and Melissa sang together on the songs "Baby You Can Sleep While I Drive," and "Foolish Games." She also sang with Melissa Etheridge, Paula Cole, Joan Osborne, and Sophie B. Hawkins in a performance of Joan Armatrading's "Love and Affection."
1996 MTV's "MTV 120 Minutes" Performed Acoustic version of "Absence of Fear"
1998 Saturday Night Live Host with Joan Allen
2002 VH1's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Performer, sang duet of Here Comes the Sun with Rob Thomas. Read introduction to Brenda Lee, one of the inductees.
2003 VH1's 2003 Diva Duets Performer, sang duet of Proud Mary with Beyoncé.
The Lyon's Den
Rob Lowe's ex

2006 The Young and the Restless
Herself
Performed at a fund raiser hosted by characters Nick and Sharon Newman to mark the first anniversary of their teenage daughter's death in a drunk-driving accident.
CMT Country Music Awards
Presenter
Presented with Ty Murray
7th Heaven
Herself
Neighbor to characters Kevin Kinkirk and Lucy Camden, sang her song "Good Day".
Las Vegas Sang three songs from Goodbye Alice in Wonderland.
Men In Trees Sang the song Good Day with a character of Men in Trees.
2007 American Idol
Herself, Guest-Judge
American Idol, Season 6 Guest-Judge for the season six premiere / auditions in Minneapolis.
Nashville Star
Host
Co-host with Cowboy Troy.
Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race
Herself
ABC reality television series featuring a dozen celebrities (including Ty Murray) in a stock car racing competition. In the first round of competition, Jewel matched up against former NBA player John Salley and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler John Cena.
Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge American celebrity reality television show on CMT in which nine celebrities from across the board spend 10 days learning how to ride bulls with retired rodeo star Ty Murray for the PBR Jack Daniels Invitational in Nashville.
2008 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Season 8
Herself
Episode Bull - Sang the U.S. National Anthem in a rodeo
Nashville Star, Season 6
Judge
The show has moved to NBC this season. Jewel is a judge, along with John Rich and Jeffrey Steele, and hosted by Country music singer, Billy Ray Cyrus.
2010 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Herself

WWE Monday Night RAW
Herself
Guest host on the February 22nd edition along with her husband Ty Murray.
Minor

    * Lifetime T.V network, has released a commercial starring Jewel to help promote breast cancer awareness.
    * In 2006, Jewel appeared with Ty Murray in a Miller Lite Men of the Square Table commercial.
    * Jewel has also done many late night talk shows, including Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, and many more taped from 1996 to 2006.
    * Jewel was a featured singer in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra television special and 2001 DVD The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, performing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".
    * Jewel has also appeared on The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour where she performed a duet of "Who Will Save Your Soul" with Jessica Simpson.
    * Jewel was featured on the MTV show Punk'd in 2007.
    * Jewel has also been a celebrity judge on Iron Chef America in 2007.
    * Two of Jewel's songs were played on Dawson's Creek: "Hands" in #2-05 "Full Moon Rising" and #6-24 "...Must Come to an End" (the latter being the second part of the series finale), and "This Way" in #5-17 "Highway to Hell". Her song "Standing Still" was also featured in the WB's promos for #5-09 "Hotel New Hampshire".
    * In 2010 Jewel appeared on the Food Network show Ace of Cakes as she kicked off her tour in Baltimore

Dancing With the Stars

On February 8, 2009, it was announced that she would appear on the eighth season of Dancing With the Stars alongside new pro Dmitry Chaplin, which she did primarily as a bet against husband Ty Murray; However, five days before the season premiere, she suffered stress fractures in the tibia of both legs, and was forced to withdraw. Her replacement was ex-Hugh Hefner girlfriend Holly Madison.
Writing

Jewel published a book of poetry titled A Night Without Armor in 1998. Although it sold over 1 million copies and was a New York Times Bestseller, it received mixed reviews. During an MTV interview in 1998, Kurt Loder pointed out the incorrect usage in her book of poetry of the word "casualty" (intended as something to the effect of "of a casual nature") to which Jewel responded negatively. Jewel went on to write an autobiography titled Chasing Down the Dawn in 2000. Chasing Down The Dawn was a collection of diary entries and musings detailing her life growing up in Alaska, her struggle to learn her craft and life on the road. Jewel was scheduled to release a third book called Love Poems which was supposed to be an extremely intimate portrayal of her relationship with her boyfriend Ty Murray. It was canceled several months before release because Jewel was worried about Ty's mother's reaction to her intimate confessions.
Philanthropy

In 1995 Jewel performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a musical performance of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996.

She formed a non-profit organization called Higher Ground For Humanity with her mother Lenedra J. Carroll and her older brother Shane Kilcher. The organization's focus is education, sustainable improvements, and building alliances with like-minded organizations.

Jewel donates a portion of her income to the organization and often holds events to benefit the organization. The organization tends to parallel the career of Jewel since she provides the majority of the organization's funding. As of 2005, the activities of the organization were reduced.

In September, 2006, as part of Lifetime Television's Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign, Jewel delivered more than 12 million petition signatures to Capitol Hill, urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005 (S 910/HR1849). The bill would ban the practice of "drive-through" mastectomies, when women are discharged from the hospital just hours after their surgeries.

Jewel served as the honorary chairperson of the 2006 Help the Homeless Walk in Washington, DC
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/wfrazerjr/Celebrity%20AU%208x10s/img045.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/wfrazerjr/Celebrity%20AU%208x10s/img044.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/10 at 6:36 am

The person who died on this day...Owen Hart
Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999)  was a Canadian  professional and amateur wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and most notably, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). A member of the Hart wrestling family, Hart was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada  the youngest of 12 children to Stampede Wrestling promoter and WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart  and Helen Hart. Among other accolades, he was a one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, one-time WWF European Champion, one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion. He was also the winner of the 1994 WWF King of the Ring.

Cited by a number of peers as one of the WWF's most talented professional wrestlers, Hart died on May 23, 1999 when an equipment malfunction occurred during his entrance from the rafters of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., at the WWF's Over the Edge pay-per-view event.
Hart first gained wrestling experience in the amateur wrestling division at high school, through which he met his wife, Martha.  Wrestling was not Hart's first choice for a career; as Martha explained in her book Broken Harts, Owen tried numerous times to find a profitable living outside of wrestling.  As those attempts were unsuccessful, Hart was trained in his father's Hart Dungeon and made his professional debut in 1986 for his father’s federation, Stampede Wrestling. He remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills. During 1986, Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship.  The success of the team and Hart's in ring skills earned him Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year Award in 1987. After he and Bassarab lost the tag team title,  he feuded with Johnny Smith and Dynamite Kid.

In 1987, Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on several tours. In NJPW, he wrestled Keiichi Yamada both unmasked and later under the Jushin Liger gimmick. On May 27, Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Hart's success in Japan and Stampede’s working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the fall of 1988. He debuted at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in August 1988 under a mask called the Blue Angel. Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Hart’s younger brother, the WWF decided to create a masked “superhero" type gimmick for him known as The Blue Blazer. The Blazer was eliminated at Survivor Series, lost to Ted DiBiase on the March 11, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, and was defeated by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V.

Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without the Blue Blazer gimmick. He also returned to Stampede, until it shut down in December 1989. In 1991, Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a mascara contra mascara match against Mexican wrestler El Canek, thus bidding farewell to the Blue Blazer gimmick. In 1991, Hart appeared on World Championship Wrestling shows, teaming with Ricky Morton.
World Wrestling Federation
The New Foundation (1991–1992)

Hart had been engaged in contract discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself and his family to the company's headquarters in Atlanta. Instead, he signed with the WWF for a second time. In the WWF the popular Hart Foundation, composed of his brother Bret and real-life brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, had split up; Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly. When Neidhart returned from a storyline injury, he joined Owen to form a team known as The New Foundation.

Owen and Neidhart first feuded with the Beverly Brothers. They then had their only pay-per-view match at the Royal Rumble in January 1992 where they beat The Orient Express. Neidhart left the WWF shortly afterward, and Hart set out on a very short run as a singles wrestler, including a match at WrestleMania VIII against Skinner. Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart was teamed up with Koko B. Ware to form the duo known as High Energy. They had only one pay-per-view match as a team, at the Survivor Series where they lost to The Headshrinkers. The team was quietly dropped at the start of 1993 with Hart starting a singles career.
Feuding brothers (1993–1995)
See also: Owen Hart and Yokozuna

In the middle of 1993, when Bret Hart’s feud with Jerry Lawler ignited, Owen stood by his brother’s side and fought against Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association where most of the WWF talent were considered the heels. Owen won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Papa Shango, but it was never acknowledged on WWF television. Owen’s participation in the WWF vs. USWA feud was cut short when he suffered a knee injury in the summer of 1993 and was forced to take some time away from the ring.

Hart returned to the WWF ring in the fall of 1993, at a time when Bret’s feud with Lawler was temporarily sidetracked. Bret, along with Owen and their brothers Bruce and Keith, were scheduled to face Lawler and his team at Survivor Series. However, Lawler was unable to make it to the show, and as a result could not appear on WWF television. Lawler was replaced with Shawn Michaels. During the match Owen and Bret inadvertently crashed into each other, causing Owen to be eliminated from the team. Owen showed up after the match and had a heated confrontation with Bret, while Keith, Bruce and Stu tried to calm things down. This confrontation resulted in Owen leaving the ring to boos while his brothers and father watched in dismay and mother Helen cried at ringside. The following night Owen adopted the pink and black, sunglasses and sharpshooter finisher to send a message to his brother. Owen angry with being in Bret's shadow challenged his brother which Bret declined. Instead the brothers seemed to reunite by the holidays.
Owen Hart at a WWF event in 1995

Bret tried to make amends with Owen, teaming with him on a regular basis. Bret even secured the two a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship. They faced the Quebecers for the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1994. Initially everything was fine between the brothers, but when Bret hurt his knee (kayfabe) and was unable to tag Owen in for a long period of time, the younger Hart got frustrated. When the referee stopped the match due to Bret's damaged knee, Owen snapped; he kicked his brother in the knee and then walked off, berating Bret on the Titantron shortly after as Bret was being helped backstage. This started his run as a heel. After the act an infuriated Owen accused his brother of being selfish and holding him down. Owen admitted that it felt good to take out his brother. The two brothers faced off for the first time at WrestleMania X, where Owen cleanly pinned his older brother. Later in the evening, Bret won the WWF Title while Owen stood by and watched in jealousy as Bret celebrated in the ring. Owen won the King of the Ring Tournament with Jim Neidhart’s help. After the victory, Owen took the nickname “The King of Harts."

Owen and Bret feuded throughout the summer of 1994, clashing many times both in singles and later in tag team matches (with Bret joined by the returning British Bulldog). Two matches stand out in this feud: first, their Steel Cage match at SummerSlam which Bret won. This match later recevied a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer. The second was a lumberjack match on August 17 that Owen initially won and was announced as World champion; Bret won the match after it was ordered to continue due to interference. At the Survivor Series, Owen struck the most damaging blow against his brother as he conned his own mother Helen to throw in the towel for Bret. The ploy cost Bret the world title to Bob Backlund. Owen also prevented Bret from regaining the title at the Royal Rumble in 1995 when he interfered in the match between Bret and new champion Diesel. In the weeks after the Rumble, Bret and Owen clashed again with Bret soundly defeating his brother, thus putting an end to their feud for the time being.

Owen rebounded from the loss to Bret by winning the WWF Tag Team title from The Smoking Gunns at WrestleMania XI. Owen, who was joined by a "Mystery Partner," had challenged the Gunns to a title match; the partner turned out to be former world champion Yokozuna. After the victory Owen took Jim Cornette as his manager, who already managed Yokozuna. The team defended the title for 5 months until they lost them to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at In Your House 3. They would briefly hold the title a second time when the belts were handed back to them before the Smoking Gunns regained the title. Owen and Yokozuna would continue to team off and on until the end of the year.
Team with The British Bulldog (1996–1997)
Main article: Owen Hart and The British Bulldog

In 1995, Owen's brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith turned heel and joined the Camp Cornette stable. During the summer of 1996 the two brothers in law started to team up more and more, sometimes alongside Vader who was also a member of Camp Cornette. Owen was also a color commentator for the 1996 King of the Ring (exhibiting clear partisan support for Vader and Smith) and during this time wore a cast on his right forearm for several months, feigning a nagging injury to subsequently use his cast as a weapon during his matches.

In September 1996, Bulldog and Hart earned a pay-per-view shot at the tag team title at In Your House 10. Owen and Bulldog left with the gold after defeating the Smoking Gunns. They also left with a new manager as Clarence Mason had conned Jim Cornette into signing over the contracts of the new champions. Signs of dissension, however, slowly started to show. One occasion where this was evident was at the Royal Rumble when Hart accidentally eliminated Bulldog. After the Rumble, Bulldog fired Mason, something which did not sit well with Hart. Another bone of contention between the two was the newly created WWF European Championship; both men had fought their way to the finals to crown the first champion with Bulldog coming out as the victor.

After retaining the tag team title against the Headbangers by disqualification on the March 24, 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw, the tension between the two bubbled over. An incensed Hart demanded a shot at Bulldog’s European title the next week. The match was booked for March 31; on the night, the two went at it with such intensity that many thought the tag team champions had finally gone their separate ways. Then in a shocking moment, the recently turned heel Bret Hart appeared at ringside and stopped the match. Bret appealed to both Owen and Bulldog, talking about the importance of family. They agreed to put their differences aside and join with Bret to form the new Hart Foundation, an anti-American stable that also included Hart in-law Jim Neidhart and Hart family friend Brian Pillman.
The Hart Foundation (1997–1998)
Main article: The Hart Foundation

After forming the Hart Foundation, Owen quickly gained singles gold of his own as he pinned Rocky Maivia to win his first WWF Intercontinental title. This meant that the Hart Foundation held every WWF title except the World title, cementing their dominance over the federation. It was not all success for Owen, though, as he and the British Bulldog lost their tag team title to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. The team also failed to regain them when Michaels got injured and was replaced by Dude Love. At SummerSlam the Owen/Austin feud took a nasty turn as a botched piledriver ended up injuring Austin’s neck. Owen lost his Intercontinental title to Austin that night. Because of the neck injury, Austin was not allowed to compete and was stripped of the title. Although it was an accident, the WWF decided to make it part of the storyline as Owen began wearing a t-shirt patterned after Austin's that read "Owen 3:16/I Just Broke Your Neck".

Hart fought his way to the finals of the tournament to crown the next Intercontinental champion and was set to face Faarooq at In Your House: Bad Blood. Owen beat Faarooq with Austin’s help. Afterward, Austin explained that he wanted to beat Hart for the title when he returned and would not allow Faarooq or anyone else to beat him. His wish came true when Austin returned to action at Survivor Series in Montreal. At the event, Owen lost his title to Austin once again. Later that night, the Montreal Screwjob took place. Bret left the Federation after the event and both the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart were granted quick releases from their contracts to jump to WCW. This left Owen as the only Hart family member remaining in the WWF, due to his contractual obligations. Unlike Smith and Neidhart, Vince McMahon did not grant Owen a release from his contract and Owen remained with the company.
The Nation of Domination (1998)
Main article: Nation of Domination

Hart was not seen or mentioned on WWF programming until he made a surprise appearance after Shawn Michaels retained his title following a disqualification loss to Ken Shamrock at In Your House: D-Generation X where he attacked Michaels. Now a fan favorite, but with a new edgy, antisocial attitude, Hart became known as "The Lone Hart" and also "The Black Hart". Owen had a feud with DX and won the European title from Triple H, although not directly. Goldust dressed up as Triple H in an attempt to swerve Hart, but Commissioner Slaughter considered him to be a legitimate replacement. Hart later suffered a kayfabe ankle injury during a match involving Triple H. When Hart joined the commentary at ringside, Triple H managed to draw Owen into an impromptu title match and regained the title in a controversial fashion.

Four weeks after WrestleMania, during a tag team match with Ken Shamrock against D'Lo Brown and Rocky Maivia (later known as The Rock), Hart turned on Shamrock, "snapping" his ankle and "biting his ear" in the process. After the attack on Shamrock, Hart joined the Nation of Domination, claiming that “Enough is enough and it’s time for a change". The Nation’s first big feud after Hart joined was against DX. It was during this feud that D-Generation X parodied the Nation of Domination. The imitation was complete with Jason Sensation dressing up as Hart and coining the phrase “I am not a nugget"; this was in response to Shawn Michaels referring to Owen as a nugget of feces sticking to the side of a toilet bowl, and no matter how many times Shawn Michaels flushed, it kept sticking around and he was unable to get rid of it. "Nugget" became a derisive term that followed Hart for the rest of his career. Hart’s participation in the DX feud was sidetracked when Shamrock returned from injuries dead set on getting revenge on Hart. The two split a pair of specialty matches on pay-per-view, but nothing was ever conclusively settled between them.
Hart and Jeff Jarrett (1998–1999)

Hart remained with the Nation throughout the year until the stable slowly dissolved. After SummerSlam, he teamed with Jeff Jarrett. Hart and Jarrett had Jarrett's manager Debra in their corner. During this time a storyline was proposed that Hart was supposed to have an on-screen affair with Debra, something which Owen turned down.

After a match in which Hart “accidentally injured" Dan Severn, he seemingly quit the WWF. Playing off the legitimate injury Hart had inflicted on Austin the year before, the angle blurred the lines between reality and “storyline". Yet as soon as Hart “quit", the Blue Blazer appeared in the WWF claiming to in no way be Hart despite it being very obvious who was under the mask. Unlike the first run of the character, the Blazer was now an overbearing, self-righteous heel who treated the edgy Attitude Era WWF with disdain. Hart and Jarrett ended up making the storyline comical. To prove that Hart was not the Blazer, he showed up beside the Blue Blazer, who was a masked Jarrett. In a later attempt to prove that neither Hart or Jarrett was the Blazer, they both appeared next to a man in the Blue Blazer mask; however, it was obvious that a black man was under the mask (Hart's former tag team partner Koko B. Ware). On January 25, 1999, in the midst of the Blue Blazer angle Hart and Jarrett defeated Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man for the tag team title. They continued to team together until Hart's death in May during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event. Owen was referenced on a 2010 edition of RAW where Bret Hart wore a T-Shirt depicting Owen's face.
Personal life

He met Martha Joan Patterson in 1982. They married on July 1, 1989, and they had two children. Oje Edward Hart was born on March 5, 1992 and Athena Christie Hart was born on September 23, 1995.
Death

On May 23, 1999, Hart fell to his death in Kansas City, Missouri during the Over the Edge pay-per-view event. Hart was in the process of being lowered via harness and grapple line into the ring from the rafters of Kemper Arena for a booked Intercontinental Championship match against The Godfather. In keeping with the Blazer's new "buffoonish superhero" character, he was to begin a dramatic entrance, being lowered to just above ring level, at which time he would act "entangled", then release himself from the safety harness and fall flat on his face for comedic effect—this necessitated the use of a quick release mechanism. It was an elaboration on a Blue Blazer stunt done previously on the Sunday Night Heat before Survivor Series in 1998.

This time, however, something went wrong with the stunt harness, apparently triggering the release mechanism early as he was being lowered. Hart fell 78 feet (24 m) into the ring, landing chest-first on the top rope, approximately a foot from the nearest turnbuckle, throwing him into the ring. Following the fall, a dazed Hart managed to sit up in the ring, before losing consciousness. According to Bret Hart's autobiography, Hitman, at Over the Edge, Owen had initially planned to descend from the rafters with a midget wrestler scissored between his legs. Had this been the case, both men would likely have been killed. The idea was nixed only hours before the event.

Hart had performed the stunt only a few times before and was worried about performing the stunt at the Kemper Arena due to the height involved. Hart's wife Martha has suggested that, by moving around to get comfortable with both the harness and his cape on, Hart unintentionally triggered an early release. TV viewers at home did not see the incident or its aftermath—at the moment of the fall, a pre-taped vignette was being shown on the pay-per-view broadcast as well as on the monitors in the darkened arena. After, while Hart was being worked on by medical personnel inside the ring, the live event's broadcast showed only the audience. Meanwhile, WWF television announcer Jim Ross repeatedly told those watching live on pay-per-view that what had just transpired was not a wrestling angle or storyline and that Hart was hurt badly, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation. Hart was transported to Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival; some believe he died in the ring. The cause was later revealed to be internal bleeding from a severed aorta.
Controversy and lawsuit

The WWF management controversially chose to continue the event, though they were unaware of the severity of Hart's injury at that time. Later, Jim Ross announced the death of Hart to the home viewers during the pay-per-view, but not to the crowd in the arena. While the show did go on, it has never been released commercially by WWF Home Video, and to this date no footage of Hart's fall has ever been officially released. In the weeks that followed, much attention was focused on the harness Hart used that night, especially on the "quick release" trigger and safety latches. When someone is lowered from the rafters in a harness, there are backup latches that must be latched for safety purposes. These backups may take some time to unlatch, which would have made Hart's stunt difficult to perform smoothly. Therefore, it was apparently decided that it was more important not to have the safety backups, because it would be easier for Hart to unlatch himself.

Three weeks after the event, the Hart family sued the WWF over how dangerous and poorly planned the stunt was, and that the harness system was defective. After over a year and a half into the case, a settlement was reached on November 2, 2000, which saw the WWF give the Hart family $18 million that was distributed among the Hart family. The manufacturer of the harness system was also a defendant against the Hart family, but they were dismissed from the case after the settlement was reached. Martha used the funds to establish the Owen Hart Foundation. Martha wrote a book about Hart's life in 2002 called Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart.

In his DVD set Bret "Hit Man" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be, Bret said that he wishes he had been with the WWF the night Owen's accident happened.

Another controversy is the 2010 WWE Over The Limit PPV where it is being held on the date May 23rd (the date of Owen's death) and Edge is on the poster, resulting in Over The Edge(poster picture).
Raw is Owen

Raw is Owen is the name given to a special live episode of WWF Raw is War that aired on May 24, 1999, the night after Hart's death. It was broadcast live from the Kiel Center in St. Louis. It featured shoot interviews from his fellow wrestlers. According to Raw Exposed (a special that aired before the first Raw airing on its return to USA Network on October 3, 2005), WWF management gave all wrestlers on the roster the option of working or not. Nevertheless, ten matches were booked with no angles.

The show began with all the wrestlers of the WWF (except the Undertaker) standing on the entrance ramp; Vince, Linda, and Stephanie McMahon were at the front of the ramp. Howard Finkel called for a ten-bell salute. Hart's former Nation of Domination comrades were emotional, most notably Mark Henry, who read a poem that he wrote in memory of Hart. A tribute video narrated by Vince then played on the Titan Tron. Throughout the broadcast, personal thoughts on Hart in the form of shoot interviews with various WWF Superstars were played. Before the first commercial break, such thoughts were aired from Mick Foley and Bradshaw. Foley noted that Hart was his son's favorite wrestler and had proudly gotten a haircut like Owen's, although he also said his son did not quite understand that "nugget" was not a term of endearment. Bradshaw talked about how Hart spent less money on the road than most wrestlers because he wanted to retire early and spend time with his family. Owen's friend and Nation of Domination partner The Rock also made a short speech. The broadcast ended with Steve Austin coming out for a special salute to Hart by climbing the turnbuckle and performing his famous beer guzzling routine, and leaving one beer in the ring 'for Owen'.

The tribute show scored a Nielsen ratings score of 7.2, making it one of the highest rated shows in Raw history. Shawn Michaels, in his Heartbreak and Triumph autobiography, notes that "Owen is the only guy you could have a 2-hour show for, and no-one would say a bad word about him." The next day, WWF taped the episode of Raw for May 31, 1999. During that show, Jeff Jarrett defeated The Godfather to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, the title Hart was booked to win at Over the Edge for the third time. Jarrett screamed Hart's name as the belt was handed to him.
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad221/princessstyles/owen.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v357/flipdayarcade/owen_kotr.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/23/10 at 7:06 am

Thanks Ninny and tonight's Over the Limit PPV and it was 11 years ago today that Owen Hart passed away,I wonder if something tragic is going to happen tonight?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/23/10 at 7:08 am


The word of the day...Game(s)
A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational  tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong solitaire, or some Video Games).

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role. According to Chris Crawford, the requirement for player interaction puts activities such as jigsaw puzzles and solitaire "games" into the category of puzzles rather than games.

Attested as early as 2600 BC, games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg264/jew-lee-uhh/photography/games.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll7/DONNA55122/COMMODORE/games.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss70/cgoetze/games/princeofpersiatheforgottensands.png
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss70/cgoetze/games/sbkxsuperbikeworldchampionship.png
http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae347/standrewsepiscopal/100_2165.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/CloneTrooperX/Game%20Boxes/DSCF2862.jpg



I love games.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/10 at 7:24 am


Thanks Ninny and tonight's Over the Limit PPV and it was 11 years ago today that Owen Hart passed away,I wonder if something tragic is going to happen tonight?  ???

Your welcome and lets hope nothing tragic like that never happens again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/23/10 at 7:25 am


Your welcome and lets hope nothing tragic like that never happens again.


I hope not.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/23/10 at 11:17 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BR6NJlk1_A



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/10 at 3:45 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BR6NJlk1_A



Cat

Good song :)
Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/23/10 at 4:06 pm


Good song :)
Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel



Love that song, too.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/23/10 at 7:26 pm


Good song :)
Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel


What an interesting video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/23/10 at 11:33 pm


Good song :)
Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel

Jeux sans Frontieres  (which is what the girls sing in the background. It means "Games without frontiers" in French)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/24/10 at 7:04 am


Jeux sans Frontieres  (which is what the girls sing in the background. It means "Games without frontiers" in French)


I thought the video was kind of creepy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/10 at 9:34 am


I thought the video was kind of creepy.

It was original as was a lot of Peter Gabriel videos.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/10 at 9:40 am

The word of the day...Marmalade
For other uses, see Marmalade (disambiguation).
Seville orange marmalade

Marmalade is a fruit preserve, made from the peel of citrus fruits, sugar, and water. The traditional citrus fruit for marmalade production is the "Seville orange" from Spain, Citrus aurantium var. aurantium, thus called because it was originally only made in Seville in Spain; it is higher in pectin than sweet oranges, and therefore gives a good set. The peel has a distinctive bitter taste which it imparts to the marmalade. Marmalade can be made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, sweet oranges or any combination thereof. For example, California-style marmalade is made from the peel of sweet oranges and consequently lacks the bitter taste of Spanish style marmalade.

In languages other than English, marmalade can mean preserves made with fruit other than citrus. For example, in Spanish all preserves are known generically as mermelada (There is no distinction made between jam, jelly, preserves or marmalade).

The recipe for marmalade includes sliced or chopped fruit peel simmered in sugar, fruit juice and water until soft; indeed marmalade is sometimes described as jam with fruit peel (although manufacturers also produce peel-free marmalade). Marmalade is often eaten on toast for breakfast.
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac321/FromGrandmaspantry/Products/100_2769.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d86/jerm331/Marmalade.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r1/geetar_guy1973/edi-orange-marmalade.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f254/fishguy20/lady_marmalade.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii184/whbrawer/COTA%202010/marmalade.jpg
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp306/pabs012/Album%202/Marmalade.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm220/AnnaMollyMadison/Marmalade/Marmaladecalamari.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/10 at 9:44 am

The person born on this day...Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), best known by her stage name of Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and actress. She fronted two groups, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, which received minor success on the pop charts in the 1960s, and Labelle, which received acclaim and a mainstream breakthrough in 1974 with their song "Lady Marmalade". She went on to have a solo recording career, earning another U.S. #1 single in 1986 with "On My Own," a duet with Michael McDonald.

She is renowned for her passionate stage performances, wide vocal range and distinctive high-octave belting. Her biography, Don't Block the Blessings, remained at the top of the The New York Times best-seller list for several weeks. She has reportedly sold over 50 million records worldwide.
LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry Holt, a railroad worker, and Bertha Robinson Holt, a housewife.  The third of four sisters (and the fourth of five, the Holts also had one son), Holt began singing at church at an earlier age. During an audition for a school play, a teacher advised Holt to form a singing group.

Holt, who was nicknamed "Patsy" by friends and family, formed a four-member girl group called the Ordettes in 1959. In 1960, when two of the original Ordettes left, Holte and fellow Ordette Sandra Tucker brought in singers Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, from a recently defunct rival group. When Tucker's family made Sandra leave the group, she was replaced by hometown friend Cindy Birdsong. With her mother's blessings, Patti left high school to tour with the Ordettes. The group was managed by Bernard Montague and toured from local nightclubs to honky tonks and truck stops.

During an audition with Newtown Records, the Ordettes almost didn't get a recording contract because Holt, who was the lead singer was considered "too plain, too dark and unattractive" until she sang for him. Afterwards, he suggested a name change for Holt. Add to the irony after his initial disappointment of Holt, the surname LaBelle was French for "the beautiful". Signing them in 1961, the boss also changed the name of the group to The Bluebelles, named initially after a Newtown subsidiary (Bluebelle Records), which later led to threats of a lawsuit over another girl group's manager. The name was altered to Patti LaBelle and Her Bluebelles in 1963 and changed slightly to Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles two years later.
Group career: 1962 - 1977
Main article: Labelle

The Bluebelles' first single, "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", was actually recorded by The Starlets and was released as a Bluebelles single due to contract obligations the Starlets had with their own label, Pam Records. Credited to Patti's group, the song peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. Going out on the road, the group became a successful draw on the chitlin' circuit, mainly earning national fame at The Apollo Theater where they became "Apollo Sweethearts". The group enjoyed a modestly successful recording career, which included top 40 recordings such as their gospel-styled doo-wop renditions of traditional songs such as "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Danny Boy". In 1963, their ballad "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)" became a top 40 hit. In 1965, after recording for Newtown and Cameo-Parkway, the group landed a stint at Atlantic Records gaining some modest success recording Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", a song LaBelle would record as a soloist over a decade later and which later became a concert staple in LaBelle's shows since. The group also recorded the modest pop hit, "All or Nothing". The group also sung background for Wilson Pickett's hit "634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.)" while with Atlantic. In 1967, Cindy Birdsong shocked the group when she left to replace Florence Ballard of The Supremes. The abrupt exit caused friction between the group members and LaBelle wouldn't speak to Birdsong again in nearly 20 years.

During the late 1960s, the Bluebelles toured England where they had a local following. Elton John met LaBelle in the mid-1960s when he and his group Bluesology played background for the Bluebelles during their UK gigs. In 1970, the Bluebelles were dropped from Atlantic and also lost their manager Montague,who had signed Philadelphia's "Delfonics". The group almost signed with DJ promoters Frankie Crocker and Herb Hamlett, but Hamlett left the industry for a law career, leaving the group to eventually hire Dusty Springfield's manager Vicki Wickham, she advised the group to revive their image and sound. Though LaBelle admitted having difficulty with the change, she eventually agreed after her two band mates, including Nona Hendryx, convinced her the move would bring popularity to the group. Returning to America the following year, they changed their name to Labelle and released their self-titled debut on Warner Bros. Records. The same year, they gained a cult following after opening for The Who and appeared as backup for Laura Nyro's accomplished album, Gonna Take a Miracle. After releasing two more transitional albums, including 1972's Moon Shadow and 1973's Pressure Cookin', which had the group recording more political affair including a famed remake of Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". In 1973, the group was asked to change their look again, after discovering the success of glam rockers David Bowie and T-Rex, to glammed-up wardrobe. In time, the group's trademark wear included pieces of silver (LaBelle herself began wearing silver-haired wigs and knee-high silver boots).

In September 1974, after two weeks in New Orleans, Labelle released their landmark album, Nightbirds, which successfully mixed glam rock and soul with funk elements. Their biggest hit, "Lady Marmalade", became their very first number-one hit, and the group went on a successful national tour that started with a rave performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, where they became the first contemporary pop group to open there and the first African American group to perform there. The group advised fans to "wear something silver" during the famed event. In 1975, Labelle became the first black vocal group to land a cover on Rolling Stone. The group founded some commercial and critical success with the releases of rockier efforts such as Phoenix and Chameleon, famed for the feminist funk classic, "Get You Somebody New" and Patti's magnum opus, a cover of Randy Edelman's rock ballad, "Isn't It a Shame" though it didn't match up with the success of Nightbirds. After failing to come to terms with musical direction, the group agreed to split up in early 1977 for solo careers.
Solo career
Early solo career: 1977 - 1982

LaBelle released her self-titled debut in 1977 on Epic Records, which featured the top twenty R&B dance single, "Joy to Have Your Love" and the modestly-charted gospel ballad, "You Are My Friend", which she co-wrote and dedicated to her son. The album received critical acclaim but didn't give LaBelle any commercial success. Other albums such as 1978's Tasty 1979's It's Alright with Me, 1980's Released and 1981's The Spirit's in It, which included her now classic solo cover of her old Bluebelles single, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", also failed to chart successfully. On July 21, 1979, she appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley, Dick Gregory and Eddie Palmieri, among others. That same year, she cut a performance for Richard Pryor's Wanted concert film though her scenes were cut. In 1980, she scored a Dutch top twenty hit and a modest U.S. dance hit with "Release (The Tension)". Three years later, in 1982, LaBelle and singer Al Green participated in the revival of the successful Broadway play, "Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God". That same year she also appeared in a televised play that aired on PBS. That same year, she recorded the hit ballad, "The Best is Yet to Come", which she was featured on by Grover Washington, Jr. The song reached number fourteen on the R&B chart and garnered LaBelle her first solo Grammy Award nomination.
Successful period: 1983 - 2000

LaBelle didn't start to experience commercial solo success until 1983 when she released her first charted hit album, I'm in Love Again, which featured LaBelle's first #1 R&B and top fifty pop hit with "If Only You Knew" and two subsequent top 10 R&B hits including "I'm in Love Again" and "Love, Need and Want You." The album became her first solo release to be certified gold. In 1984, LaBelle recorded the songs "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up" for the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Both songs became mainstays on pop radio with "New Attitude" reaching the pop top 20. During this period, LaBelle began dressing as flamboyantly as she did during the Labelle days in an effort to carve out an original persona. LaBelle's appearances on Motown Returns to the Apollo and the Live Aid concerts of 1985 introduced her to a new audience. That same year, LaBelle was granted her first television special, which became highly rated, featuring Cyndi Lauper, Bill Cosby and Luther Vandross. LaBelle's popularity increased further in 1986 with the release of her best-selling album to date, Winner in You. The album yielded her first solo #1, "On My Own" with pop balladeer Michael McDonald, the Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Oh, People," the moderate R&B chart hit, "Kiss Away The Pain" and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart hit, "Something Special Is Gonna Happen Tonight."

LaBelle scored a moderate R&B and pop chart hit with the Diane Warren ballad, "If You Asked Me To," in 1989. The song peaked at #10 on the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts. It was later covered by Céline Dion in 1992, with striking similarity in arrangement, key and vocal styling. Dion's version peaked at #1 on both the Pop & A/C charts. In an interview with the online magazine Monaco Revue Patti claimed racism in the music industry was responsible for the difference in record sales, and revealed that accepting this was the most difficult obstacle she had to face in her career. Featured off LaBelle's album, Be Yourself, the album spawned a top ten single with the Prince-produced "Yo Mister".

In 1991, LaBelle released the gold-selling Burnin' album, which helped her win her first Grammy Award -- tying with vocalist Lisa Fischer for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance. Burnin' featured the top five R&B hits "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)", "When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)" and "Feels Like Another One." This album is also notable because it includes the first Labelle reunion recording with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, singing on "Release Yourself". The trio reunited again as Labelle in 1995 for the recording of the dance song, "Turn It Out", which hit number-one on the dance singles chart. Success continued with subsequent albums like 1994's Gems (featuring the hit "The Right Kinda Lover"), 1997's Flame (featuring the hit "When You Talk About Love"), and 1998's Live One Night Only winning LaBelle her a second Grammy (this time, without tying).

During this period, LaBelle had a recurring role as Adele Wayne (mother of Dwayne Wayne) in the NBC sitcom A Different World and also starred in her own sitcom, Out All Night playing a club owner and former R&B star named Chelsea Paige, which debuted in 1992 and canceled in 1993 after 19 episodes. In January 1995, La Belle performed at the Super Bowl XXIX halftime show, with Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval and the Miami Sound Machine, in a program entitled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye", to promote the upcoming Disney theme park attraction.
Later career and current work: 2000 - present

In 2000, LaBelle released her final album for the MCA label. When a Woman Loves features a collection of ballads written entirely by songwriter Diane Warren. LaBelle also announced her divorce from her only husband, Armstead, who had been her manager for 30 years. Four years would pass before LaBelle released a new album under Island Def Jam with the album, Timeless Journey, which saw LaBelle adding a modern hip-hop flavor to her brand of classic R&B. The album featured the modest hit "A New Day", which became a dance hit and also became her highest-charted album in nearly twenty years reaching number-sixteen on the Billboard 200. LaBelle's 2005 follow-up, a covers album, Classic Moments, was released. Despite the modest success, LaBelle battled against Def Jam president Antonio "L.A." Reid over the album's promotion and abruptly left the label.

In 2006, LaBelle issued her oft-promised gospel album on an independent label titled The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle was released. As a promotion, all copies sold at the retailer, Wal-Mart, contained a bonus track, "The Lord's Prayer". The album debuted at #86 on the Billboard 200, #17 on the R&B chart and peaked at #1 on the Gospel chart. A year later, LaBelle re-signed with Def Jam Records after Reid began re-negotiated terms with LaBelle. The new Def Jam release was her second holiday album called, Miss Patti's Christmas, released in 2007.

The year 2008 saw Patti LaBelle reunite with Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash to release their first full album in thirty-two years with the Verve Records release, Back to Now. The collection blended newly recorded tracks with songs recorded before the initial break-up of Labelle. "Superlover", a single from the album, peaked at number sixty-seven on the R&B chart in early 2009. Musician Wyclef Jean also lent his songwriting and producing talents to the ultra-contemporary track, "Roll Out". Other producers involved in the album included superstar black rocker Lenny Kravitz, plus legendary classic Philadelphia soul producer/writers Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff.

In June 2009 LaBelle was honored at New York's Harlem Apollo Theater after she was inducted to the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame by admirers such as pop stars Mariah Carey and Prince. After she was inducted, LaBelle said, "The Apollo is a national treasure, I'm overwhelmed and honored to be recognized on this stage." In 2010, LaBelle contributed to the soundtrack of the movie, Cop Out, with the song "Soul Brother", featuring a reunion with her "Stir It Up" producer Harold Faltermeyer. LaBelle is currently at work on a brand new album with Island Def Jam that will be scheduled for release this year.
Discography
Main article: Patti LaBelle discography
See also

    * List of number-one dance hits (United States)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

Selective awards and recognition
Grammy history
Patti LaBelle Grammy Award History
Year Category Title Genre Result
2004 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance "New Day" R&B Nominee
2003 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance "Way Up There" R&B Nominee
2003 Grammy Hall of Fame "Lady Marmalade" R&B Inducted
1998 Traditional R&B Vocal Performance Live! One Night Only R&B Winner
1997 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "When You Talk About Love" R&B Nominee
Best R&B Album Flame R&B Nominee
1993 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "All Right Now (live)" R&B Nominee
1991 Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group "Superwoman" (with Gladys Knight & Dionne Warwick) R&B Nominee
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Burnin' R&B Winner
1990 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "I Can't Complain" R&B Nominee
1986 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Winner in You R&B Nominee
Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group "On My Own" (with Michael McDonald) Pop Nominee
1985 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "New Attitude" R&B Nominee
1983 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "The Best Is Yet to Come" R&B Nominee
Other Awards
Patti LaBelle Awards
Year Category Title Result Notes
2006 Best Actress - Television, Movie, Miniseries or Dramatic Special NAACP Image Awards Nominee Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy
2006 Best Gospel Artist NAACP Image Awards Nominee
2004 Best Female Artist NAACP Image Awards Nominee
2003 Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award Songwriter's Hall of Fame *Winner*
2001 Lena Horne Lifetime Achievement Award Lady of Soul Awards *Winner*
1998 Best Performance - Variety Series/Special NAACP Image Awards *Winner* Live! One Night Only
1996 Best Performance - Variety Series/Special NAACP Image Awards *Winner* The Essence Awards
1995 Heritage Award - Career Achievement Soul Train Music Awards *Winner*
1992 Favorite Rhythm and Blues/Soul Artist, Female American Music Awards *Winner*
1986 Favorite Rhythm and Blues/Soul Artist, Female American Music Awards Nominee
1986 Outstanding Individual Performance, Variety or Music Program Emmy Awards Nominee Sylvia Fine Kaye's Musical Comedy Tonight III
Tours

    * 1985: Look To The Rainbow Tour
    * 1986-1987: Winner In You Tour
    * 1991: Burnin' Tour
    * 1995: Gems Tour
    * 1997-1998: Flame Tour
    * 2000: When a Woman Loves Tour
    * 2005: Timeless Journey Tour
    * 2006: Classic Moments Tour
    * 2008: Divas with Heart Tour (w/Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and Diana Ross)
    * 2008/2009: Back to Now Tour (w/Labelle)

Filmography

    * 1979: Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (documentary) (scenes deleted)
    * 1984: A Soldier's Story
    * 1986: Unnatural Causes
    * 1989: Sing
    * 1990: A Different World
    * 1994: The Nanny
    * 2002: Sylvester: Mighty Real (short subject)
    * 2005: Preaching to the Choir
    * 2006: Idlewild
    * 2007: Cover
    * 2008: Semi-Pro
    * 2010: Mama, I Want to Sing!

Music video

    * Going Home to Gospel with Patti Labelle (1991) with Albertina Walker ("Queen of Gospel"), Barrett Sisters, Ricky Dillard and many more.

TV talkshow music appearances

    * An Evening With The Stars: A Tribute to Patti Labelle
    * Oprah show (Oprah's 40 Birthday) with Aretha Franklin & Gladys Knight, singing their rendition of Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman
    * Dolly Parton show
    * The View talk show
    * The Arsenio Hall Show
    * The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
    * The 1998 ALMA Awards
    * The Tyra Banks Show talk show
    * The Wendy Williams Show talk show
    * The Puzzle Place Jim Hinson puppet show
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/robinsonwc_2007/Patti%20Labelle/pattilabelle.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/robinsonwc_2007/Patti%20Labelle/pattilabelle-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/24/10 at 9:52 am

Always lifts my spirits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWfZ5SZZ4xE



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/10 at 9:52 am

The person who died on this day...Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark (born Tipton, Missouri, November 17, 1944  - May 24, 1991) was an American  singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds.

Gene Clark is best remembered for being The Byrds' main songwriter between 1964 and 1966. He created a large catalogue of music in several genres but failed to achieve solo commercial success. Clark was one of the earliest exponents of psychedelic rock, baroque pop, newgrass, country rock and alternative country.
Born in Tipton, Missouri, the third of thirteen children, Clark began learning the guitar from his father at age nine and was soon picking out Hank Williams tunes as well as material by early rockers such as Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers. Before long he was writing his own songs and, at 13, joined a local Rock and roll combo, Joe Meyers and the Sharks. Like many of his generation, Clark developed an interest in folk music because of the popularity of the Kingston Trio. Clark graduated from Bonner Springs High School in Bonner Springs, Kansas in 1962.
Formation of The Byrds

He began performing with several folk groups working out of Kansas City at the Castaways Lounge, owned by Hal Harbaum, where he was discovered by the New Christy Minstrels, in August 1963, who hired him for their ensemble and with whom he remained for six months. After hearing the Beatles, Clark quit the Christys and moved to Los Angeles where he met fellow folkie/Beatles convert Jim (later Roger) McGuinn at the Troubadour Club and in early 1964 they began to assemble a band that would become The Byrds.

Gene Clark wrote or co-wrote many of The Byrds' best-known originals, including: "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "Set You Free This Time", "Here Without You", "If You're Gone", "The World Turns All Around Her", "She Don't Care About Time" and "Eight Miles High". He played harmonica for the band, too (notably on "Set You Free This Time"). Bassist Chris Hillman noted years later in various interviews remembering Gene: "People don't give enough credit to Gene Clark. He came up with the most incredible lyrics. I don't think I appreciated Gene Clark as a songwriter until the last two years. He was awesome! He was heads above us! Roger wrote some great songs then, but Gene was coming up with lyrics that were way beyond what he was. He wasn't a well-read man in that sense, but he would come up with these beautiful phrases. A very poetic man--very, very productive. He would write two or three great songs a week". "He was the songwriter. He had the "gift" that none of the rest of us had developed yet.... What deep inner part of his soul conjured up songs like "Set You Free This Time," "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better," "I'm Feelin' Higher," "Eight Miles High"? So many great songs! We learned a lot of songwriting from him and in the process learned a little bit about ourselves. At one time, he was the power in the Byrds, not McGuinn, not Crosby—it was Gene who would burst through the stage curtain banging on a tambourine, coming on like a young Prince Valiant. A hero, our savior. Few in the audience could take their eyes off this presence."

A management decision delivered the lead vocal duties to McGuinn for their major singles and Dylan covers. This disappointment, combined with Clark's dislike of traveling (including a chronic fear of flying) and resentment by other band members about the extra income he derived from his songwriting, led to internal squabbling and he left the group in early 1966. He briefly returned to Kansas City before moving back to Los Angeles to form Gene Clark & the Group with Chip Douglas, Joel Larson, and Bill Rhinehart.
Solo career and rejoining The Byrds

Columbia Records, (the Byrds' record label), signed Clark as a solo artist and, in 1967, he released his first solo LP, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, a mixture of pop, country rock and baroque-psychedelic tracks—Chris Hillman had worked with the Gosdin brothers in the mid 1960s when he and they were members of the Southern California bluegrass band called The Hillmen. The record received favorable reviews but unfortunately for Clark, it was released almost simultaneously with the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday, also on Columbia, and (partly due to his 18 month-long public absence) was a commercial failure. With the future of his solo career in doubt, Clark briefly rejoined the Byrds in 1967 as a replacement for the recently-departed David Crosby but left after only 3 weeks following a panic attack in Minneapolis.

In 1968, Clark signed with the artist-friendly A&M Records and began a collaboration with Laramy Smith, forming Phoenix. Group members included Aron Vanderwhort on bass and Wayne Bruns on drums. They recorded a number of songs, including "Los Angeles", composed by Al Purdy, Laramy Smith and Gene Clark, and produced by Laramy Smith, which later featured on the Flying High double CD released on A&M in 1998. In 1969 Phoenix disbanded when Smith and Clark could not agree on a common style. Smith went on to form Arizona with Sneaky Pete of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Following the breakup, Clark formed Dillard & Clark with banjo player Doug Dillard. With guitarist Bernie Leadon (formerly of Scottsville Squirrel Barkers with Chris Hillman and later with The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles), they produced two country rock and bluegrass-flavored albums: The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark and Through the Morning Through the Night, both of which fared poorly on the charts but were praised by critics. In 1969 a single was released, "Lyin Down The Middle", a Smith and Clark composition, which reached number 3 in California. Through the Morning, Through the Night was more bluegrass in character than its predecessor, used electric instrumentation and included Donna Washburn (Dillard's girlfriend) as a backing vocalist, all of which contributed to the departure of Bernie Leadon. The loss of Leadon as a co-writer meant that the album featured more covers than originals, and the change of musical direction caused Clark to lose faith in the group, which disbanded in late 1969. Dillard & Clark, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Buffalo Springfield, Poco, The Byrds and Laramy Smith can be credited as prime influences on later country rock performers such as The Eagles, Pure Prairie League and Firefall.

In 1970, Clark began work on a new single, recording two tracks with the original members of the Byrds (each recording his part separately). The resulting songs, "She's the Kind of Girl" and "One in a Hundred", were not released at the time due to legal problems and were included later on Roadmaster. Frustrated with the music industry, Clark bought a home at Albion near Mendocino, married, and fathered two children while living off his still substantial Byrds royalties.

In 1970 and 1971, Clark contributed vocals and two compositions ("Tried So Hard" and "Here Tonight") to albums by the Flying Burrito Brothers.
White Light

It wasn't until 1971 that a further Gene Clark solo set finally emerged. The album was titled White Light on the actual record, although the fact that the name was not included on the cover sleeve led some later reviewers to assume mistakenly that it was titled 'Gene Clark'. The record was produced by the much sought after Native American guitarist Jesse Ed Davis with whom Clark developed great rapport, partly due to their common Indian ancestry. A largely-acoustic work supplemented by slide guitar work by Davis, the album contained many introspective tracks such as "With Tomorrow", "Because of You", " Where My Love Lies Asleep" and "For a Spanish Guitar" (supposedly hailed by Bob Dylan as a song he would have been proud to compose). All of the material was written by Clark, with the exception of the Dylan number "Tears of Rage". Launched to considerable critical acclaim, the LP failed to gain commercial success, except in the Netherlands where it was also voted album of the year by rock music critics. Once more, Clark's refusal to undertake promotional touring adversely affected sales.

In the spring of 1971, Clark was commissioned by Dennis Hopper to contribute the tracks "American Dreamer" and "Outlaw Song" to Hopper's film project, American Dreamer.

A re-recorded, longer version of the song "American Dreamer" was later used in the 1977 film The Farmer, along with an instrumental version of the same song plus "Outside the Law (The Outlaw)" (a re-recording of "Outlaw Song").

In 1972, Clark assembled a backing group consisting of highly accomplished country rock musicians to accompany him on a further album with A&M. Progress was slow and expensive and the project was terminated before completion by A&M. The resulting eight tracks, together with those recorded with The Byrds in 1970/71 and another with The Flying Burrito Brothers ("Here Tonight"), were belatedly released as Roadmaster in the Netherlands only.

In 1972, the Dillard & Clark song "Through The Morning Through The Night" was used in Quincy Jones's soundtrack of the Sam Peckinpah movie The Getaway.
Byrds

Clark then left A&M to join the reunion of the original five Byrds and cut the album Byrds (released in 1973) which charted well (US # 20). Clark's compositions "Full Circle" and "Changing Heart" plus the Neil Young covers on which he did the lead vocal work ("See the Sky About to Rain" and "Cowgirl in the Sand") were widely regarded as the standout tracks on a record which received some negative critical response. Disheartened by the bad reviews and unhappy with David Crosby's performance as the record's producer, the group members chose to dissolve The Byrds. Clark briefly joined McGuinn's solo group, with which he premiered "Silver Raven", arguably his most celebrated post-Byrds song.
No Other

On the basis of the quality of Clark's Byrds contributions, David Geffen signed him to Asylum Records in early 1974. Asylum was the home of the most prominent exponents of the singer-songwriter movement of the era and carried the kind of hip cachet that Clark hadn't experienced since his days with The Byrds. He retired to Mendocino and spent long periods at the picture window of his friend (and future co-writer and drummer) Andy Kandanes' cliff-top home with a notebook and acoustic guitar in hand, staring at the Pacific Ocean. Deeply affected by his visions, he composed numerous songs which would serve as the basis for his only Asylum LP, the aptly titled No Other. Produced by Thomas Jefferson Kaye with a vast array of session musicians and backing singers, the album was an amalgam of country rock, folk, gospel, soul and choral music with poetic, mystical lyrics. The fact that No Other wasn't a conventional pop/rock opus meant that its chances of success were greatly minimised by Clark's relative obscurity. Furthermore, its production costs of $100,000 which yielded only eight tracks prompted Geffen to berate Clark and Kaye. The album then stalled in the charts at #144. On a more personal note, the singer's return to Los Angeles and his reversion to a hedonistic lifestyle resulted in the disintegration of his marriage. In spite of these setbacks, he mounted his first solo tour (by road), playing colleges and clubs with backing group, the Silverados.
Two Sides to Every Story

Throughout 1975 and 1976, Clark hinted to the press that he was assembling a set of "cosmic Motown" songs fusing country-rock with R&B and funk, elaborating on the soundscapes of No Other. A set of ten demos were submitted to RSO Records, who promptly bought out Clark's contract.

In 1977, Clark released his RSO Records debut entitled Two Sides to Every Story. Once again produced by Thomas Jefferson Kaye but with a much more understated hand, the record was another characteristic offering of his style of sensitive country-rock balladry but failed to achieve US chart success. In a belated attempt to find an appreciative public, he temporarily overcame his fear of flying and launched an international promotional tour.
McGuinn, Clark and Hillman

For his British tour dates, Clark found himself on the same bill as ex-Byrds Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. The three signed with Capitol Records which released their self-titled debut in 1979. McGuinn, Clark and Hillman was a rebirth in both performing and songwriting for Clark. McGuinn's "Don't You Write Her Off" reached #33 in April 1979. Many felt that the album's slick production and disco rhythms didn't flatter the group, and the album had mixed success both critically and commercially, but it sold enough to generate a follow up. McGuinn, Clark and Hillman's second release was to have been a full group effort entitled City, but a combination of Clark's unreliability and his dissatisfaction with their musical direction (mostly regarding Ron and Howard Albert's production) resulted in the billing change on City to "Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, featuring Gene Clark". Despite the turmoil, Clark penned a classic love song, "Won't Let You Down", rumoured to have been offered as an olive branch to the other former Byrds. By 1981, Clark had left, and the group recorded one more album as "McGuinn/Hillman".
Rehabilitation, Firebyrd, and So Rebellious a Lover

Clark moved to Hawaii with Jesse Ed Davis to try to overcome his drug dependency, remaining there until the end of 1981. Upon his return to L.A., he assembled a new band and proceeded to record what would eventually become the album Firebyrd (the title acknowledges the Byrds and Firefall origins of some members). While waiting for Firebyrd to be released, Clark joined up with Chris Hillman and others in an abortive venture called Flyte which failed to secure a recording contract and was quickly dissolved. Firebyrd's eventual release in 1984 coincided with the emergence of jangle rockers like R.E.M. and Tom Petty who had sparked a new interest in the Byrds. Clark began developing new fans among L.A.'s roots-conscious paisley underground scene. Later in the decade, he embraced his new status by appearing as a guest with The Long Ryders and by cutting a duo album with Carla Olson of the Textones titled So Rebellious a Lover in 1986.
Later career, illness and death

So Rebellious a Lover became a modest commercial success, but Clark began to develop serious health problems; he had ulcers, aggravated by years of heavy drinking (often used to alleviate his chronic travel anxiety), and in 1988 he underwent surgery, during which much of his stomach and intestines had to be removed. A period of abstinence and recovery followed until Tom Petty's cover of "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," on his 1989 album Full Moon Fever, yielded a huge amount of royalty money to Clark who quickly reverted to drug and alcohol abuse. The Byrds set aside their differences long enough to appear together at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in January 1991, where the original lineup played a few songs together, including Clark's "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better." However, Clark's health continued to decline as his drinking accelerated and on May 24, 1991, he died at the age of 46 of a heart attack. He was buried in Tipton under a simple headstone inscribed "Harold Eugene Clark - No Other."
Discography
Studio Albums

   * Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers (1967)
   * The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968) – with Doug Dillard
   * Through the Morning, Through the Night (1969) – with Doug Dillard
   * White Light a.k.a. Gene Clark (1971)
   * Roadmaster (1972)
   * No Other (1974)
   * Two Sides to Every Story (1977)
   * McGuinn, Clark & Hillman (1978) – with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
   * City (1980) – with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
   * Firebyrd (1984)
   * So Rebellious a Lover (1987) – with Carla Olson

Live albums

   * Silhouetted in Light (1992) – with Carla Olson
   * In Concert (2007) – with Carla Olson
   * Silverado '75: Live & Unreleased (2008)

Compilations

   * Echoes (1991) – collection of early material recorded with The Byrds and the Gosdin Brothers
   * American Dreamer 1964–1974 (1993) – best of
   * Flying High (1998) – anthology
   * Gypsy Angel (2001) – collection of previously unreleased material
   * Under the Silvery Moon (2003) – collection of previously unreleased material
   * Set You Free: Gene Clark in The Byrds 1964–1973 (2004) – collection of material recorded with The Byrds

Covered songs

During his career and subsequent to his death, Gene Clark's songs have been covered by a number of artists. Ian Matthews was an early promoter of Clark's songs, covering "Polly" on Matthews' 1972 Journeys from Gospel Oak album, and "Tried So Hard" on his 1974 Some Days You Eat The Bear album. Death In Vegas and Paul Weller covered his song "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" on their 2003 album Scorpio Rising. In 2007, two of his songs were recorded by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant on the T-Bone Burnett produced Raising Sand: "Polly Come Home" and "Through the Morning, Through the Night." Also in 2007, Chris and Rich Robinson released a live version of "Polly" on their Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy album. This Mortal Coil covered "Strength of Strings" from his LP No Other and "With Tomorrow" from LP White light. Soulsavers with Mark Lanegan recorded a version of "Some Misunderstanding" from No Otheron their 2009 release Broken.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee184/galaxiesix/GeneStripeShirt.jpg
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae269/john44256/CountryRock/Img32.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/10 at 9:55 am


Always lifts my spirits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWfZ5SZZ4xE



Cat

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/24/10 at 3:11 pm


The person born on this day...Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), best known by her stage name of Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and actress. She fronted two groups, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, which received minor success on the pop charts in the 1960s, and Labelle, which received acclaim and a mainstream breakthrough in 1974 with their song "Lady Marmalade". She went on to have a solo recording career, earning another U.S. #1 single in 1986 with "On My Own," a duet with Michael McDonald.

She is renowned for her passionate stage performances, wide vocal range and distinctive high-octave belting. Her biography, Don't Block the Blessings, remained at the top of the The New York Times best-seller list for several weeks. She has reportedly sold over 50 million records worldwide.
LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry Holt, a railroad worker, and Bertha Robinson Holt, a housewife.  The third of four sisters (and the fourth of five, the Holts also had one son), Holt began singing at church at an earlier age. During an audition for a school play, a teacher advised Holt to form a singing group.

Holt, who was nicknamed "Patsy" by friends and family, formed a four-member girl group called the Ordettes in 1959. In 1960, when two of the original Ordettes left, Holte and fellow Ordette Sandra Tucker brought in singers Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, from a recently defunct rival group. When Tucker's family made Sandra leave the group, she was replaced by hometown friend Cindy Birdsong. With her mother's blessings, Patti left high school to tour with the Ordettes. The group was managed by Bernard Montague and toured from local nightclubs to honky tonks and truck stops.

During an audition with Newtown Records, the Ordettes almost didn't get a recording contract because Holt, who was the lead singer was considered "too plain, too dark and unattractive" until she sang for him. Afterwards, he suggested a name change for Holt. Add to the irony after his initial disappointment of Holt, the surname LaBelle was French for "the beautiful". Signing them in 1961, the boss also changed the name of the group to The Bluebelles, named initially after a Newtown subsidiary (Bluebelle Records), which later led to threats of a lawsuit over another girl group's manager. The name was altered to Patti LaBelle and Her Bluebelles in 1963 and changed slightly to Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles two years later.
Group career: 1962 - 1977
Main article: Labelle

The Bluebelles' first single, "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", was actually recorded by The Starlets and was released as a Bluebelles single due to contract obligations the Starlets had with their own label, Pam Records. Credited to Patti's group, the song peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. Going out on the road, the group became a successful draw on the chitlin' circuit, mainly earning national fame at The Apollo Theater where they became "Apollo Sweethearts". The group enjoyed a modestly successful recording career, which included top 40 recordings such as their gospel-styled doo-wop renditions of traditional songs such as "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Danny Boy". In 1963, their ballad "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)" became a top 40 hit. In 1965, after recording for Newtown and Cameo-Parkway, the group landed a stint at Atlantic Records gaining some modest success recording Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", a song LaBelle would record as a soloist over a decade later and which later became a concert staple in LaBelle's shows since. The group also recorded the modest pop hit, "All or Nothing". The group also sung background for Wilson Pickett's hit "634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.)" while with Atlantic. In 1967, Cindy Birdsong shocked the group when she left to replace Florence Ballard of The Supremes. The abrupt exit caused friction between the group members and LaBelle wouldn't speak to Birdsong again in nearly 20 years.

During the late 1960s, the Bluebelles toured England where they had a local following. Elton John met LaBelle in the mid-1960s when he and his group Bluesology played background for the Bluebelles during their UK gigs. In 1970, the Bluebelles were dropped from Atlantic and also lost their manager Montague,who had signed Philadelphia's "Delfonics". The group almost signed with DJ promoters Frankie Crocker and Herb Hamlett, but Hamlett left the industry for a law career, leaving the group to eventually hire Dusty Springfield's manager Vicki Wickham, she advised the group to revive their image and sound. Though LaBelle admitted having difficulty with the change, she eventually agreed after her two band mates, including Nona Hendryx, convinced her the move would bring popularity to the group. Returning to America the following year, they changed their name to Labelle and released their self-titled debut on Warner Bros. Records. The same year, they gained a cult following after opening for The Who and appeared as backup for Laura Nyro's accomplished album, Gonna Take a Miracle. After releasing two more transitional albums, including 1972's Moon Shadow and 1973's Pressure Cookin', which had the group recording more political affair including a famed remake of Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". In 1973, the group was asked to change their look again, after discovering the success of glam rockers David Bowie and T-Rex, to glammed-up wardrobe. In time, the group's trademark wear included pieces of silver (LaBelle herself began wearing silver-haired wigs and knee-high silver boots).

In September 1974, after two weeks in New Orleans, Labelle released their landmark album, Nightbirds, which successfully mixed glam rock and soul with funk elements. Their biggest hit, "Lady Marmalade", became their very first number-one hit, and the group went on a successful national tour that started with a rave performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, where they became the first contemporary pop group to open there and the first African American group to perform there. The group advised fans to "wear something silver" during the famed event. In 1975, Labelle became the first black vocal group to land a cover on Rolling Stone. The group founded some commercial and critical success with the releases of rockier efforts such as Phoenix and Chameleon, famed for the feminist funk classic, "Get You Somebody New" and Patti's magnum opus, a cover of Randy Edelman's rock ballad, "Isn't It a Shame" though it didn't match up with the success of Nightbirds. After failing to come to terms with musical direction, the group agreed to split up in early 1977 for solo careers.
Solo career
Early solo career: 1977 - 1982

LaBelle released her self-titled debut in 1977 on Epic Records, which featured the top twenty R&B dance single, "Joy to Have Your Love" and the modestly-charted gospel ballad, "You Are My Friend", which she co-wrote and dedicated to her son. The album received critical acclaim but didn't give LaBelle any commercial success. Other albums such as 1978's Tasty 1979's It's Alright with Me, 1980's Released and 1981's The Spirit's in It, which included her now classic solo cover of her old Bluebelles single, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", also failed to chart successfully. On July 21, 1979, she appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley, Dick Gregory and Eddie Palmieri, among others. That same year, she cut a performance for Richard Pryor's Wanted concert film though her scenes were cut. In 1980, she scored a Dutch top twenty hit and a modest U.S. dance hit with "Release (The Tension)". Three years later, in 1982, LaBelle and singer Al Green participated in the revival of the successful Broadway play, "Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God". That same year she also appeared in a televised play that aired on PBS. That same year, she recorded the hit ballad, "The Best is Yet to Come", which she was featured on by Grover Washington, Jr. The song reached number fourteen on the R&B chart and garnered LaBelle her first solo Grammy Award nomination.
Successful period: 1983 - 2000

LaBelle didn't start to experience commercial solo success until 1983 when she released her first charted hit album, I'm in Love Again, which featured LaBelle's first #1 R&B and top fifty pop hit with "If Only You Knew" and two subsequent top 10 R&B hits including "I'm in Love Again" and "Love, Need and Want You." The album became her first solo release to be certified gold. In 1984, LaBelle recorded the songs "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up" for the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Both songs became mainstays on pop radio with "New Attitude" reaching the pop top 20. During this period, LaBelle began dressing as flamboyantly as she did during the Labelle days in an effort to carve out an original persona. LaBelle's appearances on Motown Returns to the Apollo and the Live Aid concerts of 1985 introduced her to a new audience. That same year, LaBelle was granted her first television special, which became highly rated, featuring Cyndi Lauper, Bill Cosby and Luther Vandross. LaBelle's popularity increased further in 1986 with the release of her best-selling album to date, Winner in You. The album yielded her first solo #1, "On My Own" with pop balladeer Michael McDonald, the Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Oh, People," the moderate R&B chart hit, "Kiss Away The Pain" and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart hit, "Something Special Is Gonna Happen Tonight."

LaBelle scored a moderate R&B and pop chart hit with the Diane Warren ballad, "If You Asked Me To," in 1989. The song peaked at #10 on the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts. It was later covered by Céline Dion in 1992, with striking similarity in arrangement, key and vocal styling. Dion's version peaked at #1 on both the Pop & A/C charts. In an interview with the online magazine Monaco Revue Patti claimed racism in the music industry was responsible for the difference in record sales, and revealed that accepting this was the most difficult obstacle she had to face in her career. Featured off LaBelle's album, Be Yourself, the album spawned a top ten single with the Prince-produced "Yo Mister".

In 1991, LaBelle released the gold-selling Burnin' album, which helped her win her first Grammy Award -- tying with vocalist Lisa Fischer for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance. Burnin' featured the top five R&B hits "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)", "When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)" and "Feels Like Another One." This album is also notable because it includes the first Labelle reunion recording with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, singing on "Release Yourself". The trio reunited again as Labelle in 1995 for the recording of the dance song, "Turn It Out", which hit number-one on the dance singles chart. Success continued with subsequent albums like 1994's Gems (featuring the hit "The Right Kinda Lover"), 1997's Flame (featuring the hit "When You Talk About Love"), and 1998's Live One Night Only winning LaBelle her a second Grammy (this time, without tying).

During this period, LaBelle had a recurring role as Adele Wayne (mother of Dwayne Wayne) in the NBC sitcom A Different World and also starred in her own sitcom, Out All Night playing a club owner and former R&B star named Chelsea Paige, which debuted in 1992 and canceled in 1993 after 19 episodes. In January 1995, La Belle performed at the Super Bowl XXIX halftime show, with Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval and the Miami Sound Machine, in a program entitled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye", to promote the upcoming Disney theme park attraction.
Later career and current work: 2000 - present

In 2000, LaBelle released her final album for the MCA label. When a Woman Loves features a collection of ballads written entirely by songwriter Diane Warren. LaBelle also announced her divorce from her only husband, Armstead, who had been her manager for 30 years. Four years would pass before LaBelle released a new album under Island Def Jam with the album, Timeless Journey, which saw LaBelle adding a modern hip-hop flavor to her brand of classic R&B. The album featured the modest hit "A New Day", which became a dance hit and also became her highest-charted album in nearly twenty years reaching number-sixteen on the Billboard 200. LaBelle's 2005 follow-up, a covers album, Classic Moments, was released. Despite the modest success, LaBelle battled against Def Jam president Antonio "L.A." Reid over the album's promotion and abruptly left the label.

In 2006, LaBelle issued her oft-promised gospel album on an independent label titled The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle was released. As a promotion, all copies sold at the retailer, Wal-Mart, contained a bonus track, "The Lord's Prayer". The album debuted at #86 on the Billboard 200, #17 on the R&B chart and peaked at #1 on the Gospel chart. A year later, LaBelle re-signed with Def Jam Records after Reid began re-negotiated terms with LaBelle. The new Def Jam release was her second holiday album called, Miss Patti's Christmas, released in 2007.

The year 2008 saw Patti LaBelle reunite with Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash to release their first full album in thirty-two years with the Verve Records release, Back to Now. The collection blended newly recorded tracks with songs recorded before the initial break-up of Labelle. "Superlover", a single from the album, peaked at number sixty-seven on the R&B chart in early 2009. Musician Wyclef Jean also lent his songwriting and producing talents to the ultra-contemporary track, "Roll Out". Other producers involved in the album included superstar black rocker Lenny Kravitz, plus legendary classic Philadelphia soul producer/writers Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff.

In June 2009 LaBelle was honored at New York's Harlem Apollo Theater after she was inducted to the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame by admirers such as pop stars Mariah Carey and Prince. After she was inducted, LaBelle said, "The Apollo is a national treasure, I'm overwhelmed and honored to be recognized on this stage." In 2010, LaBelle contributed to the soundtrack of the movie, Cop Out, with the song "Soul Brother", featuring a reunion with her "Stir It Up" producer Harold Faltermeyer. LaBelle is currently at work on a brand new album with Island Def Jam that will be scheduled for release this year.
Discography
Main article: Patti LaBelle discography
See also

    * List of number-one dance hits (United States)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

Selective awards and recognition
Grammy history
Patti LaBelle Grammy Award History
Year Category Title Genre Result
2004 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance "New Day" R&B Nominee
2003 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance "Way Up There" R&B Nominee
2003 Grammy Hall of Fame "Lady Marmalade" R&B Inducted
1998 Traditional R&B Vocal Performance Live! One Night Only R&B Winner
1997 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "When You Talk About Love" R&B Nominee
Best R&B Album Flame R&B Nominee
1993 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "All Right Now (live)" R&B Nominee
1991 Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group "Superwoman" (with Gladys Knight & Dionne Warwick) R&B Nominee
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Burnin' R&B Winner
1990 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "I Can't Complain" R&B Nominee
1986 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Winner in You R&B Nominee
Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group "On My Own" (with Michael McDonald) Pop Nominee
1985 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "New Attitude" R&B Nominee
1983 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "The Best Is Yet to Come" R&B Nominee
Other Awards
Patti LaBelle Awards
Year Category Title Result Notes
2006 Best Actress - Television, Movie, Miniseries or Dramatic Special NAACP Image Awards Nominee Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy
2006 Best Gospel Artist NAACP Image Awards Nominee
2004 Best Female Artist NAACP Image Awards Nominee
2003 Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award Songwriter's Hall of Fame *Winner*
2001 Lena Horne Lifetime Achievement Award Lady of Soul Awards *Winner*
1998 Best Performance - Variety Series/Special NAACP Image Awards *Winner* Live! One Night Only
1996 Best Performance - Variety Series/Special NAACP Image Awards *Winner* The Essence Awards
1995 Heritage Award - Career Achievement Soul Train Music Awards *Winner*
1992 Favorite Rhythm and Blues/Soul Artist, Female American Music Awards *Winner*
1986 Favorite Rhythm and Blues/Soul Artist, Female American Music Awards Nominee
1986 Outstanding Individual Performance, Variety or Music Program Emmy Awards Nominee Sylvia Fine Kaye's Musical Comedy Tonight III
Tours

    * 1985: Look To The Rainbow Tour
    * 1986-1987: Winner In You Tour
    * 1991: Burnin' Tour
    * 1995: Gems Tour
    * 1997-1998: Flame Tour
    * 2000: When a Woman Loves Tour
    * 2005: Timeless Journey Tour
    * 2006: Classic Moments Tour
    * 2008: Divas with Heart Tour (w/Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and Diana Ross)
    * 2008/2009: Back to Now Tour (w/Labelle)

Filmography

    * 1979: Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (documentary) (scenes deleted)
    * 1984: A Soldier's Story
    * 1986: Unnatural Causes
    * 1989: Sing
    * 1990: A Different World
    * 1994: The Nanny
    * 2002: Sylvester: Mighty Real (short subject)
    * 2005: Preaching to the Choir
    * 2006: Idlewild
    * 2007: Cover
    * 2008: Semi-Pro
    * 2010: Mama, I Want to Sing!

Music video

    * Going Home to Gospel with Patti Labelle (1991) with Albertina Walker ("Queen of Gospel"), Barrett Sisters, Ricky Dillard and many more.

TV talkshow music appearances

    * An Evening With The Stars: A Tribute to Patti Labelle
    * Oprah show (Oprah's 40 Birthday) with Aretha Franklin & Gladys Knight, singing their rendition of Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman
    * Dolly Parton show
    * The View talk show
    * The Arsenio Hall Show
    * The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
    * The 1998 ALMA Awards
    * The Tyra Banks Show talk show
    * The Wendy Williams Show talk show
    * The Puzzle Place Jim Hinson puppet show
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/robinsonwc_2007/Patti%20Labelle/pattilabelle.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/robinsonwc_2007/Patti%20Labelle/pattilabelle-1.jpg


Happy 66th Patti.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/25/10 at 5:59 am

The word of the day...Design(ing)
Design is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system. It can be used both as a noun and as a verb and, in a broader way, it means applied arts and engineering  (See design disciplines below). As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component with intention. As a noun, "a design" is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan in the form of the final product of a design process. This classification aside, in its broadest sense no other limitations exist and the final product can be anything from clothing  to graphical user interfaces to skyscrapers. Even virtual  concepts such as corporate identity and cultural traditions such as celebration of certain holidays  are sometimes designed. More recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of design, giving new meaning to the term process design.

The person designing is called a designer, which is also a term used for people who work professionally in one of the various design areas, usually also specifying which area is being dealt with (such as a fashion designer, concept designer or web designer). Designing often requires a designer to consider the aesthetic, functional, and many other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design. With such a broad definition, there is no universal language or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject. However, serious study of design demands increased focus on the design process.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c264/SeiboldMark/Designing.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f157/yenni7/designing.jpg
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq93/bbwloverman/GatlinGraphicsFlyerForBBWModeling-1.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g213/apeman45/eBay/Graphic%20Design%20Books/IMG_3900.jpg
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx14/Amazilia/DSC02112A.jpg
http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr232/DesigningCMYK/DesigningCMYK%20Graphic%20Designs/Final-Sharp.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk151/ernborn_tam/ernz.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jasonschooler/Designing_women_cast.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m92/planetten/Publicty%20Graphic%20Management/Designing.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/jackiesgiftlist/mannequin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/25/10 at 6:02 am

The person who was born on this day...Dixie Carter
Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American  film, television and stage actress, best-known for her role in the sitcom Designing Women (1986–1993). She was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Desperate Housewives in 2007 Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee, and spent many of her early years in Memphis. She attended college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). She was a graduate of Memphis State (now University of Memphis) with a degree in English.

At school, she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1959, Carter competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up to Mickie Weyland.
Career

In 1960, Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of Carousel. She moved to New York City in 1963 and got a part in a production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

After an eight-year hiatus from acting, she returned to the craft in 1974, when she filled in for actress Nancy Pinkerton as Dorian Cramer on One Life to Live, while Pinkerton was on maternity leave. She subsequently was cast in the role of Assistant D.A. Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson on the soap opera The Edge of Night, on which she appeared from 1974 to 1976. (She went along with the show when it switched from CBS to ABC.) Carter took the role even though some advised her that doing a daytime soap might negatively affect her career. However, it was with this role that Carter was first noticed, and after leaving Edge of Night in 1976, she relocated from New York to Los Angeles and pursued prime-time television roles.

She appeared in series such as Out of the Blue, On Our Own, Diff'rent Strokes and Filthy Rich (1982). Carter's appearance in Filthy Rich paved the way for her best-known role, that of interior decorator Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980s/1990s television program Designing Women, set in Atlanta, Georgia. Filthy Rich had been created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who went on to create Designing Women. (Filthy Rich also featured future Designing Women cast member Delta Burke in its cast.) Hal Holbrook, her real-life husband, had a recurring role as Reese Watson, and Carter's daughters, Ginna and Mary Dixie, also had guest-star roles as Julia Sugarbaker's nieces, Jennifer and Camilla.

Famous for portraying strong-minded Southern women, Carter provided the voice of Necile in Mike Young Productions' direct-to-video 2000 cartoon feature The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. She was also in the voice cast of My Neighbors the Yamadas, the English-language dub of Studio Ghibli's 1999 anime movie Hôhokekyo Tonari No Yamadâkun.

From 1999 to 2002, she portrayed Randi King on the legal drama Family Law, portraying a lawyer for the first time since she was Brandy Henderson on The Edge of Night. In 2004, she made a guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU, playing a defense attorney named Denise Brockmorton in the episode called Home, in which she defended the paranoid mother of two children (Diane Venora) who had manipulated her older son to kill the younger son, after breaking her home rules.

Carter starred in several Broadway musicals and plays. She appeared on and off-Broadway as well, playing the role of Melba Snyder in the 1976 Circle in the Square revival of Pal Joey and most recently portraying diva Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class, a role created by Zoe Caldwell.
Later projects

In 2006–07 Carter found renewed fame with a new generation of fans as the very disturbed and disturbing Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives, earning an Emmy nomination for her work on the series. Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry started out in Hollywood as Carter's assistant on the set of Designing Women.

Carter gave an interview in 2006 for the feature length documentary, That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor, which received support from Taylor's family and many of Dub's previous co-workers, including Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Don Collier, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett and many others. The project was scheduled to have its World Premiere at Taylor's childhood hometown of Augusta, Georgia on April 14, 2007.

Her final film was That Evening Sun, which she filmed on location with her husband Hal Holbrook in East Tennessee in the summer of 2008. The film was produced by Dogwood Entertainment (a subsidiary of DoubleJay Creative) and is based on a short story by William Gay. That Evening Sun premiered at South By Southwest, where it competed for the narrative feature grand jury prize.
Personal life

In 1967, Carter married businessman Arthur Carter (no prior relation). They had two daughters (who would later appear in an episode of Designing Women), Mary Dixie and Ginna. Following the birth of her daughters, Carter left acting for eight years to focus on raising her children.

She divorced Arthur Carter in 1977, and married Broadway and TV actor George Hearn the same year. Two years later, in 1979, she divorced Hearn. She married for the third time on May 27, 1984, to Hal Holbrook (14 years her senior), who is most noted for his appearances as Mark Twain. Carter renovated her old family home in McLemoresville. She and Holbrook divided their time between their homes in Beverly Hills, California, and McLemoresville, Tennessee, where Carter's elderly father, Halbert, resided until his death in early 2007, at age 96.

In 1996, Carter published a memoir titled Trying to Get to Heaven, in which she talked frankly about her life with Hal Holbrook, Designing Women, and her plastic surgery during the show's run. She acknowledged, along with other celebrities, having used HGH (Human Growth Hormone) for its anti-aging properties.
Political views

Carter was also a registered Republican who described her political views as libertarian. She was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly along with Pat Boone at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Although her Designing Women character, Julia Sugarbaker, was known for her liberal political views and subsequent monologues, Carter disagreed with many of her character's left-of-center commentaries, and made a deal with the producers that for every speech she had to make, with which she disagreed, Julia would get to sing a song in a future episode. Carter once jokingly described herself as "the only Republican in show business". She was also a strong supporter of the gay community.
Death and legacy

Carter died on April 10, 2010, in Houston, Texas. Her death was announced by her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, who stated the cause as complications from endometrial cancer which was diagnosed earlier in 2010. In addition to Holbrook, she is survived by her daughters from her first marriage: Ginna Carter (of Los Angeles) and Mary Dixie Carter (of Brooklyn) as well as a sister, Melba Helen Heath (of San Anselmo, California) and several nephews and nieces.
Legacy

The Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center (informally called "The Dixie") in Huntingdon, Tennessee is named in honor of Carter.

In addition to family, her funeral, held on April 15, 2010, was attended by Designing Women co-stars Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. Dixie Carter was interred in her hometown, McLemoresville, Tennessee.
Actress

    * 2009: That Evening Sun — Ellen Meecham
    * 2008: Our First Christmas (TV) — Evie Baer
    * 2006: Desperate Housewives — Gloria Hodge (7 episodes, 2006–2007)
    * 2005: Hope & Faith — Joyce Shanowski (1 episode, 2005)
    * 2004: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Denise Brockmorton (1 episode, 2004)
    * 2004: Sudbury (TV)
    * 2003: Comfort and Joy (TV) — Frederica
    * 1999: Family Law — Randi King (68 episodes, 1999–2002)
    * 2001: The Big Day — Carol
    * 2000: The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (V) (voice)  — Necile
    * 1999: Ladies Man  — Peaches (9 episodes, 1999–2000)
    * 1999: Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun (voice: English version)
    * 1997: Fired Up — Rita (2 episodes, 1997)
    * 1996: Gone in the Night (TV) — Ann Dowaliby
    * 1995: Diagnosis: Murder — D.A. Patricia Purcell (1 episode, 1995)
    * 1995: Dazzle (TV)  — Lydie Kilkullen
    * 1994: Christy — Julia Huddleston (1 episode, 1994)
    * 1994: Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (TV) — Lillie Langtry
    * 1994: A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle (TV) — Louise Archer
    * 1986: Designing Women — Julia Sugarbaker (163 episodes, 1986–1993)
    * 1986: Crazy Like a Fox (1 episode, 1986)
    * 1984: Diff'rent Strokes — Maggie McKinney (28 episodes, 1984–1985)
    * 1983: Going Berserk — Angela
    * 1982: Filthy Rich — Carlotta Beck (15 episodes, 1982–1983)
    * 1982: Lou Grant — Jessica Lindner (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: The Greatest American Hero — Samantha O'Neill (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Quincy, M.E. — Dr. Alicia Ranier (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Best of the West — Mae Markham (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Bret Maverick — Hallie McCulloch (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Cassie & Co. — Evelyn Weller (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1981: The Killing of Randy Webster (TV) — Billie Webster
    * 1980: O.H.M.S. (TV) — Nora Wing
    * 1979: Out of the Blue — Marion Richards (8 episodes, 1979)
    * 1977: On Our Own — April Baxter (22 episodes, 1977–1978)
    * 1977: The Andros Targets — Rita (1 episode, 1977)
    * 1974: The Edge of Night TV series — Assistant District Attorney Olivia Brandeis Henderson (unknown episodes, 1974–1976)
    * 1963: The Doctors TV series — Unknown (late 1970s) (unknown episodes)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m277/ThomasRiordan/TNA%20Diary/People/DixieCarter.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/SteveFrame/002%20Bro/DixieCarter.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/25/10 at 6:09 am

The person who died on this day...Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker (July 16, 1941 – May 25, 2006) was a Jamaican  ska, rocksteady  and reggae  singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group, The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with "Israelites". Other hits include "007 (Shanty Town)" (1967) and "It Miek" (1969). Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was one of the most popular musicians within Jamaica, and one of the best-known musicians outside it
He was born Desmond Adolphus Dacres in St. Andrew, Jamaica and grew up in Kingston, where he attended the Alpha Boys' School. After his mother took ill and died, his father moved him to St. Mary, and then to St. Thomas, where he apprenticed as a tailor before returning to Kingston and taking a job as a welder, singing around his workplace while his co-workers encouraged him.  In 1961 he auditioned for Coxsone Dodd (Studio One) and Duke Reid (Treasure Isle). Neither was impressed by his talents, and the young man moved on to Leslie Kong's Beverley's  record label, where he auditioned before Derrick Morgan, then the label's biggest star.
Career

With Morgan's support, Dekker was signed but did not record until 1963 because Kong wanted to wait for the perfect song, which "Honour Your Mother and Father" was felt to be. "Honour Your Mother and Father" was a hit and was followed by "Sinners Come Home" and "Labour for Learning", and at this time Desmond Dacres became Desmond Dekker. His fourth hit made him into one of the island's biggest stars. It was "King of Ska", a rowdy and jubilant song on which Dekker was backed by The Cherrypies (also known as The Maytals). Dekker then recruited four brothers, Carl, Patrick, Clive and Barry who became his backing band, The Four Aces.

Dekker and the Howards recorded a number of hits including "Parents", "Get Up Edina", "This Woman" and "Mount Zion". Until 1967 Dekker's songs were polite and conveyed respectable, mainstream messages. In that year, however, he appeared on Derrick Morgan's "Tougher Than Tough", which helped begin a trend of popular songs glamorizing the violent rude boy culture. Dekker's own songs did not go to the extremes of many other popular tunes, though he did introduce lyrics that resonated with the rude boys starting with one of his best-known songs, "007 (Shanty Town)". The song established Dekker as a rude boy icon and he also became an established hero in the United Kingdom's mod scene. "007 (Shanty Town)" was a Top 15 hit in the UK, and Dekker toured that country with a posse of mods following him.

Dekker continued with songs in the same vein such as "Rude Boy Train" and "Rudie Got Soul", as well as continuing with his previous themes of religion and morality in songs like "It's a Shame", "Wise Man", "Hey Grandma", "Unity", "If It Pays", "Mother's Young Girl" and "Sabotage". His "Pretty Africa" is a long-standing favourite among his fans and may be the earliest popular song promoting repatriation. Many of the hits from this era came from his debut album, 007 (Shanty Town).

In 1968 Dekker's "Israelites" was released, eventually topping the UK Singles Chart (the first reggae hit to do so) and peaking in the Top Ten of the US Billboard Hot 100. Dekker was the first Jamaican artist to have a hit record in the US with a form and style that was purely Jamaican, though he never repeated the feat. That same year saw the release of "Beautiful and Dangerous", "Writing on the Wall", "Music Like Dirt" (which won the Festival Song Contest), "Bongo Girl" and "Shing a Ling". Also in 1968, he was referenced by The Beatles in the ska-influenced, Paul McCartney penned song, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (from The White Album) starting with the lyric: - "Desmond has a barrow in the market-place".

1969 saw the release of "It Mek", which first had only lukewarm success but was re-recorded and then became a hit both in Jamaica and the UK. Dekker also released "Problems" and "Pickney Gal", both of which were popular in Jamaica but had only limited success elsewhere.
1970s

In the 1970s Dekker spent most of his time touring and moved to the UK, where he continued to record. Among his best known releases of this period was "You Can Get It If You Really Want", written by Jimmy Cliff. Dekker had not wanted to record it but was persuaded by Leslie Kong. Dekker's version uses the same instrumental backing track as Cliff's original. Kong, whose production had been a crucial part of both Dekker's and Cliff's careers, died in 1971, and so both of his protegés lost direction for a period before returning to music.

Dekker continued recording, but with only limited success until he began working with the production duo Bruce Anthony in 1974. His first hit with the pair was 1975's UK top 20 hit "Sing a Little Song". After the UK top ten re-charting of "Israelites" in 1975, Dekker did not chart in the UK again for some time. Dekker also found only a limited audience in Jamaica.

At the end of the 1970s, Dekker signed with Stiff Records, a punk label linked with the 2 Tone movement, a fusion of punk and ska. He recorded an album called Black & Dekker which featured his previous hits backed by The Rumour, Graham Parker's backing band and the Akrylykz (featuring Roland Gift, later of the Fine Young Cannibals). "Israelites" became the first hit and a Top Ten Belgian hit and was followed by "Please Don't Bend", Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Book of Rules". His next album was Compass Point, produced by Robert Palmer. Though it did not sell well, Dekker was still a popular live performer and toured with The Rumour.
1980s and later

In the early 1980s, as the 2 Tone movement died out, he saw his fortunes dwindle and he was declared bankrupt in 1984. Only a single live album was released in the late 80s, but a new version of "Israelites" reawakened public interest in 1990, following its use in a Maxell advertisement. He re-recorded some old singles, and worked with The Specials for 1992's King of Kings', which used hits from Dekker's musical heroes, including Derrick Morgan. He also collaborated on a remix version of "Israelites" with reggae artist Apache Indian.

Dekker died of a heart attack on 25 May 2006, at his home in Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon, England, aged 64. He was preparing to headline a world music festival in Prague. Dekker was divorced and is survived by a son and a daughter.
Backing band

The Aces - The current line up for Dekker's backing band, who are still performing tribute concerts includes:

    * Delroy Williams - Backing Vocals / M.C.
    * Gordon Mulrain - Bass guitarist and session musician. Mulrain is also known as music producer 'Innerheart' and co-founder of British record label Ambiel Music.
    * Aubrey Mulrain - Keyboard player and session musician.
    * Steve Roberts - Guitarist and session musician, also a member of the British band Dubzone.
    * Leroy Green - Drums and session musician.
    * Stan Samuel - Guitarist and session musician
    * Charles Nelson - Keyboard player and session musician.

This particular line-up also recorded with Dekker on some of his later studio sessions in the 1990s.
Discography
Albums

    * 007 Shanty Town (1967) Doctor Bird (Desmond Dekker & the Aces)
    * Action! (1968) (Desmond Dekker & the Aces)
    * This Is Desmond Dekkar (1969) - Trojan Records (UK #27)
    * Israelites (1969) Doctor Bird
    * Intensified (1970) - Lagoon
    * You Can Get It If You Really Want (1970) - Trojan
    * Black And Dekker (1980) Stiff
    * Compass Point (1981) Stiff
    * King of Kings with The Specials (1993) - Trojan Records

Compilation albums

    * Double Dekker (1973) Trojan
    * Dekker's Sweet 16 Hits (1979) Trojan
    * The Original Reggae Hitsound (1985) Trojan
    * 20 Golden Pieces of Desmond Dekker (1987) Bulldog
    * The Official Live and Rare (1987) Trojan
    * Greatest Hits (1988) Streetlife
    * The Best of & The Rest of (1990) Action Replay
    * Music Like Dirt (1992) Trojan
    * Rockin' Steady - The Best of Desmond Dekker (1992) Rhino
    * Crucial Cuts (1993) Music Club
    * Israelites (1994) Laserlight
    * Action (1995) Lagoon
    * Voice of Ska (1995) Emporio
    * Moving On (1996) Trojan
    * The Israelites (1996) Marble Arch
    * First Time for a Long Time (1997) Trojan
    * Desmond Dekker Archive (1997) Rialto
    * The Writing on the Wall (1998) Trojan
    * Israelites (1999) Castle Pie
    * Israelites: The Best Of Desmond Dekker (1963-1971) - Trojan (1999)
    * Desmond Dekker (2000) Snapper
    * The Very Best Of (2000) Jet Set
    * This Is Desmond Dekker (Bonus Tracks) - Trojan (2006)

Singles
Early solo singles

    * "Honour Your Mother and Father" (1963) Island (as Desmond Dekker & Beverley's Allstars)
    * "Parents" (1964) Island
    * "King of Ska" (1964) Island (as Desmond Dekkar and his Cherry Pies)
    * "Dracula" (1964) Black Swan (as Desmond Dekkar)

Desmond Dekker & the Four Aces

    * "Generosity" (1965) Island
    * "Get Up Adina" (1965) Island
    * "This Woman" (1965) Island
    * "Mount Zion" (1965) Island

Desmond Dekker & the Aces

    * "007 (Shanty Town)" (1967) - Doctor Bird
    * "Oh Holy Night" (1967) Doctor Bird
    * "Wise Man" (1967) Pyramid
    * "007 Shanty Town" (1967) Pyramid
    * "It's a Shame" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Rudy Got Soul" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Rude Boy Train" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Mother's Young Gal" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Unity" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Sabotage" (1967) Pyramid
    * "It Pays" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Beautiful and Dangerous" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Bongo Gal" (1967) Pyramid
    * "To Sir, With Love" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Mother Pepper" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Hey Grandma" (1967) Pyramid
    * "Music Like Dirt (Intensified)" (1967) Pyramid
    * "It Miek" (1968) Pyramid
    * "Israelites" (1968) - Pyramid (UK #1, U.S. #9)
    * "Christmas Day" (1968) Pyramid
    * "It Miek" (1969) - Pyramid (UK #7)
    * "Pickney Gal" (1969) - Pyramid (UK #42)

Later solo singles

    * "You Can Get It If You Really Want" (1970) - Trojan
    * "The Song We Used to Sing" (1970) Trojan
    * "Licking Stick" (1971) Trojan
    * "It Gotta Be So" (1972) Trojan
    * "Beware" (1972) Rhino
    * "Sing a Little Song" (1973) Rhino
    * "Everybody Join Hands" (1973) Rhino
    * "Busted Lad" (1974) Rhino
    * "Israelites (re-recording)" (1975) - Cactus (UK #10)
    * "Sing A Little Song" (1975) - Cactus (UK #16)
    * "Roots Rock" (1977) Feelgood
    * "Israelites (new mix)" (1980) Stiff
    * "Please Don't Bend" (1980) Stiff
    * "Many Rivers to Cross" (1980) Stiff
    * "We Can and Shall" (1981) Stiff
    * "Book of Rules" (1982) Stiff
    * "Hot City" (1983) Stiff
    * "Jamaica Ska" (1993) Trojan
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x23/Dekker007/desmond_dekker.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/ghoulstomper/DesmondDekker.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/25/10 at 3:07 pm


The person who was born on this day...Dixie Carter
Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American  film, television and stage actress, best-known for her role in the sitcom Designing Women (1986–1993). She was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Desperate Housewives in 2007 Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee, and spent many of her early years in Memphis. She attended college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). She was a graduate of Memphis State (now University of Memphis) with a degree in English.

At school, she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1959, Carter competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up to Mickie Weyland.
Career

In 1960, Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of Carousel. She moved to New York City in 1963 and got a part in a production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

After an eight-year hiatus from acting, she returned to the craft in 1974, when she filled in for actress Nancy Pinkerton as Dorian Cramer on One Life to Live, while Pinkerton was on maternity leave. She subsequently was cast in the role of Assistant D.A. Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson on the soap opera The Edge of Night, on which she appeared from 1974 to 1976. (She went along with the show when it switched from CBS to ABC.) Carter took the role even though some advised her that doing a daytime soap might negatively affect her career. However, it was with this role that Carter was first noticed, and after leaving Edge of Night in 1976, she relocated from New York to Los Angeles and pursued prime-time television roles.

She appeared in series such as Out of the Blue, On Our Own, Diff'rent Strokes and Filthy Rich (1982). Carter's appearance in Filthy Rich paved the way for her best-known role, that of interior decorator Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980s/1990s television program Designing Women, set in Atlanta, Georgia. Filthy Rich had been created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who went on to create Designing Women. (Filthy Rich also featured future Designing Women cast member Delta Burke in its cast.) Hal Holbrook, her real-life husband, had a recurring role as Reese Watson, and Carter's daughters, Ginna and Mary Dixie, also had guest-star roles as Julia Sugarbaker's nieces, Jennifer and Camilla.

Famous for portraying strong-minded Southern women, Carter provided the voice of Necile in Mike Young Productions' direct-to-video 2000 cartoon feature The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. She was also in the voice cast of My Neighbors the Yamadas, the English-language dub of Studio Ghibli's 1999 anime movie Hôhokekyo Tonari No Yamadâkun.

From 1999 to 2002, she portrayed Randi King on the legal drama Family Law, portraying a lawyer for the first time since she was Brandy Henderson on The Edge of Night. In 2004, she made a guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU, playing a defense attorney named Denise Brockmorton in the episode called Home, in which she defended the paranoid mother of two children (Diane Venora) who had manipulated her older son to kill the younger son, after breaking her home rules.

Carter starred in several Broadway musicals and plays. She appeared on and off-Broadway as well, playing the role of Melba Snyder in the 1976 Circle in the Square revival of Pal Joey and most recently portraying diva Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class, a role created by Zoe Caldwell.
Later projects

In 2006–07 Carter found renewed fame with a new generation of fans as the very disturbed and disturbing Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives, earning an Emmy nomination for her work on the series. Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry started out in Hollywood as Carter's assistant on the set of Designing Women.

Carter gave an interview in 2006 for the feature length documentary, That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor, which received support from Taylor's family and many of Dub's previous co-workers, including Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Don Collier, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett and many others. The project was scheduled to have its World Premiere at Taylor's childhood hometown of Augusta, Georgia on April 14, 2007.

Her final film was That Evening Sun, which she filmed on location with her husband Hal Holbrook in East Tennessee in the summer of 2008. The film was produced by Dogwood Entertainment (a subsidiary of DoubleJay Creative) and is based on a short story by William Gay. That Evening Sun premiered at South By Southwest, where it competed for the narrative feature grand jury prize.
Personal life

In 1967, Carter married businessman Arthur Carter (no prior relation). They had two daughters (who would later appear in an episode of Designing Women), Mary Dixie and Ginna. Following the birth of her daughters, Carter left acting for eight years to focus on raising her children.

She divorced Arthur Carter in 1977, and married Broadway and TV actor George Hearn the same year. Two years later, in 1979, she divorced Hearn. She married for the third time on May 27, 1984, to Hal Holbrook (14 years her senior), who is most noted for his appearances as Mark Twain. Carter renovated her old family home in McLemoresville. She and Holbrook divided their time between their homes in Beverly Hills, California, and McLemoresville, Tennessee, where Carter's elderly father, Halbert, resided until his death in early 2007, at age 96.

In 1996, Carter published a memoir titled Trying to Get to Heaven, in which she talked frankly about her life with Hal Holbrook, Designing Women, and her plastic surgery during the show's run. She acknowledged, along with other celebrities, having used HGH (Human Growth Hormone) for its anti-aging properties.
Political views

Carter was also a registered Republican who described her political views as libertarian. She was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly along with Pat Boone at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Although her Designing Women character, Julia Sugarbaker, was known for her liberal political views and subsequent monologues, Carter disagreed with many of her character's left-of-center commentaries, and made a deal with the producers that for every speech she had to make, with which she disagreed, Julia would get to sing a song in a future episode. Carter once jokingly described herself as "the only Republican in show business". She was also a strong supporter of the gay community.
Death and legacy

Carter died on April 10, 2010, in Houston, Texas. Her death was announced by her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, who stated the cause as complications from endometrial cancer which was diagnosed earlier in 2010. In addition to Holbrook, she is survived by her daughters from her first marriage: Ginna Carter (of Los Angeles) and Mary Dixie Carter (of Brooklyn) as well as a sister, Melba Helen Heath (of San Anselmo, California) and several nephews and nieces.
Legacy

The Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center (informally called "The Dixie") in Huntingdon, Tennessee is named in honor of Carter.

In addition to family, her funeral, held on April 15, 2010, was attended by Designing Women co-stars Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. Dixie Carter was interred in her hometown, McLemoresville, Tennessee.
Actress

    * 2009: That Evening Sun — Ellen Meecham
    * 2008: Our First Christmas (TV) — Evie Baer
    * 2006: Desperate Housewives — Gloria Hodge (7 episodes, 2006–2007)
    * 2005: Hope & Faith — Joyce Shanowski (1 episode, 2005)
    * 2004: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Denise Brockmorton (1 episode, 2004)
    * 2004: Sudbury (TV)
    * 2003: Comfort and Joy (TV) — Frederica
    * 1999: Family Law — Randi King (68 episodes, 1999–2002)
    * 2001: The Big Day — Carol
    * 2000: The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (V) (voice)  — Necile
    * 1999: Ladies Man  — Peaches (9 episodes, 1999–2000)
    * 1999: Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun (voice: English version)
    * 1997: Fired Up — Rita (2 episodes, 1997)
    * 1996: Gone in the Night (TV) — Ann Dowaliby
    * 1995: Diagnosis: Murder — D.A. Patricia Purcell (1 episode, 1995)
    * 1995: Dazzle (TV)  — Lydie Kilkullen
    * 1994: Christy — Julia Huddleston (1 episode, 1994)
    * 1994: Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (TV) — Lillie Langtry
    * 1994: A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle (TV) — Louise Archer
    * 1986: Designing Women — Julia Sugarbaker (163 episodes, 1986–1993)
    * 1986: Crazy Like a Fox (1 episode, 1986)
    * 1984: Diff'rent Strokes — Maggie McKinney (28 episodes, 1984–1985)
    * 1983: Going Berserk — Angela
    * 1982: Filthy Rich — Carlotta Beck (15 episodes, 1982–1983)
    * 1982: Lou Grant — Jessica Lindner (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: The Greatest American Hero — Samantha O'Neill (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Quincy, M.E. — Dr. Alicia Ranier (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Best of the West — Mae Markham (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Bret Maverick — Hallie McCulloch (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1982: Cassie & Co. — Evelyn Weller (1 episode, 1982)
    * 1981: The Killing of Randy Webster (TV) — Billie Webster
    * 1980: O.H.M.S. (TV) — Nora Wing
    * 1979: Out of the Blue — Marion Richards (8 episodes, 1979)
    * 1977: On Our Own — April Baxter (22 episodes, 1977–1978)
    * 1977: The Andros Targets — Rita (1 episode, 1977)
    * 1974: The Edge of Night TV series — Assistant District Attorney Olivia Brandeis Henderson (unknown episodes, 1974–1976)
    * 1963: The Doctors TV series — Unknown (late 1970s) (unknown episodes)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m277/ThomasRiordan/TNA%20Diary/People/DixieCarter.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/SteveFrame/002%20Bro/DixieCarter.jpg


I still miss her.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 6:06 am

The word of the day...Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Although the action of gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability. Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-surface conditions that make the area/slope prone to failure, whereas the actual landslide often requires a trigger before being released.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/digipxl/landslide.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x155/seirinkantoku/Landslide.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o245/katischebesta/landslide.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/baber_02/landslide.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m54/sugarmag27/ATT1263370.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w288/ravennelizabeth/40landslide1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 6:12 am

The person born on this day...Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 120 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics.

Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 along with her then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's Rumours, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks' song "Dreams", which was the band's first and only U.S. number one) and remained at #1 on the American albums chart for over 30 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

Nicks began her solo career in 1981 with the 5 million selling album Bella Donna, and she has produced five more solo studio albums to date. After the release of her first solo album, Rolling Stone deemed her "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll". Overcoming cocaine addiction, dependency on tranquilizers, and chronic fatigue syndrome, Nicks remains a popular solo performer. She has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards and, with Fleetwood Mac, won the 1977/1978 Grammy for Album of the Year for Rumours. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Nicks has a contralto vocal range
Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac on December 31, 1974, after Keith Olsen played their track "Frozen Love" for drummer Mick Fleetwood, who had come to Studio City, California  to find a new studio to record Fleetwood Mac's next studio album. Fleetwood remembered Buckingham's guitar work after guitar player Bob Welch's departure to pursue a solo career. Initially extending the offer only to Buckingham, Fleetwood later included Nicks in the offer when Buckingham insisted that they were "a package deal".

In 1975, the band released the album Fleetwood Mac, which hit number one, sold 5 million in the US alone, and had three Top 20 songs in 1976. Nicks' "Rhiannon" reached #11, and the album also included Nicks' "Landslide", and "Crystal", though the latter featured lead vocals by Buckingham. That same year, Nicks worked with clothing designer Margi Kent to develop Nicks' unique onstage look, with costumes that featured flowing skirts, shawls and platform boots.

Following the success of Fleetwood Mac, increasing tension between Nicks and Buckingham began to take its toll on their creativity, and Nicks ended the relationship. Fleetwood Mac began recording their follow-up album, Rumours, in early 1976 and continued until late in the year. Sessions were marked by heavy drug use, faulty drum tracks, and tension between the band members, which influenced the songwriting. Also, Nicks and Buckingham sang back-up on Warren Zevon's debut album.

Nicks' contributions to Rumours were "I Don't Want to Know", "Gold Dust Woman", and "Dreams" (which became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit single to date), as well as co-writer on "The Chain". Nicks had also written and recorded the song "Silver Springs", but it was ultimately not included on the album because of space limitations for studio albums on vinyl records (24 minutes per side). Instead, it was relegated to the B-side of the "Go Your Own Way" single release, and would remain in some obscurity for many years until its triumphant re-release as part of the 4-disc Fleetwood Mac retrospective 25 Years - The Chain in 1992. The song was, and has always been, very special to Nicks - song rights are owned by her mother, Barbara Nicks - and she was not told about the omission from "Rumours" until after the decision had been made. Nicks was devastated.

Rumours was released to widespread acclaim and Grammy award for album of the year in February 1977. By 2008, Rumours had sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. alone (certified as a diamond album by the RIAA) and today is officially accredited with worldwide sales of over 40 million, maintaining its status as one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. In November 1977, after a New Zealand concert for the Rumours tour, Nicks and Fleetwood, who was married to Jenny Boyd, secretly began an affair. The affair ended the next year, in October 1978, when Mick Fleetwood left his wife for Nicks' best friend Sara Recor. After the success of the Rumours album and tour in 1977–78, Fleetwood Mac began recording their third album with Buckingham and Nicks, Tusk, in the spring of 1978. That year, Nicks sang back-up on Walter Egan's "Magnet & Steel" from Egan's 1978 album Not Shy, which was produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut.
Tusk, Bella Donna and Mirage: 1978–1982

By 1978, Nicks had amassed a large backlog of songs dating back to her Buckingham Nicks days that she was unable to record and release with Fleetwood Mac because of the constraint of having to accommodate three songwriters on each album. During Tusk sessions in 1979, Nicks began laying down demos for a solo album, continuing to write and record for the solo project during the world tour for Tusk in 1979–80. With Danny Goldberg and Paul Fishkin, Nicks founded Modern Records, a vehicle to record and release her own material. Between Tusk sessions, Nicks recorded two duets that became hits: with Kenny Loggins on "Whenever I Call You Friend" (1978), and with John Stewart on "Gold" (1979).

After thirteen months of recording and editing, Tusk was released as a 20-track double album in October 19, 1979. Nicks' wistful ballads "Storms" and "Beautiful Child" were speculated to be about her doomed affair with Mick Fleetwood, while the Billboard Hot 100 #7 hit "Sara" alluded to the love-triangle between herself, Fleetwood and Sara Pesnell (later Sara Fleetwood). Other Nicks tracks included "Angel" and "Sisters of the Moon". One notable Nicks omission from Tusk was Planets of the Universe, originally written in 1976 as part of the "Rumours" sessions. Buckingham is said to have had unresolvable problems with production on the song, and it would not be until 2001 that a release would be forthcoming via a Nicks' solo album Trouble in Shangri-La.

During the huge 18 month sellout Tusk Tour of 1979 and 1980, Nicks began writing and recording demos for what would become her first and most successful solo effort. Band sessions for Nicks' solo debut album began in April 1980, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Tom Moncrieff. Sessions continued through the end of the Tusk tour in late 1980, ending in the spring of 1981, helmed by Jimmy Iovine and featuring various contributions from Petty and his band. During 1981 Nicks toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and New Zealand band Split Enz as a guest.

Nicks released Bella Donna on July 27, 1981. The album reached #1 on the Billboard album chart in September. As of 1990 it was certified 'quadruple platinum' for sales of over 4 million copies in the US alone. All four of its singles (Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, Leather and Lace, Edge of Seventeen, and After the Glitter Fades) charted in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's ten tracks included five songs written in previous years, and five new songs. Several unreleased songs from the Bella Donna sessions were included on soundtracks, in concert sets, and later Fleetwood Mac albums. Other tracks remain unreleased.

Bella Donna was the first album to feature Nicks' back-up singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry. Nicks met Perry in the mid-1970s while working with her then-husband, producer Gordon Perry. Nicks befriended Perry after inviting her to contribute back-up vocals for the tracks she was working on. During a trip to Hawaii, Nicks visited a club where Celani was performing and joined her on stage during a rendition of "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me". Celani later accepted Nicks' invitation to join her forthcoming solo project. Sharon Celani and Lori Perry-Nicks, who is married to Nicks' brother Christopher, have contributed vocals to all of Nicks' solo albums since then.

The day that Bella Donna reached #1 on the Billboard 200, Nicks' best friend since the age of 15, Robin Anderson, was diagnosed with leukemia. Robin managed to give birth to a son, appointing Nicks as the child's godmother. Robin died six months before medical research discovered a treatment. Following Robin's death in 1982, Nicks married Robin's widower Kim Anderson. They divorced eight months later.

In October 1981 Nicks embarked on the hugely successful White Winged Dove tour, which she had to cut short to record the Mirage album with Fleetwood Mac.

For Mirage, Nicks contributed the track "Gypsy", a song originally tested for Bella Donna, which became one of the album's hit singles. "Gypsy" reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in Canada. Nicks' other tracks included "That's Alright", written during the Buckingham Nicks era, and a new track entitled "Straight Back". The short Mirage tour took place between September and October 1982, and included Nicks' performance of "Sisters of the Moon", her 1979 Tusk album track and concert encore. After the tour, Nicks prepared to record her second solo album.
Solo Tours

    * Bella Donna Tour: 1981
    * The Wild Heart Tour: 1983
    * Rock A Little Tour: 1985-1986
    * The Other Side of the Mirror Tour: 1989
    * Timespace Tour/Whole Lotta Trouble Tour: 1991
    * Street Angel Tour: 1994
    * Enchanted Tour: 1998
    * Trouble In Shangri-La Tour: 2001
    * Dreams: Live In Las Vegas (covering for Celine Dion): 2005
    * Two Voices Tour: 2005 (with Don Henley)
    * Gold Dust Tour: 2005 - 2006
    * Crystal Visions Tour: 2007 - 2008
    * Summer Tour: 2010

Touring band (2008)

    * Sharon Celani – Backing vocals (1981–present)
    * Waddy Wachtel – Lead guitarist, Musical director(1981–1986, 2001–present)
    * Lori Perry – Backing vocals (1981–1989, 1996, 2005–present)
    * Carlos Rios – Rhythm guitar (1988–present)
    * Lenny Castro – Percussionist (1994– 2001; 2007– present)
    * Brett Tuggle – Keyboardist (1998–2006)
    * Al Ortiz – Bass guitar (2001–present)
    * Scott Plunket – Pianist (2001–2002, 2008)
    * Taku Hirano – Percussionist ( 2001; 2005–2006)
    * Jimmy Paxson – Drums (2005–present)
    * Darrell Smith – Keyboardist (2005–present)
    * Jana Anderson – Backing vocals (2005–present)
    * Ricky Peterson – Keyboardist (2007–present)

Stevie Nicks' Band of Soldiers

In late 2004, Nicks began visiting Army and Navy medical centers in Washington, D.C. While visiting wounded service men and women, Nicks became determined to find an object she could leave with each soldier that would raise their spirits, motivate, and give them something to look forward to each day. She eventually decided to purchase hundreds of iPod Nanos, load them with music, artists, and play-lists which she would hand select, and autograph them. She now regularly delivers these tokens of her appreciation, bringing her closest friends to share the experience.

In 2006, Nicks held a get-together to raise money for her charity work. Many of her peers made contributions. Nicks continues to develop this philanthropic endeavor.
“ I call it a soldiers' iPod. It has all the crazy stuff that I listen to, and my collections I've been making since the '70s for going on the road, when I'm sick...Or the couple of times in my life that I have really been down, music is what always dances me out of bed. „

—Stevie Nicks, The Arizona Republic
“ So, as Mick and I went from room to room delivering their tiny iPod, they told us their stories. Mick became his tall, loving, father figure, English self, taking in every word they said, remaining calm (at least on the outside) inspiring them. We floated from room to room down thru the halls of the 2 hospitals over a three-day period. We gave out all our iPods. Right before I left for D.C., Stephen Tyler and Joe Perry dug into their pockets and came up with $10,000 for me. In my eyes they went from the coolest rock stars to generous great men; as my press agent Liz Rosenberg said, every returning wounded soldier should be given an iPod. It will be an integral part of their recovery. „

—Stevie Nicks, Journal Entry
Influence

One of the reasons for Nicks' continued career is the devotion she inspires in her fans. Stacy Dupree, Courtney Love, Michelle Branch, Belinda Carlisle, the Dixie Chicks, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Laura Branigan, Sarah McLachlan, Kelly Clarkson, Vanessa Carlton, Georgi Cussick, Tori Amos, Michelle Hotaling, Jennifer Hanson, and Delta Goodrem have all cited her work as an inspiration. She has participated in duets or provided guest vocals for several of their albums and some have returned the favour, notably Crow and the Dixie Chicks. The Dixie Chicks covered her 1975 classic "Landslide", which became a Top 10 hit (#1 on the Adult Contemporary chart) and a #1 Hit on the Country Chart. Alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins made an acoustic cover of the song that was featured on their 1994 B-side collection Pisces Iscariot. The cover was a hit and made it to the top three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. that year. She recorded a duet of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with Chris Isaak on his 2004 Christmas album Chris Isaak Christmas and sang with Isaak on his PBS Christmas television special. Other successful covers have included The Corrs' "Dreams", and Courtney Love's former band Hole with "Gold Dust Woman". "Edge Of Seventeen" was sampled on Destiny's Child's 2001 #1 single "Bootylicious". Nicks appeared in the video for "Bootylicious" and in an episode of MTV's Making The Video that featured it, in which she expressed her admiration for both the song and the group. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys has expressed extreme interest in working with Nicks. Lindsay Lohan covered "Edge of Seventeen" on her 2005 album, A Little More Personal. Deep Dish fulfilled their "Dreams" of working with Nicks in 2005 when Nicks offered to re-record vocals on a remix of her #1 penned song, "Dreams". The Deep Dish version went on to reach #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay Chart, as well as providing Nicks with her third UK top 40 hit. She helped with additional vocals and writing on Vanessa Carlton's 2007 album Heroes and Thieves. Carlton was on tour with Stevie in 2005 and 2006.

The Dixie Chicks' cover of Stevie Nicks' Fleetwood Mac classic "Landslide" also earned Stevie Nicks a BMI Songwriters Award in 2003. The award is given to the songwriter of the track, regardless of the performer, and Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" won the prestigious "Song Of The Year" award.

According to BMI, "Landslide" earned songwriter Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac the 35th Robert J. Burton Award as Most Performed Country Song of the Year. This distinction is given to the song tallying the most feature US broadcast performances during the eligibility period. Nicks is also publisher of the song, through her company Welsh Witch Music. Included on the Dixie Chicks' platinum Monument album Home, "Landslide" was a Country, Adult Top 40, Hot 100 and AC Billboard charts smash. Nicks previously collected a Pop Award in 1998 for Fleetwood Mac's recording of the song, which has achieved Million-Air status with over three million airplays.

On January 31, 2010, Stevie performed with Taylor Swift at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Swift, who describes Nicks as one of her childhood heroes, introduced her to the audience by saying "It's a fairy tale and an honor to share the stage with Stevie Nicks
A rumor that has trailed Nicks through the years is that she is a witch and is heavily involved in Wicca. While she admits to having a high regard for the mythic and gothic, she denies any solitary dedication to any one religion, including Wicca. She speaks about this erroneous image in a 2006 interview.  Nicks' music is copyrighted under the name Welsh Witch Music, a reference to her song Rhiannon, which she introduced as "a song about a Welsh witch" in concerts between 1975 and 1978. In a Yahoo! interview on April 28, 1998, Nicks said of the rumor: "I have no idea what precipitated those rumors...I am not a witch. Get a life!" Nicks also stated in a 1983 Entertainment Tonight interview: "I spent thousands of dollars on beautiful black clothes and had to stop wearing them for a long time because a lot of people scared me. And that's really unfair to me, I think, for people – other people – to conjure up their ideas of what I am or what I believe in." In a 1998 Redbook  magazine article, Nicks spoke of her faith, stating that she believes in angels and knows that she is alive today because "there was a God looking out" for her during her years of addiction.
Discography
Further information: Stevie Nicks discography
Solo
Studio Albums

    * Bella Donna (1981)
    * The Wild Heart (1983)
    * Rock a Little (1985)
    * The Other Side of the Mirror (1989)
    * Street Angel (1994)
    * Trouble in Shangri-La (2001)
    * The Soundstage Sessions (2009)

Compilations

    * Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks (1991)
    * Enchanted (3 CD box set) (1998)
    * Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks (2007)

Solo videos and DVDs

    * Stevie Nicks: Live in Concert (Video) (1982)
    * Live at Red Rocks (Video) (1995)
    * Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks: Disc Two (DVD) (2007)
    * Soundstage: Stevie Nicks Live (Sears-exclusive Blu-Ray) (2008)
    * Live in Chicago (Stevie Nicks DVD) (2009)

as Buckingham Nicks

    * Buckingham Nicks (1973)

with Fleetwood Mac

    * Fleetwood Mac (1975)
    * Rumours (1977)
    * Tusk (1979)
    * Live (1980)
    * Mirage (1982)
    * Tango in the Night (1987)
    * Greatest Hits (1988)
    * Behind the Mask (1990)
    * 25 Years – The Chain (2 CD & 4 CD Boxset) (1992)
    * The Dance (1997)
    * The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (2002)
    * Say You Will (2003)
    * Live in Boston (2004)
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z198/jimmyeightysix/Rock%20and%20Roll/stevie-nicks.jpg
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr170/Johnboy_76/Stevie_Nicks.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 6:16 am

The person who died on this day...Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 — May 26, 2008) was an American  film director, producer and actor. Born in Lafayette, Indiana to Russian Jewish  immigrants, Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting. He began directing television shows in the 1960s before moving to films.

Pollack directed more than 21 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 films or shows, and produced over 44 films. Some of his best known works include Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Way We Were (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Absence of Malice (1981). His 1985 film Out of Africa won him Academy Awards for directing and producing; he was also nominated for Best Director Oscars for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Tootsie, in the last of which he also appeared. His later films included Havana (1990), The Firm (1993), Sabrina (1995), and The Interpreter (2005).
Sydney Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to a family of Jewish  immigrants from Russia,  the son of Rebecca (née Miller) and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist.  The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an alcoholic with emotional problems, died at the age of 37 while Pollack was a student.

Despite earlier plans to attend college and then medical school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17. Pollack studied acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse from 1952 to 1954, working on a lumber truck between terms. After two years' army service until 1958, he returned to the Playhouse at Meisner’s invitation to become his assistant. In 1960, John Frankenheimer, a friend of Pollack's, asked him to come to Los Angeles in order to work as a dialogue coach for the child actors on Frankenheimer's first big picture, The Young Savages. It was during this time that Pollack met Burt Lancaster who encouraged the young actor to try directing.
Career

Pollack found initial success in television in the 1960s by directing episodes of series such as The Fugitive and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His film directing debut was 1965's The Slender Thread, starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft. Over time, Pollack's films received a total of 48 Academy Award nominations, winning 11 Oscars. His first Oscar nomination was for his 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. He was nominated a second time in 1982 for Tootsie. For his 1985 film Out of Africa starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, Pollack won Academy Awards for directing and producing.

During his career, he directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Jane Fonda, Gig Young, Susannah York, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, Melinda Dillon, Jessica Lange, Dustin Hoffman, Teri Garr , Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Holly Hunter. Only Young and Lange won Oscars for their performances in one of Pollack's films.

His rows with star Dustin Hoffman during the filming of Tootsie became well known. Eventually Hoffman began pushing the idea that Pollack play the role of his agent, and Pollack reluctantly agreed despite not having had any film roles in 20 years. Their off-screen relationship added authenticity to their scenes in the movie, most of which feature them arguing. Pollack subsequently took on more acting roles in addition to producing and directing. He appeared as himself in the Documentary One Six Right, describing his joy of owning and piloting his Citation X jet aircraft.

He resumed his acting career with appearances in such films as The Player (1992) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999), often playing corrupt or morally conflicted power figures. As a character actor, Pollack appeared in films such as A Civil Action, and Changing Lanes, as well as his own, including Random Hearts and The Interpreter. He also appeared in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives as a New York lawyer undergoing a midlife crisis, and in Robert Zemeckis' Death Becomes Her as an emergency room doctor. His last role was as Patrick Dempsey's father in the 2008 romantic comedy Made of Honor, which was playing in theaters at the time of his death. He had a recurring guest star role on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, playing Will Truman's (Eric McCormack) unfaithful but loving father, George Truman. In 2007, Pollack made guest appearances on the HBO TV series The Sopranos and Entourage in addition to earlier appearances on NBC's Just Shoot Me and Mad About You.

Pollack received the first annual Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award from the Austin Film Festival on October 21, 2006. As a producer he helped to guide many films that were successful with both critics and movie audiences, such as The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Michael Clayton, a film in which he also starred opposite George Clooney, and for which he received his sixth Academy Award nomination, in the Best Picture category. He formed a production company called Mirage Enterprises with the English director Anthony Minghella. The last film they produced together, The Reader, earned them both posthumous Oscar nominations for Best Picture.
Influences

In the 2002 Sight and Sound Directors' Poll, Pollack revealed his top-ten films: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Conformist, The Godfather Part II, Grand Illusion, The Leopard, Once Upon a Time in America, Raging Bull, The Seventh Seal, and Sunset Boulevard.
Personal life and death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Film director Sydney Pollack dies at age 73

Pollack was married to Claire Griswold, a former student of his, from 1958 until his death. They had three children: Rachel, Rebecca, and Steven Pollack. Steven Pollack died in a plane crash in 1993. Sydney's brother Bernie Pollack is a costume designer, producer, and actor.

Concerns about Pollack's health had surfaced in 2007 when suddenly he stepped out of directing HBO's television film Recount. The film aired on May 25, 2008. Pollack died the next day of stomach cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, surrounded by family. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered along the runway at the Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, California.
Filmography
Directing and producing
Year Film Role(s) Academy Award Wins Academy Award Nominations
1965 The Slender Thread Director 2
1966 This Property Is Condemned Director
1968 The Scalphunters Director
The Swimmer Director
1969 Castle Keep Director
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Director 1 9
1972 Jeremiah Johnson Director
1973 The Way We Were Director 2 6
1975 Three Days of the Condor Director 1
The Yakuza Director, Producer
1977 Bobby Deerfield Director, Producer
1979 The Electric Horseman Director 1
1981 Absence of Malice Director 3
1982 Tootsie Director, Producer 1 10
1985 Out of Africa Director, Producer 7 11
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret Executive Producer
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Producer
1989 The Fabulous Baker Boys Executive Producer 4
1990 Havana Director 1
Presumed Innocent Producer
1993 The Firm Director, Producer 2
Searching for Bobby Fischer Executive Producer 1
1995 Sabrina Director, Producer 2
Sense and Sensibility Executive Producer 1 7
1998 Sliding Doors Producer
1999 Random Hearts Director
The Talented Mr. Ripley Executive Producer 5
2001 Iris Executive Producer 1 3
2002 The Quiet American Executive Producer 1
2003 Cold Mountain Producer 1 7
2005 Sketches of Frank Gehry Director, Executive Producer
The Interpreter Director
2006 Breaking and Entering Producer
2007 Michael Clayton Producer, Actor 1 7
2008 Recount Executive Producer NA NA
Leatherheads Executive Producer
The Reader Producer 1 5
2009 Margaret Producer - -
TBA The Amulet of Samarkand Producer
Film and television
Year Film Role Notes
1956 The Kaiser Aluminum Hour Shuber Episode: "The Army Game"
1959 Playhouse 90 Andres Episodes: "For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 1" and " For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 2"
The United States Steel Hour Benson Episode: "The Case of Julia Walton"
Armstrong Circle Theatre Albert Rousseau Episode: "35 Rue Du Marche"
Startime Harry Episode: "Something Special"
1959–1964 Brenner Detective Al Dunn Episodes:
"Family Man"
"Good Friend"
"Point of Law"
1960 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Bernie Samuelson Episode: "The Contest for Aaron Gold"
Twilight Zone Arthur Willis Episode: "The Trouble With Templeton"
1961 Have Gun - Will Travel Joe Gulp Episodes: "Quiet Night in Town: Part 1" and "Quiet Night in Town: Part 2"
The Deputy Chuck Johnson Episode: "Spoken in Silence"
The Asphalt Jungle Louie Episode: "The Professor"
1961, 1962 The New Breed Austin Rogers/Bert Masters Episodes: "The Compulsion to Confess" and "Walk This Street Lightly"
1962 Ben Casey Episode: "Monument to an Aged Hunter"
War Hunt Sgt. Owen Van Horn
1979 The Electric Horseman Man who makes pass at Alice uncredited
1982 Tootsie George Fields
1992 The Player Dick Mellon
Death Becomes Her ER Doctor uncredited
Husbands and Wives Jack
1994 Frasier Holden Thorpe Episode: "The Candidate"
1998 Mad About You Dr. Sydney Warren Episode: "Cheating on Sheila"
A Civil Action Al Eustis
1999 Eyes Wide Shut Victor Ziegler
Random Hearts Carl Broman
2000 Just Shoot Me! Sydney Pollack Episode: "A&E Biography: Nina Van Horn"
King of the Hill Grant Trimble Voice
Episode: "Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy's Magic Sex Feet"
2000–2006 Will & Grace George Truman Episodes:
"Oh Dad, Poor Dad, He's Kept Me in the Closet and I'm So Sad"
"Cheaters"
"Cheatin' Trouble Blues"
"Blanket Apology"
2001 The Majestic Studio Executive Voice
2002 Changing Lanes Stephen Delano
2005 The Interpreter Earl Leemus
2006 Fauteuils d'orchestre Brian Sobinski
American Masters Narrator Episode: "John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend"
2007 The Sopranos Warren Feldman Episode: "Stage 5"
Michael Clayton Marty Bach
2008 Made of Honor Thomas Bailey Sr.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/SydneyPollack.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii137/TheJustus/polack.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/26/10 at 7:36 am


The person born on this day...Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 120 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics.

Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 along with her then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's Rumours, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks' song "Dreams", which was the band's first and only U.S. number one) and remained at #1 on the American albums chart for over 30 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

Nicks began her solo career in 1981 with the 5 million selling album Bella Donna, and she has produced five more solo studio albums to date. After the release of her first solo album, Rolling Stone deemed her "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll". Overcoming cocaine addiction, dependency on tranquilizers, and chronic fatigue syndrome, Nicks remains a popular solo performer. She has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards and, with Fleetwood Mac, won the 1977/1978 Grammy for Album of the Year for Rumours. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Nicks has a contralto vocal range
Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac on December 31, 1974, after Keith Olsen played their track "Frozen Love" for drummer Mick Fleetwood, who had come to Studio City, California  to find a new studio to record Fleetwood Mac's next studio album. Fleetwood remembered Buckingham's guitar work after guitar player Bob Welch's departure to pursue a solo career. Initially extending the offer only to Buckingham, Fleetwood later included Nicks in the offer when Buckingham insisted that they were "a package deal".

In 1975, the band released the album Fleetwood Mac, which hit number one, sold 5 million in the US alone, and had three Top 20 songs in 1976. Nicks' "Rhiannon" reached #11, and the album also included Nicks' "Landslide", and "Crystal", though the latter featured lead vocals by Buckingham. That same year, Nicks worked with clothing designer Margi Kent to develop Nicks' unique onstage look, with costumes that featured flowing skirts, shawls and platform boots.

Following the success of Fleetwood Mac, increasing tension between Nicks and Buckingham began to take its toll on their creativity, and Nicks ended the relationship. Fleetwood Mac began recording their follow-up album, Rumours, in early 1976 and continued until late in the year. Sessions were marked by heavy drug use, faulty drum tracks, and tension between the band members, which influenced the songwriting. Also, Nicks and Buckingham sang back-up on Warren Zevon's debut album.

Nicks' contributions to Rumours were "I Don't Want to Know", "Gold Dust Woman", and "Dreams" (which became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit single to date), as well as co-writer on "The Chain". Nicks had also written and recorded the song "Silver Springs", but it was ultimately not included on the album because of space limitations for studio albums on vinyl records (24 minutes per side). Instead, it was relegated to the B-side of the "Go Your Own Way" single release, and would remain in some obscurity for many years until its triumphant re-release as part of the 4-disc Fleetwood Mac retrospective 25 Years - The Chain in 1992. The song was, and has always been, very special to Nicks - song rights are owned by her mother, Barbara Nicks - and she was not told about the omission from "Rumours" until after the decision had been made. Nicks was devastated.

Rumours was released to widespread acclaim and Grammy award for album of the year in February 1977. By 2008, Rumours had sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. alone (certified as a diamond album by the RIAA) and today is officially accredited with worldwide sales of over 40 million, maintaining its status as one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. In November 1977, after a New Zealand concert for the Rumours tour, Nicks and Fleetwood, who was married to Jenny Boyd, secretly began an affair. The affair ended the next year, in October 1978, when Mick Fleetwood left his wife for Nicks' best friend Sara Recor. After the success of the Rumours album and tour in 1977–78, Fleetwood Mac began recording their third album with Buckingham and Nicks, Tusk, in the spring of 1978. That year, Nicks sang back-up on Walter Egan's "Magnet & Steel" from Egan's 1978 album Not Shy, which was produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut.
Tusk, Bella Donna and Mirage: 1978–1982

By 1978, Nicks had amassed a large backlog of songs dating back to her Buckingham Nicks days that she was unable to record and release with Fleetwood Mac because of the constraint of having to accommodate three songwriters on each album. During Tusk sessions in 1979, Nicks began laying down demos for a solo album, continuing to write and record for the solo project during the world tour for Tusk in 1979–80. With Danny Goldberg and Paul Fishkin, Nicks founded Modern Records, a vehicle to record and release her own material. Between Tusk sessions, Nicks recorded two duets that became hits: with Kenny Loggins on "Whenever I Call You Friend" (1978), and with John Stewart on "Gold" (1979).

After thirteen months of recording and editing, Tusk was released as a 20-track double album in October 19, 1979. Nicks' wistful ballads "Storms" and "Beautiful Child" were speculated to be about her doomed affair with Mick Fleetwood, while the Billboard Hot 100 #7 hit "Sara" alluded to the love-triangle between herself, Fleetwood and Sara Pesnell (later Sara Fleetwood). Other Nicks tracks included "Angel" and "Sisters of the Moon". One notable Nicks omission from Tusk was Planets of the Universe, originally written in 1976 as part of the "Rumours" sessions. Buckingham is said to have had unresolvable problems with production on the song, and it would not be until 2001 that a release would be forthcoming via a Nicks' solo album Trouble in Shangri-La.

During the huge 18 month sellout Tusk Tour of 1979 and 1980, Nicks began writing and recording demos for what would become her first and most successful solo effort. Band sessions for Nicks' solo debut album began in April 1980, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Tom Moncrieff. Sessions continued through the end of the Tusk tour in late 1980, ending in the spring of 1981, helmed by Jimmy Iovine and featuring various contributions from Petty and his band. During 1981 Nicks toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and New Zealand band Split Enz as a guest.

Nicks released Bella Donna on July 27, 1981. The album reached #1 on the Billboard album chart in September. As of 1990 it was certified 'quadruple platinum' for sales of over 4 million copies in the US alone. All four of its singles (Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, Leather and Lace, Edge of Seventeen, and After the Glitter Fades) charted in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's ten tracks included five songs written in previous years, and five new songs. Several unreleased songs from the Bella Donna sessions were included on soundtracks, in concert sets, and later Fleetwood Mac albums. Other tracks remain unreleased.

Bella Donna was the first album to feature Nicks' back-up singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry. Nicks met Perry in the mid-1970s while working with her then-husband, producer Gordon Perry. Nicks befriended Perry after inviting her to contribute back-up vocals for the tracks she was working on. During a trip to Hawaii, Nicks visited a club where Celani was performing and joined her on stage during a rendition of "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me". Celani later accepted Nicks' invitation to join her forthcoming solo project. Sharon Celani and Lori Perry-Nicks, who is married to Nicks' brother Christopher, have contributed vocals to all of Nicks' solo albums since then.

The day that Bella Donna reached #1 on the Billboard 200, Nicks' best friend since the age of 15, Robin Anderson, was diagnosed with leukemia. Robin managed to give birth to a son, appointing Nicks as the child's godmother. Robin died six months before medical research discovered a treatment. Following Robin's death in 1982, Nicks married Robin's widower Kim Anderson. They divorced eight months later.

In October 1981 Nicks embarked on the hugely successful White Winged Dove tour, which she had to cut short to record the Mirage album with Fleetwood Mac.

For Mirage, Nicks contributed the track "Gypsy", a song originally tested for Bella Donna, which became one of the album's hit singles. "Gypsy" reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in Canada. Nicks' other tracks included "That's Alright", written during the Buckingham Nicks era, and a new track entitled "Straight Back". The short Mirage tour took place between September and October 1982, and included Nicks' performance of "Sisters of the Moon", her 1979 Tusk album track and concert encore. After the tour, Nicks prepared to record her second solo album.
Solo Tours

    * Bella Donna Tour: 1981
    * The Wild Heart Tour: 1983
    * Rock A Little Tour: 1985-1986
    * The Other Side of the Mirror Tour: 1989
    * Timespace Tour/Whole Lotta Trouble Tour: 1991
    * Street Angel Tour: 1994
    * Enchanted Tour: 1998
    * Trouble In Shangri-La Tour: 2001
    * Dreams: Live In Las Vegas (covering for Celine Dion): 2005
    * Two Voices Tour: 2005 (with Don Henley)
    * Gold Dust Tour: 2005 - 2006
    * Crystal Visions Tour: 2007 - 2008
    * Summer Tour: 2010

Touring band (2008)

    * Sharon Celani – Backing vocals (1981–present)
    * Waddy Wachtel – Lead guitarist, Musical director(1981–1986, 2001–present)
    * Lori Perry – Backing vocals (1981–1989, 1996, 2005–present)
    * Carlos Rios – Rhythm guitar (1988–present)
    * Lenny Castro – Percussionist (1994– 2001; 2007– present)
    * Brett Tuggle – Keyboardist (1998–2006)
    * Al Ortiz – Bass guitar (2001–present)
    * Scott Plunket – Pianist (2001–2002, 2008)
    * Taku Hirano – Percussionist ( 2001; 2005–2006)
    * Jimmy Paxson – Drums (2005–present)
    * Darrell Smith – Keyboardist (2005–present)
    * Jana Anderson – Backing vocals (2005–present)
    * Ricky Peterson – Keyboardist (2007–present)

Stevie Nicks' Band of Soldiers

In late 2004, Nicks began visiting Army and Navy medical centers in Washington, D.C. While visiting wounded service men and women, Nicks became determined to find an object she could leave with each soldier that would raise their spirits, motivate, and give them something to look forward to each day. She eventually decided to purchase hundreds of iPod Nanos, load them with music, artists, and play-lists which she would hand select, and autograph them. She now regularly delivers these tokens of her appreciation, bringing her closest friends to share the experience.

In 2006, Nicks held a get-together to raise money for her charity work. Many of her peers made contributions. Nicks continues to develop this philanthropic endeavor.
“ I call it a soldiers' iPod. It has all the crazy stuff that I listen to, and my collections I've been making since the '70s for going on the road, when I'm sick...Or the couple of times in my life that I have really been down, music is what always dances me out of bed. „

—Stevie Nicks, The Arizona Republic
“ So, as Mick and I went from room to room delivering their tiny iPod, they told us their stories. Mick became his tall, loving, father figure, English self, taking in every word they said, remaining calm (at least on the outside) inspiring them. We floated from room to room down thru the halls of the 2 hospitals over a three-day period. We gave out all our iPods. Right before I left for D.C., Stephen Tyler and Joe Perry dug into their pockets and came up with $10,000 for me. In my eyes they went from the coolest rock stars to generous great men; as my press agent Liz Rosenberg said, every returning wounded soldier should be given an iPod. It will be an integral part of their recovery. „

—Stevie Nicks, Journal Entry
Influence

One of the reasons for Nicks' continued career is the devotion she inspires in her fans. Stacy Dupree, Courtney Love, Michelle Branch, Belinda Carlisle, the Dixie Chicks, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Laura Branigan, Sarah McLachlan, Kelly Clarkson, Vanessa Carlton, Georgi Cussick, Tori Amos, Michelle Hotaling, Jennifer Hanson, and Delta Goodrem have all cited her work as an inspiration. She has participated in duets or provided guest vocals for several of their albums and some have returned the favour, notably Crow and the Dixie Chicks. The Dixie Chicks covered her 1975 classic "Landslide", which became a Top 10 hit (#1 on the Adult Contemporary chart) and a #1 Hit on the Country Chart. Alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins made an acoustic cover of the song that was featured on their 1994 B-side collection Pisces Iscariot. The cover was a hit and made it to the top three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. that year. She recorded a duet of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with Chris Isaak on his 2004 Christmas album Chris Isaak Christmas and sang with Isaak on his PBS Christmas television special. Other successful covers have included The Corrs' "Dreams", and Courtney Love's former band Hole with "Gold Dust Woman". "Edge Of Seventeen" was sampled on Destiny's Child's 2001 #1 single "Bootylicious". Nicks appeared in the video for "Bootylicious" and in an episode of MTV's Making The Video that featured it, in which she expressed her admiration for both the song and the group. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys has expressed extreme interest in working with Nicks. Lindsay Lohan covered "Edge of Seventeen" on her 2005 album, A Little More Personal. Deep Dish fulfilled their "Dreams" of working with Nicks in 2005 when Nicks offered to re-record vocals on a remix of her #1 penned song, "Dreams". The Deep Dish version went on to reach #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay Chart, as well as providing Nicks with her third UK top 40 hit. She helped with additional vocals and writing on Vanessa Carlton's 2007 album Heroes and Thieves. Carlton was on tour with Stevie in 2005 and 2006.

The Dixie Chicks' cover of Stevie Nicks' Fleetwood Mac classic "Landslide" also earned Stevie Nicks a BMI Songwriters Award in 2003. The award is given to the songwriter of the track, regardless of the performer, and Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" won the prestigious "Song Of The Year" award.

According to BMI, "Landslide" earned songwriter Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac the 35th Robert J. Burton Award as Most Performed Country Song of the Year. This distinction is given to the song tallying the most feature US broadcast performances during the eligibility period. Nicks is also publisher of the song, through her company Welsh Witch Music. Included on the Dixie Chicks' platinum Monument album Home, "Landslide" was a Country, Adult Top 40, Hot 100 and AC Billboard charts smash. Nicks previously collected a Pop Award in 1998 for Fleetwood Mac's recording of the song, which has achieved Million-Air status with over three million airplays.

On January 31, 2010, Stevie performed with Taylor Swift at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Swift, who describes Nicks as one of her childhood heroes, introduced her to the audience by saying "It's a fairy tale and an honor to share the stage with Stevie Nicks
A rumor that has trailed Nicks through the years is that she is a witch and is heavily involved in Wicca. While she admits to having a high regard for the mythic and gothic, she denies any solitary dedication to any one religion, including Wicca. She speaks about this erroneous image in a 2006 interview.  Nicks' music is copyrighted under the name Welsh Witch Music, a reference to her song Rhiannon, which she introduced as "a song about a Welsh witch" in concerts between 1975 and 1978. In a Yahoo! interview on April 28, 1998, Nicks said of the rumor: "I have no idea what precipitated those rumors...I am not a witch. Get a life!" Nicks also stated in a 1983 Entertainment Tonight interview: "I spent thousands of dollars on beautiful black clothes and had to stop wearing them for a long time because a lot of people scared me. And that's really unfair to me, I think, for people – other people – to conjure up their ideas of what I am or what I believe in." In a 1998 Redbook  magazine article, Nicks spoke of her faith, stating that she believes in angels and knows that she is alive today because "there was a God looking out" for her during her years of addiction.
Discography
Further information: Stevie Nicks discography
Solo
Studio Albums

    * Bella Donna (1981)
    * The Wild Heart (1983)
    * Rock a Little (1985)
    * The Other Side of the Mirror (1989)
    * Street Angel (1994)
    * Trouble in Shangri-La (2001)
    * The Soundstage Sessions (2009)

Compilations

    * Timespace – The Best of Stevie Nicks (1991)
    * Enchanted (3 CD box set) (1998)
    * Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks (2007)

Solo videos and DVDs

    * Stevie Nicks: Live in Concert (Video) (1982)
    * Live at Red Rocks (Video) (1995)
    * Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks: Disc Two (DVD) (2007)
    * Soundstage: Stevie Nicks Live (Sears-exclusive Blu-Ray) (2008)
    * Live in Chicago (Stevie Nicks DVD) (2009)

as Buckingham Nicks

    * Buckingham Nicks (1973)

with Fleetwood Mac

    * Fleetwood Mac (1975)
    * Rumours (1977)
    * Tusk (1979)
    * Live (1980)
    * Mirage (1982)
    * Tango in the Night (1987)
    * Greatest Hits (1988)
    * Behind the Mask (1990)
    * 25 Years – The Chain (2 CD & 4 CD Boxset) (1992)
    * The Dance (1997)
    * The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (2002)
    * Say You Will (2003)
    * Live in Boston (2004)
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z198/jimmyeightysix/Rock%20and%20Roll/stevie-nicks.jpg
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr170/Johnboy_76/Stevie_Nicks.jpg


She had some good music. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 9:10 am


She had some good music. :)

Yes she has. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/26/10 at 10:03 am

I LOVE Stevie Nicks.


She's a fellow witch.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxMHhkzH_0



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/26/10 at 11:37 am


I LOVE Stevie Nicks.


She's a fellow witch.


Cat

I have had a crush on Stevie Nicks ever since Rumours in 1977. She's cool, fashionable and...a witch. Rhiannon is one if the coolest songs ever for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 12:37 pm


I have had a crush on Stevie Nicks ever since Rumours in 1977. She's cool, fashionable and...a witch. Rhiannon is one if the coolest songs ever for me.

For a brief time, I was going to name my kid Rhiannon, but that was the 70's and I never had a daughter till the 90's.a friend named her daughter Sara(h) after the song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/26/10 at 12:59 pm

When I was in the service, I worked with this girl who was teaching me how to use one of those floor buffers (you didn't want to be anywhere near it with my first couple of attempts.  :D ;D ;D ;D ).  After she gave me the instruction and she handed the "reins" over to me. I looked at her and said, "In the words of Stevie Nicks, 'Stand Back, Stand Back." She looked at me and said, "In the words of Boy George, "Do you really want to hurt me?"  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 05/26/10 at 3:44 pm


For a brief time, I was going to name my kid Rhiannon, but that was the 70's and I never had a daughter till the 90's.a friend named her daughter Sara(h) after the song.

Rhiannon is a beautiful name. I like Stevie in this Pic.
http://givemeheadwear.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/stevie_nicks_3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 5:50 pm


When I was in the service, I worked with this girl who was teaching me how to use one of those floor buffers (you didn't want to be anywhere near it with my first couple of attempts.  :D ;D ;D ;D ).  After she gave me the instruction and she handed the "reins" over to me. I looked at her and said, "In the words of Stevie Nicks, 'Stand Back, Stand Back." She looked at me and said, "In the words of Boy George, "Do you really want to hurt me?"  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

;D ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/10 at 5:52 pm


Rhiannon is a beautiful name. I like Stevie in this Pic.
http://givemeheadwear.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/stevie_nicks_3.jpg


Yes that is a nice pic of her. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/26/10 at 7:02 pm

She also had the hit Stand Back in 1983.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 6:01 am

The word of the day...Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track  (permanent way) to transport freight or passengers from one place to another. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.

Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive, or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most modern trains are powered by diesel locomotives or by electricity supplied by overhead wires or additional rails, although historically (from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century) the steam locomotive was the dominant form of locomotive power. Other sources of power (such as horses, rope or wire, gravity, pneumatics, and gas turbines) are possible.
http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af222/CasaCakes/train.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/weerbiemom/DSC01297.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z243/jrohland/Dads%20Train%20051910/TrainShed.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss310/wa2n_virgo/730.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff106/victorias-photos/Exbury/exburymay09020.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab207/ace79118/12.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 6:04 am

The person who was born on this day...Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul",  is an American R&B/soul  singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Knight, Sr., a postal worker.  She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour  TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods). By the end of the decade, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight's cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.

Knight discovered she was pregnant in 1960, and married her high school sweetheart James Newman. After a miscarriage, Knight returned to performing with the Pips. In 1961, Bobby Robinson produced the single "Every Beat of My Heart" for the group, which became a #1 R&B and #6 pop hit when released on Vee-Jay Records. In 1962, Langston George left the group, which at that time renamed itself Gladys Knight & the Pips and continued as a quartet.

In 1962, after scoring a second hit, "Letter Full of Tears", Knight became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, Jimmy III, that year. She retired from the road to raise her child while The Pips toured on their own. After giving birth in 1963 to a daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family.
Success with The Pips
Main article: Gladys Knight & the Pips
Knight and the Pips perform aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger on November 1, 1981.

Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," (recorded later by Marvin Gaye), "Friendship Train" (1969), "If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), the Grammy Award winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" (1972), and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973). In their early Motown career Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Miss Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Gladys that she was giving his act a hard time.

The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train to Georgia" (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me." In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. However, the Buddah hits all followed a number of years after their success in the U.S.. For example "Midnight Train to Georgia" hit the UK pop charts Top 5 in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S..

During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo LP recordings--Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. Having divorced James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer Aaliyah), then Detroit mayor Coleman Young's executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Upon their divorce, Hankerson and Knight were embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – "When A Child Is Born" (previously a hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer".

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Play sound
Gladys Knight & the Pips' version of the song, from their 1967 album Everybody Needs Love.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two LPs--About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.

In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its lead single, "Love Overboard", was a successful hit and won a third Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Solo music career
Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles in Atlanta.

While still with The Pips, Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For" which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, Gladys Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10 hit both in the UK, reaching #6, and Germany.

Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released by MCA in 1991. It rose to #1 on the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit "Men". The album also featured "Superwoman", written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on "I Don't Do Duets", a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle's album Burnin'.

Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. During this period, Knight was briefly married to motivational speaker Les Brown. It was also during this period that her eldest son, Jimmy III, died in his sleep at the age of 36.

In 1992 Vernon Ray Blue II, choir master of the year asked Gladys to record his first single "He Lifted Me"

Now married to William McDowell, Knight joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.

In 2008, a duet between Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis' album A Night to Remember. Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Diana Ross at the 'Divas with Heart' concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York's Radio City Hall.

In 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity. In March 2010, Randy Jackson mentioned on a new episode of the same show that he is back in the studio with Gladys Knight working on a new album.
Michael Jackson Funeral

In 2009 Knight sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.
UK Farewell Tour

In October 2009, Gladys started her UK Farewell tour which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick.

Speaking ahead of the Manchester show, Jackson said: "The UK was a very special place to my brother Michael and I'm so excited to be able to pay my respect to his fans here. To be able to do this whilst supporting our dear friend Gladys is a complete blessing." On the October 9 concert, his mother Katherine Jackson and his brother Randy were acknowledged in the audience.

The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production value than previous "Gladys Knight, a mic and a light" appearances by Gladys in the UK. A glossy program was available and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program Later... with Jools Holland where Gladys performed If I Were Your Woman and Help Me Make It Through the Night.

At select performances on the UK Farewell Tour recordings of the concerts were made available for sale on USB flash drives.
Acting and other work

Knight guest-starred on several television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s ,with roles on Benson, The Jeffersons, A Different World, Living Single, The Jamie Foxx Show and New York Undercover. In 1985, she co-starred on the CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. with comedian Flip Wilson. It lasted for one season. In April 2009, she made a special guest appearance and performed a song on Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Knight has also made a number of television cameo appearances, including Las Vegas, and 30 Rock.

Knight's son Shanga owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name.Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations in the Atlanta area. In 2009, Gladys was featured in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself and performed her song The Need To Be from the 1974 album I Feel a Song.'
Awards, Honors and Achievements
For awards won by Knight with the Pips, see Gladys Knight & the Pips.

    * Grammy Awards
          o 1986 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - "That's What Friends Are For" - Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder.
          o 2001 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album - "At Last"
          o 2004 Best Gospel Performance - "Heaven Help Us All" - Ray Charles & Gladys Knight.
          o 2005 Best Gospel Choir Or Chorus Album - One Voice - Gladys Knight & The Saints Unified Voices.

    * Other awards
          o 1992 Gladys Knight was awarded an Essence Award for Career Achievement.
          o 1995 Gladys Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
          o 1997: Gladys Knight received the Pinnacle Award during 5th Annual Trumpet Awards presentation in Atlanta, Georgia.
          o 2005: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BET cable network.
          o 2006: Gladys Knight received a Legendary Award from the Las Vegas Music Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight received Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist during The 38th NAACP Image Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight was declared the "Empress of Soul" and presented with the 16th Annual Ella Award by the Society of Singers
          o 2008: Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder were presented with the Best Living Legend Award at the 1st Annual The BET Honors.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Diva Award at the Stardust Music Awards in March.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight was honored by The National Black Arts Festival and The Coca Cola Company at the 2008 Legends Celebration.

Solo discography
See also: Gladys Knight & the Pips discography
Singles

    * 1978: "I'm Coming Home Again" (#54 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: "Am I Too Late" (#45 U.S. R&B)
    * 1981: "When a Child Is Born" (with Johnny Mathis) (#74 UK)
    * 1985: "That's What Friends Are For" (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John & Stevie Wonder) (#1 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. AC, UK #16)
    * 1986: "Loving On Borrowed Time" (w/Bill Medley) (#16 US AC)
    * 1989: "License to Kill" (#69 U.S. R&B, #18 U.S. AC, #6 UK) Wind Beneath My Wings (12# U.S. U.K. R&B #12 UK)
    * 1990: "If I Knew Then What I Know Now" (with Kenny Rogers) (#10 U.S. AC)
    * 1991: "Men" (#2 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Meet Me in the Middle" (#78 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Where Would I Be" (#66 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Superwoman" (with Dionne Warwick & Patti LaBelle) (airplay-only)
    * 1994: "I Don't Want to Know" (#32 U.S. R&B)(#113 US POP)
    * 1994: "End of the Road" Medley: "If You Don't Know Me by Now"/"Love Don't Love Nobody" (#76 U.S. R&B)
    * 1995: "Next Time" (#30 U.S. R&B)
    * 1996: "Missing You" (with Brandy, Tamia & Chaka Khan) (#25 U.S. Pop, #10, U.S. R&B, #30 U.S. AC)

Albums

    * 1978: Miss Gladys Knight (#57 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: Gladys Knight (#79 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: Good Woman (#45 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B)
    * 1994: Just for You (#53 U.S. Pop, #6 U.S. R&B)
    * 1998: Many Different Roads (#21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2001: At Last (#98 U.S. Pop, #30 U.S. R&B)
    * 2005: One Voice (with Saints Unified Voices) (#95 U.S. R&B, #21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: A Christmas Celebration (with Saints Unified Voices) (#155 U.S. Pop, #59 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: Before Me (#93 U.S. Pop, #18 U.S. R&B, #4 U.S. Jazz)
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/EcenaMexicana/Gladys-Knight-gw10.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n414/ashahope_09/soulful/gladysknight.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 6:08 am

The person who died on this day...Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman (September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-born American actor, comedian, screenwriter  and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family immigrated to the United States when he was ten. After graduating from California State University, Northridge with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands like Poco and America. Feeling the need for a more creative outlet, Hartman joined the comedy group The Groundlings in 1975 and there helped comedian Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman co-wrote the screenplay for the film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances on Reubens' show Pee-wee's Playhouse.

Hartman became well-known in the late 1980s when he joined the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He won fame for his impressions, particularly of President Bill Clinton, and stayed on the show for eight seasons. Called "the Glue" for his ability to hold the show together and help other cast members, Hartman won a Primetime Emmy Award for his SNL work in 1989. In 1995, after scrapping plans for his own variety show, he starred as Bill McNeal in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio. He also had frequent roles on The Simpsons, and appeared in the films Houseguest, Sgt. Bilko, Jingle All the Way, and Small Soldiers.

Hartman had been divorced twice before he married Brynn (née Omdahl) in 1987; the couple had two children together. However, their marriage was fractured, due in part to Brynn's drug use. On May 28, 1998, Brynn shot and killed her husband while he slept in their Encino, Los Angeles home, then committed suicide several hours later. In the weeks following his death, Hartman was celebrated in a wave of tributes. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly opined that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper, and a decidedly regular guy, beloved by everyone he worked with".
After appearing in the 1986 films Jumpin' Jack Flash and ¡Three Amigos!, Hartman joined the cast and writing staff of NBC's variety show Saturday Night Live (SNL).  He told the Los Angeles Times, "I wanted to do because I wanted to get the exposure that would give me box-office credibility so I can write movies for myself."  In his eight seasons with the show Hartman became known for his impressions, and performed as over 70 different characters. These included Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, Ed McMahon, Barbara Bush, Charlton Heston, Phil Donahue and Bill Clinton; the last was often considered his most well-known impression.

"As an actor, I felt I couldn't compete. I wasn't as cute as the leading man; I wasn't as brilliant as Robin Williams. The one thing I could do was voices and impersonations and weird characters, an there was really no call for that. Except on Saturday Night Live."
—Hartman on his acting skills.

Hartman's original Saturday Night Live characters included Eugene, the Anal Retentive Chef and Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Hartman first performed his Clinton impression on an episode of The Tonight Show. When he met Clinton in 1993 Hartman remarked, "I guess I owe you a few apologies", adding later that he "sometimes a twinge of guilt about ". Clinton showed good humor and sent Hartman a signed photo with the text: "You're not the president, but you play one on TV. And you're OK, mostly." One of Hartman's more famous sketches as Clinton saw the president visit a McDonald's restaurant and explain his policies by eating other customers' food. The writers told him that he was not eating enough during rehearsals for the sketch – by the end of the live performance, Hartman had eaten so much he could barely speak.

Backstage at SNL, Hartman was called "the Glue", a name coined by Adam Sandler, according to Jay Mohr's book Gasping for Airtime. SNL creator Lorne Michaels explained the reason for the name: "He kind of held the show together. He gave to everybody and demanded very little. He was very low-maintenance." Michaels added that Hartman was "the least appreciated" cast member by commentators outside the show, and praised his ability "to do five or six parts in a show where you're playing support or you're doing remarkable character work". Hartman was nominated for three Emmy Awards for his work on SNL, winning in 1989 for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.
A man stands on the right dressed in a baseball cap and sweatshirt to resemble President Clinton. He is holding a burger which he has picked up from the women to his left's tray; several other products remain. A man in dark glasses stands behind them.
Hartman appears as Bill Clinton on an episode of Saturday Night Live. In this episode, Clinton visits a McDonald's restaurant, in what is considered one of Hartman's most famous sketches.

After his co-stars Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Jan Hooks and Dana Carvey had left, Hartman said he felt "like an athlete who's watched all his World Series teammates get traded off into other directions ... It was hard to watch them leave because I sort of felt we were all part of the team that saved the show." This cast turnover contributed to his leaving the show in 1994. Hartman had originally planned to leave the show in 1991, but Michaels convinced him to stay to raise his profile; his portrayal of Clinton contributed to this goal. Jay Leno offered him the role of his sidekick on The Tonight Show but Hartman opted to stay on SNL. NBC persuaded him to stay on SNL by promising him his own comedy–variety show entitled The Phil Show. He planned to "reinvent the variety form" with "a hybrid, very fast-paced, high energy with sketches, impersonations, pet acts, and performers showcasing their talents". Hartman was to be the show's executive producer and head writer. Before production began, however, the network decided that variety shows were too unpopular and scrapped the series. In a 1996 interview, Hartman noted he was glad the show had been scrapped, as he "would've been sweatin' blood each week trying to make it work". In 1998, he admitted he missed working on SNL, but had enjoyed the move from New York City to Southern California.
NewsRadio (1995–1998)

Hartman became one of the stars of the NBC sitcom NewsRadio in 1995, portraying radio news anchor Bill McNeal. He signed up after being attracted by the show's ensemble cast, and joked that he based McNeal on himself with "any ethics and character" removed. Hartman made roughly $50,000 per episode of NewsRadio. Although the show was critically acclaimed, it was never a ratings hit and cancellation was a regular threat. After the completion of the fourth season, Hartman commented, "We seem to have limited appeal. We're on the edge here, not sure we're going to be picked up or not", but added he was "99 percent sure" the series would be renewed for a fifth season. Hartman had publicly lambasted NBC's decision to repeatedly move NewsRadio into different timeslots, but later regretted his comments, saying, "this is a sitcom, for crying out loud, not brain surgery". He also stated that if the sitcom were cancelled "it just will open up other opportunities for me". Although the show was renewed for a fifth season, Hartman died before production began. Ken Tucker praised Hartman's performance as McNeal: "A lesser performer ... would have played him as a variation on The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Ted Baxter, because that's what Bill was, on paper. But Hartman gave infinite variety to Bill's self-centeredness, turning him devious, cowardly, squeamish, and foolishly bold from week to week." Hartman was posthumously nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in Comedy Series in 1998 for his work on NewsRadio, but lost to David Hyde Pierce.
Other work

Hartman provided the voices for numerous characters on the Fox animated series The Simpsons, appearing in over 50 episodes. He made his first appearance in the second season episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Although he was originally brought in for a one-time appearance, Hartman enjoyed working on The Simpsons and the staff wrote additional parts for him. He voiced the recurring characters Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure, as well as several one-time and background characters. He often used his McClure voice to entertain the audience between takes while taping episodes of NewsRadio. He remarked, "My favorite fans are Troy McClure fans."

Hartman was popular among the staff of The Simpsons. Showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein stated that they enjoyed his work, and used Hartman as much as possible when working on the show. To give Hartman a larger role, they developed the episode "A Fish Called Selma", which focuses on Troy McClure and expands the character's backstory. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said that he "took for granted because he nailed the joke every time", and that his voice acting could produce "the maximum amount of humor" with any line he was given. Before his death, Hartman had expressed an interest in making a live action film about Troy McClure. Many of The Simpsons production staff expressed enthusiasm for the project and offered to help. Hartman said he was "looking forward to live-action movie, publicizing his Betty Ford appearances".

Hartman's first starring film role came in 1995's Houseguest. Other films included Greedy, Coneheads, Sgt. Bilko, So I Married an Axe Murderer, CB4, Jingle All the Way and Small Soldiers, the last of which was his final theatrically released film. Hartman noted, "It's fun coming in as the second or third lead. If the movie or TV show bombs, you aren't to blame." At the same time, he preferred working on television. His other television roles included appearances on episodes of Seinfeld, The John Larroquette Show, The Dana Carvey Show and the HBO TV film The Second Civil War as the President of the United States. He appeared as the kidnapper Randy in the third season cliffhanger finale of 3rd Rock from the Sun—a role written especially for him. He died before filming of the concluding episode could take place. Executive producer Terry Turner decided to recast the part, noting: "I have far too much respect for to try to find some clever way of getting around this real tragedy." Hartman made a considerable amount of money from television advertising, earning $300,000 for a series of four commercials for the soft drink Slice; he also appeared in adverts for McDonalds (as Hugh McAttack) and 1-800-Collect (as Max Jerome).

Hartman wrote a number of screenplays that were never produced. In 1986, Hartman began writing a screenplay for a film entitled Mr. Fix-It, and completed the final draft in 1991. Robert Zemeckis was signed to produce the film, with Gil Bettman hired to direct. Hartman called it "a sort of a merger of horror and comedy, like Beetlejuice and Throw Momma From the Train", adding, "It's an American nightmare about a family torn asunder. They live next to a toxic dump site, their water supply is poisoned, the mother and son go insane and try to murder each other, the father's face is torn off in a terrible disfiguring accident in the first act. It's heavy stuff, but it's got a good message and a positive, upbeat ending." Zemeckis could not secure studio backing, however, and the project collapsed. Another movie idea involving Hartman's Groundlings character Chick Hazard, Private Eye also fell through.

Hartman noted that his standard character is a "jerky guy", and described his usual roles as "the weasel parade", adding, "Throughout my career, I've never been a huge star, but I've made steady progress and that's the way I like it." Ken Tucker summarised Hartman's comedic style: "he could momentarily fool audiences into thinking he was the straight man, but then he'd cock an eyebrow and give his voice an ironic lilt that delivered a punchline like a fast slider—you barely saw it coming until you started laughing."
Personal life

Hartman married Gretchen Lewis in 1970 and they divorced sometime before 1982. He married real estate agent Lisa Strain in 1982 and their marriage lasted three years. Strain told People that Hartman was reclusive off screen and "would disappear emotionally ... he'd be in his own world. That passivity made you crazy." Hartman married former model and aspiring actress Brynn Omdahl (born Vicki Jo Omdahl) in November 1987, having met her on a blind date the previous year. Together they had two children, Sean and Birgen Hartman. The marriage had difficulties—Brynn reportedly felt intimidated by her husband's success and was frustrated that she could not find any on her own, although neither party wanted a divorce. Hartman considered retiring to save the marriage. He tried to get Brynn acting roles but she became progressively more reliant on narcotics and alcohol, entering rehab several times. Because of his close friendship with SNL associate Jan Hooks, Brynn joked on occasion that Hooks and Hartman were married "on some other level".
Death

On the evening of May 27, 1998, Brynn Hartman visited the Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo in Los Angeles County, California, with producer and writer Christine Zander, who said she was "in a good frame of mind". After returning to the couple's Encino home, Brynn started a "heated" argument with Hartman, who threatened to leave her if she started using drugs again, and went to bed. While he slept, Brynn entered his bedroom shortly before 3 a.m. with a .38 caliber handgun and fatally shot him twice in the head and once in his side. She was intoxicated, and had recently taken cocaine.

Brynn drove to the home of her friend Ron Douglas and confessed to the murder but initially he did not believe her. The pair drove back to the house in separate cars after which Brynn called another friend and confessed a second time. Upon seeing Hartman's body, Douglas called 911 at 6:20 a.m. Police subsequently arrived and escorted Douglas and the Hartmans' two children from the premises. Brynn had locked herself in the bedroom, and committed suicide by shooting herself once in the head.

Los Angeles police stated Hartman's death was due to "domestic discord" between the couple. A friend recalled that Brynn allegedly "had trouble controlling her anger ... She got attention by losing her temper." A neighbor of the Hartmans told a CNN reporter that the couple had been experiencing marital problems: "It's been building, but I didn't think it would lead to this." Steve Guttenberg commented that the pair were "a very happy couple, and they always had the appearance of being well-balanced".

Other causes for the incident were later suggested. Before committing the act, Brynn was taking the antidepressant drug Zoloft. A wrongful-death lawsuit was filed in 1999 by Brynn's brother, Gregory Omdahl against the drug's manufacturer, Pfizer, and her child's psychiatrist Arthur Sorosky, who provided samples of Zoloft to Brynn. Hartman's friend and ex-SNL colleague Jon Lovitz has said that his former NewsRadio co-star Andy Dick gave cocaine to Brynn, causing her to relapse and suffer a mental breakdown. Dick claims to have known nothing of her condition. In 2006, Lovitz claimed that Dick had approached him at a restaurant and said, "I put the Phil Hartman hex on you; you're the next one to die." The following year at the Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles, he and Dick had a further altercation over the issue. Dick does not believe he is at fault in relation to Hartman's death.

Brynn's sister Katharine Omdahl and brother-in-law Mike Wright are raising the two Hartman children in Edina, Minnesota. Hartman's will stipulated that each child will receive their inheritance over several years after they turn 25. The total value of Hartman's estate was estimated at $1.23 million. As per Hartman's will, his body was cremated by Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary in Glendale, California, and his ashes were scattered over Santa Catalina Island's Emerald Bay.
Response and legacy

"Clean and unassuming, he had such a casual, no-nonsense way about him. It was that quality that we all find so hilarious, his delightful ability to poke fun at himself and at life with a tongue-in-cheek attitude comparable to, say, Tim Conway or Mel Brooks or Carol Burnett."
— Nancy Cartwright.

Hartman was deeply mourned in Hollywood. NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer said that Hartman "was blessed with a tremendous gift for creating characters that made people laugh. Everyone who had the pleasure of working with Phil knows that he was a man of tremendous warmth, a true professional and a loyal friend." Steve Guttenberg expressed his shock at Hartman's death, and Steve Martin said he was "a deeply funny and very happy person". Matt Groening called him "a master". Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly concluded that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper," and "a decidedly regular guy, beloved by everyone he worked with".

Rehearsals for The Simpsons were canceled on the day of his death, as was that night's performance by The Groundlings. The season five premiere of NewsRadio, "Bill Moves On", finds Hartman's character, Bill McNeal, has died of a heart attack, while the other characters reminisced about his life. Jon Lovitz joined the show in his place from the following episode. A special episode of Saturday Night Live commemorating Hartman's work on the show aired on June 13, 1998. Rather than substituting another voice actor, the writers of The Simpsons retired Hartman's characters, and the season 10 episode "Bart the Mother" (his final appearance on the show) was dedicated to him.

At the time of his death, Hartman was preparing to voice Zapp Brannigan, a character written specifically for him on Groening's second animated series Futurama. After the murder, Futurama's lead character Philip J. Fry was named in Hartman's honor and Billy West took over the role of Brannigan. West later said that he purposefully tweaked Zapp's voice to better match Hartman's intended portrayal. Hartman was also planning to appear with Jon Lovitz in the indie film The Day of Swine and Roses scheduled to begin production in August 1998.

Laugh.com and Hartman's brother John Hartmann published the album Flat TV in 2002. The album is a selection of comedy sketches recorded by Hartman in the 1970s which had been kept in storage until their release. Hartmann commented: "I'm putting this out there because I'm dedicating my life to fulfilling his dreams. This is my brother doing what he loved." In 2007 Entertainment Weekly ranked Hartman the eighty-seventh greatest television icon of all time, and Maxim named Hartman the top Saturday Night Live performer of all time.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1980 The Gong Show Movie Man at airport with gun Credited as "Phil Hartmann"
Cheech & Chong's Next Movie Actor being filmed in the background
1982 Pandemonium Reporter Credited as "Phil Hartmann"
1984 Weekend Pass Joe Chicago
1985 Pee-wee's Big Adventure Reporter
Rodeo Announcer Also co-wrote screenplay
1986 Last Resort Jean-Michel
Jumpin' Jack Flash Fred Credited as "Phil E. Hartmann"
¡Three Amigos! Sam Credited as "Philip E. Hartmann"
1987 Blind Date Ted Davis
The Brave Little Toaster Air Conditioner
Hanging Lamp
Amazon Women on the Moon Baseball announcer
1989 Fletch Lives Bly Manager
How I Got Into College Bennedict
1990 Quick Change Hal Edison
1993 Loaded Weapon 1 Officer Davis
CB4 Virgil Robinson
Coneheads Marlax
So I Married an Axe Murderer John "Vicky" Johnson
Alcatraz guide
1994 Greedy Frank
The Pagemaster Tom Morgan
1995 The Crazysitter The Salesman
Houseguest Gary Young
Stuart Saves His Family Announcer Uncredited
1996 Sgt. Bilko Major Colin Thorn
Jingle All the Way Ted Maltin
1998 Kiki's Delivery Service Jiji English dub of Japanese film 'Majo no takkyûbin';
posthumously released
Small Soldiers Phil Fimple Posthumously released
Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night Additional voices Posthumously released
Television
Year Series Role Notes
1979 Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Additional voices
1980 The Six O'Clock Follies Unnamed role
1981 The Pee-wee Herman Show Captain Carl Also writer
The Smurfs Additional voices
1983 The Pop 'N Rocker Game Announcer
1984 Challenge of the GoBots Additional voices
Magnum, P.I. Newsreader Episode 5.4: "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle"
1985 The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo Additional voice Episode 1.9: "It's a Wonderful Scoob"
1986 Dennis the Menace Henry Mitchell
George Wilson
Various characters Replaced by Maurice LaMarche after the first season.
1986–1987 Pee-wee's Playhouse Captain Carl Series regular; left after season one.
1986–1994 Saturday Night Live Various characters Also writer
Main cast member; appeared in 155 episodes.
1987 DuckTales Sea Captain Episode 1.56: "Scrooge's Pet"
1988 Fantastic Max Additional voices
1990 Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures Additional voices Episode 1.1: "One Sweet and Sour Chinese Adventure to Go"
On the Television Various characters Episode 1.13: "M. Superior"
TaleSpin Ace London Episode 1.56: "Mach One for the Gipper"
Gravedale High Additional voices
Tiny Toon Adventures Octavius Episode 1.45: "Whale's Tales"
1991 Captain Planet and the Planeteers Russian Ambassador Episode 2.1: "Mind Pollution"; uncredited
Empty Nest Tim Cornell Episode 3.18: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"
Darkwing Duck Paddywhack Episode 1.56: "The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain"
One Special Victory Mike Rutten TV film
1991–1998 The Simpsons Troy McClure
Lionel Hutz
Various characters Recurring guest star; appeared in 54 episodes.
"Bart the Mother" aired posthumously
1992 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Phil Diamond Episode 3.9: "Lewis and Son"
1993 Daybreak Man in abstinence commercial TV film; uncredited
Animaniacs Dan Anchorman Episode 1.41: "Broadcast Nusiance"
The Twelve Days of Christmas Additional voice TV film
The Larry Sanders Show Himself Episode 2.4: "The Stalker"
1994 The Critic Adolph Hitmaker
Bernie Wasserman
Professor Blowhard Episode 1.6: "Eyes on the Prize"
1995 The Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show Various characters
The John Larroquette Show Otto Friedling Episode 3.4: "A Moveable Feast"
Night Stand Gunther Johann Episode 1.23: "Illegal Alien Star Search"
1995–1998 NewsRadio Bill McNeal Main cast member; appeared in 75 episodes.
Hartman died between the fourth and fifth seasons.
1996 The Dana Carvey Show Larry King Episode 1.3: "The Mountain Dew Dana Carvey Show"
Caroline in the City Host Episode 2.2: "Caroline and the Letter"; uncredited
The Ren & Stimpy Show Additional voices Episodes 5.2: "Space Dogged/Feud for Sale" and 5.4: "Stimpy's Pet/Ren's Brain"
Seinfeld Man on phone Episode 8.5: "The Package"; uncredited
1996, 1998 3rd Rock from the Sun Phillip
Randy Episodes 1.7: "Lonely Dick" and 3.27: "Eat, Drink, Dick, Mary"
1997 The Second Civil War President of the United States TV film
1999 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Game show host Episode 6.4: "The Empress's Nightingale"
Final recorded performance; posthumously aired.
Video games
Year Game Role
1997 Virtual Springfield Troy McClure
Lionel Hutz
1998 Blasto Captain Blasto
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f253/Susaski/philhartman.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/katsalyer/philhartman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 6:31 am

****I just happened to notice that I'm one day a head of schedule***

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 6:42 am

* OK here is the person born on this day...Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux (born Susan Janet Ballion on 27 May 1957 in London), is an English singer-songwriter, better known for her work as the lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures. She has also sung with artists such as Morrissey  and John Cale.  In 2004, she began a solo career.

Siouxsie is considered to be "one of the most influential British singers of the rock era". Her music has influenced a variety of artists including LCD Soundsystem, Tricky, Jeff Buckley Massive Attack, and TV on the Radio.
Sioux was born at Guy's Hospital in Southwark, Southeast London, England, the youngest of three children. She attended Mottingham Secondary Modern School for Girls in Kent. Her mother was a bilingual secretary, her father a laboratory technician who milked serum from venomous snakes in the Belgian Congo. Her father died of complications from alcoholism  when Sioux was 14; shortly afterward, she survived a life-threatening bout of ulcerative colitis, which she later said "completely demystified the body for me."

During her teens, she was a self-confessed loner, was into the music of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, T.Rex, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges, and started visiting the local gay discos. She became well known in the London punk scene for her glam, fetish and bondage attire, which became staples of punk fashion.

In the mid-1970s, journalist Caroline Coon coined the term "Bromley Contingent" to talk about a group of eccentric teenagers devoted to the Sex Pistols. Siouxsie was a member of the Contingent, along with fellow Banshees founder Steven Severin.

Sioux's first gig was with her group Suzie and the Banshees, as an unrehearsed fill-in at the 100 Club Punk Festival organised by Malcolm McLaren in September 1976. The group did not know or play any songs; they improvised as Sioux recited poems and prayers she had memorized.

The same month, the Bromley Contingent followed the Sex Pistols to France, where Sioux was beaten up by someone for wearing a black armband with a swastika on it. She claimed her intent was to shock the bourgeoisie, not to make a political statement. To stop controversy, she later wrote the songs "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)" (to the memory of the anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield) and the single "Israel".

One of Sioux's first public appearances was with the Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy's television show in December 1976. In the course of Grundy's interview with the members of the Sex Pistols, the presenter tried to flirt with her. In reaction, Pistols guitarist Steve Jones called him a "dirty bastard", which created a media furore that had a major impact on the Pistols' subsequent career.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Main article: Siouxsie and the Banshees

In 1976, Siouxsie formed the band Siouxsie and the Banshees with her friend Steven Severin on bass guitar. Two years later, their first single, "Hong Kong Garden" with its glockenspiel motif, instantaneously reached the top 10 in the UK. It was pictured by critics as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing heard in a long, long time."

Their first album, 1978's The Scream, was described by Nick Kent in the NME in the following terms : "The band sounds like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can, if any parallel can be drawn." At the end of the article, he added this remark: "Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results." The Scream was later hailed by the NME as one of the best debut album of all time with Patti Smith's Horses. Join Hands followed in 1979.

The 1980 album Kaleidoscope marked a change of musical direction with the arrival of John McGeoch, considered as "one of the most innovative and influential guitarists of the past thirty years". The hit-single Happy House was qualified as "great pop" with "liquid guitar" and other songs like "Red Light" were layered with electronic sounds. Kaleidoscope widened her audience, reaching the top 5 in the UK charts. Juju followed the same way in 1981, reaching the number 7. During the recording sessions, the singer decided to form a second act The Creatures with Banshees drummer Budgie, to record music more based on percussion. The first record of the duo was the ep Wild Things. In 1982, the British press greeted the Siouxsie and the Banshees's album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse enthusiastically. Richard Cook in the NME finished his review with "I promise. This music will take your breath away."

In 1983, Siouxsie went to Hawaii to record The Creatures's first album Feast, which included the hit-single "Miss The Girl". Then with the Banshees and guitarist Robert Smith of The Cure, she revisited The Beatles' "Dear Prudence", reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart. Two other records followed: Nocturne, recorded live in London and Hyæna in 1984. 1986's Tinderbox and the 1987 cover album Through the Looking Glass both reached the top 15 in the UK.

In 1988, the single "Peek-a-Boo" marked a musical departure from her previous work: it anticipated hip hop-inspired rock with the use of samples. The song was praised by the NME as "oriental marching band hip hop with farting horns and catchy accordion" and hailed by the Melody Maker as "a brightly unexpected mixture of black steel and pop disturbance." The Peepshow album, which also moved on other directions, was considered by critics as her most successful album in years.

Sioux then reformed the Creatures with Budgie and went in Spain to record Boomerang. In his review, Simon Reynolds said that it was her "most inventive and invigorated music since A Kiss In The Dreamhouse.".

In 1991, the singer scored a hit in the Billboard Hot 100 singles, with "Kiss Them for Me" peaking at number 23. After the release of Superstition that encountered enthusiatic reviews, she co-headlined the first Lollapalooza tour further increasing her American following. In 1992, Sioux recorded the single "Face to Face" and marked a pause of a few years. She then released the last Banshees studio album The Rapture. After the accompanying tour, the Banshees announced their split during a press conference called "20 minutes into 20 years".
1994-2003
Main article: The Creatures

In the middle of the nineties, Sioux started to make one-off collaborations with other artists.

Morrissey recorded a duet with her in 1994. They both sang on the single "Interlude", a track that was initially performed by Timi Yuro, a female torch singer of the 1960s.

In 1995, she released the song "The Lighthouse" on the French producer Hector Zazou's album Chansons des mers froides which mean Songs from the Cold Seas. Sioux and Zazou adapted the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet Wilfred Wilson Gibson.

At the same time, The Creatures, the band she ran for years with Budgie as a side-project, became the main attraction.

In February 1998, John Cale was the organizer of the "With a Little Help From My Friends" festival that took place at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The concert was shown on Dutch national television and featured an unreleased composition of Siouxsie, "Murdering Mouth" sung in duet with John Cale. The colloration between the two artists worked so well that they later both decided to tour the USA during the summer, singing each night together certain songs of their repertoire like Sioux's "Murdering Mouth" and Cale's "Gun".

The following year, Siouxsie & Budgie released the first Creatures album since the split of the Banshees. Anima Animus was described by The Times as "hypnotic and inventive". The singer later made another collaboration, making this time a duet with Marc Almond on the track "Threat Of Love".

In 2003, Sioux was asked to compose and sing the title track to Basement Jaxx's album Kish Kash : the record then received a prize at the Grammy Awards Shortly after, Siouxsie published the last Creatures album, Hai! which was in part recorded in Japan. Peter Wratts wrote in Time Out : "her voice is the dominant instrument here, snaking and curling around the bouncing drumming backdrop, elegiac and inhuman as she chants, purrs and whispers her way around the album" and it's a "spine-tingling achievement".
Solo career
Siouxsie at the Saturday Night Fiber, Madrid 2008

One year later, she toured for the first time as a solo act combining Banshees and Creatures songs : a live DVD called Dreamshow captured the last London concert of September 2004 performed with the Millennia Ensemble. Released in August 2005, this DVD reached the number one position in the UK music DVD charts.

Her first solo album MantaRay was released on September 2007 to critical acclaim. Pitchfork Media wrote "She really is pop" before finishing the review by declaring "It's a success." Mojo magazine stated "a thirst for sonic adventure radiates from each track".

In 2008, Siouxsie took part in The Edge of Love soundtrack by composer Angelo Badalamenti, frequent collaborator with director David Lynch. She sang on the title "Careless Love". She later performed another Badalamenti number "Who Will Take My Dreams Away" at the annual edition of the World Soundtrack Awards.

After a year of touring, the singer played the last show of her tour in London in September. A live DVD of this performance called Finale: The Last Mantaray And More Show was released in 2009.
Influence on other artists

Siouxsie's influence on modern music has been considerable. Her work has been covered and hailed by many major bands.

Siouxsie had a strong impact on two main trip-hop acts. Tricky covered "Tattoo" to open his second album Nearly God and Massive Attack sampled "Metal Postcard" on their song "Superpredators (Metal Postcard)" for the soundtrack to the film The Jackal. Siouxsie's songs have also been revisited by other acts. LCD Soundsystem covered "Slowdive" for the B-side of "Disco Infiltrator": their version was also released on a iTunes Remix Album in 2006. Santigold based one of her tracks on the music of "Red Light". "'My Superman' is an interpolation of a Siouxsie Sioux song, 'Red Light,'" she explained. Jeff Buckley, who took inspiration in various female singers, covered live a Sioux song called "Killing Time", originally composed in 1989 for the Creatures album Boomerang: Buckley first performed it in 1992 for radio WFMU. In 2003, The Beta Band sampled "Painted Bird" and changed the title in "Liquid Bird" on their Heroes to Zeros album. Red Hot Chili Peppers performed "Christine" at the V2001 festival and introduced it to their British audience as "your national anthem". DeVotchka covered "The Last Beat of My Heart" on the suggestion of Arcade Fire singer Win Butler: the musicians later considered it as the "centre-piece" of their Curse Your Little Heart EP. Jeremy Jay also covered "Lunar Camel" on his Airwalker EP in 2007 and cited her amongst his main influences.

Sioux has also been hailed by other critically acclaimed groups. Morrissey said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were excellent. They were one of the great groups of the late 70s, early 80s". He also stated of modern groups in 1994: "None of them are as good as Siouxsie and the Banshees at full pelt. That's not dusty nostalgia, that's fact." Another ex-member of The Smiths, Johnny Marr mentionned on the BBC Radio 2 in February 2008 that he rated very high McGeoch for his work on Siouxsie's single "Spellbound". Marr qualified it as "clever" with "really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll." PJ Harvey put on her website the Anima Animus album by Siouxsie's second band The Creatures in her top ten favourite records of year 1999. The Cure's Robert Smith declared in 2003 : "Siouxsie and The Banshees and Wire were the two bands I really admired. They meant something." He also pinpointed what the Join Hands tour brought him musically. "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing." For his record The Head on the Door in 1985, he stated : "It reminds me of the Kaleidoscope album, the idea of having lots of different sounding things, different colors". Radiohead cited John McGeoch'era Siouxsie records when mentioning the recording of the song "There There". U2 cited Siouxsie as a major influence and selected "Christine" for the track listing of a compilation made for Mojo's readers. The Edge also presented Siouxsie with an award at a Mojo ceremony in 2005. Garbage's singer, Shirley Manson has cited Sioux as a main influence on her and wrote the foreword of the 2003's Siouxsie biography by Mojo magazine journalist Mark Paytress. In a text of several pages, Manson wrote : "I learned how to sing listening to The Scream and Kaleidoscope." The singer of Garbage also told the Melody Maker that Siouxsie embodied everything she wanted to be as a young woman. Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction has made a parallel between his band and the Banshees: "there are so many similar threads: melody, use of sound, attitude, sex-appeal. I always saw Jane's Addiction as the masculine Siouxsie & the Banshees." Gossip also named Siouxsie as one of their influences for their 2009's Music For Men.
Musical genre

Garbage's singer Shirley Manson said:

    (In 1981), the press began to describe them as a goth band. I never thought of them as goth. Goth has never been particularly angry, just a little dismayed. It had a weak, submissive side to it. Siouxsie & The Banshees always had a real edge to what they did. There was so much articulated spite, humour, politics with a small 'p' there that I never felt they went down that simple, gloomy path. People try to pass them off as a goth band because they find them dangerous and don't understand them. Today, I can see and hear the Banshees' influence all over the place.

Personal life

Sioux married Budgie in 1991. The following year, she and Budgie moved to the south west of France.

In June 2005, she won the Icon Award at the Mojo Honours in London.

In an interview with The Sunday Times in August 2007, she clarified that she and Budgie had divorced. In an interview with The Independent, she said, "I've never particularly said I'm hetero or I'm a lesbian. I know there are people who are definitely one way, but not really me. I suppose if I am attracted to men then they usually have more feminine qualities."
Discography

For her works with Siouxsie and the Banshees, see Siouxsie and the Banshees discography.

For her works with The Creatures, see The Creatures discography.
Solo album

    * MantaRay (2007) #39 UK

Solo singles

    * 2007 "Into a Swan" #59 UK
    * 2007 "Here Comes That Day" #103 UK
    * 2008 "About to Happen" UK #154 UK

DVD

    * 2005 Dreamshow #1 UK
    * 2009 Finale: The Last Mantaray And More Show #4 UK

Collaborations with other artists

    * Morrissey:"Interlude" (single recorded in duet) (1994)
    * Hector Zazou: "The Lighthouse" (song recorded as guest on the Chansons des mers froides Songs from the Cold Seas album) (1995)
    * Marc Almond: "Threat of Love" (song recorded in duet for the Open All Night album) (1999)
    * Basement Jaxx: "Cish Cash" (song recorded as guest on the Kish Kash album) (2003)
    * Angelo Badalamenti: "Careless Love" (song recorded as guest for The Edge of Love film soundtrack) (2008)

Film appearances of songs include The Punk Rock Movie (Don Letts, 1977); Jubilee (Derek Jarman, 1977); Out of Bounds (Richard Tuggle, 1986); Batman Returns (Tim Burton,1992); Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven, 1995); The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996); Grosse Pointe Blank (George Armitage, 1997); The Filth and the Fury (Julien Temple, 2000); 24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom, 2002); Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006); Monster House (Gil Kenan, 2006); Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2006); Doomsday (Neil Marshall, 2008)
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/alec_hive/siouxsie.jpg
http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss232/Mega_Riot_Grrrl/Siouxsie-Sioux-siouxsie-and-the-ban.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 6:46 am

* The person who died on this day...Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter (November 25, 1926 – May 27, 1969) was an American film and television actor.
Hunter was born Henry Herman McKinnies, Jr., in New Orleans, Louisiana, but raised after 1930 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Whitefish Bay High School. He began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens. He served stateside in the United States Navy, in World War II, then studied theatre at Northwestern University, 1946–1949.
Acting career
Jeffrey Hunter as Martin Pawley in The Searchers.

In 1950, while a graduate student in radio at the University of California, Los Angeles and appearing in a college play, he was spotted by talent scouts and offered a two-year motion picture contract by 20th Century-Fox that was eventually extended to 1959. He made his Hollywood debut in Fourteen Hours, had star billing by Red Skies of Montana (1952), and first billing in Sailor of the King (1953).

A loan-out to co-star with John Wayne in the title roles of the now-classic western The Searchers began the first of three pictures he made with director John Ford; the other two being The Last Hurrah (1958) and Sergeant Rutledge (1960).

Ford also recommended Hunter to director Nicholas Ray for the role of Jesus in the Biblical film King of Kings (1961), a difficult part met by critical reaction that ranged from praise to ridicule. Among an all-star cast in the World War II battle epic The Longest Day, he provided a climactic heroic act of leading an ultimately successful attempt to breach the defense wall atop Normandy's Omaha Beach but dying in the process.

Having guest-starred on television dramas since the mid-1950s, Hunter was now offered a two-year contract by Warner Brothers that included starring as circuit-riding Texas lawyer Temple Lea Houston, the youngest son of Sam Houston, in the NBC series Temple Houston (1963–64), which Hunter's production company co-produced.
Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus in King of Kings.

Although Temple Houston did not survive its first season, Hunter accepted the lead role of Captain Christopher Pike in "The Cage", the first pilot episode of Star Trek. Hunter declined to film a second Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965, and decided to concentrate on motion pictures such as Brainstorm. Later that year, Hunter filmed the pilot for another NBC series, the espionage thriller Journey Into Fear, which the network did not pick up.

With the demise of the studio contract system in the early 1960s and the outsourcing of much feature production, Hunter, like many other leading men of the 1950s, had to find work in B movies produced in Europe, Hong Kong, and Mexico, with the occasional television guest part in Hollywood.
Personal life

Hunter's first marriage was to actress Barbara Rush (1950–1955) with whom he had a son, Christopher, in 1952. From 1957 to 1967, he was married to model Dusty Bartlett. He adopted her son, Steele, and the couple had two other children, Todd and Scott. In February 1969, he married actress Emily McLaughlin.
Death

Hunter suffered a stroke while flying back to the U.S. from Spain after filming Viva America!. While recovering at his home, Hunter suffered another stroke, causing him to fall down a flight of stairs, and sustain a skull fracture. He died from a cerebral hemorrhage on May 27, 1969.

Hunter was interred in Sylmar, California's Glen Haven Memorial Park.
Selective filmography

    * Julius Caesar (1950)
    * Fourteen Hours (1951)
    * Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)
    * The Frogmen (1951)
    * Red Skies of Montana (1952)
    * Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
    * Belles on Their Toes (1952)
    * Sailor of the King (1953)
    * Three Young Texans (1954)
    * Princess of the Nile (1954)
    * White Feather (1955)
    * Seven Angry Men (1955)
    * Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
    * The Searchers (1956)
    * A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
    * The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)
    * The Proud Ones (1956)
    * Gun for a Coward (1957)
    * No Down Payment (1957)
    * The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
    * In Love and War (1958)
    * The Last Hurrah (1958)
    * Count Five and Die (1958)
    * Key Witness (1960)
    * Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
    * Hell to Eternity (1960)
    * King of Kings (1961)
    * No Man Is an Island (1962)
    * The Longest Day (1962)
    * Brainstorm (1965)
    * Star Trek Original Series Episodes: The Cage (first pilot episode, 1965), The Menagerie (1966)
    * Custer of the West (1967)
    * The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968)
    * Find a Place to Die (1968)
    * Super Colt 38 (1969)
    * Viva America! (1969)
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac117/janitoroflunacies/men/jeffreyhunter17.jpg
http://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac117/janitoroflunacies/men/jeffreyhunter44.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/27/10 at 7:05 am


The person who was born on this day...Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul",  is an American R&B/soul  singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Knight, Sr., a postal worker.  She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour  TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods). By the end of the decade, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight's cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.

Knight discovered she was pregnant in 1960, and married her high school sweetheart James Newman. After a miscarriage, Knight returned to performing with the Pips. In 1961, Bobby Robinson produced the single "Every Beat of My Heart" for the group, which became a #1 R&B and #6 pop hit when released on Vee-Jay Records. In 1962, Langston George left the group, which at that time renamed itself Gladys Knight & the Pips and continued as a quartet.

In 1962, after scoring a second hit, "Letter Full of Tears", Knight became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, Jimmy III, that year. She retired from the road to raise her child while The Pips toured on their own. After giving birth in 1963 to a daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family.
Success with The Pips
Main article: Gladys Knight & the Pips
Knight and the Pips perform aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger on November 1, 1981.

Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," (recorded later by Marvin Gaye), "Friendship Train" (1969), "If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), the Grammy Award winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" (1972), and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973). In their early Motown career Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Miss Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Gladys that she was giving his act a hard time.

The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train to Georgia" (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me." In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. However, the Buddah hits all followed a number of years after their success in the U.S.. For example "Midnight Train to Georgia" hit the UK pop charts Top 5 in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S..

During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo LP recordings--Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. Having divorced James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer Aaliyah), then Detroit mayor Coleman Young's executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Upon their divorce, Hankerson and Knight were embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – "When A Child Is Born" (previously a hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer".

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Play sound
Gladys Knight & the Pips' version of the song, from their 1967 album Everybody Needs Love.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two LPs--About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.

In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its lead single, "Love Overboard", was a successful hit and won a third Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Solo music career
Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles in Atlanta.

While still with The Pips, Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For" which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, Gladys Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10 hit both in the UK, reaching #6, and Germany.

Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released by MCA in 1991. It rose to #1 on the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit "Men". The album also featured "Superwoman", written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on "I Don't Do Duets", a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle's album Burnin'.

Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. During this period, Knight was briefly married to motivational speaker Les Brown. It was also during this period that her eldest son, Jimmy III, died in his sleep at the age of 36.

In 1992 Vernon Ray Blue II, choir master of the year asked Gladys to record his first single "He Lifted Me"

Now married to William McDowell, Knight joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.

In 2008, a duet between Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis' album A Night to Remember. Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Diana Ross at the 'Divas with Heart' concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York's Radio City Hall.

In 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity. In March 2010, Randy Jackson mentioned on a new episode of the same show that he is back in the studio with Gladys Knight working on a new album.
Michael Jackson Funeral

In 2009 Knight sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.
UK Farewell Tour

In October 2009, Gladys started her UK Farewell tour which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick.

Speaking ahead of the Manchester show, Jackson said: "The UK was a very special place to my brother Michael and I'm so excited to be able to pay my respect to his fans here. To be able to do this whilst supporting our dear friend Gladys is a complete blessing." On the October 9 concert, his mother Katherine Jackson and his brother Randy were acknowledged in the audience.

The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production value than previous "Gladys Knight, a mic and a light" appearances by Gladys in the UK. A glossy program was available and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program Later... with Jools Holland where Gladys performed If I Were Your Woman and Help Me Make It Through the Night.

At select performances on the UK Farewell Tour recordings of the concerts were made available for sale on USB flash drives.
Acting and other work

Knight guest-starred on several television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s ,with roles on Benson, The Jeffersons, A Different World, Living Single, The Jamie Foxx Show and New York Undercover. In 1985, she co-starred on the CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. with comedian Flip Wilson. It lasted for one season. In April 2009, she made a special guest appearance and performed a song on Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Knight has also made a number of television cameo appearances, including Las Vegas, and 30 Rock.

Knight's son Shanga owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name.Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations in the Atlanta area. In 2009, Gladys was featured in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself and performed her song The Need To Be from the 1974 album I Feel a Song.'
Awards, Honors and Achievements
For awards won by Knight with the Pips, see Gladys Knight & the Pips.

    * Grammy Awards
          o 1986 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - "That's What Friends Are For" - Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder.
          o 2001 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album - "At Last"
          o 2004 Best Gospel Performance - "Heaven Help Us All" - Ray Charles & Gladys Knight.
          o 2005 Best Gospel Choir Or Chorus Album - One Voice - Gladys Knight & The Saints Unified Voices.

    * Other awards
          o 1992 Gladys Knight was awarded an Essence Award for Career Achievement.
          o 1995 Gladys Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
          o 1997: Gladys Knight received the Pinnacle Award during 5th Annual Trumpet Awards presentation in Atlanta, Georgia.
          o 2005: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BET cable network.
          o 2006: Gladys Knight received a Legendary Award from the Las Vegas Music Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight received Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist during The 38th NAACP Image Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight was declared the "Empress of Soul" and presented with the 16th Annual Ella Award by the Society of Singers
          o 2008: Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder were presented with the Best Living Legend Award at the 1st Annual The BET Honors.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Diva Award at the Stardust Music Awards in March.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight was honored by The National Black Arts Festival and The Coca Cola Company at the 2008 Legends Celebration.

Solo discography
See also: Gladys Knight & the Pips discography
Singles

    * 1978: "I'm Coming Home Again" (#54 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: "Am I Too Late" (#45 U.S. R&B)
    * 1981: "When a Child Is Born" (with Johnny Mathis) (#74 UK)
    * 1985: "That's What Friends Are For" (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John & Stevie Wonder) (#1 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. AC, UK #16)
    * 1986: "Loving On Borrowed Time" (w/Bill Medley) (#16 US AC)
    * 1989: "License to Kill" (#69 U.S. R&B, #18 U.S. AC, #6 UK) Wind Beneath My Wings (12# U.S. U.K. R&B #12 UK)
    * 1990: "If I Knew Then What I Know Now" (with Kenny Rogers) (#10 U.S. AC)
    * 1991: "Men" (#2 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Meet Me in the Middle" (#78 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Where Would I Be" (#66 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Superwoman" (with Dionne Warwick & Patti LaBelle) (airplay-only)
    * 1994: "I Don't Want to Know" (#32 U.S. R&B)(#113 US POP)
    * 1994: "End of the Road" Medley: "If You Don't Know Me by Now"/"Love Don't Love Nobody" (#76 U.S. R&B)
    * 1995: "Next Time" (#30 U.S. R&B)
    * 1996: "Missing You" (with Brandy, Tamia & Chaka Khan) (#25 U.S. Pop, #10, U.S. R&B, #30 U.S. AC)

Albums

    * 1978: Miss Gladys Knight (#57 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: Gladys Knight (#79 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: Good Woman (#45 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B)
    * 1994: Just for You (#53 U.S. Pop, #6 U.S. R&B)
    * 1998: Many Different Roads (#21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2001: At Last (#98 U.S. Pop, #30 U.S. R&B)
    * 2005: One Voice (with Saints Unified Voices) (#95 U.S. R&B, #21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: A Christmas Celebration (with Saints Unified Voices) (#155 U.S. Pop, #59 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: Before Me (#93 U.S. Pop, #18 U.S. R&B, #4 U.S. Jazz)
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/EcenaMexicana/Gladys-Knight-gw10.jpg
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n414/ashahope_09/soulful/gladysknight.jpg


Gladys Knight is great.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/27/10 at 7:05 am

There's also a soul singer named D-Train.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 9:06 am


Gladys Knight is great.  :)

She is a very talented lady.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/27/10 at 12:07 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHhItkhc7o



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/10 at 1:06 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHhItkhc7o



Cat

I've always loved that song. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/27/10 at 2:41 pm


I've always loved that song. :)



Me, too.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/27/10 at 4:15 pm


When I was in the service, I worked with this girl who was teaching me how to use one of those floor buffers (you didn't want to be anywhere near it with my first couple of attempts.  :D ;D ;D ;D ).  After she gave me the instruction and she handed the "reins" over to me. I looked at her and said, "In the words of Stevie Nicks, 'Stand Back, Stand Back." She looked at me and said, "In the words of Boy George, "Do you really want to hurt me?"  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat


Nice one...  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/27/10 at 4:21 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHhItkhc7o



Cat


She is smoooth...and a true professional. Like her singing a lot!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/27/10 at 4:22 pm

I liked Jeffrey Hunter too. Especially in the Searchers and King of Kings...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/27/10 at 7:23 pm


She is smoooth...and a true professional. Like her singing a lot!



has been in the business 45 years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/28/10 at 12:27 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHhItkhc7o



Cat
Love the song!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/28/10 at 2:35 pm


Love the song!

It was the first song I heard this morning when I turned the radio on. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/28/10 at 3:11 pm

How about the song "Save Some Overtime For Me".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/29/10 at 5:11 am

The word of the day...Housewife(ves)
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/alliebrusa/DSCN1391.jpg
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/sanditahanglakas/1_269033983l.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q319/ABEL1887/SERIES/DESPERAtheOUSEWIVES.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/pinkjizzie/housewife.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu324/catrahm/housewife.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/29/10 at 5:14 am

The person born on this day...Danny Elfman

Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American musician, best known for composing music for television and movies and leading the rock band Oingo Boingo as singer/songwriter from 1976 until its breakup in 1995. He is a frequent collaborator with long-time friend Tim Burton and has scored all of his films (with the exception of Cabin Boy, James and the Giant Peach, Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd). He has been nominated for four Academy Awards and won a Grammy Award for Tim Burton's Batman and an Emmy Award for his Desperate Housewives theme. Elfman is famous for creating The Simpsons main title theme, and his role as Jack Skellington's singing voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also sang for the character Bone Jangles in the movie Corpse Bride. He is the uncle in-law to actress Jenna Elfman. Elfman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Blossom Elfman (née Bernstein), a writer and teacher, and Milton Elfman, a teacher who was in the Air Force.  Elfman grew up in a racially mixed community in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles.  He spent much of his time in the local movie theatre, adoring the music of such film composers as Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman.

Stating that he hung out with the "band nerds" in high school, he started a ska band. After dropping out of high school, he followed his brother Richard to France, where he performed with Le Grand Magic Circus, an avant-garde musical theater group. Violin in tow, Elfman next journeyed to Africa where he traveled through Ghana, Mali, and Upper Volta, absorbing new musical styles, including the Ghanaian highlife genre which would eventually influence his own music. Elfman contracted malaria during his one-year stay and was often sick. Eventually he returned home to the United States, where he began to take Balinese music lessons at the CalArts. He was never officially a student at the institute, nonetheless, the instructor encouraged him to continue learning. Elfman stated, "He just laughed, and said, 'Sit. Play.' I continued to sit and play for a couple years." At this time, his brother was forming a new musical theater group, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo]]. The group performed the music for Richard's debut feature film, Forbidden Zone. Danny Elfman composed his first score for the film and played the role of Satan. By the time the movie was completed, they had taken the name Oingo Boingo and begun recording and touring as a rock group.
Elfman and Tim Burton

In 1985, Tim Burton and Paul Reubens invited Elfman to write the score for their first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Elfman was apprehensive at first because of his lack of formal training, but with orchestration assistance from Oingo Boingo guitarist and arranger Steve Bartek, he achieved his goal of emulating the mood of such composers as Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann. In the booklet for the first volume of Music for a Darkened Theatre, Elfman described the first time he heard his music played by a full orchestra as one of the most thrilling experiences of his life. Elfman immediately developed a rapport with Burton and has gone on to score all but two of Burton's major studio releases: Ed Wood, scored by Howard Shore, which was under production while Elfman and Burton were having a fight, and Sweeney Todd, an adaptation of the 1979 Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical. He also, more recently, accompanied Tim Burton in the composition of music for "Almost Alice", the soundtrack for "Alice in Wonderland."

Burton has said of his relationship with Elfman: "We don't even have to talk about the music. We don't even have to intellectualize – which is good for both of us, we're both similar that way. We're very lucky to connect" (Breskin, 1997).
Musical influences

He recalls that the first time he became aware of film music was in his youth during a screening of The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951). The music was by Bernard Herrmann, and that, he has said, was where his love of film music began (Russell and Young, 2000). Elfman purposefully nodded towards Herrmann's The Day the Earth Stood Still score in Tim Burton's sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks!

Other film composers have also proven to be influential, such as Nino Rota and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the former in Elfman's playful music for Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the latter in his much grander work, Batman. Sometimes his music has a distinctly Russian feel, inspired by the likes of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky’s ballet music, while his frequent use of choirs reflects his love of choral music by the likes of Mozart and Carl Orff. Jazz and rock influences from his earlier career are evident in such films as Chicago and To Die For. Elfman also cited Philip Glass as a major influence in his score for Alice in Wonderland.
Hearing damage

When asked during a 2007 phone-in interview on XETRA-FM if he ever had any notions of performing in an Oingo Boingo reunion, Elfman immediately rejected the idea and stated that in the last few years with the band he had begun to develop significant and irreversible hearing damage as a result of his continuous exposure to the high noise levels involved in performing in a rock band. He went on to say that he believes his hearing damage is partially due to a genetic predisposition to hearing loss, and that he will never return to the stage for fear of worsening not only his condition but also his band mates'.
Recent works

Elfman has recently started working in the classical world, beginning with Serenada Schizophrana for the American Composers Orchestra. It was conducted by John Mauceri on its recording and by Steven Sloane at its premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York City on February 23, 2005. After its premiere, it was recorded in studio and released onto SACD on October 3, 2006. The meeting with Mauceri proved fruitful as the composer was encouraged then to write a new concert piece for Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Elfman composed an "overture to a nonexistent musical" and called the piece "The Overeager Overture." Also, and most recently, he composed the film score to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
Personal life

Elfman has three children, Lola, born in 1979, Mali, born in 1984, and Oliver, born in 2005. On November 29, 2003, Elfman married film actress Bridget Fonda. In 1997 he scored A Simple Plan - his only score for one of her films to date (although he did compose a cue for the film Army of Darkness, in which Fonda has a cameo). He is the uncle of actor Bodhi Elfman who is married to actress Jenna Elfman, known most notably in her role as Dharma in the TV series "Dharma and Greg."
Filmography

Appearances by Elfman as an actor, or as a member of Oingo Boingo:
Year Film Role Notes
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Yri drummer Also featured Richard Elfman
1980 Forbidden Zone Satan Directed by Richard Elfman
1981 Urgh! A Music War Himself Part of Oingo Boingo
1984 Good Morning, Mr. Orwell Himself Part of Oingo Boingo
1984 Bachelor Party Himself Part of Oingo Boingo
1986 Back to School Himself Part of Oingo Boingo
1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington (singing), Barrel Voice only
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Oompa-Loompas (singing) Voice only
Corpse Bride Bonejangles Voice only
2006 Finding Kraftland Himself Documentary directed by Elfman's agent, Richard Kraft

This is a list of films with scores composed by Elfman:
Year Film Director Film Score/Soundtrack
1980 Forbidden Zone Richard Elfman Soundtrack (soundtrack with The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo)
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Amy Heckerling Soundtrack (soundtrack released by Elektra)
1985 Pee-wee's Big Adventure Tim Burton Soundtrack (film score, rerecording paired with Back to School)
1986 Back to School Alan Metter Soundtrack (film score, rerecording paired with Pee-wee's Big Adventure)
1987 Summer School Carl Reiner Soundtrack (includes one Elfman song; no score)
Wisdom Emilio Estevez, Robert Wise Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
1988 Beetlejuice Tim Burton Soundtrack
Midnight Run Martin Brest Soundtrack released by MCA
Big Top Pee-wee Randal Kleiser Soundtrack (including dialogue) released by Arista, reissued by PEG
Hot to Trot Michael Dinner Suite included on Music for a Darkened Theatre, Vol. 1
Scrooged Richard Donner Suite included on Music for a Darkened Theatre, Vol. 1
1989 Batman Tim Burton Soundtrack
1990 Nightbreed Clive Barker Soundtrack released by MCA
Dick Tracy Warren Beatty Soundtrack
Darkman Sam Raimi Soundtrack
Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton Soundtrack
1992 Article 99 Howard Deutch Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
Batman Returns Tim Burton Soundtrack released by Warner Bros. Records
1993 Sommersby Jon Amiel Soundtrack released by Elektra
The Nightmare Before Christmas Henry Selick Soundtrack
1994 Black Beauty Caroline Thompson Soundtrack
1995 Dolores Claiborne Taylor Hackford Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
Dead Presidents Alberl Hughes Soundtrack (one Elfman track; suite also included on Music for a Darkened Theatre Vol. 2)
To Die For Gus Van Sant Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande (score + songs)
1996 Mission: Impossible Brian De Palma Soundtrack (songs + three brief Elfman suites); Score album
The Frighteners Peter Jackson Soundtrack
Freeway Matthew Bright Suite included on Music for a Darkened Theatre Vol. 2
Extreme Measures Michael Apted Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
Mars Attacks! Tim Burton Soundtrack released by Atlantic; expanded edition released by La-La Land Records
1997 Men in Black Barry Sonnenfeld Soundtrack (two Elfman cues); Score album
Flubber Les Mayfield Soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records
Good Will Hunting Gus Van Sant Soundtrack (two Elfman cues)
1998 A Simple Plan Sam Raimi Soundtrack released by Compass III
1999 Instinct Jon Turteltaub Soundtrack
Anywhere But Here Wayne Wang Soundtrack released by Atlantic (includes one score suite)
Sleepy Hollow Tim Burton Soundtrack
2000 Proof of Life Taylor Hackford Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
The Family Man Brett Ratner Soundtrack released by Sire Records (two Elfman cues)
2001 Planet of the Apes Tim Burton Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
2002 Spider-Man Sam Raimi Score album; Song album
Men in Black II Barry Sonnenfeld Soundtrack released by Columbia Records
Red Dragon Brett Ratner Soundtrack released by Decca Records
Chicago Rob Marshall Soundtrack (two Elfman tracks)
2003 Hulk Ang Lee Soundtrack released by Columbia Records
Big Fish Tim Burton Soundtrack
2004 Spider-Man 2 Sam Raimi Soundtrack; Score album
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tim Burton Soundtrack
Corpse Bride Tim Burton Soundtrack
2006 Deep Sea 3D Howard Hall Serenada Schizophrana
Nacho Libre Jared Hess Soundtrack (score suite)
Charlotte's Web Gary Winick Soundtrack
2007 Meet the Robinsons Stephen Anderson Soundtrack
Spider-Man 3 Sam Raimi Themes
The Kingdom Peter Berg Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
2008 Standard Operating Procedure Errol Morris Soundtrack
Wanted Timur Bekmambetov Soundtrack
Hellboy II: The Golden Army Guillermo del Toro Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
Milk Gus Van Sant Soundtrack released by Decca Records
2009 Notorious George Tillman, Jr. Soundtrack (one Elfman track)
Terminator Salvation McG Soundtrack released by Warner Bros. Records
Taking Woodstock Ang Lee Song soundtrack on Rhino Records with four Elfman cues; score album on La-La Land Records
2010 The Wolfman Joe Johnston Soundtrack released by Varese Sarabande
Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton Soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records
2011 Restless Gus Van Sant
The Green Hornet Michel Gondry

In addition, he has supplied the main themes - except where noted - for movies scored by others (names in brackets):

    * 1985: Weird Science (Various)
    * 1991: Pure Luck (Jonathan Sheffer)
    * 1992: Army Of Darkness: "March Of The Dead" (Joseph LoDuca)
    * 1994: Shrunken Heads (Richard Band)
    * 1997: Scream 2: "Cassandra Aria" and "Cassandra Aria Reprise" (Marco Beltrami)
    * 1998: Modern Vampires (Michael Wandmacher)
    * 1999: My Favorite Martian: "Uncle Martin's Theme" (John Debney)
    * 2001: Heartbreakers (John Debney)
    * 2001: Spy Kids (Chris Boardman, John Debney, Gavin Greenaway, Harry Gregson-Williams, Heitor Pereira, Marcel Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez)
    * 2001: Novocaine (Steve Bartek)
    * 2009: 9 (Deborah Lurie)
    * 2010: Kick-Ass: "Walk to Rasul's" (John Murphy, Henry Jackman, Marius de Vries, and Ilan Eshkeri)

Elfman also composed the music for the Hollywood Pictures logo (an excerpt from his main title for Sommersby was subsequently used as the logo music for Regency, the company that made it).

He has also written the theme music for several television series, including:

    * 1986: Pee-wee's Playhouse (some episodes)
    * 1986: Sledge Hammer!
    * 1989: Tales from the Crypt
    * 1989: Beetlejuice
    * 1989: The Simpsons
    * 1990: The Flash
    * 1992: Batman: The Animated Series
    * 1997: Perversions of Science
    * 1997: The New Batman/Superman Adventures
    * 1999: Dilbert
    * 2004: Desperate Housewives
    * 2005: Point Pleasant

His other work includes:

    * 2004: The opening title theme of the 2004 video game Fable.
    * 2008: Soundtrack to the 2008 video game Lego Batman: The Video Game (various tracks from the soundtrack of the movie: Batman).
    * 2008: The opening title theme as well as major themes of the 2008 video game Fable II.
    * 2009: The opening title theme as well as major themes and soundtrack of the 2009 video game Wanted: Weapons of Fate.

Awards and nominations
Award Wins Nominations
Academy Awards 0 4
Annie Awards 0 1
BMI Film & Television Awards 24 24
British Academy Film Awards 0 1
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 0 2
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 0 4
Emmy Awards 1 2
Golden Globe Awards 0 2
Grammy Awards 1 10
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 0 1
Satellite Awards 1 6
Saturn Awards 5 12
Sierra Awards 1 2
World Soundtrack Awards 0 2
Total 33 73
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Danny Elfman
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt350/elfoncloudnine/elfman.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn23/Princesslildee/danguitr-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/29/10 at 5:22 am

The person who died on this day...Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known as "America's Sweetheart," "Little Mary" and "The girl with the curls," she was one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and a significant figure in the development of film acting.

Because her international fame was triggered by moving images, she is a watershed figure in the history of modern celebrity. And as one of silent film's most important performers and producers, her contract demands were central to shaping the Hollywood industry. In consideration of her contributions to American cinema, the American Film Institute named Pickford 24th among the greatest female stars of all time.
Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario. Her father, John Charles Smith, was the son of English Methodist immigrants, and worked a variety of odd jobs. Her mother, Charlotte Hennessy, was Irish Catholic. She had two younger siblings, Jack  and Lottie Pickford, who would also become actors. To please the relatives, Pickford's mother baptized her in both the Methodist and Catholic churches (and used the opportunity to change her middle name to "Mary"). She was raised Roman Catholic after her father, an alcoholic, left his family in 1895, and died three years later of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Hennessy, who had worked as a seamstress throughout the separation, began taking in boarders. Through one of these lodgers, the seven-year-old Pickford won a bit part at Toronto's Princess Theatre in a stock company production of The Silver King. She subsequently acted in many melodramas with the Valentine Company in Toronto, capped by the starring role of Little Eva in their production of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the most popular play of the 19th century.
Early career

By the early 1900s, acting had become a family enterprise. Pickford, her mother and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a leading role on Broadway, planning to quit acting if she failed. She landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, The Warrens of Virginia. The play was written by William C. deMille, whose brother, the then-unknown Cecil B. DeMille, also appeared in the cast. David Belasco, the producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name Mary Pickford. After completing the Broadway run and touring the play, however, Pickford was once again out of work.
Pickford with camera circa 1916

On April 19, 1909, the Biograph Company director D. W. Griffith screen-tested her at the company's New York studio for a role in the nickelodeon film Pippa Passes. The role went to someone else, but Griffith was immediately taken with Pickford. She quickly grasped that movie acting was simpler than the stylized stage acting of the day.

Most Biograph actors earned $5 a day, but after Pickford's single day in the studio, Griffith agreed to pay her $10 a day against a guarantee of $40 a week. Like all actors at Biograph, Pickford played both bit parts and leading roles, playing mothers, ingenues, spurned women, spitfires, slaves, native Americans, and a prostitute. As Pickford said of her success at Biograph: "I played scrubwomen and secretaries and women of all nationalities... I decided that if I could get into as many pictures as possible, I'd become known, and there would be a demand for my work." In 1909, Pickford appeared in 51 films — almost one a week. She also introduced her friend Florence La Badie to D. W. Griffith, which launched La Badie's successful film acting career.

In January 1910 Pickford traveled with a Biograph crew to Los Angeles. Many other companies wintered on the West Coast, escaping the weak light and short days that hampered winter shooting in the East. Pickford added to her 1909 Biographs (Sweet and Twenty, They Would Elope, and To Save Her Soul, to name a few) with films from California. In Griffith's company, actors were not listed in the credits. Nonetheless, audiences noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance. In turn, exhibitors capitalized on her popularity by advertising on sandwich boards that a film featuring "The Girl with the Golden Curls," "Blondilocks" or "The Biograph Girl" was inside. Pickford left Biograph in December 1910, and spent 1911 starring in films at Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP). It was absorbed into Universal Pictures in 1912, and Majestic. Unhappy with their creative standards, she returned to work with Griffith in 1912. Some of her best performances were in films such as Friends, The Mender of Nets, Just Like a Woman, and The Female of the Species. That year, Pickford also introduced Dorothy and Lillian Gish (both friends from her days touring melodrama) to Griffith. :115 Both became major silent stars, in comedy and tragedy respectively.

In late 1912, Pickford made her last Biograph, The New York Hat, to return to Broadway in the David Belasco production of A Good Little Devil. The experience was the major turning point in her career. Pickford, who had always hoped to conquer the Broadway stage, discovered how deeply she missed film acting.

In 1913 she decided to work exclusively in film. That year, Adolph Zukor formed Famous Players in Famous Plays (later Paramount), one of the first American feature film companies. Pickford left the stage to join his roster of stars. Zukor believed film's potential lay in recording theatrical players in replicas of their most famous stage roles and productions. Zukor first filmed Pickford in a silent version of A Good Little Devil. The film, produced in 1913, showed the play's Broadway actors reciting every line of dialogue, resulting in a stiff film that Pickford later called "one of the worst I ever made...it was deadly.". Zukor agreed; he held the film back from distribution for a year.

Pickford's work in material written for the camera by that time had attracted a strong following. Comedy-dramas like In the Bishop's Carriage (1913), Caprice (1913), and especially Hearts Adrift (1914) made her irresistible to moviegoers. In fact, Hearts Adrift was so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicized pay raises based on the profits and reviews. The film also marked the first time Pickford’s name was put above the title on movie marquees. Tess of the Storm Country was released five weeks later. Brownlow observes that the movie “sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not the world.”

Her appeal was summed up two years later by the February 1916 issue of Photoplay as "luminous tenderness in a steel band of gutter ferocity".:126 Only Charlie Chaplin—who reportedly slightly surpassed Pickford's popularity in 1916—had a similarly spellbinding pull with critics and the audience. Each enjoyed a level of fame that far outstripped that of other actors.

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Pickford was believed to be the most famous woman in the world, or, as a silent-film journalist described her, "the best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history." Pickford's closest female rival at this time at the box office and with the public was 31-year-old Marguerite Clark. She also came from stage acting and had a girlish/whimsical charm which audiences responded to.
Stardom
A lobby card of the 1921 Mary Pickford film, Little Lord Fauntleroy in which she played both the title character and his mother.

Throughout her career, Pickford starred in 52 features. In 1916, Pickford signed a new contract with Zukor that granted her full authority over production of the films which she starred in, and a record-breaking salary of $10,000 a week. Occasionally, she played a child, in films like The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), and Daddy-Long-Legs (1919). Pickford's fans were devoted to these "Little Girl" roles, but they were not typical of her career.

In 1918, Pickford broke with Paramount and became an independent producer at First National. In 1919, Pickford — along with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks — formed the independent film production company United Artists. Through United Artists, Pickford continued to produce and perform in her own movies; she could also distribute them the way she chose.

In 1920, Pickford's film Pollyanna grossed around $1,100,000. The following year, Pickford's film Little Lord Fauntleroy would also be a success, and in 1923, Rosita grossed over $1,000,000 as well. In this period, Pickford also made two of the greatest silent films ever made in Hollywood: Sparrows (1926), which blended the Dickensian with newly minted German expressionist style, and the romantic comedy My Best Girl (1927). These films are not just technical triumphs, but are icons of the silents' great, poetic final period.

The arrival of sound was her undoing. She appears to have underestimated the value of adding sound to movies. She said, "Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo". She played a reckless socialite in Coquette (1929), a role where she no longer had her famous curls, but rather a 1920s bob; Pickford had cut her hair in the wake of her mother's death in 1928. Fans were shocked at the transformation. Pickford's hair had become a symbol of female virtue, and cutting it was front-page news in The New York Times and other papers. Coquette was a success and won her an Academy Award for Best Actress, but the public failed to respond to her in the more sophisticated roles.

Like most movie stars of the silent era, Pickford found her career fading as talkies became more popular among audiences. Her next film, The Taming of The Shrew was a disaster at the box office. In her late thirties, Pickford was unable to play the children, teenage spitfires and feisty young women so adored by her fans, nor could she play the soignée heroines of early sound.

In 1933, Pickford did do a Technicolor screen test for a animated/live action film version of Alice in Wonderland, but Walt Disney discarded the project when Paramount released its own version of the book. Only one Technicolor still of her screen test still exists.

Pickford retired from acting in 1933. She continued to produce films for others, including Sleep, My Love (1948), an update of Gaslight with Claudette Colbert.
Relationships

Pickford was married three times. She first married Owen Moore (1886–1939), an Irish-born silent film actor, on January 7, 1911. It is believed she became pregnant by Moore in the early 1910s, but had a miscarriage or an abortion. Some accounts suggest this led to her inability to have children.:125 The couple had numerous marital problems, notably Moore's alcoholism, insecurity about living in the shadow of Pickford's fame, and bouts of domestic violence. The failure of her pregnancy may have exacerbated Moore's drinking problem. The couple lived apart for several years.

Pickford became secretly involved in a relationship with Douglas Fairbanks. They toured the US together in 1918 to promote Liberty Bond sales for the World War I effort.
Portrait circa 1921

Pickford divorced Moore on March 2, 1920, and married Fairbanks on March 28 of the same year. They went to Europe for their honeymoon, but fans in London caused a riot trying to get to her. A similar incident occurred in Paris. The couple's triumphant return to Hollywood was witnessed by vast crowds who turned out to hail them at railway stations across the United States.

The Mark of Zorro (1920) and a series of other swashbucklers gave the popular Fairbanks a more romantic, heroic image. Pickford continued to epitomize the virtuous but fiery girl next door. Even at private parties, people instinctively stood up when Pickford entered a room; she and her husband were often referred to as "Hollywood royalty." Their international reputations were broad. Foreign heads of state and dignitaries who visited the White House often asked if they could also visit Pickfair, the couple's mansion in Beverly Hills.

Dinners at Pickfair included a number of notable guests. Charlie Chaplin, Fairbanks' best friend, was often present. Other guests included George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Elinor Glyn, Helen Keller, H. G. Wells, Lord Mountbatten, Fritz Kreisler, Amelia Earhart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Noel Coward, Max Reinhardt, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Austen Chamberlain, and Sir Harry Lauder. The public nature of Pickford's second marriage strained it to the breaking point. Both she and Fairbanks had little time off from producing and acting in their films. They were also constantly on display as America's unofficial ambassadors to the world—leading parades, cutting ribbons, making speeches.

When their film careers both began to founder at the end of the silent era, Fairbanks' restless nature prompted him to overseas travel (something which Pickford did not enjoy). When Fairbanks' romance with Sylvia, Lady Ashley became public in the early 1930s, he and Pickford separated. They divorced January 10, 1936. Fairbanks' son by his first wife, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., claimed that his father and Pickford long regretted their inability to reconcile.

On June 24, 1937, Pickford married her third and last husband, actor and band leader Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. They adopted two children: Roxanne (born 1944, adopted 1944) and Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted 1943, a.k.a. Ron Pickford Rogers). As a PBS American Experience documentary noted, Pickford's relationship with her children was tense. She criticized their physical imperfections, including Ronnie's small stature and Roxanne's crooked teeth. Both children later said that their mother was too self-absorbed to provide real maternal love. In 2003, Ronnie recalled that "Things didn't work out that much, you know. But I'll never forget her. I think that she was a good woman."

In March 1928, Pickford's mother Charlotte died of breast cancer, followed by her brother Jack in 1933 and sister Lottie in 1936. Owen Moore, an incurable alcoholic, died in 1939. Fairbanks also died in 1939, of a heart attack.

Ronald and Roxanne each left Pickfair at a young age. Pickford and Rogers stayed together for over four decades until Pickford's death from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 87.
The film industry

Pickford used her stature in the movie industry to promote a variety of causes. During World War I, she promoted the sale of Liberty Bonds, through an exhausting series of fund-raising speeches that kicked off in Washington, D.C., where she sold bonds alongside Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Marie Dressler. Five days later she spoke on Wall Street to an estimated 50,000 people. Though Canadian-born, she was a powerful symbol of Americana, kissing the American flag for cameras and auctioning one of her world-famous curls for $15,000. In a single speech in Chicago she sold an estimated five million dollars' worth of bonds. She was christened the U.S. Navy's official "Little Sister"; the Army named two cannons after her and made her an honorary colonel.
Pickford gives President Herbert Hoover a ticket for a film industry benefit for the unemployed, November 12, 1931.

At the end of World War I, Pickford conceived of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, an organization to help financially needy actors. Leftover funds from her work selling Liberty Bonds were put toward its creation, and in 1921, the Motion Picture Relief Fund (MPRF) was officially incorporated, with Joseph Schenck voted its first president and Mary Pickford as its vice president. In 1932, Pickford spearheaded the "Payroll Pledge Program," a payroll-deduction plan for studio workers who gave one half of one percent of their earnings to the MPRF. As a result, in 1940 the Fund was able to purchase the land and build the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital.

But Pickford's most profound influence (beyond her acting) was to help reshape the film industry itself. When she entered features, Hollywood believed that the movies' future lay in reproducing Broadway plays for a mass audience. Pickford, who entered feature film with two Broadway credits but a far greater following among fans of nickelodeon flickers, became the world's most popular actress in a matter of months. In response to her popularity, Hollywood rethought its vision of features as "canned theatre," and focused instead on actors and material that were uniquely suited to film, not the footlights.

An astute businesswoman, Pickford became her own producer within three years of her start in features. According to her Foundation, "she oversaw every aspect of the making of her films, from hiring talent and crew to overseeing the script, the shooting, the editing, to the final release and promotion of each project." Pickford first demanded (and received) these powers in 1916, when she was under contract to Adolph Zukor's Famous Players In Famous Plays (later Paramount). He also acquiesced to her refusal to participate in block-booking, the widespread practice of forcing an exhibitor to show a bad film of the studio's choosing in order to also show a Pickford film. In 1916, Pickford's films were distributed, singly, through a special distribution unit called Artcraft.

In 1919, she increased her power by co-founding United Artists (UA) with Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and her soon-to-be husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Before UA's creation, Hollywood studios were vertically integrated, not only producing films but forming chains of theaters. Distributors (also part of the studios) then arranged for company productions to be shown in the company's movie venues. Filmmakers relied on the studios for bookings; in return they put up with what many considered creative interference. United Artists broke from this tradition. It was solely a distribution company, offering independent film producers access to its own screens as well as the rental of temporarily unbooked cinemas owned by other companies. Pickford and Fairbanks produced and shot their films after 1920 at the jointly owned Pickford-Fairbanks studio on Santa Monica Boulevard. The producers who signed with UA were true independents, producing, creating and controlling their work to an unprecedented degree. As a co-founder, as well as the producer and star of her own films, Pickford became the most powerful woman who has ever worked in Hollywood. By 1930, Pickford's career as an actress had greatly faded.

When she retired from acting in 1933, Pickford continued to produce films for United Artists, and she and Chaplin remained partners in the company for decades. Chaplin left the company in 1955, and Pickford followed suit in 1956, selling her remaining shares for three million dollars.
    * 909: discovered by D.W. Griffith at Biograph, worked for $5 a day, which he quickly increased to $10 a day.
    * 1911: I.M.P., $175 a week, with the employment of her mother and siblings guaranteed. Unhappy with the quality of I.M.P. films, Pickford sued to be released from her contract and won on the grounds that being under 21, she had been too young to contract with I.M.P.
    * 1911: Majestic Film Corp., $225 a week, with the employment of her husband, Owen Moore, as an actor and director, guaranteed.
    * 1912: back to Biograph, $175 a week, a pay cut she justified with the belief that the key to a great career was to "get yourself with the right associates." This period featured some of Pickford's most mature and varied work. Owen Moore signed with Victor Films and an unpublicized marital separation began.
    * 1913: appeared as the star (with Lillian Gish in a small role) in Belasco's Broadway production A Good Little Devil for $175 a week, raised to $200 a week.
    * 1913: Pickford moved to feature film by signing with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players in Famous Plays, for $500/week (D.W. Griffith had balked at paying more than $300).
    * 1914: Pickford became an international phenomenon through her roles as barefoot adolescents and urchins in the features Hearts Adrift and Tess of the Storm Country. Within the U.S., she was called "America's Sweetheart." In the country of her birth, she was "Canada's Sweetheart" and she became "The World's Sweetheart" overseas. Pickford asked Zukor for double her previous salary, and received it ($1,000/wk.).
    * 1915: At her request, her salary at Famous Players was again doubled, to $2000 a week, plus half the profits of her films. The movie Rags contained one of Pickford's ground-breaking roles as a self-described "hellcat."
    * 1916: Pickford formed her own producing unit, the Pickford Film Corporation, within Famous Players, and installed her mother as treasurer. She had a voice in the selection of her roles and the film's final cut. She chose her own directors and approved the supporting cast and the advertising. She was required to make only six films a year, a saner quota that earlier years, in which she made nine or more. She was paid annually $10,000 a week plus half the profits in her films, or half a million dollars, whichever was greater. As the contract's duration was two years, Pickford was guaranteed at least a million dollars. Famous Players also created a special unit called Artcraft to distribute Pickford's features, rather than blockbooking them, a practice Pickford vehemently opposed.
    * 1917: Pickford toured the United States with Fairbanks and Chaplin, supporting U.S. involvement in World War I and promoting Liberty Bonds. She played three of her roles as children in The Poor Little Rich Girl, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and A Little Princess. On the other hand, she was thoroughly adult in an anti-German propaganda picture The Little American, and the western A Romance of the Redwoods, both directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
    * 1918: She signed a contract with First National to make three films for $675,000 (about $10 million in 2005-terms). Pickford also received 50 percent of all profits, and complete creative control from script to the final cut. Meanwhile, Famous Players released one of her greatest films, the tragedy Stella Maris, in which she played a double role, as well as M'liss (another ragged spitfire) and the war comedy Johanna Enlists.
    * 1919: Pickford co-founded United Artists with Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith. During U.A.'s start-up, Pickford's films for First National were released, including Daddy Long-Legs (from the book by Jean Webster) and the violent melodrama The Heart o' the Hills.
    * 1923: Hoping to expand her image, Pickford convinced Ernst Lubitsch to direct her next film. After considering Faust, they settled on Rosita, the story of a Spanish street-singer who attracts the attention of the lecherous king. Though the role catered to Pickford's gift for playing sweet-but-fiery women in rags, it introduced a note of sexual sophistication which many of her fans loathed. Plans for future films with Lubitsch were abandoned. For the next few years she appeared in a series of superlative productions, culminating in Sparrows (1926), which blended German expressionism to Hollywood production values.
    * 1925: Pickford purchased 132 reels of camera negatives and prints from her Biograph period, 1909–1912, nearly 70 percent of her short films for that studio.
    * 1927: United Artists, under Pickford's direction, opened their flagship Spanish Gothic movie theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Pickford became deeply involved in the design of the theatre, and two Anthony Heinsbergen murals in the auditorium feature her. Theatre architect Howard Crane opened two other UA theatres in the same year, in Chicago and Detroit. The Los Angeles theatre has become known as the University Cathedral of Dr. Eugene Scott. The romantic comedy My Best Girl was released with her future husband, Charles Rogers, playing the male interest.
    * 1927 Mary travels to Russia and is filmed going about her business. The shots were made into a film that Pickford knew nothing about.
    * 1929: Pickford starred in a sound film, Coquette, a production that did well at the box office, earning $1.4 million. Pickford used the break from silent film to establish a more flirtatious and sophisticated adult character. Her performance earned her an Oscar. In the same year, Pickford appeared with her husband Douglas Fairbanks in a sound version of The Taming of the Shrew.
    * 1933: Pickford starred with Leslie Howard in Secrets, a money-losing film which proved her last.
    * 1937: Pickford founded Mary Pickford Cosmetics, a beauty company.
    * 1941: Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Orson Welles, Samuel Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, Alexander Korda, and Walter Wanger founded the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers.
    * 1949: Pickford and her husband Buddy Rogers formed Pickford-Rogers-Boyd, a radio and television-production company.
    * 1951: Columbia Pictures and producer Stanley Kramer announced that Pickford would star in The Library, her first picture since 1933. She withdrew a month before filming was to begin in 1952. The anti-censorship screenplay was eventually filmed as Storm Center (1956), with Bette Davis in the lead.
    * 1955 Sunshine and Shadow, her autobiography, is published.
    * 1956: Pickford sold her stock interest in United Artists, one-third of the company's shares, a year after Charles Chaplin had sold his quarter interest.
    * 1976: Pickford received an Academy Honorary Award for a lifetime of achievements.
    * Mary Pickford has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6280 Hollywood Boulevard. Her handprints and footprints can be seen in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Filmography

see: Mary Pickford filmography
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w197/AmberRose365_2007/pickford-mary-1920.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/pigdictator/mary-pickford.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/29/10 at 7:02 am

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-04/38147552.jpg

Mary Pickford (1977)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/29/10 at 1:03 pm


http://theenvelope.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-04/38147552.jpg

Mary Pickford (1977)

Thanks Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/29/10 at 6:19 pm


Thanks Howie :)


Oh you're very welcome. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 4:24 am

French Person of the Day: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, also Jeanne d'Arc (1412 to 30 May 1431) is a national heroine of France and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She believed she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orleans as part of a relief mission. He did this because of all of Joan's honesty. Initially treated as a figurehead by veteran commanders, she gained prominence when she lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Rheims, which settled the disputed succession to the throne.

The renewed French confidence outlasted her own brief career. Court intrigues slowed further offensive action. She was wounded during an unsuccessful attempt to recover Paris and fell prisoner at a battle outside Compeigne the following spring. A politically motivated trial convicted her of heresy. The English regent John, duke of Bedford had her burnt at the stake in Rouen. The ENGLISH saw her as an agent of the devil and that is why she was burnt. She had been the heroine of her country at the age of seventeen. She died at just nineteen. Some twenty-four years later, Pope Callixtus III reopened the case and a new finding overturned the original conviction. Her piety to the end impressed the retrial court. Pope Benedict XV canonized her on 16 May 1920.

Joan of Arc has remained an important figure in the collective imagination of Western culture. From Napoleon to the present, French politicians of all leanings have invoked her memory. Major writers and composers who created works about her include Shakespeare, Voltaire, Schiller, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Twain, Shaw, and Brecht. Depictions of her continue in film, television, and song.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/usa/images-4/joan-of-arc.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 4:26 am


The word of the day...Housewife(ves)
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj128/alliebrusa/DSCN1391.jpg
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab186/sanditahanglakas/1_269033983l.jpg


Hopefully housewives to different husbands?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 4:28 am


French Person of the Day: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, also Jeanne d'Arc (1412 to 30 May 1431) is a national heroine of France and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She believed she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orleans as part of a relief mission. He did this because of all of Joan's honesty. Initially treated as a figurehead by veteran commanders, she gained prominence when she lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Rheims, which settled the disputed succession to the throne.

The renewed French confidence outlasted her own brief career. Court intrigues slowed further offensive action. She was wounded during an unsuccessful attempt to recover Paris and fell prisoner at a battle outside Compeigne the following spring. A politically motivated trial convicted her of heresy. The English regent John, duke of Bedford had her burnt at the stake in Rouen. The ENGLISH saw her as an agent of the devil and that is why she was burnt. She had been the heroine of her country at the age of seventeen. She died at just nineteen. Some twenty-four years later, Pope Callixtus III reopened the case and a new finding overturned the original conviction. Her piety to the end impressed the retrial court. Pope Benedict XV canonized her on 16 May 1920.

Joan of Arc has remained an important figure in the collective imagination of Western culture. From Napoleon to the present, French politicians of all leanings have invoked her memory. Major writers and composers who created works about her include Shakespeare, Voltaire, Schiller, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Twain, Shaw, and Brecht. Depictions of her continue in film, television, and song.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/usa/images-4/joan-of-arc.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig2Q4Ub4TnM

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 4:30 am


The word of the day...Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Although the action of gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability. Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-surface conditions that make the area/slope prone to failure, whereas the actual landslide often requires a trigger before being released.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt220/digipxl/landslide.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x155/seirinkantoku/Landslide.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o245/katischebesta/landslide.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l309/baber_02/landslide.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m54/sugarmag27/ATT1263370.jpg
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w288/ravennelizabeth/40landslide1.jpg
Oh dear!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 4:32 am


The word of the day...Game(s)
A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational  tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong solitaire, or some Video Games).

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role. According to Chris Crawford, the requirement for player interaction puts activities such as jigsaw puzzles and solitaire "games" into the category of puzzles rather than games.

Attested as early as 2600 BC, games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg264/jew-lee-uhh/photography/games.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll7/DONNA55122/COMMODORE/games.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss70/cgoetze/games/princeofpersiatheforgottensands.png
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss70/cgoetze/games/sbkxsuperbikeworldchampionship.png
http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae347/standrewsepiscopal/100_2165.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/CloneTrooperX/Game%20Boxes/DSCF2862.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh_2cTp-Ixs

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 5:37 am


Hopefully housewives to different husbands?

Lol lets hope.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 5:37 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh_2cTp-Ixs

Love that song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 5:42 am

The word or phrase of the day...Deep Space
The regions beyond the gravitational influence of Earth encompassing interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic space.

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc223/IAmAFishFlopFlopFlop/HubbleUltraDeepSpaceField.png
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z43/brandon6735/deep-space.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w135/depresseded/deep_space.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q93/rjhayes_photos/Deep_Space.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/Dhanima_photo/planetstars.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv326/Dux83/B3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 5:52 am

The person who was born on this day...Colm Meaney
Colm J. Meaney (first name pronounced /ˈkɒləm/;  born 30 May 1953) is an Irish  actor widely known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation  and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is second only to Michael Dorn in most appearances in Star Trek episodes. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons. He has also had a significant career in motion pictures, recently appearing in the British sports film The Damned United.
Meaney was born in Dublin. He started studying acting when he was fourteen years of age, and entered the Abbey Theatre School of Acting after secondary school. He became a member of the Irish National Theatre and spent the next eight years in England, touring with several theatre companies.
Career

Meaney's first television appearance was in Z-Cars on BBC1 in 1978. He guest-starred on shows such as Remington Steele and Moonlighting before embarking on a successful film career; he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his role in The Snapper.

Meaney first appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 in its pilot episode, "Encounter At Farpoint". His character was eventually given the name of Miles O'Brien. In 1993, Meaney left The Next Generation for its spin-off Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and remained on Deep Space Nine until its final episode in 1999. With 225 total appearances on Star Trek (173 on Deep Space Nine and 52 on The Next Generation), he has made more appearances on the franchise than any other actor except Michael Dorn (280). Meaney appeared in two Star Trek pilot episodes (The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine), a distinction shared with Patrick Stewart and Armin Shimerman. Meaney is also one of six actors to appear in the finales of two different Star Trek series.

He had played as Colum O'Hara in 1994 Scarlett sequel to Gone With the Wind.

He has also played a minor recurring role as Cowen, leader of the Genii on the Sci-fi Channel series Stargate Atlantis, guest-starred on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and appeared as Bob O'Donnell on the ABC show Men In Trees.

He was the only actor to appear in all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's The Barrytown Trilogy wherein he played the father of the Rabbitte family; however due to rights issues the family name changed from film to film.

His stage appearances include the Old Vic production of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten.

Meaney starred in British comedy film Three and Out released in the UK on 25 April 2008. On July of the same year An Post (Irish mail agency) issued a postage stamp showing Colm Meaney as Joe Mullen in the film Kings.

In 2009 Meaney co-starred with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx in Law Abiding Citizen wherein he played Detective Dunnigan.

In March 2009 Meaney guest-starred as an Irish bartender on the St. Patrick's Day episode of The Simpsons, "In the Name of the Grandfather". In the same month the British film The Damned United was released, chronicling the 44-day period in which Brian Clough was manager of Leeds United. Meaney played the former Leeds manager Don Revie.
Personal life

Meaney was married to Irish actress Bairbre Dowling, but they are now divorced. He remarried in March 2007 to Ines Glorian. He currently lives in the Majorcan town of Sóller. He is unrelated to the science fiction writer John Meaney, though the latter's brother is also named Colm Meaney.

Meaney is an outspoken supporter of the Irish Republican political party Sinn Féin and, while not currently a member, admitted that he had joined the party when he was 14.

He is a fan of Dublin's Gaelic football team and Shamrock Rovers.
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1981 Nailed Younger Protestant
Les Roses de Dublin Michael Kavanaugh TV miniseries
1983 Playboy of the Western World Shawn TV film
1984 The Hidden Curriculum David Dunn TV film
1987 Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues Tinkerer TV film
Omega Syndrome Sean
The Dead Mr. Bergin
1989 Perfect Witness Meagher TV film
1990 Die Hard 2 Pilot
Dick Tracy Cop at Tess's
Come See the Paradise Gerry McGurn
1991 The Commitments Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr.
1992 Under Siege Doumer
The Last of the Mohicans Maj. Ambrose
Far and Away Kelly
Into the West Barreller
1993 The Snapper Dessie Curley Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1994 War of the Buttons Geronimos' Father
The Road to Wellville Dr. Lionel Badger
Scarlett Father Colum O'Hara TV miniseries
1995 The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain Morgan the Goat
1996 The Van Larry
The Last of the High Kings Jim Davern
1997 Con Air DEA Agent Duncan Malloy
Owd Bob Keith Moore
1998 This Is My Father Seamus, Owner of the Bed-and-Breakfast
Monument Ave. Jackie O'Hara a.k.a. Snitch
October 22 Steve
Claire Dolan Roland Cain
Money Kings Al Sheehan TV film; a.k.a. Vig
1999 Mystery, Alaska Mayor Scott Pitcher
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns Seamus Muldoon
Chapter Zero Frank Lazarus
Four Days Fury
Most Important Dan O'Neill
2001 Backflash Gin O'Malley
How Harry Became a Tree Harry Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor
2002 Random Passage Thomas Hutchings TV miniseries
Nominated — Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series
King of Texas Mr. Tumlinson TV film
2003 The Boys From County Clare Jimmy
Intermission Jerry Lynch
2004 Blueberry Jimmy McClure
Bad Apple Gibbons TV film
Layer Cake Gene
Nouvelle-France Benjamin Franklin
2005 Turning Green Tom
2006 Five Fingers Gavin
Caved In: Prehistoric Terror Vincent TV film
Covert One: The Hades Factor Peter Howell TV film
A Lobster Tale Cody
2007 Kings Joe Mullan Nominated - Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor
The Metrosexual The Mayor Great Lakes Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
2008 Clean Break Trevor Jones
Three and Out Tommy
2009 ZOS: Zone of Separation George Titac TV miniseries
The Damned United Don Revie
The Race TBA
Law Abiding Citizen Detective Dunnigan
Alice King of Hearts TV miniseries
2010 Get Him to the Greek Jonathan Snow Completed
Alleged H.L. Mencken Post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Z Cars McGlin One episode
1982 Play for Tomorrow Kevin Murphy One episode
Strangers Smollett One episode
1986 Moonlighting Katharina Suitor One episode
1987 Remington Steele Man in Tavern One episode
Tales from the Darkside Constable One episode
1987-1988 One Life to Live Patrick London
1987-1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation Chief Miles O'Brien Recurring Character
1990 Equal Justice Nucchi One episode
Father Dowling Mysteries Ernie One episode
1991 The New Adam-12 Father One episode
MacGyver Dr. Irwin Malcolm One episode
1993 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman Jake Slicker Pilot episode
Brooklyn Bridge Mr. Kramer One episode
1993-1999 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Chief O'Brien Series regular
1996 Gargoyles Mr. Dugan Voice only; one episode
2004 The Murdoch Mysteries Inspector Brackenreid Two episodes
2004, 2006 Stargate Atlantis Chief Cowen (leader of the Genii until killed in episode Coup D'État) Three episodes
2005 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Judge Harold Garrett Episode: In the Wee Small Hours
2006 The Unit Charge D'Affaires One episode
2007 Men in Trees Bob O'Donnell Two episodes
2008 Law & Order Wyatt Landon One episode
2009 The Simpsons Tom O'Flanagan Voice only; episode: In the Name of the Grandfather
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk193/ycalacy/Star%20Trek/The%20Next%20Generation/ColmMeaney-MilesEdwardOBrien.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r25/travisoutlaw/Star%20Trek%20The%20Complete%20DS9%20Master%20Set%20PC/Autographs/02.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 5:59 am

The person who died on this day...Mickie Most

Mickie Most (20 June 1938 — 30 May 2003) was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with his own RAK Records, and with acts such as The Animals, The Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group.
Most was born as born Michael Peter Hayes in Aldershot, Hampshire. The son of a regimental sergeant-major, he moved with his parents to the north London  suburb of Harrow in 1951. Most was influenced by skiffle and early rock and roll in his youth. Leaving school at 15, he worked as a singing waiter at London's The 2i's Coffee Bar where he made friends with future business partner Peter Grant, and formed a singing duo with Alex Wharton (aka Alex Murray) who billed themselves as The Most Brothers. They recorded with Decca Records a single "Takes A Whole Lotta Loving to Keep My Baby Happy" before disbanding. Wharton went on to produce the Moody Blues single "Go Now". After changing his name to Mickie Most in 1959, he travelled to South Africa with his wife Christina, and formed a pop group, Mickie Most and the Playboys. The band scored 11 consecutive #1 singles there, mostly with cover versions of Ray Peterson, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran songs. Returning to London in 1962, Most appeared on package tours as well as recording "Mister Porter", a #45 hit in the UK Singles Chart in July 1963.
Producer

Becoming tired of touring clubs, Most decided to concentrate on other aspects of the music industry. His first job was selling records in stores and displaying them on racks (later inspiration for his record label, RAK) before finding a niche with production for Columbia Records. After spotting The Animals at Newcastle's Club A-Go-Go, he offered to produce their first single, "Baby Let Me Take You Home", which reached #21 in the UK Singles Chart. Their follow-up 1964 single, "The House of the Rising Sun", became a worldwide hit. Most then won the "Producer of the Year" award at the 1964 Grammy Awards.

He had success with Herman's Hermits after being approached by their manager Harvey Lisberg. Their first Most production, "I'm Into Something Good", went to #1 in 1964, beginning a run of single and album sales (ten million over 12 months), the group for a time challenging The Beatles in popularity in the United States. His down-to-earth handling of the band, his business acumen and knack for selecting hit singles established Most as one of the most successful producers in Britain and kept him in demand throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

In September 1964, with Most at the control board, Brenda Lee recorded "Is It True," and "What'd I Say," "Is It True," was released in England, and later in the US and became a hit, with gold record. "What'd I Say," became another hit throughout Europe, but was never released to the US. Most had equal success with other artists for whom he produced chart-topping albums and singles between 1965 and 1969, notably Donovan with "Mellow Yellow", "Jennifer Juniper", "The Hurdy Gurdy Man", and "Atlantis" and Lulu "To Sir, with Love", "The Boat That I Row", "Boom Bang-a-Bang" (which finished equal first in the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest), "Me the Peaceful Heart", and "I'm a Tiger". Most also produced The Seekers singles "Days of My Life" and "Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine", in 1968, and Nancy Sinatra's "The Highway Song" in 1969. Most signed new artists such as singer-guitarist Terry Reid.

Most's productions were backed by London based session musicians including Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass guitar and arrangements, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. He produced Jeff Beck's hits "Love is Blue" and "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and the Jeff Beck Group albums Truth and Beck-Ola. He teamed the Beck group with Donovan for the single "Barabajagal". Notably, Most produced the 1968 Donovan hit "Hurdy Gurdy Man", utilizing future Led Zeppelin members Jones, Page, and John Bonham.

By 1967, after commercial and critical failure of The Yardbirds album Little Games, he decided to steer clear of rock groups. The Yardbirds objected to his insistence that every song be cut to three minutes and that albums were an "afterthought" following the singles. His focussed approach also led to a split with Donovan in late 1969. Although not every one of Donovan's better songs was produced by Most, Donovan never had a significant hit again after their split.
RAK Records

Despite these setbacks, Most set up his own production office at 155 Oxford Street, sharing it with his business partner Peter Grant. It was through Most's association that Grant was asked to manage The Yardbirds. In 1968, Most and Grant set up RAK Management, but Grant's involvement with The Yardbirds, which soon evolved into Led Zeppelin, meant Most had control in late 1969. RAK Records and RAK Music Publishing were launched in 1969. RAK music publishing has the copyright of such classic popular songs as "You Sexy Thing" composed by Hot Chocolate singer Errol Brown and a half interest in the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of the band The Arrows. Both acts were produced by Most.

With RAK Records, Most's success continued with folk singer Julie Felix's hit "El Condor Pasa". Felix was the first artist signed to the label. Most then produced Mary Hopkin’s 1970 Eurovision Song Contest entry, "Knock Knock, Who's There?," followed by the single "Temma Harbour". In 1970, Most approached Suzi Quatro for a recording contract after seeing her on stage at a Detroit dance hall with the band Cradle (which also had Quatro’s sisters Arlene, Patti, and Nancy as members), while on a production assignment in Chicago. Quatro was among a growing roster of artists signed to RAK Records which included Alexis Korner's CCS, The Arrows, Smokie (with Chris Norman)(Originally spelt Smokey), Hot Chocolate, Angie Miller, and Chris Spedding. Hiring the songwriting production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, RAK scored several British #1 singles with Suzi Quatro ("Can the Can", "Devil Gate Drive") and Mud.

In 1976, Most produced Chris Spedding's self-titled album, which was Spedding's first solo record. In 1980, Most discovered Kim Wilde, who was doing backing vocals for her father Marty Wilde at a Luton recording session. After hearing her, Most signed Wilde and produced the single "Kids in America" which reached #2 in the UK, and #25 on the US Billboard chart.
Later career

Most was a panelist on television talent shows such as ITV's New Faces where his tough assessments of contestants foreshadowed the style of Simon Cowell. He was producer of Revolver, a program devoted to punk rock which was at odds with his "studio factory" approach to music. Most asked Kate Bush to appear as guest on the pilot episode. In the 1980s, the band Johnny Hates Jazz, which featured Most's son Calvin Hayes, was also signed to RAK Records. RAK sold out to EMI in 1983 but revived in 1988. Most was one of the first producers to own the rights to his own records and RAK Studios, opened in 1976 in St John's Wood, remains active.

In 1995, Most's fortune was estimated at £50 million and he appeared in the Sunday Times annual Rich List among the Top 500 in England. His house in Totteridge Lane, London was claimed to be the largest private home in UK worth an estimated £4 million. His production work diminished after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000.
Death

On 30 May 2003, Most died at home aged 64 from mesothelioma. He was cremated at Golders Green crematorium. He is survived by his wife Christina and their three children Calvin, Nathalie, and Cristalle.
Discography
Compilation albums

    * Best of Mickie Most and His Playboys (1994)
    * To Sir With Love: The Complete Mickie Most Recordings (2005) EMI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 7:21 am


The person who died on this day...Mickie Most

Mickie Most (20 June 1938 — 30 May 2003) was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with his own RAK Records, and with acts such as The Animals, The Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group.
Most was born as born Michael Peter Hayes in Aldershot, Hampshire. The son of a regimental sergeant-major, he moved with his parents to the north London  suburb of Harrow in 1951. Most was influenced by skiffle and early rock and roll in his youth. Leaving school at 15, he worked as a singing waiter at London's The 2i's Coffee Bar where he made friends with future business partner Peter Grant, and formed a singing duo with Alex Wharton (aka Alex Murray) who billed themselves as The Most Brothers. They recorded with Decca Records a single "Takes A Whole Lotta Loving to Keep My Baby Happy" before disbanding. Wharton went on to produce the Moody Blues single "Go Now". After changing his name to Mickie Most in 1959, he travelled to South Africa with his wife Christina, and formed a pop group, Mickie Most and the Playboys. The band scored 11 consecutive #1 singles there, mostly with cover versions of Ray Peterson, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran songs. Returning to London in 1962, Most appeared on package tours as well as recording "Mister Porter", a #45 hit in the UK Singles Chart in July 1963.
Producer

Becoming tired of touring clubs, Most decided to concentrate on other aspects of the music industry. His first job was selling records in stores and displaying them on racks (later inspiration for his record label, RAK) before finding a niche with production for Columbia Records. After spotting The Animals at Newcastle's Club A-Go-Go, he offered to produce their first single, "Baby Let Me Take You Home", which reached #21 in the UK Singles Chart. Their follow-up 1964 single, "The House of the Rising Sun", became a worldwide hit. Most then won the "Producer of the Year" award at the 1964 Grammy Awards.

He had success with Herman's Hermits after being approached by their manager Harvey Lisberg. Their first Most production, "I'm Into Something Good", went to #1 in 1964, beginning a run of single and album sales (ten million over 12 months), the group for a time challenging The Beatles in popularity in the United States. His down-to-earth handling of the band, his business acumen and knack for selecting hit singles established Most as one of the most successful producers in Britain and kept him in demand throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

In September 1964, with Most at the control board, Brenda Lee recorded "Is It True," and "What'd I Say," "Is It True," was released in England, and later in the US and became a hit, with gold record. "What'd I Say," became another hit throughout Europe, but was never released to the US. Most had equal success with other artists for whom he produced chart-topping albums and singles between 1965 and 1969, notably Donovan with "Mellow Yellow", "Jennifer Juniper", "The Hurdy Gurdy Man", and "Atlantis" and Lulu "To Sir, with Love", "The Boat That I Row", "Boom Bang-a-Bang" (which finished equal first in the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest), "Me the Peaceful Heart", and "I'm a Tiger". Most also produced The Seekers singles "Days of My Life" and "Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine", in 1968, and Nancy Sinatra's "The Highway Song" in 1969. Most signed new artists such as singer-guitarist Terry Reid.

Most's productions were backed by London based session musicians including Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass guitar and arrangements, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. He produced Jeff Beck's hits "Love is Blue" and "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and the Jeff Beck Group albums Truth and Beck-Ola. He teamed the Beck group with Donovan for the single "Barabajagal". Notably, Most produced the 1968 Donovan hit "Hurdy Gurdy Man", utilizing future Led Zeppelin members Jones, Page, and John Bonham.

By 1967, after commercial and critical failure of The Yardbirds album Little Games, he decided to steer clear of rock groups. The Yardbirds objected to his insistence that every song be cut to three minutes and that albums were an "afterthought" following the singles. His focussed approach also led to a split with Donovan in late 1969. Although not every one of Donovan's better songs was produced by Most, Donovan never had a significant hit again after their split.
RAK Records

Despite these setbacks, Most set up his own production office at 155 Oxford Street, sharing it with his business partner Peter Grant. It was through Most's association that Grant was asked to manage The Yardbirds. In 1968, Most and Grant set up RAK Management, but Grant's involvement with The Yardbirds, which soon evolved into Led Zeppelin, meant Most had control in late 1969. RAK Records and RAK Music Publishing were launched in 1969. RAK music publishing has the copyright of such classic popular songs as "You Sexy Thing" composed by Hot Chocolate singer Errol Brown and a half interest in the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of the band The Arrows. Both acts were produced by Most.

With RAK Records, Most's success continued with folk singer Julie Felix's hit "El Condor Pasa". Felix was the first artist signed to the label. Most then produced Mary Hopkin’s 1970 Eurovision Song Contest entry, "Knock Knock, Who's There?," followed by the single "Temma Harbour". In 1970, Most approached Suzi Quatro for a recording contract after seeing her on stage at a Detroit dance hall with the band Cradle (which also had Quatro’s sisters Arlene, Patti, and Nancy as members), while on a production assignment in Chicago. Quatro was among a growing roster of artists signed to RAK Records which included Alexis Korner's CCS, The Arrows, Smokie (with Chris Norman)(Originally spelt Smokey), Hot Chocolate, Angie Miller, and Chris Spedding. Hiring the songwriting production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, RAK scored several British #1 singles with Suzi Quatro ("Can the Can", "Devil Gate Drive") and Mud.

In 1976, Most produced Chris Spedding's self-titled album, which was Spedding's first solo record. In 1980, Most discovered Kim Wilde, who was doing backing vocals for her father Marty Wilde at a Luton recording session. After hearing her, Most signed Wilde and produced the single "Kids in America" which reached #2 in the UK, and #25 on the US Billboard chart.
Later career

Most was a panelist on television talent shows such as ITV's New Faces where his tough assessments of contestants foreshadowed the style of Simon Cowell. He was producer of Revolver, a program devoted to punk rock which was at odds with his "studio factory" approach to music. Most asked Kate Bush to appear as guest on the pilot episode. In the 1980s, the band Johnny Hates Jazz, which featured Most's son Calvin Hayes, was also signed to RAK Records. RAK sold out to EMI in 1983 but revived in 1988. Most was one of the first producers to own the rights to his own records and RAK Studios, opened in 1976 in St John's Wood, remains active.

In 1995, Most's fortune was estimated at £50 million and he appeared in the Sunday Times annual Rich List among the Top 500 in England. His house in Totteridge Lane, London was claimed to be the largest private home in UK worth an estimated £4 million. His production work diminished after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000.
Death

On 30 May 2003, Most died at home aged 64 from mesothelioma. He was cremated at Golders Green crematorium. He is survived by his wife Christina and their three children Calvin, Nathalie, and Cristalle.
Discography
Compilation albums

    * Best of Mickie Most and His Playboys (1994)
    * To Sir With Love: The Complete Mickie Most Recordings (2005) EMI



http://www.rakpublishing.com/files/images/554418/blueplaque_600x437.jpg

The Blue Plaque for Mickie Most on the wall of the legendary RAK Recording Studios in St Johns Wood, London.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/30/10 at 7:21 am


The word or phrase of the day...Deep Space
The regions beyond the gravitational influence of Earth encompassing interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic space.

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc223/IAmAFishFlopFlopFlop/HubbleUltraDeepSpaceField.png
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z43/brandon6735/deep-space.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w135/depresseded/deep_space.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q93/rjhayes_photos/Deep_Space.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/Dhanima_photo/planetstars.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv326/Dux83/B3.jpg



nice pics,makes for good wallpaper. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 7:40 am


http://www.rakpublishing.com/files/images/554418/blueplaque_600x437.jpg

The Blue Plaque for Mickie Most on the wall of the legendary RAK Recording Studios in St Johns Wood, London.

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/30/10 at 7:40 am



nice pics,makes for good wallpaper. :)

Thanks Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 7:41 am


Thanks Phil :)
I have seen that plaque a-many a-time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/30/10 at 7:41 am


Thanks Howie :)


You're Welcome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/30/10 at 7:46 am


Thanks Phil :)
It is located close to Lord's Cricket ground.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/30/10 at 11:36 am


Love that song.



I was going to say that. I have no idea what it means but I do love it. Unfortunately, Carlos doesn't so I try not to listen to it if he is around.  :-\\



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/31/10 at 5:44 am



I was going to say that. I have no idea what it means but I do love it. Unfortunately, Carlos doesn't so I try not to listen to it if he is around.  :-\\



Cat

As long as you still get to listen to it. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/31/10 at 5:48 am

The word of the day...Levee
A levee, levée, dike (or dyke), embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k167/greebs/levee.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj311/team8nola/9th%20ward/Picture308.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/lauraj_0001/laura-n-ashlie179.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg76/slldweb/DSC00004.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u63/jpcook22/DSCN1005.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q310/sher_kong/DSC00543.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m267/LuLuColumbia/LeveeTShirt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/31/10 at 5:53 am

The person born on this day...John Bonham
John Henry "Bonzo" Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English drummer and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin.

Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove. He is considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music by other musicians and commentators in the industry.
Bonham was born on 31 May 1948, in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, to Joan and Jack Bonham. He first learned to play drums at the age of five, making a drum kit out of containers and coffee tins, imitating his idols Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. His mother gave him a snare drum at the age of ten. He received his first proper drum kit from his father at fifteen, a Trixon kit. Bonham never took any formal drum lessons, though as a teen he would get advice from other Redditch drummers. Between 1962-63, while still at school, Bonham joined the Blue Star Trio,  and Gerry Levene & the Avengers.

Bonham attended Lodge Farm Secondary Modern School, where his headmaster once wrote in his school report card that "He will either end up a dustman or a millionaire". After leaving school in 1964, he worked for his father as an apprentice carpenter in between drumming for different local bands. In 1964, Bonham joined his first semi-professional band, Terry Webb and the Spiders, and met his future wife Pat Phillips around the same time. He also played in other Birmingham bands such as The Nicky James Movement, and The Senators, who released a moderately successful single "She's a Mod," in 1964. Bonham then took up drumming full-time. Two years later, he joined A Way of Life, but the band soon became inactive. In desperation for a regular income, he joined a blues group called Crawling King Snakes whose lead singer was a young Robert Plant.

In 1967, A Way of Life asked Bonham to return to the group, and he agreed—though throughout this period, Plant kept in constant contact with Bonham. When Plant decided to form Band of Joy, Bonham was first choice as drummer. The band recorded a number of demos but no album. In 1968 American singer Tim Rose toured Britain and invited Band of Joy to open his concerts. When Rose returned for another tour months later, Bonham was formally invited by the singer to drum for his band, which gave him a regular income.
Led Zeppelin
Main article: Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin in 1969. From left to right: John Bonham, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones

After the break-up of The Yardbirds, guitarist Jimmy Page met Robert Plant, who in turn suggested Bonham. Bonham already knew Plant, and knew Page from session work, as well as John Paul Jones. Page's choices for drummer included Procol Harum's B.J. Wilson, and session drummers Clem Cattini and Aynsley Dunbar. Ginger Baker was also rumoured to be on Page's list. However, upon seeing Bonham drum for Tim Rose at a club in Hampstead, north London, in July 1968, Page and manager Peter Grant were instantly convinced that he was the perfect fit for the new project.

Despite an intensive campaign to snare the drummer, Bonham was initially reluctant to join the band. Plant sent eight telegrams to Bonham's pub, the "Three Men in a Boat", in Walsall, which were followed by forty telegrams from Grant. However, at the same time he was also receiving lucrative offers from established artists Joe Cocker and Chris Farlowe. In the end, though, Bonham accepted Grant's offer. He later recalled, "I decided I liked their music better than Cocker's or Farlowe's."

During Led Zeppelin's first tour of the United States in December 1968, Bonham became friends with Vanilla Fudge's drummer Carmine Appice. Appice introduced him to Ludwig Drums, which he then used for the rest of his career. Bonham used the longest and heaviest sticks available (size 2B) (most likely the size was 5B or sometimes 5A, Made in England by Promoco), which he referred to as "trees." His hard hitting style was displayed to great effect on many Led Zeppelin songs, including "Immigrant Song" (Led Zeppelin III), "When the Levee Breaks" (Led Zeppelin IV / Zoso.svg), "Kashmir" (Physical Graffiti), "The Ocean" (Houses of the Holy), and "Achilles Last Stand" (Presence). The studio recording of "Misty Mountain Hop" perfectly captures his keen sense of dynamics, and this is similarly exhibited by his precise drumming on "No Quarter." On several cuts from later albums, Bonham rather adeptly handled funk and Latin-influenced drumming. Songs like "Royal Orleans" and "Fool in the Rain" are good examples, the latter displaying great skill with a New Orleans shuffle and a samba rhythm.

His famous drum solo, first entitled "Pat's Delight," later renamed "Moby Dick," would often last for half an hour and regularly featured his use of bare hands to achieve different sound effects. In Led Zeppelin concert tours after 1969, Bonham would expand his basic kit to include congas, orchestral timpani, and a symphonic gong. Bonham is also credited (by the Dallas Times Herald) with the first in-concert use of electronic timpani drum synthesizers (most likely made by Syndrum) during a performance of the song "Kashmir" in Dallas, Texas in 1977. Many modern rappers would later heavily sample his drumming and incorporate it into their compositions, such as Beastie Boys, who sampled "Moby Dick," "The Ocean," and "When the Levee Breaks."

In 1974, Bonham appeared in the film Son of Dracula, playing drums in Count Downe's (Harry Nilsson) backing band. This was an Apple film directed by Freddie Francis. Bonham appeared in an overcrowded drum line-up including Keith Moon and Starr on the soundtrack album. Bonham's action sequence for the film The Song Remains the Same featured him in a drag race at Santa Pod Raceway to the sound of his signature drum solo, "Moby Dick".

During his time with Led Zeppelin, Bonham was also an avid collector of antique sports cars and motorcycles, which he kept on his family's farm called The Old Hyde. He even bought The Plough pub in the nearby village of Shenstone, which shows signs of conversion work to allow him to drive his bikes or cars right behind the bar. This was not, however, the pub featured in the film The Song Remains the Same. It was in fact the New Inn which is currently boarded up, the only clue to its famous past being a picture hanging close to the bar.

As well as recording with Led Zeppelin, Bonham also found time to play on sessions for other artists. In 1969 Bonham appeared on The Family Dogg's A Way of Life, with Page and Jones. Bonham also sessioned for Screaming Lord Sutch on his album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends in 1970. He also played drums on Lulu's 1971 song "Everybody Clap," originally written by Maurice Gibb and Billy Lawrie. Later in his career, Bonham drummed for his Birmingham friend, Roy Wood, on his 1979 album, On the Road Again, and for Wings on Paul McCartney's Back to the Egg Rockestra project. Bonham was the best man of Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi at his wedding ceremony.
Death

On 24 September 1980, Bonham was picked up by Led Zeppelin assistant Rex King to attend rehearsals at Bray Studios for an upcoming tour of the U.S.; the band's first since 1977. During the journey Bonham had asked to stop for breakfast, where he drank four quadruple vodkas (sixteen shots, amounting to about half of an imperial quart or 565 ml, approximately 2/3 of a "fifth" (of a U.S. gallon) of vodka). He then continued to drink heavily when he arrived at the rehearsals. A halt was called to the rehearsals late in the evening and the band retired to Page's house, the Old Mill House in Clewer, Windsor. After midnight on the 25th, Bonham had fallen asleep and was taken to bed and placed on his side. Benji LeFevre (who had replaced Richard Cole as Led Zeppelin's tour manager) and John Paul Jones found him dead the next afternoon. Bonham was 32 years old.

Weeks later at the coroner's inquest, it emerged that in the 24 hours before he died, John Bonham had consumed forty shots of vodka which resulted in him vomiting and subsequent aspiration (inhaling) of his vomit, causing asphyxiation. A verdict of accidental death was returned at an inquest held on 27 October. An autopsy had found no other drugs in Bonham's body. John Bonham was cremated and, on 12 October 1980, interred at Rushock Parish Church, Worcestershire. His headstone reads:


CHERISHED MEMORIES OF A LOVING HUSBAND AND FATHER JOHN HENRY BONHAM WHO DIED SEPT. 25th 1980 AGED 32 YEARS He will always be Remembered in our hearts. Goodnight my Love, God Bless.

John Bonham's gravestone at Rushock Parish churchyard, Worcestershire

Despite media rumors that drummers including Cozy Powell, Phil Collins, Carmine Appice, Barriemore Barlow, Roger Taylor, Simon Kirke or Bev Bevan, among others, would join the group as his replacement, the remaining members decided to disband Led Zeppelin after Bonham's death. They issued a press statement on 4 December 1980, confirming that the band would not continue without its drummer. "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were." It was simply signed "Led Zeppelin".
Family

John Bonham had two siblings; his younger brother, Mick Bonham (1951–2000), was a disc jockey, author and photographer and his younger sister, Deborah Bonham (born in 1962), who is a singer-songwriter.

Bonham was married to Pat Phillips, and the couple had two children; his daughter Zoë Bonham (born 1975), who is a singer-songwriter and also appears regularly at Led Zeppelin conventions and awards, and his son Jason Bonham (born 1966), a rock drummer who has gained success with various bands including Foreigner and Bonham. On 10 December 2007, he played with Led Zeppelin on the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, as well as their previous reunion at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show on 15 May 1988. A 1970 film clip of a four-year-old Jason playing drums appears in the Led Zeppelin film The Song Remains the Same. Zoë and Jason appeared at the induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 along with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. John's mother, Joan Bonham, is one of the lead vocalists for the Zimmers, a 40-member band set up as a result of a BBC documentary on the treatment of the elderly.

Bonham's cousin Billy Bonham (born 1950), also played keyboards for Terry Reid and Ace Kefford.
Tributes and accolades

Bonham is widely considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music by other musicians and commentators in the industry. In 2007 Stylus magazine rated Bonham number 1 on its list of the 50 greatest rock drummers, as did the online music magazine Gigwise.com in 2008. Bonham was ranked at no. 1 on Classic Rock's 2005 list of "50 Greatest Drummers in Rock". Similarly, Modern Drummer magazine describes him as "the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer in history." In 2003, John Bonham was also named by Rolling Stone magazine as the second greatest drummer of all time, behind Neil Peart of Rush,who was himself heavily influenced by Bonham.

John Bonham has been described by Allmusic as one of the most important, well-known and influential drummers in rock. Many rock drummers were influenced by John Bonham's work with Led Zeppelin, including Tony Thompson, Dave Grohl, Tommy Lee, Peter Criss, Stewart Copeland, and Chad Smith. Several of these drummers have testified to Bonham's influence, such as Roger Taylor of Queen, who stated:

    The greatest Rock`n`Roll drummer of all time was John Bonham who did things that nobody had ever even thought possible before with the drum kit. And also the greatest sound out of his drums - they sounded enormous, and just one bass drum. So fast on it that he did more with one bass drum than most people could do with three, if they could manage them. And he had technique to burn and fantastic power and tremendous feel for rock`n`roll.

Similarly, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters has said:

    John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn't know what was going to happen next- like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff. No one has come close to that since, and I don't think anybody ever will. I think he will forever be the greatest drummer of all time.

Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones told Guitar Player's Jas Obrecht:

    John Bonham is the best at being John Bonham and doing what he does. Or did - unfortunately, he's dead. He was the best. There wasn't anyone better than John Bonham at doing that, and thank goodness we've got some records so that you can hear it.

Musicians other than drummers have also paid tribute to Bonham. John Paul Jones, who formed a very tight musical partnership with him as Led Zeppelin's power rhythm section, stated that Bonham was a "bass player's dream". Jimmy Page has also commented:

    One of the marvellous things about John Bonham which made things very easy was the fact that he really knew how to tune his drums, and I tell you what, that was pretty rare in drummers in those days. He really knew how to make the instrument sing, and because of that, he could just get so much volume out of it by just playing with his wrists. It was just an astonishing technique that was sort of pretty holistic if you know what I mean.
In 2005, Ludwig began issuing Bonham reissue kits in green sparkle maple and amber Vistalite. Ludwig currently offers "Zep Kits" in their Vistalite and Classic lines, with a 26" bass drum, a 14" tom mounted on a snare stand, and 16" and 18" floor toms. In 2007 they issued a limited edition stainless steel kit similar to the ones Bonham used on the last Led Zeppelin tours in the 1970s. The stainless steel shells were manufactured by Ronn Dunnett of Dunnett Classic Drums.
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo38/jonesette/Bonzo/omgbonzo.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/srfr9003/john_bonham.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/31/10 at 5:59 am

The person who died on this day...Johnnie Taylor
Johnnie Taylor (May 5, 1937 – May 31, 2000)  was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from gospel, blues and soul  to pop, doo-wop  and disco. Johnnie Harrison Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Chance Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs, which had been founded by a young Sam Cooke. His singing was strikingly close to that of Sam Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in Cooke's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957.

A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962. However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.

In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". Whilst there he recorded with the label's house band, Booker T. & the MGs. His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably "Who's Making Love", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Taylor once toured in California with blues singer Blues Boy Willie of Memphis, Texas.

During his tenure at Stax, he became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone", which reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and record producer Don Davis's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold in excess of one million units, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers was one of the label's flagship artists. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.
Columbia Records

After Stax folded in the mid 1970s, Taylor switched to Columbia Records, where he made his best known hit, "Disco Lady", in 1976. "Disco Lady" was the first certified platinum single (two million copies sold) by the RIAA.
Malaco Records

After a brief stint at Beverly Glen Records, Taylor signed with Malaco Records after the label's founder Tommy Couch and producing partner Wolf Stephenson heard him sing at blues singer, Z. Z. Hill's funeral in the spring of 1984.

Backed by members of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as well as in-house veterans like former Stax keyboardist Carson Whitsett and guitarist/bandleader Bernard Jenkins, Malaco gave Taylor the type of recording freedom that Stax had given him in the late 1960s and early 1970s, enabling him to record ten albums for the Malaco label in his sixteen year stint.

In 1996, Taylor's eighth album for Malaco, Good Love!, made it to Number One on Billboard's Blues chart (#15 R&B), and was the biggest record in Malaco's history. With this success, Malaco recorded a live video of Taylor at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas in the summer of 1997. The club portion of the "Good Love" video was recorded at 1001 Nightclub in Jackson, Mississippi.

Taylor's final song was "Soul Heaven", in which he dreamed of being at a concert featuring deceased soul music icons Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, and MGs drummer Al Jackson, among others. In one verse, Taylor sang, "I didn't want to wake up/I was havin' such a good time".
Radio

In the 1980s Johnnie Taylor was a DJ on KKDA, a Dallas/Fort Worth radio station. The station's format is mostly R&B and Soul oldies and their on-the-air personalities are often local R&B, Soul, blues, and jazz musicians. Mr. Taylor was billed as "The Wailer, Johnnie Taylor."
Death

Taylor died of a heart attack at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas on May 31, 2000, aged 62. Stax billed Johnnie Taylor as The Philosopher of Soul. He was also known as the Blues Wailer. He was buried beside his mother, Ida Mae Taylor, in Arkansas.
Awards

Taylor was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999.
Musical influence

In 2004, the UK's Shapeshifters sampled Taylor's 1982 "What About My Love?", for their #1 hit single, "Lola's Theme".
Personal life

Taylor has four children who have been recording artists. Johnnie Taylor Jr., Floyd Taylor, Latasha "Tasha" Taylor & T.J. Hooker-Taylor. The best known as Floyd Taylor, who has recorded three albums for Malaco Records. Other children include Fonda Bryant, Schiffon Taylor-Brown, Sabrina Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, and Anthony Arnold.
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n414/ashahope_09/soulful/JohnnieTaylor.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t258/taylorvoices/jtlimoresized.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/31/10 at 7:13 am


The person who died on this day...Johnnie Taylor
Johnnie Taylor (May 5, 1937 – May 31, 2000)  was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from gospel, blues and soul  to pop, doo-wop  and disco. Johnnie Harrison Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Chance Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs, which had been founded by a young Sam Cooke. His singing was strikingly close to that of Sam Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in Cooke's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957.

A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962. However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.

In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". Whilst there he recorded with the label's house band, Booker T. & the MGs. His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably "Who's Making Love", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Taylor once toured in California with blues singer Blues Boy Willie of Memphis, Texas.

During his tenure at Stax, he became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone", which reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and record producer Don Davis's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold in excess of one million units, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers was one of the label's flagship artists. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.
Columbia Records

After Stax folded in the mid 1970s, Taylor switched to Columbia Records, where he made his best known hit, "Disco Lady", in 1976. "Disco Lady" was the first certified platinum single (two million copies sold) by the RIAA.
Malaco Records

After a brief stint at Beverly Glen Records, Taylor signed with Malaco Records after the label's founder Tommy Couch and producing partner Wolf Stephenson heard him sing at blues singer, Z. Z. Hill's funeral in the spring of 1984.

Backed by members of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as well as in-house veterans like former Stax keyboardist Carson Whitsett and guitarist/bandleader Bernard Jenkins, Malaco gave Taylor the type of recording freedom that Stax had given him in the late 1960s and early 1970s, enabling him to record ten albums for the Malaco label in his sixteen year stint.

In 1996, Taylor's eighth album for Malaco, Good Love!, made it to Number One on Billboard's Blues chart (#15 R&B), and was the biggest record in Malaco's history. With this success, Malaco recorded a live video of Taylor at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas in the summer of 1997. The club portion of the "Good Love" video was recorded at 1001 Nightclub in Jackson, Mississippi.

Taylor's final song was "Soul Heaven", in which he dreamed of being at a concert featuring deceased soul music icons Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, and MGs drummer Al Jackson, among others. In one verse, Taylor sang, "I didn't want to wake up/I was havin' such a good time".
Radio

In the 1980s Johnnie Taylor was a DJ on KKDA, a Dallas/Fort Worth radio station. The station's format is mostly R&B and Soul oldies and their on-the-air personalities are often local R&B, Soul, blues, and jazz musicians. Mr. Taylor was billed as "The Wailer, Johnnie Taylor."
Death

Taylor died of a heart attack at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas on May 31, 2000, aged 62. Stax billed Johnnie Taylor as The Philosopher of Soul. He was also known as the Blues Wailer. He was buried beside his mother, Ida Mae Taylor, in Arkansas.
Awards

Taylor was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999.
Musical influence

In 2004, the UK's Shapeshifters sampled Taylor's 1982 "What About My Love?", for their #1 hit single, "Lola's Theme".
Personal life

Taylor has four children who have been recording artists. Johnnie Taylor Jr., Floyd Taylor, Latasha "Tasha" Taylor & T.J. Hooker-Taylor. The best known as Floyd Taylor, who has recorded three albums for Malaco Records. Other children include Fonda Bryant, Schiffon Taylor-Brown, Sabrina Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, and Anthony Arnold.
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n414/ashahope_09/soulful/JohnnieTaylor.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t258/taylorvoices/jtlimoresized.jpg


Disco Lady was my favorite hit,loved that song.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/31/10 at 10:19 am


Disco Lady was my favorite hit,loved that song.  :)

It was a great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/01/10 at 5:35 am

The word of the day...Bucket
A bucket, also called a pail, is a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with an open top and a flat bottom, usually attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the bail. A bucket is distinguished from other containers by being unlidded. Their main purpose is the carrying of water, but they may also have other purposes. Elaborate ceremonial or ritual buckets in bronze, ivory or other materials are found in several ancient or medieval cultures and are known by the Latin for bucket, situla. Other buckets include those attached to Loader (equipment) and Telehandler for agricultural and earthmoving purposes. They can also be used to transport items other than water such as sand, rocks, gumbo, and fish.
http://i753.photobucket.com/albums/xx174/paiged72/buckethead.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo351/slapsale/IMG_2048.jpg
http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad144/Quismaster_85/360gradenFXMR.jpg
http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz232/frankandbrenda1/Choofer/choofer2.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx133/stephijosince84/spring028.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy113/LeaAlbers/Cards%20Published/P5175552.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/01/10 at 5:39 am

The person born on this day...Morgan Freeman
Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. (born June 1, 1937) is an American  actor, film director, and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice.

Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Batman Begins, The Bucket List, Evan Almighty, Wanted, and The Dark Knight Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere) and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi.  He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois.  Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, currently Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Broad Street High School, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.

Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, he also lived in New York City, working as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair, and in San Francisco, where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman acted in a touring company version of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and also appeared as an extra in the 1965 film The Pawnbroker. He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967, opposite Viveca Lindfors in The ****** Lovers (about the civil rights era "Freedom Riders"), before debuting on Broadway in 1968's all-black version of Hello, Dolly!, which also starred Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.
Career
Freeman at the 10 Items or Less premiere in Madrid with co-star Paz Vega.

Although his first credited film appearance was in 1971's Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?, Freeman first became known in the American media through roles on the soap opera Another World and the PBS kids' show The Electric Company, (notably as Easy Reader and Vincent the Vegetable Vampire) which he later said he should have left earlier than he did.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Freeman began playing prominent supporting roles in many feature films, earning him a reputation for depicting wise, fatherly characters. As he gained fame, he went on to bigger roles in films such as the chauffeur Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy, and Sergeant Major Rawlins in Glory (both in 1989). In 1994 he portrayed Red, the redeemed convict in the acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption. He also starred in films such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Unforgiven, Seven, and Deep Impact. In 1997, Freeman, together with Lori McCreary, founded the movie production company Revelations Entertainment, and the two co-head its sister online movie distribution company ClickStar. Freeman also hosts the channel Our Space on ClickStar, with specially crafted film clips in which he shares his love for the sciences, especially space exploration and aeronautics.

After three previous nominations—a supporting actor nomination for Street Smart, and leading actor nominations for Driving Miss Daisy, and The Shawshank Redemption—he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Million Dollar Baby at the 77th Academy Awards. Freeman is recognized for his distinctive voice, making him a frequent choice for narration. In 2005 alone, he provided narration for two films, War of the Worlds and the Academy Award-winning documentary film March of the Penguins.

In 1991, Freeman was offered a lead role in Jurassic Park. Unsure that dinosaurs could make for interesting co-stars, Freeman traveled to the American Museum of Natural History to see the "damn beasts". In a 2007 interview with Atlanta Radio Correspondent Veronica Waters, Freeman revealed that he was stunned when he learned that birds are descended from dinosaurs. While he turned down the role, Freeman spent the next summer reading books on ornithology. This would later lead to his desire to narrate the documentary March of the Penguins.

Freeman appeared as God in the hit movie Bruce Almighty and its sequel, Evan Almighty, as well as Lucius Fox in the critical and commercial success Batman Begins and its 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight. He starred in Rob Reiner's 2007 film The Bucket List, opposite Jack Nicholson. He teamed with Christopher Walken and William H. Macy for the comedy The Maiden Heist, which was released direct to video due to financial problems of the distribution company. In 2008, Freeman returned to Broadway to co-star with Frances McDormand and Peter Gallagher for a limited engagement of Clifford Odets's play, The Country Girl, directed by Mike Nichols.

He has wanted to do a film based on Nelson Mandela for some time. At first he tried to get Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, adapted into a finished script, but it could never be finalized. In 2007 he purchased the film rights to a pre-published 2008 book by John Carlin, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. Clint Eastwood directed the Nelson Mandela bio-pic titled Invictus, starring Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as rugby team captain Francois Pienaar. It was reported in July 2009 that Freeman is in talks to co-star alongside Bruce Willis in Red.

Effective January 4, 2010, Freeman replaced Walter Cronkite as the voiceover introduction to the CBS Evening News featuring Katie Couric as news anchor. CBS cited the need for consistency in introductions for regular news broadcasts and special reports as the basis for the change.
Personal life

Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967, until 1979. He married Myrna Colley-Lee on June 16, 1984. The couple separated in December 2007. Freeman's attorney and business partner, Bill Luckett, announced in August 2008 that Freeman and his wife are in the process of divorce. He has two sons from previous relationships. He adopted his first wife's daughter and the couple also had a fourth child. Freeman lives in Charleston, Mississippi, and New York City. He has a private pilot's license, which he earned at age 65, and co-owns and operates Madidi, a fine dining restaurant, and Ground Zero, a blues club, both located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He officially opened his second Ground Zero in Memphis, Tennessee on April 24, 2008.

Freeman has publicly criticized the celebration of Black History Month and does not participate in any related events, saying, "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." He says the only way to end racism is to stop talking about it, and he notes that there is no "white history month". Freeman once said on an interview with 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace: "I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man." Freeman supported the defeated proposal to change the Mississippi state flag, which contains the Confederate battle flag.

On October 28, 2006, Freeman was honored at the first Mississippi's Best Awards in Jackson, Mississippi, with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his works on and off the big screen. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts and Letters from Delta State University during the school's commencement exercises on May 13, 2006.

In 2008 Freeman's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2. A DNA test showed that he is descended from the Songhai and Tuareg peoples of Niger.

In 2004 Freeman and others formed the Grenada Relief Fund to aid people affected by Hurricane Ivan on the island of Grenada. The Grenada Relief Fund has since become PLANIT NOW, an organization that seeks to provide preparedness resources for people living in hurricane and severe-storm afflicted areas.

Freeman has worked on narrating small clips for global organizations, such as One Earth, whose goals include raising awareness of environmental issues. He has narrated the clip "Why Are We Here", which can be viewed on One Earth's website.

Freeman endorsed Barack Obama's candidacy for the United States presidential election, 2008, although he stated that he would not join Obama's campaign. He narrates for The Hall of Presidents with Barack Obama, who has been added to the exhibit. The Hall of Presidents re-opened on July 4, 2009 at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Freeman has donated money to the Mississippi Horse Park in Starkville, Mississippi. The Horse park is part of Mississippi State University. Freeman has several horses that he takes there.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American actor Morgan Freeman in serious condition after car accident

Freeman was injured in an automobile accident near Ruleville, Mississippi, on the night of August 3, 2008. The vehicle in which he was traveling, a 1997 Nissan Maxima, left the highway and flipped over several times. He and a female passenger, Demaris Meyer, were rescued from the vehicle using the "Jaws of Life". Freeman was taken via medical helicopter to The Regional Medical Center (The Med) hospital in Memphis. Police ruled out alcohol as a factor in the crash. Freeman was coherent following the crash, as he joked to a photographer about taking his picture at the scene. He broke his shoulder, arm and elbow in the crash and had surgery on August 5, 2008. Doctors operated for four hours to repair nerve damage in his shoulder and arm. His publicist announced he was expected to make a full recovery. Meyer, his passenger, has sued him for negligence, claiming that he was drinking the night of the accident. She has denied reports that they were romantically involved.

In July 2009 Freeman was one of the presenters at the 46664 concert (celebrating Nelson Mandela's birthday) at Radio City Music Hall, NYC.

Freeman was the first American to record a par on Legend Golf & Safari Resort's Extreme 19th hole.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Brubaker Walter
1981 Eyewitness Lieutenant Black
1984 Teachers Al Lewis
Harry & Son Siemanowski
1985 Marie Charles Traughber
That Was Then... This Is Now Charlie Woods
1987 Street Smart Fast Black Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1988 Clean and Sober Craig
1989 Glory Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins
Driving Miss Daisy Hoke Colburn Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Lean on Me Principal Joe Clark
Johnny Handsome Lt. A.Z. Drones
1990 The Bonfire of the Vanities Judge Leonard White
The Civil War Voice of Frederick Douglass
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Azeem Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Kevin Costner
1992 Unforgiven Ned Logan
The Power of One Geel Piet
1993 Bopha! director only
1994 The Shawshank Redemption Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, Narrator Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
1995 Outbreak Brig. Gen. Billy Ford
Se7en Detective Lt. William Somerset Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Brad Pitt
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996 Chain Reaction Paul Shannon
Moll Flanders Hibble
Cosmic Voyage Narrator
1997 Amistad Theodore Joadson
Kiss The Girls Dr. Alex Cross
1998 Deep Impact President Tom Beck
Hard Rain Jim
2000 Nurse Betty Charlie Quinn
Under Suspicion Victor Benezet
2001 Along Came a Spider Dr. Alex Cross
2002 The Sum of All Fears DCI William Cabot
High Crimes Charlie Grimes
2003 Bruce Almighty God
Dreamcatcher Col. Abraham Curtis
Levity Pastor Miles Evans
Drug War Lt. Redding
2004 Million Dollar Baby Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Hunting of the President Narrator limited release
The Big Bounce Walter Crewes
2005 An Unfinished Life Mitch Bradley
War of the Worlds Narrator
March of the Penguins Narrator
Batman Begins Lucius Fox
Unleashed Sam
2006 Edison Force Ashford
The Contract Frank Carden
Lucky Number Slevin The Boss
10 Items or Less Himself
2007 Evan Almighty God
Feast of Love Harry Stephenson
Gone, Baby, Gone Jack Doyle
The Bucket List Carter Chambers Also Narrator
2008 Wanted Sloan
The Love Guru Narrator Voice
The Dark Knight Lucius Fox
2009 Prom Night in Mississippi Himself limited release
Thick as Thieves Keith Ripley
The Maiden Heist Charlie
The Code
Invictus Nelson Mandela NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor tied with George Clooney for Up in the Air
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
2010 Red Joe filming
Television appearances
Year Title Role Notes
1971-1977 The Electric Company Easy Reader, DJ Mel Mounds, Dracula, Vincent the Vegetable Vampire television series
1978 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Uncle Hammer made-for-television
1981 The Marva Collins Story Clarence Collins made-for-television
1985 The Twilight Zone Tony Television series (episode "Dealer's Choice")
1986 Resting Place Luther Johnson made-for-television
1987 Fight For Life Dr. Sherard made-for-television
2008 Smithsonian Channel's Sound Revolution Himself television series, series host
Stephen Fry in America Himself television series, appears in episode 3
2010 The Colbert Report Himself interview
Other awards and honoraries

    * 1978 Nominated for Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play in The Mighty Gents.
    * 1997 Received an honorary degree from Rhodes College, becoming an honorary alumnus
    * 2003 Received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
    * 2006 Guest of honor at the Cairo International Film Festival.
    * 2007 He and his wife received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters.
    * 2007 Outstanding Contribution To Film And TV gong at the Screen Nation Film and TV Awards.
    * 2008 Kennedy Center Honors
    * 2010 Will receive an honorary degree from Brown University
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/JFD904/Morgan_Freeman_jpg.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e67/brp1112/morgan_freeman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/01/10 at 5:44 am

The person who died on this day...Hank Ketcham
Henry King "Hank" Ketcham (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001) was an American cartoonist who created the Dennis the Menace comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily page and took up painting full time in his studio at his home. He received the Reuben Award for the strip in 1953. The strip continues today in the hands of other artists.
Hank Ketcham was born in Seattle, Washington. He was the son of Weaver Vinson Ketcham and Virginia King.  His great-grandfather was James Weaver, who ran for President two times on third party tickets in the late 19th century. When he was 6 years old, his father had a guest over for dinner who was an illustrator. After dinner, he showed Hank his "magic pencil" and drew some illustrations. Hank was immediately hooked and soon his father set up a small desk in the closet of his bedroom at which he could draw. After graduating from Queen Anne High School in 1937, Hank attended the University of Washington but dropped out after his first year and hitchhiked to Los Angeles hoping to work for Walt Disney.
Career
'Hank Ketcham in 1953

Hank Ketcham started in the business as an animator for Walter Lantz and eventually Walt Disney, where he worked on films such as Fantasia, Bambi, and Pinocchio. During World War II, Ketcham worked as a photographic specialist with the US Navy Reserve. Also while in the Navy he drew a cartoon called "Half Hitch". After World War II, he settled in Carmel, California, and began work as a freelance cartoonist.

In 1951 he started Dennis The Menace, based on his own 4-year-old son Dennis Ketcham. Ketcham was in his studio in October 1950, when his first wife, Alice Mahar, burst in studio and complained that their 4-year- old, Dennis, had wrecked his bedroom instead of napping. "Your son is a menace," she shouted. Within five months 16 newspapers began carrying the adventures of the impish but innocent "Dennis the Menace." By May 1953, 193 newspapers in the United States and 52 abroad were carrying the strip to 30 million readers.

He made his first journey abroad, for an exchange of cartoons, to the Soviet Union in 1959. Learning of this trip, the Central Intelligence Agency enlisted him to draw anything that could be of use to the United States during those cold war days. If he saw something he would draw it in his sketch book, and if the flight attendant would happen to walk by, he would draw a big nose and eyes to disguise the sketch into a funny face. According to his recollection this resulted in a sketch book full of funny faces and undecipherable sketches.
Family

Ketcham's first wife Alice Louise Mahar died in 1959 of a drug overdose. Hank and Alice were separated at the time of her death. Ketcham married for a second time to Jo Anne Stevens and moved with her and Dennis to Geneva, Switzerland, where he lived from 1960 to 1977, while still producing Dennis the Menace. This marriage ended in divorce. In 1977, he moved back to the United States and settled in Monterey, California with his third wife the former Rolande Praepost, whom he had married in 1969, and had two children, Scott and Dania. Ketcham and his son Dennis drifted apart, and were estranged for much of Dennis's adult life.
Later Life and Retirement

When his Dennis The Menace comic became more than a daily page, Ketcham hired some artists to draw the color Sunday strips and also the many Dennis The Menace comic books that were published. There were always writers who contributed to Dennis the Menace, these were captions sent to him in the mail by people from around the country, and he would go through them and find one that he liked and draw a comic to match it.

When he retired from drawing the daily page, Ketcham's former assistants, Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand, took over drawing the strip. At the time of Ketcham's death it was distributed to more than 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and 19 languages, by King Features Syndicate.

Ketcham spent his last years in peaceful retirement in his home in Carmel, California, painting many originals in oil and watercolor. Many of his fine paintings can be seen in a hospital in nearby Monterey, California. In this period he also wrote a memoir The Merchant of Dennis the Menace. Also, Fantagraphics Books published the complete Dennis by Ketcham from the start of the strip, in thick volumes collecting two years per book.

Ketcham died of prostate cancer on June 1, 2001. He was survived by his oldest son Dennis, his third wife, Rolande, and their two children Dania and Scott.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f327/jackgreen7/normal_hank_ketcham-ff.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 06/01/10 at 6:22 am




The word of the day...Bucket




Pronounced bouquet!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zORtqsUtL.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/01/10 at 7:07 am


The person born on this day...Morgan Freeman
Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. (born June 1, 1937) is an American  actor, film director, and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice.

Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Batman Begins, The Bucket List, Evan Almighty, Wanted, and The Dark Knight Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere) and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi.  He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois.  Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, currently Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Broad Street High School, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.

Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, he also lived in New York City, working as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair, and in San Francisco, where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman acted in a touring company version of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and also appeared as an extra in the 1965 film The Pawnbroker. He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967, opposite Viveca Lindfors in The ****** Lovers (about the civil rights era "Freedom Riders"), before debuting on Broadway in 1968's all-black version of Hello, Dolly!, which also starred Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.
Career
Freeman at the 10 Items or Less premiere in Madrid with co-star Paz Vega.

Although his first credited film appearance was in 1971's Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?, Freeman first became known in the American media through roles on the soap opera Another World and the PBS kids' show The Electric Company, (notably as Easy Reader and Vincent the Vegetable Vampire) which he later said he should have left earlier than he did.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Freeman began playing prominent supporting roles in many feature films, earning him a reputation for depicting wise, fatherly characters. As he gained fame, he went on to bigger roles in films such as the chauffeur Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy, and Sergeant Major Rawlins in Glory (both in 1989). In 1994 he portrayed Red, the redeemed convict in the acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption. He also starred in films such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Unforgiven, Seven, and Deep Impact. In 1997, Freeman, together with Lori McCreary, founded the movie production company Revelations Entertainment, and the two co-head its sister online movie distribution company ClickStar. Freeman also hosts the channel Our Space on ClickStar, with specially crafted film clips in which he shares his love for the sciences, especially space exploration and aeronautics.

After three previous nominations—a supporting actor nomination for Street Smart, and leading actor nominations for Driving Miss Daisy, and The Shawshank Redemption—he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Million Dollar Baby at the 77th Academy Awards. Freeman is recognized for his distinctive voice, making him a frequent choice for narration. In 2005 alone, he provided narration for two films, War of the Worlds and the Academy Award-winning documentary film March of the Penguins.

In 1991, Freeman was offered a lead role in Jurassic Park. Unsure that dinosaurs could make for interesting co-stars, Freeman traveled to the American Museum of Natural History to see the "damn beasts". In a 2007 interview with Atlanta Radio Correspondent Veronica Waters, Freeman revealed that he was stunned when he learned that birds are descended from dinosaurs. While he turned down the role, Freeman spent the next summer reading books on ornithology. This would later lead to his desire to narrate the documentary March of the Penguins.

Freeman appeared as God in the hit movie Bruce Almighty and its sequel, Evan Almighty, as well as Lucius Fox in the critical and commercial success Batman Begins and its 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight. He starred in Rob Reiner's 2007 film The Bucket List, opposite Jack Nicholson. He teamed with Christopher Walken and William H. Macy for the comedy The Maiden Heist, which was released direct to video due to financial problems of the distribution company. In 2008, Freeman returned to Broadway to co-star with Frances McDormand and Peter Gallagher for a limited engagement of Clifford Odets's play, The Country Girl, directed by Mike Nichols.

He has wanted to do a film based on Nelson Mandela for some time. At first he tried to get Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, adapted into a finished script, but it could never be finalized. In 2007 he purchased the film rights to a pre-published 2008 book by John Carlin, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. Clint Eastwood directed the Nelson Mandela bio-pic titled Invictus, starring Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as rugby team captain Francois Pienaar. It was reported in July 2009 that Freeman is in talks to co-star alongside Bruce Willis in Red.

Effective January 4, 2010, Freeman replaced Walter Cronkite as the voiceover introduction to the CBS Evening News featuring Katie Couric as news anchor. CBS cited the need for consistency in introductions for regular news broadcasts and special reports as the basis for the change.
Personal life

Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967, until 1979. He married Myrna Colley-Lee on June 16, 1984. The couple separated in December 2007. Freeman's attorney and business partner, Bill Luckett, announced in August 2008 that Freeman and his wife are in the process of divorce. He has two sons from previous relationships. He adopted his first wife's daughter and the couple also had a fourth child. Freeman lives in Charleston, Mississippi, and New York City. He has a private pilot's license, which he earned at age 65, and co-owns and operates Madidi, a fine dining restaurant, and Ground Zero, a blues club, both located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He officially opened his second Ground Zero in Memphis, Tennessee on April 24, 2008.

Freeman has publicly criticized the celebration of Black History Month and does not participate in any related events, saying, "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." He says the only way to end racism is to stop talking about it, and he notes that there is no "white history month". Freeman once said on an interview with 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace: "I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man." Freeman supported the defeated proposal to change the Mississippi state flag, which contains the Confederate battle flag.

On October 28, 2006, Freeman was honored at the first Mississippi's Best Awards in Jackson, Mississippi, with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his works on and off the big screen. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts and Letters from Delta State University during the school's commencement exercises on May 13, 2006.

In 2008 Freeman's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2. A DNA test showed that he is descended from the Songhai and Tuareg peoples of Niger.

In 2004 Freeman and others formed the Grenada Relief Fund to aid people affected by Hurricane Ivan on the island of Grenada. The Grenada Relief Fund has since become PLANIT NOW, an organization that seeks to provide preparedness resources for people living in hurricane and severe-storm afflicted areas.

Freeman has worked on narrating small clips for global organizations, such as One Earth, whose goals include raising awareness of environmental issues. He has narrated the clip "Why Are We Here", which can be viewed on One Earth's website.

Freeman endorsed Barack Obama's candidacy for the United States presidential election, 2008, although he stated that he would not join Obama's campaign. He narrates for The Hall of Presidents with Barack Obama, who has been added to the exhibit. The Hall of Presidents re-opened on July 4, 2009 at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Freeman has donated money to the Mississippi Horse Park in Starkville, Mississippi. The Horse park is part of Mississippi State University. Freeman has several horses that he takes there.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American actor Morgan Freeman in serious condition after car accident

Freeman was injured in an automobile accident near Ruleville, Mississippi, on the night of August 3, 2008. The vehicle in which he was traveling, a 1997 Nissan Maxima, left the highway and flipped over several times. He and a female passenger, Demaris Meyer, were rescued from the vehicle using the "Jaws of Life". Freeman was taken via medical helicopter to The Regional Medical Center (The Med) hospital in Memphis. Police ruled out alcohol as a factor in the crash. Freeman was coherent following the crash, as he joked to a photographer about taking his picture at the scene. He broke his shoulder, arm and elbow in the crash and had surgery on August 5, 2008. Doctors operated for four hours to repair nerve damage in his shoulder and arm. His publicist announced he was expected to make a full recovery. Meyer, his passenger, has sued him for negligence, claiming that he was drinking the night of the accident. She has denied reports that they were romantically involved.

In July 2009 Freeman was one of the presenters at the 46664 concert (celebrating Nelson Mandela's birthday) at Radio City Music Hall, NYC.

Freeman was the first American to record a par on Legend Golf & Safari Resort's Extreme 19th hole.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Brubaker Walter
1981 Eyewitness Lieutenant Black
1984 Teachers Al Lewis
Harry & Son Siemanowski
1985 Marie Charles Traughber
That Was Then... This Is Now Charlie Woods
1987 Street Smart Fast Black Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1988 Clean and Sober Craig
1989 Glory Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins
Driving Miss Daisy Hoke Colburn Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Lean on Me Principal Joe Clark
Johnny Handsome Lt. A.Z. Drones
1990 The Bonfire of the Vanities Judge Leonard White
The Civil War Voice of Frederick Douglass
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Azeem Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Kevin Costner
1992 Unforgiven Ned Logan
The Power of One Geel Piet
1993 Bopha! director only
1994 The Shawshank Redemption Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, Narrator Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
1995 Outbreak Brig. Gen. Billy Ford
Se7en Detective Lt. William Somerset Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Brad Pitt
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996 Chain Reaction Paul Shannon
Moll Flanders Hibble
Cosmic Voyage Narrator
1997 Amistad Theodore Joadson
Kiss The Girls Dr. Alex Cross
1998 Deep Impact President Tom Beck
Hard Rain Jim
2000 Nurse Betty Charlie Quinn
Under Suspicion Victor Benezet
2001 Along Came a Spider Dr. Alex Cross
2002 The Sum of All Fears DCI William Cabot
High Crimes Charlie Grimes
2003 Bruce Almighty God
Dreamcatcher Col. Abraham Curtis
Levity Pastor Miles Evans
Drug War Lt. Redding
2004 Million Dollar Baby Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Hunting of the President Narrator limited release
The Big Bounce Walter Crewes
2005 An Unfinished Life Mitch Bradley
War of the Worlds Narrator
March of the Penguins Narrator
Batman Begins Lucius Fox
Unleashed Sam
2006 Edison Force Ashford
The Contract Frank Carden
Lucky Number Slevin The Boss
10 Items or Less Himself
2007 Evan Almighty God
Feast of Love Harry Stephenson
Gone, Baby, Gone Jack Doyle
The Bucket List Carter Chambers Also Narrator
2008 Wanted Sloan
The Love Guru Narrator Voice
The Dark Knight Lucius Fox
2009 Prom Night in Mississippi Himself limited release
Thick as Thieves Keith Ripley
The Maiden Heist Charlie
The Code
Invictus Nelson Mandela NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor tied with George Clooney for Up in the Air
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
2010 Red Joe filming
Television appearances
Year Title Role Notes
1971-1977 The Electric Company Easy Reader, DJ Mel Mounds, Dracula, Vincent the Vegetable Vampire television series
1978 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Uncle Hammer made-for-television
1981 The Marva Collins Story Clarence Collins made-for-television
1985 The Twilight Zone Tony Television series (episode "Dealer's Choice")
1986 Resting Place Luther Johnson made-for-television
1987 Fight For Life Dr. Sherard made-for-television
2008 Smithsonian Channel's Sound Revolution Himself television series, series host
Stephen Fry in America Himself television series, appears in episode 3
2010 The Colbert Report Himself interview
Other awards and honoraries

    * 1978 Nominated for Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play in The Mighty Gents.
    * 1997 Received an honorary degree from Rhodes College, becoming an honorary alumnus
    * 2003 Received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
    * 2006 Guest of honor at the Cairo International Film Festival.
    * 2007 He and his wife received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters.
    * 2007 Outstanding Contribution To Film And TV gong at the Screen Nation Film and TV Awards.
    * 2008 Kennedy Center Honors
    * 2010 Will receive an honorary degree from Brown University
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/JFD904/Morgan_Freeman_jpg.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e67/brp1112/morgan_freeman.jpg


http://www.joyfantastic.com/images/tshirts/upclose/easyreader.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/01/10 at 10:27 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp0-yDJAtWQ



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/01/10 at 10:37 am

Morgan Freeman is one of the best actors in the last 25 years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/01/10 at 11:32 am


Morgan Freeman is one of the best actors in the last 25 years.



Agreed.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/01/10 at 2:03 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp0-yDJAtWQ



Cat

WOW that's a blast from the past. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/01/10 at 7:44 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp0-yDJAtWQ



Cat


Thanks Cat,I love Morgan Freeman,one of the best actors that I enjoyed growing up with. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:43 am

The word of the day...Beaver
The beaver (genus Castor) is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor  includes two extant species, Castor canadensis (native to North America) and Castor fiber (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is due to extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because their harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/sedgehammer/Miscellaneous/Beaver.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/deersheds/weekend%20fun/10shedseason311.jpg
http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww247/Makanature/DSC_9899_1.jpg
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy289/aj1983_aj1983/netherlands%20-%20spring%202010/IMG_0932.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/deersheds/weekend%20fun/10shedseason315.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj30/wanderlust01/Virginia/Virginia%20Creeper%20Trail%208-09/DSCN1592_1381a.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:45 am

The person born on this day...Jerry Mathers
Gerald Patrick "Jerry" Mathers (born June 2, 1948 in Sioux City, Iowa) is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers is best known for his role in the television  sitcom  series Leave It to Beaver (1957 –1963), in which he played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of archetypal suburban couple June  and Ward Cleaver (played by Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont), and the brother of Wally Cleaver (played by Tony Dow). The son of a high school principal, Mathers's acting career began early. In a commercial, at age 2, he walked into a barroom wearing diapers, six guns, cowboy boots and a big cowboy hat. Vaudeville  comedian Ed Wynn was behind the bar and several cowboy actors began portraying a bar fight. At this point, Mathers walks through the fighting cowboys and one of them picks him up and they all say, "Why are you here?" Mathers responds, "I’m the toughest hombre in these parts. You better have my brand," while he pounds on the bar. It was a commercial for PET Milk.

His early movies included This is My Love (1954), Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), The Seven Little Foys (1955) and The Trouble with Harry (1955).

As he moved into his teenage years, Mathers retired from acting to concentrate on high school.

In 1978, he reentered the entertainment industry. He has since starred in Playing Patti (1998) and Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). He has also been in It's Howdy Doody Time (1987), Down the Drain (1990) and Sexual Malice (1994).
Leave It to Beaver

Mathers reportedly got the role of Beaver Cleaver when he told the show's producers he'd rather be at his Cub Scout meeting than auditioning for the part. The producers found his candidness appealing and perfect for the role. During its show's six seasons, Mathers also had a remarkable, professional relationship with both Billingsley and Dow, who were both his second mother and brother and close friends, both on- and off-camera.

Mathers played the Beaver for six years. When the show ended in 1963, Beaver was looking forward to entering Mayfield High School. Mathers appeared in all 234 episodes of the series.

Mathers was the first child actor ever to make a deal to get a percentage of the merchandising revenue from a television show. The Leave It to Beaver show still generates merchandise revenue today, 46 years after its original production run ended.

The original sitcom has been shown in over 80 countries in 40 languages. Mathers has noted that the Leave It to Beaver phenomenon is worldwide. "I can go anywhere in the world, and people know me," Mathers has said. "In Japan the show’s called 'The Happy Boy and His Family.' So I’ll be walking through the airport in Japan, and people will come up and say, 'Hi, Happy Boy!'"

His role as the Beaver was reprised in 1983, when Mathers, along with original cast members Barbara Billingsley (as "June Cleaver"), Tony Dow (as "Wally Cleaver"), Ken Osmond (as "Eddie Haskell"), and Frank Bank (as "Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherford"), appeared in a CBS T.V. movie, "Still The Beaver". These same original cast members were then featured in a new television sitcom version of this movie in 1985, which in its first season was a Disney Channel feature, then went on to be picked up by TBS, where it ran until 1989.
Recordings

In 1962, near the end of the run of the original show, Mathers recorded two songs for a single 45rpm: Don't 'Cha Cry, a retread of Spanish Harlem; and for the flip side, the twist ditty, Wind-Up Toy ("Wind-up Toy! Wind-up Toy! Say, when you gonna treat me like a real live boy.") During his high school years, following the production of the original show, Mathers had a band called "Beaver and the Trappers." They made some records for Atlantic Records, including one called Happiness is Havin', which was the number one single in Hawaii and Alaska for a while. The song was co-written by Mathers and Richard Correll, who played Richard Rickover in the original sitcom. Mathers's band recorded for about three-and-a-half years and played sock-hops and parties in southern California.
Stage

Mathers has appeared in numerous stage productions. In 2007, Mathers made his Broadway debut with a starring role as Wilbur Turnblad in the Tony winning best musical, “Hairspray” at the Neil Simon Theater. In Mathers' first week he boosted the attendance to 90% and for the rest of his run he played to standing room only houses with attendance at 110%.
Personal life

    * Mathers is currently the national spokesperson for PhRMA and their Partnership for Prescription Assistance program. This organization helps uninsured and financially-struggling patients obtain prescription medicines for free or nearly free.

    * Jerry Mathers is the older brother of Jimmy Mathers who was also a television actor who had spots on Bewitched, The Munsters, My Three Sons and Adam-12.

    * Mathers graduated from Notre Dame High School, in Sherman Oaks, California, in 1967. He went to college at the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a BA degree in philosophy in 1973.

    * Mathers was a member of the Air National Guard (1966-69).

    * With Rhonda (second wife), married fourteen years, he had three children; his son Noah Mathers (1978) works in film and video production. Two daughters; Mercedes (1982) and Gretchen (1985)

Diabetes

Mathers was diagnosed with diabetes in 1996. He took preventative action, lost 55 pounds and is currently one of the leading lecturers on living with and dealing with diabetes. Mathers has partnered with diverse organizations to bring awareness of this epidemic that the United States is currently facing among both children and adults. He has been invited to share his experience with diabetes on "Larry King Live" numerous times and has spoken to the Congressional Caucus on diabetes at the Capitol in Washington, DC. Mathers also speaks with the media to alert individuals about the importance of early diagnosis, diet and exercise, and the proper treatment of diabetes.
Other careers

    * Using well-invested savings from his acting career, which began at $500 a week, he started a successful career in real-estate development and banking.

    * Mathers has owned and operated a catering business and also has done commercial work for national and regional spots for advertisers such as PET Condensed Milk, Kellogg’s (he and Tony Dow were the first non-athletes on a box of corn flakes), General Electric, Purina, Kern International, Chevrolet, Toyota, General Mills, AOL, Coca Cola, Jim Beam and Biogen.

Current

    * Frank Bank, who played Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on the Beaver show, is now Mathers’s investment adviser.

    * Mathers, who is a Federal Communications Commission-licensed broadcaster, often guest hosts on national talk-radio programs and is trained in radio satellite broadcasting.

    * Mathers had recurring spots on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

    * He is currently a speaker at business conventions, where he addresses the emotional state of the American family and the effects of television on society today, using the fabled Cleavers from his early TV career.

Selected filmography

    * This Is My Love (1954)
    * The Trouble with Harry (1955)
    * The Seven Little Foys (1955)
    * Leave It to Beaver (TV) (1957-1963)
    * That Certain Feeling
    * The Deep Six
    * Men of the Fighting Lady
    * Back to the Beach (1987)
    * Bigger Than Life
    * This is My Love
    * The Shadow on the Window
    * It's Howdy Doody Time (1987)



    * Down the Drain (1990)
    * Married With Children (1991)
    * Sexual Malice (1994)
    * Playing Patti (1998)
    * The Amanda Show (1999)
    * Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
    * Angels with Angles (2005)
    * Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006)
    * Will to Power (2006)
    * The Von Trapp Family Christmas (release date December 2007)

Bibliography

    * And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver; Mathers, Jerry and Fagen, Herb; Berkley Trade (1998)
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj134/Haste_The_Day_Lover/Jerry20Mathers201.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z157/nadir01/Picture001.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:58 am

The person who died on this day...Imogene Coca
Imogene Fernandez de Coca (November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows. Starting out in vaudeville  as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wished to have a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret and summer stock. Finally in her 40s she began a celebrated career as a comedienne in television, starring in six series and guesting on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s.

She was nominated for five Emmy awards for Your Show of Shows, winning Best Actress in 1951 and singled out for a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting in 1953. Coca was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century and received a sixth Emmy nomination at the age of 80 for an episode of Moonlighting.

Though possessing a rubbery face capable of the broadest expressions—Life magazine compared her to Beatrice Lillie and Charlie Chaplin, and described her characterizations as taking "people or situations suspended in their own precarious balance between dignity and absurdity, and push(ing) them over the cliff with one single, pointed gesture"—the magazine noted a "particularly high-brow critic" as observing, "The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather."

In addition to vaudeville, cabaret, theater and television, she appeared in film, voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in an MTV video by a New Wave band. Though her fame began late, she worked well into her 80s. Twice a widow, Coca died in 2001.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Coca's parents were veterans of the entertainment industry; her father, José Fernandez de Coca, was a well-known violinist and Vaudeville orchestra conductor, and her mother, Sadie Brady, was a dancer and magician's assistant.

Coca took lessons in piano, dance, and voice as a child and while still a teenager moved from Philadelphia to New York City to become a dancer. She got her first job in the chorus of the Broadway musical When You Smile, and became a headliner in Manhattan nightclubs with music arranged by her first husband, Robert Burton. She gained prominence when she began to combine music with comedy; her first critical success was in New Faces of 1934.
Career
The handprints of Coca in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

In the early days of live television, she played opposite Sid Caesar on The Admiral Broadway Revue (January to June 1949), and then in the sketch comedy program Your Show of Shows, which was immensely popular from 1950 to 1954, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series in 1952 and 1953. The 90-minute show was aired live on NBC every Saturday night in prime time. She won the second-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series in 1951 and was nominated for four other Emmys for her work in the show. She was also singled out to win a 1953 Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. Writers for the show included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Woody Allen. Her success in that program earned her her own series, The Imogene Coca Show, which ran from 1954 to 1955.

Prior to working with Caesar she had starred in an early ABC series, Buzzy Wuzzy, which lasted 4 episodes in 1948. She went on to star in two more series. In the 1963–64 TV season, Coca portrayed a comic temporary helper in the NBC sitcom Grindl. It was scheduled to compete with The Ed Sullivan Show and lasted a season. Coca starred as a cave woman with Joe E. Ross in the 1966–67 time-travel satire sitcom It's About Time.

She continued to appear on comedy and variety series throughout the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s including several appearances each on The Carol Burnett Show, The George Gobel Show, The Hollywood Palace and Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, and Bob Hope specials. She appeared on other shows and specials by Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Lewis, Dick Clark, Danny Kaye, and Andy Williams. Coca's own special with her Show of Shows co-stars, The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris Special won a 1967 Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special.

She made memorable guest appearances on sitcoms including two appearances on Bewitched as Mary the Tooth Fairy, on The Brady Bunch as Aunt Jenny, and on Mama's Family as Gert in the episode "Gert Rides Again". Coca appeared with Milton Berle and Your Show of Shows co-star Howard Morris in "Curtain Call", a 1983 episode of Fantasy Island.

Coca appeared in a number of literary adaptations for children. In 1960 she appeared as Miss Clavel in Sol Saks' adaptation of Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline for Shirley Temple's Storybook. In 1972 she voiced the character of Princess Jane Klockenlocher in a Rankin/Bass version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes. In 1978 she appeared in A Special Sesame Street Christmas alongside Muppets Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch and humans Henry Fonda, Michael Jackson and Ethel Merman. In 1985 she appeared as The Cook in Alice in Wonderland, an all-star TV miniseries adaptation of the book by Lewis Carroll. Among her final roles was voicing characters in Garfield and Friends, based on the Jim Davis cartoon series (1994).

In 1988 Coca appeared as the mother of Allyce Beasley's Agnes in the Moonlighting episode "Los Dos Dipestos", written by David Steinberg. Coca received her sixth Emmy nomination, as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series, for the role. The same year she was the female recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy at the second annual American Comedy Awards, alongside male recipient George Burns.

Despite her television success, Coca appeared only sporadically in films, usually in smaller comic character parts, including 1963's Under the Yum Yum Tree, Joan Rivers' Rabbit Test (1978) and 1980s films Nothing Lasts Forever, Papa Was a Preacher and Buy & Cell. A particularly memorable film role came in 1983 as Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation.

After having appeared in several Broadway musical-comedy revues and plays between the 1930s and the 1950s, Coca returned to Broadway at the age of 70 with a Tony Award-nominated performance as religious zealot Letitia Primrose in On the Twentieth Century, a 1978 stage musical adapted from the 1934 film Twentieth Century. Coca's role — a religious fanatic who plasters decals onto every available surface — was a male in both the film and the original stage production and was rewritten specifically as a vehicle for Coca. She appeared in the Broadway run with Kevin Kline and Madeline Kahn, continued with the national tour starring Rock Hudson and Judy Kaye and returned for a later tour revival in the mid '80s with Kaye and Frank Gorshin. She also did touring productions including musicals Once Upon a Mattress and Bells Are Ringing and plays including Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Murray Schisgal's Luv. Coca rejoined Sid Caesar in 1961-'62, 1977 and 1990-'91 for a traveling stage revue, and made an appearance with Caesar and Howard Morris at Comic Relief VI in 1994.

One of Coca's early stock characters on the Caesar series blended comedy with socially conscious pathos as a bag lady, and she was frequently asked to reprise the role, including by Carol Burnett for her 1960s series and by Red Skelton as love interest to one of his own familiar characters in the 1981 TV special Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner. New Wave group Ēbn-Ōzn featured Coca as the title character in the music video to their song "Bag Lady (I Wonder)", which was a top-40 dance hit in 1984.

In 1995 she was honored with the second annual Women in Film Lucy Award, honoring women's achievement in television and named after Lucille Ball.
Life and legacy

Coca had no children, but had been married twice; for twenty-one years to Bob Burton, from 1934 until his death in 1955, and later for 27 years to King Donovan, from 1960 until his death in 1987. On a foggy night in 1973, while driving to their dinner theater performance in Florida, she and Donovan collided with another car. Donovan sustained a slight leg injury, but the rear-view mirror entered Coca's left eye, smashing her cheekbone. Plastic surgery and a cosmetic lens covered her now-blind eye for the rest of her career, which resumed with her long stint in Broadway's On the Twentieth Century beginning in 1978.

On June 2, 2001, Coca died at her home in Westport, Connecticut, of natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's Disease.

Performers citing Coca as an influence include Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Tracey Ullman. Your Show of Shows is considered a television classic, and was the basis for a well-received 1982 film, My Favorite Year, with the character Alice Miller loosely based on Coca. A 1992 musical version of the film—with the Miller character cut in previews due to a perceived similarity with the K. C. Downing character (loosely representing Mel Brooks' then-future wife Anne Bancroft)—was unsuccessful.
Filmography
Television

    * Buzzy Wuzzy (1948) (canceled after 4 weeks)
    * The Admiral Broadway Revue (1949-1950)
    * Your Show of Shows (139 episodes 1950-1954)
    * The Imogene Coca Show (1954-1955)
    * Playhouse 90 ("Made in Heaven" 1956)
    * General Electric Theater ("Cab Driver" 1957)
    * Sid Caesar Invites You (1958, U.S.)
    * Sid Caesar Invites You (1958, UK )
    * The George Gobel Show (4 episodes 1959-1960)
    * Shirley Temple's Storybook: Madeline" (1960)
    * Grindl (32 episodes 1963-1964)
    * It's About Time (18 episodes 1966-1967)
    * The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967)
    * The Carol Burnett Show (4 episodes 1967-1969)
    * Love, American Style (2 episodes 1970, 1972)
    * Bewitched (2 episodes 1971)
    * The Emperor's New Clothes (1972)
    * The Brady Bunch (1972)
    * Trapper John, M.D. ("Quarantine" 1980)
    * Freddy the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981)
    * The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies (1981)
    * Fantasy Island ("Curtain Call" 1983)
    * Mama's Family ("Aunt Gert Rides Again" 1983)
    * One Life to Live (cast member from 1983-1984)
    * As the World Turns (cast member in 1983)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * Moonlighting ("Los Dos Dipestos" 1988)
    * Monsters ("The Face" 1989)
    * Garfield and Friends (Voice, 14 episodes 1994)
    * Comic Relief VI (1994)

Film

    * Bashful Ballerina (1937)
    * Dime a Dance (1937)
    * They Meet Again (1941)
    * Promises! Promises! (1963)
    * Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)
    * 10 from Your Show of Shows (1973)
    * Rabbit Test (1978)
    * National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
    * Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
    * Papa Was a Preacher (1985)
    * Buy & Cell (1987)
    * Hollywood: The Movie (1996)


Broadway

    * When You Smile (1925) Imogene
    * Garrick Gaieties (1930)
    * Shoot the Works (1931)
    * Flying Colors (1932-'33) Jo-Jo, Miss Maris
    * New Faces of 1934 (1934, with Henry Fonda)
    * Fools Rush In (1934-'35)
    * New Faces of 1936 (1936)
    * Who's Who (1938)
    * The Straw Hat Revue (1939, with Danny Kaye, Jerome Robbins)
    * All In Fun (1940) Dancer, Esther, Mrs. Burton, Nymph, The Derelict
    * Concert Varieties (1945)
    * Janus (1955-'56) Jessica
    * The Girls in 509 (1958-'59) Mimsy
    * On The Twentieth Century (1978-'79) Letitia Primrose

Selected regional theater, national tours

    * Bubbling Over (1926)
    * Queen High (1928)
    * Up to the Stars (1935)
    * Calling All Men (1937)
    * A Night at the Folies Bergere (1940)
    * Happy Birthday (1948)
    * Wonderful Town (1954) Ruth
    * The Great Sebastians (1957)
    * Once Upon a Mattress (1960-'61)
    * A Thurber Carnival (1961-'62)
    * Caesar-Coca Revue (1961-'62)
    * Bells Are Ringing (1962)
    * Luv (1967)
    * You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1968-'69)
    * Why I Went Crazy (1969)
    * A Girl Could Get Lucky (1970)
    * The Rivals (1972) Mrs. Malaprop
    * The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1973-'74, with husband King Donovan)
    * Makin' Whoopee (1981, with Mamie Van Doren)
    * The Gin Game (1984)
    * My Old Friends (1985)
    * On The Twentieth Century (1986-'87) Letitia Primrose

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/megdays/Animals/ImogeneCocaAndCat.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/02/10 at 6:10 am

Don't forget about Justin Beaver!!!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 7:25 am


Don't forget about Justin Beaver!!!  ;D

lol I almost put this up.
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/Timhortans/JustinBeaver.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/02/10 at 7:37 am


The word of the day...Beaver
The beaver (genus Castor) is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor  includes two extant species, Castor canadensis (native to North America) and Castor fiber (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is due to extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because their harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/sedgehammer/Miscellaneous/Beaver.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/deersheds/weekend%20fun/10shedseason311.jpg
http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww247/Makanature/DSC_9899_1.jpg
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy289/aj1983_aj1983/netherlands%20-%20spring%202010/IMG_0932.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/deersheds/weekend%20fun/10shedseason315.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj30/wanderlust01/Virginia/Virginia%20Creeper%20Trail%208-09/DSCN1592_1381a.jpg



That's one big beaver.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/02/10 at 11:13 am

"Castor" in the french word for "beaver"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/02/10 at 11:36 am

I saw this today.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_freevideo+%28RSS%3A+Video%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo#/video/living/2010/06/02/am.morgan.freeman.interview.cnn



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/02/10 at 1:27 pm


The word of the day...Beaver
The beaver (genus Castor) is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor  includes two extant species, Castor canadensis (native to North America) and Castor fiber (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is due to extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because their harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/sedgehammer/Miscellaneous/Beaver.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/deersheds/weekend%20fun/10shedseason311.jpg
http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww247/Makanature/DSC_9899_1.jpg
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy289/aj1983_aj1983/netherlands%20-%20spring%202010/IMG_0932.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn154/deersheds/weekend%20fun/10shedseason315.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj30/wanderlust01/Virginia/Virginia%20Creeper%20Trail%208-09/DSCN1592_1381a.jpg

I saw a report on tv last week on the beaver being re-introduced to Scotland.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/02/10 at 1:54 pm


The person who died on this day...Imogene Coca
Imogene Fernandez de Coca (November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows. Starting out in vaudeville  as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wished to have a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret and summer stock. Finally in her 40s she began a celebrated career as a comedienne in television, starring in six series and guesting on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s.

She was nominated for five Emmy awards for Your Show of Shows, winning Best Actress in 1951 and singled out for a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting in 1953. Coca was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century and received a sixth Emmy nomination at the age of 80 for an episode of Moonlighting.

Though possessing a rubbery face capable of the broadest expressions—Life magazine compared her to Beatrice Lillie and Charlie Chaplin, and described her characterizations as taking "people or situations suspended in their own precarious balance between dignity and absurdity, and push(ing) them over the cliff with one single, pointed gesture"—the magazine noted a "particularly high-brow critic" as observing, "The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather."

In addition to vaudeville, cabaret, theater and television, she appeared in film, voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in an MTV video by a New Wave band. Though her fame began late, she worked well into her 80s. Twice a widow, Coca died in 2001.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Coca's parents were veterans of the entertainment industry; her father, José Fernandez de Coca, was a well-known violinist and Vaudeville orchestra conductor, and her mother, Sadie Brady, was a dancer and magician's assistant.

Coca took lessons in piano, dance, and voice as a child and while still a teenager moved from Philadelphia to New York City to become a dancer. She got her first job in the chorus of the Broadway musical When You Smile, and became a headliner in Manhattan nightclubs with music arranged by her first husband, Robert Burton. She gained prominence when she began to combine music with comedy; her first critical success was in New Faces of 1934.
Career
The handprints of Coca in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

In the early days of live television, she played opposite Sid Caesar on The Admiral Broadway Revue (January to June 1949), and then in the sketch comedy program Your Show of Shows, which was immensely popular from 1950 to 1954, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series in 1952 and 1953. The 90-minute show was aired live on NBC every Saturday night in prime time. She won the second-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series in 1951 and was nominated for four other Emmys for her work in the show. She was also singled out to win a 1953 Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. Writers for the show included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Woody Allen. Her success in that program earned her her own series, The Imogene Coca Show, which ran from 1954 to 1955.

Prior to working with Caesar she had starred in an early ABC series, Buzzy Wuzzy, which lasted 4 episodes in 1948. She went on to star in two more series. In the 1963–64 TV season, Coca portrayed a comic temporary helper in the NBC sitcom Grindl. It was scheduled to compete with The Ed Sullivan Show and lasted a season. Coca starred as a cave woman with Joe E. Ross in the 1966–67 time-travel satire sitcom It's About Time.

She continued to appear on comedy and variety series throughout the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s including several appearances each on The Carol Burnett Show, The George Gobel Show, The Hollywood Palace and Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, and Bob Hope specials. She appeared on other shows and specials by Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Lewis, Dick Clark, Danny Kaye, and Andy Williams. Coca's own special with her Show of Shows co-stars, The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris Special won a 1967 Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special.

She made memorable guest appearances on sitcoms including two appearances on Bewitched as Mary the Tooth Fairy, on The Brady Bunch as Aunt Jenny, and on Mama's Family as Gert in the episode "Gert Rides Again". Coca appeared with Milton Berle and Your Show of Shows co-star Howard Morris in "Curtain Call", a 1983 episode of Fantasy Island.

Coca appeared in a number of literary adaptations for children. In 1960 she appeared as Miss Clavel in Sol Saks' adaptation of Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline for Shirley Temple's Storybook. In 1972 she voiced the character of Princess Jane Klockenlocher in a Rankin/Bass version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes. In 1978 she appeared in A Special Sesame Street Christmas alongside Muppets Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch and humans Henry Fonda, Michael Jackson and Ethel Merman. In 1985 she appeared as The Cook in Alice in Wonderland, an all-star TV miniseries adaptation of the book by Lewis Carroll. Among her final roles was voicing characters in Garfield and Friends, based on the Jim Davis cartoon series (1994).

In 1988 Coca appeared as the mother of Allyce Beasley's Agnes in the Moonlighting episode "Los Dos Dipestos", written by David Steinberg. Coca received her sixth Emmy nomination, as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series, for the role. The same year she was the female recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy at the second annual American Comedy Awards, alongside male recipient George Burns.

Despite her television success, Coca appeared only sporadically in films, usually in smaller comic character parts, including 1963's Under the Yum Yum Tree, Joan Rivers' Rabbit Test (1978) and 1980s films Nothing Lasts Forever, Papa Was a Preacher and Buy & Cell. A particularly memorable film role came in 1983 as Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation.

After having appeared in several Broadway musical-comedy revues and plays between the 1930s and the 1950s, Coca returned to Broadway at the age of 70 with a Tony Award-nominated performance as religious zealot Letitia Primrose in On the Twentieth Century, a 1978 stage musical adapted from the 1934 film Twentieth Century. Coca's role — a religious fanatic who plasters decals onto every available surface — was a male in both the film and the original stage production and was rewritten specifically as a vehicle for Coca. She appeared in the Broadway run with Kevin Kline and Madeline Kahn, continued with the national tour starring Rock Hudson and Judy Kaye and returned for a later tour revival in the mid '80s with Kaye and Frank Gorshin. She also did touring productions including musicals Once Upon a Mattress and Bells Are Ringing and plays including Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Murray Schisgal's Luv. Coca rejoined Sid Caesar in 1961-'62, 1977 and 1990-'91 for a traveling stage revue, and made an appearance with Caesar and Howard Morris at Comic Relief VI in 1994.

One of Coca's early stock characters on the Caesar series blended comedy with socially conscious pathos as a bag lady, and she was frequently asked to reprise the role, including by Carol Burnett for her 1960s series and by Red Skelton as love interest to one of his own familiar characters in the 1981 TV special Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner. New Wave group Ēbn-Ōzn featured Coca as the title character in the music video to their song "Bag Lady (I Wonder)", which was a top-40 dance hit in 1984.

In 1995 she was honored with the second annual Women in Film Lucy Award, honoring women's achievement in television and named after Lucille Ball.
Life and legacy

Coca had no children, but had been married twice; for twenty-one years to Bob Burton, from 1934 until his death in 1955, and later for 27 years to King Donovan, from 1960 until his death in 1987. On a foggy night in 1973, while driving to their dinner theater performance in Florida, she and Donovan collided with another car. Donovan sustained a slight leg injury, but the rear-view mirror entered Coca's left eye, smashing her cheekbone. Plastic surgery and a cosmetic lens covered her now-blind eye for the rest of her career, which resumed with her long stint in Broadway's On the Twentieth Century beginning in 1978.

On June 2, 2001, Coca died at her home in Westport, Connecticut, of natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's Disease.

Performers citing Coca as an influence include Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Tracey Ullman. Your Show of Shows is considered a television classic, and was the basis for a well-received 1982 film, My Favorite Year, with the character Alice Miller loosely based on Coca. A 1992 musical version of the film—with the Miller character cut in previews due to a perceived similarity with the K. C. Downing character (loosely representing Mel Brooks' then-future wife Anne Bancroft)—was unsuccessful.
Filmography
Television

    * Buzzy Wuzzy (1948) (canceled after 4 weeks)
    * The Admiral Broadway Revue (1949-1950)
    * Your Show of Shows (139 episodes 1950-1954)
    * The Imogene Coca Show (1954-1955)
    * Playhouse 90 ("Made in Heaven" 1956)
    * General Electric Theater ("Cab Driver" 1957)
    * Sid Caesar Invites You (1958, U.S.)
    * Sid Caesar Invites You (1958, UK )
    * The George Gobel Show (4 episodes 1959-1960)
    * Shirley Temple's Storybook: Madeline" (1960)
    * Grindl (32 episodes 1963-1964)
    * It's About Time (18 episodes 1966-1967)
    * The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967)
    * The Carol Burnett Show (4 episodes 1967-1969)
    * Love, American Style (2 episodes 1970, 1972)
    * Bewitched (2 episodes 1971)
    * The Emperor's New Clothes (1972)
    * The Brady Bunch (1972)
    * Trapper John, M.D. ("Quarantine" 1980)
    * Freddy the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981)
    * The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies (1981)
    * Fantasy Island ("Curtain Call" 1983)
    * Mama's Family ("Aunt Gert Rides Again" 1983)
    * One Life to Live (cast member from 1983-1984)
    * As the World Turns (cast member in 1983)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * Moonlighting ("Los Dos Dipestos" 1988)
    * Monsters ("The Face" 1989)
    * Garfield and Friends (Voice, 14 episodes 1994)
    * Comic Relief VI (1994)

Film

    * Bashful Ballerina (1937)
    * Dime a Dance (1937)
    * They Meet Again (1941)
    * Promises! Promises! (1963)
    * Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)
    * 10 from Your Show of Shows (1973)
    * Rabbit Test (1978)
    * National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
    * Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
    * Papa Was a Preacher (1985)
    * Buy & Cell (1987)
    * Hollywood: The Movie (1996)


Broadway

    * When You Smile (1925) Imogene
    * Garrick Gaieties (1930)
    * Shoot the Works (1931)
    * Flying Colors (1932-'33) Jo-Jo, Miss Maris
    * New Faces of 1934 (1934, with Henry Fonda)
    * Fools Rush In (1934-'35)
    * New Faces of 1936 (1936)
    * Who's Who (1938)
    * The Straw Hat Revue (1939, with Danny Kaye, Jerome Robbins)
    * All In Fun (1940) Dancer, Esther, Mrs. Burton, Nymph, The Derelict
    * Concert Varieties (1945)
    * Janus (1955-'56) Jessica
    * The Girls in 509 (1958-'59) Mimsy
    * On The Twentieth Century (1978-'79) Letitia Primrose

Selected regional theater, national tours

    * Bubbling Over (1926)
    * Queen High (1928)
    * Up to the Stars (1935)
    * Calling All Men (1937)
    * A Night at the Folies Bergere (1940)
    * Happy Birthday (1948)
    * Wonderful Town (1954) Ruth
    * The Great Sebastians (1957)
    * Once Upon a Mattress (1960-'61)
    * A Thurber Carnival (1961-'62)
    * Caesar-Coca Revue (1961-'62)
    * Bells Are Ringing (1962)
    * Luv (1967)
    * You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1968-'69)
    * Why I Went Crazy (1969)
    * A Girl Could Get Lucky (1970)
    * The Rivals (1972) Mrs. Malaprop
    * The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1973-'74, with husband King Donovan)
    * Makin' Whoopee (1981, with Mamie Van Doren)
    * The Gin Game (1984)
    * My Old Friends (1985)
    * On The Twentieth Century (1986-'87) Letitia Primrose

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/megdays/Animals/ImogeneCocaAndCat.jpg


http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Imported/BioPix/Ro/Bio_Batch7/imogene-coca1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/02/10 at 4:01 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhyCL-ELRxg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:01 pm


I saw this today.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_freevideo+%28RSS%3A+Video%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo#/video/living/2010/06/02/am.morgan.freeman.interview.cnn



Cat

It should be very interesting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:03 pm


"Castor" in the french word for "beaver"

Interesting, hmm castor oil, beaver oil :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:06 pm


I saw a report on tv last week on the beaver being re-introduced to Scotland.

How long have they been gone?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:07 pm


http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Imported/BioPix/Ro/Bio_Batch7/imogene-coca1.jpg

Thanks Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/10 at 5:08 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhyCL-ELRxg



Cat

Classic :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/02/10 at 9:52 pm


Thanks Howie :)


You're Welcome.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 5:42 am

The word of the day... Journalist
A journalist collects and disseminates information  about current events, people, trends, and issues. His or her work is acknowledged as journalism.

Reporters are one type of journalist. They create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet. Reporters find sources for their work, their reports can be either spoken or written, and they are often expected to report in the most objective and unbiased way to serve the public good. A columnist is a journalist who writes pieces that appear regularly in newspapers or magazines.

Depending on the context, the term journalist also includes various types of editors and visual journalists, such as photographers, graphic artists, and page designers.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/istylers/Lehrgang_Journalist.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r291/SummerLewison/journalist.jpg
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/prit_resistol/journalist.gif
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/iabhopal/2134630_journalist_islamabad600.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y87/leleee/TheJournalist.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn136/mindcriminal/DSCN2571.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/ororo79/EdBradley-Journalist.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 5:52 am

The person born on this day...Anderson Cooper
Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He currently works as the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. He also frequently guest hosts on Live with Regis and Kelly
Anderson Hays Cooper was born on June 3, 1967, in New York City, the younger son of the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and the artist, designer, writer, and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, and is a great-great-great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt of the prominent Vanderbilt shipping fortune.

Cooper's media experience began early. As a baby, he was photographed by Diane Arbus for Harper's Bazaar. At the age of three, Cooper was a guest on The Tonight Show on September 17, 1970, appearing with his mother. From age 10 to 13, Cooper modeled with Ford Models for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Macy's.

Cooper's father suffered a series of heart attacks while undergoing open-heart surgery, and died January 5, 1978, at the age of 50. This is said to have affected the young Cooper "enormously." He has said, in retrospect, "I think I’m a lot like my father in several ways," including "that we look a lot alike and that we have a similar sense of humor and a love of storytelling." Cooper considers his father's book Families to be "sort of a guide on...how he would have wanted me to live my life and the choices he would have wanted me to make. And so I feel very connected to him."

During the second semester of his senior year at The Dalton School, at age 17, Cooper went to southern Africa in a "13-ton British Army truck" during which time he contracted malaria and required hospitalization in Kenya. Describing the experience, Cooper wrote "Africa was a place to forget and be forgotten in."

Cooper graduated from The Dalton School in 1985. He continued his education at Yale University, where he resided in Trumbull College, and claimed membership in the Manuscript Society. He studied both Political Science and International Relations and graduated in 1989.

Cooper's older brother, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, committed suicide on July 22, 1988, at age 23, by jumping from the 14th-floor terrace of Vanderbilt's New York City penthouse apartment. Gloria Vanderbilt later wrote about her son's death in the book A Mother's Story, in which she expresses her belief that the suicide was caused by a psychotic episode induced by an allergy to the anti-asthma prescription drug salbutamol. Anderson cites Carter's suicide for sparking his interest in journalism. "Loss is a theme that I think a lot about, and it’s something in my work that I dwell on. I think when you experience any kind of loss, especially the kind I did, you have questions about survival: Why do some people thrive in situations that others can’t tolerate? Would I be able to survive and get on in the world on my own?"

During college, he spent two summers as an intern at the Central Intelligence Agency. Although he technically has no formal journalistic education, he opted to pursue a career in journalism rather than stay with the agency after school, having been a "news junkie" "since I was 'in utero.' "

After his first correspondence work in the early 1990s, he took a break from reporting and lived in Vietnam for a year, during which time he studied the Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi. Speaking on his experiences in Vietnam on C-SPAN's Students & Leaders, he said he has since forgotten how to speak the language.
Career history
Channel One

After Cooper graduated from Yale University, he tried to gain entry-level employment with ABC answering telephones, but was unsuccessful. Finding it hard to get his foot in the door of on-air reporting, Cooper decided to enlist the help of a friend in making a fake press pass. At the time, Cooper was working as a fact checker for the small news agency Channel One, which produces a youth-oriented news program that is broadcast to many junior high and high schools in the United States. Cooper then entered Myanmar on his own with his forged press pass and met with students fighting the Burmese government. He was ultimately able to sell his home-made news segments to Channel One.

After reporting from Burma, Cooper lived in Vietnam for a year to study Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi. Persuading Channel One to allow him to bring a Hi-8 camera with him, Anderson soon began filming and assembling reports of Vietnamese life and culture that aired on Channel One. He later returned to filming stories from a variety of war-torn regions around the globe, including Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda. Haunted by his brother's suicide, Cooper explains, "The only thing I really knew is that I was hurting and needed to go someplace where the pain outside matched the pain I was feeling inside." Cooper describes himself as having become "fascinated with conflict" during this dangerous period of his life.

On assignment for several years, Cooper had very slowly become desensitized to the violence he was witnessing around him; the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide became trivial: "I would see a dozen bodies and think, you know, it's a dozen, it's not so bad". One particular incident however snapped him out of it:

    On the side of the road came across five bodies that had been in the sun for several days. The skin of a woman's hand was peeling off like a glove. Revealing macabre fascination, Cooper whipped out his disposable camera and took a closeup photograph for his personal album. As he did, someone took a photo of him. Later that person showed Cooper the photo, saying, "You need to take a look at what you were doing." "And that's when I realized I've got to stop, I've got to report on some state fairs or a beauty pageant or something, to just, like, remind myself of some perspective."

    –

ABC
Anderson Cooper at Qualcomm Stadium during the California wildfires of October 2007

In 1995, Cooper became a correspondent for ABC News, eventually rising to the position of co-anchor on its overnight World News Now program on September 21, 1999. In 2000, he switched career paths, taking a job as the host of ABC's reality show The Mole:

    My last year at ABC, I was working overnights anchoring this newscast, then during the day at 20/20. So I was sleeping in two- or four-hour shifts, and I was really tired and wanted a change. I wanted to clear my head and get out of news a little bit, and I was interested in reality TV — and it was interesting.

    –

Cooper was also a fill-in co-host for Regis Philbin for the TV talk show Live with Regis and Kelly in 2007 when Philbin underwent triple- bypass heart surgery. He recapped the show for viewers of Anderson Cooper 360°, often poking fun at the way he laughed. ((fact|date=May 2010}}
CNN

He left The Mole after its second season to return to broadcast news in 2001 at CNN, commenting: "Two seasons was enough, and 9/11 happened, and I thought I needed to be getting back to news." His first position at CNN was to anchor alongside Paula Zahn on American Morning. In 2002, he became CNN's weekend prime-time anchor. Since 2002, he has hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from Times Square. On September 8, 2003, he was made anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°.

Describing his philosophy as an anchor, Cooper has said:

    I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away, the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audience really buys that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it. I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it. I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on The Simpsons is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.

    –

Cooper covered a number of important stories in 2005, including the tsunami damage in Sri Lanka; the Cedar Revolution in Beirut, Lebanon; the death of Pope John Paul II; and the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Cooper marching on January 11, 2007, in New Orleans against violence

During CNN coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he confronted Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. Trent Lott, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson about their perception of the government response. As Cooper said later in an interview with New York magazine, “Yeah, I would prefer not to be emotional and I would prefer not to get upset, but it’s hard not to when you’re surrounded by brave people who are suffering and in need.” As Broadcasting & Cable magazine noted, "In its aftermath, Hurricane Katrina served to usher in a new breed of emo-journalism, skyrocketing CNN's Anderson Cooper to superstardom as CNN's golden boy and a darling of the media circles because of his impassioned coverage of the storm."

In August 2005, he covered the Niger famine from Maradi. In September 2005, the format of CNN's NewsNight was changed from 60 to 120 minutes to cover the unusually violent hurricane season. To help distribute some of the increased workload, Cooper was temporarily added as co-anchor to Aaron Brown. This arrangement was reported to have been made permanent the same month by the president of CNN's U.S. operations, Jonathan Klein, who has called Cooper "the anchorperson of the future." Following the addition of Cooper, the ratings for NewsNight increased significantly; Klein remarked that " name has been on the tip of everyone's tongue." To further capitalize on this, Klein announced a major programming shakeup on November 2, 2005. Cooper's 360° program would be expanded to 2 hours and shifted into the 10 p.m. ET slot formerly held by NewsNight, with the third hour of Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room filling in Cooper's former 7 p.m. ET slot. With "no options" left for him to host shows, Aaron Brown left CNN, ostensibly after having "mutually agreed" with Jonathan Klein on the matter. In early 2007, Cooper signed a multi-year deal with CNN, which would allow him to continue as a contributor to 60 Minutes as well as doubling his salary from $2 million annually to a reported $4 million.

In October 2007, Cooper began hosting the documentary, Planet in Peril, with Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin on CNN. In 2008, he, Gupta, and Lisa Ling from National Geographic Explorer teamed up for a sequel, Planet in Peril: Battle Lines, which premiered in December 2008. In 2007 he also began hosting CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, a show which honors and recognizes extraordinary deeds by ordinary people.
Writings

A freelance writer, Cooper has authored a variety of articles that have appeared in many other outlets, including Details magazine.

In May 2006 Cooper published a memoir for HarperCollins, Dispatches from the Edge, detailing his life and work in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana over the previous year. Some of the book's proceeds are donated to charity. The book topped the New York Times bestseller list on June 18, 2006.
Personal life

Cooper has two older half-brothers, Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski (born 1950), and Christopher Stokowski (born 1952), from Gloria Vanderbilt's ten-year marriage to the conductor Leopold Stokowski.

He currently lives in a $3.14 million dollar home in Westhampton Beach on Long Island. In early 2010, Cooper bought a firehouse for $4.3 million in Greenwich Village.

He also said to Oprah Winfrey – while promoting his book – that he had suffered from dyslexia as a child. In August 2007, he confirmed his "mild dyslexia" on The Tonight Show to Jay Leno, who also has dyslexia. In March 2008, Cooper mentioned on his blog that he had minor surgery under his left eye to remove a "small spot of skin cancer".

Cooper has never married and has actively avoided discussing his private life, citing a desire to protect his neutrality as a journalist. His public reticence contrasts deliberately with his mother's life spent in the spotlight of tabloid journalists and her publication of memoirs explicitly detailing her affairs with celebrities; Cooper vowed "not to repeat that strategy". Independent news media have reported that Cooper is gay, and in May 2007, Out magazine ranked him second behind David Geffen in its list of the fifty "Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America." When asked about his sexuality, he stated "I understand why people might be interested. But I just don’t talk about my personal life. It’s a decision I made a long time ago, before I ever even knew anyone would be interested in my personal life. The whole thing about being a reporter is that you're supposed to be an observer and to be able to adapt with any group you’re in, and I don’t want to do anything that threatens that." He has, however, discussed his desire to have a family and children.
Awards

    * 2005 National Headliners Award for his tsunami coverage
    * An Emmy Award for his contribution to ABC's coverage of Princess Diana's funeral and another in 2006 for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Breaking News Story - Long Form for his report on the famine in Niger
    * Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival for his report from Sarajevo on the Bosnian civil war
    * Bronze Telly for his coverage of famine in Somalia
    * 2001 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism for "High School Hero," his 20/20 Downtown report on high school athlete Corey Johnson

Career timeline

    * 1999–2000: World News Now co-anchor
    * 2001–2002: The Mole host
    * 2003–present: Anderson Cooper 360° anchor
    * 2005: NewsNight co-anchor
    * 2007–present: 60 minutes correspondent

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk229/billytilly95/cooper_anderson.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o57/smsilva/Cooper.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 5:59 am

The person who died on this day...David Carradine
David Carradine (December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009)  was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu  and its 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was a member of a productive acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific "B" movie  actor,  he appeared in more than 100 feature films  and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.  The latest nomination was for his part in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was also a musician and pursued a directing career. Influenced by his most popular acting role, he studied martial arts.

The child of a frequently married actor, "Jack", as Carradine was known in his youth, had an unstable childhood. This instability would continue throughout his life as he himself was married several times. He was also frequently arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses which often involved substance abuse. His death occurred in June 2009, under unusual circumstances.
He was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle "Abigail" (née McCool)  and noted American actor John Carradine.  He was a brother of Bruce,  half-brother of Keith, Christopher and Robert Carradine, and an uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. He was the great-grandson of Methodist evangelical author Beverly Carradine and the grandnephew of artist Will Foster.

"Jack" Carradine's formative years were turbulent. Both of his parents repeatedly married. He was the product of his mother's second marriage of three, and his father's first of four. At the time his parents married each other, his mother already had a son, Bruce, by her first husband, whom John adopted. John Carradine planned a large family but, his son explained in his autobiography, after his wife had had a series of miscarriages, he discovered that she had had repeated "coat hanger" abortions, without his knowledge, which rendered her unable to carry a baby to full term. It was with this backdrop of marital discord that at the age of 5, Jack almost succeeded in committing suicide by hanging. He said that the incident followed his discovery that he and Bruce had different biological fathers. He added that, " My father saved me, and then confiscated my comic book collection and burned it — which was scarcely the point".

After only three years of marriage, Ardenelle Carradine filed for divorce from John, but the couple remained married for another five years. Divorce finally came in 1944, when Jack was seven years old. His father left California to avoid court action in the alimony settlement. After the couple engaged in a series of court battles involving child custody and alimony, which at one point landed John in jail, Jack joined his father in New York City. By this time his father had remarried. For the next few years he was shuffled between boarding schools, foster homes and reform school. He also would often accompany his father while the elder performed summer theater through out the Northeast. He spent time in Massachusetts and even one miserable winter milking cows on a farm in Vermont.

Eventually, Carradine returned to California where he graduated from Oakland High School. He attended Oakland Junior College for a year before transferring to San Francisco State College (SFSC) where he studied drama and music theory. There he wrote music for the drama department's annual revues while juggling work at menial jobs, a fledgling stage acting career and his studies. After he dropped out of SFSC, Carradine spent some time with the "beatniks" of San Francisco's North Beach and Venice, California. During this time he collected unemployment insurance and sold baby pictures. He was also prosecuted for disturbing the peace.

Despite an attempt to dodge the draft, in 1960 Carradine was inducted into the United States Army where he drew pictures for training aids. That Christmas he married his high school sweetheart, Donna Lee Becht. While stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia he helped to establish a theater company which became known as the "entertainment unit". He met fellow inductee, Larry Cohen, who later cast him in Q, The Winged Serpent. He also faced court-martial for shoplifting. In 1962, Donna gave birth to their daughter, Calista. Carradine was honorably discharged after a two-year tour.
Film and television career
Early successes

Upon leaving the Army, Carradine became serious about his acting pursuits. It was at that time that he was advised to change his name to avoid confusion with his famous father. In 1963, he made his television debut on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre. Several other television roles were to follow including appearances on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, andThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He made his feature film debut in 1964 in Taggart, a western based on a novel by Louis L'Amour.

His first "big break", however, came with his second Broadway part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, a play by Peter Shaffer about the destruction of the Inca empire by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He said of this performance, "Many of the important roles that I got later on were because the guy who was going to hire me was in that audience and had his mind blown." For that part, Carradine won a Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance in 1965.

With the closing of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and the failing of his marriage, Carradine left New York and headed back to California. He returned to TV to star in the short-lived series Shane, a 1966 western based upon a 1949 novel of the same name and previously filmed in 1953.

In 1971, Carradine featured in "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" with Sally Field and a soundtrack by Linda Ronstadt. Carradine played the part of a bearded, drug-abusing, hippie car-thief named "Flack" who enjoyed just drifting around with teen runaway "Dennie" (Field). Early in the film, "Dennie" gets discouraged with the road life and tries to return to her dysfunctional family with "Flack" drifting along after her.

In 1972, he co-starred as 'Big' Bill Shelly in one of Martin Scorsese's earliest films Boxcar Bertha, which starred Barbara Hershey, his domestic partner at the time (see Personal life). This was one of several Roger Corman productions in which he was to appear. It was also one of a handful of acting collaborations he made with his father, John.
Kung Fu
David Carradine as Caine in the original Kung Fu

For three seasons, David Carradine starred as a half Chinese, half European Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine on the A.B.C. hit TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975) and was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for the role. The show, which took place in the "Old West", helped to popularize the martial arts and East Asian philosophy in Europe and North America and immortalized the character of Kwai Chang Caine, popularly referred to as "Grasshopper",.

Although the choice of a European man to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine stirred controversy, the show served as steady employment for several East Asian actors in the U.S. In addition to Keye Luke and Philip Ahn, who held leading roles in the cast as Caine's Shaolin masters, Robert Ito, James Hong, Benson Fong, Richard Loo and Victor Sen Yung frequently appeared in the series. Kung Fu ended when Carradine quit to pursue a movie career, but he reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in 1986 in Kung Fu: The Movie. Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, in his acting debut, portrayed his son.

Early in the 1990s, Carradine once again reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993–97) playing the grandson of the original character of the same name. Carradine starred in the program and served as Executive Producer and Director. The program offered him the opportunity to recreate the character for which he was most widely recognized. Also starring on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues was an unfamiliar struggling actor, spokesman and singer from Toronto, Chris Potter. During this time Carradine's alcoholism escalated and he entred alcohol rehabilitation. The show was canceled in 1997, after 4 seasons, and 88 episodes.
Movie career

Immediately following the Kung Fu series, Carradine accepted the role as the race car driver, Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), he said, to "kill the image of Caine and launch a movie career", The Roger Corman exploitation film became a cult classic. It was based on Ib Melchior's first science fiction work, a short story called The Racer.
David Carradine, as Woody Guthrie, in Bound for Glory

In 1976, Carradine earned critical praise for his portrayal of folksinger Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976) for which he won a National Board of Review Award for Best Actor. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award for his role as Guthrie.

Next came the role of the alcoholic, unemployed trapeze artist, Abel Rosenberg in The Serpent's Egg (1977). Set in post-World War I Berlin The Serpent's Egg, which also starred Liv Ullman, is the only English language film made by legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman said of his leading man, "I don't believe in God, but Heaven must have sent him." Carradine said that he and Bergman had plans for further collaboration, but the director's affection for the actor waned when the latter passionately protested a scene which included the butchering of a horse. The altercation caused Carradine to question the fate of Bergman's soul while the director declared, "Little Brother, I am an old whore. I have shot two other horses, burned one and strangled a dog."

When Bruce Lee died in 1973, he left an unreleased movie script that he had developed with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant called The Silent Flute. The script became Circle of Iron (1978) and in the film Carradine played the four roles that were originally intended for Lee. Carradine considered this to be among his best work.

In 1980, the thespian appeared in an ensemble cast, which included his half-brothers, Keith and Robert Carradine, in The Long Riders (1980). The cast also included three other brother/actor groupings: Stacy and James Keach, Dennis and Randy Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guest. The movie, which was about the Jesse James gang, gave Carradine, who played Cole Younger, one of his most memorable roles.
Carradine at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival

Throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, David Carradine's acting career suffered a decline. Although he continued to amass movie and television credits, few of his roles garnered much attention. Most of his work was issued straight to video. However, a few of his movies, such as The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1990) and Sonny Boy (1989), developed cult followings. In 1997, Carradine was awarded a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame". The presenters played an "April Fool's Day" prank on him by first unveiling a star that had the name of his brother, Robert, on it.
Carradine signing autographs in Malmö, 2005

Carradine enjoyed a revival of his notoriety when he was cast in Quentin Tarantino's sequential Kill Bill movies, in 2003 and 2004. Among those who thought his portrayal of the assassin extraordinaire, Bill, AKA: "The Snake Charmer", would earn him an Oscar nod was Scott Mantz, of The Mediadrome, who said, "Carradine practically steals every scene he’s in with confident gusto, and he gives a soulful performance that should all but ensure a spot on next year’s Oscar ballot." Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper each had Kill Bill Vol. 2 on their top ten list for of Academy Awards predictions. Although the films received no notice from the Academy, Carradine did receive a Golden Globe nomination and a Saturn Award, for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bill.

The actor, who once received an award for being the hardest working member of his profession in Hollywood, still had approximately a dozen projects in "post-production" at the time of his death in 2009. Most of these roles were cameos or small parts in independent, direct to DVD, productions. Perhaps his last leading role was in Golden Boys (AKA: Chatham, 2008). Although the film had some solid features, including Carradine's performance, critics found the plot dull. It had only a limited theater run before its release on DVD, and received no critical acclaim.
Television appearances

Carradine attracted notice, in 1985, when he appeared in a supporting role in North and South, a miniseries about the American Civil War with a large ensemble cast that included Patrick Swayze in a leading role. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He also appeared in North and South, Book II, telecast in May 1986.

In addition, he was featured in a Lipton tea commercial, which first aired during the broadcast of Super Bowl XXVIII. The advertisement paid tribute to The Three Stooges while satirizing his role in Kung Fu. In 2001, he appeared in the episode The Serpent of the syndicated tv series Queen of Swords as the sword wielding bandit El Serpiente filmed at Texas Hollywood studio's, home of many spaghetti westerns, Southern Spain. He took over hosting duties from his brother Keith on Wild West Tech on the History Channel, in 2005. By 2006, he had become the spokesman for Yellowbook, a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States.
Directing career

‎Carradine made his directorial debut on three episodes of Kung Fu. While still performing on Kung Fu, he tried his hand at directing some independent projects of his own. Americana (1983), took ten years to complete due to difficulty in financing. It featured Carradine in the starring role and several of his friends and family members in supporting roles. The film won the People's Choice Award at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, but failed to achieve critical support or adequate distribution. Other directorial attempts included You and Me (1975), and two unreleased productions: Mata Hari, an epic that starred his daughter, Calista, and a short musical called A Country Mile.
Martial artist

Carradine knew nothing of the practice of kung fu at the time he was cast in the role of Kwai Chang Caine, instead he relied on his experience as a dancer for the part. He had also had experience in sword fighting, boxing and street fighting on which to draw. For the first half of the original series,Chow provided technical assistance with kung fu. Later,Kam Yuen provided the expertise. It was not until after the series was canceled that Carradine began to study the martial arts, first from Yuen and eventually from Rob Moses, a student of Yuen's. He never considered himself a "master" of the art, but as an "evangelist" of kung fu. By 2003 he had acquired enough expertise in the martial arts to produce and star in several instructional videos on Tai chi and Qi Gong.
Music career

In addition to his acting career, David Carradine was a talented musician. He sang and played the piano, the guitar and the flute among other instruments. His musical talents were often integrated into his screen performances. He performed several of Woody Guthrie's songs for the movie Bound for Glory. For the Kung Fu series he made flutes out of bamboo that he had planted on the Warner's Brother's lot which he played on the program. He later made several flutes for the movie Circle of Iron (AKA The Silent Flute) one of which he later played in Kill Bill. Carradine wrote and performed the theme songs for at least two movies that he starred in, Americana, and Sonny Boy. The first line from the Sonny Boy theme, Paint, which he wrote while filming Americana in Drury, Kansas in 1973, is engraved on his headstone. He wrote and performed several songs for American Reel (2003) and wrote the score for You and Me. He and his brother, Robert, also performed with a band, the Cosmic Rescue Team (AKA Soul Dogs). The band primarily performed in small venues and benefits.

Shortly before his death, Carradine co-produced and appeared in a full length documentary about luthier Stuart Mossman. The film, which was released in 2009, featured David, Keith and Robert Carradine performing their music on Mossman guitars.
Reports of arrests and prosecutions

By his own account, in the late 1950s, while he was living in San Francisco, young John A. Carradine was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He pleaded to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace. While in the Army (1960–62) he faced court-martial, on more than one occasion, for shoplifting. After he became an established actor, and had changed his name to David, he was arrested, in 1967, for possession of marijuana.

At the height of his popularity in Kung Fu, in 1974, David Carradine was arrested again, this time for attempted burglary and malicious mischief. While under the influence of peyote, Carradine, nude, began wandering around his Laurel Canyon neighborhood. He broke into a neighbor's home, breaking a window and cutting his arm. He then bled all over the homeowners piano. At some time during this episode he accosted two young women, allegedly assaulting one while asking, or demanding of her, if she was a witch. The police literally followed a trail of blood to his home. The burglary charges were dropped, as nothing was found to be missing, while Carradine pleaded "no contest" to the mischief charge and was given probation. He was never charged with assault, but the young woman sued him for $1.1 million and was awarded $20,000.

In 1980, while in South Africa filming Safari 3000 (AKA: Rally), which co-starred Stockard Channing, Carradine was arrested for possession of marijuana. He was convicted and given a suspended sentence. He claimed that he was framed, in this case, by the Apartheid government as he had been seen dancing with Tina Turner.

During the 1980s Carradine was arrested at least twice for driving under the influence of alcohol, once in 1984 and again in 1989. In the second case, Carradine pleaded "no contest". Of this incident The L.A. Times reported "legal experts say Carradine was handed a harsher-than-average sentence, even for a second-time offender: three years' summary probation, 48 hours in jail, 100 hours of community service, 30 days' work picking up trash for the California Department of Transportation, attendance at a drunk driving awareness meeting and completion of an alcohol rehabilitation program."
Personal life

Shortly after being drafted into the Army, in 1960, David Carradine proposed marriage to Donna Lee Becht (born September 26, 1937). whom he met while they were students at Oakland High School. They were married on Christmas Day that year. She lived with him off base in Virginia, while he was stationed at Fort Eustis. In April, 1962, she gave birth to their daughter, Calista. After his discharge, they lived in New York as David established his acting career appearing on Broadway in The Deputy and Royal Hunt of the Sun. The marriage dissolved in 1968. Carradine left New York at that point and headed back to California to continue his television and film careers.

In 1969, he met Barbara Hershey while the two of them were working on Heaven With a Gun. The pair began a domestic relationship that would last until 1975. They appeared in other films together including Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha. In 1972 they appeared in a nude Playboy spread, recreating some sex scenes from Boxcar Bertha. That year Hershey gave birth to their son, Free (who later changed his name to Tom, much to his father's chagrin). The relationship fell apart, around the time of his 1974 burglary arrest, when Carradine began an affair with Season Hubley who had guest starred on Kung Fu. He was engaged to Hubley for a time, but they did not marry.

Carradine married his second wife, Linda, (née Linda Anne Gilbert, born March 16, 1950) the former wife of The Byrds lead guitarist, Roger McGuinn, in a civil ceremony, in Munich, Germany, immediately following the filming of The Serpent's Egg, in February, 1977. Their daughter, Kansas was born April 19, 1978. This marriage ended in divorce as did the two that followed. He was married to Gail Jensen, from 1988–1997, who died in April, 2010, at the age of 60, of an alcohol related illness. He was also married to Marina Anderson from 1998-2001. By this time, Carradine had proclaimed himself to be a "serial monogamist".

On December 26, 2004, Carradine married the widowed Annie Bierman (née Anne Kirstie Fraser, born December 21, 1960) at the seaside Malibu home of his friend, Michael Madsen. Vicki Roberts, his attorney and longtime friend of his wife, performed the ceremony. With this marriage he acquired three stepdaughters, Amanda Eckelberry (born November 29, 1989), Madeleine Rose (born April 4, 1995) and Olivia Juliette (born 1998) and a stepson, Max Richard (born 1998).
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Kung Fu star Carradine found dead in Bangkok hotel

On June 4, 2009, David Carradine was found dead in his room at the Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel on Wireless Road, near Sukhumvit Road, in central Bangkok, Thailand. He was in Bangkok to shoot his latest film, Stretch. A police official said Carradine was found hanging by a rope in the room's closet, causing immediate speculation that his death was suicide. However, evidence suggested that his death was the result of autoerotic asphyxiation. Two autopsies were conducted and concluded that the death was not caused by suicide. The cause of death became widely accepted as "accidental asphyxiation".

Immediately following his death, two of Carradine's ex-wives, Gail Jensen and Marina Anderson, stated publicly that his sexual interests included the practice of self-bondage. Anderson, who had plans to publish a tell-all book about her marriage to Carradine, said in an interview with Access Hollywood, "There was a dark side to David, there was a very intense side to David. People around him know that." Previously in her divorce filing she had claimed that "It was the continuation of abhorrent and deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly."

Photographs, supposedly of Carradine at the death scene, as well as photographs of his autopsied body, were widely circulated in newspapers and on the Internet. Finally, his family, represented by his brothers, Keith and Robert, pleaded with the public and the press to let them mourn their loved one in peace.

Carradine's funeral was held on June 13, 2009 in Los Angeles. His bamboo casket was carried in a white hearse from Groman Eden Mortuary to his burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Among the many stars and family members that attended his private memorial were Lucy Liu, Tom Selleck, Frances Fisher, James Cromwell, Steve Railsback, and Chris Potter. His grave was marked on December 3, 2009. The monument proclaimed him to be "The Barefoot Legend" and included a quote from "Paint", a song he wrote and performed as the theme to Sonny Boy, as an epitaph.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1965 Taggart Cal Dodge
1967 The Violent Ones Lucas Barnes
1969 Heaven with a Gun Coke Beck
Young Billy Young Jesse Boone
1972 Boxcar Bertha 'Big' Bill Shelly
1973 The Long Goodbye Dave aka Socrates — Marlowe's Cellmate Uncredited
Mean Streets Drunk
1975 Death Race 2000 Frankenstein
1976 Cannonball Coy 'Cannonball' Buckman
Bound for Glory Woody Guthrie National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1977 The Serpent's Egg Abel Rosenberg
Thunder and Lightning Harley Thomas
1978 Deathsport Kaz Oshay
Circle of Iron The Blind Man/Monkeyman/ Death/Changsha
Gray Lady Down Capt. Gates
1980 The Long Riders Cole Younger With brothers Keith and Robert
1982 Q Detective Shepard Alternative titles: Q: The Winged Serpent
Serpent
The Winged Serpent
Trick Or Treats Richard
Safari 3000 Eddie Mills
1983 Lone Wolf McQuade Rawley Wilkes
1984 The Warrior and the Sorceress Kain
1986 P.O.W. The Escape Col. James Cooper Alternative titles: Behind the Enemy Lines
Attack Force 'Nam
1988 Tropical Snow Oskar
1989 Night Children Max
1989 Sonny Boy
1990 Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat Jozek Mardulak/Count Dracula
Bird on a Wire Sorenson
1991 Karate Cop Dad
Martial Law Dalton Rhodes
1992 Evil Toons Gideon Fisk
Roadside Prophets Othello
Waxwork II: Lost in Time The Beggar
1998 Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror Luke Enright
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island Chief Wulisso Voice only
1999 American Reel James Lee Springer
2000 Down 'n Dirty Gil Garner
2002 Balto II: Wolf Quest Nava the Wolf Shaman Voice only
2003 Kill Bill: Vol. I Bill
2004 Kill Bill: Volume II Bill Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Hair High Mr. Snerz Voice only
Dead & Breakfast Mr. Wise
2007 Homo Erectus Mookoo
Epic Movie The Curator
Fall Down Dead Wade
Camille Cowboy Bob
How to Rob a Bank Nick
Fuego Lobo
Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon Grand Master
2008 Big Stan The Master
Richard III Buckingham
Hell Ride The Deuce
Last Hour Detective Mike Stone
Death Race Frankenstein (Voice)
My Suicide Vargas
Kung Fu Killer Crane
Kandisha The American
2009 Absolute Evil Raf McCane
Crank: High Voltage Poon Dong
The Golden Boys Captain Zeb
Road of No Return Mr. Hover
2010 True Legend Anton
Stretch Devon Saymout Final performance. David Morris reprised his role in the final scenes of the movie.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1963 East Side/West Side Hal Sewoski 1 episode
1964 The Virginian The Utah Kid 1 episode
1965 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Fitzhugh 1 episode
1966 Shane Shane 16 episodes
1967 Cimarron Strip Gene Gauge 1 episode The Hunted
Johnny Belinda Locky Television movie
1970 The Name of the Game Jason 1 episode
1971 Gunsmoke Clint 1 episode
1972–1975 Kung Fu Kwai Chang Caine Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
1979 Mr. Horn Tom Horn Television movie
1981 Darkroom Biker/Hitchhiker 1 episode
1984 Airwolf Dr. Robert Winchester 1 episode
1985 North and South Justin LaMotte Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
1986 Kung Fu: The Movie Kwai Chang Caine Television movie
1987 Night Heat Calvin 1 episode
1990 The Young Riders The Buzzard Eater 1 episode
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw Caine Television movie
1993–1997 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Kwai Chang Caine 88 episodes
1997 Last Stand at Saber River Duane Kidston Television movie
1999 Charmed Tempus 1 episode
2001 Queen of Swords El Serpiente 2 episodes
Warden of Red Rock Mike Sullivan Television movie
Lizzie McGuire Himself 1 Episode Between a Rock and a Bra Place
2002 The Outsider Haines Television movie
King of the Hill Junichiro Hill (voice) 2 episodes
2003–2004 Alias Conrad 2 episodes
2003–2005 Wild West Tech Host 21 Episodes (only host for Season 2 & 3)
2005–2006 Danny Phantom Clockwork (Voice) 2 episodes
2006 Medium Jessica's Brother 1 episode
2007 In Case of Emergency Guru Danny 1 episode
2008 Son of the Dragon Bird Miniseries
2009 Mental Gideon Graham 1 episode
Celebrity Ghost Storries himself 1 episode
Awards and honors

    * 1966 Theatre World Award, Royal Hunt of the Sun
    * 1974 TP de Oro,Spain. Best Foreign Actor, Kung Fu
    * 1997 Gold Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Television
    * 1998: Honoree — The 16th Annual Golden Boot Awards (along with brothers Keith and Robert)
    * 2005: Action On Film International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award — First annual recipient
    * 2005: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actor, Kill Bill
    * 2008 Honoree- Walk of Western Stars
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/speed2794/carradine_david.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d122/ForestBalrog/David-Carradine_8.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/03/10 at 6:47 am


The person who died on this day...David Carradine
David Carradine (December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009)  was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu  and its 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was a member of a productive acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific "B" movie  actor,  he appeared in more than 100 feature films  and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.  The latest nomination was for his part in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was also a musician and pursued a directing career. Influenced by his most popular acting role, he studied martial arts.

The child of a frequently married actor, "Jack", as Carradine was known in his youth, had an unstable childhood. This instability would continue throughout his life as he himself was married several times. He was also frequently arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses which often involved substance abuse. His death occurred in June 2009, under unusual circumstances.
He was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle "Abigail" (née McCool)  and noted American actor John Carradine.  He was a brother of Bruce,  half-brother of Keith, Christopher and Robert Carradine, and an uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. He was the great-grandson of Methodist evangelical author Beverly Carradine and the grandnephew of artist Will Foster.

"Jack" Carradine's formative years were turbulent. Both of his parents repeatedly married. He was the product of his mother's second marriage of three, and his father's first of four. At the time his parents married each other, his mother already had a son, Bruce, by her first husband, whom John adopted. John Carradine planned a large family but, his son explained in his autobiography, after his wife had had a series of miscarriages, he discovered that she had had repeated "coat hanger" abortions, without his knowledge, which rendered her unable to carry a baby to full term. It was with this backdrop of marital discord that at the age of 5, Jack almost succeeded in committing suicide by hanging. He said that the incident followed his discovery that he and Bruce had different biological fathers. He added that, " My father saved me, and then confiscated my comic book collection and burned it — which was scarcely the point".

After only three years of marriage, Ardenelle Carradine filed for divorce from John, but the couple remained married for another five years. Divorce finally came in 1944, when Jack was seven years old. His father left California to avoid court action in the alimony settlement. After the couple engaged in a series of court battles involving child custody and alimony, which at one point landed John in jail, Jack joined his father in New York City. By this time his father had remarried. For the next few years he was shuffled between boarding schools, foster homes and reform school. He also would often accompany his father while the elder performed summer theater through out the Northeast. He spent time in Massachusetts and even one miserable winter milking cows on a farm in Vermont.

Eventually, Carradine returned to California where he graduated from Oakland High School. He attended Oakland Junior College for a year before transferring to San Francisco State College (SFSC) where he studied drama and music theory. There he wrote music for the drama department's annual revues while juggling work at menial jobs, a fledgling stage acting career and his studies. After he dropped out of SFSC, Carradine spent some time with the "beatniks" of San Francisco's North Beach and Venice, California. During this time he collected unemployment insurance and sold baby pictures. He was also prosecuted for disturbing the peace.

Despite an attempt to dodge the draft, in 1960 Carradine was inducted into the United States Army where he drew pictures for training aids. That Christmas he married his high school sweetheart, Donna Lee Becht. While stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia he helped to establish a theater company which became known as the "entertainment unit". He met fellow inductee, Larry Cohen, who later cast him in Q, The Winged Serpent. He also faced court-martial for shoplifting. In 1962, Donna gave birth to their daughter, Calista. Carradine was honorably discharged after a two-year tour.
Film and television career
Early successes

Upon leaving the Army, Carradine became serious about his acting pursuits. It was at that time that he was advised to change his name to avoid confusion with his famous father. In 1963, he made his television debut on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre. Several other television roles were to follow including appearances on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, andThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He made his feature film debut in 1964 in Taggart, a western based on a novel by Louis L'Amour.

His first "big break", however, came with his second Broadway part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, a play by Peter Shaffer about the destruction of the Inca empire by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He said of this performance, "Many of the important roles that I got later on were because the guy who was going to hire me was in that audience and had his mind blown." For that part, Carradine won a Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance in 1965.

With the closing of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and the failing of his marriage, Carradine left New York and headed back to California. He returned to TV to star in the short-lived series Shane, a 1966 western based upon a 1949 novel of the same name and previously filmed in 1953.

In 1971, Carradine featured in "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" with Sally Field and a soundtrack by Linda Ronstadt. Carradine played the part of a bearded, drug-abusing, hippie car-thief named "Flack" who enjoyed just drifting around with teen runaway "Dennie" (Field). Early in the film, "Dennie" gets discouraged with the road life and tries to return to her dysfunctional family with "Flack" drifting along after her.

In 1972, he co-starred as 'Big' Bill Shelly in one of Martin Scorsese's earliest films Boxcar Bertha, which starred Barbara Hershey, his domestic partner at the time (see Personal life). This was one of several Roger Corman productions in which he was to appear. It was also one of a handful of acting collaborations he made with his father, John.
Kung Fu
David Carradine as Caine in the original Kung Fu

For three seasons, David Carradine starred as a half Chinese, half European Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine on the A.B.C. hit TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975) and was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for the role. The show, which took place in the "Old West", helped to popularize the martial arts and East Asian philosophy in Europe and North America and immortalized the character of Kwai Chang Caine, popularly referred to as "Grasshopper",.

Although the choice of a European man to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine stirred controversy, the show served as steady employment for several East Asian actors in the U.S. In addition to Keye Luke and Philip Ahn, who held leading roles in the cast as Caine's Shaolin masters, Robert Ito, James Hong, Benson Fong, Richard Loo and Victor Sen Yung frequently appeared in the series. Kung Fu ended when Carradine quit to pursue a movie career, but he reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in 1986 in Kung Fu: The Movie. Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, in his acting debut, portrayed his son.

Early in the 1990s, Carradine once again reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993–97) playing the grandson of the original character of the same name. Carradine starred in the program and served as Executive Producer and Director. The program offered him the opportunity to recreate the character for which he was most widely recognized. Also starring on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues was an unfamiliar struggling actor, spokesman and singer from Toronto, Chris Potter. During this time Carradine's alcoholism escalated and he entred alcohol rehabilitation. The show was canceled in 1997, after 4 seasons, and 88 episodes.
Movie career

Immediately following the Kung Fu series, Carradine accepted the role as the race car driver, Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), he said, to "kill the image of Caine and launch a movie career", The Roger Corman exploitation film became a cult classic. It was based on Ib Melchior's first science fiction work, a short story called The Racer.
David Carradine, as Woody Guthrie, in Bound for Glory

In 1976, Carradine earned critical praise for his portrayal of folksinger Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976) for which he won a National Board of Review Award for Best Actor. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award for his role as Guthrie.

Next came the role of the alcoholic, unemployed trapeze artist, Abel Rosenberg in The Serpent's Egg (1977). Set in post-World War I Berlin The Serpent's Egg, which also starred Liv Ullman, is the only English language film made by legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman said of his leading man, "I don't believe in God, but Heaven must have sent him." Carradine said that he and Bergman had plans for further collaboration, but the director's affection for the actor waned when the latter passionately protested a scene which included the butchering of a horse. The altercation caused Carradine to question the fate of Bergman's soul while the director declared, "Little Brother, I am an old whore. I have shot two other horses, burned one and strangled a dog."

When Bruce Lee died in 1973, he left an unreleased movie script that he had developed with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant called The Silent Flute. The script became Circle of Iron (1978) and in the film Carradine played the four roles that were originally intended for Lee. Carradine considered this to be among his best work.

In 1980, the thespian appeared in an ensemble cast, which included his half-brothers, Keith and Robert Carradine, in The Long Riders (1980). The cast also included three other brother/actor groupings: Stacy and James Keach, Dennis and Randy Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guest. The movie, which was about the Jesse James gang, gave Carradine, who played Cole Younger, one of his most memorable roles.
Carradine at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival

Throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, David Carradine's acting career suffered a decline. Although he continued to amass movie and television credits, few of his roles garnered much attention. Most of his work was issued straight to video. However, a few of his movies, such as The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1990) and Sonny Boy (1989), developed cult followings. In 1997, Carradine was awarded a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame". The presenters played an "April Fool's Day" prank on him by first unveiling a star that had the name of his brother, Robert, on it.
Carradine signing autographs in Malmö, 2005

Carradine enjoyed a revival of his notoriety when he was cast in Quentin Tarantino's sequential Kill Bill movies, in 2003 and 2004. Among those who thought his portrayal of the assassin extraordinaire, Bill, AKA: "The Snake Charmer", would earn him an Oscar nod was Scott Mantz, of The Mediadrome, who said, "Carradine practically steals every scene he’s in with confident gusto, and he gives a soulful performance that should all but ensure a spot on next year’s Oscar ballot." Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper each had Kill Bill Vol. 2 on their top ten list for of Academy Awards predictions. Although the films received no notice from the Academy, Carradine did receive a Golden Globe nomination and a Saturn Award, for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bill.

The actor, who once received an award for being the hardest working member of his profession in Hollywood, still had approximately a dozen projects in "post-production" at the time of his death in 2009. Most of these roles were cameos or small parts in independent, direct to DVD, productions. Perhaps his last leading role was in Golden Boys (AKA: Chatham, 2008). Although the film had some solid features, including Carradine's performance, critics found the plot dull. It had only a limited theater run before its release on DVD, and received no critical acclaim.
Television appearances

Carradine attracted notice, in 1985, when he appeared in a supporting role in North and South, a miniseries about the American Civil War with a large ensemble cast that included Patrick Swayze in a leading role. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He also appeared in North and South, Book II, telecast in May 1986.

In addition, he was featured in a Lipton tea commercial, which first aired during the broadcast of Super Bowl XXVIII. The advertisement paid tribute to The Three Stooges while satirizing his role in Kung Fu. In 2001, he appeared in the episode The Serpent of the syndicated tv series Queen of Swords as the sword wielding bandit El Serpiente filmed at Texas Hollywood studio's, home of many spaghetti westerns, Southern Spain. He took over hosting duties from his brother Keith on Wild West Tech on the History Channel, in 2005. By 2006, he had become the spokesman for Yellowbook, a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States.
Directing career

‎Carradine made his directorial debut on three episodes of Kung Fu. While still performing on Kung Fu, he tried his hand at directing some independent projects of his own. Americana (1983), took ten years to complete due to difficulty in financing. It featured Carradine in the starring role and several of his friends and family members in supporting roles. The film won the People's Choice Award at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, but failed to achieve critical support or adequate distribution. Other directorial attempts included You and Me (1975), and two unreleased productions: Mata Hari, an epic that starred his daughter, Calista, and a short musical called A Country Mile.
Martial artist

Carradine knew nothing of the practice of kung fu at the time he was cast in the role of Kwai Chang Caine, instead he relied on his experience as a dancer for the part. He had also had experience in sword fighting, boxing and street fighting on which to draw. For the first half of the original series,Chow provided technical assistance with kung fu. Later,Kam Yuen provided the expertise. It was not until after the series was canceled that Carradine began to study the martial arts, first from Yuen and eventually from Rob Moses, a student of Yuen's. He never considered himself a "master" of the art, but as an "evangelist" of kung fu. By 2003 he had acquired enough expertise in the martial arts to produce and star in several instructional videos on Tai chi and Qi Gong.
Music career

In addition to his acting career, David Carradine was a talented musician. He sang and played the piano, the guitar and the flute among other instruments. His musical talents were often integrated into his screen performances. He performed several of Woody Guthrie's songs for the movie Bound for Glory. For the Kung Fu series he made flutes out of bamboo that he had planted on the Warner's Brother's lot which he played on the program. He later made several flutes for the movie Circle of Iron (AKA The Silent Flute) one of which he later played in Kill Bill. Carradine wrote and performed the theme songs for at least two movies that he starred in, Americana, and Sonny Boy. The first line from the Sonny Boy theme, Paint, which he wrote while filming Americana in Drury, Kansas in 1973, is engraved on his headstone. He wrote and performed several songs for American Reel (2003) and wrote the score for You and Me. He and his brother, Robert, also performed with a band, the Cosmic Rescue Team (AKA Soul Dogs). The band primarily performed in small venues and benefits.

Shortly before his death, Carradine co-produced and appeared in a full length documentary about luthier Stuart Mossman. The film, which was released in 2009, featured David, Keith and Robert Carradine performing their music on Mossman guitars.
Reports of arrests and prosecutions

By his own account, in the late 1950s, while he was living in San Francisco, young John A. Carradine was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He pleaded to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace. While in the Army (1960–62) he faced court-martial, on more than one occasion, for shoplifting. After he became an established actor, and had changed his name to David, he was arrested, in 1967, for possession of marijuana.

At the height of his popularity in Kung Fu, in 1974, David Carradine was arrested again, this time for attempted burglary and malicious mischief. While under the influence of peyote, Carradine, nude, began wandering around his Laurel Canyon neighborhood. He broke into a neighbor's home, breaking a window and cutting his arm. He then bled all over the homeowners piano. At some time during this episode he accosted two young women, allegedly assaulting one while asking, or demanding of her, if she was a witch. The police literally followed a trail of blood to his home. The burglary charges were dropped, as nothing was found to be missing, while Carradine pleaded "no contest" to the mischief charge and was given probation. He was never charged with assault, but the young woman sued him for $1.1 million and was awarded $20,000.

In 1980, while in South Africa filming Safari 3000 (AKA: Rally), which co-starred Stockard Channing, Carradine was arrested for possession of marijuana. He was convicted and given a suspended sentence. He claimed that he was framed, in this case, by the Apartheid government as he had been seen dancing with Tina Turner.

During the 1980s Carradine was arrested at least twice for driving under the influence of alcohol, once in 1984 and again in 1989. In the second case, Carradine pleaded "no contest". Of this incident The L.A. Times reported "legal experts say Carradine was handed a harsher-than-average sentence, even for a second-time offender: three years' summary probation, 48 hours in jail, 100 hours of community service, 30 days' work picking up trash for the California Department of Transportation, attendance at a drunk driving awareness meeting and completion of an alcohol rehabilitation program."
Personal life

Shortly after being drafted into the Army, in 1960, David Carradine proposed marriage to Donna Lee Becht (born September 26, 1937). whom he met while they were students at Oakland High School. They were married on Christmas Day that year. She lived with him off base in Virginia, while he was stationed at Fort Eustis. In April, 1962, she gave birth to their daughter, Calista. After his discharge, they lived in New York as David established his acting career appearing on Broadway in The Deputy and Royal Hunt of the Sun. The marriage dissolved in 1968. Carradine left New York at that point and headed back to California to continue his television and film careers.

In 1969, he met Barbara Hershey while the two of them were working on Heaven With a Gun. The pair began a domestic relationship that would last until 1975. They appeared in other films together including Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha. In 1972 they appeared in a nude Playboy spread, recreating some sex scenes from Boxcar Bertha. That year Hershey gave birth to their son, Free (who later changed his name to Tom, much to his father's chagrin). The relationship fell apart, around the time of his 1974 burglary arrest, when Carradine began an affair with Season Hubley who had guest starred on Kung Fu. He was engaged to Hubley for a time, but they did not marry.

Carradine married his second wife, Linda, (née Linda Anne Gilbert, born March 16, 1950) the former wife of The Byrds lead guitarist, Roger McGuinn, in a civil ceremony, in Munich, Germany, immediately following the filming of The Serpent's Egg, in February, 1977. Their daughter, Kansas was born April 19, 1978. This marriage ended in divorce as did the two that followed. He was married to Gail Jensen, from 1988–1997, who died in April, 2010, at the age of 60, of an alcohol related illness. He was also married to Marina Anderson from 1998-2001. By this time, Carradine had proclaimed himself to be a "serial monogamist".

On December 26, 2004, Carradine married the widowed Annie Bierman (née Anne Kirstie Fraser, born December 21, 1960) at the seaside Malibu home of his friend, Michael Madsen. Vicki Roberts, his attorney and longtime friend of his wife, performed the ceremony. With this marriage he acquired three stepdaughters, Amanda Eckelberry (born November 29, 1989), Madeleine Rose (born April 4, 1995) and Olivia Juliette (born 1998) and a stepson, Max Richard (born 1998).
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Kung Fu star Carradine found dead in Bangkok hotel

On June 4, 2009, David Carradine was found dead in his room at the Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel on Wireless Road, near Sukhumvit Road, in central Bangkok, Thailand. He was in Bangkok to shoot his latest film, Stretch. A police official said Carradine was found hanging by a rope in the room's closet, causing immediate speculation that his death was suicide. However, evidence suggested that his death was the result of autoerotic asphyxiation. Two autopsies were conducted and concluded that the death was not caused by suicide. The cause of death became widely accepted as "accidental asphyxiation".

Immediately following his death, two of Carradine's ex-wives, Gail Jensen and Marina Anderson, stated publicly that his sexual interests included the practice of self-bondage. Anderson, who had plans to publish a tell-all book about her marriage to Carradine, said in an interview with Access Hollywood, "There was a dark side to David, there was a very intense side to David. People around him know that." Previously in her divorce filing she had claimed that "It was the continuation of abhorrent and deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly."

Photographs, supposedly of Carradine at the death scene, as well as photographs of his autopsied body, were widely circulated in newspapers and on the Internet. Finally, his family, represented by his brothers, Keith and Robert, pleaded with the public and the press to let them mourn their loved one in peace.

Carradine's funeral was held on June 13, 2009 in Los Angeles. His bamboo casket was carried in a white hearse from Groman Eden Mortuary to his burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Among the many stars and family members that attended his private memorial were Lucy Liu, Tom Selleck, Frances Fisher, James Cromwell, Steve Railsback, and Chris Potter. His grave was marked on December 3, 2009. The monument proclaimed him to be "The Barefoot Legend" and included a quote from "Paint", a song he wrote and performed as the theme to Sonny Boy, as an epitaph.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1965 Taggart Cal Dodge
1967 The Violent Ones Lucas Barnes
1969 Heaven with a Gun Coke Beck
Young Billy Young Jesse Boone
1972 Boxcar Bertha 'Big' Bill Shelly
1973 The Long Goodbye Dave aka Socrates — Marlowe's Cellmate Uncredited
Mean Streets Drunk
1975 Death Race 2000 Frankenstein
1976 Cannonball Coy 'Cannonball' Buckman
Bound for Glory Woody Guthrie National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1977 The Serpent's Egg Abel Rosenberg
Thunder and Lightning Harley Thomas
1978 Deathsport Kaz Oshay
Circle of Iron The Blind Man/Monkeyman/ Death/Changsha
Gray Lady Down Capt. Gates
1980 The Long Riders Cole Younger With brothers Keith and Robert
1982 Q Detective Shepard Alternative titles: Q: The Winged Serpent
Serpent
The Winged Serpent
Trick Or Treats Richard
Safari 3000 Eddie Mills
1983 Lone Wolf McQuade Rawley Wilkes
1984 The Warrior and the Sorceress Kain
1986 P.O.W. The Escape Col. James Cooper Alternative titles: Behind the Enemy Lines
Attack Force 'Nam
1988 Tropical Snow Oskar
1989 Night Children Max
1989 Sonny Boy
1990 Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat Jozek Mardulak/Count Dracula
Bird on a Wire Sorenson
1991 Karate Cop Dad
Martial Law Dalton Rhodes
1992 Evil Toons Gideon Fisk
Roadside Prophets Othello
Waxwork II: Lost in Time The Beggar
1998 Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror Luke Enright
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island Chief Wulisso Voice only
1999 American Reel James Lee Springer
2000 Down 'n Dirty Gil Garner
2002 Balto II: Wolf Quest Nava the Wolf Shaman Voice only
2003 Kill Bill: Vol. I Bill
2004 Kill Bill: Volume II Bill Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Hair High Mr. Snerz Voice only
Dead & Breakfast Mr. Wise
2007 Homo Erectus Mookoo
Epic Movie The Curator
Fall Down Dead Wade
Camille Cowboy Bob
How to Rob a Bank Nick
Fuego Lobo
Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon Grand Master
2008 Big Stan The Master
Richard III Buckingham
Hell Ride The Deuce
Last Hour Detective Mike Stone
Death Race Frankenstein (Voice)
My Suicide Vargas
Kung Fu Killer Crane
Kandisha The American
2009 Absolute Evil Raf McCane
Crank: High Voltage Poon Dong
The Golden Boys Captain Zeb
Road of No Return Mr. Hover
2010 True Legend Anton
Stretch Devon Saymout Final performance. David Morris reprised his role in the final scenes of the movie.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1963 East Side/West Side Hal Sewoski 1 episode
1964 The Virginian The Utah Kid 1 episode
1965 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Fitzhugh 1 episode
1966 Shane Shane 16 episodes
1967 Cimarron Strip Gene Gauge 1 episode The Hunted
Johnny Belinda Locky Television movie
1970 The Name of the Game Jason 1 episode
1971 Gunsmoke Clint 1 episode
1972–1975 Kung Fu Kwai Chang Caine Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
1979 Mr. Horn Tom Horn Television movie
1981 Darkroom Biker/Hitchhiker 1 episode
1984 Airwolf Dr. Robert Winchester 1 episode
1985 North and South Justin LaMotte Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
1986 Kung Fu: The Movie Kwai Chang Caine Television movie
1987 Night Heat Calvin 1 episode
1990 The Young Riders The Buzzard Eater 1 episode
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw Caine Television movie
1993–1997 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Kwai Chang Caine 88 episodes
1997 Last Stand at Saber River Duane Kidston Television movie
1999 Charmed Tempus 1 episode
2001 Queen of Swords El Serpiente 2 episodes
Warden of Red Rock Mike Sullivan Television movie
Lizzie McGuire Himself 1 Episode Between a Rock and a Bra Place
2002 The Outsider Haines Television movie
King of the Hill Junichiro Hill (voice) 2 episodes
2003–2004 Alias Conrad 2 episodes
2003–2005 Wild West Tech Host 21 Episodes (only host for Season 2 & 3)
2005–2006 Danny Phantom Clockwork (Voice) 2 episodes
2006 Medium Jessica's Brother 1 episode
2007 In Case of Emergency Guru Danny 1 episode
2008 Son of the Dragon Bird Miniseries
2009 Mental Gideon Graham 1 episode
Celebrity Ghost Storries himself 1 episode
Awards and honors

    * 1966 Theatre World Award, Royal Hunt of the Sun
    * 1974 TP de Oro,Spain. Best Foreign Actor, Kung Fu
    * 1997 Gold Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Television
    * 1998: Honoree — The 16th Annual Golden Boot Awards (along with brothers Keith and Robert)
    * 2005: Action On Film International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award — First annual recipient
    * 2005: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actor, Kill Bill
    * 2008 Honoree- Walk of Western Stars
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/speed2794/carradine_david.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d122/ForestBalrog/David-Carradine_8.jpg


A legend gone too soon.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 7:57 am


A legend gone too soon.  :(

Yes sadly and tragically by his own accord.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/03/10 at 10:50 am

Ah, Gwasshoppa, if you can pull the pebbles from my hand...



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/03/10 at 10:55 am


Ah, Gwasshoppa, if you can pull the pebbles from my hand...



Cat

That brings me back to a time that seems far far away in a different world almost. Kung Fu. Quite popular among the young guys back then.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 12:16 pm


That brings me back to a time that seems far far away in a different world almost. Kung Fu. Quite popular among the young guys back then.

I don't remember watching too many episodes, most be my parents didn't like the show that much.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/03/10 at 2:45 pm


The person who died on this day...David Carradine
David Carradine (December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009)  was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu  and its 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was a member of a productive acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific "B" movie  actor,  he appeared in more than 100 feature films  and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.  The latest nomination was for his part in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was also a musician and pursued a directing career. Influenced by his most popular acting role, he studied martial arts.

The child of a frequently married actor, "Jack", as Carradine was known in his youth, had an unstable childhood. This instability would continue throughout his life as he himself was married several times. He was also frequently arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses which often involved substance abuse. His death occurred in June 2009, under unusual circumstances.
He was born John Arthur Carradine in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle "Abigail" (née McCool)  and noted American actor John Carradine.  He was a brother of Bruce,  half-brother of Keith, Christopher and Robert Carradine, and an uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. He was the great-grandson of Methodist evangelical author Beverly Carradine and the grandnephew of artist Will Foster.

"Jack" Carradine's formative years were turbulent. Both of his parents repeatedly married. He was the product of his mother's second marriage of three, and his father's first of four. At the time his parents married each other, his mother already had a son, Bruce, by her first husband, whom John adopted. John Carradine planned a large family but, his son explained in his autobiography, after his wife had had a series of miscarriages, he discovered that she had had repeated "coat hanger" abortions, without his knowledge, which rendered her unable to carry a baby to full term. It was with this backdrop of marital discord that at the age of 5, Jack almost succeeded in committing suicide by hanging. He said that the incident followed his discovery that he and Bruce had different biological fathers. He added that, " My father saved me, and then confiscated my comic book collection and burned it — which was scarcely the point".

After only three years of marriage, Ardenelle Carradine filed for divorce from John, but the couple remained married for another five years. Divorce finally came in 1944, when Jack was seven years old. His father left California to avoid court action in the alimony settlement. After the couple engaged in a series of court battles involving child custody and alimony, which at one point landed John in jail, Jack joined his father in New York City. By this time his father had remarried. For the next few years he was shuffled between boarding schools, foster homes and reform school. He also would often accompany his father while the elder performed summer theater through out the Northeast. He spent time in Massachusetts and even one miserable winter milking cows on a farm in Vermont.

Eventually, Carradine returned to California where he graduated from Oakland High School. He attended Oakland Junior College for a year before transferring to San Francisco State College (SFSC) where he studied drama and music theory. There he wrote music for the drama department's annual revues while juggling work at menial jobs, a fledgling stage acting career and his studies. After he dropped out of SFSC, Carradine spent some time with the "beatniks" of San Francisco's North Beach and Venice, California. During this time he collected unemployment insurance and sold baby pictures. He was also prosecuted for disturbing the peace.

Despite an attempt to dodge the draft, in 1960 Carradine was inducted into the United States Army where he drew pictures for training aids. That Christmas he married his high school sweetheart, Donna Lee Becht. While stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia he helped to establish a theater company which became known as the "entertainment unit". He met fellow inductee, Larry Cohen, who later cast him in Q, The Winged Serpent. He also faced court-martial for shoplifting. In 1962, Donna gave birth to their daughter, Calista. Carradine was honorably discharged after a two-year tour.
Film and television career
Early successes

Upon leaving the Army, Carradine became serious about his acting pursuits. It was at that time that he was advised to change his name to avoid confusion with his famous father. In 1963, he made his television debut on an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre. Several other television roles were to follow including appearances on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, andThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He made his feature film debut in 1964 in Taggart, a western based on a novel by Louis L'Amour.

His first "big break", however, came with his second Broadway part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, a play by Peter Shaffer about the destruction of the Inca empire by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He said of this performance, "Many of the important roles that I got later on were because the guy who was going to hire me was in that audience and had his mind blown." For that part, Carradine won a Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance in 1965.

With the closing of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and the failing of his marriage, Carradine left New York and headed back to California. He returned to TV to star in the short-lived series Shane, a 1966 western based upon a 1949 novel of the same name and previously filmed in 1953.

In 1971, Carradine featured in "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring" with Sally Field and a soundtrack by Linda Ronstadt. Carradine played the part of a bearded, drug-abusing, hippie car-thief named "Flack" who enjoyed just drifting around with teen runaway "Dennie" (Field). Early in the film, "Dennie" gets discouraged with the road life and tries to return to her dysfunctional family with "Flack" drifting along after her.

In 1972, he co-starred as 'Big' Bill Shelly in one of Martin Scorsese's earliest films Boxcar Bertha, which starred Barbara Hershey, his domestic partner at the time (see Personal life). This was one of several Roger Corman productions in which he was to appear. It was also one of a handful of acting collaborations he made with his father, John.
Kung Fu
David Carradine as Caine in the original Kung Fu

For three seasons, David Carradine starred as a half Chinese, half European Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine on the A.B.C. hit TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975) and was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for the role. The show, which took place in the "Old West", helped to popularize the martial arts and East Asian philosophy in Europe and North America and immortalized the character of Kwai Chang Caine, popularly referred to as "Grasshopper",.

Although the choice of a European man to play the role of Kwai Chang Caine stirred controversy, the show served as steady employment for several East Asian actors in the U.S. In addition to Keye Luke and Philip Ahn, who held leading roles in the cast as Caine's Shaolin masters, Robert Ito, James Hong, Benson Fong, Richard Loo and Victor Sen Yung frequently appeared in the series. Kung Fu ended when Carradine quit to pursue a movie career, but he reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in 1986 in Kung Fu: The Movie. Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, in his acting debut, portrayed his son.

Early in the 1990s, Carradine once again reprised the role of Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993–97) playing the grandson of the original character of the same name. Carradine starred in the program and served as Executive Producer and Director. The program offered him the opportunity to recreate the character for which he was most widely recognized. Also starring on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues was an unfamiliar struggling actor, spokesman and singer from Toronto, Chris Potter. During this time Carradine's alcoholism escalated and he entred alcohol rehabilitation. The show was canceled in 1997, after 4 seasons, and 88 episodes.
Movie career

Immediately following the Kung Fu series, Carradine accepted the role as the race car driver, Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975), he said, to "kill the image of Caine and launch a movie career", The Roger Corman exploitation film became a cult classic. It was based on Ib Melchior's first science fiction work, a short story called The Racer.
David Carradine, as Woody Guthrie, in Bound for Glory

In 1976, Carradine earned critical praise for his portrayal of folksinger Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976) for which he won a National Board of Review Award for Best Actor. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and New York Film Critics Circle Award for his role as Guthrie.

Next came the role of the alcoholic, unemployed trapeze artist, Abel Rosenberg in The Serpent's Egg (1977). Set in post-World War I Berlin The Serpent's Egg, which also starred Liv Ullman, is the only English language film made by legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman said of his leading man, "I don't believe in God, but Heaven must have sent him." Carradine said that he and Bergman had plans for further collaboration, but the director's affection for the actor waned when the latter passionately protested a scene which included the butchering of a horse. The altercation caused Carradine to question the fate of Bergman's soul while the director declared, "Little Brother, I am an old whore. I have shot two other horses, burned one and strangled a dog."

When Bruce Lee died in 1973, he left an unreleased movie script that he had developed with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant called The Silent Flute. The script became Circle of Iron (1978) and in the film Carradine played the four roles that were originally intended for Lee. Carradine considered this to be among his best work.

In 1980, the thespian appeared in an ensemble cast, which included his half-brothers, Keith and Robert Carradine, in The Long Riders (1980). The cast also included three other brother/actor groupings: Stacy and James Keach, Dennis and Randy Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guest. The movie, which was about the Jesse James gang, gave Carradine, who played Cole Younger, one of his most memorable roles.
Carradine at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival

Throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, David Carradine's acting career suffered a decline. Although he continued to amass movie and television credits, few of his roles garnered much attention. Most of his work was issued straight to video. However, a few of his movies, such as The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1990) and Sonny Boy (1989), developed cult followings. In 1997, Carradine was awarded a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame". The presenters played an "April Fool's Day" prank on him by first unveiling a star that had the name of his brother, Robert, on it.
Carradine signing autographs in Malmö, 2005

Carradine enjoyed a revival of his notoriety when he was cast in Quentin Tarantino's sequential Kill Bill movies, in 2003 and 2004. Among those who thought his portrayal of the assassin extraordinaire, Bill, AKA: "The Snake Charmer", would earn him an Oscar nod was Scott Mantz, of The Mediadrome, who said, "Carradine practically steals every scene he’s in with confident gusto, and he gives a soulful performance that should all but ensure a spot on next year’s Oscar ballot." Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper each had Kill Bill Vol. 2 on their top ten list for of Academy Awards predictions. Although the films received no notice from the Academy, Carradine did receive a Golden Globe nomination and a Saturn Award, for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bill.

The actor, who once received an award for being the hardest working member of his profession in Hollywood, still had approximately a dozen projects in "post-production" at the time of his death in 2009. Most of these roles were cameos or small parts in independent, direct to DVD, productions. Perhaps his last leading role was in Golden Boys (AKA: Chatham, 2008). Although the film had some solid features, including Carradine's performance, critics found the plot dull. It had only a limited theater run before its release on DVD, and received no critical acclaim.
Television appearances

Carradine attracted notice, in 1985, when he appeared in a supporting role in North and South, a miniseries about the American Civil War with a large ensemble cast that included Patrick Swayze in a leading role. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He also appeared in North and South, Book II, telecast in May 1986.

In addition, he was featured in a Lipton tea commercial, which first aired during the broadcast of Super Bowl XXVIII. The advertisement paid tribute to The Three Stooges while satirizing his role in Kung Fu. In 2001, he appeared in the episode The Serpent of the syndicated tv series Queen of Swords as the sword wielding bandit El Serpiente filmed at Texas Hollywood studio's, home of many spaghetti westerns, Southern Spain. He took over hosting duties from his brother Keith on Wild West Tech on the History Channel, in 2005. By 2006, he had become the spokesman for Yellowbook, a publisher of independent telephone directories in the United States.
Directing career

‎Carradine made his directorial debut on three episodes of Kung Fu. While still performing on Kung Fu, he tried his hand at directing some independent projects of his own. Americana (1983), took ten years to complete due to difficulty in financing. It featured Carradine in the starring role and several of his friends and family members in supporting roles. The film won the People's Choice Award at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, but failed to achieve critical support or adequate distribution. Other directorial attempts included You and Me (1975), and two unreleased productions: Mata Hari, an epic that starred his daughter, Calista, and a short musical called A Country Mile.
Martial artist

Carradine knew nothing of the practice of kung fu at the time he was cast in the role of Kwai Chang Caine, instead he relied on his experience as a dancer for the part. He had also had experience in sword fighting, boxing and street fighting on which to draw. For the first half of the original series,Chow provided technical assistance with kung fu. Later,Kam Yuen provided the expertise. It was not until after the series was canceled that Carradine began to study the martial arts, first from Yuen and eventually from Rob Moses, a student of Yuen's. He never considered himself a "master" of the art, but as an "evangelist" of kung fu. By 2003 he had acquired enough expertise in the martial arts to produce and star in several instructional videos on Tai chi and Qi Gong.
Music career

In addition to his acting career, David Carradine was a talented musician. He sang and played the piano, the guitar and the flute among other instruments. His musical talents were often integrated into his screen performances. He performed several of Woody Guthrie's songs for the movie Bound for Glory. For the Kung Fu series he made flutes out of bamboo that he had planted on the Warner's Brother's lot which he played on the program. He later made several flutes for the movie Circle of Iron (AKA The Silent Flute) one of which he later played in Kill Bill. Carradine wrote and performed the theme songs for at least two movies that he starred in, Americana, and Sonny Boy. The first line from the Sonny Boy theme, Paint, which he wrote while filming Americana in Drury, Kansas in 1973, is engraved on his headstone. He wrote and performed several songs for American Reel (2003) and wrote the score for You and Me. He and his brother, Robert, also performed with a band, the Cosmic Rescue Team (AKA Soul Dogs). The band primarily performed in small venues and benefits.

Shortly before his death, Carradine co-produced and appeared in a full length documentary about luthier Stuart Mossman. The film, which was released in 2009, featured David, Keith and Robert Carradine performing their music on Mossman guitars.
Reports of arrests and prosecutions

By his own account, in the late 1950s, while he was living in San Francisco, young John A. Carradine was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He pleaded to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace. While in the Army (1960–62) he faced court-martial, on more than one occasion, for shoplifting. After he became an established actor, and had changed his name to David, he was arrested, in 1967, for possession of marijuana.

At the height of his popularity in Kung Fu, in 1974, David Carradine was arrested again, this time for attempted burglary and malicious mischief. While under the influence of peyote, Carradine, nude, began wandering around his Laurel Canyon neighborhood. He broke into a neighbor's home, breaking a window and cutting his arm. He then bled all over the homeowners piano. At some time during this episode he accosted two young women, allegedly assaulting one while asking, or demanding of her, if she was a witch. The police literally followed a trail of blood to his home. The burglary charges were dropped, as nothing was found to be missing, while Carradine pleaded "no contest" to the mischief charge and was given probation. He was never charged with assault, but the young woman sued him for $1.1 million and was awarded $20,000.

In 1980, while in South Africa filming Safari 3000 (AKA: Rally), which co-starred Stockard Channing, Carradine was arrested for possession of marijuana. He was convicted and given a suspended sentence. He claimed that he was framed, in this case, by the Apartheid government as he had been seen dancing with Tina Turner.

During the 1980s Carradine was arrested at least twice for driving under the influence of alcohol, once in 1984 and again in 1989. In the second case, Carradine pleaded "no contest". Of this incident The L.A. Times reported "legal experts say Carradine was handed a harsher-than-average sentence, even for a second-time offender: three years' summary probation, 48 hours in jail, 100 hours of community service, 30 days' work picking up trash for the California Department of Transportation, attendance at a drunk driving awareness meeting and completion of an alcohol rehabilitation program."
Personal life

Shortly after being drafted into the Army, in 1960, David Carradine proposed marriage to Donna Lee Becht (born September 26, 1937). whom he met while they were students at Oakland High School. They were married on Christmas Day that year. She lived with him off base in Virginia, while he was stationed at Fort Eustis. In April, 1962, she gave birth to their daughter, Calista. After his discharge, they lived in New York as David established his acting career appearing on Broadway in The Deputy and Royal Hunt of the Sun. The marriage dissolved in 1968. Carradine left New York at that point and headed back to California to continue his television and film careers.

In 1969, he met Barbara Hershey while the two of them were working on Heaven With a Gun. The pair began a domestic relationship that would last until 1975. They appeared in other films together including Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha. In 1972 they appeared in a nude Playboy spread, recreating some sex scenes from Boxcar Bertha. That year Hershey gave birth to their son, Free (who later changed his name to Tom, much to his father's chagrin). The relationship fell apart, around the time of his 1974 burglary arrest, when Carradine began an affair with Season Hubley who had guest starred on Kung Fu. He was engaged to Hubley for a time, but they did not marry.

Carradine married his second wife, Linda, (née Linda Anne Gilbert, born March 16, 1950) the former wife of The Byrds lead guitarist, Roger McGuinn, in a civil ceremony, in Munich, Germany, immediately following the filming of The Serpent's Egg, in February, 1977. Their daughter, Kansas was born April 19, 1978. This marriage ended in divorce as did the two that followed. He was married to Gail Jensen, from 1988–1997, who died in April, 2010, at the age of 60, of an alcohol related illness. He was also married to Marina Anderson from 1998-2001. By this time, Carradine had proclaimed himself to be a "serial monogamist".

On December 26, 2004, Carradine married the widowed Annie Bierman (née Anne Kirstie Fraser, born December 21, 1960) at the seaside Malibu home of his friend, Michael Madsen. Vicki Roberts, his attorney and longtime friend of his wife, performed the ceremony. With this marriage he acquired three stepdaughters, Amanda Eckelberry (born November 29, 1989), Madeleine Rose (born April 4, 1995) and Olivia Juliette (born 1998) and a stepson, Max Richard (born 1998).
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Kung Fu star Carradine found dead in Bangkok hotel

On June 4, 2009, David Carradine was found dead in his room at the Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel on Wireless Road, near Sukhumvit Road, in central Bangkok, Thailand. He was in Bangkok to shoot his latest film, Stretch. A police official said Carradine was found hanging by a rope in the room's closet, causing immediate speculation that his death was suicide. However, evidence suggested that his death was the result of autoerotic asphyxiation. Two autopsies were conducted and concluded that the death was not caused by suicide. The cause of death became widely accepted as "accidental asphyxiation".

Immediately following his death, two of Carradine's ex-wives, Gail Jensen and Marina Anderson, stated publicly that his sexual interests included the practice of self-bondage. Anderson, who had plans to publish a tell-all book about her marriage to Carradine, said in an interview with Access Hollywood, "There was a dark side to David, there was a very intense side to David. People around him know that." Previously in her divorce filing she had claimed that "It was the continuation of abhorrent and deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly."

Photographs, supposedly of Carradine at the death scene, as well as photographs of his autopsied body, were widely circulated in newspapers and on the Internet. Finally, his family, represented by his brothers, Keith and Robert, pleaded with the public and the press to let them mourn their loved one in peace.

Carradine's funeral was held on June 13, 2009 in Los Angeles. His bamboo casket was carried in a white hearse from Groman Eden Mortuary to his burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Among the many stars and family members that attended his private memorial were Lucy Liu, Tom Selleck, Frances Fisher, James Cromwell, Steve Railsback, and Chris Potter. His grave was marked on December 3, 2009. The monument proclaimed him to be "The Barefoot Legend" and included a quote from "Paint", a song he wrote and performed as the theme to Sonny Boy, as an epitaph.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1965 Taggart Cal Dodge
1967 The Violent Ones Lucas Barnes
1969 Heaven with a Gun Coke Beck
Young Billy Young Jesse Boone
1972 Boxcar Bertha 'Big' Bill Shelly
1973 The Long Goodbye Dave aka Socrates — Marlowe's Cellmate Uncredited
Mean Streets Drunk
1975 Death Race 2000 Frankenstein
1976 Cannonball Coy 'Cannonball' Buckman
Bound for Glory Woody Guthrie National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1977 The Serpent's Egg Abel Rosenberg
Thunder and Lightning Harley Thomas
1978 Deathsport Kaz Oshay
Circle of Iron The Blind Man/Monkeyman/ Death/Changsha
Gray Lady Down Capt. Gates
1980 The Long Riders Cole Younger With brothers Keith and Robert
1982 Q Detective Shepard Alternative titles: Q: The Winged Serpent
Serpent
The Winged Serpent
Trick Or Treats Richard
Safari 3000 Eddie Mills
1983 Lone Wolf McQuade Rawley Wilkes
1984 The Warrior and the Sorceress Kain
1986 P.O.W. The Escape Col. James Cooper Alternative titles: Behind the Enemy Lines
Attack Force 'Nam
1988 Tropical Snow Oskar
1989 Night Children Max
1989 Sonny Boy
1990 Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat Jozek Mardulak/Count Dracula
Bird on a Wire Sorenson
1991 Karate Cop Dad
Martial Law Dalton Rhodes
1992 Evil Toons Gideon Fisk
Roadside Prophets Othello
Waxwork II: Lost in Time The Beggar
1998 Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror Luke Enright
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island Chief Wulisso Voice only
1999 American Reel James Lee Springer
2000 Down 'n Dirty Gil Garner
2002 Balto II: Wolf Quest Nava the Wolf Shaman Voice only
2003 Kill Bill: Vol. I Bill
2004 Kill Bill: Volume II Bill Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Hair High Mr. Snerz Voice only
Dead & Breakfast Mr. Wise
2007 Homo Erectus Mookoo
Epic Movie The Curator
Fall Down Dead Wade
Camille Cowboy Bob
How to Rob a Bank Nick
Fuego Lobo
Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon Grand Master
2008 Big Stan The Master
Richard III Buckingham
Hell Ride The Deuce
Last Hour Detective Mike Stone
Death Race Frankenstein (Voice)
My Suicide Vargas
Kung Fu Killer Crane
Kandisha The American
2009 Absolute Evil Raf McCane
Crank: High Voltage Poon Dong
The Golden Boys Captain Zeb
Road of No Return Mr. Hover
2010 True Legend Anton
Stretch Devon Saymout Final performance. David Morris reprised his role in the final scenes of the movie.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1963 East Side/West Side Hal Sewoski 1 episode
1964 The Virginian The Utah Kid 1 episode
1965 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Fitzhugh 1 episode
1966 Shane Shane 16 episodes
1967 Cimarron Strip Gene Gauge 1 episode The Hunted
Johnny Belinda Locky Television movie
1970 The Name of the Game Jason 1 episode
1971 Gunsmoke Clint 1 episode
1972–1975 Kung Fu Kwai Chang Caine Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
1979 Mr. Horn Tom Horn Television movie
1981 Darkroom Biker/Hitchhiker 1 episode
1984 Airwolf Dr. Robert Winchester 1 episode
1985 North and South Justin LaMotte Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
1986 Kung Fu: The Movie Kwai Chang Caine Television movie
1987 Night Heat Calvin 1 episode
1990 The Young Riders The Buzzard Eater 1 episode
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw Caine Television movie
1993–1997 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Kwai Chang Caine 88 episodes
1997 Last Stand at Saber River Duane Kidston Television movie
1999 Charmed Tempus 1 episode
2001 Queen of Swords El Serpiente 2 episodes
Warden of Red Rock Mike Sullivan Television movie
Lizzie McGuire Himself 1 Episode Between a Rock and a Bra Place
2002 The Outsider Haines Television movie
King of the Hill Junichiro Hill (voice) 2 episodes
2003–2004 Alias Conrad 2 episodes
2003–2005 Wild West Tech Host 21 Episodes (only host for Season 2 & 3)
2005–2006 Danny Phantom Clockwork (Voice) 2 episodes
2006 Medium Jessica's Brother 1 episode
2007 In Case of Emergency Guru Danny 1 episode
2008 Son of the Dragon Bird Miniseries
2009 Mental Gideon Graham 1 episode
Celebrity Ghost Storries himself 1 episode
Awards and honors

    * 1966 Theatre World Award, Royal Hunt of the Sun
    * 1974 TP de Oro,Spain. Best Foreign Actor, Kung Fu
    * 1997 Gold Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Television
    * 1998: Honoree — The 16th Annual Golden Boot Awards (along with brothers Keith and Robert)
    * 2005: Action On Film International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award — First annual recipient
    * 2005: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actor, Kill Bill
    * 2008 Honoree- Walk of Western Stars
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/speed2794/carradine_david.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d122/ForestBalrog/David-Carradine_8.jpg
Many years ago I met DC and got his autograph!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/03/10 at 3:05 pm


Many years ago I met DC and got his autograph!

Nice!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/03/10 at 3:12 pm


Nice!
...and I am holding onto it!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/03/10 at 3:17 pm


...and I am holding onto it!

Do you have autographs of other famous celebs?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/03/10 at 3:26 pm


Do you have autographs of other famous celebs?
Some, but now I have given up chasing!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/03/10 at 3:28 pm


Some, but now I have given up chasing!

Same as I.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/03/10 at 3:47 pm


Same as I.
My reason....

too old!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/03/10 at 3:49 pm


My reason....

too old!

That's one of my reason.
2nd: Couldn't be bothered , they are only celebs.
And life gets in the way, no time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/03/10 at 3:57 pm


Do you have autographs of other famous celebs?



If I get autographs, I try to get autographs of authors on their books. I have many signed copies of books.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 4:11 pm


Many years ago I met DC and got his autograph!

Nice!

Yes very nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 4:13 pm



If I get autographs, I try to get autographs of authors on their books. I have many signed copies of books.



Cat

Now that is interesting. I've never been to a book signing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/03/10 at 4:46 pm


Now that is interesting. I've never been to a book signing.



I am kicking myself because when Howard Zinn came this way, I didn't bring my copy of his book to have it signed like some people did. Now I will never be able to have it signed.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/10 at 4:56 pm



I am kicking myself because when Howard Zinn came this way, I didn't bring my copy of his book to have it signed like some people did. Now I will never be able to have it signed.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Sorry :(
The last person that I even knew that came around my area was Sarah Palin and I wasn't interested in meeting her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/03/10 at 5:17 pm


Sorry :(
The last person that I even knew that came around my area was Sarah Palin and I wasn't interested in meeting her.



I don't blame you there. Most of my signed books are from local authors-usually about local history. I do have Chucky's book signed. Oh yeah, and a few family members like my grandmother's cookbook and my sister's doll books.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/03/10 at 7:12 pm


...and I am holding onto it!


with his signature?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/04/10 at 6:10 am

The word of the day...Barbershop
A place where barbers work
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p154/duceswild3/archie_campbells-barbershop.jpg
http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/rr39/W4nzz/barber-pole-01.gif
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af161/filelegend/Barbershop.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/shrekuno/OakCliffBarberShop.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii341/yellobrick/barbershop.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/jcbarsa/barbershop.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/04/10 at 6:14 am

The person of the day...Keith David
Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956), better known as Keith David, is an American film, television, and voice actor, and rapper. He is perhaps most known for his live action roles in such films as Crash, There's Something About Mary, Barbershop and Men at Work. He has also had memorable roles in numerous cult favorites, including John Carpenter's films The Thing (as Childs) and They Live (as Armitage), the Riddick films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick (as the Imam), the General in Armageddon, and as King in Oliver Stone's Platoon. David is also well known for his voice over career, primarily his Emmy winning work as the narrator of numerous Ken Burns films. Goliath on the Disney series Gargoyles, the Arbiter in Halo 2 and Halo 3, David Anderson in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, the Decepticon Barricade in Transformers: The Game, Julius Little in Saints Row and Saints Row 2, Sgt. Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2  and as Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog.
David was born in Harlem, New York City, the son of Delores (née Dickenson) and Lester Williams.  He first knew he was going to become an actor after playing the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz and went on to study at Manhattan's School of Performing Arts.
Film and television acting

In 1980–81, David honed his craft touring the country with John Houseman's The Acting Company in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot. Less than two years later he went on to star as Childs, opposite Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's The Thing, and his lengthy on-screen career had begun. In the '80s run of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, he portrayed Keith the Southwood Carpenter in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe segments. He also played Keith, the game coin collector in an episode where Rogers and a small child learn to play the arcade game Donkey Kong.

He went on to appear in films such as Oliver Stone's Platoon, They Live (reuniting with The Thing director, John Carpenter), Road House, Men at Work, Marked for Death, and Stars and Bars. He played the character of Kirby, the one legged war veteran, in the acclaimed 1995 Hughes Brothers film Dead Presidents, and he appeared in the 1995 Spike Lee's film Clockers, and followed this up with roles in big films such as Volcano, Armageddon, There's Something About Mary, Pitch Black, Barbershop, Agent Cody Banks, The Chronicles of Riddick, Crash, ATL, Delta Farce, and First Sunday.

At the same time he has appeared in numerous independent films including the critically-acclaimed Requiem for a Dream, playing the role of Big Tim. He has also appeared extensively in TV productions since the 1980s and as a regular character Lieutenant Williams on the short-lived TV series The Job. He was a regular on another shoot made for ABC entitled 'The Big House' in 2004. David played the male lead role in Dean Taylor's slasher flick Chain Letter.
Voice acting

Although known for his roles in films and TV, he has done extensive voice-acting work, and is noted for his deep, commanding bass voice. He is known most notably as the voice behind Goliath from Gargoyles and the title character in the Spawn animated series. In the English dub of Princess Mononoke, David played the narrator and Okkoto. Additionally, he provided the voice for the character Decker in the computer role-playing game Fallout and the voice for the character Vhailor in a similar video game Planescape: Torment. David provided the voice of the Arbiter for the video game Halo 2, released in 2004; later, he reprised that role in the Xbox 360 follow-up, Halo 3. He played the role of Captain David Anderson in BioWare's Mass Effect. David also did voice work in the Xbox 360 title Saint's Row playing gang leader Julius. David can be heard on the intro of several Ice Cube projects, including Westside Connection's 2003 release, Terrorist Threats, and Cube's 2008 solo album Raw Footage, and he narrated the documentary Beef II, which also featured Ice Cube. The two have worked together in live action films like Barbershop and First Sunday.

He has worked with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns several times, narrating Burns's Jazz, Mark Twain, The War, and Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. David won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work in the latter two films. He also performs the narration duties in the BBC documentary, World War II: Behind Closed Doors.

David is popular in advertising, particularly in United States Navy recruitment commercials. He has done voice-over work for many other documentaries including several for National Geographic and the documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked for the History Channel. He replaced Paul Winfield as narrator for the popular A&E show City Confidential, taking over after Winfield's death in 2004. He voiced the trailer for the movie Primeval, which was released in the U.S. on January 12, 2007.

Additionally, David provided the voice of police detective Alex Cross for the audiobook versions of three novels by James Patterson: Cat and Mouse (1997), Pop Goes the Weasel (1999), and Roses are Red (2000).

Other voice roles include Bebe Proud Clone from The Proud Family Movie, Atlas from the Teen Titans animated series,Uncle Pockets on Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends and the Decepticon Barricade in Transformers: The Game.

He recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's "Hip-Hop Literacy" campaign. David has done voiceovers for promos on the Versus Network, particularly for college football. He also recorded the narration for the opening of the World Wrestling Federation's (now Entertainment) WrestleMania 2000 pay-per-view.

Recently, David did the voices of the Black Cat in Coraline, Sgt. Foley in Modern Warfare 2, and Doctor Facilier in The Princess and the Frog.
Stage acting

In 1992, David received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performance in Jelly's Last Jam. David received raves for his Shakespeare work on stage in Central Park, New York City.

In 1995, David played the lead as Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton in August Wilson's Seven Guitars on Broadway.

In May 2006, he appeared in the musical Hot Feet on Broadway in New York.
Filmography
Films

    * Disco Godfather (1979) (uncredited)
    * The Thing (1982)
    * Terror in the Aisles (1984)
    * Platoon (1986)
    * Hot Pursuit (1987)
    * Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988)
    * Off Limits (1988)
    * Stars and Bars (1988)
    * Bird (1988)
    * They Live (1988)
    * Road House (1989)
    * Always (1989)
    * Men at Work (1990)
    * Marked for Death (1990)
    * Final Analysis (1992)
    * Article 99 (1992)
    * Nails (1992)
    * The Last Outlaw (1993)
    * There Are No Children Here (1993)
    * Reality Bites (1994)
    * The Puppet Masters (1994)
    * Clockers (1995)
    * Dead Presidents (1995)
    * The Quick and the Dead (1995)
    * Blue in the Face (1995)
    * Loose Women (1996) (cameo)
    * The Grave (1996)
    * Eye for an Eye (1996)
    * Larger Than Life (1996)
    * Never Met Picasso (1996)
    * Johns (1996)
    * Vanishing Point (1997)
    * Flipping (1997)
    * Volcano (1997)
    * Executive Target (1997)
    * Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest (1997)
    * Don King: Only in America (1997)
    * The Tiger Woods Story (1998)
    * Armageddon (1998)
    * There's Something About Mary (1998)
    * A.T.F. (1999)
    * Dark Summer (a.k.a. Innocents) (2000)
    * Pitch Black (2000)
    * Requiem for a Dream (2000)
    * Where the Heart Is (2000)
    * The Replacements (2000)
    * Semper Fi (2001)
    * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
    * Novocaine (2001)
    * Seduced: Pretty When You Cry (2001)
    * 29 Palms (2002)
    * Barbershop (2002)
    * Agent Cody Banks (2003)
    * Head of State (2003)
    * CSI:Crime Scene Investigation (2003)
    * Hollywood Homicide (2003)
    * Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004)
    * The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
    * Crash (2004)
    * Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
    * Transporter 2 (2005)
    * Dirty (2005)
    * The Oh in Ohio (2006)
    * Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006)
    * ATL (2006)
    * If I Had Known I Was a Genius (2007)
    * Delta Farce (2007)
    * The Last Sentinel (2007)
    * Beautiful Loser (2008)
    * First Sunday (2008)
    * Superhero Movie (2008)
    * Chasing 3000 (2008)
    * My Mom's New Boyfriend (2008)
    * The Fifth Commandment (2008)
    * No Bad Days (2008)
    * The Sensei (2008)
    * Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia (2009)
    * Against the Dark (2009)
    * Charlie Valentine (2009)
    * Don McKay (2009)
    * The Butcher (2009)
    * Gamer (2009)
    * All About Steve (2009)
    * Pastor Brown (2010)
    * Death at a Funeral (2010)
    * Lottery Ticket (2010)
    * Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming (2010)

Voice work

    * Christmas in Tattertown (1989)
    * 3×3 Eyes (1991)
    * Aladdin (1994)
    * Fantastic Four (1995)
    * Gargoyles (1994-1997)
    * Hercules (1997)
    * Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1997)
    * Princess Mononoke (1997)
    * Fallout (1997)
    * Hercules: The Animated Series (1998)
    * Planescape: Torment (1999)
    * The Legend of Tarzan (2001)
    * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
    * House of Mouse (2001-2002)
    * Jazz (2001)
    * Lords of EverQuest (2003)
    * Justice League (2003)
    * Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003)
    * Kaena: The Prophecy (2003)
    * Westside Connection:Terrorist Threats (intro) (2003)
    * Beef II (2004)
    * The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)
    * Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends (2004)
    * Teen Titans (2004)
    * Halo 2 (2004)
    * City Confidential (2004)
    * The Proud Family Movie (2005)
    * Saints Row (2006)
    * Transformers: The Game (2007)
    * Halo 3 (2007)
    * Mass Effect (2007)
    * The War (2007)
    * Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
    * The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)
    * Ice Cube: Raw Footage (intro) (2008)
    * Saints Row 2 (2008)
    * Coraline (2009)
    * World War II: Behind Closed Doors (2009)
    * The Princess and the Frog (2009)
    * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
    * Dissidia: Final Fantasy (2009)
    * Mass Effect 2 (2010)
    * Sid Meier's Civilization V (2010)

http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww276/chises2k9/John%20Li/keith-david.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t223/Lorna_Green_Dee/tbf/KeithDavid.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/04/10 at 6:21 am

The person who died on this day...Ronnie Lane
Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane (1 April 1946 - 4 June 1997) was an English singer, songwriter and bass  player (nicknamed "Plonk" while in Small Faces and later "Three-Piece" in The Faces) best known for his membership in two prominent English rock bands, Small Faces (1965–69) and Faces (1969–73). Ronnie Lane was born in the East End of London. After quitting school at the age of 16, Lane met Kenney Jones at a local pub and they formed the group they named "The Outcasts". Initially playing lead guitar, it was quickly decided that he should switch to bass guitar. While visiting the J60 Music Bar in Manor Park, London with his father in order to buy a bass guitar, Lane met Steve Marriott who was working there. Lane bought the bass and went back to Marriott's house after work to listen to records, where Marriott introduced Lane to his Motown and Stax collection. Lane and Marriott set out to put together a band, and recruited friends Jones and Jimmy Winston, who switched from guitar to the organ. Marriott was chosen to be the vocalist.
Small Faces
Main article: Small Faces

Lane formed Small Faces with Steve Marriott and Kenney Jones in 1965, who were soon joined by Ian McLagan. He co wrote songs with Marriott including their hit songs "Itchycoo Park" and "All or Nothing." The band disbanded in 1969 as Marriott left the group . The group reformed during the late '70s but Lane did not join them as he was suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Faces
Main article: Faces (band)

Lane formed Faces with McLagan, Jones and Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart in 1969. He was the primary songwriter of Faces, composing many of their best loved pieces including "Ooh La La" and "Debris." He took central dominance during the "Ooh La La" sessions as frontman Stewart was focusing more attention on his solo career. Upset by the poor reviews of the album and of Stewart's increasing popularity, Lane quit in 1973, with his last appearance at Edmonton Sundown on 4 June. He was replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi, but the group split in 1975.
Slim Chance and later career

After leaving the Faces, Lane formed his own band Slim Chance in late 1973. The band recorded the hit single "How Come" (UK No. 11) and "The Poacher" (UK No. 36), then the album Anymore For Anymore, showcasing his own blend of British rock music, folk and country music.

After initial success with the singles, he commenced a tour called "The Passing Show", touring the UK as a carnival, complete with tents, barkers, etc. Viv Stanshall, from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, was a short-lived ringmaster (of sorts).

Lane moved to Island Records and issued Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance and One for the Road. In late 1976, he joined a short-lived reformation of Small Faces, but quit after two rehearsals, to be replaced by Rick Wills (who currently plays alongside the former Small Faces drummer, Kenney Jones, in the Jones Gang). However, since Lane had already signed a contract with Atlantic Records as part of the reformed Small Faces, Atlantic informed him that he owed them an album. Pete Townshend recorded an album with Lane, titled Rough Mix, which was released in 1977. Rough Mix was lauded as contender for best album of the year by many critics, but the label did not promote it, and sales were lacklustre. Rough Mix not only left Lane out of debt to the label, but it cemented his credentials as a solid performer.

During the recording of Rough Mix, Lane was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (his mother had also suffered from the disease). Nonetheless, he toured, wrote, and recorded (with Eric Clapton, among many others) and managed to release yet another album, See Me, which features several songs written by Lane and Clapton.

Around this time Lane travelled the highways and byways of England and lived a 'passing show' modern nomadic life in full Gypsy Traveller costume and accommodation. Playing a lot of acoustic music in the open air for his adopted extended family, the sheep, the early morning and the rolling hillsides, in retrospect it could be said that he became the first New Age traveller/performer of the British Isles, at least a decade before the term was commonly used.

In 1983, his girlfriend, Boo Oldfield, contacted record producer Glyn Johns in the hopes of getting a concert organised to help fund Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, a London-based organization. Johns was already arranging Clapton's Command Performance for Prince Charles, so they decided to book the Royal Albert Hall for another couple of nights and hold a benefit concert. The resulting A.R.M.S. Concerts featured Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Kenney Jones, Andy Fairweather-Low, and more. With the addition of Joe Cocker and Paul Rodgers, they toured the U.S. It was during this time that Rodgers and Page started the band, The Firm.
Move to Texas and death

Lane moved to Texas in 1984, where the climate was more beneficial to his health, and continued playing, writing, and recording. He formed an American version of Slim Chance, which was, as always, a loose-knit conglomeration of available musicians. For much of the time, membership included Alejandro Escovedo. For close to a decade Lane enjoyed his rock royalty status in the Austin area and even toured Japan. Still, his health continued to decline, and his last performance was in 1992 at a Ronnie Wood gig. Also in the band that night was Ian McLagan. In 1994 Ronnie and his wife, Susan, moved to the small town of Trinidad, Colorado. Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood generously continued to donate money for his medical care because there were yet no royalties from Small Faces' work. Through the efforts of Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan, Small Faces were eventually able to secure ongoing royalty payments. By then, however, Steve Marriott had died in a house fire and on 4 June 1997 Lane succumbed to pneumonia.
Tributes

The Ocean Colour Scene song "Travellers Tune" on their 1997 studio album Marchin' Already was inspired by and written in the memory of Ronnie Lane, who had been a strong influence on the group and its members with Ocean Colour Scene appearing at the tribute concert for Ronnie Lane. In 2000, Paul Weller recorded "He's the Keeper", a song dedicated to Lane's memory. An album of live BBC recordings was about to be released to raise money for his care when Lane died. An album of live and in-studio recordings from Lane's Austin days was later culled, and released as Live in Austin. The place where he was born, Plaistow (in East London) named a street after him, fittingly called "Ronnie Lane", in 2001. In January, 2006, BBC Four debuted an extensive documentary about Lane, The Passing Show, which had been in the works since 2000. They also aired vintage concerts by Faces and Slim Chance. In October 2006 the documentary was also shown on BBC Two.
Solo discography

    * Anymore for Anymore
    * Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance
    * One for the Road
    * Mahoney's Last Stand (Album with Ron Wood)
    * See Me (album)
    * You Never Can Tell (The BBC Sessions)
    * Kuschty Rye (The Singles 1973-1980)
    * Tin and Tambourine (compilation)
    * Rocket 69 (Live on German TV)
    * Live in Austin
    * April Fool (compilation 1999)
    * How Come (compilation 2001)
    * Ain't No One Like (compilation 2003)
    * Just For a Moment (compilation 2006)

Collaborations

    * Happy Birthday (with Pete Townshend) (1970)
    * I Am (with Pete Townshend) (1972)
    * Mahoney's Last Stand (with Ronnie Wood) (1976)
    * With Love (with Pete Townshend) (1976)
    * Rough Mix (with Pete Townshend) (1977) US #45
    * The Legendary Majik Mijits (with Steve Marriott) (1980)
    * Victory Gardens (with John & Mary) (1992)
http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp248/happychappygirl/Ronnie%20Lane/RonnieLane.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/vv197/Lenjia/Led%20Zeppelin/Robert%20Plant/PlantandRonnieLane.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/04/10 at 10:31 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgjVu_ZDAW4&feature=related



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/04/10 at 12:33 pm


with his signature?
his signature yes!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/04/10 at 3:42 pm


The word of the day...Barbershop
A place where barbers work
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p154/duceswild3/archie_campbells-barbershop.jpg
http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/rr39/W4nzz/barber-pole-01.gif
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af161/filelegend/Barbershop.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/shrekuno/OakCliffBarberShop.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii341/yellobrick/barbershop.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/jcbarsa/barbershop.jpg


I get my haircut every month.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/04/10 at 3:43 pm

Keith David is awesome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/04/10 at 3:49 pm

British Person of the Day: Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (born 4 June 1927) is an English actor, best known for his roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies and As Time Goes By.

Career

After being demobilised from the Royal Marines, Palmer drifted into theatre, joining a local amateur dramatics society because of a girlfriend. He became an assistant stage manager at the Q Theatre, by Kew Bridge, then the Grand Theatre in Croydon. He spent several years touring with a repertory company, and was an actor in theatre, coming to television and public prominence later in his career. Early television appearances included a variety of roles in Granada Television's The Army Game and as a property agent in Cathy Come Home, a very highly influential drama documentary shown on British TV in 1966.

Getting a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he then acted in major productions at the Royal Court and the Royal National Theatre and was directed by Laurence Olivier. Many of his television parts were as a stuffy, middle class buffoon, and he is known for deadpan drollery. Two sitcom roles brought him major attention in the 1970s: the hapless brother-in-law of Reggie Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, and the phlegmatic Ben Parkinson in Carla Lane's Butterflies. He has continued to appear in productions written by Perrin creator David Nobbs, the latest being the radio comedy The Maltby Collection.

He starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in the situation comedy As Time Goes By; it has been rerun extensively in the US on PBS and BBC America and perhaps is the role for which American audiences remember him most. In 1997 Palmer played opposite his close friend Dench in the James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies where he portrayed the British admiral, Admiral Roebuck and in the film Mrs. Brown he played Queen Victoria's scheming Private Secretary Sir Henry Ponsonby.

His distinctive voice has given him a career in advertising and television voiceovers, most notably the Audi commercials in which he popularised the phrase "Vorsprung durch Technik". He also narrated the audiobook version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, released in 2005 as a podcast by Penguin Books. He regularly voices books for the blind.

In 2007 he teamed up with Silksound Books to record The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith as an online audiobook.

In December 2007, Palmer appeared in the role of the Captain in "Voyage of the Damned", 2007 Christmas special of the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who (having previously appeared as different characters in the Third Doctor serials Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Mutants). In March 2009 he joined in on a sketch with the two double acts: 'Armstrong and Miller' and 'Mitchell and Webb' for comic relief.

Personal life

Palmer was born in London, England, the son of Norah Gwendolen (née Robins) and Frederick Charles Palmer, who was a chartered surveyor.  He attended Highgate School, London. Palmer lives near Great Missenden, Lee Common, Buckinghamshire. He married Sally Green in 1963 and they have two children, Charles and Harriet. His son Charles is married to actress Claire Skinner.

Awards and recognition

In the New Year's Honours List published 31 December 2004 he was created an OBE for services to drama.

Radio

    * At Home With The Snails (2001-2002)
    * Les Miserables as Inspector Javert (2002)
    * High Table, Lower Orders (2005-2006)
    * The Maltby Collection (2007-2008)

Television

    * The Army Game (1958–1960)
    * The Avengers:
          o "Propellant 23" (1962)
          o "A Surfeit of H2O" (1965)
    * The Saint:"The Rough Diamonds"
    * The Wednesday Play:
          o Cathy Come Home (1966)
    * Doctor Who:
          o Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
          o The Mutants (1972)
          o "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)
    * The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976-1979)
    * Butterflies (1978-83)
    * Fawlty Towers:
          o "The Kipper and the Corpse" (1979)
    * The Goodies (1980)
    * Whoops Apocalypse (1982)
    * Death of an Expert Witness (1983)
    * Fairly Secret Army (1984)
    * Executive Stress (1986-88)
    * Hot Metal (1986)
    * Christabel (1988)
    * Blackadder Goes Forth:
          o Episode 6 "Goodbyeee..." (1989); as Field Marshal Haig
    * Inspector Morse:
          o "The Infernal Serpent" (1990)
    * As Time Goes By (1992–2005)
    * The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (1996)
    * The Savages (2001)
    * Absolute Power (2003)
    * He Knew He Was Right (2004)
    * Ashes to Ashes:
          o "Episode 8" (2008); as Lord Scarman
    * The Long Walk to Finchley (2008); as John Crowder

Film

    * A Prize of Arms (1962)
    * O Lucky Man! (1973)
    * The Honorary Consul (1983)
    * A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)
    * Clockwise (1986)
    * A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
    * Hawks (1988)
    * The Madness of King George (1994)
    * Mrs. Brown (1997)
    * Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
    * Anna and the King (1999)
    * Peter Pan (2003)
    * The Pink Panther 2 (2009)

http://content6.flixster.com/skin/profile/10/84/70/10847076_profile_mbox_background.jpg

http://atgbcentral.com/geosaus.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/04/10 at 3:50 pm


The word of the day...Barbershop
A place where barbers work
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p154/duceswild3/archie_campbells-barbershop.jpg
http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/rr39/W4nzz/barber-pole-01.gif
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af161/filelegend/Barbershop.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/shrekuno/OakCliffBarberShop.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii341/yellobrick/barbershop.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/jcbarsa/barbershop.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9NAu3sPJFk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/04/10 at 5:10 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgjVu_ZDAW4&feature=related



Cat

Hey...they were surprisingly good!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/04/10 at 5:11 pm

....and don't forget about Justin Barber!!!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/04/10 at 8:25 pm


....and don't forget about Justin Barber!!!  ;)

:D Good old Justin came to the local high school about a month ago, I think he was there for 12 minutes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/05/10 at 3:01 am

British Person of the Day: Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale was born in Otley, Yorkshire, in 1718, the son of a carpenter. The exact date of his birth is a mystery, but we do know that he was baptised on June 5.

Like his birth, Chippendale's early life is lost to us. We do know that he married Catherine Redshaw in 1748 in London, and five years later he moved his furniture showrooms and workshop to St. Martin's Lane, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

In 1754 Chippendale published his masterful collection, Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, a compilation of fashionable English furniture design. This work is Chippendale's enduring legacy, and shows his gift in adapting existing design styles to the fashion of the mid 18th century. So pervasive was the influence of the book that the name of Chippendale is often indiscriminately applied to mid-18th century furniture as a whole.

Chippendale partnered with upholsterer James Rannie, and when Rannie died his former clerk, Thomas Haig, became Chippendale's business partner. Catherine Chippendale died in 1772, and Thomas remarried in 1775, to Elizabeth Davis.

Chippendale's designs coveraged a wide range of styles, from Rococo to Gothic and chinoiserie (oriental style). From the 1760's Chippendale was influenced heavily by the Neoclassical work of architect Robert Adam, with whom he worked on several large projects, notably at Harewood House and Nostell Priory.

Many fine pieces of furniture have been attributed to Thomas Chippendale, but verifiable pieces are rare. His designs were widely copied, and his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director was used heavily by other makers in both England and North America.

Even when a piece can be attributed with certainty to Chippendale's workshop, it is impossible to say for certain that he worked on the furniture himself. As the Chippendale firm became successful, more and more work was carried out by trained workmen rather than Chippendale himself.

Thomas Chippendale died in 1779 and his business was carried on by his son, also named Thomas.

http://www.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2006/311/10262_116301658720.jpg

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/48325-large.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/05/10 at 3:03 am


British Person of the Day: Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale was born in Otley, Yorkshire, in 1718, the son of a carpenter. The exact date of his birth is a mystery, but we do know that he was baptised on June 5.

Like his birth, Chippendale's early life is lost to us. We do know that he married Catherine Redshaw in 1748 in London, and five years later he moved his furniture showrooms and workshop to St. Martin's Lane, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

In 1754 Chippendale published his masterful collection, Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, a compilation of fashionable English furniture design. This work is Chippendale's enduring legacy, and shows his gift in adapting existing design styles to the fashion of the mid 18th century. So pervasive was the influence of the book that the name of Chippendale is often indiscriminately applied to mid-18th century furniture as a whole.

Chippendale partnered with upholsterer James Rannie, and when Rannie died his former clerk, Thomas Haig, became Chippendale's business partner. Catherine Chippendale died in 1772, and Thomas remarried in 1775, to Elizabeth Davis.

Chippendale's designs coveraged a wide range of styles, from Rococo to Gothic and chinoiserie (oriental style). From the 1760's Chippendale was influenced heavily by the Neoclassical work of architect Robert Adam, with whom he worked on several large projects, notably at Harewood House and Nostell Priory.

Many fine pieces of furniture have been attributed to Thomas Chippendale, but verifiable pieces are rare. His designs were widely copied, and his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director was used heavily by other makers in both England and North America.

Even when a piece can be attributed with certainty to Chippendale's workshop, it is impossible to say for certain that he worked on the furniture himself. As the Chippendale firm became successful, more and more work was carried out by trained workmen rather than Chippendale himself.

Thomas Chippendale died in 1779 and his business was carried on by his son, also named Thomas.

http://www.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2006/311/10262_116301658720.jpg

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/48325-large.jpg
http://www.yorkshire-dales.com/chippendale-birthplace-03.jpg

The Blue Plaque on the house where Thomas Chippendale was born in Otley, Yorkshire.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/10 at 5:54 am


British Person of the Day: Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale was born in Otley, Yorkshire, in 1718, the son of a carpenter. The exact date of his birth is a mystery, but we do know that he was baptised on June 5.

Like his birth, Chippendale's early life is lost to us. We do know that he married Catherine Redshaw in 1748 in London, and five years later he moved his furniture showrooms and workshop to St. Martin's Lane, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

In 1754 Chippendale published his masterful collection, Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, a compilation of fashionable English furniture design. This work is Chippendale's enduring legacy, and shows his gift in adapting existing design styles to the fashion of the mid 18th century. So pervasive was the influence of the book that the name of Chippendale is often indiscriminately applied to mid-18th century furniture as a whole.

Chippendale partnered with upholsterer James Rannie, and when Rannie died his former clerk, Thomas Haig, became Chippendale's business partner. Catherine Chippendale died in 1772, and Thomas remarried in 1775, to Elizabeth Davis.

Chippendale's designs coveraged a wide range of styles, from Rococo to Gothic and chinoiserie (oriental style). From the 1760's Chippendale was influenced heavily by the Neoclassical work of architect Robert Adam, with whom he worked on several large projects, notably at Harewood House and Nostell Priory.

Many fine pieces of furniture have been attributed to Thomas Chippendale, but verifiable pieces are rare. His designs were widely copied, and his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director was used heavily by other makers in both England and North America.

Even when a piece can be attributed with certainty to Chippendale's workshop, it is impossible to say for certain that he worked on the furniture himself. As the Chippendale firm became successful, more and more work was carried out by trained workmen rather than Chippendale himself.

Thomas Chippendale died in 1779 and his business was carried on by his son, also named Thomas.

http://www.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2006/311/10262_116301658720.jpg

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/48325-large.jpg

Thanks Phil. Do you have any Chippendale furniture?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/10 at 5:58 am

The word of the day...Boogie
Boogie (or electro-funk, post-disco)  is a electronic/funk-influenced variation of post-disco.  Boogie tracks are usually mid-tempo.

Term "boogie" was used in London to describe a form of African-American dance/funk music from 1980s. The name boogie tended to be used as, although essentially used to describe disco records, the word disco had gained bad connotations by the early 1980s. It had a popular following within London's underground scene, often based around nightclubs and club DJs due to a lack of mainstream radio support. Boogie records were mostly imported from the United States and were sometimes regarded as "electro-funk" or "disco-funk". Originally the word boogie could be found in 1970s funk and disco records, but tracks like "Boogie's Gonna Get Ya" (Rafael Cameron, 1981), "Don't Make Me Wait" (Peech Boys, 1981), "Break Dancin' - Electric Boogie" (West Street Mob, 1984), "I'm in Love" (Evelyn "Champagne" King, 1981) or "You're the One for Me" (D. Train, 1981) helped define the musical style of boogie.

Boogie record labels include Prelude, West End, Sam as well as mainstream disco labels like SalSoul, Radar or Vanguard, among with Profile, Tommy Boy, Streetwise, Sugar Hill, Emergency, Solar Records and Total Experience Records, .

The term was coined by UK DJs Norman Jay and Dez Parkes. Usually the term is used on specific music on eBayhttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/humptyhump1c07/DestinationBoogieFront.jpg
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/ww169/jtonisson/Franks%20Boogie/DSCN0126.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz322/J_Mann010/genoskunk.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c397/leobaltazar/Golden%20Wedding/95ae.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/egregious_girl/gifs/movies%20and%20telly/john%20simm/ohohohohHOOTENANNY.gif
http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/jplaying/boogie-night-copy.gif
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e202/kaypendragon/Pendragon%20costumes/boogie.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg17/dulcecita12683/bday7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/10 at 6:01 am

The person born on this day...Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971) is an American actor, rapper and producer of film and television. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years and became famous in his 1991 debut as a rap musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Wahlberg has appeared in numerous films, including Boogie Nights (1997) and The Departed (2006) for which he was nominated an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Wahlberg was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of nine children,  with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie (died in 2003 at age 44), and Donnie. He is of Swedish, Irish, and French Canadian ancestry.  His mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly), was a bank clerk and nurse's aide, and his father, Donald Edward Wahlberg, was a Teamster  who worked as a delivery driver.  His parents divorced in 1982. Wahlberg had a Catholic  upbringing and attended Copley Square High School (but never graduated) on Newbury Street in Copley Square in Boston. The campus now houses Muriel Snowden International School.

As a teenager, Wahlberg stole cars, abused drugs and alcohol, and got into fights. At fifteen, he was amongst a group who threw rocks at a group of African American school children on a field trip while shouting racial epithets. The following year, Wahlberg robbed a pharmacy while he was under the influence of PCP. During the commission of the crime, he used racial slurs. He knocked one middle aged Vietnamese man unconscious and permanently blinded another in one eye before he was arrested by the police. Wahlberg was tried as an adult and charged for attempted murder. Pleading guilty to the lesser charge of assault, he was sentenced to two years in jail at Boston's Deer Island House of Correction, of which he served 45 days. In yet another incident, it was alleged the 21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack.
Music career

Wahlberg was assisted to fame as the younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg of the successful 1980s and 1990s boy band New Kids on the Block. Mark, at age thirteen, had been one of the group's original members, along with Donnie, Danny Wood, Jordan Knight, and Jonathan Knight. Uninterested in the group's bubblegum pop style, however, he soon quit. It was his departure that eventually allowed Joe McIntyre to take his place as the fifth member of the group.

Wahlberg began recording as Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and earned a hit with "Good Vibrations" from the album Music for the People. The record was produced by brother Donnie and later hit #1 on The Billboard Hot 100, later becoming certified as a Platinum single. The video depicted Mark boxing, lifting weights, posing shirtless, and showing off his muscular build.

The second single by the group, "Wildside", peaked at #5 on Billboards Hot Singles Sales chart and at #10 on The Billboard Hot 100. It was certified as a Gold single. Marky Mark opened for the New Kids on the Block during their last tour. The second Marky Mark LP, You Gotta Believe, wasn't as successful as the prior, yielding only a minor hit single in the title track. Wahlberg later collaborated with reggae / ragga singer Prince Ital Joe.

Mark's cocky, street-wise persona contributed to his fame. During concert performances, he was known for being shirtless and dropping his pants. In the dedication of his 1992 book Marky Mark, co-authored with photographer Lynn Goldsmith, Wahlberg says in the preface that "I wanna dedicate this book to my cock".
Advertising career

Wahlberg is known for his physique, which was first shown in the Good Vibrations music video and most prominently in a series of underwear ads for Calvin Klein shot by Herb Ritts, following it with Calvin Klein television ads. In 1992 the Calvin Klein billboard in New York's Times Square featured Wahlberg exclusively. Magazine and television promotions would sometimes feature him exclusively or accompanied by model Kate Moss. Annie Leibovitz did a photo shoot of Wahlberg in underwear for Vanity Fair's annual Hall of Fame issue. He made a workout video titled The Marky Mark Workout: Form... Focus... Fitness (ISBN 1-55510-910-1).
Film career
At the Shooter premiere in London, March 2007

Wahlberg then began an acting career, making his debut in the 1993 TV movie The Substitute. His big screen debut came the next year, with the Danny DeVito feature Renaissance Man. A basketball fanatic, he caught the attention of critics after appearing in The Basketball Diaries in 1995, playing the role of Mickey alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, in a film adaptation of the Jim Carroll book of the same name. He also starred in the 1996 James Foley thriller Fear.

He earned many positive reviews after successful movies like Boogie Nights as Dirk Diggler, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm, The Italian Job, and Four Brothers. His performance in I ♥ Huckabees was voted best supporting performance of the year in the 2004 Village Voice Critics Poll. Wahlberg was originally cast as Linus Caldwell in Ocean's Eleven; Matt Damon played the role. The two later worked together in The Departed. Wahlberg was also considered for a role in the film Brokeback Mountain. It was originally intended to star him and Joaquin Phoenix, but Wahlberg was uncomfortable with the film's sex scenes and his role ultimately went to Jake Gyllenhaal.

Wahlberg starred in the American football drama Invincible, based on the true story of bartender-turned-Philadelphia Eagle Vince Papale. He also appeared in and is the executive producer of the HBO series Entourage, which is loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood. Wahlberg starred as a foul-mouthed Massachusetts State Police detective in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed thriller The Departed in 2006, for which he won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor and netted him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Wahlberg has confirmed that he was approached to star in a sequel to The Departed, but it is still early in development. The sequel would reportedly revolve around Staff Sergeant Dignam played by Wahlberg.

To prepare for his role in Shooter, Wahlberg attended long-range shooting training at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near Pahrump, Nevada, and was able to hit a target at 2000 yards on his first day, a feat which took his instructor about six months to achieve. He has said in a number of interviews that he will retire at the age of 40 to concentrate on parenthood and professional golf. However, in early 2007 he indicated that the latter was no longer the plan as "his golf game is horrible". In 2007, he starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix in We Own the Night, a movie about a family of police officers in New York City. The movie also stars Robert Duvall and Eva Mendes.

He starred in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening as Eliot Moore, which opened in movie theatres on June 13, 2008. The same year, he played the title role in Max Payne, based on a video game of the same name. While promoting Max Payne, Wahlberg became involved in a staged feud with Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg and threatened to "crack that big (bleep)ing nose of his." Samberg had done an impression of Wahlberg in a Saturday Night Live skit titled "Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals." However, one week later, Wahlberg later appeared in a follow-up skit parodying both the original skit, Samberg's impression of Wahlberg, and his own threats to Samberg.

In 2009, Wahlberg played Jack Salmon in Peter Jackson's film The Lovely Bones.
Video game career

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch had their own video game in the Marky Mark: Make My Video game series on the Sega Mega-CD. Using various effects, the player is supposed to produce new versions of the videos to Marky Mark songs like "Good Vibrations" and "I Need Money". PC World.ca listed it as the eighth worst video game of all time. Recently, Wahlberg played the titular character in the Max Payne film based on the popular video games. Even though he played the character in the film, he has stated that he is not going to play the games.
Personal life

Wahlberg is a practicing Roman Catholic. He married model Rhea Durham on August 1, 2009 in a private Catholic ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. They have four children together, daughters Ella Rae (born in September 2003) and Grace Margaret (born in January 2010), and sons Michael (born in March 2006) and Brendan Joseph (born in September 2008).

Actively involved in charity, Wahlberg established the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in May 2001 for the purpose of raising and distributing funds to youth service and enrichment programs.

Wahlberg has four tattoos done by various artists including Paul Timman. The tattoos include Sylvester the cat with Tweety in his mouth on his ankle, a tattoo of his initials MW with Wahlberg through them on his upper right arm, and a Bob Marley tattoo with "One Love" on his upper left arm. The final tattoo, which Wahlberg holds as his most meaningful, is the rosary tattoed around his neck, with a crucifix and the words "In God I Trust" resting over his heart.

His father, a US Army veteran of the Korean War, died on February 14, 2008.
Discography
Marky Mark
Also known as Monk D
Genres Hip hop
Occupations Rapper
Actor
Years active 1991–1998
Labels Interscope/Atlantic
Associated acts The Funky Bunch
Prince Ital Joe
Donnie Wahlberg
New Kids on the Block
With the Funky Bunch
Year Album Chart Positions
US US Hip-Hop Heatseekers
1991 Music for the People 21 - 1
1992 You Gotta Believe 67 66 -
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released
With Prince Ital Joe
Year Album
1994 Life in the Streets
1995 The Remix Album
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1993 The Substitute Ryan Westerberg TV role as "Marky Mark"
1994 Renaissance Man Private Tommy Lee Haywood
1995 The Basketball Diaries Mickey
1996 Fear David McCall Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1997 Traveller Pat O'Hara
Boogie Nights Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast
1998 The Big Hit Melvin Smiley
1999 The Corruptor Detective Danny Wallace
Three Kings Troy Barlow
2000 The Yards Leo Handler
The Perfect Storm Robert "Bobby" Shatford
2001 Planet of the Apes Captain Leo Davidson
Rock Star Chris "Izzy" Cole
2002 The Truth About Charlie Joshua Peters
2003 The Italian Job Charlie Croker
2004 I Heart Huckabees Tommy Corn Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
2005 Four Brothers Robert "Bobby" Mercer Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2006 Invincible Vincent "Vince" Francis Papale Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Elizabeth Banks)
The Departed Sgt. Sean Dignam Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast
2007 Shooter Gunnery Sgt. Bob Lee Swagger
We Own the Night Captain Joseph "Joe" Grusinsky Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Drama
2008 The Happening Elliot Moore
Max Payne Max Payne
2009 The Lovely Bones Jack Salmon
2010 Date Night Holbrooke Grant
The Fighter "Irish" Mickey Ward (post-production)
The Other Guys Terry Hoitz (post-production)
Producer
Year Film Role Notes
2004 Juvies Producer Documentary
2004–present Entourage Executive producer 72 episodes
2007 BAFTA Television Award for Best International Program
Nominated — 2007, 2008 — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
2007 We Own the Night Producer —
2008 In Treatment Executive producer 43 episodes
2010 How to Make It in America Executive producer 8 episodes
Future Sharky's Machine remake Executive Producer
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/KingKzarLouie/450Rockstar07Q.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad305/fanciful2/Random%20Hotness/mark_wahlberg400.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/10 at 6:06 am

The person who died on this day...Mel Torme
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer  and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books. He co-wrote the classic holiday song "The Christmas Song" (also known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") with Bob Wells.
elvin Howard Torme was born in Chicago, Illinois, to immigrant Russian Jewish  parents,  whose surname had been Torma. However the name was changed at Ellis Island to "Torme". A child prodigy, he first sang professionally at age 4 with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant.

Between 1933 and 1941, he acted in the network radio serials The Romance of Helen Trent and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. He wrote his first song at 13, and three years later, his first published song, "Lament to Love," became a hit recording for Harry James. He played drums in Chicago's Shakespeare Elementary School drum and bugle corps in his early teens. While a teenager, he sang, arranged, and played drums in a band led by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. His formal education ended in 1944 with his graduation from Chicago's Hyde Park High School.
Early career
“ Tormé works with the most beautiful voice a man is allowed to have, and he combines it with a flawless sense of pitch… As an improviser he shames all but two or three other scat singers and quite a few horn players as well. ”

—Will Friedwald, Jazz Singing

In 1943, Tormé made his movie debut in Frank Sinatra's first film, the musical Higher and Higher. He went on to sing and act in many films and television episodes throughout his career, even hosting his own television show in 1951–52. His appearance in the 1947 film musical Good News made him a teen idol for a few years.

In 1944 he formed the vocal quintet "Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones," modeled on Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers. The Mel-Tones, which included Les Baxter and Ginny O'Connor, had several hits fronting Artie Shaw's band and on their own, including Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" The Mel-Tones were among the first jazz-influenced vocal groups, blazing a path later followed by The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen, and The Manhattan Transfer.

Later in 1947, Tormé went solo. His singing at New York's Copacabana led a local disc jockey, Fred Robbins, to give him the nickname "The Velvet Fog," thinking to honor his high tenor and smooth vocal style, but Tormé detested the nickname. (He self-deprecatingly referred to it as "this Velvet Frog voice".) As a solo singer, he recorded several romantic hits for Decca (1945), and with the Artie Shaw Orchestra on the Musicraft label (1946–48). In 1949, he moved to Capitol Records, where his first record, "Careless Hands," became his only number one hit. His versions of "Again" and "Blue Moon" became signature tunes. His composition "California Suite," prompted by Gordon Jenkins' "Manhattan Tower," became Capitol's first 12-inch LP album. Around this time, he helped pioneer cool jazz.

From 1955 to 1957, Tormé recorded seven jazz vocal albums for Red Clyde's Bethlehem Records, all with groups led by Marty Paich, most notably Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dektette. When rock and roll music (which Tormé called "three-chord manure")) came on the scene in the 1950s, commercial success became elusive. During the next two decades, Tormé often recorded mediocre arrangements of the pop tunes of the day, never staying long with any particular label. He was sometimes forced to make his living by singing in obscure clubs. He had two minor hits, his 1956 recording of "Mountain Greenery," which did better in the United Kingdom where it reached #4 in May that year; and his 1962 R&B song "Comin' Home, Baby," arranged by Claus Ogerman. The latter recording led the jazz and gospel singer Ethel Waters to say that "Tormé is the only white man who sings with the soul of a black man." It was later covered instrumentally by Quincy Jones and Kai Winding.

In 1960, he appeared with Don Dubbins in the episode "The Junket" in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier and set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. He also had a significant role in a cross-cultural western entitled Walk Like a Dragon staring Jack Lord. Tormé played 'The Deacon', a bible-quoting gunfighter who worked as an enforcer for a lady saloon-owner and teaches a young Chinese, played by James Shigeta, the art of the fast draw. In one scene, he tells a soon-to-be victim: 'Say your prayers, brother Masters. You're a corpse.' And then delivers on the promise. Tormé, like Sammy Davis Jr. and Robert Fuller was a real-life fast-draw expert. He also sang the title song.

In 1963–64, Tormé wrote songs and musical arrangements for the The Judy Garland Show, where he made three guest appearances. However, he and Garland had a serious falling out, and he was fired from the series, which was canceled by CBS not long afterward. A few years later, after Garland's death, his time with her show became the subject of his first book, "The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol" (1970). Although the book was praised, some felt it painted an unflattering picture of Judy, and that Tormé had perhaps over-inflated his own contributions to the program; it led to an unsuccessful lawsuit by Garland's family. Other books by Tormé include Wynner (1979), It Wasn't All Velvet (1988) and My Singing Teachers: Reflections on Singing Popular Music (1994).

Tormé befriended Buddy Rich, the day Rich left the Marine Corps in 1942. Rich became the subject of Tormé's book Traps — The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich (1987). Tormé also owned and played a drum set that drummer Gene Krupa used for many years. George Spink, treasurer of the Jazz Institute of Chicago from 1978 to 1981, recalled that Tormé played this drum set at the 1979 Chicago Jazz Festival with Benny Goodman on the classic "Sing, Sing, Sing." Tormé had a deep appreciation for classical music; especially that of Frederick Delius and Percy Grainger.
Later career

The resurgence of vocal jazz in the 1970s resulted in another artistically fertile period for Tormé, whose live performances during the 1960s and 1970s fueled a growing reputation as a jazz singer. He found himself performing as often as 200 times a year around the globe. In 1976, he won an Edison Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy) for best male singer, and a Down Beat award for best male jazz singer. For several years around this time, his September appearances at Michael's Pub on the Upper East Side would unofficially open New York's fall cabaret season. Tormé viewed his 1977 Carnegie Hall concert with George Shearing and Gerry Mulligan as a turning point. Shearing later said:

    "It is impossible to imagine a more compatible musical partner… I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year. We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, we were two bodies of one musical mind."

Starting in 1982, Tormé recorded several albums with Concord Records, including:

    * Five albums with pianist George Shearing;
    * His big band work with Rob McConnell and his Boss Brass orchestra (see Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass);
    * A reunion with Marty Paich, resulting in a live recording in Tokyo (In Concert Tokyo) and a studio album (Reunion).

In the 1980s, he often performed with pianist John Colianni as well as famed New Zealand pianist Carl Doy.

In 1993, Verve Records released the classic "Blue Moon" album featuring the Velvet voice and the Rodgers and Hart Songbook. His version of Blue Moon performed live at the "Sands" in November that year earned him a new nickname from older audiences: "The Blue Fox." The nickname was used to describe Tormé's performance after spending an extra hour with pianist Bill Butler cracking jokes and answering queries from a throng of more "mature" women who turned out to see the show. Under the shimmering blue lights at the Sands, he gained a new nickname that would endure for every future performance in Las Vegas and his last performance at Carnegie Hall. Tormé would develop other nicknames later in life, but none seemed as popular as the Velvet Fog (primarily on the East Coast) and the Blue Fox.

Tormé made nine guest appearances as himself on the 1980s situation comedy Night Court whose main character, Judge Harry Stone (played by Harry Anderson), was depicted as an unabashed Tormé fan (an admiration that Anderson shared in real-life; Anderson would later deliver the eulogy at Tormé's funeral) which led to a following among Generation Xers along with a series of Mountain Dew commercials and on an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld ("The Jimmy"), in which he dedicates a song to the character Kramer. Tormé also recorded a version of Nat King Cole's "Straighten up and Fly Right" with his son, alternative/adult contemporary/jazz singer Steve March Tormé. Tormé was also able to work with his other son, television writer-producer Tracy Tormé on Sliders. The 1996 episode, entitled "Greatfellas," sees Tormé playing an alternate version of himself: a country-and-western singer who is also an FBI informant.

In a scene in the 1988 Warner Bros. cartoon Night of the Living Duck, Daffy Duck has to sing in front of several monsters, but lacks a good singing voice. So, he inhales a substance called "Eau de Tormé" and sings like Mel Tormé (who in fact provided the voice during this one scene, while Mel Blanc provided Daffy's voice during most of the cartoon).

In February 1999, Tormé was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On August 8, 1996, a stroke abruptly ended his 65-year singing career; another stroke in 1999 ended his life. In his eulogistic essay, John Andrews wrote about Tormé:

    "Tormé's style shared much with that of his idol, Ella Fitzgerald. Both were firmly rooted in the foundation of the swing era, but both seemed able to incorporate bebop innovations to keep their performances sounding fresh and contemporary. Like Sinatra, they sang with perfect diction and brought out the emotional content of the lyrics through subtle alterations of phrasing and harmony. Ballads were characterized by paraphrasing of the original melody which always seemed tasteful, appropriate and respectful to the vision of the songwriter. Unlike Sinatra, both Fitzgerald and Tormé were likely to cut loose during a swinging up-tempo number with several scat choruses, using their voices without words to improvise a solo like a brass or reed instrument."

Accomplishments

Tormé also made a guest vocal appearance on the progressive pop band Was (Not Was) 1983 album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes. Tormé sang the black comedic cocktail jazz song "Zaz Turned Blue" about a teenager who is choked in a park ("Steve squeezed his neck/He figured what the heck") and who may or may not have suffered brain damage as a result ("Now he plays lots of pool/And as a rule/He wears a silly grin/On his chin").
The songwriter

Tormé wrote more than 250 songs, several of which became jazz standards. He also often wrote the arrangements for the songs he sang. He often collaborated with Bob Wells, and the best known Tormé-Wells song is "The Christmas Song," often referred to by its opening line "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." The song was recorded first by Nat King Cole. Tormé said that he wrote the music to the song in only 40 minutes, and that it was not one of his personal favorites.

    For a partial Mel Tormé discography, see the Mel Tormé discography.

Bibliography

    * The Other Side of the Rainbow (1970), about his time as musical adviser to Judy Garland's television show
    * Wynner (1978), a novel
    * It Wasn't All Velvet (1988), the autobiography
    * Traps — The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich (1991)
    * My Singing Teachers: Reflections on Singing Popular Music (1994)

Filmography

    * Higher and Higher (1943)
    * Ghost Catchers (1944)
    * Pardon My Rhythm (1944)
    * Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944) (documentary)
    * Let's Go Steady (1945)
    * Junior Miss (1945)
    * The Crimson Canary (1945) (drums dubber)
    * Janie Gets Married (1946)
    * Good News (1947)
    * Words and Music (1948)
    * Duchess of Idaho (1950)
    * The Fearmakers (1958)
    * The Big Operator (1959)
    * Girls Town (1959)
    * Walk Like a Dragon (1960)
    * The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960)
    * The Patsy (1964) (Cameo)
    * A Man Called Adam (1966) (Cameo)
    * Land of No Return (1978)
    * Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (1985) (documentary)
    * The Night of the Living Duck (1988) (short subject) (voice)
    * Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988) (voice)
    * The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) (Cameo)

Television work

    * The Mel Tormé Show (1951–1952)
    * TV's Top Tunes (host in 1951)
    * Summertime U.S.A. (1953) (Summer replacement series)
    * The Comedian (1957) (live drama written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer)
    * Run For Your Life (1960??) With Ben Gazzarra (He wrote the episode)
    * The Lucy Show as Mel Tinker (3 episodes, 1965-1967)
    * You Don't Say! (guest, 1967)
    * It Was a Very Good Year (1971) (Summer replacement series)
    * Pray TV (1982) (Cameo)
    * Hotel (1983) (pilot for series) (Cameo)
    * Night Court (guest appearances 1986–1992)
    * A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out (1992)
    * Pops Goes the Fourth (1995)
    * Seinfeld — episode "The Jimmy" (1995)
    * Sliders — episode "Greatfellas" (1996)

Family

Spouses:

    * Candy Toxton (February 1949–1955) (divorced) 2 children;
    * Arlene Miles (1956–1965) (divorced) 1 child;
    * Janette Scott (1966–1977) (divorced) 2 children;
    * Ali Severson (June 5, 1984–1999 death).

Tormé was survived by five children and two stepchildren, including:

    * Tracy, a screenwriter and film producer;
    * Daisy, a broadcaster;
    * James, a singer;
    * Steve, an alternative adult contemporary singer/guitar player
    * Melissa Tormé-March, actress
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/maddyfudgeface/graves/torme250.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u259/mouse_m/meltorme1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/05/10 at 6:10 am


Thanks Phil. Do you have any Chippendale furniture?
Not knowingly....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/10 at 9:09 am


Not knowingly....

Would you buy any?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/05/10 at 9:53 am


Would you buy any?
Too expensive for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/05/10 at 3:22 pm

http://s0.ilike.com/play#Baccara:Yes+Sir%2C+I+Can+Boogie:493842:s40233343.10774130.18701824.0.2.92%2Cstd_7edef1e0119e445992821a1c3c29a2ea

Yes Sir I Can Boogie By Baccara (1977)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/05/10 at 3:24 pm


The person who died on this day...Mel Torme
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer  and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books. He co-wrote the classic holiday song "The Christmas Song" (also known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") with Bob Wells.
elvin Howard Torme was born in Chicago, Illinois, to immigrant Russian Jewish  parents,  whose surname had been Torma. However the name was changed at Ellis Island to "Torme". A child prodigy, he first sang professionally at age 4 with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant.

Between 1933 and 1941, he acted in the network radio serials The Romance of Helen Trent and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. He wrote his first song at 13, and three years later, his first published song, "Lament to Love," became a hit recording for Harry James. He played drums in Chicago's Shakespeare Elementary School drum and bugle corps in his early teens. While a teenager, he sang, arranged, and played drums in a band led by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. His formal education ended in 1944 with his graduation from Chicago's Hyde Park High School.
Early career
“ Tormé works with the most beautiful voice a man is allowed to have, and he combines it with a flawless sense of pitch… As an improviser he shames all but two or three other scat singers and quite a few horn players as well. ”

—Will Friedwald, Jazz Singing

In 1943, Tormé made his movie debut in Frank Sinatra's first film, the musical Higher and Higher. He went on to sing and act in many films and television episodes throughout his career, even hosting his own television show in 1951–52. His appearance in the 1947 film musical Good News made him a teen idol for a few years.

In 1944 he formed the vocal quintet "Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones," modeled on Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers. The Mel-Tones, which included Les Baxter and Ginny O'Connor, had several hits fronting Artie Shaw's band and on their own, including Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" The Mel-Tones were among the first jazz-influenced vocal groups, blazing a path later followed by The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen, and The Manhattan Transfer.

Later in 1947, Tormé went solo. His singing at New York's Copacabana led a local disc jockey, Fred Robbins, to give him the nickname "The Velvet Fog," thinking to honor his high tenor and smooth vocal style, but Tormé detested the nickname. (He self-deprecatingly referred to it as "this Velvet Frog voice".) As a solo singer, he recorded several romantic hits for Decca (1945), and with the Artie Shaw Orchestra on the Musicraft label (1946–48). In 1949, he moved to Capitol Records, where his first record, "Careless Hands," became his only number one hit. His versions of "Again" and "Blue Moon" became signature tunes. His composition "California Suite," prompted by Gordon Jenkins' "Manhattan Tower," became Capitol's first 12-inch LP album. Around this time, he helped pioneer cool jazz.

From 1955 to 1957, Tormé recorded seven jazz vocal albums for Red Clyde's Bethlehem Records, all with groups led by Marty Paich, most notably Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dektette. When rock and roll music (which Tormé called "three-chord manure")) came on the scene in the 1950s, commercial success became elusive. During the next two decades, Tormé often recorded mediocre arrangements of the pop tunes of the day, never staying long with any particular label. He was sometimes forced to make his living by singing in obscure clubs. He had two minor hits, his 1956 recording of "Mountain Greenery," which did better in the United Kingdom where it reached #4 in May that year; and his 1962 R&B song "Comin' Home, Baby," arranged by Claus Ogerman. The latter recording led the jazz and gospel singer Ethel Waters to say that "Tormé is the only white man who sings with the soul of a black man." It was later covered instrumentally by Quincy Jones and Kai Winding.

In 1960, he appeared with Don Dubbins in the episode "The Junket" in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier and set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. He also had a significant role in a cross-cultural western entitled Walk Like a Dragon staring Jack Lord. Tormé played 'The Deacon', a bible-quoting gunfighter who worked as an enforcer for a lady saloon-owner and teaches a young Chinese, played by James Shigeta, the art of the fast draw. In one scene, he tells a soon-to-be victim: 'Say your prayers, brother Masters. You're a corpse.' And then delivers on the promise. Tormé, like Sammy Davis Jr. and Robert Fuller was a real-life fast-draw expert. He also sang the title song.

In 1963–64, Tormé wrote songs and musical arrangements for the The Judy Garland Show, where he made three guest appearances. However, he and Garland had a serious falling out, and he was fired from the series, which was canceled by CBS not long afterward. A few years later, after Garland's death, his time with her show became the subject of his first book, "The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol" (1970). Although the book was praised, some felt it painted an unflattering picture of Judy, and that Tormé had perhaps over-inflated his own contributions to the program; it led to an unsuccessful lawsuit by Garland's family. Other books by Tormé include Wynner (1979), It Wasn't All Velvet (1988) and My Singing Teachers: Reflections on Singing Popular Music (1994).

Tormé befriended Buddy Rich, the day Rich left the Marine Corps in 1942. Rich became the subject of Tormé's book Traps — The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich (1987). Tormé also owned and played a drum set that drummer Gene Krupa used for many years. George Spink, treasurer of the Jazz Institute of Chicago from 1978 to 1981, recalled that Tormé played this drum set at the 1979 Chicago Jazz Festival with Benny Goodman on the classic "Sing, Sing, Sing." Tormé had a deep appreciation for classical music; especially that of Frederick Delius and Percy Grainger.
Later career

The resurgence of vocal jazz in the 1970s resulted in another artistically fertile period for Tormé, whose live performances during the 1960s and 1970s fueled a growing reputation as a jazz singer. He found himself performing as often as 200 times a year around the globe. In 1976, he won an Edison Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy) for best male singer, and a Down Beat award for best male jazz singer. For several years around this time, his September appearances at Michael's Pub on the Upper East Side would unofficially open New York's fall cabaret season. Tormé viewed his 1977 Carnegie Hall concert with George Shearing and Gerry Mulligan as a turning point. Shearing later said:

    "It is impossible to imagine a more compatible musical partner… I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year. We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, we were two bodies of one musical mind."

Starting in 1982, Tormé recorded several albums with Concord Records, including:

    * Five albums with pianist George Shearing;
    * His big band work with Rob McConnell and his Boss Brass orchestra (see Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass);
    * A reunion with Marty Paich, resulting in a live recording in Tokyo (In Concert Tokyo) and a studio album (Reunion).

In the 1980s, he often performed with pianist John Colianni as well as famed New Zealand pianist Carl Doy.

In 1993, Verve Records released the classic "Blue Moon" album featuring the Velvet voice and the Rodgers and Hart Songbook. His version of Blue Moon performed live at the "Sands" in November that year earned him a new nickname from older audiences: "The Blue Fox." The nickname was used to describe Tormé's performance after spending an extra hour with pianist Bill Butler cracking jokes and answering queries from a throng of more "mature" women who turned out to see the show. Under the shimmering blue lights at the Sands, he gained a new nickname that would endure for every future performance in Las Vegas and his last performance at Carnegie Hall. Tormé would develop other nicknames later in life, but none seemed as popular as the Velvet Fog (primarily on the East Coast) and the Blue Fox.

Tormé made nine guest appearances as himself on the 1980s situation comedy Night Court whose main character, Judge Harry Stone (played by Harry Anderson), was depicted as an unabashed Tormé fan (an admiration that Anderson shared in real-life; Anderson would later deliver the eulogy at Tormé's funeral) which led to a following among Generation Xers along with a series of Mountain Dew commercials and on an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld ("The Jimmy"), in which he dedicates a song to the character Kramer. Tormé also recorded a version of Nat King Cole's "Straighten up and Fly Right" with his son, alternative/adult contemporary/jazz singer Steve March Tormé. Tormé was also able to work with his other son, television writer-producer Tracy Tormé on Sliders. The 1996 episode, entitled "Greatfellas," sees Tormé playing an alternate version of himself: a country-and-western singer who is also an FBI informant.

In a scene in the 1988 Warner Bros. cartoon Night of the Living Duck, Daffy Duck has to sing in front of several monsters, but lacks a good singing voice. So, he inhales a substance called "Eau de Tormé" and sings like Mel Tormé (who in fact provided the voice during this one scene, while Mel Blanc provided Daffy's voice during most of the cartoon).

In February 1999, Tormé was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On August 8, 1996, a stroke abruptly ended his 65-year singing career; another stroke in 1999 ended his life. In his eulogistic essay, John Andrews wrote about Tormé:

    "Tormé's style shared much with that of his idol, Ella Fitzgerald. Both were firmly rooted in the foundation of the swing era, but both seemed able to incorporate bebop innovations to keep their performances sounding fresh and contemporary. Like Sinatra, they sang with perfect diction and brought out the emotional content of the lyrics through subtle alterations of phrasing and harmony. Ballads were characterized by paraphrasing of the original melody which always seemed tasteful, appropriate and respectful to the vision of the songwriter. Unlike Sinatra, both Fitzgerald and Tormé were likely to cut loose during a swinging up-tempo number with several scat choruses, using their voices without words to improvise a solo like a brass or reed instrument."

Accomplishments

Tormé also made a guest vocal appearance on the progressive pop band Was (Not Was) 1983 album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes. Tormé sang the black comedic cocktail jazz song "Zaz Turned Blue" about a teenager who is choked in a park ("Steve squeezed his neck/He figured what the heck") and who may or may not have suffered brain damage as a result ("Now he plays lots of pool/And as a rule/He wears a silly grin/On his chin").
The songwriter

Tormé wrote more than 250 songs, several of which became jazz standards. He also often wrote the arrangements for the songs he sang. He often collaborated with Bob Wells, and the best known Tormé-Wells song is "The Christmas Song," often referred to by its opening line "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." The song was recorded first by Nat King Cole. Tormé said that he wrote the music to the song in only 40 minutes, and that it was not one of his personal favorites.

    For a partial Mel Tormé discography, see the Mel Tormé discography.

Bibliography

    * The Other Side of the Rainbow (1970), about his time as musical adviser to Judy Garland's television show
    * Wynner (1978), a novel
    * It Wasn't All Velvet (1988), the autobiography
    * Traps — The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich (1991)
    * My Singing Teachers: Reflections on Singing Popular Music (1994)

Filmography

    * Higher and Higher (1943)
    * Ghost Catchers (1944)
    * Pardon My Rhythm (1944)
    * Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944) (documentary)
    * Let's Go Steady (1945)
    * Junior Miss (1945)
    * The Crimson Canary (1945) (drums dubber)
    * Janie Gets Married (1946)
    * Good News (1947)
    * Words and Music (1948)
    * Duchess of Idaho (1950)
    * The Fearmakers (1958)
    * The Big Operator (1959)
    * Girls Town (1959)
    * Walk Like a Dragon (1960)
    * The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960)
    * The Patsy (1964) (Cameo)
    * A Man Called Adam (1966) (Cameo)
    * Land of No Return (1978)
    * Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (1985) (documentary)
    * The Night of the Living Duck (1988) (short subject) (voice)
    * Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988) (voice)
    * The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) (Cameo)

Television work

    * The Mel Tormé Show (1951–1952)
    * TV's Top Tunes (host in 1951)
    * Summertime U.S.A. (1953) (Summer replacement series)
    * The Comedian (1957) (live drama written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer)
    * Run For Your Life (1960??) With Ben Gazzarra (He wrote the episode)
    * The Lucy Show as Mel Tinker (3 episodes, 1965-1967)
    * You Don't Say! (guest, 1967)
    * It Was a Very Good Year (1971) (Summer replacement series)
    * Pray TV (1982) (Cameo)
    * Hotel (1983) (pilot for series) (Cameo)
    * Night Court (guest appearances 1986–1992)
    * A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out (1992)
    * Pops Goes the Fourth (1995)
    * Seinfeld — episode "The Jimmy" (1995)
    * Sliders — episode "Greatfellas" (1996)

Family

Spouses:

    * Candy Toxton (February 1949–1955) (divorced) 2 children;
    * Arlene Miles (1956–1965) (divorced) 1 child;
    * Janette Scott (1966–1977) (divorced) 2 children;
    * Ali Severson (June 5, 1984–1999 death).

Tormé was survived by five children and two stepchildren, including:

    * Tracy, a screenwriter and film producer;
    * Daisy, a broadcaster;
    * James, a singer;
    * Steve, an alternative adult contemporary singer/guitar player
    * Melissa Tormé-March, actress
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/maddyfudgeface/graves/torme250.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u259/mouse_m/meltorme1.jpg




Mel Torme was on an episode of Seinfeld.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/10 at 4:14 pm


http://s0.ilike.com/play#Baccara:Yes+Sir%2C+I+Can+Boogie:493842:s40233343.10774130.18701824.0.2.92%2Cstd_7edef1e0119e445992821a1c3c29a2ea

Yes Sir I Can Boogie By Baccara (1977)

Thanks Howie, I just don't remember this song  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/06/10 at 7:37 am

The word or phrase of the day...Grand Slam
The term grand slam originated in contract bridge (where it contrasts with a "small slam"); specifically it is:

    * A high score in contract bridge involving winning all the tricks in a hand, see bridge scoring

Subsequently, "grand slam" has come to refer to other things.

In competition:

    * Grand slam (baseball)
    * Grand slam (chess), most prestigious chess tournaments besides the World Chess Championship cycle. The Chess Grand Slams include the Corus chess tournament, Linares chess tournament, M-Tel Masters in Sofia, Pearl Spring chess tournament and Bilbao Grand Slam tournament.
    * Grand Slam (curling)
    * Grand Slam (golf)
    * Grand Slam (horse), a graded stakes race winning thoroughbred race horse
    * Grand Slam (PBA) of the Philippine Basketball Association
    * Grand Slam (real tennis)
    * Grand Slam (rugby union)
    * Grand Slam (NASCAR)
    * Grand Slam (tennis)
    * Grand Slam Championship, a recognition defined by winning four specific professional wrestling championships.
    * Grand Slam City, an American city which has at least one franchise in all four major professional sports
    * Grand Slam of Eventing, consecutively winning 3 of the most prestigious three-day events in the world
    * Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, oldest and most prestigious 100 mile races in the U.S.
    * Grand Slam (Formula One) - Leading every lap of a race after starting from pole position, while also setting the fastest lap.

In entertainment:

    * Grand Slam (1967 film), a 1967 Italian heist movie
    * Grand Slam (1978 film), a 1978 Welsh TV movie comedy
    * Grand Slam (band), a band formed by Thin Lizzy bassist/vocalist Phil Lynott
    * Grand Slam (Isley Brothers album), a 1981 album by the Isley Brothers
    * Grand Slam (Magic Slim album), a 1983 album by Magic Slim
    * Grand Slam (Spiderbait album), a 1999 album by Australian band Spiderbait
    * Grand Slam (TV series), a quiz show shown in the UK in 2003
          o Grand Slam (US game show), a US remake in 2007
    * Grand Slam Tennis, a video game developed by EA Sports
    * Grandslam Entertainment, a video game company

Grand Slam may also refer to:

    * Grand Slam (G.I. Joe), a character from the G.I. Joe universe
    * Grand Slam bomb, a larger version of the Tallboy bunker buster bomb
    * Grand Slam Breakfast, a four-item option on the menu of Denny's restaurant
    * Winning the "Showbiz Award Grand Slam", see List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/b467/franklyentertaining/4e2b92c008a09712c0826010_L__SL500_A.jpg
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq119/jdrpng/PNG%20Baseball/DSCF9509.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g197/bedtimebear423/NES_Games_I_Own/F-G/Golf_Grand_Slam.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee165/mornin-dew/dennys-grand-slam-733459.jpg
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww235/Seinamies/grand_slam_tennisbox.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g101/thesscc/2007_08_capital_one_grand_slam/grand_slam.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww229/AlanHague/grandslamflyer.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/06/10 at 7:39 am

HOME RUN!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/06/10 at 7:41 am

The person born on this day...Bjorn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (Swedish pronunciation:  ( listen); born 6 June 1956) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Sweden; he won a record five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles (an all-time record he holds with Roger Federer) and four consecutive French Open singles titles (an all-time record he holds with Rafael Nadal), and is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

During his relatively brief pro career, Borg won 41 percent of the Grand Slam singles tournaments he entered (11 of 27) and 89.8 percent of the Grand Slam singles matches he played. Both are open era male records for an entire career. In addition, Borg's six French Open singles titles are an all-time record. He is the only player in the open era to win both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year more than once, winning both for three consecutive years. Borg joined the professional circuit at age 14. In 1972, at the age of 15, Borg became one of the youngest players ever to represent his country in the Davis Cup and won his debut singles rubber in five sets against seasoned professional Onny Parun of New Zealand. Later that year, he won the Wimbledon junior singles title, recovering from a 5-2 deficit in the final set to overcome Britain's Buster Mottram.

In 1973, Borg reached the Wimbledon main draw quarterfinals in his first attempt. Just before his 18th birthday in 1974, Borg won his first top-level singles title at the Italian Open, becoming its youngest winner. Two weeks later he became the then-youngest winner of the French Open defeating Manuel Orantes in the final 2–6, 6–7, 6–0, 6–1, 6–1. Barely 18 at the time, Borg was the youngest-ever male French Open champion (the record has since been lowered by Mats Wilander in 1982 and Michael Chang in 1989).

In early 1975, Borg defeated the great Rod Laver, then 36 years old, in a semifinal of the World Championship Tennis (WCT) finals in Dallas, Texas 7–6, 3–6, 5–7, 7–6, 6–2. Borg subsequently lost to Arthur Ashe in the final.

Borg retained his French Open title in 1975, beating Guillermo Vilas in the final in straight sets (three sets). Borg then reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, where he lost to eventual champion Ashe 2-6, 6-4, 8-6, 6-1. Borg did not lose another match at Wimbledon until 1981.

Borg won two singles and one doubles rubber in the 1975 Davis Cup final as Sweden beat Czechoslovakia 3–2. With these singles wins, Borg had won 19 consecutive Davis Cup singles rubbers since 1973. That was already a record at the time. But Borg never lost another Davis Cup singles rubber, and, by the end of his career, he had stretched that winning streak to 33—a Davis Cup record that still stands.

In early 1976, Borg won the World Championship Tennis (WCT) finals in Dallas, Texas with a four-set victory over Guillermo Vilas in the final.

At the 1976 French Open Borg lost to the Italian Adriano Panatta, who remains the only player to defeat Borg at this tournament. Panatta did it twice: in the fourth round in 1973 (7–6, 2–6, 7–5, 7–6), and in the 1976 quarter-finals (6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6).

Borg won Wimbledon in 1976 without losing a set, defeating the favored Ilie Năstase in the final. Borg became the youngest male Wimbledon champion of the modern era at 20 years and 1 month (a record subsequently broken by Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon aged 17 in 1985). It would be the last time Borg played Wimbledon as an underdog.

Borg also reached the final of the 1976 US Open, which was then being played on clay courts. Borg lost in four sets to World No. 1 Jimmy Connors.

Borg skipped the French Open in 1977 because he was under contract with WTT, but he repeated his Wimbledon triumph, although this time he was pushed much harder. He defeated his good friend Vitas Gerulaitis in a semifinal 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 8–6. In the final, Borg was pushed to five sets for the third time in the tournament, this time by Connors. The win propelled Borg to the #1 ranking on the computer, albeit for just one week in August.

Through 1977 he had never lost to a player younger than himself.

Borg was at the height of his career from 1978 through 1980, completing the difficult French Open-Wimbledon double all three years.

In 1978, Borg won the French Open with a win over Vilas in the final. Borg did not drop a set during the tournament, a feat only he, Năstase, and Rafael Nadal have accomplished at the French Open during the open era.

Borg defeated Connors in straight sets at the 1978 Wimbledon. At the US Open, now held on hard courts in Flushing Meadow, New York, he lost the final in straight sets to Connors. That autumn, Borg faced John McEnroe for the first time in a semifinal of the Stockholm Open and was upset 6–3, 6–4.

Borg lost to McEnroe again in four sets in the final of the 1979 WCT Finals but was now overtaking Connors for the top ranking. Borg established himself firmly in the top spot with his fourth French Open singles title and fourth straight Wimbledon singles title, defeating Connors in a straight-set semifinal at the latter tournament. At the French Open, Borg defeated big-serving Victor Pecci in a four-set final, and at Wimbledon, Borg took five sets to overcome an even bigger server, Roscoe Tanner. Borg was upset by Tanner at the US Open, in a four-set quarterfinal played under the lights.

At the season-ending Masters tournament in January 1980, Borg survived a close semifinal against McEnroe 6–7, 6-3, 7–6(1). He then beat Gerulaitis in straight sets, winning his first Masters and first title in New York. In June, he overcame Gerulaitis, again in straight sets, for his fifth French Open title. Again, he did not drop a set.

Borg won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon singles title in 1980 by defeating McEnroe in a five-set match, often cited as the best Wimbledon final ever played. Having lost the opening set 6-1 to an all-out McEnroe assault, Borg took the next two 7-5, 6-3 and had two Championship points at 5-4 in the fourth. But McEnroe averted disaster and went on to level the match in Wimbledon's most memorable 34-point tiebreaker, which he won 18-16. In the fourth-set tiebreak, McEnroe saved five match points and Borg six set points before McEnroe won the set. Bjorn served first to begin the 5th set and fell behind 15-40. Borg then won 19 straight points on serve in the deciding set and prevailed after 3 hours, 53 minutes. Borg himself commented years later that this was the first time that he was afraid that he would lose, as well as feeling that it was the beginning of the end of his dominance. Borg married Romanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu in Bucharest on 24 July 1980.

He defeated McEnroe in the final of the 1980 Stockholm Open, 6–3, 6–4, and faced him one more time that year, in the round-robin portion of the year-end Masters, played in January 1981. With 19,103 fans in attendance, Borg won a deciding third-set tie-break for the second year in a row, 6–4, 6–7, 7–6(2). Borg then defeated Ivan Lendl for his second Masters title, 6–4, 6–2, 6–2.

Borg won his last Grand Slam title at the French Open in 1981, defeating Lendl in a five-set final. Borg's six French Open singles titles remains a record in the Open era for a male player.

In reaching the Wimbledon final in 1981, Borg stretched his winning streak at the All England Club to a record 41 matches. In a semifinal, Borg was down to Connors by two sets to none before coming back to win the match 0–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–4. However, Borg's streak was brought to an end by McEnroe, who defeated him in four sets, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Borg went on to lose to McEnroe at the 1981 US Open, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, and the defeat effectively ended Borg's career. After that defeat, Borg walked off court and out of the stadium before the ceremonies and press conference had begun. It would turn out to be the Swede's last Grand Slam final. Although he felt in good condition physically, he recognized that the relentless drive to win and defy tour organizers had begun to fade.

The U.S. Open was his particular jinx. He failed to win in 10 tries, losing four finals, 1976 and 1978 to Jimmy Connors, and 1980 and 1981 to McEnroe. Thrice (1978, 1979 and 1980) he was halfway to a Grand Slam after victories at the French and Wimbledon (the Australian Open being the last Grand Slam tournament of each year at the time) only to falter at the three-quarter pole at Flushing Meadow, lefty Tanner his conqueror in 1979.

He had appeared only once at the Australian Open, earlier in his career, at which he lost in one of the earlier rounds.

In 1982, Borg played only one tournament, losing to Yannick Noah in the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo. Nevertheless, Borg's announcement in January 1983 that he was retiring from the game at the age of 26 was a shock to the tennis world. McEnroe tried unsuccessfully to persuade Borg to continue.
Grand Slam singles tournament records

Stand alone:

   * Borg's 11 Grand Slam singles titles out of 27 tournaments played gives him a male open era record 41 winning percentage. Margaret Court holds the record among all players.
   * In Grand Slam singles tournaments, Borg's match record is 141–16, giving him an 89.8 winning percentage, better than any male player ever. The only other male players in the open era with winning percentages over 80 are Roger Federer (87.4), Rafael Nadal (84.9), Pete Sampras (84.2), Jimmy Connors (82.6), Ivan Lendl (81.9), John McEnroe (81.5), Andre Agassi (80.9), and Boris Becker (80.3).
   * Borg is the first player to win combination of 6 French Open and 5 Wimbledon. Nobody has else matched or surpassed this combination of Grand Slam wins.
   * Borg defeated a record eight different (eventual) Grand Slam champions in Grand Slam finals. (Only six were already Grand Slam champions at the time they lost to Borg, but another two later went on to win Slam titles.)
   * Borg's 41 consecutive singles match winning streak at Wimbledon remains an all-time record. Federer has come closest to matching this, with a winning streak of 40 consecutive Wimbledon singles matches from 2003 through 2008, before being beaten by Nadal.
   * Borg won the French Open singles title without losing a set in 1978 and 1980, and he was the last man to do so until Nadal in 2008. However, Borg is the only one to win two Grand Slams without dropping a set.
   * Borg is the only male player to have won both the French Open and Wimbledon singles titles in the same year for three consecutive years (1978–80).
   * Borg is the first player to appear in 6 French Open finals.

Share:

   * Borg (1974–1981), Sampras (1993–2000) and Federer (2003-2010) won at least one Grand Slam singles title for eight consecutive years, an all-time men's record.
   * Borg (6 French Open and 5 Wimbledon), Sampras (7 Wimbledon and 5 US Open) and Federer (6 Wimbledon and 5 US Open) are the only male players to win two different Grand Slam singles tournaments at least five times.
   * Borg and Federer have won more consecutive Wimbledon singles titles (5) than any other male player under modern rules. Only William Renshaw won more consecutive singles titles (1881–86), but in Renshaw's day, the defending champion played only one match, the Challenge Round.
   * Borg won more French Open singles titles (6) than any other male player in tennis history (MaxMax Decugis won 8 titles when only French players were allowed to compete).
   * Borg and Nadal won four consecutive French Open singles titles, the only players to do so, during the open era.
   * Borg (1978–81), Lendl (1984–87), Nadal (2005–08) and Federer (2006–09) played in four consecutive French Open singles finals, a men's open era record.
   * Borg was the first male player to have appeared in the singles finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year for four consecutive years (1978–81); this has been equaled by Federer (2006–2009).
   * Borg (6-0), Nadal (4-0) and Gustavo Kuerten (3-0) are the only players in the Open Era to never lose a French Open final while appearing in at least 3 finals.

Surpassed:

   * Borg played in 16 Grand Slam singles finals, which as of the end of his career was a male record for the open era and second in tennis history only to Rod Laver's 17 finals. The current record is 22 held by Federer, and Borg's 16 is tied for fifth all-time.
   * Borg and Sampras have defeated 9 players in Grand Slam finals second only to the 11 defeated by Federer.
   * Borg (1976-80 Wimbledon and the 1978-81 French Open) was the first player to win two different Grand Slam tournaments at least four consecutive times. Federer has since surpassed that record by winning two different Grand Slams five consecutive times each (2003-07 Wimbledon and 2004-08 US Open).
   * Borg's five Wimbledon singles titles is the third highest number of titles won by a male player since the abolition of the Challenge Round in 1922. Sampras won seven singles titles, the last of which was in 2000. Federer has won six, the most recent in 2009.
   * Borg (1976–1981) played in six consecutive Wimbledon singles finals, an Open Era record surpassed by Federer (2003–2009).
   * Borg retired while on a winning streak of record 28 consecutive matches at the French Open. Later, Nadal surpassed this record by winning 29 consecutive matches in the first round of 2009 French Open.
   * During the open era, Borg was the first male to play in six finals of two different Grand Slam tournaments (6 at the French Open and 6 at Wimbledon). Later, Sampras appeared in at least seven finals of two different Grand Slam tournaments (7 at Wimbledon and 8 at the US Open).
   * During the open era, Borg is the first player to win the same Grand Slam 6 times (6 French Open). Later, Sampras surpassed this record by winning 7 Wimbledon titles.
   * During the open era, Borg is the first player to win at least 28 consecutive matches at two different Grand Slams (1978-1981 French Open and 1976-81 Wimbledon). Later, Federer surpassed this record by winning at least 40 consecutive matches at Wimbledon (2003–2008) and US Open (2004–2009).
   * During the open era, Borg is the first player to appear in 3 Grand Slam Finals in a calendar year three different times in his career (1978, 1980–81). Later Federer surpassed this record by appearing in 3 Grand Slam Finals in a calendar year five different times in his career (2004, 2006–09).
   * Borg is the first player of open era to win 11 Grand Slams. Later Sampras (14) and Federer (16) surpassed this record.
   * Borg is the first player to appear in French Open, Wimbledon and US Open finals in the same calendar year three different times in his career (1978, 1980–81). This record has since been surpassed by Federer, who has appeared in French Open, Wimbledon and US Open finals in the same calendar year for four consecutive years (2006–09).

Youngest to win

   * In 1972 Borg became the youngest ever winner of a Davis Cup match at age 15.
   * In 1974, one month before his 18th birthday, Borg became the youngest winner of the Italian Open. That record has since been broken.
   * In 1974, only days after his 18th birthday, Borg became the youngest man ever to hold a Grand Slam singles title. He retained that distinction until another Swede, Mats Wilander, won the French Open in 1982. The mark has since been lowered by Michael Chang from the US.
   * At 18 he was the youngest winner of the US Pro Tennis Championships until Aaron Krickstein won in 1983.
   * In 1976 at age 20 Borg became the youngest winner of Wimbledon during the open era until Boris Becker became the youngest Grand Slam winner of all time by taking Wimbledon at age 17 years, 7 months in 1985 (a record broken by Michael Chang who won the French Open when he was 17 years, 3 months in 1989).
   * Borg won his 11th Grand Slam singles title in 1981 aged 25 years and 1 day, the youngest male to reach that number of titles. By comparison, Roger Federer won his 11th aged 25 years and 324 days; Pete Sampras won his 11th at almost age 27, Roy Emerson at age 30, and Rod Laver at age 31.

Match competition

   * Based on the ATP web site, Borg compiled a 576–124 win–loss singles record, winning 82.29 percent of the matches he played. By comparison, Jimmy Connors won 81.96 percent, Ivan Lendl won 81.75 percent, John McEnroe won 81.66 percent, Pete Sampras won 77.44 percent, and Andre Agassi won 76.05 percent.
   * Borg won 19 consecutive points on serve in the fifth set on two occasions: his 1980 Wimbledon final against McEnroe and his 1980 US Open quarterfinal against Roscoe Tanner.

Career winning streaks

   * On the list of open era winning streaks, Borg is third (43 consecutive tour matches in 1978). The only other men with winning streaks of at least 40 matches are Guillermo Vilas (46), Ivan Lendl (44), John McEnroe (42), and Roger Federer (41).
   * Borg previously held the record for most consecutive wins on grass, with 41 victories (all at Wimbledon). Federer, who customarily plays a second grass tournament in Halle in addition to Wimbledon, had his 65 match winning streak on grass (from 2003 through the 2008 Wimbledon final) ended by Rafael Nadal.
   * Borg holds the Davis Cup record singles winning streak at 33 consecutive victories.
   * Borg holds third place for most consecutive wins on clay, with 46 victories in 1977–79. Only Rafael Nadal with 81 and Vilas with 53 have won more consecutive clay court matches.

Miscellaneous

   * Borg's 63 career titles as listed on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) website places him fifth on that website's open era list behind Jimmy Connors (107), Ivan Lendl (94), John McEnroe (77), and Pete Sampras (64).
   * Borg retired with US$ 3.6 million in career prize money, a record at the time.
   * According to the match scores listed on the ATP website, Borg bageled his opponents (sets won 6–0) 116 times from 1973 through 1981, compared to Federer's 55 bagels from 1999 through the 2007 French Open.
   * Borg was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 at only 30 years of age.
   * In 1999, Borg was elected the best Swedish sportsman ever by a jury in his home country. His tennis rivals included a pair of top ranked players: Mats Wilander (who won seven Grand Slam titles) and Stefan Edberg (who won six).
   * In their only career match-up, Borg defeated Wilander in September 1981 in the first round of a tournament in Geneva, Switzerland. The score was 6–1, 6–1. Geneva was the last tournament that Borg won during his career.
   * Borg won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1974 and 1978, the latter being shared with alpine skier Ingemar Stenmark. They are the only men to have won this honor twice.
   * Borg was well known for his sleek signature line of Fila 'BJ' sportswear, particularly the pinstriped tennis shirts that became a trademark. Although Borg wore Fila throughout the world (except Sweden where he was contracted to Jockey) he used different rackets and shoes for different parts of the world. In North America he wore Tretorn sneakers and used a Bancroft Borg frame, while everywhere else it was the Donnay Allwood or Borg Pro, with Diadora Borg Elite shoes. There was also superstition in what he wore. Borg always reverted to the traditional green pinstripe shirt for Wimbledon, no matter what other design he may have worn at the time.

See also
Tennis icon.png Tennis portal

   * List of Grand Slam Men's Singles champions
   * List of Swedish sportspeople
   * Tennis male players statistics
   * World number one male tennis player rankings
   * Borg-McEnroe rivalry
   * Borg-Connors rivalry
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr288/colintimberlake/bjornborgpane.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e251/tysse71/ALFA%20AUTOS/Bjorn_borg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/06/10 at 7:46 am

The person who died on this day...Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American rhythm and blues musician from Houston, Texas raised mostly in Los Angeles, California.  In addition to his successful, Grammy Award-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Band, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Richie Sambora, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ringo Starr. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969.

Preston and Tony Sheridan are the only two non-Beatles to receive billing as an artist alongside the Beatles (as distinct from receiving credit as a session musician on album packaging) on an official Beatles record release. The label of the "Get Back" single credits the artists on the record as The Beatles with Billy Preston. Preston began playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap at age three, and he was considered something of a child prodigy on piano and organ. By the age of 10 he was performing in the bands of gospel singers Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland, and Andrae Crouch. At age 12 he began a side career acting, and appeared in the 1958 Paramount Pictures film St. Louis Blues, portraying blues composer W.C. Handy as a young man. In the 1960s he performed with Little Richard and Ray Charles. He also began a recording career as a solo artist with the 1965 album The Most Exciting Organ Ever. He was also a regular on the mid-1960s ABC-TV musical variety series Shindig! as a member of the show's house band.
Relationship with The Beatles

Preston is one of several people sometimes referred to by outsiders as a "Fifth Beatle." At one point during the Get Back sessions, John Lennon even proposed the idea of having him as the "Fifth Beatle" (Paul countered that it was bad enough with four.) Preston first met The Beatles in 1962 while part of Little Richard's touring band, when their manager Brian Epstein organized a Liverpool show, which The Beatles opened. The Washington Post explained their subsequent meeting:
“ They'd hook up again in 1969, when The Beatles were about to break up while recording the last album they released, Let It Be (they would later record Abbey Road, which was released prior to Let It Be). George Harrison, always Preston's best Beatles buddy, had quit and walked out of the studio and gone to a Ray Charles concert in London, where Preston was playing organ. Harrison brought Preston back to the studio, where his keen musicianship and gregarious personality temporarily calmed the tension.

Preston played with The Beatles for several of the Get Back sessions, some of the material from which would later be culled to make the film Let it Be and its companion album, during which he joined the band for its rooftop concert, its final public appearance. "Get Back", one of the album's singles, was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston," the only time such a joint credit had been given on an official Beatles-sanctioned release (as distinct from an unsanctioned reissue of some Hamburg-era recordings on which they were the backing group for Tony Sheridan). The credit was bestowed by The Beatles to reflect the extent of Preston's presence on the track; his electric piano is prominent throughout and he plays an extended solo. Preston also worked (in a more limited role) on the Abbey Road album, contributing to the tracks "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something."

In 1978 he appeared as Sgt. Pepper in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was very loosely based on The Beatles' album of the same name.
Post-Beatles

Signed to The Beatles' Apple label, in 1969, Preston released the album That's the Way God Planned It and a single of the same name (produced by George Harrison). His relationship with Harrison continued after the breakup of The Beatles; he was the first artist to record "My Sweet Lord", in his album Encouraging Words (Harrison's own version of the single hit number one in the U.S. and the UK and was the first number one by a former Beatle after they disbanded) and he was on several of Harrison's 1970s solo albums. Preston also made notable contributions to The Concert for Bangladesh, the Harrison-organized charity concert, toured with Harrison on his 1974 tour of North America and, after Harrison's death, The Concert for George. Preston also worked on solo recordings by two other ex-Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

His solo career also peaked at this time, beginning with 1972's "Outa-Space", an instrumental track that further popularized the sound of the clavinet in funk music. The song reached #2 on the U.S. Hot 100, #1 on the R&B chart, and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in June 1972.

Over the next two years, he followed up with the #1 hits "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing", and the #4 hit "Space Race." All three releases each sold in excess of one million copies. American Bandstand host and executive producer Dick Clark enjoyed "Space Race" so much that he used the instrumental for the mid-show break for virtually the remainder of its run.

After The Beatles, Preston played keyboards for The Rolling Stones, alongside pianist Nicky Hopkins. Preston appears on the Stones' albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock'n Roll and Black and Blue. He toured as a support act on their 1973 European Tour and recorded his live album Live European Tour 1973 in Munich with Mick Taylor on guitar. In 1974 he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live's series premiere episode (along with Janis Ian). Also in that year, and in 1976, he again toured with the Stones. This time he played two of his own songs, backed by the Stones, in the middle of every concert. Preston's 1973 Do You Love Me was the basis for the Stones' Melody on their 1976 Black and Blue album. The Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a row over money. He continued to play on solo records by Stones members and made appearances again on the Stones' 1981 Tattoo You and 1997 Bridges to Babylon albums.

He had a hit single in 1980 with Syreeta Wright with the ballad "With You I'm Born Again" that reached number four on the charts. A few years later, however, he was arrested and convicted for insurance fraud after setting fire to his own house in Los Angeles, and he was treated for alcohol and cocaine addictions. In 1991, Preston was arrested in Los Angeles after physically attacking a teenage transvestite prostitute after he discovered the prostitute's real age and sex. After going over a drug test, he tested positive for cocaine. That year, he entered no-contest pleas to the cocaine and assault charges. He was sentenced to nine months at a drug rehabilitation center and three months of house arrest.

Preston overcame his problems in the early 1990s, toured with Eric Clapton, and recorded with a wide range of artists. He also toured with Ringo Starr and appeared on the 1990 live album Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. He was also invited to become a member of The Band in 1991, after the death of their piano player, Stan Szelest. He completed a tour, but his above-mentioned legal problems put an end to the collaboration before they had a chance to record together in the studio.

In 1997-98 Billy Preston played organ during the choir numbers on the UPN comedy show Good News.

While touring and fighting his own health problems, Preston received the news that on 29 November 2001, his old friend George Harrison had died after a long battle with throat cancer. Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George in London, England, to play a tribute song. Preston participated in the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and his performance of "My Sweet Lord" has received critical acclaim. Preston played the Hammond organ for the show and sang "Isn't It A Pity" and "My Sweet Lord" plus backing vocals on most of the other songs. Ringo Starr called him one of the greatest Hammond players of all time (in the theatrical version of the concert).

In 2002 he appeared on the Johnny Cash album American IV: The Man Comes Around, playing piano on "Personal Jesus".

He toured with The Funk Brothers and Steve Winwood in Europe in early 2004 and then with his friend Eric Clapton in Europe and North America.

It has been claimed that his big contribution to The Beatles' sound was made clear with the release of the Let It Be... Naked album.

In 2005 he recorded "Go Where No One's Gone Before", the main title song for the anime series L/R: Licensed by Royalty.

Preston played clavinet on the song "Warlocks" for the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Stadium Arcadium released in 2006. Although very ill by this point, he jumped out of his bed after hearing a tape of the song given to him by the band, recorded his part, and went back to bed. Preston's final contributions were the gospel-tinged organ on the Neil Diamond album 12 Songs, and his keyboard work on The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton and J. J. Cale, and some of the first tracks on the Reach album by Is'real Benton.

In March 2005, Preston appeared on the American Idol's fourth season finale. Playing piano, he performed "With You I'm Born Again" with Vonzell Solomon, who finished in third place.

Preston made his last public appearance in late 2005 at the Los Angeles press junket for the re-release of the Concert for Bangla Desh movie. He was in good spirits and talked to many in the press. Afterwards he played a three song set of "Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity", featuring Dhani Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums for the final song only.

There still remains an unreleased CD of Beatles covers that he had been working on for several years before his death. Many tracks from this CD were previewed by him at The Fest For Beatles Fans shows in the years before his death.

Jazz musician Miles Davis was heavily influenced by Preston's music during his funk rock period of the early 1970s. The 1972 album Get Up With It features a track called "Billy Preston" in his honor.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Billy Preston dies at 59

Preston had battled kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died on June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. He had voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, Calif., at the suggestion of guitarist Is'real Benton and suffered pericarditis there, leading to respiratory failure that left him in a coma from November 21, 2005. His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, where he was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Discography
Crystal Clear app kedit.svg
This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, as the table format is needed. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (June 2010)
Albums

    * (1965) The Most Exciting Organ Ever
    * (1965) Early Hits of '65
    * (1966) The Wildest Organ in Town
    * (1967) Club Meeting
    * (1969) That's The Way God Planned It
    * (1970) Encouraging Words
    * (1971) I Wrote a Simple Song
    * (1972) Music Is My Life
    * (1973) Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music
    * (1974) Live European Tour 1973 featuring Mick Taylor on guitar (CD release A&M, 2002)
    * (1974) The Kids and Me
    * (1975) It's My Pleasure
    * (1976) Billy Preston
    * (1977) A Whole New Thing
    * (1979) Late At Night
    * (1981) Billy Preston & Syreeta (with Syreeta Wright)
    * (1981) The Way I Am
    * (1982) Pressin' On
    * (1984) On the Air
    * (1986) You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
    * (2001) You and I (featuring the Italian band 'Novecento')

Also recorded unreleased material under Maxi Music Productions in early 80's. This material owned by Lee Maxi, rights have been past down to recording artist Kay'Don Calrissian. An album release has not yet been established.
Gospel albums

    * (1962) Sixteen Years Old Soul
    * (1965) Hymns Speak from the Organ
    * (1973) Gospel In My Soul (Re-edition of Hymns Speak from the organ)
    * (1978) Behold!
    * (1980) Universal Love
    * (1994) Ministry of Music
    * (1995) Minister of Music
    * (1996) Words and Music
    * (2001) Music From My Heart

Singles

    * 1969: "That's the Way God Planned It" - US Pop #62, UK #11
    * 1971: "My Sweet Lord" - US Pop #90, US R&B #23
    * 1972: "I Wrote a Simple Song" - US Pop #77
    * 1972: "Outa-Space" - US Pop #2, US R&B #1, UK #44
    * 1972: "That's the Way God Planned It" (re-release) - US Pop #65
    * 1972: "Slaughter" - US Pop #50, US R&B #17
    * 1973: "Will It Go Round in Circles" - US Pop #1, US R&B #10
    * 1973: "Space Race" - US Pop #4, US R&B #1
    * 1974: "You're So Unique" - US Pop #48, US R&B #11
    * 1974: "Nothing from Nothing" US Pop #1, US R&B #8
    * 1974" "Struttin'" - US Pop #22, US R&B #11
    * 1975: "Fancy Lady" - US Pop #71, US R&B #23
    * 1977: "Wide Stride" - US R&B #33
    * 1978: "Get Back" - US Pop #86
    * 1979: "With You I'm Born Again" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #4, UK #2
    * 1980: "It Will Come in Time" (with Syreeta Wright) - UK #47
    * 1980: "One More Time for Love" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #52
    * 1982: "I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye" - US Pop #88
    * 1986: "So Good, So Fine" (with Ann-Louise Hanson)
    * 2003: "Go Where No One's Gone Before"

As a guest/session performer

    * (1963) Night Beat (Sam Cooke)
    * (1969) "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down" (The Beatles)
    * (1969) Abbey Road (The Beatles)
    * (1970) Let It Be (The Beatles)
    * (1970) All Things Must Pass (George Harrison)
    * (1970) John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon) - piano on "God"
    * (1971) Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
    * (1971) The Concert for Bangla Desh (George Harrison and Friends)
    * (1971) There's a Riot Goin' On (Sly & the Family Stone)
    * (1971) Live at Fillmore West (King Curtis & Aretha Franklin)
    * (1971) Barbra Joan Streisand - Keyboards and Drums
    * (1972) Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones)
    * (1972) Wind of Change (Peter Frampton) - Plays piano, keyboards, harpsichord, accordion
    * (1973) Ringo (Ringo Starr) - Organ on "I'm The Greatest" and "Oh My My"
    * (1973) Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones)
    * (1974) Dark Horse (George Harrison) - Electric piano
    * (1974) Goodnight Vienna (Ringo Starr) - clavinet on the title track, electric piano on "Only You (And You Alone)"
    * (1974) It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (Rolling Stones)
    * (1975) "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker's biggest hit)
    * (1975) Extra Texture (Read All About It) (George Harrison) - Electric piano on "His Name Is Legs (Ladies And Gentlemen)"
    * (1976) Thirty Three & 1/3 (George Harrison)
    * (1976) Black and Blue (Rolling Stones)
    * (1976) Love You Live (Rolling Stones)
    * (1978) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Also acted the part "Sgt. Pepper" in the film
    * (1981) Tattoo You (Rolling Stones)
    * (1985) "Till My Baby Comes Home" (Luther Vandross) - Plays organ
    * (1986) "Great Gosh A'Mighty (Been A Long Time Comin')" - Co-written with Little Richard - from the hit motion picture Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Little Richard - vocal.
    * (1990) Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band - Plays keyboards and vocals
    * (1990) Giovani Jovanotti (Jovanotti) - Plays keyboards & Fender Rhodes
    * (1991) ...E La Vita Continua (Nino D'Angelo)
    * (1993) Wandering Spirit (Mick Jagger) - "Sweet Thing", "Out of Focus", "Use Me", "Wandering Spirit" and "I've Been Lonely for So Long".
    * (1996) Voyage of Dreams - Jephté Guillaume and the Tet Kale Orkestra - Plays Organ, Strings on "Al Di Yo", "Go Tell Them", "Kanpe", "Get Up")
    * (1996) El Equilibiro de los Jaguares (Jaguares) - Organ/Hammond B3 on "Detrás de los Cerros"
    * (1996) Peace Beyond Passion (Me'shell Ndegeocello) - Keyboards on "Deuteronomy: ******man"
    * (1997) Bridges to Babylon (Rolling Stones) - Organ on "Saint of Me"
    * (1998) Undiscovered Soul (Richie Sambora)
    * (2000) The Harsh Light of Day (Fastball) - Plays keyboards on "You're An Ocean"
    * (2001) Songs From The West Coast (Elton John) - "Electric organ" on "I Want Love", "The Wasteland", "Love Her Like Me"
    * (2001) Reptile (Eric Clapton)
    * (2001) One More Car, One More Rider (Eric Clapton, live) - DVD includes live performance of Will It Go Round in Circles
    * (2002) Travelogue (Joni Mitchell) - Plays Hammond B3 on the track "You Dream Flat Tires"
    * (2003) The Colored Section (Donnie) - Plays Hammond B3 on the last track: "The Colored Section"
    * (2003) Concert for George - Including "Isn't It a Pity" and "My Sweet Lord"
    * (2003) Get Born (Jet)
    * (2004) Me and Mr. Johnson (Eric Clapton) - Also appears in the DVD companion Sessions for Robert J
    * (2004) Crossroads Guitar Festival (Eric Clapton)
    * (2004) Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles)
    * (2005) 12 Songs (Neil Diamond)
    * (2005) Back Home (Eric Clapton)
    * (2005) Choose Love (Ringo Starr)
    * (2005) The Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison and Friends) (Re-mastered version & video)
    * (2005) Tough on Crime (Rebecca Pidgeon) - Plays Keyboards
    * (2006) Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers) - Plays on "Warlocks"
    * (2006) The Road to Escondido (Eric Clapton, J. J. Cale)
    * (2007) Reach (Is'real Benton) - Plays organ on "Have A Good Time"
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c392/tkhfc/BillyPreston.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii54/gospellegend/billypreston.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/06/10 at 7:49 am


The person who died on this day...Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American rhythm and blues musician from Houston, Texas raised mostly in Los Angeles, California.  In addition to his successful, Grammy Award-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Band, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Richie Sambora, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ringo Starr. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969.

Preston and Tony Sheridan are the only two non-Beatles to receive billing as an artist alongside the Beatles (as distinct from receiving credit as a session musician on album packaging) on an official Beatles record release. The label of the "Get Back" single credits the artists on the record as The Beatles with Billy Preston. Preston began playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap at age three, and he was considered something of a child prodigy on piano and organ. By the age of 10 he was performing in the bands of gospel singers Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland, and Andrae Crouch. At age 12 he began a side career acting, and appeared in the 1958 Paramount Pictures film St. Louis Blues, portraying blues composer W.C. Handy as a young man. In the 1960s he performed with Little Richard and Ray Charles. He also began a recording career as a solo artist with the 1965 album The Most Exciting Organ Ever. He was also a regular on the mid-1960s ABC-TV musical variety series Shindig! as a member of the show's house band.
Relationship with The Beatles

Preston is one of several people sometimes referred to by outsiders as a "Fifth Beatle." At one point during the Get Back sessions, John Lennon even proposed the idea of having him as the "Fifth Beatle" (Paul countered that it was bad enough with four.) Preston first met The Beatles in 1962 while part of Little Richard's touring band, when their manager Brian Epstein organized a Liverpool show, which The Beatles opened. The Washington Post explained their subsequent meeting:
“ They'd hook up again in 1969, when The Beatles were about to break up while recording the last album they released, Let It Be (they would later record Abbey Road, which was released prior to Let It Be). George Harrison, always Preston's best Beatles buddy, had quit and walked out of the studio and gone to a Ray Charles concert in London, where Preston was playing organ. Harrison brought Preston back to the studio, where his keen musicianship and gregarious personality temporarily calmed the tension.

Preston played with The Beatles for several of the Get Back sessions, some of the material from which would later be culled to make the film Let it Be and its companion album, during which he joined the band for its rooftop concert, its final public appearance. "Get Back", one of the album's singles, was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston," the only time such a joint credit had been given on an official Beatles-sanctioned release (as distinct from an unsanctioned reissue of some Hamburg-era recordings on which they were the backing group for Tony Sheridan). The credit was bestowed by The Beatles to reflect the extent of Preston's presence on the track; his electric piano is prominent throughout and he plays an extended solo. Preston also worked (in a more limited role) on the Abbey Road album, contributing to the tracks "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something."

In 1978 he appeared as Sgt. Pepper in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was very loosely based on The Beatles' album of the same name.
Post-Beatles

Signed to The Beatles' Apple label, in 1969, Preston released the album That's the Way God Planned It and a single of the same name (produced by George Harrison). His relationship with Harrison continued after the breakup of The Beatles; he was the first artist to record "My Sweet Lord", in his album Encouraging Words (Harrison's own version of the single hit number one in the U.S. and the UK and was the first number one by a former Beatle after they disbanded) and he was on several of Harrison's 1970s solo albums. Preston also made notable contributions to The Concert for Bangladesh, the Harrison-organized charity concert, toured with Harrison on his 1974 tour of North America and, after Harrison's death, The Concert for George. Preston also worked on solo recordings by two other ex-Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

His solo career also peaked at this time, beginning with 1972's "Outa-Space", an instrumental track that further popularized the sound of the clavinet in funk music. The song reached #2 on the U.S. Hot 100, #1 on the R&B chart, and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in June 1972.

Over the next two years, he followed up with the #1 hits "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing", and the #4 hit "Space Race." All three releases each sold in excess of one million copies. American Bandstand host and executive producer Dick Clark enjoyed "Space Race" so much that he used the instrumental for the mid-show break for virtually the remainder of its run.

After The Beatles, Preston played keyboards for The Rolling Stones, alongside pianist Nicky Hopkins. Preston appears on the Stones' albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock'n Roll and Black and Blue. He toured as a support act on their 1973 European Tour and recorded his live album Live European Tour 1973 in Munich with Mick Taylor on guitar. In 1974 he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live's series premiere episode (along with Janis Ian). Also in that year, and in 1976, he again toured with the Stones. This time he played two of his own songs, backed by the Stones, in the middle of every concert. Preston's 1973 Do You Love Me was the basis for the Stones' Melody on their 1976 Black and Blue album. The Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a row over money. He continued to play on solo records by Stones members and made appearances again on the Stones' 1981 Tattoo You and 1997 Bridges to Babylon albums.

He had a hit single in 1980 with Syreeta Wright with the ballad "With You I'm Born Again" that reached number four on the charts. A few years later, however, he was arrested and convicted for insurance fraud after setting fire to his own house in Los Angeles, and he was treated for alcohol and cocaine addictions. In 1991, Preston was arrested in Los Angeles after physically attacking a teenage transvestite prostitute after he discovered the prostitute's real age and sex. After going over a drug test, he tested positive for cocaine. That year, he entered no-contest pleas to the cocaine and assault charges. He was sentenced to nine months at a drug rehabilitation center and three months of house arrest.

Preston overcame his problems in the early 1990s, toured with Eric Clapton, and recorded with a wide range of artists. He also toured with Ringo Starr and appeared on the 1990 live album Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. He was also invited to become a member of The Band in 1991, after the death of their piano player, Stan Szelest. He completed a tour, but his above-mentioned legal problems put an end to the collaboration before they had a chance to record together in the studio.

In 1997-98 Billy Preston played organ during the choir numbers on the UPN comedy show Good News.

While touring and fighting his own health problems, Preston received the news that on 29 November 2001, his old friend George Harrison had died after a long battle with throat cancer. Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George in London, England, to play a tribute song. Preston participated in the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and his performance of "My Sweet Lord" has received critical acclaim. Preston played the Hammond organ for the show and sang "Isn't It A Pity" and "My Sweet Lord" plus backing vocals on most of the other songs. Ringo Starr called him one of the greatest Hammond players of all time (in the theatrical version of the concert).

In 2002 he appeared on the Johnny Cash album American IV: The Man Comes Around, playing piano on "Personal Jesus".

He toured with The Funk Brothers and Steve Winwood in Europe in early 2004 and then with his friend Eric Clapton in Europe and North America.

It has been claimed that his big contribution to The Beatles' sound was made clear with the release of the Let It Be... Naked album.

In 2005 he recorded "Go Where No One's Gone Before", the main title song for the anime series L/R: Licensed by Royalty.

Preston played clavinet on the song "Warlocks" for the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Stadium Arcadium released in 2006. Although very ill by this point, he jumped out of his bed after hearing a tape of the song given to him by the band, recorded his part, and went back to bed. Preston's final contributions were the gospel-tinged organ on the Neil Diamond album 12 Songs, and his keyboard work on The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton and J. J. Cale, and some of the first tracks on the Reach album by Is'real Benton.

In March 2005, Preston appeared on the American Idol's fourth season finale. Playing piano, he performed "With You I'm Born Again" with Vonzell Solomon, who finished in third place.

Preston made his last public appearance in late 2005 at the Los Angeles press junket for the re-release of the Concert for Bangla Desh movie. He was in good spirits and talked to many in the press. Afterwards he played a three song set of "Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity", featuring Dhani Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums for the final song only.

There still remains an unreleased CD of Beatles covers that he had been working on for several years before his death. Many tracks from this CD were previewed by him at The Fest For Beatles Fans shows in the years before his death.

Jazz musician Miles Davis was heavily influenced by Preston's music during his funk rock period of the early 1970s. The 1972 album Get Up With It features a track called "Billy Preston" in his honor.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Billy Preston dies at 59

Preston had battled kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died on June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. He had voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, Calif., at the suggestion of guitarist Is'real Benton and suffered pericarditis there, leading to respiratory failure that left him in a coma from November 21, 2005. His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, where he was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Discography
Crystal Clear app kedit.svg
This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, as the table format is needed. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (June 2010)
Albums

    * (1965) The Most Exciting Organ Ever
    * (1965) Early Hits of '65
    * (1966) The Wildest Organ in Town
    * (1967) Club Meeting
    * (1969) That's The Way God Planned It
    * (1970) Encouraging Words
    * (1971) I Wrote a Simple Song
    * (1972) Music Is My Life
    * (1973) Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music
    * (1974) Live European Tour 1973 featuring Mick Taylor on guitar (CD release A&M, 2002)
    * (1974) The Kids and Me
    * (1975) It's My Pleasure
    * (1976) Billy Preston
    * (1977) A Whole New Thing
    * (1979) Late At Night
    * (1981) Billy Preston & Syreeta (with Syreeta Wright)
    * (1981) The Way I Am
    * (1982) Pressin' On
    * (1984) On the Air
    * (1986) You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
    * (2001) You and I (featuring the Italian band 'Novecento')

Also recorded unreleased material under Maxi Music Productions in early 80's. This material owned by Lee Maxi, rights have been past down to recording artist Kay'Don Calrissian. An album release has not yet been established.
Gospel albums

    * (1962) Sixteen Years Old Soul
    * (1965) Hymns Speak from the Organ
    * (1973) Gospel In My Soul (Re-edition of Hymns Speak from the organ)
    * (1978) Behold!
    * (1980) Universal Love
    * (1994) Ministry of Music
    * (1995) Minister of Music
    * (1996) Words and Music
    * (2001) Music From My Heart

Singles

    * 1969: "That's the Way God Planned It" - US Pop #62, UK #11
    * 1971: "My Sweet Lord" - US Pop #90, US R&B #23
    * 1972: "I Wrote a Simple Song" - US Pop #77
    * 1972: "Outa-Space" - US Pop #2, US R&B #1, UK #44
    * 1972: "That's the Way God Planned It" (re-release) - US Pop #65
    * 1972: "Slaughter" - US Pop #50, US R&B #17
    * 1973: "Will It Go Round in Circles" - US Pop #1, US R&B #10
    * 1973: "Space Race" - US Pop #4, US R&B #1
    * 1974: "You're So Unique" - US Pop #48, US R&B #11
    * 1974: "Nothing from Nothing" US Pop #1, US R&B #8
    * 1974" "Struttin'" - US Pop #22, US R&B #11
    * 1975: "Fancy Lady" - US Pop #71, US R&B #23
    * 1977: "Wide Stride" - US R&B #33
    * 1978: "Get Back" - US Pop #86
    * 1979: "With You I'm Born Again" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #4, UK #2
    * 1980: "It Will Come in Time" (with Syreeta Wright) - UK #47
    * 1980: "One More Time for Love" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #52
    * 1982: "I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye" - US Pop #88
    * 1986: "So Good, So Fine" (with Ann-Louise Hanson)
    * 2003: "Go Where No One's Gone Before"

As a guest/session performer

    * (1963) Night Beat (Sam Cooke)
    * (1969) "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down" (The Beatles)
    * (1969) Abbey Road (The Beatles)
    * (1970) Let It Be (The Beatles)
    * (1970) All Things Must Pass (George Harrison)
    * (1970) John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon) - piano on "God"
    * (1971) Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
    * (1971) The Concert for Bangla Desh (George Harrison and Friends)
    * (1971) There's a Riot Goin' On (Sly & the Family Stone)
    * (1971) Live at Fillmore West (King Curtis & Aretha Franklin)
    * (1971) Barbra Joan Streisand - Keyboards and Drums
    * (1972) Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones)
    * (1972) Wind of Change (Peter Frampton) - Plays piano, keyboards, harpsichord, accordion
    * (1973) Ringo (Ringo Starr) - Organ on "I'm The Greatest" and "Oh My My"
    * (1973) Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones)
    * (1974) Dark Horse (George Harrison) - Electric piano
    * (1974) Goodnight Vienna (Ringo Starr) - clavinet on the title track, electric piano on "Only You (And You Alone)"
    * (1974) It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (Rolling Stones)
    * (1975) "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker's biggest hit)
    * (1975) Extra Texture (Read All About It) (George Harrison) - Electric piano on "His Name Is Legs (Ladies And Gentlemen)"
    * (1976) Thirty Three & 1/3 (George Harrison)
    * (1976) Black and Blue (Rolling Stones)
    * (1976) Love You Live (Rolling Stones)
    * (1978) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Also acted the part "Sgt. Pepper" in the film
    * (1981) Tattoo You (Rolling Stones)
    * (1985) "Till My Baby Comes Home" (Luther Vandross) - Plays organ
    * (1986) "Great Gosh A'Mighty (Been A Long Time Comin')" - Co-written with Little Richard - from the hit motion picture Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Little Richard - vocal.
    * (1990) Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band - Plays keyboards and vocals
    * (1990) Giovani Jovanotti (Jovanotti) - Plays keyboards & Fender Rhodes
    * (1991) ...E La Vita Continua (Nino D'Angelo)
    * (1993) Wandering Spirit (Mick Jagger) - "Sweet Thing", "Out of Focus", "Use Me", "Wandering Spirit" and "I've Been Lonely for So Long".
    * (1996) Voyage of Dreams - Jephté Guillaume and the Tet Kale Orkestra - Plays Organ, Strings on "Al Di Yo", "Go Tell Them", "Kanpe", "Get Up")
    * (1996) El Equilibiro de los Jaguares (Jaguares) - Organ/Hammond B3 on "Detrás de los Cerros"
    * (1996) Peace Beyond Passion (Me'shell Ndegeocello) - Keyboards on "Deuteronomy: ******man"
    * (1997) Bridges to Babylon (Rolling Stones) - Organ on "Saint of Me"
    * (1998) Undiscovered Soul (Richie Sambora)
    * (2000) The Harsh Light of Day (Fastball) - Plays keyboards on "You're An Ocean"
    * (2001) Songs From The West Coast (Elton John) - "Electric organ" on "I Want Love", "The Wasteland", "Love Her Like Me"
    * (2001) Reptile (Eric Clapton)
    * (2001) One More Car, One More Rider (Eric Clapton, live) - DVD includes live performance of Will It Go Round in Circles
    * (2002) Travelogue (Joni Mitchell) - Plays Hammond B3 on the track "You Dream Flat Tires"
    * (2003) The Colored Section (Donnie) - Plays Hammond B3 on the last track: "The Colored Section"
    * (2003) Concert for George - Including "Isn't It a Pity" and "My Sweet Lord"
    * (2003) Get Born (Jet)
    * (2004) Me and Mr. Johnson (Eric Clapton) - Also appears in the DVD companion Sessions for Robert J
    * (2004) Crossroads Guitar Festival (Eric Clapton)
    * (2004) Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles)
    * (2005) 12 Songs (Neil Diamond)
    * (2005) Back Home (Eric Clapton)
    * (2005) Choose Love (Ringo Starr)
    * (2005) The Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison and Friends) (Re-mastered version & video)
    * (2005) Tough on Crime (Rebecca Pidgeon) - Plays Keyboards
    * (2006) Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers) - Plays on "Warlocks"
    * (2006) The Road to Escondido (Eric Clapton, J. J. Cale)
    * (2007) Reach (Is'real Benton) - Plays organ on "Have A Good Time"
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c392/tkhfc/BillyPreston.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii54/gospellegend/billypreston.jpg


Man,I miss this guy,my favorite was Will It Go Round In Circles.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/06/10 at 8:08 am


The person who died on this day...Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American rhythm and blues musician from Houston, Texas raised mostly in Los Angeles, California.  In addition to his successful, Grammy Award-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Band, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Richie Sambora, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ringo Starr. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969.

Preston and Tony Sheridan are the only two non-Beatles to receive billing as an artist alongside the Beatles (as distinct from receiving credit as a session musician on album packaging) on an official Beatles record release. The label of the "Get Back" single credits the artists on the record as The Beatles with Billy Preston. Preston began playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap at age three, and he was considered something of a child prodigy on piano and organ. By the age of 10 he was performing in the bands of gospel singers Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland, and Andrae Crouch. At age 12 he began a side career acting, and appeared in the 1958 Paramount Pictures film St. Louis Blues, portraying blues composer W.C. Handy as a young man. In the 1960s he performed with Little Richard and Ray Charles. He also began a recording career as a solo artist with the 1965 album The Most Exciting Organ Ever. He was also a regular on the mid-1960s ABC-TV musical variety series Shindig! as a member of the show's house band.
Relationship with The Beatles

Preston is one of several people sometimes referred to by outsiders as a "Fifth Beatle." At one point during the Get Back sessions, John Lennon even proposed the idea of having him as the "Fifth Beatle" (Paul countered that it was bad enough with four.) Preston first met The Beatles in 1962 while part of Little Richard's touring band, when their manager Brian Epstein organized a Liverpool show, which The Beatles opened. The Washington Post explained their subsequent meeting:
“ They'd hook up again in 1969, when The Beatles were about to break up while recording the last album they released, Let It Be (they would later record Abbey Road, which was released prior to Let It Be). George Harrison, always Preston's best Beatles buddy, had quit and walked out of the studio and gone to a Ray Charles concert in London, where Preston was playing organ. Harrison brought Preston back to the studio, where his keen musicianship and gregarious personality temporarily calmed the tension.

Preston played with The Beatles for several of the Get Back sessions, some of the material from which would later be culled to make the film Let it Be and its companion album, during which he joined the band for its rooftop concert, its final public appearance. "Get Back", one of the album's singles, was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston," the only time such a joint credit had been given on an official Beatles-sanctioned release (as distinct from an unsanctioned reissue of some Hamburg-era recordings on which they were the backing group for Tony Sheridan). The credit was bestowed by The Beatles to reflect the extent of Preston's presence on the track; his electric piano is prominent throughout and he plays an extended solo. Preston also worked (in a more limited role) on the Abbey Road album, contributing to the tracks "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something."

In 1978 he appeared as Sgt. Pepper in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was very loosely based on The Beatles' album of the same name.
Post-Beatles

Signed to The Beatles' Apple label, in 1969, Preston released the album That's the Way God Planned It and a single of the same name (produced by George Harrison). His relationship with Harrison continued after the breakup of The Beatles; he was the first artist to record "My Sweet Lord", in his album Encouraging Words (Harrison's own version of the single hit number one in the U.S. and the UK and was the first number one by a former Beatle after they disbanded) and he was on several of Harrison's 1970s solo albums. Preston also made notable contributions to The Concert for Bangladesh, the Harrison-organized charity concert, toured with Harrison on his 1974 tour of North America and, after Harrison's death, The Concert for George. Preston also worked on solo recordings by two other ex-Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

His solo career also peaked at this time, beginning with 1972's "Outa-Space", an instrumental track that further popularized the sound of the clavinet in funk music. The song reached #2 on the U.S. Hot 100, #1 on the R&B chart, and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in June 1972.

Over the next two years, he followed up with the #1 hits "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing", and the #4 hit "Space Race." All three releases each sold in excess of one million copies. American Bandstand host and executive producer Dick Clark enjoyed "Space Race" so much that he used the instrumental for the mid-show break for virtually the remainder of its run.

After The Beatles, Preston played keyboards for The Rolling Stones, alongside pianist Nicky Hopkins. Preston appears on the Stones' albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock'n Roll and Black and Blue. He toured as a support act on their 1973 European Tour and recorded his live album Live European Tour 1973 in Munich with Mick Taylor on guitar. In 1974 he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live's series premiere episode (along with Janis Ian). Also in that year, and in 1976, he again toured with the Stones. This time he played two of his own songs, backed by the Stones, in the middle of every concert. Preston's 1973 Do You Love Me was the basis for the Stones' Melody on their 1976 Black and Blue album. The Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a row over money. He continued to play on solo records by Stones members and made appearances again on the Stones' 1981 Tattoo You and 1997 Bridges to Babylon albums.

He had a hit single in 1980 with Syreeta Wright with the ballad "With You I'm Born Again" that reached number four on the charts. A few years later, however, he was arrested and convicted for insurance fraud after setting fire to his own house in Los Angeles, and he was treated for alcohol and cocaine addictions. In 1991, Preston was arrested in Los Angeles after physically attacking a teenage transvestite prostitute after he discovered the prostitute's real age and sex. After going over a drug test, he tested positive for cocaine. That year, he entered no-contest pleas to the cocaine and assault charges. He was sentenced to nine months at a drug rehabilitation center and three months of house arrest.

Preston overcame his problems in the early 1990s, toured with Eric Clapton, and recorded with a wide range of artists. He also toured with Ringo Starr and appeared on the 1990 live album Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. He was also invited to become a member of The Band in 1991, after the death of their piano player, Stan Szelest. He completed a tour, but his above-mentioned legal problems put an end to the collaboration before they had a chance to record together in the studio.

In 1997-98 Billy Preston played organ during the choir numbers on the UPN comedy show Good News.

While touring and fighting his own health problems, Preston received the news that on 29 November 2001, his old friend George Harrison had died after a long battle with throat cancer. Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George in London, England, to play a tribute song. Preston participated in the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and his performance of "My Sweet Lord" has received critical acclaim. Preston played the Hammond organ for the show and sang "Isn't It A Pity" and "My Sweet Lord" plus backing vocals on most of the other songs. Ringo Starr called him one of the greatest Hammond players of all time (in the theatrical version of the concert).

In 2002 he appeared on the Johnny Cash album American IV: The Man Comes Around, playing piano on "Personal Jesus".

He toured with The Funk Brothers and Steve Winwood in Europe in early 2004 and then with his friend Eric Clapton in Europe and North America.

It has been claimed that his big contribution to The Beatles' sound was made clear with the release of the Let It Be... Naked album.

In 2005 he recorded "Go Where No One's Gone Before", the main title song for the anime series L/R: Licensed by Royalty.

Preston played clavinet on the song "Warlocks" for the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Stadium Arcadium released in 2006. Although very ill by this point, he jumped out of his bed after hearing a tape of the song given to him by the band, recorded his part, and went back to bed. Preston's final contributions were the gospel-tinged organ on the Neil Diamond album 12 Songs, and his keyboard work on The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton and J. J. Cale, and some of the first tracks on the Reach album by Is'real Benton.

In March 2005, Preston appeared on the American Idol's fourth season finale. Playing piano, he performed "With You I'm Born Again" with Vonzell Solomon, who finished in third place.

Preston made his last public appearance in late 2005 at the Los Angeles press junket for the re-release of the Concert for Bangla Desh movie. He was in good spirits and talked to many in the press. Afterwards he played a three song set of "Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity", featuring Dhani Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums for the final song only.

There still remains an unreleased CD of Beatles covers that he had been working on for several years before his death. Many tracks from this CD were previewed by him at The Fest For Beatles Fans shows in the years before his death.

Jazz musician Miles Davis was heavily influenced by Preston's music during his funk rock period of the early 1970s. The 1972 album Get Up With It features a track called "Billy Preston" in his honor.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Billy Preston dies at 59

Preston had battled kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died on June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. He had voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, Calif., at the suggestion of guitarist Is'real Benton and suffered pericarditis there, leading to respiratory failure that left him in a coma from November 21, 2005. His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, where he was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Discography
Crystal Clear app kedit.svg
This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, as the table format is needed. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (June 2010)
Albums

    * (1965) The Most Exciting Organ Ever
    * (1965) Early Hits of '65
    * (1966) The Wildest Organ in Town
    * (1967) Club Meeting
    * (1969) That's The Way God Planned It
    * (1970) Encouraging Words
    * (1971) I Wrote a Simple Song
    * (1972) Music Is My Life
    * (1973) Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music
    * (1974) Live European Tour 1973 featuring Mick Taylor on guitar (CD release A&M, 2002)
    * (1974) The Kids and Me
    * (1975) It's My Pleasure
    * (1976) Billy Preston
    * (1977) A Whole New Thing
    * (1979) Late At Night
    * (1981) Billy Preston & Syreeta (with Syreeta Wright)
    * (1981) The Way I Am
    * (1982) Pressin' On
    * (1984) On the Air
    * (1986) You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
    * (2001) You and I (featuring the Italian band 'Novecento')

Also recorded unreleased material under Maxi Music Productions in early 80's. This material owned by Lee Maxi, rights have been past down to recording artist Kay'Don Calrissian. An album release has not yet been established.
Gospel albums

    * (1962) Sixteen Years Old Soul
    * (1965) Hymns Speak from the Organ
    * (1973) Gospel In My Soul (Re-edition of Hymns Speak from the organ)
    * (1978) Behold!
    * (1980) Universal Love
    * (1994) Ministry of Music
    * (1995) Minister of Music
    * (1996) Words and Music
    * (2001) Music From My Heart

Singles

    * 1969: "That's the Way God Planned It" - US Pop #62, UK #11
    * 1971: "My Sweet Lord" - US Pop #90, US R&B #23
    * 1972: "I Wrote a Simple Song" - US Pop #77
    * 1972: "Outa-Space" - US Pop #2, US R&B #1, UK #44
    * 1972: "That's the Way God Planned It" (re-release) - US Pop #65
    * 1972: "Slaughter" - US Pop #50, US R&B #17
    * 1973: "Will It Go Round in Circles" - US Pop #1, US R&B #10
    * 1973: "Space Race" - US Pop #4, US R&B #1
    * 1974: "You're So Unique" - US Pop #48, US R&B #11
    * 1974: "Nothing from Nothing" US Pop #1, US R&B #8
    * 1974" "Struttin'" - US Pop #22, US R&B #11
    * 1975: "Fancy Lady" - US Pop #71, US R&B #23
    * 1977: "Wide Stride" - US R&B #33
    * 1978: "Get Back" - US Pop #86
    * 1979: "With You I'm Born Again" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #4, UK #2
    * 1980: "It Will Come in Time" (with Syreeta Wright) - UK #47
    * 1980: "One More Time for Love" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #52
    * 1982: "I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye" - US Pop #88
    * 1986: "So Good, So Fine" (with Ann-Louise Hanson)
    * 2003: "Go Where No One's Gone Before"

As a guest/session performer

    * (1963) Night Beat (Sam Cooke)
    * (1969) "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down" (The Beatles)
    * (1969) Abbey Road (The Beatles)
    * (1970) Let It Be (The Beatles)
    * (1970) All Things Must Pass (George Harrison)
    * (1970) John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon) - piano on "God"
    * (1971) Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
    * (1971) The Concert for Bangla Desh (George Harrison and Friends)
    * (1971) There's a Riot Goin' On (Sly & the Family Stone)
    * (1971) Live at Fillmore West (King Curtis & Aretha Franklin)
    * (1971) Barbra Joan Streisand - Keyboards and Drums
    * (1972) Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones)
    * (1972) Wind of Change (Peter Frampton) - Plays piano, keyboards, harpsichord, accordion
    * (1973) Ringo (Ringo Starr) - Organ on "I'm The Greatest" and "Oh My My"
    * (1973) Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones)
    * (1974) Dark Horse (George Harrison) - Electric piano
    * (1974) Goodnight Vienna (Ringo Starr) - clavinet on the title track, electric piano on "Only You (And You Alone)"
    * (1974) It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (Rolling Stones)
    * (1975) "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker's biggest hit)
    * (1975) Extra Texture (Read All About It) (George Harrison) - Electric piano on "His Name Is Legs (Ladies And Gentlemen)"
    * (1976) Thirty Three & 1/3 (George Harrison)
    * (1976) Black and Blue (Rolling Stones)
    * (1976) Love You Live (Rolling Stones)
    * (1978) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Also acted the part "Sgt. Pepper" in the film
    * (1981) Tattoo You (Rolling Stones)
    * (1985) "Till My Baby Comes Home" (Luther Vandross) - Plays organ
    * (1986) "Great Gosh A'Mighty (Been A Long Time Comin')" - Co-written with Little Richard - from the hit motion picture Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Little Richard - vocal.
    * (1990) Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band - Plays keyboards and vocals
    * (1990) Giovani Jovanotti (Jovanotti) - Plays keyboards & Fender Rhodes
    * (1991) ...E La Vita Continua (Nino D'Angelo)
    * (1993) Wandering Spirit (Mick Jagger) - "Sweet Thing", "Out of Focus", "Use Me", "Wandering Spirit" and "I've Been Lonely for So Long".
    * (1996) Voyage of Dreams - Jephté Guillaume and the Tet Kale Orkestra - Plays Organ, Strings on "Al Di Yo", "Go Tell Them", "Kanpe", "Get Up")
    * (1996) El Equilibiro de los Jaguares (Jaguares) - Organ/Hammond B3 on "Detrás de los Cerros"
    * (1996) Peace Beyond Passion (Me'shell Ndegeocello) - Keyboards on "Deuteronomy: ******man"
    * (1997) Bridges to Babylon (Rolling Stones) - Organ on "Saint of Me"
    * (1998) Undiscovered Soul (Richie Sambora)
    * (2000) The Harsh Light of Day (Fastball) - Plays keyboards on "You're An Ocean"
    * (2001) Songs From The West Coast (Elton John) - "Electric organ" on "I Want Love", "The Wasteland", "Love Her Like Me"
    * (2001) Reptile (Eric Clapton)
    * (2001) One More Car, One More Rider (Eric Clapton, live) - DVD includes live performance of Will It Go Round in Circles
    * (2002) Travelogue (Joni Mitchell) - Plays Hammond B3 on the track "You Dream Flat Tires"
    * (2003) The Colored Section (Donnie) - Plays Hammond B3 on the last track: "The Colored Section"
    * (2003) Concert for George - Including "Isn't It a Pity" and "My Sweet Lord"
    * (2003) Get Born (Jet)
    * (2004) Me and Mr. Johnson (Eric Clapton) - Also appears in the DVD companion Sessions for Robert J
    * (2004) Crossroads Guitar Festival (Eric Clapton)
    * (2004) Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles)
    * (2005) 12 Songs (Neil Diamond)
    * (2005) Back Home (Eric Clapton)
    * (2005) Choose Love (Ringo Starr)
    * (2005) The Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison and Friends) (Re-mastered version & video)
    * (2005) Tough on Crime (Rebecca Pidgeon) - Plays Keyboards
    * (2006) Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers) - Plays on "Warlocks"
    * (2006) The Road to Escondido (Eric Clapton, J. J. Cale)
    * (2007) Reach (Is'real Benton) - Plays organ on "Have A Good Time"
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c392/tkhfc/BillyPreston.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii54/gospellegend/billypreston.jpg
The Fifth Beatle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/06/10 at 8:09 am


Man,I miss this guy,my favorite was Will It Go Round In Circles.

What a great song.Outa Space and Nothing From Nothing are also great songs :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/06/10 at 11:12 am


The Fifth Beatle.



There are many who were called the Fifth Beatle-but yeah, he was one of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae3l9dF2UNw




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/10 at 6:00 am

The word of the day...Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only. The term is often used in the entertainment business, especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (less often for actors). "Artiste" (the French for artist) is a variant used in English only in this context. Use of the term to describe writers, for example, is certainly valid, but less common, and mostly restricted to contexts like criticism.
Wiktionary defines the noun 'artist' (Singular: artist; Plural: artists) as follows:

  1. A person who creates art.
  2. A person who creates art as an occupation.
  3. A person who is skilled at some activity.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the older broad meanings of the term "artist,"

        * A learned person or Master of Arts (now rather obsolete)
        * One who pursues a practical science, traditionally medicine, astrology, alchemy, chemistry (also obsolete)
        * A follower of a pursuit in which skill comes by study or practice - the opposite of a theorist
        * A follower of a manual art, such as a mechanic - partly obsolete
        * One who makes their craft a fine art
        * One who cultivates one of the fine arts - traditionally the arts presided over by the muses - now the dominant usage

A definition of Artist from Princeton.edu: creative person (a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and imagination).
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp335/lck33/2010May30054.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/nikipiki_2006/markfeaturedartist.jpg
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/VandyPhotos/Lima%20friends/LimaHouseandfriends023.jpg
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/VandyPhotos/Lima%20friends/LimaHouseandfriends018.jpg
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab37/RUTHY214/favorite%20artist/2zpp9jc.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p96/Larnel/Artist/DesireWorshipBand-TheAgapeEvent.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/10 at 6:08 am

The person born on this day...Prince
Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson; June 7, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He has been known under the unpronounceable symbol Prince logo.svg, which he used between 1993 and 2000. This name change invoked controversy and many referred to him as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", often abbreviated to "TAFKAP", or simply "The Artist" during that period.

According to Robert Larsen in his book, History of Me and I, Prince is "one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last twenty years", producing ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label, writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings. In addition, Prince has been a "talent promoter" for the careers of Sheila E, Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6, as well as writing songs that became hits for other artists including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, and Sinéad O'Connor, making him one of the most successful artists in recent music history.

Prince is reported to have written more than one thousand songs, some of which have been released by Prince under pseudonyms or recorded and released by other artists. Prince also has hundreds of unreleased songs in his "vault". He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible.

In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Prince's music has been influenced by R&B, soul, funk, rock, blues, New Wave, psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip hop. His artistic influences include Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Curtis Mayfield, and Stevie Wonder. Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound", a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that has influenced many other musicians.
In 1977, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin, Shantel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry. Willie added Andre Cymone and Prince to the band. Prince composed music for the lyrics written by Willie and played guitar and keyboards on some studio recordings. Prince also wrote for 94 East including the song "Just Another Sucker". The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. In 1995, Willie released the album 94 East featuring Prince, Symbolic Beginning which included original recordings by Prince and Cymone.

Prince released the album For You on April 17, 1978. The album was written and performed by Prince, except for the song "Soft and Wet" which had lyrics co-written by Moon. According to the For You album notes Prince produced, arranged, composed and played all 27 instruments on the recording.

The cost of recording the album was twice Prince's initial advance. Prince used the Prince's Music Co. to publish his songs. The single from the album reached #12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and #92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Just as Long as We're Together" reached #91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

In 1979 Prince created a band which included André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music.

In October 1979, Prince released a self-titled album, Prince, which was #4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts, and #22 on the Billboard 200, going platinum. It contained two R&B hits: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". "I Wanna Be Your Lover" sold over a million copies, and reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince performed both these songs on January 26, 1980 on American Bandstand. On this album, Prince used Ecnirp Music – BMI.
Controversy era: 1980–84

In 1980 Prince released the album, Dirty Mind, which he recorded in his own studio. The album was "certified gold" and the attendant single "Uptown" reached #5 on the Billboard Dance chart and #5 on the Hot Soul Singles charts. Prince was also the opening act for Rick James' 1980 Fire it Up tour. Dirty Mind contained sexually explicit material, including the title song, "Head", and the song "Sister". In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing "Partyup".

In 1981 Prince released the album, Controversy. The songs on Controversy were published by Controversy Music – ASCAP a practice he continued until the Emancipation album in 1996.

In 1981, Prince formed a "side project" band called The Time. The band released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing most of the instrumentation and backing vocals, with lead vocals by Morris Day.

In 1982, Prince released a double album, 1999, which sold over three million copies. The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit in countries outside the U.S. Prince's "Little Red Corvette" was one of the first videos by a black artist played in heavy rotation on MTV.

The song "Delirious" also placed in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The Revolution: 1984–87

During this period Prince referred to his band as The Revolution. The band's name was also printed, in reverse, on the cover of 1999 inside the letter "I" of the word "Prince". The band consisted of Lisa Coleman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z. on drums, Brown Mark on bass, and Dez Dickerson on guitar. Jill Jones, a backing singer, was also part of The Revolution line up for the 1999 album and tour. Following the 1999 Tour, Dickerson left the group for religious reasons. In the 2003 book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, author Alex Hahn says that Dickerson was reluctant to sign a three year contract and wanted to pursue other musical ventures. Dickerson was replaced by Wendy Melvoin, a childhood friend of Coleman. At first the band was used sparsely in the studio but this gradually changed during the mid-1980s.

Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain sold more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The film of the same name won an Academy Award and grossed more than $80 million in the U.S.
Prince performing in Brussels during the Hit N Run Tour in 1986

Songs from the film were hits on pop charts around the world, while "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" reached #1 and the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. At one point in 1984, Prince simultaneously had the number one album, single, and film in the U.S.; it was the first time a singer had achieved this feat. Prince won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain, and the album is ranked 72nd Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album is also part of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums.

After Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter Karenna listening to Prince's song "Darling Nikki", she founded the Parents Music Resource Center. The center advocates the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records that have been judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors. The recording industry later voluntarily complied with this request.

In 1985 Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances and music videos after the release of his next album. His subsequent recording Around the World in a Day, held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks.

In 1986 his album Parade reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the R&B charts. The first single, "Kiss", reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally written for a side project called Mazarati. That same year the song "Manic Monday", which was written by Prince and recorded by The Bangles, reached #2 on the Hot 100 chart.

The album Parade served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon. Prince directed and starred in the movie, which also featured Kristen Scott Thomas. In 1986, Prince began a series of sporadic live performances called the Hit N Run Tour. The European tour went to Europe in the summer and ended that September in Japan.

After the tour Prince fired Wendy & Lisa and replaced Bobby Z. with Sheila E.. Brown Mark quit the band while keyboardist Doctor Fink remained. Prince then recruited new band members Miko Weaver on guitar, Atlanta Bliss on trumpet, Eric Leeds on saxophone, Boni Boyer on keyboards, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass and dancer Cat Glover.
Solo again and spiritual rebirth: 1987–91

Prior to the disbanding of The Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects. The Revolution album, Dream Factory and a solo effort, Camille. Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream Factory included significant input from the band members and even featured a number of songs with lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa, while the Camille project saw Prince create a new persona primarily singing in a sped up, female-sounding voice. With the dismissal of The Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. However, with the low sales of his previous two albums, Warner Bros. forced Prince to make the release a double album and Sign o' the Times was released on March 31, 1987.

The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The first single, "Sign o' the Times", would chart at #3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" charted poorly at #67 on the Hot 100, but went to #12 on R&B chart. The third single, a duet with Sheena Easton, "U Got the Look" charted at #2 on the Hot 100, #11 on the R&B chart, and the final single "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" finished at #10 on Hot 100 and #14 on the R&B chart.

Despite the album receiving the greatest critical acclaim of any album in Prince's career, including being named the top album of the year by the Pazz & Jop critics' poll, album sales steadily declined, although it eventually sold 3.2 million copies. In Europe however, it performed well and Prince promoted the album overseas with a lengthy tour. Putting together a new backing band from the remnants of The Revolution, Prince added bassist Levi Seacer, Jr., Boni Boyer on keyboards, and dancer/choreographer Cat Glover to go with new drummer Sheila E. and holdovers Miko Weaver, Doctor Fink, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and the Bodyguards (Jerome, Wally Safford, and Greg Brooks) for the Sign o' the Times Tour. The tour was a huge success overseas, with Warner Bros. and Prince's managers wanting to bring it to the U.S. to resuscitate sagging sales of Sign o' the Times, however Prince balked at a full U.S. tour, as he was ready to produce a new album. A compromise was made where he filmed the last two nights of the tour to be released in movie theaters as a concert film. Unfortunately, the film quality was deemed subpar and reshoots were performed at his Paisley Park studios. The film Sign o' the Times was released on November 20, 1987. Much like the album, the film was critically praised (at least more than the previous year's Under the Cherry Moon); however, its box office receipts were minimal, and it quickly left theaters.

The next album intended for release was to be The Black Album. More instrumental and funk and R&B themed than recent releases, The Black Album also saw Prince experiment with rap on the songs "Bob George" and "Dead on It". Prince was set to release the album with a complete monochromatic black cover with only the catalog number printed, but at the last minute, even though 500,000 copies had been pressed, Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had it recalled, although it would later be released by Warner Bros. as a limited edition album in 1994. Prince went back in the studio for eight weeks and recorded Lovesexy.

Released on May 10, 1988, Lovesexy serves as a spiritual opposite to the dark The Black Album. Every song is a solo effort by Prince, with exception of "Eye No" which was recorded with his backing band at the time, dubbed the "Lovesexy Band" by fans. Lovesexy would reach #11 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the R&B albums chart. The lead single, "Alphabet St.", peaked at #8 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B chart, but finished with only selling 750,000 copies.

Prince again took his post-Revolution backing band (minus the Bodyguards) on a three leg, 84-show Lovesexy World Tour; that although played to huge crowds and were well received shows, lost money due to the expensive sets and props incorporated.
Prince performing during his Nude Tour in 1990

In 1989, Prince appeared on Madonna's studio album Like a Prayer, co-writing and singing the duet "Love Song" and playing electric guitar (uncredited) on the songs "Like a Prayer", "Keep It Together", and "Act of Contrition". He also began work on a number of musical projects, including Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic and early drafts of his Graffiti Bridge film, but both were put on hold when he was asked by Batman director Tim Burton to record several songs for the upcoming live-action adaptation. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire nine-track album that Warner Bros. released on June 20, 1989. Batman peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 4.3 million copies. The single "Batdance" topped the Billboard and R&B charts.

Additionally, the single "The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton charted at #36, and "Partyman" (also featuring the vocals of Prince's then-girlfriend, nicknamed Anna Fantastic) charted at #18 on the Hot 100 and at #5 on the R&B chart, while the love ballad "Scandalous!" went to #5 on the R&B chart. However, he did have to sign away all publishing rights to the songs on the album to Warner Bros. as part of the deal to do the soundtrack.

In 1990, Prince went back on tour with a revamped band for his stripped down, back-to-basics Nude Tour. With the departures of Boni Boyer, Sheila E., the horns, and Cat, Prince brought in Rosie Gaines on keys, drummer Michael Bland, and dancing trio, The Game Boyz, Tony M., Kirky J., and Damon Dickson. The European and Japanese tour was a financial success with its short, greatest hits setlist. As the year progressed, Prince finished production on his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge, and the album of the same name. Initially, Warner Bros. was reluctant to fund the film, however, with Prince's assurances it would be a sequel to Purple Rain as well as the involvement of the original members of The Time, the studio greenlit the project. Released on August 20, 1990, the album reached #6 on the Billboard 200 and R&B albums chart. The single "Thieves in the Temple" reaching #6 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart. The film, released on November 20, 1990, was a critical and box office flop, grossing just $4.2 million. After the release of the film and album, the last remaining members of The Revolution, Miko Weaver and Doctor Fink left Prince's band. Also from that album, "Round and Round" placed at number 12 on the U.S. charts and Number 2 on the R&B charts. The song featured the teenage Tevin Campbell (who also had a role in the film) on lead vocals.
Over the years Prince has been romantically linked with many celebrities, including Kim Basinger, Madonna, Carmen Electra, and Anna Fantastic.  He married his backup singer and dancer, Mayte Garcia, on Valentine's Day, 1996. Together they had a son named Boy Gregory, (born October 16, 1996) who was born with Pfeiffer syndrome and died a week after birth.  Prince and Mayte divorced in 1999 and in 2001, Prince married Manuela Testolini in a private ceremony. Tesolini then filed for divorce in May 2006.

Prince became one of Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001 following a two-year-long debate with friend and fellow Jehovah's Witness, musician Larry Graham. Prince said he didn't consider it a conversion, but a "realization"; "It's like Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix", he explained. He attends meetings at a local Kingdom Hall and occasionally knocks on people's doors to discuss his new faith. Prince has reportedly needed double-hip-replacement surgery since 2005 but won't undergo the operation unless it is a bloodless surgery because Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions. The condition has been aggravated by repeated onstage dancing in high-heeled boots. Prince is a vegan. In 2006 he was voted the "world's sexiest vegetarian" in PETA's annual online poll. The liner notes for his album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic featured a message about the cruelty involved in wool production.

Prince is a Minnesota Vikings football fan, owning a skybox at the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome and can be seen regularly at the games. He currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2008, Prince spoke briefly about his personal views on religion, politics and gay marriage to a reporter for the New Yorker, and his remarks were characterized by the Los Angeles Times as being an "anti-gay statement". A statement released by Prince's publicist denies the characterization of his remark.
Stage names
Logo. Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar
The unpronounceable symbol (later dubbed "Love Symbol #2").

In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of Prince's album The Gold Experience, a legal battle ensued between Warner Bros. and Prince over the artistic and financial control of Prince's output. During the lawsuit, Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek. Prince explained his name change as follows:

    The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to the Love Symbol. Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros... I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was the Love Symbol, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.

"Prince" is a trademark owned by Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. It was initially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2005 in the categories of printed materials, clothing, electronic commerce, and entertainment services based on first commercial in 1978 Various searches to the USPTO did not find any registrations or transfers of "Prince" or related names by Warner Bros. In 1991, PRN Music Corporation assigned the trademarks "Prince", "The Time", "Paisley Park", "New Power Generation", and "Prince and the Revolution" to Paisley Park Enterprises.

Prince has used pseudonyms to separate himself from the music (either his own or that of others) he has had input in; "I was just getting tired of seeing my name," he said, "If you give away an idea, you still own that idea. In fact, giving it away strengthens it. Why do people feel they have to take credit for everything they do? Ego, that's the only reason." These pseudonyms include: Jamie Starr and The Starr Company (for the songs he wrote for The Time and many other artists from 1981–1984), Joey Coco (for many unreleased Prince songs in the late 1980s, as well as songs written for Sheena Easton & Kenny Rogers), Paisley Park (occasionally used in the early 1990s for his production credits on songs, including those written for Martika and Kid Creole), Alexander Nevermind (for writing the 1984 song "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton), and Christopher (used for his song writing credit of "Manic Monday" for The Bangles).
Copyright issues

In 1995, Prince threatened to sue a 900 number, operated by Nathan Wright for his Purple Underground magazine phone line, for playing to the public for the first time segments of The Black Album. Prince's attorneys, Lavely & Singer, demanded royalties in a cease and desist letter served to Wright. Instead Wright offered to work with Prince and split the profits. Wright and Prince's attorneys then worked on a deal to share profits but the deal never transpired (copies of these documents are available for verification). Instead, Prince started his own 900 number while Wright was able to continue his without any further action.

On September 14, 2007, Prince announced that he was going to sue YouTube and eBay because they "are clearly able (to) filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success." Web Sheriff, the international Internet policing company he hired, told Reuters: "The problem is that one can reduce it to zero and then the next day there will be 100 or 500 or whatever. This carries on ad nauseam at Prince's expense."

In October 2007, Stephanie Lenz filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Publishing Group, claiming they were abusing copyright law, after the music publisher had YouTube take down Lenz's home movie in which the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy" played faintly in the background.

On November 5, 2007, several fan sites of Prince formed "Prince Fans United" to fight back against legal requests they claim Prince made to cease and desist all use of photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince's likeness. While Prince's lawyers claimed that the use of such representations constituted copyright infringement, the Prince Fans United claimed that the legal actions were "attempts to stifle all critical commentary about Prince." A few days later, Prince released a statement denying the fansites' claims, stating "The action taken earlier this week was not to shut down fansites, or control comment in any way. The issue was simply to do with in regards to copyright and trademark of images and only images, and no lawsuits have been filed." The statement from AEG, Prince's promoter, asserted that the only "offending items" on the three fansites were live shots from Prince's 21 nights in London at the O2 Arena earlier in the year.

On November 8, 2007, Prince Fans United received a song named "PFUnk", providing a kind of "unofficial answer" to their movement. The song, originally debuted on the PFU main site, was retitled "F.U.N.K.", and is available on iTunes.

On November 14, 2007, it was reported that the satirical website b3ta.com had pulled their "image challenge of the week" devoted to Prince after legal threats from the star under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. B3ta co-founder Rob Manuel wrote on the site: "Under threat of legal action from Prince's legal team of 'potential closure of your web site' - We have removed the Prince image challenge and B3ta apologizes unreservedly to AEG / NPG and Prince for any offence caused. We also ask our members to avoid photoshopping Prince and posting them on our boards.

At the 2008 Coachella Music Festival, Prince performed a cover of Radiohead's "Creep", but immediately after he forced YouTube and other sites to remove footage that fans had taken of the performance, despite Radiohead's demand for it to remain on the website. Days later, YouTube reinstated the videos, while Radiohead claimed "it's our song, let people hear it." In 2009, Prince put the video of that Coachella performance on his website LotusFlow3r.com.

In January 2009, Gavin Castleton's acclaimed looping cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" was removed from Youtube just hours after it was first published, due to copyright infringement.
Discography
Main article: Prince discography

This discography excludes compilations of previously-released material. Prince sold in his career of more than three decades about 100 million records worldwide.

    * For You (1978)
    * Prince (1979)
    * Dirty Mind (1980)
    * Controversy (1981)
    * 1999 (1982)
    * Purple Rain (1984)
    * Around the World in a Day (1985)
    * Parade (1986)
    * Sign o' the Times (1987)
    * Lovesexy (1988)
    * Batman (1989)
    * Graffiti Bridge (1990)
    * Diamonds and Pearls (1991)
    * Love Symbol Album (1992)
    * Come (1994)
    * The Black Album (1994)
    * The Gold Experience (1995)
    * Chaos and Disorder (1996)
    * Emancipation (1996)
    * Crystal Ball (1998)
    * Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999)
    * The Rainbow Children (2001)
    * One Nite Alone... (2002)
    * Xpectation (2003)
    * N.E.W.S (2003)
    * Musicology (2004)
    * The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
    * The Slaughterhouse (2004)
    * 3121 (2006)
    * Planet Earth (2007)
    * LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/b461/bingiedred/Prince%20discography/images.jpg
http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/b461/bingiedred/Prince%20discography/images1-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/10 at 6:15 am

The person who died on this day...Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday (June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress.

Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before working in Broadway plays and musicals. Her success in the 1946 stage production of Born Yesterday as "Billie Dawn" led to her being cast in the 1950 film version, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She appeared regularly in film during the 1950s. She was noted for her performance on Broadway in the musical Bells Are Ringing, winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and reprising her role in the 1960 film.

In 1952, Holliday was called to testify before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee to answer claims that she was associated with communism. Although not blacklisted from films, she was blacklisted from radio and television for almost three years.
Born Judith Tuvim ("Tuvim" approximates the Yiddish word for "Holiday") in New York City, she was the only child of Abe and Helen Tuvim, who was of Russian Jewish descent. She grew up in Sunnyside, Queens, New York and graduated from Julia Richman High School. Her first job was as an assistant switchboard operator at the Mercury Theatre run by Orson Welles and John Houseman.
Career

Holliday began her show business career in 1938 as part of a night-club act called "The Revuers." The other four members of the group were Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Alvin Hammer and John Frank. The Revuers played engagements at various New York night clubs, including the Village Vanguard, Spivy's Roof, the Blue Angel and the Rainbow Room, and also the Trocadero in Hollywood, California. They disbanded in early 1944.

Holliday made her Broadway debut on March 20, 1945, at the Belasco Theatre in Kiss Them for Me and was one of the recipients that year of the Clarence Derwent Award.

In 1946, she returned to Broadway as the scatterbrained Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday. Author Garson Kanin had written the play for his friend Jean Arthur. Arthur played the role of Billie out-of-town, but after illnesses she resigned. Kanin chose Holliday as her replacement.

Garson Kanin's book on Tracy and Hepburn mentions that when Columbia bought the rights to film Born Yesterday, studio boss Harry Cohn wouldn't consider casting the unknown (outside of Broadway) Holliday. Kanin, together with George Cukor, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, conspired to promote Holliday by offering her a key part in the 1949 film Adam's Rib. She got rave reviews and Cohn offered her the chance to repeat her role for the film version of Born Yesterday, but only after she did a screen test (which at first was used only as a "benchmark against which to evaluate" other actresses being considered for the role). She won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and at the 23rd Academy Awards, Holliday won the Academy Award for Best Actress, over Gloria Swanson, nominated for Sunset Boulevard, Eleanor Parker, for Caged, and Bette Davis and Anne Baxter, both for All About Eve.

In 1954, she starred with a then-rising young star Jack Lemmon in the popular comedy It Should Happen to You, and again (in 1954), in Phffft!.

Bernard Dick summed up Holliday's acting: "Perhaps the most important aspect of the Judy Holliday persona, both in variations of Billie Dawn and in her roles as housewife, is her vulnerability...Her ability to shift her mood quickly from comic to serious is one of her greatest technical gifts." George Cukor said that she had "in common with the great comedians...that depth of emotion, that unexpectedly touching emotion, that thing which would unexpectedly touch your heart."
Investigated for Communism

In 1950, Holliday was the subject of an FBI investigation looking into allegations that she was a Communist. The investigation "did not reveal positive evidence of membership in the Communist Party" and was concluded after three months. Unlike many others tainted by the Communist scandal, she was not blacklisted from movies, but she was blacklisted from performing on radio and television for almost three years.

In 1952, she was called to testify before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee to "explain" why her name had been linked to Communist front organizations. In spite of her high IQ, she was advised to play dumb (like some of her film characters) and did so. She acknowledged that she "had been taken advantage of".
Later career

In November 1956 she returned Broadway to star in the musical Bells Are Ringing with book and lyrics by her Revuers friends, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and directed by Jerome Robbins, for which she won the 1957 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. In 1960 she starred in the film version of Bells Are Ringing.. Of her performance in the stage musical, Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times: "Nothing has happened to the shrill little moll whom the town loved in 'Born Yesterday'. The squeaky voice, the embarrassed giggle, the brassy naivete, the dimples, the teeter-totter walk fortunately remain unimpaired...Miss Holliday now adds a trunk-full of song-and-dance routines...Without losing any of that doll-like personality, she is now singing music by Jule Styne and dancing numbers composed by Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse. She has gusto enough to triumph in every kind of music hall antic."

In 1956 she starred in the film The Solid Gold Cadillac..

In October 1960 she had started out-of-town tryouts on the play Laurette, based on the life of Laurette Taylor. The show was directed by Jose Quintero, with background music by Elmer Bernstein and produced by Alan Pakula. When Holliday became ill and had to leave the show, it closed in Philadelphia without opening on Broadway. She had throat surgery shortly after leaving the production, in October 1960.

Holliday's last role was in the stage musical Hot Spot, which closed after 43 performances on May 25, 1963.
Personal
The grave of Holliday in Westchester Hills Cemetery
The foot stone at Judy Holliday's grave

Holliday died from breast cancer, on June 7, 1965. She was survived by her young son, Jonathan Oppenheim, and by her ex-husband, clarinetist, conductor and educator David Oppenheim (whom she had married in 1948 and divorced in 1958). She also had a long-term relationship with jazz musician Gerry Mulligan. Holliday was interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Jonathan Oppenheim grew up to become a documentary film editor of note, editing Paris is Burning, Children Underground, and Arguing the World.

Holliday has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography

Source:
Year Film Role Other notes
1938 Too Much Johnson Extra short subject
1944 Greenwich Village Revuer uncredited
Something for the Boys Defense plant welder uncredited
Winged Victory Ruth Miller
1949 Adam's Rib Doris Attinger Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
On the Town Daisy (Simpkins' MGM date) uncredited, voice only
1950 Born Yesterday Emma 'Billie' Dawn Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1952 The Marrying Kind 'Florrie' Keefer Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1954 It Should Happen to You Gladys Glover
Phffft! Nina Tracey née Chapman Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1956 The Solid Gold Cadillac Laura Partridge Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1957 Full of Life
1960 Bells Are Ringing Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Stage

Source:
Year Production Role Other notes
1942 My Dear Public with The Revuers
1945 Kiss Them for Me Alice Tony Award - Theatre World Award
1946 Born Yesterday Billie Dawn
1951 Dream Girl
1956 Bells Are Ringing Ella Peterson Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
1960 Laurette Laurette Taylor Closed out-of-town
1963 Hot Spot Sally Hopwinder
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w289/scrapperdc/holliday-rwb.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/JUDYHOLLIDAYFILMSTRIP.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/07/10 at 7:05 am


The person born on this day...Prince
Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson; June 7, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He has been known under the unpronounceable symbol Prince logo.svg, which he used between 1993 and 2000. This name change invoked controversy and many referred to him as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", often abbreviated to "TAFKAP", or simply "The Artist" during that period.

According to Robert Larsen in his book, History of Me and I, Prince is "one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last twenty years", producing ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label, writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings. In addition, Prince has been a "talent promoter" for the careers of Sheila E, Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6, as well as writing songs that became hits for other artists including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, and Sinéad O'Connor, making him one of the most successful artists in recent music history.

Prince is reported to have written more than one thousand songs, some of which have been released by Prince under pseudonyms or recorded and released by other artists. Prince also has hundreds of unreleased songs in his "vault". He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible.

In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Prince's music has been influenced by R&B, soul, funk, rock, blues, New Wave, psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip hop. His artistic influences include Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Curtis Mayfield, and Stevie Wonder. Prince pioneered the "Minneapolis sound", a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that has influenced many other musicians.
In 1977, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin, Shantel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry. Willie added Andre Cymone and Prince to the band. Prince composed music for the lyrics written by Willie and played guitar and keyboards on some studio recordings. Prince also wrote for 94 East including the song "Just Another Sucker". The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. In 1995, Willie released the album 94 East featuring Prince, Symbolic Beginning which included original recordings by Prince and Cymone.

Prince released the album For You on April 17, 1978. The album was written and performed by Prince, except for the song "Soft and Wet" which had lyrics co-written by Moon. According to the For You album notes Prince produced, arranged, composed and played all 27 instruments on the recording.

The cost of recording the album was twice Prince's initial advance. Prince used the Prince's Music Co. to publish his songs. The single from the album reached #12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and #92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Just as Long as We're Together" reached #91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

In 1979 Prince created a band which included André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music.

In October 1979, Prince released a self-titled album, Prince, which was #4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts, and #22 on the Billboard 200, going platinum. It contained two R&B hits: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". "I Wanna Be Your Lover" sold over a million copies, and reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince performed both these songs on January 26, 1980 on American Bandstand. On this album, Prince used Ecnirp Music – BMI.
Controversy era: 1980–84

In 1980 Prince released the album, Dirty Mind, which he recorded in his own studio. The album was "certified gold" and the attendant single "Uptown" reached #5 on the Billboard Dance chart and #5 on the Hot Soul Singles charts. Prince was also the opening act for Rick James' 1980 Fire it Up tour. Dirty Mind contained sexually explicit material, including the title song, "Head", and the song "Sister". In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing "Partyup".

In 1981 Prince released the album, Controversy. The songs on Controversy were published by Controversy Music – ASCAP a practice he continued until the Emancipation album in 1996.

In 1981, Prince formed a "side project" band called The Time. The band released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing most of the instrumentation and backing vocals, with lead vocals by Morris Day.

In 1982, Prince released a double album, 1999, which sold over three million copies. The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit in countries outside the U.S. Prince's "Little Red Corvette" was one of the first videos by a black artist played in heavy rotation on MTV.

The song "Delirious" also placed in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The Revolution: 1984–87

During this period Prince referred to his band as The Revolution. The band's name was also printed, in reverse, on the cover of 1999 inside the letter "I" of the word "Prince". The band consisted of Lisa Coleman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z. on drums, Brown Mark on bass, and Dez Dickerson on guitar. Jill Jones, a backing singer, was also part of The Revolution line up for the 1999 album and tour. Following the 1999 Tour, Dickerson left the group for religious reasons. In the 2003 book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, author Alex Hahn says that Dickerson was reluctant to sign a three year contract and wanted to pursue other musical ventures. Dickerson was replaced by Wendy Melvoin, a childhood friend of Coleman. At first the band was used sparsely in the studio but this gradually changed during the mid-1980s.

Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain sold more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The film of the same name won an Academy Award and grossed more than $80 million in the U.S.
Prince performing in Brussels during the Hit N Run Tour in 1986

Songs from the film were hits on pop charts around the world, while "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" reached #1 and the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. At one point in 1984, Prince simultaneously had the number one album, single, and film in the U.S.; it was the first time a singer had achieved this feat. Prince won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain, and the album is ranked 72nd Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album is also part of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums.

After Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter Karenna listening to Prince's song "Darling Nikki", she founded the Parents Music Resource Center. The center advocates the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records that have been judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors. The recording industry later voluntarily complied with this request.

In 1985 Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances and music videos after the release of his next album. His subsequent recording Around the World in a Day, held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks.

In 1986 his album Parade reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the R&B charts. The first single, "Kiss", reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally written for a side project called Mazarati. That same year the song "Manic Monday", which was written by Prince and recorded by The Bangles, reached #2 on the Hot 100 chart.

The album Parade served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon. Prince directed and starred in the movie, which also featured Kristen Scott Thomas. In 1986, Prince began a series of sporadic live performances called the Hit N Run Tour. The European tour went to Europe in the summer and ended that September in Japan.

After the tour Prince fired Wendy & Lisa and replaced Bobby Z. with Sheila E.. Brown Mark quit the band while keyboardist Doctor Fink remained. Prince then recruited new band members Miko Weaver on guitar, Atlanta Bliss on trumpet, Eric Leeds on saxophone, Boni Boyer on keyboards, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass and dancer Cat Glover.
Solo again and spiritual rebirth: 1987–91

Prior to the disbanding of The Revolution, Prince was working on two separate projects. The Revolution album, Dream Factory and a solo effort, Camille. Unlike the three previous band albums, Dream Factory included significant input from the band members and even featured a number of songs with lead vocals by Wendy & Lisa, while the Camille project saw Prince create a new persona primarily singing in a sped up, female-sounding voice. With the dismissal of The Revolution, Prince consolidated material from both shelved albums, along with some new songs, into a three-LP album to be titled Crystal Ball. However, with the low sales of his previous two albums, Warner Bros. forced Prince to make the release a double album and Sign o' the Times was released on March 31, 1987.

The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The first single, "Sign o' the Times", would chart at #3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" charted poorly at #67 on the Hot 100, but went to #12 on R&B chart. The third single, a duet with Sheena Easton, "U Got the Look" charted at #2 on the Hot 100, #11 on the R&B chart, and the final single "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" finished at #10 on Hot 100 and #14 on the R&B chart.

Despite the album receiving the greatest critical acclaim of any album in Prince's career, including being named the top album of the year by the Pazz & Jop critics' poll, album sales steadily declined, although it eventually sold 3.2 million copies. In Europe however, it performed well and Prince promoted the album overseas with a lengthy tour. Putting together a new backing band from the remnants of The Revolution, Prince added bassist Levi Seacer, Jr., Boni Boyer on keyboards, and dancer/choreographer Cat Glover to go with new drummer Sheila E. and holdovers Miko Weaver, Doctor Fink, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and the Bodyguards (Jerome, Wally Safford, and Greg Brooks) for the Sign o' the Times Tour. The tour was a huge success overseas, with Warner Bros. and Prince's managers wanting to bring it to the U.S. to resuscitate sagging sales of Sign o' the Times, however Prince balked at a full U.S. tour, as he was ready to produce a new album. A compromise was made where he filmed the last two nights of the tour to be released in movie theaters as a concert film. Unfortunately, the film quality was deemed subpar and reshoots were performed at his Paisley Park studios. The film Sign o' the Times was released on November 20, 1987. Much like the album, the film was critically praised (at least more than the previous year's Under the Cherry Moon); however, its box office receipts were minimal, and it quickly left theaters.

The next album intended for release was to be The Black Album. More instrumental and funk and R&B themed than recent releases, The Black Album also saw Prince experiment with rap on the songs "Bob George" and "Dead on It". Prince was set to release the album with a complete monochromatic black cover with only the catalog number printed, but at the last minute, even though 500,000 copies had been pressed, Prince had a spiritual epiphany that the album was evil and had it recalled, although it would later be released by Warner Bros. as a limited edition album in 1994. Prince went back in the studio for eight weeks and recorded Lovesexy.

Released on May 10, 1988, Lovesexy serves as a spiritual opposite to the dark The Black Album. Every song is a solo effort by Prince, with exception of "Eye No" which was recorded with his backing band at the time, dubbed the "Lovesexy Band" by fans. Lovesexy would reach #11 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the R&B albums chart. The lead single, "Alphabet St.", peaked at #8 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B chart, but finished with only selling 750,000 copies.

Prince again took his post-Revolution backing band (minus the Bodyguards) on a three leg, 84-show Lovesexy World Tour; that although played to huge crowds and were well received shows, lost money due to the expensive sets and props incorporated.
Prince performing during his Nude Tour in 1990

In 1989, Prince appeared on Madonna's studio album Like a Prayer, co-writing and singing the duet "Love Song" and playing electric guitar (uncredited) on the songs "Like a Prayer", "Keep It Together", and "Act of Contrition". He also began work on a number of musical projects, including Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic and early drafts of his Graffiti Bridge film, but both were put on hold when he was asked by Batman director Tim Burton to record several songs for the upcoming live-action adaptation. Prince went into the studio and produced an entire nine-track album that Warner Bros. released on June 20, 1989. Batman peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 4.3 million copies. The single "Batdance" topped the Billboard and R&B charts.

Additionally, the single "The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton charted at #36, and "Partyman" (also featuring the vocals of Prince's then-girlfriend, nicknamed Anna Fantastic) charted at #18 on the Hot 100 and at #5 on the R&B chart, while the love ballad "Scandalous!" went to #5 on the R&B chart. However, he did have to sign away all publishing rights to the songs on the album to Warner Bros. as part of the deal to do the soundtrack.

In 1990, Prince went back on tour with a revamped band for his stripped down, back-to-basics Nude Tour. With the departures of Boni Boyer, Sheila E., the horns, and Cat, Prince brought in Rosie Gaines on keys, drummer Michael Bland, and dancing trio, The Game Boyz, Tony M., Kirky J., and Damon Dickson. The European and Japanese tour was a financial success with its short, greatest hits setlist. As the year progressed, Prince finished production on his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge, and the album of the same name. Initially, Warner Bros. was reluctant to fund the film, however, with Prince's assurances it would be a sequel to Purple Rain as well as the involvement of the original members of The Time, the studio greenlit the project. Released on August 20, 1990, the album reached #6 on the Billboard 200 and R&B albums chart. The single "Thieves in the Temple" reaching #6 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart. The film, released on November 20, 1990, was a critical and box office flop, grossing just $4.2 million. After the release of the film and album, the last remaining members of The Revolution, Miko Weaver and Doctor Fink left Prince's band. Also from that album, "Round and Round" placed at number 12 on the U.S. charts and Number 2 on the R&B charts. The song featured the teenage Tevin Campbell (who also had a role in the film) on lead vocals.
Over the years Prince has been romantically linked with many celebrities, including Kim Basinger, Madonna, Carmen Electra, and Anna Fantastic.  He married his backup singer and dancer, Mayte Garcia, on Valentine's Day, 1996. Together they had a son named Boy Gregory, (born October 16, 1996) who was born with Pfeiffer syndrome and died a week after birth.  Prince and Mayte divorced in 1999 and in 2001, Prince married Manuela Testolini in a private ceremony. Tesolini then filed for divorce in May 2006.

Prince became one of Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001 following a two-year-long debate with friend and fellow Jehovah's Witness, musician Larry Graham. Prince said he didn't consider it a conversion, but a "realization"; "It's like Morpheus and Neo in The Matrix", he explained. He attends meetings at a local Kingdom Hall and occasionally knocks on people's doors to discuss his new faith. Prince has reportedly needed double-hip-replacement surgery since 2005 but won't undergo the operation unless it is a bloodless surgery because Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions. The condition has been aggravated by repeated onstage dancing in high-heeled boots. Prince is a vegan. In 2006 he was voted the "world's sexiest vegetarian" in PETA's annual online poll. The liner notes for his album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic featured a message about the cruelty involved in wool production.

Prince is a Minnesota Vikings football fan, owning a skybox at the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome and can be seen regularly at the games. He currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2008, Prince spoke briefly about his personal views on religion, politics and gay marriage to a reporter for the New Yorker, and his remarks were characterized by the Los Angeles Times as being an "anti-gay statement". A statement released by Prince's publicist denies the characterization of his remark.
Stage names
Logo. Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar
The unpronounceable symbol (later dubbed "Love Symbol #2").

In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of Prince's album The Gold Experience, a legal battle ensued between Warner Bros. and Prince over the artistic and financial control of Prince's output. During the lawsuit, Prince appeared in public with the word "slave" written on his cheek. Prince explained his name change as follows:

    The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to the Love Symbol. Prince is the name that my mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros... I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was the Love Symbol, a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.

"Prince" is a trademark owned by Paisley Park Enterprises, Inc. It was initially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2005 in the categories of printed materials, clothing, electronic commerce, and entertainment services based on first commercial in 1978 Various searches to the USPTO did not find any registrations or transfers of "Prince" or related names by Warner Bros. In 1991, PRN Music Corporation assigned the trademarks "Prince", "The Time", "Paisley Park", "New Power Generation", and "Prince and the Revolution" to Paisley Park Enterprises.

Prince has used pseudonyms to separate himself from the music (either his own or that of others) he has had input in; "I was just getting tired of seeing my name," he said, "If you give away an idea, you still own that idea. In fact, giving it away strengthens it. Why do people feel they have to take credit for everything they do? Ego, that's the only reason." These pseudonyms include: Jamie Starr and The Starr Company (for the songs he wrote for The Time and many other artists from 1981–1984), Joey Coco (for many unreleased Prince songs in the late 1980s, as well as songs written for Sheena Easton & Kenny Rogers), Paisley Park (occasionally used in the early 1990s for his production credits on songs, including those written for Martika and Kid Creole), Alexander Nevermind (for writing the 1984 song "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton), and Christopher (used for his song writing credit of "Manic Monday" for The Bangles).
Copyright issues

In 1995, Prince threatened to sue a 900 number, operated by Nathan Wright for his Purple Underground magazine phone line, for playing to the public for the first time segments of The Black Album. Prince's attorneys, Lavely & Singer, demanded royalties in a cease and desist letter served to Wright. Instead Wright offered to work with Prince and split the profits. Wright and Prince's attorneys then worked on a deal to share profits but the deal never transpired (copies of these documents are available for verification). Instead, Prince started his own 900 number while Wright was able to continue his without any further action.

On September 14, 2007, Prince announced that he was going to sue YouTube and eBay because they "are clearly able (to) filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success." Web Sheriff, the international Internet policing company he hired, told Reuters: "The problem is that one can reduce it to zero and then the next day there will be 100 or 500 or whatever. This carries on ad nauseam at Prince's expense."

In October 2007, Stephanie Lenz filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Publishing Group, claiming they were abusing copyright law, after the music publisher had YouTube take down Lenz's home movie in which the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy" played faintly in the background.

On November 5, 2007, several fan sites of Prince formed "Prince Fans United" to fight back against legal requests they claim Prince made to cease and desist all use of photographs, images, lyrics, album covers and anything linked to Prince's likeness. While Prince's lawyers claimed that the use of such representations constituted copyright infringement, the Prince Fans United claimed that the legal actions were "attempts to stifle all critical commentary about Prince." A few days later, Prince released a statement denying the fansites' claims, stating "The action taken earlier this week was not to shut down fansites, or control comment in any way. The issue was simply to do with in regards to copyright and trademark of images and only images, and no lawsuits have been filed." The statement from AEG, Prince's promoter, asserted that the only "offending items" on the three fansites were live shots from Prince's 21 nights in London at the O2 Arena earlier in the year.

On November 8, 2007, Prince Fans United received a song named "PFUnk", providing a kind of "unofficial answer" to their movement. The song, originally debuted on the PFU main site, was retitled "F.U.N.K.", and is available on iTunes.

On November 14, 2007, it was reported that the satirical website b3ta.com had pulled their "image challenge of the week" devoted to Prince after legal threats from the star under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. B3ta co-founder Rob Manuel wrote on the site: "Under threat of legal action from Prince's legal team of 'potential closure of your web site' - We have removed the Prince image challenge and B3ta apologizes unreservedly to AEG / NPG and Prince for any offence caused. We also ask our members to avoid photoshopping Prince and posting them on our boards.

At the 2008 Coachella Music Festival, Prince performed a cover of Radiohead's "Creep", but immediately after he forced YouTube and other sites to remove footage that fans had taken of the performance, despite Radiohead's demand for it to remain on the website. Days later, YouTube reinstated the videos, while Radiohead claimed "it's our song, let people hear it." In 2009, Prince put the video of that Coachella performance on his website LotusFlow3r.com.

In January 2009, Gavin Castleton's acclaimed looping cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" was removed from Youtube just hours after it was first published, due to copyright infringement.
Discography
Main article: Prince discography

This discography excludes compilations of previously-released material. Prince sold in his career of more than three decades about 100 million records worldwide.

    * For You (1978)
    * Prince (1979)
    * Dirty Mind (1980)
    * Controversy (1981)
    * 1999 (1982)
    * Purple Rain (1984)
    * Around the World in a Day (1985)
    * Parade (1986)
    * Sign o' the Times (1987)
    * Lovesexy (1988)
    * Batman (1989)
    * Graffiti Bridge (1990)
    * Diamonds and Pearls (1991)
    * Love Symbol Album (1992)
    * Come (1994)
    * The Black Album (1994)
    * The Gold Experience (1995)
    * Chaos and Disorder (1996)
    * Emancipation (1996)
    * Crystal Ball (1998)
    * Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999)
    * The Rainbow Children (2001)
    * One Nite Alone... (2002)
    * Xpectation (2003)
    * N.E.W.S (2003)
    * Musicology (2004)
    * The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
    * The Slaughterhouse (2004)
    * 3121 (2006)
    * Planet Earth (2007)
    * LOtUSFLOW3R (2009)
http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/b461/bingiedred/Prince%20discography/images.jpg
http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/b461/bingiedred/Prince%20discography/images1-1.jpg


Happy 52nd Birthday Prince.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/07/10 at 10:50 am

I think Prince is so full of himself. But, I do like the song When Doves Cry. You won't find any of his songs on YouTube. He even had some woman take down a video of her son because one of his songs was playing in the background and you couldn't really hear the song.  >:( >:(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/10 at 11:19 am


I think Prince is so full of himself. But, I do like the song When Doves Cry. You won't find any of his songs on YouTube. He even had some woman take down a video of her son because one of his songs was playing in the background and you couldn't really hear the song.  >:( >:(



Cat

That sucks >:( I guess I wont bother looking up any of his songs. I also like When Doves Cry along with Little Red Corvette.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/07/10 at 12:40 pm

Raspberry Beret is another favorite too. And who can't forget Kiss.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/08/10 at 6:08 am

The word or phrase of the day...Total Eclipse
A total eclipse is an eclipse where either the Sun  is entirely covered by the Moon, or the Earth's shadow entirely covers the Moon.
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo16/blo0dyred2009/tse1999_kobusch.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/luluaslan_photos/solar-eclipse.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/nicholasbrookins/Sun20-20Total20Eclipse.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb216/callitaday79/1025PM2202008.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m21/spmk333/20090721.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/remuirez/DSCF0618.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g316/ferrinandholly/TotalEclipseoftheMoon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/08/10 at 6:26 am

The person born on this day...Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins, 8 June 1951) is a Welsh  singer, most notable for her worldwide hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
Tyler was born in Skewen, Neath, in South Wales to a family that included three sisters and two brothers. Her father worked in a coal mine and her mother (an opera lover) shared her love for music with her children. She grew up listening to Motown music and female artists like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.

In 1970, at age 19, she entered a talent contest, singing the Mary Hopkin hit "Those Were the Days", and finished in second place. She then was chosen to sing in a band with front man Bobby Wayne and were known as Bobby Wayne & The Dixies. Two years later, she formed her own band called Imagination (not to be confused with the 1980s British dance band of the same name), and performed with them in pubs and clubs all over southern Wales. It was then that she decided to adopt the stage name of 'Sherene Davies', taking the names from her niece and favourite aunt.

In 1973, she married Robert Sullivan, a real estate agent and olympic judoka. In 1975, she was discovered by Roger Bell who arranged a recording contract for her with RCA Records. Before signing, she was asked to choose a different stage name, settling on Bonnie Tyler.
Career
The 1970s

In 1976, Tyler was spotted in "The Townsman Club" in Swansea by the songwriting and producing team of Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe; who became Tyler's managers, songwriters and producers.

Following the Top 10 success of her 1976 song "Lost in France", Tyler released her first album in 1977 entitled The World Starts Tonight. A further single from the album, "More Than a Lover", made the UK Top 30, and the follow-up single, "Heaven", reached the Top 30 in Germany.

In 1977, Tyler was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords that were so severe that she needed to undergo surgery to remove them. After the surgery, she was ordered not to speak for several weeks to aid the healing process, but she broke her doctor's orders. This caused her voice to take on a raspy quality. At first, this made her believe that her singing career was ruined, but to her surprise, her next single, "It's a Heartache", made her an international star. The song reached #4 in the UK, #3 in the US, #2 in Germany, and topped the charts in several countries (including France and Australia). Tyler's second album, Natural Force, was also retitled It's a Heartache for the U.S. market and certified Gold there.

Though further global success was elusive during this era, Tyler did have some regional hits: "Here Am I" made the German Top 20 in spring of 1978; "My Guns Are Loaded" peaked at number 3 in France in 1979; and she scored a minor UK Top 40 hit with "Married Men" in summer 1979 (the theme to the film The World Is Full of Married Men). Tyler released the albums Diamond Cut in 1979 and Goodbye to the Island in 1981. The track "Sitting on the Edge of the Ocean" was the Grand Prix winner of the 1979 Yamaha World Song Festival held in Tokyo.
The 1980s

Tyler released four albums for RCA Records from 1977 to 1981, but she became increasingly dissatisfied with Scott and Wolfe's management as they were trying to market her as a pop-country music artist. When her contract with RCA expired, she signed with David Aspden Management and sought help from songwriter Jim Steinman, most familiar to audiences as Meat Loaf's primary collaborator, to give her music the rock style she wanted. She signed with Columbia Records in 1982.

Her next album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, was released in Spring 1983 and included the power-ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which was written by Steinman. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in the UK, France, Australia, and in the United States where it remained at the top for four weeks. Her presence in the US chart was at a time when almost one third of the Billboard Hot 100 was filled by songs from UK based acts - a situation unknown since the time of the British Invasion and Beatlemania. Faster Than the Speed of Night entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, and also became a Top Five bestseller in the US and Australia. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" also brought Tyler a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1984, she performed the track at the Grammy Awards, and received another Grammy nomination as Best Rock Female Vocalist for "Here She Comes", a song that was part of the soundtrack for the 1984 restoration of the film Metropolis. She also released the singles "A Rockin' Good Way", a duet with fellow Welsh artist Shakin' Stevens, which made #5 in the UK, and "Holding Out for a Hero", for the Footloose soundtrack, which made the U.S. Top 40 and later peaked at number 2 in UK in the summer of 1985. "Holding Out For A Hero" (written by Steinman and Dean Pitchford) was also used as the main theme for the 1984 US television series Cover Up, though the version heard on the TV series was not Tyler's original but performed by a Tyler sound-alike.

The following albums Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1986), and Hide Your Heart (1988), both failed to continue the global success of Faster Than The Speed Of Night, but achieved some success in France, Switzerland, Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia and other countries. One of the single releases, "If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man)", became another Top 10 hit in France in 1986 and was certified Silver. In 1987, Tyler recorded the song "Sem limites pra sonhar/Reaching for the Infinite Heart" with the Brazilian singer Fábio Junior. The same year, she sang the title song for Mike Oldfield's album Islands. Tyler also sang backing vocals with Cher for the song "Perfection" on Cher's self-titled 1987 album, and "Emotional Fire" on Cher's 1989 album Heart Of Stone.

Tyler's presence at the 1988 Reading Festival provoked an angry response, where her entrance was greeted by bottles of urine being thrown, one of which hit Tyler in the face. Nevertheless, the British music magazine NME noted, "she finished her show like a good 'un".
The 1990s

Throughout the 1990s, Tyler's success was concentrated in continental Europe. In the early 1990s, she switched to the German label, Hansa and found a new producer in Dieter Bohlen of the German band Modern Talking. Her first album for the label was Bitterblue, released in late 1991, which saw her leaving the rock genre of the 80s and establish a more soft pop sound. The album went quadruple-platinum in Norway, platinum in Austria, and gold in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.

Tyler followed this up with the albums Angel Heart (1992) and Silhouette in Red in 1993. In light of her success in Germany, Tyler won Best International Female Vocalist at the RSH Gold Award, the "Goldene Europa" Award and the ECHO Award in 1994.

After her three albums with producer Dieter Bohlen, Tyler wanted to have a more international sound on her next record. She switched labels to Warner Music in 1995 and recorded Free Spirit, an album on which she worked again with Jim Steinman as well as other prolific producers such as David Foster and Humberto Gatica. However, the album was only a minor success in continental Europe, though the single "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" (previously a hit for Air Supply in 1983) narrowly missed the UK Top 40. Tyler continued to record, releasing the folk influenced All in One Voice in 1999, though this was even less successful. Also in 1999, Tyler was part of an ensemble vocal unit for Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth CD.
2000s

In 2003, Tyler released the album Heart Strings, which consisted of cover versions of popular songs performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Also in 2003, Kareen Antonn approached Tyler to record "Si demain... (Turn Around)", a French-language version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Released in December 2003, it went to number 1 in France, holding that chart position for ten weeks, as well as Belgium and Poland, selling a total of two million copies. The follow-up, "Si tout s'arrête (It's A Heartache)", another French language remake with Antonn, also made the French Top 20. Tyler released an album, Simply Believe, in 2004, which contained both songs with Antonn.

In September 2006, Tyler made her first appearance on U.S. television in years, as she sang a duet of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with actress Lucy Lawless on the American show Celebrity Duets.

In 2007, a new Greatest Hits collection, From the Heart, was released. Also in 2007, Tyler contributed a track, "I Don’t Know How to Love Him", to the charity record Over the Rainbow. Tyler mentioned in an interview that she is working on a new studio album and would be working with Jim Steinman again.

In 2009, Tyler made a guest appearance in Hollyoaks Later (the late night edition of the British Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks) in which she sang her hit "Holding Out For a Hero" with one of the characters. The episode was broadcast on Friday 2 October 2009. She also recorded a new version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with the Welsh male voice choir Only Men Aloud! for their second album Band of Brothers which was released in October 2009.

In 2010, Tyler appeared in a television advertisement for MasterCard called "Neville", alongside former The Darkness singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins, singing a parody of "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
Discography
Main article: Bonnie Tyler discography
Awards and nominations
Question book-new.svg
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

    * Music Retailer Magazine 1978 (USA)
          o Most Promising Newcomer
    * Daily Express 1978 (UK)
          o Best New Artist
    * Bravo Otto 1978 (Germany)
          o Golden Otto Best Singer
    * Goldene Europa 1978 (Germany)
          o Best Singer
    * Yamaha Prize 1979 (Japan)
          o Grand Prix International "Sitting On The Edge Of The Ocean"
    * Academy Country Music 1979 (USA)
          o Best New Artist "It's A Heartache" (nomination)
    * Brit Awards 1984 (UK)
          o Best singer (nomination)
    * American Music Awards 1984 (USA)
          o Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist (nomination)
          o Favorite Pop/Rock Single "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (nomination)
    * Goldene Europa 1983 (Germany)
          o Comeback Of The Year



    * Grammy Award 1984 (USA)
          o Best Pop Vocal Female "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (nomination)
          o Best Rock Vocal Female "Faster Than The Speed of Night" (nomination)
    * Variety Club of Great Britain Award 1984 (UK)
          o Best Recording Artist Of The Year "Total Eclipse Of The Heart"
    * Grammy Award 1985 (USA)
          o Best Rock Vocal Female "Here She Comes" (nomination)
    * Brit Awards 1986 (UK)
          o Best Singer (nomination)
    * RSH-Gold Award 1992 (Germany)
          o Erfolgreichste deutschproduzierte Interpretin bzw. Ohrwurm des Jahres
    * Bravo Otto
          o Best Singer of 1992, 6th place
    * Echo Award 1993 (Germany)
          o Best International Singer "Angel Heart" (nomination)
    * Bravo 10 Best Singer of 1993
          o 6th place
    * Bravo 10 Best Shows of 1993
          o 8th place
    * Bravo 10 Good Looking Singer of 1993
          o 8th place



    * Bravo 10 Best CDs of 1993
          o "Very Best of Bonnie Tyler Vol. 1", 8th place
    * Bravo 10 Best CDs of 1993
          o "Silhouette In Red", 9th place
    * Goldene Europa 1993 (Germany)
          o Best International Singer
    * Echo Award 1994 (Germany)
          o Best International Singer, The Very Best Of/Silhouette In Red
    * Radio Regenbogen Award 1999 (Germany)
          o Lifetime Award
    * Writs Welsh Music Awards 2001 (Wales)
          o Best Singer "Greatest Hits" (nomination)
    * Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama 2002 (Wales)
          o Honorary Fellow in recognition of outstanding achievements within the fields of music.
    * Les Hits de Diamant 2004 (France)
          o It's A Heartache & Total Eclipse Of The Heart
    * Steiger Award 2005 (Germany)
          o Lifetime Award


See also

    * List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (United States)
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q123/cossackman/bonnie_tyler.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu19/needler/bonnie_tyler_2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/08/10 at 6:31 am

The person who died on this day...Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (August 5, 1911 – June 8, 1969) was an American film and television actor. Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline (née Stanhope) and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor.  As a teenager, he was a track star and played the cello in his high school orchestra. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Doane College to study music.

While at Doane, he took cello lessons from Professor E. Gray, a man whom he admired and idolized. After Professor Gray announced he was accepting a new position at Pomona College in Los Angeles, Brugh moved to California and enrolled at Pomona. He joined the campus theatre group and was eventually spotted by an MGM talent scout in 1932 after production of Journey's End.
Career

After Brugh signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $35 a week, his name was changed to Robert Taylor. He made his film debut in the 1934 comedy, Handy Andy, opposite Will Rogers (on a loan-out to 20th Century Fox). After appearing in a few small roles, he appeared in one of his first leading roles in Magnificent Obsession, with Irene Dunne. This was followed by Camille, opposite Greta Garbo.
Taylor and Jean Harlow, 1937

Throughout the late 1930s, Taylor appeared in films of varying genres including the musicals Broadway Melody of 1936 and Broadway Melody of 1938, and the British comedy A Yank at Oxford with Vivien Leigh. In 1940, he reteamed with his A Yank at Oxford co-star Vivien Leigh in Mervyn LeRoy's drama Waterloo Bridge.

After being given the nickname "The Man with the Perfect Profile", Taylor began breaking away from his perfect leading man image and began appearing in darker roles beginning in 1941. That year he portrayed Billy Bonney (better known as Billy the Kid) in Billy the Kid. The next year, he played the title role in the film noir Johnny Eager opposite Lana Turner. After playing a tough sergeant in Bataan in 1943, Taylor contributed to the war effort by becoming a flying instructor in U.S. Naval Air Corps. During this time, he also starred in instructional films and narrated the 1944 documentary The Fighting Lady. Robert Taylor first appeared with actress Elizabeth Taylor in the 1949 movie Conspirator. 38 year old Taylor was somewhat uncomfortable with Elizabeth Taylor being 16 years old and his love interest. The age difference was mentioned in the film, when they made Elizabeth state her age as 18 years old to Robert's age of 31 years of age.

In 1950, Taylor landed the role of General Marcus Vinicius in Quo Vadis, opposite Deborah Kerr. The film was a hit, grossing USD$11 million. The following year, he starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the film version of Walter Scott's classic Ivanhoe, followed by 1953's Knights of the Round Table and The Adventures of Quentin Durward, all filmed in England.

By the mid-1950s, Taylor's career began to wane. He starred in a comedy western in 1955 co-starring Eleanor Parker called Many Rivers To Cross. In 1958 he shared lead with Richard Widmark in the edgy John Sturges western, The Law and Jake Wade. In 1958, he formed his own production company, Robert Taylor Productions, and the following year, he starred in the ABC hit television series The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (1959–1962). Following the end of the series in 1962, Taylor continued to appear in films and television including A House Is Not a Home and two episodes of Hondo. In 1965, after filming Johnny Tiger in Florida, Taylor took over the role of narrator in the television series Death Valley Days, when Ronald Reagan left to pursue a career in politics. Taylor would remain with the series until 1969 when he became too ill to continue working.
Personal life
Politics

In February 1944, Taylor helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. In 1947, he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee regarding fellow actors whom he believed to be Communists.
Marriages

After appearing with actress Barbara Stanwyck in the 1937 film This Is My Affair, the two were married in 1939. The marriage had its ups and downs and eventually ended in 1951. In 1954, Taylor married German-born actress, Ursula Thiess, with whom he had two children. Terrance born in 1955 and Therese born in 1959.
Flying

In 1951, Taylor starred in the film Above and Beyond, a biopic of Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets. The two men met and found that they had much in common. Both had considered studying medicine, and were avid skeet-shooters and fliers. Taylor learned to fly in the mid-1930s, and served as a United States Navy flying instructor during World War II. His private aircraft was a Twin Beech called "Missy" (wife Stanwyck's nickname) which he used on hunting and fishing trips. She complained that he spent all his time polishing his guns and aircraft, but when airborne could "do anything a bird could do, except sit on a barbed wire fence".
Death

On June 8, 1969, Taylor died of lung cancer at the age of 57 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Robert Taylor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1935 West Point of the Air "Jasky" Jaskarelli
Broadway Melody of 1936 Robert Gordon
Magnificent Obsession Dr. Robert Merrick
Murder in the Fleet Lt Tom Randolph
1936 Small Town Girl Dr. Robert "Bob" Dakin Alternative title: One Horse Town
The Gorgeous Hussy "Bow" Timberlake
Camille Armand Duval
1937 Personal Property Raymond Dabney aka Ferguson Alternative title: The Man in Possession
This Is My Affair Lt. Richard L. Perry
Broadway Melody of 1938 Stephan "Steve" Raleigh
1938 A Yank at Oxford Lee Sheridan
Three Comrades Erich Lohkamp
The Crowd Roars Tommy "Killer" McCoy
1939 Stand Up and Fight Blake Cantrell
Remember? Jeffrey "Jeff" Holland
1940 Waterloo Bridge Roy Cronin
Escape Mark Preysing Alternative title: When the Door Opened
Flight Command Ensign Alan Drake
1941 Billy the Kid Billy Bonney
When Ladies Meet Jimmy Lee
1942 Johnny Eager John "Johnny" Eager
Her Cardboard Lover Terry Trindale
Stand by for Action Lieutenant Gregg Masterman Alternative title: Cargo of Innocents
1943 The Youngest Profession Cameo
Bataan Sergeant Bill Dane
1944 Song of Russia John Meredith
1946 Undercurrent Alan Garroway
1947 High Wall Steven Kenet
1949 The Bribe Rigby
1950 Ambush Ward Kinsman
Devil's Doorway Lance Poole
1951 Quo Vadis Marcus Vinicius
Westward the Women Buck Wyatt
1952 Ivanhoe Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe
Above and Beyond Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Tibbets
1953 I Love Melvin Cameo
Ride, Vaquero! Rio
All the Brothers Were Valiant Joel Shore
Knights of the Round Table Lancelot
1954 Valley of the Kings Mark Brandon
Rogue Cop Det. Sgt. Christopher Kelvaney
1955 The Adventures of Quentin Durward Quentin Durward
1956 The Last Hunt Charlie Gilson
D-Day the Sixth of June Captain Brad Parker
1958 The Law and Jake Wade Jake Wade
Party Girl Thomas "Tommy" Farrell
1959 The House of the Seven Hawks Nordley
1960 Killers of Kilimanjaro Robert Adamson
1963 Miracle of the White Stallions Colonel Podhajsky Alternative title: The Flight of the White Stallions
1963 Cattle King Sam Brassfield
1964 A House Is Not a Home Frank Costigan
1966 Savage Pampas Captain Martin
1967 Return of the Gunfighter Ben Wyatt
1968 Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows Mr. Farriday - The 'In' Group
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1959–1962 The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor Captain Matt Holbrook 97 episodes
1966–1969 Death Valley Days Host 77 episodes
1967 Hondo Gallagher 2 episodes
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee91/Gypsy48/Entertainment/robert.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh1/licia3256/Taylor_Robert_123.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/08/10 at 11:16 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840B27zYfOk


Oh man, listening to that song brings me back to another place, another time. Not a GOOD place or time.  :-\\



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/08/10 at 11:56 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840B27zYfOk


Oh man, listening to that song brings me back to another place, another time. Not a GOOD place or time.  :-\\



Cat

Sorry about that  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/08/10 at 11:57 am

When I first head "It's a heartache" by Bonnie Tyler, I said to myself. "Oh good...Rod Stewart's got a new song. It's pretty good."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/08/10 at 12:08 pm


Sorry about that  :(



It really sucks because I like that song. I have the same issues with most of Journey songs. I love them all but they all take me back to a very painful time in my life.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/08/10 at 12:16 pm



It really sucks because I like that song. I have the same issues with most of Journey songs. I love them all but they all take me back to a very painful time in my life.



Cat

OK, so we should never talk about 1982 or 1983 with Cat. 

Sorry about that  :(

me too    :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/08/10 at 12:18 pm


OK, so we should never talk about 1982 or 1983 with Cat.  me too    :(


Pretty much the entire decade of the 1980s.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/08/10 at 3:41 pm


The person born on this day...Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins, 8 June 1951) is a Welsh  singer, most notable for her worldwide hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
Tyler was born in Skewen, Neath, in South Wales to a family that included three sisters and two brothers. Her father worked in a coal mine and her mother (an opera lover) shared her love for music with her children. She grew up listening to Motown music and female artists like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.

In 1970, at age 19, she entered a talent contest, singing the Mary Hopkin hit "Those Were the Days", and finished in second place. She then was chosen to sing in a band with front man Bobby Wayne and were known as Bobby Wayne & The Dixies. Two years later, she formed her own band called Imagination (not to be confused with the 1980s British dance band of the same name), and performed with them in pubs and clubs all over southern Wales. It was then that she decided to adopt the stage name of 'Sherene Davies', taking the names from her niece and favourite aunt.

In 1973, she married Robert Sullivan, a real estate agent and olympic judoka. In 1975, she was discovered by Roger Bell who arranged a recording contract for her with RCA Records. Before signing, she was asked to choose a different stage name, settling on Bonnie Tyler.
Career
The 1970s

In 1976, Tyler was spotted in "The Townsman Club" in Swansea by the songwriting and producing team of Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe; who became Tyler's managers, songwriters and producers.

Following the Top 10 success of her 1976 song "Lost in France", Tyler released her first album in 1977 entitled The World Starts Tonight. A further single from the album, "More Than a Lover", made the UK Top 30, and the follow-up single, "Heaven", reached the Top 30 in Germany.

In 1977, Tyler was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords that were so severe that she needed to undergo surgery to remove them. After the surgery, she was ordered not to speak for several weeks to aid the healing process, but she broke her doctor's orders. This caused her voice to take on a raspy quality. At first, this made her believe that her singing career was ruined, but to her surprise, her next single, "It's a Heartache", made her an international star. The song reached #4 in the UK, #3 in the US, #2 in Germany, and topped the charts in several countries (including France and Australia). Tyler's second album, Natural Force, was also retitled It's a Heartache for the U.S. market and certified Gold there.

Though further global success was elusive during this era, Tyler did have some regional hits: "Here Am I" made the German Top 20 in spring of 1978; "My Guns Are Loaded" peaked at number 3 in France in 1979; and she scored a minor UK Top 40 hit with "Married Men" in summer 1979 (the theme to the film The World Is Full of Married Men). Tyler released the albums Diamond Cut in 1979 and Goodbye to the Island in 1981. The track "Sitting on the Edge of the Ocean" was the Grand Prix winner of the 1979 Yamaha World Song Festival held in Tokyo.
The 1980s

Tyler released four albums for RCA Records from 1977 to 1981, but she became increasingly dissatisfied with Scott and Wolfe's management as they were trying to market her as a pop-country music artist. When her contract with RCA expired, she signed with David Aspden Management and sought help from songwriter Jim Steinman, most familiar to audiences as Meat Loaf's primary collaborator, to give her music the rock style she wanted. She signed with Columbia Records in 1982.

Her next album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, was released in Spring 1983 and included the power-ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which was written by Steinman. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in the UK, France, Australia, and in the United States where it remained at the top for four weeks. Her presence in the US chart was at a time when almost one third of the Billboard Hot 100 was filled by songs from UK based acts - a situation unknown since the time of the British Invasion and Beatlemania. Faster Than the Speed of Night entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, and also became a Top Five bestseller in the US and Australia. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" also brought Tyler a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1984, she performed the track at the Grammy Awards, and received another Grammy nomination as Best Rock Female Vocalist for "Here She Comes", a song that was part of the soundtrack for the 1984 restoration of the film Metropolis. She also released the singles "A Rockin' Good Way", a duet with fellow Welsh artist Shakin' Stevens, which made #5 in the UK, and "Holding Out for a Hero", for the Footloose soundtrack, which made the U.S. Top 40 and later peaked at number 2 in UK in the summer of 1985. "Holding Out For A Hero" (written by Steinman and Dean Pitchford) was also used as the main theme for the 1984 US television series Cover Up, though the version heard on the TV series was not Tyler's original but performed by a Tyler sound-alike.

The following albums Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1986), and Hide Your Heart (1988), both failed to continue the global success of Faster Than The Speed Of Night, but achieved some success in France, Switzerland, Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia and other countries. One of the single releases, "If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man)", became another Top 10 hit in France in 1986 and was certified Silver. In 1987, Tyler recorded the song "Sem limites pra sonhar/Reaching for the Infinite Heart" with the Brazilian singer Fábio Junior. The same year, she sang the title song for Mike Oldfield's album Islands. Tyler also sang backing vocals with Cher for the song "Perfection" on Cher's self-titled 1987 album, and "Emotional Fire" on Cher's 1989 album Heart Of Stone.

Tyler's presence at the 1988 Reading Festival provoked an angry response, where her entrance was greeted by bottles of urine being thrown, one of which hit Tyler in the face. Nevertheless, the British music magazine NME noted, "she finished her show like a good 'un".
The 1990s

Throughout the 1990s, Tyler's success was concentrated in continental Europe. In the early 1990s, she switched to the German label, Hansa and found a new producer in Dieter Bohlen of the German band Modern Talking. Her first album for the label was Bitterblue, released in late 1991, which saw her leaving the rock genre of the 80s and establish a more soft pop sound. The album went quadruple-platinum in Norway, platinum in Austria, and gold in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.

Tyler followed this up with the albums Angel Heart (1992) and Silhouette in Red in 1993. In light of her success in Germany, Tyler won Best International Female Vocalist at the RSH Gold Award, the "Goldene Europa" Award and the ECHO Award in 1994.

After her three albums with producer Dieter Bohlen, Tyler wanted to have a more international sound on her next record. She switched labels to Warner Music in 1995 and recorded Free Spirit, an album on which she worked again with Jim Steinman as well as other prolific producers such as David Foster and Humberto Gatica. However, the album was only a minor success in continental Europe, though the single "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" (previously a hit for Air Supply in 1983) narrowly missed the UK Top 40. Tyler continued to record, releasing the folk influenced All in One Voice in 1999, though this was even less successful. Also in 1999, Tyler was part of an ensemble vocal unit for Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth CD.
2000s

In 2003, Tyler released the album Heart Strings, which consisted of cover versions of popular songs performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Also in 2003, Kareen Antonn approached Tyler to record "Si demain... (Turn Around)", a French-language version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Released in December 2003, it went to number 1 in France, holding that chart position for ten weeks, as well as Belgium and Poland, selling a total of two million copies. The follow-up, "Si tout s'arrête (It's A Heartache)", another French language remake with Antonn, also made the French Top 20. Tyler released an album, Simply Believe, in 2004, which contained both songs with Antonn.

In September 2006, Tyler made her first appearance on U.S. television in years, as she sang a duet of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with actress Lucy Lawless on the American show Celebrity Duets.

In 2007, a new Greatest Hits collection, From the Heart, was released. Also in 2007, Tyler contributed a track, "I Don’t Know How to Love Him", to the charity record Over the Rainbow. Tyler mentioned in an interview that she is working on a new studio album and would be working with Jim Steinman again.

In 2009, Tyler made a guest appearance in Hollyoaks Later (the late night edition of the British Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks) in which she sang her hit "Holding Out For a Hero" with one of the characters. The episode was broadcast on Friday 2 October 2009. She also recorded a new version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with the Welsh male voice choir Only Men Aloud! for their second album Band of Brothers which was released in October 2009.

In 2010, Tyler appeared in a television advertisement for MasterCard called "Neville", alongside former The Darkness singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins, singing a parody of "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
Discography
Main article: Bonnie Tyler discography
Awards and nominations
Question book-new.svg
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

    * Music Retailer Magazine 1978 (USA)
          o Most Promising Newcomer
    * Daily Express 1978 (UK)
          o Best New Artist
    * Bravo Otto 1978 (Germany)
          o Golden Otto Best Singer
    * Goldene Europa 1978 (Germany)
          o Best Singer
    * Yamaha Prize 1979 (Japan)
          o Grand Prix International "Sitting On The Edge Of The Ocean"
    * Academy Country Music 1979 (USA)
          o Best New Artist "It's A Heartache" (nomination)
    * Brit Awards 1984 (UK)
          o Best singer (nomination)
    * American Music Awards 1984 (USA)
          o Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist (nomination)
          o Favorite Pop/Rock Single "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (nomination)
    * Goldene Europa 1983 (Germany)
          o Comeback Of The Year



    * Grammy Award 1984 (USA)
          o Best Pop Vocal Female "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (nomination)
          o Best Rock Vocal Female "Faster Than The Speed of Night" (nomination)
    * Variety Club of Great Britain Award 1984 (UK)
          o Best Recording Artist Of The Year "Total Eclipse Of The Heart"
    * Grammy Award 1985 (USA)
          o Best Rock Vocal Female "Here She Comes" (nomination)
    * Brit Awards 1986 (UK)
          o Best Singer (nomination)
    * RSH-Gold Award 1992 (Germany)
          o Erfolgreichste deutschproduzierte Interpretin bzw. Ohrwurm des Jahres
    * Bravo Otto
          o Best Singer of 1992, 6th place
    * Echo Award 1993 (Germany)
          o Best International Singer "Angel Heart" (nomination)
    * Bravo 10 Best Singer of 1993
          o 6th place
    * Bravo 10 Best Shows of 1993
          o 8th place
    * Bravo 10 Good Looking Singer of 1993
          o 8th place



    * Bravo 10 Best CDs of 1993
          o "Very Best of Bonnie Tyler Vol. 1", 8th place
    * Bravo 10 Best CDs of 1993
          o "Silhouette In Red", 9th place
    * Goldene Europa 1993 (Germany)
          o Best International Singer
    * Echo Award 1994 (Germany)
          o Best International Singer, The Very Best Of/Silhouette In Red
    * Radio Regenbogen Award 1999 (Germany)
          o Lifetime Award
    * Writs Welsh Music Awards 2001 (Wales)
          o Best Singer "Greatest Hits" (nomination)
    * Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama 2002 (Wales)
          o Honorary Fellow in recognition of outstanding achievements within the fields of music.
    * Les Hits de Diamant 2004 (France)
          o It's A Heartache & Total Eclipse Of The Heart
    * Steiger Award 2005 (Germany)
          o Lifetime Award


See also

    * List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (United States)
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q123/cossackman/bonnie_tyler.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu19/needler/bonnie_tyler_2.jpg


Total Eclipse Of The Heart was one of my favorite videos,She had that powerful raspy voice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/08/10 at 9:08 pm


Pretty much the entire decade of the 1980s.



Cat

Will forget it every existed, I could forget 84-86 personally. Not 89 I had Timmy plus got married :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/08/10 at 10:04 pm


Will forget it every existed, I could forget 84-86 personally. Not 89 I had Timmy plus got married :)


I got married in 1989 too..  But I mostly enjoyed the '80's (but, of course, I won't metion that fact here)  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/10 at 6:25 am


I got married in 1989 too..   But I mostly enjoyed the '80's (but, of course, I won't metion that fact here)  ;)

There are a few things in the 80's I would like to forget, I did enjoy the music of the 80's and still do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/10 at 6:31 am

The word of the day...Caribbean
The Caribbean  is a region  consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which enclose the sea), and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America.

Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands, called the West Indies, generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. These islands are called the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 he believed that he had reached the Indies (in Asia).

The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in fact in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, not in the Caribbean Sea.

Geo-politically, the West Indies are usually regarded as a sub-region of North America and are organized into 27 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. At one time, there was a short-lived country called the Federation of the West Indies composed of ten English-speaking Caribbean territories, all of which were then UK dependencies.

The region takes its name from that of the Carib, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of European contact.
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad42/VikkiChick/Miscellaneous/west-caribbean-cruises.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c124/d3322s/1442b638.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz174/jasonandlisalovinglife/Caribbean%20Cruise%202010/IMG_7517.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee11/tarakettner/Some%20Caribbean%20Fun/P1000343.jpg
http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx240/atlblack411/Atlanta%20Caribbean%20Carnival%202010/Atlanta_Carnival_Queen_088.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Rue842/Carribbean%20Cruise/2b11.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Rue842/Carribbean%20Cruise/88b8.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/serverpoint/Caribbean%20Islands/dscf0282.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/serverpoint/Caribbean%20Islands/dscf0129.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/10 at 6:34 am

The person born on this day...Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II  (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician known for his portrayals of offbeat, eccentric characters such as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean  film series, Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Sam in Benny & Joon.

Depp rose to prominence in a lead role on the television series 21 Jump Street and quickly became regarded as a teen idol. Uncomfortable with that characterization, he turned his focus to film roles that he felt were right. He initially came to film prominence as the titular character of Edward Scissorhands, and later found box office success in roles such as Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow, Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and his role as the quirky Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

He has collaborated with director and close friend Tim Burton in seven films, the most recent of which are Alice in Wonderland and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Depp has garnered acclaim for his portrayals of real life figures such as Edward D. Wood, Jr., in Ed Wood, Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco and George Jung in Blow (2001). More recently, he portrayed legendary bank robber John Dillinger in Michael Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies.

Films featuring Depp have grossed over $2.6 billion at the United States box office and over $5.7 billion worldwide. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, Screen Actors Guild Awards four times and Golden Globe Awards eight times, Depp won the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Depp's mother bought her son a guitar when he was 12, and Depp began playing in various garage bands. His first band was in honor of his girlfriend, Meredith. A year after his parents' divorce, Depp dropped out of high school to become a rock musician. As he once explained on Inside the Actors Studio, he attempted to go back to school two weeks later, but the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. He played with The Kids, a band that enjoyed modest local success. The Kids set out together for Los Angeles in pursuit of a record deal, changing their name to Six Gun Method. The group split before signing a record deal. Depp subsequently collaborated with the band Rock City Angels  and co-wrote their song "Mary", which appeared on Rock City Angels' debut for Geffen Records titled Young Man's Blues.

On December 24, 1983, Depp married Lori Anne Allison, a makeup artist and sister of his band's bass player and singer. During Depp's marriage, his wife worked as a makeup artist while he worked a variety of odd jobs, including a telemarketer for ink pens. Later, his wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage, who advised Depp to pursue an acting career. In 1985, Depp and Allison divorced. After his marriage ended, Depp dated and was engaged to Sherilyn Fenn (whom he met on the set of the 1985 short film Dummies).
1990s and 2000s
Johnny Depp at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1994, Depp was arrested and questioned by police for allegedly causing serious damage to a New York City hotel suite. Since 1998, following a relationship with British supermodel Kate Moss, Depp has had a relationship with Vanessa Paradis, a French actress and singer whom he met while filming The Ninth Gate. He was arrested again in 1999 for brawling with paparazzi outside a restaurant while dining in London with Paradis.

The couple have two children. Daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp was born May 27, 1999, and son John "Jack" Christopher Depp III was born April 9, 2002. In 2007, his daughter recovered from a serious illness, an E. coli infection that began to cause her kidneys to shut down and resulted in an extended hospital stay. To thank Great Ormond Street Hospital, Depp visited the hospital in November 2007 dressed in his Captain Jack Sparrow outfit and spent 4 hours reading stories to the children. He later donated £1 million (about $2 million) to the hospital in early 2008.

Although Depp has not remarried, he has stated that having children has given him "real foundation, a real strong place to stand in life, in work, in everything." "You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. It was destiny; kismet. All the math finally worked." The family divides its time between their home in Meudon, located in the suburbs of Paris, Los Angeles, an island he bought in the Bahamas, and their villa in Le Plan-de-la-Tour, a small town an hour and a half from Saint-Tropez, in the south of France. Depp also acquired a vineyard estate in the Plan-de-la-Tour area in 2007.

Depp has 13 tattoos, many of them signifying important persons or events in his life. They include a Native American in profile and a ribbon reading "Wino Forever" (originally "Winona Forever", altered after his breakup with Winona Ryder) on his right biceps, "Lily-Rose" (his daughter's name) over his heart, "Betty Sue" (his mother's name) on his left biceps, and a sparrow flying over water with the word "Jack" (his son's name; the sparrow is flying towards him rather than away from him as it is in Pirates of the Caribbean) on his right forearm.

In 2003, Depp comments about the United States appeared in Germany's Stern magazine, commenting that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth — that can bite and hurt you, aggressive." Although he later asserted that the magazine misquoted him and the quotation was taken out of context, Stern stood by its story, as did CNN.com in its coverage of the interview. CNN added his remark that he would like his children "to see America as a toy, a broken toy. Investigate it a little, check it out, get this feeling and then get out." The July 17, 2006 edition of Newsweek reprinted the "dumb puppy" quotation, verbatim, within the context of a Letter to the Magazine. Depp has also disagreed with subsequent media reports that he says paint him as a "European wannabe", saying that he just likes the anonymity of living in France and his simpler life there.
Career
Television

Depp starred in a lead role on the Fox TV television series, 21 Jump Street, which premiered in 1987. Depp accepted this role because he was not getting much work in the business and wanted to work with actor Frederic Forrest, who inspired him. Later in the season, Depp's long time friend Sal Jenco joined the cast as a semi-co-star as the janitor named Blowfish. The series' success turned Depp into a popular teen idol during the late 1980s. He found the teen-idol status irritating, noting that he felt "forced into the role of product" and that it was "a very uncomfortable situation and I didn't get a handle on it and it wasn't on my terms at all." Depp promised himself that after his contract on the series expired, he would only appear in films that he felt were right for him.
Film roles

Depp's first major role was in the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the heroine's boyfriend and one of Freddy's victims. In 1986, he also appeared in a secondary role as a Vietnamese-speaking private in Oliver Stone's Platoon. Depp then left his teen idol image in 1990, playing the quirky title role in the Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. The film's success began a long association with Burton. Depp, an avid fan and long-time friend of writer Hunter S. Thompson, played a version of Thompson (named Raoul Duke) in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the writer's pseudobiographical novel of the same name. Depp also accompanied Thompson as his road manager on one of the author's last book tours. In 2006, Depp contributed a personal foreword to Gonzo by Hunter S. Thompson, a posthumous visual biography of the writer's legacy published by ammobooks.com. A close friend of Thompson's, Depp paid for most of Thompson's memorial event, complete with fireworks and the shooting of Thompson's ashes by a cannon, in Aspen, Colorado, where Thompson lived.
Depp with longer hair, mustache and goatee similar to the style used in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl film.

Depp's film characters have been described by the press as "iconic loners," and Depp has noted that this period of his career was full of "studio defined failures" and films that were "box office poison," stating that he believes film studios never "understood" the films he appeared in and did not know how to market them properly. Depp has also said that he specifically chose to appear in films that he found personally interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office.

Depp's status as a major star was solidified with the success of the 2003 Walt Disney Pictures film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, for which his lead performance as the suave pirate Captain Jack Sparrow was highly praised. The performance was initially received negatively by the studio bosses who saw the film, but the character became popular with the movie-going public. In 2006, Depp's co-star from the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, Bill Nighy, described the role as probably being "one of the most popular performances of recent times." According to a survey taken by Fandango, Depp was also considered to be one of the main reasons audiences wanted to see the movie. The film's director, Gore Verbinski, has said that Depp's Jack Sparrow character closely resembles Depp's own personality, although Depp himself said that he modelled the character after Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp, who has noted that he was "surprised" and "touched" at the positive reception given to the film, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. In 2004, he was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, this time for playing Scottish author J. M. Barrie in the film Finding Neverland. Depp next starred as Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was a major success at the box office.

Depp returned to the character of Jack Sparrow for the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which opened on July 7, 2006 and grossed $135.5 million in the first three days of its U.S. release, breaking a box office record in reaching the highest weekend tally ever. The next sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End, was released May 24, 2007; Depp has mentioned his attachment to his Captain Jack Sparrow character, specifying that Sparrow is "definitely a big part of me", and expressing his desire to portray the character in further sequels. Depp voiced Sparrow in the video game, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp's swashbuckling sword talents as developed for the character of Jack Sparrow, were highlighted in the documentary film Reclaiming The Blade. Within the film Swordmaster Bob Anderson shared his experiences working with Depp on the choreography. Anderson who also trained Errol Flynn, another famous Hollywood pirate, described in the film Depp's ability as an actor to pick up the sword to be, "about as good as you can get."

Depp and Gore Verbinski were executive producers of the album Rogues Gallery, Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys. Depp played the title role of Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton's film adaptation of the musical, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The traditional ceremony for the 65th Golden Globe Awards did not take place due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Depp thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and praised Tim Burton for his "unwavering trust and support."

As a child, Depp was obsessed with Dark Shadows, a gothic-themed soap opera that aired on ABC from 1966 to 1971. As a result, he accepted Warner Bros. proposal to make a film version of the show. In July 2007, a rights deal was struck with the estate of Dan Curtis, the show's producer/director. Depp and Graham King will produce the movie with David Kennedy, who ran Dan Curtis Productions inc. until Curtis died in 2006. Depp will also appear in a film version of writer Hunter S. Thompson's book, The Rum Diary, portraying the main character Paul Kemp. Depp signed on to play one incarnation of the Heath Ledger character in the 2009 film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus along with Jude Law and Colin Farrell. All three actors gave their salaries from the film to Ledger's daughter, Matilda. He portrayed the Mad Hatter in Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and will play Tonto in a future Lone Ranger film. Disney Studios also announced that a fourth installment of the Pirates series is in development, in which Depp would reprise his Captain Jack Sparrow role.
Collaboration with Tim Burton

Depp has collaborated with director and close friend Tim Burton in seven films, beginning with his breakout role in Edward Scissorhands (1990), opposite Winona Ryder and Vincent Price. His next role with Burton was in the 1994 film, Ed Wood. Depp later said that "within 10 minutes of hearing about the project, I was committed." At the time, the actor was depressed about films and filmmaking. By accepting this part it gave him a "chance to stretch out and have some fun", and working with Landau, "rejuvenated my love for acting".

Producer Scott Rudin once said, "Basically Johnny Depp is playing Tim Burton in all his movies," although Burton personally disapproved of the comment. Depp, however agrees with Rudin's statement. According to Depp, Edward Scissorhands represented Burton's inability to communicate as a teenager. Ed Wood reflected Burton's relationship with Vincent Price (very similar with Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Béla Lugosi).
Depp's Hollywood Walk of Fame star received on November 19, 1999.

Depp's next venture with Burton was the role of Ichabod Crane in the dark Sleepy Hollow (1999), opposite Christina Ricci. Sleepy Hollow showcased Ichabod's feelings that reflects Burton's battle with the Hollywood studio system. For his performance, Depp took inspiration from Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall and Basil Rathbone. Depp stated, "I always thought of Ichabod as a very delicate, fragile person who was maybe a little too in touch with his feminine side, like a frightened little girl."

Depp did not work with Burton again until the 2005 release of two films, the first of which was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Depp modeled the character's hair on Anna Wintour. The film was a box office success and received positive critical reaction, although Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 film, initially opposed this version. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released in July, followed by Corpse Bride, for which Depp voiced the character Victor Van Dort, in September.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) followed, bringing Depp his second major award win, the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy as well as his third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Burton first gave him an original cast recording of the 1979 stage musical in 2000. Although not a fan of the genre, Depp grew to like the tale's musical treatment, commenting "How many chances do you get at a musical about a serial killer?" He cited Peter Lorre in Mad Love (1935) as his main influence for the role, and practiced the songs his character would perform while filming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Although he had performed in musical groups, Depp was initially unsure that he would be able to sustain Stephen Sondheim's lyrics. Depp recorded demos of himself in West Hollywood, working with Bruce Witkin to shape his vocals without a qualified voice coach. In the DVD Reviews section, EW's Chris Nashawaty gave the film an A-minus, stating, "Depp's soaring voice makes you wonder what other tricks he's been hiding... Watching Depp's barber wield his razors... it's hard not to be reminded of Edward Scissorhands frantically shaping hedges into animal topiaries 18 years ago... and all of the twisted beauty we would've missed out on had never met."

He has referred to working with Burton as "coming home", and he wrote the introduction to Burton on Burton, a book of interviews with the director, in which he called Burton "...a brother, a friend,...and brave soul". The next Depp-Burton collaboration was Alice in Wonderland (2010). Depp played the Mad Hatter alongside long time collaborator Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and Alan Rickman.
Other interests
Music
Depp backstage at the Ahmanson Theatre on December 31, 2006

As a guitar player, Depp has recorded a solo album, played slide guitar on the Oasis song "Fade In-Out" (from Be Here Now, 1997), as well as on "Fade Away (Warchild Version)" (b-side of the "Don't Go Away" single). He also played acoustic guitar in the movie Chocolat and on the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He is a friend of The Pogues' Shane MacGowan, and performed on MacGowan's first solo album. As well, he was a member of P, a group featuring Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. He has appeared in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' music video "Into the Great Wide Open".
Winemaker and restaurateur

Depp and Paradis grow grapes and have wine making facilities in their vineyard in Plan-de-la-Tour north of Saint-Tropez. Known for a fondness of French wines, among Depp's favorites are the Bordeaux wines Château Calon-Ségur, Château Cheval-Blanc and Château Pétrus, and the Burgundy wine Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Interviewed in Madame Figaro, Depp stated, "With those wines, you reach nirvana". Along with Sean Penn, John Malkovich and Mick Hucknall, Depp co-owned the Parisian restaurant-bar Man Ray, located near the Champs-Élysées.
Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp

Some of the awards that Depp has won include honors from the London Film Critics Circle (1996), Russian Guild of Film Critics (1998), Screen Actors Guild Awards (2004) and a Golden Globe for Best Actor. At the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, he won the award for "Best Villain" for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd and "Best Comedic Performance" for Jack Sparrow. Depp has been nominated for three Academy Awards, in 2004 for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, in 2005 for Finding Neverland, and in 2008 for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Depp won his first Golden Globe for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in 2008.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street Glen Lantz
1985 Private Resort Jack Marshall
1986 Platoon Private Gator Lerner
1990 Cry-Baby Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker
Edward Scissorhands Edward Scissorhands Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1991 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare Teen on TV Cameo (as Oprah Noodlemantra)
1992 Stuff only director short film
1993 What's Eating Gilbert Grape Gilbert Grape
Benny & Joon Sam Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Arizona Dream Axel Blackmar
1994 Ed Wood Edward D. Wood, Jr. London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for Don Juan DeMarco
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1995 Nick of Time Gene Watson
Dead Man William Blake
Don Juan DeMarco Don Juan/John R. DeMarco London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for Ed Wood
1996 Cannes Man Himself
1997 Donnie Brasco Donnie Brasco / Joseph D. Pistone Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
The Brave Raphael Director and writer
Nominated — Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Raoul Duke playing Hunter S. Thompson
L.A. Without a Map Himself / William Blake Cameo
1999 Sleepy Hollow Ichabod Crane Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Astronaut's Wife Spencer Armacost
The Source Jack Kerouac Documentary film
The Ninth Gate Dean Corso
2000 Chocolat Roux Also musician: guitar
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Before Night Falls Lt. Victor, Bon Bon
2001 From Hell Frederick Abberline Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Man Who Cried Cesar (Limited release)
Blow George Jung
2002 Lost in La Mancha Himself Uncredited role
2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico Sheldon Sands Composer: theme, "Sands' Theme"
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Captain Jack Sparrow Empire Award for Best Actor
Irish Film Award for Best International Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2004 Happily Ever After L'inconnu Cameo
Finding Neverland Sir James Matthew Barrie Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Secret Window Mort Rainey
2005 The Libertine John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Irish Film Award for Best International Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Corpse Bride Victor Van Dort voice role
2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Captain Jack Sparrow Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — National Movie Award for Performance – Male
2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Captain Jack Sparrow
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweeney Todd / Benjamin Barker Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
National Movie Award for Performance – Male
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
2008 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Narrator
2009 Public Enemies John Dillinger Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Tony (1st transformation)
2010 Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter
When You're Strange Narrator
The Rum Diary Paul Kemp Also producer
post-production
2011 The Tourist Frank Taylor filming
Rango Rango voice role
post-production
Television
Year Production Role Notes
1985 Lady Blue Lionel Viland Episode: "Beasts of Prey"
1986 Slow Burn Donnie Fleischer TV film
1987–1991 21 Jump Street Officer Thomas "Tom" Hanson, Jr. TV series (57 episodes)
1987 Hotel Rob Cameron Episode: "Unfinished Business"
1999 The Vicar of Dibley Himself Episode: "Celebrity Party"
2000 The Fast Show Himself Episode: "The Last Ever Fast Show "
2004 King of the Hill Yogi Victor (voice) Episode: "Hank's Back"
2009 SpongeBob SquarePants Jack Kahuna Laguna (voice) Episode: "SpongeBob vs. The Big One"
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h225/karell920/EntertainmentWeekly05.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u259/pretty_in_black_2007/Johnny%20Depp/johnnydep.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/10 at 6:38 am

The person who died on this day...Allen Ludden
Allen Ludden (October 5, 1917 – June 9, 1981), born Allen Packard Ellsworth, was an American  television personality, emcee and game show host. He was born in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. His father, Elmer Ellsworth, died at age 62, on January 6, 1919, when Allen was a toddler. Allen later took the surname "Ludden" from his stepfather.
Education and career

An English and dramatics major at the University of Texas, Ludden graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1940 and received his Master of Arts in English from the same university in 1941. He served in the U.S. Army, received a Bronze Star, and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1946. During the late 1940s and early 1950s he carved out a career as an adviser for youth in teen magazine columns and on radio. His radio show for teenagers, Mind Your Manners, received a Peabody Award in 1950.

Ludden hosted many game shows, including the GE College Bowl, but he was most well-known for hosting both the daytime and prime time versions of Password on CBS and ABC between 1961 and 1975. His opening TV catch phrase, "Hi doll," was directed toward his beloved real-life mother-in-law, Tess White, mother of Betty White. He ended Password with a "password of the day," and then "So long, see you tomorrow, I hope." Ludden began hosting an updated version of the game, Password Plus, on NBC, in 1979, but chemotherapy treatments for stomach cancer forced him off the show in late October 1980. Tom Kennedy filled in as host during this time. Other shows hosted by Ludden include Liar's Club, Win With the Stars, and Stumpers! He also hosted the original pilot for The Joker's Wild and hosted a talk-variety show, Allen Ludden's Gallery.
Family

Ludden, a Roman Catholic, married Margaret McGloin in 1943. She died from cancer in October 1961, just days before their 18th wedding anniversary. They had a son, David, and two daughters, Martha and Sarah.

He proposed to twice-divorced Betty White, whom he had met on Password, at least twice before she accepted. Eventually, they were married on June 14, 1963, and remained together until Ludden's death. They appeared together in an episode of The Odd Couple in which Felix and Oscar appeared on Password. Ludden also appeared as a guest panelist on Match Game, with White sitting in the audience (she was prompted to rip apart one of Ludden's wrong answers on camera during an episode of Match Game '74; the two appeared together on the panel in 1975, and on Match Game PM in 1980).

At the request of the publishers Dodd, Mead & Co., Ludden wrote and published four books of "Plain Talk" advice, plus a youth novel, Roger Thomas, Actor (1959), all for young readers. He received the 1961 Horatio Alger Award.
Death

After Ludden was diagnosed with stomach cancer in early 1980, he took a leave of absence from Password Plus for chemotherapy treatment and returned a month later. (Bill Cullen substituted during this time.) In late October 1980, he slipped into a coma while on vacation. It was initially reported that he had suffered a stroke, but the coma was actually caused by high levels of calcium from medication taken to help fight the cancer. Ludden hoped to return to hosting again, but his cancer grew worse during this time and he never returned. Allen Ludden died in Los Angeles on June 9, 1981, just days before his 18th wedding anniversary with Betty White. He was 63. Ludden was buried beside his father in the Ellsworth family plot in Graceland Cemetery in his hometown of Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

Ludden's best friend Tom Kennedy took over as host of NBC's Password Plus after Ludden's death, until it left the air in 1982.
Awards

Allen Ludden was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located beside White's.
Legacies

A walkway at the Los Angeles Zoo was named in his memory (Betty White is a board member at the Zoo) and a man-made lake in Mineral Point was named Lake Ludden in his honor.

In January 2001, TV Guide named Ludden the greatest game-show host of all time.
Sources

The Allen Ludden Papers collection is located at the Free Public Library in his native Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The items include letters written or received by Ludden, typed radio scripts, newspaper and magazine clippings by or about Ludden, publicity photographs and personal photographs, and a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles (which are broken). The collection was donated by Betty White
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q149/deanceran/Celebrities/BettyWhiteAllenLudden.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e389/PaulLyndeFanSite/080_002200_PasswordPaulLizColor.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/09/10 at 7:22 am


The word of the day...Caribbean
The Caribbean  is a region  consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which enclose the sea), and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America.

Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands, called the West Indies, generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. These islands are called the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 he believed that he had reached the Indies (in Asia).

The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in fact in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, not in the Caribbean Sea.

Geo-politically, the West Indies are usually regarded as a sub-region of North America and are organized into 27 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. At one time, there was a short-lived country called the Federation of the West Indies composed of ten English-speaking Caribbean territories, all of which were then UK dependencies.

The region takes its name from that of the Carib, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of European contact.
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad42/VikkiChick/Miscellaneous/west-caribbean-cruises.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c124/d3322s/1442b638.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz174/jasonandlisalovinglife/Caribbean%20Cruise%202010/IMG_7517.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee11/tarakettner/Some%20Caribbean%20Fun/P1000343.jpg
http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx240/atlblack411/Atlanta%20Caribbean%20Carnival%202010/Atlanta_Carnival_Queen_088.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Rue842/Carribbean%20Cruise/2b11.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Rue842/Carribbean%20Cruise/88b8.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/serverpoint/Caribbean%20Islands/dscf0282.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff205/serverpoint/Caribbean%20Islands/dscf0129.jpg


loving the beautiful pictures Ninny. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/10 at 8:21 am


loving the beautiful pictures Ninny. :)

Glad you like them. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/09/10 at 12:29 pm

Here are a couple of my photos of the Caribbean:


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2506548612_473876080b.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/09/10 at 1:25 pm


Here are a couple of my photos of the Caribbean:


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2506548612_473876080b.jpg



Cat
More Wallpaper for the Desktop?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/09/10 at 1:26 pm


Here are a couple of my photos of the Caribbean:


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2506548612_473876080b.jpg



Cat

More gorgeous pics...Nice!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/09/10 at 1:33 pm

Thanks.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/10 at 3:39 pm


Here are a couple of my photos of the Caribbean:


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4460507224_9a62d003e3.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2506548612_473876080b.jpg



Cat

Very nice

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/09/10 at 7:09 pm

nice pictures Cat.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/10/10 at 6:28 am

The word of the day...Cocktail
Cocktail may also refer to:

    * Fruit cocktail, a mixture of various fruits, often canned
    * The cocktail fruit, a cross between a Thai pomelo and a Frua mandarin orange
    * Cocktail dress, a shorter length lady's gown
    * Molotov cocktail, a crude incendiary weapon
    * Antiretroviral drug or triple cocktail, a mixture of medicine used to treat HIV
    * A style of arcade cabinet where the screen lies horizontal and players generally sit opposite each other to play
    * In scuba diving with a rebreather, slang for caustic liquid getting in circuit if water gets at its absorbent
    * Cocktail (code name) is the code name of Apple's iTunes LP music format
    * Cocktail (magazine), a Swedish and Norwegian erotic magazine
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/619Suzanne/Food%20and%20Drink/shrimp_cocktail.gif
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w272/plndg/BBQ/Cocktails.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac22/alexa071_photo/DSC01362.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/SaphiraLola/Sonstige/runde_2_cocktail-bereitung.jpg
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz281/MKTGSFBA/COCKTAIL%20CONCIERGE/IMG_1657.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/TcxMyViQuan/Fruit%20Cocktail/FR01.jpg
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp330/lourean_loves_sajed/fruitcocktail.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/10/10 at 6:30 am

The person who was born on this day ...Gina Gershon
Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American  film and television actress, known for her roles in the films Cocktail (1988), Showgirls  (1995), Bound (1996), and Face/Off  (1997). Gershon was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Mickey, an interior decorator, and Stan Gershon, who worked in the import/export business and sales.  Gershon is Jewish,  and has a brother, Dan, and a sister, Tracy. She attended Beverly Hills High School with Lenny Kravitz.  After high school, Gershon moved to Boston, where she attended Emerson College.

A 2008 Vanity Fair article linked her romantically with former President Bill Clinton. Speaking on the U.S. television show Live with Regis and Kelly on June 9, she said, "It is such a crazy, outrageous lie… I met him three times at events. It disturbed me on so many levels."
Career

Gershon moved to New York City from Boston to attend New York University, where she studied drama and child psychology. She also attended the Circle in the Square Professional Theater School in New York, working with David Mamet and Harold Guskin. She is one of the founding members of the New York-based theater group Naked Angels.

She has appeared on Broadway three times, as Sally Bowles in the revival of Cabaret, in the revival of the sex farce Boeing-Boeing, and is currently playing Rosie Alvarez in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Her first acting venues were stage appearances in Camille and The Substance of Fire. She had a cameo role in The Cars 1984 video Hello Again along side Andy Warhol. Her break came with a bit part in 1986's Pretty in Pink, and then a bigger part in Cocktail, with Tom Cruise. Gershon also worked in TV, with a recurring role on Melrose Place. She won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Nancy Sinatra in the made-for-TV biopic Sinatra. In 1996, she played Corky, an ex-con who gets mixed up in a lesbian affair with Jennifer Tilly, in the mobster flick Bound. The following year, she costarred with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in Face/Off.

Gershon is regarded as a gay icon because of her roles in movies such as Bound (in which she played a butch lesbian), Prey for Rock & Roll, and Showgirls (which is regarded as a camp classic). She was ranked #23 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2004.

Gershon played Jew's harp on "I Can't Decide", a song on the Scissor Sisters 2006 release Ta-Dah. She also played Jew's harp on the song "I Do It For Your Love", Paul Simon's collaboration with Herbie Hancock on his album Possibilities. On television, she has recurring roles on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (as a Hasidic dry cleaner), Rescue Me, and the U.S. dramedy series Ugly Betty (as Italian cosmetics mogul Fabia, the rival of Wilhelmina Slater). She also has served as the voiceover for Major League Baseball's "I Live For This" promotional campaign.

Gershon also appears in Lenny Kravitz's music video entitled "Again". She and her brother Dan are the authors of the children's book Camp Creepy Time. On September 10, 2008, Gershon appeared in a video on funnyordie.com, parodying former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, titled "Gina Gershon Strips Down Sarah Palin" which she followed with "Gina Gershon Does Sarah Palin 2".
Filmography
Movies

    * Pretty in Pink (1986)—gym student/friend at prom
    * Sweet Revenge (1987)—K.C.
    * Red Heat (1988)—Cat Manzetti
    * Cocktail (1988)—Coral
    * Out for Justice (1991)—Patti Madano
    * The Player (1992)—Whitney Gersh
    * Flinch (1994)—Daphne James
    * Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995)—Margo Preston
    * Showgirls (1995)—Cristal Connors
    * Bound (1996)—Corky
    * Face/Off (1997)—Sasha Hassler
    * This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)—Carol Lakewood Morton
    * Palmetto (1998)—Nina
    * Prague Duet (1998)— Dr. Lauren Graham
    * One Tough Cop (1998)—Joey O'Hara
    * Black & White (1998)—Nora "Hugs" Hugosian
    * Lulu on the Bridge (1998)—Hannah
    * Guinevere (1999)—Billie
    * The Insider (1999)—Helen Caperelli
    * Slackers (2002)-Uncredited
    * Driven (2001)—Cathy Heguy
    * Picture Claire (2001)—Lily Warden
    * Borderline (2002)—Lila Coletti
    * Demonlover (2002)—Elaine Si Gibril
    * Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)—Jacki
    * Three Way (2004)—Florence
    * Out of Season (2004)—Eileen Phillips
    * Category 7: The End of the World (2005)—Judith Carr
    * Dreamland (2006)—Mary
    * One Last Thing... (2006)—Arlene
    * Kettle of Fish (2006)—Ginger
    * What Love Is (2006)—Rachel
    * Delirious (2007)—Dana
    * P.S. I Love You (2007)—Sharon
    * Beer for My Horses (2008)—Cammie
    * Just Business (2008)—Marty
    * Love Ranch (2009)

Television

    * The New Twilight Zone (1987)—Laura/Prince (Season 2, Episode 18 "Time and Teresa Golowitz")
    * The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1989)—Randy
    * Sinatra (1992)—Nancy Barbato Sinatra
    * Melrose Place (1993)—Ellen
    * Legalese (1998)-Angela
    * Snoops (1999)—Glenn Hall
    * The Job (2001?)—Herself
    * Just Shoot Me! (2002–03)—Rhonda Ferrara (two episodes)
    * Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003)—Shikata (voice)
    * Tripping the Rift (2004)—Six (voice, replaced by Carmen Electra in Season 2)
    * Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004 & 2007)—Anna
    * The Batman (2004–08)—Catwoman (voice)
    * Ugly Betty (2006–2007)—Fabia (Season 1, Episode 1, 14, 23)
    * Psych (2007)—Emilina Saffron (episode "American Duos")
    * Rescue Me (2007)—Valerie (episodes "Solo", "Animal", "High", "Cycle", "Keefe", and "Yaz")
    * Numb3rs
    * Eastbound & Down (2009)—(Season 1, Episode 5 "Chapter 5")
    * Everything She Ever Wanted (2009)- Lifetime Movie Network miniseries

Broadway

    * Cabaret (1998 revival)—Sally Bowles
    * Boeing Boeing (2008 revival)—Gabriella
    * Bye Bye Birdie (2009 revival)—Rose Alvarez
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/luckyleo23/gina_gershon.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww226/pimpmuscle23/Gina-Gershon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/10/10 at 6:32 am

The person who died on this day...Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Tracy 9th among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time. He was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor in all, winning two. Tracy was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin  the second son of John Edward Tracy, an Irish American Catholic truck salesman, and Caroline Brown, a Protestant turned Christian Scientist. Tracy's paternal grandparents, John Tracy and Mary Guhin, were born in Ireland. His mother's ancestry dates back to Thomas Stebbins, who immigrated from England in the late 1630s. Tracy attended six high schools, starting with Wauwatosa High School in 1915 and St. John's Cathedral School for boys in Milwaukee the following year. The Tracy family then moved to Kansas City, where Spencer was enrolled at St. Mary's College, Kansas, a boarding school in St. Marys, Kansas 30 miles west of Topeka, Kansas, then transferred to Rockhurst, a Jesuit academy in Kansas City, Missouri. John Tracy's job in Kansas City did not work out, and the family returned to Milwaukee six months after their departure. Spencer was enrolled at Marquette Academy, another Jesuit school, where he met fellow actor Pat O'Brien. The two young men left school in spring 1917 to enlist in the Navy after the American entry into World War I, but Tracy remained in Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia throughout the war. Afterwards, Tracy continued his high school education at Marquette Academy then transferred to Northwestern Military and Naval Academy near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He finished his last few credits needed to graduate at Milwaukee's West Division High School (now Milwaukee High School of the Arts) in February 1921.

Afterward he attended Ripon College where he appeared in a leading role in a play entitled The Truth, and decided on acting as a career. Tracy received an honorary degree from Ripon College in 1940. While touring the Northeast with the Ripon debate team, he auditioned for and was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. His first Broadway role was as a robot in Karel Čapek's R.U.R. (1922), followed by five other Broadway plays in the 1920s. In 1923 he married actress Louise Treadwell. They had two children, John and Louise (Susie).
Career
Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March, right) in Inherit the Wind

Tracy performed in stock in Michigan, Canada, and Ohio for several years. Finally in 1930 he appeared in a hit play on Broadway, The Last Mile. Director John Ford saw Tracy in The Last Mile and signed Tracy for Up the River (1930) with Humphrey Bogart for Fox Film Corporation. Shortly after that Tracy and his family moved to Hollywood: 25 films in the next five years featured him.

In 1935, Tracy signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor two years in a row, for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938).
Tracy with Katharine Hepburn in the trailer for the film Adam's Rib (1949)

He was also nominated for San Francisco (1936), Father of the Bride (1950), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), The Old Man and the Sea (1958), Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and posthumously for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Tracy and Laurence Olivier share the record for the most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Tracy's reputation for versatility and naturalness are based on the twenty years (1935-1955) he acted at Metro Goldwyn Mayer and for the subsequent dozen years when he was an independent actor. Yet the twenty-five films he made prior to his move to MGM are notable in that they demonstrate the range and diversity of characters he would continue to deliver through his post-Fox career (and which would earn him two Academy Awards and nine nominations).
Tracy and Hepburn

In 1941, during the filming of Woman of the Year, Tracy began a relationship with Katharine Hepburn. Their relationship, which neither would discuss publicly, lasted until Tracy's death in 1967. Their relationship was complex and there were periods during which they were estranged. During one estrangement, Tracy had a brief romance with actress Gene Tierney while filming the Plymouth Adventure in 1952.
Death and legacy

During his later years, Tracy's health worsened after he was diagnosed with diabetes, exacerbated by his alcoholism. In 1963, he suffered a heart attack, forcing him to pull out of Cheyenne Autumn and The Cincinnati Kid. Edward G. Robinson replaced him for both films. Seventeen days after filming had been completed on his last film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, with Hepburn, he died of a heart attack having long suffered from emphysema. The film was released in December, six months after his death.

In 1988, the University of California, Los Angeles' Campus Events Commission and Susie Tracy created the UCLA Spencer Tracy Award. The award has been given to actors in recognition for their achievement in film acting. Past recipients include William Hurt, James Stewart, Michael Douglas, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Harrison Ford, Anjelica Huston, Nicolas Cage, Kirk Douglas, Jack Lemmon and Morgan Freeman.

The main character Carl from Pixar's film Up was primarily based on a combination of Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau, because, according to director Pete Docter, there was "something sweet about these grumpy old guys".
Filmography and awards

Tracy appeared in 75 feature films, and several short films. With Katharine Hepburn he starred in nine feature films, one of the most successful screen pairings in film history.

Nine of the films he starred in were nominated for Best Picture: San Francisco (Oscar Nomination), Libeled Lady, Captains Courageous (Oscar), Test Pilot, Boys Town (Oscar), Father of the Bride (Oscar Nomination), Judgment at Nuremberg (Oscar Nomination), How the West Was Won and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Oscar Nomination).

He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor on nine occasions, and won the award in 1937, for Captains Courageous, and in 1938, for Boys Town. He won a Golden Globe Award for The Actress (1953) from a total of four nominations. He was awarded a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his posthumously released performance opposite Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).

One of his Oscars was mistakenly inscribed to Dick Tracy before being corrected.
Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Spencer Tracy
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1930 The Strong Arm short subject
Taxi Talks Taxi Driver short subject
The Hard Guy Guy short subject
Up the River Saint Louis
1931 Quick Millions Daniel J. 'Bugs' Raymond
Six Cylinder Love William Donroy
Goldie Bill
1932 She Wanted a Millionaire William Kelley
Sky Devils Wilkie
Disorderly Conduct Dick Fay
Young America Jack Doray
Society Girl Briscoe
The Painted Woman Tom Brian
Me and My Gal Danny Dolan
20,000 Years in Sing Sing Tommy Connors
1933 Face in the Sky Joe Buck
Shanghai Madness Pat Jackson
The Power and the Glory Tom Garner
Man's Castle Bill
The Mad Game Edward Carson
1934 The Show-Off J. Aubrey Piper
Looking for Trouble Joe Graham
Bottoms Up 'Smoothie' King
Now I'll Tell Murray Golden
Marie Galante Dr. Crawbett
1935 It's a Small World Bill Shevlin
The Murder Man Steven 'Steve' Grey first credited screen role of James Stewart
Dante's Inferno Jim Carter
Whipsaw Ross 'Mac' McBride
1936 Riffraff Dutch with Mickey Rooney
Fury Joe Wilson
San Francisco Father Mullin with Clark Gable
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Libeled Lady Haggerty
1937 They Gave Him a Gun Fred P. Willis
Captains Courageous Manuel Fidello with Mickey Rooney
Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Big City Joe Benton
Mannequin John L. Hennessey
1938 Test Pilot Gunner Morris with Clark Gable
Boys Town Father Flanagan with Mickey Rooney
Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Another Romance of Celluloid himself behind-the-scenes short film, includes filming of Test Pilot, and shows Tracy accepting his Academy Award for Boys Town
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 9 himself short subject showing Tracy accepting his Academy Award for Boys Town
Hollywood Goes to Town himself short subject, showing notable Hollywood performers preparing for the world premiere of Marie Antoinette
1939 Stanley and Livingstone Henry M. Stanley
For Auld Lang Syne himself fundraising short film in which several actors, including Tracy, appeal for funds for the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital
Hollywood Hobbies himself behind-the-scenes short film
1940 I Take This Woman Dr. Karl Decker
Young Tom Edison uncredited role with Mickey Rooney
Tracy appears as a man admiring a portrait of Edison; he plays the older Edison in Edison, the Man in the same year
Northwest Passage Major Rogers
Edison, the Man Thomas Edison
Boom Town Jonathan Sand with Clark Gable
Northward, Ho! himself behind-the-scenes short film about the filming of Northwest Passage
1941 Men of Boys Town Father Flanagan with Mickey Rooney
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Hyde
1942 Woman of the Year Sam Craig first film with Katharine Hepburn
Tortilla Flat Pilon
Keeper of the Flame Steven 'Stevie' O'Malley with Katharine Hepburn
Ring of Steel Narrator Military documentary
1943 His New World Narrator documentary
A Guy Named Joe Pete Sandidge
His New World Narrator War documentary
1944 The Seventh Cross George Heisler
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle
1945 Without Love Pat Jamieson with Katharine Hepburn
1947 The Sea of Grass Col. James B. 'Jim' Brewton with Katharine Hepburn
Cass Timberlane Cass Timberlane
1948 State of the Union Grant Matthews with Katharine Hepburn
1949 Edward, My Son Arnold Boult
Adam's Rib Adam Bonner with Katharine Hepburn
Malaya Canaghan
Some of the Best himself retrospective of MGM's history
1950 Father of the Bride Stanley Banks Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
1951 Father's Little Dividend Stanley Banks
The People Against O'Hara James P. Curtayne
For Defense for Freedom for Humanity himself short film in which Tracy urges support for Red Cross fundraising
1952 Pat and Mike Mike Conovan with Katharine Hepburn
Plymouth Adventure Captain Christopher Jones with Gene Tierney
1953 The Actress Clinton Jones Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1954 Broken Lance Matt Devereaux
1955 Bad Day at Black Rock John J. Macreedy Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival) Prix d'interprétation masculine
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1956 The Mountain Zachary Teller Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
1957 Desk Set Richard Sumner with Katharine Hepburn
1958 The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man/Narrator NBR Award for Best Actor (award was also for The Last Hurrah)
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
The Last Hurrah Mayor Frank Skeffington NBR Award for Best Actor (award was also for The Old Man and the Sea)
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
1960 Inherit the Wind Henry Drummond Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1961 The Devil at 4 O'Clock Father Matthew Doonan
Judgment at Nuremberg Chief Judge Dan Haywood Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Performer
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
1962 How the West Was Won Narrator
1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Captain C. G. Culpepper with Mickey Rooney
1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Matt Drayton with Katharine Hepburn
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (posthumous)
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor (posthumous)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (posthumous)
Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (posthumous)
See also

    * 1930 in film
    * 1967 in film
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/captainjack83/spencer001.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/longst.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/10/10 at 6:55 am


The person who was born on this day ...Gina Gershon
Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American  film and television actress, known for her roles in the films Cocktail (1988), Showgirls  (1995), Bound (1996), and Face/Off  (1997). Gershon was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Mickey, an interior decorator, and Stan Gershon, who worked in the import/export business and sales.  Gershon is Jewish,  and has a brother, Dan, and a sister, Tracy. She attended Beverly Hills High School with Lenny Kravitz.  After high school, Gershon moved to Boston, where she attended Emerson College.

A 2008 Vanity Fair article linked her romantically with former President Bill Clinton. Speaking on the U.S. television show Live with Regis and Kelly on June 9, she said, "It is such a crazy, outrageous lie… I met him three times at events. It disturbed me on so many levels."
Career

Gershon moved to New York City from Boston to attend New York University, where she studied drama and child psychology. She also attended the Circle in the Square Professional Theater School in New York, working with David Mamet and Harold Guskin. She is one of the founding members of the New York-based theater group Naked Angels.

She has appeared on Broadway three times, as Sally Bowles in the revival of Cabaret, in the revival of the sex farce Boeing-Boeing, and is currently playing Rosie Alvarez in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Her first acting venues were stage appearances in Camille and The Substance of Fire. She had a cameo role in The Cars 1984 video Hello Again along side Andy Warhol. Her break came with a bit part in 1986's Pretty in Pink, and then a bigger part in Cocktail, with Tom Cruise. Gershon also worked in TV, with a recurring role on Melrose Place. She won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Nancy Sinatra in the made-for-TV biopic Sinatra. In 1996, she played Corky, an ex-con who gets mixed up in a lesbian affair with Jennifer Tilly, in the mobster flick Bound. The following year, she costarred with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in Face/Off.

Gershon is regarded as a gay icon because of her roles in movies such as Bound (in which she played a butch lesbian), Prey for Rock & Roll, and Showgirls (which is regarded as a camp classic). She was ranked #23 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2004.

Gershon played Jew's harp on "I Can't Decide", a song on the Scissor Sisters 2006 release Ta-Dah. She also played Jew's harp on the song "I Do It For Your Love", Paul Simon's collaboration with Herbie Hancock on his album Possibilities. On television, she has recurring roles on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (as a Hasidic dry cleaner), Rescue Me, and the U.S. dramedy series Ugly Betty (as Italian cosmetics mogul Fabia, the rival of Wilhelmina Slater). She also has served as the voiceover for Major League Baseball's "I Live For This" promotional campaign.

Gershon also appears in Lenny Kravitz's music video entitled "Again". She and her brother Dan are the authors of the children's book Camp Creepy Time. On September 10, 2008, Gershon appeared in a video on funnyordie.com, parodying former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, titled "Gina Gershon Strips Down Sarah Palin" which she followed with "Gina Gershon Does Sarah Palin 2".
Filmography
Movies

    * Pretty in Pink (1986)—gym student/friend at prom
    * Sweet Revenge (1987)—K.C.
    * Red Heat (1988)—Cat Manzetti
    * Cocktail (1988)—Coral
    * Out for Justice (1991)—Patti Madano
    * The Player (1992)—Whitney Gersh
    * Flinch (1994)—Daphne James
    * Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995)—Margo Preston
    * Showgirls (1995)—Cristal Connors
    * Bound (1996)—Corky
    * Face/Off (1997)—Sasha Hassler
    * This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)—Carol Lakewood Morton
    * Palmetto (1998)—Nina
    * Prague Duet (1998)— Dr. Lauren Graham
    * One Tough Cop (1998)—Joey O'Hara
    * Black & White (1998)—Nora "Hugs" Hugosian
    * Lulu on the Bridge (1998)—Hannah
    * Guinevere (1999)—Billie
    * The Insider (1999)—Helen Caperelli
    * Slackers (2002)-Uncredited
    * Driven (2001)—Cathy Heguy
    * Picture Claire (2001)—Lily Warden
    * Borderline (2002)—Lila Coletti
    * Demonlover (2002)—Elaine Si Gibril
    * Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)—Jacki
    * Three Way (2004)—Florence
    * Out of Season (2004)—Eileen Phillips
    * Category 7: The End of the World (2005)—Judith Carr
    * Dreamland (2006)—Mary
    * One Last Thing... (2006)—Arlene
    * Kettle of Fish (2006)—Ginger
    * What Love Is (2006)—Rachel
    * Delirious (2007)—Dana
    * P.S. I Love You (2007)—Sharon
    * Beer for My Horses (2008)—Cammie
    * Just Business (2008)—Marty
    * Love Ranch (2009)

Television

    * The New Twilight Zone (1987)—Laura/Prince (Season 2, Episode 18 "Time and Teresa Golowitz")
    * The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1989)—Randy
    * Sinatra (1992)—Nancy Barbato Sinatra
    * Melrose Place (1993)—Ellen
    * Legalese (1998)-Angela
    * Snoops (1999)—Glenn Hall
    * The Job (2001?)—Herself
    * Just Shoot Me! (2002–03)—Rhonda Ferrara (two episodes)
    * Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003)—Shikata (voice)
    * Tripping the Rift (2004)—Six (voice, replaced by Carmen Electra in Season 2)
    * Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004 & 2007)—Anna
    * The Batman (2004–08)—Catwoman (voice)
    * Ugly Betty (2006–2007)—Fabia (Season 1, Episode 1, 14, 23)
    * Psych (2007)—Emilina Saffron (episode "American Duos")
    * Rescue Me (2007)—Valerie (episodes "Solo", "Animal", "High", "Cycle", "Keefe", and "Yaz")
    * Numb3rs
    * Eastbound & Down (2009)—(Season 1, Episode 5 "Chapter 5")
    * Everything She Ever Wanted (2009)- Lifetime Movie Network miniseries

Broadway

    * Cabaret (1998 revival)—Sally Bowles
    * Boeing Boeing (2008 revival)—Gabriella
    * Bye Bye Birdie (2009 revival)—Rose Alvarez
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/luckyleo23/gina_gershon.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww226/pimpmuscle23/Gina-Gershon.jpg


I like her,she's pretty hot.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/10/10 at 6:57 am


The word of the day...Cocktail
Cocktail may also refer to:

    * Fruit cocktail, a mixture of various fruits, often canned
    * The cocktail fruit, a cross between a Thai pomelo and a Frua mandarin orange
    * Cocktail dress, a shorter length lady's gown
    * Molotov cocktail, a crude incendiary weapon
    * Antiretroviral drug or triple cocktail, a mixture of medicine used to treat HIV
    * A style of arcade cabinet where the screen lies horizontal and players generally sit opposite each other to play
    * In scuba diving with a rebreather, slang for caustic liquid getting in circuit if water gets at its absorbent
    * Cocktail (code name) is the code name of Apple's iTunes LP music format
    * Cocktail (magazine), a Swedish and Norwegian erotic magazine
http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/619Suzanne/Food%20and%20Drink/shrimp_cocktail.gif
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w272/plndg/BBQ/Cocktails.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac22/alexa071_photo/DSC01362.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab282/SaphiraLola/Sonstige/runde_2_cocktail-bereitung.jpg
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz281/MKTGSFBA/COCKTAIL%20CONCIERGE/IMG_1657.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad92/TcxMyViQuan/Fruit%20Cocktail/FR01.jpg
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp330/lourean_loves_sajed/fruitcocktail.jpg



http://gentlebear.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/cocktail.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/10/10 at 11:15 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/10/10 at 11:16 am


http://gentlebear.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/cocktail.jpg

I haven't seen that movie in a while.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/10/10 at 11:19 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q



Cat

HaHa, very strange guy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/10/10 at 12:19 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q



Cat
Great track!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/10/10 at 6:55 pm


I haven't seen that movie in a while.


Me neither.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/10/10 at 7:29 pm

Is it just me...or did Spencer Tracy always look old?  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/11/10 at 12:09 am


Is it just me...or did Spencer Tracy always look old?  :o

I know what you mean. Some people are like that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/10 at 5:31 am


Is it just me...or did Spencer Tracy always look old?  :o


I know what you mean. Some people are like that.

So true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/10 at 5:41 am

The word of the day...House
# a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families; "he has a house on Cape Cod"; "she felt she had to get out of the house"
# firm: the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a brokerage house"
# the members of a religious community living together
# the audience gathered together in a theatre or cinema; "the house applauded"; "he counted the house"
# an official assembly having legislative powers; "a bicameral legislature has two houses"
# aristocratic family line; "the House of York"
# play in which children take the roles of father or mother or children and pretend to interact like adults; "the children were playing house"
# sign of the zodiac: (astrology) one of 12 equal areas into which the zodiac is divided
# the management of a gambling house or casino; "the house gets a percentage of every bet"
# family: a social unit living together; "he moved his family to Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher asked how many people made up his home"
# contain or cover; "This box houses the gears"
# theater: a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented; "the house was full"
# provide housing for; "The immigrants were housed in a new development outside the town"
# a building in which something is sheltered or located; "they had a large carriage house"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# A house is generally a home, shelter, building or structure that is a dwelling or place for habitation by human beings. The term includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures.Schoenauer, Norbert (2000). ...
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv289/attila419/Drawings/House.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/griffgirl/house.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u92/psychoffspring/HOUSE.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/bahhurs/DSC00738.jpg
http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/michelley91/Other/351048-tv_show_house.jpg
http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/af254/abada_2009/World%20Most%20Oddities%20and%20wonders/cards.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad300/photos2share4u/HOUSEBOAT%20FORSALE%20OR%20FOR-TRADE%20LAKE-LANIER%2030501/24782_111259238904176_1000006030097.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p320/bruhthahlue8/Coffee.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/10 at 5:44 am

The person born on this day...Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (IPA: ; born 11 June 1959), best known as Hugh Laurie, is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, and musician. He first reached fame as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder  and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has starred as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist  of House, for which he has received two Golden Globe awards and several Emmy nominations.
aurie was born in Oxford, England.  The youngest of four children, Laurie has a brother (six years older) and two sisters.  He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw).  His father, W.G.R.M. "Ran" Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic  gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Laurie was raised in the Scottish Presbyterian church, though he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Third-Class Honours degree in archaeology and anthropology and was a member of the prestigious Hawks' Club.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in). Laurie is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.
Career
Hugh Laurie in 2009

The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends.

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Regency-period costume as Prince George from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurie’s later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton’s adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl From Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, a spoof of the thriller genre, was published and became a best seller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series Fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic attending physician Dr. Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent. Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs.

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie has also been awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. His House contract was extended for an additional year, allowing for at least a fifth season to be produced. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an award with Dame Helen Mirren on stage.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", on the piano with vocal accompaniment. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday.

In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens.
Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire aged 73 in 1989; Laurie was 30 at the time. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in North London with sons Charles "Charlie" Archibald (born November 1988, Camden), William "Bill" Albert (born January 1991, Camden) and daughter Rebecca Augusta (born September 1993, Westminster, London). Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry and Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson.

Laurie stated on BBC Radio 2 in an interview with Steve Wright in January 2006 that he was living in an apartment in West Hollywood while in the United States working on House. Laurie plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally he played piano as a special guest on Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear on the song If I Can't Have You.

Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt, in fact, bored). "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his home in California and one at his home in England. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the flag".
Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role in House:

Emmy Awards

    * 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

    * 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

Teen Choice Award

    * 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
    * 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

    * 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2010 - Winner - Favorite Male Drama Actor

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1981 The Cellar Tapes various characters Writer
1983 Alfresco various characters Writer
The Crystal Cube Max Belhaven/various characters
1984 The Young Ones Lord Monty Episode, "Bambi"
1985 Plenty Michael
Mrs. Capper's Birthday Bobby
Happy Families Jim
1986 Blackadder II Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters), Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap N'Bend
Blackadder the Third George, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol Prince George and Lord Pigmot (future)
1989–1995 A Bit of Fry and Laurie various characters Also writer
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh
Strapless Colin
The New Statesman Waiter
1990–1993 Jeeves and Wooster Bertie Wooster
1992 Peter's Friends Roger Charleston
1993 All or Nothing at All Leo Hopkins TV
1993–1995 The Legends of Treasure Island Squire Trelawney Voice
1995 Sense and Sensibility Mr. Palmer
1996 Tracey Takes On... Timothy Bugge Season 1
101 Dalmatians Jasper
1997 Spiceworld Poirot
The Borrowers Police Officer Steady
The Ugly Duckling Tarquin Voice
1998 Friends Gentleman on the Plane "The One with Ross's Wedding"
The Bill Harrap
The Man in the Iron Mask Pierre, The King's Advisor
Cousin Bette Baron Hector Hulot
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius
Stuart Little Mr. Fredrick Little
2000 Maybe Baby Sam Bell
2001 Chica de Río Raymond Woods aka Girl from Rio
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Vincente Minnelli
Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter Narrator Voice
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mr. Frederick Little
Spooks Jools Siviter
2003 The Young Visiters Lord Bernard Clark
Fortysomething Paul Slippery
Stuart Little: The Animated Series' Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2004–present House Dr. Gregory House
2004 Fire Engine Fred
Flight of the Phoenix Ian
2005 Valiant Wing Commander Gutsy Voice
The Big Empty Doctor #5
Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mr. Frederick Little Voice
2006 Saturday Night Live Host, various characters Season 32, Episode 4
2008 Saturday Night Live Host, various characters Season 34, Episode 11
Street Kings Captain Biggs
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. Voice
Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

    * The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
          o (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (Nov 2000); New Ed (Oct 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
    * The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (Mar 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
          o (PB) (Washington Square Press (Nov 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X

    * Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
    * The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
          o (PB) (Penguin Books (28 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Octoberkiss10/Hugh_Laurie.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee83/laurenisart/hugh-laurie-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/10 at 5:50 am

The person who died on this day...Ray Sharkey
Raymond "Ray" Sharkey, Jr. (November 14, 1952 – June 11, 1993) was an American actor best known for his role as Sonny Steelgrave in the television series Wiseguy. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Sharkey's father, Ray Sr., a professional drummer, abandoned the family when Sharkey was just five years old. He was raised by his mother, Cecelia, with assistance from her parents in Brooklyn's rough Red Hook neighborhood. After seeing the Broadway production of Hair at 17, Sharkey decided to become an actor and started studying acting at the H.B. Studio in New York City. In 1974, he made his film debut in The Lords of Flatbush. Sharkey would go on to appear in more than forty motion pictures and dozens of guest appearances on various television series.

In 1981, he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in The Idolmaker. The following year, he was nominated for another Golden Globe for his role in The Ordeal of Bill Carney. In 1987, Sharkey landed the role of Sonny Steelgrave in the series Wiseguy.
Personal life

In 1981, Sharkey had a brief relationship with Italian actress Ornella Muti while filming the 1982 drama, Love and Money. The same year, he married actress Rebecca Wood. The union would end in 1986, reportedly due to Sharkey's drug abuse. In 1988, he married actress Carole Graham. That marriage would produce one daughter, Cecelia Bonnie Sharkey, in 1989. Again, the union ended in divorce in 1992. In 1991, Sharkey began a seven month relationship with model and actress, Elena Monica.
Later years

Sharkey struggled with an addiction to cocaine and heroin throughout his career. He was involved in four drug-related car wrecks, two requiring microsurgery on his eyes. On July 30, 1992, while filming a guest spot on the tv series, The Hat Squad, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he was arrested for drug possession. Canadian customs officials, making a routine inspection of incoming cargo at the airport, discovered small amounts of cocaine and heroin in a black envelope being sent from Los Angeles, California to Sharkey. Police searched his hotel room and found an additional supply of drugs. He was jailed and later released on bail. He was promptly fired from The Hat Squad and replaced by actor Kim Coates.

Sharkey reportedly contracted the AIDS virus through his indiscriminate drug use and was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1987. Despite his diagnosis, Ray remained in denial about his HIV positive status. Sharkey convinced himself he harbored a strain of HIV that would never endanger himself or anyone else. He told no one of his condition, and reportedly did not disclose the fact that he was HIV positive to women he was in intimate relationships with.
Death

In 1992, former girlfriend, Elena Monica, sued Sharkey for $52,000,000 for knowingly infecting her with the AIDS virus. Sharkey, still denying he had the virus despite rapidly deteriorating health, declined to challenge the suit. By default judgment, Monica won the suit, but received no money from Sharkey's estate because the actor had very little money.

On June 11, 1993, Sharkey died of AIDS at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. He is interred in Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1974 The Lords of Flatbush Student
1976 Trackdown Flash
Hot Tomorrows Louis
1977 Stunts Paul Salerno Alternative title: Who Is Killing the Stuntmen?
1978 Who'll Stop the Rain Smitty Alternative title: Dog Soldiers
Paradise Alley Legs
1980 Heat Beat Ira
Willie & Phil Phil D'Amico
The Idolmaker Vincent "Vinnie" Vacarri
Heart Beat Ira (based on Alan Ginsberg)
1982 Regina Roma Alternative title: Regina
Love and Money Byron Levin
Some Kind of Hero Sgt. Vinnie DiAngelo
1984 Du-beat-e-o duBEAT-e-o Alternative title: We're All Crazy Now
Body Rock Terrence
1985 Hellhole Silk Alternative title: Hell Hole
1986 Wise Guys Marco
No Mercy Angles Ryan
1987 P.I. Private Investigations Ryan
1989 Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills Frank
Wired Angel Velasquez
1990 27 Wagons Full of Cotton Silva Direct-to-video release
The Rain Killer Capra
Act of Piracy Jack Wilcox
1992 Zebrahead Richard Alternative title: The Colour of Love
Dead On: Relentless II Kyle Valsone
Round Trip to Heaven Stoneface
Caged Fear Warden Hayes
1993 Cop and a 1/2 Vinnie Fountain
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1975 All in the Family Man at clinic 1 episode
Barney Miller Hold-Up Man
David Salas 2 episodes
The Jeffersons Robert Phelps 1 episode
1977 The Streets of San Francisco Benny Lester 1 episode
1981 The Ordeal of Bill Carney Bill Carney Television movie
1983 Rage Television movie
1985 Miami Vice Bobby Profile 1 episode
The Equalizer Geoffery Dryden 1 episode
Behind Enemy Lines Sgt. Max Zierman Television movie
1986 Faerie Tale Theatre Grand Vizier 1 episode
Crime Story U.S. Atty. Harry Breitel Television movie
1986-1987 Crime Story U.S. Atty. Harry Breitel 5 episodes
1987-1989 Wiseguy Sonny Steelgrave 10 episodes
1989 The Neon Empire Junior Molov Television movie
The Revenge of Al Capone Scarface Television movie
The Hitchhiker 1 episode
1990 The Take Dennis Television movie
Good Cops, Bad Cops Capt. Gerry Clemente Television movie
1991 The Man in the Family Sal Bavasso Unknown episodes
Riders in the Sky Spongehead 1 episode
1992 Chrome Soldiers Gabe Ricci Television movie
Jake and the Fatman Michael "Mickey" Daytona Da Silva 1 episode
In the Line of Duty: Street War Det. Victor Tomasino Television movie
The Ray Bradbury Theater The Father 1 episode
Awards and nominations
Year Award Result Category Film or series
1981 Golden Globe Award Won Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy The Idolmaker
1982 Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV The Ordeal of Bill Carney
1988 Viewers for Quality Television Awards Won Founder's Award Wiseguy
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd164/mlotek13/idolmaker.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/American%20Films/WillieandPhillobbycard.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/11/10 at 7:45 am


The person born on this day...Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (IPA: ; born 11 June 1959), best known as Hugh Laurie, is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, and musician. He first reached fame as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder  and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has starred as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist  of House, for which he has received two Golden Globe awards and several Emmy nominations.
aurie was born in Oxford, England.  The youngest of four children, Laurie has a brother (six years older) and two sisters.  He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw).  His father, W.G.R.M. "Ran" Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic  gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Laurie was raised in the Scottish Presbyterian church, though he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Third-Class Honours degree in archaeology and anthropology and was a member of the prestigious Hawks' Club.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in). Laurie is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.
Career
Hugh Laurie in 2009

The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends.

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Regency-period costume as Prince George from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurie’s later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton’s adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl From Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, a spoof of the thriller genre, was published and became a best seller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series Fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic attending physician Dr. Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent. Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs.

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie has also been awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. His House contract was extended for an additional year, allowing for at least a fifth season to be produced. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an award with Dame Helen Mirren on stage.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", on the piano with vocal accompaniment. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday.

In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens.
Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire aged 73 in 1989; Laurie was 30 at the time. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in North London with sons Charles "Charlie" Archibald (born November 1988, Camden), William "Bill" Albert (born January 1991, Camden) and daughter Rebecca Augusta (born September 1993, Westminster, London). Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry and Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson.

Laurie stated on BBC Radio 2 in an interview with Steve Wright in January 2006 that he was living in an apartment in West Hollywood while in the United States working on House. Laurie plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally he played piano as a special guest on Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear on the song If I Can't Have You.

Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt, in fact, bored). "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his home in California and one at his home in England. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the flag".
Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role in House:

Emmy Awards

    * 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

    * 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

Teen Choice Award

    * 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
    * 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

    * 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2010 - Winner - Favorite Male Drama Actor

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1981 The Cellar Tapes various characters Writer
1983 Alfresco various characters Writer
The Crystal Cube Max Belhaven/various characters
1984 The Young Ones Lord Monty Episode, "Bambi"
1985 Plenty Michael
Mrs. Capper's Birthday Bobby
Happy Families Jim
1986 Blackadder II Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters), Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap N'Bend
Blackadder the Third George, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol Prince George and Lord Pigmot (future)
1989–1995 A Bit of Fry and Laurie various characters Also writer
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh
Strapless Colin
The New Statesman Waiter
1990–1993 Jeeves and Wooster Bertie Wooster
1992 Peter's Friends Roger Charleston
1993 All or Nothing at All Leo Hopkins TV
1993–1995 The Legends of Treasure Island Squire Trelawney Voice
1995 Sense and Sensibility Mr. Palmer
1996 Tracey Takes On... Timothy Bugge Season 1
101 Dalmatians Jasper
1997 Spiceworld Poirot
The Borrowers Police Officer Steady
The Ugly Duckling Tarquin Voice
1998 Friends Gentleman on the Plane "The One with Ross's Wedding"
The Bill Harrap
The Man in the Iron Mask Pierre, The King's Advisor
Cousin Bette Baron Hector Hulot
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius
Stuart Little Mr. Fredrick Little
2000 Maybe Baby Sam Bell
2001 Chica de Río Raymond Woods aka Girl from Rio
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Vincente Minnelli
Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter Narrator Voice
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mr. Frederick Little
Spooks Jools Siviter
2003 The Young Visiters Lord Bernard Clark
Fortysomething Paul Slippery
Stuart Little: The Animated Series' Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2004–present House Dr. Gregory House
2004 Fire Engine Fred
Flight of the Phoenix Ian
2005 Valiant Wing Commander Gutsy Voice
The Big Empty Doctor #5
Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mr. Frederick Little Voice
2006 Saturday Night Live Host, various characters Season 32, Episode 4
2008 Saturday Night Live Host, various characters Season 34, Episode 11
Street Kings Captain Biggs
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. Voice
Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

    * The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
          o (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (Nov 2000); New Ed (Oct 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
    * The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (Mar 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
          o (PB) (Washington Square Press (Nov 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X

    * Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
    * The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
          o (PB) (Penguin Books (28 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Octoberkiss10/Hugh_Laurie.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee83/laurenisart/hugh-laurie-1.jpg


I always wondered why he gets his voice to sound normal.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/10 at 8:24 am


I always wondered why he gets his voice to sound normal.

? Do you mean not talk in an accent?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/11/10 at 11:11 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mst5ln5AAqI



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4RWBCEFRo




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/11/10 at 11:40 am

Out house, in the middle of out street, out house... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/11/10 at 2:11 pm


? Do you mean not talk in an accent?


Yeah,like Tracey Ullman years ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/10 at 2:34 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mst5ln5AAqI



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4RWBCEFRo




Cat

Both good songs :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/11/10 at 3:40 pm


Out house, in the middle of out street, out house... ;D



There's a bathroom on the right.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/12/10 at 12:12 am


The person born on this day...Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (IPA: ; born 11 June 1959), best known as Hugh Laurie, is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, and musician. He first reached fame as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder  and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has starred as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist  of House, for which he has received two Golden Globe awards and several Emmy nominations.
aurie was born in Oxford, England.  The youngest of four children, Laurie has a brother (six years older) and two sisters.  He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw).  His father, W.G.R.M. "Ran" Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic  gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Laurie was raised in the Scottish Presbyterian church, though he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Third-Class Honours degree in archaeology and anthropology and was a member of the prestigious Hawks' Club.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in). Laurie is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.
Career
Hugh Laurie in 2009

The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends.

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Regency-period costume as Prince George from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurie’s later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton’s adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl From Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, a spoof of the thriller genre, was published and became a best seller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series Fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic attending physician Dr. Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent. Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs.

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie has also been awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. His House contract was extended for an additional year, allowing for at least a fifth season to be produced. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an award with Dame Helen Mirren on stage.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", on the piano with vocal accompaniment. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday.

In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens.
Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire aged 73 in 1989; Laurie was 30 at the time. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in North London with sons Charles "Charlie" Archibald (born November 1988, Camden), William "Bill" Albert (born January 1991, Camden) and daughter Rebecca Augusta (born September 1993, Westminster, London). Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry and Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson.

Laurie stated on BBC Radio 2 in an interview with Steve Wright in January 2006 that he was living in an apartment in West Hollywood while in the United States working on House. Laurie plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally he played piano as a special guest on Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear on the song If I Can't Have You.

Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt, in fact, bored). "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his home in California and one at his home in England. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the flag".
Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role in House:

Emmy Awards

    * 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

    * 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

Teen Choice Award

    * 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
    * 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

    * 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2010 - Winner - Favorite Male Drama Actor

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1981 The Cellar Tapes various characters Writer
1983 Alfresco various characters Writer
The Crystal Cube Max Belhaven/various characters
1984 The Young Ones Lord Monty Episode, "Bambi"
1985 Plenty Michael
Mrs. Capper's Birthday Bobby
Happy Families Jim
1986 Blackadder II Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters), Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap N'Bend
Blackadder the Third George, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol Prince George and Lord Pigmot (future)
1989–1995 A Bit of Fry and Laurie various characters Also writer
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh
Strapless Colin
The New Statesman Waiter
1990–1993 Jeeves and Wooster Bertie Wooster
1992 Peter's Friends Roger Charleston
1993 All or Nothing at All Leo Hopkins TV
1993–1995 The Legends of Treasure Island Squire Trelawney Voice
1995 Sense and Sensibility Mr. Palmer
1996 Tracey Takes On... Timothy Bugge Season 1
101 Dalmatians Jasper
1997 Spiceworld Poirot
The Borrowers Police Officer Steady
The Ugly Duckling Tarquin Voice
1998 Friends Gentleman on the Plane "The One with Ross's Wedding"
The Bill Harrap
The Man in the Iron Mask Pierre, The King's Advisor
Cousin Bette Baron Hector Hulot
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius
Stuart Little Mr. Fredrick Little
2000 Maybe Baby Sam Bell
2001 Chica de Río Raymond Woods aka Girl from Rio
Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Vincente Minnelli
Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter Narrator Voice
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mr. Frederick Little
Spooks Jools Siviter
2003 The Young Visiters Lord Bernard Clark
Fortysomething Paul Slippery
Stuart Little: The Animated Series' Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2004–present House Dr. Gregory House
2004 Fire Engine Fred
Flight of the Phoenix Ian
2005 Valiant Wing Commander Gutsy Voice
The Big Empty Doctor #5
Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mr. Frederick Little Voice
2006 Saturday Night Live Host, various characters Season 32, Episode 4
2008 Saturday Night Live Host, various characters Season 34, Episode 11
Street Kings Captain Biggs
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. Voice
Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

    * The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
          o (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (Nov 2000); New Ed (Oct 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
    * The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (Mar 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
          o (PB) (Washington Square Press (Nov 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X

    * Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
    * The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
          o (PB) (Penguin Books (28 Sep 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Octoberkiss10/Hugh_Laurie.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee83/laurenisart/hugh-laurie-1.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkpNkBFUKMM

Hugh Laurie at the piano singing Hey Jude for the series A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/12/10 at 1:15 am


I always wondered why he gets his voice to sound normal.



...he talks in another accent..that's all. Who is to say what is a 'normal' accent. If we are going by majority rules..then we should all sound distinctly Chinese or Indian.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/12/10 at 1:40 am



...he talks in another accent..that's all. Who is to say what is a 'normal' accent. If we are going by majority rules..then we should all sound distinctly Chinese or Indian.

I can do a decent Chinese accent.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/10 at 6:19 am

The word of the day...Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building (also called garret, loft or sky parlor).  As attics fill the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and the slanted roof, they are known for being awkwardly shaped spaces with exposed rafters and difficult-to-access corners. While some attics are converted into bedrooms  or home offices, complete with windows and staircases, most attics remain hard to get to and neglected, and are typically used for storage.

Attics can also help control temperature in a house by providing a large mass of unmoving air. Hot air rising from lower floors of a building often gets trapped in the attic, further compounding their reputation for inhospitability. However in recent years many attics have been insulated to help decrease heating costs since on average, uninsulated attics account for 15% of the total energy loss in a typical house.

In some places "attic" is used more specifically to apply to lofts which have boarded floors and ceilings, and usually windows or skylights, and then "loft" is kept to mean a dark, unboarded roof-space which lacks these features
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/ociopia/Pennsylvania%20in%20Westminster/toattic.jpg
http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/Bakergirl111/Attic.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq257/Sheldonjace/Screenshot-6.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/CindyRPT/Wilson%20Residence%20in%20Calvert%20City/060.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad209/jdent246/DSC01888.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee303/greg-janiceallen/Attic/IMG_2296.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/10 at 6:22 am

The person born on this day...Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (About this sound pronunciation  (help·info); 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main – early March 1945 in Bergen Belsen) is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.

Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the same year as the Nazis gained power in Germany. By the beginning of 1940 they were trapped in Amsterdam due to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they both died of typhus in March 1945.

Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since been translated into many languages. The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.
For her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-green plaid cloth and with a small lock on the front, Anne decided she would use it as a diary,  and began writing in it almost immediately. While many of her early entries relate the mundane aspects of her life, she also discusses some of the changes that had taken place in the Netherlands since the German occupation. In her entry dated 20 June 1942, she lists many of the restrictions that had been placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population, and also notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year.  Anne dreamed about becoming an actress. She loved watching movies, but the Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters from 8 January 1941 onwards.

In July 1942, Margot Frank received a call-up notice from the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Anne was told by her father that the family would go into hiding in rooms above and behind the company's premises on the Prinsengracht, a street along one of Amsterdam's canals, where some of Otto Frank's most trusted employees would help them. The call-up notice forced them to relocate several weeks earlier than had been anticipated.
Life in the Achterhuis
A three shelf timber bookcase, filled with books, stands at an angle in front of a doorway to the Secret Annexe
Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the Secret Annexe, in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

On the morning of Monday, 6 July 1942, the family moved into the hiding place. Their apartment was left in a state of disarray to create the impression that they had left suddenly, and Otto Frank left a note that hinted they were going to Switzerland. The need for secrecy forced them to leave behind Anne's cat, Moortje. As Jews were not allowed to use public transport, they walked several kilometers from their home, with each of them wearing several layers of clothing as they did not dare to be seen carrying luggage. The Achterhuis (a Dutch word denoting the rear part of a house, translated as the "Secret Annexe" in English editions of the diary) was a three-story space entered from a landing above the Opekta offices. Two small rooms, with an adjoining bathroom and toilet, were on the first level, and above that a larger open room, with a small room beside it. From this smaller room, a ladder led to the attic. The door to the Achterhuis was later covered by a bookcase to ensure it remained undiscovered. The main building, situated a block from the Westerkerk, was nondescript, old and typical of buildings in the western quarters of Amsterdam.

Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl were the only employees who knew of the people in hiding, and with Gies's husband Jan Gies and Voskuijl's father Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl, were their "helpers" for the duration of their confinement. These contacts provided the only connection between the outside world and the occupants of the house, and they kept the occupants informed of war news and political developments. They catered for all of their needs, ensured their safety and supplied them with food, a task that grew more difficult with the passage of time. Anne wrote of their dedication and of their efforts to boost morale within the household during the most dangerous of times. All were aware that if caught they could face the death penalty for sheltering Jews.
A photograph taken from the opposite side of the canal shows two four story buildings which housed the Opekta offices and behind them, the Secret Annexe
The house (left) at the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam

On 13 July 1942, the Franks were joined by the van Pels family: Hermann, Auguste, and 16-year-old Peter, and then in November by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist and friend of the family. Anne wrote of her pleasure at having new people to talk to, but tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions. After sharing her room with Pfeffer, she found him to be insufferable and resented his intrusion, and she clashed with Auguste van Pels, whom she regarded as foolish. She regarded Hermann van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer as selfish, particularly in regard to the amount of food they consumed. Some time later, after first dismissing the shy and awkward Peter van Pels, she recognised a kinship with him and the two entered a romance. She received her first kiss from him, but her infatuation with him began to wane as she questioned whether her feelings for him were genuine, or resulted from their shared confinement. Anne Frank formed a close bond with each of the helpers and Otto Frank later recalled that she had anticipated their daily visits with impatient enthusiasm. He observed that Anne's closest friendship was with Bep Voskuijl, "the young typist... the two of them often stood whispering in the corner."

In her writing, Anne Frank examined her relationships with the members of her family, and the strong differences in each of their personalities. She considered herself to be closest emotionally to her father, who later commented, "I got on better with Anne than with Margot, who was more attached to her mother. The reason for that may have been that Margot rarely showed her feelings and didn't need as much support because she didn't suffer from mood swings as much as Anne did." Anne and Margot formed a closer relationship than had existed before they went into hiding, although Anne sometimes expressed jealousy towards Margot, particularly when members of the household criticised Anne for lacking Margot's gentle and placid nature. As Anne began to mature, the sisters were able to confide in each other. In her entry of 12 January 1944, Anne wrote, "Margot's much nicer... She's not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn't count."
Taken from the top of the Westerkerk church, this image shows the Prinsengracht canal and the rooftops of the buildings in the neighborhood
The Secret Annexe with its light-coloured walls and orange roof (bottom) and the Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the house (bottom right), seen from the Westerkerk in 2004

Anne frequently wrote of her difficult relationship with her mother, and of her ambivalence towards her. On 7 November 1942 she described her "contempt" for her mother and her inability to "confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness," before concluding, "She's not a mother to me." Later, as she revised her diary, Anne felt ashamed of her harsh attitude, writing: "Anne is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?" She came to understand that their differences resulted from misunderstandings that were as much her fault as her mother's, and saw that she had added unnecessarily to her mother's suffering. With this realization, Anne began to treat her mother with a degree of tolerance and respect.

Margot and Anne each hoped to return to school as soon as they were able, and continued with their studies while in hiding. Margot took a shorthand course by correspondence in Bep Voskuijl's name and received high marks. Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition to providing a narrative of events as they occurred, she wrote about her feelings, beliefs and ambitions, subjects she felt she could not discuss with anyone. As her confidence in her writing grew, and as she began to mature, she wrote of more abstract subjects such as her belief in God, and how she defined human nature.

Anne aspired to become a journalist, writing in her diary on Wednesday, 5 April 1944:
“ I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...

And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ... I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?


—Anne Frank

She continued writing regularly until her final entry of August 1, 1944.
Arrest
Main article: Betrayal of Anne Frank
Taken from outside the reconstruction of a barracks, the photo shows a barbed-wire fence, and beyond it a grassy area with a small timber hut
A partial reconstruction of the barracks in the concentration camp Westerbork where Anne Frank stayed from August to September 1944

On the morning of 4 August 1944, the Achterhuis was stormed by the German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified. Led by Schutzstaffel Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst, the group included at least three members of the Security Police. The Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were taken to the Gestapo headquarters where they were interrogated and held overnight. On 5 August, they were transferred to the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention), an overcrowded prison on the Weteringschans. Two days later they were transported to Westerbork. Ostensibly a transit camp, by this time more than 100,000 Jews had passed through it. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor.

Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested and jailed at the penal camp for enemies of the regime at Amersfoort. Kleiman was released after seven weeks, but Kugler was held in various work camps until the war's end. Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were questioned and threatened by the Security Police but were not detained. They returned to the Achterhuis the following day, and found Anne's papers strewn on the floor. They collected them, as well as several family photograph albums, and Gies resolved to return them to Anne after the war. On 7 August 1944, Gies attempted to facilitate the release of the prisoners by confronting Silberbauer and offering him money to intervene, but he refused.
Deportation and death

On September 3, the group was deported on what would be the last transport from Westerbork to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and arrived after a three-day journey. In the chaos that marked the unloading of the trains, the men were forcibly separated from the women and children, and Otto Frank was wrenched from his family. Of the 1,019 passengers, 549—including all children younger than fifteen—were sent directly to the gas chambers. Anne had turned fifteen three months earlier and was one of the youngest people to be spared from her transport. She was soon made aware that most people were gassed upon arrival, and never learned that the entire group from the Achterhuis had survived this selection. She reasoned that her father, in his mid-fifties and not particularly robust, had been killed immediately after they were separated.

With the other females not selected for immediate death, Anne was forced to strip naked to be disinfected, had her head shaved and was tattooed with an identifying number on her arm. By day, the women were used as slave labor and Anne was forced to haul rocks and dig rolls of sod; by night, they were crammed into overcrowded barracks. Witnesses later testified Anne became withdrawn and tearful when she saw children being led to the gas chambers, though other witnesses reported more often she displayed strength and courage, and her gregarious and confident nature allowed her to obtain extra bread rations for Edith, Margot and herself. Disease was rampant and before long, Anne's skin became badly infected by scabies. She and Margot were moved into an infirmary, which was in a state of constant darkness, and infested with rats and mice. Edith Frank stopped eating, saving every morsel of food for her daughters and passing her rations to them, through a hole she made at the bottom of the infirmary wall.
A Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank shows a Star of David and the full names and birthdates and year of death of each of the sisters, in white lettering on a large black stone. The stone sits alone in a grassy field, and the ground beneath the stone is covered with floral tributes and photographs of Anne Frank
Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank at the former Bergen-Belsen site, along with floral and pictorial tributes

On 28 October, selections began for women to be relocated to Bergen-Belsen. More than 8,000 women, including Anne and Margot Frank and Auguste van Pels, were transported, but Edith Frank was left behind and later died from starvation. Tents were erected at Bergen-Belsen to accommodate the influx of prisoners, and as the population rose, the death toll due to disease increased rapidly. Anne was briefly reunited with two friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz, who were confined in another section of the camp. Goslar and Blitz both survived the war and later discussed the brief conversations they had conducted with Anne through a fence. Blitz described her as bald, emaciated and shivering and Goslar noted Auguste van Pels was with Anne and Margot Frank, and was caring for Margot, who was severely ill. Neither of them saw Margot as she was too weak to leave her bunk. Anne told both Blitz and Goslar she believed her parents were dead, and for that reason did not wish to live any longer. Goslar later estimated their meetings had taken place in late January or early February, 1945.

In March 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the camp and killed approximately 17,000 prisoners. Witnesses later testified Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock, and a few days later Anne died. They state this occurred a few weeks before the camp was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945, although the exact dates were not recorded. After liberation, the camp was burned in an effort to prevent further spread of disease, and Anne and Margot were buried in a mass grave, the exact whereabouts of which is unknown.

After the war, it was estimated of the 107,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands between 1942 and 1944, only 5,000 survived. It was also estimated up to 30,000 Jews remained in the Netherlands, with many people aided by the Dutch underground. Approximately two-thirds of this group of people survived the war.

Otto Frank survived his internment in Auschwitz. After the war ended, he returned to Amsterdam where he was sheltered by Jan and Miep Gies, as he attempted to locate his family. He learned of the death of his wife, Edith, in Auschwitz, but he remained hopeful that his daughters had survived. After several weeks, he discovered Margot and Anne had also died. He attempted to determine the fates of his daughters' friends, and learned many had been murdered. Susanne Ledermann, often mentioned in Anne's diary, had been gassed along with her parents, though her sister, Barbara, a close friend of Margot, had survived. Several of the Frank sisters' school friends had survived, as had the extended families of both Otto and Edith Frank, as they had fled Germany during the mid 1930s, with individual family members settling in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
On 3 May 1957, a group of citizens, including Otto Frank, established the Anne Frank Stichting in an effort to rescue the Prinsengracht building from demolition and to make it accessible to the public. The Anne Frank House opened on 3 May 1960. It consists of the Opekta warehouse and offices and the Achterhuis, all unfurnished so that visitors can walk freely through the rooms. Some personal relics of the former occupants remain, such as movie star photographs glued by Anne to a wall, a section of wallpaper on which Otto Frank marked the height of his growing daughters, and a map on the wall where he recorded the advance of the Allied Forces, all now protected behind Perspex sheets. From the small room which was once home to Peter van Pels, a walkway connects the building to its neighbours, also purchased by the Foundation. These other buildings are used to house the diary, as well as changing exhibits that chronicle different aspects of the Holocaust and more contemporary examinations of racial intolerance in various parts of the world. It has become one of Amsterdam's main tourist attractions, and in 2005 received a record 965,000 visitors. The House provides information via the internet, as well as travelling exhibitions, for those not able to visit. In 2005, exhibitions travelled to 32 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America.
A bronze statue of a smiling Anne Frank, wearing a short dress and standing with her arms behind her back, sits upon a stone plinth with a plaque reading "Anne Frank 1929–1945". The statue is in a small square, and behind it is a brick building with two large window, and a bicycle. The statue stands between the two windows.
Statue of Anne Frank, by Mari Andriessen, outside the Westerkerk in Amsterdam

In 1963, Otto Frank and his second wife, Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits, set up the Anne Frank Fonds as a charitable foundation, based in Basel, Switzerland. The Fonds raises money to donate to causes "as it sees fit". Upon his death, Otto willed the diary's copyright to the Fonds, on the provision that the first 80,000 Swiss francs in income each year was to be distributed to his heirs, and any income above this figure was to be retained by the Fonds to use for whatever projects its administrators considered worthy. It provides funding for the medical treatment of the Righteous among the Nations on a yearly basis. It has aimed to educate young people against racism and has loaned some of Anne Frank's papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. for an exhibition in 2003. Its annual report of the same year gave some indication of its effort to contribute on a global level, with its support of projects in Germany, Israel, India, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Merwedeplein apartment, in which the Frank family lived from 1933 until 1942, remained privately owned until the early 2000s, when a television documentary focused public attention upon it. In a serious state of disrepair, it was purchased by a Dutch housing corporation, and aided by photographs taken by the Frank family and descriptions of the apartment and furnishings in letters written by Anne Frank, was restored to its 1930s appearance. Teresien da Silva of the Anne Frank House, and Anne Frank's cousin Bernhard "Buddy" Elias also contributed to the restoration project. It opened in 2005 with the aim of providing a safe haven for a selected writer who is unable to write freely in his or her own country. Each selected writer is allowed one year's tenancy during which to reside and work in the apartment. The first writer selected was the Algerian novelist and poet, El-Mahdi Acherchour.
The Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the Anne Frank House

In June 2007, "Buddy" Elias donated some 25,000 family documents to the Anne Frank House. Among the artifacts are Frank family photographs taken in Germany and Holland and the letter Otto Frank sent his mother in 1945 informing her that his wife and daughters had perished in Nazi concentration camps.

In November 2007, the Anne Frank tree was scheduled to be cut down to prevent it from falling down on one of the surrounding buildings, after a fungal disease had affected the trunk of this horse-chestnut tree. Dutch economist Arnold Heertje, who was also in hiding during the Second World War, said about the tree: "This is not just any tree. The Anne Frank tree is bound up with the persecution of the Jews." The Tree Foundation, a group of tree conservationists, started a civil case in order to stop the felling of the horse chestnut, which received international media attention. A Dutch court ordered the city officials and conservationists to explore alternatives and come to a solution. The parties agreed to build a steel construction that would prolong the life of the tree up to 15 years.

Over the years, several films about Anne Frank appeared and her life and writings have inspired a diverse group of artists and social commentators to make reference to her in literature, popular music, television, and other forms of media. These include The Anne Frank Ballet by Adam Darius, first performed in 1959, and the choral work Annelies, first performed in 2005. The only known footage of the real Anne Frank comes from a 1941 silent film recorded for her newlywed next-door neighbor. She is seen leaning out of a second-floor window in an attempt to see the bride and groom better. The couple survived the war and gave the video to the Anne Frank House, a museum in Amsterdam.

In 1999, Time named Anne Frank among the heroes and icons of the 20th century on their list The Most Important People of the Century, stating: "With a diary kept in a secret attic, she braved the Nazis and lent a searing voice to the fight for human dignity".
See also

    * People associated with Anne Frank
    * Henio Zytomirski
    * Hana Brady
    * Janet Langhart - Writer of one act play "Anne and Emmett"
    * Rutka Laskier
    * Searching for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam to Iowa (book)

    * Helga Deen - wrote a diary in Camp Vught
    * David Koker - wrote a diary in Camp Vught
    * Etty Hillesum - wrote a diary in Amsterdam and Camp Westerbork
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w235/EarthStar9109/anne-frankjpgw300h315.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh114/sarahgillsays/anne-frank.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/10 at 6:27 am

The person who died on this day...Milburn Stone
Milburn Stone (July 5, 1904 – June 12, 1980) was an American  television actor, a nephew of Broadway comedian Fred Stone and the son of a shopkeeper, best known for his role as "Doc" (Dr. Galen Adams) on the CBS western series Gunsmoke.

Stone was born in Burrton in Harvey County in central Kansas. He began his screen career in the 1930s, having been featured in Monogram Pictures' series of "Tailspin Tommy" adventures. In 1940, he appeared with Marjorie Reynolds, Tristram Coffin, and I. Stanford Jolley in the comedy espionage film Chasing Trouble. Stone was signed by Universal Pictures in 1943 and became a familiar face in its features and serials. One of his film roles was a radio columnist in the Gloria Jean-Kirby Grant musical I'll Remember April. He made such an impression in this film that Universal gave him a starring role (and a similar characterization) in the 1945 serial The Master Key.

One of CBS Radio's hit series, the western Gunsmoke, was adapted for television in 1955 and recast with experienced screen actors. Howard McNear, radio's "Doc Adams," was replaced by Milburn Stone, who gave the role a harder edge consistent with his screen portrayals. He stayed with Gunsmoke through its entire run and was often shown sparring in a friendly manner with costars Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis, who played Chester Goode and deputy Festus Haggen. His other co-stars were James Arness, Amanda Blake, Burt Reynolds, Glenn Strange, Buck Taylor and Roger Ewing.

A painting of the Doc Adams character was commissioned from Gary Hawk, a painter from Stone's home state of Kansas. When then-President Ronald Reagan, a friend of Milburn Stone, heard about the painting, Gary Hawk was invited to the Oval Office to present the artwork to the President. Stone lived to see Reagan emerge as the likely Republican nominee for President in 1980 but not to witness Reagan's election.

For his contribution to the television industry, Milburn Stone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. He died of a heart attack in La Jolla, California. In 1981, he was inducted posthumously into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

After his death he left a legacy for the Performing Arts in Cecil County, MD by way of the Milburn Stone Theater on the Cecil College campus in North East, MD.
http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz44/dillonmorgan/Gunsmoke/doc.jpg
http://i398.photobucket.com/albums/pp68/loba33/650612scan00052.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/12/10 at 7:10 am


The person born on this day...Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (About this sound pronunciation  (help·info); 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main – early March 1945 in Bergen Belsen) is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.

Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the same year as the Nazis gained power in Germany. By the beginning of 1940 they were trapped in Amsterdam due to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they both died of typhus in March 1945.

Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since been translated into many languages. The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.
For her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-green plaid cloth and with a small lock on the front, Anne decided she would use it as a diary,  and began writing in it almost immediately. While many of her early entries relate the mundane aspects of her life, she also discusses some of the changes that had taken place in the Netherlands since the German occupation. In her entry dated 20 June 1942, she lists many of the restrictions that had been placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population, and also notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year.  Anne dreamed about becoming an actress. She loved watching movies, but the Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters from 8 January 1941 onwards.

In July 1942, Margot Frank received a call-up notice from the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Anne was told by her father that the family would go into hiding in rooms above and behind the company's premises on the Prinsengracht, a street along one of Amsterdam's canals, where some of Otto Frank's most trusted employees would help them. The call-up notice forced them to relocate several weeks earlier than had been anticipated.
Life in the Achterhuis
A three shelf timber bookcase, filled with books, stands at an angle in front of a doorway to the Secret Annexe
Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the Secret Annexe, in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

On the morning of Monday, 6 July 1942, the family moved into the hiding place. Their apartment was left in a state of disarray to create the impression that they had left suddenly, and Otto Frank left a note that hinted they were going to Switzerland. The need for secrecy forced them to leave behind Anne's cat, Moortje. As Jews were not allowed to use public transport, they walked several kilometers from their home, with each of them wearing several layers of clothing as they did not dare to be seen carrying luggage. The Achterhuis (a Dutch word denoting the rear part of a house, translated as the "Secret Annexe" in English editions of the diary) was a three-story space entered from a landing above the Opekta offices. Two small rooms, with an adjoining bathroom and toilet, were on the first level, and above that a larger open room, with a small room beside it. From this smaller room, a ladder led to the attic. The door to the Achterhuis was later covered by a bookcase to ensure it remained undiscovered. The main building, situated a block from the Westerkerk, was nondescript, old and typical of buildings in the western quarters of Amsterdam.

Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl were the only employees who knew of the people in hiding, and with Gies's husband Jan Gies and Voskuijl's father Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl, were their "helpers" for the duration of their confinement. These contacts provided the only connection between the outside world and the occupants of the house, and they kept the occupants informed of war news and political developments. They catered for all of their needs, ensured their safety and supplied them with food, a task that grew more difficult with the passage of time. Anne wrote of their dedication and of their efforts to boost morale within the household during the most dangerous of times. All were aware that if caught they could face the death penalty for sheltering Jews.
A photograph taken from the opposite side of the canal shows two four story buildings which housed the Opekta offices and behind them, the Secret Annexe
The house (left) at the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam

On 13 July 1942, the Franks were joined by the van Pels family: Hermann, Auguste, and 16-year-old Peter, and then in November by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist and friend of the family. Anne wrote of her pleasure at having new people to talk to, but tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions. After sharing her room with Pfeffer, she found him to be insufferable and resented his intrusion, and she clashed with Auguste van Pels, whom she regarded as foolish. She regarded Hermann van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer as selfish, particularly in regard to the amount of food they consumed. Some time later, after first dismissing the shy and awkward Peter van Pels, she recognised a kinship with him and the two entered a romance. She received her first kiss from him, but her infatuation with him began to wane as she questioned whether her feelings for him were genuine, or resulted from their shared confinement. Anne Frank formed a close bond with each of the helpers and Otto Frank later recalled that she had anticipated their daily visits with impatient enthusiasm. He observed that Anne's closest friendship was with Bep Voskuijl, "the young typist... the two of them often stood whispering in the corner."

In her writing, Anne Frank examined her relationships with the members of her family, and the strong differences in each of their personalities. She considered herself to be closest emotionally to her father, who later commented, "I got on better with Anne than with Margot, who was more attached to her mother. The reason for that may have been that Margot rarely showed her feelings and didn't need as much support because she didn't suffer from mood swings as much as Anne did." Anne and Margot formed a closer relationship than had existed before they went into hiding, although Anne sometimes expressed jealousy towards Margot, particularly when members of the household criticised Anne for lacking Margot's gentle and placid nature. As Anne began to mature, the sisters were able to confide in each other. In her entry of 12 January 1944, Anne wrote, "Margot's much nicer... She's not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn't count."
Taken from the top of the Westerkerk church, this image shows the Prinsengracht canal and the rooftops of the buildings in the neighborhood
The Secret Annexe with its light-coloured walls and orange roof (bottom) and the Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the house (bottom right), seen from the Westerkerk in 2004

Anne frequently wrote of her difficult relationship with her mother, and of her ambivalence towards her. On 7 November 1942 she described her "contempt" for her mother and her inability to "confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness," before concluding, "She's not a mother to me." Later, as she revised her diary, Anne felt ashamed of her harsh attitude, writing: "Anne is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?" She came to understand that their differences resulted from misunderstandings that were as much her fault as her mother's, and saw that she had added unnecessarily to her mother's suffering. With this realization, Anne began to treat her mother with a degree of tolerance and respect.

Margot and Anne each hoped to return to school as soon as they were able, and continued with their studies while in hiding. Margot took a shorthand course by correspondence in Bep Voskuijl's name and received high marks. Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition to providing a narrative of events as they occurred, she wrote about her feelings, beliefs and ambitions, subjects she felt she could not discuss with anyone. As her confidence in her writing grew, and as she began to mature, she wrote of more abstract subjects such as her belief in God, and how she defined human nature.

Anne aspired to become a journalist, writing in her diary on Wednesday, 5 April 1944:
“ I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...

And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ... I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?


—Anne Frank

She continued writing regularly until her final entry of August 1, 1944.
Arrest
Main article: Betrayal of Anne Frank
Taken from outside the reconstruction of a barracks, the photo shows a barbed-wire fence, and beyond it a grassy area with a small timber hut
A partial reconstruction of the barracks in the concentration camp Westerbork where Anne Frank stayed from August to September 1944

On the morning of 4 August 1944, the Achterhuis was stormed by the German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified. Led by Schutzstaffel Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst, the group included at least three members of the Security Police. The Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were taken to the Gestapo headquarters where they were interrogated and held overnight. On 5 August, they were transferred to the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention), an overcrowded prison on the Weteringschans. Two days later they were transported to Westerbork. Ostensibly a transit camp, by this time more than 100,000 Jews had passed through it. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor.

Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested and jailed at the penal camp for enemies of the regime at Amersfoort. Kleiman was released after seven weeks, but Kugler was held in various work camps until the war's end. Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were questioned and threatened by the Security Police but were not detained. They returned to the Achterhuis the following day, and found Anne's papers strewn on the floor. They collected them, as well as several family photograph albums, and Gies resolved to return them to Anne after the war. On 7 August 1944, Gies attempted to facilitate the release of the prisoners by confronting Silberbauer and offering him money to intervene, but he refused.
Deportation and death

On September 3, the group was deported on what would be the last transport from Westerbork to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and arrived after a three-day journey. In the chaos that marked the unloading of the trains, the men were forcibly separated from the women and children, and Otto Frank was wrenched from his family. Of the 1,019 passengers, 549—including all children younger than fifteen—were sent directly to the gas chambers. Anne had turned fifteen three months earlier and was one of the youngest people to be spared from her transport. She was soon made aware that most people were gassed upon arrival, and never learned that the entire group from the Achterhuis had survived this selection. She reasoned that her father, in his mid-fifties and not particularly robust, had been killed immediately after they were separated.

With the other females not selected for immediate death, Anne was forced to strip naked to be disinfected, had her head shaved and was tattooed with an identifying number on her arm. By day, the women were used as slave labor and Anne was forced to haul rocks and dig rolls of sod; by night, they were crammed into overcrowded barracks. Witnesses later testified Anne became withdrawn and tearful when she saw children being led to the gas chambers, though other witnesses reported more often she displayed strength and courage, and her gregarious and confident nature allowed her to obtain extra bread rations for Edith, Margot and herself. Disease was rampant and before long, Anne's skin became badly infected by scabies. She and Margot were moved into an infirmary, which was in a state of constant darkness, and infested with rats and mice. Edith Frank stopped eating, saving every morsel of food for her daughters and passing her rations to them, through a hole she made at the bottom of the infirmary wall.
A Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank shows a Star of David and the full names and birthdates and year of death of each of the sisters, in white lettering on a large black stone. The stone sits alone in a grassy field, and the ground beneath the stone is covered with floral tributes and photographs of Anne Frank
Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank at the former Bergen-Belsen site, along with floral and pictorial tributes

On 28 October, selections began for women to be relocated to Bergen-Belsen. More than 8,000 women, including Anne and Margot Frank and Auguste van Pels, were transported, but Edith Frank was left behind and later died from starvation. Tents were erected at Bergen-Belsen to accommodate the influx of prisoners, and as the population rose, the death toll due to disease increased rapidly. Anne was briefly reunited with two friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz, who were confined in another section of the camp. Goslar and Blitz both survived the war and later discussed the brief conversations they had conducted with Anne through a fence. Blitz described her as bald, emaciated and shivering and Goslar noted Auguste van Pels was with Anne and Margot Frank, and was caring for Margot, who was severely ill. Neither of them saw Margot as she was too weak to leave her bunk. Anne told both Blitz and Goslar she believed her parents were dead, and for that reason did not wish to live any longer. Goslar later estimated their meetings had taken place in late January or early February, 1945.

In March 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the camp and killed approximately 17,000 prisoners. Witnesses later testified Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock, and a few days later Anne died. They state this occurred a few weeks before the camp was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945, although the exact dates were not recorded. After liberation, the camp was burned in an effort to prevent further spread of disease, and Anne and Margot were buried in a mass grave, the exact whereabouts of which is unknown.

After the war, it was estimated of the 107,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands between 1942 and 1944, only 5,000 survived. It was also estimated up to 30,000 Jews remained in the Netherlands, with many people aided by the Dutch underground. Approximately two-thirds of this group of people survived the war.

Otto Frank survived his internment in Auschwitz. After the war ended, he returned to Amsterdam where he was sheltered by Jan and Miep Gies, as he attempted to locate his family. He learned of the death of his wife, Edith, in Auschwitz, but he remained hopeful that his daughters had survived. After several weeks, he discovered Margot and Anne had also died. He attempted to determine the fates of his daughters' friends, and learned many had been murdered. Susanne Ledermann, often mentioned in Anne's diary, had been gassed along with her parents, though her sister, Barbara, a close friend of Margot, had survived. Several of the Frank sisters' school friends had survived, as had the extended families of both Otto and Edith Frank, as they had fled Germany during the mid 1930s, with individual family members settling in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
On 3 May 1957, a group of citizens, including Otto Frank, established the Anne Frank Stichting in an effort to rescue the Prinsengracht building from demolition and to make it accessible to the public. The Anne Frank House opened on 3 May 1960. It consists of the Opekta warehouse and offices and the Achterhuis, all unfurnished so that visitors can walk freely through the rooms. Some personal relics of the former occupants remain, such as movie star photographs glued by Anne to a wall, a section of wallpaper on which Otto Frank marked the height of his growing daughters, and a map on the wall where he recorded the advance of the Allied Forces, all now protected behind Perspex sheets. From the small room which was once home to Peter van Pels, a walkway connects the building to its neighbours, also purchased by the Foundation. These other buildings are used to house the diary, as well as changing exhibits that chronicle different aspects of the Holocaust and more contemporary examinations of racial intolerance in various parts of the world. It has become one of Amsterdam's main tourist attractions, and in 2005 received a record 965,000 visitors. The House provides information via the internet, as well as travelling exhibitions, for those not able to visit. In 2005, exhibitions travelled to 32 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America.
A bronze statue of a smiling Anne Frank, wearing a short dress and standing with her arms behind her back, sits upon a stone plinth with a plaque reading "Anne Frank 1929–1945". The statue is in a small square, and behind it is a brick building with two large window, and a bicycle. The statue stands between the two windows.
Statue of Anne Frank, by Mari Andriessen, outside the Westerkerk in Amsterdam

In 1963, Otto Frank and his second wife, Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits, set up the Anne Frank Fonds as a charitable foundation, based in Basel, Switzerland. The Fonds raises money to donate to causes "as it sees fit". Upon his death, Otto willed the diary's copyright to the Fonds, on the provision that the first 80,000 Swiss francs in income each year was to be distributed to his heirs, and any income above this figure was to be retained by the Fonds to use for whatever projects its administrators considered worthy. It provides funding for the medical treatment of the Righteous among the Nations on a yearly basis. It has aimed to educate young people against racism and has loaned some of Anne Frank's papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. for an exhibition in 2003. Its annual report of the same year gave some indication of its effort to contribute on a global level, with its support of projects in Germany, Israel, India, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Merwedeplein apartment, in which the Frank family lived from 1933 until 1942, remained privately owned until the early 2000s, when a television documentary focused public attention upon it. In a serious state of disrepair, it was purchased by a Dutch housing corporation, and aided by photographs taken by the Frank family and descriptions of the apartment and furnishings in letters written by Anne Frank, was restored to its 1930s appearance. Teresien da Silva of the Anne Frank House, and Anne Frank's cousin Bernhard "Buddy" Elias also contributed to the restoration project. It opened in 2005 with the aim of providing a safe haven for a selected writer who is unable to write freely in his or her own country. Each selected writer is allowed one year's tenancy during which to reside and work in the apartment. The first writer selected was the Algerian novelist and poet, El-Mahdi Acherchour.
The Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the Anne Frank House

In June 2007, "Buddy" Elias donated some 25,000 family documents to the Anne Frank House. Among the artifacts are Frank family photographs taken in Germany and Holland and the letter Otto Frank sent his mother in 1945 informing her that his wife and daughters had perished in Nazi concentration camps.

In November 2007, the Anne Frank tree was scheduled to be cut down to prevent it from falling down on one of the surrounding buildings, after a fungal disease had affected the trunk of this horse-chestnut tree. Dutch economist Arnold Heertje, who was also in hiding during the Second World War, said about the tree: "This is not just any tree. The Anne Frank tree is bound up with the persecution of the Jews." The Tree Foundation, a group of tree conservationists, started a civil case in order to stop the felling of the horse chestnut, which received international media attention. A Dutch court ordered the city officials and conservationists to explore alternatives and come to a solution. The parties agreed to build a steel construction that would prolong the life of the tree up to 15 years.

Over the years, several films about Anne Frank appeared and her life and writings have inspired a diverse group of artists and social commentators to make reference to her in literature, popular music, television, and other forms of media. These include The Anne Frank Ballet by Adam Darius, first performed in 1959, and the choral work Annelies, first performed in 2005. The only known footage of the real Anne Frank comes from a 1941 silent film recorded for her newlywed next-door neighbor. She is seen leaning out of a second-floor window in an attempt to see the bride and groom better. The couple survived the war and gave the video to the Anne Frank House, a museum in Amsterdam.

In 1999, Time named Anne Frank among the heroes and icons of the 20th century on their list The Most Important People of the Century, stating: "With a diary kept in a secret attic, she braved the Nazis and lent a searing voice to the fight for human dignity".
See also

    * People associated with Anne Frank
    * Henio Zytomirski
    * Hana Brady
    * Janet Langhart - Writer of one act play "Anne and Emmett"
    * Rutka Laskier
    * Searching for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam to Iowa (book)

    * Helga Deen - wrote a diary in Camp Vught
    * David Koker - wrote a diary in Camp Vught
    * Etty Hillesum - wrote a diary in Amsterdam and Camp Westerbork
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w235/EarthStar9109/anne-frankjpgw300h315.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh114/sarahgillsays/anne-frank.gif


She'd be 81 if she was alive today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/10 at 7:36 am


She'd be 81 if she was alive today.

She was born the same year my dad was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/12/10 at 12:02 pm

What happened to Anne Frank is VERY tragic but what makes it even worse is the fact that you multiply what happened to her by millions. She is the face of the Holocaust. I think we (as in humans) can honor her memory and that of all the millions of faceless/nameless victims who perished in that monstrosity is to make sure it never happens again-like in Rwanda, Darfur, etc. etc. We (as humans) are NOT doing such a good job.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/12/10 at 12:05 pm

http://static.open.salon.com/files/anne_frank1234665338.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/10 at 2:25 pm


What happened to Anne Frank is VERY tragic but what makes it even worse is the fact that you multiply what happened to her by millions. She is the face of the Holocaust. I think we (as in humans) can honor her memory and that of all the millions of faceless/nameless victims who perished in that monstrosity is to make sure it never happens again-like in Rwanda, Darfur, etc. etc. We (as humans) are NOT doing such a good job.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat 

It's sad to think things like this could still happen in our lifetime :( >:(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/10 at 2:26 pm


http://static.open.salon.com/files/anne_frank1234665338.jpg

A book I read many, many years ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/12/10 at 3:01 pm


A book I read many, many years ago.
I saw the film ages ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/12/10 at 3:55 pm

I remember seeing the film at a young age and this inspired me to read the book (which we already had in our house). It is an amazing story about fighting spirit and hope .... but unfortunately still ended in tragedy (but could it really have ended differently under the circumstances?).

It makes it even sadder that she nearly survived the whole ordeal (along with her sister Margot) ... only to be beaten by Typhoid.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 5:56 am

The word of the day...Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u322/LembergSask/Lions%20Club/DSC01861.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/heavencanthandleyou/Gifs/14bjmfojpg.gif
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy313/littleoda/clubamerica.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp120/liv4god4evr/yachtclub2.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u279/smiley_2516/hcplsummerreading005.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/faraz_dx/cueclub.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 6:00 am

The person born on this day...Ally Sheedy
Alexandra Elizabeth "Ally" Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American film and stage actress, as well as the author of two books. She is best known for her roles in the Brat Pack films The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire Sheedy was born in New York City  and has two siblings, Patrick and Meghan. Her mother, Charlotte (née Baum), was a writer and press agent who was involved in women's and civil rights movements,  and her father, John J. Sheedy, Jr., was a Manhattan-based advertising executive.  Ally Sheedy's mother was Jewish and her father was of Irish Catholic descent.  Her parents divorced in 1971.

Sheedy attended Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City, graduating in 1980. She started dancing with the American Ballet Theatre at age six and was planning to make it a full-time career. However, she gave up dance in favor of acting full-time. At 12-years-old, she wrote a children's book, She Was Nice to Mice; the book was published by McGraw-Hill and became a best-seller. On June 19, 1975, she appeared on the game show, To Tell the Truth, in her role as young writer.
Career

Sheedy started acting in local stage productions as a teenager. After appearing in several made-for-television films in 1981, as well as three episodes of the television series Hill Street Blues, she made her feature film debut in Bad Boys (1983), starring Sean Penn, where she played the humiliated rape victim girlfriend of Penn's character. The 1980s were her most active period, with roles in popular films such as WarGames, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire, Short Circuit, and Maid to Order.

Throughout most of the 1990s, Sheedy appeared in a number of television films. Her most notable film performance during this time was in High Art, a well-reviewed independent film released in 1998 about a torrid romance between two women. She identified with the character of photographer "Lucy Berliner" so much that she flew, at her own expense, to participate in an audition and has said that this character is the closest one to herself she has played. Her performance in High Art was recognized with awards from the Independent Spirit Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics.

In 1999, Sheedy took over the lead role in the off-Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She was the first female to play the part of the German transsexual "Hedwig," but her run ended early amid bad reviews.

She was reunited with Breakfast Club co-star Anthony Michael Hall when she became a special guest star on his television show The Dead Zone, in the second-season episode "Playing God," from 2003.

Sheedy has also appeared in the episode ""Leapin' Lizards" of C.S.I. in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriend's wife while mixed up in a cult. On March 3, 2008, Sheedy was introduced as the character Sarah, in the ABC Family show Kyle XY. In 2009 she played the role of Mr. Yang on the USA tv show Psych, a role that she reprised in the March 2010 Season 4 Finale.
Personal life

On April 12, 1992, Sheedy married actor David Lansbury, the nephew of actress Angela Lansbury and son of Edgar Lansbury, the producer of the original production of Godspell. The couple has a daughter, Rebecca, born in 1994. In May 2008, it was announced that Sheedy had filed for divorce. Prior to her relationship with Lansbury, Sheedy had dated actor Eric Stoltz and guitarist Richie Sambora.

In 1985, Sheedy was admitted to Hazelden and in the 1990s was treated for a sleeping pill addiction, an experience on which she drew for her role as a drug-addicted photographer in, High Art.
Filmography

    * The Best Little Girl in the World (1981) as First Girl
    * St. Elsewhere episode Samuels and the Kid (1982) as Diane
    * WarGames (1983) as Jennifer Katherine Mack
    * Bad Boys (1983) as J.C. Walenski
    * Deadly Lessons (1983) as Marita Armstrong
    * Oxford Blues (1984) as Rona
    * Twice in a Lifetime (1985) as Helen
    * St. Elmo's Fire (1985) as Leslie Hunter
    * The Breakfast Club (1985) as Allison Reynolds
    * Short Circuit (1986) as Stephanie Speck
    * Blue City (1986) as Annie Rayford
    * Maid to Order (1987) as Jessie Montgomery
    * Short Circuit 2 (1988) as Stephanie (voice cameo)
    * Heart of Dixie (1989) as Maggie
    * Fear (1990) as Cayce Bridges
    * Betsy's Wedding (1990) as Connie Hopper
    * Only the Lonely (1991) as Theresa Luna
    * Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) as NY Ticket Agent (cameo)
    * Man's Best Friend (1993) as Lori Tanner
    * The Pickle (1993) as Molly girl
    * The Haunting of Seacliff Inn (1994) as Susan
    * Buried Alive II (1997) as Laura Riskin
    * Amnesia (1997) as Martha Keller
    * Macon County Jail (1997) as Susan
    * High Art (1998) as Lucy
    * Sugar Town (1999) as Liz
    * Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge (1999) as an Attorney
    * I'll Take You There (1999) as Bernice
    * The Dead Zone (2003) as Kate
    * Shelter Island (2003) as Louise 'Lou' Delamere
    * Noise (2004) as Charlotte Bancroft
    * Day Zero (2006) as Dr. Reynolds
    * CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2007) as Shannon Turner
    * The Junior Defenders (2007) as Jill Fields
    * Steam (2007) as Laurie
    * Kyle XY (2008) as Sarah
    * Harold (2008) as Maureen
    * Psych (2009–2010) as Mr. Yang
          o An Evening With Mr. Yang (2009)
          o Mr. Yin Presents (2010)
    * Citizen Jane (2009) as Jane Alexander
    * Life During Wartime (2009) as Helen Jordan

Books

    * She Was Nice to Mice, McGraw-Hill, 1975, ISBN 0-440-47844-8
    * Yesterday I Saw the Sun: Poems, Summit Books, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73130-0

Awards

    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Actress (1998) for High Art
    * Independent Spirit Award: Best Female Lead (1999) for High Art
    * National Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Actress (1999) for High Art
    * MTV Movie Awards: Silver Bucket of Excellence Award (2005) for The Breakfast Club (shared with Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m274/nlove4true/AllySheedy2-1.jpg
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/twentybeauties/TwentyBeautiesMontage/AllySheedy1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 6:06 am

The person who died on this day...Lane Smith
Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American  actor. Some of his well known roles include portraying unscrupulous collaborator entrepreneur Nathan Bates in the NBC television series V, unscrupulous collaborator Mayor Bates in the fim Red Dawn, newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and American President Richard Nixon in The Final Days, for which he received a Golden Globe award nomination.
Lane Smith was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1936. He graduated from The Leelanau School, a boarding school in Glen Arbor, Michigan where he is enshrined in the school's Hall of Fame,  and spent one year boarding at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania  before going off to study at the Actors Studio in the late 1950s and early 1960s along with Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino.
Career

After his graduation, he found steady work in New York theater before making his film debut in Maidstone in 1970. During the 1970s, he regularly made appearances in small film roles including Rooster Cogburn in 1975 and Network in 1976. He also acted on television, notably playing a U.S. Marine in Vietnam in the made for television miniseries A Rumor of War.

He made a major breakthrough in 1984 with significant roles in Red Dawn, Places in the Heart and the television series V. In 1989, Smith gained great recognition for his portrayal of former President Richard Nixon in the docudrama The Final Days. Newsweek praised Smith's role by stating, "is such a good Nixon that his despair and sorrow at his predicament become simply overwhelming." Smith later earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. He also appeared in the original Broadway stage production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross as James Lingk. For his role, he received a Drama Desk Award.

In 1990, he appeared in Air America playing a U.S. Senator. Two years later, he played a small-town district attorney opposite Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny, followed by a role as Coach Jack Reilly in The Mighty Ducks. However, it was not until 1993 that Smith landed his first major television role as Perry White in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, for four seasons before ending in 1997. In 1998, Smith appeared in a major role as fictional television anchorman Emmett Seaborn in the HBO miniseries From The Earth to the Moon. Smith's final film appearance was in The Legend of Bagger Vance in 2000.
Personal life

Smith was married twice. His first marriage was to writer Sydne MacCall. The couple had one son together: Robby Smith born on January 24, 1987. In 2000, he married to Debbie Benedict who had one son from a previous marriage.

Smith was previously in a relationship with actress Mariette Hartley.
Death

Smith was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) in April 2005. He died of the disease at his home in Northridge, California on June 13, 2005. He was 69 years old.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1966 Unholy Matrimony Partygoer Uncredited Role
1970 Maidstone
1973 The Last American Hero Rick Penny
Cops and Robbers Perpetrator
1974 Man on a Swing Virginia De Leo
1975 Rooster Cogburn Leroy
1976 Network Robert McDonough
1977 Between the Lines Roy Walsh
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training Officer Mackle
1978 Blue Collar Clarence Hill
On the Yard Blake
1980 Soggy Bottom, USA Smilin' Jack
On the Nickel Preacher
Honeysuckle Rose Brag, Cotton's manager
Resurrection Don
1981 Prince of the City Tug Barnes
1982 Frances Dr. Symington
1984 Purple Hearts Cmdr. Markel
Red Dawn Mayor Bates
Places in the Heart Albert Denby
1986 Native Son Britton
1987 Weeds Claude
1988 Prison Warden Eaton Sharpe
1989 Race for Glory Joe Gifford
Night Game Witty
1990 Air America Senator Davenport
1992 My Cousin Vinny D.A. Jim Trotter, III
The Mighty Ducks Coach Jack Reilly
The Distinguished Gentleman Dick Dodge
1993 Son in Law Walter Warner
1994 The Flight of the Dove Stephen Hahn
The Scout Ron Wilson
1996 The War at Home Uncredited Role
1998 Getting Personal Dr. Maddie
Why Do Fools Fall in Love Ezra Grahme
The Hi-Lo Country Steve Shaw
2000 The Caprice Thunderhead
The Legend of Bagger Vance Grantland Rice
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1975 Kojak Clyde Regan Episode: Queen of the Gypsies
Valley Forge Spad NBC TV-Movie
1975, 1979 The Rockford Files Willet
CIA Agent Donnegan Episode: Claire
Episode: The Battle-Ax and the Exploding Cigar
1977 The Displaced Person TV-Movie
The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer NBC TV-Movie
1978 A Death in Canaan Bob Hartman CBS TV-Movie
Crash Flight Engineer Romano ABC TV-Movie
1979 The Solitary Man Jack Collins CBS TV-Movie
Disaster on the Coastliner John Carlson ABC TV-Movie
1980 City in Fear Brian ABC TV-Movie
Gideon's Trumpet Fred Turner CBS TV-Movie
A Rumor of War Sgt. William Holgren CBS Miniseries
The Georgia Peaches Randolph Dukane CBS TV-Movie/Unsold TV-Pilot
Mark, I Love You Don Payer CBS TV-Movie
1981 Dallas Prosecutor Episode: Gone, But Not Forgotten
Dark Night of the Scarecrow Harless Hocker CBS TV-Movie
Hart to Hart Roy Hamlin Episode: Hart, Line, and Sinker
1982 Prime Suspect Tom Keating CBS TV-Movie
Thou Shalt Not Kill Clarence Blake NBC TV-Movie
Lou Grant Dr. Lawrence Episode: Unthinkable
Quincy, M.E. Dr. Paul Flynn Episode: Science for Sale
The Member of the Wedding Mr. Addams TV-Movie
1983 Special Bulletin Morton Sanders NBC TV-Movie
Chiefs Hoss Spence CBS Miniseries
1984 Something About Amelia Officer Dealy ABC TV-Movie
1984–1985 V Nathan Bates 13 episodes
1985 Hill Street Blues Mike Episode: El Capitan
Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues Captain Max Rosenberg CBS TV-Movie
Bridge Across Time Anson Whitfield NBC TV-Movie
1986 Amazing Stories Dr. Caruso Episode: Dorothy and Ben
The New Twilight Zone Professor Joseph Fitzgerald Segment: Profile in Silver
Dress Gray Col. King NBC TV-Movie
If Tomorrow Comes Warden Brannigan CBS Miniseries
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Robert Warren Episode: Happy Birthday
Kay O'Brien Doctor Robert Moffitt 13 episodes
1987 A Place to Call Home Sam CBS TV-Movie
1988 In the Heat of the Night Sonny Mims Episode: Road Kill
Killer Instinct Dr. Butler NBC TV-Movie
1989 Murder, She Wrote Pol. Chief Underwood Episode: The Search for Peter Kerry
The Final Days Richard Nixon Golden Globe Award (nominated)
ABC TV-Movie
1990 Challenger Larry Mulloy ABC TV-Movie
Blind Vengeance Col. Blanchard NBC TV-Movie
1991 Good Sports R.J. Rappaport 21 episodes
Good & Evil Harlan Shell
False Arrest Martin Busey ABC TV-Movie
1992 Duplicates Mr. Fryman USA Network TV-Movie
1993–1997 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Perry White 84 episodes
1994 Murphy Brown Danger Duke Voice Role
Episode: Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?
1995 Dweebs Episode: The Cyrano Show
1996 Clueless Dan Hafner Episode: Romeo & Cher
1997 Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy Senator Silverthorne FPX TV-Movie
1998 The Outer Limits Dr. Malcolm Boussard Episode: Glyphic
From the Earth to the Moon Emmett Seaborn HBO TV-Movie
1999 Walker, Texas Ranger Reverend Thornton Powers Episode: Power Angels
Inherit the Wind Reverend Jeremiah Brown Showtime TV-Movie
2000 King of the Hill
Charlie Fortner
Nate Hashaway Voice roles
Episode: Hanky Panky (1)
Episode: Meet the Propaniacs
Episode: Flush with Power
2001 Bull Russell Dantly Episode: Amen
DAG Agent Baxter Episode: The Triangle Report
WW3 John Sullivan Fox TV-Movie
The Practice Judge H. Finkel Episode: The Candidate (1)
2002 Judging Amy Mr. Radford Episode: People of the Lie
2003 Out of Order Frank Showtime TV movie
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e44/ratwood42/drawing%20reference/Superman%20characters%20project/White/perry1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 6:31 am


The person born on this day...Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (About this sound pronunciation  (help·info); 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main – early March 1945 in Bergen Belsen) is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.

Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the same year as the Nazis gained power in Germany. By the beginning of 1940 they were trapped in Amsterdam due to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they both died of typhus in March 1945.

Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since been translated into many languages. The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.
For her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-green plaid cloth and with a small lock on the front, Anne decided she would use it as a diary,  and began writing in it almost immediately. While many of her early entries relate the mundane aspects of her life, she also discusses some of the changes that had taken place in the Netherlands since the German occupation. In her entry dated 20 June 1942, she lists many of the restrictions that had been placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population, and also notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year.  Anne dreamed about becoming an actress. She loved watching movies, but the Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters from 8 January 1941 onwards.

In July 1942, Margot Frank received a call-up notice from the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Anne was told by her father that the family would go into hiding in rooms above and behind the company's premises on the Prinsengracht, a street along one of Amsterdam's canals, where some of Otto Frank's most trusted employees would help them. The call-up notice forced them to relocate several weeks earlier than had been anticipated.
Life in the Achterhuis
A three shelf timber bookcase, filled with books, stands at an angle in front of a doorway to the Secret Annexe
Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the Secret Annexe, in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

On the morning of Monday, 6 July 1942, the family moved into the hiding place. Their apartment was left in a state of disarray to create the impression that they had left suddenly, and Otto Frank left a note that hinted they were going to Switzerland. The need for secrecy forced them to leave behind Anne's cat, Moortje. As Jews were not allowed to use public transport, they walked several kilometers from their home, with each of them wearing several layers of clothing as they did not dare to be seen carrying luggage. The Achterhuis (a Dutch word denoting the rear part of a house, translated as the "Secret Annexe" in English editions of the diary) was a three-story space entered from a landing above the Opekta offices. Two small rooms, with an adjoining bathroom and toilet, were on the first level, and above that a larger open room, with a small room beside it. From this smaller room, a ladder led to the attic. The door to the Achterhuis was later covered by a bookcase to ensure it remained undiscovered. The main building, situated a block from the Westerkerk, was nondescript, old and typical of buildings in the western quarters of Amsterdam.

Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl were the only employees who knew of the people in hiding, and with Gies's husband Jan Gies and Voskuijl's father Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl, were their "helpers" for the duration of their confinement. These contacts provided the only connection between the outside world and the occupants of the house, and they kept the occupants informed of war news and political developments. They catered for all of their needs, ensured their safety and supplied them with food, a task that grew more difficult with the passage of time. Anne wrote of their dedication and of their efforts to boost morale within the household during the most dangerous of times. All were aware that if caught they could face the death penalty for sheltering Jews.
A photograph taken from the opposite side of the canal shows two four story buildings which housed the Opekta offices and behind them, the Secret Annexe
The house (left) at the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam

On 13 July 1942, the Franks were joined by the van Pels family: Hermann, Auguste, and 16-year-old Peter, and then in November by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist and friend of the family. Anne wrote of her pleasure at having new people to talk to, but tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions. After sharing her room with Pfeffer, she found him to be insufferable and resented his intrusion, and she clashed with Auguste van Pels, whom she regarded as foolish. She regarded Hermann van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer as selfish, particularly in regard to the amount of food they consumed. Some time later, after first dismissing the shy and awkward Peter van Pels, she recognised a kinship with him and the two entered a romance. She received her first kiss from him, but her infatuation with him began to wane as she questioned whether her feelings for him were genuine, or resulted from their shared confinement. Anne Frank formed a close bond with each of the helpers and Otto Frank later recalled that she had anticipated their daily visits with impatient enthusiasm. He observed that Anne's closest friendship was with Bep Voskuijl, "the young typist... the two of them often stood whispering in the corner."

In her writing, Anne Frank examined her relationships with the members of her family, and the strong differences in each of their personalities. She considered herself to be closest emotionally to her father, who later commented, "I got on better with Anne than with Margot, who was more attached to her mother. The reason for that may have been that Margot rarely showed her feelings and didn't need as much support because she didn't suffer from mood swings as much as Anne did." Anne and Margot formed a closer relationship than had existed before they went into hiding, although Anne sometimes expressed jealousy towards Margot, particularly when members of the household criticised Anne for lacking Margot's gentle and placid nature. As Anne began to mature, the sisters were able to confide in each other. In her entry of 12 January 1944, Anne wrote, "Margot's much nicer... She's not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn't count."
Taken from the top of the Westerkerk church, this image shows the Prinsengracht canal and the rooftops of the buildings in the neighborhood
The Secret Annexe with its light-coloured walls and orange roof (bottom) and the Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the house (bottom right), seen from the Westerkerk in 2004

Anne frequently wrote of her difficult relationship with her mother, and of her ambivalence towards her. On 7 November 1942 she described her "contempt" for her mother and her inability to "confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness," before concluding, "She's not a mother to me." Later, as she revised her diary, Anne felt ashamed of her harsh attitude, writing: "Anne is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?" She came to understand that their differences resulted from misunderstandings that were as much her fault as her mother's, and saw that she had added unnecessarily to her mother's suffering. With this realization, Anne began to treat her mother with a degree of tolerance and respect.

Margot and Anne each hoped to return to school as soon as they were able, and continued with their studies while in hiding. Margot took a shorthand course by correspondence in Bep Voskuijl's name and received high marks. Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition to providing a narrative of events as they occurred, she wrote about her feelings, beliefs and ambitions, subjects she felt she could not discuss with anyone. As her confidence in her writing grew, and as she began to mature, she wrote of more abstract subjects such as her belief in God, and how she defined human nature.

Anne aspired to become a journalist, writing in her diary on Wednesday, 5 April 1944:
“ I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...

And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ... I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?


—Anne Frank

She continued writing regularly until her final entry of August 1, 1944.
Arrest
Main article: Betrayal of Anne Frank
Taken from outside the reconstruction of a barracks, the photo shows a barbed-wire fence, and beyond it a grassy area with a small timber hut
A partial reconstruction of the barracks in the concentration camp Westerbork where Anne Frank stayed from August to September 1944

On the morning of 4 August 1944, the Achterhuis was stormed by the German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified. Led by Schutzstaffel Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst, the group included at least three members of the Security Police. The Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were taken to the Gestapo headquarters where they were interrogated and held overnight. On 5 August, they were transferred to the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention), an overcrowded prison on the Weteringschans. Two days later they were transported to Westerbork. Ostensibly a transit camp, by this time more than 100,000 Jews had passed through it. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor.

Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested and jailed at the penal camp for enemies of the regime at Amersfoort. Kleiman was released after seven weeks, but Kugler was held in various work camps until the war's end. Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were questioned and threatened by the Security Police but were not detained. They returned to the Achterhuis the following day, and found Anne's papers strewn on the floor. They collected them, as well as several family photograph albums, and Gies resolved to return them to Anne after the war. On 7 August 1944, Gies attempted to facilitate the release of the prisoners by confronting Silberbauer and offering him money to intervene, but he refused.
Deportation and death

On September 3, the group was deported on what would be the last transport from Westerbork to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and arrived after a three-day journey. In the chaos that marked the unloading of the trains, the men were forcibly separated from the women and children, and Otto Frank was wrenched from his family. Of the 1,019 passengers, 549—including all children younger than fifteen—were sent directly to the gas chambers. Anne had turned fifteen three months earlier and was one of the youngest people to be spared from her transport. She was soon made aware that most people were gassed upon arrival, and never learned that the entire group from the Achterhuis had survived this selection. She reasoned that her father, in his mid-fifties and not particularly robust, had been killed immediately after they were separated.

With the other females not selected for immediate death, Anne was forced to strip naked to be disinfected, had her head shaved and was tattooed with an identifying number on her arm. By day, the women were used as slave labor and Anne was forced to haul rocks and dig rolls of sod; by night, they were crammed into overcrowded barracks. Witnesses later testified Anne became withdrawn and tearful when she saw children being led to the gas chambers, though other witnesses reported more often she displayed strength and courage, and her gregarious and confident nature allowed her to obtain extra bread rations for Edith, Margot and herself. Disease was rampant and before long, Anne's skin became badly infected by scabies. She and Margot were moved into an infirmary, which was in a state of constant darkness, and infested with rats and mice. Edith Frank stopped eating, saving every morsel of food for her daughters and passing her rations to them, through a hole she made at the bottom of the infirmary wall.
A Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank shows a Star of David and the full names and birthdates and year of death of each of the sisters, in white lettering on a large black stone. The stone sits alone in a grassy field, and the ground beneath the stone is covered with floral tributes and photographs of Anne Frank
Memorial for Margot and Anne Frank at the former Bergen-Belsen site, along with floral and pictorial tributes

On 28 October, selections began for women to be relocated to Bergen-Belsen. More than 8,000 women, including Anne and Margot Frank and Auguste van Pels, were transported, but Edith Frank was left behind and later died from starvation. Tents were erected at Bergen-Belsen to accommodate the influx of prisoners, and as the population rose, the death toll due to disease increased rapidly. Anne was briefly reunited with two friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz, who were confined in another section of the camp. Goslar and Blitz both survived the war and later discussed the brief conversations they had conducted with Anne through a fence. Blitz described her as bald, emaciated and shivering and Goslar noted Auguste van Pels was with Anne and Margot Frank, and was caring for Margot, who was severely ill. Neither of them saw Margot as she was too weak to leave her bunk. Anne told both Blitz and Goslar she believed her parents were dead, and for that reason did not wish to live any longer. Goslar later estimated their meetings had taken place in late January or early February, 1945.

In March 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the camp and killed approximately 17,000 prisoners. Witnesses later testified Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock, and a few days later Anne died. They state this occurred a few weeks before the camp was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945, although the exact dates were not recorded. After liberation, the camp was burned in an effort to prevent further spread of disease, and Anne and Margot were buried in a mass grave, the exact whereabouts of which is unknown.

After the war, it was estimated of the 107,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands between 1942 and 1944, only 5,000 survived. It was also estimated up to 30,000 Jews remained in the Netherlands, with many people aided by the Dutch underground. Approximately two-thirds of this group of people survived the war.

Otto Frank survived his internment in Auschwitz. After the war ended, he returned to Amsterdam where he was sheltered by Jan and Miep Gies, as he attempted to locate his family. He learned of the death of his wife, Edith, in Auschwitz, but he remained hopeful that his daughters had survived. After several weeks, he discovered Margot and Anne had also died. He attempted to determine the fates of his daughters' friends, and learned many had been murdered. Susanne Ledermann, often mentioned in Anne's diary, had been gassed along with her parents, though her sister, Barbara, a close friend of Margot, had survived. Several of the Frank sisters' school friends had survived, as had the extended families of both Otto and Edith Frank, as they had fled Germany during the mid 1930s, with individual family members settling in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
On 3 May 1957, a group of citizens, including Otto Frank, established the Anne Frank Stichting in an effort to rescue the Prinsengracht building from demolition and to make it accessible to the public. The Anne Frank House opened on 3 May 1960. It consists of the Opekta warehouse and offices and the Achterhuis, all unfurnished so that visitors can walk freely through the rooms. Some personal relics of the former occupants remain, such as movie star photographs glued by Anne to a wall, a section of wallpaper on which Otto Frank marked the height of his growing daughters, and a map on the wall where he recorded the advance of the Allied Forces, all now protected behind Perspex sheets. From the small room which was once home to Peter van Pels, a walkway connects the building to its neighbours, also purchased by the Foundation. These other buildings are used to house the diary, as well as changing exhibits that chronicle different aspects of the Holocaust and more contemporary examinations of racial intolerance in various parts of the world. It has become one of Amsterdam's main tourist attractions, and in 2005 received a record 965,000 visitors. The House provides information via the internet, as well as travelling exhibitions, for those not able to visit. In 2005, exhibitions travelled to 32 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America.
A bronze statue of a smiling Anne Frank, wearing a short dress and standing with her arms behind her back, sits upon a stone plinth with a plaque reading "Anne Frank 1929–1945". The statue is in a small square, and behind it is a brick building with two large window, and a bicycle. The statue stands between the two windows.
Statue of Anne Frank, by Mari Andriessen, outside the Westerkerk in Amsterdam

In 1963, Otto Frank and his second wife, Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits, set up the Anne Frank Fonds as a charitable foundation, based in Basel, Switzerland. The Fonds raises money to donate to causes "as it sees fit". Upon his death, Otto willed the diary's copyright to the Fonds, on the provision that the first 80,000 Swiss francs in income each year was to be distributed to his heirs, and any income above this figure was to be retained by the Fonds to use for whatever projects its administrators considered worthy. It provides funding for the medical treatment of the Righteous among the Nations on a yearly basis. It has aimed to educate young people against racism and has loaned some of Anne Frank's papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. for an exhibition in 2003. Its annual report of the same year gave some indication of its effort to contribute on a global level, with its support of projects in Germany, Israel, India, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Merwedeplein apartment, in which the Frank family lived from 1933 until 1942, remained privately owned until the early 2000s, when a television documentary focused public attention upon it. In a serious state of disrepair, it was purchased by a Dutch housing corporation, and aided by photographs taken by the Frank family and descriptions of the apartment and furnishings in letters written by Anne Frank, was restored to its 1930s appearance. Teresien da Silva of the Anne Frank House, and Anne Frank's cousin Bernhard "Buddy" Elias also contributed to the restoration project. It opened in 2005 with the aim of providing a safe haven for a selected writer who is unable to write freely in his or her own country. Each selected writer is allowed one year's tenancy during which to reside and work in the apartment. The first writer selected was the Algerian novelist and poet, El-Mahdi Acherchour.
The Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the Anne Frank House

In June 2007, "Buddy" Elias donated some 25,000 family documents to the Anne Frank House. Among the artifacts are Frank family photographs taken in Germany and Holland and the letter Otto Frank sent his mother in 1945 informing her that his wife and daughters had perished in Nazi concentration camps.

In November 2007, the Anne Frank tree was scheduled to be cut down to prevent it from falling down on one of the surrounding buildings, after a fungal disease had affected the trunk of this horse-chestnut tree. Dutch economist Arnold Heertje, who was also in hiding during the Second World War, said about the tree: "This is not just any tree. The Anne Frank tree is bound up with the persecution of the Jews." The Tree Foundation, a group of tree conservationists, started a civil case in order to stop the felling of the horse chestnut, which received international media attention. A Dutch court ordered the city officials and conservationists to explore alternatives and come to a solution. The parties agreed to build a steel construction that would prolong the life of the tree up to 15 years.

Over the years, several films about Anne Frank appeared and her life and writings have inspired a diverse group of artists and social commentators to make reference to her in literature, popular music, television, and other forms of media. These include The Anne Frank Ballet by Adam Darius, first performed in 1959, and the choral work Annelies, first performed in 2005. The only known footage of the real Anne Frank comes from a 1941 silent film recorded for her newlywed next-door neighbor. She is seen leaning out of a second-floor window in an attempt to see the bride and groom better. The couple survived the war and gave the video to the Anne Frank House, a museum in Amsterdam.

In 1999, Time named Anne Frank among the heroes and icons of the 20th century on their list The Most Important People of the Century, stating: "With a diary kept in a secret attic, she braved the Nazis and lent a searing voice to the fight for human dignity".
See also

    * People associated with Anne Frank
    * Henio Zytomirski
    * Hana Brady
    * Janet Langhart - Writer of one act play "Anne and Emmett"
    * Rutka Laskier
    * Searching for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam to Iowa (book)

    * Helga Deen - wrote a diary in Camp Vught
    * David Koker - wrote a diary in Camp Vught
    * Etty Hillesum - wrote a diary in Amsterdam and Camp Westerbork
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w235/EarthStar9109/anne-frankjpgw300h315.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh114/sarahgillsays/anne-frank.gif
"“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/13/10 at 6:47 am


The word of the day...Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u322/LembergSask/Lions%20Club/DSC01861.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/heavencanthandleyou/Gifs/14bjmfojpg.gif
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy313/littleoda/clubamerica.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp120/liv4god4evr/yachtclub2.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u279/smiley_2516/hcplsummerreading005.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/faraz_dx/cueclub.jpg


I enjoy going to clubs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 7:39 am


"“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Powerful words for what she had to endure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 7:39 am


Powerful words for what she had to endure.
...and I only discovered that quote form her by accident today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 7:40 am


The word of the day...Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u322/LembergSask/Lions%20Club/DSC01861.jpg
http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy131/heavencanthandleyou/Gifs/14bjmfojpg.gif
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy313/littleoda/clubamerica.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp120/liv4god4evr/yachtclub2.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u279/smiley_2516/hcplsummerreading005.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt211/faraz_dx/cueclub.jpg
Club Sandwich anyone?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 7:45 am


I enjoy going to clubs.

The only club I belonged to was library club. I only went to one disco in the early 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 7:46 am


The only club I belonged to was library club. I only went to one disco in the early 80's.
I used to belong to a Social Club at a past employment of mine.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 7:47 am


...and I only discovered that quote form her by accident today.

Do you know when she made that quote?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 8:25 am


Club Sandwich anyone?

I use to eat those all the time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/13/10 at 10:36 am

http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/33936.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 12:43 pm


http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/33936.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw



Cat

I loved Culture Club :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 12:53 pm


I loved Culture Club :)
True 80's music!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 12:55 pm

http://www.catshoes.com/Tubes/Cartoons/bambam003.gif

Bam Bam always had his club.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/13/10 at 12:57 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFcpxTOm0PQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 3:50 pm


http://www.catshoes.com/Tubes/Cartoons/bambam003.gif

Bam Bam always had his club.

Nice :) That's are inspiration for DanDan ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/10 at 3:52 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFcpxTOm0PQ

Another good 80's song. They played it all the time at a miniature golf course that Tim & I went when we were first dating. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/13/10 at 7:05 pm

Timex Social Club, Rumors (1987) Another 80's classic.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/10 at 6:50 am


Timex Social Club, Rumors (1987) Another 80's classic.  :)

Yep :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/14/10 at 6:52 am

Love Club (Hot Summer Nights) 1982

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/10 at 7:02 am

The word of the day...Androgny
Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words άνδρας (andras, meaning man) and γυνή (gyné, meaning woman) and refers to the mixing of masculine  and feminine characteristics, as in fashion or hermaphroditism.
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt21/Xatike2/Androgynous.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x198/rpdsbucket/Yugioh%20Cards/androgynous.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j82/Gimmino/Photo69.jpg
http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/ee350/thestarseeker/the%20starseeker/androgynous.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/baybag/top_model_aj.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d186/applehell20/eb27e5ec.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c297/moonfried/Halloween/Picture039.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/Angeli33/75962058_small.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/14/10 at 7:06 am

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTefPuGhZMgiIAbi2jzbkF/SIG=11ki7sdik/EXP=1276603502/**http%3a//www.silonline.it/boy8.JPG

Happy Birthday Boy George.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/10 at 7:08 am

The person born on this day...Boy George

Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd; 14 June 1961) is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. His 1990s and 2000s-era solo music has glam influences such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop. He also founded and was lead singer of Jesus Loves You during the period 1989–1992. Being involved in many activities (among them songwriting, DJing, writing books, designing clothes and photography), he has released fewer music recordings in the last decade.

On 11 May 2009, Boy George was released from prison at HMP Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk, four months into a fifteen-month sentence for the assault and false imprisonment of a male escort, , in his East London flat. He was tagged and placed on a curfew for the balance of the sentence. Boy George's androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren (previously the inspiration behind the Sex Pistols), who arranged for O'Dowd to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow, featuring Annabella Lwin. Boy George's association with Bow Wow Wow ended soon afterwards, and he started his own group with bassist Mikey Craig. The group was to be called 'In Praise of Lemmings', but the name was later abandoned. Jon Moss  (who had been the drummer with The Damned, Adam and the Ants and London) then joined the group. The final member to join the band was Roy Hay. The group abandoned another name, Sex Gang Children, and settled on the name Culture Club, referring to the ethnic background of the members; a transvestite Irish singer (George), a Jamaican-Briton (Craig), the Jewish drummer (Moss) and an Anglo-Saxon Englishman (Hay).

The band signed with Virgin Records in the UK, and with Epic Records in the US and released its debut album Kissing to Be Clever (UK#5, US#14) in 1982. The single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", reached #1 in a dozen countries around the world, and #2 in the United States. This was followed by the Top 10 hit "Time (Clock of the Heart)" in the US and UK, and I"ll Tumble 4 Ya" which reached US #9. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since the Beatles to have three Top 10 hits in the US from a debut album.

Their next album, Colour By Numbers was an enormous success, topping the UK charts and hit #2 in the US. The single "Church of the Poison Mind" (featuring Helen Terry) became a Top 10 hit, and "Karma Chameleon" became a #1 single in sixteen countries, including the US, where it stayed at #1 for three weeks. It was the best-selling single of the year in the UK, spending six weeks at #1. "Miss Me Blind" and "It's a Miracle" were Top 5 and Top 20 hits respectively, and "Victims" was another UK hit.

George co-wrote the group's contributions to the movie soundtrack Electric Dreams, the songs "The Dream" and "Love is Love", were written solely by George and Roy Hay. Moreover, the P. P. Arnold song "Electric Dreams" was credited only to George and Phil Pickett. The band's third album Waking Up with the House on Fire (UK#2, US#26) featured the hit single "The War Song", but sales of the album were not as strong as the first two. George also had a lead vocal role on the Band Aid international hit single "Do They Know It's Christmas". Proceeds from the single were donated to feed famine victims in Africa. In 1986, George guest-starred on an episode of the television action-drama The A-Team, in which he played himself. The episode was entitled "Cowboy George".

George had been occasionally using drugs, but by 1985 he had developed a heroin addiction. The group's next album From Luxury To Heartache (UK#10, US#32) featured the hit single "Move Away", but once again did not match their earlier success. George was arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. Keyboardist Michael Rudetski, who co-wrote and played on the song "Sexuality" on Culture Club's From Luxury to Heartache album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in London. This followed the death of friend Mark Vaultier, who overdosed on methadone and Valium at a party Boy George was to attend. George had been arrested en-route to the party on suspicion of carrying drugs. Culture Club disbanded several months after the release of their fourth album.
Solo career: 1980s

His heroin addiction still a problem and a subsequent dependence on prescription narcotics emerging, George started recording his first solo album. In 1987, Sold was released and George enjoyed several hit singles including "Everything I Own" (UK #1), "Keep Me In Mind" (UK #29), "To be Reborn" (UK #13) as well as the title song (UK #24). Despite UK success, George never managed to duplicate his success in the United States; he was not able to work in America because of the previous year's drug charges. He did have a Top 40 hit with the single "Live My Life" (#40 US) from the Hiding Out soundtrack. His second US album High Hat was composed of various songs from two of his solo British albums released after Sold. The first single from "High Hat" entitled "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", produced by Teddy Riley, became a Top 5 R&B hit. His following release was a protest song against the governing UK Conservative Party's legal restrictions on anyone working for a local authority "promoting" homosexuality, 'No Clause 28 (Emilio Pasquez Space Face Full Remix)' was an underground acid house hit.

In 1989, George formed his own label, More Protein and recorded under the name Jesus Loves You, (writing under the pseudonym Angela Dust). He released two other underground club songs "After The Love" and "Generations Of Love", and "Bow Down Mister". With "Bow Down Mister", he returned to the UK top 30 in 1991. Inspired by his involvement in the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON), George had written the song during a trip to India. A third single taken from it, "One On One" became popular in its single version, remixed by Massive Attack).

Bow Down Mister (A Small Portion 2 B Polite Mix) excerpt
Play sound
An excerpt from Bow Down Mister (A Small Portion 2 B Polite Mix)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Solo career: 1990s

From March 1990 to April 1991, George presented a weekly chat and music show on the Power Station satellite channel called Blue Radio. In 1992, George had a hit with the song "The Crying Game" (produced by the Pet Shop Boys), which was featured in the movie of the same name, and reached the top-twenty of the US Hot 100. Although he had had several solo hits in the UK, this would be his first and only big US hit since the Culture Club song "Move Away" reached the Top 20 in America in 1986.

George made many recordings between 1990 and 1994, but none were issued. A pop and world music-oriented album was scheduled for release by Jesus Loves You in 1992, named "Popularity Breeds Contempt", but never came out. Only three tracks with their respective remixed versions survived, ending up on the "Sweet Toxic Love" EP, released in the last year of the 1990 year (which only reached #65 in the UK Chart). The album (the tentative title of which, "Popularity Breeds Contempt", also survived as opening line spoken at the beginning of the 1993 collection called At Worst: The Best of Boy George and Culture Club) was shelved, as it were, in favour of the recent growing interest in rock for George.

He released a rock-driven Cheapness and Beauty in 1995, but the album was not successful, although "Same Thing in Reverse" did become a minor US hit. A follow-up to Cheapness And Beauty, tentatively named "Too Spooky" was recorded in spring 1996, but it was shelved. Some of the tracks from those sessions appeared later on The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit Volume One, which was at first sold on the internet only and then distributed by several minor labels. Another project from the time was a new group that would include Boy George and two long-time musicians, John Themis and Richie Stevens. Initially named "Shallow", it was later re-named "Dubversive". The project took place in 1997 and was to include trip-hop, dub and reggae. The project was shelved, this time due to a lack of interest by record companies because of the group's lack of commercial appeal. Some songs from those sessions surfaced later on the 2002 Culture Club Box set and some others appeared on eBay in 2004.

On some other labels, several dance-oriented tracks were released in various countries. For example, "Love is Leaving" went top 3 in Italy and "When Will You Learn" reached the top positions in the Switzerland charts. "When Will You Learn" was also nominated for the Best Dance Recording, at the Grammy Awards. In 1999, Boy George collaborated on songs with dance-oriented acts. For example, "Why Go", a slow-paced track with Faithless, from their Sunday 8 PM LP, was later released in a remixed form in some European countries and Australia. A track was done with Groove Armada, named "Innocence Is Lost", but was only released on a promo 12" in 1999.
Solo career: 2000s

Despite his lack of solo success, Boy George remained a figure in the public eye. Although he never reached the same level of success as in the 1980s, he has enjoyed a second career as a notable music DJ. He started DJing in the early 1990s and came to the attention of legendary rave/house promoters Fantazia who asked him to mix 1 of the discs on the 2 volume in their new compilation series Fantazia The House Collection 2. This compilation was a success in the UK, going gold. The album was also sold to Sony for European-wide release. London nightclub Ministry of Sound hired him to compile one of their first CDs, and it promptly sold 100,000 copies. He then completed some compilations for them, five of them being the Annual I to V. In 2002/2003, he starred in the London musical Taboo, based on his life (George didn't play himself, opting instead to take on the persona of Australian-born performance artist Leigh Bowery). Boy George was nominated for a Tony Awards for the "Best Musical Score" and Taboo was a great success in London's West End, though a heavily altered Rosie O'Donnell-produced run in New York was short-lived (100 performances only, against the two-year run in England).

In 2002, Boy George released U Can Never B2 Straight, an "unplugged" collection of rare and lesser known acoustic works. It contained unreleased tracks from previous years as well as some ballads from Cheapness And Beauty and the Culture Club album Don't Mind if I Do. It received the best reviews of Boy George's solo career, many of them highlighting his strong song writing abilities. The record was only released in the UK and Japan, and received almost no promotion from Virgin Records, only rising to #147 on the UK album charts.

From 2002 to 2004, under the pseudonym "the Twin", Boy George experimented in electronica, releasing limited edition 7" singles and promo records. Performed in small venues such as the Nag Nag Club, the material was considered innovative, but not commercially marketable. This period, however, was a very creative and liberating one for George; for "the Twin", could sing whatever he wanted. The limited releases included four 500 to 520 copies 7", one limited 12" (for Sanitized) and a promo CD, 1000 copies 13-track album Yum Yum. Two years later, it was released via digital outlets like iTunes. An album recorded in the Spring of 2003 was also shelved. A collaboration with electronic combo T-Total, the album was a collection of covers of songs by Jefferson Airplane, David Bowie, John Lennon, Dusty Springfield, T. Rex, and the Eurythmics among others. It is suggested that Boy George's numerous abandoned projects are due to his broad interest and need to explore other creative mediums such as photography, writing, and fashion.

During 2003, he presented a weekly show on London radio station LBC 97.3 for six months. He wrote the foreword for a feng shui book called Practical Feng Shui by Simon G. Brown (published in 1998). He also appeared as a guest on the British comedy-talk show The Kumars at No. 42. In March 2005 he was the guest host for an episode of The Friday Night Project, for Channel 4 television.

On his "More Protein" website, George did announce another unreleased album, named Straight, for mid-2005. It was to include tracks such as "Panic" and "Talking Love". Four tracks were released as a sampler with the book of the same name in 2005. A reggaeton oriented EP was also planned for August 2006 but was never released. Some recent tracks were shared by George himself in late 2006 and early 2007 on his YouTube account, his three myspace pages and sometimes on his official site.In January 2007, Boy George released "Time Machine" on Plan A Records. "Time Machine" was co-written by double Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter Amanda Ghost who also co-wrote "You're Beautiful" with James Blunt.

On 20 October 2006, it was announced that he would be writing some tracks for Kylie Minogue (News.com.au story) with Amanda Ghost; however, the songs were not included on her 2007 album. It was not the first time that George wrote songs for other artists; in the past, he shared songwriting credits with the Beach Boys, Caron Wheeler, Charlotte Church, Mica Paris and many others. He also wrote many of the tracks for the artists on his own dance oriented music label, More Protein, such as Eve Gallagher, Zee Asha, Lippy Lou, and E-Zee Possee.

Boy George has run his own fashion line for some years, called "B-Rude". B-Rude has shown at fashion shows in London, New York and Moscow. On 24 December 2006, George appeared on a one-off BBC TV programme Duet Impossible in which he performed with himself from the 1980s and joked about his street cleaning.

Later in 2007, two electronica/dance collaborations were released in limited editions. In the spring, the track "You're Not The One" was remixed from an old demo and released with the dance combo "Loverush UK" reaching the top 20 in the UK dance chart. It was a digital-only release, available in many digital retailers like iTunes. Also on iTunes, a new collaboration with trip-hop/electro band Dark Globe, called "Atoms", was released on 19 November. The single contains eight versions, from the slow original to electro remixes by Ariya and Henrik Schwarz. Also in late 2007, an EP titled "Disco Abomination" appeared on the internet, available for download on several underground outlets. It included new remixes of tracks like "Turn 2 Dust", "Love Your Brother", and covers of "Don't Wanna See Myself" and "Go Your Own Way". Most of the versions are remixes done by German producer Kinky Roland.

On 25 February 2007, George was special guest DJ at LGBT nightspot, The Court Hotel in Perth, Western Australia. On 4 March 2007, George performed as a DJ at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney for the Mardi Gras Festival. On 11 May 2007, George performed as a DJ at the launch party for the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, UAE. George cancelled his planned 2007 October tour via an announcement on his official website. In 2007: George toured as a DJ, visiting Florence, Stuttgart, Rotterdam, Toulouse, Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Syndey, Dubai, Skopje, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Toronto, Cagliari, Blackpool, Coventry, Munich, Naples, Mantova, Lyon, Follonica, Paris, Kristiansand, Noli, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Amsterdam, Beirut, Budapest, Skanderborg, Baia, London, Mykonos, Geneva, Lausanne, Stockholm, Manchester, Brussels, Bologna, Hongkong, Letterkenny, Aix-en-Provence, Reims, Moscow and Genova.

George has played a special residency at the Shaw Theatre in London (in which all shows were sold out) from 23 January 2008, followed by a full UK tour. In April 2008, The Biography Channel featured a documentary on the life of Boy George. The North American tour which was planned for July/August 2008 had to be cancelled because he had been denied a United States visa due to a London court case scheduled for November 2008. On 2 July, 6 concert dates in South America were announced. Boy George participated in RETROFEST held in Scotland in August 2008, and a 30-date UK tour took place in in October/November 2008.
Reunions

In July 1998, a reunited Culture Club performed three dates in Monte Carlo and then joined the Human League and Howard Jones in a "Big Rewind" tour of the US. The following month, the band appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and made an appearance in Britain, their first in 14 years. Later that year, the band had a Top 5 hit in the UK with "I Just Wanna Be Loved" and later a top 30 hit with "Your Kisses are Charity". In 2006, the band decided to again reunite and tour; however, George declined to join them for this tour. As a result, two members of Culture Club replaced George with vocalist Sam Butcher. George has expressed his displeasure at the turn of events. Finally, after one showcase and one live show, that project was shelved.
George struggled against his severe heroin addiction for many years.  He attempted to perform concerts under its influence. Addictions to other drugs followed. Motivated by a desire to save George's life, his younger brother David made an appearance on UK national television and blew the whistle on George's drug habit. Michael Rudetsky, a close friend of George's and the co-writer of the From Luxury to Heartache album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in August 1986.

In 1986, Boy George was arrested for heroin possession as part of 'Operation Culture'.

In 1995, Kirk Brandon sued for libel claiming that Boy George mentioned a non-existent love affair between them in his autobiography, Take It Like a Man. George won the case and Brandon was ordered to pay £200,000 to Virgin Records, EMI Virgin Music and the book publisher in costs. Brandon declared himself bankrupt, which resulted in Boy George paying over £60,000 in legal fees.

On 7 October 2005, Boy George was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of cocaine possession and falsely reporting a burglary. George denied that the drug was his. In court on 1 February 2006, the cocaine possession charge was dropped and George pleaded guilty to falsely reporting a burglary. He was sentenced to five days of community service, fined $1,000 and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation program.

On 17 June 2006, a Manhattan judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Boy George after he failed to appear in court for a hearing on why George wanted to change his sentence for the false burglary report. George's attorney informed the court that he had advised George not to appear at that hearing.

On 14 August 2006, Boy George reported to the New York Department of Sanitation for his court-ordered community service. As a result of the swarming media coverage, he was allowed to finish his community service inside the Sanitation Department grounds.

In a February 2007 interview, the performer explained: “People have this idea of Boy George now, particularly the media: that I’m tragic, fudgeed up. I mean, I’m all those things, but I’m also lots of other things. Yes, I’ve had my dark periods, but that isn’t all I am.”

On 5 December 2008, Boy George was convicted in Snaresbrook Crown Court, London, of the assault and false imprisonment of Audun Carlsen. On 16 January 2009, he was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for this offence. Initially sent to HMP Pentonville in London, he was later transferred to HMP Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk (a category C prison).

On 11 May 2009, Boy George was released after serving four months of his fifteen-month custodial sentence at HMP Edmunds Hill. He was released on home detention curfew and was required to wear an ankle monitor for 90 days.

On 23 December 2009, Boy George had his request to appear on the final series of Celebrity Big Brother turned down by the Probation Service. Richard Clayton QC, representing the Probation Service, said O'Dowd's participation would pose "a high level of risk" to the service's reputation. Mr Clayton argued that if he used the show to promote his status as a celebrity and earn "a lucrative sum of money" it could undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e88/STARTER473/boy_george.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac23/ShihTzu24/boy-george.jpg

In December 2009, Boy George had a successful run of concerts at the Leicester Square Theatre in London's West End.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/10 at 7:09 am


http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTefPuGhZMgiIAbi2jzbkF/SIG=11ki7sdik/EXP=1276603502/**http%3a//www.silonline.it/boy8.JPG

Happy Birthday Boy George.  :)

HAHA he is my person of the day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/14/10 at 7:10 am

It's so sad what Boy George had to go through after when he was arrested.  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/14/10 at 7:11 am


HAHA he is my person of the day.


All I had to do was to look up June Birthdays. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/10 at 7:12 am

The person who died on this day...Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994)  was an American composer, conductor  and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards (20), including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His best-known works are the jazz-idiom theme to The Pink Panther film series ("The Pink Panther Theme"), the Peter Gunn Theme from the television series, and "Moon River". Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20.  Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four.  He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.

Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career. He was first nominated for an Academy Award in 1955 for his original score of The Glenn Miller Story, on which he collaborated with Joseph Gershenson. He lost out to Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In 1962 he was nominated in the Best Music, Original Song category for "Bachelor in Paradise" from the film of the same name, in collaboration with lyricist Mack David. That song did not win. However, Mancini did receive two Oscars that year: one in the same category, for the song "Moon River" (shared with lyricist Johnny Mercer), and one for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for Breakfast at Tiffany's. The following year, he and Mercer took another Best Song award for "Days of Wine and Roses," another eponymous theme song. His next eleven nominations went for naught, but he finally garnered one last statuette working with lyricist Leslie Bricusse on the score for Victor/Victoria, which won the "Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score" award for 1983. All three of the films for which he won were directed by Blake Edwards. His score for Victor/Victoria was adapted for the 1995 Broadway musical of the same name.

On April 13, 2004 the United States Postal Service honored Mancini with a 37 cent commemorative stamp. The stamp shows Mancini conducting with a list of some of his most famous movies and TV show themes in the background. The stamp is Scott catalog number 3839.
Discography
Hit singles
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC UK US Country
1960 "Mr. Lucky" 21 - - -
1961 "Theme from the Great Imposter" 90 - - -
"Moon River" 11 1 44 -
1962 "Theme from Hatari" 95 - - -
1963 "Days of Wine and Roses" 33 10 - -
"Banzai Pipeline" 93 - - -
"Charade" 36 15 - -
1964 "The Pink Panther Theme" 31 10 - -
"A Shot In the Dark" 97 - - -
"Dear Heart" 77 14 - -
"How Soon" - - 10 -
1965 "The Sweetheart Tree" 117 23 - -
"Moment To Moment" - 27 - -
1966 "Hawaii (Main Theme)" - 6 - -
1967 "Two For the Road" - 17 - -
"Wait Until Dark" - 4 - -
1968 "Norma La De Guadalajara" - 21 - -
"A Man, a Horse and a Gun" - 36 - -
1969 "Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet" 1 1 - -
"Moonlight Sonata" 87 15 - -
"There Isn't Enough To Go Around" - 39 - -
1970 "Theme from Z (Life Goes On)" 115 17 - -
"Darling Lili" - 26 - -
1971 "Love Story" 13 2 - -
"Theme from Cade's County" - 14 42 -
1972 "Theme from the Mancini Generation" - 38 - -
"All His Children"(with Charley Pride) 117 - - 2
1973 "Oklahoma Crude" - 38 - -
1974 "Hangin' Out"(with the Mouldy Seven) - 21 - -
1975 "Once Is Not Enough" - 45 - -
1976 "African Symphony" - 40 - -
"Slow Hot Wind" - 38 - -
1977 "Theme from Charlie's Angels"" 45 22 - -
1980 "Ravel's Bolero" 101 - - -
1984 "The Thornbirds Theme" - - 23 -
Albums

   * The Versatile Henry Mancini, Liberty LRP 3121
   * The Mancini Touch, RCA Victor LSP 2101
   * The Blues & the Beat, RCA Victor LSP-2147
   * Mr. Lucky Goes Latin, RCA Victor LSP-2360
   * Our Man in Hollywood, RCA Victor LSP-2604
   * Uniquely Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2692
   * The Best of Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2693
   * Mancini Plays Mancini, RCA Camden CAS-2158
   * Everybody's Favorite, RCA Camden CXS-9034
   * Concert Sound of Henry Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2897
   * Dear Heart and Other Songs, RCA Victor LSP-2990
   * Theme Scene, RCA Victor LSP-3052
   * Debut Conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, RCA Victor LSP-3106
   * The Best of Vol. 3, RCA Victor LSP-3347
   * The Latin Sound of Henry Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-3356
   * A Merry Mancini Christmas, RCA Victor LSP-3612
   * Pure Gold, RCA Victor LSP-3667
   * Mancini Country, RCA Victor LSP-3668
   * Mancini '67, RCA Victor LSP-3694
   * Music of Hawaii, RCA Victor LSP-3713
   * Brass on Ivory, RCA Victor LSP-3756
   * A Warm Shade of Ivory, RCA Victor LSP-3757
   * Big Latin Band, RCA Victor LSP-4049
   * Six Hours Past Sunset, RCA Victor LSP-4239
   * Theme music from Z & Other Film Music, RCA Victor LSP-4350
   * Big Screen-Little Screen, RCA Victor LSP-4630
   * This Is Henry Mancini, RCA Victor VPS6029
   * Music from the TV Series "The Mancini Generation", RCA Victor LSP-4689
   * Brass, Ivory & Strings (with Doc Severinsen), RCA APL1-0098
   * The Theme Scene, RCA AQLI-3052
   * Country Gentleman, RCA APD1-0270 (Quadraphonic)
   * Hangin' Out, RCA CPL1-0672
   * Symphonic Soul, RCA APD1-1025 (Quadraphonic)
   * Mancini's Angels, RCA CPL1-2290
   * (with Johnny Mathis), The Hollywood Musicals, Columbia FC 40372
   * The Pink Panther Meets Speedy Gonzales, Koch Schwann CD
   * The Legendary Henry Mancini, BMG Australia 3 CD set

Soundtracks

Many of Mancini's "soundtracks" are actually "Music from ...," which allowed him to rearrange the music to be more accessible and to release records without the expense of paying studio orchestra fees.

   * The Music from Peter Gunn, RCA Victor LSP 1956
   * More Music from Peter Gunn, RCA Victor LSP 2040
   * Music from Mr. Lucky, RCA Victor LSP 2198
   * Bachelor in Paradise, Film Score Monthly FSMCD vol. 7 Nr. 18
   * Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture, RCA Victor LSP-2362
   * A Change of Seasons
   * Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Intrada special collection vol. 11
   * Experiment in Terror, RCA Victor LSP-2442
   * Hatari!, RCA Victor LSP-2559
   * Charade, RCA Victor LSP-2755
   * The Pink Panther, RCA Victor LSP 2795
   * The Great Race, RCA Victor LSP-3402
   * Arabesque, RCA Victor LSP-3623
   * What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, RCA Victor LSP-3648
   * Two for the Road, RCA Victor LSP-3802
   * Gunn, RCA Victor LSP-3840
   * The Party, RCA Victor LSP-3997
   * Me, Natalie, Columbia OS 3350
   * Visions of Eight, RCA Victor ABL1-0231
   * The Great Waldo Pepper, MCA 2085
   * Darling Lili, RCA LSPX 1000
   * Gaily, Gaily, UAS 5202
   * The Glass Menagerie, MCA MCAD 6222
   * The Great Mouse Detective, Varèse Sarabande VSD 5359
   * The Hawaiians, UAS 5210
   * Lifeforce, BSXCD 8844
   * The Molly Maguires, Bay Cities BCD 3029
   * Nightwing
   * Oklahoma Crude, RCA APL1 0271
   * The Pink Panther Strikes Again, UA-LA 694
   * Revenge of the Pink Panther, EMI 791113-2
   * Santa Claus: The Movie, EMI SJ 17177
   * Silver Streak, Intrada special collection vol. 5
   * Sometimes a Great Notion, Decca DL 79185
   * Son of the Pink Panther, Milan 21-16461-2
   * Sunflower, SLC SLCS 7035
   * The Thief Who Came to Dinner, WB BS 2700
   * The Thorn Birds, Varèse Sarabande 30206 65642 8
   * Tom and Jerry - The Movie, MCA MCD 10721
   * Touch of Evil, Movie Sound MSCD 401
   * Victor/Victoria, GNP Crescendo GNPD 8038
   * W.C. Fields and Me, MCA 2092
   * Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, Epic SE 35692

Filmography

   * Charade - Universal Studios
   * The Great Mouse Detective - Disney Pictures
   * Ghost Dad - Universal Studios

Bibliography

   * Mancini, Henry: Sounds And Scores: a practical guide to professional orchestration (Book on orchestration of popular music, 1962)
   * Mancini, Henry: Did they mention the music? (Autobiography, with Gene Lees, 1989)
   * Thomas, Tony: Music For The Movies (1973)
   * Thomas, Tony: Film Score (1979)
   * Larson, Randall: 'Henry Mancini: On Scoring Lifeforce and Santa Claus' (interview)(in: CinemaScore, #15, 1987)
   * Büdinger, Matthias: 'An interview with Henry Mancini' (in: Soundtrack, vol. 7, No. 26, 1988)
   * Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini' (in: Soundtrack, vol. 13, No. 50, 1994)
   * Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini remembered' (in: Soundtrack, vol. 13, No. 51)
   * Büdinger, Matthias: 'Whistling Away The Dark' In: Film Score Monthly, # 45, p. 7
   * Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini 1924–1994' In: Film Score Monthly, # 46/47, p. 5
   * Büdinger, Matthias: 'Feeling Fancy Free' (in: Film Score Monthly, vol. 10, No. 2)
   * Brown, Royal S.: Overtones and undertones — reading film music (1994)

References

  1. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 345. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ^ Chapter 5 Page 51, "Did They Mention the Music". (Autobiography with Gene Lees)
  3. ^ Appendix, pg 239 "Did They Mention the Music". (Autobiography with Gene Lees)
  4. ^ a b Appendix, pg 240. "Did They Mention the Music". (Autobiography with Gene Lees)
  5. ^ "IMDB". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074071/fullcredits. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
  6. ^ "Henry Mancini's cameo on Frasier". http://www.destinyland.org/Secret-Henry-Mancini-Cameo-on-Frasier.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  7. ^ Appendix, pg 235. "Did They Mention the Music" (Autobiography with Gene Lees)
  8. ^ Appendix, pg 236. "Did They Mention the Music" (Autobiography with Gene Lees)

External links

   * Henry Mancini at the Internet Movie Database
   * Henry Mancini at the Internet Broadway Database
   * Henry Mancini at Allmusic
   * Henry Mancini, Space Age Pop
   * A Henry Mancini discography
   * Henry Mancini, Soundtrackinfo
   * Official site on Mancini's 80th anniversary
   * A Mancini anthology
   * Memories of Henry Mancini
   * The story behind the making of the music from Peter Gunn, including interviews with the musicians and sound engineers
   * Henry Mancini at Find a Grave
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q223/gpgaal/HenryMancini.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd329/sutrisno2629/WESTERN%20ARTIST/MainHenryMancini1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/14/10 at 7:52 pm

Henry Mancini was a musical genius, he composed so many well known themes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/10 at 9:35 pm


Henry Mancini was a musical genius, he composed so many well known themes.

So true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/15/10 at 7:19 am

The word of the day...Twister
Twister may refer to:

In entertainment:

    * Twister (game)
    * Twister (1989 film), a comedy film starring Suzy Amis and Crispin Glover
    * Twister (1996 film), a disaster film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton
    * Twist (ride), a popular amusement ride, often seen on travelling funfairs
    * Twister, a roller coaster at Knoebels amusement park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania
    * Twister (comics), a comic book superhero character.
    * Twister (magic trick), a stage illusion.
    * Twister, a CITV gameshow hosted by Nigel Mitchell
    * Twista, an American rapper

In other uses:

    * Twister (ice cream), an ice cream made by Unilever's Heartbrand
    * Twister (pastry), a cruller
    * Twister (yacht), a sailing keelboat
    * Twister (fish), Bellapiscis medius
    * Twister Supersonic Separator, hydrocarbon processing system for the dehydration and dewpointing of natural gas
    * A tornado
    * Twister, a type of spinal lock
    * Spring roll
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac77/xx-angel_roxx-xx/lollol.jpg
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq186/Cobra252/Blu-ray%20Posters/TwisterBR.jpg
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/cjp78/Torrents/twister02.jpg
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac327/Hyp3r_Alters/Magic%20Set%20Editor/TimeTwister.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j175/audreys03/tornado.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z250/everx_sosweet_2/knoebelswithjess192.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/trigger-rules/Pleasure%20Park/Twister.png
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/keedaboo/sleepova000.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/15/10 at 7:22 am

The person born on this day...Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good As It Gets, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Some of her other Hollywood credits include Twister, Cast Away, What Women Want and Pay It Forward. She made her directorial debut in 2008 with Then She Found Me. Hunt was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of Jane Elizabeth (née Novis), a photographer, and Gordon Hunt, a film director and acting coach.  Her uncle, Peter H. Hunt, is also a director, and her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Fries (née Anderson) was a voice coach.  Hunt is of Jewish (from her paternal grandmother)  and Methodist background.  She spent part of her childhood in New York City and later attended the University of California at Los Angeles.
Career

Hunt began working in the 1970s as a child actress. Her early roles included an appearance as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, alongside Lindsay Wagner in an episode of The Bionic Woman, and a regular role in the television series The Swiss Family Robinson. She appeared as a marijuana-smoking classmate on an episode of The Facts of Life. She also appeared as a young woman who, while on PCP, jumps out of a second-story window in a 1982 after school special called Desperate Lives (a scene which she mocked during a Saturday Night Live monologue in 1994). In the mid-1980s, she had a recurring role on St. Elsewhere as Clancy Williams, girlfriend of Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison. She remains well known for one of her earliest roles as Jennie in Bill: On His Own, costarring Mickey Rooney.
Hunt in 1994, before the Emmy rehearsal

In the 1990s, after the lead female role in the short-lived My Life and Times, Hunt became well-known to television audiences in Mad About You, winning Emmy Awards for her performance in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999.

In 1998 Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol Connelly, a waitress and single mother who finds herself falling in love with Melvin Udall, an obsessive-compulsive romance novelist played by Jack Nicholson in the movie As Good as It Gets. After winning the Academy Award she took time off from movie work to play Viola in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center in New York City.

In 2000, Hunt returned to the screen in four films: Dr. T & the Women with Richard Gere, Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment, What Women Want with Mel Gibson, and Cast Away with Tom Hanks. In 2003, she returned to Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Life x 3. Hunt was also a final candidate for the role of "Clarice Starling" in Hannibal, after Jodie Foster decided not to reprise her Oscar winning role from The Silence of the Lambs. However, Hunt lost the role to Julianne Moore at the last minute. In 2006, Hunt appeared in a small role in the film Bobby.

Hunt is a director, having helmed several episodes of Mad About You, including the series finale. Her big-screen directorial debut came with the film Then She Found Me, in which she also starred.

She currently owns a production company with Connie Tavel, Hunt/Tavel Productions under Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Personal life

Hunt dated actor Hank Azaria for five years, then was married to him from 1999 until 2000. She briefly dated fellow actor Kevin Spacey in 2000. She has been in a relationship with Matthew Carnahan since 2001 and they have a daughter, Makena Lei Gordon Carnahan, born in 2004.
Filmography and awards

Helen Hunt has been recognized extensively in her career. In 1998 she became the second actress (after Liza Minnelli) to win a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award and an Emmy Award in the same year (Helen Mirren subsequently did so in 2006) . Hunt was nominated for an Emmy Award for lead actress in a comedy seven years in a row, from 1993 through 1999, winning in the last four years.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1974 Amy Prentiss Jill Prentiss
1975 The Swiss Family Robinson Helga
1982 It Takes Two Lisa Quinn
1977 The Fitzpatricks Kerry Gerardi
1978 The Bionic Woman Princess Aura
1984-1986 St. Elsewhere Clancy Williams
1991 My Life and Times Rebecca Miller
1992-1999 Mad About You Jamie Stemple Buchman Emmy Award - 7 nominations (1993-1999), 4 wins (1996-1999)
Golden Globe - 6 nominations (1993 - 1998), 3 wins (1994, 1995, 1997); Screen Actors Guild Award - 1995
1995 Friends Jamie Buchman
2005 Empire Falls Janine Roby
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1973 Pioneer Woman Sarah Sargeant Made for TV
1975 Death Scream Teila Rodriguez Made for TV
All Together Now Susan Lindsay Made for TV
1976 Having Babies Sharon McNamara Made for TV
1977 The Spell Kristina Matchett Made for TV
Rollercoaster Tracy Calder
1979 Transplant Janice Hurley Made for TV
1981 Child Bride of Short Creek Naomi Made for TV
CBS Afternoon Playhouse Phoebe I Think I'm Having a Baby
The Best Little Girl in the World Made for TV
Angel Dusted Lizzie Eaton Made for TV
The Miracle of Kathy Miller Kathy Miller Made for TV
1982 Desperate Lives Sandy Cameron Made for TV
1983 Bill: On His Own Jenny Wells Made for TV
Quarterback Princess Tami Maida Made for TV
Choices of the Heart Cathy Made for TV
1984 Sweet Revenge Debbie Markham Made for TV
1985 Trancers Leena
Waiting to Act Tracy
Girls Just Want to Have Fun Lynne Stone
1986 The Nativity Mary voice
Peggy Sue Got Married Beth Bodell
1987 Project X Teri
1988 Shooter Tracey Made for TV
Miles from Home Jennifer
Stealing Home Hope Wyatt (adult and pregnant)
The Frog Prince Princess Henrietta
1989 Incident at Dark River Jesse McCandless Made for TV
Next of Kin Jessie Gates
1991 Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story Pamela Smart Made for TV
Trancers II Lena Deth
Into the Badlands Blossom Made for TV
1992 The Waterdance Anna
Only You Clare Enfield
Mr. Saturday Night Annie Wells
Bob Roberts Rose Pondell
Trancers III Lena
1993 Sexual Healing Rene
In the Company of Darkness Gina Pulasky Made for TV
1995 Kiss of Death Bev Kilmartin
1996 Twister Dr. Jo Harding (Adult)
1997 As Good as It Gets Carol Connelly Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe
Screen Actors Guild Award
1998 Twelfth Night Made for TV
2000 Dr. T & the Women Bree
What Women Want Darcy McGuire
Pay It Forward Arlene McKinney
Cast Away Kelly Frears
2001 One Night at McCool's Truck driver scenes deleted
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion Betty Ann Fitzgerald
2005 A Good Woman Mrs. Erlynne
2006 Bobby Samantha Stevens
2007 Then She Found Me April Epner Also co-screenwriter, producer & director
2009 Every Day Jeannie (post-production)
2011 Soul Surfer Cheri Hamilton (Filming)
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/qq95/Yamine_photos/helen-hunt.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/Helen-Hunt-3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/15/10 at 7:27 am

The person who died on this day...James Hunt
James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993)  was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman.

Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and was soon taken under their wing. Hunt entered Formula One in 1973, driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. He went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-Championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of 1975. In his first year with McLaren, Hunt won the World Drivers' Championship, and he remained with the team for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early 1979. However, following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving half way through the 1979 season.

Never one to take himself too seriously, Hunt endeared himself to the British public with his charisma and charm and brought a whole new audience to Formula One in the mid 1970s. Despite his Formula One career only lasting six seasons Hunt remains one of the few drivers of the era to be widely remembered amongst the general public, in part due to his commentary career for the BBC, which he took up following his retirement and maintained until his death in 1993
The son of a successful stockbroker, James Hunt was born in Belmont, Sutton, Surrey and educated firstly at Westerleigh School in Hastings, East Sussex and later Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, and originally studied to be a doctor. But just before his 18th birthday he was taken by a friend to see a motor race and Hunt was instantly hooked.
James Hunt driving a Brabham BT21 in the Guards Trophy F3 race at Brands Hatch, 1969.

Hunt's own racing career started off when he built his own fast but rather ramshackle racing Mini, before graduating to Formula Ford and Formula Three. Hunt was noticed as a fast driver with an aggressive, tail-happy driving style, but one prone to spectacular accidents, hence his well-earned nickname of Hunt The Shunt. Hunt was involved in a controversial incident with Dave Morgan in the Formula Three Daily Express Trophy race at Crystal Palace on 3 October 1970. Having banged wheels earlier in a very closely fought race, Morgan attempted to pass Hunt on the outside of South Tower Corner on the final lap, but instead the cars collided and crashed out of the race. Hunt's car came to rest in the middle of the track, minus two wheels. Hunt got out, ran over to Morgan and furiously pushed him to the ground, which earned him severe official disapproval.

Hunt's career continued in the works March team, but in May 1972 it was announced by the team that he had been dropped from the STP-March Formula 3 team and replaced by Jochen Mass. This followed a period characterized by a series of mechanical failures, and which culminated in a decision by Hunt, against the express instructions of March director Max Mosley, to race at Monaco in a March from a different team, unexpectedly vacated by driver Jean-Claude Alzerat, after Hunt's own March had first broken down and then been hit by another competitor in a practice lap.

After the termination of his racing relationship with STP-March, Hunt quickly fell in with the Hesketh team, where he was seen as a kindred spirit. The team initially entered Hunt in Formula Two with little success but Lord Hesketh decided that they might as well fail in F1 as in F2, as it wasn't significantly more expensive (and it allowed Lord Hesketh to parade his yacht, helicopter, Porsche, and Rolls Royce in front of a more appreciative audience).
Formula One career
Beginnings with Hesketh
Hunt's Hesketh 308 from 1975 being driven by his son, Freddie, in 2007

Hesketh purchased a March 731 chassis, and it was developed by Harvey Postlethwaite. The team wasn't taken seriously by rivals, who saw the Hesketh outfit as a group of party animals lapping up the F1 lifestyle, having champagne breakfasts and spending more time at five-star hotels than at the race circuit. But the car was much more competitive than the works efforts, and their best result was second place at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. For the 1974 season Hesketh Racing built a car, inspired by the March, called the Hesketh 308, but an accompanying V12 engine never materialised. The Hesketh team captured the public imagination: the car without any sponsor markings, the teddy-bear badge and the devil-may-care atmosphere overshadowed the fact that they were an extremely competent outfit. Hunt's season highlight was a victory at the BRDC International Trophy non-Championship race at Silverstone, against a field that included the majority of the contemporary F1 glitterati.

Hunt's first World Championship win came in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He finished fourth in the Championship that year, but Lord Hesketh had run out of funds and could not find a sponsor for his maverick team. With little time left before the 1976 season, Hunt was desperately looking for a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren and joined his brother's Copersucar-Fittipaldi outfit. With no other top drivers available, the team management signed Hunt to McLaren for the next season – he was one of the cheapest World Champions ever (Keke Rosberg in 1982 similarly found a drive at the last minute). Hunt immediately caused a stir by refusing to sign a clause in his contract which stipulated he wore suits to sponsor functions. Throughout his tenure, Hunt attended functions with world leaders, chairmen of businesses and media moguls in t-shirt and jeans and usually barefoot.
World Championship year

1976 was Hunt's best year. He used the McLaren M23 to win six Grands Prix in a turbulent season. After a slow start, he was disqualified and later reinstated as the winner of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix for driving a McLaren that was supposedly 1.8 cm too wide. A seventh win at the British Grand Prix was disallowed after a row over an accident at the first corner that Hunt had got involved in. At the Italian Grand Prix, the Texaco fuel that McLaren used was tested and although apparently legal, the Penske cars, running the same fuel, had a much higher octane level than allowed and subsequently both teams were forced to start from the rear of the grid.

Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident in Germany, which caused him to miss the following two races, allowed Hunt to close the gap to the Austrian. As they went to the final round in Japan Hunt was just three points behind. The Japanese Grand Prix was torrentially wet, and Lauda retired early on in the race, unable to blink because of facial burns from his accident in Germany. After leading most of the race Hunt suffered a puncture, then had a delayed pitstop and finally received mixed pit signals from his team. But he managed to splash back to third place, scoring four points, enough for him to win the World Championship by just one point.
Decline and retirement
Hunt in 1978 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch with McLaren M26.

The 1977 Formula One season started unluckily for Hunt; although he won three races, took several podium finishes and eventually placed fifth in the Championship. The McLaren M26 was problematic in the early part of the season, and Hunt's apathy towards car testing made for a difficult period of races, during which Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti managed to build up a considerable points tally that Hunt could not overcome. Eventually he knuckled down to sort the car's problems, but unreliability during 1977 cost him a far better result. However, towards the end of the year the combination of Hunt and the M26 was quicker than any rival combination other than Mario Andretti and the Lotus 78, and Hunt won in fine style at both Watkins Glen and Fuji.

The 1978 season marked a sharp decline for Hunt and he scored just eight world championship points. Lotus had developed effective ground effect aerodynamics with their Lotus 79 car, and McLaren were slow to respond. The M26 was revised as a ground effect car midway through the season but it did not work, and without a test driver to sort the car, Hunt's motivation plummeted. He was even being outperformed on occasion by his inexperienced new team-mate Patrick Tambay, although Tambay managed to outqualify Hunt only once during the 16-race season.

Any motivation James had left was snuffed out by the crash he and his friend Ronnie Peterson were involved in at the start of the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. The start of the race was chaotic, with half the field still completing the warm-up lap. There was a huge accident going into the first corner and Peterson's Lotus was shunted into the barriers and burst into flames. Hunt, together with Patrick Depailler and Clay Regazzoni, rescued Peterson from the car, but the Swede died one day later because of an embolism. Hunt took his friend's death particularly hard and for years afterwards blamed Riccardo Patrese for the accident. Video evidence of the crash has since shown that Patrese did not touch Hunt or Peterson's cars, nor did he cause any other car to do so. Hunt believed, however, that it was Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren and Lotus to touch, but Patrese argues that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place.

For 1979 Hunt moved to the initially very successful Walter Wolf Racing team for what would be his last Formula One season. However, Hunt's 1979 season with Wolf would turn out to be brief. The team's ground effect car was uncompetitive and Hunt had lost any enthusiasm for racing. His private life was also becoming increasingly turbulent. After failing to finish the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, the race where six years previously he had made his debut, Hunt made a statement to the press announcing his immediate retirement and walked away from F1 competition forever.
Personal life and later career

Hunt was notorious for his unconventional behaviour on and off the track. Having been part of Formula One when the series was consolidating, and when it was conquering the attention of the motor sport press, Hunt became the epitome of unruly, playboy drivers and was celebrated for his English eccentricity (which included dining with his Alsatian, Oscar, at expensive Mayfair restaurants).

Early in their careers Hunt and Lauda had shared a one bedroom flat in London together, and were close friends off the track. Lauda, in his autobiography To Hell and Back, described Hunt as an "open, honest to God pal." Whilst living in Spain as a tax exile, Hunt was neighbours with Jody Scheckter, and they also came to be very good friends, with Hunt giving Scheckter the nickname Fletcher after the crash prone bird in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Another close friend was Ronnie Peterson. Peterson was a quiet and shy man, whilst Hunt was exactly the opposite, but their contrasting personalities made them very close off the track. It was Hunt who discovered the brilliant Gilles Villeneuve, whom he met after being soundly beaten by him in a Formula Atlantic race in 1976. Hunt then arranged for the young Canadian to make his Grand Prix debut with McLaren in 1977. Villeneuve came to rely on Hunt for advice and support during his career and Hunt was particularly upset after Villeneuve's death in 1982.

Hunt's lifestyle was as controversial as some of the events on track: he was associated with a succession of beautiful women; he preferred to turn up to formal functions in bare feet and jeans; he was a casual user of marijuana; and he lived an informal life near the beach in Marbella. He was regularly seen attending nightclubs and discos, and was generally the life and soul of the party. Hunt was an expert ball game player, and regularly played squash and tennis. He also played on the F1 drivers' cricket and football teams and appeared on the BBC's Superstars more than once. He was also musically inclined, being able to play the trumpet and piano well. It was often assumed that he did not take racing seriously enough, yet through 1976 and 1977 the results continued to come. He famously wore a badge on his racing overalls that read Sex - Breakfast of Champions.

He was married twice: first, to model Suzy Millar, who left him for the actor Richard Burton. His second marriage, to Sarah, resulted in two children .

Soon after retirement, Hunt became an outspoken and entertaining television commentator for the BBC, alongside Murray Walker. Viewers were regularly exposed to his knowledge, insights and dry sense of humour during broadcasts, bringing him a whole new fanbase. He was famous for 'rubbishing' drivers he didn't think were trying hard enough, and although harsh-sounding, his comments were usually in good humour – he once described René Arnoux's comments that non-turbo cars didn't suit the Frenchman's driving skills as "bullsheesh", while live on the BBC. He was also skilled at reading a race and predicting outcomes to situations on-track. He briefly considered making a comeback to F1 in the mid-1980s, and even tested privately for Williams setting competitive lap times, but eventually changed his mind.

Hunt fought depression and alcoholism and despite severe financial setbacks in his business life, approaching his mid-40s it seemed that he had overcome many of his demons (particularly alcohol and tobacco) and had finally achieved happiness. Happiness to Hunt included his new partner Helen, his clean health, his bicycle, his casual approach to dress, his two sons and his Austin A35 van. In an unlikely twist Hunt became a champion breeder of budgerigars and parrots. One of his parrots, Humbert was slated to appear as Captain Hook's bird in a West End production of Peter Pan, but was returned to Hunt because of the bird's intolerance to the actor playing Captain Hook.

Hunt made a brief appearance in the 1979 British silent slapstick comedy "The Plank." He also made an appearance on ITV's Police, Camera, Action! special Crash Test Racers in 2000; this was one of many interviews to be aired posthumously.

Hunt died in 1993 at the age of 45, of a heart attack at his home in Wimbledon, only hours after proposing marriage to Helen. He was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium.

Hunt's son Freddie Hunt competed in his first car race on 29 October 2006, and finished fourth overall. It is said he used the race to evaluate if he wished to become a racing driver professionally. After competing in the ADAC Formel Masters series in Germany in 2009, Freddie decided to retire from motor racing. Hunt's younger brother, David, also pursued a racing career, competing in British Formula Three and International Formula 3000 in the 1980s.

In early 2007, Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the name James Hunt. Räikkönen has openly admired the lifestyles of 1970s race car drivers such as Hunt.
Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WDC Pts.
1973 Hesketh Racing March 731 Ford V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON
9 SWE FRA
6 GBR
4 NED
3 GER AUT
Ret ITA
DNS CAN
7 USA
2 8th 14
1974 Hesketh Racing March 731 Ford V8 ARG
Ret BRA
9 8th 15
Hesketh 308 Ford V8 RSA
Ret ESP
10 BEL
Ret MON
Ret SWE
3 NED
Ret FRA
Ret GBR
Ret GER
Ret AUT
3 ITA
Ret CAN
4 USA
3
1975 Hesketh Racing Hesketh 308B Ford V8 ARG
2 BRA
6 RSA
Ret ESP
Ret MON
Ret BEL
Ret SWE
Ret NED
1 FRA
2 GBR
4 GER
Ret AUT
2 4th 33
Hesketh 308C Ford V8 ITA
5 USA
4
1976 Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M23 Ford V8 BRA
Ret RSA
2 USW
Ret ESP
1 BEL
Ret MON
Ret SWE
5 FRA
1 GBR
DSQ GER
1 AUT
4 NED
1 ITA
Ret CAN
1 USA
1 JPN
3 1st 69
1977 Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M23 Ford V8 ARG
Ret BRA
2 RSA
4 USA
7 MON
Ret 5th 40
McLaren M26 Ford V8 ESP
Ret BEL
7 SWE
12 FRA
3 GBR
1 GER
Ret AUT
Ret NED
Ret ITA
Ret USA
1 CAN
Ret JPN
1
1978 Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M26 Ford V8 ARG
4 BRA
Ret RSA
Ret USW
Ret MON
Ret BEL
Ret ESP
6 SWE
8 FRA
3 GBR
Ret GER
DSQ AUT
Ret NED
10 ITA
Ret USA
7 CAN
Ret 13th 8
1979 Olympus Cameras Wolf Racing Wolf WR7 Ford V8 ARG
Ret BRA
Ret RSA
8 ESP
Ret NC 0
Wolf WR8 Ford V8 USW
Ret BEL
Ret MON
Ret FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/cari_mclaren/McLaren%20Driver/Hunt.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/atomxii/james_hunt_1976.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/15/10 at 3:10 pm

Are you kidding me? James Hunt and Helen Hunt?  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/15/10 at 3:11 pm


The word of the day...Twister
Twister may refer to:

In entertainment:

    * Twister (game)
    * Twister (1989 film), a comedy film starring Suzy Amis and Crispin Glover
    * Twister (1996 film), a disaster film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton
    * Twist (ride), a popular amusement ride, often seen on travelling funfairs
    * Twister, a roller coaster at Knoebels amusement park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania
    * Twister (comics), a comic book superhero character.
    * Twister (magic trick), a stage illusion.
    * Twister, a CITV gameshow hosted by Nigel Mitchell
    * Twista, an American rapper

In other uses:

    * Twister (ice cream), an ice cream made by Unilever's Heartbrand
    * Twister (pastry), a cruller
    * Twister (yacht), a sailing keelboat
    * Twister (fish), Bellapiscis medius
    * Twister Supersonic Separator, hydrocarbon processing system for the dehydration and dewpointing of natural gas
    * A tornado
    * Twister, a type of spinal lock
    * Spring roll
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac77/xx-angel_roxx-xx/lollol.jpg
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq186/Cobra252/Blu-ray%20Posters/TwisterBR.jpg
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/cjp78/Torrents/twister02.jpg
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac327/Hyp3r_Alters/Magic%20Set%20Editor/TimeTwister.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j175/audreys03/tornado.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z250/everx_sosweet_2/knoebelswithjess192.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/trigger-rules/Pleasure%20Park/Twister.png
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j45/keedaboo/sleepova000.jpg


There's also naked twister.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/15/10 at 3:27 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWaJ0s0-E1o



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 5:53 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWaJ0s0-E1o



Cat

Like we did last summer

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 5:58 am

The word of the day...Toy
toy is anything that can be used in play. Although toys have traditionally been of tangible product, such definition is not necessary for playtime simulation, motivation, or instruction. From a human standpoint, toys are usually associated with children, but it is not unusual for adults and some cognitively-aware pets to play with toys. An acute example of this is a dolphin training a ball in water. Many items are processed to serve as toys, but goods, or (game-centric) services produced for other purposes can also be used. For instance, a small child may pick up a household item and "fly" it through the air as to pretend that it is an airplane. Or, an animal might play with a pinecone by batting at it, biting it, chasing it, or by tossing it around. Another consideration is interactive digital entertainment, such as a video game. Some toys are produced primarily as collector's items and are intended for display only.

The origin of toys is prehistoric; dolls representing infants, animals, and soldiers, as well as representations of tools used by adults are readily found at archaeological sites. The origin of the word "toy" is unknown, but it is believed that it was first used in the 14th century.

Toys, and play in general, are important when it comes to growing up and learning about the world around us. The young use toys and play to discover their identity, help their bodies grow strong, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, and practice skills they will need as adults. Adults use toys and play to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, remember and reinforce lessons from their youth, discover their identity, exercise their minds and bodies, explore relationships, practice skills, and decorate their living spaces.

Toys are more than simple amusement, they and the ways that they are used profoundly influence many aspects of life
http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt178/jogjalima/toy.jpg
http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq322/zihuangu/TOY/16.jpg
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/Out4gold/New008.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k112/qproject/DSC_6358.jpg
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx279/Huppy98/Toy/nendoroidlily_4.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii335/patho_01/cartel_toy_story_0.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt286/treetop_photos/20100531_16.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 6:01 am

The person born on this day...Laurie Metcalf
Laurie Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an Emmy award-winning, Tony award nominated American actress. She is widely known for her performance as "Jackie Harris" on Roseanne and the voice of Mrs. Davis in Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3. She is present in Chicago theater, where she is well-known for her performance in the 1983 revival of Balm in Gilead. She is also a part of Planusa.org  helping children in need around the world.

She is a three-time Emmy award winner, as well as being nominated for two Golden Globe awards, a Tony award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Lauren Elizabeth Metcalf was born in Carbondale, Illinois, the eldest of three children, and was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Her father was the budget director at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and her mother was a librarian.  Her great-aunt was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Zoe Akins.

Metcalf dated Steppenwolf Theatre Company actor Terry Kinney and married Steppenwolf co-founding member Jeff Perry. With Perry she has daughter Zoe (1984) (named after her great-aunt) and the two subsequently divorced. Metcalf met actor Matt Roth when he played Jackie's abusive boyfriend, "Fisher", on Roseanne. They married in 1993 and have two children: Will Theron Roth (born November 20, 1993) and Mae Akins (born July 3, 2005 via surrogate). In 2005, Metcalf and family moved to a ranch in Idaho. As of April 2008, the Metcalf-Roths have a young foster son. Both Metcalf and Roth appeared in the same episode of Desperate Housewives.
Career
Stage career

Metcalf attended Illinois State University and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1977. While at ISU, she met fellow theater students, among them John Malkovich, Glenne Headley, Joan Allen, and Gary Sinise - who went on to establish Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Metcalf began her professional career at Steppenwolf. It was in Steppenwolf that Metcalf got the nickname "crazy pants." In 1981, she was brought on as a performer on Saturday Night Live for their cast, but appeared in only one episode before the season abruptly ended due to a writer's strike; she was not asked back in the fall. In 1983, Metcalf went to New York to appear in a Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead, for which she received the 1984 Obie Award for Best Actress. Metcalf was showered with praise for her performance as, "Darlene," specifically for her tour de force twenty minute Act Two monologue. She relocated to Manhattan and began to work in both film and theater, most recently in David Mamet's November.
“ There's a moment when Laurie Metcalf – who plays this poor young thing that comes to the big city and hangs out at this greasy spoon diner where the play is set – is talking about her once boyfriend who is an albino; I think it's a monologue of about five, six, seven minutes. Just to sit there and watch and hear Laurie unspool that story, it just brought tears coming down your eyes–oh, boy, it was something. ”
 
— Famed Chicago critic Richard Christiansen on Balm in Gilead

Through the end of June 2009, Metcalf starred in Justin Tanner's play, Voice Lesson, in Hollywood before beginning rehearsals to play Kate Jerome in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound directed by David Cromer. The former production's run, however, lasted but one week while the latter was canceled prior to opening.
Television-film career

She has performed in roles that range from very large to very small in many films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, Miles from Home, Internal Affairs, Stars and Bars, Uncle Buck, Beer League, A Dangerous Woman, Pacific Heights, Blink, The Secret Life of Houses, Treasure Planet, Toy Story, Runaway Bride, Bulworth, Meet the Robinsons, Georgia Rule, Fun with Dick and Jane, Leaving Las Vegas, Scream 2, and Stop Loss. In JFK, she played a dramatic role against type, as one of Jim Garrison's chief investigators. She appeared as the murderous mother of "Billy Loomis" in the horror film Scream 2 and portrayed real-life Carolyn McCarthy in the television movie The Long Island Incident.

Metcalf has appeared in several television series, including being a cast member for only one episode of Saturday Night Live, but she is best-known as "Jackie", sister to the title character in the hit series Roseanne. Her performance garnered her three consecutive Emmy Awards. Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997, and Laurie appeared as Jackie over the show's entire run.

She subsequently appeared with Norm Macdonald on The Norm Show (or Norm), which ran for three seasons, and was also a regular character on the 2003 Nathan Lane series Charlie Lawrence, which was cancelled after only two episodes aired. She made guest appearances on Absolutely Fabulous, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, My Boys, Dharma & Greg, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Frasier and Without a Trace

She took a recurring role on Desperate Housewives–for which she received an Emmy and a Satellite Award nomination–and alongside her ex-husband Jeff Perry in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. In fall 2008, Metcalf starred in the 2008 CW dramedy Easy Money as the matriarch of a family of loan sharks. The series was canceled after only three episodes. She has also had a recurring guest star role as Sheldon Cooper's mother Mary on The Big Bang Theory, alongside former Roseanne cast-mates Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1978 A Wedding Maid Uncredited Role
1985 Desperately Seeking Susan Leslie Glass
1987 Making Mr. Right Sandy
1988 Candy Mountain Alice
Stars and Bars Melissa
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings Emma Short film
Miles from Home Exotic Dancer
1989 Uncle Buck Marcie Dahlgren-Frost
1990 Internal Affairs Amy Wallace
Pacific Heights Stephanie MacDonald
1991 JFK Susie Cox
1992 Mistress Rachel Landisman
1993 A Dangerous Woman Anita Bell
1994 The Secret Life of Houses Ann
Blink Candice
1995 Leaving Las Vegas Landlady
Toy Story Andy's Mom Voice Role
1996 Dear God Rebecca Frazen
1997 U Turn Bus Station Clerk
Chicago Cab Female Ad Exec
Scream 2 Debbie Salt
1998 Bulworth Mimi
1999 Runaway Bride Betty Trout Uncredited Role
Toy Story 2 Andy's Mom Voice Role
2000 Timecode Dava Adair Scenes Deleted
2002 Treasure Planet Sarah Hawkins Voice Role
2005 Fun with Dick and Jane Phyllis Uncredited Role
2006 Steel City Marianne Karn
Beer League Artie's Mom
2007 Meet the Robinsons Lucille Krunklehorn Voice Role
Georgia Rule Paula Richards
2008 Stop-Loss Mrs. Colson
Persepolis Mother of a young teenage boy Voice Role
2010 Toy Story 3 Andy's Mom Voice Role
post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1981 Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Reporter Episode: Jr. Walker & The All-Stars
1985 The Execution of Raymond Graham Carol Graham TV-Movie
1986 The Equalizer Theresa Episode: No Conscience
1988–97 Roseanne Jackie Harris 221 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1995–1996 Duckman Voice Role
Episode: Research and Destroy
Episode: Forbidden Fruit
1997 King of the Hill Cissy Cobb Episode: Peggy the Boggle Champ
The Eddie Files Special Agent Hicks Episode: Decimals - The Fake Money Caper
Life with Louie Miss Kinney Voice Role
Episode: The Kiss Is the Thing
Dharma & Greg Spyder Episode: Instant Dharma
1998 Always Outnumbered Halley Grimes TV-Movie
The Long Island Incident Carolyn McCarthy TV-Movie
3rd Rock from the Sun Jennifer Ravelli Episode: What's Love Got to Do, Got to Do With Dick?
Episode: I Am Dick Pentameter!
Episode: D3 - Judgment Day
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
1999 Balloon Farm Casey Johnson TV-Movie
1999–01 The Norm Show Laurie Freeman 54 episodes
2000 God, the Devil and Bob Donna Allman Voice Role
13 episodes
2002 Two Families Unsold TV-Pilot
2003 Phil at the Gate Teddy Duffy Unsold TV-Pilot
Charlie Lawrence Sarah Dolecek 7 episodes
2004 Malcolm in the Middle Susan Episode: Lois's Sister
Frasier Nanny G Episode: Caught in the Act
Absolutely Fabulous Crystalline Episode: White Box
2005 Without a Trace Susan Hopkins Episode: A Day in the Life
2006 Monk Cora Episode: Mr. Monk Bumps His Head
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
Grey's Anatomy Beatrice Carver Episode: The Name of the Game
Desperate Housewives Carolyn Bigsby 4 episodes
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
My Boys Aunt Phyllis Episode: When Heroes Fall From Grace
2007 The Virgin of Akron, Ohio Lydia Episode: Pilot
Raines Alice Brody Episode: Reconstructing Alice
2007-09 The Big Bang Theory Mary Episode: The Luminous Fish Effect
Episode: The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation
2008–09 Easy Money Bobette Buffkin 8 episodes
2009 The Farm Warden Margaret Elder Unsold TV-Pilot
Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

    * 1992 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for: Roseanne
    * 1993 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for: Roseanne
    * 1994 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for: Roseanne

Nominations

    * 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Roseanne
    * 1999 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for: 3rd Rock From the Sun
    * 2006 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for: Monk
    * 2007 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for: Desperate Housewives

Golden Globe Awards
Nominations

    * 1993 Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for: Roseanne
    * 1995 Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for: Roseanne

Tony Awards
Nominations

    * 2008 Best Featured Actress In A Play for: November
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q50/TheDelawareTrio/laurie-metcalf-img.jpg
http://i798.photobucket.com/albums/yy268/RainbowPat/The%20Big%20Bang%20Theory/big-bangLaurieMetcalfJimParsons.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 6:06 am

The person who died on this day...Mel Allen
Mel Allen (February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been the "Voice of the New York Yankees". In his later years, he gained a second professional life as the first host of This Week in Baseball.
Allen was born Melvin Allen Israel in Birmingham, Alabama. (Biographer Stephen Borelli notes Allen added the middle name Avrom, to honor a grandfather of his with that name who had died.) The future sportscaster was educated as a lawyer, but a boyhood love for baseball  led him to become first a sports columnist and then a radio announcer. He attended the University of Alabama where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity as an undergraduate. He went on to earn a law degree from Alabama as well.

During his time at Alabama, Israel served as the public address announcer at Alabama football games. In 1933, when Birmingham's WBRC asked Alabama coach Frank Thomas to recommend a new play-by-play announcer, Thomas suggested Israel. His first broadcast was Alabama's home opener that year, against Tulane.

Soon after graduating in 1937, Allen took a train to New York City for a week's vacation. As it turned out, one week became 60 years; he settled in New York and lived in the New York metro area (first New York State, then Connecticut) for the rest of his life.

While on vacation, Allen auditioned for the CBS Radio Network as a staff announcer. CBS executives already knew of Allen; the network's top sportscaster, Ted Husing, had heard many of his Crimson Tide broadcasts. Allen was hired at $45 a week. He often did non-sports announcing such as big band remotes or game show announcements. Among the game shows, he did Truth or Consequences. He would serve as an understudy to both sportscaster Husing and newscaster Bob Trout.

In his first year at CBS, he announced the crash of the Hindenburg, interrupting Kate Smith to do so. He first became a national celebrity when he ad libbed for a half-hour during the rain-delayed Vanderbilt Cup from an airplane.

In 1939, he appeared as the announcer in the Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film musical short-subject, "On the Air", with Leith Stevens and the Saturday Night Swing Club.
Broadcasting career
Baseball

In 1938, Allen landed his first major baseball assignment, as color commentator for the World Series. This led Wheaties to tap him to replace Arch McDonald as the voice of the Washington Senators for the 1939 season; McDonald was moving to New York as the first full-time radio voice of the Yankees and New York Giants. However, Wheaties gave in to owner Clark Griffith's desire to have Walter Johnson behind the mike.

Allen didn't have to wait long for a break, however. In June 1939, Garnett Marks, McDonald's partner on Yankee broadcasts, twice mispronounced Ivory soap, the Yankees' sponsor at the time, as "Ovary Soap." He was fired, and Allen was tapped to replace him. McDonald himself went back to Washington after only one season, and Allen became the Yankees' and Giants' lead announcer. Allen was able to do double duty for both teams because only the home games were being broadcast.

In Stephen Borelli's biography How About That!, the author states that it was at CBS's suggestion in 1937, the year Melvin Israel joined the network, that Israel go by a different on-air last name. He chose Allen, his father's middle name. He legally changed his name to Allen in 1943.

Allen periodically recounted an anecdote that occurred during his first full season as the announcer of the Yankees. Lou Gehrig had been forced to retire the previous year due to what would be a fatal illness. Speaking with Allen in the team's dugout, Gehrig told him, "Mel, I never got a chance to listen to your games before, because I was playing every day. But I want you to know they're the only thing that keeps me going." Allen waited until Gehrig left, then broke down in tears.

Allen's stint with the Yankees and Giants was interrupted in 1941, when no sponsor could be found and both teams went off the air. The radio broadcasts resumed in 1942. Allen was the voice of both the Yankees and the Giants until 1943, when he entered the United States Army during World War II. While in the service, he broadcast on The Army Hour and Armed Forces Radio.

After the war, Allen began doing Yankees games exclusively. By this time, the team's road games were also part of the broadcast schedule. Before long, Allen and the Yankees were fused in the public consciousness, in part because of the Yankees' frequent World Series appearances. Allen eventually called 22 World Series on radio and television—including 18 in a row from 1946 to 1963. Even when the Yankees didn't appear in the Series (which only happened four times in 18 years), Allen's popularity was such that he was always tapped as the play-by-play man. He also called 24 All-Star Games.

Indicative of his popularity during the 1950s, he was one of the first three celebrities spoofed in the just-created Mad comic book. In the second issue, Allen, Leo Durocher and Yogi Berra were all caricatured in a baseball story, "Hex!", illustrated by Jack Davis.

After Russ Hodges departed from the Yankees booth for the New York Giants, a young Curt Gowdy was a broadcast partner for two seasons 1949-50, brought in from Oklahoma City after winning a national audition. Gowdy, originally from Wyoming, credited Mel Allen's mentoring as a big factor in his own success as a broadcaster. Gowdy became the play-by-play announcer for the Boston Red Sox in 1951.

Among Allen's many catchphrases were "Hello there, everybody!" to start a game, "How a-bout that?!" or "Going, going, gone!" on home runs and "Three and two. What'll he do?" But Allen famously lost his voice during the 1963 World Series, in which the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in a four-game sweep.
Other sports

Fittingly for a man who got his first breaks in Alabama and New York calling college football, Allen did a number of bowl games: 14 Rose Bowls, 2 Orange Bowls, and 2 Sugar Bowls.

In the National Football League, Allen served as play-by-play announcer for the Washington Redskins in 1952-53 and for the New York Football Giants on WCBS-AM in 1960 - with some of the latter broadcasts also being carried nationally by the CBS Radio Network. Allen was behind the WCBS mike when Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik levelled Giants running back Frank Gifford during a clash at Yankee Stadium. He also did radio play-by-play for the Miami Dolphins' inaugural season in 1966, and University of Miami football the following year.

Allen hosted Jackpot Bowling on NBC in 1959. He became host after Leo Durocher quit to return to coaching. Allen's lack of bowling knowledge made him an unpopular host, and that April, Bud Palmer replaced him as the show's host.
Non-sports work

In the early 1960s, Allen hosted the three-hour Saturday morning segment of the weekend NBC Radio program Monitor. He also contributed sportscasts to the program until the late 1960s. Allen also provided voiceover narration for Fox Movietone newsreels for many years.
Fired by the Yankees

In 1964, the Yankees made the World Series for the 15th time in 19 years—but Allen wasn't there. Back in September, before the end of the season, the Yankees informed Allen that his contract with the team would not be renewed. In those days, the main announcers for the Series participants always called the World Series on NBC. Although Allen was thus technically eligible to call the Series, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick honored the Yankees' request to have Phil Rizzuto join the Series crew instead. It was the first time Allen had missed a World Series for which the Yankees were eligible since 1943, and only the second World Series (not counting those missed during World War II) that he'd missed since he began calling baseball games in 1938.

On December 17, after much media speculation and many letters to the Yankees from fans disgruntled at Allen's absence from the Series, the Yankees issued a terse press release announcing Allen's firing; he was replaced by Joe Garagiola. NBC and Movietone dropped him soon afterward. To this day, the Yankees have never given an explanation for Allen's sudden firing, and rumors abounded. Depending on the rumor, Allen was homosexual, an alcoholic, a drug addict, or had a nervous breakdown. Allen's sexuality was sometimes a target in those more conservative days because he hadn't married (and never did).

Years later, Allen told author Curt Smith that the Yankees had fired him under pressure from the team's longtime sponsor, Ballantine Beer. According to Allen, he was fired as a cost-cutting move by Ballantine, which had been experiencing poor sales for years (it would eventually be sold in 1969). Smith, in his book Voices of Summer, also indicated that the medications Allen took in order to maintain his busy schedule may have affected his on-air performance. (Stephen Borelli, another biographer, has also pointed out that Allen's heavy workload didn't allow him time to take care of his health.)

Allen became Merle Harmon's partner for Milwaukee Braves games in 1965, and worked Cleveland Indians games on television in 1968. But he would not commit to either team full-time, nor to the Oakland Athletics, who also wanted to hire him after the team's move from Kansas City. Despite the firing in 1964, Allen remained loyal to the Yankees for the remainder of his life, and to this day—years after his death—he is still popularly known as the "Voice of the Yankees."

Eventually, the Yankees allowed him to again perform as a speaker at special Yankee Stadium ceremonies, including Old Timers' Day, which Allen had originally handled when he was lead announcer. Though Yankees broadcaster Frank Messer (who joined the club in 1968) assumed the emcee's slot for Old Timers' Day and special events like Mickey Mantle Day from the 1960s onward, the Yankees made sure to also invite Allen to call the actual exhibition game between the Old Timers, and to take part in players' number-retirement ceremonies.
Return to the Yankees

Allen was brought back to the Yankees' on-air team in 1976 as a pre/post-game host for the cable telecasts with John Sterling, and also started calling play-by-play again. He announced Yankees cable telecasts on SportsChannel New York (now FSN New York) with Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Frank Messer, and occasionally, Fran Healy.

Allen remained with the Yankees' play-by-play crew until 1985. and made occasional appearances on Yankee telecasts and commercials into the late 1980s. In 1990, Allen called play-by-play for a WPIX Yankees game to officially make him baseball's first seven-decade announcer. Among the memorable moments Allen called in his latter stretch were Yankee outfielder Reggie Jackson's 400th home run in 1980, and Yankee pitcher Dave Righetti's no-hitter on July 4, 1983.
This Week in Baseball
This section contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (August 2009)
Main article: This Week in Baseball

In his later years, Allen was exposed to a new audience as the host of the syndicated highlights show This Week in Baseball, which he hosted from its inception in 1977 until his death. Some critics (including the New York Post's Leonard Shechter) found fault with Allen's loquaciousness, both on the air and in one-on-one conversations. When FOX relaunched TWIB in 2000 (after a one-year hiatus), it used a claymation version of Allen to open and close the show until 2002.
Computer games

Mel Allen reached another generation of fans in 1994 when he recorded the play-by-play for two computer baseball games, Tony La Russa Baseball and Old Time Baseball, which were published by Stormfront Studios. The games included his signature "How about that?!" home run call. Allen also used that catch phrase during his cameo appearances in the films The Naked Gun (1988) and Needful Things (1993).

Although he completed the work only about a year before his death, producer Don Daglow said in a 1995 interview with Computer Gaming World that
“ Allen was a dream to work with. If something sounded the least bit off, he caught it himself and self-corrected before you even had a chance to ask for another take. Sometimes he'd hear a problem live that we would only have noticed later. When he was reading the long list of numbers that would be spliced into sentences to announce batting averages and so on, he stopped suddenly and said, 'That's not good.' Then he started again and finished the list. When we checked the tape we heard that he had just started to get a sing-song rhythm from repeating too many numbers in a row, and he'd noticed before anyone else had. ”
Awards

The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association inducted Allen into its Hall of Fame in 1972. In 1978, he was one of the first two winners of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting. (The other was his old colleague Red Barber, who for some time served alongside Allen as the Yankees' announcer after making his name with the Brooklyn Dodgers.) Allen was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
Death and legacy

Allen was buried at Temple Beth El Cemetery in Stamford, Connecticut. On July 25, 1998, the Yankees dedicated a plaque in his memory for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque calls him "A Yankee institution, a national treasure" and includes his much-spoken line, "How about that?"
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv217/BillBurgess/Miscellaneous/Image2-2.jpg
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr181/keithandginaallen/DSC00166.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/16/10 at 6:51 am


The person born on this day...Laurie Metcalf
Laurie Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an Emmy award-winning, Tony award nominated American actress. She is widely known for her performance as "Jackie Harris" on Roseanne and the voice of Mrs. Davis in Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3. She is present in Chicago theater, where she is well-known for her performance in the 1983 revival of Balm in Gilead. She is also a part of Planusa.org  helping children in need around the world.

She is a three-time Emmy award winner, as well as being nominated for two Golden Globe awards, a Tony award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Lauren Elizabeth Metcalf was born in Carbondale, Illinois, the eldest of three children, and was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Her father was the budget director at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and her mother was a librarian.  Her great-aunt was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Zoe Akins.

Metcalf dated Steppenwolf Theatre Company actor Terry Kinney and married Steppenwolf co-founding member Jeff Perry. With Perry she has daughter Zoe (1984) (named after her great-aunt) and the two subsequently divorced. Metcalf met actor Matt Roth when he played Jackie's abusive boyfriend, "Fisher", on Roseanne. They married in 1993 and have two children: Will Theron Roth (born November 20, 1993) and Mae Akins (born July 3, 2005 via surrogate). In 2005, Metcalf and family moved to a ranch in Idaho. As of April 2008, the Metcalf-Roths have a young foster son. Both Metcalf and Roth appeared in the same episode of Desperate Housewives.
Career
Stage career

Metcalf attended Illinois State University and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1977. While at ISU, she met fellow theater students, among them John Malkovich, Glenne Headley, Joan Allen, and Gary Sinise - who went on to establish Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Metcalf began her professional career at Steppenwolf. It was in Steppenwolf that Metcalf got the nickname "crazy pants." In 1981, she was brought on as a performer on Saturday Night Live for their cast, but appeared in only one episode before the season abruptly ended due to a writer's strike; she was not asked back in the fall. In 1983, Metcalf went to New York to appear in a Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead, for which she received the 1984 Obie Award for Best Actress. Metcalf was showered with praise for her performance as, "Darlene," specifically for her tour de force twenty minute Act Two monologue. She relocated to Manhattan and began to work in both film and theater, most recently in David Mamet's November.
“ There's a moment when Laurie Metcalf – who plays this poor young thing that comes to the big city and hangs out at this greasy spoon diner where the play is set – is talking about her once boyfriend who is an albino; I think it's a monologue of about five, six, seven minutes. Just to sit there and watch and hear Laurie unspool that story, it just brought tears coming down your eyes–oh, boy, it was something. ”
 
— Famed Chicago critic Richard Christiansen on Balm in Gilead

Through the end of June 2009, Metcalf starred in Justin Tanner's play, Voice Lesson, in Hollywood before beginning rehearsals to play Kate Jerome in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound directed by David Cromer. The former production's run, however, lasted but one week while the latter was canceled prior to opening.
Television-film career

She has performed in roles that range from very large to very small in many films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, Miles from Home, Internal Affairs, Stars and Bars, Uncle Buck, Beer League, A Dangerous Woman, Pacific Heights, Blink, The Secret Life of Houses, Treasure Planet, Toy Story, Runaway Bride, Bulworth, Meet the Robinsons, Georgia Rule, Fun with Dick and Jane, Leaving Las Vegas, Scream 2, and Stop Loss. In JFK, she played a dramatic role against type, as one of Jim Garrison's chief investigators. She appeared as the murderous mother of "Billy Loomis" in the horror film Scream 2 and portrayed real-life Carolyn McCarthy in the television movie The Long Island Incident.

Metcalf has appeared in several television series, including being a cast member for only one episode of Saturday Night Live, but she is best-known as "Jackie", sister to the title character in the hit series Roseanne. Her performance garnered her three consecutive Emmy Awards. Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997, and Laurie appeared as Jackie over the show's entire run.

She subsequently appeared with Norm Macdonald on The Norm Show (or Norm), which ran for three seasons, and was also a regular character on the 2003 Nathan Lane series Charlie Lawrence, which was cancelled after only two episodes aired. She made guest appearances on Absolutely Fabulous, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, My Boys, Dharma & Greg, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Frasier and Without a Trace

She took a recurring role on Desperate Housewives–for which she received an Emmy and a Satellite Award nomination–and alongside her ex-husband Jeff Perry in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. In fall 2008, Metcalf starred in the 2008 CW dramedy Easy Money as the matriarch of a family of loan sharks. The series was canceled after only three episodes. She has also had a recurring guest star role as Sheldon Cooper's mother Mary on The Big Bang Theory, alongside former Roseanne cast-mates Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1978 A Wedding Maid Uncredited Role
1985 Desperately Seeking Susan Leslie Glass
1987 Making Mr. Right Sandy
1988 Candy Mountain Alice
Stars and Bars Melissa
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings Emma Short film
Miles from Home Exotic Dancer
1989 Uncle Buck Marcie Dahlgren-Frost
1990 Internal Affairs Amy Wallace
Pacific Heights Stephanie MacDonald
1991 JFK Susie Cox
1992 Mistress Rachel Landisman
1993 A Dangerous Woman Anita Bell
1994 The Secret Life of Houses Ann
Blink Candice
1995 Leaving Las Vegas Landlady
Toy Story Andy's Mom Voice Role
1996 Dear God Rebecca Frazen
1997 U Turn Bus Station Clerk
Chicago Cab Female Ad Exec
Scream 2 Debbie Salt
1998 Bulworth Mimi
1999 Runaway Bride Betty Trout Uncredited Role
Toy Story 2 Andy's Mom Voice Role
2000 Timecode Dava Adair Scenes Deleted
2002 Treasure Planet Sarah Hawkins Voice Role
2005 Fun with Dick and Jane Phyllis Uncredited Role
2006 Steel City Marianne Karn
Beer League Artie's Mom
2007 Meet the Robinsons Lucille Krunklehorn Voice Role
Georgia Rule Paula Richards
2008 Stop-Loss Mrs. Colson
Persepolis Mother of a young teenage boy Voice Role
2010 Toy Story 3 Andy's Mom Voice Role
post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1981 Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Reporter Episode: Jr. Walker & The All-Stars
1985 The Execution of Raymond Graham Carol Graham TV-Movie
1986 The Equalizer Theresa Episode: No Conscience
1988–97 Roseanne Jackie Harris 221 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1995–1996 Duckman Voice Role
Episode: Research and Destroy
Episode: Forbidden Fruit
1997 King of the Hill Cissy Cobb Episode: Peggy the Boggle Champ
The Eddie Files Special Agent Hicks Episode: Decimals - The Fake Money Caper
Life with Louie Miss Kinney Voice Role
Episode: The Kiss Is the Thing
Dharma & Greg Spyder Episode: Instant Dharma
1998 Always Outnumbered Halley Grimes TV-Movie
The Long Island Incident Carolyn McCarthy TV-Movie
3rd Rock from the Sun Jennifer Ravelli Episode: What's Love Got to Do, Got to Do With Dick?
Episode: I Am Dick Pentameter!
Episode: D3 - Judgment Day
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
1999 Balloon Farm Casey Johnson TV-Movie
1999–01 The Norm Show Laurie Freeman 54 episodes
2000 God, the Devil and Bob Donna Allman Voice Role
13 episodes
2002 Two Families Unsold TV-Pilot
2003 Phil at the Gate Teddy Duffy Unsold TV-Pilot
Charlie Lawrence Sarah Dolecek 7 episodes
2004 Malcolm in the Middle Susan Episode: Lois's Sister
Frasier Nanny G Episode: Caught in the Act
Absolutely Fabulous Crystalline Episode: White Box
2005 Without a Trace Susan Hopkins Episode: A Day in the Life
2006 Monk Cora Episode: Mr. Monk Bumps His Head
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
Grey's Anatomy Beatrice Carver Episode: The Name of the Game
Desperate Housewives Carolyn Bigsby 4 episodes
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
My Boys Aunt Phyllis Episode: When Heroes Fall From Grace
2007 The Virgin of Akron, Ohio Lydia Episode: Pilot
Raines Alice Brody Episode: Reconstructing Alice
2007-09 The Big Bang Theory Mary Episode: The Luminous Fish Effect
Episode: The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation
2008–09 Easy Money Bobette Buffkin 8 episodes
2009 The Farm Warden Margaret Elder Unsold TV-Pilot
Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

    * 1992 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for: Roseanne
    * 1993 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for: Roseanne
    * 1994 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for: Roseanne

Nominations

    * 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Roseanne
    * 1999 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for: 3rd Rock From the Sun
    * 2006 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for: Monk
    * 2007 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for: Desperate Housewives

Golden Globe Awards
Nominations

    * 1993 Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for: Roseanne
    * 1995 Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for: Roseanne

Tony Awards
Nominations

    * 2008 Best Featured Actress In A Play for: November
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q50/TheDelawareTrio/laurie-metcalf-img.jpg
http://i798.photobucket.com/albums/yy268/RainbowPat/The%20Big%20Bang%20Theory/big-bangLaurieMetcalfJimParsons.jpg


Didn't she come out as lesbian? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/16/10 at 6:53 am


The word of the day...Toy
toy is anything that can be used in play. Although toys have traditionally been of tangible product, such definition is not necessary for playtime simulation, motivation, or instruction. From a human standpoint, toys are usually associated with children, but it is not unusual for adults and some cognitively-aware pets to play with toys. An acute example of this is a dolphin training a ball in water. Many items are processed to serve as toys, but goods, or (game-centric) services produced for other purposes can also be used. For instance, a small child may pick up a household item and "fly" it through the air as to pretend that it is an airplane. Or, an animal might play with a pinecone by batting at it, biting it, chasing it, or by tossing it around. Another consideration is interactive digital entertainment, such as a video game. Some toys are produced primarily as collector's items and are intended for display only.

The origin of toys is prehistoric; dolls representing infants, animals, and soldiers, as well as representations of tools used by adults are readily found at archaeological sites. The origin of the word "toy" is unknown, but it is believed that it was first used in the 14th century.

Toys, and play in general, are important when it comes to growing up and learning about the world around us. The young use toys and play to discover their identity, help their bodies grow strong, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, and practice skills they will need as adults. Adults use toys and play to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, remember and reinforce lessons from their youth, discover their identity, exercise their minds and bodies, explore relationships, practice skills, and decorate their living spaces.

Toys are more than simple amusement, they and the ways that they are used profoundly influence many aspects of life
http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt178/jogjalima/toy.jpg
http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq322/zihuangu/TOY/16.jpg
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz350/Out4gold/New008.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k112/qproject/DSC_6358.jpg
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx279/Huppy98/Toy/nendoroidlily_4.jpg
http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/ii335/patho_01/cartel_toy_story_0.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt286/treetop_photos/20100531_16.jpg



http://retrothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2xl.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 10:56 am


Didn't she come out as lesbian? ???

She is married to actor Matt Roth, and also has a male companion :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 10:58 am


http://retrothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2xl.jpg

Howie's toy?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/16/10 at 11:01 am

Mel Allen was an excellent sports announcer, and watched him on TWIB ( This week in baseball) back in the day,

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/10 at 6:46 pm


Mel Allen was an excellent sports announcer, and watched him on TWIB ( This week in baseball) back in the day,

I use to watch him also.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/16/10 at 6:55 pm


She is married to actor Matt Roth, and also has a male companion :-\\


I thought she came out as a lesbian?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/16/10 at 6:56 pm


Howie's toy?


yes and you can play a simulated version of 2XL online. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/17/10 at 1:48 am


yes and you can play a simulated version of 2XL online. :)
What does it do?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 6:23 am

The word or phrase of the day...New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

In one of the earliest European settlements in the New World, Pilgrims from the Kingdom of England first settled in New England in 1620, in the colony of Plymouth. Ten years later, the Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. In the late 18th century, the New England colonies would be among the first North American British colonies to demonstrate ambitions of independence from the British Crown via the American Revolution, although they would later oppose the War of 1812 between the United States and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Autumn in New England, watercolor, Maurice Prendergast. Ca. 1910–1913

New England was known to have produced the first pieces of American literature and philosophy and was home to the beginnings of free public education. In the 19th century, it played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States. It was the first region of the United States to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution.

The region is one of the most liberal in the United States and it voted for the Democratic Party Presidential nominee in the 1992, 1996, 2004, and 2008 elections, and every state but New Hampshire voted for Al Gore in the presidential election of 2000. Currently all members of the United States House of Representatives from New England belong to or caucus with the Democratic Party. The only democratic socialist in the United States Congress is from New England, as Senator Bernie Sanders represents Vermont.
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr283/regener8ed/blackberry/8100_pearl/team_spirit/NFL/nfl_patriots.jpg
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr283/regener8ed/blackberry/8300_curve/team_spirit/MLS/mls_revolution_83.jpg
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo300/Imparus/weather.png
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/TenCommandments613/Paintings/GeorgeHenryDurrie-WinterInNewEnglan.jpg
http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu298/Old_Forester/NewEnglandFall.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg284/elbendito/New%20England%20Pics/7cca.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg284/elbendito/New%20England%20Pics/73a5.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg284/elbendito/New%20England%20Pics/f648.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg284/elbendito/New%20England%20Pics/29a1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 6:27 am

The person born on this day...Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born June 17, 1943)  is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, entertainer, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Mandy", "I Write the Songs", "Weekend in New England", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-selling charts simultaneously, a feat equalled only by Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded a string of Billboard hit singles and multi-platinum albums that have resulted in his being named Radio & Records number one Adult Contemporary artist and winning three straight American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist. Several well-known entertainers have given Manilow their "stamp of approval," including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s regarding Manilow, "He's next." In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, "Don't stop what you're doing, man. We're all inspired by you." Arsenio Hall cited Manilow as a favorite guest on The Arsenio Hall Show and admonished his audience to respect him for his work.

On the other side of the coin, throughout his career Manilow was widely derided and ridiculed, his work typically characterized as sentimental and "maudlin schlock". Robert Christgau's take on Manilow is typical, awarding his records C's and C-'s and characterizing his voice as "uncompromisingly inoffensive... --a voice that never hints at sex or history or even chops." Another frequent target of his critics was the production and arrangements of his songs, which were seen as bombastic, saccharine and overdone.

As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, such as Bette Midler, Dionne Warwick and Rosemary Clooney, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. Since February 2005, he had been the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, and had performed hundreds of shows before he called time on his 5-year association, performing his last show on December 30, 2009. From March 2010, he is due to headline at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.
1970s: Success

Manilow's well-known association with Bette Midler began at the Continental Baths in New York City. He accompanied her and other artists on the piano from 1970 to 1971, and Midler chose Manilow to assist with the production of her first two albums, the Platinum-certified The Divine Miss M (1972) and the Gold-plus Bette Midler (1973), and act as her musical director on the The Divine Miss M tour. Manilow worked with Midler for four years, from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, Bell Records released Manilow's first album, Barry Manilow, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song that Manilow had composed for the 1972 war drama Parades.

Among other songs on the album were "Friends", "Cloudburst", and "Could It Be Magic." The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, Number 20", and provided Donna Summer with one of her major hits. (It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an up-beat disco version of the song. Take That have since performed Manilow's original version in their Beautiful World Tour.) Midler allowed Manilow to sing three of the songs from the album during the intermissions in her show. As a result of a corporate takeover, Bell Records, along with other labels, was merged into a new entity named Arista Records, under the leadership of Clive Davis, who seized the opportunity to drop many artists. However, after seeing Manilow perform as the opening act at a Dionne Warwick concert, he was convinced that he had a winner on his hands; a relationship lasting decades ensued.
Manilow in 1979

The partnership began to gain traction in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, Barry Manilow II, on Bell Records (and later reissued on Arista), which contained the breakthrough number-one hit, "Mandy". Manilow had not wanted to record "Mandy" (originally titled "Brandy", written and recorded by Scott English) — but the song was included at the insistence of Clive Davis. Following the success of Barry Manilow II, the first Bell Records album release was re-mixed and re-issued on Arista Records as Barry Manilow I. When Manilow went on his first tour, he included in his show, "A Very Strange Medley", a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written or sung. Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975, appearance on American Bandstand to promote Barry Manilow II (where he sang "Mandy" and "It's A Miracle"), a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, singing his original seasonal favorite "It's Just Another New Year's Eve", American Bandstand anniversary shows, American Music Awards performances and his 1985 television movie Copacabana are among their projects together. He once said, "Is it wrong to be strong, you be the judge!"

"Mandy" was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s to the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums Tryin' to Get the Feeling, This One's for You, Even Now and One Voice. Despite being a solid songwriter in his own right, Manilow has had great success with songs by others. Among the hits which he did not write are "Mandy," "Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again", "Weekend in New England" (by Randy Edelman), Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again". Ironically, another of the songs Manilow did not write was his number one hit "I Write The Songs" (by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys). According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, co-produce them with Ron Dante and arrange them.

Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of Manilow Magic – The Best Of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits. On its initial release it was accompanied by a large television advertising campaign, but the album was only available by mail order on the "Teledisc" label. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring and executive produced by Manilow. The Barry Manilow Special with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977 to an audience of 37 million. The breakthrough special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of "Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special". The Second Barry Manilow Special in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.

Manilow's "Ready To Take a Chance Again" originated in the film Foul Play, which also featured "Copacabana", from his 4th studio album "Even Now." "Ready To Take A Chance Again" was nominated that year for the "Best Original Song" Oscar. Copacabana would later take the form of a musical television movie, starring Manilow, and three musical plays. On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California was aired on HBO's series Standing Room Only, which was the first pay-television show to pose a serious challenge to network primetime specials in the ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.

On May 23, 1979, ABC aired The Third Barry Manilow Special, with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography". Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's "comeback" album Dionne. The Arista album was her first to go platinum and spawned "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and "Deja Vu." He also scored a top ten hit of his own in the fall of 1979 with the song "Ships" (written by Ian Hunter, former lead singer of Mott the Hoople) from the album "One Voice."
1980s

The 1980s gave Manilow the adult contemporary chart-topping hit songs "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" ( by Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman) and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Manilow continued having high radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow had five sold-out performances at Royal Albert Hall, for which nearly a half million people vied for the 21,500 available seats. In the United States, he sold out Radio City Music Hall in 1984 for 10 nights and set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the then 52-year history of the Music Hall. In 1980, Manilow's One Voice special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction".

Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's sold-out shows at England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled Barry (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at #15. The album contained "I Made It Through The Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle." "We Still Have Time" was featured in the 1980 drama Tribute. The album If I Should Love Again followed in 1981, containing "The Old Songs," "Let's Hang On," and "Somewhere Down The Road." This was the first of his own albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante, who had co-produced all the previous albums. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh was aired nationally on Showtime, and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his sold out Royal Albert Hall show was broadcast in England. The live album and video Barry Live in Britain also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.

On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by a conservative estimate of 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.

In 1984 Manilow released 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. In 1984, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends, such as Sarah Vaughn and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records. There he released the pop album Manilow, and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese, among other languages. The Manilow album was a complete about face from the Paradise Cafe album, containing a number of tracks that were of a modern uptempo and synthesized quality. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.

In his only lead acting role, he portrayed Tony Starr in a 1985 CBS film based on Copacabana, which also featured Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr and Joseph Bologna as Rico. This was named one of the top TV specials of the year by TV Guide magazine. Manilow penned all the songs for the movie, with lyrics provided by established collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, and released Copacabana: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album on RCA Records. In October 1986, Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, Tom Scott, and Charlie Fox, went to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with legislators, including lunch with then Senator Al Gore (D-TN). They were there to lobby against a copyright bill put forward by local television broadcasters that would mandate songwriter-producer source licensing of theme and incidental music on syndicated television show reruns and would disallow use of the blanket license now in effect. The songwriters said without the blanket license, artists would have to negotiate up front with producers individually, without knowing if a series would be a success. The license now pays according to a per-use formula. Manilow said that such a bill would act as a precedent for broadcasters to get rid of the blanket license entirely.

The following year, McGraw-Hill published his autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise, which had taken him about three years to complete. While promoting his autobiography, Manilow defended his music in a telephone interview: "I live in laid-back L.A., but in my heart, I'm an energetic New Yorker and that's what has always come out of my music. I've always been surprised when the critics said I made wimpy little ballads". Manilow returned to Arista Records in 1987 with the release of Swing Street. The album, a mixture of traditional after-dark and techno jazz, contained "Brooklyn Blues," an autobiographical song for Manilow, and "Hey Mambo," an uptempo Latin style duet with Kid Creole, produced with the help of Emilio Estefan, Jr., founder of Miami Sound Machine.

In March 1988, CBS aired Manilow's Big Fun on Swing Street special. It featured songs and special guests from his Swing Street and 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe albums, including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Phyllis Hyman, Stanley Clarke, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott, Gerry Mulligan, Diane Schuur, Full Swing, and Uncle Festive, a band within Manilow's band at the time. The special was nominated for two Emmys in categories of "Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic): For a Variety/Music or drama series, a miniseries or a special" and won in the category of "Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music program". England also aired another NEC one-hour concert special Manilow did while on his Big Fun Tour de Force tour.

In 1988, he performed "Please Don't Be Scared" and "Mandy/Could It Be Magic" at That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88, a benefit concert for the Warwick Foundation headed by Dionne Warwick and shown on Showtime a couple of years later. In the 1988 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature Oliver & Company, Bette Midler's character sang a new Manilow composition called "Perfect Isn't Easy." The 1989 release of Barry Manilow, which contained "Please Don't Be Scared," "Keep Each Other Warm," and "The One That Got Away," ended Manilow's streak of albums of original self-written material (he neither wrote nor arranged any of the songs except for two) and began a phase of his recording career consisting of covers and compilations.

From April 18 to June 10, 1989, Manilow put on a show called Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, making 44 appearances at the Gershwin Theatre (also known as the Uris Theatre), where, by coincidence, he recorded Barry Manilow Live in 1976. A best-selling 90-minute video of the same show was released the following year as Barry Manilow Live On Broadway. The Showtime one-hour special Barry Manilow SRO on Broadway consisted of edited highlights from this video. Manilow followed this set of shows with a sold-out world tour of the Broadway show.
1990s

In the 1990s, Manilow released a number of cover tunes. It started with the 1989 release Barry Manilow, continued with his 1990 Christmas LP Because It's Christmas. Consequent "event" albums followed including: Showstoppers, a collection of Broadway songs (1991), Singin' with the Big Bands (1994) and a late 1970s collection Summer of '78 (1996) which included the hit "I Go Crazy", formerly a hit for Paul Davis in 1978. The decade ended with Manilow recording a tribute to Frank Sinatra Manilow Sings Sinatra (1998) released months after Sinatra's death.

In 1990, Japan aired National Eolia Special: Barry Manilow On Broadway where he sang the title song "Eolia", which was used as a song there in a commercial for an air conditioner company of the same name, as well as other songs from his 1989–1990 Live on Broadway tour. In the early 1990s, Manilow signed on with Don Bluth to compose the songs with lyricists Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman for three animated films. He co-wrote the Broadway-style musical scores for Thumbelina (1994) and The Pebble and the Penguin (1995). The third film, entitled Rapunzel, was shelved after the poor performance of Pebble. Manilow was also to be cast as the voice of a cricket. Manilow also composed the score and wrote two songs with Bruce Sussman for Disney Sing Along Songs: Let's Go To The Circus.

On February 19, 1992, Manilow testified before the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration House Committee in support of H.R. 3204 The Audio Home Recording Act of 1991. The bill was signed into law on October 28, 1992 by President George H. W. Bush. The Act, a historic compromise between the consumer electronics and music industries, became effective immediately. In 1993, PBS aired, as a fundraiser, Barry Manilow: The Best of Me, which was taped at Wembley Arena in England earlier that same year. The BBC also played a one-hour version of the same show including "The Best of Me", sung during the concert, as a bonus song or "lucky strike extra" as Manilow says, not seen in The Greatest Hits...and then some, the video release of the show; however, the song was included on the DVD of the same title, with Manilow seated in front of a black curtain, lip-syncing to the recording. Manilow branched out in another direction and, with long-time lyricist Bruce Sussman, launched Copacabana, a musical play based on previous Manilow-related adaptations. They wrote new songs and it ran for two years on the London West End, and a tour company formed.

In December 1996, A&E aired Barry Manilow: Live By Request, the first of his two Live By Request appearances. The broadcast was A&E's most successful music program, attracting an estimated 2.4 million viewers. The show was also simulcast on the radio. In March 1997, VH-1 aired Barry Manilow: The Summer of '78, a one-hour special of Manilow solo at the piano being interviewed and playing his greatest hits as well as songs from Summer of '78 his latest release at the time. In another collaboration between Manilow and Sussman they co-wrote the musical Harmony, which previewed October 7 to November 23, 1997 at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California. Later in 2003, Harmony was originally scheduled for a tryout run in Philadelphia before going to Broadway, but was canceled after financial difficulties. After a legal battle with Mark Schwartz, the show's producer, Manilow and Sussman in 2005 won back the rights to the musical.

On October 23, 1999, NBC aired the two-hour special StarSkates Salute to Barry Manilow taped at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring numerous figure skaters performing to Manilow's music. Manilow also performed as well.
Discography
Main article: Barry Manilow discography
Awards

    * 1977 Grammy – I Write The Songs – Song of the Year (award went to the song's writer)
    * 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Special – Comedy, Variety or Music – The Barry Manilow Special
    * 1977 Special Tony Award – Barry Manilow on Broadway
    * 1978 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1979 Grammy – Copacabana Best Pop Male Vocal Performance
    * 1979 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1980 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 2002 Songwriter's Hall of Fame
    * 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barry Manilow: Music And Passion
    * 2007 RIAA – Plaque commemorating worldwide record sales of 75 million
    * 2009 Clio Awards Honorary award for prior work with commercial jingles
    *  ? Kentucky Colonel

TV and movie appearances
Barry Manilow at the premiere of The Rose (starring Bette Midler), November 7, 1979

    * Donny & Marie in 1977.

    * ABC special The Stars Salute Israel At 30 on May 8, 1978.

    * May 8, 1982, Goldie & Kids a special where he acted in skits and sang "One Voice" and "I Am Your Child" with hostess Goldie Hawn.

    * On September 17, 1987 he appeared in the star-studded CBS special We The People 200: The Constitutional Gala taped at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to debut his song "Let Freedom Ring" where President Ronald Reagan was in attendance.

    * On January 2, 1993 guest on the NBC special Dame Edna's Hollywood.

    * On May 17, 1993, Manilow made a guest appearance on the CBS show Murphy Brown. On the show, Candace Bergen's title character had frequently made reference to her hatred of Manilow's music, but after she became a mother, Manilow appeared to sing her a sweet version of his tune "I Am Your Child," winning her over with the song about a parent's bond with a child. Later that year he appeared in England on Surprise! Surprise! with Cilla Black where he performed the new single he had recorded with Cilla of "You'll Never Walk Alone".

    * Guest appearance in a 2001 episode of Ally McBeal. He played both a hallucination of Ally's and himself on stage at the end of the show.

    * Played himself in a cameo in the 2002 dark comedy Unconditional Love starring Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett where "Can't Smile Without You" also played a key role in the plot.

    * On December 11, 2003, Manilow appeared on the NBC show Will & Grace as himself backstage between tour stops. The name of the episode is "Fanilow" as in a fan of Manilow.

    * On April 20, 2004 – April 21, 2004 Manilow reunited with Debra Byrd his former backup singer who is now the vocal coach at American Idol when he appeared as a guest judge and worked with the top seven finalists for the popular FOX variety prize show where the season three contestants sang his songs as the theme for the week.

    * On December 8, 2004, he was a guest on the NBC special A Clay Aiken Christmas, hosted by the former Idol runner-up.

    * On February 3, 2006 Manilow was the guest singer on the ABC variety prize show Dancing with the Stars where he sang three songs on the results show.

    * On March 21, 2006 – March 22, 2006 Manilow returned to American Idol in season five when 1950s music was the theme. He again helped the top eleven finalists to fine tune their performances and again sang on the results show.

    * In November 2006, he appeared on Logo's reality show Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising as himself in Las Vegas for a recording session with the twins.

    * On November 23, 2006, Manilow appeared live on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and performed the song "What the World Needs Now" on the television broadcast of the parade.

    * On December 2, 2006, Manilow was the celebrity guest and theme for the week on series three of The X Factor where he assisted the top four acts with their performances.

    * On December 12, 2006, appeared live at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance and performed a selection from his latest album.

    * On September 18, 2007, Manilow made a cameo appearance on The Colbert Report, encouraging Stephen Colbert by saying that the Emmy resides in the heart.

    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 31, 2007 and on November 17, 2008.

    * He guest starred on Family Guy in "Back to the Woods" on February 17, 2008

    * He guest starred on Strictly Come Dancing on December 7, 2008

    * Barry narrated and wrote original music for the Ocean Spray Christmas special—Cranberry Christmas which drew an estimated 1.5 million viewers for its December 2008 debut on ABC Family.

    * He appeared as a guest on the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (UK) on September 11, 2009.

    * On October 2, 2009 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

    * He appeared as a guest on the The Jay Leno Show (US) on December 10, 2009.

    * He appeared as a guest on the The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (US) on January 21, 2010. He mentioned that, before he became famous, he wrote advertising jingles, including two well-known jingles for Band-Aid and State Farm. Also, he commented on his diet of "forgetting to eat".

    * On February 6, 2010, he was a guest on The Jimmy Kimmel Show where Jimmy showed a photo of him in the 1970s and discussed his new album.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/caddydaddy_2007/barry.jpg
http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r357/SarahAnneMarieWalker/barry-manilow.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 6:32 am


What does it do?


It plays the simulated 8 track tapes the ones you used to play in the late 70's early 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 6:34 am

The person who died on this day...Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American film actor and singer in the 1950s.
Chandler was born Ira Grossel to a Jewish  family in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Anna (née Shapiro) and Phillip Grossel.  He attended Erasmus Hall High School, the alma mater of many stage and film personalities. Later, he took a drama course at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York. He worked in radio briefly and spent two years in stock companies. He served in World War II, mostly in the Aleutians. His enlistment record for the Cavalry in November 18, 1941 gave his height as six foot four inches and his weight as 210 pounds. After being discharged from the military, he was a busy radio actor both in drama (such as episodes of Escape, Academy Award Theater, The Whistler, and the radio detective series Michael Shayne) and comedy (playing bashful biology teacher Phillip Boynton on Our Miss Brooks). His first film appearance was in Johnny O'Clock (1947).
Career
Jeff Chandler at Capernaum during a visit to Israel in 1959

In the 1950s, Chandler became a star in western and action movies. His first important role was in Sword In the Desert (1948), as an Israeli freedom fighter. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950). The first of three screen appearances as the legendary Apache chief, he repeated the role in The Battle at Apache Pass (1952) and in a cameo in Taza, Son of Cochise (1954). He was the first actor nominated for an Academy Award for portraying a Native American. His agent was Doovid Barskin of The Barskin Agency in the late 50's.

During the latter part of the decade and into the early 1960s, Chandler became a top leading man. His sex appeal, prematurely gray hair, and ruggedly handsome tanned features put him into drama and costume movies. Among the movies of this period are Female on the Beach (1955), Foxfire (1955), Away All Boats (1956), Toy Tiger (1956), Drango (1957), The Tattered Dress (1957), Man in the Shadow (1957), A Stranger in My Arms (1959), The Jayhawkers! (1959), Thunder in the Sun (1959), and Return to Peyton Place (1961).

His leading ladies included June Allyson, Joan Crawford, Rhonda Fleming, Maureen O'Hara, Kim Novak, Jane Russell, Esther Williams, and his Brooklyn friend Susan Hayward.

Chandler had a concurrent career as a singer and recording artist, releasing several albums and playing nightclubs. In 1955 he became only the second star to play at the Riviera, after Liberace was the featured headliner. In her book “Hold the Roses”, Rose Marie wrote that “Jeff Chandler was a great guy, but he was no singer. He put together an act and we opened at the Riviera. He came with a conductor, piano player, light man, press agent, and manager. None of it helped”. And “Everybody raved about Jeff’s singing, but let’s face it: He really didn’t sing very well. He definitely had guts to open in Vegas”. He left to work on a movie after three and a half weeks.
Personal life

Chandler married actress Marjorie Hoshelle (1918-1989) in 1946. The couple had two daughters, Jamie Tucker (1947-2003) and Dana Grossel (1949-2002), before divorcing in 1954. Both his daughters died of cancer, as did his mother, maternal aunt, uncle and grandfather.

When his friend Sammy Davis, Jr. lost an eye in an accident and was in danger of losing the other, Chandler offered to give Davis one of his own eyes. Chandler himself had nearly lost an eye and had been visibly scarred in an auto accident years earlier.

He was romantically linked with Esther Williams, who claimed in her 1999 autobiography that she broke off the relationship when she discovered that Chandler was a cross-dresser.
Death

Shortly after completing his role in Merrill's Marauders in 1961, he injured his back while playing baseball with U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers who served as extras in the movie. Chandler entered a Culver City hospital and had surgery for a spinal disc herniation, on May 13, 1961. There were severe complications; an artery was damaged and Chandler hemorrhaged. In a seven-and-a-half-hour emergency operation over-and-above the original surgery, he was given 55 pints of blood. Another operation followed, date unknown, where he received an additional 20 pints of blood. He died on June 17, 1961. His death was deemed malpractice and resulted in a large lawsuit and settlement for his children.

Tony Curtis and Gerald Mohr were among the pallbearers at Chandler's funeral. He was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, in Culver City, California.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Chandler has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1770 Vine Street.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1947 Johnny O'Clock Turk Uncredited
The Invisible Wall Al Conway, henchman
Roses Are Red Knuckles
1949 Mr. Belvedere Goes to College Police Officer #66 Uncredited
Sword in the Desert Kurta
Abandoned Chief MacRae Alternative title: Abandoned Woman
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Narrator Uncredited
Broken Arrow Cochise
Deported Vic Smith
The Desert Hawk Opening Off-Screen Narrator Uncredited
Two Flags West Major Henry Kenniston
1951 Double Crossbones Narrator Uncredited
Bird of Paradise Tenga
Smuggler's Island Steve Kent
Iron Man Coke Mason
Flame of the Desert Tamerlane Alternative title: Flame of the Desert
1952 The Battle at Apache Pass Cochise
Red Ball Express Lt. Chick Campbell
Son of Ali Baba Opening Narrator Uncredited
Yankee Buccaneer Cmdr. David Porter
Because of You Steve Kimberly
1953 Girls in the Night Off-Screen Narrator at Finish Uncredited
Alternative title: Life After Dark
The Great Sioux Uprising Jonathan Westgate
East of Sumatra Duke Mullane
War Arrow Major Howell Brady
1954 Taza, Son of Cochise Cochise Uncredited
Yankee Pasha Jason Starbuck
Sign of the Pagan Marcian
1955 Foxfire Jonathan Dartland
Female on the Beach Drummond Hall
The Spoilers Roy Glennister
1956 The Toy Tiger Rick Todd
Away All Boats Captain Jebediah S. Hawks
Pillars of the Sky First Sergeant Emmett Bell Alternative title: The Tomahawk and the Cross
1957 The Tattered Dress James Gordon Blane
Jeanne Eagels Sal Satori
Drango Major Clint Drango
Man in the Shadow Ben Sadler Alternative titles: Pay the Devil
Seeds of Wrath
1958 Lion in the Sky Mike Dandridge Alternative titles: A Game Called Love
The Lady Takes a Flyer
Wild and Wonderful
Raw Wind in Eden Mark Moore/Scott Moorehouse
1959 A Stranger in My Arms Major Pike Yarnell Alternative title: And Ride a Tiger
Thunder in the Sun Lon Bennett
Ten Seconds to Hell Karl Wirtz Alternative title: The Phoenix
The Jayhawkers! Luke Darcy
1960 A Story of David David Alternative title: A Story of David: The Hunted
The Plunderers Sam Christy
1961 Return to Peyton Place Lewis Jackman
1962 Merrill's Marauders Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill
Award nominations
Year Award Result Category Film
1951 Academy Awards Nominated Best Actor in a Supporting Role Broken Arrow
1958 Laurel Awards 14th Place Top Male Star
-
1959 15th Place Top Male Star
-http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/gloriapolicano/Jeff%20Chandler/JEFFDAMOCITA.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/gloriapolicano/Jeff%20Chandler/JEFF-ORSON.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 6:34 am


It plays the simulated 8 track tapes the ones you used to play in the late 70's early 80's.

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 6:38 am


The person born on this day...Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born June 17, 1943)  is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, entertainer, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Mandy", "I Write the Songs", "Weekend in New England", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-selling charts simultaneously, a feat equalled only by Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded a string of Billboard hit singles and multi-platinum albums that have resulted in his being named Radio & Records number one Adult Contemporary artist and winning three straight American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist. Several well-known entertainers have given Manilow their "stamp of approval," including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s regarding Manilow, "He's next." In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, "Don't stop what you're doing, man. We're all inspired by you." Arsenio Hall cited Manilow as a favorite guest on The Arsenio Hall Show and admonished his audience to respect him for his work.

On the other side of the coin, throughout his career Manilow was widely derided and ridiculed, his work typically characterized as sentimental and "maudlin schlock". Robert Christgau's take on Manilow is typical, awarding his records C's and C-'s and characterizing his voice as "uncompromisingly inoffensive... --a voice that never hints at sex or history or even chops." Another frequent target of his critics was the production and arrangements of his songs, which were seen as bombastic, saccharine and overdone.

As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, such as Bette Midler, Dionne Warwick and Rosemary Clooney, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. Since February 2005, he had been the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, and had performed hundreds of shows before he called time on his 5-year association, performing his last show on December 30, 2009. From March 2010, he is due to headline at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.
1970s: Success

Manilow's well-known association with Bette Midler began at the Continental Baths in New York City. He accompanied her and other artists on the piano from 1970 to 1971, and Midler chose Manilow to assist with the production of her first two albums, the Platinum-certified The Divine Miss M (1972) and the Gold-plus Bette Midler (1973), and act as her musical director on the The Divine Miss M tour. Manilow worked with Midler for four years, from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, Bell Records released Manilow's first album, Barry Manilow, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song that Manilow had composed for the 1972 war drama Parades.

Among other songs on the album were "Friends", "Cloudburst", and "Could It Be Magic." The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, Number 20", and provided Donna Summer with one of her major hits. (It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an up-beat disco version of the song. Take That have since performed Manilow's original version in their Beautiful World Tour.) Midler allowed Manilow to sing three of the songs from the album during the intermissions in her show. As a result of a corporate takeover, Bell Records, along with other labels, was merged into a new entity named Arista Records, under the leadership of Clive Davis, who seized the opportunity to drop many artists. However, after seeing Manilow perform as the opening act at a Dionne Warwick concert, he was convinced that he had a winner on his hands; a relationship lasting decades ensued.
Manilow in 1979

The partnership began to gain traction in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, Barry Manilow II, on Bell Records (and later reissued on Arista), which contained the breakthrough number-one hit, "Mandy". Manilow had not wanted to record "Mandy" (originally titled "Brandy", written and recorded by Scott English) — but the song was included at the insistence of Clive Davis. Following the success of Barry Manilow II, the first Bell Records album release was re-mixed and re-issued on Arista Records as Barry Manilow I. When Manilow went on his first tour, he included in his show, "A Very Strange Medley", a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written or sung. Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975, appearance on American Bandstand to promote Barry Manilow II (where he sang "Mandy" and "It's A Miracle"), a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, singing his original seasonal favorite "It's Just Another New Year's Eve", American Bandstand anniversary shows, American Music Awards performances and his 1985 television movie Copacabana are among their projects together. He once said, "Is it wrong to be strong, you be the judge!"

"Mandy" was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s to the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums Tryin' to Get the Feeling, This One's for You, Even Now and One Voice. Despite being a solid songwriter in his own right, Manilow has had great success with songs by others. Among the hits which he did not write are "Mandy," "Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again", "Weekend in New England" (by Randy Edelman), Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again". Ironically, another of the songs Manilow did not write was his number one hit "I Write The Songs" (by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys). According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, co-produce them with Ron Dante and arrange them.

Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of Manilow Magic – The Best Of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits. On its initial release it was accompanied by a large television advertising campaign, but the album was only available by mail order on the "Teledisc" label. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring and executive produced by Manilow. The Barry Manilow Special with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977 to an audience of 37 million. The breakthrough special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of "Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special". The Second Barry Manilow Special in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.

Manilow's "Ready To Take a Chance Again" originated in the film Foul Play, which also featured "Copacabana", from his 4th studio album "Even Now." "Ready To Take A Chance Again" was nominated that year for the "Best Original Song" Oscar. Copacabana would later take the form of a musical television movie, starring Manilow, and three musical plays. On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California was aired on HBO's series Standing Room Only, which was the first pay-television show to pose a serious challenge to network primetime specials in the ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.

On May 23, 1979, ABC aired The Third Barry Manilow Special, with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography". Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's "comeback" album Dionne. The Arista album was her first to go platinum and spawned "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and "Deja Vu." He also scored a top ten hit of his own in the fall of 1979 with the song "Ships" (written by Ian Hunter, former lead singer of Mott the Hoople) from the album "One Voice."
1980s

The 1980s gave Manilow the adult contemporary chart-topping hit songs "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" ( by Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman) and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Manilow continued having high radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow had five sold-out performances at Royal Albert Hall, for which nearly a half million people vied for the 21,500 available seats. In the United States, he sold out Radio City Music Hall in 1984 for 10 nights and set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the then 52-year history of the Music Hall. In 1980, Manilow's One Voice special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction".

Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's sold-out shows at England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled Barry (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at #15. The album contained "I Made It Through The Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle." "We Still Have Time" was featured in the 1980 drama Tribute. The album If I Should Love Again followed in 1981, containing "The Old Songs," "Let's Hang On," and "Somewhere Down The Road." This was the first of his own albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante, who had co-produced all the previous albums. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh was aired nationally on Showtime, and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his sold out Royal Albert Hall show was broadcast in England. The live album and video Barry Live in Britain also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.

On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by a conservative estimate of 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.

In 1984 Manilow released 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. In 1984, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends, such as Sarah Vaughn and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records. There he released the pop album Manilow, and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese, among other languages. The Manilow album was a complete about face from the Paradise Cafe album, containing a number of tracks that were of a modern uptempo and synthesized quality. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.

In his only lead acting role, he portrayed Tony Starr in a 1985 CBS film based on Copacabana, which also featured Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr and Joseph Bologna as Rico. This was named one of the top TV specials of the year by TV Guide magazine. Manilow penned all the songs for the movie, with lyrics provided by established collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, and released Copacabana: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album on RCA Records. In October 1986, Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, Tom Scott, and Charlie Fox, went to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with legislators, including lunch with then Senator Al Gore (D-TN). They were there to lobby against a copyright bill put forward by local television broadcasters that would mandate songwriter-producer source licensing of theme and incidental music on syndicated television show reruns and would disallow use of the blanket license now in effect. The songwriters said without the blanket license, artists would have to negotiate up front with producers individually, without knowing if a series would be a success. The license now pays according to a per-use formula. Manilow said that such a bill would act as a precedent for broadcasters to get rid of the blanket license entirely.

The following year, McGraw-Hill published his autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise, which had taken him about three years to complete. While promoting his autobiography, Manilow defended his music in a telephone interview: "I live in laid-back L.A., but in my heart, I'm an energetic New Yorker and that's what has always come out of my music. I've always been surprised when the critics said I made wimpy little ballads". Manilow returned to Arista Records in 1987 with the release of Swing Street. The album, a mixture of traditional after-dark and techno jazz, contained "Brooklyn Blues," an autobiographical song for Manilow, and "Hey Mambo," an uptempo Latin style duet with Kid Creole, produced with the help of Emilio Estefan, Jr., founder of Miami Sound Machine.

In March 1988, CBS aired Manilow's Big Fun on Swing Street special. It featured songs and special guests from his Swing Street and 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe albums, including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Phyllis Hyman, Stanley Clarke, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott, Gerry Mulligan, Diane Schuur, Full Swing, and Uncle Festive, a band within Manilow's band at the time. The special was nominated for two Emmys in categories of "Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic): For a Variety/Music or drama series, a miniseries or a special" and won in the category of "Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music program". England also aired another NEC one-hour concert special Manilow did while on his Big Fun Tour de Force tour.

In 1988, he performed "Please Don't Be Scared" and "Mandy/Could It Be Magic" at That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88, a benefit concert for the Warwick Foundation headed by Dionne Warwick and shown on Showtime a couple of years later. In the 1988 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature Oliver & Company, Bette Midler's character sang a new Manilow composition called "Perfect Isn't Easy." The 1989 release of Barry Manilow, which contained "Please Don't Be Scared," "Keep Each Other Warm," and "The One That Got Away," ended Manilow's streak of albums of original self-written material (he neither wrote nor arranged any of the songs except for two) and began a phase of his recording career consisting of covers and compilations.

From April 18 to June 10, 1989, Manilow put on a show called Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, making 44 appearances at the Gershwin Theatre (also known as the Uris Theatre), where, by coincidence, he recorded Barry Manilow Live in 1976. A best-selling 90-minute video of the same show was released the following year as Barry Manilow Live On Broadway. The Showtime one-hour special Barry Manilow SRO on Broadway consisted of edited highlights from this video. Manilow followed this set of shows with a sold-out world tour of the Broadway show.
1990s

In the 1990s, Manilow released a number of cover tunes. It started with the 1989 release Barry Manilow, continued with his 1990 Christmas LP Because It's Christmas. Consequent "event" albums followed including: Showstoppers, a collection of Broadway songs (1991), Singin' with the Big Bands (1994) and a late 1970s collection Summer of '78 (1996) which included the hit "I Go Crazy", formerly a hit for Paul Davis in 1978. The decade ended with Manilow recording a tribute to Frank Sinatra Manilow Sings Sinatra (1998) released months after Sinatra's death.

In 1990, Japan aired National Eolia Special: Barry Manilow On Broadway where he sang the title song "Eolia", which was used as a song there in a commercial for an air conditioner company of the same name, as well as other songs from his 1989–1990 Live on Broadway tour. In the early 1990s, Manilow signed on with Don Bluth to compose the songs with lyricists Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman for three animated films. He co-wrote the Broadway-style musical scores for Thumbelina (1994) and The Pebble and the Penguin (1995). The third film, entitled Rapunzel, was shelved after the poor performance of Pebble. Manilow was also to be cast as the voice of a cricket. Manilow also composed the score and wrote two songs with Bruce Sussman for Disney Sing Along Songs: Let's Go To The Circus.

On February 19, 1992, Manilow testified before the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration House Committee in support of H.R. 3204 The Audio Home Recording Act of 1991. The bill was signed into law on October 28, 1992 by President George H. W. Bush. The Act, a historic compromise between the consumer electronics and music industries, became effective immediately. In 1993, PBS aired, as a fundraiser, Barry Manilow: The Best of Me, which was taped at Wembley Arena in England earlier that same year. The BBC also played a one-hour version of the same show including "The Best of Me", sung during the concert, as a bonus song or "lucky strike extra" as Manilow says, not seen in The Greatest Hits...and then some, the video release of the show; however, the song was included on the DVD of the same title, with Manilow seated in front of a black curtain, lip-syncing to the recording. Manilow branched out in another direction and, with long-time lyricist Bruce Sussman, launched Copacabana, a musical play based on previous Manilow-related adaptations. They wrote new songs and it ran for two years on the London West End, and a tour company formed.

In December 1996, A&E aired Barry Manilow: Live By Request, the first of his two Live By Request appearances. The broadcast was A&E's most successful music program, attracting an estimated 2.4 million viewers. The show was also simulcast on the radio. In March 1997, VH-1 aired Barry Manilow: The Summer of '78, a one-hour special of Manilow solo at the piano being interviewed and playing his greatest hits as well as songs from Summer of '78 his latest release at the time. In another collaboration between Manilow and Sussman they co-wrote the musical Harmony, which previewed October 7 to November 23, 1997 at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California. Later in 2003, Harmony was originally scheduled for a tryout run in Philadelphia before going to Broadway, but was canceled after financial difficulties. After a legal battle with Mark Schwartz, the show's producer, Manilow and Sussman in 2005 won back the rights to the musical.

On October 23, 1999, NBC aired the two-hour special StarSkates Salute to Barry Manilow taped at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring numerous figure skaters performing to Manilow's music. Manilow also performed as well.
Discography
Main article: Barry Manilow discography
Awards

    * 1977 Grammy – I Write The Songs – Song of the Year (award went to the song's writer)
    * 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Special – Comedy, Variety or Music – The Barry Manilow Special
    * 1977 Special Tony Award – Barry Manilow on Broadway
    * 1978 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1979 Grammy – Copacabana Best Pop Male Vocal Performance
    * 1979 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1980 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 2002 Songwriter's Hall of Fame
    * 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barry Manilow: Music And Passion
    * 2007 RIAA – Plaque commemorating worldwide record sales of 75 million
    * 2009 Clio Awards Honorary award for prior work with commercial jingles
    *  ? Kentucky Colonel

TV and movie appearances
Barry Manilow at the premiere of The Rose (starring Bette Midler), November 7, 1979

    * Donny & Marie in 1977.

    * ABC special The Stars Salute Israel At 30 on May 8, 1978.

    * May 8, 1982, Goldie & Kids a special where he acted in skits and sang "One Voice" and "I Am Your Child" with hostess Goldie Hawn.

    * On September 17, 1987 he appeared in the star-studded CBS special We The People 200: The Constitutional Gala taped at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to debut his song "Let Freedom Ring" where President Ronald Reagan was in attendance.

    * On January 2, 1993 guest on the NBC special Dame Edna's Hollywood.

    * On May 17, 1993, Manilow made a guest appearance on the CBS show Murphy Brown. On the show, Candace Bergen's title character had frequently made reference to her hatred of Manilow's music, but after she became a mother, Manilow appeared to sing her a sweet version of his tune "I Am Your Child," winning her over with the song about a parent's bond with a child. Later that year he appeared in England on Surprise! Surprise! with Cilla Black where he performed the new single he had recorded with Cilla of "You'll Never Walk Alone".

    * Guest appearance in a 2001 episode of Ally McBeal. He played both a hallucination of Ally's and himself on stage at the end of the show.

    * Played himself in a cameo in the 2002 dark comedy Unconditional Love starring Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett where "Can't Smile Without You" also played a key role in the plot.

    * On December 11, 2003, Manilow appeared on the NBC show Will & Grace as himself backstage between tour stops. The name of the episode is "Fanilow" as in a fan of Manilow.

    * On April 20, 2004 – April 21, 2004 Manilow reunited with Debra Byrd his former backup singer who is now the vocal coach at American Idol when he appeared as a guest judge and worked with the top seven finalists for the popular FOX variety prize show where the season three contestants sang his songs as the theme for the week.

    * On December 8, 2004, he was a guest on the NBC special A Clay Aiken Christmas, hosted by the former Idol runner-up.

    * On February 3, 2006 Manilow was the guest singer on the ABC variety prize show Dancing with the Stars where he sang three songs on the results show.

    * On March 21, 2006 – March 22, 2006 Manilow returned to American Idol in season five when 1950s music was the theme. He again helped the top eleven finalists to fine tune their performances and again sang on the results show.

    * In November 2006, he appeared on Logo's reality show Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising as himself in Las Vegas for a recording session with the twins.

    * On November 23, 2006, Manilow appeared live on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and performed the song "What the World Needs Now" on the television broadcast of the parade.

    * On December 2, 2006, Manilow was the celebrity guest and theme for the week on series three of The X Factor where he assisted the top four acts with their performances.

    * On December 12, 2006, appeared live at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance and performed a selection from his latest album.

    * On September 18, 2007, Manilow made a cameo appearance on The Colbert Report, encouraging Stephen Colbert by saying that the Emmy resides in the heart.

    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 31, 2007 and on November 17, 2008.

    * He guest starred on Family Guy in "Back to the Woods" on February 17, 2008

    * He guest starred on Strictly Come Dancing on December 7, 2008

    * Barry narrated and wrote original music for the Ocean Spray Christmas special—Cranberry Christmas which drew an estimated 1.5 million viewers for its December 2008 debut on ABC Family.

    * He appeared as a guest on the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (UK) on September 11, 2009.

    * On October 2, 2009 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

    * He appeared as a guest on the The Jay Leno Show (US) on December 10, 2009.

    * He appeared as a guest on the The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (US) on January 21, 2010. He mentioned that, before he became famous, he wrote advertising jingles, including two well-known jingles for Band-Aid and State Farm. Also, he commented on his diet of "forgetting to eat".

    * On February 6, 2010, he was a guest on The Jimmy Kimmel Show where Jimmy showed a photo of him in the 1970s and discussed his new album.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/caddydaddy_2007/barry.jpg
http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r357/SarahAnneMarieWalker/barry-manilow.jpg


http://s0.ilike.com/play#Barry+Manilow:New+York+City+Rhythm:151630:s309615.8120583.5650091.0.1.8%2Cstd_30902a59e9d0fb480dbfb51e872265f2

Barry Manilow singing about New York City.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 11:08 am


http://s0.ilike.com/play#Barry+Manilow:New+York+City+Rhythm:151630:s309615.8120583.5650091.0.1.8%2Cstd_30902a59e9d0fb480dbfb51e872265f2

Barry Manilow singing about New York City.

I liked him in the 70's,but not much sense then. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/17/10 at 11:16 am

More of my photos:


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2947233333_56564d3048.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3316518817_6f4d8e3f96.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2961390727_49749ed539.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3781831226_20c00a9dcb.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/17/10 at 11:19 am

I like so many Barry Manilow songs from the 70s as well, but not much since then, just like you.
My faves are "I write the songs" and "Could it be magic"


I liked him in the 70's,but not much sense then. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/17/10 at 1:09 pm


http://s0.ilike.com/play#Barry+Manilow:New+York+City+Rhythm:151630:s309615.8120583.5650091.0.1.8%2Cstd_30902a59e9d0fb480dbfb51e872265f2

Barry Manilow singing about New York City.
Now taht is a long url?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 2:56 pm


I liked him in the 70's,but not much sense then. :-\\


You didn't like his disco? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 2:57 pm


More of my photos:


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2947233333_56564d3048.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3316518817_6f4d8e3f96.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2961390727_49749ed539.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3781831226_20c00a9dcb.jpg



Cat




very gorgeous pictures Cat.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/17/10 at 3:02 pm


More of my photos:


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2947233333_56564d3048.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3316518817_6f4d8e3f96.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2961390727_49749ed539.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3781831226_20c00a9dcb.jpg



Cat


More potential desktop pictures?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 3:03 pm


More potential desktop pictures?


Maybe not at the moment.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 3:16 pm


More of my photos:


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2947233333_56564d3048.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3316518817_6f4d8e3f96.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2961390727_49749ed539.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3781831226_20c00a9dcb.jpg



Cat



Very nice :) New England can be a very charming place.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 3:22 pm


I like so many Barry Manilow songs from the 70s as well, but not much since then, just like you.
My faves are "I write the songs" and "Could it be magic"



Those are good songs. Missy likes "Could It Be Magic" because it mentions the name Melissa in it.

You didn't like his disco? ???

I don't like the remakes that he's been doing of old standards, I listen to an oldie channel and they sometimes play his version of the songs

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 3:25 pm


Those are good songs. Missy likes "Could It Be Magic" because it mentions the name Melissa in it.I don't like the remakes that he's been doing of old standards, I listen to an oldie channel and they sometimes play his version of the songs


I like his love jams "So Glad We Made it".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/17/10 at 3:26 pm


Those are good songs. Missy likes "Could It Be Magic" because it mentions the name Melissa in it.I don't
I like that song for it is based on Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, Number 20.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/10 at 3:27 pm

What about Bandstand Boogie? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/17/10 at 4:05 pm


very gorgeous pictures Cat.  :)




More potential desktop pictures?




Very nice :) New England can be a very charming place.



Thanks.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/17/10 at 5:08 pm

Manilow writes the songs, Cat takes the pics.
Nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/17/10 at 5:36 pm


Manilow writes the songs, Cat takes the pics.
Nice.



;D ;D ;D


Confession: I do like some of Barry Manilow songs-like THIS one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrkr9Ipj1XA




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/10 at 6:22 pm


I like so many Barry Manilow songs from the 70s as well, but not much since then, just like you.
My faves are "I write the songs" and "Could it be magic"



They are playing "I Write The Songs" on the 70's music channel on TV right now :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/18/10 at 5:45 am

The word of the day...Wings
.  One of a pair of movable organs for flying, as the feather-covered modified forelimb of a bird or the skin-covered modified digits of the forelimb of a bat.
2. Any of usually four membranous organs for flying that extend from the thorax of an insect.
3. A winglike organ or structure used for flying, as the folds of skin of a flying squirrel or the enlarged pectoral fin of a flying fish.
4. Botany
a. A thin or membranous extension, such as of the fruit of the elm, maple, or ash or of the seed of the pine.
b. One of the lateral petals of the flower of a pea or of most plants in the pea family.
5. Informal An arm of a human.
6. An airfoil whose principal function is providing lift, especially either of two such airfoils symmetrically positioned on each side of the fuselage of an aircraft.
7. Something that resembles a wing in appearance, function, or position relative to a main body.
8.
a. The act or manner of flying.
b. A means of flight or rapid movement: Fear lent wings to his feet.
9.
a. Something, such as a weathervane, that is moved by or moves against the air.
b. The sail of a ship.
10. Chiefly British The fender of a motor vehicle.
11. A folding section, as of a double door or of a movable partition.
12. Either of the two side projections on the back of a wing chair.
13.
a. A flat of theatrical scenery projecting onto the stage from the side.
b. wings The unseen backstage area on either side of the stage of a proscenium theater.
14. A structure attached to and connected internally with the side of a main building.
15. A section of a large building devoted to a specific purpose: the children's wing of the hospital.
16. A group affiliated with or subordinate to an older or larger organization.
17.
a. Either of two groups with opposing views within a larger group; a faction.
b. A section of a party, legislature, or community holding distinct, especially dissenting, political views: the conservative wing.
18.
a. Either the left or right flank of an army or a naval fleet.
b. An air force unit larger than a group but smaller than a division.
19. Sports
a. Either of the forward positions played near the sideline, especially in hockey.
b. A player who plays such a position.
20. wings An outspread pair of stylized bird's wings worn as insignia by qualified pilots or air crew members.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h18/stoksukz/Kenny/wings.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k184/Louises-pictures/Katrina/3754KL-100511-wings.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk251/Darktide22/scan0003-2.jpg
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp222/sternchen-75/Werbung%20Wings/eroeffnung.gif
http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af219/bigtrks27/Anyone%20Hungry/1031092002.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u264/dmb1977420/RED%20WINGS/scan0004.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc92/jlancton/Bass%20River%20Cruise/DSC00372.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/18/10 at 5:50 am

The person born on this day... Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE  (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, poet, painter, and animal rights activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, according to Guinness World Records, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music.

McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.

BBC News named his song "Yesterday" the most covered song in history—by over 2,200 artists—and, according to the BBC has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. Based on the 93 weeks his compositions have spent at the top spot of the UK chart, and 24 number one singles to his credit, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history. As a performer or songwriter, McCartney was responsible for 32 number one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified albums in the US alone.

McCartney has worked on film scores and classical and electronic music, released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist, and taken part in projects to help international charities. He is an advocate for animal rights, for vegetarianism, and for music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt. He is a keen football fan, supporting both Everton and Liverpool football clubs. His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is one of Britain's wealthiest men, with an estimated fortune of £750 million ($1.2 billion) in 2009.
McCartney was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England, where his mother, Mary (born Mohan), had worked as a nurse in the maternity ward.  He has one brother, Michael, born 7 January 1944.  McCartney was baptised Roman Catholic but was raised non-denominationally: his mother was Roman Catholic and his father James, or "Jim" McCartney, was a Protestant turned agnostic.

In 1947, he began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary School. He then attended the Joseph Williams Junior School and passed the 11-plus exam in 1953 with three others out of the 90 examinees, thus gaining admission to the Liverpool Institute. In 1954, while taking the bus from his home in the suburb of Speke to the Institute, he met George Harrison, who lived nearby. Passing the exam meant that McCartney and Harrison could go to a Grammar school rather than a secondary modern school, which the majority of pupils attended until they were eligible to work, but as Grammar school pupils, they had to find new friends.
Exterior of a two-story brick building, with a hedge in front of it. Six windows are visible, three on each level, as are two doorways on the lower level.
20 Forthlin Road now attracts large numbers of tourists

In 1955, the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton. Mary McCartney rode a bicycle to houses where she was needed as a midwife, and an early McCartney memory is of her leaving when it was snowing heavily. On 31 October 1956, Mary McCartney, a heavy smoker, died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer. The early loss of his mother later connected McCartney with John Lennon, whose mother Julia died after being struck by a car when Lennon was 17.

McCartney's father was a trumpet player and pianist who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s and encouraged his two sons to be musical. Jim had an upright piano in the front room that he had bought from Brian Epstein's store. McCartney's grandfather, Joe McCartney, played an E-flat tuba. Jim McCartney used to point out the different instruments in songs on the radio, and often took McCartney to local brass band concerts. McCartney's father gave him a nickel-plated trumpet, but when skiffle music became popular, McCartney swapped the trumpet for a £15 Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar. As he was left-handed, McCartney found right-handed guitars difficult to play, but when he saw a poster advertising a Slim Whitman concert, he realised that Whitman played left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player. McCartney wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl") on the Zenith, and also played his father's Framus Spanish guitar when writing early songs with Lennon. He later learned to play the piano and wrote his second song, "When I'm Sixty-Four". On his father's advice, he took music lessons, but since he preferred to learn 'by ear' he never paid much attention to them.

McCartney was heavily influenced by American Rhythm and Blues music. He has stated that Little Richard was his idol when he was in school and that the first song he ever sang in public was "Long Tall Sally", at a Butlins holiday camp talent competition.
Musical career
Main article: Paul McCartney's musical career
1957–1960

At the age of 15, McCartney met John Lennon and The Quarrymen at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton on 6 July 1957. He formed a close working relationship with Lennon and they collaborated on many songs. Harrison joined the group as lead guitarist, followed by Lennon's art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, on bass, and Pete Best on the drums. By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including "Johnny and The Moondogs" and "The Silver Beetles", playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle. They finally changed the name of the group to The Beatles.
1960–1970: The Beatles

From May 1960, The Beatles were booked by Allan Williams, to perform at a club in Hamburg. For the next two years, The Beatles remained in Hamburg for much of the time, performing as a resident group in a number of Hamburg clubs. During their two-year Hamburg residency they returned to Liverpool from time to time, performing at the Cavern club. Prior to the end of the residency, Sutcliffe left the band, so McCartney, reluctantly, became The Beatles' bass player. The Beatles recorded their first published musical material in Hamburg, performing as the backing group for Tony Sheridan on the single "My Bonnie". This recording later brought The Beatles to the attention of a key figure in their subsequent development and commercial success, Brian Epstein, who became their next manager. Epstein eventually negotiated a record contract for the group with Parlophone in May 1962. After replacing Best with Ringo Starr on drums, The Beatles became popular in the UK in 1963 and in the US in 1964. In 1965, they were each appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). After performing concerts, plays, and tours almost non-stop for a period of nearly four years, and giving more than one thousand four hundred live performances internationally, The Beatles gave their last commercial concert at the end of their 1966 US tour. They continued to work in the recording studio from 1966 until their breakup in 1970. In the eight years from 1962 to 1970, the group had released twenty-four UK singles and twelve studio albums, along with further US releases (see discography).
Since 1970
Black-and-white image of McCartney, in his sixties, playing an electric guitar. He wears a white collared shirt and a black necktie, knotted but loose-fitting, and stands behind a microphone. A small, simultaneous representation of McCartney on a monitor and some recording equipment are visible in the background.
McCartney performing at The Roundhouse in 2007, for the BBC Electric Proms

After the breakup of The Beatles, McCartney continued his musical career, in solo work as well as in collaborations with other musicians. After releasing his solo album McCartney in 1970, he worked with Linda McCartney to record the album Ram in 1971. Later the same year, the pair were joined by guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell to form the group Wings, which was active between 1971 and 1981 and released numerous successful singles and albums (see discography). McCartney also collaborated with a number of other popular artists including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Eric Stewart, and Elvis Costello. In 1985, McCartney played "Let It Be" at the Live Aid concert in London, backed by Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend, David Bowie, and Alison Moyet. The 1990s saw McCartney venture into orchestral music, and in 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial. He collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio; involving the opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess, Jerry Hadley and Willard White, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral. The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (2008). Other forays into classical music included Standing Stone (1997), Working Classical (1999), and Ecce Cor Meum (2006). It was announced in the 1997 New Year Honours that McCartney was to be knighted for services to music, becoming Sir Paul McCartney. In 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and in May 2000, he was awarded a Fellowship by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. The 1990s also saw McCartney, Harrison, and Starr working together on Apple's The Beatles Anthology documentary series.

Having witnessed the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks from the JFK airport tarmac, McCartney took a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City. In November 2002, on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death, McCartney performed at the Concert for George. He has also participated in the National Football League's Super Bowl, performing in the pre-game show for Super Bowl XXXVI and headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX.
McCartney and Ringo Starr promoting The Beatles: Rock Band in 2009.

McCartney has continued to work in the realms of popular and classical music, touring the world and performing at a large number of concerts and events; on more than one occasion he has performed again with Ringo Starr. In 2008, he received a BRIT award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and an honorary degree, Doctor of Music, from Yale University. The same year, he performed at a concert in Liverpool to celebrate the city's year as European Capital of Culture. In 2009, he received two nominations for the 51st annual Grammy awards, while in October of the same year he was named songwriter of the year at The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards. On 15 July 2009, more than 45 years after The Beatles first appeared on American television on The Ed Sullivan Show, McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater and performed atop the marquee of Late Show with David Letterman. McCartney was portrayed in the 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about Lennon's teenage years, by Thomas Sangster. On 2 June 2010, McCartney was honoured by Barack Obama with the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music in a live show for the White House with performances by Stevie Wonder, Lang Lang and many others.

McCartney's enduring popularity has helped him schedule performances in new venues. He played three sold out concerts at newly-built Citi Field--the home of the New York Mets in Major League Baseball--in Queens, New York in July 2009. On August 18-19, 2010, McCartney will open the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, a new arena primarily built for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. Strong demand for the first concert at the new arena prompted the second one.
Creative outlets

During the 1960s, McCartney was often seen at major cultural events, such as the launch party for The International Times and at The Roundhouse (28 January and 4 February 1967 respectively). He also delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealers and gallery owners, explored experimental film, and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. His first contact with the London avant-garde scene was through John Dunbar, who introduced him to the art dealer Robert Fraser, who in turn introduced McCartney to an array of writers and artists. McCartney later became involved in the renovation and publicising of the Indica Gallery in Mason's Yard, London—John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at the Indica. The Indica Gallery brought McCartney into contact with Barry Miles, whose underground newspaper, The International Times, McCartney helped to start. Miles would become de facto manager of the Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label, and wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years From Now (1997).

While living at the Asher house, McCartney took piano lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which The Beatles' producer Martin had previously attended. McCartney studied composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio. McCartney later wrote and released several pieces of modern classical music and ambient electronica, besides writing poetry and painting. McCartney is lead patron of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an arts school in the building formerly occupied by the Liverpool Institute for Boys. The 1837 building, which McCartney attended during his schooldays, had become derelict by the mid-1980s. On 7 June 1996, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the redeveloped building.  McCartney was later inspired—in his school years—by Alan Durband, who was McCartney's English literature teacher at the Liverpool Institute.  Durband was a co-founder and fund-raiser at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where Willy Russell also worked, and introduced McCartney to Geoffrey Chaucer's works.  McCartney later took his A-level exams, but passed only one subject—Art.

In 2001 McCartney published 'Blackbird Singing', a volume of poems, some of which were lyrics to his songs, and gave readings in Liverpool and New York City. Some of them were serious: "Here Today" (about Lennon) and some humorous ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer"). In the foreword of the book, McCartney explained that when he was a teenager, he had "an overwhelming desire" to have a poem of his published in the school magazine. He wrote something "deep and meaningful", but it was rejected, and he feels that he has been trying to get some kind of revenge ever since. His first "real poem" was about the death of his childhood friend, Ivan Vaughan.

In October 2005, McCartney released a children's book called High In The Clouds: An Urban Furry Tail. In a press release publicising the book, McCartney said, "I have loved reading for as long as I can remember", singling out Treasure Island as a childhood favourite. McCartney collaborated with author Philip Ardagh and animator Geoff Dunbar to write the book.  McCartney has also credited the 1942 Disney film Bambi—in which the young deer's mother is shot by a hunter—as the original inspiration for him to take an interest in animal rights.  In his first interview after Linda's death, he promised to continue working for animal rights.

In 1999, McCartney spent £3,000,000 to make sure Linda McCartney's food range remained free of GM ingredients. In 2002, McCartney gave his support to a campaign against a proposed ban on the sale of certain vitamins, herbs, and mineral products in the European Union. Following his marriage to Heather Mills, McCartney joined with her to campaign against landmines; both McCartney and Mills are patrons of Adopt-A-Minefield. In 2003, he played a personal concert for the wife of a wealthy banker and donated his one million dollars to the charity. He also wore an anti-landmines t-shirt on the Back in the World tour.
McCartney, in his late sixties, playing an orange electric guitar and wearing a red shirt that bears, in white writing, the words "no more land mines." His eyes are closed.
McCartney's campaign against landmines

In 2006, the McCartneys travelled to Prince Edward Island to bring international attention to the seal hunt (their final public appearance together). Their arrival sparked attention in Newfoundland and Labrador where the hunt is of economic significance. The couple also debated with Newfoundland's Premier Danny Williams on the CNN show Larry King Live. They further stated that the fishermen should quit hunting seals and begin a seal watching business. McCartney has also criticised China's fur trade and supports the Make Poverty History campaign.

McCartney has been involved with a number of charity recordings and performances. In 2004, he donated a song to an album to aid the "US Campaign for Burma", in support of Burmese Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and he had previously been involved in the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Live Aid, and the recording of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (released 8 May 1989) following the Hillsborough disaster.

In a December 2008 interview with Prospect Magazine, McCartney mentioned that he tried to convince the Dalai Lama to become a vegetarian. In a letter to the Dalai Lama, McCartney took issue with Buddhism and meat-eating being considered compatible, saying, "Forgive me for pointing this out, but if you eat animals then there is some suffering somewhere along the line." The Dalai Lama replied to McCartney by saying his doctors advised him to eat meat for health reasons. In the interview McCartney said, "I wrote back saying they were wrong.
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/Cyndi_D/paul-mccartney.jpg
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu169/foto1996/Family%20McCartney/475447.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/18/10 at 6:03 am

The person who died on this day...Jack Buck
John Francis "Jack" Buck (August 21, 1924–June 18, 2002) was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. Buck received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame  in 1987, and is honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. The recently finished I-64/US-40 in St.Louis, Missouri has been named in Buck's honor. He is the father of Fox Sports lead NFL  and MLB announcer Joe Buck.

Buck was recognizable by his deep, gravelly voice, penchant for sardonic irony, and his distinctive play-by-play calls. Among these were Buck's descriptions of Kirk Gibson's dramatic game-winning pinch hit home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series ("I don't believe what I just saw!"), Ozzie Smith's walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series ("Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!"), Jack Clark's three-run home run two days later in Game 6 ("Adios! Goodbye! And maybe, that's a winner!"), Tom Herr's grand slam walk-off home run against the New York Mets in April 1987 ("A Grand Slam-a!"), Kirby Puckett's iconic game-winning home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series ("And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), and Mark McGwire's single season record-tying home run in 1998 ("Pardon me while I stand up and applaud."). Buck started broadcasting Cardinals games for KMOX radio in 1954, teaming with Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton (1954), and Joe Garagiola (from 1955). Buck was dropped from the Cardinals booth in 1959 to make room for Buddy Blattner; the following year, he called Saturday Game of the Week  telecasts for ABC. Buck was re-hired by the Cardinals in 1961 after Blattner departed; Garagiola left the following year, leaving Caray and Buck as the team's broadcast voices through 1969.

After Caray was fired by the Cardinals following the 1969 season, Buck ascended to the team's lead play-by-play role. (Oddly enough, 1969 was also the year that Jack Buck divorced his first wife Alyce Larson - who he had married in 1948 and had six children with - and married his second wife, Carole Lintzenich, who gave birth to their son Joe Buck in the same year).

Buck teamed with ex-Yankees and Pirates announcer Jim Woods in 1970–71. In 1972, retired Cardinals third baseman Mike Shannon joined Buck in the broadcast booth, beginning a 28-year partnership.

On Cardinals broadcasts, Buck routinely punctuated St. Louis victories with the expression, "That's a winner!"

According to his autobiography, That's a Winner, Buck's children helped his career in the 1970s.

In addition to Joe, Buck has three daughters who worked in broadcasting--Julie Buck on KYKY 98.1 in St. Louis (she now works at KLOU-FM 103.3, also in St. Louis), Bonnie Buck, who currently works in television in Los Angeles, and Christine Buck, who started her career at KPLR-TV in St. Louis. In addition, Buck’s late younger brother, Bob Buck was a sportscaster and sports director at KMOX/KMOV-TV in St. Louis.

Buck was well respected in the St. Louis community, where he lived and regularly volunteered time to host charity events.

The book Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Buck is prominent in many of these stories.
Football

Jack Buck was also a renowned football broadcaster. In 1963 he began calling National Football League games for CBS television, following a three-year stint doing telecasts of the rival American Football League for ABC. Buck called Dallas Cowboys games for CBS throughout the 1960s, including the famous "Ice Bowl" championship game in 1967; as the network moved away from dedicated team announcers in the 1970s, he continued to call regional NFL action through 1974, as well as several NFC Championship Games and Super Bowl IV. He also called the 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic for CBS.

In 1975, Buck temporarily left his Cardinals baseball duties in order to host the NBC pregame show, GrandStand, alongside Bryant Gumbel. In the 1976 and 1977 seasons, he called NFL play-by-play for NBC. On August 16, 1976, Buck called the first-ever NFL game played outside of the United States, a preseason exhibition held in Japan between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers.

Buck served as the CBS Radio voice of Monday Night Football (teaming with Hank Stram) for nearly two decades (1978–1984 and again from 1987–1995). Ironically, in 1970 ABC's Roone Arledge had asked via telephone about Buck's interests in becoming the first television play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football, but because of personal animosity surrounding his previous stint with the network, Buck wouldn't return their phone call. (The television play-by-play role would go to Keith Jackson instead.) In addition to MNF, Buck called numerous playoff games for CBS Radio, including 17 Super Bowls (the most of any announcer). Buck also returned to calling Sunday NFL games for CBS television from 1982 to 1987.

During the 1990 NFL season, Buck's onetime CBS broadcasting partner, Pat Summerall, was hospitalized after vomiting on a plane during a flight after a game, and was out for a considerable amount of time. While Verne Lundquist replaced Summerall on games with lead analyst John Madden, Buck (who was at the time the network's lead Major League Baseball announcer) was added as a regular NFL broadcaster to fill-in.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame presented Buck with its Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 1996.
See also: List of NFL on CBS commentator pairings
Other sports

While much better known for his baseball and football commentary, Jack Buck was also the original voice of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. Buck was paired with Jay Randolph and Gus Kyle on the broadcasts and covered the 1968 Stanley Cup Final on St. Louis radio. He was succeeded after one season by another St. Louis broadcasting legend, Dan Kelly.

Buck also broadcast for the St. Louis Hawks and Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association, and called professional boxing, professional wrestling, and bowling at various times in his career.
CBS baseball career
Jack Buck (left) with Ralph Kiner at the 1987 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

From 1983-1989, Buck teamed with the likes of Sparky Anderson, Bill White, and Johnny Bench for World Series radio broadcasts on CBS. Buck, along with CBS Radio colleagues Johnny Bench and John Rooney, was on hand at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on October 17, 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. After the 6.9 magnitude quake rocked the Bay Area, Buck told the listening audience:
“ I must say about Johnny Bench, folks, if he moved that fast when he played, he would have never hit into a double play. I never saw anybody move that fast in my life. ”

He is most famous for his call in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series of Kirk Gibson's game-winning home run, and his disbelief at the feat by Gibson, who at the time had two injured legs. His call of the play is so famous that it's usually played over the television footage of the play, and often confused for the television call, which was actually done by Vin Scully on NBC.

Buck wasn't intended to be the main play-by-play announcer for CBS baseball telecasts when the network acquired the sport from NBC and ABC. Originally assigned to the network's #2 crew (and therefore, work with Jim Kaat), he was promoted at practically the last minute after Brent Musburger was fired on April Fools Day of 1990.

After two years of calling baseball telecasts (including the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week, All-Star Game, National League Championship Series, and World Series), Buck was dismissed by CBS. The official reasoning behind Buck's ouster was that he simply had poor chemistry with lead analyst Tim McCarver. Buck was soon replaced by Boston Red Sox announcer Sean McDonough. Buck later rued that "CBS never got that baseball play-by-play draws word-pictures. All they knew was that football stars analysts. So they said, 'Let McCarver run the show...In television, all they want you to do is shut up. I'm not very good at shutting up." Buck was criticized by some for his alleged habit of predicting plays on air.

Buck made controversial statements about singer Bobby Vinton prior to Game 4 of the 1990 National League Championship Series. After Vinton sang an off-key rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner", in his home town of Pittsburgh, Buck lightly referenced Vinton's Polish heritage. Buck soon got death threats from Pittsburgh Pirate fans, who even went as far as leaving a footprint on Buck's hotel pillow. The next day, CBS Sports executive producer Ted Shaker spotted Buck in the hotel lobby and told Buck that he was in trouble. The final baseball play that Jack Buck narrated for CBS television was Gene Larkin's game winning bloop single in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.
“ The Twins are going to win the World Series! The Twins have won it! It's a base hit! It's a 1-0 10th inning victory!" ”

In all, Buck called 11 World Series, 18 Super Bowls, and four Major League Baseball All-Star Games.
Final years

Over the course of the 1990s, Buck decided to reduce his schedule to calling only Cardinals home games (or 81 games a year unless there was a "special occurrence"). Health concerns obviously could have played a factor in this, as Buck suffered from such ailments as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, a pacemaker, cataracts, sciatica, and vertigo. Buck once joked, "I wish I'd get Alzheimer's, then I could forget I've got all the other stuff." In 1997, Buck published his aptly-titled autobiography That's a Winner! In 1998, the Cardinals dedicated a bust of Buck that showed him smiling with a hand cupping his left ear.
September 17, 2001

One of Jack Buck's final public appearances was on September 17, 2001 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. It was the first night that Major League Baseball resumed after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Although looking rather frail (Buck at the time was sick with lung cancer) and struggling to maintain his composure (Buck was obviously showing the signs of Parkinson's disease as well), Buck stirred emotions by reading a patriotic-themed poem during the pregame ceremonies. He concluded by silencing critics who thought baseball had come back too soon: "I don't know about you, but as for me, the question has already been answered: Should we be here? Yes!"
For America
Buck shown delivering his famous post–9/11 speech on the scoreboard at Busch Stadium.

Buck wrote a poem named For America that he read at the first Cardinals game after the 9/11 attacks to describe the emotions of the general public after September 11. The poem went:

    Since this nation was founded under
    God, more than 200 years ago,

    We've been the bastion of
    Freedom...

    The light which keeps the free world
    Aglow.

    We do not covet the possessions of
    Others, we are blessed with the
    Bounty we share.

    We have rushed to help other
    Nations...anything...anytime...
    Anywhere.

    War is just not our nature...we
    Won't start, but we will end the fight.

    If we are involved we shall be
    Resolved to protect what we know is
    Right.

    We've been challenged by a
    Cowardly foe, who strikes and then
    Hides from our view.

    With one voice we say there's no
    Choice today, there is only one
    Thing to do.

    Everyone is saying the same thing
    And praying that we end these
    Senseless moments we are living.

    As our fathers did before, we shall
    Win this unwanted war.

    And our children will enjoy the
    Future, we'll be giving.

Death

Jack Buck died on June 18, 2002 in St. Louis's Barnes-Jewish Hospital from a combination of illnesses. He had stayed in the hospital for all but the first two days of January 2002. He was in the hospital to undergo treatment for lung cancer, Parkinson's disease, and to correct an intestinal blockage. His death shook the St. Louis community: within two hours of his death fans were leaving flowers at the base of his bust outside Busch Stadium even though it was the middle of the night. The flags at St. Louis City Hall and the St. Louis County Government Center were lowered to half-staff, the local television news anchors all wore black suits for the next several days, and a public visitation was held in the stadium before the next baseball game after his death, with free admission to the game for all the mourners who filed past his coffin.

Buck was interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in south St. Louis County. His spot on the KMOX Cardinals broadcasts was subsequently filled by former Colorado Rockies announcer Wayne Hagin. Hagin moved over to television, and his spot was filled by one of Buck's protégés, former Chicago White Sox announcer John Rooney.

Buck's youngest son, Joe read the eulogy at his father's church funeral. Jack Buck had eight children in all; five daughters and three sons. Joe Buck is currently the lead play-by-play announcer for both Major League Baseball and the NFL on the Fox network. Joe Buck also does occasional local telecasts for the Cardinals as well as commercials for a local automobile dealership.

During postseason telecasts, Joe often pays homage to his father by signing off with "We'll see you tomorrow night!" When the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series, Joe quoted his father again saying, "For the first time since 1982, St. Louis has a World Series winner!", referencing Jack's line when the Cards won in 1982, "And that's a winner! That's a winner! A World Series winner for the Cardinals!"
Notable calls

    He takes off his cap. He mops his brow. He looks in and gets the sign. He starts the windup. Here's the pitch and it's...A STRIKE CALLED! A NO-HITTER FOR GIBSON! Simmons roars to the mound, embraces Gibson who is engulfed by his teammates as the Cardinals win the game 11-0!
    —Calling the final out of Bob Gibson's 1971 no-hitter. Gibson struck out Willie Stargell to secure the only no-hitter of his legendary career.

    Brock takes the lead, Ruthven checks him. He is...GOING! The pitch is a strike, the throw...he is there! HE DID IT! 105 for Lou Brock!
    —Calling Lou Brock's single season record-breaking 105th stolen base of the 1974 season.

    He's going! The pitch is high, the throw is...safe! He stole it! The throw got by the shortstop and Brock has done it! They would've thrown him out, but the shortstop couldn't handle the bad throw and this is it, folks. Brock has now stolen 893!
    —Calling Lou Brock's career record breaking 893rd stolen base in 1977.

    Breaking ball, hit off the pitcher, TO THE THIRD BASEMAN!!! No play! Base hit! Three thousand for Lou Brock!
    —Calling Brock's 3,000th career hit in 1979.

    Montana lines up at the five. And on third-down-and-three he rolls right, looking to throw...looking to throw...and he throws into the end zone, touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown, San Francisco, by Dwight Clark!
    —Calling "The Catch" in the 1981 NFC Championship Game.

    Sutter from the belt, to the plate...a swing and a miss! And that's a winner! That's a winner! A World Series winner for the Cardinals!
    —Calling the last out of the 1982 World Series. Bruce Sutter struck out Gorman Thomas.

    Smith corks one into right, down the line! It may go...Go crazy, folks! Go crazy! It's a home run! And the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2, on a home run by The Wizard! Go crazy!
    —Calling Ozzie Smith's walk-off home run off Tom Niedenfuer of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series.

    The Dodger right-hander is set and here's his pitch to Jack Clark. Swing and a long one into left field! Adios, goodbye, and maybe that's a winner! A three-run homer by Clark and the Cardinals lead by the score of 7 to 5 and they may go to the World Series on that one, folks!
    —Calling Jack Clark's 9th inning three-run home run off Niedenfuer in Game 6 of the 1985 National League Championship Series to give the Cardinals the lead and the National League Pennant.

    Orta, leading off, swings and hits it to the right side, and the pitcher has to cover he is...SAFE, SAFE, SAFE, and we'll have an argument! Sparky, I think he was out!
    —Calling Don Denkinger's blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series that ignited a Royals game-winning rally.

    Here's the pitch to Mookie Wilson. Winning run at second. Ground ball to first, it is a run...an error! An error by Buckner! The winning run scores! The Mets win it 6 to 5 with three in the 10th! The ball went right through the legs of Buckner and the Mets with 2 men out and nobody on have scored three times to bring about a seventh game, which will be played here tomorrow night. Folks it was unbelievable. An error, right through the legs of Buckner. There were 2 on, nobody out, a single by Carter, a single by Mitchell, a single by Ray Knight, a wild pitch, an error by Buckner. 3 in the 9th for the Mets. They've won the game 6-5 and we shall play here... tomorrow night! Well, open up the history book folks, we've got an entry for you.
    —Calling the final moments of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

    Off the stretch, Orosco, here's the pitch...swing and a long one into left field! Way back in the corner...GRAND SLAMMMMMAAHHH! A grand slam home run by Herr! And that's a winner! Twelve to eight!
    —Calling Tom Herr's game-winning grand slam home run against the New York Mets in April 1987.

    Here's the pitch...Swing and a fly ball, you want another winner here? Coleman going to it...YOU GOT IT! That's a winner! 6-0 Cardinals!
    —Calling the final out of the 1987 National League Championship Series as the Cardinals advanced to the 1987 World Series.

    Gibson...swings and a fly ball to deep right field. This is gonna be a home run! UNBELIEVABLE! A home run for Gibson! And the Dodgers have won the game, five to four; I don't believe what I just saw! I don't BELIEVE what I just saw!
    —Calling an injured Kirk Gibson's walkoff home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series off of Dennis Eckersley.

    Montana is back to throw. He looks and throws, endzone...TOUCHDOWN! Touchdown...to John Taylor with 34 seconds left! A 10 yard touchdown pass to John Taylor, and the 49ers lead by three, and the extra point will put the nail in the Cincinnati coffin.
    — Calling Joe Montana's game-winning touchdown pass to John Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII

    Into deep left center...for Mitchell...and we'll see you...tomorrow night!
    —Calling Kirby Puckett's walkoff home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.

    The Twins are gonna win the World Series! The Twins have won it! It's a base hit! It's a 1-0, ten inning victory!
    —Calling Gene Larkin's game-winning hit in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.

    Mike Morgan is the pitcher. Here's the pitch to McGwire...SWING..looky there! LOOKY THERE!!!! Looky there! Number sixty-one!!! McGwire's flight 61 headed for Planet Maris! History! Bedlam! What a moment! Pardon me while I stand up and applaud!
    —Calling Mark McGwire's single season record-tying 61st home run in 1998.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/ddub_hill/JackBuck.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv217/BillBurgess/Negro%20Leagues/Meet%20The%20Announcers/Image59.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/18/10 at 6:49 am


The person born on this day... Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE  (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, poet, painter, and animal rights activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, according to Guinness World Records, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music.

McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.

BBC News named his song "Yesterday" the most covered song in history—by over 2,200 artists—and, according to the BBC has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. Based on the 93 weeks his compositions have spent at the top spot of the UK chart, and 24 number one singles to his credit, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history. As a performer or songwriter, McCartney was responsible for 32 number one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified albums in the US alone.

McCartney has worked on film scores and classical and electronic music, released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist, and taken part in projects to help international charities. He is an advocate for animal rights, for vegetarianism, and for music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt. He is a keen football fan, supporting both Everton and Liverpool football clubs. His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is one of Britain's wealthiest men, with an estimated fortune of £750 million ($1.2 billion) in 2009.
McCartney was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England, where his mother, Mary (born Mohan), had worked as a nurse in the maternity ward.  He has one brother, Michael, born 7 January 1944.  McCartney was baptised Roman Catholic but was raised non-denominationally: his mother was Roman Catholic and his father James, or "Jim" McCartney, was a Protestant turned agnostic.

In 1947, he began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary School. He then attended the Joseph Williams Junior School and passed the 11-plus exam in 1953 with three others out of the 90 examinees, thus gaining admission to the Liverpool Institute. In 1954, while taking the bus from his home in the suburb of Speke to the Institute, he met George Harrison, who lived nearby. Passing the exam meant that McCartney and Harrison could go to a Grammar school rather than a secondary modern school, which the majority of pupils attended until they were eligible to work, but as Grammar school pupils, they had to find new friends.
Exterior of a two-story brick building, with a hedge in front of it. Six windows are visible, three on each level, as are two doorways on the lower level.
20 Forthlin Road now attracts large numbers of tourists

In 1955, the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton. Mary McCartney rode a bicycle to houses where she was needed as a midwife, and an early McCartney memory is of her leaving when it was snowing heavily. On 31 October 1956, Mary McCartney, a heavy smoker, died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer. The early loss of his mother later connected McCartney with John Lennon, whose mother Julia died after being struck by a car when Lennon was 17.

McCartney's father was a trumpet player and pianist who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s and encouraged his two sons to be musical. Jim had an upright piano in the front room that he had bought from Brian Epstein's store. McCartney's grandfather, Joe McCartney, played an E-flat tuba. Jim McCartney used to point out the different instruments in songs on the radio, and often took McCartney to local brass band concerts. McCartney's father gave him a nickel-plated trumpet, but when skiffle music became popular, McCartney swapped the trumpet for a £15 Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar. As he was left-handed, McCartney found right-handed guitars difficult to play, but when he saw a poster advertising a Slim Whitman concert, he realised that Whitman played left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player. McCartney wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl") on the Zenith, and also played his father's Framus Spanish guitar when writing early songs with Lennon. He later learned to play the piano and wrote his second song, "When I'm Sixty-Four". On his father's advice, he took music lessons, but since he preferred to learn 'by ear' he never paid much attention to them.

McCartney was heavily influenced by American Rhythm and Blues music. He has stated that Little Richard was his idol when he was in school and that the first song he ever sang in public was "Long Tall Sally", at a Butlins holiday camp talent competition.
Musical career
Main article: Paul McCartney's musical career
1957–1960

At the age of 15, McCartney met John Lennon and The Quarrymen at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton on 6 July 1957. He formed a close working relationship with Lennon and they collaborated on many songs. Harrison joined the group as lead guitarist, followed by Lennon's art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, on bass, and Pete Best on the drums. By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including "Johnny and The Moondogs" and "The Silver Beetles", playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle. They finally changed the name of the group to The Beatles.
1960–1970: The Beatles

From May 1960, The Beatles were booked by Allan Williams, to perform at a club in Hamburg. For the next two years, The Beatles remained in Hamburg for much of the time, performing as a resident group in a number of Hamburg clubs. During their two-year Hamburg residency they returned to Liverpool from time to time, performing at the Cavern club. Prior to the end of the residency, Sutcliffe left the band, so McCartney, reluctantly, became The Beatles' bass player. The Beatles recorded their first published musical material in Hamburg, performing as the backing group for Tony Sheridan on the single "My Bonnie". This recording later brought The Beatles to the attention of a key figure in their subsequent development and commercial success, Brian Epstein, who became their next manager. Epstein eventually negotiated a record contract for the group with Parlophone in May 1962. After replacing Best with Ringo Starr on drums, The Beatles became popular in the UK in 1963 and in the US in 1964. In 1965, they were each appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). After performing concerts, plays, and tours almost non-stop for a period of nearly four years, and giving more than one thousand four hundred live performances internationally, The Beatles gave their last commercial concert at the end of their 1966 US tour. They continued to work in the recording studio from 1966 until their breakup in 1970. In the eight years from 1962 to 1970, the group had released twenty-four UK singles and twelve studio albums, along with further US releases (see discography).
Since 1970
Black-and-white image of McCartney, in his sixties, playing an electric guitar. He wears a white collared shirt and a black necktie, knotted but loose-fitting, and stands behind a microphone. A small, simultaneous representation of McCartney on a monitor and some recording equipment are visible in the background.
McCartney performing at The Roundhouse in 2007, for the BBC Electric Proms

After the breakup of The Beatles, McCartney continued his musical career, in solo work as well as in collaborations with other musicians. After releasing his solo album McCartney in 1970, he worked with Linda McCartney to record the album Ram in 1971. Later the same year, the pair were joined by guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell to form the group Wings, which was active between 1971 and 1981 and released numerous successful singles and albums (see discography). McCartney also collaborated with a number of other popular artists including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Eric Stewart, and Elvis Costello. In 1985, McCartney played "Let It Be" at the Live Aid concert in London, backed by Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend, David Bowie, and Alison Moyet. The 1990s saw McCartney venture into orchestral music, and in 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial. He collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio; involving the opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess, Jerry Hadley and Willard White, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral. The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (2008). Other forays into classical music included Standing Stone (1997), Working Classical (1999), and Ecce Cor Meum (2006). It was announced in the 1997 New Year Honours that McCartney was to be knighted for services to music, becoming Sir Paul McCartney. In 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and in May 2000, he was awarded a Fellowship by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. The 1990s also saw McCartney, Harrison, and Starr working together on Apple's The Beatles Anthology documentary series.

Having witnessed the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks from the JFK airport tarmac, McCartney took a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City. In November 2002, on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death, McCartney performed at the Concert for George. He has also participated in the National Football League's Super Bowl, performing in the pre-game show for Super Bowl XXXVI and headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX.
McCartney and Ringo Starr promoting The Beatles: Rock Band in 2009.

McCartney has continued to work in the realms of popular and classical music, touring the world and performing at a large number of concerts and events; on more than one occasion he has performed again with Ringo Starr. In 2008, he received a BRIT award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and an honorary degree, Doctor of Music, from Yale University. The same year, he performed at a concert in Liverpool to celebrate the city's year as European Capital of Culture. In 2009, he received two nominations for the 51st annual Grammy awards, while in October of the same year he was named songwriter of the year at The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards. On 15 July 2009, more than 45 years after The Beatles first appeared on American television on The Ed Sullivan Show, McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater and performed atop the marquee of Late Show with David Letterman. McCartney was portrayed in the 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about Lennon's teenage years, by Thomas Sangster. On 2 June 2010, McCartney was honoured by Barack Obama with the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music in a live show for the White House with performances by Stevie Wonder, Lang Lang and many others.

McCartney's enduring popularity has helped him schedule performances in new venues. He played three sold out concerts at newly-built Citi Field--the home of the New York Mets in Major League Baseball--in Queens, New York in July 2009. On August 18-19, 2010, McCartney will open the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, a new arena primarily built for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. Strong demand for the first concert at the new arena prompted the second one.
Creative outlets

During the 1960s, McCartney was often seen at major cultural events, such as the launch party for The International Times and at The Roundhouse (28 January and 4 February 1967 respectively). He also delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealers and gallery owners, explored experimental film, and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. His first contact with the London avant-garde scene was through John Dunbar, who introduced him to the art dealer Robert Fraser, who in turn introduced McCartney to an array of writers and artists. McCartney later became involved in the renovation and publicising of the Indica Gallery in Mason's Yard, London—John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at the Indica. The Indica Gallery brought McCartney into contact with Barry Miles, whose underground newspaper, The International Times, McCartney helped to start. Miles would become de facto manager of the Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label, and wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years From Now (1997).

While living at the Asher house, McCartney took piano lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which The Beatles' producer Martin had previously attended. McCartney studied composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio. McCartney later wrote and released several pieces of modern classical music and ambient electronica, besides writing poetry and painting. McCartney is lead patron of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an arts school in the building formerly occupied by the Liverpool Institute for Boys. The 1837 building, which McCartney attended during his schooldays, had become derelict by the mid-1980s. On 7 June 1996, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the redeveloped building.  McCartney was later inspired—in his school years—by Alan Durband, who was McCartney's English literature teacher at the Liverpool Institute.  Durband was a co-founder and fund-raiser at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where Willy Russell also worked, and introduced McCartney to Geoffrey Chaucer's works.  McCartney later took his A-level exams, but passed only one subject—Art.

In 2001 McCartney published 'Blackbird Singing', a volume of poems, some of which were lyrics to his songs, and gave readings in Liverpool and New York City. Some of them were serious: "Here Today" (about Lennon) and some humorous ("Maxwell's Silver Hammer"). In the foreword of the book, McCartney explained that when he was a teenager, he had "an overwhelming desire" to have a poem of his published in the school magazine. He wrote something "deep and meaningful", but it was rejected, and he feels that he has been trying to get some kind of revenge ever since. His first "real poem" was about the death of his childhood friend, Ivan Vaughan.

In October 2005, McCartney released a children's book called High In The Clouds: An Urban Furry Tail. In a press release publicising the book, McCartney said, "I have loved reading for as long as I can remember", singling out Treasure Island as a childhood favourite. McCartney collaborated with author Philip Ardagh and animator Geoff Dunbar to write the book.  McCartney has also credited the 1942 Disney film Bambi—in which the young deer's mother is shot by a hunter—as the original inspiration for him to take an interest in animal rights.  In his first interview after Linda's death, he promised to continue working for animal rights.

In 1999, McCartney spent £3,000,000 to make sure Linda McCartney's food range remained free of GM ingredients. In 2002, McCartney gave his support to a campaign against a proposed ban on the sale of certain vitamins, herbs, and mineral products in the European Union. Following his marriage to Heather Mills, McCartney joined with her to campaign against landmines; both McCartney and Mills are patrons of Adopt-A-Minefield. In 2003, he played a personal concert for the wife of a wealthy banker and donated his one million dollars to the charity. He also wore an anti-landmines t-shirt on the Back in the World tour.
McCartney, in his late sixties, playing an orange electric guitar and wearing a red shirt that bears, in white writing, the words "no more land mines." His eyes are closed.
McCartney's campaign against landmines

In 2006, the McCartneys travelled to Prince Edward Island to bring international attention to the seal hunt (their final public appearance together). Their arrival sparked attention in Newfoundland and Labrador where the hunt is of economic significance. The couple also debated with Newfoundland's Premier Danny Williams on the CNN show Larry King Live. They further stated that the fishermen should quit hunting seals and begin a seal watching business. McCartney has also criticised China's fur trade and supports the Make Poverty History campaign.

McCartney has been involved with a number of charity recordings and performances. In 2004, he donated a song to an album to aid the "US Campaign for Burma", in support of Burmese Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and he had previously been involved in the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Live Aid, and the recording of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (released 8 May 1989) following the Hillsborough disaster.

In a December 2008 interview with Prospect Magazine, McCartney mentioned that he tried to convince the Dalai Lama to become a vegetarian. In a letter to the Dalai Lama, McCartney took issue with Buddhism and meat-eating being considered compatible, saying, "Forgive me for pointing this out, but if you eat animals then there is some suffering somewhere along the line." The Dalai Lama replied to McCartney by saying his doctors advised him to eat meat for health reasons. In the interview McCartney said, "I wrote back saying they were wrong.
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/Cyndi_D/paul-mccartney.jpg
http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu169/foto1996/Family%20McCartney/475447.jpg



and still on tour sometimes with Ringo.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/18/10 at 10:37 am

When I'm 64 68

Happy Birthday, Beatle Paul!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/18/10 at 12:00 pm

One of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_CrRIN8sj0&feature=related

Is it my imagination or does Sir Paul look stoned in this video? (He probably was.)  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/18/10 at 3:38 pm

(Another) English Person of the Day: Eleanor of England

Eleanor of England (18 June 1269 – 29 August 1298), was the eldest surviving daughter of Edward I of England and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile.  What evidence exists for her early years suggests that while her parents were absent on Crusade between 1270 and 1274, she became very close to her father's mother, Eleanor of Provence, with whom she continued to spend a good deal of time even after the king and queen returned to England.

For a long period Eleanor was betrothed to King Alfonso III of Aragon (d. 18 June 1291). Alfonso's parents were under papal interdict, however, because of their claims to the throne of Sicily, which were contrary to the papal donation of the Sicilian throne to Charles of Anjou, and despite the Aragonese ruler's repeated pleas that Edward I send his daughter to them for marriage, Edward refused to send her as long as the interdict remained in place. In 1282 he declined one such request by saying that his wife and mother felt the girl, who had just turned 13, was too young to be married, and that they wanted to wait another two years before sending her to Aragon. Alphonso of Aragon died before the marriage could take place.

Eleanor subsequently married the French nobleman, Henry III, Count of Bar in September 20, 1293, as a means of allying Bar and England against the Kings of France. Eleanor and Henry had three children:

    * Edward I of Bar (1294-1336), who succeeded Henry III as Count of Bar
    * Joan (1295-1361), who married John de Warenne, 8th Earl of Surrey. The marriage was unhappy and while Warenne was never successful in obtaining an annulment, they lived apart for most of their later lives. Jeanne became regent of Bar from 1354.
    * Eleanor (1296-1340), who married Llewelyn ap Owain

Eleanor was credited by later historians with another daughter, Eleanor, who married a Welshman named Llywelyn ap Owain; King Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, was allegedly their descendant. No contemporary evidence for this daughter exists, however, and it is most probable that Tudor historians invented her to give Henry VII additional royal blood on his father's side.

Eleanor's marriage to Count Henry III made King Philip IV of France distrustful of him, and he was made prisoner by the French within a few years after the marriage. Eleanor then lived in Ghent, where she was supported by her father, but appears to have returned to England by the beginning of 1298. She was buried in Westminster Abbey. Her husband survived her until 1302.

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~timbaloo/Carlisle/images/eleanor.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/18/10 at 6:23 pm

McCartney was my favourite Beatle. I didn't like Lennon's personality as much as Paul's.  Paul's voice was superior as well IMO. He wrote a lot of hits for other artists (such as Cilla Black, Mary Hopkins etc).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/18/10 at 7:12 pm

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=4674748


Say Say Say.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: coqueta83 on 06/18/10 at 7:51 pm


McCartney was my favourite Beatle. I didn't like Lennon's personality as much as Paul's.  Paul's voice was superior as well IMO. He wrote a lot of hits for other artists (such as Cilla Black, Mary Hopkins etc).


Paul was my favorite Beatle, too.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/19/10 at 3:02 am

Bristish Person of the Day 1: Barry Took

Barry Took (19 June 1928 – 31 March 2002) was an English comedian, writer  and television presenter. He is best remembered in the UK for his weekly role as presenter of Points of View, a BBC TV programme in which viewers' letters criticising or praising the BBC were broadcast. He also presented the BBC Radio 4 programme The News Quiz for over a decade until 1995.

Took was born in Muswell Hill, North London and brought up there during the war, running away from the home in Wisbech to which he had been evacuated. He attended Minchenden School. It was during his period of National Service that he began performing seriously, and it was also then that he met his first wife, Dorothy, known as Dot, with whom he had three children: Barry, Susan and David. He later worked as a stand-up comedian, eventually becoming a West End revue performer, working on For Amusement Only and For Adults Only.

In terms of his comedy writing, Took was the writing partner of Marty Feldman and wrote for several television shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including The Army Game and its spin-off Bootsie and Snudge. He co-wrote Beyond Our Ken for two seasons (1958-1959) with Eric Merriman for BBC Radio before leaving after a disagreement with his fellow writer. With Marty Feldman he wrote most episodes of Round the Horne.

In the late 1960s, Took became Comedy advisor to the BBC and was responsible for bringing together the performers who formed Monty Python's Flying Circus before moving to the USA to work briefly on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. He returned to the UK in early 1970, was involved in setting up the The Goodies, but had returned to take up the position of Head of Light Entertainment at London Weekend Television.

In 1977, Took hosted his own comedy sketch show, Took and Co. Also featuring Robin Bailey, Chris Emmett, Andrew Sachs and Gwen Taylor, the series ran for seven episodes late night on ITV. In 1976, he created and wrote the innovative literacy programme On the Move which starred Bob Hoskins and Donald Gee.

An image of Took was momentarily flashed on the screen during the BBC's introduction to its hit TV series Life on Mars.

He died aged 73 on 31 March 2002 in a nursing home in Enfield, Middlesex, after suffering from cancer.

http://www.dailyllama.com/news/2002/images/took_recent.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/19/10 at 3:15 am

British Person of the Day 2: Charlie Drake

Charlie Drake (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006) was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.

With his small stature, curly red hair and liking for slapstick he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally-known for his "Hello, my darlings" catchphrase. The catchphrase came about because he was short, and so his eyes would often be naturally directly level with a lady's bosom. Because of this and because in his work he preferred working with the fuller, bigger busted lady, the catchphrase was born.

Biography

Born Charles Edward Springall in the Elephant and Castle, Southwark, South London, he took his mother's maiden name for the stage and, later, television and film, achieving success as a comedian.

Drake made his first appearance on stage at the age of eight, and after leaving school toured working men's clubs. After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Drake turned professional and made his TV debut in The Centre Show in 1953. He then joined his wartime comrade Jack Edwardes to form a double act, named "Mick and Montmorency". In 1954 he appeared with Bob Monkhouse in the film "Fast and Loose". Drake was just 5' 1" tall, which lent itself to the stage persona he developed.

He appeared in the television shows Laughter in Store (1957), Drake's Progress (1957), Charlie Drake In… (1958 to 1960) and The Charlie Drake Show (1960 to 1961), being particularly remembered for his opening catchphrase "Hello, My Darlings!" Filming of the Charlie Drake Show by the BBC was cut short, however, by a serious accident that occurred in 1961, during a live transmission. Drake had arranged for a bookcase to be set up in such a way that it would fall apart during a slapstick sketch in which he was pulled through it. It was later discovered that an over-enthusiastic workman had "mended" the bookcase before the broadcast. The actors working with him, unaware of what had happened, proceeded with the rest of the sketch which required that they pick him up and throw him through an open window. Drake fractured his skull and was unconscious for three days. It was two years before he returned to the screen.

TV fame led to four films, none of them successful — Sands of the Desert (1960), Petticoat Pirates (1961), The Cracksman (1963) and Mr Ten Percent (1967). He returned to TV in 1963 with The Charlie Drake Show again, a compilation of which won an award at the Montreux Festival in 1968. (The centrepiece of this was an extended sketch featuring an orchestra in which Drake appeared to play all the instruments, as well as conducting and one scene in which he was the player of a triangle waiting for his cue to play a single strike - which he misses!)

Through the series he played a gymnast doing a single arm twist from a high ring while a commentator counted eventually into the thousands and by the end of the series, Charlie's arm was about 20 ft long! Other shows included Who is Sylvia (1967) and Slapstick and Old Lace (1971), but it was The Worker (1965 to 1970) that gained most acclaim.

The Worker

In The Worker (ATV/ITV) he played a perpetually unemployed labourer who, in every episode, was dispatched to a new job by the ever-frustrated Mr. Pugh (Henry McGee) at the local labour exchange. All the jobs he embarked upon ended in disaster, sometimes with a burst of classic slapstick, sometimes with a bewildered Charlie himself at the centre of incomprehensible actions by the people employing him. Bookending these sequences were the encounters between Charlie and Pugh which were often funnier than the core of the episode. Running jokes included Charlie's inability to manage Mr Pugh's name, his mispronunciations ranging from a childish "Mi'er Poo" to "Peeyooo". Charlie sang the theme song himself, using an old music hall number which naturally became famous in its own right.

He recorded a remarkable number of records, most of them produced by George Martin for the Parlophone label, (see Discography). The first, Splish Splash, a cover version of a rock and roll number originally recorded by Bobby Darin, got into the UK Top 10, but the rest were mostly novelty songs. One of these, My Boomerang Won't Come Back, became a modest hit in the United States, where for the most part his work was otherwise not known.

Peter Gabriel, after leaving Genesis in late 1975, produced a single "You Never Know" for Charlie (UK Charisma), which was not a chart success.

Later career

Drake turned to straight acting in the 1980s, winning acclaim for his role as Touchstone in Shakespeare's As You Like It (at the Ludlow Festival), and an award for his part in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. Drake also starred as Smallweed in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House (1985), and Filipina Dreamgirls, a TV movie for the BBC. His final appearances on stage were with Jim Davidson in his adult adaptation of Cinderella which was spelt and written as SINderella, as Baron Hard-on. A live recording of one of the dates on the tour of the pantomime was later adapted and edited for video and put out for sale nation wide. During rehearsals and filming it became clear to staff and actors that he had turned heavily to alcohol. Although it affected his work greatly he was kept on.

Retirement

Drake suffered a stroke in 1995 and retired, staying at Brinsworth House, a retirement home for actors and performers, run by the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, until his death on 23 December 2006, after suffering multiple strokes the previous night.

Personal life

Drake was married twice, both dancers, and was survived by three sons . Aged 51, Charlie Drake married his second wife, 18-year-old Elaine Bird; the marriage was dissolved in 1984.

Discography

    * Splish Splash / Hello My Darlings (1958) #7
    * Volare / Itchy Twitchy Feeling (1958) #28
    * Tom Thumb's Tune / Goggle Eye Ghee (1958)
    * Sea Cruise / Starkle Starkle Little Twink (1959)
    * Naughty / Old Mr Shadow (1960)
    * Mr Custer / Glow Worm (1960) #12
    * My Boomerang Won't Come Back / She's My Girl (1961) #14 ;#21 U.S.; #1 Australia
    * Tanglefoot / Drake's Progress (1962)
    * I Bent My Assegai / Sweet Freddy Green (1962)
    * I've Lost The End Of My Yodel / I Can, Can't I (1963)
    * I'm Too Heavy For The Light Brigade / The Reluctant Tight-Rope Walker (1964)
    * Charles Drake 007 / Bumpanology (1964)
    * Only A Working Man / I'm A Boy (1965)
    * Don't Trim My Wick / Birds (1966)
    * Who Is Sylvia / I Wanna Be A Group (1967)
    * Puckwudgie / Toffe And Tears (1972) #47
    * You Never Know (1976) (produced by Peter Gabriel)
    * Super Punk spoof record, 1976)
       
It has been claimed that Drake was also responsible for Gimme That Punk Junk (also 1976), recorded under the name The Water Pistols), but this may be due to confusion between the two records; Dave Goodman's website refers to the two titles as separate entities. ], two-thirds of the way down the page.

Filmography (selected)


Burning Ash (1992)
Mr. H Is Late (1988) (TV) .... Short delivery man
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' (1988) TV episode .... Marmeladov
"Bleak House" .... Smallweed (4 episodes, 1985)
... aka "Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House" - USA
    - Episode #1.7 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
    - Episode #1.5 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
    - Episode #1.4 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
    - Episode #1.3 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
Rhubarb Rhubarb (1980) .... Golf Club Pro
The Plank (1979) (TV) .... Delivery man with cake
Professor Popper's Problem (1974) .... Professor Popper
"The Worker" .... The Worker (25 episodes, 1965-1970)
    - No Room at the Inn for the Odd Couple Up the Staircase (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - I Babble, Babble as I Flow to Join the Brimming River (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - Ma Chandelle, Est Morte (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - The Saucerer's Apprentice (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - Cough (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
      (20 more)
Mister Ten Per Cent (1967) .... Percy Pointer
"The Charlie Drake Show" (1967) TV series
The Cracksman (1963) .... Ernest Wright
Petticoat Pirates (1961) .... Charlie
"The Charlie Drake Show" .... Charlie (11 episodes, 1960-1961)
    - Bingo Madness (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.6 (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.5 (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.4 (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.3 (1961) TV episode
      (6 more)
Sands of the Desert (1960) .... Charlie Sands
"Charlie Drake" (21 episodes, 1958-1960)
    - March of the Movies (1960) TV episode
    - We Diet at Dawn (1960) TV episode
    - Suspension (1960) TV episode
    - It's Up to You (1960) TV episode
    - Recital (1959) TV episode
      (16 more)
"Drake's Progress" (1957) TV series
The Golden Link (1954) .... Joe

http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/586/Charlie_Drake.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/05/article-1032365-00D1079000000190-779_468x286.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 5:16 am


McCartney was my favourite Beatle. I didn't like Lennon's personality as much as Paul's.  Paul's voice was superior as well IMO. He wrote a lot of hits for other artists (such as Cilla Black, Mary Hopkins etc).

He was my favorite also :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 5:18 am


Bristish Person of the Day 1: Barry Took

Barry Took (19 June 1928 – 31 March 2002) was an English comedian, writer  and television presenter. He is best remembered in the UK for his weekly role as presenter of Points of View, a BBC TV programme in which viewers' letters criticising or praising the BBC were broadcast. He also presented the BBC Radio 4 programme The News Quiz for over a decade until 1995.

Took was born in Muswell Hill, North London and brought up there during the war, running away from the home in Wisbech to which he had been evacuated. He attended Minchenden School. It was during his period of National Service that he began performing seriously, and it was also then that he met his first wife, Dorothy, known as Dot, with whom he had three children: Barry, Susan and David. He later worked as a stand-up comedian, eventually becoming a West End revue performer, working on For Amusement Only and For Adults Only.

In terms of his comedy writing, Took was the writing partner of Marty Feldman and wrote for several television shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including The Army Game and its spin-off Bootsie and Snudge. He co-wrote Beyond Our Ken for two seasons (1958-1959) with Eric Merriman for BBC Radio before leaving after a disagreement with his fellow writer. With Marty Feldman he wrote most episodes of Round the Horne.

In the late 1960s, Took became Comedy advisor to the BBC and was responsible for bringing together the performers who formed Monty Python's Flying Circus before moving to the USA to work briefly on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. He returned to the UK in early 1970, was involved in setting up the The Goodies, but had returned to take up the position of Head of Light Entertainment at London Weekend Television.

In 1977, Took hosted his own comedy sketch show, Took and Co. Also featuring Robin Bailey, Chris Emmett, Andrew Sachs and Gwen Taylor, the series ran for seven episodes late night on ITV. In 1976, he created and wrote the innovative literacy programme On the Move which starred Bob Hoskins and Donald Gee.

An image of Took was momentarily flashed on the screen during the BBC's introduction to its hit TV series Life on Mars.

He died aged 73 on 31 March 2002 in a nursing home in Enfield, Middlesex, after suffering from cancer.

http://www.dailyllama.com/news/2002/images/took_recent.jpg

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 5:21 am


British Person of the Day 2: Charlie Drake

Charlie Drake (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006) was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.

With his small stature, curly red hair and liking for slapstick he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally-known for his "Hello, my darlings" catchphrase. The catchphrase came about because he was short, and so his eyes would often be naturally directly level with a lady's bosom. Because of this and because in his work he preferred working with the fuller, bigger busted lady, the catchphrase was born.

Biography

Born Charles Edward Springall in the Elephant and Castle, Southwark, South London, he took his mother's maiden name for the stage and, later, television and film, achieving success as a comedian.

Drake made his first appearance on stage at the age of eight, and after leaving school toured working men's clubs. After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Drake turned professional and made his TV debut in The Centre Show in 1953. He then joined his wartime comrade Jack Edwardes to form a double act, named "Mick and Montmorency". In 1954 he appeared with Bob Monkhouse in the film "Fast and Loose". Drake was just 5' 1" tall, which lent itself to the stage persona he developed.

He appeared in the television shows Laughter in Store (1957), Drake's Progress (1957), Charlie Drake In… (1958 to 1960) and The Charlie Drake Show (1960 to 1961), being particularly remembered for his opening catchphrase "Hello, My Darlings!" Filming of the Charlie Drake Show by the BBC was cut short, however, by a serious accident that occurred in 1961, during a live transmission. Drake had arranged for a bookcase to be set up in such a way that it would fall apart during a slapstick sketch in which he was pulled through it. It was later discovered that an over-enthusiastic workman had "mended" the bookcase before the broadcast. The actors working with him, unaware of what had happened, proceeded with the rest of the sketch which required that they pick him up and throw him through an open window. Drake fractured his skull and was unconscious for three days. It was two years before he returned to the screen.

TV fame led to four films, none of them successful — Sands of the Desert (1960), Petticoat Pirates (1961), The Cracksman (1963) and Mr Ten Percent (1967). He returned to TV in 1963 with The Charlie Drake Show again, a compilation of which won an award at the Montreux Festival in 1968. (The centrepiece of this was an extended sketch featuring an orchestra in which Drake appeared to play all the instruments, as well as conducting and one scene in which he was the player of a triangle waiting for his cue to play a single strike - which he misses!)

Through the series he played a gymnast doing a single arm twist from a high ring while a commentator counted eventually into the thousands and by the end of the series, Charlie's arm was about 20 ft long! Other shows included Who is Sylvia (1967) and Slapstick and Old Lace (1971), but it was The Worker (1965 to 1970) that gained most acclaim.

The Worker

In The Worker (ATV/ITV) he played a perpetually unemployed labourer who, in every episode, was dispatched to a new job by the ever-frustrated Mr. Pugh (Henry McGee) at the local labour exchange. All the jobs he embarked upon ended in disaster, sometimes with a burst of classic slapstick, sometimes with a bewildered Charlie himself at the centre of incomprehensible actions by the people employing him. Bookending these sequences were the encounters between Charlie and Pugh which were often funnier than the core of the episode. Running jokes included Charlie's inability to manage Mr Pugh's name, his mispronunciations ranging from a childish "Mi'er Poo" to "Peeyooo". Charlie sang the theme song himself, using an old music hall number which naturally became famous in its own right.

He recorded a remarkable number of records, most of them produced by George Martin for the Parlophone label, (see Discography). The first, Splish Splash, a cover version of a rock and roll number originally recorded by Bobby Darin, got into the UK Top 10, but the rest were mostly novelty songs. One of these, My Boomerang Won't Come Back, became a modest hit in the United States, where for the most part his work was otherwise not known.

Peter Gabriel, after leaving Genesis in late 1975, produced a single "You Never Know" for Charlie (UK Charisma), which was not a chart success.

Later career

Drake turned to straight acting in the 1980s, winning acclaim for his role as Touchstone in Shakespeare's As You Like It (at the Ludlow Festival), and an award for his part in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. Drake also starred as Smallweed in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House (1985), and Filipina Dreamgirls, a TV movie for the BBC. His final appearances on stage were with Jim Davidson in his adult adaptation of Cinderella which was spelt and written as SINderella, as Baron Hard-on. A live recording of one of the dates on the tour of the pantomime was later adapted and edited for video and put out for sale nation wide. During rehearsals and filming it became clear to staff and actors that he had turned heavily to alcohol. Although it affected his work greatly he was kept on.

Retirement

Drake suffered a stroke in 1995 and retired, staying at Brinsworth House, a retirement home for actors and performers, run by the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, until his death on 23 December 2006, after suffering multiple strokes the previous night.

Personal life

Drake was married twice, both dancers, and was survived by three sons . Aged 51, Charlie Drake married his second wife, 18-year-old Elaine Bird; the marriage was dissolved in 1984.

Discography

    * Splish Splash / Hello My Darlings (1958) #7
    * Volare / Itchy Twitchy Feeling (1958) #28
    * Tom Thumb's Tune / Goggle Eye Ghee (1958)
    * Sea Cruise / Starkle Starkle Little Twink (1959)
    * Naughty / Old Mr Shadow (1960)
    * Mr Custer / Glow Worm (1960) #12
    * My Boomerang Won't Come Back / She's My Girl (1961) #14 ;#21 U.S.; #1 Australia
    * Tanglefoot / Drake's Progress (1962)
    * I Bent My Assegai / Sweet Freddy Green (1962)
    * I've Lost The End Of My Yodel / I Can, Can't I (1963)
    * I'm Too Heavy For The Light Brigade / The Reluctant Tight-Rope Walker (1964)
    * Charles Drake 007 / Bumpanology (1964)
    * Only A Working Man / I'm A Boy (1965)
    * Don't Trim My Wick / Birds (1966)
    * Who Is Sylvia / I Wanna Be A Group (1967)
    * Puckwudgie / Toffe And Tears (1972) #47
    * You Never Know (1976) (produced by Peter Gabriel)
    * Super Punk spoof record, 1976)
         
It has been claimed that Drake was also responsible for Gimme That Punk Junk (also 1976), recorded under the name The Water Pistols), but this may be due to confusion between the two records; Dave Goodman's website refers to the two titles as separate entities. ], two-thirds of the way down the page.

Filmography (selected)


Burning Ash (1992)
Mr. H Is Late (1988) (TV) .... Short delivery man
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' (1988) TV episode .... Marmeladov
"Bleak House" .... Smallweed (4 episodes, 1985)
... aka "Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House" - USA
    - Episode #1.7 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
    - Episode #1.5 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
    - Episode #1.4 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
    - Episode #1.3 (1985) TV episode .... Smallweed
Rhubarb Rhubarb (1980) .... Golf Club Pro
The Plank (1979) (TV) .... Delivery man with cake
Professor Popper's Problem (1974) .... Professor Popper
"The Worker" .... The Worker (25 episodes, 1965-1970)
    - No Room at the Inn for the Odd Couple Up the Staircase (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - I Babble, Babble as I Flow to Join the Brimming River (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - Ma Chandelle, Est Morte (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - The Saucerer's Apprentice (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
    - Cough (1970) TV episode .... The Worker
      (20 more)
Mister Ten Per Cent (1967) .... Percy Pointer
"The Charlie Drake Show" (1967) TV series
The Cracksman (1963) .... Ernest Wright
Petticoat Pirates (1961) .... Charlie
"The Charlie Drake Show" .... Charlie (11 episodes, 1960-1961)
    - Bingo Madness (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.6 (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.5 (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.4 (1961) TV episode
    - Episode #2.3 (1961) TV episode
      (6 more)
Sands of the Desert (1960) .... Charlie Sands
"Charlie Drake" (21 episodes, 1958-1960)
    - March of the Movies (1960) TV episode
    - We Diet at Dawn (1960) TV episode
    - Suspension (1960) TV episode
    - It's Up to You (1960) TV episode
    - Recital (1959) TV episode
      (16 more)
"Drake's Progress" (1957) TV series
The Golden Link (1954) .... Joe

http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/586/Charlie_Drake.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/05/article-1032365-00D1079000000190-779_468x286.jpg


Thanks Phil. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 5:25 am

The word of the day...Butterfly
A butterfly is any of several groups of mainly day-flying insects of the order Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, butterflies' life cycle consists of four parts, egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. Butterflies comprise the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies  (superfamily Hedyloidea). All the many other families within the Lepidoptera are referred to as moths.

Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some, like the Monarch, will migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Butterflies are important economically as agents of pollination. The caterpillars of some butterflies eat harmful insects. A few species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww55/paulwoollard/butterfly1.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa243/puppies6969/butterfly.png
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w14/deannesauntie/Animals/butterfly.jpg
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt329/MysteriousMagic/GIMP%20General/butterfly.jpg
http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y374/karafoster/Animals/butterfly_2.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g19/kady1158/My%20Quote%20collections/butterfly.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u81/kjl320/Shabulous/butterfly.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 5:28 am

The person born on this day...Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is the lead singer, flute player and occasional guitar player of Heart.
Wilson was born in San Diego, California. When she was a child, Wilson's family moved around because her father was a Marine Corps colonel. The family eventually settled in Bellevue, then a suburb, and now a city, east of Seattle, Washington. Shy because of a stutter, Wilson turned to music. In the early 1970s she joined a local band, White Heart, which changed its name to Hocus Pocus, and then in 1974, to Heart.

During the seventies, Ann was in a relationship with Michael Fisher, the manager of the band, while her younger sister Nancy was involved with lead guitarist Roger Fisher, Michael's younger brother. Both couples were in control of the band. In 1979, both relationships ended; Ann stated that Michael had fallen in love with another woman and they split. The song Magic Man was written about Michael and contains autobiographical lyrics about the beginning of their relationship.

Ann adopted her daughter Marie in 1991 and her son Dustin in 1998.

As a child, Ann was teased for her size. She revealed that in the seventies she would starve herself to stay thin. When Heart created a comeback in the mid-eighties, Ann had gained a significant amount of weight. Fearing it would hurt the band's popularity, record company executives and band members began pressuring her to lose weight. In music videos, camera angles and clothes were often used to hide her weight, and more focus was put on her sister Nancy. Ann stated she began suffering from panic attacks due to the stress caused by the negativity surrounding the issue. She underwent a weight-loss surgery called "adjustable gastric band" in January 2002 after what she calls "a lifelong battle" with her weight.
Recording career

In 1974 Ann's younger sister Nancy joined Heart, and the band moved to Canada. Heart recorded their first album Dreamboat Annie in Vancouver in 1975; it was released in the United States in 1976. In 1977 Little Queen was released, and in 1978, Dog & Butterfly. Ann also sang the duet "Almost Paradise" with Mike Reno in the movie Footloose, and also had a hit with "Surrender To Me" in 1988, a duet with Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander, which reached number six in the U.S.

In 1992 Ann appeared on Alice in Chains' EP Sap; she did vocals for "Brother", "Am I Inside" and "Love Song".

Ann and Nancy started a recording studio, Bad Animals, in Seattle in the mid-1990s. They formed a side band, The Lovemongers, which performed "The Battle of Evermore" on the 1992 soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe (Nancy's husband) movie Singles, and later released a four-song EP. The Lovemongers' debut album Whirlygig was released in 1997.
Solo career

In 2006 Ann began recording her first solo album, Hope & Glory, produced by Ben Mink, and released by the Rounder (Zoe) Music Group on September 11, 2007. Hope & Glory features guest appearances from Elton John, k.d. lang, Alison Krauss, Gretchen Wilson, Shawn Colvin, Rufus Wainwright, Wynonna Judd and Deana Carter. Ann's sister, Nancy, also contributed.

The Hope & Glory version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is available on Ann's official MySpace page, and charted as "the #9 most podcasted song of 2007" on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. Ann's powerful, piercing voice led many to refer to her as "the female Robert Plant", (Led Zeppelin's lead vocalist).

Ann joined producer Alan Parsons in the 2001 live tribute tour to Beatles music called A Walk Down Abbey Road.

In June 2007 she sang with the group Sed Nove and Ian Gillan in the Festival of Music in Paris.
http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz230/roger_paul_fan/general/Ann_Wilson_70s.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/tessie01711/ann.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 5:33 am

The person who died on this day...Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur (October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur. So much was she part of it, so much was her star personality defined by it, that the screwball style itself seems almost unimaginable without her."  Arthur has been called "the quintessential comedic leading lady."

Arthur is best known for her feature roles in three Frank Capra films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It With You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), films that championed the everyday heroine. A memorable later performance was in George Stevens' Shane (1953), her last screen appearance.

Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in The More the Merrier (1943).
Arthur was born Gladys Georgianna Greene in Plattsburgh, New York  to Johanna Augusta Nelson and Hubert Sidney Greene. She lived off and on in Westbrook, Maine from 1908 to 1915 while her father worked at Lamson Studios in Portland, Maine as a photographer. The product of a nomadic childhood, Arthur also lived at times in Jacksonville, Florida; Schenectady, New York; and, during a portion of her high school years, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan. She came from a family of three older brothers: Donald Hubert (1891), Robert B. (1892) and Albert Sidney (1894).  Her maternal grandparents were immigrants from Norway  who settled in the American West. She reputedly took her stage name from two of her greatest heroes, Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and King Arthur.

Presaging many of her later film roles, she worked as a stenographer on Bond Street in lower Manhattan during World War I.
Film career
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Discovered by Fox Film Studios while she was doing commercial modeling in New York City in the early 1920s, Arthur debuted in the silent film Cameo Kirby (1923), directed by John Ford, and made a few low-budget silent westerns and short comedies. She was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1929, but she became stuck in ingénue roles. It was her distinctive, throaty voice – in addition to some stage training on Broadway in the early 1930s – that helped make her a star in the talkies.

In 1935, at age 34, she starred opposite Edward G. Robinson in the gangster farce The Whole Town's Talking, also directed by Ford, and her popularity began to rise. By then, her hair, naturally brunette throughout the silent film portion of her career, was bleached blonde and would stay that way. She was famous for maneuvering to be photographed and filmed almost exclusively from the left; Arthur felt that her left was her best side, and worked hard to keep it in the fore. Frank Capra recounted that producer Harry Cohn described Jean Arthur's imbalanced profile as "half of it's angel, and the other half horse."
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

The turning point in Jean Arthur's career came when she was chosen by director Frank Capra to star in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Capra had spotted her in a daily rush from the film Whirlpool in 1934 and convinced Columbia Studios head Harry Cohn to sign her for his next film as a tough newspaperwoman who falls in love with a country bumpkin millionaire. Arthur co-starred in three celebrated 1930s Capra films: her role opposite Gary Cooper in 1936 in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town made her a star, while her fame was cemented with You Can't Take It With You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1939, both with James Stewart. She was re-teamed with Cooper, playing Calamity Jane in Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman (1936), and appeared as a working girl, her typical role, in Mitchell Leisen's 1937 screwball comedy Easy Living opposite Ray Milland. So strong was her box office appeal by 1939 that she was one of four finalists that year for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind; the film's producer, David O. Selznick, had briefly romanced Arthur in the late 1920s when they both were with Paramount Pictures.

She continued to star in films such as Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings in 1939, with love interest Cary Grant, 1942's The Talk of the Town, directed by George Stevens (also with Grant), and again for Stevens as a government clerk in 1943's The More the Merrier, for which Jean Arthur was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress (losing to Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette). As a result of being in the doghouse with studio boss Harry Cohn, her fee for The Talk of the Town (1942) was only $50,000 while her male co-stars Grant and Ronald Colman received upwards of $100,000 each. Arthur remained Columbia's top star until the mid-1940s, when she left the studio and Rita Hayworth took over as the studio's reigning queen. Stevens famously called her "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen", while Capra credited her as "my favorite actress".
Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur in Shane (1953)

Arthur "retired" when her contract with Columbia Pictures expired in 1944. She reportedly ran through the studio's streets, shouting "I'm free, I'm free!" For the next several years, she turned down virtually all film offers, the two exceptions being Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair (1948), in which she played a congresswoman and rival of Marlene Dietrich, and as a homesteader's wife in the classic Western Shane (1953), which turned out to be the biggest box-office hit of her career. The latter was her final film, and the only color film she appeared in.

Arthur's post-retirement work in theater was intermittent, somewhat curtailed by her longstanding shyness and discomfort about her chosen profession. Capra claimed she vomited in her dressing room between scenes, yet emerged each time to perform a flawless take. According to John Oller's biography Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew (1997), Arthur developed a kind of stage fright punctuated with bouts of psychosomatic illnesses. A prime example was in 1945, when she was cast in the lead of the Garson Kanin play Born Yesterday. Her nerves and insecurity got the better of her and she left the production before it reached Broadway, opening the door for Judy Holliday to take the part.

Arthur did score a major triumph on Broadway in 1950, starring in an adaptation of Peter Pan playing the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up when she was almost 50. She tackled the role of her namesake, Joan of Arc, in a 1954 stage production of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, but she left the play after a nervous breakdown and battles with director Harold Clurman.
Retirement

In 1966, the extremely reclusive Arthur tentatively returned to show business, playing Patricia Marshall, an attorney, on her own television sitcom, The Jean Arthur Show, which was cancelled mid-season by CBS after only twelve episodes. Ron Harper played her son, attorney Paul Marshall.

In 1967, she was coaxed back to Broadway to appear as a midwestern spinster who falls in with a group of hippies in the play The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake. William Goldman, in his book The Season reconstructed the disastrous production, which eventually closed during previews when Arthur refused to go on.

Arthur next decided to teach drama, first at Vassar College and then the North Carolina School of the Arts. While teaching at Vassar, she stopped a rather stridently overacted scene performance and directed the students' attention to a large tree growing outside the window of the performance space, advising the students on the art of naturalistic acting: "I wish people knew how to be people as well as that tree knows how to be a tree."

Her students at Vassar included the young Meryl Streep. Arthur recognized Streep's talent and potential very early on and after watching her performance in a Vassar play, Arthur said it was "like watching a movie star."

While living in North Carolina she made front page news by being arrested and jailed for trespassing on a neighbor's property to console a dog she felt was being mistreated. An animal lover her entire life, Arthur said she trusted them more than people.

She turned down the role of the lady missionary in Lost Horizon (1973), the unsuccessful musical remake of the 1937 Frank Capra film of the same name. Then, in 1975, the Broadway play First Monday in October, about the first female Supreme Court justice, was written especially with Arthur in mind, but once again she succumbed to extreme stage fright and quit the production shortly into its out-of-town run in Cleveland. The play went on with Jane Alexander playing the role intended for Arthur.

After the First Monday in October incident, Arthur then retired for good, retreating to her oceanside home in Carmel, California, steadfastly refusing interviews until her resistance was broken down by the author of a book on her one-time director Capra. Arthur once famously said that she’d rather have her throat slit than do an interview.
Marriages

Arthur's first marriage, to photographer Julian Anker in 1928, was annulled after one day. She married producer Frank Ross, Jr. in 1932. They divorced in 1949. Arthur did not have any children.
Death and legacy

Jean Arthur died from heart failure at the age of 90. Her ashes were scattered at sea near Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Upon her death film reviewer Charles Champlin wrote the following in the Los Angeles Times:

    To at least one teenager in a small town (though I’m sure we were a multitude), Jean Arthur suggested strongly that the ideal woman could be — ought to be — judged by her spirit as well as her beauty… The notion of the woman as a friend and confidante, as well as someone you courted and were nuts about, someone whose true beauty was internal rather than external, became a full-blown possibility as we watched Jean Arthur.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Jean Arthur has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6331 Hollywood Blvd. The Jean Arthur Atrium was her gift to the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

Alternative country artist Robbie Fulks included a song titled "Jean Arthur" on his 1999 compilation The Very Best of Robbie Fulks. The track expounds on the actress's unique personality and style.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1923 Cameo Kirby Ann Playdell
1924 Wine of Youth Automobile Reveler Uncredited
1925 Seven Chances Receptionist at country club Uncredited
1926 Under Fire Margaret Cranston
The Mad Racer Short subject
1927 Winners of the Wilderness Bit Role Uncredited
The Masked Menace Faith
1928 Warming Up Mary Post
1929 The Canary Murder Case Alice LaFosse
Stairs of Sand Ruth Hutt
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu Lia Eltham
The Greene Murder Case Ada Greene
The Saturday Night Kid Janie Alternative title: Love 'Em and Leave 'Em
1930 Street of Chance Judith Marsden
Paramount on Parade Sweetheart (Dream Girl/In a Hospital)
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu Lia Eltham
Danger Lights Mary Ryan
The Silver Horde Mildred Wayland
1931 The Lawyer's Secret Beatrice Stevens
1933 The Past of Mary Holmes Joan Hoyt
Get That Venus Margaret Rendleby
1934 Whirlpool Sandra Morrison
1935 The Whole Town's Talking Wilhelmina "Bill" Clark Alternative title: Passport to Fame
Party Wire Marge Oliver
Public Hero No. 1 Maria Theresa "Terry" O'Reilly
Diamond Jim Jane Matthews/Emma
If You Could Only Cook Joan Hawthorne
1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Babe Bennett
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford Paula Bradford
Adventure in Manhattan Claire Peyton Alternative title: Manhattan Madness
The Plainsman Calamity Jane
More Than a Secretary Carol Baldwin
1937 History Is Made at Night Irene Vail
Easy Living Mary Smith
1938 You Can't Take It with You Alice Sycamore
1939 Only Angels Have Wings Bonnie Lee
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Clarissa Saunders
1940 Too Many Husbands Vicky Lowndes Alternative title: My Two Husbands
Arizona Phoebe Titus
1941 The Devil and Miss Jones Mary Jones
1942 The Talk of the Town Miss Nora Shelley
1943 The More the Merrier Constance "Connie" Milligan Nominated: Academy Award for Best Actress
A Lady Takes a Chance Molly J. Truesdale Alternative title: The Cowboy and the Girl
1944 The Impatient Years Janie Anderson
1948 A Foreign Affair Congresswoman Phoebe Frost
1953 Shane Marian Starrett
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1965 Gunsmoke Julie Blane 1 episode
1966 The Jean Arthur Show Patricia Marshall 11 episodes
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll360/tippy99/jean.jpg
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll360/tippy99/jeanarthur104-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/19/10 at 6:46 am


The person born on this day...Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is the lead singer, flute player and occasional guitar player of Heart.
Wilson was born in San Diego, California. When she was a child, Wilson's family moved around because her father was a Marine Corps colonel. The family eventually settled in Bellevue, then a suburb, and now a city, east of Seattle, Washington. Shy because of a stutter, Wilson turned to music. In the early 1970s she joined a local band, White Heart, which changed its name to Hocus Pocus, and then in 1974, to Heart.

During the seventies, Ann was in a relationship with Michael Fisher, the manager of the band, while her younger sister Nancy was involved with lead guitarist Roger Fisher, Michael's younger brother. Both couples were in control of the band. In 1979, both relationships ended; Ann stated that Michael had fallen in love with another woman and they split. The song Magic Man was written about Michael and contains autobiographical lyrics about the beginning of their relationship.

Ann adopted her daughter Marie in 1991 and her son Dustin in 1998.

As a child, Ann was teased for her size. She revealed that in the seventies she would starve herself to stay thin. When Heart created a comeback in the mid-eighties, Ann had gained a significant amount of weight. Fearing it would hurt the band's popularity, record company executives and band members began pressuring her to lose weight. In music videos, camera angles and clothes were often used to hide her weight, and more focus was put on her sister Nancy. Ann stated she began suffering from panic attacks due to the stress caused by the negativity surrounding the issue. She underwent a weight-loss surgery called "adjustable gastric band" in January 2002 after what she calls "a lifelong battle" with her weight.
Recording career

In 1974 Ann's younger sister Nancy joined Heart, and the band moved to Canada. Heart recorded their first album Dreamboat Annie in Vancouver in 1975; it was released in the United States in 1976. In 1977 Little Queen was released, and in 1978, Dog & Butterfly. Ann also sang the duet "Almost Paradise" with Mike Reno in the movie Footloose, and also had a hit with "Surrender To Me" in 1988, a duet with Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander, which reached number six in the U.S.

In 1992 Ann appeared on Alice in Chains' EP Sap; she did vocals for "Brother", "Am I Inside" and "Love Song".

Ann and Nancy started a recording studio, Bad Animals, in Seattle in the mid-1990s. They formed a side band, The Lovemongers, which performed "The Battle of Evermore" on the 1992 soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe (Nancy's husband) movie Singles, and later released a four-song EP. The Lovemongers' debut album Whirlygig was released in 1997.
Solo career

In 2006 Ann began recording her first solo album, Hope & Glory, produced by Ben Mink, and released by the Rounder (Zoe) Music Group on September 11, 2007. Hope & Glory features guest appearances from Elton John, k.d. lang, Alison Krauss, Gretchen Wilson, Shawn Colvin, Rufus Wainwright, Wynonna Judd and Deana Carter. Ann's sister, Nancy, also contributed.

The Hope & Glory version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is available on Ann's official MySpace page, and charted as "the #9 most podcasted song of 2007" on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. Ann's powerful, piercing voice led many to refer to her as "the female Robert Plant", (Led Zeppelin's lead vocalist).

Ann joined producer Alan Parsons in the 2001 live tribute tour to Beatles music called A Walk Down Abbey Road.

In June 2007 she sang with the group Sed Nove and Ian Gillan in the Festival of Music in Paris.
http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz230/roger_paul_fan/general/Ann_Wilson_70s.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/tessie01711/ann.jpg


Alone,What About Love,Barracuda are some of my favorites.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/19/10 at 10:22 am


Alone,What About Love,Barracuda are some of my favorites.  :)

I like "Crazy on you", "Dreamboat Annie", Alone, and "These dreams"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 12:07 pm


Alone,What About Love,Barracuda are some of my favorites.  :)


I like "Crazy on you", "Dreamboat Annie", Alone, and "These dreams"

I like all the above ;D plus Dog And Butterfly ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/19/10 at 12:19 pm

One of my favorites.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vlAdMeZSfw




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/19/10 at 1:48 pm


One of my favorites.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vlAdMeZSfw




Cat


another funky favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/19/10 at 1:49 pm

Michael Jackson sang "Butterflies" in 2001

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/19/10 at 2:34 pm


The word of the day...Butterfly
A butterfly is any of several groups of mainly day-flying insects of the order Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, butterflies' life cycle consists of four parts, egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. Butterflies comprise the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies  (superfamily Hedyloidea). All the many other families within the Lepidoptera are referred to as moths.

Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some, like the Monarch, will migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Butterflies are important economically as agents of pollination. The caterpillars of some butterflies eat harmful insects. A few species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.
http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww55/paulwoollard/butterfly1.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa243/puppies6969/butterfly.png
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w14/deannesauntie/Animals/butterfly.jpg
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt329/MysteriousMagic/GIMP%20General/butterfly.jpg
http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y374/karafoster/Animals/butterfly_2.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g19/kady1158/My%20Quote%20collections/butterfly.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u81/kjl320/Shabulous/butterfly.jpg

What is the Butterfly Effect?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/19/10 at 2:45 pm


Michael Jackson sang "Butterflies" in 2001
Andy Willams sang Butterfly

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 3:12 pm


What is the Butterfly Effect?

Doesn't that mean one thing can effect another, and if you time travel changing that one thing can cause problems, I watched part of the movie, so I'm just guessing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/19/10 at 3:25 pm


Doesn't that mean one thing can effect another, and if you time travel changing that one thing can cause problems, I watched part of the movie, so I'm just guessing.
That is right it was a film, still yet to be seen.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/19/10 at 4:59 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTP_M3UOZKE



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/10 at 6:36 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTP_M3UOZKE



Cat

Was that on the BBC?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 12:24 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTP_M3UOZKE



Cat

Was that on the BBC?
Yes, with Wendy Craig and Geoffrey Palmer, also featured a young Nicholas Lyndhurst,

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 12:25 am


Yes, with Wendy Craig and Geoffrey Palmer, also featured a young Nicholas Lyndhurst,


http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/content/images/2007/07/31/butterflies_1_396x222.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 1:02 am


http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/content/images/2007/07/31/butterflies_1_396x222.jpg
By pure coincidence!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 1:06 am

British Person of the Day: Wendy Craig

Wendy Craig (born 20 June 1934) is a BAFTA Award winning English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Butterflies, ...And Mother Makes Three and ...And Mother Makes Five. She currently plays the recurring role of Matron in popular TV series The Royal.

Biography

She was born in Sacriston, County Durham and attended Durham High School for Girls, which she re-visited on October 13, 2007 when she opened a new building named after her. She began her career in British films at the end of the 1950s, and appeared in films such as The Servant (1963) and The Nanny (1965) with Bette Davis, but it was in British sitcoms of the late 1960s and 1970s which led to her becoming a household name, usually playing a scatty middle-class housewife. She went from the BBC's Not in Front of the Children (1967) to ITV's ...And Mother Makes Three (1971) (in which she played a single parent), which later evolved into ...And Mother Makes Five. Then came Butterflies (1978), a comedy on BBC2, in which Craig's character was given more depth than in the earlier series.

Wendy Craig returned to drama with the series Nanny in 1981 - a show she created herself - and currently plays a hospital matron in ITV's The Royal. However, she continues to be associated with comedy, having taken one of the leading roles as Annie in Brighton Belles, the UK's short-lived version of The Golden Girls.

She appeared as Reggie's mother in the BBC1 comedy Reggie Perrin (2009), an update of the 1970s series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

Personal life

She was married to Jack Bentley from 1955 until his death in 1994. They had two sons and one daughter. In 2004, it was revealed that her second son was the result of a short affair with John Mortimer.

TELEVISION SERIES

1964    Room at the Bottom
1967-70 Not In Front of the Children
1971-74 And Mother Makes Three
1974-76 And Mother Makes Five
1978-82 Butterflies
1981-83 Triangle
1981-83 Nanny
1989 Laura and Disorder (also co-writer)
1993 Brighton Belles
2009 Reggin Perin

FILMS

Room at the Top, 1959; The Mind Benders, 1963; The Servant, 1963; The Nanny, 1965; Just Like a Woman, 1966; I'll Never Forget Whatshisname, 1967; Joseph Andrews, 1977.

STAGE

The Secret Place, 1957; Heart to Heart, 1962; Late Summer Affair, 1962; Room at the Top.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/10/1/1254413893630/Wendy-Craig-001.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/23/article-0-05740F8F000005DC-22_468x286.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/20/10 at 1:46 am

Wendy Craig is a great comedic actress.  ;D

I liked the song Bright Elusive Butterfly of Love by Bob Lind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JyMGb-d8Io&feature=related

...and Butterfly's Ball by Roger Glover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sn1UqbbbqQ

Ann and Nancy Wilson are fantastic Talents. Here is a live rendition of the song "Love Hurts". Ann has a great female rock voice!  Nancy is no slouch either...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8EET_lnwdw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/10 at 6:03 am


British Person of the Day: Wendy Craig

Wendy Craig (born 20 June 1934) is a BAFTA Award winning English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Butterflies, ...And Mother Makes Three and ...And Mother Makes Five. She currently plays the recurring role of Matron in popular TV series The Royal.

Biography

She was born in Sacriston, County Durham and attended Durham High School for Girls, which she re-visited on October 13, 2007 when she opened a new building named after her. She began her career in British films at the end of the 1950s, and appeared in films such as The Servant (1963) and The Nanny (1965) with Bette Davis, but it was in British sitcoms of the late 1960s and 1970s which led to her becoming a household name, usually playing a scatty middle-class housewife. She went from the BBC's Not in Front of the Children (1967) to ITV's ...And Mother Makes Three (1971) (in which she played a single parent), which later evolved into ...And Mother Makes Five. Then came Butterflies (1978), a comedy on BBC2, in which Craig's character was given more depth than in the earlier series.

Wendy Craig returned to drama with the series Nanny in 1981 - a show she created herself - and currently plays a hospital matron in ITV's The Royal. However, she continues to be associated with comedy, having taken one of the leading roles as Annie in Brighton Belles, the UK's short-lived version of The Golden Girls.

She appeared as Reggie's mother in the BBC1 comedy Reggie Perrin (2009), an update of the 1970s series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

Personal life

She was married to Jack Bentley from 1955 until his death in 1994. They had two sons and one daughter. In 2004, it was revealed that her second son was the result of a short affair with John Mortimer.

TELEVISION SERIES

1964     Room at the Bottom
1967-70 Not In Front of the Children
1971-74 And Mother Makes Three
1974-76 And Mother Makes Five
1978-82 Butterflies
1981-83 Triangle
1981-83 Nanny
1989 Laura and Disorder (also co-writer)
1993 Brighton Belles
2009 Reggin Perin

FILMS

Room at the Top, 1959; The Mind Benders, 1963; The Servant, 1963; The Nanny, 1965; Just Like a Woman, 1966; I'll Never Forget Whatshisname, 1967; Joseph Andrews, 1977.

STAGE

The Secret Place, 1957; Heart to Heart, 1962; Late Summer Affair, 1962; Room at the Top.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/10/1/1254413893630/Wendy-Craig-001.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/23/article-0-05740F8F000005DC-22_468x286.jpg

I see she had a long break from '93 to '09.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 6:06 am


I see she had a long break from '93 to '09.
She had some TV appearances, but nothing major.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/10 at 6:06 am


Wendy Craig is a great comedic actress.  ;D

I liked the song Bright Elusive Butterfly of Love by Bob Lind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JyMGb-d8Io&feature=related

...and Butterfly's Ball by Roger Glover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sn1UqbbbqQ

Ann and Nancy Wilson are fantastic Talents. Here is a live rendition of the song "Love Hurts". Ann has a great female rock voice!  Nancy is no slouch either...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8EET_lnwdw

Thanks Peter, the oldies radio station just played Bob Lind a few minutes ago. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/10 at 6:07 am


She had some TV appearances, but nothing major.

I was just wondering if her husbands death was a factor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 6:13 am


I was just wondering if her husbands death was a factor.
True, the death of husband does coincide, methinks more research is needed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/10 at 6:14 am

The word of the day...Ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior  surface that bounds ("ceils") the upper limit of a room. It is generally not a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the floor or roof structure above.

Ceilings are classified according to their appearance or construction. A cathedral ceiling is any tall ceiling area similar to those in a church. A dropped ceiling is one in which the finished surface is constructed anywhere from a few inches to several feet below the structure above it. This may be done for aesthetic purposes, such as achieving a desirable ceiling height; or practical purposes such as providing a space for HVAC or piping. An inverse of this would be a raised floor. A concave or barrel shaped ceiling is curved or rounded, usually for visual or acoustical value, while a coffered ceiling is divided into a grid of recessed square or octagonal panels, also called a lacunar ceiling. A cove ceiling uses a curved plaster transition between wall and ceiling; it is named for cove molding, a molding with a concave curve.

Ceilings have frequently been decorated with fresco painting, mosaic tiles and other surface treatments. While hard to execute (at least in place) a decorated ceiling has the advantage that it is largely protected from damage by fingers and dust. In the past, however, this was more than compensated for by the damage from smoke from candles or a fireplace. Many historic buildings have celebrated ceilings. Perhaps the most famous is the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll298/cerian23/Italy/Rome/Vatican/ceiling30.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee18/becsmith42/Motorhome/Livingarea-ceiling.jpg
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad133/neobenjamin/IMG_8284.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m176/niascissorhands/chand2.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e7/icenine1/DSCN1429.jpg
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr45/Puffyroddick/Ceiling.jpg
http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/zz208/frysdesigner/Webster/Solarcellceiling4189copy.jpg
http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n479/FalseImpression/France%202010/ee4cf9fb.jpg
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af149/mdoug87/Rome/rome006.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt199/alapasada/DELETEDPHOTOS059.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/10 at 6:18 am

The person born on this day...Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie (born June 20, 1949) is an American  singer-songwriter and record producer who has sold (solo or as group member) more than 100 million records. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Richie grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. His grandfather's house was across the street from the home of the president of the Institute. His family moved to Illinois where he graduated from Joliet Township High School, East Campus, in Joliet. A star tennis player in Joliet, he accepted a tennis scholarship  at Tuskegee Institute and later graduated with a major in economics. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Tuskegee, Richie briefly attended graduate school at Auburn University. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
The Commodores
Main article: Commodores

As a student in Tuskegee, Richie formed a succession of R&B groups in the mid-1960s. In 1968 he became a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores. They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving on to Motown Records initially as a support act to The Jackson 5. The Commodores then became established as a popular soul group. Their first several albums had a danceable, funky sound, as in such tracks as "Machine Gun" and "Brick House". Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-listening ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", "Still", and the tragic breakup ballad "Sail On."

By the late 1970s, he had begun to accept songwriting commissions from other artists. He composed "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and produced Rogers's album Share Your Love the following year. Richie and Rogers maintained a strong friendship in later years. Latin jazz composer and salsa romantica pioneer La Palabra enjoyed international success with his cover of "Lady", which was played at Latin dance clubs. Also in 1981, Richie sang the theme song for the film Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross. Issued as a single, the song topped the UK and U.S. pop music charts, and became one of Motown's biggest hits. Its success encouraged Richie to branch out into a full-fledged solo career in 1982. He was replaced as lead singer for The Commodores by Skyler Jett in 1983.

His debut album, Lionel Richie, produced another chart-topping single, "Truly", which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores.
Solo career

Richie's 1982 self-titled debut contained three hit singles: the U.S. #1 song "Truly", which launched his career as one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and the Top Five hits "You Are" and "My Love". The album hit #3 on the music charts and sold over 4 million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can't Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies and won two Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year, propelling him into the first rank of international superstars. The album contained the #1 hit "All Night Long", a Caribbean-flavored dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith.

Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far Richie had moved from his R&B roots. Richie had three more Top Ten hits in 1984, "Stuck On You" (#3), "Running With the Night" (#7) and "Penny Lover" (#8). Now described by one critic as "the black Barry Manilow", in 1985 Richie wrote and performed a suitably soothing theme song, "Say You, Say Me", for the film White Nights, winning an Oscar for his efforts as well as reaching #1 on the U.S. charts and staying there for four weeks, making it the #1 song of 1985 according to Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another #1 hit.

In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of US and UK hits including "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. #1), "Dancing on the Ceiling" (U.S. #2), "Ballerina Girl" (U.S. #7), and "Se La" (U.S. #20), Richie's most recent U.S. Pop Top Twenty hit. The title selection, which revived the lively dance sound of "All Night Long (All Night)", was accompanied by another striking video, a feature that played an increasingly important role in Richie's solo career. The critical consensus was that this album represented nothing more than a consolidation of his previous work, though Richie's collaboration with the country group Alabama on "Deep River Woman" did break new ground. By 1987, Richie was exhausted from his work schedule and after a controversial year laid low taking care of his father in Alabama. His father, Lionel Sr., died in 1990. Richie made his return to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992.

Since then, his ever-more-relaxed schedule has kept his recording and live work to a minimum. He broke the silence in 1996 with Louder Than Words, on which he resisted any change of style or the musical fashion-hopping of the past decade, sticking instead with his chosen path of well-crafted soul music, which in the intervening years has become known as Contemporary R&B.

Richie's albums in the 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time failed to match the commercial success of his earlier work. Some of his recent albums, such as Renaissance, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK. On February 1, 2010, Richie made a remix of "We Are The World" in which Justin Bieber sings Richie's original part in the song.
Long-lasting popularity and later career

In 2002, Richie's song "Running with the Night" was featured on the Rockstar North video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City though the song was removed from later versions of the game. In 2004, he appeared on Canadian Idol as his songs were featured during a Canadian Idol week.

Later in 2004, he also appeared on the British motoring television series Top Gear in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment where he was interviewed by host Jeremy Clarkson. During his lap, the Suzuki Liana he was driving lost a wheel due to hard cornering. In November 2005, Lionel Richie performed with Kenny Rogers on a CMT Crossroads special. The show gave an informative insight into their friendship both in and out of the music world. Richie was also the headliner at a 2000 Fourth of July tribute concert with Fantasia Barrino at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Richie released his eighth studio album entitled "Coming Home" on September 12, 2006. The first single of the album was "I Call It Love" and was premiered in July 2006, becoming his biggest hit in the U.S. in ten years. The album was an incredible success for Richie in the United States, peaking at #6. His adopted daughter Nicole Richie stars in the music video for this track.

On December 9, 2006, Richie hosted and performed live on the British television show An Audience with Lionel Richie. Two months later, he performed "Hello" on the 49th Grammy Awards show.

On November 25, 2007, he made a surprise appearance on the Australian Idol grand finale performing "All Night Long (All Night)" at the Sydney Opera House. Richie donated to Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.

On May 2, 2008, Lionel Richie was the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's annual Spring Sing. In accepting the award, Richie said: "Forget about surviving 30 some odd years in the music business, Lionel Richie survived 27 years of Nicole Richie".

Recently, he has announced that he would like to get The Commodores back together soon, "or in the next 10 years no one will care." Richie is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

On December 31, 2008, Richie performed in Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebration and ball drop. He also performed on the 2009 season finale for American Idol with Danny Gokey.

A new album, Just Go was released in spring 2009 - around the time Lionel confirmed there is to be a Commodores reunion in the near future.

On July 7, 2009, Richie performed "Jesus is Love" at Michael Jackson's memorial service.

On May 30, 2010, Richie performed at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington D.C. One of the songs he performed was "America the Beautiful."
Popularity in the Arab world

In recent years, Richie has become a phenomenon in various Arab states, and has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya.

As ABC News reports:

    Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name. "I love Lionel Richie," they say. They can sing an entire Lionel Richie song. He has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya. There is obviously something up there. The more we talked, the more he theorized as to the reasons his music might be so popular here. He thinks it is because of the simple message in his music: Love.

According to Richie, he was told that Iraqi civilians were playing "All Night Long" the night that U.S. tanks invaded Baghdad. Richie was against the war, but he says he could see a day when he would come and perform in Baghdad. "I would love to be here for that."
Dallas Austin character witness

In July, 2006, songwriter and producer Dallas Austin was arrested and held in a United Arab Emirates prison on drug charges. The UAE consulate in Washington D.C. placed a call to Lionel Richie for a character reference.

Richie recounts for the New York Times:

    It was, 'Tell me what kind of guy is Dallas Austin.' I said, 'Listen, this is a great guy. He's done a great job for the community. A gangster, a hoodlum, a thug, he's not.'

Austin was subsequently granted a pardon.
Family
Marriage with Brenda Harvey

Richie married college sweetheart Brenda Harvey on October 18, 1975. During their marriage, Lionel began a relationship with Diane Alexander in 1986. In 1988, while separated, Brenda allegedly discovered Lionel and Alexander together in a Beverly Hills apartment. A confrontation ensued, and Brenda was then arrested for spousal abuse, trespassing and vandalism. Lionel and Brenda divorced on August 9, 1993; they had been married 17 years.
Nicole Richie
Main article: Nicole Richie

In 1983, Lionel and wife Brenda informally adopted Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two year old daughter of members of Lionel's band. They raised her as their daughter Nicole Richie and adopted her legally when she was nine years old. In a November 15, 2005 CNN interview with Ryan Seacrest, Nicole denied that her birth father was a member of Lionel's band; however, Peter Michael Escovedo (brother of Sheila E) was a member of Lionel's band.

Lionel became a grandfather on January 11, 2008 when Nicole gave birth to a baby girl, Harlow Winter Kate Madden, with the lead singer of Good Charlotte, Joel Madden and again when she gave birth to Sparrow James Midnight Madden on September 9, 2009.
Marriage with Diane Alexander

Lionel married Alexander on December 21, 1995. They have a son, Miles Brockman (born May 27, 1994), and a daughter, Sofia (born August 26, 1998). Lionel and Alexander divorced in January 2004.
Breast cancer activist

Richie helped to raise over $3.1 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He was the featured performer at the Foundation's Soirée Bouquet, the annual spring gala.

Richie told the crowd that his grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, but survived and lived until she was 104 years old. He stated that she was his enduring symbol of hope and his reason for becoming a breast cancer activist.
In Popular Culture

    * In the video game Final Fantasy XIII, director Tetsuya Nomura based the character Sazh's appearance on Lionel Richie.
    * Lionel Richie is often mentioned in the television show Everybody Hates Chris, as many secondary characters claim that the main character (played by Tyler James Williams) resembles him.

Discography
See also: Lionel Richie discography
Studio albums

    * 1982: Lionel Richie (Motown)
    * 1983: Can't Slow Down (Motown)
    * 1986: Dancing on the Ceiling (Motown)
    * 1992: Back To Front (Motown) (Compilation)
    * 1996: Louder Than Words (Mercury)
    * 1997: Truly: The Love Songs (Motown) (Compilation)
    * 1998: Time (Mercury)
    * 2000: Renaissance (Island)
    * 2002: Encore (Island) (Live)
    * 2004: Just for You (Island)
    * 2006: Coming Home (Island)
    * 2006: Sounds of the Season (Island)
    * 2009: Just Go (Island)

U.S. #1 singles

    * 1981: "Endless Love" (with Diana Ross) (9 weeks)
    * 1982: "Truly" (2 weeks)
    * 1983: "All Night Long (All Night)" (4 weeks)
    * 1984: "Hello" (2 weeks)
    * 1985: "Say You, Say Me" (4 weeks)

Filmography

    * 1977: Scott Joplin (w/ The Commodores)
    * 1978: Thank God It's Friday (w/ The Commodores)
    * 1990: Running with the night
    * 1991: Truth or Dare (documentary)
    * 1996: The Preacher's Wife
    * 1998: Pariah
    * 2007: The Simpsons (episode He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs)

See also

    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists in the United States
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f125/dannncampos/Sakarolha/Lionel-Richie.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f282/kieransphotosarehere/lionel_richie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/10 at 6:28 am

The person who died on this day...Estelle Winwood
Estelle Winwood (24 January 1883 — 20 June 1984) was an English stage and film actress who moved to the United States in mid-career and became celebrated for her longevity. Born Estelle Goodwin in Lee, Kent, England, she decided at the age of five that she wanted to be an actress. With her mother's support, but her father's disapproval, she trained with the Liverpool Repertory Company in Liverpool, Lancashire, England before moving on to a career in the West End theatre in London.
Broadway and West End career

She moved to the U.S. in 1916 and made her Broadway début in New York City, and until the beginning of the 1930s she divided her time between New York City and London. Throughout her career, her first love was the theatre and as the years passed she appeared less frequently in London, but became a prolific performer on Broadway. Her many successes include A Successful Calamity (1917), A Little Journey (1918), Spring Cleaning (1923), The Distaff Side (1934), The Importance of Being Earnest (which she also directed, 1939), When We Are Married (1939), Ladies in Retirement (1940), The Pirate (1942), Ten Little Indians (1944), Lady Windermere's Fan (1947) and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1948).
A reluctant film and television actress

Like many stage actors of her era, she expressed a distaste for films and resisted the offers she received during the 1920s. Finally, she relented, and made her film début in Night Angel (1931) but her scenes were cut before the film's release. Her official film début came in The House of Trent (1933) and Quality Street (1937) was her first role of note. She made no cinematic films during the 1940s but expressed a willingness to participate in the new medium of television, starring in a television production of Blithe Spirit in 1946. During the 1950s she appeared more frequently in television that she did in film in such series as Robert Montgomery Presents, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Donna Reed Show. Her few films from that period include The Glass Slipper (1955), The Swan (1956) and 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956).

Her other film credits include Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), The Misfits (1961), The Magic Sword (1962), The Notorious Landlady (1962), Dead Ringer (1964), Camelot (1967) and The Producers (1968). She later denigrated the last film, saying she could not imagine why she had done it except for the money; nonetheless it is now considered a comedy classic.

Her other work for television included guest roles in episodes of such series as The Twlight Zone; Dr. Kildare; Perry Mason; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; The Name of the Game; Bewitched; Batman; Love, American Style; Cannon and Police Story.

Winwood's final film appearance was at age 93 in Murder by Death (1976), as Elsa Lanchester's character's ancient nursemaid, although in real life they were rivals who engaged in a vinegary exchange of insults. In this movie she joined other veteran actors spoofing some of the most popular detective characters in murder mysteries on film and television (e.g., Dick and Dora Charleston, Jessica Marbles, etc.).

When she made her final television appearance in a 1979 episode of the series Quincy, she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., beating out fellow British actress Ethel Griffies, who worked until her 90s. Winwood ultimately achieved an eighty-year career on the stage from her début at age 16 until her final appearance at age 100, playing Sir Rex Harrison's mother in his final My Fair Lady tour. When she died at age 101, she was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild.
Personal life

Winwood was married four times but bore no children. One husband, Guthrie McClintic, was a gay man who had also been married to lesbian actress Katharine Cornell; another of her husbands was a brother of the Welsh Oscar-winning actor Edmund Gwenn (The Miracle on 34th Street).

She was very good friends with libertine actress and outsized personality Tallulah Bankhead until Bankhead's death in 1968. She, Bankhead, and actresses Eva Le Gallienne and Blyth Daly were dubbed "The Four Riders of the Algonquin" in the early silent film days, due to their appearances together at the "Algonquin Round Table".

She appears as a character in Answered Prayers, Truman Capote's final, unfinished thinly veiled roman à clef. In the novel — which uses her real name — she attends a drunken dinner party with Bankhead, Dorothy Parker, Montgomery Clift and the novel's narrator, P.B. Jones.

On her 100th birthday, she was asked how it felt to have lived so long. Her response was, "How rude of you to remind me!" Bette Davis, a co-star from Dead Ringer, was photographed at Winwood's side on the occasion in Hollywood, California.

Winwood died in her sleep in Woodland Hills, California, in 1984, at age 101. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
Selected filmography

    * Alive and Kicking (1959)
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab240/Mrs_Van_Poe/6zar20.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/20/10 at 7:03 am


The person born on this day...Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie (born June 20, 1949) is an American  singer-songwriter and record producer who has sold (solo or as group member) more than 100 million records. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Richie grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. His grandfather's house was across the street from the home of the president of the Institute. His family moved to Illinois where he graduated from Joliet Township High School, East Campus, in Joliet. A star tennis player in Joliet, he accepted a tennis scholarship  at Tuskegee Institute and later graduated with a major in economics. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Tuskegee, Richie briefly attended graduate school at Auburn University. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
The Commodores
Main article: Commodores

As a student in Tuskegee, Richie formed a succession of R&B groups in the mid-1960s. In 1968 he became a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores. They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving on to Motown Records initially as a support act to The Jackson 5. The Commodores then became established as a popular soul group. Their first several albums had a danceable, funky sound, as in such tracks as "Machine Gun" and "Brick House". Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-listening ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", "Still", and the tragic breakup ballad "Sail On."

By the late 1970s, he had begun to accept songwriting commissions from other artists. He composed "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and produced Rogers's album Share Your Love the following year. Richie and Rogers maintained a strong friendship in later years. Latin jazz composer and salsa romantica pioneer La Palabra enjoyed international success with his cover of "Lady", which was played at Latin dance clubs. Also in 1981, Richie sang the theme song for the film Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross. Issued as a single, the song topped the UK and U.S. pop music charts, and became one of Motown's biggest hits. Its success encouraged Richie to branch out into a full-fledged solo career in 1982. He was replaced as lead singer for The Commodores by Skyler Jett in 1983.

His debut album, Lionel Richie, produced another chart-topping single, "Truly", which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores.
Solo career

Richie's 1982 self-titled debut contained three hit singles: the U.S. #1 song "Truly", which launched his career as one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and the Top Five hits "You Are" and "My Love". The album hit #3 on the music charts and sold over 4 million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can't Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies and won two Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year, propelling him into the first rank of international superstars. The album contained the #1 hit "All Night Long", a Caribbean-flavored dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith.

Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far Richie had moved from his R&B roots. Richie had three more Top Ten hits in 1984, "Stuck On You" (#3), "Running With the Night" (#7) and "Penny Lover" (#8). Now described by one critic as "the black Barry Manilow", in 1985 Richie wrote and performed a suitably soothing theme song, "Say You, Say Me", for the film White Nights, winning an Oscar for his efforts as well as reaching #1 on the U.S. charts and staying there for four weeks, making it the #1 song of 1985 according to Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another #1 hit.

In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of US and UK hits including "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. #1), "Dancing on the Ceiling" (U.S. #2), "Ballerina Girl" (U.S. #7), and "Se La" (U.S. #20), Richie's most recent U.S. Pop Top Twenty hit. The title selection, which revived the lively dance sound of "All Night Long (All Night)", was accompanied by another striking video, a feature that played an increasingly important role in Richie's solo career. The critical consensus was that this album represented nothing more than a consolidation of his previous work, though Richie's collaboration with the country group Alabama on "Deep River Woman" did break new ground. By 1987, Richie was exhausted from his work schedule and after a controversial year laid low taking care of his father in Alabama. His father, Lionel Sr., died in 1990. Richie made his return to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992.

Since then, his ever-more-relaxed schedule has kept his recording and live work to a minimum. He broke the silence in 1996 with Louder Than Words, on which he resisted any change of style or the musical fashion-hopping of the past decade, sticking instead with his chosen path of well-crafted soul music, which in the intervening years has become known as Contemporary R&B.

Richie's albums in the 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time failed to match the commercial success of his earlier work. Some of his recent albums, such as Renaissance, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK. On February 1, 2010, Richie made a remix of "We Are The World" in which Justin Bieber sings Richie's original part in the song.
Long-lasting popularity and later career

In 2002, Richie's song "Running with the Night" was featured on the Rockstar North video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City though the song was removed from later versions of the game. In 2004, he appeared on Canadian Idol as his songs were featured during a Canadian Idol week.

Later in 2004, he also appeared on the British motoring television series Top Gear in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment where he was interviewed by host Jeremy Clarkson. During his lap, the Suzuki Liana he was driving lost a wheel due to hard cornering. In November 2005, Lionel Richie performed with Kenny Rogers on a CMT Crossroads special. The show gave an informative insight into their friendship both in and out of the music world. Richie was also the headliner at a 2000 Fourth of July tribute concert with Fantasia Barrino at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Richie released his eighth studio album entitled "Coming Home" on September 12, 2006. The first single of the album was "I Call It Love" and was premiered in July 2006, becoming his biggest hit in the U.S. in ten years. The album was an incredible success for Richie in the United States, peaking at #6. His adopted daughter Nicole Richie stars in the music video for this track.

On December 9, 2006, Richie hosted and performed live on the British television show An Audience with Lionel Richie. Two months later, he performed "Hello" on the 49th Grammy Awards show.

On November 25, 2007, he made a surprise appearance on the Australian Idol grand finale performing "All Night Long (All Night)" at the Sydney Opera House. Richie donated to Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.

On May 2, 2008, Lionel Richie was the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's annual Spring Sing. In accepting the award, Richie said: "Forget about surviving 30 some odd years in the music business, Lionel Richie survived 27 years of Nicole Richie".

Recently, he has announced that he would like to get The Commodores back together soon, "or in the next 10 years no one will care." Richie is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

On December 31, 2008, Richie performed in Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebration and ball drop. He also performed on the 2009 season finale for American Idol with Danny Gokey.

A new album, Just Go was released in spring 2009 - around the time Lionel confirmed there is to be a Commodores reunion in the near future.

On July 7, 2009, Richie performed "Jesus is Love" at Michael Jackson's memorial service.

On May 30, 2010, Richie performed at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington D.C. One of the songs he performed was "America the Beautiful."
Popularity in the Arab world

In recent years, Richie has become a phenomenon in various Arab states, and has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya.

As ABC News reports:

    Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name. "I love Lionel Richie," they say. They can sing an entire Lionel Richie song. He has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya. There is obviously something up there. The more we talked, the more he theorized as to the reasons his music might be so popular here. He thinks it is because of the simple message in his music: Love.

According to Richie, he was told that Iraqi civilians were playing "All Night Long" the night that U.S. tanks invaded Baghdad. Richie was against the war, but he says he could see a day when he would come and perform in Baghdad. "I would love to be here for that."
Dallas Austin character witness

In July, 2006, songwriter and producer Dallas Austin was arrested and held in a United Arab Emirates prison on drug charges. The UAE consulate in Washington D.C. placed a call to Lionel Richie for a character reference.

Richie recounts for the New York Times:

    It was, 'Tell me what kind of guy is Dallas Austin.' I said, 'Listen, this is a great guy. He's done a great job for the community. A gangster, a hoodlum, a thug, he's not.'

Austin was subsequently granted a pardon.
Family
Marriage with Brenda Harvey

Richie married college sweetheart Brenda Harvey on October 18, 1975. During their marriage, Lionel began a relationship with Diane Alexander in 1986. In 1988, while separated, Brenda allegedly discovered Lionel and Alexander together in a Beverly Hills apartment. A confrontation ensued, and Brenda was then arrested for spousal abuse, trespassing and vandalism. Lionel and Brenda divorced on August 9, 1993; they had been married 17 years.
Nicole Richie
Main article: Nicole Richie

In 1983, Lionel and wife Brenda informally adopted Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two year old daughter of members of Lionel's band. They raised her as their daughter Nicole Richie and adopted her legally when she was nine years old. In a November 15, 2005 CNN interview with Ryan Seacrest, Nicole denied that her birth father was a member of Lionel's band; however, Peter Michael Escovedo (brother of Sheila E) was a member of Lionel's band.

Lionel became a grandfather on January 11, 2008 when Nicole gave birth to a baby girl, Harlow Winter Kate Madden, with the lead singer of Good Charlotte, Joel Madden and again when she gave birth to Sparrow James Midnight Madden on September 9, 2009.
Marriage with Diane Alexander

Lionel married Alexander on December 21, 1995. They have a son, Miles Brockman (born May 27, 1994), and a daughter, Sofia (born August 26, 1998). Lionel and Alexander divorced in January 2004.
Breast cancer activist

Richie helped to raise over $3.1 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He was the featured performer at the Foundation's Soirée Bouquet, the annual spring gala.

Richie told the crowd that his grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, but survived and lived until she was 104 years old. He stated that she was his enduring symbol of hope and his reason for becoming a breast cancer activist.
In Popular Culture

    * In the video game Final Fantasy XIII, director Tetsuya Nomura based the character Sazh's appearance on Lionel Richie.
    * Lionel Richie is often mentioned in the television show Everybody Hates Chris, as many secondary characters claim that the main character (played by Tyler James Williams) resembles him.

Discography
See also: Lionel Richie discography
Studio albums

    * 1982: Lionel Richie (Motown)
    * 1983: Can't Slow Down (Motown)
    * 1986: Dancing on the Ceiling (Motown)
    * 1992: Back To Front (Motown) (Compilation)
    * 1996: Louder Than Words (Mercury)
    * 1997: Truly: The Love Songs (Motown) (Compilation)
    * 1998: Time (Mercury)
    * 2000: Renaissance (Island)
    * 2002: Encore (Island) (Live)
    * 2004: Just for You (Island)
    * 2006: Coming Home (Island)
    * 2006: Sounds of the Season (Island)
    * 2009: Just Go (Island)

U.S. #1 singles

    * 1981: "Endless Love" (with Diana Ross) (9 weeks)
    * 1982: "Truly" (2 weeks)
    * 1983: "All Night Long (All Night)" (4 weeks)
    * 1984: "Hello" (2 weeks)
    * 1985: "Say You, Say Me" (4 weeks)

Filmography

    * 1977: Scott Joplin (w/ The Commodores)
    * 1978: Thank God It's Friday (w/ The Commodores)
    * 1990: Running with the night
    * 1991: Truth or Dare (documentary)
    * 1996: The Preacher's Wife
    * 1998: Pariah
    * 2007: The Simpsons (episode He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs)

See also

    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists in the United States
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f125/dannncampos/Sakarolha/Lionel-Richie.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f282/kieransphotosarehere/lionel_richie.jpg


I could go on and on on what my favorite Lionel Richie song but I will say my 1 favorite is All Night Long from 1983.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/20/10 at 7:05 am


The word of the day...Ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior  surface that bounds ("ceils") the upper limit of a room. It is generally not a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the floor or roof structure above.

Ceilings are classified according to their appearance or construction. A cathedral ceiling is any tall ceiling area similar to those in a church. A dropped ceiling is one in which the finished surface is constructed anywhere from a few inches to several feet below the structure above it. This may be done for aesthetic purposes, such as achieving a desirable ceiling height; or practical purposes such as providing a space for HVAC or piping. An inverse of this would be a raised floor. A concave or barrel shaped ceiling is curved or rounded, usually for visual or acoustical value, while a coffered ceiling is divided into a grid of recessed square or octagonal panels, also called a lacunar ceiling. A cove ceiling uses a curved plaster transition between wall and ceiling; it is named for cove molding, a molding with a concave curve.

Ceilings have frequently been decorated with fresco painting, mosaic tiles and other surface treatments. While hard to execute (at least in place) a decorated ceiling has the advantage that it is largely protected from damage by fingers and dust. In the past, however, this was more than compensated for by the damage from smoke from candles or a fireplace. Many historic buildings have celebrated ceilings. Perhaps the most famous is the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af149/mdoug87/Rome/rome006.jpg

Now that is one famous ceiling.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/20/10 at 12:28 pm


By pure coincidence!



Well, Geoffrey Palmer was British Person of the Day a few weeks ago so it only seems fitting that Wendy Craig should have her day, too.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/20/10 at 12:57 pm

Another favorite of mine is "You Are".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/20/10 at 1:24 pm

I started choreographing a dance to THIS song but never finished it. I was going to enter into a talent show but about a month before the show, I got into a nasty car accident (totaled my car right after I sent in my last payment  >:( >:( >:( ) and it messed up my back-so I dropped out of the show and never finished the dance.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnhlXLHKAE




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/20/10 at 5:20 pm

Lionel Ritchie. My fave's of his are "Still and "Three times a lady", both with the Comodores

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 5:51 am

The word of the day...Ties
To fasten or secure with or as if with a cord, rope, or strap: tied the kite to a post; tie up a bundle.
2. To fasten by drawing together the parts or sides and knotting with strings or laces: tied her shoes.
3.
a. To make by fastening ends or parts: tie a knot.
b. To put a knot or bow in: tie a neck scarf.
4. To confine or restrict as if with cord: duties that tied him to the office.
5. To bring together in relationship; connect or unite: friends who were tied by common interests; people who are tied by blood or marriage.
6.
a. To equal (an opponent or an opponent's score) in a contest.
b. To equal an opponent's score in (a contest): tied the game with minutes remaining.
7. Music To join (notes) by a tie.
v.intr.
1. To be fastened or attached: The apron ties at the back.
2. To achieve equal scores in a contest.
n.
1. A cord, string, or other means by which something is tied.
2. Something that connects or unites; a link: a blood tie; marital ties.
3. A necktie.
4. A beam or rod that joins parts and gives support.
5. One of the beams, usually made of wood, that are laid across a railroad bed to secure the rails.
6.
a. An equality of scores, votes, or performance in a contest: The election ended in a tie.
b. A contest so resulting; a draw.
7. Music A curved line above or below two notes of the same pitch, indicating that the tone is to be sustained for their combined duration.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee47/Natasha0912/BindingTies300.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab121/steptoexs11/shed%20tidy%20idea/13062010002.jpg
http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz342/lmiller751/latest%20finds/ebay2045.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk459/Tillers_album/2010%20flies/Bugs1302010003.jpg
http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y367/goetsch4_5/IMG_8259.jpg
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac122/kgdowning/NNRY%20Railroad%20Camp%20June%202010/IMG_1339.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/streetlightbulb/8949417.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu17/catherine_rux/bt.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n216/jclintondiederich/family_ties.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 5:56 am

The co-person of the day...Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter (born June 21, 1947), also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American  actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including two television series: Family (1976-1980), an ABC television-network drama, and Family Ties (1982-1989), an NBC television-network situation comedy. She was born Meredith Ann Baxter in South Pasadena, California, the daughter of actress and situation-comedy creator Whitney Blake and Tom Baxter, a radio announcer.  She was raised in Southern California and has two brothers: Richard (born 1944) and Brian (born 1946). Her mother's widower was situation-comedy writer Allan Manings.
Career

Baxter got her first big break on television in 1972 as one of the stars of the Bridget Loves Bernie, a CBS television-network situation comedy. The series was canceled after one season, but her co-star, David Birney became her second husband in 1974. Following their marriage and until their divorce in 1989, she was credited as Meredith Baxter-Birney.

As Baxter-Birney, she became widely known several years later on Family. She played the role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland and received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1977 and 1978).

After Family ended, she starred with Annette O'Toole and Shelley Hack in Vanities (1981), a television production of the comedy-drama stage play about the lives, loves and friendship of three Texas cheerleaders starting from high school to post-college graduation; it aired as a part of Standing Room Only, a series on the premium-television channel HBO.

Baxter-Birney's next series was Family Ties, on which she played an ex-flower-child mother, Elyse Keaton, on Family Ties. In reality she is only fourteen years older than Michael J. Fox, who played her son Alex Keaton.

Following Family Ties, Baxter (whose marriage to Birney ended in 1989) produced and starred in television films. She portrayed a psychopathic kidnapper in The Kissing Place (1990) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for her work in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992), based on the true story of a divorcée who was convicted of murder in the shooting of her ex-husband and his young wife.

In 1994, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as a lesbian mother raising a young son, in Other Mothers (1993), a CBS Schoolbreak Special. For her work on the television film My Breast (1994), she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

In 1997, Baxter once again played the mother of a character played by Fox, this time on Spin City, an ABC situation comedy.

In 2005, she began appearing in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company. In 2006, she temporarily co-hosted — with Matt Lauer — Today, the NBC morning news and talk show. In 2007, she made a guest appearance on What About Brian, an ABC drama series. That same year, she also made several appearances as the dying mother of Detective Lilly Rush on Cold Case, a CBS police-procedural series. In 2009, she is guest starring in season two the web series We Have To Stop Now.

In recent years, Baxter has also created a skin-care line, Meredith Baxter Simple Works, which helps raise funds for her breast-cancer research foundation. She is also a spokesperson for Consumer Cellular, a cell phone company advertised as providing a cheaper cell phone alternative for senior citizens.
Personal life

Baxter has been married three times and has five children. In 1966, she married Robert Lewis Bush and they had two children — Ted (born 1967) and Eva (born 1969); the couple was divorced in 1969. In 1974, she married Birney and had three children — Kate (born 1974) and twins, Mollie and Peter (born 1984). Following their divorce in 1989, she reverted to using Meredith Baxter. In 1995, she married actor and screenwriter Michael Blodgett; they were divorced in 2000.

Baxter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999.

In 2004, she joined with Michael Gross, her former co-star from Family Ties, to campaign for John Kerry's candidacy for the U.S. presidency.

Baxter was the guest speaker at the 2008 Southern Commencement for National University in La Jolla, California, and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the university.

In 2009, The National Enquirer reported that Baxter was seen on a lesbian cruise with a female friend. This led to speculation as to whether Baxter was a lesbian or simply enjoying the cruise as a platonic straight friend. On December 2, 2009, she came out as a lesbian during an interview with Lauer on Today, and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102. She lives with her partner, Nancy Locke, a general contractor, with whom she has been since 2005. Baxter said she first realized she was a lesbian when she began her first same-sex relationship in 2002.

On December 17, 2009, TV Guide reported that Baxter will write a memoir. Broadway Books, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, has purchased the rights to Baxter's as-yet-untitled and as-yet-unwritten life story. In the book, Baxter "will present a fully realized portrait of her life as an actress, mother of five children, and grandmother, and will candidly discuss her fight with breast cancer, her 19 years of sobriety, entrepreneurship, and her decision to come out," a press release said.

Coincidentally, Baxter and her Family Ties co-star Michael Gross (who played her husband Steven Keaton), were born on the same date, June 21, 1947.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1972 Stand Up and Be Counted Tracy
Ben Eve Garrison
1976 All the President's Men Debbie Sloan
Bittersweet Love Patricia
1990 Jezebel's Kiss Virginia De Leo
1999 Elevator Seeking Ann
2003 Devil's Pond Kate
2005 Paradise Texas Liz Cameron
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green Harper Green
2008 The Onion Movie Cooking Show Chef direct-to-video release
2010 Airline Disaster President Harriet Franklin post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1971 The Young Lawyers Gloria 1 episode
The Doris Day Show April 1 episode
The Partridge Family Jenny 1 episode
1972 Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law Ann Glover 1 episode
1972–1973 Bridget Loves Bernie Bridget Fitzgerald Steinberg 24 episodes
1973 The Invasion of Carol Enders Carol Enders television movie
Doc Elliot Jenny 1 episode
The Cat Creature Rena Carter ABC television movie
1974 Barnaby Jones Jenny Sutherland 1 episode
The Stranger Who Looks Like Me Joanne Denver ABC television movie
Young Love April CBS television movie
1974–1975 Medical Center Paula
Priscilla 2 episodes
1975 Target Risk Linda Flayly NBC television movie
The Imposter Julie Watson NBC television movie
The Streets of San Francisco Jodi Dixon 1 episode
The Night That Panicked America Linda Davis ABC television movie
Medical Story Erica Schiff
Sunny 2 episodes
McMillan and Wife Faye Leonard 1 episode
1976 City of Angels Mary Kingston 3 episodes
Wide World Mystery 1 episode
Police Woman Liz Robson 1 episode
1976–1980 Family Nancy Lawrence Maitland 45 episodes
1977–1982 The Love Boat Sandy Rytell 3 episodes
1978 Little Women Meg March NBC television movie
1979 The Family Man Mercedes Cole CBS television movie
1980 Beulah Land Lauretta Pennington NBC miniseries
1981 Vanities Joanne HBO televised presentation of stage production
The Two Lives of Carol Letner Carol Letner CBS television movie
1982 Take Your Best Shot Carol Marriner CBS television movie
1982–1989 Family Ties Elyse Keaton 171 episodes
1985 The Rape of Richard Beck Barbara McKee ABC television movie
Family Ties Vacation Elyse Keaton NBC television movie
1986 Kate's Secret Kate Stark NBC television movie
1987 The Long Journey Home (film) Maura Wells CBS television movie
1988 The Diaries of Adam and Eve Eve television movie
Mickey's 60th Birthday Elyse Keaton television special
Winnie Winnie NBC television movie
1989 She Knows Too Much Samantha White NBC television movie
1990 The Kissing Place Florence Tulane USA Network television movie
Burning Bridges Lynn Hollinger ABC television movie
1992 A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story Betty Broderick CBS television movie
Stolen Love DeeDee ABC Television movie
1993 Darkness Before Dawn Mary Ann Guard NBC television movie
also co-executive producer
CBS Schoolbreak Special - Other Mothers Paula Hensen 1 episode; won a Daytime Emmy Award for her role
1994 For the Love of Aaron Margaret Gibson television movie
One More Mountain Margaret Reed ABC television movie
My Breast Joyce Wadler CBS television movie
also co-executive producer
1995 Betrayed: A Story of Three Women Amanda Nelson ABC television movie
also co-executive producer
1996 The Faculty Flynn Sullivan 1 episode
also executive producer
After Jimmy Maggie Stapp television movie
1997 Dog's Best Friend Cow (Voice) television movie
The Inheritance Beatrice Hamilton television movie
Let Me Call You Sweetheart D.A. Kerry McGrath The Family Channel television movie
Miracle in the Woods Sarah Weatherby television movie
Spin City Macy Flaherty 2 episodes: "Family Affair" (Part 1) and "Family Affair" (Part 2)
1999 Holy Joe Annie Cass CBS television movie
Down Will Come Baby Leah Garr CBS television movie
Miracle on the 17th Green Susan McKinley CBS television movie
2000 The Wednesday Woman Muriel Davidson CBS television movie
2001 A Mother's Fight for Justice Terry Stone Lifetime Television movie
Aftermath Carol television movie
Murder on the Orient Express Mrs. Caroline Hubbard television movie
2002 A Christmas Visitor Carol Boyajian Hallmark Channel television movie
2003 7th Heaven Mrs. Jones 1 episode: "Go Ask Alice"
2004 Half & Half Joan Tyrell 1 episode
Angel in the Family Lorraine Hallmark Channel television movie
2005 The Closer Congresswoman Simmons 1 episode: "Fantasy Date"
2006 Brothers & Sisters Margaret Packard 1 episode: "For the Children"
2006–2007 Cold Case Ellen Rush 5 episodes
2007 What About Brian Frankie 1 episode: "What About All That Glitters..."
2009 Bound by a Secret Ida Mae Hallmark Channel television movie
Family Guy Elyse Keaton and herself 2 episodes: "Stew-Roids" and "Family Gay"
Brothers TV Mom 1 episode: "Episode: Commercial – Coach DMV"
2010 We Have to Stop Now Judy Web series
Episode: The Grass Is Always Greener
Award nominations
Year Award Result Category Series or Film
1977 Emmy Award Nominated Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Family
1978 Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Family
1992 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story
1994 21st Daytime Emmy Awards Won Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special CBS Schoolbreak Special - Other Mothers
2007 TV Land Award Nominated Lady You Love to Watch Fight for Her Life in a Movie of the Week
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/bassplayingdiva/meredith_baxter.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e318/vampross100/kates.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 6:00 am

The co-person of the day...Michael Gross
Michael Gross (born June 21, 1947) is an American television, movie, and stage actor who plays both comedic and dramatic  roles. His most notable roles are fatherly figure Steven Keaton from Family Ties and graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors film and television series. Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Virginia Ruth, a telephone operator, and William Oscar Gross, a tool designer.  He attended high school at Kelvyn Park High School on the north side of Chicago. He received his drama degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago before attending Yale University for his Master of Fine Arts degree. His sister, Mary Gross, is a former Saturday Night Live cast member.
Career

Gross is known for his role as Steven Keaton in the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, and as "Burt Gummer" in the Tremors movies and subsequent TV series. The sketch of the Keaton Family during the opening sequence of Family Ties was, in fact, drawn by Gross, himself. He also guest starred in an episode of the sitcom Night Court, in which he played a sexual predator to Markie Post's character, Christine Sullivan.

His other television credits include Boston Legal, How I Met Your Mother, Batman Beyond, ER, Law & Order, and two of its spin-offs: SVU and Criminal Intent.

Gross had a special cameo in 2000 on Spin City as a therapist to Michael J. Fox's character on Fox's final show as a regular on that program.
Personal life

Gross has been married to casting director Elza Bergeron since June 2, 1984, and they have two children.

Gross is a passionate railfan with an extensive collection of railroad antiques. He is an amateur railroad historian, photographer, modeller, and part-owner in a working railroad, the Santa Fe Southern Railway, a former branch line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway which operates between Lamy and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is also the spokesman for the World's Greatest Hobby campaign sponsored by the Model Railroad Industry Association that promotes the hobby of model railroading. He has also been a spokesperson for Operation Lifesaver, a campaign promoting safety at railroad grade crossings. Beginning in 2009, Gross is the "celebrity spokesman" for the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.


Coincidentally, Gross and his Family Ties co-star Meredith Baxter (who played his wife Elyse Keaton), were born on the same date, June 21, 1947.
Filmography

    * 1982–1989: Family Ties (TV series)
    * 1988: The F.B.I. Murders
    * 1988: Big Business
    * 1990: Tremors
    * 1991: Cool as Ice
    * 1992: Alan & Naomi
    * 1993: Batman: The Animated Series
    * 1993: Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland
    * 1994: Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story (Made for TV movie)
    * 1994: Avalanche
    * 1995: Deceived By Trust
    * 1996: Tremors 2: Aftershocks
    * 1996: Sometimes They Come Back... Again
    * 1998: Ground Control
    * 1999: Batman Beyond
    * 2001: The Undesirable (Made for TV movie)
    * 2001: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
    * 2002: ER (TV Series)
    * 2003: Tremors (TV series)
    * 2003: Super Chief: Speed-Style-Service (narrator)
    * 2004: Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
    * 2004: Combustion
    * 2006: Dome Car Magic: A History Of Railroad Dome Cars (narrator)
    * 2008: 100 Million BC
    * 2008-2009: The Young and the Restless (TV Series)
    * 2010 Tremors: The Thunder From Down Under
    * 2010 Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/CellarDoorGtr/Random80sPeeps/m_gross.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x16/Dawnnblondee/Dad190px-Michael_Gross_at_the_39th_.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 6:08 am

The person who died on this day...Carroll O' Connor
John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades. Known at first for playing the role of Major General Colt in the 1970 cult movie, Kelly's Heroes, he later found fame as the bigoted workingman Archie Bunker, the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcoms All in the Family (1971 to 1979) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979 to 1983). O'Connor later starred in the NBC television crime drama In the Heat of the Night  from 1988 to 1995, where he played the role of Police Chief William (Bill) Gillespie from 1988 to 1994, and Sheriff Gillespie in 1995. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt) on Mad About You.
O'Connor was living in Italy in 1968 when producer Norman Lear first asked him to come to New York to star in a pilot he was creating for ABC called Justice For All, inspired by the popular BBC series Til Death Us Do Part, playing Archie Justice, a loveable yet controversial bigot. After three pilots done between 1968 to 1970, a network change to CBS, and the last name of the character changed to Bunker, the new sitcom was renamed All in the Family. It has been stated that O'Connor's Queens background and New York accent influenced Lear to set the show in Queens.

Wanting a well-known actor to tackle the controversial material, Lear had approached Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney to play Archie; both declined. O'Connor accepted, not expecting the show to be a success and believing he would be able to move back to Europe. (In her book Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria : the Tumultuous History of All in the Family, Donna McCrohan noted that O'Connor requested that Lear provide him with a return airline ticket to Rome as a condition of his accepting the role, so that he could return to Italy when the show failed.) Instead, the show became the highest-rated television program on American television for five consecutive seasons until the 1976-1977 season (the sixth season). The Cosby Show has since met the record set by All in the Family.

O'Connor's own politics were liberal, but he understood the Bunker character and played him not only with bombast and humor but with touches of vulnerability. The writing on the show was consistently left of center, but O'Connor often deftly skewered the liberal pieties of the day. The result is widely considered to be an absorbing, entertaining television show. All in the Family was based on the BBC show Til Death Us Do Part, with Bunker based on Alf Garnett, but somewhat less abrasive.

Although Bunker was famous for his malapropisms of the English language, O'Connor was highly educated and cultured and was an English teacher before he turned to acting.

The show also starred a Broadway actress, also from New York City, Jean Stapleton, in the role of Archie Bunker's long-suffering wife, Edith Bunker, after Lear saw her in the play Damn Yankees. The producer sent the show over to ABC twice, but it didn't get picked up. They then approached CBS with more success, and accordingly, All in the Family was retooled and debuted early in 1971. The show also starred unknown character actors, such as Rob Reiner as Archie's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic and Sally Struthers as Archie's only daughter and Meathead's wife, Gloria Bunker-Stivic. The cast had a unique on- and off-camera chemistry, especially Reiner, who became O'Connor's best friend and favorite actor.

CBS was unsure whether the controversial subject matter of All in the Family would fit well into a sitcom. Racial issues, ethnicities, religions, and other timely topics were addressed. Thought-provoking, well-written, and well-cast, the show transformed the formerly inane sitcom format into something with dramatic social substance, becoming an enormous hit along the way. Archie Bunker's popularity made O'Connor a top-billing star of the 1970s. O'Connor was afraid of being typecast for playing such a popular and distinctive character. At the same time, he was protective of not just his character, but of the entire show.

A contract dispute between O'Connor and Lear marred the beginning of the show's fifth season. Eventually, O'Connor got a raise and appeared in the series until it ended. For his work as Archie Bunker, he was nominated for eight Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; he won the award four times (1972, 1977, 1978, and 1979).

At the end of the eighth season in 1978, Reiner and Struthers left the series to pursue other projects, but O'Connor and Stapleton still had one year left on their contracts. At the start of the final year, the show cast a child actress, Danielle Brisebois, in the role of Archie's and Edith's niece, Stephanie Mills. The series was finally cancelled in 1979 after nine seasons and 210 episodes.
Archie Bunker's Place

O'Connor reprised his role as Archie Bunker in the spin-off show Archie Bunker's Place. Longtime friend and original series star Jean Stapleton reprised her role as Edith Bunker, but her screen time was limited. Her character died of a stroke, leaving Archie to cope with the loss. Danielle Brisebois played Stephanie Mills, Archie's niece in the series. The show was a hit, but not as big as its parent show. The show was unexpectedly cancelled in 1983, after 97 episodes, and O'Connor was not very happy that the show didn't have an appropriate series finale. All told, he played Archie Bunker for 13 years in a total of exactly 300 episodes.
In the Heat of the Night

While coping with his son's drug problem, O'Connor starred as Chief Officer Bill Gillespie, a tough veteran Mississippi cop on In the Heat of the Night. Based on the 1967 movie of the same name, the series debuted on NBC early in 1988, and it was a ratings powerhouse every Tuesday evening. O'Connor's son, Hugh O'Connor, was cast in the role of Officer Lonnie Jamison.

Much like O'Connor himself, his character was racially progressive and politically liberal. In 1989, while working on the set, O'Connor was hospitalized and had to undergo open heart surgery. This caused him to miss four episodes of the show at the end of the second season. The series was transferred from NBC to CBS in 1992 and canceled two years later, in 1994, after its seventh season. After cancellation, O'Connor reprised his role the following year for four two-hour In the Heat of the Night TV movies to critical acclaim.

While on the series, he recorded "Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella," for the 1991 "In the Heat of the Night" Christmas CD "Christmas Time's A Comin'." He was joined by Grand Ole Opry star mandolinist Jesse McReynolds, Nashville accordianist Abe Manuel, Jr., and Nashville fiddlers Buddy Spicher and Randall Franks. CD Producer and series co-star Randall Franks created the arrangement which was co-produced by series co-star Alan Autry. O'Connor also joined other members of the cast for a recording of "Jingle Bells" with vocals by Country Music Hall of Fame members Little Jimmy Dickens, Kitty Wells, Pee Wee King, as well as The Marksmen Quartet, Bobby Wright, Johnnie Wright and Ken Holloway.
Career honors

    * Golden Globe Award, best television actor in a musical/comedy series, 1972, All in the Family
    * Emmy Award, outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, 1971, 1976, 1977, and 1978, All in the Family
    * George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, 1980, for Archie Alone episode, Archie Bunker's Place
    * Emmy Award, outstanding lead actor in a drama series, 1989, In the Heat of the Night
    * NAACP Image Award, 1990, In the Heat of the Night
    * Golden Globe nomination, best actor in a drama series, 1990, In the Heat of the Night''
    * Television Hall of Fame, elected 1990 for contributions to the television industry
    * NAACP Image Award, 1991, In the Heat of the Night

Other honors

In 1973, his fraternity conferred its highest honor, Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation, on him.

In March 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was given a St. Patrick's Day tribute by MGM.

In July 1991, O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers were reunited to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of All in the Family, which made its debut on CBS. Thanks to reruns which aired in syndication, TV Land and on CBS, the show continued to be popular. Those reruns led producer Norman Lear to create a new sitcom, Sunday Dinner, which was soon cancelled. The following year, Lear created The Powers That Be, which was also unsuccessful.

His caricature figures prominently in Sardi's restaurant, in New York City's Theater District.
O'Connor died on June 21, 2001 in Culver City, California from a heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes. His funeral mass was celebrated at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, Los Angeles, California and was attended by All in the Family cast members Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers and Danielle Brisebois, as well as producer Norman Lear. Actress Jean Stapleton, who played O'Connor's onscreen wife and who had been a close friend of O'Connor's since the early 1960s, did not attend the service due to a stage production performance commitment.

In honor of O'Connor's career, TV Land moved an entire weekend of programming to the next week and showed a continuous marathon of All in the Family. During the commercial breaks TV Land also showed interview footage of O'Connor and various All in the Family actors, producers with whom he had worked, and other associates. O'Connor's best friend Larry Hagman and his family were also there, alongside the surviving cast of In the Heat of the Night, including Alan Autry and Denise Nicholas, who also attended the memorial. O'Connor was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery with his son Hugh's cenotaph placed on his grave stone.
Friendship with other actors
This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

O'Connor met Broadway and character actress Jean Stapleton in a 1962 episode of The Defenders. Nine years later, she auditioned for the role of Archie's wife Edith in All in the Family. She and O'Connor shared a remarkable husband and wife chemistry for the next decade. She made limited guest appearances on its later spin-off show, Archie Bunker's Place, before leaving in the show's second season. During Stapleton's run as Edith Bunker, she and O'Connor became close friends. She was distressed in 1995, as she bestowed her condolences on the passing of Carroll's son, Hugh, who committed suicide. She remained close and supportive while O'Connor was in court to testify concerning his son's death. Then on the first day of Summer in 2001, while performing on stage, she received word that her friend had died. Though she was unable to attend the service, she delivered her condolences to Nancy.

O'Connor had a long-running friendship with actor Larry Hagman, beginning in 1959, when Carroll was working as an assistant stage manager for the Broadway play God and Kate Murphy, in which Hagman starred. Later as the two struggled as young actors, they rented apartments near each other in New York. Over the years they had a lot in common; just as O'Connor concluded contract negotiations for his salary on All in the Family, in 1974, missing 2 episodes, Hagman eventually found himself re-negotiating his salary on Dallas, with similar results. Hagman's daughter, Heidi, whom O'Connor had known since her childhood, joined the cast for one season of Archie Bunker's Place. Hagman directed several episodes of O'Connor's later series, In the Heat of the Night. They both endured serious health issues, with O'Connor's heart bypass surgery, and Hagman's liver transplant. Hagman remained close after O'Connor's loss of his son Hugh, and through the rest of O'Connor's life, delivering a eulogy at the funeral.
Personal quotes

"Nothing will give me any peace. I've lost a son. And I'll go to my grave without any peace over that."

"It was a lack of system that made the '30s Depression as inevitable as all others previously suffered.".

"Get between your kid and drugs, any way you can, if you want to save the kid's life".

"I thought that the public would kick us off the air, because of this egregious guy. No. They loved ... they knew him."

On his son: "I should have spied on him. I should've taken away all his civil rights, spied on him, opened his mail, listened to telephone calls, everything."

"I never heard Archie's kind of talk in my own family. My father was a lawyer and was in partnership with two Jews, who with their families were close to us. There were black families in our circle of friends. My father disliked talk like Archie's -- he called it lowbrow."

"The biggest part of my life was the acquiring and the loss of a son. I mean, nothing else was as important as that."

"Conventional show-biz savvy held that Americans hated to be the objects of satire."
Partial credits
Starring roles

    * All in the Family (1971–1979) as Archie Bunker
    * Archie Bunker's Place (1979–1983) as Archie Bunker
    * In the Heat of the Night (1988–1994) as Chief/Sheriff Bill Gillespie
    * Mad About You (1996–1999) Gus Stemple #3

Films/made for TV movies

    * White Christmas (1954) .... The Sheriff
    * Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' as Crassus (1956)
    * The Sacco-Vanzetti Story (TV mini-series) (1960) as Frederick Katzman
    * By Love Possessed (1961) .... Bernie Breck
    * Parrish (1961) .... Firechief
    * A Fever in the Blood (1961) .... Matt Keenan
    * Lad: A Dog (1962) as Hamilcar Q. Glure
    * Belle Sommers (TV) (1962)
    * Lonely Are the Brave (1962) Hinton the Truck Driver
    * The Silver Burro (TV) (1963)
    * Cleopatra (1963) as Casca
    * Nightmare in Chicago aka Once Upon a Savage Night (TV) (1964)
    * In Harm's Way (1965) (uncredited) .... *Cmdr./Capt. Burke (USS Swayback)
    * The Last Patrol episode of The Time Tunnel (1966) as British General Southall and Colonel Southall, his 1815 ancestor
    * Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966) as Gen. Maynard C. Parker
    * Hawaii (1966) as Charles Bromley
    * What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) as Gen. Bolt
    * Waterhole #3 (1967) as Sheriff John H. Copperud
    * Point Blank (1967) as Brewster
    * Warning Shot (1967) as Paul Jerez
    * For Love of Ivy (1968) as Frank Austin
    * The Devil's Brigade (1968) as Maj. Gen. Hunter
    * Marlowe (1969) as Lt. Christy French
    * Death of a Gunfighter (1969) as Lester Locke
    * Ride a Northbound Horse (TV)(1969)
    * Fear No Evil (TV) (1969) as Myles Donovan
    * Kelly's Heroes (1970) as Maj. Gen. Colt
    * Doctors' Wives (1971) Dr. Joe Gray
    * Of Thee I Sing (TV) (1972) President Wintergreen
    * Law and Disorder (1974) as Willie
    * The Last Hurrah (TV) (1977) as Frank Skeffington
    * A Different Approach (1978)
    * Brass aka Police Brass (TV) (1985) as Frank Nolan
    * Convicted (1986) (TV) .... Lewis May
    * The GLO Friends Save Christmas (1986) .... Santa
    * The Father Clements Story (1987) (TV) .... Cardinal Cody
    * Gideon (TV) (1999) as Leo Barnes
    * 36 Hours to Die (TV) (1999) Jack 'Balls' O'Malley
    * Return to Me (2000) as Marty O'Reilly
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/jcordj66/f41f9b8a.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh136/gaemt2001/In_The_Heat_of_the_Night.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/21/10 at 7:00 am


I started choreographing a dance to THIS song but never finished it. I was going to enter into a talent show but about a month before the show, I got into a nasty car accident (totaled my car right after I sent in my last payment  >:( >:( >:( ) and it messed up my back-so I dropped out of the show and never finished the dance.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnhlXLHKAE




Cat


Lionel always had the coolest videos. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/21/10 at 7:03 am

Wow,Isn't that weird? Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael Gross both born on the same month and day.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/21/10 at 7:05 am


The person who died on this day...Carroll O' Connor
John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades. Known at first for playing the role of Major General Colt in the 1970 cult movie, Kelly's Heroes, he later found fame as the bigoted workingman Archie Bunker, the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcoms All in the Family (1971 to 1979) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979 to 1983). O'Connor later starred in the NBC television crime drama In the Heat of the Night  from 1988 to 1995, where he played the role of Police Chief William (Bill) Gillespie from 1988 to 1994, and Sheriff Gillespie in 1995. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt) on Mad About You.
O'Connor was living in Italy in 1968 when producer Norman Lear first asked him to come to New York to star in a pilot he was creating for ABC called Justice For All, inspired by the popular BBC series Til Death Us Do Part, playing Archie Justice, a loveable yet controversial bigot. After three pilots done between 1968 to 1970, a network change to CBS, and the last name of the character changed to Bunker, the new sitcom was renamed All in the Family. It has been stated that O'Connor's Queens background and New York accent influenced Lear to set the show in Queens.

Wanting a well-known actor to tackle the controversial material, Lear had approached Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney to play Archie; both declined. O'Connor accepted, not expecting the show to be a success and believing he would be able to move back to Europe. (In her book Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria : the Tumultuous History of All in the Family, Donna McCrohan noted that O'Connor requested that Lear provide him with a return airline ticket to Rome as a condition of his accepting the role, so that he could return to Italy when the show failed.) Instead, the show became the highest-rated television program on American television for five consecutive seasons until the 1976-1977 season (the sixth season). The Cosby Show has since met the record set by All in the Family.

O'Connor's own politics were liberal, but he understood the Bunker character and played him not only with bombast and humor but with touches of vulnerability. The writing on the show was consistently left of center, but O'Connor often deftly skewered the liberal pieties of the day. The result is widely considered to be an absorbing, entertaining television show. All in the Family was based on the BBC show Til Death Us Do Part, with Bunker based on Alf Garnett, but somewhat less abrasive.

Although Bunker was famous for his malapropisms of the English language, O'Connor was highly educated and cultured and was an English teacher before he turned to acting.

The show also starred a Broadway actress, also from New York City, Jean Stapleton, in the role of Archie Bunker's long-suffering wife, Edith Bunker, after Lear saw her in the play Damn Yankees. The producer sent the show over to ABC twice, but it didn't get picked up. They then approached CBS with more success, and accordingly, All in the Family was retooled and debuted early in 1971. The show also starred unknown character actors, such as Rob Reiner as Archie's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic and Sally Struthers as Archie's only daughter and Meathead's wife, Gloria Bunker-Stivic. The cast had a unique on- and off-camera chemistry, especially Reiner, who became O'Connor's best friend and favorite actor.

CBS was unsure whether the controversial subject matter of All in the Family would fit well into a sitcom. Racial issues, ethnicities, religions, and other timely topics were addressed. Thought-provoking, well-written, and well-cast, the show transformed the formerly inane sitcom format into something with dramatic social substance, becoming an enormous hit along the way. Archie Bunker's popularity made O'Connor a top-billing star of the 1970s. O'Connor was afraid of being typecast for playing such a popular and distinctive character. At the same time, he was protective of not just his character, but of the entire show.

A contract dispute between O'Connor and Lear marred the beginning of the show's fifth season. Eventually, O'Connor got a raise and appeared in the series until it ended. For his work as Archie Bunker, he was nominated for eight Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; he won the award four times (1972, 1977, 1978, and 1979).

At the end of the eighth season in 1978, Reiner and Struthers left the series to pursue other projects, but O'Connor and Stapleton still had one year left on their contracts. At the start of the final year, the show cast a child actress, Danielle Brisebois, in the role of Archie's and Edith's niece, Stephanie Mills. The series was finally cancelled in 1979 after nine seasons and 210 episodes.
Archie Bunker's Place

O'Connor reprised his role as Archie Bunker in the spin-off show Archie Bunker's Place. Longtime friend and original series star Jean Stapleton reprised her role as Edith Bunker, but her screen time was limited. Her character died of a stroke, leaving Archie to cope with the loss. Danielle Brisebois played Stephanie Mills, Archie's niece in the series. The show was a hit, but not as big as its parent show. The show was unexpectedly cancelled in 1983, after 97 episodes, and O'Connor was not very happy that the show didn't have an appropriate series finale. All told, he played Archie Bunker for 13 years in a total of exactly 300 episodes.
In the Heat of the Night

While coping with his son's drug problem, O'Connor starred as Chief Officer Bill Gillespie, a tough veteran Mississippi cop on In the Heat of the Night. Based on the 1967 movie of the same name, the series debuted on NBC early in 1988, and it was a ratings powerhouse every Tuesday evening. O'Connor's son, Hugh O'Connor, was cast in the role of Officer Lonnie Jamison.

Much like O'Connor himself, his character was racially progressive and politically liberal. In 1989, while working on the set, O'Connor was hospitalized and had to undergo open heart surgery. This caused him to miss four episodes of the show at the end of the second season. The series was transferred from NBC to CBS in 1992 and canceled two years later, in 1994, after its seventh season. After cancellation, O'Connor reprised his role the following year for four two-hour In the Heat of the Night TV movies to critical acclaim.

While on the series, he recorded "Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella," for the 1991 "In the Heat of the Night" Christmas CD "Christmas Time's A Comin'." He was joined by Grand Ole Opry star mandolinist Jesse McReynolds, Nashville accordianist Abe Manuel, Jr., and Nashville fiddlers Buddy Spicher and Randall Franks. CD Producer and series co-star Randall Franks created the arrangement which was co-produced by series co-star Alan Autry. O'Connor also joined other members of the cast for a recording of "Jingle Bells" with vocals by Country Music Hall of Fame members Little Jimmy Dickens, Kitty Wells, Pee Wee King, as well as The Marksmen Quartet, Bobby Wright, Johnnie Wright and Ken Holloway.
Career honors

    * Golden Globe Award, best television actor in a musical/comedy series, 1972, All in the Family
    * Emmy Award, outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, 1971, 1976, 1977, and 1978, All in the Family
    * George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, 1980, for Archie Alone episode, Archie Bunker's Place
    * Emmy Award, outstanding lead actor in a drama series, 1989, In the Heat of the Night
    * NAACP Image Award, 1990, In the Heat of the Night
    * Golden Globe nomination, best actor in a drama series, 1990, In the Heat of the Night''
    * Television Hall of Fame, elected 1990 for contributions to the television industry
    * NAACP Image Award, 1991, In the Heat of the Night

Other honors

In 1973, his fraternity conferred its highest honor, Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation, on him.

In March 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was given a St. Patrick's Day tribute by MGM.

In July 1991, O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers were reunited to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of All in the Family, which made its debut on CBS. Thanks to reruns which aired in syndication, TV Land and on CBS, the show continued to be popular. Those reruns led producer Norman Lear to create a new sitcom, Sunday Dinner, which was soon cancelled. The following year, Lear created The Powers That Be, which was also unsuccessful.

His caricature figures prominently in Sardi's restaurant, in New York City's Theater District.
O'Connor died on June 21, 2001 in Culver City, California from a heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes. His funeral mass was celebrated at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, Los Angeles, California and was attended by All in the Family cast members Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers and Danielle Brisebois, as well as producer Norman Lear. Actress Jean Stapleton, who played O'Connor's onscreen wife and who had been a close friend of O'Connor's since the early 1960s, did not attend the service due to a stage production performance commitment.

In honor of O'Connor's career, TV Land moved an entire weekend of programming to the next week and showed a continuous marathon of All in the Family. During the commercial breaks TV Land also showed interview footage of O'Connor and various All in the Family actors, producers with whom he had worked, and other associates. O'Connor's best friend Larry Hagman and his family were also there, alongside the surviving cast of In the Heat of the Night, including Alan Autry and Denise Nicholas, who also attended the memorial. O'Connor was buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery with his son Hugh's cenotaph placed on his grave stone.
Friendship with other actors
This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

O'Connor met Broadway and character actress Jean Stapleton in a 1962 episode of The Defenders. Nine years later, she auditioned for the role of Archie's wife Edith in All in the Family. She and O'Connor shared a remarkable husband and wife chemistry for the next decade. She made limited guest appearances on its later spin-off show, Archie Bunker's Place, before leaving in the show's second season. During Stapleton's run as Edith Bunker, she and O'Connor became close friends. She was distressed in 1995, as she bestowed her condolences on the passing of Carroll's son, Hugh, who committed suicide. She remained close and supportive while O'Connor was in court to testify concerning his son's death. Then on the first day of Summer in 2001, while performing on stage, she received word that her friend had died. Though she was unable to attend the service, she delivered her condolences to Nancy.

O'Connor had a long-running friendship with actor Larry Hagman, beginning in 1959, when Carroll was working as an assistant stage manager for the Broadway play God and Kate Murphy, in which Hagman starred. Later as the two struggled as young actors, they rented apartments near each other in New York. Over the years they had a lot in common; just as O'Connor concluded contract negotiations for his salary on All in the Family, in 1974, missing 2 episodes, Hagman eventually found himself re-negotiating his salary on Dallas, with similar results. Hagman's daughter, Heidi, whom O'Connor had known since her childhood, joined the cast for one season of Archie Bunker's Place. Hagman directed several episodes of O'Connor's later series, In the Heat of the Night. They both endured serious health issues, with O'Connor's heart bypass surgery, and Hagman's liver transplant. Hagman remained close after O'Connor's loss of his son Hugh, and through the rest of O'Connor's life, delivering a eulogy at the funeral.
Personal quotes

"Nothing will give me any peace. I've lost a son. And I'll go to my grave without any peace over that."

"It was a lack of system that made the '30s Depression as inevitable as all others previously suffered.".

"Get between your kid and drugs, any way you can, if you want to save the kid's life".

"I thought that the public would kick us off the air, because of this egregious guy. No. They loved ... they knew him."

On his son: "I should have spied on him. I should've taken away all his civil rights, spied on him, opened his mail, listened to telephone calls, everything."

"I never heard Archie's kind of talk in my own family. My father was a lawyer and was in partnership with two Jews, who with their families were close to us. There were black families in our circle of friends. My father disliked talk like Archie's -- he called it lowbrow."

"The biggest part of my life was the acquiring and the loss of a son. I mean, nothing else was as important as that."

"Conventional show-biz savvy held that Americans hated to be the objects of satire."
Partial credits
Starring roles

    * All in the Family (1971–1979) as Archie Bunker
    * Archie Bunker's Place (1979–1983) as Archie Bunker
    * In the Heat of the Night (1988–1994) as Chief/Sheriff Bill Gillespie
    * Mad About You (1996–1999) Gus Stemple #3

Films/made for TV movies

    * White Christmas (1954) .... The Sheriff
    * Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' as Crassus (1956)
    * The Sacco-Vanzetti Story (TV mini-series) (1960) as Frederick Katzman
    * By Love Possessed (1961) .... Bernie Breck
    * Parrish (1961) .... Firechief
    * A Fever in the Blood (1961) .... Matt Keenan
    * Lad: A Dog (1962) as Hamilcar Q. Glure
    * Belle Sommers (TV) (1962)
    * Lonely Are the Brave (1962) Hinton the Truck Driver
    * The Silver Burro (TV) (1963)
    * Cleopatra (1963) as Casca
    * Nightmare in Chicago aka Once Upon a Savage Night (TV) (1964)
    * In Harm's Way (1965) (uncredited) .... *Cmdr./Capt. Burke (USS Swayback)
    * The Last Patrol episode of The Time Tunnel (1966) as British General Southall and Colonel Southall, his 1815 ancestor
    * Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966) as Gen. Maynard C. Parker
    * Hawaii (1966) as Charles Bromley
    * What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) as Gen. Bolt
    * Waterhole #3 (1967) as Sheriff John H. Copperud
    * Point Blank (1967) as Brewster
    * Warning Shot (1967) as Paul Jerez
    * For Love of Ivy (1968) as Frank Austin
    * The Devil's Brigade (1968) as Maj. Gen. Hunter
    * Marlowe (1969) as Lt. Christy French
    * Death of a Gunfighter (1969) as Lester Locke
    * Ride a Northbound Horse (TV)(1969)
    * Fear No Evil (TV) (1969) as Myles Donovan
    * Kelly's Heroes (1970) as Maj. Gen. Colt
    * Doctors' Wives (1971) Dr. Joe Gray
    * Of Thee I Sing (TV) (1972) President Wintergreen
    * Law and Disorder (1974) as Willie
    * The Last Hurrah (TV) (1977) as Frank Skeffington
    * A Different Approach (1978)
    * Brass aka Police Brass (TV) (1985) as Frank Nolan
    * Convicted (1986) (TV) .... Lewis May
    * The GLO Friends Save Christmas (1986) .... Santa
    * The Father Clements Story (1987) (TV) .... Cardinal Cody
    * Gideon (TV) (1999) as Leo Barnes
    * 36 Hours to Die (TV) (1999) Jack 'Balls' O'Malley
    * Return to Me (2000) as Marty O'Reilly
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/jcordj66/f41f9b8a.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh136/gaemt2001/In_The_Heat_of_the_Night.jpg


he will always be missed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 9:43 am


Wow,Isn't that weird? Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael Gross both born on the same month and day.  :o

Lets not forget same year also.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/21/10 at 11:18 am


Lets not forget same year also.




*Cue Twilight Zone Theme.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/21/10 at 1:01 pm



Well, Geoffrey Palmer was British Person of the Day a few weeks ago so it only seems fitting that Wendy Craig should have her day, too.



Cat
...so when is Nicholas Lyndhurst's birthday?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/21/10 at 1:47 pm


...so when is Nicholas Lyndhurst's birthday?



20 April 1961



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/21/10 at 3:07 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UKrAYD3zX8

When Edith Bunker passes away.^

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/21/10 at 3:29 pm



20 April 1961



Cat
Thanks, we have to for next year now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 3:54 pm




*Cue Twilight Zone Theme.



Cat

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/10 at 4:05 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UKrAYD3zX8

When Edith Bunker passes away.^

:\'( :\'( :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/21/10 at 4:48 pm

Didn't know the parents on the "Family Ties" had the same birthday. Cool. One of my favorite shows on the 80s. Top three for sure.

I used to watch Bridget loves Bernie.

Carroll O'Connor. Where there ever anyone who did a better job in acting a character like he did with Archie Bunker?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/22/10 at 6:41 am

The word of the day...Prada
Prada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women (ready-to-wear, leather accessories, shoes, luggage and hats), founded by Mario Prada. The label is referred to by some people a status symbol.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/shauna_stamm0206/devil.jpg
http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/addicted2sneakers/SNEAKERS/DSC01469.jpg
http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/addicted2sneakers/SNEAKERS/DSC01471.jpg
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm390/tobby_baby/liltobby-1.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy341/butikmodejanuari/PradaCrocoAbuinside.jpg
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af145/Espinosa13/LALA021.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/22/10 at 6:46 am

The person born on this day...Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television  and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented and respected movie actors of the modern era.

Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with Julia. Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), the former giving Streep her first Oscar nomination and the latter her first win. She later won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Sophie's Choice (1982).

Streep has received 16 Academy Award nominations, winning two, and 25 Golden Globe nominations, winning seven, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, four New York Film Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award, an Australian Film Institute Award and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others.
After prominent supporting roles in two of the 1970s most successful films, the consecutive winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer, and praise for her versatility in several supporting roles, Streep progressed to leading roles. Her first was The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). A story within a story drama, the film paired Streep with Jeremy Irons as contemporary actors, telling their modern story as well as the Victorian era drama they were performing. A New York Magazine article commented that while many female stars of the past had cultivated a singular identity in their films, Streep was a "chameleon", willing to play any type of role.  Streep was awarded a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work.

Her next film, the psychological thriller, Still of the Night (1982) reunited her with Robert Benton, the director of Kramer vs. Kramer, and co-starred Roy Scheider and Jessica Tandy. Vincent Canby, writing for the New York Times noted that the film was an homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, but that one of its main weaknesses was a lack of chemistry between Streep and Scheider, concluding that Streep "is stunning, but she's not on screen anywhere near long enough".

As the Polish holocaust survivor in Sophie's Choice (1982), Streep's emotional dramatic performance and her apparent mastery of a Polish accent drew praise. William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, but Streep was very determined to get the role. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging him to give her the part. Streep filmed the "choice" scene in one take and refused to do it again, as she found shooting the scene extremely painful and emotionally draining. Among several notable acting awards, Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. She followed this success with a biographical film, Silkwood (1983), in which she played her first real-life character, the union activist Karen Silkwood. She discussed her preparation for the role in an interview with Roger Ebert and said that she had met with people close to Silkwood to learn more about her, and in doing so realized that each person saw a different aspect of Silkwood. Streep concentrated on the events of Silkwood's life and concluded, "I didn't try to turn myself into Karen. I just tried to look at what she did. I put together every piece of information I could find about her... What I finally did was look at the events in her life, and try to understand her from the inside."

Her next films were a romantic comedy, Falling in Love (1984) opposite Robert De Niro, and a British drama, Plenty (1985). Roger Ebert said of Streep's performance in Plenty that she conveyed "great subtlety; it is hard to play an unbalanced, neurotic, self-destructive woman, and do it with such gentleness and charm... Streep creates a whole character around a woman who could have simply been a catalogue of symptoms."

Out of Africa (1985) starred Streep as the Danish writer Karen Blixen and co-starred Robert Redford. A significant critical success, the film received a 63% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Streep co-starred with Jack Nicholson in her next two films, the dramas Heartburn (1986) and Ironweed (1987), in which she sang onscreen for the first time since the television movie, Secret Service, in 1977. In A Cry in the Dark (1988), she played the biographical role of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who had been convicted of the murder of her infant daughter in which Chamberlain claimed her baby had been taken by a dingo. Filmed in Australia, Streep won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for several other awards for her portrayal of Lindy Chamberlain.

In She-Devil (1989), Streep played her first comedic film role, opposite Roseanne Barr. Richard Corliss, writing for Time, commented that Streep was the "one reason" to see the film and observed that it marked a departure from the type of role for which she had been known, saying, "Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose."
1990s and 2000s

From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World Favorite.

In the 1990s, Streep took a greater variety of roles, including a drug addicted movie actress in a screen adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel Postcards from the Edge, with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine. Streep and Goldie Hawn had established a friendship and were interested in making a film together. After considering various projects, they decided upon Thelma and Louise, until Streep's pregnancy coincided with the filming schedule, and the producers decided to proceed with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. They subsequently filmed the farcical black comedy, Death Becomes Her, with Bruce Willis as their co-star. Time's Richard Corliss wrote approvingly of Streep's "wicked-witch routine" but dismissed the film as "She-Devil with a make-over".

Biographer Karen Hollinger describes this period as a downturn in the popularity of Streep's films, which reached its nadir with the failure of Death Becomes Her, attributing this partly to a critical perception that her comedies had been an attempt to convey a lighter image following several serious but commercially unsuccessful dramas, and more significantly to the lack of options available to an actress in her forties. Streep commented that she had limited her options by her preference to work in Los Angeles, close to her family, a situation that she had anticipated in a 1981 interview when she commented, "By the time an actress hits her mid-forties, no one's interested in her anymore. And if you want to fit a couple of babies into that schedule as well, you've got to pick your parts with great care."

Streep appeared with Glenn Close in the movie version of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, the screen adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County with Clint Eastwood, The River Wild, Marvin's Room (with Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio), One True Thing, and Music of the Heart, in a role that required her to learn to play the violin.

Streep is adept with foreign accents and some of her best known roles have called for them. In The Bridges of Madison County, she played a woman from Bari, Italy, while in Sophie's Choice she adopted a Polish accent.

In 2001, Streep voiced the Blue Fairy in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence. In 2002, Meryl Streep costarred with Nicolas Cage in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. as real-life author Susan Orlean, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and with Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in The Hours. She also appeared with Al Pacino and Emma Thompson in the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's six-hour play, Angels in America, in which she had four roles. She received her second Emmy Award for Angels in America, which reunited her with director Mike Nichols (who had previously directed her in Silkwood, Heartburn, and Postcards from the Edge). Meryl Streep also played Aunt Josephine in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events with Jim Carrey.
Streep in 2004

In addition, she appeared in Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate, costarring Denzel Washington, in which she played a role first performed by Angela Lansbury. Since 2002, Streep has hosted the annual event Poetry & the Creative Mind, a benefit in support of National Poetry Month and a program of the Academy of American Poets. Streep co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert with Liam Neeson in Oslo, Norway, in 2001.

In 2004, Streep was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute, which honors an individual for a lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion pictures and television.

Streep's more recent film releases are Prime (2005); the Robert Altman film A Prairie Home Companion, with Lindsay Lohan and Lily Tomlin; and the box office success The Devil Wears Prada, with Anne Hathaway, which earned Streep the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy and an Academy Award nomination.

In 2008 she appeared as Donna in the film version of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!, For this role she won the award of Best Female Performance at the National Movie Awards (UK), and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. She played Sister Aloysius in the 2008 film adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt. She received both an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama for that film. She also shared the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress with Anne Hathaway for the role, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.

In 2009, she starred in Julie & Julia, in which she played the late Julia Child. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and also shared the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress with Sandra Bullock. Streep also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance. She then starred in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy It's Complicated, with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. She received nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this film as well. Streep also lent her voice to Mrs. Felicity Fox in the stop-motion film Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Theatre

In New York City, she appeared in the 1976 Broadway double bill of Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays. For the former, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her other early Broadway credits include Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical Happy End in which she originally appeared off-Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center. She received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions. Once Streep's film career flourished, she took a long break from stage acting.

In July 2001, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing Arkadina in the Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. The staging, directed by Mike Nichols, also featured Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, and John Goodman.

In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at The Public Theater's production of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The Public Theater production was a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), with songs in the Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change); veteran director George C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this three-and-a-half-hour play in which she sang and appeared in almost every scene.
Music
Streep (fourth from left) at the premiere of Mamma Mia!

After appearing in Mamma Mia!, Streep's rendition of the song "Mamma Mia" rose to popularity in the Portuguese music charts, where it has so far peaked at #8,.

At the 35th People's Choice Awards, her version of "Mamma Mia" won an award for "Favorite Song From A Soundtrack". In 2008, Streep was nominated for a Grammy Award (her fifth nomination) for her work on the Mamma Mia! soundtrack.
Personal life
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2010)

Meryl Streep was engaged to John Cazale until his death in March of 1978. Streep then married sculptor Don Gummer on September 15, 1978. They have four children: Henry Wolfe (born November 13, 1979), Mamie Gummer (born August 3, 1983), Grace Jane (born May 9, 1986), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer (born June 1991). Both Grace and Mamie are actresses.
Awards
Streep receiving her honorary degree from Harvard University on May 27, 2010
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Meryl Streep

Streep holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor, having been nominated 16 times since her first nomination in 1979 for The Deer Hunter (13 for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress).

Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer for a Golden Globe Award (she has 25 nominations as of 2009 and has won the most overall when she won for Julie & Julia in 2010). Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998.

In 2003, she was awarded an honorary César Award by the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. In 2004 at the Moscow International Film Festival, Meryl Streep was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school.

In 2004, Streep received the AFI Life Achievement Award.

May 27, 2004 was proclaimed "Meryl Streep Day" by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.

In 2009, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Princeton University.

In 2010, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.
Work
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Julia Anne Marie
1978 The Deer Hunter Linda National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1979 Manhattan Jill Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
The Seduction of Joe Tynan Karen Traynor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer)
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer)
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Kramer vs. Kramer)
Kramer vs. Kramer Joanna Kramer Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Kansas City Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan)
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1981 The French Lieutenant's Woman Sarah/Anna BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1982 Still of the Night Brooke Reynolds
Sophie's Choice Sophie Zawistowski Academy Award for Best Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Award for Best Actress (shared with Julie Andrews for Victor Victoria)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1983 Silkwood Karen Silkwood Kansas City Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1984 Falling in Love Molly Gilmore David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
1985 Plenty Susan Traherne
Out of Africa Karen Blixen David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1986 Heartburn Rachel Samstat Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actress
1987 Ironweed Helen Archer Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1988 A Cry in the Dark Lindy Chamberlain Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1989 She-Devil Mary Fisher Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1990 Postcards from the Edge Suzanne Vale Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1991 Defending Your Life Julia Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1992 Death Becomes Her Madeline Ashton Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1993 The House of the Spirits Clara del Valle Trueba
1994 The River Wild Gail Hartman Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1995 The Bridges of Madison County Francesca Johnson Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1996 Before and After Dr. Carolyn Ryan
Marvin's Room Lee Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 Dancing at Lughnasa Kate 'Kit' Mundy Nominated—Irish Film and Television Awards — Best Actor in a Female Role
One True Thing Kate Gulden Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1999 Chrysanthemum Narrator
Music of the Heart Roberta Guaspari Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Blue Fairy (voice cameo)
2002 Adaptation. Susan Orlean Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Hours Clarissa Vaughan Silver Bear for Best Actress (shared with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman)
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 Stuck on You Herself
2004 The Manchurian Candidate Eleanor Shaw Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Aunt Josephine
2005 Prime Lisa Metzger, therapist
2006 A Prairie Home Companion Yolanda Johnson National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Devil Wears Prada)
Nominated—Gotham Awards – Best Ensemble Cast
"The Music of Regret" The Woman (short musical)
The Devil Wears Prada Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
North Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the Year
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for A Prairie Home Companion)
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
The Ant Bully Queen Ant (voice)
2007 Dark Matter Joanna Silver
Evening Lila Wittenborn Ross
Rendition Corrine Whitman, CIA official
Lions for Lambs Janine Roth
2008 Mamma Mia! Donna Sheridan Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress – People's Choice
Rembrandt Award (NL) – Best International Actress
National Movie Award (UK) — Best Female Performance
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Doubt Sister Aloysius Beauvier Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress( tied with Anne Hathway for Rachel Getting Married)
Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
North Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009 Julie & Julia Julia Child Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
North Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
New York Film Critics Online
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress( also for The Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress ((tied with Sandra Bullock))
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Alliance of Woman Journalists Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—St Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actress
Fantastic Mr. Fox Mrs. Fox (voice)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Julie & Julia)
It's Complicated Jane Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress – People's Choice
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Holocaust Inga Helms Weiss Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
1994 The Simpsons Jessica Lovejoy Episode: "Bart's Girlfriend"
1999 King of the Hill Aunt Esme Dauterive Episode: "A Beer Can Named Desire"
1997 …First Do No Harm Lori Reimuller Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Film
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Television Film
2003 Angels in America Ethel Rosenberg
The Rabbi
Hannah Pitt
Angel Australia Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries
Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama Special
Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Miniseries
Stage
Year Production Role Notes
1975 Trelawny of the Wells Miss Imogen Parrott
1976 27 Wagons Full of Cotton Flora Meighan Theatre World Award – Debut performance, Broadway/Off-Broadway
Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
Nominated—Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
A Memory of Two Mondays Patricia
Secret Service Edith Varney
Henry V Katherine
Measure for Measure Isabella
1977 Happy End Lieutenant Lillian Holiday
The Cherry Orchard Dunyasha
1978 Alice at the Palace Alice
The Taming of the Shrew Kate
1979 Taken in Marriage Andrea
1980–81 Alice at the Palace Alice
2001 The Seagull Irina Nikolayevna Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
2006 Mother Courage and Her Children Mother Courage Drama League Award — Distinguished Performance Award
Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
http://i398.photobucket.com/albums/pp69/Eluny1989/Meryl%20Streep/MerylSteep13.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e95/epela/meryl_streep.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/22/10 at 6:51 am

The person who died on this day...George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor, and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.

Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.

The first of his 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. In the 1990s and 2000s, Carlin's routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. His final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya, was filmed less than four months before his death.

Carlin placed second on the Comedy Central cable television network list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live.
Carlin's material falls under one of three self-described categories: "the little world" (observational humor), "the big world" (social commentary), and the peculiarities of the English language (euphemisms, doublespeak, business jargon), all sharing the overall theme of (in his words) "humanity's bullsheesh," which might include murder, genocide, war, rape, corruption, religion and other aspects of human civilization. He was known for mixing observational humour with larger social commentary. His delivery frequently treated these subjects in a misanthropic  and nihilistic  fashion, such as in his statement during the Life is Worth Losing  show:

    I look at it this way... For centuries now, man has done everything he can to destroy, defile, and interfere with nature: clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains, poisoning the atmosphere, over-fishing the oceans, polluting the rivers and lakes, destroying wetlands and aquifers... so when nature strikes back, and smacks him on the head and kicks him in the nuts, I enjoy that. I have absolutely no sympathy for human beings whatsoever. None. And no matter what kind of problem humans are facing, whether it's natural or man-made, I always hope it gets worse.

Language was a frequent focus of Carlin's work. Euphemisms that in his view seek to distort and lie and the use of language he felt was pompous, presumptuous, or silly were often the target of Carlin's routines. When asked on Inside the Actors Studio what turned him on, he responded, "Reading about language." When asked what made him most proud about his career, he said the number of his books that have been sold, close to a million copies.

Carlin also gave special attention to prominent topics in American and Western Culture, such as obsession with fame and celebrity, consumerism, Christianity, political alienation, corporate control, hypocrisy, child raising, fast food diet, news stations, self-help publications, patriotism, sexual taboos, certain uses of technology and surveillance, and the pro-life position, among many others.
George Carlin in Trenton, New Jersey April 4, 2008

Carlin openly communicated in his shows and in his interviews that his purpose for existence was entertainment, that he was "here for the show." He professed a hearty schadenfreude in watching the rich spectrum of humanity slowly self-destruct, in his estimation, of its own design, saying, "When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front-row seat." He acknowledged that this is a very selfish thing, especially since he included large human catastrophes as entertainment. In his You Are All Diseased concert, he elaborated somewhat on this, telling the audience, "I have always been willing to put myself at great personal risk for the sake of entertainment. And I've always been willing to put you at great personal risk, for the same reason!"

In the same interview, he recounted his experience of a California earthquake in the early 1970s, as "n amusement park ride. Really, I mean it's such a wonderful thing to realize that you have absolutely no control, and to see the dresser move across the bedroom floor unassisted is just exciting."

A routine in Carlin's 1999 HBO special You Are All Diseased focusing on airport security leads up to the statement: "Take a fudgeing chance! Put a little fun in your life! Most Americans are soft and frightened and unimaginative and they don't realize there's such a thing as dangerous fun, and they certainly don't recognize a good show when they see one."

Along with wordplay and sex jokes, Carlin had always included politics as part of his material, but by the mid 1980s he had become a strident social critic in both his HBO specials and the book compilations of his material, bashing both conservatives and liberals alike. His HBO viewers got an especially sharp taste of this in his take on the Ronald Reagan administration during the 1988 special What Am I Doing In New Jersey?, broadcast live from the Park Theatre in Union City, New Jersey.
Death and tribute

On June 22, 2008, Carlin was admitted to Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, after experiencing chest pains. He died later that day at 5:55 p.m. of heart failure. Carlin was 71 years old. His death occurred one week after his last performance at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and he had further shows on his itinerary. In accordance with his wishes, Carlin was cremated, with his ashes scattered, and no public or religious services of any kind were held. Two of the networks he performed on changed their schedule in tribute to Carlin. HBO devoted several hours to broadcast eleven of Carlin's fourteen HBO specials from June 25–28, 2008, including a twelve-hour marathon block on their HBO Comedy channel. Meanwhile, NBC scheduled a rerun of the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live which Carlin hosted.

Both Sirius Satellite Radio's "Raw Dog Comedy" and XM Satellite Radio's "XM Comedy" channels ran a memorial marathon of George Carlin recordings the day following his death. Another tribute was the "Doonesbury" comic strip on Sunday, July 27, 2008.

Louis C. K. dedicated his stand-up special Chewed Up to Carlin.

Lewis Black dedicated his entire second season of Root of All Evil to Carlin.

An episode of Larry King Live paid tribute to Carlin, featuring comics Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Maher, Roseanne Barr and Lewis Black. Carlin's daughter and his brother were also interviewed by King. The next day, The New York Times published a tribute to Carlin written by Jerry Seinfeld.

An oral history, edited by Carlin's daughter, Kelly, was scheduled to be published in 2009. The book will contain stories from Carlin's friends and family and cover the considered high points of his career as well as the considered low, including his drug and alcohol addiction.

For a number of years prior to his death Carlin had been compiling and writing his autobiography, planning to release it in conjunction with a second, long-worked-on project, a one-man Broadway show tentatively titled New York City Boy, covering essentially the same topics. After his death his collaborator on the projects, Tony Hendra, edited the autobiography for release as Last Words (ISBN 1439172951). The book covers Carlin's life up to around Life is Worth Losing, with the final chapter detailing future plans, including the planned one-man show. The book was released one year and four months after Carlin's death. The audio version of the book was read by George's brother Patrick and featured an interview with Tony Hendra and George's daughter, Kelly.
Collection of works
Discography

Main

    * 1963: Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight
    * 1967: Take-Offs and Put-Ons
    * 1972: FM & AM
    * 1972: Class Clown
    * 1973: Occupation: Foole
    * 1974: Toledo Window Box
    * 1975: An Evening with Wally Londo Featuring Bill Slaszo
    * 1977: On the Road
    * 1981: A Place for My Stuff
    * 1984: Carlin on Campus
    * 1986: Playin' with Your Head
    * 1988: What Am I Doing In New Jersey?
    * 1990: Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics
    * 1992: Jammin' in New York
    * 1996: Back in Town
    * 1999: You Are All Diseased
    * 2001: Complaints and Grievances
    * 2006: Life Is Worth Losing
    * 2008: It's Bad for Ya

Compilations

    * 1978: Indecent Exposure: Some of the Best of George Carlin
    * 1984: The George Carlin Collection
    * 1992: Classic Gold
    * 1999: The Little David Years (1971-1977)
    * 2002: George Carlin on Comedy

Filmography
Year Movie
1968 With Six You Get Eggroll
1976 Car Wash
1979 Americathon
1987 Outrageous Fortune
1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
1990 Working Trash
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
The Prince of Tides
1999 Dogma
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'
2003 Scary Movie 3
2004 Jersey Girl
2005 Tarzan II
The Aristocrats
2006 Cars
2007 Happily N'Ever After
Television

    * The Kraft Summer Music Hall (1966)
    * That Girl (Guest appearance) (1966)
    * The Ed Sullivan Show (multiple appearances)
    * The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (season 3 guest appearance) (1968)
    * The Flip Wilson Show (writer, performer) (1971–1973)
    * The Mike Douglas Show (Guest) (February 18, 1972)
    * Saturday Night Live (Host, episodes 1 and 183) (1975 & 1984)
    * Justin Case (as Justin Case) (1988) TV movie directed Blake Edwards
    * Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (as American Narrator) (1991–1998)
    * Shining Time Station (as Mr. Conductor) (1991–1993)
    * The George Carlin Show (as George O'Grady) (1994) Fox
    * Streets of Laredo (as Billy Williams) (1995)
    * The Simpsons (as Munchie, episode 209) (1998)
    * The Daily Show (guest on February 1, 1999; December 16, 1999; and March 10, 2004)
    * MADtv (Guest appearance in episodes 518 & 524) (2000)
    * Inside the Actors Studio (2004)

    * In 1998, Carlin had a cameo playing one of the funeral-attending comedians in Jerry Seinfeld's HBO special I'm Telling You For The Last Time. In the funeral intro (the only thing being buried is Jerry Seinfeld's material) Carlin learns that neither friend Robert Klein nor Ed McMahon ever saw Jerry's act. Carlin did, and enjoyed it, but admits "I was full of drugs."

HBO Specials
Special Year
On Location: George Carlin at USC 1977
George Carlin: Again! 1978
Carlin at Carnegie 1982
Carlin on Campus 1984
Playin' with Your Head 1986
What Am I Doing in New Jersey? 1988
Doin' It Again 1990
Jammin' in New York 1992
Back in Town 1996
George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy 1997
You Are All Diseased 1999
Complaints and Grievances 2001
Life Is Worth Losing 2005
It's Bad for Ya 2008

    * "All My Stuff", a boxset of Carlin's first 12 stand-up specials (excluding George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy) with bonus material was released in September 2007

Bibliography
Book Year Notes
Sometimes a Little Brain Damage Can Help 1984 ISBN 0-89471-271-3
Brain Droppings 1997 ISBN 0-7868-8321-9
Napalm and Silly Putty 2001 ISBN 0-7868-8758-3
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? 2004 ISBN 1-4013-0134-7
Three Times Carlin: An Orgy of George 2006 ISBN 978-1-4013-0243-6 A collection of the 3 previous titles.
Watch My Language 2009 Posthumous release
Last Words 2009 ISBN 1439172951

For several years before his death, Carlin had been working on a memoir, Last Words, in collaboration with writer Tony Hendra. Hendra secured permission from Carlin's family to go ahead with the book. It was published by Simon & Schuster's Free Press imprint on November 17, 2009.
Audiobooks

    * Brain Droppings
    * Napalm and Silly Putty
    * More Napalm & Silly Putty
    * George Carlin Reads To You
    * When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
Since the birth of spam email on the internet, many chain-forwards, usually rantlike and with blunt statements of belief on political and social issues and attributed to being written (or stated) by George Carlin himself, have made continuous rounds on the junk email circuit. The website Snopes, an online resource that debunks historic and present urban legends and myths, has extensively covered these forgeries. Many of the falsely attributed email attachments have contained material that runs directly opposite to Carlin's viewpoints, with some being especially volatile toward racial groups, gays, women, the homeless, etc. Carlin himself, when he was made aware of each of these bogus emails, would debunk them on his own website, writing: "Nothing you see on the Internet is mine unless it comes from one of my albums, books, HBO specials, or appeared on my website," and that "it bothers me that some people might believe that I would be capable of writing some of this stuff."
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp330/chuck_and_larry/george-carlin.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa40/David_Everett/george-carlin.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/22/10 at 3:07 pm


The person who died on this day...George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor, and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.

Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.

The first of his 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. In the 1990s and 2000s, Carlin's routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. His final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya, was filmed less than four months before his death.

Carlin placed second on the Comedy Central cable television network list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live.
Carlin's material falls under one of three self-described categories: "the little world" (observational humor), "the big world" (social commentary), and the peculiarities of the English language (euphemisms, doublespeak, business jargon), all sharing the overall theme of (in his words) "humanity's bullsheesh," which might include murder, genocide, war, rape, corruption, religion and other aspects of human civilization. He was known for mixing observational humour with larger social commentary. His delivery frequently treated these subjects in a misanthropic  and nihilistic  fashion, such as in his statement during the Life is Worth Losing  show:

    I look at it this way... For centuries now, man has done everything he can to destroy, defile, and interfere with nature: clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains, poisoning the atmosphere, over-fishing the oceans, polluting the rivers and lakes, destroying wetlands and aquifers... so when nature strikes back, and smacks him on the head and kicks him in the nuts, I enjoy that. I have absolutely no sympathy for human beings whatsoever. None. And no matter what kind of problem humans are facing, whether it's natural or man-made, I always hope it gets worse.

Language was a frequent focus of Carlin's work. Euphemisms that in his view seek to distort and lie and the use of language he felt was pompous, presumptuous, or silly were often the target of Carlin's routines. When asked on Inside the Actors Studio what turned him on, he responded, "Reading about language." When asked what made him most proud about his career, he said the number of his books that have been sold, close to a million copies.

Carlin also gave special attention to prominent topics in American and Western Culture, such as obsession with fame and celebrity, consumerism, Christianity, political alienation, corporate control, hypocrisy, child raising, fast food diet, news stations, self-help publications, patriotism, sexual taboos, certain uses of technology and surveillance, and the pro-life position, among many others.
George Carlin in Trenton, New Jersey April 4, 2008

Carlin openly communicated in his shows and in his interviews that his purpose for existence was entertainment, that he was "here for the show." He professed a hearty schadenfreude in watching the rich spectrum of humanity slowly self-destruct, in his estimation, of its own design, saying, "When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front-row seat." He acknowledged that this is a very selfish thing, especially since he included large human catastrophes as entertainment. In his You Are All Diseased concert, he elaborated somewhat on this, telling the audience, "I have always been willing to put myself at great personal risk for the sake of entertainment. And I've always been willing to put you at great personal risk, for the same reason!"

In the same interview, he recounted his experience of a California earthquake in the early 1970s, as "n amusement park ride. Really, I mean it's such a wonderful thing to realize that you have absolutely no control, and to see the dresser move across the bedroom floor unassisted is just exciting."

A routine in Carlin's 1999 HBO special You Are All Diseased focusing on airport security leads up to the statement: "Take a fudgeing chance! Put a little fun in your life! Most Americans are soft and frightened and unimaginative and they don't realize there's such a thing as dangerous fun, and they certainly don't recognize a good show when they see one."

Along with wordplay and sex jokes, Carlin had always included politics as part of his material, but by the mid 1980s he had become a strident social critic in both his HBO specials and the book compilations of his material, bashing both conservatives and liberals alike. His HBO viewers got an especially sharp taste of this in his take on the Ronald Reagan administration during the 1988 special What Am I Doing In New Jersey?, broadcast live from the Park Theatre in Union City, New Jersey.
Death and tribute

On June 22, 2008, Carlin was admitted to Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, after experiencing chest pains. He died later that day at 5:55 p.m. of heart failure. Carlin was 71 years old. His death occurred one week after his last performance at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and he had further shows on his itinerary. In accordance with his wishes, Carlin was cremated, with his ashes scattered, and no public or religious services of any kind were held. Two of the networks he performed on changed their schedule in tribute to Carlin. HBO devoted several hours to broadcast eleven of Carlin's fourteen HBO specials from June 25–28, 2008, including a twelve-hour marathon block on their HBO Comedy channel. Meanwhile, NBC scheduled a rerun of the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live which Carlin hosted.

Both Sirius Satellite Radio's "Raw Dog Comedy" and XM Satellite Radio's "XM Comedy" channels ran a memorial marathon of George Carlin recordings the day following his death. Another tribute was the "Doonesbury" comic strip on Sunday, July 27, 2008.

Louis C. K. dedicated his stand-up special Chewed Up to Carlin.

Lewis Black dedicated his entire second season of Root of All Evil to Carlin.

An episode of Larry King Live paid tribute to Carlin, featuring comics Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Maher, Roseanne Barr and Lewis Black. Carlin's daughter and his brother were also interviewed by King. The next day, The New York Times published a tribute to Carlin written by Jerry Seinfeld.

An oral history, edited by Carlin's daughter, Kelly, was scheduled to be published in 2009. The book will contain stories from Carlin's friends and family and cover the considered high points of his career as well as the considered low, including his drug and alcohol addiction.

For a number of years prior to his death Carlin had been compiling and writing his autobiography, planning to release it in conjunction with a second, long-worked-on project, a one-man Broadway show tentatively titled New York City Boy, covering essentially the same topics. After his death his collaborator on the projects, Tony Hendra, edited the autobiography for release as Last Words (ISBN 1439172951). The book covers Carlin's life up to around Life is Worth Losing, with the final chapter detailing future plans, including the planned one-man show. The book was released one year and four months after Carlin's death. The audio version of the book was read by George's brother Patrick and featured an interview with Tony Hendra and George's daughter, Kelly.
Collection of works
Discography

Main

    * 1963: Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight
    * 1967: Take-Offs and Put-Ons
    * 1972: FM & AM
    * 1972: Class Clown
    * 1973: Occupation: Foole
    * 1974: Toledo Window Box
    * 1975: An Evening with Wally Londo Featuring Bill Slaszo
    * 1977: On the Road
    * 1981: A Place for My Stuff
    * 1984: Carlin on Campus
    * 1986: Playin' with Your Head
    * 1988: What Am I Doing In New Jersey?
    * 1990: Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics
    * 1992: Jammin' in New York
    * 1996: Back in Town
    * 1999: You Are All Diseased
    * 2001: Complaints and Grievances
    * 2006: Life Is Worth Losing
    * 2008: It's Bad for Ya

Compilations

    * 1978: Indecent Exposure: Some of the Best of George Carlin
    * 1984: The George Carlin Collection
    * 1992: Classic Gold
    * 1999: The Little David Years (1971-1977)
    * 2002: George Carlin on Comedy

Filmography
Year Movie
1968 With Six You Get Eggroll
1976 Car Wash
1979 Americathon
1987 Outrageous Fortune
1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
1990 Working Trash
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
The Prince of Tides
1999 Dogma
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'
2003 Scary Movie 3
2004 Jersey Girl
2005 Tarzan II
The Aristocrats
2006 Cars
2007 Happily N'Ever After
Television

    * The Kraft Summer Music Hall (1966)
    * That Girl (Guest appearance) (1966)
    * The Ed Sullivan Show (multiple appearances)
    * The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (season 3 guest appearance) (1968)
    * The Flip Wilson Show (writer, performer) (1971–1973)
    * The Mike Douglas Show (Guest) (February 18, 1972)
    * Saturday Night Live (Host, episodes 1 and 183) (1975 & 1984)
    * Justin Case (as Justin Case) (1988) TV movie directed Blake Edwards
    * Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (as American Narrator) (1991–1998)
    * Shining Time Station (as Mr. Conductor) (1991–1993)
    * The George Carlin Show (as George O'Grady) (1994) Fox
    * Streets of Laredo (as Billy Williams) (1995)
    * The Simpsons (as Munchie, episode 209) (1998)
    * The Daily Show (guest on February 1, 1999; December 16, 1999; and March 10, 2004)
    * MADtv (Guest appearance in episodes 518 & 524) (2000)
    * Inside the Actors Studio (2004)

    * In 1998, Carlin had a cameo playing one of the funeral-attending comedians in Jerry Seinfeld's HBO special I'm Telling You For The Last Time. In the funeral intro (the only thing being buried is Jerry Seinfeld's material) Carlin learns that neither friend Robert Klein nor Ed McMahon ever saw Jerry's act. Carlin did, and enjoyed it, but admits "I was full of drugs."

HBO Specials
Special Year
On Location: George Carlin at USC 1977
George Carlin: Again! 1978
Carlin at Carnegie 1982
Carlin on Campus 1984
Playin' with Your Head 1986
What Am I Doing in New Jersey? 1988
Doin' It Again 1990
Jammin' in New York 1992
Back in Town 1996
George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy 1997
You Are All Diseased 1999
Complaints and Grievances 2001
Life Is Worth Losing 2005
It's Bad for Ya 2008

    * "All My Stuff", a boxset of Carlin's first 12 stand-up specials (excluding George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy) with bonus material was released in September 2007

Bibliography
Book Year Notes
Sometimes a Little Brain Damage Can Help 1984 ISBN 0-89471-271-3
Brain Droppings 1997 ISBN 0-7868-8321-9
Napalm and Silly Putty 2001 ISBN 0-7868-8758-3
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? 2004 ISBN 1-4013-0134-7
Three Times Carlin: An Orgy of George 2006 ISBN 978-1-4013-0243-6 A collection of the 3 previous titles.
Watch My Language 2009 Posthumous release
Last Words 2009 ISBN 1439172951

For several years before his death, Carlin had been working on a memoir, Last Words, in collaboration with writer Tony Hendra. Hendra secured permission from Carlin's family to go ahead with the book. It was published by Simon & Schuster's Free Press imprint on November 17, 2009.
Audiobooks

    * Brain Droppings
    * Napalm and Silly Putty
    * More Napalm & Silly Putty
    * George Carlin Reads To You
    * When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
Since the birth of spam email on the internet, many chain-forwards, usually rantlike and with blunt statements of belief on political and social issues and attributed to being written (or stated) by George Carlin himself, have made continuous rounds on the junk email circuit. The website Snopes, an online resource that debunks historic and present urban legends and myths, has extensively covered these forgeries. Many of the falsely attributed email attachments have contained material that runs directly opposite to Carlin's viewpoints, with some being especially volatile toward racial groups, gays, women, the homeless, etc. Carlin himself, when he was made aware of each of these bogus emails, would debunk them on his own website, writing: "Nothing you see on the Internet is mine unless it comes from one of my albums, books, HBO specials, or appeared on my website," and that "it bothers me that some people might believe that I would be capable of writing some of this stuff."
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp330/chuck_and_larry/george-carlin.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa40/David_Everett/george-carlin.png



I always enjoyed his different smells for farts!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/22/10 at 8:47 pm

I used to listen to George Carlin's stuff in the 70s. Lots of great stuff. The 7 words.... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/23/10 at 6:19 am

The word of the day...Angel(s)
Angels are messengers of God in the Hebrew Bible (translating מלאך), the New Testament and the Quran. The term "angel" has also been expanded to various notions of "spiritual beings" found in many other religious traditions. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings.

The theological study of angels is known as angelology. In art, angels are often depicted with wings, ultimately reflecting the descriptions in the Hebrew Bible, such as the chayot in Ezekiel's Merkabah vision or the Seraphim of Isaiah.
http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a470/davesmallen/angel.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e125/nosajzevahc/angel.jpg
http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/Kay_Marie_Purple/Angel.jpg
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac231/mary13juana/angel.jpg
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss203/vibsy_2009/RELIGIOUS/angel.jpg
http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab113/jason_scott9913/Week%203/angel.jpg
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx304/ilovejesus39/spiritual/angel.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/falatio/TV/angel.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/23/10 at 6:22 am

The person born on this day...Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon  (pronounced /ˈwiːdən/;  born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director and founder of Mutant Enemy Productions. He is best known as the creator and showrunner  of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse. He is also notable for his work in film, comic books, and online media. Many of Whedon's projects, as well as Whedon himself, enjoy a cult status.
Whedon was born in New York City. He has been described as the world's first third-generation TV writer,  as he is the son of Tom Whedon, a successful screenwriter for The Electric Company in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s.  His mother, Lee Stearns, was a high school teacher and novelist.  He is the younger brother of Samuel and Matthew Whedon and older brother of writers Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon.

Whedon graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987. Before going to Wesleyan he spent two years at Winchester College in England. He attended Riverdale Country School in New York City where his mother taught History. (Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also attended Riverdale Country School a number of years after Joss.) At a young age he was a prolific writer, loved Monty Python and showed great interest in acting. He was the lead role in an original production called 'Spaghetti Island' at Riverdale.
Career
Television work

Following a move to Los Angeles, Whedon secured his first writing job on the television series Roseanne. After working several years as a script doctor for films, he returned to television, where he created four TV shows.

Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer produced, Whedon revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit receiving an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000. Buffy ran for five seasons on The WB Network before being relocated to the UPN Network for its final two seasons.

Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring Buffy's vampire-with-a-soul ex-boyfriend as the title character. Debuting in September 1999 on the WB, Angel was broadcast following Buffy. The WB canceled the show in February 2004 while it was in its fifth season.

In 2002, Fox canceled Firefly, after only 11 of 14 episodes were aired, many out of intended order. The original ninety-minute pilot ("Serenity") was aired last. After the cancellation, Whedon wrote the script for a Firefly movie, titled Serenity. In early 2004 Whedon announced that it had been greenlit by Universal Studios. It was widely released in the United States on September 30, 2005. In the DVD release, Whedon discusses how Serenity would not have been made if not for the dedication of the Browncoats, fans of the series.

In late 2007, Eliza Dushku, with whom Whedon worked on Buffy and Angel, met over lunch to discuss possible ideas for a series for her to star in and came up with an idea which excited both of them. The show, Dollhouse, was announced by Fox in November 2008 to begin airing on February 13, 2009. Dollhouse was canceled after two seasons due to low ratings.

Whedon is also noted for his directing work in television, which includes two 2007 episodes of The Office ("Business School" and "Branch Wars",) as well as a 2010 episode of the musical series Glee ("Dream On") in which he reunited with his Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog star Neil Patrick Harris.

Although, not an actor, he has made cameos in his own shows as well as others. He appeared as a newsreader in season one of Buffy (1997). During the second season of Angel (2001), he made a cameo appearance as the character Numfar under heavy makeup, where his entire role was to perform comical dances. In Firefly (2002), Whedon appeared as a guest at a funeral. He made a brief appearance as Douglas, an overbearing rental-car clerk ("employee of the month") for the Lariant Rental Car company, in an episode of Veronica Mars called Rat Saw God (episode 6, season 2, 2005); Whedon is a vocal fan of Veronica Mars. He voiced himself in two episodes of Seth Green's television series Robot Chicken entitled "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster" (2007) and "Help Me" (2008).
Feature films and video

Whedon wrote or co-wrote several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Alien Resurrection and Titan A.E.. The song "My Lullaby" from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was written by him and Seattle native Scott Warrender. He was nominated (along with six other writers) for an Academy Award for Toy Story's screenplay.

He also wrote uncredited drafts or rewrites of Speed, Waterworld, Twister and X-Men, although in interviews, Whedon disowned the latter three films. He claimed that he had a good script for Alien: Resurrection, which he felt was spoiled by its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His Waterworld script was thrown out, and only two of his lines were kept in the final script of X-Men. Even the Buffy movie bore little resemblance to his original screenplay. According to Graham Yost, the credited writer of Speed, Whedon wrote most of its dialogue.

He wrote and directed 2005's Serenity, based on his television series Firefly. Serenity won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Beginning in January 2006, fans (with Universal's blessing) began organizing worldwide charity screenings of Serenity to benefit Equality Now, a human rights organization supported by Joss Whedon. Over $415,000 has been raised for Equality Now since 2006. As of May 1, 2009, 42 cities were registered for CSTS 2009 in 4 Countries and 24 US States.

Whedon wrote a horror film entitled The Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard which is currently in production with MGM, with Goddard directing.

In November 2008, Whedon guest starred in the premiere episode of The Write Environment, a direct to DVD series featuring in-depth, candid one-on-one interviews with some of TV's most prolific and well known series creator/writers.

In April 2010 it was confirmed that Whedon will direct The Avengers, a live-action adaption of the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name.
Comic books

Whedon, a lifelong comic book fan, is the author of the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Fray which takes place in the far future of the Buffyverse. Whedon returned to the world of Fray during the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight arc, "Time of Your Life".

Like many other authors from the Buffy TV show, he also contributed to the show's comic book version: he wrote three stories in the anthology Tales of the Slayers (including one featuring Melaka Fray from Fray) and also the main storyline of the five-issue miniseries Tales of the Vampires.

The three-issue miniseries Serenity: Those Left Behind, based on the Firefly series and leading up to the film Serenity, was released June through August 2005. Co-written with Brett Matthews and pencilled by Will Conrad, the first issue featured covers drawn by John Cassaday, J.G. Jones, and Bryan Hitch, as well as other artists for the second and third issues. The first two issues went to a second printing. The trade paperback featured a new cover by acclaimed painter Adam Hughes.

A second three-issue Serenity miniseries Serenity: Better Days, was released in March, April, and May 2008. "Better Days" reunites Whedon, Matthews, Conrad, and Adam Hughes, who will provide all three covers. The three covers form a larger panorama of the ship's crew. "Better Days" is set before "Those Left Behind", and features the full crew of Serenity. A trade paperback featuring a cover by Jo Chen was released in October 2008.

Whedon and others have mentioned that more Serenity comics are planned for the near future, and will be based in the Firefly continuation of the series, including one about Shepherd Book. Likewise, Whedon and other former Buffy writers have released a new ongoing Buffy which takes place after the series finale "Chosen", which he officially recognizes as the canonical "Season 8". The first issue was released on March 14, 2007 by Dark Horse Comics. Following the success of issue one of Buffy season eight, IDW Publishing approached Whedon about similarly producing a canonical Angel Season 6. Angel: After the Fall has 14 issues published as of November 19, 2008 with 3 more to come following the adventures of Angel and his team after the TV series ended, where the title of the series will then change to Angel: Aftermath. Although Whedon has not had the time to write the series, he has served as executive producer with Brian Lynch, writing the season 6 story.

Whedon wrote Astonishing X-Men in Marvel Comics' popular line of comics about the X-Men but finished his 24 issue run in 2008 and handed over the writing reins to Warren Ellis. The title, recreated specifically for Whedon, has been one of Marvel's best-selling comics as of 2006 and was nominated for several Eisner Awards including Best Serialized Story, Best Continuing Series, Best New Series and Best Writer, winning the Best Continuing Series award in 2006. One storyline from this comic, the notion of a cure for mutation being found, was also an element in the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand. Whedon also introduced several new characters into the Marvel Universe such as the villainous Ord, X-Men Ruth "Blindfold" Aldine and Hisako "Armor" Ichiki, Runaway Klara Prast and Special Agent Abigail Brand, along with S.W.O.R.D., the organization she commands.

Whedon is the second writer of the critically acclaimed and fan-favorite Marvel comic Runaways, taking over after series creator Brian K. Vaughan completed his run. Whedon had been a fan of the series for some time, and had a letter published in the first volume, which was included in the Volume 1 hardcover.

He is also attributed with helping give ideas for the ending of the Marvel Civil War 7 part series.

Whedon's other comic-related work includes writing the introduction to Identity Crisis trade paperback and a contribution to the "jam issue" Superman/Batman #26 (to date his only published work for DC Comics), writing short pieces for Marvel's Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man and Giant-Size X-Men #3 and also being the subject of an issue of Marvel Spotlight (alongside artist Michael Lark).

In February 2009, Astonishing X-Men #6, which depicted the return of Colossus to the title, and concluded Whedon's first story arc on that title, was named by Marvel Comics readers the #65 in Marvel's Top 70 Comics of all time.
Online media

In 2005 he released a series of online shorts titled the R. Tam sessions, starring himself and Summer Glau, which served as a form of viral marketing for Serenity. In 2007, he launched a free webcomic, titled Sugarshock! hosted on Dark Horse comic's Myspace page.

In March 2008, Whedon teamed up with his brothers Zack Whedon and Jed Whedon, along with Jed's then-fiancée Maurissa Tancharoen to write, compose and produce the musical superhero spoof, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The musical stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. Whedon conceived of Dr. Horrible over the year before and production took place over seven days during the Writers Guild strike. The project was freely available online from July 15 until July 20. In August, Whedon released a new Serenity/Firefly comic free online Serenity: The Other Half. In September, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Soundtrack, made the top 40 Album list despite being a digital exclusive only available on iTunes. The Soundtrack was successful enough to pay its crew and all its bills.

In February 2009, he stated that after his series Dollhouse is over, whether by cancellation or reaching its end, that he plans on putting his efforts purely into on-line content like Dr. Horrible. In the Dr. Horrible bonus feature Commentary! The Musical!, Joss sings the song "Heart (Broken)" about the crippling scrutiny and commercialisation of producing fiction for a modern consumer audience.
Unrealized projects

Whedon had a number of planned television projects that have become stuck in development or terminally stalled. Among these was a Buffy animated series, a set of made-for-television movies for The WB based on Angel and Buffy characters, and Ripper, a proposed BBC pilot about Rupert Giles. Ripper was announced to be in development at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007. The development process was set to begin in 2008 and Ripper to be shown that summer.

Early in his career Whedon sold two spec scripts that have not yet been produced, Suspension and Afterlife. He sold Suspension for $750,000 against $1 million. It has been described as "Die Hard on a bridge." A year later in 1994 he sold Afterlife for $1.5 million against $2 million. As of 2000 Andy Tennant was in talks to direct and rewrite. In Afterlife are precursors to many of the themes Whedon would later explore in Dollhouse. The script is about Daniel Hoffstetter, a government scientist, who awakes after dying to discover his mind has been imprinted on a mind-wiped body.

Whedon had been signed to write and direct Warner Bros.' adaptation of Wonder Woman but on February 3, 2007, Whedon announced that he would no longer be involved with the project. "We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time."

Late in 2009 Whedon made an attempt at gaining control for the sum of $10,000 of future Terminator material. He was rebuffed at that time and it is not known if he has plans to attempt this again, but the Halcyon Company has promised some results by February 1, 2010.
Common themes and motifs in Whedon's works
Feminism

Whedon identifies himself as a feminist, and feminist themes are common in his work. For his part, Whedon credits his mother, Lee Stearns, as the inspiration for his feminist worldview. When Roseanne Barr asked him how he could write so well for women, he replied, "If you met my mom, you wouldn't ask."

The character Kitty Pryde from the X-Men comics was an early model for Whedon's strong teenage girl characters: "If there's a bigger influence on Buffy than Kitty, I don’t know what it was. She was an adolescent girl finding out she has great power and dealing with it." Kitty Pryde was one of the main characters in Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men.

Whedon was honored at an Equality Now benefit in 2006: "Honoring Men on the Front Lines", and his fans raised a considerable amount of money in support of the organization.
Mind control

Whedon has repeatedly dramatized issues concerning mind control, DID/MPD, and human programming. Along with several episodes of Buffy and Angel, the entire "River Tam" subplot of Firefly was about this issue, as is the series Dollhouse. It is unknown why Whedon keeps returning to this issue in his work, but it is clearly a recurring theme.
Dialogue

The dialogue in Joss Whedon's shows and movies usually involves pop culture references both notable and obscure, and the turning of nouns into adjectives by adding a "y" at the end of the word ("listy"). According to one of the Buffy writers, "It's just the way that Joss actually talks."

Whedon also heavily favors the suffix -age (Linkage, Lurkage, Poofage, Postage, Scrollage, Slayage). Also, phrasal verbs usually ending with "out" are changed into direct verbs, for example "freak" rather than "freak out", "bail" rather than "bail out", or "hang" rather than "hang out". Whedon also tends to change adjectives into nouns such as "happy", "shiny" (positive thing), "bad" (mistake), "funny" (joke) - for example, a character may say "I made a funny" instead of "I made a joke". Another common phrase used in most of Whedon's shows is "safe as houses." So many of Whedon's altered usages, new words, and heavily popularized words have entered the common usage that PBS in their article series "Do You Speak American" included an entire section on "Slayer Slang".
Spiritual and philosophical beliefs

Whedon has identified himself as an atheist on multiple occasions. When interviewed by The AV Club on October 9, 2002, Whedon answered the question "Is there a God?" with one word: "No." The interviewer followed up with: "That's it, end of story, no?" Whedon answered: "Absolutely not. That's a very important and necessary thing to learn." In one of the Buffy DVD commentaries, Whedon comments that "I don't believe in the 'sky bully'", referring to God. In addition, during a question and answer session found on the Serenity DVD with fans of the Firefly series at Fox Studios in Sydney, he identifies himself as an atheist and absurdist.

Whedon has also spoken about existentialism. On the Firefly DVD set, Whedon explains in detail how existentialism, and more specifically the book Nausea, by Jean-Paul Sartre, was used as a basis for the episode "Objects in Space". On this commentary he claimed interest in existential ideas and described the impact of Nausea on his early life.

Whedon also identifies himself as a humanist. In April 2009, the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard presented Whedon with the 2009 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism.
Frequent casting

Whedon often casts certain actors and actresses in more than one of his projects.
Actor / Actress Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) Angel (1999–2004) Firefly (2002) Serenity (2005) Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008) Dollhouse (2009–2010) The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Amy Acker YesY YesY YesY
Adam Baldwin YesY YesY YesY
Felicia Day YesY YesY YesY
Alexis Denisof YesY YesY YesY
Eliza Dushku YesY YesY YesY
Nathan Fillion YesY YesY YesY YesY
Summer Glau YesY YesY YesY YesY
Christina Hendricks YesY YesY
Carlos Jacott YesY YesY YesY
Fran Kranz YesY YesY
Tom Lenk YesY YesY YesY
Kal Penn YesY YesY
Mark Sheppard YesY YesY
Gina Torres YesY YesY YesY
Alan Tudyk YesY YesY YesY
Andy Umberger YesY YesY YesY
Jonathan M. Woodward YesY YesY YesY

    * Actors that appear both in Firefly and Serenity portray the same character.
    * Carlos Jacott, Andy Umberger, Kal Penn and Jonathan M. Woodward portray different characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. This does not take into account, however, the actors that portrayed the same character on both shows. Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof, Eliza Dushku, James Marsters, Alyson Hannigan, Seth Green, Mercedes McNab, Julie Benz, Juliet Landau, Julia Lee, Tom Lenk, and Mark Metcalf all reprised their Buffy roles on Angel for at least one or more episodes.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/helvegr/joss_whedon.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/CavemenVsAstronauts/joss.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/23/10 at 6:28 am

The person who died on this day...Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American celebrity, comedian, game show host, and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's announcer and sidekick  on The Tonight Show  from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995. He co-hosted TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes with Dick Clark from 1982 to 1986. He also presented sweepstakes  for the direct marketing company, American Family Publishers (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House).

McMahon annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. He performed in numerous television commercials, most notably for Budweiser. In the 1970s and 1980s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High, and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of Bewitched. According to Entertainment Weekly, McMahon is considered one of the greatest "sidekicks".
McMahon was born in Detroit, Michigan to Edward Peter McMahon, Sr. a fund-raiser and entertainer, and his wife Eleanor (Russell) McMahon.  He was raised in Lowell, Massachusetts. McMahon attended Boston College in 1940-41 and later graduated from the Catholic University of America, majoring in speech and drama on the GI Bill in 1949. He was a member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. McMahon began his career as a bingo caller in Maine when he was fifteen.

Prior to this, he worked as a carnival barker for three years in Mexico, Maine. He put himself through college as a pitchman for vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk. His first broadcasting job was at WLLH-AM in his native Lowell and he began his television career in Philadelphia at WCAU-TV.
Military service

McMahon hoped to become a US Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, however, both the Army and Navy required two years of college for their pilots program. McMahon enrolled into classes at Boston College. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement was dropped, and McMahon immediately applied for Marine flight training. His primary flight training was in Dallas, followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing Japan's surrender.

As an officer in the reserves, McMahon was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. This time, he flew the OE-1 (the original Marine designation for the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog), an unarmed single-engine spotter plane. He functioned as an artillery spotter for the Marine batteries on the ground and as a forward controller for the Navy and Marine fighter bombers. He flew a total of 85 combat missions, earning 6 Air Medals. After the war, he stayed with the Marines, as a reserve officer, retiring in 1966 as a Colonel, he was later commissioned to the rank of Brigadier General in the California National Guard.
Entertainment career
The Tonight Show

McMahon and Johnny Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962). McMahon and Carson left the show to join The Tonight Show in 1962. He describes what happened when the pair first met, the whole meeting being "... about as exciting as watching a traffic light change".

For more than 30 years, McMahon introduced the Tonight Show with a drawn-out "Here's Johnny!" His booming voice and constant laughter alongside the "King of Late Night" earned McMahon the nickname the "Human Laugh Track" and "Toymaker to the King".

As part of the introductory patter to The Tonight Show, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as Ed "Mc MAH yon", but neither long-time cohort Johnny Carson nor anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually referring to him as Ed "Mc MAN".

The extroverted McMahon served as a counter to the notoriously shy Carson. Nonetheless, McMahon once told an interviewer that after his many decades as an emcee, he would still get "butterflies" in his stomach every time he would walk onto a stage, and would use that nervousness as a source of energy.
Star Search

He was also host of the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search, which began in 1983 and helped launch the careers of numerous actors, singers, choreographers, and comedians. He stayed with the show until it ended in 1995, and in 2003, he made a cameo appearance on the revival of the CBS show, hosted by his successor, Arsenio Hall.
Other roles
McMahon at the premiere of Air America, 1990

McMahon was the long-running co-host of the annual Labor Day weekend Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. His 41st and last appearance was in 2008, making him second only to Lewis himself in number of appearances.

McMahon and Dick Clark hosted the television series (and later special broadcasts of) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes on NBC from 1982–98, when Clark decided to move the production of the series to ABC.

From 1965 to 1969, McMahon was communicator (host) of the Saturday afternoon segment of Monitor, the weekend news, features and entertainment magazine on NBC Radio.

McMahon had a supporting role in the original 1970's version of the movie "Fun With Dick & Jane".

In 2004, he became the announcer and co-host of Alf's Hit Talk Show on TV Land. He has authored two memoirs, Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship as well as For Laughing Out Loud.

Over the years, he emceed the game shows Missing Links, Snap Judgment, Concentration, and Whodunnit!.

McMahon hosted Lifestyles Live, a weekend talk program aired on the USA Radio Network. He also appeared in the feature documentary film, Pitch People, the first motion picture to take an in-depth look at the history and evolution of pitching products to the public.

In the early 2000s, McMahon made a series of Neighborhood Watch public service announcements parodying the surprise appearances to contest winners that he was supposedly known for. (In fact, it is not clear whether the company McMahon fronted, American Family Publishers, regularly performed such unannounced visits, as opposed to Publishers Clearing House and its oft-promoted "prize patrol".)

Towards the end of the decade, McMahon took on other endorsement roles, playing a rapper for a FreeCreditReport.com commercial and in a Cash for Gold commercial alongside MC Hammer. McMahon was also the spokesman for Pride Mobility, a leading power wheelchair and scooter manufacturer.

His final film appearance was in the independent John Hughes themed rom-com jelly (film) as Mr. Closure alongside actress Natasha Lyonne.
Personal life
Children

McMahon had three daughters and three sons:

    * Claudia McMahon
    * Katherine McMahon
    * Linda McMahon
    * Jeffrey McMahon
    * Michael Edward McMahon (April 12, 1951 – July 28, 1995, cancer)
    * Lex McMahon (stepson; adopted after McMahon married Pam Hurn)

Financial problems

In June 2008, it was announced that McMahon was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans and was fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home. McMahon was also sued by Citibank for $180,000. McMahon appeared on Larry King Live on June 5, 2008 with his wife to talk about this situation. In the interview, McMahon's wife Pam said that people assumed that the McMahons had so much money because of his celebrity status. Pamela McMahon also commented that they do not have "millions" of dollars.

On July 30, 2008, McMahon's financial status suffered another blow. According to Reuters, McMahon failed to pay divorce attorney Norman Solovay $275,168, according to a lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, hired Solovay to represent Linda Schmerge, his daughter from another relationship, in a "matrimonial matter," said Solovay's lawyer, Michael Shanker.

On August 14, 2008, real estate mogul Donald Trump announced that he would purchase McMahon's home from Countrywide Financial and lease it to McMahon, so the home would not be foreclosed. McMahon agreed instead to a deal with a private buyer for his hilltop home, said Howard Bragman, McMahon's former spokesman. Bragman declined to name the buyer or the selling price, but he said it is not Trump. "For Mr. Trump, this acquisition was not business-related, but, as he has stated, was meant to help out an American icon," said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump. "If another buyer should emerge who will create the benefit Mr. Trump sought for Ed McMahon, then he is clearly pleased." In early September, after the second buyer's offer fell through, Trump renewed his offer to purchase the home.
Health problems

On April 20, 2002, McMahon sued his insurance company for more than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors failed to properly clean up water damage from a broken pipe. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court suit. The McMahons also blame the mold for the death of the family dog, Muffin. Their suit, the latest of many in recent years over toxic mold, was filed against American Equity Insurance Co., a pair of insurance adjusters and several environmental cleanup contractors. It seeks monetary damages for alleged breach of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A spokeswoman for the insurance company declined to comment. On March 21, 2003, the long battle ended with McMahon reaping $7 million from what was later discovered to be several companies who were negligent for allowing mold into his home. Their dog's death was confirmed to be caused by mold.

McMahon was injured in 2007 in a fall and, in March 2008, it was announced he was recovering from a broken neck and two subsequent surgeries. He later sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse, and emotional distress, and accused them of discharging him with a broken neck after his fall in 2007 and later botching two neck surgeries.

On February 27, 2009 it was reported that McMahon had been in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital (later confirmed as Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center) for almost a month. He was listed in serious condition and was in the intensive care unit. His publicist told reporters that he was admitted for pneumonia at the time, but could not confirm nor deny reports that McMahon had been diagnosed with bone cancer.
Death

McMahon died at age 86 on June 23, 2009, shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His nurse, Julie Koehne, RN, stated he went peacefully. No formal cause of death was given, but McMahon's publicist attributed his death to the many health problems he had suffered over his final months. McMahon had said that he still suffered from the injury to his neck in March 2007.

Then Tonight host Conan O'Brien paid tribute to McMahon on his show later that night, saying "It is impossible, I think, for anyone to imagine 'The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson' without Ed McMahon. Ed's laugh was really the soundtrack to that show." O'Brien added that McMahon, with Carson, created "the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history. There will never be anything like that again". McMahon was cremated and his ashes were given to his family, according to Find a Grave.com
Books

    * Ed McMahon's Barside Companion (World Publishing Company, Copyright 1969 by Parthenon Productions, Inc.), Library of Congress #70-94527
    * For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times (Warner Books, 1998), co-written with David Fisher
    * Here's Johnny! My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship (Berkley Publishing Group – Penguin Group (USA, Inc.), 2005)
    * When Television Was Young (2007)
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/StatMan79/mcmahon.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn200/Vampireseal/Website/artmcmahon2003gi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/23/10 at 6:40 am


The person who died on this day...Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American celebrity, comedian, game show host, and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's announcer and sidekick  on The Tonight Show  from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995. He co-hosted TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes with Dick Clark from 1982 to 1986. He also presented sweepstakes  for the direct marketing company, American Family Publishers (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House).

McMahon annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. He performed in numerous television commercials, most notably for Budweiser. In the 1970s and 1980s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High, and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of Bewitched. According to Entertainment Weekly, McMahon is considered one of the greatest "sidekicks".
McMahon was born in Detroit, Michigan to Edward Peter McMahon, Sr. a fund-raiser and entertainer, and his wife Eleanor (Russell) McMahon.  He was raised in Lowell, Massachusetts. McMahon attended Boston College in 1940-41 and later graduated from the Catholic University of America, majoring in speech and drama on the GI Bill in 1949. He was a member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. McMahon began his career as a bingo caller in Maine when he was fifteen.

Prior to this, he worked as a carnival barker for three years in Mexico, Maine. He put himself through college as a pitchman for vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk. His first broadcasting job was at WLLH-AM in his native Lowell and he began his television career in Philadelphia at WCAU-TV.
Military service

McMahon hoped to become a US Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, however, both the Army and Navy required two years of college for their pilots program. McMahon enrolled into classes at Boston College. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement was dropped, and McMahon immediately applied for Marine flight training. His primary flight training was in Dallas, followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing Japan's surrender.

As an officer in the reserves, McMahon was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. This time, he flew the OE-1 (the original Marine designation for the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog), an unarmed single-engine spotter plane. He functioned as an artillery spotter for the Marine batteries on the ground and as a forward controller for the Navy and Marine fighter bombers. He flew a total of 85 combat missions, earning 6 Air Medals. After the war, he stayed with the Marines, as a reserve officer, retiring in 1966 as a Colonel, he was later commissioned to the rank of Brigadier General in the California National Guard.
Entertainment career
The Tonight Show

McMahon and Johnny Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962). McMahon and Carson left the show to join The Tonight Show in 1962. He describes what happened when the pair first met, the whole meeting being "... about as exciting as watching a traffic light change".

For more than 30 years, McMahon introduced the Tonight Show with a drawn-out "Here's Johnny!" His booming voice and constant laughter alongside the "King of Late Night" earned McMahon the nickname the "Human Laugh Track" and "Toymaker to the King".

As part of the introductory patter to The Tonight Show, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as Ed "Mc MAH yon", but neither long-time cohort Johnny Carson nor anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually referring to him as Ed "Mc MAN".

The extroverted McMahon served as a counter to the notoriously shy Carson. Nonetheless, McMahon once told an interviewer that after his many decades as an emcee, he would still get "butterflies" in his stomach every time he would walk onto a stage, and would use that nervousness as a source of energy.
Star Search

He was also host of the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search, which began in 1983 and helped launch the careers of numerous actors, singers, choreographers, and comedians. He stayed with the show until it ended in 1995, and in 2003, he made a cameo appearance on the revival of the CBS show, hosted by his successor, Arsenio Hall.
Other roles
McMahon at the premiere of Air America, 1990

McMahon was the long-running co-host of the annual Labor Day weekend Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. His 41st and last appearance was in 2008, making him second only to Lewis himself in number of appearances.

McMahon and Dick Clark hosted the television series (and later special broadcasts of) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes on NBC from 1982–98, when Clark decided to move the production of the series to ABC.

From 1965 to 1969, McMahon was communicator (host) of the Saturday afternoon segment of Monitor, the weekend news, features and entertainment magazine on NBC Radio.

McMahon had a supporting role in the original 1970's version of the movie "Fun With Dick & Jane".

In 2004, he became the announcer and co-host of Alf's Hit Talk Show on TV Land. He has authored two memoirs, Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship as well as For Laughing Out Loud.

Over the years, he emceed the game shows Missing Links, Snap Judgment, Concentration, and Whodunnit!.

McMahon hosted Lifestyles Live, a weekend talk program aired on the USA Radio Network. He also appeared in the feature documentary film, Pitch People, the first motion picture to take an in-depth look at the history and evolution of pitching products to the public.

In the early 2000s, McMahon made a series of Neighborhood Watch public service announcements parodying the surprise appearances to contest winners that he was supposedly known for. (In fact, it is not clear whether the company McMahon fronted, American Family Publishers, regularly performed such unannounced visits, as opposed to Publishers Clearing House and its oft-promoted "prize patrol".)

Towards the end of the decade, McMahon took on other endorsement roles, playing a rapper for a FreeCreditReport.com commercial and in a Cash for Gold commercial alongside MC Hammer. McMahon was also the spokesman for Pride Mobility, a leading power wheelchair and scooter manufacturer.

His final film appearance was in the independent John Hughes themed rom-com jelly (film) as Mr. Closure alongside actress Natasha Lyonne.
Personal life
Children

McMahon had three daughters and three sons:

    * Claudia McMahon
    * Katherine McMahon
    * Linda McMahon
    * Jeffrey McMahon
    * Michael Edward McMahon (April 12, 1951 – July 28, 1995, cancer)
    * Lex McMahon (stepson; adopted after McMahon married Pam Hurn)

Financial problems

In June 2008, it was announced that McMahon was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans and was fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home. McMahon was also sued by Citibank for $180,000. McMahon appeared on Larry King Live on June 5, 2008 with his wife to talk about this situation. In the interview, McMahon's wife Pam said that people assumed that the McMahons had so much money because of his celebrity status. Pamela McMahon also commented that they do not have "millions" of dollars.

On July 30, 2008, McMahon's financial status suffered another blow. According to Reuters, McMahon failed to pay divorce attorney Norman Solovay $275,168, according to a lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, hired Solovay to represent Linda Schmerge, his daughter from another relationship, in a "matrimonial matter," said Solovay's lawyer, Michael Shanker.

On August 14, 2008, real estate mogul Donald Trump announced that he would purchase McMahon's home from Countrywide Financial and lease it to McMahon, so the home would not be foreclosed. McMahon agreed instead to a deal with a private buyer for his hilltop home, said Howard Bragman, McMahon's former spokesman. Bragman declined to name the buyer or the selling price, but he said it is not Trump. "For Mr. Trump, this acquisition was not business-related, but, as he has stated, was meant to help out an American icon," said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump. "If another buyer should emerge who will create the benefit Mr. Trump sought for Ed McMahon, then he is clearly pleased." In early September, after the second buyer's offer fell through, Trump renewed his offer to purchase the home.
Health problems

On April 20, 2002, McMahon sued his insurance company for more than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors failed to properly clean up water damage from a broken pipe. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court suit. The McMahons also blame the mold for the death of the family dog, Muffin. Their suit, the latest of many in recent years over toxic mold, was filed against American Equity Insurance Co., a pair of insurance adjusters and several environmental cleanup contractors. It seeks monetary damages for alleged breach of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A spokeswoman for the insurance company declined to comment. On March 21, 2003, the long battle ended with McMahon reaping $7 million from what was later discovered to be several companies who were negligent for allowing mold into his home. Their dog's death was confirmed to be caused by mold.

McMahon was injured in 2007 in a fall and, in March 2008, it was announced he was recovering from a broken neck and two subsequent surgeries. He later sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse, and emotional distress, and accused them of discharging him with a broken neck after his fall in 2007 and later botching two neck surgeries.

On February 27, 2009 it was reported that McMahon had been in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital (later confirmed as Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center) for almost a month. He was listed in serious condition and was in the intensive care unit. His publicist told reporters that he was admitted for pneumonia at the time, but could not confirm nor deny reports that McMahon had been diagnosed with bone cancer.
Death

McMahon died at age 86 on June 23, 2009, shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His nurse, Julie Koehne, RN, stated he went peacefully. No formal cause of death was given, but McMahon's publicist attributed his death to the many health problems he had suffered over his final months. McMahon had said that he still suffered from the injury to his neck in March 2007.

Then Tonight host Conan O'Brien paid tribute to McMahon on his show later that night, saying "It is impossible, I think, for anyone to imagine 'The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson' without Ed McMahon. Ed's laugh was really the soundtrack to that show." O'Brien added that McMahon, with Carson, created "the most iconic two-shot in broadcasting history. There will never be anything like that again". McMahon was cremated and his ashes were given to his family, according to Find a Grave.com
Books

    * Ed McMahon's Barside Companion (World Publishing Company, Copyright 1969 by Parthenon Productions, Inc.), Library of Congress #70-94527
    * For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times (Warner Books, 1998), co-written with David Fisher
    * Here's Johnny! My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship (Berkley Publishing Group – Penguin Group (USA, Inc.), 2005)
    * When Television Was Young (2007)
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/StatMan79/mcmahon.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn200/Vampireseal/Website/artmcmahon2003gi.jpg


Him And Johnny Are laughing in heaven.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/23/10 at 8:46 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTs8qB9S9pg&feature=related




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/23/10 at 9:54 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTs8qB9S9pg&feature=related




Cat

My speaker died  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/23/10 at 10:18 am


My speaker died  :\'(



:\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/23/10 at 7:15 pm

Guardian Angel.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/23/10 at 7:51 pm


Guardian Angel.


Kurt Angel

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/24/10 at 8:11 am


Kurt Angel

I haven't watched wrestling in a while, does he still wrestle?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/24/10 at 8:16 am

The word of the day...Tusk(s)

Tusks are unusually long teeth, usually but not always in pairs, that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canines, as with warthogs, wild boar, and walruses, or, in the case of elephants and narwhals, elongated incisors. Tusks are generally curved and pointed, though the narwhal's sole tusk is straight and has a helical structure. In the elephant, the tusks were originally second incisors.
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr159/ajohnson154/DSCN5283.jpg
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu116/PearlsphereDrafitti/Facebook%20Graffiti/Bluewashnarwhals2.png
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y120/creativecharm/tusk.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/diabolik99/tusk.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt290/rythoel/Tokens/Tusk.png
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h48/barbsbasket/Memory%20Lane/tusk.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g117/ladykenai/VancesShop3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/24/10 at 8:19 am

The person born on this day...Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British-born musician best known for his role as the drummer and namesake  of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac.

Aside from his work as a drummer, he also helped form the different incarnations of his band Fleetwood Mac, and is the sole member to stay with the band through its ever-changing lineup. In 1974, he met and invited Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham and Nicks contributed to much of Fleetwood Mac's later commercial success, while Fleetwood's determination to keep the band together was essential to the band's longevity as a ban Fleetwood was born in Redruth, Cornwall, to John Joseph Kells and Bridget Maureen (née Brereton) Fleetwood.  His sister, the late Susan Fleetwood, was an actress. In early childhood he and his family followed his father, a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, to Egypt. After about six years they moved to Norway where his father was posted. He attended school there and acquired fluency in the Norwegian language.  According to his autobiography,  Fleetwood had an extremely difficult and trying time academically at the English boarding schools he attended, including Kings School, Sherborne Park, Glos. He performed poorly on exams which he attributes to his persistent inability to commit facts to memory. He dropped out of school aged 15, and, in 1963, moved to London to pursue a career as a drummer.
Career

Keyboard player Peter Bardens gave Fleetwood his first gig in Bardens' band The Cheynes, thus seeding the young drummer's musical career. It would take him from The Cheynes to stints in the Bo Street Runners, Peter Bs, Shotgun Express (with Rod Stewart), and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. After being dismissed from the Bluesbreakers for repeated insobriety during gigs Mick Fleetwood was asked a few months later by singer and guitarist Peter Green to join him along with bassist John McVie in his new band Fleetwood Mac. Since then more than fifty albums have been released under the name Fleetwood Mac - by far the most popular being the two mega-platinum sets the group put out in the late seventies: Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.

Mick also led a number of side projects. 1981's The Visitor featured heavy African stylistics and a rerecording of "Rattlesnake Shake" with Peter Green. In 1983 he formed Mick Fleetwood's Zoo and recorded I'm Not Me. The album featured a minor hit with "I Want You Back" and a cover version of the Beach Boys' "Angel Come Home". A later version of the group featured Bekka Bramlett on vocals and recorded 1991's Shaking the Cage. Fleetwood released Something Big in 2004 with The Mick Fleetwood Band, and his most recent album is Blue Again, appearing in October 2008 with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band touring to support it, interspersed with the Unleashed tour of Fleetwood Mac. This music explores the blues roots of the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood has a secondary career as a TV and film actor, usually in minor parts. His roles in this field have included a resistance leader in The Running Man and as a guest alien in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Manhunt". Fleetwood co-hosted the 1989 BRIT Awards, which contained numerous gaffes and flubbed lines. In the wake of this public mishap, the BRIT Awards were pre-recorded for the next 18 years until 2007; the awards are now again broadcast live to the British public.

Also in 2007 Mick Fleetwood was featured singing the song "God" along with Jack's Mannequin in the Pop album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, a collection of covers of John Lennon songs.
Personal life

Fleetwood married Jenny Boyd in 1970, and the couple had two daughters. They later divorced, remarried and then divorced again.

He is the author of Fleetwood - My Life and Adventures with Fleetwood Mac, his memoirs of his life, especially with Fleetwood Mac, published in 1991. Included in the book are his experiences with other musicians including Eric Clapton, members of The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and a romance with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood also discusses his addiction to powdered cocaine and his personal bankruptcy in spite of earning millions from his drumming career.

Recognized for his imposing height, he stands at 6'6" (197 cm).

In 1979, Mick Fleetwood was diagnosed with diabetes, after suffering recurring bouts of hypoglycemia during several live shows.

Fleetwood has lived in the United States since the mid-70s, and became a U.S. citizen on November 22, 2006 in Los Angeles, California.
Drumming equipment

Drums: Drum Workshop Collector's Series Maple Drums in Natural Lacquer over Exotic Quilted Maple with 24k Gold hardware

    * 18"×22" bass drum
    * 6"×10" snare
    * 6"×14" snare
    * 8"×10" rack tom
    * 9"×12" rack tom
    * 11"×14" floor tom
    * 13"×16" floor tom

Cymbals: (from left to right)

    * Zildjian 15" K Mastersound Hi-hat
    * Zildjian 20" A Custom Flat Top Ride
    * Zildjian 22" A Custom Ride
    * Zildjian 17" A Custom Crash
    * Zildjian 17" A Custom Crash
    * Zildjian 22" K Ride
    * Zildjian 22" K Constantinople Medium Ride
    * Zildjian 18" FX Oriental China Trash

Discography
With Fleetwood Mac
Year Album US UK Additional information
1968 Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac) 198 4 -
1968 Mr. Wonderful - 10 Fleetwood featured on the cover art
1969 Then Play On 192 6 Fleetwood was credited with the instrumental "Fighting For Madge"
1970 Kiln House 69 39 Fleetwood co-wrote "Jewel Eyed Judy"
1971 Future Games 91 - -
1972 Bare Trees 70 - -
1973 Penguin 49 - -
1973 Mystery to Me 68 - -
1974 Heroes Are Hard to Find 34 - Fleetwood featured on the cover art
1975 Fleetwood Mac 1 23 Fleetwood featured (with McVie) on the cover art
1977 Rumours 1 1 Fleetwood co-wrote "The Chain"
1979 Tusk 4 1 -
1980 Live 14 31 -
1982 Mirage 1 5 -
1987 Tango in the Night 7 1 -
1988 Greatest Hits 14 3 -
1990 Behind the Mask 18 1 -
1995 Time - 47 Fleetwood co-wrote "These Strange Times"
1997 The Dance 1 15 -
2003 Say You Will 3 6 -
Solo albums
Year Album US UK Additional information
1981 The Visitor 43 - Featured two Fleetwood Mac remakes - "Rattlesnake Shake" & "Walk A Thin Line"
1983 I'm Not Me - - Billed as "Mick Fleetwood's Zoo"
1992 Shakin' the Cage - - Billed as "The Zoo"
2004 Something Big - - Billed as "The Mick Fleetwood Band"
2008 Blue Again - - with "The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band feat. Rick Vito"
See also

    * List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/gcmfvideo/mick-fleetwood.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii40/purpletruck94/mickfleetwood.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/24/10 at 8:25 am

The person who died on this day...Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on the The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series . His most noted film role was as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The Hustler (1961) starring Paul Newman.
By far, Gleason's most popular character was the blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden. Possibly inspired by another radio hit, The Bickersons, and largely drawn from Gleason's harsh Brooklyn childhood, these sketches became known as The Honeymooners and customarily centered on Ralph's incessant get-rich-quick schemes, the tensions between his ambitiousness and his friend Norton's scatterbrained aid and comfort, and the inevitable clash when his sensible wife Alice tried pulling her husband's head back down from the clouds.

The Honeymooners first appeared on Cavalcade of Stars on October 5, 1951, with Carney as Norton and the character actress Pert Kelton as Alice. Darker and fiercer than they later became with Audrey Meadows as Alice, the sketches proved popular with critics and viewers. As Kramden, Gleason played a frustrated bus driver with a battle-ax wife in harrowingly realistic arguments; when Meadows (who was 15 years younger than Kelton) took over the role after Kelton was blacklisted, the tone softened considerably. In fact, early sketches come as something of a shock to some modern critics.

When Gleason moved to CBS, Kelton was not part of the move, since her name had turned up in Red Channels, the book that listed and described reputed Communists and/or Communist sympathizers in television and radio. Gleason reluctantly let her leave the cast, with a cover story for the media that she had "heart trouble". He also turned down Meadows as Kelton's replacement, at least at first. Meadows wrote in her memoir that she slipped back to audition again and frumped herself up to convince Gleason that she could handle the role of a frustrated but loving working-class wife. Rounding out the cast with an understated but effective role, Joyce Randolph played Trixie Norton. Elaine Stritch had played the role as a tall and attractive blonde in the first sketch, but she was quickly replaced by Randolph.

The Honeymooners sketches proved popular enough that Gleason gambled on making it a separate series entirely in 1955. These are the so-called Classic 39 episodes, which finished 19th in the ratings for their only season. However, they were filmed with a new DuMont process, Electronicam, which allowed live television to be preserved on high-quality film. That turned out to be the most prescient move the show made, since — a decade after they first aired — the half-hour Honeymooners in syndicated reruns started to build a loyal and growing audience that made the show a television icon. Its popularity was such that even today, a life-size statue of Jackie Gleason, in full uniform as bus driver Ralph Kramden, stands outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
Gleason's acting was not restricted to comedic roles. He had also earned acclaim for live television drama performances in The Laugh Maker (1953) on CBS's Studio One; in William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (1958), which appeared as an episode of Playhouse 90, a television anthology series.

He was nominated for an Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961). (In his 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show, Gleason told Johnny Carson that he had played pool frequently since childhood, utilizing those experiences in The Hustler.) He was also well-received as a beleaguered boxing manager in the movie version of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Gleason also played a world-weary Army sergeant, in Soldier in the Rain (1963).

He wrote, produced, and starred in Gigot (1962), a notorious box-office disaster, in which he plays a poor, mute janitor who befriends and rescues a prostitute and her small daughter. The film's script formed the basis for the television film The Wool Cap (2004) starring William H. Macy in the role of the mute janitor; the television film received modestly good reviews.

Gleason played the lead in the Otto Preminger all-star flop, Skidoo (1968). In 1969, William Friedkin wanted to cast Gleason as "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971) but between Gigot and Skidoo, the studio refused to offer Gleason the lead in the film, even though he wanted to play it. Instead, Gleason wound up in How to Commit Marriage (1969) with Bob Hope and the movie version of Woody Allen's play Don't Drink the Water (1969), both flops.

More than a decade passed before Gleason had another hit film. This role was as a very funny and cursing Texas sheriff Buford T. Justice in the films Smokey and the Bandit, Smokey and the Bandit II and Smokey and the Bandit, Part 3,(1977 and 1980, 1983). In these films, he co-starred with Burt Reynolds as the Bandit, Sally Field as Carrie, (Bandit's love interest), Jerry Reed as Cledus (Snowman) Snow, Bandit's truck-driving partner off to bring back beer, clam chowder (II), etc. Former NFL linebacker and actor Mike Henry played his not-so-bright son, Junior Justice. Gleason's gruff and frustrated demeanor, along with a few classic lines, such as "I'm gonna Bar-B-Que yo' ass in molasses!" after a trucker tore the driver's door off his parked sheriff's car, had audiences howling in the theaters, and truly made the first "Bandit" movie a major hit.

Years later, when Burt Reynolds was interviewed by Larry King, Reynolds said that he agreed to do the movie only if they would hire Jackie Gleason to play the part of "Sheriff Buford T. Justice," which is the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman who knew Reynolds' father. That interview also revealed that director Hal Needham gave Gleason free rein to ad-lib a lot of his dialog and make suggestions for the film. For example, the scene at the "Choke and Puke" was Gleason's idea. Reynolds and Needham knew the comic brilliance of Gleason would help make the film a success. And Gleason's characterization of Sheriff Justice helped them connect the film with mostly blue collar audiences. Although he did curse in the first Bandit movie to add character and humor, his language was quite tame compared to the non-stop senseless cursing found in many modern films.

The first "Smokey and the Bandit" movie still remains one of the most popular films today.

In the 1980s, Gleason earned positive reviews playing opposite Laurence Olivier in the HBO dramatic two-man special, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983). He also gave a memorable performance as wealthy businessman U.S. Bates in the comedy The Toy (1982), opposite Richard Pryor. Although the movie itself was critically panned, Gleason and Pryor were praised.

Gleason's comic genius and acting abiliity are why he earned the nickname, "The Great One."
Death

Gleason delivered a critically acclaimed performance as an infirm but acerbic and somewhat Archie Bunker-like character in the Tom Hanks comedy-drama Nothing in Common (1986). The film proved to be Gleason's final film role, as he was suffering from colon cancer, liver cancer, and thrombosed hemorrhoids during production.

Gleason was hospitalized around 1986–1987, but checked himself out when told he had little chance of recovering. He returned to his Inverrary home and died peacefully on June 24, 1987, at age 71.

Gleason is interred in an outdoor mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami, Florida. At the base is the inscription of one of his catchphrases, "And Away We Go."
Tributes
Sign welcoming drivers to Brooklyn (circa 2000s).

Miami Beach honored Gleason's contributions to the city and its tourism in 1987 by renaming the Miami Beach Auditorium (where he had done his television show after moving to Florida) as the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts.
Bus driver related

    * On June 30, 1988, the Sunset Park Bus Depot in Brooklyn was renamed the Jackie Gleason Depot in honor of the native Brooklynite.
    * A statue of Gleason as Ralph in his bus driver's uniform was dedicated in August 2000 in New York City by the cable TV channel TV Land. The statue is located at in Manhattan at 40th Street and Eighth Avenue at the entrance of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Its inscription reads "Ralph Kramden: New Yorker, Bus Driver, Dreamer" and it was featured briefly in the film World Trade Center (2006).
    * Another such statue stands at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in North Hollywood, California, showing Gleason in his famous "And away we go!" pose.

Local signs on the Brooklyn Bridge, which indicate to drivers that they are entering Brooklyn, have the Gleason phrase "How Sweet It Is!" as part of the sign.

A city park with racquetball and basketball courts (and a children's playground) near his home in an Inverrary neighborhood of Lauderhill, Florida was named "Jackie Gleason Park".

A television movie called Gleason was aired by CBS on October 13, 2002, taking a deeper look into Gleason's life; it took liberties with some of the Gleason story, but featured his troubled home life, a side of Gleason that few had previously known of. He had two daughters by his first wife; they divorced, and Gleason endured a brief second marriage before finding a happy union with his third wife, June Taylor's sister Marilyn. The film also showed backstage scenes from his best-known work. Brad Garrett, from Everybody Loves Raymond, portrayed Gleason after Mark Addy had to drop out. Garrett was effectively made up to resemble Gleason in his prime. His height (6′8″, about eight inches taller than Gleason) created some logistical problems on the sets, which had to be specially made so that Garrett did not tower over everyone else. Also, cast members wore platform shoes when standing next to Garrett; the shoes can be seen in one shot during a Honeymooners sequence on Alice.

In 2003, after an absence of more than thirty years, the color, musical versions of The Honeymooners from the 1960s Jackie Gleason Show in Miami Beach were returned to television over the GoodLife TV (now AmericanLife TV) cable network. In 2005, a movie version of The Honeymooners appeared in theatres, with a twist: a primarily African-American cast, headed by Cedric the Entertainer. This version, however, bore only a passing resemblance to Gleason's original series and was widely panned by critics.

Actor/Playwright Jason Miller who was a former son-in-law of Gleason's was in the process of writing a screenplay based on his father-in law's life which was to star Paul Sorvino. Miller died before completing the project. Gleason's daughter, Linda Miller, (herself an actress) had been married to The Exorcist star Jason Miller. Their son is the actor Jason Patric.
Interest in the paranormal

Gleason was a voracious reader of books on the paranormal, including The Urantia Book, parapsychology and UFOs. He even had a house built in the shape of a UFO which he named "The Mothership". During the 1950s, he was a semi-regular guest on the paranormal-themed overnight radio show hosted by John Nebel, and wrote the introduction to Donald Bain's biography of Nebel. According to Gleason's second wife, Beverly McKittrick, he told her that U.S. President Richard Nixon took him on a secret visit to Homestead Air Force Base. There, Gleason allegedly saw an alien spaceship and dead extraterrestrials. After his death, his large book collection was donated to the library of the University of Miami.
In film

    * Gleason has been portrayed by Brad Garrett in the 2002 TV film Gleason.

    * Sean Cullen played a small role of Gleason in the 2002 made for TV movie Martin and Lewis.

Career
Television

1949–1959

    * Your Sports Special (1949)
    * The Lamb's Gambol (1949)
    * The Life of Riley (October 4,1949 – March 28, 1950) TV series
    * The Arrow Show (1949)
    * Ted and Jinx (1949)
    * This is Show Business (1950)
    * Showtime USA (1950)
    * Cavalcade of Stars (1950–1952) TV Series
    * The Frank Sinatra Show (1950)
    * Ford Star Revue (1951)
    * The Frank Sinatra Show (1951)
    * Cavalcade of Bands (1951)
    * Musical Comedy Time: No! No! Nanette! (1951)
    * Texacto Star Theatre (1951)
    * Ford Festival (1951)
    * This is Show Business (1951)
    * The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951)
    * Ford Star Revue (1951)
    * The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951)
    * The Kate Smith Evening Hour (1951)
    * The Jackie Gleason Show (September 20, 1952 – June 18, 1955) TV Series
    * Arthur Murray Party (1952)
    * The Sam Levinson Show (1952)
    * The Ken Murray Show (1952)
    * Toast of the Town (1952)
    * Celebrity Time (1952)
    * Scout O' Rama" (1952)



    * Jane Froman's USA Canteen (1952)
    * Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (1953)
    * Studio One: The Laugh Maker (May 18, 1953)
    * What's My Line? (1953)
    * This is Show Business (1953)
    * Arthur Murray Party (1953)
    * Toast of the Town (1954)
    * Name That Tune (1954)
    * Studio One: Short Cut (December 6, 1954)
    * The Best of Broadway: The Show Off (February 2, 1955)
    * What's My Line? (1955)
    * I've Got a Secret (1955)
    * The Jack Benny Program (1955)
    * Stage Show (1955)
    * The Honeymooners (October 1, 1955 – September 22, 1956) TV Series
    * The Red Skelton Show (1955)
    * Studio One: Uncle Ed and Circumstances (October 10, 1955)
    * The 64,000 Question (1956)
    * Person to Person (February 3, 1956)
    * The Herb Shriner Show (1956)
    * The Jackie Gleason Show (September 29, 1956– June 22, 1957) TV Series
    * Playhouse 90: The Time of Your Life (October 9, 1958) TV Movie
    * This is Your Life (1958)
    * Arthur Godfrey Show (1958)
    * The Jackie Gleason Show (October 1958 – January 1959) TV Series
    * All Star Jazz IV: The Golden Age of Jazz (January 4, 1959)

1960–1986

    * The Fabulous Fifties (1960)
    * Arthur Godfrey Special (1960)
    * The Secret World of Eddie Hodges (1960) TV Movie
    * The Jackie Gleason Special: The Big Sell (October 9, 1960)
    * The Red Skelton Show (1961)
    * Sunday Sports Spectacular: Jackie Gleason with the putter and cue (1961)
    * You're In the Picture/The Jackie Gleason Show (January 27 – March 24, 1961)
    * The Jackie Gleason Special: The Million Dollar Incident (April 21, 1961) TV Movie
    * Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine (September 29, 1962 – June 4, 1966) TV Series
    * The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963)
    * The Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre: The Big Stomach (November 16, 1966)
    * The Jackie Gleason Show (September 17, 1966 – September 12, 1970) TV Series
    * Here's Lucy: Lucy Visits Jack Benny (1968)
    * The David Frost Show (1970)
    * The Jackie Gleason Special (December 20, 1970)
    * The Jackie Gleason Special (November 11, 1973)
    * Show Business Tribute to Milton Berle (1973)
    * Julie & Jackie: How Sweet It Is! (1974)
    * Bob Hope Special (1974)



    * The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1975)
    * Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason: Two for Three (December 3, 1975)
    * Super Night at the Super Bowl (1976)
    * The Mike Douglas Show (1976)
    * The Honeymooners Second Honeymoon (February 2, 1976)
    * Donahue (1976)
    * The Captain and Tennille (1976)
    * Bing Crosby's White Christmas (1976)
    * The Honeymooners Christmas Special (November 28, 1977)
    * The Honeymooners Valentine Special (February 13, 1978)
    * The Second Honeymooners Christmas Special (December 10, 1978)
    * Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (June 3, 1983) TV Movie
    * All Star Party for Burt Reynolds (1984)
    * 60 Minutes (1984)
    * Izzy & Moe (September 23, 1985) TV Movie
    * The Honeymooners Reunion (May 13, 1985)
    * The 39th Annual Tony Awards (June 2, 1985)
    * The Honeymooners Anniversary Celebration (October 18, 1985)
    * Gleason: In His Own Words (February 14, 1986)

Stage productions

    * Keep Off the Grass (1940)
    * Artists and Models (1943)
    * Follow the Girls (1944)
    * The Duchess Misbehaves (1945)



    * Heaven on Earth (1948)
    * Along Fifth Avenue (1949)
    * Take Me Along (1959)
    * Sly Fox (1978)

Filmography

    * Navy Blues (1941)
    * Steel Against the Sky (1941)
    * All Through the Night (1942)
    * Lady Gangster (1942)
    * Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942)
    * Larceny, Inc. (1942)
    * Escape from Crime (1942)
    * Orchestra Wives (1942)
    * Springtime in the Rockies (1942)
    * The Desert Hawk (1950)
    * The Hustler (1961)
    * Gigot (1962) (also writer)
    * Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
    * Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)



    * Soldier in the Rain (1963)
    * Skidoo (1968)
    * How to Commit Marriage (1969)
    * Don't Drink the Water (1969)
    * How Do I Love Thee? (1970)
    * Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
    * Mr. Billion (1978)
    * Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
    * The Toy (1982)
    * The Sting II (1983)
    * Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)
    * Fools Die (1984)
    * Nothing in Common (1986)

Singles Discography
Year Title Label and Number
1951 "What is a Girl?"/"What is a Boy?" (spoken by Gleason) Decca 27684
1952 "Melancholy Serenade"/"You're Getting to Be a Habit" Capitol F2361
1953 "Alone Together"/"Body & Soul" Capitol F2437
1953 "My Funny Valentine"/"Love is Here to Stay" Capitol F2438
1953 "But Not For Me"/"Love" Capitol F2439
1953 "I'm in the Mood for Love"/"I Only Have Eyes for You" Capitol F2440
1953 "Terry's Theme from Limelight"/"Peg O' My Heart" Capitol F2507
1953 "White House Serenade"/"The President's Lady" Capitol F2515
1953 "Mystery Street"/"Golden Violins" Capitol F2659
1955 "The Band Played On"/"In the Good Old Summertime" Capitol F3144
1955 "Autumn Leaves"/"Oo! What You Do to Me" Capitol F3223
1956 "Capri In May"/"You're My Greatest Love" Capitol F3337
1958 "Where is She Now?"/"Just Only Yesterday" Capitol F4062
1962 "Allo 'Allo 'Allo"/"Joi De Vivre" (soundtrack) Capitol F4800
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/mortz92/JackieGleason.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/javam2/justice.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/24/10 at 10:31 am

One of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and I can't find it on YouTube. I find Fleetwood Mac preforming it OR the USC Trojan Marching Band (that my son-in-law was in) preforming it but I can't find BOTH preforming it at the same time.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/24/10 at 11:32 am


One of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and I can't find it on YouTube. I find Fleetwood Mac preforming it OR the USC Trojan Marching Band (that my son-in-law was in) preforming it but I can't find BOTH preforming it at the same time.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

:\'( I love that video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/24/10 at 6:53 pm


I haven't watched wrestling in a while, does he still wrestle?


in TNA.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/24/10 at 6:59 pm


I haven't watched wrestling in a while, does he still wrestle?


Re: Kurt Angel ... Not certain ...I have been watching some of his old matches on youtube...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/24/10 at 6:59 pm

I love Fleetwood Mac. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/24/10 at 7:07 pm

Fleetwood Mac is one of a handful of super bands that I could name 15 songs or more.  (along with The Beatles, Eagles, Bee Gees, ABBA and Chicago).  ELO, CSN, Doobies, America, The Stones and Wings are on a rung under these ...(for me at least).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/24/10 at 7:07 pm

Over My Head is one hit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/24/10 at 7:14 pm


Over My Head is one hit.


Are you sure it didn't connect with your head?  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/24/10 at 10:10 pm


Fleetwood Mac is one of a handful of super bands that I could name 15 songs or more.  (along with The Beatles, Eagles, Bee Gees, ABBA and Chicago).  ELO, CSN, Doobies, America, The Stones and Wings are on a rung under these ...(for me at least).

I'm with ya on that.

Rumours is also still one of my favorite albums ever.


One of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and I can't find it on YouTube. I find Fleetwood Mac preforming it OR the USC Trojan Marching Band (that my son-in-law was in) preforming it but I can't find BOTH preforming it at the same time.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Wasn't that the song " Tusk"? (I'm not 100% certain)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/25/10 at 5:42 am


Are you sure it didn't connect with your head?  ;D



::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:28 am


in TNA.

Thanks :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:31 am


I'm with ya on that.

Rumours is also still one of my favorite albums ever.
Wasn't that the song " Tusk"? (I'm not 100% certain)

Yeah at the end of the video the marching band comes and plays with them.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:35 am

The word of the day...Whisper
: to speak softly with little or no vibration of the vocal cords especially to avoid being overheard
2 : to make a sibilant sound that resembles whisperingtransitive verb 1 : to address in a whisper
2 : to utter or communicate in or as if in a whisper
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz84/DaydreamerRaiishax3/Truth%20Is%20A%20Whisper/TIAW_Banner.jpghttp://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad350/SilentProtest/My/908167212_5_mUyT.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z7/Faust_the_eighth/Frineds_and_i/BLARGandnadiaparty123.jpg
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg356/XxHarus_DollXx/whisper.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o286/sailorashley3/whisper.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l304/Sterntaenzer/whisper.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:38 am

The person born on this day...George Michael
George Michael, born as Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (Greek: Γεώργιος Κυριάκος Παναυιώτου; 25 June 1963), is a two-time Grammy Award winning English  singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s, when he formed the pop duo Wham!  along with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. His first solo single, "Careless Whisper" was released when he was still in the duo and sold about six million copies worldwide.

As a solo artist, He has sold over 100 million records worldwide as of 2010, encompassing 7 British #1 singles, 7 British #1 albums, 8 US #1 singles, and 1 US #1 album. His 1987 debut solo album, Faith has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and made several records and achievements in the United States. In 2004, Radio Academy named Michael as the most played artist on British radio between the period of 1984-2004.

The documentary A Different Story was released in 2005, it covered his personal life and professional career. In 2006, George Michael announced his first tour in 15 years. 25 Live tour was a massive, worldwide undertaking by Michael that spanned three individual tours over the course of three years (2006, 2007, and 2008)
Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, North London . His father was Kyriacos Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot restaurateur who moved to England in the 1950s and changed his name to Jack Panos.  Michael's mother, Lesley Angold Harrison, was an English dancer who died from cancer in 1997. Michael spent the majority of his childhood in North London, a typical place for Greek Cypriots in the 1980s, living in the home his parents bought soon after his birth. During his early teens, the family moved to Radlett and Michael attended Bushey Meads School where Michael met Andrew Ridgeley. The two both had the same career ambition of being musicians.

He began his involvement in the music business as a DJ playing youth clubs and local schools around Bushey, Stanmore and Watford; this was followed by the formation of a short-lived ska band called The Executive with Ridgeley, Ridgeley's brother Paul, Andrew Leaver, and David Mortimer (aka David Austin).
Musical career
Wham!
Main article: Wham!

Michael first found success after forming the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. The band's first album, Fantastic scored #1 in the UK and produced a series of top 10 singles including "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" and "Club Tropicana". Their second album, Make It Big, was the breakthrough that made the duo international superstars, scoring #1 on the charts in the US. Singles from that album included "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Freedom", "Everything She Wants", and "Careless Whisper", the latter of which also became Michael's first solo effort as a single.

Michael also sang on the original Band Aid recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and donated the profits from "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" to the charity. In addition, he contributed background vocals to David Cassidy's 1985 hit "The Last Kiss", as well as Elton John's 1985 successes "Nikita" and "Wrap Her Up". In an exclusive foray into popular journalism, in 1985 Michael also interviewed David Cassidy for David Litchfield's legendary Ritz Newspaper.

Wham!'s tour of China in April 1985, the first visit to China by a Western popular music act, generated enormous worldwide media coverage, much of it centered on Michael. The tour was documented by celebrated film director Lindsay Anderson and producer Martin Lewis in their film Foreign Skies: Wham! In China and contributed to Michael's ever-increasing fame.

With the success of Michael's solo singles, "Careless Whisper" (1984) and "A Different Corner" (1986), rumours of an impending termination of Wham! intensified. The duo officially separated during the summer of 1986 after releasing a farewell single, "The Edge of Heaven" and a singles compilation, The Final, plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film. The Wham! partnership ended officially with the commercially successful single "The Edge of Heaven", which reached #1 on the UK chart in November 1986.
Solo career

George Michael desired to create music for a more sophisticated audience than the duo's primarily teenage fanbase. The beginning of his solo career, during early 1987, was a duet with soul music icon Aretha Franklin. "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" was a one-off project that helped Michael achieve an ambition by singing with one of his favourite artists, and it scored number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release.

For Michael, it became his third consecutive solo number-one in the UK from three releases, after 1984's "Careless Whisper" (though the single was actually from the Wham! album Make It Big) and 1986's "A Different Corner". The single was also the first Michael had recorded as a solo artist which he had not written himself. The co-writer, Simon Climie, was unknown at the time, although he would have success as a performer with the band Climie Fisher in 1988. With this song, Michael won a Grammy Award during 1988 for Best R&B Performance - Duo or Group with Vocal.
Faith
Main article: Faith (George Michael album)

During the autumn of 1987 Michael released his first solo album, Faith. In addition to playing a large number of instruments on the album, he wrote and produced every track on the recording, except for one, which he co-wrote.

The first single released from the album was "I Want Your Sex," during the summer of 1987. The song was banned by many radio stations in the UK and USA, due to its sexually suggestive lyrics. MTV would broadcast the video, featuring celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung in a basque and suspenders, only during the late night hours. Michael argued that the act was beautiful if the sex was monogamous. Michael even recorded a brief prologue for the video in which he said: "This song is not about casual sex." One of the racier scenes involved Michael writing the words "explore monogamy" on his partner's back in lipstick. Some radio stations played a toned-down version of the song, "I Want Your Love," which was mainly the word "love" replacing "sex." When the tune reached the US charts, American Top 40 host Casey Kasem refused to say the song's title, referring to it only as "the new single by George Michael." In the US, the song was also sometimes listed as "I Want Your Sex (from 'Beverly Hills Cop II')," since the song was featured on the soundtrack of the movie.

Despite censorship and radio play problems, "I Want Your Sex" reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on the week of 8 August 1987. Moreover, the single remained in the Top 10 for six weeks, and the Top 40 for a total of fourteen weeks. The song charted at #3 in Britain. In 2002, several years after the major controversy concerning the release of the song, the music video was featured at #3 on MTV's countdown of the most controversial videos in the channel's history.

The second single, "Faith," was released during October 1987, just a few weeks before the album. "Faith" would go on to become one of his most popular songs. The song scored #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA, and #2 in the UK singles chart. The famous video provided some definitive images of the 1980s music industry in the process — Michael in shades, leather jacket, cowboy boots, and Levi's jeans, playing a guitar near a classic-design jukebox. "Faith" scored #1 on 12 December, and maintained that score for four consecutive weeks.

The album scored #1 in the UK and in several markets worldwide. In the United States, the album had 51 non-consecutive weeks of Billboard 200 Top 10 scores, including 12 weeks at #1. "Faith" had many successes, four of which ("Faith," "Father Figure," "One More Try," and "Monkey") scored #1.

Eventually, "Faith" scored Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10 million copies in the US. To date, global sales of Faith are more than 20 million units.
During the 2005 Live 8 concert, George Michael joined Paul McCartney on stage, harmonising on The Beatles classic "Drive My Car".

Michael was one of several remixers commissioned in 1990 to work on dance mixes for Bananarama's "Tripping on Your Love". Bananarama covered "Careless Whisper" for their Exotica album in 2001, and the track was also released as a single in France.
George Michael during a concert in Munich in 2006

In 2006, George Michael started his first tour in 15 years, 25 Live. The tour began in Barcelona, Spain, on 23 September and finished in December at Wembley Arena in England. According to his website, the 80-show tour was seen by 1.3 million fans.

On 12 May 2007 in Coimbra, Portugal, he began the European "25 Live Stadium Tour 2007", including London and Athens, and ending on 4 August 2007 in Belfast, UK. There were 29 tour dates (as of 21 April 2007) across Europe.

On 9 June 2007 Michael became the first artist to perform live at the newly renovated Wembley Stadium in London, where he was later fined £130,000 for overrunning the programme for 13 minutes.

On 25 March 2008 a third part of the 25 Live Tour was announced for North America. This part included 21 dates in the United States and Canada. This was Michael's first tour of North America in 17 years.

The album Twenty Five (album), was released in North America on 1 April 2008 as a 29-song, 2-CD set featuring several new songs (including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Blige and a song from the short-lived TV series, Eli Stone) in addition to many of Michael's successful songs from both his solo and Wham! career. In addition, a companion 2-disc DVD of 40 videos was also made available.

George Michael made his American acting debut by playing a guardian angel to Jonny Lee Miller's character on Eli Stone, a TV series that was broadcast in the USA. In addition to performing on the show as himself and as "visions", each episode of the show's first season was named after a song of his.

George Michael appeared on the 2008 finale show of American Idol on 21 May singing "Praying for Time". When asked what he thought Simon will say of his performance, he replied "I think he'll probably tell me I shouldn't have done a George Michael song. He's told plenty of people that in the past, so I think that'd be quite funny."

On the 1st of December, Michael played a last concert in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, as part of the 37th National Day Celebrations.

On 25 December 2008 George Michael released a new track December Song on his website for free. It was hoped that fans who download the song would donate money to charity. Though the song is not available anymore on his website, it remains available on file sharing networks and on 29 October 2009 the BBC said that George Michael was to join the race for the UK Christmas number one as a remastered version of December Song would go on sale on 13 December.

On 9 June 2009, Michael joined Beyoncé Knowles on stage during "If I Were A Boy" at the last UK show of her world wide tour I Am… Tour.

It was also reported that George Michael would perform December Song on ITV1's X Factor. However on 12 December 2009, he performed Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me with X Factor finalist and eventual winner Joe McElderry
2010 Australian tour

After months of speculation, Michael announced that he would be performing shows in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, his first concerts in Australia since 1988.

On 20 February 2010, Michael performed his first show in Perth at the Burswood dome to an audience of 15,000.

On 5 March 2010, George Michael confirmed that he would be a guest performer at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras After Party, where he performed at 1am, followed by Kelly Rowland at 3am.
Personal life
Sexuality

Michael was initially private about being gay; nonetheless, his sexual orientation was already well known among many music business insiders during his Wham! career, while his public image was still a heterosexual one.

In a 2007 interview, Michael said that he kept his homosexuality secret due to worries over the effect it would have on his mother.
Relationships

Michael established a relationship with Anselmo Feleppa, whom he had met at the 1991 concert Rock in Rio. Feleppa died of an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage in 1993. Michael's single "Jesus to a Child" is a tribute to Feleppa (he consistently dedicates it to him before performing it live), as is his 1996 album Older.

Since 1996, Michael had been in a long term relationship with sporting goods heir Kenny Goss. Goss opened the Goss Gallery in May 2005 in Dallas, which shows contemporary art, including those collected by the couple. They have homes in London and Dallas. In late November 2005, it was reported that Michael and Goss would register their relationship as a civil partnership in the UK, but due to negative publicity and his upcoming tour, they postponed it to a later date. There are reports of their relationship secretly ending in December 2008, though this has been denied by Michael.
Los Angeles incident

Questions of his sexual orientation persisted in public until 7 April 1998, when he was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in a park in Beverly Hills, California. He was arrested by an undercover policeman named Marcelo Rodríguez, in a sting operation using so-called "pretty police".

In an MTV interview, George Michael stated: "I got followed into the restroom and then this cop — I didn't know it was a cop, obviously — he started playing this game, which I think is called, 'I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm going to nick you!"

After pleading "no contest" to the charge, Michael was fined US$810 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. Soon afterwards, Michael made a video for his single "Outside" which was obviously based on the public toilet incident and which featured men dressed as policemen kissing. Rodriguez claimed that this video "mocked" him, and that Michael had slandered him in interviews. In 1999, he brought a US$10 million court case in California against the singer. The court dismissed the case, but an Appellate court reinstated the case on 3 December 2002. The court then ruled Rodríguez, as a public official, could not legally recover damages for emotional distress.

After the incident, Michael became explicit about his sexuality and his relationship with Kenny Goss, a former cheerleader coach and sportswear executive from Dallas, and his partner since June 1996.

On 23 July 2006 George was again accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, this time at London's West Hampstead Heath Park. The anonymous partner was later discovered to be 58-year-old Norman Kirtland, an unemployed van driver. Despite stating that he intended to sue both the News of the World tabloid who photographed the incident and Norman Kirtland for slander, George stated that he openly cruises for anonymous sex and that this was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss.

On 17 June 2008, George Michael said he was thrilled by California's legalization of same-sex marriage, calling the move "way overdue."
Drugs

On 26 February 2006, Michael was arrested for possession of Class C drugs, an incident that he described as "my own stupid fault, as usual." He was cautioned by the police and released.

Michael was arrested in Cricklewood, North-West London, after motorists reported a car obstructing the road at traffic lights. He pleaded guilty on 8 May 2007 to driving while unfit through drugs. He was banned from driving for two years, and sentenced to community service. During September 2007, on Desert Island Discs, he said that his cannabis use was a problem — he wished he could smoke less of it and was constantly trying to do so.

On 19 September 2008, Michael was arrested in a public toilet in the Hampstead Heath area of London for possession of Class A and C drugs. He was taken to the police station and cautioned for controlled substance possession.

On 5 December 2009, in an interview with The Guardian, Michael explains he had cut back on cannabis and now smokes only 'seven or eight' spliffs per day instead of the 25 he used to smoke.
Politics

Michael wrote "Shoot the Dog", a song critical about the friendly relationship between the US and UK governments and their involvement in the Iraq War.

During 2000, George Michael joined Melissa Etheridge, Garth Brooks, Queen Latifah, the Pet Shop Boys, and k.d. lang, to perform in Washington, D.C. as part of 'Equality Rocks' - a concert to benefit the Human Rights Campaign.

During 2007, he sent the £1.45 million piano that John Lennon used to write "Imagine" around the United States on a "peace tour," having it on display at places where violence had taken place, such as Dallas' Dealey Plaza where U.S. President John. F. Kennedy was shot.

He devoted his concert in Sofia, Bulgaria from his "Twenty Five Tour" to the Bulgarian nurses prosecuted in the HIV trial in Libya.
Charity

During 1984, he sang as part of Band Aid on the charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for famine relief in Ethiopia. This single scored #1 on the UK music charts over Christmas 1984, holding Michael's own song, "Last Christmas" by Wham!, at #2. Michael donated the royalties from "Last Christmas" to Band Aid and subsequently sang with Elton John at Live Aid (the Band Aid charity concert) in 1985.

In 2003 he paired up with Ronan Keating on the British version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and won £32,000 (this after having their original £64,000 winnings halved after missing the £125,000 question).

The proceeds from the single "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" were divided among 10 different charities for children, AIDS and education.

Michael is supporting a campaign to help raise US$32 million (GBP15 million) for terminally ill children.
Assets

According to reports with the 25 Live tour alone in 2 years between 2006 and 2008 he is said to have earned 48.5 million pounds (97 million dollars) as well as earning millions more for private concerts he does periodically such as for Billionaire Vladimir Potanin and super rich fashion shop owner Sir Philip Green . According to the "rich list" of the Timesonline.co.uk.com, as of 2009 George Michael is worth 90 million pounds in currency alone.

Besides owning several multi million dollar homes worldwide, Michael and his partner Kenny Goss have amassed a huge art collection valued at 100 million pounds.
Memoirs

In 1991 George released an autobiography titled "Bare" through Penguin Books which he co-wrote with writer Tony Parsons. The over 200 page book goes over various aspects of his life, and includes a relationship he had with a former girlfriend.

On 16 January 2008, Michael signed a contract with HarperCollins for an autobiography which he is to write "entirely himself".
Discography
Main article: George Michael discography
See also: Wham! discography
Albums
Studio albums

    * 1987: Faith
    * 1990: Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1
    * 1996: Older
    * 1999: Songs from the Last Century
    * 2004: Patience


Compilation albums

    * 1998: Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael
    * 2006: Twenty Five

Live albums

    * 1993: Five Live

Number-one songs
U.S. number one singles (10)

    * 1984: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (Wham!)
    * 1985: "Careless Whisper" (Wham! featuring George Michael)
    * 1985: "Everything She Wants" (Wham!)
    * 1987: "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (with Aretha Franklin)
    * 1987: "Faith"
    * 1988: "Father Figure"
    * 1988: "One More Try"
    * 1988: "Monkey"
    * 1990: "Praying for Time"
    * 1992: "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"(with Elton John)


UK number one singles (12)

    * 1984: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (Wham!)
    * 1984: "Careless Whisper"
    * 1984: "Freedom" (Wham!)
    * 1984: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (Band Aid)
    * 1985: "I'm Your Man" (Wham!)
    * 1986: "The Edge of Heaven" (Wham!)
    * 1986: "A Different Corner"
    * 1987: "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (with Aretha Franklin)
    * 1991: "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"(with Elton John)
    * 1993: Five Live EP (with Queen and Lisa Stansfield)
    * 1995: "Jesus to a Child"
    * 1996: "Fastlove"

Awards
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by George Michael
Tours

    * Faith World Tour (1988–1989)
    * Cover to Cover (1991)
    * 25 Live (2006–2008)
    * George Michael Live in Australia (2010)
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n70/wheelchairboi/George-Michael.jpg
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy10/zulzaga2006/george-michael.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:42 am

The person who died on this day...Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene alongside his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The music videos for his songs, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B and rock artists.

Jackson's album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 800 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of music. He was also a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. Amidst the preparations for the concert series This Is It, Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had reportedly been administered drugs such as propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as a billion people around the world may have watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children to an African American working-class family, in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy.  A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a child. Michael stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, though also credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success. Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in February 1993. He admitted that he had often cried from loneliness and he would vomit on the sight of his father. Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson, saying that he had a fat nose on numerous occasions. In fact, Michael Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant especially with his father, and to remain child-like throughout his adult life are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.

In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003 broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson acknowledged that his father hurt him when he was a child, but was nonetheless a "genius", as he admitted his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. When Bashir dismissed the positive remark and continued asking about beatings, Jackson put his hand over his face and objected to the questions. He recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you".

In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing. When he was eight, Jackson began sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5. The band toured the Midwest extensively from 1966 to 1968, frequently performing at a string of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit", where they often opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966, they won a major local talent show with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael.

The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the local record label Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown Records in 1968. Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts," writing that he "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer." The group set a chart record when its first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Between 1972 and 1975, Jackson released four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben, released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise, and producing successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.
Move to Epic and Off the Wall (1975–1981)

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Jackson was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel," and "Can You Feel It". In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.

Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Thriller and Motown 25 (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple." In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform. In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.
MichaelJacksonMoonwalk.ogg
Play video
Jackson debuts the moonwalk during his performance of Billie Jean on Motown 25

Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too". The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".

In March 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member, Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."
Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely important" and a "genius."  For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions.  Jackson's music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster, helped to put the relatively new channel into public awareness, and steered the channel's focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence numerous hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Beyoncé,  Mariah Carey,  Usher,  Green Day,  Britney Spears,  Madonna,  Justin Timberlake,  Ludacris.

Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power". In the mid-1980s, Time magazine's pop music critic, Jay Cocks, noted "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever". In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business. In 2007, Jackson said, "Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever."

Shortly after Jackson's death, on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and pay tribute to his work. The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the following week in the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial service. At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived."

In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended into academia, and was detectable in scholarly literature pertaining to a range of subject matter. The two researchers combed through various scholars' writings, and compiled an annotated bibliography of those writings that appeared to meet at least one of several criteria. Among these criteria were appearance in a peer-reviewed journal, and the provision of insight into the nature of "popular icons including Jackson". The bibliography located references to Jackson in research reports concerning music, popular culture, and an array of other topics. The bibliographers identified as their most peculiar finding an argument that certain aspects of chemistry can be effectively taught by altering and imitating elements of Jackson's singing. One of the research librarians later reflected that "the fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence".
Honors and awards
See also: List of awards received by Michael Jackson
Multiple people standing in line before a wall plastered with Michael Jackson posters. There are three women with short blonde hair, a man with curly brown hair and a man wearing a navy cap.
Queues for a Michael Jackson concert in West Berlin in June 1988

Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist. On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's passing as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This is It." Jackson will be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame in 2010.
Lifetime earnings

His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million. Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.
Discography
Main articles: Michael Jackson albums discography, Michael Jackson singles discography, and Michael Jackson videography
See also: Jackson 5 discography

    * Got to Be There (1972)
    * Ben (1972)
    * Music & Me (1973)
    * Forever, Michael (1975)
    * Off the Wall (1979)
    * Thriller (1982)
    * Bad (1987)
    * Dangerous (1991)
    * HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
    * Invincible (2001)

Filmography
Main article: Michael Jackson videography
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Director↓ Ref
1978 The Wiz Scarecrow Lumet, SidneySidney Lumet
1986 Captain EO Captain EO Coppola, Francis FordFrancis Ford Coppola
1988 Moonwalker Himself Kramer, JerryJerry Kramer
1997 Ghosts Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton Winston, StanStan Winston
2002 Men in Black II Agent M (cameo) Sonnenfeld, BarryBarry Sonnenfeld
2004 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls Agent MJ (cameo) Stoller, Bryan MichaelBryan Michael Stoller
2009 Michael Jackson's This Is It Himself Kenny Ortega
Tours
Main article: List of Michael Jackson tours

    * Bad World Tour (1987–89)
    * Dangerous World Tour (1992–93)
    * HIStory World Tour (1996–97)

See also
Michael Jackson portal
The Jackson Family portal

    * List of awards received by Michael Jackson
    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists in the United States
    * List of unreleased Michael Jackson material
    * List of honorific titles in popular music
    * Records and achievements of Michael Jackson

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo14/jaywonder/mjthraltxu1.jpg
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Music/mj1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/25/10 at 11:07 am


I'm with ya on that.

Rumours is also still one of my favorite albums ever.
Wasn't that the song " Tusk"? (I'm not 100% certain)



Another one of my fav Fleetwood Mac songs:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1iuSmZHcwY



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/25/10 at 11:27 am

Careless Whisper. One of the prettiest songs from the 1980s.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/25/10 at 11:34 am


Careless Whisper. One of the prettiest songs from the 1980s.




I like that one.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/25/10 at 11:37 am



I like that one.

Cat

I once wrote a parody on that one, with the title "Hairless sister". Wish I had kept it...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/25/10 at 11:41 am


I once wrote a parody on that one, with the title "Hairless sister". Wish I had kept it...



Was it about Dee Snider going bald?  ;) :D ;D ;D




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/25/10 at 11:53 am



Was it about Dee Snider going bald?  ;) :D ;D ;D


Cat

;D
No, it was about a girl who had too much electrolysis.
"I'll never use a brush again, all my hair is disappearing"..chorus was something like that

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/25/10 at 12:49 pm


The person who died on this day...Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene alongside his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The music videos for his songs, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B and rock artists.

Jackson's album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 800 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of music. He was also a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. Amidst the preparations for the concert series This Is It, Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had reportedly been administered drugs such as propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as a billion people around the world may have watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children to an African American working-class family, in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy.  A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a child. Michael stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, though also credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success. Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in February 1993. He admitted that he had often cried from loneliness and he would vomit on the sight of his father. Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson, saying that he had a fat nose on numerous occasions. In fact, Michael Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant especially with his father, and to remain child-like throughout his adult life are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.

In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003 broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson acknowledged that his father hurt him when he was a child, but was nonetheless a "genius", as he admitted his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. When Bashir dismissed the positive remark and continued asking about beatings, Jackson put his hand over his face and objected to the questions. He recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you".

In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing. When he was eight, Jackson began sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5. The band toured the Midwest extensively from 1966 to 1968, frequently performing at a string of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit", where they often opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966, they won a major local talent show with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael.

The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the local record label Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown Records in 1968. Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts," writing that he "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer." The group set a chart record when its first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Between 1972 and 1975, Jackson released four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben, released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise, and producing successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.
Move to Epic and Off the Wall (1975–1981)

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Jackson was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel," and "Can You Feel It". In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.

Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Thriller and Motown 25 (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple." In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform. In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.
MichaelJacksonMoonwalk.ogg
Play video
Jackson debuts the moonwalk during his performance of Billie Jean on Motown 25

Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too". The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".

In March 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member, Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."
Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely important" and a "genius."  For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions.  Jackson's music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster, helped to put the relatively new channel into public awareness, and steered the channel's focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence numerous hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Beyoncé,  Mariah Carey,  Usher,  Green Day,  Britney Spears,  Madonna,  Justin Timberlake,  Ludacris.

Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power". In the mid-1980s, Time magazine's pop music critic, Jay Cocks, noted "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever". In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business. In 2007, Jackson said, "Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever."

Shortly after Jackson's death, on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and pay tribute to his work. The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the following week in the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial service. At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived."

In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended into academia, and was detectable in scholarly literature pertaining to a range of subject matter. The two researchers combed through various scholars' writings, and compiled an annotated bibliography of those writings that appeared to meet at least one of several criteria. Among these criteria were appearance in a peer-reviewed journal, and the provision of insight into the nature of "popular icons including Jackson". The bibliography located references to Jackson in research reports concerning music, popular culture, and an array of other topics. The bibliographers identified as their most peculiar finding an argument that certain aspects of chemistry can be effectively taught by altering and imitating elements of Jackson's singing. One of the research librarians later reflected that "the fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence".
Honors and awards
See also: List of awards received by Michael Jackson
Multiple people standing in line before a wall plastered with Michael Jackson posters. There are three women with short blonde hair, a man with curly brown hair and a man wearing a navy cap.
Queues for a Michael Jackson concert in West Berlin in June 1988

Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist. On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's passing as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This is It." Jackson will be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame in 2010.
Lifetime earnings

His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million. Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.
Discography
Main articles: Michael Jackson albums discography, Michael Jackson singles discography, and Michael Jackson videography
See also: Jackson 5 discography

    * Got to Be There (1972)
    * Ben (1972)
    * Music & Me (1973)
    * Forever, Michael (1975)
    * Off the Wall (1979)
    * Thriller (1982)
    * Bad (1987)
    * Dangerous (1991)
    * HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
    * Invincible (2001)

Filmography
Main article: Michael Jackson videography
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Director↓ Ref
1978 The Wiz Scarecrow Lumet, SidneySidney Lumet
1986 Captain EO Captain EO Coppola, Francis FordFrancis Ford Coppola
1988 Moonwalker Himself Kramer, JerryJerry Kramer
1997 Ghosts Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton Winston, StanStan Winston
2002 Men in Black II Agent M (cameo) Sonnenfeld, BarryBarry Sonnenfeld
2004 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls Agent MJ (cameo) Stoller, Bryan MichaelBryan Michael Stoller
2009 Michael Jackson's This Is It Himself Kenny Ortega
Tours
Main article: List of Michael Jackson tours

    * Bad World Tour (1987–89)
    * Dangerous World Tour (1992–93)
    * HIStory World Tour (1996–97)

See also
Michael Jackson portal
The Jackson Family portal

    * List of awards received by Michael Jackson
    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists in the United States
    * List of unreleased Michael Jackson material
    * List of honorific titles in popular music
    * Records and achievements of Michael Jackson

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo14/jaywonder/mjthraltxu1.jpg
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Music/mj1.jpg
Please not forget that Farrah Fawcett died one year ago today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/25/10 at 1:14 pm

British Person of the Day: Peter Blake

Sir Peter Thomas Blake, CBE, RDI, (born 25 June 1932, in Dartford, Kent) is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.

Career

During the late 1950s, Blake became one of the best known British pop artists. His paintings from this time included imagery from advertisements, music hall entertainment, and wrestlers, often including collaged elements. Blake was included in group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and had his first solo exhibition in 1960. It was with the 'Young Contemporaries' exhibition of 1961 where he was exhibited alongside David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj that he was first identified with the emerging British Pop Art movement. Blake won the (1961) John Moores junior award for his work Self Portrait with Badges. He first came to wider public attention when, along with Pauline Boty, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips, he was featured in Ken Russell's film on pop art, Pop Goes the Easel, which was broadcast on BBC television in 1962. From 1963 Blake was represented by Robert Fraser which placed him at the centre of swinging London and brought him into contact with leading figures of popular culture.

Work

On the Balcony (1955-57) is a significant early work and still stands as one of the iconic pieces of British Pop Art, showing Blake's interest in combining images from pop culture with fine art. The work, which appear to be a collage but is in fact wholly painted, shows, among other things, a boy holding Edouard Manet's The Balcony, badges and magazines. It was inspired by a painting by Honoré Sharrer depicting workers holding famous paintings. Blake confronts the viewer with a picture plane that is deceptively flat, effectively blocking the viewer from venturing deeper into the picture plane. This spatial property however is a flatness that resounds starkly; a flat surface that at once becomes a presentation of characters and images as well as a culturally implicit sense of external facade. One of the most striking initial aspects of this piece is that it seems to radiate an illusionist child-like charm which the viewer can easily identify with making it from first glance an oddly powerful work. His self-identification with the axioms of popular culture in effect show an awareness of the mechanisms of a society being faced with celebrity idolatry and cultural goods. Such banal goods and images were not frequently seen in artwork and created a new space for discourse within a painting. Blake’s characters are strangely static and scarcely seem to notice the accumulation around them – even when images are tacked right on top of them. This was not merely whimsical thinking or dreams of consumer grandeur, and albeit not a simple display of products; it was life as Blake experienced it, as true and telling an account of the surroundings of the time as could be made.

Blake also often directly referred to the work of other artists. On the Balcony (1955-57) has Edouard Manet's The Balcony being held by a boy on the left of the composition, and The First Real Target (1961) is a standard archery target with the title written across the top as a play on the paintings of targets by Kenneth Noland and Jasper Johns.

Blake also painted several notable album sleeves. He designed the sleeve for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with his then-wife Jann Haworth, the American-born artist whom he married in 1963 and divorced in 1979. The Sgt. Pepper's sleeve has become an iconic work of pop art, much imitated and Blake's best known work. The means of production was the construction of a set with cut-out photographs and objects, such as flowers, centred around a drum (sold in auction in 2008) with the title of the album. Blake has subsequently complained about the one-off fee he received for the design (£200), with no subsequent royalties. Blake also made sleeves for the Band Aid single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (1984), Paul Weller's Stanley Road (1995) and the Ian Dury tribute album Brand New Boots and Panties (2001; Blake had been Dury's tutor at the Royal College of Art in the mid-60s). He also designed the sleeves for Pentangle's Sweet Child and The Who's Face Dances (1981), which features portraits of the band by a number of artists.

In 1969 Blake left London to live near Bath. Blake's work changed direction featuring scenes based on English Folklore and characters from Shakespeare. In the early 1970s, he made a set of watercolours to illustrate Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and in 1975 was a founder of the Brotherhood of Ruralists. Blake moved back to London in 1979 and his work returned to the earlier popular culture references.

Blake was made a Royal Academician in 1981, and a CBE in 1983. "A major retrospective of Blake's work was held in the Tate in 1983...(and) in 2002 Blake was awarded a knighthood for his services to art." In February 2005, the Sir Peter Blake Music Art Gallery, located in the School of Music, University of Leeds, was opened by the artist. The permanent exhibition features 17 examples of Blake's album sleeve art, including the only public showing of a signed print of his famed Sgt. Pepper's artwork. In June 2006, as The Who returned to play Leeds University 36 years after recording their seminal Live at Leeds album there in 1970, Blake unveiled a new Live at Leeds 2 artwork to commemorate the event. Both the artist and The Who's Pete Townshend signed an edition which will join the gallery's collection.

More recently, Blake has created Artist's editions for the opening of the Pallant House Gallery which houses collections that include some of his most famous paintings. These works are homages to his earlier work on the Stanley Road album cover and Babe Rainbow prints. He also designed a series of deck chairs.

In 2006, Blake designed the cover for Oasis greatest hits album Stop the Clocks. According to Blake, he chose all of the objects in the picture at random, but the sleeves of Sgt. Pepper's and Definitely Maybe were in the back of his mind. He claims, "It's using the mystery of Definitely Maybe and running away with it." Familiar cultural icons which can be seen on the cover include Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Charles Manson (replacing the original image of Marilyn Monroe, which could not be used for legal reasons) and the seven dwarfs from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.

Blake also revealed that the final cover wasn't the original one. That design featured an image of the shop 'Granny Takes A Trip' on the Kings Road in Chelsea, London.

Blake created an updated version of Sgt. Pepper - with famous figures from Liverpool history - as part of the successful campaign for Liverpool to become European Capital of Culture 2008, and is creating a series of prints to celebrate Liverpool's status.

In 2008, Blake painted a pig for the public art event King Bladud's Pigs In Bath in the English city of Bath.

He also recently designed a shopping bag for the Lucky Brand Jeans company for the holiday season.

Blake created the carpet which runs through the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom's Middlesex Guildhall building.

Bibliography

    * 1991 : 24 Nights by Eric Clapton - scrapbook by Peter Blake (Genesis Publications)
    * 2009 : That Lucky Old Sun by Brian Wilson - 12 limited edition prints by Peter Blake (Genesis Publications)
    * 2009 : Peter Blake: One Man Show by Marco Livingstone (Lund Humphries) Hardback - 978-0-85331-980-1; Limited Edition Hardback - 978-1-84822-039-3

http://www.eitb24.com/archivos/imagenes/eitb24/cultura/2008/03/03/peter-blake-2008030317593805hg2.jpg

http://www.sideshowworld.com/PBSP.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/25/10 at 1:25 pm



http://www.sideshowworld.com/PBSP.jpg



One of the best album covers-EVER!!!!!

Every time I look at it, I see something new.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/25/10 at 1:28 pm



One of the best album covers-EVER!!!!!

Every time I look at it, I see something new.




Cat
I believe three personalities were removed from the final shoot.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/25/10 at 3:03 pm


Careless Whisper. One of the prettiest songs from the 1980s.


I like Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/25/10 at 3:05 pm


The person who died on this day...Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene alongside his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The music videos for his songs, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B and rock artists.

Jackson's album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 800 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of music. He was also a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. Amidst the preparations for the concert series This Is It, Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had reportedly been administered drugs such as propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as a billion people around the world may have watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children to an African American working-class family, in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy.  A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a child. Michael stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, though also credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success. Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in February 1993. He admitted that he had often cried from loneliness and he would vomit on the sight of his father. Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson, saying that he had a fat nose on numerous occasions. In fact, Michael Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant especially with his father, and to remain child-like throughout his adult life are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.

In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003 broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson acknowledged that his father hurt him when he was a child, but was nonetheless a "genius", as he admitted his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. When Bashir dismissed the positive remark and continued asking about beatings, Jackson put his hand over his face and objected to the questions. He recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you".

In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing. When he was eight, Jackson began sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5. The band toured the Midwest extensively from 1966 to 1968, frequently performing at a string of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit", where they often opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966, they won a major local talent show with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael.

The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the local record label Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown Records in 1968. Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts," writing that he "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer." The group set a chart record when its first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Between 1972 and 1975, Jackson released four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben, released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise, and producing successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.
Move to Epic and Off the Wall (1975–1981)

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Jackson was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel," and "Can You Feel It". In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.

Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Thriller and Motown 25 (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple." In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform. In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.
MichaelJacksonMoonwalk.ogg
Play video
Jackson debuts the moonwalk during his performance of Billie Jean on Motown 25

Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too". The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".

In March 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member, Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."
Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely important" and a "genius."  For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions.  Jackson's music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster, helped to put the relatively new channel into public awareness, and steered the channel's focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence numerous hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Beyoncé,  Mariah Carey,  Usher,  Green Day,  Britney Spears,  Madonna,  Justin Timberlake,  Ludacris.

Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power". In the mid-1980s, Time magazine's pop music critic, Jay Cocks, noted "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever". In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business. In 2007, Jackson said, "Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever."

Shortly after Jackson's death, on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and pay tribute to his work. The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the following week in the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial service. At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived."

In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended into academia, and was detectable in scholarly literature pertaining to a range of subject matter. The two researchers combed through various scholars' writings, and compiled an annotated bibliography of those writings that appeared to meet at least one of several criteria. Among these criteria were appearance in a peer-reviewed journal, and the provision of insight into the nature of "popular icons including Jackson". The bibliography located references to Jackson in research reports concerning music, popular culture, and an array of other topics. The bibliographers identified as their most peculiar finding an argument that certain aspects of chemistry can be effectively taught by altering and imitating elements of Jackson's singing. One of the research librarians later reflected that "the fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence".
Honors and awards
See also: List of awards received by Michael Jackson
Multiple people standing in line before a wall plastered with Michael Jackson posters. There are three women with short blonde hair, a man with curly brown hair and a man wearing a navy cap.
Queues for a Michael Jackson concert in West Berlin in June 1988

Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist. On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's passing as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This is It." Jackson will be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame in 2010.
Lifetime earnings

His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million. Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.
Discography
Main articles: Michael Jackson albums discography, Michael Jackson singles discography, and Michael Jackson videography
See also: Jackson 5 discography

    * Got to Be There (1972)
    * Ben (1972)
    * Music & Me (1973)
    * Forever, Michael (1975)
    * Off the Wall (1979)
    * Thriller (1982)
    * Bad (1987)
    * Dangerous (1991)
    * HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
    * Invincible (2001)

Filmography
Main article: Michael Jackson videography
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Director↓ Ref
1978 The Wiz Scarecrow Lumet, SidneySidney Lumet
1986 Captain EO Captain EO Coppola, Francis FordFrancis Ford Coppola
1988 Moonwalker Himself Kramer, JerryJerry Kramer
1997 Ghosts Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton Winston, StanStan Winston
2002 Men in Black II Agent M (cameo) Sonnenfeld, BarryBarry Sonnenfeld
2004 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls Agent MJ (cameo) Stoller, Bryan MichaelBryan Michael Stoller
2009 Michael Jackson's This Is It Himself Kenny Ortega
Tours
Main article: List of Michael Jackson tours

    * Bad World Tour (1987–89)
    * Dangerous World Tour (1992–93)
    * HIStory World Tour (1996–97)

See also
Michael Jackson portal
The Jackson Family portal

    * List of awards received by Michael Jackson
    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists in the United States
    * List of unreleased Michael Jackson material
    * List of honorific titles in popular music
    * Records and achievements of Michael Jackson

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo14/jaywonder/mjthraltxu1.jpg
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Music/mj1.jpg



Michael Jackson will always be missed.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:12 pm


I like Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

I like both Careless Whisper and  Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, but my favorite is Father Figure :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:16 pm


Please not forget that Farrah Fawcett died one year ago today.

So true..A small tribute to Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett (February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009)  was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the TV series Charlie's Angels, in 1976. Fawcett later appeared off-Broadway to critical approval and in highly rated and critically acclaimed television movies, in roles often challenging (The Burning Bed, Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story, Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, Margaret Bourke-White) and sometimes unsympathetic (Small Sacrifices). Fawcett was a sex symbol whose iconic poster, released the same year Charlie's Angels premiered, broke sales records, making her an international pop culture icon. Her hair style was emulated by millions of young women for nearly a decade, beginning in the 1970s and through early 1980s.
On March 21, 1976, the first appearance of Fawcett playing the character Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels was aired as a movie of the week. Fawcett and her husband were frequent tennis partners of producer Aaron Spelling, and he and his producing partner thought of casting Fawcett as the "golden girl" Jill because of his friendship with the couple. The movie starred Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as private investigators for Townsend Associates, a detective agency run by a reclusive multi-millionaire whom the women had never met. Voiced by John Forsythe, the Charles Townsend character presented cases and dispensed advice via a speakerphone to his core team of three female employees, whom he referred to as "Angels." They were aided in the office and occasionally in the field by two male associates, played by character actors David Doyle and David Ogden Stiers. The program earned a huge Nielsen rating, leading the network to air it a second time and approve production for a series, with the pilot's principal cast except David Ogden Stiers.

The Charlie's Angels series formally debuted on September 22, 1976. Fawcett emerged as a fan favorite in the show, and the actress won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Performer in a New TV Program. In a 1977 interview with TV Guide, Fawcett said: "When the show was number three, I thought it was our acting. When we got to be number one, I decided it could only be because none of us wears a bra".

Fawcett's appearance in the TV show boosted sales of her poster, and she earned far more in royalties from poster sales than from her salary for appearing in Charlie's Angels. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a "Farrah Do" or "Farrah Hair." The hairstyle was even spoofed in various media, including Redd Foxx's variety show on ABC and Dynamite magazine. Iterations of her hair style predominated American women's hair styles well into the 1980s.

Fawcett left Charlie's Angels after only one season and Cheryl Ladd replaced her on the show, portraying Jill's younger sister Kris Munroe. Numerous explanations for Fawcett's precipitous withdrawal from the show were offered over the years. The strain on her marriage due to her long absences most days due to filming, as her then-husband Lee Majors was star of an established TV show himself, was frequently cited, but Fawcett's ambitions to broaden her acting abilities with opportunities in films have also been given. Fawcett never officially signed her series contract with Spelling due to protracted negotiations over royalties from her image's use in peripheral products, which led to an even more protracted lawsuit filed by Spelling and his company when she quit the show.

The show was a major success throughout the world, maintaining its appeal in syndication, spawning a cottage industry of peripheral products, particularly in the show's first three seasons, including several series of bubble gum cards, two sets of fashion dolls, numerous posters, puzzles, and school supplies, novelizations of episodes, toy vans, and a board game, all featuring Fawcett's likeness. The "Angels" also appeared on the covers of magazines around the world, from countless fan magazines to TV Guide (four times) to Time Magazine.

The series ultimately ran for five seasons. As part of a settlement to a lawsuit over her early departure, Fawcett returned for six guest appearances over seasons three and four of the series.

In 2004, the TV movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels dramatized the events from the show with supermodel and actress Tricia Helfer portraying Fawcett and Ben Browder portraying Lee Majors, Fawcett's then-husband.
Dramatic roles

Following a series of commercial and critical feature film flops in the years after departure from "Charlie's Angels", in 1983 Fawcett won critical acclaim for her role in the off-Broadway stage production of the controversial play Extremities, written by William Mastrosimone. Replacing Susan Sarandon, she was a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her attacker. She described the role as "the most grueling, the most intense, the most physically demanding and emotionally exhausting" of her career. During one performance, a stalker in the audience disrupted the show by asking Fawcett if she had received the photos and letters he had mailed her. Police removed the man and were able only to issue a summons for disorderly conduct.

The following year, her role as a battered wife in the fact-based TV movie The Burning Bed earned her the first of her four Emmy Award nominations. The project is noted as being the first TV movie to provide a nationwide 800 number that offered help for others in the situation, in this case victims of domestic abuse. It was the highest-rated TV movie of the season.

In 1986 Fawcett appeared in the movie version of Extremities, which was also well-received by critics, and for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

She appeared in Jon Avnet's Between Two Women with Colleen Dewhurst, and took several more dramatic roles as infamous or renowned women. She was nominated for Golden Globe awards for roles as Beate Klarsfeld in Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story and troubled Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, and won a CableACE Award for her 1989 portrayal of groundbreaking Life magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White. Her 1989 portrayal of convicted murderer Diane Downs in the miniseries Small Sacrifices earned her a second Emmy nomination and her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination. The miniseries won a Peabody Award for excellence in television, with Fawcett's performance singled out by the organization, which stated "Ms. Fawcett brings a sense of realism rarely seen in television miniseries (to) a drama of unusual power".
Art meets life

Fawcett, who had steadfastly resisted appearing nude in films or magazines throughout the 1970s and 1980s, caused a major stir by posing semi-nude in the December 1995 issue of Playboy, which became the best-selling issue of the 1990s, with over four million copies sold worldwide. At the age of 50, she returned to Playboy with a pictorial for the July 1997 issue, which also became a top seller. The issue and its accompanying video featured Fawcett painting on canvas using her body, which had been an ambition of hers for years.

That same year, Fawcett was chosen by Robert Duvall to play his wife in an independent feature film he was producing, The Apostle. Fawcett received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress for the film, which was highly critically acclaimed.

In 2000, she worked with director Robert Altman and an all-star cast in the feature film Dr. T and the Women, playing opposite Richard Gere. Also that year, Fawcett's collaboration with sculptor Keith Edmier was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, later traveling to the Andy Warhol Museum. The sculpture was also presented in a series of photographs and a book by Rizzoli.

In November 2003, Fawcett prepared for her return to Broadway in a production of Bobbi Boland, the tragicomic tale of a former Miss Florida. However, the show never officially opened, closing before preview performances. Fawcett was described as "vibrating with frustration" at the producer's extraordinary decision to cancel the production. Only days earlier the same producer closed an off-Broadway show she had been backing.

Fawcett continued to work in television, with well-regarded appearances in made for TV movies and on popular television series including Ally McBeal and four episodes each of Spin City and The Guardian, her work on the latter show earning her a third Emmy nomination in 2004.
Personal life

Fawcett was married to Lee Majors, star of TV's The Six Million Dollar Man, from 1973 to 1982, although the couple separated in 1979. During her marriage, she was known and credited in her roles as Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

From 1982 until 1997 Fawcett was involved romantically with actor Ryan O'Neal. The relationship produced a son, Redmond James Fawcett O'Neal, born January 1985 in Los Angeles. In April 2009, on probation for driving under the influence, Redmond was arrested for possession of narcotics while Fawcett was in the hospital. On June 22, 2009, The Los Angeles Times and Reuters reported that Ryan O'Neal had said that Fawcett had agreed to marry him as soon as she felt strong enough.

From 1997 to 1998, Fawcett had a relationship with filmmaker James Orr, writer and producer of the Disney feature film in which she co-starred with Chevy Chase, Man of the House.

On June 5, 1997, Fawcett received negative commentary after giving a rambling interview and appearing distracted on Late Show with David Letterman. Months later, she told the host of The Howard Stern Show her behavior was just her way of joking around with the television host, partly in the guise of promoting her Playboy pictoral and video, explaining what appeared to be random looks across the theater was just her looking and reacting to fans in the audience. Though the Letterman appearance spawned speculation and several jokes at her expense, she returned to the show a week later, with success, and several years later, after Joaquin Phoenix's mumbling act on a February 2009 appearance on The Late Show, Letterman wrapped up the interview by saying, "Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight" and recalled Fawcett's earlier appearance by noting "e owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett."

Fawcett's elder sister, Diane Fawcett Walls, died from lung cancer just before her 63rd birthday, on October 16, 2001. The fifth episode of her 2005 Chasing Farrah series, which was generally panned by critics, followed the actress home to Texas to visit with her father, James, and mother, Pauline. Pauline Fawcett died soon after, on March 4, 2005, at the age of 91.
Cancer

Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery. Four months later, on her 60th birthday, the Associated Press wire service reported that Fawcett was, at that point, cancer free.

Less than four months later, in May 2007, Fawcett brought a small digital video camera to document a doctor's office visit. There, she was told a malignant polyp was found where she had been treated for the initial cancer. Doctors contemplated whether to implant a radiation seeder (which differs from conventional radiation and is used to treat other types of cancer). Fawcett's U.S. doctors told her that she would require a colostomy. Instead, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as "holistic", "aggressive", and "alternative". There, Dr. Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, and a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Doctors Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy back in Fawcett's home town of Los Angeles. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course, this time including laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.

In early April 2009, Fawcett, back in the United States, was rushed to a hospital, reportedly unconscious and in critical condition. Subsequent reports, however, indicated that the severity of her condition was not as dire as first reported. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that her cancer had metastasized to her liver. Fawcett had learned of this development in May 2007 and her subsequent treatments in Germany had targeted this as well. The report denied that she was unconscious, and explained that the reason for Fawcett's hospitalization was not her cancer but a painful abdominal hematoma that had been the result of a minor procedure, according to the Los Angeles cancer specialist treating Fawcett, Dr. Lawrence Piro. Her spokesperson emphasized she was not "at death's door", adding "She remains in good spirits with her usual sense of humor ... She's been in great shape her whole life and has an incredible resolve and an incredible resilience." Three days later, on April 9, Fawcett was released from the hospital, picked up by longtime companion O'Neal, and, according to her doctor, was "walking and in great spirits and looking forward to celebrating Easter at home."

A month later, on May 7, Fawcett was reported as critically ill, with Ryan O'Neal quoted as saying she now spends her days at home, on an IV, often asleep. The Los Angeles Times reported Fawcett was in the last stages of her cancer and had the chance to see her son Redmond in April 2009, although shackled and under supervision, as he was then incarcerated, Fawcett seemed not to notice. Her 91-year-old father, James Fawcett, flew out to Los Angeles to visit.

Her doctor, Lawrence Piro, and Fawcett's friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson—a breast cancer survivor—appeared together on The Today Show dispelling tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions Fawcett had ever been in a coma, had ever reached 86 pounds, and had ever given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live. Jackson decried such fabrications, saying they "really do hurt a human being and a person like Farrah." Piro recalled when it became necessary for Fawcett to undergo treatments that would cause her to lose her hair, acknowledging "Farrah probably has the most famous hair in the world", but also that it is not a trivial matter for any cancer patient, whose hair "affects whole sense of who are". Of the documentary, Jackson averred Fawcett "didn't do this to show that 'she' is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique ... (T)his was ... meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them."

The two-hour documentary Farrah's Story, which was filmed by Fawcett and friend Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009. The documentary was watched by nearly nine million people at its premiere airing, and it was re-aired on the broadcast network's cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett earned her fourth Emmy nomination posthumously on July 16, 2009, as producer of Farrah's Story. The winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special, announced September 12, 2009, was the History Channel production 102 Minutes That Changed America, an eyewitness-video look at the events of September 11, 2001.

Controversy surrounded the aired version of the documentary, with her initial producing partner, who had worked with her on Chasing Farrah, alleging O'Neal's and Stewart's editing of the program was not in keeping with Fawcett's wishes to more thoroughly explore rare types of cancers such as her own and alternative methods of treatment. He was especially critical of scenes showing Fawcett's son visiting her for the last time, in shackles, while she was nearly unconscious in bed. Fawcett had generally kept her son out of the media, and his appearances are minimal in her reality series Chasing Farrah, which was filmed four years earlier.
Death

Fawcett died at approximately 9:28 a.m., PDT on June 25, 2009, in the intensive care unit of Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, with O'Neal and Stewart by her side. A private funeral was held in Los Angeles on June 30. Fawcett's son Redmond was permitted to leave his California detention center to attend his mother's funeral, where he gave the first reading.

The night of her death, ABC aired an hour-long special episode of 20/20 featuring clips from several of Barbara Walters' past interviews with Fawcett as well as new interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Jaclyn Smith, Alana Stewart, and Dr. Lawrence Piro. Walters followed up on the story on Friday's episode of 20/20. CNN's Larry King Live planned a show exclusively about Fawcett that evening until the unexpected death of Michael Jackson several hours later caused the program to shift to cover both stories. Cher, a longtime friend of Fawcett's, and Suzanne De Passe, executive producer of Fawcett's Small Sacrifices mini-series, both paid tribute to Fawcett on the program. NBC aired a Dateline NBC special "Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel" the following evening, June 26, preceded by a rebroadcast of Farrah's Story in prime time. That weekend and the following week, television tributes continued. MSNBC aired back-to-back episodes of its Headliners and Legends episodes featuring Fawcett and Jackson. TV Land aired a mini-marathon of Charlie's Angels and Chasing Farrah episodes. E! aired Michael & Farrah: Lost Icons and the Biography Channel aired Bio Remembers: Farrah Fawcett. The documentary Farrah's Story re-aired on the Oxygen Network and MSNBC.

Larry King said of the Fawcett phenomenon,
“ TV had much more impact back in the '70s than it does today. Charlie's Angels got huge numbers every week — nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it's hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie's Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant."

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said "Farrah was one of the iconic beauties of our time. Her girl-next-door charm combined with stunning looks made her a star on film, TV and the printed page."

Kate Jackson said,
“ She was a selfless person who loved her family and friends with all her heart, and what a big heart it was. Farrah showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness and was an inspiration to those around her... I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile...when you think of Farrah, remember her smiling because that is exactly how she wanted to be remembered: smiling.

In March 2010, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences caused controversy when Fawcett was excluded from the "In Memoriam" montage at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, along with fellow television stars Bea Arthur, Gene Barry and Ed McMahon. In addition to Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, friends and colleagues of Fawcett publicly expressed their outrage at the oversight, including actress Jane Fonda and film critic Roger Ebert. AMPAS executive director Bruce Davis cited Fawcett's recognition at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards for her "remarkable television work," and said of all the exclusions: "There's nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all. They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we're sorry for it."

She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography

Theatrical films
Year Film Role Notes
1969 Love Is a Funny Thing Patricia
1970 Myra Breckinridge Mary Ann Pringle
1976 Logan's Run Holly As Farrah Fawcett-Majors
1978 Somebody Killed Her Husband Jenny Moore As Farrah Fawcett-Majors
1979 An Almost Perfect Affair Herself Uncredited
Sunburn Ellie As Farrah Fawcett-Majors
1980 Saturn 3 Alex
1981 The Cannonball Run Pamela Glover
1986 Extremities Marjorie Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1989 See You in the Morning Jo Livingstone
1995 Man of the House Sandy Archer
1997 The Apostle Jessie Dewey Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
The Lovemaster Craig's Dream Date
Playboy: Farrah Fawcett, All of Me Herself Direct to video
1998 The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars Faucet Voice
2000 The Flunky Herself
Dr. T & the Women Kate
2004 The Cookout Mrs. Crowley
2008 A Wing & a Prayer: Farrah's Fight for Life Herself Documentary

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1969 Mayberry R.F.D. Show Girl #1 1 episode
I Dream of Jeannie Cindy
Tina "See You in C-U-B-A"
"My Sister the Home Wrecker"
Three's a Crowd Hitchhiker Television movie
1969–1970 The Flying Nun Miss Preem
Lila "Armando and the Pool Table"
"Marcello's Idol"
1970 The Young Rebels Sarah "Dangerous Ally"
The Partridge Family Pretty Girl "The Sound of Money"
1971 Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law Tori Barbour "Burden of Proof"
"Shadow of a Name"
The Feminist and the Fuzz Kitty Murdock Television movie
Inside O.U.T. Pat Boulion Unsold pilot
1973 The Girl with Something Extra Carol "How Green Was Las Vegas"
The Great American Beauty Contest T.L. Dawson Television movie
Of Men and Women Young Actress Segment: "The Interview"
1974 Apple's Way Jane Huston "The First Love"
Marcus Welby, M.D. Laura Foley "I've Promised You a Father: Part 1"
McCloud Gloria Jean "The Colorado Cattle Caper"
1974–1976 Harry O Sue Ingham 8 episodes
The Six Million Dollar Man Major Kelly Wood (2 episodes), Trish Hollander, Victoria Webster 4 episodes. As Farrah Fawcett Majors (Rescue of Athena One) and as Farrah Fawcett-Majors (Nightmare in the Sky, The Golden Pharaoh, and The Peeping Blonde)
1975 The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped Patti Television movie
Murder on Flight 502 Karen White As Farrah Fawcett-Majors
S.W.A.T. Miss New Mexico "The Steel-Plated Security Blanket"
as Farrah Fawcett-Majors
1976–1980 Charlie's Angels Jill Munroe Cast member from 1976–1977; recurring from 1978–1980
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama (1976)
1981 Murder in Texas Joan Robinson Hill Television movie
1984 The Red-Light Sting Kathy Television movie
The Burning Bed Francine Hughes Television movie
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1986 Between Two Women Val Petherton Television movie
Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story Beate Klarsfeld Television movie
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1987 Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story Barbara Hutton Television movie
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1989 Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White Television movie
Small Sacrifices Diane Downs Television movie
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Good Sports Gayle Roberts 2 episodes
1992 Criminal Behavior Jessica Lee Stubbs Television movie
1994 The Substitute Wife Pearl Television movie
1995 Children of the Dust Nora Maxwell Miniseries
1996 Dalva Dalva Northridge Television movie
1997 Johnny Bravo Farrah Fawcett / Old Lady "Blarney Buddies/Over the Hump/Johnny Meets Farrah Fawcett" (voice)
1999 Silk Hope Frannie Vaughn Television movie
Ally McBeal Robin Jones "Changes"
2000 Baby Lily Malone Television movie
2001 Jewel Jewel Hilburn Television movie
Spin City Judge Claire Simmons 4 episodes
2002–2003 The Guardian Mary Gressler 4 episodes
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Lissa Roman Television movie
2005 Chasing Farrah Herself 7 episodes
2009 Farrah's Story Herself Also Executive producer
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r290/chrisogunsiji/fawcett_1379311c.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq161/poepoets/Thingpositive/farrahfawcet.jpg

*OK so it wasn't small* :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/10 at 7:18 pm


British Person of the Day: Peter Blake

Sir Peter Thomas Blake, CBE, RDI, (born 25 June 1932, in Dartford, Kent) is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.

Career

During the late 1950s, Blake became one of the best known British pop artists. His paintings from this time included imagery from advertisements, music hall entertainment, and wrestlers, often including collaged elements. Blake was included in group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and had his first solo exhibition in 1960. It was with the 'Young Contemporaries' exhibition of 1961 where he was exhibited alongside David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj that he was first identified with the emerging British Pop Art movement. Blake won the (1961) John Moores junior award for his work Self Portrait with Badges. He first came to wider public attention when, along with Pauline Boty, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips, he was featured in Ken Russell's film on pop art, Pop Goes the Easel, which was broadcast on BBC television in 1962. From 1963 Blake was represented by Robert Fraser which placed him at the centre of swinging London and brought him into contact with leading figures of popular culture.

Work

On the Balcony (1955-57) is a significant early work and still stands as one of the iconic pieces of British Pop Art, showing Blake's interest in combining images from pop culture with fine art. The work, which appear to be a collage but is in fact wholly painted, shows, among other things, a boy holding Edouard Manet's The Balcony, badges and magazines. It was inspired by a painting by Honoré Sharrer depicting workers holding famous paintings. Blake confronts the viewer with a picture plane that is deceptively flat, effectively blocking the viewer from venturing deeper into the picture plane. This spatial property however is a flatness that resounds starkly; a flat surface that at once becomes a presentation of characters and images as well as a culturally implicit sense of external facade. One of the most striking initial aspects of this piece is that it seems to radiate an illusionist child-like charm which the viewer can easily identify with making it from first glance an oddly powerful work. His self-identification with the axioms of popular culture in effect show an awareness of the mechanisms of a society being faced with celebrity idolatry and cultural goods. Such banal goods and images were not frequently seen in artwork and created a new space for discourse within a painting. Blake’s characters are strangely static and scarcely seem to notice the accumulation around them – even when images are tacked right on top of them. This was not merely whimsical thinking or dreams of consumer grandeur, and albeit not a simple display of products; it was life as Blake experienced it, as true and telling an account of the surroundings of the time as could be made.

Blake also often directly referred to the work of other artists. On the Balcony (1955-57) has Edouard Manet's The Balcony being held by a boy on the left of the composition, and The First Real Target (1961) is a standard archery target with the title written across the top as a play on the paintings of targets by Kenneth Noland and Jasper Johns.

Blake also painted several notable album sleeves. He designed the sleeve for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with his then-wife Jann Haworth, the American-born artist whom he married in 1963 and divorced in 1979. The Sgt. Pepper's sleeve has become an iconic work of pop art, much imitated and Blake's best known work. The means of production was the construction of a set with cut-out photographs and objects, such as flowers, centred around a drum (sold in auction in 2008) with the title of the album. Blake has subsequently complained about the one-off fee he received for the design (£200), with no subsequent royalties. Blake also made sleeves for the Band Aid single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (1984), Paul Weller's Stanley Road (1995) and the Ian Dury tribute album Brand New Boots and Panties (2001; Blake had been Dury's tutor at the Royal College of Art in the mid-60s). He also designed the sleeves for Pentangle's Sweet Child and The Who's Face Dances (1981), which features portraits of the band by a number of artists.

In 1969 Blake left London to live near Bath. Blake's work changed direction featuring scenes based on English Folklore and characters from Shakespeare. In the early 1970s, he made a set of watercolours to illustrate Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and in 1975 was a founder of the Brotherhood of Ruralists. Blake moved back to London in 1979 and his work returned to the earlier popular culture references.

Blake was made a Royal Academician in 1981, and a CBE in 1983. "A major retrospective of Blake's work was held in the Tate in 1983...(and) in 2002 Blake was awarded a knighthood for his services to art." In February 2005, the Sir Peter Blake Music Art Gallery, located in the School of Music, University of Leeds, was opened by the artist. The permanent exhibition features 17 examples of Blake's album sleeve art, including the only public showing of a signed print of his famed Sgt. Pepper's artwork. In June 2006, as The Who returned to play Leeds University 36 years after recording their seminal Live at Leeds album there in 1970, Blake unveiled a new Live at Leeds 2 artwork to commemorate the event. Both the artist and The Who's Pete Townshend signed an edition which will join the gallery's collection.

More recently, Blake has created Artist's editions for the opening of the Pallant House Gallery which houses collections that include some of his most famous paintings. These works are homages to his earlier work on the Stanley Road album cover and Babe Rainbow prints. He also designed a series of deck chairs.

In 2006, Blake designed the cover for Oasis greatest hits album Stop the Clocks. According to Blake, he chose all of the objects in the picture at random, but the sleeves of Sgt. Pepper's and Definitely Maybe were in the back of his mind. He claims, "It's using the mystery of Definitely Maybe and running away with it." Familiar cultural icons which can be seen on the cover include Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Charles Manson (replacing the original image of Marilyn Monroe, which could not be used for legal reasons) and the seven dwarfs from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.

Blake also revealed that the final cover wasn't the original one. That design featured an image of the shop 'Granny Takes A Trip' on the Kings Road in Chelsea, London.

Blake created an updated version of Sgt. Pepper - with famous figures from Liverpool history - as part of the successful campaign for Liverpool to become European Capital of Culture 2008, and is creating a series of prints to celebrate Liverpool's status.

In 2008, Blake painted a pig for the public art event King Bladud's Pigs In Bath in the English city of Bath.

He also recently designed a shopping bag for the Lucky Brand Jeans company for the holiday season.

Blake created the carpet which runs through the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom's Middlesex Guildhall building.

Bibliography

    * 1991 : 24 Nights by Eric Clapton - scrapbook by Peter Blake (Genesis Publications)
    * 2009 : That Lucky Old Sun by Brian Wilson - 12 limited edition prints by Peter Blake (Genesis Publications)
    * 2009 : Peter Blake: One Man Show by Marco Livingstone (Lund Humphries) Hardback - 978-0-85331-980-1; Limited Edition Hardback - 978-1-84822-039-3

http://www.eitb24.com/archivos/imagenes/eitb24/cultura/2008/03/03/peter-blake-2008030317593805hg2.jpg

http://www.sideshowworld.com/PBSP.jpg

Thanks Phil, that made some interesting reading.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 6:23 am

The word of the day...Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the ball slightly, so more balls go to the shortstop than any other position. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the shortstop is assigned the number 6.

Shortstops are required to cover second base in double play situations when the ball is hit to the second baseman, first baseman, pitcher, or catcher. They cover second when a runner is attempting a stolen base, but only when a left-handed hitter is batting. This is because the chances of a ball being hit to the left side of the infield are almost cut in half. They also must cover third at various times, including the rotation play; that is, when there are runners on first and second and a sacrifice bunt is attempted. Shortstops generally are given precedence on catching pop-ups in the infield as well, so they end up calling off other players many times, although on deep pop-ups they fall back when called off by an outfielder. They often become the cutoff man on balls to any part of the outfield that are being directed towards third base and all balls to left and right field that are destined to second base. Depending on the system the shortstop may cut balls from left field heading home however, this is usually the role of a third basemen.

Traditionally, players are selected as shortstops for their fielding prowess, but in recent years more shortstops with excellent hitting have entered the leagues as well. It is an exclusively right-handed position, as a righty can easily throw to first or second without having to physically turn after playing a ground ball, the most common type of hit directed at the shortstop.
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss95/jdarrencollins/Family%20Album%202010/IMG_3233.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa17/jrbgc3737/BENGIE_SHORTSTOP.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m374/Kaszubabe5/IMG_1046.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd305/ciscokid13_2007/DSC00170.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Lace9595/gettinready.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/brownie46938/uncshortstop.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 6:27 am

The person born on this day...Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter (pronounced /ˈdʒiːtər/; born June 26, 1974) is an American professional baseball  player. He is a Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop  who has played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He has served as the Yankees' team captain since 2003.  Jeter's presence in the Yankees' lineup, highlighted by his hitting prowess, played an instrumental role in the team's late 1990s dynasty.

Jeter debuted in the Major Leagues in 1995, and the following year he won the Rookie of the Year Award and helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series. Jeter was also a member of championship-winning teams in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. In 2000, Jeter became the only player to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. He has been selected as an All-Star ten times, and he has won the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards on four occasions. He is regarded as a consummate professional, by teammates and opponents alike, and has a reputation as a reliable contributor in the postseason.

Jeter is considered to be one of the best players of his generation. He is the all-time hits leader among shortstops and his .317 career batting average through the 2009 season ranks as the fifth-highest among active players. He has been among the American League (AL) leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years. He is the all-time Yankees hit leader, passing Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig in 2009 The Yankees had projected Jeter as their starting shortstop for the 1995 season, but when he suffered a minor injury in the Arizona Fall League, the Yankees signed Tony Fernández to a two-year contract to play shortstop and kept Jeter in Triple-A.  The Yankees reportedly offered Jeter the opportunity to work out with the replacement players in Spring Training prior to the 1995 season, but he declined to cross the picket line.

On May 29, 1995, Jeter made his debut in the major leagues due to injuries to Fernández and Pat Kelly. Jeter batted .234 and committed two errors in 13 games before being demoted to Columbus.

Despite the presence of Fernández on the roster, new Yankees manager Joe Torre announced that Jeter would be the starting shortstop in 1996. He started on Opening Day of the 1996 season as the starting shortstop (the first Yankee rookie since Tom Tresh in 1962 to do so) and hit his first major-league home run on that day. Jeter's home run was called by one of his Yankee predecessors at shortstop, broadcaster Phil Rizzuto. Jeter played his way to a successful rookie season, hitting for a .314 batting average, with 10 home runs, 104 runs scored, and 78 runs batted in. He subsequently earned Rookie of the Year honors. Jeter batted .361 in the playoffs, as the Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves to win their first World Series championship since 1978.

During the 1996 American League Championship Series, Jeter was involved in what has become a memorable moment in postseason history. During game one, with the Yankees trailing the Baltimore Orioles 4–3 in the 8th inning, Jeter hit a fly ball to right field. As right fielder Tony Tarasco moved to make a play on the ball near the fence, appearing to have a chance to catch the ball, 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall and caught the ball, pulling it back into the stands. Despite Tarasco's protest, the umpires convened and ruled the ball a home run. Replays conclusively showed that, had Maier not interfered, the ball would have fallen in front of the fence and potentially into Tarasco's glove for an out. The Yankees would go on to win in 11 innings and would eventually win the series, 4 games to 1. The ruling made for the first home run of Jeter's postseason career.

In 1997, Jeter batted .291. However, the Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series. In 1998, Jeter batted .324, with a league-leading 127 runs, 19 home runs, and 84 runs batted in, for a team that won 114 games during the regular season and is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. In the playoffs, Jeter hit only .176 in the Division and League Championship Series, but he excelled in the World Series, batting .353, as the Yankees went on to beat the San Diego Padres in four games.
Jeter making a play against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.

In 1999, Jeter led the American League in hits (219) and was second in the league in batting average (.349) and runs scored (134). Jeter (who, for part of the year, batted third in the lineup) also drove in 102 runs, becoming only the second Yankee shortstop ever to do so (Lyn Lary had driven in 107 runs in 1931). His season totals in batting average, runs, hits, runs batted in, doubles (37), triples (9), home runs (24), slugging percentage (.552), and on-base percentage (.438) are all personal bests. Jeter batted .455 in the 1999 American League Division Series, .350 in the 1999 American League Championship Series, and .353 in the 1999 World Series, as the Yankees defeated the Braves to win another championship.

During the 1999 season, Jeter had a confrontation with a teammate. Teammate Chad Curtis, an outspoken Christian, approached him about discussing his faith, but Jeter declined. When Curtis approached Jeter again, he became offended. Later in the season, a mid-game bench-clearing brawl with the Seattle Mariners occurred. After the brawl ended, Jeter was seen engaged in friendly chatter with his good friend (and future Yankee teammate) Alex Rodriguez, who then played for the Mariners. Upon returning to the dugout, Curtis chastized Jeter for being friendly with an opponent during a bench-clearing brawl, which violated an unwritten rule of baseball. After the game, Curtis approached Jeter in the clubhouse, with beat writers present. Jeter commented that this was not an appropriate time for a confrontation. Curtis later apologized.

During the 1999–2000 offseason, the Yankees negotiated with Jeter, tentatively agreeing to a $118.5 million, seven-year contract. However, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner did not want to set a salary record, delaying until the acceptance of a $143 million, eight-year contract extension between the Detroit Tigers and Juan González. When that proposed deal fell through, Jeter's tentative deal fell through, and he agreed to a one-year deal for $10 million.
2000–2003

Jeter batted .339, with 15 home runs, 73 runs batted in, 119 runs scored, and 22 stolen bases in 2000. He batted only .211 in the Division Series but rebounded to bat .318 against the Seattle Mariners in the Championship Series and .409, with two home runs, a triple, and two doubles in a five-game series against the New York Mets in the World Series, the first Subway Series since 1956.

In 2000, Jeter became the first player ever to win the All-Star Game MVP award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. Jeter became the first Yankee since Yogi Berra, in 1959, to hit a home run in the All Star Game.

Before the 2001 season, with one year remaining until he would become eligible for free agency, Jeter signed a $189 million, ten-year contract to remain with the Yankees, making him the second highest paid athlete, trailing only Rodriguez. Rodriguez signed his deal earlier than Jeter, setting a higher market for Jeter's negotiations.

During the season, Jeter batted .311, with 21 home runs, 74 runs batted in, 110 runs scored, and 27 stolen bases. In the postseason, Jeter made a notable play in game 3 of the 2001 American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. With Jeremy Giambi on first base, Oakland right fielder Terrence Long hit a double off Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina into the right-field corner. As Giambi rounded third base and headed for home, Yankees right fielder Shane Spencer retrieved the ball and made a wild throw intended for Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. Instead, the errant throw missed cutoff man Tino Martinez and dribbled up the first-base line. Jeter came from shortstop to grab the ball and flipped it to Posada, who tagged Giambi on the leg just before he crossed home plate for the out. Facing elimination, the Yankees went on to win the game, as well as the series. The play was later voted #7 in Baseball Weekly's 10 Most Amazing Plays of all time.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the baseball season was put on hold. As a result, the start of the playoffs was delayed, and game 4 of the 2001 World Series was played on October 31. The game went into the tenth inning tied at 3–3. At midnight, the scoreboard in center field read "Attention Fans, Welcome to NOVEMBER BASEBALL." This was the first time that any non-exhibition MLB game had been played in the month of November. Moments after this message was displayed on the board, Jeter sent a 3–2 pitch from Byung-Hyun Kim over the right-field stands. A fan in the stands held up a sign with the words "Mr. November," a reference to Reggie Jackson's nickname, "Mr. October". Michael Kay, who called the walk-off home run, called Jeter by this name, referencing the sign. Despite the nickname, Jeter was 3 for 12 (.250) in November baseball that season, as the Yankees lost the World Series in seven games to the Arizona Diamondbacks (the home team won all seven games of the World Series).

In 2002, Jeter batted .297, with 18 home runs, 75 runs batted in, 124 runs scored, and a career-best 32 stolen bases. He led the majors in stolen base percentage (91.4%), getting caught only three times.
Jeter connects for a hit against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In 2003, Jeter dislocated his left shoulder on opening day when he collided with Blue Jays catcher Ken Huckaby at third base. Jeter, who had never played fewer than 148 games in the prior seven full seasons, was subsequently on the disabled list for six weeks, missing 36 games. Jeter returned to bat .324, losing the batting title to Bill Mueller, who batted .326.

Steinbrenner named Jeter the 11th recognized captain in Yankees history on June 3, 2003, following eight seasons without a captain after the retirement of Don Mattingly in 1995. Dispute over the true count has been noted.
2004–present
Jeter joking with other players during Spring Training.

The beginning of the 2004 season saw Jeter mired in a slump; on May 25, he was hitting only .189. This included a personal career record 0-for-32 skid in April. In June, however, Jeter broke out of his slump. He hit nearly .400 for the month and set a personal best with 9 home runs. He finished the season with a .292 average; 23 home runs, the 2nd most of his career; 78 runs batted in; 111 runs scored; and 44 doubles, a career best.

During a July 1, 2004, game against the rival Boston Red Sox, Jeter made a play that furthered his reputation as a clutch player. In the top of the 12th inning, with the score tied at 3, the Red Sox had runners on second and third with 2 outs and right fielder Trot Nixon up at bat. Nixon hit a pop fly down the left field line. Jeter ran from his position at shortshop and made an over-the-shoulder catch. In dramatic fashion, he launched himself over the third-base side railing, landing three rows into the left-field seats, and lacerating his chin and bruising his face in the process. Jeter was later taken out of the game. This catch ended the inning, and later the Yankees went on to win the game in the bottom of the 13th inning. The "Dive" was awarded Play Of The Year in the This Year In Baseball awards competition, as voted on by fans at MLB.com.

In 2005, Jeter was second in the AL in both runs scored (122) and batting average on balls in play (.394), and was third in the league in both at bats (654) and hits (202). Jeter won his second-consecutive Gold Glove in 2005, as his low range factor rose to 4.76 and ranked 2nd among AL shortstops.

In 2006, Jeter was second in the AL in both batting average (.343) and runs scored (118); was third in hits (214), stolen base success percentage (87.2), and batting average with runners in scoring position (.381); and was fifth in infield hits (26). He finished second in American League Most Valuable Player Award voting to Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins (320 points to 306 points). Jeter has finished in the top 10 in the MVP balloting 6 times in his 11 full seasons through 2006 (including also a third-place finish in 1998).
Jeter prepares to bat at Oriole Park in 2007.

In 2007, Jeter was third in the AL in hits (203), his sixth season and third-consecutive season with 200 hits, tying Lou Gehrig. He was also fourth in both at-bats (639) and plate appearances (714), sixth in times on base (276), and ninth in batting average (.322). In the field, he was involved in a career-high 104 double plays.

In 2008, Jeter's slugging percentage was .410, his lowest since 1997. One possible cause was a prolonged slump that he suffered after being hit by a pitch on his wrist. Before the injury, Jeter was hitting .324 with a .774 on-base plus slugging (OPS). After the injury, his batting average dipped to as low as .269 by the end of the month. His offense took an upward turn after May as he hit .322 with a .824 OPS after June 1. Jeter was elected to his ninth All-Star game as the starting shortstop.

Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits at Yankee Stadium (1,269) with a home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price on September 14, 2008. On September 16, he went on to break the record off of Chicago White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd.

In 2009, Jeter was named #8 on the Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball by a panel of 100 baseball people, many of them members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and winners of major baseball awards.

For the 2009 season, Yankees manager Joe Girardi switched Jeter and Johnny Damon in the batting order, with Damon moving to second and Jeter becoming the leadoff hitter, based on the rationale that Jeter has a higher on base percentage than Damon, but grounds into double plays more often. Jeter batted .334 (third in the AL), with a .406 on-base percentage, 18 home runs, 30 stolen bases (caught only 5 times), 107 runs scored (in the top 10 in MLB), and 212 hits (second in MLB).

On August 16, 2009, against the Seattle Mariners, Jeter doubled down the right-field line for his 2,675th hit as a shortstop, breaking Luis Aparicio's previous record for the most hits by a shortstop in major league history. Jeter became the all-time hits leader as a member of the Yankees (2,722), passing Lou Gehrig on September 11, 2009. The hit was a single off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman in the 3rd inning.

In the 2009 postseason, Jeter batted .355, including .407 in the 2009 World Series, as he won his fifth World Series championship. He was named Sportsman of the Year for 2009 by Sports Illustrated magazine. Jeter also finished third in the AL MVP voting, behind the Minnesota's Joe Mauer and teammate Mark Teixeira.
World Baseball Classic

Jeter was the starting shortstop for the USA team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He hit .450 (9-for-20) for Team USA and scored five runs in six games. Only Ken Griffey, Jr. (.524) and Cuba's Yoandy Garlobo (.480) had a higher batting average with a minimum of 20 at bats. Jeter's play earned him recognition as the shortstop selection on the All-Tournament Team.

Jeter was also the starting shortstop for Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. At the start of the tournament, he was named captain of Team USA by manager Davey Johnson. With Team USA, Jeter faced the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field in an exhibition game, the first time he played against the Yankees.
Player profile
Jeter at shortstop in 2007.

Jeter is noted for his very consistent postseason performances: he has a career .309 postseason batting average, with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs. Except for 2008, the Yankees have been to the playoffs every year since Jeter joined the team. He has a Major League Baseball record 175 career postseason hits, at-bats (559), runs scored (99), and strikeouts (107).

Despite winning four Gold Glove awards, Jeter's defense has been the subject of criticism from a number of sabermetricians, including Rob Neyer and the publication Baseball Prospectus. The book The Fielding Bible by John Dewan contains an essay by James in which he concludes that Jeter "was probably the most ineffective defensive player in the major leagues, at any position." A 2008 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that, from 2002 through 2005, Jeter was the worst defensive shortstop in the Major Leagues. Jeter responded to this criticism by saying "I play in New York, man. Criticism is part of the game, you take criticism as a challenge."

During the 2008 offseason, Jeter embarked on a rigorous training program to combat the effects of age, by focusing on lateral movement and first-step quickness. As a result, many baseball writers noted that Jeter had a strong defensive season in 2009, improving his mobility and reducing errors.
Career highlights
Awards
Jeter warming up before a game.
Award / Honor↓ Time(s)↓ Date(s)↓
American League All-Star 10 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
New York Yankees Player of the Year 4 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006
American League Gold Glove Award (SS) 4 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009
Hank Aaron Award 2 2006, 2009
Babe Ruth Award 1 2000
All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award 1 2000
World Series Most Valuable Player Award 1 2000
American League Silver Slugger Award (SS) 4 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
American League Rookie of the Year 1 1996
Roberto Clemente Award 1 2009
ESPY Awards Best MLB Player 1 2007
The Sporting News "Good Guy in Sports" Award 1 2002
Inductee in Kalamazoo Central High School Athletic Hall of Fame 1 2007
Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year 1 2009
Milestones
Jeter saluting the crowd after becoming the all-time Yankees hits leader.

    * Jeter recorded his 2,000th career hit with an infield single on May 26, 2006, off Kansas City Royals pitcher Scott Elarton, becoming the eighth Yankee to reach the milestone.
    * Jeter holds the record for most singles all-time by a Yankee.
    * Jeter is one of six players to have 2,700 hits, 1,500 runs, 220 homers, 300 steals, and 1,000 RBIs (the others are Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Willie Mays, and Paul Molitor).
    * On June 18, 2005, against the Chicago Cubs, Jeter hit his first and only grand slam, after 10 years in the major leagues. At one point, Jeter had the most at bats of any active player to not have hit a grand slam.
    * On June 4, 2008, Jeter passed Mickey Mantle for 3rd place on the Yankees all-time hit list.
    * On June 27, 2008, Jeter hit his 400th double.
    * On July 12, 2008, Jeter hit his 200th home run.
    * On September 9, 2008, Jeter passed Babe Ruth for 2nd place on the Yankees all-time hit list.
    * On September 14, 2008, Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium
    * On September 16, 2008, Jeter moved past Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium with his 1,270th in the 1st inning, and 1,271st in the 5th inning.
    * On July 24, 2009, Jeter passed Ted Williams for 68th place in all-time hits with his 2,655th.
    * On August 2, 2009, Jeter played in his 2,084th game, tying Babe Ruth for 4th in Yankees history.
    * On August 16, 2009, Jeter recorded his 2,673th and 2,674th hits, tying and passing Luis Aparicio for most hits by a shortstop in Major League history.
    * On September 11, 2009, Jeter became the Yankees' all-time hits leader, surpassing Lou Gehrig with his 2,722nd hit, a single to right field off of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman in the 3rd inning.
    * On April 6, 2010, Jeter, along with Posada and Mariano Rivera, became the first teammates in any of the four major league sports in North America (MLB, NFL, NBA, or NHL) to play in at least 16 seasons on the same team as teammates.
    * On June 12 2010, Jeter compiled his 3,000th hit (including the postseason) with a solo home run in the first inning against the Houston Astros. a hit that also tied Jeter with Rickey Henderson as the all-time Yankees leader in leadoff home runs
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Sports/derek-jeter1.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/SHAWRTy_15/862115Alex-Rodriguez-Derek-Jeter-Ve.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 6:32 am

The person who died on this day...Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball  player — primarily at the position of catcher — in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Widely considered to have been one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game, Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s and 1950s, as one of the pioneers in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. His career was cut short in 1958 when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident. In 1946, Campanella moved into the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league system, as the Dodger organization began preparations to break the Major Leagues' color barrier with Jackie Robinson. For the 1946 season, Robinson was assigned to the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' affiliate in the Class AAA International League. Meanwhile, the team looked to assign Campanella to a Class B league. After the general manager of the Danville Dodgers of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League reported that he did not feel that league ready for racial integration, the organization sent Campanella, along with pitcher Don Newcombe to the Nashua Dodgers of the Class B New England League, where the Dodgers felt the racial climate would be more tolerant. The Nashua team thus became the first professional baseball team to field a racially integrated lineup in the United States in the 20th Century.

Campanella's 1946 season proceeded largely without racial incident, and in one game Campanella took over the managerial duties after manager Walter Alston was ejected. This made Campanella the first African-American to manage white players on an organized professional baseball team. Nashua was three runs down at the time Campanella took over. They came back to win, in part due to Campanella's decision to use Newcombe as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. Newcombe hit a game-tying two-run home run.
Major League

Jackie Robinson's first season in the Major Leagues came in 1947, and Campanella began his Major League career with the Brooklyn Dodgers the following season. Campanella's first game was on April 20, 1948. He went on to play for the Dodgers from 1948 through 1957 as their regular catcher. In 1948, he had three different uniform numbers (33, 39, and 56) before settling on 39 for the rest of his career.

Campanella played in the All-Star Game every year from 1949 through 1956. His 1949 All-Star selection made him one of the first four African-Americans so honored. (Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe and Larry Doby were also All-Stars in 1949.) Campanella received the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the National League three times: in 1951, 1953, and 1955. In each of his MVP seasons, he batted over .300, hit over 30 home runs and had over 100 runs batted in. His 142 RBIs in 1953 broke the franchise record of 130, which had been held by Jack Fournier (1925) and Babe Herman (1930). Today it is the second-most in franchise history, Tommy Davis breaking it with 153 RBIs in 1962. That same year, Campanella hit 40 home runs in games in which he appeared as a catcher, a record that lasted until 1996, when it was broken by Todd Hundley. Over his career, he threw out 57% of the base runners who tried to steal a base on him, the highest by any catcher in major league history.

In 1955, Campanella's final MVP season helped propel Brooklyn to its first-ever World Series championship. After the Dodgers dropped the first two games of that year's World Series to the Yankees, Campanella began Brooklyn's comeback by hitting a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning of Game 3. The Dodgers won that game, got another home run from Campanella in a Game 4 victory that tied the series, and then went on to claim the series in seven games.

After the 1957 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles, California, and became the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Campanella's playing career came to an end before he ever played a game for Los Angeles.
Automobile accident

Campanella lived in Glen Cove, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, while owning a liquor store in Harlem which he also operated during the baseball off-season and between games. On January 28, 1958, after closing the store for the night, he began his drive to his home in Glen Cove. En route, traveling at about 30 mph (48 km/h), his car (a rented 1957 Chevrolet sedan) hit a patch of ice at a S-curve on Dosoris Lane near Apple Tree Lane, skidded into a telephone pole and overturned, breaking Campanella's neck. He fractured the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae and compressed the spinal cord.

The accident left Campanella paralyzed from the shoulders down. Through physical therapy, he eventually was able to gain substantial use of his arms and hands. He was able to feed himself, shake hands, and gesture while speaking, but he would require a wheelchair for mobility for the remainder of his life.
Post-playing career
Willie Mays with Roy Campanella (1961)

After his playing career, Campanella remained involved with the Dodgers. In January 1959 the Dodgers named him assistant supervisor of scouting for the eastern part of the United States and special coach the team's annual spring training camp in Vero Beach, Florida, serving each year as a mentor and coach to young catchers in the Dodger organization. In 1978, he moved to California and took a job as assistant to the Dodgers' director of community relations, Campanella's former teammate and longtime friend Don Newcombe.
Honors and tribute
LAret39.PNG
Roy Campanella's number 39 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1972

On May 7, 1959, the Dodgers, then playing their second season in Los Angeles, honored Campanella with Roy Campanella Night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The New York Yankees agreed to make a special trip to Los Angeles to play an exhibition game against the Dodgers for the occasion. The Yankees won the game, 6-2. The attendance at the game was 93,103, setting a record at that time for the largest crowd to attend a Major League Baseball game. The proceeds from the game went to defray Campanella's medical bills.

In 1969, Campanella was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the second player of African American heritage so honored, after Jackie Robinson. The same year, he received the Bronze Medallion from the City of New York.

On June 4, 1972, the Dodgers retired Campanella's uniform number 39 alongside Robinson's (42) and Sandy Koufax's (32).

In an article in Esquire magazine in 1976, sportswriter Harry Stein published an article called the "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," a list of five ethnic baseball teams. Campanella was the catcher on Stein's black team.

In 1989 Campanella was presented with the United States Sports Academy's Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias Courage Award in recognition of his courageous action in overcoming adversity to excel in sport.

In 1999, Campanella ranked number 50 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

In 2006, Campanella was featured on a United States postage stamp. The stamp is one of a block of four honoring baseball sluggers, the others being Mickey Mantle, Hank Greenberg, and Mel Ott.

In September 2006, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced the creation of the Roy Campanella Award, which is voted among the club's players and coaches and is given to the Dodger who best exemplifies "Campy's" spirit and leadership. Shortstop Rafael Furcal was named the inaugural winner of the award.
Personal life

Campanella was married three times. He married Bernice Ray in 1939, with whom he had two daughters. They divorced a few years later. On April 30, 1945, he married Ruthe Willis and had three children together (including a son, television director Roy Campanella II), though their relationship deteriorated after his accident. They separated in 1960 and Ruthe died in January 1963. On May 5, 1964, Campanella married Roxie Doles, who survived him.

Campanella died of a heart attack on June 26, 1993, in his Woodland Hills, California home. He was cremated by the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.. His widow, Roxie, died of cancer in 2004.
Books

The book Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodgers Dugout: Extra Innings (2004) includes short stories from former Dodger pitcher Carl Erskine. Campanella is prominent in many of these stories.

In October 2006, Simon & Schuster announced plans to publish a new biography of Campanella to be written by Neil Lanctot, author of Negro League Baseball - The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. The book is scheduled for a 2010 or 2011 release.
It's Good to Be Alive

Campanella himself authored the inspirational book It’s Good to Be Alive, which details his journey back from the near-fatal car accident that left him paralyzed. The book mentions the years of tireless efforts by physical therapist Sam Brockington which allowed Campanella to regain some use of his arms, eventually overcome his initial bitterness about his fate, and finally adopt an optimistic outlook on life. Michael Landon made his TV-movie directorial debut in the 1974 movie It’s Good to Be Alive, in which Campanella was portrayed by Paul Winfield.
Television

Roy Campanella was interviewed by Edward R. Murrow on the CBS program Person to Person on October 2, 1953 and again on January 2, 1959. Campanella also appeared as Mystery Guest on What's My Line? episode 171 on September 6, 1953 and as a guest celebrity on The Name's the Same (ABC-TV) on July 27, 1954. Campanella was also mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit that Ball?", written and recorded by Buddy Johnson in 1949 (and covered by Count Basie and his Orchestra that same year) and in the lyrics to the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. Campanella was also honored on the famous Ralph Edward's show This Is Your Life. Campanella appeared as himself in the Lassie episode "The Mascot," first broadcast September 27, 1959, in a story where he is coaching Timmy Martin's "Boys' League" team.
See also

    * Top 500 home run hitters of all time
    * List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
    * Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv217/BillBurgess/Image15-6.jpg
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/andycummings/Players%20Photos/O-R/campy4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 6:42 am


The word of the day...Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the ball slightly, so more balls go to the shortstop than any other position. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the shortstop is assigned the number 6.

Shortstops are required to cover second base in double play situations when the ball is hit to the second baseman, first baseman, pitcher, or catcher. They cover second when a runner is attempting a stolen base, but only when a left-handed hitter is batting. This is because the chances of a ball being hit to the left side of the infield are almost cut in half. They also must cover third at various times, including the rotation play; that is, when there are runners on first and second and a sacrifice bunt is attempted. Shortstops generally are given precedence on catching pop-ups in the infield as well, so they end up calling off other players many times, although on deep pop-ups they fall back when called off by an outfielder. They often become the cutoff man on balls to any part of the outfield that are being directed towards third base and all balls to left and right field that are destined to second base. Depending on the system the shortstop may cut balls from left field heading home however, this is usually the role of a third basemen.

Traditionally, players are selected as shortstops for their fielding prowess, but in recent years more shortstops with excellent hitting have entered the leagues as well. It is an exclusively right-handed position, as a righty can easily throw to first or second without having to physically turn after playing a ground ball, the most common type of hit directed at the shortstop.
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss95/jdarrencollins/Family%20Album%202010/IMG_3233.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa17/jrbgc3737/BENGIE_SHORTSTOP.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m374/Kaszubabe5/IMG_1046.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd305/ciscokid13_2007/DSC00170.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Lace9595/gettinready.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/brownie46938/uncshortstop.jpg
Baseball is not one of my strongest subjects.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 6:59 am


The word of the day...Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the ball slightly, so more balls go to the shortstop than any other position. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the shortstop is assigned the number 6.

Shortstops are required to cover second base in double play situations when the ball is hit to the second baseman, first baseman, pitcher, or catcher. They cover second when a runner is attempting a stolen base, but only when a left-handed hitter is batting. This is because the chances of a ball being hit to the left side of the infield are almost cut in half. They also must cover third at various times, including the rotation play; that is, when there are runners on first and second and a sacrifice bunt is attempted. Shortstops generally are given precedence on catching pop-ups in the infield as well, so they end up calling off other players many times, although on deep pop-ups they fall back when called off by an outfielder. They often become the cutoff man on balls to any part of the outfield that are being directed towards third base and all balls to left and right field that are destined to second base. Depending on the system the shortstop may cut balls from left field heading home however, this is usually the role of a third basemen.

Traditionally, players are selected as shortstops for their fielding prowess, but in recent years more shortstops with excellent hitting have entered the leagues as well. It is an exclusively right-handed position, as a righty can easily throw to first or second without having to physically turn after playing a ground ball, the most common type of hit directed at the shortstop.
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss95/jdarrencollins/Family%20Album%202010/IMG_3233.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa17/jrbgc3737/BENGIE_SHORTSTOP.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m374/Kaszubabe5/IMG_1046.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd305/ciscokid13_2007/DSC00170.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Lace9595/gettinready.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/brownie46938/uncshortstop.jpg


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8342445135331678445#

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:00 am


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8342445135331678445#
Blast!!!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:01 am


The word of the day...Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the ball slightly, so more balls go to the shortstop than any other position. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the shortstop is assigned the number 6.

Shortstops are required to cover second base in double play situations when the ball is hit to the second baseman, first baseman, pitcher, or catcher. They cover second when a runner is attempting a stolen base, but only when a left-handed hitter is batting. This is because the chances of a ball being hit to the left side of the infield are almost cut in half. They also must cover third at various times, including the rotation play; that is, when there are runners on first and second and a sacrifice bunt is attempted. Shortstops generally are given precedence on catching pop-ups in the infield as well, so they end up calling off other players many times, although on deep pop-ups they fall back when called off by an outfielder. They often become the cutoff man on balls to any part of the outfield that are being directed towards third base and all balls to left and right field that are destined to second base. Depending on the system the shortstop may cut balls from left field heading home however, this is usually the role of a third basemen.

Traditionally, players are selected as shortstops for their fielding prowess, but in recent years more shortstops with excellent hitting have entered the leagues as well. It is an exclusively right-handed position, as a righty can easily throw to first or second without having to physically turn after playing a ground ball, the most common type of hit directed at the shortstop.
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss95/jdarrencollins/Family%20Album%202010/IMG_3233.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa17/jrbgc3737/BENGIE_SHORTSTOP.jpg
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m374/Kaszubabe5/IMG_1046.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd305/ciscokid13_2007/DSC00170.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Lace9595/gettinready.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/brownie46938/uncshortstop.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 7:07 am


The person born on this day...Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter (pronounced /ˈdʒiːtər/; born June 26, 1974) is an American professional baseball  player. He is a Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop  who has played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He has served as the Yankees' team captain since 2003.  Jeter's presence in the Yankees' lineup, highlighted by his hitting prowess, played an instrumental role in the team's late 1990s dynasty.

Jeter debuted in the Major Leagues in 1995, and the following year he won the Rookie of the Year Award and helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series. Jeter was also a member of championship-winning teams in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. In 2000, Jeter became the only player to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. He has been selected as an All-Star ten times, and he has won the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards on four occasions. He is regarded as a consummate professional, by teammates and opponents alike, and has a reputation as a reliable contributor in the postseason.

Jeter is considered to be one of the best players of his generation. He is the all-time hits leader among shortstops and his .317 career batting average through the 2009 season ranks as the fifth-highest among active players. He has been among the American League (AL) leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years. He is the all-time Yankees hit leader, passing Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig in 2009 The Yankees had projected Jeter as their starting shortstop for the 1995 season, but when he suffered a minor injury in the Arizona Fall League, the Yankees signed Tony Fernández to a two-year contract to play shortstop and kept Jeter in Triple-A.  The Yankees reportedly offered Jeter the opportunity to work out with the replacement players in Spring Training prior to the 1995 season, but he declined to cross the picket line.

On May 29, 1995, Jeter made his debut in the major leagues due to injuries to Fernández and Pat Kelly. Jeter batted .234 and committed two errors in 13 games before being demoted to Columbus.

Despite the presence of Fernández on the roster, new Yankees manager Joe Torre announced that Jeter would be the starting shortstop in 1996. He started on Opening Day of the 1996 season as the starting shortstop (the first Yankee rookie since Tom Tresh in 1962 to do so) and hit his first major-league home run on that day. Jeter's home run was called by one of his Yankee predecessors at shortstop, broadcaster Phil Rizzuto. Jeter played his way to a successful rookie season, hitting for a .314 batting average, with 10 home runs, 104 runs scored, and 78 runs batted in. He subsequently earned Rookie of the Year honors. Jeter batted .361 in the playoffs, as the Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves to win their first World Series championship since 1978.

During the 1996 American League Championship Series, Jeter was involved in what has become a memorable moment in postseason history. During game one, with the Yankees trailing the Baltimore Orioles 4–3 in the 8th inning, Jeter hit a fly ball to right field. As right fielder Tony Tarasco moved to make a play on the ball near the fence, appearing to have a chance to catch the ball, 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall and caught the ball, pulling it back into the stands. Despite Tarasco's protest, the umpires convened and ruled the ball a home run. Replays conclusively showed that, had Maier not interfered, the ball would have fallen in front of the fence and potentially into Tarasco's glove for an out. The Yankees would go on to win in 11 innings and would eventually win the series, 4 games to 1. The ruling made for the first home run of Jeter's postseason career.

In 1997, Jeter batted .291. However, the Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series. In 1998, Jeter batted .324, with a league-leading 127 runs, 19 home runs, and 84 runs batted in, for a team that won 114 games during the regular season and is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. In the playoffs, Jeter hit only .176 in the Division and League Championship Series, but he excelled in the World Series, batting .353, as the Yankees went on to beat the San Diego Padres in four games.
Jeter making a play against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.

In 1999, Jeter led the American League in hits (219) and was second in the league in batting average (.349) and runs scored (134). Jeter (who, for part of the year, batted third in the lineup) also drove in 102 runs, becoming only the second Yankee shortstop ever to do so (Lyn Lary had driven in 107 runs in 1931). His season totals in batting average, runs, hits, runs batted in, doubles (37), triples (9), home runs (24), slugging percentage (.552), and on-base percentage (.438) are all personal bests. Jeter batted .455 in the 1999 American League Division Series, .350 in the 1999 American League Championship Series, and .353 in the 1999 World Series, as the Yankees defeated the Braves to win another championship.

During the 1999 season, Jeter had a confrontation with a teammate. Teammate Chad Curtis, an outspoken Christian, approached him about discussing his faith, but Jeter declined. When Curtis approached Jeter again, he became offended. Later in the season, a mid-game bench-clearing brawl with the Seattle Mariners occurred. After the brawl ended, Jeter was seen engaged in friendly chatter with his good friend (and future Yankee teammate) Alex Rodriguez, who then played for the Mariners. Upon returning to the dugout, Curtis chastized Jeter for being friendly with an opponent during a bench-clearing brawl, which violated an unwritten rule of baseball. After the game, Curtis approached Jeter in the clubhouse, with beat writers present. Jeter commented that this was not an appropriate time for a confrontation. Curtis later apologized.

During the 1999–2000 offseason, the Yankees negotiated with Jeter, tentatively agreeing to a $118.5 million, seven-year contract. However, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner did not want to set a salary record, delaying until the acceptance of a $143 million, eight-year contract extension between the Detroit Tigers and Juan González. When that proposed deal fell through, Jeter's tentative deal fell through, and he agreed to a one-year deal for $10 million.
2000–2003

Jeter batted .339, with 15 home runs, 73 runs batted in, 119 runs scored, and 22 stolen bases in 2000. He batted only .211 in the Division Series but rebounded to bat .318 against the Seattle Mariners in the Championship Series and .409, with two home runs, a triple, and two doubles in a five-game series against the New York Mets in the World Series, the first Subway Series since 1956.

In 2000, Jeter became the first player ever to win the All-Star Game MVP award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. Jeter became the first Yankee since Yogi Berra, in 1959, to hit a home run in the All Star Game.

Before the 2001 season, with one year remaining until he would become eligible for free agency, Jeter signed a $189 million, ten-year contract to remain with the Yankees, making him the second highest paid athlete, trailing only Rodriguez. Rodriguez signed his deal earlier than Jeter, setting a higher market for Jeter's negotiations.

During the season, Jeter batted .311, with 21 home runs, 74 runs batted in, 110 runs scored, and 27 stolen bases. In the postseason, Jeter made a notable play in game 3 of the 2001 American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. With Jeremy Giambi on first base, Oakland right fielder Terrence Long hit a double off Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina into the right-field corner. As Giambi rounded third base and headed for home, Yankees right fielder Shane Spencer retrieved the ball and made a wild throw intended for Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. Instead, the errant throw missed cutoff man Tino Martinez and dribbled up the first-base line. Jeter came from shortstop to grab the ball and flipped it to Posada, who tagged Giambi on the leg just before he crossed home plate for the out. Facing elimination, the Yankees went on to win the game, as well as the series. The play was later voted #7 in Baseball Weekly's 10 Most Amazing Plays of all time.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the baseball season was put on hold. As a result, the start of the playoffs was delayed, and game 4 of the 2001 World Series was played on October 31. The game went into the tenth inning tied at 3–3. At midnight, the scoreboard in center field read "Attention Fans, Welcome to NOVEMBER BASEBALL." This was the first time that any non-exhibition MLB game had been played in the month of November. Moments after this message was displayed on the board, Jeter sent a 3–2 pitch from Byung-Hyun Kim over the right-field stands. A fan in the stands held up a sign with the words "Mr. November," a reference to Reggie Jackson's nickname, "Mr. October". Michael Kay, who called the walk-off home run, called Jeter by this name, referencing the sign. Despite the nickname, Jeter was 3 for 12 (.250) in November baseball that season, as the Yankees lost the World Series in seven games to the Arizona Diamondbacks (the home team won all seven games of the World Series).

In 2002, Jeter batted .297, with 18 home runs, 75 runs batted in, 124 runs scored, and a career-best 32 stolen bases. He led the majors in stolen base percentage (91.4%), getting caught only three times.
Jeter connects for a hit against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In 2003, Jeter dislocated his left shoulder on opening day when he collided with Blue Jays catcher Ken Huckaby at third base. Jeter, who had never played fewer than 148 games in the prior seven full seasons, was subsequently on the disabled list for six weeks, missing 36 games. Jeter returned to bat .324, losing the batting title to Bill Mueller, who batted .326.

Steinbrenner named Jeter the 11th recognized captain in Yankees history on June 3, 2003, following eight seasons without a captain after the retirement of Don Mattingly in 1995. Dispute over the true count has been noted.
2004–present
Jeter joking with other players during Spring Training.

The beginning of the 2004 season saw Jeter mired in a slump; on May 25, he was hitting only .189. This included a personal career record 0-for-32 skid in April. In June, however, Jeter broke out of his slump. He hit nearly .400 for the month and set a personal best with 9 home runs. He finished the season with a .292 average; 23 home runs, the 2nd most of his career; 78 runs batted in; 111 runs scored; and 44 doubles, a career best.

During a July 1, 2004, game against the rival Boston Red Sox, Jeter made a play that furthered his reputation as a clutch player. In the top of the 12th inning, with the score tied at 3, the Red Sox had runners on second and third with 2 outs and right fielder Trot Nixon up at bat. Nixon hit a pop fly down the left field line. Jeter ran from his position at shortshop and made an over-the-shoulder catch. In dramatic fashion, he launched himself over the third-base side railing, landing three rows into the left-field seats, and lacerating his chin and bruising his face in the process. Jeter was later taken out of the game. This catch ended the inning, and later the Yankees went on to win the game in the bottom of the 13th inning. The "Dive" was awarded Play Of The Year in the This Year In Baseball awards competition, as voted on by fans at MLB.com.

In 2005, Jeter was second in the AL in both runs scored (122) and batting average on balls in play (.394), and was third in the league in both at bats (654) and hits (202). Jeter won his second-consecutive Gold Glove in 2005, as his low range factor rose to 4.76 and ranked 2nd among AL shortstops.

In 2006, Jeter was second in the AL in both batting average (.343) and runs scored (118); was third in hits (214), stolen base success percentage (87.2), and batting average with runners in scoring position (.381); and was fifth in infield hits (26). He finished second in American League Most Valuable Player Award voting to Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins (320 points to 306 points). Jeter has finished in the top 10 in the MVP balloting 6 times in his 11 full seasons through 2006 (including also a third-place finish in 1998).
Jeter prepares to bat at Oriole Park in 2007.

In 2007, Jeter was third in the AL in hits (203), his sixth season and third-consecutive season with 200 hits, tying Lou Gehrig. He was also fourth in both at-bats (639) and plate appearances (714), sixth in times on base (276), and ninth in batting average (.322). In the field, he was involved in a career-high 104 double plays.

In 2008, Jeter's slugging percentage was .410, his lowest since 1997. One possible cause was a prolonged slump that he suffered after being hit by a pitch on his wrist. Before the injury, Jeter was hitting .324 with a .774 on-base plus slugging (OPS). After the injury, his batting average dipped to as low as .269 by the end of the month. His offense took an upward turn after May as he hit .322 with a .824 OPS after June 1. Jeter was elected to his ninth All-Star game as the starting shortstop.

Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits at Yankee Stadium (1,269) with a home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price on September 14, 2008. On September 16, he went on to break the record off of Chicago White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd.

In 2009, Jeter was named #8 on the Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball by a panel of 100 baseball people, many of them members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and winners of major baseball awards.

For the 2009 season, Yankees manager Joe Girardi switched Jeter and Johnny Damon in the batting order, with Damon moving to second and Jeter becoming the leadoff hitter, based on the rationale that Jeter has a higher on base percentage than Damon, but grounds into double plays more often. Jeter batted .334 (third in the AL), with a .406 on-base percentage, 18 home runs, 30 stolen bases (caught only 5 times), 107 runs scored (in the top 10 in MLB), and 212 hits (second in MLB).

On August 16, 2009, against the Seattle Mariners, Jeter doubled down the right-field line for his 2,675th hit as a shortstop, breaking Luis Aparicio's previous record for the most hits by a shortstop in major league history. Jeter became the all-time hits leader as a member of the Yankees (2,722), passing Lou Gehrig on September 11, 2009. The hit was a single off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman in the 3rd inning.

In the 2009 postseason, Jeter batted .355, including .407 in the 2009 World Series, as he won his fifth World Series championship. He was named Sportsman of the Year for 2009 by Sports Illustrated magazine. Jeter also finished third in the AL MVP voting, behind the Minnesota's Joe Mauer and teammate Mark Teixeira.
World Baseball Classic

Jeter was the starting shortstop for the USA team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He hit .450 (9-for-20) for Team USA and scored five runs in six games. Only Ken Griffey, Jr. (.524) and Cuba's Yoandy Garlobo (.480) had a higher batting average with a minimum of 20 at bats. Jeter's play earned him recognition as the shortstop selection on the All-Tournament Team.

Jeter was also the starting shortstop for Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. At the start of the tournament, he was named captain of Team USA by manager Davey Johnson. With Team USA, Jeter faced the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field in an exhibition game, the first time he played against the Yankees.
Player profile
Jeter at shortstop in 2007.

Jeter is noted for his very consistent postseason performances: he has a career .309 postseason batting average, with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs. Except for 2008, the Yankees have been to the playoffs every year since Jeter joined the team. He has a Major League Baseball record 175 career postseason hits, at-bats (559), runs scored (99), and strikeouts (107).

Despite winning four Gold Glove awards, Jeter's defense has been the subject of criticism from a number of sabermetricians, including Rob Neyer and the publication Baseball Prospectus. The book The Fielding Bible by John Dewan contains an essay by James in which he concludes that Jeter "was probably the most ineffective defensive player in the major leagues, at any position." A 2008 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that, from 2002 through 2005, Jeter was the worst defensive shortstop in the Major Leagues. Jeter responded to this criticism by saying "I play in New York, man. Criticism is part of the game, you take criticism as a challenge."

During the 2008 offseason, Jeter embarked on a rigorous training program to combat the effects of age, by focusing on lateral movement and first-step quickness. As a result, many baseball writers noted that Jeter had a strong defensive season in 2009, improving his mobility and reducing errors.
Career highlights
Awards
Jeter warming up before a game.
Award / Honor↓ Time(s)↓ Date(s)↓
American League All-Star 10 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
New York Yankees Player of the Year 4 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006
American League Gold Glove Award (SS) 4 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009
Hank Aaron Award 2 2006, 2009
Babe Ruth Award 1 2000
All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award 1 2000
World Series Most Valuable Player Award 1 2000
American League Silver Slugger Award (SS) 4 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
American League Rookie of the Year 1 1996
Roberto Clemente Award 1 2009
ESPY Awards Best MLB Player 1 2007
The Sporting News "Good Guy in Sports" Award 1 2002
Inductee in Kalamazoo Central High School Athletic Hall of Fame 1 2007
Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year 1 2009
Milestones
Jeter saluting the crowd after becoming the all-time Yankees hits leader.

    * Jeter recorded his 2,000th career hit with an infield single on May 26, 2006, off Kansas City Royals pitcher Scott Elarton, becoming the eighth Yankee to reach the milestone.
    * Jeter holds the record for most singles all-time by a Yankee.
    * Jeter is one of six players to have 2,700 hits, 1,500 runs, 220 homers, 300 steals, and 1,000 RBIs (the others are Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Willie Mays, and Paul Molitor).
    * On June 18, 2005, against the Chicago Cubs, Jeter hit his first and only grand slam, after 10 years in the major leagues. At one point, Jeter had the most at bats of any active player to not have hit a grand slam.
    * On June 4, 2008, Jeter passed Mickey Mantle for 3rd place on the Yankees all-time hit list.
    * On June 27, 2008, Jeter hit his 400th double.
    * On July 12, 2008, Jeter hit his 200th home run.
    * On September 9, 2008, Jeter passed Babe Ruth for 2nd place on the Yankees all-time hit list.
    * On September 14, 2008, Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium
    * On September 16, 2008, Jeter moved past Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium with his 1,270th in the 1st inning, and 1,271st in the 5th inning.
    * On July 24, 2009, Jeter passed Ted Williams for 68th place in all-time hits with his 2,655th.
    * On August 2, 2009, Jeter played in his 2,084th game, tying Babe Ruth for 4th in Yankees history.
    * On August 16, 2009, Jeter recorded his 2,673th and 2,674th hits, tying and passing Luis Aparicio for most hits by a shortstop in Major League history.
    * On September 11, 2009, Jeter became the Yankees' all-time hits leader, surpassing Lou Gehrig with his 2,722nd hit, a single to right field off of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman in the 3rd inning.
    * On April 6, 2010, Jeter, along with Posada and Mariano Rivera, became the first teammates in any of the four major league sports in North America (MLB, NFL, NBA, or NHL) to play in at least 16 seasons on the same team as teammates.
    * On June 12 2010, Jeter compiled his 3,000th hit (including the postseason) with a solo home run in the first inning against the Houston Astros. a hit that also tied Jeter with Rickey Henderson as the all-time Yankees leader in leadoff home runs
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Sports/derek-jeter1.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/SHAWRTy_15/862115Alex-Rodriguez-Derek-Jeter-Ve.jpg


I call him The Jeter Cheater

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 7:08 am


I like both Careless Whisper and  Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, but my favorite is Father Figure :)


I also like I Want Your Sex.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:09 am

To be remembered today: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Israel "Iz" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997) (pronounced ) was a Hawaiian musician, and nephew to entertainer Moe Keale.

He became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993. His medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and commercials.

Through his consummate ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres (such as jazz and reggae), Kamakawiwoʻole remains one of the major influences in Hawaiian music over the last 15 years.

Early life

Kamakawiwo'ole was born at Kuakini Hospital in Honolulu to Henry Kaleialoha Naniwa Kamakawiwoʻole, Jr., and Evangeline Leinani Kamakawiwo'ole. He was raised in the community of Kaimuki, where his parents had met and married. He began playing music with his older brother Skippy at the age of 11, being exposed to the music of Hawaiian entertainers of the time such as Peter Moon, Palani Vaughn, and Don Ho, who frequented the establishment where Kamakawiwo'ole's parents worked.

In his early teens, he studied at Upward Bound (UB) of the University of Hawaii at Hilo and his family moved to Makaha, Hawai'i. There he met Louis "Moon" Kauakahi, Sam Gray, and Jerome Koko. Together with his brother Skippy they formed the Makaha Sons of Niʻihau. From 1976 throughout the 1980s, the Hawaiian contemporary band gained in popularity as they toured Hawaiʻi and the continental United States and released fifteen successful albums.

In 1982, Kamakawiwoʻole's brother Skippy Kamakawiwoʻole died of a heart attack. In that same year, Kamakawiwoʻole married his childhood sweetheart Marlene. Soon after, they had a daughter whom they named Ceslieanne "Wehi".

Music career

Kamakawiwoʻole formed the musical group Makaha Sons of Niʻihau with brother Skippy plus Louis "Moon" Kauakahi, Sam Gray and Jerome Koko. They recorded No Kristo in 1976 and released four more albums, including Kahea O Keale, Keala, Makaha Sons Of Niʻihau and Mahalo Ke Akua, before Skippy died of a heart attack in 1982. The group became Hawaii's most popular traditional group with breakout albums like 1984's Puana Hou Me Ke Aloha and its follow-up, 1986's Hoʻola. Kamakawiwoʻole's last recorded album with the group was 1991's Hoʻoluana. It remains the group's top-selling CD.

In 1990, Kamakawiwoʻole released his first solo album Kaʻanoʻi, which won awards for Contemporary Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year from the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts (HARA). Facing Future was released in 1993 by The Mountain Apple Company. It featured his most popular song, the medley "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", along with "Hawaiʻi 78", "White Sandy Beach of Hawaiʻi", "Maui Hawaiian Sup'pa Man", and "Kaulana Kawaihae". Facing Future debuted at #25 on Billboard Magazine's Top Pop Catalogue chart. On October 26, 2005, "Facing Future" became Hawaii's first certified platinum album, selling more than a million CDs in the United States, according to figures furnished by the Recording Industry Association of America. On July 21, 2006, BBC Radio 1 announced that "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World(True Dreams)" would be released as a single in America.

In 1994, Kamakawiwoʻole was voted favorite entertainer of the year by the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts (HARA).

E Ala E (1995) featured the political title song "ʻE Ala ʻE" and "Kaleohano", and N Dis Life (1996) featured "In This Life" and "Starting All Over Again".

Kamakawiwoʻole was known for promoting Hawaiian rights and Hawaiian independence, both through his lyrics, which often stated the case for independence directly, and his life.

In 1997, Kamakawiwoʻole was again honored by HARA at the Annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Favorite Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, and Island Contemporary Album of the Year. He watched the awards ceremony from a hospital room.

Alone in Iz World (2001) debuted at #1 on Billboard's World Chart and #135 on Billboard's Top 200, #13 on the Top Independent Albums Chart, and #15 on the Top Internet Album Sales charts.

Death

Throughout the later part of his life, Kamakawiwoʻole suffered from severe obesity and at one point carried 770 pounds (350 kg) (55 stone) on his 6-foot 2-inch (1.88 m) frame, and also battled a drug addiction. He endured several hospitalizations and died of weight-related respiratory illness at Queen's Medical Center on June 26, 1997, at 12:18 a.m. He was 38 years old. He is survived by his wife Marlene Kamakawiwo'ole and his daughter Ceslieanne "Wehi".

The Hawaiʻi State Flag flew at half-staff on July 10, 1997, the day of Kamakawiwoʻole's funeral. His koa wood coffin lay in state at the Capitol building in Honolulu. He was the third person in Hawaiian history to be accorded this honor and the only non-politician. Approximately ten thousand people attended his funeral. Thousands of fans gathered as his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at Mākua Beach on July 12, 1997.

On September 20, 2003, hundreds paid tribute to Kamakawiwoʻole as a 200-pound bronze bust of the revered singer was unveiled at the Waianae Neighborhood Community Center on Oʻahu. The singer's widow, Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole, and sculptor Jan-Michelle Sawyer were present for the dedication ceremony.

Legacy

Kamakawiwoʻole's recording of "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" reached #12 on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004 (for the survey week ending January 18, 2004), and passed the 2 million paid downloads mark in the USA as of September 27, 2009.

On July 4, 2007, Kamakawiwoʻole debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart with "Wonderful World," selling 17,000 units.

Hawaiian mixed martial artist; former UFC lightweight champion, and former welterweight champion, B.J. Penn commonly uses his songs "Hawaii '78" and "E Ala E" as his entrance music.

In April 2007, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" entered the UK charts at #68, and eventually climbed to #46, spending 10 weeks in the Top 100 over a 2 year period.

Discography

   * Ka 'Ano'i (1990)
   * Facing Future (1993)
   * E Ala E (1995)
   * N Dis Life (1996)
   * Iz in Concert: The Man and His Music (1998)
   * Alone in Iz World (2001)
   * Wonderful World (2007)

http://jornale.com.br/wicca/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/israel_kamakawiwo.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:10 am


To be remembered today: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Israel "Iz" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997) (pronounced ) was a Hawaiian musician, and nephew to entertainer Moe Keale.

He became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993. His medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and commercials.

Through his consummate ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres (such as jazz and reggae), Kamakawiwoʻole remains one of the major influences in Hawaiian music over the last 15 years.

Early life

Kamakawiwo'ole was born at Kuakini Hospital in Honolulu to Henry Kaleialoha Naniwa Kamakawiwoʻole, Jr., and Evangeline Leinani Kamakawiwo'ole. He was raised in the community of Kaimuki, where his parents had met and married. He began playing music with his older brother Skippy at the age of 11, being exposed to the music of Hawaiian entertainers of the time such as Peter Moon, Palani Vaughn, and Don Ho, who frequented the establishment where Kamakawiwo'ole's parents worked.

In his early teens, he studied at Upward Bound (UB) of the University of Hawaii at Hilo and his family moved to Makaha, Hawai'i. There he met Louis "Moon" Kauakahi, Sam Gray, and Jerome Koko. Together with his brother Skippy they formed the Makaha Sons of Niʻihau. From 1976 throughout the 1980s, the Hawaiian contemporary band gained in popularity as they toured Hawaiʻi and the continental United States and released fifteen successful albums.

In 1982, Kamakawiwoʻole's brother Skippy Kamakawiwoʻole died of a heart attack. In that same year, Kamakawiwoʻole married his childhood sweetheart Marlene. Soon after, they had a daughter whom they named Ceslieanne "Wehi".

Music career

Kamakawiwoʻole formed the musical group Makaha Sons of Niʻihau with brother Skippy plus Louis "Moon" Kauakahi, Sam Gray and Jerome Koko. They recorded No Kristo in 1976 and released four more albums, including Kahea O Keale, Keala, Makaha Sons Of Niʻihau and Mahalo Ke Akua, before Skippy died of a heart attack in 1982. The group became Hawaii's most popular traditional group with breakout albums like 1984's Puana Hou Me Ke Aloha and its follow-up, 1986's Hoʻola. Kamakawiwoʻole's last recorded album with the group was 1991's Hoʻoluana. It remains the group's top-selling CD.

In 1990, Kamakawiwoʻole released his first solo album Kaʻanoʻi, which won awards for Contemporary Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year from the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts (HARA). Facing Future was released in 1993 by The Mountain Apple Company. It featured his most popular song, the medley "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", along with "Hawaiʻi 78", "White Sandy Beach of Hawaiʻi", "Maui Hawaiian Sup'pa Man", and "Kaulana Kawaihae". Facing Future debuted at #25 on Billboard Magazine's Top Pop Catalogue chart. On October 26, 2005, "Facing Future" became Hawaii's first certified platinum album, selling more than a million CDs in the United States, according to figures furnished by the Recording Industry Association of America. On July 21, 2006, BBC Radio 1 announced that "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World(True Dreams)" would be released as a single in America.

In 1994, Kamakawiwoʻole was voted favorite entertainer of the year by the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts (HARA).

E Ala E (1995) featured the political title song "ʻE Ala ʻE" and "Kaleohano", and N Dis Life (1996) featured "In This Life" and "Starting All Over Again".

Kamakawiwoʻole was known for promoting Hawaiian rights and Hawaiian independence, both through his lyrics, which often stated the case for independence directly, and his life.

In 1997, Kamakawiwoʻole was again honored by HARA at the Annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Favorite Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, and Island Contemporary Album of the Year. He watched the awards ceremony from a hospital room.

Alone in Iz World (2001) debuted at #1 on Billboard's World Chart and #135 on Billboard's Top 200, #13 on the Top Independent Albums Chart, and #15 on the Top Internet Album Sales charts.

Death

Throughout the later part of his life, Kamakawiwoʻole suffered from severe obesity and at one point carried 770 pounds (350 kg) (55 stone) on his 6-foot 2-inch (1.88 m) frame, and also battled a drug addiction. He endured several hospitalizations and died of weight-related respiratory illness at Queen's Medical Center on June 26, 1997, at 12:18 a.m. He was 38 years old. He is survived by his wife Marlene Kamakawiwo'ole and his daughter Ceslieanne "Wehi".

The Hawaiʻi State Flag flew at half-staff on July 10, 1997, the day of Kamakawiwoʻole's funeral. His koa wood coffin lay in state at the Capitol building in Honolulu. He was the third person in Hawaiian history to be accorded this honor and the only non-politician. Approximately ten thousand people attended his funeral. Thousands of fans gathered as his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at Mākua Beach on July 12, 1997.

On September 20, 2003, hundreds paid tribute to Kamakawiwoʻole as a 200-pound bronze bust of the revered singer was unveiled at the Waianae Neighborhood Community Center on Oʻahu. The singer's widow, Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole, and sculptor Jan-Michelle Sawyer were present for the dedication ceremony.

Legacy

Kamakawiwoʻole's recording of "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" reached #12 on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004 (for the survey week ending January 18, 2004), and passed the 2 million paid downloads mark in the USA as of September 27, 2009.

On July 4, 2007, Kamakawiwoʻole debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart with "Wonderful World," selling 17,000 units.

Hawaiian mixed martial artist; former UFC lightweight champion, and former welterweight champion, B.J. Penn commonly uses his songs "Hawaii '78" and "E Ala E" as his entrance music.

In April 2007, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" entered the UK charts at #68, and eventually climbed to #46, spending 10 weeks in the Top 100 over a 2 year period.

Discography

    * Ka 'Ano'i (1990)
    * Facing Future (1993)
    * E Ala E (1995)
    * N Dis Life (1996)
    * Iz in Concert: The Man and His Music (1998)
    * Alone in Iz World (2001)
    * Wonderful World (2007)

http://jornale.com.br/wicca/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/israel_kamakawiwo.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:12 am


I like Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.
I sing "Wake Me Up Before the cocoa!"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:13 am


I call him The Jeter Cheater
In short, what did he do?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 7:14 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I


His voice sounds so pretty.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 7:14 am


In short, what did he do?



his little fling with Madonna.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:15 am


His voice sounds so pretty.
This must the saddest version of the song I have heard.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:15 am



his little fling with Madonna.
A little fling?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 7:16 am


A little fling?



from what I read,he dated her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:28 am



from what I read,he dated her.
Can I stoop so low to reseearch into the gossip press?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 7:29 am


Can I stoop so low to reseearch into the gossip press?


you could try.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 7:37 am


you could try.
Try (on that subject) is a hard word for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 11:28 am



his little fling with Madonna.

I believe that was A-Rod not Jeter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 12:05 pm


I believe that was A-Rod not Jeter.
A-Rod being a different baseball player?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 12:12 pm


A-Rod being a different baseball player?

Yes sorry Phil,,Alex Rodriguez. This is from 2008
Cynthia Rodriguez's lawyer tells TMZ, "A-Rod may be an All-Star baseball player, but he's flunked the All-Star team as far as marriage is concerned."

Earle Lilly is repping Cynthia in the divorce case, which will be launched tomorrow when she files legal papers in Miami. Lilly claims Alex Rodriguez, who's already banked more than $250 mil, and Madonna have been having an affair "and are still together." He says they were together after his game yesterday and together today as well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 12:15 pm


Yes sorry Phil,,Alex Rodriguez. This is from 2008
Cynthia Rodriguez's lawyer tells TMZ, "A-Rod may be an All-Star baseball player, but he's flunked the All-Star team as far as marriage is concerned."

Earle Lilly is repping Cynthia in the divorce case, which will be launched tomorrow when she files legal papers in Miami. Lilly claims Alex Rodriguez, who's already banked more than $250 mil, and Madonna have been having an affair "and are still together." He says they were together after his game yesterday and together today as well.
Many thanks on the info.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/26/10 at 1:08 pm

Derek Jeter:  8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 1:38 pm


Many thanks on the info.

Your Welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 1:39 pm


Derek Jeter:  8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P




Cat

;D I'm not much of a Yankees fan, but I don't think he is that bad. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 2:13 pm


I believe that was A-Rod not Jeter.


Sorry I get the 2 confused.  ::) :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 2:18 pm


Sorry I get the 2 confused.  ::) :P
Are the two players so similar to be confused together?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 2:23 pm


Are the two players so similar to be confused together?


They're both Yankees.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 2:27 pm


They're both Yankees.
They play for the same team?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 2:29 pm


They play for the same team?


yes they do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 2:34 pm


yes they do.
The New York Yankees ?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 2:34 pm


The New York Yankees ?


Yes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/26/10 at 2:39 pm


;D I'm not much of a Yankees fan, but I don't think he is that bad. :)



Yeah, he is. The guy is so full of himself it is unreal.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 2:42 pm


Yes.
Are they pitchers or batters?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 2:43 pm


Are they pitchers or batters?


I think,pitchers.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 2:43 pm


I think,pitchers.
Both pitchers?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/10 at 2:44 pm


Both pitchers?


wiki says it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 2:46 pm


wiki says it.
Okey Dokey, but who is the better pitcher of the two?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/26/10 at 3:03 pm


I think,pitchers.




Jeter plays shortstop and A-Rod (AKA Pay-Rod) plays 3rd base.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 3:08 pm




Jeter plays shortstop and A-Rod (AKA Pay-Rod) plays 3rd base.



Cat
I Don't Know is on 3rd base?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/26/10 at 3:22 pm


I Don't Know is on 3rd base?



;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/10 at 5:03 pm



Yeah, he is. The guy is so full of himself it is unreal.



Cat

I'm sure there are lots of celebrates that can apply too. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/26/10 at 5:06 pm


Derek Jeter:  8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P




Cat

You think more highly of him that I do.

Yankees and A-Rod --->  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/xyxgun.gif


8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/10 at 11:31 pm

British Person of the Day: Meera Syal

Meera Syal MBE (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is an Indo-British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42.

She was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1997 and in 2003 was listed in The Observer as one of the fifty funniest acts in British comedy.

Syal starred in the eleventh series of Holby City as Consultant Tara Sodi .

Life and career

Her Punjabi-born parents came to England from New Delhi. She was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire and grew up in Essington, a mining village a few miles to the north. She attended Queen Mary's High School in nearby Walsall.

Syal won the National Student Drama Award for writing One of Us while studying English and Drama at Manchester University. She won the Betty Trask Award for her first book Anita and Me and the Media Personality of the Year award at the Commission for Racial Equality's annual Race in the Media awards in 2000. Syal wrote the screenplay for the 1993 film Bhaji on the Beach. She was one of the team who wrote and performed in the BBC comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me (1996-2001), originally on radio and then on television.

She achieved a number one record with Gareth Gates and her co-stars from The Kumars at No. 42 with Spirit in the Sky, the Comic Relief single. She also sang Then He Kissed Me (composed by Biddu) with the famous pop star from Pakistan Nazia Hassan. Nazia, Syal and Bidddu also came up with the girl band named "Saffron" in 1988. She was given the Nazia Hassan Foundation award in 2003. In October 2008 she starred in the BBC2 sitcom Beautiful People.

In June 2003 she appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme with a selection of music by Nitin Sawhney, Madan Bala Sindhu, Joni Mitchell, Pizzicato Five, Sukhwinder Singh, Louis Armstrong and others. The luxury she chose to ease her life as a castaway was a piano. As a journalist she writes occasionally for The Guardian.

Personal life

In 2004 she took part in one episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, which investigated her family history. Her parents are an exception as they married for love after a secret seven year relationship, going against the Indian tradition of arranged marriage. One of her parents is Hindu and the other a Sikh, but their parents embraced their son-in-law. Syal was apparently surprised to discover both her grandfathers had actively campaigned against British rule and presence in India: one was a communist journalist; the other was a Punjab protestor, who was imprisoned and tortured in the Golden Temple after protesting.

In January 2005, Syal married her frequent collaborator, Sanjeev Bhaskar, who plays her grandson in The Kumars At No. 42; the marriage ceremony took place in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Their baby, a boy named Shaan, was born at the Portland Hospital on 2 December 2005. Syal has a daughter called Chameli from her former marriage to journalist Shekhar Bhatia. Her brother is investigative journalist Rajeev Syal.

In February 2009, Syal was one of a number of British entertainers who signed an open letter printed in The Times protesting about the persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran.

Writing credits
Screenplays

    * Anita and Me (2002)
    * Bhaji on the Beach (1993)

Stage

    * One of Us (1983)
    * The Oppressed Minorities Big Fun Show (1992)
    * Goodness Gracious Me (1999)
    * Bombay Dreams (2002)

Radio

    * Goodness Gracious Me (1996-98)
    * Masala FM (1996)

Television

    * Tandoori Nights (1985)
    * The Real McCoy (1991)
    * My Sister Wife (1994)
    * Goodness Gracious Me (1998)
    * Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (2005)

Novels

    * Anita and Me (1996)
    * Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999)
    * Sari, Jeans und Chilischoten (2003)

Selected filmography

    * The One of Us (1983)
    * Majdhar (1983)
    * The Diary of Adrian Mole (1985)
    * A Little Princess (1986)
    * Sunday East (1986–87)
    * Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987)
    * Serious Money (1987)
    * Peer Gynt (1990)
    * The Real McCoy (1991)
    * Gummed Labels (1992)
    * Taggart (1992)
    * The Oppressed Minorities Big Fun Show (1992)
    * Sean's Show (1993)
    * The Brain Drain (1993)
    * Absolutely Fabulous (1994)
    * New Best Friend (1994)
    * Flight (1995)
    * Degrees of Error (1995)
    * Band of Gold (1995)
    * It's Not Unusual (1995)
    * Drop The Dead Donkey (1996)
    * A Nice Arrangement (1996)
    * Beautiful Thing (1996)
    * Marsala FM (1996)
    * Crossing The Floor (1996)
    * Ruby (1997)
    * Sixth Happiness (1997)
    * The Book Quiz (1998)
    * No Crying He Makes (1998)
    * Keeping Mum (1998)
    * Legal Affairs (1998)
    * The World As We Know It (1999)
    * Late Lunch (1999)
    * Room 101 (1999)
    * The Vagina Monologues (2001)
    * Double Income, No Kids Yet (2001)
    * Anita and Me (2002)
    * QI (2003)
    * Bad Girls (2004)
    * Bombay Dreams (2004)
    * Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (2005)
    * Murder Investigation Team (2005)
    * The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006)
    * Who Do You Think You Are? (2006)
    * 8 Out of 10 Cats (2006)
    * Rafta Rafta (2006)
    * Jekyll (2007)
    * Kingdom (2007)
    * Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007)
    * The One Show (2008)
    * When Were We Funniest? (2008)
    * Beautiful People (2008–09)
    * Holby City (2009–)
    * Minder (2009)
    * Horrible Histories(2009)
    * Doctor Who: "The Hungry Earth" (2010) and "Cold Blood" (2010)

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/sm3/jul2008/5/3/EE661AB8-C9A6-F70F-C3C8B4FA4E1247D9.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/01/article-1175024-04C558E5000005DC-729_468x286_popup.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_03/kumarsES0504_468x410.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/27/10 at 12:57 am

It is hard to fathom how that pretty actress transforms into the Kumar Grandmother... ;D  That was a great show....but I'm guessing that it would not have been shown in the U.S..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/27/10 at 1:00 am


It is hard to fathom how that pretty actress transforms into the Kumar Grandmother... ;D  That was a great show....but I'm guessing that it would not have been shown in the U.S..

I never heard of her, or the show

(but then again I don't watch much TV anymore )

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 3:44 am


I never heard of her, or the show

(but then again I don't watch much TV anymore )
The show was produed and shown on the BBC, so it could be shown in other countries.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 4:14 am


I never heard of her, or the show

(but then again I don't watch much TV anymore )
There again, I know nothing on baseball players.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 6:54 am


I never heard of her, or the show

(but then again I don't watch much TV anymore )

I never heard of it either.
There again, I know nothing on baseball players.

Good point Phil. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 6:55 am


There again, I know nothing on baseball players.


Me too,I don't know much about them either.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 7:00 am

The word of the day...Song(s)
In music, a song is a composition that contains vocal  parts ("lyrics") that are performed ("sung"), commonly accompanied by musical instruments, exception in the case of a cappella songs. The lyrics of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, although they may be religious verses or free prose.

Songs are typically for a solo singer, though they may also be in the form of a duet, trio, or larger ensemble involving more voices. See part song. (Works with more than one voice to a part, however, are considered choral.) Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms, depending on the criteria used. One division is between "art songs", "pop songs", and "folk songs". Other common methods of classification are by purpose (sacred vs secular), by style (dance, ballad, Lied, etc.), or by time of origin (Renaissance, Contemporary, etc.).

A song is a piece of music for accompanied or unaccompanied voice or voices or, "the act or art of singing," but the term is generally not used for large vocal forms including opera and oratorio. However, the term is, "often found in various figurative and transferred sense (e.g. for the lyrical second subject of a sonata...)." The word "song" has the same etymological root as the verb "to sing" and the OED defines the word to mean "that which is sung"
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k256/skibum9x99/Profile/Songs.png
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad222/davs33/songsforthemissing.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/allhallowsday/50SWEETBANDS50sweetsongsITnow.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee228/j_quaile/LenMacgaveaway.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95/xPEACExLOVExKTx/songs.jpg
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss184/tigersgirl16/lyricsh.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 7:01 am


Me too,I don't know much about them either.

Do you watch any sports other than wrestling?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 7:03 am


Do you watch any sports other than wrestling?


No,not really.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 7:03 am

The person born on this day...Bruce Johnston

Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin on June 27, 1942 in Peoria, Illinois) is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band. He joined the band on April 9, 1965 after Glen Campbell (who was substituting on stage for the group's chief song writer Brian Wilson) decided to embark on a solo career. Johnston's first vocal recording with the Beach Boys was "California Girls."
As a child Johnston was adopted by William and Irene Johnston of Chicago, and grew up on the West side of Los Angeles in Brentwood  and Bel-Air. His adoptive father was president of the Owl Rexall Drug Company in Los Angeles after moving from Walgreens  in Chicago. Johnston attended private school in Los Angeles and also studied classical piano in his early years. In high school, Johnston switched to contemporary music. He performed in a few "beginning" bands during this time and then moved on to working with young musicians such as Sandy Nelson, Kim Fowley and Phil Spector. Soon Johnston began backing people such as Ritchie Valens, the Everly Brothers, and even Eddie Cochran. In 1959 while still in high school, Johnston arranged and played on his first hit record called "Teenbeat" by Sandy Nelson. The single record reached the Billboard Top Ten. The same year Johnston made his first single under his own name, "Take This Pearl" on Arwin Records (a record label owned by Doris Day) as part of the Bruce & Terry duo.

In 1960, Johnston started his record production career at Del-Fi Records, producing five singles and an album — Love You So — by Ron Holden (for good measure, all but two of the album's eleven tracks were written or co-written by him). In 1962 and 1963 Johnston resurrected his recording career with a series of surfin' singles (vocal & instrumental) and an album, Surfin Around The World, credited to Bruce Johnston and another "live" album, The Bruce Johnston Surfin' Band's Surfer's Pajama Party. In 1963 came the first collaboration with his friend Terry Melcher, a mostly instrumental covers album credited to The Hot Doggers. The first artist the pair produced was a group called The Rip Chords. Johnston and Melcher were now working as staff producers at Columbia Records, Hollywood and by the time they were producing the million selling "Hey Little Cobra," a knock-off of the Beach Boys car song vocal style, they also wound up singing every layered vocal part for the recording using an Ampex three track recording machine (without sel-sync!). The two of them made a few recordings as Bruce & Terry, or The Rogues, but Terry Melcher began to focus more on his production career (The Byrds, Paul Revere and The Raiders). On April 9, 1965, Johnston joined the Beach Boys, replacing Glen Campbell who was playing bass on the road and singing Brian Wilson's vocal parts. Johnston did not start playing bass until his first tenure with the Beach Boys, and the very first vocal recording Johnston made as one of the Beach Boys was California Girls. On his solo album from 1977, Going Public, he recorded a version of the Lynsey De Paul-penned "Won't Somebody Dance With Me". He also scored a hit on the disco charts with a dance-oriented remake of the Chantays' hit "Pipeline". Also in 1977 he sang back-up vocals on Eric Carmen's LP, Boats Against the Current, and can be clearly heard on the hit single, "She Did It."

Johnston is frequently credited as one of the original greatest supporters of the Beach Boys' 1966 signature album Pet Sounds. He flew to London in May 1966 and played the album for John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He wrote several Beach Boy songs, notably 1971's "Disney Girls (1957)", a favorite of Brian Wilson's, which was covered by both Captain & Tennille and Art Garfunkel.

He wrote the Billboard number one, Barry Manilow hit ("I Write the Songs") for which he won a Grammy. "I Write The Songs" has been recorded by over two hundred artists (including Frank Sinatra) and it currently has a cumulative singles/albums worldwide sales figure of twenty-five million copies. In addition, Johnston wrote backing vocal arrangements and also sang on the recordings for Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and Pink Floyd's album The Wall."

Johnston left the Beach Boys in 1972, returning to the fold in 1979 to appear on (and produce) the album L.A. (Light Album). As of 2010, Johnston is still a member of the touring version of The Beach Boys, performing 170 concerts a year. Despite his long involvement with the band he no longer has a full membership in Brother Records having traded his shares (but not his artist royalties) in 1972. Johnston still retains his equal ownership of the band's ASCAP publishing company, Wilojarston, and is the only member of the band to have earned a Song of the Year Grammy.
References

  1. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Biography: Bruce Johnston". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=BRUCE. Retrieved 21 May 2010.

See also

   * The Beach Boys
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh43/blueline97/BruceJR.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k144/disgustedcats/BeachBoysthreewtitles.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 7:04 am


The word of the day...Song(s)
In music, a song is a composition that contains vocal  parts ("lyrics") that are performed ("sung"), commonly accompanied by musical instruments, exception in the case of a cappella songs. The lyrics of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, although they may be religious verses or free prose.

Songs are typically for a solo singer, though they may also be in the form of a duet, trio, or larger ensemble involving more voices. See part song. (Works with more than one voice to a part, however, are considered choral.) Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms, depending on the criteria used. One division is between "art songs", "pop songs", and "folk songs". Other common methods of classification are by purpose (sacred vs secular), by style (dance, ballad, Lied, etc.), or by time of origin (Renaissance, Contemporary, etc.).

A song is a piece of music for accompanied or unaccompanied voice or voices or, "the act or art of singing," but the term is generally not used for large vocal forms including opera and oratorio. However, the term is, "often found in various figurative and transferred sense (e.g. for the lyrical second subject of a sonata...)." The word "song" has the same etymological root as the verb "to sing" and the OED defines the word to mean "that which is sung"
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k256/skibum9x99/Profile/Songs.png
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad222/davs33/songsforthemissing.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/allhallowsday/50SWEETBANDS50sweetsongsITnow.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee228/j_quaile/LenMacgaveaway.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95/xPEACExLOVExKTx/songs.jpg
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss184/tigersgirl16/lyricsh.jpg



I love a good song on the radio. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 7:09 am

The person who died on this day...Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts, Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger, The Out-of-Towners, The China Syndrome, Missing, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.
Lemmon was born in an elevator at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He was the son of Mildred Burgess LaRue (née Noel) and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., who was the president of a doughnut  company.  Lemmon attended John Ward Elementary School in Newton and The Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts. He later revealed that he knew he wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. Lemmon attended Phillips Academy (Class of 1943) and Harvard University (Class of 1947) where he lived in Adams House and was an active member of several Drama Clubs - becoming president of the Hasty Pudding Club - as well as a member of the Delphic Club for Gentleman, a final club at Harvard. After Harvard, Lemmon joined the Navy, receiving V-12 training and serving as an ensign. On being discharged, he took up acting professionally, working on radio, television and Broadway. He studied acting under Uta Hagen. He also became enthused with the piano and learned to play it on his own. He could also play the harmonica and the double bass.
Career

Lemmon's film debut was a bit part as a plasterer/painter in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor but he was not noticed until his official debut opposite Judy Holliday in the 1954 comedy It Should Happen to You. Lemmon worked with many legendary leading ladies, among them Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Betty Grable, Janet Leigh, Shirley MacLaine, Romy Schneider, Doris Day, Kim Novak, Judy Holliday, Rita Hayworth, June Allyson, Virna Lisi, Ann Margret, Sophia Loren and many, many more. He was also close friends with Tony Curtis, Ernie Kovacs, Walter Matthau and Kevin Spacey. He made two films with Curtis and eleven with Matthau.

He became a favorite actor of director Billy Wilder, starring in his films Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Irma la Douce, The Fortune Cookie, Avanti!, The Front Page and Buddy Buddy. Wilder felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting that had to be tempered; the Wilder biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat". The biography also quotes Jack Lemmon as saying, "I am particularly susceptible to the parts I play... If my character was having a nervous breakdown, I started to have one".

He also had a longtime working relationship with director Blake Edwards, starring in Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965) and That's Life! (1986).

Lemmon recorded an album in 1958 while filming Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe. Twelve jazz tracks were created for Lemmon and another twelve were added. Lemmon played the piano and recorded his own versions of Monroe's trademark songs, I Wanna Be Loved By You and I'm Through With Love, for the album which was released in 1959 as A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot.

Lemmon was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1956 for Mister Roberts (1955) and the Best Actor Oscar for Save the Tiger (1973), becoming the first actor to achieve this double. He was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the controversial film Missing in 1982 and for his role in Some Like it Hot. In 1988, the American Film Institute gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962) was one of his favorite roles. He portrayed Joe Clay, a young, fun-loving alcoholic businessman. In that film, Lemmon delivered the line, "My name is Joe Clay ... I'm an alcoholic." Three and a half decades later, he admitted on the television program, Inside the Actors Studio, that he was not acting when he delivered that line, that he really was a recovering alcoholic at the end of his life.

Lemmon's production company JML produced Cool Hand Luke in 1967. Paul Newman was grateful to Lemmon for his support and offered him the role later made famous by Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but Lemmon turned it down. He did not like riding horses and he also felt he'd already played too many aspects of the Sundance Kid's character before.

Lemmon often appeared in films partnered with Walter Matthau. Among their pairings was 1968's The Odd Couple, as Felix Unger (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau). They also starred together in The Fortune Cookie (for which Matthau won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), The Front Page and Buddy Buddy. In 1971, Lemmon directed Matthau in the comedy Kotch. It was the only movie that Lemmon ever directed and Matthau was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

Additionally, Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone's 1991 film, JFK (the only film in which both appeared without sharing screen time). In 1993, the duo teamed up again to star in Grumpy Old Men. The film was a surprise hit, earning the two actors a new generation of young fans. During the rest of the decade, they would go on to star together in Out to Sea, Grumpier Old Men and the widely panned The Odd Couple II.

A rare death scene for Lemmon came in The China Syndrome, for which he was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1982, he won another Cannes award for his performance in Missing (which received the Palme d'Or). His characters died in very few films other than that one, 1989's Dad and 1999's Tuesdays With Morrie.

At the 1998 Golden Globe Awards, he was nominated for "Best Actor in a Made for TV Movie" for his role in Twelve Angry Men losing to Ving Rhames. After accepting the award, Rhames asked Lemmon to come on stage and, in a move that stunned the audience, gave his award to him. (The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Golden Globes, decided to have a second award made and sent to Rhames.).

He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988.
Personal life

Kevin Spacey recalled that Lemmon is remembered as always making time for other people. When already regarded as a legend, he met the teenage Spacey backstage after a theater performance and spoke to him about pursuing an acting career. Spacey would later work with Lemmon in Dad (1989), the critically acclaimed film Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and on stage in a revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. Lemmon's performance also inspired Gil Gunderson, a character on The Simpsons that is modeled on Lemmon's.

Lemmon was married twice. His son Chris Lemmon (b. 1954), was his first child by his first wife, actress Cynthia Stone (b. February 26, 1926, Peoria, Illinois). His second wife was the actress Felicia Farr, with whom he had a daughter, Courtney, born in 1966.

Jack Lemmon died of colon cancer and metastatic cancer of the bladder on June 27, 2001. He had been fighting the disease, very privately, for two years before his death.

Chris Lemmon made several TV shows and movies, including scenes together with his father in That's Life! and portraying him at a younger age in Dad. Chris wrote a book named A Twist of Lemmon: A Tribute to My Father.

He is interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California where he is buried near his friend and co-star, Walter Matthau. In typical Jack Lemmon wit, his gravestone simply reads 'Jack Lemmon — in'. After Matthau's death in 2000, Lemmon appeared with friends and relatives of the actor on a Larry King Live show in tribute. A year later, many of the same people appeared on the show again to pay tribute to Lemmon.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1949 The Lady Takes a Sailor Plasterer Uncredited
1954 It Should Happen to You Pete Sheppard
Phffft! Robert Tracey
1955 Three for the Show Martin 'Marty' Stewart
Mister Roberts Ens. Frank Thurlowe Pulver Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
My Sister Eileen Robert 'Bob' Baker
Hollywood Bronc Busters Himself
1956 You Can't Run Away from It Peter Warne
1957 Fire Down Below Tony
Operation Mad Ball (1957) Pvt. Hogan
1958 Cowboy Frank Harris
Bell, Book and Candle Nicky Holroyd
1959 Some Like It Hot Jerry - 'Daphne' BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
It Happened to Jane George Denham
1960 The Apartment C.C. Baxter BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Stowaway in the Sky Narrator voice
Pepe Himself Cameo appearance as Daphne
The Wackiest Ship In the Army Lt. Rip Crandall
1962 The Notorious Landlady William 'Bill' Gridley
Days of Wine and Roses Joe Clay San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1963 Irma la Douce Nestor Patou / Lord X Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Under the Yum Yum Tree Hogan Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1964 Good Neighbor Sam Sam Bissel Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
1965 How to Murder Your Wife Stanley Ford Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
The Great Race Professor Fate / Prince Hapnick Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1966 The Fortune Cookie Harry Hinkle
1967 Luv Harry Berlin
1968 There Comes a Day
The Odd Couple Felix Ungar Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1969 The April Fools Howard Brubaker
1970 The Out-of-Towners George Kellerman Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1971 Kotch Sleeping bus passenger uncredited
1972 The War Between Men and Women Peter Edward Wilson
Avanti! Wendell Armbruster, Jr. Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1973 Save the Tiger Harry Stoner Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1974 The Police Can't Move Narrator voice
The Front Page Hildy Johnson David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor shared with Walter Matthau
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1975 Wednesday Jerry Murphy
The Gentleman Tramp Narrator
The Prisoner of Second Avenue Mel Edison
1976 Alex & the Gypsy Alexander Main
1977 Airport '77 Capt. Don Gallagher
1979 The China Syndrome Jack Godell Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor tied with Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1980 Tribute Scottie Templeton Silver Bear for Best Actor
Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — American Movie Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1981 Buddy Buddy Victor Clooney
1982 Missing Ed Horman Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1984 Mass Appeal Father Tim Farley
1985 Macaroni Robert Traven
1986 That's Life! Harvey Fairchild Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1989 Dad Jake Tremont Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1991 JFK Jack Martin
1992 Beyond 'JFK': The Question of Conspiracy Himself also archive footage
The Player Himself
Glengarry Glen Ross Shelley Levene National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Volpi Cup
1993 Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman In Carver County Himself
Short Cuts Paul Finnigan Golden Globe Special Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Volpi Cup
Grumpy Old Men John Gustafson Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
1995 The Grass Harp Dr. Morris Ritz
Grumpier Old Men John Gustafson
1996 Getting Away with Murder Max Mueller / Karl Luger
My Fellow Americans President Russell P. Kramer
Hamlet Marcellus
1997 Out to Sea Herb Sullivan
Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's Himself
1998 Puppies for Sale Pet Shop Owner
The Odd Couple II Felix Ungar
2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance Narrator / Old Hardy Greaves uncredited
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1949–1950 That Wonderful Guy Harold
1950 Toni Twin Time Host Episode dated May 31, 1950
1951 The Ad-Libbers Celebrity Panelist cancelled after 5 episodes
1951–1952 The Frances Langford-Don Ameche Show Newlywed in 'The Couple Next Door' sketches
1952 Heaven for Betsy Pete Bell cancelled after a few weeks
1954 The Road of Life Surgeon cancelled after a few weeks
1957 What's My Line? Mystery Guest November 3, 1957 Episode # 388, Season 9, Ep 10
1957–1958 Alcoa Theatre Henry Coyle
Steve Tyler
Wally Mall
Lieutenant Tony Crawford
Edward King Episode "Disappearance"
Episode "Most Likely to Succeed"
Episode "Loudmouth"
Episode "The Days of November"
Episode "Souvenir"
1976 The Entertainer Archie Rice
1987 Long Day's Journey Into Night James Tyrone Sr. Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1988 The Murder of Mary Phagan Gov. John Slaton Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1992 For Richer, for Poorer Aram Katourian
1993 A Life in the Theater Robert Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
1996 A Weekend in the Country Bud Bailey
1997 The Simpsons Frank Ormand (voice) Episode "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson"
12 Angry Men Juror #8 Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1998 The Long Way Home Thomas Gerrin
1999 Inherit the Wind Henry Drummond Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Tuesdays with Morrie Morrie Schwartz Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Discography

    * A Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot (1959)
    * Piano Selections from Irma La Douce (1963)
    * Piano and Vocals (1990)
    * Peter and the Wolf (1991)
    * Songs and music from Some Like It Hot (2001)
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj105/HeatherVintage/LCE03086_324111smallll.jpg
http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu175/SharonBaron718/JackLemmon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 7:10 am


I love a good song on the radio. :)

Me too, not into the music they play today that much.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 7:11 am

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Q5PCGXM4L._SL500.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 7:11 am


Me too, not into the music they play today that much.


today's music is S H I T.  8-P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 7:19 am


today's music is S H I T.  8-P

So true ;D

Speaking of songs ever since I did the word butterfly the radio station I listen to has played The Elusive Butterfly everyday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 7:20 am


No,not really.
Have you tried golf?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 7:23 am


Have you tried golf?


I used to play miniature golf.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 7:26 am


I used to play miniature golf.
Not quite the same as the real thing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 7:27 am


The person born on this day...Bruce Johnston

Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin on June 27, 1942 in Peoria, Illinois) is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band. He joined the band on April 9, 1965 after Glen Campbell (who was substituting on stage for the group's chief song writer Brian Wilson) decided to embark on a solo career. Johnston's first vocal recording with the Beach Boys was "California Girls."
As a child Johnston was adopted by William and Irene Johnston of Chicago, and grew up on the West side of Los Angeles in Brentwood  and Bel-Air. His adoptive father was president of the Owl Rexall Drug Company in Los Angeles after moving from Walgreens  in Chicago. Johnston attended private school in Los Angeles and also studied classical piano in his early years. In high school, Johnston switched to contemporary music. He performed in a few "beginning" bands during this time and then moved on to working with young musicians such as Sandy Nelson, Kim Fowley and Phil Spector. Soon Johnston began backing people such as Ritchie Valens, the Everly Brothers, and even Eddie Cochran. In 1959 while still in high school, Johnston arranged and played on his first hit record called "Teenbeat" by Sandy Nelson. The single record reached the Billboard Top Ten. The same year Johnston made his first single under his own name, "Take This Pearl" on Arwin Records (a record label owned by Doris Day) as part of the Bruce & Terry duo.

In 1960, Johnston started his record production career at Del-Fi Records, producing five singles and an album — Love You So — by Ron Holden (for good measure, all but two of the album's eleven tracks were written or co-written by him). In 1962 and 1963 Johnston resurrected his recording career with a series of surfin' singles (vocal & instrumental) and an album, Surfin Around The World, credited to Bruce Johnston and another "live" album, The Bruce Johnston Surfin' Band's Surfer's Pajama Party. In 1963 came the first collaboration with his friend Terry Melcher, a mostly instrumental covers album credited to The Hot Doggers. The first artist the pair produced was a group called The Rip Chords. Johnston and Melcher were now working as staff producers at Columbia Records, Hollywood and by the time they were producing the million selling "Hey Little Cobra," a knock-off of the Beach Boys car song vocal style, they also wound up singing every layered vocal part for the recording using an Ampex three track recording machine (without sel-sync!). The two of them made a few recordings as Bruce & Terry, or The Rogues, but Terry Melcher began to focus more on his production career (The Byrds, Paul Revere and The Raiders). On April 9, 1965, Johnston joined the Beach Boys, replacing Glen Campbell who was playing bass on the road and singing Brian Wilson's vocal parts. Johnston did not start playing bass until his first tenure with the Beach Boys, and the very first vocal recording Johnston made as one of the Beach Boys was California Girls. On his solo album from 1977, Going Public, he recorded a version of the Lynsey De Paul-penned "Won't Somebody Dance With Me". He also scored a hit on the disco charts with a dance-oriented remake of the Chantays' hit "Pipeline". Also in 1977 he sang back-up vocals on Eric Carmen's LP, Boats Against the Current, and can be clearly heard on the hit single, "She Did It."

Johnston is frequently credited as one of the original greatest supporters of the Beach Boys' 1966 signature album Pet Sounds. He flew to London in May 1966 and played the album for John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He wrote several Beach Boy songs, notably 1971's "Disney Girls (1957)", a favorite of Brian Wilson's, which was covered by both Captain & Tennille and Art Garfunkel.

He wrote the Billboard number one, Barry Manilow hit ("I Write the Songs") for which he won a Grammy. "I Write The Songs" has been recorded by over two hundred artists (including Frank Sinatra) and it currently has a cumulative singles/albums worldwide sales figure of twenty-five million copies. In addition, Johnston wrote backing vocal arrangements and also sang on the recordings for Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and Pink Floyd's album The Wall."

Johnston left the Beach Boys in 1972, returning to the fold in 1979 to appear on (and produce) the album L.A. (Light Album). As of 2010, Johnston is still a member of the touring version of The Beach Boys, performing 170 concerts a year. Despite his long involvement with the band he no longer has a full membership in Brother Records having traded his shares (but not his artist royalties) in 1972. Johnston still retains his equal ownership of the band's ASCAP publishing company, Wilojarston, and is the only member of the band to have earned a Song of the Year Grammy.
References

  1. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Biography: Bruce Johnston". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=BRUCE. Retrieved 21 May 2010.

See also

    * The Beach Boys
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh43/blueline97/BruceJR.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k144/disgustedcats/BeachBoysthreewtitles.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_6cwUso8CA

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 7:28 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_6cwUso8CA
...not written by Barry Manilow!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 7:34 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_6cwUso8CA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-fev20voMc

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/27/10 at 7:35 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-fev20voMc
That other version!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/27/10 at 12:15 pm

Jack Lemmon was an amazing actor. He could do comedy & drama both extremely well. Some of my favorites are:

Some Like It Hot
Missing (very powerful flick-true story. Carlos met people who knew the guy who went missing.)
My Fellow Americans


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/10 at 12:57 pm


Jack Lemmon was an amazing actor. He could do comedy & drama both extremely well. Some of my favorites are:

Some Like It Hot
Missing (very powerful flick-true story. Carlos met people who knew the guy who went missing.)
My Fellow Americans


Cat

I always thought he was a great actor :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/27/10 at 5:56 pm


I always thought he was a great actor :)

He was an excellent actor, in my opinion not up there with James Stewart or Paul Newman, but he's not far behind.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/27/10 at 6:02 pm


He was an excellent actor, in my opinion not up there with James Stewart or Paul Newman, but he's not far behind.



Once again, I agree with you.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/27/10 at 6:13 pm



Once again, I agree with you.

Cat

That's why you are so smart, you agree with me! ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/27/10 at 6:57 pm


He was an excellent actor, in my opinion not up there with James Stewart or Paul Newman, but he's not far behind.


he also enjoyed comedies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/28/10 at 7:05 am

The word of the day...Candle(s)
A candle is a solid block of fuel (commonly wax) and an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.

Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy and other plant waxes, and tallow (a by-product of beef-fat rendering). Gel candles are made from a mixture of paraffin and plastic.

A candle manufacturer is traditionally known as a chandler. Various devices have been invented to hold candles, from simple tabletop candle holders, to elaborate chandeliers.

The heat of the match used to light the candle melts and vaporizes a small amount of fuel. Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a flame. This flame provides sufficient heat to keep the candle burning via a self-sustaining chain of events: the heat of the flame melts the top of the mass of solid fuel, the liquefied fuel then moves upward through the wick via capillary action, and the liquefied fuel is then vaporized to burn within the candle's flame.

The burning of the fuel takes place in several distinct regions (as evidenced by the various colors that can be seen within the candle's flame). Within the bluer regions, hydrogen is being separated from the fuel and burned to form water vapor. The brighter, yellower part of the flame is the remaining carbon being oxidized to form carbon dioxide.

As the mass of solid fuel is melted and consumed, the candle grows shorter. Portions of the wick that are not emitting vaporized fuel are consumed in the flame. The incineration of the wick limits the exposed length of the wick, thus maintaining a constant burning temperature and rate of fuel consumption. Some wicks require regular trimming with scissors (or a specialized wick trimmer), usually to about one-quarter inch (~0.7 cm), to promote slower, steady burning, and also to prevent smoking. In early times, the wick needed to be trimmed quite frequently, and special candle-scissors, referred to as "snuffers" until the 20th century, were produced for this purpose, often combined with an extinguisher. Nowadays, however, the wick is constructed so that it curves over as it burns (see picture on the right), so that the end of the wick protrudes into the hot zone of the flame and is then consumed by fire --a self-trimming wick.
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Candles/e5695766.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Candles/a2fff7cd.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/FamilyPhotos4/GEDC0288.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/Wenxue2222/France%20August%202007/Candles.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d200/mnunes1/candles.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae10/mikepitocco/DanielCourtney/candle5.jpg
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt144/maclisa/candles/225_heartbase-1.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/ilvujared/Movie%20icons/Sixteen_Candles_034.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/28/10 at 7:08 am

The person born on this day...John Cusack
John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American film actor and screenwriter. He won the 1990 Most Promising Actor CFCA Award for Say Anything..., the 1998 Favorite Supporting Actor Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Con Air, and the 2000 Commitment to Chicago Award. Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish American Catholic family.  His father, Dick Cusack (1925–2003), and siblings Ann, Joan, Bill, and Susie are also actors; his father was also a documentary filmmaker,  owned a film production company,  and was a friend of activist Philip Berrigan.  Cusack's mother, Nancy, is a former mathematics  teacher and political activist. Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in his belly".
Career

Cusack gained fame in the mid-1980s after appearing in teen movies such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, and Sixteen Candles. Cusack made a cameo in the 1988 music video for "Trip At The Brain" by Suicidal Tendencies. His biggest success in that genre is arguably his starring role as Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything. His roles broadened in the late 1980s and early 1990s with more serious-minded fare such as the political satire True Colors and the film noir thriller The Grifters.

Cusack experienced box office success with his roles in the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Con Air. In the years since, his range of films has diversified, appearing in roles such as an obsessive puppeteer in Being John Malkovich, a lovelorn record store owner in High Fidelity, and a Jewish art dealer mentoring a young Adolf Hitler in Max. He starred in the horror film 1408, based on Stephen King's short story of the same name. He next appeared as a widowed father in the Iraq War-themed drama Grace is Gone and as assassin Brand Hauser in the dark political satire, War, Inc., along with Hilary Duff and Marisa Tomei.

His sister Joan Cusack and close friend Jeremy Piven have appeared in many of his films. The siblings appeared as two geeks in Sixteen Candles: John as one of Farmer Ted's posse, and Joan as the geek with the neck brace. They also appeared together in High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank, Cradle Will Rock, Martian Child, Say Anything, and War, Inc.. Piven and Cusack played opposite one another in One Crazy Summer, Serendipity, Say Anything, and Grosse Pointe Blank. Cusack also had a brief cameo, seen from behind but speaking a line of dialogue, in Broadcast News, in which Joan also appeared. Piven also had roles in Say Anything, The Grifters, Runaway Jury and Grosse Pointe Blank.

Cusack was next seen in Roland Emmerich's disaster film, 2012, which was released in theaters November 13, 2009; he played Jackson Curtis, a book writer and limo driver, with his Identity and Martian Child co-star Amanda Peet.
Personal and political life

Since May 2005, Cusack has been an occasional contributing blogger at The Huffington Post, including an interview with Naomi Klein. He has written extensively on his opposition to the war in Iraq and his disdain for the Bush administration, calling its worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd". He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org ad, where he made the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.

Cusack has an allegiance to both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, for which, he says, he's "in trouble there for that." He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.

Cusack has trained in kickboxing for over 20 years under former world kickboxing champion Benny “The Jet’ Urquidez. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything and currently holds the rank of Level 6 black belt in Urquidez’ Ukidokan Kickboxing system.

In 2008, police arrested a woman suspected of stalking Cusack. On October 10, 2008, the woman pleaded no contest and received five years probation and mandatory psychiatric counseling, and was ordered to avoid Cusack, his home and business for the next 10 years.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Class Roscoe Maibaum
1984 Sixteen Candles Bryce
Grandview, U.S.A. Johnny Maine
1985 The Sure Thing Walter (Gib) Gibson
The Journey of Natty Gann Harry
Better Off Dead Lane Meyer
1986 Stand by Me Denny Lachance
One Crazy Summer Hoops McCann
1987 Hot Pursuit Dan Bartlett
Broadcast News Angry Messenger as John Cusak
1988 Eight Men Out George 'Buck' Weaver
Tapeheads Ivan Alexeev
1989 Elvis Stories Corky short subject
Say Anything... Lloyd Dobler Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
Fat Man and Little Boy Michael Merriman
1990 The Grifters Roy Dillon
1991 True Colors Peter Burton
1992 Shadows and Fog Student Jack
The Player Self Cameo
Bob Roberts Cutting Edge Host
Roadside Prophets Caspar
1993 Map of the Human Heart The Mapmaker
Money for Nothing Joey Coyle
1994 Floundering JC
Bullets Over Broadway David Shayne
The Road to Wellville Charles Ossining
1996 City Hall Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Martin Q. Blank Screenplay and co-producer
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Con Air U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor — Action/Adventure
Anastasia Dimitri voice
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Kelso
1998 Chicago Cab Scary man Executive producer
This Is My Father Eddie Sharp, the Pilot
The Thin Red Line Capt. Gaff Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble
1999 Pushing Tin Nick Falzone
Cradle Will Rock Nelson Rockefeller Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Being John Malkovich Craig Schwartz Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Jack Bull Myrl Redding TV film, executive producer
2000 High Fidelity Rob Gordon Screenplay and co-producer
Nominated — American Comedy Award
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
Nominated — USC Scripter Award 2000
Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2001 America's Sweethearts Eddie Thomas
Serendipity Jonathan Trager
2002 Max Max Rothman associate producer
Adaptation. Himself uncredited
2003 Identity Ed Dakota
Breakfast With Hunter Himself documentary
Runaway Jury Nicholas Easter
2005 Must Love Dogs Jake Anderson
The Ice Harvest Charlie Arglist
2006 Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film Himself documentary
The Contract Ray Keene
2007 Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten Himself documentary
Martian Child David Gordon
1408 Mike Enslin Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actor
Grace Is Gone Stanley Philipps Producer
2008 War, Inc. Brand Hauser Writer and producer
Summerhood Narrator uncredited
Igor Igor voice
2009 2012 Jackson Curtis
2010 Shanghai Paul Soames post-production
Hot Tub Time Machine Adam also producer
2011 The Factory Mike Fletcher post-production
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj105/HeatherVintage/john_cusack.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e128/devils_nightingale/cusack.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/28/10 at 7:14 am

The person who died on this day...Billy Mays
William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. (July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009)  was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson  most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products. His distinctive beard and impassioned sales pitches made him a recognized television presence in the United States and Canada.

Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and began his career as salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk. He traveled across the United States for 12 years, selling various items before he was hired to sell OxiClean and other products on the Home Shopping Network. His success as a TV pitchman led him to found Mays Promotions, Inc. On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays. On the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays' wife found him dead in his home.
Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, attended Sto-Rox High School, and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He later attended West Virginia University, where he was a walk-on linebacker on its football team during his two years there.  After dropping out, he worked for his father's hazardous waste company before moving to Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1983.
Career

On the Atlantic City boardwalk Mays sold the Washmatik portable washing device to passersby, along with other "As Seen on TV" products. In Atlantic City, he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen, saying "I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have." Mays then traveled to home shows, auto shows, and state fairs across the United States for a period of twelve years, selling various maintenance products and tools, including cleaning products and food choppers.

At a Pittsburgh home show in 1993, Mays struck up a friendship with rival salesman Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International, a Denver-based manufacturer of cleaning products. He was then hired by the company to promote their line of cleaners, OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and Kaboom on the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida. Customer response to Mays' sales pitches was enthusiastic, with a sharp increase in sales after his first day on the network, although some reviews were poor. He was very well known for shouting in an abrasive manner during infomercials. For example, Washington Post staff writer Frank Ahrens called him "a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown".

Mays was the CEO and founder of Mays Promotions, Inc., based at his home in Odessa, Florida. His services as a pitchman became highly sought-after, and he appeared in commercials for many diverse "as seen on TV" products such as Mighty Putty. Mays claimed to be an avid user of the products he promoted. In December 2008, Mays began appearing in ads for ESPN's online service, ESPN360. These ads were a slight departure for Mays as they were designed to be parodies of his and other infomercial cliches with Mays appearing to be doing a parody of himself. He also made a live appearance during the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl promoting ESPN's and ABC's January 1, 2009 bowl games.

On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their jobs in direct-response marketing. After Mays' death, Discovery Channel aired a special Billy Mays tribute episode of PitchMen called "Pitchman: A Tribute to Billy Mays".

On March 27, 2009 Mays appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He and Sullivan also appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 23, 2009.

Prior to his death Mays had signed a deal with Taco Bell to film infomercial-style commercials for the chain. Shooting was scheduled to begin in August 2009.
Personal life

Mays' first marriage to Dolores "Dee Dee" Mays ended in divorce. He had a son with Dolores named Billy Mays III, who was 24 years old at the time of Mays' death and who worked as a production assistant alongside his father on the PitchMen television show. Mays had a daughter, Elizabeth, with his second wife, Deborah Mays. His daughter was three years old at the time of his death. Mays' mother is Joyce Palm and his father is Billy Mays, Sr.; they both survived him.

In an interview during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Mays revealed himself to be a Republican.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American pitchman Billy Mays dies at age 50

Mays was found unresponsive by his wife in his Tampa, Florida, home on the morning of June 28, 2009. He was pronounced dead at 7:45 am, appearing to have died sometime overnight. The Associated Press reported that there were no indications that the house had been broken into, and that police did not suspect foul play. Initially, there was wrong speculation that he had a head injury after he was struck on the head by luggage after an airline landing mishap where tires blew out.

After an initial autopsy on Mays' body on June 29, Dr. Vernard Adams, the Hillsborough County, Florida medical examiner, stated that Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease and that heart disease was the likely cause of his death. According to a toxicology report released August 7, 2009, heart disease was the "primary cause of death" and cocaine was listed as a "contributory cause of death." In response to the release of the toxicology report, the Mays family issued a press release stating, "We are extremely disappointed by the press release released by the Hillsborough County medical examiner's office. We believe it contains speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension..." and said in the release that they were considering "an independent evaluation of the autopsy results".

The medical examiner "concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death," the office said in a press release. The office said Mays last used cocaine in the few days before his death but was not under the influence of the drug when he died. Hillsborough County spokeswoman Lori Hudson said nothing in the toxicology report indicated the frequency of Mays' cocaine use. Cocaine can raise the arterial blood pressure, directly cause thickening of the left wall of the ventricle and accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the release said. However, in October 2009, the results of a second medical examination, commissioned by Mays' family, concluded that "cocaine was not a significant contributing factor" to his death.

Longtime friend and colleague AJ Khubani, founder and CEO of the "As Seen on TV" product company Telebrands, said Mays never exhibited any signs of drug use and was always prepared for his many commercial shoots. "I'm just shocked," Khubani said. "He was the model of a responsible citizen."

According to subsequent news reports the toxicology tests also showed levels of painkillers hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol, as well as anti-anxiety drugs alprazolam and diazepam. Mays had suffered hip problems and was scheduled for hip replacement surgery the day after he was found dead.

Mays' funeral was held on July 3, 2009 in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. The pallbearers for the funeral wore blue shirts and khaki pants at the funeral, much like Mays wore when he advertised his products. According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, he was buried wearing a shirt with the OxiClean logo on it.
Notable products pitched
Product Description
Awesome Auger A gardening tool.
Big City Slider Station A mini-burger cooker.
The Ding King A dent repairing device.
ESPN360 A broadband service.
EZ Crunch Bowl "A new way to eat breakfast cereal".
Flies Away A fly trap.
Gopher A tool for grabbing out-of-reach objects.
Grater Plater A ceramic plate with grater teeth.
Green Now! Lawn fertilizer in a can.
Grip Wrench A tool to help gripping.
Handy Switch A wireless electric switch.
Hercules Hook A hook for hanging objects on one's wall.
iCan health insurance Affordable health insurance.
iTie A necktie with a hidden pocket.
Jupiter Jack Cell-phone speaker system for the car
Kaboom! Tile and shower cleaner.
Mighty Mendit A bonding agent for mending cloth.
Mighty Putty An epoxy putty adhesive.
Mighty Putty Steel A metal alloy adhesive putty.
Mighty Putty Wood A non-shrinking epoxy putty for wood.
Mighty Tape A self-fusing silicone rubber waterproof tape.
DualSaw A circular saw with two blades.
Orange Glo A wood cleaner.
OxiClean A general purpose cleaner.
Quick Chop A chopping device.
Samurai Shark A knife sharpener.
Simoniz Fix-It A scratch remover.
Tool Band-it A magnetic armband for holding hand tools.
Turbo Tiger A vacuum cleaner.
Ultimate Chopper A kitchen tool.
Vidalia Slice Wizard A kitchen tool.
WashMatik A hose that could pump water from a bucket
without being hooked up to a faucet.
What Odor? An odor-removing fluid.
Zorbeez A chamois cloth.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr96/dhamby88/billy-mays.png
http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu98/MrHeartbreak90/billy-mays-320.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/28/10 at 3:15 pm


The person who died on this day...Billy Mays
William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. (July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009)  was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson  most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products. His distinctive beard and impassioned sales pitches made him a recognized television presence in the United States and Canada.

Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and began his career as salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk. He traveled across the United States for 12 years, selling various items before he was hired to sell OxiClean and other products on the Home Shopping Network. His success as a TV pitchman led him to found Mays Promotions, Inc. On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays. On the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays' wife found him dead in his home.
Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, attended Sto-Rox High School, and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He later attended West Virginia University, where he was a walk-on linebacker on its football team during his two years there.  After dropping out, he worked for his father's hazardous waste company before moving to Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1983.
Career

On the Atlantic City boardwalk Mays sold the Washmatik portable washing device to passersby, along with other "As Seen on TV" products. In Atlantic City, he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen, saying "I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have." Mays then traveled to home shows, auto shows, and state fairs across the United States for a period of twelve years, selling various maintenance products and tools, including cleaning products and food choppers.

At a Pittsburgh home show in 1993, Mays struck up a friendship with rival salesman Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International, a Denver-based manufacturer of cleaning products. He was then hired by the company to promote their line of cleaners, OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and Kaboom on the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida. Customer response to Mays' sales pitches was enthusiastic, with a sharp increase in sales after his first day on the network, although some reviews were poor. He was very well known for shouting in an abrasive manner during infomercials. For example, Washington Post staff writer Frank Ahrens called him "a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown".

Mays was the CEO and founder of Mays Promotions, Inc., based at his home in Odessa, Florida. His services as a pitchman became highly sought-after, and he appeared in commercials for many diverse "as seen on TV" products such as Mighty Putty. Mays claimed to be an avid user of the products he promoted. In December 2008, Mays began appearing in ads for ESPN's online service, ESPN360. These ads were a slight departure for Mays as they were designed to be parodies of his and other infomercial cliches with Mays appearing to be doing a parody of himself. He also made a live appearance during the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl promoting ESPN's and ABC's January 1, 2009 bowl games.

On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their jobs in direct-response marketing. After Mays' death, Discovery Channel aired a special Billy Mays tribute episode of PitchMen called "Pitchman: A Tribute to Billy Mays".

On March 27, 2009 Mays appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He and Sullivan also appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 23, 2009.

Prior to his death Mays had signed a deal with Taco Bell to film infomercial-style commercials for the chain. Shooting was scheduled to begin in August 2009.
Personal life

Mays' first marriage to Dolores "Dee Dee" Mays ended in divorce. He had a son with Dolores named Billy Mays III, who was 24 years old at the time of Mays' death and who worked as a production assistant alongside his father on the PitchMen television show. Mays had a daughter, Elizabeth, with his second wife, Deborah Mays. His daughter was three years old at the time of his death. Mays' mother is Joyce Palm and his father is Billy Mays, Sr.; they both survived him.

In an interview during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Mays revealed himself to be a Republican.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American pitchman Billy Mays dies at age 50

Mays was found unresponsive by his wife in his Tampa, Florida, home on the morning of June 28, 2009. He was pronounced dead at 7:45 am, appearing to have died sometime overnight. The Associated Press reported that there were no indications that the house had been broken into, and that police did not suspect foul play. Initially, there was wrong speculation that he had a head injury after he was struck on the head by luggage after an airline landing mishap where tires blew out.

After an initial autopsy on Mays' body on June 29, Dr. Vernard Adams, the Hillsborough County, Florida medical examiner, stated that Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease and that heart disease was the likely cause of his death. According to a toxicology report released August 7, 2009, heart disease was the "primary cause of death" and cocaine was listed as a "contributory cause of death." In response to the release of the toxicology report, the Mays family issued a press release stating, "We are extremely disappointed by the press release released by the Hillsborough County medical examiner's office. We believe it contains speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension..." and said in the release that they were considering "an independent evaluation of the autopsy results".

The medical examiner "concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death," the office said in a press release. The office said Mays last used cocaine in the few days before his death but was not under the influence of the drug when he died. Hillsborough County spokeswoman Lori Hudson said nothing in the toxicology report indicated the frequency of Mays' cocaine use. Cocaine can raise the arterial blood pressure, directly cause thickening of the left wall of the ventricle and accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the release said. However, in October 2009, the results of a second medical examination, commissioned by Mays' family, concluded that "cocaine was not a significant contributing factor" to his death.

Longtime friend and colleague AJ Khubani, founder and CEO of the "As Seen on TV" product company Telebrands, said Mays never exhibited any signs of drug use and was always prepared for his many commercial shoots. "I'm just shocked," Khubani said. "He was the model of a responsible citizen."

According to subsequent news reports the toxicology tests also showed levels of painkillers hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol, as well as anti-anxiety drugs alprazolam and diazepam. Mays had suffered hip problems and was scheduled for hip replacement surgery the day after he was found dead.

Mays' funeral was held on July 3, 2009 in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. The pallbearers for the funeral wore blue shirts and khaki pants at the funeral, much like Mays wore when he advertised his products. According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, he was buried wearing a shirt with the OxiClean logo on it.
Notable products pitched
Product Description
Awesome Auger A gardening tool.
Big City Slider Station A mini-burger cooker.
The Ding King A dent repairing device.
ESPN360 A broadband service.
EZ Crunch Bowl "A new way to eat breakfast cereal".
Flies Away A fly trap.
Gopher A tool for grabbing out-of-reach objects.
Grater Plater A ceramic plate with grater teeth.
Green Now! Lawn fertilizer in a can.
Grip Wrench A tool to help gripping.
Handy Switch A wireless electric switch.
Hercules Hook A hook for hanging objects on one's wall.
iCan health insurance Affordable health insurance.
iTie A necktie with a hidden pocket.
Jupiter Jack Cell-phone speaker system for the car
Kaboom! Tile and shower cleaner.
Mighty Mendit A bonding agent for mending cloth.
Mighty Putty An epoxy putty adhesive.
Mighty Putty Steel A metal alloy adhesive putty.
Mighty Putty Wood A non-shrinking epoxy putty for wood.
Mighty Tape A self-fusing silicone rubber waterproof tape.
DualSaw A circular saw with two blades.
Orange Glo A wood cleaner.
OxiClean A general purpose cleaner.
Quick Chop A chopping device.
Samurai Shark A knife sharpener.
Simoniz Fix-It A scratch remover.
Tool Band-it A magnetic armband for holding hand tools.
Turbo Tiger A vacuum cleaner.
Ultimate Chopper A kitchen tool.
Vidalia Slice Wizard A kitchen tool.
WashMatik A hose that could pump water from a bucket
without being hooked up to a faucet.
What Odor? An odor-removing fluid.
Zorbeez A chamois cloth.
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr96/dhamby88/billy-mays.png
http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu98/MrHeartbreak90/billy-mays-320.jpg


he was always the loudest pitchman on TV.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/28/10 at 4:18 pm

I like John Cusack a lot. He was good in small roles (like "Stand by me"), Sisteen candles.

He was good in "Eight men out" as Buck, the guy who wouldn't give in.

He was fabulous in "High Fidelity", funny in "being John Malkovich" and even better as the hit man in "Grosse pointe Blanke", which is my favorite film of his, and one of my favorite films of the 90s.
Good job, ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/28/10 at 7:06 pm

I don't mind John Cusack ... but he has never really struck me as a leading man in romatic comedies etc. I didn't mind him in Serendipity...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/29/10 at 12:59 am


The word of the day...Candle(s)
A candle is a solid block of fuel (commonly wax) and an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.

Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy and other plant waxes, and tallow (a by-product of beef-fat rendering). Gel candles are made from a mixture of paraffin and plastic.

A candle manufacturer is traditionally known as a chandler. Various devices have been invented to hold candles, from simple tabletop candle holders, to elaborate chandeliers.

The heat of the match used to light the candle melts and vaporizes a small amount of fuel. Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a flame. This flame provides sufficient heat to keep the candle burning via a self-sustaining chain of events: the heat of the flame melts the top of the mass of solid fuel, the liquefied fuel then moves upward through the wick via capillary action, and the liquefied fuel is then vaporized to burn within the candle's flame.

The burning of the fuel takes place in several distinct regions (as evidenced by the various colors that can be seen within the candle's flame). Within the bluer regions, hydrogen is being separated from the fuel and burned to form water vapor. The brighter, yellower part of the flame is the remaining carbon being oxidized to form carbon dioxide.

As the mass of solid fuel is melted and consumed, the candle grows shorter. Portions of the wick that are not emitting vaporized fuel are consumed in the flame. The incineration of the wick limits the exposed length of the wick, thus maintaining a constant burning temperature and rate of fuel consumption. Some wicks require regular trimming with scissors (or a specialized wick trimmer), usually to about one-quarter inch (~0.7 cm), to promote slower, steady burning, and also to prevent smoking. In early times, the wick needed to be trimmed quite frequently, and special candle-scissors, referred to as "snuffers" until the 20th century, were produced for this purpose, often combined with an extinguisher. Nowadays, however, the wick is constructed so that it curves over as it burns (see picture on the right), so that the end of the wick protrudes into the hot zone of the flame and is then consumed by fire --a self-trimming wick.
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Candles/e5695766.jpg
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Candles/a2fff7cd.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac355/FamilyPhotos4/GEDC0288.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/Wenxue2222/France%20August%202007/Candles.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d200/mnunes1/candles.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae10/mikepitocco/DanielCourtney/candle5.jpg
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt144/maclisa/candles/225_heartbase-1.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/ilvujared/Movie%20icons/Sixteen_Candles_034.png
Candle in the Wind?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/29/10 at 5:38 am

Elton John

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 6:39 am

The word of the day...Weapon(s)
A weapon is an instrument used for the purpose of causing harm or damage to persons, animals or structures. Weapons are used in hunting, attack, self-defense, or defense in combat and range from simple implements like clubs and spears to complicated modern machines such as intercontinental ballistic missiles. One who possesses or carries a weapon is said to be armed.

In a broader context weapons include anything used to gain an advantage over an adversary or to place them at a disadvantage. Examples include the use of sieges, tactics, and psychological weapons which reduce the morale of an enemy.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff98/DeVargr/weapons.jpg
http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a437/faithlutheran/Youth%20Group/weapons.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c49/Yustax/Weapons/rose13.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n225/firekimono/Weapons/1-16.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r141/annealysse/Weapons/BlackTonfa.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd145/Bubble_Master_Califa/semi-precious-weapons.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad202/heliocide/Items_and_Artifacts/asuraweapon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 6:42 am

The person born on this day...Gary Busey
Gary Busey (born June 29, 1944) is an American film and stage actor and artist. Busey was born William Gary Busey,  in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.  He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962. While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, on a football scholarship, he became interested in acting. He is listed as one of the university's "outstanding alumni."  He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he quit school just one class short of graduation.

In 1971, wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to his son, William Jacob Busey, now known as actor Jake Busey. Busey and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen.

On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Gary Busey and girlfriend Steffanie Sampson were expecting their first child in May 2010. On February 23, 2010, their son Luke Sampson Busey was born.
Career

Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in "The Rubber Band." He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names "Teddy Jack Eddy" and "Sprunk," a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). He played in a band called Carp, who released one album on Epic Records in 1969. Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the third to the last episode, No. 633 - "The Los Carnales").

In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In the film, he changes the lyrics to the song "Well All Right" and sings,"We're gonna love Teddy Jack..." a reference to his Teddy Jack Eddy persona. In the same year he also starred in the critically-acclaimed surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet (adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King), Barbarosa, Top Gun (voiceover for Tim Robbins' character Merlin), Insignificance and Lethal Weapon. In the movie D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character Dell. At one point, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Busey singing the song "Why Baby Why" (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased). In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm, Lost Highway, Point Break and Black Sheep.

Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979 and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.

In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006. He also voiced himself on a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, narrating an informational video about restraining orders.

Gary Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Gary Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York, London and Tel Aviv.

In 2007, he appeared as "his crazy self" on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor.

Busey recently took part in a photo shoot done by photographer Tyler Shields where Busey was put in a straitjacket. The shoot was reportedly for Shields' book The Dirty Side of Glamour, the proceeds from which are to be given to charity. A reporter from Inside Edition was there to cover the shoot and speak with Busey about his upcoming projects but the program instead edited together raw clips from the interview.

The video clip and its many offshoots and re-edits have made their way around the net. Posted on sites such as Insideedition.com, Filmdrunk.com and the photographer's own site Tylershields.com. The clip has also been featured extensively on the E! network's The Soup, hosted by Joel McHale, replaying Busey's line "I'm going to pull your endocrine system out of your body," numerous times for comedic effect.

In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Per his contract and VH1's press release, he was to be part of the mentoring team and not a patient. Drew Pinsky has expressed a different opinion, saying that he can help by being in group meetings with others and is not part of the staff, but part of the patients of this second season. Busey was previously addicted to cocaine, but has been sober for 13 years. In a conversation with model Amber Smith, being treated for a pain killer addiction, he revealed several backronyms related to religion and sobriety, which he called "Busey-isms," and stated his intention to compile them into a book. These included "Gone: Getting Over Negative Energy," "Faith: Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him," "Sober: Son Of a Bitch Everything's Real," "Fraud: Finding Relevant Answers Under Deception," and "Freedom: Facing Real Exciting Energy Developing Out of Miracles." In a talking head interview recorded later, Smith expressed appreciation for Busey's knowledge and enthusiasm, but also felt he was "crazier than is."

At Pinsky's recommendation, Busey was seen at the facility by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. He recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote, to which he agreed.

In 2009, he was a roaster at the Comedy Central roast of Larry the Cable Guy.
Filmography

    * Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
    * The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
    * Dirty Little Billy (1972)
    * Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
    * Hex (1973)
    * Blood Sport (1973)
    * The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)
    * The Last American Hero (1973)
    * Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (as Garey Busey) (1974)
    * The Law (1974)
    * A Star Is Born (1976)
    * The Gumball Rally (1976)
    * The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
    * Straight Time (1978)
    * Big Wednesday (1978)
    * Carny (1980)
    * Foolin' Around (1980)
    * Barbarosa (1982)
    * Didn't You Hear... (1983)
    * D.C. Cab (1983)
    * The Bear (1984)
    * Insignificance (1985)
    * Silver Bullet (1985)
    * Half a Lifetime (1986)
    * Eye of the Tiger (1986)
    * Let's Get Harry (1986)
    * Lethal Weapon (1987)
    * Bulletproof (1988)
    * A Dangerous Life (1988)
    * The Neon Empire (1989)
    * Hider in the House (1989)
    * Act of Piracy (1990)
    * Predator 2 (1990)
    * Point Break (1991)
    * My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991)
    * Wild Texas Wind (1991)
    * Canvas (1992)
    * Chrome Soldiers (1992)
    * Under Siege (1992)
    * Breaking Point (1993)
    * The Firm (1993)
    * Rookie of the Year (1993)
    * South Beach (1993)
    * Warriors (1994)
    * Surviving the Game (1994)
    * Drop Zone (1994)
    * Chasers (1994)
    * Man with a Gun (1995)
    * Steel Sharks (1996)
    * One Clean Move (1996)
    * Livers Ain't Cheap (1996) (a.k.a. The Real Thing)
    * Black Sheep (1996)
    * Carried Away (1996)
    * Sticks & Stones (1996)
    * The Chain (1996)
    * Suspicious Minds (1997)
    * The Rage (1997)
    * Lost Highway (1997)
    * Lethal Tender (1997)
    * Plato's Run (1997)
    * Rough Riders (1997)
    * Rough Draft (1998) (a.k.a. Diary of a Serial Killer)
    * Soldier (1998)
    * Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
    * Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)
    * Detour (1998) (a.k.a. Too Hard to Die)
    * Hot Boyz (1999)
    * The Girl Next Door (1999)
    * No Tomorrow (1999)
    * Two Shades of Blue (1999)
    * Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1999)
    * A Crack in the Floor (2000)
    * Tribulation (2000)
    * Glory Glory (2000) (a.k.a. Hooded Angels)
    * Inside The Metal Box (2000)
    * Down 'n Dirty (2000)
    * G-Men from Hell (2000)
    * Frost: Portrait of a Vampire (2001)
    * On the Edge (2002)
    * Welcome 2 Ibiza (2002)
    * Sam & Janet (2002)
    * Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002)
    * The Prize Fighter (2003)
    * Scorched (2003)
    * Shadowlands (2003)
    * Shade of Pale (2004)
    * Motocross Kids (2004)
    * Lexie (2004)
    * El Padrino (2004)
    * Border Blues (2004)
    * Latin Dragon (2004)
    * Ghost Rock (2004)
    * American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004 (2004)
    * The Hand Job (2005)
    * Souled Out (2005)
    * No Rules (2005)
    * Chasing Ghosts (2005)
    * The Baker's Dozen (2005)
    * Into the West (2005)
    * Buckaroo: The Movie (2005)
    * A Sight for Sore Eyes (2005)
    * The Gingerdead Man (2005)
    * The Hard Easy (2005)
    * Descansos (2006)
    * Valley of the Wolves Iraq (2006)
    * Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006) (voice)
    * Shut Up and Shoot! (2006)
    * Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2006)
    * Soft Target (2006) (a.k.a. Crooked)
    * Quigley (2006)
    * Lady Samurai (2007)
    * Homo Erectus (2007) (a.k.a. National Lampoon's The Stoned Age)
    * Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007)
    * Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)
    * Maneater (2007)
    * Saints Row 2 (VG, voice) (2008)
    * Beyond the Ring (2008)
    * Nite Tales: The Movie (2008)
    * Hallettsville (2009)
    * Down and Distance (2009)
    * DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) - NonSeNse (2009)
    * Grown Ups (2010)

Television

    * Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 15 ("The Ancient Warrior")) (1973)
    * Gunsmoke (1975)
    * The Texas Wheelers (ABC-TV 8-episode sitcom, 1974–75)
    * Saturday Night Live (1979) (himself - host)
    * Walker, Texas Ranger (1999)
    * The Outer Limits (2000), Episode: "Revival"
    * Law & Order (2001)
    * King of the Hill (2001) (voice)
    * Entourage ("Busey and the Beach", Season 1, Episode 6; "The Boys Are Back In Town", Season 2, Episode 1; "Gary's Desk", Season 4, Episode 8) (2004, 2005, 2007) (as himself)
    * The Man Show (2002) (as himself)
    * I'm with Busey (Comedy Central, 2003) (as himself)
    * Penn & Teller: Bullsheesh! ("12 Stepping", 2004) (as himself)
    * High Chaparall (2004) (as himself)
    * The Simpsons (On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister, season 16, episode 11) (2005) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Fit Club 2 (VH1, 2005) (as himself)
    * Tom Goes to the Mayor (2006) (voice)
    * Scrubs ("My Missed Perception", 2006) (as identical doctor)
    * Celebrity Paranormal Project (VH1, 2006) (as himself)
    * The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... (truTV, 2008) (as himself)
    * The Cho Show (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
    * The Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 2009) (as himself)

Video games

    * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (voice) (2002)
    * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (voice) (2006)
    * Saints Row 2 (voice) (2008)
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/CaptainLuAlbano/gary_busey.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/jchapman34/gary_busey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 6:44 am


he was always the loudest pitchman on TV.

Yes he was..and people noticed that's how he sold so many products.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 6:48 am


I like John Cusack a lot. He was good in small roles (like "Stand by me"), Sisteen candles.

He was good in "Eight men out" as Buck, the guy who wouldn't give in.

He was fabulous in "High Fidelity", funny in "being John Malkovich" and even better as the hit man in "Grosse pointe Blanke", which is my favorite film of his, and one of my favorite films of the 90s.
Good job, ninny.

Thanks :)

I don't mind John Cusack ... but he has never really struck me as a leading man in romatic comedies etc. I didn't mind him in Serendipity...

This is true, he is a good actor, but not a great actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 6:57 am

The person who died on this day...We are going to pay tribute to 3 actresses who died on this day
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield (April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress working both on Broadway and in Hollywood. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s,  Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes.

While Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box office successes. She won the Theatre World Award, a Golden Globe and a Golden Laurel. As the demand for blonde bombshells declined in the 1960s, Mansfield was relegated to low-budget film melodramas and comedies, but remained a popular celebrity.

In her later career she continued to attract large crowds in foreign countries and in lucrative and successful nightclub tours. Mansfield had been a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times. She died in an automobile accident at age 34.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l117/hayley1_03/Jayne-Mansfieldarticle.jpg
http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad197/danika-sextastic-/jayne_mansfield.jpg

* Lana Turner
Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 – June 29, 1995) was an American actress.

Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget (1937). She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). During the early 1940s she established herself as a leading actress in such films as Johnny Eager (1941), Ziegfeld Girl (1941) and Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), and her reputation as a glamorous femme fatale was enhanced by her performance in the film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Her popularity continued through the 1950s, in such films as The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Peyton Place (1957), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 1958, her daughter, Cheryl Crane, stabbed Turner's lover Johnny Stompanato to death. A coroner's inquest brought considerable media attention to Turner and concluded that Crane had acted in self defense. Turner's next film, Imitation of Life (1959), proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career, but from the early 1960s, her roles were fewer. She gained recognition near the end of her career with a recurring guest role in the television series Falcon Crest during 1982 and 1983.
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss155/eameninadanca/Andy_Polaroid/andy-warhols-polaroids-lana-turner-.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e314/ziegfeldgirl1941/Lana_Turner_17.jpg

* Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, television and stage.

Hepburn holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscar wins with four, from 12 nominations. Hepburn won an Emmy Award in 1976 for her lead role in Love Among the Ruins, and was nominated for four other Emmys, two Tony Awards and eight Golden Globes. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Hepburn as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema.On June 29, 2003, Hepburn died of natural causes at Fenwick, the Hepburn family home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was 96 years old, and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut in the family plot. In honor of her extensive theater work, the lights of Broadway were dimmed for an hour.

The book Kate Remembered, by A. Scott Berg, was published just 13 days after Hepburn's death.

In 2004, in accordance with Hepburn's wishes, her personal effects were put up for auction with Sotheby's in New York. Hepburn had meticulously collected an extraordinary amount of material relating to her career and place in Hollywood over the years, as well as personal items such as a bust of Spencer Tracy she sculpted herself (used as a prop in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner on the desk where Sidney Poitier makes his phone call) and her own oil paintings. The auction netted several million dollars, which Hepburn willed mostly to her family and close friends, including television journalist Cynthia McFadden.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/Ivy_Olah/katharine_hepburn1.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h40/LoveTheJester/87articlev12ik.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/29/10 at 10:06 am

Jayne Mansfield was always compared to Marilyn Monroe but I thought Jayne was prettier, smarter, and more talented than Marilyn-and she wasn't a druggy like Marilyn.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 11:12 am


Jayne Mansfield was always compared to Marilyn Monroe but I thought Jayne was prettier, smarter, and more talented than Marilyn-and she wasn't a druggy like Marilyn.




Cat

I don't know much about her as I would like to know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/29/10 at 3:16 pm


The person born on this day...Gary Busey
Gary Busey (born June 29, 1944) is an American film and stage actor and artist. Busey was born William Gary Busey,  in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager.  He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962. While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, on a football scholarship, he became interested in acting. He is listed as one of the university's "outstanding alumni."  He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he quit school just one class short of graduation.

In 1971, wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to his son, William Jacob Busey, now known as actor Jake Busey. Busey and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen.

On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Gary Busey and girlfriend Steffanie Sampson were expecting their first child in May 2010. On February 23, 2010, their son Luke Sampson Busey was born.
Career

Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in "The Rubber Band." He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names "Teddy Jack Eddy" and "Sprunk," a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). He played in a band called Carp, who released one album on Epic Records in 1969. Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the third to the last episode, No. 633 - "The Los Carnales").

In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In the film, he changes the lyrics to the song "Well All Right" and sings,"We're gonna love Teddy Jack..." a reference to his Teddy Jack Eddy persona. In the same year he also starred in the critically-acclaimed surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet (adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King), Barbarosa, Top Gun (voiceover for Tim Robbins' character Merlin), Insignificance and Lethal Weapon. In the movie D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character Dell. At one point, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Busey singing the song "Why Baby Why" (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased). In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm, Lost Highway, Point Break and Black Sheep.

Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979 and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.

In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006. He also voiced himself on a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, narrating an informational video about restraining orders.

Gary Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Gary Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York, London and Tel Aviv.

In 2007, he appeared as "his crazy self" on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor.

Busey recently took part in a photo shoot done by photographer Tyler Shields where Busey was put in a straitjacket. The shoot was reportedly for Shields' book The Dirty Side of Glamour, the proceeds from which are to be given to charity. A reporter from Inside Edition was there to cover the shoot and speak with Busey about his upcoming projects but the program instead edited together raw clips from the interview.

The video clip and its many offshoots and re-edits have made their way around the net. Posted on sites such as Insideedition.com, Filmdrunk.com and the photographer's own site Tylershields.com. The clip has also been featured extensively on the E! network's The Soup, hosted by Joel McHale, replaying Busey's line "I'm going to pull your endocrine system out of your body," numerous times for comedic effect.

In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Per his contract and VH1's press release, he was to be part of the mentoring team and not a patient. Drew Pinsky has expressed a different opinion, saying that he can help by being in group meetings with others and is not part of the staff, but part of the patients of this second season. Busey was previously addicted to cocaine, but has been sober for 13 years. In a conversation with model Amber Smith, being treated for a pain killer addiction, he revealed several backronyms related to religion and sobriety, which he called "Busey-isms," and stated his intention to compile them into a book. These included "Gone: Getting Over Negative Energy," "Faith: Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him," "Sober: Son Of a Bitch Everything's Real," "Fraud: Finding Relevant Answers Under Deception," and "Freedom: Facing Real Exciting Energy Developing Out of Miracles." In a talking head interview recorded later, Smith expressed appreciation for Busey's knowledge and enthusiasm, but also felt he was "crazier than is."

At Pinsky's recommendation, Busey was seen at the facility by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. He recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote, to which he agreed.

In 2009, he was a roaster at the Comedy Central roast of Larry the Cable Guy.
Filmography

   * Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
   * The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
   * Dirty Little Billy (1972)
   * Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
   * Hex (1973)
   * Blood Sport (1973)
   * The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)
   * The Last American Hero (1973)
   * Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (as Garey Busey) (1974)
   * The Law (1974)
   * A Star Is Born (1976)
   * The Gumball Rally (1976)
   * The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
   * Straight Time (1978)
   * Big Wednesday (1978)
   * Carny (1980)
   * Foolin' Around (1980)
   * Barbarosa (1982)
   * Didn't You Hear... (1983)
   * D.C. Cab (1983)
   * The Bear (1984)
   * Insignificance (1985)
   * Silver Bullet (1985)
   * Half a Lifetime (1986)
   * Eye of the Tiger (1986)
   * Let's Get Harry (1986)
   * Lethal Weapon (1987)
   * Bulletproof (1988)
   * A Dangerous Life (1988)
   * The Neon Empire (1989)
   * Hider in the House (1989)
   * Act of Piracy (1990)
   * Predator 2 (1990)
   * Point Break (1991)
   * My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991)
   * Wild Texas Wind (1991)
   * Canvas (1992)
   * Chrome Soldiers (1992)
   * Under Siege (1992)
   * Breaking Point (1993)
   * The Firm (1993)
   * Rookie of the Year (1993)
   * South Beach (1993)
   * Warriors (1994)
   * Surviving the Game (1994)
   * Drop Zone (1994)
   * Chasers (1994)
   * Man with a Gun (1995)
   * Steel Sharks (1996)
   * One Clean Move (1996)
   * Livers Ain't Cheap (1996) (a.k.a. The Real Thing)
   * Black Sheep (1996)
   * Carried Away (1996)
   * Sticks & Stones (1996)
   * The Chain (1996)
   * Suspicious Minds (1997)
   * The Rage (1997)
   * Lost Highway (1997)
   * Lethal Tender (1997)
   * Plato's Run (1997)
   * Rough Riders (1997)
   * Rough Draft (1998) (a.k.a. Diary of a Serial Killer)
   * Soldier (1998)
   * Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
   * Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)
   * Detour (1998) (a.k.a. Too Hard to Die)
   * Hot Boyz (1999)
   * The Girl Next Door (1999)
   * No Tomorrow (1999)
   * Two Shades of Blue (1999)
   * Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1999)
   * A Crack in the Floor (2000)
   * Tribulation (2000)
   * Glory Glory (2000) (a.k.a. Hooded Angels)
   * Inside The Metal Box (2000)
   * Down 'n Dirty (2000)
   * G-Men from Hell (2000)
   * Frost: Portrait of a Vampire (2001)
   * On the Edge (2002)
   * Welcome 2 Ibiza (2002)
   * Sam & Janet (2002)
   * Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002)
   * The Prize Fighter (2003)
   * Scorched (2003)
   * Shadowlands (2003)
   * Shade of Pale (2004)
   * Motocross Kids (2004)
   * Lexie (2004)
   * El Padrino (2004)
   * Border Blues (2004)
   * Latin Dragon (2004)
   * Ghost Rock (2004)
   * American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004 (2004)
   * The Hand Job (2005)
   * Souled Out (2005)
   * No Rules (2005)
   * Chasing Ghosts (2005)
   * The Baker's Dozen (2005)
   * Into the West (2005)
   * Buckaroo: The Movie (2005)
   * A Sight for Sore Eyes (2005)
   * The Gingerdead Man (2005)
   * The Hard Easy (2005)
   * Descansos (2006)
   * Valley of the Wolves Iraq (2006)
   * Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006) (voice)
   * Shut Up and Shoot! (2006)
   * Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2006)
   * Soft Target (2006) (a.k.a. Crooked)
   * Quigley (2006)
   * Lady Samurai (2007)
   * Homo Erectus (2007) (a.k.a. National Lampoon's The Stoned Age)
   * Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007)
   * Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)
   * Maneater (2007)
   * Saints Row 2 (VG, voice) (2008)
   * Beyond the Ring (2008)
   * Nite Tales: The Movie (2008)
   * Hallettsville (2009)
   * Down and Distance (2009)
   * DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) - NonSeNse (2009)
   * Grown Ups (2010)

Television

   * Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 15 ("The Ancient Warrior")) (1973)
   * Gunsmoke (1975)
   * The Texas Wheelers (ABC-TV 8-episode sitcom, 1974–75)
   * Saturday Night Live (1979) (himself - host)
   * Walker, Texas Ranger (1999)
   * The Outer Limits (2000), Episode: "Revival"
   * Law & Order (2001)
   * King of the Hill (2001) (voice)
   * Entourage ("Busey and the Beach", Season 1, Episode 6; "The Boys Are Back In Town", Season 2, Episode 1; "Gary's Desk", Season 4, Episode 8) (2004, 2005, 2007) (as himself)
   * The Man Show (2002) (as himself)
   * I'm with Busey (Comedy Central, 2003) (as himself)
   * Penn & Teller: Bullsheesh! ("12 Stepping", 2004) (as himself)
   * High Chaparall (2004) (as himself)
   * The Simpsons (On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister, season 16, episode 11) (2005) (as himself)
   * Celebrity Fit Club 2 (VH1, 2005) (as himself)
   * Tom Goes to the Mayor (2006) (voice)
   * Scrubs ("My Missed Perception", 2006) (as identical doctor)
   * Celebrity Paranormal Project (VH1, 2006) (as himself)
   * The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... (truTV, 2008) (as himself)
   * The Cho Show (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
   * Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
   * The Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 2009) (as himself)

Video games

   * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (voice) (2002)
   * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (voice) (2006)
   * Saints Row 2 (voice) (2008)
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/CaptainLuAlbano/gary_busey.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/jchapman34/gary_busey.jpg


Gary Busey is ok,not that funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/29/10 at 6:20 pm


Jayne Mansfield was always compared to Marilyn Monroe but I thought Jayne was prettier, smarter, and more talented than Marilyn-and she wasn't a druggy like Marilyn.




Cat


I don't know about this one...rumour has it that she lost her head in the end!  :-\\

I love that famous pic with Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield (at a benefit dinner) and Sophia is staring (in horror) at Jayne's 40 DD+ breasts almost falling out of her dress. It's a classic... ;D  Jayne really knew how to divert attention (and it was a dinner held in Loren's behalf too).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/29/10 at 6:30 pm


I don't know about this one...rumour has it that she lost her head in the end!  :-\\

I love that famous pic with Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield (at a benefit dinner) and Sophia is staring (in horror) at Jayne's 40 DD+ breasts almost falling out of her dress. It's a classic... ;D  Jayne really knew how to divert attention (and it was a dinner held in Loren's behalf too).



That WAS only a rumor about her losing her head.


http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/jayne.asp



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/29/10 at 6:47 pm



That WAS only a rumor about her losing her head.


http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/jayne.asp



Cat


I knew it was a rumour...but I used that rumour for my own purpose here.  ;)  It was  a terribly gruesome way to go. I guess her airbags couldn't save her. (okay...I will apologise in advance for that one...)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/10 at 7:56 pm



That WAS only a rumor about her losing her head.


http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/jayne.asp



Cat

Boy I got to start reading people's bio's better, I never connected the dots between Jayne and Mariska Hargitay who I love on S.V.U. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/29/10 at 8:27 pm


Boy I got to start reading people's bio's better, I never connected the dots between Jayne and Mariska Hargitay who I love on S.V.U. :-[


My wife told me of the connection when SVU first started on TV.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/10 at 6:30 am

The word of the day...Metal
A metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity  and heat and forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal ( from Greek "μέταλλον" - métallon, "mine") is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions (cations). Those ions are surrounded by delocalized electrons, which are responsible for the conductivity. The solid thus produced is held by electrostatic interactions between the ions and the electron cloud, which are called metallic bonds.

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k429/arthurgtia2/metal.jpg
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/TheBrandRocket/Recycling/non-ferrous_metal.jpg
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/TheBrandRocket/Recycling/mixed_metal.jpg
http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp190/FindStuff2/Music/Metal/Iron-Maiden.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad346/JimboDowning/Sell2010068.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/rockstrongo/IM000794.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/10 at 6:35 am

The person born on this day...Vincent D'Onofrio
Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio (born June 30, 1959) is an American  actor and film producer.  He first gained attention for his role as "Private Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence" in Full Metal Jacket, and recently for his role as Detective Robert Goren in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
D'Onofrio was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, of Sicilian descent.  He is the son of Gennaro (Gene) D’Onofrio, an interior designer and part-time theater production assistant, and Phyllis D‘Onofrio (now Meyer) a waitress and restaurant manager. His parents met while Gennaro was stationed in Hawaii with the U.S. Air Force. The couple relocated to the mainland where they had three children. Vincent is the youngest and the only boy. His middle sister Elizabeth D'Onofrio is an actress and drama coach now residing in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. His eldest sister, Toni, owns the Rib City restaurant in Utah.
Career

In 1984, D'Onofrio became a full member of the American Stanislavsky Theatre, appearing in a number of its productions, including Of Mice and Men and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He also made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions. Before this breakthrough, he had been acting in New York University student films and was working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Cafe.

In 1987, D'Onofrio entered the mainstream consciousness with two film roles that demonstrated his range as an actor. His first major film role was as the overweight Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket, a part for which he gained nearly 70 lb (32 kg), bringing his weight to 280 lb (130 kg). The other role was that of Dawson, the owner of Dawson's Garage in Adventures in Babysitting, directed by Chris Columbus. D'Onofrio appears in only one pivotal scene near the end of the film, but his role attracted attention because of his muscular physique and long blond hair, which cause the film's youngest character, Sara, to mistakenly believe that he is actually Thor, the comic-book superhero she idolizes.

D'Onofrio continued to play a wide variety of roles, including iconic director Orson Welles in Tim Burton's Ed Wood, farmer Edgar and the evil "Bug" that possesses him from Men in Black, the father of a saint in Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Movie, a time traveler from the distant future in Happy Accidents, and opposite Jennifer Lopez as serial killer Carl Stargher in The Cell.

He has dabbled in film production and direction, having produced two films, The Whole Wide World and Guy, in 1996 and 1997 executive produced two others, The Velocity of Gary in 1998 and Steal This Movie in 2000, and directed the short Five Minutes, Mr. Welles in 2005. This last represents a culmination of D'Onofrio's desire to improve on his performance as Welles in Ed Wood, which, in spite of D'Onofrio's striking physical resemblance to the actor/director, reportedly left director Tim Burton underwhelmed. Burton had to procure the services of voice-over artist Maurice LaMarche (who is himself known for his peerless imitation of Welles' voice) to produce a more dramatically effective rendering of the character's dialogue.

D'Onofrio received an Emmy nomination in 1997 for his appearance as John Lange, the doomed victim in the Homicide: Life on the Street episode "Subway". He also starred as Det. Robert Goren on the NBC television show Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

In 2003, it was reported that D'Onofrio and Joe Pantoliano began work on a small film entitled Little Victories, about a 12-year old boy whose perceptions of the world are forever changed when his gangster uncle comes to live with him. According to a television interview with Pantoliano, Little Victories was not completed and went into turnaround because of a failure to raise the funds necessary for production.

In November 2005, D'Onofrio won Best Actor at the Stockholm International Film Festival for his role as Mike Cobb in the independent film Thumbsucker.

In 2006, D'Onofrio appeared in The Break Up, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. In it, he played Vaughn's eccentric brother. They had appeared together on two previous films, in The Cell, when Vaughn played an FBI agent attempting to catch D'Onofrio, and Thumbsucker.

In 2008, D'Onofrio made a cameo appearance in a Presidential Election-related sketch of a Saturday Night Live episode as his character Det. Robert Goren. In the sketch, which originally aired on March 1, 2008, he interrogates Hillary Clinton (played by Amy Poehler). His entrance to and exit from the skit are punctuated by the classic Law & Order "dun-DUN" sound.

On October 27, 2009, D'Onofrio portrayed a country singer named George Geronimo Gerkie at Joe's Pub in New York City. He appeared as Gerkie for a second time at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on December 6, 2009, during Matt Pinfield's Holiday Extravaganza Show.

D'Onofrio turned down a role in The Sopranos.

D'Onofrio left Criminal Intent in the Spring of 2010 with his last appearance being in a two-part story which was the ninth season premiere.
Personal life

D'Onofrio's father, Gene, and his sister Beth founded the River Run International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which began in 1998.

D'Onofrio has a daughter, Leila George D'Onofrio, born March 20, 1992 in Sydney, Australia. Her mother is actress Greta Scacchi, with whom D'Onofrio made several movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s (including The Player and Fires Within). The couple were in a relationship from 1991 until 1993. After that relationship ended, D'Onofrio married model Carin van der Donk on March 22, 1997. The couple have a son, Elias Gene, born in December 1999. D'Onofrio and van der Donk split in October 2003, but reconciled in 2007. Carin gave birth to their second son, Luka, on February 14, 2008.

D'Onofrio experienced a health issue when he collapsed on the set of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on November 10, 2004. He collapsed again at home a few days later and was taken back to the hospital for more thorough testing, where he was diagnosed with exhaustion.
Partial filmography

    * The First Turn-On! (1983)
    * It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen (1984)
    * Full Metal Jacket (1987)
    * Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
    * Mystic Pizza (1988)
    * Signs of Life (1989)
    * The Blood of Heroes (1989) - also known as Salute of the Jugger
    * Crooked Hearts (1991)
    * Dying Young (1991)
    * Fires Within (1991)
    * Naked Tango (1991)
    * JFK (1991)
    * The Player (1992)
    * Salt on Our Skin (1992) - also known as Desire
    * Being Human (1993)
    * Household Saints (1993)
    * Mr. Wonderful (1993)
    * Ed Wood (1994)
    * The Investigator (1994)
    * Imaginary Crimes (1994)
    * Nunzio's Second Cousin (1994)
    * Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
    * Strange Days (1995)
    * Hotel Paradise (1995)
    * The Whole Wide World (1996)
    * The Winner (1996)
    * Feeling Minnesota (1996)
    * Good Luck (1996)



    * Boys Life 2 (1997)
    * Men in Black (1997)
    * Guy (1997)
    * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998) - TV remake of the 1974 film
    * The Newton Boys (1998)
    * Claire Dolan (1998)
    * The Velocity of Gary (1998)
    * Spanish Judges (1999)
    * The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
    * That Championship Season (1999)
    * Happy Accidents (2000)
    * Steal This Movie (2000)
    * The Cell (2000)
    * Chelsea Walls (2001)
    * Impostor (2002)
    * Bark! (2002)
    * The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
    * The Red Sneakers (2002)
    * The Salton Sea (2002)
    * Case of Evil (2002)
    * Thumbsucker (2005)
    * Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005)
    * The Break Up (2006)
    * The Narrows (2008)
    * Cadillac Records (2008)
    * Staten Island (2009)
    * Brooklyn's Finest (2010)
    * The Irishman (2010)
    * The First Avenger: Captain America (2011) (rumored)

Television (including notable guest appearances)

    * Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001—2010) as Det. Robert Goren
    * Men in Black: The Series as Bugs (voice) in "The Big Bad Bug Syndrome" (Episode 2.5)
    * Homicide: Life on the Street as John Lange in "Subway" (Episode 6.7)
    * The Equalizer as Davy Baylor in "Suspicion of Innocence" (Episode 3.3) and as Thomas Marley in "Counterfire" (Episode 2.7)
    * Miami Vice as Leon Wolf in "The Afternoon Plane" (Episode 3.17)
    * Spanish Judges (1999)
    * Saturday Night Live (2008) as Det. Robert Goren (Episode 33.630)
    * Xavier: Renegade Angel (2009) as Eric in the episode "El Tornadador" (Episode 2.3) and as The Judge in the episode "Damnesia Vu" (Episode 2.6)

Documentaries

    * Anatomy of a Homicide, PBS (1998)

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u139/Azmo18/vincent_donofrio_09.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj97/universe_moon/vincent%20donofrio/Feel20Min20Interview2036.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/10 at 6:39 am

The person who died on this day...Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon (February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American  character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil — and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television  situation comedy, The Lucy Show. Gordon also had starring roles in Ball's third series, Here's Lucy and her short-lived fourth series, Life with Lucy. Prior to his television career, Gordon was a respected American radio actor.
Born Charles T. Aldrich, Jr. in New York City, the son of British actress Gloria Gordon and her vaudevillian  husband Charles Aldrich, Gale Gordon's first big radio break came via the recurring roles of "Mayor La Trivia" and "Foggy Williams" on Fibber McGee and Molly, before playing Rumson Bullard on the show's successful spinoff, The Great Gildersleeve. Gordon and his character of Mayor La Trivia briefly left the show in December of 1942; both had enlisted in World War II.

Gordon was the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon, in the 1935 radio serial The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. In 1949 Gordon recorded the pilot for The Halls of Ivy, starring in the program's title role of Dr. Todhunter Hall, the president of Ivy College. The pilot led to a radio series that aired from 1950-52, but with Ronald Colman in the title role; Gordon later joined the cast as a replacement for Willard Waterman in the popular role of John Merriweather.

In 1950, Gordon played John Granby in the radio series Granby's Green Acres, which became the basis for the 1960s television series, Green Acres. Gordon went on to create the role of pompous principal Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks, carrying the role to television when the show moved there in 1952. In the interim, Gordon turned up as Rudolph Atterbury on My Favorite Husband, which starred Lucille Ball in a precursor to I Love Lucy. Gordon and Ball previously worked together on The Wonder Show, starring Jack Haley, from 1938 to 1939. The two had a long friendship as well as recurring professional partnership. Gordon also had a recurring role as fictitious Rexall Drugs sponsor representative Mr. Scott on yet another radio hit, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, staying with the role as long as Rexall sponsored the show.
Television

The widely acknowledged master of the "slow-burn" temper explosion in character, Gordon was actually the first pick to play Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, but he was committed to Our Miss Brooks and had to decline the offer in favor of William Frawley. But he did make two guest shots on the show as Ricky Ricardo's boss, Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana Club where Ricky's band played, and he later played a judge on a The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode. In 1958, he appeared as a regular in the role of department store co-owner Bascomb Bleacher, Sr., on the NBC sitcom Sally, starring Joan Caulfield and Marion Lorne. Gordon also had a co-starring role in the CBS television comedy Pete and Gladys. At this time, he guest starred with Pat O'Brien in the ABC sitcom Harrigan and Son, the story of a fictitious father-and-son pair of lawyers.

In 1962, Ball created The Lucy Show and planned to hire Gordon to play Theodore J. Mooney, the banker who was first Lucy Carmichael's executor and subsequently her employer, when she went to work in his bank. Gordon, however, was still under contract to play John Wilson (after the death of Joseph Kearns, who played George Wilson) on Dennis the Menace. When that show ended in spring 1963, Gordon joined The Lucy Show as Mr. Mooney for the 1963-64 season. In the interim, Charles Lane played the similar Mr. Barnsdahl character for the 1962-63 season. The somewhat portly Gordon was not only adept at physical comedy but could do a perfect cartwheel. He did this once on The Lucy Show and again as a guest on The Dean Martin Show.

After the sale of Desilu studios, Ball shut down The Lucy Show in 1968 and retooled it into Here's Lucy. She used Gordon yet again - this time as her irascible boss (and brother-in-law) Harry Carter at an employment agency that specialized in unusual jobs. It was really the Lucy Carmichael/Mr. Mooney relationship continued with new names and a new setting.

Gordon all but retired when Here's Lucy ended (although he did reprise his role of Mr. Mooney in the first aired episode of Hi Honey, I'm Home!), but in the 1980s he came out of retirement to join Ball one last time, for the short-lived Life With Lucy. When Lucille Ball finally brought an end to her career, Gordon turned out to be the only actor to have co-starred or guest-starred in every weekly series, radio or television, she had done since the 1940s.
Death

Gordon died of lung cancer on June 30, 1995, at the Redwood Terrace Health Center in Escondido, California. Virginia, his wife of nearly 60 years, had died in the same facility one month earlier.
Awards

In 1999, Gordon was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame, and for his contribution to radio he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.
Selected film/TV roles

    * Here We Go Again (1942) - Otis Cadwalader
    * My Favorite Husband (1947) - Mr. Rudolph Atterbury
    * Here Come the Nelsons (1952) - H.J. Bellows
    * I Love Lucy - (one episode)
    * Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) - Dist. Atty. Evans
    * Our Miss Brooks - Osgood Conklin (several episodes)
    * Climax! - Dr. Raymond Forrest (1956)
    * The Real McCoys - P. T. Kirkland (one episode)
    * Playhouse 90 - Ed Keller (1957-1958)
    * Studio One - R.J. Fuller (1958)
    * The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour - Judge (1958)
    * Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958) - Brig. Gen. W.A. Thorwald
    * Don't Give Up the Ship (1959) - Congressman Mandeville
    * The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) - Raven Rossiter
    * Visit to a Small Planet (1960) - Bob Mayberry



    * All Hands on Deck (1961) - Cmdr. Bintle
    * Harrigan and Son - Merril Davis (1961)
    * Pete and Gladys - Uncle Paul Porter (1960-1962)
    * Dennis the Menace - John Wilson (1962-1963)
    * Sergeant Dead Head (1965) - Capt. Weiskopf
    * The Danny Thomas Hour - Baxter (1967)
    * The Lucy Show - Mr. Theodore J. Mooney (1963-1968)
    * Speedway (1968) - R.W. Hepworth
    * Here's Lucy - Harrison Otis Carter (1968-1974)
    * Lucy Calls the President (1977) (TV) - Omar Whittaker
    * The Honeymooners Christmas Special (1977) (TV) - Ralph's boss
    * Hi Honey, I'm Home - Theodore J. Mooney (1991)
    * The New Lassie (1991)
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee165/mornin-dew/galegordon2.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z58/mjdonovan02/Rifiuti/6543.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/30/10 at 7:13 am


The person who died on this day...Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon (February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American  character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil — and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television  situation comedy, The Lucy Show. Gordon also had starring roles in Ball's third series, Here's Lucy and her short-lived fourth series, Life with Lucy. Prior to his television career, Gordon was a respected American radio actor.
Born Charles T. Aldrich, Jr. in New York City, the son of British actress Gloria Gordon and her vaudevillian  husband Charles Aldrich, Gale Gordon's first big radio break came via the recurring roles of "Mayor La Trivia" and "Foggy Williams" on Fibber McGee and Molly, before playing Rumson Bullard on the show's successful spinoff, The Great Gildersleeve. Gordon and his character of Mayor La Trivia briefly left the show in December of 1942; both had enlisted in World War II.

Gordon was the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon, in the 1935 radio serial The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. In 1949 Gordon recorded the pilot for The Halls of Ivy, starring in the program's title role of Dr. Todhunter Hall, the president of Ivy College. The pilot led to a radio series that aired from 1950-52, but with Ronald Colman in the title role; Gordon later joined the cast as a replacement for Willard Waterman in the popular role of John Merriweather.

In 1950, Gordon plahttp://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2001/222/gordongalebio.jpgyed John Granby in the radio series Granby's Green Acres, which became the basis for the 1960s television series, Green Acres. Gordon went on to create the role of pompous principal Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks, carrying the role to television when the show moved there in 1952. In the interim, Gordon turned up as Rudolph Atterbury on My Favorite Husband, which starred Lucille Ball in a precursor to I Love Lucy. Gordon and Ball previously worked together on The Wonder Show, starring Jack Haley, from 1938 to 1939. The two had a long friendship as well as recurring professional partnership. Gordon also had a recurring role as fictitious Rexall Drugs sponsor representative Mr. Scott on yet another radio hit, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, staying with the role as long as Rexall sponsored the show.
Television

The widely acknowledged master of the "slow-burn" temper explosion in character, Gordon was actually the first pick to play Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, but he was committed to Our Miss Brooks and had to decline the offer in favor of William Frawley. But he did make two guest shots on the show as Ricky Ricardo's boss, Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana Club where Ricky's band played, and he later played a judge on a The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode. In 1958, he appeared as a regular in the role of department store co-owner Bascomb Bleacher, Sr., on the NBC sitcom Sally, starring Joan Caulfield and Marion Lorne. Gordon also had a co-starring role in the CBS television comedy Pete and Gladys. At this time, he guest starred with Pat O'Brien in the ABC sitcom Harrigan and Son, the story of a fictitious father-and-son pair of lawyers.

In 1962, Ball created The Lucy Show and planned to hire Gordon to play Theodore J. Mooney, the banker who was first Lucy Carmichael's executor and subsequently her employer, when she went to work in his bank. Gordon, however, was still under contract to play John Wilson (after the death of Joseph Kearns, who played George Wilson) on Dennis the Menace. When that show ended in spring 1963, Gordon joined The Lucy Show as Mr. Mooney for the 1963-64 season. In the interim, Charles Lane played the similar Mr. Barnsdahl character for the 1962-63 season. The somewhat portly Gordon was not only adept at physical comedy but could do a perfect cartwheel. He did this once on The Lucy Show and again as a guest on The Dean Martin Show.

After the sale of Desilu studios, Ball shut down The Lucy Show in 1968 and retooled it into Here's Lucy. She used Gordon yet again - this time as her irascible boss (and brother-in-law) Harry Carter at an employment agency that specialized in unusual jobs. It was really the Lucy Carmichael/Mr. Mooney relationship continued with new names and a new setting.

Gordon all but retired when Here's Lucy ended (although he did reprise his role of Mr. Mooney in the first aired episode of Hi Honey, I'm Home!), but in the 1980s he came out of retirement to join Ball one last time, for the short-lived Life With Lucy. When Lucille Ball finally brought an end to her career, Gordon turned out to be the only actor to have co-starred or guest-starred in every weekly series, radio or television, she had done since the 1940s.
Death

Gordon died of lung cancer on June 30, 1995, at the Redwood Terrace Health Center in Escondido, California. Virginia, his wife of nearly 60 years, had died in the same facility one month earlier.
Awards

In 1999, Gordon was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame, and for his contribution to radio he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.
Selected film/TV roles

    * Here We Go Again (1942) - Otis Cadwalader
    * My Favorite Husband (1947) - Mr. Rudolph Atterbury
    * Here Come the Nelsons (1952) - H.J. Bellows
    * I Love Lucy - (one episode)
    * Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) - Dist. Atty. Evans
    * Our Miss Brooks - Osgood Conklin (several episodes)
    * Climax! - Dr. Raymond Forrest (1956)
    * The Real McCoys - P. T. Kirkland (one episode)
    * Playhouse 90 - Ed Keller (1957-1958)
    * Studio One - R.J. Fuller (1958)
    * The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour - Judge (1958)
    * Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958) - Brig. Gen. W.A. Thorwald
    * Don't Give Up the Ship (1959) - Congressman Mandeville
    * The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) - Raven Rossiter
    * Visit to a Small Planet (1960) - Bob Mayberry



    * All Hands on Deck (1961) - Cmdr. Bintle
    * Harrigan and Son - Merril Davis (1961)
    * Pete and Gladys - Uncle Paul Porter (1960-1962)
    * Dennis the Menace - John Wilson (1962-1963)
    * Sergeant Dead Head (1965) - Capt. Weiskopf
    * The Danny Thomas Hour - Baxter (1967)
    * The Lucy Show - Mr. Theodore J. Mooney (1963-1968)
    * Speedway (1968) - R.W. Hepworth
    * Here's Lucy - Harrison Otis Carter (1968-1974)
    * Lucy Calls the President (1977) (TV) - Omar Whittaker
    * The Honeymooners Christmas Special (1977) (TV) - Ralph's boss
    * Hi Honey, I'm Home - Theodore J. Mooney (1991)
    * The New Lassie (1991)
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee165/mornin-dew/galegordon2.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z58/mjdonovan02/Rifiuti/6543.jpg


http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2001/222/gordongalebio.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/30/10 at 7:15 am

It's also Lena Horne's Birthday she would have been 93.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/30/10 at 10:47 am


http://s3.amazonaws.com/findagrave/photos/2001/222/gordongalebio.jpg

Mr. Mooney!
Lucy drove him insane... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/10 at 11:08 am


It's also Lena Horne's Birthday she would have been 93.

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/10 at 11:08 am


Mr. Mooney!
Lucy drove him insane... ;D

That's for sure ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/30/10 at 2:40 pm


Mr. Mooney!
Lucy drove him insane... ;D


and both are in heaven.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 06/30/10 at 5:57 pm


and both are in heaven.

Most of the famous movie and TV stars from the 50s and 60s are gone. Most ( not all)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/10 at 5:25 am

The word of the day...Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft  such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps  takeoff and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport. An airport consists of at least one surface such as a runway for a plane to takeoff and land, a helipad, or water for takeoffs and landings, and often includes buildings such as control towers, hangars and terminal buildings.

Larger airports may have fixed base operator services, seaplane docks and ramps, air traffic control, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services. A military airport is known as an airbase or air station. The terms aerodrome, airdrome, airfield, and airstrip may also be used to refer to airports, and the terms heliport, seaplane base, and STOLport refer to airports dedicated exclusively to helicopters, seaplanes, or short take-off and landing aircraft. In some jurisdictions, the term airport is used when the facility is licensed as such by the relevant government organization (e.g. the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transport Canada). Elsewhere the distinction is one of general appearance. Other jurisdictions define an airport as having the customs offices etc. expected of a port, though the more general term is airport of entry.
http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a420/legards/HK/airport.jpg
http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy152/boyceal/DSCN0021.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/Hodgy_2006/DSCF2163.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z232/nequine/Boston/Boston138.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac315/ceosayed/Egypt/DSC01354.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac315/ceosayed/Egypt/DSC01361.jpg
http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx69/Rags23/Denver%20Trip/boi6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/10 at 5:27 am

The person born on this day...Karen Black
Karen Black (born July 1, 1939) is an American actress, screenwriter, singer and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. Black was born as Karen Blanche Ziegler in Park Ridge, Illinois, the daughter of Elsie (née Reif), a writer of several prize-winning children's novels, and Norman A. Ziegler.  Her paternal grandfather was Arthur Ziegler, a classical musician and the first violinist  for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Her sister is actress Gail Brown. She attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for two years, having commenced university studies in 1954, aged 15.  She then moved to New York where she appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions.
Career

Black began her film career in 1959 with a small role in The Prime Time. Then as the woman about to be stoned in The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1964. She made her Broadway debut in 1965's The Playroom, for which she was nominated for a Drama Circle Critic Award for Best Actress. She returned to the big screen in You're a Big Boy Now (1966), which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. During the mid to late 1960s, Black made guest appearances on such shows as The F.B.I. and Adam 12. She appeared on the TV series The Second Hundred Years (1967) as "Marcia Garroway".

Black became a well-known actress after her role as Karen in Easy Rider (1969). She has over 100 film performances to her credit, including her role as a kidnapping accomplice in the final film Alfred Hitchcock directed, Family Plot (1976), and her turn as Rayette Dipesto in Five Easy Pieces (1970), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Five Easy Pieces as well as a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her role as Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby (1974).

She was also nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama for her role as Faye Greener in The Day of the Locust. She starred in Airport 1975 as Chief Cabin Attendant Nancy Pryor with a memorable line: "There's no one left to fly the plane!". Black was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Series for Nashville (1975). She had previously written and sung the theme song and supporting songs for The Pyx (1973). She starred in the Dan Curtis horror film, Burnt Offerings (1976) with Bette Davis. She went on to appear in a dual role in a 1977 TV movie thriller, The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver. She appeared as Mother Firefly in the 2001 Rob Zombie horror movie House of 1000 Corpses.

In March 2005, Black received the Best Actress Award at the Fantasporto International Film Festival in Porto, Portugal, for her work in the critically-acclaimed Steve Balderson film, Firecracker (2005), in which she plays two roles, Sandra and Eleanor. (Black also played two different roles in one of the three stories comprising the 1975 cult classic Trilogy of Terror. In April 2009, Black reunited with director Steve Balderson for Stuck! - an homage to film noir women-in-prison dramas, which co-starred Mink Stole, Pleasant Gehman and The Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin. Black stars also in the John Landis-produced 2010 thriller Some Guy Who Kills People.

Black launched a career as a playwright in May 2007 with the opening of Missouri Waltz at the Blank Theater in Los Angeles; Black stars in the play as well. Conceived as a play with music, rather than a musical, the play contains songs by Harriet Schock. The play is a bittersweet comedy about two ghosts who haunt their ancestral home in New Madrid, Missouri.

Black recently contributed vocals to "Dreams Come True Girl", the first single off of singer-songwriter Cass McCombs's fourth album, Catacombs.
Personal life

Black has been married four times, first to Charles Black from 1955 to 1962, then to Robert Burton, who played her student in the TV movie Trilogy of Terror, from 1973 to 1974. Her third marriage to screenwriter L.M. Kit Carson produced her only biological child, Hunter Carson (born December 25, 1975). Black and her current husband (since 1987), Stephen Eckelberry, adopted a daughter, Celine, in November 1987.

She has been a Scientologist since the 1970's and despite some 2006 rumors to the contrary, she and her husband are still active..
Black in popular culture

Cracker's song "Dr. Bernice" contains the lyric, 'Though the wind may whisper an epic sometime/The cast must include Karen Black.'

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black is a glam/punk band led by Kembra Pfahler.

Her likeness appears in the The Simpsons Tree House of Horror Dead Man's Jest comic book.

In 2006 she appeared in Wanderlust, a documentary about road movies.

Karen has a cameo in an episode of Family Guy. She lands an airplane and saves the day. On the nightly newscast, the anchor says, "Karen Black, what an obscure reference."
Filmography

    * The Prime Time (1960)
    * You're a Big Boy Now (1966)
    * Hard Contract (1969)
    * Easy Rider (1969)
    * Hastings Corner (1970)
    * Five Easy Pieces (1970)
    * Drive, He Said (1971)
    * A Gunfight (1971)
    * Born to Win (1971)
    * Cisco Pike (1972)
    * Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
    * Little Laura and Big John (1973)
    * The Pyx (1973)
    * The Outfit (1973)
    * Rhinoceros (1974)
    * The Great Gatsby (1974)
    * Law and Disorder (1974)
    * Airport 1975 (1974)
    * Trilogy of Terror (1975)
    * The Day of the Locust (1975)
    * Nashville (1975)
    * Ace Up My Sleeve (1976)
    * Family Plot (1976)
    * Burnt Offerings (1976)
    * The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)
    * 1922
    * Because He's My Friend (1978)
    * Capricorn One (1978)
    * In Praise of Older Women (1978)
    * The Squeeze (1978)
    * Mr. Horn (1979)
    * Killer Fish (1979)
    * Power (1980)
    * Where the Ladies Go (1980)
    * The Last Word (1980)
    * Police Story: Confessions of a Lady Cop (1980)
    * Separate Ways (1981)
    * Gräset sjunger (1981)
    * Chanel Solitaire (1981)
    * La donna giusta (1982)
    * Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
    * Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983)
    * A Stroke of Genius (1984)
    * Martin's Day (1984)
    * Growing Pains (1984)
    * The Blue Man (1985)
    * Inferno in diretta (1985)
    * Savage Dawn (1985)
    * Invaders from Mars (1986)
    * Flight of the Spruce Goose (1986)
    * It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)
    * Hostage (1987)
    * Platinum Blonde (1988)
    * The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway (1988)
    * The Invisible Kid (1988)
    * Dixie Lanes (1988)
    * Judgement (1989)
    * Out of the Dark (1989)
    * Homer and Eddie (1989)
    * Evil Spirits (1990)
    * Mirror, Mirror (1990)
    * Fatal Encounter (1990)
    * The Children (1990)
    * Club Fed (1990 film) (1990)
    * Overexposed (1990)
    * Zapped Again! (1990)
    * Twisted Justice (1990)
    * Night Angel (1990)
    * The Roller Blade Seven (1991)
    * Rubin and Ed (1991)
    * The Killer's Edge (1991)
    * Children of the Night (1991)
    * Quiet Fire (1991)
    * Haunting Fear (1991)
    * Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1992)



    * Final Judgement (1992)
    * Legend of the Roller Blade Seven (1992)
    * Dead Girls Don't Tango (1992)
    * Bound and Gagged: A Love Story (1992)
    * The Double 0 Kid (1992)
    * Caged Fear (1992)
    * Cries of Silence (1993)
    * Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1993)
    * Tuesday Never Comes (1993)
    * The Trust (1993)
    * Dark Blood (1993) (unfinished)
    * Plan 10 from Outer Space (1994)
    * Too Bad About Jack (1994)
    * The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley (1995)
    * Starstruck (1995)
    * Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996)
    * Angelo a New York, Un (1996)
    * Movies Money Murder (1996)
    * Every Minute Is Goodbye (1996)
    * Crimetime (1996)
    * Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996)
    * Dogtown (1997)
    * Modern Rhapsody (1997)
    * Malaika (1997)
    * Conceiving Ada (1997)
    * Men (1997)
    * Waiting for Dr. MacGuffin (1998)
    * Fallen Arches (1998)
    * Light Speed (1998)
    * Stripping for Jesus (1998)
    * Invisible Dad (1998)
    * I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998)
    * Sugar: The Fall of the West (1998)
    * Stir (1998)
    * My Neighbor's Daughter (1998)
    * Bury the Evidence (1998)
    * Charades (1998)
    * Decoupage 2000: Return of the Goddess (1999)
    * Paradise Cove (1999)
    * Mascara (1999)
    * The Underground Comedy Movie (1999)
    * Oliver Twisted (2000)
    * Inviati speciali (2000)
    * The Donor (2000)
    * Red Dirt (2000)
    * Gypsy 83 (2001)
    * Hard Luck (2001)
    * Soulkeeper (2001)
    * Teknolust (2002)
    * Buttleman (2002)
    * A Light in the Darkness (2002)
    * Paris (2003)
    * Summer Solstice (2003)
    * Curse of the Forty-Niner (2003)
    * House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
    * America Brown (2004)
    * Birth of Industry (2004)
    * Firecracker (2005)
    * Dr. Rage (2005)
    * Carma (2005)
    * My Suicidal Sweetheart (2005)
    * Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula (2005)
    * Whitepaddy (2006)
    * Hollywood Dreams (2006)
    * Read You Like a Book (2006)
    * Suffering Man's Charity (2007)
    * One Long Night (2007)
    * Contamination (2008)
    * The Blue Tooth Virgin (2008)
    * Watercolors (2008)
    * First Time Long Time (2009)
    * A Single Woman (2009)
    * Double Duty (2009)
    * Irene in Time (2009)
    * Katie Q (2009)
    * Stuck! (2010)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/Bootstrap_Beck/Female%20Screenwriters/Karen_Black.png
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/us/kkkbbb.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/10 at 5:37 am

* Today we will pay tribute to 3 actors who died on this day...
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.Mitchum is regarded by critics as one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Roger Ebert called him 'the soul of film noir'. Mitchum himself, however, was self-effacing; in an interview with Barry Norman for the BBC about his contribution to cinema, Mitchum stopped Norman in mid flow and in his typical phlegmatic style said, "Look! I have two kinds of acting. One on a horse and one off a horse. That's it." He had also succeeded in annoying some of his fellow actors by voicing his puzzlement at those who viewed the profession, as challenging and hard work, saying that acting was actually very simple and that his job was to "show up on time, know his lines, hit his marks, and go home." What possibly annoyed the opposition was how very easy he made it all seem.

Interviewer Larry King has said on a number of occasions that Mitchum's interview was his most challenging. Mitchum, a man of few words, tended to answer simply "Yes" or "No" to many of King's questions.

He was the voice of the famous American Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef . . . it's what's for dinner", from the early 1980s, until his death.
Filmography
Features

    * Hoppy Serves a Writ (1943)
    * The Human Comedy (1943)
    * Aerial Gunner (1943)
    * Border Patrol (1943)
    * Follow the Band (1943)
    * Leather Burners (1943)
    * Colt Comrades (1943)
    * We've Never Been Licked (1943)
    * Lone Star Trail (1943)
    * Beyond the Last Frontier (1943)
    * Corvette K-225 (1943)
    * Bar 20 (1943)
    * Doughboys in Ireland (1943)
    * False Colors (1943)
    * Minesweeper (1943)
    * The Dancing Masters (1943)
    * Cry 'Havoc' (1943) (uncredited)
    * Riders of the Deadline (1943)
    * Gung Ho! (1943)
    * Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More (1944)
    * Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944)
    * When Strangers Marry (1944)
    * Girl Rush (1944)
    * Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944)
    * Nevada (1944)
    * The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
    * West of the Pecos (1945)
    * Till the End of Time (1946)
    * Undercurrent (1946)
    * The Locket (1946)
    * Pursued (1947)
    * Crossfire (1947)
    * Desire Me (1947)
    * Out of the Past (1947)
    * Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
    * Blood on the Moon (1948)
    * The Red Pony (1949)
    * The Big Steal (1949)
    * Holiday Affair (1949)
    * Where Danger Lives (1950)
    * My Forbidden Past (1951)
    * His Kind of Woman (1951)
    * The Racket (1951)
    * Macao (1952)
    * One Minute to Zero (1952)
    * The Lusty Men (1952)
    * Angel Face (1952)
    * White Witch Doctor (1953)
    * Second Chance (1953)
    * She Couldn't Say No (1954)
    * River of No Return (1954)
    * Track of the Cat (1954)
    * Not as a Stranger (1955)
    * The Night of the Hunter (1955)
    * Man with the Gun (1955)
    * Foreign Intrigue (1956)
    * Bandido (1956)
    * Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
    * Fire Down Below (1957)
    * The Enemy Below (1957)



    * Thunder Road (1958)
    * The Hunters (1958)
    * The Angry Hills (1959)
    * The Wonderful Country (1959)
    * Home from the Hill (1960)
    * A Terrible Beauty (1960)
    * The Sundowners (1960)
    * The Grass Is Greener (1960)
    * The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)
    * Cape Fear (1962)
    * The Longest Day (1962)
    * Two for the Seesaw (1962)
    * The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    * Rampage (1963 film)
    * Man in the Middle (1963)
    * What a Way to Go! (1964)
    * Mister Moses (1965)
    * El Dorado (1966)
    * The Way West (1967)
    * Villa Rides (1968)
    * Anzio (1968)
    * 5 Card Stud (1968)
    * Secret Ceremony (1968)
    * Young Billy Young (1969)
    * The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)
    * Ryan's Daughter (1970)
    * Going Home (1971)
    * The Wrath of God (1972)
    * The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
    * The Yakuza (1974)
    * Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
    * Midway (1976)
    * The Last Tycoon (1976)
    * The Amsterdam Kill (1977)
    * The Big Sleep (1978)
    * Matilda (1978)
    * Breakthrough (1979)
    * Agency (1980)
    * Nightkill (1980)
    * That Championship Season (1982)
    * One Shoe Makes It Murder (1982) (TV)
    * The Ambassador (1984)
    * A Killer In the Family (1983) (TV)
    * The Winds of War TV mini-series (1983)
    * Maria's Lovers (1984)
    * Reunion at Fairborough (1985)
    * Remembering Marilyn (1987) (documentary)
    * War and Remembrance TV mini-series (1988)
    * Mr. North (1988)
    * Scrooged (1988)
    * John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989) (documentary)
    * Midnight Ride (1990)
    * Supposedly Dangerous (1990)
    * The Seven Deadly Sins (1992)
    * Woman of Desire (1993)
    * Tombstone (1993) (narrator)
    * Backfire! (1995)
    * Dead Man (1995)
    * Waiting for Sunset (1995)
    * Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996) (documentary)


http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z113/dankvart/mitchum-robert.jpg
http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp125/addiefleur/Film%20Noir/Robert%20Mitchum/0000384003-62790L.jpg
* Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor who performed for over half a century.

He was best known for his role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and his Academy Award-winning performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, both directed by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s. In middle age, his well-known roles include his Academy Award-winning performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Colonel Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola and an Academy Award-nominated performance as Paul in Last Tango in Paris.

Brando had a significant impact on film acting. He was the foremost example of the "method" acting style, and was initially parodied for his "mumbling" diction, but his mercurial performances were highly regarded. Director Martin Scorsese said of him, "He is the marker. There's 'before Brando' and 'after Brando'.'" Actor Jack Nicholson once said, "When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one."

Brando was also an activist, supporting many issues, notably the American Civil Rights and various American Indian Movements.
He was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute, and part of Time magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.
Awards and nominations
Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Marlon Brando
Filmography
Main article: Marlon Brando filmography
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af264/samarshall07/marlon.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k244/bkrall09/ThatsMe.png

* Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich, Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Ђорђе Секуловић; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009)  was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he featured in classic Marlon Brando films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks. Among other notable film roles were Archie Lee Meighan in Baby Doll, Zebulon Prescott in How the West Was Won and General Omar Bradley in Patton. His best-known role was on television as Lt. Mike Stone on the 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco. During the 1980s he was spokesman for American Express, reminding cardholders "Don't leave home without it".Filmography
Karl Malden with Marlon Brando in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)
Karl Malden with Eva Marie Saint in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)
Karl Malden as Father Barry in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)
Karl Malden with Claudette Colbert in the trailer for Parrish (1961)

    * They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
    * Winged Victory (1944)
    * 13 Rue Madeleine (1947)
    * Boomerang (1947)
    * Kiss of Death (1947)
    * The Gunfighter (1950)
    * Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
    * Halls of Montezuma (1951)
    * A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
    * The Sellout (1952)
    * Diplomatic Courier (1952)
    * Operation Secret (1952)
    * Ruby Gentry (1952)
    * I Confess (1953)
    * Take the High Ground! (1953)
    * Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954)
    * On the Waterfront (1954)
    * Baby Doll (1956)
    * Fear Strikes Out (1957)
    * Bombers B-52 (1957)
    * Time Limit (1957) (director)
    * The Hanging Tree (1959) (also co-director)
    * Pollyanna (1960)
    * The Great Impostor (1961)
    * One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
    * Parrish (1961)
    * All Fall Down (1962)
    * Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
    * How the West Was Won (1962)
    * Gypsy (1962)
    * Come Fly with Me (1963)
    * Dead Ringer (1964)
    * Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
    * The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
    * Nevada Smith (1966)
    * Murderers' Row (1966)
    * Hotel (1967)
    * The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967)
    * Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
    * Blue (1968)
    * Hot Millions (1968)
    * Patton (1970)
    * The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)
    * Wild Rovers (1971)
    * Summertime Killer (1972)
    * Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
    * Meteor (1979)
    * Miracle on Ice (1981)
    * Twilight Time (1982)
    * The Sting II (1983)
    * Fatal Vision (1984) (television miniseries)
    * Dario Argento's World of Horror (1985) (documentary)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985) (television miniseries)
    * Billy Galvin (1986)
    * Nuts (1987)
    * Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy323/tiida11/Elvis/180px-Karl_Malden_2.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/glasscottage/Politics/AKarlMalden.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/01/10 at 7:01 am

http://shopturtlepie.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/pamela-anderson-canadian-seal-hunt.jpg

Happy Birthday Pamela Anderson,She is 43.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/01/10 at 9:57 am

I coulda been a contenda.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/01/10 at 10:19 am


I coulda been a contenda.

Cat

I coudda been somebody..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/01/10 at 3:06 pm

British Person of the Day: Diana Spencer

Diana, Princess of Wales, (Diana Frances née Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a popular international media icon  of the late 20th century as the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981. The wedding, which was held at St. Paul's Cathedral, was televised and watched by a global audience of over 750 million people. The marriage produced two sons, Princes William and Harry, and they are second and third in line to the thrones of the 16 Commonwealth realms.

A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana was born into an old, aristocratic English family with royal connections, and remained the focus of worldwide media scrutiny before, during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. This continued in the years following her death in a car crash in Paris along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul on 31 August 1997, and in the subsequent display of public mourning a week later. Contemporary responses to Diana's life and legacy are mixed but popular interest with the Princess endures.

Diana also received recognition for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1989, she was the president of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/01/10 at 3:07 pm


British Person of the Day: Diana Spencer

Diana, Princess of Wales, (Diana Frances née Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a popular international media icon  of the late 20th century as the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981. The wedding, which was held at St. Paul's Cathedral, was televised and watched by a global audience of over 750 million people. The marriage produced two sons, Princes William and Harry, and they are second and third in line to the thrones of the 16 Commonwealth realms.

A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana was born into an old, aristocratic English family with royal connections, and remained the focus of worldwide media scrutiny before, during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. This continued in the years following her death in a car crash in Paris along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul on 31 August 1997, and in the subsequent display of public mourning a week later. Contemporary responses to Diana's life and legacy are mixed but popular interest with the Princess endures.

Diana also received recognition for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1989, she was the president of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
Royal descent

On her father's side, she was a descendant of King Charles II of England through four illegitimate sons:

    * Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton, son by Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
    * Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox, son by Louise de Kérouaille
    * Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, son by Nell Gwyn
    * James Crofts-Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, leader of the famous Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, son by Lucy Walter

She was also a descendant of King James II of England through an illegitimate daughter, Henrietta FitzJames, by his mistress Arabella Churchill. On her mother's side, Diana was Irish and Scottish, as well as a descendant of American heiress Frances Work, her mother's grandmother and namesake, from whom the considerable Roche fortune was derived.

The Spencers had been close to the British Royal Family for centuries, rising in royal favour during the 1600s. Diana's maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was a long-time friend and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Her father had served as an equerry to King George VI and to Queen Elizabeth II.

In August 2009, the New England Historic Genealogical Society published Richard K. Evans's The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales, for Twelve Generations.

From her marriage in 1981 to her divorce in 1996 she was styled Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. She was generally called "Princess Diana" by the media despite having no legal right to that particular honorific, as it is reserved for a princess by birthright rather than marriage.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/01/10 at 7:08 pm


* Today we will pay tribute to 3 actors who died on this day...
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum is largely remembered for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.Mitchum is regarded by critics as one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Roger Ebert called him 'the soul of film noir'. Mitchum himself, however, was self-effacing; in an interview with Barry Norman for the BBC about his contribution to cinema, Mitchum stopped Norman in mid flow and in his typical phlegmatic style said, "Look! I have two kinds of acting. One on a horse and one off a horse. That's it." He had also succeeded in annoying some of his fellow actors by voicing his puzzlement at those who viewed the profession, as challenging and hard work, saying that acting was actually very simple and that his job was to "show up on time, know his lines, hit his marks, and go home." What possibly annoyed the opposition was how very easy he made it all seem.

Interviewer Larry King has said on a number of occasions that Mitchum's interview was his most challenging. Mitchum, a man of few words, tended to answer simply "Yes" or "No" to many of King's questions.

He was the voice of the famous American Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef . . . it's what's for dinner", from the early 1980s, until his death.
Filmography
Features

    * Hoppy Serves a Writ (1943)
    * The Human Comedy (1943)
    * Aerial Gunner (1943)
    * Border Patrol (1943)
    * Follow the Band (1943)
    * Leather Burners (1943)
    * Colt Comrades (1943)
    * We've Never Been Licked (1943)
    * Lone Star Trail (1943)
    * Beyond the Last Frontier (1943)
    * Corvette K-225 (1943)
    * Bar 20 (1943)
    * Doughboys in Ireland (1943)
    * False Colors (1943)
    * Minesweeper (1943)
    * The Dancing Masters (1943)
    * Cry 'Havoc' (1943) (uncredited)
    * Riders of the Deadline (1943)
    * Gung Ho! (1943)
    * Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More (1944)
    * Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944)
    * When Strangers Marry (1944)
    * Girl Rush (1944)
    * Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944)
    * Nevada (1944)
    * The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
    * West of the Pecos (1945)
    * Till the End of Time (1946)
    * Undercurrent (1946)
    * The Locket (1946)
    * Pursued (1947)
    * Crossfire (1947)
    * Desire Me (1947)
    * Out of the Past (1947)
    * Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
    * Blood on the Moon (1948)
    * The Red Pony (1949)
    * The Big Steal (1949)
    * Holiday Affair (1949)
    * Where Danger Lives (1950)
    * My Forbidden Past (1951)
    * His Kind of Woman (1951)
    * The Racket (1951)
    * Macao (1952)
    * One Minute to Zero (1952)
    * The Lusty Men (1952)
    * Angel Face (1952)
    * White Witch Doctor (1953)
    * Second Chance (1953)
    * She Couldn't Say No (1954)
    * River of No Return (1954)
    * Track of the Cat (1954)
    * Not as a Stranger (1955)
    * The Night of the Hunter (1955)
    * Man with the Gun (1955)
    * Foreign Intrigue (1956)
    * Bandido (1956)
    * Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
    * Fire Down Below (1957)
    * The Enemy Below (1957)



    * Thunder Road (1958)
    * The Hunters (1958)
    * The Angry Hills (1959)
    * The Wonderful Country (1959)
    * Home from the Hill (1960)
    * A Terrible Beauty (1960)
    * The Sundowners (1960)
    * The Grass Is Greener (1960)
    * The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)
    * Cape Fear (1962)
    * The Longest Day (1962)
    * Two for the Seesaw (1962)
    * The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    * Rampage (1963 film)
    * Man in the Middle (1963)
    * What a Way to Go! (1964)
    * Mister Moses (1965)
    * El Dorado (1966)
    * The Way West (1967)
    * Villa Rides (1968)
    * Anzio (1968)
    * 5 Card Stud (1968)
    * Secret Ceremony (1968)
    * Young Billy Young (1969)
    * The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)
    * Ryan's Daughter (1970)
    * Going Home (1971)
    * The Wrath of God (1972)
    * The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
    * The Yakuza (1974)
    * Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
    * Midway (1976)
    * The Last Tycoon (1976)
    * The Amsterdam Kill (1977)
    * The Big Sleep (1978)
    * Matilda (1978)
    * Breakthrough (1979)
    * Agency (1980)
    * Nightkill (1980)
    * That Championship Season (1982)
    * One Shoe Makes It Murder (1982) (TV)
    * The Ambassador (1984)
    * A Killer In the Family (1983) (TV)
    * The Winds of War TV mini-series (1983)
    * Maria's Lovers (1984)
    * Reunion at Fairborough (1985)
    * Remembering Marilyn (1987) (documentary)
    * War and Remembrance TV mini-series (1988)
    * Mr. North (1988)
    * Scrooged (1988)
    * John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989) (documentary)
    * Midnight Ride (1990)
    * Supposedly Dangerous (1990)
    * The Seven Deadly Sins (1992)
    * Woman of Desire (1993)
    * Tombstone (1993) (narrator)
    * Backfire! (1995)
    * Dead Man (1995)
    * Waiting for Sunset (1995)
    * Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996) (documentary)


http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z113/dankvart/mitchum-robert.jpg
http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp125/addiefleur/Film%20Noir/Robert%20Mitchum/0000384003-62790L.jpg
* Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor who performed for over half a century.

He was best known for his role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and his Academy Award-winning performance as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, both directed by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s. In middle age, his well-known roles include his Academy Award-winning performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Colonel Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, both directed by Francis Ford Coppola and an Academy Award-nominated performance as Paul in Last Tango in Paris.

Brando had a significant impact on film acting. He was the foremost example of the "method" acting style, and was initially parodied for his "mumbling" diction, but his mercurial performances were highly regarded. Director Martin Scorsese said of him, "He is the marker. There's 'before Brando' and 'after Brando'.'" Actor Jack Nicholson once said, "When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one."

Brando was also an activist, supporting many issues, notably the American Civil Rights and various American Indian Movements.
He was named the fourth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute, and part of Time magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.
Awards and nominations
Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Marlon Brando
Filmography
Main article: Marlon Brando filmography
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af264/samarshall07/marlon.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k244/bkrall09/ThatsMe.png

* Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich, Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Ђорђе Секуловић; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009)  was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he featured in classic Marlon Brando films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks. Among other notable film roles were Archie Lee Meighan in Baby Doll, Zebulon Prescott in How the West Was Won and General Omar Bradley in Patton. His best-known role was on television as Lt. Mike Stone on the 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco. During the 1980s he was spokesman for American Express, reminding cardholders "Don't leave home without it".Filmography
Karl Malden with Marlon Brando in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)
Karl Malden with Eva Marie Saint in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)
Karl Malden as Father Barry in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)
Karl Malden with Claudette Colbert in the trailer for Parrish (1961)

    * They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
    * Winged Victory (1944)
    * 13 Rue Madeleine (1947)
    * Boomerang (1947)
    * Kiss of Death (1947)
    * The Gunfighter (1950)
    * Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
    * Halls of Montezuma (1951)
    * A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
    * The Sellout (1952)
    * Diplomatic Courier (1952)
    * Operation Secret (1952)
    * Ruby Gentry (1952)
    * I Confess (1953)
    * Take the High Ground! (1953)
    * Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954)
    * On the Waterfront (1954)
    * Baby Doll (1956)
    * Fear Strikes Out (1957)
    * Bombers B-52 (1957)
    * Time Limit (1957) (director)
    * The Hanging Tree (1959) (also co-director)
    * Pollyanna (1960)
    * The Great Impostor (1961)
    * One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
    * Parrish (1961)
    * All Fall Down (1962)
    * Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
    * How the West Was Won (1962)
    * Gypsy (1962)
    * Come Fly with Me (1963)
    * Dead Ringer (1964)
    * Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
    * The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
    * Nevada Smith (1966)
    * Murderers' Row (1966)
    * Hotel (1967)
    * The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967)
    * Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
    * Blue (1968)
    * Hot Millions (1968)
    * Patton (1970)
    * The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)
    * Wild Rovers (1971)
    * Summertime Killer (1972)
    * Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
    * Meteor (1979)
    * Miracle on Ice (1981)
    * Twilight Time (1982)
    * The Sting II (1983)
    * Fatal Vision (1984) (television miniseries)
    * Dario Argento's World of Horror (1985) (documentary)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985) (television miniseries)
    * Billy Galvin (1986)
    * Nuts (1987)
    * Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy323/tiida11/Elvis/180px-Karl_Malden_2.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n233/glasscottage/Politics/AKarlMalden.jpg


I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/01/10 at 7:16 pm

Karen Black always appeared a little cross-eyed to me...

There were some great actors in this batch ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/10 at 8:20 pm


British Person of the Day: Diana Spencer

Diana, Princess of Wales, (Diana Frances née Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a popular international media icon  of the late 20th century as the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981. The wedding, which was held at St. Paul's Cathedral, was televised and watched by a global audience of over 750 million people. The marriage produced two sons, Princes William and Harry, and they are second and third in line to the thrones of the 16 Commonwealth realms.

A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana was born into an old, aristocratic English family with royal connections, and remained the focus of worldwide media scrutiny before, during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. This continued in the years following her death in a car crash in Paris along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul on 31 August 1997, and in the subsequent display of public mourning a week later. Contemporary responses to Diana's life and legacy are mixed but popular interest with the Princess endures.

Diana also received recognition for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1989, she was the president of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Very nice Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/10 at 8:21 pm


Karen Black always appeared a little cross-eyed to me...

There were some great actors in this batch ninny.

Thanks Peter :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 6:30 am

The word of the day...Hamburger

A hamburger (or burger for short) is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat, (usually beef, but occasionally pork, turkey, or a combination of meats) placed between two buns. Hamburgers are often served with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese and condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. The hamburger has attained widespread popularity and is proliferated worldwide in chains such as McDonald's or Burger King.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/incompletely/HPIM0118.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r230/Lizilicious_photo/hamburgers.jpg
http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/gparnell188/hamburgers.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Knastymike/Hamburgers.jpg
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac82/aaa9/DSCF0004.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/Brady_Kj/FoodEatsB.jpg
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr341/epydemia/Irlanda/hamburgers.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 6:33 am

The person born on this day...Dave Thomas
David "Dave" Thomas (July 2, 1932 – January 8, 2002) was an American restaurant owner and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, a fast-food restaurant  chain specializing in hamburgers. He is also known for appearing in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the chain from 1989 to 2002–more than any other person in television history Dave Thomas was born on July 2, 1932 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to a young unmarried woman he never knew. He was adopted at 6 weeks by Rex and Auleva Thomas and as an adult would become a well-known advocate for adoption, founding the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. After his adoptive mother's death when he was 5, his father moved around the country seeking work. Dave spent time in Michigan with his grandmother Minnie Sinclair whom he credited with teaching him the importance of service and treating others well and with respect, lessons that helped him in his future business life.  At 12 he got his first job at a restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee then lost it in a dispute with his boss. He vowed never to lose another. Moving with his father, by 15 he was working in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Hobby House Restaurant owned by the Clauss family. When his father prepared to move again, Dave decided to stay in Fort Wayne, dropping out of high school to work full time at the restaurant. Thomas, who considered ending his schooling the greatest mistake of his life, did not graduate from high school until 1993 when he obtained a GED.  Dave Thomas became an education advocate and founded the Dave Thomas Education Center in Coconut Creek, Florida, which offers GED classes to young adults.
U.S. Army

At the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, rather than waiting for the draft, he volunteered for the U.S. Army to have some choice in assignments. Having food production and service experience, Thomas requested the Cook's and Baker's School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was sent overseas to Germany as a mess sergeant and was responsible for the daily meals of 2000 soldiers rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant. After his discharge in 1953, Thomas returned to Fort Wayne and the Hobby House.
Kentucky Fried Chicken

In the mid-1950s, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col. Harland Sanders came to Fort Wayne to find established restaurants to buy franchises from him. At first, Thomas, who was the head cook at the restaurant, and the Clausses declined Sanders' offer, but the Colonel persisted and the Clauss family franchised their restaurant with KFC and later also owned many other KFC franchises in the Midwest. During this time, Thomas worked with Sanders on many projects to make KFC more profitable and to give it brand recognition. Among other things Thomas suggested to Sanders that were implemented; reduce the number of items on the menu, focus on a signature dish, and introduce the trademark sign featuring a revolving red-striped bucket of chicken. Thomas also suggested Sanders make commercials that he appear in himself. Thomas was sent by the Clauss family in the mid-1960s to help turn around four ailing KFC stores they owned in Columbus, Ohio. By 1968 he had increased sales in the four fried chicken restaurants so much that he sold his share in them back to Sanders for more than $1.5 million. This experience would prove invaluable to Thomas when he began Wendy's about a year later.
Wendy's

Thomas opened his first Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. (This original restaurant would remain operational until March 2, 2007, when it was closed due to lagging sales.) Thomas named the restaurant after his eight-year-old daughter Melinda Lou, whose nickname was Wendy, stemming from the child's inability to say her own name at a young age. According to Bio TV, Dave claims himself that people nicknamed his daughter "Wenda. Not Wendy but Wenda. So one day, I looked at her and said...'I'm going to call it Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers'."

In 1982, Thomas resigned from his day-to-day operations at Wendy’s. However, by 1985, several company business decisions, including an awkward new breakfast menu and loss in brand awareness due to fizzled marketing efforts caused the company’s new president to urge Thomas back into a more active role with Wendy's. Thomas began to visit franchises and espouse his hardworking, so-called “mop-bucket attitude.” In 1989, he took on a significant role as the TV spokesman in a series of commercials for the brand. Thomas was not a natural actor, and initially, his performances were criticized as stiff and ineffective by advertising critics. By 1990, after efforts by Wendy's agency, Backer Spielvolgel Bates, to get humor into the campaign, a decision was made to portray Thomas in a more self-deprecating and folksy manner, which proved much more popular with test audiences. Consumer brand awareness of Wendy's eventually regained levels it had not achieved since octogenarian Clara Peller's wildly popular "Where's The Beef" campaign of 1984. With his natural self-effacing style and his relaxed manner, Thomas quickly became a household name. A company survey during the 1990s, a decade during which Thomas starred in every Wendy’s commercial that aired, found that 90% of Americans knew who Thomas was. After more than 800 commercials, it was clear that Thomas played a major role in Wendy’s status as the country's third most popular burger restaurant.
Honors and memberships

Thomas, realizing that his success as a high school dropout might convince other teenagers to quit school (something he later admitted was a mistake), became a student at Coconut Creek High School. He earned a GED in 1993. He later earned an honorary membership of Duke University's Sigma Phi Epsilon. Thomas was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1999.

Thomas was a Freemason, and a member of the Shriners. He was also an honorary Kentucky colonel, as was former boss Colonel Sanders.

Thomas was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.
Death

Thomas died at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after a decade-long battle with liver cancer. He was buried in Union Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio. At the time of his death, there were more than 6,000 Wendy's restaurants operating in North America.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a31/CRouff/wendys-dave-thomas.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d26/svans31/dave-thomas.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 6:38 am

The person who died on this day...Betty Grable
Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American dancer, singer, and actress.

Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the Life magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World". Grable was particularly noted for having the most beautiful legs in Hollywood and studio publicity widely dispersed photos featuring them. Hosiery specialists of the era often noted the ideal proportions of her legs as: thigh (18.5") calf (12"), and ankle (7.5"). Grable's legs were famously insured by her studio for $1,000,000 with Lloyds of London.
She was born Elizabeth Ruth Grable in St. Louis, Missouri to John Conn Grable (1883-1954) and Lillian Rose Hofmann (1889-1964).  She was the youngest of three children.

Most of Grable's immediate ancestors were American, but her distant heritage was of Dutch, Irish, German and English stock. She was propelled into the acting profession by her mother. For her first role, as a chorus girl in the film Happy Days (1929), Grable was only 12 years old (legally underage for acting), but, because the chorus line performed in blackface, it was impossible to tell how old she was. Her mother soon gave her a make-over which included dyeing her hair platinum blonde.
Career

For her next film, her mother got her a contract using a false identification. When this deception was discovered, however, Grable was fired. Grable finally obtained a role as a 'Goldwyn Girl' in Whoopee! (1930), starring Eddie Cantor. Though Grable received no billing, she led the opening number, "Cowboys." Grable then worked in small roles at different studios for the rest of the decade, including the Academy Award-winning The Gay Divorcee (1934), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, where she was prominently featured in the number "Let's K-nock K-nees".

In the late 1930s, Grable signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, starring in several B movies, mostly portraying co-eds. Despite playing leads, the typecasting proved to hurt her career more than it was helpful. In 1939, Grable appeared with her then husband, Jackie Coogan (married in 1937), in Million Dollar Legs, from which her nickname is taken. They divorced later that same year (October 1939). After small parts in over 50 Hollywood movies through the 1930s, Grable finally gained national attention for her stage role in the Cole Porter Broadway hit Du Barry Was a Lady (1939). When her contract at Paramount expired, Grable decided to quit acting, being fed up with appearing in college films. In a 1940 interview, she said:

    "I was sick and tired of it. I'd made up my mind to leave show business altogether. So I retired - and then came an offer, unsolicited, to go on a personal appearance tour. I went. Next thing I knew, Mr. Zanuck had seen my picture in the paper and offered me a contract at a lot more money. I took it. Then came Buddy DeSylva with a part in his Broadway show Du Barry Was a Lady. Mr. Zanuck said I could take it if I wanted to. I did. The show was successful. Then as if all this weren't enough, Alice Faye fell ill just before Down Argentine Way was to start and I was drafted to fill her shoes. If that's not luck I don't know what you'd call it. But that's how it's been all my life. I've had contracts with four studios in 10 years and each time I left one or was dropped. I stepped into something better."

Betty Grable 20th Century Fox.jpg

Grable became 20th Century Fox's top star during the decade. She appeared in Technicolor movies such as Down Argentine Way (1940), Moon Over Miami (1941) (both with Don Ameche), Springtime in The Rockies (1942), Coney Island (1943) with George Montgomery, Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943) with Robert Young, Pin Up Girl (1944), Diamond Horseshoe (1945) with Dick Haymes, The Dolly Sisters (1945) with John Payne and June Haver. Mother Wore Tights (1947), her most popular film, was with her favorite costar, Dan Dailey.

It was during her reign as box office queen (in 1943) that Grable posed for her famous pinup photo, which (along with her movies) soon became escapist fare among GIs fighting in World War II. The image was taken by studio photographer Frank Powolny. It was rumored that the particular pose and angle were chosen to hide the fact that Grable was pregnant at the time of the photo.

Starting in 1942, Grable was named in the top 10 box office draws for 10 consecutive years. For seven of those ten years, she was top female-box office star. In 1943, she was named the #1 movie box office attraction. By the end of the 1940s Grable was the highest-paid female star in Hollywood, receiving $300,000 a year. Grable was even the heroine of a novel, Betty Grable and the House with the Iron Shutters, written by Kathryn Heisenfelt, published by Whitman Publishing Company in 1943. While the heroine is identified as the famous actress, the stories are entirely fictitious. The story was probably written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941-1947 that featured a film actress as heroine.

Her postwar musicals included: That Lady in Ermine (1948) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948) again with Dailey, Wabash Avenue (1950) (a remake of Grable's own Coney Island) with Victor Mature, My Blue Heaven (1950), and Meet Me After the Show (1951). Studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck lavished his star with expensive Technicolor films, but also kept her busy — Grable made nearly 25 musicals and comedies in 13 years. Her last big hit for Fox was How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe. Grable next starred in Three for the Show (1955) with Jack Lemmon; this film was one of her last musicals.

Grable's later career was marked by feuds with studio heads. At one point, in the middle of a fight with Zanuck, she tore up her contract and stormed out of his office. By 1953, Zanuck was grooming Marilyn Monroe to replace Grable as the Fox's resident sex symbol. Far from feeling threatened, on the set of How to Marry a Millionaire Grable famously said to Monroe, "go and get yours, honey! I've had mine". It was at this point that Grable lost her father 'Conn' Grable in 1954, at age 71.

Grable returned to the studio for one last film, How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955) with Sheree North. Following this, Grable hoped to secure the role of Miss Adelaide in the film version of the musical Guys and Dolls. However, when producer Samuel Goldwyn learned that Grable skipped a meeting with him because one of her dogs had taken ill, he became incensed and removed her from consideration. Vivian Blaine, who had originated the role on Broadway, was ultimately cast.

Having left movies entirely, she made the transition to television and starred in Las Vegas. It was in these transition years to stage, when Betty lost her mother Lillian in 1964, at age 75. By 1967, she took over the lead in the touring company of Hello, Dolly!. She starred in a 1969 musical called Belle Starr in London, but it was savaged by critics and soon folded.

Grable's last role was Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday, at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida in February 1973.
Personal life

In 1937, Grable married another famous former child actor, Jackie Coogan. He was under considerable stress from a lawsuit against his parents over his childhood earnings and the couple divorced in 1939.

In 1943, she married trumpeter Harry James. The couple had two daughters, Victoria and Jessica. They endured a tumultuous 22-year marriage that was plagued by alcoholism and infidelity. The couple divorced in 1965. Grable entered into a relationship with a dancer, Bob Remick, several years her junior. Though they did not marry, their romance lasted until the end of Grable's life.
Death

Grable died July 2, 1973, of lung cancer at age 56 in Santa Monica, California. Her funeral was held July 5, 1973, 30 years to the day after her marriage to Harry James — who, in turn, died on what would have been his and Grable's 40th anniversary, July 5, 1983. She was interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California, in the Mausoleum of the Golden West, Sanctuary of Dawn section, with her mother Lillian, alongside her father 'Conn' Grable. Sister Marjorie Grable-Arnold joined them in their family crypt upon her death at 71, in 1980.

Among the Who's Who of Hollywood attending her funeral were Harry James, Dorothy Lamour, Shirley Booth, Mitzi Gaynor, Johnnie Ray, Cesar Romero, George Raft, Alice Faye and Dan Dailey. "I Had the Craziest Dream," the haunting ballad Betty introduced in "Springtime in the Rockies," was played on the church organ.
Posthumous recognition

Grable has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6525 Hollywood Boulevard. She also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 2009.

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy noted on National Public Radio's Morning Edition on April 23, 2007, in an interview with Terry Gross that Grable was his inspiration for founding the Playboy empire.
Filmography
1929–1939
Year Title Role Director Co-stars Notes
1929 Happy Days Chorus Girl Benjamin Stoloff Charles Evans, Marjorie White, Richard Keene Uncredited
1930 Let's Go Places Chorine Frank R. Strayer Joseph Wagstaff, Lola Lane Uncredited
New Movietone Follies of 1930 Chorine Benjamin Stoloff El Brendel, Marjorie White Uncredited
Whoopee! Goldwyn Girl Thornton Freeland Eddie Cantor, Ethel Shutta, Eleanor Hunt Uncredited
1931 Kiki Goldwyn Girl Sam Taylor Mary Pickford Uncredited
Palmy Days Goldwyn Girl A. Edward Sutherland Charlotte Greenwood, Barbara Weeks, Spencer Charters Uncredited
1932 The Greeks Had a Word for Them Hat Check Girl Lowell Sherman Joan Blondell, Madge Evans, Ina Claire Uncredited
Probation Ruth Jarrett Richard Thorpe John Darrow, Sally Blane Grable's first credited role
The Age of Consent Student at Dormitory Gregory La Cava Dorothy Wilson, Arline Judge Uncredited
Hold 'Em Jail Barbara Jones Norman Taurog Bert Wheeler, Edna May Oliver, Robert Armstrong
The Kid from Spain Goldwyn Girl Leo McCarey Eddie Cantor, Lyda Roberti, Robert Young Uncredited
1933 Cavalcade Girl on couch Frank Lloyd Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor Uncredited
Child of Manhattan Lucy McGonegle Edward Buzzell Nancy Carroll, John Boles
Melody Cruise First Stewardess Mark Sandrich Charles Ruggles, Phil Harris Uncredited
What Price Innocence? Beverly Bennett Willard Mack Jean Parker, Minna Gombell, Willard Mack
The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi Band Singer with Ted Fio Rito Edwin L. Marin Mary Carlisle, Buster Crabbe
1934 The Gay Divorcee Dance Specialty Mark Sandrich Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
Student Tour Cayenne Charles Reisner Jimmy Durante, Charles Butterworth, Maxine Doyle
By Your Leave Frances Gretchell Lloyd Corrigan Frank Morgan, Genevieve Tobin
1935 The Nitwits Mary Roberts George Stevens Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
Old Man Rhythm Sylvia Edward Ludwig Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, George Barbier
1936 Collegiate Dorothy Ralph Murphy Joe Penner, Jack Oakie, Ned Sparks
Follow the Fleet Trio Singer Mark Sandrich Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
Don't Turn 'em Loose Mildred Webster Benjamin Stoloff Lewis Stone, James Gleason, Bruce Cabot
Pigskin Parade Laura Watson David Butler Stuart Erwin, Patsy Kelly, Judy Garland The only film in which Grable appeared with Judy Garland.
1937 This Way Please Jane Morrow Robert Florey Charles 'Buddy' Rogers
Thrill of a Lifetime Gwen George Archainbaud The Yacht Club Boys
1938 College Swing Betty Raoul Walsh George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, Bob Hope, Edward Everett Horton
Give Me a Sailor Nancy Larkin Elliott Nugent Bob Hope, Jack Whiting, Martha Raye
Campus Confessions Joyce Gilmore George Archainbaud Eleanore Whitney, William Henry Grable received top billing for the first time
1939 Man About Town Susan Hayes Mark Sandrich Jack Benny, Dorothy Lamour
Million Dollar Legs Carol Parker Nick Grinde John Hartley, Donald O'Connor, Jackie Coogan, Dorothea Kent Co-starred Jackie Coogan who Grable was married to at the time
The Day the Bookies Wept Ina Firpo Leslie Goodwins Joe Penner
1940–1955
Year Title Role Director Co-stars Notes
1940 Down Argentine Way Glenda Crawford/Glenda Cunningham Irving Cummings Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood Grable's first leading role. Alice Faye was originally set to star in the film, but had to withdraw due to illness
Tin Pan Alley Lily Blane Walter Lang Alice Faye, John Payne, Jack Oakie The only time Grable and Faye co-starred together in a feature film
1941 Moon Over Miami Kathryn 'Kay' Latimer Walter Lang Don Ameche, Robert Cummings, Carole Landis
A Yank in the RAF Carol Brown Henry King Tyrone Power
I Wake Up Screaming Jill Lynn H. Bruce Humberstone Victor Mature, Carole Landis Grable's only straight dramatic role
1942 Song of the Islands Eileen O'Brien Walter Lang Victor Mature, Jack Oakie
Footlight Serenade Pat Lambert Gregory Ratoff John Payne, Victor Mature, Jane Wyman
Springtime in the Rockies Vicky Lane Irving Cummings John Payne, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero, Harry James Grable's future husband Harry James appeared in the cast
1943 Coney Island Kate Farley Walter Lang George Montgomery, Cesar Romero
Sweet Rosie O'Grady Madeline Marlowe/Rosie O'Grady Irving Cummings Robert Young, Adolphe Menjou
1944 Four Jills in a Jeep Herself William A. Seiter Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Alice Faye, Martha Raye, Carmen Miranda
Pin Up Girl Lorry Jones/Laura Lorraine H. Bruce Humberstone John Harvey, Martha Raye
1945 Diamond Horseshoe Bonnie Collins George Seaton Dick Haymes, Phil Silvers, William Gaxton
The Dolly Sisters Yansci 'Jenny' Dolly Irving Cummings John Payne, June Haver
1946 Do You Love Me Girl in Taxi (cameo) Gregory Ratoff Maureen O'Hara, Dick Haymes, Harry James Grable had a cameo as a fan of Harry James's character
1947 The Shocking Miss Pilgrim Cynthia Pilgrim George Seaton Dick Haymes, Anne Revere
Mother Wore Tights Myrtle McKinley Burt Walter Lang Dan Dailey, Mona Freeman Grable's most successful film at the time and her personal favourite
1948 That Lady in Ermine Francesca/Angelina Ernst Lubitsch, Otto Preminger (uncredited) Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Cesar Romero Lubitsch died early into production. Preminger finished the film but insisted on Lubitsch receiving full credit
When My Baby Smiles at Me Bonny Kaye Walter Lang Dan Dailey, Jack Oakie, June Havoc Dailey received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor
1949 The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Winifred Jones Preston Sturges Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee
1950 Wabash Avenue Ruby Summers Henry Koster Victor Mature, Phil Harris Remake of Grable's earlier hit 'Coney Island'
My Blue Heaven Kitty Moran Henry Koster Dan Dailey, David Wayne, Jane Wyatt, Mitzi Gaynor
1951 Call Me Mister Kay Hudson Lloyd Bacon Dan Dailey, Danny Thomas Remake of Grable's earlier hit 'A Yank in the RAF'
Meet Me After the Show Delilah Lee Richard Sale Macdonald Carey, Rory Calhoun, Eddie Albert
1953 The Farmer Takes a Wife Molly Larkins Henry Levin Dale Robertson, Thelma Ritter
How to Marry a Millionaire Loco Dempsey Jean Negulesco Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall Grable and Monroe's only film together. Monroe would become the top star of Hollywood throughout the 1950's just as Grable had done in the previous decade.
1955 Three for the Show Julie Lowndes H.C. Potter Jack Lemmon, Marge Champion, Gower Champion
How to Be Very, Very Popular Stormy Tornado Nunnally Johnson Sheree North, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Tommy Noonan Grable's last film
Short subjects

    * Crashing Hollywood (1931)
    * Ex-Sweeties (1931)
    * Once a Hero (1931)
    * Lady! Please! (1932)
    * Hollywood Luck (1932)
    * The Flirty Sleepwalker (1932)
    * Hollywood Lights (1932)
    * Over the Counter (1932)
    * Air Tonic (1933)
    * School for Romance (1934)
    * Love Detectives (1934)
    * Elmer Steps Out (1934)
    * Business Is a Pleasure (1934)
    * Susie's Affairs (1934)
    * Ferry-Go-Round (1934)



    * This Band Age (1935)
    * The Spirit of 1976 (1935)
    * A Night at the Biltmore Bowl (1935)
    * Drawing Rumors (1935)
    * A Quiet Fourth (1935)
    * Screen Snapshots Series 15, No. 11 (1936)
    * Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs (1936)
    * Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 7 (1937)
    * Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 10 (1937)
    * Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 4 (1938)
    * Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1 (1941)
    * The All-Star Bond Rally (1945)
    * Hollywood Park (1946)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Shower of Stars (1955)

Box Office Popularity

The following table shows the box office attractions of each year from 1940 to 1951. Betty Grable appeared on this list every year except for 1946 as she had no films released that year. She topped the list 4 times in 1943, 1944, 1947 and 1948.
- 1940 - - 1941 - - 1942 - - 1943 - - 1944 - - 1945 -
# Actor # Actor # Actor # Actor # Actor # Actor
1 Errol Flynn 1 Errol Flynn 1 Errol Flynn 1 Betty Grable 1 Betty Grable 1 Ingrid Bergman
2 Clark Gable 2 Clark Gable 2 Betty Grable 2 Gary Cooper 2 Humphrey Bogart 2 Betty Grable
3 Cary Grant 3 Gary Cooper 3 Greer Garson 3 Humphrey Bogart 3 Bing Crosby 3 Bing Crosby
4 Joan Crawford 4 Betty Grable 4 Veronica Lake 4 Ingrid Bergman 4 Ingrid Bergman 4 Gene Kelly
5 Gary Cooper 5 Lana Turner 5 Clark Gable 5 Jean Arthur 5 Cary Grant 5 Gene Tierney
6 Spencer Tracy 6 Tyrone Power 6 Gary Cooper 6 Cary Grant 6 Judy Garland 6 Joan Crawford
7 Ginger Rogers 7 Cary Grant 7 Lana Turner 7 Alice Faye 7 Gene Tierney 7 Gary Cooper
8 Alice Faye 8 Barbara Stanwyck 8 Robert Taylor 8 Greer Garson 8 Gary Cooper 8 Alan Ladd
9 Betty Grable 9 Fred Astaire 9 Cary Grant 9 Veronica Lake 9 Rita Hayworth 9 Dana Andrews
10 Tyrone Power 10 Veronica Lake 10 James Cagney 10 Henry Fonda 10 John Wayne 10 Rita Hayworth

- 1946 - - 1947 - - 1948 - - 1949 - - 1950 - - 1951 -
# Actor # Actor # Actor # Actor # Actor # Actor
1 Bing Crosby 1 Betty Grable 1 Betty Grable 1 Bob Hope 1 John Wayne 1 John Wayne
2 Lana Turner 2 Lana Turner 2 Humphrey Bogart 2 Bing Crosby 2 Betty Grable 2 Gene Kelly
3 Bob Hope 3 Cary Grant 3 Lana Turner 3 Betty Grable 3 Bob Hope 3 Betty Grable
4 John Garfield 4 Bob Hope 4 John Wayne 4 John Wayne 4 Bing Crosby 4 Humphrey Bogart
5 Cary Grant 5 Gary Cooper 5 Gene Kelly 5 Hedy Lamarr 5 James Stewart 5 Ava Gardner
6 Ingrid Bergman 6 Bing Crosby 6 Cary Grant 6 Humphrey Bogart 6 Spencer Tracy 6 Montgomery Clift
7 Joan Crawford 7 Gene Tierney 7 Clark Gable 7 Gene Kelly 7 Gregory Peck 7 Bob Hope
8 Gene Tierney 8 John Garfield 8 Judy Garland 8 Cary Grant 8 Betty Hutton 8 Gary Cooper
9 Rita Hayworth 9 Loretta Young 9 Ingrid Bergman 9 Gary Cooper 9 Hedy Lamarr 9 Doris Day
10 Humphrey Bogart 10 Linda Darnell 10 Bing Crosby 10 Spencer Tracy 10 William Holden 10 Marlon Brando

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff68/sproutos/Kims%20b-day/BettyGrable5x7.png
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj200/cortneymsayshi/grable.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/02/10 at 6:53 am

Hamburgers are my favorite foods,especially with lettuce,tomato,cheese and bacon with some ketchup on it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 8:19 am


Hamburgers are my favorite foods,especially with lettuce,tomato,cheese and bacon with some ketchup on it.

I'm getting hungry ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/02/10 at 11:32 am

My mother worked with Betty Grable and I got a chance to meet her. I recall that she was a bit of a b!tch.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/02/10 at 1:18 pm


I'm getting hungry ;D


How do you like your hamburger?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/02/10 at 1:23 pm


The word of the day...Hamburger

A hamburger (or burger for short) is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat, (usually beef, but occasionally pork, turkey, or a combination of meats) placed between two buns. Hamburgers are often served with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese and condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. The hamburger has attained widespread popularity and is proliferated worldwide in chains such as McDonald's or Burger King.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/incompletely/HPIM0118.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r230/Lizilicious_photo/hamburgers.jpg
http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/gparnell188/hamburgers.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Knastymike/Hamburgers.jpg
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac82/aaa9/DSCF0004.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/Brady_Kj/FoodEatsB.jpg
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr341/epydemia/Irlanda/hamburgers.jpg
http://toorcon.org/2007/talks/2/wimpy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/02/10 at 1:24 pm

I remember Wimpy. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 1:47 pm


My mother worked with Betty Grable and I got a chance to meet her. I recall that she was a bit of a b!tch.



Cat

That sucks (that she was a B*tch)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 1:49 pm


How do you like your hamburger?

I like Swiss cheese, relish,lettuce,tomato and a side of hot sauce.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/02/10 at 2:31 pm


I like Swiss cheese, relish,lettuce,tomato and a side of hot sauce.
You are making me hungry!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 3:05 pm


You are making me hungry!

lol. lets eat. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/02/10 at 3:09 pm


lol. lets eat. :)
...and I just have had fish and chips!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/10 at 8:49 pm


...and I just have had fish and chips!

That's good too. I had chicken parm. with ziti and garlic bread and I didn't even have to cook,my daughter's boyfriend made dinner.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 07/02/10 at 8:51 pm


That's good too. I had chicken parm. with ziti and garlic bread and I didn't even have to cook,my daughter's boyfriend made dinner.

Yummo! Anything Italian sounds great to me. 8)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/03/10 at 5:42 am


I like Swiss cheese, relish,lettuce,tomato and a side of hot sauce.


with french fries on the side.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/03/10 at 6:24 am


...and I just have had fish and chips!
...with ketchup!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/03/10 at 6:46 am

The word of the day...Samurai
Question book-new.svg
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)
Samurai in armour, 1860s. Hand-coloured photograph by Felice Beato
Samurai around the 1860s
Edo period samurai armor with an eboshi style helmet "kabuto"

'Samurai, (侍?) is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility," the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai." According to Wilson, an early reference to the word "samurai" appears in the Kokin Wakashū (905-914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the ninth century.

By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi (武士), and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than 10% of Japan's population samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/ab248/piramidtees/Display/02zombie-samurai.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff223/wefixwrecks/Samurai/f19c.jpg
http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx120/Ayashiori/Men/178618.jpg
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx302/ajithrockscc/Movies/Seven-Samurai-1954.jpg
http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/zz185/ShadowChaos666/createcard-4.jpg
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/gunlineboss/last-samurai.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/03/10 at 6:49 am

The person born on this day...Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (pronounced /ˈtɒməs ˈkruːz ˈmeɪpɒθər/; born July 3, 1962), better known by his screen name of Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards. His first leading role was the 1983 film Risky Business,  which has been described as "A Generation X classic, and a career-maker" for the actor.  After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he has starred in many other successful films such as Jerry Maguire (1996), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005). Almost every film he has starred in has achieved blockbuster status, with box office revenues totaling $100-million or more in the U.S.  In 2006, Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity.

In 2005, the Hollywood journalist, Edward Jay Epstein argued that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his controversial support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology.
Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York,  the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer.  Cruise's paternal great-great-grandfather, Welshman  Dylan Henry Mapother, emigrated from Flint, north east Wales, to Louisville, Kentucky in 1850.  Cruise's great-grandfather, the first Thomas Cruise Mapother, was born in 1876.  Cruise also has German and English ancestry from his paternal great-grandparents, William Reibert and Charlotte Louise Voelker,  and German and Irish ancestry through his mother.  Tom Cruise's oldest sister, Lee Anne, was born in Louisville. His older sister Marian was born in Syracuse, as were Tom and his younger sister, Cass.

Cruise attended Robert Hopkins Public School for grades three, four, and five. The Mapother family then moved to the suburb of Beacon Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, so Cruise's father could take a position as a defence consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces. There, Cruise completed grade six at Henry Munro Middle School, part of the Carleton Board of Education, where he was active in athletics, playing floor hockey almost every night, showing himself to be a ruthless player, and eventually chipping his front tooth. In the game British bulldogs, he then lost his newly capped tooth and hurt his knee. Henry Munro was also where Cruise became involved in drama, under the tutelage of George Steinburg. The first play he participated in was called IT, in which Cruise won the co-lead with Michael de Waal, one playing "Evil", the other playing "Good." The play met much acclaim, and toured with five other classmates to various schools around the Ottawa area, even being filmed at the local Ottawa TV station.

When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her.

Besides Ottawa, cities in which Cruise lived included Louisville, Kentucky; Winnetka, Illinois; and Wayne, New Jersey (he also owns a home in Murrieta). In all, Cruise attended eight elementary schools and three high schools. He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati (on a church scholarship) and aspired to become a Catholic priest. In his senior year, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but he was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.

Cruise said that he was bullied in school, and by his father who he said was "a merchant of chaos", and that he learned early on that his father was – and, by extension, some people were – not to be trusted: "I knew from being around my father that not everyone means me well."
Career
Acting
1980s
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page.
Cruise in 1989

The film Risky Business has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise."
1990s

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was initially quite outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as Julian Sands was her first choice. Upon seeing the film however, she paid $7,740 for a two-page ad in Daily Variety praising his performance and apologizing for her previous doubts about him.
2000s

In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II. The film was directed by Hong Kong director John Woo and branded with his Gun fu Style, and it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost $547M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. Cruise received an MTV Movie Award as Best Male Performance for this film. His next five films were major critical and commercial successes. The following year Cruise starred in the remake of the Spanish film Abre Los Ojos, the romantic thriller Vanilla Sky (2001) with Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction thriller, Minority Report which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick.

In 2003, he starred in the Edward Zwick's historical drama The Last Samurai, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination as best actor. In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven Spielberg in War of the Worlds, which became the fourth highest grossing movie of the year with US$591.4 million worldwide. Also in 2005, he won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star, and the MTV Generation Award. Cruise was nominated for seven Saturn Awards between 2002 and 2009, winning once. Nine of the ten films he starred in during the decade made over $100 million at the box office.
Cruise in 2006

In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission: Impossible III. The film was more positively received by critics than its predecessor, and grossed nearly $400 million at the box office. Cruise's 2007 film Lions for Lambs was a rare commercial disappointment. In 2008, Cruise appeared in the hit comedy Tropic Thunder with Ben Stiller and Jack Black. This performance earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Cruise's latest starring role is in the historical thriller Valkyrie, released on December 25, 2008 to box office success. As of 2009, Cruise's films have grossed over $6.5 billion worldwide.
2010s

In March 2010, Cruise completed filming the action-comedy Knight and Day, in which he re-teamed with former costar Cameron Diaz; the film was released on June 23, 2010. On February 9, 2010, Cruise confirmed that he will star in a fourth Mission:Impossible film, slated for release in December 2011.
Producing

Cruise partnered with his former talent agent Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions in 1993, and the company has since co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being Mission: Impossible in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer.

Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative movie deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood." Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar movie franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City about a real life serial killer, H. H. Holmes, at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.
Breakup with Paramount

On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom (Paramount's parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views. Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount's announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity firms. Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise/Wagner's exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Management of United Artists

In November 2006, Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they had taken over United Artists film studio. Cruise acts as a producer and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner serves as UA's chief executive. Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, Lions for Lambs, directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Cruise. Lambs was released on November 9, 2007, opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception. In August 2008, Wagner stepped down from her position at United Artists; she retains her stake in UA, which combined with Cruise's share amounts to 30 percent of the studio.
Popularity
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes interacting with fans in 2006

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.

In 2006, Premiere ranked Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazine's 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.

As of August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior" for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Cruise's Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40 percent. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend. October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.
Relationships and personal life
with Katie Holmes in May 2009
See also: TomKat

Cruise married Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987; they divorced on February 4, 1990. Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology.

Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of their film Days of Thunder. The couple married on December 24, 1990. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (b. December 22, 1992) and Connor Antony (b. January 17, 1995). They separated in February 2001 when Kidman was three months pregnant; she later miscarried.

Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, the lead actress in his film Vanilla Sky. After a three-year relationship, in March 2004, Cruise announced that their relationship had ended in January.

In April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes. Shortly after they began their highly publicized relationship, on June 17, 2005, Cruise announced he had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

On April 18, 2006, Holmes gave birth to a baby girl named Suri at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Cruise stated that the name derives from the Hebrew word for "princess" or the Persian word meaning red rose. (See also Sarah.) She is the first biological child for both Holmes and Cruise. On November 18, 2006, Holmes and Cruise were married at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy, in a Scientology ceremony attended by many Hollywood stars. The actors' publicist said the couple had "officialized" their marriage in Los Angeles the day before the Italian ceremony. The day after the ceremony, the couple left for a honeymoon in the Maldives.
Controversy
Scientology

Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Study Tech, helped him overcome dyslexia. In addition to promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be fully recognized as a religion in Europe. He lobbied politicians in France and Germany, where the legal systems regard Scientology as a cult and business, respectively. In 2005 the Paris city council revealed that Cruise had lobbied officials Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin, described him as a spokesman and militant for Scientology, and barred any further dealings with him. Cruise co-founded and raised donations for Downtown Medical to offer New York 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This has drawn criticism from the medical profession, as well as firefighters. For these activities and others, David Miscavige awarded Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor to Cruise in late 2004.

A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil (paroxetine), an anti-depressant, to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. Shields replied that she would not take advice from anyone who believed in space aliens. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer on The Today Show on June 24, 2005. Medical authorities said Cruise's comments had further stigmatized mental illness and Shields herself called them "a disservice to mothers everywhere." In late August 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments; Shields said that she was "impressed with how heartfelt was … I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it." Cruise's spokesman confirmed that Cruise and Shields had made up but said that Cruise's position on anti-depressants had not changed. Shields was a guest at Cruise's and Holmes's wedding.

Cruise also said in an Entertainment Weekly interview that psychiatry "is a Nazi science" and that methadone was actually originally called Adolophine after Adolf Hitler, a myth well-known as an urban legend. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Cruise said that "In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon… It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period." While Narconon claims to have a success rate over 70 percent, the accuracy of this figure has been widely disputed. Scientology is well-known for its opposition to mainstream psychiatry.

In January 2008 the Daily Mail (UK) announced a forthcoming biography of Cruise, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, by Andrew Morton. Among the book's claims, it said that Cruise had become the church's "second in command in all but name." This has been corroborated by former Scientology staff member Marc Headley. Cruise's attorney Bert Fields said that the unauthorized biography was full of "tired old lies" or "sick stuff."
IAS Freedom Medal of Valor ceremony video
See also: Project Chanology

On January 15, 2008, a video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube. In the video, music from Cruise's Mission Impossible films plays in the background, and Cruise discusses what being a Scientologist means to him. According to The Times, Cruise can be seen in the video "extolling the virtues of Scientology." The Daily Telegraph characterizes Cruise as "manic-looking" during the interview, "gush about his love for Scientology."

The Church of Scientology asserted that the video material that had been leaked to YouTube and other websites was "pirated and edited" and taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology. YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation. As of February 4, 2008, the web site Gawker.com was still hosting a copy of the video, and other sites have posted the entire video. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology sent a letter to Gawker.com demanding that they remove the video, but Nick Denton of Gawker.com stated: "It's newsworthy, and we will not be removing it."
Oprah Winfrey Show incident
Cruise jumps on the couch during the taping of an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Cruise has made several expressions of his feelings for Holmes to the media, most notably the "couch incident" which took place on the popular The Oprah Winfrey Show of May 23, 2005. Cruise "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend." The phrase "jumping the couch", fashioned after "jumping the shark", is used to describe someone "going off the deep end" in public in a manner extreme enough to tarnish his or her reputation. It enjoyed a short-lived popularity, being chosen by the editors of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang as the "slang term of the year" in 2005 and by the nonprofit group Global Language Monitor as one of its top phrases for the year.

The "couch incident" was voted #1 of 2005's "Most Surprising Television Moments" on a countdown on E! and was the subject of numerous parodies, including the epilogue of Scary Movie 4, an episode of South Park and an episode of Family Guy. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Lesson learned: Tell, don't show."

In early May 2008, Cruise reappeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to celebrate 25 years in the film business. The feature was a two hour special, the first hour was Oprah spending the day with Cruise at his house in Telluride, Colorado on May 2.
Filmography
Main article: Tom Cruise filmography
See also

    * Tom Cruise (disambiguation)

Scientology e meter blue.jpg Scientology portal

    * Brat Pack
    * Church of Scientology
    * List of Louisvillians
    * List of Scientologists
    * Supercouple



    * Tom Cruise: Unauthorized (1998)
    * Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage (2006)
    * Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography (2008)
    * Trapped in the Closet (South Park)
    * 200 (South Park)

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm29/charika20/tom_cruise_3.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k155/devilson9991/TomCruise2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/03/10 at 6:55 am

The person who died on this day...Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen  in rock music history.  He was also the author of several books of poetry  and the director of a documentary and short film. Although Morrison was known for his baritone vocals, many fans, scholars, and journalists have discussed his theatrical stage persona, his self-destructiveness, and his work as a poet.  He was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone's  "100 Greatest Singers of All Time"
orrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Irish  and Scottish descent.  He reportedly had an I.Q. of 149.

In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song "Dawn's Highway" from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs "Peace Frog" and "Ghost Song".

Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison's family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison's account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him . He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison's tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death". In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true."

With his father in the United States Navy, Morrison's family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee where he appeared in a school recruitment film. While attending FSU Morrison was arrested for a prank, following a home football game.

In January 1964, Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California to attend UCLA. Morrison attended Jack Hirschman's class on Antonin Artaud in the Comparative Literature program within the UCLA English Department. The Surrealist Theater of Artaud had a profound impact on Morrison's dark poetic sensibility of cinematic theatricality. Hirschman was then an Assistant Professor of English at UCLA, an author, published poet and collegial contemporary of Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Lamantia, Bob Kaufman, among others. Jim Morrison was later to meet Michael McClure and together to envisage the Poetic Dream.

In 1965 the Artaud Anthology, which Hirschman edited and assigned to Morrison's class at UCLA, was published by City Lights Books in San Francisco. Hirschman's work on the volume includes selecting material and organizing translations from the French, including some of his own translations. He was assisted by others, including David Rattray. Hirchman's students at UCLA included Gary Gach, Steven Kessler, Max Schwartz and Morrison himself, among others.

He completed his undergraduate degree at UCLA's film school, and the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, made with Morrison's classmate and roommate Max Schwartz, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.
The Doors
Main article: The Doors

In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore's recommendation and was then added to the lineup.

The Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception (a reference to the 'unlocking' of 'doors' of perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley's own title was a quotation from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."

Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Love Her Madly" and "Touch Me".

In June 1966, Morrison and The Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison's band Them. Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was later noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near-namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".

The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967. The single "Light My Fire" eventually reached number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. Later, The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had introduced The Beatles and a young, wriggling Elvis Presley to the nation. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from The Doors for the show, "People Are Strange", and "Light My Fire". The censors insisted that they change the lyrics of "Light My Fire" from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much finer". This was reportedly due to what could be perceived as a reference to drugs in the original lyric. Giving assurances of compliance to Sullivan, Morrison then proceeded to sing the song with the original lyrics anyway. He later said that he had simply forgotten to make the change. This so infuriated Sullivan that he refused to shake their hands after their performance. They were never invited back.

In 1967, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", which was their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Moonlight Drive", and "People Are Strange".

By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When the Music's Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard".

In 1967, photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison, in a photo shoot known as "The Young Lion" photo session. These photographs are considered among the most iconic images of Jim Morrison and are frequently used as covers for compilation albums, books, and other memorabilia of the Doors and Morrison. In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had written.

After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated. He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.

By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually - abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts.

During a 1969 concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors' scheduled concerts were canceled. In the years following the incident, Morrison has been exonerated. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison. See also Miami incident.

Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild — who had overseen all their previous recordings — left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Solo: poetry and film

Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film, and cinematography.

He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison's thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison's lifetime.

Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure, who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman's biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects to include a film version of McClure's infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy the Kid.

After his death, two volumes of Morrison's poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison's friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson's parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.

Morrison recorded his own poetry in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison's personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors' An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.

Morrison's best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitch hiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.
Personal life
Morrison's family

Morrison's early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as "dressing down". This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.

Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison's music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors' self-titled debut album.

In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison's father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son's musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.

George Morrison was not in support of his son's career choice in music. One day, an acquaintance brought over a record thought to have Jim on the cover. The record was the Doors self titled debut. The young man played the record for Morrison's father and family. After hearing the record, Jim's father wrote Jim a letter telling him "to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction."
Women in his life

Morrison met his long-term companion, Pamela Courson, well before he gained any fame or fortune, and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname "Morrison" with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson's death in 1974 the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under "Estate Controversy").

Courson and Morrison's relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.

In 1970, Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister, the couple signed a document declaring themselves wedded; however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kennealy discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.

Morrison also regularly had sex with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again-off-again relationship with 16 Magazine's editor in chief Gloria Stavers and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison's son was shown to be a fraud.
Death

Morrison flew to Paris in March 1971, took up residence in a rented apartment, and went for long walks through the city, admiring the city's architecture. During that time, Morrison grew a beard.

It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish". The session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite", which can be heard on the bootleg The Lost Paris Tapes.

Morrison died on July 3, 1971. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.

In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman's account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, having insufflated what Morrison believed to be cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, at times saying that she had killed Morrison, or that his death was her fault. Courson's story of Morrison's unintentional ingestion of heroin, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson's heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.

Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison's death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Agnès Varda say Courson lied to the police who responded at the death scene, and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.

In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years after Morrison's death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison's death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and vomited blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive and so she called for medical assistance.

Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.

However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.

In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugerman and Hopkins gave some credence to the rumour that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”. This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison's loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them, searching for evidence of Morrison's whereabouts. In 1995 a new epilogue was added to Sugerman and Hopkins' book, giving new facts about Morrison's death and discounting the fake death theory, saying “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela 's friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim's demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”
Jim Morrison's grave at Père-Lachaise.

In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison's, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club, and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Morrison and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson (cited above).
Grave site

Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison's name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; the bust was defaced through the years by cemetery vandals and later stolen in 1988. In the 1990s Morrison's father, George Stephen Morrison, placed a flat stone on the grave. The stone bears the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, literally meaning "according to his own daimōn" and usually interpreted as "true to his own spirit". Mikulin later made two more Morrison portraits in bronze but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.
Books
By Jim Morrison

    * The Lords and the New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
    * An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
    * Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
    * The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5

About Jim Morrison

    * Linda Ashcroft, Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, (1997) ISBN 1-56025-249-9
    * Lester Bangs, "Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later" in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
    * Patricia Butler, Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison, (1998) ISBN 0-8256-7341-0
    * Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-59240-064-7
    * John Densmore, Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
    * Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
    * Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
    * Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
    * Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
    * Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (1992) ISBN 0-525-93419-7
    * Frank Lisciandro, Morrison — A Feast of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6
    * Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison — An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) ISBN 0-85965-246-7
    * Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0L. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
    * Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison's Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145-173.
    * Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
    * Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
    * James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through : The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
    * Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony...Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN
    * The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X

Films
By Jim Morrison

    * HWY: An American Pastoral (1969)
    * A Feast of Friends (1970)

Documentaries featuring Jim Morrison

    * The Doors Are Open (1968)
    * Live in Europe (1968)
    * Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968)
    * Feast of Friends (1969)
    * The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981)
    * The Doors: Dance on Fire (1985)
    * The Soft Parade, a Retrospective (1991)
    * Final 24: Jim Morrison (2007), The Biography Channel
    * When You're Strange (2009)

Films about Jim Morrison

    * The Doors (1991), A fiction film by director Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. Kilmer's performance was praised by some critics. Members of the group, however, criticized Stone's portrayal of Morrison, and noted that numerous events depicted in the movie were pure fiction.
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/jcordj66/73a458e0.jpg
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo143/vonnieroo11/morrison.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/03/10 at 11:25 am


That's good too. I had chicken parm. with ziti and garlic bread and I didn't even have to cook,my daughter's boyfriend made dinner.



That sound soooo yummy.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/03/10 at 11:34 am

Jim Morrison...one of the rock stars I wish I would have met.
Tom Cruise: I have never liked the guy. Something about him always rubs me the wrong way. He seems so fake and I think he's not a good actor. Sorry if I have offended some Tom Cruise fans.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/03/10 at 11:36 am

I was trying to find a copy of Samurai Optometrist or any of the other John Belushi skits but couldn't.  :\'( :\'( :\'(

When I was stationed in Tx, my office was right across the hall from the optometry clinic. The head guy over there (who was a major) was of Japanese decent-in fact his last name was Yoshi (no joke). Of course EVERYONE called him Samurai Optometrist (but not to his face of course).  :D ;D ;D ;D ;D



Cat    

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/03/10 at 11:58 am


Jim Morrison...one of the rock stars I wish I would have met.
Tom Cruise: I have never liked the guy. Something about him always rubs me the wrong way. He seems so fake and I think he's not a good actor. Sorry if I have offended some Tom Cruise fans.



My brother-in-law (who is no longer with us  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( ) once told me that he used to have a paper route in West Haven (that I usually call Waste Haven), Conn. He went to a house to collect and the people who opened the door invited him in to party with them. He then told me that they were the Doors-in town because they were going to be preforming in New Haven. He told me that they told him that he couldn't tell anyone that they were there. But how cool is that-to be partying with the Doors.

Here is one of my favorites Doors' song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awi14wDTxNw


Tom Cruise= 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P


BTW, if you want to see some CLASSIC Inthe00s-check out THIS infamous thread:


http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php/topic,16529.0.html




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/03/10 at 12:22 pm



That sound soooo yummy.



Cat

It was :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/03/10 at 12:29 pm


Jim Morrison...one of the rock stars I wish I would have met.
Tom Cruise: I have never liked the guy. Something about him always rubs me the wrong way. He seems so fake and I think he's not a good actor. Sorry if I have offended some Tom Cruise fans.

I was never really into the Doors(I do like a few songs)
Tom is to complex for me :-\\


My brother-in-law (who is no longer with us  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( ) once told me that he used to have a paper route in West Haven (that I usually call Waste Haven), Conn. He went to a house to collect and the people who opened the door invited him in to party with them. He then told me that they were the Doors-in town because they were going to be preforming in New Haven. He told me that they told him that he couldn't tell anyone that they were there. But how cool is that-to be partying with the Doors.

Here is one of my favorites Doors' song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awi14wDTxNw


Tom Cruise= 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P 8-P


BTW, if you want to see some CLASSIC Inthe00s-check out THIS infamous thread:


http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php/topic,16529.0.html




Cat

How cool for your brother-in-law :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/03/10 at 3:33 pm


The person who died on this day...Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen  in rock music history.  He was also the author of several books of poetry  and the director of a documentary and short film. Although Morrison was known for his baritone vocals, many fans, scholars, and journalists have discussed his theatrical stage persona, his self-destructiveness, and his work as a poet.  He was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone's  "100 Greatest Singers of All Time"
orrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Irish  and Scottish descent.  He reportedly had an I.Q. of 149.

In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song "Dawn's Highway" from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs "Peace Frog" and "Ghost Song".

Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison's family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison's account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him . He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison's tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death". In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true."

With his father in the United States Navy, Morrison's family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee where he appeared in a school recruitment film. While attending FSU Morrison was arrested for a prank, following a home football game.

In January 1964, Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California to attend UCLA. Morrison attended Jack Hirschman's class on Antonin Artaud in the Comparative Literature program within the UCLA English Department. The Surrealist Theater of Artaud had a profound impact on Morrison's dark poetic sensibility of cinematic theatricality. Hirschman was then an Assistant Professor of English at UCLA, an author, published poet and collegial contemporary of Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Lamantia, Bob Kaufman, among others. Jim Morrison was later to meet Michael McClure and together to envisage the Poetic Dream.

In 1965 the Artaud Anthology, which Hirschman edited and assigned to Morrison's class at UCLA, was published by City Lights Books in San Francisco. Hirschman's work on the volume includes selecting material and organizing translations from the French, including some of his own translations. He was assisted by others, including David Rattray. Hirchman's students at UCLA included Gary Gach, Steven Kessler, Max Schwartz and Morrison himself, among others.

He completed his undergraduate degree at UCLA's film school, and the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, made with Morrison's classmate and roommate Max Schwartz, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.
The Doors
Main article: The Doors

In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore's recommendation and was then added to the lineup.

The Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception (a reference to the 'unlocking' of 'doors' of perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley's own title was a quotation from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."

Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Love Her Madly" and "Touch Me".

In June 1966, Morrison and The Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison's band Them. Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was later noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near-namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".

The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967. The single "Light My Fire" eventually reached number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. Later, The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had introduced The Beatles and a young, wriggling Elvis Presley to the nation. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from The Doors for the show, "People Are Strange", and "Light My Fire". The censors insisted that they change the lyrics of "Light My Fire" from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much finer". This was reportedly due to what could be perceived as a reference to drugs in the original lyric. Giving assurances of compliance to Sullivan, Morrison then proceeded to sing the song with the original lyrics anyway. He later said that he had simply forgotten to make the change. This so infuriated Sullivan that he refused to shake their hands after their performance. They were never invited back.

In 1967, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", which was their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Moonlight Drive", and "People Are Strange".

By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When the Music's Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard".

In 1967, photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison, in a photo shoot known as "The Young Lion" photo session. These photographs are considered among the most iconic images of Jim Morrison and are frequently used as covers for compilation albums, books, and other memorabilia of the Doors and Morrison. In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had written.

After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated. He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.

By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually - abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts.

During a 1969 concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors' scheduled concerts were canceled. In the years following the incident, Morrison has been exonerated. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison. See also Miami incident.

Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild — who had overseen all their previous recordings — left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Solo: poetry and film

Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film, and cinematography.

He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison's thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison's lifetime.

Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure, who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman's biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects to include a film version of McClure's infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy the Kid.

After his death, two volumes of Morrison's poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison's friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson's parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.

Morrison recorded his own poetry in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison's personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors' An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.

Morrison's best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitch hiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.
Personal life
Morrison's family

Morrison's early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as "dressing down". This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.

Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison's music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors' self-titled debut album.

In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison's father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son's musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.

George Morrison was not in support of his son's career choice in music. One day, an acquaintance brought over a record thought to have Jim on the cover. The record was the Doors self titled debut. The young man played the record for Morrison's father and family. After hearing the record, Jim's father wrote Jim a letter telling him "to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction."
Women in his life

Morrison met his long-term companion, Pamela Courson, well before he gained any fame or fortune, and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname "Morrison" with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson's death in 1974 the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under "Estate Controversy").

Courson and Morrison's relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.

In 1970, Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister, the couple signed a document declaring themselves wedded; however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kennealy discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.

Morrison also regularly had sex with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again-off-again relationship with 16 Magazine's editor in chief Gloria Stavers and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison's son was shown to be a fraud.
Death

Morrison flew to Paris in March 1971, took up residence in a rented apartment, and went for long walks through the city, admiring the city's architecture. During that time, Morrison grew a beard.

It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish". The session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite", which can be heard on the bootleg The Lost Paris Tapes.

Morrison died on July 3, 1971. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.

In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman's account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, having insufflated what Morrison believed to be cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, at times saying that she had killed Morrison, or that his death was her fault. Courson's story of Morrison's unintentional ingestion of heroin, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson's heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.

Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison's death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Agnès Varda say Courson lied to the police who responded at the death scene, and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.

In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years after Morrison's death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison's death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and vomited blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive and so she called for medical assistance.

Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.

However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.

In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugerman and Hopkins gave some credence to the rumour that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”. This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison's loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them, searching for evidence of Morrison's whereabouts. In 1995 a new epilogue was added to Sugerman and Hopkins' book, giving new facts about Morrison's death and discounting the fake death theory, saying “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela 's friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim's demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”
Jim Morrison's grave at Père-Lachaise.

In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison's, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club, and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Morrison and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson (cited above).
Grave site

Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison's name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; the bust was defaced through the years by cemetery vandals and later stolen in 1988. In the 1990s Morrison's father, George Stephen Morrison, placed a flat stone on the grave. The stone bears the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, literally meaning "according to his own daimōn" and usually interpreted as "true to his own spirit". Mikulin later made two more Morrison portraits in bronze but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.
Books
By Jim Morrison

    * The Lords and the New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
    * An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
    * Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
    * The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5

About Jim Morrison

    * Linda Ashcroft, Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, (1997) ISBN 1-56025-249-9
    * Lester Bangs, "Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later" in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
    * Patricia Butler, Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison, (1998) ISBN 0-8256-7341-0
    * Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-59240-064-7
    * John Densmore, Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
    * Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
    * Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
    * Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
    * Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
    * Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (1992) ISBN 0-525-93419-7
    * Frank Lisciandro, Morrison — A Feast of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6
    * Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison — An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) ISBN 0-85965-246-7
    * Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0L. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
    * Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison's Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145-173.
    * Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
    * Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
    * James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through : The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
    * Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony...Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN
    * The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X

Films
By Jim Morrison

    * HWY: An American Pastoral (1969)
    * A Feast of Friends (1970)

Documentaries featuring Jim Morrison

    * The Doors Are Open (1968)
    * Live in Europe (1968)
    * Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968)
    * Feast of Friends (1969)
    * The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981)
    * The Doors: Dance on Fire (1985)
    * The Soft Parade, a Retrospective (1991)
    * Final 24: Jim Morrison (2007), The Biography Channel
    * When You're Strange (2009)

Films about Jim Morrison

    * The Doors (1991), A fiction film by director Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. Kilmer's performance was praised by some critics. Members of the group, however, criticized Stone's portrayal of Morrison, and noted that numerous events depicted in the movie were pure fiction.
http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/jcordj66/73a458e0.jpg
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo143/vonnieroo11/morrison.jpg


My favorite Doors song is Touch Me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 1:47 am

British Person of the Day: Angela Baddeley

Angela Baddeley, CBE (4 July 1904 – 22 February 1976), born Madeline Angela Clinton-Baddeley, was an English actress best remembered for her role as Mrs Bridges in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Baddeley also had a long and distinguished career on stage that lasted for 63 years.

Early life

Madeline Angela Clinton-Baddeley was born in London in 1904, the daughter of a wealthy family who had servants. She based the character of Mrs Bridges on one of the cooks her family had when she was a child. Her younger sister was the actress Hermione Baddeley. In 1912, at the age of 8, Baddeley made her stage debut at the Dalston Palace in London in a play called The Dawn of Happiness. When she was nine, Angela Baddeley auditioned at the Old Vic Theatre and in November 1915 she made her stage debut at the Old Vic in Richard III and appeared in many other Shakespeare plays. During her teenage years, the "consummate little actress", as a national paper called had called her when she was 10, starred in many musicals and pantomimes. She briefly 'retired' from acting at age 18. Her first marriage, to Stephen Thomas, produced one daughter. In c.1930 she married the actor and theatre director Glen Byam Shaw, and they had a son and a daughter. During the early years of her second marriage she and her husband had four servants. In 1938, she appeared in King Vidor's film, The Citadel, an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel.

After spending some time touring in Australia, Baddeley succeeded in establishing herself as one of the most popular theatre actresses of her day, with roles in 'The Rising Stud' and 'Marriage à la Mode'. In 1931, she appeared in two popular movies, the Sherlock Holmes tale The Speckled Band, featuring Raymond Massey as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth and a large screen version of the hit stage thriller The Ghost Train. Throughout the 1940s, she played many strong female roles on stage, including Miss Prue in 'Love for Love' and Nora in The Winslow Boy.

Later years

Continuing to act on stage, she played the bawd in Tony Richardson's production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1958. She was made a CBE in 1975 for "services to the theatre". She died in London in 1976 of pneumonia at the age of 71, shortly after Upstairs, Downstairs finished being shown on television. Had she lived it is likely that a spin-off series, with Baddeley reprising her role as Mrs. Bridges and Gordon Jackson returning as Mr Hudson, would have been made. This would have been set in the boarding house they had moved to at the end of Upstairs, Downstairs.

Baddeley's marriage to the director Stephen Thomas was dissolved, after which she married actor and director Glen Byam Shaw. She had three children. She was the grandmother of Charles Hart, the lyricist of The Phantom of the Opera.

http://www.nndb.com/people/285/000173763/angela-baddeley-2-sized.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 6:24 am


British Person of the Day: Angela Baddeley

Angela Baddeley, CBE (4 July 1904 – 22 February 1976), born Madeline Angela Clinton-Baddeley, was an English actress best remembered for her role as Mrs Bridges in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Baddeley also had a long and distinguished career on stage that lasted for 63 years.

Early life

Madeline Angela Clinton-Baddeley was born in London in 1904, the daughter of a wealthy family who had servants. She based the character of Mrs Bridges on one of the cooks her family had when she was a child. Her younger sister was the actress Hermione Baddeley. In 1912, at the age of 8, Baddeley made her stage debut at the Dalston Palace in London in a play called The Dawn of Happiness. When she was nine, Angela Baddeley auditioned at the Old Vic Theatre and in November 1915 she made her stage debut at the Old Vic in Richard III and appeared in many other Shakespeare plays. During her teenage years, the "consummate little actress", as a national paper called had called her when she was 10, starred in many musicals and pantomimes. She briefly 'retired' from acting at age 18. Her first marriage, to Stephen Thomas, produced one daughter. In c.1930 she married the actor and theatre director Glen Byam Shaw, and they had a son and a daughter. During the early years of her second marriage she and her husband had four servants. In 1938, she appeared in King Vidor's film, The Citadel, an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel.

After spending some time touring in Australia, Baddeley succeeded in establishing herself as one of the most popular theatre actresses of her day, with roles in 'The Rising Stud' and 'Marriage à la Mode'. In 1931, she appeared in two popular movies, the Sherlock Holmes tale The Speckled Band, featuring Raymond Massey as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth and a large screen version of the hit stage thriller The Ghost Train. Throughout the 1940s, she played many strong female roles on stage, including Miss Prue in 'Love for Love' and Nora in The Winslow Boy.

Later years

Continuing to act on stage, she played the bawd in Tony Richardson's production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1958. She was made a CBE in 1975 for "services to the theatre". She died in London in 1976 of pneumonia at the age of 71, shortly after Upstairs, Downstairs finished being shown on television. Had she lived it is likely that a spin-off series, with Baddeley reprising her role as Mrs. Bridges and Gordon Jackson returning as Mr Hudson, would have been made. This would have been set in the boarding house they had moved to at the end of Upstairs, Downstairs.

Baddeley's marriage to the director Stephen Thomas was dissolved, after which she married actor and director Glen Byam Shaw. She had three children. She was the grandmother of Charles Hart, the lyricist of The Phantom of the Opera.

http://www.nndb.com/people/285/000173763/angela-baddeley-2-sized.jpg

Thanks Phil. I do remember her, I didn't watch too many episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs but I did watch some.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 6:27 am


Thanks Phil. I do remember her, I didn't watch too many episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs but I did watch some.
The same with me, the character she played I do rermember, but I (like you) only saw a few episodes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 6:30 am

The word of the day...Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna  and grass  areas.

Wilderness parks are intact and undeveloped areas used mainly by wild species. Many parks are legally protected by law.

Protected wilderness zones are required for some wild species to survive. Some protected parks focus mainly on the survival of a few threatened species, such as gorillas or chimpanzees.
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/aaronjmatteson/Cherry%20Picking/Park.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/shubhd/Usa4/DSCN0635.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e362/spankypuff/SpringfieldPark057.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo98/bsegna/rimrock-park-apts.jpg
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff326/wilkinscourtney/Carkeek%20park%202-16-09/IMGP0937.jpg
http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx283/jsprong/IsaacHugs.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac315/ebaythebeth/brewers/miller.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae326/harrykpedersen/DSC00770.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac97/DivineHammer67/GARDEN.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 6:31 am

The person born on this day...Neil Simon
Neil Simon (born July 4, 1927) is an American playwright  and screenwriter. His numerous Broadway successes have led to his work being among the most regularly performed in the world. Born Marvin Neil Simon on July 4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City to Mamie and Irving Simon, a garment salesman. He was their second son and he grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan in the Great Depression. His father would frequently leave the family, casting financial and emotional woes on the family. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and graduated at the age of sixteen.
Early career

He briefly attended New York University from 1944 to 1945, where he was enlisted in the Army Air Force Reserve training program. He was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base in 1945 and attended the University of Denver from 1945 to 1946. He was a sports editor for the military magazine Rev-Meter.

In 1946, he was discharged as a corporal. Two years later, he quit his job as a mailroom clerk in the Warner Brothers offices in Manhattan to write radio and television scripts with his brother Danny Simon, including a tutelage under radio humourist Goodman Ace when Ace ran a short-lived writing workshop for CBS. They wrote for the radio show The Robert Q. Lewis Show and for the television show The Phil Silvers Show.

Their revues for Camp Tamiment in Pennsylvania in the early 1950s caught the attention of Sid Caesar, who hired the duo for his popular TV comedy series Your Show of Shows. Simon later incorporated their experiences into his play Laughter on the 23rd Floor. His work won him two Emmy Award nominations and the appreciation of Phil Silvers, who hired him to write for Sergeant Bilko in 1959.
Writing career

In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 678 performances. Six weeks after its closing, his second production, the musical Little Me opened to mixed reviews. Although it failed to attract a large audience, it earned Simon his first Tony Award nomination. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. He also won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Lost In Yonkers.

In 1966 Simon had four shows running on Broadway at the same time: Sweet Charity, The Star-Spangled Girl, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. His professional association with producer Emanuel Azenberg began with The Sunshine Boys in 1972 and continued with The Good Doctor, God's Favorite, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Jake's Women, The Goodbye Girl, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor, among others.

Simon also has written screenplays for more than twenty films. These include adaptations of his own plays and original work too, including The Out-of-Towners, Murder by Death and The Goodbye Girl. He has received four Best Screenplay Academy Award nominations.

Simon has been conferred with two honoris causa degrees; a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University and a Doctor of Laws from Williams College. He is the namesake of the legitimate Broadway theater the Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, and an honorary member of the Walnut Street Theatre's board of trustees.
Personal life

Simon has been married five times, to dancer Joan Baim (1953–1973), actress Marsha Mason (1973–1981), twice to Diane Lander (1987–1988 and 1990–1998), and currently actress Elaine Joyce. He is the father of Nancy and Ellen, from his first marriage, and Bryn, Lander's daughter from a previous relationship whom he adopted.
Awards

    * 1957 Emmy Award for Your Show of Shows
    * 1959 Emmy Award for The Phil Silvers Show
    * 1965 Tony Award for Best Author - The Odd Couple
    * 1967 Evening Standard Award - Barefoot in the Park
    * 1968 Sam S. Shubert Award - Sweet Charity
    * 1969 Writers Guild of America Award The Odd Couple
    * 1970 Writers Guild of America Award The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
    * 1971 Writers Guild of America Award The Out-of-Towners
    * 1972 Writers Guild of America Award The Trouble With People
    * 1972 Cue Entertainer of the Year Award
    * 1975 Special Tony Award for contribution to theatre
    * 1975 Writers Guild of America Award The Goodbye Girl
    * 1978 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay - The Goodbye Girl
    * 1979 Writers Guild of America Award Laurel Award



    * 1981 Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University
    * 1983 American Theatre Hall of Fame
    * 1983 New York Drama Critics Circle Award - Brighton Beach Memoirs
    * 1983 Outer Critics Circle Award - Brighton Beach Memoirs
    * 1985 Tony Award for Best Play - Biloxi Blues
    * 1986 New York State Governor's Award
    * 1989 American Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement
    * 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play - Lost in Yonkers
    * 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Lost in Yonkers
    * 1991 Tony Award for Best Play - Lost in Yonkers
    * 1995 Kennedy Center Honoree
    * 1996 William Inge Theatre Festival Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater
    * 2006 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Work
Plays

    * Come Blow Your Horn (1961)
    * Little Me (1962)
    * Barefoot in the Park (1963)
    * The Odd Couple (1965)
    * Sweet Charity (1966)
    * The Star-Spangled Girl (1966)
    * Plaza Suite (1968)
    * Promises, Promises (1968)
    * The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969)
    * The Gingerbread Lady (1970)
    * The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971)



    * The Sunshine Boys (1972)
    * The Good Doctor (1973)
    * God's Favorite (1974)
    * California Suite (1976)
    * Chapter Two (1977)
    * They're Playing Our Song (1979)
    * I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980)
    * Fools (1981)
    * Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983)
    * Biloxi Blues (1985)
    * The Female Odd Couple (1986)
    * Broadway Bound (1986)



    * Rumors (1988)
    * Lost in Yonkers (1991)
    * Jake's Women (1992)
    * The Goodbye Girl (1993)
    * Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993)
    * London Suite (1995)
    * Proposals (1997)
    * The Dinner Party (2000)
    * 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001)
    * Rose's Dilemma (2003)
    * Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple (2004)

Screenplays

    * 1963: Come Blow Your Horn - Director: Bud Yorkin, screenplay by Norman Lear with Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb
    * 1966: After the Fox - Director: Vittorio DeSica with Peter Sellers and Victor Mature
    * 1967: Barefoot in the Park - Director: Gene Saks with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda
    * 1968: The Odd Couple - Director: Gene Saks with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
    * 1969: Sweet Charity - Director: Bob Fosse with Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera and Sammy Davis Jr.
    * 1970: The Out-of-Towners - Director: Arthur Hiller with Jack Lemmon
    * 1971: Plaza Suite - Director: Arthur Hiller with Walter Matthau
    * 1972: The Last of the Red Hot Lovers - Director: Gene Saks with Alan Arkin
    * 1972: The Heartbreak Kid - Director: Elaine May with Cybill Shepard and Charles Grodin
    * 1975: The Prisoner of Second Avenue - Director: Melvin Frank with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft
    * 1975: The Sunshine Boys - Director: Herbert Ross with Walter Matthau and George Burns
    * 1976: Murder by Death - Director: Robert Moore with Truman Capote, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, David Niven and Peter Sellers
    * 1977: The Goodbye Girl - Director: Herbert Ross with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason
    * 1978: The Cheap Detective - Director: Robert Moore with Peter Falk, Louise Fletcher, Stockard Channing, Madeline Kahn, John Houseman, Nicol Williamson and Eileen Brennan
    * 1978: California Suite - Director: Herbert Ross with Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby
    * 1978: The Good Doctor - PBS - Director: Jack O'Brien with Edward Asner, Richard Chamberlain, Bob Dishy, Gary Dontzig, Lee Grant, and Marsha Mason
    * 1979: Chapter Two - Director: Robert Moore with James Caan and Marsha Mason
    * 1980: Seems Like Old Times - Director: Jay Sandrich with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase
    * 1981: Only When I Laugh - Director: Glenn Jordan with Marsha Mason, Joan Hackett, James Coco and Kristy McNichol
    * 1982: I Ought to Be in Pictures - Director: Herbert Ross with Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff
    * 1983: Max Dugan Returns - Director: Herbert Ross with Matthew Broderick, Marsha Mason, Jason Robards, Kiefer Sutherland and Donald Sutherland
    * 1984: The Lonely Guy - Director: Arthur Hiller with Steve Martin
    * 1985: The Slugger's Wife - Director: Hal Ashby with Michael O'Keefe and Rebecca De Mornay
    * 1986: Brighton Beach Memoirs - Director: Gene Saks with Jonathan Silverman and David Margulies
    * 1987: Plaza Suite - Director: Robert Beatty and Kenny Solms with Carol Burnett, Richard Crenna, Dabney Coleman, and Hal Holbrook for ABC
    * 1988: Biloxi Blues - Director: Mike Nichols with Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken
    * 1991: The Marrying Man - Director: Jerry Rees with Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin
    * 1993: Lost in Yonkers - Director: Martha Coolidge with Richard Dreyfuss
    * 1995: The Sunshine Boys - Director: John Erman with Woody Allen and Peter Falk
    * 1996: Jake's Women - Director: Glenn Jordan with Alan Alda, Anne Archer, Lolita Davidovich, Julie Kavner, Mira Sorvino, Joyce Van Patten, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley for CBS
    * 1996: London Suite - Director: Jay Sandrich with Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Clarkson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonathan Silverman, Madeline Kahn, Michael Richards, Julie Hagerty, Richard Mulligan, Kristen Johnston, Jane Carr, Paxton Whitheead, and William Franklyn for NBC
    * 1998: The Odd Couple II - Director: Howard Deutch with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
    * 2001: Laughter on the 23rd Floor - Director: Richard Benjamin with Nathan Lane, Mark Linn-Baker, Saul Rubinek, Dan Castellaneta, Richard Portnow, Kristi Angus, Ardon Bess, Victor Garber, Philip Craig, among many others for Showtime
    * 2004: The Goodbye Girl with Patricia Heaton and Jeff Daniels for Turner Network Television
http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/chandlerray/Wheel/Neil_Simon_NYWTS.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh186/placesnow/NeilSimon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 6:34 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 6:35 am

The person who died on this day...Barry White
Barry White (September 12, 1944(1944-09-12) – July 4, 2003) was an American  record producer and singer-songwriter.

A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his rich bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with his Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring hit soul, funk, and disco songs. Worldwide, White had many gold and platinum albums and singles, with combined sales of over 100 million, according to critics Ed Hogan and Wade Kergan
White was born Barrence Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas  and grew up in the high-crime areas of South Central Los Angeles. At 17, he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires.

While in prison, White listened to Elvis Presley singing "It's Now or Never" on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release, he left gang life and began a musical career at the dawn of the 1960s in singing groups before going out on his own in the middle of the decade.

The marginal success he had to that point was as a songwriter; his songs were recorded by rock singer Bobby Fuller and TV bubblegum act The Banana Splits. He was also responsible in 1963 for arranging "Harlem Shuffle" for Bob & Earl, which became a hit in the UK in 1969. He discovered disco artists, Viola Wills and Felice Taylor in 1965 and signed them to Mustang/Bronco Records, for which he was working as A&R manager. In addition, at age 11, he played piano on Jesse Belvin's big hit Goodnight My Love.
Success

In 1972, he got his big break producing a girl group he had discovered called Love Unlimited. His best friend, music industry businessman Larry Nunes helped to finance this major start to his recording career. Larry Nunes took the record to Russ Regan, who was the head of the Uni label owned by MCA. Love Unlimited's From a Girl's Point of View became a million-seller. Soon after, Regan left Uni for 20th Century Records. Without Regan, White's relationship with Uni soured. With his relationship with Uni in chaos and Love Unlimited contract-bound with the label, White decided he needed to work with another act. He wanted to work with a male artist. He made three song demos of himself singing and playing the piano. Nunes heard them and insisted that he re-record and release them as a recording artist. They argued for days about it. Then he somehow convinced White to do it. White was still hesitating up to the time the label copy was made. He was going to use the name "White Heat," but the record became the first Barry White album. That first album was 1973's I've Got So Much to Give on 20th Century Records. It included the title track and "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby." He made Barry his protégé, forming a production company with White and guiding him to fame. Formed in imitation of the legendary Motown girl group The Supremes, the group members had gradually honed their talents with White for two years until they signed contracts with Uni Records.

White produced, wrote and arranged the classic soul ballad, "Walking in the Rain (With The One I Love)", which climbed to #14 in the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and #6 on the R&B chart. After the first album, White switched his production deal and the group to 20th Century Records where they recorded several other hits throughout the 1970s. These included "I Belong To You" which spent over five months on the R&B chart in 1974 including a week at #1. White married the lead singer of the group, Glodean James, on July 4, 1974.

While working on a few demos for a male singer, White was persuaded to release the songs on himself although he was initially reluctant to step out in front of the microphone. His first solo chart hit, 1973's "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby", rose to #1 R&B and #3 Pop. Then the Love Unlimited Orchestra's recording of White's composition "Love's Theme" reached #1 Pop in 1974, one of only a handful of instrumental recordings ever to do so. Some regard "Love's Theme" as the first disco hit ever, although Nino Tempo's "Sister James" had already reached the Hot 100 a few months before.

Other chart hits by White include "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" (#2 R&B, #7 Pop in 1973), "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" (# 1 Pop and R&B in 1974), "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (#1 R&B, #2 Pop in 1974), "What Am I Gonna Do with You" (#1 R&B, #8 Pop in 1975), "Let the Music Play" (#4 R&B in 1976), "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" (#1 R&B, #4 Pop in 1977) and "Your Sweetness is My Weakness" (#2 R&B in 1978). White also had a strong following in the UK where he scored five Top 10 hits and one Number 1 ("You're The First").

White left 20th Century in 1979 to launch his own label, Unlimited Gold with the major, CBS/Columbia. Despite several albums over the next three years, he failed to repeat his earlier success with no single managing to reach the Hot 100 and only one, "Change" in 1982 climbing into the R&B Top 20 (#12). His label venture cost White dearly and he concentrated on touring before finally signing a recording deal with A&M in 1987. It was several more years before he returned to the top of the charts with "Put Me In Your Mix" (#2 R&B) in 1991 and "Practice What You Preach" (#1 R&B, #18 Pop) in 1994. He also took part in a Quincy Jones' record, "The Secret Garden" which topped the R&B chart in 1990.

Considered handsome and deeply romantic by his many female fans and admired for the unique blend of soul and classical orchestral musical elements he created, White was often affectionately referred to as the "Maestro", "The Man with the Velvet Voice", or more irreverently "The Walrus of Love". Barry White was referred to as "The Sultan of Smooth Soul," but it was his role as brainchild of the funk-fueled, deep soul band, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, in which he was widely branded on several early albums as the group's Maestro, earning him the only documented nickname for which he and his musical colleagues were responsible.
Comebacks

Although White's success on the pop charts slowed down as the disco era came to an end, he maintained a loyal following throughout his career. In the 1990s, he mounted an effective comeback with several albums including The Icon Is Love (1994), which had the hit, "Practice What You Preach". In 1996, White recorded "In Your Wildest Dreams" with rock icon Tina Turner. Staying Power (1999) won two Grammy Awards. In addition, his music was often featured on the comedy-drama TV series Ally McBeal and he appeared on the show twice.
Death

White had been ill with chronically high blood pressure for some time, which resulted in kidney failure in the autumn of 2002. He suffered a stroke in May 2003, after which he was forced to retire from public life. On July 4, 2003, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering from renal failure. White was cremated, and his ashes were scattered by his family off the California coast.

On September 20, 2004, he was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in New York.
Musical style

White's recordings featured a distinctive sound that combined symphonic orchestral instrumentation (string section, woodwinds, horns, harpsichords, etc.) with a steady drumbeat and as many as five electric guitars. His arrangements were influential to the emerging sound of disco music in the early 1970s.

A distinctive feature of White's music were the steamy spoken introductions and interludes that appeared in many of his songs. Perhaps the most notorious of these appeared in the track "Love Serenade (Part 1)," from his 1975 album Just Another Way to Say I Love You which included:
“ Take it off. . . Baby, take it all off . . . I want you the way you came into the world . . . I don't wanna feel no clothes . . . I don't wanna see no panties . . . and take off that brassiere, my dear . . . Everybody's gone . . . we're gonna take the receiver off the phone . . . because, baby, you and me—heh . . . this night, we're gonna get it on . . . .to Love's Serenade" ”
Acting

Over the course of his career White occasionally did work as a voice actor. He voiced the character Bear in the 1975 film Coonskin (and also played the character Sampson in the movie's live-action segments). He was featured in three episodes of The Simpsons: "Whacking Day" in which he used his deep bass voice played through speakers placed on the ground to attract snakes, and a cameo appearance in "Krusty Gets Kancelled". He played the role of a bus driver for a Prodigy commercial in 1995. He also did the voice of a rabbit in a Good Seasons salad dressing mix commercial, singing a song called "You Can't Bottle Love." In addition, he did some car commercials, most famously for Oldsmobile, and later on, Jeep. He made guest appearances in the show Ally McBeal.
Discography
Main article: Barry White discography
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n67/chris19344/Barry_White.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/kstokes/barry_white.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 6:37 am

George M. Cohan "Yankee Doodle Dandy", the American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer, was born on the July 3rd, not on July 4th, as in the song............... ?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 6:38 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY

Good poison those damn pigeons ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 6:41 am


George M. Cohan "Yankee Doodle Dandy", the American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer, was born on the July 3rd, not on July 4th, as in the song............... ?

I found this:
Cohan's baptismal certificate -- which is his only written birth record -- verifies that he was born in Providence, Rhode Island  on July 3rd, 1878. However, Cohan's family unfailingly insisted that George and his country shared birthdays on the 4th. Although noted for their honesty, the Cohans certainly would have found it hard to resist the publicity value of a performer being "born on the Fourth of July." While it may seem silly to begrudge a dead man a charming piece of his legend, odds are that he was actually born on the 3rd.

What people wont do for show business :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 6:44 am


Good poison those damn pigeons ;D
I could do with some here!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:21 am

Sweetness Is My Weakness is one of my favorites from Barry White.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:22 am


The word of the day...Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna  and grass  areas.

Wilderness parks are intact and undeveloped areas used mainly by wild species. Many parks are legally protected by law.

Protected wilderness zones are required for some wild species to survive. Some protected parks focus mainly on the survival of a few threatened species, such as gorillas or chimpanzees.
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff324/aaronjmatteson/Cherry%20Picking/Park.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/shubhd/Usa4/DSCN0635.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e362/spankypuff/SpringfieldPark057.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo98/bsegna/rimrock-park-apts.jpg
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff326/wilkinscourtney/Carkeek%20park%202-16-09/IMGP0937.jpg
http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx283/jsprong/IsaacHugs.jpg
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac315/ebaythebeth/brewers/miller.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae326/harrykpedersen/DSC00770.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac97/DivineHammer67/GARDEN.jpg


Rock Creek Park - Blackbyrds.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:26 am


The person who died on this day...Barry White
Barry White (September 12, 1944(1944-09-12) – July 4, 2003) was an American  record producer and singer-songwriter.

A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his rich bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with his Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring hit soul, funk, and disco songs. Worldwide, White had many gold and platinum albums and singles, with combined sales of over 100 million, according to critics Ed Hogan and Wade Kergan
White was born Barrence Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas  and grew up in the high-crime areas of South Central Los Angeles. At 17, he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires.

While in prison, White listened to Elvis Presley singing "It's Now or Never" on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release, he left gang life and began a musical career at the dawn of the 1960s in singing groups before going out on his own in the middle of the decade.

The marginal success he had to that point was as a songwriter; his songs were recorded by rock singer Bobby Fuller and TV bubblegum act The Banana Splits. He was also responsible in 1963 for arranging "Harlem Shuffle" for Bob & Earl, which became a hit in the UK in 1969. He discovered disco artists, Viola Wills and Felice Taylor in 1965 and signed them to Mustang/Bronco Records, for which he was working as A&R manager. In addition, at age 11, he played piano on Jesse Belvin's big hit Goodnight My Love.
Success

In 1972, he got his big break producing a girl group he had discovered called Love Unlimited. His best friend, music industry businessman Larry Nunes helped to finance this major start to his recording career. Larry Nunes took the record to Russ Regan, who was the head of the Uni label owned by MCA. Love Unlimited's From a Girl's Point of View became a million-seller. Soon after, Regan left Uni for 20th Century Records. Without Regan, White's relationship with Uni soured. With his relationship with Uni in chaos and Love Unlimited contract-bound with the label, White decided he needed to work with another act. He wanted to work with a male artist. He made three song demos of himself singing and playing the piano. Nunes heard them and insisted that he re-record and release them as a recording artist. They argued for days about it. Then he somehow convinced White to do it. White was still hesitating up to the time the label copy was made. He was going to use the name "White Heat," but the record became the first Barry White album. That first album was 1973's I've Got So Much to Give on 20th Century Records. It included the title track and "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby." He made Barry his protégé, forming a production company with White and guiding him to fame. Formed in imitation of the legendary Motown girl group The Supremes, the group members had gradually honed their talents with White for two years until they signed contracts with Uni Records.

White produced, wrote and arranged the classic soul ballad, "Walking in the Rain (With The One I Love)", which climbed to #14 in the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and #6 on the R&B chart. After the first album, White switched his production deal and the group to 20th Century Records where they recorded several other hits throughout the 1970s. These included "I Belong To You" which spent over five months on the R&B chart in 1974 including a week at #1. White married the lead singer of the group, Glodean James, on July 4, 1974.

While working on a few demos for a male singer, White was persuaded to release the songs on himself although he was initially reluctant to step out in front of the microphone. His first solo chart hit, 1973's "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby", rose to #1 R&B and #3 Pop. Then the Love Unlimited Orchestra's recording of White's composition "Love's Theme" reached #1 Pop in 1974, one of only a handful of instrumental recordings ever to do so. Some regard "Love's Theme" as the first disco hit ever, although Nino Tempo's "Sister James" had already reached the Hot 100 a few months before.

Other chart hits by White include "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" (#2 R&B, #7 Pop in 1973), "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" (# 1 Pop and R&B in 1974), "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" (#1 R&B, #2 Pop in 1974), "What Am I Gonna Do with You" (#1 R&B, #8 Pop in 1975), "Let the Music Play" (#4 R&B in 1976), "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" (#1 R&B, #4 Pop in 1977) and "Your Sweetness is My Weakness" (#2 R&B in 1978). White also had a strong following in the UK where he scored five Top 10 hits and one Number 1 ("You're The First").

White left 20th Century in 1979 to launch his own label, Unlimited Gold with the major, CBS/Columbia. Despite several albums over the next three years, he failed to repeat his earlier success with no single managing to reach the Hot 100 and only one, "Change" in 1982 climbing into the R&B Top 20 (#12). His label venture cost White dearly and he concentrated on touring before finally signing a recording deal with A&M in 1987. It was several more years before he returned to the top of the charts with "Put Me In Your Mix" (#2 R&B) in 1991 and "Practice What You Preach" (#1 R&B, #18 Pop) in 1994. He also took part in a Quincy Jones' record, "The Secret Garden" which topped the R&B chart in 1990.

Considered handsome and deeply romantic by his many female fans and admired for the unique blend of soul and classical orchestral musical elements he created, White was often affectionately referred to as the "Maestro", "The Man with the Velvet Voice", or more irreverently "The Walrus of Love". Barry White was referred to as "The Sultan of Smooth Soul," but it was his role as brainchild of the funk-fueled, deep soul band, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, in which he was widely branded on several early albums as the group's Maestro, earning him the only documented nickname for which he and his musical colleagues were responsible.
Comebacks

Although White's success on the pop charts slowed down as the disco era came to an end, he maintained a loyal following throughout his career. In the 1990s, he mounted an effective comeback with several albums including The Icon Is Love (1994), which had the hit, "Practice What You Preach". In 1996, White recorded "In Your Wildest Dreams" with rock icon Tina Turner. Staying Power (1999) won two Grammy Awards. In addition, his music was often featured on the comedy-drama TV series Ally McBeal and he appeared on the show twice.
Death

White had been ill with chronically high blood pressure for some time, which resulted in kidney failure in the autumn of 2002. He suffered a stroke in May 2003, after which he was forced to retire from public life. On July 4, 2003, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering from renal failure. White was cremated, and his ashes were scattered by his family off the California coast.

On September 20, 2004, he was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in New York.
Musical style

White's recordings featured a distinctive sound that combined symphonic orchestral instrumentation (string section, woodwinds, horns, harpsichords, etc.) with a steady drumbeat and as many as five electric guitars. His arrangements were influential to the emerging sound of disco music in the early 1970s.

A distinctive feature of White's music were the steamy spoken introductions and interludes that appeared in many of his songs. Perhaps the most notorious of these appeared in the track "Love Serenade (Part 1)," from his 1975 album Just Another Way to Say I Love You which included:
“ Take it off. . . Baby, take it all off . . . I want you the way you came into the world . . . I don't wanna feel no clothes . . . I don't wanna see no panties . . . and take off that brassiere, my dear . . . Everybody's gone . . . we're gonna take the receiver off the phone . . . because, baby, you and me—heh . . . this night, we're gonna get it on . . . .to Love's Serenade" ”
Acting

Over the course of his career White occasionally did work as a voice actor. He voiced the character Bear in the 1975 film Coonskin (and also played the character Sampson in the movie's live-action segments). He was featured in three episodes of The Simpsons: "Whacking Day" in which he used his deep bass voice played through speakers placed on the ground to attract snakes, and a cameo appearance in "Krusty Gets Kancelled". He played the role of a bus driver for a Prodigy commercial in 1995. He also did the voice of a rabbit in a Good Seasons salad dressing mix commercial, singing a song called "You Can't Bottle Love." In addition, he did some car commercials, most famously for Oldsmobile, and later on, Jeep. He made guest appearances in the show Ally McBeal.
Discography
Main article: Barry White discography
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n67/chris19344/Barry_White.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/kstokes/barry_white.jpg
A greatly missed singer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:26 am


A greatly missed singer.


7 years already.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:27 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYbuj60aiA

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:27 am


7 years already.  :(
7 years, I do not believe it!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:29 am


7 years, I do not believe it!


Me neither. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:33 am


Me neither. :(
I can remember hearing being announced on the radio, just seconds after the offical announcement.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:34 am


I can remember hearing being announced on the radio, just seconds after the offical announcement.


I was on the bus coming home from somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:37 am


I was on the bus coming home from somewhere.
In 2003, I was another meesageboard (before I came here) and I was one of the first to put it online there.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:39 am


In 2003, I was another meesageboard (before I came here) and I was one of the first to put it online there.


I was on here at that time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:45 am


I was on here at that time.
Before the big crash of April 2004?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:46 am


Before the big crash of April 2004?



Yes I was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 7:47 am



Yes I was.
I joined just after.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 7:47 am


I joined just after.



I was on 2 years earlier.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 8:34 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYbuj60aiA

I love this song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 8:35 am


A greatly missed singer.

He had a unique voice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 10:50 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHS8hj4TdT8

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/10 at 1:38 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHS8hj4TdT8

I remember when I first heard the song I thought it was odd, but I rather like the song now. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/04/10 at 1:40 pm


I remember when I first heard the song I thought it was odd, but I rather like the song now. :)
I love the song too, and not to keen on the Donna Summer version.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/04/10 at 6:47 pm


I love the song too, and not to keen on the Donna Summer version.


I thought The Donna Summer version was nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 6:47 am

The word of the day...Soap
# a cleansing agent made from the salts of vegetable or animal fats
# money offered as a bribe
# rub soap all over, usually with the purpose of cleaning
# street names for gamma hydroxybutyrate
http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l422/Electrogirl68/Soap/DSCN0469.jpg
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/destiandani/zamian_soap-300x300.jpg
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp328/lindaluf/DSCN2861.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad205/luongquan2610/soap%20bar/29062010162.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt285/Batistafan_album/Soap%20Operas/bizzieuu.jpg
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/shellytan87/rosepetal.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/05/10 at 6:50 am

http://www.getincensed.com/wp-content/uploads/3_hueylewis.jpg

Happy Birthday Huey Lewis,He is 59. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 6:50 am

The person born on this day...Katherine Helmond
Katherine Marie Helmond (born July 5, 1928, Galveston, Texas)is an American film, theater and television actress, who is famous for playing Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Debra Barone's mother, Lois, on Everybody Loves Raymond. Helmond acted in the television movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) playing Emma Lenora Borden. She gained fame as Jessica Tate, the ditzy matriarch on Soap. She was a lead player on the controversial ABC series, from 1977 until it was cancelled in 1981. In 1984, she took the role of "Mona Robinson" on the sitcom  Who's the Boss?. The show was a ratings success, running for eight seasons and finishing in the Nielsen "Top 10" four straight years. In 1993 she appeared in one episode of the British version of Who's the Boss?.

From 1995–1997, she starred in the sitcom Coach as Doris Sherman, eccentric owner of the fictional Orlando Breakers professional football team. From 1996 to 2004, Helmond had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as Lois Whelan (Ray Barone's mother-in-law).
Film appearances

She appeared in three movies directed by Terry Gilliam:

   * Time Bandits (1981) as “Mrs. Ogre”
   * Brazil (1985) as “Mrs. Ida Lowry”
   * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) as "The Desk Clerk"
   * Family Plot (1976; Alfred Hitchcock's last film)
   * Cars (2006) as Lizzie, a 1923 Ford Model T

Award nominations

She was nominated for Broadway's 1973 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown.

She was nominated for an Emmy for her role on Soap four times in a row (1978–1981) as Best Actress in a Comedy Series. In 1988 and 1989 she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Who's the Boss?. In 2002 she was nominated as Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Everybody Loves Raymond.
Personal life

She went to a Catholic primary school. In 1957, Helmond married George N. Martin. After their divorce she married her second husband, David Christian; the two have been together since 1962; they have no children. They have owned homes in Los Angeles, New York City, Long Island and London.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/CellarDoorGtr/Random80sPeeps/khelmond.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn120/kid_karl/SOAP/399px-Katherine_Helmond.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 6:51 am


http://www.getincensed.com/wp-content/uploads/3_hueylewis.jpg

Happy Birthday Huey Lewis,He is 59. :)

Happy Birthday Huey :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/05/10 at 6:51 am


The word of the day...Soap
# a cleansing agent made from the salts of vegetable or animal fats
# money offered as a bribe
# rub soap all over, usually with the purpose of cleaning
# street names for gamma hydroxybutyrate
http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l422/Electrogirl68/Soap/DSCN0469.jpg
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab221/destiandani/zamian_soap-300x300.jpg
http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp328/lindaluf/DSCN2861.jpg
http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad205/luongquan2610/soap%20bar/29062010162.jpg
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt285/Batistafan_album/Soap%20Operas/bizzieuu.jpg
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu147/shellytan87/rosepetal.jpg


My favorite has always been Coast.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/05/10 at 6:52 am


The person born on this day...Katherine Helmond
Katherine Marie Helmond (born July 5, 1928, Galveston, Texas)is an American film, theater and television actress, who is famous for playing Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Debra Barone's mother, Lois, on Everybody Loves Raymond. Helmond acted in the television movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) playing Emma Lenora Borden. She gained fame as Jessica Tate, the ditzy matriarch on Soap. She was a lead player on the controversial ABC series, from 1977 until it was cancelled in 1981. In 1984, she took the role of "Mona Robinson" on the sitcom  Who's the Boss?. The show was a ratings success, running for eight seasons and finishing in the Nielsen "Top 10" four straight years. In 1993 she appeared in one episode of the British version of Who's the Boss?.

From 1995–1997, she starred in the sitcom Coach as Doris Sherman, eccentric owner of the fictional Orlando Breakers professional football team. From 1996 to 2004, Helmond had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as Lois Whelan (Ray Barone's mother-in-law).
Film appearances

She appeared in three movies directed by Terry Gilliam:

   * Time Bandits (1981) as “Mrs. Ogre”
   * Brazil (1985) as “Mrs. Ida Lowry”
   * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) as "The Desk Clerk"
   * Family Plot (1976; Alfred Hitchcock's last film)
   * Cars (2006) as Lizzie, a 1923 Ford Model T

Award nominations

She was nominated for Broadway's 1973 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown.

She was nominated for an Emmy for her role on Soap four times in a row (1978–1981) as Best Actress in a Comedy Series. In 1988 and 1989 she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Who's the Boss?. In 2002 she was nominated as Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Everybody Loves Raymond.
Personal life

She went to a Catholic primary school. In 1957, Helmond married George N. Martin. After their divorce she married her second husband, David Christian; the two have been together since 1962; they have no children. They have owned homes in Los Angeles, New York City, Long Island and London.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/CellarDoorGtr/Random80sPeeps/khelmond.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn120/kid_karl/SOAP/399px-Katherine_Helmond.jpg


I always liked her role in Who's The Boss.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 6:55 am


I always liked her role in Who's The Boss.

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/05/10 at 6:57 am

http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=1579

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 7:03 am

The person who died on this day...Kerwin Mathews
Kerwin Mathews (January 8, 1926 – July 5, 2007) was an American  actor best known for playing the titular heroes in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Three Worlds of Gulliver  (1960) and Jack the Giant Killer (1962).
Mathews was born in Seattle, Washington and was 2 years old when moved with his divorced mother to Janesville, Wisconsin. He attended Janesville High School, graduating in 1943. Mathews said that "a kind high school teacher put me in a play, and that changed my life."  According to a classmate, he was a "handsome rascal".

After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, he attended and performed at nearby Milton College for two years before transferring to Beloit College on drama and music scholarships. He remained at Beloit three years after graduation teaching speech and dramatic arts and appeared in regional theater. He also taught high school English in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1954, Mathews acted at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he met the head of casting for Columbia Pictures, leading to a seven-year studio contract. He appeared in several action/adventure and fantasy films of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although he felt typecast, he "looked fondly" on his Hollywood career, with his favorite role being Johan Strauss, Jr. in the Disney two-part telefilm The Waltz King (1963). Matthews played Jean Bruce's OSS 117 in a series of French films and played The Viscount based on another hero written by Bruce.

He retired from acting in 1978 and moved to San Francisco, where he ran a clothing and antiques shop. He died in his sleep in San Francisco on July 5, 2007 at the age of 81. He leaves behind his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll. The City of Janesville subsequently renamed a one-block street adjacent to the former Janesville High School "Kerwin Mathews Court". The renovated building now houses the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
Filmography
Television

   * Space Patrol, "The Escape of Mr Proteus" (1954)
   * Ford Theatre
         o Charlie C company (1954)
         o The Lady in the Wind (1955)
         o Catch at Straws (1956)
   * Playhouse 90
         o The Country Husband (1956)
   * Matinee Theatre
         o Show of Strength (1957)
         o The Suicide Club (1958)
   * Goodyear Television Playhouse
         o The Obenauf Story (1959)†
   * Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
         o The Waltz King (1963) (two parts)
   * Ghostbreaker (1967)†
   * Dead of Night: A Darkness at Blaisedon (1969)†
   * Ironside (1972)
         o "Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare a Life?"
         o "Achilles' Heel"
   * Death Takes a Holiday (1971)

† Pilots for unsold series

Film

   * Five Against the House (1955)
   * The Garment Jungle (1957)
   * Tarawa Beachhead (1958)
   * The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
   * The Last Blitzkrieg (1959)
   * Saffo, venere di Lesbo aka The Warrior Princess (1960)
   * Man on a String (1960)
   * The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960)
   * The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961)
   * Pirates of Blood River (1962)
   * Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
   * OSS 117 (1963) ‡
   * Maniac (1963)
   * Panic in Bangkok (1964) ‡
   * Shadow of Evil (1966) ‡
   * Battle Beneath the Earth (1967)
   * The Viscount (1967)
   * The Killer Likes Candy (1968)
   * A Boy...a Girl (1969)
   * Barquero (1970)
   * Octaman (1971)
   * Achilles Heel (1972)
   * The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)
   * Nightmare in Blood (1978)

‡ OSS 117 film
* I could not find a picture of Kerwin, but I think this is him in  The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/Kooshmeister/Movie%20Deaths/The%207th%20Voyage%20of%20Sinbad/7th_voyage_of_sinbad_haroufa01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/05/10 at 10:16 am


I always liked her role in Who's The Boss.

I liked her as Jessica Tate in SOAP. That was a wacky show. One of my favorites. Too bad it only lasted 4 seasons.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 10:49 am


I liked her as Jessica Tate in SOAP. That was a wacky show. One of my favorites. Too bad it only lasted 4 seasons.



I only remember a few episodes of SOAP, I don't think my parents watched it to often. For some reason I just don't remember her on Coach :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/05/10 at 1:09 pm


I liked her as Jessica Tate in SOAP. That was a wacky show. One of my favorites. Too bad it only lasted 4 seasons.




I wonder why it ended? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/05/10 at 2:17 pm


I thought The Donna Summer version was nice.
Too much on the disco!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/05/10 at 2:18 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H_jRuzBurQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/05/10 at 2:59 pm

I don't care who did it: McArther Park:  8-P 8-P 8-P



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/10 at 5:14 pm


I don't care who did it: McArther Park:  8-P 8-P 8-P



Cat

You don't care that the cake was left out in the rain and it took so long to bake,,and they'll never have that recipe again ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 5:44 am


Too much on the disco!



right.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 5:44 am


You don't care that the cake was left out in the rain and it took so long to bake,,and they'll never have that recipe again ;D


It never was mentioned as to what type of cake.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 6:34 am

The word of the day...Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma (a thin, fuzzy, temporary atmosphere), and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei are themselves loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles, ranging from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across. Comets have been observed since ancient times and have historically been considered bad omens.

Comets have a wide range of orbital periods, ranging from a few years to hundreds of thousands of years. Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper Belt, or its associated scattered disc, which lie beyond the orbit of Neptune. Longer-period comets are thought to originate in the Oort Cloud, a cloud of icy bodies in the outer Solar System that were left behind during the condensation of the solar nebula. Long-period comets plunge towards the Sun from the Oort Cloud because of gravitational perturbations caused by either the massive outer planets of the Solar System (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), or passing stars. Rare hyperbolic comets pass once through the inner Solar System before being thrown out into interstellar space along hyperbolic trajectories.

Comets are distinguished from asteroids by the presence of a coma or a tail. However, extinct comets that have passed close to the Sun many times have lost nearly all of their volatile ices and dust, and may come to resemble small asteroids. Asteroids are thought to have a different origin from comets, having formed inside the orbit of Jupiter rather than in the outer Solar System. These have somewhat blurred the distinction between asteroids and comets (see centaurs and asteroid terminology).

As of May 2010 there are a reported 3,976 known comets of which about 1,500 are Kreutz Sungrazers and about 484 are short-period. This number is steadily increasing. However, this represents only a tiny fraction of the total potential comet population: the reservoir of comet-like bodies in the outer solar system may number one trillion. The number visible to the naked eye averages roughly one per year, though many of these are faint and unspectacular. Particularly bright or notable examples are called "Great Comets".
http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq43/lynch22156/comets.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Midnightc0ffeE/COMETS.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x202/diduseeme/comets.jpg
http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/keiths_photobucket/Coaster%20Trip%202010/IMG_0265.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/iontruo2/comet.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u318/quickbunny777/comet.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/zack_1709/comet.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 6:40 am

The person born on this day...Bill Haley
Bill Haley (pronounced /ˈheɪliː/) (July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock". Bill Haley was born in Highland Park, Michigan. Because of the effects of the Great Depression on the Detroit area, his father moved the family to Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, near the town of Chester, when Bill was seven years old. Haley's father played the banjo, and his mother was a technically accomplished keyboardist with classical training. Haley told the story that when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one.

The anonymous sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album "Rock Around The Clock" describe Haley's early life and career thus: "Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band."

The sleeve notes continue: "When Bill Haley was fifteen he left home with his guitar and very little else and set out on the hard road to fame and fortune. The next few years, continuing this story in a fairy-tale manner, were hard and poverty stricken, but cramful of useful experience. Apart from learning how to exist on one meal a day and other artistic exercises, he worked at an open-air park show, sang and yodelled with any band that would have him and worked with a traveling medicine show. Eventually he got a job with a popular group known as the "Down Homers" while they were in Hartford, Connecticut. Soon after this he decided, as all successful people must decide at some time or another, to be his own boss again - and he has been that ever since.’ .

The sleeve notes conclude: "For six years Bill Haley was a musical director of Radio Station WPWA in Chester, Pennsylvania, and led his own band all through this period. It was then known as Bill Haley's Saddlemen, indicating their definite leaning toward the tough Western style. They continued playing in clubs as well as over the radio around Philadelphia, and in 1951 made their first recordings."
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley and the Comets performing during 1974
Main article: Bill Haley & His Comets

During the Labour Day weekend in 1952, The Saddlemen were renamed Bill Haley with Haley's Comets (inspired by a popular mispronunciation of Halley's Comet), and in 1953, Haley's recording of "Crazy Man, Crazy" (co-written by Haley and his bass player, Marshall Lytle although Lytle would not receive credit until 2001) became the first rock and roll song to hit the American charts, peaking at no.15 on Billboard and no.11 on Cash Box. Soon after, the band's name was revised to Bill Haley & His Comets.

In 1953, a song called "Rock Around the Clock" was written for Haley. He was unable to record it until April 12, 1954. Initially, it was relatively unsuccessful, staying at the charts for only one week, but Haley soon scored a major worldwide hit with a cover version of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which went on to sell a million copies and became the first ever rock 'n' roll song to enter British singles charts in December 1954 and became a Gold Record.He retained elements of the original, but threw some country music aspects in to the song (specifically, Western Swing) and cleaned up the lyrics. Haley and his band were important in launching the music known as "Rock and Roll" to a wider, mostly white audience after years of it being considered an underground genre. When "Rock Around the Clock" appeared behind the opening credits of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle starring Glenn Ford, it soared to the top of the American Billboard chart for eight weeks. The single is commonly used as a convenient line of demarcation between the "rock era" and the music industry that preceded it; Billboard separated its statistical tabulations into 1890-1954 and 1955-present. After the record rose to number one, Haley was quickly given the title "Father of Rock and Roll," by the media, and by teenagers that had come to embrace the new style of music.

"Rock Around the Clock" was the first record ever to sell over one million copies in both Britain and Germany and, in 1957, Haley became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe. Haley continued to score hits throughout the 1950s such as "See You Later, Alligator" and he starred in the first rock and roll musical movies Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock, both in 1956. His star was soon surpassed in the USA by the younger, sexier Elvis, but Haley continued to be a major star in Latin America, Mexico, and in Europe throughout the 1960s.
Death and legacy

A self-admitted alcoholic (as indicated in a 1974 radio interview for the BBC), Haley fought a battle with alcohol into the 1970s. Nonetheless, he and his band continued to be a popular touring act, enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1960s with the Rock and roll revival movement and the signing of a lucrative record deal with the European Sonet Records label. After performing for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance in 1979, Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June 1980. Prior to the South African tour, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 was canceled.

The October 25, 1980 edition of the German paper Bild reported that Haley had a brain tumor. It quoted British manager Patrick Maylan as saying that Haley "had taken a fit and went over the seat. He didn't recognize anyone anymore" after being taken to his home in Beverly Hills. It also reported that a doctor at the clinic where Haley had been taken said, "The tumor can't be operated on anymore.".

"The Berliner Zeitung" reported a few days later that Haley had collapsed after a performance in Texas and been taken to the hospital in his home town of Harlingen, Texas.

Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography (accounts differ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee, when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he retired to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died early on the morning February 9, 1981

Haley's death certificate listed "Natural causes most likely heart attack" as the 'Immediate Cause' of death. The next lines, 'Due to, or as a consequence Of" were blank.

Haley made a succession of bizarre, mostly monologue late-night phone calls to friends and relatives in which he seemed incoherently drunk or ill. Haley's first wife has been quoted as saying, "He would call and ramble and dwell on the past, his mind was really warped". A belligerent phone call to a business associate was taped and gives evidence of Haley's troubled state of mind.

Media reports immediately following his death indicated Haley displayed deranged and erratic behavior in his final weeks, although beyond a biography of Haley by John Swenson, released a year later, which described Haley painting the windows of his home black, there is little information extant about Haley's final days.

Haley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Songwriters Tom Russell and Dave Alvin addressed Haley's demise in musical terms with "Haley's Comet" on Alvin's 1991 album Blue Blvd. Dwight Yoakam sang backup on the tribute.

Haley's original Comets still tour the world. They released a concert DVD in 2004 on Hydra Records, played the Viper Room in West Hollywood in 2005, and performed at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri in 2006-07.

In March 2007, the Original Comets pre-opened the Bill Haley Museum in Munich, Germany (Schleissheimerstr.321,München www.rockithydra.de). On October 27, 2007, ex-Comets guitar player Bill Turner opened the Bill Haley Museum for the public.
Asteroid

    Main article - 79896 Billhaley

In February 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced the naming of asteroid 79896 Billhaley to mark the 25th anniversary of Bill Haley's death.
Children

Married three times, Bill Haley had at least eight children. John W. Haley, his eldest son, wrote Sound and Glory, a biography of Haley, while his youngest daughter, Gina Haley, is a professional musician based in Texas. Scott Haley is an athlete, while Haley's youngest son, Pedro Haley, is also a musician.

He also had a daughter, Martha Maria, from his last marriage with Martha Velasco.

Bill Haley Jr. (Haley's second son and first with Joan Barbara "Cuppy" Haley-Hahn) publishes a regional business magazine in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Route 422 Business Advisor). He sings and plays guitar with a band called "Lager Rhythms," and appeared with the "Original Comets" at the Bubba Mac Shack in Somers Point, New Jersey, in 2004 and 2005, and at the Twin Bar re-dedication ceremony in Gloucester City, New Jersey, in 2007. He is currently writing a biography about his father, concentrating on the years 1949-61.
Prior to the formation of Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, which later became The Comets, Haley released several singles with other groups. Dates are approximate due to lack of documentation.

As Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing

1948

    * Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals (vocal by Tex King)/Four Leaf Clover Blues (Cowboy CR1201)

1949

    * Tennessee Border/Candy Kisses (Cowboy CR1202)

As Johnny Clifton and His String Band

1949 or 1950

    * Stand Up and Be Counted/Loveless Blues (Center C102)

Many Haley discographies list two 1946 recordings by the Down Homers released on the Vogue Records label as featuring Haley. Haley historian Chris Gardner, as well as surviving members of the group, have confirmed that the two singles: "Out Where the West Winds Blow"/"Who's Gonna Kiss You When I'm Gone" (Vogue R736) and "Boogie Woogie Yodel"/"Baby I Found Out All About You" (Vogue R786) do not feature Haley. However, the tracks were nonetheless included in the compilation box set Rock 'n' Roll Arrives released by Bear Family Records in 2006.

    See the discography section of Bill Haley & His Comets for a list of the singles and album releases made by Haley with the Saddlemen and the Comets from 1950 onwards.

Unreleased recordings

Bill Haley recorded prolifically during the 1940s, often at the radio stations where he worked, or in formal studio settings. Virtually none of these recordings was ever released. Liner notes for a 2003 CD release by Hydra Records entitled Bill Haley and Friends Vol. 2: The Legendary Cowboy Recordings reveal that several additional Cowboy label single releases were planned for the Four Aces, but this never occurred.

A number of previously unreleased Haley country-western recordings from the 1946-1950 period began to emerge near the end of Haley's life, some of which were released by the Arzee label, with titles such as "Yodel Your Blues Away" and "Rose of My Heart." Still more demos, alternate takes, and wholly unheard-before recordings have been released since Haley's death. Notable examples of such releases include the albums Golden Country Origins by Grassroots Records of Australia and Hillbilly Haley by the British label, Rollercoaster, as well as the aforementioned German release by Hydra Records. In 2006, Bear Family Records of Germany released what is considered to be the most comprehensive (yet still incomplete) collection of Haley's 1946-1950 recordings as part of its Haley box set Rock n' Roll Arrives.
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc187/boogiewoody/Bill%20Haley/BillHaley.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r145/ep2nd2none/billNep.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 6:59 am

The person who died on this day...Brandon DeWilde
Andre Brandon deWilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an American actor born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. Debuting on Broadway at the age of 7, De Wilde became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding  and was considered a child prodigy.

Before the age of 12 he had become the first child actor awarded the Donaldson Award, filmed his role in The Member of the Wedding, starred in his most memorable film role as Joey Starrett in the film Shane, been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, starred in his own sitcom television series on ABC and became a household name making numerous TV appearances and being featured on the cover of Life magazine on March 10, 1952, for his second Broadway outing Mrs. McThing.

Into adulthood, additional plays, movies and TV appearances followed before his death at age 30 in a motor vehicle accident in Colorado, on July 6, 1972.
Brandon De Wilde's father, Frederick A. (Fritz) De Wilde, was an actor and Broadway production stage manager, and his mother, Eugenia (Wilson) De Wilde, was a part-time Broadway actress.  The De Wilde family moved from Brooklyn to Baldwin, Long Island after he was born. De Wilde made his much-acclaimed Broadway debut at the age of 7 in The Member of the Wedding, was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award and his talent was praised by John Gielgud in the following year.  He also starred in the 1952 film version directed by Fred Zinnemann.

In 1952, De Wilde acted in the film Shane as Joey Starrett and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He had the lead role in his own television series, Jamie (1953-1954), which, although popular, was cancelled due to a contract dispute. In 1956 he was featured with Walter Brennan, Phil Harris, and Sidney Poitier in the coming-of-age Batjac movie production of Good-bye, My Lady, adapted from James Street's book. This movie showcased the then-rare dog breed Basenji, the African barkless dog, to American audiences.

Brooklyn-born, De Wilde's soft-spoken manner of speech in his early roles was more akin to a Southern drawl. In 1956, at the age of 14, De Wilde narrated classical music works Peter and The Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev and the Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra by Sir Benjamin Britten. He also, with his Good-bye, My Lady co-star Walter Brennan, did a Huckleberry Finn reading in the album The Stories of Mark Twain. All 3 have been released as MP3 downloads.

De Wilde shared an on-screen camaraderie with both James Stewart and Audie Murphy in the 1957 western Night Passage. In 1958 De Wilde continued his career starring in The Missouri Traveler with lead billing above Lee Marvin in another coming-of-age film, this one set in the early 1900s. He made a mark onscreen at age 17 as an adolescent father in the 1959 drama Blue Denim, co-starring Carol Lynley, with the then mature theme of abortion, even though the word is never used in the film.
The Sorceror's Apprentice episode features De Wilde as the mentally-troubled Hugo in Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

In 1961, Brandon De Wilde filmed an episode for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series. The Sorceror's Apprentice had De Wilde playing escaped retarded youth Hugo, who cannot separate fact from fantasy, receiving the aid of kindly magician Victor Sadini at a carnival playing in Toledo, Ohio. The episode never aired on the NBC network because the finale, by 1960s standards, was deemed "too gruesome", but it was included in Alfred Hitchcock Presents syndication and thrives in public-domain VHS, DVD and video on demand releases.

He appeared in All Fall Down (1962), opposite Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint, and in Martin Ritt's Hud (1963) co-starring with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas. Although the only lead actor not to be Oscar-nominated for Hud, De Wilde accepted the Best Supporting Actor trophy on behalf of co-star Melvyn Douglas (who was in Israel at the time). That same year, he appeared on Jack Palance's ABC circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth. De Wilde delivered a performance at the age of twenty-two as Jere Torry, the screen son of John Wayne in In Harm's Way (1965). That same year he also reunited with his Good-bye, My Lady star Walter Brennan for Disney in Those Calloways.

After that point, much of his roles were limited to television guest appearances. "Being small for his age and a bit too pretty...in his favour as a child...worked against him as an adult", wrote author Linda Ashcroft after talking with De Wilde at a party. "He spoke of giving up movies until he could come back as a forty-year-old character actor".

De Wilde's final western role was in Dino De Laurentis' 1971 spaghetti western The Deserter, one year before his death. He played adjutant Lieutenant Ferguson who meets with an untimely end. In a career spanning the years 1950 to 1972 (including 5 Broadway plays and 13 movies), Brandon De Wilde made his last screen appearance in Wild In The Sky (1972).

On July 7, 1972, the day after his death, The New York Times wrote, "The professionals he worked with praised him for an unpretentiousness that many found a surprising quality in one so celebrated from his earliest years".
Death

Brandon De Wilde died from injuries after a traffic accident in the Denver suburb of Lakewood that occurred at about 3:25 PM on July 6, 1972. De Wilde was driving a camper van alone in a rainstorm on W 6th Ave near Kipling St when it went off the street, struck a guardrail caromed and then struck a flatbed truck used to install guardrails. His camper rolled onto its side, pinning him in the wreckage. He was not wearing his seat belt. He was taken to St. Anthony Hospital, where he died at 7:20 PM of multiple injuries including a broken back, neck, and leg.

De Wilde had been in Denver to co-star in a production of Butterflies Are Free with Maureen O'Sullivan, which ended July 1. At the time of the accident, De Wilde was on his way to Colorado General Hospital to visit his second wife of 3 months. He left a son, Jesse, from his first marriage.He was originally buried in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, but his parents later moved his remains to Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York, in Nassau County, to be closer to their home on Long Island. Frederick De Wilde died in 1980 and Eugenia De Wilde died in 1987.
Legacy

De Wilde, who watched as Paul McCartney wrote the song "Wait" during the filming of the Beatles movie Help!, had hoped to embark on a music career. He asked his friend Gram Parsons (of The Byrds), and his band at the time, International Submarine Band, to back him in a recording session. Guitarist John Nuese claimed that De Wilde sang harmony with Parsons better than anyone except Emmylou Harris.

Parsons and Harris later co-wrote a song entitled "In My Hour Of Darkness", whose first verse refers to the accident that killed De Wilde: "Once I knew a young man / Went driving through the night, / Miles and miles without a word / But just his high-beam lights. / Who'd have ever thought they'd build / Such a deadly Denver bend; / To be so strong, to take so long / As it would till the end."
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1952 The Member of the Wedding John Henry
1953 Shane Joey Starrett Nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1956 Good-bye, My Lady Skeeter Credited as Brandon deWilde
1957 Night Passage Joey Adams Credited as Brandon deWilde
1958 The Missouri Traveler Biarn Turner
1959 Blue Denim Arthur Bartley Credited as Brandon deWilde
Alternative title: Blue Jeans
1962 All Fall Down Clinton Willart
1963 Hud Lon "Lonnie" Bannon Credited as Brandon deWilde
1965 Those Calloways Bucky Calloway Credited as Brandon deWilde
In Harm's Way Ens. Jeremiah "Jere" Torrey
1967 The Trip Extra Uncredited
1971 The Deserter Lieutenant Ferguson Alternative titles: The Devil's Backbone
Ride to Glory
1972 Wild in the Sky Josh Alternative titles: Black Jack
God Bless the Bomb
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1951-1952 The Philco Television Playhouse 2 episodes
1953 ABC Album Jamie McHummer 1 episode
1953-1954 Jamie Jamison Francis McHummer 22 episodes
1955-1956 Climax!
The Day They Gave Babies Away (1955)
An Episode of Sparrows (1956) Robbie Eunson
Tip Malone 2 episodes
1956 Screen Director's Playhouse
Partners Terry Johnson 1 episode
1957 The United States Steel Hour
The Locked Door David 1 episode
1959 Alcoa Theatre
Man of His House George Adams 1 episode
1959-1961 Wagon Train Danny Benedict
Mark Miner 2 episodes
1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Sorcerer's Apprentice Hugo Credited as Brandon deWilde
1961 Thriller
Pigeons from Hell Tim Branner 1 episode
1962-1970 The Virginian James "Mike Flynn" Cafferty
Walt Bradbury
Rem Garvey 3 episodes
1963 The Nurses
Ordeal Paul Marker 1 episode
1964 The Greatest Show on Earth
Love the Giver Vic Hawkins 1 episode
The Wonderful World of Disney
The Tenderfoot Jim Tevis 3 episodes / Released theatrically in Europe 1966.
12 O'Clock High
Here's to Courageous Cowards Cpl. Lawrence 1 episode
1965 The Defenders
The Objector Roger Bailey, Jr. 1 episode
1966 Combat!
A Sudden Terror Wilder 1 episode
ABC Stage 67
The Confession Carl Boyer 1 episode
1969 The Name of the Game
The Bobby Currier Story Bobby Currier 1 episode
Journey to the Unknown Alec Worthing 1 episode
Hawaii Five-O
King Kamehameha Blues Arnold Potter 1 episode
Love, American Style Jimmy Devlin 1 episode
1970 Insight Weissberg
The Young Rebels
To Hang a Hero Young Nathan Hale 1 episode
1971 Night Gallery Johnson 1 episode
Ironside
In the Line of Duty George Whittaker 1 episode
See also

    * List of child prodigies
* sadly I have no picture of him

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 7:02 am


It never was mentioned as to what type of cake.

No it never mentioned it, but it does have sweet green icing on it :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/06/10 at 11:01 am


You don't care that the cake was left out in the rain and it took so long to bake,,and they'll never have that recipe again ;D



You got that right. That song is SOOOOOO stupid it is unreal. I swear that the guy who wrote it must have been stoned at the time.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/06/10 at 11:04 am



You got that right. That song is SOOOOOO stupid it is unreal. I swear that the guy who wrote it must have been stoned at the time.



Cat

It's a song from the 60s, so there is a 50/50 chance the writer was stoned.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/06/10 at 11:25 am


It's a song from the 60s, so there is a 50/50 chance the writer was stoned.



Well, you know what they say. If you remember the 60s, you weren't there.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 12:46 pm



You got that right. That song is SOOOOOO stupid it is unreal. I swear that the guy who wrote it must have been stoned at the time.



Cat

I was just reading about the song, written by Jimmy Webb and he wanted The Association to sing it, but they declined.....But over 50 artist have recorded versions of it:
The song has been covered  more than 50 times, including versions by:

    * The 5th Dimension
    * Diana Ross & the Supremes
    * Beggar's Opera
    * Glen Campbell
    * Vic Damone
    * Sammy Davis, Jr (twice)
    * Percy Faith
    * Michael Feinstein
    * Maynard Ferguson
    * The Four Tops
    * Plastic Penny
    * Justin Hayward
    * Gitte Hænning
    * Waylon Jennings
    * Long John Baldry
    * Stan Kenton
    * Liza Minnelli
    * Grimethorpe Colliery Band
    * Hugo Montenegro
    * Only Men Aloud!
    * Elaine Paige
    * Psychotica
    * The Queers
    * Doc Severinsen
    * Frank Sinatra
    * The Negro Problem
    * The Three Degrees
    * Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
    * Andy Williams
    * Zumpano
    * Regine Velasquez
    * Sally Yeh

Other notable covers include the following:

    * Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Ed Ames each recorded versions utilizing only the middle section.
    * Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed recorded an all-instrumental version for their guitar duet album Me & Jerry, winner of the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.
    * The Four Tops recorded their version of the song, omitting the long instrumental breaks of the song, and reached #38 on the Billboard singles chart.
    * The song was also performed by the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in several productions in the mid-1970s.
    * In 1977 Finnish singer-songwriter Hector recorded the song in band called H.E.C. with Finnish lyrics. Hector titled the song in Finnish as "Vanhan kirkon puisto" ("Old Church´s park"), referring to the old church of Helsinki, Hector´s hometown.
    * In 1980 the song was performed by Pink Lady on their variety show Pink Lady and Jeff.
    * Mónica Naranjo performed a Spanish version of this song, "Palabra De Mujer", in the 1990s.
    * Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward with Mike Batt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra covered Webb's song on his Classic Blue album.
    * It was also performed by Carrie Underwood in season four of American Idol.
    * UK Hip Hop artist Roots Manuva uses the main chord structure in his 2001 single "Dreamy Days".
    * Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) sings an Italian version called "Parco MacArthur (La Torta in Pioggia)".
    * Noelia Cano, a Spanish singer, had a version in the reality show Operación Triunfo in 2008.

Negative press

"MacArthur Park"'s unusual metaphors and sentimentality have made it a frequent target of parody and ridicule over the years.

In 1992, humorist Dave Barry conducted a poll among his readers (as recorded in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs) of the worst songs ever. Barry's readers selected Harris' version of "MacArthur Park" as the worst song ever recorded, both in terms of "Worst Lyrics" and "Worst Overall Song".

The song was also once parodied in a 1981 episode of SCTV, in which Dave Thomas, playing Richard Harris, sang a version of the song that appears to never end.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 1:32 pm


It never was mentioned as to what type of cake.
It was a wet cake!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 1:34 pm



You got that right. That song is SOOOOOO stupid it is unreal. I swear that the guy who wrote it must have been stoned at the time.



Cat
The song begins as a poem about love, then moves into a lover's lament.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 1:37 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qnOf-OMuAw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 2:56 pm


It was a wet cake!

lol that's why the icing was melting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 2:59 pm


lol that's why the icing was melting.
We have to remember that "MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark" in the first place.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:00 pm


lol that's why the icing was melting.
The icing was green in colour.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 3:03 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qnOf-OMuAw

Classic :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:04 pm


Classic :)
He had other classics too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 3:04 pm


We have to remember that "MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark" in the first place.


The icing was green in colour.

Are the words Dark and Green metaphors?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 3:06 pm


He had other classics too.

Yes I also like Shake, Rattle & Roll.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:08 pm


It was a wet cake!


Chocolate Cream Pie?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:09 pm


Yes I also like Shake, Rattle & Roll.
It is Mambo Rock for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:09 pm


Chocolate Cream Pie?
A pie is a pie and a cake is a cake.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:09 pm


We have to remember that "MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark" in the first place.


But why was it melting? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:10 pm


Yes I also like Shake, Rattle & Roll.


my favorites too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:11 pm


But why was it melting? ???
The cake was not melting, it was just getting wet because of the rain.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:13 pm


The cake was not melting, it was just getting wet because of the rain.


the cake should've been in the refrigerator.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:13 pm


Are the words Dark and Green metaphors?
Green can be dark?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:14 pm


the cake should've been in the refrigerator.
...and the refrigerator should had been in the park?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:15 pm


...and the refrigerator should had been in the park?


But where would you put the plug? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:16 pm


But where would you put the plug? ???
At the cafeteria?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:16 pm


At the cafeteria?


So then the cake should be inside to be kept cool.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:17 pm


So then the cake should be inside to be kept cool.
...and in the dry.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 3:19 pm


Green can be dark?



Yes or envy or jealousy?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:19 pm


Are the words Dark and Green metaphors?
Dark satanic mills and green and pleasant land?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:19 pm


Yes or envy or jealousy?
Envy of maiking a delicius cake and the jealousy of having been left out in the rain?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:20 pm


...and in the dry.


No one will eat wet cake.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 3:25 pm


Envy of maiking a delicius cake and the jealousy of having been left out in the rain?

The person who left it out was envious that they couldn't think of the recipe, and will never bake such a great cake.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:25 pm


No one will eat wet cake.
Why couldn't one of the old men playing checkers take the cake into the dry?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:26 pm


The person who left it out was envious that they couldn't think of the recipe, and will never bake such a great cake.
Great as in a good taste or great as in the size?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:32 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHS8hj4TdT8
Weird Al Yankovic wrote a parody of this called "Jurassic Park" about the blockbuster movie of the same name. It is on his 1993 album Alapalooza.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:35 pm


Why couldn't one of the old men playing checkers take the cake into the dry?


Maybe they were playing Bocee Ball.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:37 pm


Maybe they were playing Bocee Ball.
In the rain?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/10 at 3:38 pm


In the rain?


could be a light rain.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/06/10 at 3:39 pm


could be a light rain.
Is light rain drizzle?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 4:02 pm


Great as in a good taste or great as in the size?

Maybe great looking till it got rained on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 4:06 pm

Just found more facts and the damn cake had hash in it, plus it's about a relationship that was ending, so the cake and rain are metaphors.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/06/10 at 5:05 pm


Just found more facts and the damn cake had hash in it, plus it's about a relationship that was ending, so the cake and rain are metaphors.



See, I KNEW the guy was stoned.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/10 at 6:21 pm



See, I KNEW the guy was stoned.



Cat

That's right ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/10 at 1:22 am


Just found more facts and the damn cake had hash in it, plus it's about a relationship that was ending, so the cake and rain are metaphors.
Yes, a rainy day does bring misery.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/07/10 at 1:27 am

July 7th, Ringo Starr turns 70 today. Imagine that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 6:50 am


Yes, a rainy day does bring misery.

Yes and losing the hashish cake could upset people too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 6:55 am


July 7th, Ringo Starr turns 70 today. Imagine that.

Yes he is :)..The person born on this day...Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in 1962, taking over from Pete Best. In addition to his contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead singer on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and the Beatles version of "Act Naturally") and as songwriter with the songs "Don't Pass Me By", "What Goes On" and "Octopus's Garden".

As drummer for The Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills", technically limited by being a left-handed person playing a right-handed kit. Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect" and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs".

Starr is the most documented and critically acclaimed actor-Beatle, playing a central role in several Beatles films, and appearing in numerous other movies, both during and after his career with The Beatles. After The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Starr achieved solo musical success with several singles and albums, and recorded with each of his fellow ex-Beatles as they too developed their post-Beatle musical careers. He has also been featured in a number of TV documentaries, hosted TV shows, and narrated the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. He currently tours with the All-Starr Band, making stops in such cities as New York and Boston, MA.
The Beatles: 1962–1970
Main article: The Beatles
Four greyscale images of young men with "mop-top" haircuts, separated by a white border. John Lennon (top left) is looking towards the left of the frame (his right), with exposed teeth. Paul McCartney (top right) is facing forward with an opened mouth. George Harrison (bottom left) has his right arm raised and his tongue stuck out slightly as if licking his lips. Ringo Starr's teeth are visible, and his left eye is closed as if winking. All four are dressed in white shirts, black ties, and dark coats.
Ringo Starr (bottom right) with John Lennon (top left), Paul McCartney (top right) and George Harrison (bottom left), arriving in New York City in 1964
Vocals

Starr generally sang at least one song on each studio album as part of an attempt to establish the vocal personality of all four members. In some cases, Lennon or McCartney wrote the lyrics and melody especially for him, as they did for "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver (1966) and "With a Little Help from My Friends" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. These melodies were tailored to Starr's baritone vocal range. Starr's backing vocals are heard on songs such as "All Together Now", "Carry That Weight", and "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill".
Composition

The Beatles used Starr's unusual turns of phrase, or "Ringoisms" as they became known, such as "a hard day's night" and "tomorrow never knows", and turned them into songs. Recalling this, McCartney said, "Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical... they were sort of magic...". As well as inspiring his bandmates' creativity in this way, Starr occasionally contributed his own lyrics to unfinished Lennon and McCartney songs, such as the line "darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there" in "Eleanor Rigby". Frustrated at times of being the odd man out in the group in regard to songwriting, Starr commented in The Beatles Anthology that when he presented a song to The Beatles, it would often sound to the other three Beatles like a popular song of the day. Starr did eventually begin composing, and is credited with "Don't Pass Me By" (on The White Album) and "Octopus's Garden" (on Abbey Road) as sole songwriter.

His disgust with the band's tensions and boredom at waiting around to contribute during the sessions for the White Album caused him to quit the group temporarily. He spent two weeks with actor Peter Sellers on the latter's yacht, Amelfis, in Piraeus, where he wrote "Octopus's Garden". He did not return for two weeks, even though the other Beatles urged him to come back: Lennon sent telegrams, and Harrison set up flowers all over the studio for Starr's return saying "Welcome home". Starr's name also appears as a co-writer for the Rubber Soul track "What Goes On" along with Lennon and McCartney, while the songs "Flying" (on the Magical Mystery Tour album) and "Dig It" (on Let It Be) are listed as being written by the entire group. On issued material after the break-up, Starr wrote "Taking a Trip to Carolina" from the second "bonus" CD of Let It Be... Naked, and received joint songwriting credits with the other three Beatles for "12-Bar Original", "Los Paranoias", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", "Suzy Parker" (heard in the Let It Be film), "Jessie's Dream" (heard in the Magical Mystery Tour film) and The Beatles' version of "Free as a Bird".
1964 Illness

In June 1964, the Beatles were scheduled to tour Scandinavia, Holland, the Far East, and Australia. On 3 June, the day before the tour, Ringo Starr collapsed during an early morning photo session for the Saturday Evening Post at a portrait studio in Barnes, London. Stricken with a 102-degree fever and tonsillitis, he was rushed to the hospital. This bout with tonsillitis necessitated a stay in hospital and a few days of recuperation at home. During this time, Ringo was temporarily replaced for the Denmark and Holland concert dates by shy 24-year-old session drummer Jimmie Nicol. Beatles producer George Martin suggested Jimmie because he had recently recorded at EMI with Tommy Quickly and recently became familiar with Beatles numbers while drumming on a recording session for an album called Beatlemania. At first, George Harrison didn't want Ringo to be replaced and refused to go on the tour without Ringo, but Brian Epstein and George Martin convinced Harrison to begin the tour. Ringo was discharged from the hospital on 11 June, and he rejoined the group in Melbourne on 15 June 1964. Ultimately, Ringo had his tonsils removed during the Beatles' Christmas vacation period later in the year. Ringo would later admit that he feared that he would be permanently replaced during his illness.
Drumming ability and appreciation

While Starr himself has been the first to acknowledge the technical limitations of his drumming for The Beatles, the overall effect of his contribution has received high praise from notable drummers. Starr said, "Whenever I hear another drummer I know I'm no good. I'm no good on the technical things I'm your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills. The fills were funny because I'm really left-handed playing a right-handed kit. I can't roll around the drums because of that." George Martin's version was, "Ringo hit good and hard and used the tom-tom well, even though he couldn't do a roll to save his life", although Martin later added, "He's got tremendous feel. He always helped us to hit the right tempo for a song, and gave it that support—that rock-solid back-beat—that made the recording of all The Beatles' songs that much easier." Lennon, asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world, jokingly replied, "He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles!", but also said, "Ringo's a damn good drummer. He always was a good drummer. He's not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way as Paul's bass playing is underrated." McCartney sent Starr a postcard on 31 January 1969 (the day after the band's performance on the roof of Apple Studios) stating: 'You are the greatest drummer in the world. Really.' This postcard is included in Starr's book Postcards From The Boys.

Drummer Steve Smith extolled Starr's qualities beyond the technical, in terms of his musical contribution as drummer:
“ Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm in how the public saw drummers. We started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. One of Ringo's great qualities was that he composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song.

Phil Collins, the drummer for Genesis, who was himself influenced by Starr, said:
“ Starr is vastly underrated. The drum fills on the song "A Day in the Life" are very complex things. You could take a great drummer today and say, 'I want it like that.' He wouldn't know what to do.

In September 1980, John Lennon had this to say about Starr:
“ Ringo was a star in his own right in Liverpool before we even met. He was a professional drummer who sang and performed and had Ringo Star-time and he was in one of the top groups in Britain but especially in Liverpool before we even had a drummer. So Ringo's talent would have come out one way or the other as something or other. I don't know what he would have ended up as, but whatever that spark is in Ringo that we all know but can't put our finger on -- whether it is acting, drumming or singing I don't know -- there is something in him that is projectable and he would have surfaced with or without the Beatles. Ringo is a damn good drummer.

Many drummers acknowledge Starr as an influence, including Steve Gorman of The Black Crowes, Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters, Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, Max Weinberg of the E Street Band, Danny Carey of Tool, Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel's band, Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Eric Carr of Kiss, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, Phil Collins, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, Pedro Andreu of Heroes del Silencio and others.

In his extensive survey of The Beatles' recording sessions, Mark Lewisohn confirmed that Starr was both proficient and remarkably reliable and consistent. According to Lewisohn, there were fewer than a dozen occasions in The Beatles' eight-year recording career where session 'breakdowns' were caused by Starr making a mistake, while the vast majority of takes were stopped owing to mistakes by the other three members. Starr is considered to have influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings.

Starr drummed on all but five of the band's released tracks that feature drumming. For the band's second recording session with Starr as a member on 11 September 1962, producer George Martin replaced the studio-inexperienced Starr with session drummer Andy White to record takes for what would be the two sides of The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You". Starr played tambourine on "Love Me Do" and maracas on "P.S. I Love You" for this session. McCartney took over the drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" from the White Album (1968) after Starr had walked out, and also played the drums on "The Ballad of John and Yoko", recorded on 14 April 1969, since only he and Lennon were immediately available to record the song. Starr commented that he was lucky in being "surrounded by three frustrated drummers" who could only drum in one style.
After The Beatles (since 1970)
1970s

After the announcement of the breakup of The Beatles on 10 April 1970, Starr released two albums before the end of that year. Sentimental Journey featured Starr's renditions of many pre-rock standards and included the arranger talents of Quincy Jones, Maurice Gibb, George Martin and McCartney, among others. His next album, Beaucoups of Blues, put Starr in a country context, and included renowned Nashville session musician Pete Drake. He scored hit singles with "It Don't Come Easy" (1971) (US #4) and "Back Off Boogaloo" (1972) (US #9), the latter of which was his biggest UK hit, peaking at #2. He achieved two #1 hits in the US, with "Photograph" (co-written with Harrison) and "You're Sixteen" (written by the Sherman Brothers of Mary Poppins fame).

He participated in The Concert for Bangladesh organised by Harrison in 1971, as well as drumming on Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World, Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Yoko Ono's early solo work. Starr then made his debut as a film director with the T. Rex documentary Born to Boogie. Starr became firm friends with T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan and during the period of filming the documentary, Starr released the single "Back Off Boogaloo".

In 1971, he started a furniture company with designer Robin Cruikshank. Starr's own avant-garde designs included a flower-shaped table with adjustable petal seats and a donut-shaped fireplace.

The 1973 album Ringo, produced by Richard Perry, with participation by the other three former Beatles on different tracks, was commercially successful. The album Goodnight Vienna followed the next year and was also successful. Hits and notable tracks from these two albums included "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen" both reaching number one on the US charts, "Oh My My" (US #5) and "I'm the Greatest" (written by Lennon) from Ringo, and "Only You (And You Alone)" (US #6) and "No No Song" (US #3) from 1974's Goodnight Vienna. In late 1975, these singles and others were collected for Starr's first greatest hits compilation, Blast from Your Past, which was the last album to be released on Apple Records. During this period he became romantically involved with Lynsey de Paul. He played tambourine on a song she wrote and produced for Vera Lynn, "Don't You Remember When", and he inspired another De Paul song, "If I Don't Get You The Next One Will", which she described as being about revenge after he missed a dinner appointment with her because he was asleep in his office.

Starr's recording career subsequently diminished in commercial impact, although he continued to record and remained a familiar celebrity presence. Starr signed with Atlantic Records in the mid-1970s, and in 1976 the album Ringo's Rotogravure was released. Although yielding two minor hit singles, "A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll" (US #26) and a cover of "Hey! Baby" (US #74) the album achieved moderate sales but reached a respectable #28. This caused the label to revamp Starr's formula; the results were a curious blend of disco and '70s pop. The album Ringo the 4th (1977) was a commercial disaster, reaching no higher than #162 on the charts. Afterward, Starr soon signed with Portrait Records. His stint with Portrait began on a promising note: 1978 saw the release of Bad Boy, as well as a network TV special. Neither were very popular with Bad Boy reaching a disappointing #129 on the US charts. Starr did not release another album with Portrait.

In 1975, Starr founded his own record label called Ring O'Records, and four albums were released on the label between 1975 and 1978 (Startling Music by David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet by Graham Bonnet, Restless by Rab Noakes and a re-release of an Apple Records album, The Whale by John Tavener) as well as 16 singles by artists such as: Bobby Keys, Carl Grossman, Colonel Doug Bogie, David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet, Suzanne, Johnny Warman, Stormer, Rab Noakes and Dirk & Stig (the last being names of characters from The Beatles pastiche band "The Rutles", created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes).  they received their insignia from Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture  at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. He and the other Beatles were cumulatively nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer for their performances in the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night. The Beatles won the Academy Award for 'Best Original Song Score' for the 1970 film Let It Be. Each Beatle received an Oscar statuette.

The minor planet 4150 Starr, discovered on 31 August 1984 by Brian A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named in his honour. Starr was nominated for a 1989 Daytime Emmy Award for 'Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series' for his role as Mr. Conductor in the television series Shining Time Station.

All four of The Beatles were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the group was inducted in 1988. Since then, Lennon (1994), McCartney (1999), and Harrison (2004) have been inducted for their solo careers as well. Starr remains the only Beatle not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career. However, it was announced on 5 September 2007 that Starr would be on the ballot for membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. If Starr is inducted, it would be the only time both a rock group, and each of its individuals members, were inducted separately.

During the 50th Grammy Awards, Starr, George Martin and Giles Martin accepted the Best Compilation Soundtrack award for Love.

On 9 November 2008, Starr accepted a Diamond Award on behalf of The Beatles during the 2008 World Music Awards ceremony in Monaco.

On 8 February 2010, Starr was honoured with the 2,401st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. It is located at 1750 North Vine Street, in front of the Capitol Records building, as are the stars for Lennon and Harrison.
Discography
Main article: Ringo Starr discography

Studio albums

    * Sentimental Journey (1970)
    * Beaucoups of Blues (1970)
    * Ringo (1973)
    * Goodnight Vienna (1974)
    * Ringo's Rotogravure (1976)
    * Ringo the 4th (1977)
    * Bad Boy (1978)
    * Stop and Smell the Roses (1981)
    * Old Wave (1983)
    * Time Takes Time (1992)
    * Vertical Man (1998)
    * Ringo Rama (2003)
    * Choose Love (2005)
    * Liverpool 8 (2008)
    * Y Not (2010)

Filmography

    * The Beatles Come to Town (1963) (short subject) - with The Beatles
    * A Hard Day's Night (1964) - with The Beatles
    * Help! (1965) - with The Beatles
    * Reflections On Love (1966) (short subject)
    * Magical Mystery Tour (1967) - with The Beatles
    * The Beatles Mod Odyssey (1968) (short subject) - with The Beatles
    * Yellow Submarine (1968)- with The Beatles
    * Candy (1968)
    * The Magic Christian (1969)
    * Let It Be (1970) (documentary) - with The Beatles
    * Music! (1971) (documentary)
    * 200 Motels (1971)
    * Blindman (1971)
    * The Point! (1971) (Narrator on Home Video release)
    * Did Somebody Drop His Mouse? (1972) (short subject)
    * The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) (documentary)
    * Born to Boogie (1972) (documentary) (also director)
    * That'll Be the Day (1973)
    * Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973) (documentary)
    * Son of Dracula (1974)
    * Lisztomania (1975)
    * The Day the Music Died (1977) (documentary)
    * The Beatles and Beyond (1977) (documentary)
    * Sextette (1978)
    * Ringo (1978) TV Movie
    * The Last Waltz (1978) (documentary)
    * The Kids Are Alright (1979) (documentary)
    * Caveman (1981)
    * The Cooler (1982) (short subject)
    * Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
    * Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (1984–1986) (UK & US Narrator)
    * Water (1985) (Cameo)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * To the North of Katmandu (1986)
    * Sun City/The Making of Sun City (1986) (documentary)
    * Queen: The Magic Years (1987) (documentary)
    * Walking After Midnight (1988) (documentary)
    * The Return of Bruno (1988)
    * The Little Engine That Could (1991)(voice)
    * The Beatles Anthology (1995) (documentary) - with The Beatles
    * Concert for George (2003) (documentary)
    * Rudolph & His New Friend Frosty Frosty The Snowman

All-Starr Band editions

    For a detailed list of bands and members, see: Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band

To date, Starr has toured with eleven versions of his All-Starr Band, where "everybody on stage is a star in their own right." The band has consistently toured for over a decade, and, in similar fashion to Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, rotates its lineup depending on the musicians' projects at a given time.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll94/WhyAreYouReadingThis/Ringo_starr.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab100/SeminoleHardRockHollywood/DSC_0090.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 6:59 am

The word of the day...Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod  mollusk in the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.

The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans.

In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/photophantom08/octopus1.jpg
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac323/whitsunweddings/20081108211149.jpg
http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/af251/key-master/cool%20things/Baby_Octopus_by_superchickenn123.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e55/cefforts/Cedar%20Point/joepeacesignonoctopussmall.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn251/thefallacyy/Dubrovnik%20Croatia%202010/IMG_00201600x1200.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/ony017499/IMG_0342a.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/PicPocket74/Canstruction/octopus.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/07/10 at 7:01 am


Just found more facts and the damn cake had hash in it, plus it's about a relationship that was ending, so the cake and rain are metaphors.



Maybe he got to have his cake and ate her too (in the rain) ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/07/10 at 7:02 am

I love calamari.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/07/10 at 7:02 am


July 7th, Ringo Starr turns 70 today. Imagine that.



Happy Birthday. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 7:10 am

The person who died on this day...Vivian Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (5 November 1913 – 7 July 1967) was an Indian-born English actress. She won two Best Actress Academy Awards for playing "southern belles": Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End.

She was a prolific stage performer, frequently in collaboration with her then-husband, Laurence Olivier, who directed her in several of her roles. During her 30-year stage career, she played roles ranging from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet and Lady Macbeth.

Lauded for her beauty, Leigh felt that it sometimes prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress. However, ill health proved to be her greatest obstacle. For much of her adult life Leigh dealt with bipolar disorder. She earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, and her career suffered periods of inactivity. She also suffered recurrent bouts of chronic tuberculosis, which she was first diagnosed with in the mid-1940s. Leigh and Olivier divorced in 1960, and she worked sporadically in film and theatre until her death from tuberculosis in 1967.
Cast in the play The Mask of Virtue in 1935; Leigh received excellent reviews followed by interviews and newspaper articles. One such article was from the Daily Express in which the interviewer noted "a lightning change came over her face", which was the first public mention of the rapid changes in mood that became characteristic of her.  John Betjeman, the future Poet Laureate, also wrote about her, describing her as "the essence of English girlhood".  Korda attended her opening-night performance, admitted his error and signed her to a film contract, with the spelling of her name revised to "Vivien Leigh". She continued with the play, but when Korda moved it to a larger theatre, Leigh was found to be unable to project her voice adequately, or to hold the attention of so large an audience, and the play closed soon after.  In 1960 Leigh recalled her ambivalence towards her first experience of critical acclaim and sudden fame, commenting, "some critics saw fit to be as foolish as to say that I was a great actress. And I thought, that was a foolish, wicked thing to say, because it put such an onus and such a responsibility onto me, which I simply wasn't able to carry. And it took me years to learn enough to live up to what they said for those first notices. I find it so stupid. I remember the critic very well, and have never forgiven him."
Meeting Laurence Olivier
Leigh with Laurence Olivier in Fire Over England (1937), their first collaboration

Laurence Olivier saw Leigh in The Mask of Virtue, and friendship developed after he congratulated her on her performance. Olivier and Leigh began an affair after acting as lovers in Fire Over England (1937). Olivier was still married to actress Jill Esmond. During this time Leigh read the Margaret Mitchell novel Gone with the Wind and instructed her American agent to suggest her to David O. Selznick, who was planning a film version. She remarked to a journalist, "I've cast myself as Scarlett O'Hara", and The Observer's film critic C. A. Lejeune recalled a conversation of the same period in which Leigh "stunned us all" with the assertion that Olivier "won't play Rhett Butler, but I shall play Scarlett O'Hara. Wait and see."

Despite her relative inexperience Leigh was chosen to play Ophelia to Olivier's Hamlet in an Old Vic Theatre production staged at Elsinore, Denmark. Olivier later recalled an incident during which her mood rapidly changed as she was quietly preparing to go onstage. Without apparent provocation, she began screaming at him, before suddenly becoming silent and staring into space. She was able to perform without mishap, and by the following day, she had returned to normal with no recollection of the event. It was the first time Olivier witnessed such behaviour from her. They began living together, as their respective spouses had each refused to grant either of them a divorce.

Leigh appeared with Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan in A Yank at Oxford (1938), the first of her films to receive attention in the United States. During production she developed a reputation for being difficult and unreasonable, and Korda instructed her agent to warn her that her option would not be renewed if her behaviour did not improve. Her next role was in St. Martin's Lane (1938) with Charles Laughton.
Achieving international success

Olivier had been attempting to broaden his film career. Olivier was not well known in the United States despite his success in England and earlier attempts to introduce him to the American market had failed. Offered the role of Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn's production of Wuthering Heights (1939), he travelled to Hollywood, leaving Leigh in London. Goldwyn and the film's director, William Wyler, offered Leigh the secondary role of Isabella, but she refused the role preferring the role of Cathy that had been assigned to Merle Oberon.
Leigh in the trailer for Gone with the Wind (1939)

Hollywood was in the midst of a widely publicised search to find an actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in David O. Selznick's production of Gone with the Wind (1939). Leigh's American theatrical agent was the London representative of the Myron Selznick Agency (Myron was David's brother). In February 1938 Leigh asked that she be allowed to play Scarlett O'Hara. David O. Selznick watched her performance that month in Fire Over England and A Yank at Oxford, thought her to be excellent but in no way a possible Scarlett, as she was "too British." Leigh travelled to Los Angeles to be with Olivier and to try to convince Selznick that she was Scarlett. When Myron Selznick, who also represented Olivier, met Leigh, he felt that she possessed the qualities his brother David O. Selznick was searching for. Myron Selznick took Leigh and Olivier to the set where the burning of the Atlanta Depot scene was being filmed, and introduced Leigh, telling his brother, "Hey, genius. Meet your Scarlett O'Hara." The following day, Leigh read a scene for Selznick, who organised a screen test and wrote to his wife, "She's the Scarlett dark horse and looks damn good. Not for anyone's ear but your own: it's narrowed down to Paulette Goddard, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and Vivien Leigh". The director, George Cukor, concurred and praised Leigh's "incredible wildness"; she secured her role as Scarlett soon after.

Filming proved difficult for Leigh; Cukor was dismissed and replaced by Victor Fleming, with whom Leigh frequently quarrelled. She and Olivia de Havilland secretly met with Cukor at night and on weekends for his advice about how they should play their parts. She befriended Clark Gable, his wife Carole Lombard and Olivia de Havilland, but she clashed with Leslie Howard, with whom she was required to play several emotional scenes. Leigh was sometimes required to work seven days a week which added to her distress, often late into the night, and she missed Olivier, who was working in New York. She said to Laurence Olivier on a long-distance call, " Puss, my puss, how I hate film acting! Hate, hate, and never want to do another film again!"

In 2006, Olivia de Havilland responded to claims of Leigh's manic behaviour during filming Gone with the Wind, published in a biography of Olivier. She defended Leigh, saying, "Vivien was impeccably professional, impeccably disciplined on Gone with the Wind. She had two great concerns: doing her best work in an extremely difficult role and being separated from Larry , who was in New York."

Gone with the Wind brought Leigh immediate attention and fame, but she was quoted as saying, "I'm not a film star – I'm an actress. Being a film star – just a film star – is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity. Actresses go on for a long time and there are always marvellous parts to play." Among the 10 Academy Awards won by Gone with the Wind was a Best Actress award for Leigh, who also won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.
Marriage and joint projects
From Waterloo Bridge (1940)

In February 1940, Jill Esmond agreed to divorce Olivier, and Holman agreed to divorce Leigh, although they maintained a strong friendship for the rest of Leigh's life. Esmond was granted custody of Tarquin, her son with Olivier, and Holman was granted custody of Suzanne, his daughter with Leigh. On 31 August 1940, Olivier and Leigh were married in Santa Barbara, California, in a ceremony attended only by their witnesses, Katharine Hepburn and Garson Kanin.

Leigh hoped to costar with Olivier and made a screentest for Rebecca, which was to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock with Olivier in the leading role. After viewing Leigh's screentest Selznick noted that "she doesn't seem right as to sincerity or age or innocence", a view shared by Hitchcock, and Leigh's mentor, George Cukor. Selznick observed that she had shown no enthusiasm for the part until Olivier had been confirmed as the lead actor, and subsequently cast Joan Fontaine. He refused to allow her to join Olivier in Pride and Prejudice (1940), and Greer Garson played the role Leigh had wanted for herself. Waterloo Bridge (1940) was to have starred Olivier and Leigh, however Selznick replaced Olivier with Robert Taylor, then at the peak of his success as one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most popular male stars. Leigh's top billing reflected her status in Hollywood and the film was popular with audiences and critics.

She and Olivier mounted a stage production of Romeo and Juliet for Broadway. The New York press publicized the adulterous nature that had marked the beginning of Olivier and Leigh's relationship, and questioned their ethics in not returning to England to help with the war effort. Critics were hostile in their assessment of the production. Brooks Atkinson for the New York Times wrote, "Although Miss Leigh and Mr. Olivier are handsome young people they hardly act their parts at all." While most of the blame was attributed to Olivier's acting and direction, Leigh was also criticised, with Bernard Grebanier commenting on the "thin, shopgirl quality of Miss Leigh's voice." The couple had invested almost their entire savings into the project and the failure was a financial disaster for them.

They filmed That Hamilton Woman (1941) with Olivier as Horatio Nelson and Leigh as Emma Hamilton. With the United States not yet having entered the war, it was one of several Hollywood films made with the aim of arousing a pro-British sentiment among American audiences. The film was popular in the United States and an outstanding success in the Soviet Union. Winston Churchill arranged a screening for a party that included Franklin D. Roosevelt and on its conclusion addressed the group, saying, "Gentlemen, I thought this film would interest you, showing great events similar to those in which you have just been taking part." The Oliviers remained favourites of Churchill, attending dinners and occasions at his request for the rest of his life, and of Leigh he was quoted as saying, "By Jove, she's a clinker."

The Oliviers returned to England and Leigh toured through North Africa in 1943. Leigh performed for troops before falling ill with a persistent cough and fevers. In 1944 she was diagnosed as having tuberculosis in her left lung and spent several weeks in hospital before appearing to have recovered. Leigh was filming Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) when she discovered she was pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage. She fell into a deep depression which hit the low point when she turned on Olivier, verbally and physically attacking him until she fell to the floor sobbing. This was the first of many major breakdowns she suffered related to bipolar disorder. Olivier came to recognise the symptoms of an impending episode – several days of hyperactivity followed by a period of depression and an explosive breakdown, after which Leigh would have no memory of the event, but would be acutely embarrassed and remorseful.

Leigh was well enough to resume acting in 1946, in a successful London production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, but her films of this period, Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Anna Karenina (1948), were not great successes.

In 1947 Olivier was knighted, and Leigh accompanied him to Buckingham Palace for the investiture. She became Lady Olivier and, after their divorce, per the style granted the divorced wife of a knight, she became socially known as Vivien, Lady Olivier.
Leigh and Olivier arriving in Brisbane, Australia, June 1948

By 1948 Olivier was on the Board of Directors for the Old Vic Theatre, and he and Leigh embarked on a tour of Australia and New Zealand to raise funds for the theatre. During their six-month tour, Olivier performed Richard III and also performed with Leigh in The School for Scandal and The Skin of Our Teeth. The tour was an outstanding success, and although Leigh was plagued with insomnia and allowed her understudy to replace her for a week while she was ill, she generally withstood the demands placed upon her, with Olivier noting her ability to "charm the press." Members of the company later recalled several quarrels between the couple, the most dramatic occurring in Christchurch when Leigh refused to go onstage. Olivier slapped her face, and Leigh slapped him in return and swore at him before she made her way to the stage. By the end of the tour, both were exhausted and ill, and Olivier told a journalist, "You may not know it, but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses." Later he would comment that he "lost Vivien" in Australia.

The success of the tour encouraged the Oliviers to make their first West End appearance together, performing the same works with one addition, Antigone, included at Leigh's insistence because she wished to play a role in a tragedy.
As Blanche DuBois, from the trailer for the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Leigh next sought the role of Blanche DuBois in the West End stage production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, and was cast after Williams and the play's producer Irene Mayer Selznick saw her in the The School for Scandal and Antigone, and Olivier was contracted to direct. Containing a rape scene and references to promiscuity and homosexuality, the play was destined to be controversial, and the media discussion about its suitability added to Leigh's anxiety, but she believed strongly in the importance of the work.

When the West End production of Streetcar opened in October 1949, J. B. Priestley denounced the play and Leigh's performance, and the critic Kenneth Tynan commented that Leigh was badly miscast because British actors were "too well-bred to emote effectively on stage". Olivier and Leigh were chagrined that part of the commercial success of the play lay in audience members attending to see what they believed would be a salacious and sensationalist story, rather than the Greek tragedy that they envisioned, but the play also had strong supporters, among them Noël Coward who described Leigh as "magnificent."

After 326 performances, Leigh finished her run. However, she was soon engaged for the film version. Her irreverent and often bawdy sense of humour allowed her to establish a rapport with her co-star Marlon Brando, but she had difficulty with the director Elia Kazan, who did not hold her in high regard as an actress. He later commented that "she had a small talent", but as work progressed, he became "full of admiration" for "the greatest determination to excel of any actress I've known. She'd have crawled over broken glass if she thought it would help her performance." Leigh found the role gruelling and commented to the Los Angeles Times, "I had nine months in the theatre of Blanche DuBois. Now she's in command of me." Olivier accompanied her to Hollywood where he was to co-star in William Wyler's Carrie.

The film won glowing reviews for her, and she won a second Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. Tennessee Williams commented that Leigh brought to the role "everything that I intended, and much that I had never dreamed of", but in later years, Leigh would say that playing Blanche DuBois "tipped me over into madness."
Awards and nominations
Year Award Work
1939 Academy Award for Best Actress (won)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (won) Gone with the Wind
1951 Academy Award for Best Actress (won)
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (won)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama (nominated)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (won)
Venice Film Festival – Volpi Cup (won) A Streetcar Named Desire
1963 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (won) Tovarich
List of works

    * For a full chronology of Leigh's theatre and film work, see Vivien Leigh chronology of stage and film performances.
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo19/bonniebluebaby/VIVIEN%20LEIGH/vivien.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc264/CeCeLeighCMD92/VIVIEN-13.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/07/10 at 9:55 am

Ringo. ..

Only 2 left now, He and Paul. Ringo's the oldest of the 4.
Happy Birthday Mr. Starkey!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/10 at 12:02 pm


Yes and losing the hashish cake could upset people too :)
dont think that I can take it!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/10 at 12:03 pm


Yes he is :)..The person born on this day...Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in 1962, taking over from Pete Best. In addition to his contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead singer on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and the Beatles version of "Act Naturally") and as songwriter with the songs "Don't Pass Me By", "What Goes On" and "Octopus's Garden".

As drummer for The Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills", technically limited by being a left-handed person playing a right-handed kit. Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect" and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs".

Starr is the most documented and critically acclaimed actor-Beatle, playing a central role in several Beatles films, and appearing in numerous other movies, both during and after his career with The Beatles. After The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Starr achieved solo musical success with several singles and albums, and recorded with each of his fellow ex-Beatles as they too developed their post-Beatle musical careers. He has also been featured in a number of TV documentaries, hosted TV shows, and narrated the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. He currently tours with the All-Starr Band, making stops in such cities as New York and Boston, MA.
The Beatles: 1962–1970
Main article: The Beatles
Four greyscale images of young men with "mop-top" haircuts, separated by a white border. John Lennon (top left) is looking towards the left of the frame (his right), with exposed teeth. Paul McCartney (top right) is facing forward with an opened mouth. George Harrison (bottom left) has his right arm raised and his tongue stuck out slightly as if licking his lips. Ringo Starr's teeth are visible, and his left eye is closed as if winking. All four are dressed in white shirts, black ties, and dark coats.
Ringo Starr (bottom right) with John Lennon (top left), Paul McCartney (top right) and George Harrison (bottom left), arriving in New York City in 1964
Vocals

Starr generally sang at least one song on each studio album as part of an attempt to establish the vocal personality of all four members. In some cases, Lennon or McCartney wrote the lyrics and melody especially for him, as they did for "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver (1966) and "With a Little Help from My Friends" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. These melodies were tailored to Starr's baritone vocal range. Starr's backing vocals are heard on songs such as "All Together Now", "Carry That Weight", and "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill".
Composition

The Beatles used Starr's unusual turns of phrase, or "Ringoisms" as they became known, such as "a hard day's night" and "tomorrow never knows", and turned them into songs. Recalling this, McCartney said, "Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical... they were sort of magic...". As well as inspiring his bandmates' creativity in this way, Starr occasionally contributed his own lyrics to unfinished Lennon and McCartney songs, such as the line "darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there" in "Eleanor Rigby". Frustrated at times of being the odd man out in the group in regard to songwriting, Starr commented in The Beatles Anthology that when he presented a song to The Beatles, it would often sound to the other three Beatles like a popular song of the day. Starr did eventually begin composing, and is credited with "Don't Pass Me By" (on The White Album) and "Octopus's Garden" (on Abbey Road) as sole songwriter.

His disgust with the band's tensions and boredom at waiting around to contribute during the sessions for the White Album caused him to quit the group temporarily. He spent two weeks with actor Peter Sellers on the latter's yacht, Amelfis, in Piraeus, where he wrote "Octopus's Garden". He did not return for two weeks, even though the other Beatles urged him to come back: Lennon sent telegrams, and Harrison set up flowers all over the studio for Starr's return saying "Welcome home". Starr's name also appears as a co-writer for the Rubber Soul track "What Goes On" along with Lennon and McCartney, while the songs "Flying" (on the Magical Mystery Tour album) and "Dig It" (on Let It Be) are listed as being written by the entire group. On issued material after the break-up, Starr wrote "Taking a Trip to Carolina" from the second "bonus" CD of Let It Be... Naked, and received joint songwriting credits with the other three Beatles for "12-Bar Original", "Los Paranoias", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", "Suzy Parker" (heard in the Let It Be film), "Jessie's Dream" (heard in the Magical Mystery Tour film) and The Beatles' version of "Free as a Bird".
1964 Illness

In June 1964, the Beatles were scheduled to tour Scandinavia, Holland, the Far East, and Australia. On 3 June, the day before the tour, Ringo Starr collapsed during an early morning photo session for the Saturday Evening Post at a portrait studio in Barnes, London. Stricken with a 102-degree fever and tonsillitis, he was rushed to the hospital. This bout with tonsillitis necessitated a stay in hospital and a few days of recuperation at home. During this time, Ringo was temporarily replaced for the Denmark and Holland concert dates by shy 24-year-old session drummer Jimmie Nicol. Beatles producer George Martin suggested Jimmie because he had recently recorded at EMI with Tommy Quickly and recently became familiar with Beatles numbers while drumming on a recording session for an album called Beatlemania. At first, George Harrison didn't want Ringo to be replaced and refused to go on the tour without Ringo, but Brian Epstein and George Martin convinced Harrison to begin the tour. Ringo was discharged from the hospital on 11 June, and he rejoined the group in Melbourne on 15 June 1964. Ultimately, Ringo had his tonsils removed during the Beatles' Christmas vacation period later in the year. Ringo would later admit that he feared that he would be permanently replaced during his illness.
Drumming ability and appreciation

While Starr himself has been the first to acknowledge the technical limitations of his drumming for The Beatles, the overall effect of his contribution has received high praise from notable drummers. Starr said, "Whenever I hear another drummer I know I'm no good. I'm no good on the technical things I'm your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills. The fills were funny because I'm really left-handed playing a right-handed kit. I can't roll around the drums because of that." George Martin's version was, "Ringo hit good and hard and used the tom-tom well, even though he couldn't do a roll to save his life", although Martin later added, "He's got tremendous feel. He always helped us to hit the right tempo for a song, and gave it that support—that rock-solid back-beat—that made the recording of all The Beatles' songs that much easier." Lennon, asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world, jokingly replied, "He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles!", but also said, "Ringo's a damn good drummer. He always was a good drummer. He's not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way as Paul's bass playing is underrated." McCartney sent Starr a postcard on 31 January 1969 (the day after the band's performance on the roof of Apple Studios) stating: 'You are the greatest drummer in the world. Really.' This postcard is included in Starr's book Postcards From The Boys.

Drummer Steve Smith extolled Starr's qualities beyond the technical, in terms of his musical contribution as drummer:
“ Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm in how the public saw drummers. We started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. One of Ringo's great qualities was that he composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song.

Phil Collins, the drummer for Genesis, who was himself influenced by Starr, said:
“ Starr is vastly underrated. The drum fills on the song "A Day in the Life" are very complex things. You could take a great drummer today and say, 'I want it like that.' He wouldn't know what to do.

In September 1980, John Lennon had this to say about Starr:
“ Ringo was a star in his own right in Liverpool before we even met. He was a professional drummer who sang and performed and had Ringo Star-time and he was in one of the top groups in Britain but especially in Liverpool before we even had a drummer. So Ringo's talent would have come out one way or the other as something or other. I don't know what he would have ended up as, but whatever that spark is in Ringo that we all know but can't put our finger on -- whether it is acting, drumming or singing I don't know -- there is something in him that is projectable and he would have surfaced with or without the Beatles. Ringo is a damn good drummer.

Many drummers acknowledge Starr as an influence, including Steve Gorman of The Black Crowes, Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters, Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, Max Weinberg of the E Street Band, Danny Carey of Tool, Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel's band, Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Eric Carr of Kiss, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, Phil Collins, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, Pedro Andreu of Heroes del Silencio and others.

In his extensive survey of The Beatles' recording sessions, Mark Lewisohn confirmed that Starr was both proficient and remarkably reliable and consistent. According to Lewisohn, there were fewer than a dozen occasions in The Beatles' eight-year recording career where session 'breakdowns' were caused by Starr making a mistake, while the vast majority of takes were stopped owing to mistakes by the other three members. Starr is considered to have influenced various modern drumming techniques, such as the matched grip, placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings.

Starr drummed on all but five of the band's released tracks that feature drumming. For the band's second recording session with Starr as a member on 11 September 1962, producer George Martin replaced the studio-inexperienced Starr with session drummer Andy White to record takes for what would be the two sides of The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You". Starr played tambourine on "Love Me Do" and maracas on "P.S. I Love You" for this session. McCartney took over the drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" from the White Album (1968) after Starr had walked out, and also played the drums on "The Ballad of John and Yoko", recorded on 14 April 1969, since only he and Lennon were immediately available to record the song. Starr commented that he was lucky in being "surrounded by three frustrated drummers" who could only drum in one style.
After The Beatles (since 1970)
1970s

After the announcement of the breakup of The Beatles on 10 April 1970, Starr released two albums before the end of that year. Sentimental Journey featured Starr's renditions of many pre-rock standards and included the arranger talents of Quincy Jones, Maurice Gibb, George Martin and McCartney, among others. His next album, Beaucoups of Blues, put Starr in a country context, and included renowned Nashville session musician Pete Drake. He scored hit singles with "It Don't Come Easy" (1971) (US #4) and "Back Off Boogaloo" (1972) (US #9), the latter of which was his biggest UK hit, peaking at #2. He achieved two #1 hits in the US, with "Photograph" (co-written with Harrison) and "You're Sixteen" (written by the Sherman Brothers of Mary Poppins fame).

He participated in The Concert for Bangladesh organised by Harrison in 1971, as well as drumming on Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World, Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Yoko Ono's early solo work. Starr then made his debut as a film director with the T. Rex documentary Born to Boogie. Starr became firm friends with T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan and during the period of filming the documentary, Starr released the single "Back Off Boogaloo".

In 1971, he started a furniture company with designer Robin Cruikshank. Starr's own avant-garde designs included a flower-shaped table with adjustable petal seats and a donut-shaped fireplace.

The 1973 album Ringo, produced by Richard Perry, with participation by the other three former Beatles on different tracks, was commercially successful. The album Goodnight Vienna followed the next year and was also successful. Hits and notable tracks from these two albums included "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen" both reaching number one on the US charts, "Oh My My" (US #5) and "I'm the Greatest" (written by Lennon) from Ringo, and "Only You (And You Alone)" (US #6) and "No No Song" (US #3) from 1974's Goodnight Vienna. In late 1975, these singles and others were collected for Starr's first greatest hits compilation, Blast from Your Past, which was the last album to be released on Apple Records. During this period he became romantically involved with Lynsey de Paul. He played tambourine on a song she wrote and produced for Vera Lynn, "Don't You Remember When", and he inspired another De Paul song, "If I Don't Get You The Next One Will", which she described as being about revenge after he missed a dinner appointment with her because he was asleep in his office.

Starr's recording career subsequently diminished in commercial impact, although he continued to record and remained a familiar celebrity presence. Starr signed with Atlantic Records in the mid-1970s, and in 1976 the album Ringo's Rotogravure was released. Although yielding two minor hit singles, "A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll" (US #26) and a cover of "Hey! Baby" (US #74) the album achieved moderate sales but reached a respectable #28. This caused the label to revamp Starr's formula; the results were a curious blend of disco and '70s pop. The album Ringo the 4th (1977) was a commercial disaster, reaching no higher than #162 on the charts. Afterward, Starr soon signed with Portrait Records. His stint with Portrait began on a promising note: 1978 saw the release of Bad Boy, as well as a network TV special. Neither were very popular with Bad Boy reaching a disappointing #129 on the US charts. Starr did not release another album with Portrait.

In 1975, Starr founded his own record label called Ring O'Records, and four albums were released on the label between 1975 and 1978 (Startling Music by David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet by Graham Bonnet, Restless by Rab Noakes and a re-release of an Apple Records album, The Whale by John Tavener) as well as 16 singles by artists such as: Bobby Keys, Carl Grossman, Colonel Doug Bogie, David Hentschel, Graham Bonnet, Suzanne, Johnny Warman, Stormer, Rab Noakes and Dirk & Stig (the last being names of characters from The Beatles pastiche band "The Rutles", created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes).  they received their insignia from Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture  at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. He and the other Beatles were cumulatively nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer for their performances in the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night. The Beatles won the Academy Award for 'Best Original Song Score' for the 1970 film Let It Be. Each Beatle received an Oscar statuette.

The minor planet 4150 Starr, discovered on 31 August 1984 by Brian A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named in his honour. Starr was nominated for a 1989 Daytime Emmy Award for 'Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series' for his role as Mr. Conductor in the television series Shining Time Station.

All four of The Beatles were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the group was inducted in 1988. Since then, Lennon (1994), McCartney (1999), and Harrison (2004) have been inducted for their solo careers as well. Starr remains the only Beatle not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career. However, it was announced on 5 September 2007 that Starr would be on the ballot for membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. If Starr is inducted, it would be the only time both a rock group, and each of its individuals members, were inducted separately.

During the 50th Grammy Awards, Starr, George Martin and Giles Martin accepted the Best Compilation Soundtrack award for Love.

On 9 November 2008, Starr accepted a Diamond Award on behalf of The Beatles during the 2008 World Music Awards ceremony in Monaco.

On 8 February 2010, Starr was honoured with the 2,401st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. It is located at 1750 North Vine Street, in front of the Capitol Records building, as are the stars for Lennon and Harrison.
Discography
Main article: Ringo Starr discography

Studio albums

    * Sentimental Journey (1970)
    * Beaucoups of Blues (1970)
    * Ringo (1973)
    * Goodnight Vienna (1974)
    * Ringo's Rotogravure (1976)
    * Ringo the 4th (1977)
    * Bad Boy (1978)
    * Stop and Smell the Roses (1981)
    * Old Wave (1983)
    * Time Takes Time (1992)
    * Vertical Man (1998)
    * Ringo Rama (2003)
    * Choose Love (2005)
    * Liverpool 8 (2008)
    * Y Not (2010)

Filmography

    * The Beatles Come to Town (1963) (short subject) - with The Beatles
    * A Hard Day's Night (1964) - with The Beatles
    * Help! (1965) - with The Beatles
    * Reflections On Love (1966) (short subject)
    * Magical Mystery Tour (1967) - with The Beatles
    * The Beatles Mod Odyssey (1968) (short subject) - with The Beatles
    * Yellow Submarine (1968)- with The Beatles
    * Candy (1968)
    * The Magic Christian (1969)
    * Let It Be (1970) (documentary) - with The Beatles
    * Music! (1971) (documentary)
    * 200 Motels (1971)
    * Blindman (1971)
    * The Point! (1971) (Narrator on Home Video release)
    * Did Somebody Drop His Mouse? (1972) (short subject)
    * The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) (documentary)
    * Born to Boogie (1972) (documentary) (also director)
    * That'll Be the Day (1973)
    * Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973) (documentary)
    * Son of Dracula (1974)
    * Lisztomania (1975)
    * The Day the Music Died (1977) (documentary)
    * The Beatles and Beyond (1977) (documentary)
    * Sextette (1978)
    * Ringo (1978) TV Movie
    * The Last Waltz (1978) (documentary)
    * The Kids Are Alright (1979) (documentary)
    * Caveman (1981)
    * The Cooler (1982) (short subject)
    * Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
    * Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (1984–1986) (UK & US Narrator)
    * Water (1985) (Cameo)
    * Alice in Wonderland (1985)
    * To the North of Katmandu (1986)
    * Sun City/The Making of Sun City (1986) (documentary)
    * Queen: The Magic Years (1987) (documentary)
    * Walking After Midnight (1988) (documentary)
    * The Return of Bruno (1988)
    * The Little Engine That Could (1991)(voice)
    * The Beatles Anthology (1995) (documentary) - with The Beatles
    * Concert for George (2003) (documentary)
    * Rudolph & His New Friend Frosty Frosty The Snowman

All-Starr Band editions

    For a detailed list of bands and members, see: Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band

To date, Starr has toured with eleven versions of his All-Starr Band, where "everybody on stage is a star in their own right." The band has consistently toured for over a decade, and, in similar fashion to Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, rotates its lineup depending on the musicians' projects at a given time.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll94/WhyAreYouReadingThis/Ringo_starr.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab100/SeminoleHardRockHollywood/DSC_0090.jpg
Remember that he is too busy to sign autographs now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/10 at 12:04 pm


Ringo. ..

Only 2 left now, He and Paul. Ringo's the oldest of the 4.
Happy Birthday Mr. Starkey!
George Martin (now Sir) is still with us.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 2:38 pm


Remember that he is too busy to sign autographs now.

That stinks >:(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/10 at 2:47 pm


That stinks >:(
He made that public announcement a few years back!

He should be there to acknowledge the fans out there.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/10 at 3:57 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHS8hj4TdT8
Where is MacArthur Park?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 6:03 pm


Where is MacArthur Park?

California, I believe in L.A.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/07/10 at 6:27 pm


Where is MacArthur Park?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Park



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/07/10 at 6:51 pm

Love Don't Come Easy is my favorite. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 9:22 pm



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Park



Cat

Thanks Cat :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/10 at 9:23 pm


Love Don't Come Easy is my favorite. :)

You know it don't come easy ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/07/10 at 11:57 pm


Remember that he is too busy to sign autographs now.

Sad.

Ringo!
Ringo!

c'mon man...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 1:08 am


California, I believe in L.A.
Where abouts?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Park



Cat
The answer, many thanks!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 1:10 am



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Park



Cat
But the true location of the cake (in the rain) is not known?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 1:10 am



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Park



Cat
How often does it rain in California?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 5:39 am


How often does it rain in California?

According to Albert Hammond It Never Rains In Southern California it pours ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 5:45 am


Sad.

Ringo!
Ringo!

c'mon man...

He's coming to my area with his all-star band on the 21st. Chances are that they will be staying at the hotel Tim works at. They just had Dave Matthews stay there. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 5:53 am

The word of the day...Woodsman
A man who works or lives in the woods or is versed in woodcraft; a forester.
Woodsmen or lumberjack competitions have their roots in competitions that took place in logging camps among loggers. As loggers were paid for piece work, the ability to perform a specific task more quickly, or with a degree of showmanship, was something to be admired. Today the tradition survives on college campuses across the United States and Canada, as well as on various competitive circuits worldwide, including ESPN's now-defunct Great Outdoor Games. The sport is most popular in areas of the world with a strong logging tradition.
Active Schools in the Northeast

The following is a partial list of colleges in the Northeast US with active teams:

    * SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
    * Colby College
    * Dartmouth College
    * The University of Maine
    * Unity College
    * The University of New Hampshire
    * Finger Lakes Community College
    * Paul Smith's College

The following is a partial list of colleges in Canada with active teams:

    * McGill University
    * Nova Scotia Agricultural College
    * University of New Brunswick
    * Sir Sanford Flemming College
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z176/LindaKooper/Woods/4ecc.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd210/Dragonrider99/Woodsman.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/andrade_86/TheWoodsmanaa.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/Dansknecht/Elizabethan%20Art/Woodsman.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/theTick197/woodsman.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Jenisi/Funny%20Icons/angry-woodsman.jpg
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/ProfessorPeterPuppet/Hand%20Puppets/RedCapwoodsman1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 5:56 am

The person born on this day...Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon  (born July 8, 1958) is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Footloose, Flatliners, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, and Tremors.

Bacon has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, was nominated for an Emmy Award, and was named by The Guardian as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Bacon, one of six children, was born and raised in a close-knit family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Ruth Hilda (née Holmes; 1916–1991), taught elementary school and was a liberal activist, while his father, Edmund Bacon, was a well-respected architect. At 16, Bacon attended the Pennsylvania Governors School for the Arts, a state-funded five-week arts program which helped solidify Bacon's passion for the arts.
Acting career

Bacon left home at age 17 to pursue a theater career in New York, where he appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theater School. "I wanted life, man, the real thing", he later recalled to Nancy Mills of Cosmopolitan. "The message I got was 'The arts are it. Business is the devil's work. Art and creative expression are next to godliness.' Combine that with an immense ego and you wind up with an actor."

Bacon's debut in the fraternity comedy Animal House in 1978 did not lead to instant fame for which he had hoped, and Bacon returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater. He briefly worked on the television soap operas Search For Tomorrow (1979) and The Guiding Light (1980–81) in New York. He refused an offer of a television series based on Animal House to be filmed in California in order to remain close to the New York stage . Some of his early stage work included Getting Out performed at New York's Phoenix Theater, and Flux which he did at Second Stage Theatre during their 1981–1982 season.

In 1982, he won an Obie Award for his role in Forty Deuce, and soon after made his Broadway debut in Slab Boys, with then-unknowns Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. However, it was not until he portrayed Timothy Fenwick that same year in Barry Levinson's Diner – costarring Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly and Ellen Barkin – that he made an indelible impression on film critics and moviegoers alike.
Bacon in 2007

Bolstered by the attention garnered by his performance in Diner, Bacon starred in the 1984 box-office smash Footloose. Richard Corliss of Time likened Footloose to the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause and the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, commenting that the film includes "motifs on book burning, mid-life crisis, AWOL parents, fatal car crashes, drug enforcement, and Bible Belt vigilantism." To prepare for the role, Bacon enrolled at a high school as a transfer student named "Ren McCormick" and studied teenagers before leaving in the middle of the day. Bacon did earn strong reviews for Footloose, and he appeared on the cover of People magazine soon after its release.

Bacon's critical and box-office success lead to a period of typecasting in roles similar to the two he portrayed in Diner and Footloose. Bacon would have difficulty shaking this on-screen image. For the next several years he chose films that cast him against either type and experienced, by his own estimation, a career slump. In 1988 he starred in John Hughes's comedy She's Having a Baby and the following year he was in another comedy called The Big Picture.

In 1990, Bacon had two successful roles. He played a character who saved his town from under-the-earth "graboid" monsters in the comedy/horror film Tremors – a role that People found him "far too accomplished" to play – and portrayed an earnest medical student experimenting with death in Joel Schumacher's Flatliners.

Bacon's next project was to star opposite Elizabeth Perkins in He Said, She Said. Despite lukewarm reviews and low audience turnout, He Said, She Said was illuminating for Bacon. Required to play a character with sexist attitudes, he admitted that the role was not that large a stretch for him.

By 1991, Bacon began to give up the idea of playing leading men in big-budget films and to remake himself as a character actor. "The only way I was going to be able to work on 'A' projects with really 'A' directors was if I wasn't the guy who was starring", he confided to The New York Times writer Trip Gabriel. "You can't afford to set up a $40 million movie if you don't have your star."

His performance that year as gay prostitute Willie O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's JFK received tremendous critical acclaim. He went on to play a prosecuting attorney in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. Later that year he returned to the theater to play in Spike Heels, directed by Michael Greif.
Bacon receiving a Merit Award in April 2010

In 1994, Bacon earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in The River Wild opposite Meryl Streep. He described the film to Chase in Cosmopolitan as a "grueling shoot," in which "every one of us fell out of the boat at one point or another and had to be saved."

His next film, "Murder in the First" earned him the Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award in 1995, the same year that he starred in the blockbuster hit Apollo 13.

Bacon reverted to his trademark dark role once again in Sleepers in 1996. This role was in stark contrast to his appearance in the lighthearted romantic comedy, Picture Perfect the following year. Bacon again resurrected his oddball mystique that year as a retarded houseguest in Digging to China, and as a disc jockey corrupted by payola in Telling Lies in America. As the executive producer of 1998's Wild Things, Bacon reserved a supporting role for himself, and went on to star in Stir of Echoes (directed by David Koepp) in 1999, and in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man in 2000.

Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard depict a ménage à trois in their film, Where the Truth Lies. Bacon and director Atom Egoyan have condemned the MPAA ratings board decision to give the film their "NC-17" rating over the preferable "R". Bacon decried the decision, commenting: "I don't get it, when I see films (that) are extremely violent, extremely objectionable sometimes in terms of the roles that women play, slide by with an R, no problem, because the people happen to have more of their clothes on." Bacon was again acclaimed for a dark starring role playing an offending pedophile on parole in the 2004 film The Woodsman; he was nominated best actor receiving the Independent Spirit Award.
Bacon speaking before a premiere of Taking Chance in February 2009

He appeared in the HBO Films production of Taking Chance, a film based on a story of the same name written by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, an American 'Desert Storm' war veteran. The film premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role.
Personal life

Bacon has been married to actress Kyra Sedgwick since September 4, 1988; they met on the set of the PBS version of Lanford Wilson's play Lemon Sky. "The time I was hitting what I considered to be bottom was also the time I met my wife, our kids were born, good things were happening", he explained to Cosmopolitan's Chase. "And I was able to keep supporting myself; that always gave me strength."

Bacon and Sedgwick have starred together in Pyrates, Murder in the First, The Woodsman and Loverboy. They have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon (born June 23, 1989 in Los Angeles, California) and Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Bacon and Sedgwick appeared in will.i.am's video It's a New Day which was released following Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.

Bacon and Sedgwick lost an undisclosed amount of money in the Ponzi scheme of infamous fraudulent investor Bernard Madoff.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Main article: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Bacon is the subject of the trivia game titled Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the idea that, due to his prolific screen career, any Hollywood actor can be linked to another in a handful of steps based on their associations with Bacon.

Though he was initially dismayed by the game, the meme stuck, and Bacon eventually embraced it, forming the charitable initiative SixDegrees.org, a social networking site intended to link people to charities and each other.
Music

In 1995, Bacon formed a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. The duo has released six albums.
Filmography
Films
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Chip Diller
1979 Starting Over Husband
1979 The Gift Teddy
1980 Hero at Large 2nd Teenager
1980 Friday the 13th Jack Burrell
1981 Only When I Laugh Don
1982 Diner Timothy Fenwick Jr.
1982 Forty Deuce Ricky
1983 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Dennis
1984 Footloose Ren McCormack
1986 Quicksilver Jack Casey
1987 White Water Summer Vic
1987 End of the Line Everett
1987 Planes, Trains & Automobiles Taxi Racer
1988 She's Having a Baby Jefferson 'Jake' Edward Briggs
1989 Criminal Law Martin Thiel
1989 The Big Picture Nick Chapman
1990 Tremors Valentine 'Val' McKee
1990 Flatliners David Labraccio
1991 Pyrates Ari
1991 Queens Logic Dennis
1991 He Said, She Said Dan Hanson
1991 JFK Willie O'Keefe
1991 "A Little Vicious" narrator short subject
1992 A Few Good Men Capt. Jack Ross
1994 The Air Up There Jimmy Dolan
1994 The River Wild Wade Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1994 "New York Skyride" narrator short subject
1995 Murder in the First Henri Young Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1995 Apollo 13 Jack Swigert Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 Balto Balto
1996 Sleepers Sean Nokes
1997 Picture Perfect Sam Mayfair
1997 Destination Anywhere Mike
1997 Telling Lies in America Billy Magic
1998 Digging to China Ricky Schroth
1998 Wild Things Sgt. Ray Duquette
1999 Stir of Echoes Tom Witzky
2000 My Dog Skip Jack Morris
2000 We Married Margo Himself
2000 Hollow Man Sebastian Caine
2001 Novocaine Lance Phelps
2002 Trapped Joe Hickey
2003 Mystic River Sean Devine Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 In the Cut John Graham
2003 "Imagine New York" Himself short subject
2004 The Woodsman Walter Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2004 Cavedweller Randall Pritchard
2004 "Natural Disasters: Forces of Nature" narrator short subject
2005 Loverboy Marty also directed
2005 Beauty Shop Jorge
2005 Where the Truth Lies Lanny Morris
2007 Death Sentence Nick Hume
2007 Rails & Ties Tom Stark
2008 The Air I Breathe Love
2008 Frost/Nixon Jack Brennan Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 "Saving Angelo" Brent short subject
2009 Taking Chance Lt. Col. Michael Strobl Television Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2009 The Magic 7 Himself
2009 My One and Only Dan
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1979 Search for Tomorrow Todd Adamson
1980–1981 The Guiding Light T. J. 'Tim' Werner #2 Six episodes
1983 The Demon Murder Case Kenny Miller Television film
1984 Mister Roberts Ens. Frank Pulver
1985 The Little Sister Probation Officer Uncredited; television film
1988 Lemon Sky Alan Television film
1994 Frasier Vic Single episode
2002 Will & Grace Himself Single episode: "Bacon and Eggs"

Directing

    * The Closer (2006) (Episode: Serving the King: Part 2)
    * The Closer (2007) (Episode: Blindsided)
    * The Closer (2008) (Episode: Sudden Death)
    * The Closer (2009) (Episode: Waivers of Extradition)
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f63/phreeze_phrame/Bacon/kbacon.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f114/Heathlooker25/kevin_bacon_2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 6:00 am

The person who died on this day...June Allyson
June Allyson (October 7, 1917 – July 8, 2006) was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM  contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss (1951). From 1959-1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. A later generation knew her as a spokesperson for Depend undergarments. Allyson was born Eleanor Geisman,  nicknamed "Ella", in The Bronx, New York City, to Clara (née Provost) and Robert Geisman. Her paternal grandparents, Harry Geisman and Anna Hafner, were immigrants from Germany,  although Allyson has claimed that her last name was originally "Van Geisman", and was of Dutch origin.Studio biographies listed her as "Jan Allyson" born to French-English parents. On her death, her daughter said Allyson was born "Eleanor Geisman to a French mother and Dutch father."

In April 1918, when Allyson was only six months old, her alcoholic father, who had worked as a janitor, abandoned the family. Allyson was brought up in near poverty, living with her maternal grandparents.To make ends meet, her mother worked as a telephone operator and restaurant cashier, and when she had enough funds, she would occasionally reunite with her daughter, but more often Allyson was "farmed" out to her grandparents or other relatives.

In 1925, when Allyson was eight, a dead tree branch fell on her while she was riding on her tricycle with her pet terrier in tow. The heavy branch killed her dog outright while Allyson had a fractured skull and broken back. Her doctors said she would never walk again and confined her to a heavy steel brace from neck to hips for four years. She ultimately regained her health but when Allyson had become famous, she was terrified that people would discover her background from the "tenement side of New York City" and readily agreed to studio tales of a "rosy life" including a concocted story that she underwent months of swimming exercises in rehabilitation to emerge as a star swimmer. In her later memoirs, Allyson does describe a summer program of swimming that did help her recovery.

After gradually progressing from a wheelchair to crutches to braces, her true "escape" from her impoverished life was to go to the movies where she was enraptured by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movies. As a teen, Allyson memorized the trademark Ginger Rogers dance routines; she claimed later to have watched The Gay Divorcee 17 times. She also tried to emulate the singing styles of movie stars, although she never mastered reading music. When her mother remarried and the family was reunited with a more stable financial standing, Allyson was enrolled in the Ned Wayburn Dancing Academy and began to enter dance competitions with the stage name of "Elaine Peters."With the death of her stepfather and a bleak future ahead, she left high school after only completing two and half years, to seek jobs as a dancer. Her first $60-a-week job was as a tap dancer at the Lido Club in Montreal. Returning to New York, she subsequently found work as an actress in movie short subjects filmed by Educational Pictures at its Astoria, Long Island studio. Fiercely ambitious, Allyson tried her hand at modeling, but, to her consternation being the "sad-looking before part" in a before-and-after bathing suit magazine ad. Her first career "break" came when Educational cast her as an ingenue opposite singer Lee Sullivan, comic dancers Herman Timberg, Jr. and Pat Rooney, Jr. and future comedy star Danny Kaye. When Educational ceased operations, Allyson moved over to Vitaphone in Brooklyn, and starred or co-starred (with dancer Hal LeRoy) in musical shorts.
Career

Interspersing jobs in the chorus line at the Copacabana Club with acting roles at Vitaphone, the diminutive 5'1" (1.55 m), weighing less than 100 pounds, red-headed Allyson landed a chorus job in the Broadway show Sing out the News in 1938. The legend is that the choreographer gave her a job and a new name: Allyson, a family name, and June, for the month , although like many aspects of her career resume, the derivation was highly unlikely as she was already dubbing herself as "June Allyson" prior to her Broadway engagement and has even attributed the name to a later director. Allyson subsequently appeared in the chorus in Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II's Very Warm for May (1939).
The handprints of June Allyson in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

When Vitaphone discontinued New York production in 1940, Allyson returned to the New York stage to take on more chorus roles in Rogers and Hart's Higher and Higher (1940) and Cole Porter's Panama Hattie (1940). Her dancing and musical talent led to a stint as an understudy for the lead, Betty Hutton, and when Hutton contracted measles, Allyson appeared in five performances of Panama Hattie. Broadway director George Abbott caught one of the nights, and offered Allyson one of the lead roles in his production of Best Foot Forward (1941).

During World War II, after her appearance in the Broadway musical, Allyson was selected for the 1943 film version of Best Foot Forward. When she arrived in Hollywood, the production had not started so MGM "placed her on the payroll" of Girl Crazy (1943). Despite playing a "bit part", Allyson received good reviews as a sidekick to Best Foot Forward's star, Lucille Ball, but was still relegated to the "drop list".. MGM's musical supervisor, Arthur Freed saw her test sent up by an agent and insisted that Allyson be put on contract immediately. Another musical, Thousands Cheer (1943) was again a showcase for her singing and dancing, albeit still in a minor role.As a new starlet, although Allyson had already been a performer on stage and screen, she was presented as an "overnight sensation", with Hollywood press agents attempting to portray her as an ingenue, selectively slicing almost a decade off her true age. Studio bios listed her variously as being born in 1922 and 1923.

Allyson's breakthrough was in Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) where the studio image of the "girl next door" was fostered by her being cast alongside long-time acting chum, Van Johnson, the quintessential "boy next door." As the "sweetheart team," Johnson and Allyson were to appear together in four more films.

Allyson's early success as a musical star led to several other postwar musicals, including Two Sisters from Boston (1946) and Good News (1947). Allyson also played straight roles such as Constance in The Three Musketeers (1948), the tomboy Jo March in Little Women (1949), and a nurse in Battle Circus (1953). She was very adept at opening the waterworks on cue, and many of her films incorporated a crying scene. Fellow MGM player Margaret O'Brien recalled that she and Allyson were known as "the town criers".
June Allyson in The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)

An extremely active star in the 1940s and 1950s, in 1950, Allyson had been signed to appear opposite her childhood idol Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, but had to leave the production due to pregnancy. (She was replaced initially by Judy Garland, and later Jane Powell.) She starred in 1956 with a young rising star named Jack Lemmon in a musical comedy, You Can't Run Away From It. Besides Van Johnson, James Stewart was a frequent costar, teaming up with Allyson in films such as The Glenn Miller Story, The Stratton Story and Strategic Air Command.

A versatile performer, Allyson appeared on radio and after her film career ended, Allyson made a handful of nightclub singing engagements. In later years, Allyson appeared on television, not only in her own series, but in such popular programs as The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote. The DuPont Show with June Allyson on CBS ran for two seasons and was an attempt to use a "high budget" formula but her efforts were dismissed by critics such as the entertainment reviewer in the LA Examiner as "reaching down to the level of mag fiction." TV Guide and other fan magazines such as TV, however, considered Allyson's foray into television as revitalizing her fame and career for a younger audience, further characterizing that her stereotyping by the movie industry as the "girl next door" was the "waste and neglect of talent on its own doorstep."
Personal life

On her arrival in Hollywood, studio heads attempted to enhance the pairing of Van Johnson and Allyson by sending out the two contracted players on a series of "official dates" which were highly publicized and led to a public perception that a romance had been kindled. Although dating David Rose, Peter Lawford and John F. Kennedy, Allyson was actually being courted by movie heartthrob and powerful Hollywood "player" Dick Powell, who was 13 years her senior and had been previously married to Mildred Maund and Joan Blondell.

On August 19, 1945, Allyson caused MGM studio chief, Louis B. Mayer some consternation by marrying Dick Powell. After defying him twice by refusing to stop seeing Powell, in a "tactical master stroke", she asked Mayer to give her away at the wedding. He was so disarmed that he agreed but put Allyson on suspension anyway. The Powells had two children, Pamela Allyson Powell (adopted in 1948 through the Tennessee Children's Home Society in an adoption arranged by Georgia Tann) and Richard Powell, Jr. (born December 24, 1950). In 1961, Allyson underwent a kidney operation and later, throat surgery, temporarily affecting her trademark raspy-voice. The couple briefly separated in 1961, but reconciled and remained married until his death on January 2, 1963.

Powell's wealth made it possible for Allyson to effectively retire from show business after his death, making only occasional appearances on talk and variety shows. Allyson returned to the Broadway stage in 1970 in the play Forty Carats and later toured in a production of No, No Nanette.

After Powell's death, Allyson committed herself to charitable work on his behalf, championing the importance of research in urological and gynecological diseases in seniors, and represented the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in commercials for Depend adult incontinence products. Following a life-long interest in health and medical research (Allyson had initially wanted to use her acting career to fund her own training as a doctor), she was instrumental in establishing the June Allyson Foundation for Public Awareness and Medical Research. Allyson also financed her brother, Dr. Arthur Peters through his medical training, and he went on to specialize in otolaryngology. She also went though a bitter court battle with her mother over custody of the children she had with Powell. Reports at the time revealed that writer/director Dirk Summers, with whom Allyson was romantically involved from 1963 to 1975, was named legal guardian for Ricky and Pamela as a result of a court petition. Members of the nascent jet-set, Allyson and Summers were frequently seen in Cap d'Antibes, Madrid, Rome, and London. However, Summers refused to marry her and the relationship did not last.

Following her separation from Summers, Allyson was twice married and divorced to businessman Alfred Glenn Maxwell, who owned a number of barbershops and had been Powell's barber, who she claimed physically abused her. During this time, Allyson struggled with alcoholism, which she overcame in the mid-1970s. In 1976, Allyson married David Ashrow, a dentist turned actor. The couple occasionally performed together in regional theater, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, toured the United States with the stage play My Daughter, Your Son. They also appeared on celebrity cruise ship tours on the Royal Viking Sky, in a program that highlighted Allyson's movie career.

Her autobiography, June Allyson by June Allyson (1982) received generally complimentary reviews due to its insider look at Hollywood in one of its golden ages. A more critical appraisal came from Janet Maslin at the New York Times in her review, "Hollywood Leaves Its Imprint on Its Chroniclers", who noted: “Miss Allyson presents herself as the same sunny, tomboyish figure she played on screen Hollywood . . . like someone who has come to inhabit the very myths she helped to create on the screen."Privately, Allyson admitted that her earlier screen portrayals had left her uneasy about the typecast "good wife" roles she had played.

As a personal friend of President and Mrs. Reagan she was invited to many White House Dinners, and in 1988, President Reagan appointed her to “The Federal Council of Aging”. Allyson and her later husband, Dr. Ashrow, actively supported fund-raising efforts for both the James Stewart and Judy Garland museums; both Stewart and Garland had been close friends.

In 1993, her name also made headlines when actor-turned-agent Marty Ingels publicly charged Allyson with not paying his large commission on the earlier Depends deal. Allyson denied owing any money, and she and Ashrow filed a lawsuit for slander and emotional distress, charging that Ingels was harassing and threatening them, stating Ingels made 138 phone calls during a single eight-hour period. Earlier that year, Ingels had pleaded no contest to making annoying phone calls. In December 1993, Allyson christened the Holland America Maasdam, one of the flagships of the Holland America line. Although her heritage, like much of her personal story, was subject to different interpretations, Allyson always claimed to be proud of a Dutch ancestry.

Allyson made a special appearance in 1994 in That's Entertainment III, as one of the film's narrators. She spoke about MGM's golden era, and introduced vintage film clips. In 1996, Alyson became the first recipient of the Harvey Award, presented by the James M. Stewart Museum Foundation, in recognition of her positive contributions to the world of entertainment. Until 2003, Allyson remained as busy as ever touring the country making personal appearances, headlining celebrity cruises and speaking on behalf of Kimberly-Clark, a long-time commercial interest.

Following hip-replacement surgery in 2003, Allyson's health began to deteriorate. With her husband at her side, she died July 8, 2006, at the age of 88 at her home in Ojai, California. Her death was a result of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis.
Awards

In 1952, Allyson won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress—Musical/Comedy, for Too Young To Kiss. In 1954, she was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting at the Venice Festival, for Executive Suite, in the same year that she was voted Most Popular Female Star by Photoplay magazine. In 1955, Allyson was named the ninth most popular movie star in the annual Quigley Exhibitors Poll and the second most popular female star (behind Grace Kelly). In 1985, she received the Cannes Festival Distinguished Service Award.

At the 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007), Allyson received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute, it included a clip of her smiling and laughing. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1537 Vine Street.
“ I couldn't dance, and, Lord knows, I couldn't sing, but I got by somehow. Richard Rodgers was always keeping them from firing me. ”
 
— June Allyson, 1951, Interview.
Filmography
Features

    * Best Foot Forward (1943)
    * Thousands Cheer (1943)
    * Girl Crazy (1943)
    * Meet the People (1944)
    * Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
    * Music for Millions (1944)
    * Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)
    * The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945)
    * Two Sisters from Boston (1946)
    * Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
    * The Secret Heart (1946)
    * High Barbaree (1947)
    * Good News (1947)
    * The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
    * The Three Musketeers (1948)
    * Words and Music (1948)
    * Little Women (1949)
    * The Stratton Story (1949)
    * The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
    * Right Cross (1950)



    * Too Young to Kiss (1951)
    * The Girl in White (1952)
    * Battle Circus (1953)
    * Remains to Be Seen (1953)
    * The Glenn Miller Story (1953)
    * Executive Suite (1954)
    * Woman's World (1954)
    * Strategic Air Command (1955)
    * The Shrike (1955)
    * The McConnell Story (1955)
    * The Opposite Sex (1956)
    * You Can't Run Away from It (1956)
    * Interlude (1957)
    * My Man Godfrey (1957)
    * A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
    * They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
    * Blackout (1978)
    * That's Entertainment! III (1994)
    * A Girl, Three Guys, and a Gun (2001)

Short subjects

    * Ups and Downs (1937)
    * Pixilated (1937)
    * Swing for Sale (1937)
    * Dime a Dance (1937)
    * Dates and Nuts (1937)
    * Not Now (1938)



    * Sing for Sweetie (1938)
    * The Prisoner of Swing (1938)
    * The Knight Is Young (1938)
    * All Girl Revue (1940)
    * Screen Snapshots: Hollywood, City of Stars (1956)

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg268/OSWALDO-05718766/JUNE%20ALLYSON/be6ayqlgnngya6qy.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg268/OSWALDO-05718766/JUNE%20ALLYSON/e2vl189p7emggmp.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:02 am


But the true location of the cake (in the rain) is not known?



Maybe the cake is in a bakery hot and fresh?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:03 am


The person born on this day...Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon  (born July 8, 1958) is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Footloose, Flatliners, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, and Tremors.

Bacon has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, was nominated for an Emmy Award, and was named by The Guardian as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Bacon, one of six children, was born and raised in a close-knit family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Ruth Hilda (née Holmes; 1916–1991), taught elementary school and was a liberal activist, while his father, Edmund Bacon, was a well-respected architect. At 16, Bacon attended the Pennsylvania Governors School for the Arts, a state-funded five-week arts program which helped solidify Bacon's passion for the arts.
Acting career

Bacon left home at age 17 to pursue a theater career in New York, where he appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theater School. "I wanted life, man, the real thing", he later recalled to Nancy Mills of Cosmopolitan. "The message I got was 'The arts are it. Business is the devil's work. Art and creative expression are next to godliness.' Combine that with an immense ego and you wind up with an actor."

Bacon's debut in the fraternity comedy Animal House in 1978 did not lead to instant fame for which he had hoped, and Bacon returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater. He briefly worked on the television soap operas Search For Tomorrow (1979) and The Guiding Light (1980–81) in New York. He refused an offer of a television series based on Animal House to be filmed in California in order to remain close to the New York stage . Some of his early stage work included Getting Out performed at New York's Phoenix Theater, and Flux which he did at Second Stage Theatre during their 1981–1982 season.

In 1982, he won an Obie Award for his role in Forty Deuce, and soon after made his Broadway debut in Slab Boys, with then-unknowns Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. However, it was not until he portrayed Timothy Fenwick that same year in Barry Levinson's Diner – costarring Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly and Ellen Barkin – that he made an indelible impression on film critics and moviegoers alike.
Bacon in 2007

Bolstered by the attention garnered by his performance in Diner, Bacon starred in the 1984 box-office smash Footloose. Richard Corliss of Time likened Footloose to the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause and the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, commenting that the film includes "motifs on book burning, mid-life crisis, AWOL parents, fatal car crashes, drug enforcement, and Bible Belt vigilantism." To prepare for the role, Bacon enrolled at a high school as a transfer student named "Ren McCormick" and studied teenagers before leaving in the middle of the day. Bacon did earn strong reviews for Footloose, and he appeared on the cover of People magazine soon after its release.

Bacon's critical and box-office success lead to a period of typecasting in roles similar to the two he portrayed in Diner and Footloose. Bacon would have difficulty shaking this on-screen image. For the next several years he chose films that cast him against either type and experienced, by his own estimation, a career slump. In 1988 he starred in John Hughes's comedy She's Having a Baby and the following year he was in another comedy called The Big Picture.

In 1990, Bacon had two successful roles. He played a character who saved his town from under-the-earth "graboid" monsters in the comedy/horror film Tremors – a role that People found him "far too accomplished" to play – and portrayed an earnest medical student experimenting with death in Joel Schumacher's Flatliners.

Bacon's next project was to star opposite Elizabeth Perkins in He Said, She Said. Despite lukewarm reviews and low audience turnout, He Said, She Said was illuminating for Bacon. Required to play a character with sexist attitudes, he admitted that the role was not that large a stretch for him.

By 1991, Bacon began to give up the idea of playing leading men in big-budget films and to remake himself as a character actor. "The only way I was going to be able to work on 'A' projects with really 'A' directors was if I wasn't the guy who was starring", he confided to The New York Times writer Trip Gabriel. "You can't afford to set up a $40 million movie if you don't have your star."

His performance that year as gay prostitute Willie O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's JFK received tremendous critical acclaim. He went on to play a prosecuting attorney in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. Later that year he returned to the theater to play in Spike Heels, directed by Michael Greif.
Bacon receiving a Merit Award in April 2010

In 1994, Bacon earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in The River Wild opposite Meryl Streep. He described the film to Chase in Cosmopolitan as a "grueling shoot," in which "every one of us fell out of the boat at one point or another and had to be saved."

His next film, "Murder in the First" earned him the Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award in 1995, the same year that he starred in the blockbuster hit Apollo 13.

Bacon reverted to his trademark dark role once again in Sleepers in 1996. This role was in stark contrast to his appearance in the lighthearted romantic comedy, Picture Perfect the following year. Bacon again resurrected his oddball mystique that year as a retarded houseguest in Digging to China, and as a disc jockey corrupted by payola in Telling Lies in America. As the executive producer of 1998's Wild Things, Bacon reserved a supporting role for himself, and went on to star in Stir of Echoes (directed by David Koepp) in 1999, and in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man in 2000.

Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard depict a ménage à trois in their film, Where the Truth Lies. Bacon and director Atom Egoyan have condemned the MPAA ratings board decision to give the film their "NC-17" rating over the preferable "R". Bacon decried the decision, commenting: "I don't get it, when I see films (that) are extremely violent, extremely objectionable sometimes in terms of the roles that women play, slide by with an R, no problem, because the people happen to have more of their clothes on." Bacon was again acclaimed for a dark starring role playing an offending pedophile on parole in the 2004 film The Woodsman; he was nominated best actor receiving the Independent Spirit Award.
Bacon speaking before a premiere of Taking Chance in February 2009

He appeared in the HBO Films production of Taking Chance, a film based on a story of the same name written by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, an American 'Desert Storm' war veteran. The film premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role.
Personal life

Bacon has been married to actress Kyra Sedgwick since September 4, 1988; they met on the set of the PBS version of Lanford Wilson's play Lemon Sky. "The time I was hitting what I considered to be bottom was also the time I met my wife, our kids were born, good things were happening", he explained to Cosmopolitan's Chase. "And I was able to keep supporting myself; that always gave me strength."

Bacon and Sedgwick have starred together in Pyrates, Murder in the First, The Woodsman and Loverboy. They have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon (born June 23, 1989 in Los Angeles, California) and Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Bacon and Sedgwick appeared in will.i.am's video It's a New Day which was released following Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.

Bacon and Sedgwick lost an undisclosed amount of money in the Ponzi scheme of infamous fraudulent investor Bernard Madoff.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Main article: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Bacon is the subject of the trivia game titled Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the idea that, due to his prolific screen career, any Hollywood actor can be linked to another in a handful of steps based on their associations with Bacon.

Though he was initially dismayed by the game, the meme stuck, and Bacon eventually embraced it, forming the charitable initiative SixDegrees.org, a social networking site intended to link people to charities and each other.
Music

In 1995, Bacon formed a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. The duo has released six albums.
Filmography
Films
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Chip Diller
1979 Starting Over Husband
1979 The Gift Teddy
1980 Hero at Large 2nd Teenager
1980 Friday the 13th Jack Burrell
1981 Only When I Laugh Don
1982 Diner Timothy Fenwick Jr.
1982 Forty Deuce Ricky
1983 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Dennis
1984 Footloose Ren McCormack
1986 Quicksilver Jack Casey
1987 White Water Summer Vic
1987 End of the Line Everett
1987 Planes, Trains & Automobiles Taxi Racer
1988 She's Having a Baby Jefferson 'Jake' Edward Briggs
1989 Criminal Law Martin Thiel
1989 The Big Picture Nick Chapman
1990 Tremors Valentine 'Val' McKee
1990 Flatliners David Labraccio
1991 Pyrates Ari
1991 Queens Logic Dennis
1991 He Said, She Said Dan Hanson
1991 JFK Willie O'Keefe
1991 "A Little Vicious" narrator short subject
1992 A Few Good Men Capt. Jack Ross
1994 The Air Up There Jimmy Dolan
1994 The River Wild Wade Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1994 "New York Skyride" narrator short subject
1995 Murder in the First Henri Young Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1995 Apollo 13 Jack Swigert Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 Balto Balto
1996 Sleepers Sean Nokes
1997 Picture Perfect Sam Mayfair
1997 Destination Anywhere Mike
1997 Telling Lies in America Billy Magic
1998 Digging to China Ricky Schroth
1998 Wild Things Sgt. Ray Duquette
1999 Stir of Echoes Tom Witzky
2000 My Dog Skip Jack Morris
2000 We Married Margo Himself
2000 Hollow Man Sebastian Caine
2001 Novocaine Lance Phelps
2002 Trapped Joe Hickey
2003 Mystic River Sean Devine Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 In the Cut John Graham
2003 "Imagine New York" Himself short subject
2004 The Woodsman Walter Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2004 Cavedweller Randall Pritchard
2004 "Natural Disasters: Forces of Nature" narrator short subject
2005 Loverboy Marty also directed
2005 Beauty Shop Jorge
2005 Where the Truth Lies Lanny Morris
2007 Death Sentence Nick Hume
2007 Rails & Ties Tom Stark
2008 The Air I Breathe Love
2008 Frost/Nixon Jack Brennan Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 "Saving Angelo" Brent short subject
2009 Taking Chance Lt. Col. Michael Strobl Television Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2009 The Magic 7 Himself
2009 My One and Only Dan
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1979 Search for Tomorrow Todd Adamson
1980–1981 The Guiding Light T. J. 'Tim' Werner #2 Six episodes
1983 The Demon Murder Case Kenny Miller Television film
1984 Mister Roberts Ens. Frank Pulver
1985 The Little Sister Probation Officer Uncredited; television film
1988 Lemon Sky Alan Television film
1994 Frasier Vic Single episode
2002 Will & Grace Himself Single episode: "Bacon and Eggs"

Directing

   * The Closer (2006) (Episode: Serving the King: Part 2)
   * The Closer (2007) (Episode: Blindsided)
   * The Closer (2008) (Episode: Sudden Death)
   * The Closer (2009) (Episode: Waivers of Extradition)
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f63/phreeze_phrame/Bacon/kbacon.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f114/Heathlooker25/kevin_bacon_2.jpg


I always liked Kevin Bacon,just haven't seen him in films lately.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:05 am

http://www.aolcdn.com/channels/0b/01/48a06516-00300-0509e-400cb8e1

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 7:12 am



Maybe the cake is in a bakery hot and fresh?

Where it should be, maybe he wrote cake but meant pie, because people leave pies out to cool.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:13 am


Where it should be, maybe he wrote cake but meant pie, because people leave pies out to cool.


pies are more messier.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 7:18 am


pies are more messier.

Yes but are delicious :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:19 am


Yes but are delicious :)


Pineapple Pie,Apple and Blueberry.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 10:16 am


Pineapple Pie,Apple and Blueberry.

I like Cherry, Chocolate Creme,Lemon Meringue and Strawberry glazed.
I've never had pineapple pie before, just upside down cake :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 2:01 pm


According to Albert Hammond It Never Rains In Southern California it pours ;D
It must rain on MacArthur Park!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 2:05 pm


The word of the day...Woodsman
A man who works or lives in the woods or is versed in woodcraft; a forester.
Woodsmen or lumberjack competitions have their roots in competitions that took place in logging camps among loggers. As loggers were paid for piece work, the ability to perform a specific task more quickly, or with a degree of showmanship, was something to be admired. Today the tradition survives on college campuses across the United States and Canada, as well as on various competitive circuits worldwide, including ESPN's now-defunct Great Outdoor Games. The sport is most popular in areas of the world with a strong logging tradition.
Active Schools in the Northeast

The following is a partial list of colleges in the Northeast US with active teams:

    * SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
    * Colby College
    * Dartmouth College
    * The University of Maine
    * Unity College
    * The University of New Hampshire
    * Finger Lakes Community College
    * Paul Smith's College

The following is a partial list of colleges in Canada with active teams:

    * McGill University
    * Nova Scotia Agricultural College
    * University of New Brunswick
    * Sir Sanford Flemming College
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z176/LindaKooper/Woods/4ecc.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd210/Dragonrider99/Woodsman.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/andrade_86/TheWoodsmanaa.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/Dansknecht/Elizabethan%20Art/Woodsman.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/theTick197/woodsman.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Jenisi/Funny%20Icons/angry-woodsman.jpg
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/ProfessorPeterPuppet/Hand%20Puppets/RedCapwoodsman1.jpg



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjyD5wZjZ-U

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 2:06 pm


The word of the day...Woodsman
A man who works or lives in the woods or is versed in woodcraft; a forester.
Woodsmen or lumberjack competitions have their roots in competitions that took place in logging camps among loggers. As loggers were paid for piece work, the ability to perform a specific task more quickly, or with a degree of showmanship, was something to be admired. Today the tradition survives on college campuses across the United States and Canada, as well as on various competitive circuits worldwide, including ESPN's now-defunct Great Outdoor Games. The sport is most popular in areas of the world with a strong logging tradition.
Active Schools in the Northeast

The following is a partial list of colleges in the Northeast US with active teams:

    * SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
    * Colby College
    * Dartmouth College
    * The University of Maine
    * Unity College
    * The University of New Hampshire
    * Finger Lakes Community College
    * Paul Smith's College

The following is a partial list of colleges in Canada with active teams:

    * McGill University
    * Nova Scotia Agricultural College
    * University of New Brunswick
    * Sir Sanford Flemming College
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z176/LindaKooper/Woods/4ecc.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd210/Dragonrider99/Woodsman.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/andrade_86/TheWoodsmanaa.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/Dansknecht/Elizabethan%20Art/Woodsman.jpg
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv81/theTick197/woodsman.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Jenisi/Funny%20Icons/angry-woodsman.jpg
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/ProfessorPeterPuppet/Hand%20Puppets/RedCapwoodsman1.jpg

WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE.

There is a tree grows near our house,
It’s been there quite some time,
Now, the tree is a slippery elm tree,
And awful hard to climb:
But when my wife gets after me,
In that tree I always roost:
Why, I can go right up it just like a healthy squirrel,
I don’t never need no boost!

Now, the other day a woodman came round,
To chop my refuge down;
Kept mumbling something about wanting to split it into kindling wood,
And then spreading it round the town.
I said to him, I said ‘Look here my friend,
‘Hold on, desist, whoa, stop!
‘Put down that forest razor,
‘Chop not a single chop!

‘Woodman, woodman, spare that tree,
‘Touch not a single bough!
‘Three years it has protected me,
‘And I’ll protect it now!’
‘Go chop an oak, get a birch or pine,
‘But save old slippery there, that’s mine:
‘That’s the onliest tree my wife can’t climb!
‘Mister woodman, spare it for me!’

I said to him, I said ‘Woodie, can you see that hole,
Way up near that old tree top?
‘Now, I’ve got five dollars in soft money up there,
‘And it’s yours if you refuse to chop!
‘Now no-one can climb that tree but me
‘ because, ‘really, friend it’s too slippery:
‘Fact of the matter is I can’t get up there very well myself,
‘Unless my wife is after me!’

‘Now I’m going to go home and get my wife,
‘And proceed to call her a very naughty word:
‘And all you do is stand by,
‘While I do that imitation of a bird!
‘But you ain’t gonna know just where I go,
‘At least while my wife’s around,
‘But the only thing I’m gonna ask you, Mister Woodie,
‘Is, if you don’t see me here on the ground:-‘

‘Woodman, Woodman spare that tree,
‘Touch not a single bough!
‘Because I’m gonna drop all five down to thee,
‘The one I promised thou!
‘But you must make that axe behave
‘Because old slippery there just must be saved;
‘That’s the borderline ‘twixt me and the grave!
‘Mister woodman, spare it!
‘Spare that tree!
‘For ME!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 2:08 pm


The person born on this day...Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon  (born July 8, 1958) is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Footloose, Flatliners, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, and Tremors.

Bacon has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, was nominated for an Emmy Award, and was named by The Guardian as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Bacon, one of six children, was born and raised in a close-knit family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Ruth Hilda (née Holmes; 1916–1991), taught elementary school and was a liberal activist, while his father, Edmund Bacon, was a well-respected architect. At 16, Bacon attended the Pennsylvania Governors School for the Arts, a state-funded five-week arts program which helped solidify Bacon's passion for the arts.
Acting career

Bacon left home at age 17 to pursue a theater career in New York, where he appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theater School. "I wanted life, man, the real thing", he later recalled to Nancy Mills of Cosmopolitan. "The message I got was 'The arts are it. Business is the devil's work. Art and creative expression are next to godliness.' Combine that with an immense ego and you wind up with an actor."

Bacon's debut in the fraternity comedy Animal House in 1978 did not lead to instant fame for which he had hoped, and Bacon returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater. He briefly worked on the television soap operas Search For Tomorrow (1979) and The Guiding Light (1980–81) in New York. He refused an offer of a television series based on Animal House to be filmed in California in order to remain close to the New York stage . Some of his early stage work included Getting Out performed at New York's Phoenix Theater, and Flux which he did at Second Stage Theatre during their 1981–1982 season.

In 1982, he won an Obie Award for his role in Forty Deuce, and soon after made his Broadway debut in Slab Boys, with then-unknowns Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. However, it was not until he portrayed Timothy Fenwick that same year in Barry Levinson's Diner – costarring Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly and Ellen Barkin – that he made an indelible impression on film critics and moviegoers alike.
Bacon in 2007

Bolstered by the attention garnered by his performance in Diner, Bacon starred in the 1984 box-office smash Footloose. Richard Corliss of Time likened Footloose to the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause and the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, commenting that the film includes "motifs on book burning, mid-life crisis, AWOL parents, fatal car crashes, drug enforcement, and Bible Belt vigilantism." To prepare for the role, Bacon enrolled at a high school as a transfer student named "Ren McCormick" and studied teenagers before leaving in the middle of the day. Bacon did earn strong reviews for Footloose, and he appeared on the cover of People magazine soon after its release.

Bacon's critical and box-office success lead to a period of typecasting in roles similar to the two he portrayed in Diner and Footloose. Bacon would have difficulty shaking this on-screen image. For the next several years he chose films that cast him against either type and experienced, by his own estimation, a career slump. In 1988 he starred in John Hughes's comedy She's Having a Baby and the following year he was in another comedy called The Big Picture.

In 1990, Bacon had two successful roles. He played a character who saved his town from under-the-earth "graboid" monsters in the comedy/horror film Tremors – a role that People found him "far too accomplished" to play – and portrayed an earnest medical student experimenting with death in Joel Schumacher's Flatliners.

Bacon's next project was to star opposite Elizabeth Perkins in He Said, She Said. Despite lukewarm reviews and low audience turnout, He Said, She Said was illuminating for Bacon. Required to play a character with sexist attitudes, he admitted that the role was not that large a stretch for him.

By 1991, Bacon began to give up the idea of playing leading men in big-budget films and to remake himself as a character actor. "The only way I was going to be able to work on 'A' projects with really 'A' directors was if I wasn't the guy who was starring", he confided to The New York Times writer Trip Gabriel. "You can't afford to set up a $40 million movie if you don't have your star."

His performance that year as gay prostitute Willie O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's JFK received tremendous critical acclaim. He went on to play a prosecuting attorney in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. Later that year he returned to the theater to play in Spike Heels, directed by Michael Greif.
Bacon receiving a Merit Award in April 2010

In 1994, Bacon earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in The River Wild opposite Meryl Streep. He described the film to Chase in Cosmopolitan as a "grueling shoot," in which "every one of us fell out of the boat at one point or another and had to be saved."

His next film, "Murder in the First" earned him the Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award in 1995, the same year that he starred in the blockbuster hit Apollo 13.

Bacon reverted to his trademark dark role once again in Sleepers in 1996. This role was in stark contrast to his appearance in the lighthearted romantic comedy, Picture Perfect the following year. Bacon again resurrected his oddball mystique that year as a retarded houseguest in Digging to China, and as a disc jockey corrupted by payola in Telling Lies in America. As the executive producer of 1998's Wild Things, Bacon reserved a supporting role for himself, and went on to star in Stir of Echoes (directed by David Koepp) in 1999, and in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man in 2000.

Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard depict a ménage à trois in their film, Where the Truth Lies. Bacon and director Atom Egoyan have condemned the MPAA ratings board decision to give the film their "NC-17" rating over the preferable "R". Bacon decried the decision, commenting: "I don't get it, when I see films (that) are extremely violent, extremely objectionable sometimes in terms of the roles that women play, slide by with an R, no problem, because the people happen to have more of their clothes on." Bacon was again acclaimed for a dark starring role playing an offending pedophile on parole in the 2004 film The Woodsman; he was nominated best actor receiving the Independent Spirit Award.
Bacon speaking before a premiere of Taking Chance in February 2009

He appeared in the HBO Films production of Taking Chance, a film based on a story of the same name written by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, an American 'Desert Storm' war veteran. The film premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role.
Personal life

Bacon has been married to actress Kyra Sedgwick since September 4, 1988; they met on the set of the PBS version of Lanford Wilson's play Lemon Sky. "The time I was hitting what I considered to be bottom was also the time I met my wife, our kids were born, good things were happening", he explained to Cosmopolitan's Chase. "And I was able to keep supporting myself; that always gave me strength."

Bacon and Sedgwick have starred together in Pyrates, Murder in the First, The Woodsman and Loverboy. They have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon (born June 23, 1989 in Los Angeles, California) and Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Bacon and Sedgwick appeared in will.i.am's video It's a New Day which was released following Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.

Bacon and Sedgwick lost an undisclosed amount of money in the Ponzi scheme of infamous fraudulent investor Bernard Madoff.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Main article: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Bacon is the subject of the trivia game titled Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the idea that, due to his prolific screen career, any Hollywood actor can be linked to another in a handful of steps based on their associations with Bacon.

Though he was initially dismayed by the game, the meme stuck, and Bacon eventually embraced it, forming the charitable initiative SixDegrees.org, a social networking site intended to link people to charities and each other.
Music

In 1995, Bacon formed a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. The duo has released six albums.
Filmography
Films
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Chip Diller
1979 Starting Over Husband
1979 The Gift Teddy
1980 Hero at Large 2nd Teenager
1980 Friday the 13th Jack Burrell
1981 Only When I Laugh Don
1982 Diner Timothy Fenwick Jr.
1982 Forty Deuce Ricky
1983 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Dennis
1984 Footloose Ren McCormack
1986 Quicksilver Jack Casey
1987 White Water Summer Vic
1987 End of the Line Everett
1987 Planes, Trains & Automobiles Taxi Racer
1988 She's Having a Baby Jefferson 'Jake' Edward Briggs
1989 Criminal Law Martin Thiel
1989 The Big Picture Nick Chapman
1990 Tremors Valentine 'Val' McKee
1990 Flatliners David Labraccio
1991 Pyrates Ari
1991 Queens Logic Dennis
1991 He Said, She Said Dan Hanson
1991 JFK Willie O'Keefe
1991 "A Little Vicious" narrator short subject
1992 A Few Good Men Capt. Jack Ross
1994 The Air Up There Jimmy Dolan
1994 The River Wild Wade Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1994 "New York Skyride" narrator short subject
1995 Murder in the First Henri Young Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1995 Apollo 13 Jack Swigert Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 Balto Balto
1996 Sleepers Sean Nokes
1997 Picture Perfect Sam Mayfair
1997 Destination Anywhere Mike
1997 Telling Lies in America Billy Magic
1998 Digging to China Ricky Schroth
1998 Wild Things Sgt. Ray Duquette
1999 Stir of Echoes Tom Witzky
2000 My Dog Skip Jack Morris
2000 We Married Margo Himself
2000 Hollow Man Sebastian Caine
2001 Novocaine Lance Phelps
2002 Trapped Joe Hickey
2003 Mystic River Sean Devine Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 In the Cut John Graham
2003 "Imagine New York" Himself short subject
2004 The Woodsman Walter Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2004 Cavedweller Randall Pritchard
2004 "Natural Disasters: Forces of Nature" narrator short subject
2005 Loverboy Marty also directed
2005 Beauty Shop Jorge
2005 Where the Truth Lies Lanny Morris
2007 Death Sentence Nick Hume
2007 Rails & Ties Tom Stark
2008 The Air I Breathe Love
2008 Frost/Nixon Jack Brennan Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 "Saving Angelo" Brent short subject
2009 Taking Chance Lt. Col. Michael Strobl Television Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2009 The Magic 7 Himself
2009 My One and Only Dan
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1979 Search for Tomorrow Todd Adamson
1980–1981 The Guiding Light T. J. 'Tim' Werner #2 Six episodes
1983 The Demon Murder Case Kenny Miller Television film
1984 Mister Roberts Ens. Frank Pulver
1985 The Little Sister Probation Officer Uncredited; television film
1988 Lemon Sky Alan Television film
1994 Frasier Vic Single episode
2002 Will & Grace Himself Single episode: "Bacon and Eggs"

Directing

    * The Closer (2006) (Episode: Serving the King: Part 2)
    * The Closer (2007) (Episode: Blindsided)
    * The Closer (2008) (Episode: Sudden Death)
    * The Closer (2009) (Episode: Waivers of Extradition)
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f63/phreeze_phrame/Bacon/kbacon.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f114/Heathlooker25/kevin_bacon_2.jpg
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 2:09 pm



Maybe the cake is in a bakery hot and fresh?
That is not clear in the lyrics.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/08/10 at 2:10 pm


Where it should be, maybe he wrote cake but meant pie, because people leave pies out to cool.
Custard pie?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/10 at 3:56 pm


Custard pie?

I want some pie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/08/10 at 5:13 pm


I want some pie :)



http://dustyloft.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/pi.jpg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/08/10 at 6:04 pm



http://dustyloft.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/pi.jpg



Cat

Yay pi!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:17 pm

I wonder if they will ever make a Footloose 2?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/10 at 7:18 pm


I want some pie :)


Me Too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 1:04 am


I wonder if they will ever make a Footloose 2?
There is a Footloose in production right now and it is a film adaption of the stage musical.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 1:06 am


Yay pi!
The decimal representation of π truncated  to 50 decimal places is:

  approx 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/10 at 5:44 am

The word of the day...Wolf
The grey wolf (Canis lupus), often known simply as the wolf, is the largest wild member of the Canidae family. Though once abundant over much of Eurasia and North America, the grey wolf inhabits a reduced portion of its former range due to widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Even so, the grey wolf is regarded as being of least concern for extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, when the entire grey wolf population is considered as a whole. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to livestock and pets.

Grey wolves are social predators that live in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair which monopolises food and breeding rights, followed by their biological offspring and, occasionally, adopted subordinates. They primarily feed on ungulates, which they hunt by wearing them down in short chases. Grey wolves are typically apex predators throughout their range, with only humans and tigers posing significant threats to them.

DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies reaffirm that the grey wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog. A number of other grey wolf subspecies have been identified, though the actual number of subspecies is still open to discussion.

In areas where human cultures and wolves are sympatric, wolves frequently feature in the folklore and mythology of those cultures, both positively and negatively.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x156/Keeli_02/wolf_forum.jpg
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/Semperfiend/british-wolf.jpg
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq68/InvisibleToYourEyes/the%20pack/wolf-4.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac132/VvSnakevV/Forsomething/White_Wolf.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd197/little_miss_daydream/howlingwolf.gif
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m479/anneishxc/2e6dea77.jpg
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/Semperfiend/Animal-Wolf-26820.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/OGSP/Wolves/wolf_cubs.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/10 at 5:47 am

The person born on this day...Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy (born July 9, 1938) is an American actor of film, stage and screen.
Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service doctor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward.  Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was raised Roman Catholic.  The family relocated to Long Island, New York, where Dennehy attended Chaminade High School in the town of Mineola.

Rather than immediately chase his dreams of stage and screen, Dennehy enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959, actively serving until 1963. Although he said in numerous interviews that he had fought in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, even telling harrowing tales of his service there, it was revealed in the 1998 book Stolen Valor by B.G. Burkett that Dennehy had never served overseas at all during his time in the military. Later that year, Dennehy admitted to the tabloid The Globe "I lied about serving in Vietnam and I'm sorry. That was very wrong of me. There is no real excuse for that. I was a peace-time Marine, and I got out in 1963 without ever serving in Vietnam. I started the story that I had been in 'Nam, and I got stuck with it. Then I didn't know how to set the record straight." However, in 2007, he once again told a reporter tales of his service in the Vietnam War, this time to Joanne Kaufman of the Wall Street Journal.

He went on to attend Columbia on a football scholarship to major in history, where he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, before moving on to Yale to study dramatic arts. He played rugby for Old Blue RFC. He currently resides in Woodstock, CT.
Career
Film

Dennehy is primarily known as a dramatic actor. His breakthrough role was as the overzealous Sheriff Will Teasle in First Blood (1982) opposite Sylvester Stallone as Rambo.

His earlier films did include several comedies like Semi-Tough with Burt Reynolds (in which he portrayed a pro football player), 10 with Dudley Moore (as an Acapulco bartender) and Foul Play with Chevy Chase. He later portrayed a corrupt sheriff in the western Silverado and an alien in Cocoon, both released in 1985.

Memorable supporting parts featured Dennehy in such films as Legal Eagles (1986), F/X - Murder By Illusion (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990) and F/X2 - The Deadly Art Of Illusion (1991).

Dennehy gradually became a valuable character actor but also achieved leading-man status in the thriller Best Seller (1987) co-starring James Woods. He gained his arthouse spurs when he starred in the Peter Greenaway film The Belly of an Architect, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 1987 Chicago International Film Festival. Commenting upon this unusual venture, Dennehy said, "I've been in a lot of movies but this is the first film I've made."

He went on to star as Harrison in the Australian film The Man from Snowy River II in 1988.

One of his most well-known roles came in the 1995 Chris Farley-David Spade comedy Tommy Boy as Big Tom Callahan. He also was reunited with his 10 co-star Bo Derek in Tommy Boy, in which she played his wife.

Dennehy had a voice role in the recent animated movie Ratatouille as Django, the rat chef Remy's father. He appeared as the superior officer of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in the 2008 cop drama Righteous Kill.

Dennehy is currently filming Alleged, which is based on the Scopes Monkey Trial, the famous court battle over evolution.
Television

Dennehy began his professional acting career in small guest roles in such 1970s and 1980s series as Kojak, Lou Grant, Dallas and Dynasty. He also appeared in an episode of Miami Vice during the 1987-88 season.

Dennehy portrayed Sergeant Ned T. "Frozen Chosen" Coleman in the television movie A Rumor of War (1980) opposite Brad Davis. He continued to appear in such high-profile television movies as Skokie (1981), Split Image (1982), Day One, (1989), A Killing in a Small Town (1990) opposite Barbara Hershey, In Broad Daylight (1991), Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof and the miniseries A Season in Purgatory. He also played the title role in HBO's Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story.

Dennehy had a lead role as fire chief/celebrity dad Leslie "Buddy" Krebs in the short-lived 1982 series Star Of The Family. Despite his star power, that show was cancelled after two seasons.

Dennehy was nominated for Emmy Awards six times for his television movies including one for his performance as John Wayne Gacy, for which he was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie. He was nominated that same year in a different category, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for The Burden of Proof (1992).

He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work in A Killing in a Small Town, Murder in the Heartland (1993) and, most recently, for the Showtime cable TV movie Our Fathers (2005), which was about the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

In 2000, Dennehy was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie for a television presentation of his performance as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman which he had performed on Broadway. Although he did not win (he has yet to win an Emmy), he did receive a Golden Globe award.

He has starred in the popular crime drama "Jack Reed" TV movies. He also appeared as a recurring character in the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me!
Dennehy parodied in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, 1999

Dennehy was parodied in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) and an episode of The Simpsons.

In January 2007, he starred in the episode "Scheherazade" of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a retired criminal who wants to reconnect with his daughter and admit his crimes before dying of a terminal disease thus eventually clearing a wrongfully imprisoned inmate. In April 2008, Dennehy guest-starred as a Teamster boss in an episode of "30 Rock".

Dennehy is currently shooting footage for his upcoming mini-series on the History Channel called "Brian Dennehy's America." The show follows Dennehy as he explores the states, from his boyhood home in New England all the way to the Pacific Northwest, interviewing the locals about why they love their state.

Dennehy guest-starred in a 2008 episode of Rules of Engagement as the father of the main character, Jeff.

Dennehy has also narrated many television programs and recently narrated the IFTA nominated Canadian-Irish docudrama Death or Canada.
Theater

Dennehy has won two Tony Awards, both times for Best Lead Actor in a Play. The first win was for Death of a Salesman (for which he also won a Laurence Olivier Award for the production's London run), in 1999, and the second was for Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night in 2003. Both productions were directed by Robert Falls and were originally produced at the Goodman Theatre company in Chicago.

On stage, Dennehy has made frequent performances in the Chicago theatre world, and made his Broadway debut in 1995 in Brian Friel's Translations. In 1999, he was the first male performer to be voted the Sarah Siddons Award for his work in Chicago theatre. He made a return to Broadway in 2007 as Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind opposite Christopher Plummer, then returned again opposite Carla Gugino in a 2009 revival of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms.

In the autumn of 1992, he played the lead role of Hickey in Robert Falls' production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

In 2008, Dennehy appeared at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, appearing in All's Well That Ends Well and a double bill of plays by Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape and Eugene O'Neill's Hughie.
Personal life

He is the father of actresses Elizabeth Dennehy and Kathleen Dennehy. He resides in Woodstock, Connecticut. His son, Cormac Dennehy, currently attends Pomfret School.
Filmography
Film

    * Semi-Tough (1977) - T. J. Lambert (film debut)
    * Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) - Surgeon
    * Bumpers (1977) - Ernie Stapp
    * Foul Play (1978) - Fergie
    * F.I.S.T. (1978) - Frank Vasco
    * 10 (1979) - Don the bartender
    * Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979) - O. C. Hanks
    * Little Miss Marker (1980) - Herbie
    * Split Image (1982) - Kevin Stetson
    * First Blood (1982) - Sheriff Will Teasle
    * Gorky Park (1983) - William Kirwill
    * Never Cry Wolf (1983) - Rosie Little
    * Finders Keepers (1984) - Mayor Frizzoli
    * The River Rat (1984) - Doc Cole
    * Silverado (1985) - Sheriff Cobb
    * Cocoon (1985) - Walter
    * Twice in a Lifetime (1985) - Nick
    * The Check Is in the Mail (1985) - Richard Jackson
    * F/X (1986) - Lt. Leo McCarthy
    * Legal Eagles (1986) - C. J. Cavanaugh
    * The Belly of an Architect (1987) - Stourley Kracklite
    * Best Seller (1987) - Lt. Dennis Meechum
    * Miles from Home (1988) - Frank Roberts Sr.
    * The Man from Snowy River II (1988) - Harrison
    * Cocoon: The Return (1988) - Walter
    * Blue Heat (1989)
    * Seven Minutes (1989) - Wagner



    * Indio (1990) - Whytaker
    * The Last of the Finest (1990) - Frank Daly'
    * Presumed Innocent (1990) - Raymond Horgan
    * F/X2 (1991) - Leo McCarthy
    * Gladiator (1992) - Jimmy Horn
    * Tommy Boy (1995) - Big Tom Callahan II
    * The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995) - Big Dave McDermot
    * William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) - Ted Montague
    * Dish Dogs (1998) - Frost
    * The Virtuoso (1999) -
    * Out of the Cold (1999) - David Bards
    * Silicon Towers (1999) -
    * Summer Catch (2001) - John Schiffner
    * Stolen Summer (2002) - Father Kelly
    * Code Yellow: Hospital at Ground Zero (2002) - Narrator
    * Drawing First Blood (2002 documentary short) - Himself
    * She Hate Me (2004) - Chairman Billy Church
    * Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) - Jasper O'Shea
    * Tommy Boy: Behind the Laughter (2005 documentary short) - Himself
    * 10th and Wolf (2005) - Horvath
    * The Ultimate Gift (2006) - Gus
    * Everyone's Hero (2006) - Voice of Babe Ruth
    * Ratatouille (2007) - Voice of Django, Remy's Father
    * Righteous Kill (2008) - Lieutenant Hingus

    * Jackaboy Blue (1994) - Guggles McMillian
    * Factory 9 (2009)

Television

    * It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977 TV movie) - Fire Chief
    * Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye (1977 TV movie) - Longshoreman
    * Pearl (1978 mini-series) - Sgt. Otto Chain
    * A Real American Hero (1978 TV movie) - Buford Pusser
    * A Death in Canaan (1978 TV movie) - Barney Parsons
    * Ruby and Oswald (1978 TV movie) - George Paulsen
    * Dummy (1979 TV movie) - Ragoti
    * Big Shamus, Little Shamus (1979) - Arnie Sutter
    * The Jericho Mile (1979 TV movie) - Dr. D
    * Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story (1979 TV movie) - Mr. O'Neil
    * A Rumor of War (1980 TV movie) - Sgt. Ned Coleman
    * The Seduction of Miss Leona (1980 TV movie) - Bliss Dawson
    * Dynasty (1981) - DA Jake Dunham
    * Skokie (1981 TV movie) - Chief Arthur Buchanan
    * Fly Away Home (1981 TV movie) - Tim Arnold
    * I Take These Men (1983 TV movie) - Phil Zakarian
    * Blood Feud (1983 mini-series) - Edward Grady Partin
    * Off Sides (1984 TV movie) - Sgt. Cheever
    * Evergreen (1985) - Matthew Malone
    * The Last Place on Earth (1985) - Frederick Cook
    * Acceptable Risks (1986 TV movie) - Don Sheppard
    * The Lion of Africa (1987 TV movie) - Sam Marsh
    * A Father's Revenge (1988 TV movie) - Paul Hobart
    * Perfect Witness (1989 TV movie) - James Falcon
    * A Killing in a Small Town (1990 TV movie) - Ed Reivers
    * Rising Son (1990 TV movie) - Gus Robinson
    * Pride and Extreme Prejudice (1990 TV movie) - Bruno Morenz
    * In Broad Daylight (1991 TV movie) - Len Rowan
    * The Diamond Fleece (1992 TV movie) - Lt. Merritt Outlaw
    * Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story (1992 TV movie) - Jackie Presser
    * To Catch a Killer (1992) - John Wayne Gacy
    * The Burden of Proof (1992 TV movie) - Dixon Hartnell
    * Deadly Matrimony (1992 TV movie) - Sgt. Jack Reed
    * Foreign Affairs (1993 TV movie) - Chuck Mumpson
    * Prophet of Evil: The Ervin LaBaron Story (1993 TV movie) - Ervil LaBaron
    * Final Appeal (1993 TV movie) - Perry Sundquist



    * Jack Reed: Badge of Honor (1993 TV movie) - Jack Reed
    * Murder in the Heartland (1993) - John McArthur
    * Birdland (1994) - Dr. Brian McKenzie
    * Leave of Absence (1994 TV movie) - Sam
    * Midnight Movie (1994 TV movie) - James Boyce
    * Jack Reed: A Search for Justice (1994 TV movie) - Jack Reed
    * Jack Reed: One of Our Own (1995 TV movie) - Jack Reed
    * Shadow of A Doubt (1995 TV movie) - Charlie Sloan
    * Jack Reed: A Killer Among Us (1996 TV movie) - Jack Reed
    * Jack Reed: Death and Vengeance (1996 TV movie) - Jack Reed
    * A Season in Purgatory (1996) - Gerald Bradley
    * Dead Man's Walk (1996 mini-series) - Maj. Chavallie
    * Undue Influence (1996 mini-series) - Paul Madriani
    * Nostromo (mini-series) (1997) - Joshua C. Holyrod
    * Indefensible: The Truth about Edward Brannigan (1997 TV movie) - Eddie Brannigan
    * Voyage of Terror (1998 TV movie) - U.S. President
    * Thanks of a Grateful Nation (1998 TV movie) - Senator Riegle
    * Netforce (1999 TV movie) - Lowell Davidson
    * Sirens (1999 TV movie) - Lt. Denby
    * Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke (1999 mini-series) - Louis Bromfield
    * Fail Safe (2000 TV movie) - Gen. Bogan
    * Arrest & Trial (2000) - Host
    * Warden of Red Rock (2001 TV movie) - Sheriff Church
    * Three Blind Mice (2001 TV movie) - Mathew Hope
    * Death of a Salesman (2001) - Fitzgerald
    * A Season on the Brink (2002 TV movie) - Bobby Knight
    * The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003 TV movie) - Mr. Blue
    * The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003 TV movie) - Tom Stone
    * Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of "Three's Company" (2003 TV movie) - Fred Silverman
    * Category 6: Day of Destruction (2004 TV movie) - Andy Goodman
    * The Exonerated (2005 TV movie) - Gary Gauger
    * The West Wing (2005) - Sen. Rafe Framingham (R-FL)
    * Our Fathers (2005 TV movie) - Father Dominic Spagnolia
    * Marco Polo - Kublai Khan
    * Rules of Engagement - Roy
    * Death or Canada (docu-drama) (2009) - Narrator (Himself)
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll239/JWnPooh/Hottest%20Hunks/BrianDennehy001.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh272/seeyasauce/Celebrity%20Autographs/BrianDennehy2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/10 at 5:50 am

The person who died on this day...Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger (April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an American actor known for his performances in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Waterloo, The Pawnbroker, On the Waterfront, The Harder They Fall and Doctor Zhivago.
Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, the son of Lorraine (née Driver) and Frederick Steiger,  of French, Scottish, and German descent.  Steiger was raised as a Lutheran.  He never knew his father, a vaudevillian  who had been part of a traveling song-and-dance team with Steiger's mother (who subsequently left show business).  Steiger grew up with his alcoholic mother before running away from home at age sixteen to join the United States Navy during World War II, where he saw action on destroyers  in the Pacific.  After the war, he returned to New Jersey and joined a drama group before studying drama full-time under Stella Adler at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York maintained by the influential German director Erwin Piscator.
Career

Steiger began his acting career in theatre and on live television in the early 1950s. On May 24, 1953, an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse jump-started his career. The episode was the story of Marty written by Paddy Chayefsky. Marty is the story of a lonely homely butcher from the Bronx in search of love. Refusing to sign a seven year studio contract, Steiger later turned down the role in the film version in 1955. Signing a studio contract at that time would "pigeon-hole" Steiger as to the roles he would later play and image portrayed on screen; those were two things Steiger objected to throughout his career. The role of Marty was turned over to Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Rod Steiger never regretted his decision to turn down the film role of Marty.

Steiger appeared in over 100 motion pictures. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Chief of Police Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night (1967) opposite Sidney Poitier. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954), in which he played Marlon Brando's character's brother. He was nominated again, this time for Best Actor, for the gritty The Pawnbroker (1965), a Sidney Lumet film in which Steiger portrays an emotionally withdrawn Holocaust survivor living in New York City.

He played Jud Fry in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, in which he did his own singing. One of his favorite roles was as Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965). Steiger, the only American in the cast of that film, was initially apprehensive about working with such great British actors as Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness and was afraid that he would stick out, but he won acclaim for his performance. He also befriended fellow actor Tom Courtenay on this film; the two remained friends until Steiger's death.

He also appeared in The Big Knife as an overly aggressive movie studio boss who berates movie star Jack Palance; as Al Capone in Al Capone (1959); as Mr. Joyboy in The Loved One; as the serial killer in No Way to Treat a Lady; and as a repressed gay NCO in The Sergeant.
Steiger in 1978.

He also played well-known figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte in Waterloo (1970); Benito Mussolini in The Last Four Days (1974) and again in Lion of the Desert (1981); W. C. Fields in W. C. Fields and Me (1976); Pontius Pilate in Franco Zeffirelli's TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977); and mob boss Sam Giancana in the TV miniseries, Sinatra (1992). He appeared in several Italian films, including Hands Over the City (1963) and Lucky Luciano (1974) (both Francesco Rosi's), and also Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dynamite (1971). In France, he starred in Claude Chabrol's Innocents with Dirty Hands opposite Romy Schneider.

In his later years he appeared in The Amityville Horror (1979); The Specialist (1994), and Mars Attacks!. On television, he appeared in the miniseries Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives (1985), Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1993), and a 1995 Columbo television movie. Among his final roles was the judge in the prison drama, The Hurricane (1999). The film reunited him with director Norman Jewison, who had directed him in In the Heat of the Night. His last film was A Month of Sundays.

Steiger also starred in the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's play Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971). In 1969, he appeared in the film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man with his then-wife, Claire Bloom. He was offered the title role in Patton, but turned it down because he did not want to glorify war. The role was then given to George C. Scott, who won a Best Actor Oscar. Steiger called this refusal his "dumbest career move".

Steiger has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal life

Steiger was married five times: actress Sally Gracie (married 1952, divorced 1958), actress Claire Bloom (married 1959, divorced 1969), Sherry Nelson (married 1973, divorced 1979), Paula Ellis (married 1986, divorced 1997), and actress Joan Benedict (married 2000). Steiger & Bloom appeared in two films together, both in 1969, The Illustrated Man & Three Into Two Won't Go.

He had two daughters, Claudia Myhers (born in 1954) and opera singer Anna Steiger (born in 1960) by Bloom, and a son, Michael Steiger (1993), from his marriage to Ellis. He had two grandchildren, Hanna Rose and Ashley Victoria.
Health

After undergoing triple heart bypass surgery in 1976, Steiger reportedly fell into a serious depression for eight years. Steiger gave an emotional account of his struggle with depression on an episode of Larry King Live.
Death

Rod Steiger died in Los Angeles, aged 77, from pneumonia and complications from surgery for a gall bladder tumor. He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

The film, Saving Shiloh, released in 2006, was dedicated to his memory.
Linkability

According to research at the University of Virginia, using the Internet Movie Database as a guide, Steiger was the best-linked actor in Hollywood history, if one can link two actors if they have ever appeared in a movie together. The average "Steiger number" of a movie actor, meaning the number of links it takes to get from that actor to Steiger, is 2.679. By contrast, the average "Bacon number", the number of links it takes to reach Kevin Bacon (whose linkability is much more famous), is 2.955. Steiger, incidentally, has a Bacon number of 2. See: Small world phenomenon.
Filmography

    * Teresa (1951)
    * On the Waterfront (1954)
    * Oklahoma! (1955)
    * The Big Knife (1955)
    * The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
    * Jubal (1956)
    * The Harder They Fall (1956)
    * Back from Eternity (1956)
    * The Unholy Wife (1957)
    * Run of the Arrow (1957)
    * Across the Bridge (1957)
    * Cry Terror! (1958)
    * Al Capone (1959)
    * Seven Thieves (1960)
    * The World in My Pocket (1961)
    * The Mark (1961)
    * 13 West Street (1962)
    * Convicts 4 (1962)
    * The Longest Day (1962)
    * Hands Over the City (1963)
    * Time of Indifference (1964)
    * The Pawnbroker (1964)
    * A Man Named John (1965)
    * The Loved One (1965)
    * Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    * In the Heat of the Night (1967)
    * The Girl and the General (1967)
    * No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)
    * The Sergeant (film) (1968)
    * The Illustrated Man (1969)
    * Three Into Two Won't Go (1969)
    * Waterloo (1970)
    * A Fistful of Dynamite (1971)
    * Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971)
    * The Moviemakers (1973) (short subject)
    * Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
    * The Heroes (1973)
    * Mussolini: The Last Four Days (1974)
    * Lucky Luciano (1974)
    * Dirty Hands (1975)
    * Hennessy (1975)
    * W.C. Fields and Me (1976)
    * Portrait of a Hitman (1977)
    * Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
    * F.I.S.T. (1978)
    * Breakthrough (1979)
    * The Amityville Horror (1979)
    * Love and Bullets (1979)
    * Klondike Fever (1980)
    * The Lucky Star (1980)
    * Lion of the Desert (1981)
    * Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981)



    * The Chosen (1981)
    * The Magic Mountain (1982)
    * The Naked Face (1984)
    * Sword of Gideon (1986)
    * Catch the Heat (1987)
    * The Kindred (1986)
    * American Gothic (1988)
    * The Exiles (1989) (documentary) (narrator)
    * That Summer of White Roses (1989)
    * The January Man (1989)
    * Tennessee Nights (1989)
    * Try This One for Size (1989)
    * In the Line of Duty: Manhunt in the Dakotas (1991)
    * Men of Respect (1991)
    * The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991)
    * Guilty as Charged (1991)
    * The Player (1992) (Cameo)
    * Sinatra (1992) (as Sam Giancana)
    * The Neighbor (1993)
    * Living on Borrowed Time (1993)
    * Tales of the City (1993) (Cameo)
    * The Last Tattoo (1994)
    * The Specialist (1994)
    * Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys (1995)
    * Seven Sundays (1995)
    * In Pursuit of Honor (1995)
    * Carpool (1996)
    * Shiloh (1996)
    * Mars Attacks! (1996)
    * The Kid (1997)
    * Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997)
    * Livers Ain't Cheap (1997)
    * Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997) (documentary)
    * Incognito (1997)
    * The Snatching of Bookie Bob (1998) (short subject)
    * Body and Soul (1998)
    * Alexandria Hotel (1998)
    * Animals and the Tollkeeper (1998)
    * Modern Vampires (1998)
    * Legacy (1998)
    * Cypress Edge (1999)
    * Crazy in Alabama (1999)
    * Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season (1999)
    * The Hurricane (1999)
    * End of Days (1999)
    * Moby Dick (1999) (animated short subject)
    * The Last Producer (2000)
    * Lightmaker (2001)
    * The Flying Dutchman (2001)
    * A Month of Sundays (2001)
    * The Hollywood Sign (2001)
    * Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World (2001) (documentary)
    * Poolhall Junkies (2002)
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z229/Swinging_Sixties/Pics%20-%20Oldies/RodSteiger.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r160/jimmyblanco_2007/rod/rod-steiger-1098-lg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/10 at 7:07 am

And also is Richard Rountree's Birthday,Happy Birthday Shaft.  :)

http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/bhm03-richard-roundtree-e1267623379815.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/10 at 7:33 am


And also is Richard Rountree's Birthday,Happy Birthday Shaft.  :)

http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/bhm03-richard-roundtree-e1267623379815.jpg

Happy Birthday Richard.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/09/10 at 9:15 am

Ros Steiger was able to be a great character actor, portraying very different types of roles in different films. Talanted man.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/09/10 at 11:28 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJRCE6e2xIg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 1:17 pm


The word of the day...Wolf
The grey wolf (Canis lupus), often known simply as the wolf, is the largest wild member of the Canidae family. Though once abundant over much of Eurasia and North America, the grey wolf inhabits a reduced portion of its former range due to widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Even so, the grey wolf is regarded as being of least concern for extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, when the entire grey wolf population is considered as a whole. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to livestock and pets.

Grey wolves are social predators that live in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair which monopolises food and breeding rights, followed by their biological offspring and, occasionally, adopted subordinates. They primarily feed on ungulates, which they hunt by wearing them down in short chases. Grey wolves are typically apex predators throughout their range, with only humans and tigers posing significant threats to them.

DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies reaffirm that the grey wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog. A number of other grey wolf subspecies have been identified, though the actual number of subspecies is still open to discussion.

In areas where human cultures and wolves are sympatric, wolves frequently feature in the folklore and mythology of those cultures, both positively and negatively.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x156/Keeli_02/wolf_forum.jpg
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/Semperfiend/british-wolf.jpg
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq68/InvisibleToYourEyes/the%20pack/wolf-4.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac132/VvSnakevV/Forsomething/White_Wolf.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd197/little_miss_daydream/howlingwolf.gif
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m479/anneishxc/2e6dea77.jpg
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/Semperfiend/Animal-Wolf-26820.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/OGSP/Wolves/wolf_cubs.jpg
http://marvelsuperstars.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/wolverine3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/10 at 3:05 pm

http://yosoylachamuca.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/teenwolf.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 3:07 pm

http://goremasterfx.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/an-american-werewolf-in-london.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/10 at 3:08 pm

http://mulattodiaries.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-thriller.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/09/10 at 3:13 pm

What happened to White Wolf?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/10 at 3:25 pm


Ros Steiger was able to be a great character actor, portraying very different types of roles in different films. Talanted man.

Yes he was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 3:25 pm


http://goremasterfx.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/an-american-werewolf-in-london.jpg

http://mulattodiaries.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-thriller.jpg
Both directed by John Landis.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/10 at 3:27 pm


Both directed by John Landis.


Both great films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/10 at 3:27 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJRCE6e2xIg



Cat

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/10 at 3:28 pm

wolf in sheep's clothing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 3:33 pm

Cry wolf?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/10 at 3:34 pm


Cry wolf?


How does one cry wolf?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/10 at 3:46 pm


How does one cry wolf?
In reference to this tale, the phrase to "cry wolf" has long been a common idiom in English, described in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and modern English dictionaries. The phrase "boy who cried wolf" has also become somewhat of a figure of speech, meaning that one is calling for help when he or she does not really need it. Also in common English there goes the saying: "Never cry wolf" to say that one never should lie, as in the above phrases.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/09/10 at 4:19 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRY7wBuCcBY&feature=related



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:59 am

http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac110/lichtschein/wolf-im-schafspelz.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/10 at 5:43 am

The word of the day...Restaurant
A restaurant prepares and serves food, drink and dessert  to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out  and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of cuisines and service models.

While inns and taverns were known from antiquity, these were establishments aimed at travellers, and in general locals would rarely eat there. Modern restaurants, as businesses dedicated to the serving of food, and where specific dishes are ordered by the guest and generally prepared according to this order, emerged only in 18th-century Europe, although similar establishments had also developed in China.

A restaurant owner is called a restaurateur; both words derive from the French verb restaurer, meaning "to restore". Professional artisans of cooking are called chefs, while prep staff and line cooks prepare food items in a more systematic and less artistic fashion.
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/midmichigandining/rykses1.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac24/CMCKENZIE_2010/restuarantready.png
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae264/raaraapje/Zuid-Amerika/Imagen413.jpg
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae284/khkvlad/RGA/P1010131.jpg
http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc348/paublosvn/vn1144.jpg
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae64/madein83/RPG/Barrow%20Alaska/alaskatrip03jan07-07barrow1500.jpg
http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz261/megal44/Honeymoon055.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 5:45 am


The word of the day...Restaurant
A restaurant prepares and serves food, drink and dessert  to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out  and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of cuisines and service models.

While inns and taverns were known from antiquity, these were establishments aimed at travellers, and in general locals would rarely eat there. Modern restaurants, as businesses dedicated to the serving of food, and where specific dishes are ordered by the guest and generally prepared according to this order, emerged only in 18th-century Europe, although similar establishments had also developed in China.

A restaurant owner is called a restaurateur; both words derive from the French verb restaurer, meaning "to restore". Professional artisans of cooking are called chefs, while prep staff and line cooks prepare food items in a more systematic and less artistic fashion.
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/midmichigandining/rykses1.jpg
http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac24/CMCKENZIE_2010/restuarantready.png
http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae264/raaraapje/Zuid-Amerika/Imagen413.jpg
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae284/khkvlad/RGA/P1010131.jpg
http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc348/paublosvn/vn1144.jpg
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae64/madein83/RPG/Barrow%20Alaska/alaskatrip03jan07-07barrow1500.jpg
http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz261/megal44/Honeymoon055.jpg
http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/a/arlo-guthrie/album-alices-restaurant.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 5:46 am


http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/a/arlo-guthrie/album-alices-restaurant.jpg
Did I guess the person right?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/10 at 5:49 am


Did I guess the person right?

You guessed it :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/10 at 5:51 am

The person born on this day...Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American  folk  singer.  Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice. One of Guthrie's works is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song of about 18 minutes in length.
Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of folk singer and composer Woody Guthrie and his wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. His sister is Nora Guthrie. His mother was a one-time professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease, the disease that took her husband's life in 1967. Arlo Guthrie received religious training for his bar mitzvah from Rabbi Meir Kahane, who would go on to form the Jewish Defense League. "Rabbi Kahane was a really nice, patient teacher," Guthrie later recalled, "but shortly after he started giving me my lessons, he started going haywire. Maybe I was responsible."  Guthrie graduated from the Stockbridge School, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1965, and briefly attended Rocky Mountain College. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Westfield State College, in 2008.

As a singer, songwriter and lifelong political activist, Guthrie carries on the legacy of his legendary father. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award on September 26, 1992.
"Alice's Restaurant"

His most famous work is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a talking blues song that lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds in its original recorded version. Guthrie has pointed out that this was also the exact length of one of the famous gaps in Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes. He has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert. The Alice in the song is Alice Brock, who now runs an art gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The song, a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft, although Guthrie stated in a 2009 interview with Ron Bennington that Alice's Restaurant is more an "anti-stupidity" song than an anti-war song, is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie is called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record — consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering and creating a public nuisance on Thanksgiving Day in 1965, when Arlo was eighteen years old. On the DVD commentary for the film, Guthrie states that the events as presented in the song are true to real-life occurrences.

For a short period of time after its release in 1967, "Alice's Restaurant" was heavily played on U.S. college and counter-culture radio stations. It became a symbol of the late 1960s and for many it defined an attitude and lifestyle that were lived out across the country in the ensuing years. Many stations across the States have made playing "Alice's Restaurant" a Thanksgiving Day tradition.

A 1969 film, directed and co-written by Arthur Penn, was based on the story. In addition to acting in this film, also called Alice's Restaurant, Guthrie has had minor roles in several movies and television series. Guthrie's memorable appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival was documented in the Michael Wadleigh film Woodstock.
From The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour 2007
Popular and critical reception

In 1972 Guthrie made famous Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans", a paean to long-distance passenger rail travel. Guthrie's first trip on that train was in December 2005 (when his family joined other musicians on a train trip across the country to raise money for musicians financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, in the South of the United States). He also had a minor hit with his song "Coming into Los Angeles," which was played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, and success with a live version of "The Motorcycle Song." Guthrie's 1976 album Amigo received a 5-star (highest rating) from Rolling Stone, and may be his best-received work; unfortunately that milestone album, like Guthrie's earlier Warner Brothers albums, is rarely heard today even though each boasts compelling folk and folk rock music accompanied by top-notch musicians such as Ry Cooder.
Shenandoah

In the fall of 1975 during a benefit concert in Massachusetts, Arlo Guthrie performed with his band Shenandoah in public for the first time. They continued to tour and record throughout the 1970s until the early 1990s. Although the band received good reviews, it never gained the popularity that Guthrie did while playing solo. They did play many of Guthrie's most famous songs, which were most requested. By this time, Guthrie had developed his own sound in versions of "talking blues" songs. A number of musicians from a variety of genres have joined Guthrie on stage, including Pete Seeger, David Bromberg, Cyril Neville, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, Wesley Gray, Josh Ritter, and others.
Acting

Though Guthrie is best known for being a musician, singer, and composer, throughout the years he has also appeared as an actor in films and on television. The film Alice's Restaurant (1969) is his best known role, but he has had small parts in several films and even co-starred in a television drama, Byrds of Paradise.
Politics

Guthrie endorsed Texas Congressman Ron Paul for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. He said, "I love this guy. Dr. Paul is the only candidate I know of who would have signed the Constitution of the United States had he been there. I'm with him, because he seems to be the only candidate who actually believes it has as much relevance today as it did a couple of hundred years ago. I look forward to the day when we can work out the differences we have with the same revolutionary vision and enthusiasm that is our American legacy." He told the New York Times Magazine that he is a Republican because, "We had enough good Democrats. We needed a few more good Republicans. We needed a loyal opposition."
Legacy

Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Guthrie often sings songs of protest against social injustice. He collaborated with poet Adrian Mitchell to tell the story of Chilean folk singer and activist Víctor Jara in song. He regularly performed with folk legend Pete Seeger, one of his father's longtime partners.

In 1991, Guthrie bought the church that had served as Alice and Ray Brock's former home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and converted it to the Guthrie Center, an interfaith meeting place that serves people of all religions.
Family

Guthrie and his wife Jackie reside in the Town of Washington, Massachusetts. Guthrie's son Abe Guthrie and his daughters Sarah Lee Guthrie and Cathy Guthrie have also become musicians. Annie Guthrie writes songs and performs, and also takes care of family touring details. Sarah Lee performs and records with her husband Johnny Irion. Cathy plays ukulele in Folk Uke, a group she formed with Amy Nelson, the daughter of Willie Nelson. Abe Guthrie was formerly in a folk-rock band called Xavier, and now tours with his father. Abe Guthrie's son, Krishna, is a drummer and toured with Arlo Guthrie on his European tour in 2006 and plays guitar for the 2009-2010 Tour. Krishna plays drums in another local band and aspires to be the lead of his own band some day. Arlo Guthrie is a grandfather of Abe's son Krishna and daughter Serena, Annie's son Shiva Das (Mo) and daughter Jacklyn, Sarah Lee's daughters Olivia Nora and Sophia Irion and Cathy's daughter Marjorie Maybelle Midwood.

He is third cousin to Canadian composer and musician Jan Randall.
Discography

    * Alice's Restaurant (1967)
    * Arlo (1968)
    * Running Down the Road (1969)
    * Alice's Restaurant Soundtrack (1969)
    * Washington County (1970)
    * Hobo's Lullaby (1972)
    * Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)
    * Arlo Guthrie (1974)
    * Together In Concert (1975)
    * Amigo (1976)
    * The Best of Arlo Guthrie (1977)
    * One Night (1978)
    * Outlasting the Blues (1979)
    * Power Of Love (1981)
    * Precious Friend (1982)
    * Someday (1986)
    * All Over the World (1991)
    * Son of the Wind (1992)
    * 2 Songs (1992)
    * More Together Again (1994)
    * Alice's Restaurant - The Massacree Revisited (1996)
    * Mystic Journey (1996)
    * This Land Is Your Land: An All American Children's Folk Classic (1997)
    * "BanjoMan - a tribute to Derroll Adams" (2002)
    * Live In Sydney (2005)
    * In Times Like These (2007)
    * 32¢ Postage Due (2008)
    * Tales Of '69 (2009)

Select filmography

    * Alice's Restaurant (1969)
    * Renaldo and Clara (1978)
    * Baby's Storytime (1989)
    * Roadside Prophets (1992)

Notable television guest appearances

    * Beat-Club (episode # 1.52) February 28, 1970
    * Byrds of Paradise (1994)
    * Relativity December 29, 1996
    * Renegade in episode: "Top Ten with a Bullet" (episode # 5.14) January 24, 1997
    * The fourth season of "The Muppet Show".

Film and television composer

    * Alice's Restaurant (1969) (song "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree")
    * Woodstock (1970) (song "Coming Into Los Angeles")
    * Clay Pigeon (1971) also known as Trip to Kill (UK)
    * Baby's Storytime (1989)

Producer

    * Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal (2004)

Writer

    * Mooses Come Walking (2004) (Children's Book)

Appearances as himself

    * Hylands hörna (episode # 4.4) January 31, 1970
    * Woodstock (1969) (also known as Woodstock 25th Anniversary Edition and as Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace & Music)
    * The Dick Cavett Show September 8, 1970
    * Arthur Penn 1922-: Themes and Variants (1970) (TV)
    * The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson playing "Himself" August 17, 1972
    * The Muppet Show (episode # 4.8) June 19, 1979
    * The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time (1982)
    * Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin' (1984)
    * Farm Aid '87 (1987) (TV)
    * A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly (1988)
    * Woodstock: The Lost Performances (1990)
    * Woodstock Diary (1994) (TV)
    * The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1994) (TV)
    * The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 6 (1995) (TV) (also known as My Generation)
    * This Land Is Your Land: The Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie (1997)
    * Healthy Kids (1998) (TV series)
    * The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (2000)
    * Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970) (2000) (TV)
    * Last Party 2000 (2001) (also known as The Party's Over)
    * Pops Goes the Fourth! (July 4, 2001)
    * NPR's Talk of the Nation radio broadcast (Nov. 14, 2001)
          o St. James Infirmary and The City Of New Orleans
    * Singing in the Shadow: The Children of Rock Royalty (2003)
    * Get Up, Stand Up (2003) (TV series)
    * From Wharf Rats to the Lords of the Docks (2004)
    * Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal (2004)
    * 1968 with Tom Brokaw (2007)
    * Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2008) (American Masters PBS TV special)
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o316/bytEtheApple/stencils/unfinished/musica/arloguthrie.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x155/gostepho86/48972_eb.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 5:52 am


You guessed it :)
Sorry if I pre-empted you person.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 5:53 am


The person born on this day...Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American  folk  singer.  Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice. One of Guthrie's works is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song of about 18 minutes in length.
Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of folk singer and composer Woody Guthrie and his wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. His sister is Nora Guthrie. His mother was a one-time professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease, the disease that took her husband's life in 1967. Arlo Guthrie received religious training for his bar mitzvah from Rabbi Meir Kahane, who would go on to form the Jewish Defense League. "Rabbi Kahane was a really nice, patient teacher," Guthrie later recalled, "but shortly after he started giving me my lessons, he started going haywire. Maybe I was responsible."  Guthrie graduated from the Stockbridge School, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1965, and briefly attended Rocky Mountain College. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Westfield State College, in 2008.

As a singer, songwriter and lifelong political activist, Guthrie carries on the legacy of his legendary father. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award on September 26, 1992.
"Alice's Restaurant"

His most famous work is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a talking blues song that lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds in its original recorded version. Guthrie has pointed out that this was also the exact length of one of the famous gaps in Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes. He has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert. The Alice in the song is Alice Brock, who now runs an art gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The song, a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft, although Guthrie stated in a 2009 interview with Ron Bennington that Alice's Restaurant is more an "anti-stupidity" song than an anti-war song, is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie is called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record — consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering and creating a public nuisance on Thanksgiving Day in 1965, when Arlo was eighteen years old. On the DVD commentary for the film, Guthrie states that the events as presented in the song are true to real-life occurrences.

For a short period of time after its release in 1967, "Alice's Restaurant" was heavily played on U.S. college and counter-culture radio stations. It became a symbol of the late 1960s and for many it defined an attitude and lifestyle that were lived out across the country in the ensuing years. Many stations across the States have made playing "Alice's Restaurant" a Thanksgiving Day tradition.

A 1969 film, directed and co-written by Arthur Penn, was based on the story. In addition to acting in this film, also called Alice's Restaurant, Guthrie has had minor roles in several movies and television series. Guthrie's memorable appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival was documented in the Michael Wadleigh film Woodstock.
From The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour 2007
Popular and critical reception

In 1972 Guthrie made famous Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans", a paean to long-distance passenger rail travel. Guthrie's first trip on that train was in December 2005 (when his family joined other musicians on a train trip across the country to raise money for musicians financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, in the South of the United States). He also had a minor hit with his song "Coming into Los Angeles," which was played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, and success with a live version of "The Motorcycle Song." Guthrie's 1976 album Amigo received a 5-star (highest rating) from Rolling Stone, and may be his best-received work; unfortunately that milestone album, like Guthrie's earlier Warner Brothers albums, is rarely heard today even though each boasts compelling folk and folk rock music accompanied by top-notch musicians such as Ry Cooder.
Shenandoah

In the fall of 1975 during a benefit concert in Massachusetts, Arlo Guthrie performed with his band Shenandoah in public for the first time. They continued to tour and record throughout the 1970s until the early 1990s. Although the band received good reviews, it never gained the popularity that Guthrie did while playing solo. They did play many of Guthrie's most famous songs, which were most requested. By this time, Guthrie had developed his own sound in versions of "talking blues" songs. A number of musicians from a variety of genres have joined Guthrie on stage, including Pete Seeger, David Bromberg, Cyril Neville, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, Wesley Gray, Josh Ritter, and others.
Acting

Though Guthrie is best known for being a musician, singer, and composer, throughout the years he has also appeared as an actor in films and on television. The film Alice's Restaurant (1969) is his best known role, but he has had small parts in several films and even co-starred in a television drama, Byrds of Paradise.
Politics

Guthrie endorsed Texas Congressman Ron Paul for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. He said, "I love this guy. Dr. Paul is the only candidate I know of who would have signed the Constitution of the United States had he been there. I'm with him, because he seems to be the only candidate who actually believes it has as much relevance today as it did a couple of hundred years ago. I look forward to the day when we can work out the differences we have with the same revolutionary vision and enthusiasm that is our American legacy." He told the New York Times Magazine that he is a Republican because, "We had enough good Democrats. We needed a few more good Republicans. We needed a loyal opposition."
Legacy

Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Guthrie often sings songs of protest against social injustice. He collaborated with poet Adrian Mitchell to tell the story of Chilean folk singer and activist Víctor Jara in song. He regularly performed with folk legend Pete Seeger, one of his father's longtime partners.

In 1991, Guthrie bought the church that had served as Alice and Ray Brock's former home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and converted it to the Guthrie Center, an interfaith meeting place that serves people of all religions.
Family

Guthrie and his wife Jackie reside in the Town of Washington, Massachusetts. Guthrie's son Abe Guthrie and his daughters Sarah Lee Guthrie and Cathy Guthrie have also become musicians. Annie Guthrie writes songs and performs, and also takes care of family touring details. Sarah Lee performs and records with her husband Johnny Irion. Cathy plays ukulele in Folk Uke, a group she formed with Amy Nelson, the daughter of Willie Nelson. Abe Guthrie was formerly in a folk-rock band called Xavier, and now tours with his father. Abe Guthrie's son, Krishna, is a drummer and toured with Arlo Guthrie on his European tour in 2006 and plays guitar for the 2009-2010 Tour. Krishna plays drums in another local band and aspires to be the lead of his own band some day. Arlo Guthrie is a grandfather of Abe's son Krishna and daughter Serena, Annie's son Shiva Das (Mo) and daughter Jacklyn, Sarah Lee's daughters Olivia Nora and Sophia Irion and Cathy's daughter Marjorie Maybelle Midwood.

He is third cousin to Canadian composer and musician Jan Randall.
Discography

    * Alice's Restaurant (1967)
    * Arlo (1968)
    * Running Down the Road (1969)
    * Alice's Restaurant Soundtrack (1969)
    * Washington County (1970)
    * Hobo's Lullaby (1972)
    * Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)
    * Arlo Guthrie (1974)
    * Together In Concert (1975)
    * Amigo (1976)
    * The Best of Arlo Guthrie (1977)
    * One Night (1978)
    * Outlasting the Blues (1979)
    * Power Of Love (1981)
    * Precious Friend (1982)
    * Someday (1986)
    * All Over the World (1991)
    * Son of the Wind (1992)
    * 2 Songs (1992)
    * More Together Again (1994)
    * Alice's Restaurant - The Massacree Revisited (1996)
    * Mystic Journey (1996)
    * This Land Is Your Land: An All American Children's Folk Classic (1997)
    * "BanjoMan - a tribute to Derroll Adams" (2002)
    * Live In Sydney (2005)
    * In Times Like These (2007)
    * 32¢ Postage Due (2008)
    * Tales Of '69 (2009)

Select filmography

    * Alice's Restaurant (1969)
    * Renaldo and Clara (1978)
    * Baby's Storytime (1989)
    * Roadside Prophets (1992)

Notable television guest appearances

    * Beat-Club (episode # 1.52) February 28, 1970
    * Byrds of Paradise (1994)
    * Relativity December 29, 1996
    * Renegade in episode: "Top Ten with a Bullet" (episode # 5.14) January 24, 1997
    * The fourth season of "The Muppet Show".

Film and television composer

    * Alice's Restaurant (1969) (song "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree")
    * Woodstock (1970) (song "Coming Into Los Angeles")
    * Clay Pigeon (1971) also known as Trip to Kill (UK)
    * Baby's Storytime (1989)

Producer

    * Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal (2004)

Writer

    * Mooses Come Walking (2004) (Children's Book)

Appearances as himself

    * Hylands hörna (episode # 4.4) January 31, 1970
    * Woodstock (1969) (also known as Woodstock 25th Anniversary Edition and as Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace & Music)
    * The Dick Cavett Show September 8, 1970
    * Arthur Penn 1922-: Themes and Variants (1970) (TV)
    * The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson playing "Himself" August 17, 1972
    * The Muppet Show (episode # 4.8) June 19, 1979
    * The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time (1982)
    * Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin' (1984)
    * Farm Aid '87 (1987) (TV)
    * A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly (1988)
    * Woodstock: The Lost Performances (1990)
    * Woodstock Diary (1994) (TV)
    * The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1994) (TV)
    * The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 6 (1995) (TV) (also known as My Generation)
    * This Land Is Your Land: The Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie (1997)
    * Healthy Kids (1998) (TV series)
    * The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (2000)
    * Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970) (2000) (TV)
    * Last Party 2000 (2001) (also known as The Party's Over)
    * Pops Goes the Fourth! (July 4, 2001)
    * NPR's Talk of the Nation radio broadcast (Nov. 14, 2001)
          o St. James Infirmary and The City Of New Orleans
    * Singing in the Shadow: The Children of Rock Royalty (2003)
    * Get Up, Stand Up (2003) (TV series)
    * From Wharf Rats to the Lords of the Docks (2004)
    * Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal (2004)
    * 1968 with Tom Brokaw (2007)
    * Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2008) (American Masters PBS TV special)
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o316/bytEtheApple/stencils/unfinished/musica/arloguthrie.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x155/gostepho86/48972_eb.jpg
He deserves listening to today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/10 at 5:59 am

The person who died on this day...Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. during the "Golden Age of American animation" (and later for Hanna-Barbera  television productions) as the voice of such well-known characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Woody Woodpecker, Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely, Speed Buggy, Captain Caveman, Heathcliff, and hundreds of others. Having earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice-acting industry
Blanc was born Melvin Jerome Blank in San Francisco, California, to Frederick and Eva Blank. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, attending Lincoln High School. He claimed that when he was 16, he changed the spelling from “Blank” to “Blanc” because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be, like his name, a “blank.” Blanc joined The Order of DeMolay as a young man, and was eventually inducted into its Hall of Fame.

Blanc began his radio career in 1927 as a voice actor on the KGW program The Hoot Owls, where his ability to provide voices for multiple characters first attracted attention. He moved to KEX in 1933 to produce and host his Cobweb And Nuts show, which debuted on June 15. The program played Monday through Saturday from 11:00 pm to midnight. By the time the show ended two years later, it appeared from 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

Blanc moved to Warner Bros.-owned KFWB in Hollywood, California, in 1935. He joined The Johnny Murray Show, but the following year switched to CBS Radio and The Joe Penner Show. Blanc was a regular on the NBC Red Network show The Jack Benny Program in various roles, including voicing Benny’s Maxwell automobile in desperate need of a tune-up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, Benny’s pet polar bear Carmichael, the tormented department store clerk, and the train announcer (see below).

One of Blanc’s most memorable characters from Benny's radio (and later TV) programs was “Sy, the Little Mexican,” who spoke one word at a time. The famous “Sí...Sy...sew...Sue” routine was so effective that no matter how many times it was performed, the laughter was always there, thanks to the comedic timing of Blanc and Benny.

At times, sharp-eyed audience members (and later, TV viewers) could see Benny struggling to keep a straight face; Blanc’s absolute dead-pan delivery was a formidable challenge for him. Benny’s daughter, Joan, recalls that Mel Blanc was one of her father’s closest friends in real life, because “nobody else on the show could make him laugh the way Mel could.”

Another famous Blanc shtick on Jack’s show was the train depot announcer who inevitably intoned, sidelong, “Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga”. Part of the joke was the Angeleno studio audience’s awareness that no such train existed connecting those then-small towns (years before Disneyland opened). To the wider audience, the primary joke was the pregnant pause that evolved over time between "Cuc.." and "...amonga"; eventually, minutes would pass while the skit went on as the audience awaited the inevitable conclusion of the word. (At least once, a completely different skit followed before the inevitable “...amonga” finally appeared.)

Benny's writers would regularly try to "stump" Blanc by asking him to perform supposedly impossible vocal effects and characterizations, such as an "English horse whinny" and a goldfish. For the latter, Mel walked up the microphone and pursed his lips several times, making no noise.

Blanc’s success on The Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS Radio Network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946, to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner of a fix-it shop, as well as his young cousin Zookie (who sounded quite a bit like Porky Pig). Many episodes required Mel to impersonate an exotic foreigner or other stranger in town, ostensibly for carrying out a minor deception on his girlfriend's father, but of course simply as a vehicle for him to show off his talents. Other regular characters were played by Mary Jane Croft, Joseph Kearns, Hans Conried, Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus, Bea Benaderet and The Sportsmen Quartet, who would supply a song and sing the Colgate Tooth Powder commercials. (Blanc would later work with Reed and Benaderet on The Flintstones.) Shows usually adhered to a predictable formula, involving a date with his girl Betty Colby (Mary Jane Croft) and trying to either impress her father or at least avoid angering him. However, Mr. Colby (Earle Ross) usually had occasion to deliver his trademark line, "Mel Blanc, I'm going to break every bone in your body!"

Blanc appeared frequently on The Great Gildersleeve, uncredited, often voicing two or more supporting characters in a single episode: deliverymen in "Planting a Tree" and "Father's Day Chair" also "Gus", a petty crook in the latter; a radio station manager and a policeman in "Mystery Singer", and many others.

Blanc also appeared on such other national radio programs as The Abbott and Costello Show, the Happy Postman on Burns and Allen, and as August Moon on Point Sublime. During World War II, he appeared as Private Sad Sack on various radio shows, most notably G.I. Journal. The character of Sad Sack was a bumbling Army private with an even worse stutter than Porky Pig. ("I'm Lieutena-eh-Lieutena-eh-Capta-eh-Majo-eh-Colone-eh-p-p-Private Sad Sack.")

For his contribution to radio, Mel Blanc has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Boulevard.
Animation voice work during the Golden Age of Hollywood

In 1936, Mel Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, which made animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Blanc liked to tell the story about how he got turned down at the Schlesinger studio by music director Norman Spencer, who was in charge of cartoon voices, saying that they had all the voices they needed. Then Spencer died, and sound man Treg Brown took charge of cartoon voices, while Carl Stalling took over as music director. Brown introduced Blanc to animation directors Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin, who loved his voices. The first cartoon Blanc worked on was Picador Porky as the voice of a drunken bull. He took over as Porky Pig's voice in Porky's Duck Hunt, which marked the debut of Daffy Duck, also voiced by Blanc.

Blanc soon became noted for voicing a wide variety of cartoon characters, adding Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Pepé Le Pew and many others. His natural voice was that of Sylvester the Cat, but without the lispy spray. (Blanc's voice can be heard in an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies that also featured frequent Blanc vocal foil Bea Benaderet; in his small appearance, Blanc plays a vexed cab-driver.)

In his later years, Blanc claimed that a handful of late 1930s and early 1940s Warner cartoons that each featured a rabbit clearly a precursor of Bugs Bunny all actually dealt with a single character named Happy Rabbit. No use of this name by other Termite Terrace personnel, then or later, has ever been documented, however. Happy Rabbit was noted for his laugh which became more famous as the laugh of Woody Woodpecker which Blanc was the original voice of until he won an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. which meant he couldn't do Woody's voice anymore as the Woody Woodpecker cartoons were produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. Blanc later recorded "The Woody Woodpecker Song" for Capitol Records.

Though his best-known character was a carrot-chomping rabbit, munching on the carrots interrupted the dialogue. Various substitutes, such as celery, were tried, but none of them sounded like a carrot. So for the sake of expedience, he would munch and then spit the carrot bits into a spittoon rather than swallowing them, and continue with the dialogue. One oft-repeated story is that he was allergic to carrots and had to spit them out to minimize any allergic reaction; but his autobiography makes no such claim; in fact, in a 1984 interview with Tim Lawson, co-author of The Magic Behind The Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors (University Press of Mississippi, 2004), Blanc emphatically denied being allergic to carrots. In a Straight Dope column, a Blanc confidante confirmed that Blanc only spit out the carrots because of time constraints, and not because of allergies or general dislike.

Blanc said his most challenging job was voicing Yosemite Sam; it was rough on the throat because of Sam’s sheer volume and raspiness. (Foghorn Leghorn's voice was similarly raucous, but to a lesser degree.) Late in life, he reprised several of his classic voices for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but deferred to Joe Alaskey to do Yosemite Sam's and Foghorn Leghorn's voices.

Throughout his career, Blanc was well aware of his talents and protected the rights to them contractually and legally. He, and later his estate, did not hesitate to take civil action when those rights were violated. Voice actors usually got no screen credits at all, but Blanc was a notable exception; by 1944, his contract stipulated a credit reading "Voice characterization by Mel Blanc." Blanc asked for and received this screen credit from studio boss Leon Schlesinger when Leon objected to giving Blanc a raise in pay. Other frequent Warner voice artists, such as Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd), Stan Freberg (Pete Puma) among many other characters, June Foray (Granny) and Bea Benaderet (many female voices), remained uncredited on-screen. However, Freberg did receive screen credit for Three Little Bops, a musical spoof of The Three Little Pigs, directed by Friz Freleng. Freberg is a frequent contributor to the various Golden Collection projects that showcase the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Blanc, himself, is often spoken of with reverence by younger voice specialists in those DVD collections.

Blanc's screen credit was noticed by radio show producers, who gave him more radio work as a result. It wouldn't be until the early '60s that the other voice actors and actresses became credited on Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons.
Benny/Bugs crossover

The Warner cartoons were filled with references to the popular media of film and radio, including references to The Jack Benny Program, whose various gags frequently found their way into Warner scripts voiced by Blanc. For example:

    * Bugs was known for repeating Benny's catchphrase, "Now cut that out!"
    * The "Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc...amonga" joke was once used by Daffy Duck in the cartoon Daffy Duck Slept Here.
    * Frank Nelson's "Yeeeeees?" would be invoked by minor characters from time to time.
    * Blanc's imitations of sputtering cars, squawking parrots, whinnying horses, etc., would be invoked frequently in both series.
    * On the March 28, 1954 episode of Benny's radio program, Benny encounters Bugs Bunny in a dream.

The ultimate clash of the mythos occurred with the 1959 release of the Warner Bros. cartoon The Mouse that Jack Built. Directed by Robert McKimson, the cartoon features the cast of the Benny radio and TV program drawn as mice. Blanc was credited as the voice of the Maxwell, and besides Benny, co-stars Mary Livingstone, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, and Don Wilson all reprised their Benny show roles.
In the early 1960s, after the expiration of his exclusive contract with Warner Brothers, Blanc went to Hanna-Barbera  and continued to voice various characters, his most famous being Barney Rubble from The Flintstones (whose dopey laugh is similar to Foghorn Leghorn's booming chuckle) and Mr. Spacely from The Jetsons (similar to Yosemite Sam, but not as raucous). Daws Butler and Don Messick were Hanna-Barbera's top voice men when Blanc began providing voices for the company.

Blanc did those voices plus others for such ensemble cartoons as Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop for Hanna-Barbera in the late '60s. Blanc shared the spotlight with his two professional rivals and personal friends, Butler and Messick: In a short called Lippy the Lion, Butler was Lippy, while Blanc was his hyena sidekick, Hardy Har-Har, and Don Messick was usually the guest villain or other supporting characters. In the short Ricochet Rabbit, Messick was the voice of the gun slinging rabbit, while Blanc was his sidekick, Deputy Droop-a-Long Coyote.

Blanc also worked with Chuck Jones, who by this time was directing shorts with his own company Sib Tower 12 (later MGM Animation), doing vocal effects in the Tom and Jerry series from 1962 to 1967.

In addition, Blanc was the first person to play Toucan Sam in Froot Loops commercials, using a slightly cartoonish version of his natural voice. (The ad agency later decided to give Sam an upper-crust English accent and replaced Blanc with Paul Frees.)

Blanc reprised some of his Warner Brothers characters when the studio contracted to make new theatrical cartoons in the mid-to-late 1960s. For these, Blanc voiced Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales, the characters who received the most frequent use in these shorts (later, newly introduced characters such as Cool Cat and Merlin the Magic Mouse were voiced by Larry Storch). Blanc also continued to voice the Looney Tunes characters on the bridging sequences for The Bugs Bunny Show and in numerous animated advertisements.
Mel Blanc holds a few very important records in the field of animation (none of which are currently recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records), the most famous being, of course, the "1000 Voices" he was said to have performed. Not as notable are two records of longevity: his original characterization of Daffy Duck (for over 52 years) is the longest time any animated character has been performed by his or her original voice contributor. He also voiced Porky Pig for exactly the same amount of time as Daffy — since the same cartoon (Porky's Duck Hunt) — through to his death, though Porky was not originally voiced by Blanc. Blanc was also the original voice of almost every character he voiced, leaving him as the clear runaway for the record of "Most Characters Originally Voiced By One Actor," and he almost certainly provided voices in more cartoons than any other voice actor. And to top that off, he is runner-up to his own 52-year record of his original characterization of Daffy, by voicing Bugs Bunny for almost 49 years from the date of his debut (July 27, 1940). In third place is Clarence Nash who voiced Donald Duck for 48 and a half years.
List of cartoon characters

    This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

    * Porky Pig (1936–1989, assumed from Joe Dougherty)
    * The Maxwell (Jack Benny's car in "The Mouse that Jack Built")
    * Daffy Duck (1937–1989)
    * Bugs Bunny's prototype/Happy Rabbit (1938–1940)
    * Bugs Bunny (1940–1989)
    * Woody Woodpecker (1940-1941)
    * Hiawatha (1941)
    * Cecil Turtle (1941–1947)
    * Tweety Bird (1942–1989)
    * Private Snafu, numerous World War II related cartoons (1943)
    * Yosemite Sam (1945–1987)
    * Pepé Le Pew (1945–1989)
    * Sylvester (1945–1989) aka Thomas (1947) in some films.
    * Foghorn Leghorn (1946-1987)
    * The Barnyard Dawg (1946–1989)
    * Henery Hawk (1946–1989)
    * Charlie Dog (1947)
    * Mac (of Mac & Tosh) (1947)
    * K-9 (1948) (sidekick to Marvin the Martian)
    * Marvin the Martian (1948–1989)
    * Sylvester J. Pussycat, Jr. Mel also plays Sylvester's son Sylvester Junior when the young cat was introduced (1949)
    * Beaky Buzzard (1950)
    * Curt Martin (1950-1 episode Hillbilly Hare)



    * Elmer Fudd (1950, 1958, 1970s and 1980s, replacing Arthur Q. Bryan)
    * Bruno the Bear (1951)
    * Wile E. Coyote (silent until 1952, first spoke in the short "Operation: Rabbit")
    * Speedy Gonzales (1953-1989)
    * The Tasmanian Devil (1954–1960) aka Taz
    * Barney Rubble (1960–1989)
    * Dino (1960–1989) (Fred Flintstone's pet.)
    * Cosmo G. Spacely (1962-1989)
    * Hardy Har Har (1962–1964)
    * Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse (1963-1967)
    * Secret Squirrel (1965–1966)
    * Sneezly Seal (1964-1967)
    * Frito Bandito (1967–1971)
    * Bubba McCoy from "Where's Huddles?"
    * Chugga-Boom/Yak Yak/The Bully Brothers also from "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop"
    * Speed Buggy (1973)
    * Tucker the Mouse from "The Cricket in Times Square" (1973) and two sequels
    * Captain Caveman (1977)
    * Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981)
    * Heathcliff (1980, appeared in syndication from 1984–1987)
    * Gideon from Pinocchio (hiccups)
    * Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (vocal effects)
    * Bertie Mouse (of Hubie and Bertie)
    * Marc Antony
    * Moo the Cow in Berkeley Farms Radio Ads. "Farms in Berkeley....Moooo"
    * Officer Short Shrift, several Lethargians, three out of five of the royal palace guards, The Word Speller, The Dodecahedron, and The Demon of Insincerity from The Phantom Tollbooth (1969)
    * Go Go Gomez, Flat Top, B.B. Eyes, additional voices from The Dick Tracy Show

Besides these, Blanc also voiced many minor and one time characters and animal sound effect roles.
List of noteworthy radio characters
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Besides voicing characters on his own radio show (which ran from 1946–47) Blanc was a regular on such comedy classics as The Jack Benny Show, Burns & Allen, and Abbott & Costello, providing both voices and sound effects ranging from people to animals to backfiring cars.

    * The Happy Postman (Burns & Allen)
    * Professor LeBlanc (The Jack Benny Program)
    * Mr. Technicolovich (Abbott & Costello)
    * Sy the Mexican (Jack Benny, radio & TV)
    * Himself (The Mel Blanc Show)
    * Zookie (The Mel Blanc Show)
    * Polly the Parrot (The Jack Benny Program)
    * Carmichael the Polar Bear (The Jack Benny Program)
    * Train Station Announcer (The Jack Benny Program; "Train now departing on Track Five for Ana-heim, A-zuza, and Cuc-a-monga!!")
    * Christmas sales clerk (The Jack Benny Program; in most holiday episodes of the radio and TV version, Blanc would appear as a sales clerk in a department store who's driven insane by Jack's style of shopping and returning gifts.)

Other credits

    * Mel Blanc was hired to perform the voice of Gideon the Cat in Walt Disney's Pinocchio. However, it was eventually decided for Gideon to be mute (just like Dopey, whose whimsical, Harpo Marx-style persona made him one of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' most comic and popular characters), and all of Blanc's recorded dialogue in this film had been deleted, save for one military hiccup, which was heard three times in the film (he was still paid for all of the unused dialogue so if you consider his salary against the actual used "hiccup", he holds the record for highest paid—per word—voice-over actor). This and Who Framed Roger Rabbit are the only known work he ever did for Disney animation. He was, however, heard on occasional radio projects featuring Disney characters, such as The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air.
    * In 1949, Mel appeared in the film Neptune's Daughter with Esther Williams, Red Skelton and Ricardo Montalban.
    * Blanc was one of three regular panelists in the 1955 game show Musical Chairs. Occasionally, he was asked to sing in the style of a popular singer.
    * Blanc once called into the game show Press Your Luck during the end credits when host Peter Tomarken mistakenly gave the answer to the question "Which cartoon character uses the phrase 'Sufferin' succotash'?" as Daffy Duck. Blanc informed him that the correct answer was Sylvester. (In reality, both characters have used the phrase, although it is more commonly associated with Sylvester.) Blanc spoke to Tomarken in Sylvester's voice to explain the error, as well in the voices of Speedy Gonzales and Porky Pig. Tomarken apologized for the error and promised that all three contestants would be allowed to return to play the game again.
    * Blanc was the voice of Bob and Doug McKenzie's father in the movie Strange Brew.
    * In 1971, he appeared as himself in one of the American Express "Do you know me?" credit card TV commercials. The ad campaign centered on famous people whose faces were nonetheless usually not recognized by the public.
    * Blanc appeared in a public service announcement for the Shriners Burns Institute on the dangers of burns on children.
    * He also provided the voice of Quintro the Puppet in Snow White and the Three Stooges.
    * Blanc did virtually all of his famous Looney Tunes characters' voices in NFL Films' The Son of Football Follies
    * In addition to hundreds of credited vocal roles, Blanc also provided many brief incidental voices and vocal effects for TV sitcoms, almost never receiving screen credit. Two noted examples were regularly providing the voice of the raven cuckoo clock in The Munsters' and voicing a parrot (who even spoke in the courtroom) in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Perjured Parrot."
    * In his autobiography, That's Not All, Folks!, Blanc confessed to a minor bit of deception regarding his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices," stating that by his estimate, he had provided only 850 voices.
    * Blanc performed his Speedy Gonzales character in Pat Boone's 1962 hit record of "Speedy Gonzales".
    * Blanc also made many records for Capitol Records, including his Warner Brothers characters and such other characters as Woody Woodpecker, with his most famous Capitol album being Party Panic and in 1950 had a hit single (also in the UK) as Sylvester and Tweety-Pie in "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat". He also performed on records with other artists including Spike Jones and His City Slickers and The Sportsmen.
    * During 1977–1978, Blanc was an active CB Radio operator. He often used the CB handles Bugs or Daffy and talked over the air in the Los Angeles area using his many voices. He appeared in an interview with clips of him having fun talking to children on his home CB radio station in the NBC Knowledge Series television episode about CB radio in 1978.
    * He was also the voice of the cuckoo & the parrot in the Coco Wheats Commercials
    * Blanc's voice over sound effects were used in many animated films such as Paramount's Gulliver's Travels (as an uncredited voice over as King Bombo's shout of joy) to animated shorts from The Pink Panther to most recently in Jetix's "Pucca", in Gremlins 2 The New Batch some of the gremlin laughter and their hiccups were recycled from his recordings, also several monster growls and his bird screeches were also frequently used in several films and animation
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a98/CharRob/blanc.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj99/Bazzlebee/Image7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 5:59 am


He deserves listening to today.
I have started now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 6:01 am


The person who died on this day...Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. during the "Golden Age of American animation" (and later for Hanna-Barbera  television productions) as the voice of such well-known characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Woody Woodpecker, Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely, Speed Buggy, Captain Caveman, Heathcliff, and hundreds of others. Having earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice-acting industry
Blanc was born Melvin Jerome Blank in San Francisco, California, to Frederick and Eva Blank. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, attending Lincoln High School. He claimed that when he was 16, he changed the spelling from “Blank” to “Blanc” because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be, like his name, a “blank.” Blanc joined The Order of DeMolay as a young man, and was eventually inducted into its Hall of Fame.

Blanc began his radio career in 1927 as a voice actor on the KGW program The Hoot Owls, where his ability to provide voices for multiple characters first attracted attention. He moved to KEX in 1933 to produce and host his Cobweb And Nuts show, which debuted on June 15. The program played Monday through Saturday from 11:00 pm to midnight. By the time the show ended two years later, it appeared from 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

Blanc moved to Warner Bros.-owned KFWB in Hollywood, California, in 1935. He joined The Johnny Murray Show, but the following year switched to CBS Radio and The Joe Penner Show. Blanc was a regular on the NBC Red Network show The Jack Benny Program in various roles, including voicing Benny’s Maxwell automobile in desperate need of a tune-up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, Benny’s pet polar bear Carmichael, the tormented department store clerk, and the train announcer (see below).

One of Blanc’s most memorable characters from Benny's radio (and later TV) programs was “Sy, the Little Mexican,” who spoke one word at a time. The famous “Sí...Sy...sew...Sue” routine was so effective that no matter how many times it was performed, the laughter was always there, thanks to the comedic timing of Blanc and Benny.

At times, sharp-eyed audience members (and later, TV viewers) could see Benny struggling to keep a straight face; Blanc’s absolute dead-pan delivery was a formidable challenge for him. Benny’s daughter, Joan, recalls that Mel Blanc was one of her father’s closest friends in real life, because “nobody else on the show could make him laugh the way Mel could.”

Another famous Blanc shtick on Jack’s show was the train depot announcer who inevitably intoned, sidelong, “Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga”. Part of the joke was the Angeleno studio audience’s awareness that no such train existed connecting those then-small towns (years before Disneyland opened). To the wider audience, the primary joke was the pregnant pause that evolved over time between "Cuc.." and "...amonga"; eventually, minutes would pass while the skit went on as the audience awaited the inevitable conclusion of the word. (At least once, a completely different skit followed before the inevitable “...amonga” finally appeared.)

Benny's writers would regularly try to "stump" Blanc by asking him to perform supposedly impossible vocal effects and characterizations, such as an "English horse whinny" and a goldfish. For the latter, Mel walked up the microphone and pursed his lips several times, making no noise.

Blanc’s success on The Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS Radio Network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946, to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner of a fix-it shop, as well as his young cousin Zookie (who sounded quite a bit like Porky Pig). Many episodes required Mel to impersonate an exotic foreigner or other stranger in town, ostensibly for carrying out a minor deception on his girlfriend's father, but of course simply as a vehicle for him to show off his talents. Other regular characters were played by Mary Jane Croft, Joseph Kearns, Hans Conried, Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus, Bea Benaderet and The Sportsmen Quartet, who would supply a song and sing the Colgate Tooth Powder commercials. (Blanc would later work with Reed and Benaderet on The Flintstones.) Shows usually adhered to a predictable formula, involving a date with his girl Betty Colby (Mary Jane Croft) and trying to either impress her father or at least avoid angering him. However, Mr. Colby (Earle Ross) usually had occasion to deliver his trademark line, "Mel Blanc, I'm going to break every bone in your body!"

Blanc appeared frequently on The Great Gildersleeve, uncredited, often voicing two or more supporting characters in a single episode: deliverymen in "Planting a Tree" and "Father's Day Chair" also "Gus", a petty crook in the latter; a radio station manager and a policeman in "Mystery Singer", and many others.

Blanc also appeared on such other national radio programs as The Abbott and Costello Show, the Happy Postman on Burns and Allen, and as August Moon on Point Sublime. During World War II, he appeared as Private Sad Sack on various radio shows, most notably G.I. Journal. The character of Sad Sack was a bumbling Army private with an even worse stutter than Porky Pig. ("I'm Lieutena-eh-Lieutena-eh-Capta-eh-Majo-eh-Colone-eh-p-p-Private Sad Sack.")

For his contribution to radio, Mel Blanc has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Boulevard.
Animation voice work during the Golden Age of Hollywood

In 1936, Mel Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, which made animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Blanc liked to tell the story about how he got turned down at the Schlesinger studio by music director Norman Spencer, who was in charge of cartoon voices, saying that they had all the voices they needed. Then Spencer died, and sound man Treg Brown took charge of cartoon voices, while Carl Stalling took over as music director. Brown introduced Blanc to animation directors Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin, who loved his voices. The first cartoon Blanc worked on was Picador Porky as the voice of a drunken bull. He took over as Porky Pig's voice in Porky's Duck Hunt, which marked the debut of Daffy Duck, also voiced by Blanc.

Blanc soon became noted for voicing a wide variety of cartoon characters, adding Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Pepé Le Pew and many others. His natural voice was that of Sylvester the Cat, but without the lispy spray. (Blanc's voice can be heard in an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies that also featured frequent Blanc vocal foil Bea Benaderet; in his small appearance, Blanc plays a vexed cab-driver.)

In his later years, Blanc claimed that a handful of late 1930s and early 1940s Warner cartoons that each featured a rabbit clearly a precursor of Bugs Bunny all actually dealt with a single character named Happy Rabbit. No use of this name by other Termite Terrace personnel, then or later, has ever been documented, however. Happy Rabbit was noted for his laugh which became more famous as the laugh of Woody Woodpecker which Blanc was the original voice of until he won an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. which meant he couldn't do Woody's voice anymore as the Woody Woodpecker cartoons were produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. Blanc later recorded "The Woody Woodpecker Song" for Capitol Records.

Though his best-known character was a carrot-chomping rabbit, munching on the carrots interrupted the dialogue. Various substitutes, such as celery, were tried, but none of them sounded like a carrot. So for the sake of expedience, he would munch and then spit the carrot bits into a spittoon rather than swallowing them, and continue with the dialogue. One oft-repeated story is that he was allergic to carrots and had to spit them out to minimize any allergic reaction; but his autobiography makes no such claim; in fact, in a 1984 interview with Tim Lawson, co-author of The Magic Behind The Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors (University Press of Mississippi, 2004), Blanc emphatically denied being allergic to carrots. In a Straight Dope column, a Blanc confidante confirmed that Blanc only spit out the carrots because of time constraints, and not because of allergies or general dislike.

Blanc said his most challenging job was voicing Yosemite Sam; it was rough on the throat because of Sam’s sheer volume and raspiness. (Foghorn Leghorn's voice was similarly raucous, but to a lesser degree.) Late in life, he reprised several of his classic voices for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but deferred to Joe Alaskey to do Yosemite Sam's and Foghorn Leghorn's voices.

Throughout his career, Blanc was well aware of his talents and protected the rights to them contractually and legally. He, and later his estate, did not hesitate to take civil action when those rights were violated. Voice actors usually got no screen credits at all, but Blanc was a notable exception; by 1944, his contract stipulated a credit reading "Voice characterization by Mel Blanc." Blanc asked for and received this screen credit from studio boss Leon Schlesinger when Leon objected to giving Blanc a raise in pay. Other frequent Warner voice artists, such as Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd), Stan Freberg (Pete Puma) among many other characters, June Foray (Granny) and Bea Benaderet (many female voices), remained uncredited on-screen. However, Freberg did receive screen credit for Three Little Bops, a musical spoof of The Three Little Pigs, directed by Friz Freleng. Freberg is a frequent contributor to the various Golden Collection projects that showcase the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Blanc, himself, is often spoken of with reverence by younger voice specialists in those DVD collections.

Blanc's screen credit was noticed by radio show producers, who gave him more radio work as a result. It wouldn't be until the early '60s that the other voice actors and actresses became credited on Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons.
Benny/Bugs crossover

The Warner cartoons were filled with references to the popular media of film and radio, including references to The Jack Benny Program, whose various gags frequently found their way into Warner scripts voiced by Blanc. For example:

    * Bugs was known for repeating Benny's catchphrase, "Now cut that out!"
    * The "Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc...amonga" joke was once used by Daffy Duck in the cartoon Daffy Duck Slept Here.
    * Frank Nelson's "Yeeeeees?" would be invoked by minor characters from time to time.
    * Blanc's imitations of sputtering cars, squawking parrots, whinnying horses, etc., would be invoked frequently in both series.
    * On the March 28, 1954 episode of Benny's radio program, Benny encounters Bugs Bunny in a dream.

The ultimate clash of the mythos occurred with the 1959 release of the Warner Bros. cartoon The Mouse that Jack Built. Directed by Robert McKimson, the cartoon features the cast of the Benny radio and TV program drawn as mice. Blanc was credited as the voice of the Maxwell, and besides Benny, co-stars Mary Livingstone, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, and Don Wilson all reprised their Benny show roles.
In the early 1960s, after the expiration of his exclusive contract with Warner Brothers, Blanc went to Hanna-Barbera  and continued to voice various characters, his most famous being Barney Rubble from The Flintstones (whose dopey laugh is similar to Foghorn Leghorn's booming chuckle) and Mr. Spacely from The Jetsons (similar to Yosemite Sam, but not as raucous). Daws Butler and Don Messick were Hanna-Barbera's top voice men when Blanc began providing voices for the company.

Blanc did those voices plus others for such ensemble cartoons as Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop for Hanna-Barbera in the late '60s. Blanc shared the spotlight with his two professional rivals and personal friends, Butler and Messick: In a short called Lippy the Lion, Butler was Lippy, while Blanc was his hyena sidekick, Hardy Har-Har, and Don Messick was usually the guest villain or other supporting characters. In the short Ricochet Rabbit, Messick was the voice of the gun slinging rabbit, while Blanc was his sidekick, Deputy Droop-a-Long Coyote.

Blanc also worked with Chuck Jones, who by this time was directing shorts with his own company Sib Tower 12 (later MGM Animation), doing vocal effects in the Tom and Jerry series from 1962 to 1967.

In addition, Blanc was the first person to play Toucan Sam in Froot Loops commercials, using a slightly cartoonish version of his natural voice. (The ad agency later decided to give Sam an upper-crust English accent and replaced Blanc with Paul Frees.)

Blanc reprised some of his Warner Brothers characters when the studio contracted to make new theatrical cartoons in the mid-to-late 1960s. For these, Blanc voiced Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales, the characters who received the most frequent use in these shorts (later, newly introduced characters such as Cool Cat and Merlin the Magic Mouse were voiced by Larry Storch). Blanc also continued to voice the Looney Tunes characters on the bridging sequences for The Bugs Bunny Show and in numerous animated advertisements.
Mel Blanc holds a few very important records in the field of animation (none of which are currently recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records), the most famous being, of course, the "1000 Voices" he was said to have performed. Not as notable are two records of longevity: his original characterization of Daffy Duck (for over 52 years) is the longest time any animated character has been performed by his or her original voice contributor. He also voiced Porky Pig for exactly the same amount of time as Daffy — since the same cartoon (Porky's Duck Hunt) — through to his death, though Porky was not originally voiced by Blanc. Blanc was also the original voice of almost every character he voiced, leaving him as the clear runaway for the record of "Most Characters Originally Voiced By One Actor," and he almost certainly provided voices in more cartoons than any other voice actor. And to top that off, he is runner-up to his own 52-year record of his original characterization of Daffy, by voicing Bugs Bunny for almost 49 years from the date of his debut (July 27, 1940). In third place is Clarence Nash who voiced Donald Duck for 48 and a half years.
List of cartoon characters

    This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

    * Porky Pig (1936–1989, assumed from Joe Dougherty)
    * The Maxwell (Jack Benny's car in "The Mouse that Jack Built")
    * Daffy Duck (1937–1989)
    * Bugs Bunny's prototype/Happy Rabbit (1938–1940)
    * Bugs Bunny (1940–1989)
    * Woody Woodpecker (1940-1941)
    * Hiawatha (1941)
    * Cecil Turtle (1941–1947)
    * Tweety Bird (1942–1989)
    * Private Snafu, numerous World War II related cartoons (1943)
    * Yosemite Sam (1945–1987)
    * Pepé Le Pew (1945–1989)
    * Sylvester (1945–1989) aka Thomas (1947) in some films.
    * Foghorn Leghorn (1946-1987)
    * The Barnyard Dawg (1946–1989)
    * Henery Hawk (1946–1989)
    * Charlie Dog (1947)
    * Mac (of Mac & Tosh) (1947)
    * K-9 (1948) (sidekick to Marvin the Martian)
    * Marvin the Martian (1948–1989)
    * Sylvester J. Pussycat, Jr. Mel also plays Sylvester's son Sylvester Junior when the young cat was introduced (1949)
    * Beaky Buzzard (1950)
    * Curt Martin (1950-1 episode Hillbilly Hare)



    * Elmer Fudd (1950, 1958, 1970s and 1980s, replacing Arthur Q. Bryan)
    * Bruno the Bear (1951)
    * Wile E. Coyote (silent until 1952, first spoke in the short "Operation: Rabbit")
    * Speedy Gonzales (1953-1989)
    * The Tasmanian Devil (1954–1960) aka Taz
    * Barney Rubble (1960–1989)
    * Dino (1960–1989) (Fred Flintstone's pet.)
    * Cosmo G. Spacely (1962-1989)
    * Hardy Har Har (1962–1964)
    * Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse (1963-1967)
    * Secret Squirrel (1965–1966)
    * Sneezly Seal (1964-1967)
    * Frito Bandito (1967–1971)
    * Bubba McCoy from "Where's Huddles?"
    * Chugga-Boom/Yak Yak/The Bully Brothers also from "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop"
    * Speed Buggy (1973)
    * Tucker the Mouse from "The Cricket in Times Square" (1973) and two sequels
    * Captain Caveman (1977)
    * Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981)
    * Heathcliff (1980, appeared in syndication from 1984–1987)
    * Gideon from Pinocchio (hiccups)
    * Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (vocal effects)
    * Bertie Mouse (of Hubie and Bertie)
    * Marc Antony
    * Moo the Cow in Berkeley Farms Radio Ads. "Farms in Berkeley....Moooo"
    * Officer Short Shrift, several Lethargians, three out of five of the royal palace guards, The Word Speller, The Dodecahedron, and The Demon of Insincerity from The Phantom Tollbooth (1969)
    * Go Go Gomez, Flat Top, B.B. Eyes, additional voices from The Dick Tracy Show

Besides these, Blanc also voiced many minor and one time characters and animal sound effect roles.
List of noteworthy radio characters
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Besides voicing characters on his own radio show (which ran from 1946–47) Blanc was a regular on such comedy classics as The Jack Benny Show, Burns & Allen, and Abbott & Costello, providing both voices and sound effects ranging from people to animals to backfiring cars.

    * The Happy Postman (Burns & Allen)
    * Professor LeBlanc (The Jack Benny Program)
    * Mr. Technicolovich (Abbott & Costello)
    * Sy the Mexican (Jack Benny, radio & TV)
    * Himself (The Mel Blanc Show)
    * Zookie (The Mel Blanc Show)
    * Polly the Parrot (The Jack Benny Program)
    * Carmichael the Polar Bear (The Jack Benny Program)
    * Train Station Announcer (The Jack Benny Program; "Train now departing on Track Five for Ana-heim, A-zuza, and Cuc-a-monga!!")
    * Christmas sales clerk (The Jack Benny Program; in most holiday episodes of the radio and TV version, Blanc would appear as a sales clerk in a department store who's driven insane by Jack's style of shopping and returning gifts.)

Other credits

    * Mel Blanc was hired to perform the voice of Gideon the Cat in Walt Disney's Pinocchio. However, it was eventually decided for Gideon to be mute (just like Dopey, whose whimsical, Harpo Marx-style persona made him one of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' most comic and popular characters), and all of Blanc's recorded dialogue in this film had been deleted, save for one military hiccup, which was heard three times in the film (he was still paid for all of the unused dialogue so if you consider his salary against the actual used "hiccup", he holds the record for highest paid—per word—voice-over actor). This and Who Framed Roger Rabbit are the only known work he ever did for Disney animation. He was, however, heard on occasional radio projects featuring Disney characters, such as The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air.
    * In 1949, Mel appeared in the film Neptune's Daughter with Esther Williams, Red Skelton and Ricardo Montalban.
    * Blanc was one of three regular panelists in the 1955 game show Musical Chairs. Occasionally, he was asked to sing in the style of a popular singer.
    * Blanc once called into the game show Press Your Luck during the end credits when host Peter Tomarken mistakenly gave the answer to the question "Which cartoon character uses the phrase 'Sufferin' succotash'?" as Daffy Duck. Blanc informed him that the correct answer was Sylvester. (In reality, both characters have used the phrase, although it is more commonly associated with Sylvester.) Blanc spoke to Tomarken in Sylvester's voice to explain the error, as well in the voices of Speedy Gonzales and Porky Pig. Tomarken apologized for the error and promised that all three contestants would be allowed to return to play the game again.
    * Blanc was the voice of Bob and Doug McKenzie's father in the movie Strange Brew.
    * In 1971, he appeared as himself in one of the American Express "Do you know me?" credit card TV commercials. The ad campaign centered on famous people whose faces were nonetheless usually not recognized by the public.
    * Blanc appeared in a public service announcement for the Shriners Burns Institute on the dangers of burns on children.
    * He also provided the voice of Quintro the Puppet in Snow White and the Three Stooges.
    * Blanc did virtually all of his famous Looney Tunes characters' voices in NFL Films' The Son of Football Follies
    * In addition to hundreds of credited vocal roles, Blanc also provided many brief incidental voices and vocal effects for TV sitcoms, almost never receiving screen credit. Two noted examples were regularly providing the voice of the raven cuckoo clock in The Munsters' and voicing a parrot (who even spoke in the courtroom) in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Perjured Parrot."
    * In his autobiography, That's Not All, Folks!, Blanc confessed to a minor bit of deception regarding his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices," stating that by his estimate, he had provided only 850 voices.
    * Blanc performed his Speedy Gonzales character in Pat Boone's 1962 hit record of "Speedy Gonzales".
    * Blanc also made many records for Capitol Records, including his Warner Brothers characters and such other characters as Woody Woodpecker, with his most famous Capitol album being Party Panic and in 1950 had a hit single (also in the UK) as Sylvester and Tweety-Pie in "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat". He also performed on records with other artists including Spike Jones and His City Slickers and The Sportsmen.
    * During 1977–1978, Blanc was an active CB Radio operator. He often used the CB handles Bugs or Daffy and talked over the air in the Los Angeles area using his many voices. He appeared in an interview with clips of him having fun talking to children on his home CB radio station in the NBC Knowledge Series television episode about CB radio in 1978.
    * He was also the voice of the cuckoo & the parrot in the Coco Wheats Commercials
    * Blanc's voice over sound effects were used in many animated films such as Paramount's Gulliver's Travels (as an uncredited voice over as King Bombo's shout of joy) to animated shorts from The Pink Panther to most recently in Jetix's "Pucca", in Gremlins 2 The New Batch some of the gremlin laughter and their hiccups were recycled from his recordings, also several monster growls and his bird screeches were also frequently used in several films and animation
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a98/CharRob/blanc.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj99/Bazzlebee/Image7.jpg
"The Man of a Thousand Voices"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 6:07 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M&feature=related

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 6:54 am

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0330262130.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/10 at 7:04 am


I have started now.

Alice's Restaurant is a little too long for me, but they did play City of New Orleans on the radio/

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:06 am


Alice's Restaurant is a little too long for me, but they did play City of New Orleans on the radio/
I will catch more songs later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:07 am

http://www.oostburg.k12.wi.us/ohs/activities/HandsOn4Teens/Images/logo-subway.jpg

My favorite restaurant.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:08 am

My favorite characters are Daffy Duck And Bugs Bunny. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:10 am


http://www.oostburg.k12.wi.us/ohs/activities/HandsOn4Teens/Images/logo-subway.jpg

My favorite restaurant.  :)
Over here Subway is a sandwich store more than a restaurant, the food served is taken away to be eaten elsewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:11 am

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/TheGreatEscape90/Logo/mcdonalds-logo.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:11 am


My favorite characters are Daffy Duck And Bugs Bunny. ;D
In a sandwich?  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:12 am


http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/TheGreatEscape90/Logo/mcdonalds-logo.gif


I used to eat at McDonalds.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:12 am


In a sandwich?  ;D


In a cartoon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:13 am


I used to eat at McDonalds.
I still have the occasional breakfast there.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:16 am


I still have the occasional breakfast there.


I sometimes eat at Burger King for breakfast when I have a morning shift on Sundays.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:18 am


I sometimes eat at Burger King for breakfast when I have a morning shift on Sundays.
Burger King over here had a good choice of breakfast a few years back, a better tasting chicken burger and potato served but not as fries.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:19 am


Burger King over here had a good choice of breakfast a few years back, a better tasting chicken burger and potato served but not as fries.


the breakfast menu is delicious,I'd order the breakfast wraps with tater tots and coffee.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:20 am


the breakfast menu is delicious,I'd order the breakfast wraps with tater tots and coffee.
Breakfast Wraps sounds inviting!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:22 am


Breakfast Wraps sounds inviting!


Breakfast Wraps are bacon,scrambled eggs,melted cheese with smashed tater tots in a small buritto.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:26 am


Breakfast Wraps are bacon,scrambled eggs,melted cheese with smashed tater tots in a small buritto.
Skip the bacon!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:34 am


Skip the bacon!


bacon is more fat and grease.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:38 am


bacon is more fat and grease.
I have never like the true taste of bacon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 7:39 am


I have never like the true taste of bacon.


I enjoy the smell of bacon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 7:40 am


I enjoy the smell of bacon.
That is another aspect of bacon I detest.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 9:38 am


My favorite characters are Daffy Duck And Bugs Bunny. ;D
Porky Pig?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/10 at 11:51 am


Did I guess the person right?



I guessed right, too.


BTW, there are TWO versions of Alice's Restaurant: The original he did back in 1967 and then he redid it in 1997 for the 30th anniversary. I have a copy of both of them and both are worth listening to-even though they are long.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 12:39 pm



I guessed right, too.


BTW, there are TWO versions of Alice's Restaurant: The original he did back in 1967 and then he redid it in 1997 for the 30th anniversary. I have a copy of both of them and both are worth listening to-even though they are long.



Cat
Which is the better version to listen to?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/10 at 1:27 pm


Which is the better version to listen to?



That's a tough call. I like them both. The second one has a reference to Nixon which is SOOOOO funny (well, at least to me it is).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 1:55 pm



That's a tough call. I like them both. The second one has a reference to Nixon which is SOOOOO funny (well, at least to me it is).



Cat
That will be the one I will hear first.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/10/10 at 2:37 pm


Porky Pig?


Porky Pig is funny too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 3:26 pm



That's a tough call. I like them both. The second one has a reference to Nixon which is SOOOOO funny (well, at least to me it is).



Cat
I just heard a track called Alice's Restaurant Massacre which was over 18 minutes long, and I loved it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 3:26 pm



That's a tough call. I like them both. The second one has a reference to Nixon which is SOOOOO funny (well, at least to me it is).



Cat
I love his voice too!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/10 at 3:36 pm


I just heard a track called Alice's Restaurant Massacre which was over 18 minutes long, and I loved it.




Was that the first (1967) or second (1997)?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 3:39 pm



Was that the first (1967) or second (1997)?



Cat
I am not sure, but checking online 1967.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/10 at 4:10 pm


I am not sure, but checking online 1967.



Now go listen to the 1997 version.  ;) ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:25 pm



Now go listen to the 1997 version.  ;) ;D ;D ;D



Cat
If I can find it

btw, a special Karma to you.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:28 pm



Now go listen to the 1997 version.  ;) ;D ;D ;D



Cat
I think I have found it on YouTube.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/10 at 4:28 pm


If I can find it

btw, a special Karma to you.



Right back at ya.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:29 pm



Right back at ya.



Cat
Many thanks!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:29 pm


I think I have found it on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GguFmYRryz8

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/10 at 4:31 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GguFmYRryz8



Yup-that's the second one.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:31 pm



Yup-that's the second one.



Cat
It could be in two parts.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:38 pm



Yup-that's the second one.



Cat
Part Two....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2nn1HtMzuk&feature=related

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/10/10 at 4:49 pm


Part Two....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2nn1HtMzuk&feature=related
Part three...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTZArKZnuzI&feature=related

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 7:30 am

The word of the day...Bikini
The bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit  with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin  and, optionally, part or all of the buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. It is often worn in hot weather, while swimming or sunning. The shapes of both parts of a bikini resemble women's underwear, and the lower part can range from revealing thong or g-string to briefs and modest square-cut shorts. Merriam–Webster's Collegiate Dictionary  (11th edition) describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit", "a man's brief swimsuit" and "a man's or woman's low-cut briefs".

While two-piece bathing suits had been worn on the beach before, the modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard in 1946. He named it after Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the site of the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests in July that year.

The bikini is perhaps the most popular female beachwear around the globe, according to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard due to "the power of women, and not the power of fashion". As he explains, "The emancipation of swimwear has always been linked to the emancipation of women." By the mid 2000s bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, according to the NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company. The bikini has boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries.
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq208/babycaake/jhjh.jpg
http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy299/chelsea19-90/CIMG2370.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/lady_katie/Personal/Family/McKims/Young%20Mama/bikini.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/MSimon6808/Bikini%202010/Sling.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc163/rodeodrivebargains/beadedbikini252100.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/angwbc/Weekend/weekend_bikini.gif
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/manolive/bikini.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 7:32 am

O0 O0 two thumbs up for the last pic.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 7:32 am


The word of the day...Bikini
The bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit  with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin  and, optionally, part or all of the buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. It is often worn in hot weather, while swimming or sunning. The shapes of both parts of a bikini resemble women's underwear, and the lower part can range from revealing thong or g-string to briefs and modest square-cut shorts. Merriam–Webster's Collegiate Dictionary  (11th edition) describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit", "a man's brief swimsuit" and "a man's or woman's low-cut briefs".

While two-piece bathing suits had been worn on the beach before, the modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard in 1946. He named it after Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the site of the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests in July that year.

The bikini is perhaps the most popular female beachwear around the globe, according to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard due to "the power of women, and not the power of fashion". As he explains, "The emancipation of swimwear has always been linked to the emancipation of women." By the mid 2000s bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, according to the NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company. The bikini has boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries.
http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq208/babycaake/jhjh.jpg
http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy299/chelsea19-90/CIMG2370.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/lady_katie/Personal/Family/McKims/Young%20Mama/bikini.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s307/MSimon6808/Bikini%202010/Sling.jpg
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc163/rodeodrivebargains/beadedbikini252100.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/angwbc/Weekend/weekend_bikini.gif
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/manolive/bikini.jpg
Not the maniki then?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 7:33 am

Mankini,that's horrid looking.  :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 7:35 am

The person born on this day...Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm, July 11, 1931, New York) is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.
Hunter was born to German immigrants Charles Kelm and Gertrude Gelien. Hunter's father was an abusive man and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced and his mother moved with her two sons to California. She reassumed her maiden surname Gelien and changed her sons' name to that as well. As a teenager Hunter was a figure skater,  competing in both singles and pairs, and a horseback rider.

In later years Hunter's mother was institutionalized and underwent shock treatments, and he supported her financially until her death.
Career

Arthur Gelien was christened 'Tab Hunter' by his first agent, Henry Willson. His good looks landed him a role in the film Island of Desire opposite Linda Darnell. However, it was his co-starring role as young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, in which he has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door, that cemented his position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. He went on to star in over forty films.

In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only was there no negative impact on Hunter's career, but a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations.

Hunter had a 1957 hit record with a cover of the song "Young Love", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks. He also had the hit "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at #11 in the chart. His success prompted Jack Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single, from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter, although his singing career floundered after a few more recordings.
Hunter in Damn Yankees (1958)

Hunter's was in the 1958 musical film Damn Yankees, in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington D.C's American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway show, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the 1954 best-selling book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was only interested in re-creating the stage version word for word. Hunter was Warner Bros top money grossing star from 1955 through 1959.

Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. On July 9, 1960, prior to the program's debut, he was arrested by Glendale, California police for allegedly beating his dog Fritz. His 11-day trial started in mid-October, a month after The Tab Hunter Show debuted on Sunday evenings on NBC. It was proved that the neighbor who initiated the charges had done so for spite when Hunter declined her repeated invitations to dinner, and he was acquitted by the jury. The Tab Hunter Show had low ratings and was hence cancelled after one season.

For a short time in the latter 1960s, Hunter settled in the south of France, where he acted in spaghetti westerns. His career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite transvestite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He is particularly remembered by later audiences as Mr. Stewart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2, who sang "Reproduction." Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet. He also wrote and starred in Dark Horse (1992).
Personal life

In Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, he acknowledged his homosexuality, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about his alleged romances with very close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood were strictly the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized and groundless romance, promoting his apparent heterosexuality while promoting their movies, insiders developed their own headline for the item: 'Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't'.

Hunter did become close enough with Etchika Choureau, his co-star in Lafayette Escadrille, and Joan Cohn, widow of Harry Cohn, to contemplate marriage, but thought he never could maintain a marriage and remained merely platonic friends with both women.

During Hollywood's studio era, Hunter says, life "was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasizes that the word 'gay' "wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor says, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."

Hunter had long-term relationships with bisexual actor Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson, before settling down with his partner of 30 years, Allan Glaser.

Hunter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography

   * The Lawless (1950)
   * Saturday Island (1952)
   * Gun Belt (1953)
   * The Steel Lady (1953)
   * Return to Treasure Island (1954)
   * Track of the Cat (1954)
   * Battle Cry (1955)
   * The Sea Chase (1955)
   * The Burning Hills (1956)
   * The Girl He Left Behind (1956)
   * Lafayette Escadrille (1958)
   * Gunman's Walk (1958)
   * Damn Yankees (1958)
   * They Came to Cordura (1959)
   * That Kind of Woman (1959)
   * The Pleasure of His Company (1961)
   * The Golden Arrow (1962 film) (1962)
   * Operation Bikini (1963)
   * Man with Two Faces (1964)
   * Ride the Wild Surf (1964)
   * War-Gods of the Deep (1965)
   * The Loved One (1965)
   * Birds Do It (1966)
   * The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967)
   * Hostile Guns (1967)
   * Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968)
   * The Last Chance (1968 film) (1968)
   * The Legion of No Return (1969)
   * The Arousers (1970)
   * The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
   * Sweet Kill (1973)
   * Timber Tramps (1975)
   * Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
   * The Kid From Left Field (1979)
   * Polyester (1981)
   * Pandemonium (1982)
   * Grease 2 (1982)
   * Lust in the Dust (1985)
   * Grotesque (1988 film) (1988)
   * Cameron's Closet (1989)
   * Out of the Dark (1989)
   * Dark Horse (1992)
   * Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996)

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m76/DrewziG71/tabwhite.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p248/deepinme/10_tab_and_rudy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 7:36 am


O0 O0 two thumbs up for the last pic.

I thought you would like it :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 7:37 am


Not the maniki then?

Careful what you ask for
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x274/boatcapt71/Mankini.jpg
;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 7:37 am

Didn't he star in those films with Divine?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 7:38 am

http://www.bikiniatoll.com/Mapbikiniatollcolor2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 7:38 am


Careful what you ask for
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x274/boatcapt71/Mankini.jpg
;D



Jeebus!  :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 7:38 am


Careful what you ask for
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x274/boatcapt71/Mankini.jpg
;D
Just as a costume piece, like Sacha Baron Cohen?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 7:39 am


Just as a costume piece, like Sacha Baron Cohen?


I doubt it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 7:40 am


Careful what you ask for
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x274/boatcapt71/Mankini.jpg
;D
It looks disgraceful!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 7:40 am


Just as a costume piece, like Sacha Baron Cohen?

I don't know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 7:41 am


It looks disgraceful!


It looks like it's going to fall off.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 7:43 am

The person who died on this day...Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (pronounced /ˈlɒrəns ɵˈlɪvi.eɪ/; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered British actors of the 20th century.  He married Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright.

Olivier played a wide variety of roles on stage and screen from Greek tragedy, Shakespeare and Restoration comedy to modern American and British drama. He was the first artistic director of the National Theatre of Great Britain and its main stage is named in his honour. He is generally regarded to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, in the same category as David Garrick, Richard Burbage, Edmund Kean and Henry Irving in their own centuries. Olivier's AMPAS acknowledgments are considerable — fourteen Oscar nominations, with two wins (for Best Actor and Best Picture for the 1948 film Hamlet), and two honorary awards including a statuette and certificate. He was also awarded five Emmy awards from the nine nominations he received. Additionally, he was a three-time Golden Globe and BAFTA winner.

Olivier's career as a stage and film actor spanned more than six decades and included a wide variety of roles, from the title role in Shakespeare's Othello and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night to the sadistic Nazi dentist Christian Szell in Marathon Man and the kindly but determined Nazi-hunter in The Boys from Brazil. A High church clergyman's son who found fame on the West End stage, Olivier became determined early on to master Shakespeare, and eventually came to be regarded as one of the foremost Shakespeare interpreters of the 20th century. He continued to act until the year before his death in 1989. Olivier played more than 120 stage roles: Richard III, Macbeth, Romeo, Hamlet, Othello, Uncle Vanya, and Archie Rice in The Entertainer. He appeared in nearly sixty films, including William Wyler's Wuthering Heights, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus, Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake Is Missing, Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War, and A Bridge Too Far, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Sleuth, John Schlesinger's Marathon Man, Daniel Petrie's The Betsy, Desmond Davis' Clash of the Titans, and his own Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III. He also preserved his Othello on film, with its stage cast virtually intact. For television, he starred in The Moon and Sixpence, John Gabriel Borkman, Long Day's Journey into Night, Brideshead Revisited, The Merchant of Venice, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and King Lear, among others.

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Olivier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, at number 14 on the list.
Olivier was created a Knight Bachelor on 12 June 1947 in the King's Birthday Honours,  and created a life peer on 13 June 1970 in the Queen's Birthday Honours as Baron Olivier, of Brighton in the County of Sussex, the first actor to be accorded this distinction.  He was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1981.  The Laurence Olivier Awards, organised by The Society of London Theatre, were renamed in his honour in 1984.

Though he was a knight, a life peer, and one of the most respected personalities in the industry, Olivier insisted he be addressed as "Larry", which he made clear he preferred to "Sir Laurence" or "Lord Olivier".
Centenary

On 22 May 2007, to mark centenary of Olivier's birth, Network Media and ITV released DVD libraries of his work: Network Media – The Laurence Olivier Centenary Collection (10 discs):

   * Henry V (1944)
   * Richard III (1955)
   * King Lear (1983)
   * The Ebony Tower (1984)
   * Long Day's Journey Into Night (1973)
   * The Merchant of Venice (1973)
   * Laurence Olivier Presents (complete)
   * The South Bank Show: Laurence Olivier, A Life (1982) featuring interviews with Olivier, John Gielgud and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

ITV – Laurence Olivier Shakespeare Collection (7 discs):

   * King Lear (1983)
   * Henry V (1944)
   * Hamlet (1948)
   * As You Like It (1936)
   * Richard III (1955)
   * The Merchant of Venice (1973)

ITV - The Laurence Olivier "Icon" Collection (10 discs):

   * Henry V (1944)
   * Richard III (1955)
   * Hamlet (1948)
   * 21 Days (1940)
   * That Hamilton Woman (1941)
   * 49th Parallel (1941)
   * The Demi-Paradise (1943)
   * The Boys from Brazil (1978)
   * The Jazz Singer (1980)

Both DVD sets include a Michael Parkinson interview with Olivier from the 1970s.

In September 2007 the National Theatre marked the centenary of his birth with a Centenary Celebration. This told the story of Olivier's working life through film and stage extracts, letters, reminiscence and readings; the participants included Eileen Atkins, Claire Bloom, Anna Carteret, Derek Jacobi, Charles Kay, Clive Merrison, Edward Petherbridge, Joan Plowright, Ronald Pickup, Billie Whitelaw and Richard Attenborough. Prior to the evening celebration, a new statue of Olivier as Hamlet, created by the sculptor Angela Conner and funded by private subscription, was unveiled on the South Bank, next to the National's Theatre Square.
Awards and nominations
Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Laurence Olivier
Theatre credits and filmography
Further information: Chronology of stage, film and television performances given by Laurence Olivier
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/olivier_laurence.jpg
http://i511.photobucket.com/albums/s358/barbie_an/15204Laurence-Olivier-Posters.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 7:45 am

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3549/3504446594_b7106fa398.jpg

Not the best of pictures, but the plaque for Laurence Olivier in Brighton.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/11/10 at 9:45 am

Bikini:
http://www.charliesangels.gr/kelly.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/11/10 at 11:39 am


Bikini:
http://www.charliesangels.gr/kelly.jpg




My favorite Angel. I always wanted to look like her.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 1:19 pm

http://instapunk.com/images/string-bikini.jpg


Now THIS here is a Bikini!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/10 at 1:31 pm


http://instapunk.com/images/string-bikini.jpg


Now THIS here is a Bikini!  ;)

If she had more up top, I don't think it would cover much.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 1:34 pm

it looks like that today's choice of word can be a risky affair?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 1:34 pm


If she had more up top, I don't think it would cover much.


that bikini leaves nothing to the imagination. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 1:35 pm


it looks like that today's choice of word can be a risky affair?


just for today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/11/10 at 1:35 pm


just for today.
Only for today!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/10 at 1:35 pm


Only for today!


yes only one day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/11/10 at 5:16 pm


Careful what you ask for
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x274/boatcapt71/Mankini.jpg
;D


You were doing so well up until this point. :-\\  This pic should have had some warning post before it (although...I KNEW it was coming)!!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/11/10 at 5:38 pm


You were doing so well up until this point. :-\\  This pic should have had some warning post before it (although...I KNEW it was coming)!!  ;D



But you look cute in your bikini.  :D ;D ;D ;D




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/11/10 at 6:22 pm



But you look cute in your bikini.  :D ;D ;D ;D




Cat


No..that's not moi.  That fellow is way to skinny!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/12/10 at 1:21 am


You were doing so well up until this point. :-\\  This pic should have had some warning post before it (although...I KNEW it was coming)!!  ;D
A smoking warning too?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/10 at 6:16 am

The word of the day...Jello
Jell-O is a brand name belonging to U.S.-based Kraft Foods for a number of gelatin desserts, including fruit gels, puddings  and no-bake cream pies. The brand's popularity has led to it being used as a generic term for gelatin dessert across the U.S. and Canada.
Jell-O is sold prepared (ready to eat) or in powder form, and it is available in many different colors and flavors. The powder contains powdered gelatin  and flavorings including sugar or artificial sweeteners. It is dissolved in very hot water, then chilled and allowed to set. Sometimes fruit, vegetables, whipped cream, or other ingredients are added to make elaborate desserts that can be molded into various shapes. Jell-O must be refrigerated until served, and once set properly, it is normally eaten with a spoon.

There are also non-gelatin pudding and pie filling products under the Jell-O brand. To make pudding, these are cooked on stove top with milk, then either eaten warm or chilled until more firmly set. Jell-O also has an instant pudding product which is simply mixed with cold milk and then chilled. To make pie fillings, the same products are simply prepared with less liquid.

Though the word Jell-O is a name brand, it is commonly used in the United States as a generic name for all gelatin products.
History

Gelatin, a protein produced from collagen extracted from the boiled bones, connective tissues, and intestines of animals, has been well-known and used for many years.

It was popularized in the Victorian era with spectacular and complex "jelly moulds". Gelatin was sold in sheets and had to be purified, which was very time-consuming. It also made gelatin desserts the province of the relatively well-to-do. In 1845, industrialist Peter Cooper (who built the first American steam-powered locomotive, the Tom Thumb), obtained a patent (US Patent 4084) for powdered gelatin.

Forty years later the patent was sold to a LeRoy, New York-based carpenter and cough syrup manufacturer, Pearle B. Wait. He and his wife May added strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon flavoring to the powder and gave the product its present name in 1897. Unable to successfully market their concoction, in 1899 the Waits sold the business to a neighbor, Orator Francis Woodward, for $450.

Beginning in 1902, Woodward's Genesee Pure Food Company placed advertisements in the Ladies' Home Journal proclaiming Jell-O to be "America's Most Famous Dessert." Jell-O remained a minor success until 1904, when Genesee Pure Food Company sent enormous numbers of salesmen out into the field to distribute free Jell-O cookbooks, a pioneering marketing tactic at the time. Within a decade, three new flavors, chocolate (discontinued in 1927), cherry and peach, were added, and the brand was launched in Canada. Celebrity testimonials and recipes appeared in advertisements featuring actress Ethel Barrymore and opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink.

In 1923, the newly rechristened Jell-O Company launched D-Zerta, an artificially sweetened version of Jell-O. Two years later, Postum and Genesee merged, and in 1927 Postum acquired Clarence Birdseye's frozen foods company to form the General Foods Corporation. By 1930, there appeared a vogue in American cuisine for congealed salads, and the company introduced lime-flavored Jell-O to complement the various add-ins that cooks across the U.S. were combining in these aspics and salads. By the 1950s, these salads would become so popular that Jell-O responded with savory and vegetable flavors such as celery, Italian, mixed vegetable and seasoned tomato. These savory flavors have since been discontinued.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t126/lazie_boi1/jello.jpg
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy102/LL-Koolaid/MMMMargaritaJelloShooter.jpg
http://i720.photobucket.com/albums/ww203/Dance_of_the_sun/jello.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj38/ohitslove_natalie/jello.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q111/kendeeyama/2006ShowerThanksgiving022.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd302/Kerielias4/SANY0078.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p31/bertalameow/.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd35/dragonmoose/jello.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/10 at 6:26 am

The person born on this day...Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. (born July 12, 1937) is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the situation comedy The Bill Cosby Show, in 1969. He was one of the major characters on the children's television  series The Electric Company  for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby has also acted in a number of films.

During the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in what is considered to be one of the decade's defining sitcoms, The Cosby Show, which aired eight seasons from 1984 to 1992. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an upper-middle-class African-American family. He also produced the spin-off sitcom A Different World, which became second to The Cosby Show in ratings. He starred in the sitcom Cosby from 1996 to 2000 and hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things for two seasons.

He has been a sought-after spokesman, and has endorsed a number of products, including Jell-O pudding, Kodak film, Ford, Texas Instruments, and Coca-Cola, including New Coke. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included him in his book, the 100 Greatest African Americans.

In 1976, Cosby earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts. For his doctoral research, he wrote a dissertation entitled, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via 'Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids' Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning".
Cosby was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is one of four sons born to Anna Pearl (née Hite), a maid, and William Henry Cosby, Sr., who served as a sailor in the U.S. Navy.  During much of his early childhood, Cosby's father was away in the U.S. armed forces and spent several years fighting in World War II. As a student, he described himself as a class clown. Cosby was the captain of the baseball and track and field  teams at Mary Channing Wister Elementary School in Philadelphia, as well as the class president.  Early on, though, teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying.  At Fitz Simmons Junior High, Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports.  He went on to Central High School, an academically challenging magnet school, but his full schedule of playing football, basketball, baseball, and running track made it hard for him.  In addition, Cosby was working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes, and stocking shelves at a supermarket to help out the family.  He transferred to Germantown High School, but failed the tenth grade.  Instead of repeating, he got a job as an apprentice at a shoe repair shop, which he liked, but could not see himself doing the rest of his life.  Subsequently, he joined the Navy, serving at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

While serving in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman for four years, Cosby worked in physical therapy with some seriously injured Korean War casualties, which helped him discover what was important to him. Then he immediately realized the need for an education, and finished his equivalency diploma via correspondence courses. He then won a track and field scholarship to Philadelphia's Temple University in 1961-62, and studied physical education while running track and playing fullback on the football team. Cosby also joined the school's chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Cosby loved humor, and he called himself the class clown. Even as he progressed through his undergraduate studies, Cosby had continued to hone his talent for humor, joking with fellow enlistees in the service and then with college friends. When he began bar tending at the Cellar, a club in Philadelphia, to earn money, he became fully aware of his ability to make people laugh. He worked his customers and saw his tips increase, then ventured on to the stage.

Cosby left Temple to pursue a career in comedy, though he would return to collegiate studies in the 1970s. He lined up gigs at clubs in Philadelphia and soon was off to New York City, where he appeared at The Gaslight Cafe starting in 1962. He lined up dates in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. He received national exposure on NBC's The Tonight Show in the summer of 1963 and released Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right!, the first of a series of popular comedy albums in 1964.

While many comics were using the growing freedom of that decade to explore controversial, sometimes risqué, material, Cosby was making his reputation with humorous recollections of his childhood. Many Americans wondered about the absence of race as a topic in Cosby's stories. As Cosby's success grew he had to defend his choice of material regularly; as he argued, "A white person listens to my act and he laughs and he thinks, 'Yeah, that's the way I see it too.' Okay. He's white. I'm Negro. And we both see things the same way. That must mean that we are alike. Right? So I figure this way I'm doing as much for good race relations as the next guy."

Carl Reiner described, at the awarding to Cosby of the Mark Twain Prize in 2009, a step in Cosby's career. Reiner's son Rob Reiner, then in his early teens, delivered what the father regards as a word-for-word rendition of Cosby's performance on The Ed Sullivan Show of the "Right!" routine, from his "Noah" series that also appears on the 1963 album Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow...Right!. The father's interest led him first to obtain the video-taped performance, and then to propose Cosby as a guest for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Asked about whether the comic could act, he asserted anyone who could pull off the role of The Lord in the "Right!" routine must be a skilled actor. Cosby's official agency biography differs, saying Carl Reiner had caught Cosby's act in Pittsburgh "and introduced Cosby to producer Sheldon Leonard, who signed him to star in the I Spy series."
I Spy

In 1965, when he was cast alongside Robert Culp in the I Spy espionage adventure series, Cosby became the first African-American co-star in a dramatic television series, and NBC became the first to present a series so cast. At first Cosby and NBC executives were concerned that some affiliates might be unwilling to carry the series. At the beginning of the 1965 season four stations declined the show; they were in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. But the rest of the country was taken with the show's exotic locales and the authentic chemistry between the stars, and it became one of the ratings hits of that television season. I Spy finished among the twenty most-watched shows that year, and Cosby would be honored with three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

During the run of the series, Cosby continued to do stand-up comedy performances, and released a half-dozen record albums. He also began to dabble in singing, recording Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings in 1967, which provided him with a hit single with his recording of "Li'l Ole Man". He would record several more musical albums into the early 1970s, but he continued to record primarily stand-up comedy work.
Fat Albert, The Bill Cosby Show, and the 1970s

Cosby still pursued a variety of television projects: as a regular guest host on The Tonight Show and as the star of an annual special for NBC. He returned with another series in 1969, The Bill Cosby Show, a situation comedy that ran for two seasons. Cosby played a physical education teacher at a Los Angeles high school. While only a modest critical success, the show was a ratings hit, finishing eleventh in its first season.

After The Bill Cosby Show left the air, Cosby returned to his education. He began graduate work at the University of Massachusetts, qualifying under a special program that allowed for the admission of students who had not completed their bachelor's degrees, but who had had a significant impact on society and/or their communities through their careers. This professional interest led to his involvement in the PBS series The Electric Company, for which he recorded several segments teaching reading skills to young children.

In 1972, Cosby received an MA from the University of Massachusetts and was also back in prime time with a variety series, The New Bill Cosby Show. However, this time he met with poor ratings, and the show lasted only a season. More successful was a Saturday morning show, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, hosted by Cosby and based on his own childhood. That series ran from 1972 to 1979, and as The New Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids from 1979 to 1984. Some schools used the program as a teaching tool, and Cosby himself wrote a dissertation on it, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via 'Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids' Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning", as partial fulfillment of obtaining his 1976 doctorate in education, also from the University of Massachusetts. Subsequently, Temple University, where Cosby had begun but never finished his undergraduate studies, would grant him his bachelor's degree on the basis of "life experience".

Also during the 1970s, Cosby and other African American actors, including Sidney Poitier, joined forces to make some successful comedy films that countered the violent "blaxploitation" films of the era. Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and Let's Do It Again (1975) were generally praised, but much of Cosby's film work has fallen flat. Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976) costarring Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel; A Piece of the Action, with Poitier; and California Suite, a compilation of four Neil Simon plays, were all panned. In addition, Cos (1976) an hour-long variety show featuring puppets, sketches, and musical numbers, was canceled within the year. Cosby was also a regular on children's public television programs starting in the 1970s, hosting the "Picture Pages" segments that lasted into the early 1980s.
The Cosby Show and the 1980s

Cosby's greatest television success came in September, 1984 with the debut of The Cosby Show. The program aired weekly on NBC and went on to become the highest ranking sitcom of all time. For Cosby, the new situation comedy was a response to the increasingly violent and vulgar fare the networks usually offered. Cosby is an advocate for humor that is both humorous and family-oriented. He insisted on and received total creative control of the series, and he was involved in every aspect of the series. Not surprisingly, the show had parallels to Cosby's actual family life: like the characters Cliff and Claire Huxtable, Cosby and his wife Camille were college educated, financially successful, and had five children. Essentially a throwback to the wholesome family situation comedy, The Cosby Show was unprecedented in its portrayal of an intelligent, affluent, nonstereotypical African-American family.

Much of the material from the pilot and first season of The Cosby Show was taken from his then popular video Bill Cosby: Himself, released in 1983. The series was an immediate success, debuting near the top of the ratings and staying there for most of its long run. The Cosby Show is one of only two American programs that have been #1 in the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons, along with All in the Family. People magazine called the show "revolutionary", and Newsday concurred that it was a "real breakthrough."

In 1987, Cosby attempted to return to the big screen with the spy spoof Leonard Part 6. Although Cosby himself was producer and wrote the story, he realized during production that the film was not going to be what he wanted and publicly denounced it, warning audiences to "stay away".
In the 1990s and 2000s
Bill Cosby's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

After The Cosby Show went off the air in 1992, Cosby embarked on a number of other projects, including a revival of the classic Groucho Marx game show You Bet Your Life (1992–93) along with the TV-movie I Spy Returns (1994) and The Cosby Mysteries (1994). In the mid-1990s, he appeared as a detective in black-and-white film noir-themed commercials for Turner Classic Movies. He also made appearances in three more films, Ghost Dad (1990), The Meteor Man (1993); and Jack (1996); in addition to being interviewed in Spike Lee's 4 Little Girls (1997), a documentary about the racist bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, church in 1963. Also in 1996, he started up a new show for CBS, Cosby, again co-starring Phylicia Rashād, his onscreen wife on The Cosby Show. Cosby co-produced the show for Carsey-Werner Productions. The show was based on the British program One Foot in the Grave. It centered on Cosby as Hilton Lucas, an iconoclastic senior citizen who tries to find a new job after being "downsized", and in the meantime, gets on his wife's nerves. Madeline Kahn costarred as Rashād's goofy business partner. Cosby was hired by CBS to be the official "spokesman" for the WWJ-TV during an advertising campaign from 1995 to 1998. In addition, Cosby in 1998 became the host of Kids Say the Darndest Things. After four seasons, Cosby was canceled. The last episode aired April 28, 2000. Kids Say the Darndest Things was also canceled the same year. Cosby continued to work with CBS through a development deal and other projects.

A series for preschoolers, Little Bill, made its debut on Nickelodeon in 1999. The network renewed the popular program in November 2000. In 2001, at an age when many give serious consideration to retirement, Cosby's agenda included the publication of a new book, as well as delivering the commencement addresses at Morris Brown College, Ohio State University, and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also that year, he signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop a live-action feature film centering on the popular Fat Albert character from his 1970s cartoon series. Fat Albert was released in theaters in December 2004. In May 2007 he spoke at the Commencement of High Point University.

In the summer of 2009, Cosby hosted a comedy gala at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival, the world's largest.
osby has become an active member of The Jazz Foundation of America.  Cosby became involved with the foundation in 2004. For several years, he has been a featured host for its annual benefit, A Great Night in Harlem, at the Apollo Theater in New York City.
Awards and honors

    * On October 27, 2009 Cosby was presented with the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
    * In a British 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
    * He received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.
    * He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 for his contributions to television.
    * He won the 2003 Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
    * In 1969, he received his third "Man of the Year" award from Harvard University's performance group, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Emmys

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series – Primetime Emmys
1966 I Spy – Alexander Scott
1967 I Spy – Alexander Scott
1968 I Spy – Alexander Scott

Outstanding Variety Or Musical Program – Primetime Emmys
1969 The Bill Cosby Special
Grammys

Best Comedy Performance – Grammy Awards
1965 I Started Out as a Child
1966 Why Is There Air?
1967 Wonderfulness
1968 Revenge
1969 To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With
1970 Sports
1987 Those of You with or Without Children, You'll Understand

Best Recording for Children – Grammy Awards
1972 Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs
1973 The Electric Company – Cast member
Honorary degrees

Cosby has received honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities:

    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, December 5, 2008.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Carnegie Mellon University, May 20, 2007; he was also the keynote speaker for the commencement ceremony.
    * Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, May 8, 2004. Cosby was also the host of the school's 60th Anniversary Concert in January 2006.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Baylor University, September 4, 2003, at the "Spirit Rally" for the Baylor and Central Texas communities.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Yale University, May 26, 2003.
    * Cosby received an Honorary Degree in 2003 presented by President William Harjo LoneFight from the Sisseton Wahpeton College on the Lake Traverse Reservation for his contributions to minority education.
    * Cosby received an Honorary Doctorate from West Chester University of Pennsylvania during the 2003 graduation ceremony.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Haverford College, May 2002.
    * Cosby received Honorary Degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Cincinnati in 2001.
    * Cosby received an Honorary Doctorate from Amherst College, May 1999. (Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa)
    * Honorary LL.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, 1990. He also served as the commencement speaker in May 1997
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/mewuvmalibu/jello.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f75/makeshiftego/bill_cosby.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/10 at 6:30 am

The person who died on this day...Lon Chaney Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr. (February 10, 1906 – July 12, 1973), born Creighton Tull Chaney, was an American  character actor, known mainly for his roles in monster movies and as the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney.

He is most notable for playing Larry Talbot and the werewolf in The Wolf Man movies. Originally credited in films as Creighton Chaney, he was first credited as "Lon Chaney, Jr." in 1935. Chaney had English, French and Irish ancestry.
Creighton was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Lon Chaney and Frances Cleveland Creighton Chaney, a singing stage performer who traveled in road shows across the country with Lon. His parents' troubled marriage ended in divorce in 1913 following a scandalous public suicide attempt by his mother, in Los Angeles. Young Creighton lived in various homes and boarding schools until 1916, when his father (now employed in films) married Hazel Hastings and could provide a stable home. Many articles and biographies over the years report that Creighton was led to believe his mother Cleva had died while he was a boy, and was only made aware she lived after his father's death in 1930.

From an early age he worked hard to avoid his famous father's shadow. In young adulthood, his father discouraged him from show business, and he attended business college and became successful in a Los Angeles appliance corporation.
Career

It was only after his father's death that Chaney started acting in movies, beginning with an uncredited role in the 1932 film Girl Crazy. He appeared in films under his real name Creighton until 1935, when he began to be billed as "Lon Chaney, Jr." (and would appear as "Lon Chaney" later in his career). Chaney was asked to test for the role of Quasimodo for the 1939 remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The role went to Charles Laughton. In his final years, Chaney would get a brief chance to play Quasimodo, and return to the roles of the Mummy, and the Wolfman on the 1960s television series Route 66 with friends Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Lon first achieved stardom and critical acclaim in the 1939 feature film version of Of Mice and Men, in which he played Lennie Small.
Lon Chaney, Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

In 1941, Chaney starred in the title role of The Wolf Man for Universal Pictures Co. Inc., a role which would typecast him for the rest of his life. He maintained a career at Universal horror movies over the next few years, replaying the Wolf Man in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Frankenstein's monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein, Kharis the mummy in The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse. He also played the offspring of Count Dracula in Son of Dracula. Chaney is thus the only actor to portray all four of Universal's major monsters: the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, and the vampire son of Dracula. Universal also starred him in a series of psychological mysteries associated with the Inner Sanctum radio series. He also played western heroes, such as in the serial Overland Mail, but the imposing 6-foot 2-inch, 220-pound actor often appeared as mundane heavies. After leaving Universal Studios, where he made 30 films, he worked primarily in character roles in low-budget films.

He also established himself as a favorite of producer Stanley Kramer, taking key supporting roles in the classic western High Noon (1952) (starring Gary Cooper), Not as a Stranger (1955), a hospital melodrama featuring Robert Mitchum and Frank Sinatra, and The Defiant Ones (1958, starring Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier). Kramer told the press at the time that whenever a script came in with a role too difficult for most actors in Hollywood, he called Chaney.

One of his most talked about roles was a 1952 live television version of Frankenstein on the anthology series Tales of Tomorrow for which he showed up drunk. During the live broadcast, Chaney, playing the Monster, was so drunk that he thought it was just a rehearsal and he would pick up furniture that he was supposed to break only to gingerly put it back down while muttering, "Break later." Chaney's bald and scarred makeup in this show closely resembles that worn by Robert De Niro in a 1994 big-screen treatment.

He became quite popular with baby boomers after Universal released its back catalog of horror films to television in 1957 and Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine regularly focused on his films. In 1957, Chaney went to Ontario, Canada, to costar in the first ever American-Canadian television production, as Chingachgook in Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, suggested by James Fenimore Cooper's stories. The series ended after 39 episodes.

In the 1960s, Chaney's career ran the gamut from decent horror productions, such as Roger Corman's The Haunted Palace and big-studio Westerns such as 1967's Welcome to Hard Times, to such bottom-of-the-barrel fodder as Hillbillys in a Haunted House and Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (both 1967). His bread-and-butter work during this decade was television — where he made guest appearances on everything from Wagon Train to The Monkees — and in a string of supporting roles in low-budget but entertaining and very traditional Westerns featuring middle-aged casts and produced by A. C. Lyles for Paramount. Arguably his finest latter work was in Jack Hill's Spider Baby (filmed 1964, released 1968), for which he also sang the film's title song. He appeared in the 1958 episode "The Black Marshal from Deadwood" of the western series Tombstone Territory.

In later years he battled throat cancer and chronic heart disease after decades of heavy drinking and smoking. In his final horror film, Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), directed by Al Adamson, he played Groton, Dr. Frankenstein's mute henchman. He filmed his part in the spring of 1969, and shortly thereafter filmed his final film role, also for Adamson, in The Female Bunch. Due to illness he retired from acting to concentrate on a book about the Chaney family legacy, A Century of Chaneys, which remains to date unpublished in any form. His grandson, Ron Chaney, was working on completing this project.

From a personal standpoint, Chaney seemed to have been well-liked by his co-workers — "sweet" is the adjective that most commonly emerges from people who acted with him — yet he was capable of intense dislikes. For instance, he and frequent co-star Evelyn Ankers did not get along at all despite their undeniable on-camera chemistry. Chaney is also said to have had a belligerent relationship with actor Martin Kosleck. Years after the fact, Kosleck explained this as a case of jealousy over Kosleck's (self-described) superior talent. Chaney had run-ins with actor Frank Reicher (whom Chaney nearly strangled on camera in The Mummy's Ghost) and director Robert Siodmak (over whose head Chaney broke a vase).

Chaney always projected a peculiar childlike quality on screen, no matter how old he was, which meant that his best roles tended to be those for which a childish, helpless or subservient quality was requisite, such as "Lennie," "Larry Talbot," and even in later years some of his roles as weak and/or alcoholic parents. Only rarely did this quality drop, as was the case with his performance as the offspring of "Dracula" in Son of Dracula and years later as "Simon Orne" in The Haunted Palace. Chaney never for a moment escaped the long shadow of his father, one of the screen's greatest actors. Nonetheless, Chaney, Jr., gave a number of strong performances with notable individuality.

He was honored by appearing as the Wolf Man on one of a 1997 series of United States postage stamps depicting movie monsters.
Personal life

Married twice, Chaney had two sons, Lon Ralph Chaney (born July 3, 1928) and Ronald Creighton Chaney (born March 18, 1930), both now deceased. He is survived by a grandson, Ron Chaney, who attends film conventions and discusses his grandfather's life and film career. Ron Chaney was featured on the CBS News Sunday Morning program on October 29, 2006.
Death

At the age of 67, Chaney died on July 12, 1973 of heart failure in San Clemente, California. His body was donated for medical research.
Filmography

    * The Galloping Ghost (1931)
    * Girl Crazy (1932)
    * The Roadhouse Murders (1932)
    * Bird of Paradise (1932)
    * The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
    * The Last Frontier (1932)
    * The Black Ghost (1932)
    * Lucky Devils (1933)
    * The Three Musketeers (1933)
    * Son of the Border (1933)
    * Scarlet River (1933)
    * Sixteen Fathoms Deep (1934)
    * The Life of Vergie Winters (1934)
    * Girl of My Dreams (1934)
    * The Marriage Bargain (1935)
    * Hold 'Em Yale (1935)
    * A Scream in the Night (1935)
    * Accent on Youth (1935)
    * The Shadow of Silk Lennox (1935)
    * The Singing Cowboy (1936)
    * Undersea Kingdom (1936)
    * Ace Drummond (1936)
    * Killer at Large (1936)
    * Rose Bowl (1936)
    * The Old Corral (1936)
    * Cheyenne Rides Again (1937)
    * Love Is News (1937)
    * Midnight Taxi (1937)
    * Secret Agent X-9 (1937)
    * That I May Live (1937)
    * This Is My Affair (1937)
    * Angel's Holiday (1937)
    * Born Reckless (1937)
    * Wild and Woolly (1937)
    * The Lady Escapes (1937)
    * One Mile From Heaven (1937)
    * Thin Ice (1937)
    * Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)
    * Life Begins in College (1937)
    * Wife, Doctor, and Nurse (1937)
    * Second Honeymoon (1937)
    * Checkers (1937)
    * Love and Hisses (1937)
    * City Girl (1938)
    * Happy Landing (1938)
    * Sally, Irene, and Mary (1938)
    * Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938)
    * Walking Down Broadway (1938)
    * Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
    * Josette (1938)
    * Speed to Burn (1938)
    * Passport Husband (1938)
    * Straight Place and Show (1938)
    * Submarine Patrol (1938)
    * Road Demon (1938)
    * Jesse James (1939)
    * Union Pacific (1939)
    * Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939)
    * Of Mice and Men (1939)
    * Frontier Marshal (1939)
    * North West Mounted Police (1940)
    * One Million B.C. (1940)
    * Too Many Blondes (1941)
    * Billy the Kid (1941)
    * Man Made Monster (1941)
    * San Antonio Rose (1941)
    * Riders of Death Valley (1941)
    * Badlands of South Dakota (1941)
    * The Wolf Man (1941)
    * North to the Klondike (1941)

    * Overland Mail (1942)
    * The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
    * Keeping Fit (1942)
    * Eyes of the Underworld (1942)
    * The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
    * Frontier Badmen (1943)
    * Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
    * What We Are Fighting For (1943)
    * Son of Dracula (1943)
    * Crazy House (1943)
    * Calling Dr. Death (1943)
    * Weird Woman (1944)
    * The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
    * Cobra Woman (1944)
    * The Ghost Catchers (1944)



    * Dead Man's Eyes (1944)
    * House of Frankenstein (1944)
    * The Mummy's Curse (1944)
    * Here Come The Co-Eds (1945)
    * The Frozen Ghost (1945)
    * Strange Confession (1945)
    * House of Dracula (1945)
    * The Daltons Ride Again (1945)
    * Pillow of Death (1945)
    * Desert Command (1946)
    * My Favorite Brunette (1947)
    * Laguna U.S.A. (1947)
    * Albuquerque (1948)
    * The Counterfeiters (1948)
    * Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
    * 16 Fathoms Deep (1948)
    * Captain China (1950)
    * There's a Girl In My Heart (1950)
    * Once a Thief (1950)
    * Inside Straight (1951)
    * Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
    * Only the Valiant (1951)
    * Behave Yourself! (1951)
    * Flame of Araby (1951)
    * The Bushwhackers (1952)
    * The Thief of Damascus (1952)
    * Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952)
    * High Noon (1952)
    * Springfield Rifle (1952)
    * The Black Castle (1952)
    * Raiders of the Seven Seas (1953)
    * Bandit Island (1953)
    * A Lion Is in the Streets (1953)
    * The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)
    * Casanova's Big Night (1954)
    * The Big Chase (1954)
    * Passion (1954)
    * The Black Pirates (1954)
    * Jivaro (1954)
    * Big House, U.S.A. (1955)
    * I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
    * The Indian Fighter (1955)
    * Not as a Stranger (1955)
    * The Silver Star (1955)
    * The Black Sleep (1956)
    * Indestructible Man (1956)
    * Manfish (1956)
    * Pardners (1956)
    * Daniel Boone: Trail Blazer (1956)
    * Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957) - Television series
    * Along the Mohawk Trail (1957)
    * The Redmen and the Renegades (1957)
    * The Pathfinder and the Mohican (1957)
    * The Cyclops (1957)
    * The Defiant Ones (1958)
    * The Alligator People (1959)
    * Money, Women, and Guns (1959)
    * 13 Demon Street (1959) - Television series
    * House of Terror (1960)
    * The Phantom (1961)
    * The Devil's Messenger (1961)
    * Rebellion in Cuba (1961)
    * The Haunted Palace (1963)
    * Face of the Screaming Werewolf (1964)
    * Law of the Lawless (1964)
    * Witchcraft (1964)
    * Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)
    * Spider Baby (1964)
    * House of Black Death (1965)
    * Young Fury (1965)
    * Black Spurs (1965)
    * Town Tamer (1965)
    * Johnny Reno (1966)
    * Sharad of Atlantis (1966)
    * Apache Uprising (1966)
    * Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
    * Blood of Dracula's Castle (1967)
    * Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (1967)
    * Hillbillys in a Haunted House(1967)
    * The Far Out West (1967)
    * Cannibal (1968)
    * Buckskin (1968)
    * The Fireball Jungle (1969)
    * The Female Bunch (1969)
    * A Stranger in Town (1969)
    * Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh1/Ph0eniXXX/ChaneyJrLonOfMiceandMen_01.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/Stormy128/lonchanyjrb.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/12/10 at 6:53 am


The person born on this day...Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. (born July 12, 1937) is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the situation comedy The Bill Cosby Show, in 1969. He was one of the major characters on the children's television  series The Electric Company  for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby has also acted in a number of films.

During the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in what is considered to be one of the decade's defining sitcoms, The Cosby Show, which aired eight seasons from 1984 to 1992. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an upper-middle-class African-American family. He also produced the spin-off sitcom A Different World, which became second to The Cosby Show in ratings. He starred in the sitcom Cosby from 1996 to 2000 and hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things for two seasons.

He has been a sought-after spokesman, and has endorsed a number of products, including Jell-O pudding, Kodak film, Ford, Texas Instruments, and Coca-Cola, including New Coke. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included him in his book, the 100 Greatest African Americans.

In 1976, Cosby earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts. For his doctoral research, he wrote a dissertation entitled, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via 'Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids' Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning".
Cosby was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is one of four sons born to Anna Pearl (née Hite), a maid, and William Henry Cosby, Sr., who served as a sailor in the U.S. Navy.  During much of his early childhood, Cosby's father was away in the U.S. armed forces and spent several years fighting in World War II. As a student, he described himself as a class clown. Cosby was the captain of the baseball and track and field  teams at Mary Channing Wister Elementary School in Philadelphia, as well as the class president.  Early on, though, teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying.  At Fitz Simmons Junior High, Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports.  He went on to Central High School, an academically challenging magnet school, but his full schedule of playing football, basketball, baseball, and running track made it hard for him.  In addition, Cosby was working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes, and stocking shelves at a supermarket to help out the family.  He transferred to Germantown High School, but failed the tenth grade.  Instead of repeating, he got a job as an apprentice at a shoe repair shop, which he liked, but could not see himself doing the rest of his life.  Subsequently, he joined the Navy, serving at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

While serving in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman for four years, Cosby worked in physical therapy with some seriously injured Korean War casualties, which helped him discover what was important to him. Then he immediately realized the need for an education, and finished his equivalency diploma via correspondence courses. He then won a track and field scholarship to Philadelphia's Temple University in 1961-62, and studied physical education while running track and playing fullback on the football team. Cosby also joined the school's chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Cosby loved humor, and he called himself the class clown. Even as he progressed through his undergraduate studies, Cosby had continued to hone his talent for humor, joking with fellow enlistees in the service and then with college friends. When he began bar tending at the Cellar, a club in Philadelphia, to earn money, he became fully aware of his ability to make people laugh. He worked his customers and saw his tips increase, then ventured on to the stage.

Cosby left Temple to pursue a career in comedy, though he would return to collegiate studies in the 1970s. He lined up gigs at clubs in Philadelphia and soon was off to New York City, where he appeared at The Gaslight Cafe starting in 1962. He lined up dates in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. He received national exposure on NBC's The Tonight Show in the summer of 1963 and released Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right!, the first of a series of popular comedy albums in 1964.

While many comics were using the growing freedom of that decade to explore controversial, sometimes risqué, material, Cosby was making his reputation with humorous recollections of his childhood. Many Americans wondered about the absence of race as a topic in Cosby's stories. As Cosby's success grew he had to defend his choice of material regularly; as he argued, "A white person listens to my act and he laughs and he thinks, 'Yeah, that's the way I see it too.' Okay. He's white. I'm Negro. And we both see things the same way. That must mean that we are alike. Right? So I figure this way I'm doing as much for good race relations as the next guy."

Carl Reiner described, at the awarding to Cosby of the Mark Twain Prize in 2009, a step in Cosby's career. Reiner's son Rob Reiner, then in his early teens, delivered what the father regards as a word-for-word rendition of Cosby's performance on The Ed Sullivan Show of the "Right!" routine, from his "Noah" series that also appears on the 1963 album Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow...Right!. The father's interest led him first to obtain the video-taped performance, and then to propose Cosby as a guest for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Asked about whether the comic could act, he asserted anyone who could pull off the role of The Lord in the "Right!" routine must be a skilled actor. Cosby's official agency biography differs, saying Carl Reiner had caught Cosby's act in Pittsburgh "and introduced Cosby to producer Sheldon Leonard, who signed him to star in the I Spy series."
I Spy

In 1965, when he was cast alongside Robert Culp in the I Spy espionage adventure series, Cosby became the first African-American co-star in a dramatic television series, and NBC became the first to present a series so cast. At first Cosby and NBC executives were concerned that some affiliates might be unwilling to carry the series. At the beginning of the 1965 season four stations declined the show; they were in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. But the rest of the country was taken with the show's exotic locales and the authentic chemistry between the stars, and it became one of the ratings hits of that television season. I Spy finished among the twenty most-watched shows that year, and Cosby would be honored with three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

During the run of the series, Cosby continued to do stand-up comedy performances, and released a half-dozen record albums. He also began to dabble in singing, recording Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings in 1967, which provided him with a hit single with his recording of "Li'l Ole Man". He would record several more musical albums into the early 1970s, but he continued to record primarily stand-up comedy work.
Fat Albert, The Bill Cosby Show, and the 1970s

Cosby still pursued a variety of television projects: as a regular guest host on The Tonight Show and as the star of an annual special for NBC. He returned with another series in 1969, The Bill Cosby Show, a situation comedy that ran for two seasons. Cosby played a physical education teacher at a Los Angeles high school. While only a modest critical success, the show was a ratings hit, finishing eleventh in its first season.

After The Bill Cosby Show left the air, Cosby returned to his education. He began graduate work at the University of Massachusetts, qualifying under a special program that allowed for the admission of students who had not completed their bachelor's degrees, but who had had a significant impact on society and/or their communities through their careers. This professional interest led to his involvement in the PBS series The Electric Company, for which he recorded several segments teaching reading skills to young children.

In 1972, Cosby received an MA from the University of Massachusetts and was also back in prime time with a variety series, The New Bill Cosby Show. However, this time he met with poor ratings, and the show lasted only a season. More successful was a Saturday morning show, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, hosted by Cosby and based on his own childhood. That series ran from 1972 to 1979, and as The New Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids from 1979 to 1984. Some schools used the program as a teaching tool, and Cosby himself wrote a dissertation on it, "An Integration of the Visual Media Via 'Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids' Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to Achieve Increased Learning", as partial fulfillment of obtaining his 1976 doctorate in education, also from the University of Massachusetts. Subsequently, Temple University, where Cosby had begun but never finished his undergraduate studies, would grant him his bachelor's degree on the basis of "life experience".

Also during the 1970s, Cosby and other African American actors, including Sidney Poitier, joined forces to make some successful comedy films that countered the violent "blaxploitation" films of the era. Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and Let's Do It Again (1975) were generally praised, but much of Cosby's film work has fallen flat. Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976) costarring Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel; A Piece of the Action, with Poitier; and California Suite, a compilation of four Neil Simon plays, were all panned. In addition, Cos (1976) an hour-long variety show featuring puppets, sketches, and musical numbers, was canceled within the year. Cosby was also a regular on children's public television programs starting in the 1970s, hosting the "Picture Pages" segments that lasted into the early 1980s.
The Cosby Show and the 1980s

Cosby's greatest television success came in September, 1984 with the debut of The Cosby Show. The program aired weekly on NBC and went on to become the highest ranking sitcom of all time. For Cosby, the new situation comedy was a response to the increasingly violent and vulgar fare the networks usually offered. Cosby is an advocate for humor that is both humorous and family-oriented. He insisted on and received total creative control of the series, and he was involved in every aspect of the series. Not surprisingly, the show had parallels to Cosby's actual family life: like the characters Cliff and Claire Huxtable, Cosby and his wife Camille were college educated, financially successful, and had five children. Essentially a throwback to the wholesome family situation comedy, The Cosby Show was unprecedented in its portrayal of an intelligent, affluent, nonstereotypical African-American family.

Much of the material from the pilot and first season of The Cosby Show was taken from his then popular video Bill Cosby: Himself, released in 1983. The series was an immediate success, debuting near the top of the ratings and staying there for most of its long run. The Cosby Show is one of only two American programs that have been #1 in the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons, along with All in the Family. People magazine called the show "revolutionary", and Newsday concurred that it was a "real breakthrough."

In 1987, Cosby attempted to return to the big screen with the spy spoof Leonard Part 6. Although Cosby himself was producer and wrote the story, he realized during production that the film was not going to be what he wanted and publicly denounced it, warning audiences to "stay away".
In the 1990s and 2000s
Bill Cosby's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

After The Cosby Show went off the air in 1992, Cosby embarked on a number of other projects, including a revival of the classic Groucho Marx game show You Bet Your Life (1992–93) along with the TV-movie I Spy Returns (1994) and The Cosby Mysteries (1994). In the mid-1990s, he appeared as a detective in black-and-white film noir-themed commercials for Turner Classic Movies. He also made appearances in three more films, Ghost Dad (1990), The Meteor Man (1993); and Jack (1996); in addition to being interviewed in Spike Lee's 4 Little Girls (1997), a documentary about the racist bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, church in 1963. Also in 1996, he started up a new show for CBS, Cosby, again co-starring Phylicia Rashād, his onscreen wife on The Cosby Show. Cosby co-produced the show for Carsey-Werner Productions. The show was based on the British program One Foot in the Grave. It centered on Cosby as Hilton Lucas, an iconoclastic senior citizen who tries to find a new job after being "downsized", and in the meantime, gets on his wife's nerves. Madeline Kahn costarred as Rashād's goofy business partner. Cosby was hired by CBS to be the official "spokesman" for the WWJ-TV during an advertising campaign from 1995 to 1998. In addition, Cosby in 1998 became the host of Kids Say the Darndest Things. After four seasons, Cosby was canceled. The last episode aired April 28, 2000. Kids Say the Darndest Things was also canceled the same year. Cosby continued to work with CBS through a development deal and other projects.

A series for preschoolers, Little Bill, made its debut on Nickelodeon in 1999. The network renewed the popular program in November 2000. In 2001, at an age when many give serious consideration to retirement, Cosby's agenda included the publication of a new book, as well as delivering the commencement addresses at Morris Brown College, Ohio State University, and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also that year, he signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop a live-action feature film centering on the popular Fat Albert character from his 1970s cartoon series. Fat Albert was released in theaters in December 2004. In May 2007 he spoke at the Commencement of High Point University.

In the summer of 2009, Cosby hosted a comedy gala at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival, the world's largest.
osby has become an active member of The Jazz Foundation of America.  Cosby became involved with the foundation in 2004. For several years, he has been a featured host for its annual benefit, A Great Night in Harlem, at the Apollo Theater in New York City.
Awards and honors

    * On October 27, 2009 Cosby was presented with the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
    * In a British 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
    * He received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.
    * He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 for his contributions to television.
    * He won the 2003 Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
    * In 1969, he received his third "Man of the Year" award from Harvard University's performance group, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Emmys

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series – Primetime Emmys
1966 I Spy – Alexander Scott
1967 I Spy – Alexander Scott
1968 I Spy – Alexander Scott

Outstanding Variety Or Musical Program – Primetime Emmys
1969 The Bill Cosby Special
Grammys

Best Comedy Performance – Grammy Awards
1965 I Started Out as a Child
1966 Why Is There Air?
1967 Wonderfulness
1968 Revenge
1969 To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With
1970 Sports
1987 Those of You with or Without Children, You'll Understand

Best Recording for Children – Grammy Awards
1972 Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs
1973 The Electric Company – Cast member
Honorary degrees

Cosby has received honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities:

    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, December 5, 2008.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Carnegie Mellon University, May 20, 2007; he was also the keynote speaker for the commencement ceremony.
    * Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, May 8, 2004. Cosby was also the host of the school's 60th Anniversary Concert in January 2006.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Baylor University, September 4, 2003, at the "Spirit Rally" for the Baylor and Central Texas communities.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Yale University, May 26, 2003.
    * Cosby received an Honorary Degree in 2003 presented by President William Harjo LoneFight from the Sisseton Wahpeton College on the Lake Traverse Reservation for his contributions to minority education.
    * Cosby received an Honorary Doctorate from West Chester University of Pennsylvania during the 2003 graduation ceremony.
    * Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Haverford College, May 2002.
    * Cosby received Honorary Degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Cincinnati in 2001.
    * Cosby received an Honorary Doctorate from Amherst College, May 1999. (Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa)
    * Honorary LL.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, 1990. He also served as the commencement speaker in May 1997
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/mewuvmalibu/jello.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f75/makeshiftego/bill_cosby.gif


Bill Cosby is such a pisser,he cracks me up everytime I see him.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/12/10 at 6:54 am

Happy Birthday Milton Berle,would've been 102.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/12/10 at 12:00 pm

We have Jello almost every night.


http://www.crossroads-market.com/images/HFDE271.JPG


http://www.crossroads-market.com/images/HFDE270.JPG


http://www.crossroads-market.com/images/HFDE272.JPG


The only thing missing is the booze.  :D ;D ;D ;D  Actually, the Pina Colada is REALLY good.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/10 at 12:08 pm


We have Jello almost every night.


http://www.crossroads-market.com/images/HFDE271.JPG


http://www.crossroads-market.com/images/HFDE270.JPG


http://www.crossroads-market.com/images/HFDE272.JPG


The only thing missing is the booze.  :D ;D ;D ;D  Actually, the Pina Colada is REALLY good.




Cat

I think I need to check Jell-O out again ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/12/10 at 6:59 pm

Are those real flavors of jello?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/10 at 9:18 pm


Are those real flavors of jello?  ???

Yep.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/13/10 at 12:05 am


Bikini:
http://www.charliesangels.gr/kelly.jpg



My favourite too....and I want all women to look like her!  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/13/10 at 12:09 am


http://instapunk.com/images/string-bikini.jpg


Now THIS here is a Bikini!  ;)



I nearly spat out my tea!!  :o  Howard...you are a champion! But, of course, the politically correct thing to say is " That's disgusting. This sort of thing should not be allowed on this forum. It is degrading to women". >:(

However...Howard, you are a great champion!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 6:33 am

The word of the day...Indiana

State of Indiana
Flag of Indiana State seal of Indiana
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Hoosier State
Motto(s): The Crossroads of America
Map of the United States with Indiana highlighted
Official language(s) English
Spoken language(s) Northern, Midwestern and
Southern English Dialects,
German, French, Spanish,
Ilocano Other Languages
Demonym Hoosier
Capital Indianapolis
Largest city Indianapolis
Largest metro area Indianapolis
Area  Ranked 38th in the US
- Total 36,418 sq mi
(94,321 km2)
- Width 140 miles (225 km)
- Length 270 miles (435 km)
- % water 1.5
- Latitude 37° 46′ N to 41° 46′ N
- Longitude 84° 47′ W to 88° 6′ W
Population  Ranked 16th in the US
- Total 6,423,113 (2009 est.)
- Density 169.5/sq mi  (65.46/km2)
Ranked 17th in the US
Elevation
- Highest point Hoosier Hill
Franklin Township,
Wayne County
1,257 ft  (383 m)
- Mean 689 ft  (210 m)
- Lowest point Ohio River and mouth
of Wabash River
Point Township,
Posey County
320 ft  (98 m)
Before statheood Indiana Territory
Admission to Union  December 11, 1816 (19th)
Governor Mitch Daniels (R)
Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman (R)
Legislature General Assembly
- Upper house Senate
- Lower house House of Representatives
U.S. Senators Richard Lugar (R)
Evan Bayh (D)
U.S. House delegation 5 Democrats,
4 Republicans (list)
Time zones
- 80 counties Eastern UTC-5/-4
- 12 counties in
Evansville and
Gary Metro Areas
For more information,
see Time in Indiana Central: UTC-6/-5
Abbreviations IN US-IN
Website http://www.in.gov

Indiana State Symbols
Flag of Indiana.svg
The Flag of Indiana.
Indiana state seal.png
The Seal of Indiana.
Animate insignia
Bird(s) Cardinal
Flower(s) Peony
Tree Tulip tree
Inanimate insignia
Beverage Water
Poem "Indiana"
Slogan(s) Restart your Engines
Soil Miami
Song(s) "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away"
Route marker(s)
Indiana Route Marker
State Quarter
Quarter of Indiana
Released in 2002
Lists of United States state insignia

Indiana (Listeni /ɪndiˈænə/) is a U.S. state, the 19th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes Region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16th in population and 17th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area, and is the smallest state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis, the largest of any state capital east of the Mississippi River.

Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 as well as a number of smaller industrial cities and small towns. It is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis 500 motorsports race (which is the largest single-day sporting event in the world). Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosiers, but the origin of the term is unknown. Many explanations are given, including the humorous ones of James Whitcomb Riley stating that Indiana pioneers would yell out "Who's there?" in the wilderness or "Whose ear?" after a brawl. The state's name means "Land of the Indians", or simply "Indian Land". This name dates back to at least the 1760's and was first used by Congress when the Indiana Territory was incorporated in 1800, before which it had been part of the Northwest Territory.

Prior to this, Indiana had been inhabited by varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic American Indians for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mounds sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana near Evansville.
http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae236/Dangotti/DSCF0039.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx106/metfan527/Decorated%20images/college_indiana_90.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/krystleq/Road%20trip/P7010125.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/Sarah_09irish/Gatecon/SD530026.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/Sarah_09irish/Gatecon/SD530029.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x224/phototapeworm/IMG_2017.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af209/richeee67/001_1A.jpg
http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/ac187/pacer_pan/1%20-%20PC%20Indiana%20Pacers/RC/scan0057.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz165/ainsworthIN/Hobart%20Indiana/IndianRidgeentrance.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 6:40 am

The person born on this day...Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American  film actor and producer. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones  film series. He is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His four-decade career also includes roles in several other Hollywood  blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top five box-office hits of all time included one of his roles.  Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

In 1997, Ford was ranked # 1 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. As of July 2008, the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total almost $3.4 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the third highest grossing U.S. domestic box-office star. Ford is the husband of actress Calista Flockhart.
Ford was born on July 13, 1942, at Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital  to Dorothy (née Dora Nidelman), a homemaker and former radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an advertising executive and a former actor.  A younger brother, Terence, was born in 1945. Harrison Ford's paternal grandparents, Florence Veronica Niehaus and John Fitzgerald Ford, were of German and Irish Catholic descent, respectively.  His maternal grandparents, Anna Lifschutz and Harry Nidelman, were Jewish  immigrants from Minsk, Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire).  When asked in which religion he was raised, Ford jokingly responded, "Democrat".  He has also said that he feels "Irish as a person, but I feel Jewish as an actor".

Ford was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. He worked at a Scout camp as a counselor for the Reptile Study merit badge. Because of this, he and Eagle Scout director Steven Spielberg later decided that the character of young Indiana Jones would be depicted as a Life Scout in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They also jokingly reversed Ford's knowledge of reptiles into Jones's fear of snakes.

In 1960, Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH, and he was its first sportscaster during his senior year, 1959–1960. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He took a drama class in his junior year, chiefly as a way to meet women. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer", became fascinated with acting.
Early career

In 1964, Ford travelled to Los Angeles, California to apply for a job in radio voice-overs. He did not get it, but stayed in California and eventually signed a $150 a week contract with Columbia Pictures's New Talent program, playing bit roles in films. His first known part was an uncredited role as a bellhop in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). There is little record of his non-speaking roles (or "extra" work) in film.

His speaking roles continued next with Luv (1967), though he was still uncredited. He was finally credited as "Harrison J. Ford" in the 1967 Western film, A Time For Killing, but the "J" didn't stand for anything since he has no middle name. It was added to avoid confusion with a silent film actor named Harrison Ford, who appeared in more than 80 films between 1915 and 1932, and died in 1957. Ford later said that he was unaware of the existence of the earlier Harrison Ford until he came upon a star with his own name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Ford soon dropped the "J" and worked for Universal Studios, playing minor roles in many television series throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Gunsmoke, Ironside, The Virginian, The F.B.I., Love, American Style, and Kung Fu. He appeared in the western Journey to Shiloh (1968) and had an uncredited, non-speaking role in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film Zabriskie Point as an arrested student protester. Not happy with the roles being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional carpenter to support his then-wife and two small sons. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band The Doors. He also built a sun deck for Sally Kellerman and a recording studio for Sergio Mendes.

He returned to acting when George Lucas, who had hired him to build cabinets in his home, cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film American Graffiti (1973). His relationship with Lucas was to have a profound effect on Ford's career. After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to do expansions of his office and Harrison was given a small role in his next two films, The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979).
Milestone franchises
Star Wars

Ford's work as a carpenter would land him his biggest role to date. In 1975, George Lucas hired him to read lines for actors being cast for parts in his upcoming space opera, Star Wars (1977). However, Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal and decided to cast him as Han Solo. Star Wars became the highest-grossing film in history and established Harrison Ford as a superstar. He went on to star in the successful Star Wars sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Ford wanted Lucas to write in the death of the iconic Han Solo at the end of either sequel, saying "that would have given the whole film a bottom", but Lucas refused.
Indiana Jones
The type of fedora worn by Ford in the Indiana Jones films.

Ford's stardom as a leading man was solidified when he starred as Indiana Jones in the Lucas/Spielberg collaboration Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He reprised the role for the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which turned Ford himself into a blockbuster phenomenon. He later returned to his role as Indiana Jones again for a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and for the fourth film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). A sequel, Indiana Jones 5, is currently in development. The story was originally rumored to center around the Bermuda Triangle. Frank Marshall later revealed on his Twitter page, however, that the story was false. Shia LaBeouf is set to return as Indy's son, Mutt Williams. A release date has not yet been set.
Other film work

Ford has been in numerous other films including Heroes (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), and Hanover Street (1979). Ford also co-starred alongside Gene Wilder in the buddy-Western The Frisco Kid (1979), playing a bank robber with a heart of gold. He then starred as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's cult sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), and in a number of dramatic-action films: Peter Weir's Witness (1985) and The Mosquito Coast (1986), and Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988).

The 1990s brought Ford the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as leading roles in Alan Pakula's Presumed Innocent (1990) and The Devil's Own (1997), Andrew Davis's The Fugitive (1993), Sydney Pollack's remake of Sabrina (1995), and Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (1997). Ford has also played straight dramatic roles, including an adulterous husband with a terrible secret in both Presumed Innocent (1990) and What Lies Beneath (2000), and a recovering amnesiac in Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry (1991).

Many of Ford's major film roles came to him by default through unusual circumstances: he won the role of Han Solo while reading lines for other actors, was cast as Indiana Jones because Tom Selleck was not available, and took the role of Jack Ryan due to Alec Baldwin's fee demands (Baldwin had previously played the role in The Hunt for Red October).
Recent work
Ford in 2007

Ford's star power has waned in recent years, the result of appearing in numerous critically derided and commercially disappointing movies, including Six Days Seven Nights (1998), Random Hearts (1999), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), Hollywood Homicide (2003), and Firewall (2006). One exception was 2000's What Lies Beneath, which ended up grossing over $155 million in the United States and $300 million worldwide.

In 2004, Ford declined a chance to star in the thriller Syriana, later commenting that "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake." The role eventually went to George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work.

In 2008, Ford enjoyed success with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, another collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The film received generally mixed reviews but was the second highest-grossing film worldwide in 2008. He later said he would like to star in another sequel "if it didn't take another 20 years to digest".

Other 2008 work included Crossing Over, directed by Wayne Kramer. In the film, he plays an immigrations officer, working alongside Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta. He also narrated a feature documentary film about the Dalai Lama entitled Dalai Lama Renaissance.

Ford filmed the medical drama Extraordinary Measures in 2009 in Portland, Oregon. Released January 22, 2010, the film also starred Brendan Fraser and Alan Ruck. Ford is also set to star in the film Morning Glory, co-starring along with Patrick Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton.

Recently he has expressed interest in returning to the Jack Ryan franchise.
Awards

Ford received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Witness, for which he also received "Best Actor" BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. He received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards and on June 2, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has received three additional "Best Actor" Golden Globe nominations for The Mosquito Coast, The Fugitive and Sabrina.

In 2006, Ford was awarded the Jules Verne Spirit of Nature Award for his work in nature and wildlife preservation. The ceremony took place at the historic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.

He received the first ever Hero Award for his many iconic roles, including Han Solo and Indiana Jones, at the 2007 Scream Awards, and in 2008, the Spike TV's Guy's Choice Award for Brass Balls.

Harrison Ford received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2000.
Ford is a private pilot of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and owns an 800-acre (3.2 km²) ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the behest of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration.

Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, flying in a Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, but at $15 an hour he was unable to continue the training. His interest returned in the mid-1990s when he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming. He later switched to Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in.

On October 23, 1999, Harrison Ford was involved in the crash of a Bell 206L4 LongRanger helicopter (N36R). The NTSB accident report states that Ford was piloting the aircraft over the Lake Piru riverbed near Santa Clarita, California, on a routine training flight. While making his second attempt at an autorotation with powered recovery Ford allowed the aircraft's altitude to drop to 150–200 feet before beginning power up. As a result the aircraft was unable to recover power before hitting the ground. The aircraft landed hard and began skidding forward in the loose gravel before one of its skids struck a partially embedded log and flipped onto its side. Neither Ford nor the instructor pilot suffered any injuries though the helicopter was seriously damaged. When asked about the incident by fellow pilot James Lipton in an interview on the TV show Inside the Actor's Studio Ford replied "I broke it."

Ford owns various aircraft:

    * de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S)
    * Aviat A-1B Husky (N6HY)
    * Cessna 525B CitationJet 3 (N5GU)
    * Beechcraft B36TC Bonanza
    * Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
    * 1929-vintage Waco Taperwing
    * Bell 407
    * Cessna Citation Sovereign



Previous aircraft:

    * Gulfstream II
    * Gulfstream IV-SP
    * Pilatus PC-12

Ford keeps his aircraft at Santa Monica Airport, though the Bell 407 is often kept and flown in Jackson, Wyoming, and has been used by the actor in two mountain rescues during the actor's assigned duty time assisting the Teton County Search and Rescue. On one of the rescues Ford recovered a hiker who had become lost and disoriented. She boarded Ford's Bell 407 and promptly vomited into one of the rescuers' caps (she says it was not Ford's cap), unaware of who the pilot was until much later, saying, "I can't believe I barfed in Harrison Ford's helicopter!"

Ford flies his de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S) more than any of his other aircraft, and although he dislikes showing favoritism, he has repeatedly stated that he likes this aircraft and the sound of its Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine. Ford first encountered the Beaver while filming Six Days Seven Nights, and soon purchased one. Kenmore Air in Kenmore, Washington, restored Ford's yellow and green Beaver — a junked former U.S. military aircraft — with updated avionics and an upgraded engine. According to Ford, it had been flown in the CIA's Air America operations, and was riddled with bullet holes, which had to be patched up. He uses it regularly for impromptu fly-ins at remote airports and bush strips, as well as gatherings with other Beaver owners and pilots.

In March 2004, Ford officially became chairman of the Young Eagles program of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Ford was asked to take the position by Greg Anderson, Senior Vice President of the EAA at the time, to replace General Charles "Chuck" Yeager who was vacating the post that he had held for many years. Ford at first was hesitant, but later accepted the offer and has made appearances with the Young Eagles at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh gathering at Oshkosh, Wisconsin for two years. In July 2005 at the gathering in Oshkosh Ford agreed to accept the position for another two years. Ford has flown over 280 children as part of the Young Eagles program, usually in his DHC-2 Beaver, which can seat the actor and five children. Ford is involved with the EAA chapter in Driggs, Idaho, just over the mountains from Jackson, Wyoming.

As of 2009, Ford appears in Web advertisements for General Aviation Serves America, a campaign by advocacy group AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association).

Ford is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.

He has also flown as an invited VIP with the Blue Angels.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1966 Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round Bellhop uncredited
1967 Luv Hippy uncredited
A Time for Killing Lt. Shaffer
The Virginian Cullen Tindall/Young Rancher TV series
Ironside Tom Stowe TV series
1968 Journey to Shiloh Willie Bill Bearden
The Mod Squad Beach Patrol Cop TV series — uncredited
1969 My Friend Tony TV series
The F.B.I. Glen Reverson/Everett Giles TV series
Love, American Style Roger Crane segment "Love and the Former Marriage"
1970 Zabriskie Point Airport Worker uncredited
Getting Straight Jake
The Intruders Carl TV
1971 Dan August Hewett TV series
1972–1973 Gunsmoke Print/Hobey TV series
1973 American Graffiti Bob Falfa
1974 Kung Fu Harrison TV series
The Conversation Martin Stett
Petrocelli Tom Brannigan TV series
1975 Judgment: The Court Martial of Lieutenant William Calley Frank Crowder TV
1976 Dynasty Mark Blackwood TV
1977 The Possessed Paul Winjam TV
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Han Solo Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Heroes Ken Boyd
1978 Force 10 from Navarone Lieutenant Colonel Mike Barnsby
The Star Wars Holiday Special Han Solo TV
1979 Apocalypse Now Colonel Lucas
Hanover Street David Halloran
The Frisco Kid Tommy Lillard
More American Graffiti Bob Falfa uncredited
1980 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Han Solo
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones Saturn Award for Best Actor
1982 Blade Runner Rick Deckard
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Han Solo
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indiana Jones Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1985 Witness Det. Capt. John Book Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1986 The Mosquito Coast Allie Fox Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1988 Frantic Dr. Richard Walker
Working Girl Jack Trainer
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Indiana Jones Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1990 Presumed Innocent Rusty Sabich
1991 Regarding Henry Henry Turner
1992 Patriot Games Jack Ryan
1993 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Indiana Jones — age 50 TV series
The Fugitive Dr. Richard David Kimble Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
1994 Clear and Present Danger Jack Ryan
1995 Sabrina Linus Larabee Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1997 The Devil's Own Tom O'Meara
Air Force One President James Marshall Bambi Award for Best Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
1998 Six Days Seven Nights Quinn Harris People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor
1999 Random Hearts Sergeant William 'Dutch' Van Den Broeck People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Star
2000 What Lies Beneath Dr. Norman Spencer Nominated — People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor
2002 K-19: The Widowmaker Alexei Vostrikov
2003 Hollywood Homicide Sgt. Joe Gavilan
2004 Water to Wine Jethro the Bus Driver
2006 Firewall Jack Stanfield
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones Nominated — National Movie Awards, UK – Best Male Performance
Nominated — People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Dalai Lama Renaissance Narrator Theatrical documentary
2009 Crossing Over Max Brogan
Brüno Himself Uncredited cameo
2010 Extraordinary Measures Dr. Robert Stonehill
Morning Glory Mike Pomeroy
See also

    * Sigma Nu LEADership learning program
http://i520.photobucket.com/albums/w328/nicko620/harrison_ford.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af72/sambenn03/Harrison%20Ford/Harrison_Ford.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 6:46 am

The person who died on this day...Johnny Ringo
John Peters Ringo (May 3, 1850 – July 13, 1882), better known as Johnny Ringo, was a cowboy who became a legend  of the American Old West because of, among other things, his affiliation with the Clanton Gang in the era of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona. That group of outlaws was known commonly as "the cowboys" around Tombstone, and Ringo himself was called "the King of the Cowboys". However, beyond verbal confrontations, he took no part in those events. Ringo was occasionally erroneously referred to as "Ringgold" by the newspapers of the day, but this was not his name, and there is no evidence that he ever deliberately used it.

Despite his fame and notoriety, there are no records that he ever actually had a single classic gunfight, shooting unarmed men not counting. Even his violent death may have been at his own hand.

Louis L'Amour wrote that he had found nothing in Old West history to commend John Ringo as a particularly noteworthy "badman". According to L'Amour, Ringo was a surly, bad-tempered man who was worse when he was drinking, and that his main claim to fame was shooting an unarmed man named Louis Hancock in an Arizona territory saloon in 1879 for ordering beer after Ringo told him to order whiskey. L'Amour wrote that he did not understand how Ringo earned such a strong reputation as a "bad man" in legend. Other authors have concluded that perhaps Ringo's memorable name, coupled with his confrontations with the canonically "good" Earp brothers contributed to his latter-day reputation.
Ringo was born in Greens Fork, Indiana. His family moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1856. He was a contemporary of Frank  and Jesse James, who lived nearby in Kearney, Missouri, and a cousin of Cole Younger.

In 1858 the family moved to Gallatin, Missouri where they rented property from the father of John W. Sheets (who was to be the first "official" victim of the James Gang when they robbed the Daviess County Savings & Loan Association in 1869).

On July 30, 1864, while the Ringo family was traveling through Wyoming on their way to moving to California, Martin Ringo (Johnny's father) stepped out of his wagon while holding a shotgun, which accidentally went off. The shotgun charge entered the right side of his face, exiting the top of his head. The 14 year-old John Ringo and the rest of his family buried him on a hillside alongside the trail.
Mason County War

By the mid-1870s, Ringo had migrated from San Jose, California to central Texas, in the area around Mason County, Texas. Here he befriended an ex-Texas Ranger named Scott Cooley, who was the adopted son of a local rancher named Tim Williamson. For years, relations between the American and German residents of the area had been tense (an extension of the Civil War), since most of the Americans supported the Confederates while the Germans were Union loyalists.

Trouble started when two American rustlers, Elijah and Pete Backus, were dragged from the Mason jail and lynched by a predominantly German mob. Full-blown war began on May 13, 1875, when Tim Williamson was arrested by a hostile posse and murdered by a German farmer named Peter Bader. Cooley and his friends, including Johnny Ringo, conducted a terror campaign against their rivals. Officially called the "Mason County War", locally it was called the "Hoodoo War". Cooley retaliated by killing the local German deputy sheriff, John Worley, by shooting him, scalping him, and tossing his body down a well on August 10, 1875.

Cooley already had a dangerous reputation, and was respected as a Texas Ranger, and would kill several others during the "war". After the killing of Cooley supporter Moses Baird, Ringo committed his first murder of note on September 25, 1875, when he and a friend named Bill Williams rode up in front of the house of James Cheyney, the man who led Baird into the ambush. As Cheyney came out, unarmed, invited them in and began washing his face on the porch, both Ringo and Williams shot and killed him. The two then rode to the house of Dave Doole, and called him outside, but when he came out with a gun, they fled back into town.

Some time later, Scott Cooley and Johnny Ringo mistook Charley Bader for his brother Pete and killed him. After that both men were jailed in Burnet, Texas by Sheriff A. J. Strickland. Both Ringo and Cooley were broken out of jail by their friends shortly thereafter, and parted company to evade the law.

By November 1876, the Mason County War had petered out after costing a dozen or so lives, Scott Cooley was believed dead, and Johnny Ringo and his pal George Gladden were locked up once again. One of Ringo's cellmates was the notorious killer John Wesley Hardin. Legend has it that Wes Hardin feared Ringo, due to Ringo's ruthlessness and unpredictable temper, but there is nothing documented to support the claim. While Gladden was sentenced to 99 years, Ringo appears to have been acquitted. Two years later, Ringo was noted as being a constable in Loyal Valley, Texas. Soon after this, he appeared in Arizona for the first time.
Tombstone

Ringo first turned up around Cochise County, Arizona in 1879 along with Joseph Graves Olney (alias "Joe Hill"), a comrade-in-arms from the Mason County War. For the most part, Johnny Ringo kept to himself, only mingling with the local outlaw element when it suited him. In December 1879, a clearly intoxicated Ringo shot the unarmed Louis Hancock in a Safford, Arizona saloon when he refused a complimentary drink of whiskey, stating he preferred beer. Hancock survived his wound.

While in and around Tombstone, Arizona, Ringo kept his mouth shut while others walked in fear of him. He had a reputation as being bad-tempered by that time, but short of the two unarmed men Hancock and Cheyney, he had no documented shootings or killings to his credit. He possibly participated in robberies and killings with the "cow-boy" element, and rumor credited him with having a high position in the outlaw chain of command, perhaps second only to Curly Bill Brocius.

Johnny Ringo did not openly confront Wyatt Earp's faction until January 17, 1882, less than three months after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but not long after Virgil Earp had been removed from his office as chief of police by an assassination attempt. Ringo and Doc Holliday had a public disagreement, trading threats that seemed to be leading to a gunfight. However, before the fight could happen, both were arrested by Tombstone's new chief of police James Flynn, hauled before a judge for carrying weapons in town, and both fined.

Two months later, Ringo was suspected by the Earps of taking part in the murder of Morgan Earp on March 18, 1882. After Wyatt's revenge for this killing, Ringo was deputized by John Behan to apprehend the Earps at the beginning of the Earp Vendetta Ride. Within months, Ringo's best friends were either dead or chased out of the area; some of them killed in the vendetta. However, by mid-April the Earps and their friends had apparently left the area, and fled to Colorado.
Death in Turkey Creek Canyon
Memoryplate and Grave of Johnny Ringo

v • d • e
Arizona War
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - Virgil Earp Assassination Attempt - Morgan Earp Assassination - Tucson Shooting
Earp Vendetta Ride
South Pass Shooting - Gunfight at Iron Springs
Turkey Creek Shooting

On July 14, 1882, Johnny Ringo was found dead in the crotch of a large tree in West Turkey Creek Valley with a bullet hole in his right temple and an exit at the back of his head. Ringo's revolver, one round expended, was found hanging from a finger of his hand. His body had apparently been there overnight since the previous day (when a shot had been heard from the general area by a country resident). His feet were wrapped in pieces of his undershirt. His boots were found tied to the saddle of his horse, which was captured two miles away. A coroner's inquest officially ruled his death a suicide.

Nonetheless, many years afterward, Wyatt Earp's wife of 47 years attributed the killing to Earp and Doc Holliday, with the former delivering the fatal shot to the head from a distance with a rifle. Fred Dodge, the Wells Fargo detective and Earp confidant, attributed the killing to a gambler named Mike O'Rourke, aka Johnny Behind-the-Deuce, as recorded by Stuart Nathaniel Lake.

Johnny Ringo is buried near the same spot where his body was found, on the West Turkey Creek Canyon (31°51′49″N 109°20′16″W / 31.86361°N 109.33778°W / 31.86361; -109.33778); the spot is near the base of the tree in which he was found, which has recently fallen over. The grave is located on private land presently, and permission is needed to view the site (see link below).
Theories of Ringo's death

Many people over the years have been suspected of killing Johnny Ringo, including Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, O'Rourke, and Buckskin Frank Leslie. The 1993 film Tombstone features a dramatic eyeball-to-eyeball showdown where Doc Holliday shoots Ringo dead, which is one of the legendary ends of the "King of the Cowboys."

    * According to the coroner's report, Ringo committed suicide. A few weeks before Ringo's death, Tombstone's largest fire had wiped out most of the downtown area. The silver mines were producing less, and demand for beef was down. Many of Ringo's friends were gone, while his way of life was quickly becoming a thing of the past. Ringo was depressed after being rejected by his remaining family members in California and the recent deaths of his outlaw friends. Stoked by a period of binge drinking, Ringo was preparing to camp in an isolated spot, far from the city. He tied his boots to his saddle, a common practice in Arizona to keep scorpions out of them, but the horse got loose from his picket and ran off. Ringo tied pieces of his undershirt to his feet to protect them (these were found on his body and noted by the inquest), and crawled into the fork of a large tree to spend the night. As evening came on, despondent over his overall state, Ringo shot himself.

    * Wyatt Earp killed Ringo. Earp and Holliday returned to Arizona and met up with some friends at Hooker's Ranch. Among them were Charlie Smith, Johnny Green, Fred Dodge, and John Meagher. They found Ringo camped about three miles from where he was found. Ringo grabbed his guns and ran up the canyon. He shot at the posse once, and then Earp shot him through the head with a rifle.

    * Doc Holliday killed Ringo. Ringo and Earp were supposed to duel one day. Holliday, who hated Ringo, stepped in for his friend and shot him through the head. This theory has been popularized by the movie Tombstone. Holliday, however, was fighting a court case in Colorado at the time of Ringo's death. Official records of the District Court of Pueblo County, Colorado indicate that both Holliday and his attorney appeared in court there on July 11, 14, and 18, 1882, making it impossible for Holliday to have killed Johnny Ringo. Karen Holliday Tanner, however, claimed that Doc in fact was not in Pueblo at this time as some have claimed, pointing to a writ of capias issued for him in court on July 11. Instead only his attorney appeared on his behalf that day. In spite of the wording of a court record that indicated he may have appeared in propera persona or "in his own proper person", standard legal filler text which does not mean the person was necessarily there. There is also no doubt that Holliday arrived in Salida, Colorado (500 miles away from the Ringo shooting which occurred six days later, but only 80 miles from Pueblo) on July 7, as reported in a town newspaper. Thus Holliday's involvement, while unlikely, is unknown.

    * Gunman Buckskin Frank Leslie killed Ringo. Leslie found Ringo drunk and asleep at a tree. Hoping to curry favor with Earp supporters in office, he shot Ringo through the head. Billy Claiborne believed Leslie killed Ringo, and it was said that his fatal shootout with Leslie was due to this fact. However, in reality Claiborne was demanding that Leslie refer to him as "Billy the Kid", and when Leslie refused Claiborne challenged him. Claiborne was shot through the right side, the bullet exiting out his back, and died hours later. His last words were supposedly "Frank Leslie killed John Ringo. I saw him do it", another claim that has no evidence to support it.

    * Mike O'Rourke killed Ringo. O'Rourke was in debt to Earp for saving him from the lynch mob. Ringo was supposedly the ringleader of the mob. O'Rourke crept up and shot Ringo through the head. Ringo's friend Pony Diehl believed O'Rourke had killed him, and it was said that he killed O'Rourke shortly afterward. However, although Diehl was in town at the time O'Rourke was killed, his actual death was not witnessed by anyone, and in reality O'Rourke was killed shortly after being caught cheating at cards. As to whether the rumor of his involvement in Ringo's death had anything to do with it has never been proven, nor did Pony Diehl ever admit to the killing.

Popular culture

    * In the 1950 film The Gunfighter, the title character, played by Gregory Peck, is named Jimmy Ringo, undoubtedly a reference to the famous outlaw. In the film, Ringo is sympathetically depicted as a man constantly trying to put his notorious past behind him.

    * In a 1954 episode of the syndicated western series Stories of the Century Ringo was played by Donald Curtis as "John B. Ringgold." Emlen Davies played his spinster sister, Helen, who tries in vain to convince him to turn away from lawlessness. Stories of the Century was the first western to win an Emmy Award.

    * Ringo is played by John Ireland in the 1957 film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. In this version the animosity between Ringo and Doc Holliday is caused by Big Nose Kate (called "Kate Fisher" here) leaving Doc to become Ringo's lover. This is non-historical, although in Kate's letters she does note that Ringo visited her when Holliday was in jail briefly in November 1881 in connection with the O.K. Corral Spicer hearing, and it is quite possible that Holliday grew jealous. The movie is further non-historical in that it portrays Ringo as a participant in the battle at the OK Corral, when in actuality he was not present. The film depicts Holliday lecturing a wounded Ringo about the triumph of good over evil before he shoots Ringo dead.

    * "Johnny Ringo's Last Ride" is an episode of the ABC western series Tombstone Territory, which aired on February 19, 1958, with Myron Healey in the role of Ringo. The series starred Pat Conway and Richard Eastham.

    * A 1959–1960 CBS television show used Ringo's name, but had little to do with his actual life (the real Ringo probably never wore a badge, unless as a town constable). Johnny Ringo aired for one season (38 episodes). Ringo was played by Don Durant and carried a LeMat revolver (A Confederate nine shot revolver with a second barrel designed to fire a shotgun shell).

    * Ringo is the inspiration for the historically inaccurate, but highly popular song "Ringo" sung by then-Bonanza TV-cowboy Lorne Greene, which topped the pop charts at #1 in late 1964 (replacing The Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack").

    * In the 1986 television remake of Stagecoach the Ringo Kid is played by Kris Kristofferson. The character of the gambler Hatfield is changed for Doc Holliday (Holliday is probably the inspiration for both Doc Boone and the gambler Hatfield in the original). In the remake, Holliday is played in name by Willie Nelson and Holliday and the Ringo Kid are allies, which is ironic given their relationship in real life.

    * In 1993's Tombstone, Ringo is played by Michael Biehn. In this version, he is second in command of the Cowboys gang. He is characterized as a violent sociopath who aspires to humiliate and destroy Doc Holliday. He is also characterized as highly educated, at one point trading Latin taunts with Holliday.

    * In the 1994 film Wyatt Earp, Ringo is played by Norman Howell. In this film, Curly Bill Brocius is the major antagonist.

    * Johnny Ringo is the protagonist of a novel entitled Confessions of Johnny Ringo (ISBN 0451159888) by Geoff Aggeler. In the novel, Ringo's real name is Ringgold, and he is depicted as a young man studying the law who is driven to outlawry during the Civil War when his sweetheart is killed by Union troops in Missouri. He is killed by Wyatt Earp, who frees his spirit to reunite with the sweetheart.

    * Ringo is an antagonist in the Doctor Who story The Gunfighters. In the novelization he is depicted as a classicist, and intends to spend his wages on an encyclopedia of classical biography.

    * In the episode "Dead Man's Hill" of the television series The Lost World, Johnny Ringo is played by David Orth as an outlaw in cahoots with the ruthless sheriff Jack Challenger, who have framed an innocent man for the murder of another woman's husband.

    * Johnny Ringo is depicted in the Mister Blueberry arc of the French graphic novel Blueberry as a psychotic and delusional gunslinger and scalp hunter who sacrifices women to an mystical entity known as "Red Dragon"
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/ww166/michaellandrith1/200px-Johnny_Ringo.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/jnicktem/Road%20Trip/IMG_0519.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/13/10 at 7:08 am


Yep.


I'll check Pathmark later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/13/10 at 7:09 am



I nearly spat out my tea!!  :o  Howard...you are a champion! But, of course, the politically correct thing to say is " That's disgusting. This sort of thing should not be allowed on this forum. It is degrading to women". >:(

However...Howard, you are a great champion!  ;)


Thanks Gib.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/13/10 at 7:13 am


The person born on this day...Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American  film actor and producer. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones  film series. He is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His four-decade career also includes roles in several other Hollywood  blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top five box-office hits of all time included one of his roles.  Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

In 1997, Ford was ranked # 1 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. As of July 2008, the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total almost $3.4 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the third highest grossing U.S. domestic box-office star. Ford is the husband of actress Calista Flockhart.
Ford was born on July 13, 1942, at Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital  to Dorothy (née Dora Nidelman), a homemaker and former radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an advertising executive and a former actor.  A younger brother, Terence, was born in 1945. Harrison Ford's paternal grandparents, Florence Veronica Niehaus and John Fitzgerald Ford, were of German and Irish Catholic descent, respectively.  His maternal grandparents, Anna Lifschutz and Harry Nidelman, were Jewish  immigrants from Minsk, Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire).  When asked in which religion he was raised, Ford jokingly responded, "Democrat".  He has also said that he feels "Irish as a person, but I feel Jewish as an actor".

Ford was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. He worked at a Scout camp as a counselor for the Reptile Study merit badge. Because of this, he and Eagle Scout director Steven Spielberg later decided that the character of young Indiana Jones would be depicted as a Life Scout in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They also jokingly reversed Ford's knowledge of reptiles into Jones's fear of snakes.

In 1960, Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH, and he was its first sportscaster during his senior year, 1959–1960. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He took a drama class in his junior year, chiefly as a way to meet women. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer", became fascinated with acting.
Early career

In 1964, Ford travelled to Los Angeles, California to apply for a job in radio voice-overs. He did not get it, but stayed in California and eventually signed a $150 a week contract with Columbia Pictures's New Talent program, playing bit roles in films. His first known part was an uncredited role as a bellhop in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). There is little record of his non-speaking roles (or "extra" work) in film.

His speaking roles continued next with Luv (1967), though he was still uncredited. He was finally credited as "Harrison J. Ford" in the 1967 Western film, A Time For Killing, but the "J" didn't stand for anything since he has no middle name. It was added to avoid confusion with a silent film actor named Harrison Ford, who appeared in more than 80 films between 1915 and 1932, and died in 1957. Ford later said that he was unaware of the existence of the earlier Harrison Ford until he came upon a star with his own name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Ford soon dropped the "J" and worked for Universal Studios, playing minor roles in many television series throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Gunsmoke, Ironside, The Virginian, The F.B.I., Love, American Style, and Kung Fu. He appeared in the western Journey to Shiloh (1968) and had an uncredited, non-speaking role in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film Zabriskie Point as an arrested student protester. Not happy with the roles being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional carpenter to support his then-wife and two small sons. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band The Doors. He also built a sun deck for Sally Kellerman and a recording studio for Sergio Mendes.

He returned to acting when George Lucas, who had hired him to build cabinets in his home, cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film American Graffiti (1973). His relationship with Lucas was to have a profound effect on Ford's career. After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to do expansions of his office and Harrison was given a small role in his next two films, The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979).
Milestone franchises
Star Wars

Ford's work as a carpenter would land him his biggest role to date. In 1975, George Lucas hired him to read lines for actors being cast for parts in his upcoming space opera, Star Wars (1977). However, Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal and decided to cast him as Han Solo. Star Wars became the highest-grossing film in history and established Harrison Ford as a superstar. He went on to star in the successful Star Wars sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Ford wanted Lucas to write in the death of the iconic Han Solo at the end of either sequel, saying "that would have given the whole film a bottom", but Lucas refused.
Indiana Jones
The type of fedora worn by Ford in the Indiana Jones films.

Ford's stardom as a leading man was solidified when he starred as Indiana Jones in the Lucas/Spielberg collaboration Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He reprised the role for the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which turned Ford himself into a blockbuster phenomenon. He later returned to his role as Indiana Jones again for a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and for the fourth film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). A sequel, Indiana Jones 5, is currently in development. The story was originally rumored to center around the Bermuda Triangle. Frank Marshall later revealed on his Twitter page, however, that the story was false. Shia LaBeouf is set to return as Indy's son, Mutt Williams. A release date has not yet been set.
Other film work

Ford has been in numerous other films including Heroes (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), and Hanover Street (1979). Ford also co-starred alongside Gene Wilder in the buddy-Western The Frisco Kid (1979), playing a bank robber with a heart of gold. He then starred as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's cult sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), and in a number of dramatic-action films: Peter Weir's Witness (1985) and The Mosquito Coast (1986), and Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988).

The 1990s brought Ford the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as leading roles in Alan Pakula's Presumed Innocent (1990) and The Devil's Own (1997), Andrew Davis's The Fugitive (1993), Sydney Pollack's remake of Sabrina (1995), and Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (1997). Ford has also played straight dramatic roles, including an adulterous husband with a terrible secret in both Presumed Innocent (1990) and What Lies Beneath (2000), and a recovering amnesiac in Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry (1991).

Many of Ford's major film roles came to him by default through unusual circumstances: he won the role of Han Solo while reading lines for other actors, was cast as Indiana Jones because Tom Selleck was not available, and took the role of Jack Ryan due to Alec Baldwin's fee demands (Baldwin had previously played the role in The Hunt for Red October).
Recent work
Ford in 2007

Ford's star power has waned in recent years, the result of appearing in numerous critically derided and commercially disappointing movies, including Six Days Seven Nights (1998), Random Hearts (1999), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), Hollywood Homicide (2003), and Firewall (2006). One exception was 2000's What Lies Beneath, which ended up grossing over $155 million in the United States and $300 million worldwide.

In 2004, Ford declined a chance to star in the thriller Syriana, later commenting that "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake." The role eventually went to George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work.

In 2008, Ford enjoyed success with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, another collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The film received generally mixed reviews but was the second highest-grossing film worldwide in 2008. He later said he would like to star in another sequel "if it didn't take another 20 years to digest".

Other 2008 work included Crossing Over, directed by Wayne Kramer. In the film, he plays an immigrations officer, working alongside Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta. He also narrated a feature documentary film about the Dalai Lama entitled Dalai Lama Renaissance.

Ford filmed the medical drama Extraordinary Measures in 2009 in Portland, Oregon. Released January 22, 2010, the film also starred Brendan Fraser and Alan Ruck. Ford is also set to star in the film Morning Glory, co-starring along with Patrick Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton.

Recently he has expressed interest in returning to the Jack Ryan franchise.
Awards

Ford received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Witness, for which he also received "Best Actor" BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. He received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards and on June 2, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has received three additional "Best Actor" Golden Globe nominations for The Mosquito Coast, The Fugitive and Sabrina.

In 2006, Ford was awarded the Jules Verne Spirit of Nature Award for his work in nature and wildlife preservation. The ceremony took place at the historic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.

He received the first ever Hero Award for his many iconic roles, including Han Solo and Indiana Jones, at the 2007 Scream Awards, and in 2008, the Spike TV's Guy's Choice Award for Brass Balls.

Harrison Ford received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2000.
Ford is a private pilot of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and owns an 800-acre (3.2 km²) ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, approximately half of which he has donated as a nature reserve. On several occasions, Ford has personally provided emergency helicopter services at the behest of local authorities, in one instance rescuing a hiker overcome by dehydration.

Ford began flight training in the 1960s at Wild Rose Airport in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, flying in a Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, but at $15 an hour he was unable to continue the training. His interest returned in the mid-1990s when he bought a used Gulfstream II and asked one of his pilots, Terry Bender, to give him flying lessons. They started flying a Cessna 182 out of Jackson, Wyoming. He later switched to Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Cessna 206, the aircraft he soloed in.

On October 23, 1999, Harrison Ford was involved in the crash of a Bell 206L4 LongRanger helicopter (N36R). The NTSB accident report states that Ford was piloting the aircraft over the Lake Piru riverbed near Santa Clarita, California, on a routine training flight. While making his second attempt at an autorotation with powered recovery Ford allowed the aircraft's altitude to drop to 150–200 feet before beginning power up. As a result the aircraft was unable to recover power before hitting the ground. The aircraft landed hard and began skidding forward in the loose gravel before one of its skids struck a partially embedded log and flipped onto its side. Neither Ford nor the instructor pilot suffered any injuries though the helicopter was seriously damaged. When asked about the incident by fellow pilot James Lipton in an interview on the TV show Inside the Actor's Studio Ford replied "I broke it."

Ford owns various aircraft:

    * de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S)
    * Aviat A-1B Husky (N6HY)
    * Cessna 525B CitationJet 3 (N5GU)
    * Beechcraft B36TC Bonanza
    * Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
    * 1929-vintage Waco Taperwing
    * Bell 407
    * Cessna Citation Sovereign



Previous aircraft:

    * Gulfstream II
    * Gulfstream IV-SP
    * Pilatus PC-12

Ford keeps his aircraft at Santa Monica Airport, though the Bell 407 is often kept and flown in Jackson, Wyoming, and has been used by the actor in two mountain rescues during the actor's assigned duty time assisting the Teton County Search and Rescue. On one of the rescues Ford recovered a hiker who had become lost and disoriented. She boarded Ford's Bell 407 and promptly vomited into one of the rescuers' caps (she says it was not Ford's cap), unaware of who the pilot was until much later, saying, "I can't believe I barfed in Harrison Ford's helicopter!"

Ford flies his de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver (N28S) more than any of his other aircraft, and although he dislikes showing favoritism, he has repeatedly stated that he likes this aircraft and the sound of its Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine. Ford first encountered the Beaver while filming Six Days Seven Nights, and soon purchased one. Kenmore Air in Kenmore, Washington, restored Ford's yellow and green Beaver — a junked former U.S. military aircraft — with updated avionics and an upgraded engine. According to Ford, it had been flown in the CIA's Air America operations, and was riddled with bullet holes, which had to be patched up. He uses it regularly for impromptu fly-ins at remote airports and bush strips, as well as gatherings with other Beaver owners and pilots.

In March 2004, Ford officially became chairman of the Young Eagles program of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Ford was asked to take the position by Greg Anderson, Senior Vice President of the EAA at the time, to replace General Charles "Chuck" Yeager who was vacating the post that he had held for many years. Ford at first was hesitant, but later accepted the offer and has made appearances with the Young Eagles at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh gathering at Oshkosh, Wisconsin for two years. In July 2005 at the gathering in Oshkosh Ford agreed to accept the position for another two years. Ford has flown over 280 children as part of the Young Eagles program, usually in his DHC-2 Beaver, which can seat the actor and five children. Ford is involved with the EAA chapter in Driggs, Idaho, just over the mountains from Jackson, Wyoming.

As of 2009, Ford appears in Web advertisements for General Aviation Serves America, a campaign by advocacy group AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association).

Ford is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian aviation organization Wings of Hope.

He has also flown as an invited VIP with the Blue Angels.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1966 Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round Bellhop uncredited
1967 Luv Hippy uncredited
A Time for Killing Lt. Shaffer
The Virginian Cullen Tindall/Young Rancher TV series
Ironside Tom Stowe TV series
1968 Journey to Shiloh Willie Bill Bearden
The Mod Squad Beach Patrol Cop TV series — uncredited
1969 My Friend Tony TV series
The F.B.I. Glen Reverson/Everett Giles TV series
Love, American Style Roger Crane segment "Love and the Former Marriage"
1970 Zabriskie Point Airport Worker uncredited
Getting Straight Jake
The Intruders Carl TV
1971 Dan August Hewett TV series
1972–1973 Gunsmoke Print/Hobey TV series
1973 American Graffiti Bob Falfa
1974 Kung Fu Harrison TV series
The Conversation Martin Stett
Petrocelli Tom Brannigan TV series
1975 Judgment: The Court Martial of Lieutenant William Calley Frank Crowder TV
1976 Dynasty Mark Blackwood TV
1977 The Possessed Paul Winjam TV
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Han Solo Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Heroes Ken Boyd
1978 Force 10 from Navarone Lieutenant Colonel Mike Barnsby
The Star Wars Holiday Special Han Solo TV
1979 Apocalypse Now Colonel Lucas
Hanover Street David Halloran
The Frisco Kid Tommy Lillard
More American Graffiti Bob Falfa uncredited
1980 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Han Solo
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones Saturn Award for Best Actor
1982 Blade Runner Rick Deckard
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Han Solo
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indiana Jones Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1985 Witness Det. Capt. John Book Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1986 The Mosquito Coast Allie Fox Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1988 Frantic Dr. Richard Walker
Working Girl Jack Trainer
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Indiana Jones Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1990 Presumed Innocent Rusty Sabich
1991 Regarding Henry Henry Turner
1992 Patriot Games Jack Ryan
1993 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Indiana Jones — age 50 TV series
The Fugitive Dr. Richard David Kimble Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
1994 Clear and Present Danger Jack Ryan
1995 Sabrina Linus Larabee Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1997 The Devil's Own Tom O'Meara
Air Force One President James Marshall Bambi Award for Best Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
1998 Six Days Seven Nights Quinn Harris People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor
1999 Random Hearts Sergeant William 'Dutch' Van Den Broeck People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Star
2000 What Lies Beneath Dr. Norman Spencer Nominated — People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor
2002 K-19: The Widowmaker Alexei Vostrikov
2003 Hollywood Homicide Sgt. Joe Gavilan
2004 Water to Wine Jethro the Bus Driver
2006 Firewall Jack Stanfield
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones Nominated — National Movie Awards, UK – Best Male Performance
Nominated — People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Dalai Lama Renaissance Narrator Theatrical documentary
2009 Crossing Over Max Brogan
Brüno Himself Uncredited cameo
2010 Extraordinary Measures Dr. Robert Stonehill
Morning Glory Mike Pomeroy
See also

    * Sigma Nu LEADership learning program
http://i520.photobucket.com/albums/w328/nicko620/harrison_ford.jpg
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af72/sambenn03/Harrison%20Ford/Harrison_Ford.jpg


Shouldn't he pass the torch to a new Indiana Jones? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 9:11 am


Shouldn't he pass the torch to a new Indiana Jones? ???

If he's in good enough shape to do then why not. His character does have a son now, so he's growing older along with Indiana Jones.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/13/10 at 12:27 pm


The word of the day...Indiana
...wants me!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 2:05 pm


...wants me!

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/13/10 at 2:07 pm


:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZL_tZxyBDo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/13/10 at 5:40 pm


If he's in good enough shape to do then why not. His character does have a son now, so he's growing older along with Indiana Jones.

Yup, agreed.

Wondering is people like Harrison's Star Wars or Indiana Jones better?
I prefer Indiana Jones, not a huge star was fan I am.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 5:53 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZL_tZxyBDo

Was he a one hit wonder?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/13/10 at 6:06 pm


Was he a one hit wonder?

I know two of his songs, "Gotta see Jane " and "Ain't is a sad thing", more early 1970s stuff.
Another song which he hit big in UK was "There's a ghost in my house' But I don't know that one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/13/10 at 6:47 pm


If he's in good enough shape to do then why not. His character does have a son now, so he's growing older along with Indiana Jones.


Maybe his son could start doing some skits.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/13/10 at 6:57 pm


Maybe his son could start doing some skits.

Actor Shia LaBeouf of Transformers fame plays his son.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/14/10 at 1:05 am


Was he a one hit wonder?
R Dean Taylor had other hit records with There's A Ghost In My House and Gotta See Jane.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/14/10 at 1:05 am


R Dean Taylor had other hit records with There's A Ghost In My House and Gotta See Jane.
...plus Window Shopping.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/14/10 at 7:19 am

The word or phrase of the day...Role Model(s)
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".  The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students.  Merton hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj47/responsiblefamily/RoleMommycom.jpg
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww117/themightyjagrafess/Mobile%20Wallpapers/Wicked-Role-Model.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a181/AtotheShley7/19376fbc.jpg
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp77/cherry_1203/myrolemodel.jpg
http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj399/obusot/marilynmonroe3.jpg
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll190/Landarion/Movies/role_models.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y263/stencyl/role.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff232/internet_stuff_just_4_me/myrolemodel.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/14/10 at 7:23 am

The person of the day...Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American comedian, actress and singer. She is known for her roles in comedies such as Best in Show and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and for her recurring roles as Dr. Linda Freeman, Charlie's sarcastic therapist on Two and a Half Men and as Spencer Reid's mother Diana Reid on Criminal Minds. She is currently appearing as Sue Sylvester in the Fox musical-comedy series Glee. She also provided the voice for one of the female ogres  in Shrek Forever After and has been cast as Samantha Puckett's mother in season four of iCarly.
Lynch was born and raised in Dolton, Illinois, the daughter of a housewife mother and a banker father.  She was raised in an Irish  Catholic  family  and attended Thornridge High School. She received her bachelor's degree in theatre from Illinois State University and her MFA from Cornell University, also in theatre. She lived in Chelsea for a year and a half.
Career

Lynch's extensive theater background involved touring with The Second City comedy troupe and playing Carol Brady in The Real Live Brady Bunch. She also wrote and starred in the award-winning play Oh Sister, My Sister. Originally produced in 1998, the play kicked off the Lesbians in Theater program at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in 2004.

Her breakthrough film role was as Christy Cummings, the butch lesbian personal dog handler to trophy wife Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) in director Christopher Guest's mockumentary Best in Show (2000). She also appeared in Guest's A Mighty Wind (2003) as porn actress-turned-folk singer Laurie Bohner and in For Your Consideration (2006) as an entertainment reporter.

Lynch is also a television performer. She starred with John Hannah and William Fichtner in 2002's MDs, and has made guest appearances in numerous television series, including L.A. Law, Judging Amy, The West Wing, 7th Heaven, Friends, Felicity, Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men, Weeds, Boston Legal, The L Word, Criminal Minds, Help Me Help You, Gilmore Girls, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Psych, Monk and Party Down among others.

In 2005, Lynch was named as one of POWER UP's "10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz."

Audiences and critics took notice of Lynch for her oddball turn in Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. She told Fresh Air's Terry Gross the role was originally intended for a man but, at the urging of Steve Carell's wife Nancy Walls, was offered to Lynch instead. Since then, she has starred in a series of films including Role Models, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Space Chimps, The Rocker, The Hammer, Another Cinderella Story, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Spring Breakdown.

She recently starred in Julie and Julia, playing the role of Dorothy McWilliams, Julia Child's sister. Entertainment Weekly dedicated an article on their website toward the possibility of her performance receiving an Academy Award nomination.

She also appeared in the crime drama "Criminal Minds" as Spencer Reid's schizophrenic mother.

As of 2009, Lynch currently appears on the Fox series Glee. Lynch won glowing reviews for her role as the aggressive cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. Mary McNamara of the LA Times wrote, "Lynch alone makes Glee worth watching." Before her work with Glee, she was a series regular on the Starz comedy Party Down. Though the series was renewed for a second season, Lynch would not be returning due to her work on Glee. On December 15, 2009, Lynch received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for her role on Glee. The series itself also received nominations in three other categories.
Personal life

Lynch is openly lesbian and married her partner, Dr. Lara Embry on May 31, 2010 at the Blue Heron Restaurant in Sunderland, Massachusetts. Embry herself received much publicity surrounding a custody battle over two children with her former partner. She is also deaf in one of her ears.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Taxi Killer
Vice Versa Ms. Linstrom
1992 In the Best Interest of the Children Gwen Hatcher TV Movie, as Jany Lynch
Straight Talk Gladys
1993 The Fugitive Dr. Kathy Wahlund
Fatal Instinct Prison Reporter
1997 Touch Me Counselor
2000 What Planet Are You From? Doreen
Red Lipstick Final TV Newscaster
Best in Show Christy Cummings
2001 Nice Guys Finish Last Mom Comedy short
Martini Dr. Jane Short
2002 Hiding in Walls Diane Moffet Comedy short
Collateral Damage Agent Russo
The Big Time Miss Rush TV Movie
2003 A Mighty Wind Laurie Bohner
Exposed Julie Gross
2004 Little Black Boot Grace Comedy short
Surviving Eden Maude Silver
Sleepover Gabby Corky
Memoirs of an Evil Stepmother Blanche Monroe Comedy short
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Realtor Uncredited role
The Aviator Amelia Earhart Scenes deleted from final cut
2005 Holly Hobbie and Friends: Surprise Party Joan Hobbie / Minnie Animated, voice actor
Promtroversy Mimi Nimby (Concerned Parent) Comedy short
The 40-Year-Old Virgin Paula
Bam Bam and Celeste Darlene
The Californians Sybill Platt
2006 The List Dr. Davina
Separated at Worth Jennifer TV Movie
Fifty Pills Doreen
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Lucy Bobby
For Your Consideration Cindy
The Frank Anderson Dr. Emily Brice Comedy short
Holly Hobbie and Friends: Christmas Wishes Joan Hobbie / Minnie Animated, voice actor
Eye of the Dolphin Glinton
2007 I Do & I Don't Nora Stelmack
Smiley Face Casting Director
Suffering Man's Charity Ingrid
Love is Love Reverend Greeley Comedy short
Holly Hobbie and Friends: Best Friends Forever Joan Hobbie / Minnie Animated, voice actor
Alvin and the Chipmunks Gail
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story News Interviewer Uncredited role
2008 The Toe Tactic Honey Strumpet
The Hammer Woman in hardware store
Adventures of Power Joni
Tru Loved Ms. Maple
Space Chimps Dr. Poole voice actor
The Rocker Lisa
Another Cinderella Story Dominique Blatt Direct-to-DVD
Role Models Gayle Sweeny
Man Maid Sabena
2009 Big Breaks M.J. Short
Spring Breakdown Senator Kay Bee Hartmann
Weather Girl J.D.
Mr. Troop Mom Ms. Hulka Nickelodeon film
Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust Video Game/Voice Work
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Diatryma Mom Voice Work
Julie & Julia Dorothy McWilliams
Post Grad Carmella Malby
2010 Paul Pat Stevenson forthcoming film
Shrek Forever After Gretched
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1993 Bakersfield P.D. Michelle Hathaway Episode: "Bakersfield Madam"
Empty Nest Tammy Episode: "The Girl Who Cried Baby"
1994 Married... with Children Greta Episode: "Valentine's Day Massacre"
Party of Five Dr. Pennant Episode: "Much Ado"
The John Larroquette Show Evaluator Episode: "The Tutor"
1995 In The House Ruth Episode: "Female Trouble"
NewsRadio Carol Episode: "The Cane"
1996 Cybill Mrs. Sweeney Episode: "Educating Zoey"
3rd Rock from the Sun Mrs. Koppel Episode: "Dick, Smoker"
Caroline in the City Hostess Episode: "Caroline and the Bad Date"
Frasier Cynthia Episode: "A Lilith Thanksgiving"
1999 Dharma & Greg Sheryl Episode: "Play Lady Play"
1999–2000 Judging Amy ASA Perkins 3 Episodes: "Pilot", "Drawing the Line" & "Waterworld"
2000 JAG Episode: "The Witches of Gulfport"
Gilmore Girls Nurse Episode: "Forgiveness and Stuff"
2000–2001 The West Wing Reporter 2 Episodes: "In The Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part 1" & "Two Cathedrals"
2001 Dawson's Creek Mrs. Witter Episode: "The Te of Pacey"
Cursed Carla Episode: "...And Then Jack Had Two Dates"
Popular Susie Klein Episode: "I Know What You Did Last Spring Break"
The Division Episode: "The First Hit's Free, Baby"
Arli$$ Episode: "Giving Something Back"
Boston Public Jane Morrell Episode: "Chapter Twenty-Four"
Family Law Cheryl Bowman Episode: "No Options"
The X-Files Mrs. Anne T. Lokensgard Episode: "Lord of the Flies"
The King of Queens Dr. Foreman Episode: "Ovary Action"
2001–2002 Family Guy Dotty Campbell Voice actor, 4 Episodes
7th Heaven Nurse 4 Episodes
2002 Titus Prosecutor Episode: "The Trial"
Felicity Professor Carnes 2 Episodes: "Ben Don't Leave" & "The Paper Chase"
MDs Aileen Poole, RN, Ph.D Series regular
2003 Watching Ellie Roman Episode: "TV"
The Dead Zone Flo McMurtry Episode: "The Storm"
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series Oscorp Executive Voice actor, Episode: "Heroes and Villains"
According to Jim Janice Episode: "The Lemonade Stand"
2004 NYPD Blue Susanna Howe Episode: "You Da Bomb"
Monk Dr. Julie Waterford Episode: "Mr. Monk Gets Married"
Las Vegas Helen Putasca Episode: "You Can't Take It With You"
Arrested Development Cindi Lightballoon 3 Episodes: "Altar Egos", "Shock and Aww" & "Justice is Blind"
Friends Ellen the realtor Episode: "The One Where Estelle Dies"
Veronica Mars Mrs. Donaldson Episode: "Return of the Kane"
2005 Unscripted Jane 2 Episodes: "Episode #1.6" & "Episode #1.7"
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Ranger Episode: "Unbearable"
Blind Justice Dr. Taylor 2 Episodes: "Four Feet Under" & "Rub a Tub Tub"
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee Madame Rothchild Voice actor, Episode: "Magic Takes a Holiday"
Weeds The Candyman Episode: "Fashion of the Christ"
Illeanarama Illeana Douglas project
2005–2006 Rodney Amy O'Brien 2 Episodes: "Rodney Moonlights" & "Rodney Gets a Leg Up"
2006 Desperate Housewives Maxine Bennett Episode: "Silly People"
Night Stalker Scientist Episode: "Into Night", uncredited
Lovespring International Victoria Ratchford Series regular
Help Me Help You Raquel Janes Recurring role, 5 episodes
2006–2008 Criminal Minds Diana Reid 5 Episodes: "The Fisher King: Part 1", "The Fisher King: Part 2", "Revelations", "The Instincts" & "Memoriam"
Boston Legal Joanna Monroe 4 Episodes: "Can't We All Get A Lung?", "Dances with Wolves", "The Good Lawyer" & "The Verdict"
2007 Untitled Christine Taylor Project
Campus Ladies Professor Episode: "Psych 101"
The New Adventures of Old Christine Ms. Hammond 2 Episodes: "The Real Thing" & "Friends"
American Dad! Various Voice actor, 2 Episodes: "Surro-Gate" & "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever"
2004–2010 Two and a Half Men Dr. Linda Freeman Recurring minor role
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series
2007– 2009 Handy Manny Jackie Greenway Recurring role
2005–2009 The L Word Joyce Wischnia Recurring role
2008 My Name Is Earl Sissy Episode: "I Won't Die With a Little Help From My Friends"
Psych Barbara Dunlap Episode: "There Might Be Blood"
2009 The Spectacular Spider-Man Joan Jameson Voice actor, Episode: "Gangland"
Party Down Constance Carmell Series regular
Reno 911 Counselor Episode: "Wiegel's Couple's Therapy"
2009–present Glee Sue Sylvester Series regular

Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
2010 The Cleveland Show Ms. Eck Episode: "Love Rollercoaster"
Phineas and Ferb Mrs. Johnson TBA
Neighbors from Hell Alex Episode: "Screw the EPA"
iCarly Sarah Puckett (Sam's Mom) 4th Season
Internet appearances
Year Film Role Notes
2008 Web Therapy Claire Dudek Episode: "Psycho Analysis", parts 1–3
Discography
Soundtracks

    * 2003: A Mighty Wind
    * 2008: Another Cinderella Story
    * 2010: Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
    * 2010: Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers

Songs
Year Title Notes
2008 "Hold 4 You" Another Cinderella Story
2010 "Vogue" Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
2010 "Physical (feat.Olivia Newton-John)" Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z37/cbeachum/Lynch.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss89/potters25/Golden%20Globessses/GGJaneLynch.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/14/10 at 7:29 am

The person who died on this day...Meredith MacRae
Meredith Lynn MacRae (May 30, 1944 – July 14, 2000) was an American  actress.
MacRae was best known for her television roles as Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and as Sally Ann in My Three Sons. She also took over the role of "Animal" from Valora Noland in Bikini Beach (1964), the third Beach Party film produced by American International Pictures.

She made guest appearances on such shows as The F.B.I., The Rockford Files, Fantasy Island, Webster, CHiPS, Love American Style, and Magnum, P.I..

Her game show appearances were numerous and included: Funny You Should Ask, Match Game, What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, Tattletales (with then-husband Greg Mullavey), Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, Password (ABC version), $10,000 Pyramid, Mantrap, Break the Bank, Celebrity Whew!, Beat the Clock, Card Sharks, and Family Feud.

Other movies included Norwood, co-starring with Glen Campbell and Joe Namath, and The Census Taker with her second husband, Greg Mullavey.

In the 1980s, she hosted Mid-Morning Los Angeles and was awarded a local Emmy for her interviewing skills. Later, she created and hosted Born Famous, a PBS series on which she interviewed children of celebrities.

In summer stock, in her teens, she appeared with Dan Dailey in Take Me Along, with Andy Williams in Bye Bye Birdie and also in Annie Get Your Gun.

MacRae worked to raise funds for such causes as the Children's Burn Foundation, the American Cancer Society and United Cerebral Palsy. She was also honorary chairperson for the National Council on Alcoholism and spoke to groups all across the country.

After getting the part of Sally Ann in My Three Sons, she obtained a BA in English from UCLA. She said, "While mom and dad were a little disappointed I didn’t finish college, they didn’t object. But I feel different. I’m not going to give up the idea of college. Next spring, when we take a production break from the series ("My Three Sons"), I’m going right back and pick up where I left off. I know now what a big mistake it would have been to be a high school drop-out. I’ve learned so much that will help me in my career and in life generally."

She was the daughter of show business parents Gordon and Sheila MacRae, the sister of Gar and Heather MacRae. Her only child is daughter Allison Mullavey by her second marriage to actor Greg Mullavey. Her first marriage was to MGM executive Richard Berger. Her third and final marriage was to Fortune 500 CEO Philip Neal.

Meredith credited her parents with instilling a proper work ethic in her and for keeping her feet on the ground. She said, “We lived in a modest home in the San Fernando Valley instead of the fashionable Beverly Hills which the family could have afforded. Mom and Dad didn’t want us to feel superior to the other kids. I had to earn the things I wanted all the way from dolls to party gowns by doing chores around the house and taking care of my younger sister and brothers.

“Lots of kids in my circle automatically got a car when they were 16. Not me. Dad said he would get me a car when I got straight A's two years in a row in school. I slaved away and finally made it. I got the car with the warning that if I didn’t continue with straight A's, it would be taken away.”
Death

In the late 90s after experiencing vertigo and headaches, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She endured surgery and chemotherapy, even volunteering to test a new cancer drug. On July 14, 2000, she died from complications of brain cancer. As per her wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

At the time of her death MacRae was married to Phil Neal, CEO of Avery Dennison Corporation. Neal joined Avery Dennison in 1974, became CEO of the office products giant in 1998 and was named chairman in 2000. Neal retired from Avery Dennison in 2005 and died from heart failure on October 29, 2008.
Discography

Solo

    * "Image of a Boy"/"Time Stands Still" — Canjo 103 (1964)
    * "Who Needs Memories of Him"/"Goodbye Love" — Capitol 2000 (1967)

"The Girls from Petticoat Junction" (Meredith MacRae, Linda Kaye Henning and Lori Saunders)

    * "I'm So Glad That You Found Me"/"If You Could Only Be Me" — Imperial 66329 (1968)
    * "Wheeling, West Virginia"/"Thirty Days Hath September" — Imperial 66346 (1968)
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/Yupiyaye/BikiniBeach.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq256/tts_posters_2008/TV%20SERIES/PJ.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e382/thefamilycat/USTVsoapsofthe60sseries-PETTICOATJU.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/14/10 at 11:03 am


The person who died on this day...Meredith MacRae
Meredith Lynn MacRae (May 30, 1944 – July 14, 2000) was an American  actress.
MacRae was best known for her television roles as Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and as Sally Ann in My Three Sons. She also took over the role of "Animal" from Valora Noland in Bikini Beach (1964), the third Beach Party film produced by American International Pictures.

She made guest appearances on such shows as The F.B.I., The Rockford Files, Fantasy Island, Webster, CHiPS, Love American Style, and Magnum, P.I..

Her game show appearances were numerous and included: Funny You Should Ask, Match Game, What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, Tattletales (with then-husband Greg Mullavey), Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, Password (ABC version), $10,000 Pyramid, Mantrap, Break the Bank, Celebrity Whew!, Beat the Clock, Card Sharks, and Family Feud.

Other movies included Norwood, co-starring with Glen Campbell and Joe Namath, and The Census Taker with her second husband, Greg Mullavey.

In the 1980s, she hosted Mid-Morning Los Angeles and was awarded a local Emmy for her interviewing skills. Later, she created and hosted Born Famous, a PBS series on which she interviewed children of celebrities.

In summer stock, in her teens, she appeared with Dan Dailey in Take Me Along, with Andy Williams in Bye Bye Birdie and also in Annie Get Your Gun.

MacRae worked to raise funds for such causes as the Children's Burn Foundation, the American Cancer Society and United Cerebral Palsy. She was also honorary chairperson for the National Council on Alcoholism and spoke to groups all across the country.

After getting the part of Sally Ann in My Three Sons, she obtained a BA in English from UCLA. She said, "While mom and dad were a little disappointed I didn’t finish college, they didn’t object. But I feel different. I’m not going to give up the idea of college. Next spring, when we take a production break from the series ("My Three Sons"), I’m going right back and pick up where I left off. I know now what a big mistake it would have been to be a high school drop-out. I’ve learned so much that will help me in my career and in life generally."

She was the daughter of show business parents Gordon and Sheila MacRae, the sister of Gar and Heather MacRae. Her only child is daughter Allison Mullavey by her second marriage to actor Greg Mullavey. Her first marriage was to MGM executive Richard Berger. Her third and final marriage was to Fortune 500 CEO Philip Neal.

Meredith credited her parents with instilling a proper work ethic in her and for keeping her feet on the ground. She said, “We lived in a modest home in the San Fernando Valley instead of the fashionable Beverly Hills which the family could have afforded. Mom and Dad didn’t want us to feel superior to the other kids. I had to earn the things I wanted all the way from dolls to party gowns by doing chores around the house and taking care of my younger sister and brothers.

“Lots of kids in my circle automatically got a car when they were 16. Not me. Dad said he would get me a car when I got straight A's two years in a row in school. I slaved away and finally made it. I got the car with the warning that if I didn’t continue with straight A's, it would be taken away.”
Death

In the late 90s after experiencing vertigo and headaches, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She endured surgery and chemotherapy, even volunteering to test a new cancer drug. On July 14, 2000, she died from complications of brain cancer. As per her wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

At the time of her death MacRae was married to Phil Neal, CEO of Avery Dennison Corporation. Neal joined Avery Dennison in 1974, became CEO of the office products giant in 1998 and was named chairman in 2000. Neal retired from Avery Dennison in 2005 and died from heart failure on October 29, 2008.
Discography

Solo

    * "Image of a Boy"/"Time Stands Still" — Canjo 103 (1964)
    * "Who Needs Memories of Him"/"Goodbye Love" — Capitol 2000 (1967)

"The Girls from Petticoat Junction" (Meredith MacRae, Linda Kaye Henning and Lori Saunders)

    * "I'm So Glad That You Found Me"/"If You Could Only Be Me" — Imperial 66329 (1968)
    * "Wheeling, West Virginia"/"Thirty Days Hath September" — Imperial 66346 (1968)
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/Yupiyaye/BikiniBeach.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq256/tts_posters_2008/TV%20SERIES/PJ.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e382/thefamilycat/USTVsoapsofthe60sseries-PETTICOATJU.jpg

I remember her in My three sons (still waiting for the whole series to come out on DVD) and on several game shows, and a little in Petticoat Junction too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/14/10 at 6:59 pm


The word or phrase of the day...Role Model(s)
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".  The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students.  Merton hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj47/responsiblefamily/RoleMommycom.jpg
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww117/themightyjagrafess/Mobile%20Wallpapers/Wicked-Role-Model.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a181/AtotheShley7/19376fbc.jpg
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp77/cherry_1203/myrolemodel.jpg
http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj399/obusot/marilynmonroe3.jpg
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll190/Landarion/Movies/role_models.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y263/stencyl/role.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff232/internet_stuff_just_4_me/myrolemodel.jpg



everyone needs a role model.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/15/10 at 3:34 am



everyone needs a role model.
Lindsay Lohan is not one!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/15/10 at 3:54 am

British Person of the Day: Edward Shackleton, late Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC (15 July 1911 – 22 September 1994), was a British geographer and Labour Party politician.

Born in Wandsworth, London, he was the younger son of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer. In 1938, he married Betty Homan, and they had two children: the Hon. Charles Edward Ernest Shackleton and the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton.

In 1934 Shackleton organised the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition and chose Gordon Noel Humphreys to lead it. Shackleton accompanied the party as the assistant surveyor to Humphreys. The expedition was eventually responsible for naming Mount Oxford (after the University of Oxford) and the British Empire Range.

In 1946, Shackleton was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Preston in a by-election. In 1950, he was elected MP for Preston South, re-elected in 1951. In 1955, he stood down and was made a life peer as Baron Shackleton, of Burley in the County of Hampshire in 1958. In Harold Wilson's government, he served as Minister of Defence for the RAF 1964-1967, Minister without Portfolio 1967-1968 and Paymaster General 1968. He was Leader of the House of Lords from 1968 to 1970, and subsequently Opposition Leader of the House of Lords.

From 1971, he was President of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1994 he became the Life President of the newly founded James Caird Society, named after the boat in which his explorer father and crew escaped Antarctica (itself, in turn, named for James Key Caird (1837-1916), jute baron and philanthropist). He acted also as patron of the British Schools Exploring Society (B.S.E.S.) from 1962 until his death in the New Forest aged 83.

In 1990 he was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, "for service to Australian/British relations, particularly through the Britain/Australia Society".

Lord Shackleton was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, in which role he was deeply interested in the development of geography at Southampton. A portrait photograph of Lord Shackleton was unveiled by his daughter the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton in December 1997 in the university's Shackleton Building, which houses the Departments of Geography and Psychology.

http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/explorers_history/sir_ernest_shackleton_portrait.jpg

http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/pix/Shack%20Scott%20Wilson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/10 at 5:12 am


Lindsay Lohan is not one!

So true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/10 at 5:13 am


British Person of the Day: Edward Shackleton, late Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC (15 July 1911 – 22 September 1994), was a British geographer and Labour Party politician.

Born in Wandsworth, London, he was the younger son of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer. In 1938, he married Betty Homan, and they had two children: the Hon. Charles Edward Ernest Shackleton and the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton.

In 1934 Shackleton organised the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition and chose Gordon Noel Humphreys to lead it. Shackleton accompanied the party as the assistant surveyor to Humphreys. The expedition was eventually responsible for naming Mount Oxford (after the University of Oxford) and the British Empire Range.

In 1946, Shackleton was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Preston in a by-election. In 1950, he was elected MP for Preston South, re-elected in 1951. In 1955, he stood down and was made a life peer as Baron Shackleton, of Burley in the County of Hampshire in 1958. In Harold Wilson's government, he served as Minister of Defence for the RAF 1964-1967, Minister without Portfolio 1967-1968 and Paymaster General 1968. He was Leader of the House of Lords from 1968 to 1970, and subsequently Opposition Leader of the House of Lords.

From 1971, he was President of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1994 he became the Life President of the newly founded James Caird Society, named after the boat in which his explorer father and crew escaped Antarctica (itself, in turn, named for James Key Caird (1837-1916), jute baron and philanthropist). He acted also as patron of the British Schools Exploring Society (B.S.E.S.) from 1962 until his death in the New Forest aged 83.

In 1990 he was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, "for service to Australian/British relations, particularly through the Britain/Australia Society".

Lord Shackleton was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, in which role he was deeply interested in the development of geography at Southampton. A portrait photograph of Lord Shackleton was unveiled by his daughter the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton in December 1997 in the university's Shackleton Building, which houses the Departments of Geography and Psychology.

http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/explorers_history/sir_ernest_shackleton_portrait.jpg

http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/pix/Shack%20Scott%20Wilson.jpg

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/10 at 6:11 am

The word of the day...Bayou
A bayou (pronounced /ˈbaɪ.oʊ/ or /ˈbaɪjuː/) is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can either refer to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with the state of Louisiana being famous for them. A bayou is frequently an anabranch  or minor braid of a braided channel that is moving much more slowly than the mainstem, often becoming boggy and stagnant, though the vegetation varies by region. Many bayous are home to crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, catfish, alligators, and a myriad other species.

The word was first used by the English in Louisiana and is thought to originate from the Choctaw word bayuk, which means "small stream." The first settlements of Acadians in southern Louisiana were near Bayou Teche and other bayous, which led to a close association of the bayou with Cajun culture.

Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups native to the Gulf Coast region generally stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, with its center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

An alternate spelling "buyou" has also been used, as in the "Pine Buyou" used in a description by Congress in 1833 of Arkansas Territory.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m25/achesley1943/Jennings%20Area/IMGP6980.jpg
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/thekellys6/eBay/Love%20Inspired%20Suspence%20Novels/bayoucorruption.jpg
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy124/RCKx/NaturaldirtbridgeonBayoufacingN.jpg
http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj399/AmberpPacificFan2010/Random/Hanging021.jpg
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo19/RF_2/BayouDeView_2009Jan001.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb81/bigdogarita/Bayou.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n34/Tetnahkshem/bayou.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/10 at 6:16 am

The person born on this day...Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt (b. July 15, 1946) is an American popular music singer. Her many vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career. As a result, she has earned multiple Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations.

A singer-songwriter and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs. Being one of music's most versatile and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and public incarnations.

With a one time standing as the Queen of Rock where she was bestowed the title of "highest paid woman in rock", and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch, international arts advocate and Human Rights advocate.

Ronstadt has collaborated with more artists from a diverse spectrum of genres – including Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, The Chieftains, Gram Parsons – than perhaps any popular music vocalist in modern U.S. history, lending her voice to over 120 albums around the world.

In total, she has released over 30 solo albums, more than 15 compilations or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt has charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles, twenty-one of which have reached the top 40, ten of which have reached the top 10, three peaking at No. 2, the No. 1 hit, "You're No Good". In the UK, her single "Blue Bayou" reached the UK Top 40 and the duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at #2 in November 1989. In addition, she has charted thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 Pop Album Charts.
After visiting her Tucson boyfriend Bob Kimmel in Los Angeles during Easter break from college in 1964, Linda Ronstadt decided to move there permanently that Summer to form a band with him.. Kimmel had already begun co-writing folk-rock songs with guitarist-songwriter Kenny Edwards, and the three of them were signed by Nik Venet to Capitol in the summer of 1966 as The Stone Poneys. The trio released three albums in a 15-month period in 1967–68: The Stone Poneys; Evergreen, Volume 2; and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III. The band is best known for their hit single "Different Drum" (written by Michael Nesmith prior to his joining the Monkees), which reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as #12 in Cash Box  magazine. More than 40 years later the song remains one of Ronstadt's most popular recordings.  While Stone Poneys broke up before the release of their third album, Kenny Edwards recorded and toured with Ronstadt from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.

Besides recording one of her most enduring songs, Linda Ronstadt was already showcasing her highly expressive performance of an eclectic mix of songs, often from under-appreciated songwriters, requiring a wide array of backing musicians. Additionally, many of her songs, including "Different Drum" were written by male songwriters and had minimal lyric changes, allowing Linda Ronstadt to toy with gender roles that were in ferment in the 1960s and 1970s.

(In 2008 – as a testament to the continuing interest in Linda's early work with this band – Australia's Raven Records released a compilation CD titled simply The Stone Poneys. The disc features all tracks from the first two Stone Poneys albums and four tracks from the third album.)
Solo career
Linda Ronstadt, ca. 1970, on the back cover of the album Silk Purse.

Still contractually obligated to Capitol Records, Ronstadt released her first solo album, Hand Sown...Home Grown, in 1969. It has been called the first alternative country record by a female recording artist. During this same period, she contributed to the Music From Free Creek "super session" project.

Ronstadt vocalized in some commercials during this period, including one for Remington electric razors, in which a multitracked Ronstadt and Frank Zappa said that the electric razor "cleans you, thrills you...may even keep you from getting busted".

Ronstadt's second solo album, Silk Purse, was released in March 1970. Her studio album recorded entirely in Nashville, it was produced by Elliot Mazer, whom Ronstadt picked on the advice of Janis Joplin, who had worked with him on her Cheap Thrills album. The Silk Purse album cover showed Ronstadt in a muddy pigpen, while the back and inside cover depicted her onstage wearing bright red. Ronstadt has stated that she wasn't pleased with the album, although it provided her with her first solo hit, the multi-format single "Long Long Time", and earned her her first Grammy nomination (for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female).
Touring

"Judy Henske, who was the then reigning queen of folk music, said to me at The Troubadour "Honey, in this town there are four sexes. Men, women, homosexuals, and girl singers."
Linda Ronstadt

In a 1976 interview with Cameron Crowe in Rolling Stone, Ronstadt explained that "they haven't invented a word for that loneliness that everybody goes through on the road. The world is tearing by you, real fast, and all these people are looking at you.... People see me in my 'girl-singer' suit".

Several years before Ronstadt became what author Gerri Hirshey called the first "arena-class rock diva", with "hugely anticipated tours", she began her solo career touring the North American concert circuit. Being on the road took its toll both emotionally and professionally. There were few "girl singers" on the Rock circuit at the time, and those that were, were relegated to "groupie level when in a crowd of a bunch of rock and roll guys"—a status Ronstadt avoided. Relating to men on a professional level as fellow musicians led to competition, insecurity, bad romances, and a series of boyfriend-managers. At the time, she admired singers like Maria Muldaur for not sacrificing their femininity but says she felt enormous self-imposed pressure to compete with "the boys" at every level She noted in a 1969 interview in Fusion magazine that it was difficult being a single "chick singer" with an all-male backup band. According to her, it was difficult to get a band of backing musicians because of their ego problem of being labeled sidemen for a female singer.

Soon after she went solo in the late 1960s, one of her first backing bands was the pioneering country-rock band Swampwater, famous for synthesizing Cajun and swamp-rock elements into their music. Its members included Cajun fiddler Gib Guilbeau and John Beland, who later joined The Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as Stan Pratt, Thad Maxwell and Eric White, brother of Clarence White of The Byrds. Swampwater went on to back Ronstadt during TV appearances on the The Johnny Cash Show and The Mike Douglas Show and at the Big Sur Folk Festival.

Another backing band featured players Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, who went on to form the Eagles. They toured with her for a short period in 1971 and played on Linda Ronstadt, her self-titled third album. At this stage, Ronstadt began working with producer and boyfriend John Boylan. She said, "As soon as I started working with John Boylan, I started co-producing myself. I was always a part of my productions. But I always needed a producer who would carry out my whims"
Collaborating with Peter Asher

"in general when you fall in love with an artist and their music, the plan is a fairly simple one...get people to go and see them, and make a record that you think properly presents their music to the public and some of which you can get on the radio."
Peter Asher on collaborating with Ronstadt

Ronstadt began her fourth solo album, Don't Cry Now, in 1973, with Boylan, who had negotiated her contract with Asylum Records. Most tracks were produced by J.D. Souther and Boylan. She asked Peter Asher to help her produce two tracks, "Sail Away" and "I Believe in You", not the entire album. The album featured Linda's first Country hit, "Silver Threads & Golden Needles", which she had first recorded on Hand Sown...Home Grown album; this time it hit the Country Top 20. Meanwhile the album became Ronstadt's most successful up to this time, selling 300,000 copies by the end of 1974.

Ronstadt's professional relationship with Asher allowed her to take command and effectively delegate responsibilities. Asher was musically more on the same page with her than any producer she had worked with before, and he worked with her collaboratively. Although hesitant at first to work with her because she had a reputation for being a "woman of strong opinions (who) knew what she wanted to do (with her career)", he agreed nonetheless to become her producer, and their professional relationship continued through the late 1980s. He went on to produce and manage numerous other artists, such as Courtney Love and Pamela Anderson, but has stated that Linda Ronstadt remains his "favorite female singer of all time".

With the release of Don't Cry Now, Ronstadt took on her biggest gig to date, touring as the opening act for Neil Young's Time Fades Away tour. On this tour, she played for a larger crowd than ever before. Backstage at a concert in Texas, Chris Hillman introduced her to Emmylou Harris, telling them, "You two could be good friends". She and Harris did become friends, and collaborated frequently in the years that followed.
Vocal Styles

"I grew up singing Mexican music, and that's based on indigenous Mexican rhythms. Mexican music also has an overlay of West African music, based on huapango drums, and it's kind of like a 6/8 time signature, but it really is a very syncopated 6/8. And that's how I attack vocals. "
Linda Ronstadt, on reconciling her musical instincts with rock ‘n’ roll

Ronstadt captured the sounds of country music and the rhythms of ranchero music—which she likened in 1968 to "Mexican bluegrass"—and redirected them into her rock 'n' roll and some of her pop music. Many of these rhythms and sounds were part of her Southwestern roots. Likewise, a country sound and style, a fusing of country music and rock 'n' roll called Country rock, started to exert its influence on mainstream pop music around the late 1960s, and it became an emerging movement Ronstadt helped form and commercialize. However, as early as 1970 Ronstadt was being criticised by music "purists" for her "brand of music" which crossed many genres. Country Western Stars magazine wrote in 1970 that "Rock people thought she was too gentle, folk people thought she was too pop and pop people didn't quite understand where she was at but Country people really loved Linda". She never categorized herself and stuck to her genre-crossing brand of music.
Interpretive Singer

Ronstadt's natural vocal range spans several octaves from contralto to soprano, and occasionally she will showcase this entire range within a single work. Ronstadt is considered an "interpreter of her times". Some have criticized her for a decision to interpret cover songs, although history has praised her for her courage as an interpreter of many of these songs. More importantly, Linda Ronstadt became a highly successful "Albums Artist" of unprecedented success, with albums to her credit that contained original material, some of it written by her. Ronstadt was the first female artist in popular music history to accumulate four consecutive platinum albums (fourteen certified million selling, to date). As for the singles, Rolling Stone Magazine pointed out that a whole generation, "but for her, might never have heard the work of" artists such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, and Chuck Berry".

""Music is meant to lighten your load. By singing it.. you release (the sadness). And release yourself.. an exercise in exorcism.....You exorcise that emotion..and diminish sadness and feel joy. "
Linda Ronstadt

Others have argued that Ronstadt had the same generational effect with her Great American Songbook music, exposing a whole new generation to the music of the 1920s and '30s—music which, ironically, was pushed aside because of the advent of rock 'n' roll. When interpreting, Ronstadt said she "sticks to what the music demands", in terms of lyrics. Explaining that rock ‘n’ roll music is part of her culture, she says that the songs she sang after her rock 'n' roll hits were part of her soul. "The (Mariachi music) was my father's side of the soul. My mother's side of my soul was the Nelson Riddle stuff. And I had to do them both in order to reestablish who I was".

In the 1974 book Rock'n'Roll Woman, author Katherine Orloff wrote that Ronstadt's "own musical preferences run strongly to rhythm and blues, the type of music she most frequently chooses to listen to...(and) her goal is to... be soulful too. With this in mind, Ronstadt fuses country and rock into a special union".

By this stage of her career Ronstadt had established her niche in the field of country-rock. Along with other musicians such as The Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Swampwater, Neil Young, and The Eagles, she helped free country music from stereotypes and showed rockers that country was OK. However, she stated that she was being pushed hard into singing more Rock & Roll.
Most Successful Female Singer of the 1970s

Author Andrew Greeley in his book God in Popular Culture, described Ronstadt as "the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman Rock singer of her era". Signaling her wide popularity as a concert artist, outside of the singles charts and the recording studio, Dirty Linen magazine describes her as the "first true woman rock 'n' roll superstar.....(selling) out stadiums with a string of mega-successful albums". Amazon.com, defines her as the American female rock superstar of the decade. Cash Box gave Ronstadt a Special Decade Award, as the top selling female singer of the 1970s. Coupled with the fact that her album covers, posters, magazine covers – basically her entire rock n roll image conveyed – was just as famous as her music. That by the end of the decade, the singer whom the Chicago Sun Times described as the "Dean of the 1970s school of female rock singers" became what Redbook called, "the most successful female rock star in the world","Female" being the important qualifier, according to Time Magazine, labeling her "a rarity .. to (have survived).... in the shark-infested deeps of rock"
Linda Ronstadt, ca. 1974, on the cover of the Grammy winning album and 2x platinum certified studio disc, Heart Like a Wheel.

Having been a cult favorite on the music scene for several years, 1975 was "remembered in the music biz as the year when 29 year old Linda Ronstadt belatedly happened". With the release of Heart Like A Wheel, Ronstadt reached #1 on the Billboard Album Chart (it was also the first of four #1 Country Albums for Ronstadt) and the disc was certified Double-Platinum (over 2 million copies sold in the United States). In many instances, her own interpretations were more successful than the original recordings and many times new songwriters were discovered by a larger audience as a result of Ronstadt interpreting and recording their songs. Interestingly, Ronstadt had major success interpreting songs from a diverse spectrum of artists. This skill would eventually serve her later in her career, as a noted master song interpreter.

Heart Like A Wheel's first single release was "You're No Good", – a rockified version of a song written by Clint Ballard, Jr. that Ronstadt had initially resisted including on the album because it sounded too much like a "Beatles song" to her – climbed to #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box Pop singles charts. The album's second single release was "When Will I Be Loved", – an uptempo Country Rock version of a Top 10 Everly Brothers song – hit #1 in Cash Box and #2 in Billboard The song was also Linda's first #1 Country hit.

The album showed a physically attractive Ronstadt on the cover but, more importantly, its critical and commercial success was due to a fine presentation of country and rock with Heart Like A Wheel her first of many major commercial successes that would put her on the path as one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Ronstadt won her first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance/Female for "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" which was originally a 1940s hit by Hank Williams. Ronstadt's interpretation peaked at #2 on the Country charts. The album itself was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy as well as the Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female trophy.

Rolling Stone magazine put Linda on its cover in March 1975. This was the first of six Rolling Stone magazine covers photographed by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. It included her as the featured artist with a full photo layout and an article by Ben Fong-Torres, discussing Ronstadt's many struggling years in rock n roll, as well as her home life and what it was like to be a woman on tour in a decidedly all-male environment.

In September 1975, Linda's album Prisoner In Disguise was released. It quickly climbed into the Top Five on the Billboard Album Chart and sold over a million copies. It became her second in a row to go platinum, "a grand slam" in the same year (Ronstadt would eventually be the first female artist in popular music history to have three consecutive platinum albums and would ultimately go on to have eight consecutive platinum albums and then another six between 1983 and 1990). The disc's first single release was "Love Is A Rose". It was climbing the Pop and Country charts but Heat Wave, a rockified version of the 1963 hit by Martha and the Vandellas, was receiving considerable airplay. Asylum pulled the "Love Is A Rose" single and issued "Heat Wave" with "Love Is A Rose" on the B-side. "Heat Wave" hit the Top Five on Billboard's Hot 100 while "Love Is A Rose" hit the Top Five on Billboard's Country chart.
Linda Ronstadt, ca. 1977, on the cover of the Grammy winning album design and 3x platinum certified studio disc, Simple Dreams.

In 1976, Ronstadt reached the Top 3 of Billboard's Album Chart and won her second career Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for her third consecutive platinum album Hasten Down The Wind. The album featured a sexy, revealing cover shot and showcased Ronstadt the singer-songwriter, composing two of its songs, "Try Me Again" and "Lo Siento Mi Vida". It also included interpretation of Willie Nelson's classic "Crazy", which became a Top 10 Country hit for Ronstadt in early 1977.

At the end of 1977 Ronstadt surpassed the success of Heart Like A Wheel with her album Simple Dreams, which held the #1 position for five consecutive weeks on the Billboard Album Chart. It also knocked Elvis Presley out of #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart. It sold over 3½ million copies in less than a year in the US alone. The album was released in September 1977, and by December, it had replaced Fleetwood Mac's long running #1 album Rumours in the top spot. Simple Dreams spawned a string of hit singles on numerous charts. Among them were the RIAA platinum-certified single "Blue Bayou", a Country Rock interpretation of a Roy Orbison song, "Its So Easy" – previously sung by Buddy Holly – and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", a song written by Warren Zevon, an up and coming songwriter of the time whom Ronstadt elected to highlight and record. The album, garnered several Grammy Award nominations – including Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for "Blue Bayou" – and won its art director, Kosh, a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, the first of three Grammy Awards he would win for designing Ronstadt album covers.

Simple Dreams became one of the singer's most successful international selling albums as well, reaching #1 on the Australian and Canadian Pop and Country Albums charts. Simple Dreams also made Ronstadt the most successful international female touring artist as well. The same year, she completed a highly successful concert tour around Europe. As, Country Music Magazine, wrote in October 1978, Simple Dreams solidified Ronstadt's role as "easily the most successful female rock and roll and country star at this time."

Also in 1977, she was asked by the Los Angeles Dodgers to sing the U.S. National Anthem at game three of the World Series against the New York Yankees.
Time Magazine and Linda's 'Rock Chick' Image

Ronstadt has remarked that she felt as though she was "artificially encouraged to kinda cop a really tough attitude (and be tough) because Rock & Roll is kind of a tough (business)" which she felt wasn't worn quite authentically. Female rock artists like her and Janis Joplin, whom she described as lovely, shy and very literate in real life and the antithesis of the "red hot mamma" routine she was artificially encouraged to project, went through an identity crisis.
Linda Ronstadt, on the cover of the February 28, 1977 issue of Time.

Eventually, Ronstadt's Rock & Roll image became just as famous as her music by the mid 1970s. The 1977 appearance on the cover of Time magazine under the banner "Torchy Rock", especially for the most famous woman singer of the 1970s, was controversial for Ronstadt, considering what the image appeared to project about the most famous woman in rock. At a time in the industry when men still told women what to sing and what to wear, Ronstadt hated the image of her that was projected to the world, on the cover of Time magazine no less, and she noted recently how the photographer kept forcing her to wear a dress, which was an image she did not want to project, (although she wore a rather revealing dress for the cover of Hasten Down the Wind which projected an image of her not all that different from the Time magazine cover). In 2004, she was interviewed for CBS This Morning and falsely stated that this image was not her because she didn't sit like that. The Time magazine cover did not deter critics and they regarded it as affirming their claim that Ronstadt was her producer's puppet. Asher noted this irony, "anyone who's met Linda for 10 seconds will know that I couldn't possibly have been her Svengali. She's an extremely determined woman, in every area. To me, she was everything that feminism's about." Qualities, which Asher has stated, were considered a "negative (in a woman at that time), whereas in a man they were perceived as being masterful and bold". As noted, since her solo career began, Ronstadt has fought hard to be recognized as a solo female singer in the world of rock, and her portrayal on the Time cover didn't appear to help the situation. It was in 1976 that Rolling Stone magazine published for its cover an alluring collection of photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz, which helped to further the image that Ronstadt later said she wasn't pleased with. Ronstadt and Asher claim to have viewed the photos prior to publication and, when asked that they be removed and the request was denied, they unceremoniously threw Leibovitz out of the house.

In 1978 Rolling Stone magazine declared Ronstadt, "by far America's best-known female rock singer". She scored a third #1 album on the Billboard Album Chart – unsurpassed by any female artist at this point in time – with Living In The USA. Linda achieved a major hit single with "Ooh Baby Baby", with her rendition hitting all four major singles charts (Pop, AC, Country and R&B). Living In The USA was the first album by any recording act, in music history, to ship double-platinum (over 2 million advanced copies). The album eventually sold 3 million US copies.
Linda Ronstadt's promotional poster, for the 1978 Living In The USA album and concert

Billboard magazine crowned Linda Ronstadt with three #1 Awards for the Year: #1 Pop Female Singles Artist of the Year; #1 Pop Female Album Artist of the Year; #1 Female Artist of the Year (overall).

Living In The USA showed the singer on roller skates with a newly short, permed hairdo on the album cover. Ronstadt continued this theme on concert tour promotional posters with photos of her on roller skates in a dramatic pose with a large American flag in the background. By this stage of her career, she was promoting every album released, with posters and concerts – which at the time were recorded live on radio and/or TV. Ronstadt was also featured in the 1978 film FM, where the plot involved disc jockeys attempting to broadcast live, a Linda Ronstadt concertbwithout a competing stations knowledge. The movie also showed Ronstadt in concert singing the hit song Tumbling Dice. Ronstadt was persuaded to record "Tumbling Dice" after Mick Jagger told her backstage after a 1976 concert of hers, that she sang too many ballads in concert. She appeared to heed the advice. In FM she also performed Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Love Me Tender.

Following the success of Living in the USA, Ronstadt not only conducted successful disc promotional tours and concerts but in one concert in 1978, Ronstadt made a guest appearance onstage with The Rolling Stones at the Tucson Community Center on July 21, 1978 in her hometown of Tucson, where Ronstadt and Mick Jagger vocalized on "Tumbling Dice
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn425/grandmajudy375/Ronstadt_Santa-M---HDC083.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f207/tulips4g/linda_ronstadt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/15/10 at 6:25 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceYjg1dy-h0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/15/10 at 6:27 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbjsMGyZVDw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/10 at 6:31 am

The person who died on this day...Bert Convy
Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy (July 23, 1933 – July 15, 1991) was an American actor,singer, game show host and panelist known for his tenure as the host for Tattletales, Super Password, and Win, Lose or Draw.
Convy was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Monica and Bert Convy. Convy was a member of the 1950s vocal band, The Cheers, who had a Top 10 hit in 1955 with "Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots". He was also a minor league baseball player, within the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Early career

Convy started his career in the entertainment business as a featured performer and singer in the Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s and '60s. He appeared in the 1961 Warner Brothers drama Susan Slade, playing Troy Donahue's rival for the affections of Connie Stevens. Convy went on to became a Broadway actor, starring in Fiddler on the Roof (1964), The Impossible Years (1965), and Cabaret (1966). He also appeared in the Roger Corman film A Bucket of Blood and the soap opera Love of Life playing Glenn Hamilton, a rapist.
Game show career

In the 1960s and '70s, Convy was a popular semi-regular panelist on several game shows, including What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Win, Lose, or Draw, The Match Game and Password. Convy soon took the podium himself as host of several game shows, including the fourth edition of Password, Super Password (1984–1989), but he remains best known for his first television game show, Tattletales (1974–1978, 1982–1984), for which he was awarded an Emmy for "Best Game Show Host" in 1977.

He also hosted the syndicated version of Win, Lose or Draw (1987–1990), which he co-produced with Burt Reynolds (under the firm Burt and Bert Productions). The final season of Win, Lose or Draw was hosted by Robb Weller, freeing up Convy to host his last game show (which he also produced), 3rd Degree, a syndicated program that ran during the 1989–90 TV season. He was also slated to host the 1990 revival of Match Game, but was too ill to do so (comedian Ross Shafer took the role instead).
Television and films

In the 1960-1961 season, Convy guest starred on Pat O'Brien's short-lived ABC sitcom, Harrigan and Son as well as guest-starring on the ABC private detective show 77 Sunset Strip in the role of David Todd.

He attempted to parlay his fame in a short-lived variety series, The Late Summer Early Fall Bert Convy Show in 1976. In 1979, he appeared with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in a movie of the same name.

Convy also starred in several movies, most memorably in the film Semi-Tough (1977) where he played a caricature of Werner Erhard named "Friedrich Bismark." He starred in French director Philippe de Broca's Les Caprices de Marie (Give Her the Moon, 1970). In 1979, he starred in the movie Racquet, as a tennis star. He also made a fine appearance in Help Wanted: Male (1982). In addition, he directed the 1986 comedy Weekend Warriors. In 1980, Convy produced and directed the Goodspeed Opera House premiere of the musical Zapata, music and lyrics by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz. Convy's final feature film was the 1981 movie Cannonball Run, in which he played a character named Bradford Compton. He also appeared in episodes of three CBS series, Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr, Hawaii Five-O starring Jack Lord, and The New Phil Silvers Show, with comedian Phil Silvers, and starred in the premiere episode of Fantasy Island with Ricardo Montalban.
Personal life

Convy was married twice: to Anne Anderson, with whom he had three children; and to Catherine Hills, whom he wed five months prior to his death. Bert's daughter Jennifer also has been involved in television, moderating shows on Home and Garden Television (HGTV). His youngest son, Jonah Convy, is also involved in show business. His eldest son, Joshua Convy, is an accountant.
Death

In April 1990, Convy was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after collapsing while visiting his mother. It was there that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and was given a short time to live, resulting in the relinquishing of his planned Match Game 90 role. After seeking many treatments from several hospitals, Convy died from the tumor on July 15, 1991. He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.
See also

   * List of notable brain tumor patients
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/josophist/Bert_Convy.gif
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/RMR/Screenshots/bertconvysp.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/15/10 at 7:00 am


Lindsay Lohan is not one!


definitely not one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/15/10 at 7:03 am


The person who died on this day...Bert Convy
Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy (July 23, 1933 – July 15, 1991) was an American actor,singer, game show host and panelist known for his tenure as the host for Tattletales, Super Password, and Win, Lose or Draw.
Convy was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Monica and Bert Convy. Convy was a member of the 1950s vocal band, The Cheers, who had a Top 10 hit in 1955 with "Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots". He was also a minor league baseball player, within the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Early career

Convy started his career in the entertainment business as a featured performer and singer in the Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s and '60s. He appeared in the 1961 Warner Brothers drama Susan Slade, playing Troy Donahue's rival for the affections of Connie Stevens. Convy went on to became a Broadway actor, starring in Fiddler on the Roof (1964), The Impossible Years (1965), and Cabaret (1966). He also appeared in the Roger Corman film A Bucket of Blood and the soap opera Love of Life playing Glenn Hamilton, a rapist.
Game show career

In the 1960s and '70s, Convy was a popular semi-regular panelist on several game shows, including What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Win, Lose, or Draw, The Match Game and Password. Convy soon took the podium himself as host of several game shows, including the fourth edition of Password, Super Password (1984–1989), but he remains best known for his first television game show, Tattletales (1974–1978, 1982–1984), for which he was awarded an Emmy for "Best Game Show Host" in 1977.

He also hosted the syndicated version of Win, Lose or Draw (1987–1990), which he co-produced with Burt Reynolds (under the firm Burt and Bert Productions). The final season of Win, Lose or Draw was hosted by Robb Weller, freeing up Convy to host his last game show (which he also produced), 3rd Degree, a syndicated program that ran during the 1989–90 TV season. He was also slated to host the 1990 revival of Match Game, but was too ill to do so (comedian Ross Shafer took the role instead).
Television and films

In the 1960-1961 season, Convy guest starred on Pat O'Brien's short-lived ABC sitcom, Harrigan and Son as well as guest-starring on the ABC private detective show 77 Sunset Strip in the role of David Todd.

He attempted to parlay his fame in a short-lived variety series, The Late Summer Early Fall Bert Convy Show in 1976. In 1979, he appeared with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in a movie of the same name.

Convy also starred in several movies, most memorably in the film Semi-Tough (1977) where he played a caricature of Werner Erhard named "Friedrich Bismark." He starred in French director Philippe de Broca's Les Caprices de Marie (Give Her the Moon, 1970). In 1979, he starred in the movie Racquet, as a tennis star. He also made a fine appearance in Help Wanted: Male (1982). In addition, he directed the 1986 comedy Weekend Warriors. In 1980, Convy produced and directed the Goodspeed Opera House premiere of the musical Zapata, music and lyrics by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz. Convy's final feature film was the 1981 movie Cannonball Run, in which he played a character named Bradford Compton. He also appeared in episodes of three CBS series, Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr, Hawaii Five-O starring Jack Lord, and The New Phil Silvers Show, with comedian Phil Silvers, and starred in the premiere episode of Fantasy Island with Ricardo Montalban.
Personal life

Convy was married twice: to Anne Anderson, with whom he had three children; and to Catherine Hills, whom he wed five months prior to his death. Bert's daughter Jennifer also has been involved in television, moderating shows on Home and Garden Television (HGTV). His youngest son, Jonah Convy, is also involved in show business. His eldest son, Joshua Convy, is an accountant.
Death

In April 1990, Convy was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after collapsing while visiting his mother. It was there that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and was given a short time to live, resulting in the relinquishing of his planned Match Game 90 role. After seeking many treatments from several hospitals, Convy died from the tumor on July 15, 1991. He is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery.
See also

   * List of notable brain tumor patients
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/josophist/Bert_Convy.gif
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/RMR/Screenshots/bertconvysp.jpg


So Match Game 1990 never came about?  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/15/10 at 8:39 am


The person born on this day...Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt (b. July 15, 1946) is an American popular music singer. Her many vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career. As a result, she has earned multiple Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations.

A singer-songwriter and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs. Being one of music's most versatile and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and public incarnations.

With a one time standing as the Queen of Rock where she was bestowed the title of "highest paid woman in rock", and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch, international arts advocate and Human Rights advocate.

Ronstadt has collaborated with more artists from a diverse spectrum of genres – including Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, The Chieftains, Gram Parsons – than perhaps any popular music vocalist in modern U.S. history, lending her voice to over 120 albums around the world.

In total, she has released over 30 solo albums, more than 15 compilations or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt has charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles, twenty-one of which have reached the top 40, ten of which have reached the top 10, three peaking at No. 2, the No. 1 hit, "You're No Good". In the UK, her single "Blue Bayou" reached the UK Top 40 and the duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at #2 in November 1989. In addition, she has charted thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 Pop Album Charts.
After visiting her Tucson boyfriend Bob Kimmel in Los Angeles during Easter break from college in 1964, Linda Ronstadt decided to move there permanently that Summer to form a band with him.. Kimmel had already begun co-writing folk-rock songs with guitarist-songwriter Kenny Edwards, and the three of them were signed by Nik Venet to Capitol in the summer of 1966 as The Stone Poneys. The trio released three albums in a 15-month period in 1967–68: The Stone Poneys; Evergreen, Volume 2; and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III. The band is best known for their hit single "Different Drum" (written by Michael Nesmith prior to his joining the Monkees), which reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as #12 in Cash Box  magazine. More than 40 years later the song remains one of Ronstadt's most popular recordings.  While Stone Poneys broke up before the release of their third album, Kenny Edwards recorded and toured with Ronstadt from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.

Besides recording one of her most enduring songs, Linda Ronstadt was already showcasing her highly expressive performance of an eclectic mix of songs, often from under-appreciated songwriters, requiring a wide array of backing musicians. Additionally, many of her songs, including "Different Drum" were written by male songwriters and had minimal lyric changes, allowing Linda Ronstadt to toy with gender roles that were in ferment in the 1960s and 1970s.

(In 2008 – as a testament to the continuing interest in Linda's early work with this band – Australia's Raven Records released a compilation CD titled simply The Stone Poneys. The disc features all tracks from the first two Stone Poneys albums and four tracks from the third album.)
Solo career
Linda Ronstadt, ca. 1970, on the back cover of the album Silk Purse.

Still contractually obligated to Capitol Records, Ronstadt released her first solo album, Hand Sown...Home Grown, in 1969. It has been called the first alternative country record by a female recording artist. During this same period, she contributed to the Music From Free Creek "super session" project.

Ronstadt vocalized in some commercials during this period, including one for Remington electric razors, in which a multitracked Ronstadt and Frank Zappa said that the electric razor "cleans you, thrills you...may even keep you from getting busted".

Ronstadt's second solo album, Silk Purse, was released in March 1970. Her studio album recorded entirely in Nashville, it was produced by Elliot Mazer, whom Ronstadt picked on the advice of Janis Joplin, who had worked with him on her Cheap Thrills album. The Silk Purse album cover showed Ronstadt in a muddy pigpen, while the back and inside cover depicted her onstage wearing bright red. Ronstadt has stated that she wasn't pleased with the album, although it provided her with her first solo hit, the multi-format single "Long Long Time", and earned her her first Grammy nomination (for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female).
Touring

"Judy Henske, who was the then reigning queen of folk music, said to me at The Troubadour "Honey, in this town there are four sexes. Men, women, homosexuals, and girl singers."
Linda Ronstadt

In a 1976 interview with Cameron Crowe in Rolling Stone, Ronstadt explained that "they haven't invented a word for that loneliness that everybody goes through on the road. The world is tearing by you, real fast, and all these people are looking at you.... People see me in my 'girl-singer' suit".

Several years before Ronstadt became what author Gerri Hirshey called the first "arena-class rock diva", with "hugely anticipated tours", she began her solo career touring the North American concert circuit. Being on the road took its toll both emotionally and professionally. There were few "girl singers" on the Rock circuit at the time, and those that were, were relegated to "groupie level when in a crowd of a bunch of rock and roll guys"—a status Ronstadt avoided. Relating to men on a professional level as fellow musicians led to competition, insecurity, bad romances, and a series of boyfriend-managers. At the time, she admired singers like Maria Muldaur for not sacrificing their femininity but says she felt enormous self-imposed pressure to compete with "the boys" at every level She noted in a 1969 interview in Fusion magazine that it was difficult being a single "chick singer" with an all-male backup band. According to her, it was difficult to get a band of backing musicians because of their ego problem of being labeled sidemen for a female singer.

Soon after she went solo in the late 1960s, one of her first backing bands was the pioneering country-rock band Swampwater, famous for synthesizing Cajun and swamp-rock elements into their music. Its members included Cajun fiddler Gib Guilbeau and John Beland, who later joined The Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as Stan Pratt, Thad Maxwell and Eric White, brother of Clarence White of The Byrds. Swampwater went on to back Ronstadt during TV appearances on the The Johnny Cash Show and The Mike Douglas Show and at the Big Sur Folk Festival.

Another backing band featured players Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, who went on to form the Eagles. They toured with her for a short period in 1971 and played on Linda Ronstadt, her self-titled third album. At this stage, Ronstadt began working with producer and boyfriend John Boylan. She said, "As soon as I started working with John Boylan, I started co-producing myself. I was always a part of my productions. But I always needed a producer who would carry out my whims"
Collaborating with Peter Asher

"in general when you fall in love with an artist and their music, the plan is a fairly simple one...get people to go and see them, and make a record that you think properly presents their music to the public and some of which you can get on the radio."
Peter Asher on collaborating with Ronstadt

Ronstadt began her fourth solo album, Don't Cry Now, in 1973, with Boylan, who had negotiated her contract with Asylum Records. Most tracks were produced by J.D. Souther and Boylan. She asked Peter Asher to help her produce two tracks, "Sail Away" and "I Believe in You", not the entire album. The album featured Linda's first Country hit, "Silver Threads & Golden Needles", which she had first recorded on Hand Sown...Home Grown album; this time it hit the Country Top 20. Meanwhile the album became Ronstadt's most successful up to this time, selling 300,000 copies by the end of 1974.

Ronstadt's professional relationship with Asher allowed her to take command and effectively delegate responsibilities. Asher was musically more on the same page with her than any producer she had worked with before, and he worked with her collaboratively. Although hesitant at first to work with her because she had a reputation for being a "woman of strong opinions (who) knew what she wanted to do (with her career)", he agreed nonetheless to become her producer, and their professional relationship continued through the late 1980s. He went on to produce and manage numerous other artists, such as Courtney Love and Pamela Anderson, but has stated that Linda Ronstadt remains his "favorite female singer of all time".

With the release of Don't Cry Now, Ronstadt took on her biggest gig to date, touring as the opening act for Neil Young's Time Fades Away tour. On this tour, she played for a larger crowd than ever before. Backstage at a concert in Texas, Chris Hillman introduced her to Emmylou Harris, telling them, "You two could be good friends". She and Harris did become friends, and collaborated frequently in the years that followed.
Vocal Styles

"I grew up singing Mexican music, and that's based on indigenous Mexican rhythms. Mexican music also has an overlay of West African music, based on huapango drums, and it's kind of like a 6/8 time signature, but it really is a very syncopated 6/8. And that's how I attack vocals. "
Linda Ronstadt, on reconciling her musical instincts with rock ‘n’ roll

Ronstadt captured the sounds of country music and the rhythms of ranchero music—which she likened in 1968 to "Mexican bluegrass"—and redirected them into her rock 'n' roll and some of her pop music. Many of these rhythms and sounds were part of her Southwestern roots. Likewise, a country sound and style, a fusing of country music and rock 'n' roll called Country rock, started to exert its influence on mainstream pop music around the late 1960s, and it became an emerging movement Ronstadt helped form and commercialize. However, as early as 1970 Ronstadt was being criticised by music "purists" for her "brand of music" which crossed many genres. Country Western Stars magazine wrote in 1970 that "Rock people thought she was too gentle, folk people thought she was too pop and pop people didn't quite understand where she was at but Country people really loved Linda". She never categorized herself and stuck to her genre-crossing brand of music.
Interpretive Singer

Ronstadt's natural vocal range spans several octaves from contralto to soprano, and occasionally she will showcase this entire range within a single work. Ronstadt is considered an "interpreter of her times". Some have criticized her for a decision to interpret cover songs, although history has praised her for her courage as an interpreter of many of these songs. More importantly, Linda Ronstadt became a highly successful "Albums Artist" of unprecedented success, with albums to her credit that contained original material, some of it written by her. Ronstadt was the first female artist in popular music history to accumulate four consecutive platinum albums (fourteen certified million selling, to date). As for the singles, Rolling Stone Magazine pointed out that a whole generation, "but for her, might never have heard the work of" artists such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, and Chuck Berry".

""Music is meant to lighten your load. By singing it.. you release (the sadness). And release yourself.. an exercise in exorcism.....You exorcise that emotion..and diminish sadness and feel joy. "
Linda Ronstadt

Others have argued that Ronstadt had the same generational effect with her Great American Songbook music, exposing a whole new generation to the music of the 1920s and '30s—music which, ironically, was pushed aside because of the advent of rock 'n' roll. When interpreting, Ronstadt said she "sticks to what the music demands", in terms of lyrics. Explaining that rock ‘n’ roll music is part of her culture, she says that the songs she sang after her rock 'n' roll hits were part of her soul. "The (Mariachi music) was my father's side of the soul. My mother's side of my soul was the Nelson Riddle stuff. And I had to do them both in order to reestablish who I was".

In the 1974 book Rock'n'Roll Woman, author Katherine Orloff wrote that Ronstadt's "own musical preferences run strongly to rhythm and blues, the type of music she most frequently chooses to listen to...(and) her goal is to... be soulful too. With this in mind, Ronstadt fuses country and rock into a special union".

By this stage of her career Ronstadt had established her niche in the field of country-rock. Along with other musicians such as The Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Swampwater, Neil Young, and The Eagles, she helped free country music from stereotypes and showed rockers that country was OK. However, she stated that she was being pushed hard into singing more Rock & Roll.
Most Successful Female Singer of the 1970s

Author Andrew Greeley in his book God in Popular Culture, described Ronstadt as "the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman Rock singer of her era". Signaling her wide popularity as a concert artist, outside of the singles charts and the recording studio, Dirty Linen magazine describes her as the "first true woman rock 'n' roll superstar.....(selling) out stadiums with a string of mega-successful albums". Amazon.com, defines her as the American female rock superstar of the decade. Cash Box gave Ronstadt a Special Decade Award, as the top selling female singer of the 1970s. Coupled with the fact that her album covers, posters, magazine covers – basically her entire rock n roll image conveyed – was just as famous as her music. That by the end of the decade, the singer whom the Chicago Sun Times described as the "Dean of the 1970s school of female rock singers" became what Redbook called, "the most successful female rock star in the world","Female" being the important qualifier, according to Time Magazine, labeling her "a rarity .. to (have survived).... in the shark-infested deeps of rock"
Linda Ronstadt, ca. 1974, on the cover of the Grammy winning album and 2x platinum certified studio disc, Heart Like a Wheel.

Having been a cult favorite on the music scene for several years, 1975 was "remembered in the music biz as the year when 29 year old Linda Ronstadt belatedly happened". With the release of Heart Like A Wheel, Ronstadt reached #1 on the Billboard Album Chart (it was also the first of four #1 Country Albums for Ronstadt) and the disc was certified Double-Platinum (over 2 million copies sold in the United States). In many instances, her own interpretations were more successful than the original recordings and many times new songwriters were discovered by a larger audience as a result of Ronstadt interpreting and recording their songs. Interestingly, Ronstadt had major success interpreting songs from a diverse spectrum of artists. This skill would eventually serve her later in her career, as a noted master song interpreter.

Heart Like A Wheel's first single release was "You're No Good", – a rockified version of a song written by Clint Ballard, Jr. that Ronstadt had initially resisted including on the album because it sounded too much like a "Beatles song" to her – climbed to #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box Pop singles charts. The album's second single release was "When Will I Be Loved", – an uptempo Country Rock version of a Top 10 Everly Brothers song – hit #1 in Cash Box and #2 in Billboard The song was also Linda's first #1 Country hit.

The album showed a physically attractive Ronstadt on the cover but, more importantly, its critical and commercial success was due to a fine presentation of country and rock with Heart Like A Wheel her first of many major commercial successes that would put her on the path as one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Ronstadt won her first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance/Female for "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" which was originally a 1940s hit by Hank Williams. Ronstadt's interpretation peaked at #2 on the Country charts. The album itself was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy as well as the Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female trophy.

Rolling Stone magazine put Linda on its cover in March 1975. This was the first of six Rolling Stone magazine covers photographed by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. It included her as the featured artist with a full photo layout and an article by Ben Fong-Torres, discussing Ronstadt's many struggling years in rock n roll, as well as her home life and what it was like to be a woman on tour in a decidedly all-male environment.

In September 1975, Linda's album Prisoner In Disguise was released. It quickly climbed into the Top Five on the Billboard Album Chart and sold over a million copies. It became her second in a row to go platinum, "a grand slam" in the same year (Ronstadt would eventually be the first female artist in popular music history to have three consecutive platinum albums and would ultimately go on to have eight consecutive platinum albums and then another six between 1983 and 1990). The disc's first single release was "Love Is A Rose". It was climbing the Pop and Country charts but Heat Wave, a rockified version of the 1963 hit by Martha and the Vandellas, was receiving considerable airplay. Asylum pulled the "Love Is A Rose" single and issued "Heat Wave" with "Love Is A Rose" on the B-side. "Heat Wave" hit the Top Five on Billboard's Hot 100 while "Love Is A Rose" hit the Top Five on Billboard's Country chart.
Linda Ronstadt, ca. 1977, on the cover of the Grammy winning album design and 3x platinum certified studio disc, Simple Dreams.

In 1976, Ronstadt reached the Top 3 of Billboard's Album Chart and won her second career Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for her third consecutive platinum album Hasten Down The Wind. The album featured a sexy, revealing cover shot and showcased Ronstadt the singer-songwriter, composing two of its songs, "Try Me Again" and "Lo Siento Mi Vida". It also included interpretation of Willie Nelson's classic "Crazy", which became a Top 10 Country hit for Ronstadt in early 1977.

At the end of 1977 Ronstadt surpassed the success of Heart Like A Wheel with her album Simple Dreams, which held the #1 position for five consecutive weeks on the Billboard Album Chart. It also knocked Elvis Presley out of #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart. It sold over 3½ million copies in less than a year in the US alone. The album was released in September 1977, and by December, it had replaced Fleetwood Mac's long running #1 album Rumours in the top spot. Simple Dreams spawned a string of hit singles on numerous charts. Among them were the RIAA platinum-certified single "Blue Bayou", a Country Rock interpretation of a Roy Orbison song, "Its So Easy" – previously sung by Buddy Holly – and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", a song written by Warren Zevon, an up and coming songwriter of the time whom Ronstadt elected to highlight and record. The album, garnered several Grammy Award nominations – including Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for "Blue Bayou" – and won its art director, Kosh, a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, the first of three Grammy Awards he would win for designing Ronstadt album covers.

Simple Dreams became one of the singer's most successful international selling albums as well, reaching #1 on the Australian and Canadian Pop and Country Albums charts. Simple Dreams also made Ronstadt the most successful international female touring artist as well. The same year, she completed a highly successful concert tour around Europe. As, Country Music Magazine, wrote in October 1978, Simple Dreams solidified Ronstadt's role as "easily the most successful female rock and roll and country star at this time."

Also in 1977, she was asked by the Los Angeles Dodgers to sing the U.S. National Anthem at game three of the World Series against the New York Yankees.
Time Magazine and Linda's 'Rock Chick' Image

Ronstadt has remarked that she felt as though she was "artificially encouraged to kinda cop a really tough attitude (and be tough) because Rock & Roll is kind of a tough (business)" which she felt wasn't worn quite authentically. Female rock artists like her and Janis Joplin, whom she described as lovely, shy and very literate in real life and the antithesis of the "red hot mamma" routine she was artificially encouraged to project, went through an identity crisis.
Linda Ronstadt, on the cover of the February 28, 1977 issue of Time.

Eventually, Ronstadt's Rock & Roll image became just as famous as her music by the mid 1970s. The 1977 appearance on the cover of Time magazine under the banner "Torchy Rock", especially for the most famous woman singer of the 1970s, was controversial for Ronstadt, considering what the image appeared to project about the most famous woman in rock. At a time in the industry when men still told women what to sing and what to wear, Ronstadt hated the image of her that was projected to the world, on the cover of Time magazine no less, and she noted recently how the photographer kept forcing her to wear a dress, which was an image she did not want to project, (although she wore a rather revealing dress for the cover of Hasten Down the Wind which projected an image of her not all that different from the Time magazine cover). In 2004, she was interviewed for CBS This Morning and falsely stated that this image was not her because she didn't sit like that. The Time magazine cover did not deter critics and they regarded it as affirming their claim that Ronstadt was her producer's puppet. Asher noted this irony, "anyone who's met Linda for 10 seconds will know that I couldn't possibly have been her Svengali. She's an extremely determined woman, in every area. To me, she was everything that feminism's about." Qualities, which Asher has stated, were considered a "negative (in a woman at that time), whereas in a man they were perceived as being masterful and bold". As noted, since her solo career began, Ronstadt has fought hard to be recognized as a solo female singer in the world of rock, and her portrayal on the Time cover didn't appear to help the situation. It was in 1976 that Rolling Stone magazine published for its cover an alluring collection of photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz, which helped to further the image that Ronstadt later said she wasn't pleased with. Ronstadt and Asher claim to have viewed the photos prior to publication and, when asked that they be removed and the request was denied, they unceremoniously threw Leibovitz out of the house.

In 1978 Rolling Stone magazine declared Ronstadt, "by far America's best-known female rock singer". She scored a third #1 album on the Billboard Album Chart – unsurpassed by any female artist at this point in time – with Living In The USA. Linda achieved a major hit single with "Ooh Baby Baby", with her rendition hitting all four major singles charts (Pop, AC, Country and R&B). Living In The USA was the first album by any recording act, in music history, to ship double-platinum (over 2 million advanced copies). The album eventually sold 3 million US copies.
Linda Ronstadt's promotional poster, for the 1978 Living In The USA album and concert

Billboard magazine crowned Linda Ronstadt with three #1 Awards for the Year: #1 Pop Female Singles Artist of the Year; #1 Pop Female Album Artist of the Year; #1 Female Artist of the Year (overall).

Living In The USA showed the singer on roller skates with a newly short, permed hairdo on the album cover. Ronstadt continued this theme on concert tour promotional posters with photos of her on roller skates in a dramatic pose with a large American flag in the background. By this stage of her career, she was promoting every album released, with posters and concerts – which at the time were recorded live on radio and/or TV. Ronstadt was also featured in the 1978 film FM, where the plot involved disc jockeys attempting to broadcast live, a Linda Ronstadt concertbwithout a competing stations knowledge. The movie also showed Ronstadt in concert singing the hit song Tumbling Dice. Ronstadt was persuaded to record "Tumbling Dice" after Mick Jagger told her backstage after a 1976 concert of hers, that she sang too many ballads in concert. She appeared to heed the advice. In FM she also performed Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Love Me Tender.

Following the success of Living in the USA, Ronstadt not only conducted successful disc promotional tours and concerts but in one concert in 1978, Ronstadt made a guest appearance onstage with The Rolling Stones at the Tucson Community Center on July 21, 1978 in her hometown of Tucson, where Ronstadt and Mick Jagger vocalized on "Tumbling Dice
http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn425/grandmajudy375/Ronstadt_Santa-M---HDC083.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f207/tulips4g/linda_ronstadt.jpg

Ah Linda..I have always liked her music, but more than her music, I thought that during the 1970s she was one of the most beautiful women in the world.  I never get tired of her song "Long, long time"
Between her and Olivia Newton-John, I don't know whom I liked better in the 70s...
I always go back and forth and change my mind.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/15/10 at 8:55 am


Ah Linda..I have always liked her music, but more than her music, I thought that during the 1970s she was one of the most beautiful women in the world.  I never get tired of her song "Long, long time"
Between her and Olivia Newton-John, I don't know whom I liked better in the 70s...
I always go back and forth and change my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0qm8nq8RcA

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/10 at 9:03 am


Ah Linda..I have always liked her music, but more than her music, I thought that during the 1970s she was one of the most beautiful women in the world.  I never get tired of her song "Long, long time"
Between her and Olivia Newton-John, I don't know whom I liked better in the 70s...
I always go back and forth and change my mind.


2 great artist along with Carly Simon & Barbra Streisand in the 1970's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/15/10 at 11:47 am

I think Linda Ronstadt is VERY underrated. I think she is mega talented and very pretty also.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFRRYyrx7o



This song always brings tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVr2eOBmo_U



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/15/10 at 7:02 pm


I think Linda Ronstadt is VERY underrated. I think she is mega talented and very pretty also.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFRRYyrx7o



This song always brings tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVr2eOBmo_U



Cat


I always liked Somewhere Out There.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/15/10 at 7:34 pm

I agree with you all. Linda Ronstadt is a special talent...and I will admit to remembering her 'roller skate' poster well. ::)

Bert Convy popped up in all sorts of 70's tv shows. Saw him in Charlies Angels just a couple of weeks ago...  Didn't realise he was dead though!  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/15/10 at 10:51 pm


I think Linda Ronstadt is VERY underrated. I think she is mega talented and very pretty also.


Cat

Ah pretty yes..I had some fantasies during the mid to late 70s about her.

I agree with you all. Linda Ronstadt is a special talent...and I will admit to remembering her 'roller skate' poster well. ::)


I remember that poster.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/15/10 at 11:53 pm

More photos of beautiful Linda.
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/10979457/Linda%20Ronstadt%20%201968.jpg
http://johngushue.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/03/linda_ronstadt_circa_1975.jpg
http://image.lyricspond.com/image/l/artist-linda-ronstadt/album-the-very-best-of-linda-ronstadt/cd-cover.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 3:29 am

British Person of the Day: Joshua Reynolds
Biography


"I would rather be an apothecary than an ordinary painter, but if I could be bound to an eminent master, I would choose the latter."

Born 16 July in 1723, Joshua Reynold's family were substantial burghers in the small town of Plympton, in Devonshire, on the south-west coast of England. His father was a clergyman-schoolmaster and other relatives were tradesmen in the town. Joshua was a serious, studious boy, and when he was about 17 his father favoured apprenticing him to a local apothecary. Joshua had other ideas. For years he had been drawing, copying prints in his father's library and studying a book called Essay on the Theory of Painting by the British artist Jonathan Richardson, a work that fired his ambition to become a painter. At the age of 12 he had already painted a portrait of the Reverend Thomas Smart on sailcloth, using shipyard paints. It was not much of a portrait, but his father agreed that it showed talent. So when it came time to decide whether Joshua was to learn the apothecary's trade or seek a career in art, a well-to-do friend of the family, a Mr. Craunch, was called in to evaluate the boy's efforts and give his opinion. After due consideration Mr. Craunch thought that it might be arranged for one of London's best-known portrait painters, Thomas Hudson, to look at young Joshua's work. Hudson, whose many assistants and assembly line methods enabled him to turn out competent likenesses by the dozen, was a native of Devonshire and often returned there to visit. If he saw promise in Joshua, perhaps he would take him on as an apprentice; in that event Mr. Craunch agreed to pay for Reynold's upkeep and training.

In this way, Joshua Reynolds became a painter. In his own mind he soon saw himself as more than a painter, more even than a great painter. He would dedicate himself to the task of raising the prestige of British painters so that they would be accepted in aristocratic society, as leading men of letters already were. It was a large ambition for a young artist, but he never abandoned the goal, and to a remarkable extent he attained it.

In Hudson's "portrait factory" in London, where he entered a four-year apprenticeship, Joshua mastered the mechanical tricks of the trade so quickly that after about two years Hudson agreed to let him begin an independent career as a professional. Reynolds then left London to paint portraits at Plympton, but upon the death of his father in 1746 he set up housekeeping with his two unmarried sisters at Plymouth Dock (now Devonport). In making this move Joshua knew exactly what he was doing. To become a fashionable painter and raise his calling to high social status, he realised that he must make aristocratic friends, and Plymouth Dock, a Navy base, was a good place to begin. In those days nearly all British Navy officers belonged to the aristocracy.

For nearly three years Joshua worked doggedly, producing portraits that ranged from poor to good; the best were in no way extraordinary. He painted the local gentry and a good many naval officers, and his pleasant, earnest personality made many friends. But the big opportunity he was waiting for did not come until 1749 when a squadron commanded by a young nobleman, the Honourable Augustus Keppel, put into Plymouth to repair storm damage. Reynolds painted the commodore's portrait, which turned out to be the best he had done so far, and the two men became fast friends. When the squadron was seaworthy again, Keppel invited the artist to sail with him to the Mediterranean.

Reynolds left Keppel's ship at the Balearic island of Minorca, then a British stronghold. There he painted enough portraits to finance another step in the career he had planned for himself - a pilgrimage to Italy, the fountainhead of European art. He would study the old masters, especially Raphael. Then he would return to England and convince his countrymen that he could not only paint in the grand Italian manner but that he could do it more successfully than any of his British predecessors. He landed at Leghorn in January 1750 and headed for Rome, where he stayed for two years before visiting Florence, Bologna, Parma and Venice.

In Italy Reynolds did very little painting. He had not come to learn technique, which he felt he already knew. His program was analogous to that of the scholars of his period who read and reread Greek and Latin authors in order to stock their minds with apt quotations from Homer or Virgil and allusions to events in ancient history. He would cram his mind instead with images from Italy's glorious tradition of art. By spending hours in palaces and religious buildings where classical statues and paintings by the old masters were on display, Reynolds memorised faces, expressions, gestures, the arrangement of points of interest, and the uses of background light and shade to enhance the effect of figures in the foreground.

No doubt Reynolds would have liked to return to England to paint famous scenes from the Bible or classical mythology, as the old masters had done. But he was a practical man, and he knew only too well that such "history pictures" by British artists would not sell. Wealthy Englishmen paid large sums for pictures in the grand Italian manner by Continental artists, but from native British painters they still bought almost nothing but portraits. Reynold's plan, therefore, was to use his own adaptation of the grand Italian styles of history painting in doing likenesses of English sitters. If his idea met with success, he hoped it would influence other British painters. Thus England's aristocrats might gradually come to recognise that native-born artists were capable of creating fine works other than portraits and accept them on a higher level.

In 1753 Reynolds was back in London to put his carefully thought out plan to the test. His first picture to attract public notice was a full-length portrait of his friend Commodore Keppel striding along a storm-lashed shore. It was no accident that the commodore's pose almost exactly duplicated that of the famous ancient Greek statue, the Apollo Belvedere. Nor was it an accident that the commodore's pose was almost identical to the one that Allan Ramsay - who was then the leading painter in London and who had also studied in Italy - used earlier for his well-known portrait of the Scottish chieftain Norman MacLeod. By painting a portrait similar to Ramsay's, Reynolds intended to demonstrate that he was the better artist, with a new and more vibrant way of bringing the grand Italian styles to British portraiture.

He succeeded exactly as he had planned. Augustus, Viscount Keppel won spectacular acclaim and put Reynolds in enormous demand as a portrait painter. By 1755 the demand for Reynold's work was so great that he had painted more than 100 portraits. Not all were heroic or attempted to be; many were mere "heads", which cost less than a full-length likeness. But when Reynolds got a commission for a full-length portrait, especially when the sitter was a high-ranking nobleman, he usually painted him in a pose adapted from a well-known classical or renaissance model.

Few people in 18th century Britain regarded this practice of using the creations of the old masters to glorify English sitters as a form of artistic plagiarism. Indeed it was admired and applauded. While envious rivals of Reynolds sometimes whispered that he was making a fortune out of the concepts of other artists, the critics, connoisseurs and picture buyers did not see it that way. They agreed with Reynolds that he was naturalising on British soil the noble tradition of the grand Italian style.

This early success made Reynolds London's leading painter. He had brought to British painting a new versatility, but to his mind this was not enough. To accomplish the rest of his declared purpose of raising the social prestige of British painters, it would be necessary to set an example for them. Now he must make influential friends in the highest ranks and move conspicuously in the best society. As his fortunes improved, he advanced to successively larger houses where he could entertain impressively and he made a special effort to cultivate men of letters, who had already succeeded in elevating their social status.

His most important conquest was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the acknowledged ruler of London's literary life. Johnson was fourteen years older than Reynolds was, but the two became lifelong friends, and Reynolds often declared that Johnson was his source of wisdom and inspiration. Reynolds was a middle-class provincial with no formal education beyond his father's grammar school, and Johnson's endless conversation, full of classical allusions and rolling, latinised sentences, was as good as an Oxford education. Other intimates of Reynolds included Oliver Goldsmith - poet, novelist and playwright - and Edmund Burke, a leading statesman as well as a man of letters. Encouraged and perhaps coached by his literary friends, Reynolds began to write articles on art and aesthetics for the Idler, a literary magazine.

Business continued to flood into his studio. In order to handle the deluge - sometimes more than 150 portraits in a year - he employed a good deal of help. In the manner of Hudson, but never as mechanically, Reynolds planned and blocked out the portraits and painted the faces and other crucial parts himself. Under his watchful supervision his assistants did the rest, especially the clothes and backgrounds.

Shortly after the accession of George III, in 1760, Reynolds bought a large house in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), in the most fashionable part of London. There he built a splendid gallery to show his pictures. The mansion in Leicester Fields became one of London's leading intellectual and social centres. There Reynolds kept open house, limited of course, to people of standing. To the house came the eminent statesmen of the day, the most famous writers, musicians and philosophers, the nobles and aristocrats, the most dazzling beauties of society and the theatre. Few painters came; although Reynolds had set himself up a model for other British artists to emulate and was kind to artists in need of a helping hand, he never allowed himself to be close friends with a painter who might become a rival.

No 18th century British artist was as fiercely dedicated to the cause of British painting as Reynolds was. Curiously enough, the snobbish and sometimes pompous Reynolds harboured a modesty about his own talent - and therein lay his strength. He began his career believing that he was an average painter who could rise to greatness by studying classical artists and European masters and applying their themes, compositions, settings and even their costumes to portraiture. This conviction became the driving force in his crusade to link British painting, which had little tradition of its own, to important European art thorough the ages. It also fuelled his own work; while striving to duplicate the grand manner of the past, he never stopped trying to improve as a painter. And his range of creativity suggests that he achieved excellence despite his theories rather than because of them.

In 1768, when the Royal Academy of Art was founded to promote the fine arts in Britain, Reynolds was a natural choice for President. The Royal Academy was not only a lobbying body for artists and the home of an immensely important annual selling exhibition, but it was also the official art school. For the next twenty years, Reynolds combined his practice as a painter with the task of running the Academy. In 1769, taking his pedagogic functions very seriously, he delivered the first of his annual Discourses to the students of the academy in which he set forth the idealistic, moralising principles of academic art. His authority in the Academy was paramount and with his fifteen Discourses (delivered over the next two decades) he became the official spokesman of the Academy's thinking, and to an extent was personally responsible for developing its theory. The lectures were later published as The Discourse on Art and have become the classic expression of the academic doctrine of the Grand Manner.

In 1764 Reynolds founded the Literary Club, which included essayist and critic Samuel Johnson, actor David Garrick, statesman Edmund Burke, writer Oliver Goldsmith, writer James Boswell, and dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan. By this time, Reynolds had done more than any other artist had to raise the public profile and the social standing of the fine arts in Britain. In 1769 he was knighted by George III, and in 1784 he succeeded Allan Ramsay as painter to the king.

Reynolds is credited with more than 2000 portraits. Unfortunately, his use of bitumen (or asphalt) and experimental pigments and methods made some of his colours fade prematurely. Reynolds ceased to paint, because of failing eyesight, in the summer of 1789 and he died in London on the 23rd of February 1792.

http://www.abcgallery.com/R/reynolds/reynolds231.jpg

Self-Portrait

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 3:38 am


British Person of the Day: Edward Shackleton, late Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC (15 July 1911 – 22 September 1994), was a British geographer and Labour Party politician.

Born in Wandsworth, London, he was the younger son of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer. In 1938, he married Betty Homan, and they had two children: the Hon. Charles Edward Ernest Shackleton and the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton.

In 1934 Shackleton organised the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition and chose Gordon Noel Humphreys to lead it. Shackleton accompanied the party as the assistant surveyor to Humphreys. The expedition was eventually responsible for naming Mount Oxford (after the University of Oxford) and the British Empire Range.

In 1946, Shackleton was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Preston in a by-election. In 1950, he was elected MP for Preston South, re-elected in 1951. In 1955, he stood down and was made a life peer as Baron Shackleton, of Burley in the County of Hampshire in 1958. In Harold Wilson's government, he served as Minister of Defence for the RAF 1964-1967, Minister without Portfolio 1967-1968 and Paymaster General 1968. He was Leader of the House of Lords from 1968 to 1970, and subsequently Opposition Leader of the House of Lords.

From 1971, he was President of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1994 he became the Life President of the newly founded James Caird Society, named after the boat in which his explorer father and crew escaped Antarctica (itself, in turn, named for James Key Caird (1837-1916), jute baron and philanthropist). He acted also as patron of the British Schools Exploring Society (B.S.E.S.) from 1962 until his death in the New Forest aged 83.

In 1990 he was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, "for service to Australian/British relations, particularly through the Britain/Australia Society".

Lord Shackleton was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, in which role he was deeply interested in the development of geography at Southampton. A portrait photograph of Lord Shackleton was unveiled by his daughter the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton in December 1997 in the university's Shackleton Building, which houses the Departments of Geography and Psychology.

http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/explorers_history/sir_ernest_shackleton_portrait.jpg

http://www.jamescairdsociety.com/pix/Shack%20Scott%20Wilson.jpg
I forgot to post this yesterday...

http://www.sydenham.org.uk/ernest_shackleton_01.gif

http://www.sydenham.org.uk/ernest_shackleton_01.jpg
A Blue Plaque for Ernest Shckleton on a house where he used to live in Lewisham London.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 6:23 am


British Person of the Day: Joshua Reynolds
Biography


"I would rather be an apothecary than an ordinary painter, but if I could be bound to an eminent master, I would choose the latter."

Born 16 July in 1723, Joshua Reynold's family were substantial burghers in the small town of Plympton, in Devonshire, on the south-west coast of England. His father was a clergyman-schoolmaster and other relatives were tradesmen in the town. Joshua was a serious, studious boy, and when he was about 17 his father favoured apprenticing him to a local apothecary. Joshua had other ideas. For years he had been drawing, copying prints in his father's library and studying a book called Essay on the Theory of Painting by the British artist Jonathan Richardson, a work that fired his ambition to become a painter. At the age of 12 he had already painted a portrait of the Reverend Thomas Smart on sailcloth, using shipyard paints. It was not much of a portrait, but his father agreed that it showed talent. So when it came time to decide whether Joshua was to learn the apothecary's trade or seek a career in art, a well-to-do friend of the family, a Mr. Craunch, was called in to evaluate the boy's efforts and give his opinion. After due consideration Mr. Craunch thought that it might be arranged for one of London's best-known portrait painters, Thomas Hudson, to look at young Joshua's work. Hudson, whose many assistants and assembly line methods enabled him to turn out competent likenesses by the dozen, was a native of Devonshire and often returned there to visit. If he saw promise in Joshua, perhaps he would take him on as an apprentice; in that event Mr. Craunch agreed to pay for Reynold's upkeep and training.

In this way, Joshua Reynolds became a painter. In his own mind he soon saw himself as more than a painter, more even than a great painter. He would dedicate himself to the task of raising the prestige of British painters so that they would be accepted in aristocratic society, as leading men of letters already were. It was a large ambition for a young artist, but he never abandoned the goal, and to a remarkable extent he attained it.

In Hudson's "portrait factory" in London, where he entered a four-year apprenticeship, Joshua mastered the mechanical tricks of the trade so quickly that after about two years Hudson agreed to let him begin an independent career as a professional. Reynolds then left London to paint portraits at Plympton, but upon the death of his father in 1746 he set up housekeeping with his two unmarried sisters at Plymouth Dock (now Devonport). In making this move Joshua knew exactly what he was doing. To become a fashionable painter and raise his calling to high social status, he realised that he must make aristocratic friends, and Plymouth Dock, a Navy base, was a good place to begin. In those days nearly all British Navy officers belonged to the aristocracy.

For nearly three years Joshua worked doggedly, producing portraits that ranged from poor to good; the best were in no way extraordinary. He painted the local gentry and a good many naval officers, and his pleasant, earnest personality made many friends. But the big opportunity he was waiting for did not come until 1749 when a squadron commanded by a young nobleman, the Honourable Augustus Keppel, put into Plymouth to repair storm damage. Reynolds painted the commodore's portrait, which turned out to be the best he had done so far, and the two men became fast friends. When the squadron was seaworthy again, Keppel invited the artist to sail with him to the Mediterranean.

Reynolds left Keppel's ship at the Balearic island of Minorca, then a British stronghold. There he painted enough portraits to finance another step in the career he had planned for himself - a pilgrimage to Italy, the fountainhead of European art. He would study the old masters, especially Raphael. Then he would return to England and convince his countrymen that he could not only paint in the grand Italian manner but that he could do it more successfully than any of his British predecessors. He landed at Leghorn in January 1750 and headed for Rome, where he stayed for two years before visiting Florence, Bologna, Parma and Venice.

In Italy Reynolds did very little painting. He had not come to learn technique, which he felt he already knew. His program was analogous to that of the scholars of his period who read and reread Greek and Latin authors in order to stock their minds with apt quotations from Homer or Virgil and allusions to events in ancient history. He would cram his mind instead with images from Italy's glorious tradition of art. By spending hours in palaces and religious buildings where classical statues and paintings by the old masters were on display, Reynolds memorised faces, expressions, gestures, the arrangement of points of interest, and the uses of background light and shade to enhance the effect of figures in the foreground.

No doubt Reynolds would have liked to return to England to paint famous scenes from the Bible or classical mythology, as the old masters had done. But he was a practical man, and he knew only too well that such "history pictures" by British artists would not sell. Wealthy Englishmen paid large sums for pictures in the grand Italian manner by Continental artists, but from native British painters they still bought almost nothing but portraits. Reynold's plan, therefore, was to use his own adaptation of the grand Italian styles of history painting in doing likenesses of English sitters. If his idea met with success, he hoped it would influence other British painters. Thus England's aristocrats might gradually come to recognise that native-born artists were capable of creating fine works other than portraits and accept them on a higher level.

In 1753 Reynolds was back in London to put his carefully thought out plan to the test. His first picture to attract public notice was a full-length portrait of his friend Commodore Keppel striding along a storm-lashed shore. It was no accident that the commodore's pose almost exactly duplicated that of the famous ancient Greek statue, the Apollo Belvedere. Nor was it an accident that the commodore's pose was almost identical to the one that Allan Ramsay - who was then the leading painter in London and who had also studied in Italy - used earlier for his well-known portrait of the Scottish chieftain Norman MacLeod. By painting a portrait similar to Ramsay's, Reynolds intended to demonstrate that he was the better artist, with a new and more vibrant way of bringing the grand Italian styles to British portraiture.

He succeeded exactly as he had planned. Augustus, Viscount Keppel won spectacular acclaim and put Reynolds in enormous demand as a portrait painter. By 1755 the demand for Reynold's work was so great that he had painted more than 100 portraits. Not all were heroic or attempted to be; many were mere "heads", which cost less than a full-length likeness. But when Reynolds got a commission for a full-length portrait, especially when the sitter was a high-ranking nobleman, he usually painted him in a pose adapted from a well-known classical or renaissance model.

Few people in 18th century Britain regarded this practice of using the creations of the old masters to glorify English sitters as a form of artistic plagiarism. Indeed it was admired and applauded. While envious rivals of Reynolds sometimes whispered that he was making a fortune out of the concepts of other artists, the critics, connoisseurs and picture buyers did not see it that way. They agreed with Reynolds that he was naturalising on British soil the noble tradition of the grand Italian style.

This early success made Reynolds London's leading painter. He had brought to British painting a new versatility, but to his mind this was not enough. To accomplish the rest of his declared purpose of raising the social prestige of British painters, it would be necessary to set an example for them. Now he must make influential friends in the highest ranks and move conspicuously in the best society. As his fortunes improved, he advanced to successively larger houses where he could entertain impressively and he made a special effort to cultivate men of letters, who had already succeeded in elevating their social status.

His most important conquest was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the acknowledged ruler of London's literary life. Johnson was fourteen years older than Reynolds was, but the two became lifelong friends, and Reynolds often declared that Johnson was his source of wisdom and inspiration. Reynolds was a middle-class provincial with no formal education beyond his father's grammar school, and Johnson's endless conversation, full of classical allusions and rolling, latinised sentences, was as good as an Oxford education. Other intimates of Reynolds included Oliver Goldsmith - poet, novelist and playwright - and Edmund Burke, a leading statesman as well as a man of letters. Encouraged and perhaps coached by his literary friends, Reynolds began to write articles on art and aesthetics for the Idler, a literary magazine.

Business continued to flood into his studio. In order to handle the deluge - sometimes more than 150 portraits in a year - he employed a good deal of help. In the manner of Hudson, but never as mechanically, Reynolds planned and blocked out the portraits and painted the faces and other crucial parts himself. Under his watchful supervision his assistants did the rest, especially the clothes and backgrounds.

Shortly after the accession of George III, in 1760, Reynolds bought a large house in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), in the most fashionable part of London. There he built a splendid gallery to show his pictures. The mansion in Leicester Fields became one of London's leading intellectual and social centres. There Reynolds kept open house, limited of course, to people of standing. To the house came the eminent statesmen of the day, the most famous writers, musicians and philosophers, the nobles and aristocrats, the most dazzling beauties of society and the theatre. Few painters came; although Reynolds had set himself up a model for other British artists to emulate and was kind to artists in need of a helping hand, he never allowed himself to be close friends with a painter who might become a rival.

No 18th century British artist was as fiercely dedicated to the cause of British painting as Reynolds was. Curiously enough, the snobbish and sometimes pompous Reynolds harboured a modesty about his own talent - and therein lay his strength. He began his career believing that he was an average painter who could rise to greatness by studying classical artists and European masters and applying their themes, compositions, settings and even their costumes to portraiture. This conviction became the driving force in his crusade to link British painting, which had little tradition of its own, to important European art thorough the ages. It also fuelled his own work; while striving to duplicate the grand manner of the past, he never stopped trying to improve as a painter. And his range of creativity suggests that he achieved excellence despite his theories rather than because of them.

In 1768, when the Royal Academy of Art was founded to promote the fine arts in Britain, Reynolds was a natural choice for President. The Royal Academy was not only a lobbying body for artists and the home of an immensely important annual selling exhibition, but it was also the official art school. For the next twenty years, Reynolds combined his practice as a painter with the task of running the Academy. In 1769, taking his pedagogic functions very seriously, he delivered the first of his annual Discourses to the students of the academy in which he set forth the idealistic, moralising principles of academic art. His authority in the Academy was paramount and with his fifteen Discourses (delivered over the next two decades) he became the official spokesman of the Academy's thinking, and to an extent was personally responsible for developing its theory. The lectures were later published as The Discourse on Art and have become the classic expression of the academic doctrine of the Grand Manner.

In 1764 Reynolds founded the Literary Club, which included essayist and critic Samuel Johnson, actor David Garrick, statesman Edmund Burke, writer Oliver Goldsmith, writer James Boswell, and dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan. By this time, Reynolds had done more than any other artist had to raise the public profile and the social standing of the fine arts in Britain. In 1769 he was knighted by George III, and in 1784 he succeeded Allan Ramsay as painter to the king.

Reynolds is credited with more than 2000 portraits. Unfortunately, his use of bitumen (or asphalt) and experimental pigments and methods made some of his colours fade prematurely. Reynolds ceased to paint, because of failing eyesight, in the summer of 1789 and he died in London on the 23rd of February 1792.

http://www.abcgallery.com/R/reynolds/reynolds231.jpg

Self-Portrait

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 6:25 am


Thanks Phil :)
No problem.

There should be a plaque for Joshua Reynolds in London, I will post it later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 6:29 am

The word of the day...Elf
An elf (plural elves) is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine or semi-divine beings (wights, vættir) endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind. In pre-Christian mythology, they appear to have been divided into light elves and dark elves, difficult to delineate from the Æsir (gods) on one hand and the dvergar (dwarves) on the other.

In early modern and modern folklore, they become associated with the fairies of the 19-century Romantic portrayal of English folklore and assume a diminutive size, often living underground in hills or rocks, or in wells and springs. 19th-century Romanticism attempted to restore them to full stature, often depicting them as very young, probably adolescent (lack of facial hair on male elves), men and women of great beauty. From their depiction in Romanticism, elves entered the 20th-century high fantasy genre in the wake of the publications of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially the posthumous publication of his Silmarillion where Tolkien's treatment of the relation of light elves, dark elves, black elves and dwarves in Norse mythology is made explicit.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/ulilfocker/Elf-1.jpg
http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx155/WiCkEdWiTcHy/Elf_by_tatertot101010.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y300/chinadragon/Drizztcontempt.jpg
http://i321.photobucket.com/albums/nn371/juggs_67/Fairy.jpg
http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad36/xylia-the-light-hearted/elf.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f117/Ayakitten31/elf.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg193/vjones60/Fairies%20-%20Elves%20-%202/mariposa.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 6:32 am

The person born on this day...Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell (pronounced /ˈfɛrəl/;  born July 16, 1967)  is an American comedian, actor, voice actor and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the Frat Pack, a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors to emerge in the late 1990s and the 2000s including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen  and Luke Wilson.
Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, the son of Betty Kay (née Overman), a teacher who taught at Old Mill School elementary school, and Ray Lee Ferrell, Jr., a guitarist for The Righteous Brothers.  His parents were both natives of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina  and moved to California in 1964;  Ferrell also has Irish ancestry.  He first attended school at Turtle Rock Elementary, and later attended Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, both in Irvine. He attended University High School in Irvine, and was a kicker  for the school's varsity football team.  He told the Orange County Register that the dullness of Irvine contributed to the growth of his humor. "Growing up in suburbia, in safe, master-planned Irvine, there was no drama so we had to create it in our heads. My main form of entertainment was cracking my friends up and exploring new ways of being funny. I didn't have to have the survival mode instinct like other comics, who grew up in tough neighborhoods. I had the opposite. For me, I grew up in Mayberry, and the humor broke the boredom. And there was a lot to make fun of."

He enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he studied Sports Broadcasting and graduated with a degree in Sports Information. He is also a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. After graduating in 1990, he developed his improvisation skills as a member of the comedy group The Groundlings.
Saturday Night Live
Ferrell (as Alex Trebek, left) and Darrell Hammond (as Sean Connery, right) in the SNL sketch "Celebrity Jeopardy!".

Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995 and left in 2002 after a successful 7 year tenure. He returned to host twice (both in season finales), and once in the cold open of the final episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday

During his time on SNL, Ferrell made a name for himself with his impersonations, which included:

    * U.S. President George W. Bush
    * Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray,
    * Singer Robert Goulet (crooning a cappella pieces of music by Sisqó, Baha Men, and Notorious B.I.G.),
    * Singer Neil Diamond,
    * Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton (who was quoted several times to favor Ferrell's impersonation),
    * Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy,
    * United States Attorney General Janet Reno,
    * Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski,
    * Game show host Alex Trebek,
    * Fictitious black private detective Shaft,
    * Professional wrestler-turned-Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura,
    * U.S. Vice President Al Gore (Darrell Hammond took over once Ferrell started playing Bush),
    * Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
    * Cuban President Fidel Castro.

As Gene Frenkle of Blue Öyster Cult in the Saturday Night Live sketch More Cowbell

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse's twin brother Ned, fictional Blue Öyster Cult member Gene Frenkle (physically modeled after Blue Öyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom), music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant from "Dissing Your Dog", Hank of the Bill Brasky Buddies, David Leary from "Dog Show", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998's A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005, and May 16, 2009. Both times, he reprised his role as Alex Trebek in the "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketches. On the May 14 appearance, Ferrell reprised his role as Robert Goulet in a fake commercial advertising a series of crooned ringtones and, during the performance of the song "Little Sister" by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came on stage playing the cowbell.

Ferrell became the highest paid cast member of Saturday Night Live in 2001 with a season salary of $350,000.
Film

During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, The Ladies Man, Dick, Drowning Mona, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank "The Tank" Richard in Old School (2003). The film "belongs to Mr. Ferrell," declared the New York Times, which described how he "uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part." Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.

The title role in Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in 2004 and 2005 in films such as Melinda and Melinda, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch earning himself a place among Hollywood's Frat Pack. In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million. In 2006, Ferrell starred in Stranger Than Fiction and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell's performance in Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell's acting talents. On December 27, 2006, 'The Magazine' named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.
Ferrell at the premiere of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, December 2007.

Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the ESPY Awards in 2006 about Lance Armstrong and Neil Armstrong. He and John C. Reilly also did a spot during the 2008 ESPY Awards where they made demands in order for them to appear at the ESPYs like asking Portland Trail Blazers' center Greg Oden to tuck them in at night and tell them stories of the old times or to bring back the Cold War so the Olympics can be interesting again.

Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with John C. Reilly and Jack Black, wherein they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.

In May 2009 it was announced Ferrell is in talks to star in Neighborhood Watch, a comedy about an urbanite who moves to the suburbs and uncovers a conspiracy. In negotiations to direct is David Dobkin, who gave Ferrell a cameo in Wedding Crashers. In August 2009, Ferrell decided not to do the film. In the summer of 2009, Ferrell did a large amount of filming with several young actors. He helped out on a film entitled Making a Movie, which is now on DVD.

Ferrell's most recent film Land of the Lost was released in June 2009 and was a commercial and critical flop after earning $19 million on opening weekend, about two-thirds of what the studio expected.
Voice acting

Ferrell has worked as a voice actor in several animated television programs, including his portrayal of Bob Oblong, a 1950s-style father with no arms or legs, in the short-lived animated television series The Oblongs. He has had several guest appearances on Family Guy, where he played the Black Knight in "Mr. Saturday Knight", as well as Fat Greek Guy and Miles "Chatterbox" Musket in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame". Ferrell also starred as Ted (a.k.a. The Man in the Yellow Hat) in the movie Curious George and guest voiced on an episode of the FOX sitcom King of the Hill as an overly-PC soccer coach. He will voice the title character in the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film MegaMind.
Funny or Die
At the British premiere of Talladega Nights. September 12, 2006

In April 2007, Ferrell launched "Funny or Die", a streaming video website where short comedy films are uploaded and voted on by users. The site features The Landlord, starring Ferrell and Funny or Die co-founder Adam McKay. Ferrell's character is harassed for the rent by his landlady, a swearing, beer-loving, two-year-old girl (played by McKay's daughter, Pearl). Child psychologists have criticized Ferrell and the McKay family for child exploitation, to which McKay responded:

    Fortunately she is in this great stage now where she repeats anything you say to her and then forgets it right away, which is key. She has not said the 'B-word' since we shot the thing.
    —Adam McKay

They followed with the release of a video entitled "Good Cop, Baby Cop" which also starred baby Pearl; the end of the video stated that this would be her final appearance and wished her a happy "baby retirement."

In September 2008, Ferrell released another video entitled "Will Ferrell Answers Internet Questions" where he takes some pressing questions and comments from his fans.

Other Ferrell's appearance on "Funny or Die", website is in video called Green Team, featuring also McKay and John C Reilly. It shows militant ecologic activists terrorizing crew on filming set.
Stage career

Ferrell made his Broadway debut taking on departing U.S. President George W. Bush in a one-man show called You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. The show started performances on January 20, 2009 in previews — Bush’s final day in office — at the Cort Theatre and opened officially on February 1. The limited engagement played through March 15, 2009.
Eastbound & Down

Ferrell co-produces (with Adam McKay) an HBO show starring Danny McBride called Eastbound & Down. He also has a recurring role as car dealer Ashley Schaeffer.
Personal life

In August 2000, Ferrell married Swedish actress Viveca Paulin, whom he met in 1995 at an acting class. They live in New York City and in Orange County, California and have three sons, Magnus Paulin Ferrell, born March 7, 2004, Mattias Paulin Ferrell, born December 30, 2006, and Axel Paulin Ferrell, born January 23, 2010.

In 2006, I-Newswire.com, a site that accepts submissions from readers and publishes them as "press releases", reported that Ferrell had died in a paragliding accident. The hoax was published before its factual inaccuracy was noticed. The story was further propagated when it appeared on Google News.

Ferrell is a fan of USC Trojan football. At USC, Ferrell was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity and is now an active alumnus. Ferrell has worked with former head coach Pete Carroll to do motivational stunts for the players during the season.

Ferrell is also a supporter of Chelsea, an English Premier League football club. Ferrell represented Chelsea as honorary captain in the coin toss before the Chelsea v Inter Milan match at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on July 21, 2009.

Ferrell enjoys running and has participated in several major marathons such as the Boston, New York and Stockholm Marathons. He also raises money for charity, including his Scholarships for Cancer Survivors campaign through Crowdrise; a social networking community for volunteers and a micro-donations fundraising platform.

In 2007, Autograph magazine named Ferrell the worst celebrity autographer. Its editor stated, "What's so frustrating about Will Ferrell being the worst autograph signer this past year is that he used to be so nice to fans and collectors and a great signer. What makes him so bad is that he'll taunt people asking for his autograph." In response, Ferrell has stated, "I don't know how I got on the list. I sign a lot of autographs," but has admitted to taunting autograph-seekers: "I do. I really do. I'm like, 'How badly do you want this autograph?' 'Are you sure?' 'You say you're my biggest fan, really, prove it.' I'll do things like that. They have to earn it."

Ferrell had noted that, although he was well known for his SNL impersonation of President George W. Bush, he chose, for both professional and political reasons, not to meet the President on several occasions, unlike his SNL predecessor Dana Carvey's famous chummy relationship with George H. W. Bush: "I declined, partly out of comedic purposes, because when I was on the show Saturday Night Live at the time, it didn't make sense to really meet the people that you play, for fear of them influencing you. And then the other side of it is, from a political standpoint, I don't want to meet that guy." Ferrell also appeared on an episode of Man vs. Wild, where he traveled throughout the tundras of Sweden with the show's host, Bear Grylls. In the episode, Ferrell came across various unique situations, which included eating the eye of a reindeer.

Ferrell made a comical debut as a relief pitcher for the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, on May 6, 2010. He was introduced as "Billy Ray 'Rojo' Johnson", and was brought in to relief pitch for the sixth inning. He then entertained the fans by bringing a sack of beer cans to the mound, as well as being ejected and getting chased by the opposing batter. He revealed himself to the fans when his moustache fell off during the chase. The appearance was cooked up by Ferrell and the Express, who sent out a press release announcing Johnson's "signing", to promote The Will Powered Golf Classic the following day at the nearby Cimarron Hills Country Club, which benefits Cancer for College, an organization that provides scholarships to cancer survivors. Ferrell is also an avid fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

Nominated:

    * 2001: Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program (for Saturday Night Live)

ESPY Awards

Won:

    * 2007 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby)
    * 2008 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Semi-Pro)

Golden Globe Awards

Nominated:

    * 2006: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (for The Producers)
    * 2007: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (for Stranger than Fiction)

James Joyce Award

    * 2008: James Joyce Award from University College Dublin's Literary and Historical Society in recognition for "excelling in his field".

MTV Movie Awards

Won:

    * 2007: Best Kiss for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (with Sacha Baron Cohen)

Nominated:

    * 2003: Best Comedic Performance (for Old School)
    * 2003: Best On-Screen Team (with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn for Old School)
    * 2004: Best Comedic Performance (for Elf)
    * 2005: Best Comedic Performance (for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
    * 2005: Best On-Screen Team (with Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
    * 2005: Best Musical Performance (with Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
    * 2007: Best Comedic Performance (for Blades of Glory)
    * 2007: Best Fight (for Blades of Glory)

Razzie Awards

Nominated:

    * 2005: Worst Actor for Bewitched, Kicking & Screaming and Land of the Lost

Satellite Awards

Nominated:

    * 2006: Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (for Stranger Than Fiction)

Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards

Won:

    * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Funniest Mo-fo
    * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Most Viral Video

Teen Choice Awards

Won:

    * 2007: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Blades of Glory

Nominated:

    * 2004: Choice Comedian
    * 2004: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Elf
    * 2005: Choice Comedian
    * 2005: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Kicking & Screaming
    * 2005: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Kicking & Screaming
    * 2005: Choice Movie Rumble for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    * 2005: Choice Movie Sleazebag for Kicking & Screaming
    * 2007: Choice Comedian
    * 2007: Choice Movie Chemistry (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
    * 2007: Choice Movie Dance (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
    * 2007: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Blades of Glory
    * 2008: Choice Comedian
    * 2008: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Semi-Pro
    * 2009: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Land of the Lost

Tony Awards

Nominated:

    * 2009: Best Special Theatrical Event (for You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush)

Filmography
Year Movie Role U.S. gross
1995 Bucket of Blood Young Man Made for TV
Criminal Hearts Newscaster
1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Mustafa US$53.9 million
Men Seeking Women Al
1998 A Night at the Roxbury Steve Butabi US$30.3 million
The Thin Pink Line Darren Clark
1999 Superstar Sky Corrigan/God US$30.6 million
Dick Bob Woodward US$6.2 million
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Mustafa US$206 million
The Suburbans Gil US$11,130
2000 The Ladies Man Lance DeLune US$13.6 million
Drowning Mona Cubby the Funeral Director US$15.4 million
2001 Zoolander Mugatu US$45.2 million
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly US$30.1 million
2002 Boat Trip Brian's Boyfriend US$8.6 million
2003 Old School Frank "the Tank" Ricard US$74.6 million
Elf Buddy US$173.4 million
2004 Melinda and Melinda Hobie US$3.8 million
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Ron Burgundy US$84.1 million
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Ron Burgundy
Starsky & Hutch Big Earl US$88.2 million
Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party Himself
2005 The Producers Franz Liebkind US$19.4 million
Wedding Crashers Chazz Reinhold US$209.2 million
Winter Passing Corbit US$101,228
Bewitched Jack Wyatt/Darrin US$62.3 million
Kicking & Screaming Phil Weston US$52.6 million
The Wendell Baker Story Dave Bix US$127,144
2006 Stranger Than Fiction Harold Crick US$40.1 million
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Ricky Bobby US$148.2 million
Curious George Ted/The Man in the Yellow Hat US$58.3 million
2007 Blades of Glory Chazz Michael Michaels US$118.2 million
2008 Semi-Pro Jackie Moon US$33.4 million
Step Brothers Brennan Huff US$101.1 million
2009 Land of the Lost Dr. Rick Marshall US$49.4 million
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Craig McDermott US$15.1 million
SpongeBob's Truth or Square Himself
2010 The Other Guys Detective Allen Gamble
MegaMind MegaMind
Television work

    * Saturday Night Live (cast member from 1995–2002, host in 2005 and 2009)
    * Cow and Chicken (1997–2001) (voice in various episodes)
    * Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000 (2000)
    * Family Guy (as the Black Knight)(2001)
    * Undeclared (guest star)
    * The Oblongs (2001–2002) (voice)
    * King of the Hill (as Coach Lucas) (1999) (voice)
    * The Tom Green Show (guest star)
    * Family Guy (as himself) (2005)
    * The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (guest star)
    * Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (voiceover and guest)
    * Eastbound & Down (BMW Dealership Owner Ashley Schaeffer)
    * You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush
    * Man vs. Wild (guest star)
    * Live with Regis and Kelly (co-host)
    * 63rd Tony Awards (2009), 2009 MTV Movie Awards and 2009 TV Land Awards
    * The Merrick & Rosso Show (as himself) (2009)
    * SpongeBob SquarePants (as himself)(2009)
    * Strangers with Candy (2000)
    * Funny or Die Presents (2010)
    * Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job (2010)
    * 30 Rock (2010)

Salary

    * Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) $20,000,000
    * Bewitched (2005) $20,000,000
    * Kicking & Screaming (2005) $20,000,000
    * Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) $6,900,000

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jbravo_uknowit/ferrell.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp93/blistik/thCowbell2.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 6:36 am

The person who died on this day...Harry Chapin
Harry Forster Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle"; as well as his folk musical based on the biblical book of John, "Cotton Patch Gospel". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger, his work a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.  In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work. Chapin was born in New York City, the second of four children—including future musicians Tom  and Steve—born to Jeanne Elspeth (née Burke) and Jim Chapin. He had English ancestry, his great grandparents having emigrated in the late 19th century. His parents divorced in 1950, with Elspeth retaining custody of their four sons, as Jim spent much of his time on the road as a drummer for Big Band era acts such as Woody Herman. She married Films in Review  magazine editor Henry Hart a few years later.

Chapin's first formal introduction to music was while singing in the Brooklyn Boys Choir. It was here that Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a tenor with a five-octave range, who would later become his bassist and backing vocalist. He began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums.

Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960, and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall Of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy and was then an intermittent student at Cornell University, but did not complete a degree.

He originally intended to be a documentary film-maker, and directed Legendary Champions in 1968, which was nominated for a documentary Academy Award. In 1971, he decided to focus on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott and Ron Palmer, Chapin started playing in various local nightclubs in New York City.
Recording career

Following an unsuccessful early album made with his brothers, Tom and Steve, Chapin's debut album was Heads & Tales (1972, #60), which was a success thanks to the single "Taxi" (#24). Chapin later gave great credit to WMEX-Boston radio personality Jim Connors for being the DJ who "discovered" this single, and pushed the air play of this song among fellow radio programmers in the U.S.

However, Chapin's recording future became somewhat of a controversy between two powerful record companies headed by two very powerful men, Jac Holzman of Elektra Records and Clive Davis of Columbia. According to Chapin's biography Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story by Peter M. Coan, Chapin had agreed in principle to sign with Elektra Records on the grounds that a smaller record label would give greater personal attention to his work. Clive Davis, however, remained undaunted, doubling almost every cash advance offer Chapin received from Holzman. Despite a cordial relationship with Holzman, Davis had a long history of besting Holzman over the years to particular artists, but this was one time that he did not prevail.

Chapin ultimately signed with Elektra for a smaller advance, but with provisions that made it worth the move. The biggest stipulation in the nine-album deal was that he receive free studio time, meaning he paid no recording costs. It was a move that would ultimately save Chapin hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term of his contract and set a precedent for other musicians.

"This was completely unheard of," said Davis in the Coan book. "There was no such thing as free studio time."

Chapin's follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, #160), was less successful despite containing the Chapin anthem "Circle" (a big European hit for The New Seekers). His third album, Short Stories (1974, #61), was a modest success. Verities & Balderdash (1974, #4), released soon after, was much more successful, bolstered by the chart-topping hit single "Cat's in the Cradle", based upon a poem by his wife; Sandra Chapin had written the poem inspired by her first husband's relationship with his father and a country song she heard on the radio. When Harry's son Josh was born, he got the idea to put music to the words and recorded the result. "Cat's in the Cradle" was Chapin's only number one hit, shooting album sales skyward and making him a millionaire.

He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical The Night That Made America Famous. Additionally, Chapin wrote the music and lyrics for Cotton Patch Gospel, a musical by Tom Key based on Clarence Jordan's book The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John. The original cast soundtrack was produced by Tom Chapin, and released in 1982 by Chapin Productions.

Chapin's only UK hit was "W*O*L*D", which reached #34 in 1974. His popularity in the UK owed much to the championing of BBC disc jockey Noel Edmonds. The song's success in the U.S. was championed by WMEX jock and friend of Chapin's Jim Connors who in part inspired the song. The national appeal of the song was a result of disc jockeys playing it for themselves, since the song dealt with a much-traveled DJ, problems in his personal life, and his difficulty with aging in the industry. This song was also a significant inspiration (though not the only one) for Hugh Wilson, who created the popular television series about DJs and radio, WKRP in Cincinnati.

Chapin's recording of "The Shortest Story", a song he wrote about a dying child and featured in his 1976 live/studio album Greatest Stories Live, was named by author Tom Reynolds in his book I Hate Myself And Want To Die as the second most depressing song of all time.

By the end of the decade, Chapin's contract with Elektra (which had since merged with Asylum Records under the control of David Geffen) had expired, and the company made no offer to renew it. A minor deal with Casablanca fell through, and Chapin settled on a simple one-album deal with Boardwalk Records. The Boardwalk album, though no one knew it at the time, would be his final work.

The title track of his last album, Sequel, was a follow up to his earlier song "Taxi", reuniting the same characters ten years later. The songs Chapin was working on at the time of his death were subsequently released as the thematic album The Last Protest Singer.
Personal life

Chapin met Sandy Cashmore (née Gaston), a New York socialite nine years his senior, in 1966, after she called him asking for music lessons. They married two years later. The story of their meeting and romance is told in his song "I Wanna Learn a Love Song". He fathered two children with her, Jennifer and Joshua, and was stepfather to her three children by a previous marriage.
Philanthropic work

Chapin was resolved to leave his imprint on Long Island. He envisioned a Long Island where the arts flourished and universities expanded and humane discourse was the norm. "He thought Long Island represented a remarkable opportunity," said Chapin's widow, Sandy.

Chapin served on the boards of the Eglevsky Ballet, the Long Island Philharmonic, Hofstra University. He energized the now-defunct Performing Arts Foundation (PAF) of Huntington.

In the mid-1970s, Chapin focused on his social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America". He co-founded the organization World Hunger Year with legendary radio DJ Bill Ayres, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977. Many of Chapin's concerts were benefit performances (for example, a concert to help save the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York), and sales of his concert merchandise were used to support World Hunger Year.

Chapin's social causes at times caused friction among his band members and then-manager Fred Kewley. Chapin donated an estimated third of his paid concerts to charitable causes, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs. Mike Rendine played Bass during the years of 1979

One report quotes his widow saying soon after his death — "only with slight exaggeration" — that "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life . The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result.
Death
Harry Chapin's gravestone

On Thursday, July 16, 1981, just after noon, Chapin was driving in the left lane on the Long Island Expressway at about 65 mph on the way to perform at a free concert scheduled for later that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY. Near exit 40 in Jericho he put on his emergency flashers, presumably because of either a mechanical or medical problem (possibly a heart attack). He then slowed to about 15 miles (24 km) per hour and veered into the center lane, nearly colliding with another car. He swerved left, then to the right again, ending up directly in the path of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Chapin's blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit, rupturing the fuel tank by climbing its back and causing it to burst into flames.

The driver of the truck and a passerby were able to get Chapin out of the burning car through the window and by cutting the seat belts before the car was completely engulfed in flames. He was taken by police helicopter to a hospital, where ten doctors tried for 30 minutes to revive him. A spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center said Chapin had suffered a heart attack and "died of cardiac arrest," but there was no way of knowing whether it occurred before or after the accident. In an interview years after his death, Chapin's daughter said "My dad didn't really sleep, and he ate badly and had a totally insane schedule."

Even though Chapin was driving without a license, his driver's license having previously been revoked for a long string of traffic violations, his widow Sandy won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck.

Chapin was interred in the Huntington Rural Cemetery, Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." It is:

    Oh if a man tried
    To take his time on Earth
    And prove before he died
    What one man's life could be worth
    I wonder what would happen
    to this world

Legacy

On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States. His work on hunger included being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. He was also the inspiration for the anti-hunger projects USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager. Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."

A biography of Chapin entitled Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story, by Peter M. Coan, was released following his death. Although Chapin had cooperated with the writer, following his death the family withdrew their support. There is some concern about the accuracy of the details included in the book.

In 2001, Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" was ranked number 186 of 365 on the RIAA list of Songs of the Century. Chapin was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed "Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre" during a memorial concert held one month after his death, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Chapin include a graduate student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights.
Extended family

Chapin often remarked that he came from an artistic family. His father Jim Chapin and brothers Tom Chapin and Steve Chapin are also musicians, as are his daughter, Jen Chapin, and two of his nieces (see the Chapin Sisters). His paternal grandfather was an artist who illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry; his maternal grandfather was the philosopher Kenneth Burke.

Notable musicians in their own right, Tom and Steve Chapin sometimes performed with Harry throughout his career, as is especially evident on the live albums Greatest Stories Live and Legends of the Lost and Found. He also performed with them before his solo career took off, as seen on the album Chapin Music! Chapin's family members and other long-time bandmates have continued to perform together from time to time in the decades since his death.

A common misconception is that Mary Chapin Carpenter is Harry's daughter or relative. Despite several similarities -- both are folk musicians from the east coast, with strong philanthropic and humanitarian interests -- the two are not related (Mary's middle name, Chapin, is her father's first name).
Discography
Main article: Harry Chapin discography

LPs:

    * Chapin Music! (1966, Rock-Land Records)
    * Heads & Tales (1972, Elektra)
    * Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
    * Short Stories (1973, Elektra)
    * Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
    * Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
    * Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, Elektra)
    * On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
    * Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, 1977, Elektra)
    * Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
    * Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 1979, Elektra)
    * Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records)
    * Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra)
    * Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics)
    * The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
    * The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Compact Classics)
    * Harry Chapin Tribute (1990, Relativity Records)
    * The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, Bottom Line / Koch)
    * Story of a Life (1999, Elektra)
    * Storyteller (1999, BOA Records)
    * Onwards and Upwards (2000, Harry Chapin Foundation)
    * VH1 Behind the Music: The Harry Chapin Collection (2001, Elektra)
    * The Essentials (2002, Elektra)
    * Classics (2003, Warner Special Products)
    * Heads and Tales / Sniper and Other Love Songs (2004, Elektra. Double CD re-release of first two albums with bonus tracks)
    * Introducing... Harry Chapin (2006, Rhino Records)

Singles
Year Song Title Highest US
Chart Position
1972 "Taxi" #24
1972 "Sniper" -
1972 "Sunday Morning Sunshine" #75
1972 "A Better Place to Be" #86
1974 "W*O*L*D" #36
1974 "Mr. Tanner" -
1974 "Cat's in the Cradle" #1
1974 "I Wanna Learn A Love Song" #44
1978 "Flowers Are Red" -
1980 "Sequel" #23
Video / DVD releases

    * An Evening With... Harry Chapin (also known as "The Book of Chapin") (1998)
    * Rockpalast Live (2002)
    * Remember When: The Anthology (2005)
    * You Are the Only Song (also known as "The Final Concert") (2006)
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee252/irish_iiii/chapin3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff59/jerrywaggon/Copyofc28005a.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 6:40 am


The person who died on this day...Harry Chapin
Harry Forster Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle"; as well as his folk musical based on the biblical book of John, "Cotton Patch Gospel". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger, his work a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.  In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work. Chapin was born in New York City, the second of four children—including future musicians Tom  and Steve—born to Jeanne Elspeth (née Burke) and Jim Chapin. He had English ancestry, his great grandparents having emigrated in the late 19th century. His parents divorced in 1950, with Elspeth retaining custody of their four sons, as Jim spent much of his time on the road as a drummer for Big Band era acts such as Woody Herman. She married Films in Review  magazine editor Henry Hart a few years later.

Chapin's first formal introduction to music was while singing in the Brooklyn Boys Choir. It was here that Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a tenor with a five-octave range, who would later become his bassist and backing vocalist. He began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums.

Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960, and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall Of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy and was then an intermittent student at Cornell University, but did not complete a degree.

He originally intended to be a documentary film-maker, and directed Legendary Champions in 1968, which was nominated for a documentary Academy Award. In 1971, he decided to focus on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott and Ron Palmer, Chapin started playing in various local nightclubs in New York City.
Recording career

Following an unsuccessful early album made with his brothers, Tom and Steve, Chapin's debut album was Heads & Tales (1972, #60), which was a success thanks to the single "Taxi" (#24). Chapin later gave great credit to WMEX-Boston radio personality Jim Connors for being the DJ who "discovered" this single, and pushed the air play of this song among fellow radio programmers in the U.S.

However, Chapin's recording future became somewhat of a controversy between two powerful record companies headed by two very powerful men, Jac Holzman of Elektra Records and Clive Davis of Columbia. According to Chapin's biography Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story by Peter M. Coan, Chapin had agreed in principle to sign with Elektra Records on the grounds that a smaller record label would give greater personal attention to his work. Clive Davis, however, remained undaunted, doubling almost every cash advance offer Chapin received from Holzman. Despite a cordial relationship with Holzman, Davis had a long history of besting Holzman over the years to particular artists, but this was one time that he did not prevail.

Chapin ultimately signed with Elektra for a smaller advance, but with provisions that made it worth the move. The biggest stipulation in the nine-album deal was that he receive free studio time, meaning he paid no recording costs. It was a move that would ultimately save Chapin hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term of his contract and set a precedent for other musicians.

"This was completely unheard of," said Davis in the Coan book. "There was no such thing as free studio time."

Chapin's follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, #160), was less successful despite containing the Chapin anthem "Circle" (a big European hit for The New Seekers). His third album, Short Stories (1974, #61), was a modest success. Verities & Balderdash (1974, #4), released soon after, was much more successful, bolstered by the chart-topping hit single "Cat's in the Cradle", based upon a poem by his wife; Sandra Chapin had written the poem inspired by her first husband's relationship with his father and a country song she heard on the radio. When Harry's son Josh was born, he got the idea to put music to the words and recorded the result. "Cat's in the Cradle" was Chapin's only number one hit, shooting album sales skyward and making him a millionaire.

He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical The Night That Made America Famous. Additionally, Chapin wrote the music and lyrics for Cotton Patch Gospel, a musical by Tom Key based on Clarence Jordan's book The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John. The original cast soundtrack was produced by Tom Chapin, and released in 1982 by Chapin Productions.

Chapin's only UK hit was "W*O*L*D", which reached #34 in 1974. His popularity in the UK owed much to the championing of BBC disc jockey Noel Edmonds. The song's success in the U.S. was championed by WMEX jock and friend of Chapin's Jim Connors who in part inspired the song. The national appeal of the song was a result of disc jockeys playing it for themselves, since the song dealt with a much-traveled DJ, problems in his personal life, and his difficulty with aging in the industry. This song was also a significant inspiration (though not the only one) for Hugh Wilson, who created the popular television series about DJs and radio, WKRP in Cincinnati.

Chapin's recording of "The Shortest Story", a song he wrote about a dying child and featured in his 1976 live/studio album Greatest Stories Live, was named by author Tom Reynolds in his book I Hate Myself And Want To Die as the second most depressing song of all time.

By the end of the decade, Chapin's contract with Elektra (which had since merged with Asylum Records under the control of David Geffen) had expired, and the company made no offer to renew it. A minor deal with Casablanca fell through, and Chapin settled on a simple one-album deal with Boardwalk Records. The Boardwalk album, though no one knew it at the time, would be his final work.

The title track of his last album, Sequel, was a follow up to his earlier song "Taxi", reuniting the same characters ten years later. The songs Chapin was working on at the time of his death were subsequently released as the thematic album The Last Protest Singer.
Personal life

Chapin met Sandy Cashmore (née Gaston), a New York socialite nine years his senior, in 1966, after she called him asking for music lessons. They married two years later. The story of their meeting and romance is told in his song "I Wanna Learn a Love Song". He fathered two children with her, Jennifer and Joshua, and was stepfather to her three children by a previous marriage.
Philanthropic work

Chapin was resolved to leave his imprint on Long Island. He envisioned a Long Island where the arts flourished and universities expanded and humane discourse was the norm. "He thought Long Island represented a remarkable opportunity," said Chapin's widow, Sandy.

Chapin served on the boards of the Eglevsky Ballet, the Long Island Philharmonic, Hofstra University. He energized the now-defunct Performing Arts Foundation (PAF) of Huntington.

In the mid-1970s, Chapin focused on his social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America". He co-founded the organization World Hunger Year with legendary radio DJ Bill Ayres, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977. Many of Chapin's concerts were benefit performances (for example, a concert to help save the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York), and sales of his concert merchandise were used to support World Hunger Year.

Chapin's social causes at times caused friction among his band members and then-manager Fred Kewley. Chapin donated an estimated third of his paid concerts to charitable causes, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs. Mike Rendine played Bass during the years of 1979

One report quotes his widow saying soon after his death — "only with slight exaggeration" — that "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life . The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result.
Death
Harry Chapin's gravestone

On Thursday, July 16, 1981, just after noon, Chapin was driving in the left lane on the Long Island Expressway at about 65 mph on the way to perform at a free concert scheduled for later that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY. Near exit 40 in Jericho he put on his emergency flashers, presumably because of either a mechanical or medical problem (possibly a heart attack). He then slowed to about 15 miles (24 km) per hour and veered into the center lane, nearly colliding with another car. He swerved left, then to the right again, ending up directly in the path of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Chapin's blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit, rupturing the fuel tank by climbing its back and causing it to burst into flames.

The driver of the truck and a passerby were able to get Chapin out of the burning car through the window and by cutting the seat belts before the car was completely engulfed in flames. He was taken by police helicopter to a hospital, where ten doctors tried for 30 minutes to revive him. A spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center said Chapin had suffered a heart attack and "died of cardiac arrest," but there was no way of knowing whether it occurred before or after the accident. In an interview years after his death, Chapin's daughter said "My dad didn't really sleep, and he ate badly and had a totally insane schedule."

Even though Chapin was driving without a license, his driver's license having previously been revoked for a long string of traffic violations, his widow Sandy won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck.

Chapin was interred in the Huntington Rural Cemetery, Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." It is:

    Oh if a man tried
    To take his time on Earth
    And prove before he died
    What one man's life could be worth
    I wonder what would happen
    to this world

Legacy

On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States. His work on hunger included being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. He was also the inspiration for the anti-hunger projects USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager. Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."

A biography of Chapin entitled Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story, by Peter M. Coan, was released following his death. Although Chapin had cooperated with the writer, following his death the family withdrew their support. There is some concern about the accuracy of the details included in the book.

In 2001, Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" was ranked number 186 of 365 on the RIAA list of Songs of the Century. Chapin was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed "Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre" during a memorial concert held one month after his death, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Chapin include a graduate student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights.
Extended family

Chapin often remarked that he came from an artistic family. His father Jim Chapin and brothers Tom Chapin and Steve Chapin are also musicians, as are his daughter, Jen Chapin, and two of his nieces (see the Chapin Sisters). His paternal grandfather was an artist who illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry; his maternal grandfather was the philosopher Kenneth Burke.

Notable musicians in their own right, Tom and Steve Chapin sometimes performed with Harry throughout his career, as is especially evident on the live albums Greatest Stories Live and Legends of the Lost and Found. He also performed with them before his solo career took off, as seen on the album Chapin Music! Chapin's family members and other long-time bandmates have continued to perform together from time to time in the decades since his death.

A common misconception is that Mary Chapin Carpenter is Harry's daughter or relative. Despite several similarities -- both are folk musicians from the east coast, with strong philanthropic and humanitarian interests -- the two are not related (Mary's middle name, Chapin, is her father's first name).
Discography
Main article: Harry Chapin discography

LPs:

    * Chapin Music! (1966, Rock-Land Records)
    * Heads & Tales (1972, Elektra)
    * Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
    * Short Stories (1973, Elektra)
    * Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
    * Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
    * Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, Elektra)
    * On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
    * Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, 1977, Elektra)
    * Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
    * Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 1979, Elektra)
    * Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records)
    * Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra)
    * Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics)
    * The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
    * The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Compact Classics)
    * Harry Chapin Tribute (1990, Relativity Records)
    * The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, Bottom Line / Koch)
    * Story of a Life (1999, Elektra)
    * Storyteller (1999, BOA Records)
    * Onwards and Upwards (2000, Harry Chapin Foundation)
    * VH1 Behind the Music: The Harry Chapin Collection (2001, Elektra)
    * The Essentials (2002, Elektra)
    * Classics (2003, Warner Special Products)
    * Heads and Tales / Sniper and Other Love Songs (2004, Elektra. Double CD re-release of first two albums with bonus tracks)
    * Introducing... Harry Chapin (2006, Rhino Records)

Singles
Year Song Title Highest US
Chart Position
1972 "Taxi" #24
1972 "Sniper" -
1972 "Sunday Morning Sunshine" #75
1972 "A Better Place to Be" #86
1974 "W*O*L*D" #36
1974 "Mr. Tanner" -
1974 "Cat's in the Cradle" #1
1974 "I Wanna Learn A Love Song" #44
1978 "Flowers Are Red" -
1980 "Sequel" #23
Video / DVD releases

    * An Evening With... Harry Chapin (also known as "The Book of Chapin") (1998)
    * Rockpalast Live (2002)
    * Remember When: The Anthology (2005)
    * You Are the Only Song (also known as "The Final Concert") (2006)
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee252/irish_iiii/chapin3.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff59/jerrywaggon/Copyofc28005a.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 7:14 am


No problem.

There should be a plaque for Joshua Reynolds in London, I will post it later.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Turk%27s_Head_Tavern_plaque_1764_London.jpg

On a building in Chinatown, near Leicester Square in London

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 7:20 am


:\'(

Agreed :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 7:22 am

Legolas, an elf from Lotd of the Rings

http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/legolas_18inch_figure_L.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 7:25 am


Legolas, an elf from Lotd of the Rings

http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/legolas_18inch_figure_L.jpg
It's only a model!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/16/10 at 7:40 am


The person born on this day...Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell (pronounced /ˈfɛrəl/;  born July 16, 1967)  is an American comedian, actor, voice actor and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the Frat Pack, a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors to emerge in the late 1990s and the 2000s including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen  and Luke Wilson.
Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, the son of Betty Kay (née Overman), a teacher who taught at Old Mill School elementary school, and Ray Lee Ferrell, Jr., a guitarist for The Righteous Brothers.  His parents were both natives of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina  and moved to California in 1964;  Ferrell also has Irish ancestry.  He first attended school at Turtle Rock Elementary, and later attended Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, both in Irvine. He attended University High School in Irvine, and was a kicker  for the school's varsity football team.  He told the Orange County Register that the dullness of Irvine contributed to the growth of his humor. "Growing up in suburbia, in safe, master-planned Irvine, there was no drama so we had to create it in our heads. My main form of entertainment was cracking my friends up and exploring new ways of being funny. I didn't have to have the survival mode instinct like other comics, who grew up in tough neighborhoods. I had the opposite. For me, I grew up in Mayberry, and the humor broke the boredom. And there was a lot to make fun of."

He enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he studied Sports Broadcasting and graduated with a degree in Sports Information. He is also a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. After graduating in 1990, he developed his improvisation skills as a member of the comedy group The Groundlings.
Saturday Night Live
Ferrell (as Alex Trebek, left) and Darrell Hammond (as Sean Connery, right) in the SNL sketch "Celebrity Jeopardy!".

Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995 and left in 2002 after a successful 7 year tenure. He returned to host twice (both in season finales), and once in the cold open of the final episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday

During his time on SNL, Ferrell made a name for himself with his impersonations, which included:

   * U.S. President George W. Bush
   * Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray,
   * Singer Robert Goulet (crooning a cappella pieces of music by Sisqó, Baha Men, and Notorious B.I.G.),
   * Singer Neil Diamond,
   * Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton (who was quoted several times to favor Ferrell's impersonation),
   * Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy,
   * United States Attorney General Janet Reno,
   * Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski,
   * Game show host Alex Trebek,
   * Fictitious black private detective Shaft,
   * Professional wrestler-turned-Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura,
   * U.S. Vice President Al Gore (Darrell Hammond took over once Ferrell started playing Bush),
   * Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
   * Cuban President Fidel Castro.

As Gene Frenkle of Blue Öyster Cult in the Saturday Night Live sketch More Cowbell

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse's twin brother Ned, fictional Blue Öyster Cult member Gene Frenkle (physically modeled after Blue Öyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom), music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant from "Dissing Your Dog", Hank of the Bill Brasky Buddies, David Leary from "Dog Show", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998's A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005, and May 16, 2009. Both times, he reprised his role as Alex Trebek in the "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketches. On the May 14 appearance, Ferrell reprised his role as Robert Goulet in a fake commercial advertising a series of crooned ringtones and, during the performance of the song "Little Sister" by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came on stage playing the cowbell.

Ferrell became the highest paid cast member of Saturday Night Live in 2001 with a season salary of $350,000.
Film

During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, The Ladies Man, Dick, Drowning Mona, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank "The Tank" Richard in Old School (2003). The film "belongs to Mr. Ferrell," declared the New York Times, which described how he "uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part." Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.

The title role in Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in 2004 and 2005 in films such as Melinda and Melinda, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch earning himself a place among Hollywood's Frat Pack. In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million. In 2006, Ferrell starred in Stranger Than Fiction and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell's performance in Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell's acting talents. On December 27, 2006, 'The Magazine' named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.
Ferrell at the premiere of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, December 2007.

Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the ESPY Awards in 2006 about Lance Armstrong and Neil Armstrong. He and John C. Reilly also did a spot during the 2008 ESPY Awards where they made demands in order for them to appear at the ESPYs like asking Portland Trail Blazers' center Greg Oden to tuck them in at night and tell them stories of the old times or to bring back the Cold War so the Olympics can be interesting again.

Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with John C. Reilly and Jack Black, wherein they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.

In May 2009 it was announced Ferrell is in talks to star in Neighborhood Watch, a comedy about an urbanite who moves to the suburbs and uncovers a conspiracy. In negotiations to direct is David Dobkin, who gave Ferrell a cameo in Wedding Crashers. In August 2009, Ferrell decided not to do the film. In the summer of 2009, Ferrell did a large amount of filming with several young actors. He helped out on a film entitled Making a Movie, which is now on DVD.

Ferrell's most recent film Land of the Lost was released in June 2009 and was a commercial and critical flop after earning $19 million on opening weekend, about two-thirds of what the studio expected.
Voice acting

Ferrell has worked as a voice actor in several animated television programs, including his portrayal of Bob Oblong, a 1950s-style father with no arms or legs, in the short-lived animated television series The Oblongs. He has had several guest appearances on Family Guy, where he played the Black Knight in "Mr. Saturday Knight", as well as Fat Greek Guy and Miles "Chatterbox" Musket in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame". Ferrell also starred as Ted (a.k.a. The Man in the Yellow Hat) in the movie Curious George and guest voiced on an episode of the FOX sitcom King of the Hill as an overly-PC soccer coach. He will voice the title character in the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film MegaMind.
Funny or Die
At the British premiere of Talladega Nights. September 12, 2006

In April 2007, Ferrell launched "Funny or Die", a streaming video website where short comedy films are uploaded and voted on by users. The site features The Landlord, starring Ferrell and Funny or Die co-founder Adam McKay. Ferrell's character is harassed for the rent by his landlady, a swearing, beer-loving, two-year-old girl (played by McKay's daughter, Pearl). Child psychologists have criticized Ferrell and the McKay family for child exploitation, to which McKay responded:

   Fortunately she is in this great stage now where she repeats anything you say to her and then forgets it right away, which is key. She has not said the 'B-word' since we shot the thing.
   —Adam McKay

They followed with the release of a video entitled "Good Cop, Baby Cop" which also starred baby Pearl; the end of the video stated that this would be her final appearance and wished her a happy "baby retirement."

In September 2008, Ferrell released another video entitled "Will Ferrell Answers Internet Questions" where he takes some pressing questions and comments from his fans.

Other Ferrell's appearance on "Funny or Die", website is in video called Green Team, featuring also McKay and John C Reilly. It shows militant ecologic activists terrorizing crew on filming set.
Stage career

Ferrell made his Broadway debut taking on departing U.S. President George W. Bush in a one-man show called You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. The show started performances on January 20, 2009 in previews — Bush’s final day in office — at the Cort Theatre and opened officially on February 1. The limited engagement played through March 15, 2009.
Eastbound & Down

Ferrell co-produces (with Adam McKay) an HBO show starring Danny McBride called Eastbound & Down. He also has a recurring role as car dealer Ashley Schaeffer.
Personal life

In August 2000, Ferrell married Swedish actress Viveca Paulin, whom he met in 1995 at an acting class. They live in New York City and in Orange County, California and have three sons, Magnus Paulin Ferrell, born March 7, 2004, Mattias Paulin Ferrell, born December 30, 2006, and Axel Paulin Ferrell, born January 23, 2010.

In 2006, I-Newswire.com, a site that accepts submissions from readers and publishes them as "press releases", reported that Ferrell had died in a paragliding accident. The hoax was published before its factual inaccuracy was noticed. The story was further propagated when it appeared on Google News.

Ferrell is a fan of USC Trojan football. At USC, Ferrell was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity and is now an active alumnus. Ferrell has worked with former head coach Pete Carroll to do motivational stunts for the players during the season.

Ferrell is also a supporter of Chelsea, an English Premier League football club. Ferrell represented Chelsea as honorary captain in the coin toss before the Chelsea v Inter Milan match at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on July 21, 2009.

Ferrell enjoys running and has participated in several major marathons such as the Boston, New York and Stockholm Marathons. He also raises money for charity, including his Scholarships for Cancer Survivors campaign through Crowdrise; a social networking community for volunteers and a micro-donations fundraising platform.

In 2007, Autograph magazine named Ferrell the worst celebrity autographer. Its editor stated, "What's so frustrating about Will Ferrell being the worst autograph signer this past year is that he used to be so nice to fans and collectors and a great signer. What makes him so bad is that he'll taunt people asking for his autograph." In response, Ferrell has stated, "I don't know how I got on the list. I sign a lot of autographs," but has admitted to taunting autograph-seekers: "I do. I really do. I'm like, 'How badly do you want this autograph?' 'Are you sure?' 'You say you're my biggest fan, really, prove it.' I'll do things like that. They have to earn it."

Ferrell had noted that, although he was well known for his SNL impersonation of President George W. Bush, he chose, for both professional and political reasons, not to meet the President on several occasions, unlike his SNL predecessor Dana Carvey's famous chummy relationship with George H. W. Bush: "I declined, partly out of comedic purposes, because when I was on the show Saturday Night Live at the time, it didn't make sense to really meet the people that you play, for fear of them influencing you. And then the other side of it is, from a political standpoint, I don't want to meet that guy." Ferrell also appeared on an episode of Man vs. Wild, where he traveled throughout the tundras of Sweden with the show's host, Bear Grylls. In the episode, Ferrell came across various unique situations, which included eating the eye of a reindeer.

Ferrell made a comical debut as a relief pitcher for the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, on May 6, 2010. He was introduced as "Billy Ray 'Rojo' Johnson", and was brought in to relief pitch for the sixth inning. He then entertained the fans by bringing a sack of beer cans to the mound, as well as being ejected and getting chased by the opposing batter. He revealed himself to the fans when his moustache fell off during the chase. The appearance was cooked up by Ferrell and the Express, who sent out a press release announcing Johnson's "signing", to promote The Will Powered Golf Classic the following day at the nearby Cimarron Hills Country Club, which benefits Cancer for College, an organization that provides scholarships to cancer survivors. Ferrell is also an avid fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

Nominated:

   * 2001: Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program (for Saturday Night Live)

ESPY Awards

Won:

   * 2007 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby)
   * 2008 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Semi-Pro)

Golden Globe Awards

Nominated:

   * 2006: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (for The Producers)
   * 2007: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (for Stranger than Fiction)

James Joyce Award

   * 2008: James Joyce Award from University College Dublin's Literary and Historical Society in recognition for "excelling in his field".

MTV Movie Awards

Won:

   * 2007: Best Kiss for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (with Sacha Baron Cohen)

Nominated:

   * 2003: Best Comedic Performance (for Old School)
   * 2003: Best On-Screen Team (with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn for Old School)
   * 2004: Best Comedic Performance (for Elf)
   * 2005: Best Comedic Performance (for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
   * 2005: Best On-Screen Team (with Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
   * 2005: Best Musical Performance (with Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
   * 2007: Best Comedic Performance (for Blades of Glory)
   * 2007: Best Fight (for Blades of Glory)

Razzie Awards

Nominated:

   * 2005: Worst Actor for Bewitched, Kicking & Screaming and Land of the Lost

Satellite Awards

Nominated:

   * 2006: Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (for Stranger Than Fiction)

Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards

Won:

   * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Funniest Mo-fo
   * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Most Viral Video

Teen Choice Awards

Won:

   * 2007: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Blades of Glory

Nominated:

   * 2004: Choice Comedian
   * 2004: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Elf
   * 2005: Choice Comedian
   * 2005: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Kicking & Screaming
   * 2005: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Kicking & Screaming
   * 2005: Choice Movie Rumble for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
   * 2005: Choice Movie Sleazebag for Kicking & Screaming
   * 2007: Choice Comedian
   * 2007: Choice Movie Chemistry (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
   * 2007: Choice Movie Dance (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
   * 2007: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Blades of Glory
   * 2008: Choice Comedian
   * 2008: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Semi-Pro
   * 2009: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy for Land of the Lost

Tony Awards

Nominated:

   * 2009: Best Special Theatrical Event (for You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush)

Filmography
Year Movie Role U.S. gross
1995 Bucket of Blood Young Man Made for TV
Criminal Hearts Newscaster
1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Mustafa US$53.9 million
Men Seeking Women Al
1998 A Night at the Roxbury Steve Butabi US$30.3 million
The Thin Pink Line Darren Clark
1999 Superstar Sky Corrigan/God US$30.6 million
Dick Bob Woodward US$6.2 million
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Mustafa US$206 million
The Suburbans Gil US$11,130
2000 The Ladies Man Lance DeLune US$13.6 million
Drowning Mona Cubby the Funeral Director US$15.4 million
2001 Zoolander Mugatu US$45.2 million
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly US$30.1 million
2002 Boat Trip Brian's Boyfriend US$8.6 million
2003 Old School Frank "the Tank" Ricard US$74.6 million
Elf Buddy US$173.4 million
2004 Melinda and Melinda Hobie US$3.8 million
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Ron Burgundy US$84.1 million
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Ron Burgundy
Starsky & Hutch Big Earl US$88.2 million
Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party Himself
2005 The Producers Franz Liebkind US$19.4 million
Wedding Crashers Chazz Reinhold US$209.2 million
Winter Passing Corbit US$101,228
Bewitched Jack Wyatt/Darrin US$62.3 million
Kicking & Screaming Phil Weston US$52.6 million
The Wendell Baker Story Dave Bix US$127,144
2006 Stranger Than Fiction Harold Crick US$40.1 million
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Ricky Bobby US$148.2 million
Curious George Ted/The Man in the Yellow Hat US$58.3 million
2007 Blades of Glory Chazz Michael Michaels US$118.2 million
2008 Semi-Pro Jackie Moon US$33.4 million
Step Brothers Brennan Huff US$101.1 million
2009 Land of the Lost Dr. Rick Marshall US$49.4 million
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Craig McDermott US$15.1 million
SpongeBob's Truth or Square Himself
2010 The Other Guys Detective Allen Gamble
MegaMind MegaMind
Television work

   * Saturday Night Live (cast member from 1995–2002, host in 2005 and 2009)
   * Cow and Chicken (1997–2001) (voice in various episodes)
   * Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000 (2000)
   * Family Guy (as the Black Knight)(2001)
   * Undeclared (guest star)
   * The Oblongs (2001–2002) (voice)
   * King of the Hill (as Coach Lucas) (1999) (voice)
   * The Tom Green Show (guest star)
   * Family Guy (as himself) (2005)
   * The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (guest star)
   * Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (voiceover and guest)
   * Eastbound & Down (BMW Dealership Owner Ashley Schaeffer)
   * You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush
   * Man vs. Wild (guest star)
   * Live with Regis and Kelly (co-host)
   * 63rd Tony Awards (2009), 2009 MTV Movie Awards and 2009 TV Land Awards
   * The Merrick & Rosso Show (as himself) (2009)
   * SpongeBob SquarePants (as himself)(2009)
   * Strangers with Candy (2000)
   * Funny or Die Presents (2010)
   * Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job (2010)
   * 30 Rock (2010)

Salary

   * Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) $20,000,000
   * Bewitched (2005) $20,000,000
   * Kicking & Screaming (2005) $20,000,000
   * Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) $6,900,000

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jbravo_uknowit/ferrell.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp93/blistik/thCowbell2.gif


His films make me laugh so hard I almost cry.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/16/10 at 7:41 am

http://www.hometowntimes.com/cumminghome/bm~pix/little-elf~s350x350.jpg

A worldwide 'elf service!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/16/10 at 7:42 am


http://www.hometowntimes.com/cumminghome/bm~pix/little-elf~s350x350.jpg

A worldwide 'elf service!


Santa and his elves.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/16/10 at 9:33 am

Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the cradle" is one of the better known songs from the 70s

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/16/10 at 9:37 am

Today is also ex-NFL's Barry Sanders birthday. He's 42.

http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/8/879/M9IJ000Z.jpg

He is the best running back I have seen in my lifetime, so far.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/16/10 at 10:46 am

Harry Chapin's music has really touch me.


I remember the very first time I heard this song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5dwksSbD34

It always reminds me of Rick. (I'm not gonna tell you who Rick is.  ;) )


This song I absolutely love.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l0fH0dRUow

It takes me back to another time and another place.


My all-time favorite lyric is: "Some times I get this crazy dream that I just take off in my car. But you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are."


Then there is THIS song that I ALWAYS have to play as we drive through Scranton, PA.  :D ;D ;D ;D



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZZqnVYB4UA


I cried when I heard of his death. My sister knew someone who went by the accident.




Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 2:13 pm


His films make me laugh so hard I almost cry.  ;D

My son is a big fan of his movies. I think he went around for over a year and quoted Anchorman.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 2:15 pm


Today is also ex-NFL's Barry Sanders birthday. He's 42.

http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/8/879/M9IJ000Z.jpg

He is the best running back I have seen in my lifetime, so far.

Yes he was a great running back, I think him and Tony Dorsett were 2 of the best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/10 at 2:18 pm


Harry Chapin's music has really touch me.


I remember the very first time I heard this song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5dwksSbD34

It always reminds me of Rick. (I'm not gonna tell you who Rick is.  ;) )


This song I absolutely love.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l0fH0dRUow

It takes me back to another time and another place.


My all-time favorite lyric is: "Some times I get this crazy dream that I just take off in my car. But you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are."


Then there is THIS song that I ALWAYS have to play as we drive through Scranton, PA.  :D ;D ;D ;D



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZZqnVYB4UA


I cried when I heard of his death. My sister knew someone who went by the accident.




Cat




He was a great artist and he along with Jim Croce would have given the world some more beautiful music if they hadn't been taken at their peak.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/16/10 at 2:37 pm


My son is a big fan of his movies. I think he went around for over a year and quoted Anchorman.


I liked Anchorman too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/16/10 at 2:39 pm


He was a great artist and he along with Jim Croce would have given the world some more beautiful music if they hadn't been taken at their peak.



Yeah, he is definitely in the same category as Jim Croce-not just for the fact that they both died in tragic accidents at a young age but for the fact that they both were incredibly talented and have written some amazing songs. (Time in a Bottle among others.)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 1:11 am

British Person of the Day: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles, born 17 July 1947) is the second wife of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and is the current holder of the title Duchess of Cornwall  and of Rothesay. A spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs told the Sunday Times " automatically takes the title Princess of Wales and all the other titles that go with her marriage to the Prince of Wales" although she uses one of her other titles, Duchess of Cornwall, in all parts of the United Kingdom except Scotland, where she is titled as Duchess of Rothesay. This preference of title reflects a desire to avoid confusion with the title closely identified with the Prince of Wales's first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Early life and first marriage

Born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947, Camilla was raised opposite the Plumpton Racecourse, Plumpton, East Sussex by her parents, Major Bruce Shand (a British Army officer turned wine merchant, as well as prisoner of war in World War II and recipient of the Military Cross and Bar) and The Honourable Rosalind Cubitt (1921–1994, eldest child of Sir Roland Calvert Cubitt, Ashcombe): her siblings are her brother, Mark, and sister, Annabel. Camilla attended Dumbrells School in Sussex, as well as Queen's Gate School in Kensington. She subsequently attended the Mon Fertile finishing school in Switzerland and studied at the Institut Britannique in Paris. Following her education, she worked for a year at the offices of designers Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler. She also became an avid equestrienne and participated in fox hunting.

On 4 July 1973, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles, at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London, their bridesmaids including Parker Bowles's goddaughter Lady Emma Herbert. The couple had two children: Tom, born in the year after the marriage, who is a godson of Prince Charles, and Laura, born in 1978; both Parker Bowles children were raised in their father's Roman Catholic faith. Andrew Parker Bowles initiated divorce proceedings against Camilla following the admission by the Prince of Wales that he had conducted a long-term extra-marital affair with Mrs. Parker Bowles; the couple's divorce was finalised on 3 March 1995.

Relationship with the Prince of Wales

The relationship between Camilla and Prince Charles began when they met at a polo match in 1970. Though she became one of the numerous girlfriends of Charles, and he was said to have wanted to marry her, Camilla was seen by royal courtiers as an unsuitable match for the future king. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2002 book, Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that Charles had met Camilla too early, and that he had not asked her to wait for him when he went overseas for military duties in 1972. Reliable published reports indicate that they renewed their romantic relationship in the 1980s.

The affair became public knowledge a decade later, with the publication of Diana: Her True Story, followed by the Camillagate scandal, wherein an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles was secretly recorded and the transcripts published in the tabloids. With the extra-marital relationship in the open, Diana gave an interview on the BBC programme Panorama, in which she blamed the relationship between Camilla, whom she privately referred to as "the Rottweiler", and the Prince of Wales as the reason for the break up of her own marriage, saying: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded." Though Camilla kept a low profile at this time, she became unpopular by these revelations. However, it was confirmed by Charles in a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby that the relationship between him and Camilla resumed during their respective marriages. Following this, the Parker Bowleses announced their own divorce in 1995; they had been living apart for some time, and a year later Andrew Parker Bowles married Rosemary Pitman.

Camilla occasionally became Charles' unofficial companion at events. This temporarily ceased at the time of Diana's death, but Camilla and Charles were photographed in public together in 1999. Though she maintained her residence in Wiltshire, Camilla then moved into Charles' household in 2003, resulting in decorative changes to both homes, though Buckingham Palace was explicit in pointing out that public funds had not been used for the renovations. In 2005, the media reported that Charles had also bought Camilla jewellery and a designer wardrobe. As the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the prospect of Charles marrying a divorcée was seen as controversial. Opinion—of both the public and the church—shifted, though, to a point where civil marriage was seen as an agreeable solution.

Second engagement and marriage

On 10 February 2005, it was announced by Clarence House that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged; Camilla had been presented with an engagement ring that had belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The marriage was to have been on 8 April of that year, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, with a subsequent religious blessing at St George's Chapel. But, because the conduct of a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to thereafter be available to anyone wishing to be married there, the location was changed to the Windsor Guildhall. On 4 April it was announced that the marriage would be delayed by one day to allow for the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II. As Charles' parents did not attend the marriage ceremony (the Queen's reluctance to attend arising from her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England), neither did Camilla's father; her children, instead, acted as witnesses of the union, as did Prince William and Prince Harry. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did, however, attend the service of blessing, and held a reception for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle afterwards. Following the wedding, the couple travelled to the Prince's country home in Scotland, Birkhall, and carried out their first public duties as a couple during their honeymoon.

Duchess of Cornwall

After becoming Duchess of Cornwall, the duchess automatically acquired rank as the second highest female in the United Kingdom Order of Precedence (after the Queen), and as typically fifth or sixth in the orders of precedence of her other realms, following the Queen, the relevant viceroy, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales. It was revealed, though, that the royal order of precedence for private occasions had Camilla placed fourth, after the Queen, the Princess Royal, and Princess Alexandra. Within two years of the marriage, the Queen extended Camilla visible tokens of membership in the Royal Family; use of a tiara of the late Queen Mother, and the badge  of the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II.

Though no details were publicly released, it was confirmed in March 2007 that Camilla had undergone a hysterectomy, the same year that marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Diana. According to an announcement by Clarence House, it was the Duchess's intent to attend the anniversary memorial service for Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 2007, along with The Prince of Wales, and The Princes William and Harry of Wales. The Duchess withdrew from attending, stating that she wished not to "divert attention from the purpose of the occasion which is to focus on the life and service of Diana." On April 8, 2010, Camilla broke her left leg whilst hill walking in Scotland.

Royal duties

Initially, the Duchess of Cornwall's royal duties involved accompanying the Prince of Wales on his official obligations. Camilla's first solo engagement was a visit to a hospital in Southampton; she attended the Trooping the Colour for the first time in June 2005, making her appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards. The same year, she made her inaugural overseas tour to the United States, and, in March of the following year, the Prince and Duchess undertook a trip through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India. She also conducted the naming ceremony for HMS Astute on 8 June 2007, and, on 10 December, she did the same for the new Cunard cruise ship, MS Queen Victoria, it being said that the Queen had been surprised by Cunard's invitation. The Duchess of Cornwall is the patron of The Royal School, Hampstead, an independent girl's school, as well as President or Patron of a number of other charities, as detailed below.

Titles, styles, honours and arms; Charities and patronages

Titles and styles

    * 17 July 1947 – 4 July 1973: Miss Camilla Rosemary Shand
    * 4 July 1973 – 3 March 1995: Mrs Andrew Parker Bowles
    * 3 March 1995 – 9 April 2005: Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles
    * 9 April 2005 –  : Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall
    * in Scotland: 9 April 2005 – : Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay

Camilla's style and title in full: Her Royal Highness The Princess Charles Philip Arthur George, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, Baroness of Renfrew, Lady of the Isles, Princess of Scotland.

Because the title 'Princess of Wales' remains strongly associated with the previous holder of that title, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Camilla is referred to with the feminine form of her husband's subsidiary title, Duke of Cornwall. Also, unless a specific Act of Parliament is passed in the United Kingdom to the contrary, Camilla will, upon the accession of her husband, legally be queen. However, it has been indicated that when the Prince of Wales accedes to the throne, Camilla will remain styled as Her Royal Highness, with the title of The Princess Consort, similar to the style of Prince Albert. Note that this is not the same usage as her father-in-law, HRH The Prince Philip, whose official title does not include the word "consort."

Honours

Appointments


    * 30 October 2007: Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II

Decorations

    * 2005: Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan

Honorary military appointments

The Duchess of Cornwall holds the following military appointments:

United Kingdom United Kingdom

    * United Kingdom Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion of The Rifles
    * United Kingdom 2008: Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Halton
    * United Kingdom Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Leeming
    * United Kingdom Commodore-in-Chief of the Naval Medical Services
    * United Kingdom Commodore-in-Chief Naval Chaplaincy Service
    * United Kingdom Lady sponsor of HMS Astute

Arms

On the duchess' 58th birthday, Clarence House announced that Camilla had been granted by the Queen a coat of arms for her own personal use. It was reported that the Queen, Charles, and Camilla all took a "keen interest" in the arms' creation, and they were prepared by Peter Gwynn-Jones, Garter Principal King of Arms.

Charities and patronages

The Duchess of Cornwall is President or Patron of a number of charities. They include:

    * Animal Care Trust (under the umbrella of The Royal Veterinary College) (Patron)
    * Barnardo's (President)
    * British Equestrian Federation (Patron)
    * Brooke Hospital for Animals (President)
    * Community First (Patron)
    * Cornwall Community Foundation (Patron)
    * Cowbridge Physic Garden Trust (Patron)
    * Crathie Opportunity Holidays (Patron)
    * De La Warr Pavilion, The (President)
    * Desert Rats 7th Armoured Division Thetford Forest Memorial Association, The (Patron; Honorary Member)
    * Devon County Agricultural Association, The (President)
    * Dispensaire Francais, Le (Patron)
    * Ditchling Museum (President)
    * Elmhurst School for Dance (Patron)
    * Emmaus UK (Patron)
    * Fan Museum, The (Patron)
    * Friends of Lacock Church Appeal (Patron)
    * Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum (Patron)
    * Georgian Theatre Royal, The (Joint Patron with The Prince of Wales)
    * Girl's Friendly Society (Patron)
    * Helen & Douglas House (Patron)
    * Holfords of Westonbirt Trust, The (Joint President with The Prince of Wales)
    * Kennel Club Charitable Trust, The (Patron)
    * Langford Trust for Animal Welfare (Patron)
    * London Chamber Orchestra (Patron)
    * Maggie's (President)
    * Marwari Horse Society (Patron)
    * Moorland Mousie Trust (Patron)
    * National Osteoporosis Society (President)
    * New Queen's Hall Orchestra (Patron)
    * Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (Patron)
    * P.G. Wodehouse Society of the Netherlands, The (Patron)
    * Public Catalogue Foundation, The (Patron)
    * Public Catalogue Foundation's Cornish Catalogue (Patron)
    * Royal British Legion Women's Section, The (Life Member)
    * Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases (Patron)
    * Royal School Hampstead, The (Patron)
    * Scotland’s Gardens Scheme (President)
    * Scottish National Equestrian Centre (Patron)
    * Scottish Women's Rural Institute, The (Ballater branch) (Honorary Member)
    * Shelterbox (President)
    * Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, The (Patron)
    * St John's Smith Square Charitable Trust (Patron)
    * Tetbury Film Society (Patron)
    * Theatre Royal Bath, The (Patron)
    * Trinity Hospice (Patron)
    * Unicorn Theatre for Children (Patron)
    * Upper Deeside Art Society, The (Patron)
    * War Memorial Trust (Patron)
    * West of England School and College for young people with little or no sight (Patron)
    * Wilts and Berks Canal Trust (Patron)
    * Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust (Patron)

Ancestry

According to genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner, the Duchess of Cornwall's ancestry is predominantly French, English, Dutch, and Scottish. Through her French lineage, Camilla's maternal line great-great-grandmother was Sophia Mary MacNab of Hamilton, Ontario, who was herself the descendant of 17th century immigrants to Quebec, daughter of Sir Allan MacNab, and wife of William Coutts Keppel, Earl of Albemarle. Their son, George, was husband to Alice Edmonstone, who was the mistress of King Edward VII, himself the great-great-grandfather of Prince Charles: thus, Camilla and Charles are ninth cousins once removed. Through her mother she is a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier. This same lineage makes Camilla a distant relation of Celine Dion and Madonna, while her bloodline is also connected to King Charles II, through his illegitimate son, Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond; Thomas Cubitt, prominent Victorian architect; and, through the Earl of Albemarle, Judith Keppel, the first winner of the top prize on the television game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. Through Charles II of England and Scotland, Camilla is also related, although distantly, to Diana, Princess of Wales.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 1:12 am


British Person of the Day: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles, born 17 July 1947) is the second wife of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and is the current holder of the title Duchess of Cornwall  and of Rothesay. A spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs told the Sunday Times " automatically takes the title Princess of Wales and all the other titles that go with her marriage to the Prince of Wales" although she uses one of her other titles, Duchess of Cornwall, in all parts of the United Kingdom except Scotland, where she is titled as Duchess of Rothesay. This preference of title reflects a desire to avoid confusion with the title closely identified with the Prince of Wales's first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.

http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Prince+Charles+Camilla+Attend+Royal+Variety+yezNzUpgqFXl.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 1:14 am


British Person of the Day: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles, born 17 July 1947) is the second wife of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and is the current holder of the title Duchess of Cornwall  and of Rothesay. A spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs told the Sunday Times " automatically takes the title Princess of Wales and all the other titles that go with her marriage to the Prince of Wales" although she uses one of her other titles, Duchess of Cornwall, in all parts of the United Kingdom except Scotland, where she is titled as Duchess of Rothesay. This preference of title reflects a desire to avoid confusion with the title closely identified with the Prince of Wales's first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Arms

On the duchess' 58th birthday, Clarence House announced that Camilla had been granted by the Queen a coat of arms for her own personal use. It was reported that the Queen, Charles, and Camilla all took a "keen interest" in the arms' creation, and they were prepared by Peter Gwynn-Jones, Garter Principal King of Arms.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41311000/jpg/_41311949_coatofarms203.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 5:54 am


British Person of the Day: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (née Shand, formerly Parker Bowles, born 17 July 1947) is the second wife of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and is the current holder of the title Duchess of Cornwall  and of Rothesay. A spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs told the Sunday Times " automatically takes the title Princess of Wales and all the other titles that go with her marriage to the Prince of Wales" although she uses one of her other titles, Duchess of Cornwall, in all parts of the United Kingdom except Scotland, where she is titled as Duchess of Rothesay. This preference of title reflects a desire to avoid confusion with the title closely identified with the Prince of Wales's first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Early life and first marriage

Born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947, Camilla was raised opposite the Plumpton Racecourse, Plumpton, East Sussex by her parents, Major Bruce Shand (a British Army officer turned wine merchant, as well as prisoner of war in World War II and recipient of the Military Cross and Bar) and The Honourable Rosalind Cubitt (1921–1994, eldest child of Sir Roland Calvert Cubitt, Ashcombe): her siblings are her brother, Mark, and sister, Annabel. Camilla attended Dumbrells School in Sussex, as well as Queen's Gate School in Kensington. She subsequently attended the Mon Fertile finishing school in Switzerland and studied at the Institut Britannique in Paris. Following her education, she worked for a year at the offices of designers Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler. She also became an avid equestrienne and participated in fox hunting.

On 4 July 1973, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles, at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London, their bridesmaids including Parker Bowles's goddaughter Lady Emma Herbert. The couple had two children: Tom, born in the year after the marriage, who is a godson of Prince Charles, and Laura, born in 1978; both Parker Bowles children were raised in their father's Roman Catholic faith. Andrew Parker Bowles initiated divorce proceedings against Camilla following the admission by the Prince of Wales that he had conducted a long-term extra-marital affair with Mrs. Parker Bowles; the couple's divorce was finalised on 3 March 1995.

Relationship with the Prince of Wales

The relationship between Camilla and Prince Charles began when they met at a polo match in 1970. Though she became one of the numerous girlfriends of Charles, and he was said to have wanted to marry her, Camilla was seen by royal courtiers as an unsuitable match for the future king. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2002 book, Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that Charles had met Camilla too early, and that he had not asked her to wait for him when he went overseas for military duties in 1972. Reliable published reports indicate that they renewed their romantic relationship in the 1980s.

The affair became public knowledge a decade later, with the publication of Diana: Her True Story, followed by the Camillagate scandal, wherein an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles was secretly recorded and the transcripts published in the tabloids. With the extra-marital relationship in the open, Diana gave an interview on the BBC programme Panorama, in which she blamed the relationship between Camilla, whom she privately referred to as "the Rottweiler", and the Prince of Wales as the reason for the break up of her own marriage, saying: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded." Though Camilla kept a low profile at this time, she became unpopular by these revelations. However, it was confirmed by Charles in a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby that the relationship between him and Camilla resumed during their respective marriages. Following this, the Parker Bowleses announced their own divorce in 1995; they had been living apart for some time, and a year later Andrew Parker Bowles married Rosemary Pitman.

Camilla occasionally became Charles' unofficial companion at events. This temporarily ceased at the time of Diana's death, but Camilla and Charles were photographed in public together in 1999. Though she maintained her residence in Wiltshire, Camilla then moved into Charles' household in 2003, resulting in decorative changes to both homes, though Buckingham Palace was explicit in pointing out that public funds had not been used for the renovations. In 2005, the media reported that Charles had also bought Camilla jewellery and a designer wardrobe. As the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the prospect of Charles marrying a divorcée was seen as controversial. Opinion—of both the public and the church—shifted, though, to a point where civil marriage was seen as an agreeable solution.

Second engagement and marriage

On 10 February 2005, it was announced by Clarence House that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged; Camilla had been presented with an engagement ring that had belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The marriage was to have been on 8 April of that year, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, with a subsequent religious blessing at St George's Chapel. But, because the conduct of a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to thereafter be available to anyone wishing to be married there, the location was changed to the Windsor Guildhall. On 4 April it was announced that the marriage would be delayed by one day to allow for the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II. As Charles' parents did not attend the marriage ceremony (the Queen's reluctance to attend arising from her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England), neither did Camilla's father; her children, instead, acted as witnesses of the union, as did Prince William and Prince Harry. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did, however, attend the service of blessing, and held a reception for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle afterwards. Following the wedding, the couple travelled to the Prince's country home in Scotland, Birkhall, and carried out their first public duties as a couple during their honeymoon.

Duchess of Cornwall

After becoming Duchess of Cornwall, the duchess automatically acquired rank as the second highest female in the United Kingdom Order of Precedence (after the Queen), and as typically fifth or sixth in the orders of precedence of her other realms, following the Queen, the relevant viceroy, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales. It was revealed, though, that the royal order of precedence for private occasions had Camilla placed fourth, after the Queen, the Princess Royal, and Princess Alexandra. Within two years of the marriage, the Queen extended Camilla visible tokens of membership in the Royal Family; use of a tiara of the late Queen Mother, and the badge  of the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II.

Though no details were publicly released, it was confirmed in March 2007 that Camilla had undergone a hysterectomy, the same year that marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Diana. According to an announcement by Clarence House, it was the Duchess's intent to attend the anniversary memorial service for Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 2007, along with The Prince of Wales, and The Princes William and Harry of Wales. The Duchess withdrew from attending, stating that she wished not to "divert attention from the purpose of the occasion which is to focus on the life and service of Diana." On April 8, 2010, Camilla broke her left leg whilst hill walking in Scotland.

Royal duties

Initially, the Duchess of Cornwall's royal duties involved accompanying the Prince of Wales on his official obligations. Camilla's first solo engagement was a visit to a hospital in Southampton; she attended the Trooping the Colour for the first time in June 2005, making her appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards. The same year, she made her inaugural overseas tour to the United States, and, in March of the following year, the Prince and Duchess undertook a trip through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India. She also conducted the naming ceremony for HMS Astute on 8 June 2007, and, on 10 December, she did the same for the new Cunard cruise ship, MS Queen Victoria, it being said that the Queen had been surprised by Cunard's invitation. The Duchess of Cornwall is the patron of The Royal School, Hampstead, an independent girl's school, as well as President or Patron of a number of other charities, as detailed below.

Titles, styles, honours and arms; Charities and patronages

Titles and styles

    * 17 July 1947 – 4 July 1973: Miss Camilla Rosemary Shand
    * 4 July 1973 – 3 March 1995: Mrs Andrew Parker Bowles
    * 3 March 1995 – 9 April 2005: Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles
    * 9 April 2005 –  : Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall
    * in Scotland: 9 April 2005 – : Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay

Camilla's style and title in full: Her Royal Highness The Princess Charles Philip Arthur George, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, Baroness of Renfrew, Lady of the Isles, Princess of Scotland.

Because the title 'Princess of Wales' remains strongly associated with the previous holder of that title, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Camilla is referred to with the feminine form of her husband's subsidiary title, Duke of Cornwall. Also, unless a specific Act of Parliament is passed in the United Kingdom to the contrary, Camilla will, upon the accession of her husband, legally be queen. However, it has been indicated that when the Prince of Wales accedes to the throne, Camilla will remain styled as Her Royal Highness, with the title of The Princess Consort, similar to the style of Prince Albert. Note that this is not the same usage as her father-in-law, HRH The Prince Philip, whose official title does not include the word "consort."

Honours

Appointments


    * 30 October 2007: Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II

Decorations

    * 2005: Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan

Honorary military appointments

The Duchess of Cornwall holds the following military appointments:

United Kingdom United Kingdom

    * United Kingdom Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion of The Rifles
    * United Kingdom 2008: Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Halton
    * United Kingdom Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Leeming
    * United Kingdom Commodore-in-Chief of the Naval Medical Services
    * United Kingdom Commodore-in-Chief Naval Chaplaincy Service
    * United Kingdom Lady sponsor of HMS Astute

Arms

On the duchess' 58th birthday, Clarence House announced that Camilla had been granted by the Queen a coat of arms for her own personal use. It was reported that the Queen, Charles, and Camilla all took a "keen interest" in the arms' creation, and they were prepared by Peter Gwynn-Jones, Garter Principal King of Arms.

Charities and patronages

The Duchess of Cornwall is President or Patron of a number of charities. They include:

    * Animal Care Trust (under the umbrella of The Royal Veterinary College) (Patron)
    * Barnardo's (President)
    * British Equestrian Federation (Patron)
    * Brooke Hospital for Animals (President)
    * Community First (Patron)
    * Cornwall Community Foundation (Patron)
    * Cowbridge Physic Garden Trust (Patron)
    * Crathie Opportunity Holidays (Patron)
    * De La Warr Pavilion, The (President)
    * Desert Rats 7th Armoured Division Thetford Forest Memorial Association, The (Patron; Honorary Member)
    * Devon County Agricultural Association, The (President)
    * Dispensaire Francais, Le (Patron)
    * Ditchling Museum (President)
    * Elmhurst School for Dance (Patron)
    * Emmaus UK (Patron)
    * Fan Museum, The (Patron)
    * Friends of Lacock Church Appeal (Patron)
    * Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum (Patron)
    * Georgian Theatre Royal, The (Joint Patron with The Prince of Wales)
    * Girl's Friendly Society (Patron)
    * Helen & Douglas House (Patron)
    * Holfords of Westonbirt Trust, The (Joint President with The Prince of Wales)
    * Kennel Club Charitable Trust, The (Patron)
    * Langford Trust for Animal Welfare (Patron)
    * London Chamber Orchestra (Patron)
    * Maggie's (President)
    * Marwari Horse Society (Patron)
    * Moorland Mousie Trust (Patron)
    * National Osteoporosis Society (President)
    * New Queen's Hall Orchestra (Patron)
    * Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (Patron)
    * P.G. Wodehouse Society of the Netherlands, The (Patron)
    * Public Catalogue Foundation, The (Patron)
    * Public Catalogue Foundation's Cornish Catalogue (Patron)
    * Royal British Legion Women's Section, The (Life Member)
    * Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases (Patron)
    * Royal School Hampstead, The (Patron)
    * Scotland’s Gardens Scheme (President)
    * Scottish National Equestrian Centre (Patron)
    * Scottish Women's Rural Institute, The (Ballater branch) (Honorary Member)
    * Shelterbox (President)
    * Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, The (Patron)
    * St John's Smith Square Charitable Trust (Patron)
    * Tetbury Film Society (Patron)
    * Theatre Royal Bath, The (Patron)
    * Trinity Hospice (Patron)
    * Unicorn Theatre for Children (Patron)
    * Upper Deeside Art Society, The (Patron)
    * War Memorial Trust (Patron)
    * West of England School and College for young people with little or no sight (Patron)
    * Wilts and Berks Canal Trust (Patron)
    * Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust (Patron)

Ancestry

According to genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner, the Duchess of Cornwall's ancestry is predominantly French, English, Dutch, and Scottish. Through her French lineage, Camilla's maternal line great-great-grandmother was Sophia Mary MacNab of Hamilton, Ontario, who was herself the descendant of 17th century immigrants to Quebec, daughter of Sir Allan MacNab, and wife of William Coutts Keppel, Earl of Albemarle. Their son, George, was husband to Alice Edmonstone, who was the mistress of King Edward VII, himself the great-great-grandfather of Prince Charles: thus, Camilla and Charles are ninth cousins once removed. Through her mother she is a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier. This same lineage makes Camilla a distant relation of Celine Dion and Madonna, while her bloodline is also connected to King Charles II, through his illegitimate son, Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond; Thomas Cubitt, prominent Victorian architect; and, through the Earl of Albemarle, Judith Keppel, the first winner of the top prize on the television game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. Through Charles II of England and Scotland, Camilla is also related, although distantly, to Diana, Princess of Wales.

Thanks Phil..I'm not sure why but I just don't like her :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 5:58 am


Thanks Phil..I'm not sure why but I just don't like her :-\\
...because she was a third party to a marriage.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/17/10 at 6:02 am


...because she was a third party to a marriage.


Charles must really love her ...because she never was a beauty!!  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 6:03 am


Charles must really love her ...because she never was a beauty!!  :o
...Charles is/was the only one to show love towards her?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 6:09 am


...because she was a third party to a marriage.

That's a good reason, plus I always liked Princess Diana
Charles must really love her ...because she never was a beauty!!  :o

Maybe she's got something were missing :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 6:10 am


Maybe she's got something were missing :-\\
...money?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 6:10 am


That's a good reason, plus I always liked Princess Diana
The nation has always liked Princess Diana

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 6:15 am

The word of the day...Dozen
Dozen is another word for the number twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the moon or months in a cycle of the sun  or year. The dozen is convenient because its multiples and divisors  are convenient: 12 = 2  × 2 × 3, 3 × 4  = 2 × 6, 60 = 12 × 5, 360 = 12 × 30. The use of twelve as a base number, known as the duodecimal  system (also as dozenal), probably originated in Mesopotamia  (see also sexagesimal). Twelve dozen (122 = 144, the duodecimal 100) are known as a gross; and twelve gross (123 = 1,728, the duodecimal 1,000) are called a great gross, a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A great hundred, also known as a small gross, is 120 or ten  dozen (a dozen for each finger on both hands). A baker's dozen, also known as a long dozen, is thirteen.

The English word dozen comes from the old form of the French word douzaine, meaning "a group of twelve" ("Assemblage de choses de même nature au nombre de douze" - (translation: A group of twelve things of the same nature as defined in the eighth edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française). This French word is a derivation from the cardinal number douze ("twelve", from Latin duodĕcim) and the collective suffix -aine (from Latin -ēna), a suffix also used to form other words with similar meanings such as quinzaine (a group of fifteen), vingtaine (a group of twenty), centaine (a group of one hundred), etc. These French words have synonymous cognates in Spanish: docena , quincena, veintena, centena, etc. English dozen, French douzaine, German Dutzend, Dutch dozijn and Spanish docena, are also used as indefinite quantifiers to mean "about twelve" or "many" (as in "a dozen times", "dozens of people").

Dozen also refereed to the Dozen Media Network of sites which presents the top 12 websites for a selected category.Dozen
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w201/TaylrMayd/Mixtapes/BD_DC_MichaelJackson_small.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff120/girly-girl-graphics/hugs_and_kisses/1095-04-05-2010.png
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq283/jackpotlotscatalog3/GR042.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f99/marlis2/dozen.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/teamKS3/People/ZERO0806.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu316/ahalin81/Dozen.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/MichaelBien/dozen.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i71/tdmaloneslp/dozen.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Chickendaddy/My%20Birds/13dozeggs2.jpg
http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv55/amaderforum/deadlydozen.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab30/16bitninja/a_dozen_donuts.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 6:16 am


...money?

That and power.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 6:19 am


The word of the day...Dozen
Dozen is another word for the number twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the moon or months in a cycle of the sun  or year. The dozen is convenient because its multiples and divisors  are convenient: 12 = 2  × 2 × 3, 3 × 4  = 2 × 6, 60 = 12 × 5, 360 = 12 × 30. The use of twelve as a base number, known as the duodecimal  system (also as dozenal), probably originated in Mesopotamia  (see also sexagesimal). Twelve dozen (122 = 144, the duodecimal 100) are known as a gross; and twelve gross (123 = 1,728, the duodecimal 1,000) are called a great gross, a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A great hundred, also known as a small gross, is 120 or ten  dozen (a dozen for each finger on both hands). A baker's dozen, also known as a long dozen, is thirteen.

The English word dozen comes from the old form of the French word douzaine, meaning "a group of twelve" ("Assemblage de choses de même nature au nombre de douze" - (translation: A group of twelve things of the same nature as defined in the eighth edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française). This French word is a derivation from the cardinal number douze ("twelve", from Latin duodĕcim) and the collective suffix -aine (from Latin -ēna), a suffix also used to form other words with similar meanings such as quinzaine (a group of fifteen), vingtaine (a group of twenty), centaine (a group of one hundred), etc. These French words have synonymous cognates in Spanish: docena , quincena, veintena, centena, etc. English dozen, French douzaine, German Dutzend, Dutch dozijn and Spanish docena, are also used as indefinite quantifiers to mean "about twelve" or "many" (as in "a dozen times", "dozens of people").

Dozen also refereed to the Dozen Media Network of sites which presents the top 12 websites for a selected category.Dozen
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w201/TaylrMayd/Mixtapes/BD_DC_MichaelJackson_small.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff120/girly-girl-graphics/hugs_and_kisses/1095-04-05-2010.png
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq283/jackpotlotscatalog3/GR042.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f99/marlis2/dozen.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/teamKS3/People/ZERO0806.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu316/ahalin81/Dozen.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/MichaelBien/dozen.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i71/tdmaloneslp/dozen.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Chickendaddy/My%20Birds/13dozeggs2.jpg
http://i669.photobucket.com/albums/vv55/amaderforum/deadlydozen.jpg
http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab30/16bitninja/a_dozen_donuts.jpg
We should get Jeff on to the maths of 12 or the dozen?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 6:26 am

The person born on this day...Donald Sutherland
Donald McNicol Sutherland, OC (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian character actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years.  Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in 1967, and MASH and Kelly's Heroes in 1970, as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Ordinary People. He recently starred in the American television series Dirty Sexy Money
Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, the son of Dorothy Isobel (née McNichol) and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company.  He got his first part time job at age 14 as a news correspondent for local radio station CKBW in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He then studied at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where he met his first wife Lois Hardwick (not the child star of the same name), and graduated with a double major in engineering and drama. He had at one point been a member of the "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto. He changed his mind about becoming an engineer, and subsequently left Canada for England to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Career beginnings

In the early to mid-1960s, Sutherland began to get small parts in British films and TV, landing notable roles in horror films with Christopher Lee, such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and twice appearing in the The Saint, firstly in the 1965 episode "The Happy Suicide" and then, more auspiciously, in a story called "Escape Route" at the end of 1966. The episode was directed by the show's star, Roger Moore, who later recalled that Sutherland "asked me if he could show it to some producers as he was up for an important part... they came to view a rough cut at the studio and he got The Dirty Dozen. Thus, Sutherland was on course for the first of the three war films which would be his initial great successes: The Dirty Dozen in 1967, with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson; in 1970, as the lead "Hawkeye" Pierce in Robert Altman's MASH; and, again in 1970, as tank commander Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes, with Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. During his time in England Sutherland also appeared in The Avengers in 1967, in an episode titled "The Superlative Seven."
Mid-career

During the filming of the Academy award-winning detective thriller Klute, Sutherland had an intimate relationship with co-star Jane Fonda. Sutherland and Fonda went on to co-produce and star together in the anti-Vietnam war film F.T.A. (1972), consisting of a series of sketches performed outside army bases in the Pacific Rim and interviews with American troops who were then on active service.

Sutherland found himself in demand as a leading man throughout the 1970s in films such as the Venice-based psychological horror film Don't Look Now (1973), the war film The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Federico Fellini's Casanova (1976) and the thriller Eye of the Needle (which was filmed on location on the Isle of Mull, West Scotland) and as the ever-optimistic health inspector in the science fiction/horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) alongside Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum.

He helped launch the internationally popular Canadian television series Witness to Yesterday, with a performance as the Montreal doctor Norman Bethune, a physician and humanitarian, largely talking of Bethune's experiences in revolutionary China. Sutherland refused a script for this role, saying he knew Bethune's life so well they could ask him anything—and the interviewer ended up with enough material for two programs instead of the planned one.

Sutherland also had a small role as pot-smoking Professor Dave Jennings in National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978, making himself known to younger fans as a result of the movie's popularity. When cast, he was offered either US$40,000 up front or a percentage of the movie. Thinking the movie would certainly not be a big success, he chose the 40K upfront payment.

He won acclaim for his performance in the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 epic film 1900 and as the conflicted father in the Academy award-winning family drama Ordinary People (1980) alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. In 1981 he narrated A War Story, an Anne Wheeler film. He played the part of physician-hero Norman Bethune in two separate biographical films in 1977 and 1990.

A prolific actor, some of Sutherland's better-known roles in the 1980s and 1990s were in the South African apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1989), alongside Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon; the firefighter thriller Backdraft (1991), alongside Kurt Russell and Robert De Niro; and as the snobbish NYC art dealer in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), with Stockard Channing and Will Smith. In the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK, Sutherland played a mysterious Washington intelligence officer, reputed to have been L. Fletcher Prouty, who spoke of links to the military-industrial complex in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He played psychiatrist and visionary Wilhelm Reich in the video for Kate Bush's 1985 single, "Cloudbusting".

In 1992 he played the part of Merrick in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Kristy Swanson. He played a software company's scheming CEO in Barry Levinson's 1994 drama Disclosure opposite Michael Douglas and in 1995 was cast as the antagonistic Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock in Wolfgang Petersen's thriller Outbreak, also featuring Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, and Rene Russo.

Sutherland was later cast in 1997 (for only the second time) with his son Kiefer in Joel Schumacher's award-winning crime thriller A Time to Kill, based on the bestselling book of the same name, written by John Grisham. He played an aging yet ready-for-liftoff astronaut in 2000's Space Cowboys, co-starring with director Clint Eastwood.
Recent career

In more recent years, Sutherland was noted for his role as Reverend Monroe in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003), in the remake of The Italian Job (2003), in the TV series Commander in Chief (2005–2006), in the movie Fierce People (2005) with Diane Lane and Anton Yelchin, and as Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (2005), starring alongside Keira Knightley. He earned an Emmy nomination in 2006 for his performance in the miniseries Human Trafficking.

Sutherland starred as Tripp Darling in the prime time serial Dirty Sexy Money for ABC. Sutherland's distinctive voice has also been used in many radio and television commercials, including those for Volvo automobiles. He is the spokesman for Simply Orange orange juice and recently he played multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycut in the Warner Bros. film Fool's Gold. He provided voice-overs and narration during the intro of 1st semifinal of Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and was also one of the Olympic flag bearers. During the games, Sutherland attended some of the events.
Awards and recognition
Sutherland's star on Canada's Walk of Fame

    * 1978: Order of Canada
    * 1983: 4th Genie Awards, winner, Best Actor, Threshold
    * 1995: Golden Globe Award, winner, Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Citizen X
    * 1998: Golden Satellite Awards, winner, Best Supporting Actor - Drama, Without Limits
    * 2000: Canada's Walk of Fame
    * 2002: Golden Globe Award, winner, Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Path to War

Filmography
Main article: Donald Sutherland filmography
Personal life

Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on 18 December 1978 and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. He maintains a home in Georgeville, in Quebec's Eastern Townships. Sutherland was a major fan of the Montreal Expos.

Son Kiefer Sutherland, a successful actor best-known for his role as Jack Bauer on the TV action/thriller series 24, and his twin sister, Rachel, were born to Donald Sutherland and his second wife, Shirley Douglas, daughter of Tommy Douglas.

Donald Sutherland met his current wife, French-Canadian actress Francine Racette, on the set of the Canadian pioneer drama Alien Thunder. They have three sons, including actor Rossif Sutherland, Angus Sutherland, and Roeg Sutherland.

Sutherland became a blogger for the liberal American news website The Huffington Post during the 2008 election campaign
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/numbgod/sutherland.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq314/sixpaxrcool/donald_sutherland.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 6:34 am

The persons who died on this day...Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American  outfielder  in baseball born in Narrows, Georgia.  Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team's player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics.

Cobb is widely regarded as one of the best players of all time. In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes.

Cobb is widely credited with setting 90 Major League Baseball records during his career. He still holds several records as of 2010, including the highest career batting average (.366 or .367, depending on source) and most career batting titles with 11 (or 12, depending on source). He retained many other records for almost a half century or more, including most career hits until 1985 (4,189 or 4,191, depending on source), most career runs (2,245 or 2,246 depending on source) until 2001, most career games played (3,035) and at bats (11,429 or 11,434 depending on source) until 1974, and the modern record for most career stolen bases (892) until 1977. He committed 271 errors in his career, the most by any American League outfielder.

Cobb's legacy as an athlete has sometimes been overshadowed by his surly temperament and aggressive playing style, which was described by the Detroit Free Press as "daring to the point of dementia."
Efforts to create a Ty Cobb Memorial in Royston initially failed, primarily because most of the artifacts from his life were sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and the Georgia town was viewed as too remote to make a memorial worthwhile. However, on July 17, 1998, the 37th anniversary of Cobb's death, the Ty Cobb Museum and the Franklin County Sports Hall of Fame opened its doors in Royston. On that day, Cobb was one of the first members to be inducted into the Franklin County Sports Hall of Fame. On August 30, 2005, his hometown hosted a 1905 baseball game to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Cobb's first major league game. Players in the game included many of Cobb's descendants as well as many citizens from his hometown of Royston. Another early-1900s baseball game was played in his hometown at Cobb Field on September 30, 2006, with Cobb's descendants and Roystonians again playing. Cobb's personal batboy from his major league years was also in attendance and threw out the first pitch. A third Ty Cobb Vintage Baseball Game was played on October 6, 2007. Many of Cobb's family and other relatives were in attendance for a "family reunion" theme. Appearing at the game again was Cobb's personal batboy who, with his son and grandson, made a large donation and a plaque to the Ty Cobb Museum in honor of their family's relationship with the Cobb family.

Teach a boy to throw a baseball, and he won't throw a rock.
Ty Cobb

Ty Cobb's legacy also includes legions of collectors of his early tobacco card issues as well as game used memorabilia and autographs. Perhaps the most curious item remains the 1909 Ty Cobb with Ty Cobb Cigarettes pack, leaving some to believe Cobb either had or attempted to have his own brand of cigarettes. Very little about the card is known other than its similarity to the 1909 T206 Red Portrait card published by the American Tobacco Company, and until 2005 only a handful were known to exist. That year, a sizable cache of the cards was brought to auction by the family of a Royston, Georgia man who had stored them in a book for almost 100 years.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg290/omg1231236/TyCobb.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e139/ucancallmedavis/433px-Ty-Cobb-1913-NPC-detail-1.jpg

* Dizzy Dean
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball, and was the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in one season. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame  in 1953.

Dean, who was born in Lucas, Arkansas, pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals (1930-1937), the Chicago Cubs (1938-1941), and briefly for the St. Louis Browns (1947).

Some confusion arose about Dean's legal name, as some sources had it as "Jerome Herman Dean" and others as "Jay Hanna Dean." His biographical film did not help in this regard, as the actor playing Paul called him "Jay" and the actress playing his wife called him "Jerome". One time-honored story is that Dean gave conflicting information to three different reporters, in quick succession, as to his name and birthplace. A teammate questioned him about that, and he answered, "I wanted to give each of them fellas an exclusive story!" Dean was best known for leading the 1934 "Gashouse Gang" St. Louis team. He had a 30–7 record with a 2.66 ERA during the regular season. His brother, Paul, was also on the roster, and was nicknamed "Daffy", although this was usually only done for press consumption. Though "Diz" sometimes called his brother "Daf", he typically referred to himself and his brother as "Me an' Paul".

The Gashouse Gang was the southernmost and westernmost team in the major leagues at the time, and became a de-facto "America's Team." Team members, particularly Southerners such as the Dean brothers and Pepper Martin, became folk heroes in Depression-ravaged America. Americans saw in these players, dirty and hustling rather than handsome and graceful, a spirit of hard work and perseverance, as opposed to the haughty, highly-paid New York Giants, whom the Cardinals chased for the National League pennant.

Much like later sports legends Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali, Dizzy liked to brag about his prowess and make public predictions. In 1934, Dizzy predicted, "Me an' Paul are gonna win 45 games." On September 21, Diz pitched no-hit ball for eight innings against the Brooklyn Dodgers, finishing with a three-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader, his 27th win of the season. Paul then threw a no-hitter in the nightcap, to win his 18th, matching the 45 that Diz had predicted. "Gee, Paul", Diz was heard to say in the locker room afterward, "if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-thrown one too!" He also bet he could strike out Vince DiMaggio four times in one game. He struck him out his first three at bats, but when he hit a popup behind the plate at his fourth, Dean screamed at his catcher, "Drop it!, Drop it!" The catcher did and Dean fanned DiMaggio, winning the bet. Few in the press now doubted Diz's boast, as he was also fond of saying, "It ain't braggin' if ya can back it up." Diz finished with 30 wins, the only NL pitcher to do so in the post-1920 live-ball era, and Paul finished with 19, for a total of 49. The Cards needed them all to edge the Giants for the pennant, setting up a matchup with the American League champion Detroit Tigers. After the season, Dizzy Dean was awarded the National League's Most Valuable Player Award.

Dean was known for antics which inspired his nickname. In time, perception became reality. In Game 4 of the 1934 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, Dean was sent to first base as a pinch runner. The next batter hit a potential double play groundball. Intent on avoiding the double play, Dean threw himself in front of the throw to first. The ball struck him on the head, and Dean was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital. The storied (and possibly apocryphal) sports-section headline the next day said, "X-ray of Dean's head reveals nothing." Although the Tigers went on the win the game 10-4, Dean recovered in time to pitch in Games 5 and 7 and put the Series away for the Cardinals.

Branch Rickey, the Cardinals executive who had developed their farm system and built the great 1930s Cardinals teams, found Dean's homespun candidness and observations refreshing. He once told a friend, with some bemusement, "Tell me why I spent four mortal hours today conversing with a person named Dizzy Dean
Accomplishments
CardsRetired17.PNG
Dizzy Dean's number 17 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974

    * Four consecutive strikeout titles
    * Led National League in complete games for four consecutive years
    * Won two games in the 1934 World Series
    * Three time 20-game winner; won 30 games in 1934
    * Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953
    * MVP in 1934
    * Inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame
    * Despite having what amounted to only half a career, in 1999, he ranked Number 85 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Later life and recognition

After leaving sportscasting in the late 1960s, Dean settled with his wife, Patricia, in her hometown—Bond, Mississippi. Dean died at age 64 in Reno, Nevada of a heart attack, and was buried in the Bond Cemetery. Dean's home in Bond was named Deanash, a combination of his name and his wife's maiden name (Nash); it was willed by Dean's wife to the Mississippi Baptist Convention, which operates foster homes for children in a rural setting.

A Dizzy Dean Museum was established at 1152 Lakeland Drive in Jackson, Mississippi. The building was significantly expanded, and the Dean exhibit is now part of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, located adjacent to Smith-Wills Stadium, a former minor-league baseball park. On October 22, 2007, a rest area on U.S. Highway 49 South in Wiggins, Mississippi, five miles south of Dean's home in Bond, Mississippi, was named "Dizzy Dean Rest Area" after Dean. In Morrison Bluff, AR; about 2 miles south of Clarksville, AR; there is a restaurant, Porky's, with Dizzy Dean memorabilia.

Dean was mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash:
Lineup for Yesterday

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.
— Ogden Nash, Sport magazine (January 1949)

Actor Ben Jones wrote and continues to perform a one-man play about Dean, entitled "Ol' Diz", as described in this interview.
Career statistics
W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO Win Pct. ERA+
150 83 3.02 317 230 154 26 30 1,967 1,919 661 95 453 1,163 .644 130
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab196/Solanus612/Baseball%20Pics/dizzy_dean.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t222/kramer_019/archive01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/17/10 at 7:00 am


The person born on this day...Donald Sutherland
Donald McNicol Sutherland, OC (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian character actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years.  Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in 1967, and MASH and Kelly's Heroes in 1970, as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Ordinary People. He recently starred in the American television series Dirty Sexy Money
Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, the son of Dorothy Isobel (née McNichol) and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company.  He got his first part time job at age 14 as a news correspondent for local radio station CKBW in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He then studied at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where he met his first wife Lois Hardwick (not the child star of the same name), and graduated with a double major in engineering and drama. He had at one point been a member of the "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto. He changed his mind about becoming an engineer, and subsequently left Canada for England to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Career beginnings

In the early to mid-1960s, Sutherland began to get small parts in British films and TV, landing notable roles in horror films with Christopher Lee, such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and twice appearing in the The Saint, firstly in the 1965 episode "The Happy Suicide" and then, more auspiciously, in a story called "Escape Route" at the end of 1966. The episode was directed by the show's star, Roger Moore, who later recalled that Sutherland "asked me if he could show it to some producers as he was up for an important part... they came to view a rough cut at the studio and he got The Dirty Dozen. Thus, Sutherland was on course for the first of the three war films which would be his initial great successes: The Dirty Dozen in 1967, with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson; in 1970, as the lead "Hawkeye" Pierce in Robert Altman's MASH; and, again in 1970, as tank commander Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes, with Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. During his time in England Sutherland also appeared in The Avengers in 1967, in an episode titled "The Superlative Seven."
Mid-career

During the filming of the Academy award-winning detective thriller Klute, Sutherland had an intimate relationship with co-star Jane Fonda. Sutherland and Fonda went on to co-produce and star together in the anti-Vietnam war film F.T.A. (1972), consisting of a series of sketches performed outside army bases in the Pacific Rim and interviews with American troops who were then on active service.

Sutherland found himself in demand as a leading man throughout the 1970s in films such as the Venice-based psychological horror film Don't Look Now (1973), the war film The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Federico Fellini's Casanova (1976) and the thriller Eye of the Needle (which was filmed on location on the Isle of Mull, West Scotland) and as the ever-optimistic health inspector in the science fiction/horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) alongside Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum.

He helped launch the internationally popular Canadian television series Witness to Yesterday, with a performance as the Montreal doctor Norman Bethune, a physician and humanitarian, largely talking of Bethune's experiences in revolutionary China. Sutherland refused a script for this role, saying he knew Bethune's life so well they could ask him anything—and the interviewer ended up with enough material for two programs instead of the planned one.

Sutherland also had a small role as pot-smoking Professor Dave Jennings in National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978, making himself known to younger fans as a result of the movie's popularity. When cast, he was offered either US$40,000 up front or a percentage of the movie. Thinking the movie would certainly not be a big success, he chose the 40K upfront payment.

He won acclaim for his performance in the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 epic film 1900 and as the conflicted father in the Academy award-winning family drama Ordinary People (1980) alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. In 1981 he narrated A War Story, an Anne Wheeler film. He played the part of physician-hero Norman Bethune in two separate biographical films in 1977 and 1990.

A prolific actor, some of Sutherland's better-known roles in the 1980s and 1990s were in the South African apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1989), alongside Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon; the firefighter thriller Backdraft (1991), alongside Kurt Russell and Robert De Niro; and as the snobbish NYC art dealer in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), with Stockard Channing and Will Smith. In the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK, Sutherland played a mysterious Washington intelligence officer, reputed to have been L. Fletcher Prouty, who spoke of links to the military-industrial complex in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He played psychiatrist and visionary Wilhelm Reich in the video for Kate Bush's 1985 single, "Cloudbusting".

In 1992 he played the part of Merrick in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Kristy Swanson. He played a software company's scheming CEO in Barry Levinson's 1994 drama Disclosure opposite Michael Douglas and in 1995 was cast as the antagonistic Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock in Wolfgang Petersen's thriller Outbreak, also featuring Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, and Rene Russo.

Sutherland was later cast in 1997 (for only the second time) with his son Kiefer in Joel Schumacher's award-winning crime thriller A Time to Kill, based on the bestselling book of the same name, written by John Grisham. He played an aging yet ready-for-liftoff astronaut in 2000's Space Cowboys, co-starring with director Clint Eastwood.
Recent career

In more recent years, Sutherland was noted for his role as Reverend Monroe in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003), in the remake of The Italian Job (2003), in the TV series Commander in Chief (2005–2006), in the movie Fierce People (2005) with Diane Lane and Anton Yelchin, and as Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (2005), starring alongside Keira Knightley. He earned an Emmy nomination in 2006 for his performance in the miniseries Human Trafficking.

Sutherland starred as Tripp Darling in the prime time serial Dirty Sexy Money for ABC. Sutherland's distinctive voice has also been used in many radio and television commercials, including those for Volvo automobiles. He is the spokesman for Simply Orange orange juice and recently he played multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycut in the Warner Bros. film Fool's Gold. He provided voice-overs and narration during the intro of 1st semifinal of Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and was also one of the Olympic flag bearers. During the games, Sutherland attended some of the events.
Awards and recognition
Sutherland's star on Canada's Walk of Fame

    * 1978: Order of Canada
    * 1983: 4th Genie Awards, winner, Best Actor, Threshold
    * 1995: Golden Globe Award, winner, Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Citizen X
    * 1998: Golden Satellite Awards, winner, Best Supporting Actor - Drama, Without Limits
    * 2000: Canada's Walk of Fame
    * 2002: Golden Globe Award, winner, Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Path to War

Filmography
Main article: Donald Sutherland filmography
Personal life

Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on 18 December 1978 and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. He maintains a home in Georgeville, in Quebec's Eastern Townships. Sutherland was a major fan of the Montreal Expos.

Son Kiefer Sutherland, a successful actor best-known for his role as Jack Bauer on the TV action/thriller series 24, and his twin sister, Rachel, were born to Donald Sutherland and his second wife, Shirley Douglas, daughter of Tommy Douglas.

Donald Sutherland met his current wife, French-Canadian actress Francine Racette, on the set of the Canadian pioneer drama Alien Thunder. They have three sons, including actor Rossif Sutherland, Angus Sutherland, and Roeg Sutherland.

Sutherland became a blogger for the liberal American news website The Huffington Post during the 2008 election campaign
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/numbgod/sutherland.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq314/sixpaxrcool/donald_sutherland.jpg


a very fine actor,don't watch many of his films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/17/10 at 8:18 am


The person born on this day...Donald Sutherland
Donald McNicol Sutherland, OC (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian character actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years.  Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in 1967, and MASH and Kelly's Heroes in 1970, as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Ordinary People. He recently starred in the American television series Dirty Sexy Money
Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, the son of Dorothy Isobel (née McNichol) and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company.  He got his first part time job at age 14 as a news correspondent for local radio station CKBW in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He then studied at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where he met his first wife Lois Hardwick (not the child star of the same name), and graduated with a double major in engineering and drama. He had at one point been a member of the "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto. He changed his mind about becoming an engineer, and subsequently left Canada for England to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Career beginnings

In the early to mid-1960s, Sutherland began to get small parts in British films and TV, landing notable roles in horror films with Christopher Lee, such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and twice appearing in the The Saint, firstly in the 1965 episode "The Happy Suicide" and then, more auspiciously, in a story called "Escape Route" at the end of 1966. The episode was directed by the show's star, Roger Moore, who later recalled that Sutherland "asked me if he could show it to some producers as he was up for an important part... they came to view a rough cut at the studio and he got The Dirty Dozen. Thus, Sutherland was on course for the first of the three war films which would be his initial great successes: The Dirty Dozen in 1967, with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson; in 1970, as the lead "Hawkeye" Pierce in Robert Altman's MASH; and, again in 1970, as tank commander Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes, with Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. During his time in England Sutherland also appeared in The Avengers in 1967, in an episode titled "The Superlative Seven."
Mid-career

During the filming of the Academy award-winning detective thriller Klute, Sutherland had an intimate relationship with co-star Jane Fonda. Sutherland and Fonda went on to co-produce and star together in the anti-Vietnam war film F.T.A. (1972), consisting of a series of sketches performed outside army bases in the Pacific Rim and interviews with American troops who were then on active service.

Sutherland found himself in demand as a leading man throughout the 1970s in films such as the Venice-based psychological horror film Don't Look Now (1973), the war film The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Federico Fellini's Casanova (1976) and the thriller Eye of the Needle (which was filmed on location on the Isle of Mull, West Scotland) and as the ever-optimistic health inspector in the science fiction/horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) alongside Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum.

He helped launch the internationally popular Canadian television series Witness to Yesterday, with a performance as the Montreal doctor Norman Bethune, a physician and humanitarian, largely talking of Bethune's experiences in revolutionary China. Sutherland refused a script for this role, saying he knew Bethune's life so well they could ask him anything—and the interviewer ended up with enough material for two programs instead of the planned one.

Sutherland also had a small role as pot-smoking Professor Dave Jennings in National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978, making himself known to younger fans as a result of the movie's popularity. When cast, he was offered either US$40,000 up front or a percentage of the movie. Thinking the movie would certainly not be a big success, he chose the 40K upfront payment.

He won acclaim for his performance in the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 epic film 1900 and as the conflicted father in the Academy award-winning family drama Ordinary People (1980) alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. In 1981 he narrated A War Story, an Anne Wheeler film. He played the part of physician-hero Norman Bethune in two separate biographical films in 1977 and 1990.

A prolific actor, some of Sutherland's better-known roles in the 1980s and 1990s were in the South African apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1989), alongside Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon; the firefighter thriller Backdraft (1991), alongside Kurt Russell and Robert De Niro; and as the snobbish NYC art dealer in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), with Stockard Channing and Will Smith. In the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK, Sutherland played a mysterious Washington intelligence officer, reputed to have been L. Fletcher Prouty, who spoke of links to the military-industrial complex in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He played psychiatrist and visionary Wilhelm Reich in the video for Kate Bush's 1985 single, "Cloudbusting".

In 1992 he played the part of Merrick in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Kristy Swanson. He played a software company's scheming CEO in Barry Levinson's 1994 drama Disclosure opposite Michael Douglas and in 1995 was cast as the antagonistic Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock in Wolfgang Petersen's thriller Outbreak, also featuring Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, and Rene Russo.

Sutherland was later cast in 1997 (for only the second time) with his son Kiefer in Joel Schumacher's award-winning crime thriller A Time to Kill, based on the bestselling book of the same name, written by John Grisham. He played an aging yet ready-for-liftoff astronaut in 2000's Space Cowboys, co-starring with director Clint Eastwood.
Recent career

In more recent years, Sutherland was noted for his role as Reverend Monroe in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003), in the remake of The Italian Job (2003), in the TV series Commander in Chief (2005–2006), in the movie Fierce People (2005) with Diane Lane and Anton Yelchin, and as Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (2005), starring alongside Keira Knightley. He earned an Emmy nomination in 2006 for his performance in the miniseries Human Trafficking.

Sutherland starred as Tripp Darling in the prime time serial Dirty Sexy Money for ABC. Sutherland's distinctive voice has also been used in many radio and television commercials, including those for Volvo automobiles. He is the spokesman for Simply Orange orange juice and recently he played multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycut in the Warner Bros. film Fool's Gold. He provided voice-overs and narration during the intro of 1st semifinal of Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and was also one of the Olympic flag bearers. During the games, Sutherland attended some of the events.
Awards and recognition
Sutherland's star on Canada's Walk of Fame

    * 1978: Order of Canada
    * 1983: 4th Genie Awards, winner, Best Actor, Threshold
    * 1995: Golden Globe Award, winner, Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Citizen X
    * 1998: Golden Satellite Awards, winner, Best Supporting Actor - Drama, Without Limits
    * 2000: Canada's Walk of Fame
    * 2002: Golden Globe Award, winner, Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Path to War

Filmography
Main article: Donald Sutherland filmography
Personal life

Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on 18 December 1978 and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. He maintains a home in Georgeville, in Quebec's Eastern Townships. Sutherland was a major fan of the Montreal Expos.

Son Kiefer Sutherland, a successful actor best-known for his role as Jack Bauer on the TV action/thriller series 24, and his twin sister, Rachel, were born to Donald Sutherland and his second wife, Shirley Douglas, daughter of Tommy Douglas.

Donald Sutherland met his current wife, French-Canadian actress Francine Racette, on the set of the Canadian pioneer drama Alien Thunder. They have three sons, including actor Rossif Sutherland, Angus Sutherland, and Roeg Sutherland.

Sutherland became a blogger for the liberal American news website The Huffington Post during the 2008 election campaign
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/numbgod/sutherland.jpg
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq314/sixpaxrcool/donald_sutherland.jpg
This is the complete filmography of actor Donald Sutherland.


1960s

    * Castle of the Living Dead (1964)
    * Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
    * Fanatic! (1966)
    * The Bedford Incident (1965)
    * Promise Her Anything (1966)
    * Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
    * The Dirty Dozen (1967)
    * Sebastian (1968)
    * Joanna (1968)
    * The Sunshine Patriot (1968)
    * The Split (1968)
    * Interlude (1968)

1970s

    * Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
    * M*A*S*H (1970)
    * Kelly's Heroes (1970)
    * Alex in Wonderland (1970)
    * The Act of the Heart (1970)
    * Little Murders (1971)
    * Klute (1971)
    * Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
    * F.T.A. (1972)
    * Steelyard Blues (1973)
    * Lady Ice (1973)
    * Don't Look Now (1973)
    * Alien Thunder (1973)
    * S*P*Y*S (1974)
    * The Day of the Locust (1975)
    * End of the Game (1976)
    * The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
    * Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976)
    * 1900 (1976)
    * Blood Relatives (1977)
    * The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
    * The Disappearance (1977)
    * Bethune (1977)
    * National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
    * Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
    * Murder by Decree (1979)
    * A Man, a Woman and a Bank (1979)
    * The Great Train Robbery (1979)
    * Bear Island (1979)

1980s

    * North China Factory (1980 documentary, Narrator)
    * Ordinary People (1980)
    * Nothing Personal (1980)
    * Threshold (1981)
    * Gas (1981)
    * Eye of the Needle (1981)
    * The Winter of Our Discontent (1983)
    * Max Dugan Returns (1983)
    * Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
    * Crackers (1984)
    * Terror in the Aisles (1984, archive footage)
    * Revolution (1985)
    * Heaven Help Us (1985)
    * The Wolf at the Door (1986)
    * The Trouble with Spies (1987)
    * The Rosary Murders (1987)
    * Apprentice to Murder (1988)
    * Lost Angels (1989)
    * Lock Up (1989)
    * A Dry White Season (1989)

1990s

    * Buster's Bedroom (1990)
    * Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990)
    * Scream of Stone (1991)
    * Long Road Home (1991)
    * JFK (1991)
    * Eminent Domain (1991)
    * Backdraft (1991)
    * The Railway Station Man (1992)
    * Quicksand: No Escape (1992)
    * Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
    * Younger & Younger (1993)
    * Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
    * Shadow of the Wolf (1993)
    * Benefit of the Doubt (1993)
    * The Puppet Masters (1994)
    * Punch (1994)
    * Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994)
    * The Lifeforce Experiment (1994)
    * Disclosure (1994)
    * Outbreak (1995)
    * Hollow Point (1995)
    * Citizen X (1995)
    * A Time to Kill (1996)
    * The Assignment (1997)
    * Natural Enemy (1997)
    * Shadow Conspiracy (1997)
    * Free Money (1998)
    * Fallen (1998)
    * Without Limits (1998)
    * Behind the Mask (1999)
    * Virus (1999)
    * Instinct (1999)
    * The Hunley (1999)
    * Toscano (1999)
    * The Setting Sun (1999)

2000s

    * Panic (2000)
    * Space Cowboys (2000)
    * The Art of War (2000)
    * Threads of Hope (voice) (2000)
    * The Big Heist (TV) (2001)
    * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (voice) (2001)
    * Uprising (TV) (2001)
    * Queen Victoria's Empire (TV) (voice) (2001)
    * Big Shot's Funeral A Chinese comedy directed by Xiaogang Feng (2002)
    * Path to War (TV) (2002)
    * Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002)
    * The Italian Job (2003)
    * Piazza delle cinque lune (2003)
    * Baltic Storm (2003)
    * Cold Mountain (2003)
    * 'Salem's Lot (TV) (2004)
    * Frankenstein (TV) (2004)
    * Aurora Borealis (2004)
    * Fierce People (2005)
    * Pride and Prejudice (2005)
    * American Gun (2005)
    * Lord of War (2005) (cameo, face not seen)
    * Commander-in-Chief (TV) (2005-2006)
    * Human Trafficking (Lifetime TV miniseries) (2005)
    * An American Haunting (2006)
    * Ask the Dust (2006)
    * Beerfest (2006)
    * Land of the Blind (2006)
    * Reign Over Me (2007)
    * Puffball (2007)
    * Dirty Sexy Money (TV) (2007-2009)
    * Fool's Gold (2008)
    * Astro Boy (voice) (2009)
    * The Pillars of the Earth (TV) (2010)
    * The Steal Artist (2010)
    * The Mechanic (2010 film)
    * The Eagle of the Ninth (2010)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/17/10 at 11:33 am


Thanks Phil..I'm not sure why but I just don't like her :-\\


I'm with you. For some reason, she reminds me of who I used to refer to as my Dad's "Thing." He was with this chick for about 20 years until they finally split up (YAY!!!!). Felt bad for my Dad when they split but I was very happy that I didn't have to put up with her anymore.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 12:08 pm


This is the complete filmography of actor Donald Sutherland.


1960s

    * Castle of the Living Dead (1964)
    * Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
    * Fanatic! (1966)
    * The Bedford Incident (1965)
    * Promise Her Anything (1966)
    * Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
    * The Dirty Dozen (1967)
    * Sebastian (1968)
    * Joanna (1968)
    * The Sunshine Patriot (1968)
    * The Split (1968)
    * Interlude (1968)

1970s

    * Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
    * M*A*S*H (1970)
    * Kelly's Heroes (1970)
    * Alex in Wonderland (1970)
    * The Act of the Heart (1970)
    * Little Murders (1971)
    * Klute (1971)
    * Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
    * F.T.A. (1972)
    * Steelyard Blues (1973)
    * Lady Ice (1973)
    * Don't Look Now (1973)
    * Alien Thunder (1973)
    * S*P*Y*S (1974)
    * The Day of the Locust (1975)
    * End of the Game (1976)
    * The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
    * Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976)
    * 1900 (1976)
    * Blood Relatives (1977)
    * The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
    * The Disappearance (1977)
    * Bethune (1977)
    * National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
    * Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
    * Murder by Decree (1979)
    * A Man, a Woman and a Bank (1979)
    * The Great Train Robbery (1979)
    * Bear Island (1979)

1980s

    * North China Factory (1980 documentary, Narrator)
    * Ordinary People (1980)
    * Nothing Personal (1980)
    * Threshold (1981)
    * Gas (1981)
    * Eye of the Needle (1981)
    * The Winter of Our Discontent (1983)
    * Max Dugan Returns (1983)
    * Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
    * Crackers (1984)
    * Terror in the Aisles (1984, archive footage)
    * Revolution (1985)
    * Heaven Help Us (1985)
    * The Wolf at the Door (1986)
    * The Trouble with Spies (1987)
    * The Rosary Murders (1987)
    * Apprentice to Murder (1988)
    * Lost Angels (1989)
    * Lock Up (1989)
    * A Dry White Season (1989)

1990s

    * Buster's Bedroom (1990)
    * Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990)
    * Scream of Stone (1991)
    * Long Road Home (1991)
    * JFK (1991)
    * Eminent Domain (1991)
    * Backdraft (1991)
    * The Railway Station Man (1992)
    * Quicksand: No Escape (1992)
    * Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
    * Younger & Younger (1993)
    * Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
    * Shadow of the Wolf (1993)
    * Benefit of the Doubt (1993)
    * The Puppet Masters (1994)
    * Punch (1994)
    * Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994)
    * The Lifeforce Experiment (1994)
    * Disclosure (1994)
    * Outbreak (1995)
    * Hollow Point (1995)
    * Citizen X (1995)
    * A Time to Kill (1996)
    * The Assignment (1997)
    * Natural Enemy (1997)
    * Shadow Conspiracy (1997)
    * Free Money (1998)
    * Fallen (1998)
    * Without Limits (1998)
    * Behind the Mask (1999)
    * Virus (1999)
    * Instinct (1999)
    * The Hunley (1999)
    * Toscano (1999)
    * The Setting Sun (1999)

2000s

    * Panic (2000)
    * Space Cowboys (2000)
    * The Art of War (2000)
    * Threads of Hope (voice) (2000)
    * The Big Heist (TV) (2001)
    * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (voice) (2001)
    * Uprising (TV) (2001)
    * Queen Victoria's Empire (TV) (voice) (2001)
    * Big Shot's Funeral A Chinese comedy directed by Xiaogang Feng (2002)
    * Path to War (TV) (2002)
    * Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002)
    * The Italian Job (2003)
    * Piazza delle cinque lune (2003)
    * Baltic Storm (2003)
    * Cold Mountain (2003)
    * 'Salem's Lot (TV) (2004)
    * Frankenstein (TV) (2004)
    * Aurora Borealis (2004)
    * Fierce People (2005)
    * Pride and Prejudice (2005)
    * American Gun (2005)
    * Lord of War (2005) (cameo, face not seen)
    * Commander-in-Chief (TV) (2005-2006)
    * Human Trafficking (Lifetime TV miniseries) (2005)
    * An American Haunting (2006)
    * Ask the Dust (2006)
    * Beerfest (2006)
    * Land of the Blind (2006)
    * Reign Over Me (2007)
    * Puffball (2007)
    * Dirty Sexy Money (TV) (2007-2009)
    * Fool's Gold (2008)
    * Astro Boy (voice) (2009)
    * The Pillars of the Earth (TV) (2010)
    * The Steal Artist (2010)
    * The Mechanic (2010 film)
    * The Eagle of the Ninth (2010)



Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/10 at 12:10 pm


I'm with you. For some reason, she reminds me of who I used to refer to as my Dad's "Thing." He was with this chick for about 20 years until I finally split up (YAY!!!!). Felt bad for my Dad when they split but I was very happy that I didn't have to put up with her anymore.



Cat

Like a bad taste you can't get rid of, until you find that miracle mouthwash ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/18/10 at 4:26 am

British Person of the Day: Robert Hooke

    * Born: 18 July 1635
    * Birthplace: Freshwater, Isle of Wight
    * Died: 3 March 1703
    * Best Known As: The author of 1665's Micrographia

Robert Hooke was the English scientist and inventor who wrote the 1665 book Micrographia, in which he coined the term "cell" for a basic biological structure. A gifted student with a particular talent for mechanics, Hooke was educated at Oxford, where he assisted Robert Boyle with his successful air pump experiments. A member of the Royal Society from 1663, Hooke was accomplished in astronomy, biology, physics and architecture, and his skill as an instrument maker gave him an edge over his contemporaries. He argued with Isaac Newton over the nature of light and gravity, and their long-running debate is said to have left both men forever bitter toward each other. Hooke's studies of springs and elasticity led to his enunciation of "Hooke's Law" (a spring's extension is proportional to the weight hanging from it), and he is credited with inventing the balance spring that allowed for the making of small, accurate timepieces. He also invented a reflecting microscope, the universal joint, and a variety of clocks, barometers and optical devices. Although not a surveyor or architect by profession, Hooke was named London's Surveyor after the Great Fire of 1666 and, with Christopher Wren, given the task of rebuilding the city.

Hooke discovered in 1664 that Gamma Arietis was a binary star... It was in a letter to Hooke that Isaac Newton wrote his famous line, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

http://www.evbg.de/de/ags/7b_2009/1/RobertHooke.jpg

http://www.arsmachina.com/images/hooke.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/10 at 6:51 am

The word of the day..Championship(s)
Championship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss274/atsntv/Photography/CaStateIDPA09004.jpg
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss274/atsntv/Photography/MostlySportingChamp2009099.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s72/Sabu12345/Championships.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g112/dramos12104/championships.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t76/shackdaddy_2007/championships-uk.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/carmenelectra111690/GUARD/SCHS/championships.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x43/OchoakaE41/banners.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/carmen_loves_pookey/ORAIDERS.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t173/jjsimonelli/CHAMPIONSHIPS.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g204/badgerhawk/AdamNikki.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/10 at 6:56 am

The person born on this day..Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, MBE (born 18 July 1957) is an English  professional golfer  on the European Tour and occasional on air golf analyst. Over his career, he has won six majors: three Open Championships and three Masters. He was ranked the World No. 1 on the Official World Golf Rankings for a total of 98 weeks. In 2006, Faldo became the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports.
Faldo was born in Welwyn Garden City, England. He borrowed some clubs from his neighbours after watching Jack Nicklaus play the 1971 Masters on television. While working as a carpet fitter, Faldo won the English Amateur and the British Youths Championship in 1975. He turned professional in 1976 and quickly achieved success, finishing 8th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1977 and 3rd in 1978 and winning a European Tour event in each of those seasons. In the former year he became the youngest player to appear in the Ryder Cup at the age of 21. Faldo was one of the leading players on the European Tour in the early 1980s, and he topped the Order of Merit in 1983.

However, feeling that he needed to refine his game in order to become a regular contender in major championships (British tabloids even dubbed him "Nick Foldo" after collapses at the 1983 Open Championship and the 1984 Masters), he spent the mid-1980s remodelling his swing under the tutelage of David Leadbetter. His performances dropped off for a couple of years as the changes occurred, but by 1987 he was playing at an even higher level, and he claimed his first major title at that year's Open Championship. He managed to beat American Paul Azinger by one shot even without getting a birdie in the final round (he parred all 18 holes), after Azinger bogeyed the final two holes of the tournament.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Faldo was considered the best golfer in the world. He was noted for being remarkably composed under pressure, intimidating to his opponents, and won more of the four professional major tournaments (Faldo won six) than any other player in the world from 1987 through 1996 (Nick Price was second with three major victories during this period; Seve Ballesteros, a contemporary of Faldo's from Spain, won five majors from 1979–1988). He won the Open Championship again in 1990 in St Andrews, Scotland by six shots, and claimed it for a third time in 1992, outplaying American John Cook. He also won two more majors when he won the Masters Tournament in 1989 and 1990. At the 1989 Masters, he shot a 65, the low round of the tournament, to get into a playoff with Scott Hoch. He won the playoff after holing a somewhat lengthy putt on the 2nd playoff hole (Hoch had missed a 2-foot putt to win on the first playoff hole). At the 1990 Masters, he came from behind again to get into a playoff with Raymond Floyd, once again winning on the second playoff hole after Floyd pulled his approach shot into a pond left of the green. Faldo spent a total of 98 weeks altogether at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, and claimed the European Tour Order of Merit a second time in 1992. During that time, Faldo said of his success: "The run doesn't have to end. If someone is going to beat me then I'm going to make sure they've worked for their victory. Let them come and get it from me." That year, he had worldwide earnings of £1,558,978, breaking the existing record.

Throughout this time, he remained a European Tour player while also visiting America regularly and playing events around the world, but in 1995 he decided to concentrate on playing on the PGA Tour, as his priority was to win further major championships (and three out of the four majors are played in the United States). At first this strategy didn't seem to work, as he had a moderate 1995 season and start to the 1996 season, but he won a famous victory at the 1996 Masters to collect his sixth and final major championship. He went into the final round trailing Greg Norman by six shots, but was the beneficiary of an infamous Sunday collapse by Norman; Faldo shot a 67 to win by five over Norman, who struggled mightily en route to a 78. Though this is commonly remembered as the tournament Norman threw away, Faldo's 67 was a memorable display of concentration and consistency which put pressure on Norman. After Faldo finished, he hugged Norman and whispered something in his ear, which years later Norman confirmed to have included the line "Don't let the bastards get you down," a reference to the media, which Faldo assumed would aggressively hound Norman for the loss. Norman said in interview after defeat that "He (Faldo) had gone way, way up in my estimations." Since then they have become firm friends and fishing partners, a passion they both share.

Faldo was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1990 and the European Tour Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1992, and has won 29 European Tour titles. As Faldo entered his forties, his form gradually declined and he devoted more time to off-course activities. The last season that he played regularly on the PGA Tour was 2001. Afterwards, he refocused on the European Tour, but has consistently played less than a full schedule. His most recent top-10 finish in a major to date (and quite probably the final of his career) was a tie for eighth place at the 2003 Open Championship. As of July 2005, his career European Tour earnings are just under €8 million, and his PGA Tour earnings are over $5 million.

Faldo is also the most successful Ryder Cup player ever, having won the most points of any player on either team and having represented the European Team a record 11 times and played a key role in making Europe competitive in the event. Having won 23 of his matches, lost 19, and halved 4, he also holds the record for having played the most Ryder Cup matches. He also holds the record for the most points won by any player 25 and is one of only six players to have scored a hole-in-one in the Ryder Cup.

While Faldo's professional individual tournament wins (39) pale in quantity to that of contemporaries Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, and Bernhard Langer, the prestige and stature of his successes are impressive, and he has more major victories than any of these players. His CV boasts (often multiple) successes in high-profile tour events such as the French Open, Irish Open, Spanish Open, Swiss Open (now European Masters), the European PGA, the British Masters, the European Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Volvo Masters, as well as his Nissan Open, Doral Open, and Heritage successes in the US. These wins are not only supplemented by his six majors, but also by his wins in invitational events such as the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge, the Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship, and the World Matchplay, as well as his team successes in the Dunhill Cup, the World Cup of Golf, and of course the Ryder Cup.
Faldo in July 2008

In the first half of 2007, Faldo did not appear in any regular tour events. He did play in the 2007 British Open, missing the cut. In his first Champions Tour event, he finished tied for 14th in the Senior British Open.

After this, Faldo missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2007. On Tuesday 20 May 2008, Faldo confirmed that he would not take part in the 2008 Open at Birkdale. It was the first time he had not taken part in the competition since failing to qualify as an amateur in 1975. He entered himself into the 138th Open Championship at Turnberry in 2009 & the 139th Open Championship in 2010 at St. Andrews, missing the 36 hole cut at both events.
Ryder Cup captaincy

Faldo was selected as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2008. The 37th Ryder Cup Golf Tournament was won 16½ - 11½ by Team USA to end the streak of three successive victories for Team Europe. This was Team USA's largest margin of victory since 1981, and the first time since 1979 the Americans had the lead after every session of play. It was held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, which was a contributing factor in Faldo getting the captaincy; he had lived in worked in America for over a decade.

Faldo had made a bold move to pick Ian Poulter as his wild card ahead of the much favoured Darren Clarke. This decision, questioned by many, paid off when Poulter emerged as the top scorer in the tournament. Faldo's relationship with the media during the competition was very erratic. During practice, photographers had taken pictures of him holding a list of names, seemly outlining the partnerships for the coming days. In the following press conference, he denied the list had any part in his tactics and seemed very irritated by continuing questions about it. Another controversial move was to play Sergio García and Lee Westwood, the two most experienced and successful Ryder cup players on his team, for only one session on the Saturday. His team selection was vindicated, however, as Europe finished the day 1 point ahead, closing the gap to 2 points behind the USA. On the final day of the competition, Faldo decided to play a "bottom heavy" tactic, where the best players would start lower down the order, thus if it went to a close finish, Europe would have its best players in play. This tactic seemed to backfire, as the USA, leading by 2 at the start of the day, gained the 5 points they required by the eighth match rendering the last four irrelevant. This led to some severe criticism of Faldo's strategic skills. His cause was not helped by the poor performances of the three most experienced players on the European side, Pádraig Harrington, Sergio García, and Lee Westwood, who failed to win a single match between them.
Broadcasting career

After cutting back on his playing schedule, Faldo became a broadcaster for ABC Sports' PGA Tour coverage, where he worked from 2004 to 2006. While never considered to be a particularly charismatic player, Faldo surprised many fans with his dry, British wit and insightful commentary as part of the ABC team.

On 3 October 2006, it was announced that Faldo had signed a contract with CBS to replace Lanny Wadkins, to become the network's lead golf analyst. "I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may come once every 10 years. But it will seriously curtail my playing career. My playing days aren't completely over but my priority now is given to CBS." Faldo's decision meant he missed the 2007 Masters, an event he had won three times. In 2007 he became the Golf Channel's lead golf analyst for their coverage on the PGA Tour.
Other activities and awards

In 1991 Faldo launched his golf course design practice Faldo Design, which has designed or remodelled dozens of courses spread across several continents. Designs include Chart Hills Golf Club (Kent, England), Sporting Club Berlin, Ocean Dunes, Vietnam, Cottonwood Hills near Hutchinson, Kansas, and the Wadi course (now named The Faldo) at Emirates Golf Club, Dubai. Faldo will be designing a championship golf course and a golf academy at Lavasa, India.

As way of opening his first course design in the UK (Charthills) in Kent, Faldo teed up on the dog-leg right par four. He drove in to the middle-right of the fairway, he then teed another ball and drove off, the two balls finished within 6 inches of each other and to this day can be seen set in to the fairway in a protective case. This was a mark of the man's ability at his peak. So far he did as well several oversea golf course designs like The Fortress at Louisbourg Resort Golf & Spa on Cape Breton Island, Canada. Most recently, he designed a world-class course in San Miguel de Allende, México. Ventanas de San Miguel hosts an 18 hole par-70 course to be opened in late 2010. He has other business interests including coaching schools and pro shops. In 1996 he launched the Faldo Series to encourage young European golfers both male and female.

There are 1,200 participants between the ages of 11 and 21 each year and the top 60 players qualify for the Faldo Series Final, hosted each year by Faldo at The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. The most notable graduate so far is the Englishman Nick Dougherty, who won on the European Tour for the first time in 2005.

Faldo has written several golf instructional books.

Along with the Marriott hotel chain, Faldo established The Faldo Golf Institute in 1997. This is a golf instructional program designed to help golfers of every level improve their skills and enjoyment of golf. The Institute has five locations: Orlando, Florida; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Palm Desert, California; Marco Island, Florida; and Hertfordshire, UK.

In 2007, Mercedes-Benz tapped Faldo to act as brand ambassador, to promote the revival of the Maybach brand of ultra-luxury automobiles.
Knighthood and other honors

Faldo was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1989 and inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2000, Faldo was ranked 18th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

He was awarded the MBE in 1998, then knighted in the 2009 Birthday Honours for his services to golf.
Personal life

Faldo met his first wife, Melanie Rockall, when he was 21. They married in 1979, but five years later they parted when she discovered he was having an affair with his manager's secretary, Gill Bennett. His divorce from Rockall came before his championship successes, and her settlement was relatively small. He married Bennett in 1986, and the couple had three children: Natalie, Matthew, and Georgia. They split up in 1995 after Faldo began a relationship with 20-year-old American golfing student Brenna Cepelak.

The three-year affair with Cepelak ended when Faldo met Valerie Bercher. The spurned Cepelak famously battered Faldo's Porsche 959 with a golf club, causing £10,000 damage. Faldo's relationship with Bercher, a Swiss PR agent, began in 1998 when they met at the European Masters golf tournament. At the time, Bercher was working for marketing company IMG. She left her fiance Olivier Delaloye and married Faldo in July 2001 (the same day as his ex-caddie Fanny Sunesson got married, in a different location) in a lavish ceremony at his Windsor home, and they have a daughter Emma Scarlet (born 2003). It was announced in May 2006 that Faldo had filed for divorce.

Golf World famously summed up the true mark of genius when they profiled the careers of Faldo and his arch rival for many years Greg Norman: "Norman has played and won more events: 87-43; however, Faldo has won more US and European tour titles: 36-34. Norman has won more money; Faldo has won more majors: 6-2. Norman has won more friends, Faldo more admirers."

Faldo is a supporter of the Conservative Party.
Professional wins (40)
PGA Tour wins (9)
Legend
Major Championships (6)
Other PGA Tour (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s)-up
1 22 Apr 1984 Sea Pines Heritage -18 (66-67-68-69=270) 1 stroke United States Tom Kite
2 19 Jul 1987 The Open Championship -9 (69-68-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
3 9 Apr 1989 Masters Tournament -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff United States Scott Hoch
4 8 Apr 1990 Masters Tournament -10 (71=72-66-69=278) Playoff United States Raymond Floyd
5 22 Jul 1990 The Open Championship -14 (65-67-65-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
6 19 Jul 1992 The Open Championship -8 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
7 5 Mar 1995 Doral-Ryder Open -15 (67-71-66-69=273) 1 stroke United States Peter Jacobsen, Australia Greg Norman
8 14 Apr 1996 Masters Tournament -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
9 2 Mar 1997 Nissan Open -12 (66-70-68-68=272) 3 strokes United States Craig Stadler
European Tour wins (30)
Legend
Major Championships (6)
Other European Tour (24)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of
Victory Runner(s)-up
1 17 Aug 1977 Skol Lager Individual -5 (68-71=139) Playoff Wales Craig Defoy, England Chris Witcher
2 29 May 1978 Colgate PGA Championship -10 (71-68-70-69=278) 7 strokes ScotlandKen Brown
3 26 May 1980 Sun Alliance PGA Championship +3 (73-70-71-69=283) 1 stroke Scotland Ken Brown
4 25 May 1981 Sun Alliance PGA Championship -10 (68-70-67-79=274) 4 strokes Scotland Ken Brown, England Neil Coles
5 19 Sep 1982 Haig Whisky TPC -18 (69-67-65-69=270) 3 strokes Spain Manuel Calero
6 8 May 1983 Paco Rabanne Open de France -11 (69-67-72-69=277) Playoff Spain José Maria Cañizares, England David J Russell,
Spain Seve Ballesteros
7 15 May 1983 Martini International -12 (67-69-66-66=268) Playoff Spain José Maria Cañizares
8 22 May 1983 Car Care Plan International -8 (67-68-68-69=272) 1 stroke England Howard Clark, England Brian Waites
9 24 Jul 1983 Lawrence Batley International -18 (71-69-64-62=266) 4 strokes England Warren Humphreys, England Brian Waites,
England Paul Way
10 11 Sep 1983 Ebel Swiss Open-European Masters -20 (70-64-68-66=268) Playoff Scotland Sandy Lyle
11 13 May 1984 Car Care Plan International -12 (69-70-66-71=276) 1 stroke England Howard Clark
12 17 May 1987 Peugeot Spanish Open -2 (72-71-71-72=286) 2 strokes South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, Spain Seve Ballesteros
13 19 Jul 1987 The Open Championship -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
14 26 Jun 1988 Peugeot Open de France -6 (71-67-68-68=274) 2 strokes England Denis Durnian, Australia Wayne Riley
15 30 Oct 1988 Volvo Masters -4 (74-71-71-68=284) 2 strokes Spain Seve Ballesteros
16 9 Apr 1989 Masters Tournament -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff United States Scott Hoch
17 30 May 1989 Volvo PGA Championship -16 (67-69-69-67=272) 2 strokes Wales Ian Woosnam
18 4 Jun 1989 Dunhill British Masters -21 (71-65-65-66=267) 4 strokes Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty
19 2 Jul 1989 Peugeot Open de France -7 (70-70-64-69=273) 1 stroke South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, West Germany Bernhard Langer,
England Mark Roe
20 8 Apr 1990 Masters Tournament -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff United States Raymond Floyd
21 22 Jul 1990 The Open Championship -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
22 23 Jun 1991 Carroll's Irish Open -5 (68-75-70-70=283) 3 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie
23 7 Jun 1992 Carroll's Irish Open -14 (66-65-68-75=274) Playoff South Africa Wayne Westner
24 19 Jul 1992 The Open Championship -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
25 2 Aug 1992 Scandinavian Masters -11 (70-72-66-69=277) 3 strokes Australia Robert Allenby, England Peter Baker,
Canada Danny Mijovic, New Zealand Frank Nobilo,
Spain José María Olazábal, Australia Peter O'Malley
26 13 Sep 1992 GA European Open -18 (67-66-64-65=262) 3 strokes Sweden Robert Karlsson
27 7 Feb 1993 Johnnie Walker Classic -11 (67-68-66-68=169) 1 stroke Scotland Colin Montgomerie
28 4 Jul 1993 Carroll's Irish Open -12 (72-67-72-65=276) Playoff Spain José María Olazábal
29 5 Jun 1994 Alfred Dunhill Open -5 (67-74-67-71=279) Playoff Sweden Joakim Haeggman
30 14 Apr 1996 Masters Tournament -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
Other wins (7)

    * 1979 ICL International (South African Tour)
    * 1989 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time)
    * 1990 Johnnie Walker Classic (Asia - the European Tour first sanctioned this event in 1992)
    * 1992 Toyota World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time), Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship (Jamaica - unofficial event)
    * 1994 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa - unofficial event)
    * 1998 World Cup of Golf (with David Carter)

Major championships
Wins (6)
Year↓ Championship↓ 54 Holes↓ Winning Score↓ Margin↓ Runner(s)-up↓
1987 The Open Championship 1 shot deficit -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
1989 Masters Tournament 5 shot deficit -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff 1 United States Scott Hoch
1990 Masters Tournament (2) 3 shot deficit -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff 2 United States Raymond Floyd
1990 The Open Championship (2) 5 shot lead -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
1992 The Open Championship (3) 4 shot lead -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
1996 Masters Tournament (3) 6 shot deficit -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman

1 Defeated Scott Hoch in sudden death playoff - Faldo (5-3=8), Hoch (5-4=9)
2 Defeated Raymond Floyd in sudden death playoff - Faldo (4-4=8), Floyd (4-5=9)
Results timeline
Tournament 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP DNP 40
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T28 T62 T7 T19
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters DNP DNP DNP T20 T15 T25 DNP DNP T30 1
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP T55 DNP DNP DNP 2 T18
The Open Championship T12 T11 T4 T8 T6 T53 5 1 3 T11
PGA Championship DNP DNP T14 CUT T20 T54 CUT T28 T4 T9
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters 1 T12 T13 T39 32 T24 1 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T3 T16 T4 T72 CUT T45 T16 T48 CUT CUT
The Open Championship 1 T17 1 2 T8 T40 4 T51 T44 CUT
PGA Championship T19 T16 T2 3 T4 T31 T65 CUT T54 T41
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Masters T28 CUT T14 T33 CUT WD CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open 7 T72 T5 CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T41 CUT T59 T8 CUT T11 CUT CUT DNP CUT
PGA Championship T51 T51 T60 DNP T49 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 2010
The Masters DNP
U.S. Open DNP
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship

DNP = did not play
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Team appearances

    * Ryder Cup (representing GB & Ireland / Europe): 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied match and retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners), 2008 (non-playing captain)
    * Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing England): 1985, 1986, 1987 (winners), 1988, 1991, 1993
    * World Cup (representing England): 1977, 1991, 1998 (winners)
    * UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003
    * Double Diamond: 1977
    * Four Tours World Championship: 1986, 1987, 1990
    * Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners), 1984 (winners)
    * Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)
    * Seve Trophy: 2007 (non-playing captain - winners)

See also

    * Golfers with most major championship wins
    * Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
    * Golfers with most European Tour wins
    * List of World Number One male golfers
    * List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa303/aaaswingersgolf/Faldo.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn47/MRR155/img010.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/18/10 at 7:02 am

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s72/Sabu12345/Championships.jpg

This is my favorite kind of championship.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/10 at 7:06 am


http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s72/Sabu12345/Championships.jpg

This is my favorite kind of championship.

I knew you would like that :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/10 at 7:08 am

The person who died on this day...Nico
Nico (born Christa Päffgen, 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988)  was a German composer, singer, fashion model, actress, and Warhol Superstar. She is known for both her vocal collaboration on The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, and her work as a solo artist from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. She also had roles in a handful of films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966). She was related to Hermann Päffgen, who founded the Päffgen brewery in 1883 in Cologne.

She died in July 1988, as a result of injuries sustained in a bicycling accident.
Standing 5' 10", with chiseled features and porcelain skin, Nico rose to prominence as a fashion model as a teenager. After leaving school at the age of thirteen she began selling lingerie and was soon spotted by fashion insiders. A year later, her mother found her work as a model in Berlin.

Her adopted name, 'Nico', which she used for most of her life, was given to her by photographer Herbert Tobias, who was photographing her on a modeling job. He named her this after his ex-boyfriend, filmmaker Nikos Papatakis. She soon moved to Paris and began working for Vogue, Tempo, Vie Nuove, Mascotte Spettacolo, Camera, Elle, and other fashion magazines in the late 1950s. She was briefly hired by Coco Chanel. As well as her native German, she spoke four languages: English, Italian, Spanish, and French.
Before breakthrough

After appearing in several television advertisements, Nico got a small role in Alberto Lattuada's film La Tempesta (1958). She also appeared in Rudolph Maté's For the First Time, with Mario Lanza, later that year.

In 1959 she was invited to the set of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, where she attracted the attention of the acclaimed director, who gave her a minor role in the film. By this time, she had moved to New York to take acting classes with Lee Strasberg.
Nico in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita.

She appears as the cover model on jazz pianist Bill Evans' 1962 album, Moon Beams. After splitting her time between New York and Paris, she got the lead role in Jacques Poitrenaud's Strip-Tease (1963). She recorded the title track, which was written by Serge Gainsbourg but not released until 2001, when it was included in the compilation Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg.

In 1962 Nico gave birth to her son, Christian Aaron "Ari" Päffgen, commonly held to have been fathered by French actor Alain Delon. Delon always denied his paternity. The child was raised mostly by Delon's mother and her husband and eventually was adopted by them, taking their surname Boulogne.
Beginning of musical career

In 1965 Nico met Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and recorded her first single, "I'm Not Sayin'"/"The Last Mile", for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, produced by Jimmy Page. Actor Ben Carruthers introduced her to Bob Dylan in Paris that summer. It is said that Dylan wrote the song "I'll Keep It with Mine" for her shortly afterward, which she would record on her first album Chelsea Girl in 1967.

After being introduced by Brian Jones, she began working in New York with Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey on their experimental films, including Chelsea Girls, The Closet, Sunset and Imitation of Christ.
The Velvet Underground and Nico

When Warhol began managing The Velvet Underground he proposed that the group take on Nico as a "chanteuse." They consented reluctantly, for both personal and musical reasons. The group became the centerpiece of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a multimedia performance featuring music, light, film and dance.

Nico sang lead vocals on three songs ("Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties", and "I'll Be Your Mirror") and backing vocals on another ("Sunday Morning") on the band's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).

Nico's tenure in the Velvet Underground was marked by personal and musical difficulties. Violist and bassist John Cale has written that Nico's long preparations in the dressing room and pre-performance good luck ritual (burning a candle) would often hold up a performance, which especially irritated band member Lou Reed. Nico's partial deafness also would sometimes cause her to veer off key, for which she was ridiculed by other band members.
Solo career
1960s

Immediately following her musical work with The Velvet Underground, Nico began work as a solo artist. For her debut album, 1967's Chelsea Girl, she recorded songs by Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin and Jackson Browne, among others. Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison also contributed material, with Nico, Reed and Cale co-writing one song, "It Was a Pleasure Then." Chelsea Girl is a traditional chamber-folk album that influenced the style of artists such as Leonard Cohen, with strings and flute arrangements by producer Tom Wilson. Nico was not satisfied with the album and had little say in production matters.

For The Marble Index, released in 1969, Nico wrote the lyrics and music. Accompaniment mainly centered around Nico's harmonium while John Cale added an array of folk and classical instruments, and produced the album. Nico's harmonium became her signature instrument for the rest of her career. The album combines classical music with a European folk.
Nico playing harmonium, Hyde Park concert 1974
1970s

Nico released two more solo albums in the 1970s, Desertshore and The End. Nico wrote the music, sang, and played the harmonium. Cale produced and played most of the other instruments on both albums. The End featured Brian Eno on synthesizer. She appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, in London, with Cale, Eno, and Ayers. The album June 1, 1974 was the result of this concert. Nico performed a version of the Doors' "The End" at this concert, which was the catalyst for The End later that year.

On 13 December 1974, Nico opened for Tangerine Dream's infamous concert at Reims Cathedral in Reims, France. The promoter had so greatly oversold tickets for the show that members of the audience couldn't move or reach the outside, eventually resulting in some fans urinating inside the cathedral hall. The Roman Catholic Church denounced these actions, ordered the rededication of the cathedral and banned future performances on church property.

Nico and Island Records allegedly had many disputes during this time, and in 1975 the label dropped her from their roster.
1980s

Nico returned to New York in late 1979 where her comeback concert at CBGB in early 1980 was glowingly reviewed in The New York Times. She began playing regularly at the Mudd Club and other venues with Jim Tisdall accompanying her on harp and Gittler guitar. They played together on a sold-out tour of twelve cities in the East and Midwest.

Nico recorded her next studio album, Drama of Exile, in 1981. It was a departure from her earlier work with John Cale, featuring a mixture of rock and Middle Eastern arrangements. She recorded her final solo album, Camera Obscura, in 1985, with The Faction (James Young and Graham Dids). Produced by John Cale, it featured Nico's version of the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart song "My Funny Valentine".

A number of Nico's performances towards the end of her life were recorded and released, including 1982's Heroine, Live In Tokyo, and her final concert, Fata Morgana, recorded on 6 June 1988. The double live album Behind the Iron Curtain was recorded during a tour of Eastern Europe, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and made from recordings of concerts in Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and other cities, and was released before her death in 1988.
Philippe Garrel films

Between 1970 and 1979, Nico made about seven films with French director Philippe Garrel. She met Garrel in 1969 and contributed the song "The Falconer" to his film Le Lit de la Vierge. Soon after, she was living with Garrel and became a central figure in his cinematic and personal circles. Nico's first acting appearance with Garrel occurred in his 1972 film, La Cicatrice Intérieure. Nico also supplied the music for this film and collaborated closely with the director. She also appeared in the Garrel films Anathor (1972); the silent Jean Seberg biopic, Les Hautes Solitudes, released in 1974; Un ange passe (1975); Le Berceau de cristal (1976), starring Pierre Clémenti, Nico and Anita Pallenberg; and Voyage au jardin des morts (1978). His 1991 film J'entends Plus la Guitare is dedicated to Nico.
Personal life
Nico's grave in Berlin

Nico was a heroin addict for over 15 years. In the book Songs They Never Play on the Radio, James Young, a member of Nico's band in the 1980s, recalls many examples of Nico's fiendish behaviour due to addiction. But just before her death she had managed to kick the habit and had embarked on a regimen of exercise and healthy eating. Despite her musical talents and singing, she was deaf in one ear, which made it difficult for her to understand what others were saying. She was also said to have been a vegetarian, as well as a self-proclaimed nihilist. Nico saw herself as part of a tradition of bohemian artists, which she traced back to the Romanticism of the early 19th century. She led a nomadic life, living in different countries. Apart from Germany, where she grew up, and Ibiza, where she died, Nico lived in Italy and France in the 1950s, spent most of the 1960s in the US, and lived in London in the early 1960s and again later in the 1980s, when she lived intermittently between London and Manchester.

Nico was also well-versed in languages; due to traveling, she spoke four languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish) fluently, in addition to her native German, although she had largely forgotten Italian in her later years, as witnessed by Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Robert Caruso who was friends with Nico in London in 1985 and 1986, and who wrote songs which Nico should have recorded upon her return to England in the fall of 1988.
Death

On 18 July 1988, while on holiday with her son in Ibiza, Spain, Nico had a minor heart attack while riding a bicycle and hit her head as she fell. A passing taxi driver found her unconscious and had difficulty getting her admitted to local hospitals. She was incorrectly diagnosed as suffering from heat-exposure and died at eight o'clock that evening. X-rays later revealed a severe cerebral hemorrhage as the cause of death.

Nico was buried in her mother's plot in Grunewald Forest Cemetery in Berlin, Germany. A few friends played a tape of "Mütterlein", a song from Desertshore, at her funeral.
Legacy

Nico has influenced many musicians, including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith, Morrissey, Björk, Coil, Jocelyn Pook, Fabienne Shine (who covered "All Tomorrow's Parties"), Dead Can Dance as well as numerous contemporary goth bands.

Late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith cited her as a major inspiration and was said to have listened to The Marble Index for months. Smith performed covers of some of her songs - most notably "Chelsea Girls" and "These Days", both of which he performed live at Satyricon in Portland, Oregon in October 1999.

Two of her songs from Chelsea Girl, "The Fairest of the Seasons" and "These Days", both written by Jackson Browne, are featured in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums.
Nico, 1974

Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon named his daughter 'Nico Blue' partly after Nico. Blind Melon's album Nico was released after Hoon's death.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a movie written by John Cameron Mitchell, mentions Nico as an influential artist in its song, "Midnight Radio". The song is written by Stephen Trask.

The Cult recorded the song "Nico", which celebrates the life of the singer, on their 2001 album Beyond Good And Evil.

For her 2002 album, Kissin' Time, Marianne Faithfull recorded "A Song for Nico", cowritten with Dave Stewart.

Nico was portrayed by Christina Fulton in the 1991 biopic The Doors. She was later portrayed by Meredith Ostrom in the 2006 film, Factory Girl, which chronicles the life of fellow "Warhol Superstar", Edie Sedgwick.

Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes) has quoted Nico as an influence in particular Desertshore. During 2007 she would start concerts with "Le Petit Chevalier" from that record.

Singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf has been influenced by Nico, and released cover versions of "Afraid" and "Ari's Song" as b-sides on EPs.

Rock band Anberlin named one of their songs after her: "Dance, Dance Christa Päffgen" on their album "Never Take Friendship Personal". The song also makes reference to her death, and her drug use.

Austin based band Shearwater dedicated their album Palo Santo to the memory of Nico. The opening song ("La Dame Et La Licorne") depicts Nico's death at Ibiza, Spain.

Windsor for the Derby, another Austin based band, released an instrumental track in 2000 on their Young God Release "Difference and Repetition." A live versionof the song can be found on a limited edition 7-inch.

Low, an American indie rock group from Duluth, Minnesota, has a song titled "Those Girls (Song For Nico)". It is included on the box set A Lifetime of Temporary Relief: 10 Years of B-Sides and Rarities, released in 2004.

Two Nico tribute concerts took place in Europe in the autumn of 2008 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Nico's birth and the 20th anniversary of her death. On 11 October 2008, John Cale, James Dean Bradfield (of the Manic Street Preachers), Fyfe Dangerfield of the Guillemots and others appeared on stage at the Royal Festival Hall in London. On 17 October 2008 at the Volksbuehne in Berlin, Nico's ex-boyfriend Lutz Ulbrich presented another tribute concert, which featured Marianne Rosenberg, Soap & Skin, Marianne Enzensberger and James Young, the keyboardist from The Faction, Nico's last band. Nico's son, Ari Boulogne (sometimes called Ari Päffgen), made a brief appearance on stage at the close.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Title
1967 The Velvet Underground & Nico
1967 Chelsea Girl
1969 The Marble Index
1970 Desertshore
1974 The End
1981 Drama of Exile (released in two versions)
1985 Camera Obscura


Live albums
Year Title
1974 June 1, 1974
1983 Do or Die: Nico in Europe
1985 Nico Live in Pécs
1986 Live Heroes
1986 Behind the Iron Curtain
1987 Nico in Tokyo
1988 Fata Morgana (Nico's Last Concert)
1989 Hanging Gardens
1994 Heroine
1997 Chelsea Girl / Live
2003 Femme Fatale: The Aura Anthology (Drama of Exile expanded, plus live disc)
2007 All Tomorrow's Parties (live double album)


Compilation albums
Year Title
1998 Nico: The Classic Years
2002 Innocent & Vain — An Introduction to Nico
2003 Femme Fatale — The Aura Anthology (Re-issue of Drama of Exile with bonus tracks plus Live at Chelsea Town Hall 9.8.85)
2007 The Frozen Borderline - 1968–1970 (Re-issue of The Marble Index and Desertshore with bonus tracks)


Singles
Year Title
1965 "I'm Not Sayin'" / "The Last Mile"
1981 "Vegas" / "Saeta" - Flicknife Records FLS 206


Bibliography

    * Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon by Richard Witts, (Virgin Books: London, 1992).
    * Up-tight: the Velvet Underground Story by Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga (Omnibus Press: London, 1995 reprint).
    * Songs They Never Play On the Radio by James Young, (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd: London, 1992).
    * Nico: Photographies by Antoine Giacomoni, (Dragoon: Paris, 2002).
    * Nico: Cible mouvante. Chansons, Poèmes, Journal by Nico, Jacques Pauvert and Ari Boulogne, (Pauvert: Paris, 2001).
    * L'amour n'oublie jamais by Ari Boulogne, (Pauvert: Paris, 2001).
    * Nico: The End by James Young, 1993.
    * Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gilliamn Mccain, (Grove Press: New York, 1996).
    * LÜÜL: Ein Musikerleben zwischen Agitation Free, Ashra, Nico, der Neuen Deutschen Welle und den 17 Hippies by Lutz Ulbrich (Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf: Berlin, 2007).

Films and plays

    * Nico Icon (1995), documentary directed by Susanne Ofteringer
    * Nico Icon Play by Stella Grundy premièred at Studio Salford on 5 September 2007
    * Nico. Sphinx aus Eis by Werner Fritsch (2005)
http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx97/yosefyah/Herbert_Tobias_Nico_im_Cocktail.jpg
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu308/algthomas/Females/Female%20Singers/Nico.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/18/10 at 9:09 am


The person born on this day..Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, MBE (born 18 July 1957) is an English  professional golfer  on the European Tour and occasional on air golf analyst. Over his career, he has won six majors: three Open Championships and three Masters. He was ranked the World No. 1 on the Official World Golf Rankings for a total of 98 weeks. In 2006, Faldo became the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports.
Faldo was born in Welwyn Garden City, England. He borrowed some clubs from his neighbours after watching Jack Nicklaus play the 1971 Masters on television. While working as a carpet fitter, Faldo won the English Amateur and the British Youths Championship in 1975. He turned professional in 1976 and quickly achieved success, finishing 8th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1977 and 3rd in 1978 and winning a European Tour event in each of those seasons. In the former year he became the youngest player to appear in the Ryder Cup at the age of 21. Faldo was one of the leading players on the European Tour in the early 1980s, and he topped the Order of Merit in 1983.

However, feeling that he needed to refine his game in order to become a regular contender in major championships (British tabloids even dubbed him "Nick Foldo" after collapses at the 1983 Open Championship and the 1984 Masters), he spent the mid-1980s remodelling his swing under the tutelage of David Leadbetter. His performances dropped off for a couple of years as the changes occurred, but by 1987 he was playing at an even higher level, and he claimed his first major title at that year's Open Championship. He managed to beat American Paul Azinger by one shot even without getting a birdie in the final round (he parred all 18 holes), after Azinger bogeyed the final two holes of the tournament.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Faldo was considered the best golfer in the world. He was noted for being remarkably composed under pressure, intimidating to his opponents, and won more of the four professional major tournaments (Faldo won six) than any other player in the world from 1987 through 1996 (Nick Price was second with three major victories during this period; Seve Ballesteros, a contemporary of Faldo's from Spain, won five majors from 1979–1988). He won the Open Championship again in 1990 in St Andrews, Scotland by six shots, and claimed it for a third time in 1992, outplaying American John Cook. He also won two more majors when he won the Masters Tournament in 1989 and 1990. At the 1989 Masters, he shot a 65, the low round of the tournament, to get into a playoff with Scott Hoch. He won the playoff after holing a somewhat lengthy putt on the 2nd playoff hole (Hoch had missed a 2-foot putt to win on the first playoff hole). At the 1990 Masters, he came from behind again to get into a playoff with Raymond Floyd, once again winning on the second playoff hole after Floyd pulled his approach shot into a pond left of the green. Faldo spent a total of 98 weeks altogether at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, and claimed the European Tour Order of Merit a second time in 1992. During that time, Faldo said of his success: "The run doesn't have to end. If someone is going to beat me then I'm going to make sure they've worked for their victory. Let them come and get it from me." That year, he had worldwide earnings of £1,558,978, breaking the existing record.

Throughout this time, he remained a European Tour player while also visiting America regularly and playing events around the world, but in 1995 he decided to concentrate on playing on the PGA Tour, as his priority was to win further major championships (and three out of the four majors are played in the United States). At first this strategy didn't seem to work, as he had a moderate 1995 season and start to the 1996 season, but he won a famous victory at the 1996 Masters to collect his sixth and final major championship. He went into the final round trailing Greg Norman by six shots, but was the beneficiary of an infamous Sunday collapse by Norman; Faldo shot a 67 to win by five over Norman, who struggled mightily en route to a 78. Though this is commonly remembered as the tournament Norman threw away, Faldo's 67 was a memorable display of concentration and consistency which put pressure on Norman. After Faldo finished, he hugged Norman and whispered something in his ear, which years later Norman confirmed to have included the line "Don't let the bastards get you down," a reference to the media, which Faldo assumed would aggressively hound Norman for the loss. Norman said in interview after defeat that "He (Faldo) had gone way, way up in my estimations." Since then they have become firm friends and fishing partners, a passion they both share.

Faldo was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1990 and the European Tour Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1992, and has won 29 European Tour titles. As Faldo entered his forties, his form gradually declined and he devoted more time to off-course activities. The last season that he played regularly on the PGA Tour was 2001. Afterwards, he refocused on the European Tour, but has consistently played less than a full schedule. His most recent top-10 finish in a major to date (and quite probably the final of his career) was a tie for eighth place at the 2003 Open Championship. As of July 2005, his career European Tour earnings are just under €8 million, and his PGA Tour earnings are over $5 million.

Faldo is also the most successful Ryder Cup player ever, having won the most points of any player on either team and having represented the European Team a record 11 times and played a key role in making Europe competitive in the event. Having won 23 of his matches, lost 19, and halved 4, he also holds the record for having played the most Ryder Cup matches. He also holds the record for the most points won by any player 25 and is one of only six players to have scored a hole-in-one in the Ryder Cup.

While Faldo's professional individual tournament wins (39) pale in quantity to that of contemporaries Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, and Bernhard Langer, the prestige and stature of his successes are impressive, and he has more major victories than any of these players. His CV boasts (often multiple) successes in high-profile tour events such as the French Open, Irish Open, Spanish Open, Swiss Open (now European Masters), the European PGA, the British Masters, the European Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Volvo Masters, as well as his Nissan Open, Doral Open, and Heritage successes in the US. These wins are not only supplemented by his six majors, but also by his wins in invitational events such as the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge, the Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship, and the World Matchplay, as well as his team successes in the Dunhill Cup, the World Cup of Golf, and of course the Ryder Cup.
Faldo in July 2008

In the first half of 2007, Faldo did not appear in any regular tour events. He did play in the 2007 British Open, missing the cut. In his first Champions Tour event, he finished tied for 14th in the Senior British Open.

After this, Faldo missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2007. On Tuesday 20 May 2008, Faldo confirmed that he would not take part in the 2008 Open at Birkdale. It was the first time he had not taken part in the competition since failing to qualify as an amateur in 1975. He entered himself into the 138th Open Championship at Turnberry in 2009 & the 139th Open Championship in 2010 at St. Andrews, missing the 36 hole cut at both events.
Ryder Cup captaincy

Faldo was selected as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2008. The 37th Ryder Cup Golf Tournament was won 16½ - 11½ by Team USA to end the streak of three successive victories for Team Europe. This was Team USA's largest margin of victory since 1981, and the first time since 1979 the Americans had the lead after every session of play. It was held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, which was a contributing factor in Faldo getting the captaincy; he had lived in worked in America for over a decade.

Faldo had made a bold move to pick Ian Poulter as his wild card ahead of the much favoured Darren Clarke. This decision, questioned by many, paid off when Poulter emerged as the top scorer in the tournament. Faldo's relationship with the media during the competition was very erratic. During practice, photographers had taken pictures of him holding a list of names, seemly outlining the partnerships for the coming days. In the following press conference, he denied the list had any part in his tactics and seemed very irritated by continuing questions about it. Another controversial move was to play Sergio García and Lee Westwood, the two most experienced and successful Ryder cup players on his team, for only one session on the Saturday. His team selection was vindicated, however, as Europe finished the day 1 point ahead, closing the gap to 2 points behind the USA. On the final day of the competition, Faldo decided to play a "bottom heavy" tactic, where the best players would start lower down the order, thus if it went to a close finish, Europe would have its best players in play. This tactic seemed to backfire, as the USA, leading by 2 at the start of the day, gained the 5 points they required by the eighth match rendering the last four irrelevant. This led to some severe criticism of Faldo's strategic skills. His cause was not helped by the poor performances of the three most experienced players on the European side, Pádraig Harrington, Sergio García, and Lee Westwood, who failed to win a single match between them.
Broadcasting career

After cutting back on his playing schedule, Faldo became a broadcaster for ABC Sports' PGA Tour coverage, where he worked from 2004 to 2006. While never considered to be a particularly charismatic player, Faldo surprised many fans with his dry, British wit and insightful commentary as part of the ABC team.

On 3 October 2006, it was announced that Faldo had signed a contract with CBS to replace Lanny Wadkins, to become the network's lead golf analyst. "I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may come once every 10 years. But it will seriously curtail my playing career. My playing days aren't completely over but my priority now is given to CBS." Faldo's decision meant he missed the 2007 Masters, an event he had won three times. In 2007 he became the Golf Channel's lead golf analyst for their coverage on the PGA Tour.
Other activities and awards

In 1991 Faldo launched his golf course design practice Faldo Design, which has designed or remodelled dozens of courses spread across several continents. Designs include Chart Hills Golf Club (Kent, England), Sporting Club Berlin, Ocean Dunes, Vietnam, Cottonwood Hills near Hutchinson, Kansas, and the Wadi course (now named The Faldo) at Emirates Golf Club, Dubai. Faldo will be designing a championship golf course and a golf academy at Lavasa, India.

As way of opening his first course design in the UK (Charthills) in Kent, Faldo teed up on the dog-leg right par four. He drove in to the middle-right of the fairway, he then teed another ball and drove off, the two balls finished within 6 inches of each other and to this day can be seen set in to the fairway in a protective case. This was a mark of the man's ability at his peak. So far he did as well several oversea golf course designs like The Fortress at Louisbourg Resort Golf & Spa on Cape Breton Island, Canada. Most recently, he designed a world-class course in San Miguel de Allende, México. Ventanas de San Miguel hosts an 18 hole par-70 course to be opened in late 2010. He has other business interests including coaching schools and pro shops. In 1996 he launched the Faldo Series to encourage young European golfers both male and female.

There are 1,200 participants between the ages of 11 and 21 each year and the top 60 players qualify for the Faldo Series Final, hosted each year by Faldo at The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. The most notable graduate so far is the Englishman Nick Dougherty, who won on the European Tour for the first time in 2005.

Faldo has written several golf instructional books.

Along with the Marriott hotel chain, Faldo established The Faldo Golf Institute in 1997. This is a golf instructional program designed to help golfers of every level improve their skills and enjoyment of golf. The Institute has five locations: Orlando, Florida; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Palm Desert, California; Marco Island, Florida; and Hertfordshire, UK.

In 2007, Mercedes-Benz tapped Faldo to act as brand ambassador, to promote the revival of the Maybach brand of ultra-luxury automobiles.
Knighthood and other honors

Faldo was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1989 and inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2000, Faldo was ranked 18th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

He was awarded the MBE in 1998, then knighted in the 2009 Birthday Honours for his services to golf.
Personal life

Faldo met his first wife, Melanie Rockall, when he was 21. They married in 1979, but five years later they parted when she discovered he was having an affair with his manager's secretary, Gill Bennett. His divorce from Rockall came before his championship successes, and her settlement was relatively small. He married Bennett in 1986, and the couple had three children: Natalie, Matthew, and Georgia. They split up in 1995 after Faldo began a relationship with 20-year-old American golfing student Brenna Cepelak.

The three-year affair with Cepelak ended when Faldo met Valerie Bercher. The spurned Cepelak famously battered Faldo's Porsche 959 with a golf club, causing £10,000 damage. Faldo's relationship with Bercher, a Swiss PR agent, began in 1998 when they met at the European Masters golf tournament. At the time, Bercher was working for marketing company IMG. She left her fiance Olivier Delaloye and married Faldo in July 2001 (the same day as his ex-caddie Fanny Sunesson got married, in a different location) in a lavish ceremony at his Windsor home, and they have a daughter Emma Scarlet (born 2003). It was announced in May 2006 that Faldo had filed for divorce.

Golf World famously summed up the true mark of genius when they profiled the careers of Faldo and his arch rival for many years Greg Norman: "Norman has played and won more events: 87-43; however, Faldo has won more US and European tour titles: 36-34. Norman has won more money; Faldo has won more majors: 6-2. Norman has won more friends, Faldo more admirers."

Faldo is a supporter of the Conservative Party.
Professional wins (40)
PGA Tour wins (9)
Legend
Major Championships (6)
Other PGA Tour (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s)-up
1 22 Apr 1984 Sea Pines Heritage -18 (66-67-68-69=270) 1 stroke United States Tom Kite
2 19 Jul 1987 The Open Championship -9 (69-68-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
3 9 Apr 1989 Masters Tournament -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff United States Scott Hoch
4 8 Apr 1990 Masters Tournament -10 (71=72-66-69=278) Playoff United States Raymond Floyd
5 22 Jul 1990 The Open Championship -14 (65-67-65-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
6 19 Jul 1992 The Open Championship -8 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
7 5 Mar 1995 Doral-Ryder Open -15 (67-71-66-69=273) 1 stroke United States Peter Jacobsen, Australia Greg Norman
8 14 Apr 1996 Masters Tournament -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
9 2 Mar 1997 Nissan Open -12 (66-70-68-68=272) 3 strokes United States Craig Stadler
European Tour wins (30)
Legend
Major Championships (6)
Other European Tour (24)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of
Victory Runner(s)-up
1 17 Aug 1977 Skol Lager Individual -5 (68-71=139) Playoff Wales Craig Defoy, England Chris Witcher
2 29 May 1978 Colgate PGA Championship -10 (71-68-70-69=278) 7 strokes ScotlandKen Brown
3 26 May 1980 Sun Alliance PGA Championship +3 (73-70-71-69=283) 1 stroke Scotland Ken Brown
4 25 May 1981 Sun Alliance PGA Championship -10 (68-70-67-79=274) 4 strokes Scotland Ken Brown, England Neil Coles
5 19 Sep 1982 Haig Whisky TPC -18 (69-67-65-69=270) 3 strokes Spain Manuel Calero
6 8 May 1983 Paco Rabanne Open de France -11 (69-67-72-69=277) Playoff Spain José Maria Cañizares, England David J Russell,
Spain Seve Ballesteros
7 15 May 1983 Martini International -12 (67-69-66-66=268) Playoff Spain José Maria Cañizares
8 22 May 1983 Car Care Plan International -8 (67-68-68-69=272) 1 stroke England Howard Clark, England Brian Waites
9 24 Jul 1983 Lawrence Batley International -18 (71-69-64-62=266) 4 strokes England Warren Humphreys, England Brian Waites,
England Paul Way
10 11 Sep 1983 Ebel Swiss Open-European Masters -20 (70-64-68-66=268) Playoff Scotland Sandy Lyle
11 13 May 1984 Car Care Plan International -12 (69-70-66-71=276) 1 stroke England Howard Clark
12 17 May 1987 Peugeot Spanish Open -2 (72-71-71-72=286) 2 strokes South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, Spain Seve Ballesteros
13 19 Jul 1987 The Open Championship -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
14 26 Jun 1988 Peugeot Open de France -6 (71-67-68-68=274) 2 strokes England Denis Durnian, Australia Wayne Riley
15 30 Oct 1988 Volvo Masters -4 (74-71-71-68=284) 2 strokes Spain Seve Ballesteros
16 9 Apr 1989 Masters Tournament -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff United States Scott Hoch
17 30 May 1989 Volvo PGA Championship -16 (67-69-69-67=272) 2 strokes Wales Ian Woosnam
18 4 Jun 1989 Dunhill British Masters -21 (71-65-65-66=267) 4 strokes Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty
19 2 Jul 1989 Peugeot Open de France -7 (70-70-64-69=273) 1 stroke South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, West Germany Bernhard Langer,
England Mark Roe
20 8 Apr 1990 Masters Tournament -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff United States Raymond Floyd
21 22 Jul 1990 The Open Championship -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
22 23 Jun 1991 Carroll's Irish Open -5 (68-75-70-70=283) 3 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie
23 7 Jun 1992 Carroll's Irish Open -14 (66-65-68-75=274) Playoff South Africa Wayne Westner
24 19 Jul 1992 The Open Championship -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
25 2 Aug 1992 Scandinavian Masters -11 (70-72-66-69=277) 3 strokes Australia Robert Allenby, England Peter Baker,
Canada Danny Mijovic, New Zealand Frank Nobilo,
Spain José María Olazábal, Australia Peter O'Malley
26 13 Sep 1992 GA European Open -18 (67-66-64-65=262) 3 strokes Sweden Robert Karlsson
27 7 Feb 1993 Johnnie Walker Classic -11 (67-68-66-68=169) 1 stroke Scotland Colin Montgomerie
28 4 Jul 1993 Carroll's Irish Open -12 (72-67-72-65=276) Playoff Spain José María Olazábal
29 5 Jun 1994 Alfred Dunhill Open -5 (67-74-67-71=279) Playoff Sweden Joakim Haeggman
30 14 Apr 1996 Masters Tournament -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
Other wins (7)

    * 1979 ICL International (South African Tour)
    * 1989 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time)
    * 1990 Johnnie Walker Classic (Asia - the European Tour first sanctioned this event in 1992)
    * 1992 Toyota World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time), Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship (Jamaica - unofficial event)
    * 1994 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa - unofficial event)
    * 1998 World Cup of Golf (with David Carter)

Major championships
Wins (6)
Year↓ Championship↓ 54 Holes↓ Winning Score↓ Margin↓ Runner(s)-up↓
1987 The Open Championship 1 shot deficit -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
1989 Masters Tournament 5 shot deficit -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff 1 United States Scott Hoch
1990 Masters Tournament (2) 3 shot deficit -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff 2 United States Raymond Floyd
1990 The Open Championship (2) 5 shot lead -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
1992 The Open Championship (3) 4 shot lead -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
1996 Masters Tournament (3) 6 shot deficit -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman

1 Defeated Scott Hoch in sudden death playoff - Faldo (5-3=8), Hoch (5-4=9)
2 Defeated Raymond Floyd in sudden death playoff - Faldo (4-4=8), Floyd (4-5=9)
Results timeline
Tournament 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP DNP 40
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T28 T62 T7 T19
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters DNP DNP DNP T20 T15 T25 DNP DNP T30 1
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP T55 DNP DNP DNP 2 T18
The Open Championship T12 T11 T4 T8 T6 T53 5 1 3 T11
PGA Championship DNP DNP T14 CUT T20 T54 CUT T28 T4 T9
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters 1 T12 T13 T39 32 T24 1 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T3 T16 T4 T72 CUT T45 T16 T48 CUT CUT
The Open Championship 1 T17 1 2 T8 T40 4 T51 T44 CUT
PGA Championship T19 T16 T2 3 T4 T31 T65 CUT T54 T41
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Masters T28 CUT T14 T33 CUT WD CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open 7 T72 T5 CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T41 CUT T59 T8 CUT T11 CUT CUT DNP CUT
PGA Championship T51 T51 T60 DNP T49 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 2010
The Masters DNP
U.S. Open DNP
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship

DNP = did not play
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Team appearances

    * Ryder Cup (representing GB & Ireland / Europe): 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied match and retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners), 2008 (non-playing captain)
    * Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing England): 1985, 1986, 1987 (winners), 1988, 1991, 1993
    * World Cup (representing England): 1977, 1991, 1998 (winners)
    * UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003
    * Double Diamond: 1977
    * Four Tours World Championship: 1986, 1987, 1990
    * Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners), 1984 (winners)
    * Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)
    * Seve Trophy: 2007 (non-playing captain - winners)

See also

    * Golfers with most major championship wins
    * Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
    * Golfers with most European Tour wins
    * List of World Number One male golfers
    * List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa303/aaaswingersgolf/Faldo.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn47/MRR155/img010.jpg
Sir Nick Faldo did not qualify for the final two rounds of this years Open Championship.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/10 at 9:35 am


Sir Nick Faldo did not qualify for the final two rounds of this years Open Championship.

That reminds me I need to turn the tv on to watch the final round. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/18/10 at 9:56 am


That reminds me I need to turn the tv on to watch the final round. :)
I am watching it online.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/18/10 at 4:56 pm


The person born on this day..Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, MBE (born 18 July 1957) is an English  professional golfer  on the European Tour and occasional on air golf analyst. Over his career, he has won six majors: three Open Championships and three Masters. He was ranked the World No. 1 on the Official World Golf Rankings for a total of 98 weeks. In 2006, Faldo became the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports.
Faldo was born in Welwyn Garden City, England. He borrowed some clubs from his neighbours after watching Jack Nicklaus play the 1971 Masters on television. While working as a carpet fitter, Faldo won the English Amateur and the British Youths Championship in 1975. He turned professional in 1976 and quickly achieved success, finishing 8th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1977 and 3rd in 1978 and winning a European Tour event in each of those seasons. In the former year he became the youngest player to appear in the Ryder Cup at the age of 21. Faldo was one of the leading players on the European Tour in the early 1980s, and he topped the Order of Merit in 1983.

However, feeling that he needed to refine his game in order to become a regular contender in major championships (British tabloids even dubbed him "Nick Foldo" after collapses at the 1983 Open Championship and the 1984 Masters), he spent the mid-1980s remodelling his swing under the tutelage of David Leadbetter. His performances dropped off for a couple of years as the changes occurred, but by 1987 he was playing at an even higher level, and he claimed his first major title at that year's Open Championship. He managed to beat American Paul Azinger by one shot even without getting a birdie in the final round (he parred all 18 holes), after Azinger bogeyed the final two holes of the tournament.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Faldo was considered the best golfer in the world. He was noted for being remarkably composed under pressure, intimidating to his opponents, and won more of the four professional major tournaments (Faldo won six) than any other player in the world from 1987 through 1996 (Nick Price was second with three major victories during this period; Seve Ballesteros, a contemporary of Faldo's from Spain, won five majors from 1979–1988). He won the Open Championship again in 1990 in St Andrews, Scotland by six shots, and claimed it for a third time in 1992, outplaying American John Cook. He also won two more majors when he won the Masters Tournament in 1989 and 1990. At the 1989 Masters, he shot a 65, the low round of the tournament, to get into a playoff with Scott Hoch. He won the playoff after holing a somewhat lengthy putt on the 2nd playoff hole (Hoch had missed a 2-foot putt to win on the first playoff hole). At the 1990 Masters, he came from behind again to get into a playoff with Raymond Floyd, once again winning on the second playoff hole after Floyd pulled his approach shot into a pond left of the green. Faldo spent a total of 98 weeks altogether at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, and claimed the European Tour Order of Merit a second time in 1992. During that time, Faldo said of his success: "The run doesn't have to end. If someone is going to beat me then I'm going to make sure they've worked for their victory. Let them come and get it from me." That year, he had worldwide earnings of £1,558,978, breaking the existing record.

Throughout this time, he remained a European Tour player while also visiting America regularly and playing events around the world, but in 1995 he decided to concentrate on playing on the PGA Tour, as his priority was to win further major championships (and three out of the four majors are played in the United States). At first this strategy didn't seem to work, as he had a moderate 1995 season and start to the 1996 season, but he won a famous victory at the 1996 Masters to collect his sixth and final major championship. He went into the final round trailing Greg Norman by six shots, but was the beneficiary of an infamous Sunday collapse by Norman; Faldo shot a 67 to win by five over Norman, who struggled mightily en route to a 78. Though this is commonly remembered as the tournament Norman threw away, Faldo's 67 was a memorable display of concentration and consistency which put pressure on Norman. After Faldo finished, he hugged Norman and whispered something in his ear, which years later Norman confirmed to have included the line "Don't let the bastards get you down," a reference to the media, which Faldo assumed would aggressively hound Norman for the loss. Norman said in interview after defeat that "He (Faldo) had gone way, way up in my estimations." Since then they have become firm friends and fishing partners, a passion they both share.

Faldo was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1990 and the European Tour Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1992, and has won 29 European Tour titles. As Faldo entered his forties, his form gradually declined and he devoted more time to off-course activities. The last season that he played regularly on the PGA Tour was 2001. Afterwards, he refocused on the European Tour, but has consistently played less than a full schedule. His most recent top-10 finish in a major to date (and quite probably the final of his career) was a tie for eighth place at the 2003 Open Championship. As of July 2005, his career European Tour earnings are just under €8 million, and his PGA Tour earnings are over $5 million.

Faldo is also the most successful Ryder Cup player ever, having won the most points of any player on either team and having represented the European Team a record 11 times and played a key role in making Europe competitive in the event. Having won 23 of his matches, lost 19, and halved 4, he also holds the record for having played the most Ryder Cup matches. He also holds the record for the most points won by any player 25 and is one of only six players to have scored a hole-in-one in the Ryder Cup.

While Faldo's professional individual tournament wins (39) pale in quantity to that of contemporaries Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, and Bernhard Langer, the prestige and stature of his successes are impressive, and he has more major victories than any of these players. His CV boasts (often multiple) successes in high-profile tour events such as the French Open, Irish Open, Spanish Open, Swiss Open (now European Masters), the European PGA, the British Masters, the European Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Volvo Masters, as well as his Nissan Open, Doral Open, and Heritage successes in the US. These wins are not only supplemented by his six majors, but also by his wins in invitational events such as the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge, the Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship, and the World Matchplay, as well as his team successes in the Dunhill Cup, the World Cup of Golf, and of course the Ryder Cup.
Faldo in July 2008

In the first half of 2007, Faldo did not appear in any regular tour events. He did play in the 2007 British Open, missing the cut. In his first Champions Tour event, he finished tied for 14th in the Senior British Open.

After this, Faldo missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2007. On Tuesday 20 May 2008, Faldo confirmed that he would not take part in the 2008 Open at Birkdale. It was the first time he had not taken part in the competition since failing to qualify as an amateur in 1975. He entered himself into the 138th Open Championship at Turnberry in 2009 & the 139th Open Championship in 2010 at St. Andrews, missing the 36 hole cut at both events.
Ryder Cup captaincy

Faldo was selected as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2008. The 37th Ryder Cup Golf Tournament was won 16½ - 11½ by Team USA to end the streak of three successive victories for Team Europe. This was Team USA's largest margin of victory since 1981, and the first time since 1979 the Americans had the lead after every session of play. It was held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, which was a contributing factor in Faldo getting the captaincy; he had lived in worked in America for over a decade.

Faldo had made a bold move to pick Ian Poulter as his wild card ahead of the much favoured Darren Clarke. This decision, questioned by many, paid off when Poulter emerged as the top scorer in the tournament. Faldo's relationship with the media during the competition was very erratic. During practice, photographers had taken pictures of him holding a list of names, seemly outlining the partnerships for the coming days. In the following press conference, he denied the list had any part in his tactics and seemed very irritated by continuing questions about it. Another controversial move was to play Sergio García and Lee Westwood, the two most experienced and successful Ryder cup players on his team, for only one session on the Saturday. His team selection was vindicated, however, as Europe finished the day 1 point ahead, closing the gap to 2 points behind the USA. On the final day of the competition, Faldo decided to play a "bottom heavy" tactic, where the best players would start lower down the order, thus if it went to a close finish, Europe would have its best players in play. This tactic seemed to backfire, as the USA, leading by 2 at the start of the day, gained the 5 points they required by the eighth match rendering the last four irrelevant. This led to some severe criticism of Faldo's strategic skills. His cause was not helped by the poor performances of the three most experienced players on the European side, Pádraig Harrington, Sergio García, and Lee Westwood, who failed to win a single match between them.
Broadcasting career

After cutting back on his playing schedule, Faldo became a broadcaster for ABC Sports' PGA Tour coverage, where he worked from 2004 to 2006. While never considered to be a particularly charismatic player, Faldo surprised many fans with his dry, British wit and insightful commentary as part of the ABC team.

On 3 October 2006, it was announced that Faldo had signed a contract with CBS to replace Lanny Wadkins, to become the network's lead golf analyst. "I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may come once every 10 years. But it will seriously curtail my playing career. My playing days aren't completely over but my priority now is given to CBS." Faldo's decision meant he missed the 2007 Masters, an event he had won three times. In 2007 he became the Golf Channel's lead golf analyst for their coverage on the PGA Tour.
Other activities and awards

In 1991 Faldo launched his golf course design practice Faldo Design, which has designed or remodelled dozens of courses spread across several continents. Designs include Chart Hills Golf Club (Kent, England), Sporting Club Berlin, Ocean Dunes, Vietnam, Cottonwood Hills near Hutchinson, Kansas, and the Wadi course (now named The Faldo) at Emirates Golf Club, Dubai. Faldo will be designing a championship golf course and a golf academy at Lavasa, India.

As way of opening his first course design in the UK (Charthills) in Kent, Faldo teed up on the dog-leg right par four. He drove in to the middle-right of the fairway, he then teed another ball and drove off, the two balls finished within 6 inches of each other and to this day can be seen set in to the fairway in a protective case. This was a mark of the man's ability at his peak. So far he did as well several oversea golf course designs like The Fortress at Louisbourg Resort Golf & Spa on Cape Breton Island, Canada. Most recently, he designed a world-class course in San Miguel de Allende, México. Ventanas de San Miguel hosts an 18 hole par-70 course to be opened in late 2010. He has other business interests including coaching schools and pro shops. In 1996 he launched the Faldo Series to encourage young European golfers both male and female.

There are 1,200 participants between the ages of 11 and 21 each year and the top 60 players qualify for the Faldo Series Final, hosted each year by Faldo at The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. The most notable graduate so far is the Englishman Nick Dougherty, who won on the European Tour for the first time in 2005.

Faldo has written several golf instructional books.

Along with the Marriott hotel chain, Faldo established The Faldo Golf Institute in 1997. This is a golf instructional program designed to help golfers of every level improve their skills and enjoyment of golf. The Institute has five locations: Orlando, Florida; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Palm Desert, California; Marco Island, Florida; and Hertfordshire, UK.

In 2007, Mercedes-Benz tapped Faldo to act as brand ambassador, to promote the revival of the Maybach brand of ultra-luxury automobiles.
Knighthood and other honors

Faldo was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1989 and inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2000, Faldo was ranked 18th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

He was awarded the MBE in 1998, then knighted in the 2009 Birthday Honours for his services to golf.
Personal life

Faldo met his first wife, Melanie Rockall, when he was 21. They married in 1979, but five years later they parted when she discovered he was having an affair with his manager's secretary, Gill Bennett. His divorce from Rockall came before his championship successes, and her settlement was relatively small. He married Bennett in 1986, and the couple had three children: Natalie, Matthew, and Georgia. They split up in 1995 after Faldo began a relationship with 20-year-old American golfing student Brenna Cepelak.

The three-year affair with Cepelak ended when Faldo met Valerie Bercher. The spurned Cepelak famously battered Faldo's Porsche 959 with a golf club, causing £10,000 damage. Faldo's relationship with Bercher, a Swiss PR agent, began in 1998 when they met at the European Masters golf tournament. At the time, Bercher was working for marketing company IMG. She left her fiance Olivier Delaloye and married Faldo in July 2001 (the same day as his ex-caddie Fanny Sunesson got married, in a different location) in a lavish ceremony at his Windsor home, and they have a daughter Emma Scarlet (born 2003). It was announced in May 2006 that Faldo had filed for divorce.

Golf World famously summed up the true mark of genius when they profiled the careers of Faldo and his arch rival for many years Greg Norman: "Norman has played and won more events: 87-43; however, Faldo has won more US and European tour titles: 36-34. Norman has won more money; Faldo has won more majors: 6-2. Norman has won more friends, Faldo more admirers."

Faldo is a supporter of the Conservative Party.
Professional wins (40)
PGA Tour wins (9)
Legend
Major Championships (6)
Other PGA Tour (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s)-up
1 22 Apr 1984 Sea Pines Heritage -18 (66-67-68-69=270) 1 stroke United States Tom Kite
2 19 Jul 1987 The Open Championship -9 (69-68-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
3 9 Apr 1989 Masters Tournament -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff United States Scott Hoch
4 8 Apr 1990 Masters Tournament -10 (71=72-66-69=278) Playoff United States Raymond Floyd
5 22 Jul 1990 The Open Championship -14 (65-67-65-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
6 19 Jul 1992 The Open Championship -8 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
7 5 Mar 1995 Doral-Ryder Open -15 (67-71-66-69=273) 1 stroke United States Peter Jacobsen, Australia Greg Norman
8 14 Apr 1996 Masters Tournament -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
9 2 Mar 1997 Nissan Open -12 (66-70-68-68=272) 3 strokes United States Craig Stadler
European Tour wins (30)
Legend
Major Championships (6)
Other European Tour (24)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of
Victory Runner(s)-up
1 17 Aug 1977 Skol Lager Individual -5 (68-71=139) Playoff Wales Craig Defoy, England Chris Witcher
2 29 May 1978 Colgate PGA Championship -10 (71-68-70-69=278) 7 strokes ScotlandKen Brown
3 26 May 1980 Sun Alliance PGA Championship +3 (73-70-71-69=283) 1 stroke Scotland Ken Brown
4 25 May 1981 Sun Alliance PGA Championship -10 (68-70-67-79=274) 4 strokes Scotland Ken Brown, England Neil Coles
5 19 Sep 1982 Haig Whisky TPC -18 (69-67-65-69=270) 3 strokes Spain Manuel Calero
6 8 May 1983 Paco Rabanne Open de France -11 (69-67-72-69=277) Playoff Spain José Maria Cañizares, England David J Russell,
Spain Seve Ballesteros
7 15 May 1983 Martini International -12 (67-69-66-66=268) Playoff Spain José Maria Cañizares
8 22 May 1983 Car Care Plan International -8 (67-68-68-69=272) 1 stroke England Howard Clark, England Brian Waites
9 24 Jul 1983 Lawrence Batley International -18 (71-69-64-62=266) 4 strokes England Warren Humphreys, England Brian Waites,
England Paul Way
10 11 Sep 1983 Ebel Swiss Open-European Masters -20 (70-64-68-66=268) Playoff Scotland Sandy Lyle
11 13 May 1984 Car Care Plan International -12 (69-70-66-71=276) 1 stroke England Howard Clark
12 17 May 1987 Peugeot Spanish Open -2 (72-71-71-72=286) 2 strokes South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, Spain Seve Ballesteros
13 19 Jul 1987 The Open Championship -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
14 26 Jun 1988 Peugeot Open de France -6 (71-67-68-68=274) 2 strokes England Denis Durnian, Australia Wayne Riley
15 30 Oct 1988 Volvo Masters -4 (74-71-71-68=284) 2 strokes Spain Seve Ballesteros
16 9 Apr 1989 Masters Tournament -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff United States Scott Hoch
17 30 May 1989 Volvo PGA Championship -16 (67-69-69-67=272) 2 strokes Wales Ian Woosnam
18 4 Jun 1989 Dunhill British Masters -21 (71-65-65-66=267) 4 strokes Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty
19 2 Jul 1989 Peugeot Open de France -7 (70-70-64-69=273) 1 stroke South Africa Hugh Baiocchi, West Germany Bernhard Langer,
England Mark Roe
20 8 Apr 1990 Masters Tournament -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff United States Raymond Floyd
21 22 Jul 1990 The Open Championship -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
22 23 Jun 1991 Carroll's Irish Open -5 (68-75-70-70=283) 3 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie
23 7 Jun 1992 Carroll's Irish Open -14 (66-65-68-75=274) Playoff South Africa Wayne Westner
24 19 Jul 1992 The Open Championship -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
25 2 Aug 1992 Scandinavian Masters -11 (70-72-66-69=277) 3 strokes Australia Robert Allenby, England Peter Baker,
Canada Danny Mijovic, New Zealand Frank Nobilo,
Spain José María Olazábal, Australia Peter O'Malley
26 13 Sep 1992 GA European Open -18 (67-66-64-65=262) 3 strokes Sweden Robert Karlsson
27 7 Feb 1993 Johnnie Walker Classic -11 (67-68-66-68=169) 1 stroke Scotland Colin Montgomerie
28 4 Jul 1993 Carroll's Irish Open -12 (72-67-72-65=276) Playoff Spain José María Olazábal
29 5 Jun 1994 Alfred Dunhill Open -5 (67-74-67-71=279) Playoff Sweden Joakim Haeggman
30 14 Apr 1996 Masters Tournament -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
Other wins (7)

    * 1979 ICL International (South African Tour)
    * 1989 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time)
    * 1990 Johnnie Walker Classic (Asia - the European Tour first sanctioned this event in 1992)
    * 1992 Toyota World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time), Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship (Jamaica - unofficial event)
    * 1994 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa - unofficial event)
    * 1998 World Cup of Golf (with David Carter)

Major championships
Wins (6)
Year↓ Championship↓ 54 Holes↓ Winning Score↓ Margin↓ Runner(s)-up↓
1987 The Open Championship 1 shot deficit -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke United States Paul Azinger, Australia Rodger Davis
1989 Masters Tournament 5 shot deficit -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff 1 United States Scott Hoch
1990 Masters Tournament (2) 3 shot deficit -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff 2 United States Raymond Floyd
1990 The Open Championship (2) 5 shot lead -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Zimbabwe Mark McNulty, United States Payne Stewart
1992 The Open Championship (3) 4 shot lead -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke United States John Cook
1996 Masters Tournament (3) 6 shot deficit -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman

1 Defeated Scott Hoch in sudden death playoff - Faldo (5-3=8), Hoch (5-4=9)
2 Defeated Raymond Floyd in sudden death playoff - Faldo (4-4=8), Floyd (4-5=9)
Results timeline
Tournament 1976 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP DNP 40
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T28 T62 T7 T19
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters DNP DNP DNP T20 T15 T25 DNP DNP T30 1
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP T55 DNP DNP DNP 2 T18
The Open Championship T12 T11 T4 T8 T6 T53 5 1 3 T11
PGA Championship DNP DNP T14 CUT T20 T54 CUT T28 T4 T9
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters 1 T12 T13 T39 32 T24 1 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T3 T16 T4 T72 CUT T45 T16 T48 CUT CUT
The Open Championship 1 T17 1 2 T8 T40 4 T51 T44 CUT
PGA Championship T19 T16 T2 3 T4 T31 T65 CUT T54 T41
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The Masters T28 CUT T14 T33 CUT WD CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open 7 T72 T5 CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T41 CUT T59 T8 CUT T11 CUT CUT DNP CUT
PGA Championship T51 T51 T60 DNP T49 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 2010
The Masters DNP
U.S. Open DNP
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship

DNP = did not play
WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Team appearances

    * Ryder Cup (representing GB & Ireland / Europe): 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied match and retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners), 2008 (non-playing captain)
    * Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing England): 1985, 1986, 1987 (winners), 1988, 1991, 1993
    * World Cup (representing England): 1977, 1991, 1998 (winners)
    * UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003
    * Double Diamond: 1977
    * Four Tours World Championship: 1986, 1987, 1990
    * Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners), 1984 (winners)
    * Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)
    * Seve Trophy: 2007 (non-playing captain - winners)

See also

    * Golfers with most major championship wins
    * Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
    * Golfers with most European Tour wins
    * List of World Number One male golfers
    * List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa303/aaaswingersgolf/Faldo.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn47/MRR155/img010.jpg

He's been one of the better golfers the past 25 years, I remember him well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/18/10 at 7:16 pm

I will always (painfully) recall his Masters win .... where Greg Norman had it in the bag...and still lost to Faldo!! Norman led by 5 or 6 shots and ending up hitting 78 for his round. He completed choked and self destructed in front of the entire world. Flado kept his cool and ended up winning by half a dozen shots.

Norman was never the same after that. He had lost 3 majors now. Larry Mize chipped in to beat him (from off the green) and Bob Tway did the same thing to him.  :-\\  I think he also lost to Fuzzy Zoeller in a playoff in a major.  Norman should have won a half dozen majors...not just 2 British Opens.

But his choking in golf was not nearly as embarrassing as his philandering with Chris Evert (and subsequent marriage and divorce)!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/19/10 at 7:38 am

The word of the day...Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac (Greek: ζῳδιακός, zōdiakos) is the ring of constellations  that lines the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. The Moon and planets also lie within the ecliptic, and so are also within the constellations of the zodiac. In astrology, the zodiac denotes those signs that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude. As such, the zodiac is a celestial coordinate system, to be more precise, an ecliptic coordinate system, taking the ecliptic as the origin of latitude, and the position of the sun at vernal equinox as the origin of longitude.

It is known to have been in use by the Roman era, based on concepts inherited by Hellenistic astronomy from Babylonian astronomy of the Chaldean period (mid-1st millennium BC), which, in turn, derived from an earlier system of lists of stars along the ecliptic. The construction of the zodiac is described in Ptolemy's Almagest (2nd century AD). The term zodiac may also refer to the region of the celestial sphere encompassing the paths of the planets corresponding to the band of about eight arc degrees above and below the ecliptic. The zodiac of a given planet is the band that contains the path of that particular body; e.g., the "zodiac of the Moon" is the band of five degrees above and below the ecliptic. By extension, the "zodiac of the comets" may refer to the band encompassing most short-period comets.

The term zodiac derives from Latin zōdiacus, which in its turn comes from the Greek ζῳδιακὸς κύκλος (zōdiakos kuklos), meaning circle of animals, derived from ζώδιον (zōdion), the diminutive of ζῶον (zōon) animal. The name is motivated by the fact that half of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are represented as animals as well as two mythological hybrids.

Although the zodiac remains the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system in use in astronomy besides the equatorial one, the term and the names of the twelve signs are today mostly associated with horoscopic astrology.
http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/af353/tetmah/LibraSymbolR.jpg
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae98/abwilk/untitled.jpg
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab64/goldiegirl007/3bbc9dcf.gif
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/Kemilicious/Zodiac.jpg
http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo238/other_vicki/apps%20picts/amonra.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd305/yinney10/zodiac.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww34/Lacey89_photos/cool%20tattoos/Zodiac_Sign_Tattoo___Aquarius_by_MP.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww34/Lacey89_photos/cool%20tattoos/Zodiac_Sign_Tattoo___Leo_by_MPtribe.jpg
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww34/Lacey89_photos/cool%20tattoos/Zodiac_Sign_Tattoo__Sagitarius_by_M.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/19/10 at 7:45 am

The person born on this day...Anthony Edwards
Anthony Charles Edwards  (born July 19, 1962) is an American  actor and director.  He has appeared in various movies and television shows, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Zodiac, Revenge of the Nerds, Northern Exposure and ER.
Edwards was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Erika Planck (née Weber), an artist/landscape painter, and Peter Edwards, an architect.  He has two older sisters, Heidi and Ann-Marie, and two older brothers, Peter and Jeffrey. Edwards was encouraged by his parents to attend college before pursuing his interest in acting. He received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England and studied theatre at University of Southern California but by age 19 was offered enough acting work that he left college.
Career

Edwards' early work includes a co-starring role in the TV series It Takes Two with Richard Crenna and Patty Duke Astin as his parents and Helen Hunt as his sister. His first starring role was in the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds as Gilbert Lowe, though he had a tiny part in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, credited as "stoner Bud". It was his role as LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw alongside Tom Cruise in the 1986 film Top Gun that brought his first widespread public acknowledgement. His character, who died in an aviation accident, was among the most prominent and popular in the film. He also appeared as a terminally ill patient in Hawks (1988) alongside Timothy Dalton, another role which brought him worldwide fame. He also starred in the 1990 movie Downtown with Penelope Ann Miller and Forest Whitaker. In 1992 and 1993 he played Mike Monroe in ten episodes of Northern Exposure.

His best known role to date is as Dr. Mark Greeneon the long-running TV series ER, where he resided from its premiere in 1994 to the end of the 8th season in 2002. The series also afforded Edwards his first opportunity to direct. Edwards' desire to pursue directing led to his request to be written out of the series and in a touching and emotional storyline, his character died of brain cancer. He reportedly earned $35,000,000 for three seasons on ER. His ER paycheck made him one of the highest paid television actors to date. Anthony Edwards and his former co-star George Clooney were the ones who suggested doing an episode of ER live. The fourth season premiere, "Ambush" was performed live twice with an East Coast and West Coast version.

Although he never won a Primetime Emmy Award, Edwards was nominated four times for an Emmy For Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Despite not winning a Primetime Emmy, Edwards has his share of awards under his belt. He won a Golden Globe Award For Best Performance by an Actor-In a TV Series after being nominated four times, and he has two Screen Actor's Guild Awards, plus others.

In 2007, Edwards appeared as SFPD inspector Bill Armstrong in David Fincher's Zodiac, about the Zodiac Killer, the notorious serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 2008, Edwards returned to ER to reprise his role as Dr. Greene (in flashback scenes, where he treats the dying son of character Catherine Banfield) for one episode during its 15th and final season.

In 2010, Edwards' movie Motherhood, set a record for the biggest bomb in British cinema history garnering just £88 on 11 tickets on opening weekend. In the United States Motherhood did not fare much better earning just $93,388 in three weeks of release.
Personal life

Edwards has been married to Jeanine Lobell since 1994 and they have one son, Bailey, and three daughters, Esme, Wallis and Poppy. He left ER so he could spend more time with his family. He lives in New York City.

He also serves as chairman for Shoe4Africa, a non-profit organization that donates shoes to Kenyan athletes and aims to build the largest public children's hospital in Africa. Edwards plans to run in the ING New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009 to raise funds for Shoe4Africa.
Honors and tributes

    * Edwards received four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series;
    * He earned a People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series (1995);
    * He won three Screen Actors Guild Awards for: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (1996), and Best Ensemble Cast (1998 and 1999);
    * He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Drama (1998);
    * Edwards also won a Daytime Emmy for the production of the underground rock documentary "N.Y.H.C." (1999) and the telepic adaptation of the coming of age novel "My Louisiana Sky" (2001);
    * He also earned the Carnegie Medal Award for: My Louisianna Sky (2003).

Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1973 Big Zapper Kono's Boy
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Stoner Bud
1983 Heart Like a Wheel John Muldowney (age 15-23)
1984 Revenge of the Nerds Gilbert Lowe
1985 Gotcha! Jonathan
The Sure Thing Lance
1986 Top Gun Lt. (j.g.) Nick "Goose" Bradshaw
1987 Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise Gilbert Lowe
Summer Heat Aaron
1988 Hawks Deckermensky, 'Decker'
Miracle Mile Harry Washello
Mr. North Theophilus North
1989 How I Got Into College Kip Hammett
1990 Downtown Alex Kearney
1992 Pet Sematary Two Chase Matthews
Delta Heat Mike Bishop
Landslide Bob Boyd
1993 Sexual Healing David Nominated - CableACE Award for Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
1994 The Client Clint Von Hooser
Charlie's Ghost Story Dave
1998 Good Night, Gorilla Zookeeper Voice
Playing by Heart Roger
1999 Don't Go Breaking My Heart Tony Dorfman
2000 The Island of the Skog Narrator Voice
2001 Jackpot Tracy
2003 Northfork Happy
2004 Thunderbirds Brains
The Forgotten Jim Paretta
2007 Zodiac Inspector William Armstrong
2009 Motherhood
2010 Flipped
Television
Year Show Role Notes
1981 The Killing of Randy Webster Tommy Lee Swanson
Walking Tall Robbie 1 episode
1982 Police Squad! Dental Patient 1 episode - uncredited
1982–1983 It Takes Two Andy Quinn 22 episodes
1983 High School U.S.A. Beau Middleton
For Love and Honor Michelson 1 episode
1984 Call to Glory Billy
1985 Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story Bill Johnson
1990 El Diablo Billy Ray Smith
Hometown Boy Makes Good Boyd Geary
1991 The General Motors Playwrights Theater Josh 1 episode
1992–1993 Northern Exposure Mike Monroe 10 episodes
1996 In Cold Blood Dick Hickock
2001 Cursed Ricky 1 episode
Frasier Tom 1 episode
1994–2002, 2008 ER Dr. Mark Greene 181 episodes
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1996, 1997, 1999)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1998)
Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1997)
Nominated - SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (1997, 1999, 2001)
SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (1996, 1998)
Nominated - SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1995, 2000, 2001)
SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
Nominated - TV Guide Award for Actor of the Year in a Drama Series (2001)
TV Land Award - Icon Award (2009)
Producer
Year Production Role Notes
1999 Don't Go Breaking My Heart Executive producer
Border Line Executive producer TV
N.Y.H.C. Executive producer
2001 My Louisiana Sky Executive producer TV
Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video (2002)
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special (2002)
2003 Die, Mommie, Die! Producer
2010 Temple Grandin Thinking in Pictures Executive producer TV
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/Band_Chick101/Heros/4125086668.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc129/cyndi_063/11_credits.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/19/10 at 7:55 am

The person who died on this day...Frank McCourt
Francis "Frank" McCourt (August 19, 1930 – July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes.

His brothers Malachy McCourt and Alphie McCourt are also autobiographical writers. In the mid-1980s Francis and Malachy created the stage play A Couple of Blaguards, a two-man show about their lives and experiences.
Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York on 19 August 1930, the eldest son of Malachy McCourt (1901–1986) and Angela Sheehan (1908–1981). Frank McCourt lived in New York with his parents and four younger siblings: Malachy, born in 1931; twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and a younger sister, Margaret, who died just a few weeks after birth, in 1935. Following this first tragedy, his family moved back to Ireland, where the twin brothers died within a year of the family's arrival and where Frank's youngest brothers, Michael (b. 1936) and Alphie (b. 1940), were born.

Unable to find steady work, in the depths of the depression, the McCourts returned to their mother's native Limerick, Ireland in 1934, where they sank deeper into poverty. McCourt's father, from Toome in County Antrim, was often without work, but drank with the little money he did earn. When McCourt was eleven, his father left with other Irishmen to find work in the factories of wartime Coventry in England. He sent little money to the family, leaving Frank's mother to raise four surviving children, often by begging. Frank's public education ended at age 13, when the Congregation of Christian Brothers rejected him, despite a recommendation from his teacher. Frank then held odd jobs and stole bread and milk in an effort to provide for his mother and three surviving brothers, Malachy, Michael (who now lives in San Francisco), and Alphonsus ("Alphie") (who lives in Manhattan); the other three siblings had died in infancy or early childhood in the squalor of the family circumstances. Frank McCourt himself nearly died of typhoid fever when he was ten. In Angela's Ashes, McCourt described an entire block of houses sharing a single outhouse, flooded by constant rain, and infested with rats and vermin.
Career
Early career

At age nineteen he left Ireland, returning to the United States where, after a stint working in New York City's Biltmore Hotel, he was drafted during the Korean War and was sent to Germany. Upon his discharge from the US Army, he returned to New York City, where he held a series of jobs.
Teaching

He graduated in 1956 from New York University with an MA degree in English. He taught English at McKee High School in Staten Island. Frank McCourt taught across a range of five New York schools, including McKee Technical and Vocational High School and Stuyvesant High School.

Mr. McCourt also taught in the English department of New York City Technical College of the City University of New York. In a 1997 NY Times Op-Ed essay, Mr. McCourt wrote about his experiences teaching immigrant mothers there.
Writing

He received the Pulitzer Prize (1997) and National Book Critics Circle Award (1996) for his memoir Angela's Ashes (1996), which details his impoverished childhood in Limerick. He also authored 'Tis (1999), which continues the narrative of his life, picking up from the end of the previous book and focusing on life as a new immigrant in America. Teacher Man (2005) detailed the challenges of being a young, uncertain teacher.
Recognition

McCourt was a member of the National Arts Club and was a recipient of the Award of Excellence from The International Center in New York. In 1998, McCourt was honored as the Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Western Ontario. Most recently, McCourt is referenced in the popular rock song, "John Lennon" by the Canadian Rock Band "The Arkells" found on the album "Jackson Square".
Personal life

Frank McCourt was married first, in August 1961 (div. 1979), to Alberta Small, with whom he had a daughter, Margaret. He married second, in August 1984 (div. 1985) to psychotherapist Cheryl Ford. He married his third wife, Ellen Frey McCourt, in August 1994, and they lived in New York City and Roxbury, Connecticut. He is survived by Ellen, his daughter Maggie, a granddaughter Chiara, grandsons Frank and Jack, and his three brothers and their families.

In his free time, McCourt took up the casual sport of rowing. He once sank his Wintech recreational single scull on the Mohawk River in New York, and had to be rescued by a local rowing team.
Death

It was announced in May 2009 that he had been treated for melanoma and that he was in remission, undergoing home chemotherapy. On July 19, 2009, he died from the cancer, with meningeal complications, at a hospice in Manhattan.
Bibliography

    * Angela's Ashes (1996)
    * 'Tis (1999)
    * Yeats Is Dead (chapter) (2001)
    * Teacher Man (2005)
    * Angela and the Baby Jesus (2007)
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt261/marribas/tdy_couric_mccourt_051115300w.jpg
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm382/GromitKooperative/Helden/fmccourt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/19/10 at 7:02 pm

I'm a Pisces. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 5:54 am


I'm a Pisces. :)

I'm Aries :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 6:06 am

The word of the day...Salsa
Salsa means sauce in the Spanish language, and carries connotations of the spiciness common in Latin and Caribbean cuisine.  More recently, salsa acquired a musical meaning in both English and Spanish. In this sense salsa has been described as a word with "vivid associations" but no absolute definitions, a tag that encompasses a rainbow assortment of Latin rhythms and styles, taking on a different hue wherever you stand in the Spanish-speaking world".  The precise scope of Salsa is highly debatable.  Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican immigrants in New York have used the term analogously to swing or soul, which refer to a quality of emotionally and culturally genuine music in the African American community. In this usage Salsa connotes a frenzied, "hot" and wild musical experience that draws upon or reflects elements of Latin culture, regardless of the specific style.

Various music writers and historians have traced the use of Salsa to different periods of the 20th century. World music author Sue Steward has claimed that Salsa was originally used in music as a "cry of appreciation for a particularly piquant or flashy solo". She cites the first use in this manner to a Venezuelan radio DJ named Phidias Danilo Escalona; Max Salazar traced the word back to the early 1930s, when Ignacio Piñeiro composed "Échale Salsita", a dance song protesting tasteless food. Though Salazar describes this song as the origin of salsa meaning "danceable Latin music", Ed Morales has described the usage in the same song as a cry from Piñeiro to his band, telling them to increase the tempo to "put the dancers into high gear". Morales claims that later in the 1930s, vocalist Beny Moré would shout salsa during a performance "to acknowledge a musical moment's heat, to express a kind of cultural nationalist sloganeering 'hotness' or 'spiciness' of Latin American cultures".

Some people object to the term Salsa on the basis that it is vague or misleading; for example, the style of musicians such as Tito Puente evolved several decades before Salsa was a recognized genre, leading Puente to once claim that "the only salsa I know comes in a bottle. I play Cuban music" referring to Mambo. Because salsa can refer to numerous styles of music, some observers perceive the word as a marketing term designed to superficially categorize music in a way that appeals to non-aficionados. For a time the Cuban state media officially claimed that the term salsa music was a euphemism for authentic Cuban music stolen by American imperialists, though the media has since abandoned this theory.

Some doubt that the term salsa has any precise and unambiguous meaning. Peter Manuel describes salsa as "at once (both) a modern marketing concept and the cultural voice of a new generation", representative of a "crystallization of a Latino identity in New York in the early 1960s". Manuel also recognizes the commercial and cultural dichotomy to salsa, noting that the term's broad use for many styles of Latin pop music has served the development of "pan-Latin solidarity", while also noting that the "recycling of Cuban music under an artificial, obscurantist label is but one more example of North American exploitation and commodification of third world primary products; for Latinos, salsa bridges the gap between "tradition and modernity, between the impoverished homeland and the dominant United States, between street life and the chic night club, and between grassroots culture and the corporate media".

The singer Rubén Blades once claimed that Salsa is merely "a concept", as opposed to a definite style or rhythm. Some musicians are doubtful that the term salsa has any useful meaning at all, with the bandleader Machito claiming that salsa was more or less what he had been playing for forty years before the style was invented by the Puerto Ricans, while Tito Puente once responded to a question about salsa by saying "I'm a musician, not a cook" (referring to salsa's original use to mean sauce). Celia Cruz, a well-known salsa singer, has said, "salsa is Cuban music with another name. It's mambo, chachachá, rumba, son ... all the Cuban rhythms under one name". Although one must note that all music thoughout history has been taken from one concept to another thus creating a new sound. Clearly all music has its roots, while music continues to evolve such as going from Cuban Mambo and Son to modern Salsa.

Music writer Peter Manuel claims that Salsa came to describe a specific style of music in the mid-1970s "when a group of New York–based Latin musicians began overhauling the classic big-band arrangements popular since the mambo era of the 1940s and '50s", and that the term was "popularized" in the late 1960s by a Venezuelan radio station and Jerry Masucci of Fania Records. In contrast, Ed Morales cites the use of salsa for a specific style to a New York–based editor and graphic designer named Izzy Sanabria. Morales also mentions an early use of the term by Johnny Pacheco, a Dominican performer who released a 1962 album called Salsa Na' Ma, which Morales translates as "it just needs a little salsa, or spice
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t140/vaduhla/SALSA-FREDDY-0710.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae2/mamavega_photo/Mama%20Vegas%20Salsa%201/Mama_Vegas_Salsa_The_SalsationalHea.jpg
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af35/khalifahalambaka/INDOHOTWHEELS/PontiacSalsa.jpg
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx170/kia-nna/njtango4.jpg
http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt138/dpmtv/18JULIO.jpg
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab215/elpasonightout/Dancing.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae3/PRWeb_07_2010/09/0_iStock000004897970Medium.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 6:11 am

The person born on this day...Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican-American  rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa  and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Rolling Stone named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.  He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.
Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. His father was a mariachi  violinist, and Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight. Young Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. The family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the border city between Mexico and California, and then San Francisco. Carlos stayed in Tijuana but joined his family in San Francisco later and graduated from James Lick Middle School and Mission High School there. He graduated from Mission High in 1965. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana Mexico, said to have been Carlos's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing.  After learning Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.

In San Francisco, he got the chance to see his idols, most notably B.B. King, perform live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and folk music, and witnessed the growing hippie movement centered in San Francisco in the 1960s. After several years spent working as a dishwasher in a diner and busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician; in 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band, with fellow street musicians, David Brown and Gregg Rolie (bassist and keyboard player, respectively).

With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms, the band (which quickly became known simply as Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco strip club. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis.
Personal life

On October 19, 2007, his wife of 34 years, Deborah, filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".

On July 9, 2010, Santana announced his plans to wed drummer Cindy Blackman, at a Santana show in Tinley Park, Illinois by proposing onstage in the middle of a set, right after Blackman played a drum solo.
Santana

Santana was signed by CBS Records and went into the studio to record their first album. They were not satisfied with the release and decided changes needed to be made. This resulted in the dismissal of Bob Livingston. Santana replaced him with Mike Shrieve, who had a strong background in both jazz and rock. Marcus Malone was forced to quit the band due to personal problems, and the band re-enlisted Michael Carabello. Carabello brought with him percussionist Jose Chepito Areas, who was already well-known in his country, Nicaragua, and, with his skills and professional experience, was a major contributor to the band.

Bill Graham, who had been a fan of the band from the start, convinced the promoters of the Woodstock Music and Art Festival to let them appear before their first album was even released. They were one of the surprises of the festival; their set was legendary and, later, the exposure of their eleven-minute instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" in the Woodstock film and soundtrack albums vastly increased Santana's popularity. Graham also gave the band some key advice to record the Willie Bobo song "Evil Ways", as he felt it would get them radio airplay. Their first album, simply titled Santana, became a huge hit, reaching number four on the U.S. album charts, and the catchy single "Evil Ways" reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1970, the group reached its early commercial peak with their second album, Abraxas, which reached number one on the album charts and went on to sell over four million copies. Instrumental in the production of the album was pianist Alberto Gianquinto, who advised the group to stay away from lengthy percussion jams and concentrate on tighter song structures. The innovative Santana musical blend made a number-four hit out of the English band Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" and a number-thirteen hit out of salsa legend Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va".

However, Woodstock and the band's sudden success put pressure on the group, highlighting the different musical directions in which Rolie and Santana were starting to go. Rolie, along with some of the other band members, wanted to emphasize a basic hard rock sound which had established the band in the first place. Santana on the other hand was growing musically beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music, which were influenced by his fascination with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as his growing interest in spirituality and meditation. To further complicate matters, Chepito Areas was stricken with a near-fatal brain hemorrhage, and Santana wanted the band to continue performing by finding a temporary replacement (first Willie Bobo, then Coke Escovedo), while others in the band, especially Michael Carabello, felt it was wrong to perform publicly without Areas. Cliques formed, and the band started to disintegrate.

Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon was asked to join the band in 1971, though, at the time, he was also invited by Eric Clapton to join Derek and the Dominos. Choosing Santana, he joined in time to complete the third album, Santana III. The band now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar act that gave the album a tougher sound. The sound of the band was also helped by the return of a recuperated Chepito Areas and the assistance of Coke Escovedo in the percussion section. Enhancing the band's sound further was the support of popular Bay Area group Tower of Power's horn section, Luis Gasca of Malo, and a number of friends who helped with percussion and vocals, injecting more energy to the proceedings. Santana III was another success, reaching number one on the album charts, selling two million copies, and yielding the hits "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On".

But tension in the band continued. Along with musical differences, drug use became a problem, and Santana was deeply worried it was affecting the band's performance. Coke Escovedo encouraged Santana to take more control of the band's musical direction, much to the dismay of some of the others who thought that the band and its sound was a collective effort. Also, financial irregularities were exposed while under the management of Stan Marcum, whom Bill Graham criticized as being incompetent. Growing resentments between Santana and Michael Carabello over lifestyle issues resulted in his departure on bad terms. James Mingo Lewis was hired at the last minute as a replacement at a concert in New York City. David Brown later left due to substance abuse problems. A South American tour was cut short in Lima, Peru, due to student protests against U.S. governmental policies and unruly fans. The madness of the tour convinced Santana that changes needed to be made in the band and in his life.

In January 1972, Santana, Neal Schon and Coke Escovedo joined former Band of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles for a concert at Hawaii's Diamond Head Crater, which was recorded for a live album. The performance was erratic and uneven, but the album managed to achieve gold-record status on the weight of Santana's popularity.
collaboration with John Coltrane's widow, Alice Coltrane, Illuminations, followed. The album delved into avant-garde esoteric free jazz, Eastern Indian and classical influences with other ex-Miles Davis sidemen Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. Soon after, Santana replaced his band members again. This time Kermode, Thomas and Rauch departed from the group and were replaced by vocalist Leon Patillo (later a successful Contemporary Christian  artist) and returning bassist David Brown. He also recruited soprano saxophonist, Jules Broussard to the lineup. The band recorded one studio album Borboletta, which was released in 1974. Drummer Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler  later joined the band as a replacement for Michael Shrieve, who left to pursue a solo career.

By this time, the Bill Graham's management company had assumed the affairs of the group. Graham was critical of Santana's direction into jazz and felt he needed to concentrate on getting Santana back into the charts with the edgy, street-wise ethnic sound that had made them famous. Santana himself was seeing that the group's direction was alienating many fans. Although the albums and performances were given good reviews by critics in jazz and jazz fusion circles, sales had plummeted.

Santana along with Tom Coster, producer David Rubinson, and Chandler formed yet another version of Santana, adding vocalist Greg Walker. The 1976 album Amigos, which featured the songs "Dance, Sister, Dance" and "Let It Shine", had a strong funk and Latin sound. The album also received considerable airplay on FM album-oriented rock stations with the instrumental "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)" and re-introduced Santana back into the charts. Rolling Stone Magazine ran a second cover story on Santana entitled "Santana Comes Home".

The albums conceived through the late 1970s followed the same formula, although with several lineup changes. Among the personnel who came and left the band was percussionist Raul Rekow, who joined in early 1977 and remains to this day. Most-notable of the band's commercial efforts of this era was a version of the 1960s Zombies hit, "She's Not There", on the 1977 album Moonflower.

The relative success of the band's albums in this era allowed Santana to pursue a solo career funded by CBS. First, Oneness, Silver Dreams, Golden Reality in 1979 and The Swing of Delight in 1980, which featured some of his musical heroes: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams from Miles Davis' legendary 1960s quintet.

The pressures and temptations of being a high-profile rock musician and requisites of the spiritual lifestyle which guru Sri Chinmoy and his followers demanded, were great sources of conflict to Santana's lifestyle and marriage. He was becoming increasingly disillusioned with what he thought was Chinmoy's unreasonable rules imposed on his life, in particular, his refusal to allow Santana and Deborah to start a family. He felt too that his fame was being used to increase the guru's visibility. Santana and Deborah eventually ended their relationship with Chinmoy in 1982.
The 1980s
Santana, 1984 Barcelona, Spain

More radio-pleasing singles followed from Santana and the band. "Winning" in 1981 and "Hold On" (a remake of Canadian artist Ian Thomas' song) in 1982 both reached the top twenty. After his break with Sri Chinmoy, Santana went into the studio to record another solo album with Keith Olson and legendary R&B producer Jerry Wexler. The 1983 album revisited Santana's early musical experiences in Tijuana with Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" and the title cut, Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon". The album's guests included Booker T. Jones, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson and even Santana's father's mariachi orchestra. Santana again paid tribute to his early rock roots by doing the film score to La Bamba, which was based on the tragically short life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens and starred Lou Diamond Philips.

Although the band had concentrated on trying to produce albums with commercial appeal during the 1980s, changing tastes in popular culture began to reflect in the band's sagging record sales of their latest effort Beyond Appearances. In 1985, Bill Graham had to once again pull strings for Santana to convince principal Live Aid concert organizer Bob Geldof to allow the band to appear at the festival. The group's high-energy performance proved why they were still a top concert draw the world over despite their poor performance on the charts. Santana retained a great deal of respect in both jazz and rock circles, with Prince and guitarist Kirk Hammett of Metallica citing him as an influence.

The band Santana returned in 1986 with a new album Freedom. Buddy Milles, who was trying to revive his music career after spending much of the late 1970s and early 1980s incarcerated for drug charges, returned for lead vocals. His onstage presence provided a dose of charisma to the show; but, once again, the sales of the album fell flat.

Growing weary of trying to appease record company executives with formulaic hit records, Santana took great pleasure in jamming and making guest appearances with notables such as the jazz fusion group Weather Report, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, Blues legend John Lee Hooker, Frank Franklin, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, and West African singer Salif Keita. He and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead later recorded and performed with Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, who conceived one of Santana's famous 1960s drum jams, "Jingo". In 1988, Santana organized a reunion with past members from the Santana band for a series of concert dates. CBS records released a 20-year retrospective of the band's accomplishments with Viva Santana.

That same year Santana formed an all-instrumental group featuring jazz legend Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano sax. The group also included Patrice Rushen on keyboards, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, and Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler on drums. They toured briefly and received much acclaim from the music press, who compared the effort with the era of Caravanserai. Santana released another solo record, Blues for Salvador, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1990, Santana left Columbia Records after twenty-two years and signed with Polygram. The following year, he made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's album Solo Para Ti, on the songs "Reaching out 2 U" and on a cover of his own song, "Samba Pa Ti". In 1992, Santana hired jam band Phish as his opening act. He remains close to the band today, especially to guitarist Trey Anastasio.
Return to commercial success
Carlos Santana during a concert in 2005

Santana's record sales in the 1990s were very low. Toward the end of the decade, he was without a contract. However, Arista Records' Clive Davis, who had worked with Santana at Columbia Records, signed him and encouraged him to record a star-studded album with mostly younger artists. The result was 1999's Supernatural, which included collaborations with Everlast, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Cee-Lo, Maná, Dave Matthews, K. C. Porter, J. B. Eckl, and others.

However, the lead single was what grabbed the attention of both fans and the music industry. "Smooth", a dynamic cha-cha stop-start number co-written and sung by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, was laced throughout with Santana's guitar fills and runs. The track's energy was immediately apparent on radio, and it was played on a wide variety of station formats. "Smooth" spent twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming in the process the last #1 single of the 1990s. The music video, set on a hot barrio street, was also very popular. Supernatural reached number one on the US album charts and the follow-up single, "Maria Maria", featuring the R&B duo The Product G&B, also hit number one, spending ten weeks there in the spring of 2000. Supernatural eventually sold over 15 million copies in the United States, making it Santana's biggest sales success by far.

Carlos Santana, alongside the classic Santana lineup of their first two albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He performed "Black Magic Woman" with the writer of the song, Fleetwood Mac's founder Peter Green. Green was inducted the same night.

In 2000 Supernatural won nine Grammy Awards (eight for Santana personally), including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "Smooth", and Song of the Year for Thomas and Itaal Shur. Santana's acceptance speeches described his feelings about music's place in one's spiritual existence. Later that year at the Latin Grammy Awards he won three awards including Record of the Year. In 2001, Santana's guitar skills were featured in Michael Jackson's song "Whatever Happens", from the album Invincible.

In 2002, Santana released Shaman, revisiting the Supernatural format of guest artists including P.O.D. and Seal. Although the album was not the runaway success its predecessor had been, it produced two radio-friendly hits. "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch, rose to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent many weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and "Why Don't You & I" written by and featuring Chad Kroeger from the group Nickelback (the original and a remix with Alex Band from the group The Calling were combined towards chart performance) which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Game of Love" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

In August 2003, Santana was named fifteenth on Rolling Stone magazine's "List of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Santana to collaborate on an album again using the Supernatural formula. Possibilities was released on August 30, 2005, featuring Carlos Santana and Angélique Kidjo on "Safiatou". Also, in 2005, the fellow Latin star Shakira invited Santana to play soft rock guitar ballad Illegal on her second English-language studio album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.

Santana's 2005 album All That I Am consisting primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. Other musicians joining the mix this time included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, hip-hop/reggae star Sean Paul and R&B singer Joss Stone. In April and May 2006, Santana toured Europe, where he promoted his son Salvador Santana's band as his opening act.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and José Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores". He also teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Santana started working with his long-time friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album Marcelo Vieira's Acoustic Sounds, which is due to be released at the end of the year. It features tracks such as "For Flavia" and "Across the Grave", the latter featuring heavy melodic riffs by Santana.

Carlos Santana performed at the 2009 American Idol Finale with the top 13 finalists, which starred many acts such as KISS, Queen and Rod Stewart. On July 8, 2009, Carlos Santana appeared at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens with his 10-member all-star band as part of his "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" European tour. On July 10, 2009, he also appeared at Philip II Stadium in Skopje. With 2.5 hours concert and 20 000 people, Santana appeared for the first time in that region. "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" is currently playing at The Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, where it will play through the end 2009.

Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5. A live recording of his song "No One To Depend On" is included in game, which was released on September 1, 2009.

Carlos recently opened a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants called "Maria Maria". It is a combined effort with Chef Roberto Santibanez. They are located in Tempe Arizona, Mill Valley (now closed), Walnut Creek, and Danville, California, Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton Florida.
Albums with the band Santana
Main article: Santana discography

    * Santana (1969) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * Abraxas (1970) US: 5x Multi-Platinum
    * Santana III (1971) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * Caravanserai (1972) US: Platinum
    * Welcome (1973) US: Gold
    * Lotus (1974) (Live)
    * Borboletta (1974) US: Gold
    * Amigos (1976) US: Gold
    * Festival (1977) US: Gold
    * Moonflower (1977) (Live/studio) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * Inner Secrets (1978) US: Gold
    * Marathon (1979) US: Gold
    * Zebop! (1981) US: Platinum
    * Shango (1982) US: Gold
    * Beyond Appearances (1985)
    * Freedom (1987)
    * Viva Santana! (1988) (Live/studio compilation)
    * Spirits Dancing in the Flesh (1990) (compilation)
    * Milagro (1992)
    * Sacred Fire: Live in South America (1993) (Live)
    * Live at the Fillmore '68 (1997) (Live)
    * Supernatural (1999) US: 15x Multi-Platinum
    * The Essential Santana (2002) (compilation)
    * Shaman (2002) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * All That I Am (2005) US: Gold
    * Ultimate Santana (2007) (compilation)
    * The Woodstock Experience (2009) (Live)

Albums as a solo artist or in collaborations

    * Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! (1972; with Buddy Miles) US: Platinum
    * Love Devotion Surrender (1973; with John McLaughlin) US: Gold
    * Illuminations (1974; with Alice Coltrane)
    * Oneness: Silver Dreams, Golden Reality (1979)
    * The Swing of Delight (1980)
    * Havana Moon (1983; with Booker T & the MGs, Willie Nelson, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds)
    * This Is This! (1986; with Weather report)
    * Blues for Salvador (1987)
    * Santana Brothers (1994; C.S. with Jorge Santana & Carlos Hernandez)
    * Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter - Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1988 (2007)
    * Guitar Heaven: Santana Performs the Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time (2010)

Unofficial releases

    * Samba Pa Ti (1988)
    * Persuasion (1989)
    * Latin Tropical (1990)
    * Santana (1990)
    * The Big Jams (1991)
    * Santana Jam (1994)
    * With a Little Help from My Friends (1994)
    * Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (1994)
    * Soul Sacrifice (1995)
    * Santana Live (????)
    * Jingo and more famous tracks (????)

Singles

    * 1969: "Jingo" #56 US
    * 1969: "Evil Ways" #9 US
    * 1971: "Black Magic Woman" #4 US
    * 1971: "Oye Como Va" #13 US
    * 1971: "Everybody's Everything" #12 US
    * 1972: "No One to Depend On" #36 US
    * 1974: "Samba Pa Ti" #27 UK
    * 1976: "Let It Shine" #77 US
    * 1977: "She's Not There" #27 US, #11 UK
    * 1978: "Well All Right" #69 US
    * 1979: "One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)" #59 US
    * 1979: "Stormy" #32 US
    * 1980: "You Know That I Love You" #35 US
    * 1981: "Winning" #17 US
    * 1981: "The Sensitive Kind" #56 US
    * 1982: "Hold On" #15 US
    * 1982: "Nowhere to Run" #66 US
    * 1985: "Say It Again" #46 US
    * 1999: "Put Your Lights On" (featuring Everlast)
    * 1999: "Smooth" (featuring Rob Thomas) #1 US, #3 UK (charted in 2000)
    * 2000: "Maria Maria" (featuring The Product G&B) #1 US, #6 UK
    * 2002: "The Game Of Love" (featuring Michelle Branch) #5 US, #16 UK
    * 2003: "Nothing at All" (featuring Musiq Soulchild)
    * 2003: "Feels Like Fire" (featuring Dido) #26 NZ
    * 2003: "Why Don't You & I" (featuring Chad Kroeger) #8 US
    * 2005: "I'm Feeling You" (featuring Michelle Branch) #55 US
    * 2005: "Just Feel Better" (featuring Steven Tyler) #8 AUS
    * 2006: "Cry Baby Cry" (featuring Sean Paul and Joss Stone) #71 UK, #15 CDN
    * 2006: "Illegal" (Shakira featuring Carlos Santana) #4 ITA, #11 GER
    * 2007: "No Llores" (Gloria Estefan featuring Carlos Santana, José Feliciano and Sheila E.)
    * 2007: "Into the Night" (featuring Chad Kroeger) #2 CAN, #5 SA, #5 Italy, #19 Germany, #26 US
    * 2008: "This Boy's Fire" (featuring Jennifer Lopez with Baby Bash)
    * 2008: "Fuego en el Fuego" (Eros Ramazzotti featuring Carlos Santana) #19 Spain

Note: The singles Smooth, Maria Maria, and Into The Night have each been certified Platinum by the RIA
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/jlgmx/Tecnorapia/CarlosSantana.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m477/funkytoe42/carlossantana.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 6:29 am

The person who died on this day...Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍; pinyin: Lǐ Xiăolóng, born Lee Jun-fan (Chinese: 李振藩; pinyin: Lǐ Zhènfān); 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Chinese American  actor,  martial arts instructor,  philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement. He is considered one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century, and a cultural icon.

Lee was born in San Francisco, California in the United States, to parents of Hong Kong heritage but raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. Upon reaching the age of 18, Lee emigrated to the United States to claim his U.S. Citizenship and receive his higher education. It was during this time he began teaching martial arts, which soon led to film and television roles.

His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked a major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well. He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films, Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse, and The Game of Death (1978).

Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world and remains very popular among Asian people and in particular among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism through his films. While Lee initially trained in Wing Chun, he later rejected well-defined martial art styles, favoring instead to utilize useful techniques from various sources in the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).In 2010, he was ranked the 27th greatest American athlete of all time by Time Magazine being the only immigrated athlete on the list.
Lee's father Lee Hoi-chuen was a famous Cantonese opera star; because of this, Lee was introduced into films at a very young age and appeared in several short black-and-white films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films.

While in the United States from 1959–1964, Lee abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. William Dozier invited Lee for an audition, where Lee so impressed the producers with his lightning-fast moves that he earned the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. The show lasted just one season, from 1966 to 1967. Lee also played Kato in three crossover episodes of Batman. This was followed by guest appearances in a host of television series, including Ironside (1967) and Here Come the Brides (1969). In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in his first American film Marlowe where he played a henchman hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe (played by James Garner) by smashing up his office with leaping kicks and flashing punches, only to later accidentally jump off a tall building while trying to kick Marlowe off. In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet as the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet (played by James Franciscus).

According to statements made by Lee and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, in 1971 Lee pitched a television series of his own tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions which were also confirmed by Warner Bros. According to Cadwell, however, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit. Instead the role of the Shaolin monk in the Wild West, was awarded to then non-martial artist David Carradine because of the studio's fears that a Chinese leading man would not be embraced by the public. Books and documentaries about the show "Kung Fu" dispute Cadwell's version. According to these sources, the show was created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander, and the reason Lee was not cast was in part because of his ethnicity but more so because he had a thick accent.

In a 9 December 1971 television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee made reference to both Warner Brothers and Paramount wanting him to do an American TV series. After Pierre Berton comments, "there's a pretty good chance that you'll get a TV series in the States called "The Warrior", in it, where you use what, the martial arts in a Western setting?" Lee responds, "that was the original idea, ...both of them (Warner and Paramount), I think, they want me to be in a modernized type of a thing, and they think that "The Western" type of thing is out. Whereas I want to do the Western, because, you see, how else can you justify all of the punching and kicking and violence, except in the period of The West?" Later in the interview, Berton asks Lee about "the problems that you face as a Chinese hero in an American series. Have people come up in the industry and said 'well, we don't know how the audience are going to take a non-American'"?. Lee responds "Well, such question has been raised, in fact, it is being discussed. That is why "The Warrior" is probably not going to be on." Lee adds, "They think that business wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there."

Not happy with his supporting roles in the United States., Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognized on the street as the star of the show. Lee was then offered a film contract by director Raymond Chow to star in two films produced by production company Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved to be an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up with Fist of Fury (1972) which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss. Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later formed his own company Concord Productions Inc. (協和公司) with Chow. For his third film, Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee had met Karate champion Chuck Norris. In Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent in the final death fight at the Colosseum in Rome, today considered one of Lee's most legendary fight scenes and one of the most memorable fight scenes in martial arts film history.

In late 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest Film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes including his fight sequence with 7'2" American Basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production was stopped when Warner Brothers offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. This film would skyrocket Lee to fame in the United States and Europe. However, only a few months after the film's completion and six days before its 26 July 1973 release, Lee died. Enter the Dragon would go on to become one of the year's highest grossing films and cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973 (equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007). To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $200 million worldwide. The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomized in songs such as "Kung Fu Fighting" and TV shows like Kung Fu.

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, and Raymond Chow attempted to finish Lee's incomplete film Game of Death which Lee was also set to write and direct. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including out-takes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-Jae and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto were also to appear in the film, which was to culminate in Lee's character, Hai Tien (clad in the now-famous yellow track suit) taking on a series of different challenge on each floor as they make their way through a five-level pagoda. In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a look-alike and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast, which was released in 1978. However, the cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee (he had printed many unsuccessful takes) while the rest had a Lee look-alike, Kim Tai Chung, and Yuen Biao as stunt double. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
Physical fitness and nutrition
Lee in Way of the Dragon in 1972.
Physical fitness

Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigorous, dedicated fitness regime to become as strong as he possibly could.
Lee's phenomenal fitness meant he was capable of performing many exceptional physical feats.  "A man able to perform super human feats that have yet to be equaled."  The following list includes some of the physical feats that are attributed to Bruce Lee.

    * Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.
    * Lee could take in one arm a 75 lb barbell from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest and slowly stick his arms out locking them, holding the barbell there for 20 seconds.
    * Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film for clear slow motion replay using the traditional 24 frames per second of that era, so many scenes were shot in 32 frames per second for better clarity.
    * In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.
    * Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
    * Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.
    * Lee could thrust his fingers through unopened cans of Coca-Cola. (This was when soft drinks cans were made of steel much thicker than today's aluminum cans).
    * Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.
    * Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
    * Lee could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.
    * Lee could cause a 200-lb (90.72 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.
    * Lee performed a sidekick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150 lb (68 kg) punching bag.
    * In a move that has been dubbed "Dragon Flag", Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso horizontal midair.

Philosophy

Although Lee is best known as a martial artist, he also studied drama and philosophy while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library. His own books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Buddhism. On the other hand, Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative world view advocated by Confucianism. John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 what his religious affiliation was, he replied "none whatsoever." Also in 1972, when asked if he believed in God, he responded, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."

The following quotations reflect his fighting philosophy.

    * "Be formless... shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You pour water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or creep or drip or crash! Be water, my friend..."
    * "All types of knowledge, ultimately leads to self knowledge"
    * "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."
    * "Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there."
    * "Quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough."
    * "I always learn something, and that is: to always be yourself. And to express yourself, to have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate him."
    * "It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."

Death
Bruce Lee is buried next to his son Brandon in Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, U.S.A

On 10 May 1973, Lee collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while doing dubbing work for the movie Enter the Dragon. Suffering from seizures and headaches, he was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol. These same symptoms that occurred in his first collapse were later repeated on the day of his death.

On 20 July 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, due to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.

Later Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and a muscle relaxant. Around 7:30 p.m., he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.

There was no visible external injury; however according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On 15 October 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure."

Controversy occurred when Don Langford, Lee's personal physician in Hong Kong, who had treated Lee during his first collapse believed that "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse."

However, Donald Teare, a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic.

The preliminary opinion of the neurosurgeon who saved Lee's life during his first seizure, Peter Wu, was that the cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to cannabis or Equagesic. However, Wu later backed off from this position:

    Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it.

Lee's wife Linda returned to her hometown of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on 31 July 1973 included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.

Lee's iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the triads and a supposed curse on him and his family. Black Belt magazine in 1985 carried the speculation that the death of Bruce Lee in 1973 may have been caused by "a delayed reaction to a Dim Mak strike he received several weeks prior to his collapse". As well other authors have said the death of Bruce Lee may have been due to a "Vibrating Palm technique".

Lee's son, Brandon Lee, also an actor, died 20 years (March 31, 1993) after his father, in a bizarre accident while filming The Crow at the age of 28. The film was released after his death and gained cult status, as had his father's last film. The Crow was completed with the use of computer-generated imagery and a stunt double in the few but critical scenes that remained to be filmed. Brandon Lee was buried beside his father.
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Entertainment%20and%20Celebrities/bruce_lee1.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s175/Ray_Harris/bruce-lee-ab-workout.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/20/10 at 6:57 am


The person born on this day...Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican-American  rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa  and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Rolling Stone named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.  He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.
Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. His father was a mariachi  violinist, and Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight. Young Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. The family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the border city between Mexico and California, and then San Francisco. Carlos stayed in Tijuana but joined his family in San Francisco later and graduated from James Lick Middle School and Mission High School there. He graduated from Mission High in 1965. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana Mexico, said to have been Carlos's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing.  After learning Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.

In San Francisco, he got the chance to see his idols, most notably B.B. King, perform live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and folk music, and witnessed the growing hippie movement centered in San Francisco in the 1960s. After several years spent working as a dishwasher in a diner and busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician; in 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band, with fellow street musicians, David Brown and Gregg Rolie (bassist and keyboard player, respectively).

With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms, the band (which quickly became known simply as Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco strip club. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis.
Personal life

On October 19, 2007, his wife of 34 years, Deborah, filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".

On July 9, 2010, Santana announced his plans to wed drummer Cindy Blackman, at a Santana show in Tinley Park, Illinois by proposing onstage in the middle of a set, right after Blackman played a drum solo.
Santana

Santana was signed by CBS Records and went into the studio to record their first album. They were not satisfied with the release and decided changes needed to be made. This resulted in the dismissal of Bob Livingston. Santana replaced him with Mike Shrieve, who had a strong background in both jazz and rock. Marcus Malone was forced to quit the band due to personal problems, and the band re-enlisted Michael Carabello. Carabello brought with him percussionist Jose Chepito Areas, who was already well-known in his country, Nicaragua, and, with his skills and professional experience, was a major contributor to the band.

Bill Graham, who had been a fan of the band from the start, convinced the promoters of the Woodstock Music and Art Festival to let them appear before their first album was even released. They were one of the surprises of the festival; their set was legendary and, later, the exposure of their eleven-minute instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" in the Woodstock film and soundtrack albums vastly increased Santana's popularity. Graham also gave the band some key advice to record the Willie Bobo song "Evil Ways", as he felt it would get them radio airplay. Their first album, simply titled Santana, became a huge hit, reaching number four on the U.S. album charts, and the catchy single "Evil Ways" reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1970, the group reached its early commercial peak with their second album, Abraxas, which reached number one on the album charts and went on to sell over four million copies. Instrumental in the production of the album was pianist Alberto Gianquinto, who advised the group to stay away from lengthy percussion jams and concentrate on tighter song structures. The innovative Santana musical blend made a number-four hit out of the English band Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" and a number-thirteen hit out of salsa legend Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va".

However, Woodstock and the band's sudden success put pressure on the group, highlighting the different musical directions in which Rolie and Santana were starting to go. Rolie, along with some of the other band members, wanted to emphasize a basic hard rock sound which had established the band in the first place. Santana on the other hand was growing musically beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music, which were influenced by his fascination with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as his growing interest in spirituality and meditation. To further complicate matters, Chepito Areas was stricken with a near-fatal brain hemorrhage, and Santana wanted the band to continue performing by finding a temporary replacement (first Willie Bobo, then Coke Escovedo), while others in the band, especially Michael Carabello, felt it was wrong to perform publicly without Areas. Cliques formed, and the band started to disintegrate.

Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon was asked to join the band in 1971, though, at the time, he was also invited by Eric Clapton to join Derek and the Dominos. Choosing Santana, he joined in time to complete the third album, Santana III. The band now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar act that gave the album a tougher sound. The sound of the band was also helped by the return of a recuperated Chepito Areas and the assistance of Coke Escovedo in the percussion section. Enhancing the band's sound further was the support of popular Bay Area group Tower of Power's horn section, Luis Gasca of Malo, and a number of friends who helped with percussion and vocals, injecting more energy to the proceedings. Santana III was another success, reaching number one on the album charts, selling two million copies, and yielding the hits "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On".

But tension in the band continued. Along with musical differences, drug use became a problem, and Santana was deeply worried it was affecting the band's performance. Coke Escovedo encouraged Santana to take more control of the band's musical direction, much to the dismay of some of the others who thought that the band and its sound was a collective effort. Also, financial irregularities were exposed while under the management of Stan Marcum, whom Bill Graham criticized as being incompetent. Growing resentments between Santana and Michael Carabello over lifestyle issues resulted in his departure on bad terms. James Mingo Lewis was hired at the last minute as a replacement at a concert in New York City. David Brown later left due to substance abuse problems. A South American tour was cut short in Lima, Peru, due to student protests against U.S. governmental policies and unruly fans. The madness of the tour convinced Santana that changes needed to be made in the band and in his life.

In January 1972, Santana, Neal Schon and Coke Escovedo joined former Band of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles for a concert at Hawaii's Diamond Head Crater, which was recorded for a live album. The performance was erratic and uneven, but the album managed to achieve gold-record status on the weight of Santana's popularity.
collaboration with John Coltrane's widow, Alice Coltrane, Illuminations, followed. The album delved into avant-garde esoteric free jazz, Eastern Indian and classical influences with other ex-Miles Davis sidemen Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. Soon after, Santana replaced his band members again. This time Kermode, Thomas and Rauch departed from the group and were replaced by vocalist Leon Patillo (later a successful Contemporary Christian  artist) and returning bassist David Brown. He also recruited soprano saxophonist, Jules Broussard to the lineup. The band recorded one studio album Borboletta, which was released in 1974. Drummer Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler  later joined the band as a replacement for Michael Shrieve, who left to pursue a solo career.

By this time, the Bill Graham's management company had assumed the affairs of the group. Graham was critical of Santana's direction into jazz and felt he needed to concentrate on getting Santana back into the charts with the edgy, street-wise ethnic sound that had made them famous. Santana himself was seeing that the group's direction was alienating many fans. Although the albums and performances were given good reviews by critics in jazz and jazz fusion circles, sales had plummeted.

Santana along with Tom Coster, producer David Rubinson, and Chandler formed yet another version of Santana, adding vocalist Greg Walker. The 1976 album Amigos, which featured the songs "Dance, Sister, Dance" and "Let It Shine", had a strong funk and Latin sound. The album also received considerable airplay on FM album-oriented rock stations with the instrumental "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)" and re-introduced Santana back into the charts. Rolling Stone Magazine ran a second cover story on Santana entitled "Santana Comes Home".

The albums conceived through the late 1970s followed the same formula, although with several lineup changes. Among the personnel who came and left the band was percussionist Raul Rekow, who joined in early 1977 and remains to this day. Most-notable of the band's commercial efforts of this era was a version of the 1960s Zombies hit, "She's Not There", on the 1977 album Moonflower.

The relative success of the band's albums in this era allowed Santana to pursue a solo career funded by CBS. First, Oneness, Silver Dreams, Golden Reality in 1979 and The Swing of Delight in 1980, which featured some of his musical heroes: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams from Miles Davis' legendary 1960s quintet.

The pressures and temptations of being a high-profile rock musician and requisites of the spiritual lifestyle which guru Sri Chinmoy and his followers demanded, were great sources of conflict to Santana's lifestyle and marriage. He was becoming increasingly disillusioned with what he thought was Chinmoy's unreasonable rules imposed on his life, in particular, his refusal to allow Santana and Deborah to start a family. He felt too that his fame was being used to increase the guru's visibility. Santana and Deborah eventually ended their relationship with Chinmoy in 1982.
The 1980s
Santana, 1984 Barcelona, Spain

More radio-pleasing singles followed from Santana and the band. "Winning" in 1981 and "Hold On" (a remake of Canadian artist Ian Thomas' song) in 1982 both reached the top twenty. After his break with Sri Chinmoy, Santana went into the studio to record another solo album with Keith Olson and legendary R&B producer Jerry Wexler. The 1983 album revisited Santana's early musical experiences in Tijuana with Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" and the title cut, Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon". The album's guests included Booker T. Jones, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson and even Santana's father's mariachi orchestra. Santana again paid tribute to his early rock roots by doing the film score to La Bamba, which was based on the tragically short life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens and starred Lou Diamond Philips.

Although the band had concentrated on trying to produce albums with commercial appeal during the 1980s, changing tastes in popular culture began to reflect in the band's sagging record sales of their latest effort Beyond Appearances. In 1985, Bill Graham had to once again pull strings for Santana to convince principal Live Aid concert organizer Bob Geldof to allow the band to appear at the festival. The group's high-energy performance proved why they were still a top concert draw the world over despite their poor performance on the charts. Santana retained a great deal of respect in both jazz and rock circles, with Prince and guitarist Kirk Hammett of Metallica citing him as an influence.

The band Santana returned in 1986 with a new album Freedom. Buddy Milles, who was trying to revive his music career after spending much of the late 1970s and early 1980s incarcerated for drug charges, returned for lead vocals. His onstage presence provided a dose of charisma to the show; but, once again, the sales of the album fell flat.

Growing weary of trying to appease record company executives with formulaic hit records, Santana took great pleasure in jamming and making guest appearances with notables such as the jazz fusion group Weather Report, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, Blues legend John Lee Hooker, Frank Franklin, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, and West African singer Salif Keita. He and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead later recorded and performed with Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, who conceived one of Santana's famous 1960s drum jams, "Jingo". In 1988, Santana organized a reunion with past members from the Santana band for a series of concert dates. CBS records released a 20-year retrospective of the band's accomplishments with Viva Santana.

That same year Santana formed an all-instrumental group featuring jazz legend Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano sax. The group also included Patrice Rushen on keyboards, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, and Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler on drums. They toured briefly and received much acclaim from the music press, who compared the effort with the era of Caravanserai. Santana released another solo record, Blues for Salvador, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1990, Santana left Columbia Records after twenty-two years and signed with Polygram. The following year, he made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's album Solo Para Ti, on the songs "Reaching out 2 U" and on a cover of his own song, "Samba Pa Ti". In 1992, Santana hired jam band Phish as his opening act. He remains close to the band today, especially to guitarist Trey Anastasio.
Return to commercial success
Carlos Santana during a concert in 2005

Santana's record sales in the 1990s were very low. Toward the end of the decade, he was without a contract. However, Arista Records' Clive Davis, who had worked with Santana at Columbia Records, signed him and encouraged him to record a star-studded album with mostly younger artists. The result was 1999's Supernatural, which included collaborations with Everlast, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Cee-Lo, Maná, Dave Matthews, K. C. Porter, J. B. Eckl, and others.

However, the lead single was what grabbed the attention of both fans and the music industry. "Smooth", a dynamic cha-cha stop-start number co-written and sung by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, was laced throughout with Santana's guitar fills and runs. The track's energy was immediately apparent on radio, and it was played on a wide variety of station formats. "Smooth" spent twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming in the process the last #1 single of the 1990s. The music video, set on a hot barrio street, was also very popular. Supernatural reached number one on the US album charts and the follow-up single, "Maria Maria", featuring the R&B duo The Product G&B, also hit number one, spending ten weeks there in the spring of 2000. Supernatural eventually sold over 15 million copies in the United States, making it Santana's biggest sales success by far.

Carlos Santana, alongside the classic Santana lineup of their first two albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He performed "Black Magic Woman" with the writer of the song, Fleetwood Mac's founder Peter Green. Green was inducted the same night.

In 2000 Supernatural won nine Grammy Awards (eight for Santana personally), including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "Smooth", and Song of the Year for Thomas and Itaal Shur. Santana's acceptance speeches described his feelings about music's place in one's spiritual existence. Later that year at the Latin Grammy Awards he won three awards including Record of the Year. In 2001, Santana's guitar skills were featured in Michael Jackson's song "Whatever Happens", from the album Invincible.

In 2002, Santana released Shaman, revisiting the Supernatural format of guest artists including P.O.D. and Seal. Although the album was not the runaway success its predecessor had been, it produced two radio-friendly hits. "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch, rose to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent many weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and "Why Don't You & I" written by and featuring Chad Kroeger from the group Nickelback (the original and a remix with Alex Band from the group The Calling were combined towards chart performance) which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Game of Love" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

In August 2003, Santana was named fifteenth on Rolling Stone magazine's "List of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Santana to collaborate on an album again using the Supernatural formula. Possibilities was released on August 30, 2005, featuring Carlos Santana and Angélique Kidjo on "Safiatou". Also, in 2005, the fellow Latin star Shakira invited Santana to play soft rock guitar ballad Illegal on her second English-language studio album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.

Santana's 2005 album All That I Am consisting primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. Other musicians joining the mix this time included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, hip-hop/reggae star Sean Paul and R&B singer Joss Stone. In April and May 2006, Santana toured Europe, where he promoted his son Salvador Santana's band as his opening act.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and José Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores". He also teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Santana started working with his long-time friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album Marcelo Vieira's Acoustic Sounds, which is due to be released at the end of the year. It features tracks such as "For Flavia" and "Across the Grave", the latter featuring heavy melodic riffs by Santana.

Carlos Santana performed at the 2009 American Idol Finale with the top 13 finalists, which starred many acts such as KISS, Queen and Rod Stewart. On July 8, 2009, Carlos Santana appeared at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens with his 10-member all-star band as part of his "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" European tour. On July 10, 2009, he also appeared at Philip II Stadium in Skopje. With 2.5 hours concert and 20 000 people, Santana appeared for the first time in that region. "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" is currently playing at The Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, where it will play through the end 2009.

Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5. A live recording of his song "No One To Depend On" is included in game, which was released on September 1, 2009.

Carlos recently opened a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants called "Maria Maria". It is a combined effort with Chef Roberto Santibanez. They are located in Tempe Arizona, Mill Valley (now closed), Walnut Creek, and Danville, California, Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton Florida.
Albums with the band Santana
Main article: Santana discography

    * Santana (1969) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * Abraxas (1970) US: 5x Multi-Platinum
    * Santana III (1971) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * Caravanserai (1972) US: Platinum
    * Welcome (1973) US: Gold
    * Lotus (1974) (Live)
    * Borboletta (1974) US: Gold
    * Amigos (1976) US: Gold
    * Festival (1977) US: Gold
    * Moonflower (1977) (Live/studio) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * Inner Secrets (1978) US: Gold
    * Marathon (1979) US: Gold
    * Zebop! (1981) US: Platinum
    * Shango (1982) US: Gold
    * Beyond Appearances (1985)
    * Freedom (1987)
    * Viva Santana! (1988) (Live/studio compilation)
    * Spirits Dancing in the Flesh (1990) (compilation)
    * Milagro (1992)
    * Sacred Fire: Live in South America (1993) (Live)
    * Live at the Fillmore '68 (1997) (Live)
    * Supernatural (1999) US: 15x Multi-Platinum
    * The Essential Santana (2002) (compilation)
    * Shaman (2002) US: 2x Multi-Platinum
    * All That I Am (2005) US: Gold
    * Ultimate Santana (2007) (compilation)
    * The Woodstock Experience (2009) (Live)

Albums as a solo artist or in collaborations

    * Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! (1972; with Buddy Miles) US: Platinum
    * Love Devotion Surrender (1973; with John McLaughlin) US: Gold
    * Illuminations (1974; with Alice Coltrane)
    * Oneness: Silver Dreams, Golden Reality (1979)
    * The Swing of Delight (1980)
    * Havana Moon (1983; with Booker T & the MGs, Willie Nelson, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds)
    * This Is This! (1986; with Weather report)
    * Blues for Salvador (1987)
    * Santana Brothers (1994; C.S. with Jorge Santana & Carlos Hernandez)
    * Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter - Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1988 (2007)
    * Guitar Heaven: Santana Performs the Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time (2010)

Unofficial releases

    * Samba Pa Ti (1988)
    * Persuasion (1989)
    * Latin Tropical (1990)
    * Santana (1990)
    * The Big Jams (1991)
    * Santana Jam (1994)
    * With a Little Help from My Friends (1994)
    * Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (1994)
    * Soul Sacrifice (1995)
    * Santana Live (????)
    * Jingo and more famous tracks (????)

Singles

    * 1969: "Jingo" #56 US
    * 1969: "Evil Ways" #9 US
    * 1971: "Black Magic Woman" #4 US
    * 1971: "Oye Como Va" #13 US
    * 1971: "Everybody's Everything" #12 US
    * 1972: "No One to Depend On" #36 US
    * 1974: "Samba Pa Ti" #27 UK
    * 1976: "Let It Shine" #77 US
    * 1977: "She's Not There" #27 US, #11 UK
    * 1978: "Well All Right" #69 US
    * 1979: "One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)" #59 US
    * 1979: "Stormy" #32 US
    * 1980: "You Know That I Love You" #35 US
    * 1981: "Winning" #17 US
    * 1981: "The Sensitive Kind" #56 US
    * 1982: "Hold On" #15 US
    * 1982: "Nowhere to Run" #66 US
    * 1985: "Say It Again" #46 US
    * 1999: "Put Your Lights On" (featuring Everlast)
    * 1999: "Smooth" (featuring Rob Thomas) #1 US, #3 UK (charted in 2000)
    * 2000: "Maria Maria" (featuring The Product G&B) #1 US, #6 UK
    * 2002: "The Game Of Love" (featuring Michelle Branch) #5 US, #16 UK
    * 2003: "Nothing at All" (featuring Musiq Soulchild)
    * 2003: "Feels Like Fire" (featuring Dido) #26 NZ
    * 2003: "Why Don't You & I" (featuring Chad Kroeger) #8 US
    * 2005: "I'm Feeling You" (featuring Michelle Branch) #55 US
    * 2005: "Just Feel Better" (featuring Steven Tyler) #8 AUS
    * 2006: "Cry Baby Cry" (featuring Sean Paul and Joss Stone) #71 UK, #15 CDN
    * 2006: "Illegal" (Shakira featuring Carlos Santana) #4 ITA, #11 GER
    * 2007: "No Llores" (Gloria Estefan featuring Carlos Santana, José Feliciano and Sheila E.)
    * 2007: "Into the Night" (featuring Chad Kroeger) #2 CAN, #5 SA, #5 Italy, #19 Germany, #26 US
    * 2008: "This Boy's Fire" (featuring Jennifer Lopez with Baby Bash)
    * 2008: "Fuego en el Fuego" (Eros Ramazzotti featuring Carlos Santana) #19 Spain

Note: The singles Smooth, Maria Maria, and Into The Night have each been certified Platinum by the RIA
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/jlgmx/Tecnorapia/CarlosSantana.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m477/funkytoe42/carlossantana.jpg


He's a legend,I love his music. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/20/10 at 7:00 am


The word of the day...Salsa
Salsa means sauce in the Spanish language, and carries connotations of the spiciness common in Latin and Caribbean cuisine.  More recently, salsa acquired a musical meaning in both English and Spanish. In this sense salsa has been described as a word with "vivid associations" but no absolute definitions, a tag that encompasses a rainbow assortment of Latin rhythms and styles, taking on a different hue wherever you stand in the Spanish-speaking world".  The precise scope of Salsa is highly debatable.  Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican immigrants in New York have used the term analogously to swing or soul, which refer to a quality of emotionally and culturally genuine music in the African American community. In this usage Salsa connotes a frenzied, "hot" and wild musical experience that draws upon or reflects elements of Latin culture, regardless of the specific style.

Various music writers and historians have traced the use of Salsa to different periods of the 20th century. World music author Sue Steward has claimed that Salsa was originally used in music as a "cry of appreciation for a particularly piquant or flashy solo". She cites the first use in this manner to a Venezuelan radio DJ named Phidias Danilo Escalona; Max Salazar traced the word back to the early 1930s, when Ignacio Piñeiro composed "Échale Salsita", a dance song protesting tasteless food. Though Salazar describes this song as the origin of salsa meaning "danceable Latin music", Ed Morales has described the usage in the same song as a cry from Piñeiro to his band, telling them to increase the tempo to "put the dancers into high gear". Morales claims that later in the 1930s, vocalist Beny Moré would shout salsa during a performance "to acknowledge a musical moment's heat, to express a kind of cultural nationalist sloganeering 'hotness' or 'spiciness' of Latin American cultures".

Some people object to the term Salsa on the basis that it is vague or misleading; for example, the style of musicians such as Tito Puente evolved several decades before Salsa was a recognized genre, leading Puente to once claim that "the only salsa I know comes in a bottle. I play Cuban music" referring to Mambo. Because salsa can refer to numerous styles of music, some observers perceive the word as a marketing term designed to superficially categorize music in a way that appeals to non-aficionados. For a time the Cuban state media officially claimed that the term salsa music was a euphemism for authentic Cuban music stolen by American imperialists, though the media has since abandoned this theory.

Some doubt that the term salsa has any precise and unambiguous meaning. Peter Manuel describes salsa as "at once (both) a modern marketing concept and the cultural voice of a new generation", representative of a "crystallization of a Latino identity in New York in the early 1960s". Manuel also recognizes the commercial and cultural dichotomy to salsa, noting that the term's broad use for many styles of Latin pop music has served the development of "pan-Latin solidarity", while also noting that the "recycling of Cuban music under an artificial, obscurantist label is but one more example of North American exploitation and commodification of third world primary products; for Latinos, salsa bridges the gap between "tradition and modernity, between the impoverished homeland and the dominant United States, between street life and the chic night club, and between grassroots culture and the corporate media".

The singer Rubén Blades once claimed that Salsa is merely "a concept", as opposed to a definite style or rhythm. Some musicians are doubtful that the term salsa has any useful meaning at all, with the bandleader Machito claiming that salsa was more or less what he had been playing for forty years before the style was invented by the Puerto Ricans, while Tito Puente once responded to a question about salsa by saying "I'm a musician, not a cook" (referring to salsa's original use to mean sauce). Celia Cruz, a well-known salsa singer, has said, "salsa is Cuban music with another name. It's mambo, chachachá, rumba, son ... all the Cuban rhythms under one name". Although one must note that all music thoughout history has been taken from one concept to another thus creating a new sound. Clearly all music has its roots, while music continues to evolve such as going from Cuban Mambo and Son to modern Salsa.

Music writer Peter Manuel claims that Salsa came to describe a specific style of music in the mid-1970s "when a group of New York–based Latin musicians began overhauling the classic big-band arrangements popular since the mambo era of the 1940s and '50s", and that the term was "popularized" in the late 1960s by a Venezuelan radio station and Jerry Masucci of Fania Records. In contrast, Ed Morales cites the use of salsa for a specific style to a New York–based editor and graphic designer named Izzy Sanabria. Morales also mentions an early use of the term by Johnny Pacheco, a Dominican performer who released a 1962 album called Salsa Na' Ma, which Morales translates as "it just needs a little salsa, or spice
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t140/vaduhla/SALSA-FREDDY-0710.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae2/mamavega_photo/Mama%20Vegas%20Salsa%201/Mama_Vegas_Salsa_The_SalsationalHea.jpg
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af35/khalifahalambaka/INDOHOTWHEELS/PontiacSalsa.jpg
http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx170/kia-nna/njtango4.jpg
http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt138/dpmtv/18JULIO.jpg
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab215/elpasonightout/Dancing.jpg
http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae3/PRWeb_07_2010/09/0_iStock000004897970Medium.jpg


My favorite is spicy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/20/10 at 9:00 am

Lots of us kids growing up wanted to be like Bruce Lee.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/20/10 at 11:07 am


I'm Aries :)



So am I.


What is funny is that this morning I woke up with THIS song in my head:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXp413NynFk




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 1:32 pm



So am I.


What is funny is that this morning I woke up with THIS song in my head:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXp413NynFk




Cat

Good song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 1:34 pm


Lots of us kids growing up wanted to be like Bruce Lee.

I really wasn't in to his movies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 07/20/10 at 1:40 pm


I really wasn't in to his movies.

Me neither. The only martial arts actor whose films I've really been into was Jackie Chan.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/20/10 at 3:25 pm



So am I.


What is funny is that this morning I woke up with THIS song in my head:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXp413NynFk




Cat


Another one of my favorites,I love the guitar riffs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/20/10 at 3:32 pm


Good song :)



No, no, no. Not a good song-a GREAT song!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/20/10 at 3:33 pm



No, no, no. Not a good song-a GREAT song!



Cat

True very true ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/20/10 at 3:34 pm


True very true ;D



Listening to it again as I am typing this. Can NEVER get sick of this song.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/20/10 at 11:30 pm

Natalie wood was born this day in 1938. She would have been 72.
http://chrisabraham.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/natalie-wood-40910.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/21/10 at 1:03 am


Natalie wood was born this day in 1938. She would have been 72.
http://chrisabraham.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/natalie-wood-40910.jpg



Along with Grace Kelly..Natalie Wood was a personal favourite of mine.  ::) 

Bruce Lee had a certain type of mystery surrounding him ...in life and death!  Legendary....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/10 at 7:11 am


Along with Grace Kelly..Natalie Wood was a personal favourite of mine.  ::) 

Bruce Lee had a certain type of mystery surrounding him ...in life and death!  Legendary....

:\'( :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/10 at 7:18 am

The word or phrase of the day...Bird Cage
A cage for confining birds.
http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt208/HP2b/Planning%20Pix/bella-fifi-002.jpg
http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww222/aptosestate/HPIM1099.jpg
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt347/Melisa142_photos/Bali%20Mystique/BaliMystiqueBirdCage.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee102/jane-poppytree/Cards%202010/DSCF6673.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f279/CarynKimberly/Pictuers/TheBirdcage.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p152/Neocynic/birdcage.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Dellana/birdcage.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk234/ivil_serendipity/birdcage.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb303/maryscottage7J/birdcage.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/21/10 at 7:20 am

must be Nathan Lane's birthday?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/21/10 at 7:20 am

Hey I just found out that 2 Starr's have a birthday today Kenneth Starr and Kay Starr.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/10 at 7:30 am

The person born on this day...Robin Williams
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laura (née Smith, 1922–2001), was a former model from New Orleans, Louisiana.  His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 – October 18, 1987) was a senior executive at Lincoln-Mercury Motorship in charge of the Midwest area. He is of English, Welsh and Irish descent on his father's side, and of French descent on his mother's side.  Williams was raised in the Episcopal Church, though his mother practiced Christian Science.  He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the Detroit Country Day School,  and Marin County, California, where he attended the public Redwood High School. Williams also attended Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College) for four years.

He has two half-brothers: Todd (who died August 14, 2007) and McLaurin.

Williams has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mother. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high-school drama department.

In 1973, Williams was one of only 20 students accepted into the freshman class at the Juilliard School, and one of only two students to be accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year, the other being Christopher Reeve. In his dialects class, Williams had no trouble mastering all dialects quickly. Williams left Juilliard in 1976.
Television career

After appearing in the cast of the short-lived The Richard Pryor Show on NBC, Williams was cast by Garry Marshall as the alien Mork in the hit TV series "Happy Days". As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and devised plenty of rapid-fire verbal and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a spin-off hit television sitcom, Mork and Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. Although playing the same character as in his appearance in Happy Days, the show was set in the present day, in Boulder, Colorado, instead of the late '50s in Milwaukee. Mork was an extremely popular character, featured on posters, coloring books, lunchboxes, and other merchandise.

Starting in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Williams began to reach a wider audience with his standup comedy, including three HBO comedy specials, Off The Wall (1978), An Evening with Robin Williams (1982), and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986). Also in 1986, Williams reached an ever wider audience to exhibit his style at the 58th Academy Awards show; noting the Hollywood writers' strike that year he commented that the Hollywood writer... "is the only man in the world that can blow smoke up his own ass." As a result, Williams has never hosted the Academy Awards again.

His stand-up work has been a consistent thread through his career, as is seen by the success of his one-man show (and subsequent DVD) Robin Williams Live on Broadway (2002). He was voted 13th on Comedy Central's list "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time" in 2004.

After some encouragement from his friend Whoopi Goldberg, he was set to make a guest appearance in the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "A Matter of Time", but he had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict; Matt Frewer took his place as a time-traveling con man, Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen.

Williams also appeared on an episode of the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Season 3, Episode 9: November 16, 2000). During a game of "Scenes from a Hat", the scene "What Robin Williams is thinking right now" was drawn, and Williams stated "I have a career. What the hell am I doing here?"
Cinema career

Most of Williams' acting career has been in film, although he has given some performances on stage as well (notably as Estragon in a production of Waiting for Godot with Steve Martin). His performance in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) got Williams nominated for an Academy Award. Many of his roles have been comedies tinged with pathos.

His role as the Genie in the animated film Aladdin was instrumental in establishing the importance of star power in voice actor casting. Williams also used his voice talents in Fern Gully, as the holographic Dr. Know in the 2001 feature A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the 2005 animated feature Robots, the 2006 Academy Award winning Happy Feet, and an uncredited vocal performance in 2006's Everyone's Hero. Furthermore, he was the voice of The Timekeeper, a former attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort about a time-traveling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.

Williams has also starred in dramatic films, which got him two subsequent Academy Award nominations: First for playing an English teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989), and later for playing a troubled homeless man in The Fisher King (1991); that same year, he played an adult Peter Pan in the movie Hook. Other acclaimed dramatic films include Awakenings (1990) and What Dreams May Come (1998). In the 2002 dramatic thriller Insomnia, Williams portrays a writer/killer on the run from a sleep-deprived Los Angeles policeman (played by Al Pacino) in rural Alaska. And also in 2002, in the psychological thriller One Hour Photo, Williams played an emotionally disturbed photo development technician who becomes obsessed with a family for whom he has developed pictures for a long time.

In 1998, he won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role as a psychologist in Good Will Hunting. However, by the early 2000s, he was thought by some to be typecast in films such as Patch Adams (1998) and Bicentennial Man (1999) that critics complained were excessively maudlin. In 2006 Williams starred in The Night Listener, a thriller about a radio show host who realizes he has developed a friendship with a child who may or may not exist.

He is known for his improvisational skills and impersonations. His performances frequently involve impromptu humor designed and delivered in rapid-fire succession while on stage. According to the Aladdin DVD commentary, most of his dialogue as the Genie was improvised.

In 2006, he starred in five movies including Man of the Year and was the Surprise Guest at the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. He appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that aired on January 30, 2006.

At one point, he was in the running to play the Riddler in Batman Forever until director Tim Burton dropped the project. Earlier, Williams had been a strong contender to play the Joker in Batman. He had expressed interest in assuming the role in The Dark Knight, the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, although the part of the Joker was played by Heath Ledger, who went on to win, posthumously, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He was portrayed by Chris Diamantopoulos in the made-for-TV biopic Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (2005), documenting the actor's arrival in Hollywood as a struggling comedian.
Disputes with Disney

In gratitude for his success with the Disney/Touchstone film Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin Williams voiced the Genie in the Disney animated film Aladdin for SAG scale pay ($75,000), on condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his (supporting) character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since Toys was scheduled for release one month after Aladdin's debut. The studio went back on the deal on both counts, especially in poster art by having the Genie in 25% of the image, but having other major and supporting characters portrayed considerably smaller. Disney's Hyperion book, Aladdin: The Making Of An Animated Film, listed both of Williams' characters "The Peddler" and "The Genie" ahead of main characters, but was forced to refer to him only as "the actor signed to play the Genie".

Williams and Disney had a bitter falling-out, and as a result Dan Castellaneta voiced the Genie in The Return of Jafar, the Aladdin animated television series, and had recorded his voice for Aladdin and the King of Thieves. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired from Disney and replaced by former 20th Century Fox production head Joe Roth (whose last act for Fox was greenlighting Williams' film Mrs. Doubtfire), Roth arranged for a public apology to Williams by Disney. Williams agreed to perform in Hollywood Pictures' Jack, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and even agreed to voice the Genie again for the King Of Thieves sequel (for considerably more than scale), replacing all of Castellaneta's dialogue.

When Williams re-teamed with Doubtfire director Chris Columbus for 1999's Bicentennial Man, Disney asked that the budget be cut by approximately $20 million, and when the film was released on Christmas Day, it flopped at the box office. Williams blamed Disney's marketing and the loss of content the film had suffered due to the budget cuts. As a result, Williams was again on bad terms with Disney, and Castellaneta was once again recruited to replace him as Genie in the Kingdom Hearts video game series and the House of Mouse TV series. The DVD release for Aladdin has no involvement whatsoever from Williams in the bonus materials, although some of his original recording sessions can be seen.

Robin Williams has recently made peace with the Walt Disney Company and in 2009 agreed to be inducted into the Disney hall of fame, designated as a Disney Legend.
Stand-up career

Robin Williams has done a number of stand-up comedy tours since the early 1970s. Some of his most notable tours include An Evening With Robin Williams (1982), Robin Williams: At The Met (1986) and Robin Williams LIVE on Broadway (2002). The latter broke many long held records for a comedy show. In some cases, tickets were sold out within thirty minutes of going on sale.

After a six-year break, in August 2008 Williams announced a brand new 26-city tour titled "Weapons of Self Destruction". He was quoted as saying that this was his last chance to make cracks at the expense of the current Bush Administration, but by the time the show was staged only a few minutes covered that subject. The tour started at the end of September 2009, finishing in New York on December 3, and was the subject of an HBO special on December 8, 2009.
Controversy

Robin Williams was accused of stealing material from other comics to the extent that David Brenner claims that he confronted Williams personally and threatened him with bodily harm if he heard Williams utter another one of his jokes.
Personal life

Robin Williams' first marriage was to Valerie Velardi on June 4, 1978, with whom he has one child, Zachary Pym (Zak) (born April 11, 1983). During Williams' first marriage, he was involved in an extramarital relationship with Michelle Tish Carter, a cocktail waitress whom he met in 1984. She sued him in 1986, claiming that he did not tell her he was infected with the herpes simplex virus before he embarked on a sexual relationship with her in the mid-1980s, during which, she said, he transmitted the virus to her. The case was settled out of court.

On April 30, 1989, he married Marsha Garces, his son's nanny who was already several months pregnant with his child. They have two children, Zelda Rae (born July 31, 1989) and Cody Alan (born November 25, 1991). However, in March 2008, Garces filed for divorce from Williams, citing irreconcilable differences.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had an addiction to cocaine; he has since quit. Williams was a close friend and frequent partier alongside John Belushi. He says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped too."

On August 9, 2006, Williams checked himself in to a substance-abuse rehabilitation center (located in Newberg, Oregon), later admitting that he was an alcoholic. His publicist delivered the announcement:

    "After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this fall to support his upcoming film releases."

On August 20, 2007, Williams' elder brother, Robert Todd Williams, died of complications from heart surgery performed a month earlier.

Williams is a member of the Episcopal Church. He has described his denomination in a comedy routine as "Catholic Lite —; same rituals, half the guilt."

While studying at Juilliard, Williams befriended Christopher Reeve. They had several classes together in which they were the only students, and they remained good friends for the rest of Reeve's life. Williams visited Reeve after the horse riding accident that rendered him a quadriplegic, and cheered him up by pretending to be an eccentric Russian doctor (similar to his role in Nine Months). Williams claimed that he was there to perform a colonoscopy. Reeve stated that he laughed for the first time since the accident and knew that life was going to be okay.

Williams lives in San Francisco.
Health

Williams was hospitalized in March 2009 due to heart problems. He postponed his one-man tour in order to undergo surgery to replace his aortic valve. The surgery was successfully completed on March 13, 2009, at the Cleveland Clinic.
Other interests
Williams speaking at the 2008 BBC World Debate

Williams is an avid enthusiast of games (even naming his daughter after Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda video game series), enjoying pen-and-paper role-playing games and online video games, recently playing Warcraft 3, Day of Defeat, Half-Life, and the first-person shooter Battlefield 2 as a sniper. On January 6, 2006, he performed live at Consumer Electronics Show during Google's keynote. In the 2006 E3, on the invitation of Will Wright, he demonstrated the creature editor of Spore while simultaneously commenting on the creature's look: "This will actually make a platypus look good." He also complimented the game's versatility, comparing it to Populous and Black & White. Later that year, he was one of several celebrities to participate in the Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day.

Williams has gone on record as a fan of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, and incorporated a scene referencing it in One Hour Photo where he purchases a model kit from it as a gift.

A fan of professional road cycling, he was a regular on the US Postal and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team bus and hotels during the years Lance Armstrong dominated the Tour de France. He owns over 50 bicycles.

He also enjoys rugby union and is a big fan of former All Black, Jonah Lomu.

Williams is a supporter of eco-friendly vehicles. He currently drives a Toyota Prius, and is on the waiting list for a Aptera 2-series electric vehicle. Williams has recently announced that he would love to play the role of "The Riddler" in the next installment to the "Batman" films by visionary director Christopher Nolan.
Charity work

Williams and his former wife, Marsha, founded the Windfall Foundation, a philanthropic organization to raise money for many different charities. Williams devotes much of his energy doing work for charities, including the Comic Relief fund-raising efforts. In December 1999, he sang in French on the BBC-inspired music video of international celebrities doing a cover of the Rolling Stones' "It's Only Rock & Roll" for the charity Children's Promise.

Williams has performed with the USO for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Can I Do It 'Till I Need Glasses? Himself
1980 Popeye Popeye
1982 The World According to Garp T.S. Garp
1983 The Survivors Donald Quinelle
1984 Moscow on the Hudson Vladimir Ivanov Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1986 Seize the Day Tommy Wilhelm
Club Paradise Jack Moniker
The Best of Times Jack Dundee
1987 Good Morning, Vietnam Adrian Cronauer Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)
1988 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen King of the Moon Credited as Ray D. Tutto
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Portrait of a White Marriage Air Conditioning Salesman
Rabbit Ears: Pecos Bill Narrator Voice
1989 Dead Poets Society John Keating Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
I'm from Hollywood Himself
1990 Awakenings Dr. Malcolm Sayer Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (Tied with Robert DeNiro for Awakenings)
Cadillac Man Joey O'Brien
Back to Neverland Himself
1991 Hook Peter Banning / Peter Pan
The Fisher King Parry Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Dead Again Doctor Cozy Carlisle
"Rabbit Ears: The Fool and the Flying Ship" Narrator Voice
1992 Toys Leslie Zevo Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Aladdin Genie/Merchant Voice
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Special Golden Globe Award (for his vocal work)
MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
The Timekeeper The Timekeeper
FernGully: The Last Rainforest Batty Koda Voice
Shakes the Clown Mime Class Instructor
1993 Mrs. Doubtfire Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Doubtfire Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)
MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
Being Human Hector
1994 In Search of Dr. Seuss Father
1995 Aladdin and the King of Thieves Genie Voice
Jumanji Alan Parrish Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actor
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
Nine Months Dr. Kosevich Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1996 Hamlet Osric
The Secret Agent The Professor
Jack Jack Powell Nominated — Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actor
The Birdcage Armand Goldman Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Nathan Lane)
1997 Good Will Hunting Sean Maguire Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Flubber Professor Philip Brainard Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor/Actress - Family
Nominated — Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actor
Deconstructing Harry Mel/Harry's Character
Fathers' Day Dale Putley
1998 Patch Adams Hunter "Patch" Adams Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Junket Whore Himself
What Dreams May Come Chris Nielsen
1999 Bicentennial Man Andrew Martin Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Comedy
Nominated — Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actor
Jakob the Liar Jakob Heym/Narrator
Get Bruce Himself
2000 Model Behavior Faremain
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Dr. Know voice
2002 The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Hans Hänkie
Insomnia Walter Finch Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Death to Smoochy 'Rainbow' Randolph Smiley
One Hour Photo Seymour 'Sy' Parrish Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2004 Noel Charlie Boyd/The Priest
House of D Pappass
The Final Cut Alan W. Hakman
2005 The Big White Paul Barnell
Robots Fender Voice
Nominated — Blimp Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Feature
The Aristocrats Himself
2006 Man of the Year Tom Dobbs
Night at the Museum Theodore Roosevelt
Happy Feet Ramon/Lovelace (voice)
Everyone's Hero Napoleon Cross (voice)
RV Bob Munro
The Night Listener Gabriel Noone
2007 License to Wed Reverend Frank
August Rush Maxwell "Wizard" Wallace
2009 Shrink Holden
World's Greatest Dad Lance Clayton
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Theodore Roosevelt
Old Dogs Dan Rayburn
2010 Wedding Banned John Fischer In development
2011 Happy Feet 2 Ramon/Lovelace Voice role
Filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1977 The Richard Pryor Show Himself Writer
"Man with Bad Arm," "John Brownstein, Defense Attorney/Archeologist/Shopper," "Himself," "Himself/Titanic Survivor/Voice of Gun"
Laugh-In
Eight is Enough Episode: "The Return of Auntie V"
1978 Happy Days Mork Episode: My Favorite Orkan
America 2-Night Jason Shine Episodes: "Jason Shine" and "Olfactory Distosis Telethon"
1978–1982 Mork & Mindy Mork Appeared in 92 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (Won in 1979, Nominated in 1980)
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Comedy Series
1979 Happy Days Mork Episode: "Mork Returns"
Out of the Blue Episode: "Random's Arrival"
1981 Saturday Night Live Himself Host/Various
1982 The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour Himself Episode: #1.1
Faerie Tale Theatre Frog/Prince Robin Episode: "Tale of the Frog Prince"
SCTV Network 90 Various Episode: "Jane Eyrehead"
1984 Saturday Night Live Himself Host/Various
Pryor's Place Gaby Episode: "Sax Education"
1986 Saturday Night Live Himself Host/Various
The Max Headroom Show Himself Episode: "Max Headroom's Giant Christmas Turkey"
1988 Saturday Night Live Himself Host/Various
Wogan Himself
1991 Wogan Himself
A Wish For Wings That Work The Kiwi Voice (Credited as Sudy Nim)
1992 The Larry Sanders Show Himself Episode: "Hank's Contract"
1994 Homicide: Life on the Streets Robert Ellison Episode: "Bop Gun"
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
Live & Kicking Himself
The Larry Sanders Show Himself Episode: "Montana"
Nyhetsmorgon Himself Episode: "Filmen 'Mrs. Doubtfire' svensk premiär"
In the Wild Himself Episode: "In the Wild: Dolphins with Robin Williams"
1995 Primer Plano Himself
1996 American Masters Himself Episode: "Take Two: Mike Nichols and Elaine May"
Primer Plano
1996 Friends Tomas Uncredited
HBO First Look Himself Episode: "Fathers Day"
1998 Nyhetsmorgon Himself/Sean Maguire Episode: "Filmen 'Good Will Hunting"
Hollywood Squares Himself Guest appearance
Noel's House Party Himself Episode: #8.10
1999 L.A. Doctors Hugo Kinsley Episode: "Just Duet"
2000 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Himself Episodes: #3.4 and #3.9
2002 Comedy Central Canned Ham Himself Episode: "Death to Smoochy"
Leute heute Himself
Supermarket Sweep Himself
2003 Player$ Himself Episodes: "E3 03, Playa;" "Players Halloweenie Televizzie"
Freedoom: A History of Us Josiah Quincy/Ulysses S. Grant/Missouri Farmer/Wilbur Wright/Orville Wright Episodes: "Wake Up America," "A War to End Slavery," "Liberty for All," and "Safe for Democracy"
Life With Bonnie Kevin Powalski Episode: "Psychic"
2004 This Hour Has 22 Minutes Himself
2005 Just For Laughs Himself
2006 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Himself
Mind of Mencia Himself Episode: "That's F**king Historical"
Getaway Himself Episode: #15.15
2008 American Idol: The Search for a New Superstar Ivan "Bob" Poppanoff the "Russian Idol"/Himself Episodes: "Idol Gives Back" and "Live Results Show: One Contestant Eliminated"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Merrit Rook Episode: "Authority"
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
2009 SpongeBob SquarePants Himself Episode: "Truth or Square"
TV Land Moguls Himself Episode: "The 80s"
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b283/JessicaPike/robin_williams.jpg
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk75/13ali90/robin_williams.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/10 at 7:37 am

The person who died on this day...Robert Young
Robert George Young (February 22, 1907 – July 21, 1998) was an American actor, best known for his leading roles of Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best (NBC and then CBS) and physician  Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. (ABC).
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish  immigrant father (Thomas E. Young) and an American mother (Margaret Fife). When Young was a child, the family moved to Seattle and then to Los Angeles where he attended Abraham Lincoln High School. After graduation, he studied and performed at the Pasadena Playhouse while working odd jobs and appearing in bit parts in silent films. While touring with a stock company production of The Ship, Young was discovered by an MGM talent scout and signed to a contract. He made his sound film debut for MGM in the 1931 Charlie Chan film Black Camel.
Film career

In spite of having a "tier B" status, he co-starred with some of the studio's most illustrious actresses such as Margaret Sullavan, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Helen Hayes, Luise Rainer, and Helen Twelvetrees, among many others. Yet most of his assignments comprised B-movies, also known as programmers, which required a mere two to three weeks of shooting. Actors who were relegated to such a hectic schedule appeared, as Young did, in some six to eight movies per year.

As an MGM contract player, Young was resigned to the fate of most of his colleagues — to accept any film assigned to him or risk being placed on suspension — and many actors on suspension were prohibited from earning a salary from any endeavor at all (even those unrelated to the film industry). In 1936, MGM summarily loaned Young to Gaumont-British for two films; the first was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with the other co-starring Jessie Matthews, and while there he surmised that his employers intended to terminate his contract.

He unexpectedly received one of his most rewarding roles late in his MGM career, in H.M. Pulham, Esq., featuring one of Hedy Lamarr's most effective performances, and once remarked that he was assigned only those roles which Robert Montgomery and other A-list actors had rejected.

After his contract at MGM ended, Young starred in light comedies as well as in trenchant dramas for studios such as 20th Century Fox, United Artists, and RKO. From 1943, Young assayed more challenging roles in the films, Claudia, The Enchanted Cottage, They Won't Believe Me, The Second Woman, and Crossfire, among many others. His portrayal of unsympathetic characters in several of these latter films — which seldom occurred in his MGM pictures — was applauded by numerous reviewers.

In spite of a propitious beginning as a freelance actor without the nurturing of a major studio, Young's career began an incremental and imperceptible decline. Still starring as a leading man in the late 1940s and early 1950s but in mediocre films, he subsequently disappeared from the silver screen, only to reappear several years later on a much smaller one. Young appeared in 100 movies in a film career that spanned from 1931 to 1952.
Television

Young is best known for his role in Father Knows Best (1949-1954 on radio, 1954-1960 on television), for which he and his co-star, Jane Wyatt, won several Emmy Awards. Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray, and Lauren Chapin played the Anderson children.

Young then created, produced, and starred with Ford Rainey and Constance Moore in the nostalgia CBS comedy series Window on Main Street (1961–1962) which barely lasted six months.

Young's next series was successful. Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976) co-starred a young James Brolin. Young won an Emmy for best leading actor in a drama series. He continued making television commercials, including Sanka coffee, until the late 1980s.
Personal life

Young was married to Betty Henderson from 1933 until her death in 1994. They had four daughters.

Despite the fact that he portrayed happy, well-adjusted characters, Young suffered from depression and alcoholism, which contributed to his suicide attempt in 1991. Afterwards he spoke candidly about his problems in an effort to encourage people to seek help with their own. The Robert Young Center for Community Mental Health, an affiliate of Trinity Regional Health System, located in Rock Island, Illinois, is a comprehensive community mental health center. It is named after Young for his work with passage of the 708 Illinois Tax Referendum.

Young died at his home in Westlake Village, California in 1998 from respiratory failure. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. Young has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for film at 6933 Hollywood Blvd and one for television at 6358.
Selected filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1931 The Black Camel Jimmy Film debut; a Warner Oland / Charlie Chan film
The Sin of Madelon Claudet Dr. Lawrence Claudet Alternative title: The Lullaby
The Guilty Generation Marco Ricca - aka John Smith
1932 Strange Interlude Gordon Evans as a Young Man Alternative title: Strange Interval
1933 Today We Live Claude
Hell Below Lieutenant (JG) Ed "Brick" Walters
Tugboat Annie Alexander "Alec" Brennan
1934 The House of Rothschild Captain Fitzroy
1935 West Point of the Air Little Mike Stone
1936 Secret Agent Robert Marvin
Stowaway Tommy Randall
1937 I Met Him in Paris Gene Anders
The Emperor's Candlesticks Grand Duke Peter
The Bride Wore Red Rudi Pal
Navy Blue and Gold Roger "Rog" Ash
1938 Paradise for Three Fritz Hagedorn Alternative title: Romance for Three
Three Comrades Gottfried Lenz
The Toy Wife Andre Vallaire
The Shining Hour David Linden
1939 Honolulu Brooks Mason/George Smith
Maisie Charles "Slim" Martin
Miracles for Sale Michael "Mike" Morgan
1940 Northwest Passage Langdon Towne
The Mortal Storm Fritz Marberg
1941 Western Union Douglas "Doug" Lamont
Lady Be Good Edward "Eddie" Crane
Journey for Margaret John Davis
1943 Slightly Dangerous Bob Stuart
Sweet Rosie O'Grady Sam MacKeever
1944 The Canterville Ghost Cuffy Williams
1945 The Enchanted Cottage Oliver Bradford
1946 Lady Luck Larry Scott
1947 Crossfire Finlay
1948 Sitting Pretty Harry King
1949 That Forsyte Woman Philip Bosinney Alternative title: The Forsyte Saga
Bride for Sale Steve Adams
1951 Goodbye, My Fancy Doctor James Merrill
1954 Secret of the Incas Stanley Moorehead
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1954 The Ford Television Theatre Tom Warren 1 episode
1954-1960 Father Knows Best Jim Anderson 203 episodes
1955 Climax! Lieutenant Commander Knowles 1 episode
1961 Window on Main Street Cameron Garrett Brooks 17 episodes
1965 Dr. Kildare Dr. Gilbert Winfield 1 episode
1968 The Name of the Game Herman Allison 1 episode
1969-1976 Marcus Welby, M.D. Dr. Marcus Welby 170 episodes
1977 Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas Jim Anderson Television movie
1978 Little Women Grandpa James Lawrence Television movie
1984 The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. Dr. Marcus Welby Television movie
1987 American Masters Edward "Eddie" Crane 1 episode
Mercy or Murder? Roswell Gilbert Television movie
A Conspiracy of Love Joe Woldarski Television movie
1988 Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Holiday Affair Dr. Marcus Welby Television movie
Awards and nominations
Year Award Result Category Film or series
1979 BAFTA Award Won Best Specialised Film Twenty Times More Likely
1956 Emmy Award Nominated Best Actor - Continuing Performance Father Knows Best
1957 Won Best Continuing Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Series Father Knows Best
1958 Won Best Continuing Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic or Comedy Series Father Knows Best
1959 Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Comedy Series Father Knows Best
1970 Won Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series Marcus Welby, M.D.
1971 Nominated Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Drama Vanished
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series Marcus Welby, M.D.
1972 Nominated Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series Marcus Welby, M.D.
1970 Golden Globe Award Nominated Best TV Actor - Drama Marcus Welby, M.D.
1971 Best TV Actor - Drama Marcus Welby, M.D.
1972 Won Best TV Actor - Drama Marcus Welby, M.D.
1973 Nominated Best TV Actor - Drama Marcus Welby, M.D.
1974 Best TV Actor - Drama Marcus Welby, M.D.
2003 TV Land Award Nominated Classic TV Doctor of the Year Marcus Welby, M.D.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/wlittle1686/FatherKnowsBest-1.jpg
http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu6/lmacrjac/marcus_welby_intro_screen.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/10 at 7:38 am


must be Nathan Lane's birthday?  ???

Good choice, but no ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/21/10 at 9:08 am

Robin Williams was so funny in the first 2 seasons of Mork & Mindy.
When that show came on, it was a huge hit. My friends and I thought" Who is this mental case Robin Williams?"  ;D
Very funny man. I also liked him in Patch Adams and Dead poets society.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/10 at 11:58 am


Robin Williams was so funny in the first 2 seasons of Mork & Mindy.
When that show came on, it was a huge hit. My friends and I thought" Who is this mental case Robin Williams?"  ;D
Very funny man. I also liked him in Patch Adams and Dead poets society.

I was a big fan of Mork & Mindy. He's a great comedian that can also do drama very well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/21/10 at 4:28 pm


I was a big fan of Mork & Mindy. He's a great comedian that can also do drama very well.

He, he can do both. A talented man.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/21/10 at 7:07 pm

Robin Williams is such a pisser,he makes me laugh out loud. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/21/10 at 7:27 pm


Robin Williams is such a pisser,he makes me laugh out loud. ;D

Well, I've not had similar experiences with him in a washroom, but yeah, he makes me LOL too!  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/21/10 at 7:27 pm


Well, I've not had similar experiences with him in a washroom, but yeah, he makes me LOL too!  :D


I loved him in Good Morning Vietnam.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/21/10 at 7:34 pm

That was a good film, certainly using his talents to ad-lib and go on a roll.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/21/10 at 8:04 pm

Williams has given some manic interviews where he completely takes over the interview. The reporter/interviewer usually throws away the scipt in comic despair!  ;D

I used to watch Father Knows best reruns in the 60's.  Always enjoyed that show!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/22/10 at 1:14 am


I loved him in Good Morning Vietnam.
After all these years, I still not have seen that film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/22/10 at 6:03 am


After all these years, I still not have seen that film.

I've only seen parts,I had a chance to watch it the other day, but choose to stay on the computer :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/22/10 at 6:09 am

The word of the day..Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing  and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered.
http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv205/dtgp12/LAUNDRYROOM.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z247/jkpriyan/Homes/Sowparnika/PICT0176.jpg
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx256/thenextgamer/inthelaundry.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy148/cardnellscountry/laundroomsign.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff149/scrappergrl/The%20house/IMG_2769APE.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/Breebop78/Our%20House/P1010858.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn173/pmrowczynski/San%20Jose%20-%202010/DSCF0599.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/22/10 at 6:12 am

The person born on this day...Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley (born July 22, 1947; Gilmer, Texas) is an American musician, singer, songwriter  and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful seven time Grammy Award-winning solo career. His solo hits include "The Boys of Summer", "Dirty Laundry" and "The End of the Innocence". In 2008, he was ranked the 87th greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone  magazine.

Henley has also played a founding role in several environmental and political causes, most notably the Walden Woods Project. Since 1994, he has divided his musical activities between the Eagles and his solo career.
Don Henley initially attended college at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He then attended North Texas State University (renamed in 1986) in Denton, Texas during 1968 and 1969. He left to spend time with his father, who was dying from heart and arterial disease.

In 1970, he moved to Los Angeles to record an album with his early band, Shiloh. Shiloh's album was produced by fellow Texan Kenny Rogers. Shortly thereafter, Henley met Glenn Frey through Amos Records in Los Angeles. They both became members of Linda Ronstadt's backup band—touring with her was the catalyst for forming the group in the first place. As a result, two months later they, along with Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, became their own act, Eagles. All four of the original Eagles are featured on the 1971 album Linda Ronstadt. Later, Ronstadt also covered one of the Eagles' songs "Desperado".
Tenure with the Eagles

The Eagles were formed in September 1971, and released their first album in 1972, which contained the hit song "Take It Easy." During the band's run, Henley co-wrote (usually with Frey) most of the band's best-known songs, notably "Desperado." Henley sang lead vocals on many of the band's popular songs, including "Desperado", "Witchy Woman", "Best of My Love", "One of These Nights", "Hotel California", "The Long Run", "Life in the Fast Lane" and "Wasted Time". The Eagles won numerous Grammy Awards during the 1970s and became one of the most successful rock bands of all time. They are also among the top 5 overall best-selling bands of all time in America.

The band broke up in 1980 following a difficult tour and increased personal tensions resulting from the recording of The Long Run. The Eagles subsequently reunited in 1994. Henley continues to tour and record with the Eagles, with their latest album, Long Road Out of Eden released in 2007.
Solo career

Following the breakup of the Eagles, Henley embarked on a productive solo career, the most commercially successful of any of the Eagles. His first solo release, 1982's I Can't Stand Still, was a moderate seller. The single "Dirty Laundry", a denunciation of tabloid media, was Henley's all-time biggest hit. It reached #3 on Billboard Hot 100 at the beginning of 1983 and earned a Gold-certified single for sales of over a million copies in the US. It was also nominated for a Grammy. Henley and his erstwhile lover, Stevie Nicks, had duetted on her Top 10 Pop and Adult Contemporary hit "Leather and Lace" a year earlier. Henley also contributed "Love Rules" to the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack.

This was followed in 1984 by Building the Perfect Beast, which featured layered synthesizers and was a marked departure from the Eagles' country-rock sound. A single release, "The Boys of Summer", reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song's haunting rhythms and lyrics of loss and aging, capped by seeing "a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac," immediately connected with a certain age group. The music video for the song was a striking, evocative, black-and-white, French New Wave-influenced montage directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino that won several MTV Video Music Awards including Best Video of the Year. Henley also won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song. Several other songs on the album, "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" (No. 9 on Hot 100), "Not Enough Love in the World" (#34) and "Sunset Grill" (#22) also received considerable airplay.

Henley's next album, 1989's The End of the Innocence, was even more successful. The song "The End of the Innocence", a collaboration with Bruce Hornsby, is a melancholy, piano-driven tale of finding bits of happiness in a corrupt world, and reached No. 8 as a single. The hit follow-up, "The Heart of the Matter", is an emotive chance remembrance of a lost love. Both songs use the effective technique of varying the words in the chorus each time it is sung, to advance the song's narrative. The album's "The Last Worthless Evening" and "New York Minute" were among other songs that gained radio airplay. Henley again won the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Grammy in 1990 for the album. Also in 1989, Henley made a brief appearance on MTV's Unplugged series.

In live shows, Henley would play drums and sing simultaneously only on certain Eagles songs; on his solo songs he would either play electric guitar and sing or just sing. Occasionally Eagles songs would get drastic rearrangements, such as "Hotel California" with four trombones.
Geffen

Don Henley spent many years in legal entanglements with his record company (Geffen Records). Following years of tension between Henley and the label, the dispute went public, and the record company filed a $30-million breach-of-contract suit in Superior Court after receiving a notice from Henley saying he was terminating his contract, even though he reportedly owed the company two more studio albums and a greatest-hits collection. Henley wanted to sign a publishing deal with EMI that would have been worth a few million dollars. Geffen stopped this from happening, which in turn upset Henley.

Geffen claimed that Henley was in breach of contract. Henley attempted to get out of his contract in 1993 based on an old statute. Under the statute—a controversial California law enacted over 50 years ago to free actors from long-term studio deals—entertainers cannot be forced to work for any company for more than seven years. Geffen didn't want Henley signing with any other label, and Geffen had an agreement from Sony and EMI that they wouldn't sign Henley. Henley counter sued Geffen claiming he was "blackballed" by David Geffen, who made agreements with other record labels not to sign him. Henley eventually became an outspoken advocate for musicians' rights, taking a stand against music labels whom he feels refuse to pay bands their due royalties. Henley came to terms with Geffen when the Eagles reunion took off. Geffen eventually took a large chunk of the profit from the reunion album. Glenn Frey was also in legal entanglements with his label, MCA Records. Before the Eagles reunion tour could take off, the band had to file suit against Elektra Records, who had planned to release a new Eagles Greatest Hits album. The band won that battle.

Don Henley and Courtney Love testified at a California Senate hearing on that state's contractual laws in Sacramento on September 5, 2001. In 2002 Henley became the head of the Recording Artist's Coalition. The coalition's primary aim was to raise money to mount a legal and political battle against the major record labels. Henley says the group seeks to change the fundamental rules that govern most recording contracts, including copyright ownership, long-term control of intellectual property and unfair accounting practices. This group filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Napster case, urging US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel not to accept the industry's broad claims of works made for hire authorship.

A long period without a new recording followed, as Henley waited out a dispute with his record company while also participating in a 1994 Eagles reunion tour and live album. During the hiatus, Henley recorded a cover of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" for the film Leap of Faith, provided background vocals for country star Trisha Yearwood's hit single "Walkaway Joe", and duetted with Patty Smyth on "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" and Roger Waters on "Watching TV" on Waters' Amused to Death album, in 1992. Henley provided the voice of Henry Faust in Randy Newman's Faust, a 1993 musical which was released on compact disc that year.
Inside Job

In 2000, after 11 years Henley released another solo studio recording, Inside Job, containing the lead single "Taking You Home". He performed songs from the album in a VH1 Storytellers episode in 2000. In 2002 a live DVD entitled Don Henley: Live Inside Job was released. In 2005 Don opened 10 of Stevie Nicks' concerts on her Two Voices Tour.

Henley's most recent recording appearances include a duet with Kenny Rogers on Rogers' 2006 release Water & Bridges titled "Calling Me" and on Reba McEntire's 2007 album, Reba: Duets, performing "Break Each Other's Hearts Again".

In a 2007 interview with CNN, while discussing the future of the Eagles, Henley indicated he still has plans for more records: "But we all have some solo plans still. I still have a contract with a major label for a couple of solo albums."
Political and other causes

In 1990, Henley founded the Walden Woods Project to help protect "Walden Woods" from development. The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods was started in 1998 to provide for research and education regarding Henry David Thoreau. In 1993, a compilation album titled Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles was released, with a portion of the royalties from the sales going to the Walden Woods Project. In 2005, he had a fundraiser concert with Elton John and others to buy Brister's Hill, part of Walden Woods, and turn it into a hiking trail.

Henley co-founded the non-profit Caddo Lake Institute in 1993 to underwrite ecological education and research. As part of the Caddo Lake Coalition, CLI helps protect the Texas wetland where Henley spent much of his childhood.

In 2000, Henley co-founded with Sheryl Crow the Recording Artists' Coalition, a group founded to protect musicians' rights against common music industry business practices. In this role he testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 2001 and the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in 2003.

Henley is not always an idealist. In a March 2001 interview on Charlie Rose, he stated that "rock bands work best as a benevolent dictatorship," with the principal songwriters in a band (in the case of the Eagles, "me and Glenn Frey") being the ones that will likely hold the power.

He has also been a generous donor to political campaigns. Henley has always been a supporter of the Democratic Party. The Washington Post found that since 1978, Henley has donated over $680,000 to political candidates.
Personal life

In the late 1970s, early 1980s, Henley dated Fleetwood Mac musician Stevie Nicks, and had a long term relationship with actress/model and Bond girl Lois Chiles.

In the early 1980s, Henley was engaged to Battlestar Galactica actress Maren Jensen. His first solo album (I Can't Stand Still) is dedicated to Jensen, who also sings harmony vocals on the song "Johnny Can't Read." Henley and Jensen separated in 1986.

In 1995, Henley married Sharon Summerall, a former model from Texas who had lived in Paris and studied art history. Performers at the wedding included Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Billy Joel, John Fogerty, Jackson Browne, Donna Lewis, Sheryl Crow, Glenn Frey, and Tony Bennett. Henley later wrote the song "Everything Is Different Now" from the album Inside Job for Sharon. Sharon has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. They have 3 children together, two girls and a boy.
Quotations
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Don Henley

    * "I could stand out front and sing Eagles songs that I sing in my set, but I think people enjoy watching me sing and play the drums. It seems to fascinate people. I don't know why."

    * "I have things that I am interested in, and that's usually what comes out on the album."

    * "I would rather take a long time and make a record with eight or ten good songs on it than to rush one out with only one or two good songs on it, which is what I find to be the case most of the time."

    * "I'm always jotting things down on pieces of paper. I've got pieces of paper all over my house."

    * "I'm not scary; I'm just opinionated."

Parody

The indie band Dirty Projectors released a concept album around Don Henley in 2005 called The Getty Address which starts with Henley considering suicide but ends with mostly gibberish.

Psychobilly musician Mojo Nixon wrote a song called "Don Henley Must Die." Some years later, Mojo was playing at Austin's Hole in the Wall when Don Henley, who was also scheduled to play in Austin, came in. Mojo announced he was going to play the song when Henley himself climbed up on stage and began beatboxing to the song, which left Mojo utterly speechless. The two have since become friends.
Discography
Main article: Don Henley discography
Main article: Eagles discography
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m474/MRSANGUSYOUNG/henley.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t111/Mule_2007/henley.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/22/10 at 6:16 am

The person who died on this day...Estelle Getty
Estelle Scher-Gettleman (July 25, 1923 – July 22, 2008),  better known by her stage name Estelle Getty, was an American  actress, who appeared in film, theatre and television. She is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992, which won her an Emmy and a Golden Globe, on The Golden Palace from 1992 to 1993 and on Empty Nest from 1993 to 1995. In her later years, after retiring from acting, she battled Lewy body dementia.
Getty was born Estelle Scher in New York City, the daughter of Sarah and Charles Scher, Jewish  immigrants from Poland who worked in the glass business.  Getty got her start in the Yiddish theater and also as a comedienne in the Catskills borscht belt resorts, and among her most notable stage roles was as Harvey Fierstein's mother in Torch Song Trilogy during its original Broadway run.

She is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls. Her character was the wise-cracking Sicilian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, played by Beatrice Arthur (the other main characters being played by Betty White and Rue McClanahan); in real life, Getty was in fact one year younger than Arthur. Getty won an Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Supporting Actress.

During her time on the The Golden Girls, she wrote an autobiography, with Steve Delsohn, titled If I Knew Then, What I Know Now... So What? (Contemporary Books, 1988). She further capitalized on her success by releasing an exercise video for senior citizens in 1993.
Personal life

Getty was married to Arthur Gettleman (whose name she adapted into her stage name) from 1946 until his death in 2004. Getty had two sons: Carl Gettleman, who lives in California, and Barry Gettleman, who lives in Florida.

In 1991, as later reported in Star magazine, Getty helped to nurse her 29-year-old nephew Steven Scher, who was near death and suffering from the final stages of AIDS. Because Scher's parents lived in England and his friends were no longer able to care for him in Greensboro, North Carolina, Getty had him flown to California and admitted to hospice care. He died in January 1992.

In 2000, Getty stopped making public appearances after revealing she had Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis. In 2002, media reports claimed she was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Doctors later discovered she actually had Lewy body dementia; both the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diagnoses were incorrect. Cast members attempted to talk to her on the phone or in person, but found that she couldn't remember them, or anything about the show. Bea Arthur said that Getty had so much trouble remembering her lines that they should have known something was wrong from the beginning.

In 2003, Lifetime television hosted a Golden Girls reunion, but Getty did not appear due to her failing health.
Death
Wikinews has related news: American actress Estelle Getty dead at age 84

On July 22, 2008, at approximately 5:30 a.m. PDT, Getty died in her Hollywood Boulevard home in Los Angeles from natural causes three days before what would have been her 85th birthday.

Estelle Getty was buried in the Plains of Abraham (formerly Section 14) Jewish section, of Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA. She is interred near other entertainment notables like actors Paul Muni, Lester Allen, Felix Bressart, operatic baritone Arnold Gabor, early Hollywood film producer/screenwriter Jesse James Goldburg, former German filmmakers Joe & Mia May (Mandel), and 007 co-screenwriter Richard W. Maibaum. Allan R. Ellenberger blogged on August 1, 2009 that Estelle's tombstone was installed.

Getty's Golden Girls co-stars reflected upon her death; Rue McClanahan told the Associated Press, "Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia." Betty White remarked, "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us." Bea Arthur said in a statement, "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever and I will miss her." Arthur herself died of cancer less than a year after Getty on April 25, 2009, and on June 3, 2010 Rue McClanahan died of a stroke followed by a brain hemorrhage.

In honor of Getty, Lifetime TV – which aired reruns of The Golden Girls at the time; aired ten episodes of the series featuring the best of Sophia on Friday, July 25, her birthday. Fans voted for their favorite episode on Lifetime's website. The episode "Old Friends" received the most votes and was aired last during the marathon.
Awards
Emmy Awards
The handprints of Estelle Getty in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

    * 1986 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1987 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1988 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Won)
    * 1989 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1990 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1991 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1992 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1985 – Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Won)
    * 1986 – Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1991 – Actress in a Supporting Role – Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)

Golden Raspberry Awards

    * 1992 - Worst Supporting Actress - Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Won)

Filmography

    * Tootsie (1982)- Middle Aged Woman
    * Mask (1985)- Evelyn Tullis
    * Mannequin (1987)- Mrs. Claire Timkin
    * Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)- Mrs. Tutti Bomowski
    * Stuart Little (1999)- Little's Grandmother

Television

    * Copacabana (1985)
    * The Golden Girls (180 episodes, 1985–1992)
    * Empty Nest (2 episodes, 1988–1991; regular, 1993–1995)
    * The Golden Palace (24 episodes, 1992–1993)
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w274/imradderthanyou11/estelle.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/AshleynAron/art_estelle_getty_ap.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/22/10 at 6:57 am


The person who died on this day...Estelle Getty
Estelle Scher-Gettleman (July 25, 1923 – July 22, 2008),  better known by her stage name Estelle Getty, was an American  actress, who appeared in film, theatre and television. She is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992, which won her an Emmy and a Golden Globe, on The Golden Palace from 1992 to 1993 and on Empty Nest from 1993 to 1995. In her later years, after retiring from acting, she battled Lewy body dementia.
Getty was born Estelle Scher in New York City, the daughter of Sarah and Charles Scher, Jewish  immigrants from Poland who worked in the glass business.  Getty got her start in the Yiddish theater and also as a comedienne in the Catskills borscht belt resorts, and among her most notable stage roles was as Harvey Fierstein's mother in Torch Song Trilogy during its original Broadway run.

She is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls. Her character was the wise-cracking Sicilian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, played by Beatrice Arthur (the other main characters being played by Betty White and Rue McClanahan); in real life, Getty was in fact one year younger than Arthur. Getty won an Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Supporting Actress.

During her time on the The Golden Girls, she wrote an autobiography, with Steve Delsohn, titled If I Knew Then, What I Know Now... So What? (Contemporary Books, 1988). She further capitalized on her success by releasing an exercise video for senior citizens in 1993.
Personal life

Getty was married to Arthur Gettleman (whose name she adapted into her stage name) from 1946 until his death in 2004. Getty had two sons: Carl Gettleman, who lives in California, and Barry Gettleman, who lives in Florida.

In 1991, as later reported in Star magazine, Getty helped to nurse her 29-year-old nephew Steven Scher, who was near death and suffering from the final stages of AIDS. Because Scher's parents lived in England and his friends were no longer able to care for him in Greensboro, North Carolina, Getty had him flown to California and admitted to hospice care. He died in January 1992.

In 2000, Getty stopped making public appearances after revealing she had Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis. In 2002, media reports claimed she was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Doctors later discovered she actually had Lewy body dementia; both the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diagnoses were incorrect. Cast members attempted to talk to her on the phone or in person, but found that she couldn't remember them, or anything about the show. Bea Arthur said that Getty had so much trouble remembering her lines that they should have known something was wrong from the beginning.

In 2003, Lifetime television hosted a Golden Girls reunion, but Getty did not appear due to her failing health.
Death
Wikinews has related news: American actress Estelle Getty dead at age 84

On July 22, 2008, at approximately 5:30 a.m. PDT, Getty died in her Hollywood Boulevard home in Los Angeles from natural causes three days before what would have been her 85th birthday.

Estelle Getty was buried in the Plains of Abraham (formerly Section 14) Jewish section, of Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA. She is interred near other entertainment notables like actors Paul Muni, Lester Allen, Felix Bressart, operatic baritone Arnold Gabor, early Hollywood film producer/screenwriter Jesse James Goldburg, former German filmmakers Joe & Mia May (Mandel), and 007 co-screenwriter Richard W. Maibaum. Allan R. Ellenberger blogged on August 1, 2009 that Estelle's tombstone was installed.

Getty's Golden Girls co-stars reflected upon her death; Rue McClanahan told the Associated Press, "Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia." Betty White remarked, "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us." Bea Arthur said in a statement, "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever and I will miss her." Arthur herself died of cancer less than a year after Getty on April 25, 2009, and on June 3, 2010 Rue McClanahan died of a stroke followed by a brain hemorrhage.

In honor of Getty, Lifetime TV – which aired reruns of The Golden Girls at the time; aired ten episodes of the series featuring the best of Sophia on Friday, July 25, her birthday. Fans voted for their favorite episode on Lifetime's website. The episode "Old Friends" received the most votes and was aired last during the marathon.
Awards
Emmy Awards
The handprints of Estelle Getty in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

    * 1986 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1987 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1988 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Won)
    * 1989 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1990 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1991 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1992 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1985 – Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Won)
    * 1986 – Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
    * 1991 – Actress in a Supporting Role – Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)

Golden Raspberry Awards

    * 1992 - Worst Supporting Actress - Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Won)

Filmography

    * Tootsie (1982)- Middle Aged Woman
    * Mask (1985)- Evelyn Tullis
    * Mannequin (1987)- Mrs. Claire Timkin
    * Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)- Mrs. Tutti Bomowski
    * Stuart Little (1999)- Little's Grandmother

Television

    * Copacabana (1985)
    * The Golden Girls (180 episodes, 1985–1992)
    * Empty Nest (2 episodes, 1988–1991; regular, 1993–1995)
    * The Golden Palace (24 episodes, 1992–1993)
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w274/imradderthanyou11/estelle.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s117/AshleynAron/art_estelle_getty_ap.jpg


I miss her along with Rue and Bea.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/22/10 at 6:58 am


The word of the day..Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing  and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered.
http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv205/dtgp12/LAUNDRYROOM.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z247/jkpriyan/Homes/Sowparnika/PICT0176.jpg
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx256/thenextgamer/inthelaundry.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy148/cardnellscountry/laundroomsign.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff149/scrappergrl/The%20house/IMG_2769APE.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/Breebop78/Our%20House/P1010858.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn173/pmrowczynski/San%20Jose%20-%202010/DSCF0599.jpg


I do my laundry every Thursday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/22/10 at 8:45 am


I miss her along with Rue and Bea.  :(

Me too :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/22/10 at 8:51 am


I do my laundry every Thursday.

Lucky..I have to do laundry at least 3 times a week because Tim only has 1 pair of pants to wear to his job, so I have to wash them every other day. I told him to buy more, but he hates shopping. (If he bought the pants, his work pays for them)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/22/10 at 6:54 pm

Don Heley (and Te Eagles) were the main inspiration for my learning how to play guitar.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/22/10 at 7:01 pm


Me too :\'(


and one Golden Girl left.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/22/10 at 7:04 pm


Don Heley (and Te Eagles) were the main inspiration for my learning how to play guitar.

I thought girls were the inspiration for you to play and then date them..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/22/10 at 7:05 pm


I thought girls were the inspiration for you to play and then date them..


I just like to play with them.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/22/10 at 7:18 pm


I thought girls were the inspiration for you to play and then date them..


You mean ...like a playdate?  ;D  I must admit..the by-product was more success with girls!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/22/10 at 7:22 pm


You mean ...like a playdate?  ;D  I must admit..the by-product was more success with girls!  ;)

I thought so.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/24/10 at 12:43 am


The word of the day..Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing  and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered.
http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv205/dtgp12/LAUNDRYROOM.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z247/jkpriyan/Homes/Sowparnika/PICT0176.jpg
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx256/thenextgamer/inthelaundry.jpg
http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy148/cardnellscountry/laundroomsign.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff149/scrappergrl/The%20house/IMG_2769APE.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/Breebop78/Our%20House/P1010858.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn173/pmrowczynski/San%20Jose%20-%202010/DSCF0599.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPSdpW3FN4w

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/24/10 at 9:45 am

Where's ninny? I hope she's ok.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/24/10 at 11:18 am


Where's ninny? I hope she's ok.




Cat
I hope so too?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/24/10 at 11:26 am

British Person of the Day: Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr. Strangelove, as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, as Clare Quilty in the original 1962 screen version of Lolita, in comedy films such as The Millionairess and The Party, and as the guileless man-child Chance in his penultimate film, Being There.

Sellers rose to fame on the BBC Home Service radio series The Goon Show. His ability to speak in different accents (e.g., French, Indian, American, British, German), along with his talent to portray a range of characters to comedic effect, contributed to his success as a radio personality and screen actor and earned him national and international nominations and awards. Many of his characters became ingrained in public perception of his work. Sellers's private life was characterized by turmoil and crises, and included emotional problems and substance abuse. Sellers was married four times—his second wife was the Swedish actress Britt Ekland—with three children from two of his marriages.

Sellers's film success arrived with British comedies, including The Ladykillers, I'm All Right Jack and The Mouse That Roared. He began receiving international attention for his portrayal of an Indian doctor in The Road to Hong Kong, the seventh and last in the "Road" series, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.
Playing as Sonny MacGregor an impersonator of sorts in the Sonny MacGregor Show in The Naked Truth (1957)

Sellers found further international acclaim with The Millionairess with Sophia Loren. The film inspired the George Martin-produced novelty hit single Goodness Gracious Me and its follow-up Bangers and Mash, both featuring Sellers and Loren. He starred in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita as Clare Quilty, opposite James Mason as Humbert Humbert. In portraying Quilty, Sellers proved a scene stealer.

A breakthrough came with Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in which he portrayed three characters: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the RAF. Muffley and Strangelove appeared in the same room throughout the film. Sellers was also cast in the role of Major T. J. 'King' Kong. Initially, Sellers struggled with the character's Texas accent, but screen writer Terry Southern made a recording of his own Texan accent, which Sellers apparently mastered after repeated listenings. However, during a scene in a plane designed for the set, Sellers fell 15 feet and broke his leg, preventing additional cockpit scenes and forcing Kubrick to replace Sellers with Slim Pickens. For his performance in all three roles, Sellers was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost to Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/285170.jpg

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/attachments/208/11844d1246501503-trading-non-resident-indians-19_peter_sellers.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/24/10 at 1:25 pm


Where's ninny? I hope she's ok.




Cat



I hope so too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/25/10 at 7:24 am


Where's ninny? I hope she's ok.




Cat
Still no news from ninny?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/25/10 at 9:11 am

Peter Sellers. Chief Inspector Clouseau. "Being There" "Ladykillerss"' "the Party" "Dr. Strangelove"

A very funny man. Died much too soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/25/10 at 9:16 am


Peter Sellers. Chief Inspector Clouseau. "Being There" "Ladykillerss"' "the Party" "Dr. Strangelove"

A very funny man. Died much too soon.
He still had more roles inside him to play.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/25/10 at 4:17 pm


Still no news from ninny?


Where'd She go? :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/25/10 at 5:04 pm

I'm worried about her. I hope she is ok.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 07/25/10 at 7:42 pm


He still had more roles inside him to play.

Certainly he did.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/26/10 at 1:21 am


I'm worried about her. I hope she is ok.



Cat
Has anyone have her e-mail etc?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/26/10 at 5:31 am


Has anyone have her e-mail etc?


Maybe she had to do something important?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/26/10 at 11:13 am


Has anyone have her e-mail etc?



I don't.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/26/10 at 12:28 pm


Maybe she had to do something important?  ???
May be her computer crashed?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/26/10 at 12:28 pm



I don't.



Cat
We may have to just sit and wait for news.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/26/10 at 2:54 pm


We may have to just sit and wait for news.


the only thing we could do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/27/10 at 12:35 pm


the only thing we could do.
Still no word yet?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/27/10 at 3:02 pm


Still no word yet?


No,nothing yet. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/31/10 at 4:52 am

British Person of the Day: J. K. Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Murray, OBE (née Rowling; born 31 July 1965), better known under the pen name J. K. Rowling is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies,and been the basis for a popular series of films.

Aside from writing the Potter novels, Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on welfare to multi-millionaire status within five years. As of March 2010, when its latest world billionaires list was published, Forbes estimated Rowling's net worth to be $1 billion. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in Great Britain. Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007, and Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom. She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and the Children's High Level Group.


Publications
Harry Potter series

  1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997)
  2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)
  3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999)
  4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)
  5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)
  6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005)
  7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)

Other books

    * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
    * Quidditch Through the Ages (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
    * The Tales of Beedle the Bard (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2008)

http://www.jennyhow.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jk-rowling.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/08/10 at 11:47 am

I miss ninny.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 08/08/10 at 6:05 pm

Okay...this is a long absence. I ,too, am worried about her.  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/08/10 at 6:25 pm


Okay...this is a long absence. I ,too, am worried about her.  :-\\



I heard it is computer issues so that is less worrisome.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/08/10 at 7:07 pm



I heard it is computer issues so that is less worrisome.



Cat



Ok,that's good to know,nothing too worrisome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/08/10 at 7:08 pm


I miss ninny.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat


Me too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 08/08/10 at 7:37 pm



I heard it is computer issues so that is less worrisome.



Cat


Is your source reputable?  I certainly hope that is all it is...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/08/10 at 11:00 pm


Okay...this is a long absence. I ,too, am worried about her.  :-\\




I heard it is computer issues so that is less worrisome.



Cat

That's what I'd heard too; I trust that that's all it is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/09/10 at 7:09 am

http://mymajicdc.com/files/2010/01/whitney-whitney-houston-cover.jpg

Happy Birthday Whitney Houston,She's 47.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/09/10 at 10:33 am


Is your source reputable?  I certainly hope that is all it is...



My source is Q so I would say VERY reputable.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 08/09/10 at 6:23 pm



My source is Q so I would say VERY reputable.




Cat


Debatable ....  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/14/10 at 11:46 pm

Now it's been three weeks since she was last here. I hope her computer situation gets resolved asap.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 08/15/10 at 12:34 am


Now it's been three weeks since she was last here. I hope her computer situation gets resolved asap.

I was withoiut a computer for 2 weeks or so, so 3 weeks is not long. Not everyone can go go out and buy a new one like that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/15/10 at 12:38 am

Of course. But all the same, I wish her all the best; many of us do miss her.

I was without a computer for at least a month after our old PC died in June 2007. In July I was limited to use of public computers (when I went out) and my dad's laptop (which he let me use on my birthday that year, even if it was just for a few minutes).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 08/15/10 at 1:03 am


Of course. But all the same, I wish her all the best; many of us do miss her.

I was without a computer for at least a month after our old PC died in June 2007. In July I was limited to use of public computers (when I went out) and my dad's laptop (which he let me use on my birthday that year, even if it was just for a few minutes).

I hope she comes back soon...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/15/10 at 7:13 am


I hope she comes back soon...


Me too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/22/10 at 5:15 am


I hope she comes back soon...
Here's hoping!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/22/10 at 5:21 am

British Person of the Day: Hugh Paddick

Hugh William Paddick (22 August 1915 – 9 November 2000, Hoddesdon, Milton Keynes) was an English actor, whose most notable role was in the 1960s BBC radio show Round the Horne in sketches such as Charles and Fiona (as Charles) and Julian and Sandy (as Julian). Both he and Kenneth Williams are largely responsible for introducing the underground language polari to the British public. He was born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

He preferred theatre to any other form of acting and spent most of his life on the stage, from his first role while at acting school in 1937 until his retirement. He was also an accomplished musician - singer, pianist and organist. He can be heard at the piano accompanying Julian and Sandy in a number of their sketches on both "Round the Horne" and also "The Bona World of Julian and Sandy". Paddick appeared in the original Drury Lane production of "My Fair Lady". When not working, Hugh Paddick and his partner, Francis, were keen gardeners at their west London home.

Paddick was gay and lived for over thirty years with his partner Francis, whom he met at a party in London. He was distantly related to Brian Paddick, England's first openly gay police commander.

Films

    * School for Scoundrels (1960)
    * We Shall See (1964)
    * San Ferry Ann (1965)
    * The Killing of Sister George (1968)
    * Up Pompeii (1971)
    * Up the Chastity Belt (1971)

Television

    * Here and Now (1955)
    * The Larkins (1958)
    * The Strange World of Gurney Slade episode 1.2 (1960)
    * Winning Widows (1961 – 1962)
    * Benny Hill (1963)
    * Frankie Howerd (1965 - 1966)
    * Pure Gingold (1965)
    * The Wednesday Play episode: The End of Arthur's Marriage(1965)
    * Before the Fringe (1967)
    * Beryl Reid Says Good Evening (1968)
    * Comedy Playhouse (1968)
    * The Jimmy Tarbuck Show (1968)
    * Wink to Me Only (1969)
    * Here Come the Double Deckers episode: Summer Camp (1970)
    * Father, Dear Father episode: Housie - Housie (1971), episode: Flat Spin (1973)
    * The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971)
    * The Benny Hill Show series 4, episode 1 (1972)
    * That's Your Funeral (1972)
    * Pardon My Genie (1972) children's comedy series
    * Tell Tarby (1973)
    * PG Tips advertisement (1976) (provided the voice of a chimpanzee)
    * Sykes episode: Television Film (1978)
    * The Basil Brush Show (1979)
    * Can We Get On Now, Please? (1980)
    * The Morecambe and Wise Show (1980)
    * Rushton's Illustrated (1980)
    * The Jim Davidson Show (1980)
    * Babble (1983)
    * Jemima Shore Investigates episode: The Crime of the Dancing Duchess (1983)
    * Alas Smith and Jones episode 4.5 (1987)
    * Blackadder series 3 episode 4: Sense and Senility (1987)
    * And There's More episode 4.1 (1988)
    * Boon episode: Never Say Trevor Again (1988)
    * Campion (1990)
    * Jackson Pace: The Great Years (1990)

Theatre

    * Noah (1937) Embassy School of Acting
    * There's Always Tomorrow (1949) New Wimbledon Theatre
    * The Thunderbolt (1952) Liverpool Playhouse
    * The Two Bouquets (1953) St Martin's Theatre
    * The Boy Friend (1953) Embassy Theatre, (1954) Wyndham's Theatre
    * The Impressario From Smyrna (1954) Arts Theatre
    * For Amusement Only (1956) Apollo Theatre
    * She Smiled At Me (1956) Connaught Theatre
    * For Adults Only (1958) various theatres
    * My Fair Lady (1959-1961) Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
    * See You Inside (1963) Duchess Theatre
    * Let's Get A Divorce! (1966-1967) Mermaid Theatre
    * The Madwoman of Chaillot (1967) Oxford Playhouse
    * They Don't Grow on Trees (1968) Prince of Wales Theatre
    * When We Are Married (1971) Strand Theatre
    * Cinderella (1974) Casino Theatre
    * Play by Play (1975) The King's Head Theatre, Islington
    * Beauty and the Beast (1975) Oxford Playhouse
    * Some of My Best Friends are Husbands (1976) Mermaid Theatre, (1983) Watford Palace
    * Out on a Limb (1976) Vaudeville Theatre
    * Volpone (1977) Royal National Theatre
    * Half Life (1977-1978) Duke of York's Theatre
    * Gigi (1980) Haymarket Theatre (Leicester)
    * Soldier's Fortune (1981) Lyric Hammersmith
    * Venice Preserv'd (1984) Lyttelton Theatre
    * Wild Honey (1984) Lyttelton Theatre
    * Noises Off (1985) Savoy Theatre

Radio

    * Beyond Our Ken (1958 – 1964)
    * Gert and Daisy (1959)
    * Worm's Eye View (play) (1962)
    * The Men from the Ministry (1965)
    * Round the Horne (1965 – 1968)
    * Stop Messing About (1969)
    * Share and Share Alike (play) (1978)
    * A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (play) (1979)
    * Just Before Midnight (1979)
    * I Love The 27-Year Itch (play) (1980)

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsP/25426.gif



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/22/10 at 7:31 am


Here's hoping!


Me Too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/24/10 at 4:50 pm

I miss ninny.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/24/10 at 7:04 pm

Wow,Where has she been all this time?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 08/24/10 at 9:10 pm


I miss ninny.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Yeah, we all do... :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/24/10 at 11:08 pm


Wow,Where has she been all this time?  ???

Some of us suspect her computer had died and she hasn't been able to get a new one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/28/10 at 3:30 am

British Person of the Day: John Betjeman

John Betjeman was born on August 28th, 1906, near Highgate, London. His father was Ernest Betjemann, a cabinet maker, a trade which had been in the family for several generations. The family name was Betjemann, with two 'n's, but John dropped the second 'n' during the First World War, to make the name less German.

JB & childrenJohn was an only child, and by all accounts had a lonely childhood, taking comfort from his teddy bear, Archibald, later to feature in his children's story, Archie and the Strict Baptists.

Having attended his first schools in Highgate, John became a boarder at Dragon School, Oxford, aged eleven. Three years later, he went to Marlborough College, again as a boarder.

Throughout John's childhood, his family went for holidays to Trebetherick in Cornwall, where his father owned a number of properties. These seemed to have been the happiest times for JB, and are remembered in many of his poems.

In 1925, JB went to Magdalen College, Oxford. However, the many distractions of college life meant that he did not complete his degree, having failed a Divinity exam. He became a teacher at Thorpe House School, Gerrard's Cross, before working as a private secretary, and then at another prep school.

In 1930, JB became an assistant editor of The Architectural Review. In 1931, his first book of poems, Mount Zion, was published by an old Oxford friend, Edward James. Soon afterwards, JB met and married Penelope Chetwode, the daughter of Field Marshal Lord Chetwode, a former Commander-in-Chief in India. It was clear that he did not approve of JB.

His second book was Ghastly Good Taste, a commentary on architecture, published in 1934.

JB and trainJB and Penelope moved to Uffington in Berkshire, and John was given the job of film critic for the Evening Standard, but he continued to write poetry, and his next book, Continual Dew, appeared in 1937. He also began work on the series of Shell Guides to the counties of England.

His prolific writing output continued throughout the 30s and 40s, with books and magazine articles appearing regularly. In 1941, JB went to Dublin, as the Press Officer to the British Representative. Many years later, it was revealed that the IRA thought he was a spy, and considered assassinating him. However, on reading his poetry, they decided otherwise. His daughter Candida was born in 1942.

Returning to England in 1943, JB worked in the Ministry of Information, and continued to write for a number of publications. The family eventually settled in Wantage in 1951. A Few Late Chrysanthemums was published in 1952, and by the mid 1950's, JB was a well-known figure, making both radio and television appearances, commenting on architecture and campaigning for many threatened buildings. Collected Poems and his verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells, were both best sellers. His broadcasting career continued during the 1960's and 70's, with documentaries such as Metroland and A Passion for Churches.

In 1969, he was knighted, and when Cecil Day Lewis died in 1972, JB was made Poet Laureate.

JB by the seaHis last book of new poems, A Nip in The Air, was published in 1974. After that, he began to suffer from Parkinson's Disease, and a series of strokes reduced his mobility.

John Betjeman died on May 19th 1984, at his home in Trebetherick. He was buried in the nearby church of St.Enodoc.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01079/property-graphics-_1079529a.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/04/10 at 10:21 pm


I miss ninny.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Okay, now I really miss her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/05/10 at 7:26 am


Okay, now I really miss her.


Man,It's been a month,Where'd she go?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/05/10 at 9:11 pm


Man,It's been a month,Where'd she go?  ???

More than that, closer to a month and a half. Her computer apparently died, but we don't know that that's the official reason for her absence.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/26/10 at 12:59 pm

Is she ever going to come back? I miss her words of the day.  :(

last time she was on: July 22, 2010, 09:51:26 AM »

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/26/10 at 1:00 pm


Is she ever going to come back? I miss her words of the day.  :(
A question we all are asking ourselves.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/26/10 at 1:01 pm


A question we all are asking ourselves.


It's been 2 months.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/26/10 at 5:06 pm


It's been 2 months.

2 months 2 long.

Btw when I click on her profile it says she was last active on July 23, 2010.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 09/26/10 at 11:49 pm


2 months 2 long.

Btw when I click on her profile it says she was last active on July 23, 2010.

That's a long time. I wish her well..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/27/10 at 7:24 am


That's a long time. I wish her well..


hope she's ok. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 09/27/10 at 10:15 am


hope she's ok. :(

We all hope so.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/27/10 at 1:01 pm


We all hope so.
Does anyone know?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/27/10 at 1:03 pm


Does anyone know?


anyone keep contact?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 09/27/10 at 5:26 pm


anyone keep contact?

Maybe people who are on facebook have kept contact (if she's on fb)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/27/10 at 7:47 pm


Maybe people who are on facebook have kept contact (if she's on fb)

Well, I do know that her daughter is on FB, but ninny sometimes uses the account.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/23/10 at 11:24 pm

Three months and still no word from ninny. This is kinda worrisome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/24/10 at 1:55 am


Three months and still no word from ninny. This is kinda worrisome.
Who lives the nearest to her?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/10 at 7:11 am


Three months and still no word from ninny. This is kinda worrisome.


Wow,this is not good. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 10/24/10 at 5:41 pm

I'm certainly thinking the worst!  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/24/10 at 6:03 pm


Who lives the nearest to her?

Probably Howard, since I think ninny is in New York.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 10/24/10 at 7:07 pm


Probably Howard, since I think ninny is in New York.

Is she on facebook like most of you?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/10 at 8:44 pm


Is she on facebook like most of you?


I'm not on Facebook. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/10 at 8:45 pm


Probably Howard, since I think ninny is in New York.


Does she live Upstate? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/10 at 9:54 am

Stand by..........

Janine is back!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/17/10 at 9:59 am


Stand by..........

Janine is back!

Hi Phil: How are you? I'm just back for a short time, my computer is still broken, I'm using my sisters.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/10 at 10:01 am


Hi Phil: How are you? I'm just back for a short time, my computer is still broken, I'm using my sisters.
I am just recovering form flu, and still feel rough with it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/17/10 at 10:03 am


I am just recovering form flu, and still feel rough with it.

i hope you feel better soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/10 at 10:04 am


i hope you feel better soon.
Back to work tomorrow, I see how I feel then.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/17/10 at 10:10 am


Back to work tomorrow, I see how I feel then.

It can be hard to work when you are sick.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/17/10 at 10:49 am

Ninny, glad to see you back. We were SOOOO worried about you. Missed you.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/10 at 11:46 am


Hi Phil: How are you? I'm just back for a short time, my computer is still broken, I'm using my sisters.
Word of the Day...

Hello!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/17/10 at 12:41 pm


Word of the Day...

Hello!



And person of the day:


NINNY



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/10 at 12:41 pm



And person of the day:


NINNY



Cat
...another word for the day:

Welcome!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/17/10 at 1:52 pm


Hi Phil: How are you? I'm just back for a short time, my computer is still broken, I'm using my sisters.


Hey Ninny,how are you,Can you please do more of the words/person of the day again?  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/17/10 at 1:53 pm


It can be hard to work when you are sick.


I know the feeling. :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/10 at 2:33 pm


It can be hard to work when you are sick.
I just do not wish to make mistakes at work.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/17/10 at 4:26 pm

I'm just glad my worst fears weren't realized. Soooo happy to hear that ninny is alive and well.  :)  Now....we need to get her a new computer!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/17/10 at 4:52 pm


I'm just glad my worst fears weren't realized. Soooo happy to hear that ninny is alive and well.  :)  Now....we need to get her a new computer!!!



I know what you mean.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/17/10 at 7:05 pm



I know what you mean.


Cat


Hello there stranger....hope you are in good health and the family is also well.  ;)  Any idea when you'll be back on deck?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/18/10 at 12:57 am


i hope you feel better soon.

Nice to see you posting!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/18/10 at 7:00 am


I'm just glad my worst fears weren't realized. Soooo happy to hear that ninny is alive and well.  :)  Now....we need to get her a new computer!!!



got any cash?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/18/10 at 11:55 am


Hello there stranger....hope you are in good health and the family is also well.  ;)  Any idea when you'll be back on deck?



Are you talking to me or to Ninny?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/18/10 at 4:41 pm



Are you talking to me or to Ninny?



Cat

he may reply to ninny , but it's meant for you.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/18/10 at 6:14 pm



Are you talking to me or to Ninny?



Cat


Sorry Cat... I was meaning to be talking to ninny (on this ocassion).  :-[  I feel so....so.... Howard-like..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/18/10 at 7:19 pm


Sorry Cat... I was meaning to be talking to ninny (on this ocassion).  :-[   I feel so....so.... Howard-like..

Glad you have noticed that significant improvement.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/18/10 at 7:49 pm


Sorry Cat... I was meaning to be talking to ninny (on this ocassion).  :-[   I feel so....so.... Howard-like..


;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/18/10 at 9:40 pm


;D


Howard...you get karma simply for reading my post!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/18/10 at 10:25 pm


Howard...you get karma simply for reading my post!

Karma for that too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/19/10 at 5:56 am


Howard...you get karma simply for reading my post!


karma backatcha. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: seamermar on 11/19/10 at 6:23 am



And person of the day:


NINNY



Cat


I think it's the greatest person ever  showed on this thread.  ;)

Ninny  I'm glad you put up with flu , we  need indeed someone like you.

May God bless you and hold you in the palm of his hand

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/19/10 at 10:52 am


Sorry Cat... I was meaning to be talking to ninny (on this ocassion).  :-[   I feel so....so.... Howard-like..



That's ok. I think we all have had our Howard moments.  ;)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/19/10 at 12:22 pm


Is she on facebook like most of you?

Actually, she uses her daughter's Facebook account from time to time...but doesn't have one of her own.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 5:09 pm


Actually, she uses her daughter's Facebook account from time to time...but doesn't have one of her own.

OK, thanks for letting me know. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/19/10 at 5:34 pm



That's ok. I think we all have had our Howard moments.  ;)



Cat


I've had a Howard moment.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 5:39 pm


I've had a Howard moment.

You are a Howard moment  ;) ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/19/10 at 5:40 pm


You are a Howard moment  ;) ;D


very funny.  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 5:46 pm


very funny.  ::)

I am a frank moment

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/19/10 at 5:49 pm


I am a frank moment


Haha...we wouldn't want these comments to peter out....

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/19/10 at 5:49 pm


I am a frank moment



How many times have you said, "Let me be Frank"?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/19/10 at 5:50 pm



How many times have you said, "Let me be Frank"?



Cat


;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 6:39 pm


Haha...we wouldn't want these comments to peter out....


touché

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/19/10 at 6:40 pm


[
touché


Let's hope Howard knows French. He might see that as an invitation.... ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 6:44 pm


Let's hope Howard knows French. He might see that as an invitation.... ::)

Nein!

(now he might think there are 9 girls involved)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/19/10 at 6:48 pm


Nein!

(now he might think there are 9 girls involved)


I didn't mention any girls...but okay... ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 6:50 pm


I didn't mention any girls...but okay... ;D

Now you are involved, dead or alive (I remember the Farrah comment)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/19/10 at 6:54 pm


Now you are involved, dead or alive (I remember the Farrah comment)


Gee...you dig up one dead person..and you're labeled for life!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Frank on 11/19/10 at 6:57 pm


Gee...you dig up one dead person..and you're labeled for life!  ;D

At least you can tell people you are trying to raise the dead. You might be famous!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 11/19/10 at 7:06 pm


At least you can tell people you are trying to raise the dead. You might be famous!


Nah....it was tired a couple of thousand years ago...and didn't really catch on.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/20/10 at 6:15 am


Let's hope Howard knows French. He might see that as an invitation.... ::)


oui. :P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: seamermar on 11/20/10 at 5:02 pm

I think I got plenty of Howards  moments in my little penguin history  :-\\
but never mind if the moments were funny and fine.

The worse thing is I can never see through such mean minds some of you would please release along all threads .

But I'm on the trace  8)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/25/10 at 11:59 am

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. :) My sisters computer is dying too :\'(Hope to talk to you all soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/11 at 5:12 pm

The person of the day is...David Bowie
David Bowie (pronounced /ˈboʊ.iː/ BOH-ee; born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) is an English rock musician, and singer who has also worked as an actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for five decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s, and is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his work.

Although he released an album (David Bowie) and several singles earlier, Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when the song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame", co-written with John Lennon, and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" and its parent album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single "Under Pressure", then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–2004 Reality Tour.

Biographer David Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure." In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and 8 Silver, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.
Because of his lack of commercial success, Bowie was forced to try to earn a living in different ways. He featured in a Lyons Maid ice cream commercial, but was rejected for another by Kit Kat. Intended as a vehicle to promote the singer, a 30-minute film featuring performances from his repertoire, Love You till Tuesday, was made. Although not released until 1984, the filming sessions in January 1969 led to unexpected success when Bowie told the producers, "That film of yours—I've got a new song for it." He then demoed the song that would provide his commercial breakthrough. "Space Oddity" was released later in the year to coincide with the first moon landing. Breaking up with Farthingale shortly after completion of the film, Bowie moved in with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street. This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab, and became extremely popular. The Arts Lab hosted a free festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song "Memory of a Free Festival". "Space Oddity" was released on 11 July, five days ahead of the Apollo 11 launch, to become a UK top five hit. Bowie's second album, Space Oddity, followed in November; originally issued in the UK as David Bowie, it caused some confusion with its predecessor of the same name, and the early US release was instead titled Man of Words/Man of Music. Featuring philosophical post-hippie lyrics on peace, love and morality, its acoustic folk rock occasionally fortified by harder rock, the album was not a commercial success at the time of its release.
WMMS presents David Bowie. Cleveland Press magazine in November 3, 1972. WMMS played a key role in breaking several major acts at the time. It helped break many new rock artists nationally, most notably Bowie, who along with the Spiders from Mars, kicked off his American tour in Cleveland, based on the market's huge sales figures for the Bowie album, primarily due to WMMS airplay.

"Space Oddity"
Play sound
Sample of "Space Oddity". Released in July 1969 to coincide with the first moon landing, the single brought Bowie's commercial breakthrough.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Bowie met Angela Barnett in April 1969. They would marry within a year. Her impact on him was immediate, and her involvement in his career far-reaching, leaving Pitt with limited influence. Having established himself as a solo artist with "Space Oddity", Bowie now began to sense a lack: "a full-time band for gigs and recording—people he could relate to personally". The shortcoming was underlined by his artistic rivalry with Marc Bolan, who was at the time acting as his session guitarist. A band was duly assembled. John Cambridge, a drummer Bowie met at the Arts Lab, was joined by Tony Visconti on bass and Mick Ronson on electric guitar. After a brief and disastrous manifestation as the Hype, the group reverted to a configuration presenting Bowie as a solo artist. Their initial studio work was marred by a heated disagreement between Bowie and Cambridge over the latter's drumming style; matters came to a head when Bowie, enraged, accused, "You're fudgeing up my album." Cambridge summarily quit and was replaced by Mick Woodmansey. Not long after, in a move that would result in years of litigation, at the conclusion of which Bowie would be forced to pay Pitt compensation, the singer fired his manager, replacing him with Tony Defries.

The studio sessions continued and resulted in Bowie's third album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970). Characterised by the heavy rock sound of his new backing band, it was a marked departure from the acoustic guitar and folk rock style established by Space Oddity. To promote it in the United States, Mercury Records financed a coast-to-coast publicity tour in which Bowie, between January and February 1971, was interviewed by radio stations and the media. Exploiting his androgynous appearance, the original cover of the UK version unveiled two months later would depict the singer wearing a dress: taking the garment with him, he wore it during interviews—to the approval of critics, including Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn who described him as "ravishing, almost disconcertingly reminiscent of Lauren Bacall"—and in the street, to mixed reaction including laughter and, in the case of one male pedestrian, producing a gun and telling Bowie to "kiss my ass". During the tour Bowie's observation of two seminal American proto-punk artists led him to develop a concept that would eventually find form in the Ziggy Stardust character: a melding of the persona of Iggy Pop with the music of Lou Reed, producing "the ultimate pop idol". A girlfriend recalled his "scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character "who looks like he's landed from Mars."

Hunky Dory (1971) found Visconti, Bowie's producer and bassist, supplanted in both roles, by Ken Scott and Trevor Bolder respectively. The album saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity", with light fare such as "Kooks", a song written for his son, Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones, born on 30 May. (His parents chose "his kooky name"—he would be known as Zowie for the next 12 years—after the Greek word zoe, life.) Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes, and found Bowie paying unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch", a Velvet Underground pastiche. It was not a significant commercial success at the time.
Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie during the Ziggy and the Spiders Tour

With his next venture, Bowie, in the words of biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture". Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972. The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the course of the next six months and creating, as described by Buckley, a "cult of Bowie" that was "unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom." The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), combining the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock and pop of Hunky Dory, was released in June. "Starman", issued as an April single ahead of the album, was to cement Bowie's UK breakthrough: both single and album charted rapidly following his July Top of the Pops performance of the song. The album, which would remain in the chart for two years, was soon joined there by the six-month-old Hunky Dory. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing", and "All the Young Dudes", a song he wrote and produced for Mott the Hoople, became UK hits. The Ziggy Stardust Tour continued to the United States.

Bowie contributed backing vocals to Reed's 1972 solo breakthrough Transformer, co-producing the album with Ronson. His own Aladdin Sane (1973) topped the UK chart, his first number one album. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", it contained songs he wrote while travelling to and across the United States during the earlier part of the Ziggy tour, which now continued to Japan to promote the new album. Aladdin Sane spawned the UK top five singles "The Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday".

Bowie's love of acting led his total immersion in the characters he created for his music. "Offstage I'm a robot. Onstage I achieve emotion. It's probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy to being David." With satisfaction came severe personal difficulties: acting the same role over an extended period, it became impossible for him to separate Ziggy Stardust—and, later, the Thin White Duke—from his own character offstage. Ziggy, Bowie said, "wouldn't leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to go sour ... My whole personality was affected. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity." His later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. Footage from the final show was released in 1983 for the film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

"Ziggy Stardust"
Play sound
Sample of "Ziggy Stardust" (1972). A pioneer of glam rock, Bowie performed as the character Ziggy Stardust, backed by the Spiders from Mars.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

After breaking up the Spiders from Mars, Bowie attempted to move on from his Ziggy persona. His back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with Space Oddity. "Life on Mars?", from Hunky Dory, was released in June 1973 and made number three in the UK singles chart. Entering the same chart in September, Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", would reach number four. Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, followed in October, producing a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. It brought the total number of Bowie albums currently in the UK chart to sixMain article: List of awards and nominations received by David Bowie

Bowie's 1969 commercial breakthrough, the song "Space Oddity", won him an Ivor Novello Special Award For Originality. For his performance in the 1976 science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In the ensuing decades he has been honoured with numerous awards for his music and its accompanying videos, receiving, among others, two Grammy Awards and two BRIT Awards.

In 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music the same year. He declined the British honour Commander of the British Empire in 2000, and a knighthood in 2003, stating: "I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for."

Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum, 11 Gold and 8 Silver albums, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold. In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked 29. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time.

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996.
Discography
Main article: David Bowie discography

   * David Bowie (1967)
   * Space Oddity (1969)
   * The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
   * Hunky Dory (1971)
   * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
   * Aladdin Sane (1973)
   * Pin Ups (1973)
   * Diamond Dogs (1974)
   * Young Americans (1975)
   * Station to Station (1976)
   * Low (1977)
   * "Heroes" (1977)
   * Lodger (1979)
   * Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
   * Let's Dance (1983)
   * Tonight (1984)
   * Never Let Me Down (1987)
   * Black Tie White Noise (1993)
   * The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
   * Outside (1995)
   * Earthling (1997)
   * 'Hours...' (1999)
   * Heathen (2002)
   * Reality (2003)

See also
Book:David Bowie
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

   * 100 Greatest Britons
   * Best selling music artists
   * David Bowie filmography
   * Bowie Bonds
   * List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)
   * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
   * List of David Bowie tours
   * List of number-one hits (United States)
   * List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
   * List of people who have declined a British honour
   * Low Symphony and Heroes Symphony
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w213/KellyJo09/evenmorebowie12.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/Schmoodles/GoblinKing.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/08/11 at 5:23 pm

NINNY!!! WELCOME BACK!!! You have been missed.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/08/11 at 5:23 pm


NINNY!!! WELCOME BACK!!! You have been missed.




Cat

Ditto!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/11 at 5:58 pm


NINNY!!! WELCOME BACK!!! You have been missed.




Cat


Ditto!!!

Thanks :) I've missed being on

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/09/11 at 12:33 am


Thanks :) I've missed being on

How's your computer situation these days?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 3:10 am


The person of the day is...David Bowie
David Bowie (pronounced /ˈboʊ.iː/ BOH-ee; born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) is an English rock musician, and singer who has also worked as an actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for five decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s, and is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his work.

Although he released an album (David Bowie) and several singles earlier, Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when the song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame", co-written with John Lennon, and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" and its parent album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single "Under Pressure", then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–2004 Reality Tour.

Biographer David Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure." In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and 8 Silver, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.
Because of his lack of commercial success, Bowie was forced to try to earn a living in different ways. He featured in a Lyons Maid ice cream commercial, but was rejected for another by Kit Kat. Intended as a vehicle to promote the singer, a 30-minute film featuring performances from his repertoire, Love You till Tuesday, was made. Although not released until 1984, the filming sessions in January 1969 led to unexpected success when Bowie told the producers, "That film of yours—I've got a new song for it." He then demoed the song that would provide his commercial breakthrough. "Space Oddity" was released later in the year to coincide with the first moon landing. Breaking up with Farthingale shortly after completion of the film, Bowie moved in with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street. This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab, and became extremely popular. The Arts Lab hosted a free festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song "Memory of a Free Festival". "Space Oddity" was released on 11 July, five days ahead of the Apollo 11 launch, to become a UK top five hit. Bowie's second album, Space Oddity, followed in November; originally issued in the UK as David Bowie, it caused some confusion with its predecessor of the same name, and the early US release was instead titled Man of Words/Man of Music. Featuring philosophical post-hippie lyrics on peace, love and morality, its acoustic folk rock occasionally fortified by harder rock, the album was not a commercial success at the time of its release.
WMMS presents David Bowie. Cleveland Press magazine in November 3, 1972. WMMS played a key role in breaking several major acts at the time. It helped break many new rock artists nationally, most notably Bowie, who along with the Spiders from Mars, kicked off his American tour in Cleveland, based on the market's huge sales figures for the Bowie album, primarily due to WMMS airplay.

"Space Oddity"
Play sound
Sample of "Space Oddity". Released in July 1969 to coincide with the first moon landing, the single brought Bowie's commercial breakthrough.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Bowie met Angela Barnett in April 1969. They would marry within a year. Her impact on him was immediate, and her involvement in his career far-reaching, leaving Pitt with limited influence. Having established himself as a solo artist with "Space Oddity", Bowie now began to sense a lack: "a full-time band for gigs and recording—people he could relate to personally". The shortcoming was underlined by his artistic rivalry with Marc Bolan, who was at the time acting as his session guitarist. A band was duly assembled. John Cambridge, a drummer Bowie met at the Arts Lab, was joined by Tony Visconti on bass and Mick Ronson on electric guitar. After a brief and disastrous manifestation as the Hype, the group reverted to a configuration presenting Bowie as a solo artist. Their initial studio work was marred by a heated disagreement between Bowie and Cambridge over the latter's drumming style; matters came to a head when Bowie, enraged, accused, "You're fudgeing up my album." Cambridge summarily quit and was replaced by Mick Woodmansey. Not long after, in a move that would result in years of litigation, at the conclusion of which Bowie would be forced to pay Pitt compensation, the singer fired his manager, replacing him with Tony Defries.

The studio sessions continued and resulted in Bowie's third album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970). Characterised by the heavy rock sound of his new backing band, it was a marked departure from the acoustic guitar and folk rock style established by Space Oddity. To promote it in the United States, Mercury Records financed a coast-to-coast publicity tour in which Bowie, between January and February 1971, was interviewed by radio stations and the media. Exploiting his androgynous appearance, the original cover of the UK version unveiled two months later would depict the singer wearing a dress: taking the garment with him, he wore it during interviews—to the approval of critics, including Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn who described him as "ravishing, almost disconcertingly reminiscent of Lauren Bacall"—and in the street, to mixed reaction including laughter and, in the case of one male pedestrian, producing a gun and telling Bowie to "kiss my ass". During the tour Bowie's observation of two seminal American proto-punk artists led him to develop a concept that would eventually find form in the Ziggy Stardust character: a melding of the persona of Iggy Pop with the music of Lou Reed, producing "the ultimate pop idol". A girlfriend recalled his "scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character "who looks like he's landed from Mars."

Hunky Dory (1971) found Visconti, Bowie's producer and bassist, supplanted in both roles, by Ken Scott and Trevor Bolder respectively. The album saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity", with light fare such as "Kooks", a song written for his son, Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones, born on 30 May. (His parents chose "his kooky name"—he would be known as Zowie for the next 12 years—after the Greek word zoe, life.) Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes, and found Bowie paying unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch", a Velvet Underground pastiche. It was not a significant commercial success at the time.
Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie during the Ziggy and the Spiders Tour

With his next venture, Bowie, in the words of biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture". Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972. The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the course of the next six months and creating, as described by Buckley, a "cult of Bowie" that was "unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom." The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), combining the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock and pop of Hunky Dory, was released in June. "Starman", issued as an April single ahead of the album, was to cement Bowie's UK breakthrough: both single and album charted rapidly following his July Top of the Pops performance of the song. The album, which would remain in the chart for two years, was soon joined there by the six-month-old Hunky Dory. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing", and "All the Young Dudes", a song he wrote and produced for Mott the Hoople, became UK hits. The Ziggy Stardust Tour continued to the United States.

Bowie contributed backing vocals to Reed's 1972 solo breakthrough Transformer, co-producing the album with Ronson. His own Aladdin Sane (1973) topped the UK chart, his first number one album. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", it contained songs he wrote while travelling to and across the United States during the earlier part of the Ziggy tour, which now continued to Japan to promote the new album. Aladdin Sane spawned the UK top five singles "The Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday".

Bowie's love of acting led his total immersion in the characters he created for his music. "Offstage I'm a robot. Onstage I achieve emotion. It's probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy to being David." With satisfaction came severe personal difficulties: acting the same role over an extended period, it became impossible for him to separate Ziggy Stardust—and, later, the Thin White Duke—from his own character offstage. Ziggy, Bowie said, "wouldn't leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to go sour ... My whole personality was affected. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity." His later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. Footage from the final show was released in 1983 for the film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

"Ziggy Stardust"
Play sound
Sample of "Ziggy Stardust" (1972). A pioneer of glam rock, Bowie performed as the character Ziggy Stardust, backed by the Spiders from Mars.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

After breaking up the Spiders from Mars, Bowie attempted to move on from his Ziggy persona. His back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with Space Oddity. "Life on Mars?", from Hunky Dory, was released in June 1973 and made number three in the UK singles chart. Entering the same chart in September, Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", would reach number four. Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, followed in October, producing a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. It brought the total number of Bowie albums currently in the UK chart to sixMain article: List of awards and nominations received by David Bowie

Bowie's 1969 commercial breakthrough, the song "Space Oddity", won him an Ivor Novello Special Award For Originality. For his performance in the 1976 science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In the ensuing decades he has been honoured with numerous awards for his music and its accompanying videos, receiving, among others, two Grammy Awards and two BRIT Awards.

In 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music the same year. He declined the British honour Commander of the British Empire in 2000, and a knighthood in 2003, stating: "I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for."

Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum, 11 Gold and 8 Silver albums, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold. In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked 29. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time.

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996.
Discography
Main article: David Bowie discography

    * David Bowie (1967)
    * Space Oddity (1969)
    * The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
    * Hunky Dory (1971)
    * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
    * Aladdin Sane (1973)
    * Pin Ups (1973)
    * Diamond Dogs (1974)
    * Young Americans (1975)
    * Station to Station (1976)
    * Low (1977)
    * "Heroes" (1977)
    * Lodger (1979)
    * Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
    * Let's Dance (1983)
    * Tonight (1984)
    * Never Let Me Down (1987)
    * Black Tie White Noise (1993)
    * The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
    * Outside (1995)
    * Earthling (1997)
    * 'Hours...' (1999)
    * Heathen (2002)
    * Reality (2003)

See also
Book:David Bowie
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

    * 100 Greatest Britons
    * Best selling music artists
    * David Bowie filmography
    * Bowie Bonds
    * List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
    * List of David Bowie tours
    * List of number-one hits (United States)
    * List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
    * List of people who have declined a British honour
    * Low Symphony and Heroes Symphony
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w213/KellyJo09/evenmorebowie12.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/Schmoodles/GoblinKing.jpg
Welcome back!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 3:12 am


The person of the day is...David Bowie
David Bowie (pronounced /ˈboʊ.iː/ BOH-ee; born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) is an English rock musician, and singer who has also worked as an actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for five decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s, and is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his work.

Although he released an album (David Bowie) and several singles earlier, Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when the song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame", co-written with John Lennon, and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" and its parent album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single "Under Pressure", then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and "Modern Love". Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–2004 Reality Tour.

Biographer David Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure." In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and 8 Silver, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.
Because of his lack of commercial success, Bowie was forced to try to earn a living in different ways. He featured in a Lyons Maid ice cream commercial, but was rejected for another by Kit Kat. Intended as a vehicle to promote the singer, a 30-minute film featuring performances from his repertoire, Love You till Tuesday, was made. Although not released until 1984, the filming sessions in January 1969 led to unexpected success when Bowie told the producers, "That film of yours—I've got a new song for it." He then demoed the song that would provide his commercial breakthrough. "Space Oddity" was released later in the year to coincide with the first moon landing. Breaking up with Farthingale shortly after completion of the film, Bowie moved in with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street. This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab, and became extremely popular. The Arts Lab hosted a free festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song "Memory of a Free Festival". "Space Oddity" was released on 11 July, five days ahead of the Apollo 11 launch, to become a UK top five hit. Bowie's second album, Space Oddity, followed in November; originally issued in the UK as David Bowie, it caused some confusion with its predecessor of the same name, and the early US release was instead titled Man of Words/Man of Music. Featuring philosophical post-hippie lyrics on peace, love and morality, its acoustic folk rock occasionally fortified by harder rock, the album was not a commercial success at the time of its release.
WMMS presents David Bowie. Cleveland Press magazine in November 3, 1972. WMMS played a key role in breaking several major acts at the time. It helped break many new rock artists nationally, most notably Bowie, who along with the Spiders from Mars, kicked off his American tour in Cleveland, based on the market's huge sales figures for the Bowie album, primarily due to WMMS airplay.

"Space Oddity"
Play sound
Sample of "Space Oddity". Released in July 1969 to coincide with the first moon landing, the single brought Bowie's commercial breakthrough.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Bowie met Angela Barnett in April 1969. They would marry within a year. Her impact on him was immediate, and her involvement in his career far-reaching, leaving Pitt with limited influence. Having established himself as a solo artist with "Space Oddity", Bowie now began to sense a lack: "a full-time band for gigs and recording—people he could relate to personally". The shortcoming was underlined by his artistic rivalry with Marc Bolan, who was at the time acting as his session guitarist. A band was duly assembled. John Cambridge, a drummer Bowie met at the Arts Lab, was joined by Tony Visconti on bass and Mick Ronson on electric guitar. After a brief and disastrous manifestation as the Hype, the group reverted to a configuration presenting Bowie as a solo artist. Their initial studio work was marred by a heated disagreement between Bowie and Cambridge over the latter's drumming style; matters came to a head when Bowie, enraged, accused, "You're fudgeing up my album." Cambridge summarily quit and was replaced by Mick Woodmansey. Not long after, in a move that would result in years of litigation, at the conclusion of which Bowie would be forced to pay Pitt compensation, the singer fired his manager, replacing him with Tony Defries.

The studio sessions continued and resulted in Bowie's third album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970). Characterised by the heavy rock sound of his new backing band, it was a marked departure from the acoustic guitar and folk rock style established by Space Oddity. To promote it in the United States, Mercury Records financed a coast-to-coast publicity tour in which Bowie, between January and February 1971, was interviewed by radio stations and the media. Exploiting his androgynous appearance, the original cover of the UK version unveiled two months later would depict the singer wearing a dress: taking the garment with him, he wore it during interviews—to the approval of critics, including Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn who described him as "ravishing, almost disconcertingly reminiscent of Lauren Bacall"—and in the street, to mixed reaction including laughter and, in the case of one male pedestrian, producing a gun and telling Bowie to "kiss my ass". During the tour Bowie's observation of two seminal American proto-punk artists led him to develop a concept that would eventually find form in the Ziggy Stardust character: a melding of the persona of Iggy Pop with the music of Lou Reed, producing "the ultimate pop idol". A girlfriend recalled his "scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character "who looks like he's landed from Mars."

Hunky Dory (1971) found Visconti, Bowie's producer and bassist, supplanted in both roles, by Ken Scott and Trevor Bolder respectively. The album saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity", with light fare such as "Kooks", a song written for his son, Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones, born on 30 May. (His parents chose "his kooky name"—he would be known as Zowie for the next 12 years—after the Greek word zoe, life.) Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes, and found Bowie paying unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch", a Velvet Underground pastiche. It was not a significant commercial success at the time.
Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie during the Ziggy and the Spiders Tour

With his next venture, Bowie, in the words of biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture". Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972. The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the course of the next six months and creating, as described by Buckley, a "cult of Bowie" that was "unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom." The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), combining the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock and pop of Hunky Dory, was released in June. "Starman", issued as an April single ahead of the album, was to cement Bowie's UK breakthrough: both single and album charted rapidly following his July Top of the Pops performance of the song. The album, which would remain in the chart for two years, was soon joined there by the six-month-old Hunky Dory. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing", and "All the Young Dudes", a song he wrote and produced for Mott the Hoople, became UK hits. The Ziggy Stardust Tour continued to the United States.

Bowie contributed backing vocals to Reed's 1972 solo breakthrough Transformer, co-producing the album with Ronson. His own Aladdin Sane (1973) topped the UK chart, his first number one album. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", it contained songs he wrote while travelling to and across the United States during the earlier part of the Ziggy tour, which now continued to Japan to promote the new album. Aladdin Sane spawned the UK top five singles "The Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday".

Bowie's love of acting led his total immersion in the characters he created for his music. "Offstage I'm a robot. Onstage I achieve emotion. It's probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy to being David." With satisfaction came severe personal difficulties: acting the same role over an extended period, it became impossible for him to separate Ziggy Stardust—and, later, the Thin White Duke—from his own character offstage. Ziggy, Bowie said, "wouldn't leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to go sour ... My whole personality was affected. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity." His later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. Footage from the final show was released in 1983 for the film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

"Ziggy Stardust"
Play sound
Sample of "Ziggy Stardust" (1972). A pioneer of glam rock, Bowie performed as the character Ziggy Stardust, backed by the Spiders from Mars.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

After breaking up the Spiders from Mars, Bowie attempted to move on from his Ziggy persona. His back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with Space Oddity. "Life on Mars?", from Hunky Dory, was released in June 1973 and made number three in the UK singles chart. Entering the same chart in September, Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", would reach number four. Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, followed in October, producing a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. It brought the total number of Bowie albums currently in the UK chart to sixMain article: List of awards and nominations received by David Bowie

Bowie's 1969 commercial breakthrough, the song "Space Oddity", won him an Ivor Novello Special Award For Originality. For his performance in the 1976 science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In the ensuing decades he has been honoured with numerous awards for his music and its accompanying videos, receiving, among others, two Grammy Awards and two BRIT Awards.

In 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music the same year. He declined the British honour Commander of the British Empire in 2000, and a knighthood in 2003, stating: "I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for."

Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum, 11 Gold and 8 Silver albums, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold. In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked 29. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time.

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996.
Discography
Main article: David Bowie discography

    * David Bowie (1967)
    * Space Oddity (1969)
    * The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
    * Hunky Dory (1971)
    * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
    * Aladdin Sane (1973)
    * Pin Ups (1973)
    * Diamond Dogs (1974)
    * Young Americans (1975)
    * Station to Station (1976)
    * Low (1977)
    * "Heroes" (1977)
    * Lodger (1979)
    * Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
    * Let's Dance (1983)
    * Tonight (1984)
    * Never Let Me Down (1987)
    * Black Tie White Noise (1993)
    * The Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
    * Outside (1995)
    * Earthling (1997)
    * 'Hours...' (1999)
    * Heathen (2002)
    * Reality (2003)

See also
Book:David Bowie
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

    * 100 Greatest Britons
    * Best selling music artists
    * David Bowie filmography
    * Bowie Bonds
    * List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
    * List of David Bowie tours
    * List of number-one hits (United States)
    * List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
    * List of people who have declined a British honour
    * Low Symphony and Heroes Symphony
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w213/KellyJo09/evenmorebowie12.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/Schmoodles/GoblinKing.jpg
When David Bowie was setting out on his pop music career, he could not call himself David Jones because there was a pop performer already using that name as of Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/11 at 6:25 am


When David Bowie was setting out on his pop music career, he could not call himself David Jones because there was a pop performer already using that name as of Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Yes I remember that...I imagine that there a lot of Dave ( David) Jones' es

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/11 at 6:31 am

The word of the day is ...Whitewash
A mixture of lime and water, often with whiting, size, or glue added, that is used to whiten walls, fences, or other structures.
2. Concealment or palliation of flaws or failures.
3. A defeat in a game in which the loser scores no points.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/hollows99/whitewash.jpg
http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af250/VanceCrozier/Fi156%20Storch/Storch_mar22-004_sm.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g236/ivisionsofhope/WhiteWash.jpg
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv313/atlasfurniture/NEW%20YEARS%20SALE/40100Estate.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w139/almaswingwalk/May2007027.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/11 at 6:35 am

The person of the day...Richard Nixon
ichard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 to 1974, having formerly been the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. A member of the Republican Party, he was the only President to resign the office as well as the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.

Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law in La Habra. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific theater, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He was elected in 1946 as a Republican to the House of Representatives representing California's 12th Congressional district, and in 1950 to the United States Senate. He was selected to be the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party nominee, in the 1952 Presidential election, becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents in history. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of California in 1962; following these losses, Nixon announced his withdrawal from political life. In 1968, however, he ran again for president of the United States and was elected.

The most immediate task facing President Nixon was a resolution of the Vietnam War. He initially escalated the conflict, overseeing incursions into neighboring countries, though American military personnel were gradually withdrawn and he successfully negotiated a ceasefire with North Vietnam in 1973, effectively ending American involvement in the war. His foreign policy initiatives were largely successful: his groundbreaking visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. On the domestic front, he implemented the concept of New Federalism, transferring power from the federal government to the states; new economic policies which called for wage and price control and the abolition of the gold standard; sweeping environmental reforms, including the Clean Air Act and creation of the EPA; the launch of the War on Cancer and War on Drugs; reforms empowering women, including Title IX; and the desegregation of schools in the deep South. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972. He continued many reforms in his second term, though the nation was afflicted with an energy crisis. In the face of likely impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. He was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.

In his retirement, Nixon became a prolific author and undertook many foreign trips. His work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at the age of 81.
Nixon was inaugurated on January 20, 1969. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open to Isaiah 2:4, reading, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker." He spoke about turning partisan politics into a new age of unity:

    In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading. We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another, until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

Nixon set out to reconstruct the Western Alliance, develop a relationship with China, pursue arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, activate a peace process in the Middle East, restrain inflation, implement anti-crime measures, accelerate desegregation, and reform welfare. The most immediate task, however, was the Vietnam War.
The Nixon Cabinet
Office Name Term
President Richard Nixon 1969–1974
Vice President Spiro Agnew 1969–1973
Gerald Ford 1973–1974
Secretary of State William P. Rogers 1969–1973
Henry Kissinger 1973–1974
Secretary of Treasury David M. Kennedy 1969–1971
John Connally 1971–1972
George Shultz 1972–1974
William Simon 1974
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird 1969–1973
Elliot Richardson 1973
James Schlesinger 1973–1974
Attorney General John N. Mitchell 1969–1972
Richard Kleindienst 1972–1973
Elliot Richardson 1973
William B. Saxbe 1974
Postmaster General Winton M. Blount 1969–1971
Secretary of the Interior Walter Joseph Hickel 1969–1971
Rogers Morton 1971–1974
Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin 1969–1971
Earl Butz 1971–1974
Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans 1969–1972
Peter Peterson 1972–1973
Frederick B. Dent 1973–1974
Secretary of Labor George Shultz 1969–1970
James D. Hodgson 1970–1973
Peter J. Brennan 1973–1974
Secretary of Health,
Education, and Welfare Robert Finch 1969–1970
Elliot Richardson 1970–1973
Caspar Weinberger 1973–1974
Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development George W. Romney 1969–1973
James Thomas Lynn 1973–1974
Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe 1969–1973
Claude Brinegar 1973–1974
Richard Nixon with French president Georges Pompidou in Reykjavík, Iceland, 31 May 1973.
Vietnam War
Main articles: Vietnam War and Role of United States in the Vietnam War

When Nixon took office, 300 American soldiers were dying per week in Vietnam. The Johnson administration had negotiated a deal in which the U.S. would suspend bombing in North Vietnam in exchange for unconditional negotiations, but this faltered. Nixon faced the choice of devising a new policy to chance securing South Vietnam as a non-communist state, or withdrawing American forces completely.

Nixon approved a secret bombing campaign of North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia in March 1969 (code-named Operation Menu) to destroy what was believed to be the headquarters of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam. The Air Force considered the bombings a success. He then proposed simultaneous substantial withdrawals of North Vietnamese and American forces from South Vietnam one year after reaching a mutual agreement. In June 1969, in a campaign fulfillment, Nixon reduced troop strength in Vietnam by 25,000 soldiers, who returned home to the United States. From 1969 to 1972 troop reduction in Vietnam was estimated to be 405,000 soldiers.

In July 1969, the Nixons visited South Vietnam, where President Nixon met with his U.S. military commanders and President Nguyen Van Thieu. Amid protests at home, he implemented what became known as the Nixon Doctrine, a strategy of replacing American troops with Vietnamese troops, also called "Vietnamization". He soon enacted phased U.S. troop withdrawals but authorized incursions into Laos, in part to interrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail that passed through Laos and Cambodia. Nixon's 1968 campaign promise to curb the war and his subsequent Laos bombing raised questions in the press about a "credibility gap", similar to that encountered earlier in the war by Lyndon B. Johnson. In a televised speech on April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the incursion of U.S. troops into Cambodia to disrupt so-called North Vietnamese sanctuaries. This led to protest and student strikes that temporarily closed 536 universities, colleges, and high schools.

Nixon formed the Gates Commission to look into ending the military service draft, implemented under President Johnson. The Gates Commission issued its report in February 1970, describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without conscription. The draft was extended to June 1973, and then ended. Military pay was increased as an incentive to attract volunteers, and television advertising for the United States Army began for the first time.

In December 1972, though concerned about the level of civilian casualties, Nixon approved Linebacker II, the codename for aerial bombings of military and industrial targets in North Vietnam. After years of fighting, the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The treaty, however, made no provision that 145,000–160,000 North Vietnam Army regulars located in the Central Highlands and other areas of S. Vietnam had to withdraw. Under President Nixon, American involvement in the war steadily declined from a troop strength of 543,000 to zero in 1973. Once American support was diminished, in 1975, North Vietnam was able to conquer South Vietnam and formed one country.
Economy
Main article: Nixon Shock

Under Nixon, direct payments from the federal government to individual American citizens in government benefits (including Social Security and Medicare) rose from 6.3% of the Gross National Product (GNP) to 8.9%. Food aid and public assistance also rose, beginning at $6.6 billion and escalating to $9.1 billion. Defense spending decreased from 9.1% to 5.8% of the GNP. The revenue sharing program pioneered by Nixon delivered $80 billion to individual states and municipalities.

In 1970, the Democratic Congress passed the Economic Stabilization Act, giving Nixon power to set wages and prices; Congress did not believe the president would use the new controls and felt this would make him appear to be indecisive. While opposed to permanent wage and price controls, Nixon imposed the controls on a temporary basis in a 90 day wage and price freeze. The controls (enforced for large corporations, voluntary for others) were the largest since World War II; they were relaxed after the initial 90 days. Nixon then spoke to the American public, saying that by "Working together, we will break the back of inflation."

A Pay Board set wage controls limiting increases to 5.5% per year, and the Price Commission set a 2.5% annual limit on price increases. The limits did help to control wages, but not inflation. Overall, however, the controls were viewed as successful in the short term and were popular with the public, who felt Nixon was rescuing them from price-gougers and from a foreign-caused exchange crisis.

Nixon was worried about the effects of increasing inflation and accelerating unemployment, so he indexed Social Security for inflation, and created Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In 1969, he had presented the only balanced budget between 1961 and 1998. However, despite speeches declaring an opposition to the idea, he decided to offer Congress a budget with deficit spending to reduce unemployment and declared, "Now I am a Keynesian".
Nixon in the Oval Office

Another large part of Nixon's plan was the detachment of the dollar from the gold standard. By the time Nixon took office, U.S. gold reserves had declined from $25 billion to $10.5 billion. Gold was an underpriced commodity, as the dollar was overpriced as a currency. The United States was on the verge of running its first trade deficit in over 75 years. The price of gold had been set at $35 an ounce since the days of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency; foreign countries acquired more dollar reserves, outnumbering the entire amount of gold the United States possessed. Nixon completely eradicated the gold standard, preventing other countries from being able to claim gold in exchange for their dollar reserves, but also weakening the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies and increasing inflation by driving up the cost of imports. Nixon felt that the dollar should float freely like other currencies. Said Nixon in his speech:

    "The American dollar must never again be a hostage in the hands of international speculators.... Government... does not hold the key to the success of a people. That key... is in your hands. Every action I have taken tonight is designed to nurture and stimulate that competitive spirit to help us snap out of self-doubt, the self-disparagement that saps our energy and erodes our confidence in ourselves... Whether the nation stays Number One depends on your competitive spirit, your sense of personal destiny, your pride in your country and yourself."

Other parts of the Nixon plan included the reimposition of a 10% investment tax credit, assistance to the automobile industry in the form of removal of excise taxes (provided the savings were passed directly to the consumer), an end to fixed exchange rates, devaluation of the dollar on the free market, and a 10% tax on all imports into the U.S. Income per family rose, and unionization declined.

Nixon wanted to lift the spirits of the country as polls showed increasing concern about the economy. His program was viewed by nearly everyone as exceptionally bold, and astounded the Democrats. Nixon soon experienced a bounce in the polls. His economic program was determined to be a clear success by December 1971. One of Nixon's economic advisers, Herbert Stein, wrote: "Probably more new regulation was imposed on the economy during the Nixon administration than in any other presidency since the New Deal."
Initiatives within the federal government

Noam Chomsky remarked that, in many respects, Nixon was "the last liberal president." Indeed, Nixon believed in using government wisely to benefit all and supported the idea of practical liberalism.

Nixon initiated the Environmental Decade by signing the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972, as well as establishing many government agencies. These included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Council on Environmental Quality. The Clean Air Act was noted as one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation ever signed.

In 1971, Nixon proposed the creation of four new government departments superseding the current structure: departments organized for the goal of efficient and effective public service as opposed to the thematic bases of Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Agriculture, et al. Departments including the State, Treasury, Defense, and Justice would remain under this proposal. He reorganized the Post Office Department from a cabinet department to a government-owned corporation: the U.S. Postal Service.

On June 17, 1971, Nixon formally declared the U.S. War on Drugs.

On October 30, 1972 Nixon signed into law the Social Security Amendments of 1972 which included the creation of the Supplemental Security Income Program, a Federal Welfare Program still in existence today.

Nixon cut billions of dollars in federal spending and expanded the power of the Office of Management and Budget. He established the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1972 and supported the Legacy of parks program, which transferred ownership of federally owned land to the states, resulting in the establishment of state parks and beaches, recreational areas, and environmental education centers.
Civil rights

The Nixon years witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the South. Strategically, Nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist George C. Wallace and liberal Democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some Southern white Democrats. He was determined to implement exactly what the courts had ordered— desegregation — but did not favor busing children, in the words of author Conrad Black, "all over the country to satisfy the capricious meddling of judges." Nixon, a Quaker, felt that racism was the greatest moral failure of the United States and concentrated on the principle that the law must be color-blind: "I am convinced that while legal segregation is totally wrong, forced integration of housing or education is just as wrong."

Nixon tied desegregation to improving the quality of education and enforced the law after the Supreme Court, in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969), prohibited further delays. By the fall of 1970, two million southern black children had enrolled in newly created unitary fully integrated school districts; only 18% of Southern black children were still attending all-black schools, a decrease from 70% when Nixon came to office. Nixon's Cabinet Committee on Education, under the leadership of Labor Secretary George P. Shultz, quietly set up local biracial committees to assure smooth compliance without violence or political grandstanding. "In this sense, Nixon was the greatest school desegregator in American history," historian Dean Kotlowski concluded. Author Conrad Black concurred: "In his singular, unsung way, Richard Nixon defanged and healed one of the potentially greatest controversies of the time." Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Nixon's presidential counselor, commented in 1970 that “There has been more change in the structure of American public school education in the last month than in the past 100 years.”

In addition to desegregating public schools, Nixon implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program in 1970. Nixon also endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment after it passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and went to the states for ratification as a Constitutional amendment. Nixon had campaigned as an ERA supporter in 1968, though feminists criticized him for doing little to help the ERA or their cause after his election, which led to a much stronger women's rights agenda. Nixon increased the number of female appointees to administration positions. Nixon signed the landmark laws Title IX in 1972, prohibiting gender discrimination in all federally funded schools and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. In 1970 Nixon had vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, denouncing the universal child-care bill, but signed into law Title X, which was a step forward for family planning and contraceptives.

It was during the Nixon Presidency that the Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade ruling, legalizing abortion. First Lady Pat Nixon had been outspoken about her support for legalized abortion, a goal for many feminists (though there was a significant pro-life minority faction of the Women's Liberation Movement as well). Nixon himself did not speak out publicly on the abortion issue, but was personally pro-choice, and believed that, in certain cases such as rape, abortion was an option.
The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of illegal and secret activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. The activities became known in the aftermath of five men being caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The Washington Post picked up on the story, while reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an FBI informant known as "Deep Throat" to link the men to the Nixon White House. This became one of a series of scandalous acts involving the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, and his White House denounced the story as biased and misleading. As the FBI eventually confirmed that Nixon aides had attempted to sabotage the Democrats, many began resigning and senior aides faced prosecution.

Nixon's alleged role in ordering a cover-up came to light after the testimony of John Dean. In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had a secret taping system that recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office. Unlike the tape recordings by earlier Presidents, Nixon's were subpoenaed. The White House refused to release them, citing executive privilege. A tentative deal was reached in which the White House would provide written summaries of the tapes, but this was rejected by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, a former member of the Kennedy administration. Cox was fired at the White House's request and was replaced by Leon Jaworski, a former member of the Johnson administration. Jaworski revealed an audio tape of conversations held in the White House on June 20, 1972, which featured an unexplained 18½ minute gap. The first deleted section of about five minutes has been attributed to human error by Rose Mary Woods, the President's personal secretary, who admitted accidentally wiping the section while transcribing the tape. The gap, while not conclusive proof of wrong-doing by the President, cast doubt on Nixon's claim that he was unaware of the cover-up.
Nixon displays the V-for-victory sign as he departs the White House for the final time.

Though Nixon lost much popular support, including from some in his own party, he rejected accusations of wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office. He insisted that he had made mistakes, but had no prior knowledge of the burglary, did not break any laws, and did not learn of the coverup until early 1973. On November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press, Nixon said,

    "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."


Richard Nixon's resignation speech
Play sound
Resignation speech of President Richard Nixon, delivered August 8, 1974.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In April 1974, Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides. Despite this, the House Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats, opened impeachment hearings against the President on May 9, 1974. These hearings resulted in bi-partisan votes for Articles of Impeachment, the first vote being 27-11 in favor on July 27, 1974 on obstruction of justice. On July 24, the Supreme Court (including 5 Republican-appointed Justices, three of them appointed by Nixon) then ruled unanimously in the case of United States v. Nixon that the tapes must be released to Jaworski; one of the secret recordings, known as the Smoking Gun tape, was released on August 5, 1974, and revealed that Nixon knew of the cover-up from its inception and had suggested to administration officials that they try to stop the FBI's investigation. In light of his loss of political support and the near certainty of impeachment, Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening.

The resignation speech was delivered on August 8, 1974, at 9:01 p.m. Eastern time from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. The core of the speech was Nixon's announcement that Gerald Ford, as Vice President, would succeed to the presidency, effective at noon Eastern time the next day. Around this announcement, he discussed his feelings about his presidential work and general political issues that would need attention once he left. He never admitted to criminal wrongdoing, although he conceded errors of judgment. During the Watergate scandal, Nixon's approval rating fell to 23%. On May 28, 2009, speaking to Republicans in Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, Ed Nixon said that his brother did not resign "in disgrace" but "resigned in honor. It was a disappointment to him because his missions were cut short." He also said that his brother "held the office of president in high regard."
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/kacee8816/Nixon.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb262/mechado_2007/nixon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/11 at 6:36 am


How's your computer situation these days?

The computer is great Jeff. I have a new tower, keyboard and mouse.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 7:43 am


Thanks :) I've missed being on


I missed word of the day. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 7:43 am


The computer is great Jeff. I have a new tower, keyboard and mouse.
That is brilliant news!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 7:45 am

I liked the video Let's Dance and also when he teamed up with Mick Jagger in 1985 for Dancing In The Street.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 7:47 am


The person of the day...Richard Nixon
ichard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from 1969 to 1974, having formerly been the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. A member of the Republican Party, he was the only President to resign the office as well as the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.

Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law in La Habra. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific theater, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He was elected in 1946 as a Republican to the House of Representatives representing California's 12th Congressional district, and in 1950 to the United States Senate. He was selected to be the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party nominee, in the 1952 Presidential election, becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents in history. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of California in 1962; following these losses, Nixon announced his withdrawal from political life. In 1968, however, he ran again for president of the United States and was elected.

The most immediate task facing President Nixon was a resolution of the Vietnam War. He initially escalated the conflict, overseeing incursions into neighboring countries, though American military personnel were gradually withdrawn and he successfully negotiated a ceasefire with North Vietnam in 1973, effectively ending American involvement in the war. His foreign policy initiatives were largely successful: his groundbreaking visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. On the domestic front, he implemented the concept of New Federalism, transferring power from the federal government to the states; new economic policies which called for wage and price control and the abolition of the gold standard; sweeping environmental reforms, including the Clean Air Act and creation of the EPA; the launch of the War on Cancer and War on Drugs; reforms empowering women, including Title IX; and the desegregation of schools in the deep South. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972. He continued many reforms in his second term, though the nation was afflicted with an energy crisis. In the face of likely impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. He was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.

In his retirement, Nixon became a prolific author and undertook many foreign trips. His work as an elder statesman helped to rehabilitate his public image. He suffered a debilitating stroke on April 18, 1994, and died four days later at the age of 81.
Nixon was inaugurated on January 20, 1969. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open to Isaiah 2:4, reading, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker." He spoke about turning partisan politics into a new age of unity:

   In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading. We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another, until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

Nixon set out to reconstruct the Western Alliance, develop a relationship with China, pursue arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, activate a peace process in the Middle East, restrain inflation, implement anti-crime measures, accelerate desegregation, and reform welfare. The most immediate task, however, was the Vietnam War.
The Nixon Cabinet
Office Name Term
President Richard Nixon 1969–1974
Vice President Spiro Agnew 1969–1973
Gerald Ford 1973–1974
Secretary of State William P. Rogers 1969–1973
Henry Kissinger 1973–1974
Secretary of Treasury David M. Kennedy 1969–1971
John Connally 1971–1972
George Shultz 1972–1974
William Simon 1974
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird 1969–1973
Elliot Richardson 1973
James Schlesinger 1973–1974
Attorney General John N. Mitchell 1969–1972
Richard Kleindienst 1972–1973
Elliot Richardson 1973
William B. Saxbe 1974
Postmaster General Winton M. Blount 1969–1971
Secretary of the Interior Walter Joseph Hickel 1969–1971
Rogers Morton 1971–1974
Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin 1969–1971
Earl Butz 1971–1974
Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans 1969–1972
Peter Peterson 1972–1973
Frederick B. Dent 1973–1974
Secretary of Labor George Shultz 1969–1970
James D. Hodgson 1970–1973
Peter J. Brennan 1973–1974
Secretary of Health,
Education, and Welfare Robert Finch 1969–1970
Elliot Richardson 1970–1973
Caspar Weinberger 1973–1974
Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development George W. Romney 1969–1973
James Thomas Lynn 1973–1974
Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe 1969–1973
Claude Brinegar 1973–1974
Richard Nixon with French president Georges Pompidou in Reykjavík, Iceland, 31 May 1973.
Vietnam War
Main articles: Vietnam War and Role of United States in the Vietnam War

When Nixon took office, 300 American soldiers were dying per week in Vietnam. The Johnson administration had negotiated a deal in which the U.S. would suspend bombing in North Vietnam in exchange for unconditional negotiations, but this faltered. Nixon faced the choice of devising a new policy to chance securing South Vietnam as a non-communist state, or withdrawing American forces completely.

Nixon approved a secret bombing campaign of North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia in March 1969 (code-named Operation Menu) to destroy what was believed to be the headquarters of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam. The Air Force considered the bombings a success. He then proposed simultaneous substantial withdrawals of North Vietnamese and American forces from South Vietnam one year after reaching a mutual agreement. In June 1969, in a campaign fulfillment, Nixon reduced troop strength in Vietnam by 25,000 soldiers, who returned home to the United States. From 1969 to 1972 troop reduction in Vietnam was estimated to be 405,000 soldiers.

In July 1969, the Nixons visited South Vietnam, where President Nixon met with his U.S. military commanders and President Nguyen Van Thieu. Amid protests at home, he implemented what became known as the Nixon Doctrine, a strategy of replacing American troops with Vietnamese troops, also called "Vietnamization". He soon enacted phased U.S. troop withdrawals but authorized incursions into Laos, in part to interrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail that passed through Laos and Cambodia. Nixon's 1968 campaign promise to curb the war and his subsequent Laos bombing raised questions in the press about a "credibility gap", similar to that encountered earlier in the war by Lyndon B. Johnson. In a televised speech on April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the incursion of U.S. troops into Cambodia to disrupt so-called North Vietnamese sanctuaries. This led to protest and student strikes that temporarily closed 536 universities, colleges, and high schools.

Nixon formed the Gates Commission to look into ending the military service draft, implemented under President Johnson. The Gates Commission issued its report in February 1970, describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without conscription. The draft was extended to June 1973, and then ended. Military pay was increased as an incentive to attract volunteers, and television advertising for the United States Army began for the first time.

In December 1972, though concerned about the level of civilian casualties, Nixon approved Linebacker II, the codename for aerial bombings of military and industrial targets in North Vietnam. After years of fighting, the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The treaty, however, made no provision that 145,000–160,000 North Vietnam Army regulars located in the Central Highlands and other areas of S. Vietnam had to withdraw. Under President Nixon, American involvement in the war steadily declined from a troop strength of 543,000 to zero in 1973. Once American support was diminished, in 1975, North Vietnam was able to conquer South Vietnam and formed one country.
Economy
Main article: Nixon Shock

Under Nixon, direct payments from the federal government to individual American citizens in government benefits (including Social Security and Medicare) rose from 6.3% of the Gross National Product (GNP) to 8.9%. Food aid and public assistance also rose, beginning at $6.6 billion and escalating to $9.1 billion. Defense spending decreased from 9.1% to 5.8% of the GNP. The revenue sharing program pioneered by Nixon delivered $80 billion to individual states and municipalities.

In 1970, the Democratic Congress passed the Economic Stabilization Act, giving Nixon power to set wages and prices; Congress did not believe the president would use the new controls and felt this would make him appear to be indecisive. While opposed to permanent wage and price controls, Nixon imposed the controls on a temporary basis in a 90 day wage and price freeze. The controls (enforced for large corporations, voluntary for others) were the largest since World War II; they were relaxed after the initial 90 days. Nixon then spoke to the American public, saying that by "Working together, we will break the back of inflation."

A Pay Board set wage controls limiting increases to 5.5% per year, and the Price Commission set a 2.5% annual limit on price increases. The limits did help to control wages, but not inflation. Overall, however, the controls were viewed as successful in the short term and were popular with the public, who felt Nixon was rescuing them from price-gougers and from a foreign-caused exchange crisis.

Nixon was worried about the effects of increasing inflation and accelerating unemployment, so he indexed Social Security for inflation, and created Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In 1969, he had presented the only balanced budget between 1961 and 1998. However, despite speeches declaring an opposition to the idea, he decided to offer Congress a budget with deficit spending to reduce unemployment and declared, "Now I am a Keynesian".
Nixon in the Oval Office

Another large part of Nixon's plan was the detachment of the dollar from the gold standard. By the time Nixon took office, U.S. gold reserves had declined from $25 billion to $10.5 billion. Gold was an underpriced commodity, as the dollar was overpriced as a currency. The United States was on the verge of running its first trade deficit in over 75 years. The price of gold had been set at $35 an ounce since the days of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency; foreign countries acquired more dollar reserves, outnumbering the entire amount of gold the United States possessed. Nixon completely eradicated the gold standard, preventing other countries from being able to claim gold in exchange for their dollar reserves, but also weakening the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies and increasing inflation by driving up the cost of imports. Nixon felt that the dollar should float freely like other currencies. Said Nixon in his speech:

   "The American dollar must never again be a hostage in the hands of international speculators.... Government... does not hold the key to the success of a people. That key... is in your hands. Every action I have taken tonight is designed to nurture and stimulate that competitive spirit to help us snap out of self-doubt, the self-disparagement that saps our energy and erodes our confidence in ourselves... Whether the nation stays Number One depends on your competitive spirit, your sense of personal destiny, your pride in your country and yourself."

Other parts of the Nixon plan included the reimposition of a 10% investment tax credit, assistance to the automobile industry in the form of removal of excise taxes (provided the savings were passed directly to the consumer), an end to fixed exchange rates, devaluation of the dollar on the free market, and a 10% tax on all imports into the U.S. Income per family rose, and unionization declined.

Nixon wanted to lift the spirits of the country as polls showed increasing concern about the economy. His program was viewed by nearly everyone as exceptionally bold, and astounded the Democrats. Nixon soon experienced a bounce in the polls. His economic program was determined to be a clear success by December 1971. One of Nixon's economic advisers, Herbert Stein, wrote: "Probably more new regulation was imposed on the economy during the Nixon administration than in any other presidency since the New Deal."
Initiatives within the federal government

Noam Chomsky remarked that, in many respects, Nixon was "the last liberal president." Indeed, Nixon believed in using government wisely to benefit all and supported the idea of practical liberalism.

Nixon initiated the Environmental Decade by signing the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972, as well as establishing many government agencies. These included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Council on Environmental Quality. The Clean Air Act was noted as one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation ever signed.

In 1971, Nixon proposed the creation of four new government departments superseding the current structure: departments organized for the goal of efficient and effective public service as opposed to the thematic bases of Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Agriculture, et al. Departments including the State, Treasury, Defense, and Justice would remain under this proposal. He reorganized the Post Office Department from a cabinet department to a government-owned corporation: the U.S. Postal Service.

On June 17, 1971, Nixon formally declared the U.S. War on Drugs.

On October 30, 1972 Nixon signed into law the Social Security Amendments of 1972 which included the creation of the Supplemental Security Income Program, a Federal Welfare Program still in existence today.

Nixon cut billions of dollars in federal spending and expanded the power of the Office of Management and Budget. He established the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1972 and supported the Legacy of parks program, which transferred ownership of federally owned land to the states, resulting in the establishment of state parks and beaches, recreational areas, and environmental education centers.
Civil rights

The Nixon years witnessed the first large-scale integration of public schools in the South. Strategically, Nixon sought a middle way between the segregationist George C. Wallace and liberal Democrats, whose support of integration was alienating some Southern white Democrats. He was determined to implement exactly what the courts had ordered— desegregation — but did not favor busing children, in the words of author Conrad Black, "all over the country to satisfy the capricious meddling of judges." Nixon, a Quaker, felt that racism was the greatest moral failure of the United States and concentrated on the principle that the law must be color-blind: "I am convinced that while legal segregation is totally wrong, forced integration of housing or education is just as wrong."

Nixon tied desegregation to improving the quality of education and enforced the law after the Supreme Court, in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969), prohibited further delays. By the fall of 1970, two million southern black children had enrolled in newly created unitary fully integrated school districts; only 18% of Southern black children were still attending all-black schools, a decrease from 70% when Nixon came to office. Nixon's Cabinet Committee on Education, under the leadership of Labor Secretary George P. Shultz, quietly set up local biracial committees to assure smooth compliance without violence or political grandstanding. "In this sense, Nixon was the greatest school desegregator in American history," historian Dean Kotlowski concluded. Author Conrad Black concurred: "In his singular, unsung way, Richard Nixon defanged and healed one of the potentially greatest controversies of the time." Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Nixon's presidential counselor, commented in 1970 that “There has been more change in the structure of American public school education in the last month than in the past 100 years.”

In addition to desegregating public schools, Nixon implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program in 1970. Nixon also endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment after it passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and went to the states for ratification as a Constitutional amendment. Nixon had campaigned as an ERA supporter in 1968, though feminists criticized him for doing little to help the ERA or their cause after his election, which led to a much stronger women's rights agenda. Nixon increased the number of female appointees to administration positions. Nixon signed the landmark laws Title IX in 1972, prohibiting gender discrimination in all federally funded schools and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. In 1970 Nixon had vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, denouncing the universal child-care bill, but signed into law Title X, which was a step forward for family planning and contraceptives.

It was during the Nixon Presidency that the Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade ruling, legalizing abortion. First Lady Pat Nixon had been outspoken about her support for legalized abortion, a goal for many feminists (though there was a significant pro-life minority faction of the Women's Liberation Movement as well). Nixon himself did not speak out publicly on the abortion issue, but was personally pro-choice, and believed that, in certain cases such as rape, abortion was an option.
The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of illegal and secret activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. The activities became known in the aftermath of five men being caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The Washington Post picked up on the story, while reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an FBI informant known as "Deep Throat" to link the men to the Nixon White House. This became one of a series of scandalous acts involving the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, and his White House denounced the story as biased and misleading. As the FBI eventually confirmed that Nixon aides had attempted to sabotage the Democrats, many began resigning and senior aides faced prosecution.

Nixon's alleged role in ordering a cover-up came to light after the testimony of John Dean. In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had a secret taping system that recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office. Unlike the tape recordings by earlier Presidents, Nixon's were subpoenaed. The White House refused to release them, citing executive privilege. A tentative deal was reached in which the White House would provide written summaries of the tapes, but this was rejected by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, a former member of the Kennedy administration. Cox was fired at the White House's request and was replaced by Leon Jaworski, a former member of the Johnson administration. Jaworski revealed an audio tape of conversations held in the White House on June 20, 1972, which featured an unexplained 18½ minute gap. The first deleted section of about five minutes has been attributed to human error by Rose Mary Woods, the President's personal secretary, who admitted accidentally wiping the section while transcribing the tape. The gap, while not conclusive proof of wrong-doing by the President, cast doubt on Nixon's claim that he was unaware of the cover-up.
Nixon displays the V-for-victory sign as he departs the White House for the final time.

Though Nixon lost much popular support, including from some in his own party, he rejected accusations of wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office. He insisted that he had made mistakes, but had no prior knowledge of the burglary, did not break any laws, and did not learn of the coverup until early 1973. On November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press, Nixon said,

   "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."


Richard Nixon's resignation speech
Play sound
Resignation speech of President Richard Nixon, delivered August 8, 1974.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In April 1974, Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides. Despite this, the House Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats, opened impeachment hearings against the President on May 9, 1974. These hearings resulted in bi-partisan votes for Articles of Impeachment, the first vote being 27-11 in favor on July 27, 1974 on obstruction of justice. On July 24, the Supreme Court (including 5 Republican-appointed Justices, three of them appointed by Nixon) then ruled unanimously in the case of United States v. Nixon that the tapes must be released to Jaworski; one of the secret recordings, known as the Smoking Gun tape, was released on August 5, 1974, and revealed that Nixon knew of the cover-up from its inception and had suggested to administration officials that they try to stop the FBI's investigation. In light of his loss of political support and the near certainty of impeachment, Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening.

The resignation speech was delivered on August 8, 1974, at 9:01 p.m. Eastern time from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. The core of the speech was Nixon's announcement that Gerald Ford, as Vice President, would succeed to the presidency, effective at noon Eastern time the next day. Around this announcement, he discussed his feelings about his presidential work and general political issues that would need attention once he left. He never admitted to criminal wrongdoing, although he conceded errors of judgment. During the Watergate scandal, Nixon's approval rating fell to 23%. On May 28, 2009, speaking to Republicans in Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, Ed Nixon said that his brother did not resign "in disgrace" but "resigned in honor. It was a disappointment to him because his missions were cut short." He also said that his brother "held the office of president in high regard."
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/kacee8816/Nixon.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb262/mechado_2007/nixon.jpg
“There will be no whitewash in the White House.”

Richard M. Nixon

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 7:48 am


I liked the video Let's Dance and also when he teamed up with Mick Jagger in 1985 for Dancing In The Street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4jnaznUoQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/11 at 7:54 am


I missed word of the day. :)

Hi Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 7:54 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4jnaznUoQ



God,this video had the word "fruity" written all over it,God! ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 7:55 am


Hi Howie :)



Hey Ninny haven't seen you in 3 months.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 7:57 am



God,this video had the word "fruity" written all over it,God! ::)
It was first shown at Live Aid.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 7:58 am


It was first shown at Live Aid.


Then on MTV? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 7:59 am


Then on MTV? ???
Not shown on MTV now?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 8:01 am


Not shown on MTV now?


probably the classics.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/09/11 at 10:40 am

Famous quotes from Nixon:

"I'm not a crook."
"Sock it to me?"



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 11:20 am


Famous quotes from Nixon:

"I'm not a crook."
"Sock it to me?"



Cat
Did he have those quotes recorded on tape?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/09/11 at 12:02 pm


Did he have those quotes recorded on tape?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFEhmF-cSi8



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/09/11 at 12:51 pm


Famous quotes from Nixon:

"I'm not a crook."
"Sock it to me?"



Cat


And also The Watergate Scandal.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/11 at 1:18 pm


And also The Watergate Scandal.
Need we say more?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/11 at 10:22 am

The word of the day is ...Bottle
# a glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
# store (liquids or gases) in bottles
# the quantity contained in a bottle
# put into bottles; "bottle the mineral water"
# a vessel fitted with a flexible teat and filled with milk or formula; used as a substitute for breast feeding infants and very young children
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# A bottle is a rigid container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, ink ...
http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff398/tsaia/010520112001.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff157/hrtsofire2000/Babies/HPIM1803.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/kspicza/bottle.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rfelix715/Jamaica/SSPX0901.jpg
http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l515/lushussmissilatina/bottle.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/11 at 10:25 am

The person of the day is ... Jim Croce
James Joseph "Jim" Croce (pronounced /ˈkroʊtʃi/; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released six studio albums and eleven singles. His singles "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle" were both number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
James Joseph Croce, better known as Jim Croce, was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 10, 1943, to Jim and Flora Croce. Jim took a strong interest in music at a very young age. At five, he learned to play his first song on the accordion, “Lady of Spain.” He says, "I was the original underachiever. I'd shake that thing and smile, but I was sort of a late bloomer." Croce attended Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. After his graduation in 1960, Croce went to work for a construction company, staying employed there for three years before deciding to enroll at Villanova University in 1964. During his time as a student at the university, Croce became a member of the Villanova Singers and Villanova Spires, and was a student disc jockey at WXVU.

Croce didn't take music seriously other than a hobby until his time at Villanova, where he formed various bands, performing at fraternity parties, coffee houses, and at universities around Philadelphia, playing "anything that the people wanted to hear: blues, rock, a cappella, railroad music... anything." One of those bands was chosen for a foreign exchange tour of Africa and the Middle East. "We had a good time," Croce later recalled. "We just ate what the people ate, lived in the woods, and played our songs. Of course they didn't speak English over there... but if you mean what you're singing, people understand."

Croce met his future wife Ingrid Jacobson at this time, during a hootenanny at Philadelphia Convention Hall, where he was judging a contest. When they married, he converted to Judaism.
Early career

From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, Croce performed with his wife as a duo. At first, their performances included songs by artists such as Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Woody Guthrie, but in time, they began writing their own music. During this time, Croce got his first long-term gig at a rural bar and steak house in Lima, Pennsylvania, called The Riddle Paddock. His set list included every genre from blues to country to rock 'n roll to folk, with soon-to-be-trademark tender love songs and traditional bawdy ballads, always introduced with a story and an impish grin.

In 1968, Jim and Ingrid Croce were encouraged by record producer Tommy West to move to New York City and record their first album with Capitol Records. During the next two years, they drove more than 300,000 miles playing small clubs and concerts on the college concert circuit promoting their album Jim & Ingrid Croce.

Becoming disillusioned by the music business specifically and New York City in general, they sold all but one guitar to pay the rent and they returned to the Pennsylvania countryside where Jim got a job driving trucks and doing construction to pay the bills while continuing to write songs, often about the characters he enjoyed meeting at the local bars and truck stops.

The couple returned to Philadelphia and Jim decided to be "serious" about becoming a productive member of society. But it was hard to make a living playing in a band, and his previous employment experiences had lost their appeal: "I'd worked construction crews, and I'd been a welder while I was in college. But I'd rather do other things than get burned." His determination to be "serious" led to a job at a Philadelphia R&B radio station, where he translated commercials into soul. "I'd sell airtime to Bronco's Poolroom and then write the spot: "You wanna be cool, and you wanna shoot pool... dig it." Increasingly frustrated, he quit to teach guitar at a summer camp and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He did not have a very illustrious military career, but said he would be prepared if "there's ever a war where we have to defend ourselves with mops".
Success

In 1970, Croce met the classically trained pianist/guitarist and singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen from Trenton, New Jersey through producer Joe Salviuolo (aka Sal Joseph). Salviuolo had been friends with Croce when they attended Villanova University together, and Salviuolo later discovered Muehleisen when he was teaching at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. Salviuolo brought the Croce and Muehleisen duo together at the production office of Tommy West and Terry Cashman in New York City. Initially, Croce backed Muehleisen on guitar at his gigs. but in time, their roles reversed, with Muehleisen adding lead guitar to Croce's down-to-earth music.

In 1972, Croce signed to a three-record deal with ABC Records and released two LPs, You Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life & Times that same year. The singles "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)", and "Time in a Bottle" (written for his then-unborn son, A. J. Croce) all received airplay. Croce's biggest single, "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", hit #1 on the American charts in July 1973.
Death

Croce, 30, Maury Muehleisen, 24, and four others died in a small commercial plane crash on September 20, 1973, shortly before his ABC single, "I Got a Name", was to be released.

Croce had just completed a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and was flying to Sherman, Texas, for a concert at Austin College. The pilot and all passengers (Croce; Muehleisen; Croce's booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose; George Stevens, the comic who was the show's warm-up act; and Dennis Rast, another passenger) were killed instantly at 10:45 p.m. EDT on September 20, 1973, less than an hour after the end of the concert.

Upon takeoff from Natchitoches Regional Airport, despite excellent visibility, the Beechcraft E18 plane did not gain enough altitude to clear a pecan tree at the end of the runway, which investigators said was the only tree for hundreds of yards. The official report from the NTSB hints that the charter pilot, Robert Newton Elliott, who had severe coronary artery disease and had run a portion of the three miles to the airport from a motel, may have suffered a heart attack. A later investigation, source unknown, placed sole blame for the accident on pilot error.

Croce is buried in Haym Solomon Memorial Park, East Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Muehleisen is buried at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Trenton.
Legacy

The album I Got a Name was released on December 1, 1973. Croce had just finished recording the album barely over a week before his death. The posthumous release included three hits: "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues", "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song", and the title song, which had been used as the theme to the film The Last American Hero which was released two months prior his death. The album reached #2 in the US Pop Albums chart, and "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" reached #9 in the U.S. singles chart.

The song "Time in a Bottle" had been featured over the closing credits of the ABC made-for-television movie She Lives!, which aired on September 12, 1973, merely eight days before Croce's death. That appearance had generated significant interest in Croce and his music in the week just prior to the plane crash. That, combined with the news of the death of the singer, sparked a renewed interest in Croce's previous albums as well. Consequently, three months later, "Time in a Bottle", originally released on Croce's first album the year before, hit number-one on December 29, 1973, the third posthumous chart-topping song of the rock era following Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and Janis Joplin's recording of "Me and Bobby McGee".

A greatest hits package entitled Photographs & Memories, released in 1974, proved to be extraordinarily popular. Later posthumous releases have included Jim Croce Home Recordings, Facets, Jim Croce: Classic Hits, Down the Highway, and DVD and CD releases of Croce's television performances, Have You Heard – Jim Croce Live.

Croce's catalog became a staple of radio play for years, and still receives significant airplay on a variety of radio formats in to the second decade of the 21st century. In 1990, Croce was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Jim and Ingrid Croce's son Adrian James Croce was born September 28, 1971, and is now an accomplished singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, performing under the name A.J. Croce. He has released seven CDs of original music, beginning with a self-titled CD in 1993, and one best-of CD (Early On - The American Recordings 1993-1998). A.J. Croce is also the owner/operator of his own record label, Seedling Records.

Croce's widow owns and manages Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar, a project she and Jim had jokingly discussed a decade earlier, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, California. She opened the business in 1985.
Discography
Studio and live albums

    * Facets (1966) (re-released with additional tracks, 2003)
    * Jim & Ingrid Croce (with Ingrid Croce) (1969)
    * You Don't Mess Around with Jim (1972)
    * Life and Times (1973)
    * I Got a Name (1973)
    * The Faces I've Been (1975)
    * Jim Croce Live: The Final Tour (1989)
    * Home Recordings: Americana (2003)
    * Have You Heard - Jim Croce Live (2006)

Compilations

    * Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits (1974)
    * Down the Highway (1975)
    * Time in a Bottle: Jim Croce's Greatest Love Songs (1976)
    * Bad, Bad Leroy Brown: Jim Croce's Greatest Character Songs (1978)
    * The Very Best of Jim Croce (1979)
    * The 50th Anniversary Collection (1992) - 2 CDs
    * 24 Karat Gold in a Bottle (1994)
    * The Definitive Collection: "Time in a Bottle" (1999) - 2 CDs
    * Words and Music (1999)
    * Classic Hits (2004)

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US AC US Country CAN CAN AC
1972 "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" 8 — — 4 — You Don't Mess Around with Jim
"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" 17 — — 10 —
1973 "One Less Set of Footsteps" 37 — — 41 27 Life and Times
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" 1 — — 1 3
"I Got a Name" 10 4 — 8 5 I Got a Name
"Time in a Bottle" 1 1 — 1 1 You Don't Mess Around with Jim
"It Doesn't Have to Be That Way" 64 — — — — Life and Times
1974 "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" 9 1 68 4 — I Got a Name
"Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" 32 9 — 18 2
1976 "Chain Gang Medley" 63 — — 29 42 Down the Highway
"Mississippi Lady" 110 — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f290/Hippie09/untitleddf.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn267/foolkinglear/JimCroce.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/10/11 at 11:12 am

I love this song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n-NYPBFMxg&feature=related


It is one of those songs that brings tears to my eyes.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/10/11 at 12:23 pm


The computer is great Jeff. I have a new tower, keyboard and mouse.

Excellent! Glad you're back with us again. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/10/11 at 12:25 pm




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFEhmF-cSi8



Cat

At his funniest on Laugh-In.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/10/11 at 12:26 pm


Not shown on MTV now?


probably the classics.

VH1 Classic would probably show that kind of stuff now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/10/11 at 1:42 pm


The person of the day is ... Jim Croce
James Joseph "Jim" Croce (pronounced /ˈkroʊtʃi/; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released six studio albums and eleven singles. His singles "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle" were both number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
James Joseph Croce, better known as Jim Croce, was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 10, 1943, to Jim and Flora Croce. Jim took a strong interest in music at a very young age. At five, he learned to play his first song on the accordion, “Lady of Spain.” He says, "I was the original underachiever. I'd shake that thing and smile, but I was sort of a late bloomer." Croce attended Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. After his graduation in 1960, Croce went to work for a construction company, staying employed there for three years before deciding to enroll at Villanova University in 1964. During his time as a student at the university, Croce became a member of the Villanova Singers and Villanova Spires, and was a student disc jockey at WXVU.

Croce didn't take music seriously other than a hobby until his time at Villanova, where he formed various bands, performing at fraternity parties, coffee houses, and at universities around Philadelphia, playing "anything that the people wanted to hear: blues, rock, a cappella, railroad music... anything." One of those bands was chosen for a foreign exchange tour of Africa and the Middle East. "We had a good time," Croce later recalled. "We just ate what the people ate, lived in the woods, and played our songs. Of course they didn't speak English over there... but if you mean what you're singing, people understand."

Croce met his future wife Ingrid Jacobson at this time, during a hootenanny at Philadelphia Convention Hall, where he was judging a contest. When they married, he converted to Judaism.
Early career

From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, Croce performed with his wife as a duo. At first, their performances included songs by artists such as Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Woody Guthrie, but in time, they began writing their own music. During this time, Croce got his first long-term gig at a rural bar and steak house in Lima, Pennsylvania, called The Riddle Paddock. His set list included every genre from blues to country to rock 'n roll to folk, with soon-to-be-trademark tender love songs and traditional bawdy ballads, always introduced with a story and an impish grin.

In 1968, Jim and Ingrid Croce were encouraged by record producer Tommy West to move to New York City and record their first album with Capitol Records. During the next two years, they drove more than 300,000 miles playing small clubs and concerts on the college concert circuit promoting their album Jim & Ingrid Croce.

Becoming disillusioned by the music business specifically and New York City in general, they sold all but one guitar to pay the rent and they returned to the Pennsylvania countryside where Jim got a job driving trucks and doing construction to pay the bills while continuing to write songs, often about the characters he enjoyed meeting at the local bars and truck stops.

The couple returned to Philadelphia and Jim decided to be "serious" about becoming a productive member of society. But it was hard to make a living playing in a band, and his previous employment experiences had lost their appeal: "I'd worked construction crews, and I'd been a welder while I was in college. But I'd rather do other things than get burned." His determination to be "serious" led to a job at a Philadelphia R&B radio station, where he translated commercials into soul. "I'd sell airtime to Bronco's Poolroom and then write the spot: "You wanna be cool, and you wanna shoot pool... dig it." Increasingly frustrated, he quit to teach guitar at a summer camp and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He did not have a very illustrious military career, but said he would be prepared if "there's ever a war where we have to defend ourselves with mops".
Success

In 1970, Croce met the classically trained pianist/guitarist and singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen from Trenton, New Jersey through producer Joe Salviuolo (aka Sal Joseph). Salviuolo had been friends with Croce when they attended Villanova University together, and Salviuolo later discovered Muehleisen when he was teaching at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. Salviuolo brought the Croce and Muehleisen duo together at the production office of Tommy West and Terry Cashman in New York City. Initially, Croce backed Muehleisen on guitar at his gigs. but in time, their roles reversed, with Muehleisen adding lead guitar to Croce's down-to-earth music.

In 1972, Croce signed to a three-record deal with ABC Records and released two LPs, You Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life & Times that same year. The singles "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)", and "Time in a Bottle" (written for his then-unborn son, A. J. Croce) all received airplay. Croce's biggest single, "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", hit #1 on the American charts in July 1973.
Death

Croce, 30, Maury Muehleisen, 24, and four others died in a small commercial plane crash on September 20, 1973, shortly before his ABC single, "I Got a Name", was to be released.

Croce had just completed a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and was flying to Sherman, Texas, for a concert at Austin College. The pilot and all passengers (Croce; Muehleisen; Croce's booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose; George Stevens, the comic who was the show's warm-up act; and Dennis Rast, another passenger) were killed instantly at 10:45 p.m. EDT on September 20, 1973, less than an hour after the end of the concert.

Upon takeoff from Natchitoches Regional Airport, despite excellent visibility, the Beechcraft E18 plane did not gain enough altitude to clear a pecan tree at the end of the runway, which investigators said was the only tree for hundreds of yards. The official report from the NTSB hints that the charter pilot, Robert Newton Elliott, who had severe coronary artery disease and had run a portion of the three miles to the airport from a motel, may have suffered a heart attack. A later investigation, source unknown, placed sole blame for the accident on pilot error.

Croce is buried in Haym Solomon Memorial Park, East Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Muehleisen is buried at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Trenton.
Legacy

The album I Got a Name was released on December 1, 1973. Croce had just finished recording the album barely over a week before his death. The posthumous release included three hits: "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues", "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song", and the title song, which had been used as the theme to the film The Last American Hero which was released two months prior his death. The album reached #2 in the US Pop Albums chart, and "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" reached #9 in the U.S. singles chart.

The song "Time in a Bottle" had been featured over the closing credits of the ABC made-for-television movie She Lives!, which aired on September 12, 1973, merely eight days before Croce's death. That appearance had generated significant interest in Croce and his music in the week just prior to the plane crash. That, combined with the news of the death of the singer, sparked a renewed interest in Croce's previous albums as well. Consequently, three months later, "Time in a Bottle", originally released on Croce's first album the year before, hit number-one on December 29, 1973, the third posthumous chart-topping song of the rock era following Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and Janis Joplin's recording of "Me and Bobby McGee".

A greatest hits package entitled Photographs & Memories, released in 1974, proved to be extraordinarily popular. Later posthumous releases have included Jim Croce Home Recordings, Facets, Jim Croce: Classic Hits, Down the Highway, and DVD and CD releases of Croce's television performances, Have You Heard – Jim Croce Live.

Croce's catalog became a staple of radio play for years, and still receives significant airplay on a variety of radio formats in to the second decade of the 21st century. In 1990, Croce was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Jim and Ingrid Croce's son Adrian James Croce was born September 28, 1971, and is now an accomplished singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, performing under the name A.J. Croce. He has released seven CDs of original music, beginning with a self-titled CD in 1993, and one best-of CD (Early On - The American Recordings 1993-1998). A.J. Croce is also the owner/operator of his own record label, Seedling Records.

Croce's widow owns and manages Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar, a project she and Jim had jokingly discussed a decade earlier, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, California. She opened the business in 1985.
Discography
Studio and live albums

    * Facets (1966) (re-released with additional tracks, 2003)
    * Jim & Ingrid Croce (with Ingrid Croce) (1969)
    * You Don't Mess Around with Jim (1972)
    * Life and Times (1973)
    * I Got a Name (1973)
    * The Faces I've Been (1975)
    * Jim Croce Live: The Final Tour (1989)
    * Home Recordings: Americana (2003)
    * Have You Heard - Jim Croce Live (2006)

Compilations

    * Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits (1974)
    * Down the Highway (1975)
    * Time in a Bottle: Jim Croce's Greatest Love Songs (1976)
    * Bad, Bad Leroy Brown: Jim Croce's Greatest Character Songs (1978)
    * The Very Best of Jim Croce (1979)
    * The 50th Anniversary Collection (1992) - 2 CDs
    * 24 Karat Gold in a Bottle (1994)
    * The Definitive Collection: "Time in a Bottle" (1999) - 2 CDs
    * Words and Music (1999)
    * Classic Hits (2004)

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US US AC US Country CAN CAN AC
1972 "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" 8 — — 4 — You Don't Mess Around with Jim
"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" 17 — — 10 —
1973 "One Less Set of Footsteps" 37 — — 41 27 Life and Times
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" 1 — — 1 3
"I Got a Name" 10 4 — 8 5 I Got a Name
"Time in a Bottle" 1 1 — 1 1 You Don't Mess Around with Jim
"It Doesn't Have to Be That Way" 64 — — — — Life and Times
1974 "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" 9 1 68 4 — I Got a Name
"Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" 32 9 — 18 2
1976 "Chain Gang Medley" 63 — — 29 42 Down the Highway
"Mississippi Lady" 110 — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f290/Hippie09/untitleddf.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn267/foolkinglear/JimCroce.jpg
  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/11 at 2:41 pm


I love this song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n-NYPBFMxg&feature=related


It is one of those songs that brings tears to my eyes.



Cat

It is a great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/10/11 at 7:15 pm

Genie In A Bottle Christina Agulera

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/11 at 7:21 pm


Genie In A Bottle Christina Agulera

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/10/11 at 8:15 pm

Ninny ...a new computer eh?  You'd better get cracking if you want to win back some championships! ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/11 at 6:52 am


Ninny ...a new computer eh?   You'd better get cracking if you want to win back some championships! ;D

Oh I will ;D ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/11 at 6:56 am

The person of the day...Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige (surname pronounced /ˈblaɪʒ/; born January 11, 1971), also known as Mary J. Blige, is an American singer, producer, songwriter, actress, and rapper. A recipient of 9 Grammy Awards and 4 American Music Awards. Blige has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. Blige has received the World Music Legends Award for combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s. She was ranked number 100 in the list of 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.

Blige started her musical career in 1992, releasing her multi-platinum US selling debut album, What's the 411? on MCA Records and Uptown. What's the 411? gave Blige her first Billboard 200 top ten album, which has continued since the release of her debut album until her latest album, Stronger with Each Tear (2009). Among Blige's most popular songs to date include "Family Affair", "Real Love", "Not Gon' Cry" and "Be Without You". Blige has had four Billboard Hot 100 top-singles charting in the United States, and has had a total of sixteen total top forty charting singles in the United States. She has had thirty-three singles charting inside the top one hundred on the Billboard Hot 100, making Blige one of the best-performing R&B artists to date.

Despite her musical career, since 1998, Blige has also starred in various movie roles, beginning in The Jamie Foxx Show as Ola Mae. She appeared in the "Papa Don't Preach" episode, Season 2. Since then, Blige has gone on to play major roles in big-budget Hollywood movies, such as Prison Song, where she played the main role as Mrs. Butler.

As of 2010, Blige has sold over 50 million albums and 15 million singles. Blige cites Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, Teena Marie, and Aretha Franklin as influences
In 1998, Blige made her acting debut on the sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show playing a character, the apparently southern Ola Mae; a preacher's daughter who wanted to sing more than gospel music. Her father was portrayed by Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers. In 2001, Blige starred opposite rapper Q-Tip in the independent film Prison Song. That same year, Blige made a cameo on the Lifetime network series, Strong Medicine; playing the role of Simone Fellows. Blige's character was the lead singer of a band who was sick, but would not seek treatment. In 2000, Blige was featured in a superhero web cartoon in junction with Stan Lee. Blige used the cartoon as part of her performance while on her 2000 Mary Show Tour. In 2004, Blige starred in an off-Broadway play, The Exonerated. The play chronicled the experiences of death row inmates. Blige portrayed Sunny Jacobs, a woman who spent 20 years in prison for a crime she did not commit. In late 2005, it was reported that Blige landed the starring role in the upcoming MTV Films biopic on American singer/pianist Nina Simone. According to IMDB.com the film will be released in 2012.

In February 2007, Blige guest-starred on Ghost Whisperer, in an episode called "Mean Ghost", as the character Jackie Boyd, the school's cheer leader coach grieving for the death of her brother and affected by the ghost of a dead cheerleader. The episode features many of Blige's songs. In August 2007, Blige was a guest star on Entourage, in the role of herself, as a client of Ari Gold's agency. In October 2007, Blige was also a guest star on America's Next Top Model, as a creative director for a photo shoot by Matthew Rolston. In May 2009, Mary made a guest appearance on 30 Rock, as an artist recording a benefit song for a kidney. Blige also had a supporting role in Tyler Perry's Movie I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which was released in September 2009.
Business ventures

In 2004 Blige launched her own record label, Matriarch Records, distributed through Interscope.

In July 2010, Blige launched her first perfume, My Life (through Carol's Daughter), exclusively on HSN.

In October 2010 Blige released a line of sunglasses called "Melodies by MJB". The first Melodies collection will feature four styles with a total of 20 color options. Each style will represent a specific facet of Blige’s life. Essence magazine reported that in the spring of 2011, "Melodies by MJB" will extend their collection to offer more styles.

Blige's production company, along with William Morris Endeavor is also working on several TV and film projects.

Blige has had endorsement contracts with Reebok, Air Jordan, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Gap, Target, American Express, AT&T, M·A·C, Apple Inc. and Chevrolet. She has also been a spokesperson with Carol's Daughter beauty products and Citibank's with Nickelback program.
Personal life

During the early '90s, Blige dated singer K-Ci from Jodeci. The affair ended in 1997. In 2000, Blige met record industry executive Martin Kendu Isaacs (known as "Kendu") who became her manager. The two were married on December 7, 2003, in a small private ceremony at Blige's home attended by 50 guests.

Blige earned her GED in 2010.
Philanthropy

In 2001, Mary performed "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to Duke Ellington, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease

On May 9, 2008, The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, Inc. (FFAWN) was inaugurated at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, New York. FFAWN's purpose is to inspire women "to reach their individual potential". The foundation offers scholarships and programs whose aim is to foster self-esteem and career development. The Mary J. Blige Center for Women has opened in Yonkers.

In 2008, Mary teamed up with Carol's Daughter executive Lisa Price to make a perfume which would be called "My Life". On July 31, 2010, Mary J. Blige was on 6 live televised Home Shopping Network specials to promote and sell her perfume. On that day, "My Life" sold a record breaking 60,000 + units. Her perfume was the first to sell over 60,000 bottles in one day on HSN. Also $1 from each purchase was donated to FFAWN her foundation for women to send more women to college.
Awards
Blige performing in 2009

Mary J. Blige has received 9 Grammy awards and 8 multi-platinum records to date.
Discography
Main article: Mary J. Blige discography

    * 1992: What's the 411?
    * 1994: My Life
    * 1997: Share My World
    * 1999: Mary
    * 2001: No More Drama
    * 2003: Love & Life
    * 2005: The Breakthrough
    * 2007: Growing Pains
    * 2009: Stronger with Each Tear

Tours

    * Share My World Tour (1998)
    * The Mary Show Tour (2000)
    * No More Drama Tour (2002)
    * Love & Life Tour (2004)
    * The Breakthrough Experience Tour (2006)
    * Heart of the City Tour (with Jay-Z) (2008)
    * Growing Pains European Tour (2008)
    * Love Soul Tour (2008)
    * Music Saved My Life Tour (2010–11)

Filmography
Main article: Mary J. Blige videography
Film
Year Film & Television Role Notes
1998 The Jamie Foxx Show Ola Mae "Papa Don't Preach" (episode 14, season 2)
2001 Angel: One More Road to Cross Guardian Angel Direct to DVD
Prison Song Mrs. Butler Main Role
Strong Medicine Simone Fellows "History" (episode 4, season 2)
2007 Ghost Whisperer Jackie Boyd "Mean Ghost" (episode 15, season 2)
2009 I Can Do Bad All By Myself Tanya Supporting Role
30 Rock Herself Guest
2010 American Idol Guest judge/Herself Auditions were held in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Dome when Blige guest judged.
See also

    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of awards and nominations received by Mary J. Blige
    * List of honorific titles in popular music
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q315/klparks_02/mary-j-blige-picture-3.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/GAfromSA/blige.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/11/11 at 7:17 am

I like her song "Leave A Message".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/11 at 6:36 am

The person of the day....Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, humorist, television host, author and actor, best known for his long-running radio show, The Howard Stern Show. He gained national recognition in the 1990s when he was labelled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern wished for a radio career since he was five; his father, a recording and radio engineer, being a big influence. While studying Communications at Boston University, Stern worked at its campus station WTBU before making his professional début in 1975 at WNTN.

In 1977, Stern began at WRNW at Briarcliff Manor, New York, working on-air, production and managerial duties. Following his departure in 1979, he started to develop a more open personality at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1980, he hosted mornings at WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, where he earned his first Billboard radio award. Stern was paired with his current newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers in 1981, while he worked at WWDC in Washington, D.C.. He moved to WNBC in New York City to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. Stern returned to the city's airwaves on WXRK for the next 20 years until his move to Sirius XM in December 2005. In this time, The Howard Stern Show would be syndicated to 60 markets while reaching a peak audience of 20 million listeners. In New York alone, the show was the highest-rated morning program from 1994 to 2001. Stern is an eight-time winner of the Billboard Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award (1994–2002). He is the highest-paid radio figure, including the most fined, after a history with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over alleged indecency resulted in $2.5 million being issued to station owners that carried his show.

Stern describes himself as the "King of All Media" for his work outside radio. He has hosted numerous late night television shows, pay-per-view events and home video releases, since 1987. His two books, Private Parts (1993) and Miss America (1995), spent 20 and 16 weeks respectively on The New York Times Best Seller list. The former was adapted into Private Parts (1997), a biographical comedy film starring Stern and his radio show staff as themselves. Making a domestic gross of $41.2 million, the film's soundtrack topped the the Billboard 200 chart.
early 1993, Stern signed a $1 million advance contract with Simon & Schuster to publish his first book. Co-authored with Larry Sloman and edited by Judith Regan, Private Parts was released on October 7, 1993. The book sold its first printing of 225,000 copies within hours of going on sale. After five days, it became the fastest-selling title in Schuster's history. Two weeks later, in its eighth printing, over one million copies had been distributed. Sales were supported by Stern's book signing tour. His first at a Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue attracted an estimated 10,000 fans. The book spent 20 weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller list. Stern has written forewords for Steal This Dream (1998), a biography of Abbie Hoffman, Disgustingly Dirty Joke Book (1998) by Jackie Martling, Too Fat to Fish (2008) by Artie Lange, and Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons: Tales of Redemption from an Irish Mailbox (2010) by Greg Fitzsimmons.

Stern hosted his second pay-per-view event, The Miss Howard Stern New Year's Eve Pageant, on December 31, 1993. It surpassed the subscriber record for a non-sports event held by a 1990 New Kids on the Block concert. Around 400,000 households purchased Stern's event that grossed an estimated $16 million. In early 1994, the event was released on VHS as Howard Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve 1994. Between his book royalties and pay-per-view profits, Stern's earnings in the latter months of 1993 totalled around $7.5 million. In its 20th anniversary issue in 1993, Radio & Records named Stern the most influential air personality of the past two decades.

On March 21, 1994, Stern announced his candidacy for Governor of New York under the Libertarian Party ticket, challenging Mario Cuomo for re-election. He planned to reinstate the death penalty, stagger highway tolls to improve traffic flow, and limiting road work to night hours. At the party's nomination convention in Albany on April 23, Stern won the required two-thirds majority on the first ballot, receiving 287 of the 381 votes cast (75.33%). James Ostrowski finished second with 34 votes (8.92%). To place his name on the November ballot, Stern was obliged to state his home address and to complete a financial disclosure form under the Ethics in Government Act of 1987. Arguing the law violated his right to privacy and freedom of association, Stern was denied an injunction on August 2. He withdrew his candidacy two days later. Cuomo was defeated in the gubernatorial election on November 8 by George Pataki, whom Stern backed. In 1995, Pataki signed "The Howard Stern Bill" which limited construction on state roads to night hours in New York and Long Island.

In June 1994, six robot cameras were installed in Stern's radio show studio to film a condensed half-hour program on the E! network. Howard Stern ran for 11 years, until the last taped episode was broadcast on July 8, 2005. In conjunction with his move to Sirius, Stern launched Howard Stern on Demand, a subscription video-on-demand service, on November 18, 2005. The service was fully launched as Howard TV on March 16, 2006.
Miss America and Private Parts film (1995–1997)

On April 3, 1995, three days after the shooting of singer Selena, Stern's comments regarding her death and Mexican Americans caused an uproar in the Hispanic community. He criticized her music with added gunfire sound effects. "This music does absolutely nothing for me. Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul...Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth". On April 6, Stern responded with a statement in Spanish, stressing his comments were made in satire and not intended to hurt those who loved her. A day later, Justice of the Peace Eloy Cano of Harlingen, Texas issued an arrest warrant on Stern for disorderly conduct.

Stern signed an advance contract with ReganBooks worth $3 million in 1995 to write his second biographical book, Miss America. Stern wrote about his cybersex experiences on the Prodigy service, a private meeting with Michael Jackson, and his past suffering with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The book sold 33,000 copies at Barnes & Noble stores on November 7, the day of its release, setting a new one-day record. Publishers Weekly reported over 1.39 million hardcover copies were sold by the end of 1995, ranking it the third best-seller of the year. Miss America spent a total of 16 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list.

Production for a film adaptation of Private Parts began in May 1996, with all shooting complete in four months. The film premiered at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden on February 27, 1997, where Stern performed "The Great American Nightmare" with Rob Zombie. Private Parts made its general release on March 7, 1997, where it topped the box office in its opening weekend with a gross of $14.6 million, and $41.2 million in total. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 79%. For his performance, Stern won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Male Newcomer" and nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy)" and a Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst New Star". Selling 178,000 copies in the first week of release, the film's soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 chart between March 15–21, 1997.

On October 8, 1997, Stern filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Ministry of Film Inc., claiming it recruited him for a film titled Jane starring Melanie Griffith, while knowing it had insufficient funds. Stern, who was unpaid when production ceased, accused the studio of breach of contract, fraud and negligent representation. A settlement was reached in 1999, with Stern receiving $50,000.
n October 6, 2004, Stern announced his contract with Sirius Satellite Radio, a medium free of FCC regulations, starting from January 2006. The move followed a crackdown on perceived indecency in broadcasting that occurred following the controversy surrounding the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in February. The incident prompted tighter control over content by station owners and managers, leading to Stern feeling "dead inside" creatively. The five-year deal allows Stern to produce up to three channels on Sirius with a $100 million per year budget for all production, staff and programming costs including the construction of a dedicated studio. On January 9, 2006, the day of his first broadcast, Sirius issued 34.3 million shares of stock worth $218 million to Stern and his agent for exceeding a subscriber target set in 2004. A second stock incentive was paid on January 9, 2007, with Stern earning 22 million shares worth $82.9 million. Following his move, Time magazine included Stern in the Time 100 list in May 2006. He also ranked seventh in Forbes' "World's Most Powerful Celebrities" list a month later.

On February 28, 2006, CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Broadcasting) filed a 43-page lawsuit against Stern, his agent and Sirius. The suit claimed Stern had misused CBS broadcast time to promote Sirius for unjust enrichment during his last 14 months on terrestrial airwaves. In a press conference held hours before the suit was filed, Stern said it was nothing more than a "personal vendetta" against him by CBS president Leslie Moonves. A settlement was reached on May 25, with Sirius paying $2 million to CBS for control of Stern's broadcast archives since 1985.

On December 9, 2010, Stern announced the signing of a new five-year contract with Sirius which ends in 2015.
FCC fines
Main article: FCC fines of The Howard Stern Show

From 1990 to 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined owners of radio stations that carried The Howard Stern Show a total of $2.5 million for indecent programming.
Personal life

Stern married Alison Berns on June 4, 1978 at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts, both 24 years old. They have three daughters – Emily Beth (b. 1983), Debra Jennifer (b. 1986) and Ashley Jade (b. 1993). On October 22, 1999, Stern announced their decision to separate. The marriage ended in 2001 with an amicable divorce and settlement. Stern began a period of single living, dating actresses Angie Everhart and Robin Givens. In 2000, Stern began to date model Beth Ostrosky, co-host of Casino Cinema from 2004 to 2007. She also frequently appeared in the American edition of FHM. On February 14, 2007, after seven years, Stern announced their engagement. They married on October 3, 2008, at Le Cirque restaurant in New York City.

While attending Boston University, Stern developed an interest in Transcendental Meditation, which he practices to this day. He credits it with aiding him in quitting smoking and achieving his goals in radio. Stern has interviewed Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the technique, twice in his career. Stern also plays on the Internet Chess Club, and has taken lessons from Dan Heisman, a chess master from Philadelphia.
Filmography
Main articles: Howard Stern videography and discography and Howard Stern television shows
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1986 Ryder, P.I. Ben Wah
1997 Private Parts Himself Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favourite Male Newcomer" (1998)
Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst New Star" (1998)
Nominated – Golden Satellite Award for "Best Male Actor Performance in a Comedy or Musical" (1998)
Home video releases
Year Title Role Notes
1988 Howard Stern's Negligeé and Underpants Party Himself/Host
1989 Howard Stern's U.S. Open Sores
1992 Butt Bongo Fiesta
1994 Howard Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve 1994
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1981 Petey Greene's Washington Himself
1987 Nightlife Himself
1987 The Howard Stern Show Himself - Host Series of 5 pilot episodes that never aired
1988 The New Hollywood Squares Announcer - Guest
1990–1992 The Howard Stern Show Himself - Host
1992 1992 MTV Video Music Awards Fartman
1992–1993 The Howard Stern "Interview" Himself - Host
1993 The Larry Sanders Show Himself Season 2, episode 18
1993 The John Stewart Show Himself Season 1, episode 1
1994–2005 Howard Stern Himself - Host
1997 Saturday Night Live Himself Season 22, episode 14
1998 The Magic Hour Himself
1998 The Roseanne Show Himself Season 1, episode 54
1998–2001 The Howard Stern Radio Show Himself - Host
2001 The Concert for New York City Himself
2004 Extra Himself
2005–present Howard Stern On Demand Himself - Host Known as Howard TV since March 2006
Discography
Main article: Howard Stern videography and discography
Year Album Label Notes
1982 50 Ways to Rank Your Mother Wren Records Re-released as Unclean Beaver (1994) on Ichiban and Citizen X labels
1991 Crucified By the FCC Infinity Broadcasting
1997 Private Parts: The Album Warner Brothers Billboard 200 Number-one album from March 15–21, 1997
Bibliography

    * Stern, Howard (1993). Private Parts. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0671880163.
    * Stern, Howard (1995). Miss America. ReganBooks. ISBN 978-0060391676.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m76/cstottlar/howard_stern.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/captainhowdy00/Howard.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/12/11 at 7:05 am

I haven't watched his show in quite a while,I love when he has those hot women in his studio. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/12/11 at 12:20 pm


I like her song "Leave A Message".

In the mid-1990s she recorded a cover of the Rose Royce song "I'm Going Down" and it was all over the radio in April 1995 or so. I found myself addicted to it for a week or two.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/12/11 at 1:10 pm


In the mid-1990s she recorded a cover of the Rose Royce song "I'm Going Down" and it was all over the radio in April 1995 or so. I found myself addicted to it for a week or two.


I remember that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/11 at 1:25 pm


I haven't watched his show in quite a while,I love when he has those hot women in his studio. :D

Yeah, I remember his movie Private Parts & Butt Bongo Fiesta ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/11 at 5:40 am

The person of the day...Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd ("McDreamy") on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. He has also recently appeared in several films, including Sweet Home Alabama, The Emperor's Club, Freedom Writers, Enchanted, Made of Honor, and Valentine's Day.
career

Dempsey was discovered by an invitation to audition for a role in the stage production of Torch Song Trilogy. His audition was successful, and he spent the following four months touring with the company in Philadelphia. Dempsey also appeared on ABC family on a show Overnight Success by Teri DeSario, where he sings and juggles. He followed this with another tour, Brighton Beach Memoirs, in the lead role, which was directed by Gene Saks. Dempsey has also made notable appearances in the stage productions of On Golden Pond, with the Maine Acting Company, and as Timmy (the Martin Sheen role) in a 1990 Off-Broadway revival of The Subject Was Roses co-starring with John Mahoney and Dana Ivey at the Roundabout Theatre in New York.

Dempsey's first major feature film role was at age 21 with Beverly D'Angelo in the movie In The Mood, the real life WW2 story about Ellsworth Wisecarver who had relationships with older married women which created a national uproar. This was followed by the teen comedy Can't Buy Me Love in 1987 with actress Amanda Peterson and Some Girls with Jennifer Connelly in 1988. This film was a flop. In 1989, he had the lead role in the film Loverboy with actress Kirstie Alley and Happy Together with actress Helen Slater. Although the teen comedy and romance roles led to Dempsey being somewhat typecast for a time, he was able to avoid playing the same character as his career progressed.
1990s and 2000s

Dempsey made a number of featured appearances in television in the 1990s; he was cast several times in pilots that were not picked up for a full season, including lead roles in the TV versions of the films The Player and About A Boy. However he received good reviews as he portrayed real-life mob boss, Meyer Lansky in 1991, when Mobsters was put on the screen. His first major television role was a recurring role as Will's closeted sportscaster boyfriend on Will & Grace. He went on to play the role of Aaron Brooks, Lily & Judy's psychologically unbalanced brother, on Once & Again. Dempsey received an Emmy nomination in 2001 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Aaron. In 1993, he played a young John F. Kennedy in the 2-part TV mini-series JFK: Reckless Youth. In 2004, he co-starred in the highly acclaimed HBO production, Iron Jawed Angels, opposite Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston. He also appeared as special guest star in The Practice for 3 episodes finale season (8x13-8x15), as a married man who murdered his lover.

Dempsey had a high-profile role as one of the suitors for Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. He also had a role as Detective Kincaid on Scream 3. When Scream 4 was officially announced, it was speculated Dempsey would return. But in late April, writer Kevin Williamson confirmed the 3 main cast members who had survived the other 3 movies were the only returning characters. Dempsey's most recent roles include the 2007 Disney film Enchanted, and the Paramount Pictures film Freedom Writers where he reunites with his Iron Jawed Angels co-star Hilary Swank. He also voiced the character Kenai in Brother Bear 2.

Dempsey starred in the 2008 film Made of Honor as Tom, and appeared in 2010's romantic comedy Valentine's Day; the latter film, directed by Garry Marshall, follows five interconnecting stories about Los Angelinos anticipating (or in some cases dreading) the holiday of love.

Dempsey has acquired the rights to the prize-winning novel The Art of Racing in the Rain and will produce and star in the screen version. The film will go into production in 2010. He has also signed on to star in the 2011 movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Grey's Anatomy
Main article: Grey's Anatomy

Dempsey has received significant public attention for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to landing the role of Derek Shepherd, Dempsey auditioned for the role of Dr. Gregory House on another medical show, House. Initially a midseason replacement, the show was very well received and has become a highly rated program. Media attention has been focused on Dempsey's character Derek, often referred to as "McDreamy", for his sex appeal and the character's romance with intern Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo). Also in a one-off episode of Private Practice, playing the same character as in Grey's Anatomy.

Dempsey was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama at the 2006 Golden Globes for the role. His success on the show has led to his becoming a spokesman for Mazda and State Farm Insurance. He has been the face of L'Oreal and Versace and was featured in ads for Serengeti sun glasses. In November 2008 he launched an Avon fragrance named Unscripted, and due to its success a second fragrance named Patrick Dempsey 2 was launched in October 2009.
Personal life
Dempsey at the 2008 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona

He has been married twice. In 1987, he married actress and acting coach Rocky Parker, who appeared with Dempsey in the film In the Mood. The couple divorced in 1994.

On July 31, 1999, Dempsey married Jillian Fink, founder of Delux Beauty. The couple have three children: A daughter, Talula Fyfe, born on February 20, 2002, and twin sons Darby Galen and Sullivan Patrick, born on February 1, 2007. The family resides in Malibu and also has homes in Maine and Texas.

Dempsey was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 12. As a result, it is necessary for him to memorize all his lines in order to perform, even for auditions where he was unlikely to get the part.

Entertainment Weekly put Dempsey's hair on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "What made Grey's Anatomy a mega-medi-hit? It could have something to do with creator Shonda Rhimes' scalpel-sharp writing…or McDreamy's impossibly luxurious mane. Just saying."
Race car driver

Dempsey enjoys auto racing in his spare time, having driven the pace car in the Indianapolis 500, and raced in the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car race and Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race. He is currently the co-owner of IndyCar Series team Vision Racing and Dempsey Racing, which is presently racing two Mazda RX-8 cars in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT class. He participates in this series as often as his schedule allows, as he is unable to race while filming a movie due to insurance issues. In 2009, he raced a Team Seattle Advanced Engineering Ferrari F430 GT in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans's GT2 class, and finished ninth in class.

Dempsey revealed that he will be taking part in the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona along with taking part in as many races as he can throughout the season in the Mazda RX-8.
Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing and Dempsey Challenge

In 1997, Dempsey's mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was treated for the disease and had two relapses and had it treated another two times. In response to his mother's bouts with cancer, Dempsey helped start the Patrick Dempsey Center at Central Maine Medical Center in his home town of Lewiston, Maine. In October 2009 when Dempsey introduced the first Dempsey Challenge, registration was closed after reaching the goal of 3,500 cyclists, runners and walkers. The event raised more than one million dollars for the cancer center. His mother was in the crowd as Dempsey finished his 50-mile ride. The Challenge has since become an annual October event presented by Amgen in the Lewiston-Auburn area.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1985 The Stuff Underground Stuff buyer #2
Heaven Help Us Corbet
1986 Meatballs III: Summer Job Rudy
1987 Can't Buy Me Love Ronald Miller Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy
In the Mood Ellsworth 'Sonny' Wisecarver
1988 Some Girls Michael
In a Shallow Grave Daventry Limited release
1989 Loverboy Randy Bodek
Happy Together Christopher Wooden
1990 Coupe de Ville Robert 'Bobby' Libner
1991 Mobsters Meyer Lansky
Run Charlie Farrow
1993 Bank Robber Billy
1994 With Honors Everett Calloway
Ava's Magical Adventure Jeffrey
1995 Outbreak Jimbo Scott
1997 Hugo Pool Floyd Gaylen Limited release
1998 Denial Sam
The Treat Mike Jonathan Gems film
There's No Fish Food in Heaven The Stranger aka Life in the Fast Lane
1999 Me and Will Fast Eddie
2000 Scream 3 Det. Mark Kincaid
2002 Sweet Home Alabama Andrew Hennings
The Emperor's Club Older Louis Masoudi
2006 Brother Bear 2 Kenai Voice only
Shade Paul Parker Short film
2007 Freedom Writers Scott Casey
Enchanted Robert Philip Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (with Amy Adams)
2008 Made of Honor Tom Bailey
2010 Valentine's Day Harrison Copeland
2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Dylan
Son of Tobor TBA
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 A Fighting Choice Kellin Taylor TV movie
Fast Times Mike Damone Television series
1989 The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The Plant 1 episode
1990 The General Motors Playwrights Theater 1 episode "Merry Christmas, Baby"
1993 For Better and for Worse Robert Faldo TV movie
JFK: Reckless Youth John F. Kennedy Miniseries
1995 Bloodknot Tom TV movie
1996 The Right to Remain Silent Tom Harris TV movie
A Season in Purgatory Harrison Burns Miniseries
1997 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Pierre Arronax Miniseries
The Escape Clayton TV movie
The Player Griffin Mill TV movie
1998 The Bible: Jeremiah Jeremiah TV movie
Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov
2000 Will and Grace Matthew 2000–2001 (3 episodes)
2000 Once and Again Aaron Brooks 2000–2002 (4 episodes)
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2001 Blonde Cass Miniseries
2003 Lucky 7 Peter Connor
Karen Sisco Carl 1 episode
About a Boy Carl TV movie
2004 Iron Jawed Angels Ben Weissman TV movie
The Practice Dr. Paul Stewart 3 episodes
2005–present Grey's Anatomy Derek Shepherd 2005–present (110 episodes)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006)
People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2007, 2008)
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Drama Series (2006, 2008)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (2005)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star (2009)
2009 Private Practice Derek Shepherd TV episode ("The Ex-Life")
2011 The Alex Vaillancourt Show TBA
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn18/Shetlandponyprincess/Young-Patrick-patrick-dempsey-4899113-530-714.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/greysfansrockwallpaper2/patrick-dempsey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/13/11 at 7:02 am


Yeah, I remember his movie Private Parts & Butt Bongo Fiesta ;D


Once in a while he'd bring in 2 girls and they'd make out while he'd be watching,probably jerking off or something.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/13/11 at 7:03 am

Patrick Dempsey is a cool actor,I like his films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/11 at 6:17 am

The person of the day...Faye Dunaway
Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network (1976) after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Chinatown (1974). She has starred in a variety of films, including The Thomas Crown Affair (both the 1968 and 1999 versions), The Towering Inferno (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and Mommie Dearest (1981).
Dunaway appeared on Broadway in 1962 as the daughter of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. Her first screen role was in 1967 in The Happening. In 1967, she was in Hurry Sundown, but that same year, she gained the leading female role in Bonnie and Clyde opposite Warren Beatty, which earned her an Oscar nomination. She also starred in 1968 with Steve McQueen in the caper film The Thomas Crown Affair (and had a small role in the 1999 remake with the same title with Pierce Brosnan).

It was in the 1970s that she began to stretch her acting abilities in such films as Three Days of the Condor, Little Big Man, Chinatown, The Three/Four Musketeers, Eyes of Laura Mars, and Network, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress as the scheming TV executive Diana Christensen. She worked with such leading men as Dustin Hoffman, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Duvall.

In the 1980s, although her performances did not waver, the parts grew less compelling. Dunaway would later blame Mommie Dearest (1981) for ruining her career as a leading lady. She received a Razzie Award for Worst Actress, and the critics despised the film, although it grossed a moderate $19 million in its first release and was one of the top 30 grossing films of the year. In 1987, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Barfly with Mickey Rourke. In a later movie, Don Juan DeMarco (1995), Dunaway co-starred with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.

Dunaway starred in the 1986 made-for-television movie Beverly Hills Madam opposite Melody Anderson, Donna Dixon, Terry Farrell and Robin Givens. In 1993, Dunaway briefly starred in a sitcom with Robert Urich, It Had to Be You. Dunaway won an Emmy for a 1994 role as a murderer in "It's All in the Game," an episode of the long-running mystery series Columbo.

In 1996, she toured nationally with the stage play Master Class. The story about opera singer Maria Callas was very powerful and well received. Dunaway bought the rights to the Terrence McNally play for possible film development.

In 2006, Dunaway played a character named Lois O'Neill in the sixth season of the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She served as a judge on the 2005 reality show The Starlet, which sought, American Idol-style, to find the next young actress with the potential to become a major star. In the spring of 2007, the direct-to-DVD movie release of Rain, based on the novel by V. C. Andrews and starring Dunaway, was released. In 2009, Dunaway starred in the film The Bait by Polish film director and producer Dariusz Zawiślak. The Bait is a contemporary version of a drama Balladyna by Polish 19th - century poet Juliusz Słowacki.

Dunaway has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, which was awarded on October 2, 1996.
Personal life

Dunaway has been married twice, from 1974 to 1979 to Peter Wolf, the lead singer of the rock group The J. Geils Band, and from 1984 to 1987 to Terry O'Neill, a British photographer. She and O'Neill have one child, Liam O'Neill (born 1980). In 2003, despite Dunaway's earlier claims that she had given birth to Liam, Terry revealed that Liam was adopted.

Dunaway is an adult convert to Roman Catholicism.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1967 Hurry Sundown Lou McDowell Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles also for Bonnie and Clyde
The Happening Sandy
Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie Parker Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles also for Hurry Sundown
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1968 The Thomas Crown Affair Vicki Anderson
A Place for Lovers Julia
1969 The Extraordinary Seaman Jennifer Winslow
The Arrangement Gwen
1970 Little Big Man Mrs. Louise Pendrake
Puzzle of a Downfall Child Lou Andreas Sand Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1971 The Deadly Trap Jill
Doc Katie Elder
1973 Oklahoma Crude Lena Doyle
The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
1974 Chinatown Evelyn Cross Mulwray Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Towering Inferno Susan Franklin
The Four Musketeers Milady de Winter
1975 Three Days of the Condor Kathy Hale Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 Network Diana Christensen Academy Award for Best Actress
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
The disappearance of Aimee Aimee Semple McPherson
Voyage of the Damned Denise Kreisler
1978 Eyes of Laura Mars Laura Mars
1979 The Champ Annie
1980 The First Deadly Sin Barbara Delaney
1981 Mommie Dearest Joan Crawford Razzie Award for Worst Actress (tied with Bo Derek)
Runner-up — National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Runner-up — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Evita Peron Evita Peron
1983 The Wicked Lady Lady Barbara Skelton
1984 Ordeal by Innocence Rachel Argyle
Supergirl Selena
Ellis Island Maud Charteris Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Thirteen at Dinner Jane Wilkinson
1986 Raspberry Ripple Matron + "M"
1987 Barfly Wanda Wilcox Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1988 Midnight Crossing Helen Barton
The Gamble Countess Matilda Von Wallenstein La Partita
Burning Secret Mrs. Sonya Tuchman
1989 Frames from the Edge Herself documentary
On a Moonlit Night Mrs. Colbert In una notte di chiaro di luna
Wait Until Spring, Bandini Mrs. Hildegarde
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Serena Joy
The Two Jakes Evelyn Mulwray voice only
1991 Scorchers Thais
1992 Double Edge Faye Milano Lahav Hatzui
1993 Arizona Dream Elaine Stalker
The Temp Charlene Towne
1995 Unzipped Herself – uncredited Documentary
Don Juan DeMarco Marilyn Mickler
Drunks Becky
1996 Dunston Checks In Mrs. Dubrow
Albino Alligator Janet Boudreaux
The Chamber Lee Cayhall Bowen
1997 In Praise of Older Women Condesa
The Twilight of the Golds Phyllis Gold Nominated — CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Rebecca Mrs. van Hopper TV miniseries
1998 Gia Wilhelmina Cooper Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1999 Love Lies Bleeding Josephine Butler
The Thomas Crown Affair The Psychiatrist
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Yolande of Aragon
2000 The Yards Kitty Olchin
Stanley's Gig Leila
Running Mates Meg Gable Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2001 Yellow Bird Aurora Beavis Short subject – also director
Festival in Cannes Herself Cameo
2002 Mid-Century Blue/Mother
Changing Hearts Betty Miller
The Rules of Attraction Mrs. Eve Denton
Man of Faith Mae West
2003 Blind Horizon Ms. K
2004 Last Goodbye Sean Winston
El Padrino Atty. Gen. Navarro
Jennifer's Shadow Mary Ellen Cassi
2005 Ghosts Never Sleep Kathleen Dolan
2006 Cut Off Marilyn Burton
Love Hollywood Style God
Rain Isabel Hudson
2007 Cougar Club Edith Birnbaum
Say It in Russian Jacqueline de Rossy
The Gene Generation Josephine Hayden
2008 Flick Lieutenant Annie McKenzie
La Rabbia Madre
2009 The Seduction of Dr. Fugazzi Detective Rowland
Midnight Bayou Odette Lifetime made-for-TV movie
Caroline & The Magic Stone Filomena
Balladyna Dr Ash USA-Poland co-production
2010 A Family Thanksgiving Gina Hallmark Channel Original Movie
Guest appearances
Dunaway & Mirosław Baka - Balladyna

    * Grey's Anatomy - Season 5, Episode 16 "An Honest Mistake" as Dr. Margaret Campbell (2009)
    * CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Kiss-Kiss, Bye-Bye" January 26, 2006 as Lois O'Neill
    * Alias "The Abduction" (2002); "A Higher Echelon" (2003); "The Getaway" (2003), as Ariana Kane
    * Soul Food - Season 3, Episode 1 - "Tonight at Noon" (2002)
    * Road to Avonlea - Season 6, Episode 76 - "What a Tangled Web We Weave" (1995)
    * Columbo: It's All in the Game (1993), as Lauren Staton
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q163/xelaba75/Faye%20Dunaway/faye-dunaway.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/faye%20dunaway/ycpz1od3sdqo1zdy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/11 at 8:04 am

The person of the day...Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism.

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.
King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were: Roy Wilkins from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young, National Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, SNCC; and James L. Farmer, Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality. The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague Bayard Rustin. For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President John F. Kennedy in changing the focus of the march. Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.

The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern United States and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone. As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the Nation of Islam were not permitted to attend the march.
King is most famous for his "I Have a Dream" speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 minimum wage for all workers; and self-government for Washington, D.C., then governed by congressional committee. Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the National Mall and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history. King's "I Have a Dream" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech, as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.

The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the very top the liberal political agenda in the United States and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" address at Mason Temple, the world headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following:

    And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The Reverend Ralph Abernathy, King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the "King-Abernathy suite."

According to Jesse Jackson, who was present, King's last words on the balcony prior to his assassination were spoken to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."

Then, at 6:01 p.m., April 4, 1968, a shot rang out as King stood on the motel's second floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. The events following the shooting have been disputed, as some people have accused Jackson of exaggerating his response.

After emergency chest surgery, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m. According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though only thirty-nine years old, he had the heart of a sixty-year-old man, perhaps a result of the stress of thirteen years in the civil rights movement.

The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities. Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was on his way to Indianapolis for a campaign rally when he was informed of King's death. He gave a short speech to the gathering of supporters informing them of the tragedy and urging them to continue King's ideal of non-violence. James Farmer, Jr. and other civil rights leaders also called for non-violent action, while the more militant Stokely Carmichael called for a more forceful response.

President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the civil rights leader. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey attended King's funeral on behalf of the President, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.

At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral, a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the war question", and "love and serve humanity". His good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral.

The city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.

Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd on his way to white-ruled Rhodesia. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray pleaded guilty to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term. Ray fired Foreman as his attorney, from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher". He claimed a man he met in Montreal, Quebec with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. On June 10, 1977, shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. They were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison.
Allegations of conspiracy

Ray's lawyers maintained he was a scapegoat similar to the way that John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is seen by conspiracy theorists. One of the claims used to support this assertion is that Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with the death penalty. Ray was a thief and burglar, but he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.

Those suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistics tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster recovered by police had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon. Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house – which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination – and not from the rooming house window.
Martin Luther King & Coretta Scott King's tomb, located on the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

In 1997, King's son Dexter Scott King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a new trial. Two years later, Coretta Scott King, King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a wrongful death claim against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that government agencies were party to the assassination. William F. Pepper represented the King family in the trial. King biographer David Garrow disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King. He is supported by author Gerald Posner who has researched and written about the assassination.

In 2000, the United States Department of Justice completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented. The New York Times reported a church minister, Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson—not James Earl Ray—assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way."

King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man." In 2004, Jesse Jackson, who was with King at the time of his death, noted:

    The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. And within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. ...I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.

King's main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, which has enabled more Americans to reach their potential. He is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today. His name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues.

On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the Black Consciousness Movement and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa. King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for Albert Lutuli, another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country. The day following King's assassination, school teacher Jane Elliott conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in Riceville, Iowa. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to racism, something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community.

King's wife, Coretta Scott King, followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, she established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide. Their son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's chairman. Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.

There are opposing views, even within the King family, of the slain civil rights leader's religious and political views about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. However, his daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to gay marriage. The King Center includes discrimination, and lists homophobia as one of its examples, in its list of "The Triple Evils" that should be opposed.

In 1980, the Department of Interior designated King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several nearby buildings the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. In 1996, United States Congress authorized the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC. King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established by and for African Americans. King was the first African American honored with his own memorial in the National Mall area and the first non-President to be commemorated in such a way. The King Memorial will be administered by the National Park Service.

King's life and assassination inspired many artistic works. A 1976 Broadway production, I Have a Dream, was directed by Robert Greenwald and starred Billy Dee Williams as King. In spring of 2006, a stage play Passages of Martin Luther King about King was produced in Beijing, China with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by Stanford University professor, Clayborne Carson. King spoke earlier about what people should remember him for if they are around for his funeral. He said rather than his awards and where he went to school, people should talk about how he fought peacefully for justice.:
“ I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo234/bcottrell50/martin-luther-king-jr.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u117/zbirdgraphix/Martin-Luther-King-Jr.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/11 at 1:11 pm


The person of the day...Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism.

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.
King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were: Roy Wilkins from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young, National Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, SNCC; and James L. Farmer, Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality. The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague Bayard Rustin. For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President John F. Kennedy in changing the focus of the march. Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.

The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern United States and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone. As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the Nation of Islam were not permitted to attend the march.
King is most famous for his "I Have a Dream" speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 minimum wage for all workers; and self-government for Washington, D.C., then governed by congressional committee. Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the National Mall and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history. King's "I Have a Dream" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech, as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.

The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the very top the liberal political agenda in the United States and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" address at Mason Temple, the world headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following:

    And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The Reverend Ralph Abernathy, King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the "King-Abernathy suite."

According to Jesse Jackson, who was present, King's last words on the balcony prior to his assassination were spoken to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."

Then, at 6:01 p.m., April 4, 1968, a shot rang out as King stood on the motel's second floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. The events following the shooting have been disputed, as some people have accused Jackson of exaggerating his response.

After emergency chest surgery, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m. According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though only thirty-nine years old, he had the heart of a sixty-year-old man, perhaps a result of the stress of thirteen years in the civil rights movement.

The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities. Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was on his way to Indianapolis for a campaign rally when he was informed of King's death. He gave a short speech to the gathering of supporters informing them of the tragedy and urging them to continue King's ideal of non-violence. James Farmer, Jr. and other civil rights leaders also called for non-violent action, while the more militant Stokely Carmichael called for a more forceful response.

President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the civil rights leader. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey attended King's funeral on behalf of the President, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.

At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral, a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the war question", and "love and serve humanity". His good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral.

The city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.

Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd on his way to white-ruled Rhodesia. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray pleaded guilty to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term. Ray fired Foreman as his attorney, from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher". He claimed a man he met in Montreal, Quebec with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. On June 10, 1977, shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. They were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison.
Allegations of conspiracy

Ray's lawyers maintained he was a scapegoat similar to the way that John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is seen by conspiracy theorists. One of the claims used to support this assertion is that Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with the death penalty. Ray was a thief and burglar, but he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.

Those suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistics tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster recovered by police had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon. Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house – which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination – and not from the rooming house window.
Martin Luther King & Coretta Scott King's tomb, located on the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

In 1997, King's son Dexter Scott King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a new trial. Two years later, Coretta Scott King, King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a wrongful death claim against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that government agencies were party to the assassination. William F. Pepper represented the King family in the trial. King biographer David Garrow disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King. He is supported by author Gerald Posner who has researched and written about the assassination.

In 2000, the United States Department of Justice completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented. The New York Times reported a church minister, Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson—not James Earl Ray—assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way."

King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man." In 2004, Jesse Jackson, who was with King at the time of his death, noted:

    The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. And within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. ...I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.

King's main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, which has enabled more Americans to reach their potential. He is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today. His name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues.

On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the Black Consciousness Movement and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa. King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for Albert Lutuli, another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country. The day following King's assassination, school teacher Jane Elliott conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in Riceville, Iowa. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to racism, something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community.

King's wife, Coretta Scott King, followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, she established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide. Their son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's chairman. Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.

There are opposing views, even within the King family, of the slain civil rights leader's religious and political views about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. However, his daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to gay marriage. The King Center includes discrimination, and lists homophobia as one of its examples, in its list of "The Triple Evils" that should be opposed.

In 1980, the Department of Interior designated King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several nearby buildings the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. In 1996, United States Congress authorized the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC. King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established by and for African Americans. King was the first African American honored with his own memorial in the National Mall area and the first non-President to be commemorated in such a way. The King Memorial will be administered by the National Park Service.

King's life and assassination inspired many artistic works. A 1976 Broadway production, I Have a Dream, was directed by Robert Greenwald and starred Billy Dee Williams as King. In spring of 2006, a stage play Passages of Martin Luther King about King was produced in Beijing, China with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by Stanford University professor, Clayborne Carson. King spoke earlier about what people should remember him for if they are around for his funeral. He said rather than his awards and where he went to school, people should talk about how he fought peacefully for justice.:
“ I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo234/bcottrell50/martin-luther-king-jr.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u117/zbirdgraphix/Martin-Luther-King-Jr.jpg


My Mother was born on April 4th so she's celebrating her birthday with his death.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/11 at 6:08 am

The person of the day...Sade
Helen Folasade Adu, OBE, (born 16 January 1959), better known as Sade, is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the popular Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.
Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means honor confers your crown. Her parents, Bisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse, met in London, married in 1955 and moved to Nigeria. Later, when the marriage ran into difficulties, Anne Hayes returned to England, taking four-year-old Sade and her older brother Banji to live with her parents. When Sade was 11, she moved to live at Holland-on-Sea with her mother, and after completing school at 18 she moved to London and studied at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

While at college, she joined a soul band, Pride, in which she sang backing vocals. Her solo performances of the song Smooth Operator attracted the attention of record companies and in 1983, she signed a solo deal with Epic Records taking three members of the band, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Denman, with her. Sade and her band produced the first of a string of hit albums, the debut album Diamond Life, in 1984, and have subsequently sold over 50 million albums. She is the most successful solo female artist in British history.

In 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's Red Hot and Riot, a compilation CD in tribute to the music of fellow Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti. She recorded a remix of her hit single, "By Your Side," for the album and was billed as a co-producer.
Personal life

In 1989 she married Spanish film director Carlos Pliego. Their marriage ended in 1995. She gave birth to a daughter, Ila Adu, in 1996 after a relationship with a Jamaican musician.

Adu currently resides in Stroud, United Kingdom, with her partner Ian, his son Jack and her daughter Ila. She keeps her personal life private.

She was made a member of the Order of the British Empire in 2002. Prior to the release of Soldier of Love in 2010, the Daily Mail described her as "famously reclusive".
Discography
Sade

    For more details on this topic, see Discography of Sade

Studio albums

    * 1984: Diamond Life
    * 1985: Promise
    * 1988: Stronger Than Pride
    * 1992: Love Deluxe
    * 2000: Lovers Rock
    * 2010: Soldier of Love



Other albums

    * 1992: Remix Deluxe
    * 1994: The Best of Sade
    * 2002: Lovers Live

Collaboration

    * Absolute Beginners OST (Virgin, 1986)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/LAFE_2008/sade-2.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk211/Bobbalouie_photo/A%20Cross%20Section%20Of%20My%20Albums/The%20Beautiful%20Babes%20Top%2010%20Fotos/DSCN0488.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/16/11 at 6:23 am


The person of the day...Sade
Helen Folasade Adu, OBE, (born 16 January 1959), better known as Sade, is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the popular Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.
Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means honor confers your crown. Her parents, Bisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse, met in London, married in 1955 and moved to Nigeria. Later, when the marriage ran into difficulties, Anne Hayes returned to England, taking four-year-old Sade and her older brother Banji to live with her parents. When Sade was 11, she moved to live at Holland-on-Sea with her mother, and after completing school at 18 she moved to London and studied at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

While at college, she joined a soul band, Pride, in which she sang backing vocals. Her solo performances of the song Smooth Operator attracted the attention of record companies and in 1983, she signed a solo deal with Epic Records taking three members of the band, Stuart Matthewman, Andrew Hale and Paul Denman, with her. Sade and her band produced the first of a string of hit albums, the debut album Diamond Life, in 1984, and have subsequently sold over 50 million albums. She is the most successful solo female artist in British history.

In 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's Red Hot and Riot, a compilation CD in tribute to the music of fellow Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti. She recorded a remix of her hit single, "By Your Side," for the album and was billed as a co-producer.
Personal life

In 1989 she married Spanish film director Carlos Pliego. Their marriage ended in 1995. She gave birth to a daughter, Ila Adu, in 1996 after a relationship with a Jamaican musician.

Adu currently resides in Stroud, United Kingdom, with her partner Ian, his son Jack and her daughter Ila. She keeps her personal life private.

She was made a member of the Order of the British Empire in 2002. Prior to the release of Soldier of Love in 2010, the Daily Mail described her as "famously reclusive".
Discography
Sade

    For more details on this topic, see Discography of Sade

Studio albums

    * 1984: Diamond Life
    * 1985: Promise
    * 1988: Stronger Than Pride
    * 1992: Love Deluxe
    * 2000: Lovers Rock
    * 2010: Soldier of Love



Other albums

    * 1992: Remix Deluxe
    * 1994: The Best of Sade
    * 2002: Lovers Live

Collaboration

    * Absolute Beginners OST (Virgin, 1986)
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm24/LAFE_2008/sade-2.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk211/Bobbalouie_photo/A%20Cross%20Section%20Of%20My%20Albums/The%20Beautiful%20Babes%20Top%2010%20Fotos/DSCN0488.jpg
She made a comeback last year, but don't think much came of it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/16/11 at 7:38 am

Smooth Operator and Sweetest Taboo are my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/16/11 at 8:56 am

I was listening to Smooth Operator not too long ago-it is the last song on my exercise CD-I cool down to it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/11 at 10:00 am


She made a comeback last year, but don't think much came of it.

I never knew she made a comeback till I was watching a special on VH1

Smooth Operator and Sweetest Taboo are my favorites.

Those are the only songs I know by her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/16/11 at 12:51 pm


I never knew she made a comeback till I was watching a special on VH1Those are the only songs I know by her.


She also had "Your Love Is King".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/11 at 6:00 am

The person of the day...Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Obama attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago and to work at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. As the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a fashion icon and role model for women, and a notable advocate for poverty awareness and healthy eating.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois to Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian (née Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school. The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina, where some of her paternal family still reside. Her maternal great-great-great grandmother, Melvinia Shields, also a slave, became pregnant by a white man. His name and the nature of their union have been lost. She gave birth to Michelle's biracial maternal great-great grandfather, Dolphus T. Shields.

She grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago's South Shore community area. Her parents rented a small apartment on the house's second floor from her great-aunt, who lived downstairs. She was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table". The family entertained together by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading. The family attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church. The Robinsons used to vacation in a rustic cabin in White Cloud, Michigan. She and her brother, Craig (who is 21 months older), skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).

She attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer. The round trip commute from her South Side home to the Near West Side took three hours. She was a high school classmate of Santita Jackson, the daughter of Jesse Jackson and sister of Jesse Jackson, Jr. She graduated from high school in 1981 as salutatorian.

Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University; he graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational. As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs." While at Princeton, she got involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care center which also included after school tutoring. Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases. She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush. In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.
Barack and Michelle Obama, wearing dark outdoor clothes, in front of a crowd. His expression is muted; she has a wide smile.
Barack and Michelle Obama.

She met Barack Obama when they were among the few African Americans at their law firm, Sidley Austin (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out there were others in different departments), and she was assigned to mentor him as a summer associate. Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her. The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing. The couple married in October 1992, and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001). After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C. Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children. She is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is the first cousin, once removed, of Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., one of the country’s most prominent black rabbis.

She once requested that her then-fiancé meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move. Now Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors. The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows; the combination of an evolving family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance". However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school. As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand the school. The Obamas' daughters now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School. She stated in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that the couple does not intend to have any more children. They have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House. Marian Robinson, Michelle's mother, has moved into the White House to assist with child care.
Career

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.

In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.

In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center. In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election; she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job. According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, her salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income, however, was $991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS), a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, Michelle Obama has become a part of popular culture. In May 2006, Essence listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women." In July 2007, Vanity Fair listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." She was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball as a "young'un" paying tribute to the 'Legends,' which helped pave the way for African American Women. In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of 'The Harvard 100'; a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked fourth. In July 2008, she made a repeat appearance on the Vanity Fair international best dressed list. She also appeared on the 2008 People list of best-dressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.

Many sources have speculated that, as a high-profile African-American woman in a stable marriage, she will be a positive role model who will influence the view the world has of African-Americans. Her fashion choices were part of Fashion week, but Obama's influence in the field did not have an impact on the paucity of African-American models who participate, as some thought it might.

She has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy due to her sense of style, and also to Barbara Bush for her discipline and decorum. Her white, one-shoulder Jason Wu 2009 inaugural gown was said to be "an unlikely combination of Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy". Obama's style is described as populist. She often wears clothes by designers Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Isabel Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Ricco and Maria Pinto, and has become a fashion trendsetter, in particular her favoring of sleeveless dresses that showcase her toned arms.

She appeared on the cover and in a photo spread in the March 2009 issue of Vogue. Every First Lady since Lou Hoover (except Bess Truman) has been in Vogue, but only Hillary Clinton had previously appeared on the cover.

The media have been criticized for focusing more on the first lady's fashion sense than her serious contributions. She has stated that she would like to focus attention as First Lady on issues of concern to military and working families. U.S.News & World Report blogger, PBS host and Scripps Howard columnist Bonnie Erbe has argued that Obama's own publicists seem to be feeding the emphasis on style over substance. Erbe has stated on several occasions that she is miscasting herself by overemphasizing style.
Work undertaken and causes promoted
Michelle Obama and Elizabeth II shake hands and smile at each other as Barack enters the room in the background.
Obama is greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, April 1, 2009
Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni share a laugh while seated on adjacent couches.
Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni

During her early months as First Lady, she has frequently visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She has also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service. On her first trip abroad in April 2009, she toured a cancer ward with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She has begun advocating on behalf of military families. Like her predecessors Clinton and Bush, who supported the organic movement by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, Obama has received attention by planting an organic garden and installing bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings.

Obama has become an advocate of her husband's policy priorities by promoting bills that support it. Following the enactment of the Pay equity law, Obama hosted a White House reception for women's rights advocates in celebration. She has pronounced her support for the economic stimulus bill in visits to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department of Education. Some observers have looked favorably upon her legislative activities, while others have said that she should be less involved in politics. According to her representatives, she intends to visit all United States Cabinet-level agencies in order to get acquainted with Washington.

She has gained growing public support in her early months as first lady. She is notable for her support from military families and some Republicans. As the public is growing accustomed to her, she is becoming more accepted as a role model. Newsweek described her first trip abroad as an exhibition of her so-called "star power" and MSN described it as an display of sartorial elegance. There were questions raised in the American and British media regarding protocol when the Obamas met Queen Elizabeth II, and Michelle reciprocated a touch on her back by the Queen during a reception, purportedly against traditional royal etiquette. Palace sources denied that any breach in etiquette had occurred.

On June 5, 2009, the White House announced that Michelle Obama was replacing her current chief of staff, Jackie Norris, with Susan Sher, a longtime friend and adviser. Norris will become a senior adviser to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Then in February 2010, the resignation of White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers was announced to be effective the following month. Rogers had been at odds with other administration officials, such as David Axelrod, and then the White House State Dinner snafu occurred on November 24, 2009. Rogers was replaced by Julianna Smoot.

After a year as First Lady, she undertook her first lead role in an administrationwide initiative. Her goal was to make progress in reversing the 21st century trend of childhood obesity. She stated that her goal is to make this effort her legacy: "I want to leave something behind that we can say, ‘Because of this time that this person spent here, this thing has changed.’ And my hope is that that’s going to be in the area of childhood obesity." She has named the movement "Let's Move!". This effort does not supplant her other efforts: supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country. She has earned widespread publicity on the topic of healthy eating by planting the first white house vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt served as first lady.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm220/mdcarterncat/Famous%20People/ebony2-760646.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/ProfessorofTruth/Obama/1BlackPoliticsBarackObamaswifeMiche.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/17/11 at 6:58 am

Michelle Obama = The Obama Mama.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/17/11 at 9:11 am


The person of the day...Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Obama attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago and to work at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. As the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a fashion icon and role model for women, and a notable advocate for poverty awareness and healthy eating.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois to Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian (née Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school. The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina, where some of her paternal family still reside. Her maternal great-great-great grandmother, Melvinia Shields, also a slave, became pregnant by a white man. His name and the nature of their union have been lost. She gave birth to Michelle's biracial maternal great-great grandfather, Dolphus T. Shields.

She grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago's South Shore community area. Her parents rented a small apartment on the house's second floor from her great-aunt, who lived downstairs. She was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table". The family entertained together by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading. The family attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church. The Robinsons used to vacation in a rustic cabin in White Cloud, Michigan. She and her brother, Craig (who is 21 months older), skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).

She attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer. The round trip commute from her South Side home to the Near West Side took three hours. She was a high school classmate of Santita Jackson, the daughter of Jesse Jackson and sister of Jesse Jackson, Jr. She graduated from high school in 1981 as salutatorian.

Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University; he graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational. As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs." While at Princeton, she got involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care center which also included after school tutoring. Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases. She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush. In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.
Barack and Michelle Obama, wearing dark outdoor clothes, in front of a crowd. His expression is muted; she has a wide smile.
Barack and Michelle Obama.

She met Barack Obama when they were among the few African Americans at their law firm, Sidley Austin (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out there were others in different departments), and she was assigned to mentor him as a summer associate. Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her. The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing. The couple married in October 1992, and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001). After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C. Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children. She is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is the first cousin, once removed, of Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., one of the country’s most prominent black rabbis.

She once requested that her then-fiancé meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move. Now Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors. The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows; the combination of an evolving family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance". However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school. As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand the school. The Obamas' daughters now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School. She stated in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that the couple does not intend to have any more children. They have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House. Marian Robinson, Michelle's mother, has moved into the White House to assist with child care.
Career

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.

In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.

In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center. In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election; she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job. According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, her salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income, however, was $991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS), a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, Michelle Obama has become a part of popular culture. In May 2006, Essence listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women." In July 2007, Vanity Fair listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." She was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball as a "young'un" paying tribute to the 'Legends,' which helped pave the way for African American Women. In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of 'The Harvard 100'; a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked fourth. In July 2008, she made a repeat appearance on the Vanity Fair international best dressed list. She also appeared on the 2008 People list of best-dressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.

Many sources have speculated that, as a high-profile African-American woman in a stable marriage, she will be a positive role model who will influence the view the world has of African-Americans. Her fashion choices were part of Fashion week, but Obama's influence in the field did not have an impact on the paucity of African-American models who participate, as some thought it might.

She has been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy due to her sense of style, and also to Barbara Bush for her discipline and decorum. Her white, one-shoulder Jason Wu 2009 inaugural gown was said to be "an unlikely combination of Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy". Obama's style is described as populist. She often wears clothes by designers Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Isabel Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Ricco and Maria Pinto, and has become a fashion trendsetter, in particular her favoring of sleeveless dresses that showcase her toned arms.

She appeared on the cover and in a photo spread in the March 2009 issue of Vogue. Every First Lady since Lou Hoover (except Bess Truman) has been in Vogue, but only Hillary Clinton had previously appeared on the cover.

The media have been criticized for focusing more on the first lady's fashion sense than her serious contributions. She has stated that she would like to focus attention as First Lady on issues of concern to military and working families. U.S.News & World Report blogger, PBS host and Scripps Howard columnist Bonnie Erbe has argued that Obama's own publicists seem to be feeding the emphasis on style over substance. Erbe has stated on several occasions that she is miscasting herself by overemphasizing style.
Work undertaken and causes promoted
Michelle Obama and Elizabeth II shake hands and smile at each other as Barack enters the room in the background.
Obama is greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, April 1, 2009
Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni share a laugh while seated on adjacent couches.
Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni

During her early months as First Lady, she has frequently visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She has also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service. On her first trip abroad in April 2009, she toured a cancer ward with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She has begun advocating on behalf of military families. Like her predecessors Clinton and Bush, who supported the organic movement by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, Obama has received attention by planting an organic garden and installing bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings.

Obama has become an advocate of her husband's policy priorities by promoting bills that support it. Following the enactment of the Pay equity law, Obama hosted a White House reception for women's rights advocates in celebration. She has pronounced her support for the economic stimulus bill in visits to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department of Education. Some observers have looked favorably upon her legislative activities, while others have said that she should be less involved in politics. According to her representatives, she intends to visit all United States Cabinet-level agencies in order to get acquainted with Washington.

She has gained growing public support in her early months as first lady. She is notable for her support from military families and some Republicans. As the public is growing accustomed to her, she is becoming more accepted as a role model. Newsweek described her first trip abroad as an exhibition of her so-called "star power" and MSN described it as an display of sartorial elegance. There were questions raised in the American and British media regarding protocol when the Obamas met Queen Elizabeth II, and Michelle reciprocated a touch on her back by the Queen during a reception, purportedly against traditional royal etiquette. Palace sources denied that any breach in etiquette had occurred.

On June 5, 2009, the White House announced that Michelle Obama was replacing her current chief of staff, Jackie Norris, with Susan Sher, a longtime friend and adviser. Norris will become a senior adviser to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Then in February 2010, the resignation of White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers was announced to be effective the following month. Rogers had been at odds with other administration officials, such as David Axelrod, and then the White House State Dinner snafu occurred on November 24, 2009. Rogers was replaced by Julianna Smoot.

After a year as First Lady, she undertook her first lead role in an administrationwide initiative. Her goal was to make progress in reversing the 21st century trend of childhood obesity. She stated that her goal is to make this effort her legacy: "I want to leave something behind that we can say, ‘Because of this time that this person spent here, this thing has changed.’ And my hope is that that’s going to be in the area of childhood obesity." She has named the movement "Let's Move!". This effort does not supplant her other efforts: supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country. She has earned widespread publicity on the topic of healthy eating by planting the first white house vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt served as first lady.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm220/mdcarterncat/Famous%20People/ebony2-760646.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/ProfessorofTruth/Obama/1BlackPoliticsBarackObamaswifeMiche.jpg



She is SOOOOO beautiful-and super smart. I think she is prettiest First Lady this country has EVER had. It used to be Jackie but Michelle beats Jackie IMO!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/11 at 3:40 pm



She is SOOOOO beautiful-and super smart. I think she is prettiest First Lady this country has EVER had. It used to be Jackie but Michelle beats Jackie IMO!



Cat

She is one very classy first lady. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/17/11 at 5:46 pm


She is one very classy first lady. :)



Extremely.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/11 at 6:10 am

The person of the day...Danny Kaye
David Daniel Kaminsky (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian. He became extremely popular in films with his bravura performances of patter songs and for children's favorites such as The Inch Worm and The Ugly Duckling. He was the first ambassador-at-large of UNICEF
Danny Kaye made his film debut in a 1935 comedy short titled Moon Over Manhattan. In 1937 he signed with New York–based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. Kaye usually played a manic, dark-haired, fast-talking Russian in these low-budget shorts, opposite young hopefuls June Allyson or Imogene Coca. The Kaye series ended abruptly when the studio shut down permanently in 1938.

Kaye scored a personal triumph in 1941, in the hit Broadway comedy Lady in the Dark. His show-stopping number was "Tchaikovsky", by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, in which he sang the names of a whole string of Russian composers at breakneck speed, seemingly without taking a breath.

His feature film debut was in producer Samuel Goldwyn's Technicolor 1944 comedy Up in Arms, a remake of Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor comedy Whoopee! (1930). Kaye's rubber face and fast patter were an instant hit, and rival producer Robert M. Savini cashed in almost immediately by compiling three of Kaye's old Educational Pictures shorts into a makeshift feature, The Birth of a Star (1945).

Kaye starred in several movies with actress Virginia Mayo in the 1940s, and is well known for his roles in films such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General (1949), On the Riviera (1951) co-starring Gene Tierney, Knock on Wood (1954), White Christmas (1954, in a role originally intended for Fred Astaire, then Donald O'Connor),The Court Jester (1956), and Merry Andrew (1958). Kaye starred in two pictures based on biographies, Hans Christian Andersen (1952) about the Danish story-teller, and The Five Pennies (1959) about jazz pioneer Red Nichols. His wife, writer/lyricist Sylvia Fine, wrote many of the witty, tongue-twisting songs Danny Kaye became famous for. Some of Kaye's films included the theme of doubles, two people who look identical (both played by Danny Kaye) being mistaken for each other, to comic effect. The Kaye-Fine marriage, as was the case with many spouses who worked together in the high-pressure world of film-making, was sometimes stormy.

During World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated rumors that Kaye dodged the draft by manufacturing a medical condition to gain 4-F status and exemption from military service. FBI files show he was also under investigation for supposed links with Communist groups. The allegations were never substantiated, and he was never charged with any associated crime.
Kaye died of a heart attack in March 1987, following a bout with hepatitis. Kaye had quadruple bypass heart surgery in February 1983; he contracted hepatitis from a blood transfusion he received at that time. He left a widow, Sylvia Fine, and a daughter, Dena. He is interred in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. His grave is adorned with a bench that contains friezes of a baseball and bat, an aircraft, a piano, a flower pot, musical notes, and a glove. Kaye's name, birth and death dates are inscribed on the glove.
Personal life

Kaye and his wife, Sylvia, both grew up in Brooklyn, living only a few blocks apart, but they did not meet until they were both working on an off-Broadway show in 1939. Sylvia was an audition pianist at the time. Danny and Sylvia discovered that the dentist whose office he had been hired to watch was Sylvia's father, Dr. Samuel Fine. They were married on January 3, 1940. Danny, working in Florida at the time, proposed on the telephone; the couple was married in Fort Lauderdale. Their daughter, Dina, was born in 1946.

After Kaye and his wife became estranged, he was allegedly involved with a succession of women, though he and Fine never divorced. The best-known of these women was actress Eve Arden.

There are persistent rumors that Kaye was either homosexual or bisexual, and some sources claim that Kaye and Laurence Olivier had a ten-year relationship in the 1950s while Olivier was still married to Vivien Leigh. A biography of Leigh states that the alleged relationship caused her to have a breakdown. The alleged relationship has been denied by Olivier's official biographer, Terry Coleman. Joan Plowright, Olivier's widow, has dealt with the matter in different ways on different occasions: she deflected the question (but alluded to Olivier's "demons") in a BBC interview and was reported saying on another occasion that "I have always resented the comments that it was I who was the homewrecker of Larry's marriage to Vivien Leigh. Danny Kaye was attached to Larry far earlier than I." However, in her memoirs Plowright denies that there had been an affair between the two men. Producer Perry Lafferty reported: “People would ask me, 'Is he gay? Is he gay?' I never saw anything to substantiate that in all the time I was with him.” Kaye’s final girlfriend, Marlene Sorosky, reported that he told her, “I’ve never had a homosexual experience in my life. I’ve never had any kind of gay relationship. I’ve had opportunities, but I never did anything about them.”
Honors, awards, tributes

    * Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1981)
    * Asteroid 6546 Kaye
    * Danny Kaye was knighted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in 1983 for his 1952 portrayal of Hans Christian Andersen in the film of the same name.
    * Kennedy Center Honor (1984)
    * The song I Wish I Was Danny Kaye on Miracle Legion's 1996 album Portrait of a Damaged Family
    * On June 23, 1987, Kaye was posthumously presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his daughter Dena.

Filmography
Film
# Title Year Role Director Co-stars Filmed in
1. Moon Over Manhattan 1935 Himself Al Christie Sylvia Froos, Marion Martin Black and white
2. Dime a Dance 1937 Eddie Al Christie Imogene Coca, June Allyson Black and white
3. Getting an Eyeful 1938 Russian Al Christie Charles Kemper, Sally Starr Black and white
4. Cupid Takes a Holiday 1938 Nikolai Nikolaevich (bride-seeker) William Watson Douglas Leavitt, Estelle Jayne Black and white
5. Money on Your Life 1938 Russian William Watson Charles Kemper, Sally Starr Black and white
6. Up in Arms 1944 Danny Weems Elliott Nugent Dinah Shore, Dana Andrews Technicolor
7. Wonder Man 1945 Edwin Dingle / Buzzy Bellew H. Bruce Humberstone Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran Technicolor
8. The Kid from Brooklyn 1946 Burleigh Hubert Sullivan Norman Z. McLeod Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden Technicolor
9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1947 Walter Mitty Norman Z. McLeod Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter, Ann Rutherford Technicolor
10. A Song Is Born 1948 Professor Hobart Frisbee Howard Hawks Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Hugh Herbert, Steve Cochran Technicolor
11. It's a Great Feeling 1949 Himself David Bulter Dennis Morgan, Doris Day, Jack Carson Technicolor
12. The Inspector General 1949 Georgi Henry Koster Walter Slezak, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Gene Lockhart Technicolor
13. On the Riviera 1951 Jack Martin / Henri Duran Walter Lang Gene Tierney, Corinne Calvet Technicolor
14. Hans Christian Andersen 1952 Hans Christian Andersen Charles Vidor Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire Technicolor
15. Knock on Wood 1954 Jerry Morgan / Papa Morgan Norman Panama
Mevin Frank Mai Zetterling, Torin Thatcher Technicolor
16. White Christmas 1954 Phil Davis Michael Curtiz Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger VistaVision
Technicolor
17. The Court Jester 1956 Hubert Hawkins Norman Panama
Mevin Frank Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury VistaVision
Technicolor
18. Merry Andrew 1958 Andrew Larabee Michael Kidd Anna Maria, Pier Angeli CinemaScope
Metrocolor
19. Me and the Colonel 1958 Samuel L. Jacobowsky Peter Glenville Curd Jürgens, Nicole Maurey, Françoise Rosay, Akim Tamiroff Black and white
20. The Five Pennies 1959 Red Nichols Melville Shavelson Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Tuesday Weld VistaVision
Technicolor
21. On the Double 1961 Pfc. Ernie Williams Melville Shavelson Dana Wynter, Margaret Rutherford, Diana Dors Panavision
Technicolor
22. The Man from the Diner's Club 1963 Ernest Klenk Frank Tashlin Cara Williams, Martha Hyer Black and white
23. The Madwoman of Chaillot 1969 The Ragpicker Bryan Forbes Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer Technicolor
Television

    * Autumn Laughter (1938) (experimental telecast)
    * The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball (1962) (special)
    * The Danny Kaye Show (1963–1967) (series)
    * The Lucy Show: "Lucy Meets Danny Kaye" (1964) (guest appearance)
    * Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) (voice)
    * The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes (1972) (special)
    * An Evening with John Denver (1975) (special)
    * Pinocchio (1976) (special)
    * Peter Pan (1976) (special)
    * The Muppet Show (1978) (guest appearance)
    * Disneyland's 25th Anniversary (1980) (special guest appearance)
    * An Evening with Danny Kaye (1981) (special)
    * Skokie (1981)
    * The New Twilight Zone: "Paladin of the Lost Hour" (1985) (guest appearance)
    * The Cosby Show: "The Dentist" (1986) (guest appearance)

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f148/slave2moonlight/DannyKayeresize.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c162/johnmaloney69/Scandanny.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/18/11 at 7:00 am

Danny Kaye was extremely funny,one of the best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/18/11 at 9:23 am

I LOVE Danny Kaye. For all of you who are not familiar with "Tchaikovsky", here it is. Gotta love it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh-wOvuOHPE

Here is a little FYI. In "Lady in the Dark" which "Tchaikovsky" is from-as the bio states premiered in 1941, the part he played was a gay man.  :o :o :o I know, I know-I bet everyone didn't know they had gay men in 1941.  :D ;D ;D ;D Actually, that was very risquè for that day & age. I'm not too sure if a gay man was portrayed in a play/movie prior to that-probably but I just don't recall.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/11 at 2:05 pm

I love him also. :) I was on facebook and playing Family Feud and one of the fast money questions was name a famous Danny, so I type in Kaye. Tim said "who" and then laughed when my answer got a big fat 0 ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/18/11 at 2:50 pm


I love him also. :) I was on facebook and playing Family Feud and one of the fast money questions was name a famous Danny, so I type in Kaye. Tim said "who" and then laughed when my answer got a big fat 0 ;D



I can't believe your answer got a 0. I wonder who they polled.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/11 at 9:39 pm



I can't believe your answer got a 0. I wonder who they polled.


Cat

most  be younger than 50 ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/19/11 at 3:24 am



I can't believe your answer got a 0. I wonder who they polled.


Cat


Danny Kaye would have been my first answer....followed by Danny Bonaduce...followed by Danny Boy!!!  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/11 at 5:14 am


Danny Kaye would have been my first answer....followed by Danny Bonaduce...followed by Danny Boy!!!  ;)

I thought of Bonaduce afterward.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/11 at 5:19 am

The person of the day...Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer, songwriter and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
In 1966, Joplin's bluesy vocal style attracted the attention of the psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, a band that had gained some renown among the nascent hippie community in Haight-Ashbury. She was recruited to join the group by Chet Helms, a promoter who had known her in Texas and who at the time was managing Big Brother. Helms brought her back to San Francisco and Joplin joined Big Brother on June 4, 1966. Her first public performance with them was at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. Due to persistent persuading by keyboardist and close friend Stephen Ryder, Joplin avoided drug use for several weeks, enjoining bandmate Dave Getz to promise that using needles would not be allowed in their rehearsal space or in the communal apartment where they lived. When a visitor to the apartment injected drugs in front of Joplin, she angrily reminded Getz that he had broken his promise. A San Francisco concert from that summer was recorded and released in the 1984 album Cheaper Thrills.

On August 23, 1966, during a four week engagement in Chicago, the group signed a deal with independent label Mainstream Records. They recorded tracks in a Chicago recording studio, but the label owner Bob Shad refused to pay their airfare back to San Francisco. Shortly after the five band members drove from Chicago to Northern California with very little money, they moved with the Grateful Dead to a house in Lagunitas, California. It was there that Joplin relapsed into hard drugs.
The Mantra-Rock Dance promotional poster featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company.

One of Joplin's earliest major performances in 1967 was the Mantra-Rock Dance, a musical event held on January 29, 1967—just ten days after her birthday—at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple. Janis Joplin and Big Brother performed there along with the Hare Krishna founder Bhaktivedanta Swami, Allen Ginsberg, Moby Grape, and Grateful Dead, donating proceeds to the Krishna temple.

In early 1967, Joplin met Country Joe McDonald of the group Country Joe and the Fish. The pair lived together as a couple for a few months. Joplin and Big Brother began playing clubs in San Francisco, at the Fillmore West, Winterland and the Avalon Ballroom. They also played at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, as well as in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, the Psychedelic Supermarket in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Golden Bear Club in Huntington Beach, California.

The band's debut album was released by Columbia Records in August 1967, shortly after the group's breakthrough appearance in June at the Monterey Pop Festival. Two songs from Big Brother's set at Monterey were filmed. "Combination of the Two" and a version of Big Mama Thornton's "Ball and Chain" appeared in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Monterey Pop. The film captured Cass Elliot in the crowd silently mouthing "Wow! That's really heavy!" during Joplin's performance.

In November 1967, the group parted ways with Chet Helms and signed with top artist manager Albert Grossman. Up to this point, Big Brother had performed mainly in California, but had gained national prominence with their Monterey performance. On February 16, 1968, the group began its first East Coast tour in Philadelphia, and the following day gave their first performance in New York City at the Anderson Theater. On April 7, 1968, the last day of their East Coast tour, Joplin and Big Brother performed with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop at the "Wake for Martin Luther King, Jr." concert in New York.

During the spring of 1968, Joplin and Big Brother made their nationwide television debut on The Dick Cavett Show, an ABC daytime variety show hosted by Dick Cavett. Later, she made three appearances on the primetime Cavett program. During this time, the band was billed as "Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company," although the media coverage given to Joplin incurred resentment among the other members of the band. The other members of Big Brother thought that Joplin was on a "star trip," while others were telling Joplin that Big Brother was a terrible band and that she ought to dump them.

Time magazine called Joplin "probably the most powerful singer to emerge from the white rock movement," and Richard Goldstein, in Vogue magazine, wrote that Joplin was "the most staggering leading woman in rock... she slinks like tar, scowls like war... clutching the knees of a final stanza, begging it not to leave... Janis Joplin can sing the chic off any listener."

Big Brother's second album, Cheap Thrills, featured a cover design by counterculture cartoonist Robert Crumb. Although Cheap Thrills sounded as if it was mostly "live," only one track ("Ball and Chain") was actually recorded live; the rest of the tracks were studio recordings. The album had a raw quality, including the sound of a cocktail glass breaking and the broken shards being swept away during the song "Turtle Blues." With the documentary film Monterey Pop released in late 1968, the album launched Joplin's successful, albeit short, musical career.

Cheap Thrills, which gave the band a breakthrough hit single, "Piece of My Heart", reached the number one spot on the Billboard charts eight weeks after its release, remaining for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks. The album was certified gold at release and sold over a million copies in the first month of its release. Live at Winterland '68, recorded at the Winterland Ballroom on April 12 and 13, 1968, featured Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company at the height of their mutual career working through a selection of tracks from their albums.

The band made another East Coast tour during July–August 1968, performing at the Columbia Records convention in Puerto Rico and the Newport Folk Festival. After returning to San Francisco for two hometown shows at the Palace of Fine Arts Festival on August 31 and September 1, Joplin announced that she would be leaving Big Brother. The group continued touring through the fall and Joplin gave her last official performance with Big Brother at a Family Dog benefit on December 1, 1968.
Solo career: 1969–1970
Kozmic Blues Band

After splitting from Big Brother, Joplin formed a new backup group, the Kozmic Blues Band. The band was influenced by the Stax-Volt Rhythm and Blues bands of the 1960s, as exemplified by Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays, who were major musical influences on Joplin. The Stax-Volt R&B sound was typified by the use of horns and had a more bluesy, funky, soul, pop-oriented sound than most of the hard-rock psychedelic bands of the period.

By early 1969, Joplin was addicted to heroin, allegedly shooting at least $200 worth of heroin per day, although efforts were made to keep her clean during the recording of I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!. Gabriel Mekler, who produced the Kozmic Blues, told publicist-turned-biographer Myra Friedman after Joplin's death that the singer had lived in his house during the June 1969 recording sessions at his insistence so he could keep her away from drugs and her drug-using friends.

The Kozmic Blues album, released in September 1969, was certified gold later that year but did not match the success of Cheap Thrills. Reviews of the new group were mixed. Some music critics, including Ralph Gleason of the San Francisco Chronicle, were negative. Gleason wrote that the new band was a "drag" and that Joplin should "scrap" her new band and "go right back to being a member of Big Brother...(if they'll have her)." Other reviewers, such as reporter Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post generally ignored the flaws and devoted entire articles to celebrating the singer's magic.

Joplin and the Kozmic Blues Band toured North America and Europe throughout 1969, appearing at Woodstock in August. By most accounts, Woodstock was not a happy affair for Joplin. Faced with a ten hour wait after arriving at the festival, she shot heroin and was drinking alcohol, so by the time she hit the stage, she was "three sheets to the wind." Joplin also had problems at Madison Square Garden where, as she told rock journalist David Dalton, the audience watched and listened to "every note with 'Is she gonna make it?' in their eyes." Joplin's performance was not included in the documentary film Woodstock although the 25th anniversary director's cut of Woodstock includes her performance of Work Me, Lord.

At the end of the year, the group broke up. Their final gig with Joplin was at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the night of December 19–20, 1969.
Among her last public appearances were two broadcasts of The Dick Cavett Show. In a June 25, 1970, appearance, she announced that she would attend her ten-year high-school class reunion. When asked if she had been popular in school, she admitted that when in high school, her schoolmates "laughed me out of class, out of town and out of the state." In the August 3, 1970, Cavett broadcast, Joplin referred to her upcoming performance at the Festival for Peace to be held at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York, on August 6, 1970.

Joplin attended the reunion on August 14, accompanied by fellow musician and friend Bob Neuwirth, road manager John Cooke, and her sister Laura, but it reportedly proved to be an unhappy experience for her. Joplin held a press conference in Port Arthur during her reunion visit. Interviewed by Rolling Stone journalist Chet Flippo, she was reported to wear enough jewelry for a "Babylonian whore." When asked by a reporter during the reunion if Joplin entertained at Thomas Jefferson High School when she was a student there, Joplin replied, "Only when I walked down the aisles." Joplin denigrated Port Arthur and the people who'd humiliated her a decade earlier in high school.

Joplin's last public performance, with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, took place on August 12, 1970, at the Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. A positive review appeared on the front page of The Harvard Crimson newspaper despite the fact that Full Tilt Boogie performed with makeshift sound amplifiers after their regular equipment was stolen in Boston.

During September 1970, Joplin and her band began recording a new album in Los Angeles with producer Paul A. Rothchild, who had produced recordings for The Doors. Although Joplin died before all the tracks were fully completed, there was still enough usable material to compile an LP. "Mercedes Benz" was included despite it being a first take, and the track "Buried Alive In The Blues", to which Joplin had been scheduled to add her vocals on the day she was found dead, was kept as an instrumental.

The result was the posthumously released Pearl (1971). It became the biggest selling album of her career and featured her biggest hit single, a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee". Kristofferson had been Joplin's lover not long before her death. Also included was the social commentary of the a cappella "Mercedes Benz", written by Joplin, close friend and song writer Bob Neuwirth and beat poet Michael McClure. In 2003, Pearl was ranked #122 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

During the recording sessions for Pearl, Joplin began seeing Seth Morgan, a 21 year-old Berkeley student, cocaine dealer and future novelist; and checked into the Landmark Motel in Los Angeles to begin recording the Pearl album. She and Morgan became engaged to be married in early September and Joplin threw herself into the recording of songs for her new album.
Death

The last recordings Joplin completed were "Mercedes Benz" and a birthday greeting for John Lennon ("Happy Trails", composed by Dale Evans) on October 1, 1970. Lennon, whose birthday was October 9, later told Dick Cavett that her taped greeting arrived at his home after her death. On October 3, Joplin visited the Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles to listen to the instrumental track for Nick Gravenites' song "Buried Alive in the Blues" prior to recording the vocal track, scheduled for the next day. When she failed to show up at the studio by Sunday afternoon, producer Paul A. Rothchild became concerned. Full Tilt Boogie's road manager, John Cooke, drove to the Landmark Motor Hotel (since renamed the Highland Gardens Hotel) where Joplin had been a guest since August 24. He saw Joplin's psychedelically painted Porsche still in the parking lot. Upon entering her room, he found her dead on the floor. The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol. Cooke believes that Joplin had accidentally been given heroin which was much more potent than normal, as several of her dealer's other customers also overdosed that week.

Joplin was cremated in the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Mortuary in Los Angeles; her ashes were scattered from a plane into the Pacific Ocean and along Stinson Beach. The only funeral service was a private affair held at Pierce Brothers and attended by Joplin's parents and maternal aunt.

Joplin's will funded $2,500 to throw a wake party in the event of her demise. The party, which took place October 26, 1970, at the Lion's Share, located in San Anselmo California, was attended by her sister Laura and Joplin's close friends, that included tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle; Joplin's fiancé Seth Morgan; Bob Gordon; and her road manager, John Cooke. Brownies laced with hashish were unknowingly passed around. Her death at age 27 has caused her to be included in a phenomenon rock historians call the 27 Club.
Discography

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Title Release date Label Notes
Big Brother and the Holding Company 1967 Mainstream Records
Big Brother and the Holding Company 1967? Columbia Contains 2 extra single tracks
Big Brother and the Holding Company 1967, CD 1999 Columbia Legacy CK66425 Contains 2 extra single tracks
Cheap Thrills 1968 Columbia 2x Multi-Platinum Recording Industry Association of America
Cheap Thrills 1968, CD 1999 Legacy CK65784 Contains 4 extra tracks
Live at Winterland '68 1998 Columbia Legacy ASIN: B000007TSP

Kozmic Blues Band

Title Release date Label Notes
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! 1969 Columbia Platinum RIAA
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! 1969, CD 1999 Legacy CK65785 Contains 3 extra tracks

Full Tilt Boogie

Title Release date Label Notes
Pearl 1971 Columbia posthumous, 4x Multi-Platinum RIAA
Pearl 1971, CD unknown date Columbia CD64188
Pearl 1971, CD 1999 Legacy CK65786 Contains 4 extra tracks
Pearl 1971, 2CD 2005 Legacy COL 515134 2 CD1 – 6 other extra tracks
CD2 – full selection from The Festival Express Tour, 3 venues

Big Brother & the Holding Company / Full Tilt Boogie

Title Release date Label Notes
In Concert 1972 Legacy CK65786 ASIN: B0000024Y7

Later collections

Title Release date Label Notes
Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits 1973 Columbia ASIN B00000K2W1, 7x Multi-Platinum RIAA
Janis 1975 CBS 2 discs, Gold RIAA
Anthology 1980 2 discs
Farewell Song 1983 Columbia Records ASIN: B000W44S8E
Cheaper Thrills 1984 Fan Club ASIN: B000LYA9X8
Janis 1993 Columbia Legacy 3 discs – ASIN: B00000286P
18 Essential Songs 1995 Columbia Legacy ASIN: B000002B1A, Gold RIAA
The Collection 1995 3 Discs ASIN: B000BM6ATW
Live at Woodstock: August 19, 1969 1999
Box of Pearls 1999 Sony Legacy 5 Discs – ASIN: B0009YNSK6
Super Hits 2000 Sony ASIN: B00004T1E6
Love, Janis 2001 Sony ASIN: B00005EBIN
Essential Janis Joplin 2003 Sony ASIN: B00007MB6Y
Very Best of Janis Joplin 2007 Import ASIN: B000026A35
The Woodstock Experience 2009 Legacy Recordings
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/crazybeautiful_vivacious/joplin.jpg
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq295/Alejo_Ramon/janis_joplin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/11 at 6:55 am


Danny Kaye would have been my first answer....followed by Danny Bonaduce...followed by Danny Boy!!!  ;)


I dislike Danny Bonaduce.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/19/11 at 6:55 am


most  be younger than 50 ;D



I'm younger than 50. (Not by much but still younger.)  :-\\



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/11 at 6:58 am

If she didn't do all those drugs would she have still made music today at 68? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/11 at 8:26 am



I'm younger than 50. (Not by much but still younger.)  :-\\



Cat

:-[ OK 40 then

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/19/11 at 1:05 pm


I dislike Danny Bonaduce.

I don't much care for him either.

From 1999 till about 2003 or so, he became a morning radio show personality, co-hosting a show on 98.7-FM in Los Angeles. I was a regular listener to the station at that time but didn't listen to the program because it was kindof annoying.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/19/11 at 1:11 pm


I thought of Bonaduce afterward.



My sister had a big crush on Danny Bonaduce...when she was 10-and I think he was about the same age.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/11 at 1:56 pm


I don't much care for him either.

From 1999 till about 2003 or so, he became a morning radio show personality, co-hosting a show on 98.7-FM in Los Angeles. I was a regular listener to the station at that time but didn't listen to the program because it was kindof annoying.


He just became hard to listen to on TV.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/19/11 at 1:58 pm


He just became hard to listen to on TV.

He still co-hosted a TV talk show in the mid-00's called "The Other Half", but I think that was short lived.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/11 at 1:59 pm


He still co-hosted a TV talk show in the mid-00's called "The Other Half", but I think that was short lived.


I remember that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/11 at 3:26 pm



My sister had a big crush on Danny Bonaduce...when she was 10-and I think he was about the same age.


Cat

I had a crush on Brian Forster who played Chris.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/11 at 5:38 am

The person of the day...Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series, Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974-81.
1974, Baker took on the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in Play of the Month. Impressed by Baker on meeting him, Letts was convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media, as he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.

He quickly made the part his own. As the Doctor, his eccentric style of dress and speech—particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies—made him an immediately recognisable figure, and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, making him the longest-serving actor in the part on-screen. Baker himself suggested many aspects of the Fourth Doctor's personality. The distinctive scarf came about by accident: James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, and Ms. Pope knitted all the wool she was given; it was Baker who suggested that he wear the resulting—ridiculously over-long—scarf.

The manifestation played by Tom Baker (1974–1981) is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only three times: Once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and twice to David Tennant in 2006 and 2009.

In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Baker was voted the fourth most eccentric star. He was beaten by Björk, Chris Eubank and David Icke.

He continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about his time on the programme. He reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game Destiny of the Doctors. He gets interviewed often in documentaries on the extras of Doctor Who DVD releases from his era as the Doctor and has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories.

In a 2004 interview regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested that he be cast as the Master. In a 2006 interview with The Sun newspaper, he claims that he has not watched any episodes of the new series because he "just can't be bothered". In June 2006, Baker once again expressed interest in the role in a guest column for Radio Times, noting that he "did watch a little bit of the new Doctor Who and I think the new fella, Tennant, is excellent."

While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced since the 1990s by Big Finish (and sometimes the BBC) Baker had until 2009 declined to voice the Doctor, saying he hadn't seen a script he liked. In July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title Hornets' Nest, written by well-known author Paul Magrs. He returns with a sequel to Hornets' Nest called Demon Quest. Baker has also filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada and also provided narration for several BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories.

Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius'(released 4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (released on 7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (released 14 August 2008). In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Last Word to pay tribute to the deceased former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as “the big link in changing my entire life”.
Little Britain

After his work on Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World, in 2001 Baker was cast as a similar narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4, and remained in the role when it transferred to television. Baker has suggested that he was chosen for the part in Little Britain due to his popularity with Walliams and Lucas, part of the generation to whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me", he stated in a recent DVD commentary. Another trademark of Little Britain's narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence.
On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of Series 3 of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 19:00 to 21:30 GMT. The scripts were written by the same writers as Little Britain (David Walliams and Matt Lucas) and Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as "Hello, tellyviewers. You're watching the BBC One!" and "In half an hour, Jenny Dickens's classic serial Bleak House. But first let's see what the poor people are up to in the first of two visits this evening to the EastEnders.
Baker's first marriage in 1961 was to Anna Wheatcroft (niece of the rose grower Harry Wheatcroft). They had two sons Daniel and Piers, but divorced in 1966 and Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a pub in New Zealand allowing them to renew their relationship. In December 1980 he married Lalla Ward who had co-starred in Doctor Who (playing his companion Romana) with him for two years. However, the marriage lasted only 16 months.

In 1986, Baker married for a third time, this time to Sue Jerrard, who had been an assistant editor on Doctor Who. They moved to an old manse in Boughton Malherbe near Maidstone, Kent where they kept several cats, before emigrating to France in 2002. During this time he was a regular in the Red Lion in Lenham village where his distinctive voice could be heard above all other voices. They sold the property to Vic Reeves, shortly after Baker had worked with him on Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). In November 2006, Baker returned to live in the UK, buying a house in Tunbridge Wells, later moving to the East Sussex countryside.

Baker has sceptical views on religion and describes himself as irreligious, or occasionally as Buddhist, but not anti-religious. "People are quite happy believing the wrong things. I wasn't unhappy believing all that sheesh. Now I'm not unhappy thinking about it because I can laugh at it." Politically, Baker has expressed disdain for both the Conservatives and the Labour Party saying, in 1998, "When the Conservatives were in I cannot tell you how much I hated them. But I realise how shallow I am because I now hate the Labour Party as much."

Baker has revealed that he is sexually aroused by whipping and bondage (sexual) and has said that this may be related to his Catholic upbringing. At one point in his life, after the end of his first marriage, he attempted suicide.
Works
Filmography

    * 1968 - The Winter's Tale - The Bear
    * 1971 - Nicholas and Alexandra - Rasputin
    * 1972 - The Canterbury Tales (film) (I racconti di Canterbury) - Jenkin
    * 1973 - Cari Genitori (Dear Parents) - Karl
    * 1973 - The Vault of Horror (film) - Moore
    * 1973 - Luther (1973 film) - Tom's character (Pope Leo X) doesn't appear in some versions of the film
    * 1973 - Frankenstein: The True Story (TV film) - Sea Captain
    * 1973 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - Koura
    * 1974 - The Mutations (The Freakmaker) - Lynch
    * 1984 - The Passionate Pilgrim (film) (short film) - Sir Tom
    * 1984 - The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood - Sir Guy de Gisbourne
    * 2000 - Dungeons & Dragons - Halvarth
    * 2005 - The Magic Roundabout - Zeebad

Television

    * 1968 - Dixon of Dock Green - "The Attack" - The man
    * 1968 - Market in Honey Lane (ATV soap opera; Tom in 1 episode: "The Matchmakers") - Doorman
    * 1968 - George and the Dragon (ATV sitcom; Tom in 1 episode: "The 10:15 Train") - Porter
    * 1968 - Z-Cars: "Hudson's Way" (2 episodes) - Harry Russell
    * 1968 - Dixon of Dock Green - "Number 13" - Foreman
    * 1969 - Thirty-Minute Theatre: The Victims: Frontier - Corporal Schabe
    * 1970 - Softly, Softly (aka, Softly Softly: Taskforce) (1 episode: "Like any other Friday") - Site Foreman
    * 1972 - BBC Play of the Month: The Millionairess - Dr. Ahmed el Kabir
    * 1973 - Arthur of the Britons - series 2 episode "Go Warily" - Brandreth / Gavron
    * 1974 - The Author of Beltraffio (TV film) - Mark Ambient
    * 1974-1981 - Doctor Who - The Fourth Doctor
    * 1978 - four episodes of the BBC2 series Late Night Story - each episode was an eerie tale involving the theme of childhood; episodes ran for fifteen minutes and were aired before the station closed for the night. One episode, Sredni Vashtar, which had been scheduled to start the series, went unscreened due to a writer's strike.
    * 1979 - The Book Tower (22 episodes) - Presenter (himself)
    * 1980 - The Curse of King Tut's Tomb - Hasan
    * 1982 - BBC version of The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sherlock Holmes
    * 1983 - Jemima Shore Investigates - "Dr. Ziegler's Casebook" - Dr. Norman Ziegler
    * 1984 - Remington Steele - Season 2 episode: 'Hounded Steele' - Interpol agent Anatole Blaylock
    * 1985 - Jackanory - The Iron Man by Ted Hughes - Storyteller (himself)
    * 1986 - BBC adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil - Father Ferguson
    * 1986 - Blackadder II episode "Potato" - Captain Redbeard Rum
    * 1986 - The Kenny Everett Television Show - BBC Season 4, Episode 1 - Patient, aka John Thompson, aka Blu-Tac, aka Tom
    * 1990 - The Silver Chair (1990) - Puddleglum
    * 1990 - Douglas Adams's futurology documentary Hyperland - Software Agent
    * 1990 - Boom - Co-presenter
    * 1991 - The Law Lord - Sir Lionel Sweeting
    * 1991 - Selling Hitler - Manfred Fischer
    * 1992 - Cluedo (series 3) - Professor Plum
    * 1992-1995 - Medics - Professor Geoffrey Hoyt
    * 1993 - Doctor Who - Dimensions in Time - The Fourth Doctor
    * 1994 - The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show ep. 6 - Actor in supermarket (11 second cameo)
    * 1998 - Have I Got News For You - guest (himself)
    * 2000 - This Is Your Life - himself
    * 2000-2001 - revival of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Wyvern
    * 2001 - Fun at the Funeral Parlour - Quimby
    * 2003 - Swiss Toni (episode 1:"Cars Don't Make You Fat") - Derek Asquith
    * 2003 - Strange (final episode: "Asmoth") - Father Bernard
    * 2003 - Fort Boyard - The Captain
    * 2003-2006 - Little Britain - Narrator
    * 2004-2005 - Monarch of the Glen (series 6 & 7 only) - Donald MacDonald
    * 2007 - Marple - episode Towards Zero - Frederick Treves
    * 2008 - Little Britain USA - Narrator
    * 2008 - Have I Got News For You - guest presenter (himself)
    * 2010 - Tom Baker - In Confidence (Sky Arts) - Tom interviewed by his old friend Professor Laurie Taylor (sociologist)

Audiography

    * 1994 - John Le Carre's The Russia House - Barley Blair (lead role) -
    * 1999 - Nicholas Nickleby - Tom played Vincent Crummles in this BBC Radio adaptation of Dickens' classic
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 1 The Stuff of Nightmares
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 2 The Dead Shoes
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 3 The Circus Of Doom
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 4 A Sting In The Tale
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 5 Hive Of Horror
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest: The Complete Series
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 1 The Relics of Time
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 2 The Demon of Paris
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 3 A Shard of Ice
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 4 Starfall
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 5 Sepulchre
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii38/robot027/tom_baker.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/20/11 at 1:29 pm


The person of the day...Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series, Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974-81.
1974, Baker took on the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in Play of the Month. Impressed by Baker on meeting him, Letts was convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media, as he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.

He quickly made the part his own. As the Doctor, his eccentric style of dress and speech—particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies—made him an immediately recognisable figure, and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, making him the longest-serving actor in the part on-screen. Baker himself suggested many aspects of the Fourth Doctor's personality. The distinctive scarf came about by accident: James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, and Ms. Pope knitted all the wool she was given; it was Baker who suggested that he wear the resulting—ridiculously over-long—scarf.

The manifestation played by Tom Baker (1974–1981) is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only three times: Once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and twice to David Tennant in 2006 and 2009.

In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Baker was voted the fourth most eccentric star. He was beaten by Björk, Chris Eubank and David Icke.

He continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about his time on the programme. He reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game Destiny of the Doctors. He gets interviewed often in documentaries on the extras of Doctor Who DVD releases from his era as the Doctor and has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories.

In a 2004 interview regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested that he be cast as the Master. In a 2006 interview with The Sun newspaper, he claims that he has not watched any episodes of the new series because he "just can't be bothered". In June 2006, Baker once again expressed interest in the role in a guest column for Radio Times, noting that he "did watch a little bit of the new Doctor Who and I think the new fella, Tennant, is excellent."

While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced since the 1990s by Big Finish (and sometimes the BBC) Baker had until 2009 declined to voice the Doctor, saying he hadn't seen a script he liked. In July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title Hornets' Nest, written by well-known author Paul Magrs. He returns with a sequel to Hornets' Nest called Demon Quest. Baker has also filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada and also provided narration for several BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories.

Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius'(released 4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (released on 7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (released 14 August 2008). In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Last Word to pay tribute to the deceased former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as “the big link in changing my entire life”.
Little Britain

After his work on Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World, in 2001 Baker was cast as a similar narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4, and remained in the role when it transferred to television. Baker has suggested that he was chosen for the part in Little Britain due to his popularity with Walliams and Lucas, part of the generation to whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me", he stated in a recent DVD commentary. Another trademark of Little Britain's narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence.
On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of Series 3 of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 19:00 to 21:30 GMT. The scripts were written by the same writers as Little Britain (David Walliams and Matt Lucas) and Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as "Hello, tellyviewers. You're watching the BBC One!" and "In half an hour, Jenny Dickens's classic serial Bleak House. But first let's see what the poor people are up to in the first of two visits this evening to the EastEnders.
Baker's first marriage in 1961 was to Anna Wheatcroft (niece of the rose grower Harry Wheatcroft). They had two sons Daniel and Piers, but divorced in 1966 and Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a pub in New Zealand allowing them to renew their relationship. In December 1980 he married Lalla Ward who had co-starred in Doctor Who (playing his companion Romana) with him for two years. However, the marriage lasted only 16 months.

In 1986, Baker married for a third time, this time to Sue Jerrard, who had been an assistant editor on Doctor Who. They moved to an old manse in Boughton Malherbe near Maidstone, Kent where they kept several cats, before emigrating to France in 2002. During this time he was a regular in the Red Lion in Lenham village where his distinctive voice could be heard above all other voices. They sold the property to Vic Reeves, shortly after Baker had worked with him on Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). In November 2006, Baker returned to live in the UK, buying a house in Tunbridge Wells, later moving to the East Sussex countryside.

Baker has sceptical views on religion and describes himself as irreligious, or occasionally as Buddhist, but not anti-religious. "People are quite happy believing the wrong things. I wasn't unhappy believing all that sheesh. Now I'm not unhappy thinking about it because I can laugh at it." Politically, Baker has expressed disdain for both the Conservatives and the Labour Party saying, in 1998, "When the Conservatives were in I cannot tell you how much I hated them. But I realise how shallow I am because I now hate the Labour Party as much."

Baker has revealed that he is sexually aroused by whipping and bondage (sexual) and has said that this may be related to his Catholic upbringing. At one point in his life, after the end of his first marriage, he attempted suicide.
Works
Filmography

    * 1968 - The Winter's Tale - The Bear
    * 1971 - Nicholas and Alexandra - Rasputin
    * 1972 - The Canterbury Tales (film) (I racconti di Canterbury) - Jenkin
    * 1973 - Cari Genitori (Dear Parents) - Karl
    * 1973 - The Vault of Horror (film) - Moore
    * 1973 - Luther (1973 film) - Tom's character (Pope Leo X) doesn't appear in some versions of the film
    * 1973 - Frankenstein: The True Story (TV film) - Sea Captain
    * 1973 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - Koura
    * 1974 - The Mutations (The Freakmaker) - Lynch
    * 1984 - The Passionate Pilgrim (film) (short film) - Sir Tom
    * 1984 - The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood - Sir Guy de Gisbourne
    * 2000 - Dungeons & Dragons - Halvarth
    * 2005 - The Magic Roundabout - Zeebad

Television

    * 1968 - Dixon of Dock Green - "The Attack" - The man
    * 1968 - Market in Honey Lane (ATV soap opera; Tom in 1 episode: "The Matchmakers") - Doorman
    * 1968 - George and the Dragon (ATV sitcom; Tom in 1 episode: "The 10:15 Train") - Porter
    * 1968 - Z-Cars: "Hudson's Way" (2 episodes) - Harry Russell
    * 1968 - Dixon of Dock Green - "Number 13" - Foreman
    * 1969 - Thirty-Minute Theatre: The Victims: Frontier - Corporal Schabe
    * 1970 - Softly, Softly (aka, Softly Softly: Taskforce) (1 episode: "Like any other Friday") - Site Foreman
    * 1972 - BBC Play of the Month: The Millionairess - Dr. Ahmed el Kabir
    * 1973 - Arthur of the Britons - series 2 episode "Go Warily" - Brandreth / Gavron
    * 1974 - The Author of Beltraffio (TV film) - Mark Ambient
    * 1974-1981 - Doctor Who - The Fourth Doctor
    * 1978 - four episodes of the BBC2 series Late Night Story - each episode was an eerie tale involving the theme of childhood; episodes ran for fifteen minutes and were aired before the station closed for the night. One episode, Sredni Vashtar, which had been scheduled to start the series, went unscreened due to a writer's strike.
    * 1979 - The Book Tower (22 episodes) - Presenter (himself)
    * 1980 - The Curse of King Tut's Tomb - Hasan
    * 1982 - BBC version of The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sherlock Holmes
    * 1983 - Jemima Shore Investigates - "Dr. Ziegler's Casebook" - Dr. Norman Ziegler
    * 1984 - Remington Steele - Season 2 episode: 'Hounded Steele' - Interpol agent Anatole Blaylock
    * 1985 - Jackanory - The Iron Man by Ted Hughes - Storyteller (himself)
    * 1986 - BBC adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil - Father Ferguson
    * 1986 - Blackadder II episode "Potato" - Captain Redbeard Rum
    * 1986 - The Kenny Everett Television Show - BBC Season 4, Episode 1 - Patient, aka John Thompson, aka Blu-Tac, aka Tom
    * 1990 - The Silver Chair (1990) - Puddleglum
    * 1990 - Douglas Adams's futurology documentary Hyperland - Software Agent
    * 1990 - Boom - Co-presenter
    * 1991 - The Law Lord - Sir Lionel Sweeting
    * 1991 - Selling Hitler - Manfred Fischer
    * 1992 - Cluedo (series 3) - Professor Plum
    * 1992-1995 - Medics - Professor Geoffrey Hoyt
    * 1993 - Doctor Who - Dimensions in Time - The Fourth Doctor
    * 1994 - The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show ep. 6 - Actor in supermarket (11 second cameo)
    * 1998 - Have I Got News For You - guest (himself)
    * 2000 - This Is Your Life - himself
    * 2000-2001 - revival of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Wyvern
    * 2001 - Fun at the Funeral Parlour - Quimby
    * 2003 - Swiss Toni (episode 1:"Cars Don't Make You Fat") - Derek Asquith
    * 2003 - Strange (final episode: "Asmoth") - Father Bernard
    * 2003 - Fort Boyard - The Captain
    * 2003-2006 - Little Britain - Narrator
    * 2004-2005 - Monarch of the Glen (series 6 & 7 only) - Donald MacDonald
    * 2007 - Marple - episode Towards Zero - Frederick Treves
    * 2008 - Little Britain USA - Narrator
    * 2008 - Have I Got News For You - guest presenter (himself)
    * 2010 - Tom Baker - In Confidence (Sky Arts) - Tom interviewed by his old friend Professor Laurie Taylor (sociologist)

Audiography

    * 1994 - John Le Carre's The Russia House - Barley Blair (lead role) -
    * 1999 - Nicholas Nickleby - Tom played Vincent Crummles in this BBC Radio adaptation of Dickens' classic
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 1 The Stuff of Nightmares
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 2 The Dead Shoes
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 3 The Circus Of Doom
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 4 A Sting In The Tale
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest - 5 Hive Of Horror
    * 2009 - Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest: The Complete Series
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 1 The Relics of Time
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 2 The Demon of Paris
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 3 A Shard of Ice
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 4 Starfall
    * 2010 - Doctor Who: Demon Quest - 5 Sepulchre
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii38/robot027/tom_baker.jpg
The voice of Little Britain!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/11 at 4:32 am

The person of the day...Wolfman Jack
Robert Weston Smith, known commonly as Wolfman Jack (January 21, 1938 – July 1, 1995) was a gravelly-voiced, American disc jockey who became world famous in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the early days, Wolfman Jack made sporadic public appearances, usually as a Master of Ceremonies (an MC) for rock bands at local Los Angeles, California clubs. At each appearance he looked a little different because Smith hadn't decided on what "The Wolfman" should look like. Early pictures show him with a goatee; however, sometimes he combed his straight hair forward and added dark makeup to look somewhat "ethnic". Other times he had a big afro wig and large sunglasses. The ambiguity of his race contributed to the controversy of his program. It wasn't until he appeared in the 1969 film A Session with the Committee (a montage of skits by the seminal comedy troupe The Committee) that mainstream America got a good look at Wolfman Jack.

Wolfman Jack released two albums on the Wooden Nickel label: Wolfman Jack (1972) and Through the Ages (1973). His 1972 single "I Ain't Never Seen a White Man" hit #106 on the Billboard Singles Charts. In 1973 he appeared in director George Lucas' second feature film, American Graffiti, as himself. His broadcasts tie the film together, and Richard Dreyfuss's character catches a glimpse of the mysterious Wolfman in a pivotal scene. In gratitude for Wolfman Jack's participation, Lucas gave him a fraction of a "point"—the division of the profits from a film—and the extreme financial success of American Graffiti provided him with a regular income for life. He also appeared in the film's 1979 sequel More American Graffiti.

Subsequently, Smith appeared in several television shows as Wolfman Jack. They included The Odd Couple; What's Happening!!; Vega$; Hollywood Squares; Married… with Children; Emergency; and—most notoriously -- Galactica 1980. He was the regular announcer and occasional host for The Midnight Special on NBC from 1973 to 1981. He was also the host of his self-titled variety series, The Wolfman Jack Show, which was produced in Canada by CBC Television in 1976, and syndicated to stations in the US.

He promoted Clearasil and Olympia beer in radio and TV commercials in the '70s. In the '80s he promoted the "Rebel" Honda motorcycle in television commercials.

Listening to Wolfman Jack's broadcasting influenced Jim Morrison's lyrics for The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) song.

He also furnished his voice in The Guess Who's 1974 tribute, the top 40 hit single, "Clap for the Wolfman". A few years earlier, Todd Rundgren recorded a similar tribute, "Wolfman Jack", on the album Something/Anything?. (The single version of the track includes a shouted talk-over intro by the Wolfman but on the album version Rundgren performs that part himself.) Canadian band The Stampeders also released a cover of "Hit the Road Jack" in 1975 featuring Wolfman Jack; the storyline of the song involved a man named "Cornelius" calling Jack on the phone, telling him the story of how his girlfriend had thrown him out of the house, and trying to persuade Jack to let him come and stay with him (at this point, Jack ended the call). His voice is also featured in the songs "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" by Sugarloaf (Billboard HOT 100 peak #9 in Mar 1975) and "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)" by Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids (Billboard HOT 100 peak #29 in Oct 1976). Also in September of 1975, Wolfman Jack appeared on stage with the Stampeders (singing Hit The Road Jack)as a warm-up act for the Beach Boys at the Canadian National Exibition in Toronto, Canada.

A clip of a 1970s radio advertisement featuring Wolfman Jack urging registration with the United States Selective Service (aka "the draft") is incorporated into the Depeche Mode cover of the song "Route 66". Those radio advertisements were extracted from half hour radio programs that were distributed to radio stations across the country. His syndicated music radio series was sponsored by the United States Air Force, designed as a weekly program-length public service infomercial to promote the benefits of joining the Air Force. The series ran from 1971 until 1977.

In July 1974 Wolfman Jack was the MC for the Ozark Music Festival at the Missouri State Fairgrounds, a huge three-day rock festival with an estimated attendance of 350,000 people, making it one of the largest music events in history.

In 1984 Wolfman Jack voice a cartoon version of himself for the short lived DIC Entertainment cartoon Wolf Rock TV (aka Wolf Rock Power Hour) airing Saturday mornings on ABC.

In 1985, Wolfman Jack's voice is heard several times in the ABC made for TV Halloween movie "The Midnight Hour". Jack recorded several bits for the movie and is seen at the beginning of the movie as an extra. The song "Clap for the Wolfman" is heard during the movie as well.

In 1986, Wolfman Jack appeared as the "High Rama Lama" in the CBS animated special Garfield in Paradise

In 1989, he provided the narration for the US version of the arcade game DJ Boy. His voice was not used in the home version of the game, due to memory limitations.

In 2008, Lou Lamb Smith released "Wolfman Jack: Greatest Bits & Ringtones" on CD featuring clips used in the syndicated Wolfman Jack Radio Program.
Radio Caroline

When the one surviving ship in what had originally been a pirate radio network of Radio Caroline North and Radio Caroline South sank in 1980, a search began to find a replacement. Due to the laws passed in the UK in 1967, it became necessary for the sales operation to be situated in the US. For a time Don Kelley, Wolfman Jack's business partner and personal manager, acted as the West Coast agent for the planned new Radio Caroline, but the deal eventually fell apart.

As a part of this process Wolfman Jack was set to deliver the morning shows on the new station. To that end Wolfman Jack did record a number of programs which were never aired, due to the failure of the station to come on air according to schedule. (It eventually returned from a new ship in 1983 which remained at sea until 1990.) Today those tapes are traded among collectors of his work.
Death

Wolfman Jack died of a heart attack in Belvidere, North Carolina, on July 1, 1995. The day before his death, he had finished broadcasting his last live radio program, a weekly program nationally syndicated from Planet Hollywood in downtown Washington, D.C. Wolfman Jack said that night, "I can't wait to get home and give Lou a hug, I haven't missed her this much in years." Wolfman had been on the road, promoting his new autobiography Have Mercy, The Confession of the Original Party Animal, about his early career and parties with celebrities. "He walked up the driveway, went in to hug his wife and then just fell over," said Lonnie Napier, vice president of Wolfman Jack Entertainment.
Parody
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)

In the show Upright Citizens Brigade, Episode 03x01, "Costumes", a woman puts Wolfman Jack novelty bells on everything in the house.

In the Ray Stevens song "The Moonlight Special," Wolfman Jack is parodied as Mr. Sheepdog.

In the mid-1970s, Tony Simon of WCOD in Hyannis, Massachusetts did a weekend radio show parody of Wolfman Jack as "Earphone Jack."

In the skit "Wolfman" on the Adam Sandler album Shhh...Don't Tell, a man pretends to be Wolfman Jack because he is in denial about his sexuality.

A character by the name of "Wolfbane Jack" appeared on the children's television show "The Electric Company".

On the Canadian children's show The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, the show's creator Billy Van played "The Wolfman", a lycanthropic disc jockey (a literal "wolf-man") for radio station EECH, with a voice and mannerism clearly modeled after Wolfman Jack.

A Wolfman Jack functionary ("Wolfguy Jack") appears as the owner of a 1950s'-themed diner in the Simpsons episode "Take My Wife, Sleaze". Wolfguy Jack has a lover named Honey who physically resembles Candy Clark's character in American Graffiti. After howling like a wolf, Wolfguy complains that doing the voice hurts his throat. The business closes a week after Homer and Marge win a motorcycle in a dance contest. As Wolfguy locks the door for the last time, he remarks to Honey that "We still have each other", then turns around to see he is alone, and howls again. In the episode That's entertainment, Evans style of the 70's sitcom Good Times, Bookman (Johny Brown) Impersinates Wolfman Jack at a show the Evans put on to raise money for the local daycare center which is said to be closing down.


Jerry Thunder, the radio station DJ from That '70s Show, is based on Wolfman Jack.

Sesame Street released a video compilation of rock songs (most were parodies of actual rock hits modified, of course, for preschoolers) hosted by "Jackman Wolf", an anthropomorphic purple wolf who always wore sunglasses.

He is parodied in a skit on Marshall Law's (Marshall Law Music) CD "Half Alive & Still Kickin" by Drew Henderson.

In the video game The Movies, one of the radio Radio DJ's is homage to Wolfman Jack.

In the video game Fallout 3, the radio station DJ "Three Dog" is based on Wolfman Jack, including the characteristic howl.
Legacy

A group of business leaders at Del Rio, Texas, wanted to establish a museum to commemorate Wolfman Jack's stint in the border town where he first began his career at radio AM station XERF. Those involved with the project were not successful in raising the required funds necessary to build the museum, and disagreements with the DJ's estate over securing the rights to use copyrighted materials including Wolfman Jack's name on the project, eventually led to the project's failure.

In March 2003 a memorial was dedicated to the Wolfman in Del Rio. Artist Michael Maiden created a two foot tall model sculpture depicting Wolfman Jack dancing a jig on one leg with a rainbow of musical notes and records raining down behind him. The model was for a proposed life-sized installation.

Wolfman Jack was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1996, and into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1999.

In addition, Wolfman Jack's widow, Lou Lamb Smith, leased a one- to two-hour syndicated program built from what were thought to be "lost" archives and airchecks of his shows. The airchecks used in the shows date from the 1960s all the way up to his death in the 1990s. About a dozen oldies-oriented stations in the United States and Canada have picked up the show, and air times for the show vary by station.

Beginning on October 31, 2005, a 1960s-themed channel, "The 60s on 6" on XM Satellite Radio, began airing a regular program utilizing airchecks from Wolfman Jack's older syndicated shows. The first show was broadcast in October and was Halloween themed. The promotion for it was the announcement of a Halloween show so special that they were bringing someone back from the dead. It ended with a squeakly coffin opening and then the voice of the Wolfman saying, (paraphrased) "Hi everyone, it's the Wolfman and I am back. Be sure to join me for a very special ghoulish show this Halloween night". After that Halloween show, Wolfman's show was a nightly regular on XM's '60s channel. The XM show currently airs one hour per week at 11 PM Eastern Time and five hours on Sunday night at 7 PM Eastern Time.

As of December 2007, there are also several terrestrial radio affiliates carrying restored versions of Wolfman Jack's programs, with original air dates ranging from the 1970s up until his death in 1995 (one replayed episode, for instance, featured Wolfman Jack discussing the O. J. Simpson murder case). These programs were restored by Douglas Allen Wedge and syndicated between October 2004 and January 2006 by the San Diego, California-based Astor Broadcast Group. These programs are now syndicated by Lou Lamb Smith through Wolfman Jack Licensing based in Hollywood, California and London, UK-based Blue Revolution (see link below).
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q149/deanceran/Celebrities/WolfmanJack.jpg
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/tirebyterp/wolfmanjack.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/21/11 at 7:16 am

He was great back in the days,I wish he was around today to do some more deejaying. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/21/11 at 9:20 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u12xbLeMY6A


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/11 at 9:40 am


He was great back in the days,I wish he was around today to do some more deejaying. :(

Yeah I remember him from the 70's. The Midnight Special.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/21/11 at 8:26 pm


Yeah I remember him from the 70's. The Midnight Special.


I remember that show but I was never around to see it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/22/11 at 5:38 am


Yeah I remember him from the 70's. The Midnight Special.
That has not been a part of my television watching in the past.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/11 at 6:36 am


That has not been a part of my television watching in the past.

I watched it occasionally when my parents would let me stay up. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/22/11 at 6:37 am


I watched it occasionally when my parents would let me stay up. ;D
It was in those days when having a television of your own bedroom was not thought of yet.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/11 at 6:38 am

The person of the day...Diane Lane
Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine. She has since appeared in several notable films, including the 2002 film Unfaithful, which earned her Academy Award, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Lane has been married to actor Josh Brolin since 2004. She was previously married to actor Christopher Lambert from 1988 to 1994.
Lane's maternal grandmother, Eleanor Scott, was a thrice-married Pentecostal preacher of the Apostolic denomination, and Lane was influenced by the theatrical quality of her grandmother's sermons. Lane began acting professionally at the age of six at the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York, where she appeared in an production of Medea. At 12 she had a role in Joseph Papp's production of The Cherry Orchard with Meryl Streep. Also at this time, Lane was enrolled in an accelerated program at Hunter College High School and was put on notice when her grades suffered from her busy schedule. At 13 years old, she turned down a role in Runaways on Broadway to make her feature film debut opposite Laurence Olivier in A Little Romance. Lane won high praise from Olivier who declared her 'The New Grace Kelly'. At the same time Lane was featured on the cover of Time, which declared her one of Hollywood's "Whiz Kids."

In the early 1980s, Lane made a successful transition from child actor to adult roles. Her breakout performances came with back-to-back adaptations of young adult novels by S. E. Hinton, adapted and directed by Francis Ford Coppola: The Outsiders in 1982 and Rumble Fish in 1983. Both films also featured memorable performances from a number of young male actors who would go on to become leading men in the next decade (as well as members of the so-called "Brat Pack"), including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, the late Patrick Swayze, Mickey Rourke, Nicolas Cage, and Matt Dillon. Lane's distinction among these heavily male casts advanced her career while affiliating her with this young generation of male actors. Andy Warhol proclaimed her, "the undisputed female lead of Hollywood's new rat pack."

However, the two films that could have catapulted her to star status, Streets of Fire (she turned down Splash and Risky Business for this film) and The Cotton Club, were both commercial and critical failures, and her career languished as a result. After The Cotton Club, Lane dropped out of the movie business and lived with her mother in Georgia. According to the actress, "I hadn't been close to my mom for a long time, so we had a lot of homework to do. We had to repair our relationship because I wanted my mother back".

Lane returned to acting to appear in The Big Town and Lady Beware, but it was not until 1989's popular and critically acclaimed TV miniseries Lonesome Dove that Lane made another big impression on a sizable audience, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role. She was given positive reviews for her performance in the independent film My New Gun, which was well received at the Cannes Film Festival. She went on to appear as actress Paulette Goddard in Sir Richard Attenborough's big-budget biopic of Charles Chaplin, 1992's Chaplin. Lane won further praise for her role in 1999's A Walk on the Moon, opposite Viggo Mortensen. One reviewer wrote, "Lane, after years in post-teenaged-career limbo, is meltingly effective." The film's director, Tony Goldwyn, described Lane as having "...this potentially volcanic sexuality that is in no way self-conscious or opportunistic." Lane earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. At this time, she was interested in making a film about actress Jean Seberg in which she would play Seberg.

In 2002, Lane starred in Unfaithful, a drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and adapted from the French film The Unfaithful Wife. Lane played a housewife who indulges in an adulterous fling with a mysterious book dealer. The film featured several sex scenes. Lyne's repeated takes for these scenes were very demanding for the actors involved, especially for Lane, who had to be emotionally and physically fit for the duration. Unfaithful received mostly mixed to negative reviews, though Lane earned widespread praise for her performance. Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman stated that "Lane, in the most urgent performance of her career, is a revelation. The play of lust, romance, degradation, and guilt on her face is the movie's real story". She followed that film up with Under the Tuscan Sun, based on the best-selling book by Frances Mayes.

In 2008, Lane reunited with Richard Gere for the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe. It is the third film Gere and Lane filmed together. The film was based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Sparks. Lane also starred in Jumper, and Untraceable in the same year. She then appeared in Killshot with Mickey Rourke, which was given a limited theatrical release before being released on DVD in 2009.

In 2008, Lane expressed frustration with being typecast and stated that she was "gunning for something that's not so sympathetic. I need to be a bitch, and I need to be in a comedy. I've decided. No more Miss Nice Guy". The actress has even contemplated quitting acting and spending more time with her family if she is unable to get these kinds of roles. She said in an interview, "I can't do anything official. My agents won't let me. Between you and me, I don't have anything else coming out".

In 2010, Lane starred in Secretariat, a Disney film about the relationship between the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse and his owner, Penny Chenery, whom Lane portrayed.
Awards

Four days before the New York Film Critics Circle's vote in 2002, Lane was given a career tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. A day before that, Lyne held a dinner for the actress at the Four Seasons Hotel. Critics and award voters were invited to both. She went on to win the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2003, she was named ShoWest's 2003 Female Star of the Year.

Lane ranked at #79 on VH1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars. She was ranked #45 on AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women in 2005, #85 in 2006 and #98 in 2007.
Personal life
Lane with husband Josh Brolin in December 2009.

In the early 1980s, Lane dated actors Timothy Hutton, Christopher Atkins, Matt Dillon, and later rock star Jon Bon Jovi. Lane met actor Christopher Lambert in Paris while promoting The Cotton Club in 1984. They had a brief affair and split up. They met again two years later in Rome to make a film together, entitled After the Rain, and in two weeks they were a couple again. Lane and Lambert married in October 1988 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They had a daughter, Eleanor Jasmine Lambert (born September 5, 1993), and were divorced following a prolonged separation in 1994. While making Judge Dredd in 1995, Lane began dating the film's director, Danny Cannon.

Lane became engaged to actor Josh Brolin in July 2003 and they were married on August 15, 2004. On December 20 of that year, she called police after an altercation with him, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. Lane declined to press charges, however, and the couple's spokesperson described the incident as a "misunderstanding".

Lane is also involved in several charities, including Heifer International, which focuses on world hunger, and Artists for Peace and Justice, a Hollywood organization that supports Haiti relief. However, she tries not to draw attention to her humanitarian efforts: "Sometimes I give with my heart. Sometimes I give financially, but there's something about that I think ought to be anonymous. I don't want it to be a boastful thing."
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1979 A Little Romance Lauren King
1980 Touched by Love Karen aka To Elvis, with Love
1981 Great Performances Charity Royall TV (1 episode)
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains Corinne Burns
Cattle Annie and Little Britches Jenny (Little Britches)
Child Bride of Short Creek Jessica Rae Jacobs TV
1982 National Lampoon Goes to the Movies Liza
Six Pack Breezy
Miss All-American Beauty Sally Butterfield TV
1983 The Outsiders Sherri 'Cherry' Valance
Rumble Fish Patty
1984 Streets of Fire Ellen Aim
The Cotton Club Vera Cicero
1987 Lady Beware Katya Yarno
The Big Town Lorry Dane
1988 Priceless Beauty China
Lonesome Dove Lorena Wood TV miniseries
1990 Vital Signs Gina Wyler
Descending Angel Irina Stroia TV
1992 Knight Moves Kathy Sheppard
My New Gun Debbie Bender
The Setting Sun Cho Renko
Chaplin Paulette Goddard
1993 Indian Summer Jahnvi
Fallen Angels Bernette Stone TV (1 episode)
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Lucy Honicut Marsden TV
1995 A Streetcar Named Desire Stella TV
Judge Dredd Judge Hershey
1996 Wild Bill Susannah Moore
Jack Karen Powell
Mad Dog Time Grace Everly aka Trigger Happy (UK)
1997 The Only Thrill Katherine Fitzsimmons
Murder at 1600 Agent Nina Chance
1998 Gunshy Melissa
Grace & Glorie Gloria TV
1999 A Walk on the Moon Pearl Kantrowitz Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Nominated — Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
2000 My Dog Skip Ellen Morris
The Virginian Molly Stark TV
The Perfect Storm Christina Cotter
2001 Hardball Elizabeth Wilkes
The Glass House Erin Glass
2002 Unfaithful Connie Sumner National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture
2003 Under the Tuscan Sun Frances Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2005 Fierce People Liz Earl
Must Love Dogs Sarah Nolan
2006 Hollywoodland Toni Mannix
2008 Untraceable Jennifer Marsh
Jumper Mary Rice
Nights in Rodanthe Adrienne Willis
2009 Killshot Carmen Colson
2010 Secretariat Penny Chenery
2011 Cinema Verite Pat Loud TV
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/caineblack/Chicks/diane-lane.jpg
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb155/viper_schwarz/people/Female%20Young/Blonde/Diane-Lane.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/11 at 6:39 am


It was in those days when having a television of your own bedroom was not thought of yet.

Not in my house ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/22/11 at 6:39 am

http://www.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/wolfman-jack.jpg&sa=X&ei=2c86Tc6CJsqCgAfmquWeCA&ved=0CAQQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNEZ0hHqD1GcusIXdqCttE7F8mIkMA

He'd be a great DJ today. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/22/11 at 7:24 am

Ok, so it is not Diane Lane singing but it still is a GREAT scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB_YKpo3qA8


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/23/11 at 6:08 am

The person of the day...Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera (born January 23, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award (December 2002). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Rivera was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Katherine, a government clerk, and Pedro Julio Figueroa del Rivero, a clarinetist and saxophonist for the United States Navy Band. Her father was Puerto Rican and her mother was of Scottish and Italian descent. Rivera was seven years old when her mother was widowed and went to work for The Pentagon.

In 1944, Rivera's mother enrolled her in the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet (now the Jones Haywood School of Dance). Later, when she was 15, a teacher from George Balanchine's School of American Ballet visited their studio and Rivera was one of two students picked to audition in New York City; she was accompanied to the audition by Doris Jones, one of the people who ran the Jones-Haywood School. Rivera's audition was successful and she was accepted into the school and given a scholarship.
Broadway

In 1952, Rivera accompanied a friend to the audition for a Broadway production of Call Me Madam and ended up winning the role herself. She followed this by landing roles in other Broadway productions such as Guys and Dolls and Can-Can. In 1957, she was cast in the role which was destined to make her a Broadway star, the firebrand Anita in West Side Story. (The role would bring fame and an Oscar to another Puerto Rican, Rita Moreno, in the 1961 film version). Rivera starred in a national tour of Can-Can and played the role of Nicky in the film adaptation of Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine.

On December 1, 1957, Rivera married dancer Tony Mordente. Her performance was so important for the success of the show that the London production of West Side Story was postponed until she gave birth to the couple's daughter Lisa. In 1963, Rivera was cast opposite Alfred Drake in Zenda. The Broadway-bound musical closed on the road. In 1975 she appeared as Velma Kelly in the original cast of the musical Chicago.

In 1986, Rivera was in a severe accident when her car collided with a taxi on West 86th Street in Manhattan. Injuries sustained included the breaking of her left leg in twelve places, requiring eighteen screws and two braces to mend. After rehabilitation, Rivera continued to perform on stage. Miraculously revitalized, in 1988, she endeavored in a restaurant venture in partnership with the novelist, Daniel Simone. The eatery, located on 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenue, was named after her, 'Chita's'. It soon became a significant attraction for the after-theater crowds and remained open until 1994.

Rivera is regarded by many theatre aficionados as a "living legend" and in an In Theatre magazine interview, George Horsfall suggested, "You must be tired of the term 'legend', but let's get it out of the way. You have long been considered a Broadway legend." Rivera replied "Oh, God!" and laughed.

In addition to her ballet instructors, Rivera credited Leonard Bernstein and Gwen Verdon, with whom she starred in Chicago, as being people from whom she learned a great deal.
Later years
Rivera with president Barack Obama prior to receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, August 2009
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009

She appeared in a filmed for the television version of the musical Pippin in 1981, as "Fastrada". In 1993, she received a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Aurora in the Tony-award winning musical Kiss of the Spider Woman written by Kander and Ebb.

Rivera starred in the Goodman Theatre production of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit as "Claire Zachanassian" in 2001. In 2008 she appeared in a revised production of the musical at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, co-starring George Hearn.

In 2003, Rivera returned to Broadway in the 2003 revival of Nine as Liliane La Fleur, and received her eighth career Tony Award nomination (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and fourth Drama Desk Award nomination (Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical). Chita appeared with Antonio Banderas. She later appeared on the revival's cast album.

On television, Rivera was a guest on the Judy Garland show. She guest-starred along with Michele Lee in a February 2005 episode of Will & Grace, and in December of that year, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, a retrospective of her career, opened on Broadway. She received yet another Tony nomination for her self-portrayal. Though she was expected to reprise her role in a Signature Theatre staging of The Visit in Autumn 2007, that was later postponed to the following season. Instead, she performed at New York's Feinsten's At The Regency supper club in New York for two weeks. Signature Theatre's production of The Visit opened to rapturous reviews on May 13, 2008 and closed June 22, 2008.

Rivera had a cameo in the 2002 movie version of Chicago. Rivera guest-starred on Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites as Queen of All Magical Beings. The episode debuted on March 15, 2008.

In November 2009, Rivera released a new album titled, "And Now I Swing" to rave reviews.
Theatre credits

    * Mr. Wonderful .... Rita Romano
    * West Side Story .... Anita
    * Bye Bye Birdie .... Rosie Alvarez
    * Bajour .... Anyanka
    * Born Yesterday .... Billie Dawn
    * The Rose Tattoo
    * Call Me Madam .... Principal Dancer
    * Threepenny Opera .... Jenny
    * Sweet Charity .... Charity Hope Valentine
    * Kiss Me, Kate
    * Bring Back Birdie .... Rose Grant
    * The Rink .... Anna
    * Nine the Musical .... Liliane La Fleur
    * Merlin: The Magical Musical .... The Queen
    * Kiss of the Spider Woman .... Aurora
    * The Visit .... Claire Zachanassian
    * Chicago .... Velma Kelly

Film and television work (selected)

    * Chicago (2002)
    * Stonewall 25 - Voices of Pride and Protest (1994)
    * Mayflower Madam (TV) (1987)
    * That's Singing: The Best of Broadway (Great Performances, TV) (1985)
    * Pippin (1981)
    * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
    * Once Upon a Brothers Grimm (TV) (1977)
    * The Marcus-Nelson Murders (Kojack, TV) (1973)
    * Sweet Charity (1969)
    * The Outer Limits, (TV) Vol. 20: "The Bellero Shield" (1963)

See also


    * List of famous Puerto Ricans
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/iluvsquirrels/chita.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x280/icebergslim1047/recipient12.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/11 at 5:53 am

The person of the day...Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. According to David Wild, common themes in Diamond's songs are "a deep sense of isolation and an equal desire for connection. A yearning for home – and at the same time, the allure of greater freedom. The good, the bad and the ugly about a crazy little thing called love."

As of 2001 Diamond has 115 million records sold worldwide, including 48 million records in the U.S. In terms of Billboard chart success, he is the third most successful Adult Contemporary artist ever, ranking behind only Barbra Streisand and Elton John.

Though his record sales declined somewhat after the 1980s, Diamond continues to tour successfully, and maintains a very loyal following. Diamond's songs have been recorded by a vast array of performers from many different musical genres.

Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, in 2000 received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award, and will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Diamond’s first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an Everly Brothers-type duo comprising Diamond and high school friend Jack Packer *(Jack Parker). They recorded two unsuccessful singles, "You Are My Love At Last" b/w "What Will I Do" and "I'm Afraid" b/w "Till You've Tried Love", both released in 1962. Later in 1962, Diamond signed with the Columbia Records label as a solo performer. Columbia Records released the single "At Night" b/w "Clown Town" in July, 1963. Despite a tour of radio stations, the single failed to make the music charts. Billboard gave an excellent review to "Clown Town" in their July 13, 1963, issue, predicting it would be a hit. However, sales were disappointing, and Columbia dropped Diamond. Soon after, Diamond was back to writing songs on an upright piano above the Birdland Club in New York City.

Diamond spent his early career as a songwriter in the Brill Building. His first success as a songwriter came in November, 1965, with "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans on the Billboard Charts. Greater success as a writer followed with "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", and "Love to Love," all by the Monkees. There is a popular misconception that Diamond wrote and composed these songs specifically for the made-for-TV quartet. In reality, Diamond had written and recorded these songs for himself, but the cover versions were released before his own. The unintended, but happy, consequence was that Diamond began to gain fame not only as a singer and performer, but also as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" was the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966. Other notable artists who recorded early Neil Diamond songs were Elvis Presley, who interpreted “Sweet Caroline” as well as “And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind”; Mark Lindsay, former lead singer for Paul Revere & the Raiders, who covered "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"; the English hard-rock band Deep Purple, which interpreted “Kentucky Woman”; Lulu, who covered “The Boat That I Row”, and Cliff Richard, who released versions of “I’ll Come Running”, “Solitary Man”, "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", “I Got The Feelin’ (Oh No No)”, and “Just Another Guy.”

In 1966 Diamond signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. His first release on that label, "Solitary Man", became his first hit. Prior to the release of "Solitary Man," Neil had considered using a stage name; he came up with two possibilities, "Noah Kaminsky" and "Eice Chary". But when asked by Bang Records which name he should use, Noah, Eice, or Neil, he thought of his grandmother, who died prior to the release of "Solitary Man". Thus he told Bang, "...go with Neil Diamond and I'll figure it out later". Diamond later followed with "Cherry, Cherry", "Kentucky Woman", "Thank the Lord for the Night Time", "Do It", and others. Diamond's Bang recordings were produced by legendary Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, both of whom can be heard singing background on many of the tracks.

His first concerts saw him as a "special guest" of, or opening for, everyone from Herman's Hermits to, on one occasion, The Who, which he confirmed on an installment of VH1's documentary series program Behind The Music.

Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang Records, wanting to record more ambitious, introspective music. Finding a loophole in his contract, Diamond tried to sign with a new label, but the result was a series of lawsuits that coincided with a dip in his professional success. Diamond eventually triumphed in court, and secured ownership of his Bang-era master recordings in 1977.
1970s

After Diamond had signed a deal with the MCA Records label of Universal Pictures' parent company, MCA Inc., whose label was then called the Uni Records label in the late 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles in 1970. His sound mellowed, with such songs as "Sweet Caroline", "Holly Holy", "'Cracklin' Rosie", and the country-tinged "Song Sung Blue", the last two reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100. "Sweet Caroline" was Diamond's first major hit after his slump. Diamond admitted in 2007 that he had written "Sweet Caroline" for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her on the cover of Life Magazine in an equestrian riding outfit. It took him just one hour, in a Memphis hotel, to write and compose it. The 1971 release "I Am...I Said" was a Top 5 hit in both the U.S. and UK, and was his most intensely personal effort to date, taking upwards of four months to complete.

In 1972, Diamond played 10 sold-out concerts at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. During the performance on Thursday, August 24, which was recorded and released as the live double album Hot August Night. A few weeks later, in the fall of 1972, Diamond performed a series of concerts on 20 consecutive nights at the Winter Garden Theater in New York. Every one of these reportedly sold out, and the small (approximately 1,600-seat) Broadway theater provided an intimate concert setting not common at the time.

Hot August Night demonstrates Diamond's skills as a performer and showman, as he reinvigorated his back catalogue of hits with new energy. Many consider it his best work; critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night “the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... shows Diamond the icon in full glory.”

The album has become a classic. It was remastered in 2000 with three additional selections: “Walk on Water”, “Kentucky Woman” and “Stones”. In Australia, the album spent a remarkable 29 weeks at No. 1; in 2006, it was voted #16 in a poll of favourite albums of all time in Australia. Also, Diamond's final concert of his 1976 Australian Tour (The "Thank You Australia" Concert) was broadcast to 36 television outlets nationwide on March 6 and remains the country's most-watched music event. It also set a record for the largest attendance at the Sydney Sports Ground. The 1977 concert Love At The Greek, a return to the Greek Theatre, includes a version of "Song Sung Blue" with duets with Helen Reddy and Henry Winkler, a.k.a. Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli of Happy Days.

In 1973, Diamond hopped labels again, returning to the Columbia Records for a lucrative million-dollar-advance-per-album contract. His first project, released as a solo album, was the soundtrack to Hall Bartlett's film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The film received hostile reviews and did poorly at the box office. The album grossed more than the film did. Richard Bach, author of the best-selling source story, disowned the film. Both Bach and Diamond sued the film’s producer. Diamond felt the film butchered his score. Despite the shortcomings of the film, the soundtrack was a success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. Diamond would also garner a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture. From there, Diamond would often include a Jonathan Livingston Seagull suite in his live performances, as he did in his 1977 "Love at The Greek" concert. In 1974, Diamond released the album Serenade, from which "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before" were issued as singles. The latter had been intended for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull score, but was completed too late for inclusion.

In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band. On Thanksgiving night, 1976, Neil made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz, performing "Dry Your Eyes", which he had written with Robertson, and which had appeared on what was then his most recent album, Beautiful Noise. In addition, he joined the rest of the performers onstage at the end in a rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released". In 1977, Diamond released the album I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight, which included "You Don't Bring Me Flowers". He had composed its music and collaborated on its lyrics with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman. The song was covered on Barbra Streisand's Songbird, and a duet, spurred by the success of virtual radio mash-ups, was recorded. The song hit No. 1 in 1978 and became his third song to top the Hot 100 to date. His last 1970s album was September Morn, which included a new version of I'm a Believer. It and Red Red Wine are the two best-known Diamond original songs to have had other artists make more famous than his own versions.

In February 1979, the uptempo "Forever in Blue Jeans," co-written with his guitarist, Richard Bennett, was released as a single from You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Diamond's album from the previous year.

According to Cotton Incorporated, "Neil Diamond might have been right when he named his 1979 #1 hit 'Forever in Blue Jeans:' 81% of women are planning their next jeans purchase to be some shade of blue." The song has been used to promote the sale of blue jeans, most notably via Will Ferrell, impersonating Neil Diamond singing, for The Gap. Ironically, Diamond himself had performed in radio ads for H.I.S. brand jeans in the 1960s, more than a decade before he and Bennett jointly wrote and composed, and he originated, the selection.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj77/micksluvsmanilow/Neil%20Diamond/neil_diamond_1849750.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk243/tracks-redac/neil-diamond.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/11 at 7:16 am

Happy Birthday Neil,He is truly a living legend.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/24/11 at 9:13 am

I am disappointed in the bio. It doesn't mentioned a movie that I LOVE!!!

http://991.com/newGallery/Neil-Diamond-The-Jazz-Singer-431876.jpg


So, Neil isn't the greatest actor in the world but he did a great job in this movie. If you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/11 at 12:37 pm


I am disappointed in the bio. It doesn't mentioned a movie that I LOVE!!!

http://991.com/newGallery/Neil-Diamond-The-Jazz-Singer-431876.jpg


So, Neil isn't the greatest actor in the world but he did a great job in this movie. If you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it.


Cat


Is it on DVD?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/24/11 at 12:41 pm


Is it on DVD?



Yup. If you get Netflix, it is available there, too.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/24/11 at 7:25 pm


Happy Birthday Neil,He is truly a living legend.  :)

Yes he is; can't believe he's 70 today. So is Aaron Neville, another successful solo male singer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/11 at 5:26 am

The person of the day...Etta James
Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins, January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer. She is best known for performing "At Last", which has been featured in movies, television shows, commercials, and web-streaming services. James has a contralto vocal range
In 1960, James signed a recording contract with Chess Records, signing with their subsidiary label, Argo Records (she later also recorded for their other subsidiary label, Cadet). James began her relationship with the label with five major hits, first with a pair of duets with singer, Harvey Fuqua; "If I Can't Have You" and "Spoonful". She had her first major solo hit with the R&B-styled tune, "All I Could Do Is Cry". The song quickly went up the Billboard R&B Chart, peaking at #2 in 1960. This was followed by the Top 5 R&B hit, "My Dearest Darling" the same year. Around the same time, James also sang background vocals on Chuck Berry's hit, "Back in the USA". That same year, James released her debut album off Chess entitled, At Last!. It featured all of James' hits between 1960 and 1961, and also included a few standards, such as Lena Horne's "Stormy Weather", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", and "A Sunday Kind of Love". The album showed James' varied choice in music.

Chess Records head producer, Leonard Chess imagined James as a classic ballad stylist who had potential to cross over onto the Pop charts. Chess began backing James up on her recording sessions with violins and other string instruments, which was first heard on her 1961 hit, "At Last". The song went to #2 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1961, and also peaked at #47 on the Billboard Pop Chart, ultimately becoming her signature song. Although it wasn't as successful as expected on the Pop charts, it did become the most remembered version of the song. In 1961, James had another major hit with "Trust in Me," which also featured string instruments. Also in 1961, James released a second studio album, The Second Time Around, an album inspired by Soul music. The album took the same direction as her previous album, covering many Pop standards, and using strings on many of the songs. The album spawned a Top 15 hit, "The Fool That I Am" and a minor hit on the Pop chart, "Don't Cry Baby."

In 1962, James had three major hits, beginning with the Gospel-inspired, "Something's Got a Hold on Me," which peaked at #4 on the R&B chart, and also reached the Pop Top 40. Another single, "Stop the Wedding" followed and reached #6. In 1963, James cut and released her first live album, Etta James Rocks the House, which was cut in Nashville, Tennessee at the New Era Club. In 1963, James had another Top 10 R&B hit with, "Pushover," which also made the Pop Top 25, and was ultimately one of Etta's two biggest Billboard hits on the Hot 100. "Pushover" also hit #11 on influential pop music station WMCA in New York during May, 1963. It was followed by two other singles that year that were minor hits on the Pop chart, "Pay Back" and "Two Sides (To Every Story)." That year she released her third album, Etta James Top Ten. Within the next year, James scored another Top 10 hit with "Loving You More Each Day" (which also reached #65 on the Pop chart) and had a Top 40 hit with "Baby What You Want Me to Do."

In the mid-1960s, James began to battle a heroin addiction, which would last up until 1974. For years, James would spend much time in and out of Los Angeles' Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital. However, James began recording again in 1967 with guitarist Paul C. Saenz, and achieved her biggest hit in years, "Tell Mama," which reached the R&B Top 10 and #23 on the Hot 100. An album of the same name, produced by Rick Hall at his then-hot Fame studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, also featured a rendition of Otis Redding's song, "Security" which peaked at #11 on the R&B chart. Although she wasn't as successful as she had been, James remained a large concert attraction. She continued to have R&B Top 40 hits up until the mid 1970s, with "Loser Weepers" (an album of the same name was released in 1971) and then with "I Found a Love" in 1972.

James released a new album in 1973 that was self-titled and spawned two minor hits. Produced by Gabriel Mekler, who had previously worked with Steppenwolf and Janis Joplin, the album musically was an ambitious mix of soul, blues, jazz and rock and it was nominated for a Grammy award the following year. Mekler produced a follow-up album called "Out On The Street Again" in 1974. Again critically acclaimed, this also produced only minor hits.

Despite the death of Leonard Chess, James recorded for the label up until 1978, and began using more rock-based songs in her albums. She released her final two albums for Chess in 1978, Etta Is Betta Than Evah and Deep in the Night. That year, James also opened tour dates in the United States for The Rolling Stones and also played at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
James continued to record for Private Music into the new millennium, finding her next release to be Matriarch of the Blues. It was given much praise from music articles and magazines, such as Rolling Stone Magazine, which said, "A solid return to roots, Matriarch of the Blues finds Etta James reclaiming her throne---and defying anyone to knock her off it." In 2001, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and also was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2003, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her next album the following year, Blue Gardenia was another return to a jazz music style. That same year, she also released her third live album, Burnin' Down the House: Live at the House of Blues, which was recorded at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. Two years later, she released her final album for Private Music, Let's Roll, which won James another Grammy in 2005 for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked her #62 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. James has performed at the top world jazz festivals in the world, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977, 1989, 1990 and 1993, performed nine times at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival five times. She also performs often at free city outdoor summer arts festivals throughout the US.

James was portrayed by R&B singer and actress Beyoncé Knowles in the film Cadillac Records, which was released to theaters on December 5, 2008. The film is loosely based on the rise and fall of James' record label, Chess Records, and how producer Leonard Chess helped the career of James and her other counterparts at the label, although the film fails to reflect the fact that James was already a successful hit-recording artist before she joined Chess, and was not discovered by Leonard Chess as portrayed. In fact, James's songs performed worse on the charts after she joined Chess. Also, contrary to the impression created in the film, it is doubtful that James and Chess were lovers. Others portrayed in Cadillac Records include Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and Willie Dixon.

At a Seattle concert on January 28, 2009, James expressed her displeasure with Knowles singing her song "At Last" at the first inaugural ball for Barack Obama, exclaiming that she "can't stand Beyoncé" and that Knowles would "get her ass whipped". James later said that her remarks about Knowles were a joke, but was hurt that she was not invited to sing her song and that she could have performed it better.

On April 7, 2009, Etta James appeared on Dancing with the Stars as a guest performer, singing her classic hit from 1961 "At Last" at age 71. In Memphis, Tennessee on May 7, 2009, the Blues Foundation awarded Etta James the 2009 Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year—making Etta a nine–time winner of this prestigious award
James was hospitalized in January 2010 to treat an infection caused by MRSA. During her hospitalization, her son Donto revealed that James was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009, and attributed her previous comments about Beyoncé Knowles to "drug induced dementia". On January 14, 2011 it was announced that James had been diagnosed with leukemia and was undergoing treatment.
Awards
Grammy history
Etta James Grammy Award History
Year Category Title Genre Label Result
2008 Grammy Hall of Fame "The Wallflower" (aka "Roll With Me Henry") R&B Argo (1961) Inducted
2004 Best Traditional Blues Album Blues To The Bone Blues RCA Victor Winner
2003 Best Contemporary Blues Album Let's Roll Blues Private Music Winner
2002 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
1999 Grammy Hall of Fame "At Last" R&B Argo (1961) Inducted
1994 Best Jazz Vocal Performance Mystery Lady (Songs of Billie Holiday) Jazz Private Music Winner
The Blues Foundation Awards
Etta James: Blues Music Awards
Year Category Title Result
2009 Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year Winner
2007 Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year Winner
2006 Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year Winner
2004 Soul/Blues Album of the Year Let's Roll Winner
Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year Winner
2003 Soul/Blues Album of the Year Burnin' Down The House Winner
Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year Winner
2002 Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year Winner
2001 Blues Hall of Fame Inducted
Soul/Blues-Female Artist of the Year Winner
2000 Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year Winner
1999 Soul/Blues Album of the Year Life, Love, & The Blues Winner
Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year Winner
1996 Soul/Blues - Female Artist of the Year Winner
1995 Contemporary Blues-Female Artist of the Year Winner
1994 Female Blues Vocalist of the Year Winner
Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year Winner
1992 Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year Winner
1989 Contemporary Blues Female Artist Winner
Other awards
Etta James Award History
Year Company Category Result
2006 Billboard R&B Founders Award Winner
2003 Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Hollywood Walk of Fame Star at 7080 Hollywood Blvd.
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducted
1990 NAACP NAACP Image Award Winner
1989 Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award Winner
Discography
Main article: Etta James discography
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv255/Miss_Stephanie_photo/Artists/Etta.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i38/corymar_photos/Etta-James-rv01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/25/11 at 6:49 am

I hope Etta James survives her treatment. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/11 at 1:51 pm


I hope Etta James survives her treatment. :(

Agreed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/25/11 at 4:23 pm


I hope Etta James survives her treatment. :(


She's probably feeling a little etta already!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/11 at 6:36 am

The person of the day...Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres (pronounced /dɨˈdʒɛnərəs/; born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season.

DeGeneres has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, for which she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first and only time a voice performance won a Saturn Award.

She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, Degeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues including the coming out process.
The Ellen Show

DeGeneres returned to series television in 2001 with a new CBS sitcom, The Ellen Show.
2001 Emmy Awards

DeGeneres received wide exposure on November 4, 2001 when she hosted the televised broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Presented after two cancellations due to network concerns that a lavish ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks would appear insensitive, the show required a more somber tone that would also allow viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy. DeGeneres received several standing ovations for her performance that evening which included the line: "What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?"

In August 2005, DeGeneres hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held on September 18, 2005. This was three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, making it the second time she hosted the Emmys following a national tragedy. She also hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and in 1997.
Voice acting

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of Dory, a fish with short-term memory loss, in the summer 2003 hit animated Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. The film's director, Andrew Stanton, claimed that he chose Ellen because she "changed the subject five times before one sentence had finished" on her show. For her performance as Dory, DeGeneres won the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for "Best Supporting Actress"; "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie" from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards; and the Annie Award from the International Animated Film Association for "Outstanding Voice Acting". She was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award in the "Best Supporting Actress" category. She also provided the voice of the dog in the prologue of the Eddie Murphy feature film Dr. Dolittle. Her win of the Saturn Award marked the first and only time the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films has given the acting award for a voice performance.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show

DeGeneres launched a daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2003. Amid a crop of several celebrity-hosted talk shows surfacing at the beginning of that season, such as those of Sharon Osbourne and Rita Rudner, her show has consistently risen in the Nielsen ratings and received widespread critical praise. It was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season, winning four, including Best Talk Show. The show has won 25 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air. DeGeneres is known for her dancing and singing with the audience at the beginning of the show and during commercial breaks. She often gives away free prizes and trips to her studio audience with the help of her sponsors.

DeGeneres celebrated her thirty-year class reunion by flying her graduating class to California to be guests on her show in February 2006. She presented Atlanta High School with a surprise gift of a new electronic LED marquee sign.

In May 2006, DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at the Tulane University commencement in New Orleans. Following George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to the podium, she came out in a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes," she said. Ellen then went on to make another commencement speech at Tulane in 2009.

The show broadcast for a week from Universal Studios Orlando in March 2007. Skits included DeGeneres going on the Hulk Roller Coaster Ride and the Jaws Boat Ride.

In May 2007 DeGeneres was placed on bed rest due to a torn ligament in her back. She continued hosting her show from a hospital bed, tended to by a nurse, explaining "the show must go on, as they say." Guests sat in hospital beds as well.

On May 1, 2009, DeGeneres celebrated her 1000th episode, featuring celebrity guests such as Oprah, Justin Timberlake, and Paris Hilton, among others.
79th Academy Awards
Ellen DeGeneres at the Emmy Awards, 1997

On September 7, 2006, DeGeneres was selected to host the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 25, 2007. This makes her the first openly gay or lesbian person to have hosted the event. During the Awards show DeGeneres said, "What a wonderful night, such diversity in the room, in a year when there's been so many negative things said about people's race, religion and sexual orientation. And I want to put this out there: if there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars, or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that." Reviews of her hosting gig were positive, with one saying, "DeGeneres rocked, as she never forgot that she wasn't just there to entertain the Oscar nominees but also to tickle the audience at home." Regis Philbin said in an interview that "the only complaint was there's not enough Ellen."

DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award as host of the Academy Awards broadcast.
2007 Writers Guild strike

DeGeneres, like many actors who are also writers, is a member of both the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Thus, although DeGeneres verbally supported the 2007 WGA strike she did not support it when she crossed the picket line the day after the strike began. Her representatives said she was competing with other first-run syndicated shows during the competitive November sweeps period, and that she could not break her contracts or risk her show losing its time slot. As a show of solidarity with the strikers, DeGeneres omitted her monologue during the strike, typically written by WGA writers. The WGA condemned her while the AFTRA defended her.
Commercial spokeswoman

In November 2004, DeGeneres appeared, dancing, in an ad campaign for American Express. Her most recent American Express commercial, a two-minute black-and-white spot where she works with animals, debuted in November 2006 and was created by Ogilvy and Mather. In 2007, the commercial won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.

DeGeneres began working with Cover Girl Cosmetics in September 2008, for which she has been criticized, as her animal-friendly values clash with Procter and Gamble's (the maker of Cover Girl Cosmetics) animal testing. Her face is the focus of new Cover Girl advertisements starting in January 2009. The beauty campaign will be DeGeneres' first.
American Idol

On September 9, 2009, it was confirmed that DeGeneres would replace Paula Abdul as a judge of the ninth season of American Idol. Her role started after the contestant auditions, at the beginning of "Hollywood Week". DeGeneres also reportedly signed a contract to be a judge on the show for at least five seasons. She made her American Idol debut on February 9, 2010.

On July 29, 2010, DeGeneres and Fox executives announced that the comedienne would be departing from the series after one season. In a statement, DeGeneres said that the series "didn't feel like the right fit for me".
Eleveneleven

On May 26, 2010, Ellen announced on her show that she was starting her own record label entitled "eleveneleven". She mentioned that she had been looking for videos of performances on YouTube to start her label. Her first act to be signed is Greyson Chance, a 12-year-old who gained fame after his cover of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" went viral. Ellen explained her choice of name, claiming that she often sees the number 11:11 when looking at her clocks, that she found Greyson on the 11th, and that the singer's soccer jersey has the number 11.

Some months later, on September 16, 2010, Ellen announced her label's second signed artist, 16-year old Tom Andrews, from the United Kingdom.

Also as of 2010, pop singer Jessica Simpson has joined the label.
Personal life

DeGeneres was in a relationship (1997–2000) with former Another World actress Anne Heche, who went on to marry cameraman Coley Laffoon. From 2001 to 2004, DeGeneres and actress/director/photographer Alexandra Hedison were in a relationship. They appeared on the cover of The Advocate after their separation had already been announced to the media.

Since 2004, DeGeneres has had a relationship with former Ally McBeal and Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi. After the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California, DeGeneres announced on a May 2008 show that she and de Rossi were engaged, and gave de Rossi a three-carat pink diamond ring. They were married on August 16, 2008 at their home, with nineteen guests including their mothers. The passage of Proposition 8 cast doubt on the legal status of their marriage but a subsequent Supreme Court judgment validated it because it occurred before November 4, 2008.

DeGeneres and de Rossi live in Beverly Hills, with three dogs and four cats, and both are vegan.

On August 6, 2010, de Rossi filed a petition to legally change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres The petition was granted on September 23, 2010.

In her book, Love, Ellen, DeGeneres' mother, Betty DeGeneres, describes being initially shocked when her daughter came out as a lesbian, but has become one of her strongest supporters, an active member of Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project.

In 2007, Forbes estimated DeGeneres' net worth at US$65 million.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Arduous Moon Herself Short film
1991 Wisecracks Herself Documentary
1993 Coneheads Coach
1994 Trevor Herself Short film
1996 Ellen's Energy Adventure Herself Short film
Mr. Wrong Martha Alston
1998 Goodbye Lover Sgt. Rita Pompano
Dr. Dolittle Prologue Dog Voice
1999 EDtv Cynthia
The Love Letter Janet Hall
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Herself
Finding Nemo Dory Voice
Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
2004 My Short Film Herself Short film
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Women of the Night Herself Comedy Special
1989 Open House Margo Van Mete Episode: "The Bad Seed"
Episode: "Let's Get Physicals"
1992 Laurie Hill Nancy MacIntyre Episode: "Pilot"
Episode: "The Heart Thing"
Episode: "Walter and Beverly"
1994–1998 Ellen Ellen Morgan 109 episodes
1995 Roseanne Dr. Whitman Episode: "The Blaming of the Shrew"
1998 Mad About You Nancy Bloom Episode: "The Finale"
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Kal Segment: "2000"
2001 On the Edge Operator Segment: "Reaching Normal"
2001–2002 The Ellen Show Ellen Richmond 18 episodes
2003 Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now Herself Comedy special
MADtv Herself Episode: "9.3"
2003–present The Ellen DeGeneres Show Herself TV show
2004 E! True Hollywood Story Herself
Six Feet Under Herself Episode: "Parallel Play"
2005 Joey Herself Episode: "Joey and the Sex Tape"
2007 Ellen's Really Big Show Herself
Sesame Street Herself Episode: "The Tutu Spell" (uncredited)
Forbes 20 Richest Women in Entertainment Herself
The Bachelorette Herself
2007–2008 American Idol Herself Episode: "Idol Gives Back 2007"
"Idol Gives Back 2008"
2008 Ellen's Even Bigger Really Big Show Herself Comedy special
2009 Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show Herself Comedy special
So You Think You Can Dance Guest Judge "Week 7 (July 22, 2009)"
2010 American Idol Judge Season 9.
2010 The Simpsons Herself Episode: "Judge Me Tender"
Discography
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Ellen Degeneres: Taste This Stand-up comedy Live CD
Awards

Daytime Emmy Awards

    * Outstanding Talk Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
    * Outstanding Talk Show Host, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
    * Outstanding Special Class Writing, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2005, 2006, 2007

Emmy Awards

    * Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, Ellen: "The Puppy Episode" – 1997

People's Choice Awards

    * Favorite Funny Female Star – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
    * Favorite Talk Show Host – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
    * Favorite Yes I Chose This Star – 2008

Kids' Choice Awards

    * Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie – 2004

Tulane University President's Medal

    * 2009
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr265/gothicrosemisfit/ellen_degeneres.jpg
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx302/ajithrockscc/Hoje/Ellen-DeGeneres.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/26/11 at 6:52 am

I used to watch her talk show and her old comedy show Ellen that used to be on televison years ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/26/11 at 2:35 pm


I used to watch her talk show and her old comedy show Ellen that used to be on televison years ago.

Yes, she starred in a sitcom back in the 90's. I may have seen parts of it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/26/11 at 2:43 pm

I remember when she was doing stand-up.


Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/11 at 5:46 am

The person of the day...Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: , English see fn.), baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozart's death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years
Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He performed often as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved a huge success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and fully established Mozart's reputation as a composer.
1782 portrait of Constanze Mozart by her brother-in-law Joseph Lange

Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet. Aloysia, who had earlier rejected Mozart's suit, was now married to the actor Joseph Lange, and Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter, Constanze. The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in April 1782. Mozart also faced a very difficult task in getting his father's permission for the marriage. The couple were finally married on 4 August 1782, in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before Leopold's consent arrived in the mail.

The couple had six children, of which only two survived infancy:

    * Raimund Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)
    * Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)
    * Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October – 15 November 1786)
    * Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788)
    * Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 25 December 1789)
    * Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844)

In the course of 1782 and 1783 Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in Baroque style, and later influenced his personal musical language, for example in fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of Symphony No. 41.

In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited his family in Salzburg. Leopold and Nannerl were, at best, only polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.

Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna, and the two composers became friends (see Haydn and Mozart). When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn in 1785 told the visiting Leopold: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."

From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theaters was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof (an apartment building), and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube (a restaurant). The concerts were very popular, and the concertos he premiered at them are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".

With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, he and Constanze adopted a rather plush lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart also bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school, and kept servants. Saving was therefore impossible, and the short period of financial success did nothing to soften the hardship the Mozarts were later to experience.

On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an important role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music. (See Mozart and Freemasonry.)
1786–1787: Return to opera

Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. However, around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. 1786 saw the successful premiere of The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera Don Giovanni, which premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, and also met with success in Vienna in 1788. The two are among Mozart's most important works and are mainstays of the operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty for both listeners and performers. These developments were not witnessed by the composer's father, as Leopold had died on 28 May 1787.

In December 1787 Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and only required Mozart to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal. However, even this modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph's aim was to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.

In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met. (See Mozart and Beethoven.)
1788–1790
Drawing of Mozart in silverpoint, made by Dora Stock during Mozart's visit to Dresden, April 1789

Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786 he had ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because Austria was at war, and both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined.

By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been thought that Mozart reduced his rental expenses, recent research shows that by moving to the suburb Mozart had certainly not reduced his expenses (as claimed in his letter to Puchberg), but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems that his output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790.

Around this time Mozart made long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes: to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and to Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. The trips produced only isolated success and did not relieve the family's financial distress.
1791

Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of great productivity—and by some accounts a time of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera The Magic Flute, the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B-flat), the Clarinet Concerto K. 622, the last in his great series of string quintets (K. 614 in E-flat), the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618, and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.

Mozart's financial situation, a source of extreme anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He probably also benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg, and made a start on paying off his debts.

He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably The Magic Flute (performed many times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 15 November 1791.
Final illness and death
Main article: Death of Mozart
Posthumous painting by Barbara Krafft in 1819

Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere on 6 September of his opera La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791 on commission for the Emperor's coronation festivities. He was able to continue his professional functions for some time, and conducted the premiere of The Magic Flute on 30 September. The illness intensified on 20 November, at which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.

Mozart was nursed in his final illness by Constanze and her youngest sister Sophie, and attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. It is clear that he was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to his student Süssmayr is very slim.

Mozart died at 1 a.m. on 5 December 1791 at the age of 35. The New Grove gives a matter-of-fact description of his funeral:
Mozart was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St Marx cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.

The cause of Mozart's death cannot be known with certainty. The official record has it as "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Researchers have posited at least 118 causes of death, including trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that Mozart died of acute rheumatic fever.

Mozart's sparse funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer: memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, Mozart's reputation rose substantially: Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written (first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen; see Biographies of Mozart); and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
Appearance and character
Unfinished portrait of Mozart by his brother-in-law Joseph Lange

Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly, in his Reminiscences: "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". As his early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about physique. He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: " was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Of his voice Constanze later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic".

Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's these are mostly not preserved, as Constanze sought to destroy them after his death. (See: Mozart's compositional method.) He was raised a Roman Catholic and remained a member of the Church throughout his life. (See Mozart and Roman Catholicism.)

Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world, and knew a great number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with the Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his older colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.

He enjoyed billiards and dancing (see Mozart and dance), and kept pets: a canary, a starling, a dog, and also a horse for recreational riding. He had a fondness for scatological humor, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, but also in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart even wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. See: Mozart and scatology.
Works, musical style, and innovations
See also: List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Style
A facsimile sheet of music from the Dies Irae movement of the "Requiem Mass in D Minor" (K. 626) in Mozart's own handwriting. It is located at the Mozarthaus in Vienna.

Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, but also dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.

The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:

    It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.

Especially during his last decade, Mozart exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time, with remarkable assurance and to great artistic effect.

Mozart always had a gift for absorbing and adapting valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his own practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.

As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.

Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone color, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Portrait of Beethoven as a young man by Carl Traugott Riedel (1769–1832)
Influence

Mozart's most famous pupil, whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child, was probably Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between Classical and Romantic eras. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of the training of classical musicians.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn, and he traveled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study the older composer. Some of Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote cadenzas (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.

A number of composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Frédéric Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni (1827) and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to Mozart.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/psipsika/mozart.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/Supertornade/Mozart.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/27/11 at 7:05 am

And that's where Walter Murphy had the idea to a mix of his symphony and disco.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/27/11 at 10:05 am


And that's where Walter Murphy had the idea to a mix of his symphony and disco.



That was Beethoven's 5th Symphony.


I LOVE Mozart. Some of my favorites are the overture to the Marriage of Figaro (which I just used in a slide show that I made for my step-son & his wife of their wedding) and the Turkish Rondo.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKU94kxv-o

Marriage of Figaro always reminds me of Trading Places.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juLRqSV45vo



Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/28/11 at 7:01 am

The person of the day...Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II (1989), then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since then, he has resisted typecasting by choosing varied roles in critically acclaimed films such as Bobby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sin City, Green Street and Everything Is Illuminated.

He starred in the film Day Zero (2007) and provided the voice of the main character, Mumble, in the award-winning animated film Happy Feet. He played an American tourist turned vampire in Paris, je t'aime. In 2005, he started his own record label, Simian Records. He was cast in the lead role of an Iggy Pop biopic to be called The Passenger, but after years of development, the project now appears to be shelved.

In 2006, he became a well-known voice actor in video gaming and soon became the voice of the video game icon Spyro the Dragon.

In 2008, he became the first person to cross Victoria Falls on ropes during an appearance on Jack Osbourne's show Adrenaline Junkie.
Wood modeled and did local commercials before moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1988, where he got his first break, a small role in a video by Paula Abdul - "Forever Your Girl", directed by David Fincher. Film work followed almost instantly in Back to the Future Part II (1989). It was Wood's role as Aidan Quinn's son in Barry Levinson's 1990 film Avalon (the third film in the Baltimore trilogy containing 1982's Diner and 1987's Tin Men) that first gave Wood attention, as the film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four Academy Awards.

After a small part in the Richard Gere movie Internal Affairs (1990), he secured his first starring role in Paradise (1991), playing a young boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together. From there, he went on to co-star with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in Forever Young and with Joseph Mazzello in Radio Flyer (both were released in 1992).

In 1993 he had the lead role in The Adventures of Huck Finn and also appeared with Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son. In 1994 he starred in The War (1994), with Kevin Costner. His performance in this movie gained him a nomination for a 'Young Star Award' (for which he was nominated four times, and won twice), and Roger Ebert said in his review of the film:

    "Elijah Wood has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor in his age group, in Hollywood history".

Also in 1994, he had the title role in North, and was featured in a Super Bowl commercial for Wavy Lay's potato chips that had him repeatedly exchanging seats with spectators at a football game (including Dan Quayle) using its famous slogan. In 1995, he appeared in the music video for The Cranberries "Ridiculous Thoughts". The following year, Wood got the lead role in Flipper (1996), which was not very successful, but the subsequent critical and financial success of Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997) provided a positive development in the young actor's career.

In 1997, he portrayed the pick-pocketing thief Jack "The Artful Dodger" Dawkins in Tony Bill's Oliver Twist.1998's Deep Impact and The Faculty did not allow Wood the same degree of character development, but were great financial successes and further stepping stones in Wood's evolution from winsome child star to young actor.

Wood's next role was as the boyfriend of a wannabe hip-hop groupie in James Toback's Black and White (1999). He followed this with a role as a junior hitman in Chain of Fools.
1999–2003: The Lord of the Rings

Wood was cast as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel. His most hotly anticipated project, the 2001 film gave Wood top billing as Baggins, alongside a cast that included Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen,John Rhys Davies,andMiranda Otto.

The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand and, before the cast left the country, Jackson gave Wood two gifts: one of the One Ring props used on the set and Sting, Frodo's sword. He was also given a pair of prosthetic "hobbit feet" he wore during filming. The same year, the actor appeared in Ed Burns' Ash Wednesday, a crime drama that also featured Oliver Platt and Rosario Dawson.

In 2002, Wood lent his voice to the direct-to-video release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. His most substantial role of 2002 was his return to the role of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

In 2003, he starred in the direct-to-video movie All I Want (also titled Try Seventeen) and once again portrayed Frodo Baggins for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the final part of Jackson's trilogy.
2004–2010: Recent career

Hot on the heels of the trilogy, Wood quickly appeared in his first post-Frodo role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), playing a lab technician who helps erase heartbreaking memories but then uses his knowledge of the past relationship of an unknowing former patient (Kate Winslet) to woo her. He then played bespectacled serial killer Kevin in director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller's adaptation of Miller's crime noir comic book series Sin City (2005), appearing opposite Mickey Rourke in the segment "The Hard Goodbye". On May 12, 2005, Wood hosted a program called "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed", when the new Xbox 360 games console was launched.

Also in 2005, Wood starred in Everything Is Illuminated, in which he plays a young American Jewish man on a quest to find the woman who once saved his grandfather during World War II, and Green Street, as an American college student who falls in with a violent English football firm. Both had limited release, but were critically acclaimed.

Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t'aime, which consists of 18 five-minute sections. Each section is directed by a different director. Wood’s section, called "Quartier de la Madeleine", was directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film opened on May 18 at 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was shown at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. First Look Pictures acquired the North American rights, and the film opened in the US in early 2007.

In 2006, he was part of the ensemble cast in Emilio Estevez's Bobby, in which his character gets married to change his draft classification. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released on November 17, 2006 in New York and Los Angeles. Wide release followed on November 23.

In Happy Feet, Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet was released on November 17, 2006 and has grossed over $380 million worldwide. The movie also received a Golden Globe Award nomination and won an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Animated Feature.

Day Zero, a drama about the draft, had its debut at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Wood portrays draftee, Aaron Feller.

In 2006, Wood hosted the special "Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue" for Discovery Kids Channel, for which he has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the category of acting in a children/youth/family special. On January 4, 2007 Wood joined Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to announce the nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In The Oxford Murders, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Guillermo Martínez, Wood plays a graduate student, who investigates a series of bizarre, mathematically-based murders in Oxford. It was released in Spain on January 18, 2008.

Wood also voiced the lead in the animated feature film version of the short film 9. A project in which Wood was set to star in, a biopic about singer Iggy Pop, putatively named The Passenger, has not come to fruition after years in development.

Wood's first starring TV role is on the FX pilot Wilfred in which he plays, Ryan. The pilot was shot in the summer of 2010.

In January 2011, it was confirmed that Wood would reprise the role of Frodo Baggins in the The Hobbit parts one and two films to be released in 2012 and 2013.
Other work

In 2005 Wood started his own record label called Simian Records. On September 19, 2006 Wood announced that Simian had signed The Apples in Stereo as their first band, with their new album New Magnetic Wonder released in February 2007. In addition he also directed the music video for "Energy". The other band signed to Simian thus far is Heloise and the Savoir Faire.

Wood has also provided voiceovers for videogames, providing the current voice for Spyro the Dragon since 2006's The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, as well as reprising Mumble in the game version of Happy Feet. He also contributed his talents to fellow Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen's album Pandemoniumfromamerica, singing and playing various instruments on the album.

Wood has signed to co-produce the film Black Wings Has My Angel, based on the noir novel of the same name, with Anthony Moody and Rob Malkani of Indalo Productions.

On April 11, 2008, Wood was the guest host of Channel 4's Friday Night Project.

On April 25, 2009, Wood was honored with the Midnight Award by the San Francisco International Film Festival as a dynamic young American actor who "has made outstanding contributions to independent and Hollywood cinema, and who brings striking intelligence, exemplary talent and extraordinary depth of character to his roles".

Wood also starred in an episode of Yo! Gabba Gabba entitled "Eat" where he danced and "went crazy" alongside the rest of the Yo! Gabba Gabba crew.

Wood can be seen in a short film on stepthroughtheportal.com. The site is an interactive website created by Simian Records artist' The Apples in Stereo, promoting their upcoming album, Travelers in Space and Time.
Personal life
Wood in February 2006

Wood keeps his personal life from the media spotlight, and is private about his romantic relationships. He dated Gogol Bordello drummer Pamela Racine for five years. Wood ended their long-term relationship during September 2010 because he was not ready to "settle down". Pamela was not in attendance at the premiere for his new movie The Romantics.

In an interview about Everything Is Illuminated, director Liev Schreiber commented that Wood has a "generosity of spirit" and a "sincere goodness as a human being." He supported campaigns for charity as Keep a Child Alive or ALDO/YouthAIDS. Wood is a music buff owning 4,000 CDs, citing his favorite band as Smashing Pumpkins.

Wood has a tattoo of the word "nine" written in Tengwar script, but in the English language (rather than Quenya or Sindarin as is widely believed) below his waist on the right side, a reference to his character as one of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship" got the same tattoo (with the exception of John Rhys-Davies).

In May 2006, Autograph Collector Magazine published its list of 10 Best & 10 Worst Hollywood Autograph Signers, Wood was ranked #7 of Best Signers.
Filmography
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1989 Back to the Future Part II Video-Game Boy #2 (Mickey) bit part
1990 Child in the Night Luke TV film
1990 Internal Affairs Sean Stretch minor role
1990 Avalon Michael Kaye major role
1990 The Witness Little Boy short film
1991 Paradise Willard Young
1992 Day-O Day-O TV film
1992 Forever Young Nat Cooper
1992 Radio Flyer Mike
1993 The Adventures of Huck Finn Huckleberry Finn
1993 The Good Son Mark Evans
1994 North North
1994 The War Stuart "Stu" Simmons
1996 Flipper Sandy
1997 Oliver Twist Jack "The Artful Dodger" Dawkins TV film. Wood's first adult role
1997 The Ice Storm Mikey Carver
1998 Deep Impact Leo Biederman
1998 The Faculty Casey Connor
1999 The Bumblebee Flies Anyway Barney Snow
1999 Black and White Wren
2000 Chain of Fools Mikey Direct-to-video
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Frodo Baggins
2001 Ash Wednesday Sean Sullivan
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Frodo Baggins
2002 The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina Tom Thumb voice; Direct-to-video
2002 All I Want aka Try Seventeen Jones Dillon Direct-to-video
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Frodo Baggins
2003 The Long and Short of It First Assistant Director Short film
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over The Guy Cameo
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Patrick
2005 Sin City Kevin
2005 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer
2005 Green Street Matt Buckner
2006 Bobby William Avary
2006 Happy Feet Mumble voice
2007 Paris, je t'aime David
2007 Day Zero Aaron Feller US Release: April 29, 2007
2008 The Oxford Murders Martin Spain Release: January 18, 2008
2009 9 9 voice
2010 The Romantics Chip January 27, 2010 Sundance Film Festival
2011 Happy Feet 2 Mumble voice; US release: November 18, 2011
2012 The Hobbit: Part I Frodo Baggins pre-production
2013 The Hobbit: Part II Frodo Baggins pre-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1994 Frasier Ethan voice; "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast"
1996 Homicide: Life on the Street McPhee Broadman "The True Test"
1996 Adventures from the Book of Virtues Icarus voice; "Responsibility"
2002 Franklin (TV series) Coyote voice
2002 The Electric Playground ?
2003 Saturday Night Live Host
2004 The Osbournes Himself
2004 King of the Hill Jason voice; "Girl, You'll Be a Giant Soon"
2005 I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust Klaus Langer / Dawid Rubinowicz voice
2006 Robot Chicken William David Reynolds voice; "Sausage Fest"
2006 American Dad! Ethan voice; "Iced, Iced Babies"
2006 Punk'd Himself
2006 Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue Host and Narrator Television special
2007 Yo Gabba Gabba! Himself
2008 Friday Night Project Himself Guest host
2008 Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie Himself Became the first person to cross the Victoria Falls on ropes.
2009 Saturday Night Live Himself SNL Digital Short On the Ground
2010 Family Guy Himself "Brian Griffin's House of Payne"
2010 WW2 HD: The Air War Andy Rooney voice
2011 Wilfred Ryan
2011 Treasure Island Ben Gunn TV Two-Part Miniseries
2012 Tron: Uprising Beck voice

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f127/Pheebers/Hot%20Guys/w1_jpg.jpg
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l370/shadowwolf16/Elijah_wood.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/28/11 at 8:36 pm

He's an ok actor,I don't think I saw The Hobbit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 4:35 am


He's an ok actor,I don't think I saw The Hobbit.
The Hobbit will not be released till next year.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/11 at 4:36 am

The person of the day...Edward Burns
Edward Fitzgerald Burns (born January 29, 1968) is an American actor, film producer, writer and director.
Burns was born in Woodside, Queens, New York, the son of Molly (née McKenna), a federal agency manager, and Edward J. Burns, a public relations spokesman and police officer. He was raised a Roman Catholic. Burns is the second of three children (with siblings Mary and Brian) in an Irish American family. He was raised in Valley Stream, New York, on Long Island. He briefly attended Chaminade High School before transferring to Hewlett High School. After high school, Burns attended SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Albany, before earning a degree in English from Hunter College in 1992.
Career

Burns got his start in the film industry right after college as a production assistant on the Oliver Stone film, The Doors. While working as a gofer at Entertainment Tonight, he financed, produced, directed and starred in his first film The Brothers McMullen in his spare time, which was largely shot in his hometown of Valley Stream. Once he completed the film, he was able to get a copy to Robert Redford after an ET junket interview for Quiz Show at the Rhiga Royal Hotel in Manhattan. In 1996, Burns wrote, directed and starred in the ensemble drama She's The One with Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz and Amanda Peet, as well as Sidewalks of New York in 2001.

Burns is also known for his acting work on movies such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Life or Something Like It (2002), and Confidence (2003). Looking for Kitty (2004), which Burns wrote, directed and starred in, was shot with a hand-held $3,000 digital Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera with a Mini35 adapter. The film's entire budget was $200,000 and was filmed in New York City with a tiny crew and without standard permits. Burns discussed this unusual film-making process in the director's commentary on the DVD and wrote in the Director's Letter "If you are an aspiring filmmaker, in this day of inflating budgets and runaway production, the truth is you can make a movie for no money in New York... and have a blast".

His film Purple Violets premiered exclusively on iTunes on November 20, 2007. Burns began a string of guest appearances on the HBO original series Entourage mid-way through season 3, as well as appearing as Grace Adler's boyfriend in Will & Grace. In Entourage Burns plays himself and is (within the context of the series) writing a new TV series in which Johnny Drama is able to land a part. In 2007, Burns announced plans to partner with Virgin Comics to create a series entitled Dock Walloper. Burns plans to use the comic series as a springboard to a film of the same story.

In March 2009, The Lynch Pin, a series of shorts starring, written and directed by Burns were released via the internet. The ten episodes are only available to view online as of August 2009 and future plans for the project are unknown.

He is currently running a screenwriting contest with the web startup Scripped for a crowdsourced screenplay which he intends to help get produced and will be introducing his new film Nice Guy Johnny at the Tribeca film festival
Personal life

Burns is married to model Christy Turlington and has two children, Grace (2003) and Finn (2006).
Filmography
Writer/Director

   * The Brothers McMullen (1995)
   * She's the One (1996)
   * No Looking Back (1998)
   * Sidewalks of New York (2001)
   * Ash Wednesday (2002)
   * Looking for Kitty (2004)
   * The Groomsmen (2006)
   * Purple Violets (2007)
   * The Lynch Pin (2009)
   * Nice Guy Johnny (2010)

Actor

   * The Brothers McMullen (1995)
   * She's the One (1996)
   * No Looking Back (1998)
   * Saving Private Ryan (1998)
   * 15 Minutes (2001)
   * Sidewalks of New York (2001)
   * Life or Something Like It (2002)
   * Ash Wednesday (2002)
   * Confidence (2003)
   * Looking for Kitty (2004)
   * A Sound of Thunder (2005)
   * The River King (2005)
   * The Groomsmen (2006)
   * The Holiday (2006)
   * Entourage (TV Series) (2006–2009)
   * Purple Violets (2007)
   * One Missed Call (2008)
   * 27 Dresses (2008)
   * The Lynch Pin (2009)
   * Echelon Conspiracy (2009)
   * Nice Guy Johnny (2010)
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x122/sportybratz/edwardburns1.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/lovlylaydeebugespy/EdwardBurns.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 4:37 am


The person of the day...Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: , English see fn.), baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozart's death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years
Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He performed often as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved a huge success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and fully established Mozart's reputation as a composer.
1782 portrait of Constanze Mozart by her brother-in-law Joseph Lange

Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet. Aloysia, who had earlier rejected Mozart's suit, was now married to the actor Joseph Lange, and Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter, Constanze. The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in April 1782. Mozart also faced a very difficult task in getting his father's permission for the marriage. The couple were finally married on 4 August 1782, in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before Leopold's consent arrived in the mail.

The couple had six children, of which only two survived infancy:

    * Raimund Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)
    * Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)
    * Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October – 15 November 1786)
    * Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788)
    * Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 25 December 1789)
    * Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844)

In the course of 1782 and 1783 Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in Baroque style, and later influenced his personal musical language, for example in fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of Symphony No. 41.

In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited his family in Salzburg. Leopold and Nannerl were, at best, only polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.

Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna, and the two composers became friends (see Haydn and Mozart). When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn in 1785 told the visiting Leopold: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."

From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theaters was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof (an apartment building), and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube (a restaurant). The concerts were very popular, and the concertos he premiered at them are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".

With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, he and Constanze adopted a rather plush lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart also bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school, and kept servants. Saving was therefore impossible, and the short period of financial success did nothing to soften the hardship the Mozarts were later to experience.

On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an important role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music. (See Mozart and Freemasonry.)
1786–1787: Return to opera

Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. However, around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. 1786 saw the successful premiere of The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera Don Giovanni, which premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, and also met with success in Vienna in 1788. The two are among Mozart's most important works and are mainstays of the operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty for both listeners and performers. These developments were not witnessed by the composer's father, as Leopold had died on 28 May 1787.

In December 1787 Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and only required Mozart to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal. However, even this modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph's aim was to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.

In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met. (See Mozart and Beethoven.)
1788–1790
Drawing of Mozart in silverpoint, made by Dora Stock during Mozart's visit to Dresden, April 1789

Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786 he had ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because Austria was at war, and both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined.

By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been thought that Mozart reduced his rental expenses, recent research shows that by moving to the suburb Mozart had certainly not reduced his expenses (as claimed in his letter to Puchberg), but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems that his output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790.

Around this time Mozart made long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes: to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and to Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. The trips produced only isolated success and did not relieve the family's financial distress.
1791

Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of great productivity—and by some accounts a time of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera The Magic Flute, the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B-flat), the Clarinet Concerto K. 622, the last in his great series of string quintets (K. 614 in E-flat), the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618, and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.

Mozart's financial situation, a source of extreme anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He probably also benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg, and made a start on paying off his debts.

He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably The Magic Flute (performed many times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 15 November 1791.
Final illness and death
Main article: Death of Mozart
Posthumous painting by Barbara Krafft in 1819

Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere on 6 September of his opera La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791 on commission for the Emperor's coronation festivities. He was able to continue his professional functions for some time, and conducted the premiere of The Magic Flute on 30 September. The illness intensified on 20 November, at which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.

Mozart was nursed in his final illness by Constanze and her youngest sister Sophie, and attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. It is clear that he was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to his student Süssmayr is very slim.

Mozart died at 1 a.m. on 5 December 1791 at the age of 35. The New Grove gives a matter-of-fact description of his funeral:
Mozart was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St Marx cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.

The cause of Mozart's death cannot be known with certainty. The official record has it as "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Researchers have posited at least 118 causes of death, including trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that Mozart died of acute rheumatic fever.

Mozart's sparse funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer: memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, Mozart's reputation rose substantially: Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written (first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen; see Biographies of Mozart); and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
Appearance and character
Unfinished portrait of Mozart by his brother-in-law Joseph Lange

Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly, in his Reminiscences: "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". As his early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about physique. He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: " was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Of his voice Constanze later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic".

Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's these are mostly not preserved, as Constanze sought to destroy them after his death. (See: Mozart's compositional method.) He was raised a Roman Catholic and remained a member of the Church throughout his life. (See Mozart and Roman Catholicism.)

Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world, and knew a great number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with the Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his older colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.

He enjoyed billiards and dancing (see Mozart and dance), and kept pets: a canary, a starling, a dog, and also a horse for recreational riding. He had a fondness for scatological humor, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, but also in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart even wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. See: Mozart and scatology.
Works, musical style, and innovations
See also: List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Style
A facsimile sheet of music from the Dies Irae movement of the "Requiem Mass in D Minor" (K. 626) in Mozart's own handwriting. It is located at the Mozarthaus in Vienna.

Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, but also dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.

The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:

    It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.

Especially during his last decade, Mozart exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time, with remarkable assurance and to great artistic effect.

Mozart always had a gift for absorbing and adapting valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his own practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.

As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.

Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone color, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Portrait of Beethoven as a young man by Carl Traugott Riedel (1769–1832)
Influence

Mozart's most famous pupil, whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child, was probably Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between Classical and Romantic eras. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of the training of classical musicians.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn, and he traveled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study the older composer. Some of Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote cadenzas (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.

A number of composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Frédéric Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni (1827) and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to Mozart.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/psipsika/mozart.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee219/Supertornade/Mozart.jpg
Mozart composed music to pay the rent...

...Beethoven composed music to remember!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/11 at 4:38 am


The Hobbit will not be released till next year.

Good reason why he hasn't seen it. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 4:39 am


Good reason why he hasn't seen it. ;D
Part One (of the Hobbit) will be 2012 and Part Two in 2013.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/11 at 4:40 am


Mozart composed music to pay the rent...

...Beethoven composed music to remember!

Not a fan I take it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/29/11 at 4:41 am


Part One (of the Hobbit) will be 2012 and Part Two in 2013.

I'll look forward to that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 4:42 am


Not a fan I take it.
I find Mozart to be to samey

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 4:42 am


I'll look forward to that.
I have to see LOTR first!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 4:44 am


And that's where Walter Murphy had the idea to a mix of his symphony and disco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUiNAdP-v4

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/29/11 at 7:11 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUiNAdP-v4


I keep forgetting the difference between Mozart And Beethoven.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/29/11 at 7:23 am


I keep forgetting the difference between Mozart And Beethoven.
Mozart lived before Beethoven.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/29/11 at 10:46 pm


Mozart lived before Beethoven.

In a sense that is true, but both were alive from 1770 to 1791. But they were both acknowledged composers.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/11 at 6:57 am

The person of the day...Phil Collins
Philip David Charles Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboardist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1978 and 1994, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", dance pop of "Sussudio", piano-driven "Against All Odds", to the political statements of "Another Day in Paradise". His international popularity transformed Genesis from a progressive rock group to a regular on the pop charts and an early MTV mainstay.

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer. As the decade closed, Genesis's first international hit, "Follow You, Follow Me", demonstrated a drastic change from the band's early years.

His concurrent solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Collins is one of only three recording artists (along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) who have sold over 100 million albums worldwide both as solo artists and (separately) as principal members of a band. According to Billboard magazine, when his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins has the most top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the 1980s. In 2008, Collins was ranked the 22nd most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists". Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums. The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, Trespass (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.
The music video for "Land of Confusion" featured the members of Genesis in puppet form, with the single cover (parodying the With the Beatles album and using puppets from the satirical TV show Spitting Image).

Collins won the audition. Nursery Cryme was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from Nursery Cryme) and once on "More Fool Me" (from Selling England by the Pound).

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned). In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album Seconds Out. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the band's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's A Trick of the Tail, reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as #3 on the UK charts. Said Rolling Stone, "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success.". Following the recording of Genesis's next album Wind and Wuthering guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, on which he sang lead vocals and played drums.

As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album ...And Then There Were Three... featured their first UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 40 single, "Follow You Follow Me".

"Dance on a Volcano" (1976)
Play sound
The first track from Genesis's A Trick of the Tail, this was Collins's debut as the group's full-time lead singer. A progressive rock track, it contrasts with the style of his later work.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch. The latter album's title track reached #1 on the American Billboard singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team Spitting Image) but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer". Reviews were generally positive, with Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career; The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's We Can't Dance. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's Turn It on Again: The Hits. When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals. Eventually Turn It On Again: The Tour was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks lineup.

In March 2010, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was asked to pay tribute to Genesis, one of his favorite bands, upon being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to Anastasio's speech, Phish appeared and performed two Genesis songs, "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All". Collins and his Genesis bandmates (minus Peter Gabriel) attended the ceremony but they did not perform.
Solo career
Early solo recordings (1981–1983)

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album Duke, "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's Grace and Danger, an album whose main theme is also marriage break-up. With the recording of his first solo album, Face Value, Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence, as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy". Collins made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show, The Policeman's Other Ball at the Theatre Royal in London in September 1981, performing two songs from Face Value including "In the Air Tonight" and "The Roof is Leaking" accompanying himself on piano. Face Value became a surprise international success topping the charts in at least seven countries and hitting the top ten of the Billboard 200 eventually going triple-platinum in the U.S. Hits from the album included "In the Air Tonight", "I Missed Again" and "If Leaving Me Is Easy". In 1982, he produced ABBA member Frida's solo album, Something's Going On, which helped to spawn the title track, "I Know There's Something Going On", which became a hit.

Much like Face Value, much of the songs from Collins's 1982 follow-up album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, came from Collins's marital problems with his first wife such as "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Do You Know and Do You Care". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding Face Value, he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes." There were occasional poppier influences–Face Value's "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. Face Value was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. Hello, I Must Be Going! gave him a UK #1 for his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 U.S. hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached #2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as Melt), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".
Superstardom (1984–1992)

Collins changed his musical style with the release of the ballad, "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", which was the theme song to the movie of the same name in 1984. The more pop-friendly and radio-accessible single became Collins's first solo single to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that year, Collins contributed to production on Earth, Wind & Fire singer Phillip Bailey's debut album, Chinese Wall, collaborating with Bailey on the hit duet, "Easy Lover". Collins featured on Band Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas", he played drums and sang on the song. Collins released his most successful album, No Jacket Required, in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and an American number one, for the movie White Nights. Collins had three American number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year. No Jacket Required went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

No Jacket Required received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of Rolling Stone ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around." "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny. Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the U.S. and UK. In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the US concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then transferring to a Concorde flight to the USA enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia. While being a guest on major artists' hit recordings, Collins continued to enjoy solo success even while on tour with Genesis, besides from his number-one duet with Marilyn Martin in 1986, Collins would score two more hits from movies with the singles, "Two Hearts" (1988) and "Groovy Kind of Love" (1988), the latter two from the soundtrack of his feature film, Buster.

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ...But Seriously, featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album Thousand Roads.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins a Grammy for Record of the Year (1990). In the process, it became the last #1 US pop hit of the 1980s. The album ...But Seriously became the first #1 US album of the 1990s. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (#4 US, #15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a #4 hit in the US), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Clapton on guitar) (#3 US, #7 UK). Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, Serious Hits... Live!, followed.
Later solo work and Genesis reunion (1993–2008)

Collins's record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of Both Sides, a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input". Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, Both Sides was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins officially parted ways with Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career (Genesis would produce one album without Collins—...Calling All Stations...—before going on hiatus). Collins attempted a return to pop music with Dance into the Light, which Entertainment Weekly reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins". It included minor hits such as the title track and The Beatles-inspired "It's in Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the US, it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Despite this, the subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed The Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of various Collins and Genesis hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD A Hot Night in Paris including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from A Trick of the Tail.
Phil Collins's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 6834 Hollywood Blvd

A compilation album ...Hits was released in 1998 and sold very well, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at #2. Some of Collins's earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie Tarzan, spent 19 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart – the longest time ever up to that point. The song won Collins an Academy Award for Best Song. It was his third nomination in the songwriters category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989. Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on 16 June 1999.
Collins performing in Barcelona, Spain in July 2004.

In 2002 Collins released Testify. Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found this record to be the worst-reviewed album at the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.

That same year Collins accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" at a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. In 2003 announced his last solo tour - the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. In 2006 he worked with Disney on a Broadway production of Tarzan, a musical which received generally mixed reviews. In 2007 Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford for Turn It On Again: The Tour, a tour of Europe and North America. During the tour Genesis performed at the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium. Following the band's performance, presenter Jonathan Ross had to apologise to viewers watching the televised version as Collins had used a swear word while singing "Invisible Touch".
Studio albums
The following list includes all Phil Collins's studio albums. For a complete album list, see Phil Collins discography.
Release date Title
1981 Face Value
1982 Hello, I Must Be Going!
1985 No Jacket Required
1989 ...But Seriously
1993 Both Sides
1996 Dance into the Light
2002 Testify
2010 Going Back
Number one singles
The following singles reached number one in the United Kingdom or United States. For a full singles discography, see Phil Collins discography.
Year Single Peak positions
UK U.S.
1982 "You Can't Hurry Love" 1 10
1984 "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" 2 1
"Easy Lover" (With Philip Bailey) 1 2
1985 "One More Night" 4 1
"Sussudio" 12 1
"Separate Lives" (With Marilyn Martin) 4 1
1988 "A Groovy Kind of Love" 1 1
"Two Hearts" 6 1
1989 (Charted in 1990) "Another Day in Paradise" 2 1

"In the Air Tonight" re-entered the New Zealand charts in 2008 at #3 and then peaked at #1, after featuring in the 'Cadbury Gorilla' advert.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/eltondisney/collins_4.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t210/dan_imp_photos/MCR6/Phil-Collins-Photograph-C11799828.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/11 at 7:00 am

I love Phill Collins,He is a legend.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/11 at 7:02 am


The person of the day...Phil Collins
Philip David Charles Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboardist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for English progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist.

Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1978 and 1994, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, often dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy "In the Air Tonight", dance pop of "Sussudio", piano-driven "Against All Odds", to the political statements of "Another Day in Paradise". His international popularity transformed Genesis from a progressive rock group to a regular on the pop charts and an early MTV mainstay.

Collins's professional music career began as a drummer, first with Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: "For Absent Friends" from 1971's Nursery Cryme album and "More Fool Me" from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel's departure in 1975, Collins became the group's lead singer. As the decade closed, Genesis's first international hit, "Follow You, Follow Me", demonstrated a drastic change from the band's early years.

His concurrent solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins's total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million. He has won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Collins is one of only three recording artists (along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) who have sold over 100 million albums worldwide both as solo artists and (separately) as principal members of a band. According to Billboard magazine, when his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins has the most top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the 1980s. In 2008, Collins was ranked the 22nd most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists". Genesis placed the ad after having already lost three drummers over two albums. The audition occurred at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents. Prospective candidates performed tracks from the group's second album, Trespass (1970). Collins arrived early, listened to the other auditions while swimming in Gabriel's parents' pool, and memorised the pieces before his turn.
The music video for "Land of Confusion" featured the members of Genesis in puppet form, with the single cover (parodying the With the Beatles album and using puppets from the satirical TV show Spitting Image).

Collins won the audition. Nursery Cryme was released a year later. Although his role remained primarily that of drummer and backing vocalist for the next five years, he twice sang lead vocals: once on "For Absent Friends" (from Nursery Cryme) and once on "More Fool Me" (from Selling England by the Pound).

In 1974, while Genesis were recording the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Brian Eno (who is credited with "Enossification" for electronic vocal effects on the track "Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging") needed a drummer for his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Collins was sent to fill the gap, and played drums in lieu of payment for Eno's work with the band.

In 1975, following the final tour supporting the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Gabriel left the group to pursue a solo career. Collins became lead vocalist after a lengthy but ultimately fruitless search for Gabriel's replacement (where he sang back up with the over 400 hopefuls that reportedly auditioned). In the short term, the group recruited former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford to play drums during live shows, although Collins continued to play during longer instrumental sections. Bruford's drumming can be heard on the track "The Cinema Show" on the live album Seconds Out. He was soon replaced by ex-Frank Zappa band member Chester Thompson, who became a mainstay of the band's live line-up. Collins, however, continued to play drums on all of the band's studio recordings.

The first album with Collins as lead vocalist, 1976's A Trick of the Tail, reached the American Top 40, and peaked high as #3 on the UK charts. Said Rolling Stone, "Genesis has managed to turn the possible catastrophe of Gabriel's departure into their first broad-based American success.". Following the recording of Genesis's next album Wind and Wuthering guitarist Steve Hackett left the group to pursue his own solo career. The group decided to continue as a trio for recording with Mike Rutherford playing guitar and bass in the studio, although the lineup was regularly augmented by Chester Thompson and American guitarist Daryl Stuermer for concert tours.

Collins simultaneously performed in a jazz fusion group called Brand X. The band recorded their first album, Unorthodox Behaviour, with Collins as drummer, but because Genesis was Collins's priority, there were several Brand X tours and albums without him. Collins credits Brand X as his first use of a drum machine as well as his first use of a home 8-track tape machine.

Collins also performed on Steve Hackett's first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, on which he sang lead vocals and played drums.

As the decade closed, Genesis began a shift from their progressive rock roots and toward more accessible, radio-friendly pop-rock music. The album ...And Then There Were Three... featured their first UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 40 single, "Follow You Follow Me".

"Dance on a Volcano" (1976)
Play sound
The first track from Genesis's A Trick of the Tail, this was Collins's debut as the group's full-time lead singer. A progressive rock track, it contrasts with the style of his later work.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In the 1980s, while Collins developed as a songwriter and established a parallel career as a solo artist, Genesis recorded a series of highly successful albums including Duke, Abacab, Genesis, and Invisible Touch. The latter album's title track reached #1 on the American Billboard singles chart, the only Genesis song to do so. The group received an MTV "Video of the Year" nomination in 1987 for the single "Land of Confusion" (which featured puppet caricatures created by the British satirical team Spitting Image) but lost out to Peter Gabriel's solo hit, "Sledgehammer". Reviews were generally positive, with Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine stating, "every tune is carefully pruned so that each flourish delivers not an instrumental epiphany but a solid hook."

Collins left Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career; The last studio album with him as the lead singer was 1991's We Can't Dance. He and Gabriel reunited with other Genesis members in 1999 to re-record "The Carpet Crawlers" for Genesis's Turn It on Again: The Hits. When in the mid-2000s discussions of a possible Genesis reunion arose, Collins stated that he would prefer to return as the drummer, with Gabriel handling the vocals. Eventually Turn It On Again: The Tour was announced for 2007, with the Collins/Rutherford/Banks lineup.

In March 2010, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was asked to pay tribute to Genesis, one of his favorite bands, upon being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to Anastasio's speech, Phish appeared and performed two Genesis songs, "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All". Collins and his Genesis bandmates (minus Peter Gabriel) attended the ceremony but they did not perform.
Solo career
Early solo recordings (1981–1983)

The dominant theme running through Collins's early solo recordings (although never specifically mentioned in his songs) was the acrimonious breakdown of his first marriage and then-recent divorce. Two songs he wrote on the Genesis album Duke, "Please Don't Ask", and the Top 20 hit "Misunderstanding", dealt with failed relationships. One year earlier, he had played drums and sung backing vocals on John Martyn's Grace and Danger, an album whose main theme is also marriage break-up. With the recording of his first solo album, Face Value, Collins attributed his divorce as his main influence, as can be inferred from songs such as "If Leaving Me Is Easy". Collins made his live debut as a solo performer, appearing at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis at the Amnesty International benefit show, The Policeman's Other Ball at the Theatre Royal in London in September 1981, performing two songs from Face Value including "In the Air Tonight" and "The Roof is Leaking" accompanying himself on piano. Face Value became a surprise international success topping the charts in at least seven countries and hitting the top ten of the Billboard 200 eventually going triple-platinum in the U.S. Hits from the album included "In the Air Tonight", "I Missed Again" and "If Leaving Me Is Easy". In 1982, he produced ABBA member Frida's solo album, Something's Going On, which helped to spawn the title track, "I Know There's Something Going On", which became a hit.

Much like Face Value, much of the songs from Collins's 1982 follow-up album, Hello, I Must Be Going!, came from Collins's marital problems with his first wife such as "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Do You Know and Do You Care". Collins’s early albums had a dark presence, usually heavy on the drums. Regarding Face Value, he says, "I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes." There were occasional poppier influences–Face Value's "Behind the Lines", for example, was a jazzy remake of a Genesis song he co-wrote. Face Value was a critical and multi-platinum success, and saw Collins’s profile increase further. Hello, I Must Be Going! gave him a UK #1 for his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The album went triple-platinum in the United States, like its predecessor. The Supremes' cover was his first Top 10 U.S. hit (it also hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart). The album also reached #2 on the UK album chart, spending well over a year there.

Two years before, Collins had played drums on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled record (often referred to as Melt), the first record to feature the "gated reverb" sound, which was used on the song "Intruder". Gabriel reportedly "didn't want any metal on the record" and asked Collins to leave his cymbals at home, to concentrate on the sound of his kit more heavily than usual. Studio engineer Hugh Padgham augmented the drum sound by using a microphone normally intended for studio communication rather than recording and feeding it through a signal processor called a noise gate. This allowed the reverberation added to the drums to be suddenly cut off before it naturally decayed. The result was the arresting "gated reverb" which became Collins signature sound. This was the same 'big drum sound' used on such songs as "In The Air Tonight", "Mama" by Genesis, and Frida's "There's Something Going On".
Superstardom (1984–1992)

Collins changed his musical style with the release of the ballad, "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", which was the theme song to the movie of the same name in 1984. The more pop-friendly and radio-accessible single became Collins's first solo single to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that year, Collins contributed to production on Earth, Wind & Fire singer Phillip Bailey's debut album, Chinese Wall, collaborating with Bailey on the hit duet, "Easy Lover". Collins featured on Band Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas", he played drums and sang on the song. Collins released his most successful album, No Jacket Required, in early 1985. It contained the hits "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", and "Take Me Home", as well as the less known yet equally robust "Who Said I Would", and "Only You Know and I Know". The album featured Sting, Helen Terry and ex-bandmate Peter Gabriel as backing vocalists. He also recorded the successful song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin, and an American number one, for the movie White Nights. Collins had three American number one songs in 1985, the most by any artist that year. No Jacket Required went on to win several Grammy awards including Album of the Year.

No Jacket Required received criticism that the album was too safe, despite its upbeat reviews and commercial success. A positive review by David Fricke of Rolling Stone ended, "After years on the art-rock fringe, Collins has established himself firmly in the middle of the road. Perhaps he should consider testing himself and his new fans' expectations next time around." "Sussudio" also drew criticism for sounding too similar to Prince's "1999", a charge that Collins did not deny. Nevertheless, the album went straight to #1 in the U.S. and UK. In 1985, Collins was invited by Bob Geldof to perform at the Live Aid charity event. Collins had the distinction of being the only performer to appear at both the UK concert at Wembley Stadium and the US concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. He accomplished this by performing early in the day at Wembley as both a solo artist and alongside Sting, then transferring to a Concorde flight to the USA enabling him to perform his solo material, and drum for Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton in Philadelphia. While being a guest on major artists' hit recordings, Collins continued to enjoy solo success even while on tour with Genesis, besides from his number-one duet with Marilyn Martin in 1986, Collins would score two more hits from movies with the singles, "Two Hearts" (1988) and "Groovy Kind of Love" (1988), the latter two from the soundtrack of his feature film, Buster.

In 1989, Collins produced another successful album, ...But Seriously, featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", with David Crosby on backing vocals. (Collins later went on to co-write, sing and play on the song "Hero" on Crosby's 1993 album Thousand Roads.) "Another Day in Paradise" went to Number 1 on the Billboard Charts at the end of 1989 and won Collins a Grammy for Record of the Year (1990). In the process, it became the last #1 US pop hit of the 1980s. The album ...But Seriously became the first #1 US album of the 1990s. Other songs included "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (#4 US, #15 UK), "Do You Remember?" (not released in the UK, but a #4 hit in the US), and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (the latter featuring Clapton on guitar) (#3 US, #7 UK). Songs about apartheid and homelessness demonstrated Collins’s turn to politically-driven material. This theme recurred on his later albums. A live album, Serious Hits... Live!, followed.
Later solo work and Genesis reunion (1993–2008)

Collins's record sales began to drop with the 1993 release of Both Sides, a largely experimental album that, according to Collins, included songs that "were becoming so personal, so private, I didn't want anyone else's input". Featuring a less polished sound and fewer up-tempo songs than his previous albums, Both Sides was a significant departure. Collins used no backing musicians, performed all the vocal and instrumental parts at his home studio, and used rough vocal takes for the final product. The album was not well received by radio. Its two biggest hits were "Both Sides of the Story" and "Everyday". Collins worked on the album completely independently of his record company, and took them by surprise when he delivered them a completed album that they were unaware he was making.

Collins officially parted ways with Genesis in 1996 to focus on his solo career (Genesis would produce one album without Collins—...Calling All Stations...—before going on hiatus). Collins attempted a return to pop music with Dance into the Light, which Entertainment Weekly reviewed by saying that "(e)ven Phil Collins must know that we all grew weary of Phil Collins". It included minor hits such as the title track and The Beatles-inspired "It's in Your Eyes". Although the album went Gold in the US, it sold considerably less than his previous albums. Despite this, the subsequent tour regularly sold out arenas.

In 1996, Collins formed The Phil Collins Big Band. With Collins as drummer, the band performed jazz renditions of various Collins and Genesis hits. The Phil Collins Big Band did a world tour in 1998 that included a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1999, the group released the CD A Hot Night in Paris including big band versions of "Invisible Touch", "Sussudio", and the more obscure "The Los Endos Suite" from A Trick of the Tail.
Phil Collins's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 6834 Hollywood Blvd

A compilation album ...Hits was released in 1998 and sold very well, returning Collins to multi-platinum status in America. The album's sole new track, a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors", received considerable play on US Adult Contemporary stations while peaking at #2. Some of Collins's earlier hits (e.g. "I Missed Again", "If Leaving Me Is Easy", etc.) and other successes were not included in this compilation.

Collins's next single, "You'll Be in My Heart", from the Disney animated movie Tarzan, spent 19 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart – the longest time ever up to that point. The song won Collins an Academy Award for Best Song. It was his third nomination in the songwriters category, after being nominated in 1985 and 1989. Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on 16 June 1999.
Collins performing in Barcelona, Spain in July 2004.

In 2002 Collins released Testify. Metacritic's roundup of album reviews found this record to be the worst-reviewed album at the time of its release, though it has since been "surpassed" by three more recent releases. The album's "Can't Stop Loving You" (a Leo Sayer cover) was yet another #1 Adult Contemporary smash hit for Collins. Testify sold 140,000 copies in the United States by year's end, although a successful worldwide tour followed.

That same year Collins accepted an invitation to drum for the "house band" at a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. In 2003 announced his last solo tour - the "First Final Farewell Tour", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the multiple farewell tours of other popular artists. In 2006 he worked with Disney on a Broadway production of Tarzan, a musical which received generally mixed reviews. In 2007 Collins reunited with his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford for Turn It On Again: The Tour, a tour of Europe and North America. During the tour Genesis performed at the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium. Following the band's performance, presenter Jonathan Ross had to apologise to viewers watching the televised version as Collins had used a swear word while singing "Invisible Touch".
Studio albums
The following list includes all Phil Collins's studio albums. For a complete album list, see Phil Collins discography.
Release date Title
1981 Face Value
1982 Hello, I Must Be Going!
1985 No Jacket Required
1989 ...But Seriously
1993 Both Sides
1996 Dance into the Light
2002 Testify
2010 Going Back
Number one singles
The following singles reached number one in the United Kingdom or United States. For a full singles discography, see Phil Collins discography.
Year Single Peak positions
UK U.S.
1982 "You Can't Hurry Love" 1 10
1984 "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" 2 1
"Easy Lover" (With Philip Bailey) 1 2
1985 "One More Night" 4 1
"Sussudio" 12 1
"Separate Lives" (With Marilyn Martin) 4 1
1988 "A Groovy Kind of Love" 1 1
"Two Hearts" 6 1
1989 (Charted in 1990) "Another Day in Paradise" 2 1

"In the Air Tonight" re-entered the New Zealand charts in 2008 at #3 and then peaked at #1, after featuring in the 'Cadbury Gorilla' advert.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/eltondisney/collins_4.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t210/dan_imp_photos/MCR6/Phil-Collins-Photograph-C11799828.jpg
I can only listen to Phil Collins for a limited amount of time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/11 at 7:04 am

My favorites are Land of Confusion,I Missed Again and Sussudio

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/11 at 7:04 am


In a sense that is true, but both were alive from 1770 to 1791. But they were both acknowledged composers.
I think that the two did met each other.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/30/11 at 9:33 am

My favorites of Phil Collins are:

(With Genesis)
Land of Confusion
That's All

(Solo)
In The Air Tonight


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/30/11 at 9:38 am


I think that the two did met each other.
...and I am not talking about Phil Collins here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/30/11 at 11:22 am


I love Phill Collins,He is a legend.  :)

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/30/11 at 5:17 pm

I saw Genesis in concert..but never Phil Collins (as a solo act). I had a ticket to his Brisbane 1985 concert...but my best friend was supposed to go to the Bruse Springsteen concert on the same night (with his fiance). However, he had a big fight that day with his fiance and the engagement was broken off. He asked me to come with him to the Springsteen show instead. I gave my Phil Collins ticket to his younger sister.

I'll never know what I may have missed with the Collins show...but I DO know that Springsteen was the best 'live' act that I have ever gone to. He is magic in concert. I wasn't a fan prior to 1985. You can't capture the essence of his shows on his records at all.  I only went because my friend was upset. It was a great decision.... :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: seamermar on 01/30/11 at 6:06 pm


I saw Genesis in concert..but never Phil Collins (as a solo act). I had a ticket to his Brisbane 1985 concert...but my best friend was supposed to go to the Bruse Springsteen concert on the same night (with his fiance). However, he had a big fight that day with his fiance and the engagement was broken off. He asked me to come with him to the Springsteen show instead. I gave my Phil Collins ticket to his younger sister.

I'll never know what I may have missed with the Collins show...but I DO know that Springsteen was the best 'live' act that I have ever gone to. He is magic in concert. I wasn't a fan prior to 1985. You can't capture the essence of his shows on his records at all.  I only went because my friend was upset. It was a great decision.... :)


Enjoy what you get from coincidence,  ;) Gibbo, cuz the boss is the best you can harvest from the stage  :P

Yes ninny, Collins is a great singer,
We had the chance he left drums to delight everyone with his ballades, besides he tells and fights for a better world to live on 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/30/11 at 7:27 pm


Me too :)


What's your favorite,Ninny? :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/11 at 4:53 am


What's your favorite,Ninny? :)

Groovy Kind of Love (our wedding song). In The Air Tonight and Take Me Home

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/31/11 at 4:58 am

The person of the day...John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon (born 31 January 1956), also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is also well known as the lead singer of the post-punk band Public Image Ltd., which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again in 2009–2010. A highly controversial figure, Lydon has vocalised his contempt for the British Royal Family as well as other contentious issues such as segregated education. Q Magazine remarked that "somehow he's assumed the status of national treasure."

Growing up as the son of Irish immigrants in an impoverished area of London, Lydon's personally crafted image and fashion style led to him being asked to become the singer of the Sex Pistols by their manager, Malcolm McLaren. With the Pistols, he penned singles including "Anarchy in the U.K.", "God Save the Queen" and "Holidays in the Sun", the content of which precipitated the "last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium" in Britain. The band caused nationwide uproar in much of the media, who objected to the content of Lydon’s lyrics, and their antics, which included swearing on live television, in which Steve Jones called Bill Grundy a "fudgeing rotter". Due to the band's appearance in the media, Lydon was largely seen as the figurehead of the punk movement in the public image although this idea was not widely supported amongst the punk movement itself. Despite the negative reaction that they provoked, they are now regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music.

Lydon left the Pistols in 1978 to found his own band, Public Image Ltd, that was far more experimental in nature, and which has been described as "arguably the first post-rock group". Although never as commercially successful as the Pistols, the band produced eight albums and a string of singles, including "Death Disco", "Rise" and "Disappointed", before they went on indefinite hiatus in 1993.

In subsequent years, Lydon hosted a number of television shows in the UK, USA and Belgium, as well as writing an autobiography, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs (1993), and producing some solo musical work, such as the album Psycho's Path (1997). In the 2000s, Lydon once more took up being the vocalist for both the Sex Pistols and subsequently also Public Image Ltd as well for a number of reunion tours.
In 1975, Lydon was among a group of youths who regularly hung around Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's fetish clothing shop SEX. McLaren had returned from a brief stint travelling with American protopunk band the New York Dolls, and he was working on promoting a new band formed by Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook called The Sex Pistols. McLaren was impressed with Lydon's ragged look and unique sense of style, particularly his orange hair and modified Pink Floyd T-shirt (with the band members' eyes scratched out and the words I Hate scrawled in felt-tip pen above the band's logo). After tunelessly singing Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" to the accompaniment of the shop's jukebox, Lydon was chosen as the band's frontman.

In 1977, the band released "God Save the Queen" during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. At the time, Lydon commented -
“ Turn the other cheek too often and you get a razor through it. ”

NME - August 1977

Lydon was also interested in dub music. McLaren was said to have been upset when Lydon revealed during a radio interview that his influences included progressive experimentalists like Magma, Can, Captain Beefheart and Van der Graaf Generator.

Tensions between Lydon and bassist Glen Matlock arose. The reasons for this are disputed, but Lydon claimed in his autobiography that he believed Matlock to be too white-collar and middle-class and that Matlock was "always going on about nice things like the Beatles". Matlock stated in his own autobiography that most of the tension in the band, and between himself and Lydon, were orchestrated by McLaren. Matlock quit and as a replacement, Lydon recommended his school friend John Simon Ritchie. Although Ritchie was an incompetent musician, McLaren agreed that he had the look the band wanted: pale, emaciated, spike-haired, with ripped clothes and a perpetual sneer. Rotten dubbed him "Sid Vicious" as a joke, taking the name from his pet hamster, named Sid the Vicious. According to Kit and Morgan Benson's biography, Ritchie got his name after Sid the hamster bit him on his hand, and he exclaimed: "Sid is really vicious!"

Vicious' chaotic relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen, and his worsening heroin addiction, caused a great deal of friction among the band members, particularly with Lydon, whose sarcastic remarks often exacerbated the situation. Lydon closed the final Sid Vicious-era Sex Pistols concert in San Francisco's Winterland in January 1978 with a rhetorical question to the audience: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Shortly thereafter, McLaren, Jones, and Cook went to Brazil to meet and record with former train robber Ronnie Biggs. Lydon declined to go, deriding the concept as a whole and feeling that they were attempting to make a hero out of a criminal who attacked a train driver and stole "working-class money".

The Sex Pistols' disintegration was documented in Julian Temple's satirical pseudo-biopic, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, in which Jones, Cook and Vicious each played a character. Matlock only appeared in previously-recorded live footage and as an animation and did not participate personally. Lydon refused to have anything to do with The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, feeling that McLaren had far too much control over the project. Although Lydon was highly critical of the film, many years later he agreed to let Temple direct the Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury. That film included new interviews with band members hidden in shadow, as if they were in a witness protection program. It featured an uncharacteristically emotional Lydon choking up as he discussed Vicious' decline and death. Lydon denounced previous journalistic works regarding the Sex Pistols in the introduction to his autobiography, Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, which he described as "as close to the truth as one can get".
1978-1993: Public Image Limited, Time Zone and Copkiller
This biographical section needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008)
Main article: Public Image Ltd.

In 1978, John Lydon formed the post-punk outfit Public Image Limited (PiL). PiL lasted for 14 years with Lydon as the only consistent member. The group enjoyed some early critical acclaim for its 1979 album, Metal Box (a.k.a. Second Edition), and influenced many bands of the later industrial movement. The band was lauded for its innovation and rejection of traditional musical forms. Musicians citing their influence have ranged from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Massive Attack.

The first lineup of the band included bassist Jah Wobble and former Clash guitarist Keith Levene. They released the albums Public Image (also known as First Issue), Metal Box and Paris in the Spring (live). Wobble then left and Lydon and Levene made The Flowers of Romance. Then came This Is What You Want...This Is What You Get featuring Martin Atkins on drums (he had also appeared on Metal Box and The Flowers of Romance); it featured their biggest hit, "This Is Not A Love Song", which hit #5 in 1983.

In 1983, Lydon co-starred with Harvey Keitel in the movie thriller Corrupt, a.k.a. Copkiller and The Order of Death. While the film was generally panned, Lydon won some praise for his role as a psychotic rich boy. Lydon would act again very occasionally after that, such as a very small role in the 2000 film, The Independent, and as the host of the skateboard film, Sorry, featuring the Flip Skate Team.

In 1984, Lydon worked with Time Zone on their best-known single, "World Destruction". A collaboration between Lydon, Afrika Bambaataa and producer/bassist Bill Laswell, the single was an early example of "rap rock", along with Run-DMC. The song appears on Afrika Bambaataa's 1997 compilation album, Zulu Groove. It was arranged by Laswell after Lydon and Bambaataa had acknowledged respect for each others' work, as described in an interview from 1984:

    Afrika Bambaataa: "I was talking to Bill Laswell saying I need somebody who's really crazy, man, and he thought of John Lydon. I knew he was perfect because I'd seen this movie that he'd made (Corrupt, a.k.a. Copkiller and The Order of Death), I knew about all the Sex Pistols and Public Image stuff, so we got together and we did a smashing crazy version, and a version where he cussed the Queen something terrible, which was never released."
    John Lydon: "We went in, put a drum beat down on the machine and did the whole thing in about four-and-a-half hours. It was very, very quick."

The single also featured Bernie Worrell, Nicky Skopelitis and Aïyb Dieng, all of whom would later play on PiL's Album; Laswell also played bass and produced.

Then in 1986 Public Image Limited released Album (also known as Compact Disc and Cassette). Most of the tracks on this album were written by Lydon and Bill Laswell. The musicians were session musicians including bassist Jonas Hellborg, guitarist Steve Vai and Cream drummer Ginger Baker. Like the previous album, this also featured a hit, the anti-apartheid anthem "Rise".

The band's performance on the dance/concert TV show American Bandstand saw Lydon giving up on lip synching not long into the performance and dancing with audience members instead.

In 1987 a new lineup was formed consisting of Lydon, former Magazine, Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Armoury Show guitarist John McGeoch, Alan Dias on bass guitar in addition to drummer Bruce Smith and Lu Edmunds. This lineup released Happy? and all except Lu Edmunds released the album 9 in 1989. In 1992 Lydon, Dias and McGeoch were joined by Curt Bisquera on drums and Gregg Arreguin on rhythm guitar for the album That What Is Not. This album also features the Tower of Power on two songs and Jimmie Wood on harmonica. Lydon, McGeoch and Dias also wrote the song "Criminal" for the movie Point Break. After this album, in 1993, Lydon put PiL on indefinite hiatus, in which state they remain today. Recently Lydon has agreed to revive PiL to do a UK tour in December which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Metal Box album.
All chart positions are UK.
Sex Pistols

Studio albums

    * Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977) Platinum #1

Compilations and live albums

    * The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (Virgin, 1979)
    * Some Product: Carri On Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1979)
    * Kiss This (Virgin, 1992)
    * Never Mind the Bollocks / Spunk (aka This is Crap) (Virgin, 1996)
    * Filthy Lucre Live (Virgin, 1996)
    * The Filth and the Fury (Virgin, 2000)
    * Jubilee (Virgin, 2002)
    * Sex Pistols Box Set (Virgin, 2002)

Singles

    * "Anarchy in the UK" - 1976 #38
    * "God Save the Queen" - 1977 #2
    * "Pretty Vacant" - 1977 #6
    * "Holidays in the Sun" - 1977 #8
    * "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" - 1980 #21
    * "Anarchy in the UK" (re-issue) - 1992 #33
    * "Pretty Vacant" (live) - 1996 # 18
    * "God Save the Queen" (re-issue) - 2002 # 15

Public Image Ltd.

Studio albums

    * First Issue (Virgin, 1978), #22
    * Metal Box (a.k.a. Second Edition) (Virgin, 1979) #18, US #171
    * Flowers of Romance (Virgin, 1981) #11, US #114
    * Commercial Zone (PiL Records, 1983)
    * This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (Virgin, 1984)
    * Album (Virgin, 1986)
    * Happy? (Virgin, 1987)
    * 9 (Virgin, 1989)
    * That What Is Not (Virgin, 1992)

Compilations and live albums

    * Paris in the Spring (Paris au Printemps) (Virgin, 1980)
    * Live in Tokyo (Virgin, 1983)
    * The Greatest Hits, So Far (Virgin, 1990)

Singles

    * "Public Image" - 1978 #9
    * "Death Disco" - 1979 #20
    * "Memories" - 1979 #60
    * "Flowers of Romance" - 1981 #24
    * "This Is Not a Love Song" - 1983 #5
    * "Bad Life" - 1984 #71
    * "Rise" - 1986 #11
    * "Home" - 1986 #75
    * "Seattle" - 1987 #47
    * "The Body" - 1987 #100
    * "Disappointed" - 1989 #38
    * "Don't Ask Me" - 1990 #22
    * "Cruel" - 1992 #49

The Lydons and The O'Donnells

Studio albums

    * "Family Album" (MBC records, 1986)

Time Zone

Single

    * "World Destruction" - 1984

Solo

Studio albums

    * Psycho's Path (Virgin, 1997)

Compilations

    * The Best of British £1 Notes (Lydon, PiL & Sex Pistols) (Virgin/EMI, 2005)

Singles

    * "Open Up" (with Leftfield) – 1993 – #11 UK
    * "Sun" – 1997 – #42 UK
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x174/robbbie23mc/66785003-1.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/Nienna_666/temporary.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/31/11 at 6:45 am


Groovy Kind of Love (our wedding song). In The Air Tonight and Take Me Home


How about Phil Bailey with Phil Collins?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/31/11 at 11:30 am


How about Phil Bailey with Phil Collins?

They performed a duet called "Easy Lover." :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/31/11 at 3:00 pm


They performed a duet called "Easy Lover." :)


Another one of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/01/11 at 5:06 am

The person of the day...Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones (born 1 February 1942) is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team.
As a member of the Monty Python troupe, Jones is remembered for his roles as middle-aged women and the bowler-hatted "man in the street". He is renowned by the rest of the group as "the best rat-bag woman in the business". He typically wrote sketches in partnership with Michael Palin.

One of Jones's early concerns was devising a fresh format for the Python TV shows, and it was largely Jones who developed the stream-of-consciousness style which abandoned punchlines and instead encouraged the fluid movement of one sketch to another – allowing the team's conceptual humour the space to “breathe”. Jones also objected to TV directors’ use of sped-up film, over-emphatic music, and static camera style, and took a keen interest in the direction of the shows. He later committed himself to directing the Python films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (with Terry Gilliam), The Life of Brian, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and as director, finally gained fuller control of the projects, devising a visual style that allowed the performers 'space'; for instance, in the use of wide shots for long exchanges of dialogue, and more economical use of music. As demonstrated in many of his sketches with Palin, Jones was also interested in making comedy that was visually impressive, feeling that interesting settings augmented, rather than detracted from, the humour. His methods encouraged many future television comedians to break away from conventional studio-bound shooting styles, as demonstrated into the 21st century by shows such as Green Wing, Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen.

Of Jones's contributions as a performer, his parodic, screechy-voiced depictions of "pepperpots" (middle-aged women, such as the waitress in the "Spam" sketch) are among the most memorable. His humour, in collaboration with Palin, tends to be conceptual in nature; a typical Palin/Jones sketch draws its humour from the absurdity of the scenario. For example, in the “Summarise Proust Competition”, Jones plays a cheesy game show host giving a series of contestants 15 seconds to condense Marcel Proust's lengthy work À la recherche du temps perdu; in the "Mouse Organ" sketch, he plays a tuxedoed man using mallets to bash mice who have been trained to squeak at a select pitch, and when “played” in the correct order reproduce the tune "Bells of St. Mary". In both cases, the laughs originate in the madness of the idea itself. Jones was also notable for his gifts as a Chaplinesque physical comedian: For instance, his performance in the "Undressing in Public" sketch is totally silent, except for an organ rendition of the Colonel Bogey March, which segues into an unplanned striptease. He was often cast as the straight man, or as a nerdy or put-upon character, often with ambitions or dreams beyond his abilities, in contrast to the authority figures often played by John Cleese or Graham Chapman.
Directorial work

Jones co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Terry Gilliam, and was sole director on two further Monty Python movies, Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. (The latter featured one of his most famous characters, the grotesquely obese Mr. Creosote.) As a film director, Jones finally gained fuller control of the projects and devised a visual style that complemented the humour. His later films include Erik the Viking (1989) and The Wind in the Willows (1996). In 2008, Jones wrote and directed an opera titled Evil Machines.

On the commentary track of the 2004 "2 Disc Special Edition" DVD for the film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Terry Jones stated that to his knowledge Ireland had banned only four movies, three of which he had directed: The Meaning of Life, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Personal Services.
Animation

He was the creator and co-producer of the animated television program Blazing Dragons, which ran for two seasons. Set in a fantasy medieval setting, the series' protagonists are dragons who are beset by evil humans, reversing a common story convention. When the series was broadcast on US television, several episodes were censored due to minor cursing and the implied sexuality of an overtly effeminate character named "Sir Blaze". It was turned into a game for the Sega Saturn in 1994, which starred Jones's voice.
As an author

He co-wrote Ripping Yarns with Palin, and wrote the screenplay for Labyrinth (1986), although his draft went through several rewrites and several other writers before being filmed; much of the finished film wasn't written by Jones at all. He has also written numerous works for children, including Fantastic Stories, The Beast with a Thousand Teeth, and a collection of Comic Verse called The Curse of the Vampire's Socks.

He has written books and presented television documentaries on medieval and ancient history and the history of numeral systems. His series often challenge popular views of history: for example, Terry Jones' Medieval Lives (2004) (for which he received a 2004 Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming") argues that the Middle Ages was a more sophisticated period than is popularly thought, and Terry Jones' Barbarians (2006) presents the cultural achievements of peoples conquered by the Roman Empire in a more positive light than Roman historians typically have, while criticizing the Romans as the true "barbarians" who exploited and destroyed higher civilizations.

He has written numerous editorials for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Observer condemning the Iraq war. Many of these editorials were published in a paperback collection titled Terry Jones's War on the War on Terror.

Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary (1980) offers an alternative take on the historical view of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's Tale as being a paragon of Christian virtue. Jones asserts that, after closer examination of historical rather than literary context, the Knight is actually a typical mercenary and a potentially cold-blooded killer.

He is also a member of the UK Poetry Society and his poems have appeared in Poetry Review.
Working with musicians

Jones has performed with The Carnival Band and appears on their 2007 CD Ringing the changes (Park Records PRKCD98).

In January 2008, the Teatro São Luiz, in Lisbon, Portugal, premiered Evil Machines – a musical play, written by Jones (based on his book) and with original music by Portuguese composer Luis Tinoco. Jones was invited by the Teatro São Luiz to write and direct the play, after a very successful run of Contos Fantásticos, a short play based on Jones' Fantastic Stories, also with music by Luis Tinoco.
As performer

Apart from a cameo in Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky and a memorable minor role as a drunken vicar in BBC sitcom The Young Ones, Jones has rarely appeared in work outside of his own projects. Since January 2009, however, he has provided narration for The Legend of Dick and Dom, a CBBC fantasy series set in the Middle Ages.
Selected bibliography
Fiction

    * Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic (1997), ISBN 0-330-35446-9 – a novel based on the computer game of the same name by Douglas Adams. (Jones claims to have written the entire book while in the nude.)

Illustrated by Michael Foreman

    * Fairy Tales (1981), ISBN 0-907516-03-3
    * The Saga of Erik the Viking (1983), ISBN 0-907516-23-8 – Children's Book Award 1984
    * Nicobobinus (1985), ISBN 1-85145-000-9
    * The Curse of the Vampire's Socks and Other Doggerel (1988), ISBN 1-85145-233-8 – poetry
    * Fantastic Stories (1992), ISBN 1-85145-957-X
    * The Beast with a Thousand Teeth (1993), ISBN 1-85793-070-3
    * A Fish of the World (1993), ISBN 1-85793-075-4
    * The Sea Tiger (1994), ISBN 1-85793-085-1
    * The Fly-by-Night (1994), ISBN 1-85793-090-8
    * The Knight and the Squire (1997), ISBN 1-86205-044-9
    * The Lady and the Squire (2000), ISBN 1-86205-417-7 – nominated for a Whitbread Award
    * Bedtime Stories (2002), ISBN 1-86205-276-X – with Nanette Newman

Illustrated by Brian Froud

    * Goblins of the Labyrinth (1986), ISBN 1-85145-058-0
          o The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins (1996), ISBN 1-85793-795-3 – an abridged re-release, in a smaller format, with the colour plates missing
    * Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (1994), ISBN 1-85793-336-2
    * Strange Stains and Mysterious Smells: Quentin Cottington's Journal of Faery Research (1996), ISBN 0-684-83206-2
    * Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Journal (1998), ISBN 1-86205-024-4
    * Lady Cottington's Fairy Album (2002), ISBN 1-86205-559-9

Illustrated by Martin Honeysett & Lolly Honeysett

    * Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls with Michael Palin (1974) ISBN 0-413-32740-X

Non-fiction

    * Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary (1980), ISBN 0-297-77566-9; rev. ed. (1994), ISBN 0-413-69140-3
    * Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery (2003), ISBN 0-413-75910-5 – with Robert Yeager, Terry Dolan, Alan Fletcher and Juliette Dor
    * Terry Jones's War on the War on Terror (2005), ISBN 1-56025-653-2

With Alan Ereira

    * Crusades (1994), ISBN 0-563-37007-6
    * Terry Jones' Medieval Lives (2004), ISBN 0-563-48793-3
    * Terry Jones' Barbarians (2006), ISBN 0-563-49318-6

Screenplays

    * And Now for Something Completely Different (1972) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle & Michael Palin
    * Secrets (1973) – for TV, with Michael Palin
    * Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle & Michael Palin
    * Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle & Michael Palin
    * Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle & Michael Palin
    * Labyrinth (1986)
    * Erik the Viking (1989) – includes a notice in the credits specifically disclaiming any link with Jones's earlier novel ("although he hopes it will help the sales")
    * The Wind in the Willows (1996)

Documentary series

    * Crusades (1995)
    * Ancient Inventions – directed by Phil Grabsky & Daniel Percival (1998)
    * The Hidden History of Egypt – directed by Phil Grabsky
    * The Hidden History of Rome – directed by Phil Grabsky (2002)
    * The Secret History of Sex & Love – directed by Phil Grabsky
    * Terry Jones' Medieval Lives (2004)
    * The Story of 1 (2005)
    * Terry Jones' Barbarians (2006)
    * Terry Jones' Great Map Mystery (2008)

Political articles

Jones has published a number of articles on political and social commentary, principally in newspapers The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Observer. Many of these articles criticized the war on terror, belittling it as "declaring war on an abstract noun" and comparing it to attempting to "annihilate mockery".
Miscellany

    * An asteroid, 9622 Terryjones, is named in his honour. When asked during a webchat if this were the greatest honour he has received, Jones replied, "I didn't realise it was an honour to have a barren lump of rock named after one."
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g167/fiona_is_hella_tight/Heros/TerryJones.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm247/pictureperfect_79/normal_pythons101.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/02/11 at 4:47 am

The person of the day...Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE (born 2 February 1942) is a English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer. Nash was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Crosby, Stills & Nash and as a member of The Hollies in 2010.

Nash was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to music and to charity.
Nash was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, in 1942, his mother having been evacuated there from the Nashes' hometown of Salford, Lancashire,(now in Greater Manchester) because of the Second World War. The family subsequently returned to Salford, where Graham grew up. In the early 1960s he was a leading member of The Hollies, one of the UK's most successful pop and "British Invasion" groups ever. Although recognised as a key member of the group, he seldom sang lead vocals, although he did write many of the band's songs, most often in collaboration with Allan Clarke. Nash was pivotal in the forging of a sound and lyrics showing an obvious hippie influence on The Hollies' albums. However, Nash was disappointed when his transition in sound did not register with the audience that the Hollies played to, including when "King Midas in Reverse" did not gain the popularity he expected it to. He greatly influenced the direction of Evolution, and Butterfly, a collection that brought differing opinions on the band's musical direction to the fore.

In 1968, after a visit to the US during which he met David Crosby in Laurel Canyon and began recreational drug use, Nash left The Hollies to form a new group with Crosby and Stephen Stills. A threesome at first, Crosby, Stills & Nash later became a foursome with Neil Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). With them, Nash went on to even greater worldwide success. Nash, nicknamed "Willy" by his band mates in CSNY, has been described as the glue that keeps their often fragile alliances together. A mark of this is the loyalty and support Nash showed to his best friend, Crosby, during Crosby's well-documented period of drug addiction ending in the mid 1980s. Nash's solo career has often been shelved in favour of reunions on stage and in the studio with either Crosby and Stills or Crosby, Stills and Young. In addition, Nash briefly rejoined the Hollies in 1983 (to mark their 20th anniversary) to record two albums, "What Goes Around" and "Reunion". His own solo work shows a love of melody and ballads. His solo recordings have experimented with jazz and electronic percussion but tend not to stray too far from a pop format with well-defined hook lines.

Nash became very politically active after moving to California to join with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, as reflected such in Nash songs as "Military Madness" and "Chicago (We Can Change the World)". His song "Immigration Man", Crosby and Nash's biggest hit as a duo (see below), arose from a tiff he had with a US Customs official while trying to enter the country. Nash became an American citizen on August 14, 1978.

Starting in 1972, Nash teamed with Crosby, the two continuing as a successful recording and performing duo until the more or less permanent reformation with Stills for the CSN album of 1977. The pair reunited for another Crosby & Nash studio album in 2004, and a legitimate release of music from a 1970s Crosby-Nash tour as on a widely circulated bootleg appeared in 1998.

In 1979, Nash co-founded Musicians United for Safe Energy.

In 2005, Nash collaborated with Norwegian musicians a-ha on the songs "Over the Treetops" (penned by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy) and "Cosy Prisons" (penned by Magne Furuholmen) for the Analogue recording. In 2006, Nash worked with David Gilmour and David Crosby on the title track of David Gilmour's third solo album, On an Island. In March 2006, the album was released and quickly reached #1 on the UK charts. Nash and Crosby subsequently toured the UK with Gilmour, singing backup on "On an Island", "The Blue", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and "Find the Cost of Freedom".

Nash is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".

Nash appeared on the season 7 finale of American Idol singing "Teach Your Children" with Brooke White.

In 2010 Nash was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this time as a member of The Hollies. He received an OBE 'for services to music and charitable activities', becoming an Officer of the British Empire in the Diplomatic and Overseas Division of the Queen's Birthday Honours List on Saturday, June 12, 2010. Nash received the title of George Eastman Honorary Scholar at the George Eastman House on January 22, 2011, in Rochester, NY.
Photography career
Nash backstage at the Frost Amphitheater, Stanford CA, Spring 1976.

Interested in photography as a child, Nash began to collect photographs in the early 1970s. Having acquired more than a thousand prints by 1976, Nash hired Graham Howe as his photography curator. In 1978 through 1984 a touring exhibition of selections from the Graham Nash Collection toured to more than a dozen museums world wide. Nash decided to sell his 2,000 print collection though Sotheby's auction house in 1990 where it set an auction record for the highest grossing sale of a single private collection of photography.
Early digital fine art printing

In the late 1980s Nash began to experiment with digital images of his photography on Macintosh computers with the assistance R. Mac Holbert who at that time was the tour manager for Crosby, Stills, and Nash as well as handling computer/technical matters for the band. Nash ran into the problem common with all personal computers running graphics software during that period: he could create very sophisticated detailed images on the computer, but there was no output device (computer printer) capable of reproducing what he saw on the computer screen. Nash and Holbert initially experimented with early commercial printers that were then becoming available and printed many images on the large format Fujix inkjet printers at UCLA's JetGraphix digital output center. When Fuji decided to stop supporting the printers, John Bilotta, who was running JetGraphix, recommended that Nash and Holbert look into the IRIS printer, a new large format continuous-tone inkjet printer built for prepress proofing by IRIS Graphics, Inc. Through IRIS Graphics national sales rep Steve Boulter, Nash also met programmer David Coons, a color engineer for Disney, who was already using the IRIS printer there to print images from Disney’s new digital animation system.

Coons worked off hours at Disney to produced large images of 16 of Nash's photographic portraits on arches watercolor paper using Disney’s in-house model 3024 IRIS printer for an April 24, 1990 show at Simon Lowinsky gallery. Since most of the original negatives and prints had been lost in shipment to a book publisher, Coons had to scan contact sheets and enhance the images so they could be printed in large format. He used software he had written to output the photographic images to the IRIS printer, a machine designed to work with proprietary prepress computer systems.

In July 1990 Graham Nash purchased an IRIS Graphics 3047 inkjet printer for $126,000 and set it up in a small carriage house in Manhattan Beach, California near Los Angeles. David Coons and Steve Boulter used it to print an even larger November, 1990 show of Nash's work for Parco Stores in Tokyo. The show entitled Sunlight on Silver was a series of 35 celebrity portraits by Nash which were 3 feet by 4 feet in an edition of 50 prints per image, a total of 1,750 images. Subsequently, Nash exhibited his photographs at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and elsewhere.
Nash Editions

In 1991 Graham Nash agreed to fund Mac Holbert to start a fine art digital based printing company using the IRIS Graphics 3047 printer sitting in Nash's Manhattan Beach, California carriage house. Holbert retired as road manager for Crosby, Stills, and Nash so that he could run the company. It opened its doors on July 1, 1991 with the name of Nash Editions Ltd. Early employees included David Coons, John Bilotta, and a serigraphic print maker named Jack Duganne. They worked to further adapt the IRIS printer to fine art printing, experimenting with ink sets to try the to overcome the fast fading short longevity of IRIS prints, and even going as far as sawing off part of the print heads so they could be moved back to clear thicker printing paper stocks (voiding the $126,000 machines warranty). Nash and Holbert decided to call their fine art prints "digigraph" although Jack Duganne coined name "Giclée" for these type of prints. The company is still in operation and currently uses Epson based large format printers.

In 2005, Nash donated the original IRIS Graphics 3047 printer and Nash Editions ephemera to the National Museum of American History, a Smithsonian Institution.
Discography

Please also see discographies for The Hollies, Crosby & Nash, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

    * Songs for Beginners, Atlantic 1971, US #15
    * Wild Tales, Atlantic 1973, US #34
    * Earth & Sky, EMI 1980, US #117
    * Innocent Eyes, Atlantic 1986, US #136
    * Songs for Survivors, Artemis 2002
    * Reflections, Rhino 2009

Other contributions

    * Eklektikos Live (2005) - "Our House"
    * Francesco Lucarelli - Find The Light (Route61 2010) - Graham sings and plays harmonica on "Mr. Sunshine"
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/jonv80/grahamnash-1.jpg
http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/el_revivalista/PDVD_006.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/02/11 at 6:50 am

I like listening to Crosby Stills And Nash.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/02/11 at 4:16 pm


I like listening to Crosby Stills And Nash.

I know, they have some great songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/03/11 at 5:21 am

The person of the day...Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and his voice work in The Lion King and Stuart Little. In 2008, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Lane was born Joseph Lane in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Irish American Catholic parents. He was named after his uncle, a Jesuit priest. His father, Daniel, was a truck driver and an aspiring tenor who died from alcoholism when Lane was eleven; his mother, Nora, was a housewife and secretary, who suffered from manic-depression, and died in 2000. He has two brothers, Robert and Daniel. Lane attended Roman Catholic schools in Jersey City, including Jesuit-run St. Peter's Preparatory High School, where he was selected Best Actor in 1974.
Career

His brother Dan accompanied him to what was supposed to be his first day at St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia. When they arrived, they learned the drama scholarship Lane had won didn't cover enough of the expenses for him to stay. He decided to go back home. "I remember him saying to me, 'College is for people who don't know what they want to do,'" Dan Lane recalled. Because there already was a Joseph Lane registered with Actors Equity, he changed his name to Nathan after the character Nathan Detroit from the musical Guys and Dolls. He moved to New York City where, after a long struggle, his career began to take off, first with some brief success in the world of stand-up comedy with partner, Patrick Stack, and later with Off Broadway productions at Second Stage Theatre, the Roundabout Theatre, the Manhattan Theatre Club, and his 1982 Broadway debut in a revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter as Roland Maule (Drama Desk nomination) with George C. Scott, Kate Burton, Dana Ivey, and Christine Lahti.

His second Broadway appearance was in the 1983 musical Merlin, starring Chita Rivera and magician Doug Henning. This was followed by Wind in the Willows as Mr. Toad, Some Americans Abroad at Lincoln Center, the national tour of Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, and On Borrowed Time at Circle in the Square Theatre with George C. Scott again. In 1992, he starred in the revival of Guys and Dolls, receiving his first Tony nomination, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, playing the character who lent him his name, opposite Peter Gallagher and Faith Prince.

His professional association with his close friend the playwright Terrence McNally includes roles in Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards), Bad Habits, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Obie, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), and Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams (Drama Desk nomination). The early 1990s began a stretch of successful Broadway shows for Lane. In 1993, he portrayed Sid Caesar-like Max Prince in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, inspired by Simon's early career writing sketches for Your Show of Shows. In 1996, he starred in the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards.

His association with Sondheim began with the workshop of Assassins, and after Forum he appeared with Victor Garber in the workshop of Wise Guys (later retitled Road Show). Their collaboration continued in 2004 when he revised the original book for and starred in the Broadway debut of the composer's The Frogs at Lincoln Center. He also sang a song written especially for him by Sondheim in the film The Birdcage. In 2000 he starred in the Roundabout revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner as Sheridan Whiteside, with Jean Smart and Harriet Harris. Prior to that he starred in the Encores! production of Do Re Mi.

In addition to the McNally plays, Lane has appeared in numerous other Off Broadway productions, including Love (the musical version of Murray Schisgal's Luv), Measure for Measure directed by Joseph Papp in Central Park, The Common Pursuit, The Film Society, Mizlansky/Zilinsky or Chucks, In a Pig's Valise, Trumbo, She Stoops to Conquer, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also appeared at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in The School for Scandal and John Guare's Moon Over Miami .

Lane performed in 1995's The Wizard of Oz in Concert at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996. Lane won his second Tony Award for his portrayal of Max Bialystock in the musical version of Mel Brooks's The Producers, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. He later replaced Richard Dreyfuss in the role in 2004 at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane at the last minute, and went on to win the Olivier Award as Best Actor in a Musical. He recreated his performance for the film version, for which he received his second Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

Lane has performed two roles originated by Zero Mostel, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Max Bialystock in The Producers. He declined the role of Tevye in the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof because he didn't want to be seen as always following in Mostel's footsteps. Coincidentally, both of Lane's Tony Awards were for Mostel's roles.

In 2005, Lane rejoined his Producers co-star Matthew Broderick for an extremely successful limited run of The Odd Couple. In 2006, he changed gears to take on a primarily dramatic role in a revival of Simon Gray's Butley. He and Broderick were awarded adjacent stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a joint ceremony on January 9, 2006. They were also immortalized as Max and Leo at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. He next starred in the new David Mamet play, November, directed by Joe Mantello, and in the critically acclaimed revival of Waiting for Godot (Outer Critics Circle nomination) with Bill Irwin. He is now starring in the musical of The Addams Family as Gomez (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations). In 2008 he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Personal life

A reporter once asked Lane if he was gay; he replied, "I'm 40, single and work in the musical theater. You do the math." When he told his mother he was gay, she replied, "I'd rather you were dead," to which he replied, "I knew you'd understand." Lane, who came out publicly after the death of Matthew Shepard, has been a long-time board member of and fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and has been honored by the Human Rights Campaign, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and The Trevor Project for his work in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Lane resides in New York City, with a long time partner. He remains very good friends with Matthew Broderick, Mel Brooks, and Ernie Sabella.
Awards and nominations
Television

He has received three nominations and won two Daytime Emmy Awards, in 1995 for Disney's Timon and Pumbaa and in 2000 for Disney's Teacher's Pet. He has also received two Emmy nominations for guest appearances on Frasier and Mad About You. In 1999 he won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series.
Film

    * 1997 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast - The Birdcage
    * 1996 American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture - The Birdcage
    * 2002 National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble Performance - Nicholas Nickleby

Nominations

    * 1997 MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo - The Birdcage
    * 1997 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy - The Birdcage
    * 1997 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - The Birdcage
    * 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - The Producers

Theatre

    * 1986 St. Clair Bayfield Award for Shakespearean Performance - Measure For Measure
    * 1990 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play - The Lisbon Traviata
    * 1992 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical - Guys and Dolls
    * 1992 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance
    * 1995 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play - Love! Valour! Compassion!
    * 1995 Obie Award for Ensemble Acting - Love! Valour! Compassion!
    * 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
    * 1996 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
    * 2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical - The Producers
    * 2001 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical - The Producers
    * 2005 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical - The Producers

Nominations

    * 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play - Present Laughter
    * 1992 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical - Guys and Dolls
    * 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play - Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams
    * 2009 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play - Waiting For Godot

Also the winner of four Outer Critics Circle Awards, and a Lucille Lortel Award for The Lisbon Traviata
Other

    * 2002 GLAAD Media Awards Vito Russo Award
    * 2006 American Theatre Wing Honor for his commitment to and achievement in theatre
    * 2007 The Trevor Project Hero Award
    * 2007 Human Rights Campaign Equality Award
    * 2010 The Drama League - Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater

Work
Television

His television credits include One of the Boys with Mickey Rooney and Dana Carvey, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, the title role in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and the voices of the title characters in the animated series Teacher's Pet, Timon & Pumbaa, and George and Martha. He has also made guest appearances on Miami Vice, Mad About You, Sex and the City, Frasier, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Absolutely Fabulous, 30 Rock and Modern Family.

He has hosted Saturday Night Live, The Tony Awards (one time as host, and three as co-host), and appeared on Great Performances (Alice In Wonderland, The Last Mile , and as host of the 30th anniversary, A Celebration in Song). He has starred in two television films, The Boys Next Door and Laughter on the 23rd Floor. With the Boston Pops, he performed a tribute concert of Danny Kaye material, as well as appearing in the Harry Connick Christmas Special; Merry Christmas, George Bailey; and A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa. His attempts at a regular series of his own, Encore! Encore! and Charlie Lawrence, were ratings disappointments.
Filmography

    * Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls as Stage Manager
    * Ironweed (1987) as Harold Allen
    * The Lemon Sisters (1990) as Charlie Sorrell
    * Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) as Baw, Waponi Advance Man
    * He Said, She Said (1991) as Wally Thurman
    * Frankie and Johnny (1991) as Tim
    * Addams Family Values (1993) as Desk Sergeant
    * Life with Mikey (1993) as Ed Chapman
    * Jeffrey (1995) as Father Dan
    * The Birdcage (1996) as Albert Goldman
    * The Boys Next Door (TV) (1996) as Norman Bulansky
    * MouseHunt (1997) as Ernest "Ernie" Smuntz
    * At First Sight (1999) as Phil
    * Get Bruce! (1999) documentary, as himself
    * Love's Labours Lost (2000) as Costard
    * Isn't She Great (2000) as Irving Mansfield
    * Trixie (2000) as Kirk Stans
    * Laughter on the 23rd Floor (TV) (2001) as Max Prince
    * Nicholas Nickleby (2002) as Vincent Crummles
    * Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) as Mysterious Disco Man
    * Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004) as Richard Levy the Driven
    * The Producers (2005) as Max Bialystock
    * Trumbo (2007) documentary, as himself
    * Swing Vote (2008) as Art Crumb
    * The Nutcracker (2010) as Uncle Albert

Theater

    * A Midsummer Night's Dream (1978-Off Broadway) as Francis Flute
    * Present Laughter (1982-Broadway) as Roland Maule
    * Merlin (1983-Broadway) as Prince Fergus
    * Love (1984-Off Broadway) as Harry Berlin
    * She Stoops to Conquer (1984-Off Broadway) as Tony Lumpkin
    * Measure for Measure (1985-Off Broadway) as Pompey
    * Wind in the Willows (1985-Broadway) as Toad
    * The Common Pursuit (1986-Off Broadway) as Nick Finchling
    * Claptrap (1987-Off Broadway) as Harvey Wheatcraft
    * The Film Society (1988-Off Broadway) as Jonathan Balton
    * In a Pig's Valise (1989-Off Broadway) as James Taxi
    * The Lisbon Traviata (1989-Off Broadway) as Mendy
    * Assassins (1989-New York reading) as Sam Byck
    * Bad Habits (1990-Off Broadway) Jason Pepper, M.D./Hugh Gumbs
    * Some Americans Abroad (1990-Broadway) as Henry McNeil
    * Lips Together, Teeth Apart (1991-Off Broadway) as Sam Truman
    * On Borrowed Time (1991-Broadway) as Mr. Brink
    * Guys and Dolls (1992-Broadway) as Nathan Detroit
    * Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993-Broadway) as Max Prince
    * Love! Valour! Compassion! (1994-Off Broadway and Broadway) as Buzz Hauser
    * A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996-Broadway) as Prologus and Pseudolus
    * Angela Lansbury - A Celebration (1996-Broadway benefit) as Host
    * Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "Chucks" (1998-Off Broadway) as Davis Mizlansky
    * Do Re Mi (1999-Off Broadway) as Hubert Cram
    * Wise Guys (1999-New York workshop) as Addison Mizner
    * The Frogs (2000-Library of Congress) as Dionysus
    * The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000-Broadway) as Sheridan Whiteside
    * The Producers (2001-Broadway) as Max Bialystock
    * The Play What I Wrote (2003-Broadway) as Mystery Guest Star
    * Trumbo: Red White and Blacklisted (2003-Off Broadway) as Dalton Trumbo
    * The Frogs (2004-Broadway) as Dionysus
    * The Producers (2004-West End, London] as Max Bialystock
    * Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams (2005-Off Broadway) as Lou Nuncle
    * Catch Me If You Can (2005-New York reading) as Hanratty
    * The Odd Couple (2005-Broadway) as Oscar Madison
    * Catch Me If You Can (2006-New York Workshop) as Hanratty
    * Butley (2006-Broadway) as Ben Butley
    * Catch Me If You Can (2007-New York reading) as Hanratty
    * November (2008-Broadway) as Charles Smith
    * Waiting for Godot (2009-Broadway) as Estragon
    * The Addams Family (2010-Broadway) as Gomez Addams

Voice

    * The Lion King (1994) as Timon
    * The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) as Timon
    * Stuart Little (1999) as Snowbell
    * George and Martha (1999) as George
    * Titan A.E. (2000) as Preed
    * Stuart Little 2 (2002) as Snowbell
    * The Lion King 1½ (2004) as Timon
    * Teacher's Pet (2004) as Spot AKA Scott Leadready II
    * Astro Boy (2009) as Hammegg

Other

    * Presented Mike Birbiglia's (2008) Off Broadway show Sleepwalk With Me.

Lane provided the voice of Tom Morrow, the Audio-Animatronic host of Disneyland's Innoventions attraction.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p52/WhoseLineIsItAnyway/Nathan%20Lane/Nathanlane.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c246/x0anni3/051105054614.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/03/11 at 6:50 am

The Birdcage with Robin Williams was one of the funniest I've seen.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: seamermar on 02/03/11 at 4:59 pm


I like listening to Crosby Stills And Nash.

javascript:void(0);

I know, they have some great songs.


Maybe your daddies knew and listened this song "teach your children" then,
and now here we are their fathers' hell, nally and howard in the end.

j/k ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/04/11 at 5:00 am

The person of the day...Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black (born February 4, 1962) is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s. He has amassed more than 30 singles on the U.S. Billboard country charts (of which 22 have reached Number One), in addition to releasing nine studio albums and several compilation albums. In 2003, Black founded his own record label, Equity Music Group. Black has also ventured into acting, having made a cameo appearance in the 1994 film Maverick, as well as a starring role in 1998's Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack.
Black soon signed with RCA Records, at that time considered one of the "most aggressive" labels in country music. His first album, Killin' Time, was released in 1989. Each song on the album was penned at least in part by Black; four of them were attributed solely to him, while the rest were collaborations with Nicholas. In a departure from most other country albums, Black used his road band instead of session musicians to record Killin' Time. The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching Number One on the Billboard Country Albums chart and certified platinum in 1990. The first single, "A Better Man", reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in early June. This marked the first time in 14 years that a debut single by a male artist had peaked at the top of the chart. In total, five singles off of his debut album reached number 1, the first time any country artist had accomplished this feat. Black swept the Country Music Association's awards in 1989, winning in six different categories, including the Horizon Award for best newcomer. At the end of the year, his singles, "A Better Man" and "Killin' Time" place number 1 and number 2 on the year-end country singles charts. It had been 36 years since another artist had claimed both top spots in a single year. Looking back at the early stages of his career, Black recalled: "'At one point, I knew I crossed this line out of obscurity and I felt like no matter what happened from that point on I would always be remembered for "Killin' Time." There was this kind of mixed feeling of remorse and excitement.'"

In late 1990, the Los Angeles Times surveyed country music industry insiders to determine which acts could be expected to sell the most records over the next 7 years. Black placed second in the poll, two votes behind Garth Brooks. The survey results were surprising in that 10 of the top 20 artists named were relative newcomers to the industry; in the past, country music had been dominated by artists with several decades experience. The plethora of new acts confused some reviewers, however. Many reviewers lumped many of the new acts together; as Newsweek's David Gates wrote: "Good song, good voice, hot band: who cares which one it is this time?" Black soon became known as one of Nashville's "hat acts"; like other country artists such as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Mark Chesnutt, Black was a relative newcomer who wore a hat, and had "clean, neotraditional sound with pop appeal".

Killin' Time was certified platinum in 1990. Black's second album, Put Yourself in My Shoes, was released in November 1990. It reached Number 2 on the country chart and was in the top 20 on the pop album charts. This success on the pop charts resulted from a change in the way Billboard calculated album sales; a new reliance on Nielsen SoundScan instead of information from selected record stores showed that sales of country albums had previously been undercounted. The album did not meet with as much critical acclaim as his debut, but nonetheless still included several hit singles. He began touring with Alabama.

Black began dating actress Lisa Hartman in 1990. The couple kept their relationship very quiet. The first picture of the two of them together was not published until the week they were engaged. The couple married in Katy, Texas in October 1991.
1992: Lawsuits and The Hard Way

In March 1992, Black sued his manager, Bill Ham, for breach of contract; Ham promptly countersued. Black sought $2 million in damages and requested that Ham return $4 million in royalties. Under the terms of their initial contract, Ham controlled all publishing royalties for any song that Black wrote or co-wrote for his first eight albums. Because Black wrote all of his own music, this amounted to a fee of 20 to 30 cents per album sold. Industry standards generally counseled songwriters to form their own publication companies, so they would be able to retain more of the royalties.

Ham promptly countersued, blaming the initial lawsuit on poor advice Black received from his new personal assistant, his mother-in-law Jonni Hartman. His lawyer told the press that "Mr. Ham invested $1 million of his own money in Clint Black's career at a time when nobody else would do so. For that commitment, Mr. Black should show a little gratitude and honor his contracts".

Also in March, a woman claiming to be Black's former girlfriend told a national tabloid television show that he had fathered her two-year-old daughter and had failed to live up to his responsibilities. Black declined to comment on the paternity allegation.

By mid-1992, Black's first two albums had sold a combined 5 million copies. The difficulties with Ham caused a delay in the release of Black's third album, The Hard Way, which was released on July 14. The album had been expected the year previously, and during the delay the country music scene changed. Both Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt achieved greater success, and Billy Ray Cyrus became a teen idol. The competition that Black faced was now much stiffer than with his earlier albums.

According to Black, he and producer James Stroud spent more time putting this album together than either of those preceding and were "a lot more aggressive in the way we cut and mixed the album". Black was also more satisfied with the vocals on this album. Several of the songs on The Hard Way, including "Burn One Down", were initially reported to be Black's responses to his situation with Ham. Cowriter Nicholas refuted the rumors, maintaining that most of those songs were written in the late 1980s.

To promote the album, Black launched The Hard Way Tour on June 26, 1992. The tour ran for 11 months. Reviewers noticed that with this album Black presented a "new, sexier image", wearing tighter clothing and in many cases leaving behind his trademark hat. Black commented simply that he was bored wearing the hat all the time.
1993–1999

Black's fourth album, No Time to Kill was released almost a year after The Hard Way. The album received mixed reviews. The Houston Chronicle noted that Black's duet with Wynona Judd, "A Bad Goodbye", was "precisely the kind of radio-ready, big-production ballad that record companies tend to force on their artists when they sense that their careers are in trouble....t sticks out like a sore thumb in his body of work." On the other hand, a review in Time magazine thought the duet helped Black show his emotions more intensely. Some reviewers also noted that in some of the more serious songs on the album, Black's voice sounded strained.
Clint Black's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

One Emotion followed in 1995. Also a platinum certified album in the US, this album accounted for five straight Top 5 hits. First was the #4 "Untanglin' My Mind", a Merle Haggard co-write. After it came the #3 "Wherever You Go", #1 "Summer's Comin'", the #2 title track and finally the #4 "Life Gets Away." The latter two were also Number One country hits in Canada.

In 1996, Black became the fourth country music singer to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Later that year, he released his first greatest-hits package. This was led off by the chart-topper "Like the Rain", which spent three weeks at Number One. After it came the #6 "Half Way Up", his first single since "One More Payment" to miss Top 5.

Black's next album, 1997's Nothin' but the Taillights, was released to mediocre reviews. Thom Owens of Allmusic said that the album made no attempt to change his sound, and was "sturdy" but less country than his previous efforts. Lead-off single "Still Holding On", a duet with labelmate Martina McBride, became his first single to land outside the Top 10, with a #11 peak that year. He soon recovered his chart momentum with the #2 "Something That We Do" followed by two straight chart-toppers in the album's Steve Wariner-penned title track and "The Shoes You're Wearing". The next two singles — the #12 "Loosen Up My Strings" and #29 "You Don't Need Me Now" — were less successful.

In 1999, Black released D'lectrified, which relied completely on acoustic instruments. Nevertheless, USAToday thought the "album sounds as full and brash as an electric album since he used creative arrangements and horn sections". Three of the songs on the albums were remakes of previous Black singles. Several others featured guest appearances by some of Black's idols, including Waylon Jennings, Kenny Loggins, and Eric Idle. The songs tended to be longer than most of those played on country radio, with many stretching more than 5 minutes.
1999–Present: Later career
Black performing at a benefit concert

Black and Hartman welcomed their only child, Lily Pearl Black, in May 2001. Black took a three-year break from the music industry to stay home with his daughter. He explained that "it ended up not being a smart career move, but it was a real smart dad move. ... I wouldn't go back and try to do anything for my career in exchange for that."

During his sabbatical, Black spent time reassessing his career. After deciding he was unwilling to work within the current recording industry system, he formed his own record label, Equity Music Group. Black admitted that it was difficult to leave RCA. In his 14 years with the label, he had sold over 12 million records.

The new label operated under very different rules than those Black had begun his own career under. Artists were guaranteed ownership of their songs and were granted an equity stake in the label. The first release from the new label was Black's next album, Spend My Time; his eighth studio album was Black's first release in five years . The Houston Chronicle called it "arguably the most adventurous of his career".

His last full studio album was 2005's Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic. Black chose the title of the album first, because "I knew if I didn't give myself some parameters, that I could end up over the line or too close to it. And I wanted a real honky-tonk style album. So I thought that title at least would tell me what I was after."

Black has continued to record new material, however. In 2007, he released the single "The Strong One" the first original song he has recorded that he did not write. The song was included on his first digital EP, released on March 11, 2008. Titled "The Long Cool EP," the collection features Black’s single, "Long Cool Woman", "The Strong One" and a duet with his wife titled "You Still Get to Me". Equity Music Group closed its doors in December 2008 due to economic difficulties.

Black was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.
Songwriting

Few country singers fill their albums primarily with their own material. Although RCA Records often pushed Black to record the material of other artists, he refused. Black recorded only his own songs until 2007, when he released the single "The Strong One". Many of his songs were the result of a collaboration with Hayden Nicholas. Their first collaboration, "Straight From the Factory", took them only 20 minutes to write. Nicholas ruefully commented that "most of 'em weren't that easy". In general, Black writes the lyrics to their songs, while Nicholas provides the melody.

Black explains that he appreciates country music because it "is straightforward, the melodies are there, some of the ballads are as beautiful and sweeping as anything Barbra Streisand has done. But the ... poetry is simple." Reviewers have often praised the songs for their "thoughtful lyrics" Many were incredulous that such a young man (27 at the release of his first album) could have such "a remarkably mature perspective". According to Black, "To me, a song is more than just something to sing. It's something to learn from. It's somebody else's true feeling. I'm always trying to get at the meaning. ... When I write a line, I'm doing the same thing. I'm looking at it from the perspective of if I was driving down the road listening to it, what am I gonna get out of it?"

Many of his songs make use of puns and other creative turns of phrase. While the wordplay in many of the songs on his earlier albums was widely appreciated, by the fourth album reviewers felt that the songs were not as high in quality. Rick Mitchell of the Houston Chronicle pointed out that on The Hard Way "clever wordplay is no substitute for heartfelt emotion".
Film and television

Shortly after his music career took off, Black began receiving offers for acting roles. He turned down every request until 1994, when he was offered a bit part in star-studded comedy Maverick. Although the part required very little actual acting, after the movie's release Black received an increasing number of calls from directors who thought he would be perfect for a particular role. Black has appeared in several television shows, including Wings and The Larry Sanders Show. He has since starred in the 1998 television movie Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack, had a major role in another television movie Going Home, and appeared briefly in the 2003 film Anger Management.

He has also had a presence on various reality television shows. In 2003, Black appeared on Nashville Star, where he acted as a mentor to the contestants. He later produced the debut album of series winner Buddy Jewell. In 2004, Clint appeared as himself in the tv show Las Vegas. In 2008, Black was a contestant on a short-lived CBS reality show, Secret Talents of the Stars, in which he practiced stand-up comedy. The following year, he competed on the second season of Celebrity Apprentice. He was fired after the eleventh task, placing himself in fifth place. In 2009, Black appeared on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Black has enjoyed his television experiences, describing acting as "another way for me to expand my creative canvas. ... I love to challenge myself." He believes that most of his fans "just see me as a musician who is stepping into temporarily and either doing it alright or not". He was also more recently in the movie Flicka 2 in 2010
Discography
Main article: Clint Black discography

Studio Albums

    * 1989: Killin' Time
    * 1990: Put Yourself in My Shoes
    * 1992: The Hard Way
    * 1993: No Time to Kill
    * 1994: One Emotion
    * 1997: Nothin' but the Taillights
    * 1999: D'lectrified
    * 2004: Spend My Time
    * 2005: Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic
    * 2007: The Love Songs

Awards

Academy of Country Music

    * 1989 Album of the Year - "Killin' Time"
    * 1989 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1989 Top New Male Vocalist
    * 1989 Single of the Year - "A Better Man"
    * 1999 Vocal Event of the Year with Lisa Hartman Black - "When I Said I Do"

American Music Awards

    * 1990 Favorite Country New Artist

Country Music Association

    * 1989 Horizon Award
    * 1990 Male Vocalist of the Year

Filmography

    * Flicka 2 (2010) - Toby
    * Anger Management (2003) - Masseur
    * Going Home (2000) - Dr. Warren
    * Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack (1998) - Cadillac Jack Favor
    * Maverick (1994) - Sweet-Faced Gambler
    * Montana Christmas Skies (1991) - Himself, with John Denver, Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/txroja/clint.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c34/Miss_Multi-tasker24/clint_black_300dpi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/04/11 at 5:27 pm


javascript:void(0);
Maybe your daddies knew and listened this song "teach your children" then,
and now here we are their fathers' hell, nally and howard in the end.

j/k ;D


I used to play Teach Your Children (on guitar).  I'd guess Paco's favourite CSN songs would be Wooden Ships and Southern Cross.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/04/11 at 5:48 pm


I used to play Teach Your Children (on guitar).  I'd guess Paco's favourite CSN songs would be Wooden Ships and Southern Cross.



I always liked Our House.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/11 at 5:04 am


I used to play Teach Your Children (on guitar).  I'd guess Paco's favourite CSN songs would be Wooden Ships and Southern Cross.


I always liked Our House.



Cat
Great songs!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/11 at 5:05 am

The person of the day...Hank Aaron
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron (born February 5, 1934), nicknamed "Hammer", "Hammerin' Hank", and "Bad Henry", is a retired American baseball player whose Major League Baseball (MLB) career spanned the years 1954 through 1976. Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Hank Aaron fifth on their list of "Greatest Baseball Players".

After playing with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League and in the minor leagues, Aaron started his major league career in 1954. (He is the last Negro league baseball player to have played in the major leagues.) He played 21 seasons with the Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League, and his last two years (1975–76) with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. His most notable achievement was setting the MLB record for most career home runs at 755.

During his professional career, Aaron performed at a consistently high level for an extended period of time. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. He is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975 and won three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. In 1957, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award, while that same year, the Braves won the World Series, his one World Series victory during his career.

Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of important hitting records during his 23-year career. Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (2,297) and the most career extra base hits (1,477). Hank Aaron is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third) and runs with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth. He also is in second place in at-bats (12,364), and in third place in games played (3,298).
On March 13, 1954, Milwaukee Braves left fielder Bobby Thomson fractured his ankle while sliding into second base during a spring training game. The next day, Aaron made his first spring training start for the Braves' major league team, playing in left field and hitting a home run. This led Hank Aaron to a major league contract and a Braves uniform with the number five. On April 13, Aaron made his major league debut and was hitless in five at-bats against the Cincinnati Reds' left-hander Joe Nuxhall. In the same game, Eddie Mathews hit two home runs, the first of a record 863 home runs the pair would hit as teammates. On April 15, Aaron collected his first major league hit, a single off Cardinals' pitcher Vic Raschi. Aaron hit his first major league home run on April 23, also off Raschi. Over the next 122 games, Aaron batted .280 with thirteen homers before he suffered a fractured ankle on September 5. He then changed his number to 44, which would turn out to look like a "lucky number" for the slugger. Aaron would hit 44 home runs in four different seasons, and he would hit his record-breaking 715th career home run off Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, who coincidentally also wore number 44.

At this point, Aaron was known to family and friends primarily as "Henry". Braves' public relations director Don Davidson, observing Aaron's quiet, reserved nature, began referring to him publicly as "Hank" in order to suggest more accessibility. The nickname quickly gained currency, but "Henry" continued to be cited frequently in the media, both sometimes appearing in the same article, and Aaron would answer to either one. During his rookie year, his other well-known nicknames, "Hammerin' Hank" (by teammates) and "Bad Henry" (by opposing pitchers) are reported to have arisen. (Hank Aaron: The Man Who Beat the Babe, by Phil Musick, 1974, p. 66)
Prime of his career

In 1955, Aaron made his first All-Star team; it was the first of a record-tying 21 All-Star Game appearances. He finished the season with a .314 average, 27 home runs and 106 RBI. Aaron hit .328 in 1956 and captured first of two NL batting titles. He was also named The Sporting News NL Player of the Year.

In 1957, Aaron won his only NL MVP Award. He batted .322 and led the league in home runs and runs batted in. On September 23, 1957, Aaron hit a two-run walk-off in Milwaukee, and Aaron was carried off the field by his teammates. Milwaukee went on to win the World Series against the New York Yankees. Aaron did his part by hitting .393 with three homers and seven RBI.

In 1958, Aaron hit .326, with 30 home runs and 95 RBIs. He led the Braves to another pennant, but this time they lost a seven-game World Series to the Yankees. Aaron finished third in the MVP race, but he picked up his first Gold Glove.

During the next several years, Aaron had some of his best games and best seasons as a major league player. On June 21, 1959 against the San Francisco Giants, he hit three two-run home runs. It was the only time in his career that he hit three home runs in a game.

Aaron nearly won the triple crown in 1963. He led the league with 44 home runs and 130 RBI and finished third in batting average. In that season, Aaron became the third player to steal 30 bases and hit 30 home runs in a single season. Despite that, he again finished third in the MVP voting.

Aaron was the first player to hit 500 home runs and reach 3,000 hits.

The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season. but then he recorded 162 hr per game
Home run milestones and 3000th hit

During his days in Atlanta, Aaron reached a number of milestones; he was only the eighth player ever to hit 500 career home runs, with his 500th coming against Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Giants on July 14, 1968—exactly one year after former teammate Eddie Mathews had hit his 500th. He was, at the time, the second-youngest player to attain that plateau.

On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle; this moved him into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. At the end of the season, Aaron again finished third in the MVP voting.

The 1970 season saw Aaron reach two more career milestones. On May 17, Aaron collected his 3,000th hit, in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the team against which he played his first game. He was the first player to get 3,000 career hits and 500 career home runs. Also during that year, Aaron established the record for most seasons with thirty or more home runs in the National League.

On April 27, 1971, Aaron hit his 600th career home run, the third player ever to do so. On July 31, Aaron hit a home run in the All-Star Game (played at Detroit's Tiger Stadium) for the first time. He hit his 40th home run of the season against the Giants' Jerry Johnson on August 10, which established a National League record for most seasons with 40 or more home runs (seven). At age 37, he hit a career-high 47 home runs during the season (along with a career-high .669 slugging percentage) and finished third in MVP voting for the sixth time.

During the strike-shortened season of 1972, Aaron tied and then surpassed Willie Mays for second place on the career home run list. Aaron also knocked in the 2,000th run of his career and hit a home run in the first All-Star game played in Atlanta. As the year came to a close, Aaron broke Stan Musial's major league record for total bases (6,134).

While many expected Aaron to break Ruth's home run record in 1973, a key moment of the season came on August 6. This was Hank Aaron Day in Wisconsin and the Braves played the Milwaukee Brewers in an exhibition game. The guests in attendance included Aaron's first manager with the Braves, Charlie Grimm, his teammate from Jacksonville, Felix Mantilla, Eau Claire president Ron Berganson, and Del Crandall, the catcher for the 1957 world champion Braves and the-then manager of the Brewers.

The only position that the Braves wanted Aaron to play was as the designated hitter because the game was held in an American League park; at that time, however, the National League prohibited use of the DH even in scrimmages. Due to the fact that National League president Chub Feeney could not be contacted, it was left to the umpire, Bruce Froemming to make the decision. Froemming ignored the rule, allowing Aaron to be the DH for the Braves. Later on, National League officials ignored the infraction.
Breaking Ruth's record
The jersey Hank Aaron wore when he broke Babe Ruth's record

Although Aaron himself downplayed the "chase" to surpass Babe Ruth, baseball enthusiasts and the national media grew increasingly excited as he closed in on the home run record. During the summer of 1973 Aaron received thousands of letters every week; the Braves ended up hiring a secretary to help him sort through it.

At the age of 39, Aaron hit 40 home runs in 392 at-bats, ending the season one home run short of the record. He hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record. But in his final game that year, playing against the Houston Astros (led by manager Leo Durocher, who had once roomed with Babe Ruth), he was unable to achieve this. After the game, Aaron stated that his only fear was that he might not live to see the 1974 season.

Over the winter, Aaron was the recipient of death threats and a large assortment of hate mail from people who did not want to see a black man break Ruth's nearly sacrosanct home run record. The threats extended to those providing positive press coverage of Aaron. Lewis Grizzard, then editor of the Atlanta Journal, reported receiving numerous phone calls calling them "****** lovers" for covering Aaron's chase. While preparing the massive coverage of the home run record, he quietly had an obituary written, scared that Aaron might be murdered.

Sports Illustrated pointedly summarized the racist vitriol that Aaron was forced to endure:

   "Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport...? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's attic?"

Aaron received an outpouring of public support in response to the bigotry. Newspaper cartoonist Charles Schulz satirized the anti-Aaron camp in a series of Peanuts strips printed in August 1973, in which Snoopy attempts to break the Ruth record, only to be besieged with hate mail. (As Lucy puts it in the August 11 strip, "Hank Aaron is a great player...but you! If you break Babe Ruth's record, it'll be a disgrace!") Babe Ruth's widow, Claire Hodgson, even denounced the racism and declared that her husband would have enthusiastically cheered Aaron's attempt at the record. Ruth, who was unprejudiced, had himself been subjected to racial taunts during his youth, by those who fancied that he had Negroid features.

As the 1974 season began, Aaron's pursuit of the record caused a small controversy. The Braves opened the season on the road in Cincinnati with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. Braves management wanted him to break the record in Atlanta, and were therefore going to have Aaron sit out the first three games of the season. But Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ruled that he had to play two games in the first series. He played two out of three, tying Babe Ruth's record in his very first at bat off Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, but did not hit another home run in the series.
The fence over which Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run still exists outside of Turner Field.

The team returned to Atlanta, and on April 8, 1974, a crowd of 53,775 people showed up for the game — a Braves attendance record. In the fourth inning, Aaron hit career home run number 715 off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing. Although Dodgers outfielder Bill Buckner nearly went over the outfield wall trying to catch it, the ball landed in the Braves' bullpen, where relief pitcher Tom House caught it. While cannons were fired in celebration, two white college students, Cliff Courtney and Britt Gaston, sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Aaron for part of his circuit around the bases, temporarily startling him. As the fans cheered wildly, Aaron's parents ran onto the field as well.

Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully addressed the racial tension — or apparent lack thereof — in his call of the home run:

   "What a marvelous moment for baseball; what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia; what a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron. … And for the first time in a long time, that poker face in Aaron shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the past several months."

A few months later, on October 5, 1974, Aaron hit his 733rd and final home run as a Brave, which stood as the National League's home run record until it was broken in 2007. Thirty days later, the Braves traded Aaron to the Milwaukee Brewers for Roger Alexander and Dave May. On May 1, 1975, Aaron broke baseball's all-time RBI record, previously held by Ruth with 2,217. That year, he also made the last of his 21 record-tying (with Musial and Mays) All-Star appearances; he lined out to Dave Concepción as a pinch-hitter in the second inning. This All-Star game, like his first in 1955, was before a home crowd at Milwaukee County Stadium.

On July 20, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final home run at Milwaukee County Stadium off Dick Drago of the California Angels.
   See also the information box in the upper-right section of this article (at "Career highlights and awards")

Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, his first year of eligibility. In 1988 Aaron was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame for his time spent on the Milwaukee Braves.

In 1999, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Aaron's surpassing of Babe Ruth's career home run mark of 714 home runs, and to honor Aaron's contributions to baseball, MLB created the Hank Aaron Award, an annual award given to the hitters voted the most effective in each respective league. That same year, baseball fans named Aaron to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Hank Aaron on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Aaron is also an Eagle Scout the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.
See also

   * List of MLB individual streaks
   * List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
   * List of Major League Baseball RBI Records
   * List of Major League Baseball doubles records
   * 500 home run club
   * 3000 hit club
   * 3000-500 Club
   * List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
   * List of major league players with 2,000 hits
   * List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
   * List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
   * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
   * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
   * List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
   * List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
   * List of Major League Baseball batting champions
   * List of Major League Baseball home run champions
   * List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
   * List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
   * Major League Baseball titles leaders
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii258/mlbpix/aaron_hank.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii258/mlbpix/aaron_hank03.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/11 at 5:06 am


Great songs!

Agreed :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/11 at 5:06 am


The person of the day...Hank Aaron
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron (born February 5, 1934), nicknamed "Hammer", "Hammerin' Hank", and "Bad Henry", is a retired American baseball player whose Major League Baseball (MLB) career spanned the years 1954 through 1976. Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Hank Aaron fifth on their list of "Greatest Baseball Players".

After playing with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League and in the minor leagues, Aaron started his major league career in 1954. (He is the last Negro league baseball player to have played in the major leagues.) He played 21 seasons with the Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves in the National League, and his last two years (1975–76) with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. His most notable achievement was setting the MLB record for most career home runs at 755.

During his professional career, Aaron performed at a consistently high level for an extended period of time. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. He is one of only four players to have at least seventeen seasons with 150 or more hits. Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975 and won three Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. In 1957, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award, while that same year, the Braves won the World Series, his one World Series victory during his career.

Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of important hitting records during his 23-year career. Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (2,297) and the most career extra base hits (1,477). Hank Aaron is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third) and runs with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth. He also is in second place in at-bats (12,364), and in third place in games played (3,298).
On March 13, 1954, Milwaukee Braves left fielder Bobby Thomson fractured his ankle while sliding into second base during a spring training game. The next day, Aaron made his first spring training start for the Braves' major league team, playing in left field and hitting a home run. This led Hank Aaron to a major league contract and a Braves uniform with the number five. On April 13, Aaron made his major league debut and was hitless in five at-bats against the Cincinnati Reds' left-hander Joe Nuxhall. In the same game, Eddie Mathews hit two home runs, the first of a record 863 home runs the pair would hit as teammates. On April 15, Aaron collected his first major league hit, a single off Cardinals' pitcher Vic Raschi. Aaron hit his first major league home run on April 23, also off Raschi. Over the next 122 games, Aaron batted .280 with thirteen homers before he suffered a fractured ankle on September 5. He then changed his number to 44, which would turn out to look like a "lucky number" for the slugger. Aaron would hit 44 home runs in four different seasons, and he would hit his record-breaking 715th career home run off Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, who coincidentally also wore number 44.

At this point, Aaron was known to family and friends primarily as "Henry". Braves' public relations director Don Davidson, observing Aaron's quiet, reserved nature, began referring to him publicly as "Hank" in order to suggest more accessibility. The nickname quickly gained currency, but "Henry" continued to be cited frequently in the media, both sometimes appearing in the same article, and Aaron would answer to either one. During his rookie year, his other well-known nicknames, "Hammerin' Hank" (by teammates) and "Bad Henry" (by opposing pitchers) are reported to have arisen. (Hank Aaron: The Man Who Beat the Babe, by Phil Musick, 1974, p. 66)
Prime of his career

In 1955, Aaron made his first All-Star team; it was the first of a record-tying 21 All-Star Game appearances. He finished the season with a .314 average, 27 home runs and 106 RBI. Aaron hit .328 in 1956 and captured first of two NL batting titles. He was also named The Sporting News NL Player of the Year.

In 1957, Aaron won his only NL MVP Award. He batted .322 and led the league in home runs and runs batted in. On September 23, 1957, Aaron hit a two-run walk-off in Milwaukee, and Aaron was carried off the field by his teammates. Milwaukee went on to win the World Series against the New York Yankees. Aaron did his part by hitting .393 with three homers and seven RBI.

In 1958, Aaron hit .326, with 30 home runs and 95 RBIs. He led the Braves to another pennant, but this time they lost a seven-game World Series to the Yankees. Aaron finished third in the MVP race, but he picked up his first Gold Glove.

During the next several years, Aaron had some of his best games and best seasons as a major league player. On June 21, 1959 against the San Francisco Giants, he hit three two-run home runs. It was the only time in his career that he hit three home runs in a game.

Aaron nearly won the triple crown in 1963. He led the league with 44 home runs and 130 RBI and finished third in batting average. In that season, Aaron became the third player to steal 30 bases and hit 30 home runs in a single season. Despite that, he again finished third in the MVP voting.

Aaron was the first player to hit 500 home runs and reach 3,000 hits.

The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season. but then he recorded 162 hr per game
Home run milestones and 3000th hit

During his days in Atlanta, Aaron reached a number of milestones; he was only the eighth player ever to hit 500 career home runs, with his 500th coming against Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Giants on July 14, 1968—exactly one year after former teammate Eddie Mathews had hit his 500th. He was, at the time, the second-youngest player to attain that plateau.

On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle; this moved him into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. At the end of the season, Aaron again finished third in the MVP voting.

The 1970 season saw Aaron reach two more career milestones. On May 17, Aaron collected his 3,000th hit, in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the team against which he played his first game. He was the first player to get 3,000 career hits and 500 career home runs. Also during that year, Aaron established the record for most seasons with thirty or more home runs in the National League.

On April 27, 1971, Aaron hit his 600th career home run, the third player ever to do so. On July 31, Aaron hit a home run in the All-Star Game (played at Detroit's Tiger Stadium) for the first time. He hit his 40th home run of the season against the Giants' Jerry Johnson on August 10, which established a National League record for most seasons with 40 or more home runs (seven). At age 37, he hit a career-high 47 home runs during the season (along with a career-high .669 slugging percentage) and finished third in MVP voting for the sixth time.

During the strike-shortened season of 1972, Aaron tied and then surpassed Willie Mays for second place on the career home run list. Aaron also knocked in the 2,000th run of his career and hit a home run in the first All-Star game played in Atlanta. As the year came to a close, Aaron broke Stan Musial's major league record for total bases (6,134).

While many expected Aaron to break Ruth's home run record in 1973, a key moment of the season came on August 6. This was Hank Aaron Day in Wisconsin and the Braves played the Milwaukee Brewers in an exhibition game. The guests in attendance included Aaron's first manager with the Braves, Charlie Grimm, his teammate from Jacksonville, Felix Mantilla, Eau Claire president Ron Berganson, and Del Crandall, the catcher for the 1957 world champion Braves and the-then manager of the Brewers.

The only position that the Braves wanted Aaron to play was as the designated hitter because the game was held in an American League park; at that time, however, the National League prohibited use of the DH even in scrimmages. Due to the fact that National League president Chub Feeney could not be contacted, it was left to the umpire, Bruce Froemming to make the decision. Froemming ignored the rule, allowing Aaron to be the DH for the Braves. Later on, National League officials ignored the infraction.
Breaking Ruth's record
The jersey Hank Aaron wore when he broke Babe Ruth's record

Although Aaron himself downplayed the "chase" to surpass Babe Ruth, baseball enthusiasts and the national media grew increasingly excited as he closed in on the home run record. During the summer of 1973 Aaron received thousands of letters every week; the Braves ended up hiring a secretary to help him sort through it.

At the age of 39, Aaron hit 40 home runs in 392 at-bats, ending the season one home run short of the record. He hit home run number 713 on September 29, 1973, and with one day remaining in the season, many expected him to tie the record. But in his final game that year, playing against the Houston Astros (led by manager Leo Durocher, who had once roomed with Babe Ruth), he was unable to achieve this. After the game, Aaron stated that his only fear was that he might not live to see the 1974 season.

Over the winter, Aaron was the recipient of death threats and a large assortment of hate mail from people who did not want to see a black man break Ruth's nearly sacrosanct home run record. The threats extended to those providing positive press coverage of Aaron. Lewis Grizzard, then editor of the Atlanta Journal, reported receiving numerous phone calls calling them "****** lovers" for covering Aaron's chase. While preparing the massive coverage of the home run record, he quietly had an obituary written, scared that Aaron might be murdered.

Sports Illustrated pointedly summarized the racist vitriol that Aaron was forced to endure:

    "Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport...? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's attic?"

Aaron received an outpouring of public support in response to the bigotry. Newspaper cartoonist Charles Schulz satirized the anti-Aaron camp in a series of Peanuts strips printed in August 1973, in which Snoopy attempts to break the Ruth record, only to be besieged with hate mail. (As Lucy puts it in the August 11 strip, "Hank Aaron is a great player...but you! If you break Babe Ruth's record, it'll be a disgrace!") Babe Ruth's widow, Claire Hodgson, even denounced the racism and declared that her husband would have enthusiastically cheered Aaron's attempt at the record. Ruth, who was unprejudiced, had himself been subjected to racial taunts during his youth, by those who fancied that he had Negroid features.

As the 1974 season began, Aaron's pursuit of the record caused a small controversy. The Braves opened the season on the road in Cincinnati with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. Braves management wanted him to break the record in Atlanta, and were therefore going to have Aaron sit out the first three games of the season. But Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ruled that he had to play two games in the first series. He played two out of three, tying Babe Ruth's record in his very first at bat off Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, but did not hit another home run in the series.
The fence over which Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run still exists outside of Turner Field.

The team returned to Atlanta, and on April 8, 1974, a crowd of 53,775 people showed up for the game — a Braves attendance record. In the fourth inning, Aaron hit career home run number 715 off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing. Although Dodgers outfielder Bill Buckner nearly went over the outfield wall trying to catch it, the ball landed in the Braves' bullpen, where relief pitcher Tom House caught it. While cannons were fired in celebration, two white college students, Cliff Courtney and Britt Gaston, sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Aaron for part of his circuit around the bases, temporarily startling him. As the fans cheered wildly, Aaron's parents ran onto the field as well.

Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully addressed the racial tension — or apparent lack thereof — in his call of the home run:

    "What a marvelous moment for baseball; what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia; what a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron. … And for the first time in a long time, that poker face in Aaron shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the past several months."

A few months later, on October 5, 1974, Aaron hit his 733rd and final home run as a Brave, which stood as the National League's home run record until it was broken in 2007. Thirty days later, the Braves traded Aaron to the Milwaukee Brewers for Roger Alexander and Dave May. On May 1, 1975, Aaron broke baseball's all-time RBI record, previously held by Ruth with 2,217. That year, he also made the last of his 21 record-tying (with Musial and Mays) All-Star appearances; he lined out to Dave Concepción as a pinch-hitter in the second inning. This All-Star game, like his first in 1955, was before a home crowd at Milwaukee County Stadium.

On July 20, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final home run at Milwaukee County Stadium off Dick Drago of the California Angels.
    See also the information box in the upper-right section of this article (at "Career highlights and awards")

Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, his first year of eligibility. In 1988 Aaron was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame for his time spent on the Milwaukee Braves.

In 1999, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Aaron's surpassing of Babe Ruth's career home run mark of 714 home runs, and to honor Aaron's contributions to baseball, MLB created the Hank Aaron Award, an annual award given to the hitters voted the most effective in each respective league. That same year, baseball fans named Aaron to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Hank Aaron on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Aaron is also an Eagle Scout the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.
See also

    * List of MLB individual streaks
    * List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
    * List of Major League Baseball RBI Records
    * List of Major League Baseball doubles records
    * 500 home run club
    * 3000 hit club
    * 3000-500 Club
    * List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
    * List of major league players with 2,000 hits
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
    * List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
    * List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
    * List of Major League Baseball batting champions
    * List of Major League Baseball home run champions
    * List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
    * List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
    * Major League Baseball titles leaders
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii258/mlbpix/aaron_hank.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii258/mlbpix/aaron_hank03.jpg
....nickname Hammer!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/11 at 7:09 am

The original Hammer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/05/11 at 8:49 am


The original Hammer.
When he came out to bat, it was Hammer Time?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/05/11 at 11:20 am


When he came out to bat, it was Hammer Time?

Maybe he was the inspiration for the song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/11 at 1:23 pm


Maybe he was the inspiration for the song.


I doubt it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/05/11 at 1:24 pm


When he came out to bat, it was Hammer Time?


Yes it was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/05/11 at 2:02 pm


The Birdcage with Robin Williams was one of the funniest I've seen.

I enjoyed seeing it too. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/11 at 1:31 am


The Birdcage with Robin Williams was one of the funniest I've seen.
It was on yesterday and I missed it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/06/11 at 6:18 am

The person of the day...Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor (born February 6, 1917) is a Hungarian American actress on stage, film and television. She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria at the age of 15, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936 when she was 19. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that "exuded charm and grace".

Her first movie role was as supporting actress in Lovely to Look At starring Red Skelton. She later acted in We're Not Married with Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe. Her first starring role was in Moulin Rouge (1952), directed by John Huston, who described her as a "creditable" actress. Besides her film and television appearances, she is best-known for having nine husbands, including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and actor George Sanders. She once stated, "Men have always liked me and I have always liked men. But I like a mannish man, a man who knows how to talk to and treat a woman—not just a man with muscles."
Born as Sári Gábor in Budapest (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the middle of the three daughters of Vilmos Gábor (1884–1962), a soldier, and Jolie Gábor (1896–1997). Her elder sister Magda was a socialite and her younger sister Eva was an actress and businesswoman.

Gabor's mother, Jolie (née Tillemann Jánosné), was a cousin of Annette Tilleman Lantos, the wife (now widow) of Hungarian-born U.S. congressman and Holocaust survivor, Tom Lantos. Jolie was of Jewish descent and barely escaped from Hungary after the Nazis occupied Budapest in 1944. She credits Magda's husband for helping her: "For Magda's Portuguese Ambassador I thank God. It was this man who saved my life." Gabor's maternal grandparents chose to remain in Budapest feeling they "had a good place to hide." However, the U.S. later bombed Nazi positions in Budapest near where her grandparents were in hiding, and they both died during one of the bombing raids.

Following studies at Madame Subilia's, a Swiss boarding school, Zsa Zsa Gabor was discovered by the famous tenor Richard Tauber on a trip to Vienna in 1936 and was invited to sing the soubrette role in his new operetta Der singende Traum ("The Singing Dream") at the Theater an der Wien, her first stage appearance. Author Gerold Frank, who helped Gabor write her autobiography in 1960, describes his impressions of her while the book was being written:

    "Zsa Zsa is unique. She's a woman from the court of Louis XV who has somehow managed to live in the 20th century, undamaged by the PTA.... She says she wants to be all the Pompadours and Du Barrys of history rolled into one, but she also says, 'I always goof. I pay all my own bills.... I want to choose the man. I do not permit men to choose me.'"

Television host Merv Griffin, in his autobiography, described the Gabors, "in their heyday," as "glamour personified:"

    "All these years later, it's hard to describe the phenomenon of the three glamorous Gabor girls and their ubiquitous mother. They burst onto the society pages and into the gossip columns so suddenly, and with such force, it was as if they'd been dropped out of the sky."

A biopic is to be made on her life by Italian director Gabriela Tagliavini who claimed that Gabor "is a perfect celebrity to be the focus of a movie". According to Insider, Gabor is "an original. Her free spirit, eccentricity and wicked wit made her one of the most memorable celebrities of our time." Gabor's husband will reportedly be involved in the film's production.
Personal life

Gabor has been married nine times. She was divorced seven times, and one marriage was annulled. Her husbands, in chronological order, are:
At a social affair circa 1954

    * Burhan Asaf Belge (1937–1941) (divorced)
    * Conrad Hilton (April 10, 1942–1947) (divorced)
    * George Sanders (April 2, 1949 – April 2, 1954) (divorced)
    * Herbert Hutner (November 5, 1962 – March 3, 1966) (divorced)
    * Joshua S. Cosden, Jr. (March 9, 1966 – October 18, 1967) (divorced)
    * Jack Ryan (January 21, 1975 – August 24, 1976) (divorced)
    * Michael O'Hara (August 27, 1976–1983) (divorced)
    * Felipe de Alba (April 13, 1983 – April 14, 1983) (annulled)
    * Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt (August 14, 1986 – present)

Due to her high number of divorces, she once claimed that she was a good housekeeper because every time she divorced, she kept the house.

In 1974, she purchased a home in Bel Air from Elvis Presley, that was originally built by Howard Hughes and featured an eccentric-looking French roof.

Zsa Zsa was the only Gabor sister to bear a child, Constance Francesca Hilton (born March 10, 1947). According to Gabor's 1991 autobiography One Lifetime Is Not Enough, her pregnancy resulted from rape by then-husband Conrad Hilton.

In 2005, Gabor accused her daughter, known as Francesca, of larceny and fraud, alleging that she had forged her signature to get a $2 million loan on her mother's Bel Air house, and filed a lawsuit against Francesca in a California court. However, the Santa Monica Superior Court threw out the case due to Gabor's refusal to appear in court or to sign an affidavit that she indeed was a co-plaintiff on the original lawsuit filed by her husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt.

Gabor said in a November 27, 1991, interview with David Letterman that she is a Democrat.
Health

In 2002, Gabor was a passenger in an automobile crash, and was hospitalized for several weeks. In 2005, she suffered a stroke, underwent surgery to remove an arterial blockage, and returned home a few weeks later. In 2007, she had surgery related to her previous stroke, and then underwent surgery to treat an infection.

In July 2010, Gabor was taken to the hospital after she fell at home, requiring hip replacement. She was discharged from the hospital but soon returned, and was in critical condition after the removal of two blood clots, at which point she requested last rites.

On August 16, 2010, she left the hospital, but was in and out of the hospital for several months thereafter. She was hospitalized on January 2, 2011, and was scheduled to have a portion of her right leg amputated below the knee after cancerous lesions were discovered by her doctors. Gabor's leg was subsequently amputated above the knee on January 14, 2011. On Tuesday, February 1st 2011, Gabor was transported by ambulance to UCLA Medical Center due to internal bleeding.
Legal difficulties
Publicity photo, c. 1955

On June 14, 1989, in Beverly Hills, California Gabor was accused of slapping the face of a police officer named Paul Kramer when he stopped her for a traffic violation. She poked fun at her role in the incident in various cameo appearances:

    * In the 1991 film The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Gabor was pulled over by the police car at the end of the opening credits. She then proceeded to step out of the car and slap the red light, then walked away, muttering, "Ach, this happens every fudgeing time when I go shopping."
    * In the November 18, 1991, season 2, episode 10 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when Gabor showed up as a guest at the Banks' residence, Hilary Banks asked, "There's something that I'm just dying to know." Gabor responded by saying, "Yes, I did it ... and he deserved to be slapped." Subsequently, when Carlton Banks accidentally slapped a cop with a pair of gloves while trying to slap his cousin Will Smith, Gabor replied by saying, "I have witnesses, it wasn't me."
    * She discussed the incident in an appearance on Howard Stern's show, making her the oldest celebrity to appear on Stern's program. She also debunked rumours of George Sanders's sexuality, which Stern called into question.
    * In the 1993 film version of The Beverly Hillbillies, in a line-up the detective described Zsa Zsa's character as a woman who was involved in what was described as a "drive-by slapping."

Gabor also had a long-running feud with German-born actress Elke Sommer that began in 1984 when both appeared on Circus of the Stars and escalated into a multi-million dollar libel suit by 1993.
Financial problems (2009)

On January 25, 2009, the Associated Press reported that her attorney stated that forensic accountants determined that Gabor may have lost as much as $10 million invested with swindler Bernard Madoff, possibly through a third-party money manager. Marcus Prinz von Anhalt, a German nightclub owner and adopted son of Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, reportedly provided significant financial assistance to the couple. However, official New York Bankruptcy Court records reportedly do not show Gabor as a victim.
Filmography

    * Lovely to Look At (LeRoy, 1952)
    * We're Not Married (Goulding, 1952)
    * Moulin Rouge (Huston, 1952)
    * The Million Dollar Nickel (1952) (short subject)
    * The Story of Three Loves (Minnelli, 1953)
    * Lili (Walters, 1953)
    * L'ennemi public no.1 ("The Most Wanted Man") (Verneuil, 1953)
    * Sangre y luces ("Love in a Hot Climate") (Rouquier/Suey, 1954)
    * Ball der Nationen ("Ball of the Nations") (Ritter, 1954)
    * 3 Ring Circus (Pevney, 1954)
    * Death of a Scoundrel (Martin, 1956)
    * The Girl in the Kremlin (Birdwell, 1957)
    * The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (Wilcox, 1958)
    * Country Music Holiday (Ganzer, 1958)
    * Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) (as a "guest star")
    * Queen of Outer Space (Bernds, 1958)
    * For the First Time (Maté, 1959)
    * La contessa azzurra ("The Blue Countess") (Gora, 1960)
    * Pepe (Sidney, 1960) (Cameo)
    * Lykke og krone (Helander/Sælen, 1962) (documentary)
    * The Road to Hong Kong (Panama, 1962) (unbilled cameo)
    * Boys' Night Out (Gordon, 1962)
    * Picture Mommy Dead (Gordon, 1966)
    * Drop Dead Darling (1966)
    * Arrivederci, Baby! (Hughes, 1966)
    * Jack of Diamonds (Taylor, 1967) (cameo)
    * Up the Front (Kellett, 1972)
    * Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (Winner, 1976)
    * Every Girl Should Have One (Hyatt, 1978)
    * Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie (Gold, 1984)
    * Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment (1986)
    * Smart Alec (Wilson, 1986)
    * A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (Russell, 1987) (cameo)
    * Johann Strauß: Der König ohne Krone ("Johann Strauss: The King Without a Crown") (Antel, 1987)
    * "The People vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor" (1991) (documentary)
    * The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (Zucker, 1991) (cameo)
    * The Naked Truth (Mastorakis, 1992)
    * Est & Ouest: Les paradis perdus ("East & West: Paradises Lost") (Rival, 1993)
    * Happily Ever After (Blossom, 1993) (voice only)
    * The Beverly Hillbillies (Spheeris, 1993) (cameo)
    * A Very Brady Sequel (Sanford, 1996) (cameo)

Television

    * The Red Skelton Show (1955), as Movie Star
    * Climax! (1955), as Mme. Florizel, Princess Stephanie
    * The Milton Berle Show (1956)
    * Sneak Preview (1956)
    * The Ford Television Theatre (1956), as Dara Szabo
    * The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (October 18, 1956), as Herself
    * General Electric Theater (1956–1961), as Gloria
    * Matinee Theatre (1956–1958), as Eugenia
    * The Life of Riley (1957), as Gigi
    * Playhouse 90 (1957), as Erika Segnitz, Marta Lorenz
    * The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, as Herself
    * Shower of Stars (1958)
    * Lux Playhouse (1959), as Helen
    * Queen of Outer Space (1959), with Eric Fleming
    * Ninotchka (1960)
    * Make Room for Daddy (1960), as Lisa Laslow
    * Mr. Ed (1962), as herself
    * The Dick Powell Show (1963), Girl
    * Burke's Law (1963–1964), as Anna, the Maid
    * Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1965), Pilot
    * Gilligan's Island (1965), as Erika Tiffany Smith
    * Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1966), as The Queen of Hearts (voice)
    * The Rounders (1966), as Ilona Hobson in "The Scavenger Hunt"
    * F Troop (1966), as Marika
    * Bonanza (1967), as Madame Marova
    * My Three Sons (1968), as herself
    * Rowan and Martin's Laugh In (1968), as herself
    * The Name of the Game (1968), as Mira Retzyk
    * Batman (1968), as Minerva
    * Bracken's World (1969), Cameo
    * Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971), as Narrator
    * Night Gallery (1971), as Mrs. Moore
    * Let's Make a Deal (1976) (playing for a home viewer)
    * 3 Girls 3 (1977)
    * Supertrain 1 episode "A Very Formal Heist" (1979), as Audrey
    * The Love Boat (1980), as Annette
    * Hollywood, ich komme (1980), as Stargast
    * The Facts of Life (1981), as world-renowned beautician Countess Calvet
    * As the World Turns (cast member in 1981), as Lydia Marlowe
    * Matt Houston (1983)
    * California Girls (1985)
    * Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment (1986)
    * Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
    * It's Garry Shandling's Show as goddess of commitment (1989)
    * The Munsters Today (1989) as herself
    * City (1990), as Babette Croquette
    * The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1991), as Sonya Lamor
    * The Late Show with David Letterman (1994), as herself in a sketch

Plays

Gabor appeared in several plays, most notably Forty Carats, on Broadway, and Blithe Spirit (as Elvira), in the national tour.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd315/metiredesteocio/Personalidades/Zsa_Zsa_Gabor-1.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k125/Painefulness/zsa-zsa-gabor.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/06/11 at 6:57 am

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan if he had survived.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/06/11 at 3:45 pm

I'm afraid it'll be Zsa Zsa Gabor's time to go soon. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/06/11 at 3:52 pm


I'm afraid it'll be Zsa Zsa Gabor's time to go soon. :\'(

She has made it to the age of 94, which is pretty good though.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/11 at 1:05 am


I'm afraid it'll be Zsa Zsa Gabor's time to go soon. :\'(
she has a long while yet.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/11 at 5:06 am

The person of the day...Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the UK as the 9th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the 8th greatest stand-up comic.
Rock began doing stand-up comedy in 1984 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star. He slowly rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the TV series Miami Vice. Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy befriended and mentored the aspiring comic. Murphy gave Rock his first film role in Beverly Hills Cop II.
Saturday Night Live

Rock became a cast member of the popular sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1990. He and other new cast members Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade became known as the Bad Boys of SNL. In 1991, he released his first comedy album Born Suspect and won acclaim for his dramatic role as a crack addict in the film New Jack City. His tenure on SNL gave Rock national exposure.
Standup success

A frustrated Rock left Saturday Night Live in 1993, appearing instead as a "special guest" star on the predominantly African American sketch show In Living Color. The show, however, was canceled months later. Rock then decided to concentrate on a film career. He wrote and starred in the mockumentary CB4 but the film was not a success. Acting jobs became scarce, and Rock abandoned Hollywood to concentrate on stand-up comedy.

Rock starred in his first HBO comedy special in 1994 titled Big Ass Jokes. But it was his second stand-up special, 1996's Bring the Pain, that reinvented Rock as one of the best comedians in the industry. His routine, which featured commentaries on race in America, stirred up a great deal of controversy. Rock won two Emmy Awards for that special. Adding to his popularity was his much-publicized role as a commentator for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect during the 1996 Presidential elections which earned him another Emmy nomination. Rock also was the voice for the "Lil Penny" puppet who was the alter ego to basketball star Penny Hardaway in a series of Nike shoe commercials from 1994–1998, and hosted the '97 MTV Video Music Awards.

Rock later had two more HBO comedy specials: Bigger & Blacker in 1999, and Never Scared in 2004. Articles relating to both specials called Rock "the funniest man in America" in Time and Entertainment Weekly. HBO also aired his talk show, The Chris Rock Show, which gained critical acclaim for Rock's interviews with celebrities and politicians. The show won an Emmy for writing. His television work has won him a total of three Emmy Awards and 15 nominations. By the end of the decade, Rock was established as one of the preeminent stand-up comedians and comic minds of his generation.

During this time, Rock also translated his comedy into print form in the book Rock This! and released the Grammy Award-winning comedy albums, Roll with the New, Bigger & Blacker and Never Scared.

Rock's fifth HBO special, Kill the Messenger, premiered on September 27, 2008, and won him another Emmy for outstanding writing for a variety or music program.
Film and television

It was not until the success of his stand-up act in the late 1990s that Rock began receiving major parts in films. These include roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, both as a writer and director of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife. In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show has garnered both critical and ratings success. The series was nominated for a 2006 Golden Globe for Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy), a 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy, and two 2006 Emmy Awards for costuming and cinematography.

Following the release of his first documentary, 2009's Good Hair, Rock is working on a documentary about debt called Credit is the Devil.
Academy Awards

In early 2005, Rock hosted the 77th Academy Awards ceremony. The decision to have Rock host the awards was seen by some as a chance to bring an "edge" to the ceremony, and to make it more relevant or appealing to younger audiences. Jokingly, Rock opened by saying "Welcome to the 77th and LAST Academy Awards!" During one segment Rock asked, "Who is this guy?" in reference to actor Jude Law seemingly appearing in every movie Rock had seen that year and implied Law was a low-rent Tom Cruise (he made a joke about filmmakers rushing production when unable to get the actors they want: "If you want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law, wait !"). Subsequently, a defensive Sean Penn took the stage to present and said, "In answer to our host's question, Jude Law is one of our finest young actors." (At the time, Penn and Law were shooting All the King's Men.) Law was not the only actor that Rock poked fun at that evening, however—he turned the joke on himself at one point, saying, "If you want Denzel and all you can get is me, wait!" Older Oscar officials were reportedly displeased with Rock's performance, which did not elevate ratings for the ceremony. Rock was also criticized for referring to the Oscars as "idiotic", and asserting that heterosexual men do not watch them, in an interview prior to Oscar night.
Music videos

Rock's first music video was for his song "Your Mother's Got a Big Head" from his album Born Suspect. Rock also made videos for his songs "Champagne" from Roll With the New and "No Sex (In the Champagne Room)" from Bigger & Blacker. Chris Rock also directed and appeared in the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Hump de Bump".

Rock appeared in the Big Daddy Kane music video "Smooth Operator" as a guy getting his hair cut.

He also appeared in Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down", one of the many celebrities seen lip-synching the song.
Stage plays

In October 2010, The New York Times reported that Rock will be performing on Broadway in Stephen Adly Guirgis' play The Motherfudgeer with the Hat in the spring of 2011. Other cast members will include Bobby Cannavale and Annabella Sciorra.
Comedic style and views

Rock's subject matter typically involves family, politics, romance, music, class relationships, and race relations in the United States. Though not strictly autobiographical, much of his comic standpoint seem rooted in his teenage experience; his strict parents, concerned about the inadequacies of the local school system, arranged to have the adolescent Rock bused to a nearly all-white high school in Bensonhurst (an Italian-ethnic neighborhood of Brooklyn known at the time for poor race relations). In his memoir Rock This, the comedian recalls, "My parents assumed I'd get a better education in a better neighborhood. What I actually got was a worse education in a worse neighborhood. And a whole bunch of ass-whippings."

The comedian has also expressed discomfort with the notion that success in standup comedy—or, indeed, in any aspect of the entertainment industry—should oblige him to serve as a role model. In this position, he finds himself directly at odds with one of his comic idols, Bill Cosby. Cosby has reprimanded Rock both explicitly—for his famous/notorious Niggas vs. Black People track —and implicitly, for heavy use of the word "******." Rock has not wavered from a position explored in his 1996 Roll With The New show, and reiterated in his 1997 memoir: "Why does the public expect entertainers to behave better than everybody else? It's ridiculous...Of course, this is just for black entertainers. You don't see anyone telling Jerry Seinfeld he's a good role model. Because everyone expects whites to behave themselves...Nowadays, you've got to be an entertainer and a leader. It's too much." Often the subject of tabloids, when asked about paparazzi and the other negative aspects of fame, Rock says he accepts the bad with the good: "You can't be happy that fire cooks your food and be mad it burns your fingertips."

At the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, which was broadcast live on the BBC, before introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rock called the crowd "motherfudgeers" and "sheesh" after a brief sigh when he said he was joking. Due to the broadcast being at 5:45pm Rock was immediately cut off, and the BBC made several apologies for his use of the word "motherfudgeer".
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Playboy Mansion Valet
1988 Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen Himself Direct-to-video Concert film
1988 I'm Gonna Git You Sucka Rib Joint Customer
1989 Who Is Chris Rock? Himself Documentary Short
1991 New Jack City Pookie
1992 Boomerang Bony T
1993 CB4 Albert Brown/M.C. Gusto Also wrote story, screenplay and was co-producer
1995 The Immortals Deke Anthony
1995 Panther Yuck Mouth
1996 Sgt. Bilko 1st Lt. Oster
1997 Beverly Hills Ninja Joey Washington
1998 Dr. Dolittle Rodney Voice
1998 Lethal Weapon 4 Detective Lee Butters
1999 Torrance Rises Himself Documentary short
1999 Dogma Rufus
2000 Nurse Betty Wesley
2001 Down to Earth Lance Barton Also co-writer and executive producer
2001 AI: Artificial Intelligence Mecha Comedian Voice/cameo
2001 Pootie Tang JB/Radio DJ/Pootie's Father Also producer
2001 Osmosis Jones Osmosis Jones Voice
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Chaka Luther King Cameo
2002 Bad Company Jake Hayes/Kevin Pope/Michael Turner
2002 Comedian Himself Documentary
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Himself Cameo
2003 Head of State Mays Gilliam Also director, producer and co-writer
2004 The N-Word Himself Documentary
2004 Paparazzi Pizza Delivery Guy Cameo
2005 The Aristocrats Himself Documentary
2005 Madagascar Marty voice
2005 The Longest Yard Farrell Caretaker
2007 I Think I Love My Wife Richard Marcus Cooper Also director and co-writer
2007 Bee Movie Mooseblood the Mosquito Voice
2008 You Don't Mess with the Zohan Taxi Driver Cameo
2008 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Marty and other zebras Voice
2009 Good Hair Himself Documentary
2010 Death at a Funeral Aaron Also producer, Remake of the 2007 film of the same name
2010 Grown Ups Kurt McKenzie
Discography
Year Album Peak positions Certifications
U.S. U.S.
R&B
1991 Born Suspect – –
1997 Roll with the New 93 41
1999 Bigger & Blacker 44 26
2004 Never Scared – –
Television
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Uptown Comedy Express Himself HBO special
1987 Miami Vice Carson Episode: Missing Hours
1990–1993 Saturday Night Live Various Cast member
1993–1994 In Living Color Various Recurring
1994 Big Ass Jokes Himself HBO special
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Maurice/Jasmine Episode: "Get a Job"
1996–1998 The Moxy Show Flea Uncredited voice role
1996 Martin Valentino Episode: "The Love Jones Connection"
1996 Homicide: Life on the Street Carver Episode: "Requiem for Adena"
1996 Bring the Pain Himself HBO special
1996 Politically Incorrect Himself Correspondent
1997 MTV Music Video Awards Himself Host
1997–2000 The Chris Rock Show Himself Cast member, writer
1998 King of the Hill Roger "Booda" Sack Episode: "Traffic Jam"
1999 MTV Music Video Awards Himself Host
1999 Bigger & Blacker Himself HBO special
2003 MTV Music Video Awards Himself HBO special
2004 77th Academy Awards Himself Host
2004 Never Scared Himself HBO special
2005–2009 Everybody Hates Chris Narrator Creator
2008 Kill the Messenger Himself HBO special
Books

    * Rock This! (Hyperion Books, 1997) – ISBN 0786862890

Tours

    * Bring the Pain (1996)
    * Bigger & Blacker (1999)
    * Black Ambition (2003–2004)
    * No Apologies (2007–2008)
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/tha2ster/Chris_Rock.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg256/Sugaqyeens_Icons/Chris_Rock.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/07/11 at 5:07 am


She has made it to the age of 94, which is pretty good though.

This is so true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/07/11 at 6:47 am


The person of the day...Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the UK as the 9th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the 8th greatest stand-up comic.
Rock began doing stand-up comedy in 1984 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star. He slowly rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the TV series Miami Vice. Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy befriended and mentored the aspiring comic. Murphy gave Rock his first film role in Beverly Hills Cop II.
Saturday Night Live

Rock became a cast member of the popular sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1990. He and other new cast members Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade became known as the Bad Boys of SNL. In 1991, he released his first comedy album Born Suspect and won acclaim for his dramatic role as a crack addict in the film New Jack City. His tenure on SNL gave Rock national exposure.
Standup success

A frustrated Rock left Saturday Night Live in 1993, appearing instead as a "special guest" star on the predominantly African American sketch show In Living Color. The show, however, was canceled months later. Rock then decided to concentrate on a film career. He wrote and starred in the mockumentary CB4 but the film was not a success. Acting jobs became scarce, and Rock abandoned Hollywood to concentrate on stand-up comedy.

Rock starred in his first HBO comedy special in 1994 titled Big Ass Jokes. But it was his second stand-up special, 1996's Bring the Pain, that reinvented Rock as one of the best comedians in the industry. His routine, which featured commentaries on race in America, stirred up a great deal of controversy. Rock won two Emmy Awards for that special. Adding to his popularity was his much-publicized role as a commentator for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect during the 1996 Presidential elections which earned him another Emmy nomination. Rock also was the voice for the "Lil Penny" puppet who was the alter ego to basketball star Penny Hardaway in a series of Nike shoe commercials from 1994–1998, and hosted the '97 MTV Video Music Awards.

Rock later had two more HBO comedy specials: Bigger & Blacker in 1999, and Never Scared in 2004. Articles relating to both specials called Rock "the funniest man in America" in Time and Entertainment Weekly. HBO also aired his talk show, The Chris Rock Show, which gained critical acclaim for Rock's interviews with celebrities and politicians. The show won an Emmy for writing. His television work has won him a total of three Emmy Awards and 15 nominations. By the end of the decade, Rock was established as one of the preeminent stand-up comedians and comic minds of his generation.

During this time, Rock also translated his comedy into print form in the book Rock This! and released the Grammy Award-winning comedy albums, Roll with the New, Bigger & Blacker and Never Scared.

Rock's fifth HBO special, Kill the Messenger, premiered on September 27, 2008, and won him another Emmy for outstanding writing for a variety or music program.
Film and television

It was not until the success of his stand-up act in the late 1990s that Rock began receiving major parts in films. These include roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, both as a writer and director of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife. In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show has garnered both critical and ratings success. The series was nominated for a 2006 Golden Globe for Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy), a 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy, and two 2006 Emmy Awards for costuming and cinematography.

Following the release of his first documentary, 2009's Good Hair, Rock is working on a documentary about debt called Credit is the Devil.
Academy Awards

In early 2005, Rock hosted the 77th Academy Awards ceremony. The decision to have Rock host the awards was seen by some as a chance to bring an "edge" to the ceremony, and to make it more relevant or appealing to younger audiences. Jokingly, Rock opened by saying "Welcome to the 77th and LAST Academy Awards!" During one segment Rock asked, "Who is this guy?" in reference to actor Jude Law seemingly appearing in every movie Rock had seen that year and implied Law was a low-rent Tom Cruise (he made a joke about filmmakers rushing production when unable to get the actors they want: "If you want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law, wait !"). Subsequently, a defensive Sean Penn took the stage to present and said, "In answer to our host's question, Jude Law is one of our finest young actors." (At the time, Penn and Law were shooting All the King's Men.) Law was not the only actor that Rock poked fun at that evening, however—he turned the joke on himself at one point, saying, "If you want Denzel and all you can get is me, wait!" Older Oscar officials were reportedly displeased with Rock's performance, which did not elevate ratings for the ceremony. Rock was also criticized for referring to the Oscars as "idiotic", and asserting that heterosexual men do not watch them, in an interview prior to Oscar night.
Music videos

Rock's first music video was for his song "Your Mother's Got a Big Head" from his album Born Suspect. Rock also made videos for his songs "Champagne" from Roll With the New and "No Sex (In the Champagne Room)" from Bigger & Blacker. Chris Rock also directed and appeared in the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Hump de Bump".

Rock appeared in the Big Daddy Kane music video "Smooth Operator" as a guy getting his hair cut.

He also appeared in Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down", one of the many celebrities seen lip-synching the song.
Stage plays

In October 2010, The New York Times reported that Rock will be performing on Broadway in Stephen Adly Guirgis' play The Motherfudgeer with the Hat in the spring of 2011. Other cast members will include Bobby Cannavale and Annabella Sciorra.
Comedic style and views

Rock's subject matter typically involves family, politics, romance, music, class relationships, and race relations in the United States. Though not strictly autobiographical, much of his comic standpoint seem rooted in his teenage experience; his strict parents, concerned about the inadequacies of the local school system, arranged to have the adolescent Rock bused to a nearly all-white high school in Bensonhurst (an Italian-ethnic neighborhood of Brooklyn known at the time for poor race relations). In his memoir Rock This, the comedian recalls, "My parents assumed I'd get a better education in a better neighborhood. What I actually got was a worse education in a worse neighborhood. And a whole bunch of ass-whippings."

The comedian has also expressed discomfort with the notion that success in standup comedy—or, indeed, in any aspect of the entertainment industry—should oblige him to serve as a role model. In this position, he finds himself directly at odds with one of his comic idols, Bill Cosby. Cosby has reprimanded Rock both explicitly—for his famous/notorious Niggas vs. Black People track —and implicitly, for heavy use of the word "******." Rock has not wavered from a position explored in his 1996 Roll With The New show, and reiterated in his 1997 memoir: "Why does the public expect entertainers to behave better than everybody else? It's ridiculous...Of course, this is just for black entertainers. You don't see anyone telling Jerry Seinfeld he's a good role model. Because everyone expects whites to behave themselves...Nowadays, you've got to be an entertainer and a leader. It's too much." Often the subject of tabloids, when asked about paparazzi and the other negative aspects of fame, Rock says he accepts the bad with the good: "You can't be happy that fire cooks your food and be mad it burns your fingertips."

At the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, which was broadcast live on the BBC, before introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rock called the crowd "motherfudgeers" and "sheesh" after a brief sigh when he said he was joking. Due to the broadcast being at 5:45pm Rock was immediately cut off, and the BBC made several apologies for his use of the word "motherfudgeer".
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Playboy Mansion Valet
1988 Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen Himself Direct-to-video Concert film
1988 I'm Gonna Git You Sucka Rib Joint Customer
1989 Who Is Chris Rock? Himself Documentary Short
1991 New Jack City Pookie
1992 Boomerang Bony T
1993 CB4 Albert Brown/M.C. Gusto Also wrote story, screenplay and was co-producer
1995 The Immortals Deke Anthony
1995 Panther Yuck Mouth
1996 Sgt. Bilko 1st Lt. Oster
1997 Beverly Hills Ninja Joey Washington
1998 Dr. Dolittle Rodney Voice
1998 Lethal Weapon 4 Detective Lee Butters
1999 Torrance Rises Himself Documentary short
1999 Dogma Rufus
2000 Nurse Betty Wesley
2001 Down to Earth Lance Barton Also co-writer and executive producer
2001 AI: Artificial Intelligence Mecha Comedian Voice/cameo
2001 Pootie Tang JB/Radio DJ/Pootie's Father Also producer
2001 Osmosis Jones Osmosis Jones Voice
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Chaka Luther King Cameo
2002 Bad Company Jake Hayes/Kevin Pope/Michael Turner
2002 Comedian Himself Documentary
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Himself Cameo
2003 Head of State Mays Gilliam Also director, producer and co-writer
2004 The N-Word Himself Documentary
2004 Paparazzi Pizza Delivery Guy Cameo
2005 The Aristocrats Himself Documentary
2005 Madagascar Marty voice
2005 The Longest Yard Farrell Caretaker
2007 I Think I Love My Wife Richard Marcus Cooper Also director and co-writer
2007 Bee Movie Mooseblood the Mosquito Voice
2008 You Don't Mess with the Zohan Taxi Driver Cameo
2008 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Marty and other zebras Voice
2009 Good Hair Himself Documentary
2010 Death at a Funeral Aaron Also producer, Remake of the 2007 film of the same name
2010 Grown Ups Kurt McKenzie
Discography
Year Album Peak positions Certifications
U.S. U.S.
R&B
1991 Born Suspect – –
1997 Roll with the New 93 41
1999 Bigger & Blacker 44 26
2004 Never Scared – –
Television
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Uptown Comedy Express Himself HBO special
1987 Miami Vice Carson Episode: Missing Hours
1990–1993 Saturday Night Live Various Cast member
1993–1994 In Living Color Various Recurring
1994 Big Ass Jokes Himself HBO special
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Maurice/Jasmine Episode: "Get a Job"
1996–1998 The Moxy Show Flea Uncredited voice role
1996 Martin Valentino Episode: "The Love Jones Connection"
1996 Homicide: Life on the Street Carver Episode: "Requiem for Adena"
1996 Bring the Pain Himself HBO special
1996 Politically Incorrect Himself Correspondent
1997 MTV Music Video Awards Himself Host
1997–2000 The Chris Rock Show Himself Cast member, writer
1998 King of the Hill Roger "Booda" Sack Episode: "Traffic Jam"
1999 MTV Music Video Awards Himself Host
1999 Bigger & Blacker Himself HBO special
2003 MTV Music Video Awards Himself HBO special
2004 77th Academy Awards Himself Host
2004 Never Scared Himself HBO special
2005–2009 Everybody Hates Chris Narrator Creator
2008 Kill the Messenger Himself HBO special
Books

    * Rock This! (Hyperion Books, 1997) – ISBN 0786862890

Tours

    * Bring the Pain (1996)
    * Bigger & Blacker (1999)
    * Black Ambition (2003–2004)
    * No Apologies (2007–2008)
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/tha2ster/Chris_Rock.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg256/Sugaqyeens_Icons/Chris_Rock.jpg


I love Chris Rock,his jokes are quite funny.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/07/11 at 11:57 am


I love Chris Rock,his jokes are quite funny.  ;D
I am wondering have I seen any of his shows, etc.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/07/11 at 7:45 pm


I love Chris Rock,his jokes are quite funny.  ;D


There's something about him I can't stand!!!  8-P

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/07/11 at 7:46 pm


There's something about him I can't stand!!!  8-P


His racial comments? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/07/11 at 7:50 pm


His racial comments? ???


Nah ...I have no issue with racial humor. There's just something really sleazy or false about him.  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/07/11 at 7:52 pm


I am wondering have I seen any of his shows, etc.


I forgot a few of his. ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/08/11 at 5:58 am

The person of the day...John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. (born February 8, 1955) is an American author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.

John Grisham graduated from Mackinac island elementary before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade. He also served in the House of Representatives in Mississippi from January 1984 to September 1990. Beginning writing in 1984, he had his first novel A Time To Kill published in June 1989. As of 2008, his books had sold over 250 million copies worldwide. A Galaxy British Book Awards winner, Grisham is one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing, the others being Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling.

Grisham's first best seller was The Firm. Released in 1991, it sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted as a feature film. In addition, seven more of his novels: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and A Time to Kill, were adapted as movies. His books have been translated into 29 languages and published worldwide. His other best-selling books include The Testament, The Summons and The Broker
John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Wanda Skidmore Grisham and John Grisham. His father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer, while his mother was a homemaker. The family relocated frequently, until they decided to settle in the town of Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi; Grisham was four then. As a child, Grisham wanted to be a baseball player. Despite the fact that Grisham's parents lacked formal education, his mother encouraged her son to read and prepare for college.

He went to the Northwest Junior College in Senatobia, Mississippi and later attended Delta State University in Cleveland. Grisham drifted so much during his time at the college that he changed colleges three times before completing a degree. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1977, receiving a BS degree in accounting. He later enrolled in the Ole Miss Law School to become a tax lawyer, but his interest shifted to general civil litigation. He graduated in 1983 with a specialty in criminal law.
Marriage and family

Grisham married Renee Jones on 8 May 1981, and the couple have two children together: Shea and Ty. The "family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm" outside Oxford, Mississippi, "and a home near Charlottesville, Virginia."

In 2008, he and his wife bought a condominium at McCorkle Place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He and his wife also teach in Sunday school in First Baptist Church of Oxford.
Career
Early career

Grisham started working for a nursery as a teenager - watering bushes for $1.00 an hour. He was soon promoted to a fence crew for $1.50 an hour. He wrote about the job: "there was no future in it." At 16, Grisham took a job with a plumbing contractor; he "never drew inspiration from that miserable work."

Through a contact of his father, he managed to find work on a highway asphalt crew in Mississippi. He was seventeen then. It was during this time that an unfortunate incident got him "serious" about college. A fight had broken out among the crew on a Friday, with gunfire from which Grisham ran to the restroom to escape. He didn't come out until after the police had "hauled away rednecks". He hitchhiked home and started thinking about college

His next work was in retail, as a salesclerk in a department store men's underwear section, which he described as "humiliating". After deciding to quit, he stayed when offered a raise. He was given another raise after asking to be transferred to toys and then to appliances. A confrontation with a company spy posing as a customer convinced him to leave the store.

By this time, Grisham was halfway through college. Planning to become a tax lawyer, he was soon overcome by "the complexity and lunacy" of it. He decided to return to his hometown as a trial lawyer.
Law and politics

Grisham practiced law for about a decade and also won election as a Democrat in the Mississippi state legislature from 1983 to 1990 at an annual salary of $8,000. By his second term at the Mississippi state legislature, he was not only the vice-chairman of the Apportionment and Elections Committee but also a member of several other committees.

Grisham's writing career blossomed with the success of his second book, The Firm, and he gave up practicing law, except for returning briefly in 1996 to fight for the family of a railroad worker who was killed on the job. His official site states that "He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer. Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500 - the biggest verdict of his career."
Writing career
This house in Lepanto, Arkansas was the house used in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie A Painted House

Each year after being elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, Grisham would spend from January to March in the state capitol dreaming of a big case.

Grisham said the big case came in 1984, but it was not his case. As he was hanging around the court, he overheard a 12-year-old girl telling the jury what had happened to her. Her story intrigued Grisham and he began watching the trial. He saw how the members of the jury cried as she told them about having been raped and beaten. It was then, Grisham later wrote in The New York Times, that a story was born. Musing over "what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants", Grisham took three years to complete his first book, A Time to Kill.

Finding a publisher was not easy. The book was rejected by 28 publishers before Wynwood Press, an unknown publisher, agreed to give it a modest 5,000-copy printing. It was published in June 1989. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on his second novel, the story of an ambitious young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared." The Firm remained on the The New York Times' bestseller list for 47 weeks, and became the bestselling novel of 1991.

Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural South, but continued to write legal thrillers. Most of the titles to Grisham's legal thrillers begin with the word "The."
Named in libel suit

On September 28, 2007, former Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, District Attorney Bill Peterson, former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Gary Rogers, and criminalist Melvin Hett filed a civil suit for libel against Grisham and two other authors. They claimed that Grisham and the others critical of Peterson and his prosecution of murder cases conspired to commit libel and generate publicity for themselves by portraying the plaintiffs in a false light and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. Grisham was named due to his publication of the non-fiction book, The Innocent Man. He examined the faults in the investigation and trial of defendants in the murder of a cocktail waitress in Ada, Oklahoma, and the exoneration by DNA evidence more than 12 years later of wrongfully convicted defendants Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The judge dismissed the libel case on September 18, 2008, saying, "The wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz must be discussed openly and with great vigor."
John Grisham Room

The Mississippi State University Libraries, Manuscript Division, maintains the John Grisham Room, an archive containing materials generated during the author's tenure as Mississippi State Representative and relating to his writings.

Grisham's lifelong passion for baseball is expressed in his novel A Painted House and in his support of Little League activities in both Oxford, Mississippi, and Charlottesville, Virginia. He wrote the original screenplay for and produced the baseball movie Mickey, starring Harry Connick, Jr.. The movie was released on DVD in April 2004. He remains a fan of Mississippi State University's baseball team and wrote about his ties to the university and the Left Field Lounge in the introduction for the book Dudy Noble Field: A Celebration of MSU Baseball.

Grisham is well known within the literary community for his efforts to support the continuing literary tradition of his native South. He has endowed scholarships and writers' residencies in the University of Mississippi's English Department and Graduate Creative Writing Program. He was the founding publisher of the Oxford American, a magazine devoted to literary writing. The magazine is famous for its annual music issue, copies of which include a compilation CD featuring contemporary and classic Southern musicians in genres ranging from blues and gospel to country western and alternative rock.

In an October 2006 interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Grisham stated that he usually takes only six months to write a book and that his favorite author is John le Carré.
Works
Complete collection of 25 John Grisham books, including the latest, The Confession
Novels

    * A Time to Kill (1989)
    * The Firm (1991)
    * The Pelican Brief (1992)
    * The Client (1993)
    * The Chamber (1994)
    * The Rainmaker (1995)
    * The Runaway Jury (1996)
    * The Partner (1997)
    * The Street Lawyer (1998)
    * The Testament (1999)
    * The Brethren (2000)
    * A Painted House† (2001)
    * Skipping Christmas† (2001)
    * The Summons (2002)
    * The King of Torts (2003)
    * Bleachers†(2003)
    * The Last Juror (2004)
    * The Broker (2005)
    * Playing for Pizza† (2007)
    * The Appeal (2008)
    * The Associate (2009)
    * Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (2010)
    * The Confession (2010)

† Denotes books not in the legal genre.
Short Stories

    * Ford County (2009)

Non Fiction

    * The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006)

Film adaptations

    * The Firm (1993)
    * The Pelican Brief (1993)
    * The Client (1994)
    * A Time to Kill (1996)
    * The Chamber (1996)
    * The Rainmaker (1997)
    * The Gingerbread Man (1998)
    * A Painted House (2003) TV movie
    * Runaway Jury (2003)
    * Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Television adaptations

    * The Client (1995–1996) 1 season, 20 episodes
    * The Street Lawyer (2003) TV pilot

See also

    * The Innocence Project
    * List of bestselling novels in the United States
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/laytonwoman3rd/john-grisham.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/Mikesgirl0311/Books/JohnGrisham.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/08/11 at 12:12 pm


The person of the day...John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. (born February 8, 1955) is an American author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.

John Grisham graduated from Mackinac island elementary before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade. He also served in the House of Representatives in Mississippi from January 1984 to September 1990. Beginning writing in 1984, he had his first novel A Time To Kill published in June 1989. As of 2008, his books had sold over 250 million copies worldwide. A Galaxy British Book Awards winner, Grisham is one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing, the others being Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling.

Grisham's first best seller was The Firm. Released in 1991, it sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted as a feature film. In addition, seven more of his novels: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and A Time to Kill, were adapted as movies. His books have been translated into 29 languages and published worldwide. His other best-selling books include The Testament, The Summons and The Broker
John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Wanda Skidmore Grisham and John Grisham. His father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer, while his mother was a homemaker. The family relocated frequently, until they decided to settle in the town of Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi; Grisham was four then. As a child, Grisham wanted to be a baseball player. Despite the fact that Grisham's parents lacked formal education, his mother encouraged her son to read and prepare for college.

He went to the Northwest Junior College in Senatobia, Mississippi and later attended Delta State University in Cleveland. Grisham drifted so much during his time at the college that he changed colleges three times before completing a degree. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1977, receiving a BS degree in accounting. He later enrolled in the Ole Miss Law School to become a tax lawyer, but his interest shifted to general civil litigation. He graduated in 1983 with a specialty in criminal law.
Marriage and family

Grisham married Renee Jones on 8 May 1981, and the couple have two children together: Shea and Ty. The "family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm" outside Oxford, Mississippi, "and a home near Charlottesville, Virginia."

In 2008, he and his wife bought a condominium at McCorkle Place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He and his wife also teach in Sunday school in First Baptist Church of Oxford.
Career
Early career

Grisham started working for a nursery as a teenager - watering bushes for $1.00 an hour. He was soon promoted to a fence crew for $1.50 an hour. He wrote about the job: "there was no future in it." At 16, Grisham took a job with a plumbing contractor; he "never drew inspiration from that miserable work."

Through a contact of his father, he managed to find work on a highway asphalt crew in Mississippi. He was seventeen then. It was during this time that an unfortunate incident got him "serious" about college. A fight had broken out among the crew on a Friday, with gunfire from which Grisham ran to the restroom to escape. He didn't come out until after the police had "hauled away rednecks". He hitchhiked home and started thinking about college

His next work was in retail, as a salesclerk in a department store men's underwear section, which he described as "humiliating". After deciding to quit, he stayed when offered a raise. He was given another raise after asking to be transferred to toys and then to appliances. A confrontation with a company spy posing as a customer convinced him to leave the store.

By this time, Grisham was halfway through college. Planning to become a tax lawyer, he was soon overcome by "the complexity and lunacy" of it. He decided to return to his hometown as a trial lawyer.
Law and politics

Grisham practiced law for about a decade and also won election as a Democrat in the Mississippi state legislature from 1983 to 1990 at an annual salary of $8,000. By his second term at the Mississippi state legislature, he was not only the vice-chairman of the Apportionment and Elections Committee but also a member of several other committees.

Grisham's writing career blossomed with the success of his second book, The Firm, and he gave up practicing law, except for returning briefly in 1996 to fight for the family of a railroad worker who was killed on the job. His official site states that "He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer. Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jury award of $683,500 - the biggest verdict of his career."
Writing career
This house in Lepanto, Arkansas was the house used in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie A Painted House

Each year after being elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, Grisham would spend from January to March in the state capitol dreaming of a big case.

Grisham said the big case came in 1984, but it was not his case. As he was hanging around the court, he overheard a 12-year-old girl telling the jury what had happened to her. Her story intrigued Grisham and he began watching the trial. He saw how the members of the jury cried as she told them about having been raped and beaten. It was then, Grisham later wrote in The New York Times, that a story was born. Musing over "what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants", Grisham took three years to complete his first book, A Time to Kill.

Finding a publisher was not easy. The book was rejected by 28 publishers before Wynwood Press, an unknown publisher, agreed to give it a modest 5,000-copy printing. It was published in June 1989. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on his second novel, the story of an ambitious young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared." The Firm remained on the The New York Times' bestseller list for 47 weeks, and became the bestselling novel of 1991.

Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural South, but continued to write legal thrillers. Most of the titles to Grisham's legal thrillers begin with the word "The."
Named in libel suit

On September 28, 2007, former Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, District Attorney Bill Peterson, former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Gary Rogers, and criminalist Melvin Hett filed a civil suit for libel against Grisham and two other authors. They claimed that Grisham and the others critical of Peterson and his prosecution of murder cases conspired to commit libel and generate publicity for themselves by portraying the plaintiffs in a false light and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. Grisham was named due to his publication of the non-fiction book, The Innocent Man. He examined the faults in the investigation and trial of defendants in the murder of a cocktail waitress in Ada, Oklahoma, and the exoneration by DNA evidence more than 12 years later of wrongfully convicted defendants Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The judge dismissed the libel case on September 18, 2008, saying, "The wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz must be discussed openly and with great vigor."
John Grisham Room

The Mississippi State University Libraries, Manuscript Division, maintains the John Grisham Room, an archive containing materials generated during the author's tenure as Mississippi State Representative and relating to his writings.

Grisham's lifelong passion for baseball is expressed in his novel A Painted House and in his support of Little League activities in both Oxford, Mississippi, and Charlottesville, Virginia. He wrote the original screenplay for and produced the baseball movie Mickey, starring Harry Connick, Jr.. The movie was released on DVD in April 2004. He remains a fan of Mississippi State University's baseball team and wrote about his ties to the university and the Left Field Lounge in the introduction for the book Dudy Noble Field: A Celebration of MSU Baseball.

Grisham is well known within the literary community for his efforts to support the continuing literary tradition of his native South. He has endowed scholarships and writers' residencies in the University of Mississippi's English Department and Graduate Creative Writing Program. He was the founding publisher of the Oxford American, a magazine devoted to literary writing. The magazine is famous for its annual music issue, copies of which include a compilation CD featuring contemporary and classic Southern musicians in genres ranging from blues and gospel to country western and alternative rock.

In an October 2006 interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Grisham stated that he usually takes only six months to write a book and that his favorite author is John le Carré.
Works
Complete collection of 25 John Grisham books, including the latest, The Confession
Novels

    * A Time to Kill (1989)
    * The Firm (1991)
    * The Pelican Brief (1992)
    * The Client (1993)
    * The Chamber (1994)
    * The Rainmaker (1995)
    * The Runaway Jury (1996)
    * The Partner (1997)
    * The Street Lawyer (1998)
    * The Testament (1999)
    * The Brethren (2000)
    * A Painted House† (2001)
    * Skipping Christmas† (2001)
    * The Summons (2002)
    * The King of Torts (2003)
    * Bleachers†(2003)
    * The Last Juror (2004)
    * The Broker (2005)
    * Playing for Pizza† (2007)
    * The Appeal (2008)
    * The Associate (2009)
    * Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (2010)
    * The Confession (2010)

† Denotes books not in the legal genre.
Short Stories

    * Ford County (2009)

Non Fiction

    * The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006)

Film adaptations

    * The Firm (1993)
    * The Pelican Brief (1993)
    * The Client (1994)
    * A Time to Kill (1996)
    * The Chamber (1996)
    * The Rainmaker (1997)
    * The Gingerbread Man (1998)
    * A Painted House (2003) TV movie
    * Runaway Jury (2003)
    * Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Television adaptations

    * The Client (1995–1996) 1 season, 20 episodes
    * The Street Lawyer (2003) TV pilot

See also

    * The Innocence Project
    * List of bestselling novels in the United States
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q71/laytonwoman3rd/john-grisham.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/Mikesgirl0311/Books/JohnGrisham.jpg
I started reading his books and then I stopped!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/11 at 6:42 am


I started reading his books and then I stopped!

Somebody must like him ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/11 at 6:45 am

The person of the day...Carole King
Carole King (born February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King's album Tapestry topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks, in 1971, and remained on the charts for more than six years.

She was most successful as a performer in the first half of the 1970s, although she was a successful songwriter long before and long after. She had her first No. 1 hit as a songwriter in 1961, at age 18, with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which she wrote with Gerry Goffin. In 1997, she co-wrote "The Reason" for Celine Dion.

In 2000, Joel Whitburn, a Billboard Magazine pop music researcher, named her the most successful female songwriter of 1955-99, because she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry. Her most recent non-compilation album is Live at the Troubadour, a collaboration with James Taylor, which reached #4 on the charts, in its first week, and has sold over 400,000 copies.

She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. In 2009, Carole King was inducted into the "Hit Parade" Hall of Fame. She holds the record for the longest time for an album by a female to remain on the charts and the longest time for an album by a female to hold the #1 position, both for Tapestry.
Goffin and King formed a songwriting partnership for Aldon Music at 1650 Broadway in New York. Their partnership's first success was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", recorded by The Shirelles. It topped the American charts in 1961, becoming the first No. 1 hit by a girl group. It was later recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Ben E. King, Dusty Springfield, Laura Branigan, Little Eva, Roberta Flack, The Four Seasons, Bryan Ferry and Dionne Warwick, as well as by King herself.

Goffin and King married in September 1960 and had two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor, both also musicians.

In 1965, Goffin and King wrote a theme song for Sidney Sheldon's television series, I Dream of Jeannie, but an instrumental by Hugo Montenegro was used instead. Goffin and King's 1967 song, "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a number 3 for The Monkees, was inspired by their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey. Goffin and King also wrote "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" for Head, the Monkees' film.

Goffin and King divorced in 1968 but Carole consulted Goffin on music she was writing. King lost touch with Goffin because of his declining mental health and the effect it had on their children.
Solo career

In 1967, King had a hit "Windy Day" with The Executives. In 1968, she was hired with Toni Stern to write for Strawberry Alarm Clock - "Lady of the Lake" and "Blues for a Young Girl Gone"—which appeared on the album, The World in a Seashell.

King sang backup vocals on the demo of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion". She had had a modest hit in 1962 singing one of her own songs, "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (22 in the US and top 10 in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary and Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made 94 in 1963, it took King eight years to reach the Hot 100 singles chart again as a performer.

As the '60s waned, King helped start Tomorrow Records, divorced Goffin and married Charles Larkey (of the Myddle Class), with whom she had two children (Molly and Levi). Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King and Danny Kortchmar formed The City, which made one album, Now That Everything's Been Said, a commercial failure. King made Writer (1970), also a commercial failure.

King followed Writer in 1971 with Tapestry, featuring new folk-flavored compositions, as well as reinterpretations of two of her songs, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." Tapestry was an instant success. With numerous hit singles – including a Billboard #1 with "It's Too Late" – Tapestry held the #1 spot for 15 consecutive weeks, remained on the charts for nearly six years, sold 10 million copies in the United States, and 25 million worldwide. The album garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late," lyrics by Toni Stern); and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend"). The album signalled the era of platinum albums, though it was issued prior to the invention of the platinum certification by the RIAA. It would eventually be certified Diamond.

Tapestry was the top-selling solo album until Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1982. The album was later placed at 36 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. In addition, "It's Too Late" was placed at #469 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Carole King: Music was released in December 1971, certified gold on 9 December 1971. It entered the top ten at 8, becoming the first of many weeks Tapestry and Carole King: Music would occupy the top 10 simultaneously. The following week, it rose to 3, and finally #1 on January 1, 1972, staying there for three weeks. The album also spawned a top 10 hit, "Sweet Seasons" (US #9 and AC #2). Music stayed on the Billboard pop album charts for 44 weeks. Carole King: Music was eventually certified platinum.

Rhymes and Reasons (1972), and Fantasy (1973) followed, each earning gold certifications. Rhymes and Reasons produced another hit, "Been to Canaan" (US #24 and AC #1), and Fantasy produced two hits, "Believe in Humanity" (US #28) and "Corazon" (US #37 and AC #5), as well as another song that charted on the Hot 100, "You Light Up My Life" (US #68 and AC #6).

In 1973, King performed a free concert in New York City's Central Park with 100,000 attending.

In September 1974, King released her album Wrap Around Joy, which was certified gold on 16 October 1974 and entered the top ten at 7 on 19 October 1974. Two weeks later it reached 1 and stayed there one week. She toured to promote the album. Wrap Around Joy spawned two hits. Jazzman was a single and reached 2 on 9 November but fell out of the top ten the next week. Nightingale, a single on December 17, went to #9 on 1 March 1975.

In 1975, King scored songs for the animated TV production of Maurice Sendak's Really Rosie, released as an album by the same name, with lyrics by Sendak.

Thoroughbred (1976) was the last studio album she made under the Ode label. In addition to enlisting her long-time friends such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel, King reunited with Gerry Goffin to write four songs for the album. Their partnership continued intermittently. King also did a promotional tour for the album in 1976.

In 1977, King collaborated with another songwriter Rick Evers on Simple Things, the first release with a new label distributed by Capitol Records. Shortly after that King and Evers were married; he died of a heroin overdose one year later. Simple Things was her first album that failed to reach the top 10 on the Billboard since Tapestry, and it was her last Gold-certified record by the RIAA, except for a compilation entitled Her Greatest Hits the following year. Neither Welcome Home (1978), her debut as a co-producer on an album, nor Touch the Sky (1979), reached the top 100.

Pearls - The Songs of Goffin and King (1980) yielded a hit single, an updated version of "One Fine Day." Pearls marked the end of King's career as a hitmaker and a performer, no subsequent single reaching the top 40.
Later life and work
Carole King performing aboard USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean in 2000

King moved to Atlantic Records for One to One (1982), and Speeding Time in 1983, which was a reunion with Tapestry-era producer Lou Adler. In 1983, she played piano in "Chains and Things" on the B.B. King album Why I Sing The Blues. After a well-received concert tour in 1984, journalist Catherine Foster of the Christian Science Monitor dubbed King as "a Queen of Rock." She also called King's performing as "all spunk and exuberance."

In 1985, she wrote and performed "Care-A-Lot," theme to The Care Bears Movie. Also in 1985, she scored and performed (with David Sanborn) the soundtrack to the Martin Ritt-directed movie Murphy's Romance. The soundtrack, again produced by Adler, included the songs "Running Lonely" and "Love For The Last Time (Theme from 'Murphy's Romance')," although a soundtrack album was apparently never officially released. King made a cameo appearance in the film as Tillie, a town hall employee.

In 1989, she returned to Capitol Records and recorded City Streets, with Eric Clapton on two tracks and Branford Marsalis on one, followed by Color of Your Dreams (1993), with an appearance by Slash of Guns N' Roses. Her song, "Now and Forever," was in the opening credits to the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 1988, she starred in the off-Broadway production A Minor Incident, and in 1994, she played Mrs Johnstone on Broadway in Blood Brothers. In 1996, she appeared in Brighton Beach Memoirs in Ireland, directed by Peter Sheridan. In 1991, she wrote with Mariah Carey the song "If It's Over", for Carey's second album Emotions. In 1996, she wrote "Wall Of Smiles / Torre De Marfil" with Soraya for her 1997 album of the same title.

In 1997, King wrote and recorded backing vocals on "The Reason" for Celine Dion on her album Let's Talk About Love. The song sold worldwide, including one million in France. It went to number 1 in France, 11 in the UK, and 13 in Ireland. The pair performed a duet on the first VH1 Divas Live benefit concert. King also performed her "You've Got A Friend" with Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain as well as "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with Aretha Franklin and others, including Mariah Carey. In 1998, King wrote "Anyone at All", and performed it in You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

In 2001, King appeared in a television ad for the Gap, with her daughter, Louise Goffin. She performed a new song, "Love Makes the World," which became a title track for her studio album in autumn 2001 on her own label, Rockingale, distributed by Koch Records. The album includes songs she wrote for other artists during the mid-1990s and features Celine Dion, Steven Tyler, Babyface and k.d. lang. Love Makes the World went to 158 in the US and #86 in the UK. It also debuted on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and Top Internet Albums chart at #20. An expanded edition of the album was issued six years later called Love Makes the World Deluxe Edition. It contains a bonus disc with five additional tracks, including a remake of "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" co-written with Toni Stern. The same year, King and Stern wrote "Sayonara Dance," recorded by Yuki, former lead vocalist of the Japanese band Judy and Mary, on her first solo album Prismic the following year. Also in 2001, King composed a song for All About Chemistry album by Semisonic, with the band's frontman Dan Wilson.

King launched her Living Room Tour in July 2004 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. That show, along with shows at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (Hyannis, Massachusetts) were recorded as The Living Room Tour in July 2005. The album sold 44,000 copies in its first week in the US, landing at 17 on the Billboard 200, her highest-charting album since 1977. The album also charted at 51 in Australia. It has sold 330,000 copies in the United States. In August 2006 the album reentered the Billboard 200 at 151. The tour stopped in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A DVD of the tour, called Welcome to My Living Room, was released in October 2007.
King and James Taylor performing "Up on the Roof" together during their 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour.

In November 2007, King toured Japan with Mary J. Blige and Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas. Japanese record labels Sony and Victor reissued most of King's albums, including the works from the late 1970s previously unavailable on compact disc. King recorded a duet of the Goffin/King composition "Time Don't Run Out on Me" with Anne Murray on Murray's 2007 album Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends. The song had previously been recorded by Murray for her 1984 album Heart Over Mind.

In 2010, King and James Taylor staged their Troubadour Reunion Tour together, recalling the first time they played at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970. The pair had reunited two and a half years earlier with the band they used in 1970 to mark the club's 50th anniversary. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to take the band on the road. The touring band featured players from that original band: Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, and Danny Kortchmar. Also present was King's son-in-law, Robbie Kondor. King played piano and Taylor guitar on each others' songs, and they sang together some of the numbers they were both associated with. The tour began in Australia in March, returning to the United States in May. It was a major commercial success, with King playing to some of the largest audiences of her career. Total ticket sales exceeded 700,000 and the tour grossed over 59 million dollars, making it one of the most successful tours of the year.

During their Troubadour Reunion Tour, Carole King released two albums, one with James Taylor. The first, released on April 27, 2010, The Essential Carole King, is a two-disc compilation album. The first disc features many songs Carole King has recorded, mostly her hit singles. The second disc features recordings by other artists of songs that King wrote, most of which made the top 40, and many of which reached #1. The second album was released on May 4, 2010 and is a collaboration of King and James Taylor called Live at the Troubadour, which debuted at #4 in the United States with sales of 78,000 copies. Live at the Troubadour has since received a gold record from the RIAA for shipments of over 500,000 copies in the US and has remained on the charts for 34 weeks, currently charting at #81 on the Billboard 200.

On December 22, 2010, Carole King's mother, Eugenia Gingold, died in the Hospice Care unit at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida at the age of 94. King stated that the cause of death was congestive heart failure. Gingold's passing was reported by the Miami Herald on January 1, 2011.
The City

In 1968 King formed The City, a music trio consisting of Charles Larkey, bass, Danny Kortchmar, guitar and vocals, and King on piano and vocals. The trio was assisted by Jim Gordon on drums. The City produced one album, Now That Everything's Been Said in 1968, but King's reluctance to perform live meant sales were slow, and after a change of distributors it got deleted early, and the group disbanded in 1969. The album was re-released in 1999 as a CD, though despite a reappraisal by Kortchmar that the album sowed the seeds for Tapestry the CD was also deleted.
Acting career
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

King has appeared sporadically in acting roles, notably three appearances as guest star on the TV series Gilmore Girls as Sophie, the owner of the Stars Hollow music store. King's song "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" was also the theme song to the series, in a version sung with her daughter Louise.
Political and environmental activism

After relocating to Idaho in 1977, King became involved in environmental issues. Since 1990, she has been working with the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups towards passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA). King has testified on Capitol Hill three times on behalf of NREPA: in 1994, 2007 and again in 2009.

King is also politically active in the United States Democratic Party. In 2003, she began campaigning for John Kerry, performing in private homes for caucus delegates during the Democratic primaries. On July 29, 2004, she made a short speech and sang at the Democratic National Convention, about two hours before Kerry made his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President. King continued her support of Kerry throughout the general election.

In 2008, King appeared on the March 18 episode of The Colbert Report, touching on her politics once more. She stated that she was supporting Hillary Clinton and mentioned that the choice had nothing to do with gender. She also expressed that she would have no issues if Barack Obama were to win the election. Before the show's conclusion, she returned to the stage to perform "I Feel the Earth Move".
Tributes and covers
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

An all-star roster of artists paid tribute to King on the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. From the album, Rod Stewart's version of "So Far Away" and Celine Dion's cover of "A Natural Woman" were both Adult Contemporary chart hits. Other artists who appeared on the album included Amy Grant ("It's Too Late"), Richard Marx ("Beautiful"), Aretha Franklin ("You've Got a Friend"), Faith Hill ("Where You Lead"), and the Bee Gees ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow?").

Many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash #1 hit for James Taylor in 1971 and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Isaac Hayes recorded "It's Too Late" for his #1 R&B live album Live at the Sahara Tahoe. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit in 1972 with "Where You Lead" twice — by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration." Streisand also covered "No Easy Way Down" in 1971, "Beautiful" and "You've Got A Friend" in 1972, and "Being At War With Each Other" in 1974. The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 ,and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Richard Carpenter produced a version of "You've Got A Friend" with then teen singer/actor Scott Grimes in 1989. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of I Feel the Earth Move, and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Oh No Not My Baby" in 1993. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love with Carole King singing backup and it became a million-seller and was certified Diamond in France. "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern) became the title song of TV show Gilmore Girls.

In 1996, a film very loosely based on her life, Grace of My Heart, was released. In the film an aspiring singer sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
Awards and recognition

    * In 1987, Goffin and King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
    * In 1988, Goffin and King received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award.
    * In 1990, King was inducted, along with Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category for her songwriting achievements.
    * In 2002, King was given the "Johnny Mercer Award" by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
    * In 2004, Goffin and King were awarded the Grammy Trustees Award.
    * King was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Discography and certifications
Main article: Carole King discography

The years given are the years in which the albums and singles were released and not necessarilly the years in which they achieved their peak positions.

U.S. Billboard Top 10 Albums

    * 1971 - Tapestry (#1)
    * 1971 - Carole King: Music (#1)
    * 1972 - Rhymes and Reasons (#2)
    * 1973 - Fantasy (#6)
    * 1974 - Wrap Around Joy (#1)
    * 1976 - Thoroughbred (#3)
    * 2010 - Live at the Troubadour (with James Taylor) (#4)

U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles

    * 1971 - "I Feel the Earth Move" (#1)
    * 1971 - "It's Too Late" (#1)
    * 1971 - "Sweet Seasons" (#9)
    * 1974 - "Jazzman" (#2)
    * 1974 - "Nightingale" (#9)

Albums and singles certifications
Song title Certification
"It's Too Late" Gold
Album title Certification
Tapestry Diamond
Carole King: Music Platinum
Rhymes and Reasons Gold
Fantasy Gold
Wrap Around Joy Gold
Thoroughbred Gold
Simple Things Gold
Live at the Troubadour Gold
See also

    * List of songwriter tandems
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/wpaskinhead/fac30eac.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m460/happyslps/CAROLEKING-WELCOMEHOME.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/09/11 at 7:00 am

I like the song "It's too Late".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/09/11 at 8:22 am

I LOVE the entire Tapestry album.

Two of my favs are Too Late & You Got a Friend.

FYI: Carole wrote the song Locomotion that was recorded by Little Eva-who was Carole's babysitter.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/09/11 at 11:54 am


I LOVE the entire Tapestry album.

Two of my favs are Too Late & You Got a Friend.

FYI: Carole wrote the song Locomotion that was recorded by Little Eva-who was Carole's babysitter.


Cat

Excellent choices :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/09/11 at 12:32 pm


I LOVE the entire Tapestry album.

Two of my favs are Too Late & You Got a Friend.

FYI: Carole wrote the song Locomotion that was recorded by Little Eva-who was Carole's babysitter.


Cat
I reheard Tapestry recently and enjoy it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/09/11 at 12:32 pm




FYI: Carole wrote the song Locomotion that was recorded by Little Eva-who was Carole's babysitter.


Cat
I never knew that!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/09/11 at 1:17 pm


I reheard Tapestry recently and enjoy it.



When I was growing up, my sister had the album and she played it all the time. A few years back, I bought it on CD and listened to it and I was so surprised that I still remembered every lyric to every song on it. Like I said, it wasn't even MY album but my sister's.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/09/11 at 1:24 pm



When I was growing up, my sister had the album and she played it all the time. A few years back, I bought it on CD and listened to it and I was so surprised that I still remembered every lyric to every song on it. Like I said, it wasn't even MY album but my sister's.


Cat
I never really heard the album back then, but I know the songs as released singles.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/11 at 6:21 am

The person of the day...Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics. Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz won nine Olympic golds plus a silver and a bronze, five Pan American golds, 31 US Amateur Athletic Union titles and eight US National Collegiate Athletic Association titles. During those years, he set 33 world records. He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971 and 1972.
In 1967, he won five gold medals at the V Pan American Games in Winnipeg, thereby setting a record not surpassed for 40 years until Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira won six golds at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007.
1968 Olympics

Holder of ten world records already, Spitz predicted brashly he would win six golds at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. However, he won only two team golds: the 4 x 100 meter freestyle in 3:31:70, and the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay in 7:52:33. In addition, Spitz finished second in the 100m butterfly in 00:56:40. In this event he was beaten by fellow American Doug Russell by a half second, despite holding the world record and having beaten Russell the previous ten times they had swum against each other that year. Russell did briefly match Spitz's world record in late August 1967, holding the world record equally with Spitz for five days before Spitz regained it solely on October 2, 1967. As a result of being beaten by Russell, Spitz did not get to swim in the 4 x 100 meter Medley Relay, which gave Russell his second gold medal and the USA team another World Record swim.
College training

Disappointed in his 1968 Olympic performance, Spitz entered Indiana University (IU) to train with legendary coach Doc Counsilman, who was also his coach in Mexico City. While at IU, Spitz won 8 individual NCAA titles. In 1971, he won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Spitz also set a number of world records during the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials held in Chicago's Portage Park in 1972.

He was nicknamed "Mark the Shark" by his teammates.
1972 Olympics

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich (West Germany), Spitz was back to maintain his bid for the six gold medals. He did even more, winning seven Olympic gold medals. Further, Spitz set a new world record in each of the seven events (the 100 m freestyle , 200 m freestyle , 100 m butterfly , 200 m butterfly , 4 x 100 m freestyle relay , 4 x 200 m freestyle relay and the 4 x 100 m medley relay ). Originally Spitz was reluctant to swim the 100m freestyle fearing a less than gold medal finish. Minutes before the race he confessed on the pool deck to ABC's Donna de Varona, "I know I say I don't want to swim before every event but this time I'm serious. If I swim six and win six, I'll be a hero. If I swim seven and win six, I'll be a failure." Spitz won by half a stroke in a world-record 51.22.
Jacket worn by Mark Spitz during the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Spitz is one of five Olympians to win nine or more career gold medals: Larissa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi and Carl Lewis also have nine; only swimmer Michael Phelps has won more with 14. Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics was not surpassed until Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Spitz was evacuated from Munich when 11 athletes and officials from Israel's Olympic team were kidnapped and later killed by Palestinian terrorists. Officials were worried that Spitz might be targeted because of his Jewish heritage. He had already finished his competition.
Retirement

Following the Munich Olympics, even though he was still only 22, Spitz retired from competition.

In 1999, Spitz ranked #33 on ESPN SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes, the only aquatic athlete to make the list.
1992 Olympics

Spitz briefly came out of retirement in 1992. He competed for a place on the U.S. Swimming Team at the Barcelona Games at the age of 41. Unfortunately, he was two seconds slower than the requisite qualifying time at the Olympic trials.
Hall of Fame

    * International Swimming Hall of Fame, Inducted 1977.
    * International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Inducted 1979.
    * United States Olympic Hall of Fame, Inducted 1983.
    * San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, inducted Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
    * National Jewish Museum Sports Hall of Fame, Inducted 2007.
    * Long Beach City College Hall of Fame, Inducted 2007
    * Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame
After his retirement at age 22, he was managed by the William Morris Agency, which tried to get him into show business while his name was still hot.

A poster featuring Spitz wearing his swimsuit and seven gold medals made him the hottest pin-up since Betty Grable.

In 1973–74, Spitz appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and TV series such as The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Emergency! as Pete Barlow, who accidentally shoots his wife, played by his real life wife, Suzy. He also appeared briefly on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of then-Governor Ronald Reagan in September 1973. Spitz went to work for ABC Sports in 1976 and worked on many sports presentations, including coverage of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1985 he appeared as a TV announcer in Challenge of a Lifetime. He continued as a broadcaster for some time, but within a few years, he had all but vanished as a public figure.
Critical praise

In 2006 he received critical praise for his narration of Freedom's Fury, a Hungarian documentary about the Olympic water polo team's famous Blood in the Water match against Russia during the Revolution of 1956—considered the most famous match in water polo history. The film was executive produced by Quentin Tarantino and Lucy Liu, and made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Commercials

He appeared in an ad for the California Milk Advisory Board. One of his print advertisements featured the caption "I always drink it-is something I like to do. I want to be loved by the mothers."

In 1974 he was in a number of Schick razors commercials. In 1998 he appeared with Robbie Knievel in a TV commercial for PlayStation.

In 2004 he appeared in a TV commercial for Sprint PCS. Then in November 2007, Spitz made a cameo appearance on Amanda Beard's first television commercial (for GoDaddy) featuring her own seven Olympic medals (won between 1996–2004). The ad was entitled "Shock". Also, in 2007 he appeared in the infomercial for the "Orbitrek Elite" fitness workout.
Cartoon character

The cartoon strip Doonesbury featured the character "Zonker" where he kept thinking he saw Mark Spitz everywhere until he was finally cured when a character of Spitz ended up sitting next to him at a lunch counter.
In 1972, Spitz was accused of product placement during the medal ceremony. Following the 200-meter freestyle race Spitz arrived to obtain his gold medal barefoot and carrying his shoes. He put them down when the American national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" was played. After the anthem played, he picked up his shoes and waved to the crowd. The Soviets saw this as product placement. When questioned by the IOC, Spitz explained that the gesture was innocent, the shoes were old and he was not paid. The IOC cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Issues with 2008 Summer Olympics

Spitz felt snubbed by not being asked to attend the 2008 Olympics to watch Michael Phelps break his seven gold medal record. In an article, he is quoted as saying, "I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am....I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost—it is."

Spitz has stated that he has no hard feelings towards Phelps. He is, however, unhappy that he was not invited to the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a result, Spitz refused to attend the games. "They voted me one of the top five Olympians of all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me," he said. "Yes, I am a bit upset about it."

However, on August 14, 2008 Spitz appeared on NBC's Today Show where he clarified his statement and his pride in Michael Phelps:
“ It’s about time that somebody else takes the throne. And I’m very happy for him. I really, truly am...I was working with a corporate sponsor who elected not to bring their US contingent over to China, and they piled on more work for me here in the United States, which was great. So I wasn't able to get to the Olympics and watch Michael in the first couple of days. And they thought, some of these reporters, that I was supposed to be invited by some entity, and I told them that that wasn't really the case, that doesn't happen that way. And so, I'm sort of disappointed that I wasn't there, but, you know, that interview somehow took a different turn, and I've done hundreds and hundreds of them and I've been true to form about the way I feel about Michael, and he's doing a great job for the United States and inspiring a lot of great performances by the other team members.

Also on August 14, 2008, in an interview aired on Los Angeles KNBC-4's morning news show, Today in L.A., Spitz was quoted saying he does believe that, "Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympic athlete ever."

On August 15, 2008, as part of an interview on NBC, Spitz said that he felt Phelps' performance in the 100 fly in Beijing was "epic". Spitz paid this compliment to Phelps just two hours after his record-tying seventh gold medal during a live joint interview with Bob Costas:
“ You know, Bob and Michael, I wondered what I was going to say at this monumental time, when it would happen and who I would say it to, and of course I thought I was going to say it to you for some time now. But, it's the word that comes to mind, "epic". What you did tonight was epic, and it was epic for the whole world to see how great you really are. I never thought for one moment that you were out of that race and contention, because I watched you at Athens win the race by similar margins, and 18 months ago at the World's by similar margins. And, you know, that is a tribute to your greatness. And now the whole world knows. We are so proud of you Michael here in America, and we are so proud of you and the way that you handle yourself, and you represent such an inspiration to all the youngsters around the world. You know, you weren't born when I did what I did, and I'm sure that I was a part of your inspiration, and I take that as a full compliment. And they say that you judge one's character by the company you keep, and I'm happy to keep company with you. And you have a tremendous responsibility for all those people that you are going to inspire over the next number of years, and I know that you will wear the crown well. Congratulations, Mike.
Views on drug testing

Mark Spitz has been consistent in criticism of both swimming's world bodies, FINA and the IOC, in their incomplete attempts to keep drugs out of the sport. He has felt that not enough has been done to monitor and encourage drug-free participation. In 1998 he criticized FINA for its "embarrassing" attempts to stamp out drug abuse, urging them to test for all known drugs. In September 1999 Spitz said the IOC had the technology to test for a plethora of drugs but was refusing to do so because of some IOC member protests.

During a radio interview in Australia, Spitz was quoted as saying "They don't want to test for everything because there's tremendous pressure from the television networks because they want the television to have athletic competitions with the world record holders there for the finals. They want the medals not to be tainted in their value of accomplishment by winning them, and it's all about ratings and commercial selling of time and about money. And an International Olympic Committee has got their hand in the pockets of the network television people, so there's a tremendous conflict of interest in what they should do and what they're doing."

In August 2008 the Los Angeles Times reported, that Spitz continued to discuss drug testing and was saying "the IOC has sponsors who demand a good show. Television pays the IOC for the rights to that good show, and its sponsors want that too. Drug news and drug distractions are not a good show. People are not going to tune in to see athletes have their medals taken away from them."
Records and awards
Records
Preceded by
Australia Michael Wenden Men's 100 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
August 23, 1970 – June 21, 1975 Succeeded by
United States Jim Montgomery
Preceded by
United States Don Schollander Men's 200 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
July 12, 1969 – August 23, 1974 Succeeded by
United States Tim Shaw
Preceded by
Argentina Luis Nicolao Men's 100 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)
July 31, 1967 – August 27, 1977

Note: Held Jointly with Doug Russell August 29 & October 2, 1967
Succeeded by
United States Joe Bottom
Preceded by
Australia Kevin Berry Men's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)
July 26, 1967 – August 30, 1967 Succeeded by
United States John Ferris
Preceded by
United States John Ferris Men's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)
October 8, 1967 – August 22, 1970 Succeeded by
United States Gary Hall Sr.
Preceded by
United States Gary Hall Sr. Men's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)
August 27, 1971 – August 31, 1971 Succeeded by
West Germany Hans-Joachim Fassnacht
Preceded by
West Germany Hans-Joachim Fassnacht Men's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)
August 2, 1972 – June 3, 1976 Succeeded by
East Germany Roger Pyttel
Awards
Preceded by
Lee Trevino Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year
1972 Succeeded by
O.J. Simpson
Preceded by
John Kinsella James E. Sullivan Award
1971 Succeeded by
Frank Shorter
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii39/bracoma-travel/Picture6.png
http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff364/doublepump/2010%20Harold%20Pump%20Foundation%20Celebrity%20Dinner/Harold_Pump-287.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/10/11 at 6:45 am

Wow,he aged a lot.He even lost his trademark moustache.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/10/11 at 8:52 am

I remember when he was all over the place. There was a joke: What does Mark Spitz do when he gets a mouth full of water?










































Mark spits.


Yeah, it was a bad joke then and it still is a bad joke.  :D ;D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/10/11 at 3:33 pm


I remember when he was all over the place. There was a joke: What does Mark Spitz do when he gets a mouth full of water?










































Mark spits.


Yeah, it was a bad joke then and it still is a bad joke.  :D ;D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

:D ;D ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/10/11 at 5:33 pm


I remember when he was all over the place. There was a joke: What does Mark Spitz do when he gets a mouth full of water?










































Mark spits.


Yeah, it was a bad joke then and it still is a bad joke.  :D ;D ;D ;D ;D



Cat


Well...that's what we've come to expectorate!!! :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/11/11 at 6:01 am

The person of the day...Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop. She has won nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

She has performed with The Rolling Stones and has sung duets with Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, Michelle Branch, and Sting among others. She has performed backing vocals for Tina Turner, Don Henley and Belinda Carlisle, on her 1991 hit Little Black Book. Crow has released seven studio albums, two compilations, and a live album, and has contributed to film soundtracks. She has sold 16 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide and her newest album, 100 Miles from Memphis, was released on July 20, 2010. Recently she appeared on NBC's 30 Rock, ABC's Cougar Town, Disney Channel's Hannah Montana Forever and Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
In 1992, Crow recorded her first attempt at her debut album with Phil Collins' producer Hugh Padgham. The self-titled debut album was due to be released on September 22, 1992, but was ultimately rejected by her label. However, a handful of cassette copies of the album were leaked along with press folders to be used for album publicity. This album has been widely dispersed via file sharing networks and fan trading. In the meantime, Crow's songs were recorded by major artists such as Celine Dion, Tina Turner and Wynonna Judd.
International success (1993-1997)

She then began dating Kevin Gilbert and joined him in an ad hoc group of musicians known to everyone in the group as the "Tuesday Music Club." Group members, Gilbert, David Baerwald and David Ricketts (both formerly of David & David), Bill Bottrell, Brian MacLeod, and Dan Schwartz share songwriting credits with Crow on her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club.

The group existed as a casual songwriting collective prior to its association with Crow, but rapidly developed into a vehicle for her debut album after her arrival. Her relationship with Gilbert became acrimonious soon after the album was released, and disputes arose about songwriting credits.
Crow at The Grove of Los Angeles, California in 2002, with co-guitarist Peter Stroud

Crow appeared in the "New Faces" section of Rolling Stone in 1993. Tuesday Night Music Club featured many of the songs written by Crow's friends, including the second single, "Leaving Las Vegas." The album was slow to garner attention, until "All I Wanna Do" became an unexpected smash hit in the spring of 1994. As she later stated in People, she found an old poetry book in a used book store in the L.A. area and used a poem as lyrics in the song. The singles "Strong Enough" and "Can't Cry Anymore" were also released, with the first song ("Strong Enough") charting at #5 on Billboard and "Can't Cry Anymore" hitting the Top 40. Tuesday Night Music Club went on to sell more than 7 million copies in the US and UK during the 1990s. The album also won Crow three Grammy Awards, in 1995: Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Performance. She performed at the 1994 and 1999 Woodstock Festivals, as well as the Another Roadside Attraction in 1997.

Crow supplied background vocals to the song "The Garden of Allah" from Don Henley's 1995 album Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits.

In 1996, Crow released her self titled second album. The album had songs about abortion, homelessness and nuclear war. The debut single, "If It Makes You Happy," became a radio success and netted her two Grammy awards for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Album. Other singles included "A Change Would Do You Good," "Home" and "Everyday Is A Winding Road." Crow produced the album herself. The album was banned from sale at Wal-Mart, as in the "Love Is A Good Thing" lyric Wal-Mart is implicated (by name) of supplying guns to which children later gain access. In 1997, Crow contributed the theme song to the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Her song "Tomorrow Never Dies" was nominated for a Grammy Award and Best Original Song Golden Globe. Crow collaborated on Scott Weiland's 1998 album, 12 Bar Blues.
The Globe Sessions and Live (1998-1999)

In 1998 Crow released The Globe Sessions. During this period, she discussed in interviews having gone through a deep depression, and there was speculation about a brief affair with Eric Clapton. The debut single from this album, "My Favorite Mistake," was rumored to be about him, although Crow claims otherwise about a philandering ex-boyfriend. Crow has refused to say who the song was about telling Billboard Magazine on the release of her album. "Oh, there will be just so much speculation, and because of that there's great safety and protection in the fact that people will be guessing so many different people and I'm the only person who will ever really know. I'm really private about who I've had relationships with, and I don't talk about them in the press. I don't even really talk about them with the people around me." Despite the difficulties in recording the album, Crow told the BBC in 2005 that: "My favorite single is 'My Favorite Mistake,' it was a lot of fun to record and it's still a lot of fun to play." The album won Best Rock Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards. It was re-released in 1999, with a bonus track, Crow's cover of the Guns N' Roses song "Sweet Child o' Mine," which was included on the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song won the 1999 Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Other singles included "There Goes the Neighborhood," "Anything But Down," and "The Difficult Kind." Crow won Grammy best female rock vocal performance for "There Goes the Neighborhood" in 2001. The Globe Sessions peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 chart, achieving US sales of 2 million as of January 2008.

Later in 1998, Crow took part in a live concert in tribute to Burt Bacharach, in which she contributed vocals on One Less Bell to Answer.

In 1999, Crow also made her acting debut as an ill-fated drifter in the suspense/drama The Minus Man, which starred her then-boyfriend Owen Wilson as a serial killer.

She also released a live album called Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park. The record featured Crow singing many of her hit singles with new musical spins and guest appearances by many other musicians including Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Nicks, the Dixie Chicks, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton. "There Goes the Neighborhood" was included in the album, eventually winning the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
2000s
C'mon, C'mon and The Very Best of (2002-2004)
Crow at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Crow had been involved with the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) since the late 1990s, performing at fund-raisers and befriending Sharon Monsky. In 2002, as a result of her friend Kent Sexton dying from scleroderma, she interrupted work on her new album C'mon C'mon to record the traditional hymn "Be Still, My Soul," to be played at his funeral. In November of that year it was released as a single, with the proceeds going to SRF.

Crow's fourth studio album, C'mon, C'mon was released in 2002, spawning the hit single "Soak Up the Sun." Second single "Steve McQueen" won the Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy.

Crow opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, wearing a shirt that read "I don't believe in your war, Mr. Bush!" during a performance on Good Morning America and posting an open letter explaining her opposition on her website. Crow, performing with Kid Rock at the 45th annual Grammy Awards, wore a large peace sign and a guitar strap with the words "No War."

Crow recorded the song "Kiss That Girl" for the film Bridget Jones's Diary. She also recorded a cover version of the Beatles' song "Mother Nature's Son" for the film I Am Sam. Crow duetted with rapper Kid Rock on the crossover hit single "Picture." She also assisted Rock on the track "Run Off to L.A."

Crow collaborated with Michelle Branch on the song "Love Me Like That" for Branch's second album, Hotel Paper, released in 2003. Crow was featured on the Johnny Cash album American III: Solitary Man in the song "Field of Diamonds" as a background vocalist, and also played the accordion for the songs "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Mary of the Wild Moor."

In 2003, Crow released a greatest hits compilation called The Very Best of Sheryl Crow. It featured many of her hit singles, as well as some new tracks. Among them was the ballad "The First Cut is the Deepest" (originally a Cat Stevens song), which became her biggest radio hit since "All I Wanna Do." She also released the single "Light In Your Eyes," which received limited airplay. "The First Cut is the Deepest" earned her two American Music Awards for Best Pop/Rock Artist and Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year, respectively.

In 2004, Crow appeared as a musical theater performer in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely.
Crow at Crossroads 2007.
Wildflower (2005-2007)

Her fifth studio album Wildflower was released in September 2005. Although the album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, it received mixed reviews and was not as commercially successful as her previous albums. In December 2005, the album was nominated for a Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy, while Crow was nominated for a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy for the first single "Good Is Good." However, she ultimately lost in both categories to Kelly Clarkson. The album got a new boost in 2006 when the second single was announced as "Always on Your Side," re-recorded with British musician Sting and sent off to radio, where it was quickly embraced at Adult Top 40. The collaboration with Sting resulted in a Grammy-nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. As of January 2008, Wildflower has sold 949,000 units in the U.S.

In 2006, Crow contributed the opening track, "Real Gone," to the soundtrack for Disney/Pixar's animated film Cars. She also voices Elvis in the film. Crow was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in mid-February 2006, her doctors stating that "prognosis for a full recovery is excellent."

Crow's first concert after her cancer diagnosis was on May 18 in Orlando, Florida where she played to over 10,000 information technology professionals at the SAP Sapphire Convention. Her first public appearance was on June 12, when she performed at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The singer also appeared on Larry King Live on CNN on August 23, 2006. In this show she talked about her comeback, her breakup with Lance Armstrong, her past job as Michael Jackson's backup singer, and her experience as a breast cancer survivor.

In late 2006, Crow was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the song "Try Not To Remember" (Best Original Song category) from the film Home of the Brave.

Crow wrote a foreword for the book Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, author Kris Carr's book that was based on her 2007 documentary film Crazy Sexy Cancer. Crow contributed her cover of the Beatles's "Here Comes the Sun" on the Bee Movie soundtrack in November 2007. She contributed background vocals to the Ryan Adams song "Two" from the album Easy Tiger.
Detours 2008-2009
Crow at Memphis, TN (August 18, 2007).

Crow returned with her sixth studio album Detours, which was released on February 5, 2008. Detours debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling about 92,000 copies in its first week and an additional 52,000 copies in its second week.

Detours was recorded at Crow's Nashville farm. Her son, Wyatt, makes an appearance on the song "Lullaby for Wyatt," which is featured in the movie Grace Is Gone. "The songs are very inspired by the last three years of events in my life," Crow said of a time that found her battling breast cancer and splitting with partner Lance Armstrong.

"Shine Over Babylon" was the first promotional single from the album (download only). The first 'official' single to be released from the album was "Love Is Free," followed by "Out of Our Heads."

A liberal political activist, she endorsed Barack Obama for the United States Presidential Election and later performed on the 4th and last day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Crow has also recorded a studio version of "So Glad We Made It" for the "Team USA Olympic Soundtrack" in conjunction with the 2008 U.S. Olympic team sponsors AT&T. Crow also stated that $1 of each ticket purchased for her 2008 tour would be donated to the United Nations World Food Programme.

A&M Records re-released Sheryl's debut album, "Tuesday Night Music Club" as a deluxe version 2CD/DVD set on November 17, 2009. The bonus CD contains unreleased songs and B-sides, and a new mix of "I Shall Believe." The DVD features music videos for each of the album's singles.
2010s
Raise Hope for Congo Compilation

In 2010, Crow contributed the original spoken-word track "My Name is Mwamaroyi" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.
100 Miles from Memphis (2010 - )

A&M Records released Crow's seventh studio album, 100 Miles from Memphis, on July 20, 2010. The album has a classic soul vibe and features lead single "Summer Day." 100 Miles from Memphis (released July 20 on A&M Records), the distance from her hometown to the music mecca, is an ode to her formative memories of music - and one that the label hopes can inspire young music fans to investigate the landscape beyond processed pop and Auto-Tune.
Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn (2010)

Sheryl Crow performed with Loretta Lynn and Miranda Lambert on the song "Coal Miner's Daughter" from Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn (2010).
44th Annual Country Music Awards

On November 10, 2010, Sheryl Crow performed a tribute to Loretta Lynn with Miranda Lambert on the 44th Annual Country Music Awards
Crow began dating cyclist Lance Armstrong in 2003. The couple announced their engagement in September 2005 and their split in February 2006. Immediately following her split from Lance Armstrong, Crow was treated for breast cancer at a Los Angeles-based facility by breast cancer surgeon Dr. Kristi Funk. Crow had "minimally invasive" surgery in late February 2006, followed by radiation therapy.

On May 11, 2007, Crow announced on her official website that she had adopted a two-week-old boy named Wyatt Steven Crow. The child was born on April 29, 2007. She and Wyatt live on a 154-acre (0.62 km2) farm outside Nashville, Tennessee.

On June 4, 2010, Crow announced that she adopted another boy named Levi James Crow, born on April 30, 2010.

She is the great-granddaughter of former congressman Charles A. Crow (1873-1938).
Discography
Main article: Sheryl Crow discography

    * 1993: Tuesday Night Music Club
    * 1996: Sheryl Crow
    * 1998: The Globe Sessions
    * 2002: C'mon C'mon
    * 2005: Wildflower
    * 2008: Detours
    * 2010: 100 Miles from Memphis
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo228/ILoveLucy1901/sheryl-crow.jpg
http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u351/jobud/sheryl_crow3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/12/11 at 5:49 am

The person of the day...Maud Adams
Maud Solveig Christina Wikström (born February 12, 1945), known professionally as Maud Adams, is a Swedish actress, known for her roles as two different Bond girls in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and as the title character in Octopussy (1983).
Adams was born Maud Solveig Christina Wikström in Luleå, Sweden, the daughter of Thyra, a government tax inspector, and Gustav Wikström, a comptroller. She had once wanted to work as an interpreter as she is fluent in five languages. She was discovered in 1963 in a shop by a photographer who asked to take her picture, a picture he submitted to the Miss Sweden contest arranged by the magazine Allers. Adams won this contest and from there her modelling career took off.
Career

Adams moved to Paris and later to New York City to work for Eileen Ford. At this time she was one of the highest paid and most exposed models in the world. Her acting career started when she was asked to appear in the 1970 movie The Boys In The Band, in which she played a photo-shoot model in the opening credits. In the 1970s, she guest-starred in such American TV series as Hawaii Five-O and Kojak.

Adams was catapulted to international fame as the doomed villain's mistress in The Man with the Golden Gun with Roger Moore and Christopher Lee where her performance was reviewed as "tough but haunted". In short order, she appeared in Norman Jewison's futuristic Rollerball, several European films, and in the steamy obsession thriller Tattoo with Bruce Dern. She was so well regarded by James Bond film series producer Albert Broccoli that she was asked to return as the title character in Octopussy in 1983, this time as the lead—an exotic and mysterious smuggler, also opposite Roger Moore. Adams had a Swedish co-star on both of her Bond films, Kristina Wayborn as Magda in Octopussy and Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun. She was also an extra in A View to a Kill (1985). While portraying a Bond girl has not always indicated continued success as an actress, Adams comments, "Looking back on it, how can you not really enjoy the fact that you were a Bond Girl? It’s pop culture and to be part of that is very nice."

Adams parlayed her performance to a US television series Emerald Point NAS in 1983 and 1984, but was unable to sustain her high profile, falling back on second rate material such as Jane and the Lost City in 1987.

She hosted the Swedish TV show Kafé Luleå in 1994 and played a guest role in the Swedish soap opera Vita lögner in 1998.

She guest-starred on That '70s Show in 2000, appearing as a bridesmaid to Tanya Roberts, along with Kristina Wayborn (her Octopussy co-star) and Barbara Carrera; all four share the title of Bond girl (though Carrera was in the unofficial adaptation Never Say Never Again). Adams has remained close to the Bond producers, often attending Bond premieres and other events associated with the series.

She also was the president of a cosmetics company called Scandinavian Biocosmetics.
Personal life

Adams's first marriage, from 1966–1975 to photographer Roy Adams, ended in divorce. She then had relationships with actor Reid Smith and Steven Zax, a plastic surgeon. She married her current husband, private mediator and retired judge, Charles Rubin, in 1999. She has no children.
Filmography
Films

    * The Boys in the Band (1970) ... Photo Model
    * The Christian Licorice Store (1971) ... Cynthia
    * Mahoney's Estate (1972) ... Miriam
    * U-Turn (1973) ... Paula/Tracy
    * The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) ... Andrea Anders
    * Rollerball (1975) ... Ella
    * Killer Force (1976) ... Clare
    * Merciless Man (1977) ... Marta Mayer
    * Laura ... Sarah
    * Tattoo (1981) ... Maddy
    * Jugando con la muerte (1982) ... Carmen
    * Octopussy (1983) ... Octopussy
    * A View to a Kill (1985) ... Woman in Fisherman's Wharf Crowd (uncredited)
    * Hell Hunters (1986) ... Amanda
    * The Women's Club (1987) ... Angie
    * Jane and the Lost City (1987) ... Lola Pagola
    * Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988) ... Nadine
    * The Mysterious Death of Nina Chereau (1988) ... Ariel Dubois
    * Deadly Intent (1988) ... Elise Marlowe
    * The Kill Reflex (1989) ... Crystal Tarver
    * Pasión de hombre (1989) ... Susana
    * The Favorite (1989) ... Sineperver
    * Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990) .. Fima
    * Ringer (1996) ... Leslie Polokoff
    * The Seekers (2006) ... Ella Swanson

Television

    * Love, American Style (1971)
    * Gäst hos Hagge (1975)
    * Kojak (1977) (2 episodes) ... Elenor Martinson
    * Hawaii Five-O (1977) ... Maria Noble
    * Big Bob Johnson and His Fantastic Speed Circus (1978) ... Vikki Lee Sanchez
    * The Hostage Tower (1980) ... Sabrina Carver
    * Playing for Time (1980) ... Mala
    * Chicago Story (1982) ... Dr. Judith Bergstrom
    * Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983) ... Maggie Farrell
    * Nairobi Affair (1984) ... Anne Malone
    * Blacke's Magic (1986) ... Andrea Starr
    * Hotel (1986) ... Kay Radcliff
    * Mission: Impossible (1989) ... Catherine Balzac
    * A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives (1993) ... Shelly Talbot Morrison
    * Kafé Luleå (1994) ... Host
    * Radioskugga (1995) TV-series ... Sister Katarina (Guest)
    * Walker, Texas Ranger (1996) ... Simone Deschamps
    * Vita lögner (1998) (20 episodes) ... Ellinor Malm
    * That '70s Show (2000) ... Holly

As director

    * Kafé Luleå (1994) (TV series)

As herself

    * Women Who Rate a 10 (1981)
    * Battle of the Network Stars XI (1981)
    * Så ska det låta (1997) (TV episode)
    * The James Bond Story (1999)
    * The Men Behind the Mayhem: The Special Effects of James Bond (2000)
    * Inside 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (2000)
    * Inside 'Octopussy' (2000)
    * Inside 'A View to a Kill' (2000)
    * Bond Girls are Forever (2002) (TV)
    * Premiere Bond: Die Another Day (2002)
    * James Bond: A BAFTA Tribute (2002)
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af208/mkbaltimore/Bond%20Girls/OctoBondGirlOctopussy.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/A%20Index/Adams/Adams-M-MwtGG01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/11 at 6:12 am


The person of the day...Maud Adams
Maud Solveig Christina Wikström (born February 12, 1945), known professionally as Maud Adams, is a Swedish actress, known for her roles as two different Bond girls in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and as the title character in Octopussy (1983).
Adams was born Maud Solveig Christina Wikström in Luleå, Sweden, the daughter of Thyra, a government tax inspector, and Gustav Wikström, a comptroller. She had once wanted to work as an interpreter as she is fluent in five languages. She was discovered in 1963 in a shop by a photographer who asked to take her picture, a picture he submitted to the Miss Sweden contest arranged by the magazine Allers. Adams won this contest and from there her modelling career took off.
Career

Adams moved to Paris and later to New York City to work for Eileen Ford. At this time she was one of the highest paid and most exposed models in the world. Her acting career started when she was asked to appear in the 1970 movie The Boys In The Band, in which she played a photo-shoot model in the opening credits. In the 1970s, she guest-starred in such American TV series as Hawaii Five-O and Kojak.

Adams was catapulted to international fame as the doomed villain's mistress in The Man with the Golden Gun with Roger Moore and Christopher Lee where her performance was reviewed as "tough but haunted". In short order, she appeared in Norman Jewison's futuristic Rollerball, several European films, and in the steamy obsession thriller Tattoo with Bruce Dern. She was so well regarded by James Bond film series producer Albert Broccoli that she was asked to return as the title character in Octopussy in 1983, this time as the lead—an exotic and mysterious smuggler, also opposite Roger Moore. Adams had a Swedish co-star on both of her Bond films, Kristina Wayborn as Magda in Octopussy and Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun. She was also an extra in A View to a Kill (1985). While portraying a Bond girl has not always indicated continued success as an actress, Adams comments, "Looking back on it, how can you not really enjoy the fact that you were a Bond Girl? It’s pop culture and to be part of that is very nice."

Adams parlayed her performance to a US television series Emerald Point NAS in 1983 and 1984, but was unable to sustain her high profile, falling back on second rate material such as Jane and the Lost City in 1987.

She hosted the Swedish TV show Kafé Luleå in 1994 and played a guest role in the Swedish soap opera Vita lögner in 1998.

She guest-starred on That '70s Show in 2000, appearing as a bridesmaid to Tanya Roberts, along with Kristina Wayborn (her Octopussy co-star) and Barbara Carrera; all four share the title of Bond girl (though Carrera was in the unofficial adaptation Never Say Never Again). Adams has remained close to the Bond producers, often attending Bond premieres and other events associated with the series.

She also was the president of a cosmetics company called Scandinavian Biocosmetics.
Personal life

Adams's first marriage, from 1966–1975 to photographer Roy Adams, ended in divorce. She then had relationships with actor Reid Smith and Steven Zax, a plastic surgeon. She married her current husband, private mediator and retired judge, Charles Rubin, in 1999. She has no children.
Filmography
Films

    * The Boys in the Band (1970) ... Photo Model
    * The Christian Licorice Store (1971) ... Cynthia
    * Mahoney's Estate (1972) ... Miriam
    * U-Turn (1973) ... Paula/Tracy
    * The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) ... Andrea Anders
    * Rollerball (1975) ... Ella
    * Killer Force (1976) ... Clare
    * Merciless Man (1977) ... Marta Mayer
    * Laura ... Sarah
    * Tattoo (1981) ... Maddy
    * Jugando con la muerte (1982) ... Carmen
    * Octopussy (1983) ... Octopussy
    * A View to a Kill (1985) ... Woman in Fisherman's Wharf Crowd (uncredited)
    * Hell Hunters (1986) ... Amanda
    * The Women's Club (1987) ... Angie
    * Jane and the Lost City (1987) ... Lola Pagola
    * Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988) ... Nadine
    * The Mysterious Death of Nina Chereau (1988) ... Ariel Dubois
    * Deadly Intent (1988) ... Elise Marlowe
    * The Kill Reflex (1989) ... Crystal Tarver
    * Pasión de hombre (1989) ... Susana
    * The Favorite (1989) ... Sineperver
    * Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990) .. Fima
    * Ringer (1996) ... Leslie Polokoff
    * The Seekers (2006) ... Ella Swanson

Television

    * Love, American Style (1971)
    * Gäst hos Hagge (1975)
    * Kojak (1977) (2 episodes) ... Elenor Martinson
    * Hawaii Five-O (1977) ... Maria Noble
    * Big Bob Johnson and His Fantastic Speed Circus (1978) ... Vikki Lee Sanchez
    * The Hostage Tower (1980) ... Sabrina Carver
    * Playing for Time (1980) ... Mala
    * Chicago Story (1982) ... Dr. Judith Bergstrom
    * Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983) ... Maggie Farrell
    * Nairobi Affair (1984) ... Anne Malone
    * Blacke's Magic (1986) ... Andrea Starr
    * Hotel (1986) ... Kay Radcliff
    * Mission: Impossible (1989) ... Catherine Balzac
    * A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives (1993) ... Shelly Talbot Morrison
    * Kafé Luleå (1994) ... Host
    * Radioskugga (1995) TV-series ... Sister Katarina (Guest)
    * Walker, Texas Ranger (1996) ... Simone Deschamps
    * Vita lögner (1998) (20 episodes) ... Ellinor Malm
    * That '70s Show (2000) ... Holly

As director

    * Kafé Luleå (1994) (TV series)

As herself

    * Women Who Rate a 10 (1981)
    * Battle of the Network Stars XI (1981)
    * Så ska det låta (1997) (TV episode)
    * The James Bond Story (1999)
    * The Men Behind the Mayhem: The Special Effects of James Bond (2000)
    * Inside 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (2000)
    * Inside 'Octopussy' (2000)
    * Inside 'A View to a Kill' (2000)
    * Bond Girls are Forever (2002) (TV)
    * Premiere Bond: Die Another Day (2002)
    * James Bond: A BAFTA Tribute (2002)
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af208/mkbaltimore/Bond%20Girls/OctoBondGirlOctopussy.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/A%20Index/Adams/Adams-M-MwtGG01.jpg
Rollerball, now there is one film I saw ages ago, and have not seen since then.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/11 at 6:17 am

British Person of the Day: Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire into a wealthy and well-connected family. His maternal grandfather was china manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood, while his paternal grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, one of the leading intellectuals of 18th century England.

Darwin himself initially planned to follow a medical career, and studied at Edinburgh University but later switched to divinity at Cambridge. In 1831, he joined a five year scientific expedition on the survey ship HMS Beagle.

At this time, most Europeans believed that the world was created by God in seven days as described in the bible. On the voyage, Darwin read Lyell's 'Principles of Geology' which suggested that the fossils found in rocks were actually evidence of animals that had lived many thousands or millions of years ago. Lyell's argument was reinforced in Darwin's own mind by the rich variety of animal life and the geological features he saw during his voyage. The breakthrough in his ideas came in the Galapagos Islands, 500 miles west of South America. Darwin noticed that each island supported its own form of finch which were closely related but differed in important ways.

On his return to England in 1836, Darwin tried to solve the riddles of these observations and the puzzle of how species evolve. Influenced by the ideas of Malthus, he proposed a theory of evolution occurring by the process of natural selection. The animals (or plants) best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the characteristics which helped them survive to their offspring. Gradually, the species changes over time.

Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years. After learning that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had developed similar ideas, the two made a joint announcement of their discovery in 1858. In 1859 Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'.

The book was extremely controversial, because the logical extension of Darwin's theory was that homo sapiens was simply another form of animal. It made it seem possible that even people might just have evolved - quite possibly from apes - and destroyed the prevailing orthodoxy on how the world was created. Darwin was vehemently attacked, particularly by the Church. However, his ideas soon gained currency and have become the new orthodoxy.

Darwin died on 19 April 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

http://www.crystalinks.com/darwin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/12/11 at 10:13 am


British Person of the Day: Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire into a wealthy and well-connected family. His maternal grandfather was china manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood, while his paternal grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, one of the leading intellectuals of 18th century England.

Darwin himself initially planned to follow a medical career, and studied at Edinburgh University but later switched to divinity at Cambridge. In 1831, he joined a five year scientific expedition on the survey ship HMS Beagle.

At this time, most Europeans believed that the world was created by God in seven days as described in the bible. On the voyage, Darwin read Lyell's 'Principles of Geology' which suggested that the fossils found in rocks were actually evidence of animals that had lived many thousands or millions of years ago. Lyell's argument was reinforced in Darwin's own mind by the rich variety of animal life and the geological features he saw during his voyage. The breakthrough in his ideas came in the Galapagos Islands, 500 miles west of South America. Darwin noticed that each island supported its own form of finch which were closely related but differed in important ways.

On his return to England in 1836, Darwin tried to solve the riddles of these observations and the puzzle of how species evolve. Influenced by the ideas of Malthus, he proposed a theory of evolution occurring by the process of natural selection. The animals (or plants) best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the characteristics which helped them survive to their offspring. Gradually, the species changes over time.

Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years. After learning that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had developed similar ideas, the two made a joint announcement of their discovery in 1858. In 1859 Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'.

The book was extremely controversial, because the logical extension of Darwin's theory was that homo sapiens was simply another form of animal. It made it seem possible that even people might just have evolved - quite possibly from apes - and destroyed the prevailing orthodoxy on how the world was created. Darwin was vehemently attacked, particularly by the Church. However, his ideas soon gained currency and have become the new orthodoxy.

Darwin died on 19 April 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

http://www.crystalinks.com/darwin.jpg

Darwin's theory of evolution is based on key facts and the inferences drawn from them, which biologist Ernst Mayr summarised as follows:

    * Every species is fertile enough that if all offspring survived to reproduce the population would grow (fact).
    * Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size (fact).
    * Resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time (fact).
    * A struggle for survival ensues (inference).
    * Individuals in a population vary significantly from one another (fact).
    * Much of this variation is inheritable (fact).
    * Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce; individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce and leave their inheritable traits to future generations, which produces the process of natural selection (inference).
    * This slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species (inference).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/12/11 at 3:23 pm

Maud Adams is very pretty.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 2:41 am

British Person of the Day: Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed will probably be better remembered for his off-screen antics than his work as an actor.

His career took off in the 1960s, but he found greater fame as a hard-drinking hellraiser.

He was born in Wimbledon, south London, on 13 February 1938.

But by the time he hit his teens, his wild streak had already surfaced. He ran away from the family home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to become a Soho strip club bouncer, fairground boxer and hospital porter.

Acting soon followed, during his national service in Hong Kong, and his long search for a showbusiness break began soon after.

60s heart-throb

The lead role in a BBC series, playing Richard of Gloucester, led to a string of television parts before the movies beckoned in the shape of Hammer horror films.

He was quickly cast as the type of actor people "love to hate" and became one of the handful of British actors never out of a well-paid job.

His larger-than-life screen presence was capitalised on by Ken Russell, who cast him in Debussy on television and then in the films Women in Love, The Devils and Tommy.

But it was the nude wrestling scene with Alan Bates in the 1969 film Women in Love that started the wave of publicity that later threatened to engulf Reed.

'I don't punch people any more'

His hard-drinking reputation and the scrapes he found himself in almost overshadowed later films, including Musketeers' Triple Echo and Castaway.

The actor explained his behaviour by saying that having "cultivated the image of a baddie", he would pursue it, if it was what people wanted to see.

"That is why, if I go on a chat show, I give them the very thing they want, and sometimes I go over the top," he said.

"But I don't punch people any more; I am too old for that now. And very often I have hit someone only to avoid being hit myself."

Escapades which either he or others have recounted include:

    * Spiking snooker ace Alex Higgins's whisky with Chanel perfume, followed by Higgins squirting washing-up liquid in his creme de menthe
    * His occasional habit of displaying the bird claws tattooed on his private parts, a performance which was once described as his "party trick"
    * He denied downing 104 pints of beer in a two-day session before marrying his wife, Josephine. "The event that was reported actually took place during an arm-wrestling competition in Guernsey about 15 years ago," he said. "It was highly exaggerated."
    * He once arrived at Galway airport lying drunk on a baggage conveyor
    * He once said: "I like the effect drink has on me. What's the point of staying sober?"

16-year-old companion

His notoriety peaked in September 1985 when he married 21-year-old Josephine Burge, who had been his companion since she was 16.

His previous marriage was to Irish model Kate Byrne, with whom he had a son Mark. The marriage was dissolved in 1970 after 10 years.

He also had a daughter, Sarah, from a 12-year relationship with a ballet dancer, Jacquie Daryl.

But beyond the legend there was a man with a marvellous speaking voice who was the ultimate professional - always word perfect and unfailingly courteous to colleagues and technicians.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 2:43 am


British Person of the Day: Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed will probably be better remembered for his off-screen antics than his work as an actor.

His career took off in the 1960s, but he found greater fame as a hard-drinking hellraiser.

He was born in Wimbledon, south London, on 13 February 1938.

But by the time he hit his teens, his wild streak had already surfaced. He ran away from the family home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to become a Soho strip club bouncer, fairground boxer and hospital porter.

Acting soon followed, during his national service in Hong Kong, and his long search for a showbusiness break began soon after.

60s heart-throb

The lead role in a BBC series, playing Richard of Gloucester, led to a string of television parts before the movies beckoned in the shape of Hammer horror films.

He was quickly cast as the type of actor people "love to hate" and became one of the handful of British actors never out of a well-paid job.

His larger-than-life screen presence was capitalised on by Ken Russell, who cast him in Debussy on television and then in the films Women in Love, The Devils and Tommy.

But it was the nude wrestling scene with Alan Bates in the 1969 film Women in Love that started the wave of publicity that later threatened to engulf Reed.

'I don't punch people any more'

His hard-drinking reputation and the scrapes he found himself in almost overshadowed later films, including Musketeers' Triple Echo and Castaway.

The actor explained his behaviour by saying that having "cultivated the image of a baddie", he would pursue it, if it was what people wanted to see.

"That is why, if I go on a chat show, I give them the very thing they want, and sometimes I go over the top," he said.

"But I don't punch people any more; I am too old for that now. And very often I have hit someone only to avoid being hit myself."

Escapades which either he or others have recounted include:

    * Spiking snooker ace Alex Higgins's whisky with Chanel perfume, followed by Higgins squirting washing-up liquid in his creme de menthe
    * His occasional habit of displaying the bird claws tattooed on his private parts, a performance which was once described as his "party trick"
    * He denied downing 104 pints of beer in a two-day session before marrying his wife, Josephine. "The event that was reported actually took place during an arm-wrestling competition in Guernsey about 15 years ago," he said. "It was highly exaggerated."
    * He once arrived at Galway airport lying drunk on a baggage conveyor
    * He once said: "I like the effect drink has on me. What's the point of staying sober?"

16-year-old companion

His notoriety peaked in September 1985 when he married 21-year-old Josephine Burge, who had been his companion since she was 16.

His previous marriage was to Irish model Kate Byrne, with whom he had a son Mark. The marriage was dissolved in 1970 after 10 years.

He also had a daughter, Sarah, from a 12-year relationship with a ballet dancer, Jacquie Daryl.

But beyond the legend there was a man with a marvellous speaking voice who was the ultimate professional - always word perfect and unfailingly courteous to colleagues and technicians.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xcTUGbF9ZZI/S5hIgsRJ9hI/AAAAAAAAAFI/0hiP7-srzqA/s400/Oliver_Reed_Bill_Sykes.jpg

Oliver Reed as the non-singing Bill Sykes in Oliver!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/13/11 at 3:57 am

I really liked Oliver Reed in the film " The Assassination Bureau" ...with Emma Peel....err, I meant Diana Rigg. ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 4:48 am


I really liked Oliver Reed in the film " The Assassination Bureau" ...with Emma Peel....err, I meant Diana Rigg. ::)
How about his naked wrestling with Alan Bates in Women In Love?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/11 at 6:00 am


British Person of the Day: Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed will probably be better remembered for his off-screen antics than his work as an actor.

His career took off in the 1960s, but he found greater fame as a hard-drinking hellraiser.

He was born in Wimbledon, south London, on 13 February 1938.

But by the time he hit his teens, his wild streak had already surfaced. He ran away from the family home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, to become a Soho strip club bouncer, fairground boxer and hospital porter.

Acting soon followed, during his national service in Hong Kong, and his long search for a showbusiness break began soon after.

60s heart-throb

The lead role in a BBC series, playing Richard of Gloucester, led to a string of television parts before the movies beckoned in the shape of Hammer horror films.

He was quickly cast as the type of actor people "love to hate" and became one of the handful of British actors never out of a well-paid job.

His larger-than-life screen presence was capitalised on by Ken Russell, who cast him in Debussy on television and then in the films Women in Love, The Devils and Tommy.

But it was the nude wrestling scene with Alan Bates in the 1969 film Women in Love that started the wave of publicity that later threatened to engulf Reed.

'I don't punch people any more'

His hard-drinking reputation and the scrapes he found himself in almost overshadowed later films, including Musketeers' Triple Echo and Castaway.

The actor explained his behaviour by saying that having "cultivated the image of a baddie", he would pursue it, if it was what people wanted to see.

"That is why, if I go on a chat show, I give them the very thing they want, and sometimes I go over the top," he said.

"But I don't punch people any more; I am too old for that now. And very often I have hit someone only to avoid being hit myself."

Escapades which either he or others have recounted include:

    * Spiking snooker ace Alex Higgins's whisky with Chanel perfume, followed by Higgins squirting washing-up liquid in his creme de menthe
    * His occasional habit of displaying the bird claws tattooed on his private parts, a performance which was once described as his "party trick"
    * He denied downing 104 pints of beer in a two-day session before marrying his wife, Josephine. "The event that was reported actually took place during an arm-wrestling competition in Guernsey about 15 years ago," he said. "It was highly exaggerated."
    * He once arrived at Galway airport lying drunk on a baggage conveyor
    * He once said: "I like the effect drink has on me. What's the point of staying sober?"

16-year-old companion

His notoriety peaked in September 1985 when he married 21-year-old Josephine Burge, who had been his companion since she was 16.

His previous marriage was to Irish model Kate Byrne, with whom he had a son Mark. The marriage was dissolved in 1970 after 10 years.

He also had a daughter, Sarah, from a 12-year relationship with a ballet dancer, Jacquie Daryl.

But beyond the legend there was a man with a marvellous speaking voice who was the ultimate professional - always word perfect and unfailingly courteous to colleagues and technicians.



Very good choice..I've always liked him. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 6:02 am


Very good choice..I've always liked him. :)
For what he was and life he led, he was/is still adorable.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/11 at 6:04 am

The person of the day...Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams left the group in 1995 to launch his solo career. On 15 July 2010, it was announced he had rejoined Take That and that the group intended to release a new album in November 2010.

Williams has sold more than 57 million albums worldwide. He is the best-selling British solo artist in the United Kingdom and the best selling non-Latino artist in Latin America. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the United Kingdom. He has also been honoured with fifteen BRIT Awards—more than any other artist—and seven ECHO Awards. In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame after being voted as the "Greatest Artist of the 1990s."
In 1990, the sixteen year old Williams was the youngest member to join Take That. According to the documentary Take That: For the Record, his mother read an advertisement seeking members for a new boy band and suggested that he try out for the group. He met fellow member Mark Owen on the day of his audition/interview with Nigel Martin-Smith. During the heights of the band's popularity, Williams was known as the extrovert and practical joker of the band. Although the majority of the band's material was written and performed by Gary Barlow, Williams did perform lead vocals on their first Top Ten hit "Could It Be Magic", "I Found Heaven", and "Everything Changes". However, he had conflicts with Martin-Smith over the restrictive rules for Take That members, and he began drinking more alcohol and dabbling in cocaine.

In July 1995, Williams's drug abuse had escalated to the point of his having a near drug overdose the night before the group was scheduled to perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards. According to the documentary For the Record, he stated that he was unhappy with his musical ideas not being taken seriously by lead singer Barlow and Nigel Martin-Smith, because his desire to explore hip hop and rap conflicted with the band's usual ballads. Barlow explained in interviews that Williams had given up trying to offer creative input and merely did as he was told. As well as Williams's friction with the management of the band, Jason Orange had problems with his increasingly belligerent behaviour, his lack of interest in performing, and his frequent habit of missing the band's rehearsals.

Both Orange and Barlow confronted Martin-Smith about the internal conflict, because they did not want him dropping out while touring and before any possible future touring of America, which never took place. During one of the last rehearsals before the tour commenced, the group confronted Williams about his attitude and stated they wanted to do the tour without him. He agreed to quit the band and left; it would be the last time for twelve years that they were all together. Despite the departure of Williams, Take That completed their Nobody Else Tour as a four-piece band. They later disbanded on 13 February 1996, Williams's twenty-second birthday.

Shortly afterwards, Williams was photographed by the press partying with the members of Oasis at Glastonbury Festival. Following his departure, he became the subject of talk shows and newspapers as he acknowledged his plans to become a solo singer, and he was spotted partying with George Michael in France. However, a clause in his Take That contract prohibited him from releasing any material until after the group was officially dissolved, and he was later sued by Martin-Smith and forced to pay $200,000 in commission. After various legal battles over his right to a solo career, Williams was victorious in getting released from his contract with BMG. On 27 June 1996, Williams formally announced that he had signed with Chrysalis Records.
1996–98: Life Thru a Lens and I've Been Expecting You

After leaving Take That, Williams launched his solo career starting things off in 1996 by covering George Michael's "Freedom", the single reached number two in the UK Singles Chart, twenty-six places higher than George Michael's original.

Recordings for Williams's first album began at London's Maison Rouge studios in March of that year. Shortly after his introduction to Guy Chambers, Williams released "Old Before I Die" which would be the first single taken from his début album. Co-written by Williams with Eric Bazilian and Desmond Child, the single was released in April 1997, hitting number two on the UK Charts; however, it was largely ignored on international charts. The second single, "Lazy Days", was released in mid-1997. Although Williams was going through drug rehabilitation on the advice of his friend Elton John, he was allowed to check out to shoot the video for the song, but promotion for the single was virtually non-existent, so whilst the single charted at number eight in the United Kingdom, it struggled to reach the top forty of any European chart.

His debut album, Life Thru a Lens, was released in September 1997. The album launched with his first live solo gig at the Élysée Montmartre theatre in Paris, France. At first, the album was slow to take off, debuting at number eleven of the UK Album Charts. The third single of the album, "South of the Border", failed to make a significant impact on the UK Charts. When it was released in September 1997, it reached number fourteen.

After Williams met the record company's concerns about his future, he released what would be the fourth single taken from his album, not knowing it would become his biggest single in the United Kingdom so far, and one of his best-known and most successful songs to date. "Angels" became Williams' best-seller in the United Kingdom, being certified 2x Platinum by the BPI. The song, apart from becoming a hit around Europe and Latin America, caused sales of his album to skyrocket. The album remained inside the British top ten for forty weeks and spent 218 weeks there altogether, making it the 58th best selling album in UK History with sales of over 2.4 million. The album eventually managed to sell over three million copies in Europe alone.

Williams and Chambers started writing the second album in Jamaica in early 1998. The first single, "Millennium", was inspired by John Barry's, theme song for You Only Live Twice, the James Bond movie. The song became Williams' first solo number one single in the United Kingdom when it was released in September of that year. The song went on to sell over 400,000 copies in the UK alone being certified Gold by the BPI in November 1998. It also became a top twenty hit in many European countries, as well becoming a hit in Latin America and Australia.

When the album I've Been Expecting You was released in late October 1998, it débuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart. The album received more attention outside the United Kingdom, leaving its mark in the European and Latin American markets with hits such as "No Regrets", a collaboration with The Pet Shop Boys' singer Neil Tennant and The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon. The single "No Regrets" was released in November 1998, reaching number four in the UK Singles Chart, backed with the cover of Adam and the Ants, "Antmusic". The single eventually sold over 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom being certified Silver in October 2004, almost six years after its original release.

The third single "Strong" from the album debuted at number four in the United Kingdom and number nine in New Zealand, however peaked moderately at only number 68 in Germany, number 99 in France and number 55 in the Netherlands. The fourth single, "She's the One", a cover of a track from World Party's album, Egyptology, became his second number one hit in the United Kingdom. The single was released as a double a-side with "It's Only Us", the official theme for FIFA 2000. The single became a massive success selling over 400,000 copies in the UK alone being certified Gold by the BPI in early 2000. Williams finished the year with an extensive European Tour late in 1999.

The album I've Been Expecting You was a smash hit, selling almost 3 million copies in the United Kingdom alone: certified 10x Platinum by the BPI. In Europe alone, the album sold over 4 million copies.
1999–2001: Sing When You're Winning and Swing When You're Winning

In 1999, Williams was signed to Capitol Records in the United States, which is a part of EMI. Williams embarked on a US promotional tour and when his first U.S. and Canadian single, "Millennium" was released, it hit number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100, the album The Ego Has Landed was released in July 1999 in the United States and Canada, not having the success that he enjoyed in Europe - the album peaked at number 63 in the U.S. Billboard Albums Chart and number 17 on the Canadian SoundScan album chart. Despite this, Williams enjoyed good video airplay and received a nomination for the MTV Video Music Awards for "Best Male Video" – he did not win, but the exposure helped sales of the album.

Capitol Records, trying to make Williams a bigger star, released a second single from the album, the ballad "Angels". Williams shot a new video for it, and when it was released in fall of that year, the song became a somewhat bigger hit than "Millennium", peaking at number 53, but this was not enough for Williams, so he concentrated on the rest of the world where he was already an established act. The album went on to sell 596,000 copies in the United States, certified Gold by the RIAA in November of that year. The compilation was released worldwide (as a limited edition in Europe); the album was a success in New Zealand reaching number one on the official album charts.

In the middle of promotion and the tours in 1999, becoming an established worldwide pop star, Williams found time to start work on what would be his third studio album. This time he had finally found his inner confidence.

The first single taken from the album was "Rock DJ", a song inspired by Williams's UNICEF mentor, the late Ian Dury. The video showed Williams in an attempt to get noticed by a group of females, first stripping and then tearing chunks of skin and muscle from his body, and caused controversy in the United Kingdom and many other countries. The video was edited by Top of the Pops for its graphic content and many other channels followed suit. The song became an instant hit, making number one in the United Kingdom and becoming his third number one single as a solo artist exactly a year after his sell-out concert at the Slane Castle. The song also reached number one in New Zealand and hit the Top 10 placings in many countries including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Italy and Australia. Despite this success, the song failed to break into the United States charts, but it did get some TV Airplay on channels such as MTV and VH1. The song went on to win several awards; among them, "Best Song of 2000" at the MTV Europe Music Awards, "Best Single of the Year" at the BRIT Awards and an MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects. It sold over 600,000 copies in the UK alone, being certified Platinum by the BPI.

When the album, Sing When You're Winning was released in August 2000, it topped the charts in many different countries all over the world including Germany, New Zealand and The Netherlands and secured top ten placings in Italy, Austria, Australia, Finland and Sweden, among many others. As for the UK, the album débuted at number one being certified 2x Platinum on its first week of release.

The album's second single, a collaboration with Australian singer Kylie Minogue, titled "Kids", was written when Minogue approached Williams to write material for what would be her first album under Parlophone – Light Years. Williams decided to include the track on his album and release it as a single. It was an instant hit when it was released in October of that year, hitting number two in the United Kingdom and reaching top twenty placings in countries like Australia and New Zealand. Kids became one of the biggest hits of that year selling over 200,000 copies in the UK alone and was certified Silver.

Further singles, such as "Supreme" (which Williams also recorded in French), and "Better Man" became big hits reaching the top 10 in numerous countries around the world.

"Eternity", a track that was not featured on the album, was released in mid 2001 backed with "The Road to Mandalay" - the former was written by Williams. It became his fourth number one single in the United Kingdom, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week in the UK alone, and also hit the top 10 in many countries including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy among others.

The album spent 91 weeks inside the UK Charts, going on to sell 2.4 million copies in the UK alone and was certified 8x Platinum by the BPI. It became the 51st Best Selling album in UK Music History and went on to sell over 4 million copies in Europe alone.

After the success of his third album, Williams wanted to take another musical direction. He took two weeks off from his tour to record what would be his fourth studio album, the big band album he had always dreamed of making. Born from his life-long love for Frank Sinatra – combined with the success of the track "Have You Met Miss Jones?" that he recorded for the film Bridget Jones' Diary in early 2001 – the album was recorded at the Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California.

Williams took the chance to duet with his long-time friend Jonathan Wilkes, Little Voice star Jane Horrocks, Saturday Night Live star Jon Lovitz, Rupert Everett and the Academy Award winning actress Nicole Kidman. The first single released from the album was a duet with Kidman, on "Somethin' Stupid". Originally a hit for Frank and Nancy Sinatra, the song became Williams' fifth number one hit in the United Kingdom, selling almost 100,000 copies in its first week of release, as well as hitting the top 5 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand. It eventually went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2001, selling over 200,000 copies in the UK alone. After spending three weeks at the top of the charts in 2001, it was certified Silver in January 2002.

When the album Swing When You're Winning (in reference to his 2000 studio album Sing When You're Winning) was released in late 2001, it became an instant hit in the United Kingdom (spending six consecutive weeks at number one), Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Germany and Switzerland and it reached the top ten in the rest of the world, going on to sell over 2 million copies by the end of 2001 and over 7 million altogether. A second single was released from the album, a double a-side "Mr. Bojangles/I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen". It was, however, released only in Central and Eastern Europe. "Mack the Knife" was released as a radio single in Mexico.

The album spent 85 weeks inside the UK Charts, selling more than 2.1 million copies. It was certified 7x Platinum in the United Kingdom and ultimately became the 49th Best Selling Album in UK Music History. "Beyond the Sea" was put in the credits of the film Finding Nemo in 2003 and was also released on the film's soundtrack CD.

A DVD called Robbie Williams Live at the Albert Hall was released in December of that year. So far, it has become one of the best selling music DVDs in Europe, being certified 6x Platinum in the United Kingdom and 2x Platinum in Germany
n June 2010, it was officially announced that Williams was ready to release his second greatest hits album, In and Out of Consciousness: The Greatest Hits 1990–2010, to celebrate his 20 years as a performing artist. Williams new single, also included on the album, will be "Shame", which is written and sung by Williams and Gary Barlow, his Take That bandmate. The single was set to released on 4 October 2010, while the album was set for release on 11 October 2010 in both CD and DVD formats.

On 15 July 2010, Robbie Williams announced he was returning to Take That. A joint statement between Williams and the group said "The rumours are true... Take That: the original lineup, have written and recorded a new album, to be called, Progress for release later this year," read the band's statement. "Following months of speculation Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams confirmed they have been recording a new studio album as a five-piece, which they will release in November."

On 26 August 2010, it was announced Williams would become a guest vocal coach on the ninth series of German reality television show Popstars: Girls forever to teach candidates for a girl group. On 20 September 2010, Williams released his second book called "You Know Me" in collaboration with Chris Heath. The book features a personal photo collection from the past 20 years of his career and behind-the-scenes insight from Williams.

In October, Media Control named Robbie Williams the most successful album-artist of the millennium due to the fact that he had spent No. 1 on the German Albums Chart for 38 weeks since 2000. He also reached that chart's Top Ten 135 times.
Other projects
Reunion of Take That

Williams announced in December 2008 that he was planning to relocate to the UK prior to releasing his eighth studio album in late-2009, and a possible reunion with Take That. Photos also showed Williams with his new tattoo of the Take That logo on his right arm, in tribute to his former bandmates. Williams bought a £7 million home in the village of Compton Bassett, Wiltshire.

On 27 March 2009, Williams stated he felt ready to re-join Take That. He said: "I'm in regular contact with them, even Gaz, and it's looking more likely by the week. The lads all seem up for it and some people think it's a done deal. I think it would be fun." Williams was eager to re-join the band on their The Circus Live tour, but these plans never materialised. In September 2009, Williams was reported to be working in New York with Take That, however these rumours were never confirmed.

While it was rumoured that Williams would reunite with Take That on 12 November 2009 for a Children In Need charity concert at The Royal Albert Hall, they merely greeted each other warmly on stage between performances. However, both did join with the other acts in the final song of the evening, with Robbie putting his arm around Gary Barlow and singing Hey Jude happily together. Williams subsequently implied in an interview that a proper reunion was still a distinct possibility. On 15 February 2010, tabloid newspaper The Sun printed an interview with Robbie, stating that he and Take That had been sighted going to an Los Angeles studio together.

It was announced on 15 July that Robbie Williams had rejoined Take That. In November 2010 the Take That album Progress was released, becoming the fastest selling album since 2000 and second fastest selling album in UK history. Robbie explained that the long-standing friction between himself and Gary has been resolved, and how close they are now.

The band also announced the Progress Live 2011 tour which will travel across the UK in the Summer and finish with a record breaking 8 nights at Wembley Stadium in London. The tour will also visit some of the biggest venues across Europe after the tour of the UK. The tour was the fastest selling tour in UK history with ticket hotlines and websites crashing under the demand.
Reception in North America

Williams's first United States single, "Millennium", made it to #72 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its highest position on American charts was #20 in Top 40 Mainstream. His second single, "Angels", was a success on the Hot Adult Contemporary Chart where it peaked at #10. It also hit #41 in the Hot 100, becoming his highest peaking track on the main American chart and the most commonly known Robbie Williams song in the United States (later covers by Jessica Simpson and David Archuleta would be released as singles). In 1999, Williams released a special, US only, compilation of his first two albums, titled The Ego Has Landed. The album peaked at #63 and went Gold selling over 500,000 copies in the US.

Later in 2000, "Rock DJ", a single taken from Williams's second US album Sing When You're Winning, was released; it reached #24 in the Hot Dance Club Play Chart, but failed to chart on the Hot 100. The album peaked at #110 on the Billboard 200 and only stayed on the charts for four weeks.

Together with a promotional tour, EMI hoped that the release of Escapology would be the album to successfully break the American market. Williams performed the lead song "Feel" on such shows as Good Morning America and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. However, this single did not reach Hot 100 but peaked at #28 on the Adult Top 40. The album Escapology also failed to catch fire in America and peaked at #43 on the US Album Billboard Charts. Intensive Care and Rudebox were not released on an American label, but they were made available on iTunes. Williams's 2009 album, Reality Killed The Video Star, was released in the US, but was also a commercial failure, peaking at #160 and remained on the chart for only one week.

Williams's single "Lovelight" was released in the United States by Virgin Records, debuting at #23 in the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart on March 2008 and eventually peaking at #8 by May 2008. It was the third single from the British singer to hit the American dance chart. It was also his sixth single to reach American charts and his second highest-charting single in an American chart to date. Other singles from Rudebox were released in the United States: She's Madonna, We're the Pet Shop Boys and We're the Pet Shop Boys (Close My Eyes). These songs peaked at #12, #5 and #7 respectively in the Hot Dance Club Play chart.

In Canada, Williams has enjoyed more success, with "Feel" reaching the top ten there. A few of his other songs have gained popularity there, notably "Angels", "Millennium", "Rock DJ", "Tripping" and "She's Madonna". Williams has received a Platinum certification for his The Ego Has Landed for sales of over 100,000 and Gold for Swing When You're Winning as well as for Escapology selling over 50,000 units of each.
Collaborations

One of his most famous collaborations was on the song "Kids", a duet with Australian pop star Kylie Minogue. The single peaked at number 2 on the UK singles charts in 2000. Williams also collaborated with Australian film star Nicole Kidman on a cover of Frank and Nancy Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid". The single reached number 1 on the UK singles chart in 2001. His single "No Regrets" featured Neil Tennant, and Neil Hannon on backing vocals.

In 2002, Williams appeared on the track "My Culture" on the 1 Giant Leap album, alongside rapper Maxi Jazz (which features lyrics from the hidden track "Hello Sir" from Life Thru a Lens). Williams also features on a double CD titled Concrete which was released on the same day as Rudebox. The CD features a concert recorded for the BBC featuring the Pet Shop Boys and Williams singing their classic hit "Jealousy". Their joint effort, "She's Madonna", was released as a single in March 2007. On 13 August 2007, a Dean Martin duets album was released, on which Williams sings "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone". Most recently it was announced that Williams has recorded what is going to be Mexican singer Thalía's first single from her upcoming English-language album. In 2010 he announced that he was to release "Shame", a duet with Take That lead singer songwriter Gary Barlow as the first single from his greatest hits collection In and Out of Consciousness: The Greatest Hits 1990–2010.
Discography
Main article: Robbie Williams discography

Studio albums

   * Life thru a Lens (1997)
   * I've Been Expecting You (1998)
   * Sing When You're Winning (2000)
   * Swing When You're Winning (2001)
   * Escapology (2002)
   * Intensive Care (2005)
   * Rudebox (2006)
   * Reality Killed the Video Star (2009)



Compilation albums

   * The Ego Has Landed (1999)
   * Greatest Hits (2004)
   * The Best So Far (2006) (released only in Brazil)
   * Songbook (2009) (released only in the UK with The Mail on Sunday)
   * In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 (2010)

Live albums

   * Live at Knebworth (2003)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o215/FloraAshley/Robbie_williams.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bea2/Robbie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/13/11 at 6:05 am


For what he was and life he led, he was/is still adorable.

Someone to meet at the pub and hang out with. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 6:14 am


Someone to meet at the pub and hang out with. :)
...but sadly not now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 6:15 am


Someone to meet at the pub and hang out with. :)
Which reminds me, I still have to see Gladiator.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/13/11 at 7:35 am


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xcTUGbF9ZZI/S5hIgsRJ9hI/AAAAAAAAAFI/0hiP7-srzqA/s400/Oliver_Reed_Bill_Sykes.jpg

Oliver Reed as the non-singing Bill Sykes in Oliver!



He did an outstanding job in that part.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 7:37 am



He did an outstanding job in that part.


Cat
...but still did not sing the song "My Name" for Bill Sykes composed by Lionel Bart for the original stage production.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 7:39 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeaT8RsFVIQ&feature=fvst

From Beat Girl (1960) featuring a young Oliver Reed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 7:41 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M10GShuSZg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/13/11 at 8:30 am


...but still did not sing the song "My Name" for Bill Sykes composed by Lionel Bart for the original stage production.



I don't remember the song at all. We used to have the album to the play. I guess we didn't listen to it much like we did with the other albums to plays we had. I always hated when they cut songs from the plays to the movies. I am so glad that people FINALLY got the idea to just film the play on stage. It is so much better than Hollywood rewriting the play to suit the actors. It really gets me how they used to cast people who couldn't sing or dance in musicals. Made no since to me.


Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/13/11 at 9:02 am



I don't remember the song at all. We used to have the album to the play. I guess we didn't listen to it much like we did with the other albums to plays we had. I always hated when they cut songs from the plays to the movies. I am so glad that people FINALLY got the idea to just film the play on stage. It is so much better than Hollywood rewriting the play to suit the actors. It really gets me how they used to cast people who couldn't sing or dance in musicals. Made no since to me.


Cat



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvnINNY2FWk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/13/11 at 3:51 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvnINNY2FWk



Thanks, but I can't listen to it right now. My hook-up is not much better than dial-up.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/14/11 at 5:23 am

The person of the day...Murray The K
Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he frequently referred to himself as the fifth Beatle.
Murray Kaufman came from a show business family: his mother, Jean, played piano in vaudeville and wrote music and his aunt was a character actress on the stage and in film. He was a child actor - an extra - in several 1930s Hollywood films. He attended a military boarding school, and later was inducted into the United States Army where he arranged entertainment for the troops. Following the war, he put together shows in the Catskills' "Borscht Belt", also doing warm-ups for the headline performers.
Post-war
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he worked in public relations and as a song plugger, helping to promote tunes like Bob Merrill's "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window." From there, he worked as a radio producer and co-host at WMCA (and briefly thereafter at WMGM), working with personalities such as Laraine Day on the late night interview program "Day At Night" and with Eva Gabor. At the same time, he was doing promotion for several baseball players, including Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, and his radio beginnings may be attributable to his connection with the New York Giants, whose manager, Leo Durocher, was the husband of Laraine Day. His work on those shows earned him his own late-night show that often featured his wife as co-host, as was popular at the time. For a while in the 1950s he was president of the National Conference of Disk Jockeys.
Deejay: from AM to FM
"This meeting of the Swingin' Soiree is now in session!"
Murray the K Fan Club promo, c. 1960

Kaufman's big break came in 1958 after he moved to WINS-AM to do the all-night show, which he titled "The Swingin' Soiree." Shortly after his arrival, WINS's high energy star disk jockey, Alan Freed, was indicted for tax evasion and forced off the air. Though Freed's spot was briefly occupied by Bruce Morrow, who later became known as Cousin Brucie on WABC, Murray soon was moved into the 7-11PM time period and remained there for the next seven years, always opening his show with Sinatra and making radio history with his innovative segues, jingles, sound effects, antics, and frenetic, creative programming. Jeff Rice, writing in M/C Journal, says that Tom Wolfe calls Murray "the original hysterical disk jockey"
"The Fifth Beatle"

Murray the K reached his peak of popularity in the mid 1960s when, as the top-rated radio host in New York City, he became an early and ardent supporter and friend of The Beatles. When the Beatles came to New York in February, 1964, Murray was the first DJ they welcomed into their circle, having heard about him and his Brooklyn Fox shows from American acts who visited England. Murray did his radio show from their Plaza Hotel room their first night in New York and accompanied them to Washington, D.C. for their first U.S. concert, was backstage at their Ed Sullivan Show premiere, and roomed with Beatles guitarist George Harrison in Miami, broadcasting his shows from there. He came to be referred to as the "Fifth Beatle," a moniker he said he was given either by Harrison during the train ride to the Beatles' first concert in Washington D.C. or by Ringo Starr at a press conference before that concert. (However, in The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit he is seen christening himself thus in a phone conversation with the Beatles on the morning of their arrival in New York). His radio station WINS picked up on the name and billed him as the Fifth Beatle, a moniker he came to regret. He was invited to the set of A Hard Day's Night in England and made several treks to England during 1964, giving WINS listeners more Beatle exclusives.
The move to FM

By the end of 1964, Murray found out that WINS was going to change to an all news format the following year. He resigned on the air in December 1964 (breaking news about the sale of the station and the change in format before the station and Group W released it) and did his last show on February 27 prior to the format change that occurred in April 1965. A year later, in 1966, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that AM and FM radio stations could no longer simply simultaneously broadcast the same content, opening the door for Murray to become program director and primetime dj on WOR-FM — one of the first FM rock stations, soon airing such djs as Rosko and Scott Muni in the new FM format. Murray played long album cuts rather than singles, often playing groups of songs by one artist, or thematically linked songs, uninterrupted by commercials. He combined live in-studio interviews with folk-rock — he called it "attitude music" — and all forms of popular music in a free-form format. He played artists like Bob Dylan and Janis Ian, the long album versions of their songs that came to be known as the "FM cuts". Al Aronowitz quotes Murray as saying, about his this formula, "You didn't have to hype the record any more. The music was speaking for itself."
Dylan

During that time Murray was often a champion of the much-maligned electric Bob Dylan. He introduced him to boos at a huge Forest Hills Tennis Stadium concert in August 1965, saying "It's not rock, it's not folk, it's a new thing called Dylan."

He defended Dylan on a WABC-TV panel:

    "Even in his months of seclusion after the motorcycle accident, WABC-TV dedicated a television show to a discussion of what Bob Dylan was really like. When one member of the panel accused Dylan of all but inventing juvenile delinquency, there was only Murray the K to defend him. 'Is Bob Dylan every kid's father?' Murray asked."

Last years in radio

WOR switched to an oldies format and Murray the K left New York radio to host programs in Toronto - on CHUM -and on WHFS in the Washington, D.C. area. He returned to New York in 1970 on the weekend show NBC Monitor and as a fill-in morning dj, and then in 1972 moved to a regular evening weekend program on WNBC radio where Don Imus was broadcasting; he was joined there by the legendary Wolfman Jack, a year later. Although it was low-key, Murray's WNBC show featured his own innovative trademark programming style, including telling stories that were illustrated by selected songs, his unique segues, and his pairing cuts by theme or idiosyncratic associations. In early 1975, he was brought on for a brief stint at legendary Long Island alternative rock station WLIR, and his final New York radio show ran later that year on WKTU-FM after which - already in ill health - he moved to Los Angeles.
Brooklyn Fox shows
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Throughout his New York radio career, Kaufman produced multi-racial rock 'n' roll shows he produced three or four times a year, usually during the Easter school recess, the week before Labor Day, and between Christmas and New Year at the Brooklyn Fox Theater. Those shows featured the top performers of the era and introduced new acts, such as Dionne Warwick, The Delicates, Chuck Jackson, The Zombies, Little Anthony & The Imperials, the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las, Gene Pitney, Ben E. King, the Four Tops, Wayne Newton, Bobby Vinton (who was the leader of the house band when he asked for a chance to perform as a singer), The Lovin' Spoonful, Cream, and The Who, among many others.
Records, television, stage, and syndication
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Throughout his radio career, from the 1950s through the 1970s, Murray also released numerous LP record albums, often compilations of hits by the acts that appeared in his famous Brooklyn Fox shows. These albums frequently had names such as "Murray the K's Blasts from the Past" or "Murray the K's Sing Along with the Original Golden Gassers".

"Meusurray" (named after a language Murray invented and used quite often on his 1010 WINS radio show) was a single by a girl group called The Delicates, released on the United Artists label. The Delicates were Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti and Peggy Santiglia, known as Murray's "dancing girls". They wrote the song which was arranged by Don Costa. The Delicates also wrote and recorded his "Submarine Race Watcher" theme, used to open and close his radio show. It was during the "twist craze" that Kaufman introduced a song sung by an unidentified artist named, "The Lone Twister". Of course, the artist was Murray.

In the mid-1960s, Kaufman also produced and hosted television variety shows featuring rock performers. The best known was a national broadcast entitled It's What's Happening, Baby which was made under the auspices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The show aired on June 28, 1965 and featured performances by many of the popular artists of the day like Jan & Dean, Mary Wells, the Dave Clark Five, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, The Drifters, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers and Little Anthony & the Imperials That show also introduced the first music video-style programming, pre-dating MTV by 15 years.

In 1967, Murray produced and wrote "Murray the K in New York" which expanded on the music video-style approach he began in It's What's Happening, Baby and featured an eclectic line-up of stars, including The Doors, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Spanky & Our Gang, and The Four Tops with guest appearances by Ed Sullivan and Joe Namath.

Other locally broadcast shows from the period included "Murray the K at Shea" with James Brown and The Four Seasons and "Music in the Year 2000."

In 1968, Murray produced and hosted a studio panel discussion program entitled "The Sound is Now"; it included appearances by The Critters and Sonny and Cher who were grilled by Henry Morgan and Tex McCrary.

Kaufman also created Murray the K's World, a multimedia discothèque in an abandoned airplane hangar at Roosevelt Field on Long Island where live and recorded music played while slides and film were projected.

During the early 1970s, Murray acted as a special consultant to the stage show Beatlemania, and he toured the country giving interviews on behalf of the show.

In Los Angeles in the late 1970s he hosted Watermark's syndicated "Soundtrack of the '60s" until ill health forced him to resign and forced the cancellation of "A Salute to Murray the K," a tribute concert slated for Madison Square Garden.
Film
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Kaufman was parodied in the film The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash as a radio host named Bill Murray the K, played by actor Bill Murray. Kaufman appeared as a guest star on the 1960s television series Coronet Blue and also appeared as himself in the film I Wanna Hold Your Hand. He also appeared in the 1975 film That's the Way of the World.
Family and death

He was married six times and had three sons, Peter (Altschuler), Jeff and Keith. His first wife, Anna May, died in childbirth. He was married to his second, Toni, for three years; his third, Beverly, for three months; his fourth, Claire, for about nine years in the 1950s; his fifth, Jackie Hayes (called "Jackie the K"), until about 1973; and finally, his sixth, actress Jackie Zeman for just one year, although they were together for seven years before marrying.

Kaufman died of cancer a week after his 60th birthday on February 21, 1982.
Legacy

He shares writing credit with his mother and Bobby Darin for Darin's breakout song, "Splish Splash"

Beginning in 1960, Kaufman's rock 'n' roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount theater (as co-host with Clay Cole), Manhattan's Academy of Music theater on 14th Street and, predominantly, the Brooklyn Fox theater provided an inter-racial environment in which the performers and the audiences both thrived. The week-long, eight-show-a-day presentations continued throughout the most explosive periods of civil rights unrest in the mid-'60s, culminating in Kaufman's final show at the RKO 58th Street theater in Manhattan with a line-up that included The Who and Cream in their American debuts.

Murray was the author of a 1966 book, Murray the K Tells It Like It Is, Baby.

Kaufman was program director and primetime evening DJ on the nation's first FM rock station WOR-FM, changing the way in which radio listeners heard rock music. During the short run of progressive rock programming - the station switched to an oldies format within the first year - listeners would have been able to hear the full, album versions of songs like Positively Fourth Street and Society's Child which were either played in shorter versions on AM radio or not played at all.

He is mentioned in the 1980 Ramones song Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? as well as Who Will Save Rock 'n' Roll by the Dictators.

Murray the K introduced Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as the band took the stage on November 4, 1976 in New York City.

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.
Recordings made by Murray Kaufman

    * April, 1955 Fraternity F-714 "The Crazy Otto Rag" as by Ludwig Von Kaufman/"Out Of The Bushes" as by Murray Kaufman (made while a DJ at WMCA)
    * 1959 Murray Kaufman Part 1/Part 2 (Part 1 is a 1010WINS radio jingle item featuring Murray and the Delicates and his themes; Part 2 is his "Ah, Bey, ah bey, koowi zowa zowa" chant, along with an explanation of its meaning.) The chant was lifted intact from a Thomas J. Valentino music library recording (on the Major Records label) entitled "African Drums With Native Chants" on the A side and "Drums (African)," "Native Work Chant (African)," and "Native Choral Chant (African)" on the B side.
    * 1961 Atlantic 2130 "The Lone Twister"/"Twistin' Up A Storm" as by The Lone Twister
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k280/FrankAllan/MurrayThe_K.jpg
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/duncanw/stonesmurraytheKConnpoater.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/14/11 at 11:18 am


I reheard Tapestry recently and enjoy it.

Yes, there are some great tracks on that album. 8) :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/14/11 at 4:34 pm


I LOVE the entire Tapestry album.

Two of my favs are Too Late & You Got a Friend.

FYI: Carole wrote the song Locomotion that was recorded by Little Eva-who was Carole's babysitter.


Cat


I must've missed the Carole King day. :-[    I agree with Cat. IMO Tapestry is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. KIng was (and still is) a giant talent!!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/15/11 at 5:29 am

The person of the day...Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening (pronounced /ˈɡreɪnɪŋ/ GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama.

Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers. Life in Hell caught the attention of James L. Brooks. In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening decided to create something new and came up with a cartoon family, The Simpsons, and named the members after his own parents and sisters — while Bart was an anagram of the word brat. The shorts would be spun off into their own series: The Simpsons, which has since aired over 450 episodes. In 1997, Groening, along with former Simpsons writer David X. Cohen, developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999. After four years on the air, the show was canceled by Fox in 2003, but Comedy Central commissioned 16 new episodes from four direct-to-DVD movies in 2008. Then, in June 2009, Comedy Central ordered 26 new episodes of Futurama, to be aired over two seasons.

Groening has won 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ten for The Simpsons and one for Futurama as well as a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell.
Groening described life in Los Angeles to his friends in the form of the self-published comic book Life in Hell, which was loosely inspired by the chapter "How to Go to Hell" in Walter Kaufmann's book Critique of Religion and Philosophy. Groening distributed the comic book in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked. He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The strip, titled "Forbidden Words," appeared in the September/October issue of that year.

Groening gained employment at the Los Angeles Reader, a newly formed alternative newspaper, delivering papers, typesetting, editing and answering phones. He showed his cartoons to the editor, James Vowell, who was impressed and eventually gave him a spot in the paper. Life in Hell made its official debut as a comic strip in the Reader on April 25, 1980. Vowell also gave Groening his own weekly music column, "Sound Mix," in 1982. However, the column would rarely actually be about music, as he would often write about his "various enthusiasms, obsessions, pet peeves and problems" instead. In an effort to add more music to the column, he "just made stuff up," concocting and reviewing fictional bands and non-existent records. In the following week's column, he would confess to fabricating everything in the previous column and swear that everything in the new column was true. Eventually, he was finally asked to give up the "music" column. Amongst the fans of the column was Harry Shearer, who would later become a voice on The Simpsons.

Life in Hell became popular almost immediately. In November 1984, Deborah Caplan, Groening's then-girlfriend and co-worker at the Reader, offered to publish "Love is Hell", a series of relationship-themed Life in Hell strips, in book form. Released a month later, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. Work is Hell soon followed, also published by Caplan. Soon afterward, Caplan and Groening left and put together the Life in Hell Co., which handled merchandising for Life in Hell. Groening also started a syndicate, Acme Features Syndicate, which syndicated Life in Hell, Lynda Barry and John Callahan, but now only syndicates Life in Hell. Life in Hell is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, including School is Hell, Childhood is Hell, The Big Book of Hell and The Huge Book of Hell. Groening has stated, "I'll never give up the comic strip. It's my foundation."
The Simpsons
Main article: The Simpsons
Creation
A cartoon drawing of a family, with a baby, two children, and two parents. They are dressed in casual and formal clothing, and have yellow skin.
The design of the Simpson family, circa 1987.

Life in Hell caught the eye of Hollywood writer-producer and Gracie Films founder James L. Brooks, who had been shown the strip by fellow producer Polly Platt. In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation on an undefined future project, which would turn out to be developing a series of short animated skits, called "bumpers," for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Groening feared that he would have to give up his ownership rights, and that the show would fail and would take down his comic strip with it. Groening conceived of the idea for The Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family: Homer, the overweight father; Marge, the slim mother; Bart, the bratty oldest child; Lisa, the intelligent middle child; and Maggie, the baby. Groening famously named the main Simpson characters after members of his own family: his parents, Homer and Margaret (Marge or Marjorie in full), and his younger sisters, Lisa and Margaret (Maggie). Claiming that it was a bit too obvious to name a character after himself, he chose the name "Bart," an anagram of brat. However, he stresses that aside from some of the sibling rivalry, his family is nothing like the Simpsons. Groening also has an older brother and sister, Mark and Patty, and in a 1995 interview Groening divulged that Mark "is the actual inspiration for Bart."

Maggie Groening has co-written a few Simpsons books featuring her cartoon namesake.
The Tracey Ullman Show

The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. When Groening originally designed Homer, he put his own initials into the character's hairline and ear: the hairline resembled an 'M', and the right ear resembled a 'G'. Groening decided that this would be too distracting though, and redesigned the ear to look normal. He still draws the ear as a 'G' when he draws pictures of Homer for fans. Marge's distinct beehive hairstyle was inspired by The Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore during the 1960s, although her hair was never blue. Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. The number was later limited to nine spikes, all of the same size. At the time Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that would eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes that appear to be an extension of his head. Lisa's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Maggie shares her hairline. While designing Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles". When designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color". Groening storyboarded and scripted every short (now known as The Simpsons shorts), which were then animated by a team including David Silverman and Wes Archer, both of whom would later become directors on the series.

The Simpsons shorts first appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. Another family member, Grampa Simpson, was introduced in the later shorts. Years later, during the early seasons of The Simpsons, when it came time to give Grampa a first name, Groening says he refused to name him after his own grandfather, Abraham Groening, leaving it to other writers to choose a name. By coincidence, they chose Abraham, unaware that it was the name of Groening's grandfather.
Half-hour

Although The Tracey Ullman Show was not a big hit, the popularity of the shorts led to a half-hour spin-off in 1989. A team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house. James L. Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content. Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching. The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989 with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", a Christmas special. "Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it did not broadcast until May 1990, as the last episode of the first season, because of animation problems.

The series quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, to the surprise of many. Groening said: "Nobody thought The Simpsons was going to be a big hit. It sneaked up on everybody." The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. Groening and Simon, however, did not get along and were often in conflict over the show; Groening once described their relationship as "very contentious." Simon eventually left the show in 1993 over creative differences.

Like the main family members, several characters from the show have names that were inspired by people, locations or films. The name "Wiggum" for police chief Clancy Wiggum is Groening's mother's maiden name. The names of a few other characters were taken from major street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, including Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby and Kearney. Despite common fan belief that Sideshow Bob Terwilliger was named after SW Terwilliger Boulevard in Portland, he was actually named after the character Dr. Terwilliker from the film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Although Groening has pitched a number of spin-offs from The Simpsons, those attempts have been unsuccessful. In 1994, Groening and other Simpsons producers pitched a live-action spin-off about Krusty the Clown (with Dan Castellaneta playing the lead role), but were unsuccessful in getting it off the ground. Groening has also pitched "Young Homer" and a spin-off about the non-Simpsons citizens of Springfield.

In 1995, Groening got into a major disagreement with Brooks and other Simpsons producers over "A Star Is Burns", a crossover episode with The Critic, an animated show also produced by Brooks and staffed with many former Simpsons crew members. Groening claimed that he feared viewers would "see it as nothing but a pathetic attempt to advertise The Critic at the expense of The Simpsons," and was concerned about the possible implication that he had created or produced The Critic. He requested his name be taken off the episode.

Groening is credited with writing or co-writing the episodes "Some Enchanted Evening", "The Telltale Head", "Colonel Homer" and "22 Short Films About Springfield", as well as The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007. He has had several cameo appearances in the show, with a speaking role in the episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding". He currently serves at The Simpsons as an executive producer and creative consultant.
Futurama
Main article: Futurama

After spending a few years researching science fiction, Groening got together with Simpsons writer/producer David X. Cohen (still known as David S. Cohen at the time) in 1997 and developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000. By the time they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and storylines; Groening claimed they had gone "overboard" in their discussions. Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of grown-up life." The show premiered on March 28, 1999. Groening's writing credits for the show are for the premiere episode, "Space Pilot 3000" (co-written with Cohen), "Rebirth" (story) and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" (story).
Two men sit at a table behind microphones, both have glasses, and one is shorter than the other.
David X. Cohen and Groening at the Futurama panel of Comic-Con 2009.

After four years on the air, the show was canceled by Fox. In a similar situation as Family Guy, however, strong DVD sales and very stable ratings on Adult Swim brought Futurama back to life. When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four straight-to-DVD films—Bender's Big Score (2007), The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Bender's Game (2008) and Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)—would be produced. Since no new Futurama projects were in production, the movie Into the Wild Green Yonder was designed to stand as the Futurama series finale. However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the Futurama franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film. In an interview with CNN, Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know...We're having discussions and there is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me."

On June 9, 2009, it was confirmed that Comedy Central had picked up the show for 26 new episodes that began airing on June 24, 2010.
Other pursuits

In 1994, Groening formed Bongo Comics Group (named after the character Bongo from Life in Hell) with Steve Vance, Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison, which publishes comic books based on The Simpsons and Futurama (including Futurama Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis, a crossover between the two), as well as a few original titles. According to Groening, the goal with Bongo is to " to bring humor into the fairly grim comic book market." He also formed Zongo Comics in 1995, an imprint of Bongo that published comics for more mature readers, which included three issues of Mary Fleener's Fleener and seven issues of his close friend Gary Panter's Jimbo comics.

Groening is known for his eclectic taste in music. His favorite band is Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band; Groening claims favorite album as being Trout Mask Replica. He guest-edited Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing 2003 and curated a US All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in 2003. In May 2010, he curated another edition of All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, England. He also plays the cowbell in the all-author rock and roll band The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Stephen King, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry and Greg Iles.
Awards

Groening has been nominated for 25 Emmy awards and has won eleven: ten for The Simpsons and one for Futurama in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or less)" category. Groening received the 2002 National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000. He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2007, he was ranked fourth (and highest American by birth) in a list of the "top 100 living geniuses", published by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Personal life

Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986 and had two sons together, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe, both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. The couple divorced in 1999 after thirteen years of marriage. He is the brother-in-law of Hey Arnold! creator, Craig Bartlett, who is married to Groening's sister, Lisa. Arnold used to appear in Simpsons Illustrated.

Groening identifies himself as agnostic and a liberal and has often made campaign contributions to Democratic Party candidates. His first cousin, Laurie Monnes Anderson, is a member of the Oregon State Senate representing eastern Multnomah County.
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt336/rouillardranch/matt_groening.jpg
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg249/FamousLefties/MattGroening.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/15/11 at 7:09 am

One of the best creators and cartoonist of today,always watch The Simpsons.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/15/11 at 5:37 pm


One of the best creators and cartoonist of today,always watch The Simpsons.

He sure is. I never expected that his show would last this long!! :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/16/11 at 5:13 am

The person of the day...Jill Kinmont

Jill Kinmont Boothe (born February 16, 1936 in Los Angeles, California) is a former alpine ski racer, who competed in the mid-1950s.

Jill Kinmont grew up in Bishop, California, skiing and racing at Mammoth Mountain. In early 1955, she was the reigning national champion in the slalom, and a top prospect for a medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics, a year away. While competing in the downhill at the Snow Cup in Alta, Utah, on 30 January, 1955, she suffered a near-fatal accident which resulted in paralysis from the neck down. It ironically occurred the same week that Kinmont, weeks shy of her 19th birthday, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine dated 31 January 1955.

After her rehabilitation, she went on to graduate from UCLA and earned a teaching credential from the University of Washington. She had a long career as an educator first in Washington and then in Beverly Hills, California. She taught special education at Bishop Union Elementary School from 1975-96 in her hometown of Bishop. She is an accomplished painter who has had many exhibitions of her artwork.

Kinmont was the subject of two movies: The Other Side of the Mountain in 1975, and The Other Side of the Mountain Part II in 1978. Both films starred Marilyn Hassett as Kinmont.

Jill married trucker John Boothe in November 1976, and they made their home in Bishop where they continue to reside today.

She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1967.
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv261/utrebo/people/JillKinmontBoothe.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc179/Ironlegs/MMSA%2010-18-08/IMG_2211.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/16/11 at 7:22 am


He sure is. I never expected that his show would last this long!! :o


and I'd thought The Simpsons would grow older by now 20 years later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/16/11 at 12:20 pm


and I'd thought The Simpsons would grow older by now 20 years later.

In animated television shows, characters usually don't grow older as time progresses, which I find rather awkward. The Simpson kids would all be grown up by now, possibly with their own families.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/16/11 at 8:40 pm


In animated television shows, characters usually don't grow older as time progresses, which I find rather awkward. The Simpson kids would all be grown up by now, possibly with their own families.


They did an episode on that years ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/16/11 at 11:04 pm


They did an episode on that years ago.

I think they did it at least twice. Both episodes I remember were visions on what life would be like for them in the future. The first time was with Lisa getting married, and the second time was with Bart and Lisa imagining themselves as teens.
There might've been others, but I can't think of 'em right now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/17/11 at 7:09 am

The person of the day...Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, chief songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder and sings for garage rock band Foxboro Hot Tubs when not working with Green Day.

Raised in Rodeo, California, Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five. He met Mike Dirnt while attending elementary school, and the two instantly bonded over their mutual interest in music, forming the band Sweet Children when the two were fifteen years old. The band changed its name to Green Day, and became one of the most successful rock groups of all time. Armstrong has also pursued musical projects outside of Green Day's work, including numerous collaborations with other musicians as well as serving as the primary vocalist for the bands Pinhead Gunpowder and Foxboro Hot Tubs.
Billie Joe Armstrong was born in Piedmont, California, a small town surrounded by the city of Oakland, and was raised in Rodeo, California, as the youngest of six children to Andrew "Andy" Armstrong and Ollie Jackson. His father worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway Inc. to support his family. He died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a memorial to his father. He has five older siblings: David, Alan, Marci, Hollie, and Anna. His mother worked at Rod's Hickory Pit restaurant (now closed, with a Target store taking its place) in El Cerrito. Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got one of their first gigs at Rod's Hickory Pit during their early years; their first gig was in Davis, a college town approximately an hour's drive northeast of the Bay.

Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He attended Hillcrest Elementary School in Rodeo, where a teacher encouraged him to record a song titled "Look for Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records". After his father died, his mother married a man whom her children disliked, which made Armstrong retreat further into music. Armstrong dedicated a song to him called "Why Do You Want Him". At the age of 10, Mike Dirnt and Armstrong met in the school cafeteria and they immediately bonded over their love of music. He became interested in punk rock after being introduced to punk rock by his brothers. Armstrong has also cited Minneapolis-based bands The Replacements and Hüsker Dü as major musical influences.

Armstrong attended John Swett High School, also in Crockett, and later Pinole Valley High School, in Pinole, California, but then dropped out to pursue his musical career.
Career
Armstrong in 1994

In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with childhood friend Mike Dirnt at the age of 15. In the beginning, Dirnt and Armstrong were both on guitar, with John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante, on drums, and Sean Hughes on bass. After a few gigs, Hughes left the band in 1988; Dirnt switched to bass and they became a three-piece band. They changed their name to Green Day in April 1989, allegedly choosing the name because of their fondness for marijuana. That same year, they recorded the EPs 39/Smooth, 1,000 Hours, and Slappy, later combined into the compilation 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours on Lookout! Records. Tré Cool eventually became Green Day's drummer in late 1990 when Sobrante left Green Day in order to go to college. California punk band Rancid's lead singer Tim Armstrong asked Armstrong to join his band, but he refused due to the progress with Green Day. Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk. With their next album, Dookie (1994), the band broke through into the mainstream, and have remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s with over 60 million records sold worldwide. In 2009, their hit American Idiot became a musical on Broadway.

Apart from working with Green Day and side-band Pinhead Gunpowder, Armstrong has collaborated with many artists over the years. He has co-written for The Go-Go's ("Unforgiven") and former Avengers singer Penelope Houston ("The Angel and The Jerk" and "New Day"), co-written a song with Rancid ("Radio"), and sung backing vocals with Melissa Auf der Maur on Ryan Adams' "Do Miss America" (where they acted as the backing band for Iggy Pop on his Skull Ring album ("Private Hell" and "Supermarket"). Armstrong has produced an album for The Riverdales. He has also been confirmed to be part of a side project called The Network, which released an album called Money Money 2020. Money Money 2020 was released on Adeline Records, a record label co-owned by Armstrong.

In 2010, Armstrong joined the cast of the Tony Award-winning musical, American Idiot, for one week in the role of St. Jimmy. He replaced the original Broadway cast member Tony Vincent from September 28 to October 3. American Idiot is an adaption of Green Day's concept album of the same name. Armstrong returned to the role of St. Jimmy for 50 performances beginning January 1, 2011.
Instruments
Armstrong performing in 2009 with a replica of "Blue".

Armstrong's first guitar was a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic, which his father bought for him. He then received his first electric guitar, a Fender Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was ten. His mother got "Blue" from George Cole who taught Armstrong electric guitar for 10 years. Armstrong says in a 1995 MTV interview, "Basically, it wasn't like guitar lessons because I never really learned how to read music. So he just taught me how to put my hands on the thing." Cole bought the guitar new from David Margen of the band Santana. Cole gave Armstrong a Bill Lawrence Humbucking pickup and told him to install the pickup in the bridge position. After the pickup was destroyed at Woodstock '94, Armstrong then switched to the Duncan JB model. "Armstrong fetishized his teacher's guitar, partly because the blue instrument had a sound quality and Van Halen–worthy fluidity he couldn't get from his little red Hohner. He prized it mostly, however, because of his relationship with Cole, another father figure after the death of Andy." He toured with this guitar from the band's early days and still uses it to this day. "Blue" also appears in several of their music videos starting with "Longview", "Basket Case", "Brain Stew/Jaded", "Hitchin' a Ride", and most recently in "Minority".

Today, Armstrong mainly uses Gibson and Fender guitars. Twenty of his Gibson guitars are Les Paul Junior models from the mid- to late-1950s. His Fender collection includes: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, a Gretsch hollowbody and his copies of "Blue". He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior he calls "Floyd". He bought this guitar in 2000 just before recording their album Warning.

Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson, modeled closely after “Floyd,” Billie Joe’s original 1956 Les Paul Junior.

He plays several other instruments as well. He recorded harmonica and mandolin parts in the past, piano parts on 21st Century Breakdown, and plays drums live from time to time.
Personal life

In 1990, Armstrong met Adrienne Nesser at one of Green Day's early shows in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They married on July 2, 1994, and the day after their wedding, Adrienne discovered she was pregnant. Their first child, Joseph Marciano Armstrong, who was born on February 28, 1995, plays drums in a Berkeley-based band. Their second child, Jakob Danger Armstrong, was born on September 12, 1998. Billie Joe is the co-owner of Adeline Records, along with his wife.

Armstrong has identified himself as bisexual, saying in a 1995 interview with The Advocate, "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing." In a later interview for Out magazine's April 2010 issue, Armstrong stated: "There were a lot of people who didn't accept it, who were homophobic." Armstrong continued, saying, "The fact that it's an issue is kind of phobic within itself. At some point, you gotta think, this should be something that's just accepted." Armstrong added: "I don't really classify myself as anything. And when it comes to sex, there are parts of me that are very shy and conservative. I want to respect my wife."

"Working Class Hero"
Play sound
"Working Class Hero", a cover of John Lennon song, was released on the Instant Karma CD.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Armstrong was arrested in January 2003 for drinking and driving after being pulled over for speeding. He received a breathalyzer reading of 0.17%, more than twice the nation-wide legal limit of 0.08%.

In April 2007, Armstrong and his wife Adrienne sent photos of their spring break working with Habitat For Humanity and a diary to GreenDay.net. Armstrong is also fascinated with sport, and has publicly declared his admiration for American owned Manchester United in an interview.

Armstrong supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election.
Discography
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)
Awards
Green Day portal
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Green Day
Green Day

    * 39/Smooth (1990) – lead vocals, guitar
    * Kerplunk! (1992) – lead vocals, guitar, drums on "Dominated Love Slave"
    * Dookie (1994) – lead vocals, guitar, percussion on "All by Myself" (hidden track)
    * Insomniac (1995) – lead vocals, guitar
    * Nimrod (1997) – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica
    * Warning (2000) – lead vocals, mandolin, guitar, harmonica
    * American Idiot (2004) – lead vocals, guitar
    * 21st Century Breakdown (2009) – lead vocals, guitar, piano
    * American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (2010) – vocals, guitar, piano

Pinhead Gunpowder

Vocals and guitar on all

    * Jump Salty (1995)
    * Carry the Banner (1995)
    * Goodbye Ellston Avenue (1997)
    * Shoot the Moon (EP) (1999)
    * Compulsive Disclosure (2003)
    * West Side Highway (EP) (2008)

The Network

    * Money Money 2020 (2003) – guitar, vocals

Foxboro Hot Tubs

    * Stop Drop and Roll!!! (2008) – lead vocals

Other media appearances

    * King of the Hill (TV series, 1997) – Face
    * Haunted (TV series, 2002) – Irv Kratser (cameo)
    * Riding in Vans with Boys (film, 2003) – himself
    * Live Freaky! Die Freaky! (film, 2006) – "Charles Hanson"
    * Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (video game, 2006) – himself
    * The Simpsons Movie (film, 2007) – himself
    * Heart Like a Hand Grenade (film, 2008) – himself
    * Green Day: Rock Band (video game, 2010) – himself
    * American Idiot (musical) (2010, then again in 2011) – St. Jimmy


http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n518/RikkySocialReject/other%202/billie_joe_armstrong_001_110309.jpg
http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu211/thefuturerocker/cats.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/17/11 at 3:11 pm


I think they did it at least twice. Both episodes I remember were visions on what life would be like for them in the future. The first time was with Lisa getting married, and the second time was with Bart and Lisa imagining themselves as teens.
There might've been others, but I can't think of 'em right now.
Has it ever been established the birthdays of the Simpsons characters, which date of the year?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/17/11 at 8:30 pm

Billie Joe Always changes his hairstyle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/17/11 at 10:55 pm


Has it ever been established the birthdays of the Simpsons characters, which date of the year?

Not really. Even characters on live-action programs seem to lack specific birthdays.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/17/11 at 10:58 pm


Billie Joe Always changes his hairstyle.

I never knew all the info about him that was provided above. Good to know that he has loved music for the majority of his life.

I kinda like their songs "When I Come Around" and "Good Riddance/Time Of Your Life" the best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/11 at 4:28 am


I never knew all the info about him that was provided above. Good to know that he has loved music for the majority of his life.

I kinda like their songs "When I Come Around" and "Good Riddance/Time Of Your Life" the best.

"Good Riddance/Time Of Your Life" is my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/11 at 4:32 am

The person of the day...Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.
Matthew Raymond Dillon was born in New Rochelle, New York, to second-generation Irish American parents Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for Union Camp, a packing material manufacturer. He was raised in a close-knit Roman Catholic family as the second of six children. Through his father, Dillon is related to comic strip artist Alex Raymond. Dillon has one sister and four brothers, one of whom, Kevin Dillon, is also an actor, and appears on the hit TV series Entourage. Dillon grew up in Mamaroneck, New York and before dropping out in junior year he attended Mamaroneck High School.
Career

In 1977, Jane Bernstein and a friend were helping director Jonathan Kaplan cast the violent teen drama Over the Edge when they found Dillon cutting class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont. Dillon auditioned for a role and made his debut in the film. The film received a regional, limited theatrical release in May 1979, and grossed only slightly over $200,000. Dillon's performance was well-received, which led to his casting in two films released the following year; the teenage sex comedy Little Darlings, in which Kristy McNichol's character loses her virginity to a boy from the camp across the lake, played by Dillon, and the more serious teen dramedy My Bodyguard, where he played a high-school bully opposite Chris Makepeace. The films, released in March and July 1980, respectively, were box office successes and raised Dillon's profile among teenage audiences.

Another of Dillon's early roles was in the Jean Shepherd PBS special The Great American Fourth of July. The only available copies of this film are stored at UCLA, where a legal dispute makes it unavailable to the public.

One of his next roles was in Liar's Moon, where he played Jack Duncan, a poor Texas boy madly in love with a rich banker's daughter. In the early 1980s, Dillon also had prominent roles in three adaptations of S. E. Hinton novels: Tex (1982), The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983). All three films were shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hinton's hometown. The Outsiders and Rumble Fish had Dillon working with Francis Ford Coppola and Diane Lane. He followed it up with The Flamingo Kid in 1984. He made his Broadway debut with the play The Boys of Winter in 1985.

Dillon did voiceover work in the 1987 documentary film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. In 1989, Dillon won critical acclaim for his performance as a drug addict in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy.

Dillon continued to work in the early 1990s with roles in movies like Singles (1992). He had somewhat of a career resurgence when he played Nicole Kidman's husband in To Die For (1995), as well as starring roles in Wild Things (1998) and There's Something About Mary (1998), for which he received an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

In 2002, he wrote and directed the film City of Ghosts, starring himself, James Caan and Gérard Depardieu. That same year he starred in Factotum, a film adaptation of an autobiographical work by Charles Bukowski. Two years later he received critical praise and earned a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe along with Oscar nominations for his role in Crash, a film co-written and directed by Paul Haggis. In 2005 Dillon co-starred in Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded and on March 11, 2006 hosted Saturday Night Live, in which he impersonated Greg Anderson and Rod Serling in sketches.

Dillon starred in the comedy You, Me and Dupree, opposite Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson. The film opened on July 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006, Dillon was honored with the Premio Donostia prize in the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Dillon contributed his voice as the narrator, Sal Paradise, in an audiobook version of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. In 2006, he narrated Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.

Dillon appeared in several music videos during his career. He made a cameo appearance as a detective in Madonna's Bad Girl music video which also stars Christopher Walken. Dillon appeared in 1987 in the music video for "Fairytale Of New York" by the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues playing a cop who escorts lead singer Shane MacGowan into the drunk tank.

In 2007, the band Dinosaur Jr. hired Dillon to direct the video for their single "Been There All The Time" from the album Beyond. That year, he starred in The Simpsons episode "Midnight Towboy".
Personal life

Dillon had a 3-year relationship with actress Cameron Diaz in the late '90s.

On December 30, 2008, he was arrested by the Vermont State Police after he was clocked traveling at 106 miles per hour northbound on Interstate 91 near Newbury, Vermont. He was charged with negligent operation of a vehicle. His attorney, Mark Kaplan, entered a plea of not guilty on Dillon's behalf in a January appearance in Orange County Court in Chelsea, and also appeared in court on February 25, 2009. He faced a maximum of one year in jail, and a fine of $1,000. He pleaded guilty to speeding and paid a $828 fine on March 30, 2009; in return, the negligence charge was dismissed by prosecutors.
Cultural influence

Dillon is mentioned on Jeff Buckley's Live at Sin-é: Legacy Edition CD. On the fifth track Buckley mentions that he cut his hair because people thought he looked like Matt Dillon. Dillon's name is dropped in the lyrics of "After the Fire", a song that Pete Townshend wrote for Roger Daltrey's solo album Under A Raging Moon:

    I saw Matt Dillon in black and white/There ain't no colour in memories/He rode his brother's Harley across the TV/ While I was laughing at Dom deLuise

Dillon is also mentioned in Pencey Prep's "Don Quixote" from the album Heartbreak in Stereo.

    I dance the same dance every night;/ It's only you you're killing./ Super glue the queen of hearts and the information she's spilling,/ Matt Dillon.

In Nick Hornby's 1998 novel About a Boy, protagonist Will Freeman wears "a black leather jacket that he liked to think made him look like Matt Dillon in Drugstore Cowboy" when he goes on to meet his love interest, Rachel.
Filmography
Dillon at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1979 Over the Edge Richie White Film debut
1980 My Bodyguard Melvin Moody
Little Darlings Randy Adams
1981 Gunmen's Blues Lake short film
1982 Tex Tex McCormick
Liar's Moon Jack Duncan
1983 Rumble Fish Rusty James
Amazed Ewan Willson
The Outsiders Dallas 'Dally' Winston
1984 The Flamingo Kid Jeffrey Willis
1985 Target Chris Lloyd/Derek Potter
1986 Native Son Jan
Rebel Rebel
1987 The Big Town J. C. Cullen
1988 Kansas Doyle Kennedy
1989 Drugstore Cowboy Bob Won- Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Bloodhounds of Broadway Regret
1991 A Kiss Before Dying Jonathan Corliss
1992 Singles Cliff Poncier
1993 The Saint of Fort Washington Matthew
Mr. Wonderful Gus
1994 Golden Gate Kevin Walker
1995 To Die For Larry Maretto
Frankie Starlight Terry Klout
1996 Grace of My Heart Jay Phillips
Albino Alligator Dova
Beautiful Girls Tommy 'Birdman' Rowland
1997 In and Out Cameron Drake
1998 There's Something About Mary Patrick (Pat) Healy Won-MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Wild Things Sam Lombardo
2001 One Night at McCool's Randy
2002 Deuces Wild Fritzy
City of Ghosts Jimmy also director and writer
2003 Abby Singer Himself
2004 Employee of the Month David Walsh
2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded Trip Murphy
Crash Sgt. John Ryan Nominated–Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Won-Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2006 Factotum Henry Chinaski playing Charles Bukowski
You, Me and Dupree Carl Peterson
Loverboy Mark limited release
2008 Nothing But the Truth Patton Dubois
2009 Old Dogs Barry
Armored Mike Cochrane
2010 Takers Det. Jack Welles
2012 God of Carnage unknown (pre-production)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1982 The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters Ralph PBS TV-Movie
1991 Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules Eddie Megeffin HBO TV-Movie
1991 Fishing With John IFC
1999 Oz Director of Episode:
Napoleon's Boney Parts
2007 The Simpsons Louie Voice/Episode:
Midnight Towboy
2011 Modern Family Robbie Sullivan Episode:
Princess Party
Awards and nominations

Matt Dillon has won several awards in his career including Screen Actors Guild Award, MTV Movie Award and Independent Spirit Award. He also nominated for many awards which includes Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA with the film Crash. He was also honored in the San Sebastián International Film Festival where he received the "Donostia Lifetime Archievement Award." This list includes awards and nominations for his work. In the "Best Ensemble" category, he shared the award with the rest of the ensemble cast.
Year Ceremony/Award Nomination Film Result
1981 Young Artist Awards Best Young Motion Picture Actor My Bodyguard Nominated
1983 Best Young Actor – Motion Picture Tex Nominated
1990 Independent Spirit Awards Best Actor Drugstore Cowboy Won
1999 MTV Movie Awards Best Villain (tied) There's Something About Mary Won
Best Kiss (shared) Wild Things Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Film – Funniest Scene There's Something About Mary Won
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy There's Something About Mary Won
2005 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Crash Won
Gotham Awards Tribute Award - Won
Best Ensemble Cast Crash Nominated
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Crash Won
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor Crash Nominated
Hollywood Film Festival Ensemble of the Year Crash Won
Satellite Awards Best Ensemble Crash Won
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Best Cast Crash Won
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Cast Crash Won
2006 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor Crash Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Black Reel Awards Best Ensemble Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Critics' Choice Award Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Best Ensemble Won
Empire Awards Best Actor Nominated
Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
SAG Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Best Cast Won
San Sebastián International Film Festival Donostia Lifetime Archievement Award - Won
2007 Cairo International Film Festival Special Award - Won
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/ispeak4thetrees/matt-dillon.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj97/StockholmByMorning/Matt%20Dillon/MattDillonD18.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/18/11 at 6:42 am


"Good Riddance/Time Of Your Life" is my favorite.


Me Too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/18/11 at 6:44 am


The person of the day...Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.
Matthew Raymond Dillon was born in New Rochelle, New York, to second-generation Irish American parents Mary Ellen, a homemaker, and Paul Dillon, a portrait painter and sales manager for Union Camp, a packing material manufacturer. He was raised in a close-knit Roman Catholic family as the second of six children. Through his father, Dillon is related to comic strip artist Alex Raymond. Dillon has one sister and four brothers, one of whom, Kevin Dillon, is also an actor, and appears on the hit TV series Entourage. Dillon grew up in Mamaroneck, New York and before dropping out in junior year he attended Mamaroneck High School.
Career

In 1977, Jane Bernstein and a friend were helping director Jonathan Kaplan cast the violent teen drama Over the Edge when they found Dillon cutting class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont. Dillon auditioned for a role and made his debut in the film. The film received a regional, limited theatrical release in May 1979, and grossed only slightly over $200,000. Dillon's performance was well-received, which led to his casting in two films released the following year; the teenage sex comedy Little Darlings, in which Kristy McNichol's character loses her virginity to a boy from the camp across the lake, played by Dillon, and the more serious teen dramedy My Bodyguard, where he played a high-school bully opposite Chris Makepeace. The films, released in March and July 1980, respectively, were box office successes and raised Dillon's profile among teenage audiences.

Another of Dillon's early roles was in the Jean Shepherd PBS special The Great American Fourth of July. The only available copies of this film are stored at UCLA, where a legal dispute makes it unavailable to the public.

One of his next roles was in Liar's Moon, where he played Jack Duncan, a poor Texas boy madly in love with a rich banker's daughter. In the early 1980s, Dillon also had prominent roles in three adaptations of S. E. Hinton novels: Tex (1982), The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983). All three films were shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hinton's hometown. The Outsiders and Rumble Fish had Dillon working with Francis Ford Coppola and Diane Lane. He followed it up with The Flamingo Kid in 1984. He made his Broadway debut with the play The Boys of Winter in 1985.

Dillon did voiceover work in the 1987 documentary film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. In 1989, Dillon won critical acclaim for his performance as a drug addict in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy.

Dillon continued to work in the early 1990s with roles in movies like Singles (1992). He had somewhat of a career resurgence when he played Nicole Kidman's husband in To Die For (1995), as well as starring roles in Wild Things (1998) and There's Something About Mary (1998), for which he received an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

In 2002, he wrote and directed the film City of Ghosts, starring himself, James Caan and Gérard Depardieu. That same year he starred in Factotum, a film adaptation of an autobiographical work by Charles Bukowski. Two years later he received critical praise and earned a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe along with Oscar nominations for his role in Crash, a film co-written and directed by Paul Haggis. In 2005 Dillon co-starred in Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded and on March 11, 2006 hosted Saturday Night Live, in which he impersonated Greg Anderson and Rod Serling in sketches.

Dillon starred in the comedy You, Me and Dupree, opposite Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson. The film opened on July 14, 2006. On September 29, 2006, Dillon was honored with the Premio Donostia prize in the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Dillon contributed his voice as the narrator, Sal Paradise, in an audiobook version of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. In 2006, he narrated Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.

Dillon appeared in several music videos during his career. He made a cameo appearance as a detective in Madonna's Bad Girl music video which also stars Christopher Walken. Dillon appeared in 1987 in the music video for "Fairytale Of New York" by the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues playing a cop who escorts lead singer Shane MacGowan into the drunk tank.

In 2007, the band Dinosaur Jr. hired Dillon to direct the video for their single "Been There All The Time" from the album Beyond. That year, he starred in The Simpsons episode "Midnight Towboy".
Personal life

Dillon had a 3-year relationship with actress Cameron Diaz in the late '90s.

On December 30, 2008, he was arrested by the Vermont State Police after he was clocked traveling at 106 miles per hour northbound on Interstate 91 near Newbury, Vermont. He was charged with negligent operation of a vehicle. His attorney, Mark Kaplan, entered a plea of not guilty on Dillon's behalf in a January appearance in Orange County Court in Chelsea, and also appeared in court on February 25, 2009. He faced a maximum of one year in jail, and a fine of $1,000. He pleaded guilty to speeding and paid a $828 fine on March 30, 2009; in return, the negligence charge was dismissed by prosecutors.
Cultural influence

Dillon is mentioned on Jeff Buckley's Live at Sin-é: Legacy Edition CD. On the fifth track Buckley mentions that he cut his hair because people thought he looked like Matt Dillon. Dillon's name is dropped in the lyrics of "After the Fire", a song that Pete Townshend wrote for Roger Daltrey's solo album Under A Raging Moon:

   I saw Matt Dillon in black and white/There ain't no colour in memories/He rode his brother's Harley across the TV/ While I was laughing at Dom deLuise

Dillon is also mentioned in Pencey Prep's "Don Quixote" from the album Heartbreak in Stereo.

   I dance the same dance every night;/ It's only you you're killing./ Super glue the queen of hearts and the information she's spilling,/ Matt Dillon.

In Nick Hornby's 1998 novel About a Boy, protagonist Will Freeman wears "a black leather jacket that he liked to think made him look like Matt Dillon in Drugstore Cowboy" when he goes on to meet his love interest, Rachel.
Filmography
Dillon at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
1979 Over the Edge Richie White Film debut
1980 My Bodyguard Melvin Moody
Little Darlings Randy Adams
1981 Gunmen's Blues Lake short film
1982 Tex Tex McCormick
Liar's Moon Jack Duncan
1983 Rumble Fish Rusty James
Amazed Ewan Willson
The Outsiders Dallas 'Dally' Winston
1984 The Flamingo Kid Jeffrey Willis
1985 Target Chris Lloyd/Derek Potter
1986 Native Son Jan
Rebel Rebel
1987 The Big Town J. C. Cullen
1988 Kansas Doyle Kennedy
1989 Drugstore Cowboy Bob Won- Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Bloodhounds of Broadway Regret
1991 A Kiss Before Dying Jonathan Corliss
1992 Singles Cliff Poncier
1993 The Saint of Fort Washington Matthew
Mr. Wonderful Gus
1994 Golden Gate Kevin Walker
1995 To Die For Larry Maretto
Frankie Starlight Terry Klout
1996 Grace of My Heart Jay Phillips
Albino Alligator Dova
Beautiful Girls Tommy 'Birdman' Rowland
1997 In and Out Cameron Drake
1998 There's Something About Mary Patrick (Pat) Healy Won-MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Wild Things Sam Lombardo
2001 One Night at McCool's Randy
2002 Deuces Wild Fritzy
City of Ghosts Jimmy also director and writer
2003 Abby Singer Himself
2004 Employee of the Month David Walsh
2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded Trip Murphy
Crash Sgt. John Ryan Nominated–Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Won-Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2006 Factotum Henry Chinaski playing Charles Bukowski
You, Me and Dupree Carl Peterson
Loverboy Mark limited release
2008 Nothing But the Truth Patton Dubois
2009 Old Dogs Barry
Armored Mike Cochrane
2010 Takers Det. Jack Welles
2012 God of Carnage unknown (pre-production)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1982 The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters Ralph PBS TV-Movie
1991 Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules Eddie Megeffin HBO TV-Movie
1991 Fishing With John IFC
1999 Oz Director of Episode:
Napoleon's Boney Parts
2007 The Simpsons Louie Voice/Episode:
Midnight Towboy
2011 Modern Family Robbie Sullivan Episode:
Princess Party
Awards and nominations

Matt Dillon has won several awards in his career including Screen Actors Guild Award, MTV Movie Award and Independent Spirit Award. He also nominated for many awards which includes Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA with the film Crash. He was also honored in the San Sebastián International Film Festival where he received the "Donostia Lifetime Archievement Award." This list includes awards and nominations for his work. In the "Best Ensemble" category, he shared the award with the rest of the ensemble cast.
Year Ceremony/Award Nomination Film Result
1981 Young Artist Awards Best Young Motion Picture Actor My Bodyguard Nominated
1983 Best Young Actor – Motion Picture Tex Nominated
1990 Independent Spirit Awards Best Actor Drugstore Cowboy Won
1999 MTV Movie Awards Best Villain (tied) There's Something About Mary Won
Best Kiss (shared) Wild Things Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Film – Funniest Scene There's Something About Mary Won
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy There's Something About Mary Won
2005 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Crash Won
Gotham Awards Tribute Award - Won
Best Ensemble Cast Crash Nominated
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Crash Won
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor Crash Nominated
Hollywood Film Festival Ensemble of the Year Crash Won
Satellite Awards Best Ensemble Crash Won
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Best Cast Crash Won
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Cast Crash Won
2006 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor Crash Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Black Reel Awards Best Ensemble Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Critics' Choice Award Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Best Ensemble Won
Empire Awards Best Actor Nominated
Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
SAG Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Best Cast Won
San Sebastián International Film Festival Donostia Lifetime Archievement Award - Won
2007 Cairo International Film Festival Special Award - Won
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm160/ispeak4thetrees/matt-dillon.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj97/StockholmByMorning/Matt%20Dillon/MattDillonD18.jpg



I liked Matt Dillon in his 80's films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/18/11 at 8:41 am

I don't know why but I never really cared for Matt Dillon. I always thought he was a punk.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/18/11 at 11:10 am


I don't know why but I never really cared for Matt Dillon. I always thought he was a punk.



Cat

I like him more now that he's older, when he was younger he was a punk.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/18/11 at 11:23 am


I like him more now that he's older, when he was younger he was a punk.



Yeah, I do like him more now.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/19/11 at 6:13 am

The person of the day...Tony Iommi
Francis Anthony Melby "Tony" Iommi (born 19 February 1948, in Aston, Birmingham, England) is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and the sole constant band member through multiple personnel changes.

Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in heavy metal music. According to Allmusic, "Iommi is one of only two guitarists (the other being Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page) that can take full credit for pioneering the mammoth riffs of heavy metal." In 2003, Iommi was ranked 86th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and, in 2004, number one on Guitar World's "100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time".
The son of Italian immigrants, Tony Iommi wanted to start with the drums, but due to the noise it produces, he picked up the guitar as a teenager, after being inspired by the likes of Hank Marvin and The Shadows. He plays guitar left-handed. In an industrial accident at the age of 17 on his last day of work in a sheet metal factory, he lost the tips of the middle and ring finger of his right hand. After attempting to learn to play right-handed, Iommi strung his guitars with lighter strings and made thimbles to extend his fingers.
Pre-Black Sabbath

Iommi had played in several blues/rock bands, the earliest of which was The Rockin' Chevrolets between 1964 and 1965. The band had regular bookings and when they were offered work in Germany, Iommi decided to leave his factory job to take up the opportunity. Between 1966 and 1967 Iommi played in a band named The Rest. This was the first time Iommi played with old school friend and future Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward.

From January 1968 till July 1968, Iommi was guitarist in Mythology, with Ward joining a month later in mid-February. In May 1968, police raided the group's practice flat and found cannabis resin, which resulted in a £15 fine and a two-year conditional discharge for Iommi, Ward, Smith and Marshall. Mythology split up after a gig in Silloth on 13 July 1968.

In August 1968, at the same time as the breakup of Mythology, a band called Rare Breed also broke up. Rare Breed vocalist John "Ozzy" Osbourne and rhythm guitarist Terry "Geezer" Butler joined with Iommi and Ward from Mythology and also slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips and saxophonist Alan "Aker" Clarke. The six-piece band, now with Butler as bassist, were named the Polka Tulk Blues Company. After just two gigs (the last of which was at the Banklands Youth Club in Workington), Phillips and Clarke were dismissed from the band, which soon after shortened its name to Polka Tulk.
Earth and Jethro Tull
Main article: Jethro Tull (band)

Iommi, Butler, Ward and Osbourne renamed their band Earth in September 1968. They carried on under this moniker until December 1968 when Iommi briefly departed to play in Jethro Tull. However after only one performance (an appearance on "The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus" in which the band mimed "A Song For Jeffrey", whilst Ian Anderson sang live), Iommi was back with Earth once more.

Tony Iommi on his brief working relationship with Jethro Tull vocalist Ian Anderson:

    I learned quite a lot from him, I must say. I learned that you have got to work at it. You have to rehearse. When I came back and I got the band (Earth) back together, I made sure that everybody was up early in the morning and rehearsing. I used to go and pick them up. I was the only one at the time that could drive. I used to have to drive the bloody van and get them up at quarter to nine every morning; which was, believe me, early for us then. I said to them, "This is how we have got to do it because this is how Jethro Tull did it." They had a schedule and they knew that they were going to work from this time till that time. I tried that with our band and we got into doing it. It worked. Instead of just strolling in at any hour, it made it more like we were saying, "Let’s do it!"

Black Sabbath
Main article: Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath: Iommi (left) with Ozzy Osbourne in 1973

In August 1969, following the confusion with another group named Earth (who had minor success in England), the group renamed themselves Black Sabbath. His aforementioned factory accident affected the Black Sabbath sound later on, as Iommi detuned his guitar from E to C# (a minor third down), in order to ease the tension on his fingers; Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler did the same to match Iommi. Sabbath were among the first bands to detune, and the technique became a mainstay of heavy metal music. The first two Black Sabbath albums are actually in E tuning, however, as Iommi didn't start tuning down to C# until 1971's Master of Reality. Iommi combined blues-like guitar solos and dark, minor-key riffing with a revolutionary high-gain, heavily distorted tone with his use of a modified treble-boosting effect-pedal and a Gibson SG, as well as plugging his guitar into his amp's bass input.

Rob Halford, vocalist for Judas Priest, when filling in for Ozzy Osbourne during an August 2004 concert in Philadelphia, introduced Tony Iommi to the audience as "The man who invented the heavy metal riff".

By the mid 1970s, incessant drug usage, managerial problems and constant touring had taken its toll on the band, and Ozzy Osbourne was fired in 1979 by Iommi. Osbourne was replaced with Ronnie James Dio, the vocalist for Rainbow (a band formed by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore). With Dio, Black Sabbath produced Heaven and Hell, prior to replacing Bill Ward with Vinny Appice. With Iommi and Geezer Butler the only original members, this line-up produced Mob Rules. During the '80s and '90s Iommi rebuilt the band with many lineup changes with vocalists including Ian Gillan (formerly of Deep Purple), Glenn Hughes, Tony Martin and Ray Gillen. After Ian Gillan departed the band in 1984, Iommi recorded his first solo album, entitled Seventh Star. The album featured Glenn Hughes (formerly of Deep Purple) on vocals, but due to label pressures, it was billed as a release by "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi."

In 1992, Iommi appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, playing four songs with the remaining members of Queen and other guest artists. Also, in the following year Iommi teamed up with fellow Black Country band Diamond Head and co-wrote the song Starcrossed (Lovers in the Night) for their 1993 Death and Progress album. At Ozzy's 'farewell' concert at Costa Mesa in 1992, Ronnie James Dio refused to perform and abruptly left the band. As a result, Rob Halford (vocalist for Judas Priest) was recruited to perform as the vocalist for two gigs (Halford also sang at one of the dates on the 2004 Ozzfest tour, when Ozzy couldn't perform due to bronchitis). The show concluded with Ozzy bringing out the other members of the original Black Sabbath line-up (following the end of Osbourne's solo set) for a 4-song reunion.

Black Sabbath went on to record two further albums with another of their previous vocalists Tony Martin before the original line-up reunited as a touring band in 1997. Although Bill Ward played at the two initial reunion shows at Birmingham NEC in December 1997, he was not present for the following two reunion tours, his second absence due to a heart attack. Ward was replaced by Mike Bordin and then Vinny Appice.
Solo career
Main article: Iommi (album)

In 2000, Iommi finally released his first legitimate solo album, titled Iommi. The album featured several guest vocalists that included Ian Astbury, Henry Rollins, Serj Tankian, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Phil Anselmo, Peter Steele and Ozzy Osbourne. Also in the vocal mix was Skin (of the band Skunk Anansie). In late 2004, Iommi's second solo album was released, entitled The 1996 DEP Sessions. This album was originally recorded in 1996, but was never officially released. However, a copy with a drum track by Dave Holland was available as a bootleg called Eighth Star. Glenn Hughes performed vocals on the album, and he furthered his collaboration with Hughes with the release of his third solo album, Fused. Released on 12 July 2005, John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff completed the trio on the album.

Iommi has signed with Mike Fleiss' movie production company Next Films to score a series of horror films entitled Black Sabbath.
Heaven & Hell
Main article: Heaven & Hell (band)
Star on Birmingham Walk of Stars

In October 2006 it was reported that Iommi would tour with Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ronnie James Dio again, but under the moniker Heaven & Hell. Later it was announced that Ward had decided not to participate and Vinny Appice was hired as his replacement. Rhino Records released "The Dio Years" (under the 'Black Sabbath' moniker) album on 3 April 2007. The album showcased older tracks with Dio and also included three brand new songs recorded with Dio and Vinny Appice.

The band started an American tour in April 2007 with Megadeth and Down as opening acts. The tour finished in November in England with the prospect of an album to follow in 2008. During this period the band's show at the New York Radio City Music Hall was released as both a DVD and CD with a vinyl release expected in the UK in 2008. During the summer of 2008, the band embarked on the Metal Masters Tour along with Judas Priest, Motörhead and Testament. The band's first and only studio album, The Devil You Know, was released on April 28, 2009.

In November 2008, Iommi had a star revealed on the Birmingham Walk of Stars. On June 14, 2010, Iommi announced that Heaven & Hell would perform a one-off tribute to Ronnie James Dio at the High Voltage Festival, London on 24 July 2010. This was the band's last performance under the name Heaven and Hell.
Equipment

Iommi's deep and heavy sound was partly born out of necessity--his "revolutionary signature sound" being the result of the accident and the subsequent downtuning by three steps. He said that his "extreme volume" was likewise necessary, "because we were fed up with people talking over us while we were playing."
Guitars

"It was the same with 24-fret necks. I put money into a company because I couldn't get guitars built the way I wanted them. I had to prove it to the manufacturers. So I put money into John Birch guitars, and he built my guitars. I had to prove it worked. All of this was done by experimenting and trial and error. I paid for that myself in the early days to show it could be done. And I paid for all these companies to get the benefits nowadays. Back then they all said it couldn't be done. I also used locking nuts years and years ago without a tremolo, before locking nuts were the norm."
Tony Iommi

    * Jaydee Custom SG's

Built in Birmingham by luthier John Diggins sometime between 1975 and 1978, the guitar was first used for overdubs on the 'Heaven and Hell' album and later became one of Iommi's main guitars. The guitar is equipped with a 24 fret neck with custom cross inlays, five control knobs (three of which are functional) and a highly distressed finish. He had two more built for him. One was made to the same specifications of his first Jaydee SG with a red finish. Another one was made and used during the Born Again era, which can be seen on the music videos for "Trashed" and "Zero the Hero." The differences are the finish, headstock, use of a stoptail brige, and use of rail humbuckers, as opposed to the 24-pole humbuckers on his two other versions.

    * Gibson SG, aka "Monkey"

A 1965 Gibson SG Special in red finish fitted with a Gibson P-90 pickup in the bridge position and a custom-wound John Birch P-90 style single coil in the neck position. The guitar became Iommi's main instrument after his white Stratocaster's neck pickup failed during the recording of Black Sabbath's self-titled album.

    * Gibson Custom Shop SG

The guitar was built by the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville after Iommi's specifications and finished in 1997. The guitar is one of two made as prototypes for the Gibson Custom Shop Limited Edition Iommi Special SG. The guitar features a neck with 24 frets and four control knobs, of which only two are active (much like his old Jaydee Custom guitar).

On August 11, 2010, Iommi announced on his website that this guitar was stolen from the RJD tribute show that Heaven & Hell performed at High Voltage on July 24, 2010. He is asking that anyone with information or leads let them know. He is offering a reward for its safe return.

    * Epiphone P94 Iommi SG

A stock Epiphone SG signature model in black finish fitted with P-94 pickups which is a version of the Gibson P-90 pickup designed to fit into existing humbucker housings.

    * Gibson SG Standard

A regular left-handed version of the SG fitted with two extra frets to give Iommi the full two octaves which he prefers. The guitar is equipped with his signature pickup. Iommi was the first guitarist to have a signature pickup designed and built by Gibson. He also has another model fitted with a Floyd Rose floating tremolo.

"I also came up with a guitar with interchangeable pickups you could slot in from the back. It was a John Birch guitar. We only sold one, and Roy Orbison bought it. I came up with that years ago and the first one was made for me to use in the studio. At the time I had a lot of problems tuning guitars because of the neck and the light strings on the Gibson. I decided to come up with a guitar that I could use in the studio with different sounds so that I didn't have to keep changing guitars. You could slot a pickup in it and get a Fender sound, then slot a different pickup in it and get a Gibson sound. That was the idea. I did use it for a while, but they were too expensive to mass-produce."
Tony Iommi

    * Fender Stratocaster

Iommi played a Fender Stratocaster that was spraypainted white by Iommi and his father during the early days with Black Sabbath. However, the pickup malfunctioned during the recording of their first album so Iommi quickly turned to his backup Gibson SG to finish the record. Currently Iommi owns two Stratocasters, one of which has been modified with his signature pickup in the bridge position.

    * BC Rich Ironbird.

Custom built for Iommi by BC Rich. Features include Dimarzio pickups, two built-in preamps,scalloped fretboard and Iommi's trademark cross inlays. This guitar can be seen in Tony's star licks video, along with a left handed BC Rich mockingbird.

    * Gibson Barney Kessel

A rare left-handed version of the jazz guitarist Barney Kessel artist model, built sometime in the first half of the 1960s.

    * Epiphone Riviera 12 string

Originally a regular right-handed version in red finish that was converted by Epiphone to a left-handed version to fit Iommi.

    * LaBella custom gauge strings
    * Shure Wireless systems

Effects

    * Tycobrahe Wah Pedal
    * Korg Rackmount Delay Model SDD1000
    * Boss Chorus pedal
    * Korg DL8000R multi-tap delay
    * Peavey Addverb III
    * Boss Octave Divider
    * Drawmer LX22 Compressor
    * Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster

Amplifiers

    * Laney GH 100 TI Tony Iommi Signature amplifiers: current main amplifier
    * Engl Powerball Amplifiers: only used in 2009
    * Laney 4x12 cabinets
    * Various Marshall amplifiers: from early-mid 80's to 1993, including 9005 Power Amplifiers and 9001 Preamps, 4x12" speaker cabinets, 2554 Silver Jubilee Combo, 2558 Silver Jubilee Combo, Paul Reed Smith modded JCM800 head.
    * Laney Supergroup heads: his main amplifier from 1968–1979
    * Mesa Boogie Mark series heads: from the mid 1980's to the early 1990s

Controversy

In 2009, Iommi was sued by bandmate Ozzy Osbourne over ownership of the "Black Sabbath" name. A Manhattan federal judge ruled in February 2010 that Osbourne could proceed with the suit, but urged both sides to consider resuming mediation. In June 2010, the legal battle between Osbourne and Iommi over the trademarking of the Black Sabbath name ended, but the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Discography
Solo

    * Iommi (2000)
    * The 1996 DEP Sessions (2004)
    * Fused (2005)

with Black Sabbath
Main article: Black Sabbath discography
with Heaven and Hell

    * Live from Radio City Music Hall (2007)
    * The Devil You Know (2009)
    * Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell (2010)

Guest appearances

    * Various Artists - Heavy Metal Soundtrack (1981)
    * Various Artists - Rock Aid Armenia (1989)
    * Various Artists - Guitar Speak II (1990)
    * Queen & Various Artists - The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992)
    * Diamond Head - Death and Progress (1993)
    * Ozzy Osbourne - Live and Loud (1993)
    * Cathedral - The Carnival Bizarre (1995)
    * Various Artists - Twang! - A Tribute to Hank Marvin & The Shadows (1996)
    * Ozzy Osbourne - The Ozzman Cometh (1997)
    * Various Artists - Party at the Palace: The Queen’s Concerts, Buckingham Palace (2002)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s244/lhuntzinger/TONY.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r129/electricmelon/iommi_082883.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/11 at 6:18 am

British Person of the Day: Prince Andrew, Duke of York

Title: Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Full Name: Andrew Albert Christian Edward
Father: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Mother: Queen Elizabeth II
Relation to Elizabeth II: Son
Born: February 19, 1960 at Buckingham Palace, London
Current Age: 51 years,
Married: Sarah Ferguson on July 23, 1986 at Westminster Abbey
Divorced: May 30, 1996
Children: Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie

Prince Andrew is the second son and third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. He was born on 19 February 1960 in Buckingham Palace, and was named after his paternal grandfather Prince Philip’s father Prince Andrew of Greece. He was the first child born to a reigning British monarch since Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter Princess Beatrice. He was baptised on 8 April 1960.

Prince Andrew was educated at Heatherdown Preparatory School, Berkshire, before like his brother and father before him going to Gordounston School in Scotland. He left with 3 A levels and joined the Royal Navy attending Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. He undertook the Royal Marine Green Beret course, and learned to fly Gazelle and Sea King helicopters. In 1982 he joined the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, and saw front line action during the Falklands War flying Anti-Submarine and Anti-Surface warfare missions and search and rescue operations. In 1983 he transferred to Lynx helicopters and 1984 - 1991 saw service aboard HMS Brazen as a flight pilot and as flight commander on HMS Campbletown. He became a Lieutenant Commander in 1992 and commanded a Minehunter HMS Cottesmore. In 1995 he was was senior pilot of 815 Naval Air Squadron, and in 2001 finished his naval career as a Commander in the Ministry of Defence in London. He is Colonel-in-Chief of a number of regiments including Canadian regiments.

He has known Sarah Ferguson since childhood though their families shared interest in polo, and on 23 July 1986 Prince Andrew and Sarah were married in Westminster Abbey. He was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh titles previously held by his maternal grandfather George VI. Sarah became Duchess of York. They have two children Princess Beatrice born in 1988, and Princess Eugenie born in 1990. Sarah received considerably media attention but he was frequently away on naval duties and the marriage broke down. They were separated in March 1992, and following pictures in the press of Sarah with her American financial advisor, they were divorced on 30 May 1996 although their friendship continues and they remain on good terms.

The Duke of York currently works for the UK Department of Trade and Industry, and travels throughout the world representing the UK at trade and export events. He is Commodore of the Royal Yacht club, Trustee of the National Maritime Museum, and patron of charities including the Deaf Association, and National Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He also attends official ceremonies on behalf of the Queen.

http://www.britroyals.com/images/signature/andrew_sig.jpg
Prince Andrew's Signature

http://www.britroyals.com/images/andrew.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/19/11 at 7:04 am

Black Sabbath was a cool rock band.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/11 at 7:05 am


Black Sabbath was a cool rock band.  :)
Black Sabbath are too noisy for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/19/11 at 7:10 am


Black Sabbath are too noisy for me.


A lot of rock bands are noisy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/11 at 7:10 am


A lot of rock bands are noisy.
Heavy noise!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/19/11 at 7:11 am


Heavy noise!


and a lot of screaming.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/19/11 at 7:13 am


and a lot of screaming.
Lyrics sung very fast.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/19/11 at 7:13 am


Lyrics sung very fast.



and electric guitars.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/20/11 at 6:12 am

The person of the day...Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana.

Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut album Bleach released on the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found breakthrough success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from its second album Nevermind (1991). Following the success of Nevermind, Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation". Cobain however was often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues often subject to media attention. He challenged Nirvana's audience with its final studio album In Utero (1993).

During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with heroin addiction, his fame and public image, as well as the professional and lifelong personal pressures surrounding himself and his wife, musician Courtney Love. He also struggled with illness and depression for most of his life. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of what was officially ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The circumstances of his death have become a topic of public fascination and debate. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, sold over twenty-five million albums in the US alone, and over fifty million worldwide.
The Beatles were an early and lasting influence on Cobain; his aunt Mari remembers him singing "Hey Jude" at the age of two. "My aunts would give me Beatles records," Cobain told Jon Savage in 1993, "so for the most part the Beatles , and if I was lucky, I'd be able to buy a single." Cobain expressed a particular fondness for John Lennon, whom he called his "idol" in his posthumously-released journals, and he admitted that he wrote the song "About a Girl," from Nirvana 1989 debut album Bleach, after spending three hours listening to Meet the Beatles.

Cobain was also a fan of classic rock bands from the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Queen, and Kiss. Nirvana occasionally played cover songs by these bands, including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", "Dazed and Confused" and "Heartbreaker", Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom," and Kiss' "Do You Love Me?", and wrote the Incesticide song "Aero Zeppelin" as a tribute to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.

Punk rock proved to be a profound influence on a teenaged Cobain's attitude and artistic style. His first punk rock album was Sandinista! by The Clash, but he became a bigger fan of a fellow 1970s British punk band, the Sex Pistols, describing them as "one million times more important than the Clash" in his journals. He was introduced to 1980s American hardcore bands like Black Flag, Bad Brains, Millions of Dead Cops and Flipper by Buzz Osbourne, lead singer and guitarist of the Melvins and fellow Aberdeen, Washington native. The Melvins themselves were an important early musical influence on Cobain, with their heavy, grungy sound mimicked by Nirvana on many songs from Bleach.

Cobain was also a fan of protopunk acts like the Stooges, whose 1973 album Raw Power he listed as his favorite of all time in his journals, and the Velvet Underground, whose 1968 song "Here She Comes Now" the band covered both live and in the studio.

The 1980s American alternative rock band Pixies were instrumental in helping an adult Cobain develop his own songwriting style. In a 1992 interview with Melody Maker, Cobain said that hearing their 1988 debut album, Surfer Rosa, "convinced him to abandon his more Black Flag-influenced songwriting in favor of the "Iggy Pop / Aerosmith" type songwriting that appeared on Nevermind. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, he said that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt at "trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band— or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard."

Cobain's appreciation of early alternative rock bands also extended to Sonic Youth and R.E.M., both of which the members of Nirvana befriended and looked up to for advice. It was under recommendation from Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon that Nirvana signed to DGC in 1990, and both bands did a two week tour of Europe in the summer of 1991, as documented in the 1992 documentary, 1991: The Year Punk Broke. In 1993, Cobain said of R.E.M.: "If I could write just a couple of songs as good as what they’ve written …I don’t know how that band does what they do. God, they’re the greatest. They’ve dealt with their success like saints, and they keep delivering great music."

After attaining mainstream success, Cobain became a devoted champion of lesser known indie bands, covering songs by the Vaselines, Meat Puppets, Wipers and Fang onstage and/ or in the studio, wearing Daniel Johnston t-shirts during photo shoots, and enlisting bands like The Butthole Surfers, Shonen Knife, Chokebore and Half Japanese along for the In Utero tour in late 1993 and early 1994. Cobain even invited his favorite musicians to perform with him: ex-Germs guitarist Pat Smear joined the band in 1993, and the Meat Puppets appeared onstage during Nirvana's 1993 MTV Unplugged appearance, to perform three songs from their second album, Meat Puppets II.

Nirvana's Unplugged set also included renditions of "The Man Who Sold the World," by British rock musician David Bowie, and the American folk song, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," as adapted by the American folk musician, Lead Belly. Cobain introduced the latter by calling Lead Belly his favorite performer, and in a 1993 interview revealed he had been introduced to him from reading the American author, William S. Burroughs. "I remember saying in an interview, “These new rock’n'roll kids should just throw away their guitars and listen to something with real soul, like Leadbelly,'" Cobain said. "I’d never heard about Leadbelly before so I bought a couple of records, and now he turns out to be my absolute favorite of all time in music. I absolutely love it more than any rock’n'roll I ever heard."

Nirvana's acoustic Unplugged set, which was released posthumously as an album in 1994, may have provided a hint of Cobain's future musical direction. The record has drawn comparisons to R.E.M.'s 1992 release, Automatic for the People, and in 1993, Cobain himself predicted that the next Nirvana album would be "pretty ethereal, acoustic, like R.E.M.'s last album."

"Yeah, he talked a lot about what direction he was heading in," Cobain's friend, R.E.M.'s lead singer Michael Stipe, told Newsweek in 1994. "I mean, I know what the next Nirvana recording was going to sound like. It was going to be very quiet and acoustic, with lots of stringed instruments. It was going to be an amazing fudgeing record, and I’m a little bit angry at him for killing himself. He and I were going to record a trial run of the album, a demo tape. It was all set up. He had a plane ticket. He had a car picking him up. And at the last minute he called and said, 'I can't come.'"
Artistry

Dave Grohl stated that Cobain believed "Music comes first, lyrics come second". Cobain focused, foremost, on the melodies of his songs. Cobain complained when fans and rock journalists attempted to decipher his singing and extract meaning from his lyrics, writing "Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate Freudian evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them incorrectly?" While Cobain would insist of the subjectivity and unimportance of his lyrics, he was known to labor and procrastinate in writing them, often changing the content and order of lyrics during performances. Cobain would describe his lyrics himself as "a big pile of contradictions. They're split down the middle between very sincere opinions that I have and sarcastic opinions and feelings that I have and sarcastic and hopeful, humorous rebuttals toward cliché bohemian ideals that have been exhausted for years."

Cobain originally wanted Nevermind to be divided into two sides. A "Boy"-side, for the songs written about the experiences of his early life and childhood, and a "Girl"-side, for the songs written about his dysfunctional relationship with Tobi Vail. Charles R. Cross would write "In the four months following their break-up, Kurt would write a half dozen of his most memorable songs, all of them about Tobi Vail". Though "Lithium" had been written before Cobain knew Vail, the lyrics of the song were changed to reference her. Cobain would say in an interview with Musician that "some of my very personal experiences, like breaking up with girlfriends and having bad relationships, feeling that death void that the person in the song is feeling. Very lonely, sick." While Cobain would regard In Utero "for the most part very impersonal", on the album he dealt with the childhood divorce of his parents, his newfound fame and the public image and perception of himself and Courtney Love on "Serve the Servants", with his enamored relationship with Love conveyed through lyrical themes of pregnancy and the female anatomy on "Heart-Shaped Box". Cobain wrote "Rape Me" not only as an objective discussion of rape, but a metaphorical protest against his treatment by the media. He wrote about fame, drug addiction and abortion on "Pennyroyal Tea", as well as women's rights and the life of Seattle-born Frances Farmer on "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle".

Cobain was affected enough to write the song "Polly" from Nevermind, after reading a newspaper story of an incident in 1987, where a young girl was kidnapped after attending a punk rock show, then raped and tortured with a blowtorch. She managed to escape after gaining the trust of her captor through flirting with him. After seeing Nirvana perform, Bob Dylan would cite "Polly" as the best of Nirvana's songs, and was quoted as saying about Cobain, "the kid has heart". Patrick Süskind, whose novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer inspired Cobain to write the song "Scentless Apprentice" from In Utero. The book is an historical horror novel about a perfumer's apprentice born with no body odor of his own but with a highly developed sense of smell, and who attempts to create the "ultimate perfume" by killing virginal women and taking their scent.

Cobain immersed himself in artistic projects throughout his life, as much so as he did in songwriting. The sentiments of his art work followed the same subjects of his lyrics, often expressed through a dark and macabre sense of humor. Noted was his fascination with physiology, his own rare medical conditions, and the human anatomy. Often unable to afford artistic resources, Cobain would improvise with materials, painting on board games and album sleeves, and painting with an array of substances, including his own bodily fluids. The artwork seen in his Journals would later draw acclaim as being of a high artistic standard. Many of Cobain's paintings, collages, and sculptures would appear in the artwork of Nirvana's albums. His artistic concepts would feature notably in Nirvana's music videos; the production and direction of which were acrimonious due to the artistic perfectionism of his visions.

Cobain would contribute backing guitar for a spoken word recording of beat poet William S. Burroughs' entitled "the "Priest" they called him". Cobain regarded Burroughs as a hero. During Nirvana's European tour Cobain kept a copy of Burroughs' Naked Lunch, purchased in a London bookstall. Ana Finel-Honigman, in her introduction to an interview with the artist Stella Vine on the Saatchi Gallery website, described Vine's art as bitterly honest in the same way Cobain's songs were; "acid outrage over adult lies and injustice", Holden Caulfield's observations about "a world filled with phonies", and Sylvia Plath's poetry an "over-heated anger and bitterness at the world's betrayals".
Nirvana
Main article: Nirvana (band)
Question book-new.svg
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011)

Cobain began learning guitar with a few covers, including "Louie Louie" and The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl", and soon began working on his own songs. During high school, Cobain rarely found anyone with whom he could play music. While hanging out at the Melvins' practice space, he met Krist Novoselic, a fellow devotee of punk rock. Novoselic's mother owned a hair salon. Cobain and Novoselic would occasionally practice in the upstairs room of the salon. A few years later, Cobain tried to convince Novoselic to form a band with him by lending him a copy of a home demo recorded by Cobain's earlier band, Fecal Matter. After months of asking, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain, forming the beginnings of Nirvana.

Cobain was disenchanted after early touring, due to the band's inability to draw substantial crowds and the apparent difficulty in sustaining themselves. During their first few years playing together, Novoselic and Cobain were hosts to a rotating list of drummers. Eventually, the band settled on Chad Channing, with whom Nirvana recorded the album Bleach, released on Sub Pop Records in 1989. Cobain, however, became dissatisfied with Channing's style, leading the band to find a new drummer, eventually settling on Dave Grohl. With Grohl, the band found their greatest success via their 1991 major-label debut, Nevermind.

With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered the mainstream, popularizing a subgenre of alternative rock, euphemistically titled grunge. Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, sold over 25 million albums in the United States alone, and over 50 million worldwide.

The success of Nevermind provided numerous Seattle bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden wider audiences, and as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. Nirvana was considered the "flagship band of Generation X", and frontman Cobain found himself reluctantly anointed by the media as the generation's "spokesman." Cobain's discomfort with the media attention prompted him to focus on the band's music and, believing their message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenged the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).

Cobain struggled to reconcile the massive success of Nirvana to his underground roots. He also felt persecuted by the media, comparing himself to Frances Farmer. He began to harbour resentments for people who claimed to be fans of the band yet refused to acknowledge, or misinterpreted, the band's social and political views. A vocal opponent of sexism, racism and homophobia, he was publicly proud that Nirvana had played at a gay rights benefit supporting No-on-Nine in Oregon in 1992, in opposition to Ballot Measure Nine, a ballot measure, that if passed, would have prohibited schools in the state from acknowledging or positively accepting LGBT rights and welfare.

Cobain was a vocal supporter of the pro-choice movement, and had been involved in Rock for Choice from the campaign inception by L7. He received death threats from a small number of anti-abortion activists for doing so, with one activist threatening Cobain that he would be shot as soon as he stepped on stage. The liner notes from Incesticide declared "if any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us-leave us the fudge alone! Don't come to our shows and don't buy our records". An article from his posthumously released Journals declares that social liberation could be made possible only through the eradication of sexism.
Relationships and family
Courtney Love

Courtney Love met Cobain, on January 12, 1990, in Portland's Satyricon nightclub when they both still led ardent underground rock bands. Love made advances, but Cobain was evasive. Early in their interactions, Cobain broke off dates and ignored Love’s advances because he was unsure he wanted a relationship. Cobain noted, "I was determined to be a bachelor for a few months But I knew that I liked Courtney so much right away that it was a really hard struggle to stay away from her for so many months." Courtney Love first saw Cobain perform in 1989 at a show in Portland, Oregon; they talked briefly after the show and Love developed a crush on him.

Cobain was already aware of Love through her role in the 1987 film Straight to Hell. According to journalist Everett True, the pair were formally introduced at an L7 and Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles in May 1991. In the weeks that followed, after learning from Dave Grohl that Cobain shared mutual interests with her, Love began pursuing Cobain. In late 1991 the two were often together and bonded through drug use.

Around the time of Nirvana's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, Love discovered that she was pregnant with Cobain's child. On February 24, 1992, a few days after the conclusion of Nirvana's Pacific Rim tour, Cobain and Love were married on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Love wore a satin and lace dress once owned by the actress Frances Farmer, and Cobain wore green pajamas, because he had been "too lazy to put on a tux". In an interview with The Guardian, Love revealed the opposition to their marriage from various people: "Kim Gordon sits me down and says, 'If you marry him your life is not going to happen, it will destroy your life.' But I said, 'Whatever! I love him, and I want to be with him!'... It wasn't his fault. He wasn't trying to do that."
Frances Bean Cobain

On August 18, 1992, the couple's daughter Frances Bean Cobain was born.

In a 1992 article in Vanity Fair, Love admitted to using heroin while unknowingly pregnant. Love claimed that Vanity Fair had misquoted her, but the event created a media controversy for the couple. While Cobain and Love's romance had always been a media attraction, they found themselves hounded by tabloid reporters after the article was published, many wanting to know if Frances was addicted to drugs at birth. The Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services took the Cobains to court, claiming that the couple's drug usage made them unfit parents. Two-week-old Frances was ordered by the judge to be taken from their custody and placed with Courtney's sister Jamie for several weeks, after which the couple obtained custody in an exchange agreement to submit to urine tests and regular visits from a social worker. After months of legal wrangling, the couple were eventually granted full custody of their daughter.
Health history

Throughout most of his life, Cobain suffered from chronic bronchitis and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. His first drug experience was with marijuana in 1980, at age 13. He regularly used the drug during adulthood. Cobain also had a period of consuming "notable" amounts of LSD, as observed by Tracy Marander, and "really into getting fudgeed up: drugs, acid, any kind of drug", observed Krist Novoselic; Cobain was also prone to alcoholism and solvent abuse. Cobain's cousin Beverly, a nurse, claimed Cobain was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as a child, and bipolar disorder as an adult. She also brought attention to the history of suicide, mental illness and alcoholism in the Cobain family, noting two of her uncles who had committed suicide with guns.

Cobain's stomach condition was emotionally debilitating to him, and he intermittently tried to find its cause, usually at the insistence of Love. None of the many doctors he consulted were able to pinpoint the specific cause. He suffered from an acute self-consciousness and developed a poor body image, due to his low body weight; which was primarily due to malnourishment caused by his stomach condition, poor diet (as attributed by numerous doctors), or a combination of both.

Cobain's first experience with heroin occurred sometime in 1986, administered to him by a local drug dealer in Tacoma, Washington who had previously supplied him with Percodan. He used heroin sporadically for several years, but, by the end of 1990, his use developed into a full-fledged addiction. Cobain claimed that he was "determined to get a habit" as a way to self-medicate his stomach condition. "It started with three days in a row of doing heroin and I don't have a stomach pain. That was such a relief," he related.

His heroin use began to affect the band's Nevermind supporting tour, Cobain fell unconscious during photo shoots. One memorable example came the day of the band's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, where Nirvana had a photographic session with photographer Michael Levine. Having taken heroin beforehand, Cobain fell asleep several times during the shoot. Cobain divulged to biographer Michael Azerrad, "I mean, what are they supposed to do? They're not going to be able to tell me to stop. So I really didn't care. Obviously to them it was like practicing witchcraft or something. They didn't know anything about it so they thought that any second, I was going to die."

Slowly, Cobain's heroin addiction worsened. His first attempt at rehab was made in early 1992, not long after he and Love discovered they were going to become parents. Immediately after leaving rehab, Nirvana embarked on their Australian tour, with Cobain appearing pale and gaunt while suffering through withdrawals. Not long after returning home, Cobain's heroin use resumed.

Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1993, Cobain suffered a heroin overdose. Rather than calling for an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with Narcan to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana, giving the public no indication that anything out of the ordinary had taken place.
Death
Main article: Death of Kurt Cobain

Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for medical treatment, and was joined there by his wife on March 3, 1994. The next morning, Love awoke to find that Cobain had overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol. Cobain was immediately rushed to the hospital, and spent the rest of the day unconscious. After five days in the hospital, Cobain was released and returned to Seattle. Love later stated that the incident was Cobain's first suicide attempt.

On March 18, 1994, Love phoned Seattle police informing them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love. When questioned by police, Love said that Cobain had never mentioned that he was suicidal and that she had not seen him with a gun.

Love arranged an intervention regarding Cobain's drug use on March 25, 1994. The ten people involved included musician friends, record company executives, and one of Cobain's closest friends, Dylan Carlson. The intervention was initially unsuccessful, with an angry Cobain insulting and heaping scorn on its participants and eventually locking himself in the upstairs bedroom. However, by the end of the day, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program. Cobain arrived at the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles, California on March 30, 1994. The staff at the facility were unaware of Cobain's history of depression and prior attempts at suicide. When visited by friends, there was no indication to them that Cobain was in any negative or suicidal state of mind. He spent the day talking to counselors about his drug abuse and personal problems, happily playing with his daughter Frances. These interactions were the last time she would see her father. The following night, Cobain walked outside to have a cigarette, climbed over a six-foot-high fence to leave the facility (which he joked earlier in the day would be a stupid feat to attempt). He took a taxi to Los Angeles Airport and flew back to Seattle. On the flight, he sat next to Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses. With Cobain's own personal animosity towards Guns N' Roses and specifically Axl Rose, Cobain "seemed happy" to see McKagan. McKagan later stated he knew from "all of my instincts that something was wrong." On April 2 and April 3, 1994, Cobain was spotted in various locations around Seattle, although most of his close friends and family were unaware of his whereabouts. He was not seen on April 4, 1994. On April 3, 1994, Love contacted a private investigator, Tom Grant, and hired him to find Cobain. On April 7, 1994, amid rumors of Nirvana breaking up, the band pulled out of that year's Lollapalooza music festival.

On April 8, 1994, at the age of 27, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an electrician who had arrived to install a security system. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, the electrician reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found, addressed to Cobain's childhood imaginary friend "Boddah", that said, paraphrasing, "I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now". A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in his body. Cobain's body had been lying there for days; the coroner's report estimated Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994.

A public vigil was held for Cobain on April 10, 1994 at a park at Seattle Center drawing approximately seven thousand mourners. Prerecorded messages by Krist Novoselic and Courtney Love were played at the memorial. Love read portions of Cobain's suicide note to the crowd, crying and chastising Cobain. Near the end of the vigil, Love arrived at the park and distributed some of Cobain's clothing to those who still remained. Dave Grohl would say that the news of Cobain's death was "probably the worst thing that has happened to me in my life. I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, 'Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn't.'" He also believed that he knew Cobain would die at an early age, saying that "sometimes you just can't save someone from themselves," and "in some ways, you kind of prepare yourself emotionally for that to be a reality." Dave Reed, who for a short time was Cobain's foster father, said that "he had the desperation, not the courage, to be himself. Once you do that, you can't go wrong, because you can't make any mistakes when people love you for being yourself. But for Kurt, it didn't matter that other people loved him; he simply didn't love himself enough."

A final ceremony was arranged for Cobain by his mother on May 31, 1999, attended by both Courtney Love and Tracey Marander. As a Buddhist monk chanted, his daughter Frances Bean scattered his ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia, the city where he "had found his true artistic muse."

Cobain's artistic endeavors and struggles with heroin addiction, illness and depression, as well as the circumstances of his death have become a frequent topic of fascination, debate, and controversy throughout the world. He is one of the well known members of the 27 Club.
Legacy
The bench in Viretta Park has become a notable memorial to Cobain.
In 2005, a sign was put up in Aberdeen, Washington that reads "Welcome to Aberdeen - Come As You Are" as a tribute to Cobain.

Cobain has been remembered as one of the most iconic rock musicians in the history of alternative music. He was ranked by Rolling Stone as the 12th greatest guitarist and 45th greatest singer of all time, and by MTV as 7th in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music". In 2006, he was placed at number twenty by Hit Parader on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time". Reflecting on Cobain's death over ten years later, MSNBC's Eric Olsen wrote, "In the intervening decade, Cobain, a small, frail but handsome man in life, has become an abstract Generation X icon, viewed by many as the 'last real rock star' a messiah and martyr whose every utterance has been plundered and parsed".
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n144/xXilovecrxX/Kurt.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n231/kinda_strange/Random/kurt_cobain.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/20/11 at 7:04 am

Who's the lead singer now of Nirvana?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/20/11 at 7:41 am


Who's the lead singer now of Nirvana?  ???


The group Nirvana doesn't exist anymore-so the answer is no one.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/20/11 at 10:17 am


Who's the lead singer now of Nirvana?  ???

The group Nirvana doesn't exist anymore-so the answer is no one.



Cat
The band ceased-to-be following the suicide of Cobain in 1994.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/21/11 at 5:28 am

The person of the day...Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Rickman is known for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, Eamon de Valera in Michael Collins, and Metatron in Dogma.

He is also known for his prominent roles as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and as Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee's 1995 film Sense and Sensibility. More recently he played Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and voiced the Caterpillar in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The Guardian named Rickman as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.
After graduating from the RADA, Rickman worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he played with the Court Drama Group, performing in several plays, most notably Romeo And Juliet and A View from the Bridge. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It.

In 1982, British television audiences came to know Alan Rickman as the Reverend Obadiah Slope in the BBC's adaptation of Barchester Towers known as The Barchester Chronicles. In 1985, Rickman was given the male lead, Le Vicomte de Valmont, in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Christopher Hampton, which was a sellout. When the show went to Broadway in 1987, Rickman earned both a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award nomination for his performance.

While Rickman's career has been filled with a wide variety of roles, for example, Éamon de Valera, (future Irish Taoiseach and president, in the film Michael Collins), he has also played romantic leads, for example Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility, and Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply. Yet, he has not been able to escape the over-the-top villains he has played in the Hollywood big budget films - German terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988), the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and most recently Severus Snape, the seemingly sinister potions master in the Harry Potter saga (2001–2011). In 1995, Rickman had turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan in the James Bond film GoldenEye. He has taken issue with being labelled as a "villain actor", citing the fact that he has not portrayed a stock villain character since the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991. He has further said that he has continued to portray characters of complex and varying emotions, and does not think it is fair to assign characters a label of good or evil, hero or villain.

Nevertheless, his role in Die Hard earned him a spot on the AFI's 100 years...100 Heroes & Villains as the 46th best villain in film history. His performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves also made him known as one of the best actors to portray a villain in films. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named him one of their favourite people in pop culture, saying that in the Harry Potter films, "he may not be on screen long - but he owns every minute," and that he is capable of "turning a simple retort into a mini-symphony of contempt.".

During his long career Rickman has also played a number of comedic roles. Sending up classically trained British actors who take on "lesser roles" as the character Sir Alexander Dane / Dr. Lazarus in the Science Fiction spoof Galaxy Quest, portraying the angel Metatron, the voice of God in Dogma, appearing as Emma Thompson's foolish husband Harry in Love Actually, providing the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film, and the egotistical, narcissistic, Nobel prize winning father in Nobel Son. Perhaps one of his best comedic roles is as the title role in the independent film The Search for John Gissing.

Rickman has also received acclaim for two biographical pieces he did for HBO, he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something the Lord Made. He also starred in the independent film Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss) which had its debut at the Berlinale, and also Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), directed by Tom Tykwer.

In 2007, Rickman appeared in the critically-acclaimed Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton, alongside Harry Potter co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall; he played antagonist Judge Turpin. According to Miami Herald, Rickman's performance "makes the judge's villainy something to simultaneously savor and despise", with his "oozing moral rot and arrogance". Rickman also appeared as Absolem the Caterpillar in the 2010 Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland. Rickman has performed on stage in Noël Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre and ended in September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan, and director Howard Davies for this Tony Award-winning production.

His previous stage performance was as Mark Antony, opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from 20 October to 3 December 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua.

Rickman had also directed The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995 and the film version of the same play in 1996 starring Emma Thompson and her real life mother Phyllida Law. He also directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and won the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director. In May 2010, he finished directing Strindberg's play Creditors at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theatre after its previous run at London's Donmar Warehouse in 2008.

In October and November 2010, Rickman starred in the eponymous role in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin alongside Lindsay Duncan and Fiona Shaw. The Irish Independent called Rickman's performance breathtaking. This production subsequently travelled to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for performances in January and February 2011.

In 2009 Rickman was given the James Joyce Award by University College Dublin’s Literary and Historical Society.
In the media

Rickman was chosen by Empire as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (No 34) in 1995 and ranked No 59 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in October 1997. In 2009 and 2010 Rickman ranked once again as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars by Empire, both times Rickman was placed 8th out of the 50 actors chosen. Rickman became Vice-Chairman of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2003. He was voted No 19 in Empire magazine's Greatest Living Movie Stars over the age of 50 and was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Play): in 1987 for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and in 2002 for a revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives.

Two researchers, a linguist and a sound engineer, found "the perfect voice" to be a combination of Rickman's and Jeremy Irons's voices based on a sample of 50 voices. Coincidentally, the two actors played brothers in the Die Hard series of films.

Rickman has also been featured in several musical works — most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard entitled Not Alan Rickman. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a music video by the band Texas entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards.
Personal life

In 1965, Rickman met Rima Horton, an economics professor and London Labour party politician. As of 2006, Rickman and Horton have remained a couple and live together in west London. Rickman is also a supporter of the Labour party and has made many appearances for charity.
Filmography and awards
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1978 Romeo and Juliet Tybalt BBC Television Shakespeare
1982 Barchester Chronicles, TheThe Barchester Chronicles The Rev. Obadiah Slope BBC Miniseries
1985 Return of the Native Narrator Won British Audiobook Publishing Association's "Talkie Award" for Best Unabridged Classic Recording
1988 Die Hard Hans Gruber
1989 January Man, TheThe January Man Ed, the painter
1990 Quigley Down Under Elliot Marston, an unscrupulous ranch owner
1991 Truly, Madly, Deeply Jamie Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Sheriff of Nottingham Won BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1991 Close My Eyes Sinclair Bryant
1991 Closet Land The Interrogator
1992 Bob Roberts Lukas Hart III
1994 Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer Won Award for Best actor on the World Film Festival, Montreal
1995 Awfully Big Adventure, AnAn Awfully Big Adventure P.L. O'Hara
1995 Sense and Sensibility Colonel Brandon Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1996 Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny Grigori Rasputin Won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors' Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
1996 Michael Collins Éamon de Valera Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1996 Castle Ghosts of Ireland Living Tyde Documentary
1997 Winter Guest, TheThe Winter Guest Man in street (uncredited) Director, co-writer
Won Audience Award
Won Gold Hugo Award for Best Film
Nominated Chlotrudis Award for Best Director
Nominated Czech Lion Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Won 'CinemAwenire' Award
Won OCIC Award
Nominated Golden Lion Award
1998 Judas Kiss Detective David Friedman
1998 Dark Harbor David Weinberg
1999 Dogma The Metatron
1999 Galaxy Quest Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus
2000 Play M
2000 Help! I'm a Fish! Joe Voice
2001 Blow Dry Phil Allen
2001 Search for John Gissing, TheThe Search for John Gissing John Gissing
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Severus Snape Known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Severus Snape Nominated PFCS Award for Best Acting Ensemble
2002 King of the Hill King Philip Voice
2003 Love Actually Harry Nominated PFCS Award for Best Acting Ensemble
2004 Something the Lord Made Dr. Alfred Blalock Nominated Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Severus Snape
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Severus Snape
2005 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, TheThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Marvin the Paranoid Android Voice
2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Antoine Richis
2006 Snow Cake Alex Hughes
2007 Nobel Son Eli Michaelson, Nobel laureate
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Severus Snape
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Judge Turpin Nominated Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2008 Bottle Shock Steven Spurrier Won The Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Severus Snape Won Spike TV Scream Award for Best Ensemble
2010 Alice in Wonderland Absolem the Caterpillar Voice
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Severus Snape
2010 Wildest Dream, TheThe Wildest Dream Noel Odell
2010 Song of Lunch, TheThe Song of Lunch He BBC Drama Production
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Severus Snape
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii36/ugahill/Sexiest%20People/AlanRickman.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg29/Snapelove14/Severus%20Snape/SRSEVERUSCOLLAGE.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/21/11 at 7:13 am

I LOVE Alan Rickman. He plays the perfect sleaziod-first as the Sheriff in Prince of Thieves (where I think he stole the show) & of course Snape.  I think he is an outstanding actor.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/21/11 at 9:04 am


I LOVE Alan Rickman. He plays the perfect sleaziod-first as the Sheriff in Prince of Thieves (where I think he stole the show) & of course Snape.  I think he is an outstanding actor.



Cat

I agree :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/22/11 at 6:02 am

The person of the day...Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006), known simply as Steve Irwin and nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist.

Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. Together, the couple also co-owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane.

Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Since her husband's death, Terri Irwin has continued to operate Australia Zoo and raise their two children. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship MY Steve Irwin was named in his honour.
In 1991, Irwin met Terri Raines, an American naturalist from Eugene, Oregon who was visiting wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Australia and had decided to visit the zoo. According to the couple, it was love at first sight. Terri said at the time, "I thought there was no one like this anywhere in the world. He sounded like an environmental Tarzan, a larger-than-life superhero guy." They were engaged four months later and were married in Eugene on 4 June 1992. Together they had two children: a daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin (born 24 July 1998), and a son, Robert Clarence "Bob" (named after Irwin's father) Irwin (born 1 December 2003). Bindi Sue is jointly named after two of Steve Irwin's favourite animals: Bindi, a saltwater crocodile, and Sui, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who died in June 2004. Irwin was as enthusiastic about his family as he was about his work. He once described his daughter Bindi as "the reason was put on the Earth." His wife once said, "The only thing that could ever keep him away from the animals he loves are the people he loves even more." Although the Irwins were happily married, they did not wear wedding rings; they believed that in their line of work, wearing jewellery could pose a hazard to them and/or the animals.
The Crocodile Hunter and related work

Steve and Terri spent their honeymoon trapping crocodiles together. Film footage of their honeymoon, taken by John Stainton, became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter. The series debuted on Australian TV screens in 1996, and made its way onto North American television the following year. The Crocodile Hunter became successful in the United States, the UK, and over 130 other countries, reaching 500 million people. Irwin's exuberant and enthusiastic presenting style, broad Australian accent, signature khaki shorts, and catchphrase "Crikey!" became known worldwide. Sir David Attenborough praised Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator."

American satellite and cable television channel Animal Planet ended The Crocodile Hunter with a series finale entitled "Steve's Last Adventure." The last Crocodile Hunter documentary spanned three hours with footage of Irwin's across-the-world adventure in locations including the Himalayas, the Yangtze River, Borneo, and the Kruger National Park. Irwin went on to star in other Animal Planet documentaries, including Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets. During a January 2006 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Irwin announced that Discovery Kids would be developing a show for his daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin — a plan realised after his death as the series Bindi the Jungle Girl.
Other television and film work

In 1998, Irwin continued, working with director Mark Strickson, to present The Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World. He appeared on several episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A 2000 FedEx commercial with Irwin lightheartedly dealt with the possibility of occupational death from snakebite and the fanciful notion that FedEx would have saved him, if only FedEx were used.

Under Irwin's leadership, the operations grew to include the zoo, the television series, the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation (later renamed Wildlife Warriors), and the International Crocodile Rescue. Improvements to the Australia Zoo include the Animal Planet Crocoseum, the rainforest aviary and Tiger Temple. Irwin mentioned that he was considering opening an Australia Zoo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and possibly at other sites around the world.

In 2001, Irwin appeared in a cameo role in the Eddie Murphy film Dr. Dolittle 2, in which a crocodile warns Dolittle that he knows Irwin is going to grab him and is prepared to attack when he does, but Dolittle fails to warn Irwin in time. Irwin's only starring feature film role was in 2002's The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, which was released to mixed reviews. In the film Irwin (who portrayed himself and performed numerous stunts) mistakes some CIA agents for poachers. He sets out to stop them from capturing a crocodile, which, unknown to him, has actually swallowed a tracking transmitter. The film won the Best Family Feature Film award for a comedy film at the Young Artist Awards. The film was produced on a budget of about $12 million, and has grossed $33 million. To promote the film, Irwin was featured in an animated short produced by Animax Entertainment for Intermix.

In 2002, Irwin and his family appeared in the Wiggles video/DVD release Wiggly Safari, which was set in Australia Zoo and featured singing and dancing inspired by Australian wildlife.

In 2006, Irwin provided his voice for the 2006 animated film Happy Feet, as an elephant seal named Trev. The film was dedicated to Irwin, as he died during post-production. Another, previously incomplete scene, featuring Irwin providing the voice of an albatross and essentially playing himself, was restored to the DVD release.
Media campaigns
A poster from Irwin's Quarantine Matters! campaign.

Irwin was also involved in several media campaigns. He enthusiastically joined with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to promote Australia's strict quarantine/customs requirements, with advertisements and posters featuring slogans such as, "Quarantine Matters! Don't muck with it". His payments for these advertising campaigns were directed into his wildlife fund.

In 2004, Irwin was appointed ambassador for The Ghan, the passenger train running from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the central Australian outback, when the line was extended all the way to Darwin on the northern coast that year. For some time he was sponsored by Toyota.

Irwin was a keen promoter for Australian tourism in general and Queensland tourism in particular. In 2002, the Australia Zoo was voted Queensland's top tourist attraction. His immense popularity in the United States meant he often promoted Australia as a tourist destination there. As a part of the United States' "Australia Week" celebrations in January 2006, Irwin appeared at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California.
Search and rescue in Mexico

In November 2003, Irwin was filming a documentary on sea lions off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula when he heard via his boat's radio that two scuba divers were reported missing in the area. Irwin and his entire crew suspended operations to aid in the search. His team's divers searched with the rescue divers, and Irwin used his vessel to patrol the waters around the island where the incident occurred, as well as using his satellite communications system to call in a rescue plane. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers, Scott Jones, perched on a narrow rock ledge jutting out from the side of a cliff. Irwin and a crewmember escorted him to Irwin's boat. Jones did not recognise Irwin. The other lost diver, Katie Vrooman, was found dead by a search plane later the same day not far from Jones' location.
Honours

In 1997, while on a fishing trip on the coast of Queensland with his father, Irwin discovered a new species of turtle. Later given the honour of naming the newly discovered species, he named it Irwin's turtle (Elseya irwini) after his family. Another newly discovered Australian animal — a species of air-breathing land snail, Crikey steveirwini, was named after Irwin in 2009.

In 2001, Irwin was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian government for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism". In 2004, he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year. He was also nominated in 2004 for Australian of the Year — an honour which was won that year by Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh. Shortly before his death, Irwin was to be named an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland's School of Integrative Biology. On 14 November 2007, Irwin was awarded the adjunct professorship posthumously.

In May 2007, the government of Rwanda announced that it would name a baby gorilla after Irwin as a tribute to his work in wildlife conservation. Also in 2007, the state government of Kerala, India named the Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre at Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary in his honour; however, Terri objected that this action had been taken without her permission and asked the Kerala government in 2009 to stop using Irwin's name and images — a request which the state government complied with in mid-2009.
Environmentalism
See also: Wildlife Warriors

Irwin was a passionate conservationist and believed in promoting environmentalism by sharing his excitement about the natural world rather than preaching to people. He was concerned with conservation of endangered animals and land clearing leading to loss of habitat. He considered conservation to be the most important part of his work: "I consider myself a wildlife warrior. My mission is to save the world's endangered species." Irwin bought "large tracts of land" in Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the United States, which he described as "like national parks" and stressed the importance of people realising that they could each make a difference.

Irwin founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which became an independent charity and was later renamed "Wildlife Warriors Worldwide". He also helped found International Crocodile Rescue, the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund (named in memory of his mother, who died in an automobile crash in 2000), and the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility.

Irwin urged people to take part in considerate tourism and not support illegal poaching through the purchase of items such as turtle shells or shark-fin soup.

Sir David Attenborough was an inspiration to Irwin, according to his widow. When presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to Attenborough after Irwin's death at the British National Television Awards on 31 October 2006, Terri Irwin said, "If there's one person who directly inspired my husband it's the person being honoured tonight.... real, true love was conservation - and the influence of tonight's recipient in preserving the natural world has been immense." Attenborough reciprocated by praising Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying, "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator."

Irwin was described after his death by Mark Townend, CEO of RSPCA Queensland, as a "modern-day Noah." British naturalist David Bellamy lauded his skills as a natural historian and media performer. Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki paid tribute to Irwin, noting that "umanity will not protect that which we fear or do not understand. Steve Irwin helped us understand those things that many people thought were a nuisance at best, a horror at worst. That made him a great educator and conservationist."

After his death, the vessel MV Robert Hunter owned by the environmental action group Sea Shepherd was renamed MY Steve Irwin. Shortly before his death, Irwin had been investigating joining Sea Shepherd's 2007–2008 voyage to Antarctica to disrupt Japanese whaling activity. Following his death, the organisation suggested renaming their vessel, and this idea was endorsed by Terri Irwin. Regarding the ship and its new name, Terri said, "If Steve were alive, he'd be aboard with them!"
Sporting activities

Irwin loved mixed martial arts competitions and trained with Greg Jackson in the fighting/grappling system of Gaidojutsu.

Like many Australians, he was a avid cricket fan. This was seen during his visit to Sri Lanka where he played cricket with some local children and said "I love cricket" and "It's a shame we have to go catch some snakes now". This was seen during the Crocodile Hunter episode “Island of the Snakes".

Having grown up in Essendon, Irwin was a fan of the Essendon Bombers, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League. Irwin took part in an Australian Rules football promotion in Los Angeles as part of "Australia Week" in early 2006. After his death, a picture of Irwin wearing a Bombers Guernsey was shown by ESPN.com in their Bottom 10 ranking of the worst Division I FBS college football teams after Week 1 of the season in tribute to him.

Having lived in Queensland most of his life, Irwin was also a fan of rugby league. As a teenager, he played for the Caloundra Sharks as a second-rower, and as an adult he was known to be a passionate Brisbane Broncos fan and was involved with the club on several occasions. On one occasion after turning up to training he asked if he could tackle the largest player, Shane Webcke. Despite being thrown to the ground and looking like he'd been crushed he was jovial about the experience. Irwin laughingly shared the experience with the Queensland State of Origin squad before the 2006 series. Irwin also supported rugby union, being a fan of the national team, the Wallabies. He once wore a Wallaby jersey during a demonstration at the zoo. A behind-the-scenes episode of The Crocodile Hunter showed Irwin and the crew finding a petrol station in a remote part of Namibia to watch the Wallabies defeat France in the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final. Irwin was also a talented surfer.
Controversies
MV Steve Irwin approaching Melbourne in February 2008

A controversial incident occurred during a public show on 2 January 2004, when Irwin carried his one-month-old son, Bob, in his arm while hand-feeding a chicken carcass to Murray, a 3.8-metre (12 ft 6 in) saltwater crocodile. The infant was close to the crocodile, and comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson's dangling his son outside a German hotel window. In addition, child welfare groups, animal rights groups, and some of Irwin's television viewers criticised his actions as irresponsible and tantamount to child abuse. Irwin apologised on the US NBC Today Show. Both he and his wife publicly stated that Irwin was in complete control of the situation, as he had dealt with crocodiles since he was a small child, and based on his lifetime of experience neither he nor his son were in any danger. He also showed footage of the event shot from a different angle, demonstrating that they were much further from the crocodile than they had appeared in the publicised clip. Terri Irwin said their child was in no more danger than one being taught to swim. No charges were filed; according to one journalist, Irwin told officials he would not repeat the action. The incident prompted the Queensland government to change its crocodile-handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures.

In June 2004, allegations were made that he disturbed wildlife (namely whales, seals and penguins) while filming a documentary, Ice Breaker, in Antarctica. The matter was subsequently closed without charges being laid.

After questions arose in 2003 about Irwin being paid $175,000 worth of taxpayers' money to appear in a television advertisement and his possible political ties, Irwin told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that he was a conservationist and did not choose sides in politics. His comments describing Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the "greatest leader in the world" earned him scorn in the media.

Irwin was criticised for having an unsophisticated view of conservation in Australia that seemed more linked to tourism than to the problems Australia faces as a continent. In response to questions of Australia's problems with overgrazing, salinity, and erosion, Irwin responded, "Cows have been on our land for so long that Australia has evolved to handle those big animals." The Sydney Morning Herald concluded with the opinion that his message was confusing and amounted to "eating roos and crocs is bad for tourism, and therefore more cruel than eating other animals".
Death
Wikinews has related news: Crocodile Hunter's Steve Irwin dies at 44

On 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray spine while snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in north Queensland. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for a segment in the television program his daughter Bindi Irwin was hosting when the ray suddenly turned and lashed out at him with the spine on its tail.

The events were caught on camera, and a copy of the footage was handed to the Queensland Police. In an interview with TIME, marine documentary filmmaker and former spearfisherman Ben Cropp concluded that Irwin had accidentally boxed the ray in, causing it to attack: "It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest.... It's a defensive thing. It's like being stabbed with a dirty dagger.... It's a one-in-a-million thing. I have swum with many rays, and I have only had one do that to me."

Initially, when CNN's Larry King interviewed Irwin's colleague John Stainton late on 4 September 2006, Stainton denied the suggestion that Irwin had pulled the spine out of his chest or that he had seen footage of the event, insisting that the anecdote was "absolute rubbish." However, the following day, when he first described the video to the media, he stated, "Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here , and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone."

It is thought, in the absence of a coroner's report, that a combination of the toxins and the puncture wound from the spine caused Irwin to die of cardiac arrest, with most of the damage being inflicted by tears to arteries or other main blood vessels. A similar incident in Florida a month later, in which a man survived a stingray barb through the heart, suggested that Irwin's removing the barb might have caused or hastened his death.

Crew members aboard his boat called the emergency services in the nearest city of Cairns and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to the nearby Low Islets to meet an emergency rescue helicopter. However, despite the best efforts of Irwin's crew, medical staff pronounced him dead when they arrived a short time later. According to Dr Ed O'Loughlin, who treated Irwin, "it became clear fairly soon that he had non-survivable injuries. He had a penetrating injury to the left front of his chest. He had lost his pulse and wasn't breathing."
Cairns, Queensland

Irwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns. His wife, Terri Irwin, who was on a walking tour in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania at the time, returned via a private plane from Devonport to the Sunshine Coast with their two children.

Stainton told CNN's Larry King that, in his opinion, the videotape of Irwin's fatal accident "should be destroyed". In an interview with Barbara Walters on the American ABC network shortly after Irwin's death, Terri Irwin said she had not seen the film of her husband's deadly encounter with the stingray and that it would not be shown on television. On 3 January 2007, the only video footage showing the events that led to Irwin's death was handed over to Terri, who said that her family had not seen the video and that it would never be made public. In an 11 January 2007 interview with Access Hollywood, Terri said that "all footage been destroyed." Despite these statements, numerous videos and still pictures claiming to be of Irwin's death surfaced on YouTube and other Internet sites.

Production was completed on Ocean's Deadliest, which aired for the first time on the Discovery Channel on 21 January 2007. The documentary was completed with footage shot in the weeks following the accident. According to Stainton, "Anything to do with the day that he died, that film is not available." Irwin's death is not mentioned in the film, aside from a still image of him at the end alongside the text "In Memory of Steve Irwin". Terri Irwin reported in 2007 that Steve had an ongoing premonition that he would die before he reached age 40. She wrote about this in a book about their lives together, Steve and Me.
Reaction

News of Irwin's death prompted reactions around the world. Then Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed his "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son." Queensland Premier Peter Beattie commented in a Channel Seven television interview that Irwin would "be remembered as not just a great Queenslander, but a great Australian". The Australian federal parliament opened on 5 September 2006 with condolence speeches by both the Prime Minister, John Howard, and the Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley. Flags at the Sydney Harbour Bridge were lowered to half mast in honour of Irwin.

Several Australian news websites went down because of high web traffic, and for the first time, the "top ten" list of most-viewed stories for Fairfax Digital news sites was swept by a single topic. Talk-back radio experienced a high volume of callers expressing their grief. The television interview show Enough Rope re-broadcast a 2003 interview between Irwin and Andrew Denton on the evening of his death. The Seven Network aired a television memorial show as a tribute to Irwin on 5 September 2006, as did the Nine Network on 6 September.

The U.S. feed of the Animal Planet cable television channel aired a special tribute to Irwin that started on Monday, 4 September. The tribute continued with the Animal Planet channel showing highlights of Irwin's more than 200 appearances on Discovery Network's shows. CNN showed a repeat of his 2004 interview on Larry King Live. Late-night talk show host Jay Leno—on whose show Irwin had appeared more than ten times—delivered a tribute describing Irwin as a great ambassador of Australia. There were also tributes on Live with Regis & Kelly and Barbara Walters' The View.

Hundreds of people visited Australia Zoo to pay tribute to the deceased entertainer and conservationist. The day after his death, the volume of people coming to pay their respects affected traffic so much that police reduced the speed limit near the zoo and told motorists to expect delays. BBC reported on 13 September that thousands of fans had been to Australia Zoo since Irwin's death, bringing flowers, candles, stuffed animals and messages of support. In the weeks after his death, Irwin's conservation foundation, Wildlife Warriors, reported that thousands of people from around the world were offering their support via donations to the conservation group.

Dan Mathews, vice-president of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said it was "no shock at all that Steve Irwin should die provoking a dangerous animal." He added that "Irwin made his career out of antagonising frightened wild animals, that's a very dangerous message to send to children." He also made a comparison with another well known conservationist: "If you compare with a responsible conservationist like Jacques Cousteau, he looks like a cheap reality TV star." The son of Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel Cousteau—also a producer of wildlife documentaries—took issue as well with Irwin's hands-on approach to nature television, saying, "You don't touch nature, you just look at it." Cousteau went on to say that although Irwin's approach "goes very well on television", it would "interfere with nature, jump on animals, grab them, hold them, and have this very, very spectacular, dramatic way of presenting things" which he felt was "very misleading". Jacques Cousteau's grandson and Jean-Michel's nephew, Philippe Cousteau Jr., however, was working with Irwin on the "Ocean's Deadliest" documentary at the time of the accident and later described him as "a remarkable individual." Describing their project, he said, "I think why Steve was so excited about it that we were looking at these animals that people think of as, you know, dangerous and deadly monsters, and they're not. They all have an important place in the environment and in the world. And that was what his whole message was about."
A public service was held at the 5,500-seat Crocoseum at Australia Zoo on 20 September. The service was broadcast live, commercial free, in the eastern states of Australia, by free-to-air channels Seven, Nine and the ABC in Australia, as well as live on subscription channel Sky News Australia. In addition, it was broadcast live and without commercials on Animal Planet in the United States, as well as to Germany, the UK, and Asia. It is estimated that over 300 million viewers worldwide watched the service. The memorial was also rebroadcast in the US on Animal Planet on 1 January 2007, as part of their New Year's Day celebration, and again the following day.
The "Crocoseum" at Australia Zoo, where Steve Irwin's memorial service was held.

The memorial included a speech by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, as well as messages by celebrities from Australia and around the world including Hugh Jackman, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, David Wenham, Kelly Ripa and Larry King. Costner called Irwin a fearless man who was brave enough to let people see him as he was. Irwin's father, Bob Irwin, spoke at the memorial, as did his daughter Bindi and associates Wes Mannion and John Stainton. Anthony Field of The Wiggles partly hosted the service, often sharing the screen with various animals, from koalas to elephants. Australian music star John Williamson sang True Blue, which was Irwin's favourite song. In a symbolic finish to the service, Irwin's truck was loaded up with gear and driven out of the arena for the last time as Williamson sang. As a final tribute, Australia Zoo staff spelled out Irwin's catchphrase "Crikey" in yellow flowers as Irwin's truck was driven from the Crocoseum for the last time to end the service.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1997–2004 The Crocodile Hunter Himself
1999–2000 Croc Files Himself
2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Himself Cameo role
2002 Mystery Hunters Himself One episode
2002 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Himself
2004 The Fairly OddParents The Bad Parent Hunter (voice)
2006 5 Takes: Pacific Rim Himself One Episode
2006 Happy Feet Trev (voice)
2007 Ocean's Deadliest Himself TV Special (Released after death), In Memory of.
2007-2008 Bindi the Jungle Girl Himself TV series, released after death. New and Archive Footage
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/reads1/MySpace%20Pictures/489px-steve_irwin.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u22/bfamtime/critters/steve%20irwin/steve_irwin2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/22/11 at 6:46 am

He was one of the funniest on television.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/22/11 at 12:24 pm


Black Sabbath are too noisy for me.

The only song I know of theirs is "Iron Man."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/22/11 at 12:25 pm


The band ceased-to-be following the suicide of Cobain in 1994.

Drummer Dave Grohl went on to form the band Foo Fighters, and be their frontman.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/22/11 at 1:20 pm


The person of the day...Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006), known simply as Steve Irwin and nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist.

Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. Together, the couple also co-owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane.

Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Since her husband's death, Terri Irwin has continued to operate Australia Zoo and raise their two children. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship MY Steve Irwin was named in his honour.
In 1991, Irwin met Terri Raines, an American naturalist from Eugene, Oregon who was visiting wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Australia and had decided to visit the zoo. According to the couple, it was love at first sight. Terri said at the time, "I thought there was no one like this anywhere in the world. He sounded like an environmental Tarzan, a larger-than-life superhero guy." They were engaged four months later and were married in Eugene on 4 June 1992. Together they had two children: a daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin (born 24 July 1998), and a son, Robert Clarence "Bob" (named after Irwin's father) Irwin (born 1 December 2003). Bindi Sue is jointly named after two of Steve Irwin's favourite animals: Bindi, a saltwater crocodile, and Sui, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who died in June 2004. Irwin was as enthusiastic about his family as he was about his work. He once described his daughter Bindi as "the reason was put on the Earth." His wife once said, "The only thing that could ever keep him away from the animals he loves are the people he loves even more." Although the Irwins were happily married, they did not wear wedding rings; they believed that in their line of work, wearing jewellery could pose a hazard to them and/or the animals.
The Crocodile Hunter and related work

Steve and Terri spent their honeymoon trapping crocodiles together. Film footage of their honeymoon, taken by John Stainton, became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter. The series debuted on Australian TV screens in 1996, and made its way onto North American television the following year. The Crocodile Hunter became successful in the United States, the UK, and over 130 other countries, reaching 500 million people. Irwin's exuberant and enthusiastic presenting style, broad Australian accent, signature khaki shorts, and catchphrase "Crikey!" became known worldwide. Sir David Attenborough praised Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator."

American satellite and cable television channel Animal Planet ended The Crocodile Hunter with a series finale entitled "Steve's Last Adventure." The last Crocodile Hunter documentary spanned three hours with footage of Irwin's across-the-world adventure in locations including the Himalayas, the Yangtze River, Borneo, and the Kruger National Park. Irwin went on to star in other Animal Planet documentaries, including Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets. During a January 2006 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Irwin announced that Discovery Kids would be developing a show for his daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin — a plan realised after his death as the series Bindi the Jungle Girl.
Other television and film work

In 1998, Irwin continued, working with director Mark Strickson, to present The Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World. He appeared on several episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A 2000 FedEx commercial with Irwin lightheartedly dealt with the possibility of occupational death from snakebite and the fanciful notion that FedEx would have saved him, if only FedEx were used.

Under Irwin's leadership, the operations grew to include the zoo, the television series, the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation (later renamed Wildlife Warriors), and the International Crocodile Rescue. Improvements to the Australia Zoo include the Animal Planet Crocoseum, the rainforest aviary and Tiger Temple. Irwin mentioned that he was considering opening an Australia Zoo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and possibly at other sites around the world.

In 2001, Irwin appeared in a cameo role in the Eddie Murphy film Dr. Dolittle 2, in which a crocodile warns Dolittle that he knows Irwin is going to grab him and is prepared to attack when he does, but Dolittle fails to warn Irwin in time. Irwin's only starring feature film role was in 2002's The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, which was released to mixed reviews. In the film Irwin (who portrayed himself and performed numerous stunts) mistakes some CIA agents for poachers. He sets out to stop them from capturing a crocodile, which, unknown to him, has actually swallowed a tracking transmitter. The film won the Best Family Feature Film award for a comedy film at the Young Artist Awards. The film was produced on a budget of about $12 million, and has grossed $33 million. To promote the film, Irwin was featured in an animated short produced by Animax Entertainment for Intermix.

In 2002, Irwin and his family appeared in the Wiggles video/DVD release Wiggly Safari, which was set in Australia Zoo and featured singing and dancing inspired by Australian wildlife.

In 2006, Irwin provided his voice for the 2006 animated film Happy Feet, as an elephant seal named Trev. The film was dedicated to Irwin, as he died during post-production. Another, previously incomplete scene, featuring Irwin providing the voice of an albatross and essentially playing himself, was restored to the DVD release.
Media campaigns
A poster from Irwin's Quarantine Matters! campaign.

Irwin was also involved in several media campaigns. He enthusiastically joined with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to promote Australia's strict quarantine/customs requirements, with advertisements and posters featuring slogans such as, "Quarantine Matters! Don't muck with it". His payments for these advertising campaigns were directed into his wildlife fund.

In 2004, Irwin was appointed ambassador for The Ghan, the passenger train running from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the central Australian outback, when the line was extended all the way to Darwin on the northern coast that year. For some time he was sponsored by Toyota.

Irwin was a keen promoter for Australian tourism in general and Queensland tourism in particular. In 2002, the Australia Zoo was voted Queensland's top tourist attraction. His immense popularity in the United States meant he often promoted Australia as a tourist destination there. As a part of the United States' "Australia Week" celebrations in January 2006, Irwin appeared at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California.
Search and rescue in Mexico

In November 2003, Irwin was filming a documentary on sea lions off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula when he heard via his boat's radio that two scuba divers were reported missing in the area. Irwin and his entire crew suspended operations to aid in the search. His team's divers searched with the rescue divers, and Irwin used his vessel to patrol the waters around the island where the incident occurred, as well as using his satellite communications system to call in a rescue plane. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers, Scott Jones, perched on a narrow rock ledge jutting out from the side of a cliff. Irwin and a crewmember escorted him to Irwin's boat. Jones did not recognise Irwin. The other lost diver, Katie Vrooman, was found dead by a search plane later the same day not far from Jones' location.
Honours

In 1997, while on a fishing trip on the coast of Queensland with his father, Irwin discovered a new species of turtle. Later given the honour of naming the newly discovered species, he named it Irwin's turtle (Elseya irwini) after his family. Another newly discovered Australian animal — a species of air-breathing land snail, Crikey steveirwini, was named after Irwin in 2009.

In 2001, Irwin was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian government for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism". In 2004, he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year. He was also nominated in 2004 for Australian of the Year — an honour which was won that year by Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh. Shortly before his death, Irwin was to be named an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland's School of Integrative Biology. On 14 November 2007, Irwin was awarded the adjunct professorship posthumously.

In May 2007, the government of Rwanda announced that it would name a baby gorilla after Irwin as a tribute to his work in wildlife conservation. Also in 2007, the state government of Kerala, India named the Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre at Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary in his honour; however, Terri objected that this action had been taken without her permission and asked the Kerala government in 2009 to stop using Irwin's name and images — a request which the state government complied with in mid-2009.
Environmentalism
See also: Wildlife Warriors

Irwin was a passionate conservationist and believed in promoting environmentalism by sharing his excitement about the natural world rather than preaching to people. He was concerned with conservation of endangered animals and land clearing leading to loss of habitat. He considered conservation to be the most important part of his work: "I consider myself a wildlife warrior. My mission is to save the world's endangered species." Irwin bought "large tracts of land" in Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the United States, which he described as "like national parks" and stressed the importance of people realising that they could each make a difference.

Irwin founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which became an independent charity and was later renamed "Wildlife Warriors Worldwide". He also helped found International Crocodile Rescue, the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund (named in memory of his mother, who died in an automobile crash in 2000), and the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility.

Irwin urged people to take part in considerate tourism and not support illegal poaching through the purchase of items such as turtle shells or shark-fin soup.

Sir David Attenborough was an inspiration to Irwin, according to his widow. When presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to Attenborough after Irwin's death at the British National Television Awards on 31 October 2006, Terri Irwin said, "If there's one person who directly inspired my husband it's the person being honoured tonight.... real, true love was conservation - and the influence of tonight's recipient in preserving the natural world has been immense." Attenborough reciprocated by praising Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying, "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator."

Irwin was described after his death by Mark Townend, CEO of RSPCA Queensland, as a "modern-day Noah." British naturalist David Bellamy lauded his skills as a natural historian and media performer. Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki paid tribute to Irwin, noting that "umanity will not protect that which we fear or do not understand. Steve Irwin helped us understand those things that many people thought were a nuisance at best, a horror at worst. That made him a great educator and conservationist."

After his death, the vessel MV Robert Hunter owned by the environmental action group Sea Shepherd was renamed MY Steve Irwin. Shortly before his death, Irwin had been investigating joining Sea Shepherd's 2007–2008 voyage to Antarctica to disrupt Japanese whaling activity. Following his death, the organisation suggested renaming their vessel, and this idea was endorsed by Terri Irwin. Regarding the ship and its new name, Terri said, "If Steve were alive, he'd be aboard with them!"
Sporting activities

Irwin loved mixed martial arts competitions and trained with Greg Jackson in the fighting/grappling system of Gaidojutsu.

Like many Australians, he was a avid cricket fan. This was seen during his visit to Sri Lanka where he played cricket with some local children and said "I love cricket" and "It's a shame we have to go catch some snakes now". This was seen during the Crocodile Hunter episode “Island of the Snakes".

Having grown up in Essendon, Irwin was a fan of the Essendon Bombers, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League. Irwin took part in an Australian Rules football promotion in Los Angeles as part of "Australia Week" in early 2006. After his death, a picture of Irwin wearing a Bombers Guernsey was shown by ESPN.com in their Bottom 10 ranking of the worst Division I FBS college football teams after Week 1 of the season in tribute to him.

Having lived in Queensland most of his life, Irwin was also a fan of rugby league. As a teenager, he played for the Caloundra Sharks as a second-rower, and as an adult he was known to be a passionate Brisbane Broncos fan and was involved with the club on several occasions. On one occasion after turning up to training he asked if he could tackle the largest player, Shane Webcke. Despite being thrown to the ground and looking like he'd been crushed he was jovial about the experience. Irwin laughingly shared the experience with the Queensland State of Origin squad before the 2006 series. Irwin also supported rugby union, being a fan of the national team, the Wallabies. He once wore a Wallaby jersey during a demonstration at the zoo. A behind-the-scenes episode of The Crocodile Hunter showed Irwin and the crew finding a petrol station in a remote part of Namibia to watch the Wallabies defeat France in the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final. Irwin was also a talented surfer.
Controversies
MV Steve Irwin approaching Melbourne in February 2008

A controversial incident occurred during a public show on 2 January 2004, when Irwin carried his one-month-old son, Bob, in his arm while hand-feeding a chicken carcass to Murray, a 3.8-metre (12 ft 6 in) saltwater crocodile. The infant was close to the crocodile, and comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson's dangling his son outside a German hotel window. In addition, child welfare groups, animal rights groups, and some of Irwin's television viewers criticised his actions as irresponsible and tantamount to child abuse. Irwin apologised on the US NBC Today Show. Both he and his wife publicly stated that Irwin was in complete control of the situation, as he had dealt with crocodiles since he was a small child, and based on his lifetime of experience neither he nor his son were in any danger. He also showed footage of the event shot from a different angle, demonstrating that they were much further from the crocodile than they had appeared in the publicised clip. Terri Irwin said their child was in no more danger than one being taught to swim. No charges were filed; according to one journalist, Irwin told officials he would not repeat the action. The incident prompted the Queensland government to change its crocodile-handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures.

In June 2004, allegations were made that he disturbed wildlife (namely whales, seals and penguins) while filming a documentary, Ice Breaker, in Antarctica. The matter was subsequently closed without charges being laid.

After questions arose in 2003 about Irwin being paid $175,000 worth of taxpayers' money to appear in a television advertisement and his possible political ties, Irwin told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that he was a conservationist and did not choose sides in politics. His comments describing Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the "greatest leader in the world" earned him scorn in the media.

Irwin was criticised for having an unsophisticated view of conservation in Australia that seemed more linked to tourism than to the problems Australia faces as a continent. In response to questions of Australia's problems with overgrazing, salinity, and erosion, Irwin responded, "Cows have been on our land for so long that Australia has evolved to handle those big animals." The Sydney Morning Herald concluded with the opinion that his message was confusing and amounted to "eating roos and crocs is bad for tourism, and therefore more cruel than eating other animals".
Death
Wikinews has related news: Crocodile Hunter's Steve Irwin dies at 44

On 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray spine while snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in north Queensland. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for a segment in the television program his daughter Bindi Irwin was hosting when the ray suddenly turned and lashed out at him with the spine on its tail.

The events were caught on camera, and a copy of the footage was handed to the Queensland Police. In an interview with TIME, marine documentary filmmaker and former spearfisherman Ben Cropp concluded that Irwin had accidentally boxed the ray in, causing it to attack: "It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest.... It's a defensive thing. It's like being stabbed with a dirty dagger.... It's a one-in-a-million thing. I have swum with many rays, and I have only had one do that to me."

Initially, when CNN's Larry King interviewed Irwin's colleague John Stainton late on 4 September 2006, Stainton denied the suggestion that Irwin had pulled the spine out of his chest or that he had seen footage of the event, insisting that the anecdote was "absolute rubbish." However, the following day, when he first described the video to the media, he stated, "Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here , and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone."

It is thought, in the absence of a coroner's report, that a combination of the toxins and the puncture wound from the spine caused Irwin to die of cardiac arrest, with most of the damage being inflicted by tears to arteries or other main blood vessels. A similar incident in Florida a month later, in which a man survived a stingray barb through the heart, suggested that Irwin's removing the barb might have caused or hastened his death.

Crew members aboard his boat called the emergency services in the nearest city of Cairns and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to the nearby Low Islets to meet an emergency rescue helicopter. However, despite the best efforts of Irwin's crew, medical staff pronounced him dead when they arrived a short time later. According to Dr Ed O'Loughlin, who treated Irwin, "it became clear fairly soon that he had non-survivable injuries. He had a penetrating injury to the left front of his chest. He had lost his pulse and wasn't breathing."
Cairns, Queensland

Irwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns. His wife, Terri Irwin, who was on a walking tour in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania at the time, returned via a private plane from Devonport to the Sunshine Coast with their two children.

Stainton told CNN's Larry King that, in his opinion, the videotape of Irwin's fatal accident "should be destroyed". In an interview with Barbara Walters on the American ABC network shortly after Irwin's death, Terri Irwin said she had not seen the film of her husband's deadly encounter with the stingray and that it would not be shown on television. On 3 January 2007, the only video footage showing the events that led to Irwin's death was handed over to Terri, who said that her family had not seen the video and that it would never be made public. In an 11 January 2007 interview with Access Hollywood, Terri said that "all footage been destroyed." Despite these statements, numerous videos and still pictures claiming to be of Irwin's death surfaced on YouTube and other Internet sites.

Production was completed on Ocean's Deadliest, which aired for the first time on the Discovery Channel on 21 January 2007. The documentary was completed with footage shot in the weeks following the accident. According to Stainton, "Anything to do with the day that he died, that film is not available." Irwin's death is not mentioned in the film, aside from a still image of him at the end alongside the text "In Memory of Steve Irwin". Terri Irwin reported in 2007 that Steve had an ongoing premonition that he would die before he reached age 40. She wrote about this in a book about their lives together, Steve and Me.
Reaction

News of Irwin's death prompted reactions around the world. Then Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed his "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son." Queensland Premier Peter Beattie commented in a Channel Seven television interview that Irwin would "be remembered as not just a great Queenslander, but a great Australian". The Australian federal parliament opened on 5 September 2006 with condolence speeches by both the Prime Minister, John Howard, and the Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley. Flags at the Sydney Harbour Bridge were lowered to half mast in honour of Irwin.

Several Australian news websites went down because of high web traffic, and for the first time, the "top ten" list of most-viewed stories for Fairfax Digital news sites was swept by a single topic. Talk-back radio experienced a high volume of callers expressing their grief. The television interview show Enough Rope re-broadcast a 2003 interview between Irwin and Andrew Denton on the evening of his death. The Seven Network aired a television memorial show as a tribute to Irwin on 5 September 2006, as did the Nine Network on 6 September.

The U.S. feed of the Animal Planet cable television channel aired a special tribute to Irwin that started on Monday, 4 September. The tribute continued with the Animal Planet channel showing highlights of Irwin's more than 200 appearances on Discovery Network's shows. CNN showed a repeat of his 2004 interview on Larry King Live. Late-night talk show host Jay Leno—on whose show Irwin had appeared more than ten times—delivered a tribute describing Irwin as a great ambassador of Australia. There were also tributes on Live with Regis & Kelly and Barbara Walters' The View.

Hundreds of people visited Australia Zoo to pay tribute to the deceased entertainer and conservationist. The day after his death, the volume of people coming to pay their respects affected traffic so much that police reduced the speed limit near the zoo and told motorists to expect delays. BBC reported on 13 September that thousands of fans had been to Australia Zoo since Irwin's death, bringing flowers, candles, stuffed animals and messages of support. In the weeks after his death, Irwin's conservation foundation, Wildlife Warriors, reported that thousands of people from around the world were offering their support via donations to the conservation group.

Dan Mathews, vice-president of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said it was "no shock at all that Steve Irwin should die provoking a dangerous animal." He added that "Irwin made his career out of antagonising frightened wild animals, that's a very dangerous message to send to children." He also made a comparison with another well known conservationist: "If you compare with a responsible conservationist like Jacques Cousteau, he looks like a cheap reality TV star." The son of Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel Cousteau—also a producer of wildlife documentaries—took issue as well with Irwin's hands-on approach to nature television, saying, "You don't touch nature, you just look at it." Cousteau went on to say that although Irwin's approach "goes very well on television", it would "interfere with nature, jump on animals, grab them, hold them, and have this very, very spectacular, dramatic way of presenting things" which he felt was "very misleading". Jacques Cousteau's grandson and Jean-Michel's nephew, Philippe Cousteau Jr., however, was working with Irwin on the "Ocean's Deadliest" documentary at the time of the accident and later described him as "a remarkable individual." Describing their project, he said, "I think why Steve was so excited about it that we were looking at these animals that people think of as, you know, dangerous and deadly monsters, and they're not. They all have an important place in the environment and in the world. And that was what his whole message was about."
A public service was held at the 5,500-seat Crocoseum at Australia Zoo on 20 September. The service was broadcast live, commercial free, in the eastern states of Australia, by free-to-air channels Seven, Nine and the ABC in Australia, as well as live on subscription channel Sky News Australia. In addition, it was broadcast live and without commercials on Animal Planet in the United States, as well as to Germany, the UK, and Asia. It is estimated that over 300 million viewers worldwide watched the service. The memorial was also rebroadcast in the US on Animal Planet on 1 January 2007, as part of their New Year's Day celebration, and again the following day.
The "Crocoseum" at Australia Zoo, where Steve Irwin's memorial service was held.

The memorial included a speech by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, as well as messages by celebrities from Australia and around the world including Hugh Jackman, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, David Wenham, Kelly Ripa and Larry King. Costner called Irwin a fearless man who was brave enough to let people see him as he was. Irwin's father, Bob Irwin, spoke at the memorial, as did his daughter Bindi and associates Wes Mannion and John Stainton. Anthony Field of The Wiggles partly hosted the service, often sharing the screen with various animals, from koalas to elephants. Australian music star John Williamson sang True Blue, which was Irwin's favourite song. In a symbolic finish to the service, Irwin's truck was loaded up with gear and driven out of the arena for the last time as Williamson sang. As a final tribute, Australia Zoo staff spelled out Irwin's catchphrase "Crikey" in yellow flowers as Irwin's truck was driven from the Crocoseum for the last time to end the service.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1997–2004 The Crocodile Hunter Himself
1999–2000 Croc Files Himself
2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Himself Cameo role
2002 Mystery Hunters Himself One episode
2002 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Himself
2004 The Fairly OddParents The Bad Parent Hunter (voice)
2006 5 Takes: Pacific Rim Himself One Episode
2006 Happy Feet Trev (voice)
2007 Ocean's Deadliest Himself TV Special (Released after death), In Memory of.
2007-2008 Bindi the Jungle Girl Himself TV series, released after death. New and Archive Footage
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/reads1/MySpace%20Pictures/489px-steve_irwin.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u22/bfamtime/critters/steve%20irwin/steve_irwin2.jpg
Sadly missed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/22/11 at 7:48 pm


The only song I know of theirs is "Iron Man."


Good song. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/22/11 at 7:54 pm


Good song. :)

Former MLB player Cal Ripken Jr. had the nickname "Iron man."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/23/11 at 6:26 am

The person of the day...Dakota Fanning
Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994), better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web. Fanning began the transition to more adult roles with Hounddog and The Secret Life of Bees. Recent films have included The Twilight Saga and The Runaways. She has won numerous awards and is the youngest nominee for a Screen Actors Guild Award
Fanning began acting at the age of five after appearing on a Tide commercial. Her first significant acting job was a guest-starring role in the NBC prime-time drama ER, which remains one of her favorite roles ("I played a car accident victim who has leukemia. I got to wear a neck brace and nose tubes for the two days I worked.").

Fanning subsequently had several guest roles on established television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Practice, and Spin City. She also portrayed the title characters of Ally McBeal and The Ellen Show as young girls. In 2001, Fanning was chosen to star opposite Sean Penn in the movie I Am Sam, the story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter (played by Fanning).

Her role in the film made Fanning the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, being seven years of age at the time. She also won the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her performance.
2002–2003

In 2002, director Steven Spielberg cast Fanning in the lead child role of Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys in the science fiction miniseries Taken. By this time, she had received positive notices by several film critics, including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, who wrote that Fanning "has the perfect sort of otherworldly look about her, an enchanting young actress called upon ... to carry a great weight."

In the same year, Fanning appeared in three films: as a kidnap victim who proves to be more than her abductors bargained for in Trapped, as the young version of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama, and as Katie in the movie Hansel and Gretel.

Fanning was featured even more prominently in two films released in 2003: playing the uptight child to an immature nanny played by Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls and as Sally in The Cat in the Hat.

Fanning did voice-over work for four animated projects during this period, including voicing Satsuki in Disney's English language release of My Neighbor Totoro, a little girl in the Fox series Family Guy, and a young Wonder Woman in an episode of Cartoon Network's Justice League.
2004–2005
Fanning at the London premiere of War of the Worlds, June 2005

In 2004, Fanning appeared in Man on Fire as Pita, a nine-year-old who wins over the heart of a retired mercenary (Denzel Washington) hired to protect her from kidnappers. Roger Ebert wrote that Fanning "is a pro at only 10 years old, and creates a heart-winning character."

Hide and Seek was her first release in 2005, opposite Robert De Niro. The film was generally panned, and critic Chuck Wilson called it "a fascinating meeting of equals — if the child star challenged the master to a game of stare-down, the legend might very well blink first." Fanning voiced Lilo (succeeding Daveigh Chase) in the direct-to-video film Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. She also had a small part in the Rodrigo Garcia film Nine Lives (released in October 2005), in which she shared an unbroken nine-minute scene with actress Glenn Close, who had her own praise for Fanning: "She's definitely an old soul. She's one of those gifted people that come along every now and then." Fanning also recorded voice work for Coraline during this time.

Fanning completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (opposite Kurt Russell) in late October 2004. Russell declared he was astonished by his co-star's performance in the film. Russell, 54, who plays her father in the movie, says, "I guarantee you, (Dakota) is the best actress I will work with in my entire career." Kris Kristofferson, who plays her character's grandfather in the movie, said that she's like Bette Davis reincarnated.

While promoting her role in Dreamer, Fanning became a registered member of Girl Scouts of the USA at a special ceremony, which was followed by a screening of the film for members of the Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley Council. She is not a member of a troop, but rather registered as a "Juliette", GSUSA's title for independently registered girls.

She then went directly to the set of War of the Worlds, starring alongside Tom Cruise. Released in reverse order (War in June 2005 and Dreamer in the following October), both films were critical successes. War director Steven Spielberg praised "how quickly she understands the situation in a sequence, how quickly she sizes it up, measures it up and how she would really react in a real situation."

After filming was completed on War of the Worlds, Fanning moved straight to another film without a break: Charlotte's Web, which she finished filming in May 2005 in Australia. Producer Jordan Kerner said, "...when she was so caught up in War of the Worlds, we had to end up going on a search for other young actresses. They would have been nothing compared to her."
2006–2007

Over the summer of 2006, Fanning worked on the film Hounddog, described in press reports as a "dark story of abuse, violence and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South." Fanning's parents have been criticized for allowing her to film a scene in which her character is raped. However, in response, Fanning said that "It's not really happening," to Reuters. "It's a movie, and it's called acting." Director Deborah Kampmeier addressed the controversy in the January 2007 edition of Premiere: "The assumption that was violated in order to give this performance denies her talent."

In 2006, at the age of twelve, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, becoming the youngest member in the Academy's history. Her income for 2006 was $4 million, earning her the fourth place in Forbes Magazine's list of top-earning stars aged under 21.

In March and April 2007, she filmed Fragments – Winged Creatures alongside Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Josh Hutcherson, and Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson. She plays Anne Hagen, a girl who witnesses her father's murder and who turns to religion in the aftermath.

In July 2007, Fanning filmed for three days a short film titled Cutlass, one of Glamour's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays. Cutlass was directed by Kate Hudson.

From September to December 2007, Fanning filmed Push, which centers on a group of young American expatriates with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities who hide from a U.S. government agency in Hong Kong and band together to try to escape the control of the division. Fanning played Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old psychic.
2008–2009
Fanning at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

In January 2008, Fanning began filming the movie adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (played by Jennifer Hudson) to a South Carolina town where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (played by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys). Her movies Coraline and Push were released on the same day, February 6, 2009.

Fanning played Jane in New Moon and reprised the role in Eclipse, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, and Eclipse was released on June 30, 2010.
2010–present

In 2010, she starred in the movie The Runaways, alongside Kristen Stewart, Stella Maeve, and Scout Taylor-Compton, where she played Cherie Currie, the lead singer of the band. In late 2010/early 2011, Fanning filmed Breaking Dawn, reprising the role of Jane.

In late 2010, it was announced that Fanning would not be filming any lead roles until after she finishes high school in 2011.

Dakota Fanning will play Princess Margaret in the upcoming film Girls' Night Out She will play Annie James in "The Motel Life" in February. She has also signed onto "Mississippi Wild," which will begin production in Atlanta on March 21, 2011.
Filmography
Film and television mini-series Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2001 Father Xmas Clairee Short film
2001 Tomcats Little Girl in Park
2001 I Am Sam Lucy Diamond Dawson Dakota's younger sister, Elle Fanning, plays the younger version of Lucy
2002 Taken Allie Keys Television miniseries
Elle Fanning plays the younger version of Allie
2002 Trapped Abigail Jennings, "Abbie"
2002 Sweet Home Alabama Young Melanie
2002 Hansel and Gretel Katie
2003 Uptown Girls Lorraine Schleine, "Ray"
2003 Cat in the Hat, TheThe Cat in the Hat Sally Walden
2003 Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time Preschool Kim Voice
2004 Man on Fire Lupita Martin Ramos, "Pita"
2004 My Neighbor Totoro Satsuki Kusakabe Voice (English Version)
2004 In the Realms of the Unreal Narrator Voice
2005 Hide and Seek Emily Callaway
2005 Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch Lilo Voice
2005 Nine Lives Maria
2005 War of the Worlds Rachel Ferrier
2005 Dreamer Cale Crane
2006 Charlotte's Web Fern Arable Elle Fanning plays Fern's granddaughter in alternate ending
2007 Hounddog Lewellen
2007 Cutlass Lacy Short film
2008 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Lily Owens
2009 Coraline Coraline Jones Voice
2009 Push Cassie Holmes
2009 Fragments – Winged Creatures Anne Hagen
2009 Twilight Saga: New Moon, TheThe Twilight Saga: New Moon Jane
2010 Runaways, TheThe Runaways Cherie Currie
2010 Twilight Saga: Eclipse, TheThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse Jane Volturi
2011 Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, TheThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Jane Volturi
Television appearances Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Episode title↓
2000 ER Delia Chadsey "The Fastest Year"
2000 Ally McBeal Ally (5 years) "Ally McBeal: The Musical, Almost"
2000 Strong Medicine Edie's Girl "Misconceptions"
2000 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Brenda Collins "Blood Drops"
2000 Practice, TheThe Practice Alessa Engel "The Deal"
2000 Spin City Cindy "Toy Story"
2001 Malcolm in the Middle Emily "New Neighbors"
2001 Fighting Fitzgeralds, TheThe Fighting Fitzgeralds Marie "Pilot"
2001 Family Guy Little girl "To Love and Die in Dixie"
2001 Ellen Show, TheThe Ellen Show Young Ellen "Missing the Bus"
2004 Justice League Unlimited Young Wonder Woman (voice) "Kids' Stuff"
2004 Friends Mackenzie "The One with Princess Consuela"
Awards and nominations
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2009)
List of awards and nominations Year↓ Title of work↓ Award↓ Category↓ Result↓
2001 I Am Sam Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Won
2002 I Am Sam Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award Youth in Film Won
2002 I Am Sam Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated
2002 I Am Sam Satellite Award Outstanding New Talent Won
2002 I Am Sam Chicago Film Critics Association Award Most Promising Performer Nominated
2002 I Am Sam Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actress Age Ten or Under Won
2003 Taken Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Special – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2003 Taken Saturn Award Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series Nominated
2004 Man on Fire Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Nominated
2004 Cat in the Hat, TheThe Cat in the Hat Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2005 Man on Fire Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2005 Nine Lives Gotham Award Best Ensemble Cast Nominated
2005 Nine Lives Locarno International Film Festival Best Actress Won
2005 Hide and Seek MTV Movie Award Best Frightened Performance Won
2005 N/A Relly Awards Best Junior Achiever Won
2005 War of the Worlds Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Youth in Film Won
2005 War of the Worlds Irish Film and Television Award Best International Actress Nominated
2005 War of the Worlds Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Won
2006 War of the Worlds MTV Movie Award Best Frightened Performance Nominated
2006 War of the Worlds Saturn Award Best Performance by a Younger Actor Won
2005 Dreamer Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Movie Actress Nominated
2005 Dreamer Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress Won
2006 Charlotte's Web Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Nominated
2007 Charlotte's Web Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2007 Charlotte's Web Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Movie Actress Won
2008 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Black Reel Award Best Ensemble Cast Nominated
2008 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Nominated
2009 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress Won
2010 Coraline Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role – Young Actor/Actress Nominated
2010 Runaways, TheThe Runaways MTV Movie Award Best Kiss Nominated
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab320/j-martin93/jmartin93s%20album/dakota_fanning_59040_preppie_dakota_fanning_at_the_today_show_2_122_427lo_YKT8y9r.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd170/Kara-Zorel/Characters/dakota_fanning_1182392965.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/23/11 at 11:24 am

Wow, she has grown up quickly! :o :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/23/11 at 1:19 pm

British Person of the Day: Samuel Pepys

    * Born: 23 February 1633
    * Birthplace: London, England
    * Died: 16 May 1703
    * Best Known As: Author of Samuel Pepys' diaries

Detailed and intimate, Pepys' diaries became a mainstay of British literature after their first publication in 1825. Pepys was educated at Magdalen College, Cambridge, and spent most of his career working in the British Admiralty; he also served as a Member of Parliament for three different terms between 1673-89. For 10 years, from 1660-69, Pepys kept an extraordinary diary, with running commentary on his daily rounds, his meals, his health, even his relations with his wife. Pepys never intended the diaries for publication, and he wrote them in an unusual shorthand which kept them from being read for many years. When the diaries were published in 1825, they were hailed as an intimate glimpse at life in the Restoration-era England. (His meticulous frankness was such that some of the more impolite details were omitted from publication until the 20th century.) Particularly famous are his firsthand accounts of the coronation of King Charles II and the Great Fire of London.

His name is pronounced peeps... Pepys was imprisoned in the Tower of London for six weeks in 1679 after being accused of involvement in the Popish Plot... Upon his death Pepys left his personal 3000-volume library to Magdalen College... Pepys' unusual shorthand is often called a "secret code," but in fact was his own version of an existing system called the Shelton shorthand.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/08_03/pepysDM2408_468x425.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/23/11 at 2:11 pm


The person of the day...Dakota Fanning
Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994), better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web. Fanning began the transition to more adult roles with Hounddog and The Secret Life of Bees. Recent films have included The Twilight Saga and The Runaways. She has won numerous awards and is the youngest nominee for a Screen Actors Guild Award
Fanning began acting at the age of five after appearing on a Tide commercial. Her first significant acting job was a guest-starring role in the NBC prime-time drama ER, which remains one of her favorite roles ("I played a car accident victim who has leukemia. I got to wear a neck brace and nose tubes for the two days I worked.").

Fanning subsequently had several guest roles on established television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Practice, and Spin City. She also portrayed the title characters of Ally McBeal and The Ellen Show as young girls. In 2001, Fanning was chosen to star opposite Sean Penn in the movie I Am Sam, the story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter (played by Fanning).

Her role in the film made Fanning the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, being seven years of age at the time. She also won the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her performance.
2002–2003

In 2002, director Steven Spielberg cast Fanning in the lead child role of Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys in the science fiction miniseries Taken. By this time, she had received positive notices by several film critics, including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, who wrote that Fanning "has the perfect sort of otherworldly look about her, an enchanting young actress called upon ... to carry a great weight."

In the same year, Fanning appeared in three films: as a kidnap victim who proves to be more than her abductors bargained for in Trapped, as the young version of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama, and as Katie in the movie Hansel and Gretel.

Fanning was featured even more prominently in two films released in 2003: playing the uptight child to an immature nanny played by Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls and as Sally in The Cat in the Hat.

Fanning did voice-over work for four animated projects during this period, including voicing Satsuki in Disney's English language release of My Neighbor Totoro, a little girl in the Fox series Family Guy, and a young Wonder Woman in an episode of Cartoon Network's Justice League.
2004–2005
Fanning at the London premiere of War of the Worlds, June 2005

In 2004, Fanning appeared in Man on Fire as Pita, a nine-year-old who wins over the heart of a retired mercenary (Denzel Washington) hired to protect her from kidnappers. Roger Ebert wrote that Fanning "is a pro at only 10 years old, and creates a heart-winning character."

Hide and Seek was her first release in 2005, opposite Robert De Niro. The film was generally panned, and critic Chuck Wilson called it "a fascinating meeting of equals — if the child star challenged the master to a game of stare-down, the legend might very well blink first." Fanning voiced Lilo (succeeding Daveigh Chase) in the direct-to-video film Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. She also had a small part in the Rodrigo Garcia film Nine Lives (released in October 2005), in which she shared an unbroken nine-minute scene with actress Glenn Close, who had her own praise for Fanning: "She's definitely an old soul. She's one of those gifted people that come along every now and then." Fanning also recorded voice work for Coraline during this time.

Fanning completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (opposite Kurt Russell) in late October 2004. Russell declared he was astonished by his co-star's performance in the film. Russell, 54, who plays her father in the movie, says, "I guarantee you, (Dakota) is the best actress I will work with in my entire career." Kris Kristofferson, who plays her character's grandfather in the movie, said that she's like Bette Davis reincarnated.

While promoting her role in Dreamer, Fanning became a registered member of Girl Scouts of the USA at a special ceremony, which was followed by a screening of the film for members of the Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley Council. She is not a member of a troop, but rather registered as a "Juliette", GSUSA's title for independently registered girls.

She then went directly to the set of War of the Worlds, starring alongside Tom Cruise. Released in reverse order (War in June 2005 and Dreamer in the following October), both films were critical successes. War director Steven Spielberg praised "how quickly she understands the situation in a sequence, how quickly she sizes it up, measures it up and how she would really react in a real situation."

After filming was completed on War of the Worlds, Fanning moved straight to another film without a break: Charlotte's Web, which she finished filming in May 2005 in Australia. Producer Jordan Kerner said, "...when she was so caught up in War of the Worlds, we had to end up going on a search for other young actresses. They would have been nothing compared to her."
2006–2007

Over the summer of 2006, Fanning worked on the film Hounddog, described in press reports as a "dark story of abuse, violence and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South." Fanning's parents have been criticized for allowing her to film a scene in which her character is raped. However, in response, Fanning said that "It's not really happening," to Reuters. "It's a movie, and it's called acting." Director Deborah Kampmeier addressed the controversy in the January 2007 edition of Premiere: "The assumption that was violated in order to give this performance denies her talent."

In 2006, at the age of twelve, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, becoming the youngest member in the Academy's history. Her income for 2006 was $4 million, earning her the fourth place in Forbes Magazine's list of top-earning stars aged under 21.

In March and April 2007, she filmed Fragments – Winged Creatures alongside Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Josh Hutcherson, and Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson. She plays Anne Hagen, a girl who witnesses her father's murder and who turns to religion in the aftermath.

In July 2007, Fanning filmed for three days a short film titled Cutlass, one of Glamour's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays. Cutlass was directed by Kate Hudson.

From September to December 2007, Fanning filmed Push, which centers on a group of young American expatriates with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities who hide from a U.S. government agency in Hong Kong and band together to try to escape the control of the division. Fanning played Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old psychic.
2008–2009
Fanning at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

In January 2008, Fanning began filming the movie adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (played by Jennifer Hudson) to a South Carolina town where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (played by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys). Her movies Coraline and Push were released on the same day, February 6, 2009.

Fanning played Jane in New Moon and reprised the role in Eclipse, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, and Eclipse was released on June 30, 2010.
2010–present

In 2010, she starred in the movie The Runaways, alongside Kristen Stewart, Stella Maeve, and Scout Taylor-Compton, where she played Cherie Currie, the lead singer of the band. In late 2010/early 2011, Fanning filmed Breaking Dawn, reprising the role of Jane.

In late 2010, it was announced that Fanning would not be filming any lead roles until after she finishes high school in 2011.

Dakota Fanning will play Princess Margaret in the upcoming film Girls' Night Out She will play Annie James in "The Motel Life" in February. She has also signed onto "Mississippi Wild," which will begin production in Atlanta on March 21, 2011.
Filmography
Film and television mini-series Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2001 Father Xmas Clairee Short film
2001 Tomcats Little Girl in Park
2001 I Am Sam Lucy Diamond Dawson Dakota's younger sister, Elle Fanning, plays the younger version of Lucy
2002 Taken Allie Keys Television miniseries
Elle Fanning plays the younger version of Allie
2002 Trapped Abigail Jennings, "Abbie"
2002 Sweet Home Alabama Young Melanie
2002 Hansel and Gretel Katie
2003 Uptown Girls Lorraine Schleine, "Ray"
2003 Cat in the Hat, TheThe Cat in the Hat Sally Walden
2003 Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time Preschool Kim Voice
2004 Man on Fire Lupita Martin Ramos, "Pita"
2004 My Neighbor Totoro Satsuki Kusakabe Voice (English Version)
2004 In the Realms of the Unreal Narrator Voice
2005 Hide and Seek Emily Callaway
2005 Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch Lilo Voice
2005 Nine Lives Maria
2005 War of the Worlds Rachel Ferrier
2005 Dreamer Cale Crane
2006 Charlotte's Web Fern Arable Elle Fanning plays Fern's granddaughter in alternate ending
2007 Hounddog Lewellen
2007 Cutlass Lacy Short film
2008 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Lily Owens
2009 Coraline Coraline Jones Voice
2009 Push Cassie Holmes
2009 Fragments – Winged Creatures Anne Hagen
2009 Twilight Saga: New Moon, TheThe Twilight Saga: New Moon Jane
2010 Runaways, TheThe Runaways Cherie Currie
2010 Twilight Saga: Eclipse, TheThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse Jane Volturi
2011 Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, TheThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Jane Volturi
Television appearances Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Episode title↓
2000 ER Delia Chadsey "The Fastest Year"
2000 Ally McBeal Ally (5 years) "Ally McBeal: The Musical, Almost"
2000 Strong Medicine Edie's Girl "Misconceptions"
2000 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Brenda Collins "Blood Drops"
2000 Practice, TheThe Practice Alessa Engel "The Deal"
2000 Spin City Cindy "Toy Story"
2001 Malcolm in the Middle Emily "New Neighbors"
2001 Fighting Fitzgeralds, TheThe Fighting Fitzgeralds Marie "Pilot"
2001 Family Guy Little girl "To Love and Die in Dixie"
2001 Ellen Show, TheThe Ellen Show Young Ellen "Missing the Bus"
2004 Justice League Unlimited Young Wonder Woman (voice) "Kids' Stuff"
2004 Friends Mackenzie "The One with Princess Consuela"
Awards and nominations
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2009)
List of awards and nominations Year↓ Title of work↓ Award↓ Category↓ Result↓
2001 I Am Sam Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Won
2002 I Am Sam Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award Youth in Film Won
2002 I Am Sam Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated
2002 I Am Sam Satellite Award Outstanding New Talent Won
2002 I Am Sam Chicago Film Critics Association Award Most Promising Performer Nominated
2002 I Am Sam Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actress Age Ten or Under Won
2003 Taken Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Special – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2003 Taken Saturn Award Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series Nominated
2004 Man on Fire Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Nominated
2004 Cat in the Hat, TheThe Cat in the Hat Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2005 Man on Fire Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2005 Nine Lives Gotham Award Best Ensemble Cast Nominated
2005 Nine Lives Locarno International Film Festival Best Actress Won
2005 Hide and Seek MTV Movie Award Best Frightened Performance Won
2005 N/A Relly Awards Best Junior Achiever Won
2005 War of the Worlds Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards Youth in Film Won
2005 War of the Worlds Irish Film and Television Award Best International Actress Nominated
2005 War of the Worlds Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Won
2006 War of the Worlds MTV Movie Award Best Frightened Performance Nominated
2006 War of the Worlds Saturn Award Best Performance by a Younger Actor Won
2005 Dreamer Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Movie Actress Nominated
2005 Dreamer Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress Won
2006 Charlotte's Web Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Nominated
2007 Charlotte's Web Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress Nominated
2007 Charlotte's Web Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favourite Movie Actress Won
2008 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Black Reel Award Best Ensemble Cast Nominated
2008 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Young Actress Nominated
2009 Secret Life of Bees, TheThe Secret Life of Bees Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress Won
2010 Coraline Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role – Young Actor/Actress Nominated
2010 Runaways, TheThe Runaways MTV Movie Award Best Kiss Nominated
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab320/j-martin93/jmartin93s%20album/dakota_fanning_59040_preppie_dakota_fanning_at_the_today_show_2_122_427lo_YKT8y9r.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd170/Kara-Zorel/Characters/dakota_fanning_1182392965.jpg
I have not really heard of her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/11 at 5:23 am


Wow, she has grown up quickly! :o :)

You said a mouthful the last I remember she was around 10-12 years old.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/24/11 at 5:28 am

The person of the day...Abe Vigoda
Abraham Charles "Abe" Vigoda (pronounced /vɨˈɡoʊdə/; born February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor. Vigoda is well known for his portrayal of Sal Tessio in The Godfather, and for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom television series Barney Miller from 1975–1977 and on its spinoff show Fish that aired from February 1977 to June 1978 on ABC. Vigoda was still also appearing on Barney Miller at the same time as he was on Fish during the 1976–1977 TV season; at the start of the 1977–1978 season, his character retired from the police force and left Barney Miller to focus full time on the spinoff.

He made regular appearances as himself (usually in skits relating to his "advanced age") on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, including a cameo on that show's final episode.
Vigoda was born in New York City, the son of Lena (née Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a tailor and his brother, Bill Vigoda, was a comic-book artist who drew for the Archie comics franchise and others in the 1940s.

Vigoda was married once, to Beatrice Schy from February 25, 1968 until her death on April 30, 1992. They had one child, a daughter, Carol.
Career

Vigoda gained fame through his supporting character roles, notably as elder mobster Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather (1972). He gained further fame playing Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on Barney Miller, and then led its brief spinoff Fish until it was canceled in 1978. Before Barney Miller, he made a few appearances on the ABC TV soap Dark Shadows as Ezra Braithwaite and Otis Greene. He has also appeared in several Broadway productions, including Marat/Sade (1967), The Man in the Glass Booth (1968), Inquest (1970), Tough to Get Help (1972), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1987). His trademark hunched posture and slow delivery of lines made him appear older than he really was.

On January 23, 2009, Vigoda appeared live on The Today Show. He said he was doing well, joked about previous reports of his death and in fact announced he had just completed a voice-over for an H&R Block commercial to air during the Super Bowl. On December 30, 2009 Vigoda was invited back to The Today Show to appear live on the set for Matt Lauer's birthday party. Vigoda was warmly greeted by Lauer who called him "our favorite guest of all times" on the show. Vigoda discussed his long career with Lauer.

Vigoda appeared alongside Betty White in a Snickers commercial that debuted during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010. The actor has also been honored with pop culture references, many in connection with false reports of his death (see below). Jazz bassist Eric Revis's song "Abe Vigoda" appears on saxophonist Branford Marsalis's 2009 album Metamorphosen.
False reports of his death

In 1982, People magazine referred to Vigoda as dead. Vigoda took the error with good humor, posing for a photograph in which he was sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question.

Erroneous reports of Vigoda's death as well as questions of whether he is alive or dead have become a running joke:

    * A Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda's ghost. Vigoda then walked in and declared, "I'm not dead yet, you pinhead!"
    * In a Comedy Central Roast of Drew Carey, with Abe Vigoda present in the audience, comedian Jeffrey Ross stated "and my one regret is that Abe Vigoda isn't alive to see this." He followed that with "Drew, you go to Vegas, what's the over-under on Abe Vigoda?"
    * In 2002, Greg Galcik recorded a song "Abe Vigoda's Dead", a parody of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus. Galcik's site AbeVigoda.com lists Vigoda's current state as dead or alive.
    * Vigoda appeared in the 1997 film Good Burger as the character Otis (he was the restaurant's French fry man). Several jokes were made about his age, including Otis himself saying "I should've died years ago" while wearing an oxygen tank.
    * A November 2006 Conan O'Brien sketch showed an audience member summoning the dead. The "deceased person" turned out to be Vigoda.

Filmography

    * Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965)
    * The Godfather (1972)
    * The Don Is Dead (1973)
    * Newman's Law (1974)
    * The Godfather Part II (1974)
    * The Cheap Detective (1978)
    * Cannonball Run II (1984)
    * The Stuff (1985) (cameo)
    * Vasectomy: A Delicate Matter (1986)
    * Keaton's Cop (1988)
    * Plain Clothes (1988)
    * Look Who's Talking (1989)
    * Prancer (1989)
    * Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
    * Fist of Honor (1993)
    * Me and the Kid (1993)
    * Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) (voice)
    * Home of Angels (1994)
    * Sugar Hill (1994)
    * North (1994)
    * The Misery Brothers (1995)
    * Jury Duty (1995)
    * Love Is All There Is (1996)
    * Underworld (1996)
    * Me and the Gods (1997)
    * A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997)
    * Good Burger (1997)
    * Just the Ticket (1999)
    * Tea Cake or Cannoli (2000)
    * Crime Spree (2003)
    * Chump Change (2004)
    * Farce of the Penguins (2007) (voice)
    * Frankie the Squirrel (2007)
    * The Unknown Trilogy (2008)

Upcoming

    * Small Town Hero (2010)
    * Mafioso II (2010)
    * The Driver (2010)

Television work

    * Studio One (1949)
    * Dark Shadows (cast member in 1969)
    * The Devil's Daughter (1973)
    * Toma (1973)
    * The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd (1974)
    * The Rockford Files (1974)
    * Hawaii Five-O (1974)
    * Barney Miller (cast member from 1975–1977)
    * The Bionic Woman (1976)
    * Having Babies (1976)
    * Fish (1977–1978)
    * Soap (1978)
    * The Comedy Company (1978)
    * How to Pick Up Girls! (1978)
    * Death Car on the Freeway (1979)
    * BJ and the Bear (1980)
    * Gridlock (1980)
    * The Big Stuffed Dog (1981)
    * As the World Turns (cast member in 1985)
    * Tales from the Darkside - A Choice of Dreams in 1986
    * Santa Barbara (cast member in 1989)
    * MacGyver (ep. 7 season 6)
    * Lucky Luke (1993) (canceled after 8 episodes)
    * Law & Order (1995) (1 ep. as Briscoe's retired partner)
    * Witness to the Mob (1998)
    * The Norm Show (1999) (1 ep. as Sal)
    * Late Night with Conan O'Brien (recurring character)
    * Family Guy (2001) (Cameo)

http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo209/THEGODZILLAMONSTER/Abe_Vigoda.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f132/IncredibleTomos/vigoda.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/24/11 at 7:10 am

god bless Abe Vigoda that he is still with us,he is one of the funniest even for his age. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/24/11 at 7:50 am

I think I met him in 1970(?). I really don't remember it but my sister and my mother do. Well, they worked with him. They told me he was super nice but like I said, I just don't remember him.


Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/24/11 at 11:08 am


You said a mouthful the last I remember she was around 10-12 years old.

Yeah; I might even remember what I was doing on the day she was born.







god bless Abe Vigoda that he is still with us,he is one of the funniest even for his age. :)

Agreed. O0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 02/24/11 at 6:05 pm


I think I met him in 1970(?). I really don't remember it but my sister and my mother do. Well, they worked with him. They told me he was super nice but like I said, I just don't remember him.


Cat





Of course you wouldn't remember Cat. You would have only been about 2 years old!!  ::) ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 02/24/11 at 8:42 pm


Of course you wouldn't remember Cat. You would have only been about 2 years old!!   ::) ;)



Yeah, yeah, that's it. After all, I am going to be 29 this year.





















































Again.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/25/11 at 6:11 am

The person of the day...George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison was a devotee of Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience, to include Eastern thought and practices. Following the band's break-up, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Although most of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Beatle albums generally included one or two of Harrison's own songs, from With The Beatles onwards. His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's break-up, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the acclaimed and successful triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, from which came two singles: a double A-side single, "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity", and "What Is Life". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another former Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison.

Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the mid 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.

Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company HandMade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as the members of Monty Python and Madonna.

He was married twice, to model Pattie Boyd from 1966 to 1974, and for 23 years to record company secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he had one son, Dhani Harrison. He was a close friend of Eric Clapton. He is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.
Harrison became part of The Beatles when they were still a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney told Lennon about his friend George Harrison, who could play "Raunchy" on his guitar. Although Lennon considered him too young to join the band, Harrison hung out with them and filled in as needed. By the time Harrison was 15, Lennon and the others had accepted him as one of the band. Since Harrison was the youngest member of the group, he was looked upon as a kid by the others for another few years.

Harrison left school at 16 and worked as an apprentice electrician at local department store Blacklers for a while. When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group; this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle". The first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.

When Brian Epstein became The Beatles' manager in December 1961 after seeing them perform at The Cavern Club in November, he changed their image from that of leather-jacketed rock-and-rollers to a more polished look, and secured them a recording contract with EMI. The first single, "Love Me Do", with Harrison playing a Gibson J-160E, reached number 17 in the UK chart in October 1962, and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me, was released in early 1963, The Beatles had become famous and Beatlemania had arrived.
Black-and-white picture of four young men outdoors in front of a staircase, surrounded by a large assembled crowd. All four are waving to the crowd.
Harrison (third from left) with the rest of The Beatles in America in 1964

After he revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, British fans inundated Harrison and the rest of the band with boxes of the sweets as gifts. A few months later, American audiences showered the band with the much harder jelly beans instead. In a letter to a fan, Harrison mentioned jelly babies, insisting that no one in the band actually liked them and that the press must have made it up.

The popularity of The Beatles led to a successful tour of America, the making of a film, A Hard Day's Night (during which Harrison met his future wife Pattie Boyd), and in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, all four Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Harrison, whose role within the group was that of the careful musician who checked that the instruments were tuned, by 1965 and the Rubber Soul album, was developing into a musical director as he led the others into folk-rock, via his interest in The Byrds and Bob Dylan, and into Indian music with his exploration of the sitar. Harrison's musical involvement and cohesion with the group reached its peak on Revolver in 1966 with his contribution of three songs and new musical ideas. By 1967, Harrison's interests appeared to be moving outside the Beatles, and his involvement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band consists mainly of his one song, "Within You Without You", on which no other Beatle plays, and which stands out for its difference from the rest of the album.

During the recording of The Beatles in 1968, tensions were present in the band; these surfaced again during the filming of rehearsal sessions at Twickenham Studios for the album Let It Be in early 1969. Frustrated by ongoing slights, the poor working conditions in the cold and sterile film studio, and Lennon's creative disengagement from the group, Harrison quit the band on 10 January. He returned on 22 January after negotiations with the other Beatles at two business meetings.

Relations among The Beatles were more cordial (though still strained) during recordings for the album Abbey Road. The album included "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", "Something" was later recorded by Frank Sinatra, who considered it "one of the greatest songs of the last twenty years". Harrison's increasing productivity, coupled with his difficulties in getting The Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end of the group's career he had amassed a considerable stockpile of unreleased material. Harrison's last recording session with The Beatles was on 4 January 1970. Lennon, who had left the group the previous September, did not attend the session.
Relationships with the other Beatles

For the most part of The Beatles career, the relationships in the group were extremely close and intimate. According to Hunter Davis, "The Beatles spent their lives not living a communal life, but communally living the same life. They were each other's greatest friends." Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd described how The Beatles "all belonged to each other" and admitted, "George has a lot with the others that I can never know about. Nobody, not even the wives, can break through or even comprehend it."

Ringo Starr also stated, "We really looked out for each other and we had so many laughs together. In the old days we'd have the biggest hotel suites, the whole floor of the hotel, and the four of us would end up in the bathroom, just to be with each other." and added "There were some really loving, caring moments between four people: a hotel room here and there - a really amazing closeness. Just four guys who loved each other. It was pretty sensational."

John Lennon stated that his relationship with George was "one of young follower and older guy." and admitted that " was like a disciple of mine when we started." The two would often go on holiday together throughout the 60s. Their relationship took a severe turn for the worse after George published his autobiography, I Me Mine. Lennon felt insulted and hurt that George mentioned him only in passing. Lennon claimed he was hurt by the book and also that he did more for George than any of the other Beatles. As a result, George and John were not on good terms during the last years of Lennon's life. After Lennon's murder, George paid tribute to Lennon with his song "All Those Years Ago" which was released in 1981, six months after Lennon's murder.

Paul McCartney has often referred to Harrison as his "baby brother", and he did the honours as best man at George's wedding in 1966. The two were the first of The Beatles to meet, having shared a school bus, and would often learn and rehearse new guitar chords together. McCartney stated that he and George usually shared a bedroom while touring.
Guitar work

Harrison's guitar work with The Beatles was varied, flexible and innovative; although not fast or flashy, his guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s. The influence of the plucking guitar style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins on Harrison gave a country music feel to The Beatles' early recordings. Harrison explored several guitar instruments, the twelve-string, the sitar and the slide guitar, and developed his playing from tight eight- and twelve-bar solos in such songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love", to lyrical slide guitar playing, first recorded during an early session of "If Not for You" for Dylan's New Morning in 1970. The earliest example of notable guitar work from Harrison was the extended acoustic guitar solo of "Till There Was You", for which Harrison purchased a José Ramírez nylon-stringed classical guitar to produce the sensitivity needed.

"Till There Was You"
Play sound
Sample of "Till There Was You".
"A Hard Day's Night"
Play sound
Sample of "A Hard Day's Night".
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Harrison's first electric guitar was a Czech built Futurama/Grazioso, which was a popular guitar among British guitarists in the early 1960s., The guitars Harrison used on early recordings were mainly Gretsch played through a Vox amp. He used a variety of Gretsch guitars, including a Gretsch Duo Jet - his first Gretsch, which he bought in 1961 second hand off a sailor in Liverpool; a Gretsch Tennessean, and his (first out of two) Gretsch Country Gentleman, bought new for £234 in April 1963 at the Sound City store in London, which he used on "She Loves You", and on The Beatles' 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Black-and-white picture of two men, one, in the foreground to the right, in his mid-forties, and the other, in the background to the left, in his mid-twenties. Both are sitting cross-legged on rugs, and the man on the right holds a sitar.
George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, 1967

During The Beatles' February 1964 trip to the US, Harrison acquired a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar. He had tried out the 12-string electric guitar during an interview with a Minneapolis radio station, and was given the guitar either by the Rickenbacker company or the radio station. The 360/12 was an experimental 12-string guitar with the strings reversed so that the lower pitched string was struck first, and with an unusual headstock design that made tuning easier. Harrison used the guitar extensively during the recording of A Hard Day's Night, and the jangly sound became so popular that the Melody Maker termed it "the beat boys' secret weapon". Roger McGuinn liked the effect Harrison achieved so much that it became his signature guitar sound with the Byrds.

He obtained his first Fender Stratocaster in 1965 and used it for the recording of the Rubber Soul album, most notably on the "Nowhere Man" track, where he played in unison with Lennon who also had a Stratocaster. Lennon and Harrison both had Sonic Blue Stratocasters, which were bought second hand by roadie Mal Evans. Harrison painted his Stratocaster in a psychedelic design that included the word "Bebopalula" painted above the pickguard and the guitar's nickname, "Rocky", painted on the headstock. He played this guitar in the Magical Mystery Tour film and throughout his solo career.

After David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to the work of sitar master Ravi Shankar in 1965, Harrison—whose interest in Indian music was stirred during the filming of Help!, which used Indian music as part of its soundtrack—played a sitar on the Rubber Soul track "Norwegian Wood", expanding the already nascent Western interest in Indian music. Harrison listed his early influences as Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers.
Song writing and singing
Main article: List of George Harrison songs

Harrison wrote his first song published with the Beatles, "Don't Bother Me", while sick in a hotel bed in Bournemouth during August 1963, as an exercise "to see if I could write a song", as he remembered. "Don't Bother Me" appeared on the second Beatles album (With the Beatles) later that year, then on Meet the Beatles! in the US in early 1964, and also briefly in the film A Hard Day's Night. The group did not record another Harrison composition until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album Help!.

Harrison's songwriting improved greatly through the years, but his material did not earn respect from his fellow Beatles until near the group's break-up. McCartney told Lennon in 1969: "Until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours". Harrison had difficulty getting the band to record his songs. The group's incorporation of Harrison's material reached a peak of three songs on the 1966 Revolver album and four songs on the 1968 double The Beatles.

Harrison performed the lead vocal on all Beatles songs that he wrote by himself. He also sang lead vocal on other songs, including "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on Please Please Me, "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Devil in Her Heart" on With The Beatles, "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on A Hard Day's Night, and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" on Beatles for Sale.
Harrison developed throat cancer, which was discovered in 1997 after a lump on his neck was analysed. He attributed it to his smoking habit he had from the 1960s well into the 1980s. He was successfully treated with radiotherapy. Early in May 2001, it was revealed that he had undergone an operation at the Mayo Clinic to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs. In July of that year, it was reported that he was being treated at a clinic in Switzerland and that the cancer had spread to his brain.
Lederman affair

In November 2001, Harrison began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for lung cancer which had metastasised to his brain. In a complaint later brought on behalf of Harrison's estate, it was alleged that while under the care of the hospital, Dr. Gilbert Lederman, a radiation oncologist, repeatedly revealed Harrison's confidential medical information during television interviews and forced him to autograph a guitar. The complaint alleges that Dr. Lederman and his family came to visit Harrison and began singing, and that, in laboured breaths, Harrison said, "Please stop talking." Later, Dr. Lederman allegedly had his son play the guitar for George. The complaint alleges that after the performance, Dr. Lederman asked Harrison for an autograph on the guitar, and that Harrison responded, "I do not even know if I know how to sign my name any more." Dr. Lederman then allegedly took Harrison's hand and guided his hand along to spell his name while encouraging him by saying, "Come on, George. You can do this. G-E-O...". The suit was ultimately settled out of court under the condition that the guitar be "disposed of".
Decline in health and death

Despite the treatments and operations, Harrison died on 29 November 2001 at a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney and was previously owned by Courtney Love. The cause of death was listed on his Los Angeles County death certificate as "metastatic non-small cell lung cancer". He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River by his close family in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition. He left almost £100 million in his will.

In 2002, on the first anniversary of Harrison's death, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall; it was organised by Eric Clapton and included performances by many of Harrison's musical friends, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The profits from the concert went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation.
Honours

Harrison's first official honour was when The Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1965, and received their insignia from the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. Another award with The Beatles came in 1970 when they won an Academy Award for the best Original Song Score for Let It Be.

A significant music award as a solo artist was in December 1992, when he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award - presented to music artists for significant bodies of work. The minor planet 4149, discovered on 9 March 1984 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named after Harrison. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on 15 March 2004 by his Traveling Wilburys friends Lynne and Petty. He was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame on 1 August 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison featured twice on the cover of Time magazine, initially with The Beatles in 1967, then on his own, shortly after his death in 2001. In June 2007, portraits of Harrison and John Lennon were unveiled at The Mirage Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, where they will be on permanent display.

American film director Martin Scorsese announced that he will make a documentary titled Living in the Material World: George Harrison.

On 14 April 2009, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Harrison a star on the Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol Records Building. (The Beatles also have a group star on the Walk of Fame.) Musicians Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty were among those in attendance when the star was unveiled. Harrison's widow Olivia, actor Tom Hanks and comedian Eric Idle made speeches at the ceremony; Harrison's son Dhani uttered the Hare Krishna mantra. After the ceremony, Capitol/EMI Records announced that a new career-spanning CD entitled Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison would be released in mid-June 2009.
Solo discography
Main articles: George Harrison discography and List of George Harrison songs
Year Album Label Notes Peak chart positions Certifications
US
UK
NO
JP
AT
SE
US
UK

1968 Wonderwall Music Apple/EMI Soundtrack 49 - - - - -
1969 Electronic Sound Zapple/EMI 191 - - - - -
1970 All Things Must Pass Apple/EMI Triple 1 1 1 4 - - 6x Platinum
1971 The Concert for Bangladesh Apple/EMI (US)
Epic/Sony Music (UK) Live 2 1 1 2 - - Gold
1973 Living in the Material World Apple/EMI 1 2 4 9 - - Gold
1974 Dark Horse Apple/EMI 4 - 7 18 10 - Gold Silver
1975 Extra Texture (Read All About It) Apple/EMI 8 16 8 9 - - Gold
1976 Thirty Three & 1/3 Dark Horse 11 35 17 23 - - Gold Silver
1976 The Best of George Harrison Parlophone/EMI Compilation 31 100 - 51 - - Gold
1979 George Harrison Dark Horse 14 39 21 38 - - Gold
1981 Somewhere in England Dark Horse 11 13 2 31 15 13
1982 Gone Troppo Dark Horse 108 - 31 - - -
1987 Cloud Nine Dark Horse 8 10 8 28 26 5 Platinum Gold
1989 Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 Dark Horse Compilation 132 - - 51 - -
1992 Live in Japan Dark Horse/Warner Bros Live 126 - - 15 - -
2002 Brainwashed Dark Horse Posthumous 18 29 9 21 62 18 Gold Gold
2009 Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison Capitol/EMI Compilation 24 4 40
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/5273091366_84aac4ed5e_m.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx122/Momo_shi/Icons/m21km.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/11 at 12:53 pm


The person of the day...George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison was a devotee of Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience, to include Eastern thought and practices. Following the band's break-up, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Although most of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Beatle albums generally included one or two of Harrison's own songs, from With The Beatles onwards. His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's break-up, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the acclaimed and successful triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, from which came two singles: a double A-side single, "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity", and "What Is Life". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another former Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison.

Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the mid 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.

Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company HandMade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as the members of Monty Python and Madonna.

He was married twice, to model Pattie Boyd from 1966 to 1974, and for 23 years to record company secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he had one son, Dhani Harrison. He was a close friend of Eric Clapton. He is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.
Harrison became part of The Beatles when they were still a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney told Lennon about his friend George Harrison, who could play "Raunchy" on his guitar. Although Lennon considered him too young to join the band, Harrison hung out with them and filled in as needed. By the time Harrison was 15, Lennon and the others had accepted him as one of the band. Since Harrison was the youngest member of the group, he was looked upon as a kid by the others for another few years.

Harrison left school at 16 and worked as an apprentice electrician at local department store Blacklers for a while. When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group; this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle". The first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.

When Brian Epstein became The Beatles' manager in December 1961 after seeing them perform at The Cavern Club in November, he changed their image from that of leather-jacketed rock-and-rollers to a more polished look, and secured them a recording contract with EMI. The first single, "Love Me Do", with Harrison playing a Gibson J-160E, reached number 17 in the UK chart in October 1962, and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me, was released in early 1963, The Beatles had become famous and Beatlemania had arrived.
Black-and-white picture of four young men outdoors in front of a staircase, surrounded by a large assembled crowd. All four are waving to the crowd.
Harrison (third from left) with the rest of The Beatles in America in 1964

After he revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, British fans inundated Harrison and the rest of the band with boxes of the sweets as gifts. A few months later, American audiences showered the band with the much harder jelly beans instead. In a letter to a fan, Harrison mentioned jelly babies, insisting that no one in the band actually liked them and that the press must have made it up.

The popularity of The Beatles led to a successful tour of America, the making of a film, A Hard Day's Night (during which Harrison met his future wife Pattie Boyd), and in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, all four Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Harrison, whose role within the group was that of the careful musician who checked that the instruments were tuned, by 1965 and the Rubber Soul album, was developing into a musical director as he led the others into folk-rock, via his interest in The Byrds and Bob Dylan, and into Indian music with his exploration of the sitar. Harrison's musical involvement and cohesion with the group reached its peak on Revolver in 1966 with his contribution of three songs and new musical ideas. By 1967, Harrison's interests appeared to be moving outside the Beatles, and his involvement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band consists mainly of his one song, "Within You Without You", on which no other Beatle plays, and which stands out for its difference from the rest of the album.

During the recording of The Beatles in 1968, tensions were present in the band; these surfaced again during the filming of rehearsal sessions at Twickenham Studios for the album Let It Be in early 1969. Frustrated by ongoing slights, the poor working conditions in the cold and sterile film studio, and Lennon's creative disengagement from the group, Harrison quit the band on 10 January. He returned on 22 January after negotiations with the other Beatles at two business meetings.

Relations among The Beatles were more cordial (though still strained) during recordings for the album Abbey Road. The album included "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", "Something" was later recorded by Frank Sinatra, who considered it "one of the greatest songs of the last twenty years". Harrison's increasing productivity, coupled with his difficulties in getting The Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end of the group's career he had amassed a considerable stockpile of unreleased material. Harrison's last recording session with The Beatles was on 4 January 1970. Lennon, who had left the group the previous September, did not attend the session.
Relationships with the other Beatles

For the most part of The Beatles career, the relationships in the group were extremely close and intimate. According to Hunter Davis, "The Beatles spent their lives not living a communal life, but communally living the same life. They were each other's greatest friends." Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd described how The Beatles "all belonged to each other" and admitted, "George has a lot with the others that I can never know about. Nobody, not even the wives, can break through or even comprehend it."

Ringo Starr also stated, "We really looked out for each other and we had so many laughs together. In the old days we'd have the biggest hotel suites, the whole floor of the hotel, and the four of us would end up in the bathroom, just to be with each other." and added "There were some really loving, caring moments between four people: a hotel room here and there - a really amazing closeness. Just four guys who loved each other. It was pretty sensational."

John Lennon stated that his relationship with George was "one of young follower and older guy." and admitted that " was like a disciple of mine when we started." The two would often go on holiday together throughout the 60s. Their relationship took a severe turn for the worse after George published his autobiography, I Me Mine. Lennon felt insulted and hurt that George mentioned him only in passing. Lennon claimed he was hurt by the book and also that he did more for George than any of the other Beatles. As a result, George and John were not on good terms during the last years of Lennon's life. After Lennon's murder, George paid tribute to Lennon with his song "All Those Years Ago" which was released in 1981, six months after Lennon's murder.

Paul McCartney has often referred to Harrison as his "baby brother", and he did the honours as best man at George's wedding in 1966. The two were the first of The Beatles to meet, having shared a school bus, and would often learn and rehearse new guitar chords together. McCartney stated that he and George usually shared a bedroom while touring.
Guitar work

Harrison's guitar work with The Beatles was varied, flexible and innovative; although not fast or flashy, his guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s. The influence of the plucking guitar style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins on Harrison gave a country music feel to The Beatles' early recordings. Harrison explored several guitar instruments, the twelve-string, the sitar and the slide guitar, and developed his playing from tight eight- and twelve-bar solos in such songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love", to lyrical slide guitar playing, first recorded during an early session of "If Not for You" for Dylan's New Morning in 1970. The earliest example of notable guitar work from Harrison was the extended acoustic guitar solo of "Till There Was You", for which Harrison purchased a José Ramírez nylon-stringed classical guitar to produce the sensitivity needed.

"Till There Was You"
Play sound
Sample of "Till There Was You".
"A Hard Day's Night"
Play sound
Sample of "A Hard Day's Night".
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Harrison's first electric guitar was a Czech built Futurama/Grazioso, which was a popular guitar among British guitarists in the early 1960s., The guitars Harrison used on early recordings were mainly Gretsch played through a Vox amp. He used a variety of Gretsch guitars, including a Gretsch Duo Jet - his first Gretsch, which he bought in 1961 second hand off a sailor in Liverpool; a Gretsch Tennessean, and his (first out of two) Gretsch Country Gentleman, bought new for £234 in April 1963 at the Sound City store in London, which he used on "She Loves You", and on The Beatles' 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Black-and-white picture of two men, one, in the foreground to the right, in his mid-forties, and the other, in the background to the left, in his mid-twenties. Both are sitting cross-legged on rugs, and the man on the right holds a sitar.
George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, 1967

During The Beatles' February 1964 trip to the US, Harrison acquired a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar. He had tried out the 12-string electric guitar during an interview with a Minneapolis radio station, and was given the guitar either by the Rickenbacker company or the radio station. The 360/12 was an experimental 12-string guitar with the strings reversed so that the lower pitched string was struck first, and with an unusual headstock design that made tuning easier. Harrison used the guitar extensively during the recording of A Hard Day's Night, and the jangly sound became so popular that the Melody Maker termed it "the beat boys' secret weapon". Roger McGuinn liked the effect Harrison achieved so much that it became his signature guitar sound with the Byrds.

He obtained his first Fender Stratocaster in 1965 and used it for the recording of the Rubber Soul album, most notably on the "Nowhere Man" track, where he played in unison with Lennon who also had a Stratocaster. Lennon and Harrison both had Sonic Blue Stratocasters, which were bought second hand by roadie Mal Evans. Harrison painted his Stratocaster in a psychedelic design that included the word "Bebopalula" painted above the pickguard and the guitar's nickname, "Rocky", painted on the headstock. He played this guitar in the Magical Mystery Tour film and throughout his solo career.

After David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to the work of sitar master Ravi Shankar in 1965, Harrison—whose interest in Indian music was stirred during the filming of Help!, which used Indian music as part of its soundtrack—played a sitar on the Rubber Soul track "Norwegian Wood", expanding the already nascent Western interest in Indian music. Harrison listed his early influences as Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers.
Song writing and singing
Main article: List of George Harrison songs

Harrison wrote his first song published with the Beatles, "Don't Bother Me", while sick in a hotel bed in Bournemouth during August 1963, as an exercise "to see if I could write a song", as he remembered. "Don't Bother Me" appeared on the second Beatles album (With the Beatles) later that year, then on Meet the Beatles! in the US in early 1964, and also briefly in the film A Hard Day's Night. The group did not record another Harrison composition until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album Help!.

Harrison's songwriting improved greatly through the years, but his material did not earn respect from his fellow Beatles until near the group's break-up. McCartney told Lennon in 1969: "Until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours". Harrison had difficulty getting the band to record his songs. The group's incorporation of Harrison's material reached a peak of three songs on the 1966 Revolver album and four songs on the 1968 double The Beatles.

Harrison performed the lead vocal on all Beatles songs that he wrote by himself. He also sang lead vocal on other songs, including "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on Please Please Me, "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Devil in Her Heart" on With The Beatles, "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on A Hard Day's Night, and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" on Beatles for Sale.
Harrison developed throat cancer, which was discovered in 1997 after a lump on his neck was analysed. He attributed it to his smoking habit he had from the 1960s well into the 1980s. He was successfully treated with radiotherapy. Early in May 2001, it was revealed that he had undergone an operation at the Mayo Clinic to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs. In July of that year, it was reported that he was being treated at a clinic in Switzerland and that the cancer had spread to his brain.
Lederman affair

In November 2001, Harrison began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for lung cancer which had metastasised to his brain. In a complaint later brought on behalf of Harrison's estate, it was alleged that while under the care of the hospital, Dr. Gilbert Lederman, a radiation oncologist, repeatedly revealed Harrison's confidential medical information during television interviews and forced him to autograph a guitar. The complaint alleges that Dr. Lederman and his family came to visit Harrison and began singing, and that, in laboured breaths, Harrison said, "Please stop talking." Later, Dr. Lederman allegedly had his son play the guitar for George. The complaint alleges that after the performance, Dr. Lederman asked Harrison for an autograph on the guitar, and that Harrison responded, "I do not even know if I know how to sign my name any more." Dr. Lederman then allegedly took Harrison's hand and guided his hand along to spell his name while encouraging him by saying, "Come on, George. You can do this. G-E-O...". The suit was ultimately settled out of court under the condition that the guitar be "disposed of".
Decline in health and death

Despite the treatments and operations, Harrison died on 29 November 2001 at a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney and was previously owned by Courtney Love. The cause of death was listed on his Los Angeles County death certificate as "metastatic non-small cell lung cancer". He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River by his close family in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition. He left almost £100 million in his will.

In 2002, on the first anniversary of Harrison's death, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall; it was organised by Eric Clapton and included performances by many of Harrison's musical friends, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The profits from the concert went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation.
Honours

Harrison's first official honour was when The Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1965, and received their insignia from the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. Another award with The Beatles came in 1970 when they won an Academy Award for the best Original Song Score for Let It Be.

A significant music award as a solo artist was in December 1992, when he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award - presented to music artists for significant bodies of work. The minor planet 4149, discovered on 9 March 1984 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named after Harrison. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on 15 March 2004 by his Traveling Wilburys friends Lynne and Petty. He was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame on 1 August 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison featured twice on the cover of Time magazine, initially with The Beatles in 1967, then on his own, shortly after his death in 2001. In June 2007, portraits of Harrison and John Lennon were unveiled at The Mirage Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, where they will be on permanent display.

American film director Martin Scorsese announced that he will make a documentary titled Living in the Material World: George Harrison.

On 14 April 2009, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Harrison a star on the Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol Records Building. (The Beatles also have a group star on the Walk of Fame.) Musicians Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty were among those in attendance when the star was unveiled. Harrison's widow Olivia, actor Tom Hanks and comedian Eric Idle made speeches at the ceremony; Harrison's son Dhani uttered the Hare Krishna mantra. After the ceremony, Capitol/EMI Records announced that a new career-spanning CD entitled Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison would be released in mid-June 2009.
Solo discography
Main articles: George Harrison discography and List of George Harrison songs
Year Album Label Notes Peak chart positions Certifications
US
UK
NO
JP
AT
SE
US
UK

1968 Wonderwall Music Apple/EMI Soundtrack 49 - - - - -
1969 Electronic Sound Zapple/EMI 191 - - - - -
1970 All Things Must Pass Apple/EMI Triple 1 1 1 4 - - 6x Platinum
1971 The Concert for Bangladesh Apple/EMI (US)
Epic/Sony Music (UK) Live 2 1 1 2 - - Gold
1973 Living in the Material World Apple/EMI 1 2 4 9 - - Gold
1974 Dark Horse Apple/EMI 4 - 7 18 10 - Gold Silver
1975 Extra Texture (Read All About It) Apple/EMI 8 16 8 9 - - Gold
1976 Thirty Three & 1/3 Dark Horse 11 35 17 23 - - Gold Silver
1976 The Best of George Harrison Parlophone/EMI Compilation 31 100 - 51 - - Gold
1979 George Harrison Dark Horse 14 39 21 38 - - Gold
1981 Somewhere in England Dark Horse 11 13 2 31 15 13
1982 Gone Troppo Dark Horse 108 - 31 - - -
1987 Cloud Nine Dark Horse 8 10 8 28 26 5 Platinum Gold
1989 Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 Dark Horse Compilation 132 - - 51 - -
1992 Live in Japan Dark Horse/Warner Bros Live 126 - - 15 - -
2002 Brainwashed Dark Horse Posthumous 18 29 9 21 62 18 Gold Gold
2009 Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison Capitol/EMI Compilation 24 4 40
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/5273091366_84aac4ed5e_m.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx122/Momo_shi/Icons/m21km.png
  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/25/11 at 3:28 pm

My late brother has the same birthdate as George Harrison.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/25/11 at 3:28 pm


The person of the day...George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison was a devotee of Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience, to include Eastern thought and practices. Following the band's break-up, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Although most of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Beatle albums generally included one or two of Harrison's own songs, from With The Beatles onwards. His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's break-up, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the acclaimed and successful triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, from which came two singles: a double A-side single, "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity", and "What Is Life". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another former Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison.

Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the mid 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.

Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company HandMade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as the members of Monty Python and Madonna.

He was married twice, to model Pattie Boyd from 1966 to 1974, and for 23 years to record company secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he had one son, Dhani Harrison. He was a close friend of Eric Clapton. He is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.
Harrison became part of The Beatles when they were still a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney told Lennon about his friend George Harrison, who could play "Raunchy" on his guitar. Although Lennon considered him too young to join the band, Harrison hung out with them and filled in as needed. By the time Harrison was 15, Lennon and the others had accepted him as one of the band. Since Harrison was the youngest member of the group, he was looked upon as a kid by the others for another few years.

Harrison left school at 16 and worked as an apprentice electrician at local department store Blacklers for a while. When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group; this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle". The first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.

When Brian Epstein became The Beatles' manager in December 1961 after seeing them perform at The Cavern Club in November, he changed their image from that of leather-jacketed rock-and-rollers to a more polished look, and secured them a recording contract with EMI. The first single, "Love Me Do", with Harrison playing a Gibson J-160E, reached number 17 in the UK chart in October 1962, and by the time their debut album, Please Please Me, was released in early 1963, The Beatles had become famous and Beatlemania had arrived.
Black-and-white picture of four young men outdoors in front of a staircase, surrounded by a large assembled crowd. All four are waving to the crowd.
Harrison (third from left) with the rest of The Beatles in America in 1964

After he revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, British fans inundated Harrison and the rest of the band with boxes of the sweets as gifts. A few months later, American audiences showered the band with the much harder jelly beans instead. In a letter to a fan, Harrison mentioned jelly babies, insisting that no one in the band actually liked them and that the press must have made it up.

The popularity of The Beatles led to a successful tour of America, the making of a film, A Hard Day's Night (during which Harrison met his future wife Pattie Boyd), and in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, all four Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Harrison, whose role within the group was that of the careful musician who checked that the instruments were tuned, by 1965 and the Rubber Soul album, was developing into a musical director as he led the others into folk-rock, via his interest in The Byrds and Bob Dylan, and into Indian music with his exploration of the sitar. Harrison's musical involvement and cohesion with the group reached its peak on Revolver in 1966 with his contribution of three songs and new musical ideas. By 1967, Harrison's interests appeared to be moving outside the Beatles, and his involvement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band consists mainly of his one song, "Within You Without You", on which no other Beatle plays, and which stands out for its difference from the rest of the album.

During the recording of The Beatles in 1968, tensions were present in the band; these surfaced again during the filming of rehearsal sessions at Twickenham Studios for the album Let It Be in early 1969. Frustrated by ongoing slights, the poor working conditions in the cold and sterile film studio, and Lennon's creative disengagement from the group, Harrison quit the band on 10 January. He returned on 22 January after negotiations with the other Beatles at two business meetings.

Relations among The Beatles were more cordial (though still strained) during recordings for the album Abbey Road. The album included "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", "Something" was later recorded by Frank Sinatra, who considered it "one of the greatest songs of the last twenty years". Harrison's increasing productivity, coupled with his difficulties in getting The Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end of the group's career he had amassed a considerable stockpile of unreleased material. Harrison's last recording session with The Beatles was on 4 January 1970. Lennon, who had left the group the previous September, did not attend the session.
Relationships with the other Beatles

For the most part of The Beatles career, the relationships in the group were extremely close and intimate. According to Hunter Davis, "The Beatles spent their lives not living a communal life, but communally living the same life. They were each other's greatest friends." Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd described how The Beatles "all belonged to each other" and admitted, "George has a lot with the others that I can never know about. Nobody, not even the wives, can break through or even comprehend it."

Ringo Starr also stated, "We really looked out for each other and we had so many laughs together. In the old days we'd have the biggest hotel suites, the whole floor of the hotel, and the four of us would end up in the bathroom, just to be with each other." and added "There were some really loving, caring moments between four people: a hotel room here and there - a really amazing closeness. Just four guys who loved each other. It was pretty sensational."

John Lennon stated that his relationship with George was "one of young follower and older guy." and admitted that " was like a disciple of mine when we started." The two would often go on holiday together throughout the 60s. Their relationship took a severe turn for the worse after George published his autobiography, I Me Mine. Lennon felt insulted and hurt that George mentioned him only in passing. Lennon claimed he was hurt by the book and also that he did more for George than any of the other Beatles. As a result, George and John were not on good terms during the last years of Lennon's life. After Lennon's murder, George paid tribute to Lennon with his song "All Those Years Ago" which was released in 1981, six months after Lennon's murder.

Paul McCartney has often referred to Harrison as his "baby brother", and he did the honours as best man at George's wedding in 1966. The two were the first of The Beatles to meet, having shared a school bus, and would often learn and rehearse new guitar chords together. McCartney stated that he and George usually shared a bedroom while touring.
Guitar work

Harrison's guitar work with The Beatles was varied, flexible and innovative; although not fast or flashy, his guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s. The influence of the plucking guitar style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins on Harrison gave a country music feel to The Beatles' early recordings. Harrison explored several guitar instruments, the twelve-string, the sitar and the slide guitar, and developed his playing from tight eight- and twelve-bar solos in such songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love", to lyrical slide guitar playing, first recorded during an early session of "If Not for You" for Dylan's New Morning in 1970. The earliest example of notable guitar work from Harrison was the extended acoustic guitar solo of "Till There Was You", for which Harrison purchased a José Ramírez nylon-stringed classical guitar to produce the sensitivity needed.

"Till There Was You"
Play sound
Sample of "Till There Was You".
"A Hard Day's Night"
Play sound
Sample of "A Hard Day's Night".
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Harrison's first electric guitar was a Czech built Futurama/Grazioso, which was a popular guitar among British guitarists in the early 1960s., The guitars Harrison used on early recordings were mainly Gretsch played through a Vox amp. He used a variety of Gretsch guitars, including a Gretsch Duo Jet - his first Gretsch, which he bought in 1961 second hand off a sailor in Liverpool; a Gretsch Tennessean, and his (first out of two) Gretsch Country Gentleman, bought new for £234 in April 1963 at the Sound City store in London, which he used on "She Loves You", and on The Beatles' 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Black-and-white picture of two men, one, in the foreground to the right, in his mid-forties, and the other, in the background to the left, in his mid-twenties. Both are sitting cross-legged on rugs, and the man on the right holds a sitar.
George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, 1967

During The Beatles' February 1964 trip to the US, Harrison acquired a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar. He had tried out the 12-string electric guitar during an interview with a Minneapolis radio station, and was given the guitar either by the Rickenbacker company or the radio station. The 360/12 was an experimental 12-string guitar with the strings reversed so that the lower pitched string was struck first, and with an unusual headstock design that made tuning easier. Harrison used the guitar extensively during the recording of A Hard Day's Night, and the jangly sound became so popular that the Melody Maker termed it "the beat boys' secret weapon". Roger McGuinn liked the effect Harrison achieved so much that it became his signature guitar sound with the Byrds.

He obtained his first Fender Stratocaster in 1965 and used it for the recording of the Rubber Soul album, most notably on the "Nowhere Man" track, where he played in unison with Lennon who also had a Stratocaster. Lennon and Harrison both had Sonic Blue Stratocasters, which were bought second hand by roadie Mal Evans. Harrison painted his Stratocaster in a psychedelic design that included the word "Bebopalula" painted above the pickguard and the guitar's nickname, "Rocky", painted on the headstock. He played this guitar in the Magical Mystery Tour film and throughout his solo career.

After David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to the work of sitar master Ravi Shankar in 1965, Harrison—whose interest in Indian music was stirred during the filming of Help!, which used Indian music as part of its soundtrack—played a sitar on the Rubber Soul track "Norwegian Wood", expanding the already nascent Western interest in Indian music. Harrison listed his early influences as Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers.
Song writing and singing
Main article: List of George Harrison songs

Harrison wrote his first song published with the Beatles, "Don't Bother Me", while sick in a hotel bed in Bournemouth during August 1963, as an exercise "to see if I could write a song", as he remembered. "Don't Bother Me" appeared on the second Beatles album (With the Beatles) later that year, then on Meet the Beatles! in the US in early 1964, and also briefly in the film A Hard Day's Night. The group did not record another Harrison composition until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album Help!.

Harrison's songwriting improved greatly through the years, but his material did not earn respect from his fellow Beatles until near the group's break-up. McCartney told Lennon in 1969: "Until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours". Harrison had difficulty getting the band to record his songs. The group's incorporation of Harrison's material reached a peak of three songs on the 1966 Revolver album and four songs on the 1968 double The Beatles.

Harrison performed the lead vocal on all Beatles songs that he wrote by himself. He also sang lead vocal on other songs, including "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on Please Please Me, "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Devil in Her Heart" on With The Beatles, "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on A Hard Day's Night, and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" on Beatles for Sale.
Harrison developed throat cancer, which was discovered in 1997 after a lump on his neck was analysed. He attributed it to his smoking habit he had from the 1960s well into the 1980s. He was successfully treated with radiotherapy. Early in May 2001, it was revealed that he had undergone an operation at the Mayo Clinic to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs. In July of that year, it was reported that he was being treated at a clinic in Switzerland and that the cancer had spread to his brain.
Lederman affair

In November 2001, Harrison began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for lung cancer which had metastasised to his brain. In a complaint later brought on behalf of Harrison's estate, it was alleged that while under the care of the hospital, Dr. Gilbert Lederman, a radiation oncologist, repeatedly revealed Harrison's confidential medical information during television interviews and forced him to autograph a guitar. The complaint alleges that Dr. Lederman and his family came to visit Harrison and began singing, and that, in laboured breaths, Harrison said, "Please stop talking." Later, Dr. Lederman allegedly had his son play the guitar for George. The complaint alleges that after the performance, Dr. Lederman asked Harrison for an autograph on the guitar, and that Harrison responded, "I do not even know if I know how to sign my name any more." Dr. Lederman then allegedly took Harrison's hand and guided his hand along to spell his name while encouraging him by saying, "Come on, George. You can do this. G-E-O...". The suit was ultimately settled out of court under the condition that the guitar be "disposed of".
Decline in health and death

Despite the treatments and operations, Harrison died on 29 November 2001 at a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney and was previously owned by Courtney Love. The cause of death was listed on his Los Angeles County death certificate as "metastatic non-small cell lung cancer". He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River by his close family in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition. He left almost £100 million in his will.

In 2002, on the first anniversary of Harrison's death, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall; it was organised by Eric Clapton and included performances by many of Harrison's musical friends, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The profits from the concert went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation.
Honours

Harrison's first official honour was when The Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1965, and received their insignia from the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. Another award with The Beatles came in 1970 when they won an Academy Award for the best Original Song Score for Let It Be.

A significant music award as a solo artist was in December 1992, when he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award - presented to music artists for significant bodies of work. The minor planet 4149, discovered on 9 March 1984 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named after Harrison. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on 15 March 2004 by his Traveling Wilburys friends Lynne and Petty. He was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame on 1 August 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison featured twice on the cover of Time magazine, initially with The Beatles in 1967, then on his own, shortly after his death in 2001. In June 2007, portraits of Harrison and John Lennon were unveiled at The Mirage Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, where they will be on permanent display.

American film director Martin Scorsese announced that he will make a documentary titled Living in the Material World: George Harrison.

On 14 April 2009, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Harrison a star on the Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol Records Building. (The Beatles also have a group star on the Walk of Fame.) Musicians Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty were among those in attendance when the star was unveiled. Harrison's widow Olivia, actor Tom Hanks and comedian Eric Idle made speeches at the ceremony; Harrison's son Dhani uttered the Hare Krishna mantra. After the ceremony, Capitol/EMI Records announced that a new career-spanning CD entitled Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison would be released in mid-June 2009.
Solo discography
Main articles: George Harrison discography and List of George Harrison songs
Year Album Label Notes Peak chart positions Certifications
US
UK
NO
JP
AT
SE
US
UK

1968 Wonderwall Music Apple/EMI Soundtrack 49 - - - - -
1969 Electronic Sound Zapple/EMI 191 - - - - -
1970 All Things Must Pass Apple/EMI Triple 1 1 1 4 - - 6x Platinum
1971 The Concert for Bangladesh Apple/EMI (US)
Epic/Sony Music (UK) Live 2 1 1 2 - - Gold
1973 Living in the Material World Apple/EMI 1 2 4 9 - - Gold
1974 Dark Horse Apple/EMI 4 - 7 18 10 - Gold Silver
1975 Extra Texture (Read All About It) Apple/EMI 8 16 8 9 - - Gold
1976 Thirty Three & 1/3 Dark Horse 11 35 17 23 - - Gold Silver
1976 The Best of George Harrison Parlophone/EMI Compilation 31 100 - 51 - - Gold
1979 George Harrison Dark Horse 14 39 21 38 - - Gold
1981 Somewhere in England Dark Horse 11 13 2 31 15 13
1982 Gone Troppo Dark Horse 108 - 31 - - -
1987 Cloud Nine Dark Horse 8 10 8 28 26 5 Platinum Gold
1989 Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 Dark Horse Compilation 132 - - 51 - -
1992 Live in Japan Dark Horse/Warner Bros Live 126 - - 15 - -
2002 Brainwashed Dark Horse Posthumous 18 29 9 21 62 18 Gold Gold
2009 Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison Capitol/EMI Compilation 24 4 40
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/5273091366_84aac4ed5e_m.jpg
http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx122/Momo_shi/Icons/m21km.png


I always like Got My Mind Set On You.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/11 at 3:35 pm


I always like Got My Mind Set On You.
So did I, I like it too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/25/11 at 3:36 pm


So did I, I like it too.


the video was so funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/11 at 5:09 pm


the video was so funny.
I liked it too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/25/11 at 5:11 pm


the video was so funny.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_niy2ZM5Jo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/26/11 at 5:55 am

British Person of the Day: Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564 (baptized on February 26th), the same year as his great rival William Shakespeare. Though his father was only a shoemaker, Marlowe was educated at King's School and awarded a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. While at Corpus Christi he studied philosophy, history, and theology.

At this point Marlowe disappeared from university, and later speculation was that he was recruited by the government for espionage work. When he returned to Cambridge, Marlowe was refused his M.A. degree due to suspected Catholic sympathies, until the Queen's Privy Council intervened on his behalf.

In 1587 Marlowe left Cambridge again, this time for the life of a London playwright. His first major work, Tamburlaine the Great, was performed in that year.

Christopher Marlowe was a quick-tempered man, quick to anger and quick to make enemies. He spent two weeks in Newgate Gaol in 1589, charged with murder, though he was later acquitted. Although suspected of a variety of crimes ranging from heresy to homosexuality, it seems clear that Marlowe's unknown government connections kept him out of serious trouble.

Marlowe's dramatic career was only to span six short years. In that time he wrote The Jew of Malta, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, The Queen of Carthage, Edward II, and The Massacre at Paris. His work ranged from tragedy to historical drama, but he also wrote popular poetry such as Hero and Leander, and The Passionate Shepherd ("Come live with me and be my love; and we shall all the pleasures prove...").

The difficulty in evaluating Marlowe's work is that so few good copies exist. None of his plays were ever properly published. His great contribution to English theatre must lie in his influential use of blank verse in writing his dramatic works. Marlowe was the first to use blank verse in drama, but William Shakespeare soon followed his example to great acclaim.

Christopher Marlowe's death in 1593 was as shrouded in mystery as his life was clouded by controversy. The long-accepted version is that he and a close friend, one Ingram Frizer, dined in a tavern in Deptford. The two men quarreled over paying the bill, and in the fight that followed, Marlowe grabbed Frizer's dagger and attacked him from behind. Frizer managed to wrest the dagger from Marlowe and stabbed the author fatally in the eye.

However, the truth may not be so straightforward. One week before his death, Marlowe's roommate Thomas Kyd, was kidnapped and tortured by the Queen's Privy Council into implicating the author as a heretic and an atheist. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but death intervened.

Or did it? Marlowe's companions on his final night had close connections to Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's spymaster. Speculation has persisted that Marlowe's death was faked on Walsingham's orders, to put an end to the Privy Council's pursuit of his protégé. Even more outrageous theories have surfaced that the well-educated Marlowe was actually responsible for much of the work attributed to Shakespeare.

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/393021_f260.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/26/11 at 6:15 am


British Person of the Day: Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564 (baptized on February 26th), the same year as his great rival William Shakespeare. Though his father was only a shoemaker, Marlowe was educated at King's School and awarded a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. While at Corpus Christi he studied philosophy, history, and theology.

At this point Marlowe disappeared from university, and later speculation was that he was recruited by the government for espionage work. When he returned to Cambridge, Marlowe was refused his M.A. degree due to suspected Catholic sympathies, until the Queen's Privy Council intervened on his behalf.

In 1587 Marlowe left Cambridge again, this time for the life of a London playwright. His first major work, Tamburlaine the Great, was performed in that year.

Christopher Marlowe was a quick-tempered man, quick to anger and quick to make enemies. He spent two weeks in Newgate Gaol in 1589, charged with murder, though he was later acquitted. Although suspected of a variety of crimes ranging from heresy to homosexuality, it seems clear that Marlowe's unknown government connections kept him out of serious trouble.

Marlowe's dramatic career was only to span six short years. In that time he wrote The Jew of Malta, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, The Queen of Carthage, Edward II, and The Massacre at Paris. His work ranged from tragedy to historical drama, but he also wrote popular poetry such as Hero and Leander, and The Passionate Shepherd ("Come live with me and be my love; and we shall all the pleasures prove...").

The difficulty in evaluating Marlowe's work is that so few good copies exist. None of his plays were ever properly published. His great contribution to English theatre must lie in his influential use of blank verse in writing his dramatic works. Marlowe was the first to use blank verse in drama, but William Shakespeare soon followed his example to great acclaim.

Christopher Marlowe's death in 1593 was as shrouded in mystery as his life was clouded by controversy. The long-accepted version is that he and a close friend, one Ingram Frizer, dined in a tavern in Deptford. The two men quarreled over paying the bill, and in the fight that followed, Marlowe grabbed Frizer's dagger and attacked him from behind. Frizer managed to wrest the dagger from Marlowe and stabbed the author fatally in the eye.

However, the truth may not be so straightforward. One week before his death, Marlowe's roommate Thomas Kyd, was kidnapped and tortured by the Queen's Privy Council into implicating the author as a heretic and an atheist. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but death intervened.

Or did it? Marlowe's companions on his final night had close connections to Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's spymaster. Speculation has persisted that Marlowe's death was faked on Walsingham's orders, to put an end to the Privy Council's pursuit of his protégé. Even more outrageous theories have surfaced that the well-educated Marlowe was actually responsible for much of the work attributed to Shakespeare.

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/393021_f260.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Marlowe.jpg/220px-Marlowe.jpg

Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Deptford, London. The plaque shown here is modern.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/11 at 6:52 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_niy2ZM5Jo

Very nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/26/11 at 6:56 am

The person of the day...Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino Jr. (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in Vacherie, Louisiana.
Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a strong back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino eventually had 37 Top 40 singles.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks that had not yet been released as singles, the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Domino appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock! and The Girl Can't Help It. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

On january 2, 1956, a riot broke out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Domino jumped out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members were slightly injured.Fayettevile, NC 11-02-1956

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out," he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.
Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.
When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert encouraged Domino to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife's poor health. His house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper and the Coast Guard with the Dominos' location.

Someone thought Domino was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed," which was shown in news photos. On September 1, Domino's agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos stay in his apartment. The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything," Domino said, according to the Post.

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost in Katrina and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the medal that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats.
Nationally charted hits shown in bold.
A-Side B-Side Year Label + Cat. No. Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
Detroit City Blues The Fat Man 1949 Imperial 5058 2
Boogie-Woogie Baby Little Bee 1950 Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues She's My Baby 1950 Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie Brand New Baby 1950 Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time Korea Blues 1950 Imperial 5099 5
Tired of Crying What's the Matter Baby 1951 Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me Sometimes I Wonder 1951 Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong No, No Baby 1951 Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair Careless Love 1951 Imperial 5145 9
I'll Be Gone You Know I Miss You 1952 Imperial 5167
Goin' Home Reeling and Rocking 1952 Imperial 5180 30 1
Poor Poor Me Trust in Me 1952 Imperial 5197 10
How Long Dreaming 1952 Imperial 5209 9
Nobody Loves Me Cheatin' 1953 Imperial 5220
Going to the River Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1953 Imperial 5231 24 2
Please Don't Leave Me The Girl I Love 1953 Imperial 5240 3
Rose Mary You Said You Loved Me 1953 Imperial 5251 10
Something's Wrong Don't Leave Me This Way 1953 Imperial 5262 6
You Done Me Wrong Little School Girl 1954 Imperial 5272 10
Where Did You Stay Baby Please 1954 Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase I Lived My Life 1954 Imperial 5301
Love Me Don't You Hear Me Calling You 1954 Imperial 5313
I Know Thinking of You 1954 Imperial 5323 14
Don't You Know Helping Hand 1955 Imperial 5340 7
Ain't That a Shame La La 1955 Imperial 5348 10 1 23
All By Myself Troubles of My Own 1955 Imperial 5357 1
Poor Me 1955 Imperial 5369 1
I Can't Go On 1955 Imperial 5369 6
Bo Weevil 1956 Imperial 5375 35 5
Don't Blame It on Me 1956 Imperial 5375 9
I'm in Love Again March 1956 Imperial 5386 3 1 12
My Blue Heaven 19 5
When My Dreamboat Comes Home July 1956 Imperial 5396 14 2
So Long 44 5
Blueberry Hill September 1956 Imperial 5407 2 1 6
Honey Chile 2 29
Blue Monday December 1956 Imperial 5417 5 1 23
What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You 50 12
I'm Walkin' I'm in the Mood for Love February 1957 Imperial 5428 4 1 19
The Rooster Song My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP) 1957 Imperial 147 13 8
Valley of Tears April 1957 Imperial 5442 8 2 25
It's You I Love 6 2
When I See You July 1957 Imperial 5454 29 14
What Will I Tell My Heart 64 12
Wait and See September 1957 Imperial 5467 23 7
I Still Love You 79
The Big Beat December 1957 Imperial 5477 26 15 20
I Want You to Know 32
Yes My Darling Don't You Know I Love You February 1958 Imperial 5492 55 10
Sick and Tired April 1958 Imperial 5515 22 14 26
No, No 55 14
Little Mary Prisoner's Song July 1958 Imperial 5526 48 4
Young School Girl It Must Be Love August 1958 Imperial 5537 92 15
Whole Lotta Loving October 1958 Imperial 5553 6 2 10
Coquette 92 26
Telling Lies January 1959 Imperial 5569 50 13
When the Saints Go Marching In 50
I'm Ready April 1959 Imperial 5585 16 7
Margie Imperial 5585 51 18
I Want to Walk You Home July 1959 Imperial 5606 8 1 14
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday 17 22
Be My Guest October 1959 Imperial 5629 8 2 11
I've Been Around 33 19
Country Boy January 1960 Imperial 5645 25 19
If You Need Me 98
Tell Me That You Love Me April 1960 Imperial 5660 51
Before I Grow Too Old 84 17
Walking to New Orleans June 1960 Imperial 5675 6 2 19
Don't Come Knockin' 21 28
Three Nights a Week August 1960 Imperial 5687 15 8 45
Put Your Arms Around Me Honey 58
My Girl Josephine October 1960 Imperial 5704 14 7 32
Natural Born Lover 38 28
Ain't That Just Like a Woman January 1961 Imperial 5723 33 19
What a Price 22 7
Shu Rah March 1961 Imperial 5734 32
Fell in Love on Monday 32
It Keeps Rainin' I Just Cry May 1961 Imperial 5753 23 18 49
Let The Four Winds Blow Good Hearted Man July 1961 Imperial 5764 15 2
What A Party September 1961 Imperial 5779 22 43
Rockin' Bicycle 83
I Hear You Knocking November 1961 Imperial 5796 67
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) 30 41
You Win Again February 1962 Imperial 5816 22
Ida Jane 90
My Real Name My Heart Is Bleeding May 1962 Imperial 5833 59 22
Dance with Mr. Domino July 1962 Imperial 5863 98
Nothing New (Same Old Thing) 77
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking September 1962 Imperial 5875 79
Stop the Clock 103
Won't You Come on Back Hands Across the Table November 1962 Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo Those Eyes January 1963 Imperial 5909 124
You Always Hurt the One You Love Trouble Blues March 1963 Imperial 5937 102
True Confession Isle of Capri May 1963 Imperial 5959
One Night I Can't Go on This Way 1963 Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again) May 1963 ABC 10444 59
Can't Go on Without You 123
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk) July 1963 ABC 10475 114
I've Got a Right to Cry 128
Red Sails in the Sunset Song For Rosemary 1963 ABC 10484 35 24 34
I Can't Give You Anything But Love Goin' Home August 1963 Imperial 66005 114
Who Cares 1963 ABC 10512 63 27
Just a Lonely Man 1963 ABC 10512 108
Your Cheatin' Heart When I Was Young 1964 Imperial 66016 112
Lazy Lady 1964 ABC 10531 86 34
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire 1964 ABC 10531 122
If You Don't Know What Love Is Something You Got Baby 1964 ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary Packin' Up 1964 ABC 10567 127
Sally Was a Good Old Girl For You 1964 ABC 10584 99
Kansas City Heartbreak Hill 1964 ABC 10596 99
Why Don't You Do Right Wigs 1965 ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart Goodnight Sweetheart 1965 ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It I Left My Heart In San Francisco 1965 Mercury 72463
What's That You Got? It's Never Too Late 1965 Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black Working My Way Up Steady 1967 Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth Wait 'Til It Happens to You 1967 Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better 1968 Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna One for the Highway 1968 Reprise 0763 100
Lovely Rita Wait 'Till It Happens to You 1968 Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey So Swell When You're Well 1969 Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You Have You Seen My Baby 1970 Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same Sweet Patootie 1970 Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job After Hours 1978 Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven -- 1980 Warner Bros. 49610
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n263/jonahjt/thfats-domino.jpg
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u348/horrorpanter/fats-domino-2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/26/11 at 7:04 am


The person of the day...Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino Jr. (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in Vacherie, Louisiana.
Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a strong back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino eventually had 37 Top 40 singles.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks that had not yet been released as singles, the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Domino appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock! and The Girl Can't Help It. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

On january 2, 1956, a riot broke out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Domino jumped out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members were slightly injured.Fayettevile, NC 11-02-1956

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out," he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.
Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.
When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert encouraged Domino to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife's poor health. His house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper and the Coast Guard with the Dominos' location.

Someone thought Domino was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed," which was shown in news photos. On September 1, Domino's agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos stay in his apartment. The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything," Domino said, according to the Post.

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost in Katrina and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the medal that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats.
Nationally charted hits shown in bold.
A-Side B-Side Year Label + Cat. No. Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
Detroit City Blues The Fat Man 1949 Imperial 5058 2
Boogie-Woogie Baby Little Bee 1950 Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues She's My Baby 1950 Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie Brand New Baby 1950 Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time Korea Blues 1950 Imperial 5099 5
Tired of Crying What's the Matter Baby 1951 Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me Sometimes I Wonder 1951 Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong No, No Baby 1951 Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair Careless Love 1951 Imperial 5145 9
I'll Be Gone You Know I Miss You 1952 Imperial 5167
Goin' Home Reeling and Rocking 1952 Imperial 5180 30 1
Poor Poor Me Trust in Me 1952 Imperial 5197 10
How Long Dreaming 1952 Imperial 5209 9
Nobody Loves Me Cheatin' 1953 Imperial 5220
Going to the River Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1953 Imperial 5231 24 2
Please Don't Leave Me The Girl I Love 1953 Imperial 5240 3
Rose Mary You Said You Loved Me 1953 Imperial 5251 10
Something's Wrong Don't Leave Me This Way 1953 Imperial 5262 6
You Done Me Wrong Little School Girl 1954 Imperial 5272 10
Where Did You Stay Baby Please 1954 Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase I Lived My Life 1954 Imperial 5301
Love Me Don't You Hear Me Calling You 1954 Imperial 5313
I Know Thinking of You 1954 Imperial 5323 14
Don't You Know Helping Hand 1955 Imperial 5340 7
Ain't That a Shame La La 1955 Imperial 5348 10 1 23
All By Myself Troubles of My Own 1955 Imperial 5357 1
Poor Me 1955 Imperial 5369 1
I Can't Go On 1955 Imperial 5369 6
Bo Weevil 1956 Imperial 5375 35 5
Don't Blame It on Me 1956 Imperial 5375 9
I'm in Love Again March 1956 Imperial 5386 3 1 12
My Blue Heaven 19 5
When My Dreamboat Comes Home July 1956 Imperial 5396 14 2
So Long 44 5
Blueberry Hill September 1956 Imperial 5407 2 1 6
Honey Chile 2 29
Blue Monday December 1956 Imperial 5417 5 1 23
What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You 50 12
I'm Walkin' I'm in the Mood for Love February 1957 Imperial 5428 4 1 19
The Rooster Song My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP) 1957 Imperial 147 13 8
Valley of Tears April 1957 Imperial 5442 8 2 25
It's You I Love 6 2
When I See You July 1957 Imperial 5454 29 14
What Will I Tell My Heart 64 12
Wait and See September 1957 Imperial 5467 23 7
I Still Love You 79
The Big Beat December 1957 Imperial 5477 26 15 20
I Want You to Know 32
Yes My Darling Don't You Know I Love You February 1958 Imperial 5492 55 10
Sick and Tired April 1958 Imperial 5515 22 14 26
No, No 55 14
Little Mary Prisoner's Song July 1958 Imperial 5526 48 4
Young School Girl It Must Be Love August 1958 Imperial 5537 92 15
Whole Lotta Loving October 1958 Imperial 5553 6 2 10
Coquette 92 26
Telling Lies January 1959 Imperial 5569 50 13
When the Saints Go Marching In 50
I'm Ready April 1959 Imperial 5585 16 7
Margie Imperial 5585 51 18
I Want to Walk You Home July 1959 Imperial 5606 8 1 14
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday 17 22
Be My Guest October 1959 Imperial 5629 8 2 11
I've Been Around 33 19
Country Boy January 1960 Imperial 5645 25 19
If You Need Me 98
Tell Me That You Love Me April 1960 Imperial 5660 51
Before I Grow Too Old 84 17
Walking to New Orleans June 1960 Imperial 5675 6 2 19
Don't Come Knockin' 21 28
Three Nights a Week August 1960 Imperial 5687 15 8 45
Put Your Arms Around Me Honey 58
My Girl Josephine October 1960 Imperial 5704 14 7 32
Natural Born Lover 38 28
Ain't That Just Like a Woman January 1961 Imperial 5723 33 19
What a Price 22 7
Shu Rah March 1961 Imperial 5734 32
Fell in Love on Monday 32
It Keeps Rainin' I Just Cry May 1961 Imperial 5753 23 18 49
Let The Four Winds Blow Good Hearted Man July 1961 Imperial 5764 15 2
What A Party September 1961 Imperial 5779 22 43
Rockin' Bicycle 83
I Hear You Knocking November 1961 Imperial 5796 67
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) 30 41
You Win Again February 1962 Imperial 5816 22
Ida Jane 90
My Real Name My Heart Is Bleeding May 1962 Imperial 5833 59 22
Dance with Mr. Domino July 1962 Imperial 5863 98
Nothing New (Same Old Thing) 77
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking September 1962 Imperial 5875 79
Stop the Clock 103
Won't You Come on Back Hands Across the Table November 1962 Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo Those Eyes January 1963 Imperial 5909 124
You Always Hurt the One You Love Trouble Blues March 1963 Imperial 5937 102
True Confession Isle of Capri May 1963 Imperial 5959
One Night I Can't Go on This Way 1963 Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again) May 1963 ABC 10444 59
Can't Go on Without You 123
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk) July 1963 ABC 10475 114
I've Got a Right to Cry 128
Red Sails in the Sunset Song For Rosemary 1963 ABC 10484 35 24 34
I Can't Give You Anything But Love Goin' Home August 1963 Imperial 66005 114
Who Cares 1963 ABC 10512 63 27
Just a Lonely Man 1963 ABC 10512 108
Your Cheatin' Heart When I Was Young 1964 Imperial 66016 112
Lazy Lady 1964 ABC 10531 86 34
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire 1964 ABC 10531 122
If You Don't Know What Love Is Something You Got Baby 1964 ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary Packin' Up 1964 ABC 10567 127
Sally Was a Good Old Girl For You 1964 ABC 10584 99
Kansas City Heartbreak Hill 1964 ABC 10596 99
Why Don't You Do Right Wigs 1965 ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart Goodnight Sweetheart 1965 ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It I Left My Heart In San Francisco 1965 Mercury 72463
What's That You Got? It's Never Too Late 1965 Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black Working My Way Up Steady 1967 Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth Wait 'Til It Happens to You 1967 Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better 1968 Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna One for the Highway 1968 Reprise 0763 100
Lovely Rita Wait 'Till It Happens to You 1968 Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey So Swell When You're Well 1969 Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You Have You Seen My Baby 1970 Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same Sweet Patootie 1970 Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job After Hours 1978 Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven -- 1980 Warner Bros. 49610
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n263/jonahjt/thfats-domino.jpg
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u348/horrorpanter/fats-domino-2.jpg
Fabulous singer!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/26/11 at 3:58 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_niy2ZM5Jo


Thanks Phil. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/26/11 at 3:59 pm


The person of the day...Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino Jr. (born February 26, 1928) is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in Vacherie, Louisiana.
Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a strong back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino eventually had 37 Top 40 singles.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks that had not yet been released as singles, the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Domino appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock! and The Girl Can't Help It. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

On january 2, 1956, a riot broke out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Domino jumped out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members were slightly injured.Fayettevile, NC 11-02-1956

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out," he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.
Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.
When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert encouraged Domino to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife's poor health. His house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper and the Coast Guard with the Dominos' location.

Someone thought Domino was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed," which was shown in news photos. On September 1, Domino's agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos stay in his apartment. The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything," Domino said, according to the Post.

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost in Katrina and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the medal that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats.
Nationally charted hits shown in bold.
A-Side B-Side Year Label + Cat. No. Chart positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
Detroit City Blues The Fat Man 1949 Imperial 5058 2
Boogie-Woogie Baby Little Bee 1950 Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues She's My Baby 1950 Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie Brand New Baby 1950 Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time Korea Blues 1950 Imperial 5099 5
Tired of Crying What's the Matter Baby 1951 Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me Sometimes I Wonder 1951 Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong No, No Baby 1951 Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair Careless Love 1951 Imperial 5145 9
I'll Be Gone You Know I Miss You 1952 Imperial 5167
Goin' Home Reeling and Rocking 1952 Imperial 5180 30 1
Poor Poor Me Trust in Me 1952 Imperial 5197 10
How Long Dreaming 1952 Imperial 5209 9
Nobody Loves Me Cheatin' 1953 Imperial 5220
Going to the River Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1953 Imperial 5231 24 2
Please Don't Leave Me The Girl I Love 1953 Imperial 5240 3
Rose Mary You Said You Loved Me 1953 Imperial 5251 10
Something's Wrong Don't Leave Me This Way 1953 Imperial 5262 6
You Done Me Wrong Little School Girl 1954 Imperial 5272 10
Where Did You Stay Baby Please 1954 Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase I Lived My Life 1954 Imperial 5301
Love Me Don't You Hear Me Calling You 1954 Imperial 5313
I Know Thinking of You 1954 Imperial 5323 14
Don't You Know Helping Hand 1955 Imperial 5340 7
Ain't That a Shame La La 1955 Imperial 5348 10 1 23
All By Myself Troubles of My Own 1955 Imperial 5357 1
Poor Me 1955 Imperial 5369 1
I Can't Go On 1955 Imperial 5369 6
Bo Weevil 1956 Imperial 5375 35 5
Don't Blame It on Me 1956 Imperial 5375 9
I'm in Love Again March 1956 Imperial 5386 3 1 12
My Blue Heaven 19 5
When My Dreamboat Comes Home July 1956 Imperial 5396 14 2
So Long 44 5
Blueberry Hill September 1956 Imperial 5407 2 1 6
Honey Chile 2 29
Blue Monday December 1956 Imperial 5417 5 1 23
What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You 50 12
I'm Walkin' I'm in the Mood for Love February 1957 Imperial 5428 4 1 19
The Rooster Song My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP) 1957 Imperial 147 13 8
Valley of Tears April 1957 Imperial 5442 8 2 25
It's You I Love 6 2
When I See You July 1957 Imperial 5454 29 14
What Will I Tell My Heart 64 12
Wait and See September 1957 Imperial 5467 23 7
I Still Love You 79
The Big Beat December 1957 Imperial 5477 26 15 20
I Want You to Know 32
Yes My Darling Don't You Know I Love You February 1958 Imperial 5492 55 10
Sick and Tired April 1958 Imperial 5515 22 14 26
No, No 55 14
Little Mary Prisoner's Song July 1958 Imperial 5526 48 4
Young School Girl It Must Be Love August 1958 Imperial 5537 92 15
Whole Lotta Loving October 1958 Imperial 5553 6 2 10
Coquette 92 26
Telling Lies January 1959 Imperial 5569 50 13
When the Saints Go Marching In 50
I'm Ready April 1959 Imperial 5585 16 7
Margie Imperial 5585 51 18
I Want to Walk You Home July 1959 Imperial 5606 8 1 14
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday 17 22
Be My Guest October 1959 Imperial 5629 8 2 11
I've Been Around 33 19
Country Boy January 1960 Imperial 5645 25 19
If You Need Me 98
Tell Me That You Love Me April 1960 Imperial 5660 51
Before I Grow Too Old 84 17
Walking to New Orleans June 1960 Imperial 5675 6 2 19
Don't Come Knockin' 21 28
Three Nights a Week August 1960 Imperial 5687 15 8 45
Put Your Arms Around Me Honey 58
My Girl Josephine October 1960 Imperial 5704 14 7 32
Natural Born Lover 38 28
Ain't That Just Like a Woman January 1961 Imperial 5723 33 19
What a Price 22 7
Shu Rah March 1961 Imperial 5734 32
Fell in Love on Monday 32
It Keeps Rainin' I Just Cry May 1961 Imperial 5753 23 18 49
Let The Four Winds Blow Good Hearted Man July 1961 Imperial 5764 15 2
What A Party September 1961 Imperial 5779 22 43
Rockin' Bicycle 83
I Hear You Knocking November 1961 Imperial 5796 67
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) 30 41
You Win Again February 1962 Imperial 5816 22
Ida Jane 90
My Real Name My Heart Is Bleeding May 1962 Imperial 5833 59 22
Dance with Mr. Domino July 1962 Imperial 5863 98
Nothing New (Same Old Thing) 77
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking September 1962 Imperial 5875 79
Stop the Clock 103
Won't You Come on Back Hands Across the Table November 1962 Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo Those Eyes January 1963 Imperial 5909 124
You Always Hurt the One You Love Trouble Blues March 1963 Imperial 5937 102
True Confession Isle of Capri May 1963 Imperial 5959
One Night I Can't Go on This Way 1963 Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again) May 1963 ABC 10444 59
Can't Go on Without You 123
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk) July 1963 ABC 10475 114
I've Got a Right to Cry 128
Red Sails in the Sunset Song For Rosemary 1963 ABC 10484 35 24 34
I Can't Give You Anything But Love Goin' Home August 1963 Imperial 66005 114
Who Cares 1963 ABC 10512 63 27
Just a Lonely Man 1963 ABC 10512 108
Your Cheatin' Heart When I Was Young 1964 Imperial 66016 112
Lazy Lady 1964 ABC 10531 86 34
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire 1964 ABC 10531 122
If You Don't Know What Love Is Something You Got Baby 1964 ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary Packin' Up 1964 ABC 10567 127
Sally Was a Good Old Girl For You 1964 ABC 10584 99
Kansas City Heartbreak Hill 1964 ABC 10596 99
Why Don't You Do Right Wigs 1965 ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart Goodnight Sweetheart 1965 ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It I Left My Heart In San Francisco 1965 Mercury 72463
What's That You Got? It's Never Too Late 1965 Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black Working My Way Up Steady 1967 Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth Wait 'Til It Happens to You 1967 Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better 1968 Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna One for the Highway 1968 Reprise 0763 100
Lovely Rita Wait 'Till It Happens to You 1968 Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey So Swell When You're Well 1969 Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You Have You Seen My Baby 1970 Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same Sweet Patootie 1970 Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job After Hours 1978 Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven -- 1980 Warner Bros. 49610
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n263/jonahjt/thfats-domino.jpg
http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u348/horrorpanter/fats-domino-2.jpg


one of my best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/11 at 4:23 am

British Person of the Day: Timothy Spall

Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE (born 27 February 1957) is an English character actor and occasional presenter.

Early life

Spall, third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London; his father, Joe, was a postal worker, and his mother, Sylvia, a hairdresser. He trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor in his year. His brother, Matthew, is studio director of the computer games company Morpheme.

Career

Initially notable in the United Kingdom for playing the gormless Barry Taylor in all five series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Kevin in Outside Edge and as Aubrey the appalling chef in Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet, Spall has since appeared in films such as Crusoe, Secrets & Lies, Shooting the Past, Vanilla Sky, Rock Star, The Last Samurai, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and The King's Speech. He gained international recognition as Peter Pettigrew ("Wormtail") in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In 1991 he guest starred in the series 5 Red Dwarf episode Back to Reality. In 1993, Spall was in Rab C Nesbitt.

Spall performed lead vocals on the song The Devil Is An Englishman from the Ken Russell film Gothic (1986), in which Spall portrayed John William Polidori.

Spall played the starring role of Albert Pierrepoint in the 2005 film Pierrepoint, which was released as The Last Hangman in the United States. In the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Spall voiced Phil Collins' manager, Barry Mickelthwaite. In 2007, he starred as Nathaniel in Disney's Enchanted and Beadle Bamford in Tim Burton's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He also starred as Georgie Godwin in a one-off television drama The Fattest Man in Britain on ITV 1 which aired on the 20th December 2009. The drama also featured Bobby Ball, Frances Barber, Aisling Loftus, and Jeremy Kyle.

In 2010 he portrayed Winston Churchill in critically acclaimed film The King's Speech for which as a member of the ensemble he was jointly awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

On 31 December 1999, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Personal life

Spall is married to Shane and has three children: Pascale (born 1976), Rafe (born 1983), who is also an actor, and Mercedes (born 1985). He lives in Forest Hill, a suburb of south-east London.

In 1996, Spall was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, but has since been in remission. He has said of his illness:

"I didn't know what made me ill but stress had something to do with it and the point is now to head off stress at the pass. It made me aware of things and become more selective. I am less worried about employment. I really do my homework so I am not getting stressed on the set because I don't know what I'm doing."

Filmography

Quadrophenia 1979 Harry the Projectionist
Missionary, TheThe Missionary 1982 Parswell
Home Sweet Home 1982 Gordon Leach Television film; working with Mike Leigh for the first time
Oliver Twist 1982 1st Constable Television film
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet 1983 Barry Taylor Television programme
Bride, TheThe Bride 1985 Paulus
Dutch Girls 1985 Lyndon Baines Jellicoe
Gothic 1986 Dr. John William Polidori
Body Contact 1987 Paul
Dream Demon 1987 Peck
To Kill a Priest 1988 Igor
Crusoe 1989 Reverend Milne
White Hunter Black Heart 1990 Hodkins, Bush Pilot
Sheltering Sky, TheThe Sheltering Sky 1990 Eric Lyle
1871 1990 Ramborde
Life Is Sweet 1991 Aubrey, Regret Rien Owner
Frank Stubbs Promotes 1993 Frank Stubbs Television programme
Rab C Nesbitt 1993 Cell Mate Television programme
Outside Edge 1994 Kevin Costello Television programme
Secrets & Lies 1996 Maurice Purley
Hamlet 1996 Rosencrantz
Neville's Island 1998 Gordon Television programme
Our Mutual Friend 1998 Mr. Venus
Still Crazy 1998 David 'Beano' Baggot
Wisdom of Crocodiles, TheThe Wisdom of Crocodiles 1998 Inspector Healey
Topsy-Turvy 1999 Richard Temple
Shooting the Past 1999 Oswald Bates Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
Clandestine Marriage, TheThe Clandestine Marriage 1999 Sterling
Love's Labour's Lost 2000 Don Armado
Vatel 2000 Gourville
Chicken Run 2000 Nick
Old Man Who Read Love Stories, TheThe Old Man Who Read Love Stories 2001 Mayor Luis Agalla
Perfect Strangers 2001 Irving Television programme
Lucky Break 2001 Cliff Gumbell Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Vanilla Sky 2001 Thomas Tipp
Intimacy 2001 Andy Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Rock Star 2001 Mats
Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise 2001 Tommy Rag
Ivor the Invisible 2001 Dad Television programme
All or Nothing 2002 Phil
Bodily Harm 2002 Mitchel Greenfield Television programme
Nicholas Nickleby 2002 Charles Cheeryble National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
When Love Speaks 2002 Shakespeare's "Sonnet 3"
Last Samurai, TheThe Last Samurai 2003 Simon Graham
My House in Umbria 2003 Quinty
Gettin' Square 2004 Darren 'Dabba' Barrington Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events 2004 Mr. Poe
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 Peter Pettigrew
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005 Peter Pettigrew
Cherished 2005 Terry Cannings Television film
Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle 2005 Mr. Harvey Television film
Pierrepoint 2005 Albert Pierrepoint Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year
Street, TheThe Street 2006–09 Eddie McEvoy Television programme
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 2006 Barry Mickelthwaite Video game
Mysterious Creatures 2006 Bill Ainscow Television film
Death Defying Acts 2007 Sugarman
Enchanted 2007 Nathaniel
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 2007 Beadle Bamford
Room with a View, AA Room with a View 2007 Mr. Emerson Television programme
Oliver Twist 2007 Fagin Television serial
Appaloosa 2008 Phil Olson
Damned United, TheThe Damned United 2009 Peter Taylor
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009 Peter Pettigrew
Heartless 2009 George Morgan
Desert Flower 2009 Terry Donaldson
From Time to Time 2009
Gunrush 2009 Doug Beckett Television programme
Fattest Man in Britain, TheThe Fattest Man in Britain 2009 Georgie Godwin Television programme
Alice in Wonderland 2010 Bayard Hamar, the Bloodhound
Wake Wood 2010 Arthur
Jackboots on Whitheall 2010 Winston Churchill
Re-Uniting the Rubins 2010 Lenny Rubins
King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech 2010 Winston Churchill
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 2010 Peter Pettigrew
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 2011 Peter Pettigrew Post-production

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iBuNz7Kv1jk/S9C_QFnsLPI/AAAAAAAAArA/84ECcr1RKJk/s1600/TimothySpall460.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/11 at 4:25 am


British Person of the Day: Timothy Spall

Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE (born 27 February 1957) is an English character actor and occasional presenter.

Early life

Spall, third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London; his father, Joe, was a postal worker, and his mother, Sylvia, a hairdresser. He trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor in his year. His brother, Matthew, is studio director of the computer games company Morpheme.

Career

Initially notable in the United Kingdom for playing the gormless Barry Taylor in all five series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Kevin in Outside Edge and as Aubrey the appalling chef in Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet, Spall has since appeared in films such as Crusoe, Secrets & Lies, Shooting the Past, Vanilla Sky, Rock Star, The Last Samurai, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and The King's Speech. He gained international recognition as Peter Pettigrew ("Wormtail") in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In 1991 he guest starred in the series 5 Red Dwarf episode Back to Reality. In 1993, Spall was in Rab C Nesbitt.

Spall performed lead vocals on the song The Devil Is An Englishman from the Ken Russell film Gothic (1986), in which Spall portrayed John William Polidori.

Spall played the starring role of Albert Pierrepoint in the 2005 film Pierrepoint, which was released as The Last Hangman in the United States. In the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Spall voiced Phil Collins' manager, Barry Mickelthwaite. In 2007, he starred as Nathaniel in Disney's Enchanted and Beadle Bamford in Tim Burton's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He also starred as Georgie Godwin in a one-off television drama The Fattest Man in Britain on ITV 1 which aired on the 20th December 2009. The drama also featured Bobby Ball, Frances Barber, Aisling Loftus, and Jeremy Kyle.

In 2010 he portrayed Winston Churchill in critically acclaimed film The King's Speech for which as a member of the ensemble he was jointly awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

On 31 December 1999, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Personal life

Spall is married to Shane and has three children: Pascale (born 1976), Rafe (born 1983), who is also an actor, and Mercedes (born 1985). He lives in Forest Hill, a suburb of south-east London.

In 1996, Spall was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, but has since been in remission. He has said of his illness:

"I didn't know what made me ill but stress had something to do with it and the point is now to head off stress at the pass. It made me aware of things and become more selective. I am less worried about employment. I really do my homework so I am not getting stressed on the set because I don't know what I'm doing."

Filmography

Quadrophenia 1979 Harry the Projectionist
Missionary, TheThe Missionary 1982 Parswell
Home Sweet Home 1982 Gordon Leach Television film; working with Mike Leigh for the first time
Oliver Twist 1982 1st Constable Television film
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet 1983 Barry Taylor Television programme
Bride, TheThe Bride 1985 Paulus
Dutch Girls 1985 Lyndon Baines Jellicoe
Gothic 1986 Dr. John William Polidori
Body Contact 1987 Paul
Dream Demon 1987 Peck
To Kill a Priest 1988 Igor
Crusoe 1989 Reverend Milne
White Hunter Black Heart 1990 Hodkins, Bush Pilot
Sheltering Sky, TheThe Sheltering Sky 1990 Eric Lyle
1871 1990 Ramborde
Life Is Sweet 1991 Aubrey, Regret Rien Owner
Frank Stubbs Promotes 1993 Frank Stubbs Television programme
Rab C Nesbitt 1993 Cell Mate Television programme
Outside Edge 1994 Kevin Costello Television programme
Secrets & Lies 1996 Maurice Purley
Hamlet 1996 Rosencrantz
Neville's Island 1998 Gordon Television programme
Our Mutual Friend 1998 Mr. Venus
Still Crazy 1998 David 'Beano' Baggot
Wisdom of Crocodiles, TheThe Wisdom of Crocodiles 1998 Inspector Healey
Topsy-Turvy 1999 Richard Temple
Shooting the Past 1999 Oswald Bates Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
Clandestine Marriage, TheThe Clandestine Marriage 1999 Sterling
Love's Labour's Lost 2000 Don Armado
Vatel 2000 Gourville
Chicken Run 2000 Nick
Old Man Who Read Love Stories, TheThe Old Man Who Read Love Stories 2001 Mayor Luis Agalla
Perfect Strangers 2001 Irving Television programme
Lucky Break 2001 Cliff Gumbell Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Vanilla Sky 2001 Thomas Tipp
Intimacy 2001 Andy Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Rock Star 2001 Mats
Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise 2001 Tommy Rag
Ivor the Invisible 2001 Dad Television programme
All or Nothing 2002 Phil
Bodily Harm 2002 Mitchel Greenfield Television programme
Nicholas Nickleby 2002 Charles Cheeryble National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
When Love Speaks 2002 Shakespeare's "Sonnet 3"
Last Samurai, TheThe Last Samurai 2003 Simon Graham
My House in Umbria 2003 Quinty
Gettin' Square 2004 Darren 'Dabba' Barrington Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events 2004 Mr. Poe
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 Peter Pettigrew
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005 Peter Pettigrew
Cherished 2005 Terry Cannings Television film
Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle 2005 Mr. Harvey Television film
Pierrepoint 2005 Albert Pierrepoint Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year
Street, TheThe Street 2006–09 Eddie McEvoy Television programme
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 2006 Barry Mickelthwaite Video game
Mysterious Creatures 2006 Bill Ainscow Television film
Death Defying Acts 2007 Sugarman
Enchanted 2007 Nathaniel
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 2007 Beadle Bamford
Room with a View, AA Room with a View 2007 Mr. Emerson Television programme
Oliver Twist 2007 Fagin Television serial
Appaloosa 2008 Phil Olson
Damned United, TheThe Damned United 2009 Peter Taylor
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009 Peter Pettigrew
Heartless 2009 George Morgan
Desert Flower 2009 Terry Donaldson
From Time to Time 2009
Gunrush 2009 Doug Beckett Television programme
Fattest Man in Britain, TheThe Fattest Man in Britain 2009 Georgie Godwin Television programme
Alice in Wonderland 2010 Bayard Hamar, the Bloodhound
Wake Wood 2010 Arthur
Jackboots on Whitheall 2010 Winston Churchill
Re-Uniting the Rubins 2010 Lenny Rubins
King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech 2010 Winston Churchill
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 2010 Peter Pettigrew
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 2011 Peter Pettigrew Post-production

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iBuNz7Kv1jk/S9C_QFnsLPI/AAAAAAAAArA/84ECcr1RKJk/s1600/TimothySpall460.jpg

http://crashlanden.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/churchill1.jpg

Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill in The King's Speech.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/11 at 5:15 am

The person of the day...Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born 27 February 1932), also known as Liz Taylor, is an English/American actress. A former child star, she grew to be known for her acting talent and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages. Taylor is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden age. The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.
Lassie Come Home featured child star Roddy McDowall, with whom Taylor would share a lifelong friendship. Upon its release in 1943, the film received favourable attention for both McDowall and Taylor. On the basis for her performance in Lassie Come Home MGM signed Taylor to a conventional seven-year contract at $100 a week but increasing at regular intervals until it reached a hefty $750 during the seventh year. Her first assignment under her new contract at MGM was a loan-out to 20th Century Fox for the character of Helen Burns in a film version of the Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1944). During this period she also returned to England to appear in another Roddy McDowall picture for MGM, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). But it was Taylor's persistence in campaigning for the role of Velvet Brown in MGM's National Velvet that skyrocketed Taylor to stardom at the tender age of 12. Taylor's character, Velvet Brown, is a young girl who trains her beloved horse to win the Grand National. National Velvet, which also costarred beloved American favorite Mickey Rooney and English newcomer Angela Lansbury, became an overwhelming success upon its release in December 1944 and altered Taylor's life forever. Also, many of her back problems have been traced to when she hurt her back falling off a horse during the filming of National Velvet.

National Velvet grossed over US$4 million at the box office and Taylor was signed to a new long-term contract that raised her salary to $30,000 per year. To capitalize on the box office success of Velvet, Taylor was shoved into another animal opus, Courage of Lassie, in which a different dog named "Bill", cast as an Allied combatant in World War II, regularly outsmarts the Nazis, with Taylor going through another outdoors role. The 1946 success of Courage of Lassie led to another contract drawn up for Taylor earning her $750 per week, her mother $250, as well as a $1,500 bonus. Her roles as Mary Skinner in a loan-out to Warner Brothers' Life With Father (1947), Cynthia Bishop in Cynthia (1947), Carol Pringle in A Date with Judy (1948) and Susan Prackett in Julia Misbehaves (1948) all proved to be successful. Her reputation as a bankable adolescent star and nickname of "One-Shot Liz" (referring to her ability to shoot a scene in one take) promised her a full and bright career with Metro. Taylor's portrayal as Amy, in the American classic Little Women (1949) would prove to be her last adolescent role. In October 1948, she sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary travelling to England where she would begin filming on Conspirator, where she would play her first adult role.
Transition into adult roles
In Father of the Bride

When released in 1949, Conspirator bombed at the box office, but Taylor's portrayal of 21-year-old debutante Melinda Grayton (keeping in mind that Taylor was only 16 at the time of filming) who unknowingly marries a communist spy (played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor), was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film, even though the public didn't seem ready to accept her in adult roles. Taylor's first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure, that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit her newly-realized sensuality. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The film spawned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor's costar Spencer Tracy summarised with "boring...boring...boring". The film was received well at the box office but it would be Taylor's next picture that would set the course for her career as a dramatic actress. In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens' A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as Angela Vickers, a spoiled socialite who comes between George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) and his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters).

The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor's career as critics acclaimed it as a classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history. The New York Times' A.H. Weiler wrote, "Elizabeth's delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career", and the Boxoffice reviewer unequivocally stated "Miss Taylor deserves an Academy Award". She later reflected: "If you were considered pretty, you might as well have been a waitress trying to act – you were treated with no respect at all."

Taylor became increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her at the time. While she wanted to play the lead roles in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). She had wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part was given to Joan Fontaine. Taylor was given the role of Rebecca. When Taylor became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk (1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, almost two decades Taylor's senior, but to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to shoot on location. Leigh suffered a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor reclaimed the role after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953.

Taylor's next screen endeavor, Rhapsody (1954), another tedious romantic drama, proved equally frustrating. Taylor portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune wrote: "There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing into the camera from every angle...but the dramatic pretenses are weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses."

Taylor's fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia, which many felt was only a screen prop—a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to lend romantic support to the film's title star, Stewart Granger. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.
1955–1979
In Cleopatra (1963)

Following a more substantial role opposite Rock Hudson and James Dean in George Stevens' epic Giant (1956), Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the following films: Raintree County (1957) opposite Montgomery Clift; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) opposite Paul Newman; and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge.

In 1960, Taylor became the highest paid actress up to that time when she signed a one million dollar contract to play the title role in 20th Century Fox's lavish production of Cleopatra, which would eventually be released in 1963. During the filming, she began a romance with her future husband Richard Burton, who played Mark Antony in the film. The romance received much attention from the tabloid press, as both were married to other spouses at the time.

Taylor won her first Academy Award, for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for her performance as Gloria Wandrous in BUtterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher.

Her second Academy Award, also for Best Actress in a Leading Role, was for her performance as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), playing opposite then husband Richard Burton. Taylor and Burton would appear together in six other films during the decade – The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), The Comedians {1967} and Boom! (1968).

Taylor appeared in John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) opposite Marlon Brando (replacing Montgomery Clift who died before production began) and Secret Ceremony (1968) opposite Mia Farrow. However, by the end of the decade her box-office drawing power had considerably diminished, as evidenced by the failure of The Only Game in Town (1970), with Warren Beatty.

Taylor continued to star in numerous theatrical films throughout the 1970s, such as Zee and Co. (1972) with Michael Caine, Ash Wednesday (1973), The Blue Bird (1976) with Jane Fonda and Ava Gardner, and A Little Night Music (1977). With then-husband Richard Burton, she co-starred in the 1972 films Under Milk Wood and Hammersmith Is Out, and the 1973 made-for-TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers.
1980–2003

Taylor starred in the 1980 mystery film The Mirror Crack'd, based on an Agatha Christie novel. In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the TV film Malice in Wonderland opposite Jane Alexander, who played Hedda Hopper. Taylor appeared in the miniseries North and South. Her last theatrical film to date was 1994's The Flintstones. In 2001, she played an agent in the TV film These Old Broads. She appeared on a number television series, including the soap operas General Hospital and All My Children, as well as the animated series The Simpsons—once as herself, and once as the voice of Maggie Simpson, uttering one word "Daddy".

Taylor has also acted on the stage, making her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982 with a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She was then in a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983), in which she starred with her former husband, Richard Burton. The student-run Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford was named for the famous couple after Burton appeared as Doctor Faustus in the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of the Marlowe play. Taylor played the ghostly, wordless Helen of Troy, who is entreated by Faustus to "make immortal with a kiss".
2003–present

In November 2004, Taylor announced that she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a progressive condition in which the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood throughout the body, particularly to the lower extremities: the ankles and feet. She has broken her back five times, had both her hips replaced, has survived a benign brain tumor operation, has survived skin cancer, and has faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice. She is reclusive and sometimes fails to make scheduled appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She now uses a wheelchair and when asked about it stated that she has osteoporosis and was born with scoliosis.

In 2005, Taylor was a vocal supporter of her friend Michael Jackson in his trial in California on charges of sexually abusing a child. He was acquitted.

On 30 May 2006, Taylor appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she has been ill, and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was close to death.

In late August 2006, Taylor decided to take a boating trip to help prove that she was not close to death. She also decided to make Christie's auction house the primary place where she will sell her jewelry, art, clothing, furniture and memorabilia. Six months later, the February 2007 issue of Interview magazine was devoted entirely to Taylor. It celebrated her life, career and her upcoming 75th birthday.

On 5 December 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Taylor into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Taylor was in the news recently for a rumored ninth marriage to her companion Jason Winters, which she dismissed as a rumour. However, she was quoted as saying, "Jason Winters is one of the most wonderful men I've ever known and that's why I love him. He bought us the most beautiful house in Hawaii and we visit it as often as possible," to gossip columnist Liz Smith. Winters accompanied Taylor to Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS 2007 gala, where Taylor was honoured with a humanitarian award. In 2008, Taylor and Winters were spotted celebrating the 4th of July on a yacht in Santa Monica, California. The couple attended the Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS gala again in 2008.

On 1 December 2007, Taylor acted on-stage again, appearing opposite James Earl Jones in a benefit performance of the A. R. Gurney play Love Letters. The event's goal was to raise $1 million for Taylor's AIDS foundation. Tickets for the show were priced at $2,500, and more than 500 people attended. The event happened to coincide with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and, rather than cross the picket line, Taylor requested a "one night dispensation." The Writers Guild agreed not to picket the Paramount Pictures lot that night to allow for the performance.
Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands:

    * Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (6 May 1950 – 29 January 1951) (divorced)
    * Michael Wilding (21 February 1952 – 26 January 1957) (divorced)
    * Michael Todd (2 February 1957 – 22 March 1958) (widowed)
    * Eddie Fisher (12 May 1959 – 6 March 1964) (divorced)
    * Richard Burton (15 March 1964 – 26 June 1974) (divorced)
    * Richard Burton (10 October 1975 – 29 July 1976) (divorced)
    * Note: between 1975 and 1976, Taylor was the "companion" to the Iranian ambassador to Washington, Ardeshir Zahedi. They were dubbed "the hottest couple", and both divorced their significant others during their relationship. Taylor even traveled with him to theran for a time. Shah Reza Pahlavi convinced Zahedi to end his relationship with Taylor.
    * John Warner (4 December 1976 – 7 November 1982) (divorced)
    * Larry Fortensky (6 October 1991 – 31 October 1996) (divorced)

Children

With Wilding (two sons):

    * Michael Howard Wilding (born 6 January 1953)
    * Christopher Edward Wilding (born 27 February 1955)

With Todd (one daughter):

    * Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd (born 6 August 1957)

With Burton (one daughter):

    * Maria Burton (born 1 August 1961; adopted 1964)

In 1971, Taylor became a grandmother at the age of 39. She has nine grandchildren (as of January 2011).
Treatment for alcoholism

In the 1980s, she received treatment for alcoholism.
Hospitalization

Ms. Taylor has dealt with various health problems over the years, including issues regarding a congestive heart. In February of 2011, new symptoms related to her congestive heart condition caused her to be admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment. As of February 13, 2011, she is reportedly being kept at the hospital for monitoring.
Filmography
Main article: Elizabeth Taylor filmography and various appearances
List of awards and honors
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor won two Academy Awards both for Best Actress, and was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS. She joined the list of two time Academy Award winning Best Actress winners which includes Luise Rainer, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster and Hillary Swank. (Bergman has a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as well, and Helen Hayes, Maggie Smith, Jessica Lange and Meryl Streep have an Oscar apiece for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Katharine Hepburn has 4 Best Actress Oscars.) In 1999, Taylor was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
See also

    * List of notable brain tumor patients

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/cindy_lou402000_photos/Old%20Hollywood/tumblr_lga1byrbAJ1qfzpwqo1_500.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t53/ilyvivi/taylor3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 02/27/11 at 5:23 am


The person of the day...Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born 27 February 1932), also known as Liz Taylor, is an English/American actress. A former child star, she grew to be known for her acting talent and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages. Taylor is considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden age. The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.
Lassie Come Home featured child star Roddy McDowall, with whom Taylor would share a lifelong friendship. Upon its release in 1943, the film received favourable attention for both McDowall and Taylor. On the basis for her performance in Lassie Come Home MGM signed Taylor to a conventional seven-year contract at $100 a week but increasing at regular intervals until it reached a hefty $750 during the seventh year. Her first assignment under her new contract at MGM was a loan-out to 20th Century Fox for the character of Helen Burns in a film version of the Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1944). During this period she also returned to England to appear in another Roddy McDowall picture for MGM, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). But it was Taylor's persistence in campaigning for the role of Velvet Brown in MGM's National Velvet that skyrocketed Taylor to stardom at the tender age of 12. Taylor's character, Velvet Brown, is a young girl who trains her beloved horse to win the Grand National. National Velvet, which also costarred beloved American favorite Mickey Rooney and English newcomer Angela Lansbury, became an overwhelming success upon its release in December 1944 and altered Taylor's life forever. Also, many of her back problems have been traced to when she hurt her back falling off a horse during the filming of National Velvet.

National Velvet grossed over US$4 million at the box office and Taylor was signed to a new long-term contract that raised her salary to $30,000 per year. To capitalize on the box office success of Velvet, Taylor was shoved into another animal opus, Courage of Lassie, in which a different dog named "Bill", cast as an Allied combatant in World War II, regularly outsmarts the Nazis, with Taylor going through another outdoors role. The 1946 success of Courage of Lassie led to another contract drawn up for Taylor earning her $750 per week, her mother $250, as well as a $1,500 bonus. Her roles as Mary Skinner in a loan-out to Warner Brothers' Life With Father (1947), Cynthia Bishop in Cynthia (1947), Carol Pringle in A Date with Judy (1948) and Susan Prackett in Julia Misbehaves (1948) all proved to be successful. Her reputation as a bankable adolescent star and nickname of "One-Shot Liz" (referring to her ability to shoot a scene in one take) promised her a full and bright career with Metro. Taylor's portrayal as Amy, in the American classic Little Women (1949) would prove to be her last adolescent role. In October 1948, she sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary travelling to England where she would begin filming on Conspirator, where she would play her first adult role.
Transition into adult roles
In Father of the Bride

When released in 1949, Conspirator bombed at the box office, but Taylor's portrayal of 21-year-old debutante Melinda Grayton (keeping in mind that Taylor was only 16 at the time of filming) who unknowingly marries a communist spy (played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor), was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film, even though the public didn't seem ready to accept her in adult roles. Taylor's first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure, that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit her newly-realized sensuality. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The film spawned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor's costar Spencer Tracy summarised with "boring...boring...boring". The film was received well at the box office but it would be Taylor's next picture that would set the course for her career as a dramatic actress. In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens' A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as Angela Vickers, a spoiled socialite who comes between George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) and his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters).

The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor's career as critics acclaimed it as a classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history. The New York Times' A.H. Weiler wrote, "Elizabeth's delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career", and the Boxoffice reviewer unequivocally stated "Miss Taylor deserves an Academy Award". She later reflected: "If you were considered pretty, you might as well have been a waitress trying to act – you were treated with no respect at all."

Taylor became increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her at the time. While she wanted to play the lead roles in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). She had wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part was given to Joan Fontaine. Taylor was given the role of Rebecca. When Taylor became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk (1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, almost two decades Taylor's senior, but to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to shoot on location. Leigh suffered a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor reclaimed the role after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953.

Taylor's next screen endeavor, Rhapsody (1954), another tedious romantic drama, proved equally frustrating. Taylor portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune wrote: "There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing into the camera from every angle...but the dramatic pretenses are weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses."

Taylor's fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia, which many felt was only a screen prop—a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to lend romantic support to the film's title star, Stewart Granger. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.
1955–1979
In Cleopatra (1963)

Following a more substantial role opposite Rock Hudson and James Dean in George Stevens' epic Giant (1956), Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the following films: Raintree County (1957) opposite Montgomery Clift; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) opposite Paul Newman; and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge.

In 1960, Taylor became the highest paid actress up to that time when she signed a one million dollar contract to play the title role in 20th Century Fox's lavish production of Cleopatra, which would eventually be released in 1963. During the filming, she began a romance with her future husband Richard Burton, who played Mark Antony in the film. The romance received much attention from the tabloid press, as both were married to other spouses at the time.

Taylor won her first Academy Award, for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for her performance as Gloria Wandrous in BUtterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher.

Her second Academy Award, also for Best Actress in a Leading Role, was for her performance as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), playing opposite then husband Richard Burton. Taylor and Burton would appear together in six other films during the decade – The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), The Comedians {1967} and Boom! (1968).

Taylor appeared in John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) opposite Marlon Brando (replacing Montgomery Clift who died before production began) and Secret Ceremony (1968) opposite Mia Farrow. However, by the end of the decade her box-office drawing power had considerably diminished, as evidenced by the failure of The Only Game in Town (1970), with Warren Beatty.

Taylor continued to star in numerous theatrical films throughout the 1970s, such as Zee and Co. (1972) with Michael Caine, Ash Wednesday (1973), The Blue Bird (1976) with Jane Fonda and Ava Gardner, and A Little Night Music (1977). With then-husband Richard Burton, she co-starred in the 1972 films Under Milk Wood and Hammersmith Is Out, and the 1973 made-for-TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers.
1980–2003

Taylor starred in the 1980 mystery film The Mirror Crack'd, based on an Agatha Christie novel. In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the TV film Malice in Wonderland opposite Jane Alexander, who played Hedda Hopper. Taylor appeared in the miniseries North and South. Her last theatrical film to date was 1994's The Flintstones. In 2001, she played an agent in the TV film These Old Broads. She appeared on a number television series, including the soap operas General Hospital and All My Children, as well as the animated series The Simpsons—once as herself, and once as the voice of Maggie Simpson, uttering one word "Daddy".

Taylor has also acted on the stage, making her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982 with a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. She was then in a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983), in which she starred with her former husband, Richard Burton. The student-run Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford was named for the famous couple after Burton appeared as Doctor Faustus in the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of the Marlowe play. Taylor played the ghostly, wordless Helen of Troy, who is entreated by Faustus to "make immortal with a kiss".
2003–present

In November 2004, Taylor announced that she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a progressive condition in which the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood throughout the body, particularly to the lower extremities: the ankles and feet. She has broken her back five times, had both her hips replaced, has survived a benign brain tumor operation, has survived skin cancer, and has faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice. She is reclusive and sometimes fails to make scheduled appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She now uses a wheelchair and when asked about it stated that she has osteoporosis and was born with scoliosis.

In 2005, Taylor was a vocal supporter of her friend Michael Jackson in his trial in California on charges of sexually abusing a child. He was acquitted.

On 30 May 2006, Taylor appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she has been ill, and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was close to death.

In late August 2006, Taylor decided to take a boating trip to help prove that she was not close to death. She also decided to make Christie's auction house the primary place where she will sell her jewelry, art, clothing, furniture and memorabilia. Six months later, the February 2007 issue of Interview magazine was devoted entirely to Taylor. It celebrated her life, career and her upcoming 75th birthday.

On 5 December 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Taylor into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

Taylor was in the news recently for a rumored ninth marriage to her companion Jason Winters, which she dismissed as a rumour. However, she was quoted as saying, "Jason Winters is one of the most wonderful men I've ever known and that's why I love him. He bought us the most beautiful house in Hawaii and we visit it as often as possible," to gossip columnist Liz Smith. Winters accompanied Taylor to Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS 2007 gala, where Taylor was honoured with a humanitarian award. In 2008, Taylor and Winters were spotted celebrating the 4th of July on a yacht in Santa Monica, California. The couple attended the Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS gala again in 2008.

On 1 December 2007, Taylor acted on-stage again, appearing opposite James Earl Jones in a benefit performance of the A. R. Gurney play Love Letters. The event's goal was to raise $1 million for Taylor's AIDS foundation. Tickets for the show were priced at $2,500, and more than 500 people attended. The event happened to coincide with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and, rather than cross the picket line, Taylor requested a "one night dispensation." The Writers Guild agreed not to picket the Paramount Pictures lot that night to allow for the performance.
Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands:

    * Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (6 May 1950 – 29 January 1951) (divorced)
    * Michael Wilding (21 February 1952 – 26 January 1957) (divorced)
    * Michael Todd (2 February 1957 – 22 March 1958) (widowed)
    * Eddie Fisher (12 May 1959 – 6 March 1964) (divorced)
    * Richard Burton (15 March 1964 – 26 June 1974) (divorced)
    * Richard Burton (10 October 1975 – 29 July 1976) (divorced)
    * Note: between 1975 and 1976, Taylor was the "companion" to the Iranian ambassador to Washington, Ardeshir Zahedi. They were dubbed "the hottest couple", and both divorced their significant others during their relationship. Taylor even traveled with him to theran for a time. Shah Reza Pahlavi convinced Zahedi to end his relationship with Taylor.
    * John Warner (4 December 1976 – 7 November 1982) (divorced)
    * Larry Fortensky (6 October 1991 – 31 October 1996) (divorced)

Children

With Wilding (two sons):

    * Michael Howard Wilding (born 6 January 1953)
    * Christopher Edward Wilding (born 27 February 1955)

With Todd (one daughter):

    * Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Todd (born 6 August 1957)

With Burton (one daughter):

    * Maria Burton (born 1 August 1961; adopted 1964)

In 1971, Taylor became a grandmother at the age of 39. She has nine grandchildren (as of January 2011).
Treatment for alcoholism

In the 1980s, she received treatment for alcoholism.
Hospitalization

Ms. Taylor has dealt with various health problems over the years, including issues regarding a congestive heart. In February of 2011, new symptoms related to her congestive heart condition caused her to be admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment. As of February 13, 2011, she is reportedly being kept at the hospital for monitoring.
Filmography
Main article: Elizabeth Taylor filmography and various appearances
List of awards and honors
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor won two Academy Awards both for Best Actress, and was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS. She joined the list of two time Academy Award winning Best Actress winners which includes Luise Rainer, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster and Hillary Swank. (Bergman has a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as well, and Helen Hayes, Maggie Smith, Jessica Lange and Meryl Streep have an Oscar apiece for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Katharine Hepburn has 4 Best Actress Oscars.) In 1999, Taylor was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
See also

    * List of notable brain tumor patients

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/cindy_lou402000_photos/Old%20Hollywood/tumblr_lga1byrbAJ1qfzpwqo1_500.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t53/ilyvivi/taylor3.jpg
I hope she is still well, for the last I heard she was hospitalised.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/27/11 at 6:40 am


I hope she is still well, for the last I heard she was hospitalised.

I'm not sure. I went to one site where her publicist denied that she was hospitalized.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/27/11 at 11:44 am


I always like Got My Mind Set On You.

Yes, and Weird Al made a parody of it called "This Song's Just Six Words Long" (a title which was disputed by some, not realizing that "song's", the contraction for "song is", was treated as a single word).

I also liked "What Is Life" and "My Sweet Lord."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/27/11 at 11:45 am


My late brother has the same birthdate as George Harrison.

He was born in 1943?! ??? :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day - Fats Domino

Written By: nally on 02/27/11 at 11:47 am


Fabulous singer!

Very much so.

And I am glad that he was safe after Hurricane Katrina.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/27/11 at 3:55 pm


I'm not sure. I went to one site where her publicist denied that she was hospitalized.


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/09/25/article-1215970-0693FBF1000005DC-855_634x457.jpg

But she is wheelchair bound. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/27/11 at 3:56 pm


He was born in 1943?! ??? :o


he was born in 1971

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 02/27/11 at 6:06 pm


he was born in 1971

Ah. You had me shocked for a moment there.

So he would have been 40 if he'd still been around. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 02/28/11 at 4:38 am

The person of the day...John Turturro
John Michael Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an American actor, writer, and director best known for his roles in the films Barton Fink (1991), Quiz Show (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). He has appeared in over sixty movies, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler and Spike Lee.
Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Katherine, an amateur jazz singer who worked in a Navy yard during World War II, and Nicholas Turturro, a carpenter and construction worker who fought as a Navy serviceman in D-Day. Turturro's mother was Sicilian and his father emigrated from Giovinazzo, Bari, Italy at the age of six. Turturro was raised a Catholic and moved to the Rosedale section of Queens, New York with his family when he was six. He majored in drama at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and completed his MFA at the Yale School of Drama. He first appeared on film working as an extra in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed Raging Bull (1980).
Career

Turturro created the title role of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1983. He repeated it the following year Off-Broadway and won an Obie Award. Spike Lee liked Turturro's performance in Five Corners so much that he chose to cast him in Do the Right Thing. This movie was the first of a long-standing collaboration between the famous director and John Turturro, which also includes Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Clockers (1995), Girl 6 (1996), He Got Game (1998), Summer of Sam (1999), She Hate Me (2004), and Miracle at St. Anna (2008). A versatile actor comfortable with both comedy and drama, Turturro also had an extended collaboration with the Coen Brothers, appearing in their films Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). He has also appeared in several of Adam Sandler's movies, such as Mr. Deeds (2002) and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008). He played a severely disturbed patient of Jack Nicholson's in the comedy Anger Management and played Johnny Depp's antagonist in Secret Window. Before becoming a household name, Turturro had a minor part in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters.

He won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Adrian Monk's brother Ambrose Monk in the USA Network series Monk, and has reprised the role on numerous occasions. He has also been nominated and won many awards from film organizations such as Screen Actors Guild, Cannes Film Festival, Golden Globes, and others.

Turturro produced and directed, as well as acted in, the film Illuminata (1999), which also starred his wife Katherine Borowitz. He also wrote and directed the film Romance and Cigarettes (2005). In 2006 he appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd, and as the Sector 7 agent Simmons in three films of the Transformers live-action series.
Personal life

Turturro's brother is actor Nicholas Turturro. Actress Aida Turturro and artist Ralph Turturro are his cousins. He has two children, Amedeo (born 1990) and Diego (born 2000), with his wife, actress Katherine Borowitz.

Turturro participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films for children between the ages of 3 and 18. He and his brother Nicholas are avid New York Yankees fans.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Raging Bull Man at table (uncredited)
1984 Exterminator 2 Guy #1
The Flamingo Kid Ted from Pinky's
1985 Desperately Seeking Susan Ray
To Live and Die in L.A. Carl Cody
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Writer
The Color of Money Julian
Gung Ho Willie
Off Beat Neil Pepper
1987 Five Corners Heinz Sabantino Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
The Sicilian Pisciotta
1989 Do the Right Thing Pino
1990 Catchfire Pinella
State of Grace Nick
Mo' Better Blues Moe Flatbush
Miller's Crossing Bernie Bernbaum
1991 Men of Respect Mike Battaglia
Jungle Fever Paulie Carbone
Barton Fink Barton Fink Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor (Prix d'interprétation masculine)
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
1992 Mac Niccolò Vitelli Director and screenwriter
Caméra d'Or
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
Brain Donors Roland T. Flakfizer
1993 Being Human Lucinnius
Fearless Bill Pearlman
1994 Quiz Show Herb Stempel Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Search for One-eye Jimmy Disco Bean
1995 Search and Destroy Ron
Unstrung Heroes Sidney Lidz
Clockers Det. Larry Mazilla
Sugartime Sam Giancana TV film
1996 Girl 6 Murray
Box of Moon Light Al Fountain Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Grace of My Heart Joel Millner Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
1997 La Tregua Primo Levi
The Last Bet Leon
1998 Illuminata Tuccio Director
Nominated — Palme d'Or
Rounders Joey Knish
He Got Game Billy Sunday
O.K. Garage Jonny
The Big Lebowski Jesus Quintana
1999 Summer of Sam Demon (voice role)
Cradle Will Rock Aldo Silvano
2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou? Pete Nominated — MTV Movie Award for On-Screen Team with George Clooney and Tim Blake Nelson
The Man Who Cried Dante Dominio
Company Man Crocker Johnson
2001 The Luzhin Defence Alexander Luzhin
Monkeybone Monkeybone (voice)
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing Walker Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
2002 Collateral Damage Armstrong
Monday Night Mayhem Howard Cosell Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Mr. Deeds Emilio Lopez
2003 Fear X Harry Nominated — Bodil Award for Best Actor (Bedste mandlige hovedrolle)
Anger Management Chuck
Opopomoz (voice)
2004 She Hate Me Don Angelo Bonasera
Secret Window John Shooter Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2006 The Good Shepherd Ray Brocco
Quelques jours en septembre William Pound
Romance and Cigarettes Male Dancer and singer Director, screenwriter
Nominated — Golden Lion
2007 The Bronx is Burning Billy Martin Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Transformers Agent Seymour Simmons First time in role
Margot at the Wedding Jim Nominated — Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Slipstream Harvey Brickman
2008 What Just Happened Dick Bell
You Don't Mess With The Zohan Fatoush 'The Phantom' Hakbarah
Miracle at St. Anna Detective Antonio 'Tony' Ricci Nominated — Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble
2009 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Camonetti
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Seymour Simmons Second time in role
Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy Himself Producer, screenwriter
2010 Passione Director
The Nutcracker in 3D The Rat King
2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Seymour Simmons Third and final time in role
Audiobook

    * World War Z, 2007, as Serosha Garcia Alvarez

Television

    * Miami Vice, episode 1x16, 1985
    * Monk, as Ambrose Monk
          o Mr. Monk and the Three Pies (2004)
          o Mr. Monk Goes Home Again (2005)
          o Mr. Monk's 100th Case (2008)
    * The Bronx is Burning, 2007, as Billy Martin
    * Flight of the Conchords, 2007, as himself.
http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/State-of-Madness/Men/Black%20Hair/JohnTurturro.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f124/mretaoin/jesus.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 02/28/11 at 6:52 am


Ah. You had me shocked for a moment there.

So he would have been 40 if he'd still been around. :\'(


Yes he would.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/11 at 5:29 am

The person of the day...Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American actor, director and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later as the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years. He made film appearances such as in American Graffiti in 1973 and while starring in Happy Days he also made The Shootist in 1976, as well as making his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy film Grand Theft Auto. He left Happy Days in 1980 to focus on directing, and has since gone on to direct several films, including the Oscar winning Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
In 1959, he had his first credited film role, in The Journey, and appeared in June Allyson's CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson in the episode "Child Lost", as well as The Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance", about a man (Gig Young) who learns that he cannot go home again.

In 1960, Howard was cast in the role of Opie Taylor in the hit CBS television series The Andy Griffith Show, a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show. Credited as "Ronny Howard," he portrayed the son of the local sheriff (played by Andy Griffith) in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, for the entire eight seasons of the show. He also spent a lot of time with Griffith off-screen.

In the 1962 film version of The Music Man, Howard played Winthrop Paroo, the child with the lisp; the film starred Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. He also starred in the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddie's Father with Glenn Ford.

Billed as "Ronny Howard", he appeared in Little Boy Lost, a 1963 episode of the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour. He played the character Barry Stewart in the episode entitled "Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?". He also appeared in a 1966 episode of the NBC adventure series I Spy with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. Howard guest-starred on the television series M*A*S*H during that show's first season as an underage American serving in the Marines. In the 1970s, Ron Howard appeared in at least one episode of The Bold Ones as a teenage tennis player with an illness.

In 1976, Howard was cast as Gillom Rogers in the movie The Shootist, starring opposite Hollywood legend John Wayne. He had hopes they would work together again; he quotes Wayne as saying, about a couple of months after filming wrapped on The Shootist, 'I found a good script, kid . . . it's you and me, or it's nobody." But it was not to be, as, in an ironic reflection of the storyline of the film, Wayne had already been diagnosed with the terminal cancer that would kill him three years later. As a token of respect, Howard narrates the opening montage of The Shootist, which shows various clips from Wayne's long film career.
American Graffiti and Happy Days

Howard played Steve Bollander in George Lucas' coming-of-age film American Graffiti in 1973. Ron was cast in an installment on the TV series Love American Style entitled "Happy Days" which led to him being cast as Richie Cunningham in the TV series Happy Days on which, beginning in 1974, he played the likeable "buttoned-down" boy, in contrast to Henry Winkler's "greaser" Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. In 1977, while still starring on Happy Days, he directed his first film, a low-budget comedy/action film called Grand Theft Auto. On the Happy Days set, he developed an on- and off-screen chemistry with series' leads, Tom Bosley and Henry Winkler, as they each developed their own private lives.

His last significant on-screen role was when he reprised his famous role as Opie Taylor in the 1986 TV reunion movie Return to Mayberry reuniting him with Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, and most of the old cast.

He also appeared in two Happy Days TV reunions: 1992's The Happy Days Reunion Special, hosted by Winkler, which shared some of the show's memories from the 11 seasons that it aired on ABC, and 2005's The Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion, where he was reunited with most of the surviving cast. Both Howard & Winkler continued to be friends with Bosley until his death on October 19, 2010.

When asked in 2000 if he would ever like to return to acting, he replied "Only if I can act with Cindy Williams again," referring to the actress who played opposite him in American Graffiti.
Directing

Before leaving Happy Days in 1980, Howard made his directing debut with the 1977 project Grand Theft Auto (after cutting a deal with Roger Corman to star in Eat My Dust with Christopher Norris). Howard went on to direct several TV movies. His big theatrical break came in 1982 with Night Shift featuring soon-to-be stars, such as Michael Keaton and Shelley Long, as well as reuniting Howard with Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler.

He has since directed a number of high-visibility films, including Splash, Parenthood, Cocoon, Willow, Backdraft, Apollo 13 (nominated for nine Academy Awards and winning two), A Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director), Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.

Howard's younger brother, Clint, has minor roles in most of his movies. He has also cast his father and mother in a number of roles. Both his wife, Cheryl Howard, and father Rance Howard appeared in Angels & Demons as a CERN scientist and as Cardinal Beck, respectively.

Howard showcased the world premiere of his film Frost/Nixon at the 2008 London Film Festival in October 2008.

Ron Howard was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award. Michael Keaton presented him with the Award.

Howard has signed on to direct the upcoming first film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, as well as the first season of the TV series.
Imagine Entertainment

Howard is the co-chairman, with Brian Grazer, of Imagine Entertainment, a major film and television production company, which has produced notable projects like Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile, Inside Deep Throat, and the television series 24, Felicity and Arrested Development, which he also narrated.
Recent controversy

Howard has recently been criticized by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for his refusal to alter one of his movies, The Dilemma, by deleting a scene in which one of the characters uses the word "gay" in its tertiary, derogatory meaning, saying "Electric cars are gay. I mean, not 'homosexual' gay but 'my parents are chaperoning the dance' gay.'" While Universal removed the scene from the trailer, Howard defended keeping it in the movie itself by citing freedom of speech.
Personal life

On June 7, 1975, Howard wed his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl (née Alley), a writer with a degree in geriatric psychology. They have four children; daughters Bryce Dallas (b. 2 March 1981), Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Carlyle (twins, b. 1985), and son Reed Cross (b. 1987). His daughters' middle names indicate where they were conceived, Bryce in Dallas, and twins Jocelyn and Paige at the Hotel Carlyle in New York City. Son Reed Cross was named after a London street because "Volvo isn't a very good middle name", according to Howard. Daughters Bryce and Paige are actresses. The family lives on a 35-acre (14 ha) estate in the exclusive gated community of Conyers Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut. In February 2007, Howard became a grandfather when his daughter, Bryce, gave birth to a son, Theodore Norman Howard Gabel.

In the June 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Ron Howard was asked, "What do you consider your greatest achievement?" He replied, "Forty-eight consecutive years of steady employment in television and film, while preserving a rich family life."
Howard in popular culture

Howard appeared as himself twice in The Simpsons. In "When You Dish Upon a Star", Homer meets and befriends Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger and Howard. Later in the episode, Howard is injured when trying to jump from a truck to the RV that Homer was driving. In the end, he pitches Homer's movie idea and gets it greenlit. Another episode ("Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder") Homer and Howard are fighting each other while appearing on The Springfield Squares. Later, Howard gives Homer the inspiration to spend more time with his kids and gives him some money that Homer refuses but takes anyway. Ron yoinks the money back from Homer and then drives away.

When he hosted Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, Eddie Murphy called him "Opie Cunningham".

In the South Park episode, "Ginger Kids", Cartman asks a crowd of fellow gingers to name great Americans with red hair, the only name they can think of is "Ron Howard", and when asked to name a second, one responds "Ron Howard" again.

On a VH1 special about the 100 greatest Child Stars, many of the interviewees considered Ron Howard to be the most successful child star of all-time, considering his two major television acting roles and his directing career.

In the series finale of the Emmy Award-winning, critically acclaimed series Arrested Development (which he was an executive producer and the narrator of), Howard appears as himself in an epilogue at the end of the episode and refers to himself as "a Hollywood icon".

In Season 1, Episode 3 of Stroker and Hoop on Adult Swim, Stroker and Hoop ran a detective agency whose first client needed them to make Ron Howard stop controlling his mind.

In October 2008, Howard reprised his roles as Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham for the first time in over 20 years when he appeared in a video on funnyordie.com in which he endorsed Barack Obama and urged people to vote. The video, titled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action", also features Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler. As seen in the video, Howard is seen shaving his beard and wearing wigs to recreate his younger look.

Ron Howard recently made a cameo appearance in the 2009 music video for fellow Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx's song "Blame It" along side Academy Award winner Forrest Whittaker, Academy Award nominee, Jake Gyllenhaal and Samuel L. Jackson. In the video he is shown holding a glass of champagne.
Filmography
Director
Films
Year Title Notes
1969 Old Paint Short film
Deed of Daring-Do Short film
Cards, Cads, Guns, Gore and Death Short film
1977 Grand Theft Auto Also writer
1982 Night Shift
1984 Splash
1985 Cocoon
1986 Gung Ho Also executive producer
1988 Willow
1989 Parenthood Also writer
1991 Backdraft
1992 Far and Away Also writer/producer
1994 The Paper
1995 Apollo 13
1996 Ransom
1999 EDtv Also producer
2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Also producer
2001 A Beautiful Mind Academy Award for Best Director

Also producer
2003 The Missing Also producer
2005 Cinderella Man Also producer
2006 The Da Vinci Code Also producer
2008 Frost/Nixon Also producer
2009 Angels & Demons Also producer
2011 The Dilemma Also producer
2013 The Dark Tower
Television
Year Film Notes
1978 Cotton Candy Writer/Director
1980 Skyward Director/Executive producer
1981 Through the Magic Pyramid Director/Executive producer
1983 Littleshots Director
1987 Take Five Director/Executive producer
2003 Arrested Development Executive producer/Narrator
2010 Parenthood Executive producer only
Acting
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1959 The Journey Billy Rhinelander as Ronny Howard
1961 "Five Minutes To Live" (re-released as Door-to-Door Maniac and "Five Minutes To Live") Bobby as Ronnie Howard
1962 The Music Man Winthrop Paroo as Ronny Howard
1963 The Courtship of Eddie's Father Eddie as Ronny Howard
1965 Village of the Giants Genius as Ronny Howard
1970 The Wild Country Virgil as Ronny Howard
1973 American Graffiti Steve Bolander as Ronny Howard
Happy Mother's Day, Love George Johnny
1974 The Spikes Gang Les Richter
1975 Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn
1976 The First Nudie Musical Auditioning actor uncredited
Eat My Dust Hoover Niebold
The Shootist Gillom Rogers Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1977 Grand Theft Auto Sam Freeman
1979 More American Graffiti Steve Bolander
1982 Night Shift Annoying Sax Player/Boy Making out with Girlfriend in Front of Chuck's Apartment uncredited
1992 The Magical World of Chuck Jones Himself documentary
1998 One Vision Himself documentary
Welcome to Hollywood Himself
2000 The Independent Himself
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Whoville Townsperson uncredited
2001 Osmosis Jones Tom Colonic (voice)
A Beautiful Mind Man at Governor's Ball uncredited
2004 Tell Them Who You Are Himself documentary
2007 In the Shadow of the Moon Himself documentary
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1959 Johnny Ringo Ricky Parrot 1 episode
The Twilight Zone The Wilcox Boy Episode "Walking Distance"
1959–1960 The June Allyson Show Wim "Child Lost"
(as Ronny Howard)
Dennis the Menace Stewart 5 episodes, 1959–1960
1959–1961 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis various roles 4 episodes
(as Ronny Howard)
General Electric Theater various roles 2 episodes
1960 Make Room for Daddy Opie Taylor "Danny Meets Andy Griffith"
Cheyenne Timmy "Counterfeit Gun"
uncredited
Pete and Gladys Tommy "The Goat Story"
1960–1968 The Andy Griffith Show Opie Taylor 209 episodes
(as Ronny Howard)
1962 Route 66 Chet "Poor Little Kangaroo Rat"
(as Ronny Howard)
The New Breed Tommy Simms "So Dark the Night"
1963 The Eleventh Hour Barry Stewart "Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?"
(as Ronny Howard)
1964 The Great Adventure Daniel Waterhouse "Plague"
(as Ronny Howard)
Dr. Kildare Jerry Prentice "A Candle in the Window"
(as Ronny Howard)
The Fugitive Gus "Cry Uncle"
1965 The Big Valley Tommy "Night of the Wolf"
(as Ronny Howard)
1966 Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Opie Taylor "Opie Joins the Marines"
(as Ronny Howard)
1966 I Spy Alan Loden "Little Boy Lost"
1967 The Monroes Timothy Prescott "Teaching the Tiger to Purr"
(as Ronny Howard)
Gentle Ben Jody Cutler "Green-Eyed Bear"
(as Ronny Howard)
A Boy Called Nuthin Richie `Nuthin'´ Caldwell (as Ronny Howard)
1968 Mayberry R.F.D. Opie Taylor "Andy and Helen Get Married"
(as Ronny Howard)
The F.B.I. Jess Orkin "The Runaways"
(as Ronny Howard)
1969 Judd for the Defense Phil Beeton "Between the Dark and the Daylight"
(as Ronny Howard)
Daniel Boone Luke "A Man Before His Time"
(as Ronny Howard)
1968–1969 Lancer Various roles 2 episodes
(as Ronny Howard)
1969 Gunsmoke Jamie "Charlie Noon"
(as Ronny Howard)
Land of the Giants Jodar "Genus At Work"
(as Ronny Howard)
1970 Smoke Chris (as Ronny Howard)
The Headmaster Tony Landis "Will the Real Mother of Tony Landis Please Stand Up?"
Lassie Gary "Gary Here Comes Glory!" Part 1 & 2
(as Ronny Howard)
1971–1972 The Smith Family Bob Smith 39 episodes
1972 Love, American Style Richard 'Richie' Cunningham "Love and the Happy Days"
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Cory Merlino "Discovery at Fourteen"
(as Ronny Howard)
1973 M*A*S*H Private Walter/ Wendell Peterson "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet"
(as Ronny Howard)
1974 The Waltons Seth Turner "The Gift"
The Migrants Lyle Barlow
Locusts Donny Fletcher
1974–1984 Happy Days Richard 'Richie' Cunningham 171 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
1975 Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn
1976 I'm a Fool Andy
1976–1979 Laverne & Shirley Richard 'Richie' Cunningham 2 episodes
1980 Act of Love Leon Cybulkowski
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang Richard 'Richie' Cunningham (voice)
"King for a Day"
1981 Bitter Harvest Ned De Vries
Fire on the Mountain Lee Mackie
1983 When Your Lover Leaves (uncredited)
1986 Return to Mayberry Opie Taylor
1999 Frasier Stephen voice
"Good Samaritan"
2003–2006 Arrested Development Narrator (uncredited)
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd233/willowhaven70/Howard.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/kesmit/ronhoward011.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/01/11 at 6:47 am

Ron Howard was a superb actor and a wonderful film director.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/01/11 at 7:21 am

He used to be a neighbor of mine. (He lived in the next town over.) So many people who I knew said they saw him in the grocery store or about town but not me.  :\'( :\'(


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/11 at 10:43 am


He used to be a neighbor of mine. (He lived in the next town over.) So many people who I knew said they saw him in the grocery store or about town but not me.  :\'( :\'(


Cat

I'd like to meet him :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/01/11 at 2:19 pm


I'd like to meet him :)



So would I. He seems like a very nice person.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/01/11 at 2:50 pm


The person of the day...Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American actor, director and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later as the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years. He made film appearances such as in American Graffiti in 1973 and while starring in Happy Days he also made The Shootist in 1976, as well as making his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy film Grand Theft Auto. He left Happy Days in 1980 to focus on directing, and has since gone on to direct several films, including the Oscar winning Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In 2003, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
In 1959, he had his first credited film role, in The Journey, and appeared in June Allyson's CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson in the episode "Child Lost", as well as The Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance", about a man (Gig Young) who learns that he cannot go home again.

In 1960, Howard was cast in the role of Opie Taylor in the hit CBS television series The Andy Griffith Show, a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show. Credited as "Ronny Howard," he portrayed the son of the local sheriff (played by Andy Griffith) in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, for the entire eight seasons of the show. He also spent a lot of time with Griffith off-screen.

In the 1962 film version of The Music Man, Howard played Winthrop Paroo, the child with the lisp; the film starred Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. He also starred in the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddie's Father with Glenn Ford.

Billed as "Ronny Howard", he appeared in Little Boy Lost, a 1963 episode of the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour. He played the character Barry Stewart in the episode entitled "Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?". He also appeared in a 1966 episode of the NBC adventure series I Spy with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. Howard guest-starred on the television series M*A*S*H during that show's first season as an underage American serving in the Marines. In the 1970s, Ron Howard appeared in at least one episode of The Bold Ones as a teenage tennis player with an illness.

In 1976, Howard was cast as Gillom Rogers in the movie The Shootist, starring opposite Hollywood legend John Wayne. He had hopes they would work together again; he quotes Wayne as saying, about a couple of months after filming wrapped on The Shootist, 'I found a good script, kid . . . it's you and me, or it's nobody." But it was not to be, as, in an ironic reflection of the storyline of the film, Wayne had already been diagnosed with the terminal cancer that would kill him three years later. As a token of respect, Howard narrates the opening montage of The Shootist, which shows various clips from Wayne's long film career.
American Graffiti and Happy Days

Howard played Steve Bollander in George Lucas' coming-of-age film American Graffiti in 1973. Ron was cast in an installment on the TV series Love American Style entitled "Happy Days" which led to him being cast as Richie Cunningham in the TV series Happy Days on which, beginning in 1974, he played the likeable "buttoned-down" boy, in contrast to Henry Winkler's "greaser" Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. In 1977, while still starring on Happy Days, he directed his first film, a low-budget comedy/action film called Grand Theft Auto. On the Happy Days set, he developed an on- and off-screen chemistry with series' leads, Tom Bosley and Henry Winkler, as they each developed their own private lives.

His last significant on-screen role was when he reprised his famous role as Opie Taylor in the 1986 TV reunion movie Return to Mayberry reuniting him with Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, and most of the old cast.

He also appeared in two Happy Days TV reunions: 1992's The Happy Days Reunion Special, hosted by Winkler, which shared some of the show's memories from the 11 seasons that it aired on ABC, and 2005's The Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion, where he was reunited with most of the surviving cast. Both Howard & Winkler continued to be friends with Bosley until his death on October 19, 2010.

When asked in 2000 if he would ever like to return to acting, he replied "Only if I can act with Cindy Williams again," referring to the actress who played opposite him in American Graffiti.
Directing

Before leaving Happy Days in 1980, Howard made his directing debut with the 1977 project Grand Theft Auto (after cutting a deal with Roger Corman to star in Eat My Dust with Christopher Norris). Howard went on to direct several TV movies. His big theatrical break came in 1982 with Night Shift featuring soon-to-be stars, such as Michael Keaton and Shelley Long, as well as reuniting Howard with Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler.

He has since directed a number of high-visibility films, including Splash, Parenthood, Cocoon, Willow, Backdraft, Apollo 13 (nominated for nine Academy Awards and winning two), A Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director), Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.

Howard's younger brother, Clint, has minor roles in most of his movies. He has also cast his father and mother in a number of roles. Both his wife, Cheryl Howard, and father Rance Howard appeared in Angels & Demons as a CERN scientist and as Cardinal Beck, respectively.

Howard showcased the world premiere of his film Frost/Nixon at the 2008 London Film Festival in October 2008.

Ron Howard was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award. Michael Keaton presented him with the Award.

Howard has signed on to direct the upcoming first film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, as well as the first season of the TV series.
Imagine Entertainment

Howard is the co-chairman, with Brian Grazer, of Imagine Entertainment, a major film and television production company, which has produced notable projects like Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile, Inside Deep Throat, and the television series 24, Felicity and Arrested Development, which he also narrated.
Recent controversy

Howard has recently been criticized by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for his refusal to alter one of his movies, The Dilemma, by deleting a scene in which one of the characters uses the word "gay" in its tertiary, derogatory meaning, saying "Electric cars are gay. I mean, not 'homosexual' gay but 'my parents are chaperoning the dance' gay.'" While Universal removed the scene from the trailer, Howard defended keeping it in the movie itself by citing freedom of speech.
Personal life

On June 7, 1975, Howard wed his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl (née Alley), a writer with a degree in geriatric psychology. They have four children; daughters Bryce Dallas (b. 2 March 1981), Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Carlyle (twins, b. 1985), and son Reed Cross (b. 1987). His daughters' middle names indicate where they were conceived, Bryce in Dallas, and twins Jocelyn and Paige at the Hotel Carlyle in New York City. Son Reed Cross was named after a London street because "Volvo isn't a very good middle name", according to Howard. Daughters Bryce and Paige are actresses. The family lives on a 35-acre (14 ha) estate in the exclusive gated community of Conyers Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut. In February 2007, Howard became a grandfather when his daughter, Bryce, gave birth to a son, Theodore Norman Howard Gabel.

In the June 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Ron Howard was asked, "What do you consider your greatest achievement?" He replied, "Forty-eight consecutive years of steady employment in television and film, while preserving a rich family life."
Howard in popular culture

Howard appeared as himself twice in The Simpsons. In "When You Dish Upon a Star", Homer meets and befriends Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger and Howard. Later in the episode, Howard is injured when trying to jump from a truck to the RV that Homer was driving. In the end, he pitches Homer's movie idea and gets it greenlit. Another episode ("Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder") Homer and Howard are fighting each other while appearing on The Springfield Squares. Later, Howard gives Homer the inspiration to spend more time with his kids and gives him some money that Homer refuses but takes anyway. Ron yoinks the money back from Homer and then drives away.

When he hosted Saturday Night Live in the 1980s, Eddie Murphy called him "Opie Cunningham".

In the South Park episode, "Ginger Kids", Cartman asks a crowd of fellow gingers to name great Americans with red hair, the only name they can think of is "Ron Howard", and when asked to name a second, one responds "Ron Howard" again.

On a VH1 special about the 100 greatest Child Stars, many of the interviewees considered Ron Howard to be the most successful child star of all-time, considering his two major television acting roles and his directing career.

In the series finale of the Emmy Award-winning, critically acclaimed series Arrested Development (which he was an executive producer and the narrator of), Howard appears as himself in an epilogue at the end of the episode and refers to himself as "a Hollywood icon".

In Season 1, Episode 3 of Stroker and Hoop on Adult Swim, Stroker and Hoop ran a detective agency whose first client needed them to make Ron Howard stop controlling his mind.

In October 2008, Howard reprised his roles as Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham for the first time in over 20 years when he appeared in a video on funnyordie.com in which he endorsed Barack Obama and urged people to vote. The video, titled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action", also features Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler. As seen in the video, Howard is seen shaving his beard and wearing wigs to recreate his younger look.

Ron Howard recently made a cameo appearance in the 2009 music video for fellow Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx's song "Blame It" along side Academy Award winner Forrest Whittaker, Academy Award nominee, Jake Gyllenhaal and Samuel L. Jackson. In the video he is shown holding a glass of champagne.
Filmography
Director
Films
Year Title Notes
1969 Old Paint Short film
Deed of Daring-Do Short film
Cards, Cads, Guns, Gore and Death Short film
1977 Grand Theft Auto Also writer
1982 Night Shift
1984 Splash
1985 Cocoon
1986 Gung Ho Also executive producer
1988 Willow
1989 Parenthood Also writer
1991 Backdraft
1992 Far and Away Also writer/producer
1994 The Paper
1995 Apollo 13
1996 Ransom
1999 EDtv Also producer
2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Also producer
2001 A Beautiful Mind Academy Award for Best Director

Also producer
2003 The Missing Also producer
2005 Cinderella Man Also producer
2006 The Da Vinci Code Also producer
2008 Frost/Nixon Also producer
2009 Angels & Demons Also producer
2011 The Dilemma Also producer
2013 The Dark Tower
Television
Year Film Notes
1978 Cotton Candy Writer/Director
1980 Skyward Director/Executive producer
1981 Through the Magic Pyramid Director/Executive producer
1983 Littleshots Director
1987 Take Five Director/Executive producer
2003 Arrested Development Executive producer/Narrator
2010 Parenthood Executive producer only
Acting
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1959 The Journey Billy Rhinelander as Ronny Howard
1961 "Five Minutes To Live" (re-released as Door-to-Door Maniac and "Five Minutes To Live") Bobby as Ronnie Howard
1962 The Music Man Winthrop Paroo as Ronny Howard
1963 The Courtship of Eddie's Father Eddie as Ronny Howard
1965 Village of the Giants Genius as Ronny Howard
1970 The Wild Country Virgil as Ronny Howard
1973 American Graffiti Steve Bolander as Ronny Howard
Happy Mother's Day, Love George Johnny
1974 The Spikes Gang Les Richter
1975 Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn
1976 The First Nudie Musical Auditioning actor uncredited
Eat My Dust Hoover Niebold
The Shootist Gillom Rogers Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1977 Grand Theft Auto Sam Freeman
1979 More American Graffiti Steve Bolander
1982 Night Shift Annoying Sax Player/Boy Making out with Girlfriend in Front of Chuck's Apartment uncredited
1992 The Magical World of Chuck Jones Himself documentary
1998 One Vision Himself documentary
Welcome to Hollywood Himself
2000 The Independent Himself
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Whoville Townsperson uncredited
2001 Osmosis Jones Tom Colonic (voice)
A Beautiful Mind Man at Governor's Ball uncredited
2004 Tell Them Who You Are Himself documentary
2007 In the Shadow of the Moon Himself documentary
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1959 Johnny Ringo Ricky Parrot 1 episode
The Twilight Zone The Wilcox Boy Episode "Walking Distance"
1959–1960 The June Allyson Show Wim "Child Lost"
(as Ronny Howard)
Dennis the Menace Stewart 5 episodes, 1959–1960
1959–1961 The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis various roles 4 episodes
(as Ronny Howard)
General Electric Theater various roles 2 episodes
1960 Make Room for Daddy Opie Taylor "Danny Meets Andy Griffith"
Cheyenne Timmy "Counterfeit Gun"
uncredited
Pete and Gladys Tommy "The Goat Story"
1960–1968 The Andy Griffith Show Opie Taylor 209 episodes
(as Ronny Howard)
1962 Route 66 Chet "Poor Little Kangaroo Rat"
(as Ronny Howard)
The New Breed Tommy Simms "So Dark the Night"
1963 The Eleventh Hour Barry Stewart "Is Mr. Martian Coming Back?"
(as Ronny Howard)
1964 The Great Adventure Daniel Waterhouse "Plague"
(as Ronny Howard)
Dr. Kildare Jerry Prentice "A Candle in the Window"
(as Ronny Howard)
The Fugitive Gus "Cry Uncle"
1965 The Big Valley Tommy "Night of the Wolf"
(as Ronny Howard)
1966 Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Opie Taylor "Opie Joins the Marines"
(as Ronny Howard)
1966 I Spy Alan Loden "Little Boy Lost"
1967 The Monroes Timothy Prescott "Teaching the Tiger to Purr"
(as Ronny Howard)
Gentle Ben Jody Cutler "Green-Eyed Bear"
(as Ronny Howard)
A Boy Called Nuthin Richie `Nuthin'´ Caldwell (as Ronny Howard)
1968 Mayberry R.F.D. Opie Taylor "Andy and Helen Get Married"
(as Ronny Howard)
The F.B.I. Jess Orkin "The Runaways"
(as Ronny Howard)
1969 Judd for the Defense Phil Beeton "Between the Dark and the Daylight"
(as Ronny Howard)
Daniel Boone Luke "A Man Before His Time"
(as Ronny Howard)
1968–1969 Lancer Various roles 2 episodes
(as Ronny Howard)
1969 Gunsmoke Jamie "Charlie Noon"
(as Ronny Howard)
Land of the Giants Jodar "Genus At Work"
(as Ronny Howard)
1970 Smoke Chris (as Ronny Howard)
The Headmaster Tony Landis "Will the Real Mother of Tony Landis Please Stand Up?"
Lassie Gary "Gary Here Comes Glory!" Part 1 & 2
(as Ronny Howard)
1971–1972 The Smith Family Bob Smith 39 episodes
1972 Love, American Style Richard 'Richie' Cunningham "Love and the Happy Days"
The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Cory Merlino "Discovery at Fourteen"
(as Ronny Howard)
1973 M*A*S*H Private Walter/ Wendell Peterson "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet"
(as Ronny Howard)
1974 The Waltons Seth Turner "The Gift"
The Migrants Lyle Barlow
Locusts Donny Fletcher
1974–1984 Happy Days Richard 'Richie' Cunningham 171 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
1975 Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn
1976 I'm a Fool Andy
1976–1979 Laverne & Shirley Richard 'Richie' Cunningham 2 episodes
1980 Act of Love Leon Cybulkowski
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang Richard 'Richie' Cunningham (voice)
"King for a Day"
1981 Bitter Harvest Ned De Vries
Fire on the Mountain Lee Mackie
1983 When Your Lover Leaves (uncredited)
1986 Return to Mayberry Opie Taylor
1999 Frasier Stephen voice
"Good Samaritan"
2003–2006 Arrested Development Narrator (uncredited)
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd233/willowhaven70/Howard.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b192/kesmit/ronhoward011.jpg
I like the way he uses his family as extras in all his films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/01/11 at 5:32 pm


I like the way he uses his family as extras in all his films.

Well between him and Adam Sandler, his brother Clint has had some good roles.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/01/11 at 5:51 pm

He was the little boy with the lisp...in The Music Man. Always liked that movie... :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/01/11 at 7:37 pm


He used to be a neighbor of mine. (He lived in the next town over.) So many people who I knew said they saw him in the grocery store or about town but not me.  :\'( :\'(


Cat


Ron Howard? Wow. :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/02/11 at 4:33 am

The person of the day...Dr. Suess
Theodor Seuss Geisel (pronounced /ˈɡaɪzəl/; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991), commonly known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, was an American writer and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone. He published 44 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including eleven television specials, three feature films, and a Broadway musical.

Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the U.S Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.
As World War II began, Geisel turned to political cartoons, drawing over 400 in two years as editorial cartoonist for the left-leaning New York City daily newspaper, PM. Geisel's political cartoons, later published in Dr. Seuss Goes to War, denounced Hitler and Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists ("isolationists"), most notably Charles Lindbergh, who opposed American entry into the war. One cartoon depicted all Japanese Americans as latent traitors or fifth-columnists, while at the same time other cartoons deplored the racism at home against Jews and blacks that harmed the war effort. His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt's handling of the war, combining the usual exhortations to ration and contribute to the war effort with frequent attacks on Congress (especially the Republican Party), parts of the press (such as the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald), and others for criticism of Roosevelt, criticism of aid to the Soviet Union, investigation of suspected Communists, and other offenses that he depicted as leading to disunity and helping the Nazis, intentionally or inadvertently.

In 1942, Geisel turned his energies to direct support of the U.S. war effort. First, he worked drawing posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. Then, in 1943, he joined the Army and was commander of the Animation Dept of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces, where he wrote films that included Your Job in Germany, a 1945 propaganda film about peace in Europe after World War II, Our Job in Japan, and the Private Snafu series of adult army training films. While in the Army, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Our Job in Japan became the basis for the commercially released film, Design for Death (1947), a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), which was based on an original story by Seuss, won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.
Later years

After the war, Geisel and his wife moved to La Jolla, California. Returning to children's books, he wrote many works, including such children's favorites as If I Ran the Zoo, (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1954), Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), If I Ran the Circus (1956),"The Cat in the Hat", How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Although he received numerous awards throughout his career, Geisel won neither the Caldecott Medal nor the Newbery Medal. Three of his titles from this period were, however, chosen as Caldecott runners-up (now referred to as Caldecott Honor books): McElligot's Pool (1937), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1939), and If I Ran the Zoo (1950). Dr Seuss also wrote the musical and fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, which was released in 1953. The movie was a critical and financial failure, and Geisel never attempted another feature film. At the same time, an important development occurred that influenced much of Geisel's later work. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Accordingly, William Ellsworth Spaulding, the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin who later became its Chairman, compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down." Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. This book was described as a tour de force by some reviewers-—it retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works, but because of its simplified vocabulary could be read by beginning readers. These books achieved significant international success and they remain very popular. For example in 2009 Green Eggs and Ham sold 540,366 copies, The Cat in the Hat sold 452,258 copies, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish sold 409,068 copies, outselling the majority of newly published children's books.

Geisel went on to write many other children's books, both in his new simplified-vocabulary manner (sold as Beginner Books) and in his older, more elaborate style. The Beginner Books were not easy for Geisel and reportedly took him months to complete.

On October 23, 1967, suffering from a long struggle with illnesses including cancer, as well as emotional pain over her husband's affair with Audrey Stone Dimond, Geisel's wife, Helen Palmer Geisel, committed suicide. Geisel married Audrey on June 21, 1968. Though he devoted most of his life to writing children's books, Geisel had no children of his own. He would say, when asked about this, "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em."
Death and posthumous honors

Geisel died of throat cancer on September 24, 1991, following several years of poor health, in San Diego, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered. On December 1, 1995, four years after his death, UCSD's University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Geisel and Audrey for the generous contributions they made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy.

While living in La Jolla, the United States Postal Service and others frequently confused Geisel with another La Jolla resident, Dr. Hans Suess. Their names have been linked together posthumously: the personal papers of Hans Suess are housed in the Geisel Library at UC San Diego.

In 2002, the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden opened in his birthplace of Springfield, Massachusetts; it features sculptures of Geisel and of many of his characters. On May 28, 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Geisel would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony took place December 15 and his widow Audrey accepted the honor in his place. On March 2, 2009, the web search engine Google temporarily changed its logo to commemorate Geisel's birthday (a practice it often follows for various holidays and events). At his alma mater, Dartmouth, where over 90% of incoming first-year students participate in pre-registration Dartmouth Outing Club trips into the New Hampshire wilderness, it is traditional for students returning from the trips to overnight at Dartmouth's Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, where they are served green eggs and ham for breakfast in honor of Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss's honors include two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Pen names and pronunciations

Geisel's pen name is regularly pronounced /ˈsuːs/ sooss or /ˈsjuːs/ sewss, an anglicized pronunciation inconsistent with his German surname. He himself noted that it rhymed with "voice" (his own pronunciation being /ˈsɔɪs/ soyss) and Alexander Liang (his collaborator on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern) wrote of him:

    You’re wrong as the deuce
    And you shouldn’t rejoice
    If you’re calling him Seuss.
    He pronounces it Soice.

Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation from German because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children’s books to be associated with—Mother Goose" and because most people used this pronunciation.

For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used the pen name "Theo LeSieg;" "Theo" is short for his own personal name of "Theodor," and "LeSieg" is "Geisel" backwards.
Though Geisel made a point of not beginning the writing of his stories with a moral in mind, stating that "kids can see a moral coming a mile off," he was not against writing about issues; he said that "there's an inherent moral in any story," and he remarked that he was "subversive as hell."

Many of Geisel's books are thought to express his views on a myriad of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Hitler and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), criticizing the materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1950), about anti-isolationism and internationalism. Shortly before the end of the 1972–1974 Watergate scandal, in which United States president Richard Nixon resigned, Geisel converted one of his famous children's books into a polemic. "Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!" was published in major newspapers through the column of his friend Art Buchwald.

Although Geisel never wrote about or expressed any public opinion on the abortion debate, the line "A person's a person, no matter how small!!" from Horton Hears a Who! has grown, despite the objections of his widow, into widespread use on the pro-life side of the issue, despite the fact that in its original context, it is thoroughly unrelated to abortion issues.
Poetic meters

Geisel wrote most of his books in anapestic tetrameter, a poetic meter employed by many poets of the English literary canon. This characteristic style of writing, which draws and pulls the reader into the text, is often suggested as one of the reasons that Geisel's writing was so well-received.

Anapestic tetrameter consists of four rhythmic units, anapests, each composed of two weak beats followed by one strong beat; often, the first weak syllable is omitted, or an additional weak syllable is added at the end. An example of this meter can be found in Geisel's "Yertle the Turtle", from Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories:

    "And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he
    Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see."

Geisel generally maintained this rhythm quite strictly, but in his later career somewhat relaxed this tendency. The consistency of his meter was one of his hallmarks; the many imitators and parodists of Geisel are often unable to write in strict anapestic tetrameter, or are unaware that they should, and thus sound clumsy in comparison.

Some books by Geisel that are written mainly in anapestic tetrameter also contain many lines written in amphibrachic tetrameter, such as these from If I Ran the Circus:

    "All ready to put up the tents for my circus.
    I think I will call it the Circus McGurkus.

    "And NOW comes an act of Enormous Enormance!
    No former performers performed this performance!"

Geisel also wrote verse in trochaic tetrameter, an arrangement of a strong beat followed by a weak beat, with four units per line (for example, the title of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish). The formula for trochaic meter permits the final weak position in the line to be omitted, which facilitates the construction of rhymes.

Geisel generally maintained trochaic meter only for brief passages, and for longer stretches typically mixed it with iambic tetrameter, which consists of a weak beat followed by a strong, and is generally considered easier to write. Thus, for example, the magicians in Bartholomew and the Oobleck make their first appearance chanting in trochees (thus resembling the witches of Shakespeare's Macbeth):

    "Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff"

then switch to iambs for the oobleck spell:

    "Go make the Oobleck tumble down
    On every street, in every town!"
For most of his career, Geisel was reluctant to have his characters marketed in contexts outside of his own books. However, he did allow for the creation of several animated cartoons, an art form in which he himself had gained experience during the Second World War, and gradually relaxed his policy as he aged.

The first adaptation of one of Geisel's works was a cartoon version of Horton Hatches the Egg, animated at Warner Brothers in 1942. Directed by Robert Clampett, it was presented as part of the Looney Tunes series, and included a number of gags not present in the original narrative, including a fish committing suicide and a Katharine Hepburn imitation by Maisie.

In 1959, Geisel authorized Revell, the well-known plastic model-making company, to make a series of "animals" that snapped together rather than being glued together, and could be assembled, disassembled and re-assembled "in thousands" of ways. The series was called the "Dr. Seuss Zoo" and included Gowdy the Dowdy Grackle, Norval the Bashful Blinket, Tingo the Noodle Topped Stroodle and Roscoe the Many Footed Lion. The basic body parts were the same and all were interchangeable, and so it was possible for children to combine parts from various characters in essentially unlimited ways in creating their own animal characters (Revell encouraged this by selling Gowdy, Norval and Tingo together in a "Gift Set" as well as individually). Revell also made a conventional glue-together "beginner's kit" of The Cat in the Hat.

In 1966, Geisel authorized the eminent cartoon artist Chuck Jones, his friend and former colleague from the war, to make a cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Geisel was credited as a co-producer, along with Jones, under his real name, "Ted Geisel." The cartoon, narrated by Boris Karloff, who also provided the voice of the Grinch, was very faithful to the original book, and is considered a classic by many to this day; it is often broadcast as an annual Christmas television special. In 1970, an adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Pictures.

From 1971 to 1983, Geisel wrote seven Warner Bros. specials, which were produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and aired on CBS: Horton Hatches the Egg (1971), Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1977), and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1983). Several of the specials were nominated for and won multiple Academy Awards.

A Soviet paint-on-glass-animated short film called Welcome (an adaptation of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose) was made in 1986. The last adaptation of Geisel's works before he died was The Butter Battle Book, a television special based on the book of the same name, directed by adult animation legend Ralph Bakshi. Geisel himself called the special "the most faithful adaptation of his work."

After Geisel died of cancer at the age of 87 in 1991, his widow Audrey Geisel was placed in charge of all licensing matters. She approved a live-action feature film version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey, as well as a Seuss-themed Broadway musical called Seussical, and both premiered in 2000. The Grinch has had limited engagement runs on Broadway during the Christmas season, after premiering in 1998 (under the title How the Grinch Stole Christmas) at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where it has become a Christmas tradition. In 2003, another live-action film was released, this time an adaptation of The Cat in the Hat that featured Mike Myers as the title character. Audrey Geisel was vocal in her dislike of the film, especially the casting of Myers as the Cat in the Hat, and stated that there would be no further live-action adaptations of Geisel's books. However, an animated CGI feature film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was approved, and was eventually released on March 14, 2008, to critical acclaim.

Two television series have been adapted from Geisel's work. The first, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, was a mix of live-action and puppetry by Jim Henson Television, the producers of The Muppets. It aired for one season on Nickelodeon in the United States, from 1996 to 1997. The second, Gerald McBoing-Boing, is an animated television adaptation of Geisel's 1951 cartoon of the same name. Produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Entertainment, it ran from 2005 to 2007.

Geisel's books and characters are also featured in Seuss Landing, one of many islands at the Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida. In an attempt to match Geisel's visual style, there are reportedly "no straight lines" in Seuss Landing.
http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp14/MAGNAMANAMOUS/theodor-seuss-geisel.gif
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f333/GreyHawk121/169px-Ted_Geisel_NYWTS_2_crop.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/02/11 at 6:56 am


The person of the day...Dr. Suess
Theodor Seuss Geisel (pronounced /ˈɡaɪzəl/; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991), commonly known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, was an American writer and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone. He published 44 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including eleven television specials, three feature films, and a Broadway musical.

Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the U.S Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.
As World War II began, Geisel turned to political cartoons, drawing over 400 in two years as editorial cartoonist for the left-leaning New York City daily newspaper, PM. Geisel's political cartoons, later published in Dr. Seuss Goes to War, denounced Hitler and Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists ("isolationists"), most notably Charles Lindbergh, who opposed American entry into the war. One cartoon depicted all Japanese Americans as latent traitors or fifth-columnists, while at the same time other cartoons deplored the racism at home against Jews and blacks that harmed the war effort. His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt's handling of the war, combining the usual exhortations to ration and contribute to the war effort with frequent attacks on Congress (especially the Republican Party), parts of the press (such as the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald), and others for criticism of Roosevelt, criticism of aid to the Soviet Union, investigation of suspected Communists, and other offenses that he depicted as leading to disunity and helping the Nazis, intentionally or inadvertently.

In 1942, Geisel turned his energies to direct support of the U.S. war effort. First, he worked drawing posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. Then, in 1943, he joined the Army and was commander of the Animation Dept of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces, where he wrote films that included Your Job in Germany, a 1945 propaganda film about peace in Europe after World War II, Our Job in Japan, and the Private Snafu series of adult army training films. While in the Army, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Our Job in Japan became the basis for the commercially released film, Design for Death (1947), a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), which was based on an original story by Seuss, won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.
Later years

After the war, Geisel and his wife moved to La Jolla, California. Returning to children's books, he wrote many works, including such children's favorites as If I Ran the Zoo, (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1954), Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), If I Ran the Circus (1956),"The Cat in the Hat", How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Although he received numerous awards throughout his career, Geisel won neither the Caldecott Medal nor the Newbery Medal. Three of his titles from this period were, however, chosen as Caldecott runners-up (now referred to as Caldecott Honor books): McElligot's Pool (1937), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1939), and If I Ran the Zoo (1950). Dr Seuss also wrote the musical and fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, which was released in 1953. The movie was a critical and financial failure, and Geisel never attempted another feature film. At the same time, an important development occurred that influenced much of Geisel's later work. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Accordingly, William Ellsworth Spaulding, the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin who later became its Chairman, compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down." Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. This book was described as a tour de force by some reviewers-—it retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works, but because of its simplified vocabulary could be read by beginning readers. These books achieved significant international success and they remain very popular. For example in 2009 Green Eggs and Ham sold 540,366 copies, The Cat in the Hat sold 452,258 copies, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish sold 409,068 copies, outselling the majority of newly published children's books.

Geisel went on to write many other children's books, both in his new simplified-vocabulary manner (sold as Beginner Books) and in his older, more elaborate style. The Beginner Books were not easy for Geisel and reportedly took him months to complete.

On October 23, 1967, suffering from a long struggle with illnesses including cancer, as well as emotional pain over her husband's affair with Audrey Stone Dimond, Geisel's wife, Helen Palmer Geisel, committed suicide. Geisel married Audrey on June 21, 1968. Though he devoted most of his life to writing children's books, Geisel had no children of his own. He would say, when asked about this, "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em."
Death and posthumous honors

Geisel died of throat cancer on September 24, 1991, following several years of poor health, in San Diego, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered. On December 1, 1995, four years after his death, UCSD's University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Geisel and Audrey for the generous contributions they made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy.

While living in La Jolla, the United States Postal Service and others frequently confused Geisel with another La Jolla resident, Dr. Hans Suess. Their names have been linked together posthumously: the personal papers of Hans Suess are housed in the Geisel Library at UC San Diego.

In 2002, the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden opened in his birthplace of Springfield, Massachusetts; it features sculptures of Geisel and of many of his characters. On May 28, 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Geisel would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony took place December 15 and his widow Audrey accepted the honor in his place. On March 2, 2009, the web search engine Google temporarily changed its logo to commemorate Geisel's birthday (a practice it often follows for various holidays and events). At his alma mater, Dartmouth, where over 90% of incoming first-year students participate in pre-registration Dartmouth Outing Club trips into the New Hampshire wilderness, it is traditional for students returning from the trips to overnight at Dartmouth's Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, where they are served green eggs and ham for breakfast in honor of Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss's honors include two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Pen names and pronunciations

Geisel's pen name is regularly pronounced /ˈsuːs/ sooss or /ˈsjuːs/ sewss, an anglicized pronunciation inconsistent with his German surname. He himself noted that it rhymed with "voice" (his own pronunciation being /ˈsɔɪs/ soyss) and Alexander Liang (his collaborator on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern) wrote of him:

    You’re wrong as the deuce
    And you shouldn’t rejoice
    If you’re calling him Seuss.
    He pronounces it Soice.

Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation from German because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children’s books to be associated with—Mother Goose" and because most people used this pronunciation.

For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used the pen name "Theo LeSieg;" "Theo" is short for his own personal name of "Theodor," and "LeSieg" is "Geisel" backwards.
Though Geisel made a point of not beginning the writing of his stories with a moral in mind, stating that "kids can see a moral coming a mile off," he was not against writing about issues; he said that "there's an inherent moral in any story," and he remarked that he was "subversive as hell."

Many of Geisel's books are thought to express his views on a myriad of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Hitler and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), criticizing the materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1950), about anti-isolationism and internationalism. Shortly before the end of the 1972–1974 Watergate scandal, in which United States president Richard Nixon resigned, Geisel converted one of his famous children's books into a polemic. "Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!" was published in major newspapers through the column of his friend Art Buchwald.

Although Geisel never wrote about or expressed any public opinion on the abortion debate, the line "A person's a person, no matter how small!!" from Horton Hears a Who! has grown, despite the objections of his widow, into widespread use on the pro-life side of the issue, despite the fact that in its original context, it is thoroughly unrelated to abortion issues.
Poetic meters

Geisel wrote most of his books in anapestic tetrameter, a poetic meter employed by many poets of the English literary canon. This characteristic style of writing, which draws and pulls the reader into the text, is often suggested as one of the reasons that Geisel's writing was so well-received.

Anapestic tetrameter consists of four rhythmic units, anapests, each composed of two weak beats followed by one strong beat; often, the first weak syllable is omitted, or an additional weak syllable is added at the end. An example of this meter can be found in Geisel's "Yertle the Turtle", from Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories:

    "And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he
    Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see."

Geisel generally maintained this rhythm quite strictly, but in his later career somewhat relaxed this tendency. The consistency of his meter was one of his hallmarks; the many imitators and parodists of Geisel are often unable to write in strict anapestic tetrameter, or are unaware that they should, and thus sound clumsy in comparison.

Some books by Geisel that are written mainly in anapestic tetrameter also contain many lines written in amphibrachic tetrameter, such as these from If I Ran the Circus:

    "All ready to put up the tents for my circus.
    I think I will call it the Circus McGurkus.

    "And NOW comes an act of Enormous Enormance!
    No former performers performed this performance!"

Geisel also wrote verse in trochaic tetrameter, an arrangement of a strong beat followed by a weak beat, with four units per line (for example, the title of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish). The formula for trochaic meter permits the final weak position in the line to be omitted, which facilitates the construction of rhymes.

Geisel generally maintained trochaic meter only for brief passages, and for longer stretches typically mixed it with iambic tetrameter, which consists of a weak beat followed by a strong, and is generally considered easier to write. Thus, for example, the magicians in Bartholomew and the Oobleck make their first appearance chanting in trochees (thus resembling the witches of Shakespeare's Macbeth):

    "Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff"

then switch to iambs for the oobleck spell:

    "Go make the Oobleck tumble down
    On every street, in every town!"
For most of his career, Geisel was reluctant to have his characters marketed in contexts outside of his own books. However, he did allow for the creation of several animated cartoons, an art form in which he himself had gained experience during the Second World War, and gradually relaxed his policy as he aged.

The first adaptation of one of Geisel's works was a cartoon version of Horton Hatches the Egg, animated at Warner Brothers in 1942. Directed by Robert Clampett, it was presented as part of the Looney Tunes series, and included a number of gags not present in the original narrative, including a fish committing suicide and a Katharine Hepburn imitation by Maisie.

In 1959, Geisel authorized Revell, the well-known plastic model-making company, to make a series of "animals" that snapped together rather than being glued together, and could be assembled, disassembled and re-assembled "in thousands" of ways. The series was called the "Dr. Seuss Zoo" and included Gowdy the Dowdy Grackle, Norval the Bashful Blinket, Tingo the Noodle Topped Stroodle and Roscoe the Many Footed Lion. The basic body parts were the same and all were interchangeable, and so it was possible for children to combine parts from various characters in essentially unlimited ways in creating their own animal characters (Revell encouraged this by selling Gowdy, Norval and Tingo together in a "Gift Set" as well as individually). Revell also made a conventional glue-together "beginner's kit" of The Cat in the Hat.

In 1966, Geisel authorized the eminent cartoon artist Chuck Jones, his friend and former colleague from the war, to make a cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Geisel was credited as a co-producer, along with Jones, under his real name, "Ted Geisel." The cartoon, narrated by Boris Karloff, who also provided the voice of the Grinch, was very faithful to the original book, and is considered a classic by many to this day; it is often broadcast as an annual Christmas television special. In 1970, an adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Pictures.

From 1971 to 1983, Geisel wrote seven Warner Bros. specials, which were produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and aired on CBS: Horton Hatches the Egg (1971), Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1977), and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1983). Several of the specials were nominated for and won multiple Academy Awards.

A Soviet paint-on-glass-animated short film called Welcome (an adaptation of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose) was made in 1986. The last adaptation of Geisel's works before he died was The Butter Battle Book, a television special based on the book of the same name, directed by adult animation legend Ralph Bakshi. Geisel himself called the special "the most faithful adaptation of his work."

After Geisel died of cancer at the age of 87 in 1991, his widow Audrey Geisel was placed in charge of all licensing matters. She approved a live-action feature film version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey, as well as a Seuss-themed Broadway musical called Seussical, and both premiered in 2000. The Grinch has had limited engagement runs on Broadway during the Christmas season, after premiering in 1998 (under the title How the Grinch Stole Christmas) at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where it has become a Christmas tradition. In 2003, another live-action film was released, this time an adaptation of The Cat in the Hat that featured Mike Myers as the title character. Audrey Geisel was vocal in her dislike of the film, especially the casting of Myers as the Cat in the Hat, and stated that there would be no further live-action adaptations of Geisel's books. However, an animated CGI feature film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was approved, and was eventually released on March 14, 2008, to critical acclaim.

Two television series have been adapted from Geisel's work. The first, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, was a mix of live-action and puppetry by Jim Henson Television, the producers of The Muppets. It aired for one season on Nickelodeon in the United States, from 1996 to 1997. The second, Gerald McBoing-Boing, is an animated television adaptation of Geisel's 1951 cartoon of the same name. Produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Entertainment, it ran from 2005 to 2007.

Geisel's books and characters are also featured in Seuss Landing, one of many islands at the Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida. In an attempt to match Geisel's visual style, there are reportedly "no straight lines" in Seuss Landing.
http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp14/MAGNAMANAMOUS/theodor-seuss-geisel.gif
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f333/GreyHawk121/169px-Ted_Geisel_NYWTS_2_crop.jpg



I always read Dr.Seuss books.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/11 at 4:59 am

The person of the day...Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Biel (born March 3, 1982) is an American actress, model, and occasional singer. Biel is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven. She has also appeared in several Hollywood films, including Summer Catch, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Illusionist, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and The A-Team
Biel initially trained to be a vocalist, and from age nine appeared in several musical productions in her hometown, playing lead roles in productions such as Annie, The Sound of Music, and Beauty and the Beast.

At twelve, Biel attended The International Modeling and Talent Association conference in Los Angeles where she was discovered and signed by a talent agency. She began modeling for print advertisements, and appeared in commercials for products such as Dulux Paint and Pringles.

Biel also played the character Regrettal, a lead role in a low-budget musical short titled It's a Digital World, but the film was never released. At fourteen, after auditioning for several television pilots, Biel was cast as Mary Camden, the oldest daughter in the family drama 7th Heaven. The show ran 11 seasons, making it the longest-running family drama in U.S. television history.
Career
1997 – 2002
Biel on board the USS Abraham Lincoln on June 18, 2004

Biel landed her first feature film role as Peter Fonda's granddaughter in the critically-acclaimed drama Ulee's Gold, released in 1997. Her performance earned her a Young Artist Award. In spring 1998, during a break from filming 7th Heaven, Biel starred in I'll Be Home for Christmas, playing the love interest of Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

In 2000, during the fourth season of 7th Heaven, Biel commented that she'd grown tired of playing the wholesome preacher's kid, and blamed the show for giving her a squeaky-clean image, causing her to lose out on a role in American Beauty (the part went to Thora Birch). In a last-ditch attempt to be released from her contract, she posed semi-nude for the cover of Gear magazine. The shoot sparked considerable controversy as Biel was still under eighteen at the time. Fans and producers of 7th Heaven were outraged, and the latter brought legal action against Gear magazine. 7th Heaven producer Aaron Spelling made it clear that Biel would be staying with the show for the remainder of her contract, although Biel appeared in minimal episodes in season five, due to her character attending college out of state. She has stated that she regrets the Gear shoot but considers it a learning experience.

In 2001, Biel played the love interest of Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the baseball-themed movie Summer Catch. The next year she starred as promiscuous college student Lara in the ensemble movie The Rules of Attraction, an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel.
2003–2005

After leaving 7th Heaven at the end of its sixth season, Biel was cast in her first top-billing role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film met with mixed reviews but her performance was praised and it was a commercial success, scoring the number-one spot in its opening week and going on to earn more than $80 million in the U.S.

In 2003, Biel began work on the third installment of the Blade film series, Blade: Trinity. Almost immediately after finishing it in 2004, she headed to Australia to shoot the action-thriller Stealth. Both movies were critical and box office failures. Stealth had a budget of $130 million but grossed $76 million worldwide. Biel also made a cameo appearance in the 2004 film Cellular.

Biel went on to audition for the role of Claire Colburn in the romantic comedy Elizabethtown, but the role eventually went to Kirsten Dunst. Biel was instead cast in a smaller role as Ellen Kishmore. She then played the title character in the indie film London.
2006–present
Biel at the 2005 Stealth premiere

Biel's film career blossomed when she played a turn-of-the-century duchess in the period piece The Illusionist, co-starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. The movie received mostly positive reviews and was a turning point for Biel, who had previously played more contemporary roles. She received the Rising Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and an Achievement Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival for her performance.

Biel played an Iraq War veteran in the 2006 film Home of the Brave, a drama about soldiers struggling to adjust back into society after facing the hardships of war. Her performance was well-received but the movie was a commercial failure. After being pulled from theaters twice, it eventually went to DVD in late 2007. Biel and Home of the Brave co-star Samuel L. Jackson were nominated for Prism Awards for their performances.

Meanwhile, after a three-year absence from television, Biel returned for what was to be the series finale of 7th Heaven (the show was later unexpectedly renewed at the last minute by The CW Television Network). The episode had already been initially shot, but producer and creator Brenda Hampton was determined to have Biel featured in the episode, so Biel agreed to shoot her scenes during a break from filming her upcoming 2007 film Next.

In Next, Biel played alongside Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore. She then played in the summer comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Like her earlier film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Chuck and Larry received mixed reviews, but opened its first week at number one at the box office. Biel also produced and starred in a short film titled Hole in the Paper Sky, which was released in 2008.

Biel was invited to announce nominations at both the Golden Globe Awards (with Rosario Dawson and Matthew Perry) and the Academy Awards in 2007.

In late 2007, Biel signed on to play a stripper in Powder Blue, alongside Forest Whitaker (who also produced the film) Ray Liotta and Patrick Swayze.
Biel with Josh Lucas on the Stealth set.

At the start of 2008, Biel shot Easy Virtue, an adaptation of the play by Noël Coward. Like the play, the movie is set in the 1920s and Biel plays young widow Larita, who impulsively marries John Whittaker in France and must face her disapproving in-laws on returning to England. The film premiered in September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Critics praised Biel for her performance, with Todd McCarthy of Variety saying Biel "more than kept up" with veterans Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth and praising her "sparkling" performance. The Hollywood Reporter described her performance as "an irresistible force of nature — a kind, witty, supremely intelligent and beautiful woman who ... is capable of rejoinders that thoroughly undercut her opponent's withering criticism."

In 2009, Biel lent her voice to the animated science-fiction film Planet 51.

In April 2008, Biel began working on the political satire Nailed, with Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie centers around a woman who accidentally gets a nail lodged in her head, then travels to Washington D.C. to fight for better health care. Filming wrapped up in late June after several production shutdowns. She is also co-producing and starring in Die a Little, a contemporary adaptation of the novel by Megan Abbott. A filming start date has not been set.
Musical endeavor

Biel applied to join the a cappella choir the Tufts Amalgamates while studying at University but was not accepted.

Biel performed two songs on the Easy Virtue soundtrack, "Mad About the Boy" and "When the Going Gets Tough".

The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that Biel would perform the role of "Sarah Brown" in a fully-staged concert production of Guys and Dolls during the 2009 season at the Hollywood Bowl. On the last night, she received a rousing standing ovation from 17,000 people.

Biel also landed a part in Lincoln Center Theater's two-week-long workshop of the musical version of the Pedro Almodóvar classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, along with Salma Hayek.
Charity work
Jessica Biel in 2007

On July 18, 2006, Biel participated in a charity auction to raise medical funds for Colorado teen Molly Bloom, who was injured in a limousine accident. John Schiffner of Fergus Falls, Minnesota successfully bid $30,000 to have lunch with Biel. "I promise I'm a cheap date," Biel quipped. Biel and Schiffner lunched at The Palm restaurant in Denver, Colorado on August 18, 2006.

In early 2007, Jessica co-founded the Make the Difference Network with her father and another business partner, Kent McBride. Make the Difference Network (MTDN) is a cause-oriented social network that connects non-profit organizations with potential donors and increases the awareness for small-to-medium non-profit organizations. MTDN's mission is to democratize giving by increasing the visibility of thousands of non-profit organizations and empowering potential donors to search, select, and fund these organizations' specific "wishes" and then to see the results of their giving. Make the Difference Network was also featured at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative, where they made a commitment to democratize giving through the use of a social network.

In 2010, Biel climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with members of the United Nation Foundation to raise awareness of the global water crisis. Also in 2010, Biel's humanitarian and charity work (as well as her popularity with young people) earned her a nomination for a Do Something Award. The awards show, produced by VH1, is dedicated to honoring people who do good and is powered by Do Something, an organization that aims to empower, celebrate, and inspire young people.
Honors
Awards

    * 1998: Young Artist Award — Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress in Ulee's Gold
    * 2005: ShoWest Award Female Star of Tomorrow — 2005 ShoWest Convention
    * 2007: Rising-Star Award — Palm Springs International Film Festival 2007 Gala Awards

Rankings

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (July 2010)

    * Ranked #99 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The World" (2002).
    * Ranked #98 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties".(2003)
    * Esquire magazine named her the "Sexiest Woman Alive" in a 2005 six-part series, with each month revealing a different body part and clue to the woman's identity.
    * Ranked #1 in Stuff magazine's "100 Sexiest Women" (2007).
    * Ranked as #5 on Maxim's Hot 100 for 2007 and #11 on Maxim's Top 100 for 2009.
    * Ranked #7 by AskMen.com readers in the list "Top 99 Women 2008."
    * Ranked #4 by FHM US magazine in their 2009 list of "100 Sexiest Women".
    * Actress Jennifer Garner praised her saying "there's an earthiness and a strength to it" that brings her beauty to another level.

Personal life

Biel dated actor Adam LaVorgna from 1998 to 2001. They were co-stars in the film I'll Be Home for Christmas and on 7th Heaven. She dated actor Chris Evans from 2001 to June 2006, and appeared opposite him in the films Cellular and London. She has been dating Justin Timberlake since 2007. She has also been romantically linked to actor Ryan Reynolds, and baseball player Derek Jeter.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1996–
2006 7th Heaven Mary Camden Young Artist Award (Best Leading Actress) – 1998
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress 2002, 2003
1997 Ulee's Gold Casey Jackson Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Actress
1998 I'll Be Home for Christmas Allie
2001 Summer Catch Tenley Parrish
2002 Rules of Attraction, TheThe Rules of Attraction Lara Holleran
2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, TheThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre Erin Hardesty Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
2004 It's a Digital World Regrettal (voice)
Cellular Chloe
Blade: Trinity Abigail Whistler
2005 Stealth Lieutenant Kara Wade
Elizabethtown Ellen Kishmore
London London
Family Guy Brooke Episode: "Brian the Bachelor"
2006 Illusionist, TheThe Illusionist Duchess Sophie von Teschen Newport Beach Film Festival Best Achievement Award
Home of the Brave Vanessa Price
2007 Next Liz Cooper Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Alex McDonough
2008 Hole in the Paper Sky Karen Watkins Short film, also executive producer
Easy Virtue Larita Whittaker
2009 Planet 51 Neera (voice)
Powder Blue Rose-Johnny
2010 Valentine's Day Kara Monahan Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Hissy Fit
A-Team, TheThe A-Team Charisa Sosa
Nailed Alice Eckle
2011 The Tall Man Julia Denning
New Years Eve
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/bbb44bb/Biel/biel-illusionist-101.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/jsjbyrd/Jessica_Biel.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/03/11 at 7:13 am

Jessica Biel is hot,I need some more pictures. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/03/11 at 7:14 am


Jessica Biel is hot,I need some more pictures. ;)



Down, Boy. Go take a cold shower.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/03/11 at 7:19 am



Down, Boy. Go take a cold shower.


Cat


I'm an older man,Can't I have my moment?  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/11 at 9:27 am


Jessica Biel is hot,I need some more pictures. ;)

I picked her special for you today ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/03/11 at 1:24 pm


I picked her special for you today ;)


Cause it's my birthday Saturday. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/03/11 at 3:05 pm


Jessica Biel is hot,I need some more pictures. ;)
Never heard of her!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/03/11 at 3:06 pm


Never heard of her!

She is well known in the United States.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/03/11 at 3:56 pm


Cause it's my birthday Saturday. ;)

Yes that's right it's an early birthday present ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/04/11 at 5:01 am

The person of the day...Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress, singer and former child star, well known for her television and film appearances. Her films include Lethal Weapon 2 and she has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, as well as herself fronting the band Eighth Wonder.
Born to James Henry Kensit (1915–87) and Margaret Rose Kensit (née Doohan, 1947–93), a native of Ireland who died from breast cancer, Patsy Kensit has an older brother Jamie. Her mother was a publicist; her father was an associate of the notorious London gangsters the Kray twins. Nicknamed "Jimmy the Dip", he was also reportedly an associate of the rival Richardsons, running long firms for the gang. He served time in prison before Kensit was born; she believed he was an antiques dealer. Her paternal grandfather was a robber and counterfeiter, and her brother's godfather was Reggie Kray. She attended Corona Theatre School.

Kensit was raised Catholic and still practices today.
Career
Early work

At the age of four, Kensit appeared in a television advert for Birds Eye frozen peas. In 1972, she had her first big screen role in the film For the Love of Ada. Her next film role was two years later in The Great Gatsby starring with Mia Farrow—whom she would later portray in the 1995 biopic Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story.

As a pupil at the Italia Conti Academy stage school, Kensit's first starring roles were in British children's television programmes such as The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982) and Luna. She also appeared as Estella in a BBC adaptation of Great Expectations in 1981 and as Lady Margaret Plantagenet in the 1982 BBC production of Shakespeare's Richard III.
Rise to fame

In 1985 Kensit led a dual career as the lead singer of the band Eighth Wonder and an actress. Eighth Wonder had two Top 40 singles ("I'm Not Scared" UK Number 7 and "Cross My Heart" UK Number 13) and appeared on Top of the Pops, while Kensit also starred as Eppie in an adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley. At the time, Kensit stated: "All I want is to be more famous than anything or anyone".

In 1986, she won the lead female role in the film version of Absolute Beginners, based on the book by Colin MacInnes. In November 1987, she sang a duet with the Italian singer and songwriter, Eros Ramazzotti, entitled 'La luce buona delle stelle', which in English translates to 'The Good Light Of The Stars'. In 1988, Eighth Wonder had their only UK top 10 hit with "I'm Not Scared", which was written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys. Although the band's success quickly waned, the song appeared in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2, in which Kensit, now focused solely on being an actress, played Rika van den Haas, a South African consulate secretary with whom cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) falls in love.

Following Lethal Weapon 2, she appeared in the 1991 independent feature, Twenty-One for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Of her role, Variety magazine wrote, "Fans of Kensit get plenty of her; her lovely face and form are always the center of attention. The cool control with which she executes the role is admirable". In 1992, she had a leading role in the British film Blame it on the Bellboy as Miss Carolyn Wright, a desperate real estate dealer in Venice who would stop at nothing to clinch a deal.

In 1995, Kensit starred in Angels & Insects, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Rylance, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design and directed by Philip Haas . Kensit's last major lead film role was in the Newcastle-based The One and Only.
Return to fame

In 2004, Kensit joined the cast of British soap opera Emmerdale, playing the character Sadie King, and also regularly featured in the third series of Channel 4's Bo' Selecta! and its 2005 spin-off series A Bear's Tail. Kensit's success as the soap super-bitch and in a popular comedy brought her back to the attention of the British public.

In September and October 2005 she appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Play Your Cards Right before being eliminated by Carol Vorderman, the eventual winner of the series. Kensit was a special guest host on The Friday Night Project on 23 June 2006 with band Placebo. She appeared as The Grand High Witch of all the World at the Children's Party at the Palace in celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006. She also became the voice of online gambling website 32red.com.

Kensit left Emmerdale in September 2006, stating that commuting to Yorkshire and the resultant time away from her sons was too stressful. As part of a dramatic week of episodes which coincided with Jeff Hordley's exit from the show. Hordley's character Cain Dingle and Sadie hatched an elaborate kidnap plan involving Tom King - they set up the transfer of £2 million from the Kings to Cain in order for Tom to be released, however Cain double crossed Sadie. Her last appearance was at an airstrip watching Cain fly away, leaving her penniless and alone.

Kensit has played ward sister Faye Morton in the BBC One medical drama series Holby City since October 2006. Kensit is signed to Models 1 in London.

On 14 March 2010, it was revealed that Kensit has decided to quit her role in Holby City. She stopped filming in September but will be onscreen until the end of the year. She has competed in the 2010 BBC TV series 8 of Strictly Come Dancing partnered by Robin Windsor, they finished in 7th place.
Strictly Come Dancing performances
Week # Dance/song Judges' score Result
Horwood Goodman Dixon Tonioli Total
1 Waltz / When I Need You 4 6 6 6 22 N/A
2 Salsa / Canned Heat 7 7 7 7 28 Safe
3 Quickstep / Black Horse and the Cherry Tree 5 6 7 6 24 Safe
4 Charleston / Hot Honey Rag 6 8 7 7 28 Safe
5 Jive / Monster Mash 7 8 8 8 31 Safe
6 Cha-Cha-Cha / All the Lovers 6 8 7 8 29 Safe
7 Viennese Waltz / Anyone Who Had a Heart 7 9 8 8 32 Safe
8 Samba / Copacabana 6 7 8 7 28 Bottom Two
9 Argentine Tango / They 7 8 8 7 30 Eliminated
Marriages

Kensit briefly dated Michael Head of The Pale Fountains whilst he was living in Breck Road, Hackney in the early eighties.

Kensit has been married four times and all her husbands have been musicians of Irish descent. In 1988, she married Dan Donovan of band Big Audio Dynamite. In 1992, she married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds. During her second marriage, she gave birth to her first child, James in 1992. In 1997, she married Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Kensit and Gallagher had a son, Lennon, named after John Lennon; they divorced in 2000.

By 2000, Kensit's private life had brought her to as much attention as her acting or singing, as the tabloid newspapers detailed the breakdown of her marriage to Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr and her romance with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. Her career stalled as she focused on her marriage, over which she claimed to cry every day of the marriage until it ended, as it eventually headed towards divorce. This personal downward spiral led to the resumption of her acting career.

After her marriage to Gallagher ended in divorce, Kensit spoke openly about her breast augmentation, which took her bust measurement from a 32B to a 35C. She has three tattoos: on her back; above the blade of her left foot (Gaelic words); and on her ankle. She changed the tattoo of her ex-husband's name from Liam to the name of their son, Lennon.

After reported relationships with Ally McCoist, Calum Best, David Walliams, Matt Holbrook, and in 2005 with Jean-Christophe Novelli, Kensit began dating rap artist and beatboxer Killa Kela. They split up after a year, with Kensit stating that she did not see a future with Killa.

Kensit later became involved with the DJ Jeremy Healy and announced that she was marrying for a fourth time on 29 November 2007. On 31 March 2008 it was reported that the pair had split by mutual consent and had called off their wedding. They eventually married on 18 April 2009, in an event covered by a magazine, but the Daily Mail reported in February 2010 that the couple had separated. Kensit has vowed never to marry again following this split, describing it as "embarrassing and humiliating". "This year has been truly, truly awful. I lost my confidence....... But I'm looking forward now, with one million per cent conviction, that I definitely won't be getting married again." she told She magazine.
Filmography
Kensit in France (1991)
Year Title Role Other notes
1972 Birds Eye frozen peas Herself TV advert
For the Love of Ada Little girl TV series, uncredited
1973 The Brothers Toddler TV series, One episode
1974 Z-Cars Joanna Page TV series, One episode
The Great Gatsby Pamela Buchanan
Gold Little Girl at Christmas Party Uncredited
1975 Alfie Darling Penny
Churchill's People Brewster child TV series, One episode
Hennessy Angie Hennessy
1976 The Blue Bird Mytyl
Dickens of London Georgina Hogarth TV series, Two episodes
1978 Armchair Thriller 'Quiet as a Nun' Tessa TV series, Five episodes
1979 Lady Oscar Oscar François de Jarjayes (as a child)
Hanover Street Sarah Sellinger Nominated-Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a Motion Picture
Prince Regent Young Princess Charlotte TV mini-series
The Legend of King Arthur Morgan le Fay (as a child) TV series
Penmarric Young Mariana TV series, Two episodes
Quincy's Quest Jennifer
1980 Hannah Ruth Corder TV series, Four episodes
1981 Great Expectations Young Estella TV series, Two episodes
1982 Disneyland Pollyanna TV series, One episode
The Adventures of Pollyanna Pollyanna TV film
Frost in May Nanda Gray TV series, One episode
1983 The Tragedy of Richard III Lady Margaret Plantagenet TV film
Luna Luna TV series, Six episodes
1984 Diana (TV series) Young Diana TV mini-series, Two episodes
1985 Hallmark Hall of Fame Emilie du Cailland TV series, One episode
Silas Marner Eppie TV film
1986 Absolute Beginners Suzette
1988 Don Bosco Lina
A Chorus of Disapproval Linda Washbrook
1989 Arms and the Man Louka Theatre Night TV series, One episode
Lethal Weapon 2 Rika van den Haas
1990 Kill Cruise Su
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl Joyce Cook
Bullseye! Sick Lady on Train
1991 Adam Bede Hetty Sorrel TV film
Does This Mean We're Married Deena TV film
Timebomb Dr. Anna Nolmar
Blue Tornado Isabella
Twenty-One Katie Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Beltenebros Rebeca
1992 Screen One Hetty Sorrel TV series, One episode
Blame It on the Bellboy Caroline Wright
The Turn of the Screw Jenny
1993 Tales from the Crypt Bridget TV series, One episode
Bitter Harvest Jolene
Full Eclipse Casey Spencer
1994 Fall from Grace Lady Deirdre Sebright TV film
1995 Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story Mia Farrow TV film
Dream Man Kris Anderson
Kleptomania Julie
Angels & Insects Eugenia Alabaster Adamson
At the Midnight Hour Elizabeth Guinness TV film
Tunnel Vision Kelly Wheatstone
1996 Grace of My Heart Cheryl Steed
1998 The Last Don II Josie Cirolia TV mini-series, One episode
Human Bomb Marcia Weller TV film
1999 The Pavilion Clara Huddlestone
Speedway Junky Donna
Janice Beard 45 WPM Julia
2000 Best Anna
Aladdin Princess TV film
2001 Things Behind the Sun Denise
Loves Music, Loves to Dance Darcy Scott TV film
Casualty Charlotte Leith-Jones TV series, One episode
2002 Bad Karma Maureen Hatcher/Agnes
Darkness Falling Vicki
Murder in Mind Angela Stephenson TV series, One episode
The One and Only Stella
2003 Who's Your Daddy? Heather McKay
Shelter Island Alexandria 'Alex'
2004 The All Star Comedy Show Various characters TV series
A Bear's Christmas Tail Helen Hennerson TV Christmas special
Emmerdale Sadie King TV series, 2004–2006
Nominated-British Soap Award for Soap Bitch of the Year (2005 + 2006)
Nominated-National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer
2005 A Bear's Tail Helen Hennerson TV series
2006 Played Cindy
Children's Party at the Palace The Grand High Witch (from The Witches) TV special
2007 The Magic Door Rachel
A Bucket o' French & Saunders Various characters TV series, Two episodes
Holby City Faye Byrne TV series, 2007–2010
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj250/ricktan1978/FHM%20UK/62.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz164/cncdigital/photo%20girl%20sexy/Patsy_Kensit_1024x768_001.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/04/11 at 5:11 am


The person of the day...Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress, singer and former child star, well known for her television and film appearances. Her films include Lethal Weapon 2 and she has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, as well as herself fronting the band Eighth Wonder.
Born to James Henry Kensit (1915–87) and Margaret Rose Kensit (née Doohan, 1947–93), a native of Ireland who died from breast cancer, Patsy Kensit has an older brother Jamie. Her mother was a publicist; her father was an associate of the notorious London gangsters the Kray twins. Nicknamed "Jimmy the Dip", he was also reportedly an associate of the rival Richardsons, running long firms for the gang. He served time in prison before Kensit was born; she believed he was an antiques dealer. Her paternal grandfather was a robber and counterfeiter, and her brother's godfather was Reggie Kray. She attended Corona Theatre School.

Kensit was raised Catholic and still practices today.
Career
Early work

At the age of four, Kensit appeared in a television advert for Birds Eye frozen peas. In 1972, she had her first big screen role in the film For the Love of Ada. Her next film role was two years later in The Great Gatsby starring with Mia Farrow—whom she would later portray in the 1995 biopic Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story.

As a pupil at the Italia Conti Academy stage school, Kensit's first starring roles were in British children's television programmes such as The Adventures of Pollyanna (1982) and Luna. She also appeared as Estella in a BBC adaptation of Great Expectations in 1981 and as Lady Margaret Plantagenet in the 1982 BBC production of Shakespeare's Richard III.
Rise to fame

In 1985 Kensit led a dual career as the lead singer of the band Eighth Wonder and an actress. Eighth Wonder had two Top 40 singles ("I'm Not Scared" UK Number 7 and "Cross My Heart" UK Number 13) and appeared on Top of the Pops, while Kensit also starred as Eppie in an adaptation of Silas Marner, with Ben Kingsley. At the time, Kensit stated: "All I want is to be more famous than anything or anyone".

In 1986, she won the lead female role in the film version of Absolute Beginners, based on the book by Colin MacInnes. In November 1987, she sang a duet with the Italian singer and songwriter, Eros Ramazzotti, entitled 'La luce buona delle stelle', which in English translates to 'The Good Light Of The Stars'. In 1988, Eighth Wonder had their only UK top 10 hit with "I'm Not Scared", which was written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys. Although the band's success quickly waned, the song appeared in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2, in which Kensit, now focused solely on being an actress, played Rika van den Haas, a South African consulate secretary with whom cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) falls in love.

Following Lethal Weapon 2, she appeared in the 1991 independent feature, Twenty-One for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Of her role, Variety magazine wrote, "Fans of Kensit get plenty of her; her lovely face and form are always the center of attention. The cool control with which she executes the role is admirable". In 1992, she had a leading role in the British film Blame it on the Bellboy as Miss Carolyn Wright, a desperate real estate dealer in Venice who would stop at nothing to clinch a deal.

In 1995, Kensit starred in Angels & Insects, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Mark Rylance, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design and directed by Philip Haas . Kensit's last major lead film role was in the Newcastle-based The One and Only.
Return to fame

In 2004, Kensit joined the cast of British soap opera Emmerdale, playing the character Sadie King, and also regularly featured in the third series of Channel 4's Bo' Selecta! and its 2005 spin-off series A Bear's Tail. Kensit's success as the soap super-bitch and in a popular comedy brought her back to the attention of the British public.

In September and October 2005 she appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Play Your Cards Right before being eliminated by Carol Vorderman, the eventual winner of the series. Kensit was a special guest host on The Friday Night Project on 23 June 2006 with band Placebo. She appeared as The Grand High Witch of all the World at the Children's Party at the Palace in celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday in 2006. She also became the voice of online gambling website 32red.com.

Kensit left Emmerdale in September 2006, stating that commuting to Yorkshire and the resultant time away from her sons was too stressful. As part of a dramatic week of episodes which coincided with Jeff Hordley's exit from the show. Hordley's character Cain Dingle and Sadie hatched an elaborate kidnap plan involving Tom King - they set up the transfer of £2 million from the Kings to Cain in order for Tom to be released, however Cain double crossed Sadie. Her last appearance was at an airstrip watching Cain fly away, leaving her penniless and alone.

Kensit has played ward sister Faye Morton in the BBC One medical drama series Holby City since October 2006. Kensit is signed to Models 1 in London.

On 14 March 2010, it was revealed that Kensit has decided to quit her role in Holby City. She stopped filming in September but will be onscreen until the end of the year. She has competed in the 2010 BBC TV series 8 of Strictly Come Dancing partnered by Robin Windsor, they finished in 7th place.
Strictly Come Dancing performances
Week # Dance/song Judges' score Result
Horwood Goodman Dixon Tonioli Total
1 Waltz / When I Need You 4 6 6 6 22 N/A
2 Salsa / Canned Heat 7 7 7 7 28 Safe
3 Quickstep / Black Horse and the Cherry Tree 5 6 7 6 24 Safe
4 Charleston / Hot Honey Rag 6 8 7 7 28 Safe
5 Jive / Monster Mash 7 8 8 8 31 Safe
6 Cha-Cha-Cha / All the Lovers 6 8 7 8 29 Safe
7 Viennese Waltz / Anyone Who Had a Heart 7 9 8 8 32 Safe
8 Samba / Copacabana 6 7 8 7 28 Bottom Two
9 Argentine Tango / They 7 8 8 7 30 Eliminated
Marriages

Kensit briefly dated Michael Head of The Pale Fountains whilst he was living in Breck Road, Hackney in the early eighties.

Kensit has been married four times and all her husbands have been musicians of Irish descent. In 1988, she married Dan Donovan of band Big Audio Dynamite. In 1992, she married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds. During her second marriage, she gave birth to her first child, James in 1992. In 1997, she married Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Kensit and Gallagher had a son, Lennon, named after John Lennon; they divorced in 2000.

By 2000, Kensit's private life had brought her to as much attention as her acting or singing, as the tabloid newspapers detailed the breakdown of her marriage to Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr and her romance with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. Her career stalled as she focused on her marriage, over which she claimed to cry every day of the marriage until it ended, as it eventually headed towards divorce. This personal downward spiral led to the resumption of her acting career.

After her marriage to Gallagher ended in divorce, Kensit spoke openly about her breast augmentation, which took her bust measurement from a 32B to a 35C. She has three tattoos: on her back; above the blade of her left foot (Gaelic words); and on her ankle. She changed the tattoo of her ex-husband's name from Liam to the name of their son, Lennon.

After reported relationships with Ally McCoist, Calum Best, David Walliams, Matt Holbrook, and in 2005 with Jean-Christophe Novelli, Kensit began dating rap artist and beatboxer Killa Kela. They split up after a year, with Kensit stating that she did not see a future with Killa.

Kensit later became involved with the DJ Jeremy Healy and announced that she was marrying for a fourth time on 29 November 2007. On 31 March 2008 it was reported that the pair had split by mutual consent and had called off their wedding. They eventually married on 18 April 2009, in an event covered by a magazine, but the Daily Mail reported in February 2010 that the couple had separated. Kensit has vowed never to marry again following this split, describing it as "embarrassing and humiliating". "This year has been truly, truly awful. I lost my confidence....... But I'm looking forward now, with one million per cent conviction, that I definitely won't be getting married again." she told She magazine.
Filmography
Kensit in France (1991)
Year Title Role Other notes
1972 Birds Eye frozen peas Herself TV advert
For the Love of Ada Little girl TV series, uncredited
1973 The Brothers Toddler TV series, One episode
1974 Z-Cars Joanna Page TV series, One episode
The Great Gatsby Pamela Buchanan
Gold Little Girl at Christmas Party Uncredited
1975 Alfie Darling Penny
Churchill's People Brewster child TV series, One episode
Hennessy Angie Hennessy
1976 The Blue Bird Mytyl
Dickens of London Georgina Hogarth TV series, Two episodes
1978 Armchair Thriller 'Quiet as a Nun' Tessa TV series, Five episodes
1979 Lady Oscar Oscar François de Jarjayes (as a child)
Hanover Street Sarah Sellinger Nominated-Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a Motion Picture
Prince Regent Young Princess Charlotte TV mini-series
The Legend of King Arthur Morgan le Fay (as a child) TV series
Penmarric Young Mariana TV series, Two episodes
Quincy's Quest Jennifer
1980 Hannah Ruth Corder TV series, Four episodes
1981 Great Expectations Young Estella TV series, Two episodes
1982 Disneyland Pollyanna TV series, One episode
The Adventures of Pollyanna Pollyanna TV film
Frost in May Nanda Gray TV series, One episode
1983 The Tragedy of Richard III Lady Margaret Plantagenet TV film
Luna Luna TV series, Six episodes
1984 Diana (TV series) Young Diana TV mini-series, Two episodes
1985 Hallmark Hall of Fame Emilie du Cailland TV series, One episode
Silas Marner Eppie TV film
1986 Absolute Beginners Suzette
1988 Don Bosco Lina
A Chorus of Disapproval Linda Washbrook
1989 Arms and the Man Louka Theatre Night TV series, One episode
Lethal Weapon 2 Rika van den Haas
1990 Kill Cruise Su
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl Joyce Cook
Bullseye! Sick Lady on Train
1991 Adam Bede Hetty Sorrel TV film
Does This Mean We're Married Deena TV film
Timebomb Dr. Anna Nolmar
Blue Tornado Isabella
Twenty-One Katie Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Beltenebros Rebeca
1992 Screen One Hetty Sorrel TV series, One episode
Blame It on the Bellboy Caroline Wright
The Turn of the Screw Jenny
1993 Tales from the Crypt Bridget TV series, One episode
Bitter Harvest Jolene
Full Eclipse Casey Spencer
1994 Fall from Grace Lady Deirdre Sebright TV film
1995 Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story Mia Farrow TV film
Dream Man Kris Anderson
Kleptomania Julie
Angels & Insects Eugenia Alabaster Adamson
At the Midnight Hour Elizabeth Guinness TV film
Tunnel Vision Kelly Wheatstone
1996 Grace of My Heart Cheryl Steed
1998 The Last Don II Josie Cirolia TV mini-series, One episode
Human Bomb Marcia Weller TV film
1999 The Pavilion Clara Huddlestone
Speedway Junky Donna
Janice Beard 45 WPM Julia
2000 Best Anna
Aladdin Princess TV film
2001 Things Behind the Sun Denise
Loves Music, Loves to Dance Darcy Scott TV film
Casualty Charlotte Leith-Jones TV series, One episode
2002 Bad Karma Maureen Hatcher/Agnes
Darkness Falling Vicki
Murder in Mind Angela Stephenson TV series, One episode
The One and Only Stella
2003 Who's Your Daddy? Heather McKay
Shelter Island Alexandria 'Alex'
2004 The All Star Comedy Show Various characters TV series
A Bear's Christmas Tail Helen Hennerson TV Christmas special
Emmerdale Sadie King TV series, 2004–2006
Nominated-British Soap Award for Soap Bitch of the Year (2005 + 2006)
Nominated-National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer
2005 A Bear's Tail Helen Hennerson TV series
2006 Played Cindy
Children's Party at the Palace The Grand High Witch (from The Witches) TV special
2007 The Magic Door Rachel
A Bucket o' French & Saunders Various characters TV series, Two episodes
Holby City Faye Byrne TV series, 2007–2010
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj250/ricktan1978/FHM%20UK/62.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz164/cncdigital/photo%20girl%20sexy/Patsy_Kensit_1024x768_001.jpg
Her genealogy was featured on the BBC program "Who Do You think You Are"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/04/11 at 7:15 am


Never heard of her!


She is a model here in The U.S.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/04/11 at 7:15 am


Yes that's right it's an early birthday present ;)


Thank You!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/04/11 at 7:16 am


She is a model here in The U.S.
That has been established.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/04/11 at 7:17 am


That has been established.


and she is well known.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/04/11 at 7:24 pm

This is a scene from the movie I remember her most from. Kill Cruise.....costarring a younger Liz Hurley...  Two best friends head off on a sailing adventure with a German sailor (they don't know)... and gradually things change for the worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7oDhuIPiTQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/05/11 at 4:57 am

The person of the day..Teena Marie
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and producer. She was known as Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie; she later acquired the nickname of Lady Tee (sometimes spelled Lady T) given to her by mentor, collaborator, and friend Rick James. She was known for her distinctive soulful vocals which initially caused many listeners to believe she was African-American. Her success in R&B and soul and loyalty to these genres would earn her the title Ivory Queen of Soul. She played rhythm guitar, keyboards and congas. She also wrote, produced, sang and arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release, Irons in the Fire, which she later said was her favorite album.
Mary Christine, or Tina as she was called, was the fourth of five children born in Santa Monica to construction worker Thomas Leslie Brockert and his wife, home renovator Mary Anne. She spent her early childhood in Mission Hills. Her ethnic heritage was Portuguese, Italian, Irish and Native American. In 2005, while visiting Louisiana, she had discovered that her paternal ancestors once lived in New Orleans. Brockert took to singing naturally, performing Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Song by age two. She also developed a fondness for singing the songs of Motown, and her self-professed “Gift from God” would become fine-tuned as the years progressed.

Brockert's parents began sending her out on auditions when she was eight years old, which netted an acting role on The Beverly Hillbillies, credited as Tina Marie Brockert. She also sang at the wedding of actor Jerry Lewis' son when she was 10 years old. Reared in a Roman Catholic household, Teena learned to play the piano under the tutelage of two nuns and later taught herself the guitar, bass, and congas. She would go on to form a semi-professional R&B band with younger brother Anthony and their cousin.

In the early 1970s, after the family moved to Venice, Los Angeles, Brockert spent her adolescent years in the historically black Venice enclave of Oakwood, nicknamed "Venice Harlem". There, she would acquire a strong spiritual influence from neighborhood matriarch Berthalynn Jackson, an African American who would become her godmother.

While attending Venice High School, Brockert joined the Summer Dance Production, and also had the female lead in the school's production of The Music Man.

After graduating, Brockert juggled auditioning for various record companies with studying English Literature at Santa Monica College. She credited her love of reading with helping her to write the lyrics she's known for.
Motown era (1979–1982)
Teena Marie, 1979

In 1976, Brockert (as lead singer member of a band she assembled which included long time friend Mickey Boyce) gained an introduction to Motown Records staff producer Hal Davis (best known for his work with Brenda Holloway and the Jackson 5). This led to an audition for a film about orphans being developed by Motown. The project was shelved, but label boss Berry Gordy decided to sign her as a solo act, impressed with her singing but having no need for a musical group. She recorded unreleased material with a number of different producers over the next few years, before being spotted by labelmate Rick James who was immediately impressed with her sound. (Some of the earlier unreleased material has since been made available on compilation.) At the time, James, already established as a successful recording artist, was on tap to produce for Diana Ross but changed his mind and decided to work with Brockert. The result was debut album release, Wild and Peaceful. The album was, at one point, due to be credited to "Teena Tryson", but ultimately was put out under Teena Marie, the name by which she would be known throughout her career. It scored Teena Marie her first top-ten R&B hit, "I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love" (#8 Black Singles Chart), a duet with James. Neither the album nor its packaging had her picture on it, and many radio programmers incorrectly assumed she was African-American during the earliest months of her career. This myth was disproved when she performed her debut hit with James on Soul Train in 1979, becoming the show's first white female guest (she would appear on the show eight more times, more than any other white act).

In 1980, her second album, Lady T, would have her portrait on the cover upon its release. It's also noted for having production from Richard Rudolph (husband of R&B singer Minnie Riperton, who died a year earlier). Teena Marie had asked Berry Gordy to contact Rudolph and secure his input as Rick James was unavailable and she felt unprepared to be sole producer of her own material. Rudolph intended for the song he penned, "Now That I Have You", to be sung by his wife, but it was later given to Teena Marie. Rudolph also co-composed the single "Behind The Groove", which reached number 21 on the black singles chart and reaching #6 on the U.K. singles chart in 1980. The song would also be included on the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the Fever 105 soundtrack. Another notable track, "Too Many Colors," featured Rudolph and Riperton's then 7-year-old daughter, Maya Rudolph, who became Teena Marie's god-daughter.

Also in 1980, Teena Marie released her third LP, Irons in the Fire, for which she handled all writing and production herself, including the horn and rhythm arrangements of her band and all backing vocals, all considered rare at the time for a female artist. The single "I Need Your Lovin'" (#37 Pop, #9 Black Singles) brought Teena Marie her first top 40 hit. This single also peaked at #28 in the UK chart. That same year, Teena Marie appeared on James' hugely successful album, Street Songs, with the duet "Fire and Desire". In an interview, Teena Marie said she had a fever at the time yet managed to record her vocals in one take. After the session, she was driven to a hospital. The two would perform the single at the 2004 BET Awards, which would be their last TV appearance with one another as Rick James died later that year.

Teena Marie continued her success with Motown in 1981, with the release of It Must Be Magic (#2 Black Albums Chart), her first gold record, which included her then biggest hit on R&B, "Square Biz" (#3 Black Singles). Other notable tracks include "Portuguese Love" (featuring a brief, uncredited cameo by James, #54 Black Singles), the title track "It Must be Magic" (#30 Black Singles), and album only track "Yes Indeed", which she cited as a personal favorite.

In 1982, Teena Marie got into a heated legal battle with Motown Records over her contract and disagreements about releasing her new material. The lawsuit resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which made it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing new material for that artist. In such instances, artists are able to sign and release with another label instead of being held back by an unsupportive one. Teena Marie commented on the law in an LA Times article, saying, "It wasn't something I set out to do. I just wanted to get away from Motown and have a good life. But it helped a lot of people, like Luther Vandross and the Mary Jane Girls, and a lot of different artists, to be able to get out of their contracts." She left Motown as the label's most successful white solo act.
Epic era (1983–1990)

Contacted by Epic Records in the Fall of 1982 after expressing dismay over her Motown contract, Teena Marie signed a worldwide deal with the Columbia Records' subsidiary that also allowed her to establish her own publishing company, Midnight Magnet. Epic released the concept album Robbery, which featured the hit "Fix It" (#21 R&B), as well as "Shadow Boxing" and "Casanova Brown." The latter was one of a number of tracks Teena Marie would write over the years about her real-life romance with one-time mentor Rick James. The relationship had ended by that point, but the two would continue a sometimes tempestuous friendship, until James' death in August 2004. In 1984, Teena Marie released her biggest-selling album, Starchild. It yielded her biggest hit "Lovergirl", which peaked at #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1985. It also peaked at #9 on the R&B chart. The label also released the moderate R&B hit "Out on a Limb", which peaked at #56 on the R&B chart, but didn't break the Hot 100. "14k" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Goonies (1985) but was not a hit (only making the U.S. R&B charts at #87).

In 1986, Teena Marie released a rock music-influenced concept album titled Emerald City. It was controversial with her established fan base and not as successful as its predecessors. She also recorded another rock-influenced track, "Lead Me On", co-produced by Giorgio Moroder, for the soundtrack of the box office hit film, Top Gun (1986). In 1988, however, she returned to her R&B and funk roots, releasing the critically-acclaimed album Naked to the World. That album contained the hit "Ooo La La La", which reached the top of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and was her only #1 single on that chart. During her 1988 Naked to the World concert tour, she suffered a fall and was hospitalized for six months.

Teena Marie released Ivory in the fall of 1990 and it scored no pop hits, but it did experienced two R&B hits: "Here's Looking at You" (#11 R&B) and "If I Were a Bell" (#8 R&B).
Hiatus, Passion Play and Black Rain (1991–2003)

During the 1990s, Teena Marie's classic R&B, soul, and funk records were either sampled by hip-hop artists or covered by R&B divas. Teena Marie herself is regarded as something of a pioneer in helping to bring hip-hop to the mainstream by becoming one of the first artists of her time to rap one of her singles—the aforementioned "Square Biz". In the hip-hop portion of that song, she mentions some of her inspirations: Sarah Vaughn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni, "just to name a few". In 1996, the Fugees paid tribute to her by interpolating the chorus of her 1988 hit, "Ooo, La, La, La", into its own "Fu-Gee-La", which was a huge hit.

In the fall of 1994, Teena Marie released Passion Play on her independent label, Sarai Records. Lacking the backing of a major label, this album sold less well than her earlier work, but was well received by fans.

Subsequently, Teena Marie devoted most of her time to raising her daughter Alia Rose (who has since adopted the stage name "Rose Le Beau" and is pursuing her own singing career). During the late 1990s, Teena Marie made appearances (as herself) on the TV sitcoms, The Steve Harvey Show and The Parkers. She also began work on a new album, titled Black Rain. She was unable to secure a major label deal for this, and did not want to put it out on her own Sarai label in light of the modest sales of Passion Play. However, a version pressed for promotional purposes was widely bootlegged among fans. This contained the tracks, "The Mackin' Game", "I'll Take the Pressure", "Baby, I'm Your Fiend", "My Body's Hungry", "Ecstasy", "I'm on Fire", "Watcha Got 4 Me", "Black Rain", "1999", "Butterflies", "Spanish Harlem", "Blackberry Playa", "The Perfect Feeling", and "Rainbow Outro". Some of these tracks resurfaced on the later albums: La Doña, Sapphire, and Congo Square; in some cases (e.g. "The Mackin Game") in significantly reworked versions.
La Doña to Congo Square, and her final years (2004–2010)

After a 14-year sabbatical from the national spotlight, Teena Marie returned to her musical career by signing with the Classics sub-label of the successful hip-hop label, Cash Money Records. She released her comeback album, La Doña, in 2004, and follow up Sapphire, in 2006. La Doña became a gold-certified success (and the highest-charting album of her career, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart) on the basis of the Al Green-sampled "I'm Still In Love" (#23 R&B, #70 Pop) and a duet with the late Gerald Levert, "A Rose by Any Other Name". Teena Marie was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Still in Love". Teena Marie quickly followed this success with the release of Sapphire in 2006. While sales were not as great this time around (the album peaked at #24 on the Pop Chart), the release did give her yet another R&B Top-40 hit, "Ooh Wee" (#32); it also reunited her (on "God Has Created" and "Cruise Control") with Smokey Robinson, the early Motown mentor whose style she had emulated on early hits such as "Young Love". Teena Marie parted ways with Ca$h Money records after the release of Sapphire.

On September 19, 2008, Teena Marie performed in concert at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City. Teena took this time to play a couple of finished tracks from her upcoming album, Congo Square, and she received a positive response from the crowd. Congo Square was released on June 9, 2009 on Stax/Concord Records. She has described the album as "personal and spiritual" and indicated that it was more jazz-influenced than most of her previous work. "Can't Last a Day", a duet with Faith Evans, leaked to the Internet in March 2009. Teena Marie says of Evans, "It was after I had recorded the song ("Can't Last a Day") I got the idea to put Faith on it. I’ve always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with Biggie — having a career with him and without him — reminds me of me and Rick. I feel like she’s a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she’s the one I love most.”

Meanwhile, with regard to her early-life inspirations for Congo Square, in January 2010 Teena Marie told Lee Tyler, editor of Blues & Soul magazine: "I wanted to do songs that reflected the things that I loved when I was growing up. Every single song on the record is dedicated to someone, or some musical giant that I loved. 'The Pressure' is dedicated to Rick James; 'Can't Last a Day' is dedicated to the Gamble & Huff sound - the Philly International sound'. Then 'Baby I Love You' and 'Ear Candy' are dedicated to Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield - with memories of riding down Crenshaw in LA in jeeps and bumping to music on ``the 808 i.e. Roland TR-808 drum machine. While 'Miss Coretta' is, of course, dedicated to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Dr. Martin Luther King."

Sales-wise, the album proved another success, reaching the Top 20 on Billboard's Top 200, and giving Teena Marie yet another Top 10 R&B chart entry. In 2010, Teena Marie continued to be a headliner on the Las Vegas Strip, appearing regularly at the Las Vegas Hilton and other venues until just before her death.

At the time of her death, Teena Marie had completed her 14th CD and was also working on jazz and inspirational CDs. In addition, she was in the midst of her writing her memoir.
Personal life

Teena Marie, who never wed, gave birth to a daughter in 1991, whom she named Alia Rose, who, as of 2009, sang under the name Rose LeBeau.

Throughout her career, Teena Marie had lived in Inglewood, California and Encino before settling in Pasadena in the mid-1980s.

In addition to Maya Rudolph, Teena Marie was godmother to Marvin Gaye's daughter Nona Gaye. She also cared for Rick James' son, Rick Jr. and family friend Jeremiah O'Neal. Lenny Kravitz posted a video in which he revealed that Teena Marie had taken him into her home and helped him when he was struggling early in his career. Teena's hobbies included archery, drawing, and writing poetry.
Death and memorials

Around 2004, Teena Marie lay sleeping in a hotel room when a large picture frame fell and struck her in the head. The blow caused a serious concussion that would result in momentary seizures for the rest of her life. She had suffered a grand mal seizure just one month before her death.

On the afternoon of December 26, 2010, Teena Marie was found unresponsive by daughter Alia Rose at her home in Pasadena, California. As of December 30, 2010, an autopsy was performed by the Los Angeles County coroner, who found no signs of apparent trauma or discernible cause of death. Eventually it was concluded that Teena Marie died of natural causes.

A memorial was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery on January 10, 2011. Among the luminaries who attended were her long-time idol Smokey Robinson, LisaRaye, Sinbad, Tichina Arnold, Stevie Wonder, and Tata Vega.
Discography
Main article: Teena Marie discography
Studio albums

    * Wild and Peaceful (1979)
    * Lady T (1980)
    * Irons in the Fire (1980)
    * It Must Be Magic (1981)
    * Robbery (1983)
    * Starchild (1984)
    * Emerald City (1986)
    * Naked to the World (1988)
    * Ivory (1990)
    * Passion Play (1994)
    * La Doña (2004)
    * Sapphire (2006)
    * Congo Square (2009)
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae65/LadyGodiva59/Celebrities/Rick-James-Teena-Marie.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc25/BETO619ESQ/teena.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/05/11 at 5:41 am

British Person of the Day: Matt Lucas

Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor. He is perhaps best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain and spoof interview series Rock Profile, as well as for his portrayal of the surreal scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the Reeves and Mortimer comedy panel game Shooting Stars. Lucas plays Chancellor Donold David Dongalor, on the BBC/Comedy Central series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. More recently, Lucas and Walliams have written and starred in another spoof show, Come Fly with Me.

In May 2007, he was placed eighth in the list of the UK's 100 most influential gays and lesbians, in fields as diverse as entertainment, business, politics, and science, by British newspapers The Independent and The Daily Mail.

Early life

Lucas was born in Paddington, London, the son of Diana (née Williams) and John Stanley Lucas (1944–1996), who ran a chauffeuring business. Lucas is Jewish, with some of his British-born mother's family fleeing Nazi Germany. His family were members of Edgware and District Reform Synagogue and he retains links with the community. Lucas grew up in Stanmore, Greater London; he has an older brother, Howard. He has had alopecia since his childhood, which in interviews he has inconsistently attributed to various events, including a delayed reaction to a car accident at the age of four. He lost all of his hair when he was six years old. Lucas' father died of a heart attack aged 52, in Brent, Greater London.

Lucas was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, the same school as attended by comic actors David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen. He went on to study drama in the Faculty of Arts at Bristol University between 1993 and 1995.

Early career

Lucas's association with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer began in 1992. In 1995, Lucas appeared in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. The second series of the show featured Lucas in several sketches. He went on to star with them in Shooting Stars. He quickly rose to fame as George Dawes, the giant baby, who would deliver a string of meaningless gags (often in character) and insults before delivering the score, while sitting at and playing a drum kit. Many of these parts were introduced not in the style of a baby, but of a grown man — indeed, often, he would come on dressed as a specific adult such as Elton John. He also appeared on occasion as Marjorie Dawes, George's mother, who also appears in Little Britain. He also appeared in the Reeves & Mortimer BBC series Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), and Catterick in a variety of roles. In 1999, Lucas paired up with David Walliams, with whom he had already worked with on television in both Mash and Peas and Sir Bernard's Stately Homes, to create Rock Profile, a comedy show that spoofed famous musicians and musical personalities. It is notable for being one of their first comedic collaborations, which fueled their inspiration to then create the well-known show, Little Britain. Lucas has also written for actor Sacha Baron Cohen.

His music video appearances include; the Damien Hirst-directed video for Blur's "Country House" (as a psychoanalyst) in 1995, "Jesusland" by Ben Folds in 2005, "I'm with Stupid" by the Pet Shop Boys and "Vindaloo" and "Naughty Christmas" by Fat Les.

Lucas ventured into the world of stage musicals in 2002, when he took one of the main roles in Boy George's musical Taboo, at The Venue, London. He played the part of infamous performance artist Leigh Bowery, which required him to wear some outrageous and spectacular outfits and make-up.

Lucas also appeared in a Big Finish audio play based on the long-running BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. The play he featured in was called The One Doctor and was a light-hearted Christmas panto-style play.

Little Britain

Little Britain is commercially Lucas's most successful work. Originally a radio show on BBC Radio 4, it later became a TV series. Little Britain has won numerous TV awards, spawning large DVD sales and merchandising. It plays heavily on memorable catchphrases which have become ingrained in playgrounds and offices around the UK. Lucas plays, among many others, four of the most popular characters in the series, which he writes and acts in along with David Walliams: apparently disabled Andy Pipkin, teenage Bristol chav Vicky Pollard, homophobic homosexual Daffyd Thomas and insensitive slimming club organiser Marjorie Dawes. Lucas has also played many other popular characters including the morbidly obese Bubbles DeVere and Orville The Duck in one sketch.

After Little Britain

In 2005, he took his first role in a television drama, a supporting part as a Venetian duke in the BBC historical serial Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. Also in 2005, he did voice work in the BBC children's program, King Arthur's Disasters. Since 2006, Lucas has been the voice of the radio and television character Digit Al, devised as part of a public information campaign on digital switchover. On 26 November 2006 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. He made a cameo appearance in Shaun of the Dead as the cousin of Shaun's friend Yvonne.

In 2007, he released "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", originally by The Proclaimers, with Peter Kay as a charity single for Comic Relief. He performed the single as Little Britain character Andy Pipkin, along with Kay playing as Brian Potter. After being available for less than 48 hours on iTunes alone, the track entered the UK Top 40 at number 3. On 25 March, it went to number one, where it stayed for three weeks, selling over 400,000 copies. He also starred as the irrepressible Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, a 2006 television adaptation of the Kenneth Grahame novel.

He has made appearances in Kath & Kim and Neighbours (the latter alongside David Walliams as Little Britain stalwarts Lou and Andy, as well as a cameo role, playing 'Chris' or 'Jammy' at the wedding fayre, in the BBC Three sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Lucas has co written (with Walliams) and performed in a new series of Little Britain USA for HBO. The pair are also writing a movie for Dreamworks.

Lucas was the first celebrity to make an appearance in 2008's Big Brother Celebrity Hijack on E4, working alongside Big Brother in a series containing housemates aged 18–21 with various talents.

On 9 April 2009, the series Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, featuring Matt Lucas as a regular performer, premièred on Comedy Central, the first major comedy series Lucas has done since Little Britain. In 2010, Lucas played Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, alongside Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

On 3 October 2010, he played the role of Thénardier in a special one-off performance celebrating the 25th anniversary of Les Misérables, held at the O2 Arena in London, which he will reprise at The Queen's Theatre, London from June 23rd 2011 to September 10th 2011.  In 2011, Lucas will perform his vocal talents in the CGI film Gnomeo and Juliet. Lucas will work with James McAvoy, from Gnomeo and Juliet also, again in the upcoming Christmas film Arthur Christmas as Santa's #1 elf, Jemaine.

The BBC has just finished showing Matt Lucas and David Walliams new series, Come Fly With Me. In an interview shown on BBC 3 on 9th February, it was stated that they considered bringing Carol Beer from Little Britain to the new series, but decided against it, as they didn't want viewers to see it as a Little Britain spinoff. Instead, new characters were introduced to the series based in an airport. Matt's characters include Precious, Taaj, Tommy, Mickey, Fearghal, Simon and Peter, amongst others. Some of the characters only appeared once.

Television

Lucas' appearances on television include Big Brother's Little Brother, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, Little Britain, Rock Profile, Little Britain Abroad, Little Britain USA, Come Fly With Me, and Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.

Personal life

Lucas is a patron of The Karen Morris Memorial Trust, a UK charity for leukaemia patients and their families. In April 2004 he appeared on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and won £62,500 for the charity.

He is an avid supporter of Arsenal F.C.

In December 2006, Lucas entered into a civil partnership with Kevin McGee, in a lavish ceremony in London. On 22 October 2008, it was announced that Lucas had been granted a dissolution of this partnership, citing unreasonable behaviour by McGee. Lucas pulled out of the lead role in a London production of "Prick Up Your Ears", following the death of McGee in October 2009 and Lucas' part was played by Con O'Neill. The production had to be wrapped up on 15 November 2009, earlier than expected, due to poor ticket sales. McGee, who hanged himself, had left a suicide note on his Facebook page.

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/bbch-matt-lucas.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_01/mattlucas1207_468x544.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/05/11 at 7:04 am


The person of the day..Teena Marie
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and producer. She was known as Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie; she later acquired the nickname of Lady Tee (sometimes spelled Lady T) given to her by mentor, collaborator, and friend Rick James. She was known for her distinctive soulful vocals which initially caused many listeners to believe she was African-American. Her success in R&B and soul and loyalty to these genres would earn her the title Ivory Queen of Soul. She played rhythm guitar, keyboards and congas. She also wrote, produced, sang and arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release, Irons in the Fire, which she later said was her favorite album.
Mary Christine, or Tina as she was called, was the fourth of five children born in Santa Monica to construction worker Thomas Leslie Brockert and his wife, home renovator Mary Anne. She spent her early childhood in Mission Hills. Her ethnic heritage was Portuguese, Italian, Irish and Native American. In 2005, while visiting Louisiana, she had discovered that her paternal ancestors once lived in New Orleans. Brockert took to singing naturally, performing Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Song by age two. She also developed a fondness for singing the songs of Motown, and her self-professed “Gift from God” would become fine-tuned as the years progressed.

Brockert's parents began sending her out on auditions when she was eight years old, which netted an acting role on The Beverly Hillbillies, credited as Tina Marie Brockert. She also sang at the wedding of actor Jerry Lewis' son when she was 10 years old. Reared in a Roman Catholic household, Teena learned to play the piano under the tutelage of two nuns and later taught herself the guitar, bass, and congas. She would go on to form a semi-professional R&B band with younger brother Anthony and their cousin.

In the early 1970s, after the family moved to Venice, Los Angeles, Brockert spent her adolescent years in the historically black Venice enclave of Oakwood, nicknamed "Venice Harlem". There, she would acquire a strong spiritual influence from neighborhood matriarch Berthalynn Jackson, an African American who would become her godmother.

While attending Venice High School, Brockert joined the Summer Dance Production, and also had the female lead in the school's production of The Music Man.

After graduating, Brockert juggled auditioning for various record companies with studying English Literature at Santa Monica College. She credited her love of reading with helping her to write the lyrics she's known for.
Motown era (1979–1982)
Teena Marie, 1979

In 1976, Brockert (as lead singer member of a band she assembled which included long time friend Mickey Boyce) gained an introduction to Motown Records staff producer Hal Davis (best known for his work with Brenda Holloway and the Jackson 5). This led to an audition for a film about orphans being developed by Motown. The project was shelved, but label boss Berry Gordy decided to sign her as a solo act, impressed with her singing but having no need for a musical group. She recorded unreleased material with a number of different producers over the next few years, before being spotted by labelmate Rick James who was immediately impressed with her sound. (Some of the earlier unreleased material has since been made available on compilation.) At the time, James, already established as a successful recording artist, was on tap to produce for Diana Ross but changed his mind and decided to work with Brockert. The result was debut album release, Wild and Peaceful. The album was, at one point, due to be credited to "Teena Tryson", but ultimately was put out under Teena Marie, the name by which she would be known throughout her career. It scored Teena Marie her first top-ten R&B hit, "I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love" (#8 Black Singles Chart), a duet with James. Neither the album nor its packaging had her picture on it, and many radio programmers incorrectly assumed she was African-American during the earliest months of her career. This myth was disproved when she performed her debut hit with James on Soul Train in 1979, becoming the show's first white female guest (she would appear on the show eight more times, more than any other white act).

In 1980, her second album, Lady T, would have her portrait on the cover upon its release. It's also noted for having production from Richard Rudolph (husband of R&B singer Minnie Riperton, who died a year earlier). Teena Marie had asked Berry Gordy to contact Rudolph and secure his input as Rick James was unavailable and she felt unprepared to be sole producer of her own material. Rudolph intended for the song he penned, "Now That I Have You", to be sung by his wife, but it was later given to Teena Marie. Rudolph also co-composed the single "Behind The Groove", which reached number 21 on the black singles chart and reaching #6 on the U.K. singles chart in 1980. The song would also be included on the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the Fever 105 soundtrack. Another notable track, "Too Many Colors," featured Rudolph and Riperton's then 7-year-old daughter, Maya Rudolph, who became Teena Marie's god-daughter.

Also in 1980, Teena Marie released her third LP, Irons in the Fire, for which she handled all writing and production herself, including the horn and rhythm arrangements of her band and all backing vocals, all considered rare at the time for a female artist. The single "I Need Your Lovin'" (#37 Pop, #9 Black Singles) brought Teena Marie her first top 40 hit. This single also peaked at #28 in the UK chart. That same year, Teena Marie appeared on James' hugely successful album, Street Songs, with the duet "Fire and Desire". In an interview, Teena Marie said she had a fever at the time yet managed to record her vocals in one take. After the session, she was driven to a hospital. The two would perform the single at the 2004 BET Awards, which would be their last TV appearance with one another as Rick James died later that year.

Teena Marie continued her success with Motown in 1981, with the release of It Must Be Magic (#2 Black Albums Chart), her first gold record, which included her then biggest hit on R&B, "Square Biz" (#3 Black Singles). Other notable tracks include "Portuguese Love" (featuring a brief, uncredited cameo by James, #54 Black Singles), the title track "It Must be Magic" (#30 Black Singles), and album only track "Yes Indeed", which she cited as a personal favorite.

In 1982, Teena Marie got into a heated legal battle with Motown Records over her contract and disagreements about releasing her new material. The lawsuit resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which made it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing new material for that artist. In such instances, artists are able to sign and release with another label instead of being held back by an unsupportive one. Teena Marie commented on the law in an LA Times article, saying, "It wasn't something I set out to do. I just wanted to get away from Motown and have a good life. But it helped a lot of people, like Luther Vandross and the Mary Jane Girls, and a lot of different artists, to be able to get out of their contracts." She left Motown as the label's most successful white solo act.
Epic era (1983–1990)

Contacted by Epic Records in the Fall of 1982 after expressing dismay over her Motown contract, Teena Marie signed a worldwide deal with the Columbia Records' subsidiary that also allowed her to establish her own publishing company, Midnight Magnet. Epic released the concept album Robbery, which featured the hit "Fix It" (#21 R&B), as well as "Shadow Boxing" and "Casanova Brown." The latter was one of a number of tracks Teena Marie would write over the years about her real-life romance with one-time mentor Rick James. The relationship had ended by that point, but the two would continue a sometimes tempestuous friendship, until James' death in August 2004. In 1984, Teena Marie released her biggest-selling album, Starchild. It yielded her biggest hit "Lovergirl", which peaked at #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1985. It also peaked at #9 on the R&B chart. The label also released the moderate R&B hit "Out on a Limb", which peaked at #56 on the R&B chart, but didn't break the Hot 100. "14k" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Goonies (1985) but was not a hit (only making the U.S. R&B charts at #87).

In 1986, Teena Marie released a rock music-influenced concept album titled Emerald City. It was controversial with her established fan base and not as successful as its predecessors. She also recorded another rock-influenced track, "Lead Me On", co-produced by Giorgio Moroder, for the soundtrack of the box office hit film, Top Gun (1986). In 1988, however, she returned to her R&B and funk roots, releasing the critically-acclaimed album Naked to the World. That album contained the hit "Ooo La La La", which reached the top of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and was her only #1 single on that chart. During her 1988 Naked to the World concert tour, she suffered a fall and was hospitalized for six months.

Teena Marie released Ivory in the fall of 1990 and it scored no pop hits, but it did experienced two R&B hits: "Here's Looking at You" (#11 R&B) and "If I Were a Bell" (#8 R&B).
Hiatus, Passion Play and Black Rain (1991–2003)

During the 1990s, Teena Marie's classic R&B, soul, and funk records were either sampled by hip-hop artists or covered by R&B divas. Teena Marie herself is regarded as something of a pioneer in helping to bring hip-hop to the mainstream by becoming one of the first artists of her time to rap one of her singles—the aforementioned "Square Biz". In the hip-hop portion of that song, she mentions some of her inspirations: Sarah Vaughn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni, "just to name a few". In 1996, the Fugees paid tribute to her by interpolating the chorus of her 1988 hit, "Ooo, La, La, La", into its own "Fu-Gee-La", which was a huge hit.

In the fall of 1994, Teena Marie released Passion Play on her independent label, Sarai Records. Lacking the backing of a major label, this album sold less well than her earlier work, but was well received by fans.

Subsequently, Teena Marie devoted most of her time to raising her daughter Alia Rose (who has since adopted the stage name "Rose Le Beau" and is pursuing her own singing career). During the late 1990s, Teena Marie made appearances (as herself) on the TV sitcoms, The Steve Harvey Show and The Parkers. She also began work on a new album, titled Black Rain. She was unable to secure a major label deal for this, and did not want to put it out on her own Sarai label in light of the modest sales of Passion Play. However, a version pressed for promotional purposes was widely bootlegged among fans. This contained the tracks, "The Mackin' Game", "I'll Take the Pressure", "Baby, I'm Your Fiend", "My Body's Hungry", "Ecstasy", "I'm on Fire", "Watcha Got 4 Me", "Black Rain", "1999", "Butterflies", "Spanish Harlem", "Blackberry Playa", "The Perfect Feeling", and "Rainbow Outro". Some of these tracks resurfaced on the later albums: La Doña, Sapphire, and Congo Square; in some cases (e.g. "The Mackin Game") in significantly reworked versions.
La Doña to Congo Square, and her final years (2004–2010)

After a 14-year sabbatical from the national spotlight, Teena Marie returned to her musical career by signing with the Classics sub-label of the successful hip-hop label, Cash Money Records. She released her comeback album, La Doña, in 2004, and follow up Sapphire, in 2006. La Doña became a gold-certified success (and the highest-charting album of her career, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart) on the basis of the Al Green-sampled "I'm Still In Love" (#23 R&B, #70 Pop) and a duet with the late Gerald Levert, "A Rose by Any Other Name". Teena Marie was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Still in Love". Teena Marie quickly followed this success with the release of Sapphire in 2006. While sales were not as great this time around (the album peaked at #24 on the Pop Chart), the release did give her yet another R&B Top-40 hit, "Ooh Wee" (#32); it also reunited her (on "God Has Created" and "Cruise Control") with Smokey Robinson, the early Motown mentor whose style she had emulated on early hits such as "Young Love". Teena Marie parted ways with Ca$h Money records after the release of Sapphire.

On September 19, 2008, Teena Marie performed in concert at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City. Teena took this time to play a couple of finished tracks from her upcoming album, Congo Square, and she received a positive response from the crowd. Congo Square was released on June 9, 2009 on Stax/Concord Records. She has described the album as "personal and spiritual" and indicated that it was more jazz-influenced than most of her previous work. "Can't Last a Day", a duet with Faith Evans, leaked to the Internet in March 2009. Teena Marie says of Evans, "It was after I had recorded the song ("Can't Last a Day") I got the idea to put Faith on it. I’ve always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with Biggie — having a career with him and without him — reminds me of me and Rick. I feel like she’s a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she’s the one I love most.”

Meanwhile, with regard to her early-life inspirations for Congo Square, in January 2010 Teena Marie told Lee Tyler, editor of Blues & Soul magazine: "I wanted to do songs that reflected the things that I loved when I was growing up. Every single song on the record is dedicated to someone, or some musical giant that I loved. 'The Pressure' is dedicated to Rick James; 'Can't Last a Day' is dedicated to the Gamble & Huff sound - the Philly International sound'. Then 'Baby I Love You' and 'Ear Candy' are dedicated to Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield - with memories of riding down Crenshaw in LA in jeeps and bumping to music on ``the 808 i.e. Roland TR-808 drum machine. While 'Miss Coretta' is, of course, dedicated to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Dr. Martin Luther King."

Sales-wise, the album proved another success, reaching the Top 20 on Billboard's Top 200, and giving Teena Marie yet another Top 10 R&B chart entry. In 2010, Teena Marie continued to be a headliner on the Las Vegas Strip, appearing regularly at the Las Vegas Hilton and other venues until just before her death.

At the time of her death, Teena Marie had completed her 14th CD and was also working on jazz and inspirational CDs. In addition, she was in the midst of her writing her memoir.
Personal life

Teena Marie, who never wed, gave birth to a daughter in 1991, whom she named Alia Rose, who, as of 2009, sang under the name Rose LeBeau.

Throughout her career, Teena Marie had lived in Inglewood, California and Encino before settling in Pasadena in the mid-1980s.

In addition to Maya Rudolph, Teena Marie was godmother to Marvin Gaye's daughter Nona Gaye. She also cared for Rick James' son, Rick Jr. and family friend Jeremiah O'Neal. Lenny Kravitz posted a video in which he revealed that Teena Marie had taken him into her home and helped him when he was struggling early in his career. Teena's hobbies included archery, drawing, and writing poetry.
Death and memorials

Around 2004, Teena Marie lay sleeping in a hotel room when a large picture frame fell and struck her in the head. The blow caused a serious concussion that would result in momentary seizures for the rest of her life. She had suffered a grand mal seizure just one month before her death.

On the afternoon of December 26, 2010, Teena Marie was found unresponsive by daughter Alia Rose at her home in Pasadena, California. As of December 30, 2010, an autopsy was performed by the Los Angeles County coroner, who found no signs of apparent trauma or discernible cause of death. Eventually it was concluded that Teena Marie died of natural causes.

A memorial was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery on January 10, 2011. Among the luminaries who attended were her long-time idol Smokey Robinson, LisaRaye, Sinbad, Tichina Arnold, Stevie Wonder, and Tata Vega.
Discography
Main article: Teena Marie discography
Studio albums

    * Wild and Peaceful (1979)
    * Lady T (1980)
    * Irons in the Fire (1980)
    * It Must Be Magic (1981)
    * Robbery (1983)
    * Starchild (1984)
    * Emerald City (1986)
    * Naked to the World (1988)
    * Ivory (1990)
    * Passion Play (1994)
    * La Doña (2004)
    * Sapphire (2006)
    * Congo Square (2009)
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae65/LadyGodiva59/Celebrities/Rick-James-Teena-Marie.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc25/BETO619ESQ/teena.jpg


Man,I miss her already.  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/06/11 at 5:41 am

British Person of the Day: Alan Davies

Alan Davies (born 6 March 1966) is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.

Early life

Davies was born in Loughton, Essex. His childhood years were spent in Chingford. Alan's mother died when he was six; he was subsequently raised along with an older brother and younger sister by his father, an accountant.

Davies attended Staples Road School in Loughton before Bancroft's School in Woodford Green, where he gained eight O-Levels. He then moved on to Loughton College of Further Education where he gained four more O-Levels and two A-Levels (Communications & Theatre Studies). He graduated in Drama from the University of Kent  in 1988 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University in 2003.

Career
Stand-up

Davies began performing stand-up comedy in 1988 at the Whitstable Labour Club. In 1991, he was named Time Out's Best Young Comic. He continued touring and performing in the UK and Canada, winning the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award for Comedy in 1994. That show was released on video and audio cassette in 1995 as Alan Davies Live at the Lyric recorded at the Lyric Theatre as part of the Perrier Pick of the Fringe season in October 1994.

A DVD of Davies's stand up has been released entitled Urban Trauma. A version of that show, which ran in the West End at the Duchess Theatre and toured the UK and New Zealand, was shown on BBC1 in 1998.

Radio and television

In 1994 and 1995, Davies hosted Alan's Big One for three series on Radio 1 before appearing in Channel 4's spoof travel show One for the Road (made by Channel X in 1994/5). He later played the title role in Jonathan Creek, as a trick-deviser for a stage magician with a side interest in solving crimes, between 1997 and 2004. Jonathan Creek won a BAFTA for Best Drama and was the show which brought Davies to mainstream attention. On New Year's Day, 2009, a special episode of Jonathan Creek, "The Grinning Man", was broadcast on the BBC. Davies returned Creek at Easter 2010 for a one-off episode, "The Judas Tree". Davies co-wrote and starred in his own radio sitcom, The Alan Davies Show, in 1998. Cassettes of the show were produced and released by the BBC, with episodes broadcast on the digital radio station BBC7. He played Russell Boyd in the BBC comedy A Many Splintered Thing, also in 1998 and 2000. In 2001 Davies played Robert Gossage in Bob and Rose, a comedy drama about a gay man falling for a woman. He won the Best Actor award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his performance. He also played Jack the dog in the radio sitcom About a Dog. In 2003, Alan was a Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on Top Gear. He posted a time of 1:54 in wet conditions. He returned in Series 8 and did a 1:50.3 in dry conditions.

Davies took on a less comedic role in 2004, starring as Henry Farmer, a maverick barrister, in the ITV Sunday night drama The Brief, but quit after two series. Subsequent drama roles include Superintendent Mallard in Marple (ITV, 2008), as well as appearances in The Good Housekeeping Guide (BBC One, 2006), Roman Road (ITV 2004) and Hotel Babylon (BBC One, 2008).

He was invited to champion the case for John Lennon to be the greatest Briton of all time on the BBC's Great Britons series in 2002. In 2007, Davies starred in the second episode of ITV1's You Don't Know You're Born. He also recently became a semi-regular on The Unbelievable Truth.

He has appeared in an episode of the BBC science programme Horizon in which Professor Marcus du Sautoy attempts to introduce him to elements of mathematical thought. The episode was broadcast on BBC Two on 31 March 2009. He went on to appear in Horizon for a second time in November 2009, this time leading the episode — Professor Marcus du Sautoy also returns as a guest speaker.

On 16 May 2010 Davies appeared in the ITV detective series Lewis, as Marcus Richard, the quizmaster at a competition held in an Oxford college, at which some of the contestants are murdered. In September 2010 he began a three part series 'Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution' (Channel 4).

In September 2010 a BBC TV comedy series entitled "Whites" starring Davies as a chef started its run.

QI

Davies currently appears as the permanent panellist on the BBC quiz game QI, which is hosted by Stephen Fry. He also contributed "four words" to the QI book The Book of General Ignorance (which appear after Stephen Fry's foreword), "Will this do, Stephen?". Davies has appeared on every episode of the show (including the unbroadcast pilot episode), though in one episode (Episode 10 of Series D) he appeared in only the first few minutes, in a pre-recorded scene, as he was in Paris attending the Champions League Final during the actual recording. His chair was empty for the rest of the episode although his voice was heard during "General Ignorance".

Books

Davies' first book, the autobiographical My Favourite People and Me, 1978-88 was published by Michael Joseph (Penguin Books) in late 2009. Of the memoir, Davies said he wished to "attempt to remember what I liked as a boy/youth/idiot and to work out why". The titular favourite people include Anton Chekhov, John Belushi, Barry Sheene, Margaret Thatcher ("only for a few days" the author allows), John McEnroe and Starsky and Hutch. The book also mentions Arsenal, the football team supported by Davies; he recalls his mother sewing their club badge and captain's number on to his shirt, as a child, only a year or so before she died. The paperback was published under the title Rebel Without A Clue: How the 80s Made Me.

Personal life

Davies married writer and former literary agent Katie Maskell, on 13 January 2007 after a 6-month engagement. Friend and comedy partner Bill Bailey was Davies's best man and delivered a speech at the ceremony. Their first child, Susie, was born on December 9, 2009.

Davies is a pescetarian. He has narrated an anti-vivisection video called Wasted Lives.

In late 2007 he made UK national news when The Times and Daily Telegraph reported that Davies was involved in an altercation where he bit the ear of a homeless man. Davies had just left a wake at the nearby Groucho Club. He told The Times in 2009, "He wasn't a tramp. He was a raging, horrendous a***hole. He called me a c*** several times. Or if it wasn't him, it was his mate. And, yes, I went for him and, yes, I did it in what turned out to be an amusing way." Following the incident, Davies was banned from the Groucho Club.

Davies has recently become, like his QI co-star Stephen Fry, an avid user of Twitter, updating his progress writing a new book and discussing events like sitting a few seats away from Michael Jackson at the theatre.

Davies is a fan of Arsenal F.C. and a season ticket holder. He says he became a fan because his "brother was a Spurs fan and he didn't want to be the same". Davies also used to host "It's Up For Grabs Now" a podcast, which took a light-hearted look at goings on at the club. On January 18, 2011, Alan began hosting the new Arsenal Podcast "The Tuesday Club" with stand-up comedians Keith Dover & Ian Stone and DJ Tayo Popoola who sit with him at Arsenal home games.

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l396nw5iUy1qawt1wo1_500.jpg


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/06/11 at 5:46 am

The person of the day...Rob Reiner
Robert Norman "Rob" Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.

As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton, respectively) son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s. As a director, Reiner was recognized by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) with nominations for Stand by Me, When Harry Met Sally..., and A Few Good Men. He was trained at the UCLA Film School.
Reiner was born to a Jewish family in The Bronx, New York, and is the son of Estelle Reiner (née Lebost), an actress, and Carl Reiner, a comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director. As a child, Reiner lived in New Rochelle, New York, where his family lived at 48 Bonnie Meadow Road. This is similar to 148 Bonnie Meadow Road, the fictional address of the Petries on The Dick Van Dyke Show, the 1960s CBS sitcom created by his father. Also, his latest film Flipped takes place at the corner of Bonnie Meadow Lane and Renfrew Street.

At the age of 13, Rob relocated with his family to the Los Angeles area, where he attended Beverly Hills High School with Richard Dreyfuss, Bonnie Franklin and Albert Brooks. He went on to enroll at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also has a sister, Sylvia Anne (Annie) Reiner (born 1957), who is a poet, playwright, and author; and a brother, Lucas Reiner (born 1962), a painter, actor, and director.
Career

Reiner began his career writing for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968 and 1969. After a short break, Reiner became famous playing Michael "Meathead" Stivic, Archie Bunker's liberal son-in-law, on Norman Lear's 1970s sitcom All in the Family, which was the most-watched television program for five years (1971–1976) in the United States.

The nickname "Meathead," referring to Reiner's character Mike Stivic in All in the Family, became a pop culture reference. Indeed, Reiner has stated, "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize'." O'Connor coined the name "Meathead" after arriving at the studio one day with a bag of ten subs from a nearby deli. In just ten minutes, O'Connor realized that Reiner had eaten four whole subs and was on his fifth. At that point O'Connor remarked, "Indeed, you are the Meathead if I ever saw one! Save some for the rest of us!" Co-star Jean Stapleton turned to Producer Norman Lear and said, "Carroll just gave Mike Stivic a name that will live in infamy!"

Reiner was parodied in Butt Out, a South Park episode which revolved around the theme of smoking and anti-tobacco activism. He is portrayed as selfish, bad-tempered and obese, and never without food in his hand/mouth. This is a running joke in the episode; as he rants about the evils and health hazards of smoking, he eats more rapidly still and begins sweating and shaking, as if on the verge of a stroke or heart attack. Reiner has not commented on his 'appearance' in the episode.

In a 2004 interview on A&E Biography, Reiner said that he enjoyed working with Carroll O'Connor on-screen, as well as becoming best friends and for having a second father-in-law, off-screen. Reiner was a loyal friend to him until O'Connor's death on June 21, 2001. At the time, he, alongside Sally Struthers and Danielle Brisebois, attended O'Connor's funeral.
Rob Reiner at the 1988 Emmy Awards

From the 1980s to present day, Reiner has been known as a director of successful Hollywood films. Some of these films—The Princess Bride, Stand by Me, and This Is Spinal Tap— have achieved cult status. Reiner has stated that the film which will go down as his masterpiece is Stand by Me. The film is also his favorite film of his own work. He often collaborates with film editor Robert Leighton, whom he also shares with fellow director-thespian Christopher Guest as their go-to editor.

Reiner has gone on to direct other critically and commercially successful films with his own company, Castle Rock Entertainment, such as When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, and his most commercially successful work A Few Good Men.

One of Reiner's most recent films,The Bucket List, was released in December 2007 and starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of tasks to accomplish before they die. Although the film was popular with audiences, film critic Roger Ebert, a thyroid cancer sufferer, was especially off-put by treatment of the disease in the film: "'The Bucket List' thinks dying of cancer is a laugh riot followed by a dime-store epiphany."

Reiner has made cameos in a number of movies, including Throw Momma from the Train, Sleepless in Seattle, Bullets Over Broadway, The First Wives Club, Primary Colors, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and 30 Rock.

Reiner's latest film, Flipped, was released in 2010.
Personal life
Rob Reiner speaking at a Howard Dean rally on Oct. 29, 2003

Rob Reiner is the son of Carl Reiner and Estelle Reiner. He was married to actress-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981 and adopted Marshall's daughter from a previous marriage, actress Tracy Reiner. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981.

Reiner married photographer Michele Singer in 1989. They have three children. In 1997, Reiner and wife Michele founded the "I Am Your Child Foundation," now "Parents' Action for Children," a non-profit organization promoting early childhood development by producing and distributing celebrity-hosted educational videos for parents.

Reiner has devoted considerable time and energy to liberal activism in recent years.

Reiner is a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights which initiated the defense team against California's passing of prop 8 which banned same sex marriage in the state.

In 1998, Reiner chaired the campaign to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, a program of early childhood development services, funded by a tax on tobacco products. He served as the first chairman of First 5 California, from 1999 to 2006. Reiner came under criticism for campaigning for a ballot measure (Prop 82) to fund state-run preschools while still chair of the First Five Commission, causing him to resign from his position on March 29, 2006. An audit was conducted, and it concluded that the state commission did not violate state law and that it had clear legal authority to conduct its public advertising campaigns related to preschool. In the end, Prop 82 failed to win approval, garnering only 39.1% support.

Reiner was mentioned as a possible candidate to run against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 but decided not to run for personal reasons. He campaigned extensively for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore in 2000, and he campaigned in Iowa for Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean just before the 2004 Iowa caucuses. He endorsed Hillary Clinton for president for the 2008 election cycle.

Reiner is a member of the Social Responsibility Task Force, an organization advocating moderation where social issues (such as violence and tobacco use) and the entertainment industry meet.

Reiner is also active in environmental issues, and he successfully led the effort to establish California's Ahmanson Ranch as a state park and wildlife refuge rather than as a commercial real estate development. He introduced Spinal Tap at the London Live Earth concert in July 2007.
Filmography
Film

    * Halls of Anger – Actor (1969)
    * Summertree – Actor (1971)
    * Fire Sale – Actor (1977)
    * This Is Spinal Tap – Actor, Director, Song-Writer (1984)
    * The Sure Thing – Director (1985)
    * Stand by Me – Director (1986)
    * The Princess Bride – Director (1987)
    * Throw Momma from the Train – Actor (1987)
    * When Harry Met Sally... – Director (1989)
    * Postcards from the Edge – Actor (1990)
    * Misery – Director (1990)
    * A Few Good Men – Director (1992)
    * Sleepless In Seattle – Actor (1993)
    * North – Director (1994)
    * Bullets Over Broadway – Actor (1994)
    * The American President – Director (1995)
    * Bye Bye Love – Actor (1995)
    * Ghosts of Mississippi – Director (1996)
    * The First Wives Club – Actor (1996)
    * Primary Colors – Actor (1998)
    * EDtv – Actor (1999)
    * The Story of Us – Director (1999)
    * Alex & Emma – Director (2003)
    * Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star - Actor (2003)
    * Rumor Has It... - Director (2005)
    * Everyone's Hero - Voice Actor (2006)
    * The Bucket List – Director (2007)
    * Flipped – Director, Producer, Screenplay (2010)
    * The Tommyknockers (film) Actor (1997)



Television

    * Batman - Delivery Boy (1967)
    * The Smothers Brothers – Writer (1967)
    * The Andy Griffith Show – Copyboy (1967)
    * Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. – hippie (1969)
    * The Beverly Hillbillies - Jethro's College protester friend (1969)
    * The Partridge Family – Snake (1971)
    * The Rockford Files – Larry 'King' Sturtevant (1974)
    * All in the Family – Michael Stivic (1971–1978)
    * Saturday Night Live – Himself (1975)
    * The $10,000 Pyramid – Guest as himself on debut week (1973)
    * Happy Days – Cowrote the first episode (1974)
    * Likely Stories, Vol. 1 – Director (1981)
    * It's Garry Shandling's Show – Appeared several times as himself, helping Garry to 'advance the plot' (1986–1990)
    * Morton & Hayes – Narrator (1991)
    * The Larry Sanders Show – Cameo playing himself in several episodes including Doubt Of The Benefit
    * Curb Your Enthusiasm – Season 2, Episode 5 (as himself) (2001)
    * The Simpsons – Guest-starred as himself in "Million Dollar Abie" (2006)
    * Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – Guest-starred as himself (2006)
    * Hannah Montana – Guest-starred as himself (2009)
    * Wizards of Waverly Place – Guest-starred as himself (2009)
    * 30 Rock – Guest-starred as himself (2010)
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee18/suznboltz/100_1780Rob-1.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa251/Buttered_Cocoon/Laverne%20and%20Shirley%20Clippings/clippings019.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/06/11 at 7:18 am

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsR/14483.gif


Meathead^

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/07/11 at 4:11 am

The person of the day...Peter Sarsgaard
John Peter Sarsgaard (born March 7, 1971) is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), playing Raoul, the son of Athos. Sarsgaard later achieved critical recognition when he was cast in Boys Don't Cry (1999) as John Lotter. He landed his first leading role in the 2001 film The Center of the World. The following year, he played supporting roles in Empire, The Salton Sea, and K-19: The Widowmaker.

For his portrayal of Charles Lane in Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard won the Online Film Critics Society Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sarsgaard has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy Garden State, the biographical film Kinsey (2004), the drama The Dying Gaul (2005) and big-budget films such as Flightplan (2005), Jarhead (2005), Orphan (2009), Knight and Day (2010), and the upcoming 2011 superhero film Green Lantern

Sarsgaard has also appeared in Off-Broadway productions including Kingdom of Earth, Laura Dennis, and Burn This. In September 2008, he made his Broadway debut as Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in The Seagull. Sarsgaard appeared in the off-Broadway production of Uncle Vanya in January 2009. Sarsgaard is married to actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. They have one daughter.
Sarsgaard branched out with guest roles in television productions filmed in New York City, with Law & Order in 1995, and New York Undercover (1997) as well as an appearance in the 1997 HBO special Subway Stories. He appeared in his first film role in Dead Man Walking (1995), where he was cast as a murdered teenager, killed by Sean Penn's character.

His next film roles were in a series of independent features: Another Day in Paradise (1997), part of an ensemble cast that included James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, and Natasha Gregson Wagner, and In Desert Blue (1998), where he had a supporting role in the film. He received his substantial role in the 1998 film The Man in the Iron Mask, where he played Raoul, the ill-fated son of John Malkovich's dueling Musketeer, Athos. The film uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' d'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. The film received ambivalent reviews, but was a success at the box office, earning $182 million worldwide.
Critical success

In 1999, Sarsgaard earned critical recognition in Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry, where he was cast as John Lotter, a violent but charismatic ex-convict. The film is based on the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transman who was raped and murdered in 1993 by Lotter and Tom Nissen after they found out he had female genitalia. Boys Don’t Cry received overwhelmingly positive acclaim from critics, and his performance was critically well-received. According to The Boston Globe, "Peter Sarsgaard ... makes the killer's terrible trajectory not only believable, but grounded in the most mundane clodhopper behavior. He isn't a drooling monster, he's a guy you wouldn't look at twice at a bar or a convenience store." A contributor from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote "It's a marvelous performance supported ably by ... Sarsgaard as the unpredictable, sociopathic Lotter." The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. In regards to his character, as how Sarsgaard made him "likeable, sympathetic even" was because he wanted the audience "to understand why they would hang out with me. If my character wasn't necessarily likable, I wanted him to be charismatic enough that you weren't going to have a dull time if you were with him." In another interview, Sarsgaard said he felt "empowered" by playing Lotter.

His first leading role was in the 2001 feature The Center of the World, where he plays Richard Longman, a lonely young entrepreneur who skips out on his company's big initial public offering and pays a stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to fly to Las Vegas with him. The film received average reviews, however, A.O. Scott of the New York Times, reported that the performances by both Sarsgaard and Parker "provide a rough grain of authenticity, capturing the blunted affect and aimless neediness of people in their 20s struggling to navigate a world of material abundance and impoverished emotional possibility." Scott concluded in his recap that Sarsgaard made his character "seem like a genuinely nice guy, too innocent to grasp the sleaziness of his bargain with Florence."

In 2002, Sarsgaard starred in three films, K-19: The Widowmaker, Empire and The Salton Sea. In K-19: The Widowmaker, he portrayed a young Russian navy lieutenant. The film's budget cost was $100 million to make, but upon release, it grossed $35 million in the United States and $30 million internationally, qualifying it as a box office failure. His next role was in Empire, a crime thriller, where he was cast in a supporting role. Sarsgaard played a meth addict in D. J. Caruso's The Salton Sea.
Worldwide recognition

2003 marked a significant turning point in Sarsgaard's career, when he starred in the feature film Shattered Glass. He depicted journalist Charles Lane, the lead editor of The New Republic. Shattered Glass is based on the real events of journalist Stephen Glass' career at The New Republic during the mid-1990s and his fall when his widespread journalistic fraud is exposed. During promotion of the film, Sarsgaard noted of his portrayal of Lane: "I just wanted to get his perspective on the actual events. I think that I tried to have some respect for myself and that way you're respecting the real person you're playing. I've done it a number of times. And it's always a little bit confusing. The best thing to do is just to ignore the fact, I think, that you're playing somebody who is a real life character." According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Peter Sarsgaard is appealingly level, a stolid straight-shooter as Lane". A reviewer from the Chicago Tribune noted that Sarsgaard plays Lane with "great subtlety and grace". The newspaper concluded with, "The character doesn't seethe with personal resentment; when he does a slow burn, he conveys a much deeper sense of a man's value system being violated past the breaking point." Sarsgaard's performance in the film earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Following the success of Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard starred in several roles. In 2004, he starred in the comedy-drama Garden State, where he played Mark, the sarcastic best friend to Zach Braff's character. In the same year, Sarsgaard portrayed Clyde Martin, in the biographical film Kinsey, a movie about the life of Alfred Kinsey, played by Liam Neeson. Kinsey was Sarsgaard's first film role which featured full frontal nudity. Paul Clinton of CNN reported that Sarsgaard's Clyde Martin "stands out" and "confirms that he's without doubt one of the best character actors of his generation." When asked about his kissing scenes with Neeson in Kinsey, Sarsgaard said:

    It wasn’t as hard as, say, running around with all my gear on in Jarhead. I’d rather go for an awkward moment than physical exertion any day. The only thing that I think get freaked out about when they have to do something like kiss a guy in a movie—when to their knowledge they’re straight—is that they’re afraid they’re going to be turned on. And if you’re not afraid that you’re going to be turned on—meaning that you know what you like—then really it’s not that hard.

In 2005, Sarsgaard starred in the drama The Dying Gaul, where he plays Robert Sandrich, a struggling screenwriter who has written a serious love story about a man and his terminally ill partner. The film garnered favorable reviews. In an interview, Sarsgaard said, he felt like he was playing a character based on Craig Lucas, the director, whom he describes as "elitist in a fun way". Because his character, a screenwriter, is also "elitist," when he sells his soul by compromising his artistic vision, "...the conflict seems bigger. Anyone can sell their soul. Even people with integrity. There's always that temptation to guard against. Which is why it's best to keep as much as possible hidden."

Also in 2005, he had a supporting role in the suspense film The Skeleton Key. His next film role was in Robert Schwentke's thriller Flightplan (2005). In the film, Sarsgaard played an air marshall, who is ordered to keep guard of Jodie Foster's character. Flightplan was screened at a special presentation at the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. Despite the mixed reviews, the film was a financial success, earning $223 million worldwide, making it his highest grossing film to the end of 2008. Sarsgaard's next feature was in Jarhead (2005) opposite Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie is based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir of the same name.

Sarsgaard hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) on January 21, 2006. In his introductory monologue, he tried to point out that he was a nice guy despite his sometimes macabre roles. Video clips were then played of Sarsgaard scaring the SNL cast. One sketch featured the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) global scare, which was still fresh in many minds, and one of the skits included a promotion for the Peter Sarsgaard "SARS-Guard", a reference to the mania of facemasks worn in public by those fearing infection.
Sarsgaard attending the European premiere of The Dark Knight in 2008

In 2007, he starred in supporting roles in Year of the Dog and Rendition. Year of the Dog is a dark comedy about a lonely middle-aged woman, played by Molly Shannon, who finds that animals are the only beings she can truly rely on. Sarsgaard plays Newt, an androgynous dog trainer, and love interest for Shannon's character. He starred alongside Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Reese Witherspoon, and Jake Gyllenhaal in Rendition, a Gavin Hood-directed political thriller about the US policy of extraordinary rendition. Viewed as a sex symbol, Sarsgaard was named one of Salon.com's Sexiest Man Living in 2007. 2008 saw Sarsgaard star in the drama Elegy, based on a Phillip Roth novel, The Dying Animal. The film received favorable good reception amongst critics.

In 2009, Sarsgaard starred alongside Jon Foster and Sienna Miller in the drama The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. It is an adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel of the same name. In the movie, Sarsgaard plays Cleveland, the rebellious bisexual boyfriend of Miller's character. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. His next film appearance was in the thriller Orphan, where he and Vera Farmiga play a married couple who lose a baby and adopt a nine-year-old girl, who is not as innocent as she claims to be. Furthermore in the same year, Sarsgaard starred as David in Lone Scherfig's coming of age film An Education. The role required Sarsgaard to speak in a British accent. An Education drew favorable reviews from critics. According to Variety, "Sarsgaard ... marvelously expresses the savoir faire that has such an impact on Jenny ." Sarsgaard played a federal agent in the action comedy film Knight and Day, released in June 2010, in which he appeared alongside Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. In February 2010, it was announced that Sarsgaard had been cast as villain Hector Hammond in the superhero film Green Lantern. The film is set for release in 2011.
Stage career

In 1995, Sarsgaard made his theatrical debut in the Off-Broadway production of Horton Foote's Laura Dennis, which was directed by James Houghton. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Sarsgaard ... emerges as an actor to watch with a performance of breathtaking emotional conviction." The following year he starred in Kingdom of Earth opposite Cynthia Nixon and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. His performance in the play received favorable reviews amongst critics. In October 2002, Sarsgaard returned to theater in a New York production of Lanford Wilson's Burn This, where he replaced Edward Norton.

In 2008, Sarsgaard made his Broadway debut at the Royal Court Theatre of Anton Chekhov's adaptation The Seagull alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Mackenzie Crook and Carey Mulligan. In the production, he plays, Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin, a tortured writer who drives a rival to suicide and a young lover to ruin. For the role, Sarsgaard had been required to speak in a British accent, in which he wanted it to be "less liked by an American audience".

Sarsgaard played Mikhail Lvovich Astrov, a country doctor and philosopher, in the Classic Stage Company's 2009 off-Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in New York City. The cast also included Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mamie Gummer, Denis O'Hare, and George Morfogen. The production, directed by Austin Pendleton, began previews on January 17 and ended its limited run on March 1. Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News gave the production one out of four stars, but complimented his performance, writing that Sarsgaard does a "credible job as the doctor". In the Bloomberg review of Uncle Vanya, John Simon, wrote: "Sarsgaard can't find the right tempi or emphases: shuttling between colorless rattle and silence-studded rallentandos, he fails at both infectious enthusiasm and self- effacing charm."

In May 2010, it was reported that Sarsgaard will star in Chekhov's play Three Sisters. The production is scheduled to begin in 2011, and Sarsgaard will reunited with Uncle Vanya director Austin Pendleton.
Personal life
Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal at the New York premiere of An Education in October 2009.

In an interview with the New York Times, when asked if he still had Catholic faith, Sarsgaard said: "I like the death-cult aspect of Catholicism. Every religion is interested in death, but Catholicism takes it to a particularly high level. Seriously, in Catholicism, you're supposed to love your enemy. That really impressed me as a kid, and it has helped me as an actor. The way that I view the characters I play is part of my religious upbringing. To abandon curiosity in all personalities, good or bad, is to give up hope in humanity."

Among his most notable romantic relationships, Sarsgaard dated burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and model and actress Shalom Harlow. Early in his film career, he dated photographer Malerie Marder, a close friend from his days attending Bard College, who had featured Sarsgaard in some of her early work. Sarsgaard has been in a relationship with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and is a close friend of her brother Jake Gyllenhaal, since 2002. In April 2006 they announced their engagement and on May 2, 2009, they married in a small ceremony in Brindisi, Italy. They have a daughter Ramona, born October 3, 2006, and they live in Brooklyn, New York.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Dead Man Walking Walter Delacroix
1997 Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground Boy #1 TV (as Peter Scarsgaard)
1998 Minor Details Scott
The Man in the Iron Mask Raoul
Desert Blue Billy Baxter
Another Day in Paradise Ty
1999 Freak City Cal Jackson TV
Boys Don't Cry John Lotter
2000 The Cell Julia Hickson's Fiancee Uncredited
Housebound Tom
2001 The Center of the World Richard Longman
Bacon Wagon Cowboy Zombie Victim
2002 Empire Jack
The Salton Sea Jimmy the Finn
K-19: The Widowmaker LT Vadim Radchenko
Unconditional Love Window Washer
2003 Death of a Dynasty Brendon III
Shattered Glass Charles 'Chuck' Lane Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Las Palmas Film Festival Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Village Voice Film Poll - Best Supporting Performance
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2004 Garden State Mark Stockholm Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor, Comedy or Musical
Kinsey Clyde Martin Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Glitter Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor, Drama
2005 The Dying Gaul Robert Sandrich
The Skeleton Key Luke
Flightplan Gene Carson
Jarhead Cpl. Alan Troy Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor, Drama
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony himself Guest appearance in episode 8
2007 Year of the Dog Newt
Rendition Alan Smith
2008 Elegy Kenneth Kepesh
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh Cleveland Arning
2009 An Education David Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
In the Electric Mist Elrod Sykes
Orphan John Coleman
2010 Knight and Day Fitzgerald
2011 Green Lantern Dr. Hector Hammond Post-production
Awards
Year Award Category Film Result
2000 St. Louis International Film Festival Emerging Actor Award Won
2003 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actor Shattered Glass Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor Won
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Performance - Male Won
2004 Chlotrudis Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Male Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Las Palmas Film Festival Best Actor Won
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor Won
Golden Globes Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Nominated
Stockholm International Film Festival Best Actor Garden State Won
2005 Satellite Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Comedy or Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Drama Jarhead Nominated
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Drama Kinsey Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Glitter Awards Best Supporting Actor Won
Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Male Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Supporting Actor Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actor Jarhead Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture An Education Nominated
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d33/xxxxicexxxx/peter%20sarsgaard/1430424_10.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c180/weenerdog28/PeterSarsgaard.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/08/11 at 5:13 am

The person of the day...Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager (born March 8, 1947, New York, United States) is an American lyricist, songwriter and singer and painter.
Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech. She had already co-written her first pop hit, "A Groovy Kind of Love", with Toni Wine, while still a student at the New York City High School of Music and Art. It was recorded by the British invasion band The Mindbenders, whose version was a worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was subsequently recorded by Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, and Phil Collins, whose rendition for the film Buster hit #1 in 1988. She also sung the rather well known song You're Moving Out Today She is also a blogger on the American Newsite Huffington Post where she leaves her views and comments about recent happenings in the news.
Albums

Her first recording as a singer was the 1977 album Carole Bayer Sager, which included the #1 international single "You're Moving Out Today", a song which she co-wrote with Bette Midler. (Paul Buckmaster provided horn and string arrangements for the album.) The album went platinum in Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It was followed by ...Too in 1978 and a third and last album, co-produced by Burt Bacharach, entitled Sometimes Late at Night (1981), which included a top 30 hit single "Stronger Than Before", later recorded by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan.
Songwriting

Many of Sager's early songs were co-written with her former husband, composer Bacharach. She has also collaborated with Neil Diamond, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Masser, Peter Allen, Melissa Manchester, Sheena Easton, Bruce Roberts, Neil Sedaka, David Foster, Albert Hammond, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Donald Fagen, Babyface and Clint Eastwood (for the film True Crime).

Sager has won an Oscar (six nominations), a Grammy (nine nominations), two Golden Globe (seven nominations). She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987. Sager won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981 for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the theme song from the film Arthur. She shared the award with co-writers Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, and Christopher Cross.

Sager received the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1987 for "That's What Friends Are For", which she co-wrote with Bacharach. The song was originally written for the 1982 film Night Shift and was recorded for the film by Rod Stewart. The song was honored for its 1986 cover version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John, which became a number one hit, raising millions of dollars for AIDS research.

Ms Sager is also an artist. She paints, mostly abstract paintings but has painted a number of portraits. Her first solo show is to open in March 2011 at the LA Arthouse in Los Angeles.
Personal life

Married Andrew Sager in 1970 divorced in 1978. Sager was involved in a romantic relationship with composer Marvin Hamlisch in the 1970s. She was married to composer and pianist Burt Bacharach between 1982 - 1991. There was one child from this marriage, a son named Christopher. Sager now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Robert A. Daly, former chairman CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and former chairman of Warner Brothers. Daly is currently Chairman (CEO) the American Film Institute as well as an advisor to Brad Grey at Paramount Pictures (Viacom). Sager and Daly co-chair the Los Angeles Advisory Board of DonorsChoose. Two Years ago Sager joined the board of LACMA and has recently created a 3D PSA airing in theatres to raise awareness of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

In May 2006 she was honored at a lunch at NYU's Steinhardt School and later that evening received the Distinguished Alumni Award from New York University. She appeared on the January 24, 2007 episode of American Idol as a judge during the Manhattan auditions. In November 2010 she was honored by the City of Hope for her Songwriting career.

She is also part of the American Newsite Huffington Post where she uploads views on recent news stories.
Discography

    * Carole Bayer Sager (Elektra, 1977)
    * ...Too (Elektra, 1978)
    * Sometimes Late At Night (Boardwalk, 1981)

Selected songs

    * Peter Allen ("Fly Away" "Everything Old Is New Again", etc...)
    * Bette Midler ("Blueberry Pie", "My One True Friend (Theme from One True Thing)", etc...)
    * Melissa Manchester ("Midnight Blue", "Come In From The Rain", "Don't Cry Out Loud", "Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love)", etc..)
    * Helen Reddy ("A Bit of OK", "Ah, My Sister", "Never Say Goodbye" (Theme form Continental Divide))
    * Dolly Parton ("You're the Only One", "Heartbreaker", "The Day I Fall In Love" (Theme from Beethoven's 2nd))
    * Carly Simon ("Nobody Does It Better (Theme from The Spy Who Loved Me)")
    * Doobie Brothers ("How Do The Fools Survive")
    * Dusty Springfield ("Dream On", "Home to Myself", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", etc...)
    * Elkie Brooks ("Don't Cry Out Loud")
    * Rita Coolidge ("Fool That I Am (song from Coast to Coast)" "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love")
    * Bernadette Peters ("Only Wounded", "Sweet Alibi")
    * Barbra Streisand ("Niagara", "Love Light", "You and Me for Always", "One More Time Around")
    * Liza Minnelli ("More Than I Like You", "Don't Cry Out Loud")
    * Carole King ("Anyone At All (Theme from You've Got Mail)").
    * Rod Stewart ("That's What Friends Are For (theme from Night Shift)")
    * Dionne & Friends (Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder) ("That's What Friends Are For")
    * Dionne Warwick ("Extravagant Gestures" "Love Power" "Stronger Than Before", etc...)
    * Diana Ross (It's My Turn, "Come in from the rain")
    * Shirley Bassey ("Better Off Alone" etc...)
    * Roberta Flack ("Maybe" (Theme from Romantic Comedy and Making Love))
    * Aretha Franklin ("Someone Else's Eyes", "Ever Changing Times")
    * Randy Crawford ("One Hello (theme from I Ought to Be in Pictures)")
    * Patti LaBelle ("On My Own", "Sleep With Me Tonight", "Need a Little Faith")
    * Anita Baker ("When You Love Someone (Theme from Forget Paris)")
    * Frank Sinatra ("You and Me (We Wanted It All)")
    * Leo Sayer ("When I Need You")
    * Neil Diamond ("Heartlight", "On The Way To The Sky", "Front Page Story","I'm Guilty", "Crazy ", "Turn Around etc..)
    * Christopher Cross ("Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (theme from Arthur))
    * Kenny Rogers ("They Don't Make Them Like They Used To" (Theme from Tough Guys))
    * Johnny Mathis ("Fly Away", "When I Need You", "Midnight Blue")
    * Michael Jackson ("It's The Falling In Love", "You Are My Life", "We've Had Enough")
    * Céline Dion & Andrea Bocelli ("The Prayer" (Theme from Quest for Camelot))
    * Josh Groban & Charlotte Church ("The Prayer")
    * The Corrs ("I Never Loved You Anyway" and "Don't Say You Love Me")
    * Diana Krall ("Why Should I Care" (from True Crime))
    * Sheena Easton ("One Man" co-written with Sager)
    * Brian Wilson ("She Says That She Needs Me")
    * Charice ("All That I Need to Survive")

Works for stage

    * Georgy (1970) - musical - lyricist
    * Dancin' (1978) - revue - featured lyricist for "If It Feels Good, Let It Ride" and "Easy"
    * They're Playing Our Song (1979) - musical - lyricist
    * Up in One (1979) - revue - featured songwriter
    * The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979) - musical - featured songwriter
    * Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre (1987) - concert - featured songwriter
    * The Boy from Oz (2003) - musical - featured songwriter with Peter Allen


I could not find any pics in Photobucket :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/08/11 at 12:36 pm


The person of the day...Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager (born March 8, 1947, New York, United States) is an American lyricist, songwriter and singer and painter.
Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech. She had already co-written her first pop hit, "A Groovy Kind of Love", with Toni Wine, while still a student at the New York City High School of Music and Art. It was recorded by the British invasion band The Mindbenders, whose version was a worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was subsequently recorded by Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, and Phil Collins, whose rendition for the film Buster hit #1 in 1988. She also sung the rather well known song You're Moving Out Today She is also a blogger on the American Newsite Huffington Post where she leaves her views and comments about recent happenings in the news.
Albums

Her first recording as a singer was the 1977 album Carole Bayer Sager, which included the #1 international single "You're Moving Out Today", a song which she co-wrote with Bette Midler. (Paul Buckmaster provided horn and string arrangements for the album.) The album went platinum in Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It was followed by ...Too in 1978 and a third and last album, co-produced by Burt Bacharach, entitled Sometimes Late at Night (1981), which included a top 30 hit single "Stronger Than Before", later recorded by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan.
Songwriting

Many of Sager's early songs were co-written with her former husband, composer Bacharach. She has also collaborated with Neil Diamond, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Masser, Peter Allen, Melissa Manchester, Sheena Easton, Bruce Roberts, Neil Sedaka, David Foster, Albert Hammond, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Donald Fagen, Babyface and Clint Eastwood (for the film True Crime).

Sager has won an Oscar (six nominations), a Grammy (nine nominations), two Golden Globe (seven nominations). She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987. Sager won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981 for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the theme song from the film Arthur. She shared the award with co-writers Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, and Christopher Cross.

Sager received the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1987 for "That's What Friends Are For", which she co-wrote with Bacharach. The song was originally written for the 1982 film Night Shift and was recorded for the film by Rod Stewart. The song was honored for its 1986 cover version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John, which became a number one hit, raising millions of dollars for AIDS research.

Ms Sager is also an artist. She paints, mostly abstract paintings but has painted a number of portraits. Her first solo show is to open in March 2011 at the LA Arthouse in Los Angeles.
Personal life

Married Andrew Sager in 1970 divorced in 1978. Sager was involved in a romantic relationship with composer Marvin Hamlisch in the 1970s. She was married to composer and pianist Burt Bacharach between 1982 - 1991. There was one child from this marriage, a son named Christopher. Sager now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Robert A. Daly, former chairman CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and former chairman of Warner Brothers. Daly is currently Chairman (CEO) the American Film Institute as well as an advisor to Brad Grey at Paramount Pictures (Viacom). Sager and Daly co-chair the Los Angeles Advisory Board of DonorsChoose. Two Years ago Sager joined the board of LACMA and has recently created a 3D PSA airing in theatres to raise awareness of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

In May 2006 she was honored at a lunch at NYU's Steinhardt School and later that evening received the Distinguished Alumni Award from New York University. She appeared on the January 24, 2007 episode of American Idol as a judge during the Manhattan auditions. In November 2010 she was honored by the City of Hope for her Songwriting career.

She is also part of the American Newsite Huffington Post where she uploads views on recent news stories.
Discography

    * Carole Bayer Sager (Elektra, 1977)
    * ...Too (Elektra, 1978)
    * Sometimes Late At Night (Boardwalk, 1981)

Selected songs

    * Peter Allen ("Fly Away" "Everything Old Is New Again", etc...)
    * Bette Midler ("Blueberry Pie", "My One True Friend (Theme from One True Thing)", etc...)
    * Melissa Manchester ("Midnight Blue", "Come In From The Rain", "Don't Cry Out Loud", "Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love)", etc..)
    * Helen Reddy ("A Bit of OK", "Ah, My Sister", "Never Say Goodbye" (Theme form Continental Divide))
    * Dolly Parton ("You're the Only One", "Heartbreaker", "The Day I Fall In Love" (Theme from Beethoven's 2nd))
    * Carly Simon ("Nobody Does It Better (Theme from The Spy Who Loved Me)")
    * Doobie Brothers ("How Do The Fools Survive")
    * Dusty Springfield ("Dream On", "Home to Myself", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", etc...)
    * Elkie Brooks ("Don't Cry Out Loud")
    * Rita Coolidge ("Fool That I Am (song from Coast to Coast)" "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love")
    * Bernadette Peters ("Only Wounded", "Sweet Alibi")
    * Barbra Streisand ("Niagara", "Love Light", "You and Me for Always", "One More Time Around")
    * Liza Minnelli ("More Than I Like You", "Don't Cry Out Loud")
    * Carole King ("Anyone At All (Theme from You've Got Mail)").
    * Rod Stewart ("That's What Friends Are For (theme from Night Shift)")
    * Dionne & Friends (Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder) ("That's What Friends Are For")
    * Dionne Warwick ("Extravagant Gestures" "Love Power" "Stronger Than Before", etc...)
    * Diana Ross (It's My Turn, "Come in from the rain")
    * Shirley Bassey ("Better Off Alone" etc...)
    * Roberta Flack ("Maybe" (Theme from Romantic Comedy and Making Love))
    * Aretha Franklin ("Someone Else's Eyes", "Ever Changing Times")
    * Randy Crawford ("One Hello (theme from I Ought to Be in Pictures)")
    * Patti LaBelle ("On My Own", "Sleep With Me Tonight", "Need a Little Faith")
    * Anita Baker ("When You Love Someone (Theme from Forget Paris)")
    * Frank Sinatra ("You and Me (We Wanted It All)")
    * Leo Sayer ("When I Need You")
    * Neil Diamond ("Heartlight", "On The Way To The Sky", "Front Page Story","I'm Guilty", "Crazy ", "Turn Around etc..)
    * Christopher Cross ("Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (theme from Arthur))
    * Kenny Rogers ("They Don't Make Them Like They Used To" (Theme from Tough Guys))
    * Johnny Mathis ("Fly Away", "When I Need You", "Midnight Blue")
    * Michael Jackson ("It's The Falling In Love", "You Are My Life", "We've Had Enough")
    * Céline Dion & Andrea Bocelli ("The Prayer" (Theme from Quest for Camelot))
    * Josh Groban & Charlotte Church ("The Prayer")
    * The Corrs ("I Never Loved You Anyway" and "Don't Say You Love Me")
    * Diana Krall ("Why Should I Care" (from True Crime))
    * Sheena Easton ("One Man" co-written with Sager)
    * Brian Wilson ("She Says That She Needs Me")
    * Charice ("All That I Need to Survive")

Works for stage

    * Georgy (1970) - musical - lyricist
    * Dancin' (1978) - revue - featured lyricist for "If It Feels Good, Let It Ride" and "Easy"
    * They're Playing Our Song (1979) - musical - lyricist
    * Up in One (1979) - revue - featured songwriter
    * The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979) - musical - featured songwriter
    * Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre (1987) - concert - featured songwriter
    * The Boy from Oz (2003) - musical - featured songwriter with Peter Allen


I could not find any pics in Photobucket :-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_tW3vU3RyQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/08/11 at 12:37 pm


The person of the day...Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager (born March 8, 1947, New York, United States) is an American lyricist, songwriter and singer and painter.
Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech. She had already co-written her first pop hit, "A Groovy Kind of Love", with Toni Wine, while still a student at the New York City High School of Music and Art. It was recorded by the British invasion band The Mindbenders, whose version was a worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was subsequently recorded by Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, and Phil Collins, whose rendition for the film Buster hit #1 in 1988. She also sung the rather well known song You're Moving Out Today She is also a blogger on the American Newsite Huffington Post where she leaves her views and comments about recent happenings in the news.
Albums

Her first recording as a singer was the 1977 album Carole Bayer Sager, which included the #1 international single "You're Moving Out Today", a song which she co-wrote with Bette Midler. (Paul Buckmaster provided horn and string arrangements for the album.) The album went platinum in Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It was followed by ...Too in 1978 and a third and last album, co-produced by Burt Bacharach, entitled Sometimes Late at Night (1981), which included a top 30 hit single "Stronger Than Before", later recorded by Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan.
Songwriting

Many of Sager's early songs were co-written with her former husband, composer Bacharach. She has also collaborated with Neil Diamond, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Masser, Peter Allen, Melissa Manchester, Sheena Easton, Bruce Roberts, Neil Sedaka, David Foster, Albert Hammond, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Donald Fagen, Babyface and Clint Eastwood (for the film True Crime).

Sager has won an Oscar (six nominations), a Grammy (nine nominations), two Golden Globe (seven nominations). She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987. Sager won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1981 for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the theme song from the film Arthur. She shared the award with co-writers Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, and Christopher Cross.

Sager received the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1987 for "That's What Friends Are For", which she co-wrote with Bacharach. The song was originally written for the 1982 film Night Shift and was recorded for the film by Rod Stewart. The song was honored for its 1986 cover version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John, which became a number one hit, raising millions of dollars for AIDS research.

Ms Sager is also an artist. She paints, mostly abstract paintings but has painted a number of portraits. Her first solo show is to open in March 2011 at the LA Arthouse in Los Angeles.
Personal life

Married Andrew Sager in 1970 divorced in 1978. Sager was involved in a romantic relationship with composer Marvin Hamlisch in the 1970s. She was married to composer and pianist Burt Bacharach between 1982 - 1991. There was one child from this marriage, a son named Christopher. Sager now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Robert A. Daly, former chairman CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and former chairman of Warner Brothers. Daly is currently Chairman (CEO) the American Film Institute as well as an advisor to Brad Grey at Paramount Pictures (Viacom). Sager and Daly co-chair the Los Angeles Advisory Board of DonorsChoose. Two Years ago Sager joined the board of LACMA and has recently created a 3D PSA airing in theatres to raise awareness of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

In May 2006 she was honored at a lunch at NYU's Steinhardt School and later that evening received the Distinguished Alumni Award from New York University. She appeared on the January 24, 2007 episode of American Idol as a judge during the Manhattan auditions. In November 2010 she was honored by the City of Hope for her Songwriting career.

She is also part of the American Newsite Huffington Post where she uploads views on recent news stories.
Discography

    * Carole Bayer Sager (Elektra, 1977)
    * ...Too (Elektra, 1978)
    * Sometimes Late At Night (Boardwalk, 1981)

Selected songs

    * Peter Allen ("Fly Away" "Everything Old Is New Again", etc...)
    * Bette Midler ("Blueberry Pie", "My One True Friend (Theme from One True Thing)", etc...)
    * Melissa Manchester ("Midnight Blue", "Come In From The Rain", "Don't Cry Out Loud", "Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love)", etc..)
    * Helen Reddy ("A Bit of OK", "Ah, My Sister", "Never Say Goodbye" (Theme form Continental Divide))
    * Dolly Parton ("You're the Only One", "Heartbreaker", "The Day I Fall In Love" (Theme from Beethoven's 2nd))
    * Carly Simon ("Nobody Does It Better (Theme from The Spy Who Loved Me)")
    * Doobie Brothers ("How Do The Fools Survive")
    * Dusty Springfield ("Dream On", "Home to Myself", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love", etc...)
    * Elkie Brooks ("Don't Cry Out Loud")
    * Rita Coolidge ("Fool That I Am (song from Coast to Coast)" "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love")
    * Bernadette Peters ("Only Wounded", "Sweet Alibi")
    * Barbra Streisand ("Niagara", "Love Light", "You and Me for Always", "One More Time Around")
    * Liza Minnelli ("More Than I Like You", "Don't Cry Out Loud")
    * Carole King ("Anyone At All (Theme from You've Got Mail)").
    * Rod Stewart ("That's What Friends Are For (theme from Night Shift)")
    * Dionne & Friends (Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder) ("That's What Friends Are For")
    * Dionne Warwick ("Extravagant Gestures" "Love Power" "Stronger Than Before", etc...)
    * Diana Ross (It's My Turn, "Come in from the rain")
    * Shirley Bassey ("Better Off Alone" etc...)
    * Roberta Flack ("Maybe" (Theme from Romantic Comedy and Making Love))
    * Aretha Franklin ("Someone Else's Eyes", "Ever Changing Times")
    * Randy Crawford ("One Hello (theme from I Ought to Be in Pictures)")
    * Patti LaBelle ("On My Own", "Sleep With Me Tonight", "Need a Little Faith")
    * Anita Baker ("When You Love Someone (Theme from Forget Paris)")
    * Frank Sinatra ("You and Me (We Wanted It All)")
    * Leo Sayer ("When I Need You")
    * Neil Diamond ("Heartlight", "On The Way To The Sky", "Front Page Story","I'm Guilty", "Crazy ", "Turn Around etc..)
    * Christopher Cross ("Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (theme from Arthur))
    * Kenny Rogers ("They Don't Make Them Like They Used To" (Theme from Tough Guys))
    * Johnny Mathis ("Fly Away", "When I Need You", "Midnight Blue")
    * Michael Jackson ("It's The Falling In Love", "You Are My Life", "We've Had Enough")
    * Céline Dion & Andrea Bocelli ("The Prayer" (Theme from Quest for Camelot))
    * Josh Groban & Charlotte Church ("The Prayer")
    * The Corrs ("I Never Loved You Anyway" and "Don't Say You Love Me")
    * Diana Krall ("Why Should I Care" (from True Crime))
    * Sheena Easton ("One Man" co-written with Sager)
    * Brian Wilson ("She Says That She Needs Me")
    * Charice ("All That I Need to Survive")

Works for stage

    * Georgy (1970) - musical - lyricist
    * Dancin' (1978) - revue - featured lyricist for "If It Feels Good, Let It Ride" and "Easy"
    * They're Playing Our Song (1979) - musical - lyricist
    * Up in One (1979) - revue - featured songwriter
    * The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979) - musical - featured songwriter
    * Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre (1987) - concert - featured songwriter
    * The Boy from Oz (2003) - musical - featured songwriter with Peter Allen


I could not find any pics in Photobucket :-http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OQ15ao%2BxL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/08/11 at 4:52 pm


Man,I miss her already.  :\'(

That's right; she's only been gone a couple months now. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/08/11 at 7:35 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_tW3vU3RyQ


I like this song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/09/11 at 1:14 am


I like this song.
A true catchy song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/09/11 at 6:34 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_tW3vU3RyQ

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/09/11 at 6:38 am

The person of the day...John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground.

Though best known for his work in rock music, Cale has worked in various genres including drone and classical. Since departing from The Velvet Underground in 1968 he has released approximately 30 albums. Of his solo work, Cale is perhaps best known for his album Paris 1919, plus his mid-1970s Island Records trilogy of albums: Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy.

Cale has produced or collaborated with Lou Reed, Nico, La Monte Young, John Cage, Terry Riley, Cranes, Nick Drake, Kevin Ayers, Brian Eno, Patti Smith, The Stooges, The Modern Lovers, Manic Street Preachers and frontman James Dean Bradfield, Marc Almond, Squeeze, Happy Mondays, Ambulance LTD and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
In early 1965, he co-founded The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, recruiting Reed's college friend Sterling Morrison and Cale's flatmate Angus Maclise to complete the initial line-up. Cale was asked to leave the band in September 1968, due in part to creative disagreements with Reed.

The very first commercially available recording of The Velvet Underground, an instrumental track called "Loop" given away with Aspen Magazine, was a feedback experiment written and conducted by Cale. He then appears on the Velvet Underground's first two albums, The Velvet Underground & Nico (recorded in 1966, released in 1967) and White Light/White Heat (recorded in 1967, released in 1968). On these albums he plays viola, bass guitar and piano, and sings occasional backing vocals. White Light/White Heat features Cale on organ (on "Sister Ray") as well as two vocal turns: "Lady Godiva's Operation", an experimental song where he shares lead vocal duties with Reed, and "The Gift", a long spoken word piece written by Reed. Though Cale co-wrote the music to several songs, his most distinctive contribution is the electrically amplified viola.

Cale also played on Nico's 1967 debut album, Chelsea Girl, which features songs co-written by Velvet Underground members Cale, Reed and Morrison, who also feature as musicians. Cale makes his debut as lyricist on "Winter Song" and "Little Sister".

Apart from appearing on these three albums, he also played organ on the track "Ocean" during the practice sessions to produce demos for the band's fourth album Loaded, nearly two years after he left the band. He was enticed back into the studio by the band's manager, Steve Sesnick "in a half-hearted attempt to reunite old comrades", as Cale put it. Although he does not appear on the finished album, the demo recording of "Ocean" was included in the 1997 Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition re-issue. Finally, five previously unreleased tracks recorded in late 1967 and early 1968 were included on the outtakes compilations VU (1985) and Another View (1986).

Cale is said to have influenced the group's early sound much more than any other members (and often disagreed forcefully with Reed about the direction the group should take). When Cale left, he seemed to take the more experimentalist tendencies with him, as is noticeable in comparing the noise-rock experimental White Light/White Heat (which Cale co-created) to the more pop-oriented The Velvet Underground, recorded after his departure. However, it is noteworthy that his first four solo albums are noticeably quiet and accessible. Cale's tendency towards confrontational and "noisy" music would take four years to reemerge.
Solo career
1970s

After leaving the Velvet Underground, Cale worked as a record producer on a number of albums, including Nico's The Marble Index, Desertshore and (later on Island) The End. On these he accompanied Nico's voice and harmonium using a wide array of instruments to unusual effect. He also produced The Stooges' self-titled debut. He appeared on Nick Drake's second album, Bryter Layter, playing viola and harpsichord on two of the album's tracks. While meeting with producer Joe Boyd, he came across Drake's music and insisted on collaborating with him. After a quick meeting, they collaborated on "Northern Sky" and "Fly".

In 1970, in addition to his career as a producer, Cale began to make solo records. His first, the pastoral Vintage Violence, is generally classified as folk-pop. Shortly thereafter, his collaboration with another classical musician, Terry Riley, on the mainly instrumental Church of Anthrax, was released, although it was actually recorded almost a year prior. His classical explorations continued with 1972's The Academy in Peril. He would not compose in the classical mode again until he began composing for soundtracks in the 1980s.

In 1972, he signed with Reprise Records as performer and in-house producer. His The Academy in Peril was his first project for Reprise. His fourth solo record Paris 1919 (1973) steered back towards the singer-songwriter mode. Paris 1919, made up of songs with arcane and complex lyrics, has been cited by critics as one of his best. Artists he produced while at Reprise included Jennifer Warnes' third album, Jennifer, as well as albums by Chunky, Novi & Ernie and The Modern Lovers, which Reprise chose not to release (it was subsequently released by Beserkley Records).

Cale's work as a producer continued and in 1974 he joined Island, working on records with Squeeze, Patti Smith, and Sham 69, among others. He produced a number of important protopunk records, including debuts by Smith and The Modern Lovers. During this period, he also worked as a talent scout with Island's A&R department.
Mid-1970s
John Cale, playing in Toronto, 1977
Photo: Jean-Luc Ourlin

Moving back to the United Kingdom, Cale made a series of solo albums which moved in a new direction. His records now featured a dark and threatening aura, often carrying a sense of barely-suppressed aggression. A trilogy of albums - Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy were recorded with other Island artists including Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno of Roxy Music, and Chris Spedding, who featured in his live band. This era of Cale's music is perhaps best represented by his somewhat disturbing cover of Elvis Presley's iconic "Heartbreak Hotel", featured both on Slow Dazzle and the live album 1 June 1974, recorded with Kevin Ayers, Nico and Eno, and by his frothing performance on "Leaving It Up To You", a savage indictment of the mass media first released on Helen of Troy (1975), but quickly deleted from later editions of the record due perhaps to the song's pointed Sharon Tate reference. It's also worth noting that both "Leaving It Up To You" and "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" (from Fear) begin as relatively conventional songs that gradually grow more paranoid in tone before breaking down into what critic Dave Thompson calls "a morass of discordance and screaming."

In 1977, he released the Animal Justice EP, notable particularly for the epic "Hedda Gabler", based very loosely on the Ibsen play. His often loud, abrasive and confrontational live performances fitted well with the nascent punk rock developing on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Cale took to wearing a hockey goaltender's mask onstage; see the cover of the Guts compilation (1977). This look predated Friday the 13th's villain, Jason Voorhees, by several years. During one gig he chopped the head off a dead chicken with a meat cleaver, and his band walked offstage in protest. Cale's drummer — a vegetarian — was so bothered he quit the group. Cale mocks his decision on "Chicken sheesh" from the Animal Justice EP. Cale has admitted that some of his paranoia and erratic behaviour at this time was associated with heavy cocaine use.

In December 1979, Cale's embrace of the punk rock ethic culminated in the release of Sabotage/Live. This record, recorded live at CBGB that June, features aggressive vocal and instrumental performances. The album consists entirely of new songs, many of which grapple confrontationally with global politics and paranoia. The band used includes Deerfrance on vocals and percussion. An earlier live set, consisting mostly of new material, was recorded at CBGB the previous year. It was released in 1991 as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. The band on that recording includes Ivan Kral of the Patti Smith Group on bass and Judy Nylon on vocals.
In 2001, the motion picture Shrek featured Cale's recording of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah", which greatly popularized the song with younger audiences.

With 2003's EP Five Tracks and the album HoboSapiens, Cale again returned as a regular recording artist, this time with music influenced by modern electronica and alternative rock. The well received album was co-produced with Nick Franglen of Lemon Jelly. That record was followed with 2005's album BlackAcetate.
Cale at UCLA's Royce Hall, 2010

In 2005, Cale produced Austin singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo's eighth album, The Boxing Mirror, which was released in May 2006. In June 2006, Cale released a radio and digital single, "Jumbo in tha Modernworld", that was unconnected to any album. A video was created for the song as well.

In March 2007 a 23-song live retrospective, Circus Live, was released in Europe. This two-disc album, composed of recordings from both the 2004 and 2006 tours, featured new arrangements and reworkings of songs from his entire career. Of particular interest is the Amsterdam Suite, a set of songs from a performance at the Amsterdam Paradiso in 2004 (archived by the venue on their Internet performance repository). A studio-created drone has been edited into these songs. The set also included a DVD, featuring electric rehearsal material and a short acoustic set, as well as the video for "Jumbo in tha Modernworld", a 2006 single.

In May 2007, Cale contributed a cover of the LCD Soundsystem song "All My Friends" to the vinyl and digital single releases of the LCD Soundsystem original. Cale has continued to work with other artists, contributing viola to the forthcoming Danger Mouse-produced second album by London psychedelic trio The Shortwave Set and producing the second album of American indie band Ambulance Ltd.

On 11 October 2008, Cale hosted an event to pay tribute to Nico called "Life Along the Borderline" in celebration of what, five days later, would have been her 70th birthday. This event featured many artists including James Dean Bradfield, Mark Lanegan, Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, The Fiery Furnaces, Guillemots, Nick Franglen of Lemon Jelly, Peter Murphy, Liz Green, and Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. The event was reprised at the Teatro Communale in Ferrara, Italy on 10 May 2009, with Mercury Rev, Mark Lanegan, Lisa Gerrard, Peter Murphy, Soap&Skin and Mark Linkous.

Cale represented Wales at the 2009 Venice Biennale, collaborating with artists, filmmakers, and poets, and focusing the artwork on his relationship with the Welsh language.

In January 2010 Cale was invited to be the first Eminent Art in Residence (EAR) at the Mona Foma festival curated by Brian Ritchie held in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. His work for the 2009 Venice Biennale 'Dyddiau Du (dark days)' was shown at the festival, along with a number of live performances at venues around Hobart.

The Paris 1919 album was performed, in its entirety, in Cardiff on 21 November 2009, at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 5 March 2010, and the Theatre Royal in Norwich on 14 May 2010. These performances will be repeated in Paris on 5 September 2010, Brescia, Italy on 11 September 2010, and Los Angeles on 30 September 2010 at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Cale was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.
Personal life

In 1968, John Cale married fashion designer Betsey Johnson. The couple divorced in 1971.

Also in 1971, Cale met Cynthia "Cindy" Wells, better known as Miss Cindy of The GTOs. They wed soon afterward. Their marriage was rocky, and they divorced in 1975.

On 6 October 1981, Cale married his third wife, Risé Irushalmi. They had one child together, Eden Myfanwy Cale, born 14 July 1985. They divorced in 1997.
Substance abuse

As a child, John Cale suffered from severe bronchial issues, which led to a doctor prescribing him opiates. He would come to rely on the drug in order to fall asleep. Biographer Tim Mitchell claims Cale's early dependence on medicine was a "formative experience." Cale later told an interviewer that, "When I got to New York, drugs were everywhere, and they quickly became part of my artistic experiment."

He was heavily involved in New York's drug scene of the 1960s and 1970s, with cocaine as his drug of choice. He claims to have "taken most of the available drugs in the United States." Cale has said that, "In the '60s, for me, drugs were a cool experiment... In the '70s, I got in over my head." He now feels his drug addiction negatively impacted his music during the 1980s, and that he decided to clean up following a series of embarrassing concerts and the birth of his daughter. In a 2009 interview with the BBC, Cale claimed that "the strongest drug" he now takes is herbal tea.
Discography
Main article: John Cale discography
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj155/Chance_Lander/Rockslide/012.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g279/cocoasolids/myspacepictures/Music/JohnCale.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/10/11 at 5:55 am

The person of the day...Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, singer-songwriter, actor, musician and rapper. He is the older brother of rapper Sebastian.

Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. Initially he released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo.

He has collaborated with numerous artists, including Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Madonna, Björk, Katy Perry, Keri Hilson, Leona Lewis, Flo Rida, and Michelle Branch. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II would be released on 23 November in Europe and 24 November in North America. However it was pushed back to 8 December, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy and Nelly Furtado entitled "Morning After Dark".
Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U". He also makes an appearance in Aaliyah's single "Try Again", which he also produced and co-wrote.

Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian (Tims brother), Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah.

The first release on Beat Club was the début album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights. The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:

    She was like blood, and I lost blood. Me and her together had this chemistry. I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans now. Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the person I ever met.
    —Timbaland, MTV

2003–05

Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s début album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not A Test!. He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".

Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.

In 2004 Timbaland produced singles for LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac.

Timbaland co-wrote two tracks (Exodus '04 and Let Me Give You My Love) and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star Hikaru Utada’s debut English album, Exodus. He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott’s sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, Rebirth).
2006–07: Timbaland Presents Shock Value

Timbaland started a new label, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E..
Timbaland and Justin Timberlake performing "SexyBack" during Timberlake's 2007 FutureSex/LoveShow concert tour

In 2006 he produced Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album FutureSex/LoveSounds. His vocals feature on the songs "SexyBack", "Sexy Ladies", "Chop Me Up", "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around" and on the prelude to "My Love" entitled "Let Me Talk to You."

In early 2007, Timbaland mentioned he wanted to work with female artist Britney Spears on her album Blackout.

Timbaland provided vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", and "Ice Box" by Omarion. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album, Volta, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence" and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album Curtis. Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)".

On 3 April 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value.

A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV News. This partly stemmed from a dispute over the writing credits for Justin Timberlakes - Cry Me A River.
Plagiarism accusations
Main article: Timbaland plagiarism controversy

Timbaland's plagiarism controversy occurred in January 2007, when several news sources reported that Timbaland was alleged to have plagiarized several elements (both motifs and samples) in the song "Do It" on the 2006 album Loose by Nelly Furtado without giving credit or compensation. The song itself was released as the fifth North American single from Loose in July 2007.
2008

In 2008, Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists that include Madonna's Hard Candy, Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World, Flo Rida's Mail On Sunday, Letoya Luckett's Lady Love, Lindsay Lohan's Spirit in the Dark, Chris Cornell's Scream, JoJo's All I Want Is Everything, Nicole Scherzinger's Her Name is Nicole, Missy Elliott's Block Party, Matt Pokora's MP3, Keithian's Dirrty Pop, The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination, Busta Rhymes's B.O.M.B, Lisa Maffia's Miss Boss, Teairra Mari's Pressed For Time, Jennifer Hudson's début album, Dima Bilan's Believe , Samantha Jade's, My Name Is Samantha Jade, New Kids on the Block's The Block and Keshia Chanté's new Album.

Timbaland produced the Russian entry the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Believe by Dima Bilan, which was co-written by Bilan and Jim Beanz. The song then won the contest when it was held in Belgrade, Serbia in May 2008.

In February 2008 the first 'Fashion against AIDS' collection -an initiative of 'Designers against AIDS' and sold in H&M stores in 28 countries- was launched, for which Timbaland designed a T-shirt print, posed for the campaign and spoke out in a video, to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness among urban youth and to advocate safe sex.

On 8 February 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album exclusively for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is Garry Barry Larry Harry "Get It Girl". In his first effort within the video game industry, he worked with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network, iPhone OS released in the September 2009.

In September 2008 it was announced that Timbaland would be inducted into the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin as an Honorary Patron in October 2008.

Timbaland is producing the movie “Vinyl” which follows the lives of 5 young women facing life-altering decisions about their relationships to members of a rock band. Timbaland’s Mosley Media Group is teaming up with Effie T. Brown's Duly Noted Inc. to create the movie. Marcus Spence, President of Mosley Music, Timbaland’s wife and publicist Monique Idlett Mosley, will be producing the film. Shooting starts in spring with Richard Zelniker as director.
2009–2010: Shock Value II & Robbery Case

Timbalands spoke to MTV's Shaheem Reid back in July 2008 to confirm that he was working on the follow up to his platinum selling Shock Value. At the time he confirmed that he had one track with Madonna which although recorded for her album Hard Candy it had not been used and could end up on this album instead. He was insistent that he would also collaborate with Jordin Sparks, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and T.I. However, none of these collaborations (except Miley Cyrus) made it to the final tracklist. He also said that alongside T-Pain who will definitely appear, he hoped to get Jay-Z on board, although he ultimately failed to do so.

Timbaland began working on the sequel to Shock Value in July 2008. In March 2009, he filed a lawsuit against his label, Blackground Records, alleging that they attempted to blackball him after he decided to move from music performance into production.

In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II will be released on 23 November in Europe and 24 November in North America. However it was pushed back to 8 December, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy entitled "Morning After Dark". New featured guest appearances on the album include DJ Felli Fel, Justin Timberlake, JoJo, Bran'Nu, Drake, Chad Kroeger, Sebastian, Miley Cyrus, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Esthero, The Fray, Jet, Daughtry, OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Attitude and D.O.E.. Ultimately Madonna, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Usher, Jordin Sparks, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects, Paramore, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, T.I. and Akon never appeared on Shock Value II. Shock Value II is infamous for its use of over-the-top vocal effects. Despite charting low, Timbaland has had three top forty singles to date.

"Morning After Dark" featuring SoShy and Nelly Furtado is the lead single from Timbalands' Third studio album, was written by Tim Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Deborah Epstein, Michelle Bell, Keri Hilson, Nelly Furtado, James Washington, John Maultsby and produced by Timbaland and Jroc. The Single premiered on October 16, 2009 on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest with Timbaland describing it as the kick-off song from the project. Following her performance, the song was sent for radio adds on May 25. The song peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. With this success, the song became Sparks' fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third nonconsecutive top 10 hit. On May 24, Sparks headed to Europe to begin promotion for the single."Say Something" featuring Canadian rapper Drake was released to US iTunes on November 3, 2009. It was officially sent to U.S. radio on January 5, 2010. It is the album's second single and has so far reached number 23 on the Hot 100, making it the second most successful single on the album. "Carry Out" featuring Justin Timberlake is the third single from the album but was initially only released in the U.S. It was sent to US radio on December 1, 2009. It is the most successful single on the album, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video premiered on February 18, 2010. It was released as the third UK single on April 26, 2010. "If We Ever Meet Again" featuring Katy Perry is the album's fourth single. The music video premiered on January 18, 2010. In the UK, it was released February 15, 2010 and reached number one in New Zealand and number three in the UK and Ireland. The song has reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 so far.

Timbaland worked with Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry and British X Factor winner Leona Lewis on their upcoming projects. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Stufje Aburkina, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z's upcoming albums. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. Additionally it was revealed that one of the songs Timbaland had produced for Beyoncé's 2008 album I Am... Sasha Fierce was reworked by Keri Hilson and Jay Z for Shock Value II but not included. He was a guest host of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw on 28 December 2009. Timbaland appeared on the 25 March 2010 episode (titled "Blowback") of FlashForward as an evidence agent. His songs, "Morning After Dark" & "Symphony", appears on the video game, Def Jam: Underground

On 26 March 2010, it was reported that Steven Tyler, intrigued by the 2009 Chris Cornell record Scream, would be teaming up with Timbaland to record a rap album. Guest appearances by Reverend Run and Darryl Mac of Run-D.M.C., Kid Rock, and T-Pain are rumored to be featured on the new project.

In April 2010, a feud between the producer and R&B singer, Ginuwine, arose after Timbaland failed to make an appearance at the singer's music video shoot of "Get Involved".

Later in April, Timbaland released a new single featuring T-Pain and Billy Blue titled "Talk That".

In June 2010, when questioned by RWD magazine about the UK music scene he made the bold claim to be the inspiration for the dub-step music scene. “The UK scene… they’re always telling me that I started it. You have Dub-bass…”. When questioned further about it he went on to say: "It’s funny cos they went back to some of my old music that really created that sound and just, instead of going fast, they went slow with more bass."

In August 2010, a "possible suicide attempt" APB was put out for Timbaland after his home was burgled. When his family were unable to contact him, they called 911 and a manhunt began. Police eventually found his car and bought him back home, where paramedics examined him, before declaring he was not a threat to himself. When questioned, Timbaland said he only took a drive to think about the robbery as he thought the possible thief could have been someone close whom he trusted.
2010–present: Shock Value III & Timbaland thursdays

In November 2010, Timbaland announced that he would be releasing a new song every Thursday, called Timbo Thursday like artists such as Kanye West who has G.O.O.D. Fridays on lock, Swizz Beatz who claimed Monster Mondays. In an interview with Rap-Up.com Timbaland stated “So my brother told me Kanye is puttin' out a new song every Friday called G.O.O.D. Fridays, Swizz got Mondays,” who recently joined Twitter. “I don't know if they are on Twitter but can you hit them up, and tell them reserve that Thursday for Timbo the king baby. We’ll call it Timbo Thursday, cool?” Timbaland plans to release his next album Shock Value III in 2011. Two artists that will appear so far on the album will be Keri Hilson and Missy Elliott.

On January 13, 2011, Timbaland began his Timbaland thursdays, free music initiative. The first song released was "Take Ur Clothes Off" featuring Missy Elliott. This was followed by "Round Da Way Tim", "Lil' Apartment" featuring rapper Attitude and singer 6 Two and "808" featuring Brandy Norwood. Hilson revealed that the songs that Timbaland was releasing through the initiative come deep from within his vast back catalogue and so there was a good chance that one of the records could feature her vocals. And, indeed, a track entitled "You Lied, You Cheated" was released on 10 February 2011. On 17 February, 2011. Timbaland collaborated first time with Lyrica Anderson on the song entitled "Mentally". According to the official website, Timbaland posted that "Anderson is currently working with Timbaland on his new project". On 25 February 2011, a song that features indie pop artists J'Royal Price from Memphis, Tennessee & JimmyCodean from Norfolk in Virginia on the song entitled "Hot Mess". His latest release entitled "Whenever You Like" featuring Brandy Norwood was released on march 3 via Timbaland Thursdays.
Thomas Crown Studio

Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley built a private recording studio in Virginia Beach. The studio was conceived and developed with long time engineer, Jimmy Douglass. The studio is managed by Garland Mosley and Brian Byrd. This full service audio production center has been created in an existing (about) 5,000 sq. ft. two-story industrial park building. A complete renovation of the building resulted in a two-studio recording and post production facility, and continues the growth of the Virginia Beach music community, that has spawned the likes of The Neptunes, Missy Elliott and Nate "Danja" Hills.
Discography
Main articles: Timbaland discography and Timbaland production discography

Solo albums

    * Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment (1998)
    * Shock Value (2007)
    * Shock Value II (2009)
    * Shock Value III (2011)

Timbaland & Magoo albums

    * Welcome to Our World (1997)
    * Indecent Proposal (2001)
    * Under Construction, Part II (2003)

Awards
Main article: List of awards and nominations for Timbaland
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj91/uberdruck24/timbaland0105.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/SUPEDZL/TIMBALAND.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/10/11 at 6:47 am

I like Timbaland,he had that one hit with the WWE Divas a few years ago. ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/10/11 at 1:05 pm


The person of the day...Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, singer-songwriter, actor, musician and rapper. He is the older brother of rapper Sebastian.

Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. Initially he released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo.

He has collaborated with numerous artists, including Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Madonna, Björk, Katy Perry, Keri Hilson, Leona Lewis, Flo Rida, and Michelle Branch. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II would be released on 23 November in Europe and 24 November in North America. However it was pushed back to 8 December, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy and Nelly Furtado entitled "Morning After Dark".
Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U". He also makes an appearance in Aaliyah's single "Try Again", which he also produced and co-wrote.

Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian (Tims brother), Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah.

The first release on Beat Club was the début album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights. The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:

    She was like blood, and I lost blood. Me and her together had this chemistry. I kinda lost half of my creativity to her. It's hard for me to talk to the fans now. Beyond the music, she was a brilliant person, the person I ever met.
    —Timbaland, MTV

2003–05

Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s début album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not A Test!. He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".

Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.

In 2004 Timbaland produced singles for LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac.

Timbaland co-wrote two tracks (Exodus '04 and Let Me Give You My Love) and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star Hikaru Utada’s debut English album, Exodus. He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott’s sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, Rebirth).
2006–07: Timbaland Presents Shock Value

Timbaland started a new label, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E..
Timbaland and Justin Timberlake performing "SexyBack" during Timberlake's 2007 FutureSex/LoveShow concert tour

In 2006 he produced Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album FutureSex/LoveSounds. His vocals feature on the songs "SexyBack", "Sexy Ladies", "Chop Me Up", "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around" and on the prelude to "My Love" entitled "Let Me Talk to You."

In early 2007, Timbaland mentioned he wanted to work with female artist Britney Spears on her album Blackout.

Timbaland provided vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", and "Ice Box" by Omarion. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album, Volta, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence" and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album Curtis. Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)".

On 3 April 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value.

A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV News. This partly stemmed from a dispute over the writing credits for Justin Timberlakes - Cry Me A River.
Plagiarism accusations
Main article: Timbaland plagiarism controversy

Timbaland's plagiarism controversy occurred in January 2007, when several news sources reported that Timbaland was alleged to have plagiarized several elements (both motifs and samples) in the song "Do It" on the 2006 album Loose by Nelly Furtado without giving credit or compensation. The song itself was released as the fifth North American single from Loose in July 2007.
2008

In 2008, Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists that include Madonna's Hard Candy, Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World, Flo Rida's Mail On Sunday, Letoya Luckett's Lady Love, Lindsay Lohan's Spirit in the Dark, Chris Cornell's Scream, JoJo's All I Want Is Everything, Nicole Scherzinger's Her Name is Nicole, Missy Elliott's Block Party, Matt Pokora's MP3, Keithian's Dirrty Pop, The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination, Busta Rhymes's B.O.M.B, Lisa Maffia's Miss Boss, Teairra Mari's Pressed For Time, Jennifer Hudson's début album, Dima Bilan's Believe , Samantha Jade's, My Name Is Samantha Jade, New Kids on the Block's The Block and Keshia Chanté's new Album.

Timbaland produced the Russian entry the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Believe by Dima Bilan, which was co-written by Bilan and Jim Beanz. The song then won the contest when it was held in Belgrade, Serbia in May 2008.

In February 2008 the first 'Fashion against AIDS' collection -an initiative of 'Designers against AIDS' and sold in H&M stores in 28 countries- was launched, for which Timbaland designed a T-shirt print, posed for the campaign and spoke out in a video, to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness among urban youth and to advocate safe sex.

On 8 February 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album exclusively for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is Garry Barry Larry Harry "Get It Girl". In his first effort within the video game industry, he worked with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network, iPhone OS released in the September 2009.

In September 2008 it was announced that Timbaland would be inducted into the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin as an Honorary Patron in October 2008.

Timbaland is producing the movie “Vinyl” which follows the lives of 5 young women facing life-altering decisions about their relationships to members of a rock band. Timbaland’s Mosley Media Group is teaming up with Effie T. Brown's Duly Noted Inc. to create the movie. Marcus Spence, President of Mosley Music, Timbaland’s wife and publicist Monique Idlett Mosley, will be producing the film. Shooting starts in spring with Richard Zelniker as director.
2009–2010: Shock Value II & Robbery Case

Timbalands spoke to MTV's Shaheem Reid back in July 2008 to confirm that he was working on the follow up to his platinum selling Shock Value. At the time he confirmed that he had one track with Madonna which although recorded for her album Hard Candy it had not been used and could end up on this album instead. He was insistent that he would also collaborate with Jordin Sparks, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and T.I. However, none of these collaborations (except Miley Cyrus) made it to the final tracklist. He also said that alongside T-Pain who will definitely appear, he hoped to get Jay-Z on board, although he ultimately failed to do so.

Timbaland began working on the sequel to Shock Value in July 2008. In March 2009, he filed a lawsuit against his label, Blackground Records, alleging that they attempted to blackball him after he decided to move from music performance into production.

In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II will be released on 23 November in Europe and 24 November in North America. However it was pushed back to 8 December, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy entitled "Morning After Dark". New featured guest appearances on the album include DJ Felli Fel, Justin Timberlake, JoJo, Bran'Nu, Drake, Chad Kroeger, Sebastian, Miley Cyrus, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Esthero, The Fray, Jet, Daughtry, OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Attitude and D.O.E.. Ultimately Madonna, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Usher, Jordin Sparks, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects, Paramore, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, T.I. and Akon never appeared on Shock Value II. Shock Value II is infamous for its use of over-the-top vocal effects. Despite charting low, Timbaland has had three top forty singles to date.

"Morning After Dark" featuring SoShy and Nelly Furtado is the lead single from Timbalands' Third studio album, was written by Tim Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Deborah Epstein, Michelle Bell, Keri Hilson, Nelly Furtado, James Washington, John Maultsby and produced by Timbaland and Jroc. The Single premiered on October 16, 2009 on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest with Timbaland describing it as the kick-off song from the project. Following her performance, the song was sent for radio adds on May 25. The song peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. With this success, the song became Sparks' fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third nonconsecutive top 10 hit. On May 24, Sparks headed to Europe to begin promotion for the single."Say Something" featuring Canadian rapper Drake was released to US iTunes on November 3, 2009. It was officially sent to U.S. radio on January 5, 2010. It is the album's second single and has so far reached number 23 on the Hot 100, making it the second most successful single on the album. "Carry Out" featuring Justin Timberlake is the third single from the album but was initially only released in the U.S. It was sent to US radio on December 1, 2009. It is the most successful single on the album, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video premiered on February 18, 2010. It was released as the third UK single on April 26, 2010. "If We Ever Meet Again" featuring Katy Perry is the album's fourth single. The music video premiered on January 18, 2010. In the UK, it was released February 15, 2010 and reached number one in New Zealand and number three in the UK and Ireland. The song has reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 so far.

Timbaland worked with Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry and British X Factor winner Leona Lewis on their upcoming projects. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Stufje Aburkina, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z's upcoming albums. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. Additionally it was revealed that one of the songs Timbaland had produced for Beyoncé's 2008 album I Am... Sasha Fierce was reworked by Keri Hilson and Jay Z for Shock Value II but not included. He was a guest host of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw on 28 December 2009. Timbaland appeared on the 25 March 2010 episode (titled "Blowback") of FlashForward as an evidence agent. His songs, "Morning After Dark" & "Symphony", appears on the video game, Def Jam: Underground

On 26 March 2010, it was reported that Steven Tyler, intrigued by the 2009 Chris Cornell record Scream, would be teaming up with Timbaland to record a rap album. Guest appearances by Reverend Run and Darryl Mac of Run-D.M.C., Kid Rock, and T-Pain are rumored to be featured on the new project.

In April 2010, a feud between the producer and R&B singer, Ginuwine, arose after Timbaland failed to make an appearance at the singer's music video shoot of "Get Involved".

Later in April, Timbaland released a new single featuring T-Pain and Billy Blue titled "Talk That".

In June 2010, when questioned by RWD magazine about the UK music scene he made the bold claim to be the inspiration for the dub-step music scene. “The UK scene… they’re always telling me that I started it. You have Dub-bass…”. When questioned further about it he went on to say: "It’s funny cos they went back to some of my old music that really created that sound and just, instead of going fast, they went slow with more bass."

In August 2010, a "possible suicide attempt" APB was put out for Timbaland after his home was burgled. When his family were unable to contact him, they called 911 and a manhunt began. Police eventually found his car and bought him back home, where paramedics examined him, before declaring he was not a threat to himself. When questioned, Timbaland said he only took a drive to think about the robbery as he thought the possible thief could have been someone close whom he trusted.
2010–present: Shock Value III & Timbaland thursdays

In November 2010, Timbaland announced that he would be releasing a new song every Thursday, called Timbo Thursday like artists such as Kanye West who has G.O.O.D. Fridays on lock, Swizz Beatz who claimed Monster Mondays. In an interview with Rap-Up.com Timbaland stated “So my brother told me Kanye is puttin' out a new song every Friday called G.O.O.D. Fridays, Swizz got Mondays,” who recently joined Twitter. “I don't know if they are on Twitter but can you hit them up, and tell them reserve that Thursday for Timbo the king baby. We’ll call it Timbo Thursday, cool?” Timbaland plans to release his next album Shock Value III in 2011. Two artists that will appear so far on the album will be Keri Hilson and Missy Elliott.

On January 13, 2011, Timbaland began his Timbaland thursdays, free music initiative. The first song released was "Take Ur Clothes Off" featuring Missy Elliott. This was followed by "Round Da Way Tim", "Lil' Apartment" featuring rapper Attitude and singer 6 Two and "808" featuring Brandy Norwood. Hilson revealed that the songs that Timbaland was releasing through the initiative come deep from within his vast back catalogue and so there was a good chance that one of the records could feature her vocals. And, indeed, a track entitled "You Lied, You Cheated" was released on 10 February 2011. On 17 February, 2011. Timbaland collaborated first time with Lyrica Anderson on the song entitled "Mentally". According to the official website, Timbaland posted that "Anderson is currently working with Timbaland on his new project". On 25 February 2011, a song that features indie pop artists J'Royal Price from Memphis, Tennessee & JimmyCodean from Norfolk in Virginia on the song entitled "Hot Mess". His latest release entitled "Whenever You Like" featuring Brandy Norwood was released on march 3 via Timbaland Thursdays.
Thomas Crown Studio

Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley built a private recording studio in Virginia Beach. The studio was conceived and developed with long time engineer, Jimmy Douglass. The studio is managed by Garland Mosley and Brian Byrd. This full service audio production center has been created in an existing (about) 5,000 sq. ft. two-story industrial park building. A complete renovation of the building resulted in a two-studio recording and post production facility, and continues the growth of the Virginia Beach music community, that has spawned the likes of The Neptunes, Missy Elliott and Nate "Danja" Hills.
Discography
Main articles: Timbaland discography and Timbaland production discography

Solo albums

    * Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment (1998)
    * Shock Value (2007)
    * Shock Value II (2009)
    * Shock Value III (2011)

Timbaland & Magoo albums

    * Welcome to Our World (1997)
    * Indecent Proposal (2001)
    * Under Construction, Part II (2003)

Awards
Main article: List of awards and nominations for Timbaland
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj91/uberdruck24/timbaland0105.jpg
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/SUPEDZL/TIMBALAND.jpg
I am not into Timbaland

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/11/11 at 5:21 am


I am not into Timbaland

Me either.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/11/11 at 6:20 am

The person of the day...Elias Koteas
Elias Koteas (born March 11, 1961) is a Canadian actor of film and television, best known for his roles in The Prophecy, Fallen, and the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.
Koteas was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a father who worked as a mechanic for the Canadian National Railways and a milliner mother. His parents are both of Greek descent, and he is a fluent Greek speaker. Koteas attended Vanier College in Montreal before leaving to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1981, of which he is a 1983 graduate. He was a member of the Academy's 1983–1984 Production Company. He also attended the Actors' Studio in New York City, where he studied acting under Ellen Burstyn and Peter Masterson. During his early years, Koteas washed dishes and bussed tables in New York for $1 an hour. At the time, he was not a U.S. citizen and therefore was not allowed to work in that country.
Career

While at the AADA, Koteas played Father Rangier in the school's production of "The Devils" adapted by John Whiting from the Aldous Huxley novel. He was also Paris in "The Golden Apple" a musical by John Latouche and Jerome Moross.

Koteas is best known for playing the lead role of Thomas Daggett in the American film The Prophecy, as well as the sports-crazed vigilante Casey Jones in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle films.

Koteas went on to play the demon-possessed serial killer Edgar Reese in the Denzel Washington thriller Fallen. He also appeared in John Hughes' Some Kind of Wonderful, Atom Egoyan's The Adjuster, Exotica, Ararat, Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line and David Cronenberg's Crash. Koteas also made an appearance in Season 4 of The Sopranos as Dominic Palladino, and in the Season 2 finale of House, in which Koteas plays a man who shoots Dr. Gregory House. The same year, he portrayed "DA Mike Randolf" in the Courtroom Drama Conviction. Elias has also appeared in The Greatest Game Ever Played, a Disney biography about a young golfer, as well as the thrillers Skinwalkers in 2006, Zodiac and Shooter in 2007. In May/September 2008 he played the role of "Joe," a bank robber, in the season 4 finale (and season 5 premiere) of CSI: NY.

He recently played a major role in Let Me In, the 2010 Matt Reeves re-adaptation of Let the Right One In.
Filmography

    * One Magic Christmas (1985)
    * Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
    * Gardens of Stone (1987)
    * Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
    * Full Moon in Blue Water (1988)
    * Friends, Lovers, & Lunatics (1989)
    * Malarek (1989)
    * Blood Red (1989)
    * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
    * Backstreet Dreams (1990)
    * Desperate Hours (1990)
    * Look Who's Talking Too (1990)
    * Almost an Angel (1990)
    * The Adjuster (1991)
    * Contact (1992)
    * Chain of Desire (1992)
    * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
    * Cyborg 2 (1993)
    * Exotica (1994)
    * Camilla (1994)
    * Power of Attorney (1995)
    * The Prophecy (1995)
    * Crash (1996)
    * Hit Me (1996)
    * Gattaca (1997)
    * Divorce: A Contemporary Western (1998)
    * Fallen (1998)
    * Apt Pupil (1998)
    * Living Out Loud (1998)
    * The Thin Red Line (1998)
    * Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000)
    * Harrison's Flowers (2000)
    * Lost Souls (2000)
    * Novocaine (2001)
    * Shot in the Heart (2001)
    * Collateral Damage (2002)
    * Ararat (2002)
    * The Sopranos (2002) (TV)
    * S1m0ne (2002)
    * Traffic (2004) (TV)
    * The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
    * The Big Empty (2005)
    * House (2006) (TV)
    * Conviction (2006)
    * Skinwalkers (2007)
    * Zodiac (2007)
    * Shooter (2007)
    * Prisoner (2007)
    * The Girl in the Park (2007)
    * Two Lovers (2008)
    * CSI: NY (2008) (TV)
    * Dark Streets (2008)
    * The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
    * The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
    * The Fourth Kind (2009)
    * Three Backyards/3 Backyards (2009)
    * My Own Love Song (2009)
    * Defendor (2009)
    * I Come with the Rain (2009)
    * The Killer Inside Me (2010)
    * Shutter Island (2010)
    * Let Me In (2010)
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww273/LEEE777/elias_koteas-ABIN-SURjpg.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/MichaelangeloIvey/TMNT%20L/koteas.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/11/11 at 12:46 pm


I am not into Timbaland


Me either.

I don't think I really am either. Not much for rap.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/11/11 at 12:48 pm


I don't think I really am either. Not much for rap.
I think I have not knowingly heard him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/11/11 at 12:51 pm


I think I have not knowingly heard him.

I have, but I haven't cared to listen to many of his songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/11/11 at 12:51 pm


I have, but I haven't cared to listen to many of his songs.
...and I am nothing going to venture into to YouTube to find out.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 03/11/11 at 12:54 pm


...and I am nothing going to venture into to YouTube to find out.

I have no desire to, either. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/11/11 at 12:55 pm


I have no desire to, either. :-\\
I still have to check out for a British Person of the Day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/11/11 at 1:18 pm

British Person of the Day: Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known discoveries are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mold Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated:

    It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognised for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming's discovery had spawned a huge pharmaceutical industry, churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind's most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis.

Early life

Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 at Lochfield, a farm near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the third of the four children of Hugh Fleming (1816–1888) from his second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton (1848–1928), the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his second marriage, and died when Alexander (known as Alec) was seven.

Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, and earned a two-year scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London where he attended the Royal Polytechnic Institution. After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. His elder brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to his younger sibling that he follow the same career, and so in 1903, the younger Alexander enrolled at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. He qualified for the school with distinction in 1906 and had the option of becoming a surgeon.

By chance, however, he had been a member of the rifle club (he had been an active member of the Volunteer Force since 1900). The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. He gained an M.B. and then a B.Sc. with Gold Medal in 1908, and became a lecturer at St. Mary's until 1914. On 23 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of Killala, County Mayo, Ireland.

Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was Mentioned in Dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St. Mary's Hospital, which was a teaching hospital. He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928.

Work before penicillin

After the war Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents, having witnessed the death of many soldiers from sepsis resulting from infected wounds. Antiseptics killed the patients' immunological article he submitted for the medical journal The Lancet during World War I, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were killing more soldiers than infection itself during World War I. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir Almroth Wright strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of the war continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.

Accidental discovery

"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Fleming would later say, "But I suppose that was exactly what I did"

By 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of staphylococci. He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but his laboratory was often untidy. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on holiday with his family. Before leaving he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. On returning, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci that had immediately surrounded it had been destroyed, whereas other colonies further away were normal. Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price who said "That's how you discovered lysozyme." Fleming grew the mold in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mould as being from the Penicillium genus, and, after some months of calling it "mould juice" named the substance it released penicillin on 7 March 1929. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming's impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively. Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin.

Fleming finally abandoned penicillin, and not long after Florey and Chain at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford took up researching and mass producing it with funds from the U.S. and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When D-day arrived they had made enough penicillin to treat all the wounded allied forces.

Personal life

The popular story of Winston Churchill's father paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young Winston from death is false. According to the biography, Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution by Kevin Brown, Alexander Fleming, in a letter to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia, described this as "A wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during World War II. Churchill was saved by Lord Moran, using sulphonamides, since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in Carthage in Tunisia in 1943. The Daily Telegraph and the Morning Post on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug, Sulphapyridine, known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by May & Baker Ltd, Dagenham, Essex – a subsidiary of the French group Rhône-Poulenc. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B." It is highly probable that the correct information about the sulphonamide did not reach the newspapers because, since the original sulphonamide antibacterial, Prontosil, had been a discovery by the German laboratory Bayer and Britain was at war with Germany at the time, it was thought better to raise British morale by associating Churchill's cure with the British discovery, penicillin.

Fleming's first wife, Sarah, died in 1949. Their only child, Robert Fleming, became a general medical practitioner. After Sarah's death, Fleming married Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, a Greek colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986.

Death

In 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred in St Paul's Cathedral a week later.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg/300px-Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg
Fleming (centre) receiving the Nobel prize from King Gustaf V of Sweden (right), 1945



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/11/11 at 1:20 pm


British Person of the Day: Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known discoveries are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mold Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated:

    It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognised for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming's discovery had spawned a huge pharmaceutical industry, churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind's most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis.

Early life

Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 at Lochfield, a farm near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the third of the four children of Hugh Fleming (1816–1888) from his second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton (1848–1928), the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his second marriage, and died when Alexander (known as Alec) was seven.

Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, and earned a two-year scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London where he attended the Royal Polytechnic Institution. After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. His elder brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to his younger sibling that he follow the same career, and so in 1903, the younger Alexander enrolled at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. He qualified for the school with distinction in 1906 and had the option of becoming a surgeon.

By chance, however, he had been a member of the rifle club (he had been an active member of the Volunteer Force since 1900). The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. He gained an M.B. and then a B.Sc. with Gold Medal in 1908, and became a lecturer at St. Mary's until 1914. On 23 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of Killala, County Mayo, Ireland.

Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was Mentioned in Dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St. Mary's Hospital, which was a teaching hospital. He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928.

Work before penicillin

After the war Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents, having witnessed the death of many soldiers from sepsis resulting from infected wounds. Antiseptics killed the patients' immunological article he submitted for the medical journal The Lancet during World War I, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were killing more soldiers than infection itself during World War I. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir Almroth Wright strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of the war continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.

Accidental discovery

"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Fleming would later say, "But I suppose that was exactly what I did"

By 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of staphylococci. He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but his laboratory was often untidy. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on holiday with his family. Before leaving he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. On returning, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci that had immediately surrounded it had been destroyed, whereas other colonies further away were normal. Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price who said "That's how you discovered lysozyme." Fleming grew the mold in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mould as being from the Penicillium genus, and, after some months of calling it "mould juice" named the substance it released penicillin on 7 March 1929. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming's impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively. Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin.

Fleming finally abandoned penicillin, and not long after Florey and Chain at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford took up researching and mass producing it with funds from the U.S. and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When D-day arrived they had made enough penicillin to treat all the wounded allied forces.

Personal life

The popular story of Winston Churchill's father paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young Winston from death is false. According to the biography, Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution by Kevin Brown, Alexander Fleming, in a letter to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia, described this as "A wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during World War II. Churchill was saved by Lord Moran, using sulphonamides, since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in Carthage in Tunisia in 1943. The Daily Telegraph and the Morning Post on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug, Sulphapyridine, known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by May & Baker Ltd, Dagenham, Essex – a subsidiary of the French group Rhône-Poulenc. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B." It is highly probable that the correct information about the sulphonamide did not reach the newspapers because, since the original sulphonamide antibacterial, Prontosil, had been a discovery by the German laboratory Bayer and Britain was at war with Germany at the time, it was thought better to raise British morale by associating Churchill's cure with the British discovery, penicillin.

Fleming's first wife, Sarah, died in 1949. Their only child, Robert Fleming, became a general medical practitioner. After Sarah's death, Fleming married Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, a Greek colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986.

Death

In 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred in St Paul's Cathedral a week later.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg/300px-Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg
Fleming (centre) receiving the Nobel prize from King Gustaf V of Sweden (right), 1945

In fact, he did not discover penicillin, it was already known to the Ancient Greeks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/11/11 at 7:20 pm


I don't think I really am either. Not much for rap.


I like old school rap

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/12/11 at 12:38 am


British Person of the Day: Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known discoveries are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mold Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated:

    It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognised for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming's discovery had spawned a huge pharmaceutical industry, churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind's most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis.

Early life

Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 at Lochfield, a farm near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the third of the four children of Hugh Fleming (1816–1888) from his second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton (1848–1928), the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his second marriage, and died when Alexander (known as Alec) was seven.

Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, and earned a two-year scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London where he attended the Royal Polytechnic Institution. After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. His elder brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to his younger sibling that he follow the same career, and so in 1903, the younger Alexander enrolled at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. He qualified for the school with distinction in 1906 and had the option of becoming a surgeon.

By chance, however, he had been a member of the rifle club (he had been an active member of the Volunteer Force since 1900). The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. He gained an M.B. and then a B.Sc. with Gold Medal in 1908, and became a lecturer at St. Mary's until 1914. On 23 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of Killala, County Mayo, Ireland.

Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was Mentioned in Dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St. Mary's Hospital, which was a teaching hospital. He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928.

Work before penicillin

After the war Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents, having witnessed the death of many soldiers from sepsis resulting from infected wounds. Antiseptics killed the patients' immunological article he submitted for the medical journal The Lancet during World War I, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were killing more soldiers than infection itself during World War I. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir Almroth Wright strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of the war continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.

Accidental discovery

"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Fleming would later say, "But I suppose that was exactly what I did"

By 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of staphylococci. He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but his laboratory was often untidy. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on holiday with his family. Before leaving he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. On returning, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci that had immediately surrounded it had been destroyed, whereas other colonies further away were normal. Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price who said "That's how you discovered lysozyme." Fleming grew the mold in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mould as being from the Penicillium genus, and, after some months of calling it "mould juice" named the substance it released penicillin on 7 March 1929. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming's impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively. Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin.

Fleming finally abandoned penicillin, and not long after Florey and Chain at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford took up researching and mass producing it with funds from the U.S. and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When D-day arrived they had made enough penicillin to treat all the wounded allied forces.

Personal life

The popular story of Winston Churchill's father paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young Winston from death is false. According to the biography, Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution by Kevin Brown, Alexander Fleming, in a letter to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia, described this as "A wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during World War II. Churchill was saved by Lord Moran, using sulphonamides, since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in Carthage in Tunisia in 1943. The Daily Telegraph and the Morning Post on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug, Sulphapyridine, known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by May & Baker Ltd, Dagenham, Essex – a subsidiary of the French group Rhône-Poulenc. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B." It is highly probable that the correct information about the sulphonamide did not reach the newspapers because, since the original sulphonamide antibacterial, Prontosil, had been a discovery by the German laboratory Bayer and Britain was at war with Germany at the time, it was thought better to raise British morale by associating Churchill's cure with the British discovery, penicillin.

Fleming's first wife, Sarah, died in 1949. Their only child, Robert Fleming, became a general medical practitioner. After Sarah's death, Fleming married Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, a Greek colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986.

Death

In 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred in St Paul's Cathedral a week later.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg/300px-Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg
Fleming (centre) receiving the Nobel prize from King Gustaf V of Sweden (right), 1945




http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/4615222080_c959b9fe7a_o.jpg

On a house in Chelsea London

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/12/11 at 12:40 am


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3407/4615222080_c959b9fe7a_o.jpg

On a house in Chelsea London
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2191/1674898267_83059ecb43.jpg

On St Mary's Hospital in London

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/11 at 5:46 am


British Person of the Day: Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known discoveries are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mold Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated:

    It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognised for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming's discovery had spawned a huge pharmaceutical industry, churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind's most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis.

Early life

Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 at Lochfield, a farm near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the third of the four children of Hugh Fleming (1816–1888) from his second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton (1848–1928), the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his second marriage, and died when Alexander (known as Alec) was seven.

Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, and earned a two-year scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London where he attended the Royal Polytechnic Institution. After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. His elder brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to his younger sibling that he follow the same career, and so in 1903, the younger Alexander enrolled at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. He qualified for the school with distinction in 1906 and had the option of becoming a surgeon.

By chance, however, he had been a member of the rifle club (he had been an active member of the Volunteer Force since 1900). The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. He gained an M.B. and then a B.Sc. with Gold Medal in 1908, and became a lecturer at St. Mary's until 1914. On 23 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of Killala, County Mayo, Ireland.

Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was Mentioned in Dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St. Mary's Hospital, which was a teaching hospital. He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928.

Work before penicillin

After the war Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents, having witnessed the death of many soldiers from sepsis resulting from infected wounds. Antiseptics killed the patients' immunological article he submitted for the medical journal The Lancet during World War I, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were killing more soldiers than infection itself during World War I. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir Almroth Wright strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of the war continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.

Accidental discovery

"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Fleming would later say, "But I suppose that was exactly what I did"

By 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of staphylococci. He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but his laboratory was often untidy. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on holiday with his family. Before leaving he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. On returning, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci that had immediately surrounded it had been destroyed, whereas other colonies further away were normal. Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price who said "That's how you discovered lysozyme." Fleming grew the mold in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mould as being from the Penicillium genus, and, after some months of calling it "mould juice" named the substance it released penicillin on 7 March 1929. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming's impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively. Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin.

Fleming finally abandoned penicillin, and not long after Florey and Chain at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford took up researching and mass producing it with funds from the U.S. and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When D-day arrived they had made enough penicillin to treat all the wounded allied forces.

Personal life

The popular story of Winston Churchill's father paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young Winston from death is false. According to the biography, Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution by Kevin Brown, Alexander Fleming, in a letter to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia, described this as "A wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during World War II. Churchill was saved by Lord Moran, using sulphonamides, since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in Carthage in Tunisia in 1943. The Daily Telegraph and the Morning Post on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug, Sulphapyridine, known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by May & Baker Ltd, Dagenham, Essex – a subsidiary of the French group Rhône-Poulenc. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B." It is highly probable that the correct information about the sulphonamide did not reach the newspapers because, since the original sulphonamide antibacterial, Prontosil, had been a discovery by the German laboratory Bayer and Britain was at war with Germany at the time, it was thought better to raise British morale by associating Churchill's cure with the British discovery, penicillin.

Fleming's first wife, Sarah, died in 1949. Their only child, Robert Fleming, became a general medical practitioner. After Sarah's death, Fleming married Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, a Greek colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986.

Death

In 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred in St Paul's Cathedral a week later.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg/300px-Nobelpristagare_Fleming_Midi.jpg
Fleming (centre) receiving the Nobel prize from King Gustaf V of Sweden (right), 1945





Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/11 at 5:47 am


I don't think I really am either. Not much for rap.

Not my cup of tea either.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/12/11 at 5:52 am

The person of the day...Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia for his high school senior year. He left high school without graduating, but earned a diploma through an adult education course and graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1994, gaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film. For much of the mid-1990s, he lived in New York City as a struggling, unemployed actor.

As an undergraduate at Brigham Young, Eckhart met director and writer Neil LaBute who cast him in several of LaBute's original plays. Five years later, Eckhart made a debut as an unctuous sociopathic ladies' man in LaBute's black comedy film In the Company of Men (1997). Under LaBute's guidance, he worked in the director's films Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Nurse Betty (2000), and Possession (2002). Eckhart has chosen roles in an eclectic range of movies, from science fiction films such as The Core (2003) and Paycheck (2003) to romantic dramas like Conversations with Other Women (2006) and No Reservations (2007).

Eckhart gained wide recognition as George in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed film Erin Brockovich (2000) and, in 2006, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Nick Naylor in Thank You for Smoking. In 2008, he starred in the big-budget studio film The Dark Knight as District Attorney Harvey Dent and the villain he becomes, Two-Face. Eckhart starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the film Rabbit Hole (2010).
While at Brigham Young, Eckhart appeared in the Mormon-themed film Godly Sorrow; the role marked Eckhart's professional debut. At this time he met director/writer Neil LaBute, who cast him in several of LaBute's original plays. After graduating from BYU, Eckhart moved to New York City, acquired an agent, and took various occasional jobs, including bartending, bus driving, and construction work. His first television roles were in commercials; in 1994, he appeared as an extra on the television drama series Beverly Hills, 90210. Eckhart followed this small part with roles in documentary re-enactments, made-for-television movies, and short-lived programs like Aliens in the Family.

In 1997, Eckhart was approached by Neil LaBute to star in a film adaptation of LaBute's stage play In the Company of Men. He played a frustrated white-collar worker who planned to woo a deaf office worker, gain her affections, then suddenly dump her. The film, his first feature to reach theaters, was critically well received, with Desson Howe of The Washington Post reporting that Eckhart is the "movie's most malignant presence" and that he "is in chilling command as a sort of satanic prince in shirtsleeves". In the Company of Men was a critical success, winning Best First Film at the 63rd annual New York Film Critics Circle Award. His performance won him the Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Debut Performance. The film was ranked as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies" by Premiere magazine.

The following year, Eckhart starred in another LaBute feature, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), as Barry, a sexually frustrated husband in a dysfunctional marriage. For the role, Eckhart was required to gain weight. In 1999, he starred opposite Elisabeth Shue in Molly, a romantic comedy-drama, in which he played the self-absorbed brother of an autistic woman who was cured by surgery. Eckhart also starred that year as a football coach, an offensive coordinator in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday.
Critical success

Eckhart first gained wide exposure in 2000 as the character George, a pony-tailed biker, in Steven Soderbergh's drama Erin Brockovich. The film was met with reasonable reviews, and was a box office success, earning $256 million worldwide. His performance was well received by critics; Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman, wrote that Eckhart "may be playing a bit of an ideal but he makes goodness as palpable as he did yuppie evil in 'In the Company of Men'." In an August 2004 interview, Eckhart claimed that he had not worked for nearly a year before he was cast in the movie. "I felt like I sort of was getting away from what I wanted to do as an actor. I had nine months off, but it wasn't a vacation. Sure, I didn't earn any money for nine months, but every day I was reading scripts, I was producing my own material, I was taking meetings, I was working on my craft."
Nick Nolte, Eckhart, Joshua Michael Stern, and Alan Cumming promoting Neverwas at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

Following the release of Erin Brockovich, Eckhart co-starred with Renée Zellweger in LaBute's Nurse Betty (2000). He next appeared in Sean Penn's mystery feature The Pledge (2001), in which he played a young detective partnered with a veteran detective, played by Jack Nicholson. The movie received generally favorable reviews, but it did not fare particularly well at the box office. The following year, he collaborated with LaBute in a film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Possession (2002). In 2003, Eckhart co-starred with Hilary Swank in The Core, a film about a geophysicist who tries to detonate a nuclear device in order to save the world from destruction. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Also in 2003, he appeared in The Missing, in which he played Cate Blanchett's lover, and in the action-thriller Paycheck opposite Ben Affleck. Paycheck, based on a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, garnered generally negative reception. Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars (out of four), saying that he "enjoyed the movie" but felt that it "exploits for its action and plot potential, but never really develops it."

The following year, away from film, Eckhart guest starred in two episodes of NBC's comedy sitcom Frasier, where he played a boyfriend of Charlotte, Dr. Frasier Crane's love interest. His next film role was in E. Elias Merhige's thriller Suspect Zero, a movie about an FBI agent who tracks down a killer who murders serial killers. Upon release, the movie received broadly negative reviews. Despite the reception, Eckhart's performance was favored by critics; Newsday wrote that Eckhart was a "classically handsome leading man ... but Merhige demands of him complexity and anguish." Suspect Zero was a box office disappointment, earning $11 million worldwide. Also in 2004, Eckhart starred on the London stage, opposite Julia Stiles, in David Mamet's Oleanna at the Garrick Theatre. The drama ran until mid-2004. For this performance, Eckhart received favorable critical reviews. In 2005, returning to film, Eckhart appeared in Neverwas as a therapist who takes a job at a rundown mental hospital that once treated his father (Nick Nolte). The feature was never given a full theatrical release, eventually being released straight to DVD in 2007.
Worldwide recognition
A blond-haired man with blue eyes wears a black jacket with a grey shirt.
Eckhart attending an event in Barcelona, Spain in 2008

Eckhart's next project was Thank You for Smoking, in which he played Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist who researched the link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer. Eckhart said that he felt challenged playing the role: "You have to say these words that are crazy, and yet do it with a smile on your face and have the audience like you. At one point, I'm doing a talk show with a kid who's dying of cancer, and he's going through chemotherapy and the whole thing, and I spin it so the anti-smoking people are the bad guys and I'm the good guy, and I'm this guy's best friend. I mean, it's whacked out." The film was screened at a special presentation at the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. It had a limited release in March 2006 and was released worldwide the following month. For his performance, Eckhart received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. A contributor of USA Today wrote that he gave a "standout, whip-smart performance" citing that as Nick Naylor he kept him "likable even in his cynicism." In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer review of the film, it was reported that "Under his chummy but compassionless smile" Eckhart radiated charm and "Naylor's true joys: manipulating arguments, steering debate, cooking words."

In this same year, he starred with Helena Bonham Carter in Conversations with Other Women (2006). While promoting this film, Eckhart revealed that he wishes not to be typecast or repeat himself, saying he does not want to play any more villains. He appeared in the 2006 film noir The Black Dahlia—based on a real 1947 crime—as Sergeant Leland "Lee" Blanchard, a detective investigating the murder of Elizabeth Short, later dubbed the "Black Dahlia". The film premiered at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival. Reception for the movie was mixed, but many critics enjoyed Eckhart's performance; Time Out magazine praised Eckhart and co-star Hillary Swank for their performances, writing "...both great in their secondary roles."

Internationally viewed as a sex symbol, he was named one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2006. The following year, Eckhart was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He starred in No Reservations (2007), a remake of the 2001 German romantic comedy Mostly Martha. He starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones as an up-and-coming hotshot chef. The film was met with mixed reviews and was unfavorably compared to the original film. Eckhart starred in the 2008 comedy Meet Bill, in which he played the eponymous character, a sad executive working at his father-in-law's bank. He gained 30 pounds and donned a fat suit for the role.
A caucasian male is signing autographs for fans. He has blond hair, and is wearing a black suit jacket. Visible in the background are other people.
Eckhart signing autographs for fans during promotion of The Dark Knight in 2008.

Also in 2008, Eckhart portrayed the comic book character Harvey Dent/Two-Face in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins. Nolan's decision to cast Eckhart was based on his portrayal of corrupt characters in the films In the Company of Men, The Black Dahlia, and Thank You For Smoking. He noted in his depiction of the character that " is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely", while admitting "I'm interested in good guys gone wrong." The Dark Knight was a big financial and critical success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $1 billion worldwide, it became the fourth highest grossing film of all time, and the highest grossing film of Eckhart's career. Roger Ebert opined that Eckhart did an "especially good job" as his character in the feature, while Premiere magazine also enjoyed his performance, noting that he "makes you believe in his ill-fated ambition ... of morphing into the conniving Two-Face."

Following the success of The Dark Knight, Eckhart next appeared in Alan Ball's Towelhead (2008), an adaption of the Alicia Erian novel of the same name, in which he played a Gulf War Army reservist who sexually abuses his 13-year-old Arab-American neighbor. The film was screened under the name Nothing is Private at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. When he was first approached for the role, Eckhart revealed that he did not want to play a "pedophile". When asked about the sex scenes, Eckhart said: "Those were difficult times .... The way I did it was to really trust Alan. It was in the words. I really trusted Summer , and I tried to get her to trust me, to build a relationship when we were doing physical scenes. We'd really rehearse them mechanically, and I'd say, 'OK, I'm going to put my hand here, I'm going to do this.' ... I think I found it more difficult." Towelhead was critically and financially unsuccessful.

He next co-starred with Jennifer Aniston in the romantic drama, Love Happens, released in September 2009, as a motivational speaker coming to terms with his own grief. The movie received ambivalent reviews, with a contributor of the Orlando Sentinel reporting that Eckhart plays "broken" for the whole movie. The following year, he starred alongside Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (2010), an adaption of David Lindsay-Abaire's 2005 drama of the same name. The feature premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Eckhart has signed on to star in Jonathan Liebesman's science fiction film, Battle: Los Angeles, where he will play the lead role. The story centers on a Marine platoon, who battle alien invaders right in the middle of Los Angeles. Eckhart will play the Platoon Sergeant. He is also set to appear alongside Johnny Depp, Richard Jenkins, and Amber Heard in Hunter S. Thompson's novel adaptation The Rum Diary, directed by Bruce Robinson. In the film, Eckhart will play Sanderson, a wealthy landowner, who believes everything has a price and introduces Paul Kemp (Depp) to a different standard of living. For the future, among the actors Eckhart hopes to work with are Jeff Bridges and Angelina Jolie.
Personal life

Eckhart was engaged to actress Emily Cline, whom he met during filming of In the Company of Men, but separated from her in 1998. He has been reluctant in speaking about his relationships in interviews.

In various interviews Eckhart has talked about his beliefs, his way of life, and his future career ambitions. Talking to Entertainment Weekly regarding his Mormon faith, he revealed: "I'm sure people think I'm a Mormon, but I don't know that I'm a Mormon anymore, you know? To be honest, to be perfectly clear, I'd be a hypocrite if I did say that I was, just because I haven't lived that lifestyle for so many years." In other interviews he has divulged that, through hypnosis, he quit drinking, smoking, and partying, and that in his spare time, he enjoys photography. In an interview with Parade magazine, Eckhart revealed that before he discovered acting, he wanted to become a songwriter.
Filmography
Eckhart at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Year Film Role Notes
1997 In the Company of Men Chad Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance
Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent
Slaughter of the Innocents Ken Reynolds
1998 Your Friends & Neighbors Barry
Thursday Nick
1999 Molly Buck McKay
Any Given Sunday Nick Crozier
2000 Erin Brockovich George
Nurse Betty Del Sizemore
Tumble "Man"
2001 The Pledge Stan Krolak
2002 Possession Roland Michell
2003 The Core Dr. Josh Keyes
The Missing Brake Baldwin
Paycheck James Rethrick
2004 Suspect Zero Thomas Mackelway
Vapor Nathaniel Powers
2005 Neverwas Zach Riley Co-producer
2006 Conversations with Other Women Man
Thank You for Smoking Nick Naylor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
The Wicker Man Truck Stop Patron
The Black Dahlia Sgt. Lee Blanchard
2007 No Reservations Nick Palmer
Towelhead Mr. Vuoso
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (voice)
2008 Meet Bill Bill Executive producer
The Dark Knight Harvey Dent/Two-Face Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble
People's Choice Award for Favorite Cast
Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Scream Award for Best Villain
2009 Love Happens Dr. Burke Ryan
2010 Rabbit Hole Howie Corbett Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
2011 Battle: Los Angeles Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz
The Rum Diary Sanderson Post-production
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w186/matrixman9106/aaron-eckhart.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa67/Undertaker_071/tdk2face.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/12/11 at 6:35 am

29 years ago,Richard Pryor released Live On The Sunset Strip.
http://img.movieberry.com/static/photos/11267/3_midi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 4:39 am

British Person of the Day: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. In addition to his political achievements, Earl Grey famously gives his name to an aromatic blend of tea.

Early life

Descended from a long-established Northumbrian family seated at Howick Hall, Grey was the second but eldest surviving son of General Sir Charles Grey KB (1729–1807) and his wife, Elizabeth (1743/4–1822), daughter of George Grey of Southwick, co. Durham. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, acquiring a facility in Latin and in English composition and declamation that enabled him to become one of the foremost parliamentary orators of his generation. Grey was elected to Parliament at the age of 22 in 1786. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, and soon became one of the major leaders of the Whig party. He was the youngest manager on the committee for prosecuting Warren Hastings. The Whig historian T. B. Macaulay wrote in 1841:

"At an age when most of those who distinguish themselves in life are still contending for prizes and fellowships at college, he had won for himself a conspicuous place in Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblemished honour. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, accusers. To the generation which is now in the vigour of life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has passed away. But those who, within the last ten years, have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and animated eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form some estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the foremost."

Grey was also noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. His affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband.

In 1806, Grey, by then Lord Howick owing to his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, became a part of the Ministry of All the Talents (a coalition of Foxite Whigs, Grenvillites, and Addingtonites) as First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Fox's death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs.

The government fell from power the next year, and, after a brief period as a Member of Parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords, succeeding his father as Earl Grey. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years.

Great Reform Act

In 1830, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as Prime Minister. His Ministry was a notable one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. As the years had passed, however, Grey had become more conservative, and he was cautious about initiating more far-reaching reforms. In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor.

Grey returned to Howick but kept a close eye on the policies of the new cabinet under Melbourne, whom he, and especially his family, regarded as a mere understudy until he began to act in ways of which they disapproved. Grey became more critical as the decade went on, being particularly inclined to see the hand of Daniel O'Connell behind the scenes and blaming Melbourne for subservience to the radicals with whom he identified the Irish patriot. He made no allowances for Melbourne's need to keep the radicals on his side to preserve his shrinking majority in the Commons, and in particular he resented any slight on his own great achievement, the Reform Act, which he saw as a final solution of the question for the foreseeable future. He continually stressed its conservative nature. As he declared in his last great public speech, at the Grey Festival organized in his honour at Edinburgh in September 1834, its purpose was to strengthen and preserve the established constitution, to make it more acceptable to the people at large, and especially the middle classes, who had been the principal beneficiaries of the Reform Act, and to establish the principle that future changes would be gradual, "according to the increased intelligence of the people, and the necessities of the times". It was the speech of a conservative statesman.

Retirement

Grey spent his last years in contented, if sometimes fretful, retirement at Howick, with his books, his family, and his dogs. He became physically feeble in his last years and died quietly in his bed on 17 July 1845, forty-four years to the day since going to live at Howick. He was buried in the church there on the 26th in the presence of his family, close friends, and the labourers on his estate.

Commemoration

Earl Grey tea, a blend which uses bergamot oil to flavour the beverage, is named after Grey. He is commemorated by Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, which consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 41 m (135 ft) high column. The monument lends its name to Monument Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro located directly underneath. Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and Grey College, Durham are also named after Grey.

Personal life

Grey married Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (1776–1861), only daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby and Hon. Louisa Molesworth in 1794. The marriage was a fruitful one; between 1796 and 1819 the couple had ten sons and six daughters:

    * Grey (stillborn, 1796)
    * Louisa Elizabeth Grey ( 7 Apr 1797-26 November 1841); married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
    * Lady Elizabeth Grey (10 July 1798- 8 November 1880); married John Crocker Bulteel (d. 10 September 1843)
    * Lady Caroline Grey (30 August 1799-28 April 1875); married Capt. the Hon. George Barrington
    * Lady Georgiana Grey (17 Feb 1801-1900); never married
    * Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 1802- 9 October 1894), eldest son, who became a politician like his father
    * General Sir Charles Grey (15 March 1804-31 March 1870), father of Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
    * Ádmiral Frederick William Grey (23 August 1805- 2 May 1878)
    * Mary Grey ( 2 May 1807- 6 July 1884); married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax
    * Hon. William Grey (13 May 1808-11 Feb 1815)
    * Admiral George Grey (16 May 1809- 3 October 1891)
    * Hon. Thomas Grey (29 Dec 1810- 8 Jul 1826)
    * Rev. Hon. John Grey ( 2 March 1812-11 November 1895)
    * Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Richard Grey (31 March 1813-22 March 1890) married Elizabeth Howard (1816–1891), daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and Georgiana Cavendish (daughter of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire).
    * Hon. Henry Cavendish Grey (16 October 1814- 5 September 1880)
    * Hon. William George Grey (15 February 1819-19 December 1865)

Mary was frequently pregnant and during his absences in London or elsewhere Grey had a series of affairs with other women. The first, most notorious, and most significant, which antedated his engagement to his future wife, was with Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, whom he met at Devonshire House – the centre of Whig society in London in the 1780s and 1790s – shortly after his arrival in the capital as a young recruit to the House of Commons. Impetuous and headstrong, Grey pursued Georgiana with persistence until she gave in to his attentions. She became pregnant by Grey in 1791, but she refused to leave her husband the duke, and live with Grey, when the duke threatened that if she did so she would never see their children again. She went abroad with Elizabeth Foster, and on 20 February 1792 at Aix-en-Provence, gave birth to a daughter who was given the name Eliza Courtney. After their return to England in September 1793 the child was taken to Fallodon and brought up by Grey's parents as though she were his sister. This affair was a significant step in the process by which he became a member of the Whig party, led by Charles James Fox.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg/245px-Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 4:41 am


British Person of the Day: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. In addition to his political achievements, Earl Grey famously gives his name to an aromatic blend of tea.

Early life

Descended from a long-established Northumbrian family seated at Howick Hall, Grey was the second but eldest surviving son of General Sir Charles Grey KB (1729–1807) and his wife, Elizabeth (1743/4–1822), daughter of George Grey of Southwick, co. Durham. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, acquiring a facility in Latin and in English composition and declamation that enabled him to become one of the foremost parliamentary orators of his generation. Grey was elected to Parliament at the age of 22 in 1786. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, and soon became one of the major leaders of the Whig party. He was the youngest manager on the committee for prosecuting Warren Hastings. The Whig historian T. B. Macaulay wrote in 1841:

"At an age when most of those who distinguish themselves in life are still contending for prizes and fellowships at college, he had won for himself a conspicuous place in Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblemished honour. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, accusers. To the generation which is now in the vigour of life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has passed away. But those who, within the last ten years, have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and animated eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form some estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the foremost."

Grey was also noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. His affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband.

In 1806, Grey, by then Lord Howick owing to his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, became a part of the Ministry of All the Talents (a coalition of Foxite Whigs, Grenvillites, and Addingtonites) as First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Fox's death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs.

The government fell from power the next year, and, after a brief period as a Member of Parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords, succeeding his father as Earl Grey. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years.

Great Reform Act

In 1830, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as Prime Minister. His Ministry was a notable one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. As the years had passed, however, Grey had become more conservative, and he was cautious about initiating more far-reaching reforms. In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor.

Grey returned to Howick but kept a close eye on the policies of the new cabinet under Melbourne, whom he, and especially his family, regarded as a mere understudy until he began to act in ways of which they disapproved. Grey became more critical as the decade went on, being particularly inclined to see the hand of Daniel O'Connell behind the scenes and blaming Melbourne for subservience to the radicals with whom he identified the Irish patriot. He made no allowances for Melbourne's need to keep the radicals on his side to preserve his shrinking majority in the Commons, and in particular he resented any slight on his own great achievement, the Reform Act, which he saw as a final solution of the question for the foreseeable future. He continually stressed its conservative nature. As he declared in his last great public speech, at the Grey Festival organized in his honour at Edinburgh in September 1834, its purpose was to strengthen and preserve the established constitution, to make it more acceptable to the people at large, and especially the middle classes, who had been the principal beneficiaries of the Reform Act, and to establish the principle that future changes would be gradual, "according to the increased intelligence of the people, and the necessities of the times". It was the speech of a conservative statesman.

Retirement

Grey spent his last years in contented, if sometimes fretful, retirement at Howick, with his books, his family, and his dogs. He became physically feeble in his last years and died quietly in his bed on 17 July 1845, forty-four years to the day since going to live at Howick. He was buried in the church there on the 26th in the presence of his family, close friends, and the labourers on his estate.

Commemoration

Earl Grey tea, a blend which uses bergamot oil to flavour the beverage, is named after Grey. He is commemorated by Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, which consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 41 m (135 ft) high column. The monument lends its name to Monument Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro located directly underneath. Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and Grey College, Durham are also named after Grey.

Personal life

Grey married Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (1776–1861), only daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby and Hon. Louisa Molesworth in 1794. The marriage was a fruitful one; between 1796 and 1819 the couple had ten sons and six daughters:

    * Grey (stillborn, 1796)
    * Louisa Elizabeth Grey ( 7 Apr 1797-26 November 1841); married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
    * Lady Elizabeth Grey (10 July 1798- 8 November 1880); married John Crocker Bulteel (d. 10 September 1843)
    * Lady Caroline Grey (30 August 1799-28 April 1875); married Capt. the Hon. George Barrington
    * Lady Georgiana Grey (17 Feb 1801-1900); never married
    * Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 1802- 9 October 1894), eldest son, who became a politician like his father
    * General Sir Charles Grey (15 March 1804-31 March 1870), father of Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
    * Ádmiral Frederick William Grey (23 August 1805- 2 May 1878)
    * Mary Grey ( 2 May 1807- 6 July 1884); married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax
    * Hon. William Grey (13 May 1808-11 Feb 1815)
    * Admiral George Grey (16 May 1809- 3 October 1891)
    * Hon. Thomas Grey (29 Dec 1810- 8 Jul 1826)
    * Rev. Hon. John Grey ( 2 March 1812-11 November 1895)
    * Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Richard Grey (31 March 1813-22 March 1890) married Elizabeth Howard (1816–1891), daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and Georgiana Cavendish (daughter of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire).
    * Hon. Henry Cavendish Grey (16 October 1814- 5 September 1880)
    * Hon. William George Grey (15 February 1819-19 December 1865)

Mary was frequently pregnant and during his absences in London or elsewhere Grey had a series of affairs with other women. The first, most notorious, and most significant, which antedated his engagement to his future wife, was with Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, whom he met at Devonshire House – the centre of Whig society in London in the 1780s and 1790s – shortly after his arrival in the capital as a young recruit to the House of Commons. Impetuous and headstrong, Grey pursued Georgiana with persistence until she gave in to his attentions. She became pregnant by Grey in 1791, but she refused to leave her husband the duke, and live with Grey, when the duke threatened that if she did so she would never see their children again. She went abroad with Elizabeth Foster, and on 20 February 1792 at Aix-en-Provence, gave birth to a daughter who was given the name Eliza Courtney. After their return to England in September 1793 the child was taken to Fallodon and brought up by Grey's parents as though she were his sister. This affair was a significant step in the process by which he became a member of the Whig party, led by Charles James Fox.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg/245px-Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg

http://www.flourpowerbakery.net/images/earl_grey_tea297.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 4:42 am


British Person of the Day: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. In addition to his political achievements, Earl Grey famously gives his name to an aromatic blend of tea.

Early life

Descended from a long-established Northumbrian family seated at Howick Hall, Grey was the second but eldest surviving son of General Sir Charles Grey KB (1729–1807) and his wife, Elizabeth (1743/4–1822), daughter of George Grey of Southwick, co. Durham. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, acquiring a facility in Latin and in English composition and declamation that enabled him to become one of the foremost parliamentary orators of his generation. Grey was elected to Parliament at the age of 22 in 1786. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, and soon became one of the major leaders of the Whig party. He was the youngest manager on the committee for prosecuting Warren Hastings. The Whig historian T. B. Macaulay wrote in 1841:

"At an age when most of those who distinguish themselves in life are still contending for prizes and fellowships at college, he had won for himself a conspicuous place in Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblemished honour. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, accusers. To the generation which is now in the vigour of life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has passed away. But those who, within the last ten years, have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and animated eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form some estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the foremost."

Grey was also noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. His affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband.

In 1806, Grey, by then Lord Howick owing to his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, became a part of the Ministry of All the Talents (a coalition of Foxite Whigs, Grenvillites, and Addingtonites) as First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Fox's death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs.

The government fell from power the next year, and, after a brief period as a Member of Parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords, succeeding his father as Earl Grey. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years.

Great Reform Act

In 1830, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as Prime Minister. His Ministry was a notable one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. As the years had passed, however, Grey had become more conservative, and he was cautious about initiating more far-reaching reforms. In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor.

Grey returned to Howick but kept a close eye on the policies of the new cabinet under Melbourne, whom he, and especially his family, regarded as a mere understudy until he began to act in ways of which they disapproved. Grey became more critical as the decade went on, being particularly inclined to see the hand of Daniel O'Connell behind the scenes and blaming Melbourne for subservience to the radicals with whom he identified the Irish patriot. He made no allowances for Melbourne's need to keep the radicals on his side to preserve his shrinking majority in the Commons, and in particular he resented any slight on his own great achievement, the Reform Act, which he saw as a final solution of the question for the foreseeable future. He continually stressed its conservative nature. As he declared in his last great public speech, at the Grey Festival organized in his honour at Edinburgh in September 1834, its purpose was to strengthen and preserve the established constitution, to make it more acceptable to the people at large, and especially the middle classes, who had been the principal beneficiaries of the Reform Act, and to establish the principle that future changes would be gradual, "according to the increased intelligence of the people, and the necessities of the times". It was the speech of a conservative statesman.

Retirement

Grey spent his last years in contented, if sometimes fretful, retirement at Howick, with his books, his family, and his dogs. He became physically feeble in his last years and died quietly in his bed on 17 July 1845, forty-four years to the day since going to live at Howick. He was buried in the church there on the 26th in the presence of his family, close friends, and the labourers on his estate.

Commemoration

Earl Grey tea, a blend which uses bergamot oil to flavour the beverage, is named after Grey. He is commemorated by Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, which consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 41 m (135 ft) high column. The monument lends its name to Monument Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro located directly underneath. Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and Grey College, Durham are also named after Grey.

Personal life

Grey married Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (1776–1861), only daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby and Hon. Louisa Molesworth in 1794. The marriage was a fruitful one; between 1796 and 1819 the couple had ten sons and six daughters:

    * Grey (stillborn, 1796)
    * Louisa Elizabeth Grey ( 7 Apr 1797-26 November 1841); married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
    * Lady Elizabeth Grey (10 July 1798- 8 November 1880); married John Crocker Bulteel (d. 10 September 1843)
    * Lady Caroline Grey (30 August 1799-28 April 1875); married Capt. the Hon. George Barrington
    * Lady Georgiana Grey (17 Feb 1801-1900); never married
    * Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 1802- 9 October 1894), eldest son, who became a politician like his father
    * General Sir Charles Grey (15 March 1804-31 March 1870), father of Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
    * Ádmiral Frederick William Grey (23 August 1805- 2 May 1878)
    * Mary Grey ( 2 May 1807- 6 July 1884); married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax
    * Hon. William Grey (13 May 1808-11 Feb 1815)
    * Admiral George Grey (16 May 1809- 3 October 1891)
    * Hon. Thomas Grey (29 Dec 1810- 8 Jul 1826)
    * Rev. Hon. John Grey ( 2 March 1812-11 November 1895)
    * Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Richard Grey (31 March 1813-22 March 1890) married Elizabeth Howard (1816–1891), daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and Georgiana Cavendish (daughter of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire).
    * Hon. Henry Cavendish Grey (16 October 1814- 5 September 1880)
    * Hon. William George Grey (15 February 1819-19 December 1865)

Mary was frequently pregnant and during his absences in London or elsewhere Grey had a series of affairs with other women. The first, most notorious, and most significant, which antedated his engagement to his future wife, was with Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, whom he met at Devonshire House – the centre of Whig society in London in the 1780s and 1790s – shortly after his arrival in the capital as a young recruit to the House of Commons. Impetuous and headstrong, Grey pursued Georgiana with persistence until she gave in to his attentions. She became pregnant by Grey in 1791, but she refused to leave her husband the duke, and live with Grey, when the duke threatened that if she did so she would never see their children again. She went abroad with Elizabeth Foster, and on 20 February 1792 at Aix-en-Provence, gave birth to a daughter who was given the name Eliza Courtney. After their return to England in September 1793 the child was taken to Fallodon and brought up by Grey's parents as though she were his sister. This affair was a significant step in the process by which he became a member of the Whig party, led by Charles James Fox.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg/245px-Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg

http://providerfiles2.thedms.co.uk/eandapics/ys/1500268_1.jpg

The Earl Grey Tea Rooms in York, England

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/11 at 5:48 am


http://www.flourpowerbakery.net/images/earl_grey_tea297.jpg

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/13/11 at 5:51 am

The person of the day...William H. Macy
William Hall Macy, Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor and writer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. He is also a teacher and director in theater, film and television. His film career has been built mostly on his appearances in small, independent films, though he has appeared in summer action films as well. Macy has described his screen persona as "sort of a Middle American, WASPy, Lutheran kind of guy... Everyman". He has won two Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, being nominated for nine Emmy Awards and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards in total. He is also a three-time Golden Globe Award nominee.
After spending some time in Los Angeles, California, Macy moved to New York City in 1980. While living there he had roles in over fifty Off Broadway and Broadway plays. One of his on-screen roles was as a turtle named Socrates in the direct-to-video film, The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984), under the name W. H. Macy. He has appeared in films that Mamet wrote and/or directed, such as House of Games, Things Change, Homicide, Oleanna (playing a role he reprised after originating the role in the play of the same name), and more recently, Wag the Dog, State and Main, and Spartan.

Macy may be best known for his lead role in Fargo, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and helped boost his career and recognizability, though at the expense of nearly confining him to a narrow typecast of a worried man, down on his luck. Subsequent roles gave Macy a break with Benny & Joon, Above Suspicion, Mr. Holland's Opus, Ghosts of Mississippi, Air Force One, Boogie Nights, Pleasantville, Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho, Happy, Texas, Mystery Men, Magnolia, Jurassic Park III, Focus, Panic, Welcome to Collinwood, Seabiscuit, The Cooler, and Sahara.

Macy has also had a number of roles on television, the most recent being a guest appearance on The Unit as the President of the United States. In 2003, he won two Emmy Awards, one for starring in the lead role and one as co-writer of the made-for-TNT film Door to Door. Door to Door is a drama based on the true story of Bill Porter, a door-to-door salesman in Portland, Oregon, born with cerebral palsy. The film is composed of several stories, each taking up a whole period between commercials.

His work on ER and Sports Night has also been recognized with Emmy nominations. His character in ER, David Morgenstern, is responsible for a sage piece of advice that has been handed down throughout the series. In the pilot episode, when Juliana Margulies' character, nurse Carol Hathaway, is brought to the hospital with a drug overdose, Morgenstern tells Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) that he needs to "set the tone" to get the unit through the difficulty of treating one of its own. "You set the tone" is repeated several times in the series.

In a November 2003 interview with USA Today, Macy stated that he wants to star in a big-budget action movie "for the money, for the security of a franchise like that". He serves as director-in-residence at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, where he teaches a technique called Practical Aesthetics. A book describing the technique, A Practical Handbook for the Actor (ISBN 0-394-74412-8), is dedicated to Macy and Mamet.

In 2007, Macy starred in Wild Hogs, a film about middle-aged men reliving their youthful days by taking to the open road on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles from Cincinnati to the Pacific Coast. Despite being critically panned with a 14% "rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, it was a financial success, grossing over $168 million. He recently completed filming on The Maiden Heist, a comedy that co-stars Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken.

On June 23, 2008, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, will each receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the upcoming year.

On January 13, 2009, Macy replaced Jeremy Piven in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow on Broadway. Piven suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of the play in December 2008 after he experienced health problems related to high mercury levels in his blood; Norbert Leo Butz covered the role from December 23, 2008, until Macy took over the part.

Dirty Girl, which stars Macy along with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen and Tim McGraw, premiered September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival.

Macy stars as Frank Gallagher, an irresponsible, alcoholic father of six on the Showtime series, Shameless. Of the role, he said, "My task in this thing is to remain as irascible as I can be without losing the audience completely. It's a challenge, but I was born to play this role."
Personal life

Macy, as a child, lived in Cumberland Maryland and attended Allegany High School. Macy and actress Felicity Huffman have been married since September 6, 1997. The couple has two daughters, Sofia Grace (born August 1, 2000) and Georgia Grace (born March 14, 2002). They live in Los Angeles, California, and have had a cabin in Vermont since the 1980s.

Macy and Huffman appeared at a rally for John Kerry in 2004. Macy also plays the ukulele and is an avid woodturner, even appearing on the cover of the specialist magazine Fine Woodworking. He is a national ambassador for the United Cerebral Palsy Association.
Filmography
List of film and television credits Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1978 Awakening Land, TheThe Awakening Land Will Beagle
1980 Foolin' Around Bronski (as W.H. Macy)
Somewhere in Time Critic (as W.H. Macy)
1983 Without a Trace Reporter
1984 Boy Who Loved Trolls, TheThe Boy Who Loved Trolls Socrates the turtle
1985 Last Dragon, TheThe Last Dragon J.J. Cameo Appearance
1986 Kate & Allie Carl TV series
1987 House of Games Sgt. Morgan
Radio Days Radio Actor
1988 Murder of Mary Phagan, TheThe Murder of Mary Phagan Randy TV miniseries
Things Change Billy Drake
1991 Homicide Tim Sullivan Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1992 Water Engine, TheThe Water Engine Charles Lang
1993 Being Human Boris
Benny & Joon Randy Burch
Searching for Bobby Fischer Petey's Father
1994.5 !1994–
1998 ER Dr. David Morgenstern TV, cameos 2002, 2009
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series (1997)
1995 Oleanna John Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Dead on Sight Steven Meeker
Client, TheThe Client Dr. Greenway
Tall Tale Railroad Magnate Uncredited
Mr. Holland's Opus Vice Principal Gene Wolters
Evolver Evolver (voice)
1996 Fargo Jerry Lundegaard Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Andersonville Col. Chandler
Down Periscope Commander Carl Knox
Ghosts of Mississippi Charlie Crisco
1997 Colin Fitz Lives! Mr. O'Day ...aka "Colin Fitz"
Air Force One Major Norman Caldwell
Boogie Nights Little Bill Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Wag the Dog CIA Agent Charles Young
1998 Pleasantville George Parker Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (also for Psycho and A Civil Action)
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Psycho Milton Arbogast Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (also for Pleasantville and A Civil Action)
The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue Justin
Civil Action, AA Civil Action James Gordon Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (also for Psycho and Pleasantville)
Con, TheThe Con Bobby Sommerdinger
1999 Happy, Texas Sheriff Chappy Dent Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Mystery Men The Shoveller
Slight Case Of Murder, AA Slight Case Of Murder Terry Thorpe Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Television Feature or Miniseries
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Night of the Headless Horseman, TheThe Night of the Headless Horseman Ichabod Crane Voice
Magnolia Quiz Kid Donnie Smith Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1999.5 !1999–
2000 Sports Night Sam Donovan TV, Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series
2000 State and Main Walt Price Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Panic Alex
2001 Jurassic Park III Paul Kirby
Focus Lawrence 'Larry' Newman
2002 Door to Door Bill Porter Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Original Long Form Script
It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie Glenn
Welcome to Collinwood Riley
2003 Cooler, TheThe Cooler Bernie Lootz Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls Narrator Documentary
Stealing Sinatra John Irwin Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Seabiscuit Tick Tock McGlaughlin Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004 Reversible Errors Arthur Raven
Cellular Mooney
In Enemy Hands Chief of Boat Nathan Travers
Spartan Stoddard
2005 Wool Cap, TheThe Wool Cap Charlie Gigot Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie

Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Adapted Long Form Script
Sahara Admiral James Sandecker
Edmond Edmond Burke
Thank You for Smoking Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre
2006 Doogal Brian the snail
Nightmares and Dreamscapes: "Umney's Last Case" Sam Landry, Clyde Umney Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Bobby Paul Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Curious George Narrator TV, season 1
Everyone's Hero Lefty Maginnis Voice
Choose Your Own Adventure DVD Series Rudyard North
Inland Empire Announcer
2007 Wild Hogs Dudley Frank
He Was a Quiet Man Gene Shelby
2008 Deal, TheThe Deal Charlie Berns
Bart Got a Room Ernie Stein
Tale of Despereaux, TheThe Tale of Despereaux Lester Voice
2009 Maiden Heist, TheThe Maiden Heist George
Shorts Dr. Noseworthy
2010 Marmaduke Don Twombly
Dirty Girl Ray
2011 Shameless Frank Gallagher
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i157/Ianjib/Ian/William_H_Macy.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/YesterdayzChild2/Misc/macy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 5:53 am


Nice :)
I am drinking some Earl Grey tea right now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:07 am


The person of the day...William H. Macy
William Hall Macy, Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor and writer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. He is also a teacher and director in theater, film and television. His film career has been built mostly on his appearances in small, independent films, though he has appeared in summer action films as well. Macy has described his screen persona as "sort of a Middle American, WASPy, Lutheran kind of guy... Everyman". He has won two Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, being nominated for nine Emmy Awards and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards in total. He is also a three-time Golden Globe Award nominee.
After spending some time in Los Angeles, California, Macy moved to New York City in 1980. While living there he had roles in over fifty Off Broadway and Broadway plays. One of his on-screen roles was as a turtle named Socrates in the direct-to-video film, The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984), under the name W. H. Macy. He has appeared in films that Mamet wrote and/or directed, such as House of Games, Things Change, Homicide, Oleanna (playing a role he reprised after originating the role in the play of the same name), and more recently, Wag the Dog, State and Main, and Spartan.

Macy may be best known for his lead role in Fargo, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and helped boost his career and recognizability, though at the expense of nearly confining him to a narrow typecast of a worried man, down on his luck. Subsequent roles gave Macy a break with Benny & Joon, Above Suspicion, Mr. Holland's Opus, Ghosts of Mississippi, Air Force One, Boogie Nights, Pleasantville, Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho, Happy, Texas, Mystery Men, Magnolia, Jurassic Park III, Focus, Panic, Welcome to Collinwood, Seabiscuit, The Cooler, and Sahara.

Macy has also had a number of roles on television, the most recent being a guest appearance on The Unit as the President of the United States. In 2003, he won two Emmy Awards, one for starring in the lead role and one as co-writer of the made-for-TNT film Door to Door. Door to Door is a drama based on the true story of Bill Porter, a door-to-door salesman in Portland, Oregon, born with cerebral palsy. The film is composed of several stories, each taking up a whole period between commercials.

His work on ER and Sports Night has also been recognized with Emmy nominations. His character in ER, David Morgenstern, is responsible for a sage piece of advice that has been handed down throughout the series. In the pilot episode, when Juliana Margulies' character, nurse Carol Hathaway, is brought to the hospital with a drug overdose, Morgenstern tells Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) that he needs to "set the tone" to get the unit through the difficulty of treating one of its own. "You set the tone" is repeated several times in the series.

In a November 2003 interview with USA Today, Macy stated that he wants to star in a big-budget action movie "for the money, for the security of a franchise like that". He serves as director-in-residence at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, where he teaches a technique called Practical Aesthetics. A book describing the technique, A Practical Handbook for the Actor (ISBN 0-394-74412-8), is dedicated to Macy and Mamet.

In 2007, Macy starred in Wild Hogs, a film about middle-aged men reliving their youthful days by taking to the open road on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles from Cincinnati to the Pacific Coast. Despite being critically panned with a 14% "rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, it was a financial success, grossing over $168 million. He recently completed filming on The Maiden Heist, a comedy that co-stars Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken.

On June 23, 2008, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, will each receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the upcoming year.

On January 13, 2009, Macy replaced Jeremy Piven in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow on Broadway. Piven suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of the play in December 2008 after he experienced health problems related to high mercury levels in his blood; Norbert Leo Butz covered the role from December 23, 2008, until Macy took over the part.

Dirty Girl, which stars Macy along with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen and Tim McGraw, premiered September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival.

Macy stars as Frank Gallagher, an irresponsible, alcoholic father of six on the Showtime series, Shameless. Of the role, he said, "My task in this thing is to remain as irascible as I can be without losing the audience completely. It's a challenge, but I was born to play this role."
Personal life

Macy, as a child, lived in Cumberland Maryland and attended Allegany High School. Macy and actress Felicity Huffman have been married since September 6, 1997. The couple has two daughters, Sofia Grace (born August 1, 2000) and Georgia Grace (born March 14, 2002). They live in Los Angeles, California, and have had a cabin in Vermont since the 1980s.

Macy and Huffman appeared at a rally for John Kerry in 2004. Macy also plays the ukulele and is an avid woodturner, even appearing on the cover of the specialist magazine Fine Woodworking. He is a national ambassador for the United Cerebral Palsy Association.
Filmography
List of film and television credits Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1978 Awakening Land, TheThe Awakening Land Will Beagle
1980 Foolin' Around Bronski (as W.H. Macy)
Somewhere in Time Critic (as W.H. Macy)
1983 Without a Trace Reporter
1984 Boy Who Loved Trolls, TheThe Boy Who Loved Trolls Socrates the turtle
1985 Last Dragon, TheThe Last Dragon J.J. Cameo Appearance
1986 Kate & Allie Carl TV series
1987 House of Games Sgt. Morgan
Radio Days Radio Actor
1988 Murder of Mary Phagan, TheThe Murder of Mary Phagan Randy TV miniseries
Things Change Billy Drake
1991 Homicide Tim Sullivan Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1992 Water Engine, TheThe Water Engine Charles Lang
1993 Being Human Boris
Benny & Joon Randy Burch
Searching for Bobby Fischer Petey's Father
1994.5 !1994–
1998 ER Dr. David Morgenstern TV, cameos 2002, 2009
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series (1997)
1995 Oleanna John Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Dead on Sight Steven Meeker
Client, TheThe Client Dr. Greenway
Tall Tale Railroad Magnate Uncredited
Mr. Holland's Opus Vice Principal Gene Wolters
Evolver Evolver (voice)
1996 Fargo Jerry Lundegaard Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Andersonville Col. Chandler
Down Periscope Commander Carl Knox
Ghosts of Mississippi Charlie Crisco
1997 Colin Fitz Lives! Mr. O'Day ...aka "Colin Fitz"
Air Force One Major Norman Caldwell
Boogie Nights Little Bill Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Wag the Dog CIA Agent Charles Young
1998 Pleasantville George Parker Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (also for Psycho and A Civil Action)
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Psycho Milton Arbogast Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (also for Pleasantville and A Civil Action)
The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue Justin
Civil Action, AA Civil Action James Gordon Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (also for Psycho and Pleasantville)
Con, TheThe Con Bobby Sommerdinger
1999 Happy, Texas Sheriff Chappy Dent Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Mystery Men The Shoveller
Slight Case Of Murder, AA Slight Case Of Murder Terry Thorpe Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Television Feature or Miniseries
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Night of the Headless Horseman, TheThe Night of the Headless Horseman Ichabod Crane Voice
Magnolia Quiz Kid Donnie Smith Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1999.5 !1999–
2000 Sports Night Sam Donovan TV, Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series
2000 State and Main Walt Price Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Panic Alex
2001 Jurassic Park III Paul Kirby
Focus Lawrence 'Larry' Newman
2002 Door to Door Bill Porter Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Original Long Form Script
It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie Glenn
Welcome to Collinwood Riley
2003 Cooler, TheThe Cooler Bernie Lootz Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls Narrator Documentary
Stealing Sinatra John Irwin Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Seabiscuit Tick Tock McGlaughlin Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004 Reversible Errors Arthur Raven
Cellular Mooney
In Enemy Hands Chief of Boat Nathan Travers
Spartan Stoddard
2005 Wool Cap, TheThe Wool Cap Charlie Gigot Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie

Nominated – Writers Guild of America Award for Adapted Long Form Script
Sahara Admiral James Sandecker
Edmond Edmond Burke
Thank You for Smoking Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre
2006 Doogal Brian the snail
Nightmares and Dreamscapes: "Umney's Last Case" Sam Landry, Clyde Umney Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Bobby Paul Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Curious George Narrator TV, season 1
Everyone's Hero Lefty Maginnis Voice
Choose Your Own Adventure DVD Series Rudyard North
Inland Empire Announcer
2007 Wild Hogs Dudley Frank
He Was a Quiet Man Gene Shelby
2008 Deal, TheThe Deal Charlie Berns
Bart Got a Room Ernie Stein
Tale of Despereaux, TheThe Tale of Despereaux Lester Voice
2009 Maiden Heist, TheThe Maiden Heist George
Shorts Dr. Noseworthy
2010 Marmaduke Don Twombly
Dirty Girl Ray
2011 Shameless Frank Gallagher
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i157/Ianjib/Ian/William_H_Macy.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/YesterdayzChild2/Misc/macy.jpg


I like him,he's a good actor. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:07 am


British Person of the Day: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832. In addition to his political achievements, Earl Grey famously gives his name to an aromatic blend of tea.

Early life

Descended from a long-established Northumbrian family seated at Howick Hall, Grey was the second but eldest surviving son of General Sir Charles Grey KB (1729–1807) and his wife, Elizabeth (1743/4–1822), daughter of George Grey of Southwick, co. Durham. He had four brothers and two sisters. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, acquiring a facility in Latin and in English composition and declamation that enabled him to become one of the foremost parliamentary orators of his generation. Grey was elected to Parliament at the age of 22 in 1786. He became a part of the Whig circle of Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, and soon became one of the major leaders of the Whig party. He was the youngest manager on the committee for prosecuting Warren Hastings. The Whig historian T. B. Macaulay wrote in 1841:

"At an age when most of those who distinguish themselves in life are still contending for prizes and fellowships at college, he had won for himself a conspicuous place in Parliament. No advantage of fortune or connection was wanting that could set off to the height his splendid talents and his unblemished honour. At twenty-three he had been thought worthy to be ranked with the veteran statesmen who appeared as the delegates of the British Commons, at the bar of the British nobility. All who stood at that bar, save him alone, are gone, culprit, advocates, accusers. To the generation which is now in the vigour of life, he is the sole representative of a great age which has passed away. But those who, within the last ten years, have listened with delight, till the morning sun shone on the tapestries of the House of Lords, to the lofty and animated eloquence of Charles Earl Grey, are able to form some estimate of the powers of a race of men among whom he was not the foremost."

Grey was also noted for advocating Parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation. His affair with the Duchess of Devonshire, herself an active political campaigner, did him little harm although it nearly caused her to be divorced by her husband.

In 1806, Grey, by then Lord Howick owing to his father's elevation to the peerage as Earl Grey, became a part of the Ministry of All the Talents (a coalition of Foxite Whigs, Grenvillites, and Addingtonites) as First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Fox's death later that year, Howick took over both as Foreign Secretary and as leader of the Whigs.

The government fell from power the next year, and, after a brief period as a Member of Parliament for Appleby from May to July 1807, Howick went to the Lords, succeeding his father as Earl Grey. He continued in opposition for the next 23 years.

Great Reform Act

In 1830, the Whigs finally returned to power, with Grey as Prime Minister. His Ministry was a notable one, seeing passage of the Reform Act 1832, which finally saw the reform of the House of Commons, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. As the years had passed, however, Grey had become more conservative, and he was cautious about initiating more far-reaching reforms. In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor.

Grey returned to Howick but kept a close eye on the policies of the new cabinet under Melbourne, whom he, and especially his family, regarded as a mere understudy until he began to act in ways of which they disapproved. Grey became more critical as the decade went on, being particularly inclined to see the hand of Daniel O'Connell behind the scenes and blaming Melbourne for subservience to the radicals with whom he identified the Irish patriot. He made no allowances for Melbourne's need to keep the radicals on his side to preserve his shrinking majority in the Commons, and in particular he resented any slight on his own great achievement, the Reform Act, which he saw as a final solution of the question for the foreseeable future. He continually stressed its conservative nature. As he declared in his last great public speech, at the Grey Festival organized in his honour at Edinburgh in September 1834, its purpose was to strengthen and preserve the established constitution, to make it more acceptable to the people at large, and especially the middle classes, who had been the principal beneficiaries of the Reform Act, and to establish the principle that future changes would be gradual, "according to the increased intelligence of the people, and the necessities of the times". It was the speech of a conservative statesman.

Retirement

Grey spent his last years in contented, if sometimes fretful, retirement at Howick, with his books, his family, and his dogs. He became physically feeble in his last years and died quietly in his bed on 17 July 1845, forty-four years to the day since going to live at Howick. He was buried in the church there on the 26th in the presence of his family, close friends, and the labourers on his estate.

Commemoration

Earl Grey tea, a blend which uses bergamot oil to flavour the beverage, is named after Grey. He is commemorated by Grey's Monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, which consists of a statue of Lord Grey standing atop a 41 m (135 ft) high column. The monument lends its name to Monument Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro located directly underneath. Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and Grey College, Durham are also named after Grey.

Personal life

Grey married Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby (1776–1861), only daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby and Hon. Louisa Molesworth in 1794. The marriage was a fruitful one; between 1796 and 1819 the couple had ten sons and six daughters:

    * Grey (stillborn, 1796)
    * Louisa Elizabeth Grey ( 7 Apr 1797-26 November 1841); married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
    * Lady Elizabeth Grey (10 July 1798- 8 November 1880); married John Crocker Bulteel (d. 10 September 1843)
    * Lady Caroline Grey (30 August 1799-28 April 1875); married Capt. the Hon. George Barrington
    * Lady Georgiana Grey (17 Feb 1801-1900); never married
    * Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 1802- 9 October 1894), eldest son, who became a politician like his father
    * General Sir Charles Grey (15 March 1804-31 March 1870), father of Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
    * Ádmiral Frederick William Grey (23 August 1805- 2 May 1878)
    * Mary Grey ( 2 May 1807- 6 July 1884); married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax
    * Hon. William Grey (13 May 1808-11 Feb 1815)
    * Admiral George Grey (16 May 1809- 3 October 1891)
    * Hon. Thomas Grey (29 Dec 1810- 8 Jul 1826)
    * Rev. Hon. John Grey ( 2 March 1812-11 November 1895)
    * Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Richard Grey (31 March 1813-22 March 1890) married Elizabeth Howard (1816–1891), daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and Georgiana Cavendish (daughter of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire).
    * Hon. Henry Cavendish Grey (16 October 1814- 5 September 1880)
    * Hon. William George Grey (15 February 1819-19 December 1865)

Mary was frequently pregnant and during his absences in London or elsewhere Grey had a series of affairs with other women. The first, most notorious, and most significant, which antedated his engagement to his future wife, was with Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, whom he met at Devonshire House – the centre of Whig society in London in the 1780s and 1790s – shortly after his arrival in the capital as a young recruit to the House of Commons. Impetuous and headstrong, Grey pursued Georgiana with persistence until she gave in to his attentions. She became pregnant by Grey in 1791, but she refused to leave her husband the duke, and live with Grey, when the duke threatened that if she did so she would never see their children again. She went abroad with Elizabeth Foster, and on 20 February 1792 at Aix-en-Provence, gave birth to a daughter who was given the name Eliza Courtney. After their return to England in September 1793 the child was taken to Fallodon and brought up by Grey's parents as though she were his sister. This affair was a significant step in the process by which he became a member of the Whig party, led by Charles James Fox.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg/245px-Charles_Grey%2C_2nd_Earl_Grey_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence.jpg



the inventor of Earl Grey Tea.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 8:11 am


the inventor of Earl Grey Tea.
He gave his name to a blend of tea, not necessarily the inventor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:12 am


He gave his name to a blend of tea, not necessarily the inventor.


What does it taste like?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 8:13 am


What does it taste like?
Herbal and delicious.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:14 am


Herbal and delicious.


I'll have to try it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 8:14 am


I'll have to try it.
It is refreshing too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:15 am


It is refreshing too.


especially for my cold.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 8:17 am


especially for my cold.
It can help with a cold, with a drop of honey in it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:18 am


It can help with a cold, with a drop of honey in it.


yes we have honey.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 8:19 am


yes we have honey.
Just a teaspoon, not too much.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 8:19 am


Just a teaspoon, not too much.


and some lemon too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/13/11 at 11:35 am

I love Twinings' Earl Grey. Can't stand Bigalow's Earl Grey.  8-P



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 11:35 am


I love Twinings' Earl Grey. Can't stand Bigalow's Earl Grey.  8-P



Cat
Twinings is my cup of tea!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/13/11 at 12:48 pm


Twinings is my cup of tea!


I might make some tea later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 12:54 pm


I might make some tea later.
Tea is always better when drunk as black.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/13/11 at 1:44 pm


Tea is always better when drunk as black.



The only things I put in my tea are water & a tea bag. I will put honey in it if I am sick.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/13/11 at 2:45 pm



The only things I put in my tea are water & a tea bag. I will put honey in it if I am sick.



Cat
...also a teaspoon to stir it with?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/13/11 at 4:42 pm


...also a teaspoon to stir it with?


Only when I am sick.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/11 at 6:02 am

The person of the day...Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. He has hosted the Academy Awards eight times.
Start in television

Crystal returned to New York and performed regularly at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star. He studied film and television direction under Martin Scorsese at New York University. In 1976, Crystal appeared on an episode of All in the Family. He also was on the dais for the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Muhammad Ali on February 19, 1976 where he made dead-on impersonations of both The Champ and sportscaster Howard Cosell. He was scheduled to appear on the first episode of Saturday Night Live (October 11, 1975), but his sketch was cut. He did do a stand-up bit later on that first season as "Bill Crystal", on the April 17, 1976, episode.

Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first gay characters portrayed on American television. He continued in the role the series' entire 1977-1981 run.

After hosting Saturday Night Live in 1984, he joined the regular cast. His most famous recurring sketch was his parody of Fernando Lamas – Fernando, a smarmy talk show host whose catch phrase, "You look... mahvelous!," became a media sensation. Crystal subsequently released an album of his stand-up material titled Mahvelous! in 1985, as well as the single "You Look Marvelous", which peaked at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the same year. Also in the 1980s, Crystal starred in an episode of Shelley Duvalls Faerie tale theater as the smartest of the three little pigs.
Acting in film and hosting the Oscars

Crystal's first film role was in Joan Rivers's 1978 film Rabbit Test. Crystal also made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid. He holds the record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in the bonus round in the fastest time, 26 seconds.

Crystal appeared briefly in Rob Reiner's 1984 "rockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking Dana Carvey. Crystal's line in the film was "Mime is money." Reiner directed Crystal again in The Princess Bride (1987).

Reiner directed Crystal for a third time in the classic romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), for which Crystal was nominated for a Golden Globe. Crystal then starred in the buddy comedy City Slickers (1991), which proved very successful both commercially and critically and for which Crystal was nominated for his second Golden Globe.

Following the success of these films, Crystal wrote, directed, and starred in Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Forget Paris (1995). In the former, Crystal played a serious role in aging makeup, as an egotistical comedian who reflects back on his career. He directed the made-for-television movie 61* (2001) based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. This earned Crystal an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

Crystal has continued working in film, including Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002) with Robert De Niro, and in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle as the voice of Calcifer. Pixar originally approached him to provide the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995). He turned down that offer, but regretted it after the film became one of the most popular releases of the year. Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. (2001), which was nominated for the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Crystal hosted the Academy Awards broadcast in 1990–1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2004; and he reportedly turned down hosting the 2006 ceremony to concentrate on his one-man show, 700 Sundays. His eight times as the M.C. is second only to Bob Hope's 18 in most ceremonies hosted. At the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2011, he appeared as a presenter for a digitally inserted Bob Hope and before doing so was given a standing ovation. Film critic Roger Ebert said when Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs of the broadcast. He toured the U.S. with the show in 2006 and Australia in 2007.

Following the initial success of the play, Crystal wrote the book 700 Sundays for Warner Books, which was published on October 31, 2005. In conjunction with the book and the play that also paid tribute to his uncle, Milt Gabler, Crystal produced two CD compilations: Billy Crystal Presents: The Milt Gabler Story, which featured his uncle's most influential recordings from Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets; and Billy Remembers Billie featuring Crystal's favorite Holiday recordings.
Philanthropy

In 1986, Crystal started hosting Comic Relief on HBO with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. Founded by Bob Zmuda, Comic Relief raises money for homeless people in the United States.

On September 6, 2005, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Crystal and Jay Leno were the first celebrities to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be auctioned off for Gulf Coast relief.

Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Portraying himself in a video, Crystal introduces museum guests to the genealogy wing of the museum.
New York Baseball

On March 12, 2008, Crystal signed a minor league contract, for a single day, to play with the New York Yankees, and was invited to the team's major league spring training. He wore uniform number 60, in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday. On March 13, in a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Crystal led off as the designated hitter. He managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on 6 pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon. He was released on March 14, his 60th birthday. Although a life-long Yankee fan, he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, even earning a World Series ring in 2001 when the Diamondbacks beat his beloved Yankees.

In the movie City Slickers, Crystal wears a New York Mets baseball cap.
Awards

In addition to his Golden Globe Award-nominations, Emmy Awards, and Tony Award, Crystal won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for 700 Sundays and received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1977–1981 Soap Jodie Dallas TV series
1977 SST: Death Flight David
1978 Rabbit Test Lionel Carpenter
Human Feelings Angel Made for TV
1980 Animalympics Lodge Turkell Voice
1984 This Is Spinal Tap Morty the Mime
1986 Running Scared Danny Constanzo
1987 The Princess Bride Miracle Max
Throw Momma from the Train Larry Donner
1988 Memories of Me Abbie Writer/Producer
1989 When Harry Met Sally... Harry Burns American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1991 City Slickers Mitch Robbins Executive Producer
American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1992 Horton Hatches the Egg Narrator Voice
Mr. Saturday Night Buddy Young, Jr. Writer/Director/Producer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Mitch Robbins Writer/Producer
1995 Forget Paris Mickey Gordon Writer/Director/Producer
Hamlet First Gravedigger
1997 Deconstructing Harry Larry
Fathers' Day Jack Lawrence
Friends The Gynecologist (with Robin Williams) TV Series
1998 My Giant Sam 'Sammy' Kamin Writer/Producer
1999 Analyze This Dr. Ben Sobel Executive Producer
2000 The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle Mattress salesman Uncredited
2001 61* Director
America's Sweethearts Lee Phillips Writer/Producer
Monsters, Inc. Michael "Mike" Wazowski Voice
2002 Mike's New Car Mike Wazowski Short Film Subject
Voice
Analyze That Dr. Ben Sobel Executive Producer
2004 Howl's Moving Castle Calcifer Voice
2005 Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone Karl Scott Voice
2006 Cars Mike Car Voice
2010 Tooth Fairy Jerry Uncredited
Planet Sheen Soldier Joagth Voice
Episode: What's Up Chock?
2011 Zookeeper A llama Voice
2012 Monsters, Inc. 2 Mike Wazowski Voice
Saturday Night Live
Characters

    * Al Minkman, a shady businessman
    * Fernando, host of Fernando's Hideaway, a celebrity interview show; based on actor Fernando Lamas
    * Buddy Young, Jr. (an insult comic who appears on Weekend Update)
    * Lew Goldman
    * Ricky, a bowler
    * Tony Minetti, a butcher
    * Willie, a man who, along with his friend, Frankie (played by Christopher Guest), discuss their masochistic tendencies

Impersonations

    * Fernando Lamas
    * Howard Cosell
    * Muhammad Ali
    * John F. Kennedy
    * Joe Franklin
    * Hervé Villechaize
    * Joe Garagiola
    * Adam Ant
    * Prince
    * Sammy Davis, Jr.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w38/timlr67/A0INSX1CA3C3SZDCA01OEWFCAGGMQ8GCA0Y.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/bonbonpete87/Billy1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/14/11 at 7:06 am


Tea is always better when drunk as black.


I like cream and sugar with it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/14/11 at 7:09 am

http://crowdfusion.myspacecdn.com/media/billy-crystal-you-look-marvelous-1985-300x351.jpg

"You Look Mahvelous"!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/14/11 at 3:13 pm


The person of the day...Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. He has hosted the Academy Awards eight times.
Start in television

Crystal returned to New York and performed regularly at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star. He studied film and television direction under Martin Scorsese at New York University. In 1976, Crystal appeared on an episode of All in the Family. He also was on the dais for the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Muhammad Ali on February 19, 1976 where he made dead-on impersonations of both The Champ and sportscaster Howard Cosell. He was scheduled to appear on the first episode of Saturday Night Live (October 11, 1975), but his sketch was cut. He did do a stand-up bit later on that first season as "Bill Crystal", on the April 17, 1976, episode.

Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first gay characters portrayed on American television. He continued in the role the series' entire 1977-1981 run.

After hosting Saturday Night Live in 1984, he joined the regular cast. His most famous recurring sketch was his parody of Fernando Lamas – Fernando, a smarmy talk show host whose catch phrase, "You look... mahvelous!," became a media sensation. Crystal subsequently released an album of his stand-up material titled Mahvelous! in 1985, as well as the single "You Look Marvelous", which peaked at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the same year. Also in the 1980s, Crystal starred in an episode of Shelley Duvalls Faerie tale theater as the smartest of the three little pigs.
Acting in film and hosting the Oscars

Crystal's first film role was in Joan Rivers's 1978 film Rabbit Test. Crystal also made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid. He holds the record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in the bonus round in the fastest time, 26 seconds.

Crystal appeared briefly in Rob Reiner's 1984 "rockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking Dana Carvey. Crystal's line in the film was "Mime is money." Reiner directed Crystal again in The Princess Bride (1987).

Reiner directed Crystal for a third time in the classic romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), for which Crystal was nominated for a Golden Globe. Crystal then starred in the buddy comedy City Slickers (1991), which proved very successful both commercially and critically and for which Crystal was nominated for his second Golden Globe.

Following the success of these films, Crystal wrote, directed, and starred in Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Forget Paris (1995). In the former, Crystal played a serious role in aging makeup, as an egotistical comedian who reflects back on his career. He directed the made-for-television movie 61* (2001) based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. This earned Crystal an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

Crystal has continued working in film, including Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002) with Robert De Niro, and in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle as the voice of Calcifer. Pixar originally approached him to provide the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995). He turned down that offer, but regretted it after the film became one of the most popular releases of the year. Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. (2001), which was nominated for the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Crystal hosted the Academy Awards broadcast in 1990–1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2004; and he reportedly turned down hosting the 2006 ceremony to concentrate on his one-man show, 700 Sundays. His eight times as the M.C. is second only to Bob Hope's 18 in most ceremonies hosted. At the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2011, he appeared as a presenter for a digitally inserted Bob Hope and before doing so was given a standing ovation. Film critic Roger Ebert said when Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs of the broadcast. He toured the U.S. with the show in 2006 and Australia in 2007.

Following the initial success of the play, Crystal wrote the book 700 Sundays for Warner Books, which was published on October 31, 2005. In conjunction with the book and the play that also paid tribute to his uncle, Milt Gabler, Crystal produced two CD compilations: Billy Crystal Presents: The Milt Gabler Story, which featured his uncle's most influential recordings from Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets; and Billy Remembers Billie featuring Crystal's favorite Holiday recordings.
Philanthropy

In 1986, Crystal started hosting Comic Relief on HBO with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. Founded by Bob Zmuda, Comic Relief raises money for homeless people in the United States.

On September 6, 2005, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Crystal and Jay Leno were the first celebrities to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be auctioned off for Gulf Coast relief.

Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Portraying himself in a video, Crystal introduces museum guests to the genealogy wing of the museum.
New York Baseball

On March 12, 2008, Crystal signed a minor league contract, for a single day, to play with the New York Yankees, and was invited to the team's major league spring training. He wore uniform number 60, in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday. On March 13, in a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Crystal led off as the designated hitter. He managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on 6 pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon. He was released on March 14, his 60th birthday. Although a life-long Yankee fan, he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, even earning a World Series ring in 2001 when the Diamondbacks beat his beloved Yankees.

In the movie City Slickers, Crystal wears a New York Mets baseball cap.
Awards

In addition to his Golden Globe Award-nominations, Emmy Awards, and Tony Award, Crystal won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for 700 Sundays and received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1977–1981 Soap Jodie Dallas TV series
1977 SST: Death Flight David
1978 Rabbit Test Lionel Carpenter
Human Feelings Angel Made for TV
1980 Animalympics Lodge Turkell Voice
1984 This Is Spinal Tap Morty the Mime
1986 Running Scared Danny Constanzo
1987 The Princess Bride Miracle Max
Throw Momma from the Train Larry Donner
1988 Memories of Me Abbie Writer/Producer
1989 When Harry Met Sally... Harry Burns American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1991 City Slickers Mitch Robbins Executive Producer
American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1992 Horton Hatches the Egg Narrator Voice
Mr. Saturday Night Buddy Young, Jr. Writer/Director/Producer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Mitch Robbins Writer/Producer
1995 Forget Paris Mickey Gordon Writer/Director/Producer
Hamlet First Gravedigger
1997 Deconstructing Harry Larry
Fathers' Day Jack Lawrence
Friends The Gynecologist (with Robin Williams) TV Series
1998 My Giant Sam 'Sammy' Kamin Writer/Producer
1999 Analyze This Dr. Ben Sobel Executive Producer
2000 The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle Mattress salesman Uncredited
2001 61* Director
America's Sweethearts Lee Phillips Writer/Producer
Monsters, Inc. Michael "Mike" Wazowski Voice
2002 Mike's New Car Mike Wazowski Short Film Subject
Voice
Analyze That Dr. Ben Sobel Executive Producer
2004 Howl's Moving Castle Calcifer Voice
2005 Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone Karl Scott Voice
2006 Cars Mike Car Voice
2010 Tooth Fairy Jerry Uncredited
Planet Sheen Soldier Joagth Voice
Episode: What's Up Chock?
2011 Zookeeper A llama Voice
2012 Monsters, Inc. 2 Mike Wazowski Voice
Saturday Night Live
Characters

    * Al Minkman, a shady businessman
    * Fernando, host of Fernando's Hideaway, a celebrity interview show; based on actor Fernando Lamas
    * Buddy Young, Jr. (an insult comic who appears on Weekend Update)
    * Lew Goldman
    * Ricky, a bowler
    * Tony Minetti, a butcher
    * Willie, a man who, along with his friend, Frankie (played by Christopher Guest), discuss their masochistic tendencies

Impersonations

    * Fernando Lamas
    * Howard Cosell
    * Muhammad Ali
    * John F. Kennedy
    * Joe Franklin
    * Hervé Villechaize
    * Joe Garagiola
    * Adam Ant
    * Prince
    * Sammy Davis, Jr.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w38/timlr67/A0INSX1CA3C3SZDCA01OEWFCAGGMQ8GCA0Y.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/bonbonpete87/Billy1.jpg
He hosted the Oscars once.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/11 at 3:16 pm


I like cream and sugar with it.

My grandma always put milk and sugar in her tea, I just use sugar.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/14/11 at 3:17 pm


My grandma always put milk and sugar in her tea, I just use sugar.
Do you know the reason why milk was first drunk with tea?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/14/11 at 9:33 pm


Do you know the reason why milk was first drunk with tea?

No. Maybe to cool it down.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/15/11 at 1:45 am


No. Maybe to cool it down.
In a way yes. It was to stop the china cups from cracking from the heat of the tea, so milk was pour into the cup first.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/11 at 6:25 am


In a way yes. It was to stop the china cups from cracking from the heat of the tea, so milk was pour into the cup first.

Interesting :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/11 at 6:28 am

The person of the day...Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria (born March 15, 1975) is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Longoria received a nomination for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on Desperate Housewives.

Longoria first became famous on television in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. She became nationally recognized in the 2000s after appearing in several high-profile advertising campaigns and numerous men's magazines, reaching #14 in the FHM "Sexiest Women 2008" poll, and having appeared on the cover of various international women's magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar.
Longoria landed her first television role in 2000, guest-starring in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. Another guest appearance in General Hospital the same year brought her big break on the popular American soap opera The Young and the Restless, in which she played psychotic Isabella Braña Williams from 2001 to 2003.

After leaving The Young and the Restless, she was seen on the now-cancelled Dick Wolf revival of Dragnet. Although it lasted only two seasons, the show gave Longoria another leading star credit to her name. Following Dragnet, she starred in two ill-fated productions - Señorita Justice, a poorly received direct-to-video film, and a television film titled The Dead Will Tell.

In 2004, Longoria landed a role that elevated her to the A-List. She starred as adulteress Gabrielle Solis in the worldwide break-out ABC hit Desperate Housewives. As the show became an overnight sensation, Longoria's career was well and truly launched. But she has never considered her career to have jumped off so suddenly: "I think it’s funny when people say I’m an overnight sensation, because I’ve been working at it for 10 years."
At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Shortly after her debut on Desperate Housewives, Longoria starred in a poorly received direct-to-video film titled Carlita's Secret, for which she was also co-producer. In 2006, she was rewarded for her performance as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives when she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy along with her co-stars. Even though neither Longoria nor any of the rest of the cast won, she was awarded the ALMA Award and named entertainer of the year. She also starred opposite Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland in the 2006 thriller The Sentinel, which was her first major role in a theatrical movie. In 2006 she played the character Sylvia in Harsh Times starring Freddy Rodriguez and Christian Bale.

She has expressed "confusion" over fellow Housewives actress Nicolette Sheridan's lawsuit against the Desperate Housewives series creator Marc Cherry.

People en Español listed her among its "Most Beautiful People" for 2003. Longoria continues to be included in lists of Hollywood's Most Beautiful and was listed #1 in Maxim's Hottest Female Stars of 2005 and 2006, becoming the first woman to top the list in two consecutive years. She was ranked #9 in the magazine's Hot 100 of 2007 list. In honor of Maxim's 100th issue in 2006, Longoria was featured on a 75-by-110-foot (23 by 34 m) vinyl mesh replica of its January 2005 cover located in a Las Vegas metropolitan area desert.

In January 2007, Longoria was chosen to be the first face of Bebe Sport. She appeared in the Spring/Summer 2007 campaign, photographed by Greg Kadel. The actress also holds model contracts with L'Oréal and Hanes, New York & Co. Longoria also has a contract with Magnum Ice-Cream, Heineken, and with L'Oréal. She is a part of Microsoft's "I'm A PC" ad campaign, and she and Tony Parker have appeared together in campaigns for London Fog.

In October 2010, it was announced that Longoria would host the MTV Europe Music Awards 2010 in Madrid, Spain.
Business activities

Eva Longoria opened the restaurant Beso (in Spanish: "Kiss") in Hollywood, along with partner and celebrity chef Todd English, in March 2008. The restaurant is located on Hollywood Boulevard and is accompanied by Kiss, a Victorian-themed nightclub above the restaurant. The Hollywood Beso was scheduled to be the focus of a pilot episode for a tentative reality series called Beso: Waiting on Fame which would air on VH1 in late 2010.

In 2009, Longoria and various investor-partners opened a Beso restaurant, with a nightclub called Eve above it, in the Crystals retail and entertainment district of CityCenter in Las Vegas.

In 2011, the corporation Beso LLC, owner of the Vegas restaurant-and-nighclub venture, with listed assets of about $2.5 million and Eva Longoria as a 32 percent shareholder, filed for Chapter 11 protection, entering bankruptcy proceedings, in order to restructure nearly $5.7 million in debt and other liabilities. Longoria stated she's looking "forward to a more pro-active, hands-on approach in the coming years" with her Las Vegas business interests.

Longoria released the fragrance "EVA by Eva Longoria", a "clean citrus-floral eau de parfum", in April 2010. She stated she wanted a fragrance she could wear: "I am allergic to most fragrances. There was nothing I could wear without my eyes watering, my nose starting to itch or sneezing."
Commercials

Eva Longoria became a spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris in 2005 and has continued to feature in L'Oreal TV commercials and print ads until the year 2010.

Eva Longoria stated that she found a “generous spirit” at L’Oreal. She continues to say “L’Oreal Paris wants beauty to be free, without borders or prejudices….Working together was just meant to be.”
Personal life
Eva with her ex-husband Tony Parker
Relationships

Longoria was married to General Hospital star Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004.

Longoria met Spurs point guard Tony Parker in November 2004. In August 2005, Longoria confirmed she and Parker were dating, and on November 30, 2006, the couple became engaged. They were officially married in a civil service on Friday, July 6, 2007, at a Paris city hall. This is a requirement of French law. It was followed by a full Roman Catholic wedding ceremony at the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois Church in Paris, France on Saturday, July 7, 2007.

Their marriage had its first ordeal when French model Alexandra Paressant claimed to have had an affair with Parker. Both Parker and Longoria vehemently denied these allegations through their spokespeople, saying "All high profile couples fall victim to these sorts of things in the course of their relationships. It appears that this is not the first time this woman has used an athlete to gain public notoriety." Parker initiated a $20 million lawsuit against the website that first reported the story, which later issued a full retraction and an apology, stating "X17online.com and X17, Inc. regret having been misled by Ms. Paressant and her representatives and apologize to Mr. Parker for any damage or inconvenience this may have caused him or his wife."

On November 17, 2010, Longoria filed for divorce from Parker in Los Angeles, citing "irreconcilable differences". In the divorce petition, Longoria, who had taken Parker's last name, requested her maiden name be restored. She also sought spousal support from Parker. The couple had a prenuptial agreement that was signed in June 2007, the month before their wedding, and amended two years later in June 2009. The same day as the divorce filing, Longoria confirmed to her friend Mario Lopez, host of Extra, that she had discovered hundreds of text messages from another woman on her husband's phone. Extra identified the other woman as Erin Barry, the former wife of Brent Barry, Parker's former teammate, and revealed that the Barrys were also in the process of divorcing. Lopez further stated that Longoria believed Parker had cheated on her earlier in the marriage with another woman, with whom he had kept in touch via Facebook. Lopez said, "Eva wants everyone to know, she's devastated by the rumors of Tony's infidelity. She loved her husband and is heartbroken about their split...But she's strong." In light of the divorce, Longoria cancelled her scheduled appearance at the 2010 American Music Awards. On November 19, 2010, Parker filed for divorce from Longoria in Bexar County, Texas on the grounds of "discord or conflict of personalities", thus establishing a legal battle over where the divorce case would be heard. Unlike Longoria's divorce petition, Parker's did not mention a prenuptial agreement and claimed that the parties would "enter into an agreement for the division of their estate". The divorce was finalized in Texas on January 28, 2011, the same day Longoria's lawyer filed papers to dismiss her Los Angeles petition.

Longoria had previously stated her intention to move to France with Parker upon the completion of Desperate Housewives.
Ancestry

According to research done by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard University, in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America, Longoria's Spanish ancestry can be traced back to her ninth great-grandfather, Lorenzo Suarez de Longoria (b. Oviedo, 1592), who emigrated to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which became modern-day Mexico, in 1603, and whose family originated from a small village called Llongoria, Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias, Spain. Longoria is the spanish spelling of the surname. Through the generations, Longoria's ancestors moved north to the modern US-Mexico border. In 1767, her 7th great-grandfather received almost 4,000 acres (16 km2) of land along the Rio Grande in a land grant from the King of Spain. This land stayed in the family for over a century, enduring through the influx of Anglo settlers in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and American Civil War.

Her DNA test results were: 70% European, 27% Asian/Indigenous, and 3% African. Specifically, her indigenous american ancestry is Mayan. After a computer compared the DNA results of Gates’ dozen guests, test showed that she is genetically related to cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who is of Chinese heritage. Gates, hopes that stories like Longoria's "will help change our sense of the history of the United States. It wasn't an Anglo-WASP history. It was much more complex than that."
Philanthropy

In 2006, Longoria founded Eva's Heroes, a charity which helps developmentally disabled children. She is the national spokesperson for PADRES Contra El Cancer. She signed shoes for the Spirit of Women Red Shoe Celebrity Auction. Longoria also supports the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, OmniPeace, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Stroke Association, Project HOME and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Longoria is also an executive producer of Shine Global Inc.'s upcoming documentary The Harvest which is focused on the 500,000 child migrant farm workers in the U.S. and is currently helping them fundraise for the film. Longoria was named Philanthropist of the year by the Hollywood Reporter for 'her commitment to Latino causes and giving back to the community. She appeared on Fort Boyard in 2009, making over €20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

In 2009, Longoria enrolled in a Master's program in Chicano Studies and Political Science at Cal State University, Northridge. According to Eva, "because of my involvement with the NCLR and my charity work, I really wanted a better, more authentic understanding of what my community has gone through so I can help create change."

In September 2009, Longoria was appointed to a bi-partisan commission issued with the task of determining the feasibility of the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino.
Filmography
Films Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2003 Snitch'd Gabby direct-to-video
2004 Señorita Justice Det. Roselyn Martinez direct-to-video
2004 The Dead Will Tell Jeanie Television film
2004 Carlita's Secret Carlita / Lexus direct-to-video
2005 Harsh Times Sylvia
2006 The Sentinel Jill Marum
2007 The Heartbreak Kid Consuela
2008 Over Her Dead Body Katherine "Kate" Spencer
2008 Lower Learning Rebecca Seabrook
2009 Foodfight! Lady X Unreleased
2010 Days of Grace Unknown Post-production
2010 Without Men Rosalba Post-production
2011 Cristiada Unknown Post production
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2000 Beverly Hills, 90210 Flight Attendant #3 "I Will Be Your Father Figure" (Season 10, episode 19)
2000 General Hospital Brenda Barrett Lookalike "Episode dated 25 September 2000" (uncredited)
2001–
2003 The Young and the Restless Isabella Braña Williams "Episode #1.7136"
"Episode #1.7142"
"Episode #1.7149"
"Episode #1.7261"
2003–
2004 Dragnet Det. Gloria Duran "Daddy's Girl" (Season 2, episode 1)
"Coyote" (Season 2, episode 2)
"17 in 6" (Season 2, episode 3)
"The Magic Bullet" (Season 2, episode 4)
"Slice of Life" (Season 2, episode 5)
"Abduction" (Season 2, episode 6)
"Frame of Mind" (Season 2, episode 7)
"Retribution" (Season 2, episode 8)
"Riddance" (Season 2, episode 9)
"Killing Fields" (Season 2, episode 10)
2004–
present Desperate Housewives Gabrielle Solis Main role
2006 George Lopez Brooke "George Vows to Make Some Matri-Money" (Season 5, episode 19)
2008 Childrens Hospital The New Chief "Episode #1.10" (Season 2, episode 10)
Awards and nominations
Year Result Award Category Film or series
2002 Won ALMA Awards Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama The Young and the Restless
2006 Won Person of the Year
2007 Won Bambi Award TV Series International Desperate Housewives
2005 Nominated DVD Exclusive Awards Best Actress (in a DVD Premiere Movie) Carlita's Secret
2006 Nominated Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy Desperate Housewives
2005 Nominated Imagen Foundation Awards Best Actress - Television Desperate Housewives
2007 Nominated Best Actress - Television Desperate Housewives
2007 Won People's Choice Awards Favorite Female TV Star Desperate Housewives
2005 Won Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast)
2006 Won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast)
2007 Nominated Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast)
2008 Nominated Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast)
2009 Nominated Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast)
2005 Nominated Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Actress: Comedy Desperate Housewives
Won Choice TV Breakout Performance - Female Desperate Housewives
2006 Nominated TV - Choice Actress: Comedy Desperate Housewives
2007 Nominated TV - Choice Actress: Comedy Desperate Housewives
2010 Nominated Choice Female Red Carpet Icon Herself
http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk321/LUNDEBABY/Eva-Longoria-15-283262.jpg
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv256/Juuicy/eva%20longoria/l_13d5e3cf41d393ddab4593d09dad3d3a.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/15/11 at 6:31 am

Oh..I suppose she's okay!!!  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/11 at 6:59 am


My grandma always put milk and sugar in her tea, I just use sugar.


Sometimes I have cream.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/11 at 7:01 am

Is she available for dating?  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/11 at 1:19 pm


Oh..I suppose she's okay!!!  ::)

Yeah even this older D.J. on the radio station I listen to was getting excited about her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/15/11 at 1:20 pm


Is she available for dating?  ;)

She just got divorced..so yes ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/15/11 at 4:24 pm

British Person of the Day: Joseph Bazalgette

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB (28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation in response to "The Great Stink" of 1858 of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while beginning the cleansing of the River Thames.

Beginnings

Joseph William Bazalgette was born at Hill Lodge, Clay Hill, Enfield, London, England, the son of Joseph William Bazalgette (1783–1849), a retired captain of the Royal Navy and Theresa Philo, née Pilton (1796–1850) and was grandson of a French Protestant immigrant. He began his career working on railway projects, articled to noted engineer Sir John MacNeill and gaining sufficient experience (some in Ireland) in land drainage and reclamation works for him to set up his own London consulting practice in 1842. By the time he married, in 1845, Bazalgette was deeply involved in the expansion of the railway network, working so hard that he suffered a nervous breakdown two years later.

While he was recovering, London's short-lived Metropolitan Commission of Sewers ordered that all cesspits should be closed and that house drains should connect to sewers and empty into the Thames. As a result, a cholera epidemic (1848–49) then killed 14,137 Londoners.

Bazalgette was appointed assistant surveyor to the Commission in 1849, taking over as Engineer in 1852, after his predecessor died of "harassing fatigues and anxieties." Soon after, another cholera epidemic struck, in 1853, killing 10,738. Medical opinion at the time held that cholera was caused by foul air: a so-called miasma. Dr John Snow had earlier advanced a different explanation, which is now known to be correct: cholera was spread by contaminated water. His view was not generally accepted.

Championed by fellow engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Bazalgette was appointed chief engineer of the Commission's successor, the Metropolitan Board of Works, in 1856 (a post he retained until the MBW was abolished and replaced by the London County Council in 1889). In 1858, the year of the Great Stink, Parliament passed an enabling act, in spite of the colossal expense of the project, and Bazalgette's proposals to revolutionise London's sewerage system began to be implemented. The expectation was that enclosed sewers would eliminate the stink ('miasma'), and that this would then reduce the incidence of cholera.

Sewer works

At the time, the Thames was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution (similar to a proposal made by painter John Martin 25 years earlier) was to construct 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of underground brick main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The outflows were diverted downstream where they were dumped, untreated, into the Thames. Extensive sewage treatment facilities were built only decades later.

The scheme involved major pumping stations at Deptford (1864) and at Crossness (1865) on the Erith marshes, both on the south side of the Thames, and at Abbey Mills (in the River Lea valley, 1868) and on the Chelsea Embankment (close to Grosvenor Bridge; 1875), north of the river.

The system was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales in 1865, although the whole project was not actually completed for another ten years.

Bazalgette's foresight may be seen in the diameter of the sewers. When planning the network he took the densest population, gave every person the most generous allowance of sewage production and came up with a diameter of pipe needed. He then said 'Well, we're only going to do this once and there's always the unforeseen.' and doubled the diameter to be used. Every Londoner should be grateful for this foresight as the then unforeseen was the tower block. If he had used his original, smaller pipe diameter the sewer would have overflowed in the 1960s. As it is they are still in use to this day.

The unintended consequence of the new sewer system was to eliminate cholera not only in places that no longer stank, but wherever water supplies ceased to be contaminated by sewage. The basic premise of this expensive project was wrong, as so often happens, but the end result was much better than expected, which is a rare occurrence. (The River Thames now contains several smaller varieties of fish, including trout; it is also safe to swim in—for those willing to brave the frigid waters and able to find a stretch without undertow.).

Private life

Bazalgette lived in St John's Wood, north London for some years.

He later moved to Morden, then in 1873, with his wife, Maria, (née Kough, 1819–1902), six sons and four daughters, to Arthur Road in Wimbledon, where he died in 1891, and was buried in the nearby churchyard at St Mary's Church.

Awards and memorials

Bazalgette was knighted in 1875, and elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1883.

There is a blue plaque in his honour where he lived at 17 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood.

A formal monument on the riverside of the Victoria Embankment in central London commemorates Bazalgette's genius.

A living fictionalised tribute to the genius, the work and the ideals of Bazalgette can be found in the historic Victorian novel The Worms of Euston Square by William Sutton. This portrays Bazalgette in a heroic light as a man with an innate social conscience who employs his skills to improve the city that he loves and who plays an active role in rehousing those whose homes were demolished during the enormous work of construction.

Dulwich College has a scholarship in his name, for design and technology or for mathematics and science.

The 2003 BBC docudrama series Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World commemorated Bazalgette's London sewers construction in its episode 4 "The Sewer King".

Other works

    * Albert Embankment (1869)
    * Victoria Embankment (1870)
    * Chelsea Embankment (1874)
    * Maidstone Bridge (1879)
    * Albert Bridge (1884; modifications)
    * Putney Bridge (1886)
    * Hammersmith Bridge (1887)
    * The Woolwich Free Ferry (1889)
    * Battersea Bridge (1890)
    * Charing Cross Road
    * Garrick Street
    * Northumberland Avenue
    * Shaftesbury Avenue
    * Early plans for the Blackwall Tunnel (1897)
    * Proposal for what later became Tower Bridge

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/86/JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg/150px-JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/15/11 at 4:25 pm


British Person of the Day: Joseph Bazalgette

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB (28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation in response to "The Great Stink" of 1858 of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while beginning the cleansing of the River Thames.

Beginnings

Joseph William Bazalgette was born at Hill Lodge, Clay Hill, Enfield, London, England, the son of Joseph William Bazalgette (1783–1849), a retired captain of the Royal Navy and Theresa Philo, née Pilton (1796–1850) and was grandson of a French Protestant immigrant. He began his career working on railway projects, articled to noted engineer Sir John MacNeill and gaining sufficient experience (some in Ireland) in land drainage and reclamation works for him to set up his own London consulting practice in 1842. By the time he married, in 1845, Bazalgette was deeply involved in the expansion of the railway network, working so hard that he suffered a nervous breakdown two years later.

While he was recovering, London's short-lived Metropolitan Commission of Sewers ordered that all cesspits should be closed and that house drains should connect to sewers and empty into the Thames. As a result, a cholera epidemic (1848–49) then killed 14,137 Londoners.

Bazalgette was appointed assistant surveyor to the Commission in 1849, taking over as Engineer in 1852, after his predecessor died of "harassing fatigues and anxieties." Soon after, another cholera epidemic struck, in 1853, killing 10,738. Medical opinion at the time held that cholera was caused by foul air: a so-called miasma. Dr John Snow had earlier advanced a different explanation, which is now known to be correct: cholera was spread by contaminated water. His view was not generally accepted.

Championed by fellow engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Bazalgette was appointed chief engineer of the Commission's successor, the Metropolitan Board of Works, in 1856 (a post he retained until the MBW was abolished and replaced by the London County Council in 1889). In 1858, the year of the Great Stink, Parliament passed an enabling act, in spite of the colossal expense of the project, and Bazalgette's proposals to revolutionise London's sewerage system began to be implemented. The expectation was that enclosed sewers would eliminate the stink ('miasma'), and that this would then reduce the incidence of cholera.

Sewer works

At the time, the Thames was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution (similar to a proposal made by painter John Martin 25 years earlier) was to construct 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of underground brick main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The outflows were diverted downstream where they were dumped, untreated, into the Thames. Extensive sewage treatment facilities were built only decades later.

The scheme involved major pumping stations at Deptford (1864) and at Crossness (1865) on the Erith marshes, both on the south side of the Thames, and at Abbey Mills (in the River Lea valley, 1868) and on the Chelsea Embankment (close to Grosvenor Bridge; 1875), north of the river.

The system was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales in 1865, although the whole project was not actually completed for another ten years.

Bazalgette's foresight may be seen in the diameter of the sewers. When planning the network he took the densest population, gave every person the most generous allowance of sewage production and came up with a diameter of pipe needed. He then said 'Well, we're only going to do this once and there's always the unforeseen.' and doubled the diameter to be used. Every Londoner should be grateful for this foresight as the then unforeseen was the tower block. If he had used his original, smaller pipe diameter the sewer would have overflowed in the 1960s. As it is they are still in use to this day.

The unintended consequence of the new sewer system was to eliminate cholera not only in places that no longer stank, but wherever water supplies ceased to be contaminated by sewage. The basic premise of this expensive project was wrong, as so often happens, but the end result was much better than expected, which is a rare occurrence. (The River Thames now contains several smaller varieties of fish, including trout; it is also safe to swim in—for those willing to brave the frigid waters and able to find a stretch without undertow.).

Private life

Bazalgette lived in St John's Wood, north London for some years.

He later moved to Morden, then in 1873, with his wife, Maria, (née Kough, 1819–1902), six sons and four daughters, to Arthur Road in Wimbledon, where he died in 1891, and was buried in the nearby churchyard at St Mary's Church.

Awards and memorials

Bazalgette was knighted in 1875, and elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1883.

There is a blue plaque in his honour where he lived at 17 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood.

A formal monument on the riverside of the Victoria Embankment in central London commemorates Bazalgette's genius.

A living fictionalised tribute to the genius, the work and the ideals of Bazalgette can be found in the historic Victorian novel The Worms of Euston Square by William Sutton. This portrays Bazalgette in a heroic light as a man with an innate social conscience who employs his skills to improve the city that he loves and who plays an active role in rehousing those whose homes were demolished during the enormous work of construction.

Dulwich College has a scholarship in his name, for design and technology or for mathematics and science.

The 2003 BBC docudrama series Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World commemorated Bazalgette's London sewers construction in its episode 4 "The Sewer King".

Other works

    * Albert Embankment (1869)
    * Victoria Embankment (1870)
    * Chelsea Embankment (1874)
    * Maidstone Bridge (1879)
    * Albert Bridge (1884; modifications)
    * Putney Bridge (1886)
    * Hammersmith Bridge (1887)
    * The Woolwich Free Ferry (1889)
    * Battersea Bridge (1890)
    * Charing Cross Road
    * Garrick Street
    * Northumberland Avenue
    * Shaftesbury Avenue
    * Early plans for the Blackwall Tunnel (1897)
    * Proposal for what later became Tower Bridge

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/86/JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg/150px-JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d1/JosephBazalgette.jpg/220px-JosephBazalgette.jpg

The formal monument on the riverside of the Victoria Embankment in central London commemorates Bazalgette's genius.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/15/11 at 4:27 pm


British Person of the Day: Joseph Bazalgette

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB (28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation in response to "The Great Stink" of 1858 of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while beginning the cleansing of the River Thames.

Beginnings

Joseph William Bazalgette was born at Hill Lodge, Clay Hill, Enfield, London, England, the son of Joseph William Bazalgette (1783–1849), a retired captain of the Royal Navy and Theresa Philo, née Pilton (1796–1850) and was grandson of a French Protestant immigrant. He began his career working on railway projects, articled to noted engineer Sir John MacNeill and gaining sufficient experience (some in Ireland) in land drainage and reclamation works for him to set up his own London consulting practice in 1842. By the time he married, in 1845, Bazalgette was deeply involved in the expansion of the railway network, working so hard that he suffered a nervous breakdown two years later.

While he was recovering, London's short-lived Metropolitan Commission of Sewers ordered that all cesspits should be closed and that house drains should connect to sewers and empty into the Thames. As a result, a cholera epidemic (1848–49) then killed 14,137 Londoners.

Bazalgette was appointed assistant surveyor to the Commission in 1849, taking over as Engineer in 1852, after his predecessor died of "harassing fatigues and anxieties." Soon after, another cholera epidemic struck, in 1853, killing 10,738. Medical opinion at the time held that cholera was caused by foul air: a so-called miasma. Dr John Snow had earlier advanced a different explanation, which is now known to be correct: cholera was spread by contaminated water. His view was not generally accepted.

Championed by fellow engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Bazalgette was appointed chief engineer of the Commission's successor, the Metropolitan Board of Works, in 1856 (a post he retained until the MBW was abolished and replaced by the London County Council in 1889). In 1858, the year of the Great Stink, Parliament passed an enabling act, in spite of the colossal expense of the project, and Bazalgette's proposals to revolutionise London's sewerage system began to be implemented. The expectation was that enclosed sewers would eliminate the stink ('miasma'), and that this would then reduce the incidence of cholera.

Sewer works

At the time, the Thames was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution (similar to a proposal made by painter John Martin 25 years earlier) was to construct 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of underground brick main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The outflows were diverted downstream where they were dumped, untreated, into the Thames. Extensive sewage treatment facilities were built only decades later.

The scheme involved major pumping stations at Deptford (1864) and at Crossness (1865) on the Erith marshes, both on the south side of the Thames, and at Abbey Mills (in the River Lea valley, 1868) and on the Chelsea Embankment (close to Grosvenor Bridge; 1875), north of the river.

The system was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales in 1865, although the whole project was not actually completed for another ten years.

Bazalgette's foresight may be seen in the diameter of the sewers. When planning the network he took the densest population, gave every person the most generous allowance of sewage production and came up with a diameter of pipe needed. He then said 'Well, we're only going to do this once and there's always the unforeseen.' and doubled the diameter to be used. Every Londoner should be grateful for this foresight as the then unforeseen was the tower block. If he had used his original, smaller pipe diameter the sewer would have overflowed in the 1960s. As it is they are still in use to this day.

The unintended consequence of the new sewer system was to eliminate cholera not only in places that no longer stank, but wherever water supplies ceased to be contaminated by sewage. The basic premise of this expensive project was wrong, as so often happens, but the end result was much better than expected, which is a rare occurrence. (The River Thames now contains several smaller varieties of fish, including trout; it is also safe to swim in—for those willing to brave the frigid waters and able to find a stretch without undertow.).

Private life

Bazalgette lived in St John's Wood, north London for some years.

He later moved to Morden, then in 1873, with his wife, Maria, (née Kough, 1819–1902), six sons and four daughters, to Arthur Road in Wimbledon, where he died in 1891, and was buried in the nearby churchyard at St Mary's Church.

Awards and memorials

Bazalgette was knighted in 1875, and elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1883.

There is a blue plaque in his honour where he lived at 17 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood.

A formal monument on the riverside of the Victoria Embankment in central London commemorates Bazalgette's genius.

A living fictionalised tribute to the genius, the work and the ideals of Bazalgette can be found in the historic Victorian novel The Worms of Euston Square by William Sutton. This portrays Bazalgette in a heroic light as a man with an innate social conscience who employs his skills to improve the city that he loves and who plays an active role in rehousing those whose homes were demolished during the enormous work of construction.

Dulwich College has a scholarship in his name, for design and technology or for mathematics and science.

The 2003 BBC docudrama series Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World commemorated Bazalgette's London sewers construction in its episode 4 "The Sewer King".

Other works

    * Albert Embankment (1869)
    * Victoria Embankment (1870)
    * Chelsea Embankment (1874)
    * Maidstone Bridge (1879)
    * Albert Bridge (1884; modifications)
    * Putney Bridge (1886)
    * Hammersmith Bridge (1887)
    * The Woolwich Free Ferry (1889)
    * Battersea Bridge (1890)
    * Charing Cross Road
    * Garrick Street
    * Northumberland Avenue
    * Shaftesbury Avenue
    * Early plans for the Blackwall Tunnel (1897)
    * Proposal for what later became Tower Bridge

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/86/JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg/150px-JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1210/818486663_61f77d28ee_z.jpg

The blue plaque in his honour where he lived at 17 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/11 at 7:30 pm


She just got divorced..so yes ;)


It's a little too late for me to marry and I bet she may want kids well I'll have to say No for that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/15/11 at 7:30 pm


Yeah even this older D.J. on the radio station I listen to was getting excited about her.


he must've had an orgasm. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/16/11 at 6:37 am

The person of the day...Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane (born March 16, 1961) is an American cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was a popular hero in the 1990s and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.

In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.
McFarlane's first published work was a 1984 backup story in Epic Comics' Coyote. He soon began drawing for both DC Comics and Marvel, with his first major body of work being a two-year run (1985–1987) on DC's Infinity, Inc. In 1987, McFarlane also illustrated several issues of Detective Comics' Batman: Year Two storyline. From there, he moved to Marvel's Incredible Hulk, which he drew from 1987–1988.
McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 cover. (Second printing black & gold edition).

In 1988, McFarlane joined writer David Michelinie on Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man beginning with issue 298. McFarlane was also the first artist to draw the first, full appearance of Eddie Brock, the first original incarnation of the popular villain Venom. He has been credited as the character's co-creator, though this has been a topic of dispute within the comic book industry. (See Eddie Brock: Creation and conception.)

McFarlane's work on Amazing Spider-Man turned him into an industry superstar. In 1990, after a 28-issue run of Amazing Spider-Man, McFarlane told editor Jim Salicrup he'd grown tired of drawing other people's stories and would be leaving the book with issue #328 to write his own work. Salicrup offered McFarlane a new Spider-Man book, prompting the launch of a new monthly title simply called Spider-Man, which McFarlane both wrote and illustrated. Spider-Man #1 sold 2.5 million copies, partially due to the variant covers that were used to encourage collectors into buying more than one edition. McFarlane wrote and illustrated Spider-Man's first 14 issues, as well as #16; many issues of which were crossovers with characters such as Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider. After issue #16 (Nov. 1991), McFarlane left the book due to creative clashes with new editor Danny Fingeroth. He was replaced on the title by future Image Comics co-founder Erik Larsen.
Image Comics
Main articles: Image comics and Spawn (comics)

McFarlane then left Marvel with six other popular artists to form Image Comics, an umbrella company under which each owned a publishing house. McFarlane's studio, Todd McFarlane Productions, published his creation, the occult-themed Spawn. Upon release, Spawn #1 sold 1.7 million copies, still a record for an independent comic book.
The cover to Spawn #1 (1992)

Spawn was launched in 1992 with McFarlane as artist/writer for the first 7 issues. Guest writers Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim and Frank Miller were brought on for issues 8 to 11 (respectively) while McFarlane continued as the artist. In order to concentrate on the 1994 Spawn/Batman crossover (with Miller writing), he brought on Grant Morrison (as writer) and Greg Capullo (penciller) from issues #16-#18. Then Andrew Grossberg and Tom Orzechowski took over writing issues #19 and 20 with Capullo still penciling. McFarlane returned as writer/artist for issue 21 and remained so until issue 24. Greg Capullo took over as pencil artist with issue 26, McFarlane remained writer and inker on the book until issue 70.

McFarlane eventually would hand off scripting duties (while still overseeing plotlines) to other writers, and the book continued to retain a respectable following. He has story input and inks covers on occasion.

In 2006 McFarlane announced plans for Spawn/Batman with artist Greg Capullo, which McFarlane wrote and inked, which paid tribute to Jack Kirby. He also began taking an active role in comics publishing again, publishing collections of his Spawn comics in paperback form. Spawn Collection Volume 1 collecting issues 1-12 minus issue 9 (due to royalty issues with Neil Gaiman) and 10 (due to a vow he made to Sim) was released in December 2005. The first volume achieved moderate success, ranking 17 in the top one hundred graphic novels, with pre-order sales of 3227 for that period.

Haunt, an ongoing series co-created by McFarlane and Robert Kirkman, was first announced in 2007, and launched October 7, 2009. The comic is written by Kirkman, penciled by Ryan Ottley, inked by McFarlane, with Greg Capullo providing layouts.
McFarlane Entertainment

Todd McFarlane Productions has also published multiple Spawn spin-off mini-series. McFarlane increasingly concentrated his own personal attention to those other ventures, which resulted in irregular work as an illustrator. By 1994, he ceased to be the regular illustrator of his own "signature" book, and would only re-visit Spawn sporadically, or as a promotional stunt for the title.

That same year, McFarlane created McFarlane Toys. Its line of meticulously sculpted Spawn action figures changed the entire industry by focusing on more mature consumers and non-traditional action figure inspirations such as musicians. The company has licensed the right to produce action figures of athletes in all four major North American sports — baseball, hockey, football and basketball — and several recent, successful film franchises, including The Terminator, The Matrix and Shrek. He has also created figures of rock musicians, including the members of Kiss, Alice Cooper, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix and toys related to video games, like Halo 3.

In 1996, McFarlane founded Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In collaboration with New Line Cinema, it produced the 1997 Spawn film and a new Spawn movie, planned in 2008. Spawn, while critically panned, was a modest box office success, earning $54.97 million domestically, a little over $69 million worldwide. It also produced the animated series Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, (featuring voice work by actor Keith David) which aired on HBO from 1997 until 1999. The animated series received significantly more positive press than the film, received two Primetime Emmy awards (including "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour))," and was a moderate success when eventually released on DVD.

The studio has produced acclaimed music videos for Pearl Jam's "Do the Evolution" (1998), KoЯn's "Freak on a Leash" (1999) and Disturbed's "Land of Confusion" (2006). They also produced an animated segment of the film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002). He also fully animated "The Guy", the mascot for Disturbed.
Sports

McFarlane is an avid baseball fan; he briefly tried to achieve a pro career in the sport as a young adult. McFarlane has bought, at auction, multiple balls from Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's 1998 race to establish a record for the greatest number of home runs hit in a single season. McFarlane owns Sosa's 33rd, 61st and 66th home run balls, and McGwire's first, 63rd, 67th, 68th, 69th and 70th. (McGwire's 61st was the ball which tied Roger Maris' then-record, while McGwire's 70th, bought by McFarlane at auction for US $3 million, set a new record at the time — broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds.) He later purchased Bonds' record breaking 73rd home run ball for $450,000.

As well as being a former part owner of the Edmonton Oilers, McFarlane also designed the logo used on the team's alternate (third) jerseys. This jersey has not been worn since 2007.

Recently, baseball pitcher Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox has teamed up with McFarlane, forming 38 Studios (formerly Green Monster Games), LLC. This gaming studio will feature McFarlane's art direction and will also feature R.A. Salvatore as creative director. The studio's focus will be massive multiplayer online games of which Schilling is an avid fan.
Other media

For the release of Halo 3, McFarlane was enlisted to design a series of action figures.

McFarlane also created the character Necrid for the console versions of the video game Soul Calibur II. Spawn appears as a playable character in the Xbox version of SCII.

A PlayStation 2 game, McFarlane's Evil Prophecy, was released in 2004 by Konami. In it, players battle creatures based on a line of Todd McFarlane's action figures including classic movie monsters such as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula.

In January 2005, McFarlane announced that he was set to produce a half-hour anthology television series for Fox called Twisted Tales, based on the Bruce Jones' comic book to which McFarlane had purchased the rights.

In December 2002, Todd McFarlane directed the music video "Breathe" for Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members that featured Nelly Furtado. He later drew both the Canadian and International covers for their next album Heavy, released October 2003.

Todd McFarlane is also the cartoonist responsible for the cover art of the albums Ten Thousand Fists, released in September 2005 and Indestructible, released June 2008 by metal band Disturbed, and the art in their single "Land of Confusion", as well as that of metal band Iced Earth's 1996 Spawn-based concept album The Dark Saga and Korn's third studio album Follow the Leader, which was released in 1998.

McFarlane is also doing artwork for the Lord of Vermilion game published by Square Enix.
Lawsuits

McFarlane lost judgments in two lawsuits in the 2000s. The first was a 2002 suit in which McFarlane contested with writer Neil Gaiman over the rights to some supporting Spawn characters created by Gaiman in issue #9 of the Spawn series and over payment for later works featuring those characters. In 1997 the two signed a deal in which Gaiman would give his share of characters Angela, Medieval Spawn and Cogliostro to McFarlane in exchange of McFarlane's share of British superhero Marvelman (in reality, what McFarlane actually owned were two trademarks for Miracleman logos, not the character, which would become clear only after the lawsuit concluded). However, this deal was broken by McFarlane, which motivated Neil Gaiman to start the lawsuit. The jury was unanimous in favor of Gaiman. The two were involved in a lengthy dispute over ownership of Miracleman, but no lawsuit has been filed in that dispute. In 2009, Marvel Comics brought resolution to the matter by purchasing the property.

The second was a December 2004 suit in which hockey player Tony Twist sued Todd McFarlane because he named a mobster character in Spawn after Twist.
Awards

McFarlane's work has won him numerous awards over the years, including:

    * a 1992 National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book.
    * a 1992 Inkpot Award
    * McFarlane received the National Football League's Artist of the Year award for 2005, for his work on program covers for the Baltimore Ravens.
    * On February 1, 2011, it was announced that McFarlane will be inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, on June 18, 2011 at the Joe Shuster Awards in Calgary.

Bibliography

Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:
DC

    * All-Star Squadron #47 (along with Mike Clark) (1985)
    * Detective Comics #576-578 (Batman: Year Two) (1987)
    * Infinity, Inc #14-37 (full art); Annual #1-2 (among other artists) (1985–87)
    * Invasion!, miniseries, #1-2 (1989)

Image

    * Cyberforce #8 (1994)
    * Image Comics Summer Special #1 (2004)
    * Spawn #1-15, 21-24 (full art); 26-33 (along with Greg Capullo) (1992–95)

200 (parcial art) (2010)

    * Spawn/Batman #1 (1994)

Marvel

    * The Amazing Spider-Man #298-323, 325, 328 (1988–90)
    * Coyote #11-14 (1985)
    * Daredevil #241 (1987)
    * G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #60 (1987)
    * G.I. Joe Special #1 (1995)
    * Incredible Hulk #330-334, 336-345 (1987–88)
    * Marvel Holiday Special (Spider-Man) 2004
    * Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #10 (1990)
    * Spider-Man #1-14, 16 (1990–91)
    * Spitfire And The Troubleshooters #4 (1987)
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/SICBOY7/todd_nhl.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/LusterSoulja/DA_mcfarlane_todd_bg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/17/11 at 5:53 am

The person of the day...Stephen Gately
Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 1976 – 10 October 2009) was an Irish pop singer–songwriter, actor, dancer, musician and author, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third and last being their most successful internationally. With Boyzone Gately had a record-breaking sixteen consecutive singles enter the top five of the UK Singles Chart. He performed for millions of fans globally. He released a solo album in 2000, after the group's initial breakup, which charted in the UK top ten and yielded three UK hit singles, including the top three hit "New Beginning". Gately went on to appear variously in stage productions and on television programmes as well as contributing songs to various projects. In 2008, he rejoined his colleagues as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings.

Gately wed Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006. Gately made his sexuality known in 1999 and came out in a blaze of publicity. He was the first ever boyband member to do so. Upon Boyzone's reformation, Gately featured as part of the first gay couple in a boyband's music video in what was to be his last music video with the band, for the song "Better". He was discovered dead at an apartment he owned with Cowles in Majorca, Spain on 10 October 2009. Brian Boyd in The Irish Times said "Stephen Gately’s death represents the first time that the boyband genre has had to deal with such a tragic situation". Tim Teeman of The Times (UK) heralded Gately as a hero of gay rights for his response to being "smoked out of the closet".
Gately joined Boyzone upon their formation in 1993. The group became known in Ireland after an infamous appearance on The Late Late Show that year, which presenter Gay Byrne dismissed—although he later concluded: "They certainly had the last laugh on us". Boyzone's first success outside Ireland was when the song "Love Me for a Reason" reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1995. The group split suddenly following a string of performances in Dublin's Point Theatre in 2000. By the time Boyzone originally rested the band, they had achieved six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. They were considered a major pop band of the 1990s and had a much publicised rivalry with UK boy band Take That, even selling more singles than them. Gately shared the majority of lead vocal work with Ronan Keating.

A February appearance at the 2008 Meteor Awards relaunched the reformed Boyzone, with touring taking place throughout 2008. After his death, manager Louis Walsh described Gately as "the glue in Boyzone, he kept them all together". Keating informed the congregation at Gately's funeral that he had nicknames for them all; "the campest straight band in the world"—Rosaleen, Michaela, Kitty, Shanice and Stephanie.
Solo career

After success with Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the first, with his debut solo single, "New Beginning", released on 29 May 2000. The single reached number three in the UK charts.

Two weeks later the album New Beginning was released and entered the charts. The album included twelve tracks including a version of the classic "Bright Eyes", which he recorded for the soundtrack to a new TV version of Watership Down. He also voiced one of the characters in the film, Blackavar, which was created to look like him.

The second single taken from the album was "I Believe". Released on 2 October 2000, this song also featured on the soundtrack to the film Billy Elliot. The single just missed the UK top ten, peaking at number eleven. He attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, along with the stars of the film, Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In May 2001, Stephen's third single, "Stay", was released and reached number thirteen in the UK chart. That month, with his single still in the charts, his record company Polydor dropped him from their label.

In January 2007, Gately was heard in Horror of Glam Rock, a Doctor Who audio drama produced by Big Finish Productions for BBC7. For this audio play, Gately recorded an original song, "Children of Tomorrow", with music by Tim Sutton and lyrics by Barnaby Edwards; this was his first solo track since 2001.
Boyzone's reformation

In 2008 following his solo career and various bouts of acting and television appearances, Gately rejoined his old colleagues when Boyzone reformed, following the success of revived contemporaries Take That. Gately had been the most eager to reform and urged his bandmates to come together again. They sold out two more tours of the United Kingdom.

Boyzone released a brand new single, "Love You Anyway", followed by a new compilation album in October 2008. December 2008 saw the release of a second new single, "Better". The video for the song generated controversy, as scenes depicting romantic couples included a shot of two men embracing, in an inclusive nod to Gately's homosexuality. The group unanimously agreed that Gately should be allowed to pair with a male actor. It was condemned by, among others, the minister of the Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church. Others, however, cite that milestone as among the reasons why Gately is a "gay rights hero". Wrote Tim Teeman of the Times Online, "Gately showed that an unflamboyant guy could be a pop star and gay...the real shame should be reserved for those managers and showbusiness power-brokers who practise that kind of discrimination, and also maintain the closet, to line their pockets."

At the time of Gately's death the group had selected thirty songs which they intended to record for a new album to be released in 2010. This was to have been followed by a tour.
Acting and television

In December 2002, Gately took the lead role in Bill Kenwright's new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which previewed in Oxford in December 2002 before moving to Liverpool over Christmas 2002 and finally to London's West End and the New London Theatre in Drury Lane in February 2003. From September 2004 until March 2005 Gately played the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.

In 2001 he made a cameo as himself in the fourth series of BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, in that series opening episode 'Parralox'.

Gately made his pantomime debut at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley in December 2005 starring as Dandini in Cinderella. In April 2006 he took on the role of The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.

Gately also took part in Channel Five's All Star Talent Show in October 2006, performing the slice and dice magic trick which he only had a week to learn, coming second to Toby Anstis. He was also in the second series of ITV's Dancing on Ice with his dancing partner Kristina Lenko. They went out in eighth place on 10 February 2007.

In March 2007, Gately provided his vocal talents to the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play, Horror of Glam Rock.

In September 2007, Gately began touring the UK in an 11-week run of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical Godspell, but withdrew from the production after just three weeks for contractual reasons.

In 2008, Gately appeared in the independent horror film, Credo which was released in the United States as Devil's Curse.
Philanthropy

Gately was a vice patron of the charity Missing People (formerly National Missing Persons Helpline), supporting their Runaway Helpline service for young people. He was an ambassador for the Caudwell Children Charity in Stoke and on one occasion gave a private Christmas performance, raising thousands of pounds. Gately's family requested that donations be given to the charity instead of flowers sent to them after his death in 2009. This in turn raised thousands more pounds. On one visit to a hospital he met a child who fell in love with his jacket—Gately allowed her to have it; she was dead within the hour.
Writing

During the three years prior to his death, Gately had been writing a children's fantasy novel called The Tree of Seasons. In an April 2009 interview with the Press Association he declared that he was nearly finished, had publisher interest, and hoped for a Christmas 2009 release. Boyzone bandmate Ronan Keating promised at Gately's funeral that "by hook or by crook" the book would be finished.

The Tree of Seasons was written in collaboration with June Considine and Jules Williams. Based on Gately's handwritten notes - the day he died he had just worked out the ending. The book released in the UK and Ireland on 13 May 2010, published by Hodder & Stoughton. It contains a foreword by Elton John and David Furnish, and is illustrated by Keith Wilson. The Tree Of Seasons remained a best seller and a top ten seller for three consecutive weeks. The Paperback version will be released in April 2011
Personal life

Gately split from his first boyfriend, Stephen Howard, in 1993. Howard became a heroin addict and in 1995 committed suicide by hanging. That year, in Boyzone's Own Story Gately chose two female pop stars as his love interests "because they're both really sexy". In late 1997, Gately would appear on the front cover of Smash Hits magazine, an issue which featured an interview where he spoke of his supposed desire to kiss members of UK girl group Eternal.

On 16 June 1999, The Sun newspaper covered its front page with what it described as a "World Exclusive" and the headline, "Boyzone Stephen: I'm gay and I'm in love". At the age of 23, Gately sold his story to the newspaper because he feared a former member of Boyzone's security was about to sell the story. The Sun had two further pages on the story as well as an editorial. Gately also revealed that in 1998 he had started a relationship with the then 27 year-old Eloy de Jong, who had been in the Dutch boy band Caught in the Act. They had first met in 1995.

From 2000 to 2002, Gately suffered from depression and addiction to prescription drugs.

Gately and de Jong split up in January 2002; Gately subsequently moved back to Dublin. After remaining single for a while, Gately started dating Andrew Cowles, an internet businessman, who had been introduced to him by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish. Gately and Cowles held a commitment ceremony in a wedding chapel whilst on holiday in Las Vegas in 2003. On 19 March 2006, Gately entered into a civil partnership with Cowles in a ceremony in London. The couple lived together in the North London village of Highgate Gately spoke of his love for the village, saying he "wouldn't move away for the world. It has a great vibe and the people here are brilliant". In July 2009, their home was broken into by thieves who took £80,000 of items, including a prized Rolex watch which Gately had purchased with his first pay check. Gately was based in London until his death.

His manager Louis Walsh was unaware of Gately's sexuality when he selected him for Boyzone and has said that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him, claiming less than a year before his death that "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band". Walsh described Gately as his "very, very best friend" after the singer's death, saying: "Of all the people I've worked with I don't think anybody thanked me as much as Stephen. He used to always say to me, 'If I wasn't in Boyzone I don't know where I'd be today, thank you'".
Death
Wikinews has related news: Boyzone member Stephen Gately dies at age 33

Gately died suddenly at his apartment in Port d'Andratx, Majorca, early on 10 October 2009. His body was discovered later in the morning. His death was later determined to have been caused by a pulmonary oedema resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition.

Gately had spent the evening with his partner Cowles at the Black Cat club in Majorca's capital Palma. They returned home with a friend that they had made that night, Bulgarian Georgi Dochev. Dochev stayed in the spare bedroom. According to Dochev, he discovered Gately's body lying on a sofa as he was about to leave. He woke Cowles, who was sleeping alone in the couple's bedroom. However, Gately's solicitor and family friend, Gerald Kean, insisted Cowles was the one who found Gately's body. Spanish police were alerted at 1:45 pm by Cowles, after he had tried to revive Gately. Gately was squatting in an awkward way on the sofa, dressed in his pyjamas. Police said they had no reason to believe the death was related to abuse of substances such as drugs or alcohol and no suicide note or signs of violence were located on the corpse. Gerald Kean, acting as spokesman for the Gately family, said that foul play and suicide had been ruled out, describing it as "just a tragic accident". It was Kean, Gately's solicitor throughout his career, who informed the four remaining band members that Gately had died.

Gately's bandmates flew to Majorca on 11 October 2009; Walsh was expected to join them soon after. The surviving members of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch, issued a joint statement:

    We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'.

Wikinews has related news: Post-mortem examination reveals Stephen Gately "died of natural causes"

A post-mortem and toxicology tests took place on 13 October and this examination showed that Gately died of natural causes. He died as a result of a congenital heart defect. Toxicology also confirmed the statement by Gately's partner Cowles that he had been smoking cannabis that evening.

On 16 October, accompanied by the four surviving members of Boyzone, his body was brought from Majorca to Dublin where his funeral took place at the Church of St Laurence O'Toole the following day. The four surviving members of Boyzone maintained an overnight vigil in the church the night before. Thousands of fans, celebrities and politicians were in attendance at the funeral. Fans had travelled from as far as Nottingham, South Africa and Taiwan to attend the funeral. He was cremated in a private ceremony later that afternoon. Gately's coffin was carried into and out of the church by his bandmates, and during the service Ronan Keating gave an emotional eulogy, during which he broke down several times and apologised to the congregation. Keith Duffy reminisced on the early days: "He told Louis he was 5ft 7in. When he auditioned for The Hobbit later on, he said he was 5ft 3in. But he was a true giant of a man". Mikey Graham said Gately had only told him the previous week how much he loved Cowles, adding: "When he came out, he finally became himself". The funeral clashed with the wedding of a niece of Bertie Ahern and several of her guests defected to the funeral instead.
See also: Boyzone discography
Albums

    * New Beginning (2000, Universal Music)

Singles
Year↓ Title↓ UK chart position(s)↓
2000 "New Beginning"/"Bright Eyes" 3
2000 "I Believe" 11
2001 "Stay" 13
2007 "Children Of Tomorrow" -
Other songs
Year↓ Title↓ Notes↓
1999 "Chiquitita" From the ABBAmania Compilation Album
See also: Boyzone discography
Albums

    * New Beginning (2000, Universal Music)

Singles
Year↓ Title↓ UK chart position(s)↓
2000 "New Beginning"/"Bright Eyes" 3
2000 "I Believe" 11
2001 "Stay" 13
2007 "Children Of Tomorrow" -
Other songs
Year↓ Title↓ Notes↓
1999 "Chiquitita" From the ABBAmania Compilation Album
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff300/dogluver_photos/stephengately.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/JBosch27/Stephen%20Gately/StephenGately6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/17/11 at 4:07 pm


The person of the day...Stephen Gately
Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 1976 – 10 October 2009) was an Irish pop singer–songwriter, actor, dancer, musician and author, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third and last being their most successful internationally. With Boyzone Gately had a record-breaking sixteen consecutive singles enter the top five of the UK Singles Chart. He performed for millions of fans globally. He released a solo album in 2000, after the group's initial breakup, which charted in the UK top ten and yielded three UK hit singles, including the top three hit "New Beginning". Gately went on to appear variously in stage productions and on television programmes as well as contributing songs to various projects. In 2008, he rejoined his colleagues as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings.

Gately wed Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006. Gately made his sexuality known in 1999 and came out in a blaze of publicity. He was the first ever boyband member to do so. Upon Boyzone's reformation, Gately featured as part of the first gay couple in a boyband's music video in what was to be his last music video with the band, for the song "Better". He was discovered dead at an apartment he owned with Cowles in Majorca, Spain on 10 October 2009. Brian Boyd in The Irish Times said "Stephen Gately’s death represents the first time that the boyband genre has had to deal with such a tragic situation". Tim Teeman of The Times (UK) heralded Gately as a hero of gay rights for his response to being "smoked out of the closet".
Gately joined Boyzone upon their formation in 1993. The group became known in Ireland after an infamous appearance on The Late Late Show that year, which presenter Gay Byrne dismissed—although he later concluded: "They certainly had the last laugh on us". Boyzone's first success outside Ireland was when the song "Love Me for a Reason" reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1995. The group split suddenly following a string of performances in Dublin's Point Theatre in 2000. By the time Boyzone originally rested the band, they had achieved six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. They were considered a major pop band of the 1990s and had a much publicised rivalry with UK boy band Take That, even selling more singles than them. Gately shared the majority of lead vocal work with Ronan Keating.

A February appearance at the 2008 Meteor Awards relaunched the reformed Boyzone, with touring taking place throughout 2008. After his death, manager Louis Walsh described Gately as "the glue in Boyzone, he kept them all together". Keating informed the congregation at Gately's funeral that he had nicknames for them all; "the campest straight band in the world"—Rosaleen, Michaela, Kitty, Shanice and Stephanie.
Solo career

After success with Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the first, with his debut solo single, "New Beginning", released on 29 May 2000. The single reached number three in the UK charts.

Two weeks later the album New Beginning was released and entered the charts. The album included twelve tracks including a version of the classic "Bright Eyes", which he recorded for the soundtrack to a new TV version of Watership Down. He also voiced one of the characters in the film, Blackavar, which was created to look like him.

The second single taken from the album was "I Believe". Released on 2 October 2000, this song also featured on the soundtrack to the film Billy Elliot. The single just missed the UK top ten, peaking at number eleven. He attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, along with the stars of the film, Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In May 2001, Stephen's third single, "Stay", was released and reached number thirteen in the UK chart. That month, with his single still in the charts, his record company Polydor dropped him from their label.

In January 2007, Gately was heard in Horror of Glam Rock, a Doctor Who audio drama produced by Big Finish Productions for BBC7. For this audio play, Gately recorded an original song, "Children of Tomorrow", with music by Tim Sutton and lyrics by Barnaby Edwards; this was his first solo track since 2001.
Boyzone's reformation

In 2008 following his solo career and various bouts of acting and television appearances, Gately rejoined his old colleagues when Boyzone reformed, following the success of revived contemporaries Take That. Gately had been the most eager to reform and urged his bandmates to come together again. They sold out two more tours of the United Kingdom.

Boyzone released a brand new single, "Love You Anyway", followed by a new compilation album in October 2008. December 2008 saw the release of a second new single, "Better". The video for the song generated controversy, as scenes depicting romantic couples included a shot of two men embracing, in an inclusive nod to Gately's homosexuality. The group unanimously agreed that Gately should be allowed to pair with a male actor. It was condemned by, among others, the minister of the Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church. Others, however, cite that milestone as among the reasons why Gately is a "gay rights hero". Wrote Tim Teeman of the Times Online, "Gately showed that an unflamboyant guy could be a pop star and gay...the real shame should be reserved for those managers and showbusiness power-brokers who practise that kind of discrimination, and also maintain the closet, to line their pockets."

At the time of Gately's death the group had selected thirty songs which they intended to record for a new album to be released in 2010. This was to have been followed by a tour.
Acting and television

In December 2002, Gately took the lead role in Bill Kenwright's new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which previewed in Oxford in December 2002 before moving to Liverpool over Christmas 2002 and finally to London's West End and the New London Theatre in Drury Lane in February 2003. From September 2004 until March 2005 Gately played the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.

In 2001 he made a cameo as himself in the fourth series of BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, in that series opening episode 'Parralox'.

Gately made his pantomime debut at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley in December 2005 starring as Dandini in Cinderella. In April 2006 he took on the role of The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.

Gately also took part in Channel Five's All Star Talent Show in October 2006, performing the slice and dice magic trick which he only had a week to learn, coming second to Toby Anstis. He was also in the second series of ITV's Dancing on Ice with his dancing partner Kristina Lenko. They went out in eighth place on 10 February 2007.

In March 2007, Gately provided his vocal talents to the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play, Horror of Glam Rock.

In September 2007, Gately began touring the UK in an 11-week run of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical Godspell, but withdrew from the production after just three weeks for contractual reasons.

In 2008, Gately appeared in the independent horror film, Credo which was released in the United States as Devil's Curse.
Philanthropy

Gately was a vice patron of the charity Missing People (formerly National Missing Persons Helpline), supporting their Runaway Helpline service for young people. He was an ambassador for the Caudwell Children Charity in Stoke and on one occasion gave a private Christmas performance, raising thousands of pounds. Gately's family requested that donations be given to the charity instead of flowers sent to them after his death in 2009. This in turn raised thousands more pounds. On one visit to a hospital he met a child who fell in love with his jacket—Gately allowed her to have it; she was dead within the hour.
Writing

During the three years prior to his death, Gately had been writing a children's fantasy novel called The Tree of Seasons. In an April 2009 interview with the Press Association he declared that he was nearly finished, had publisher interest, and hoped for a Christmas 2009 release. Boyzone bandmate Ronan Keating promised at Gately's funeral that "by hook or by crook" the book would be finished.

The Tree of Seasons was written in collaboration with June Considine and Jules Williams. Based on Gately's handwritten notes - the day he died he had just worked out the ending. The book released in the UK and Ireland on 13 May 2010, published by Hodder & Stoughton. It contains a foreword by Elton John and David Furnish, and is illustrated by Keith Wilson. The Tree Of Seasons remained a best seller and a top ten seller for three consecutive weeks. The Paperback version will be released in April 2011
Personal life

Gately split from his first boyfriend, Stephen Howard, in 1993. Howard became a heroin addict and in 1995 committed suicide by hanging. That year, in Boyzone's Own Story Gately chose two female pop stars as his love interests "because they're both really sexy". In late 1997, Gately would appear on the front cover of Smash Hits magazine, an issue which featured an interview where he spoke of his supposed desire to kiss members of UK girl group Eternal.

On 16 June 1999, The Sun newspaper covered its front page with what it described as a "World Exclusive" and the headline, "Boyzone Stephen: I'm gay and I'm in love". At the age of 23, Gately sold his story to the newspaper because he feared a former member of Boyzone's security was about to sell the story. The Sun had two further pages on the story as well as an editorial. Gately also revealed that in 1998 he had started a relationship with the then 27 year-old Eloy de Jong, who had been in the Dutch boy band Caught in the Act. They had first met in 1995.

From 2000 to 2002, Gately suffered from depression and addiction to prescription drugs.

Gately and de Jong split up in January 2002; Gately subsequently moved back to Dublin. After remaining single for a while, Gately started dating Andrew Cowles, an internet businessman, who had been introduced to him by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish. Gately and Cowles held a commitment ceremony in a wedding chapel whilst on holiday in Las Vegas in 2003. On 19 March 2006, Gately entered into a civil partnership with Cowles in a ceremony in London. The couple lived together in the North London village of Highgate Gately spoke of his love for the village, saying he "wouldn't move away for the world. It has a great vibe and the people here are brilliant". In July 2009, their home was broken into by thieves who took £80,000 of items, including a prized Rolex watch which Gately had purchased with his first pay check. Gately was based in London until his death.

His manager Louis Walsh was unaware of Gately's sexuality when he selected him for Boyzone and has said that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him, claiming less than a year before his death that "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band". Walsh described Gately as his "very, very best friend" after the singer's death, saying: "Of all the people I've worked with I don't think anybody thanked me as much as Stephen. He used to always say to me, 'If I wasn't in Boyzone I don't know where I'd be today, thank you'".
Death
Wikinews has related news: Boyzone member Stephen Gately dies at age 33

Gately died suddenly at his apartment in Port d'Andratx, Majorca, early on 10 October 2009. His body was discovered later in the morning. His death was later determined to have been caused by a pulmonary oedema resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition.

Gately had spent the evening with his partner Cowles at the Black Cat club in Majorca's capital Palma. They returned home with a friend that they had made that night, Bulgarian Georgi Dochev. Dochev stayed in the spare bedroom. According to Dochev, he discovered Gately's body lying on a sofa as he was about to leave. He woke Cowles, who was sleeping alone in the couple's bedroom. However, Gately's solicitor and family friend, Gerald Kean, insisted Cowles was the one who found Gately's body. Spanish police were alerted at 1:45 pm by Cowles, after he had tried to revive Gately. Gately was squatting in an awkward way on the sofa, dressed in his pyjamas. Police said they had no reason to believe the death was related to abuse of substances such as drugs or alcohol and no suicide note or signs of violence were located on the corpse. Gerald Kean, acting as spokesman for the Gately family, said that foul play and suicide had been ruled out, describing it as "just a tragic accident". It was Kean, Gately's solicitor throughout his career, who informed the four remaining band members that Gately had died.

Gately's bandmates flew to Majorca on 11 October 2009; Walsh was expected to join them soon after. The surviving members of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch, issued a joint statement:

    We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'.

Wikinews has related news: Post-mortem examination reveals Stephen Gately "died of natural causes"

A post-mortem and toxicology tests took place on 13 October and this examination showed that Gately died of natural causes. He died as a result of a congenital heart defect. Toxicology also confirmed the statement by Gately's partner Cowles that he had been smoking cannabis that evening.

On 16 October, accompanied by the four surviving members of Boyzone, his body was brought from Majorca to Dublin where his funeral took place at the Church of St Laurence O'Toole the following day. The four surviving members of Boyzone maintained an overnight vigil in the church the night before. Thousands of fans, celebrities and politicians were in attendance at the funeral. Fans had travelled from as far as Nottingham, South Africa and Taiwan to attend the funeral. He was cremated in a private ceremony later that afternoon. Gately's coffin was carried into and out of the church by his bandmates, and during the service Ronan Keating gave an emotional eulogy, during which he broke down several times and apologised to the congregation. Keith Duffy reminisced on the early days: "He told Louis he was 5ft 7in. When he auditioned for The Hobbit later on, he said he was 5ft 3in. But he was a true giant of a man". Mikey Graham said Gately had only told him the previous week how much he loved Cowles, adding: "When he came out, he finally became himself". The funeral clashed with the wedding of a niece of Bertie Ahern and several of her guests defected to the funeral instead.
See also: Boyzone discography
Albums

    * New Beginning (2000, Universal Music)

Singles
Year↓ Title↓ UK chart position(s)↓
2000 "New Beginning"/"Bright Eyes" 3
2000 "I Believe" 11
2001 "Stay" 13
2007 "Children Of Tomorrow" -
Other songs
Year↓ Title↓ Notes↓
1999 "Chiquitita" From the ABBAmania Compilation Album
See also: Boyzone discography
Albums

    * New Beginning (2000, Universal Music)

Singles
Year↓ Title↓ UK chart position(s)↓
2000 "New Beginning"/"Bright Eyes" 3
2000 "I Believe" 11
2001 "Stay" 13
2007 "Children Of Tomorrow" -
Other songs
Year↓ Title↓ Notes↓
1999 "Chiquitita" From the ABBAmania Compilation Album
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff300/dogluver_photos/stephengately.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/JBosch27/Stephen%20Gately/StephenGately6.jpg
A sad loss to the pop music industry.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/11 at 6:15 am

The person of the day..Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American pop/R&B recording artist and actress. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal caused her to relinquish her title early. Williams rebounded by launching a career as an entertainer, earning Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award nominations.
Williams competed in the Miss Syracuse (University) beauty pageant when a campus musical she was in was canceled in 1983. After winning the Miss Syracuse title, Williams won the Miss New York crown in 1983, and went to compete for the Miss America title at the national pageant in Atlantic City. Prior to the final night of competition, Williams won both Preliminary competitions - Talent and Swimsuit - earlier in the week (note: each day's Preliminary competitions have winners announced; therefore there can be as many as six "Prelim" winners; three each for Talent and Swimsuit. To win a "prelim" in both is a strong precursor to success in the finals.) She was crowned Miss America 1984 on September 17, 1983, becoming the first African American to win the title.

Williams' reign as Miss America was not without its challenges and controversies. For the first time in pageant history, a reigning Miss America was the target of death threats and hate mail.

Ten months into her reign as Miss America, she received an anonymous phone call stating that nude photos of her taken before her pageant days had surfaced. Williams believed the photographs were private and had been destroyed; she claims she never signed a release permitting the photos to be used.

The genesis of the photos dated back to 1982, when she worked as an assistant and makeup artist for Mount Kisco, New York photographer Tom Chiapel. According to Williams, Chiapel advised her that he wanted to try a "new concept of silhouettes with two models". He photographed Williams and another woman in several nude poses, including simulated lesbian sex.

Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, was initially offered the photos, but turned them down. Later, Hefner would explain why in People Weekly, "Vanessa Williams is a beautiful woman. There was never any question of our interest in the photos. But they clearly weren't authorized and because they would be the source of considerable embarrassment to her, we decided not to publish them. We were also mindful that she was the first black Miss America." Days later, Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse, announced that his magazine would publish the photos in their September 1984 issue, and paid Chiapel for the rights to them without Williams' consent. According to the PBS documentary Miss America, Williams' issue of Penthouse would ultimately bring Guccione a $14 million windfall.

After days of media frenzy and sponsors threatening to pull out of the upcoming 1985 pageant, Williams felt pressured by Miss America Pageant officials to resign, and did so in a press conference on July 23, 1984. The title subsequently went to the first runner-up, Suzette Charles, also an African American. In early September 1984, Williams filed a $500 million lawsuit against Chiapel and Guccione.

Although she resigned from fulfilling the duties of a current Miss America, Williams was allowed to keep the bejeweled crown and scholarship money and is officially recognized by the Miss America Organization as "Miss America 1984"; Charles is recognized as "Miss America 1984b".
Music career
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Williams released her debut album, The Right Stuff in 1988. The first single, "The Right Stuff", found success on the R&B chart, while the second single "He's Got the Look" found similar success on the same chart. The third single, "Dreamin'", was a pop hit, becoming Williams' first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #8, and her first number one single on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album reached gold status in the U.S. and earned her three Grammy Award nominations, including one for Best New Artist.

Her second album The Comfort Zone became the biggest success in her music career. The lead single "Running Back to You" reached top twenty on the Hot 100, and the top position of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on October 5, 1991. Other singles included "The Comfort Zone" (#2 R&B), "Just for Tonight" (#26 Pop), a cover of The Isley Brothers' "Work to Do" (#3 R&B), and the club-only hit "Freedom Dance (Get Free!)." The most successful single from the album, as well as her biggest hit to date, is "Save the Best for Last". It reached #1 in the United States, where it remained for five weeks, as well as #1 in Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada, and was in the top 5 in Japan, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The album sold 2.2 million copies in the U.S. at its time of release and has since been certified triple platinum in the United States by the RIAA, gold in Canada by the CRIA, and platinum in the United Kingdom by the BPI. The Comfort Zone earned Williams five Grammy Award nominations.

The Sweetest Days, her third album, was released in 1994 to highly-favorable reviews. The album saw Williams branch out and sample other styles of music that included jazz, hip hop, rock, and Latin-themed recordings such as "Betcha Never" and "You Can't Run", both written and produced by Babyface. Other singles from the album included the adult-contemporary and dance hit "The Way That You Love" and the title track "The Sweetest Days". The album was certified platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA and earned her two Grammy Award nominations.

Other releases include two Christmas albums, Star Bright, released in 1996, and Silver & Gold in 2004; Next in 1997, and Everlasting Love in 2005, along with a greatest-hits compilation released in 1998, and a host of other compilations released over the years.

Notable chart performances from subsequent albums, motion picture and television soundtracks have included the songs "Love Is", which was a duet with Brian McKnight, the Golden Globe- and Academy Award-winning "Colors of the Wind", "Where Do We Go from Here?", and "Oh How the Years Go By". In total, Williams has sold more than six million records and has received 15 Grammy Award nominations.

In May 2009 she performed two concerts at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to sold out crowds.

On June 2, 2009, she released her 8th studio album on Concord Records titled The Real Thing. It features songs written and/or produced by Babyface, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Bebel Gilberto, and Rex Rideout. The album is "a hybrid of samba, bossa nova, some salsa and also some pop and R&B", stated Williams.

Williams confirmed on September 26, 2009 that she would begin recording her ninth studio album in January 2010, and she also stated that it is due for a early spring/early summer, 2011 release.
Acting career
Theatrical roles

Williams parlayed her ascendant music career into a theatrical role when she was cast in the Broadway production of Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994. She was also featured in the Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award nominated performance as the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods in a revival of the show in 2002, which included songs revised for her.

Other notable theatrical roles include her performances in Carmen Jones at the Kennedy Center, the off-Broadway productions of One Man Band and Checkmates, and the New York City Center's Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert, St. Louis Woman.

In 2010, Williams starred in a new Broadway musical revue along with Barbara Cook, Tom Wopat and Leslie Kritzer entitled, Sondheim on Sondheim, a look at Stephen Sondheim through his music, film and videotaped interviews. Directed by James Lapine, Sondheim ran from March 19 to June 13 at Studio 54 in New York City.
Feature film roles

Williams has appeared in several feature films. Her most prominent role was in the 1997 film Soul Food, for which she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. Williams appeared in the 1991 cult classic film Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. She also co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Eraser and opposite Chayanne in Dance with Me.

In 2007, Williams returned to the big screen starring in two independent motion pictures. The first being My Brother, for which she won Best Actress honors at the Harlem International Film Festival, the African-American Women in Cinema Film Festival and at the Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Festival, and the second being And Then Came Love. In 2009, she starred alongside Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie.
Television

Williams' first television appearance was on a 1984 episode of The Love Boat, playing herself. She subsequently made guest appearances on a number of shows, including T.J. Hooker, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, LateLine, MADtv, Ally McBeal and Boomtown.

Her appearances in television movies and miniseries include Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer and The Jacksons: An American Dream as Suzanne de Passe. In 1995, Williams starred as Rose Alvares in a television version of Bye Bye Birdie, a Broadway musical from the 1950s. She played the nymph Calypso in the 1997 Hallmark Entertainment miniseries The Odyssey, starring Armand Assante. She appeared as Ebony Scrooge the Ebenezer Scrooge character in an update of Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol called A Diva's Christmas Carol. In 2001, Williams starred in the Lifetime cable movie about the life of Henriette DeLille, The Courage to Love. In 2003, Williams read the narrative of Tempie Herndon Durham from the WPA slave narratives in the HBO documentary Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives. In early 2006 she starred in the short lived UPN drama South Beach.

In 2007, Williams received considerable media attention for her comic/villainess role as former model/magazine creative director turned editor-in-chief Wilhelmina Slater in the ABC comedy series Ugly Betty. Her performance on the series resulted in a nomination for outstanding supporting actress at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. She also provides the voice for the main character in the PBS Kids version of Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies. In 2008 and 2009, she was again nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Ugly Betty.
A designer works on his creation for "The Heart Truth's" Red Dress Collection 2004 (Williams modelled the dress).

Williams joined the cast of Desperate Housewives for the seventh season. Williams portrays Renee Perry, an old college friend/rival of Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), as the new vixen on Wisteria Lane, moving into the late Edie Britt's old house.
1987 The Pick-Up Artist Rae, Girl with Dog
1988 Under the Gun Samantha Richards
1991 Another You Gloria Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor's final film pairing.
1991 Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man Lulu Daniels
1996 Eraser Dr. Lee Cullen Nominated for Blockbuster Entertainment Award
1997 Hoodlum Francine Hughes
1997 Soul Food Teri Won Image Award, Nominated for American Black Film Festival Black Film Award
1998 Dance with Me Ruby Sinclair Nominated for ALMA Award, also starring Chayanne as Rafael Infante
1999 The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland Queen of Trash
1999 Light It Up Detective Audrey McDonald Nominated for Image Award
2000 Shaft Carmen Vasquez Nominated for Image Award
2004 Johnson Family Vacation Dorothy Johnson Nominated for BET Award for Comedy
2007 My Brother L'Tisha Morton Won Best Actress honors at the Harlem International Film Festival, the African-American Women in Cinema Film Festival and at the Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Festival
2007 And Then Came Love Julie Davidson Co-star Eartha Kitt's final film
2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie Vita (Hannah's Agent)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1989 Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal Valantine
1990 The Kid Who Loved Christmas Lynette
1990 Perry Mason and The Case of the Silenced Singer Terri Knight
1992 The Jacksons - An American Dream Suzanne de Passe
1992 Stompin´ at the Savoy Pauline
1995 Nothing Lasts Forever Kat Hunter
1995 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child - Beauty and the Beast Animated; Voice
1995 Bye Bye Birdie Rose Alvarez
1997 The Odyssey Calypso
1998 FutureSport Alex Torres
2000 The Courage To Love Henriette Delille
2000 Don Quixote Dulcinea/Aldonza
2000 A Diva´s Christmas Carol Ebony Scrooge
2001 WW3 M.J. Blake
2001 Santa Baby Alicia Animated; Voice
2002 Keep the Faith, Baby Hazel Scott
2003 Unchained Memories Reader
2004 Beck and Call Zoe
2006 South Beach Elizabeth Bauer One Season
2006–2010 Ugly Betty Wilhelmina Slater Main character
Since 2007 Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies Mama Animated; Voice
Since 2010 Desperate Housewives Renée Perry Season 7
Guest appearances
Year Title
1984 Love Boat
1984 Partners in Crime
1986 T.J. Hooker
1992 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
1996 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
1999 LateLine
1999 L.A. Doctors
2002 Ally McBeal
2003 Boomtown
2011 RuPaul's Drag Race
Plays and musicals
Year Title
1985 One Man Band
1989 Checkmates
1994–1995 Kiss of the Spider Woman
1998 St. Louis Woman
2000 A Diva's Christmas Carol
2002 Carmen Jones
2002 Into the Woods
2010 Sondheim on Sondheim
Host
Year Title
1994 The Essence Awards
1994 Carnegie Hall Salutes the Jazz Masters: Verve Records at 50
1998 29th NAACP Image Awards
2002 It's Black Entertainment
2008 The 6th Annual TV Land Awards
2009 The 36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards
2009 Dreams Come True: A Celebration of Disney Animation
Awards and accolades
Grammy Awards history
Year Category Track/album Result
1989 Best New Artist "The Right Stuff" Nominated
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "The Right Stuff" Nominated
1990 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "Dreamin'" Nominated
1992 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "Runnin' Back to You" Nominated
1993 Record of the Year "Save the Best for Last" Nominated
Song of the Year "Save the Best for Last" Nominated
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance "Save the Best for Last" Nominated
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "The Comfort Zone" Nominated
Best Group Pop Vocal Performance "Love Is" Nominated
1995 Best Female Pop Vocal Performance "Colors Of The Wind" Nominated
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance "The Way That You Love" Nominated
Best R&B Song "You Can't Run" Nominated
Best Musical Show Album "Kiss Of The Spider Woman" Nominated - as part of cast
1996 Best Song written for a Motion Picture "Colors Of The Wind" Winner - awarded to the writers of the song
1997 Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album "Star Bright" Nominated
2002 Best Musical Show Album "Into The Woods" Nominated - as part of cast
2010 Best Musical Show Album "Sondheim on Sondheim" Nominated - as part of cast
Other awards/nominations
Year Award body Category Awarded for Result
1983 Miss America N/A N/A Winner
1989 NAACP Image Award Outstanding New Artist "The Right Stuff" Winner
1993 American Music Award Favorite Female Artist - Pop / Rock "The Comfort Zone" Nominated
Favorite Female Artist - Soul / R&B "The Comfort Zone" Nominated
Favorite Album - Adult Contemporary "The Comfort Zone" Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Female Video "Save the Best for Last" Nominated
Best Cinematography "Runnin' Back To You" Nominated
Billboard Music Award No. 1 Adult Contemporary Single "Love Is" Winner
Playboy Magazine Best Female R&B Vocalist. "The Comfort Zone" Winner
1994 Theatre World Award Best Debut Performance "Kiss Of The Spider Woman" Winner
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Female Artist "The Sweetest Days" Winner
Soul Train Music Award Best R&B Single by Group, Band or Duo "Love Is" Nominated
1995 Academy Award Best Original Song "Colors Of The Wind" Winner (Awarded to Writers)
1996 Soul Train Music Award "Lady of Soul" Award Career Achievement Winner
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Female Artist "Where Do We Go From Here" Nominated
Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Actress - Action Eraser Nominated
Lena Horne award For Outstanding Artistic Contribution

to the Entertainment
Winner
1997 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Soul Food Winner
Outstanding Album "Next" Nominated
Outstanding Actress in Mini-Series The Odyssey Nominated
Online Television Academy Awards Best Guest Actress - Syndicated Series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Nominated
Black Film Awards Best Actress - Motion Picture Soul Food Nominated
1999 ALMA Award Best Song from A Movie "You Are My Home" Nominated
2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Actress - Action Shaft Nominated
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Light It Up Nominated
2001 Shaft Nominated
Drama League Award Most Distinguished Performance Into the Woods Nominated
2002 Satellite Awards Best Actress - Miniseries or Movie Keep the Faith, Baby Winner
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Actress in Mini-Series Nominated
Black Reel Awards Best Actress Nominated
Tony Award Best Performance By a Leading Actress In a Musical Into The Woods Nominated
2004 BET Comedy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Box Office Movie Johnson Family Vacation Nominated
2006 Satellite Awards Best Supporting Actress in a Series Ugly Betty Nominated
2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Performance - Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Winner
Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Villain Winner
Hollywood Walk of Fame Recording Career Achievement Awarded
2008 Human Rights Campaign "Ally For Equality" Award Humanitarian Work Awarded
Jacobi Children's Arts Award "Humanitarian/Charitable" Awarded
Satellite Awards Best Supporting Actress in a Series Ugly Betty Winner
Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Performance - Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated
Best Performance - Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
NAACP Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Winner
Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Villain Nominated
Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
2009 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies Nominated
Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Ugly Betty Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Supporting Actress in a Series Nominated
2010 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated
Outstanding Jazz Album The Real Thing Nominated
Mary Pickford Award For Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry Winner
2011 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Desperate Housewives Winner
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/ishengenizou/Celebrities%20Looking%20Radiant/73139305.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/nullasalus/other%20hot%20women/c.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/18/11 at 6:56 am

I'd like to post pictures of the Playboy pictures from 1984 so I won't but here is an older picture of her.  ;)

http://www.blackknightassociation.com/Images/Vanessa%20Williams%20individual%20picture.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/18/11 at 10:24 am


I'd like to post pictures of the Playboy pictures from 1984 so I won't but here is an older picture of her.  ;)

http://www.blackknightassociation.com/Images/Vanessa%20Williams%20individual%20picture.jpg

Thanks for sparing us Howie :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/18/11 at 12:56 pm


I'd like to post pictures of the Playboy pictures from 1984 so I won't but here is an older picture of her.  ;)

http://www.blackknightassociation.com/Images/Vanessa%20Williams%20individual%20picture.jpg
Now we know!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/18/11 at 1:23 pm

She is so beautiful.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/18/11 at 7:52 pm


Thanks for sparing us Howie :D


You're quite welcome.  ::) ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/18/11 at 7:53 pm

Would she have stayed Miss America if the scandal hadn't happened? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/19/11 at 5:02 am


Would she have stayed Miss America if the scandal hadn't happened? ???

I believe so.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/19/11 at 5:03 am


Would she have stayed Miss America if the scandal hadn't happened? ???
What scandal was this?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/19/11 at 5:06 am

The person of the day...Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955), better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles. He is well known for the role of John McClane in the Die Hard series, which were mostly critical and uniformly financial successes. He has also appeared in over sixty films, including box office successes like Pulp Fiction, Sin City, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, and The Sixth Sense.

Motion pictures featuring Willis have grossed US$2.64 billion to 3.05 billion at North American box offices, making him the ninth highest-grossing actor in a leading role and twelfth highest including supporting roles. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winning, Golden Globe Award-winning and four-time Saturn Award-nominated actor. Willis was married to actress Demi Moore and they had three daughters before their divorce in 2000 after thirteen years of marriage.
Willis left New York City and headed to California to audition for several television shows. In 1984, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Miami Vice, titled "No Exit." He auditioned for the role of David Addison Jr. of the television series Moonlighting (1985–89), while competing against 3,000 other actors for the position. The starring role, opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped to establish him as a comedic actor, with the show lasting five seasons. During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products. The advertising campaign paid the rising star between $5–7 million over two years. In spite of that, Willis chose not to renew his contract with the company when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988.

One of his first major film roles was in the 1987 Blake Edwards film Blind Date with Kim Basinger and John Larroquette. Edwards would cast him again to play the real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in Sunset. However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the film Die Hard that catapulted him to movie star status. He performed most of his own stunts in the film, and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide. Following his success with Die Hard, he had a supporting role in the drama In Country as Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith and also provided the voice for a talking baby in Look Who's Talking, as well as its sequel Look Who's Talking Too.
1980s and 1990s

In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues titled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself", promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis has returned to the recording studio several times.

Willis acquired major personal success and pop culture influence playing John McClane in 1988's Die Hard. This film was followed up by Die Hard 2: Die Harder in 1990 and Die Hard With a Vengeance in 1995. These first three installments in the Die Hard series grossed over US$700 million internationally and propelled Willis to the first rank of Hollywood action stars.

In the early 1990s, Willis's career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Striking Distance, and a film he co-wrote titled Hudson Hawk, among others. He starred in a leading role in the highly sexualized thriller Color of Night (1994), which was very poorly received by critics, but has become popular on video. However, in 1994, he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction, which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996, he was the executive producer of the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself.

He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 worldwide. The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse. In 1999, Willis then went on to the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success and helped to increase interest in his acting career.
2000s - 2010s
Willis after a ceremony where he was named Hasty Pudding Theatrical's Man of the Year in 2002

In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend). He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album. In Ocean's Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis's second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.
Willis at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Willis has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest. On many of his appearances on the show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds.

On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig. His most recent appearance was on June 25, 2007 when he appeared wearing a mini-turbine strapped to his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary titled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay of An Inconvenient Truth). Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials. Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.

Willis has appeared in four films with Samuel L. Jackson (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and both actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit, before dropping out. Willis also worked with his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film Hostage. In 2007, he appeared in the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, the crime/drama film Alpha Dog, opposite Sharon Stone, and marked his return to the role of John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard. Recently he appeared in the films What Just Happened and Surrogates, based on the comic book of the same name.

Willis was slated to play U.S. Army general William R. Peers in director Oliver Stone's Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai Massacre. However, due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was cancelled.

Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album North Hollywood Shootout, giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues-rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.
Willis at a Live Free or Die Hard premiere in June 2007

He also appeared in the music video for the song "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin. The song is from his 2009 science fiction film Surrogates.

Willis starred with Tracy Morgan in the comedy Cop Out, directed by Kevin Smith and about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card. The film was released in February 2010.

Willis appeared in the music video for the song "Stylo" by Gorillaz.

Also in 2010, he appeared in a cameo with former Planet Hollywood co-owners and '80s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film The Expendables. Bruce Willis played the role of "Mr. Church". This was the first time these three legendary action stars appeared on screen together. Although the scene featuring the three was short, it was one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the film. The trio filmed their scene in an empty church on October 24, 2009.

His most recent project was Red, an adaptation of the comic book mini-series of the same name, in which he portrayed Frank Moses. The film was released on October 15, 2010.
Upcoming films

Willis will star in the movie adaptation of the video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, named Kane & Lynch. He will also star in the upcoming movies Catch .44, The Cold Light of Day, and Looper.

On May 5, 2010, it was announced that Die Hard 5 would be made and that Willis was on board to play his most famous role of John McClane for a fifth time.

Sylvester Stallone revealed that he is talking to Willis about returning for The Expendables sequel. Stallone wants to expand Willis' role and that he wants Willis to play the villain in the next Expendables. They have talked about Willis' schedule and possible actors that could join the sequel.
In 1996, Roger Director, a writer and producer from Moonlighting wrote a roman à clef on Willis titled A Place to Fall. Cybill Shepherd wrote in her 2000 autobiography, Cybill Disobedience, that Willis was angry at Director, because the character was written as a "neurotic, petulant actor."

In 1998, Willis participated in Apocalypse, a PlayStation video game. The game was originally announced to feature Willis as a sidekick, not as the main character. The company reworked the game using Willis's likeness and voice and changed the game to use him as the main character.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1980 First Deadly Sin, TheThe First Deadly Sin Man Entering Diner (uncredited)
1982 Verdict, TheThe Verdict Courtroom Observer (uncredited)
1985 A Guru Comes Extra (uncredited)
1987 Blind Date Walter Davis
1988 Return of Bruno, TheThe Return of Bruno Bruno Radolini
1988 Sunset Tom Mix
1988 Die Hard John McClane
1989 That's Adequate Himself
1989 In Country Emmett Smith Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1989 Look Who's Talking Mikey Voice Only
1990 Die Hard 2 John McClane
1990 Look Who's Talking Too Mikey Voice Only
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities, TheThe Bonfire of the Vanities Peter Fallow
1991 Mortal Thoughts James Urbanski
1991 Hudson Hawk Eddie 'Hudson Hawk' Hawkins Writer
1991 Billy Bathgate Bo Weinberg
1991 Last Boy Scout, TheThe Last Boy Scout Joseph Cornelius 'Joe' Hallenbeck
1992 Player, TheThe Player Himself
1992 Death Becomes Her Dr. Ernest Menville Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1993 National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 John McClane Uncredited
1993 Striking Distance Tom 'Tommy' Hardy
1994 North Narrator
1994 Color of Night Dr. Bill Capa
1994 Pulp Fiction Butch Coolidge Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
1994 Nobody's Fool Carl Roebuck Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance John McClane
1995 Four Rooms Leo Uncredited
1995 Twelve Monkeys James Cole Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996 Last Man Standing John Smith
1996 Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Muddy Grimes Voice Only
1997 Fifth Element, TheThe Fifth Element Korben Dallas
1997 Jackal, TheThe Jackal The Jackal
1998 Mercury Rising Art Jeffries
1998 Armageddon Harry S. Stamper Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1998 Siege, TheThe Siege Major General William Devereaux
1999 Franky Goes to Hollywood"Franky Goes to Hollywood" Himself Short subject
1999 Breakfast of Champions Dwayne Hoover
1999 Sixth Sense, TheThe Sixth Sense Dr. Malcolm Crowe Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1999 Story of Us, TheThe Story of Us Ben Jordan
2000 Whole Nine Yards, TheThe Whole Nine Yards Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski
2000 Disney's The Kid Russell 'Russ' Duritz
2000 Unbreakable David Dunn
2001 Bandits Joe Blake
2002 Hart's War Col. William A. McNamara
2002 Grand Champion Mr. Blandford
2003 Tears of the Sun Lieutenant A.K. Waters
2003 Rugrats Go Wild Spike Voice Only
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle William Rose Bailey Uncredited
2004 Whole Ten Yards, TheThe Whole Ten Yards Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski
2004 Ocean's Twelve Himself
2005 Hostage Jeff Talley Also Producer
2005 Sin City John Hartigan
2006 Alpha Dog Sonny Truelove
2006 16 Blocks Jack Mosley Also Producer
2006 Fast Food Nation Harry Rydell
2006 Lucky Number Slevin Mr. Goodkat
2006 Over The Hedge RJ Voice Only
2007 Astronaut Farmer, TheThe Astronaut Farmer Colonel Doug Masterson Uncredited
2007 Perfect Stranger Harrison Hill
2007 Grindhouse Lt. Muldoon
2007 Nancy Drew Himself Uncredited
2007 Live Free or Die Hard John McClane Also Producer. Named 'Die Hard 4.0' outside North America
2008 What Just Happened Himself
2008 Assassination of a High School President Principal Kirkpatrick
2009 Surrogates Agent Tom Greer
2010 Cop Out Jimmy Monroe
2010 Expendables, TheThe Expendables Mr. Church Uncredited
2010 Red Frank Moses
2011 Catch .44 Mel post-production
2011 Cold Light of Day, TheThe Cold Light of Day Martin post-production
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1984 Miami Vice Tony Amato Episode: "No Exit"
1985 Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone Peter Jay Novins Episode: "Shatterday"
1985–
1989 Moonlighting David Addison Jr. 67 episodes
1996–
1997 Bruno the Kid Bruno the Kid Voice
1997 Mad About You Amnesia patient Episode: "The Birth Part 2"
1999 Ally McBeal Dr. Nickle Episode: "Love Unlimited"
2000 Friends Paul Stevens Three episodes
2002 True West Lee Television movie
2005 That '70s Show Vic Episode: "Misfire"
Producer Year↓ Title↓ Notes
1988 Sunset Co-executive producer
2002 Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, TheThe Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Producer
2007 Hip Hop Project, TheThe Hip Hop Project Executive producer
Willis has won a variety of awards and has received various honors throughout his career in television and film.

   * For his work on the television show Moonlighting he won an Emmy ("Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series") and a Golden Globe ("Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical") plus received additional nominations for the show.
   * He was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in the film In Country
   * Maxim magazine had named his sex scenes in Color of Night (1994) as the best sex scenes ever in film history.
   * In the 1999 drama/thriller film, The Sixth Sense, Willis won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award ("Favorite Actor — Suspense") and the People's Choice Award ("Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Drama"). He was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor and received two nominations for the MTV Movie Awards for "Best Male Performance" and "Best On-Screen Duo".
   * In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends.
   * In February 2002, Willis was awarded the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.
   * Also in 2002, Willis was appointed as national spokesman for Children in Foster Care by President George W. Bush. Willis wrote online: "I saw Foster Care as a way for me to serve my country in a system by which shining a little bit of light could benefit a great deal by helping kids who were literally wards of the government."
   * In April 2006, he was honored by French government for his contributions to the film industry. Willis was named "Officier Dans L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres" (Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony in Paris. The French Prime Minister stated "This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters."
   * On October 16, 2006, Willis was honored with a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard and it was the 2,321st star awarded in its history. Willis, reacting to his reception of the star, stated "I used to come down here and look at these stars and I could never quite figure out what you were supposed to do to get one...time has passed and now here I am doing this, and I'm still excited. I'm still excited to be an actor."
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f63/IvanA_pp/bruce_willis.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/Dansemus1984/Bruce-Willis.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/19/11 at 5:08 am


What scandal was this?

There was naked pictures of her, which Penthouse printed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/19/11 at 6:04 am


There was naked pictures of her, which Penthouse printed.
...Howard has copies of that magazine? http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/stpatrick/wink.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 03/19/11 at 6:05 am


There was naked pictures of her, which Penthouse printed.


Those pictures were awful....just awful!!  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/19/11 at 6:08 am

British Person of the Day: Arthur C. Clarke

Born: 16 December 1917
Died: 19 March 2008

Arthur C. Clarke was born at the coast town of Minehead, as the eldest of four children. He became interested in science in early age, and constructed his first telescope at thirteen. Clarke's father died when he was fourteen and his mother, left with her children, gave riding lessons to augment the family income.

While in school, Clarke started to writes 'fantastic' stories and read eagerly the magazine Astounding Stories. He also read works from such writers as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and looked at the stars through his homemade telescopes. On leaving school he worked in the Exchequer and Adult Department in London. His apartment became the headquarters of the British Interplanetary Society, and in 1949 he became its chairman. Clarke served from 1941 to 1946 in the Royal Air Force, specializing in radar, and sold during the service his first science-fiction stories. In 1945, he wrote a technical paper that was the forerunner of communication satellites. The essay war reprinted in ASCENT TO ORBIT, a collection of his technical writings, that he brought out after receiving the Marconi Award in 1982 for his contributions to communications technology.

After the war, Clarke entered King's College, London, and took his B.Sc. with honors in physics and mathematics in 1948. His first published novel, PRELUDE TO SPACE, was written in three weeks during the summer of 1947. From 1949 to 1951, he was an assistant editor of Physics Abstracts. Since 1952, Clarke has been a full-time writer. In the 1950s, Clarke became interested in undersea exploration and moved to Sri Lanka, writing several fiction and nonfiction books and articles about the Indian Ocean. With his friend Mike Wilson, he filmed the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, from which his novel THE DEEP RANGE (1957) derives. Clarke also worked as a director of Rocket Publishing, London, Underwater Safaris, Colombo, and Spaceward Corporation, New York.

In 1962 Clarke became completely paralyzed after an accidental blow on the head. He wrote DOLPHIN ISLAND as his farewell to the sea. After recovering Clarke started his cooperation with the director Stanley Kubrick and later he accompanied his friend Mike Wilson on an underwater adventure six miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, which was depicted in THE TREASURE OF THE GREAT REEF (1964).However, Clarke still spent over six months out of his beloved island because of tax laws. In 1975, the Indian government presented him with a satellite dish, with which he was able to receive programs broadcast from experimental satellite ATS6.

In the 1980s Clarke was a presenter of the television series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980) and World of Strange Powers (1985). He lectured widely in Britain and in the United States. In 1980 he was Vikram Sarabhai Professor at Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Until 1982 Clarke had written his books with a typewriter, but after the arrival of his first computer - 5 MB of memory - he used only his word processor.

Among Clarke's best-known work is the short story THE SENTINEL (1951) about man's contact with sentient life. In the spring of 1964, Clarke retired to Hotel Chelsea in New York and started to write a novel about a space travel. His illustrious acquaintances during this period included Arthur Miller, Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, and Norman Mailer. Clarke's work became the basis of the novel and film 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), for which Clarke wrote the script with Stanley Kubrick. In the story, a mysterious monolith is found buried beneath the surface of the moon. It sends a signal towards Jupiter. To solve the mystery astronauts are sent to Jupiter with the help of the super-computer HAL 9000. With the amazing computer, Clarke presents one of the basic philosophical questions: can there be intelligence without consciousness? After series of accidents and HAL's operations, one of the astronauts, David Bowman, is left alone as the ship reaches the planet. He embarks on the final step in humankind's next developmental stage. Clarke continued the Odyssey Saga in three sequels, 2010: ODYSSEY TWO (1982), 2061: ODYSSEY THREE (1988), and 3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY (1996).

Clarke's other works include CHILDHOOD'S END (1953), a story about the beginning of the age of Humankind after Overlords have eliminated ignorance, disease and poverty, EARTHLIGHT (1955), A FALL OF MOONDUST (1961), a tale of marooned moon schooner, RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA (1973), in which a research team is sent to investigate a cylindrical object hurtling through the solar system, and THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE (1979). In the 1980s Clarke wrote with Gentry Lee, the chief engineer on Project Galileo, CRADLE (1988), originally conceived as a movie project, and RAMA II 1989). Clarke's catastrophe novel THE HAMMER OF GOOD (1993) about an asteroid hurtling toward Earth, anticipated such films as Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998).

The Kubrick/Clarke vision from 1968 of computers and space programs at the turn of the century did not came true. There are no HAL-like computers with artificial intelligence that could say: "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that..." and continue with their own plans. In an interview, Clarke stated: "We science-fiction writers never attempt to predict. In fact, it's the exact opposite. As my friend Ray Bradbury said, 'We do this not to predict the future but to prevent it.'"(Newsweek, December 2000-February 2001, special edition)

Clarke is fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and recipient of many awards for his science fiction. He was the guest of honour at the 1956 World Science Fiction Convention, when he won a Hugo for his story 'The Star'. Rendezvous with Rama won the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Clarke has also won the Franklin Gold Medal, and in 1962 the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for popularizing science. He married Marilyn Mayfield in 1954 (divorced 1964). Clarke's Venus Prime series is franchised to Paul Preuss.

Among Clarke's central themes in his fiction is the "spiritual" rebirth and the search for man's place in the universe. However, his technological details are flawless, and often he has guessed right new advances in science. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." In Rendezvous with Rama the discussions of a research team form an allegory for the great question of the meaning of life. 2001 traces the evolution of man and humanity's quest for existential answers, symbolized by the unearthly monolith. In the sequels technological progress allows to reveal some of the secrets behind the monolith. In an article from 1999, 'The Twentieth-First Century: A (Very) Brief History,' Clarke predicts that the last coal mine is closed in 2006, a city in a third world country is devastated in 2009 by the accidental explosion of an A-bomb in its armory, and in 2014 starts the construction of Hilton Orbiter Hotel.

http://theprecis.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/arthur_clarke.jpg


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/19/11 at 6:08 am


Those pictures were awful....just awful!!  ::)
Best not to go Google Searching then?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/11 at 6:47 am


What scandal was this?


When she posed in Playboy or Penthouse in 1984 and the pictures of her and a woman having simulated lesbian sex was talked about.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/11 at 6:48 am


The person of the day...Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955), better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles. He is well known for the role of John McClane in the Die Hard series, which were mostly critical and uniformly financial successes. He has also appeared in over sixty films, including box office successes like Pulp Fiction, Sin City, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, and The Sixth Sense.

Motion pictures featuring Willis have grossed US$2.64 billion to 3.05 billion at North American box offices, making him the ninth highest-grossing actor in a leading role and twelfth highest including supporting roles. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winning, Golden Globe Award-winning and four-time Saturn Award-nominated actor. Willis was married to actress Demi Moore and they had three daughters before their divorce in 2000 after thirteen years of marriage.
Willis left New York City and headed to California to audition for several television shows. In 1984, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Miami Vice, titled "No Exit." He auditioned for the role of David Addison Jr. of the television series Moonlighting (1985–89), while competing against 3,000 other actors for the position. The starring role, opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped to establish him as a comedic actor, with the show lasting five seasons. During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products. The advertising campaign paid the rising star between $5–7 million over two years. In spite of that, Willis chose not to renew his contract with the company when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988.

One of his first major film roles was in the 1987 Blake Edwards film Blind Date with Kim Basinger and John Larroquette. Edwards would cast him again to play the real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in Sunset. However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the film Die Hard that catapulted him to movie star status. He performed most of his own stunts in the film, and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide. Following his success with Die Hard, he had a supporting role in the drama In Country as Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith and also provided the voice for a talking baby in Look Who's Talking, as well as its sequel Look Who's Talking Too.
1980s and 1990s

In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues titled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself", promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis has returned to the recording studio several times.

Willis acquired major personal success and pop culture influence playing John McClane in 1988's Die Hard. This film was followed up by Die Hard 2: Die Harder in 1990 and Die Hard With a Vengeance in 1995. These first three installments in the Die Hard series grossed over US$700 million internationally and propelled Willis to the first rank of Hollywood action stars.

In the early 1990s, Willis's career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Striking Distance, and a film he co-wrote titled Hudson Hawk, among others. He starred in a leading role in the highly sexualized thriller Color of Night (1994), which was very poorly received by critics, but has become popular on video. However, in 1994, he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction, which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996, he was the executive producer of the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself.

He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 worldwide. The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse. In 1999, Willis then went on to the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success and helped to increase interest in his acting career.
2000s - 2010s
Willis after a ceremony where he was named Hasty Pudding Theatrical's Man of the Year in 2002

In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend). He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album. In Ocean's Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis's second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.
Willis at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Willis has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest. On many of his appearances on the show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds.

On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig. His most recent appearance was on June 25, 2007 when he appeared wearing a mini-turbine strapped to his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary titled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay of An Inconvenient Truth). Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials. Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.

Willis has appeared in four films with Samuel L. Jackson (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and both actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit, before dropping out. Willis also worked with his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film Hostage. In 2007, he appeared in the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, the crime/drama film Alpha Dog, opposite Sharon Stone, and marked his return to the role of John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard. Recently he appeared in the films What Just Happened and Surrogates, based on the comic book of the same name.

Willis was slated to play U.S. Army general William R. Peers in director Oliver Stone's Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai Massacre. However, due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was cancelled.

Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album North Hollywood Shootout, giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues-rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.
Willis at a Live Free or Die Hard premiere in June 2007

He also appeared in the music video for the song "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin. The song is from his 2009 science fiction film Surrogates.

Willis starred with Tracy Morgan in the comedy Cop Out, directed by Kevin Smith and about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card. The film was released in February 2010.

Willis appeared in the music video for the song "Stylo" by Gorillaz.

Also in 2010, he appeared in a cameo with former Planet Hollywood co-owners and '80s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film The Expendables. Bruce Willis played the role of "Mr. Church". This was the first time these three legendary action stars appeared on screen together. Although the scene featuring the three was short, it was one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the film. The trio filmed their scene in an empty church on October 24, 2009.

His most recent project was Red, an adaptation of the comic book mini-series of the same name, in which he portrayed Frank Moses. The film was released on October 15, 2010.
Upcoming films

Willis will star in the movie adaptation of the video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, named Kane & Lynch. He will also star in the upcoming movies Catch .44, The Cold Light of Day, and Looper.

On May 5, 2010, it was announced that Die Hard 5 would be made and that Willis was on board to play his most famous role of John McClane for a fifth time.

Sylvester Stallone revealed that he is talking to Willis about returning for The Expendables sequel. Stallone wants to expand Willis' role and that he wants Willis to play the villain in the next Expendables. They have talked about Willis' schedule and possible actors that could join the sequel.
In 1996, Roger Director, a writer and producer from Moonlighting wrote a roman à clef on Willis titled A Place to Fall. Cybill Shepherd wrote in her 2000 autobiography, Cybill Disobedience, that Willis was angry at Director, because the character was written as a "neurotic, petulant actor."

In 1998, Willis participated in Apocalypse, a PlayStation video game. The game was originally announced to feature Willis as a sidekick, not as the main character. The company reworked the game using Willis's likeness and voice and changed the game to use him as the main character.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1980 First Deadly Sin, TheThe First Deadly Sin Man Entering Diner (uncredited)
1982 Verdict, TheThe Verdict Courtroom Observer (uncredited)
1985 A Guru Comes Extra (uncredited)
1987 Blind Date Walter Davis
1988 Return of Bruno, TheThe Return of Bruno Bruno Radolini
1988 Sunset Tom Mix
1988 Die Hard John McClane
1989 That's Adequate Himself
1989 In Country Emmett Smith Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1989 Look Who's Talking Mikey Voice Only
1990 Die Hard 2 John McClane
1990 Look Who's Talking Too Mikey Voice Only
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities, TheThe Bonfire of the Vanities Peter Fallow
1991 Mortal Thoughts James Urbanski
1991 Hudson Hawk Eddie 'Hudson Hawk' Hawkins Writer
1991 Billy Bathgate Bo Weinberg
1991 Last Boy Scout, TheThe Last Boy Scout Joseph Cornelius 'Joe' Hallenbeck
1992 Player, TheThe Player Himself
1992 Death Becomes Her Dr. Ernest Menville Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1993 National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 John McClane Uncredited
1993 Striking Distance Tom 'Tommy' Hardy
1994 North Narrator
1994 Color of Night Dr. Bill Capa
1994 Pulp Fiction Butch Coolidge Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
1994 Nobody's Fool Carl Roebuck Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance John McClane
1995 Four Rooms Leo Uncredited
1995 Twelve Monkeys James Cole Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996 Last Man Standing John Smith
1996 Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Muddy Grimes Voice Only
1997 Fifth Element, TheThe Fifth Element Korben Dallas
1997 Jackal, TheThe Jackal The Jackal
1998 Mercury Rising Art Jeffries
1998 Armageddon Harry S. Stamper Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1998 Siege, TheThe Siege Major General William Devereaux
1999 Franky Goes to Hollywood"Franky Goes to Hollywood" Himself Short subject
1999 Breakfast of Champions Dwayne Hoover
1999 Sixth Sense, TheThe Sixth Sense Dr. Malcolm Crowe Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1999 Story of Us, TheThe Story of Us Ben Jordan
2000 Whole Nine Yards, TheThe Whole Nine Yards Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski
2000 Disney's The Kid Russell 'Russ' Duritz
2000 Unbreakable David Dunn
2001 Bandits Joe Blake
2002 Hart's War Col. William A. McNamara
2002 Grand Champion Mr. Blandford
2003 Tears of the Sun Lieutenant A.K. Waters
2003 Rugrats Go Wild Spike Voice Only
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle William Rose Bailey Uncredited
2004 Whole Ten Yards, TheThe Whole Ten Yards Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski
2004 Ocean's Twelve Himself
2005 Hostage Jeff Talley Also Producer
2005 Sin City John Hartigan
2006 Alpha Dog Sonny Truelove
2006 16 Blocks Jack Mosley Also Producer
2006 Fast Food Nation Harry Rydell
2006 Lucky Number Slevin Mr. Goodkat
2006 Over The Hedge RJ Voice Only
2007 Astronaut Farmer, TheThe Astronaut Farmer Colonel Doug Masterson Uncredited
2007 Perfect Stranger Harrison Hill
2007 Grindhouse Lt. Muldoon
2007 Nancy Drew Himself Uncredited
2007 Live Free or Die Hard John McClane Also Producer. Named 'Die Hard 4.0' outside North America
2008 What Just Happened Himself
2008 Assassination of a High School President Principal Kirkpatrick
2009 Surrogates Agent Tom Greer
2010 Cop Out Jimmy Monroe
2010 Expendables, TheThe Expendables Mr. Church Uncredited
2010 Red Frank Moses
2011 Catch .44 Mel post-production
2011 Cold Light of Day, TheThe Cold Light of Day Martin post-production
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1984 Miami Vice Tony Amato Episode: "No Exit"
1985 Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone Peter Jay Novins Episode: "Shatterday"
1985–
1989 Moonlighting David Addison Jr. 67 episodes
1996–
1997 Bruno the Kid Bruno the Kid Voice
1997 Mad About You Amnesia patient Episode: "The Birth Part 2"
1999 Ally McBeal Dr. Nickle Episode: "Love Unlimited"
2000 Friends Paul Stevens Three episodes
2002 True West Lee Television movie
2005 That '70s Show Vic Episode: "Misfire"
Producer Year↓ Title↓ Notes
1988 Sunset Co-executive producer
2002 Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, TheThe Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Producer
2007 Hip Hop Project, TheThe Hip Hop Project Executive producer
Willis has won a variety of awards and has received various honors throughout his career in television and film.

   * For his work on the television show Moonlighting he won an Emmy ("Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series") and a Golden Globe ("Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical") plus received additional nominations for the show.
   * He was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in the film In Country
   * Maxim magazine had named his sex scenes in Color of Night (1994) as the best sex scenes ever in film history.
   * In the 1999 drama/thriller film, The Sixth Sense, Willis won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award ("Favorite Actor — Suspense") and the People's Choice Award ("Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Drama"). He was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor and received two nominations for the MTV Movie Awards for "Best Male Performance" and "Best On-Screen Duo".
   * In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends.
   * In February 2002, Willis was awarded the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.
   * Also in 2002, Willis was appointed as national spokesman for Children in Foster Care by President George W. Bush. Willis wrote online: "I saw Foster Care as a way for me to serve my country in a system by which shining a little bit of light could benefit a great deal by helping kids who were literally wards of the government."
   * In April 2006, he was honored by French government for his contributions to the film industry. Willis was named "Officier Dans L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres" (Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony in Paris. The French Prime Minister stated "This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters."
   * On October 16, 2006, Willis was honored with a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard and it was the 2,321st star awarded in its history. Willis, reacting to his reception of the star, stated "I used to come down here and look at these stars and I could never quite figure out what you were supposed to do to get one...time has passed and now here I am doing this, and I'm still excited. I'm still excited to be an actor."
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f63/IvanA_pp/bruce_willis.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/Dansemus1984/Bruce-Willis.jpg


One of my favorites. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/11 at 6:48 am


...Howard has copies of that magazine? http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/stpatrick/wink.gif


I think I do.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/11 at 6:49 am


Best not to go Google Searching then?


search if you'd like.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/19/11 at 6:49 am


Best not to go Google Searching then?
I knew that you would know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/19/11 at 6:50 am


search if you'd like.
Perhaps later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/11 at 6:50 am


I knew that you would know.


I sure do.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/19/11 at 6:51 am


Perhaps later.


at night is more like it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/11 at 6:41 am

The person of the day...William Hurt
William M. Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an American actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States (1980), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. He subsequently played the leading role of a sleazy lawyer in the well-received film noir Body Heat (1981).

In 1985, Hurt garnered substantial critical acclaim and multiple acting awards, including an Academy and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for portraying an effeminate homosexual in Kiss of the Spider Woman. He went on to receive another two Academy Award nominations for his lead performances in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987). Hurt remained an active stage actor throughout the 1980s, appearing in numerous Off-Broadway productions including Henry V, Fifth of July, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Hurt received his first Tony Award nomination in 1985 for the Broadway production of Hurlyburly.

After playing a diversity of character roles in the following decade, Hurt earned his fourth Academy Award nomination for his supporting performance in David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence (2005). Other notable films in recent years have included A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), Mr. Brooks (2007), Into the Wild (2007), The Incredible Hulk (2008), and Robin Hood (2010).
Hurt appeared first on stage, only later turning to film. His first major film role was in the science fiction hit Altered States which gave him wide recognition for playing an obsessed scientist. His performance with Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, and newcomer Kathleen Turner in Lawrence Kasdan's neo-noir classic Body Heat elevated Hurt to stardom. He received the Best Male Performance Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman for 1985. He has received three additional Oscar nominations; one for Children of a Lesser God, one for Broadcast News and one (for Best Supporting Actor) in A History Of Violence. Hurt also starred in Tuck Everlasting as Angus Tuck.

Often cast as an intellectual, Hurt has put this to good use in many films like Lost in Space and The Big Chill, but he is also effective in other kinds of roles, such as those in I Love You to Death, and David Cronenberg's psychological drama A History of Violence (2005), wherein, with less than 10 minutes of screen time, he plays the creepy mob boss Richie Cusack. That same year, Hurt could be seen as a mysterious government operative in Stephen Gaghan's ensemble drama about the politics of big oil, Syriana.

Hurt has been seen in the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes, in a piece entitled Battleground (also notable for its complete lack of dialogue). He plays "Renshaw", a hitman who receives a package from the widow of a toymaker he killed, unaware of what is waiting inside for him. He appeared in the cast of Vanya, an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya playing in the Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

He appeared in Sean Penn's film Into the Wild, the true story of Christopher McCandless. Hurt next starred as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in The Incredible Hulk alongside Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth. He also appeared as President Henry Ashton in the 2008 action-thriller Vantage Point. Hurt also played Mr Brooks' alter-ego in Mr. Brooks starring Kevin Costner.

In 2009, Hurt began appearing as a series regular on the critically-acclaimed FX series Damages playing a corporate whistleblower opposite Glenn Close and Marcia Gay Harden. For his role in the series, Hurt earned a 2009 Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" category. He also stars in the 2010 thriller Shadows alongside Cary Elwes and Paula Taylor, directed by John Penney.

Hurt's 2009 Sundance film The Yellow Handkerchief was released in theaters on February 26, 2010 by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Sep 2010 Announced that Hurt will be playing Henry Paulson in the upcoming HBO film adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin's book Too Big To Fail.
Personal life

Hurt is fluent in French and maintains a home outside Paris. He was married to Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 to 1982.

In the 1980s, Hurt was involved in a lawsuit with Sandra Jennings which alleged that the two shared a common law marriage. While he was still married, Hurt and Jennings began a relationship in Saratoga, New York in the summer of 1981. Jennings became pregnant in the spring of 1982 which precipitated Hurt's divorce from Mary Beth Hurt, after which Hurt and Jennings relocated to South Carolina, which recognized common law marriages. Hurt and Jennings, never officially married, later separated, and Jennings sued him in New York, seeking a court order recognizing their purported common law marriage under South Carolina law. The New York court, which did not recognize common law marriage and was reluctant to recognize a common law marriage originating in South Carolina, found in Hurt's favor that no common law marriage existed.

Additionally, Hurt dated Marlee Matlin for two years, and they lived together during 1986. In her 2009 autobiographical book, I'll Scream Later, Matlin claimed their relationship involved considerable drug abuse and physical abuse by Hurt. In response to the accusations aired on CNN on April 13, 2009, Hurt's agent declined to respond. Hurt issued a statement on April 14, 2009, responding to Matlin's remarks. He stated "My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good."

Hurt has four children: Jeanne with actress Sandrine Bonnaire, Alex with Sandra Jennings and two sons, Sam and William Hurt, from his 1989–92 marriage to Heidi Henderson.

During the filming of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Hurt and a friend were threatened at gunpoint but were let go several hours later.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1978 Verna: U.S.O. Girl Walter TV film
1980 Altered States Professor Edward Jessup Nominated Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor
1981 Eyewitness Daryll Deever
Body Heat Ned Racine
1983 The Big Chill Nick
Gorky Park Arkady Renko
1985 Kiss of the Spider Woman Luis Alberto Molina Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
LAFCA Award for Best Actor
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
NBR Award for Best Actor (tied with Raul Julia for the same film)
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1986 Children of a Lesser God James Leeds Joseph Plateau Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1987 Broadcast News Tom Grunick Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1988 A Time of Destiny Martin Larraneta
The Accidental Tourist Macon Leary Golden Horse Award for Best Foreign Actor
1990 I Love You to Death Harlan James
Alice Doug Tate
1991 Until the End of the World Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee
The Doctor Dr. Jack MacKee
1993 The Plague Doctor Bernard Rieux
Mr. Wonderful Tom
1994 Second Best Graham Holt
1995 Smoke Paul Benjamin
1996 A Couch in New York Henry Harriston
Michael Frank Quinlan
Jane Eyre Rochester
1997 Loved K.D. Dietrickson
1998 Lost in Space Professor John Robinson
Dark City Inspector Frank Bumstead
One True Thing George Gulden
1999 The 4th Floor Greg Harrison
Sunshine Andor Knorr Nominated – Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
The Big Brass Ring William Blake Pellarin
Do Not Disturb Walter Richmond a.k.a. Silent Witness
2000 Contaminated Man David R. Whitman
Frank Herbert's Dune Duke Leto Atreides TV
The Miracle Maker Jairus Voice Only
2001 Rare Birds Restaurateur
A.I. Artificial Intelligence Professor Allen Hobby
The Simian Line Edward
Varian's War Varian Fry
2002 King of Queens Dr. Taber TV
Episode 120: Shrink Wrap
Tuck Everlasting Angus Tuck
Changing Lanes Doyle Gipson's AA Sponsor
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story Robert Hanssen TV
Nearest to Heaven (Au Plus Près du Paradis) Matt
2004 The Blue Butterfly Alan Osborne
The Village Edward Walker
Frankenstein Professor Waldman TV
2005 The King David
A History of Violence Richie Cusack AFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – OFCS Award for Best Supporting Actor
Neverwas Dr. Peter Reed
Syriana Stan Goff
2006 The Good Shepherd CIA Director Philip Allen
The Legend of Sasquatch John Davis Voice Only
Co-Producer
Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King Jason Renshaw TV miniseries (segment "Battleground")
2007 Mr. Brooks Marshall
Beautiful Ohio Simon Messerman
Noise Mayor Schneer
Into the Wild Walt McCandless Nominated – SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 Vantage Point President Ashton
The Yellow Handkerchief Brett Hanson
The Incredible Hulk General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross
2009 Damages Daniel Purcell TV
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Drama Series
Endgame Willie Esterhuyse
The Countess Gyorgy Thurzo
The River Why H2O
2010 Robin Hood William Marshal
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/vinniciusp/Fevereiro%202009/hurt.jpg
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu224/y2jbrak/Not%20For%20Trade/Relics%20NFT/Hulk6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/20/11 at 6:47 am

I think William Hurt is a respectable actor,Was he in Broadcast News? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/11 at 8:51 am

British Person of the Day: Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley

Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG (c. 1508 – 20 March 1549) was an English politician.

Thomas spent his childhood in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Historian David Starkey describes Thomas thus: 'tall, well-built and with a dashing beard and auburn hair, he was irresistible to women'. A prominent Tudor courtier, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, described Thomas Seymour as 'hardy, wise and liberal...fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty of matter'.

Family's royal connection through marriage

The Seymour family's power grew during Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, to whom Jane Seymour was a lady in waiting. As Anne failed to give King Henry a son, the Seymour brothers saw an opportunity to push their sister Jane in the King's direction. Henry married Jane eleven days after Anne's execution in May 1536, and she gave birth to their son and only child in October of the following year.

It was the elder brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who benefited most from his sister's marriage to the King. Historians have speculated whether the division between Edward and Thomas began at that time, as Thomas unsurprisingly began to resent his brother and the relationship between them began to dissolve. Although Thomas was named Lord High Admiral, he was consumed by jealousy of his brother's power and influence.

In 1543, John Nevill, 3rd Baron Latymer, died leaving a wealthy widow, formerly Catherine Parr. An attachment then developed between Catherine and Thomas. Unfortunately for Thomas, Henry VIII also became interested in Catherine and eventually married her, having been impressed with her dignity and intelligence. Jealous of Seymour's attentions to Catherine, the King sent Thomas away on a diplomatic mission to the Netherlands.

Henry VIII died in January 1547, leaving Catherine one of the wealthiest women in England. Thomas had been made Master-General of the Ordnance in 1544 and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1545. He returned to court a few months before Henry's death and saw his brother Edward become Lord Protector of England and, in effect, ruler of the realm as Regent for his nephew, Henry VIII's minor son and successor, the short-lived Edward VI. As part of an 'unfulfilled gifts clause' left unmentioned in Henry's will, Thomas was granted the title Baron Seymour of Sudeley. However, Thomas' fervent desire was to unseat and replace his brother as Lord Protector.

Though Thomas Seymour's name had been linked to Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, he was still unmarried at the time of the King's death. One view is that Thomas schemed to marry either Princess Mary or Princess Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughters by his first two marriages, and there were rumours that he attempted to pursue a relationship with Elizabeth, still in her early teens. If he hoped for such a marriage as a route to power, he was unsuccessful, though his secret marriage to Catherine Parr, Elizabeth's guardian, in late April of 1547 was viewed by some as an attempt to become close to the young princess. Certainly, many regarded this marriage as having occurred too quickly after the King's death. Anne Stanhope, Somerset's proud wife, disliked Catherine and Thomas and began to turn many people in court against them. To demonstrate her hatred, Anne kept the Queen's jewels, which by right were Catherine's.

Princess Elizabeth, Catherine Parr's ward, had gone to live with her stepmother in Chelsea after Henry VIII's death. Thomas, therefore, acquired the guardianship of Elizabeth and also of Lady Jane Grey, another young member of the household. The overly-ambitious Thomas started to make advances toward Elizabeth, sneaking into 'the Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she was ready, and sometimes before she did rise; and if she were up he would bid her good morrow and ask how she did, and strike her upon the back or on the buttocks familiarly....' Thomas, while doing this, was often only partly dressed. He was forty; she was just fourteen. As gossip began to spread, Kat Ashley, Elizabeth's governess, implored Seymour to quit his bedroom antics with the princess. Indignant, Thomas retorted, 'By God's precious soul, I mean no evil, and I will not leave it!' Strange episodes followed as he continued his advances towards Elizabeth. Historian David Starkey writes, "He may have even sexually abused her; at the very least he abused his power." Elizabeth was confused by these affairs. Sometimes she acted as if it were all a game; other times she would become offended. Although Elizabeth's governess at one time averred that the Queen had found Elizabeth in Seymour's arms (implying a sexual encounter or close to it), she later withdrew the story. Catherine did, nevertheless, try to save Elizabeth's reputation by sending her away to the house of Anthony Denny in Hertfordshire. However, when Catherine died in childbirth in August 1548, Thomas renewed his attentions to the Princess.

Thomas also bribed a man called John Fowler, one of King Edward VI's closest servants, from whom he received information that the King frequently complained about the lack of pocket money he received. Thomas smuggled money to the King and began to voice open disapproval of his brother's administrative skills. As Lord High Admiral, he was able to control the English navy, and he openly asked people for support in case of a coup. As admiral, he also encouraged piracy, after bidding to capture the pirate Thomas, Thomas instead made an agreement for a share of all booty seized by him. He was completely and thoroughly indiscreet in his bid for power.

Thomas seems also to have hoped to finance a coup by bribing the vice-treasurer of the Bristol Mint, Sir William Sharington. Sharington was responsible for debasing the coinage in Bristol and he had been fiddling the account books and keeping the majority of the profit. When Thomas learned of the scheme, he blackmailed Sharington.

Thomas Seymour's downfall

By the end of 1548, Thomas' plans had been reported to the Privy Council by an informant. The Bristol Mint was investigated and Sharington revealed all. Somerset attempted to protect his brother and called a council meeting that Thomas was supposed to attend in order to explain his actions. However, Thomas did not appear and developed a plan to kidnap the King.

On the night of the 16th of January, Thomas broke into the King's apartments at Hampton Court Palace. He entered the privy garden and awoke one of the King's pet spaniels. Alerted the dog tried to bite Thomas, who shot it. The guards arrested Thomas, and he was sent to the Tower of London. On 18 January, the council sent agents to question everyone associated with Thomas, including Princess Elizabeth,

On 22 February, the council officially accused him of thirty-three charges of treason. Somerset delayed signing the death warrant, so the council went to Edward VI for his signature. On 20 March, Seymour was executed at the Tower, dying 'dangerously, irksomely and horribly.' His daughter by Catherine Parr, Mary Seymour, was placed in the care of the Duchess of Suffolk, Catherine Brandon. Mary should have been left wealthy, but her mother, dying at her birth, had left her entire fortune to Thomas. When Thomas was executed, the crown confiscated everything he had, including Catherine's bequest. The child appears to have died around the age of two, when she disappears from the historical record. The title 'Baron of Sudeley' passed to Catherine Parr's brother, William.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Thomas_Seymour%2C_Baron_Seymour_from_NPG.jpg/210px-Thomas_Seymour%2C_Baron_Seymour_from_NPG.jpg


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/20/11 at 11:26 am


British Person of the Day: Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley

Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG (c. 1508 – 20 March 1549) was an English politician.

Thomas spent his childhood in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Historian David Starkey describes Thomas thus: 'tall, well-built and with a dashing beard and auburn hair, he was irresistible to women'. A prominent Tudor courtier, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, described Thomas Seymour as 'hardy, wise and liberal...fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty of matter'.

Family's royal connection through marriage

The Seymour family's power grew during Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, to whom Jane Seymour was a lady in waiting. As Anne failed to give King Henry a son, the Seymour brothers saw an opportunity to push their sister Jane in the King's direction. Henry married Jane eleven days after Anne's execution in May 1536, and she gave birth to their son and only child in October of the following year.

It was the elder brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who benefited most from his sister's marriage to the King. Historians have speculated whether the division between Edward and Thomas began at that time, as Thomas unsurprisingly began to resent his brother and the relationship between them began to dissolve. Although Thomas was named Lord High Admiral, he was consumed by jealousy of his brother's power and influence.

In 1543, John Nevill, 3rd Baron Latymer, died leaving a wealthy widow, formerly Catherine Parr. An attachment then developed between Catherine and Thomas. Unfortunately for Thomas, Henry VIII also became interested in Catherine and eventually married her, having been impressed with her dignity and intelligence. Jealous of Seymour's attentions to Catherine, the King sent Thomas away on a diplomatic mission to the Netherlands.

Henry VIII died in January 1547, leaving Catherine one of the wealthiest women in England. Thomas had been made Master-General of the Ordnance in 1544 and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1545. He returned to court a few months before Henry's death and saw his brother Edward become Lord Protector of England and, in effect, ruler of the realm as Regent for his nephew, Henry VIII's minor son and successor, the short-lived Edward VI. As part of an 'unfulfilled gifts clause' left unmentioned in Henry's will, Thomas was granted the title Baron Seymour of Sudeley. However, Thomas' fervent desire was to unseat and replace his brother as Lord Protector.

Though Thomas Seymour's name had been linked to Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, he was still unmarried at the time of the King's death. One view is that Thomas schemed to marry either Princess Mary or Princess Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughters by his first two marriages, and there were rumours that he attempted to pursue a relationship with Elizabeth, still in her early teens. If he hoped for such a marriage as a route to power, he was unsuccessful, though his secret marriage to Catherine Parr, Elizabeth's guardian, in late April of 1547 was viewed by some as an attempt to become close to the young princess. Certainly, many regarded this marriage as having occurred too quickly after the King's death. Anne Stanhope, Somerset's proud wife, disliked Catherine and Thomas and began to turn many people in court against them. To demonstrate her hatred, Anne kept the Queen's jewels, which by right were Catherine's.

Princess Elizabeth, Catherine Parr's ward, had gone to live with her stepmother in Chelsea after Henry VIII's death. Thomas, therefore, acquired the guardianship of Elizabeth and also of Lady Jane Grey, another young member of the household. The overly-ambitious Thomas started to make advances toward Elizabeth, sneaking into 'the Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she was ready, and sometimes before she did rise; and if she were up he would bid her good morrow and ask how she did, and strike her upon the back or on the buttocks familiarly....' Thomas, while doing this, was often only partly dressed. He was forty; she was just fourteen. As gossip began to spread, Kat Ashley, Elizabeth's governess, implored Seymour to quit his bedroom antics with the princess. Indignant, Thomas retorted, 'By God's precious soul, I mean no evil, and I will not leave it!' Strange episodes followed as he continued his advances towards Elizabeth. Historian David Starkey writes, "He may have even sexually abused her; at the very least he abused his power." Elizabeth was confused by these affairs. Sometimes she acted as if it were all a game; other times she would become offended. Although Elizabeth's governess at one time averred that the Queen had found Elizabeth in Seymour's arms (implying a sexual encounter or close to it), she later withdrew the story. Catherine did, nevertheless, try to save Elizabeth's reputation by sending her away to the house of Anthony Denny in Hertfordshire. However, when Catherine died in childbirth in August 1548, Thomas renewed his attentions to the Princess.

Thomas also bribed a man called John Fowler, one of King Edward VI's closest servants, from whom he received information that the King frequently complained about the lack of pocket money he received. Thomas smuggled money to the King and began to voice open disapproval of his brother's administrative skills. As Lord High Admiral, he was able to control the English navy, and he openly asked people for support in case of a coup. As admiral, he also encouraged piracy, after bidding to capture the pirate Thomas, Thomas instead made an agreement for a share of all booty seized by him. He was completely and thoroughly indiscreet in his bid for power.

Thomas seems also to have hoped to finance a coup by bribing the vice-treasurer of the Bristol Mint, Sir William Sharington. Sharington was responsible for debasing the coinage in Bristol and he had been fiddling the account books and keeping the majority of the profit. When Thomas learned of the scheme, he blackmailed Sharington.

Thomas Seymour's downfall

By the end of 1548, Thomas' plans had been reported to the Privy Council by an informant. The Bristol Mint was investigated and Sharington revealed all. Somerset attempted to protect his brother and called a council meeting that Thomas was supposed to attend in order to explain his actions. However, Thomas did not appear and developed a plan to kidnap the King.

On the night of the 16th of January, Thomas broke into the King's apartments at Hampton Court Palace. He entered the privy garden and awoke one of the King's pet spaniels. Alerted the dog tried to bite Thomas, who shot it. The guards arrested Thomas, and he was sent to the Tower of London. On 18 January, the council sent agents to question everyone associated with Thomas, including Princess Elizabeth,

On 22 February, the council officially accused him of thirty-three charges of treason. Somerset delayed signing the death warrant, so the council went to Edward VI for his signature. On 20 March, Seymour was executed at the Tower, dying 'dangerously, irksomely and horribly.' His daughter by Catherine Parr, Mary Seymour, was placed in the care of the Duchess of Suffolk, Catherine Brandon. Mary should have been left wealthy, but her mother, dying at her birth, had left her entire fortune to Thomas. When Thomas was executed, the crown confiscated everything he had, including Catherine's bequest. The child appears to have died around the age of two, when she disappears from the historical record. The title 'Baron of Sudeley' passed to Catherine Parr's brother, William.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Thomas_Seymour%2C_Baron_Seymour_from_NPG.jpg/210px-Thomas_Seymour%2C_Baron_Seymour_from_NPG.jpg






Tudor England reads like the biggest soap opera in history.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/11 at 11:59 am



Tudor England reads like the biggest soap opera in history.



Cat
Yes, there was a lot of too-ing and fro-ing.

Watchout for the BBC TV Series The Tudors, you may enjoy it. 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/20/11 at 1:32 pm


I think William Hurt is a respectable actor,Was he in Broadcast News? ???

Yes he was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/20/11 at 3:40 pm


Yes, there was a lot of too-ing and fro-ing.

Watchout for the BBC TV Series The Tudors, you may enjoy it. 



Sounds like something I would DEFINITELY enjoy. I just check Netflix and they have the first 2 seasons but not on DVD. Maybe I will watch it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/20/11 at 3:41 pm



Sounds like something I would DEFINITELY enjoy. I just check Netflix and they have the first 2 seasons but not on DVD. Maybe I will watch it.



Cat
I have only seen one episode, but it is now on my must see list.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/21/11 at 5:14 am

The person of the day... Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor, filmmaker and musician, well-known to audiences for his portrayals of dark and morally ambiguous characters. He has starred in films such as Sid and Nancy, Prick Up Your Ears, JFK, Dracula, True Romance, Léon, The Fifth Element, The Contender, the Harry Potter film series and the Batman film series, as well as in television shows such as Friends and Fallen Angels.

Oldman came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a string of performances that prompted pre-eminent film critic, Roger Ebert, to describe him as "the best young British actor around". He has since come to be regarded as one of film's most diverse actors, and has been cited as an influence by a number of successful actors. In addition to leading and central supporting roles in big-budget Hollywood films, Oldman has frequently acted in independent films and television shows. Aside from acting, he directed, wrote and co-produced Nil by Mouth, a film partially based on his own childhood, and served as a producer on several films.

Oldman has received Emmy-, Screen Actors Guild- and BAFTA Award nominations for his acting work, and has been described as one of the greatest actors never nominated for an Academy Award. He was nominated for the 1997 Palme d'Or and won two BAFTA Awards for his filmmaking on Nil By Mouth, and has won, and been nominated for, numerous other film and television awards during his career. Allmovie characterised Oldman as having "consistently amazed viewers with his ability to completely disappear into his roles."
After graduating from the BA in Directing at Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, Kent in 1978, Oldman spent almost eight years in theatre, winning a number of awards. During this time he appeared in several films such as Remembrance (1982) and Meantime (1984). In 1986 he won his first starring role as the Sex Pistols' ill-fated bassist Sid Vicious in the 1986 motion picture Sid & Nancy. The role launched Oldman's career and paved the way for work in Hollywood. Oldman's performance was highly regarded by many, perhaps most notably ex-Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, who despite questioning the authenticity of some parts of the film, said of Oldman in his biography: "The chap who played Sid, Gary Oldman, I thought was quite good", and later called him a "bloody good actor". Oldman reportedly lost considerable weight for the role and was briefly hospitalised. His performance was ranked #62 in Premiere magazine's "100 Greatest Performances of All Time" and #8 in Uncut magazine's "10 Best actors in rockin' roles", the latter describing his portrayal as a "hugely sympathetic reading of the punk figurehead as a lost and bewildered manchild." After coming to prominence for his portrayal of Vicious, Oldman increased his profile during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s via starring roles in cult films such as Prick Up Your Ears (in which he played his second real-life portrayal: troubled playwright Joe Orton), Criminal Law (which marked Oldman's first use of an American accent), The Firm, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and State of Grace, with Janet Maslin referring to his work as "phenomenal" and Roger Ebert calling him "the best young British actor around." In late 1988, he starred opposite long-time hero Alan Bates in We Think the World of You, and alongside Dennis Hopper and Frances McDormand in Chattahoochee (1989). Oldman moved to the United States in the early 1990s, where he has since lived. Oldman and other young British actors of the 1980s who were becoming established Hollywood film actors, such as Tim Roth, Bruce Payne, Colin Firth and Paul McGann, were dubbed the 'Brit Pack'.
Mainstream success in the 1990s

In 1991, Oldman starred in what was at that point the most significant role of his career as Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's JFK. The following year, he starred as Count Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's romance-horror Dracula. A commercially successful film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, it was a box office success worldwide. Oldman's performance is regarded by many as a staple of the horror genre, and was recognised by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films as the best male performance of 1992, who awarded Oldman the prestigious Best Actor award. Oldman would later become a popular portrayer of villains in American cinema, he playing a violent pimp in True Romance (1993), a corrupt DEA officer in Léon (1994), a sadistic prison warden in Murder in the First (1995) and a futuristic corporate tyrant in The Fifth Element (1997). Oldman also displayed a skill for world accents; along with the Transylvanian Count Dracula, Oldman played German-born Viennese composer Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved, and Russian terrorist Ivan Korshunov in the 1997 blockbuster Air Force One. He also appeared as the Devil in the 1993 promo video to the Guns N' Roses single "Since I Don't Have You". Oldman also served as a Member of Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Since 2000

Oldman appeared opposite Jeff Bridges as zealous Republican congressman Sheldon Runyon in The Contender (2000), in which he was also credited as a producer. He received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for his performance. In 2001, he starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, as Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter. Oldman reportedly spent six hours per day in the make-up room to achieve the character's hideously disfigured appearance. It marked the second time Oldman had appeared opposite Hopkins, a personal friend who was part of the supporting cast of Dracula. Oldman is uncredited in the film, reportedly over a dispute regarding top billing, which was going to co-star Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. Oldman received an Emmy Award nomination for two guest appearances in Friends in 2001, appearing in the two-part episode "The One With Chandler and Monica's Wedding" as Richard Crosby, a pedantic actor who insists that "real" actors spit on one another when they enunciate, leading to the famous spitting scene between Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and himself. Oldman agreed to appear in the series after meeting LeBlanc on the set of Lost in Space in 1998.

Oldman later landed a major role in the Harry Potter film series, playing Harry Potter's godfather Sirius Black. Oldman and star Daniel Radcliffe reportedly became very close during the filming of the series. In 2005, Oldman starred as James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's commercially and critically acclaimed Batman Begins, a role he reprised in the even more successful sequel The Dark Knight (2008). Oldman co-starred with Jim Carrey in the 2009 version of A Christmas Carol in which Oldman played three roles. He had a starring role in David Goyer's supernatural thriller The Unborn, released in 2009. In 2010, Oldman co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli. He will play a lead role in Catherine Hardwicke's The Girl with the Red Riding Hood.

Oldman will appear as George Smiley in the 2012 re-adaptation of the John le Carré novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson, also starring Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy.

He has also participated in the creation of The Legend of Spyro games produced by Sierra Entertainment, providing the voice to the Fire Guardian, Ignitus. He also voices Sergeant Reznov in the award-winning video game Call of Duty: World at War as well as in Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latter which he also voiced a British scientist by the name of Daniel Clarke.
Filmmaking

In 1997, Oldman directed, produced, and wrote the award-winning Nil by Mouth, a movie partially based on his own childhood. Nil By Mouth went on to win the BAFTA Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (shared with Douglas Urbanski) and also the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, the Channel 4 Director's Award, and an Empire Award, and was declared by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts as one of the one hundred best films of all time. Recently, Nil By Mouth was listed by Time Out as number two of the top 50 best British films ever.

Oldman and producing partner Douglas Urbanski formed the SE8 GROUP to produce Nil By Mouth. The company also produced The Contender, which also starred Oldman. He was also credited as a producer. Oldman has finished his latest screenplay, Chang & Eng, co-written with Darin Strauss, based on the author's book of the same name; SE8 Group will produce. In September 2006, Nokia Nseries Studio released the Oldman-directed short film Donut, with music by Tor Hyams. The film was shot with an N93 in order to promote the phone. Oldman also directed the music video for "Red Rover", a song from Jewish rap group Chutzpah's second CD Hip Hop Fantasy, shot entirely on the N93. Juliet Landau made a 25-minute documentary about the making of the video.
Oldman has long established a cult following among film fans. He is known for playing the primary antagonist in a number of popular motion pictures, which has seen him referenced in popular culture. MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch aired a match between Oldman and Christopher Walken, citing their portrayals of many memorable Hollywood villains. Oldman's portrayal of Count Dracula was also spoofed by Jim Carrey on Fox comedy series In Living Color. His portrayal of Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy was ranked #62 in Premiere magazine's "100 Greatest Performances of All Time" and #8 in Uncut magazine's "10 Best actors in rockin' roles", while his portrayal of Stansfield in Léon was ranked #43 in the Online Film Critics Society's "Top 100 Villains of All Time." In 1993, Oldman had a cameo role as the Devil in the promo video to the Guns N' Roses single "Since I Don't Have You"—he also played the Devil in the 2002 BMW short Beat The Devil, alongside Clive Owen, James Brown and Marilyn Manson. On YouTube, Oldman is the subject of a number of tribute videos. In contrast to his often dark on-screen roles, Oldman's affable real-life demeanour has been noted, and he was named as one of Empire magazine's "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" in 2007.

Oldman's performances during his career have provided inspiration for younger actors who would go on to enjoy successful Hollywood careers. Brad Pitt has described Oldman as his foremost acting "god", while Daniel Radcliffe has cited Oldman as the actor whose career he would most like to emulate. Ryan Gosling has named Oldman as his favourite actor. Other actors who have been influenced by Oldman include: Shia LaBeouf, Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Foster, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, and Jason Isaacs. Dracula and Hannibal co-star, Anthony Hopkins, has described Oldman as "multi-talented, and has a great genius and flair for creativity." Oldman has garnered critical acclaim for his diverse performances and portrayals of real-life historical figures and is noted for his avoidance of the Hollywood celebrity scene, often being referred to as an "actor's actor". Oldman's performances have gained the admiration of prominent film critics: Roger Ebert has hailed him as "one of the great actors, able to play high, low, crass, noble", while Janet Maslin has called him a "phenomenal" actor who "since Sid and Nancy has taken on a string of new accents and dramatic identities with stunning ease." Oldman's portrayals of eccentric villains have occasionally polarized critics. He has recently stated, however, that he seeks to play more reserved roles at this stage in his career.

As of 15 December 2009, motion pictures starring Oldman as leading actor or supporting co-star have grossed over $2.5 billion at the United States box office, and over $6 billion worldwide.
1982 Remembrance Daniel
1984 Meantime Coxy the Skinhead TV
Morgan's Boy Colin TV
1985 Honest, Decent & True Derek Bates TV
1986 Sid and Nancy Sid Vicious
1987 Prick Up Your Ears Joe Orton
1988 Track 29 Martin
Criminal Law Ben Chase
We Think the World of You Johnny
The Firm Clive "Bex" Bissell TV
1989 Chattahoochee Emmett Foley
1990 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Rosencrantz
State of Grace Jackie Flannery
Henry & June Pop Credited as Maurice Escargot
1991 JFK Lee Harvey Oswald
Heading Home Ian Tyson TV
1992 Dracula Count Dracula
1993 True Romance Drexl Spivey
Romeo Is Bleeding Jack Grimaldi
1994 Léon Norman Stansfield Released as The Professional in the US
Immortal Beloved Ludwig van Beethoven
1995 Murder in the First Milton Glenn
The Scarlet Letter Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale
1996 Basquiat Albert Milo
1997 The Fifth Element Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg
Air Force One Ivan Korshunov
1998 Lost in Space Dr. Zachary Smith
Quest for Camelot Sir Ruber Voice only
The Fifth Element Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg Voice only (video game)
1999 Jesus Pontius Pilate TV
2000 The Contender Rep. Sheldon Runyon Also executive producer
Monsignor Renard Unlisted TV, uncredited
2001 Nobody's Baby Buford Hill Also producer
Hannibal Mason Verger
Friends Richard Crosby TV (2 episodes)
2002 Interstate 60 O. W. Grant
The Hire: Beat the Devil The Devil Short subject
Greg the Bunny Himself TV (1 episode)
2003 Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Sgt. Jack Barnes Voice only (video game)
Tiptoes Rolfe
True Crime: Streets of LA Rasputin "Rocky" Kuznetskov, Agent Masterson Voice only (video game)
Sin Charlie Strom
2004 Dead Fish Lynch
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Sirius Black
Who's Kyle? Scouse
2005 Batman Begins Jim Gordon
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Sirius Black
2006 The Backwoods Paul
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Ignitus Voice only (video game)
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Sirius Black
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Ignitus Voice only (video game)
2008 The Dark Knight Jim Gordon
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Ignitus Voice only (video game)
Call of Duty: World at War Sgt. Viktor Reznov Voice only (video game)
2009 The Unborn Rabbi Joseph Sendak
Rain Fall Holtzer
A Christmas Carol Tiny Tim/Bob Cratchit/Jacob Marley
Planet 51 General Grawl Voice only
2010 The Book of Eli Carnegie
Call of Duty: Black Ops Sgt. Viktor Reznov, Dr. Daniel Clarke Voice only (video game)
2011 Guns, Girls and Gambling Elvis
Red Riding Hood Father Soloman post-production
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Sirius Black post-production
Kung Fu Panda 2 Lord Shen (voice) post-production
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy George Smiley filming
Awards and nominations
Year Group Award Film/Show Result
1987 Evening Standard British Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer Sid and Nancy Won
BAFTA Awards Best Actor Prick Up Your Ears Nominated
1988 London Film Critics' Circle Awards ALFS Award for Actor of the Year Sid and Nancy Won
1990 Independent Spirit Award Best Leading Male Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Nominated
1992 Saturn Awards Best Actor Dracula Won
1993 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (shared with Winona Ryder) Dracula Nominated
1995 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Screen Couple (shared with Demi Moore) The Scarlet Letter Nominated
1997 BAFTA Awards Best British Film Nil by Mouth Won
Best Screenplay Won
British Independent Film Awards Best British Director of an Independent Film Nominated
Best Original Screenplay by a British Writer of a Produced Independent Film Nominated
Edinburgh International Film Festival Channel 4 Director's Award Won
Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Nominated
1998 Empire Awards Best Debut Won
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Favorite Supporting Actor – Action/Adventure Air Force One Nominated
MTV Movie Awards Best Fight (shared with Harrison Ford) Nominated
MTV Movie Awards Best Villain Nominated
1999 Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actor Lost in Space Nominated
2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Alan J. Pakula Award The Contender Won
Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Male Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated
Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Friends Nominated
USA Film Festival Master Screen Artist Tribute Award Won
2003 DVD Exclusive Awards Best Supporting Actor Interstate 60 Nominated
2005 Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actor Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Nominated
2008 Scream Awards Best Supporting Actor The Dark Knight Won
2009 People's Choice Awards Best Cast (w/ Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal) The Dark Knight Won
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i31/tasha527/lookatme.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g300/cabernetsauv/garyoldman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/22/11 at 5:14 am

The person of the day...Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976), better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower. In 1996, Witherspoon appeared in Freeway and followed that appearance with roles in three major 1998 films: Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville, and Twilight. The following year, Witherspoon appeared in the critically acclaimed Election, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

2001 marked her career's turning point with the breakout role as "Elle Woods" in the box office hit Legally Blonde, and in 2002 she starred in Sweet Home Alabama, which became her biggest commercial film success to date. 2003 saw her return as lead actress and executive producer of Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. In 2005, Witherspoon received worldwide attention and praise for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, which earned her an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Witherspoon married actor and Cruel Intentions co-star Ryan Phillippe in 1999; they have two children, Ava and Deacon. The couple separated at the end of 2006 and divorced in October 2007. Witherspoon owns a production company, Type A Films, and she is actively involved in children's and women's advocacy organizations. She serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007, serving as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation.
2001 marked a significant turning point in Witherspoon's career, when she starred in the feature film Legally Blonde. She portrayed Elle Woods, a fashion merchandising major who decides to become a law student in order to follow her ex-boyfriend to Harvard University. Speaking about Woods' character, Witherspoon said "When I read Legally Blonde, I was like, 'She's from Beverly Hills, she's rich, she's in a sorority. She has a great boyfriend. Oh yeah, she gets dumped. Who cares? I still hate her.' So we had to make sure she was the kind of person you just can't hate." Legally Blonde was a box office hit, grossing US$96 million domestically. Witherspoon's performance earned her praise from critics, as the press began referring to her as "the new Meg Ryan". Roger Ebert commented, "Witherspoon effortlessly animated this material with sunshine and quick wit", and Salon.com noted that "she delineates Elle's character beautifully". Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer concluded, "Witherspoon is a talented comedian who can perk up a scene just by marching in full of pep and drive and she powers this modest little comedy almost single-handedly." For her work, Witherspoon garnered her second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.

Following the success of Legally Blonde, Witherspoon starred in several roles. In 2002, Witherspoon provided the voice of the animated character Greta Wolfcastle in The Simpsons episode The Bart Wants What It Wants. In the same year, she portrayed Cecily in the comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, a movie adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde; she received a Teen Choice Award nomination for her performance. Her next feature film in 2002 was Sweet Home Alabama, a movie directed by Andy Tennant. Witherspoon, alongside Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey, played Melanie Carmichael, a young fashion designer who intends to marry a New York politician but must return to Alabama to divorce her childhood sweetheart, from whom she has been separated for seven years. Witherspoon regarded this as a "personal role" in that the role reminded her of experiences she had when she moved from her hometown Nashville to Los Angeles. The movie became Witherspoon's biggest box office hit to date, earning over $35 million in the opening weekend and grossing over $127 million domestically in the US. Despite the commercial success, Sweet Home Alabama was given negative reviews by critics. It was called "a romantic comedy so rote, dull and predictable" by The Miami Herald, and the press widely agreed that Witherspoon was the only factor that helped the movie attract a large audience. When describing Witherspoon's role in the movie, The Christian Science Monitor concluded, "She is not the movie's main attraction, she is its only attraction."

In 2003, Witherspoon followed up the success of Legally Blonde by starring in the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. Her character, Elle Woods, has become a Harvard-educated lawyer who is determined to protect animals from cosmetics-industry science tests. The sequel was not as financially successful as the first movie, and it generated mostly critical reviews. USA Today considered the movie "plodding, unfunny and almost cringe-worthy", but also noted that "Reese Witherspoon still does a fine job portraying the fair-haired lovable brainiac, but her top-notch comic timing is wasted on the humorless dialogue." Meanwhile, Salon.com concluded that the sequel "calcifies everything that was enjoyable about the first movie". Despite being panned by critics, the sequel took over $39 million in its first five days in the U.S. box office charts and went on to gross $90 million in the US. Witherspoon received a $15 million paycheck for the role – a starting point to make her consistently one of Hollywood's highest paid actresses from 2002 onwards.

In 2004, Witherspoon starred in Vanity Fair, adapted from the 19th-century classic novel Vanity Fair and directed by Mira Nair. Witherspoon's character – Becky Sharp – is a woman whose impoverished childhood turns her into an ambitious person with a ruthless determination to find fortune and establish herself a position in society. Witherspoon was pregnant during the filmmaking of this movie and was therefore carefully costumed to conceal her pregnancy. This pregnancy was not a hindrance to her work, as Witherspoon believed the gestation had in fact helped her portrayal of Sharp's character: "I love the luminosity that pregnancy brings, I love the fleshiness, I love the ample bosom—it gave me much more to play with", she said. The film and Witherspoon's portrayal of Sharp received good reviews, as The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Nair's cast is splendid. Witherspoon does justice to the juicy role by giving the part more buoyancy than naughtiness." At the same time, The Charlotte Observer called her work "an excellent performance that's soft around the edges" and the Los Angeles Times concluded that Becky is "a part Reese Witherspoon was born to play".
Walk the Line and beyond (2005–present)

In late 2004, Witherspoon began working alongside Mark Ruffalo on the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. Her character, Elizabeth Masterson, is an ambitious young doctor left in a coma by a serious car accident; her spirit returns to her old apartment where she later finds true love.
Witherspoon at the premiere of Walk The Line at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival

Earlier that year Witherspoon was chosen to portray June Carter Cash, the second wife of country music singer and songwriter Johnny Cash, in Walk the Line. She never had the chance to meet Carter Cash, as Witherspoon was filming Vanity Fair at the time Carter Cash died. Witherspoon performed her own vocals in the movie, and her songs had to be performed in front of a live audience. When she learned that she had to perform live, Witherspoon was so worried that she asked her lawyer to terminate the film contract. "That was the most challenging part of the role," she later recalled in an interview, "I'd never sung professionally." Subsequently, she had to spend six months learning how to sing for the role. Witherspoon's portrayal of Carter Cash was well received by critics, and Roger Ebert wrote that her performance added "boundless energy" to the movie. She won several awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild, the BAFTA and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role. Besides critical success in the movie industry, Witherspoon and her co-star in Walk the Line Joaquin Phoenix received a nomination for "collaborative video of the year" from the CMT Music Awards. Witherspoon expressed her passion for the movie: "I really like in this film that it is realistic and portrays sort of a real marriage, a real relationship where there are forbidden thoughts and fallibility. And it is about compassion in the long haul, not just the short easy solutions to problems." She also spoke about June Carter Cash, stating that she believed Carter Cash was a woman ahead of her time: "I think the really remarkable thing about her character is that she did all of these things that we sort of see as normal things in the 1950s when it wasn't really acceptable for a woman to be married and divorced twice and have two different children by two different husbands and travel around in a car full of very famous musicians all by herself. She didn't try to comply to social convention, so I think that makes her a very modern woman."

Witherspoon's first post-Oscar role came in the modern-day fairy tale Penelope, co-starring Christina Ricci. Witherspoon played the supporting role of Annie, the best friend of Penelope, a girl who has a curse in her family. The film was produced by Witherspoon's company Type A Films and premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. After the final release date of Penelope was delayed twice, the movie eventually had a February 2008 release.

Witherspoon was back in front of the camera again in November 2006, as shooting began for the political thriller Rendition. She starred alongside Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Isabella El-Ibrahim, the pregnant wife of a bombing suspect. Rendition was released in October 2007 and marked Witherspoon's first appearance in theaters in two years, since the 2005 release of Walk the Line. The movie received mostly negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment at the Toronto Film Festival. Witherspoon's performance was also criticized: "Reese Witherspoon is surprisingly lifeless", USA Today wrote, "She customarily injects energy and spirit into her parts, but here, her performance feels tamped down." In December 2007, Witherspoon began filming the holiday comedy Four Christmases, a story about a couple who have to spend their Christmas Day trying to visit all four of their divorced parents, and in which she stars alongside Vince Vaughn. The film was released in November 2008. Despite only receiving average reviews by critics, the movie became a box office success, earning more than 120 million US dollars domestically, and US$157m worldwide. Witherspoon next provided the voice for Susan Murphy, the main character of the computer-animated 3-D feature film Monsters vs. Aliens, which had a March 27, 2009 release from DreamWorks Animation.

With the exception of this animated role, Witherspoon did not appear in a live action film for two years following the release of Four Christmases. Witherspoon told Entertainment Weekly that the "break" was unplanned, stating that, "I just didn’t read anything I liked...There are a lot of really, really, really big movies about robots and things- and there’s not a part for a 34-year-old woman in a robot movie." Witherspoon returned with three films in late 2010 and 2011, all centered around Witherspoon as a woman caught in a love triangle between two men.

The first was James L. Brooks's romantic comedy How Do You Know, which starred Witherspoon as a thirty-something former national softball player who struggles to choose between a philandering baseball star boyfriend (Owen Wilson) and a business executive being investigated for white collar crime (Paul Rudd). The movie was filmed over the summer and fall of 2009 in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, and released on December 17, 2010. The movie was both a critical and box office failure. Despite an over $100 million budget, the film earned only $7.6 million in its opening weekend, leading the Los Angeles Times to call it "one of the year's biggest flops". The movie earned mainly negative reviews from critics, scoring 35% on Rotten Tomatoes with 111 reviews as of late December 2010.

Next up for Witherspoon was a second movie based on a love triangle, the upcoming film adaptation of the 1930s circus drama Water for Elephants. Witherspoon began circus training in March 2010 for her role as Marlena, a glamorous performer stuck in a marriage to a volatile husband (Christoph Waltz) but intrigued by the circus's new veterinarian (Robert Pattinson). Filming for the movie took place between late May and early August 2010, and it is scheduled for an April 2011 release. In September 2010, Witherspoon began principal photography in Vancouver for the third film, This Means War, a 20th Century Fox spy comedy directed by McG, in which Witherspoon stars as a woman at the center of a battle between two best friends (played by Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) who are both in love with her. The film is set for a 2011 release.

Witherspoon will then voice the role of Princess Mérida in Brave, a computer-animated 3-D film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, to be released in June 2012. It has also been announced that Witherspoon will produce (under the Type A banner) and star in both Pharm Girl, a film about a woman who takes on the pharmaceutical industry, and a Peggy Lee biopic to be directed by Nora Ephron.

Witherspoon's name has been attached to a number of other possible future films as well, including a Universal Pictures remake of the 1939 comedy Midnight, scripted by Michael Arndt, and the horror film Our Family Troubles, which she would produce through Type A with Jennifer Simpson, co-producer of Legally Blonde 2. Witherspoon is also rumoured to be taking on a role alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film based on the history of Scientology, tentatively titled The Master. Witherspoon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 1, 2010 at 6262 Hollywood Blvd. Discography
Year Soundtrack
2005 Walk the Line
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/britt1605/reese_witherspoon_24.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h379/SirKnight2011/beautiful%20women/reese_witherspoon-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/22/11 at 6:42 am

She's a fine actress,I loved her performance in Legally Blonde.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/23/11 at 6:11 am

The person of the day...Kerri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Russell has since appeared in several films, including We Were Soldiers, The Upside of Anger, Mad About Mambo, Wonder Woman, Mission: Impossible III, Waitress, August Rush, Bedtime Stories, and Extraordinary Measures.
Russell first appeared on television as a cast member of the All-New Mickey Mouse Club variety show on the Disney Channel. She was on the show from 1991 to 1993 and co-starred with future pop stars Chasen Hampton, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling.

In 1992, she appeared in Honey, I Blew Up the Kid alongside Rick Moranis and in 1993 had a role on the sitcom Boy Meets World as Mr. Feeny's niece. Keri had an appearance on Married with Children in a 1995 episode. Russell subsequently starred in several film and television roles, including the 1996 made-for-television film The Babysitter's Seduction. She also had a role on the short-lived soap opera series Malibu Shores the same year. In 1994, she appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "Always" with Jack Noseworthy. In 1997, she appeared in two episodes of Roar alongside Heath Ledger.

From 1998 to 2002, Russell starred as the title character on the successful WB Network series Felicity; she won a Golden Globe for the role in 1999. Russell's long and curly hair was one of her character's defining characteristics, and a drastic hairstyle change at the beginning of the show's second season was considered to be the cause of a significant drop in the show's television ratings. During the show's run, Russell appeared in the films Eight Days a Week, The Curve, and Mad About Mambo, all of which received only limited releases in North America. Her next role was in the film We Were Soldiers, playing the wife of an American serviceman. The film was released in March 2002, two months before the end of Felicity's run.
2003–present
Russell at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

When Felicity ended, Russell took a break from acting. She moved to New York City and took two years off to avoid the business of Hollywood, spending time with friends. Russell subsequently made her off-Broadway stage debut in 2004, appearing opposite Jeremy Piven, Andrew McCarthy, and Ashlie Atkinson in Neil LaBute's Fat Pig. In 2005, she returned to television and film, beginning with an appearance in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie The Magic of Ordinary Days, theatrical film The Upside of Anger (alongside Kevin Costner, Joan Allen and Evan Rachel Wood), and the television miniseries Into the West.

Although a number of her Felicity co-stars went on to appear in producer J. J. Abrams' series, Alias, Russell declined invitations to be part of the show. In a seminar at the Museum of Television and Radio, Abrams said, "I've asked Keri if she would ever do it, and I usually get this, sort of like, giggle — and then she hangs up". In 2005, Abrams asked Russell to join the cast of Mission: Impossible III, a film he directed, and she accepted. The film was released on May 5, 2006. In the summer of 2006, Russell was chosen to be a celebrity spokeswoman for CoverGirl Cosmetics. Before she was in Mission Impossible: III she was screen tested for the role of Lois Lane in Superman Returns but lost the role to Kate Bosworth, with whom she co-starred in The Girl in the Park.

She taped two episodes as a guest character on the NBC show Scrubs in 2007. She played Melody, a sorority sister and good friend of Elliot Reid played by Sarah Chalke. The first episode aired on April 26, and the second on May 3. She starred in Waitress, a well-reviewed independent film in which she played Jenna, a pregnant waitress in the American South; it was the fourth film in a row in which Russell had played a pregnant woman. The film opened on May 4, 2007 and Russell's performance was positively received by critics, with Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun writing that Russell's performance had "aesthetic character" and "welds tenderness and fierceness with quiet heat". In the summer of 2007, Russell appeared in The Keri Kronicles, a reality show/sitcom sponsored by CoverGirl and airing on MySpace; the show was filmed at Russell's home in Manhattan and spotlighted her life.

Russell next appeared in August Rush, a drama released in November, 2007. She also appeared on the cover of the New York Post's Page Six magazine on November 11, 2007. She has completed roles in Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (titled Rohtenburg for its German release), in which she plays Katie Armstrong, a graduate student who writes a thesis paper on an infamous cannibal murder case, and the thriller The Girl in the Park, opposite Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth and Alessandro Nivola.

Russell later appeared in Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler playing the lead. In an appearance on The View on December 15, 2008, Russell said she got the part because Sandler's wife Jackie had seen Russell in Waitress and suggested her for the movie.

Russell portrayed Wonder Woman in a direct-to-video animated feature released March 3, 2009. She starred alongside Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford in the Tom Vaughan-helmed Extraordinary Measures for CBS Films. The drama, which started filming on April 6, 2009 and was released on January 22, 2010, was the first film to go into production for the new company. Russell played Aileen Crowley, a mother who tries to build a normal home life for her sick children while her husband, John (Fraser), and an unconventional scientist (Ford) race against time to find a cure. Robert Nelson Jacobs (The Water Horse) penned the screenplay, which was inspired by a Wall Street Journal article and subsequent book, The Cure, by Geeta Anand. Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher produced alongside Carla Shamberg. Ford was an executive producer.

Russell plays Emmy Kadubic on Running Wilde, a comedy television series airing on Fox's 2010 Fall schedule on Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c.
Personal life

Russell and Shane Deary, a carpenter she met through mutual friends, became engaged in 2006 and were married on February 14, 2007 in New York. Russell gave birth to a boy, River Russell Deary, on June 9, 2007 in New York. Russell had a midwife-assisted hospital birth; she has described her pregnancy experience as "real great and easy". Prior to her marriage, Russell had once dated her Felicity co-star Scott Speedman during the show's run. Russell also dated fellow Mouseketeer (and eventual Malibu Shores co-star) Tony Lucca for eight years.

As of 2007, Russell resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Filmography
Film & Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1991-1993 The Mickey Mouse Club Various Roles TV series
1992 Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Mandy Park
1993 Boy Meets World Jessica Feeny Episode: "Grandma Was a Rolling Stone"
1993 Emerald Cove Andrea McKinsey TV series
1994 Daddy's Girls Phoebe Episode: "Pilot"
Episode: "American in Paris... Cool"
Episode: "Keep Your Business Out of My Business"
1995 Married with Children April Adams Episode: "Radio Free Trumaine"
1995 Clerks. Sandra TV movie
1996 The Babysitters Seduction Michelle Winston TV movie
1996 The Lottery Felice Dunbar TV movie
1996 Malibu Shores Chloe Walker 10 episodes
1997 Eight Days a Week Erica
1997 When Innocence Is Lost Erica French TV movie
1997 7th Heaven Camille Episode: "Choices"
1997 Roar Claire Episode: "Pilot"
Episode: "Banshee"
1998 The Curve Emma
1998-2002 Felicity Felicity Porter 84 episodes
1999 Cinderelmo Princess TV movie
2000 Mad About Mambo Lucy McLoughlin
2002 We Were Soldiers Barbara Geoghegan
2005 The Upside of Anger Emily Wolfmeyer
2005 The Magic of Ordinary Days Olivia 'Livy' Dunn TV movie
2005 Into the West Naomi Wheeler Episode: "Manifest Destiny"
2006 Mission: Impossible III Lindsey Farris
2007 Grimm Love Katie Armstrong
2007 Waitress Jenna Hunterson
2007 Scrubs Melody O'Hara Episode: "My Turf War"
Episode: "My Cold Shower"
2007 The Girl in the Park Celeste
2007 August Rush Lyla Novacek
2008 Bedtime Stories Jill
2009 Wonder Woman Wonder Woman / Diana Prince (voice) Direct-to-video Animated Film
2009 Leaves of Grass Janet
2010 Extraordinary Measures Aileen Crowley
2010 Running Wilde Emmy Kadubic 12 episodes
2011 Goats Judy Filming
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll41/EcenaMexicana/Keri_Russell-1-August_Rush.jpg
http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h440/zillionaire-9/211/keri-russell-emmy-awards-2010-02.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/23/11 at 6:46 am

I like Keri Russell,I watched Felicity a few times,It's ok.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/24/11 at 6:04 am

The person of the day...Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger (born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and founder of the brand Tommy Hilfiger.
Hilfiger born in Elmira, New York. The second of nine children, he grew up in an Irish-American family; he claims direct descent from Scottish poet Robert Burns. His parents originally intended for him to be an engineer. He attended Elmira Free Academy for high school. Rather than furthering his education, he started to work in retail at the age of 18. Hilfiger would go to New York City to buy jeans and bell-bottom pants, which he customized and resold at a local downtown Elmira store, Brown's.

He later opened his own store, named The People's Place, around the block in downtown Elmira. Although the store was a hot spot for teens with frequent contests and live DJ appearances, there were often more people hanging out than shopping. Over the years, a number of stores closed in downtown Elmira as shopping traffic shifted to the new Arnot Mall in Horseheads, New York. It wasn't long before The People's Place became another casualty. After seven years, The People's Place went bankrupt, when Hilfiger was 25. The site of the original store has since been demolished to make room for First Arena, home of the Elmira Jackals Hockey team.
Career

After turning to the design of clothing by designing for the rest of his stores in upstate New York, Hilfiger moved to New York City with his now estranged wife, Susie. Although he was offered design assistant positions with designers Calvin Klein and Perry Ellis, and was broke, he turned them both down with greater plans in mind.

In 1984, he founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, (NYSE:TOM), with support from The Murjani Group, which went public in 1992, introducing his signature menswear collection. By 2004 the company had 5,400 employees and revenues in excess of $1.8 billion. Hilfiger was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1997.

In 1998, Hilfiger gave singer Aaliyah her endorsement deal, in which he honored her in his Summer 1998 fashion show in Jamaica.

In 2005, a CBS TV reality show called The Cut tracked the progress of sixteen contestants as they competed for a design job with Hilfiger in similar fashion to Donald Trump's The Apprentice. In the end Hilfiger chose Chris Cortez.

Largely due to declining sales, in 2006, Tommy Hilfiger sold his company for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, to Apax Partners, a private investment company.

In March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein, bought the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $3 billion.
Personal life

Hilfiger has four children with his ex-wife, Susie: Alexandria ("Ally"), Richard, Elizabeth, and Kathleen. His daughter Ally was featured in the MTV reality show Rich Girls and his son, Rich, was signed to hip hop super producer Swizz Beatz' label Full Surface. Rich, who goes by the hip-hop stage name Rich Hil, was arrested on August 1, 2010 in West Hollywood for possession of marijuana and intent to sell.

Hilfiger put his Greenwich, Connecticut, mansion on the market in the summer of 2008 for an asking price of $27 million.

On December 12, 2008, he married his second wife Dee Ocleppo (née Erbug), former wife of Gianni Ocleppo, famous Italian Tennis player of the 1980s.

On February 25, 2009, the New York Post reported that Ocleppo was three months pregnant, and Hilfiger would welcome a fifth child later in 2009.

On May 4, 2009, Hilfiger and Ocleppo announced they were expecting a boy, who was born on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, and named Sebastian Thomas Hilfiger.
Criticisms

Hilfiger has been criticized for manufacturing clothes in sweatshop conditions in the United States territory of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. As a U.S. Commonwealth, clothes made there can be labeled "Made in the USA", but federal labor laws including the minimum wage do not apply. In March 2000, the company, along with other defendants, settled a class action suit brought by Saipan garment workers, which had alleged mistreatment by over 20 large U.S. clothing manufacturers.
Libellous hoax email

An email saying that Hilfiger appeared on the Oprah Winfrey television show on "28 November" and made racist remarks, and calling for a boycott of Hilfiger's merchandise, has circulated widely. It was first seen in 1996, seemed to disappear, but reappeared and was still in circulation as of 2010. Winfrey made clear on her show and website in 1999 that Hilfiger had never appeared on her show until then, much less made the remarks attributed to him in the email; and Hilfiger paid investigators, who traced it to a college campus but could not identify the perpetrator. Allegations were reported to the Anti-Defamation League; they wrote to Hilfiger in 2001 "We have concluded that these rumors are completely false, and it is apparent that you never made the statements attributed to you, nor did you appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show". Hilfiger appeared on the Winfrey show on 1 January 2006, where he and Winfrey repeated that he had not appeared before. Winfrey said about the email "You're supposed to say, 'That's a big fat lie.'"
Product lines

    * Hilfiger Denim, a premium-upscale denim collection for men and women. Designs are inspired by American classics and finished with a modern edge.
    * True Star Gold, fragrance created by Hilfiger and spokeswoman Beyoncé Knowles
    * True Star, another fragrance created by Hilfiger and with spokesperson Beyoncé Knowles & True Star Men, a fragrance created by Hilfiger and with spokesperson Enrique Iglesias
    * Tommy Girl, fragrance for women
    * Red Label, a line of denim-themed products including jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts
    * H by Tommy Hilfiger, an upscale line which was ended after Tommy Hilfger sold his company, the same sort of style is now carried on under the Tommy Hilfiger label in their specialty stores
    * Tommy Hilfiger, the company line of clothes sold in department stores, company stores, and specialty stores
    * Tommy Sport, a defunct line that came out in the 1990s and capitalized on Hilfiger's popularity in urban areas.
    * Tommy Hilfiger for the Home, a line of bedding and bath products
    * Tommy Sailing, was due to be released in January or February 2007.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/KommikaL/hilfiger.jpg
http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af152/Kenzie_Martin_93/Tommy%20Hilfiger/TommyHilfiger.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/24/11 at 6:06 am

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M2NsmZYQG90/Sr9jygprnyI/AAAAAAAAAhc/fhVZw4DKMvY/s320/tommy-hilfiger-tommy-girl-edc-spray-30ml.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/11 at 5:48 am

The person of the day...Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. He has worked with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.

In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998.In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a year later began hosting the annual Academy Award Party, which has since become one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $200 million. John entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (third overall, behind only The Beatles and Madonna).
Debut album to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1969–1973)

On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha", and an album, Empty Sky.

For their follow-up album, Elton John, John and Taupin enlisted Gus Dudgeon as producer and Paul Buckmaster as musical arranger. Elton John was released in the April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song", made into the US Top 100, peaking at Number 92. The second single "Your Song" made the US Top Ten, peaking at number eight and becoming John's first hit single as a singer. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970, and was a success.

The concept album Tumbleweed Connection was released in October 1970, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. The live album 17-11-70 (11-17-70 in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the US when an east coast bootlegger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.
Elton John in the Musikhalle Hamburg in March 1972

John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends". In 1972, Davey Johnstone joined the Elton John Band on guitar and backing vocals. The band released Honky Chateau, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat".

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first US Billboard Hot 100 number one hit. Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.
Rocket Records to 21 at 33 (1974–1979)

John formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee – in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.

In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.

Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".

Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform a song named "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the US). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
Elton John performing live in 1975

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.

The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.

Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the US albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. Elton John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Mozart among others at his concerts.

To celebrate five years since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also played piano on Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver, and was among the first and few white artists to appear on the black music series Soul Train on American television.

In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the Blue Moves album in October, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", were released. His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", John stated that he was bisexual.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in Rolling Stone'in 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.

During the same period, John made a guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise Show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.

In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. Now only producing one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne; the album produced no singles that made the Top 20 in the US but the two singles from the album released in the UK, Part-Time Love and Song for Guy, both made the Top 20 in the UK with the latter reaching the Top 5. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became the first Western pop star to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the US in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9, 1979), a song originally rejected in 1977 by MCA before being released, recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell. Elton reported that Thom Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons; Bell encouraged John to sing in a lower register. A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love, was poorly received. In 1979, John and Taupin reunited. 21 at 33, released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number 3 US), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne.
John has been associated with AIDS charities since the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage haemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.
Activism

On 1 April 2010, John joined Cyndi Lauper in the launch of her Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the LGBT community as part of her True Colors Fund. In the advertisement, John states: "Imagine walking down the street and wondering if this is the day you'll get beaten up, or even killed, simply because of who you are". The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Judith Light, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, and Anna Paquin.
Awards

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995. For his charitable work, John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 February 1998. In October 1975, John became the 1,662nd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He became a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, and a Disney Legends Award in 2006. In 2010, Elton John was awarded with the PRS for Music Heritage Award, which was erected, on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Watford, where Elton performed his first ever gig.

Music awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1994 for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); and the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2000 for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Tim Rice)

John has six Grammy Awards:

    * 1987 - Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "That's What Friends Are For", performed by Dionne Warwick & Friends (award shared with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
    * 1991 - Best Instrumental Composition for "Basque", performed by James Galway
    * 1994 - Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"
    * 1997 - Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Candle In The Wind" 1997
    * 1999 - Grammy Legend Award
    * 2000 - Best Musical Show Album for Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Tim Rice, Chris Mountain, Frank Filipetti, Guy Babylon, Paul Bogaev and Frank Filipetti)

Discography
Main article: Elton John discography

Studio albums

    * Empty Sky (1969)
    * Elton John (1970)
    * Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
    * Madman Across the Water (1971)
    * Honky Château (1972)
    * Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)
    * Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
    * Caribou (1974)
    * Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
    * Rock of the Westies (1975)
    * Blue Moves (1976)
    * A Single Man (1978)
    * Victim of Love (1979)
    * 21 at 33 (1980)
    * The Fox (1981)
    * Jump Up! (1982)
    * Too Low for Zero (1983)
    * Breaking Hearts (1984)
    * Ice on Fire (1985)
    * Leather Jackets (1986)
    * Reg Strikes Back (1988)
    * Sleeping with the Past (1989)
    * The One (1992)
    * Duets (1993)
    * Made in England (1995)
    * The Big Picture (1997)
    * Songs from the West Coast (2001)
    * Peachtree Road (2004)
    * The Captain & the Kid (2006)
    * The Union (with Leon Russell) (2010)

Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums

    * Friends (1971)
    * The Lion King (1994)
    * Aida (1998)
    * The Muse (1999)
    * The Road to El Dorado (soundtrack) (2000)
    * Billy Elliot (2005)
    * Lestat (2005)

Films

    * Elton John: Me, Myself & I (2007) autobiography as himself
    * The Country Bears, US (2002) as himself
    * Spice World, UK (1997) as himself
    * Tommy, UK (1975) as Pinball Wizard
    * Born to Boogie, US playing as himself with Marc Bolan and Ringo Starr
http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa354/CarolDeArmitt/Elton_John_hi.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss82/AinesFlynn/Elton%20John%20Images/Yes.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/25/11 at 6:39 am

Elton John is the best,I have a whole of favorites. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/25/11 at 11:10 am

The funny thing was, WAY back in the dark ages (early '70s) when Sir Elton was first popular, I didn't care too much for him (but loved the song Crocodile Rock). But, over the years, he really grew on me and now I love him/love his music. I think he's great.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/11 at 11:58 am


Elton John is the best,I have a whole of favorites. :)

The funny thing was, WAY back in the dark ages (early '70s) when Sir Elton was first popular, I didn't care too much for him (but loved the song Crocodile Rock). But, over the years, he really grew on me and now I love him/love his music. I think he's great.



Cat

Elton would be my all time favorite. Was lucky a while back and got to see both him and Billy Joel in concert together :) He's coming to Rochester this year, but the funds are just not there :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/25/11 at 1:01 pm


The person of the day...Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. He has worked with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.

In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998.In 1992 he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a year later began hosting the annual Academy Award Party, which has since become one of the most high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over $200 million. John entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists" (third overall, behind only The Beatles and Madonna).
Debut album to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1969–1973)

On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John and Taupin started writing more complex songs for John to record for DJM. The first was the single "I've Been Loving You" (1968), produced by Caleb Quaye, former Bluesology guitarist. In 1969, with Quaye, drummer Roger Pope, and bassist Tony Murray, John recorded another single, "Lady Samantha", and an album, Empty Sky.

For their follow-up album, Elton John, John and Taupin enlisted Gus Dudgeon as producer and Paul Buckmaster as musical arranger. Elton John was released in the April 1970 on DJM Records/Pye Records in the UK and Uni Records in the USA, and established the formula for subsequent albums; gospel-chorded rockers and poignant ballads. The first single from the album, "Border Song", made into the US Top 100, peaking at Number 92. The second single "Your Song" made the US Top Ten, peaking at number eight and becoming John's first hit single as a singer. The album soon became his first hit album, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Backed by ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970, and was a success.

The concept album Tumbleweed Connection was released in October 1970, and reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. The live album 17-11-70 (11-17-70 in the US) was recorded at a live show aired from A&R Studios on WABC-FM in New York City. Sales of the live album were heavily hit in the US when an east coast bootlegger released the performance several weeks before the official album, including all 60 minutes of the aircast, not just the 40 minutes selected by Dick James Music.
Elton John in the Musikhalle Hamburg in March 1972

John and Taupin then wrote the soundtrack to the obscure film Friends and then the album Madman Across the Water, the latter reaching the Top Ten and producing the hit "Levon", while the soundtrack album produced the hit "Friends". In 1972, Davey Johnstone joined the Elton John Band on guitar and backing vocals. The band released Honky Chateau, which became John's first American number 1 album, spending five weeks at the top of the charts and spawning the hit singles "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)" (which is often compared to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") and "Honky Cat".

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first US Billboard Hot 100 number one hit. Both the album and "Crocodile Rock" were the first album and single, respectively on the consolidated MCA Records label in the USA, replacing MCA's other labels including Uni.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining at Number 1 for two months. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star. It contained the number 1 hit "Bennie and the Jets", along with the popular and praised "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" (originally recorded and released in 1970 as the B-side to the UK-only single, "Rock and Roll Madonna"). There is also a VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Albums series, discussing the making, recording, and popularity of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" through concert and home video footage including interviews.
Rocket Records to 21 at 33 (1974–1979)

John formed his own MCA-distributed label Rocket Records and signed acts to it – notably Neil Sedaka ("Bad Blood", on which he sang background vocals) and Kiki Dee – in which he took personal interest. Instead of releasing his own records on Rocket, he opted for $8 million offered by MCA. When the contract was signed in 1974, MCA reportedly took out a $25 million insurance policy on John's life.

In 1974 a collaboration with John Lennon took place, resulting in Elton John covering The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Lennon's "One Day at a Time", and in return Elton John and band being featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You thru the Night". In what would be Lennon's last live performance, the pair performed these two number 1 hits along with the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" at Madison Square Garden. Lennon made the rare stage appearance to keep the promise he made that he would appear on stage with Elton if "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" became a number 1 single.

Caribou was released in 1974, and although it reached number 1, it was widely considered a lesser quality album. Reportedly recorded in a scant two weeks between live appearances, it featured "The Bitch Is Back" and John's versatility in orchestral songs with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".

Pete Townshend of The Who asked John to play a character called the "Local Lad" in the film of the rock opera Tommy, and to perform a song named "Pinball Wizard". Drawing on power chords, John's version was recorded and used for the movie release in 1975 and the single came out in 1976 (1975 in the US). The song charted at number 7 in England. Bally subsequently released a "Captain Fantastic" pinball machine featuring an illustration of John in his movie guise.
Elton John performing live in 1975

In the 1975 autobiographical album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, John revealed his previously ambiguous personality, with Taupin's lyrics describing their early days as struggling songwriters and musicians in London. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that is otherwise rare in John's music. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was the hit single from this album and captured an early turning point in John's life.

The album's release signalled the end of the Elton John Band, as an unhappy and overworked John dismissed Olsson and Murray, two people who had contributed much of the band's signature sound and who had helped build his live following since the beginning. Johnstone and Ray Cooper were retained, Quaye and Roger Pope returned, and the new bassist was Kenny Passarelli; this rhythm section provided a heavier-sounding backbeat. James Newton-Howard joined to arrange in the studio and to play keyboards. John introduced the lineup before a crowd of 75,000 in London's Wembley Stadium.

Rock-oriented Rock of the Westies entered the US albums chart at number 1 like Captain Fantastic, a previously unattained feat. Elton John's stage wardrobe now included ostrich feathers, $5,000 spectacles that spelled his name in lights, and dressing up like the Statue of Liberty, Donald Duck, or Mozart among others at his concerts.

To celebrate five years since he first appeared at the venue, in 1975 John played a two-night, four-show stand at The Troubadour. With seating limited to under 500 per show, the chance to purchase tickets was determined by a postcard lottery, with each winner allowed two tickets. Everyone who attended the performances received a hardbound "yearbook" of the band's history. That year he also played piano on Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver, and was among the first and few white artists to appear on the black music series Soul Train on American television.

In 1976, the live album Here and There in May, then the Blue Moves album in October, which contained the single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", were released. His biggest success in 1976 was the "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", a duet with Kiki Dee that topped both the American and British charts. Finally, in an interview with Rolling Stone that year entitled "Elton's Frank Talk", John stated that he was bisexual.

Besides being the most commercially successful period, 1970 - 1976 is also held in the most regard critically. Within only a three year span, between 1972-75 John saw seven consecutive albums reach Number 1 in the charts, which had not been accomplished before. Of the six Elton John albums to make the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in Rolling Stone'in 2003, all are from this period, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ranked highest at number 91; similarly, the three Elton John albums given five stars by Allmusic (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Château, and Captain Fantastic) are all from this period too.

During the same period, John made a guest appearance on the popular Morecambe and Wise Show on the BBC. The two comics spent the episode pointing him in the direction of everywhere except the stage in order to prevent him singing.

In November 1977 John announced he was retiring from performing; Taupin began collaborating with others. Now only producing one album a year, John issued A Single Man in 1978, employing a new lyricist, Gary Osborne; the album produced no singles that made the Top 20 in the US but the two singles from the album released in the UK, Part-Time Love and Song for Guy, both made the Top 20 in the UK with the latter reaching the Top 5. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, John became the first Western pop star to tour the Soviet Union (as well as one of the first in Israel), then mounted a two-man comeback tour of the US in small halls. John returned to the singles chart with "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (number 9, 1979), a song originally rejected in 1977 by MCA before being released, recorded in 1977 with Philadelphia soul producer Thom Bell. Elton reported that Thom Bell was the first person to give him voice lessons; Bell encouraged John to sing in a lower register. A disco-influenced album, Victim of Love, was poorly received. In 1979, John and Taupin reunited. 21 at 33, released the following year, was a significant career boost, aided by his biggest hit in four years, "Little Jeannie" (number 3 US), although the lyrics were written by Gary Osborne.
John has been associated with AIDS charities since the deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury, raising large amounts of money and using his public profile to raise awareness of the disease. For example, in 1986 he joined with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record the single "That's What Friends Are For", with all profits being donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. The song won John and the others the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). In April 1990, John performed "Skyline Pigeon" at the funeral of White, a teenage haemophiliac he had befriended.

John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a charity to fund programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention, for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, and for providing services to people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. This cause continues to be one of his personal passions. In early 2006, John donated the smaller of two bright-red Yamaha pianos from his Las Vegas, Nevada show to auction on eBay to raise public awareness and funds for the foundation.

To raise money for his AIDS charity, John hosts annually a glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball, to which many famous celebrities are invited. On 28 June 2007, the 9th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball took place. The menu consisted of a truffle soufflé followed by Surf and Turf (filet mignon with Maine lobster tail) and a giant Knickerbocker glory ice cream. An auction followed the dinner held by Stephen Fry. A Rolls Royce ‘Phantom’ drophead coupe and a piece of Tracey Emin's artwork both raised £800,000 for the charity fund, with the total amount raised reaching £3.5 million. Later on in the event, John sang "Delilah" with Tom Jones and "Big Spender" with Shirley Bassey. Tickets for the Ball cost £1,000 a head. The event raised £4.6 million for his AIDS Foundation in 2006.
Activism

On 1 April 2010, John joined Cyndi Lauper in the launch of her Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the LGBT community as part of her True Colors Fund. In the advertisement, John states: "Imagine walking down the street and wondering if this is the day you'll get beaten up, or even killed, simply because of who you are". The campaign is to bring straight people to stand up with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and stop the discrimination. Other names included in the campaign are Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Judith Light, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, and Anna Paquin.
Awards

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995. For his charitable work, John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 February 1998. In October 1975, John became the 1,662nd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He became a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004, and a Disney Legends Award in 2006. In 2010, Elton John was awarded with the PRS for Music Heritage Award, which was erected, on The Namaste Lounge Pub in Watford, where Elton performed his first ever gig.

Music awards include the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1994 for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" from The Lion King (award shared with Tim Rice); and the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2000 for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Tim Rice)

John has six Grammy Awards:

    * 1987 - Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "That's What Friends Are For", performed by Dionne Warwick & Friends (award shared with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
    * 1991 - Best Instrumental Composition for "Basque", performed by James Galway
    * 1994 - Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"
    * 1997 - Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Candle In The Wind" 1997
    * 1999 - Grammy Legend Award
    * 2000 - Best Musical Show Album for Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida (award shared with Tim Rice, Chris Mountain, Frank Filipetti, Guy Babylon, Paul Bogaev and Frank Filipetti)

Discography
Main article: Elton John discography

Studio albums

    * Empty Sky (1969)
    * Elton John (1970)
    * Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
    * Madman Across the Water (1971)
    * Honky Château (1972)
    * Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)
    * Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
    * Caribou (1974)
    * Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
    * Rock of the Westies (1975)
    * Blue Moves (1976)
    * A Single Man (1978)
    * Victim of Love (1979)
    * 21 at 33 (1980)
    * The Fox (1981)
    * Jump Up! (1982)
    * Too Low for Zero (1983)
    * Breaking Hearts (1984)
    * Ice on Fire (1985)
    * Leather Jackets (1986)
    * Reg Strikes Back (1988)
    * Sleeping with the Past (1989)
    * The One (1992)
    * Duets (1993)
    * Made in England (1995)
    * The Big Picture (1997)
    * Songs from the West Coast (2001)
    * Peachtree Road (2004)
    * The Captain & the Kid (2006)
    * The Union (with Leon Russell) (2010)

Soundtracks, scores & theatre albums

    * Friends (1971)
    * The Lion King (1994)
    * Aida (1998)
    * The Muse (1999)
    * The Road to El Dorado (soundtrack) (2000)
    * Billy Elliot (2005)
    * Lestat (2005)

Films

    * Elton John: Me, Myself & I (2007) autobiography as himself
    * The Country Bears, US (2002) as himself
    * Spice World, UK (1997) as himself
    * Tommy, UK (1975) as Pinball Wizard
    * Born to Boogie, US playing as himself with Marc Bolan and Ringo Starr
http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa354/CarolDeArmitt/Elton_John_hi.jpg
http://i564.photobucket.com/albums/ss82/AinesFlynn/Elton%20John%20Images/Yes.jpg
A favourite all over the world!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/25/11 at 3:40 pm


A favourite all over the world!

So true :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/25/11 at 3:46 pm


So true :)
I wonder where he is celebrating his birthday today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/25/11 at 7:26 pm


Elton would be my all time favorite. Was lucky a while back and got to see both him and Billy Joel in concert together :) He's coming to Rochester this year, but the funds are just not there :(


What did they both sing? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/25/11 at 7:29 pm

http://en.wikimanagerzone.com/images/7/78/Undertaker.jpg

Ninny,you forgot to mention WWE wrestler Undertaker's Birthday yesterday. He just turned 46 years old.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/26/11 at 1:01 am


Elton would be my all time favorite. Was lucky a while back and got to see both him and Billy Joel in concert together :) He's coming to Rochester this year, but the funds are just not there :(
I have miss many a concert for the same reason.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/26/11 at 3:05 am

My Person of the Day: Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 –26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.

Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.

I cannot include all that is written about him, I just wish to say he was a great composer and his music lifts me up.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg/250px-Beethoven.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/26/11 at 3:05 am


My Person of the Day: Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 –26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.

Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.

I cannot include all that is written about him, I just wish to say he was a great composer and his music lifts me up.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg/250px-Beethoven.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq-3B6xfNpY

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/26/11 at 6:08 am


My Person of the Day: Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 –26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. The crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.

Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early 20s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.

I cannot include all that is written about him, I just wish to say he was a great composer and his music lifts me up.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg/250px-Beethoven.jpg



I first saw his name and said he wasn't born today, because he shares my daughters birthday. I realized that he died today. He was a genius.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/26/11 at 6:12 am

The person of the day...Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler (born Steven Victor Tallarico; March 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, and the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is also known as the "Demon of Screamin'" and is equally known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his high-energy performances, he usually dresses in bright, colorful outfits with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.

In the 1970s, Tyler rose to prominence as the frontman of Aerosmith, which released such milestone hard rock albums as Toys in the Attic and Rocks. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tyler had a heavy drug and alcohol addiction, and the band's popularity waned. He completed drug rehabilitation in 1986 and has subsequently maintained sobriety for over 20 years, aside from a painkiller addiction in the late 2000s, for which he successfully received treatment in 2009. After Aerosmith launched a remarkable comeback in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the albums Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get a Grip, Tyler became a household name and has remained a relevant rock icon. As a result, he has since embarked on several solo endeavors including guest appearances on other artists' music as well as film and TV roles (including as a judge on American Idol). However, he has continued to record music and perform with Aerosmith, after more than 40 years in the band. He recently was included among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers. He was also ranked 3rd on Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. In 2001 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Aerosmith, and he was the presenter when AC/DC was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.
Before Aerosmith was formed, Tyler wrote what would become Aerosmith's signature song, "Dream On". In 1969, Tyler attended a local rock show in Sunapee, New Hampshire where he first saw future bandmates Joe Perry (guitars) and Tom Hamilton (Bass), who at the time were playing in a band called the Jam Band. Tyler later stated he was struck by their raw power and attitude. Around 1970, Tyler, Perry, and Hamilton decided to form a band. However, Tyler, who had typically performed drums in many of his previous bands, insisted that he be the frontman and lead singer of this band. Joey Kramer, a friend of Tyler's from New York, was recruited to play drums. They also added Tyler's boyhood friend Ray Tabano as a second guitarist. The band moved to Boston and shared a small apartment on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton. Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford in 1971.

After spending time on the Boston club circuit under the tutelage of their first manager, Frank Connelly, the band began working with New York managers Steve Leber and David Krebs. Leber describes the band as "the closest thing I've ever seen to the Rolling Stones." On October, 1971, the managers arranged the gig at the legendary nightclub Max's Kansas City to showcase the group to record company executives. They subsequently signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1971 and released their eponymous debut album in 1973. This was followed by Get Your Wings in 1974. Around this time, Aerosmith continued to tour wherever they could, and opened for bands like Mott the Hoople. The band had a minor hit in "Dream On", which peaked at #59 in 1973, but it wasn't until the back-to-back releases of Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976) that Aerosmith broke into the mainstream. In 1975, they achieved their first Top 40 hit in "Sweet Emotion". Soon after, "Dream On" was re-released and hit #6 in 1976, followed by another Top 10 hit "Walk This Way". Additionally, Rocks produced the hit singles "Last Child", "Back in the Saddle", and "Home Tonight". By 1976, Aerosmith found themselves headlining huge stadiums and major rock music festivals. 1977's Draw the Line continued this success, and they were catapulted to international fame and recognition, launching tours in Europe and Japan. A series of Hot 100 hits continued throughout the remainder of the decade, including "Draw the Line", "Kings and Queens", and "Chip Away the Stone". Aerosmith's first five albums have also all since gone multi-platinum, and all five are considered to be among the greatest hard rock albums of all time. Aerosmith toured heavily throughout the mid to late 1970s, and their live shows during this time period were captured through 1978's live album Live Bootleg! and the 1989 VHS release Live Texxas Jam '78. 1978 also saw Tyler make his acting debut as the leader of The Future Villain Band in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, alongside his fellow Aerosmith bandmates. The film also spawned Aerosmith's cover of the Beatles hit "Come Together", which would be Aerosmith's last Top 40 single for nine years.
Aerosmith rose to prominence again when Tyler and Perry appeared on Run–D.M.C.'s cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" in 1986, a track that combined elements of hip-hop and rock, that broke down the barriers between the two genres, broke rap into the mainstream, and introduced Aerosmith to a new generation. The track hit #4 on the charts and launched a famous music video that saw heavy rotation. This paved the way for Aerosmith to mount a significant comeback. Tyler and Perry renewed their songwriting partnership but were now also working with outside songwriting collaborators brought in by the record company, like Desmond Child and Jim Vallance. In addition, to help give Aerosmith a slick sound that would be accessible to mainstream audiences, they were receiving help from producer Bruce Fairbairn and A&R man John Kalodner. Aerosmith released Permanent Vacation in 1987, which became a huge multi-platinum success and launched three Top 20 hits ("Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel", and "Rag Doll"). The band launched a tour with the emerging Guns N' Roses opening many shows. Permanent Vacation was followed by 1989's Pump, which was even more successful, selling 7 million copies and producing three Top 10 hits ("Love in an Elevator", "Janie's Got a Gun", and "What it Takes") and one Top 40 hit ("The Other Side"). Pump in particular saw Tyler expand his musical horizons, co-writing the innovative hit "Janie's Got a Gun", which won the band their first Grammy award. The band toured with many up-and-coming acts and performed in locations like Australia for the first time. In the late 1980s, Tyler also guested on albums by comedian Sam Kinison, Alice Cooper (a fellow 70s rocker also launching a successful comeback) and popular contemporaries Mötley Crüe. Around that time, Tyler and Perry also appeared at a Bon Jovi concert in Milton Keynes and performed "Walk This Way".

With the twin successes of Permanent Vacation and Pump, the band became an MTV sensation and Tyler became a household name. The band were featured on a "Wayne's World" sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1990, which is ranked as the #1 moment of all time on the show. That same year, Aerosmith recorded one of the first episodes of MTV Unplugged. In 1991, Aerosmith was one of the first bands to be featured on The Simpsons. That year, the band also signed a $30 million record deal with their old label Columbia, which they would begin recording for later that decade. The box set Pandora's Box was released by Columbia in late 1991, and the band filmed a music video for "Sweet Emotion" to promote the release. Earlier in the year, the band also performed "Dream On" with an orchestra at MTV's 10th Anniversary celebration; their filmed performance was used as the official video for the song. After a brief break, the band returned to the studio in 1992 to record their next album. The band's A&R man John Kalodner criticized some of the early material being considered for this album, targeting Tyler's sexually profane lyrics in particular. As Tyler was no longer using drugs, some members of the band and their management had believed Tyler had now become a sex addict.
Steven Tyler at the Get a Grip Tour in 1993.

However, the band eventually began recording again and released Get a Grip in 1993, which became their most successful album worldwide, selling over 15 million copies and producing a series of hit singles ("Livin' on the Edge", "Cryin'", "Amazing", "Crazy"). While the album saw mixed reviews and received some criticism for over-using outside collaborators, Aerosmith won more awards during this time than any other, winning two Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, two American Music Awards, a People's Choice award, and a Billboard Award. The band became well-known for their videos at this time, which featured film-like storylines and up-and-coming actors and actresses like Edward Furlong, Stephen Dorff, Jason London, Josh Holloway, and most notably Alicia Silverstone. Tyler's daughter Liv made her acting debut in the band's video for "Crazy" in 1994. The band also launched their biggest and most extensive tour yet, performing over 240 shows in nearly 30 countries, including touring Latin America for the first time and performing in many European countries for the first time.

After the 18-month long Get a Grip Tour ended in December 1994, the band took a break in 1995 to spend time with their families. This break was needed due to the grueling lifestyle of the previous 10 years under the helm of manager Tim Collins, who helped orchestrate much of the band's comeback and sustained success. Tyler and Perry also began writing for a new album, and the band performed a couple one-off shows in Boston to try out the new material, and vacationed together with their families in Florida. Aerosmith, however, almost broke up after the band's manager spread rumors that band members were saying bad things about each other and that Tyler was being unfaithful to his wife and using drugs again during recording sessions in Miami. The band subsequently fired Collins in 1996 in the middle of recording for their next album. In 1997, they released Nine Lives, which went double platinum, launched three hits ("Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)", "Hole in My Soul", and "Pink"), and won the band their fourth Grammy for "Pink". They toured for over two years in support of the album. In 1997, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were featured in a commercial for the Gap. That fall, the band's tell-all autobiography was released.

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Play sound
Sample of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith, from Armageddon (1998)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1998, while on tour in support of Nine Lives, Tyler suffered a ligament injury when his mic stand came crashing into his knee. Tyler and the band finished the show, but they had to cancel several dates, and Tyler had to wear a leg cast while filming the video for "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". The song was the band's first #1 hit and the only song to date by a rock band to debut at #1 on the Hot 100. It has since become a slow-dance staple, and at the time introduced Aerosmith and Steven Tyler to yet another new generation. The song was written for the film Armageddon, which featured Tyler's daughter Liv.

In 1999, Tyler and Perry joined Kid Rock and Run–D.M.C. to perform "Walk This Way" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Earlier that year, the band saw the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith open at Walt Disney World.
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/tylerfan_2009/stev10.jpg
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/tylerfan_2009/stev5.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/26/11 at 6:52 am


The person of the day...Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler (born Steven Victor Tallarico; March 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, and the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is also known as the "Demon of Screamin'" and is equally known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his high-energy performances, he usually dresses in bright, colorful outfits with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.

In the 1970s, Tyler rose to prominence as the frontman of Aerosmith, which released such milestone hard rock albums as Toys in the Attic and Rocks. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tyler had a heavy drug and alcohol addiction, and the band's popularity waned. He completed drug rehabilitation in 1986 and has subsequently maintained sobriety for over 20 years, aside from a painkiller addiction in the late 2000s, for which he successfully received treatment in 2009. After Aerosmith launched a remarkable comeback in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the albums Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get a Grip, Tyler became a household name and has remained a relevant rock icon. As a result, he has since embarked on several solo endeavors including guest appearances on other artists' music as well as film and TV roles (including as a judge on American Idol). However, he has continued to record music and perform with Aerosmith, after more than 40 years in the band. He recently was included among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers. He was also ranked 3rd on Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. In 2001 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Aerosmith, and he was the presenter when AC/DC was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.
Before Aerosmith was formed, Tyler wrote what would become Aerosmith's signature song, "Dream On". In 1969, Tyler attended a local rock show in Sunapee, New Hampshire where he first saw future bandmates Joe Perry (guitars) and Tom Hamilton (Bass), who at the time were playing in a band called the Jam Band. Tyler later stated he was struck by their raw power and attitude. Around 1970, Tyler, Perry, and Hamilton decided to form a band. However, Tyler, who had typically performed drums in many of his previous bands, insisted that he be the frontman and lead singer of this band. Joey Kramer, a friend of Tyler's from New York, was recruited to play drums. They also added Tyler's boyhood friend Ray Tabano as a second guitarist. The band moved to Boston and shared a small apartment on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton. Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford in 1971.

After spending time on the Boston club circuit under the tutelage of their first manager, Frank Connelly, the band began working with New York managers Steve Leber and David Krebs. Leber describes the band as "the closest thing I've ever seen to the Rolling Stones." On October, 1971, the managers arranged the gig at the legendary nightclub Max's Kansas City to showcase the group to record company executives. They subsequently signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1971 and released their eponymous debut album in 1973. This was followed by Get Your Wings in 1974. Around this time, Aerosmith continued to tour wherever they could, and opened for bands like Mott the Hoople. The band had a minor hit in "Dream On", which peaked at #59 in 1973, but it wasn't until the back-to-back releases of Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976) that Aerosmith broke into the mainstream. In 1975, they achieved their first Top 40 hit in "Sweet Emotion". Soon after, "Dream On" was re-released and hit #6 in 1976, followed by another Top 10 hit "Walk This Way". Additionally, Rocks produced the hit singles "Last Child", "Back in the Saddle", and "Home Tonight". By 1976, Aerosmith found themselves headlining huge stadiums and major rock music festivals. 1977's Draw the Line continued this success, and they were catapulted to international fame and recognition, launching tours in Europe and Japan. A series of Hot 100 hits continued throughout the remainder of the decade, including "Draw the Line", "Kings and Queens", and "Chip Away the Stone". Aerosmith's first five albums have also all since gone multi-platinum, and all five are considered to be among the greatest hard rock albums of all time. Aerosmith toured heavily throughout the mid to late 1970s, and their live shows during this time period were captured through 1978's live album Live Bootleg! and the 1989 VHS release Live Texxas Jam '78. 1978 also saw Tyler make his acting debut as the leader of The Future Villain Band in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, alongside his fellow Aerosmith bandmates. The film also spawned Aerosmith's cover of the Beatles hit "Come Together", which would be Aerosmith's last Top 40 single for nine years.
Aerosmith rose to prominence again when Tyler and Perry appeared on Run–D.M.C.'s cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" in 1986, a track that combined elements of hip-hop and rock, that broke down the barriers between the two genres, broke rap into the mainstream, and introduced Aerosmith to a new generation. The track hit #4 on the charts and launched a famous music video that saw heavy rotation. This paved the way for Aerosmith to mount a significant comeback. Tyler and Perry renewed their songwriting partnership but were now also working with outside songwriting collaborators brought in by the record company, like Desmond Child and Jim Vallance. In addition, to help give Aerosmith a slick sound that would be accessible to mainstream audiences, they were receiving help from producer Bruce Fairbairn and A&R man John Kalodner. Aerosmith released Permanent Vacation in 1987, which became a huge multi-platinum success and launched three Top 20 hits ("Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel", and "Rag Doll"). The band launched a tour with the emerging Guns N' Roses opening many shows. Permanent Vacation was followed by 1989's Pump, which was even more successful, selling 7 million copies and producing three Top 10 hits ("Love in an Elevator", "Janie's Got a Gun", and "What it Takes") and one Top 40 hit ("The Other Side"). Pump in particular saw Tyler expand his musical horizons, co-writing the innovative hit "Janie's Got a Gun", which won the band their first Grammy award. The band toured with many up-and-coming acts and performed in locations like Australia for the first time. In the late 1980s, Tyler also guested on albums by comedian Sam Kinison, Alice Cooper (a fellow 70s rocker also launching a successful comeback) and popular contemporaries Mötley Crüe. Around that time, Tyler and Perry also appeared at a Bon Jovi concert in Milton Keynes and performed "Walk This Way".

With the twin successes of Permanent Vacation and Pump, the band became an MTV sensation and Tyler became a household name. The band were featured on a "Wayne's World" sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1990, which is ranked as the #1 moment of all time on the show. That same year, Aerosmith recorded one of the first episodes of MTV Unplugged. In 1991, Aerosmith was one of the first bands to be featured on The Simpsons. That year, the band also signed a $30 million record deal with their old label Columbia, which they would begin recording for later that decade. The box set Pandora's Box was released by Columbia in late 1991, and the band filmed a music video for "Sweet Emotion" to promote the release. Earlier in the year, the band also performed "Dream On" with an orchestra at MTV's 10th Anniversary celebration; their filmed performance was used as the official video for the song. After a brief break, the band returned to the studio in 1992 to record their next album. The band's A&R man John Kalodner criticized some of the early material being considered for this album, targeting Tyler's sexually profane lyrics in particular. As Tyler was no longer using drugs, some members of the band and their management had believed Tyler had now become a sex addict.
Steven Tyler at the Get a Grip Tour in 1993.

However, the band eventually began recording again and released Get a Grip in 1993, which became their most successful album worldwide, selling over 15 million copies and producing a series of hit singles ("Livin' on the Edge", "Cryin'", "Amazing", "Crazy"). While the album saw mixed reviews and received some criticism for over-using outside collaborators, Aerosmith won more awards during this time than any other, winning two Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, two American Music Awards, a People's Choice award, and a Billboard Award. The band became well-known for their videos at this time, which featured film-like storylines and up-and-coming actors and actresses like Edward Furlong, Stephen Dorff, Jason London, Josh Holloway, and most notably Alicia Silverstone. Tyler's daughter Liv made her acting debut in the band's video for "Crazy" in 1994. The band also launched their biggest and most extensive tour yet, performing over 240 shows in nearly 30 countries, including touring Latin America for the first time and performing in many European countries for the first time.

After the 18-month long Get a Grip Tour ended in December 1994, the band took a break in 1995 to spend time with their families. This break was needed due to the grueling lifestyle of the previous 10 years under the helm of manager Tim Collins, who helped orchestrate much of the band's comeback and sustained success. Tyler and Perry also began writing for a new album, and the band performed a couple one-off shows in Boston to try out the new material, and vacationed together with their families in Florida. Aerosmith, however, almost broke up after the band's manager spread rumors that band members were saying bad things about each other and that Tyler was being unfaithful to his wife and using drugs again during recording sessions in Miami. The band subsequently fired Collins in 1996 in the middle of recording for their next album. In 1997, they released Nine Lives, which went double platinum, launched three hits ("Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)", "Hole in My Soul", and "Pink"), and won the band their fourth Grammy for "Pink". They toured for over two years in support of the album. In 1997, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were featured in a commercial for the Gap. That fall, the band's tell-all autobiography was released.

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Play sound
Sample of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith, from Armageddon (1998)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1998, while on tour in support of Nine Lives, Tyler suffered a ligament injury when his mic stand came crashing into his knee. Tyler and the band finished the show, but they had to cancel several dates, and Tyler had to wear a leg cast while filming the video for "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". The song was the band's first #1 hit and the only song to date by a rock band to debut at #1 on the Hot 100. It has since become a slow-dance staple, and at the time introduced Aerosmith and Steven Tyler to yet another new generation. The song was written for the film Armageddon, which featured Tyler's daughter Liv.

In 1999, Tyler and Perry joined Kid Rock and Run–D.M.C. to perform "Walk This Way" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Earlier that year, the band saw the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith open at Walt Disney World.
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/tylerfan_2009/stev10.jpg
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/tylerfan_2009/stev5.jpg


He is a legend,love Areosmith.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/26/11 at 6:59 am


The person of the day...Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler (born Steven Victor Tallarico; March 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, and the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is also known as the "Demon of Screamin'" and is equally known for his on-stage acrobatics. During his high-energy performances, he usually dresses in bright, colorful outfits with his trademark scarves hanging from his microphone stand.

In the 1970s, Tyler rose to prominence as the frontman of Aerosmith, which released such milestone hard rock albums as Toys in the Attic and Rocks. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tyler had a heavy drug and alcohol addiction, and the band's popularity waned. He completed drug rehabilitation in 1986 and has subsequently maintained sobriety for over 20 years, aside from a painkiller addiction in the late 2000s, for which he successfully received treatment in 2009. After Aerosmith launched a remarkable comeback in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the albums Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get a Grip, Tyler became a household name and has remained a relevant rock icon. As a result, he has since embarked on several solo endeavors including guest appearances on other artists' music as well as film and TV roles (including as a judge on American Idol). However, he has continued to record music and perform with Aerosmith, after more than 40 years in the band. He recently was included among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers. He was also ranked 3rd on Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. In 2001 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Aerosmith, and he was the presenter when AC/DC was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.
Before Aerosmith was formed, Tyler wrote what would become Aerosmith's signature song, "Dream On". In 1969, Tyler attended a local rock show in Sunapee, New Hampshire where he first saw future bandmates Joe Perry (guitars) and Tom Hamilton (Bass), who at the time were playing in a band called the Jam Band. Tyler later stated he was struck by their raw power and attitude. Around 1970, Tyler, Perry, and Hamilton decided to form a band. However, Tyler, who had typically performed drums in many of his previous bands, insisted that he be the frontman and lead singer of this band. Joey Kramer, a friend of Tyler's from New York, was recruited to play drums. They also added Tyler's boyhood friend Ray Tabano as a second guitarist. The band moved to Boston and shared a small apartment on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton. Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford in 1971.

After spending time on the Boston club circuit under the tutelage of their first manager, Frank Connelly, the band began working with New York managers Steve Leber and David Krebs. Leber describes the band as "the closest thing I've ever seen to the Rolling Stones." On October, 1971, the managers arranged the gig at the legendary nightclub Max's Kansas City to showcase the group to record company executives. They subsequently signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1971 and released their eponymous debut album in 1973. This was followed by Get Your Wings in 1974. Around this time, Aerosmith continued to tour wherever they could, and opened for bands like Mott the Hoople. The band had a minor hit in "Dream On", which peaked at #59 in 1973, but it wasn't until the back-to-back releases of Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976) that Aerosmith broke into the mainstream. In 1975, they achieved their first Top 40 hit in "Sweet Emotion". Soon after, "Dream On" was re-released and hit #6 in 1976, followed by another Top 10 hit "Walk This Way". Additionally, Rocks produced the hit singles "Last Child", "Back in the Saddle", and "Home Tonight". By 1976, Aerosmith found themselves headlining huge stadiums and major rock music festivals. 1977's Draw the Line continued this success, and they were catapulted to international fame and recognition, launching tours in Europe and Japan. A series of Hot 100 hits continued throughout the remainder of the decade, including "Draw the Line", "Kings and Queens", and "Chip Away the Stone". Aerosmith's first five albums have also all since gone multi-platinum, and all five are considered to be among the greatest hard rock albums of all time. Aerosmith toured heavily throughout the mid to late 1970s, and their live shows during this time period were captured through 1978's live album Live Bootleg! and the 1989 VHS release Live Texxas Jam '78. 1978 also saw Tyler make his acting debut as the leader of The Future Villain Band in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, alongside his fellow Aerosmith bandmates. The film also spawned Aerosmith's cover of the Beatles hit "Come Together", which would be Aerosmith's last Top 40 single for nine years.
Aerosmith rose to prominence again when Tyler and Perry appeared on Run–D.M.C.'s cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" in 1986, a track that combined elements of hip-hop and rock, that broke down the barriers between the two genres, broke rap into the mainstream, and introduced Aerosmith to a new generation. The track hit #4 on the charts and launched a famous music video that saw heavy rotation. This paved the way for Aerosmith to mount a significant comeback. Tyler and Perry renewed their songwriting partnership but were now also working with outside songwriting collaborators brought in by the record company, like Desmond Child and Jim Vallance. In addition, to help give Aerosmith a slick sound that would be accessible to mainstream audiences, they were receiving help from producer Bruce Fairbairn and A&R man John Kalodner. Aerosmith released Permanent Vacation in 1987, which became a huge multi-platinum success and launched three Top 20 hits ("Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel", and "Rag Doll"). The band launched a tour with the emerging Guns N' Roses opening many shows. Permanent Vacation was followed by 1989's Pump, which was even more successful, selling 7 million copies and producing three Top 10 hits ("Love in an Elevator", "Janie's Got a Gun", and "What it Takes") and one Top 40 hit ("The Other Side"). Pump in particular saw Tyler expand his musical horizons, co-writing the innovative hit "Janie's Got a Gun", which won the band their first Grammy award. The band toured with many up-and-coming acts and performed in locations like Australia for the first time. In the late 1980s, Tyler also guested on albums by comedian Sam Kinison, Alice Cooper (a fellow 70s rocker also launching a successful comeback) and popular contemporaries Mötley Crüe. Around that time, Tyler and Perry also appeared at a Bon Jovi concert in Milton Keynes and performed "Walk This Way".

With the twin successes of Permanent Vacation and Pump, the band became an MTV sensation and Tyler became a household name. The band were featured on a "Wayne's World" sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1990, which is ranked as the #1 moment of all time on the show. That same year, Aerosmith recorded one of the first episodes of MTV Unplugged. In 1991, Aerosmith was one of the first bands to be featured on The Simpsons. That year, the band also signed a $30 million record deal with their old label Columbia, which they would begin recording for later that decade. The box set Pandora's Box was released by Columbia in late 1991, and the band filmed a music video for "Sweet Emotion" to promote the release. Earlier in the year, the band also performed "Dream On" with an orchestra at MTV's 10th Anniversary celebration; their filmed performance was used as the official video for the song. After a brief break, the band returned to the studio in 1992 to record their next album. The band's A&R man John Kalodner criticized some of the early material being considered for this album, targeting Tyler's sexually profane lyrics in particular. As Tyler was no longer using drugs, some members of the band and their management had believed Tyler had now become a sex addict.
Steven Tyler at the Get a Grip Tour in 1993.

However, the band eventually began recording again and released Get a Grip in 1993, which became their most successful album worldwide, selling over 15 million copies and producing a series of hit singles ("Livin' on the Edge", "Cryin'", "Amazing", "Crazy"). While the album saw mixed reviews and received some criticism for over-using outside collaborators, Aerosmith won more awards during this time than any other, winning two Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, two American Music Awards, a People's Choice award, and a Billboard Award. The band became well-known for their videos at this time, which featured film-like storylines and up-and-coming actors and actresses like Edward Furlong, Stephen Dorff, Jason London, Josh Holloway, and most notably Alicia Silverstone. Tyler's daughter Liv made her acting debut in the band's video for "Crazy" in 1994. The band also launched their biggest and most extensive tour yet, performing over 240 shows in nearly 30 countries, including touring Latin America for the first time and performing in many European countries for the first time.

After the 18-month long Get a Grip Tour ended in December 1994, the band took a break in 1995 to spend time with their families. This break was needed due to the grueling lifestyle of the previous 10 years under the helm of manager Tim Collins, who helped orchestrate much of the band's comeback and sustained success. Tyler and Perry also began writing for a new album, and the band performed a couple one-off shows in Boston to try out the new material, and vacationed together with their families in Florida. Aerosmith, however, almost broke up after the band's manager spread rumors that band members were saying bad things about each other and that Tyler was being unfaithful to his wife and using drugs again during recording sessions in Miami. The band subsequently fired Collins in 1996 in the middle of recording for their next album. In 1997, they released Nine Lives, which went double platinum, launched three hits ("Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)", "Hole in My Soul", and "Pink"), and won the band their fourth Grammy for "Pink". They toured for over two years in support of the album. In 1997, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were featured in a commercial for the Gap. That fall, the band's tell-all autobiography was released.

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Play sound
Sample of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith, from Armageddon (1998)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1998, while on tour in support of Nine Lives, Tyler suffered a ligament injury when his mic stand came crashing into his knee. Tyler and the band finished the show, but they had to cancel several dates, and Tyler had to wear a leg cast while filming the video for "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". The song was the band's first #1 hit and the only song to date by a rock band to debut at #1 on the Hot 100. It has since become a slow-dance staple, and at the time introduced Aerosmith and Steven Tyler to yet another new generation. The song was written for the film Armageddon, which featured Tyler's daughter Liv.

In 1999, Tyler and Perry joined Kid Rock and Run–D.M.C. to perform "Walk This Way" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Earlier that year, the band saw the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith open at Walt Disney World.
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/tylerfan_2009/stev10.jpg
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/tylerfan_2009/stev5.jpg
As seen on American Idol

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/26/11 at 7:00 am

Sweet Emotion is my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/26/11 at 7:02 am


I first saw his name and said he wasn't born today, because he shares my daughters birthday. I realized that he died today. He was a genius.
His true date of the birth has now been lost to history, for December 17th has been recorded as the date of baptism.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/26/11 at 10:34 am

One thing I don't understand is that I think Steve Tyler is butt-ugly and Liv Tyler is beautiful and yet, Liv does look a bit like Steve. Can someone please explain this to me?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/26/11 at 1:04 pm


One thing I don't understand is that I think Steve Tyler is butt-ugly and Liv Tyler is beautiful and yet, Liv does look a bit like Steve. Can someone please explain this to me?



Cat

Mom was beautiful
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h92/nes_cafe/retro/music/grupses/bebebuell.jpg
With Todd Rundgren who Liv thought was her dad.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/26/11 at 7:45 pm


One thing I don't understand is that I think Steve Tyler is butt-ugly and Liv Tyler is beautiful and yet, Liv does look a bit like Steve. Can someone please explain this to me?



Cat


wrinkles. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/27/11 at 3:22 am


Mom was beautiful
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h92/nes_cafe/retro/music/grupses/bebebuell.jpg
With Todd Rundgren who Liv thought was her dad.
That may explain it all ?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/11 at 6:03 am

The person of the day...Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (pronounced /ˌtɛrənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and occasional actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker whose films used nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003–2004), Death Proof (2007) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). His films have earned him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and a Palme d'Or and he has been nominated for Emmy and Grammy awards.
After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.
Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well. Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics and audiences. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Kill Bill was not in competition, Kill Bill Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films, but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his current producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer but with the movie set for release in 2009 he is no longer associated with the project) and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"

Tarantino's summer 2009 film Inglourious Basterds was the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008. The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide. It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.
Awards
Tarantino in Paris at the César Awards 2011.

    * Reservoir Dogs was given the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in 1993.

    * Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared jointly by Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary.

    * In 1996, Tarantino was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor in From Dusk Till Dawn, but lost against Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau.

    * In 2005, Quentin Tarantino won the Icon of the Decade award at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards.

    * On August 15, 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award at the Malacañang Palace in Manila.

    * In 2010, his film Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, winning one for Best Supporting Actor.

    * In March 2010, Tarantino was awarded the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic along with Lucy Liu and Andy Vajna for producing the 2006 movie Freedom's Fury.

    * In February 2011, Tarantino received an honorary César from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.

Other potential projects

Before Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino had considered making The Vega Brothers. The film would have starred Michael Madsen and John Travolta reprising their roles of Vic (Mr. Blonde) from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. But in 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the project (which he intended to call Double V Vega) is "kind of unlikely now".

In a 2007 interview with The Daily Telegraph, he discussed an idea for a form of spaghetti western set in America's Deep South which he called "a southern", stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".

In 2009, in an interview for Italian TV, after being asked about the success of the two Kill Bill films, Tarantino said "You haven't asked me about the third one", and that he would be making a third Kill Bill film with the words "The Bride will fight again!" Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival, Tarantino announced that Kill Bill: Vol. 3 would be his ninth film, and would be released in 2014. He said he intends to make another unrelated film before that date as his eighth film. He confirmed that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, to give her and her daughter a period of peace. Tarantino has also expressed interest in writing a second film with an older Aldo Raine as a Major in the Vietnam War in an "Apocalypse Now meets Pulp Fiction" style film.
Television directing
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: This list is not complete. Please improve this section if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (August 2010)

Tarantino has directed and been called to direct numerous television episodes.

    * Tarantino directed the season 20 (1994–1995 season) episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by John Travolta (musical guest: Seal), which featured a sketch called "Quentin Tarantino's Welcome Back, Kotter", a hybrid of the 1970s sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter and Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs.
    * Tarantino directed the season 1, episode 24, of ER titled "Motherhood", that aired May 11, 1995.
    * In 1997, Tarantino was originally slated to direct the The X-Files episode, "Never Again" (episode 4x13, which originally aired February 2, 1997), but was prevented from doing so by the Directors Guild of America. The episode features Scully heading to Philadelphia, while Mulder is on vacation, to interview a man who claims his tattoo talks to him. Although the episode was written specifically for Tarantino to direct, the DGA contended that Tarantino, who is not a member, failed to compensate the union for lost revenue as a result of his directorial work on ER.
    * Tarantino directed an April 20, 2004 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
    * Tarantino earned an Emmy nomination for directing the fifth season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which first aired May 19, 2005. The highly rated episode, entitled "Grave Danger", shared a similar situation to one in Tarantino's second Kill Bill film; CSI Nick Stokes is captured and buried alive in a Plexiglas coffin while an Internet camera broadcasts the entire ordeal to CSI headquarters. (In Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Bride was also captured and buried alive in a coffin.) The broadcast was delayed in the UK as the broadcast date coincided with the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London and it was felt that the depiction of a suicide bomber could cause offense. This double-length episode was released on DVD on October 10, 2005.

Appearances on screen and onstage

Although Tarantino is best known for his work behind the camera, he has appeared on the large screen, on the small screen, and onstage, in a variety of roles.
Film actor
Year Film Role Notes
1992 Reservoir Dogs Mr. Brown
1994 Pulp Fiction Jimmie Dimmick
Sleep With Me Sid Cameo appearance
1995 Four Rooms Chester Rush Segment: The Man from Hollywood
Desperado Pick Up Guy Cameo appearance
Destiny Turns on the Radio Johnny Destiny
1996 From Dusk Till Dawn Richard Gecko
Girl Six Himself
1997 Jackie Brown Answering Machine voice Cameo appearance
2000 Little Nicky Deacon
2003 Kill Bill Crazy 88 Member
2004
2007 Grindhouse Warren the bartender Segment: Death Proof
Lewis/Rapist #1 Segment: Planet Terror
2007 Sukiyaki Western Django Piringo
2009 Inglourious Basterds First scalped victim Cameo appearance
American GI Film within a film: Nation's Pride
Stage actor

    * In 1998, Tarantino turned his attention to the Broadway stage, where he starred in a revival of Wait Until Dark.

Talent judge

    * Tarantino was featured as a guest judge on the televised singing competition, American Idol, for one episode during its third season in 2004.

Television actor

    * Tarantino appeared in the first and third seasons of the TV show Alias, as McKenas Cole.
    * Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator in a season four episode of The Golden Girls.
    * In November 2006, an episode of the Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts features Quentin Tarantino interviewing and spending time with singer Fiona Apple.

Television host

    * Tarantino hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in season 21 (1995–1996 season) with musical guest The Smashing Pumpkins.
Racial epithets in Tarantino's work

Spike Lee questions Tarantino's use of racial epithets in his films, particularly the racially offensive epithet, "******". In a Variety interview discussing Jackie Brown, Lee said: "I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man?" Tarantino responded on Charlie Rose by stating:

    As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are, alright. And to say that I can't do that because I'm white, but the Hughes brothers can do that because they're black, that is racist. That is the heart of racism, alright. And I do not accept that ... That is how a segment of the black community that lives in Compton, lives in Inglewood, where Jackie Brown takes place, that lives in Carson, that is how they talk. I'm telling the truth. It would not be questioned if I was black, and I resent the question because I'm white. I have the right to tell the truth. I do not have the right to lie.

Tarantino retaliated more harshly on The Howard Stern Show by stating Lee would have to "stand on a chair to kiss my ass." Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in both directors' films, defended Tarantino's use of the word. At the Berlin Film Festival, where Jackie Brown was being screened, Jackson responded to Lee's criticism by saying:

    I don't think the word is offensive in the context of this film ... Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. Jackie Brown is a wonderful homage to black exploitation films. This is a good film, and Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years.

Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that Jackie Brown, another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".

According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, actor Denzel Washington also confronted Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a "fine artist."
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii107/capcom72688/QuentinTarantino.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/QuentinTarantino.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/27/11 at 6:04 am


The person of the day...Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (pronounced /ˌtɛrənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and occasional actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker whose films used nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003–2004), Death Proof (2007) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). His films have earned him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and a Palme d'Or and he has been nominated for Emmy and Grammy awards.
After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.
Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well. Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics and audiences. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Kill Bill was not in competition, Kill Bill Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films, but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his current producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer but with the movie set for release in 2009 he is no longer associated with the project) and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"

Tarantino's summer 2009 film Inglourious Basterds was the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008. The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide. It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.
Awards
Tarantino in Paris at the César Awards 2011.

    * Reservoir Dogs was given the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in 1993.

    * Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one for Best Original Screenplay, which was shared jointly by Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary.

    * In 1996, Tarantino was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor in From Dusk Till Dawn, but lost against Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau.

    * In 2005, Quentin Tarantino won the Icon of the Decade award at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards.

    * On August 15, 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award at the Malacañang Palace in Manila.

    * In 2010, his film Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, winning one for Best Supporting Actor.

    * In March 2010, Tarantino was awarded the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic along with Lucy Liu and Andy Vajna for producing the 2006 movie Freedom's Fury.

    * In February 2011, Tarantino received an honorary César from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.

Other potential projects

Before Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino had considered making The Vega Brothers. The film would have starred Michael Madsen and John Travolta reprising their roles of Vic (Mr. Blonde) from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. But in 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the project (which he intended to call Double V Vega) is "kind of unlikely now".

In a 2007 interview with The Daily Telegraph, he discussed an idea for a form of spaghetti western set in America's Deep South which he called "a southern", stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".

In 2009, in an interview for Italian TV, after being asked about the success of the two Kill Bill films, Tarantino said "You haven't asked me about the third one", and that he would be making a third Kill Bill film with the words "The Bride will fight again!" Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival, Tarantino announced that Kill Bill: Vol. 3 would be his ninth film, and would be released in 2014. He said he intends to make another unrelated film before that date as his eighth film. He confirmed that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, to give her and her daughter a period of peace. Tarantino has also expressed interest in writing a second film with an older Aldo Raine as a Major in the Vietnam War in an "Apocalypse Now meets Pulp Fiction" style film.
Television directing
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: This list is not complete. Please improve this section if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (August 2010)

Tarantino has directed and been called to direct numerous television episodes.

    * Tarantino directed the season 20 (1994–1995 season) episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by John Travolta (musical guest: Seal), which featured a sketch called "Quentin Tarantino's Welcome Back, Kotter", a hybrid of the 1970s sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter and Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs.
    * Tarantino directed the season 1, episode 24, of ER titled "Motherhood", that aired May 11, 1995.
    * In 1997, Tarantino was originally slated to direct the The X-Files episode, "Never Again" (episode 4x13, which originally aired February 2, 1997), but was prevented from doing so by the Directors Guild of America. The episode features Scully heading to Philadelphia, while Mulder is on vacation, to interview a man who claims his tattoo talks to him. Although the episode was written specifically for Tarantino to direct, the DGA contended that Tarantino, who is not a member, failed to compensate the union for lost revenue as a result of his directorial work on ER.
    * Tarantino directed an April 20, 2004 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
    * Tarantino earned an Emmy nomination for directing the fifth season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which first aired May 19, 2005. The highly rated episode, entitled "Grave Danger", shared a similar situation to one in Tarantino's second Kill Bill film; CSI Nick Stokes is captured and buried alive in a Plexiglas coffin while an Internet camera broadcasts the entire ordeal to CSI headquarters. (In Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Bride was also captured and buried alive in a coffin.) The broadcast was delayed in the UK as the broadcast date coincided with the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London and it was felt that the depiction of a suicide bomber could cause offense. This double-length episode was released on DVD on October 10, 2005.

Appearances on screen and onstage

Although Tarantino is best known for his work behind the camera, he has appeared on the large screen, on the small screen, and onstage, in a variety of roles.
Film actor
Year Film Role Notes
1992 Reservoir Dogs Mr. Brown
1994 Pulp Fiction Jimmie Dimmick
Sleep With Me Sid Cameo appearance
1995 Four Rooms Chester Rush Segment: The Man from Hollywood
Desperado Pick Up Guy Cameo appearance
Destiny Turns on the Radio Johnny Destiny
1996 From Dusk Till Dawn Richard Gecko
Girl Six Himself
1997 Jackie Brown Answering Machine voice Cameo appearance
2000 Little Nicky Deacon
2003 Kill Bill Crazy 88 Member
2004
2007 Grindhouse Warren the bartender Segment: Death Proof
Lewis/Rapist #1 Segment: Planet Terror
2007 Sukiyaki Western Django Piringo
2009 Inglourious Basterds First scalped victim Cameo appearance
American GI Film within a film: Nation's Pride
Stage actor

    * In 1998, Tarantino turned his attention to the Broadway stage, where he starred in a revival of Wait Until Dark.

Talent judge

    * Tarantino was featured as a guest judge on the televised singing competition, American Idol, for one episode during its third season in 2004.

Television actor

    * Tarantino appeared in the first and third seasons of the TV show Alias, as McKenas Cole.
    * Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator in a season four episode of The Golden Girls.
    * In November 2006, an episode of the Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts features Quentin Tarantino interviewing and spending time with singer Fiona Apple.

Television host

    * Tarantino hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in season 21 (1995–1996 season) with musical guest The Smashing Pumpkins.
Racial epithets in Tarantino's work

Spike Lee questions Tarantino's use of racial epithets in his films, particularly the racially offensive epithet, "******". In a Variety interview discussing Jackie Brown, Lee said: "I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man?" Tarantino responded on Charlie Rose by stating:

    As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are, alright. And to say that I can't do that because I'm white, but the Hughes brothers can do that because they're black, that is racist. That is the heart of racism, alright. And I do not accept that ... That is how a segment of the black community that lives in Compton, lives in Inglewood, where Jackie Brown takes place, that lives in Carson, that is how they talk. I'm telling the truth. It would not be questioned if I was black, and I resent the question because I'm white. I have the right to tell the truth. I do not have the right to lie.

Tarantino retaliated more harshly on The Howard Stern Show by stating Lee would have to "stand on a chair to kiss my ass." Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in both directors' films, defended Tarantino's use of the word. At the Berlin Film Festival, where Jackie Brown was being screened, Jackson responded to Lee's criticism by saying:

    I don't think the word is offensive in the context of this film ... Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. Jackie Brown is a wonderful homage to black exploitation films. This is a good film, and Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years.

Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that Jackie Brown, another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".

According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, actor Denzel Washington also confronted Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a "fine artist."
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii107/capcom72688/QuentinTarantino.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/paganpriest/Movies/People/QuentinTarantino.jpg
I have to still to see any of his films, but my day will come.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/11 at 11:02 am


I have to still to see any of his films, but my day will come.

I've seen Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs Kill Bill Vol 1 and Inglourious Basterds.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/27/11 at 11:13 am


I've seen Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs Kill Bill Vol 1 and Inglourious Basterds.
I need to see them all, but first I have to acquire the films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/27/11 at 11:25 am

Am I the only one who doesn't like Pulp Fiction?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/27/11 at 11:27 am


Am I the only one who doesn't like Pulp Fiction?



Cat

I think all his films are odd strange lets just say different.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/11 at 6:12 am

The person of the day...Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest (born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.
She made her film debut in It's My Turn (1980), but did not establish herself as a film actress until her work for Woody Allen in the 1980s.
Stage

Wiest studied theatre at the University of Maryland, leaving after her third term to tour with a Shakespearean troupe. Later, she had a supporting role in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Ashes. She also acted at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, playing the title role in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. She was an understudy both off-Broadway and on Broadway, in Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June in 1970.

She made her Broadway debut in Robert Anderson's Solitaire/Double Solitaire, taking over in the role of the daughter in 1971. She landed a four-year job as a member of the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in such roles as Emily in Our Town, Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and leading roles in S. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and Shaw's "Heartbreak House." She toured the USSR with the Arena Stage.

In 1976, Wiest attended the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and starred in leading roles in Amlin Gray's Pirates and Christopher Durang's A History of the American Film. At Joe Papp's Public Theatre she took over the lead in Ashes, and played Cassandra in Agamemnon, directed by Andrei Şerban.

She appeared in two plays by Tina Howe: Museum and The Art of Dining. In the latter, Wiest's performance as the shy and awkward authoress Elizabeth Barrow Colt won three off-Broadway theatre awards: an Obie Award (1980), a Theatre World Award (1979–1980), and the Clarence Derwent Award (1980), given yearly for the most promising performance in New York theatre.

On Broadway she appeared in Frankenstein (1981), directed by Tom Moore, portrayed Desdemona in Othello (1982) opposite James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer and co-starred with John Lithgow in Christopher Durang's romantic screwball comedy Beyond Therapy (1982), directed by John Madden. (She played opposite Lithgow again in the Herbert Ross film Footloose.)

During the 1980s, she also performed in Hedda Gabler, directed by Lloyd Richards at Yale Repertory Theatre, and in Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska (1984, Manhattan Theatre Club), Lanford Wilson's Serenading Louie (1984), and Janusz Glowacki's Hunting Cockroaches (1987, Manhattan Theater Club).

As Wiest became established as a film actress through her work in Woody Allen's films, she was less frequently available for stage roles. However, she did appear onstage the 1990s, in In the Summer House, Square One, Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl, and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare.

In 2003, she appeared with Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei in Oscar Wilde's Salome. In 2005, she starred in Kathleen Tolan's Memory House. She also starred in a production of Wendy Wasserstein's final play Third (directed by Daniel Sullivan) at Lincoln Center.

Recent New York theater roles include performances as Arkadina in an off-Broadway revival of The Seagull (opposite Alan Cumming's Trigorin) and as Kate Keller in a Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, opposite John Lithgow, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes. In 2009, Wiest appeared in the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in a dialogue with Katie Holmes celebrating the life of an American veteran seriously wounded in Iraq, José Pequeño.

Wiest spent September 2010 as a visiting teacher at Columbia University's Graduate Acting Program, working with a group of 18 first-year MFA Acting students on selected plays by Anton Chekhov and Arthur Miller.
Film and television

Under Woody Allen's direction, Wiest won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Hannah and Her Sisters in 1987 and Bullets Over Broadway in 1995. She also appeared in three other Woody Allen films: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Radio Days (1987) and September (1987).

Her early screen roles include small roles in It's My Turn and I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, both starring Jill Clayburgh in the lead roles.

In 1984, she starred in Footloose, as the reverend's wife.

She followed her first Oscar success with performances in The Lost Boys (1987) and Bright Lights, Big City (1988). She also starred with Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton in Ron Howard's Parenthood, for which she received her second Oscar nomination.
Wiest in 1990

In 1990, Wiest starred in Edward Scissorhands. She worked with Woody Allen once again, in 1994, for Bullets Over Broadway, a comedy set in 1920s New York City, winning her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Helen Sinclair, a boozy, glamorous, and loud star of the stage.

Other major film roles include Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate (1990) and The Birdcage (1996), Mike Nichols' remake of La Cage aux Folles.

On television, her performance on the series Road to Avonlea, in 1989, brought her her first Emmy Award, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She received another nomination for her performance in the 1999 telefilm The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, co-starring Sidney Poitier. She starred in the television mini-series The 10th Kingdom in 2000.

From 2000 to 2002, Wiest portrayed interim District Attorney Nora Lewin in the long-running NBC crime drama Law & Order.

Wiest starred alongside Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche in Dan in Real Life (2007) and had a key supporting role in Charlie Kaufman's 2008 film Synecdoche, New York.

In 2008, she appeared as Gabriel Byrne's therapist, Gina Toll, on the HBO television series In Treatment, for which she received her second Emmy Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She received another nomination (in the same category) for the second season, in 2009, but did not win.

She starred alongside Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (2010), which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Personal life

Wiest was in a long-term relationship with a New York talent agent, Sam Cohn, for many years. She has two adopted daughters, Emily (b. 1987) and Lily (b. 1991).
Filmography
Film and Television appearances
Year Title Role Notes
1980 It's My Turn Gail as Diane Wiest
1982 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can Julie Addison
1983 Face of Rage Rebecca Hammil
Independence Day Nancy Morgan
1984 Falling in Love Isabelle
Footloose Vi Moore
1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo Emma
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Holly Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1987 Radio Days Bea Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
September Stephanie
The Lost Boys Lucy Emerson
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Mother
1989 Parenthood Helen Buckman Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Cookie Lenore
1990 Edward Scissorhands Peg Boggs Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1991 Little Man Tate Jane Grierson
1994 Bullets Over Broadway Helen Sinclair Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Cops and Robbersons Helen Robberson
The Scout Doctor H. Aaron
1995 Drunks Rachel
1996 The Associate Sally Dugan
The Birdcage Louise Keeley Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 Practical Magic Aunt Bridget 'Jet' Owens
The Horse Whisperer Diane Booker
2000 The 10th Kingdom The Evil Queen/Christine White TV mini-series
2000–2002 Law & Order D.A. Nora Lewin Seasons 11 & 12: 48 episodes

Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2000
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2001
2001 I Am Sam Annie Cassell
2001–2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit D.A. Nora Lewin 2 episodes
2002 Merci Docteur Rey Elisabeth Beaumont
2004 The Blackwater Lightship Lily TV Movie

Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2004 Category 6: Day of Destruction Secretary of Energy Shirley Abbott TV mini-series
2005 Robots Lydia Copperbottom
2006 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Flori
2007 Dedication Carol
Dan in Real Life Nana Burns
2008 In Treatment Dr. Gina Toll Season 1 & 2: 17 episodes

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series, 2008
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series, 2009
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, 2009
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, 2008
Passengers Toni
Synecdoche, New York Ellen Bascomb/Millicent Weems Gotham Independent Film Award - Best Ensemble Cast
2009 Rage Miss Roth
2010 Rabbit Hole Nat Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/nullasalus/other%20hot%20women/diannebw.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n115/LordAsmodeus/random%20stuff/DianneWiest.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/28/11 at 7:08 am

1989    Parenthood 

This is the only film I watched that she was in.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/28/11 at 11:39 am


   

This is the only film I watched that she was in.



You haven't seen Footloose?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/28/11 at 12:55 pm



You haven't seen Footloose?



Cat


Oh yeah I watched Footloose.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/28/11 at 1:38 pm


The person of the day...Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest (born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.
She made her film debut in It's My Turn (1980), but did not establish herself as a film actress until her work for Woody Allen in the 1980s.
Stage

Wiest studied theatre at the University of Maryland, leaving after her third term to tour with a Shakespearean troupe. Later, she had a supporting role in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Ashes. She also acted at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, playing the title role in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. She was an understudy both off-Broadway and on Broadway, in Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June in 1970.

She made her Broadway debut in Robert Anderson's Solitaire/Double Solitaire, taking over in the role of the daughter in 1971. She landed a four-year job as a member of the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in such roles as Emily in Our Town, Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and leading roles in S. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and Shaw's "Heartbreak House." She toured the USSR with the Arena Stage.

In 1976, Wiest attended the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and starred in leading roles in Amlin Gray's Pirates and Christopher Durang's A History of the American Film. At Joe Papp's Public Theatre she took over the lead in Ashes, and played Cassandra in Agamemnon, directed by Andrei Şerban.

She appeared in two plays by Tina Howe: Museum and The Art of Dining. In the latter, Wiest's performance as the shy and awkward authoress Elizabeth Barrow Colt won three off-Broadway theatre awards: an Obie Award (1980), a Theatre World Award (1979–1980), and the Clarence Derwent Award (1980), given yearly for the most promising performance in New York theatre.

On Broadway she appeared in Frankenstein (1981), directed by Tom Moore, portrayed Desdemona in Othello (1982) opposite James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer and co-starred with John Lithgow in Christopher Durang's romantic screwball comedy Beyond Therapy (1982), directed by John Madden. (She played opposite Lithgow again in the Herbert Ross film Footloose.)

During the 1980s, she also performed in Hedda Gabler, directed by Lloyd Richards at Yale Repertory Theatre, and in Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska (1984, Manhattan Theatre Club), Lanford Wilson's Serenading Louie (1984), and Janusz Glowacki's Hunting Cockroaches (1987, Manhattan Theater Club).

As Wiest became established as a film actress through her work in Woody Allen's films, she was less frequently available for stage roles. However, she did appear onstage the 1990s, in In the Summer House, Square One, Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl, and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare.

In 2003, she appeared with Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei in Oscar Wilde's Salome. In 2005, she starred in Kathleen Tolan's Memory House. She also starred in a production of Wendy Wasserstein's final play Third (directed by Daniel Sullivan) at Lincoln Center.

Recent New York theater roles include performances as Arkadina in an off-Broadway revival of The Seagull (opposite Alan Cumming's Trigorin) and as Kate Keller in a Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, opposite John Lithgow, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes. In 2009, Wiest appeared in the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in a dialogue with Katie Holmes celebrating the life of an American veteran seriously wounded in Iraq, José Pequeño.

Wiest spent September 2010 as a visiting teacher at Columbia University's Graduate Acting Program, working with a group of 18 first-year MFA Acting students on selected plays by Anton Chekhov and Arthur Miller.
Film and television

Under Woody Allen's direction, Wiest won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Hannah and Her Sisters in 1987 and Bullets Over Broadway in 1995. She also appeared in three other Woody Allen films: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Radio Days (1987) and September (1987).

Her early screen roles include small roles in It's My Turn and I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, both starring Jill Clayburgh in the lead roles.

In 1984, she starred in Footloose, as the reverend's wife.

She followed her first Oscar success with performances in The Lost Boys (1987) and Bright Lights, Big City (1988). She also starred with Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton in Ron Howard's Parenthood, for which she received her second Oscar nomination.
Wiest in 1990

In 1990, Wiest starred in Edward Scissorhands. She worked with Woody Allen once again, in 1994, for Bullets Over Broadway, a comedy set in 1920s New York City, winning her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Helen Sinclair, a boozy, glamorous, and loud star of the stage.

Other major film roles include Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate (1990) and The Birdcage (1996), Mike Nichols' remake of La Cage aux Folles.

On television, her performance on the series Road to Avonlea, in 1989, brought her her first Emmy Award, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She received another nomination for her performance in the 1999 telefilm The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, co-starring Sidney Poitier. She starred in the television mini-series The 10th Kingdom in 2000.

From 2000 to 2002, Wiest portrayed interim District Attorney Nora Lewin in the long-running NBC crime drama Law & Order.

Wiest starred alongside Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche in Dan in Real Life (2007) and had a key supporting role in Charlie Kaufman's 2008 film Synecdoche, New York.

In 2008, she appeared as Gabriel Byrne's therapist, Gina Toll, on the HBO television series In Treatment, for which she received her second Emmy Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She received another nomination (in the same category) for the second season, in 2009, but did not win.

She starred alongside Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (2010), which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Personal life

Wiest was in a long-term relationship with a New York talent agent, Sam Cohn, for many years. She has two adopted daughters, Emily (b. 1987) and Lily (b. 1991).
Filmography
Film and Television appearances
Year Title Role Notes
1980 It's My Turn Gail as Diane Wiest
1982 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can Julie Addison
1983 Face of Rage Rebecca Hammil
Independence Day Nancy Morgan
1984 Falling in Love Isabelle
Footloose Vi Moore
1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo Emma
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Holly Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1987 Radio Days Bea Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
September Stephanie
The Lost Boys Lucy Emerson
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Mother
1989 Parenthood Helen Buckman Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Cookie Lenore
1990 Edward Scissorhands Peg Boggs Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1991 Little Man Tate Jane Grierson
1994 Bullets Over Broadway Helen Sinclair Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Cops and Robbersons Helen Robberson
The Scout Doctor H. Aaron
1995 Drunks Rachel
1996 The Associate Sally Dugan
The Birdcage Louise Keeley Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 Practical Magic Aunt Bridget 'Jet' Owens
The Horse Whisperer Diane Booker
2000 The 10th Kingdom The Evil Queen/Christine White TV mini-series
2000–2002 Law & Order D.A. Nora Lewin Seasons 11 & 12: 48 episodes

Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2000
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 2001
2001 I Am Sam Annie Cassell
2001–2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit D.A. Nora Lewin 2 episodes
2002 Merci Docteur Rey Elisabeth Beaumont
2004 The Blackwater Lightship Lily TV Movie

Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2004 Category 6: Day of Destruction Secretary of Energy Shirley Abbott TV mini-series
2005 Robots Lydia Copperbottom
2006 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Flori
2007 Dedication Carol
Dan in Real Life Nana Burns
2008 In Treatment Dr. Gina Toll Season 1 & 2: 17 episodes

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series, 2008
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series, 2009
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, 2009
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, 2008
Passengers Toni
Synecdoche, New York Ellen Bascomb/Millicent Weems Gotham Independent Film Award - Best Ensemble Cast
2009 Rage Miss Roth
2010 Rabbit Hole Nat Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/nullasalus/other%20hot%20women/diannebw.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n115/LordAsmodeus/random%20stuff/DianneWiest.jpg
I have seen Edward Scissorhands, and liked it!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/28/11 at 2:43 pm


I have seen Edward Scissorhands, and liked it!

Yes it is a good movie a she did a fine job in it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/29/11 at 6:31 am

The person of the day...Elle Macpherson
Elle Macpherson (pronounced /ˈɛl məkˈfɝːsən/; born 29 March 1963) is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman nicknamed "The Body". She is perhaps best known for her record six cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s. She is also known as the founder and primary model for a series of business ventures including Elle Macpherson Intimates, a lingerie line, and "The Body", a line of skin care products. According to Forbes, Macpherson possesses assets around $60 million. In 2010, she became the host and executive producer of Britain's Next Top Model.
At age 17, Macpherson enrolled to study law at Sydney University. Before beginning her university studies, Elle visited the United States to spend one year doing modeling work in order to earn money to pay for her law books. Macpherson traveled to New York City, where she initially signed up with the Click Model Management.

Macpherson's modelling career began in 1982 with a television commercial for Tab which established her as a "girl next door" figure in Australia. By 1986, Time magazine had already put her on the cover (with a feature entitled "The Big Elle"). By that time, she had also appeared on the covers of Elle, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Playboy.

Already possessing some widespread name recognition, Macpherson cemented her high profile through frequent appearances in Elle, where she appeared in every issue for six straight years. During that time, and at the age of 21, she married Gilles Bensimon, the creative director of Elle.

Eventually she gained even more exposure through Sports Illustrated magazine's annual Swimsuit Issue. She appeared on the cover a record five times: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, and 2006. Her popularity had reached such a level that Australian government offered her a position on its tourist commission as an unofficial ambassador.
Business career

In the 1980s, together with Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, Naomi Campbell, Pavlína Pořízková and Cindy Crawford, Macpherson became part of the new generation of supermodels. In 1994, she left her agency, Ford Models, to work more lucratively for her own company, Elle Macpherson Inc. This company would serve as a financial and organizational base for her later endeavors.

MacPherson soon went on to produce her own highly popular series of calendars, each of which was accompanied by a "making of" television program in 1992, 1993, and 1994. She used this success as a springboard to create the "Your Personal Best – The Body" series of workout videos.

Macpherson later diversified her portfolio of businesses, and in 1990 launched her lingerie collection 'Elle Macpherson Intimates' in partnership with Bendon Limited Apparel. Intimates met with remarkable international success, becoming the single best-selling lingerie line in both Great Britain and Australia Breaking the mould of many models, Macpherson took an active role in the development and management of the company, serving as Chief Marketing Officer and later Creative Director. While nursing her second child, she spearheaded the development of a signature maternity bra line. Intimates has retained a high brand recognition into the 2000s, appearing as a featured brand on America's Next Top Model.

More recently, Macpherson created her own label of beauty products: "Elle Macpherson – The Body". She has launched or served as spokesmodel for campaigns by Boots, Invisible Zinc, and Hot Tuna.

The BBC-TV series The Money Programme aired a documentary which followed Macpherson through her day-to-day business as she continued to develop her international lingerie business.

In March 2008, Macpherson signed a three-year spokesperson deal with Revlon cosmetics. She has since been featured in print and advertising campaigns for that company; it has been announced by Macpherson herself that she would expand her underwear line by creating a new Lingerie Collection baptised 'Obsidion' which would be launched in Spring 2010.
Acting career

Macpherson made her movie debut playing an artist's model in the 1994 Sirens, which also starred Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, Tara FitzGerald, Kate Fischer, and Portia de Rossi. Macpherson gained nine kg (20 lbs.) to disguise her athletic frame for the period role. After Sirens, Macpherson followed with a two-year series of acting roles, appearing in films such as Woody Allen’s Alice, Batman & Robin alongside George Clooney, The Edge with Anthony Hopkins, and The Mirror Has Two Faces with Barbra Streisand.

In 1999, Macpherson appeared in five episodes of the American TV series Friends, as Joey's roommate and girlfriend, Janine Lecroix. Macpherson went on to act in the movie Jane Eyre with William Hurt, and she has also appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Sarah Jessica Parker in If Lucy Fell. Her most controversial acting was in the Showtime cable network miniseries, A Girl Thing, in which she plays a woman experimenting with bisexuality along with Kate Capshaw. In 2001, she acted in the Italian movie South Kensington.

Macpherson played the modeling agent, "Claudia Foster" in the "CW"-network drama series, The Beautiful Life, appearing with Mischa Barton, Sara Paxton and Corbin Bleu. The show centered on aspiring models working for a modeling agency, trying to make it big in New York City, and in the Fashion World. The show was canceled after two episodes.
Britain's Next Top Model

On February 2, 2010, Macpherson was announced as the new host of Britain's Next Top Model, taking over from Lisa Snowdon. She will also serve as executive producer on the show. Joining Macpherson on the revamped show will be OBE winning fashion designer Julien Macdonald, fashion stylist Grace Woodward and male model Charley Speed.
Extortion attempt

According to a police statement reproduced online, between 11 and 22 July 1997 William Ryan Holt and Michael Mischler broke into Macpherson's Los Angeles house while she was away on business in Chicago. They stole an estimated $100,000 worth of jewelery, $6,000 in cash, and nude photographs. The two were arrested on 4 August 1997.

Mischler, 29, pled guilty to one count of attempted extortion and one count of burglary. He received a six-year and eight-month prison sentence. Holt, 26, a former U.S. Air Force enlisted man and a military-justice convict out on parole, pled guilty to one count of extortion, and he was sentenced to one year in prison.
Philanthropic work and animal rights

Macpherson is a European Ambassador for RED, an initiative set up by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money and awareness for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and to help eradicate AIDS for women and children in Africa. She is also an ambassador for UNICEF. In her native Australia, she is an ambassador for the Smile Foundation, which helps the families of children with rare diseases and organizes government research grants. She has also modelled for charitable causes including fundraising for 2007 British flood victims, wounded veterans, and child welfare group Absolute Return for Kids.

Early in her career, Macpherson campaigned against the use of fur in modelling. She later drew the ire of animal welfare groups by starting to model in fur herself. She was again criticised by animal rights activists when in an interview on Twitter in 2010, she made comments, which she later described as a joke, claiming to use rhinoceros horn as a herbal medicine. She subsequently issued a statement saying the idea of consuming products derived from endangered species was "abhorrent". The previous year, she joined a boycott of a London restaurant for serving meals containing bluefin tuna, an endangered species.
Personal life

Macpherson met Gilles Bensimon in 1982 on a photo-session for Elle magazine. They were married in 1985, and divorced in 1989.

Macpherson has two sons with her former long-term boyfriend, French financier Arpad Busson, whom she never married. Her sons are Arpad Flynn Alexander Busson (born 14 February 1998), and Aurelius Cy Andrea Busson (born 4 February 2003). Macpherson and Busson began their romantic relationship in 1995, became engaged in August 2002, but called off the wedding in July 2005.

Macpherson resides most of the time in Britain along with her two sons. She speaks fluent French and conversational Italian and Spanish.
Filmography
Year Film
1990 Alice
1994 Sirens
1996 Jane Eyre
If Lucy Fell
The Mirror Has Two Faces
1997 Batman & Robin
The Edge
1998 With Friends Like These...
2000 Friends
2001 A Girl Thing
South Kensington
2009
The Beautiful Life (TV Series)
2010–
Britain's Next Top Model (TV Series)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t130/killerofthesky/Celebrities/ElleMacPherson.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa4/Vertiginoso/ellemcphersonfromGQITALYottobre2006.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/29/11 at 6:54 am

http://www.becomemodels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sexy-elle-macpherson.jpg

Wow,she is DAMN hot!  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/29/11 at 11:50 am


Yes it is a good movie a she did a fine job in it.
I have to re-watch it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/30/11 at 5:11 am

The person of the day...Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked fourth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.

In the mid sixties, Clapton left the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand", and graffiti in London declared "Clapton is God." Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, the power trio, Cream, in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the seventies, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped gain reggae a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos, and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to music. In 1998 Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.
Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast to his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense attraction to Pattie Boyd, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England residence. There he nursed his heroin addiction, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and continued his performance). In January 1973, The Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert" to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier scene from the movie and leave the set.
Yvonne Elliman with Clapton promoting 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1975

In 1974, now partnered with Pattie (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put together a more low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (also known as Marcella Detroit). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was Clapton's first #1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued this trend. The album's original title The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One In Every Crowd) was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here. Clapton continued to release albums and toured regularly. Highlights of the period include No Reason to Cry, (a collaboration with Bob Dylan and The Band) and Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight", another song inspired by Boyd, and a second J.J. Cale cover, "Cocaine". In 1976 he performed alongside a string of notable guests, to pay tribute to the final farewell performance of The Band, filmed in a Martin Scorsese documentary called the Last Waltz.
1980s

In 1981, Clapton was invited by producer Martin Lewis to appear at the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Clapton accepted the invitation and teamed up with Jeff Beck to perform a series of duets—reportedly their first-ever billed stage collaboration. Three of the performances were released on the album of the show and one of the songs was featured in the film of the show. The performances heralded a return to form and prominence for Clapton in the new decade. Many factors had influenced Clapton's comeback, including his "deepening commitment to Christianity", to which he had converted prior to his heroin addiction.

After an embarrassing fishing incident, Clapton finally called his manager and admitted he was an alcoholic. In January 1982, Roger and Clapton flew to Minneapolis-St. Paul; Clapton would be checked in at Hazelden Treatment Center, located in Center City, Minnesota. On the flight over, Clapton indulged himself in a great amount of drinks, for fear he may never be able to drink again. Clapton is quoted as saying from his autobiography, "In the lowest moments of my life, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink anymore if I was dead. It was the only thing I thought was worth living for, and the idea that people were about to try and remove me from alcohol was so terrible that I drank and drank and drank, and they had to practically carry me into the clinic."

After being discharged, it was recommended by doctors of Hazelden that Clapton not partake in any activities that would act as triggers for his alcoholism or stress, until he was fully situated back at Hurtwood. A few months after his discharge, Clapton began working on his next album against the Hazelden doctors' orders. Working with Tom Dowd, Clapton produced what he thought as his "most forced" album to date, Money and Cigarettes.

In 1984, he performed on Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and went on tour with Waters following the release of the album. Since then Waters and Clapton have had a close relationship. In 2005 they performed together for the Tsunami Relief Fund. In 2006 they performed at the Highclere Castle, in aid of the Countryside Alliance, playing two set pieces of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". Clapton, now a seasoned charity performer, played at the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985. When offered a slot close to peak viewing hours, he was apparently flattered. As Clapton recovered from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two produced with Phil Collins, 1985's Behind the Sun, which produced the hits "Forever Man" and "She's Waiting", and 1986's August.
Tina Turner and Eric Clapton at Wembley Stadium, 18 June 1987

August was suffused with Collins's trademark drum and horn sound and became Clapton's biggest seller in the UK to date, matching his highest chart position, number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's In The Way That You Use It", was also featured in the Tom Cruise-Paul Newman movie The Color of Money. The horn-peppered "Run" echoed Collins' "Sussudio" and rest of the producer's Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with Tina Turner) and the bitter "Miss You" echoed Clapton's angry sound. This rebound kicked off Clapton's two-year period of touring with Collins and their August collaborates, bassist Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. While on tour for August, two concert videos were recorded of the four-man band, Eric Clapton Live from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Clapton later remade "After Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the Michelob beer brand, which had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and Steve Winwood. Clapton won a British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the score for the 1985 BBC television thriller serial Edge of Darkness. In 1989, Clapton released Journeyman, an album which covered a wide range of styles including blues, jazz, soul and pop. Collaborators included George Harrison, Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, Chaka Khan, Mick Jones, David Sanborn and Robert Cray.
George Harrison and Clapton playing in the Prince's Trust Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1987

In 1984, while still married to Pattie Boyd, Clapton began a year-long relationship with Yvonne Kelly. The two had a daughter, Ruth, who was born in January 1985, but her existence was kept a secret by her parents. She was not publicly revealed as his child until 1991. Boyd criticised Clapton because he had not revealed the child's existence.

Hurricane Hugo hit Montserrat in 1989 and this resulted in the closure of Sir George Martin and John Burgess's recording studio AIR Montserrat, where Kelly was Managing Director. Kelly and Ruth moved back to England, and stories about Eric's secret daughter began as a result of newspaper articles published at the time. Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1988 following his affair with Italian model Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to their son Conor on 21 August 1986. Boyd herself was never able to conceive children, despite attempts at in vitro fertilisation. Their divorce was granted on grounds of "infidelity and unreasonable behaviour."
1990s

The 1990s brought a series of 32 concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, such as the 24 Nights series of concerts that took place around January through February 1990, and February through March 1991. On 27 August 1990, fellow blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and three members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Then, on 20 March 1991, Eric's four year old son, Conor, died on impact after a fall from the 53rd-story window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment, landing on the roof of an adjacent four-story building. Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which was co-written by Will Jennings. At the 35th Grammy Awards, Clapton received a total of six Grammy Awards for the single "Tears in Heaven", and his Unplugged album. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the United States.

In October 1992, Clapton was among the dozens of artists performing at Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the live two-disk CD/DVD captured a show full of celebrities performing classic Dylan songs, before ending with a few performances from Dylan himself. Despite the presence of 10 other guitarists on stage, including George Harrison, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn, Steve Cropper, Tom Petty, and Dylan, Clapton played the lead on a nearly 7-minute version of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" as part of the finale.

While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From the Cradle contained new versions of old blues standards highlighted by his electric guitar playing. Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne Kirkpatrick/Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" (featured in the soundtrack of the movie Phenomenon) won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1997, the same year he recorded Retail Therapy (an album of electronic music with Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF). The following year, Clapton released the album Pilgrim, the first record featuring brand new material for almost a decade. Clapton finished the twentieth century with collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. B. King.

In 1996 Clapton had a relationship with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. They remain friends, and Clapton appeared as a guest on Sheryl Crow's Central Park Concert. The duo performed a Cream hit single "White Room". Later, Clapton and Crow performed an alternate version of "Tulsa Time" with other guitar legends at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in June 2007.

In 1999 Clapton, then 54, met 23-year-old store clerk Melia McEnery (from Columbus, Ohio) in Los Angeles while working on an album with B. B. King. They married on 1 January 2002 at St Mary Magdalen church in Clapton's birthplace, Ripley, and as of 2005 have three daughters, Julie Rose (13 June 2001), Ella May (14 January 2003), and Sophie Belle (1 February 2005). He wrote the song "Three Little Girls", featured on his 2006 album The Road to Escondido, about the contentment he has found in his family life at home with them.
2000s
Clapton performing at the TUI Arena of Hannover (Germany) on 2 April 2004

Following the release of the 2001 record Reptile, Eric performed "Layla" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Party at the Palace in 2002. On 29 November of that year the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall, a tribute to George Harrison who had died a year earlier of cancer. Clapton was a performer, and also the musical director. The concert featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, Gary Brooker, Billy Preston, Joe Brown and Dhani Harrison. In 2004, Clapton released two albums packed full of covers by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, Me and Mr. Johnson and Sessions for Robert J. The same year Rolling Stone ranked Clapton #53 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
Performance for Tsunami Relief Cardiff

On 22 January 2005, Clapton performed in the Tsunami Relief Concert held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In May 2005, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker reunited as Cream for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Concert recordings were released on CD and DVD. Later, Cream performed in New York at Madison Square Garden. Back Home, Clapton's first album of new original material in nearly five years, was released on Reprise Records on 30 August. In 2006 he invited Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II to join his band for his 2006–2007 world tour. Trucks is the third member of The Allman Brothers Band to tour supportng Clapton, the second being pianist/keyboardist Chuck Leavell who appeared on the MTV Unplugged album and the 24 Nights performances at the Royal Albert Hall theatre of London in 1990 and 1991, as well as Clapton's 1992 U.S. tour.

On 20 May 2006, Clapton performed with Queen drummer Roger Taylor and former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters at the Highclere Castle, in support of the Countryside Alliance. On 13 August 2006, Clapton made a guest appearance at the Bob Dylan concert in Columbus, Ohio, playing guitar on three songs in Jimmie Vaughan's opening act. A collaboration with guitarist J. J. Cale, titled The Road to Escondido, was released on 7 November 2006, featuring Derek Trucks and Billy Preston. The 14-track CD was produced and recorded by the duo in August 2005 in California. The chemistry between Trucks and Clapton convinced him to invite The Derek Trucks Band to open for Clapton's set on his 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, with Trucks remaining on set afterward, performing with Clapton's band throughout his performances, and embarking on a world tour with him.

The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, written by Christopher Simon Sykes and published in 2007, were sold at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair for USD $4 million.

On 26 February 2008, it was reported that North Korean officials had invited Clapton to play a concert in the communist state. According to reports, Clapton's management received the invitation and passed it on to the singer, who has agreed in principle and suggested it take place sometime in 2009. Kristen Foster, a spokesperson, said, "Eric Clapton receives numerous offers to play in countries around the world," and "here is no agreement whatsoever for him to play in North Korea."
Eric Clapton (4th from left) and his band live in 2007

In 2007, Clapton learned more about his father, a Canadian soldier who left the UK after the war. Although Clapton's grandparents eventually told him the truth about his parentage, he only knew that his father's name was Edward Fryer. This was a source of disquiet for Clapton, as witnessed by his 1998 song "My Father's Eyes". A Montreal journalist named Michael Woloschuk researched Canadian Armed Forces service records and tracked down members of Fryer's family, finally piecing together the story. He learned that Clapton's father was Edward Walter Fryer, born 21 March 1920, in Montreal and died 15 May 1985 in Newmarket, Ontario. Fryer was a musician (piano and saxophone) and a lifelong drifter, who was married several times, had several children and apparently never knew that he was the father of Eric Clapton. Clapton thanked Woloschuk in an encounter at Macdonald Cartier Airport, in Ottawa, Canada.

In February 2008, Clapton performed with his long-time friend Steve Winwood at Madison Square Garden and guested on his recorded single "Dirty City" on Winwood's album Nine Lives. The two former Blind Faith bandmates met again for a series of 14 concerts throughout the United States in June 2009.

Clapton's 2008 Summer Tour began on 3 May at the Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa Bay, Florida, and then moved to Canada, Ireland, England, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Germany and Monaco. On 28 June 2008, he headlined Saturday night for Hard Rock Calling 2008 in London's Hyde Park (previously Hyde Park Calling) with support from Sheryl Crow & John Mayer. In September 2008, Clapton performed at a private charity fundraiser for The Countryside Alliance at Floridita in Soho, London, that included such guests as the London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Clapton performing with The Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater

In March 2009, The Allman Brothers Band (amongst many notable guests), celebrated their 40th year, dedicating their string of concerts to the late Duane Allman on their annual run at the Beacon Theatre. Eric Clapton was one of the performers, with drummer Butch Trucks remarking that the performance wasn't the typical Allman Brothers experience, given the number and musical styles of the guests who were invited to perform. Songs like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" were punctuated with others including "The Weight", with Levon Helm; Johnny Winter sitting in on Hendrix's "Red House" and "Layla". Two months later, on 4 May 2009 Clapton appeared as a featured guest at the Royal Albert Hall playing "Further on Up the Road" with Joe Bonamassa.

Clapton was scheduled to be one of the performers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, but cancelled due to gallstone surgery. Van Morrison (who also cancelled) said in an interview that he and Clapton were to do a "couple of songs" but that they would do something else together at "some other stage of the game".
2010s

Clapton performed a 2-night show with Jeff Beck at London's O2 Arena 13–14 February 2010. The two former Yardbirds extended their 2010 tour with stops at Madison Square Garden, Air Canada Centre and the Bell Centre in Montreal. Clapton performed a series of concerts in 11 cities throughout the United States from 25 February to 13 March 2010. His third European tour with Steve Winwood began on 18 May and ended 13 June. He then began a short North American tour lasting from 26 June to 3 July, starting with his third Crossroads Guitar Festival on 26 June in Bridgeview, Illinois. Clapton released a new studio album, Clapton, on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and 28 September 2010 in the United States. On 17 November 2010, Clapton performed as guest on the Prince's Trust rock gala held at the Royal Albert Hall, supported by the house band for the evening which included Jools Holland, Midge Ure and Mark King
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p32/wildfirexx/WILDFIRE%20X/039_431.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w16/prospectgypsy/eric_clapton.gif


* There is a lot more on Eric Clapton to read in Wikipedia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/30/11 at 6:44 am

I Shot The Sheriff And Layla are a few of my faves.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/30/11 at 9:37 am

I prefer THIS version of Layla.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikKDga2Xzmc




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/30/11 at 12:46 pm


I Shot The Sheriff And Layla are a few of my faves.
The radio stations always cut off the instrumental bit at the end of Layla.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/30/11 at 2:36 pm


The radio stations always cut off the instrumental bit at the end of Layla.


I know that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 03/31/11 at 6:18 am

The person of the day...Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie and art house films. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Mark Renton in the 1996 film Trainspotting, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Christian in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!

In 2009, he appeared in the films I Love You Phillip Morris and Amelia, and portrayed Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in the film adaption of Angels & Demons. Apart from his film work, McGregor has starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls. He also appeared in television series such as The Scarlet and the Black, Lipstick On Your Collar, Tales from the Crypt, and ER. He was ranked No. 36 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
McGregor made his feature film debut in 1993 in Bill Forsyth's Being Human. The following year, he earned widespread praise and won an Empire Award for his performance in the thriller Shallow Grave, which marked his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle. His major international breakthrough soon followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting.
McGregor at the premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats, during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

McGregor has been featured as the male romantic lead in Hollywood films such as Moulin Rouge! and Down With Love, and in the British film Little Voice. He received excellent reviews for his performance as an amoral drifter mixed up in murder in the British film Young Adam (2003), which co-starred Scottish actress Tilda Swinton. McGregor was one of many actors rumoured to have been offered the lead role as James Bond in the 2006 reboot Casino Royale, along with Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, Orlando Bloom and Hugh Jackman but he turned it down because he feared becoming typecast. The role went to Daniel Craig.

McGregor is one of the few major male actors to repeatedly do full-frontal nudity in many of his films, including Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, The Pillow Book, and Young Adam. He also played gay and bisexual characters in Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book, Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine, the British film Scenes of a Sexual Nature, and in a film with Jim Carrey, I Love You Phillip Morris.

In 2005, McGregor lent his voice to two successful animated features; the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams; and the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant, alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais. Also in 2005, McGregor played two roles (one a clone of the other) opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's The Island, and he then appeared in Marc Forster's Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.

McGregor has narrated the STV show JetSet, a Scottish series following the lives of student pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4 — the RAF's primary attack aircraft.

McGregor appears opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream, and will co-star with Daniel Craig in Dan Harris' upcoming film adaptation of Glen Duncan's novel I, Lucifer. He also appeared in the 2003 film Big Fish, the 2006 film Miss Potter, and alongside Jim Carrey in the 2009 film I Love You Phillip Morris.
Star Wars

In 1999, McGregor starred in the blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role originally made famous by Sir Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars trilogy. He reprised his role for the subsequent prequels Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). McGregor took very special care (especially in Revenge of the Sith) in his portrayal to ensure that Obi-Wan's mannerisms, speech timings, and accents closely resembled Obi-Wan's "Alec Guinness Self". In appearing in the Star Wars films, he was continuing a family tradition of sorts: his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.
Theatre

McGregor starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge, and Jenna Russell in the original Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls in London at the Piccadilly Theatre. He played the leading role of Sky Masterson, made famous by Marlon Brando in the film, and he received the LastMinute.com award for Best Actor in 2005. He was also nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

From December 2007 to February 2008, McGregor starred as Iago in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Kelly Reilly as Desdemona. He reprised the role on BBC Radio 3 in May 2008.
Other work

McGregor narrated the Fulldome production Astronauts created for the National Space Centre in England, released in 2006.
Personal life
McGregor at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

On 22 July 1995, in a village in France, McGregor married Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer, whom he met while filming a guest appearance on the British television series Kavanagh QC in 1994. They have two biological daughters, Clara Mathilde (born February 1996) and Esther Rose (born 7 November 2001), and an adopted daughter, Jamiyan (born June 2001), whom they adopted from Mongolia in April 2006. McGregor has a heart and dagger tattoo of the names of his wife and daughters on his right arm. The family currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after moving from North London.

McGregor refuses to talk about his family in interviews, "because it's private." During the "fly-on-the-wall" filming of preparation for the Long Way Round and Long Way Down journeys, McGregor went to great lengths to keep his children—and information that could reveal the location of his home—away from the cameras. Unlike travelling companion Charley Boorman, whose daughters often appeared in front of the cameras, McGregor did not have his children present at the send-off or other filmed parts of either adventure, but they were filmed when his family greeted him at the end of the journey.

A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon international motorcycle trip with his best friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia (including Siberia), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Canada on BMW R1150GS Adventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 22,345 miles (35,960 km). The trip formed the basis of a television series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round. The Long Way Round team reunited in 2007 for another motorcycle trip from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa. The journey, entitled Long Way Down lasted from 12 May until 5 August 2007. McGregor's brother Colin joined the motorcycle team during the early stages of the Long Way Down journey, and his father, Jim McGregor, also rode on sections of both Long Way Round and Long Way Down. In September 2010, Charley Boorman stated that the third installment of the Long Way series is planned for 2011, riding up through South America.

In 2007, on an episode of Parkinson, McGregor stated that he had given up alcohol after a period where he was arguably a functioning alcoholic, and that he had not had a drink in seven years. In 2008, he had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his right eye.
Charity work

McGregor is involved in charity work, including with UNICEF and GO Campaign. During his Long Way Round journey in 2004, McGregor and his travelling companions took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. In 2007, he and friend Charley Boorman did work for UNICEF in Africa, and he hosted the annual Hollywood gala for GO Campaign in 2009 and 2010. He has also done work with the Children's Hospice Association Scotland, as featured in Long Way Down. McGregor and his wife are Patrons of the Zoological Society of London.
Filmography
Feature films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1994 Being Human Alvarez
1994 Shallow Grave Alex Law Empire Award for Best British Actor
1995 Blue Juice Dean Raymond
1996 Trainspotting Mark Renton BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Empire Award for Best British Actor
London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
1996 Pillow Book, TheThe Pillow Book Jerome
1996 Emma Frank Churchill
1996 Brassed Off Andy Barrow
1997 Nightwatch Martin Bells
1997 Serpent's Kiss, TheThe Serpent's Kiss Meneer Chrome
1997 Life Less Ordinary, AA Life Less Ordinary Robert Lewis Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Dance Sequence (shared with Cameron Diaz)
1998 Velvet Goldmine Curt Wild
1998 Little Voice Billy Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1999 Desserts Stroller
1999 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Obi-Wan Kenobi Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor
Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Action/Science Fiction
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Liam Neeson and Ray Park)
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1999 Rogue Trader Nick Leeson
1999 Eye of the Beholder The Eye
2000 Nora James Joyce Nominated — Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor
2001 Moulin Rouge! Christian Empire Award for Best British Actor
London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — IF Award for Best Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Black Hawk Down SPC John Grimes Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi
2002 Solid Geometry Phil
2003 Down with Love Catcher Block
2003 Young Adam Joe Taylor BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Empire Award for Best British Actor
2003 Faster Narrator voice
2003 Big Fish Edward Bloom (young)
2005 Robots Rodney Copperbottom voice
2005 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi
2005 Valiant Valiant voice
2005 Island, TheThe Island Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln
2005 Stay Dr. Sam Foster
2006 Stormbreaker Ian Rider
2006 Scenes of a Sexual Nature Billy
2006 Miss Potter Norman Warne
2007 Cassandra's Dream Ian Blane
2008 Incendiary Jasper Black
2008 Deception Jonathan McQuarry
2009 I Love You Phillip Morris Phillip Morris
2009 Angels & Demons Camerlengo Patrick McKenna
2009 Men Who Stare at Goats, TheThe Men Who Stare at Goats Bob Wilton
2009 Amelia Gene Vidal
2010 Ghost Writer, TheThe Ghost Writer GhostWriter European Film Award for Best Actor
2010 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Mr. Green cameo appearance
2010 Jackboots on Whitheall Chris voice
2010 Beginners Oliver
2011 Perfect Sense Michael
2011 Haywire
2011 Impossible, TheThe Impossible Henry post-production
2011 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Dr. Alfred Jones post-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1993 Lipstick on Your Collar PVT Mick Hooper Six episodes, main character
1993 Scarlet and the Black, TheThe Scarlet and the Black Julien Sorel Mini-series
1995 Kavanagh QC David Robert Armstrong "Nothing But the Truth"
1996 Karaoke Young Man "Tuesday"
1996 Tales from the Crypt Ford "Cold War"
1997 ER Duncan Stewart "The Long Way Around"
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
2002 Polar Bears of Churchill with Ewan McGregor, TheThe Polar Bears of Churchill with Ewan McGregor Himself Documentary series
2004 Long Way Round Himself Documentary series
2007 Long Way Down Himself Documentary series
2010 Battle of Britain, TheThe Battle of Britain Himself Documentary
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k250/lproxygirl/Ewan-McGregor.gif
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/Sammm44/ewan_mcgregor.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 03/31/11 at 7:01 am

I always liked him in Star Wars.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 03/31/11 at 1:59 pm


The person of the day...Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie and art house films. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Mark Renton in the 1996 film Trainspotting, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Christian in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!

In 2009, he appeared in the films I Love You Phillip Morris and Amelia, and portrayed Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in the film adaption of Angels & Demons. Apart from his film work, McGregor has starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls. He also appeared in television series such as The Scarlet and the Black, Lipstick On Your Collar, Tales from the Crypt, and ER. He was ranked No. 36 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.
McGregor made his feature film debut in 1993 in Bill Forsyth's Being Human. The following year, he earned widespread praise and won an Empire Award for his performance in the thriller Shallow Grave, which marked his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle. His major international breakthrough soon followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting.
McGregor at the premiere of The Men Who Stare at Goats, during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

McGregor has been featured as the male romantic lead in Hollywood films such as Moulin Rouge! and Down With Love, and in the British film Little Voice. He received excellent reviews for his performance as an amoral drifter mixed up in murder in the British film Young Adam (2003), which co-starred Scottish actress Tilda Swinton. McGregor was one of many actors rumoured to have been offered the lead role as James Bond in the 2006 reboot Casino Royale, along with Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, Orlando Bloom and Hugh Jackman but he turned it down because he feared becoming typecast. The role went to Daniel Craig.

McGregor is one of the few major male actors to repeatedly do full-frontal nudity in many of his films, including Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, The Pillow Book, and Young Adam. He also played gay and bisexual characters in Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book, Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine, the British film Scenes of a Sexual Nature, and in a film with Jim Carrey, I Love You Phillip Morris.

In 2005, McGregor lent his voice to two successful animated features; the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams; and the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant, alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais. Also in 2005, McGregor played two roles (one a clone of the other) opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's The Island, and he then appeared in Marc Forster's Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.

McGregor has narrated the STV show JetSet, a Scottish series following the lives of student pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4 — the RAF's primary attack aircraft.

McGregor appears opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream, and will co-star with Daniel Craig in Dan Harris' upcoming film adaptation of Glen Duncan's novel I, Lucifer. He also appeared in the 2003 film Big Fish, the 2006 film Miss Potter, and alongside Jim Carrey in the 2009 film I Love You Phillip Morris.
Star Wars

In 1999, McGregor starred in the blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role originally made famous by Sir Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars trilogy. He reprised his role for the subsequent prequels Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). McGregor took very special care (especially in Revenge of the Sith) in his portrayal to ensure that Obi-Wan's mannerisms, speech timings, and accents closely resembled Obi-Wan's "Alec Guinness Self". In appearing in the Star Wars films, he was continuing a family tradition of sorts: his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.
Theatre

McGregor starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge, and Jenna Russell in the original Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls in London at the Piccadilly Theatre. He played the leading role of Sky Masterson, made famous by Marlon Brando in the film, and he received the LastMinute.com award for Best Actor in 2005. He was also nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

From December 2007 to February 2008, McGregor starred as Iago in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Kelly Reilly as Desdemona. He reprised the role on BBC Radio 3 in May 2008.
Other work

McGregor narrated the Fulldome production Astronauts created for the National Space Centre in England, released in 2006.
Personal life
McGregor at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

On 22 July 1995, in a village in France, McGregor married Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer, whom he met while filming a guest appearance on the British television series Kavanagh QC in 1994. They have two biological daughters, Clara Mathilde (born February 1996) and Esther Rose (born 7 November 2001), and an adopted daughter, Jamiyan (born June 2001), whom they adopted from Mongolia in April 2006. McGregor has a heart and dagger tattoo of the names of his wife and daughters on his right arm. The family currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after moving from North London.

McGregor refuses to talk about his family in interviews, "because it's private." During the "fly-on-the-wall" filming of preparation for the Long Way Round and Long Way Down journeys, McGregor went to great lengths to keep his children—and information that could reveal the location of his home—away from the cameras. Unlike travelling companion Charley Boorman, whose daughters often appeared in front of the cameras, McGregor did not have his children present at the send-off or other filmed parts of either adventure, but they were filmed when his family greeted him at the end of the journey.

A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon international motorcycle trip with his best friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia (including Siberia), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Canada on BMW R1150GS Adventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 22,345 miles (35,960 km). The trip formed the basis of a television series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round. The Long Way Round team reunited in 2007 for another motorcycle trip from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa. The journey, entitled Long Way Down lasted from 12 May until 5 August 2007. McGregor's brother Colin joined the motorcycle team during the early stages of the Long Way Down journey, and his father, Jim McGregor, also rode on sections of both Long Way Round and Long Way Down. In September 2010, Charley Boorman stated that the third installment of the Long Way series is planned for 2011, riding up through South America.

In 2007, on an episode of Parkinson, McGregor stated that he had given up alcohol after a period where he was arguably a functioning alcoholic, and that he had not had a drink in seven years. In 2008, he had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his right eye.
Charity work

McGregor is involved in charity work, including with UNICEF and GO Campaign. During his Long Way Round journey in 2004, McGregor and his travelling companions took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. In 2007, he and friend Charley Boorman did work for UNICEF in Africa, and he hosted the annual Hollywood gala for GO Campaign in 2009 and 2010. He has also done work with the Children's Hospice Association Scotland, as featured in Long Way Down. McGregor and his wife are Patrons of the Zoological Society of London.
Filmography
Feature films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1994 Being Human Alvarez
1994 Shallow Grave Alex Law Empire Award for Best British Actor
1995 Blue Juice Dean Raymond
1996 Trainspotting Mark Renton BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Empire Award for Best British Actor
London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
1996 Pillow Book, TheThe Pillow Book Jerome
1996 Emma Frank Churchill
1996 Brassed Off Andy Barrow
1997 Nightwatch Martin Bells
1997 Serpent's Kiss, TheThe Serpent's Kiss Meneer Chrome
1997 Life Less Ordinary, AA Life Less Ordinary Robert Lewis Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Dance Sequence (shared with Cameron Diaz)
1998 Velvet Goldmine Curt Wild
1998 Little Voice Billy Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1999 Desserts Stroller
1999 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Obi-Wan Kenobi Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor
Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Action/Science Fiction
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Liam Neeson and Ray Park)
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1999 Rogue Trader Nick Leeson
1999 Eye of the Beholder The Eye
2000 Nora James Joyce Nominated — Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor
2001 Moulin Rouge! Christian Empire Award for Best British Actor
London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — IF Award for Best Actor
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Black Hawk Down SPC John Grimes Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi
2002 Solid Geometry Phil
2003 Down with Love Catcher Block
2003 Young Adam Joe Taylor BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Empire Award for Best British Actor
2003 Faster Narrator voice
2003 Big Fish Edward Bloom (young)
2005 Robots Rodney Copperbottom voice
2005 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi
2005 Valiant Valiant voice
2005 Island, TheThe Island Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln
2005 Stay Dr. Sam Foster
2006 Stormbreaker Ian Rider
2006 Scenes of a Sexual Nature Billy
2006 Miss Potter Norman Warne
2007 Cassandra's Dream Ian Blane
2008 Incendiary Jasper Black
2008 Deception Jonathan McQuarry
2009 I Love You Phillip Morris Phillip Morris
2009 Angels & Demons Camerlengo Patrick McKenna
2009 Men Who Stare at Goats, TheThe Men Who Stare at Goats Bob Wilton
2009 Amelia Gene Vidal
2010 Ghost Writer, TheThe Ghost Writer GhostWriter European Film Award for Best Actor
2010 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Mr. Green cameo appearance
2010 Jackboots on Whitheall Chris voice
2010 Beginners Oliver
2011 Perfect Sense Michael
2011 Haywire
2011 Impossible, TheThe Impossible Henry post-production
2011 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Dr. Alfred Jones post-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1993 Lipstick on Your Collar PVT Mick Hooper Six episodes, main character
1993 Scarlet and the Black, TheThe Scarlet and the Black Julien Sorel Mini-series
1995 Kavanagh QC David Robert Armstrong "Nothing But the Truth"
1996 Karaoke Young Man "Tuesday"
1996 Tales from the Crypt Ford "Cold War"
1997 ER Duncan Stewart "The Long Way Around"
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series
2002 Polar Bears of Churchill with Ewan McGregor, TheThe Polar Bears of Churchill with Ewan McGregor Himself Documentary series
2004 Long Way Round Himself Documentary series
2007 Long Way Down Himself Documentary series
2010 Battle of Britain, TheThe Battle of Britain Himself Documentary
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k250/lproxygirl/Ewan-McGregor.gif
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/Sammm44/ewan_mcgregor.jpg
One film I keep meaning to see of his is Trainspotting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/01/11 at 6:45 am

The person of the day...Susan Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on reality TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. Her first album was released in November 2009 and debuted as the number one best-selling CD on charts around the globe.

Global interest in Boyle was triggered by the contrast between her powerful voice and her plain appearance on stage. The juxtaposition of the audience's first impression of her, with the standing ovation she received during and after her performance, led to an international media and internet response. Within nine days of the audition, videos of Boyle—from the show, various interviews and her 1999 rendition of "Cry Me a River" – had been watched over 100 million times. Her audition video has been viewed on the internet several hundred million times. Despite the sustained media interest she later finished in second place in the final of the show behind dance troupe Diversity.

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released on 23 November 2009 and became Amazon's best-selling album in pre-sales. According to Billboard, "The arrival of I Dreamed a Dream ... marks the best opening week for a female artist's debut album since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991." In only six weeks of sales, it became the biggest selling album in the world for 2009, selling 9 million copies. In September 2010, Boyle was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as having had the fastest selling debut album by a female artist in the UK, the most successful first week sales of a debut album in the UK, and was also awarded the record for being the oldest person to reach number one with a debut album in the UK.
In August 2008, Boyle applied for an audition for the third series of Britain's Got Talent (as contestant number 43212) and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow. When Boyle first appeared on Britain's Got Talent at the city's Clyde Auditorium, she said that she aspired to become a professional singer "as successful as Elaine Paige". Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the first round of the third series of Britain's Got Talent, which was watched by over 10 million viewers when it aired on 11 April 2009. Amanda Holden remarked upon the audience's initially cynical attitude, and the subsequent "biggest wake-up call ever" upon hearing her performance.

I know what they were thinking, but why should it matter as long as I can sing? It's not a beauty contest.


Susan Boyle, The Sunday Times

This performance was widely reported and tens of millions of people viewed the video on YouTube. Boyle was "absolutely gobsmacked" by the strength of this reaction. Boyle is aware that the audience on Britain's Got Talent was initially hostile to her because of her appearance, but she has refused to change her image. Since the appearance, Paige has expressed interest in singing a duet with Boyle, and has called her "a role model for everyone who has a dream". Boyle's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" has been credited with causing a surge in ticket sales in the Vancouver production of Les Misérables. Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of the Les Misérables musical, also praised the performance, as "heart-touching, thrilling and uplifting".

She was one of 40 acts that were put through to the semi-finals. She appeared last on the first semi-final on 24 May 2009, performing "Memory" from the musical Cats. In the public vote she was the act to receive the highest number of votes and go through to the final. She was the clear favourite to win the final, but ended up in second place to Diversity; the UK TV audience was a record of 17.3 million viewers.

I didn't pick up on any unduly troubling signs. She was nervous, yes, but no more nervous than Paul Potts had been before his live final two years previously. She understood the significance of the night.
Then, during the final show, at the crucial point when the dance group Diversity won, I looked over at her face and thought: 'Christ, she doesn't know how to deal with not winning.'


Simon Cowell, Daily Mail

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) became concerned by press reports about Boyle's erratic behaviour and speculation about her mental condition and wrote to remind editors about clause 3 (privacy) of their code of press conduct. The day after the final, Boyle was admitted to The Priory, a private psychiatric clinic in London, TalkbackThames explained "Following Saturday night's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained." Her stay in hospital attracted widespread attention, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown wishing her well. Cowell has offered to waive Boyle's contractual obligation to take part in the BGT tour. Her family said "she's been battered non-stop for the last seven weeks and it has taken its toll her dream is very much alive," as she had been invited to the Independence Day celebrations at the White House.

Boyle left the clinic five days after her admission and said she would participate in the BGT tour. Despite health worries, she appeared in 20 of the 24 dates of the tour, and was well received in cities such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, Sheffield, Coventry, Birmingham and London. The Belfast Telegraph said "Despite reports of crumbling under the pressure..., she exuded a confidence resembling that of a veteran who has been performing for years..."
I Dreamed a Dream and tour (2009)
Gnome globe current event.svg
This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)
Main article: I Dreamed a Dream (album)

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released on 23 November 2009. The album includes covers of "Wild Horses" (scheduled to be her first single) and "You'll See" as well as "I Dreamed a Dream", and "Cry Me a River". I Dreamed a Dream became Amazon.com's best-selling album in pre-sales on 4 September 2009, three months before the scheduled release. In Britain, Susan's debut album was recognised as the fastest selling UK debut album of all time selling 411,820 copies, beating the previous fastest selling debut of all time, Spirit by Leona Lewis. I Dreamed a Dream also outsold the rest of the top 5 albums combined in its first week.

In the U.S., the album sold 701,000 copies in its first week, the best opening week for a debut artist in over a decade. It topped the Billboard chart for six straight weeks and although it narrowly failed to become the best-selling album of 2009, with sales of 3,104,000 compared to 3,217,000 for Taylor Swift's Fearless, it was one of only two albums to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S., and was also the top selling "physical" album of 2009, with only 86,000 of its sales coming from digital downloads. This has in turn garnered more media attention, as mentioned by People magazine.

In Italy, it was the first album of the month in the Italian #1 Account by a non-Italian artist ever. In only a week, it already sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest selling global female debut album.

Boyle gave a U.S. concert tour in November as a lead-up to the album release. On 13 December 2009 she appeared in her own television special "I Dreamed a Dream: the Susan Boyle Story", featuring a duet with Elaine Paige. It got ratings of 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom and in America was the TV Guide Network's highest rated television special in its history.

In November 2009 it was reported that Boyle's rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream' would be the theme song of the anime movie Eagle Talon The Movie 3, that was released in Japan on 16 January 2010.

In May 2010, Susan Boyle was voted by Time magazine as the seventh most influential person in the world, fourteen places above US President Barack Obama, who received one fifth of her votes, and fifty seven above French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Boyle performed for Pope Benedict XVI on his tour of Britain in 2010.
The Gift (2010–present)
Main article: The Gift (Susan Boyle album)

On 9 July 2010, Boyle announced that her second album would be a Christmas album entitled The Gift. As part of the lead up to the album, she will be holding a competition 'Susan's Search', the winner of which would get to sing a duet with her on her new CD. The album was released on 8 November 2010.

Produced by Steve Mac, who says "Now Susan's used to the studio and the recording process, this time round we might go even further down a traditional route of recording by getting a band together and rehearsing songs before we go into the studio to see what works, how she reacts with certain parts, and so we can change the arrangements that way. I think that’s going to work much better....With Susan it’s very important she connects with the public and the public connect with her. She doesn’t want to sing anything that hasn’t happened to her or she can’t relate to." Boyle has suggested the album will include some jazz numbers now she's "a bit more content" within herself. "My next album has to have an element of surprise in it again. I'm hoping to make it better and a bit extra special."

In August 2010, British tabloid, News of the World, reported that Boyle was experiencing financial woes as Boyle was unable to access her fortune, which was being controlled by her management team – consisting of Andy Stephens, Ossie Killkenny, and Susan's lawyer niece Kirsty Foy. Boyle's brother Gerry said his sister was fearful of losing her contract and of returning to her previous financial situation, and that she has been unable to move into her £300,000 five-bedroom house in Blackburn because she does not have the cash to furnish it. He said " millions are ring-fenced but Susan has no concept of money," and was "extremely distressed" at having to live off £300 a week, after being banned from withdrawing money from the bank or owning a credit card. This story was contradicted the following day though by the news that she had bought two houses. It was also reported that she had recently been on a spending spree, where she had bought a grand piano, iPhone, and five dresses made by Stewart Parvin, the Queen's dressmaker. The press had previously stated that Susan Boyle was suing her brother Gerry for other stories he'd sold to the newspapers.

In November 2010, Boyle became only one of three to ever top both the UK and US album charts twice in the same year. On 30 November 2010, Susan performed both on ABC"s The View and sang "O Holy Night", and later on NBC's Christmas at Rockefeller Center, where she performed "Perfect Day" and "Away in a Manger". During her appearance on The View she was unable to finish her song, stating she had a "frog in her throat"; she wanted to start the song over but wasn't allowed to. The audience applauded her anyway, and she later performed an unaired version of the song, which was uploaded to The View's YouTube account.

A biopic is being made starring Glenn Close as Susan Boyle.
Media impact

Web sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have been crucial in facilitating Boyle's rapid rise to fame: The most popular YouTube video submission of her audition garnered nearly 2.5 million views in the first 72 hours. On the day following the performance, the YouTube video was the most popular article on Digg and made the front page of Reddit. Within a week, the audition performance had been viewed more than 66 million times, setting an online record, while on Wikipedia her biographical article attracted nearly half a million page views. A total of 103 million video views on 20 different Web sites was reached within nine days. The Los Angeles Times wrote that her popularity on YouTube may in part be due to the broad range of emotion packed into a short clip which was "perfect for the Internet". In December 2009 her audition was named the most watched Youtube video of the year with over 120 million viewings, more than three times higher than the second most popular video.

Additionally, Boyle’s first on camera interview with Scots journalist Richard Mooney for her local newspaper the West Lothian Courer, was named as YouTube’s Most Memorable Video of 2009. The video went viral after being uploaded to YouTube on 14 April 2009.

Many newspapers around the world (including China, Brazil and the Middle East) carried articles on Boyle's performance. British tabloid The Sun gave her the nickname "Paula Potts" in reference to the first series' winner Paul Potts. Later, the British press took to referring to her by a short-form of her name, 'SuBo'. In the U.S., several commentators also drew parallels between Boyle's performance and that of Potts. ABC News hailed "Britain's newest pop sensation", and its Entertainment section headlined Boyle as "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell".

Within the week following her performance on Britain's Got Talent, Boyle was a guest on STV's The Five Thirty Show. She was interviewed via satellite on CBS's Early Show, Good Morning America, NBC's Today, FOX's America's Newsroom. and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Via satellite on Larry King Live, Boyle performed an a cappella verse of "My Heart Will Go On". She was also portrayed in drag by Jay Leno, who joked that they were related through his mother's Scottish heritage.

At the invitation of NHK, a major Japanese broadcaster, Boyle appeared as a guest singer for the 2009 edition of Kōhaku Uta Gassen, annual songfest on 31 December in Tokyo. She was introduced as the ouen kashu (応援歌手, lit. "cheering singer"?) by the MCs and appeared on the stage escorted by Takuya Kimura, and sang "I Dreamed a Dream".

Although not eligible for the 2010 Grammy Awards, its host Stephen Colbert paid tribute to Boyle at the ceremony, telling its audience "you may be the coolest people in the world, but this year your industry was saved by a 48-year-old Scottish cat lady in sensible shoes." There was also earlier controversy, when Boyle was not nominated in any of the categories for the 2010 Brit Awards.
Musical biography

It has been announced that Boyle will appear in a musical about her life. She will appear as herself, rather than "having to sit watching people up there" who are actors. The musical will "tell the singer's entire life story, including her years living with her moggy back in Blackburn before her world-famous telly audition." The show may play in the West End before touring the United Kingdom.
Social analyses
Judging by appearance

The Huffington Post noted that the producers of the show would have anticipated the potential of this story arc, by deliberately presenting Boyle in a manner that would enhance this initial reaction. The Herald described Boyle's story as a modern parable and a rebuke to people's tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance. Similarly, Entertainment Weekly said that Boyle's performance was a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.

Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.


Susan Boyle, The Washington Post

The Washington Post believed that her initial demeanour and homely appearance caused the judges and audience to be "waiting for her to squawk like a duck". New York's Daily News said that an underdog being ridiculed or humiliated but then enjoying an unexpected triumph is a common trope in literature, and the stark contrast between the audience's low expectations and the quality of her singing made Boyle's performance such an engaging piece of television.
Feminist view

R.M. Campbell, music critic for The Gathering Note compared her to Ella Fitzgerald, in that " really, really hard to make a career if a woman isn't attractive." In another Huffington Post article, Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote that although people may "weep for the years of wasted talent", Boyle's performance was a triumph for "women of a certain age" over a youth culture that often dismisses middle-aged women. Tanya Gold wrote in The Guardian that the difference between Boyle's hostile reception and the more neutral response to Paul Potts in his first audition reflected society's expectation that women be both good-looking and talented, with no such expectation existing for men. Los Angeles vocal coach Eric Vetro stated, "She's an Everywoman as opposed to an untouchable fantasy goddess, so maybe that's why people react to her."
'American Dream'

Several media sources have commented that Boyle's success seemed to have particular resonance in the United States. An American entertainment correspondent was quoted in The Scotsman comparing Boyle's story to the American Dream, as representing talent overcoming adversity and poverty. The Associated Press described this as Boyle's "hardscrabble story", dwelling on her modest lifestyle and what they characterised as urban deprivation in her home town. Similarly, The Independent's New York correspondent David Usborne wrote that the United States will always respond to "the fairy tale where the apparently unprepossessing suddenly becomes pretty, from Shrek to My Fair Lady".
Cultural references

The American cartoon show South Park made a reference to the Susan Boyle craze in the episode "Fatbeard", which aired on 22 April 2009; the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show aired a comedy sketch showing the "feel good" effect that Susan Boyle's performance has had on people; The Simpsons aired a new commercial for its 20th-anniversary show "Springfield's Got Talent", in which Homer Simpson talks about his dreams "to be a great singer like Boyle". A European trailer for the video game The Sims 3 includes a character mocked up as Boyle. In June 2009, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a short story called "I Dreamed a Dream" that was based on a combination of Boyle's appearances on Britain's Got Talent and the political difficulties of Gordon Brown. The 5 November 2009 episode of the show 30 Rock showed recurring character Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) – who has a dowdy appearance – singing in the style of Susan Boyle as Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy teared up. In a Season 35 sketch on Saturday Night Live, an accountant (Andy Samberg) doing Boyle's taxes, notes that her income for 2008 was $1, $900,000,000 for 2009, and projected to be $1 for 2010. Bobby Moynihan played Boyle in the sketch.

In the Futurama episode Attack of the Killer App, Leela has a boil named Susan ("Susan Boil") that can sing show tunes.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications Sales
UK
AUS
CAN
GRE
IRL
JPN
NL
NZ
SWI
US

2009 I Dreamed a Dream

    * Release date: 23 November 2009
    * Label: Syco, Columbia Records
    * Format: CD, digital download

1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1

    * UK: 7× Platinum
    * AUS: 9× Platinum
    * CAN: 5× Platinum
    * FRA: Platinum
    * JPN: Platinum
    * NZ: 11× Platinum
    * US: 4× Platinum



    * WW: 9,000,000

2010 The Gift

    * Release date: 8 November 2010
    * Label: Syco, Columbia Records
    * Format: CD, digital download

1 2 1 7 5 18 1 1 19 1

    * AUS: 3× Platinum
    * CAN: 2× Platinum
    * NZ: 4× Platinum
    * US: 3× Platinum



    * US: 1,850,000

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
UK
AUS BEL CAN
IRL
FRA NL
SWI
US

2009 "Wild Horses" 9 93 — 95 11 31 99 — 98 I Dreamed a Dream
"I Dreamed a Dream" 37 66 27 65 20 37 — 43 62
2010 "Perfect Day" 124 — 65 — — — — — — The Gift
2011 "I Know Him So Well" (with Peter Kay for Comic Relief) 11 — — — — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes that the record has not yet charted in that region.
Featured singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
UK
AUS
IRL

2010 "Everybody Hurts" (with Helping Haiti) 1 28 1 Non-album single
"—" denotes that the record has not yet charted in that region.
Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Result
2011 53rd Grammy Awards Best Pop Vocal Album – I Dreamed a Dream Nominated
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh51/23pier/Susan.jpg
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp278/joros7/Artistas3/susan-boyle.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/01/11 at 6:58 am

I think she has a great voice.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/01/11 at 11:51 am


The person of the day...Susan Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on reality TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. Her first album was released in November 2009 and debuted as the number one best-selling CD on charts around the globe.

Global interest in Boyle was triggered by the contrast between her powerful voice and her plain appearance on stage. The juxtaposition of the audience's first impression of her, with the standing ovation she received during and after her performance, led to an international media and internet response. Within nine days of the audition, videos of Boyle—from the show, various interviews and her 1999 rendition of "Cry Me a River" – had been watched over 100 million times. Her audition video has been viewed on the internet several hundred million times. Despite the sustained media interest she later finished in second place in the final of the show behind dance troupe Diversity.

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released on 23 November 2009 and became Amazon's best-selling album in pre-sales. According to Billboard, "The arrival of I Dreamed a Dream ... marks the best opening week for a female artist's debut album since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991." In only six weeks of sales, it became the biggest selling album in the world for 2009, selling 9 million copies. In September 2010, Boyle was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as having had the fastest selling debut album by a female artist in the UK, the most successful first week sales of a debut album in the UK, and was also awarded the record for being the oldest person to reach number one with a debut album in the UK.
In August 2008, Boyle applied for an audition for the third series of Britain's Got Talent (as contestant number 43212) and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow. When Boyle first appeared on Britain's Got Talent at the city's Clyde Auditorium, she said that she aspired to become a professional singer "as successful as Elaine Paige". Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables in the first round of the third series of Britain's Got Talent, which was watched by over 10 million viewers when it aired on 11 April 2009. Amanda Holden remarked upon the audience's initially cynical attitude, and the subsequent "biggest wake-up call ever" upon hearing her performance.

I know what they were thinking, but why should it matter as long as I can sing? It's not a beauty contest.


Susan Boyle, The Sunday Times

This performance was widely reported and tens of millions of people viewed the video on YouTube. Boyle was "absolutely gobsmacked" by the strength of this reaction. Boyle is aware that the audience on Britain's Got Talent was initially hostile to her because of her appearance, but she has refused to change her image. Since the appearance, Paige has expressed interest in singing a duet with Boyle, and has called her "a role model for everyone who has a dream". Boyle's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" has been credited with causing a surge in ticket sales in the Vancouver production of Les Misérables. Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of the Les Misérables musical, also praised the performance, as "heart-touching, thrilling and uplifting".

She was one of 40 acts that were put through to the semi-finals. She appeared last on the first semi-final on 24 May 2009, performing "Memory" from the musical Cats. In the public vote she was the act to receive the highest number of votes and go through to the final. She was the clear favourite to win the final, but ended up in second place to Diversity; the UK TV audience was a record of 17.3 million viewers.

I didn't pick up on any unduly troubling signs. She was nervous, yes, but no more nervous than Paul Potts had been before his live final two years previously. She understood the significance of the night.
Then, during the final show, at the crucial point when the dance group Diversity won, I looked over at her face and thought: 'Christ, she doesn't know how to deal with not winning.'


Simon Cowell, Daily Mail

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) became concerned by press reports about Boyle's erratic behaviour and speculation about her mental condition and wrote to remind editors about clause 3 (privacy) of their code of press conduct. The day after the final, Boyle was admitted to The Priory, a private psychiatric clinic in London, TalkbackThames explained "Following Saturday night's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained." Her stay in hospital attracted widespread attention, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown wishing her well. Cowell has offered to waive Boyle's contractual obligation to take part in the BGT tour. Her family said "she's been battered non-stop for the last seven weeks and it has taken its toll her dream is very much alive," as she had been invited to the Independence Day celebrations at the White House.

Boyle left the clinic five days after her admission and said she would participate in the BGT tour. Despite health worries, she appeared in 20 of the 24 dates of the tour, and was well received in cities such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, Sheffield, Coventry, Birmingham and London. The Belfast Telegraph said "Despite reports of crumbling under the pressure..., she exuded a confidence resembling that of a veteran who has been performing for years..."
I Dreamed a Dream and tour (2009)
Gnome globe current event.svg
This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)
Main article: I Dreamed a Dream (album)

Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released on 23 November 2009. The album includes covers of "Wild Horses" (scheduled to be her first single) and "You'll See" as well as "I Dreamed a Dream", and "Cry Me a River". I Dreamed a Dream became Amazon.com's best-selling album in pre-sales on 4 September 2009, three months before the scheduled release. In Britain, Susan's debut album was recognised as the fastest selling UK debut album of all time selling 411,820 copies, beating the previous fastest selling debut of all time, Spirit by Leona Lewis. I Dreamed a Dream also outsold the rest of the top 5 albums combined in its first week.

In the U.S., the album sold 701,000 copies in its first week, the best opening week for a debut artist in over a decade. It topped the Billboard chart for six straight weeks and although it narrowly failed to become the best-selling album of 2009, with sales of 3,104,000 compared to 3,217,000 for Taylor Swift's Fearless, it was one of only two albums to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S., and was also the top selling "physical" album of 2009, with only 86,000 of its sales coming from digital downloads. This has in turn garnered more media attention, as mentioned by People magazine.

In Italy, it was the first album of the month in the Italian #1 Account by a non-Italian artist ever. In only a week, it already sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest selling global female debut album.

Boyle gave a U.S. concert tour in November as a lead-up to the album release. On 13 December 2009 she appeared in her own television special "I Dreamed a Dream: the Susan Boyle Story", featuring a duet with Elaine Paige. It got ratings of 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom and in America was the TV Guide Network's highest rated television special in its history.

In November 2009 it was reported that Boyle's rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream' would be the theme song of the anime movie Eagle Talon The Movie 3, that was released in Japan on 16 January 2010.

In May 2010, Susan Boyle was voted by Time magazine as the seventh most influential person in the world, fourteen places above US President Barack Obama, who received one fifth of her votes, and fifty seven above French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Boyle performed for Pope Benedict XVI on his tour of Britain in 2010.
The Gift (2010–present)
Main article: The Gift (Susan Boyle album)

On 9 July 2010, Boyle announced that her second album would be a Christmas album entitled The Gift. As part of the lead up to the album, she will be holding a competition 'Susan's Search', the winner of which would get to sing a duet with her on her new CD. The album was released on 8 November 2010.

Produced by Steve Mac, who says "Now Susan's used to the studio and the recording process, this time round we might go even further down a traditional route of recording by getting a band together and rehearsing songs before we go into the studio to see what works, how she reacts with certain parts, and so we can change the arrangements that way. I think that’s going to work much better....With Susan it’s very important she connects with the public and the public connect with her. She doesn’t want to sing anything that hasn’t happened to her or she can’t relate to." Boyle has suggested the album will include some jazz numbers now she's "a bit more content" within herself. "My next album has to have an element of surprise in it again. I'm hoping to make it better and a bit extra special."

In August 2010, British tabloid, News of the World, reported that Boyle was experiencing financial woes as Boyle was unable to access her fortune, which was being controlled by her management team – consisting of Andy Stephens, Ossie Killkenny, and Susan's lawyer niece Kirsty Foy. Boyle's brother Gerry said his sister was fearful of losing her contract and of returning to her previous financial situation, and that she has been unable to move into her £300,000 five-bedroom house in Blackburn because she does not have the cash to furnish it. He said " millions are ring-fenced but Susan has no concept of money," and was "extremely distressed" at having to live off £300 a week, after being banned from withdrawing money from the bank or owning a credit card. This story was contradicted the following day though by the news that she had bought two houses. It was also reported that she had recently been on a spending spree, where she had bought a grand piano, iPhone, and five dresses made by Stewart Parvin, the Queen's dressmaker. The press had previously stated that Susan Boyle was suing her brother Gerry for other stories he'd sold to the newspapers.

In November 2010, Boyle became only one of three to ever top both the UK and US album charts twice in the same year. On 30 November 2010, Susan performed both on ABC"s The View and sang "O Holy Night", and later on NBC's Christmas at Rockefeller Center, where she performed "Perfect Day" and "Away in a Manger". During her appearance on The View she was unable to finish her song, stating she had a "frog in her throat"; she wanted to start the song over but wasn't allowed to. The audience applauded her anyway, and she later performed an unaired version of the song, which was uploaded to The View's YouTube account.

A biopic is being made starring Glenn Close as Susan Boyle.
Media impact

Web sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have been crucial in facilitating Boyle's rapid rise to fame: The most popular YouTube video submission of her audition garnered nearly 2.5 million views in the first 72 hours. On the day following the performance, the YouTube video was the most popular article on Digg and made the front page of Reddit. Within a week, the audition performance had been viewed more than 66 million times, setting an online record, while on Wikipedia her biographical article attracted nearly half a million page views. A total of 103 million video views on 20 different Web sites was reached within nine days. The Los Angeles Times wrote that her popularity on YouTube may in part be due to the broad range of emotion packed into a short clip which was "perfect for the Internet". In December 2009 her audition was named the most watched Youtube video of the year with over 120 million viewings, more than three times higher than the second most popular video.

Additionally, Boyle’s first on camera interview with Scots journalist Richard Mooney for her local newspaper the West Lothian Courer, was named as YouTube’s Most Memorable Video of 2009. The video went viral after being uploaded to YouTube on 14 April 2009.

Many newspapers around the world (including China, Brazil and the Middle East) carried articles on Boyle's performance. British tabloid The Sun gave her the nickname "Paula Potts" in reference to the first series' winner Paul Potts. Later, the British press took to referring to her by a short-form of her name, 'SuBo'. In the U.S., several commentators also drew parallels between Boyle's performance and that of Potts. ABC News hailed "Britain's newest pop sensation", and its Entertainment section headlined Boyle as "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell".

Within the week following her performance on Britain's Got Talent, Boyle was a guest on STV's The Five Thirty Show. She was interviewed via satellite on CBS's Early Show, Good Morning America, NBC's Today, FOX's America's Newsroom. and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Via satellite on Larry King Live, Boyle performed an a cappella verse of "My Heart Will Go On". She was also portrayed in drag by Jay Leno, who joked that they were related through his mother's Scottish heritage.

At the invitation of NHK, a major Japanese broadcaster, Boyle appeared as a guest singer for the 2009 edition of Kōhaku Uta Gassen, annual songfest on 31 December in Tokyo. She was introduced as the ouen kashu (応援歌手, lit. "cheering singer"?) by the MCs and appeared on the stage escorted by Takuya Kimura, and sang "I Dreamed a Dream".

Although not eligible for the 2010 Grammy Awards, its host Stephen Colbert paid tribute to Boyle at the ceremony, telling its audience "you may be the coolest people in the world, but this year your industry was saved by a 48-year-old Scottish cat lady in sensible shoes." There was also earlier controversy, when Boyle was not nominated in any of the categories for the 2010 Brit Awards.
Musical biography

It has been announced that Boyle will appear in a musical about her life. She will appear as herself, rather than "having to sit watching people up there" who are actors. The musical will "tell the singer's entire life story, including her years living with her moggy back in Blackburn before her world-famous telly audition." The show may play in the West End before touring the United Kingdom.
Social analyses
Judging by appearance

The Huffington Post noted that the producers of the show would have anticipated the potential of this story arc, by deliberately presenting Boyle in a manner that would enhance this initial reaction. The Herald described Boyle's story as a modern parable and a rebuke to people's tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance. Similarly, Entertainment Weekly said that Boyle's performance was a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.

Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.


Susan Boyle, The Washington Post

The Washington Post believed that her initial demeanour and homely appearance caused the judges and audience to be "waiting for her to squawk like a duck". New York's Daily News said that an underdog being ridiculed or humiliated but then enjoying an unexpected triumph is a common trope in literature, and the stark contrast between the audience's low expectations and the quality of her singing made Boyle's performance such an engaging piece of television.
Feminist view

R.M. Campbell, music critic for The Gathering Note compared her to Ella Fitzgerald, in that " really, really hard to make a career if a woman isn't attractive." In another Huffington Post article, Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote that although people may "weep for the years of wasted talent", Boyle's performance was a triumph for "women of a certain age" over a youth culture that often dismisses middle-aged women. Tanya Gold wrote in The Guardian that the difference between Boyle's hostile reception and the more neutral response to Paul Potts in his first audition reflected society's expectation that women be both good-looking and talented, with no such expectation existing for men. Los Angeles vocal coach Eric Vetro stated, "She's an Everywoman as opposed to an untouchable fantasy goddess, so maybe that's why people react to her."
'American Dream'

Several media sources have commented that Boyle's success seemed to have particular resonance in the United States. An American entertainment correspondent was quoted in The Scotsman comparing Boyle's story to the American Dream, as representing talent overcoming adversity and poverty. The Associated Press described this as Boyle's "hardscrabble story", dwelling on her modest lifestyle and what they characterised as urban deprivation in her home town. Similarly, The Independent's New York correspondent David Usborne wrote that the United States will always respond to "the fairy tale where the apparently unprepossessing suddenly becomes pretty, from Shrek to My Fair Lady".
Cultural references

The American cartoon show South Park made a reference to the Susan Boyle craze in the episode "Fatbeard", which aired on 22 April 2009; the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show aired a comedy sketch showing the "feel good" effect that Susan Boyle's performance has had on people; The Simpsons aired a new commercial for its 20th-anniversary show "Springfield's Got Talent", in which Homer Simpson talks about his dreams "to be a great singer like Boyle". A European trailer for the video game The Sims 3 includes a character mocked up as Boyle. In June 2009, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a short story called "I Dreamed a Dream" that was based on a combination of Boyle's appearances on Britain's Got Talent and the political difficulties of Gordon Brown. The 5 November 2009 episode of the show 30 Rock showed recurring character Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) – who has a dowdy appearance – singing in the style of Susan Boyle as Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy teared up. In a Season 35 sketch on Saturday Night Live, an accountant (Andy Samberg) doing Boyle's taxes, notes that her income for 2008 was $1, $900,000,000 for 2009, and projected to be $1 for 2010. Bobby Moynihan played Boyle in the sketch.

In the Futurama episode Attack of the Killer App, Leela has a boil named Susan ("Susan Boil") that can sing show tunes.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications Sales
UK
AUS
CAN
GRE
IRL
JPN
NL
NZ
SWI
US

2009 I Dreamed a Dream

    * Release date: 23 November 2009
    * Label: Syco, Columbia Records
    * Format: CD, digital download

1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1

    * UK: 7× Platinum
    * AUS: 9× Platinum
    * CAN: 5× Platinum
    * FRA: Platinum
    * JPN: Platinum
    * NZ: 11× Platinum
    * US: 4× Platinum



    * WW: 9,000,000

2010 The Gift

    * Release date: 8 November 2010
    * Label: Syco, Columbia Records
    * Format: CD, digital download

1 2 1 7 5 18 1 1 19 1

    * AUS: 3× Platinum
    * CAN: 2× Platinum
    * NZ: 4× Platinum
    * US: 3× Platinum



    * US: 1,850,000

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
UK
AUS BEL CAN
IRL
FRA NL
SWI
US

2009 "Wild Horses" 9 93 — 95 11 31 99 — 98 I Dreamed a Dream
"I Dreamed a Dream" 37 66 27 65 20 37 — 43 62
2010 "Perfect Day" 124 — 65 — — — — — — The Gift
2011 "I Know Him So Well" (with Peter Kay for Comic Relief) 11 — — — — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes that the record has not yet charted in that region.
Featured singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
UK
AUS
IRL

2010 "Everybody Hurts" (with Helping Haiti) 1 28 1 Non-album single
"—" denotes that the record has not yet charted in that region.
Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Result
2011 53rd Grammy Awards Best Pop Vocal Album – I Dreamed a Dream Nominated
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh51/23pier/Susan.jpg
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp278/joros7/Artistas3/susan-boyle.jpg
She has changed the face of music, coming from the complete unknown to world wide fame.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/01/11 at 12:45 pm


I think she has a great voice.  :)

Yes she does, they just played I dreamed A Dream on the radio a short time ago. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/01/11 at 12:46 pm


Yes she does, they just played I dreamed A Dream on the radio a short time ago. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/01/11 at 7:49 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk



She came a long way from where she was before.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/11 at 12:43 am



She came a long way from where she was before.
Yes she comes from Scotland.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/11 at 1:54 am

British Person of the Day: Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. His most prominent role in his later career was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Early life

Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff. She was born 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, the space for the mother's name shows Agnes de Cuffe. The space for the infant's name (where first names only are given) says Alec Guinness. The column for name and surname of father is blank.

It has been frequently speculated that the actor's father was a member of the Irish Guinness family. However, it was a Scottish banker, Andrew Geddes, who paid for Guinness's private school education. From 1875, under English law, when the birth of an illegitimate child was registered, the father's name could only be entered on the certificate if he were present and gave his consent. Guinness and Geddes never met, and the identity of Guinness's father has never been confirmed. Guinness was uninterested in his mother, who later had a short marriage to a violent, shell-shocked veteran of the Irish War of Independence.

Early career and war service

Guinness first worked writing advertising copy. His first job in the theatre was on his 20th birthday, while he was still a drama student, in the play Libel, which opened at the old King's Theatre, Hammersmith, and then transferred to the Playhouse where his status was upped from a walk on to understudying two lines and his salary increased to £1 a week.  He appeared at the Albery Theatre in 1936 at the age of 22, playing the role of Osric in John Gielgud's successful production of Hamlet. During this time he worked with many actors and actresses who would become his friends and frequent co-stars in the future, including John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Anthony Quayle, and Jack Hawkins. An early influence from afar was Stan Laurel, whom Guinness admired.

Guinness continued playing Shakespearean roles throughout his career. In 1937 he played Aumerle in Richard II and Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice under the direction of John Gielgud. He starred in a 1938 production of Hamlet which won him acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. He also appeared as Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet (1939), Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and as Exeter in Henry V in 1937, both opposite Laurence Olivier, and Ferdinand in The Tempest, opposite Gielgud as Prospero.

In 1939, he adapted Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations for the stage, playing the part of Herbert Pocket. The play was a success. One of its viewers was a young British film editor, David Lean, who would later have Guinness reprise his role in Lean's 1946 film adaptation of the play.

Guinness served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year. He commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferried supplies to the Yugoslav partisans.

During the war, he was granted leave to appear in the Broadway production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path about the RAF Bomber Command.

Post-war stage career

Guinness returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed until 1948, playing Abel Drugger in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, the Fool in King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier in the title role, DeGuiche in Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Ralph Richardson in the title role, and finally starring in an Old Vic production as Shakespeare's Richard II. After leaving the Old Vic, he played Eric Birling in J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre in October 1946. He played the Uninvited Guest in the Broadway production of T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party (1950, revived at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968). His third attempt at the title role of Hamlet, this time under his own direction at the New Theatre (1951), proved a major theatrical disaster.

Invited by his friend Tyrone Guthrie to join the premier season of the Stratford Festival of Canada, Guinness lived for a brief time in Stratford, Ontario. On July 13, 1953, Guinness spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival, Shakespeare's Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of York."

Guinness won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance as poet Dylan Thomas in Dylan. He next played the title role in Macbeth opposite Simone Signoret at the Royal Court Theatre in 1966, a conspicuous failure.

His final performance was at the Comedy Theatre on May 30, 1989 in the play A Walk in the Woods. Sandwiched between April 2, 1934, and May 30, 1989, he played 77 parts in the theatre.

Film career

In films, Guinness was initially associated mainly with the Ealing comedies, and particularly for playing eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit. In 1952, director Ronald Neame cast Guinness in his first romantic lead role, opposite Petula Clark in The Card.

He won particular acclaim for his work with director David Lean. After appearing in Lean's Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, he was given a starring role opposite William Holden in The Bridge on the River Kwai. For his performance as Colonel Nicholson, the unyielding British POW leader, Guinness won an Academy Award. Despite a difficult and often hostile relationship, Lean, referring to Guinness as "my good luck charm", continued to cast Guinness in character roles in his later films: Arab leader Prince Feisal in Lawrence of Arabia; the title character's half-brother, Bolshevik leader Yevgraf, in Doctor Zhivago; and Indian mystic Godbole in A Passage to India. He was also offered a role in Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970), but declined.

Other notable film roles of this period included The Swan (1956) with Grace Kelly, in her second to last film role; The Horse's Mouth (1958) in which Guinness played the part of drunken painter Gulley Jimson as well as contributing the screenplay, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award; the lead in Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana (1959); Marcus Aurelius in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Marley's Ghost in Scrooge (1970); Charles I of England in Cromwell (1970); and the title role in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), which he considered his best film performance, though critics disagreed.

Guinness also played the role of Jamessir Bensonmum, the blind butler, in the 1976 Neil Simon film Murder By Death.

Star Wars

Guinness's role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation. Guinness agreed to take the part on the condition that he would not have to do any publicity to promote the film. He was also one of the few cast members who believed that the film would be a box office hit; he negotiated a deal for two percent of the gross, which made him very wealthy in his later life. His role would also result in Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

Despite these rewards, Guinness soon became unhappy with being identified with the part, and expressed dismay at the fan-following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of Star Wars: A New Hope, director George Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script re-write in which Obi-Wan is killed. However, Guinness said in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi-Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character, and that Lucas agreed to the idea. Guinness stated in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shriveled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him.

Despite Guinness's dislike of the films, Lucas and fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism, both on and off the set, in not displaying his distaste for the material to his co-stars. Lucas credited him with inspiring cast and crew to work harder, saying that Guinness contributed significantly to achieving completion of the filming. Guinness was quoted as saying that the royalties he obtained from working on the films gave him "no complaints; let me leave it by saying I can live for the rest of my life in the reasonably modest way I am now used to, that I have no debts and I can afford to refuse work that doesn't appeal to me." In his autobiography, Blessings In Disguise, Guinness tells an imaginary interviewer "Blessed be Star Wars!".

In the final volume of the book A Positively Final Appearance (1997), Guinness recounts grudgingly giving an autograph to a young fan who claimed to have watched Star Wars over 100 times, on the condition that the boy promise to stop watching the film, because, as Guinness told him, "this is going to be an ill effect on your life." The fan was stunned at first, but later thanked him (though some sources say it went differently). Guinness grew so tired of modern audiences apparently knowing him only for his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi that he would throw away the mail he received from Star Wars fans without reading it.

Awards and honours

Guinness won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1957 for his role in The Bridge on the River Kwai. He was nominated in 1958 for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, for his screenplay adapted from Joyce Cary's novel The Horse's Mouth. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars in 1977. He received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1980. In 1988, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Little Dorrit.

For his theatre work, he received an Evening Standard Award for his performance as T.E. Lawrence in Ross and a Tony Award for his Broadway turn as Dylan Thomas in Dylan.

Guinness was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1955, and was knighted in 1959. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University. Three years later, at age 80, he was given the title of Companion of Honour.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1559 Vine Street.

Personal life

Guinness married the artist, playwright, and actress Merula Sylvia Salaman (16 October 1914 – 18 October 2000) in 1938; in 1940, they had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor.

In his biography, Alec Guinness: The Unknown, Garry O'Connor says that Guinness was arrested and fined 10 guineas for a homosexual act in a public lavatory in Liverpool in 1946. Guinness avoided publicity by giving his name to police and court as "Herbert Pocket", the name of the character he played in Great Expectations. The incident did not become public knowledge until April 2001, eight months after his death. Piers Paul Read, Guinness's official biographer, doubts that this incident actually occurred. He believes that Guinness was confused with John Gielgud, who was infamously arrested for such an act at the same period.

However, Guinness' friends and family knew of his bisexuality.

Death

Guinness died on 5 August 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex. He had been receiving hospital treatment for glaucoma, and had recently also been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was interred in Petersfield, Hampshire, England. His widow, Lady Guinness, died of cancer in Petersfield, two months after her husband, also aged 86, and was interred alongside her husband of 62 years.

Filmography

1934 Evensong
1946  Great Expectations
1948 Oliver Twist
1949 Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949 A Run for Your Money
1950 Last Holiday
1950 The Mudlark
1951 The Man in the White Suit
1951 The Lavender Hill Mob
1952 The Card
1953 The Captain's Paradise
1953 The Malta Story
1954 Father Brown
1955 To Paris With Love
1955 The Prisoner
1955 The Ladykillers
1956 The Swan
1957 Barnacle Bill
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 The Scapegoat
1958 The Horse's Mouth
1959 Our Man in Havana
1960 Tunes of Glory
1961 A Majority of One
1962 HMS Defiant
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1963 The Fall of the Roman Empire
1965 Situation Hopeless but not Serious
1965 Dr. Zhivago
1966 The Quiller Memorandum
1966 Hotel Paradiso
1967 The Comedians
1970 Scrooge
1970 Cromwell
1972 Brother Sun, Sister Moon
1973 Hitler, the Last Ten Days
1976 Murder by Death
1977 Star Wars
1977 To See Such Fun
1980 The Empire Strikes Back
1980 Raise the Titanic
1983 Return of the Jedi
1983 Lovesick
1984 A Passage to India
1988 Little Dorrit
1988 A Handful of Dust
1991 Kafka
1993 A Foreign Field

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/wp-content/images/people/266-Alec-Guinness.jpg

http://theland.antgear.com/alec_guinness.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/11 at 1:54 am

"May the force be with you"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/11 at 1:55 am

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5009/5379962555_50e93b48d2_z.jpg

Sir Alec Guinness plaque in central London

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/02/11 at 4:53 am

The person of the day...Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges (born April 2, 1942), known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music.

Born in Lawton, Oklahoma, Russell attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At this time he was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. He became a session musician, becoming a keyboardist who has worked with many notable musicians since the 1960s. By the late 1960s, Russell diversified, first to writing songs, and then working his way from gigs as a sideman to joining bands as a full member. Eventually, he began solo recording, although he never ended all his previous roles within the music industry.

Russell was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, March 14, 2011, at a black-tie dinner at The Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan.
Known first mostly as a session musician, Russell has played with artists as varied as Jerry Lee Lewis, George Harrison, Delaney Bramlett, Ringo Starr, Doris Day, Elton John, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, Badfinger, Tijuana Brass, Frank Sinatra, The Band, Glen Campbell, and The Rolling Stones. With a solo career involving the genres of rock and roll, blues, and gospel music, Russell began his musical career at the age of 14 years in the nightclubs of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his group "The Starlighters", which included J.J. Cale, Chuck Blackwell and Johnny Williams, were instrumental in creating the style of music known as the Tulsa Sound. After settling in Los Angeles, California, he studied guitar with James Burton, and worked sessions with Dorsey Burnette and Glen Campbell.

Becoming a part of Phil Spector's studio group, Russell played backup for many of the most popular successes of the 1960s, including songs by The Byrds, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, and Herb Alpert. He can be seen in 1964's "The T.A.M.I. Show", playing piano with the Wrecking Crew (the Spector studio band), sporting short, dark, slicked-back hair, in contrast to his later look. He also served as Snuff Garrett's assistant for numerous productions. For example, he played the xylophone/bells on the Bobby Russell (no relation to Leon Russell) penned song "The Joker Went Wild" which was sung by Brian Hyland, in 1966.

His first songwriting success was Joe Cocker's 1969 version of "Delta Lady". Russell then went on to organise Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour. "Superstar", co-written by Russell and Bonnie Bramlett, and sung by Rita Coolidge on that tour, would also be a success for The Carpenters, Luther Vandross, Sonic Youth, and several other performers.

Russell released an eponymous solo album soon after the Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour, Leon Russell, which included the original version of "A Song for You". This has become one of his best-known songs, with cover versions released by more than forty different artists including Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Helen Reddy, Whitney Houston, Donny Hathaway, and Christina Aguilera. Both The Carpenters and The Temptations named an album after the song. Also during 1970, Russell played piano for Dave Mason's album, Alone Together (notably, on the song "Sad and Deep as You").

During the 1960s and 1970s, Russell owned the Church Recording Studio on 3rd Street in Tulsa, which is now owned by Glen Mitchell and one-time Russell studio engineer Steve Ripley of the country band The Tractors. Russell still records there frequently, while his former home on Grand Lake, in northeast Oklahoma, still contains the dining room table and chairs made from church pews from his Church Studio. On the property stands a private recording studio that has witnessed many famous musicians, including members of The Beatles.

During the summer of 1971, Russell was asked by George Harrison to play piano on Badfinger's third album, Straight Up. The piano which complemented Pete Ham and George Harrison's dual slide guitars on Badfinger's "Day After Day" was played by Russell from those Apple sessions. The sessions were interrupted because many of the musicians on Straight Up left for New York City to participate in the Concert For Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, at which Russell performed a medley of the songs, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Young Blood," and sang a verse on George Harrison's "Beware of Darkness." Russell (on electric bass guitar) and George Harrison (on electric guitar/vocals) also played along side Bob Dylan (acoustic guitar/vocals) on a number of Dylan's hits.

Also during 1971 Russell played on recording sessions with B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan, and he released two studio albums by his own name that year (Leon Russell And The Shelter People and Asylum Choir II with Marc Benno). Further, Russell helped Freddie King to revive his career by collaborating with him on three of his albums for Shelter during the early 1970s.

1972 was highlighted by a well-hailed concert tour, which was immortalized by a triple album that captured his soaring gospel rock wall of sound. "Leon Live" still stands as one of Russell's most musically grand and infectious albums. The performance, at once raucous yet controlled by Russell's deft musicianship, was recorded in California at the Long Beach Arena on August 28th. With an only slightly reduced tour cast, this performance's set was passionately repeated to filled arenas from coast to coast.

Russell and Willie Nelson had a number one duet on the Billboard country music chart during 1979 with "Heartbreak Hotel". He spent the next two years touring with the New Grass Revival, and released two more albums with Paradise before the label folded.

During November 2009, he wrote many songs with Elton John and Bernie Taupin for a double album record credited equally to both Russell and John, recorded in February 2010 and produced by T-Bone Burnett. The Union was released on October 19, 2010.
Discography
Albums
Year Album Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
US US Country CAN CAN Country NZ
1966 Rhapsodies for Young Lovers (with Midnight String Quartet) — — — — —
1968 Look Inside the Asylum Choir (with Marc Benno) — — — — —
1970 Leon Russell 60 — — — —
1971 Leon Russell And The Shelter People 17 — 14 — — US: Gold
Asylum Choir II (with Marc Benno) 70 — — — —
1972 Carney 2 — 4 — — US: Gold
1973 Leon Live 9 — 9 — — US: Gold
Hank Wilson's Back 28 15 85 — —
Looking Back — — — — —
1974 Stop All That Jazz 34 — 43 — —
1975 Will O' the Wisp 30 — 72 — — US: Gold
1976 Best of Leon Russell 40 — — — — US: Gold
Wedding Album (with Mary Russell) 34 — — — —
1977 Make Love to the Music (with Mary Russell) 142 — — — —
1978 Americana 115 — — — —
1979 One For the Road (live) (with Willie Nelson) 25 3 28 1 11 US: Gold
CAN: Gold
Life and Love — — — — —
1981 The Live Album (with New Grass Revival) 187 — — — —
1984 Hank Wilson, Vol. II — — — — —
Solid State — — — — —
1989 Leon Russell — — — — —
1992 Anything Can Happen — — — — —
Crazy Love — — — — —
Collection — — — — —
1995 Hymns of Christmas — — — — —
1996 Gimme Shelter: The Best of Leon Russell — — — — —
1997 Retrospective — — — — —
1998 Hank Wilson, Vol. 3: Legend in My Time — — — — —
1999 Face in the Crowd — — — — —
Blues: Same Old Song — — — — —
2000 Live at Gilley's — — — — —
2001 Best of Leon Russell — — — — —
Guitar Blues — — — — —
Signature Songs — — — — —
Rhythm & Bluegrass: Hank Wilson, Vol. 4 (with New Grass Revival) — — — — —
2002 Moonlight & Love Songs (with the Nashville Symphony) — — — — —
2003 In Your Dreams — — — — —
Bad Country — — — — —
Almost Piano — — — — —
2006 A Mighty Flood — — — — —
Angel in Disguise — — — — —
2010 The Union (with Elton John) 3 — 7 — 24 UK: Silver
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US US Country CAN CAN Country CAN AC
1972 "Tight Rope" 11 — 5 — — Carney
1973 "Queen of the Roller Derby" 89 — — — —
"Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" (as Hank Wilson) 78 57 — 30 — Hank Wilson's Back, Vol. 1
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (as Hank Wilson) 78 — — — —
1974 "A Six Pack to Go" (as Hank Wilson) — 68 — 76 —
"If I Were a Carpenter" 73 — 87 — — Stop All That Jazz
1975 "Lady Blue" 14 — 44 — 18 Will O' the Wisp
1976 "Back to the Island" 53 — — — 33
"Rainbow in Your Eyes" 52 — — — — Wedding Album
1978 "Heartbreak Hotel" (w/ Willie Nelson) — 1 — 1 — One for the Road
1984 "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" — 63 — — — Solid State
"Wabash Cannonball" (w/ Willie Nelson, as Hank Wilson) — 91 — — — single only
1992 "Anything Can Happen" — — — — — Anything Can Happen
"No Man's Land" — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Music videos
Year Video Director
1992 "Anything Can Happen" Sherman Halsey
"No Man's Land"
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q89/tanilo/LEON_.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/hedgesmcgareth/m_leon_russell-2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/02/11 at 6:56 am


British Person of the Day: Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. His most prominent role in his later career was as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Early life

Guinness was born at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, London as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. His mother's maiden name was Agnes Cuff. She was born 8 December 1890 to Edward Cuff and Mary Ann Benfield. On Guinness's birth certificate, the space for the mother's name shows Agnes de Cuffe. The space for the infant's name (where first names only are given) says Alec Guinness. The column for name and surname of father is blank.

It has been frequently speculated that the actor's father was a member of the Irish Guinness family. However, it was a Scottish banker, Andrew Geddes, who paid for Guinness's private school education. From 1875, under English law, when the birth of an illegitimate child was registered, the father's name could only be entered on the certificate if he were present and gave his consent. Guinness and Geddes never met, and the identity of Guinness's father has never been confirmed. Guinness was uninterested in his mother, who later had a short marriage to a violent, shell-shocked veteran of the Irish War of Independence.

Early career and war service

Guinness first worked writing advertising copy. His first job in the theatre was on his 20th birthday, while he was still a drama student, in the play Libel, which opened at the old King's Theatre, Hammersmith, and then transferred to the Playhouse where his status was upped from a walk on to understudying two lines and his salary increased to £1 a week.  He appeared at the Albery Theatre in 1936 at the age of 22, playing the role of Osric in John Gielgud's successful production of Hamlet. During this time he worked with many actors and actresses who would become his friends and frequent co-stars in the future, including John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Anthony Quayle, and Jack Hawkins. An early influence from afar was Stan Laurel, whom Guinness admired.

Guinness continued playing Shakespearean roles throughout his career. In 1937 he played Aumerle in Richard II and Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice under the direction of John Gielgud. He starred in a 1938 production of Hamlet which won him acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. He also appeared as Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet (1939), Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and as Exeter in Henry V in 1937, both opposite Laurence Olivier, and Ferdinand in The Tempest, opposite Gielgud as Prospero.

In 1939, he adapted Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations for the stage, playing the part of Herbert Pocket. The play was a success. One of its viewers was a young British film editor, David Lean, who would later have Guinness reprise his role in Lean's 1946 film adaptation of the play.

Guinness served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year. He commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferried supplies to the Yugoslav partisans.

During the war, he was granted leave to appear in the Broadway production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path about the RAF Bomber Command.

Post-war stage career

Guinness returned to the Old Vic in 1946 and stayed until 1948, playing Abel Drugger in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, the Fool in King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier in the title role, DeGuiche in Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Ralph Richardson in the title role, and finally starring in an Old Vic production as Shakespeare's Richard II. After leaving the Old Vic, he played Eric Birling in J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre in October 1946. He played the Uninvited Guest in the Broadway production of T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party (1950, revived at the Edinburgh Festival in 1968). His third attempt at the title role of Hamlet, this time under his own direction at the New Theatre (1951), proved a major theatrical disaster.

Invited by his friend Tyrone Guthrie to join the premier season of the Stratford Festival of Canada, Guinness lived for a brief time in Stratford, Ontario. On July 13, 1953, Guinness spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival, Shakespeare's Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of York."

Guinness won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance as poet Dylan Thomas in Dylan. He next played the title role in Macbeth opposite Simone Signoret at the Royal Court Theatre in 1966, a conspicuous failure.

His final performance was at the Comedy Theatre on May 30, 1989 in the play A Walk in the Woods. Sandwiched between April 2, 1934, and May 30, 1989, he played 77 parts in the theatre.

Film career

In films, Guinness was initially associated mainly with the Ealing comedies, and particularly for playing eight different characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, and The Man in the White Suit. In 1952, director Ronald Neame cast Guinness in his first romantic lead role, opposite Petula Clark in The Card.

He won particular acclaim for his work with director David Lean. After appearing in Lean's Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, he was given a starring role opposite William Holden in The Bridge on the River Kwai. For his performance as Colonel Nicholson, the unyielding British POW leader, Guinness won an Academy Award. Despite a difficult and often hostile relationship, Lean, referring to Guinness as "my good luck charm", continued to cast Guinness in character roles in his later films: Arab leader Prince Feisal in Lawrence of Arabia; the title character's half-brother, Bolshevik leader Yevgraf, in Doctor Zhivago; and Indian mystic Godbole in A Passage to India. He was also offered a role in Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970), but declined.

Other notable film roles of this period included The Swan (1956) with Grace Kelly, in her second to last film role; The Horse's Mouth (1958) in which Guinness played the part of drunken painter Gulley Jimson as well as contributing the screenplay, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award; the lead in Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana (1959); Marcus Aurelius in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Marley's Ghost in Scrooge (1970); Charles I of England in Cromwell (1970); and the title role in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), which he considered his best film performance, though critics disagreed.

Guinness also played the role of Jamessir Bensonmum, the blind butler, in the 1976 Neil Simon film Murder By Death.

Star Wars

Guinness's role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition by a new generation. Guinness agreed to take the part on the condition that he would not have to do any publicity to promote the film. He was also one of the few cast members who believed that the film would be a box office hit; he negotiated a deal for two percent of the gross, which made him very wealthy in his later life. His role would also result in Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

Despite these rewards, Guinness soon became unhappy with being identified with the part, and expressed dismay at the fan-following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of Star Wars: A New Hope, director George Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script re-write in which Obi-Wan is killed. However, Guinness said in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi-Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character, and that Lucas agreed to the idea. Guinness stated in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shriveled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him.

Despite Guinness's dislike of the films, Lucas and fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism, both on and off the set, in not displaying his distaste for the material to his co-stars. Lucas credited him with inspiring cast and crew to work harder, saying that Guinness contributed significantly to achieving completion of the filming. Guinness was quoted as saying that the royalties he obtained from working on the films gave him "no complaints; let me leave it by saying I can live for the rest of my life in the reasonably modest way I am now used to, that I have no debts and I can afford to refuse work that doesn't appeal to me." In his autobiography, Blessings In Disguise, Guinness tells an imaginary interviewer "Blessed be Star Wars!".

In the final volume of the book A Positively Final Appearance (1997), Guinness recounts grudgingly giving an autograph to a young fan who claimed to have watched Star Wars over 100 times, on the condition that the boy promise to stop watching the film, because, as Guinness told him, "this is going to be an ill effect on your life." The fan was stunned at first, but later thanked him (though some sources say it went differently). Guinness grew so tired of modern audiences apparently knowing him only for his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi that he would throw away the mail he received from Star Wars fans without reading it.

Awards and honours

Guinness won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1957 for his role in The Bridge on the River Kwai. He was nominated in 1958 for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, for his screenplay adapted from Joyce Cary's novel The Horse's Mouth. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars in 1977. He received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1980. In 1988, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Little Dorrit.

For his theatre work, he received an Evening Standard Award for his performance as T.E. Lawrence in Ross and a Tony Award for his Broadway turn as Dylan Thomas in Dylan.

Guinness was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1955, and was knighted in 1959. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University. Three years later, at age 80, he was given the title of Companion of Honour.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1559 Vine Street.

Personal life

Guinness married the artist, playwright, and actress Merula Sylvia Salaman (16 October 1914 – 18 October 2000) in 1938; in 1940, they had a son, Matthew Guinness, who later became an actor.

In his biography, Alec Guinness: The Unknown, Garry O'Connor says that Guinness was arrested and fined 10 guineas for a homosexual act in a public lavatory in Liverpool in 1946. Guinness avoided publicity by giving his name to police and court as "Herbert Pocket", the name of the character he played in Great Expectations. The incident did not become public knowledge until April 2001, eight months after his death. Piers Paul Read, Guinness's official biographer, doubts that this incident actually occurred. He believes that Guinness was confused with John Gielgud, who was infamously arrested for such an act at the same period.

However, Guinness' friends and family knew of his bisexuality.

Death

Guinness died on 5 August 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex. He had been receiving hospital treatment for glaucoma, and had recently also been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was interred in Petersfield, Hampshire, England. His widow, Lady Guinness, died of cancer in Petersfield, two months after her husband, also aged 86, and was interred alongside her husband of 62 years.

Filmography

1934 Evensong
1946   Great Expectations
1948 Oliver Twist
1949 Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949 A Run for Your Money
1950 Last Holiday
1950 The Mudlark
1951 The Man in the White Suit
1951 The Lavender Hill Mob
1952 The Card
1953 The Captain's Paradise
1953 The Malta Story
1954 Father Brown
1955 To Paris With Love
1955 The Prisoner
1955 The Ladykillers
1956 The Swan
1957 Barnacle Bill
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 The Scapegoat
1958 The Horse's Mouth
1959 Our Man in Havana
1960 Tunes of Glory
1961 A Majority of One
1962 HMS Defiant
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1963 The Fall of the Roman Empire
1965 Situation Hopeless but not Serious
1965 Dr. Zhivago
1966 The Quiller Memorandum
1966 Hotel Paradiso
1967 The Comedians
1970 Scrooge
1970 Cromwell
1972 Brother Sun, Sister Moon
1973 Hitler, the Last Ten Days
1976 Murder by Death
1977 Star Wars
1977 To See Such Fun
1980 The Empire Strikes Back
1980 Raise the Titanic
1983 Return of the Jedi
1983 Lovesick
1984 A Passage to India
1988 Little Dorrit
1988 A Handful of Dust
1991 Kafka
1993 A Foreign Field

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/wp-content/images/people/266-Alec-Guinness.jpg

http://theland.antgear.com/alec_guinness.jpg



A most respected actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/02/11 at 7:22 am


A most respected actor.
...and sadly missed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/11 at 5:58 am

British Person of the Day: Jennifer Paterson

Jennifer Mary Paterson (April 3 1928 – August 10 1999) was a British celebrity chef, actress and television personality who appeared on the television programme Two Fat Ladies with Clarissa Dickson Wright.

The pair were famous for their rich traditional meals made from scratch. Paterson was known for her liberal use of butter and cream, remarking on her television show in her usual manner with a shake of the hand, that yogurt was only fit for vegetarians and those with "a dicky tummy."

Their preferred means of transportation was a motorcycle with sidecar, which Paterson drove.

Personal life

Paterson's life was as unconventional as her on-screen persona suggested. She came from an army family, of which she later wrote, "My mother had no idea of how to cook and no wish to learn, existing on gorgonzola, coffee, and chocolates after the demise of any form of servant. My father having gone through two world wars was far too frightened to put on a kettle and my brothers who married young to very good wives...never showed any signs of wanting to whip up something delicious for a treat."

Paterson was expelled from convent school at 15 for being disruptive.

Paterson later became a matron at a girls' boarding school near Reading before ending up as a cook for the Ugandan legation in London and becoming a well-known figure on the London party circuit. She worked on the ITV show Candid Camera and later became a food writer for The Spectator and provided weekly lunches for personalities, including the Prince of Wales, for 15 years. She later wrote a book of recipes and reminiscences from her time at The Spectator entitled Feast Days, Recipes from The Spectator, in the introduction to which the English writer A.N. Wilson professed, "Jennifer Paterson is the best cook I know."

Paterson was a devout Roman Catholic who never married. She died in 1999 of lung cancer in London. She asked for caviar for her last meal but died before she could eat it. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, and her ashes were then buried in the cemetery there.

She was survived by an uncle, Anthony Bartlett OBE (who died in 2000), a close associate of Cardinal Basil Hume to whom he was Gentiluomo.

Paterson was a parishioner of the London Oratory. She would cook for the Fathers on a weekly basis. A portrait of her hangs in the Kitchen of Oratory House.

DVD release

The Two Fat Ladies DVD set contains a 40-minute BBC tribute to Paterson that aired in 2004. The DVD box set was released in the United States in July 2008. The Acorn Media release contains all 24 episodes across four discs. The show previously was released in Britain as a Region 2 DVD set.

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/2004/224/6821069_109231207041.jpg

http://www.webtvwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/two-fat-ladies-logo.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/03/11 at 6:25 am

The person of the day...Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, comedian, and musician.

The box office take from Murphy's films makes him the second highest grossing actor in the United States. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role.

Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, and 2007's Norbit.
Murphy first earned attention as a regular actor at Saturday Night Live, and was credited with helping revitalize the series during its first true slump in quality in the early 1980s. Some of his notable characters included a grown version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat, impoverished but street-wise children's show host Mr. Robinson (a spoof of Fred Rogers, who found it amusing), and Gumby, a harshly cynical version of the animated character; Murphy's take on the latter character spawned one of SNL's many catchphrases, "I'm Gumby, dammit!" Although Buckwheat was his most popular character, Murphy asked that he be retired because the actor grew tired of people asking him to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!"; the character was assassinated on camera in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte. 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982 Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd. The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director John Landis (who also directed Murphy in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III) and proved to be an even greater box office success than 48 Hrs. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop. The film was Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle, originally intended to star Sylvester Stallone. Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the box office and is 40th in the list of all-time total U.S. box office grosses (4th-highest amongst "R" rated films), after adjusting for inflation, as of March 2011.

In 1984, Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy has been rumored to be initially a part of hits such as Ghostbusters (featuring his Trading Places co-star Dan Aykroyd and fellow SNL alumnus Bill Murray). The part that was originally written with Murphy in mind ultimately went to Ernie Hudson. Murphy was offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks. By this point Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.

In 1986, Murphy starred in the supernatural comedy, The Golden Child. The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring Mel Gibson. After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy. Although The Golden Child (featuring Murphy's "I want the knife!" routine) performed well at the box office, the movie was not as critically acclaimed as 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the supernatural setting as opposed to the more "street smart" settings of Murphy's previous efforts. A year later, Murphy reprised his role of Axel Foley in the Tony Scott-directed Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box office success, grossing over $150 million. Producers reportedly wanted to turn the Beverly Hills Cop franchise into a weekly television series. Murphy declined the television offer, but was willing to do a film sequel instead.

Murphy was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.
Singing career

Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by The Bus Boys. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All the Time" (which was produced by Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s (although he actually started singing earlier in his career, with the songs "Boogie In Your Butt" and "Enough Is Enough", the latter being a parody of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's 1979 song, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". They both appear on his 1982 self-titled comedy album.) "Party All the Time" was featured on Murphy's 1985 debut album How Could It Be, which included a minor follow-up R&B hit in the title track, a duet with vocalist Crystal Blake. This track was written by Rusty Hamilton and was produced by Stevie Wonder's cousin Aquil Fudge after a brief falling out and bet with Rick James. In 2004, VH-1 and Blender voted "Party All the Time" number seven among the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time." Sharam used a sample of the song for the UK #8 hit "PATT (Party All The Time)" in 2006.

Murphy recorded the album Love's Alright in the early 1990s. He performed in a music video of the single "Whatzupwitu", featuring Michael Jackson. He recorded a duet with Shabba Ranks called "I Was a King". In 1992, Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" video alongside Magic Johnson and Iman.

Though uncredited, Murphy provided vocal work on SNL castmate Joe Piscopo's comedy single, "The Honeymooners Rap." Piscopo impersonated Jackie Gleason on the single, while Murphy provided an imitation of Art Carney.

In Coming to America, he imitated Jackie Wilson when he sang "To Be Loved", but because the character he was playing had a thick accent, he had to sing it in character. In later years, Murphy performed several songs in the Shrek film franchise. In the first film, he performed a version of "I'm a Believer" in the film's final scene; in Shrek 2 he performed Ricky Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" along with co-star Antonio Banderas.

Murphy's all-time favorite singer is Elvis Presley.
Career slump

From 1989 until the mid 1990s and again in the mid 2000s, box office results for Murphy's films dropped, hitting a low point with the critically panned Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), a movie Murphy would ultimately denounce during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, although he did find minor box office success with The Distinguished Gentleman, Boomerang, Another 48 Hrs. and Vampire In Brooklyn. Harlem Nights featured Murphy, who had previously been known only as a performer, as director, producer, star, and co-writer, with his brother, Charlie Murphy, as well as supporting roles for Murphy's comic idols Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.

During this period Murphy was criticized by filmmaker Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film, despite Murphy's films (especially those he produced) often being populated with predominately black casts (Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn, Life). Many black actors who would later gain wider recognition make early appearances in Murphy films such as Damon Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop, Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence in Boomerang, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Coming to America, Dave Chappelle in The Nutty Professor and Chris Rock in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Although Murphy has enjoyed commercial success since Saturday Night Live, he has never attended cast reunions or anniversary specials, nor did he participate in the making of the Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (2002).
Comeback and image makeover

Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with The Nutty Professor. He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like Mulan, Dr. Dolittle and its sequel, the Shrek series, Daddy Day Care, and The Haunted Mansion, along with Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. However, most of his movies meant for more adult audiences performed moderately; Metro, I Spy, and Showtime all ended to gross less than $40 million domestically, Holy Man performed badly, grossing less than $13 million, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash is on record as one of the biggest theatrical money-losers of all time, grossing just $7 million worldwide on a reported $110 million budget. A notable exception to this run of poorly received adult-themed films was the Frank Oz comedy Bowfinger, also starring Steve Martin. The film garnered generally positive critical reviews, and grossed $66 million at the box office.

In 2006, he starred in the motion picture version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls as soul singer James "Thunder" Early. Murphy won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in that category. Several reviews for the film highlighted Murphy's performance while he received some pre-release Academy Awards buzz. Murphy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on January 23, 2007, but lost to Alan Arkin for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine. Dreamgirls was the first film distributed by Paramount Pictures to star Murphy (who once was on an exclusive contract with the studio) since Vampire in Brooklyn in 1995.

In 2007, Murphy was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As a result of Viacom's acquisition of Dreamworks SKG, Paramount distributed his other 2007 releases: Norbit and Shrek the Third. He starred in the 2008 film Meet Dave and the 2009 film Imagine That for Paramount Pictures.

Murphy is expected to begin work on Beverly Hills Cop IV sometime in the near future, and it is expected that producer Jerry Bruckheimer will not participate in the fourth installment of the series. Murphy recently told The Sun Online that "the new script is looking good". Murphy will also co-star in Tower Heist, Brett Ratner's heist movie. Murphy stars as part of a group of hardworking men who find out they have fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme, and conspire to rob his high-rise residence. Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck are also starring in the film. Brian Grazer is producing the picture for his Imagine Entertainment shingle, and will be distributed by Universal Pictures on November 4, 2011.

Murphy will star in a new version of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
1982 48 Hrs. Reggie Hammond Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
1983 Trading Places Billy Ray Valentine Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1983 Eddie Murphy Delirious Himself Also Producer
1984 Best Defense Lieutenant T.M. Landry
Beverly Hills Cop Det. Axel Foley Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1986 The Golden Child Chandler Jarrell
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Det. Axel Foley
Eddie Murphy Raw Himself Also Producer
1988 Coming to America Prince Akeem/Clarence/Randy Watson/Saul
1989 Harlem Nights Quick (Real Name Vernest Brown) Also Director and Writer
1990 Another 48 Hrs. Reggie Hammond
1992 Boomerang Marcus Graham
The Distinguished Gentleman Thomas Jefferson Johnson
1994 Beverly Hills Cop III Det. Axel Foley
1995 Vampire in Brooklyn Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido Also Producer
1996 The Nutty Professor Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/
Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/
Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/
Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr. Also Producer
Saturn Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1997 Metro Insp. Scott Roper
1998 Mulan Mushu (voice)
Doctor Dolittle Dr. John Dolittle
Holy Man G
1999 Life Rayford "Ray" Gibson Also Producer
Bowfinger Kit Ramsey/Jeffernson 'Jiff' Ramsey Black Reel Award: Best Actor
2000 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/
Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/
Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/
Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump Also Producer
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2001 Shrek Donkey (voice)
Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor
Dr. Dolittle 2 Dr. John Dolittle
2002 Showtime Officer Trey Sellers
The Adventures of Pluto Nash Pluto Nash
I Spy Kelly Robinson
2003 Daddy Day Care Charles "Charlie" Hinton
The Haunted Mansion Jim Evers
2004 Shrek 2 Donkey (voice)
2006 Dreamgirls James 'Thunder' Early Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 Norbit Norbit Rice/Rasputia Latimore-Rice/Mr. Wong Also Producer
Shrek the Third Donkey (voice)
2008 Meet Dave Starship Dave Ming-Chang (Spacecraft), Captain
2009 Imagine That Evan Danielson
2010 Shrek Forever After Donkey (voice)
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
2011 Tower Heist Leo "Slide" Dalphael
Television
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980–1984 Saturday Night Live Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series (1983)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (1984)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1984)
1983 Eddie Murphy: Delirious
1989 What's Alan Watching?
1993 Dangerous - The Short Films Ancient Eqyptian Pharaoh Remember the Time music video
1999–2001 The PJs Thurgood Stubbs Voice
Nominated – Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production (1999)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) (1999)
2007 Shrek the Halls Donkey TV special
Voice
Nominated – Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
2010 Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular Donkey TV special
Voice
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart
positions
US
US R&B

1982 Eddie Murphy

    * Release date: 1982
    * Label: CBS Records

97 —
1983 Comedian

    * Release date: 1983
    * Label: CBS Records

35 10
1985 How Could It Be

    * Release date: 1985
    * Label: CBS Records

26 17
1989 So Happy

    * Release date: 1989
    * Label: CBS Records

70 22
1993 Love's Alright

    * Release date: February 23, 1993
    * Label: Motown Records

— 80
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilation albums
Year Album details
1997 Greatest Comedy Hits

    * Release date: May 27, 1997
    * Label: Columbia Records

1998 All I fudgein' Know

    * Release date: April 28, 1998
    * Label: Sony BMG

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US
US R&B
US Dance
NZ
UK
1982 "Boogie in Your Butt" — 56 — — — Eddie Murphy
1985 "Party All the Time" 2 8 19 3 87 How Could It Be
"How Could It Be" (with Crystal Blake) — 63 — — —
1989 "Put Your Mouth on Me" 27 2 — — — So Happy
"Til the Money's Gone" — 75 — — —
1993 "I Was a King" — 61 — — 64 Love's Alright
"Whatzupwitu" (with Michael Jackson) — 74 — — —
"Desdamona" — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Awards/nominations

2011 Kids Choice Award Best Animated Voice Shrek Forever After
Award Year Category Work Outcome
Academy Award 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Annie Awards 1999 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production The PJs Nominated
2001 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production Shrek Won
2008 Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production Shrek the Halls Nominated
BAFTA Awards 2002 Actor in a Supporting Role Shrek Nominated
Black Reel Awards 2000 Best Actor in a Motion Picture Bowfinger Nominated
2002 Actor in a Supporting Role Shrek Nominated
2007 Dreamgirls Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Won
Central Ohio Film Critics Association 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Emmy Awards 1983 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series Saturday Night Live Nominated
1984 Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
1999 Outstanding Animated Program – Less Than One Hour The PJs
"He's Gotta Have It" Nominated
Golden Globe Awards 1983 New Star of the Year (Actor) 48 Hrs. Nominated
1984 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) Trading Places
1997 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) The Nutty Professor
1985 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) Beverly Hills Cop
2007 Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Dreamgirls Won
NAACP Image Awards 1997 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture The Nutty Professor Nominated
2007 Actor in a Supporting Role Dreamgirls Nominated
National Society of Film Critics Awards 1997 Best Actor The Nutty Professor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Satellite Awards 1996 Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy The Nutty Professor Nominated
2001 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
Saturn Awards 1997 Best Actor The Nutty Professor Won
2002 Best Supporting Actor Shrek Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2007 Actor in a Supporting Role Dreamgirls Won
Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g242/athleticcow07/murphy_eddie.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu318/kamy024/eddie_murphy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/11 at 6:53 am


The person of the day...Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, comedian, and musician.

The box office take from Murphy's films makes him the second highest grossing actor in the United States. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role.

Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, and 2007's Norbit.
Murphy first earned attention as a regular actor at Saturday Night Live, and was credited with helping revitalize the series during its first true slump in quality in the early 1980s. Some of his notable characters included a grown version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat, impoverished but street-wise children's show host Mr. Robinson (a spoof of Fred Rogers, who found it amusing), and Gumby, a harshly cynical version of the animated character; Murphy's take on the latter character spawned one of SNL's many catchphrases, "I'm Gumby, dammit!" Although Buckwheat was his most popular character, Murphy asked that he be retired because the actor grew tired of people asking him to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!"; the character was assassinated on camera in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte. 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982 Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd. The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director John Landis (who also directed Murphy in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III) and proved to be an even greater box office success than 48 Hrs. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop. The film was Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle, originally intended to star Sylvester Stallone. Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the box office and is 40th in the list of all-time total U.S. box office grosses (4th-highest amongst "R" rated films), after adjusting for inflation, as of March 2011.

In 1984, Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy has been rumored to be initially a part of hits such as Ghostbusters (featuring his Trading Places co-star Dan Aykroyd and fellow SNL alumnus Bill Murray). The part that was originally written with Murphy in mind ultimately went to Ernie Hudson. Murphy was offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks. By this point Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.

In 1986, Murphy starred in the supernatural comedy, The Golden Child. The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring Mel Gibson. After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy. Although The Golden Child (featuring Murphy's "I want the knife!" routine) performed well at the box office, the movie was not as critically acclaimed as 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the supernatural setting as opposed to the more "street smart" settings of Murphy's previous efforts. A year later, Murphy reprised his role of Axel Foley in the Tony Scott-directed Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box office success, grossing over $150 million. Producers reportedly wanted to turn the Beverly Hills Cop franchise into a weekly television series. Murphy declined the television offer, but was willing to do a film sequel instead.

Murphy was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.
Singing career

Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by The Bus Boys. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All the Time" (which was produced by Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s (although he actually started singing earlier in his career, with the songs "Boogie In Your Butt" and "Enough Is Enough", the latter being a parody of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's 1979 song, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". They both appear on his 1982 self-titled comedy album.) "Party All the Time" was featured on Murphy's 1985 debut album How Could It Be, which included a minor follow-up R&B hit in the title track, a duet with vocalist Crystal Blake. This track was written by Rusty Hamilton and was produced by Stevie Wonder's cousin Aquil Fudge after a brief falling out and bet with Rick James. In 2004, VH-1 and Blender voted "Party All the Time" number seven among the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time." Sharam used a sample of the song for the UK #8 hit "PATT (Party All The Time)" in 2006.

Murphy recorded the album Love's Alright in the early 1990s. He performed in a music video of the single "Whatzupwitu", featuring Michael Jackson. He recorded a duet with Shabba Ranks called "I Was a King". In 1992, Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" video alongside Magic Johnson and Iman.

Though uncredited, Murphy provided vocal work on SNL castmate Joe Piscopo's comedy single, "The Honeymooners Rap." Piscopo impersonated Jackie Gleason on the single, while Murphy provided an imitation of Art Carney.

In Coming to America, he imitated Jackie Wilson when he sang "To Be Loved", but because the character he was playing had a thick accent, he had to sing it in character. In later years, Murphy performed several songs in the Shrek film franchise. In the first film, he performed a version of "I'm a Believer" in the film's final scene; in Shrek 2 he performed Ricky Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" along with co-star Antonio Banderas.

Murphy's all-time favorite singer is Elvis Presley.
Career slump

From 1989 until the mid 1990s and again in the mid 2000s, box office results for Murphy's films dropped, hitting a low point with the critically panned Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), a movie Murphy would ultimately denounce during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, although he did find minor box office success with The Distinguished Gentleman, Boomerang, Another 48 Hrs. and Vampire In Brooklyn. Harlem Nights featured Murphy, who had previously been known only as a performer, as director, producer, star, and co-writer, with his brother, Charlie Murphy, as well as supporting roles for Murphy's comic idols Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.

During this period Murphy was criticized by filmmaker Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film, despite Murphy's films (especially those he produced) often being populated with predominately black casts (Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn, Life). Many black actors who would later gain wider recognition make early appearances in Murphy films such as Damon Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop, Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence in Boomerang, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Coming to America, Dave Chappelle in The Nutty Professor and Chris Rock in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Although Murphy has enjoyed commercial success since Saturday Night Live, he has never attended cast reunions or anniversary specials, nor did he participate in the making of the Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (2002).
Comeback and image makeover

Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with The Nutty Professor. He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like Mulan, Dr. Dolittle and its sequel, the Shrek series, Daddy Day Care, and The Haunted Mansion, along with Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. However, most of his movies meant for more adult audiences performed moderately; Metro, I Spy, and Showtime all ended to gross less than $40 million domestically, Holy Man performed badly, grossing less than $13 million, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash is on record as one of the biggest theatrical money-losers of all time, grossing just $7 million worldwide on a reported $110 million budget. A notable exception to this run of poorly received adult-themed films was the Frank Oz comedy Bowfinger, also starring Steve Martin. The film garnered generally positive critical reviews, and grossed $66 million at the box office.

In 2006, he starred in the motion picture version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls as soul singer James "Thunder" Early. Murphy won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in that category. Several reviews for the film highlighted Murphy's performance while he received some pre-release Academy Awards buzz. Murphy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on January 23, 2007, but lost to Alan Arkin for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine. Dreamgirls was the first film distributed by Paramount Pictures to star Murphy (who once was on an exclusive contract with the studio) since Vampire in Brooklyn in 1995.

In 2007, Murphy was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As a result of Viacom's acquisition of Dreamworks SKG, Paramount distributed his other 2007 releases: Norbit and Shrek the Third. He starred in the 2008 film Meet Dave and the 2009 film Imagine That for Paramount Pictures.

Murphy is expected to begin work on Beverly Hills Cop IV sometime in the near future, and it is expected that producer Jerry Bruckheimer will not participate in the fourth installment of the series. Murphy recently told The Sun Online that "the new script is looking good". Murphy will also co-star in Tower Heist, Brett Ratner's heist movie. Murphy stars as part of a group of hardworking men who find out they have fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme, and conspire to rob his high-rise residence. Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck are also starring in the film. Brian Grazer is producing the picture for his Imagine Entertainment shingle, and will be distributed by Universal Pictures on November 4, 2011.

Murphy will star in a new version of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
1982 48 Hrs. Reggie Hammond Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
1983 Trading Places Billy Ray Valentine Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1983 Eddie Murphy Delirious Himself Also Producer
1984 Best Defense Lieutenant T.M. Landry
Beverly Hills Cop Det. Axel Foley Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1986 The Golden Child Chandler Jarrell
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Det. Axel Foley
Eddie Murphy Raw Himself Also Producer
1988 Coming to America Prince Akeem/Clarence/Randy Watson/Saul
1989 Harlem Nights Quick (Real Name Vernest Brown) Also Director and Writer
1990 Another 48 Hrs. Reggie Hammond
1992 Boomerang Marcus Graham
The Distinguished Gentleman Thomas Jefferson Johnson
1994 Beverly Hills Cop III Det. Axel Foley
1995 Vampire in Brooklyn Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido Also Producer
1996 The Nutty Professor Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/
Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/
Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/
Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr. Also Producer
Saturn Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1997 Metro Insp. Scott Roper
1998 Mulan Mushu (voice)
Doctor Dolittle Dr. John Dolittle
Holy Man G
1999 Life Rayford "Ray" Gibson Also Producer
Bowfinger Kit Ramsey/Jeffernson 'Jiff' Ramsey Black Reel Award: Best Actor
2000 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/
Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/
Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/
Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump Also Producer
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2001 Shrek Donkey (voice)
Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor
Dr. Dolittle 2 Dr. John Dolittle
2002 Showtime Officer Trey Sellers
The Adventures of Pluto Nash Pluto Nash
I Spy Kelly Robinson
2003 Daddy Day Care Charles "Charlie" Hinton
The Haunted Mansion Jim Evers
2004 Shrek 2 Donkey (voice)
2006 Dreamgirls James 'Thunder' Early Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 Norbit Norbit Rice/Rasputia Latimore-Rice/Mr. Wong Also Producer
Shrek the Third Donkey (voice)
2008 Meet Dave Starship Dave Ming-Chang (Spacecraft), Captain
2009 Imagine That Evan Danielson
2010 Shrek Forever After Donkey (voice)
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
2011 Tower Heist Leo "Slide" Dalphael
Television
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980–1984 Saturday Night Live Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series (1983)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (1984)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1984)
1983 Eddie Murphy: Delirious
1989 What's Alan Watching?
1993 Dangerous - The Short Films Ancient Eqyptian Pharaoh Remember the Time music video
1999–2001 The PJs Thurgood Stubbs Voice
Nominated – Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production (1999)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) (1999)
2007 Shrek the Halls Donkey TV special
Voice
Nominated – Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
2010 Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular Donkey TV special
Voice
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart
positions
US
US R&B

1982 Eddie Murphy

    * Release date: 1982
    * Label: CBS Records

97 —
1983 Comedian

    * Release date: 1983
    * Label: CBS Records

35 10
1985 How Could It Be

    * Release date: 1985
    * Label: CBS Records

26 17
1989 So Happy

    * Release date: 1989
    * Label: CBS Records

70 22
1993 Love's Alright

    * Release date: February 23, 1993
    * Label: Motown Records

— 80
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilation albums
Year Album details
1997 Greatest Comedy Hits

    * Release date: May 27, 1997
    * Label: Columbia Records

1998 All I fudgein' Know

    * Release date: April 28, 1998
    * Label: Sony BMG

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US
US R&B
US Dance
NZ
UK
1982 "Boogie in Your Butt" — 56 — — — Eddie Murphy
1985 "Party All the Time" 2 8 19 3 87 How Could It Be
"How Could It Be" (with Crystal Blake) — 63 — — —
1989 "Put Your Mouth on Me" 27 2 — — — So Happy
"Til the Money's Gone" — 75 — — —
1993 "I Was a King" — 61 — — 64 Love's Alright
"Whatzupwitu" (with Michael Jackson) — 74 — — —
"Desdamona" — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Awards/nominations

2011 Kids Choice Award Best Animated Voice Shrek Forever After
Award Year Category Work Outcome
Academy Award 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Annie Awards 1999 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production The PJs Nominated
2001 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production Shrek Won
2008 Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production Shrek the Halls Nominated
BAFTA Awards 2002 Actor in a Supporting Role Shrek Nominated
Black Reel Awards 2000 Best Actor in a Motion Picture Bowfinger Nominated
2002 Actor in a Supporting Role Shrek Nominated
2007 Dreamgirls Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Won
Central Ohio Film Critics Association 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Emmy Awards 1983 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series Saturday Night Live Nominated
1984 Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
1999 Outstanding Animated Program – Less Than One Hour The PJs
"He's Gotta Have It" Nominated
Golden Globe Awards 1983 New Star of the Year (Actor) 48 Hrs. Nominated
1984 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) Trading Places
1997 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) The Nutty Professor
1985 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) Beverly Hills Cop
2007 Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Dreamgirls Won
NAACP Image Awards 1997 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture The Nutty Professor Nominated
2007 Actor in a Supporting Role Dreamgirls Nominated
National Society of Film Critics Awards 1997 Best Actor The Nutty Professor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Satellite Awards 1996 Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy The Nutty Professor Nominated
2001 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
Saturn Awards 1997 Best Actor The Nutty Professor Won
2002 Best Supporting Actor Shrek Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2007 Actor in a Supporting Role Dreamgirls Won
Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g242/athleticcow07/murphy_eddie.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu318/kamy024/eddie_murphy.jpg
I love the Shrek movies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/03/11 at 6:59 am


The person of the day...Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, comedian, and musician.

The box office take from Murphy's films makes him the second highest grossing actor in the United States. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role.

Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, and 2007's Norbit.
Murphy first earned attention as a regular actor at Saturday Night Live, and was credited with helping revitalize the series during its first true slump in quality in the early 1980s. Some of his notable characters included a grown version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat, impoverished but street-wise children's show host Mr. Robinson (a spoof of Fred Rogers, who found it amusing), and Gumby, a harshly cynical version of the animated character; Murphy's take on the latter character spawned one of SNL's many catchphrases, "I'm Gumby, dammit!" Although Buckwheat was his most popular character, Murphy asked that he be retired because the actor grew tired of people asking him to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!"; the character was assassinated on camera in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte. 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982 Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd. The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director John Landis (who also directed Murphy in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III) and proved to be an even greater box office success than 48 Hrs. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop. The film was Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle, originally intended to star Sylvester Stallone. Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the box office and is 40th in the list of all-time total U.S. box office grosses (4th-highest amongst "R" rated films), after adjusting for inflation, as of March 2011.

In 1984, Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy has been rumored to be initially a part of hits such as Ghostbusters (featuring his Trading Places co-star Dan Aykroyd and fellow SNL alumnus Bill Murray). The part that was originally written with Murphy in mind ultimately went to Ernie Hudson. Murphy was offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks. By this point Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.

In 1986, Murphy starred in the supernatural comedy, The Golden Child. The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring Mel Gibson. After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy. Although The Golden Child (featuring Murphy's "I want the knife!" routine) performed well at the box office, the movie was not as critically acclaimed as 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the supernatural setting as opposed to the more "street smart" settings of Murphy's previous efforts. A year later, Murphy reprised his role of Axel Foley in the Tony Scott-directed Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box office success, grossing over $150 million. Producers reportedly wanted to turn the Beverly Hills Cop franchise into a weekly television series. Murphy declined the television offer, but was willing to do a film sequel instead.

Murphy was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.
Singing career

Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by The Bus Boys. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All the Time" (which was produced by Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s (although he actually started singing earlier in his career, with the songs "Boogie In Your Butt" and "Enough Is Enough", the latter being a parody of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's 1979 song, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". They both appear on his 1982 self-titled comedy album.) "Party All the Time" was featured on Murphy's 1985 debut album How Could It Be, which included a minor follow-up R&B hit in the title track, a duet with vocalist Crystal Blake. This track was written by Rusty Hamilton and was produced by Stevie Wonder's cousin Aquil Fudge after a brief falling out and bet with Rick James. In 2004, VH-1 and Blender voted "Party All the Time" number seven among the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time." Sharam used a sample of the song for the UK #8 hit "PATT (Party All The Time)" in 2006.

Murphy recorded the album Love's Alright in the early 1990s. He performed in a music video of the single "Whatzupwitu", featuring Michael Jackson. He recorded a duet with Shabba Ranks called "I Was a King". In 1992, Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" video alongside Magic Johnson and Iman.

Though uncredited, Murphy provided vocal work on SNL castmate Joe Piscopo's comedy single, "The Honeymooners Rap." Piscopo impersonated Jackie Gleason on the single, while Murphy provided an imitation of Art Carney.

In Coming to America, he imitated Jackie Wilson when he sang "To Be Loved", but because the character he was playing had a thick accent, he had to sing it in character. In later years, Murphy performed several songs in the Shrek film franchise. In the first film, he performed a version of "I'm a Believer" in the film's final scene; in Shrek 2 he performed Ricky Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" along with co-star Antonio Banderas.

Murphy's all-time favorite singer is Elvis Presley.
Career slump

From 1989 until the mid 1990s and again in the mid 2000s, box office results for Murphy's films dropped, hitting a low point with the critically panned Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), a movie Murphy would ultimately denounce during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, although he did find minor box office success with The Distinguished Gentleman, Boomerang, Another 48 Hrs. and Vampire In Brooklyn. Harlem Nights featured Murphy, who had previously been known only as a performer, as director, producer, star, and co-writer, with his brother, Charlie Murphy, as well as supporting roles for Murphy's comic idols Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.

During this period Murphy was criticized by filmmaker Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film, despite Murphy's films (especially those he produced) often being populated with predominately black casts (Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn, Life). Many black actors who would later gain wider recognition make early appearances in Murphy films such as Damon Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop, Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence in Boomerang, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Coming to America, Dave Chappelle in The Nutty Professor and Chris Rock in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Although Murphy has enjoyed commercial success since Saturday Night Live, he has never attended cast reunions or anniversary specials, nor did he participate in the making of the Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (2002).
Comeback and image makeover

Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with The Nutty Professor. He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like Mulan, Dr. Dolittle and its sequel, the Shrek series, Daddy Day Care, and The Haunted Mansion, along with Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. However, most of his movies meant for more adult audiences performed moderately; Metro, I Spy, and Showtime all ended to gross less than $40 million domestically, Holy Man performed badly, grossing less than $13 million, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash is on record as one of the biggest theatrical money-losers of all time, grossing just $7 million worldwide on a reported $110 million budget. A notable exception to this run of poorly received adult-themed films was the Frank Oz comedy Bowfinger, also starring Steve Martin. The film garnered generally positive critical reviews, and grossed $66 million at the box office.

In 2006, he starred in the motion picture version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls as soul singer James "Thunder" Early. Murphy won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in that category. Several reviews for the film highlighted Murphy's performance while he received some pre-release Academy Awards buzz. Murphy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on January 23, 2007, but lost to Alan Arkin for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine. Dreamgirls was the first film distributed by Paramount Pictures to star Murphy (who once was on an exclusive contract with the studio) since Vampire in Brooklyn in 1995.

In 2007, Murphy was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As a result of Viacom's acquisition of Dreamworks SKG, Paramount distributed his other 2007 releases: Norbit and Shrek the Third. He starred in the 2008 film Meet Dave and the 2009 film Imagine That for Paramount Pictures.

Murphy is expected to begin work on Beverly Hills Cop IV sometime in the near future, and it is expected that producer Jerry Bruckheimer will not participate in the fourth installment of the series. Murphy recently told The Sun Online that "the new script is looking good". Murphy will also co-star in Tower Heist, Brett Ratner's heist movie. Murphy stars as part of a group of hardworking men who find out they have fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme, and conspire to rob his high-rise residence. Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck are also starring in the film. Brian Grazer is producing the picture for his Imagine Entertainment shingle, and will be distributed by Universal Pictures on November 4, 2011.

Murphy will star in a new version of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
1982 48 Hrs. Reggie Hammond Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
1983 Trading Places Billy Ray Valentine Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1983 Eddie Murphy Delirious Himself Also Producer
1984 Best Defense Lieutenant T.M. Landry
Beverly Hills Cop Det. Axel Foley Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1986 The Golden Child Chandler Jarrell
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Det. Axel Foley
Eddie Murphy Raw Himself Also Producer
1988 Coming to America Prince Akeem/Clarence/Randy Watson/Saul
1989 Harlem Nights Quick (Real Name Vernest Brown) Also Director and Writer
1990 Another 48 Hrs. Reggie Hammond
1992 Boomerang Marcus Graham
The Distinguished Gentleman Thomas Jefferson Johnson
1994 Beverly Hills Cop III Det. Axel Foley
1995 Vampire in Brooklyn Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido Also Producer
1996 The Nutty Professor Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/
Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/
Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/
Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr. Also Producer
Saturn Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1997 Metro Insp. Scott Roper
1998 Mulan Mushu (voice)
Doctor Dolittle Dr. John Dolittle
Holy Man G
1999 Life Rayford "Ray" Gibson Also Producer
Bowfinger Kit Ramsey/Jeffernson 'Jiff' Ramsey Black Reel Award: Best Actor
2000 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/
Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/
Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/
Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump Also Producer
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2001 Shrek Donkey (voice)
Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor
Dr. Dolittle 2 Dr. John Dolittle
2002 Showtime Officer Trey Sellers
The Adventures of Pluto Nash Pluto Nash
I Spy Kelly Robinson
2003 Daddy Day Care Charles "Charlie" Hinton
The Haunted Mansion Jim Evers
2004 Shrek 2 Donkey (voice)
2006 Dreamgirls James 'Thunder' Early Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 Norbit Norbit Rice/Rasputia Latimore-Rice/Mr. Wong Also Producer
Shrek the Third Donkey (voice)
2008 Meet Dave Starship Dave Ming-Chang (Spacecraft), Captain
2009 Imagine That Evan Danielson
2010 Shrek Forever After Donkey (voice)
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
2011 Tower Heist Leo "Slide" Dalphael
Television
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980–1984 Saturday Night Live Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series (1983)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (1984)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program (1984)
1983 Eddie Murphy: Delirious
1989 What's Alan Watching?
1993 Dangerous - The Short Films Ancient Eqyptian Pharaoh Remember the Time music video
1999–2001 The PJs Thurgood Stubbs Voice
Nominated – Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production (1999)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) (1999)
2007 Shrek the Halls Donkey TV special
Voice
Nominated – Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
2010 Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular Donkey TV special
Voice
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart
positions
US
US R&B

1982 Eddie Murphy

    * Release date: 1982
    * Label: CBS Records

97 —
1983 Comedian

    * Release date: 1983
    * Label: CBS Records

35 10
1985 How Could It Be

    * Release date: 1985
    * Label: CBS Records

26 17
1989 So Happy

    * Release date: 1989
    * Label: CBS Records

70 22
1993 Love's Alright

    * Release date: February 23, 1993
    * Label: Motown Records

— 80
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilation albums
Year Album details
1997 Greatest Comedy Hits

    * Release date: May 27, 1997
    * Label: Columbia Records

1998 All I fudgein' Know

    * Release date: April 28, 1998
    * Label: Sony BMG

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US
US R&B
US Dance
NZ
UK
1982 "Boogie in Your Butt" — 56 — — — Eddie Murphy
1985 "Party All the Time" 2 8 19 3 87 How Could It Be
"How Could It Be" (with Crystal Blake) — 63 — — —
1989 "Put Your Mouth on Me" 27 2 — — — So Happy
"Til the Money's Gone" — 75 — — —
1993 "I Was a King" — 61 — — 64 Love's Alright
"Whatzupwitu" (with Michael Jackson) — 74 — — —
"Desdamona" — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Awards/nominations

2011 Kids Choice Award Best Animated Voice Shrek Forever After
Award Year Category Work Outcome
Academy Award 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Annie Awards 1999 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production The PJs Nominated
2001 Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production Shrek Won
2008 Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production Shrek the Halls Nominated
BAFTA Awards 2002 Actor in a Supporting Role Shrek Nominated
Black Reel Awards 2000 Best Actor in a Motion Picture Bowfinger Nominated
2002 Actor in a Supporting Role Shrek Nominated
2007 Dreamgirls Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Won
Central Ohio Film Critics Association 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Emmy Awards 1983 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series Saturday Night Live Nominated
1984 Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
1999 Outstanding Animated Program – Less Than One Hour The PJs
"He's Gotta Have It" Nominated
Golden Globe Awards 1983 New Star of the Year (Actor) 48 Hrs. Nominated
1984 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) Trading Places
1997 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) The Nutty Professor
1985 Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy) Beverly Hills Cop
2007 Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Dreamgirls Won
NAACP Image Awards 1997 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture The Nutty Professor Nominated
2007 Actor in a Supporting Role Dreamgirls Nominated
National Society of Film Critics Awards 1997 Best Actor The Nutty Professor Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2007 Best Supporting Actor Dreamgirls Nominated
Satellite Awards 1996 Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy The Nutty Professor Nominated
2001 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
Saturn Awards 1997 Best Actor The Nutty Professor Won
2002 Best Supporting Actor Shrek Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2007 Actor in a Supporting Role Dreamgirls Won
Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g242/athleticcow07/murphy_eddie.jpg
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu318/kamy024/eddie_murphy.jpg


I can't even tell how much I enjoyed his films.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/03/11 at 7:00 am


British Person of the Day: Jennifer Paterson

Jennifer Mary Paterson (April 3 1928 – August 10 1999) was a British celebrity chef, actress and television personality who appeared on the television programme Two Fat Ladies with Clarissa Dickson Wright.

The pair were famous for their rich traditional meals made from scratch. Paterson was known for her liberal use of butter and cream, remarking on her television show in her usual manner with a shake of the hand, that yogurt was only fit for vegetarians and those with "a dicky tummy."

Their preferred means of transportation was a motorcycle with sidecar, which Paterson drove.

Personal life

Paterson's life was as unconventional as her on-screen persona suggested. She came from an army family, of which she later wrote, "My mother had no idea of how to cook and no wish to learn, existing on gorgonzola, coffee, and chocolates after the demise of any form of servant. My father having gone through two world wars was far too frightened to put on a kettle and my brothers who married young to very good wives...never showed any signs of wanting to whip up something delicious for a treat."

Paterson was expelled from convent school at 15 for being disruptive.

Paterson later became a matron at a girls' boarding school near Reading before ending up as a cook for the Ugandan legation in London and becoming a well-known figure on the London party circuit. She worked on the ITV show Candid Camera and later became a food writer for The Spectator and provided weekly lunches for personalities, including the Prince of Wales, for 15 years. She later wrote a book of recipes and reminiscences from her time at The Spectator entitled Feast Days, Recipes from The Spectator, in the introduction to which the English writer A.N. Wilson professed, "Jennifer Paterson is the best cook I know."

Paterson was a devout Roman Catholic who never married. She died in 1999 of lung cancer in London. She asked for caviar for her last meal but died before she could eat it. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, and her ashes were then buried in the cemetery there.

She was survived by an uncle, Anthony Bartlett OBE (who died in 2000), a close associate of Cardinal Basil Hume to whom he was Gentiluomo.

Paterson was a parishioner of the London Oratory. She would cook for the Fathers on a weekly basis. A portrait of her hangs in the Kitchen of Oratory House.

DVD release

The Two Fat Ladies DVD set contains a 40-minute BBC tribute to Paterson that aired in 2004. The DVD box set was released in the United States in July 2008. The Acorn Media release contains all 24 episodes across four discs. The show previously was released in Britain as a Region 2 DVD set.

http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/2004/224/6821069_109231207041.jpg

http://www.webtvwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/two-fat-ladies-logo.png




She has that cooking show.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/11 at 7:02 am


She has that cooking show.
Had, she has sadly passed on now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/03/11 at 7:03 am


Had, she has sadly passed on now.


Sorry didn't see the death date.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/03/11 at 7:04 am


I can't even tell how much I enjoyed his films.  :)
Of course you can!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/03/11 at 7:06 am


Of course you can!


Coming To America was LMAO type of film. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/03/11 at 10:53 am

Trading Places is one of my absolutely favorite movie of all-times. I have watched it so many times that I probably know it line per line.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/03/11 at 1:36 pm

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTgSalw2Ib_USK_QRIk9FevfJPttH9PnMx3o22rAX2CbisAIBH1_w&t=1

I still can't believe this was Eddie Murphy.^  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/03/11 at 1:43 pm


http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTgSalw2Ib_USK_QRIk9FevfJPttH9PnMx3o22rAX2CbisAIBH1_w&t=1

I still can't believe this was Eddie Murphy.^  :o



I agree. I have seen that movie/scene so many times I can't believe it is him, either. A combination of excellent acting and an outstanding make-up artist.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/04/11 at 6:25 am

The person of the day...Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. His work encompassed nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008). In addition to his acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.

For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the 2006 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I'm Not There, which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona. Ledger was nominated and won awards for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He died at the age of 28, from an accidental "toxic combination of prescription drugs." A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in The Dark Knight, his death coming during editing of the film and casting a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $180 million production. At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, he had completed about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
After sitting for early graduation exams at 16, Ledger left school to pursue an acting career. With Trevor DiCarlo, his best friend since he was three years old, Ledger drove across Australia from Perth to Sydney, returning to Perth to take a small role in Clowning Around (1992), the first part of a two-part television series, and to work on the TV series Sweat (1996), in which he played a gay cyclist. From 1993 to 1997, Ledger also had parts in the Perth television series Ship to Shore (1993); in the short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company fantasy-drama Roar (1997); in Home and Away (1997), one of Australia's most successful television shows; and in the Australian film Blackrock (1997), his feature film debut. In 1999, he starred in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You and in the acclaimed Australian crime film Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan.
2000s

From 2000 to 2005, he starred in supporting roles as Gabriel Martin, the eldest son of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), in The Patriot (2000), and as Sonny Grotowski, the son of Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), in Monster's Ball (2000); and in leading or title roles in A Knight's Tale (2001), The Four Feathers (2002), The Order (2003), Ned Kelly (2003), Casanova (2005), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and Lords of Dogtown (2005). In 2001, he won a ShoWest Award as "Male Star of Tomorrow".

Ledger received "Best Actor of 2005" awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He also received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actor in a Drama and a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance, making him, at age 26, the ninth-youngest nominee for a Best Actor Oscar. In The New York Times review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes: "Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn." In a review in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers states: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."

After Brokeback Mountain, Ledger costarred with fellow Australian Abbie Cornish in the 2006 Australian film Candy, an adaptation of the 1998 novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, as young heroin addicts in love attempting to break free of their addiction, whose mentor is played by Geoffrey Rush; for his performance as sometime poet Dan, Ledger was nominated for three "Best Actor" awards, including one of the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, which both Cornish and Rush won in their categories. Shortly after the release of Candy, Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Heath Ledger (far right, in hat and sunglasses) posing with Richard Gere, Todd Haynes, Charlotte Gainsbourg at the 64th Venice Film Festival in 2007.

As one of six actors embodying different aspects of the life of Bob Dylan in the 2007 film I'm Not There, directed by Todd Haynes, Ledger "won praise for his portrayal of 'Robbie ,' a moody, counter-culture actor who represents the romanticist side of Dylan, but says accolades are never his motivation." Posthumously, on 23 February 2008, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the film's ensemble cast, its director, and its casting director.

In his next to last film performance, Ledger played the Joker in The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, first released, in Australia, on 16 July 2008, nearly six months after his death. While still working on the film, in London, Ledger told Sarah Lyall, in their interview published in the New York Times on 4 November 2007, that he viewed The Dark Knight's Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

To prepare for the role, Ledger told Empire, "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices – it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts"; after reiterating his view of the character as "just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown", he added that Nolan had given him "free rein" to create the role, which he found "fun, because there are no real boundaries to what the Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke." For his work in The Dark Knight, Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his family accepting it on his behalf, as well as numerous other posthumous awards including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, which Christopher Nolan accepted for him.

At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, Ledger had completed about half of the work for his final film performance as Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Directorial work

Ledger had aspirations to become a film director and had made some music videos, which director Todd Haynes praised highly in his tribute to Ledger upon accepting the ISP Robert Altman Award, which Ledger posthumously shared, on 23 February 2008. In 2006 Ledger directed music videos for the title track on Australian hip-hop artist N'fa's CD debut solo album Cause An Effect and for the single "Seduction Is Evil (She's Hot)". Later that year, Ledger inaugurated a new record label, Masses Music, with singer Ben Harper and also directed a music video for Harper's song "Morning Yearning".

At a news conference at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, Ledger spoke of his desire to make a documentary film about the British singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who died in 1974, at the age of 26, from an overdose of an antidepressant. Ledger created and acted in a music video set to Drake's recording of the singer's 1974 song about depression "Black Eyed Dog"—a title "inspired by Winston Churchill’s descriptive term for depression" (black dog); it was shown publicly only twice, first at the Bumbershoot Festival, in Seattle, held from 1 September to 3 September 2007; and secondly as part of "A Place To Be: A Celebration of Nick Drake", with its screening of Their Place: Reflections On Nick Drake, "a series of short filmed homages to Nick Drake" (including Ledger's), sponsored by American Cinematheque, at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, in Hollywood, on 5 October 2007. After Ledger's death, his music video for "Black Eyed Dog" was shown on the Internet and excerpted in news clips distributed via YouTube.

He was working with Scottish screenwriter and producer Allan Scott on an adaptation of the 1983 novel The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, for which he was planning both to act and to direct, which would have been his first feature film as a director. Ledger's final directorial work, in which he shot two music videos before his death, premiered in 2009. The music videos, completed for Modest Mouse and Grace Woodroofe, include an animated feature for Modest Mouse's song, "King Rat", and the Woodroofe video for her cover of David Bowie's "Quicksand". The "King Rat" video premiered on 4 August 2009.
Press controversies

Ledger's relationship with the press in Australia was sometimes turbulent, and it led to his relocating to New York City. In 2004 he strongly denied press reports alleging that "he spat at journalists on the Sydney set of the film Candy," or that one of his relatives had done so later, outside Ledger's Sydney home. On 13 January 2006, "Several members of the paparazzi retaliated ... squirting Ledger and Williams with water pistols on the red carpet at the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain."

After his performance on stage at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards, when he had giggled in presenting Brokeback Mountain as a nominee for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the Los Angeles Times referred to his presentation as an "apparent gay spoof." Ledger called the Times later and explained that his levity resulted from stage fright, saying that he had been told that he would be presenting the award only minutes earlier; he stated: "I am so sorry and I apologise for my nervousness. I would be absolutely horrified if my stage fright was misinterpreted as a lack of respect for the film, the topic and for the amazing filmmakers."

Ledger was quoted in January 2006 in Melbourne's Herald Sun as saying that he heard that West Virginia had banned Brokeback Mountain, which it had not; actually, a cinema in Utah had banned the film. He had also referred mistakenly to West Virginia's having had lynchings as recently as the 1980s, but state scholars disputed his statement, observing that, whereas lynchings did occur in Alabama as recently as 1981, according to "the director of state archives and history" quoted in The Charleston Gazette, "The last documented lynching in West Virginia took place in Lewisburg in 1931."
Sleep difficulties and other work-related health issues

In their New York Times interview, published on 4 November 2007, Ledger told Sarah Lyall that his recently completed roles in I'm Not There (2007) and The Dark Knight (2008) had taken a toll on his ability to sleep: "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. ... I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." At that time, he told Lyall that he had taken two Ambien pills, after taking just one had not sufficed, and those left him in "a stupor, only to wake up an hour later, his mind still racing."

Prior to his return to New York from his last film assignment, in London, in January 2008, while he was apparently suffering from some kind of respiratory illness, he reportedly complained to his co-star Christopher Plummer that he was continuing to have difficulty sleeping and taking pills to help with that problem: "Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadn't been feeling well on set, Plummer says, 'we all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath's went on and I don't think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics.... I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia.' On top of that, 'He was saying all the time, "dammit, I can't sleep"... and he was taking all these pills to help him.' "

In talking with Interview magazine after his death, Ledger's former fiancée Michelle Williams "also confirmed reports the actor had experienced trouble sleeping. "For as long as I'd known him, he had bouts with insomnia. He had too much energy. His mind was turning, turning turning – always turning."
Death
Ledger body bagged and being rolled away from his apartment.

At about 2:45 p.m. (EST), on 22 January 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, and his masseuse, Diana Wolozin, in his fourth-floor loft apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.

According to the police, Wolozin, who had arrived early for a 3:00 pm appointment with Ledger, called Ledger's friend, actress Mary-Kate Olsen, for help. Olsen, who was in California, directed a New York City private security guard to go to the scene. At 3:26 pm, " than 15 minutes after Wolozin first saw him in bed and only a few moments" after first calling Olsen and then calling her a second time to express her fears that Ledger was dead, Wolozin telephoned 9-1-1 "to say that Mr. Ledger was not breathing." At the urging of the 9-1-1 operator, Wolozin administered CPR, which was unsuccessful in reviving him.

Emergency medical technicians (EMT) arrived seven minutes later, at 3:33 pm ("at almost exactly the same moment as a private security guard summoned by Ms. Olsen"), but were also unable to revive him. At 3:36 pm, Ledger was pronounced dead and his body removed from the apartment.
Late in February 2008, a DEA investigation of medical professionals relating to Ledger's death exonerated two American physicians, who practice in Los Angeles and Houston, of any wrongdoing, determining that "the doctors in question had prescribed Ledger other medications – not the pills that killed him."

On 4 August 2008, citing unnamed sources, Murray Weiss, of the New York Post, first reported that Mary-Kate Olsen had "refused to be interviewed by federal investigators probing the accidental drug death of her close friend Heath Ledger ... ... immunity from prosecution," and that, when asked about the matter, Miller at first declined further comment. Later that day, after the police confirmed the gist of Weiss's account to the Associated Press, Miller issued a statement denying that Olsen supplied Ledger with the drugs causing his death and asserting that she did not know their source." In his statement, Miller said specifically: "Despite tabloid speculation, Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them," emphasizing that media "descriptions are incomplete and inaccurate."

After a flurry of further media speculation, on 6 August 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan closed its investigation into Ledger's death without filing any charges and rendering moot its subpoena of Olsen. With the clearing of the two doctors and Olsen, and the closing of the investigation because the prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office "don't believe there's a viable target," it is still not known how Ledger obtained the oxycodone and hydrocodone in the lethal drug combination that killed him.

Eleven months after Ledger's death, on 23 December 2008, Jake Coyle, writing for the Associated Press, announced that "Heath Ledger's death was voted 2008's top entertainment story by U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors surveyed by The Associated Press," as it resulted in: "shock and confusion" about "the circumstances", the ruling of the death as an accident caused by "a toxic combination of prescription drugs", and the continuation of "his legacy... n a roundly acclaimed performance as the Joker in the year's biggest box office hit The Dark Knight."
Television
Year Film Role Notes
1993 Ship to Shore Cyclist
1996 Sweat Snowy Bowles Series regular
1997 Home and Away Scott Irwin Guest
Roar Conor Leading role
Film
See also: List of awards and nominations received by Heath Ledger
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1992 Clowning Around Orphan clown Uncredited
1997 Blackrock Toby
1997 Paws Oberon
1999 Two Hands Jimmy

    * Nominated – Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

1999 10 Things I Hate About You Patrick Verona Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence
2000 The Patriot Gabriel Martin Blockbuster Entertainment Awards – Favorite Male – Newcomer
2001 Monster's Ball Sonny Grotowski
2001 Knight's Tale, AA Knight's Tale Sir William Thatcher / Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland

    * Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Shannyn Sossamon)
    * Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Musical Sequence (Shared with Sossamon)

2002 Four Feathers, TheThe Four Feathers Harry Faversham
2003 Order, TheThe Order Alex Bernier
2003 Ned Kelly Ned Kelly

    * Nominated – Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

2005 Casanova Giacomo Casanova
2005 Brothers Grimm, TheThe Brothers Grimm Jacob Grimm
2005 Lords of Dogtown Skip Engblom
2005 Brokeback Mountain Ennis Del Mar

    * Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actor
    * Australian Film Institute Awards – Reader's Choice Best Actor
    * Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Lead Performance
    * Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year
    * Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Jake Gyllenhaal)
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Santa Barbara International Film Festival Performance of the Year Award
    * Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
    * Nominated – Inside Film Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated – London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year
    * Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
    * Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated – Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor

2006 Candy Dan

    * Nominated – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated – Inside Film Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

2007 I'm Not There Robbie Clark 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award (Shared with cast and crew)
2008 The Dark Knight The Joker

    * Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actor
    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
    * GQ Australia Men of the Year Awards (Best Actor)
    * Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
      Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * People's Choice Award for Best Ensemble Cast
    * People's Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up (Shared with Christian Bale)
    * Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor
    * Scream Award for Best Villain
    * Scream Award for Best Line ("I believe that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stranger.")
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
    * Nominated – London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year

2009 Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, TheThe Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Tony
Music videos

    * (2006) "Cause an Effect" and "Seduction is Evil (She's Hot)", songs by N'fa, videos directed by Ledger.
    * (2006) "Morning Yearning," song by Ben Harper, video directed by Ledger.
    * (2007) "Black Eyed Dog," song written by Nick Drake (1948–1974), video directed by and featuring Ledger.
    * (2009) "King Rat", song by Modest Mouse and conceived by Ledger.

See also

    * List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
    * List of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m45/alicat542/heath.jpg
http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb465/AngelEyes7677/heath_ledger_003.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/04/11 at 7:10 am

So sad it's been 3 years. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/04/11 at 12:38 pm


So sad it's been 3 years. :(
Has is been three years already?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/04/11 at 1:35 pm


Has is been three years already?


3 years this past January.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/04/11 at 1:48 pm


3 years this past January.
Gone too soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/04/11 at 3:53 pm


Gone too soon.

Who knows what would have lied ahead in his career.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/05/11 at 1:15 am


Who knows what would have lied ahead in his career.
We say that for all that die young.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/05/11 at 5:12 am

I know Heath Ledger was an Aussie .. and I don't dislike him ... but I think he was overrated and that Joker role was over hyped!!  I doubt he would have received the same recognition if he didn't die!  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/11 at 6:11 am


I know Heath Ledger was an Aussie .. and I don't dislike him ... but I think he was overrated and that Joker role was over hyped!!   I doubt he would have received the same recognition if he didn't die!  :-\\

I wondered that myself when I saw the big list of awards he was nominated for.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/05/11 at 6:15 am

The person of the day...Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. Representative of the last generation of black leaders born in slavery, he spoke on behalf of blacks living in the South. In his last 25 years, Washington maintained his standing because of the sponsorship of powerful whites, substantial support within the black community, his ability to raise educational funds from both groups, and his accommodation to the social realities of the age of Jim Crow segregation.

Washington was born into slavery to a slave mother and white father, who was a nearby planter, in a rural area in southwestern Virginia. After emancipation, he worked in West Virginia in a variety of manual labor jobs before making his way to Hampton Roads seeking an education. He worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) and attended college at Wayland Seminary (now Virginia Union University). After returning to Hampton as a teacher, in 1881 he was named as the first leader of the new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Washington attained national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895, which attracted the attention of politicians and the public, making him a popular spokesperson for African-American citizens. He built a nationwide network of supporters in many black communities, with black ministers, educators and businessmen composing his core supporters. Washington played a dominant role in black politics, winning wide support in the black community and among more liberal whites (especially rich Northern whites). He gained access to top national leaders in politics, philanthropy and education. Washington's efforts included cooperating with white people and enlisting the support of wealthy philanthropists, helping to raise funds to establish and operate thousands of small community schools and institutions of higher education for the betterment of blacks throughout the South. This work continued for many years after his death.

Northern critics called Washington's followers the "Tuskegee Machine". After 1909, Washington was criticized by the leaders of the new NAACP, especially W. E. B. Du Bois, who demanded a stronger tone of protest for advancement of civil rights needs. Washington replied that confrontation would lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks, and that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome pervasive racism in the long run. At the same time, he secretly funded litigation for civil rights cases, such as challenges to southern constitutions and laws that disenfranchised blacks.

In addition to his contributions in education, Washington wrote 14 books; his autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read today. During a difficult period of transition, he did much to improve the working relationship between the races. His work greatly helped blacks to achieve higher education, financial power and understanding of the U.S. legal system. This led to a foundation of the skill set needed to support the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and further adoption of important federal civil rights laws.
Washington was born into slavery to Jane, an enslaved African-American woman on the Burroughs Plantation in southwest Virginia. He knew little about his white father. His family gained freedom in 1865 as the Civil War ended. As a boy he claimed the surname Washington at school. He worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in West Virginia for several years then made his way east to Hampton Institute, a school established to educate freedmen, where he worked to pay for his studies. He attended and graduated from Wayland Seminary to complete preparation as an instructor. In 1881, Hampton president Samuel C. Armstrong recommended Washington to become the first leader of Tuskegee Institute, the new normal school (teachers' college) in Alabama. He headed it for the rest of his life.

Washington was a dominant figure of the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915, especially after his Atlanta Address of 1895. To many politicians and the public in general, he was seen as a popular spokesman for African-American citizens. Representing the last generation of black leaders born into slavery, Washington was generally perceived as a credible proponent of education for freedmen in the post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow-era South. Throughout the final twenty years of his life, he maintained his standing through a nationwide network of supporters–including black educators, ministers, editors, and businessmen–especially those who were liberally inclined on social and educational issues. Critics called his network of supporters the "Tuskegee Machine". He gained access to top national leaders in politics, philanthropy and education, raised large sums, was consulted on race issues and was awarded honorary degrees from leading American universities.

Late in his career, Washington was criticized by leaders of the NAACP, a civil rights organization formed in 1909. W. E. B. Du Bois advocated activism to achieve civil rights. He labeled Washington "the Great Accommodator". Washington's response was that confrontation could lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks. He believed that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way in the long run to overcome racism.

Washington contributed secretly and substantially to legal challenges against segregation and disfranchisement of blacks. In his public role, he believed he could achieve more by skillful accommodation to the social realities of the age of segregation.

Washington's work on education issues helped him enlist both the moral and substantial financial support of many major white philanthropists. He became friends with such self-made men as Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers; Sears, Roebuck and Company President Julius Rosenwald; and George Eastman, inventor and founder of Kodak. These individuals and many other wealthy men and women funded his causes, including Hampton and Tuskegee institutes.

The schools Washington supported were founded to produce teachers. However, graduates had often gone back to their largely impoverished rural southern communities only to find precious few schools and educational resources. To address those needs, Washington enlisted his philanthropic network of matching funds programs to stimulate construction of numerous rural public schools for black children in the South. Together, these efforts eventually established and operated over 5,000 schools and supporting resources for the betterment of blacks throughout the South in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The local schools were a source of communal pride and were priceless to African-American families when poverty and segregation limited severely the life chances of the pupils. A major part of Washington's legacy, the number of model rural schools increased with matching funds from the Rosenwald Fund into the 1930s. He also helped with the Progressive Era by forming the National Negro Business League.

His autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read today.
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
Booker T. Washington's house at Tuskegee University

The organizers of the new all-black state school called Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama found the energetic leader they sought in 25-year-old Washington. He believed that with self help, people could go from poverty to success. The new school opened on July 4, 1881, initially using space in a local church. The next year, Washington purchased a former plantation, which became the permanent site of the campus. Under his direction, his students literally built their own school: constructing classrooms, barns and outbuildings; and growing their own crops and raising livestock; both for learning and to provide for most of the basic necessities. Both men and women had to learn trades as well as academics. Washington helped raise funds to establish and operate hundreds of small community schools and institutions of higher educations for blacks. The Tuskegee faculty used all the activities to teach the students basic skills to take back to their mostly rural black communities throughout the South. The main goal was not to produce farmers and tradesmen, but teachers of farming and trades who taught in the new schools and colleges for blacks across the South. The school expanded over the decades, adding programs and departments, to become the present-day Tuskegee University.

Washington expressed his aspirations for his race in his direction of the school. He believed that by providing needed skills to society, African Americans would play their part, leading to acceptance by white Americans. He believed that blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by acting as responsible, reliable American citizens. Shortly after the Spanish-American War, President William McKinley and most of his cabinet visited Washington. He led the school until his death in 1915. By then Tuskegee's endowment had grown to over $1.5 million, compared to its initial $2,000 annual appropriation. by both African-Americans and whites across the country. Then W. E. B. Du Bois supported him, but they grew apart as Du Bois sought more action to remedy disenfranchisement and lower education. After their falling out, Du Bois and his supporters referred to Washington's speech as the "Atlanta Compromise" to express their criticism that Washington was too accommodating to white interests.

Washington advocated a “go slow” approach. The effect was that many youths in the South had to accept sacrifices of potential political power, civil rights and higher education. His belief was that African-Americans should “concentrate all their energies on industrial education, and accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South.” Washington valued the "industrial" education, as it provided critical skills for the jobs then available to the majority of African-Americans at the time, as most lived in the South, which was overwhelmingly rural and agricultural. He thought these skills that would lay the foundation for the creation of stability that the African-American community required in order to move forward. He believed that in the long term “blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by showing themselves to be responsible, reliable American citizens.” His approach advocated for an initial step toward equal rights, rather than full equality under the law. It would be this step that would provide the economic power to back up their demands for equality in the future. This action, over time, would provide the proof to a deeply prejudiced white America that they were not in fact “’naturally’ stupid and incompetent.”

This stance was contrary to what many blacks from the North envisioned. Du Bois wanted blacks to have the same "classical" liberal arts education as whites did, along with voting rights and civic equality. He believed that an elite he called the Talented Tenth would advance to lead the race to a wider variety of occupations. The source of division between Du Bois and Washington was generated by the differences in how African Americans were treated in the North versus the South. Many in the North felt that they were being 'led', and authoritatively spoken for, by a Southern accommodationist imposed on them primarily by Southern whites.” Furthermore, historian Clarence E. Walker said, "Free black people were 'matter out of place'. Their emancipation was an affront to southern white freedom. Booker T. Washington did not understand that his program was perceived as subversive of a natural order in which black people were to remain forever subordinate or unfree." Both men sought to define the best means to improve the conditions of the post-Civil War African-American community through education.

Blacks were solidly Republican in this period. Southern states disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites from 1890–1908 through constitutional amendments and statutes that created barriers to voter registration, and voting such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Southern white Democrats regained power in the state legislatures of the former Confederacy and passed laws establishing racial segregation and other Jim Crow laws. More blacks continued to vote in border and Northern states.

Washington worked and socialized with many white politicians and industry leaders. Much of his expertise was his ability to persuade wealthy whites to donate money to black causes. He argued that the surest way for blacks to gain equal social rights was to demonstrate “industry, thrift, intelligence and property.” This was the key to improved conditions for African Americans in the United States. Because they had only recently been emancipated, he believed they could not expect too much at once. Washington said, "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.

Along with Du Bois, he partly organized the "Negro exhibition" at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where photos, taken by his friend Frances Benjamin Johnston, of Hampton Institute's black students were displayed. The exhibition expressed African Americans' positive contributions to American society.

Washington privately contributed substantial funds for legal challenges to segregation and disfranchisement, such as the case of Giles v. Harris, which went before the United States Supreme Court in 1903
Despite his travels and widespread work, Washington remained as principal of Tuskegee. Washington's health was deteriorating rapidly; he collapsed in New York City and was brought home to Tuskegee, where he died on November 14, 1915, at the age of 59. He was buried on the campus of Tuskegee University near the University Chapel.

His death was believed at the time to have been a result of congestive heart failure, aggravated by overwork. In March 2006, with the permission of his descendants, examination of medical records indicated that he died of hypertension, with a blood pressure more than twice normal, confirming what had long been suspected.

At his death Tuskegee's endowment exceeded $1.5 million. His greatest life's work, the work of education of blacks in the South, was well underway and expanding.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u99/bjleach/Booker_T_Washington.png
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l307/holley4734/BookerTWashington.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/11 at 5:25 am

The person of the day...Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield Sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville Sound recordings of the same era.

By the 1970s, Haggard was aligned with the growing outlaw country movement, and has continued to release successful albums through the 1990s and into the 2000s. In 1997, Merle Haggard was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame for his song "Okie from Muskogee".
In 1962, Haggard wound up performing at a Wynn Stewart show in Las Vegas and heard Wynn's "Sing a Sad Song". He asked for permission to record it, and the resulting single was a national hit in 1964. The following year he had his first national top ten record with "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers", written by Liz Anderson and his career was off and running. 1968 saw his first number one song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive", also written by Liz Anderson, which Haggard acknowledges in his autobiography remains his most popular number with audiences.

In 1968, Haggard's first tribute LP Same Train, Different Time: A Tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, was released to acclaim. "Okie From Muskogee", 1969's apparent political statement, was actually written as an abjectly humorous character portrait. Haggard called the song a "documentation of the uneducated that lived in America at the time." He said later on the Bob Edwards Show that "I wrote it when I recently got out of the joint. I knew what it was like to lose my freedom, and I was getting really mad at these protesters. They didn't know anything more about the war in Vietnam than I did. I thought how my dad, who was from Oklahoma, would have felt. I felt I knew how those boys fighting in Vietnam felt."

Later, Alabama Gov. George Wallace asked Haggard for an endorsement, which Haggard declined. However, Haggard has expressed sympathy with the "parochial" way of life expressed in "Okie" and songs such as "The Fightin' Side of Me". After "Okie" was released, it was a hit.

Regardless of exactly how they were intended, "Okie From Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", and "I Wonder If They Think of Me" were hailed as anthems of the so-called "Silent Majority" and presaged a trend in patriotic songs that would reappear years later with Charlie Daniels' "In America", Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA", and others. In 1969 the Grateful Dead began performing Haggard's tune "Mama Tried", which appeared on their 1971 eponymous live album. The song became a staple in their repertoire until the band's end in 1995. The Grateful Dead also performed Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" numerous times between 1971 and 1973. In addition, the Flying Burrito Brothers recorded and performed "White Line Fever" in 1971, and toured with "Sing Me Back Home". Singer-activist Joan Baez, whose political leanings couldn't be more different from those expressed in Haggard's above-referenced songs, nonetheless covered "Sing Me Back Home" and "Mama Tried" in 1969. The Everly Brothers also used both songs in their 1968 country-rock album Roots. Haggard's next LP was A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills), which helped spark a revival of western swing.

On Tuesday, March 14, 1972, shortly after "Carolyn" became another number one country hit for Haggard, Governor Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes.

During the early to mid 1970s, Haggard's chart domination continued with songs like "Someday We'll Look Back", "Carolyn", "Grandma Harp", "Always Wanting You", and "The Roots of My Raising". He also wrote and performed the theme song to the television series Movin' On, which in 1975 gave him another number one country hit. The 1973 recession anthem "If We Make It Through December" furthered Haggard's status as a champion of the working class. Haggard appeared on the cover of Time on May 6, 1977. (According to the date on this cover, Merle Haggard was on the cover of TIME magazine May 6, 1974 not 1977. The title of the article was "Songs of Love, Loyalty and Doubt, Country Music".)

In 1981, Haggard published an autobiography, Sing Me Back Home. That same year, he alternately spoke and sang the ballad The Man In the Mask. Written by Dean Pitchford (whose other output includes Fame, Footloose, Sing, Solid Gold and the musical Carrie), this was the combined narration/theme from the movie The Legend of the Lone Ranger...which was a box-office flop.

Country star Willie Nelson believed the 1983 Academy Award-winning film Tender Mercies, about the life of fictional singer Mac Sledge, was based on the life of Merle Haggard. Actor Robert Duvall and other filmmakers denied this and claimed the character was based on nobody in particular. Duvall, however, said he was a big fan of Haggard.

"If We Make It Through December" turned out to be Haggard's last pop hit. Although he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for 1984's new kind of honky tonk, newer singers had begun to take over country music, and singers like George Strait and Randy Travis had taken over the charts. Haggard's last number one hit was "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star" from his smash album Chill Factor in 1988.
Influence

Haggard's guitar work and voice gives his country a hard-edged, blues-like style in many cuts. Although he has been outspoken in his dislike for modern country music, he has praised newer stars such as George Strait, Toby Keith and Alan Jackson. Keith has singled Haggard as a major influence on his career. Nick Gravenites, of Big Brother and the Holding Company, paid Haggard a tongue-in-cheek tribute with the song, "I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle," later covered by other artists including Pure Prairie League and The Grateful Dead. The Dixie Chicks paid tribute by recording Darrell Scott's song "Long Time Gone", which criticizes Nashville trends: "We listen to the radio to hear what's cookin’/But the music ain't got no soul/ Now they sound tired but they don’t sound Haggard," with the following lines mentioning Johnny Cash and Hank Williams in the same vein. Collin Raye paid him tribute with the song "My Kind Of Girl," when he sang the lines "How 'bout some music/She said have you got any Merle/That's when I knew she was my kind of girl." In 2000, Alan Jackson and George Strait sang "Murder On Music Row," which criticizes mainstream country trends: "The Hag wouldn't have a chance on today's radio/Because they committed murder down on music row." In 2005, the country rock duo Brooks & Dunn sang "Just Another Neon Night" off their Hillbilly Deluxe album. In the song Ronnie Dunn said "He's got an Eastwood grin and a too early swagger/Hollerin' turn off that rap/And play me some Haggard". In 2006, Hank Williams III included Haggard as well as other country icons in the song "Country Heroes". Steve Goodman mentioned him, humorously but respectfully, in the song "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" (which he either co-wrote or didn't co-write with John Prine). George Jones recorded two albums with him. Lynyrd Skynyrd's song Railroad Song references Haggard, "Well I'm a ride this train Lord until I find out/What Jimmy Rodgers and the Hag was all about", Nuthin' Fancy Nuthin' Fancy.

In 2006, Haggard was back on the charts in a duet with Gretchen Wilson, "Politically Uncorrect". He is also featured on "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" on Eric Church's debut album. The song was also written by Church.
Comeback
Merle Haggard Drive, Oildale, California

In 2000, Haggard made a comeback of sorts, signing with the independent record label Anti and releasing the spare If I Could Only Fly to critical acclaim. He followed it in 2001 with Roots, vol. 1, a collection of Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, and Hank Thompson covers, along with three Haggard originals. The album, recorded in Haggard's living room with no overdubs, featured Haggard's longtime bandmates The Strangers as well as Frizzell's original lead guitarist, Norman Stephens. In December 2004, Haggard spoke at length on Larry King Live about his incarceration as a young man and said it was "hell" and "the scariest experience of my life".

Haggard's number one hit single "Mama Tried" is featured in the 2003 film Radio with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris as well as in Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" with Liv Tyler. In addition, his song "Swingin' Doors" can be heard in the 2004 film Crash and his 1981 hit "Big City" is heard in Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 film "Fargo" and in the 2008 Larry Bishop film "Hell Ride", executive produced by Quentin Tarantino.

In October 2005, Haggard released his album "Chicago Wind" to mostly positive reviews. The album contained an anti-Iraq war song titled "America First," in which he laments the nation's economy and faltering infrastructure, applauds its soldiers, and sings, "Let's get out of Iraq, and get back on track." This follows from his 2003 release "Haggard Like Never Before" in which he includes a song, "That's The News". Haggard released a bluegrass album, The Bluegrass Sessions, on October 2, 2007. In 2008, Haggard was going to perform at Riverfest in Little Rock, Arkansas, but the concert was canceled because he was experiencing some sickness, and three other concerts were canceled as well; however, he was back on the road in June and successfully completed a tour that ended on October 19.

In April 2010, Haggard released a new album, I Am What I Am. Released to strong reviews, Haggard ultimately appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in February 2011 to perform the title song .
On December 19, 2006, the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a citizen-led resolution to re-name a portion of 7th Standard Road in Oildale as Merle Haggard Drive, which will stretch from North Chester Avenue west to U.S. Route 99. The first street travelers will turn onto when they leave the new airport terminal will be Merle Haggard Drive.

In 2006, Merle Haggard was honored as a BMI Icon at the 54th annual BMI Pop Awards. During his songwriting career, Hagard has earned 48 BMI Country Awards, nine BMI Pop Awards, a BMI R&B Award, and 16 BMI "Million-Air" awards, all from a catalog of songs that adds up to over 25 million performances.

Merle Haggard accepted the prestigious award for lifetime achievement and "outstanding contribution to American culture" from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 4, 2010. At a December 5, 2010 gala in Washington, D.C. he was honored with musical performances by Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley. This tribute was featured in the Tuesday December 28, 2010 CBS special, The Kennedy Center Honors.
Discography
Main article: Merle Haggard discography
38 number one hits

  1. I'm a Lonesome Fugitive (1966)
  2. Branded Man (1967)
  3. Sing Me Back Home (1968)
  4. The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
  5. Mama Tried (1968)
  6. Hungry Eyes (1969)
  7. Workin' Man Blues (1969)
  8. Okie from Muskogee (1969)
  9. The Fightin' Side of Me (1970)
  10. Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man) (1971)
  11. Carolyn (1971)
  12. Grandma Harp (1972)
  13. It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) (1972)
  14. I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me (1972)
  15. Everybody's Had the Blues (1973)
  16. If We Make It Through December (1973)
  17. Things Aren't Funny Anymore (1974)
  18. Old Man from the Mountain (1974)
  19. Kentucky Gambler (1974)
  20. Always Wanting You (1975)
  21. Movin' On (1975)
  22. It's All in the Movies (1975)
  23. The Roots of My Raising (1975)
  24. Cherokee Maiden (1976)
  25. Bar Room Buddies (with Clint Eastwood) (1980)
  26. I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink (1980)
  27. My Favorite Memory (1981)
  28. Big City (1981)
  29. Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones) (1982)
  30. Going Where the Lonely Go (1982)
  31. You Take Me for Granted (1982)
  32. Pancho and Lefty (with] Willie Nelson) (1983)
  33. That's the Way Love Goes (1983)
  34. Someday When Things Are Good (1984)
  35. Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room (1984)
  36. A Place to Fall Apart (with Janie Frickie) (1984)
  37. Natural High (1985)
  38. Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star (1987)

Awards

Academy of Country Music

    * 1965 Top New Male Vocalist
    * 1965 Top Vocal Duo with Bonnie Owens
    * 1966 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1967 Top Vocal Duo with Bonnie Owens
    * 1969 Album of the Year - "Okie from Muskogee"
    * 1969 Single of the Year - "Okie from Muskogee"
    * 1969 Top Vocal Duo - with Bonnie Owens
    * 1970 Entertainer of the Year
    * 1970 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1972 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1974 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1981 Top Male Vocalist
    * 1982 Song of the Year - "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)"

Country Music Association

    * 1970 Album of the Year - "Okie from Muskogee"
    * 1970 Entertainer of the Year
    * 1970 Male Vocalist of the Year
    * 1970 Single of the Year - "Okie from Muskogee"
    * 1983 Vocal Duo of the Year - with Willie Nelson

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

    * Inducted in 1994

Grammy Awards

    * 1984 Best Country Vocal Performance, Male - "That's The Way Love Goes"
    * 1998 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals with Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt & Dwight Yoakam for "Same Old Train"
    * 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "Mama Tried"

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

    * Inducted in 1977

Kennedy Center Honors

    * Inducted in 2010
http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab273/midnightangelau/Merle-Haggard-nw01.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/mattrgarrett/merlehaggard.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/06/11 at 11:52 am

I once worked with this guy who was from Bakerfield, California. He told us that Merle Haggard was also from Bakerfield and told us one time Merle's horse drowned in one of the ponds he had on his property. Another co-worker said, "Merle Haggard's new song, 'My Horse Swims Like a Rock." To this day, I can't hear about either Merle Haggard or Bakerfield without thinking "My Horse Swims Like a Rock."



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/06/11 at 5:06 pm


I once worked with this guy who was from Bakerfield, California. He told us that Merle Haggard was also from Bakerfield and told us one time Merle's horse drowned in one of the ponds he had on his property. Another co-worker said, "Merle Haggard's new song, 'My Horse Swims Like a Rock." To this day, I can't hear about either Merle Haggard or Bakerfield without thinking "My Horse Swims Like a Rock."



Cat

Wow that's weird about the horse and the song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/06/11 at 6:08 pm


Wow that's weird about the horse and the song.



There IS no song by that name. My co-worker made it up. But, I am ASSUMING the story about the horse drowning is true-but I could be wrong.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/06/11 at 6:10 pm



There IS no song by that name. My co-worker made it up. But, I am ASSUMING the story about the horse drowning is true-but I could be wrong.



Cat


Phew...thanks for clearing that up Cat. As long as his horse drowned ... I'm happy!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/11 at 5:50 am



There IS no song by that name. My co-worker made it up. But, I am ASSUMING the story about the horse drowning is true-but I could be wrong.



Cat

Hey it made a good story, and with Country songs you never know. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/11 at 5:56 am

The person of the day...Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor and musician. His acting career began in the late 1980s with roles in Australian television series including Police Rescue and Neighbours. In the early 1990s, Crowe's local prominence peaked when he won the Australian Film Industry Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of an inner-city skinhead in the Geoffrey Wright film, Romper Stomper. In the late 1990s, Crowe transferred his acting ambitions to the USA with his breakout role in L.A. Confidential (1997). Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Gladiator in 2001 and has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role: The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). He is also co-owner of National Rugby League team the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Crowe began his performing career as a musician In the mid-1980s, under guidance from his good friend Tom Sharplin, when he performed as a rock 'n' roll revivalist, under the stage name Russ Le Roq. He had a New Zealand single with "I Just Want To Be Like Marlon Brando. He managed an Auckland music venue called "The Venue" in the mid '80s.

In 1986 to 1988 he was given his first professional role by director Daniel Abineri in a production of The Rocky Horror Show. He played the role of Eddie/Dr Scott. He repeated this performance in a further Australian production of the show. In the 1988 Australian production of Blood Brothers, Crowe played the role of Mickey. He was also cast again by Daniel Abineri in the role of Johnny in the stage musical Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom in 1989.

Crowe returned to Australia at age 21, intending to apply to the National Institute of Dramatic Art. "I was working in a theatre show, and talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA," Crowe recalled. "I asked him what he thought about me spending three years at NIDA. He told me it'd be a waste of time. He said, 'You already do the things you go there to learn, and you've been doing it for most of your life, so there's nothing to teach you but bad habits.'" In 1987 Crowe spent six-months busking when he couldn't find other work.

After appearing in the TV series Neighbours and Living with the Law, Crowe was cast in his first film, The Crossing (1990), a small-town love triangle directed by George Ogilvie. Before production started, a film-student protégé of Ogilvie, Steve Wallace, hired Crowe for the film Blood Oath (1990) (aka Prisoners of the Sun) which was released a month earlier than The Crossing, although actually filmed later. In 1992, Crowe starred in the first episode of the second series of Police Rescue. Also in 1992 Crowe starred in Romper Stomper, an Australian film which follows the exploits and downfall of a racist skinhead group in blue-collar suburban Melbourne, directed by Geoffrey Wright, for which Crowe won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award for Best Actor, following up from his Best Supporting Actor award for Proof in 1991.
Hollywood
Crowe at London film premiere for State of Play. 21 April 2009

After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. He first co-starred with Denzel Washington in Virtuosity, and with Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead in 1995. He went on to become a three-time Oscar nominee, winning the Academy Award as Best Actor in 2001 for Gladiator. Crowe was awarded the (Australian) Centenary Medal in 2001 for "service to Australian society and Australian film production."

Crowe received three consecutive best actor Oscar nominations for The Insider, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. Crowe won the best actor award for A Beautiful Mind at the 2002 BAFTA award ceremony, as well as the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for the same performance. However he failed to win the Oscar that year, losing to Denzel Washington. It has been suggested that his attack on television producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting short his acceptance speech may have turned voters against him.

All three films were also nominated for best picture, and both Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind won the award. Within the six year stretch from 1997–2003, he also starred in two other best picture nominees, L.A. Confidential and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, though he was nominated for neither. In 2005 he re-teamed with A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard for Cinderella Man. In 2006 he re-teamed with Gladiator director Ridley Scott for A Good Year, the first of two consecutive collaborations (the second being American Gangster co-starring again with Denzel Washington, released in late 2007). While the light romantic comedy of A Good Year was not greatly received, Crowe seemed pleased with the film, telling STV in an interview that he thought it would be enjoyed by fans of his other films.

In recent years Crowe's box office standing has declined considerably. Crowe appeared in Robin Hood, a film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and released on May 14, 2010.

Crowe starred in the 2010 Paul Haggis film The Next Three Days, an adaptation of the 2008 French film Pour Elle.
Al-Qaeda threats

On 9 March 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards on 25 March 2001 and told him that the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him. Crowe told the magazine that it was the first time he had ever heard of al-Qaeda (the 11 September attacks took place later that year) and was quoted as saying:
“ You get this late-night call from the FBI when you arrive in Los Angeles, and they're, like, absolutely full-on. 'We’ve got to talk to you now before you do anything. We have to have a discussion with you, Mr. Crowe.' ”

Crowe recalled that:
“ it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers...it was about taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural-destabilization plan. ”

Crowe was guarded by United States Secret Service agents for the next few months, both while shooting films and at award ceremonies (Scotland Yard also guarded Crowe while he was promoting Proof of Life in London in February 2001). Crowe said that he:
“ never fully understood what the fudge was going on. ”

The FBI confirmed Crowe's statement (which is uncharacteristic of the agency in that it usually does not comment to the media).
Music
Crowe singing on open mic at O'Reilly's Pub in St. John's, Canada. 13 June 2005

Crowe, going under the name of "Rus le Roq", recorded a 1980s tune titled "I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando".

In the '80s Crowe and friend Billy Dean Cochran formed a band, "Roman Antix", which later evolved into the Australian rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (abbreviated to TOFOG). Crowe performed lead vocals and guitar for the band, which formed in 1992. The band released The Photograph Kills EP in 1995 as well as three full length records, Gaslight (1998),Bastard Life or Clarity (2001) and Other Ways of Speaking (2003). In 2000 TOFOG performed shows in London, Los Angeles and the now famous run of shows at Stubbs in Austin, TX which became a live DVD that was released in 2001 called Texas. In 2001 the band came to the US for major press, radio and TV appearances for the Bastard Life or Clarity release and returned Stubbs in Austin, TX to kick off a sold out US tour with dates in Austin, Boulder, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City and the last show at the famous Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.

In early 2005 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts as a group has "dissolved/evolved" with Crowe feeling his future music would take a new direction and he began a collaboration with Alan Doyle of the Canadian band Great Big Sea, and with it a new band: The Ordinary Fear of God which also involved some members of the previous TOFOG lineup. A new single, Raewyn, was released in April 2005 and an album entitled My Hand, My Heart which was released and is available for download on iTunes. The album includes a tribute song to actor Richard Harris, who became Crowe's friend during the making of Gladiator.

Russell Crowe & The Ordinary Fear of God set out to break the new band in by performing a successful sold out series of dates of Australia in 2005 and then in 2006 returned to the US to promote their new release My Hand, My Heart with another sold-out US Tour and major press, radio and television appearances.

In March 2010 Russell Crowe & The Ordinary Fear of God's version of the John Williamson song "Winter Green" was included on a new compilation album The Absolute Best of John Williamson: 40 Years True Blue, commemorating the singer-songwriter's milestone of 40 years in the Australian music industry.

In May 2011 there are plans to release a new Russell Crowe & The Ordinary Fear of God recording (co-written with Alan Doyle) and for a US Tour which would be the first live dates in the US since 2006.
Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper.

In 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Plantation Hotel in Coffs Harbour, Australia, which was caught on security video. Two men were acquitted of using the video in an attempt to blackmail Crowe.

When part of Crowe's appearance at the 2002 BAFTA awards was cut out to fit into the BBC's tape-delayed broadcast, Crowe used strong language during an argument with producer Malcolm Gerrie. The part cut was a poem in tribute to actor Richard Harris who was then terminally ill, and was cut for copyright reasons. Crowe later apologised, saying "What I said to him may have been a little bit more passionate than now, in the cold light of day, I would have liked it to have been." Later that year, Crowe was alleged to have been involved in a "brawl" with businessman Eric Watson inside a trendy Japanese restaurant in London. The fight was broken up by British television actor Ross Kemp.

In June 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second-degree assault by New York City police, after he threw a telephone at an employee of the Mercer Hotel who refused to help him place a call when the system did not work from his room, and was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon (the telephone). The employee, a concierge, was treated for a facial laceration. Crowe described the incident as "possibly the most shameful situation that I've ever gotten myself in... and I've done some pretty dumb things in my life". He was sentenced to conditional release. Prior to the plea bargain, Crowe settled a lawsuit filed by the concierge, Nestor Estrada. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed but amounts in the six-figure range have been suggested.

Crowe's altercations were lampooned in the South Park episode, "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer".
Filmography
Films Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1990 Blood Oath Lt. Jack Corbett
1990 Crossing, TheThe Crossing Johnny Ryan Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award – Best Actor in Lead Role
1991 Proof Andy Australian Film Institute Award – Best Supporting Actor
Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor – Male
1992 Spotswood Kim Barrett
1992 Romper Stomper Hando Australian Film Institute Award – Best Actor in Lead Role
Seattle International Film Festival for Best Actor (also for Hammers Over the Anvil)
1993 Hammers Over the Anvil East Driscoll Seattle International Film Festival for Best Actor (also for Romper Stomper)
1993 Silver Brumby, TheThe Silver Brumby The Man (Egan)
1993 For the Moment Lachlan Currie
1994 Sum of Us, TheThe Sum of Us Jeff Mitchell
1995 Quick and the Dead, TheThe Quick and the Dead Cort
1995 No Way Back FBI Agent Zack Grant
1995 Virtuosity SID 6.7
1995 Rough Magic Alex Ross
1997 L.A. Confidential Officer Wendell "Bud" White Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997 Heaven's Burning Colin O'Brien
1997 Breaking Up Steve
1999 Mystery, Alaska Sheriff John Biebe
1999 Insider, TheThe Insider Jeffrey Wigand Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (also for Gladiator)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2000 Gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius Academy Award for Best Actor
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Action
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Empire Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (also for The Insider)
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2000 Proof of Life Terry Thorne Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Suspense
2001 Beautiful Mind, AA Beautiful Mind John Nash BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—American Film Institute Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award – Best Actor in Lead Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Capt. Jack Aubrey Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2005 Cinderella Man Jim Braddock Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award – Best International Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2006 Good Year, AA Good Year Max Skinner
2007 3:10 to Yuma Ben Wade Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007 American Gangster Det. Richie Roberts Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award – Best International Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 Tenderness Detective Cristofuoro
2008 Body of Lies Ed Hoffman
2009 State of Play Cal McAffrey Australian Film Institute Award – Best International Actor
2010 Robin Hood Robin Longstride Nominated–Teen Choice Award for Action Adventure Actor
2010 Next Three Days, TheThe Next Three Days John Brennan
2011 The Man with the Iron Fist
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/uu326/megdays/Russell%20Crowe/021851316-EX00.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l183/jessicaanneli/Russell_Crowe-7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/07/11 at 11:15 am


The person of the day...Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. Representative of the last generation of black leaders born in slavery, he spoke on behalf of blacks living in the South. In his last 25 years, Washington maintained his standing because of the sponsorship of powerful whites, substantial support within the black community, his ability to raise educational funds from both groups, and his accommodation to the social realities of the age of Jim Crow segregation.

Washington was born into slavery to a slave mother and white father, who was a nearby planter, in a rural area in southwestern Virginia. After emancipation, he worked in West Virginia in a variety of manual labor jobs before making his way to Hampton Roads seeking an education. He worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) and attended college at Wayland Seminary (now Virginia Union University). After returning to Hampton as a teacher, in 1881 he was named as the first leader of the new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Washington attained national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895, which attracted the attention of politicians and the public, making him a popular spokesperson for African-American citizens. He built a nationwide network of supporters in many black communities, with black ministers, educators and businessmen composing his core supporters. Washington played a dominant role in black politics, winning wide support in the black community and among more liberal whites (especially rich Northern whites). He gained access to top national leaders in politics, philanthropy and education. Washington's efforts included cooperating with white people and enlisting the support of wealthy philanthropists, helping to raise funds to establish and operate thousands of small community schools and institutions of higher education for the betterment of blacks throughout the South. This work continued for many years after his death.

Northern critics called Washington's followers the "Tuskegee Machine". After 1909, Washington was criticized by the leaders of the new NAACP, especially W. E. B. Du Bois, who demanded a stronger tone of protest for advancement of civil rights needs. Washington replied that confrontation would lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks, and that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way to overcome pervasive racism in the long run. At the same time, he secretly funded litigation for civil rights cases, such as challenges to southern constitutions and laws that disenfranchised blacks.

In addition to his contributions in education, Washington wrote 14 books; his autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read today. During a difficult period of transition, he did much to improve the working relationship between the races. His work greatly helped blacks to achieve higher education, financial power and understanding of the U.S. legal system. This led to a foundation of the skill set needed to support the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and further adoption of important federal civil rights laws.
Washington was born into slavery to Jane, an enslaved African-American woman on the Burroughs Plantation in southwest Virginia. He knew little about his white father. His family gained freedom in 1865 as the Civil War ended. As a boy he claimed the surname Washington at school. He worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in West Virginia for several years then made his way east to Hampton Institute, a school established to educate freedmen, where he worked to pay for his studies. He attended and graduated from Wayland Seminary to complete preparation as an instructor. In 1881, Hampton president Samuel C. Armstrong recommended Washington to become the first leader of Tuskegee Institute, the new normal school (teachers' college) in Alabama. He headed it for the rest of his life.

Washington was a dominant figure of the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915, especially after his Atlanta Address of 1895. To many politicians and the public in general, he was seen as a popular spokesman for African-American citizens. Representing the last generation of black leaders born into slavery, Washington was generally perceived as a credible proponent of education for freedmen in the post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow-era South. Throughout the final twenty years of his life, he maintained his standing through a nationwide network of supporters–including black educators, ministers, editors, and businessmen–especially those who were liberally inclined on social and educational issues. Critics called his network of supporters the "Tuskegee Machine". He gained access to top national leaders in politics, philanthropy and education, raised large sums, was consulted on race issues and was awarded honorary degrees from leading American universities.

Late in his career, Washington was criticized by leaders of the NAACP, a civil rights organization formed in 1909. W. E. B. Du Bois advocated activism to achieve civil rights. He labeled Washington "the Great Accommodator". Washington's response was that confrontation could lead to disaster for the outnumbered blacks. He believed that cooperation with supportive whites was the only way in the long run to overcome racism.

Washington contributed secretly and substantially to legal challenges against segregation and disfranchisement of blacks. In his public role, he believed he could achieve more by skillful accommodation to the social realities of the age of segregation.

Washington's work on education issues helped him enlist both the moral and substantial financial support of many major white philanthropists. He became friends with such self-made men as Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers; Sears, Roebuck and Company President Julius Rosenwald; and George Eastman, inventor and founder of Kodak. These individuals and many other wealthy men and women funded his causes, including Hampton and Tuskegee institutes.

The schools Washington supported were founded to produce teachers. However, graduates had often gone back to their largely impoverished rural southern communities only to find precious few schools and educational resources. To address those needs, Washington enlisted his philanthropic network of matching funds programs to stimulate construction of numerous rural public schools for black children in the South. Together, these efforts eventually established and operated over 5,000 schools and supporting resources for the betterment of blacks throughout the South in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The local schools were a source of communal pride and were priceless to African-American families when poverty and segregation limited severely the life chances of the pupils. A major part of Washington's legacy, the number of model rural schools increased with matching funds from the Rosenwald Fund into the 1930s. He also helped with the Progressive Era by forming the National Negro Business League.

His autobiography, Up From Slavery, first published in 1901, is still widely read today.
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute
Booker T. Washington's house at Tuskegee University

The organizers of the new all-black state school called Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama found the energetic leader they sought in 25-year-old Washington. He believed that with self help, people could go from poverty to success. The new school opened on July 4, 1881, initially using space in a local church. The next year, Washington purchased a former plantation, which became the permanent site of the campus. Under his direction, his students literally built their own school: constructing classrooms, barns and outbuildings; and growing their own crops and raising livestock; both for learning and to provide for most of the basic necessities. Both men and women had to learn trades as well as academics. Washington helped raise funds to establish and operate hundreds of small community schools and institutions of higher educations for blacks. The Tuskegee faculty used all the activities to teach the students basic skills to take back to their mostly rural black communities throughout the South. The main goal was not to produce farmers and tradesmen, but teachers of farming and trades who taught in the new schools and colleges for blacks across the South. The school expanded over the decades, adding programs and departments, to become the present-day Tuskegee University.

Washington expressed his aspirations for his race in his direction of the school. He believed that by providing needed skills to society, African Americans would play their part, leading to acceptance by white Americans. He believed that blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by acting as responsible, reliable American citizens. Shortly after the Spanish-American War, President William McKinley and most of his cabinet visited Washington. He led the school until his death in 1915. By then Tuskegee's endowment had grown to over $1.5 million, compared to its initial $2,000 annual appropriation. by both African-Americans and whites across the country. Then W. E. B. Du Bois supported him, but they grew apart as Du Bois sought more action to remedy disenfranchisement and lower education. After their falling out, Du Bois and his supporters referred to Washington's speech as the "Atlanta Compromise" to express their criticism that Washington was too accommodating to white interests.

Washington advocated a “go slow” approach. The effect was that many youths in the South had to accept sacrifices of potential political power, civil rights and higher education. His belief was that African-Americans should “concentrate all their energies on industrial education, and accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South.” Washington valued the "industrial" education, as it provided critical skills for the jobs then available to the majority of African-Americans at the time, as most lived in the South, which was overwhelmingly rural and agricultural. He thought these skills that would lay the foundation for the creation of stability that the African-American community required in order to move forward. He believed that in the long term “blacks would eventually gain full participation in society by showing themselves to be responsible, reliable American citizens.” His approach advocated for an initial step toward equal rights, rather than full equality under the law. It would be this step that would provide the economic power to back up their demands for equality in the future. This action, over time, would provide the proof to a deeply prejudiced white America that they were not in fact “’naturally’ stupid and incompetent.”

This stance was contrary to what many blacks from the North envisioned. Du Bois wanted blacks to have the same "classical" liberal arts education as whites did, along with voting rights and civic equality. He believed that an elite he called the Talented Tenth would advance to lead the race to a wider variety of occupations. The source of division between Du Bois and Washington was generated by the differences in how African Americans were treated in the North versus the South. Many in the North felt that they were being 'led', and authoritatively spoken for, by a Southern accommodationist imposed on them primarily by Southern whites.” Furthermore, historian Clarence E. Walker said, "Free black people were 'matter out of place'. Their emancipation was an affront to southern white freedom. Booker T. Washington did not understand that his program was perceived as subversive of a natural order in which black people were to remain forever subordinate or unfree." Both men sought to define the best means to improve the conditions of the post-Civil War African-American community through education.

Blacks were solidly Republican in this period. Southern states disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites from 1890–1908 through constitutional amendments and statutes that created barriers to voter registration, and voting such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Southern white Democrats regained power in the state legislatures of the former Confederacy and passed laws establishing racial segregation and other Jim Crow laws. More blacks continued to vote in border and Northern states.

Washington worked and socialized with many white politicians and industry leaders. Much of his expertise was his ability to persuade wealthy whites to donate money to black causes. He argued that the surest way for blacks to gain equal social rights was to demonstrate “industry, thrift, intelligence and property.” This was the key to improved conditions for African Americans in the United States. Because they had only recently been emancipated, he believed they could not expect too much at once. Washington said, "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.

Along with Du Bois, he partly organized the "Negro exhibition" at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where photos, taken by his friend Frances Benjamin Johnston, of Hampton Institute's black students were displayed. The exhibition expressed African Americans' positive contributions to American society.

Washington privately contributed substantial funds for legal challenges to segregation and disfranchisement, such as the case of Giles v. Harris, which went before the United States Supreme Court in 1903
Despite his travels and widespread work, Washington remained as principal of Tuskegee. Washington's health was deteriorating rapidly; he collapsed in New York City and was brought home to Tuskegee, where he died on November 14, 1915, at the age of 59. He was buried on the campus of Tuskegee University near the University Chapel.

His death was believed at the time to have been a result of congestive heart failure, aggravated by overwork. In March 2006, with the permission of his descendants, examination of medical records indicated that he died of hypertension, with a blood pressure more than twice normal, confirming what had long been suspected.

At his death Tuskegee's endowment exceeded $1.5 million. His greatest life's work, the work of education of blacks in the South, was well underway and expanding.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u99/bjleach/Booker_T_Washington.png
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l307/holley4734/BookerTWashington.jpg
It was this day in 1940 that Educator Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp (pictured).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/07/11 at 11:15 am


It was this day in 1940 that Educator Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp (pictured).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Stamp_US_1940_10c_Booker_Washington.jpg/94px-Stamp_US_1940_10c_Booker_Washington.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/07/11 at 11:48 am


It was this day in 1940 that Educator Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp (pictured).

I heard that on the radio this morning. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/11 at 6:37 am

The person  of the day...Steve Howe
Stephen James "Steve" Howe (born 8 April 1947 in Holloway, North London, England) is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes. He has also been a member of The Syndicats, Bodast, Tomorrow, Asia and GTR, as well as having released 17 solo albums as of September 2009.
In April 1970, Howe joined Yes and after retreating to a farm in Devon to rehearse and write new material, he played his first show with the group at the Lyceum on 7 July 1970 (where the version of "Clap" on The Yes Album was recorded). Howe was pictured with the group on the non-Europe jacket of their second album, Time and a Word, which was released in August, although it was Banks who had actually played on the recording.

Beginning with The Yes Album, Howe's electric and acoustic guitars, combined with Jon Anderson's vocals, Chris Squire's bass, and Tony Kaye's keyboards were seen as an essential part of the band's early sound. The addition of Rick Wakeman after the departure of Tony Kaye for the following album, Fragile, created the classic Yes sound of Anderson-Howe-Squire-Bruford-Wakeman associated with the peak of the band's early achievements. To his already-formidable assortment of electric and acoustic guitar sounds, Howe added a unique prog-rock approach to pedal steel guitar in the next album, Close to the Edge. His classical along with his penchant for ongoing experimentation, helped produce a playing style unique among rock musicians, while the group as a whole took a position as a leading progressive rock band.

Although the band underwent some personnel changes in the 1970s, Howe, Anderson, and Squire were the constant elements for the entire decade. In early 1980, however, Anderson and Wakeman left the group and were replaced a few weeks later by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes. This second departure of Rick Wakeman was particularly difficult for Howe, who believed the two produced their best work while they were together. Howe continued with the band until Yes officially split up on 18 April 1981, only to see the band re-form in 1983 with Trevor Rabin on guitar. Over the next few years, Howe contributed to several albums produced by Horn for other artists (including Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Propaganda).

In 1988, Jon Anderson asked Howe, Wakeman, and Bill Bruford if they could take part in his next project. Howe contributed several song ideas to the eventual Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album. The new quartet was virtually the Close To The Edge Yes line-up reformed, leading to minor legal battles over ownership of the name "Yes". Eventually, under pressure from both management and label, they all joined forces with the members of the "official" Yes (which still included Anderson, plus Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire and Alan White) as a "mega-Yes" lineup to record the album, Union, which was released in 1991. In 1993, Howe performed guitar parts on and co-produced the Symphonic Music of Yes album of orchestral arrangements of classic Yes tracks, and then left the band after the Victory Music label left him out of an invitation to participate in the studio sessions that would lead to their next album. In 1991, he contributed a flamenco inspired guitar solo to the epic Queen song Innuendo, which would be featured on the album of the same name.

Howe rejoined Yes in 1995. Since Keys to Ascension, Howe has again appeared on all the albums recorded by Yes.
"Best Overall Guitarist"
Howe, on guitar at the pinnacle of his career with Yes Photo: Rik Walton

Despite the troubles Yes was experiencing at the time, Howe was voted "Best Overall Guitarist" in Guitar Player magazine five years in a row (1977–1981) and was inducted into Guitar Player's "Gallery of Greats" in 1981. The only other two guitarists to win the "Best Overall Guitarist" category for the "Gallery Of Greats" are Steve Morse and Eric Johnson.

Gibson Guitar Corporation, the maker of Howe's second electric guitar (which he was still playing forty years later), said that Howe "elevated rock guitar into an art form" and "helped define a new style of music known as art rock." In a tribute to Howe and his personal favourite ES-175 guitar, Gibson produced a Steve Howe Signature ES-175 in 2002.

Rolling Stone ranked him number sixty-nine on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time in 2003.
Signature songs

The early years of Yes provided two of his best known solo songs - both on early Yes albums. The Yes Album had the first live version of Clap, a heavily syncopated guitar Rondo with roots in Ragtime, and Country Blues. Clap is a song that mutated with subsequent live performances while always retaining some of the distinctive themes. Mood for a Day first appeared as a studio performance on Fragile and later on the triple live album Yessongs. Mood for a Day has its roots in Flamenco/classical guitar music.
Asia
Steve Howe with Asia at Volkshaus Zurich, 25 March 2009

In 1981, Howe, King Crimson's John Wetton, Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Geoff Downes of The Buggles formed the band Asia, but after two popular albums and a few hit singles, Howe left the band over differences with Wetton.

When Geoff Downes reformed Asia in 1992, Steve returned to play guitar on Aqua playing on 6 of the album's 13 tracks, as well as playing on their Aqua Club tour as a special guest. In 1996 he played on a song called Ginger meant for Arena, which was released on Archiva Vol. 1 later that year. He also played on two of the songs from Aura, released in 2001.

Some disagreements have since been reconciled as Wetton embraced sobriety and a new found appreciation for life, and Howe rejoined the other three founding members in a 25th anniversary reunion tour in late 2006. Since that time Asia have released a DVD called Fantasia and also released a new CD of music called Phoenix in April of '08. In early 2010 the band released their second reunion CD, Omega. The four original members of ASIA have now been together longer than during the original incarnation of the early eighties.
GTR

In 1985, Howe formed the supergroup GTR with ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. Their only album, GTR, went gold, but Hackett's interest in pursuing solo projects spelled the end of the group. The group also disagreed about how the band's revenues should be split.
Solo work

In October, 1975, Howe released Beginnings, his first solo album. It featured Yes band members Alan White, Bill Bruford and Patrick Moraz and reached number 63 in the US and number 22 in the UK charts.

His second album as a soloist, The Steve Howe Album, was released in November, 1979. Howe played alone on half of the tracks, while others again feature White, Bruford and Moraz, along with vocalist Claire Hamill. Since 1991, Howe has released a solo recording almost every year, ranging from acoustic to progressive to a Bob Dylan tribute. In 2001 was released Natural Timbre, exclusively with acoustic guitars. His son Dylan, now a respected jazz musician, played the drums on his 1998 all-instrumental solo release, Quantum Guitar, while Elements, released in 2003, featured both Dylan and Howe's younger son Virgil (keyboards and vocals), as part of a project called Remedy.

Howe's personal web site, Guitar Rondo, was launched in May, 1996. The guitarist takes an active role in the site by conducting auctions for gold albums and selected guitars, and answering questions from fans.

On 24 May 1996 Howe received an honorary Doctorate in Musical Arts (DMA) from Five Towns College in Dix Hills, New York.

In 2007, Howe founded the Steve Howe Trio, a jazz band completed by his son Dylan on drums and Ross Stanley on Hammond organ.
Family

Howe's family includes sons Dylan Howe and Virgil Howe, and daughter-in-law Jen Dawson.
Discography
Solo albums

    * Beginnings (1975)
    * The Steve Howe Album (1979)
    * Turbulence (1991)
    * The Grand Scheme of Things (1993)
    * Not Necessarily Acoustic (1994)
    * Homebrew (1996)
    * Quantum Guitar (1998)
    * Pulling Strings (1999)
    * Portraits of Bob Dylan (1999)
    * Homebrew 2 (2000)
    * Natural Timbre (2001)
    * Skyline (2002)
    * Elements (2003)
    * Guitar World (2003)
    * Spectrum (2005)
    * Remedy Live (2005)
    * Homebrew 3 (2005)
    * Motif (2008)
    * The Haunted Melody with the Steve Howe Trio (2008)
    * Travelling with the Steve Howe Trio (2010)
    * Homebrew 4 (2010)

With The Syndicats (future Bodast)

    * The hit song Maybellene, on a 1964 compilation LP On the scene (with The Animals, Georgie Frame, Yardbirds, Mickie Most, Downliners sect,... - Columbia/EMI)

With Bodast

    * The Early Years - Steve Howe with Bodast (CD 1988 & 1990 - first LP edit in 1969 (CS))

With Tomorrow

    * Tomorrow (Parlophone, february 1968)
    * 50 Minute Technicolor Dream (RPM 184, 1998)

With Yes

    * The Yes Album (1971)
    * Fragile (1971)
    * Close to the Edge (1972)
    * Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)
    * Relayer (1974)
    * Going for the One (1977)
    * Tormato (1978)
    * Drama (1980)
    * Union (1991)
    * Keys to Ascension (1996) (live and studio tracks)
    * Keys to Ascension 2 (1997) (live and studio tracks)
    * Open Your Eyes (1997)
    * The Ladder (1999)
    * Magnification (2001)
    * Fly from Here (2011)

With Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

    * Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989)
    * An Evening of Yes Music Plus (1993) (live album)

With Asia

    * Asia (1982)
    * Alpha (1983)
    * Aqua (1992)
    * Then & Now (1990 compilation, + four unedits)
    * Fantasia - Live in Tokyo (2007) (and DVD)
    * Phoenix (2008)
    * Omega (2010)
    * Asia (2010 remastered, like Super Audio CD)

With GTR

    * GTR (1986)

With Paul Sutin

    * Seraphim (1995)
    * Voyagers (1995)

With Explorer's Club

    * Age of Impact (1998)
    * Raising the Mammoth (2002)

Guest appearances

    * Lou Reed - Lou Reed (session playing on most of the album) (1972)
    * Rick Wakeman - "Catherine of Aragon", album The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973)
    * The Dregs - "Up in the Air", album Industry Standard (1982)
    * Propaganda - "The Murder of Love", album A Secret Wish (1985)
    * Fish - "Time and a Word", album Yin (1995)
    * Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Welcome To The Pleasuredome", album Welcome To The Pleasuredome (1984)
    * Queen - "Innuendo", album Innuendo (1991)
    * Dream Theater - "Starship Trooper", DVD 5 Years in a Livetime (1998)

Videography

    * Classic Rock Legends (2002)
    * Careful With That Axe (2004)
    * Steve Howe's Remedy Live (2005)
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/altoari/566c852f.jpg
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q49/mickeyasnmouse/howe2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/08/11 at 6:50 am

I do remember the group Yes with "Owner Of A Lonely Heart"in 1983.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/08/11 at 3:06 pm


I do remember the group Yes with "Owner Of A Lonely Heart"in 1983.

That's a good song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/08/11 at 7:57 pm


That's a good song.



and a good video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/09/11 at 6:38 am

The person of the day...Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after appearing in several successful films, including as Mike Brody in Jaws 3-D (1983), Alex Gardner in Dreamscape (1984), Remy McSwain in The Big Easy (1987), Tuck Pendleton in Innerspace (1987), Jefferson "Jeff" Blue in Undercover Blues (1993), Bowen in Dragonheart (1996), Joe Doe/William in Gang Related (1997), Frank Towns in Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Jack Hall in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose (2011).
After his brother, Randy, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Last Detail (1973), Quaid dropped out of the University of Houston before graduating and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career of his own. He initially had trouble finding work but began to gain notice when he appeared in Breaking Away (1979) and earned good reviews for his role in The Right Stuff (1983).

Known for his grin, Quaid has appeared in both comedic and dramatic roles. Quaid had starring roles in the films Enemy Mine (1985) and Innerspace (1987). He also achieved acclaim for his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire! (1989).

Quaid's career lost steam in the early 1990s, after he fought anorexia nervosa and kicked a cocaine addiction. He continued to garner positive reviews in a variety of films, however, such as Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp (1994). He starred in the remake of The Parent Trap (1998), playing the part of the twins' father, and as an aging pro football quarterback in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday (1999). Some of Quaid's more recent film credits include Frequency (2000), The Rookie (2002), Far From Heaven (2002), The Flight of the Phoenix (2004), In Good Company (2004), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Yours, Mine and Ours (2005), Vantage Point (2008), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), and Pandorum (2009).

In 2009, Quaid guest starred in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, playing Mr. Krabs' grandfather, Captain Redbeard.

He portrayed U.S. President Bill Clinton, alongside Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton, in the 2010 film The Special Relationship.
Awards

For his role in Far From Heaven (2002) he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He received nominations for Best Supporting Actor from the Golden Globe Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Personal life
Quaid golfing in 2006.

Quaid was raised in the Baptist faith.

There have been extensive stories about Quaid's past abuse of cocaine. In a candid 2002 interview with Larry King on his talk show, after King asked about his motives for using drugs, Quaid responded, "Well, you got to put it in context. Back in the late '60s, early '70s. That was back during the time where, you know, drugs were going to expand our minds and everybody was experimenting and everything. We were really getting high, we didn't know it. And cocaine at that time was considered harmless. You know. I remember magazine articles in 'People' Magazine of doctors saying, it is not addicting. It is just—alcohol is worse. So I think we all fell into that. But that's not the way it was."

When asked if he believed he had ever been addicted to the drug, he responded, "It was a gradual thing. But it got to the point where I couldn't have any fun unless I had it. Which is a bad place to be." Later in the interview he said, "But I saw myself being dead in about five years if I didn't stop."

Quaid and actress P.J. Soles were married on November 25, 1978. The couple were divorced on January 23, 1983. On February 14, 1991, he and Meg Ryan were married. Quaid and Ryan have a son, Jack Henry (born April 24, 1992). They were divorced on July 16, 2001. In a 2008 interview with Insight, Ryan stated "Dennis was not faithful to me for a very long time, and that was very painful. I found out more about that after I was divorced."

Quaid married Kimberly Buffington, an Austin, Texas, real-estate agent, on July 4, 2004. The couple had twins, born via a gestational carrier, on November 8, 2007, in Santa Monica, California. Their son Thomas Boone was born first at 8:26 am and weighed six pounds, twelve ounces (3.06 kg). Daughter Zoe Grace was born two minutes later weighing five pounds, nine ounces (2.52 kg).

On November 18, 2007, hospital staff mistakenly gave Quaid's ten-day-old twins a dosage of heparin 1,000 times the common dosage for infants. Their attorney said the newborns will "be fine now", but Quaid filed a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer, Baxter Healthcare, claiming that packaging for the two doses of heparin are not different enough. In May 2008, the Quaids testified before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking U.S. Congress not to preempt the right to sue drug manufacturers for negligence under state law.

In October 2009, Dennis Quaid narrowly avoided being arrested for DUI, when a police officer managed to persuade him to get out of his car and get a cab.

In addition to acting, Quaid is a musician and plays with his band, the Sharks. Quaid also has a pilot's license and is a scratch golfer. In 2005, he was named as the top golfer among the "Hollywood set" by Golf Digest.

After the filming of "The Express: The Ernie Davis Story" Quaid went to Cleveland Browns Stadium to dedicate Davis's jersey.
Charities

Quaid lends his name to the annual "Dennis Quaid Charity Weekend" (formerly the "Jiffy Lube/Dennis Quaid Charity Classic") in Austin. The golf tournament attracts numerous celebrities with the proceeds split among local children's charities. He is a member of the Bel-Air Country Club in Bel-Air, California, and tries to stay at homes on private courses when he is on the road.

Quaid works with the International Hospital for Children in New Orleans, Louisiana. He makes trips to Central America to help build medical clinics and transport sick children back to the U.S. for treatment they cannot get locally.
Filmography
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1975 Crazy Mama Bellhop (uncredited)
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Shark, Baseball Pitcher
September 30, 1955 Frank
1978 Our Winning Season Paul Morelli
The Seniors Alan
1979 Breaking Away Mike
1980 The Long Riders Ed Miller
Gorp Mad Grossman
1981 All Night Long Freddie Dupler
Caveman Lar
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia Travis Child
Stripes Extra at Graduation Ceremony (uncredited)
1983 Tough Enough Art Long
Jaws 3-D Michael 'Mike' Brody
The Right Stuff Gordon Cooper
1984 Dreamscape Alex Gardner
1985 Enemy Mine Willis Davidge
1987 The Big Easy Det. Remy McSwain Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Innerspace Lt. Tuck Pendleton
Suspect Eddie Sanger
1988 D.O.A. Dexter Cornell
Everybody's All-American Gavin Grey
1989 Great Balls of Fire! Jerry Lee Lewis
1990 Come See The Paradise Jack McGurn
Postcards from the Edge Jack Faulkner
1993 Wilder Napalm Wallace Foudroyant/Biff the Clown
Undercover Blues Jefferson 'Jeff' Blue
Flesh and Bone Arlis Sweeney
1994 A Century of Cinema Himself (documentary)
Wyatt Earp Doc Holliday
1995 Something to Talk About Eddie Bichon
1996 Dragonheart Bowen
1997 Gang Related Joe Doe/William
Switchback Frank LaCrosse
1998 Savior Joshua Rose/Guy
The Parent Trap Nick Parker
Playing by Heart Hugh
1999 Any Given Sunday Jack 'Cap' Rooney
2000 Frequency Frank Sullivan Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Suspense
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Traffic Arnie Metzger Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Dinner with Friends Gabe
2002 The Rookie Jimmy Morris
Far from Heaven Frank Whitaker Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2003 Cold Creek Manor Cooper Tilson
2004 The Alamo Sam Houston
The Day After Tomorrow Jack Hall
In Good Company Dan Foreman
Flight of the Phoenix Frank Towns
2005 Yours, Mine and Ours Frank Beardsley
2006 American Dreamz President Joseph Staton
2007 Battle for Terra Roven (voice)
2008 Vantage Point Thomas Barnes
Smart People Lawrence Wetherhold
The Express Ben Schwartzwalder
2009 Horsemen Aidan Breslin
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra General Hawk
Pandorum Payton
2010 Legion Bob Hanson
The Special Relationship Bill Clinton released May 29, 2010 on HBO
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2011 Soul Surfer Tom Hamilton Released April 8, 2011
Footloose Rev. Shaw Moore
Beneath the Darkness Vaughn Ely
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f85/dancinfeet09000/quaid.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w56/cinthialopez25/quaid5B15D.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/09/11 at 6:53 am

Dennis Quiad is a good actor,he does that comedic side.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/11 at 5:46 am

The person of the day...Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing the title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller film The Sixth Sense that earned him a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently appeared in leading roles in several high-profile Hollywood films including Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Mimi Leders Pay it Forward. He made his Broadway debut in 2008 in a revival of American Buffalo, co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer.
Osment was born in Los Angeles, California; the son of Theresa Osment (née Seifert), a teacher, and Michael Eugene Osment, a theater and film actor, both natives of Alabama. Osment was raised Roman Catholic. He has one sister, four years younger, actress and singer-songwriter Emily Osment. Osment’s parents described his childhood as a “good old-fashioned Southern upbringing,” and his father said that when Osment was learning to speak, he deliberately avoided using baby talk when communicating with his son.

Osment was a student at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California. As a child, he was talented in many sports, including basketball, football, wrestling, and golf.
Career
Osment in 2001

Osment's acting career began at the age of four, when his mother took him to a new Ikea store; a talent scout was there looking for new actors, and Osment put his name down. He got called back for an audition, and was asked to describe the biggest thing he had ever seen; Osment described an IMAX theater screen, and won the part in a Pizza Hut TV commercial, advertising their "Big Foot" pizza. The commercial launched his career; later that year he starred in the ABC TV sitcom Thunder Alley, his first role in series television. His first feature film role was as Forrest Gump's son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name. He also had a small part in another 1994 film, Mixed Nuts. Throughout the rest of 1990s, Osment played regular and/or recurring roles in various TV series; including The Jeff Foxworthy Show and the final season of Murphy Brown, where he replaced Dylan Christopher as Murphy's son, Avery. In addition, he made numerous guest appearances on shows including The Larry Sanders Show, Walker, Texas Ranger (as a child dying from AIDS), Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, and an emotional episode of Ally Mcbeal; "Angels and Blimps", in which he played a child dying from leukemia. He starred in the 1996 film Bogus, alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu, and appeared in the 1998 made-for-TV movie The Lake, with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as I'll Remember April (1999), with future The Sixth Sense co-star Trevor Morgan.

Osment first achieved major stardom in 1999, when he appeared in the blockbuster film The Sixth Sense, co-starring Bruce Willis. For his portrayal of Cole Sear, a psychic child, Osment won Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second-youngest performer ever to receive an Academy nomination for a supporting role, but lost the final Oscar vote to Michael Caine (with whom he would later work, appearing together in Secondhand Lions). One of Osment's lines in The Sixth Sense, "I see dead people", became a popular catchphrase and is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. He made three minor (voice-only) guest appearances on the animated TV series Family Guy in 2000.

The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another future co-star, Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, Pay It Forward (2000). The following year, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: A.I., cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award for Best Younger Actor, and another critical acclaim. In reviewing the movie, critic Roger Ebert claimed that: "Osment, who is onscreen in almost every scene, is one of the best actors now working". Also in 2001, Osment starred in the Polish film, Edges of the Lord, as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States.

Osment has lent his voice to animated films such as The Country Bears, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and The Jungle Book 2. He returned to live action with the 2003 film, Secondhand Lions.

Notably, Osment has also lent his voice to the video game series, Kingdom Hearts, providing the voice of Sora, the series' main character, and also Vanitas, a villain resembling Sora. Osment also voiced the character of Takeshi Jinno, in the English version of the Immortal Grand Prix anime TV series.

He next appeared in Home of the Giants, playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He is currently working on Montana Amazon as both an actor and executive producer. The film co-stars Olympia Dukakis and is expected to be released in 2010.

Osment made his Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in November 2008, playing the role of "Bobby", a young heroin addict, in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo; co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer. The show opened to mixed reviews, and a provisional statement was made on November 20, 2008, that it would close after the first week. Osment was given one sentence in the New York Times review of the production: "Mr. Osment’s facial stubble and slumping posture fail to override the impression that he’s giving a perfect School of Disney juvenile performance." Newsday, however, said "Haley Joel Osment... has a sweet, haunting neediness as a slacker who appears to recognize a kind of death in himself."
Personal life

According to Osment's official website, he follows a mostly meat-free diet (though he does like chicken and fish), and in an interview with Daniel Robert Epstein, Osment mentioned that he plays the guitar and piano. As of 2007, he attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, from which he graduated in 2010.

Osment is an avid golfer who began playing at the age of 7. He played for the U.S. team in the All-Star Cup 2005, under team leader Mark O'Meara, and has participated in the Annual Michael Douglas & Friends Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Arrest

Osment was involved in a single-driver automobile accident on July 20, 2006, in which he struck a brick mailbox and overturned his car while driving near his home. The accident resulted in injuries including a broken rib, fractured right shoulder blade, cuts, and abrasions. In connection with this incident, Osment pleaded no contest to one count each of misdemeanor, driving under the influence of alcohol, and drug possession on October 19, 2006. He was sentenced to three years probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1500, and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump, Jr. Young Artist Award for Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture
Mixed Nuts Little Boy
1995 For Better or Worse Danny
1996 Bogus Albert Franklin Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Actor Age Ten or Under
1997 Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas Chip Voice (direct-to-video)
1998 Ransom of Red Chief Andy Dorset (TV movie)
1999 The Sixth Sense Cole Sear Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Newcomer (Internet Only)
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Most Promising Actor
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Breakout Performance
Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
YoungStar Award for Best Young Actor/Performance in a Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Bruce Willis)
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Debut
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
I'll Remember April Peewee Clayton
2000 Pay It Forward Trevor McKinney Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Drama/Romance
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
Discover Spot Spot the Dog Voice
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence David Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Performance
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
Edges of the Lord Romek
2002 The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Zephyr Voice
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role
The Country Bears Beary Barrington Voice
Kingdom Hearts Sora Video game
2003 Secondhand Lions Walter Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
The Jungle Book 2 Mowgli Voice
Nominated — World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written for a Film (Shared with Paul Grabowsky, Lorraine Feather, Mae Whitman, and Connor Funk)
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor
2004 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Sora Video game
2005 Immortal Grand Prix Takeshi Jinno Anime TV series; Voice (English-language)
2006 Kingdom Hearts II Sora Video game
2007 Home of the Giants Robert "Gar" Gartland
2008 Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Sora Video game
2009 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Sora Video game
2010 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Vanitas/Sora Video game
2010 Montana Amazon Womple
2011 Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Data Sora Video game
2012 Truth & Treason Helmuth Hübener
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mathuisland/HaleyJoelOsment.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2/brezerandpippin/sensibility01b.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/10/11 at 5:49 am


The person of the day...Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing the title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller film The Sixth Sense that earned him a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently appeared in leading roles in several high-profile Hollywood films including Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Mimi Leders Pay it Forward. He made his Broadway debut in 2008 in a revival of American Buffalo, co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer.
Osment was born in Los Angeles, California; the son of Theresa Osment (née Seifert), a teacher, and Michael Eugene Osment, a theater and film actor, both natives of Alabama. Osment was raised Roman Catholic. He has one sister, four years younger, actress and singer-songwriter Emily Osment. Osment’s parents described his childhood as a “good old-fashioned Southern upbringing,” and his father said that when Osment was learning to speak, he deliberately avoided using baby talk when communicating with his son.

Osment was a student at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California. As a child, he was talented in many sports, including basketball, football, wrestling, and golf.
Career
Osment in 2001

Osment's acting career began at the age of four, when his mother took him to a new Ikea store; a talent scout was there looking for new actors, and Osment put his name down. He got called back for an audition, and was asked to describe the biggest thing he had ever seen; Osment described an IMAX theater screen, and won the part in a Pizza Hut TV commercial, advertising their "Big Foot" pizza. The commercial launched his career; later that year he starred in the ABC TV sitcom Thunder Alley, his first role in series television. His first feature film role was as Forrest Gump's son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name. He also had a small part in another 1994 film, Mixed Nuts. Throughout the rest of 1990s, Osment played regular and/or recurring roles in various TV series; including The Jeff Foxworthy Show and the final season of Murphy Brown, where he replaced Dylan Christopher as Murphy's son, Avery. In addition, he made numerous guest appearances on shows including The Larry Sanders Show, Walker, Texas Ranger (as a child dying from AIDS), Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, and an emotional episode of Ally Mcbeal; "Angels and Blimps", in which he played a child dying from leukemia. He starred in the 1996 film Bogus, alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu, and appeared in the 1998 made-for-TV movie The Lake, with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as I'll Remember April (1999), with future The Sixth Sense co-star Trevor Morgan.

Osment first achieved major stardom in 1999, when he appeared in the blockbuster film The Sixth Sense, co-starring Bruce Willis. For his portrayal of Cole Sear, a psychic child, Osment won Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second-youngest performer ever to receive an Academy nomination for a supporting role, but lost the final Oscar vote to Michael Caine (with whom he would later work, appearing together in Secondhand Lions). One of Osment's lines in The Sixth Sense, "I see dead people", became a popular catchphrase and is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. He made three minor (voice-only) guest appearances on the animated TV series Family Guy in 2000.

The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another future co-star, Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, Pay It Forward (2000). The following year, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: A.I., cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award for Best Younger Actor, and another critical acclaim. In reviewing the movie, critic Roger Ebert claimed that: "Osment, who is onscreen in almost every scene, is one of the best actors now working". Also in 2001, Osment starred in the Polish film, Edges of the Lord, as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States.

Osment has lent his voice to animated films such as The Country Bears, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and The Jungle Book 2. He returned to live action with the 2003 film, Secondhand Lions.

Notably, Osment has also lent his voice to the video game series, Kingdom Hearts, providing the voice of Sora, the series' main character, and also Vanitas, a villain resembling Sora. Osment also voiced the character of Takeshi Jinno, in the English version of the Immortal Grand Prix anime TV series.

He next appeared in Home of the Giants, playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He is currently working on Montana Amazon as both an actor and executive producer. The film co-stars Olympia Dukakis and is expected to be released in 2010.

Osment made his Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in November 2008, playing the role of "Bobby", a young heroin addict, in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo; co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer. The show opened to mixed reviews, and a provisional statement was made on November 20, 2008, that it would close after the first week. Osment was given one sentence in the New York Times review of the production: "Mr. Osment’s facial stubble and slumping posture fail to override the impression that he’s giving a perfect School of Disney juvenile performance." Newsday, however, said "Haley Joel Osment... has a sweet, haunting neediness as a slacker who appears to recognize a kind of death in himself."
Personal life

According to Osment's official website, he follows a mostly meat-free diet (though he does like chicken and fish), and in an interview with Daniel Robert Epstein, Osment mentioned that he plays the guitar and piano. As of 2007, he attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, from which he graduated in 2010.

Osment is an avid golfer who began playing at the age of 7. He played for the U.S. team in the All-Star Cup 2005, under team leader Mark O'Meara, and has participated in the Annual Michael Douglas & Friends Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Arrest

Osment was involved in a single-driver automobile accident on July 20, 2006, in which he struck a brick mailbox and overturned his car while driving near his home. The accident resulted in injuries including a broken rib, fractured right shoulder blade, cuts, and abrasions. In connection with this incident, Osment pleaded no contest to one count each of misdemeanor, driving under the influence of alcohol, and drug possession on October 19, 2006. He was sentenced to three years probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1500, and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump, Jr. Young Artist Award for Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture
Mixed Nuts Little Boy
1995 For Better or Worse Danny
1996 Bogus Albert Franklin Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Actor Age Ten or Under
1997 Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas Chip Voice (direct-to-video)
1998 Ransom of Red Chief Andy Dorset (TV movie)
1999 The Sixth Sense Cole Sear Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Newcomer (Internet Only)
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Most Promising Actor
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Breakout Performance
Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
YoungStar Award for Best Young Actor/Performance in a Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Bruce Willis)
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Debut
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
I'll Remember April Peewee Clayton
2000 Pay It Forward Trevor McKinney Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Drama/Romance
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
Discover Spot Spot the Dog Voice
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence David Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Performance
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
Edges of the Lord Romek
2002 The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Zephyr Voice
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role
The Country Bears Beary Barrington Voice
Kingdom Hearts Sora Video game
2003 Secondhand Lions Walter Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
The Jungle Book 2 Mowgli Voice
Nominated — World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written for a Film (Shared with Paul Grabowsky, Lorraine Feather, Mae Whitman, and Connor Funk)
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor
2004 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Sora Video game
2005 Immortal Grand Prix Takeshi Jinno Anime TV series; Voice (English-language)
2006 Kingdom Hearts II Sora Video game
2007 Home of the Giants Robert "Gar" Gartland
2008 Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Sora Video game
2009 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Sora Video game
2010 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Vanitas/Sora Video game
2010 Montana Amazon Womple
2011 Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Data Sora Video game
2012 Truth & Treason Helmuth Hübener
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mathuisland/HaleyJoelOsment.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2/brezerandpippin/sensibility01b.jpg
He was good in Forrest Gump

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/10/11 at 7:24 am

Wow,he grew up so maturely.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/10/11 at 7:26 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYUCXkRh5ig

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/11 at 9:36 am


He was good in Forrest Gump

I always thought he was a fine young actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/10/11 at 11:26 am

I think today's person of the day should be Ninny.  ;)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/10/11 at 1:12 pm


I think today's person of the day should be Ninny.  ;)



Cat


Cause it's her birthday?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/11 at 5:56 pm


Cause it's her birthday?

Yep :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/10/11 at 5:57 pm


I think today's person of the day should be Ninny.  ;)



Cat

Thanks..that would be quick reading with my bio ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/11 at 6:03 am

The person of the day...Joel Grey
Joel Grey (born April 11, 1932) is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret. He has won the Academy Award, Tony Award and Golden Globe Award.
Grey originated the role of the Master of Ceremonies in the Broadway musical Cabaret in 1966 for which he won the Tony Award. Additional Broadway credits include Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Stop the World - I Want to Get Off (1962), Half a Sixpence (1965),George M! (1968), Goodtime Charley (1975), The Grand Tour (1979), Chicago (1996), and Wicked (2003). In November 1995, he performed as the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a staged concert of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT) in November 1995, and released on CD and video in 1996.

Grey won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1972 for his performance as the Master of Ceremonies in the film version of Cabaret. His victory was part of a Cabaret near-sweep, which saw Liza Minnelli win Best Actress and Bob Fosse win Best Director, although it lost the Best Picture Oscar to The Godfather. For that role, Grey also won the BAFTA award for "The Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles" and Best Supporting Actor awards from the Golden Globes, Kansas City Film Critics Circle, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, National Society of Film Critics, and a Tony Award for his original stage performance six years prior, making him one of only eight people who have won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the same role.

He has performed at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri in roles such as George M. Cohan in George M! (1970 and 1992), the Emcee in Cabaret (1971), and Joey Evans in Pal Joey (1983).

Grey appeared as a panelist for the television game show "What's My Line?" in the 1967 season, as well as being the first mystery guest during its syndication in 1968. He was the guest star for the third episode of The Muppet Show in its first season in 1976, singing "Razzle Dazzle" from Chicago and "Willkommen" from Cabaret. He also played Master of Sinanju Chiun, Remo's elderly Korean martial arts master in the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985), a role that garnered him a Saturn Award and a second Golden Globe nomination for "Best Supporting Actor". In 1991, he played Adam, a devil, in the final episode of the TV series Dallas (1991). In 1993 he received an "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" Emmy nomination for his recurring role as Jacob Prossman on the television series Brooklyn Bridge. In 1995, he made a guest appearance on Star Trek: Voyager as an aging rebel seeking to free his (deceased) wife from prison.

In 2000, Grey played Oldrich Novy in the film Dancer in the Dark and had recurring television roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as Doc, 2001), Oz (as Lemuel Idzik, 2003) and Alias (as "Another Mr. Sloane," 2005). He was a wealthy, paroled ex-convict on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (episode, "Cuba Libre", 2003). Joel Grey also originated the role of the Wizard of Oz in the hit Broadway musical Wicked. He also appeared on the shows House and Brothers & Sisters (2007), on the latter of which he played the role of Dr. Bar-Shalom, Sarah and Joe's marriage counselor. He appeared as Izzie's high school teacher who needs treatment for dementia in Grey's Anatomy (2009).

Grey returned to Broadway in spring 2011 as Moonface Martin in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Anything Goes at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. He will also direct the Broadway premiere of The Normal Heart, scheduled for a limited 12-week engagement beginning in April 2011. This is a version of a staged reading he directed of this play in October 2010.
Personal life

In 1958 he married Jo Wilder; they divorced in 1982. Grey is the father of actress Jennifer Grey, the star of Dirty Dancing, and James, a chef.

Grey is also a photographer. His first book of photographs, Pictures I Had to Take, was published in 2003; its follow-up, Looking Hard at Unexpected Things, appeared in the Fall of 2006. His third book, 1.3 – Images from My Phone, is also a photography book but taken with his camera phone, was published on June 2, 2009 (Powerhouse Books). An exhibit of his work will be held in April 2011 at the Museum of the City of New York, titled "Joel Grey/A New York Life."
Work
Stage

(Source:)
Year Production Role Notes
1951 Borscht Capades credited as Joel Kaye
1961 Come Blow Your Horn Buddy Baker Replacement
1962 Stop the World - I Want to Get Off Littlechap Replacement
1965 Half a Sixpence Arthur Kipps Replacement
1966 Cabaret Master of Ceremonies Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
1969 George M! George M. Cohan Nominee: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
1975 Goodtime Charley Charley Nominee: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
1979 The Grand Tour S. L. Jacobowsky Nominee: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
1987 Cabaret Master of Ceremonies Revival
1996 Chicago Amos Hart Revival
2003 Wicked The Wizard of Oz Original Broadway cast
2011 Anything Goes Moonface Martin Revival
Filmography

(Source:)
Year Film Role Notes
1952 About Face Bender
1957 Calypso Heat Wave Alex Nash
1961 Come September Beagle
1972 Cabaret Master of Ceremonies Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
1974 Man on a Swing Franklin Wills
1976 The Seven-Per-Cent Solution Lowenstein
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson Nate Salsbury (Cody's partner)
1985 Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins Chiun Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
1991 Kafka Burgel
1993 The Music of Chance Willy Stone
1994 The Dangerous Flea
1995 Venus Rising Jimmie
1996 The Empty Mirror Joseph Goebbels
My Friend Joe Simon
1999 A Christmas Carol Ghost of Christmas Past
2000 The Fantasticks Amos Babcock Bellamy
2001 Dancer in the Dark Oldrich Novy
Reaching Normal Dr. Mensley
2008 Choke Phil
Television

(Source:)
Year Production Role
1956 Producers' Showcase
1957 Telephone Time
December Bride
The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
1958 Court of Last Resort
Little Women (special)
1959 Maverick (TV series)
Billy the Kid
1960 Bronco (TV series)
The Ann Sothern Show
1960–1961 Lawman (TV series)
1961 Yes, Yes Nanette
77 Sunset Strip
1966 My Lucky Penny (pilot)
1971 Ironside (TV series)
1972 Night Gallery
Man on a String (telefilm)
1974 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (special) Narrator/Mr. Trundel
1976 The Muppet Show Himself / Guest
1981 Paddington Bear Host
1982 Alice (TV series)
1982 The Yeomen of the Guard (special - Brent Walker productions) Jack Point
1987 Queenie (telefilm)
1991 Dallas Adam/Devil
1996 Star Trek: Voyager Caylem
1999 The Outer Limits: Essence of Life Dr. Neil Seward
2000 The Outer Limits: Simon Says Gideon Banks
2000 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Doc
2003 Oz Lemuel Idzik
Law & Order: Criminal Intent Milton Winters
2005 Alias (TV series) Another Mr. Sloane
2006 House Ezra Powell
2009 Private Practice Dr. Alexander Ball
Grey's Anatomy Dr. Singer
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j237/MRCD_photos/indreamspromo06.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/liltxgal98/cabaret.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/11/11 at 7:19 am


Yep :D


Happy Birthday.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/11/11 at 5:53 pm


Happy Birthday.  :)

Thanks :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/11 at 5:19 am

The person of the day...Andy Garcia
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, and When a Man Loves a Woman. More recently, he has starred in Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, and The Lost City.

García was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vincent Mancini in The Godfather Part III.
García began acting at Florida International University, but soon went to Hollywood. He started to perform in very short roles, working part-time as waiter and in a warehouse. His chance arose when he was offered a role as a gang member in the first episode of the popular TV series Hill Street Blues. His supporting role in 1985's The Mean Season alongside Kurt Russell brought García wider visibility, although the film fared poorly at the box office. Director Brian De Palma liked his performance in the 1986 movie 8 Million Ways to Die and engaged him the following year for The Untouchables, which made García a popular Hollywood actor.

In 1989, Francis Ford Coppola was casting The Godfather Part III. The character of Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone, was an exceptional part in a highly anticipated film. García was one of many actors who wanted to be cast, but he also bore a resemblance to the young Al Pacino. He won the part, earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance and became an internationally acclaimed star.

Garcia followed that with films such as 1990's Internal Affairs, in which he engages in a war of wills with a corrupt fellow police officer, played by Richard Gere. Subsequently, he performed in a wide variety of theatrical and TV films.

He played a conflicted good samaritan in Hero (1992), the enabling husband of an alcoholic in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), a doomed criminal in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), a crusading lawyer in the drama Night Falls on Manhattan (1997), and a cop trying to save his gravely ill son in the action thriller Desperate Measures (1998).

One of his most well-known performances was as the ruthless Las Vegas casino owner Terry Benedict in 2001's Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper movie. García reprised the role for the 2004 sequel, although the part was significantly smaller than the one in the first film. He also appeared briefly in Ocean's Thirteen (2007).

In 2005, he released The Lost City, which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray. Upon its release, The Lost City sparked controversy among many in Latin America due to its negative portrayal of the Cuban Revolution, and in particular Che Guevara, who continues to have substantial popularity there. He was also present at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in this movie. In 2006, he appeared in the last episode of the Turkish TV series Kurtlar Vadisi (Valley of the Wolves).

In 2010, he appeared on the BBC's Top Gear Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment, recording a time of 1:46.1 in the Kia Cee'd.
Personal life
At the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival with Julianna Margulies (left) and his daughter Dominik Garcia-Lorido.

In 1982, García married María Victoria Lorido. He is the father of four children: Dominik Garcia-Lorido (b. August 16, 1983), Daniella (b. January 3, 1988), Alessandra (b. June 20, 1991) and Andres (b. January 28, 2002). The García family lives in Los Angeles and Miami.

García's niece Jackie was the longtime girlfriend of the late Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, who was shot by intruders in their Miami-area home on November 26, 2007 and who died from his wounds on November 27, 2007. The two were home with their 18-month-old daughter Jackie when the incident took place. García attended Taylor's funeral, and released a statement to the Miami Herald calling Taylor a hero for saving the life of his niece and their infant daughter.


Garcia is a supporter of the Republican Party.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Blue Skies Again Ken
A Night in Heaven T. J. The Bartender
1984 The Lonely Guy Uncredited
1985 The Mean Season Ray Martínez
1986 8 Million Ways to Die Angel Moldonado
1987 The Untouchables Agent George Stone/Giuseppe Petri
1988 Stand and Deliver Dr. Ramírez
American Roulette Carlos Quintas
1989 Black Rain Det. Charlie Vincent
1990 Internal Affairs Raymond Avilla
A Show of Force Luis Ángel Mora
The Godfather Part III Vincent Mancini Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1991 Dead Again Gray Baker
1992 Hero John Bubber
Jennifer Eight Sgt. John Berlin
1994 When a Man Loves a Woman Michael Green Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia
Dangerous Minds Scenes deleted
Steal Big Steal Little Ruben Partida Martinez/Robert Martin/Narrator
1997 Night Falls on Manhattan Sean Casey Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film also for The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca
The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca Federico García Lorca Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film also for Night Falls on Manhattan
Hoodlum Charlie "Lucky" Luciano
1998 Desperate Measures Frank Conner ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film
1999 Just the Ticket Gary Starke Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film
2000 Lakeboat Guigliani
2001 The Unsaid Michael Hunter Direct-to-DVD release
Ocean's Eleven Terry Benedict ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated — DVD Exclusive Award for Best Audio Commentary shared with Brad Pitt and Matt Damon
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2002 The Man from Elysian Fields Byron
2003 Confidence Special Agent Gunther Butan
2004 Twisted Mike Delmarco
The Lazarus Child Jack Heywood
Modigliani Amedeo Modigliani
Ocean's Twelve Terry Benedict Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2005 The Lost City Fico Fellove Imagen Foundation Award for Best Director
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Director - Motion Picture
Nominated — Imagen Foundation Award for Best Actor
2007 Smokin' Aces Stanley Locke
The Air I Breathe Fingers
Ocean's Thirteen Terry Benedict Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry entire cast
2008 Beverly Hills Chihuahua Delgado Voice only
La Linea Javier Salazar
2009 The Pink Panther 2 Inspector Vicenzo Brancaleone
The National Parks: America's Best Idea Various historical figures (voice)
New York, I Love You Garry
City Island Vince Rizzo Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2010 The Last Full Measure Fred Navarro in production
5 Days of August Mikheil Saakashvili completed
Across the Line Jorge Garza completed
2011 Cristiada Enrique Gorostieta Velarde in post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1978 ¿Qué Pasa, USA? Carmen's Boyfriend Episode: "Here Comes the Bride"
1979 Archie Bunker's Place Manuel Episode: "Building the Restaurant"
1981, 1984 Hill Street Blues Street Kid
Ernesto Episode: "Hill Street Station"
Episode: "Hair Apparent"
1983 For Love and Honor Medic Episode: "For Love and Honor" (pilot)
1984 Murder, She Wrote 1st White Tough Episode: "The Murder of Sherlock Holmes" (pilot)
Brothers Jose Episode: "Happy Birthday Me!"
1985 The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alejandro Episode: "Breakdown"
1999 Swing Vote Joseph Michael Kirkland ABC Television movie
2000 For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story Arturo Sandoval Also producer
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie shared with Jellybean Benitez and Celia D. Costas
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2001 Frasier Terrance Episode: "Bully for Martin"
2003 Will & Grace Milo Episode: "Field of Queens"
2005 Kurtlar Vadisi Amon Episode: 4.96
Episode: 4.97
2006 George Lopez Ray Episode: "George Doesn't Trustee Angie's Brother"
2009 Lopez Tonight Himself
2010 Top Gear Himself Series 15 Episode 4
Other awards and nominations

ALMA Awards

    * 2001: Nominated, "Outstanding Host of a Variety or Awards Special" - 1st Annual Latin Grammy Awards (shared w/Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez & Jimmy Smits)
    * 2006: Won, "Anthony Quinn Award for Achievement in Motion Pictures"

Nostros Golden Eagle Awards

    * 1997: Won, "Outstanding Performer in Film"
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll239/JWnPooh/Hottest%20Hunks/AndyGarcia001.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/DTrent/Andy%20Garcia/bd0e9309.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/12/11 at 7:04 am

Ninny,Are you still doing word of the day too? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/12/11 at 7:26 pm


Ninny,Are you still doing word of the day too? ???

No sorry Howie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/12/11 at 7:33 pm


No sorry Howie.


It's ok,no problem.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/13/11 at 1:28 am


No sorry Howie.
Have you ran out of words?

http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/easter/grin.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/11 at 5:48 am


Have you ran out of words?

http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/easter/grin.gif

It just got to hard thinking of a word to go with the person.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/11 at 5:51 am

The person of the day..Ron Perlman
Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman (born April 13, 1950) is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played "Vincent" in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, "Slade" in the animated series Teen Titans, Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character Hellboy in both the eponymous film and the sequel, and as the narrator of the post-apocalyptic game series, Fallout. He is currently the narrator of the television series 1000 Ways to Die on Spike.
Perlman made his feature film debut in Jean-Jacques Annaud's film Quest for Fire (1981). After various minor and supporting roles in films and television series, his breakthrough role came when he played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, opposite Linda Hamilton from 1987 to 1990. This earned him a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series in 1989.

He went on to play roles in many films and television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s as well as the 2000s. His most notable film appearances were in films such as The Name of the Rose (1986), Romeo is Bleeding (1993), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994), The Last Supper (1995), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), Alien Resurrection (1997), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Blade II and Star Trek Nemesis (both 2002) and two Stephen King story-to-movie adaptations, Sleepwalkers and Desperation. His appearances in television series include Highlander: The Series, The Outer Limits and The Magnificent Seven.

He played his first leading film role in 1995, when he played the gargantuan oaf "One" in Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's The City of Lost Children. In 2003, Perlman starred in a commercial for Stella Artois beer. This commercial, which was called "Devil's Island," won a Silver Award at the 2003 British Advertising Awards. He got another leading film role in 2004 when he played the title role in the comic book adaptation Hellboy. Perlman reprised his role as Hellboy in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, released on July 11, 2008.

In 2008, Perlman joined the cast of the TV show Sons of Anarchy on FX. He plays Clay Morrow, the president of the motorcycle club and the protagonist's stepfather.
Roles that required make-up
Perlman as Hellboy

He is known for playing roles which require make-up, some to the point where his entire body is covered or his face requires full facial prosthetics. Some examples include his first film role in Quest for Fire (film), where he played a neanderthal, The Name of the Rose where he plays a disfigured hunchback, Beauty and The Beast, where he played Vincent, a man with the face of a half-man half-lion-like beast, The Island of Dr. Moreau where he plays a half man/half animal and the Hellboy films where he plays a demon. He even gave his Beauty and The Beast co-star Armin Shimerman advice when Shimerman was going to be in full-facial prosthetics as Quark for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Voice-over work

Perlman also has a successful career as a voice actor in addition to his onscreen acting, having portrayed characters in numerous video games and animated series. These include Vice Principal Lancer in Danny Phantom, Kurtis Stryker in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, Justice in Afro Samurai and various characters in DC Comics based series such as the villainous Slade, a version of DC character Deathstroke the Terminator, in the Teen Titans animated series, Clayface in Batman: The Animated Series, Jax-Ur in Superman: The Animated Series, Orion in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Killer Croc, Rumor, Bane in The Batman and Doctor Double X in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

His video game credits include Lord Terrence Hood, Fleet Admiral in command of Earth's space defences against the Covenant in the games Halo 2 and Halo 3, Jagger Valance in The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, and Batman in Justice League Heroes. He is well-known by Fallout fans for narrating the introductory movies in the series, including uttering the famous phrase "War. War never changes." in each installment. He also voices "Slade" in the 2008 Turok game, and Emil Blonsky/Abomination in Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Conan for the PS3.
Personal life

He has been married to Opal Perlman since February 14, 1981; they have two children, a daughter, Blake Amanda (born 1984), and a son, Brandon Avery (born 1990). Perlman has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program.
Filmography
Film
Perlman at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

    * Quest for Fire (1981) – Amoukar
    * The Ice Pirates (1984) – Zeno
    * The Name of the Rose (1986) – Salvatore
    * Sleepwalkers (1992) – Captain Soames
    * Cronos (1993) – Angel De La Guardia
    * Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) – Jack's attorney
    * Double Exposure (1993) – John McClure
    * The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) – Pap Finn
    * Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994) – Konstantine Konali
    * The City of Lost Children (1995) – One
    * The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space (1995) (TV) – Lord Vox
    * The Last Supper (1995) – Norman Arbuthnot
    * Fluke (1995) – Sylvester
    * The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) – Sayer of the Law
    * The Second Civil War (1997) (TV) – Alan Manieski
    * Prince Valiant (1997) – Boltar
    * Alien Resurrection (1997) – Johner
    * I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) – Cemetery Caretaker
    * Happy, Texas (1999) – Marshal Nalhober
    * Primal Force (1999) – Frank Brodie
    * The Trial of Old Drum (2000) – Charles (Donny's Dad)
    * Operation Sandman (2000) – Dr. Harlan Jessup
    * Price of Glory (2000) – Nick Everson
    * Down (aka The Shaft) (2001) – Mitchell
    * Enemy at the Gates (2001) – Koulikov
    * Blade II (2002) – Dieter Reinhardt
    * Crime and Punishment (2002) – Dusharo
    * Star Trek Nemesis (2002) – Reman Viceroy
    * Hoodlum & Son (2003) – 'Ugly' Jim McCrae
    * Absolon (2003) – Murchison
    * Two Soldiers (2003) – Colonel McKellog
    * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) – VP for Never Learning
    * Hellboy (2004) – Hellboy
    * Missing in America (2005) – Red
    * Local Color (2006) – Curtis Sunday
    * The Last Winter (2006) – Ed Pollack
    * Desperation (2006) (TV) – Deputy Collie Entragian
    * 5ive Girls (2006) – Father Drake
    * In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007) – Norick
    * Masters of Horror: John Carpenter: Pro-Life (2007) – Dwayne Burcell
    * Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) – Hellboy
    * Mutant Chronicles (2008) – Brother Samuel
    * Outlander (2008) – Gunnar
    * Uncross the Stars (2008) – Bobby Walden
    * The Devil's Tomb (2009) – Wesley
    * Dark Country (2009) – Deputy Thompson
    * I Sell The Dead (2009) – Father Duffy
    * The Job (2009) – Jim
    * Acts of Violence (2010) – Priest Bill
    * Bunraku (2010) – Nicola
    * Crave (2010) – Pete
    * Season of the Witch (2011) – Felson
    * Conan the Barbarian (2011) – Corin

Television

    * Our Family Honor (1985) – Bausch
    * Miami Vice (1987) – Episode "Walk-alone"
    * Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990) – Vincent
    * Arly Hanks (1993) – Jim-Bob Buchanan
    * Highlander: The Series (1996) – The Messenger (one episode)
    * A Town Has Turned to Dust (1998) – Jerry Paul
    * The Outer Limits (1998) – Lt. Col. Brandon Grace (one episode)
    * The Magnificent Seven (1998–2000) – Josiah Sanchez
    * Charmed (2000) – Mr Kellerman (one episode)
    * The Tick (2001) – Fiery Blaze (one episode)
    * Masters of Horror (2006) – Dwayne Burcell (one episode)
    * Sons of Anarchy (2008–present) – Clarence "Clay" Morrow
    * 1000 Ways to Die (2009–present) – Narrator

Voice work

    * Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1993) (TV series) – Clayface
    * Animaniacs (1993) (TV series) – Satan, Sgt. Sweete
    * Phantom 2040 (1994) (TV series) – Graft
    * Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1995) (TV series) – Kurtis Stryker
    * Fantastic Four (1995) (TV series) – Wizard, Hulk
    * Aladdin (1994) (TV series) – Arbutus
    * Iron Man (1995) (TV series) – Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk
    * Chronomaster (1995) (video game) – Rene Korda
    * Hey Arnold! (1996) (TV series) – Mickey Kaline
    * Duckman (1996) (TV series) Roland Thompson
    * Fallout (1997) (video game) – Butch Harris, narrator
    * An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) – Grasping
    * The New Batman Adventures (1997–1998) (TV series) – Clayface
    * Fallout 2 (1998) (video game) – Narrator
    * Superman: The Animated Series (1999) (TV series) – Jax-Ur
    * Titan A.E. (2000) – Professor Sam Tucker
    * Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001) (video game) – Narrator
    * Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (2001) (video game) – Wylfdene
    * Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (2003) (video game) – Clayface
    * True Crime: Streets of LA (2003) (video game) – Misha
    * Lords of EverQuest (2003) (video game) – Lord Skass
    * Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006) (TV series) – Clayface, Orion
    * Teen Titans (2003–2006) (TV series) – Slade
    * The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) (video game) – Jagger Valance
    * Danny Phantom (2004–2007) (TV series) – Mr. Lancer
    * Halo 2 (2004) (video game) – Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood
    * Gun (2005) (video game) – Mayor Hoodoo Brown
    * Tarzan II (2005) – Kago
    * The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (2005) (video game) – Emil Blonsky/The Abomination
    * Teen Titans (2005) (video game) – Slade
    * The Batman (2005) Killer Croc
    * Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? (2005) – Hotep/Ancient One #2
    * The Outfit (2005) (video game) – Tommy Mac
    * Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006) – Captain Skunkbeard/Biff Wellington
    * Justice League Heroes (2006) (video game) – Bruce Wayne/Batman
    * Hellboy: Sword of Storms (2006) (TV) – Hellboy
    * Afro Samurai (2007) (TV) – Justice
    * Kim Possible (2007) (TV) – Worhok
    * Hellboy: Blood and Iron (2007) (TV) – Hellboy
    * Battle for Terra (2007) – Elder Vorin
    * Halo 3 (2007) (video game) – Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood
    * Conan (2007) (video game) – Conan of Cimmeria
    * Avatar: The Last Airbender (2007) (TV series) – Fire Lord Sozin
    * Hellboy: The Science of Evil (2008) (video game) – Hellboy
    * Fallout 3 (2008) (video game) – Narrator
    * Turok (2008) (video game) – Slade
    * Spirit of the Forest (2008) – Oak
    * Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) (TV series) – Gha Nachkt
    * Afro Samurai (2009) (video game) – Justice
    * The Strain (2009) (audio book) – Narrator
    * Fallout: New Vegas (2010) (video game) – Narrator
    * Archer (2010) (TV series) – Ramon Limon
    * Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2010) (TV series) – Doctor Double X
    * Tangled (2010) - Stabbington Brothers (voice)
    * Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010) - Bi-Beast and The Mandarin (voice)
    * Adventure Time (2011) - The Lich King
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb155/SwamiYogurt/GW309H400.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/tarynrene/HBprem13.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/13/11 at 6:49 am


It just got to hard thinking of a word to go with the person.


Oh,It's easy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/13/11 at 6:51 am

http://www.whatsupmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Ron-Perlman-face-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/13/11 at 12:13 pm


It just got to hard thinking of a word to go with the person.
It is hard to not repeat yourself with words, and then to think new ones it can be a struggle.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/13/11 at 10:43 pm


It is hard to not repeat yourself with words, and then to think new ones it can be a struggle.

So true, a lot of times I think I repeat the person I used last year. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/14/11 at 6:32 am

The person of the day...Anthony Michael Hall
Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor, film producer and director who starred in several teen-oriented films of the 1980s. Hall began his career in commercials and on stage as a child, and made his screen debut in 1980. His films with director-screenwriter John Hughes, beginning with the popular 1984 coming-of-age comedy Sixteen Candles, shaped his early career. Hall's next movies with Hughes were the teen classics The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, both in 1985. His performances as lovable geeks in these three films connected his name and face with the stereotype for an entire generation.

Hall diversified his roles to avoid becoming typecast as his geek persona, joining the cast of Saturday Night Live (1985–1986) and starring in films such as Out of Bounds (1986), Johnny Be Good (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Six Degrees of Separation (1993). After a series of minor roles in the 1990s, he starred as Microsoft's Bill Gates in the 1999 television film Pirates of Silicon Valley. He had the leading role in the USA Network series The Dead Zone, from 2002 to 2007. During its run, the show was one of the highest-rated cable television series.
Hall started his career in commercials when he was seven years old. He was the Honeycomb cereal kid and appeared in several commercials for toys and Bounty. His stage debut was in 1977, when he was cast as the young Steve Allen in Allen's semi-autobiographical play The Wake. He went on to appear in the Lincoln Center Festival's production of St. Joan of the Microphone, and in a play with Woody Allen. In 1980, he made his screen debut in the Emmy-winning TV movie The Gold Bug, in which he played the young Edgar Allan Poe, but it was not until the release of the 1982 Kenny Rogers film Six Pack that he gained real notice.
Anthony Michael Hall as Rusty Griswold in 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation

The following year, Hall landed the role of Rusty Griswold, Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo's son, in National Lampoon's Vacation, catching the attention of the film's screenwriter John Hughes, who was about to make the jump to directing. "For to upstage Chevy, I thought, was a remarkable accomplishment for a 13-year-old kid," said Hughes. The film was a significant box office hit in 1983, grossing over US$61 million in the United States. After Vacation, Hall moved on to other projects and declined to reprise his role in the 1985 sequel.

Hall's breakout role came in 1984, when he was cast as Farmer Ted, the scrawny, braces-wearing geek, who pursued Molly Ringwald's character in John Hughes' directing debut Sixteen Candles. Hall tried to avoid the clichés of geekness. "I didn't play him with 100 pens sticking out of his pocket," he said. "I just went in there and played it like a real kid. The geek is just a typical freshman." Hall landed a spot on the promotional materials, along with co-star Ringwald. Reviews of the film were positive for Hall and his co-stars, and one for People Weekly even claimed that Hall's performance " the film" from Ringwald. Despite achieving only moderate success at the box office, the film made overnight stars of Ringwald and Hall.
Hall as Brian Johnson from 1985's The Breakfast Club

Hall starred in two 1985 teen classics, both written and directed by John Hughes. He was cast as Brian Johnson, "the brain," in the quintessential teen film The Breakfast Club, co-starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Ringwald. Film critic Janet Maslin praised Hall, stating that the 16-year-old actor and Ringwald were "the movie's standout performers." Later that year, Hall portrayed Gary Wallace, another likable misfit, in Weird Science. Critic Sheila Benson from the Los Angeles Times said "Hall the role model supreme" for the character, but she also acknowledged that "he outgrowing the role" and " need to hold the patent on the bratty bright kid." Weird Science was a moderate success at the box office but was generally well-received for a teen comedy. Those roles established him as the 80s "nerd-of-choice", as well as a member in good standing of Hollywood's Brat Pack. Hall, who portrayed John Hughes' alter egos in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, credits the director for putting him on the map and giving him those opportunities as a child. "I had the time of my life", he said. "I'd consider any day of the week."

Hall joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) during its 1985–86 season at the age of 17. He was, and remains, the youngest cast member in the show's history. His recurring characters on the show were 'Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant,' an intelligent, talented teenager with a vacant expression and stilted speech, and 'Fed Jones,' one half of the habitually high, hustling pitchmen known as The Jones Brothers (the other Jones Brother was played by short-lived featured player Damon Wayans). Art Garfunkel, Edd Byrnes, Robert F. Kennedy and Daryl Hall were among Hall's celebrity impersonations. Hall had admired the show and its stars as a child, but he found the SNL environment to be far more competitive than he had imagined. "My year there, I didn't have any breakout characters and I didn't really do the things I dreamed I would do," he said, "but I still learned a lot, and I value that. I'll always be proud of the fact that I was a part of its history."

To avoid being typecast, Hall turned down roles written for him by John Hughes in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Cameron Frye) and Pretty in Pink (Phil "Duckie" Dale), both in 1986. Instead, he starred in the 1986 film Out of Bounds, Hall's first excursion into the thriller and action genre. The film grossed only US$5 million domestically, and was a critical and financial disappointment. Critic Roger Ebert described Out of Bounds as "an explosion at the cliché factory," and Caryn James from the New York Times claimed that not even "Hall, who made nerds seem lovable in John Hughes' Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, do much to reconcile" the disparate themes of the movie.

Hall was offered the starring role in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket in a conversation with Stanley Kubrick, but after an eight-month negotiation, a financial agreement could not be reached. "It was a difficult decision, because in that eight-month period, I read everything I could about the guy, and I was really fascinated by him," Hall said when asked about the film. "I wanted to be a part of that film, but it didn't work out. But all sorts of stories circulated, like I got on set and I was fired, or I was pissed at him for shooting too long. It's all not true." He was replaced with Matthew Modine. His next film would be 1988's Johnny Be Good, in which he worked with Uma Thurman and fellow Saturday Night Live cast member Robert Downey Jr.. The film was a critical failure, and some critics panned Hall's performance as a high school football star, claiming that he, the movies' reigning geek, was miscast for the role. A review for The Washington Post claimed that the film was "crass, vulgar, and relentlessly brain-dead."
1990s

After a two-year hiatus due to a drinking problem, Hall returned to acting by starring opposite Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder in Tim Burton's 1990 hit Edward Scissorhands, this time as the film's villain. By then in his 20s, he shifted to more mature roles, trying to establish himself as an adult actor. After Scissorhands, he appeared in a series of low-budget films, including the 1992 comedy Into the Sun, where he starred as a visiting celebrity at a military air base. Film critic Janet Maslin praised his performance, writing that "Mr. Hall, whose earlier performances (in films like National Lampoon's Vacation and Sixteen Candles) have been much goofier, remains coolly funny and graduates to subtler forms of comedy with this role." The following year, he played a gay man who teaches down-and-out Will Smith to dupe rich people in the critically acclaimed film Six Degrees of Separation. Hall claimed that it was "the hardest role ever had."

In 1994, Hall starred in and directed his first feature film, a low-budget Showtime comedy named Hail Caesar about a would-be rock star who works in a pencil eraser factory. The film also co-starred Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and Judd Nelson. In addition, he produced the soundtrack for the film with composer Herbie Tribino. The film featured songs written and performed by Hall.
Hall (left) and Noah Wyle in 1999's Pirates of Silicon Valley

After a series of appearances in low-budget films and guest roles on TV series in the mid and late 1990s, he gained media attention once again in the 1999 Emmy-nominated TNT original movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, co-starring Noah Wyle as Apple Computer's Steve Jobs. Hall was widely praised for his portrayal of Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates. "I really fought for this part because I knew it would be the role of a lifetime," Hall said. "It was a thrill and a daunting challenge to play someone of his stature and brilliance." Hall described his physical appearance as 20-year-old Gates to the San Francisco Chronicle:

    "First, you have to lose the neck." The top six inches of his spine seem to disappear. "You go down, down. You lose the body; you get softer shoulders, you slump, you create a little gut." He is almost there. "Then you extend the neck and you do a little duck walk." He walks across the room. Add ill-fitting clothes, mop-top hair, a pair of oversize glasses and a cold stare, and the impersonation is complete.

2000s

After making a cameo appearance as himself in the 2000 comedy film Happy Accidents, Hall appeared in several made-for-TV films. He starred opposite Sheryl Lee as a cheating husband in the 2001 USA Network cable movie Hitched. That same year, he played renowned music producer Robert "Mutt" Lange in VH1's original movie Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story and starred as legendary lefty baseball pitcher Whitey Ford in Billy Crystal's highly acclaimed HBO film, 61*.

On the big screen, Hall took on supporting roles in the mystery-drama The Caveman's Valentine (2001) opposite Samuel L. Jackson, the critically panned Freddy Got Fingered (2001) opposite Tom Green, and the action-comedy All About the Benjamins (2002) opposite Ice Cube.

Hall began his first regular series role in 2002, starring as Johnny Smith in USA Network's supernatural drama The Dead Zone, a TV series adapted from Stephen King's best-selling novel. He was cast in the show after executive producer Michael Piller saw his performance in Pirates of Silicon Valley. The show debuted on June 16, 2002, and drew higher ratings for a premiere than any other cable series in television history with 6.4 million viewers. The Dead Zone quickly developed a loyal audience, with the show and Hall receiving strong reviews. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote that "Hall's Johnny flashes the qualities - comic timing, great facial expressions - that made him a star in the 1980s movies Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club." The Dead Zone, Hall said, "has transformed my career." The show proved to be one of USA Network's top shows and one of the highest-rated programs on basic cable.

The Dead Zone opening credits list Hall as co-producer (seasons 1-3), producer (seasons 5) and co-executive producer (season 6). Hall also directed an episode from season three, "The Cold Hard Truth", guest starring standup comic Richard Lewis. ", I feel, is my best work as a director, because I had this great crew that knows me well and has been working with me", said Hall. "I also had the best script that I've had an opportunity to direct." The show's sixth and final season premiered on June 17, 2007. USA Network officially canceled The Dead Zone in December 2007.

Hall also participated in Mind Freak's 10th episode of season 4.

In addition, Hall is developing film and television projects under his production company banner AMH Entertainment. Most recently, Hall starred in Aftermath, an independent crime-drama film, with Tony Danza and Chris Penn. In 2008, Hall appeared as Gotham City television reporter/anchor Mike Engel in The Dark Knight.
2010s

In 2010, Hall made a guest appearance on the NBC series Community, a natural choice given that the characters on the show often compare their situation to the film The Breakfast Club.
In the media

Hall became a regular subject of tabloid media after New York Magazine named him a member of the "Brat Pack", the group of young actors who became famous in the 1980s and frequently starred together. In the late '80s, Hall's drinking problem, which began in his early teens, made headlines. Hall eventually quit drinking and became fully sober by 1990. "The truth is, I had my partying nights, but I never really bounced at the bottom", he said. "I never went to rehab...I was able to govern myself and continue my work."

In 1990, Hall's physical appearance in Edward Scissorhands caught audiences off guard. His more muscular image provoked rumors of steroids, but Hall later said that "the weight gain was natural."

Hall's role in the 1993 film Six Degrees of Separation managed to make news not because of what occurred onscreen, but rather what failed to occur. Hall played a gay love interest to Will Smith, who had previously agreed to a kissing scene between the two. However, on the day of the shoot, Smith backed off. Smith told the press that he called Denzel Washington for advice, who told him that an onscreen same-sex kiss was a bad career move. When asked about the incident during an interview, Hall said, "I didn't care. I wasn't that comfortable with it, either, and ultimately, we used a camera trick."

Hall is referenced in the "Homer to the Max" episode of The Simpsons, wherein Homer Simpson discovers that a television character shares his name. Marge compares it to an apparent past incident involving Hall, stating "it's just a coincidence, like that guy named Anthony Michael Hall that stole your car stereo", to which Bart replies "right, 'coincidence'".
Recognition

The 2001 film Not Another Teen Movie pays tribute to Hall's numerous appearances in the teen-oriented, '80s comedy films parodied by the movie. A brief shot of the sign over the door of a high school cafeteria reveals that the facility is named the "Anthony Michael Dining Hall." In 2006, Hall was ranked # 4 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Teen Stars" and # 41 in "100 Greatest Kid Stars."

In June 2005, The Breakfast Club was rewarded with the "Silver Bucket of Excellence Award" at the MTV Movie Awards, in honor of the film's twentieth anniversary. MTV attempted to reunite the original cast; Sheedy, Ringwald, and Hall appeared together on stage, and Paul Gleason personally gave the award to his former castmates. Estevez could not attend because of family commitments, and Nelson appeared earlier on the red carpet but left before the on-stage reunion for reasons unknown. Hall joked that the two were "in Africa with Dave Chappelle."
Selected filmography
Films
Year Film Role Other notes
1980 The Gold Bug Young Edgar Allan Poe Made-for-TV
1981 Jennifer's Journey Michael
1982 Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn Huckleberry (Huck) Finn Made-for-TV
Six Pack Doc
1983 National Lampoon's Vacation Russell 'Rusty' Griswold
1984 Sixteen Candles Farmer Ted (The Geek)
1985 The Breakfast Club Brian R. Johnson
Weird Science Gary Wallace
1986 Out of Bounds Daryl Cage
1988 Johnny Be Good Johnny Walker
1990 Edward Scissorhands Jim
A Gnome Named Gnorm Casey Gallagher
Whatever Happened to Mason Reese Mason Reese Voice
1992 Into the Sun Tom Slade
1993 Six Degrees of Separation Trent Conway
1994 Hail Caesar Julius Caesar McMurty Also director
Texas Yancey Quimper Made-for-TV
Who Do I Gotta Kill? Jimmy's Friend Kevin Friedland
1995 A Bucket of Blood Walter Paisley Made-for-TV
Ripple Marshall Gray
1996 Hijacked: Flight 285 Peter Cronin Made-for-TV
Exit in Red Nick
The Grave Travis
1997 Trojan War Bus Driver
Cold Night Into Dawn Eddie Rodgers
1999 Pirates of Silicon Valley Bill Gates Made-for-TV
A Touch of Hope Dean Kraft Made-for-TV
2 Little, 2 Late Mr. Burggins
Revenge Brian Cutler
Dirt Merchant Jeffry Alan Spacy
2000 Happy Accidents Himself Cameo
The Photographer Greg
2001 Hitched Ted Robbins Made-for-TV
The Caveman's Valentine Bob
Freddy Got Fingered Mr. Dave Davidson
Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story Robert "Mutt" Lange
61* Whitey Ford Made-for-TV
2002 All About the Benjamins Lil J
2005 Funny Valentine Josh Also co-producer
2007 LA Blues Larry
Final Approach Greg Gilliad Made-for-TV
2008 The Dark Knight Mike Engel
2009 Aftermath Tom Fiorini Also producer
Television
Year Show Role Other notes
1985–1986 Saturday Night Live Various Cast member
1993 Tales from the Crypt Reggie Skulnick Ep. # 5.9
1995 NYPD Blue Hanson Riker Ep. # 2.13
Deadly Games Chuck Manley Ep. # 1.6
1996 Murder, She Wrote Les Franklin Ep. # 12.22
Touched by an Angel Thomas Prescott Ep. # 2.22
1997 The Jamie Foxx Show Tim Ep. # 2.6
Diagnosis: Murder Dr. Johnson Ep. # 5.6
1998 Poltergeist: The Legacy John Griffin Ep. # 3.8
1999 Touched by an Angel Thomas Prescott Ep. # 5.22
The Crow: Stairway to Heaven Officer Reid Truax Ep. # 1.21
2007 Entourage Himself Ep. # 4.02
2002–2007 The Dead Zone Johnny Smith Starring role, also producer
2009 Community (NBC) Mike Ep. # 1.12
2010 CSI: Miami Dr. James Bradstone Ep. # 8.14
2011 No Ordinary Family Ray Ep. #16
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f170/chongolio/myspace/Anthony-Michael-Hall.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z19/K1nYo/Anthony%20Michael%20Hall/b860.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/14/11 at 6:54 am


So true, a lot of times I think I repeat the person I used last year. :-[


that's quite alright,I don't mind.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/14/11 at 6:56 am

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRd9MJoKoe5-ROsegjFkDyB1SyhIVmt5SV7N6EyCh5NIq7UVkW6&t=1


He doesn't look any different,He's pretty much the same.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/14/11 at 10:00 am


http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRd9MJoKoe5-ROsegjFkDyB1SyhIVmt5SV7N6EyCh5NIq7UVkW6&t=1


He doesn't look any different,He's pretty much the same.

He's gotten a lot bigger (stronger) than when he was a teenager.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/14/11 at 11:01 am


He's gotten a lot bigger (stronger) than when he was a teenager.


I would say he improved with age.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/14/11 at 12:34 pm


He's gotten a lot bigger (stronger) than when he was a teenager.


He's more mature.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/11 at 6:03 am

The person of the day...Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End. The following year Thompson garnered dual Academy Award nominations, as Best Actress for The Remains of the Day and as Best Supporting Actress for In the Name of the Father.

In 1995, Thompson scripted and starred in Sense and Sensibility, a film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel of the same name, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Other notable film and television credits have included the Harry Potter film series, Wit (2001), Love Actually (2003), Angels in America (2003), Nanny McPhee (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), Last Chance Harvey (2008), An Education (2009), and Nanny McPhee Returns (2010).

Thompson is also a patron of the Refugee Council and President of the Teaching Awards.
Thompson's earliest television appearances included the comedy sketch show Alfresco, broadcast in 1983 and 1984 (as well as its three-part pilot There's Nothing to Worry About, shown in 1982), which also featured Ben Elton, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Also in 1984 she guested alongside Fry and Laurie in the episode "Bambi" of the sitcom The Young Ones, playing Miss Money-Sterling. Her breakthrough began in 1987 with her role as red-haired rock guitarist Suzi Kettles in the cult TV series Tutti Frutti. This was followed by acclaim for the BBC series Fortunes of War in which she starred with her then future husband, Kenneth Branagh. For these two 1987 roles she won a BAFTA for Best Actress. In 1988, she starred in and wrote the eponymous Thompson comedy sketch series for BBC1; the series was not successful with audiences or critics. Described in Time Out magazine as "very clever-little-me-ish", it has never been repeated in Britain despite her Oscar successes, and Thompson has not returned to the sketch comedy field.

Thompson's first major film role was in Richard Curtis's romantic comedy The Tall Guy (1989) co-starring Jeff Goldblum. Her career took a more serious turn with a series of critically acclaimed performances and films, beginning with Howards End (1992), for which she received an Oscar for best actress; the part of Gareth Peirce, the lawyer for the Guildford Four, in In the Name of the Father; The Remains of the Day opposite Anthony Hopkins; and as the British painter Dora Carrington in the film Carrington.

Thompson won her next Oscar in 1996, for best adapted screenplay for her adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, a film directed by Ang Lee, in which she also played the Oscar-nominated lead role opposite Hugh Grant. She has said that she keeps both of her award statues in her downstairs bathroom, citing embarrassment at placing them in a more prominent place.

Thompson's recent television work has included a starring role in the 2001 HBO drama Wit, in which she played a dying cancer patient, and 2003's Angels in America, playing multiple roles, including one of the titular angels. Her Emmy Award was as a guest star in a 1997 episode of the show Ellen; in this episode she played a fictionalised parody of herself: a closeted lesbian more concerned with the media finding out she is actually American. She also appeared in an episode of Cheers in 1992 titled "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't".
Thompson at the London premiere of Nanny McPhee, 2005

More recently, Thompson appeared in supporting roles such as Sybill Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She also appeared in the 2003 comedy Love Actually. The film Nanny McPhee, adapted by Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books, was first released in October 2005. Thompson worked on the project for nine years, having written the screenplay and starred alongside her mother (who has a cameo appearance). In the film Stranger than Fiction she plays an author planning on killing her main character, Harold Crick, who turns out to be a real person. Most recently, Thompson made a short uncredited cameo as a doctor introducing the cure for cancer in the form of measles in the latest film adaptation of I Am Legend, and starred in Last Chance Harvey opposite Dustin Hoffman, Eileen Atkins and Kathy Baker. In 2009, she appeared in An Education and The Boat That Rocked, the new Richard Curtis film, which also starred Gemma Arterton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, January Jones, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Jack Davenport and Rhys Ifans.

Thompson reprised her role as Sybill Trelawney in the two-part film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She will also voice Queen Elinor in the upcoming 2012 Pixar film Brave
Thompson is a supporter of Greenpeace. It was announced on 13 January 2009 that, with three other members of the organisation, she had bought land near the village of Sipson, under threat from a proposed third runway for Heathrow Airport. It was hoped that possession of the land, half the size of a football pitch, would make it possible to prevent the government from carrying through its plan to expand the airport.

Bought for an undisclosed sum from a local land owner, the plot was to be split into small squares and sold across the globe. Thompson said, "I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans. It's laughably hypocritical. That's why we've bought a plot on the runway. We'll stop this from happening even if we have to move in and plant vegetables."
Personal life

While at Cambridge, Thompson had a romantic involvement with actor Hugh Laurie, a fellow Footlights member and an undergraduate at Selwyn College, just across the road from Newnham. Thompson continues her friendship with Laurie.

She married actor Kenneth Branagh on 20 August 1989. They acted together several times, in the TV series Fortunes of War, and in hit movies such as Dead Again, Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing. They divorced in October 1995.

Thompson married actor Greg Wise in 2003 in Dunoon, Scotland, where she has a second home. The couple have a daughter, Gaia Romilly, born in 1999. In 2003, the couple informally adopted a 16-year-old Rwandan refugee named Tindyebwa Agaba. They successfully resisted his deportation back to Rwanda, his family having been killed in the genocide.
Political views

Thompson has said of her religious and political views: "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Qur'an, and I refute them." She told the BBC Andrew Marr Show in March 2010 that she had been a member of the Labour Party "all my life." Thompson is also a Palestinian human rights activist, having been a member of the British-based ENOUGH! coalition that seeks to end the "Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank."
Filmography
Film
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes
1989 Henry V Catherine of Valois
1989 Tall Guy, TheThe Tall Guy Kate Lemmon
1991 Dead Again Grace
Margaret Strauss
1991 Impromptu Duchess d'antan (Claudette) Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
1992 Howards End Margaret Schlegel Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniero)
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
1992 Peter's Friends Maggie Chester Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
1993 Remains of the Day, TheThe Remains of the Day Miss Kenton David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniero)
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1993 In the Name of the Father Gareth Peirce Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1994 Junior Dr. Diana Reddin Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1995 Carrington Dora Carrington National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
1995 Sense and Sensibility Elinor Dashwood Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Writer
Evening Standard British Film Awards - Best Adapted Screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
USC Scripter Award
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Film - Screenplay
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997 Winter Guest, TheThe Winter Guest Frances Pasinetti Award for Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
1998 Primary Colors Susan Stanton Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)
Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Drama
Nominated — European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema
1998 Judas Kiss Sadie Hawkins
2000 Maybe Baby Druscilla
2002 Treasure Planet Captain Amelia animated film (voice only)
Nominated — Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2003 Imagining Argentina Cecilia
2003 Love Actually Karen Empire Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Awards - Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Professor Sybill Trelawney
2005 Nanny McPhee Nanny McPhee writing credits
2006 Stranger than Fiction Karen Eiffel Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Professor Sybill Trelawney
2007 I Am Legend Dr. Alice Krippin uncredited cameo
2008 Brideshead Revisited Lady Marchmain Nominated — Audience Award for Best International Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2008 Last Chance Harvey Kate Walker Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2009 Education, AnAn Education Headmistress
2009 Boat That Rocked, TheThe Boat That Rocked Charlotte
2010 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Nanny McPhee known as Nanny McPhee Returns in North America
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Professor Sybill Trelawney
2012 Brave Queen Elinor Voice
2012 Men in Black III Agent O Filming

    * Sources for Awards: Evening Standard British Film Awards — IMDB: Emma Thompson Awards

Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1982 Cambridge Footlights Revue various characters TV-special, 1 episode
1982 There's Nothing to Worry About! Mrs. Wally TV-series, 3 episodes
1983-84 Alfresco various characters TV-series, 13 episodes
1984 Young Ones, TheThe Young Ones Miss Money-Sterling TV-series, episode Bambi
1987 Tutti Frutti Suzi Kettles Cult BBC TV Series starring Emma and Robbie Coltrane bringing both to national prominence. Written by John Byrne
1987 Fortunes of War Harriet Pringle British Academy Television Award for Best Actress (jointly with work on Tutti Frutti)
1988 Thompson Various Roles TV-series
1989 Look Back in Anger Alison Porter TV-film
1990 Winslow Boy, TheThe Winslow Boy Catherine Winslow TV-film
1992 Cheers Nanette Guzman TV-series, 1 episode
1994 Blue Boy, TheThe Blue Boy Marie Bonnar TV-film
1997 Ellen Herself TV-series, 1 episode
Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Comedy Series
1997 Hospital! Elephant Woman TV-series, 1 episode
2001 Wit Vivian Bearing TV-film
Best Actress at the Valladolid International Film Festival
Humanitas Prize for 90 Minute or Longer Cable Category
Christopher Award for Television & Cable
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards for Best Actress — TV-Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
2003 Angels in America Nurse Emily
the Homeless Woman
the Angel America TV-series
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
2010 Song of Lunch, TheThe Song of Lunch She
Theatre

The following is a partial list of Thompson's theatre credits:

    * 1982 - Appeared in Not the Nine O'Clock News - UK tour.
    * 1982 - Co-wrote and appeared in Beyond the Footlights - Lyric Hammersmith, London.
    * 1984 - Wrote and starred in the one woman show Short Vehicle - Edinburgh Festival.
    * 1984/5 - Played Sally in the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester production of the musical Me and My Girl, co-starring with Robert Lindsay. The show then successfully transferred to the Adelphi Theatre, London. (The book for Me and My Girl was adapted by Stephen Fry)
    * 1989 - Played Alison in Look Back in Anger by John Osborne - Lyric Shaftesbury, London.
    * 1990 - Played The Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream - International tour.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k74/nicoletteautumn/Emma-Thompson.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f44/sevenweblog3/Emma_Thompson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/15/11 at 6:04 am


I would say he improved with age.



Cat

Very true

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/15/11 at 6:47 am

http://cdn.mos.totalfilm.com/images/e/emma-thompson-making-new-nanny-mcphee-pic-800-75.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/15/11 at 12:21 pm

Emma Thompson is a fantastic actress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ldI_zGXWdE


I just love the way she delivers this line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5eAbQfpR0c&feature=related



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/11 at 5:06 am

The person of the day...Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual sound, she was an important white soul singer, and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970. She is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.

Born in North London to an Irish Catholic family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. She joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, in 1958, then formed the pop-folk vocal trio The Springfields in 1960 with her brother Dion.

Her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit, "I Only Want To Be With You" (1963). Among the hits that followed were "Wishin' and Hopin'" (1964), "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (1964), "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966), and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1968). A fan of American pop music, she was the first public figure to bring little-known soul singers to a wider British audience, when she created and hosted the first British performances of the top-selling Motown artists in 1965. By 1966, she was the best selling female singer in the world, and topped a number of popularity polls, including Melody Maker's Best International Vocalist. She was the first British singer to top the New Musical Express readers' poll for Female Singer. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde beehive hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

The marked changes in pop music in the mid-1960s left many female pop singers out of fashion. To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee, to record an album of pop and soul music with the Atlantic Records main production team. Released in 1969, Dusty in Memphis has been ranked among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and the Channel 4 viewers polls. The album was also awarded a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

After this, however, Springfield's success dipped for eighteen years. She returned to the Top 20 of the British and American charts in collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys on the songs "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private". Interest in Springfield's early output was revived in 1994 due to the inclusion of "Son of a Preacher Man" on the soundtrack of the movie Pulp Fiction.
Dusty Springfield's first single, "I Only Want to Be with You", written and arranged by Ivor Raymonde, was released in November 1963. It was produced by Johnny Franz in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", and included rhythm and blues features such as horn sections, backing singers and double-tracked vocals, along with pop music strings, in the style of girl bands that Springfield admired, such as The Shirelles. The song rose to No.4 on the British charts, leading to its nomination as a "Sure Shot" pick of records not yet charted in the U.S. by New York disc jockey "Dandy" Dan Daniel of WMCA radio in December 1963, preceding Beatlemania. It remained on the American Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, peaking at No.12. The release finished as No.48 on New York's WABC radio Top 100 for 1964. The song was the first record played on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops programme on 1st January 1964. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc in the U.K.

Springfield's debut album A Girl Called Dusty included mostly covers of her favourite songs. Among the tracks were "Mama Said", "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes", "You Don't Own Me" and "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa". The album reached #6 in the U.K. in May 1964. The chart hits "Stay Awhile", "All Cried Out" and "Losing You" followed the same year. In 1964, Springfield recorded two Burt Bacharach songs: "Wishin' and Hopin'—an American Top 10 hit— and the emotional "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", which reached #3 on the British chart. The latter song set the standard for much of her later material.

Springfield's tour of South Africa was interrupted in December 1964, and she was deported, after she performed before an integrated audience at a theatre near Cape Town, which was against the South African government's segregation policy. In the same year, she was voted the Top Female British Artist of the year in the New Musical Express poll, topping Lulu, Sandie Shaw, and Cilla Black. Springfield received the award again the following three years.

In 1965, Springfield took part in the Italian Song Festival in San Remo, and failed to qualify for the final with two songs. During the competition, she heard the song "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)". Its English version, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", featured lyrics written by Springfield's friend, Vicki Wickham, and her future manager, Simon Napier-Bell. It reached No.1 in the UK in May 1966 and reached No.4 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it was also No.35 on the Billboard Top 100 for 1966. The song, which Springfield called "good old schmaltz", was voted among the All Time Top 100 Songs by the listeners of BBC Radio 2 in 1999.

In 1965, Springfield released three more British Top 40 hits: "Your Hurtin' Kinda Love", "In the Middle of Nowhere", and Carole King's "Some of Your Lovin'". These were not included on the album Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty, which featured songs by Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, Rod Argent and Randy Newman, and a cover of the traditional Mexican song, "La Bamba". This album peaked at #6 in the U.K.

Springfield was instrumental in introducing Motown to a wider British audience, both with her covers of Motown songs, and in facilitating the first British TV appearance for The Temptations, The Supremes, The Miracles, and Stevie Wonder on a special edition of the Ready Steady Go! show, called The Sound Of Motown. The show was broadcast on 28 April 1965 by Rediffusion TV, with Springfield opening each half of the show accompanied by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Motown's in-house band The Funk Brothers.

Springfield released three additional U.K. Top 20 hits in 1966: "Little By Little" and two dramatic ballads by Carole King: "Goin' Back" and "All I See Is You", which also reached the US Top 20. In August and September 1966, she hosted Dusty, a series of six BBC TV music and talk shows. A compilation of her singles, Golden Hits, released in November 1966, reached #2 in the U.K.
Late 1960s (1967–69)

"The Look of Love"
Play sound
Sample from "The Look of Love".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Bacharach-David composition "The Look of Love" was designed as the centrepiece for the James Bond parody Casino Royale. For one of the slowest-tempo hits of the sixties, Bacharach created a sultry feel by the use of minor-seventh and major-seventh chord changes, while Hal David's lyrics epitomised longing and lust. This song was recorded in two versions at the Philips Studios of London. The soundtrack version was recorded on 29 January and the single release version was done in April. "The Look of Love" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song of 1967. The song was a Top 10 radio hit on KGB-AM, San Diego, CA and KHJ-AM, Los Angeles radio stations in the western United States, and earned her highest place in the year's music charts at #22.

The second season of the BBC's Dusty TV shows, featuring performances of "Get Ready" and the U.K. #13 hit "I'll Try Anything", attracted a healthy audience but the show did not keep up with changes in the pop music market. The comparatively progressive album Where Am I Going? attempted to redress this by containing songs such as a "jazzy", orchestrated version of "Sunny" and Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away". Though it was appreciated critically, it did not sell well. In 1968, a similar fate befell Dusty... Definitely. On this album, her choice of material ranged from the rolling "Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone" to the aching emotion of "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today". In that same year, Springfield had a British #4 hit, "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", written by Clive Westlake. Its flipside, "No Stranger am I", was written by Norma Tanega.

In 1969 Springfield was at her commercial and creative height; she was performing for £1,000 a night on sold-out tours, had her own TV shows, It Must Be Dusty on ITV, and Decidedly Dusty on BBC, and released the album Dusty in Memphis and the single "Son of a Preacher Man".
Dusty in Memphis (1968–1969)
Main article: Dusty in Memphis
Cover of U.S. release of Dusty in Memphis

In 1968, Carole King, one of Springfield's songwriters, embarked on a singing career of her own, while the chart-peaking Bacharach-David partnership was foundering. Springfield's status in the music industry was further complicated by the progressive music revolution and the uncomfortable split between what was underground and "fashionable" and what was pop and "unfashionable". In addition, her performing career was becoming limited to the British touring circuit, which at that time largely consisted of working men's clubs and the hotels and cabarets circuit. Hoping to reinvigorate her career and boost her credibility, Springfield signed with Atlantic Records, the record label of one of her idols, Aretha Franklin. The Memphis sessions at the American Sound Studio were recorded by the A-team of Atlantic Records: producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin; the back-up vocal band Sweet Inspirations; and the instrumental band Memphis Cats, led by guitarist Reggie Young and bass guitar player Tommy Cogbill. The producers were the first to recognise that Springfield's natural soul voice should be placed at the forefront, rather than competing with full string arrangements. At first, Springfield felt anxious about being compared with the soul greats who had recorded in the same studios. Springfield later stated that she had never before worked with just a rhythm track, and that it was the first time she had worked with outside producers, as she had self-produced her previous recordings (although she never took credit for it). Due to what Wexler called a "gigantic inferiority complex" and Ms. Springfield's pursuit of perfection, her vocals were recorded later in New York. During the Memphis sessions in November 1968, Dusty suggested that the heads of Atlantic Records should sign the newly-formed band Led Zeppelin. She knew the band's bass player, John Paul Jones, who had backed her in concerts. Without having ever seen them and largely on Dusty's advice, the record company signed a $200,000 deal with them. That was the biggest contract of its kind for a new band up until that time.

"Son of a Preacher Man"
Play sound
Sample from "Son of a Preacher Man".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The album Dusty in Memphis received excellent reviews on its initial releases both in the U.S. and the U.K. Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone magazine wrote:"... most of the songs... have a great deal of depth while presenting extremely direct and simple statements about love.... Dusty sings around her material, creating music that's evocative rather than overwhelming... Dusty is not searching—she just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it." The sales numbers failed to match the critical success; the album did not crack the British Top 15 and peaked at #99 on the American Billboard Top 200 with sales of 100,000 copies. However, Dusty in Memphis earned Springfield a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970, and by 2001, the album had received the Grammy Hall of Fame award, and was listed among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and the Channel 4 viewers polls.

The main song on the album, "Son of a Preacher Man", was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. It reached #10 on the British, American and international music charts. Its best results in continental Europe were #10 on the Austrian charts and #3 on the Swiss charts. The song was the 96th most popular song of 1969 in the United States. The writers of Rolling Stone magazine placed Springfield's release at #77 among 'The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years' in 1987. The record was placed at #43 of the 'Greatest Singles of All Time' by the writers of New Musical Express in 2002. In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #240. In 1994 the song was featured in a scene of the film Pulp Fiction, and the soundtrack reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200, and at the time, went platinum (100,000 units) in Canada alone. "Son of a Preacher Man" helped the album sell over 2 million copies in the U.S., and it reached #6 on the charts
Dusty Springfield was one of the best-selling British singers of the 1960s. She was voted the Top British Female Artist by the readers of the New Musical Express in 1964–1967 and 1969. Of the female singers of the British Invasion, Springfield made one of the biggest impressions on the American market, scoring 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970. The music press considers her as an iconic figure of the Swinging Sixties. Quentin Tarantino caused a revival of interest in her music in 1994 by including "Son of a Preacher Man" in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which sold over three million copies. In that same year, in the documentary Dusty Springfield. Full Circle, guests of her 1965 Sound of Motown show credited Springfield's efforts with popularising American soul music in the UK. She was known all over Europe, and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. She released a number of singles in French, German and Italian.
Main article: Dusty Springfield discography

    * 1964: A Girl Called Dusty
    * 1965: Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty
    * 1967: Where Am I Going?
    * 1968: Dusty... Definitely
    * 1969: Dusty in Memphis
    * 1970: A Brand New Me
    * 1972: See All Her Faces
    * 1973: Cameo
    * 1974: Longing (Unreleased)
    * 1978: It Begins Again
    * 1979: Living Without Your Love
    * 1982: White Heat
    * 1990: Reputation
    * 1995: A Very Fine Love
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll317/llrar/Dusty.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w240/jjdaly81/ec369793.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 5:08 am


The person of the day...Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual sound, she was an important white soul singer, and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970. She is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.

Born in North London to an Irish Catholic family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. She joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, in 1958, then formed the pop-folk vocal trio The Springfields in 1960 with her brother Dion.

Her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit, "I Only Want To Be With You" (1963). Among the hits that followed were "Wishin' and Hopin'" (1964), "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (1964), "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966), and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1968). A fan of American pop music, she was the first public figure to bring little-known soul singers to a wider British audience, when she created and hosted the first British performances of the top-selling Motown artists in 1965. By 1966, she was the best selling female singer in the world, and topped a number of popularity polls, including Melody Maker's Best International Vocalist. She was the first British singer to top the New Musical Express readers' poll for Female Singer. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde beehive hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

The marked changes in pop music in the mid-1960s left many female pop singers out of fashion. To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee, to record an album of pop and soul music with the Atlantic Records main production team. Released in 1969, Dusty in Memphis has been ranked among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and the Channel 4 viewers polls. The album was also awarded a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

After this, however, Springfield's success dipped for eighteen years. She returned to the Top 20 of the British and American charts in collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys on the songs "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private". Interest in Springfield's early output was revived in 1994 due to the inclusion of "Son of a Preacher Man" on the soundtrack of the movie Pulp Fiction.
Dusty Springfield's first single, "I Only Want to Be with You", written and arranged by Ivor Raymonde, was released in November 1963. It was produced by Johnny Franz in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", and included rhythm and blues features such as horn sections, backing singers and double-tracked vocals, along with pop music strings, in the style of girl bands that Springfield admired, such as The Shirelles. The song rose to No.4 on the British charts, leading to its nomination as a "Sure Shot" pick of records not yet charted in the U.S. by New York disc jockey "Dandy" Dan Daniel of WMCA radio in December 1963, preceding Beatlemania. It remained on the American Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, peaking at No.12. The release finished as No.48 on New York's WABC radio Top 100 for 1964. The song was the first record played on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops programme on 1st January 1964. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc in the U.K.

Springfield's debut album A Girl Called Dusty included mostly covers of her favourite songs. Among the tracks were "Mama Said", "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes", "You Don't Own Me" and "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa". The album reached #6 in the U.K. in May 1964. The chart hits "Stay Awhile", "All Cried Out" and "Losing You" followed the same year. In 1964, Springfield recorded two Burt Bacharach songs: "Wishin' and Hopin'—an American Top 10 hit— and the emotional "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", which reached #3 on the British chart. The latter song set the standard for much of her later material.

Springfield's tour of South Africa was interrupted in December 1964, and she was deported, after she performed before an integrated audience at a theatre near Cape Town, which was against the South African government's segregation policy. In the same year, she was voted the Top Female British Artist of the year in the New Musical Express poll, topping Lulu, Sandie Shaw, and Cilla Black. Springfield received the award again the following three years.

In 1965, Springfield took part in the Italian Song Festival in San Remo, and failed to qualify for the final with two songs. During the competition, she heard the song "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)". Its English version, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", featured lyrics written by Springfield's friend, Vicki Wickham, and her future manager, Simon Napier-Bell. It reached No.1 in the UK in May 1966 and reached No.4 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it was also No.35 on the Billboard Top 100 for 1966. The song, which Springfield called "good old schmaltz", was voted among the All Time Top 100 Songs by the listeners of BBC Radio 2 in 1999.

In 1965, Springfield released three more British Top 40 hits: "Your Hurtin' Kinda Love", "In the Middle of Nowhere", and Carole King's "Some of Your Lovin'". These were not included on the album Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty, which featured songs by Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, Rod Argent and Randy Newman, and a cover of the traditional Mexican song, "La Bamba". This album peaked at #6 in the U.K.

Springfield was instrumental in introducing Motown to a wider British audience, both with her covers of Motown songs, and in facilitating the first British TV appearance for The Temptations, The Supremes, The Miracles, and Stevie Wonder on a special edition of the Ready Steady Go! show, called The Sound Of Motown. The show was broadcast on 28 April 1965 by Rediffusion TV, with Springfield opening each half of the show accompanied by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Motown's in-house band The Funk Brothers.

Springfield released three additional U.K. Top 20 hits in 1966: "Little By Little" and two dramatic ballads by Carole King: "Goin' Back" and "All I See Is You", which also reached the US Top 20. In August and September 1966, she hosted Dusty, a series of six BBC TV music and talk shows. A compilation of her singles, Golden Hits, released in November 1966, reached #2 in the U.K.
Late 1960s (1967–69)

"The Look of Love"
Play sound
Sample from "The Look of Love".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Bacharach-David composition "The Look of Love" was designed as the centrepiece for the James Bond parody Casino Royale. For one of the slowest-tempo hits of the sixties, Bacharach created a sultry feel by the use of minor-seventh and major-seventh chord changes, while Hal David's lyrics epitomised longing and lust. This song was recorded in two versions at the Philips Studios of London. The soundtrack version was recorded on 29 January and the single release version was done in April. "The Look of Love" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song of 1967. The song was a Top 10 radio hit on KGB-AM, San Diego, CA and KHJ-AM, Los Angeles radio stations in the western United States, and earned her highest place in the year's music charts at #22.

The second season of the BBC's Dusty TV shows, featuring performances of "Get Ready" and the U.K. #13 hit "I'll Try Anything", attracted a healthy audience but the show did not keep up with changes in the pop music market. The comparatively progressive album Where Am I Going? attempted to redress this by containing songs such as a "jazzy", orchestrated version of "Sunny" and Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away". Though it was appreciated critically, it did not sell well. In 1968, a similar fate befell Dusty... Definitely. On this album, her choice of material ranged from the rolling "Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone" to the aching emotion of "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today". In that same year, Springfield had a British #4 hit, "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", written by Clive Westlake. Its flipside, "No Stranger am I", was written by Norma Tanega.

In 1969 Springfield was at her commercial and creative height; she was performing for £1,000 a night on sold-out tours, had her own TV shows, It Must Be Dusty on ITV, and Decidedly Dusty on BBC, and released the album Dusty in Memphis and the single "Son of a Preacher Man".
Dusty in Memphis (1968–1969)
Main article: Dusty in Memphis
Cover of U.S. release of Dusty in Memphis

In 1968, Carole King, one of Springfield's songwriters, embarked on a singing career of her own, while the chart-peaking Bacharach-David partnership was foundering. Springfield's status in the music industry was further complicated by the progressive music revolution and the uncomfortable split between what was underground and "fashionable" and what was pop and "unfashionable". In addition, her performing career was becoming limited to the British touring circuit, which at that time largely consisted of working men's clubs and the hotels and cabarets circuit. Hoping to reinvigorate her career and boost her credibility, Springfield signed with Atlantic Records, the record label of one of her idols, Aretha Franklin. The Memphis sessions at the American Sound Studio were recorded by the A-team of Atlantic Records: producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin; the back-up vocal band Sweet Inspirations; and the instrumental band Memphis Cats, led by guitarist Reggie Young and bass guitar player Tommy Cogbill. The producers were the first to recognise that Springfield's natural soul voice should be placed at the forefront, rather than competing with full string arrangements. At first, Springfield felt anxious about being compared with the soul greats who had recorded in the same studios. Springfield later stated that she had never before worked with just a rhythm track, and that it was the first time she had worked with outside producers, as she had self-produced her previous recordings (although she never took credit for it). Due to what Wexler called a "gigantic inferiority complex" and Ms. Springfield's pursuit of perfection, her vocals were recorded later in New York. During the Memphis sessions in November 1968, Dusty suggested that the heads of Atlantic Records should sign the newly-formed band Led Zeppelin. She knew the band's bass player, John Paul Jones, who had backed her in concerts. Without having ever seen them and largely on Dusty's advice, the record company signed a $200,000 deal with them. That was the biggest contract of its kind for a new band up until that time.

"Son of a Preacher Man"
Play sound
Sample from "Son of a Preacher Man".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The album Dusty in Memphis received excellent reviews on its initial releases both in the U.S. and the U.K. Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone magazine wrote:"... most of the songs... have a great deal of depth while presenting extremely direct and simple statements about love.... Dusty sings around her material, creating music that's evocative rather than overwhelming... Dusty is not searching—she just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it." The sales numbers failed to match the critical success; the album did not crack the British Top 15 and peaked at #99 on the American Billboard Top 200 with sales of 100,000 copies. However, Dusty in Memphis earned Springfield a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970, and by 2001, the album had received the Grammy Hall of Fame award, and was listed among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and the Channel 4 viewers polls.

The main song on the album, "Son of a Preacher Man", was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. It reached #10 on the British, American and international music charts. Its best results in continental Europe were #10 on the Austrian charts and #3 on the Swiss charts. The song was the 96th most popular song of 1969 in the United States. The writers of Rolling Stone magazine placed Springfield's release at #77 among 'The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years' in 1987. The record was placed at #43 of the 'Greatest Singles of All Time' by the writers of New Musical Express in 2002. In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #240. In 1994 the song was featured in a scene of the film Pulp Fiction, and the soundtrack reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200, and at the time, went platinum (100,000 units) in Canada alone. "Son of a Preacher Man" helped the album sell over 2 million copies in the U.S., and it reached #6 on the charts
Dusty Springfield was one of the best-selling British singers of the 1960s. She was voted the Top British Female Artist by the readers of the New Musical Express in 1964–1967 and 1969. Of the female singers of the British Invasion, Springfield made one of the biggest impressions on the American market, scoring 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970. The music press considers her as an iconic figure of the Swinging Sixties. Quentin Tarantino caused a revival of interest in her music in 1994 by including "Son of a Preacher Man" in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which sold over three million copies. In that same year, in the documentary Dusty Springfield. Full Circle, guests of her 1965 Sound of Motown show credited Springfield's efforts with popularising American soul music in the UK. She was known all over Europe, and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. She released a number of singles in French, German and Italian.
Main article: Dusty Springfield discography

    * 1964: A Girl Called Dusty
    * 1965: Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty
    * 1967: Where Am I Going?
    * 1968: Dusty... Definitely
    * 1969: Dusty in Memphis
    * 1970: A Brand New Me
    * 1972: See All Her Faces
    * 1973: Cameo
    * 1974: Longing (Unreleased)
    * 1978: It Begins Again
    * 1979: Living Without Your Love
    * 1982: White Heat
    * 1990: Reputation
    * 1995: A Very Fine Love
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll317/llrar/Dusty.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w240/jjdaly81/ec369793.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 5:11 am


The person of the day...Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual sound, she was an important white soul singer, and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970. She is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.

Born in North London to an Irish Catholic family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. She joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, in 1958, then formed the pop-folk vocal trio The Springfields in 1960 with her brother Dion.

Her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit, "I Only Want To Be With You" (1963). Among the hits that followed were "Wishin' and Hopin'" (1964), "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (1964), "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966), and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1968). A fan of American pop music, she was the first public figure to bring little-known soul singers to a wider British audience, when she created and hosted the first British performances of the top-selling Motown artists in 1965. By 1966, she was the best selling female singer in the world, and topped a number of popularity polls, including Melody Maker's Best International Vocalist. She was the first British singer to top the New Musical Express readers' poll for Female Singer. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde beehive hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

The marked changes in pop music in the mid-1960s left many female pop singers out of fashion. To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee, to record an album of pop and soul music with the Atlantic Records main production team. Released in 1969, Dusty in Memphis has been ranked among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and the Channel 4 viewers polls. The album was also awarded a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

After this, however, Springfield's success dipped for eighteen years. She returned to the Top 20 of the British and American charts in collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys on the songs "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private". Interest in Springfield's early output was revived in 1994 due to the inclusion of "Son of a Preacher Man" on the soundtrack of the movie Pulp Fiction.
Dusty Springfield's first single, "I Only Want to Be with You", written and arranged by Ivor Raymonde, was released in November 1963. It was produced by Johnny Franz in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", and included rhythm and blues features such as horn sections, backing singers and double-tracked vocals, along with pop music strings, in the style of girl bands that Springfield admired, such as The Shirelles. The song rose to No.4 on the British charts, leading to its nomination as a "Sure Shot" pick of records not yet charted in the U.S. by New York disc jockey "Dandy" Dan Daniel of WMCA radio in December 1963, preceding Beatlemania. It remained on the American Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, peaking at No.12. The release finished as No.48 on New York's WABC radio Top 100 for 1964. The song was the first record played on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops programme on 1st January 1964. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc in the U.K.

Springfield's debut album A Girl Called Dusty included mostly covers of her favourite songs. Among the tracks were "Mama Said", "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes", "You Don't Own Me" and "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa". The album reached #6 in the U.K. in May 1964. The chart hits "Stay Awhile", "All Cried Out" and "Losing You" followed the same year. In 1964, Springfield recorded two Burt Bacharach songs: "Wishin' and Hopin'—an American Top 10 hit— and the emotional "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", which reached #3 on the British chart. The latter song set the standard for much of her later material.

Springfield's tour of South Africa was interrupted in December 1964, and she was deported, after she performed before an integrated audience at a theatre near Cape Town, which was against the South African government's segregation policy. In the same year, she was voted the Top Female British Artist of the year in the New Musical Express poll, topping Lulu, Sandie Shaw, and Cilla Black. Springfield received the award again the following three years.

In 1965, Springfield took part in the Italian Song Festival in San Remo, and failed to qualify for the final with two songs. During the competition, she heard the song "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)". Its English version, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", featured lyrics written by Springfield's friend, Vicki Wickham, and her future manager, Simon Napier-Bell. It reached No.1 in the UK in May 1966 and reached No.4 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, where it was also No.35 on the Billboard Top 100 for 1966. The song, which Springfield called "good old schmaltz", was voted among the All Time Top 100 Songs by the listeners of BBC Radio 2 in 1999.

In 1965, Springfield released three more British Top 40 hits: "Your Hurtin' Kinda Love", "In the Middle of Nowhere", and Carole King's "Some of Your Lovin'". These were not included on the album Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty, which featured songs by Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, Rod Argent and Randy Newman, and a cover of the traditional Mexican song, "La Bamba". This album peaked at #6 in the U.K.

Springfield was instrumental in introducing Motown to a wider British audience, both with her covers of Motown songs, and in facilitating the first British TV appearance for The Temptations, The Supremes, The Miracles, and Stevie Wonder on a special edition of the Ready Steady Go! show, called The Sound Of Motown. The show was broadcast on 28 April 1965 by Rediffusion TV, with Springfield opening each half of the show accompanied by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Motown's in-house band The Funk Brothers.

Springfield released three additional U.K. Top 20 hits in 1966: "Little By Little" and two dramatic ballads by Carole King: "Goin' Back" and "All I See Is You", which also reached the US Top 20. In August and September 1966, she hosted Dusty, a series of six BBC TV music and talk shows. A compilation of her singles, Golden Hits, released in November 1966, reached #2 in the U.K.
Late 1960s (1967–69)

"The Look of Love"
Play sound
Sample from "The Look of Love".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Bacharach-David composition "The Look of Love" was designed as the centrepiece for the James Bond parody Casino Royale. For one of the slowest-tempo hits of the sixties, Bacharach created a sultry feel by the use of minor-seventh and major-seventh chord changes, while Hal David's lyrics epitomised longing and lust. This song was recorded in two versions at the Philips Studios of London. The soundtrack version was recorded on 29 January and the single release version was done in April. "The Look of Love" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song of 1967. The song was a Top 10 radio hit on KGB-AM, San Diego, CA and KHJ-AM, Los Angeles radio stations in the western United States, and earned her highest place in the year's music charts at #22.

The second season of the BBC's Dusty TV shows, featuring performances of "Get Ready" and the U.K. #13 hit "I'll Try Anything", attracted a healthy audience but the show did not keep up with changes in the pop music market. The comparatively progressive album Where Am I Going? attempted to redress this by containing songs such as a "jazzy", orchestrated version of "Sunny" and Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away". Though it was appreciated critically, it did not sell well. In 1968, a similar fate befell Dusty... Definitely. On this album, her choice of material ranged from the rolling "Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone" to the aching emotion of "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today". In that same year, Springfield had a British #4 hit, "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten", written by Clive Westlake. Its flipside, "No Stranger am I", was written by Norma Tanega.

In 1969 Springfield was at her commercial and creative height; she was performing for £1,000 a night on sold-out tours, had her own TV shows, It Must Be Dusty on ITV, and Decidedly Dusty on BBC, and released the album Dusty in Memphis and the single "Son of a Preacher Man".
Dusty in Memphis (1968–1969)
Main article: Dusty in Memphis
Cover of U.S. release of Dusty in Memphis

In 1968, Carole King, one of Springfield's songwriters, embarked on a singing career of her own, while the chart-peaking Bacharach-David partnership was foundering. Springfield's status in the music industry was further complicated by the progressive music revolution and the uncomfortable split between what was underground and "fashionable" and what was pop and "unfashionable". In addition, her performing career was becoming limited to the British touring circuit, which at that time largely consisted of working men's clubs and the hotels and cabarets circuit. Hoping to reinvigorate her career and boost her credibility, Springfield signed with Atlantic Records, the record label of one of her idols, Aretha Franklin. The Memphis sessions at the American Sound Studio were recorded by the A-team of Atlantic Records: producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin; the back-up vocal band Sweet Inspirations; and the instrumental band Memphis Cats, led by guitarist Reggie Young and bass guitar player Tommy Cogbill. The producers were the first to recognise that Springfield's natural soul voice should be placed at the forefront, rather than competing with full string arrangements. At first, Springfield felt anxious about being compared with the soul greats who had recorded in the same studios. Springfield later stated that she had never before worked with just a rhythm track, and that it was the first time she had worked with outside producers, as she had self-produced her previous recordings (although she never took credit for it). Due to what Wexler called a "gigantic inferiority complex" and Ms. Springfield's pursuit of perfection, her vocals were recorded later in New York. During the Memphis sessions in November 1968, Dusty suggested that the heads of Atlantic Records should sign the newly-formed band Led Zeppelin. She knew the band's bass player, John Paul Jones, who had backed her in concerts. Without having ever seen them and largely on Dusty's advice, the record company signed a $200,000 deal with them. That was the biggest contract of its kind for a new band up until that time.

"Son of a Preacher Man"
Play sound
Sample from "Son of a Preacher Man".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The album Dusty in Memphis received excellent reviews on its initial releases both in the U.S. and the U.K. Greil Marcus of Rolling Stone magazine wrote:"... most of the songs... have a great deal of depth while presenting extremely direct and simple statements about love.... Dusty sings around her material, creating music that's evocative rather than overwhelming... Dusty is not searching—she just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it." The sales numbers failed to match the critical success; the album did not crack the British Top 15 and peaked at #99 on the American Billboard Top 200 with sales of 100,000 copies. However, Dusty in Memphis earned Springfield a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970, and by 2001, the album had received the Grammy Hall of Fame award, and was listed among the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and the Channel 4 viewers polls.

The main song on the album, "Son of a Preacher Man", was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. It reached #10 on the British, American and international music charts. Its best results in continental Europe were #10 on the Austrian charts and #3 on the Swiss charts. The song was the 96th most popular song of 1969 in the United States. The writers of Rolling Stone magazine placed Springfield's release at #77 among 'The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years' in 1987. The record was placed at #43 of the 'Greatest Singles of All Time' by the writers of New Musical Express in 2002. In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #240. In 1994 the song was featured in a scene of the film Pulp Fiction, and the soundtrack reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200, and at the time, went platinum (100,000 units) in Canada alone. "Son of a Preacher Man" helped the album sell over 2 million copies in the U.S., and it reached #6 on the charts
Dusty Springfield was one of the best-selling British singers of the 1960s. She was voted the Top British Female Artist by the readers of the New Musical Express in 1964–1967 and 1969. Of the female singers of the British Invasion, Springfield made one of the biggest impressions on the American market, scoring 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 from 1964 to 1970. The music press considers her as an iconic figure of the Swinging Sixties. Quentin Tarantino caused a revival of interest in her music in 1994 by including "Son of a Preacher Man" in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which sold over three million copies. In that same year, in the documentary Dusty Springfield. Full Circle, guests of her 1965 Sound of Motown show credited Springfield's efforts with popularising American soul music in the UK. She was known all over Europe, and performed at the Sanremo Music Festival. She released a number of singles in French, German and Italian.
Main article: Dusty Springfield discography

    * 1964: A Girl Called Dusty
    * 1965: Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty
    * 1967: Where Am I Going?
    * 1968: Dusty... Definitely
    * 1969: Dusty in Memphis
    * 1970: A Brand New Me
    * 1972: See All Her Faces
    * 1973: Cameo
    * 1974: Longing (Unreleased)
    * 1978: It Begins Again
    * 1979: Living Without Your Love
    * 1982: White Heat
    * 1990: Reputation
    * 1995: A Very Fine Love
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll317/llrar/Dusty.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w240/jjdaly81/ec369793.jpg
http://www.musicpilgrimages.com/imgs/articles/aubrey-walk-01.jpg

The blue plaque dedicated to Dusty Springfield on a house in Kensington, London where she lived from 1968 to 1972.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 5:12 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfBn5IJgP0o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/11 at 6:59 am

I only remember her for her one hit.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 7:00 am


I only remember her for her one hit.
Which hit would that be, for she has had many worldwide.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/11 at 7:02 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfBn5IJgP0o


This song has a Motown flavor to it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/11 at 7:03 am


Which hit would that be, for she has had many worldwide.


"You don't have to say you love me".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 7:10 am


"You don't have to say you love me".
A true classic song

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/11 at 7:11 am


A true classic song


a beautiful song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 7:11 am


"You don't have to say you love me".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR4vE9xL3yk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 7:12 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR4vE9xL3yk
Elvis Presley recorded this song too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/16/11 at 7:17 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR4vE9xL3yk


a wedding song. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/11 at 3:29 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR4vE9xL3yk

Great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/16/11 at 4:06 pm


Great song :)
Great singer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/16/11 at 6:08 pm


Great singer.

So true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/17/11 at 12:20 am


So true.
Greatly missed

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/17/11 at 5:48 am


Greatly missed

That is so true also.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/17/11 at 5:51 am

The person of the day...Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for starring roles in the films Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, GoldenEye, Patriot Games, Troy, National Treasure and Silent Hill, as well as the television series Sharpe. Bean has also acted in a number of television productions as well as performing voice work for computer games and television adverts.
He graduated from RADA in 1983 having won the Silver Medal for his performance in Waiting for Godot. He made his professional acting début in 1983 at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Berkshire as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. His early work involved a mixture of stage and screen work. As an actor, he adopted the Irish spelling "Sean" of his first name. His first national exposure came in an advert for non-alcoholic lager. Between 1986 and 1988 he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company appearing in productions of Romeo and Juliet, The Fair Maid of the West, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He appeared in his first film in 1986 when he played Ranuccio Thomasoni in Derek Jarman's film Caravaggio. He then reunited with the director on War Requiem in 1988, which also starred Sir Laurence Olivier.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he became an established actor on British television. He had notable performances in the BBC productions Clarissa and Lady Chatterley. His role in the latter became infamous for his sex scenes with Joely Richardson. In 1990, Bean co-starred with Richard Harris in Jim Sheridan's adaption of the John B. Keane play, The Field; also in 1990, his role as the journalist Anton in Windprints examined the difficult problems of apartheid in South Africa.

In 1996 he appeared in what became a famous Sky Sports commercial for the Premier League and, that year, he combined his love of football with his career, to finally achieve his childhood dream of playing for Sheffield United, albeit as Jimmy Muir in the film When Saturday Comes. Although the film was not critically acclaimed, Sean Bean received credit for a good performance.
Sharpe
Main article: Sharpe

His critical successes in Caravaggio and Lady Chatterley contributed to his emerging image as a sex symbol, but he became most closely associated with the character of Richard Sharpe, the maverick Napoleonic Wars rifleman. Bean was not the first actor to be chosen to play Sharpe, but Paul McGann, the first choice, was injured while playing football two days into filming. Initially, producers tried to work around McGann's injury, but it proved impossible and Bean received the call. The 16-episode Sharpe television series was based loosely on Bernard Cornwell's novels about the Peninsular War, and the fictional experiences of a band of soldiers in the famed 95th Rifles. Starting with Sharpe's Rifles, the series followed the fortunes and misfortunes of Richard Sharpe as he rose from the ranks as a Sergeant to Lieutenant Colonel by the time of the Battle of Waterloo. It ran from 1993 to 1997, with three episodes produced each year. The series was filmed under challenging conditions, first in the Ukraine, and later in Portugal. After several years of rumours, more episodes were produced, called Sharpe's Challenge, which aired in April 2006, and Sharpe's Peril which aired on ITV in the autumn of 2008 and was later released on DVD.
Hollywood villain

With a mini-series role as enigmatic Lord Richard Fenton in the TV miniseries Scarlett, loosely based on the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Bean made the transition to Hollywood feature films. His first notable Hollywood appearance was that of an Irish republican terrorist in the 1992 film adaptation of Patriot Games; in a fight scene, Harrison Ford clocked him with a boat hook, giving him a permanent scar. Bean's rough-cut looks made him a patent choice for a villain, and this role in Patriot Games was the first of several villains that he would portray, all of whom come to a sticky end. He became Alec Trevelyan (MI6's 006) and James Bond's nemesis in the 1995 film GoldenEye; the weak-stomached Spence (with Robert de Niro) in Ronin (1998); a wife-beating ex-con in Essex Boys (2000); the malevolent kidnapper-jewel thief in Don't Say a Word (2001). He was also widely recognized as villainous treasure hunter Ian Howe in the popular National Treasure opposite Nicolas Cage. He also played a villainous scientist in The Island (2005) and a dedicated father in Silent Hill. In the independent film, Far North, he played a Russian mercenary, lost in the tundra and rescued by an Inuit woman and her daughter; he ends up pitting his two female rescuers against one another. "I think I’m quite good at differentiating between the psychopaths,” he commented to an interviewer.
The Lord of the Rings
Main article: The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

In arguably Bean's most widely-seen role, as Boromir in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, his major screen-time occurs in the first installment, The Fellowship of the Ring. He appeared briefly in flashbacks in the theater releases of The Two Towers and The Return of the King; he also appears in a scene from the extended edition of The Two Towers. Before casting finished, rumors circulated that Jackson had considered Bean for the role of Aragorn, but neither Bean nor Jackson confirmed this in subsequent interviews. Bean's well-known fear of flying caused him difficulties in mountainous New Zealand, where the trilogy was filmed. After a particularly rough ride, he vowed not to fly to a location again. In one instance, he chose to take a ski lift into the mountains and then hike the final few miles, in full costume complete with shield, armour and sword.

Bean has a tattoo of the English word "nine" written in Tengwar on his shoulder, a reference to his involvement in the Lord of the Rings and the fact that his character was one of the original nine companions of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship"—Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, and Viggo Mortensen—acquired the same tattoo. John Rhys-Davies, whose character was Gimli, also one of the original nine companions, arranged for his stunt double to get the tattoo.
Recent career

Later roles gave more scope for his acting abilities. In 1999's Extremely Dangerous, his character walked a fine line between villain and hero, reminiscent of the 1960s American TV series, The Fugitive. He became a repentant, poetry-reading Grammaton cleric who succumbs to his emotions in 2002's Equilibrium; a quirky alien cowboy in 2003's The Big Empty, and a sympathetic and cunning Odysseus in the 2004 film Troy.

He cameoed with other Hollywood stars in Moby's music video "We Are All Made of Stars" in February 2002. In the same year, he returned to the stage in London performing in Macbeth alongside Samantha Bond. Due to popular demand, the production ran until March 2003.

Bean's high profile and recognisable voice have created opportunities for voice-over work, especially in the British advertising industry. He has featured in television adverts for O2, Morrisons and Barnardos as well as for Acuvue and the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States. He also does the voice over for the National Blood Service's television and radio campaign. For the role playing video game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, he voiced Martin Septim.

Bean has completed a one hour pilot, Faceless, for US television. He has also appeared in Outlaw, an independent British production, and a remake of 1986 horror film, The Hitcher (released in January 2007); here he used an American accent again. He also starred in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, playing the role of Zeus, the king of Mount Olympus and God of lightning, in February 2010. Also that year, Bean starred in CASH (CA$H), playing the lead role of Pyke Kubic, a dangerous man determined to recover his wealth in a bad economy. CASH (CA$H), which co-starred Chris Hemsworth, explored the role money plays in today's hard economic times. Bean will also play the villain's twin brother, Reese. The film was directed and written by Stephen Milburn Anderson (South Central).

Bean will star in the first season of Game of Thrones, HBO's upcoming adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin. He will play the part of Lord Eddard Stark. Bean will star in Soldiers of Fortune, alongside Ving Rhames and Christian Slater.

Bean has just completed filming Cleanskin, in which he plays a secret service agent faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a suicide bomber and his terrorist cell. The film stars Charlotte Rampling, James Fox, Abhin Galeya, Tuppence Middleton and Michelle Ryan. The film was written, produced and directed by Hadi Hajaig.

Bean will reprise his role as Christopher Da Silva in the Silent Hill film sequel Silent Hill: Revelation 3D.

Despite Bean's obvious commercial success, he has demonstrated a willingness to participate in less high profile projects such as the independent film Far North.
Possible roles

Two films in production will reportedly star Bean. Come Like Shadows is an adaptation of Macbeth. He had starred in a production of Macbeth on the London stage with Samantha Bond as Lady Macbeth with much critical success. As of 2008, this film as well as A Woman of No Importance are listed as being in pre-production according to the Internet Movie Data Base. The actor also has said that he would like to appear in Coronation Street (joking that he could be the milkman). Bean has also stated that he would like to do some wildlife presenting sometime in the future. In February 2010, Bean was cast in the planned production of Death Race: Frankenstein Lives.

Bean is rumored to have been cast in the upcoming romcom 'Let Them Eat Jake' starring Jesse Eisenberg and Eugene Levy. The film centers around a man who goes to dinner to meet his girlfriend's family, only to discover that they are cannibals and plan on eating him. Levy said of the film "It's the best script I've read since New York Minute, and I can't wait to get started". Bruce Willis and Mila Kunis are also said to be considering joining the film.
Image

Often described as down to earth, Sean Bean has retained his Sheffield accent, despite now living in London. Partly due to his role as Sharpe, he is also described as a sex symbol. He was voted the UK's second sexiest man in 2004; his Trilogy co-star Orlando Bloom received the highest votes. He admits he does not mind being considered as a "bit of rough" by women. Bean's first love was football and he has been a passionate Sheffield United supporter from a young age; he has a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads 100% Blade. He was until December 2007 one of the directors of the club, but decided to "go back to the terraces, where (he) truly belong(s)". He had some problems with Neil Warnock, former manager of Sheffield United, after Warnock claimed that Bean stormed into his office and shouted at him in front of his wife and daughter after the 2006–07 season. Bean denies it, calling Warnock "bitter" and "hypocritical". He also wrote the foreword and helped to promote a book of anecdotes called Sheffield United: The Biography. He also follows Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

In addition to his image as a sex symbol and an admitted "bit of rough", Bean has developed a reputation as a loner, a label he considers unfair. He has described himself instead as quiet, and interviewers confirm that he is a "man of few words"; a recent interviewer even called him surprisingly shy. Although he admits he can be a workaholic, in his spare time he relaxes with a book or listens to music, and he is himself a talented pianist. He is also a keen gardener, and does both welding and sketching.

Sean is closely affiliated with the Broomhill Friery in Sheffield, where his nephew Dan Bean works.
Acting style

Despite being professionally trained, Sean Bean adopts an instinctive style of acting. He has said in interviews that the most difficult part is at the start of filming when trying to understand the character. After achieving this he can snap in and out of character instantly. This ability to go from the quiet man on set to the warrior Boromir "amazed" Sean Astin during filming of The Fellowship of the Ring. Other fans include the directors Mike Figgis (Stormy Monday) and Wolfgang Petersen (Troy), who described working with Bean as a "beautiful thing".
Personal life

Bean has been married and divorced four times. He married his high-school sweetheart Debra James on 11 April 1981. The marriage ended in divorce in 1990. He met actress Melanie Hill at RADA, and they married on 27 February 1990. The couple's first daughter, Lorna, was born in October 1987; their second, Molly, was born in September 1991. Bean and Hill's marriage ended in divorce in August 1997.

During the filming of Sharpe, Bean met actress Abigail Cruttenden, and they married on 22 November 1997. Their daughter, Evie Natasha, was born in November 1998. Bean and Cruttenden divorced in July 2000. Bean began dating actress Georgina Sutcliffe in 2006. After canceling a planned January 2008 wedding on the eve of the ceremony due to "personal reasons", Bean married Sutcliffe at the Marylebone Register Office in London on 19 February 2008. Amid allegations that Bean physically abused Sutcliffe in 2009, domestic disturbances resulted in the police being called to their home in Belsize Park on three occasions. Bean and Sutcliffe's separation was announced on 6 August 2010, and the divorce was finalized on 21 December 2010.
Awards and honours

Sean Bean is yet to receive a major individual award in the film industry. However he did receive three separate awards as part of the ensemble cast in Return of the King: from the Screen Actors Guild, the National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics Association all in 2004.

In his home city of Sheffield, he received an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in 1997 and a second doctorate, a Doctor of Letters in English Literature from the University of Sheffield in July 2007. Afterward, Bean commented, "I did get a doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University about 11 or 12 years ago so now I'm a double doctor. But this was wonderful, especially from my home city." He was also selected as one of the inaugural members of Sheffield Legends, the Sheffield equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He now has a plaque in his honour placed in front of Sheffield Town Hall.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1986 Caravaggio Ranuccio
1988 Stormy Monday Brendan
The True Bride, Jim Henson's The Storyteller Prince
1989 How to Get Ahead in Advertising Larry Frisk
War Requiem German Soldier
1990 Windprints Anton
The Field Tadgh McCabe
Lorna Doone Carver Doone TV programme
Wedded Man TV programme
1991 Prince Jack Morgan TV programme
Clarissa Robert Lovelace TV programme
Tell Me that You Love Me Gabriel Lewis TV programme
In The Border Country Smith
My Kingdom for a Horse Steve TV programme
1992 Inspector Morse: Absolute Conviction Alex Bailey TV programme
Patriot Games Sean Miller
Fool's Gold: The Story Of The Brink's Mat Robbery Micky McAvoy
1993 Sharpe's Rifles Sergeant/Lieutenant Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Eagle Captain Richard Sharpe TV programme
Lady Chatterley Oliver Mellors
1994 Sharpe's Company Captain Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Enemy Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Honour Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Black Beauty Farmer Grey
Shopping Venning
1995 Sharpe's Gold Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Battle Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Sword Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
GoldenEye Alec Trevelyan First role alongside Pierce Brosnan
1996 When Saturday Comes Jimmy Muir
Sharpe's Regiment Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Siege Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Mission Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
1997 Anna Karenina Vronsky
Sharpe's Revenge Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Justice Major Richard Sharpe TV programme
Sharpe's Waterloo Lieutenant Colonel Richard Sharpe TV programme
1998 Ronin Spence
Airborne Dave Toombs
The Canterbury Tales The Nun's Priest TV programme
1999 Extremely Dangerous Neil Byrne
Bravo Two Zero Andy McNab
2000 Essex Boys Jason Locke
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Boromir
Don't Say a Word Patrick Koster
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Boromir
Equilibrium Errol Partridge
Tom and Thomas Paul Shepherd
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Boromir Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
The Big Empty Cowboy
Henry VIII Robert Aske
2004 Pride Dark (voice)
National Treasure Ian Howe
Troy Odysseus
2005 North Country Kyle
Flightplan Captain Marcus Rich
The Island Dr. Merrick
2006 The Dark James
Silent Hill Chris DeSilva
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (video game) Martin Septim voice/video game
Sharpe's Challenge Lt Col (ret'd) Richard Sharpe TV programme
2007 The Hitcher John Ryder
Outlaw Danny Bryant
Far North Loki
2008 Sharpe's Peril Lt Col (ret'd) Richard Sharpe TV programme
Crusoe James Crusoe TV programme
2009 Red Riding John Dawson TV programme
2010 Black Death Ulric
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Zeus Second role alongside Pierce Brosnan
Ca$h (Cash) Pyke Kubic
Reese Kubic
The Lost Future Amal
2011 Death Race 2 Markus Kane
Game of Thrones Eddard Stark TV programme; pre-production
Age of Heroes Jones post-production
Cleanskin Ewan Post-production
http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l370/shadowwolf16/sean_bean.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff308/sprietje1963/sean_bean_95.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/17/11 at 11:24 am

Can you say, "YUM!"


I really like the Sharpe series. We have all but the last one (Sharpe's Challenge) on DVD.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/18/11 at 5:34 am

The person of the day..Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. He is currently the host of Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He landed his first comedy job as a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News, after first serving as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for several comedy shows, and later moved to New York City to work on the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later for The Simpsons. O'Brien went on to serve as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, before going on to host the short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien for seven months. He is the only personality to ever serve as host for both the NBC Late Night and Tonight Show franchises.

On April 12, 2010, it was announced that O'Brien would begin hosting a new late-night talk show on cable TV network TBS. Conan premiered on November 8, 2010.
O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's Not Necessarily the News. He was also a writer on the short-lived The Wilton North Report. He spent two years with that show and performed regularly with improvisational groups, including The Groundlings. In January 1988, Saturday Night Live's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, hired O'Brien as a writer. During his three years on Saturday Night Live (SNL), he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr. Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers"; the latter was first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch, "Nude Beach", with Robert Smigel, in which the word "penis" was said or sung at least 42 times. While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987-88 season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called Happy Happy Good Show. While living in Chicago, O'Brien briefly roomed with Jeff Garlin. In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow SNL writers received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.

O'Brien, like many SNL writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches; his most notable appearance was as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode. O'Brien returned to host the show in 2001 during its 26th season. O'Brien and Robert Smigel wrote the television pilot for Lookwell starring Adam West, which aired on NBC in 1991. The pilot never went to series, but it became a cult hit. It was later screened at The Other Network, a festival of unaired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret; it featured an extended interview with O'Brien and was rerun in 2002 on the Trio network.
The Simpsons (1991–1993)

From 1991 to 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons and was credited as writer or co-writer of four episodes. Of all the episodes he wrote, he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite. Along with this episode, he has sole writing credits on "New Kid on the Block," "Homer Goes to College," and "Treehouse of Horror IV," on which he wrote the episode wraparounds. He was an active producer during seasons 4 and 5 as well, meaning he would frequently contribute to scripts from those seasons as well as come up with story ideas, plot points, and jokes. The style of the show's comedy during this period was also influenced by his sensibilities, with "Marge vs. the Monorail" being cited by several former writers as the turning point in the show's history where more absurd and visual comedy became acceptable. He also developed a reputation as a "room guy," or a writer who performs comedy bits throughout the day to entertain other writers.

In his speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000, O'Brien credited The Simpsons with saving him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his being hired for the show. As of 2004, O'Brien's office at The Simpsons was being used as storage.

During his time at The Simpsons, O'Brien also had a side project working with former writing partner Robert Smigel on the script for a musical film based on the "Hans and Franz" sketch from Saturday Night Live. The film was never produced.
Late Night (1993–2009)
Main article: Late Night with Conan O'Brien

As executive producer, Lorne Michaels invited O'Brien to audition to host the successor show to Late Night with David Letterman. Premiering on September 13, 1993, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally unfavorable critical reviews during its first few years. The show remained on multiweek renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. O'Brien later poked fun at the first three years of the show, when on his 10th Anniversary Special Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it. When O'Brien tried to point out that he had actually been on the air for ten years, Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool; but you've only been funny for seven!"

Beginning in 1996, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team were nominated annually for the Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, winning the award for the first and only time in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, he and the Late Night writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series. In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which subsequently shared in the production credits for Late Night.

A long-running joke, which stems from the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", is that O'Brien resembles the first female president of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien traveled to Finland, appearing on several television shows and meeting President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.

O'Brien ad-libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4, 2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate webcam site. NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that the Federal Communications Commission would hold NBC liable for promoting inappropriate content if a third party were to register the domain and post such material. For a period of time, the website hosted material concerning Conan's initial manatee joke and other Tonight Show references, but today the site just redirects to NBC's main web page.

A popular recurring bit on the show was "Pale Force", a series of animated episodes in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their "paleness". As Gaffigan introduced each new episode, O'Brien protested the portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak, and impotent. As of October 2005, Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers. O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. When Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band appeared on the show as musical guests, O'Brien joined the 17-piece band, along with the Max Weinberg 7 and guests Jimmy Fallon and Thomas Haden Church, playing acoustic guitar and contributing backup vocals for the song "Pay Me My Money Down". On the June 13, 2008, episode of Late Night, O'Brien simply walked onto the stage at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent Late Night guest, Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert Late Night moments. On February 20, 2009, NBC aired the last episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The show consisted of a compilation of previous Late Night clips and included a surprise appearance by former sidekick, Andy Richter. Will Ferrell, John Mayer, and the White Stripes also appeared. O'Brien ended the episode by destroying the set with an axe, handing out the pieces of the set to the audience, and thanking a list of people who helped him get to that point in his career. Among those thanked were Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and O'Brien's wife and children.
The Colbert / O'Brien / Stewart mock feud
Main article: Who Made Huckabee?

During the writers' strike in 2008, O'Brien staged a mock feud with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report) over a dispute about which of the three were responsible for giving a "bump" to Mike Huckabee's campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee. This feud crossed over all three shows during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.
The Tonight Show (2009–2010)
Main article: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

In 2004, O'Brien negotiated a new contract with NBC. As part of the deal, O'Brien would take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009. O'Brien was a guest on Jay Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show. On June 1, 2009, Will Ferrell became Conan's first Tonight Show guest on the couch and Pearl Jam appeared as his first musical guest.

During the taping of the Friday, September 25, 2009, episode of The Tonight Show, O'Brien suffered from a mild concussion after he slipped and hit his head while running a race as part of a comedy sketch with guest Teri Hatcher. He was examined at a hospital and released the same day. A rerun was aired that night, but O'Brien returned to work the following Monday and poked fun at the incident.
Departure from The Tonight Show
Main article: 2010 Tonight Show conflict

On Thursday, January 7, 2010, NBC executive Jeff Zucker met with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien to discuss how to get Leno out of prime time, where his ratings were lackluster, and back into late night. A proposal was made that would see O'Brien remain as host of The Tonight Show, which would be moved to 12:05 a.m. with Leno hosting a 30-minute show at 11:35 p.m. On January 10, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin confirmed that The Jay Leno Show would indeed end at the start of the Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010, and be moved to 11:35 p.m. following the Olympics coverage. Sources familiar with the situation told the New York Post that O'Brien was unhappy with NBC's plan.

"Every comedian, every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and—for seven months—I got to do it. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second .... All I ask is one thing, and I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch: Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism; for the record it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien, on his departure from The Tonight Show, January 22, 2010.

On January 12, O'Brien released this statement: "I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t The Tonight Show." On January 21, 2010, it was announced that Conan had reached a deal with NBC that would see him exit The Tonight Show the next day. The deal also granted him $45 million, of which $12 million was designated for distribution to his staff, who had moved with Conan to Los Angeles from New York when he left Late Night.

The final Tonight Show with Conan aired January 22, 2010, and featured guests Tom Hanks, Steve Carell (who did an exit interview and shredded Conan's ID badge), Neil Young (singing "Long May You Run"), and Will Ferrell. For Ferrell's appearance, Conan played guitar with the band and Ferrell sang "Free Bird" while reprising his SNL cowbell. Ferrell's wife, Viveca Paulin, together with Ben Harper, Beck, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, also joined the band for this final performance.

Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show following NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Under the $45 million deal with NBC, Conan was allowed to start working for another network as soon as September 2010. Conan's rumored next networks ranged anywhere from Fox to Comedy Central.
After Tonight

On February 8, 2010, it was reported that O'Brien was attempting to sell his Central Park West penthouse in New York with an asking price of $35 million. He purchased the apartment in 2007 for $10 million. Two years earlier, O'Brien had purchased a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles for over $10.5 million. Some industry insiders have speculated that O'Brien had chosen to stay on the west coast in order to facilitate a return to late night television and because he did not want to put his children through another move.

On February 24, 2010, O'Brien attracted media attention for starting a Twitter account. His tweets, although primarily jokes, amounted to his first public statements since leaving The Tonight Show one month earlier. After about one hour, O'Brien's subscriber list had rocketed to over 30,000 members and approximately 30 minutes later, he was on the brink of passing 50,000 followers, already 20,000 more than the verified @jayleno account. After 24 hours, O'Brien had well over 300,000 followers. In late May 2010, he surpassed the one million mark for number of Twitter followers.

O'Brien has been named to the 2010 Time 100, a list compiled by Time Magazine of the 100 most influential people in the world as voted on by readers. After being prohibited from making television appearances of any kind until May, O'Brien spoke about the Tonight Show conflict on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes on May 2, 2010. During the interview with Steve Kroft, O'Brien said the situation felt "like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly. And I was just trying to figure out what happened." He also said he "absolutely" expected NBC to give him more of a chance and that, if in Jay Leno's position, he would not have come back to The Tonight Show. However, Conan said he did not feel he got shafted. "It's crucial to me that anyone seeing this, if they take anything away from this, it's I'm fine. I'm doing great," said O'Brien. "I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous. And I don't regret anything."
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour
Main article: The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour

On March 11, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account that he would embark on a 30-city live tour beginning April 12, 2010, entitled "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour". Co-host Andy Richter, along with members of the former Tonight Show Band, joined O'Brien on the tour. Max Weinberg, however, was not able to join, except for a guest appearance at one of Conan's New York City shows. VIP tickets for $695 offered the opportunity to meet O'Brien in person. On the same day, teamcoco.com—an apparently official website—was launched.

On April 12, 2010, O'Brien opened his two-month comedy tour in Eugene, Oregon, with a crowd of 2,500 and no TV cameras. The tour traveled through America's Northwest and Canada before moving on to larger cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, where he performed on the campuses that house both of the NBC-owned studios he formerly occupied. The tour ended in Atlanta on June 14. With ticket prices starting at $40, "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" was virtually sold out.
Conan (2010–present)
Main article: Conan (TV series)
Wikinews has related news: Jay Leno bested by Conan O'Brien in late night ratings

On April 12, 2010, just hours before the start of his tour in Eugene, Oregon, O'Brien announced that he would host a new show on cable station TBS. The show debuted on November 8, 2010, and airs Monday through Thursday beginning at 11:00 p.m. ET/10:00 p.m. CT. O'Brien's addition moved Lopez Tonight with George Lopez back one hour to midnight ET/11:00 p.m. CT. Refusing at first to do to Lopez what had happened to him at NBC, O'Brien agreed to join the network after Lopez called to persuade him to come to TBS. In Canada, CTV will air the show and in Turkey, CNBC-e will air the show.

Other networks that were reportedly interested in O'Brien include TBS' sister networks TNT and HBO, Fox, FX, Comedy Central, Showtime, Revision3, and even the NBC Universal-owned USA Network.

On September 1, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account and Team Coco YouTube page that the title of his new show on TBS would simply be Conan.
Television writer/producer (2002–present)

In 2004, O'Brien apologized to Canadians for engaging in Quebec bashing, something which some felt reflected prejudice against Francophones. On March 7, 2006, NBC announced a new adventure/comedy series entitled Andy Barker, P.I., starring O'Brien's former sidekick, Andy Richter. O'Brien was executive producer and co-wrote the pilot. After six episodes and low ratings, the show was canceled despite being named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Top Ten Shows of 2007. USA Network has handed out a 90-minute, cast-contingent pilot order to the medical-themed Operating Instructions from O'Brien's production banner. O'Brien will serve as an executive producer through his Conaco label. The script comes from Just Shoot Me veterans Judd Pillot and John Peaslee who will also executive produce." NBC ordered two pilots from Conaco in January 2010, the one-hour courtroom drama, Outlaw, and a half-hour comedy. Outlaw was later green-lit to series and premiered on September 15, 2010.
Voice work and guest appearances

O'Brien's first guest appearance after beginning his late-night career was on the show he used to write for, The Simpsons. He played himself in the season five episode "Bart Gets Famous", interviewing Bart Simpson during his rise to fame as a catchphrase comedian. The episode was produced after O'Brien's audition to replace David Letterman, but before he was hired for the show. O'Brien recorded his part after his own show went on the air, though he believed his show would be canceled by the time "Bart Gets Famous" aired. In 2006, he voiced himself in a short South Park scene as part of the opening of the 2006 Emmy Awards. In 2005, he provided the voice of Robert Todd Lincoln in the audio book version of Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.
O'Brien appearing as himself on The Simpsons episode "Bart Gets Famous".

O'Brien has made multiple voice appearances on the Adult Swim series Robot Chicken, including the specials Robot Chicken: Star Wars, and Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II as the voice of the bounty hunter Zuckuss. On the TV show 30 Rock, O'Brien is depicted as an ex-boyfriend of lead character Liz Lemon, who works in the same building. In the episode "Tracy Does Conan," Conan appears as himself, awkwardly reunited with Lemon and coerced by network executive Jack Donaghy into having the character Tracy Jordan on Late Night, despite having been assaulted in Jordan's previous appearance.

O'Brien made an appearance on Futurama in the second-season episode "Xmas Story". O'Brien plays himself as a head in a jar and still alive in the year 3000. O'Brien performs a stand-up routine at a futuristic ski lodge while being heckled by Bender the robot.

O'Brien also made a cameo appearance on the U.S. version of The Office. In the episode "Valentine's Day", Michael believes that he spots former SNL cast member, Tina Fey, but has actually mistaken another woman for her. In the meantime, Conan has a quick walk-on and the camera crew informs Michael, when he returns from talking to the Tina Fey lookalike.

In January 2010, O'Brien appeared in The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice! to honor the show he had written for in the early 1990s.

O'Brien created a superhero character with veteran DC Comics animator Bruce Timm during one episode of Conan. Named "The Flaming C", the superhero bears a likeness to O'Brien, with a typically muscular superhero body and costume with chest insignia, but also with idiosyncrasies as suggested by O'Brien like an oven mitt, a jai alai glove, golf shoes, sock garters and fishnet stockings. O'Brien later aired a clip in which the character appears in Young Justice.
Emmy host

O'Brien hosted the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, to critical acclaim. He had previously hosted the Primetime Emmys in 2002, and co-hosted in 2003.
Awards and nominations
Year Award Work Category Result
1989 Emmy Award Saturday Night Live Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program Won
1990 Emmy Award Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program Nominated
1991 Emmy Award Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program Nominated
1996 Emmy Award Late Night with Conan O'Brien Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
1997 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Won
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
1999 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Nominated
2000 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Won
2001 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Nominated
2002 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Won
2003 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Won
2004 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Nominated
2005 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
People's Choice Award Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host Nominated
Telvis Award For the color spot of the year Special Telvis Won
Writers Guild of America Award Late Night with Conan O'Brien Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Won
2006 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
People's Choice Award Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Won
2007 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Won
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Nominated
2008 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
2009 Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Nominated
2010 Emmy Award The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series Nominated
2011 People's Choice Award Conan Favorite TV Talk Show Host Won
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc169/talie152000/Conan_O_Brien.jpg
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff356/miner1129/conan_obrien_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/18/11 at 6:47 am

I watch his show whenever I can,He is such a pisser. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/19/11 at 6:00 am

The person of the day...James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, painter and performance artist. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, drug dealer Saul Silver in Pineapple Express and Aron Ralston in 127 Hours. His other well known films include Milk, Tristan & Isolde, Flyboys, Date Night, Your Highness, Eat Pray Love and the upcoming Planet of the Apes reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He has been nominated for three Golden Globe awards, winning one, and received an Academy Award nomination for his work in 127 Hours.
After 15 months of training, he began auditioning in Los Angeles, California, and got his first break in 1999, after he was cast in a leading role on the short-lived but well-reviewed television series Freaks and Geeks. Franco has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had. In another interview, Franco said: "When we were doing Freaks and Geeks, I didn’t quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn’t on me ... So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way." His first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes (2000), in which he co-starred with Marla Sokoloff. He was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell's 2001 TV biopic James Dean. To immerse himself in the role, Franco went from being a non-smoker to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, dyed his dark brown hair blond, and learned to ride a motorcycle as well as play guitar and the bongos. To have a greater understanding of Dean, Franco spent hours with two of Dean's associates. Other research included reading books on Dean and studying his movies. While filming James Dean, the actor, to get into character, cut off communication with his family and friends, as well as his then-girlfriend. "It was a very lonely existence," he notes. "If I wasn't on a set, I was watching James Dean. That was my whole thinking. James Dean. James Dean." Despite already being a fan of Dean, Franco feared he might be typecast if he'd captured the actor too convincingly. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man." He received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG).
2002–2007
Franco at the Spider-Man 3 premiere, April 2007

In the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, Franco played Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and best friend of the title character (Tobey Maguire). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film, though the lead went to Maguire. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film. Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success. The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide. In this same year, Franco was cast as a homeless drug addict in the drama City by the Sea (2002) after co-star Robert De Niro saw a snippet of his work in James Dean. He lived on the streets for several days to better understand the subject of the matter. The following year he co-starred alongside Neve Campbell in Robert Altman's The Company (2003). The success of the first Spider-Man film led Franco to reprise the role in the 2004 sequel, Spider-Man 2. The movie was well received by critics, and it proved to be a big financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $783 million worldwide, it became the second highest grossing film in 2004.

The following year he appeared in the 2005 war film The Great Raid, in which he portrayed Robert Prince, a captain in the United States Army's elite Sixth Ranger Battalion. In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis and played legendary hero Tristan in Tristan & Isolde, a dramatization of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring English actress Sophia Myles. For the former, he did eight months of boxing training and for the latter, he practiced horseback riding and sword fighting. He then completed training for his Private Pilot Licence in preparation for his role in Flyboys, which was released in September 2006; the same month, Franco appeared briefly in The Wicker Man, the remake of the seminal horror film. He appeared in the film alongside Nicolas Cage, who directed him in Sonny (2002). Also in 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy The Holiday. In 2007, he again played Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 3. In contrast to the previous two films' positive reviews, Spider-Man 3 was met with a mixed reception by critics. Nonetheless, with a total worldwide gross of $891 million, it stands as the most successful film in the series, and Franco's highest grossing film to the end of 2008. In this same year, Franco made a cameo appearance as himself in the Apatow-directed comedy Knocked Up, which starred Freaks and Geeks alumni Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Martin Starr.
2008–2010

He next starred in Pineapple Express (2008), a comedy film co-starring and co-written by Rogen and produced by Apatow. Of Franco's character, Apatow said, "You tell him, 'Okay, you're going to play a pot dealer,' and he comes back with a three-dimensional character you totally believe exists. He takes it very seriously, even when it's comedy." In her New York Times review, critic Manohla Dargis wrote: "He’s delightful as Saul, loosey-goosey and goofy yet irrepressibly sexy, despite that greasy curtain of hair and a crash pad with a zero WAF (Woman Acceptance Factor). It’s an unshowy, generous performance and it greatly humanizes a movie that, as it shifts genre gears and cranks up the noise, becomes disappointingly sober and self-serious." His performance earned him a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. Though no longer a cannabis user, he was awarded High Times magazine Stoner of the Year Award for his work in Pineapple Express. In 2008 he also appeared in two films by American artist Carter exhibited at the Yvon Lambert gallery in Paris. On September 20, 2008, he hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), and a second time on December 19, 2009.

Franco starred opposite Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and Emile Hirsch in Gus Van Sant's Milk (2008). In the film, he played Scott Smith, the boyfriend of Harvey Milk (Penn). Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, in review of the film, wrote: "Franco is a nice match for him as the lover who finally has enough of political life." For his performance in the film, Franco won the Independent Spirit Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor. In late 2009, he joined the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital on a recurring basis. He plays Franco, a multimedia artist much like himself, who comes to Port Charles with unfinished business with mob enforcer Jason Morgan (Steve Burton). Franco has called his General Hospital role performance art. In 2011, he'll reprise his role in two episodes of General Hospital. Franco next made an appearance on the sitcom 30 Rock where he played himself and carried on a fake romance with Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) in a scheme concocted by their respective agents. After appearing in the commercial successes Date Night and Eat Pray Love, Franco played poet Allen Ginsberg in the drama Howl, released on September 24.

"I didn't have many actors to act opposite with. So the crew and the director and the writer, they all became my co-stars in a way and we all had this one character to share in. I, it was my body but we were all kinda jammed in there .


Franco on filming 127 Hours

His next project was 127 Hours, where he portrayed mountain climber Aron Ralston and was directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle. It was given a limited release starting on November 5, 2010. 127 Hours centered on Ralston trying to free his hand after it became trapped under a boulder in a ravine while canyoneering alone in Utah and resorting to desperate measures in order to survive, eventually amputating his arm. During the 5 week, 12 hours per day shoot, Franco would only leave the gully set to use the lavatory and would read books such as academic textbooks to keep busy. Franco later called making 127 Hours a once in a life time experience. To date, 127 Hours is one of his most well-reviewed movies and was also a commercial success, commissioning $49 million against an $18 million budget. His performance earned him universal acclaim from critics. Subsequently, he was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, notably an Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG as well as winning an Independent Spirit Award.
2011–present

On February 23, Franco made a cameo appearance on NBC's Minute to Win It where the real-life Ralston was participating as a contestant playing for charity. After having an uncredited cameo in the opening scene of The Green Hornet (2011), he'll next star opposite Natalie Portman and Danny McBride in the fantasy comedy Your Highness on April 8. In the latter, which is set in Medieval times, he portrays Fabious, a Prince who teams up with his brother (McBride) to rescue Fabious' soon to be bride (played by Zooey Deschanel). In May 2010, he was cast to star in Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series which will be released on August 5. Franco has also announced that in the fall of 2011, he will appear on Broadway with Nicole Kidman in the upcoming revival of Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, which will be directed by David Cromer. The actor will also star in Oz: The Great and Powerful, a Disney prequel to L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), which is told from the point of view of the Wizard and details how he arrived in Oz and how he became the ruler. Franco's commitment to that project caused him to drop out of the independent movie While We're Young. At the end of September 2010, the actor acquired the rights to Stephen Elliott's The Adderall Diaries, with the intentions to adapt, direct and star in it.

It was announced in January 2011 that the actor has planned to not only star in but direct himself in The Night Stalker, a film version of author Philip Carlo's book about the 1980s serial killer, Richard Ramirez. Co-screenwriter to the screenplay, Nicholas Constantine, was initially unconvinced that Franco would be right for the movie, until he learned of Franco's desire to be a director and later watched three of his short films, one of which featured a serial killer, ultimately confirming to the writer that the actor had a darker side. One of his other upcoming projects, The Iceman, with reunite Franco with Michael Shannon, after the two worked together on the short film Herbert White. The movie is based upon real-life contract murderer Richard Kuklinski, who notoriously froze his victims. The actor also has plans to direct a film version of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

In April 2011 it was announced that the actor will star alongside Winona Ryder in a film called The Stare, which is to be directed by Jay Anania. The film is also set to launch Waterstone Entertainment in the business as it is the first project bankrolled by the studio.
Other projects

Franco produced and directed a documentary titled Saturday Night documenting a week in the production of an episode of SNL. The film began as a short for an NYU class but grew due to his two episodes as host, while short stories he wrote for other classes appeared in Esquire and McSweeney's. In summer 2010, the fictional Franco from General Hospital held an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while the real Franco held an exhibit at the museum based on his experiences on the soap opera. One of his short movies, The Clerk's Tale, was screened in competition at the Hamptons Film Festival at the end of 2010.

On October 19, 2010 Scribner published a collection of short stories called Palo Alto: Stories by Franco. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. Inspired by some of Franco's own teenage memories, Palo Alto consists of life in Palo Alto as experienced by a series of teenagers who spend most of their time indulging in driving drunk, using drugs and taking part in unplanned acts of violence. Each passage is told by a young narrator. The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance." The Guardian said that Franco's "foray into the literary world may be met with cynicism in some quarters, but this is a promising debut from a most unlikely source." Writing in the New York Times, reviewer and fellow author Joshua Mohr praised Franco for how, in the story "American History", he juxtaposed historical parts with a present-day social commentary that "makes the we wonder how much we’ve actually evolved in post-bellum America."
Franco with Denis O'Hara discussing Milk on December 8, 2008

In January, the actor screened his multimedia project entitled Three's Company The Drama, in which he merges video and art to update the former sitcom, at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Franco reunited with Milk director Van Sant to make Unfinished, a project that features two movies: Endless Idaho and My Own Private River. Endless Idaho showcases edited outtakes, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage from the 1991 movie My Own Private Idaho, while My Own Private River focuses on the late actor River Phoenix. The idea for the exhibition was conceived after Van Sant introduced unused footage from the 1991 film to Franco, inspiring him to turn it into something more. Unfinished opened from February 26 to April 9 at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills.

On February 27, 2011, Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Academy Awards. The two were selected to help the awards show achieve its goal of attracting a younger audience. Franco had previously said that he accepted the job for the experience and because it was like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Numerous media viewers criticized Franco for his discontent and lack of energy on stage and the show was widely panned, with some reviewers dubbing it the worst telecast in its history. The actor later spoke about his hosting in an interview with The Late Show with David Letterman. He explained that when accepting the job he never had high hopes, adding “It was never on my list of things to do. It doesn’t mean I didn’t care and it doesn’t mean I didn’t try, right?” Regarding allegations that he was under the influence while hosting, Franco commented that "I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway. She has a lot of energy!" He concluded that he tried his best and could have had "low energy" during the telecast.

Franco will also direct two short films for songs ("Blue" and "That Someone Is You") by R.E.M. from their album Collapse Into Now (2011).

Volunteered to be Stephen Colbert's art consultant for his spoof news show "The Colbert Report"
Charitable work

When Franco was at a point in his life where he wanted to give back but was unsure how, he asked his Spider-Man co-star Kirsten Dunst for advice. At the suggestion of Dunst, he started volunteering at the charity Art of Elysium, where she also volunteers, which helps kids with serious medical conditions. He said the experience helped save his life. In January 2011, at the Art of Elysium Heaven Gala in Los Angeles, Franco was honored for his work at the hospital, receiving the Spirit of Elysium accolade.

On March 31, 2011, the actor took part in "An Evening with James Franco", a Washington DC diner benefit for 826DC, a non-profit foundation created to help neighborhood students reach their goals, as well as provide after-school literature programs and workshops that encourage them to improve their writing skills. Franco became involved with Dave Egger's 826 National after Eggers asked him to do a conceptual idea for the program, and he directed a documentary for them and has since been a supporter of them. At the event, Franco spoke about how he thought that schools needed to be more original with their literature programs. "Writing can do things that video cannot", he added. In April, Franco autographed a T-shirt that will be auctioned-off through the Yoshiki Foundation, with the proceeds being donated for the Japanese tsunami relief that occurred in 2011
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1998 1973 Greg TV film
1999 To Serve and Protect Matt Carr TV film
1999 Never Been Kissed Jason Way
2000 At Any Cost Mike
2000 If Tomorrow Comes Devin
2000 Whatever It Takes Chris
2001 Mean People Suck Casey
2001 Some Body Apartment guy 3 Uncredited
2001 James Dean James Dean TV film
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in Television Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2002 Blind Spot Danny
2002 Mother Ghost Skateboarder guy
2002 Sonny Sonny Phillips limited release
2002 City by the Sea Joey Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Spider-Man Harry Osborn
2002 Deuces Wild Tino
2003 Company, TheThe Company Josh
2004 Spider-Man 2 Harry Osborn
2005 Ape, TheThe Ape Harry Walker Direct-to-video
2005 Great Raid, TheThe Great Raid Captain Prince
2005 Fool's Gold Brent Also writer/director
2006 Grasshopper Travis Short film
2006 Tristan & Isolde Tristan
2006 Annapolis Jake Huard
2006 Wicker Man, TheThe Wicker Man Bar guy #1
2006 Flyboys Blaine Rawlings
2006 Dead Girl, TheThe Dead Girl Derek
2006 Holiday, TheThe Holiday Himself Uncredited
2007 Spider-Man 3 Harry Osborn / New Goblin Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
2007 Knocked Up Himself Uncredited
2007 In the Valley of Elah Sergeant Dan Carnelli
2007 Finishing the Game Dean Silo/"Rob Force"
2007 American Crime, AnAn American Crime Andy
2007 Interview Boyfriend on phone
2007 Camille Silias
2007 Good Time Max Max Verbinski Also writer/director
2008 Pineapple Express Saul Silver Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
2008 Nights in Rodanthe Dr. Mark Flanner Uncredited
2008 Milk Scott Smith Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010 Shadows & Lies William Vincent
2010 Date Night Thomas Felton
2010 Eat Pray Love David
2010 Howl Allen Ginsberg
2010 127 Hours Aron Ralston Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Indiana Film Journalists Association Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Actor
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance
Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2011 The Green Hornet Danny Clear Cameo uncredited
2011 Your Highness Fabious '
2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes post-production
2011 In Praise of Shadows William Vincent post-production
Series television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1997 Pacific Blue Brian
1999 Profiler Stevie
1999–2000 Freaks and Geeks Daniel Desario
2001 The X-Files Officer #2
2009–2011 General Hospital Franco
2010 30 Rock Himself Episode: "Klaus and Greta"
Selected works

    * Franco, James. "A Star, a Soap and the Meaning of Art." The Wall Street Journal, December 4, 2009.
    * Franco, James. "Just Before the Black." Esquire, March 24, 2010.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj218/Amy930/jamesfranco2.jpg
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt98/andreya133/Ikemen%20-%20white%20version/jamesfranco1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/19/11 at 5:42 pm


I watch his show whenever I can,He is such a pisser. ;D

Conan O'Brien? I liked when he was on NBC; sometimes I would stay up late to watch him when he was hosting "Late Night." Not often, though. Now he's on TBS late at night, but I haven't seen his new show on that channel yet.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/19/11 at 7:14 pm


Conan O'Brien? I liked when he was on NBC; sometimes I would stay up late to watch him when he was hosting "Late Night." Not often, though. Now he's on TBS late at night, but I haven't seen his new show on that channel yet.


On Channel 8 In New York.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/20/11 at 12:08 am


On Channel 8 In New York.

Is that where you pick up TBS?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/20/11 at 6:54 am


Is that where you pick up TBS?


Yes.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/20/11 at 7:26 am

The person of the day...Don Mattingly
Donald Arthur "Don" Mattingly (born April 20, 1961), nicknamed "Donnie Baseball" and "The Hit Man", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played his entire 14-year baseball career for the New York Yankees (1982–1995). After his playing career, he also served as a hitting coach for the Yankees and Dodgers prior to taking on his current position as manager of the Dodgers.
Mattingly spent his official rookie season of 1983 as a part-time first baseman and outfielder, waiting for a full-time spot in the lineup to open up. He played well, hitting .283 in 279 at-bats, but with little power.

Slugger Steve Balboni was the favored organizational prospect at first base, but it became apparent in 1982-83 that Balboni was too prone to striking out and that his ranging right-handed swing was not suited for the Yankee Stadium. Mattingly quickly surpassed Balboni on the team's depth chart, and Balboni was traded to the Kansas City Royals in 1984.

Mattingly became the Yankees' full-time first baseman and an MVP candidate. He hit .343 and beat out teammate Dave Winfield in a close race for the American League batting title with a 4-for-5 game on the last day of the season. Mattingly also led the league with 207 hits. He developed a power stroke, slugging a league-leading 44 doubles to go with 23 home runs. He was 2nd in the league in slugging percentage (.537) and at bats per strikeout (18.3), 4th in total bases (324), 5th in RBIs (110), 6th in sacrifice flies (9), and 10th in on base percentage (.381). He also batted .400 with runners in scoring position.
Mattingly with the Yankees.

Mattingly followed up his breakout season with a spectacular 1985, winning the MVP award in the American League. He batted .324 (3rd in the league) with 35 home runs (4th), 48 doubles (1st), and 145 RBI (1st), then the most RBIs in a season by a left-handed major league batter since Ted Williams drove in 159 in 1949. His 21-RBI lead in the category was the most in the American League since Al Rosen's RBI title of 1953. He led the league in sacrifice flies (15), total bases (370), and extra base hits (86), and was 2nd in the AL in hits (211) and slugging percentage (.567), 3rd in intentional walks (13) and at bats per strikeout (13.9), 6th in runs (107), and 9th in at bats per home run (18.6). He batted .354 with two out and runners in scoring position. Also in 1985 Mattingly was the first farm-grown Yankee to lead the club in homers since Bobby Murcer did it from 1970 to 1973.

Mattingly was also recognized in 1985 for his defense, winning his first of nine Gold Glove Awards. He was considered such an asset defensively that Yankees management assigned him to play games at second base and third base early in his career, even though he was a left-handed thrower. Mattingly appeared as a left-handed throwing second baseman for one-third of one inning, during the resumption of the George Brett "Pine Tar Incident" game in 1983. He also played three games as a left-handed throwing third baseman during a five-game series against the Seattle Mariners in 1986.

Mattingly did just as well in 1986, leading the league with 238 hits, 53 doubles, 388 total bases, and a .573 slugging percentage. He also batted .352 (2nd in the league), hit 31 home runs (6th) and drove in 113 runs (3rd). However, he was easily beaten in the American League MVP voting by pitcher Roger Clemens, who also won the Cy Young Award unanimously that year.

In 1987, Mattingly tied Dale Long's major league record by hitting home runs in eight consecutive games (record later tied again by Ken Griffey, Jr., of Seattle in 1993), as well as stroking an extra base hit in ten consecutive games. Mattingly had a record 10 home runs during this streak (Long & Griffey had eight of them). Also that season, Mattingly set a major league record by hitting six grand slam home runs in a season, a record matched by Travis Hafner during the 2006 season. Mattingly's Grand Slams in 1987 were also the only six Grand Slams of his career.
MLB-record six Grand Slams in one season 1
# Date Against Pitcher Venue Score
1 May 14 Texas Rangers Mike Mason Yankee Stadium 9-1 W
2 Jun 29 Toronto Blue Jays John Cerutti Exhibition Stadium 15-14 W
3 Jul 10 Chicago White Sox Joel McKeon Yankee Stadium 9-5 W
4 Jul 16 Texas Rangers Charlie Hough Arlington Stadium 12-3 W
5 Sep 25 Baltimore Orioles Jose Mesa Memorial Stadium 8-4 W
6 Sep 29 Boston Red Sox Bruce Hurst Yankee Stadium 6-0 W

In June 1987, it was reported that Mattingly injured his back during some clubhouse horseplay with pitcher Bob Shirley though both denied this. Nevertheless, he finished with a .327 batting average, 30 home runs, and 115 RBIs, his fourth straight year with at least 110 RBIs. Between 1985 and 1987, Mattingly hit 96 home runs with just 114 strikeouts.

Though Mattingly would recover, recurrent back woes would curtail his statistics, and eventually, his career.

1988 was a decidedly off year for Mattingly, who had just 18 home runs and 88 RBI, but nonetheless was still in the top 10 in the league in batting average at a .311 clip. He rebounded in 1989 to 113 RBI, but his average dipped to .303. Mattingly's five runs scored on April 30, 1988, marked the 12th time it has been done by a Yankee.

Mattingly's back problems flared up anew in 1990; after struggling with the bat, he had to go on the disabled list in July, only returning late in the season for an ineffective finish. His stat line—a .256 average, 5 home runs and 42 RBI in almost 400 at-bats—came as a shock. Mattingly underwent extensive therapy in the offseason, but his hitting ability was never quite the same. Though he averaged .290 over his final five seasons, he became more of a slap hitter, hitting just 53 home runs over that timeframe. Mattingly's defense remained stellar, but he was not always physically able to play.

Mattingly made his major league debut in 1982, the year after the Yankees lost the World Series. The team did not reach the postseason in any of Mattingly's first 13 years, although they arguably would have made the playoffs in 1994, when the player's strike ended the season prematurely with the Yankees having the best record in the American League.

In 1995, Mattingly finally reached the playoffs when the Yankees won the AL wild card on the next-to-last day of the season. In the only postseason series of his career, facing the Seattle Mariners, Mattingly batted .417 with 6 RBI and a memorable go-ahead home run in Game Two, his final game at Yankee Stadium. In the final game of the series (and of his career), Mattingly again broke a tie with a two-run double. The New York bullpen faltered and Seattle won in the 11th inning of the decisive Game Five.
Retirement
YankeesRetired23.svg
Don Mattingly's number 23 was retired by the New York Yankees in 1997.
Mattingly's retired number in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium

Mattingly finished his career with 2,153 hits, 222 home runs, 1,099 RBI, and a .307 lifetime average. He is commonly cited as the best Yankee player to have never played in a World Series. His career had bad timing, as the Yankees lost the World Series the year before he broke into the big leagues and they ended up winning the World Series in the first year of Mattingly's retirement. This World Series drought (1982–1995) was the longest in Yankees history since the start of the Babe Ruth era and it was worsened by the player's strike in 1994, which ended a promising chance for a World Series title.

The Yankees retired Mattingly's number 23 and dedicated his plaque for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium on August 31, 1997. The plaque calls him "A humble man of grace and dignity, a captain who led by example, proud of the pinstripe tradition and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, a Yankee forever."
Career Hitting G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
1,785 7,003 2,153 442 20 222 1,007 1,099 14 588 444 .307 .358 .471 .829
Hall of Fame Voting

Don Mattingly has been on the hall of fame ballot since 2001, but has never received the percentage of votes necessary for election. In his first year, he received 145 votes (28.2%), but this has steadily declined. In 2009, 12% of voters still put him on their ballots.
Coaching career
Back with the Yankees
Mattingly as hitting coach with the New York Yankees

After retiring as a player, Mattingly spent seven seasons as a special instructor during Yankees' spring training in Tampa, Florida from 1997-2003.

Following the 2003 season, the Yankees named Mattingly the hitting coach. He spent three seasons in that role, receiving much praise from the Yankees organization and his players. Under Mattingly, the Yankees set an all-time franchise record with 242 home runs in 2004.

On October 26, 2006, Mattingly was promoted to being Joe Torre's bench coach, replacing Lee Mazzilli.

On October 18, 2007, Don Mattingly was considered a front runner for the Yankee's manager position, after Joe Torre declined a one year contract extension. Mattingly was interviewed, along with Joe Girardi and Tony Peña. The Yankees offered the managerial position to Girardi, who accepted.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Mattingly with the Dodgers

After not being offered the position of manager for the Yankees, Mattingly followed Joe Torre to the Los Angeles Dodgers to serve as the team's hitting coach. On January 22, 2008, Mattingly was replaced as hitting coach, citing family reasons, and would instead serve as major league special assignment coach for the Dodgers in 2008. It was the first time he worked for a team other than the New York Yankees in his professional baseball career. The Los Angeles Times reported on July 9, 2008 that Mattingly would once again be the Dodgers' hitting coach, replacing Mike Easler. The Dodgers made the playoffs in 2008 and again in 2009 and in both years, advanced to the National League Championship Series, largely behind the bat of mid-season acquisition Manny Ramirez, before losing both times in the NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the 2009-10 offseason, Mattingly was a finalist for the managerial position with the Cleveland Indians (for which Manny Acta was eventually hired). When Torre decided to retire at the end of the 2010 season, Mattingly was announced as his replacement. To acquire some managerial experience, Mattingly managed the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League in 2010.

Mattingly made his managerial debut on March 31, 2011 by defeating the San Francisco Giants 2-1 at Dodger Stadium.
Mattingly appeared in a baseball-themed episode of The Simpsons, entitled "Homer at the Bat". In the episode (originally aired on February 20, 1992), team owner Mr. Burns repeatedly orders Mattingly to shave off his sideburns, even though Mattingly has no sideburns. A confused Mattingly returns with 1/3 of his head shaved from one ear over the top of the head to other. The irate Burns cuts him from the team because he would not "shave those sideburns!" As he departs, the exasperated Mattingly says to himself, "I still like him better than Steinbrenner."

In 1991, before the episode aired but after it was produced, then-Yankees manager Stump Merrill told him that until he cut his hair, he would not play. This was in accord with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner's policy requiring his players to maintain well-kept head and facial hair, although at the time, Steinbrenner was suspended. Mattingly was sporting a longish or mullet like hair style, and when he refused to cut it, he was benched. This led to huge media frenzy with reporters and talk radio repeatedly mocking the team so much so that the WPIX broadcasting crew of Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Murcer and Tom Seaver lampooned the incident before the start of a game on a pregame show with Rizzuto playing the role of a barber sent to enforce the policy. Mimicking the controversy, a perfectly groomed Seaver has hair that to Rizzuto appears "a bit too long." Before proceeding with the telecast Rizzuto "trims" Seaver's hair with a barber shears.

Many people believed the joke in The Simpsons episode to be a reference to the incident, but "Homer at the Bat" was actually recorded a year before it happened. In 1995, Mattingly again ran afoul of the policy when he grew a goatee.

Mattingly has also appeared in public service announcements airing on the Spike TV network advocating fathers spending time with their children as part of the "True Dads" campaign to encourage men to take an active role in their children's lives.

Mattingly is referred to by name in several episodes of Seinfeld. In one memorable episode, his uniform pants split because they were made of 100% cotton at the behest of George Costanza.
See also
Flag of Indiana.svg Indiana portal

    * List of MLB individual streaks
    * 23 (number)
    * Top 500 home run hitters of all time
    * List of major league players with 2,000 hits
    * List of Major League Baseball doubles records
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
    * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
    * List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
    * List of Major League Baseball batting champions
    * List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii262/gigi1230bucket/DonMattingly.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h20/BigB26/DonMattingly.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/20/11 at 1:10 pm

Happy 50th birthday Don!! http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/01/balloons.gif http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/01/bdaybiggrin.gif http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/02/birthday.gif

Now if my beloved L.A. Dud-gers could just win one tonight, that would be an awesome birthday present for their manager.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/21/11 at 5:39 am

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as Head of the Commonwealth, she is the figurehead of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations and, as the British monarch, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Elizabeth was educated privately at home. Her father, George VI, became in 1936 King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war and Indian independence George VI's title of Emperor of India was abandoned, and the evolution of the British Empire into the Commonwealth accelerated. In 1947, Elizabeth made the first of many tours around the Commonwealth, and married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

In 1949, George VI became the first Head of the Commonwealth, a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations". On his death in 1952, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth, and queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. During her reign, which at 59 years is one of the longest for a British monarch, she became queen of 25 other countries within the Commonwealth as they gained independence. Between 1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics.

In 1992, which Elizabeth termed her annus horribilis ("horrible year"), two of her sons separated from their wives, her daughter divorced, and a severe fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle. Revelations on the state of her eldest son Charles's marriage continued, and he divorced in 1996. The following year, her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. The media criticised the royal family for remaining in seclusion in the days before Diana's funeral, but Elizabeth's personal popularity rebounded once she had appeared in public and has since remained high. Her Silver and Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002; planning for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 is underway.
George VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth was soon frequently standing in for him at public events. In October of that year, she toured Canada, and visited President of the United States Harry S. Truman in Washington, D.C.; on the trip, her private secretary, Martin Charteris, carried a draft accession declaration for use if the King died while she was on tour. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand via Kenya. On 6 February 1952, they had just returned to their Kenyan residence Sagana Lodge, after a night spent at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father. Philip broke the news to the new queen. Martin Charteris asked her to choose a regnal name; she chose to remain Elizabeth, "of course". She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms, and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. She and the Duke of Edinburgh moved into Buckingham Palace.
Elizabeth in crown and robes next to her husband in military uniform
Coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, June 1953

With Elizabeth's accession it seemed likely that the royal house would bear her husband's name. Lord Mountbatten thought it would be the House of Mountbatten, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name on marriage; however, Queen Mary and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill favoured the retention of the House of Windsor, and so Windsor it remained. The Duke complained,"I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." In 1960, after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the surname Mountbatten-Windsor was adopted for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line descendants who do not carry royal titles.

In the midst of preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret informed her sister that she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner 16 years older than Margaret with two sons from his previous marriage. The Queen asked them to wait for a year; in the words of Martin Charteris, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the Princess, but I think she thought – she hoped – given time, the affair would peter out." Senior politicians were against the match, and the Church of England did not permit re-marriage after divorce. If Margaret contracted a civil marriage, she would have to renounce her right of succession. Eventually, she decided to abandon her plans with Townsend. In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. They were divorced in 1978. She did not remarry.

Despite the death of Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary on 24 March 1953, the coronation went ahead in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, in accordance with Mary's wishes. The entire ceremony, except the anointing and communion, was televised, and the coverage was instrumental in boosting the medium's popularity; the number of television licences in the United Kingdom doubled to 3 million, and many of the more than 20 million British viewers watched television for the first time in the homes of their friends or neighbours. In North America, just under 100 million viewers watched recorded broadcasts. Elizabeth wore a gown commissioned from Norman Hartnell, which was embroidered with floral emblems for the countries of the Commonwealth: English Tudor rose, Scots thistle, Welsh leek, Irish shamrock, Australian wattle, Canadian maple leaf, New Zealand silver fern, South African protea, lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's wheat, cotton, and jute.
In 1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with the Queen's associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations re-affirmed the Queen's popularity, despite virtually coincident negative press coverage of Princess Margaret's separation from her husband. In 1978, Elizabeth endured a state visit by the communist dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu. The following year brought two blows: one was the unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, as a communist spy; the other was the assassination of her relative and in-law Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

According to Paul Martin, Sr., by the end of the 1970s the Queen was worried the Crown "had little meaning for" Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Tony Benn said that the Queen found Trudeau "rather disappointing". Trudeau's supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics, such as sliding down banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting behind the Queen's back in 1977, and the removal of various Canadian royal symbols during his term of office. In 1980, Canadian politicians sent to London to discuss the patriation of the Canadian constitution found the Queen "better informed on ... Canada's constitutional case than any of the British politicians or bureaucrats". She was interested in the constitutional debate, particularly after the failure of Bill C-60, which would have affected her role as head of state. Patriation removed the role of the British parliament in the Canadian constitution, but the monarchy was retained. Trudeau said in his memoirs: "The Queen favoured my attempt to reform the Constitution. I was always impressed not only by the grace she displayed in public at all times, but by the wisdom she showed in private conversation."
http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss42/fossilsue/Queen_of_canada_wob.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm95/NyxisNight/ascot/ra.jpg


* there is a lot more on Wikipedia

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/21/11 at 6:08 am

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/21/11 at 1:08 pm


Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth.  :)
Is she partying tonight?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/21/11 at 1:14 pm


Is she partying tonight?


probably staying at home.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/21/11 at 1:15 pm


probably staying at home.
With home, she has many palaces to her name?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/21/11 at 1:19 pm


With home, she has many palaces to her name?


I don't know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/21/11 at 1:20 pm


I don't know.
It should be mentioned in the Court circular tomorrow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/21/11 at 4:03 pm


I don't know.
The Queen has celebrated her 85th birthday by handing out Maundy money in a traditional royal service at Westminster Abbey.

The monarch handed out specially minted coins to deserving recipients in a ceremony dating from the Middle Ages.

Among the 170 people - 85 men and 85 women - who received Maundy money this year were 40 from the Isle of Man.

Buckingham Palace said it was the first time the Queen's birthday had fallen on Maundy Thursday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/22/11 at 6:21 am

The person of the day...Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for Academy Awards 12 times. He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and for As Good as It Gets. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1983 film Terms of Endearment. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most acting wins by a male actor (three), and second to Katharine Hepburn for most acting wins overall (four).

He is also one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting (either lead or supporting) in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s (the other one being Michael Caine). He has won seven Golden Globe Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Notable films in which he has starred include, in chronological order, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, Something's Gotta Give and The Departed.
With his acting career heading nowhere, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the LSD-fueled screenplay for 1967's The Trip (directed by Corman), which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. Nicholson also co-wrote, with Bob Rafelson, the movie Head, which starred The Monkees. In addition, he also arranged the movie's soundtrack. However, after a spot opened up in Fonda and Hopper's Easy Rider, it led to his first big acting break. Nicholson played hard-drinking lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination. The part of Hanson was a lucky break for Nicholson—the role had in fact been written for actor Rip Torn, who was a close friend of screen writer Terry Southern, but Torn withdrew from the project after a bitter argument with the film's director Dennis Hopper, during which the two men almost came to blows.

A Best Actor nomination came the following year for his persona-defining role in Five Easy Pieces (1970). Also that year, he appeared in the movie adaptation of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, although most of his performance was left on the cutting room floor.

Other Nicholson roles included Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973), for which he was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, and the classic Roman Polanski noir thriller, Chinatown (1974). Nicholson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for both films. Nicholson was friends with the director long before the death of Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of the Manson Family, and supported him in the days following the deaths. After Tate's death, Nicholson began sleeping with a hammer under his pillow, and took breaks from work to attend the Manson trial. It was at Nicholson's home where the statutory rape case for which Polanski was arrested occurred.

He starred in The Who's Tommy (1975), directed by Ken Russell, and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975).
An American icon
Nicholson (right) and Dennis Hopper at the 62nd Academy Awards, March 26, 1990

Nicholson earned his first Best Actor Oscar for portraying Randle P. McMurphy in the movie adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Miloš Forman in 1975. His Oscar was matched when Louise Fletcher received the Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched.

After this, he began to take more unusual roles. He took a small role in The Last Tycoon, opposite Robert De Niro. He took a less sympathetic role in Arthur Penn's western The Missouri Breaks, specifically to work with Marlon Brando. He followed this by making his second directorial effort with the western comedy Goin' South. His first movie as a director was a 1971 quirky release called Drive, He Said.

Although he garnered no Academy Award for Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining (1980), it remains one of Nicholson's most significant roles. His next Oscar, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, came for his role of retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment (1983), directed by James L. Brooks. Nicholson continued to work prolifically in the 80s, starring in such films as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Reds (1981), Prizzi's Honor (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Broadcast News (1987), and Ironweed (1987). Three Oscar nominations also followed (Reds, Prizzi's Honor, and Ironweed).

Nicholson introduced several acts at Live Aid at the JFK Stadium in July 1985. He turned down the role of John Book in Witness. The 1989 Batman movie, wherein Nicholson played the psychotic murderer and villain, The Joker, was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned Nicholson about $60 million.

For his role as hot-headed Col. Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men (1992), a movie about a murder in a U.S. Marine Corps unit, Nicholson received yet another Academy nomination. This film contained the court scene in which Nicholson famously explodes, "You can't handle the truth!", in one of the Aaron Sorkin-penned monologues to become part of popular culture.

In 1996, Nicholson collaborated once more with Batman director Tim Burton on Mars Attacks!, pulling double duty as two contrasting characters, President James Dale and Las Vegas property developer Art Land. At first studio executives at Warner Bros. disliked the idea of killing off Nicholson's character, so Burton created two characters and killed them both off.

Not all of Nicholson's performances have been well received. He was nominated for Razzie Awards as worst actor for Man Trouble (1992) and Hoffa (1992). However, Nicholson's performance in Hoffa also earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Nicholson would go on to win his next Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Melvin Udall, a neurotic author with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), in the romance As Good as It Gets (1997), again directed by James L. Brooks. Nicholson's Oscar was matched with the Academy Award for Best Actress for Helen Hunt as a Manhattan waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a frequent diner in the restaurant in which she worked.

In 2001, Nicholson was the first actor to receive the Stanislavsky Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for "conquering the heights of acting and faithfulness".

Nicholson is a keen sports fan, regularly to be seen in courtside seats at Los Angeles Lakers basketball games at Staples Center and the former Great Western Forum.
2002–present
Jack Nicholson at 2002 Cannes

In About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired Omaha, Nebraska actuary who questions his own life following his wife's death. His quiet, restrained performance stood in sharp contrast to many of his previous roles, and earned him an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor. In the comedy Anger Management (2003), he plays an aggressive therapist assigned to help overly pacifist Adam Sandler. In the same year, Nicholson starred in Something's Gotta Give, as an aging playboy who falls for the mother (Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend. In late 2006, Nicholson marked his return to the "dark side" as Frank Costello, a sadistic Boston Irish Mob boss presiding over Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed, a remake of Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs.

In November 2006, Nicholson began filming his next project, Rob Reiner's The Bucket List, a role for which he shaved his head. The film starred Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as dying men who fulfill their list of goals. The film was released on December 25, 2007 (limited) and January 11, 2008 (wide). In researching the role, Nicholson visited a Los Angeles hospital to see how cancer patients coped with their illnesses.
With 12 nominations (eight for Best Actor and four for Best Supporting Actor), Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history. Only Nicholson and Michael Caine have been nominated for an acting (lead or supporting) Academy Award in five different decades: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. With three Oscar wins, he also ties with Walter Brennan for the second highest-number of Oscar wins in acting categories (all of Brennan's wins were for Best Supporting Actor).

At the 79th Academy Awards, Nicholson had fully shaved his hair for his role in The Bucket List. Those ceremonies represented the seventh time he has presented the Academy Award for Best Picture (1972, 1977, 1978, 1990, 1993, 2006, and 2007).

Nicholson is an active and voting member of the Academy. He has attended almost every ceremony, nominated or not, during the last decade sitting in the front row.
Filmography
List of film credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1958 Cry Baby Killer, TheThe Cry Baby Killer Jimmy Wallace
1960 Too Soon to Love Buddy
1960 Wild Ride, TheThe Wild Ride Johnny Varron
1960 Little Shop of Horrors, TheThe Little Shop of Horrors Wilbur Force
1960 Studs Lonigan Weary Reilly
1962 Broken Land, TheThe Broken Land Will Brocious
1963 Terror, TheThe Terror Andre Duvaler Also director
1963 Raven, TheThe Raven Rexford Bedlo
1964 Flight to Fury Jay Wickham
1964 Ensign Pulver Dolan
1964 Back Door to Hell Burnett
1965 Ride in the Whirlwind Wes
1966 Shooting, TheThe Shooting Billy Spear
1967 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, TheThe St. Valentine's Day Massacre Gino, Hit Man uncredited
1967 Hells Angels on Wheels Poet
1968 Psych-Out Stoney
1968 Head Himself
1969 Easy Rider George Hanson

    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

1970 On A Clear Day You Can See Forever Tad Pringle
1970 Rebel Rousers, TheThe Rebel Rousers Bunny
1970 Five Easy Pieces Robert Eroica Dupea

    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama

1971 Carnal Knowledge Jonathan Fuerst Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1971 Safe Place, AA Safe Place Mitch
1971 Drive, He Said

    * Director
    * Nominated—Palme d'Or

1972 King of Marvin Gardens, TheThe King of Marvin Gardens David Staebler
1973 Last Detail, TheThe Last Detail Billy "Bad Ass" Buddusky

    * BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for Chinatown
    * Cannes Film Festival Best Actor
    * National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor also for Chinatown
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for Chinatown
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama

1974 Chinatown J.J. 'Jake' Gittes

    * BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for The Last Detail
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Movie Performer
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor also for The Last Detail
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for The Last Detail
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor

1975 Fortune, TheThe Fortune Oscar Sullivan aka Oscar Dix
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Randle McMurphy

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
    * National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor

1975 Passenger, TheThe Passenger David Locke
1975 Tommy The Specialist
1976 Missouri Breaks, TheThe Missouri Breaks Tom Logan
1976 Last Tycoon, TheThe Last Tycoon Brimmer
1978 Goin' South Henry Lloyd Moon Also director
1980 Shining, TheThe Shining Jack Torrance
1981 Postman Always Rings Twice, TheThe Postman Always Rings Twice Frank Chambers
1981 Ragtime Pirate at beach uncredited
1981 Reds Eugene O'Neill

    * BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

1982 Border, TheThe Border Charlie Smith
1983 Terms of Endearment Garrett Breedlove

    * Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor

1984 Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Prizzi's Honor Charley Partanna

    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor

1986 Heartburn Mark Forman
1987 The Witches of Eastwick Daryl Van Horne

    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor also for Ironweed
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for Ironweed and Broadcast News
    * Saturn Award for Best Actor

1987 Broadcast News Bill Rorich New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for Ironweed and The Witches of Eastwick
1987 Ironweed Francis Phelan

    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor also for The Witches of Eastwick
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor also for Broadcast News and The Witches of Eastwick
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama

1989 Batman Jack Napier / The Joker

    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor

1990 The Two Jakes J.J. 'Jake' Gittes Also director
1992 Man Trouble Eugene Earl Axline, aka Harry Bliss
1992 Few Good Men, AA Few Good Men Col. Nathan R. Jessep

    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

1992 Hoffa James R. 'Jimmy' Hoffa Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1994 Wolf Will Randall Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
1995 Crossing Guard, TheThe Crossing Guard Freddy Gale
1996 Blood and Wine Alex Gates
1996 Evening Star, TheThe Evening Star Garrett Breedlove
1996 Mars Attacks! President James Dale / Art Land Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1997 As Good as It Gets Melvin Udall

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
    * Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

2001 Pledge, TheThe Pledge Jerry Black
2002 About Schmidt Warren R. Schmidt

    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor tied with Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York
    * Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor tied with Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York
    * Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

2003 Anger Management Dr. Buddy Rydell Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Hissy Fit
2003 Something's Gotta Give Harry Sanborn Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2006 Departed, TheThe Departed Francis 'Frank' Costello

    * Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
    * Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
    * Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated—People's Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up shared with Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio
    * Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

2008 Bucket List, TheThe Bucket List Edward Cole
2010 How Do You Know Charles Madison
2011 Americana Edgar Johnson

    Additionally, in 1999, Nicholson was presented with the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award lifetime achievement award.

Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Jack Nicholson
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt169/mathewguy/jack-nicholson-the-shining1.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/Jparnell24/Jack_nicholson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/22/11 at 7:11 am

such a legendary actor,played the good guy and the bad guy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/22/11 at 10:27 pm


such a legendary actor,played the good guy and the bad guy.

Nicely said. The most recent film of his that I saw was "As Good As It Gets." I liked that film.

I still remember watching the 70th Academy Awards in March 1998, when he was nominated for the Best Actor award, for his role in said film. And when he was announced as the winner and walked up to the stage to accept the award, he walked up to the stage in the same manner that he walked on the sidewalk in the film, carefully avoiding all the cracks.

His "AGAIG" costar, Helen Hunt, was nominated for Best Actress in the same film, and also won.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/23/11 at 5:47 am

The person of the day..John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena (pronounced /ˈsiːnə/; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor, rapper, and professional wrestler employed by WWE on its Raw brand.

In WWE, Cena has won sixteen championships in total, including nine World Titles (having won the WWE Championship seven times and the World Heavyweight Championship twice). In addition, Cena has also won the WWE United States Championship three times, and is a four-time Tag Team Champion, having held the World Tag Team Championship twice (once with Shawn Michaels, once with Batista), and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice (once with David Otunga and once with The Miz). Cena also won the 2008 Royal Rumble match, and is a two-time Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner (2009 and 2010).

Cena started his professional wrestling career in 2000, wrestling for Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship. In 2001, Cena signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) where he held the OVW Heavyweight Championship and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino).

Outside of wrestling, Cena has released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at #15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and starred in the feature films The Marine (2006), 12 Rounds (2009), and Legendary (2010). Cena has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punk'd, and Psych. Cena was also a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he made it to the final round before being eliminated, placing third in the overall competition.
Cena made his television debut answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002. Inspired by a speech given by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to the rising stars of the company, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity and almost beat Angle kicking out of his finishing move, the Angle Slam and enduring the ankle lock submission hold. Cena ultimately lost to a hard amateur wrestling-style pin. Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and started feuding with Chris Jericho. In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round. The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain.

Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice performing a freestyle rap. The next week, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming. As the gimmick grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo — dropping the "F" — as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life". Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared"). Buchanan was later replaced by Red Dogg, until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.

For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar, performing weekly "freestyles" challenging him to matches. During the feud, Cena unveiled a new finishing maneuver: the FU, a Fireman's carry powerslam, named to mock Lesnar's F-5. Cena won a number one contenders tournament against Lesnar at Backlash. However, Cena was defeated by Lesnar. At Vengeance Cena lost a singles match against The Undertaker. At the end of the year, Cena became a fan favorite again when he joined Kurt Angle as a member of his team at Survivor Series.
United States Champion and WWE Champion (2004–2005)
Cena, wearing his customized U.S. Championship belt

In early 2004, Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2004 Royal Rumble, making it to the final six before being eliminated by Big Show. The Royal Rumble elimination led to a feud with Big Show, which Cena won the United States Championship from Big Show at WrestleMania XX. During his reign, Cena came into contention with SmackDown General Manager Kurt Angle over issues arising with René Duprée and Torrie Wilson. The reign ended almost four months later, when he was stripped of the belt on July 8 by Angle after he (kayfabe, accidentally) knocked him over, thus attacking an official. Cena won the championship back defeating Booker T in a best of five series that culminated at No Mercy, only to lose it to the debuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the next week. After the loss to Carlito, the duo began a feud, which Cena was kayfabe stabbed in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús. This worked injury was used to keep Cena out of action for a month, while Cena was filming The Marine. Immediately on his return in November, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito debuting a "custom made" spinner-style championship belt.

Cena took part in the 2005 Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. Cena and Raw brand wrestler Batista went over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match. Vince McMahon, however, appeared on stage and re-started the match in sudden death rules, with Batista eventually eliminating Cena. The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown brand's WrestleMania 21 main event match, beginning a feud with WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost his US belt to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan, who proceeded to "blow up" the spinner championship with JBL and returning a more traditional style belt. Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania winning the WWE Championship, giving Cena his first world championship. Cena then had a spinner WWE Championship belt made, while JBL took the original belt and claimed to still be WWE Champion, until Cena reclaimed the original belt in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day.

Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6, 2005, becoming the first wrestler selected by General Manager Eric Bischoff in the annual draft lottery. Cena immediately entered a feud with Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at One Night Stand. With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him. During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the fan favorite and Jericho as the villain, a vocal section of live crowds, nonetheless, were booing Cena during their matches. More crowds followed suit during Cena's next feud with Kurt Angle, who took over as Bischoff's hand-picked number-one contender after Cena defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 Raw. As the feud continued and the dissenters grew more vocal, sometimes seeming to outnumber fans by wide margins, the announce team was forced to acknowledge the booing on television and began calling Cena a "controversial champion", claiming some people disliking him on account of his "in-ring style" and his chosen fashion. Despite the mixed and negative reactions, Cena held on to his championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification — which titles do not change hands in WWE — at Unforgiven and pinning him at Survivor Series. The feud with Angle also saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver – the STFU (a Stepover Toehold Sleeper, though named for a Stepover Toehold Facelock) – when he was put into a Triple Threat Submissions Only match on the November 28 Raw.
Various feuds and injury (2006–2007)
Cena facing off against Edge at a WWE house show.

Cena lost the WWE Championship at New Year's Revolution, but not in the Elimination Chamber match that he had been advertised to participate in beforehand. Instead, immediately after winning the Elimination Chamber, he was forced into a match against Edge, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract — a "guaranteed title match for the WWE Champion at a time and place of the owners choosing." After two quick spears pinned Cena, winning the championship. Three weeks later, Cena won the championship back at the Royal Rumble. After winning the championship, Cena began feuding with Triple H, which the crowd began booing Cena and cheering the intended Triple H. The negative reaction intensified when facing Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand. Taking place in front of a crowd of mostly "old school" ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom, Cena was met with raucous jeering and chants of "fudge you, Cena", "You can't wrestle", and "Same old sheesh". When he began performing different moves into the match, the fans began chanting "You still suck". Cena lost the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, with Van Dam pinning Cena after interference from Edge.
Cena, addressing fans at a Raw show.

In July, after Edge won the championship from Van Dam in a Triple Threat match that also involved Cena, re-ignited the feud between him and Cena from earlier in the year. After Edge went about retaining the title by dubious means — getting himself disqualified (for which Championships do not change hands) and using brass knuckles — he introduced his own version of Cena's "custom" belt, this one with his logo placed on the spinner. Cena eventually won the championship back in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Unforgiven. The match had an added stipulation that had Cena lost he would leave the Raw brand and go to SmackDown. Cena returned his version of the spinner belt on the next night's Raw.

On the heels of his feud with Edge, Cena was placed in an inter-brand angle to determine the "Champion of Champions" — or which was the most dominant champion in WWE's three brands. Cena, the World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, and the ECW World Champion The Big Show engaged in a mini-feud leading to a Triple Threat match at Cyber Sunday, with the viewers voting on which of the three championships would be placed on the line. At the same time, Cena became involved in a storyline with non-wrestler Kevin Federline, when he began appearing on Raw with Johnny Nitro and Melina. After getting into a worked physical altercation with Federline on Raw, Federline appeared at Cyber Sunday to hit Cena with the World Heavyweight Championship during the match, helping King Booker retain his championship. 2006 ended with Cena beginning a feud with the undefeated Umaga over the WWE Championship, while 2007 began with the end of his storyline with Kevin Federline. On the first Raw of the new year, Cena was pinned by Federline with an assist from Umaga, although later in the night he was able to get his hands on Federline performing an FU on him.
Cena putting his hands up meaning "Word Life".

One night after the Royal Rumble, an impromptu team of Cena and Shawn Michaels defeated Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) for the World Tag Team Championship, making Cena a double champion. On the April 2 episode of Raw, after losing a WWE Championship match to Cena at WrestleMania 23, Michaels turned on Cena, costing them the championship in the second of two 10 team battles royals, by throwing Cena over the top rope and eliminating the team. The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) eventually won the match and the championship. For the rest of the month, Cena feuded with Michaels, Orton, and Edge until The Great Khali declared his intentions to challenge for Cena's championship attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders before assaulting Cena himself and stealing the physical belt. For the next two months, Cena feuded with Khali over the championship, eventually becoming the first person in WWE to defeat him by submission at Judgment Day and then by pinfall at One Night Stand. Later that summer, Randy Orton was named the number one contender for the WWE championship, starting a feud between the two. Leading up to SummerSlam, Orton delivered a number of sneak-attacks, performing three RKOs to Cena, but in the actual match, Cena retained the championship. A rematch between the two occurred at Unforgiven, with Orton winning by disqualification after Cena ignored the referee's instructions and continued to beat on him in the corner.

During a match with Mr. Kennedy on the October 1, 2007 episode of Raw, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle while executing a hip toss. Though finishing the match and taking part in the scripted attack by Randy Orton after the match, surgery the following day found that his pectoralis major muscle was torn completely from the bone, estimating at the time to require seven months to a year of rehabilitation. As a result, Cena was stripped of the title in an announcement by Vince McMahon on the next night's episode of ECW, ending what was the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years. Cena's surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Two weeks later, in a video update on WWE.com, Dr. Andrews and Cena's physical trainer both said that he was several weeks ahead of where he was expected to be in his rehabilitation at that time. Despite his injury, Cena attended the annual WWE Tribute to the Troops show filmed at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq on December 7, and aired on December 24
At the 2011 Royal Rumble, John Cena made it to the final five before being eliminated by The Miz, who was not officially a participant in the match. On the January 31 edition of Raw, John Cena was placed in a battle royal with six other superstars to determine who would face The Miz for his WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Cena would lose the battle royal, and as a result of the anonymous general manager's stipulation, he was placed in the Elimination Chamber match that would determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship. At Elimination Chamber, The Miz retained his title against Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Cena won the Elimination Chamber match, thus earning a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XXVII. On the February 21 edition of Raw, Cena rapped on The Rock, the guest host of WrestleMania, in response to some comments against him the week before. The Rock had mocked Cena's colorful shirts by calling him a "big fat bowl of Fruity Pebbles" and his "You Can't See Me" gimmick by referring to it as him playing peek-a-boo. Later that night, by order of the Raw general manager, Cena was placed into a WWE Tag Team Championship match against newly crowned champions Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, with his partner being The Miz. The duo successfully defeated the two members of The Corre, becoming the new Tag Team Champions. They were immediately challenged to a rematch during which The Miz betrayed Cena, resulting in The Corre winning back the Tag Team Championship. On the February 28 edition of Raw, The Rock mocked Cena's rap and continued insulting him, including calling him a "Yabba Dabba bitch", referring to the Fruity Pebbles remark made two weeks before. Cena and The Rock finally met face-to-face on the March 28 edition of Raw, which ended with Cena hitting The Rock with the Attitude Adjustment. On April 3 at WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock cost Cena his match for the WWE Championship against The Miz. The next night on Raw, Cena called out The Rock leading to The Rock challenging Cena to a match at Wrestlemania XXVIII which Cena accepted making it the first time ever that the WrestleMania Main Event had been set a year in advance. The next week, Cena participated in a 5 man gauntlet match to determine the #1 contender to face The Miz at Extreme Rules. Cena was the last to come out against R-Truth. The Miz then interfered in the match, resulting in a disqualification; however, it was then announced that they would both face the latter in a triple threat Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules. However, the following week, John Morrison defeated R-Truth to take his place in the match per the pre match stipulation.
Other media
Film
Cena, with actual Marines, at the premiere of his film The Marine.

WWE Studios, a division of World Wrestling Entertainment which produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first movie — The Marine, which was distributed theatrically by 20th Century Fox America beginning on October 13, 2006. In its first week, the film made approximately $7 million at the United States box office. After ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million. Once the film was released on DVD, it fared better, making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.

His second film, also produced by WWE Studios, was 12 Rounds. Filming began on February 25, 2008 in New Orleans; the film was released on March 27, 2009.

Cena co-starred in his third film produced by WWE Studios, titled Legendary, which was played in selected theaters starting on September 10, 2010, for a limited time, then it was released on DVD on September 28, 2010.

That same year, Cena starred in the children's film Fred: The Movie, a film based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name, where he plays Fred's father. The movie was released on the Nickelodeon channel in September 2010.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2006 The Marine John Triton Lead role
2009 12 Rounds Danny Fisher Lead role
2010 Psych Ewan O'Hara Guest appearance; episode: "You Can't Handle This Episode"
2010 True Jackson, VP Himself Guest appearance; episode: "Pajama Party"
2010 Legendary Mike Chetley
2010 Hannah Montana Himself Guest appearance; episode: "Love That Let's Go"
2010 Fred: The Movie Fred's (imaginary) dad Television film
2011 Blood Brothers Sam Cleary
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc449/MarcoEWR89/Wrestlers/J%20Wrestlers/John_Cena-2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/baby100persent/john-cena-.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/11 at 6:16 am

British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.

Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/23/11 at 6:37 am


Nicely said. The most recent film of his that I saw was "As Good As It Gets." I liked that film.

I still remember watching the 70th Academy Awards in March 1998, when he was nominated for the Best Actor award, for his role in said film. And when he was announced as the winner and walked up to the stage to accept the award, he walked up to the stage in the same manner that he walked on the sidewalk in the film, carefully avoiding all the cracks.

His "AGAIG" costar, Helen Hunt, was nominated for Best Actress in the same film, and also won.


He was in that film with Adam Sandler,I think he played a psychiatrist?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/23/11 at 6:39 am


The person of the day..John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena (pronounced /ˈsiːnə/; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor, rapper, and professional wrestler employed by WWE on its Raw brand.

In WWE, Cena has won sixteen championships in total, including nine World Titles (having won the WWE Championship seven times and the World Heavyweight Championship twice). In addition, Cena has also won the WWE United States Championship three times, and is a four-time Tag Team Champion, having held the World Tag Team Championship twice (once with Shawn Michaels, once with Batista), and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice (once with David Otunga and once with The Miz). Cena also won the 2008 Royal Rumble match, and is a two-time Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner (2009 and 2010).

Cena started his professional wrestling career in 2000, wrestling for Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship. In 2001, Cena signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) where he held the OVW Heavyweight Championship and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino).

Outside of wrestling, Cena has released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at #15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and starred in the feature films The Marine (2006), 12 Rounds (2009), and Legendary (2010). Cena has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punk'd, and Psych. Cena was also a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he made it to the final round before being eliminated, placing third in the overall competition.
Cena made his television debut answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002. Inspired by a speech given by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to the rising stars of the company, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity and almost beat Angle kicking out of his finishing move, the Angle Slam and enduring the ankle lock submission hold. Cena ultimately lost to a hard amateur wrestling-style pin. Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and started feuding with Chris Jericho. In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round. The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain.

Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice performing a freestyle rap. The next week, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming. As the gimmick grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo — dropping the "F" — as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life". Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared"). Buchanan was later replaced by Red Dogg, until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.

For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar, performing weekly "freestyles" challenging him to matches. During the feud, Cena unveiled a new finishing maneuver: the FU, a Fireman's carry powerslam, named to mock Lesnar's F-5. Cena won a number one contenders tournament against Lesnar at Backlash. However, Cena was defeated by Lesnar. At Vengeance Cena lost a singles match against The Undertaker. At the end of the year, Cena became a fan favorite again when he joined Kurt Angle as a member of his team at Survivor Series.
United States Champion and WWE Champion (2004–2005)
Cena, wearing his customized U.S. Championship belt

In early 2004, Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2004 Royal Rumble, making it to the final six before being eliminated by Big Show. The Royal Rumble elimination led to a feud with Big Show, which Cena won the United States Championship from Big Show at WrestleMania XX. During his reign, Cena came into contention with SmackDown General Manager Kurt Angle over issues arising with René Duprée and Torrie Wilson. The reign ended almost four months later, when he was stripped of the belt on July 8 by Angle after he (kayfabe, accidentally) knocked him over, thus attacking an official. Cena won the championship back defeating Booker T in a best of five series that culminated at No Mercy, only to lose it to the debuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the next week. After the loss to Carlito, the duo began a feud, which Cena was kayfabe stabbed in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús. This worked injury was used to keep Cena out of action for a month, while Cena was filming The Marine. Immediately on his return in November, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito debuting a "custom made" spinner-style championship belt.

Cena took part in the 2005 Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. Cena and Raw brand wrestler Batista went over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match. Vince McMahon, however, appeared on stage and re-started the match in sudden death rules, with Batista eventually eliminating Cena. The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown brand's WrestleMania 21 main event match, beginning a feud with WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost his US belt to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan, who proceeded to "blow up" the spinner championship with JBL and returning a more traditional style belt. Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania winning the WWE Championship, giving Cena his first world championship. Cena then had a spinner WWE Championship belt made, while JBL took the original belt and claimed to still be WWE Champion, until Cena reclaimed the original belt in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day.

Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6, 2005, becoming the first wrestler selected by General Manager Eric Bischoff in the annual draft lottery. Cena immediately entered a feud with Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at One Night Stand. With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him. During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the fan favorite and Jericho as the villain, a vocal section of live crowds, nonetheless, were booing Cena during their matches. More crowds followed suit during Cena's next feud with Kurt Angle, who took over as Bischoff's hand-picked number-one contender after Cena defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 Raw. As the feud continued and the dissenters grew more vocal, sometimes seeming to outnumber fans by wide margins, the announce team was forced to acknowledge the booing on television and began calling Cena a "controversial champion", claiming some people disliking him on account of his "in-ring style" and his chosen fashion. Despite the mixed and negative reactions, Cena held on to his championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification — which titles do not change hands in WWE — at Unforgiven and pinning him at Survivor Series. The feud with Angle also saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver – the STFU (a Stepover Toehold Sleeper, though named for a Stepover Toehold Facelock) – when he was put into a Triple Threat Submissions Only match on the November 28 Raw.
Various feuds and injury (2006–2007)
Cena facing off against Edge at a WWE house show.

Cena lost the WWE Championship at New Year's Revolution, but not in the Elimination Chamber match that he had been advertised to participate in beforehand. Instead, immediately after winning the Elimination Chamber, he was forced into a match against Edge, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract — a "guaranteed title match for the WWE Champion at a time and place of the owners choosing." After two quick spears pinned Cena, winning the championship. Three weeks later, Cena won the championship back at the Royal Rumble. After winning the championship, Cena began feuding with Triple H, which the crowd began booing Cena and cheering the intended Triple H. The negative reaction intensified when facing Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand. Taking place in front of a crowd of mostly "old school" ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom, Cena was met with raucous jeering and chants of "fudge you, Cena", "You can't wrestle", and "Same old sheesh". When he began performing different moves into the match, the fans began chanting "You still suck". Cena lost the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, with Van Dam pinning Cena after interference from Edge.
Cena, addressing fans at a Raw show.

In July, after Edge won the championship from Van Dam in a Triple Threat match that also involved Cena, re-ignited the feud between him and Cena from earlier in the year. After Edge went about retaining the title by dubious means — getting himself disqualified (for which Championships do not change hands) and using brass knuckles — he introduced his own version of Cena's "custom" belt, this one with his logo placed on the spinner. Cena eventually won the championship back in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Unforgiven. The match had an added stipulation that had Cena lost he would leave the Raw brand and go to SmackDown. Cena returned his version of the spinner belt on the next night's Raw.

On the heels of his feud with Edge, Cena was placed in an inter-brand angle to determine the "Champion of Champions" — or which was the most dominant champion in WWE's three brands. Cena, the World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, and the ECW World Champion The Big Show engaged in a mini-feud leading to a Triple Threat match at Cyber Sunday, with the viewers voting on which of the three championships would be placed on the line. At the same time, Cena became involved in a storyline with non-wrestler Kevin Federline, when he began appearing on Raw with Johnny Nitro and Melina. After getting into a worked physical altercation with Federline on Raw, Federline appeared at Cyber Sunday to hit Cena with the World Heavyweight Championship during the match, helping King Booker retain his championship. 2006 ended with Cena beginning a feud with the undefeated Umaga over the WWE Championship, while 2007 began with the end of his storyline with Kevin Federline. On the first Raw of the new year, Cena was pinned by Federline with an assist from Umaga, although later in the night he was able to get his hands on Federline performing an FU on him.
Cena putting his hands up meaning "Word Life".

One night after the Royal Rumble, an impromptu team of Cena and Shawn Michaels defeated Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) for the World Tag Team Championship, making Cena a double champion. On the April 2 episode of Raw, after losing a WWE Championship match to Cena at WrestleMania 23, Michaels turned on Cena, costing them the championship in the second of two 10 team battles royals, by throwing Cena over the top rope and eliminating the team. The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) eventually won the match and the championship. For the rest of the month, Cena feuded with Michaels, Orton, and Edge until The Great Khali declared his intentions to challenge for Cena's championship attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders before assaulting Cena himself and stealing the physical belt. For the next two months, Cena feuded with Khali over the championship, eventually becoming the first person in WWE to defeat him by submission at Judgment Day and then by pinfall at One Night Stand. Later that summer, Randy Orton was named the number one contender for the WWE championship, starting a feud between the two. Leading up to SummerSlam, Orton delivered a number of sneak-attacks, performing three RKOs to Cena, but in the actual match, Cena retained the championship. A rematch between the two occurred at Unforgiven, with Orton winning by disqualification after Cena ignored the referee's instructions and continued to beat on him in the corner.

During a match with Mr. Kennedy on the October 1, 2007 episode of Raw, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle while executing a hip toss. Though finishing the match and taking part in the scripted attack by Randy Orton after the match, surgery the following day found that his pectoralis major muscle was torn completely from the bone, estimating at the time to require seven months to a year of rehabilitation. As a result, Cena was stripped of the title in an announcement by Vince McMahon on the next night's episode of ECW, ending what was the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years. Cena's surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Two weeks later, in a video update on WWE.com, Dr. Andrews and Cena's physical trainer both said that he was several weeks ahead of where he was expected to be in his rehabilitation at that time. Despite his injury, Cena attended the annual WWE Tribute to the Troops show filmed at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq on December 7, and aired on December 24
At the 2011 Royal Rumble, John Cena made it to the final five before being eliminated by The Miz, who was not officially a participant in the match. On the January 31 edition of Raw, John Cena was placed in a battle royal with six other superstars to determine who would face The Miz for his WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Cena would lose the battle royal, and as a result of the anonymous general manager's stipulation, he was placed in the Elimination Chamber match that would determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship. At Elimination Chamber, The Miz retained his title against Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Cena won the Elimination Chamber match, thus earning a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XXVII. On the February 21 edition of Raw, Cena rapped on The Rock, the guest host of WrestleMania, in response to some comments against him the week before. The Rock had mocked Cena's colorful shirts by calling him a "big fat bowl of Fruity Pebbles" and his "You Can't See Me" gimmick by referring to it as him playing peek-a-boo. Later that night, by order of the Raw general manager, Cena was placed into a WWE Tag Team Championship match against newly crowned champions Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, with his partner being The Miz. The duo successfully defeated the two members of The Corre, becoming the new Tag Team Champions. They were immediately challenged to a rematch during which The Miz betrayed Cena, resulting in The Corre winning back the Tag Team Championship. On the February 28 edition of Raw, The Rock mocked Cena's rap and continued insulting him, including calling him a "Yabba Dabba bitch", referring to the Fruity Pebbles remark made two weeks before. Cena and The Rock finally met face-to-face on the March 28 edition of Raw, which ended with Cena hitting The Rock with the Attitude Adjustment. On April 3 at WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock cost Cena his match for the WWE Championship against The Miz. The next night on Raw, Cena called out The Rock leading to The Rock challenging Cena to a match at Wrestlemania XXVIII which Cena accepted making it the first time ever that the WrestleMania Main Event had been set a year in advance. The next week, Cena participated in a 5 man gauntlet match to determine the #1 contender to face The Miz at Extreme Rules. Cena was the last to come out against R-Truth. The Miz then interfered in the match, resulting in a disqualification; however, it was then announced that they would both face the latter in a triple threat Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules. However, the following week, John Morrison defeated R-Truth to take his place in the match per the pre match stipulation.
Other media
Film
Cena, with actual Marines, at the premiere of his film The Marine.

WWE Studios, a division of World Wrestling Entertainment which produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first movie — The Marine, which was distributed theatrically by 20th Century Fox America beginning on October 13, 2006. In its first week, the film made approximately $7 million at the United States box office. After ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million. Once the film was released on DVD, it fared better, making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.

His second film, also produced by WWE Studios, was 12 Rounds. Filming began on February 25, 2008 in New Orleans; the film was released on March 27, 2009.

Cena co-starred in his third film produced by WWE Studios, titled Legendary, which was played in selected theaters starting on September 10, 2010, for a limited time, then it was released on DVD on September 28, 2010.

That same year, Cena starred in the children's film Fred: The Movie, a film based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name, where he plays Fred's father. The movie was released on the Nickelodeon channel in September 2010.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2006 The Marine John Triton Lead role
2009 12 Rounds Danny Fisher Lead role
2010 Psych Ewan O'Hara Guest appearance; episode: "You Can't Handle This Episode"
2010 True Jackson, VP Himself Guest appearance; episode: "Pajama Party"
2010 Legendary Mike Chetley
2010 Hannah Montana Himself Guest appearance; episode: "Love That Let's Go"
2010 Fred: The Movie Fred's (imaginary) dad Television film
2011 Blood Brothers Sam Cleary
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc449/MarcoEWR89/Wrestlers/J%20Wrestlers/John_Cena-2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/baby100persent/john-cena-.jpg


Loved by most hated by many.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/23/11 at 6:42 am

http://newdesktopwallpapers.info/WWE%20Wallpapers%202/John%20Cena%20You%20Can%27t%20See%20Me.jpg

Hey Ninny,you can't see me!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/23/11 at 10:39 am

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me—
nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/24/11 at 5:03 am

The person of the day...Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand (pronounced /ˈstraɪsænd/; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

She is one of the most commercially and critically successful entertainers in modern entertainment history, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best-selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list, the only female recording artist in the top ten, and the only artist outside of the rock and roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an acting Oscar and also recording a number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most top ten albums of any female recording artist - a total of 31 since 1963. Streisand has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest top ten albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became one of the only artists to achieve number-one albums in five consecutive decades. According to the RIAA, she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States
Streisand has recorded 35 studio albums, almost all with Columbia Records. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut The Barbra Streisand Album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theater and cabaret standards, including her slow version of the normally uptempo Happy Days Are Here Again. She performed this in a duet with Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show. Garland referred to her on the air as one of the last great belters. They also sang There's No Business Like Show Business with Ethel Merman joining them.

Beginning with My Name Is Barbra, her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.
Barbra Streisand (1973)

During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent on the pop charts, with Top 10 recordings such as The Way We Were (US No. 1), Evergreen (US No. 1), No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (1979, with Donna Summer), which as of 2010 is reportedly still the most commercially successful duet,(US No. 1), You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond) (US No. 1) and The Main Event (US No. 3), some of which came from soundtrack recordings of her films. As the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S.—only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had sold more albums. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.

After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted No. 1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for album of the year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released, the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.

The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at No. 1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the No. 2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love/One Hand, One Heart, a duet with Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.

In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century." In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century." The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top-grossing concert of the year and earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, while the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history. Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on acting and directing duties as well as a burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin.

In 1997, she finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Celine Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts. Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, with the highest-grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number-one female singer in the U.S., with at least two No. 1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A two-disc live album of the concert entitled Timeless: Live in Concert was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in early 2000. In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

Streisand's most-recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous film themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th birthday album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opened the special. In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with a featured stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.

Streisand's 20-concert tour set box-office records. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006, show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999, show being the house record and the highest-grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.

A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.

In February 2008, Forbes listed Streisand as the No. 2 earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has deepened over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century. Streisand is a contralto or possibly a mezzo-soprano who has a range consisting of well over two octaves from “low E to a high G and probably a bit more that in either direction.” On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what would be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album. Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.

On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, Streisand: Live In Concert, highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On September 26, 2009, Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village. This performance was later released on DVD as One Night Only Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard. On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album, Love is the Answer. produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut with an interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross to promote the album. This album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and registered her biggest weekly sales since 1997, making Streisand the only artist in history to achieve No. 1 albums in five different decades.

On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World." Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti," made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.

Streisand was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on February 11, 2011, two days prior to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Streisand is one of many singers who uses teleprompters during their live performances. Streisand has defended her choice in using teleprompters to display lyrics and, sometimes, banter.
Film career
in Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the only time there has been a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, directed by Gene Kelly (1969), and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).

During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976.

Along with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier and later Steve McQueen, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969, so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).

From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in six films since.

Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. The Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand also scripted "Yentl", something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written 'Yentl'."

In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.

In 2005, Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith, and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. In December 2008, she stated that she was considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, a project she has worked on since the mid-1990s In 2009, Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand was one of several actresses (alongside Meryl Streep and Glenn Close) who were interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard

In December 2010, Streisand appeared in Little Fockers, the third film from the Meet the Parents trilogy. She reprised the role of Roz Focker alongside Dustin Hoffman.

On 4 January 2011, the New York Post reported that Streisand was in negotiations to produce, direct, and star in a new film version of Gypsy. In an interview with the New York Post, Arthur Laurents said: "We've talked about it a lot, and she knows what she's doing. She has my approval." He said that he would not write the screenplay. The following day, the New York Times reported that Arthur Laurents clarified in a telephonic interview that Streisand would not direct the film "but playing Rose is enough to make her happy." Streisand's spokesperson confirmed that "there have been conversations".

On 28 January 2011, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Paramount Pictures has given the road-trip comedy, My Mother's Curse, the green light to begin shooting, with Streisand and Seth Rogen playing mother and son. Anne Fletcher is slated to direct the project with a script by Dan Fogelman. Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn will produce it with Evan Goldberg. Executive producers include Streisand, Rogen, Fogelman, and David Ellison, whose Skydance will co-finance the pic. Shooting is expected to begin in the spring of 2011.
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab313/LaurenStreisandStreep/Barbra%20Streisand/BarbraStreisand8.jpg
http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab313/LaurenStreisandStreep/Barbra%20Streisand/BarbraStreisand22.jpg


* There is more on Barbra in Wikipedia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/11 at 7:00 am

http://i2.listal.com/image/871926/500full.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/11 at 7:08 am

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ZpajGH5H0Bxq1M:

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/11 at 7:14 am


http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ZpajGH5H0Bxq1M:



She played a good character.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/11 at 7:15 am



She played a good character.
It is one film I have started to watch, but was interrupted and never saw the end.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/11 at 7:16 am

I also like her in Fockers

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/11 at 7:17 am


I also like her in Fockers
Another film I have missed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/24/11 at 7:18 am


Another film I have missed.


She's pretty funny in those films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/24/11 at 11:25 am


Another film I have missed.



I missed that one, too.


She is really extremely talented. She can do comedy & drama. I love the movie What's Up, Doc? And of course Hello Dolly.



Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/11 at 11:26 am

British Person of the Day: Paula Yates

Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960  – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television  programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.

Early life

Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.

In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.

Career

Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.

In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".

After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.

Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".

Personal life

Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof  on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.

Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.

Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.

On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide.  She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."

Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.

While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.

In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.

Death

On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.

Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.

In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg

http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/25/11 at 6:12 am

The person of the day..Renee Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire (1996), and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) (which she reprised in its sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)), and as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago (2002). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Cold Mountain (2003).

She has won three Golden Globe Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, was named Hasty Pudding's Woman of the Year in 2009, and established herself as one of the highest-paid Hollywood actresses as of 2007
While still in Texas, Zellweger appeared in several films. One was A Taste for Killing (1992), followed by a role in the ABC miniseries Murder in the Heartland (1993). The following year, she appeared in Reality Bites (1994), the directorial debut of Ben Stiller, and in the biographical film 8 Seconds, directed by John G. Avildsen.

Zellweger's first main part in a movie came with the 1994 horror story Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, alongside Matthew McConaughey. She played Jenny, a teenager who leaves a prom early with three friends and ended up getting into a car accident, which leads to their meeting a murderous family. Her next movie was Love and a .45 (1994), in which she played the role of Starlene Cheatham, a woman who plans a robbery with her boyfriend. The performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. She subsequently moved to Los Angeles, winning roles in the films Empire Records (1995) and The Whole Wide World (1996). Zellweger first became widely known to audiences around the world with Jerry Maguire (1996), in which she played the romantic interest of Tom Cruise's character.

Zellweger later won acclaim in One True Thing (1998) opposite William Hurt and Meryl Streep, and in Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty opposite Morgan Freeman. The role garnered the actress her first of three Golden Globe Awards, but she was in the bathroom when future co-star Hugh Grant announced her name. Zellweger later protested: "I had lipstick on my teeth!"
Critical success

In 2001, Zellweger gained the prized lead role as Bridget Jones, playing alongside Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, in the British romantic comedy film Bridget Jones's Diary, based on the 1996 novel Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. The choice came amid much controversy since she was neither British nor overweight. During casting Zellweger was told she was too skinny to play the chubby Bridget, so she quickly embarked on gaining the required weight and learning an English accent. She gained 20 pounds in order to complete her transformation to Bridget Jones. Her dramatic weight fluctuations became the subject of much media interest. Her performance as Bridget received praise from critics, with Stephen Holden of The New York Times commenting, "Ms. Zellweger accomplishes the small miracle of making Bridget both entirely endearing and utterly real." Along with receiving voice coaching to fine-tune her English accent, part of Zellweger's preparations involved spending three weeks working undercover in a "work experience placement" for British publishing firm Picador in Victoria, London. As a result of her considerable efforts to effect author Helen Fielding's character, Zellweger caught the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and won her first Best Actress Academy Award nomination.

In 2002, she starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander. She played an actress in the film, and a clip from her role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation was shown as she discussed her career with the main character, Astrid Magnussen. The same year, she appeared as Roxie Hart in the critically acclaimed musical film Chicago, directed by Rob Marshall, co-starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Zellweger received positive reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle's web site SFGate commented, "Zellweger is a joy to watch, with marvelous comic timing and, in her stage numbers, a commanding presence." The Washington Post noted that even though Zellweger couldn't dance well in real life, the audience "wouldn't know it from this movie, in which she dances up a storm." As a result, she earned her second Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award.
2003–present
Zellweger at the Harvard Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Parade in February 2009.

In 2004, Zellweger received an Academy Award, this time as Best Supporting Actress in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain opposite Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Zellweger has since starred in the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, lent her voice to the DreamWorks animated features Shark Tale and Bee Movie, and starred in the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella Man opposite Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti. On May 24, 2005, Zellweger received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She produced and appeared in Miss Potter, based on the life story of acclaimed author Beatrix Potter, with Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, released in December 2006. In 2008, she starred in the western Appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen and the period comedy Leatherheads with fellow Oscar-winner George Clooney.

In 2008, she produced a film starring Harry Connick, Jr., about the true story of Dr. Denny Slamon. The film, called Living Proof, premiered in October 2008 on Lifetime Television. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron produced.

In 2009, she starred alongside Chris Noth and Kevin Bacon in the feature film My One and Only, as well as in the film New in Town, a comedy about a corporate executive from Miami who is sent to New Ulm, Minnesota, to oversee a small manufacturing company making minimal profits producing and selling pudding. She also had a cameo role in the animated film Monsters vs. Aliens.

Renee has expressed a strong interest in reprising her role as Bridget Jones in the planned third installment of the "Bridget Jones" film series.
Personal life

In 2002, Zellweger bought a US$6.8 million home in Bel Air, then sold her previous home in the Hollywood Hills, bought for US$1.9 million in 2000. Due to the constant attention from the paparazzi, she purchased a home in Connecticut and moved there in 2005. She claims she rarely spends time there, and keeps a small apartment in New York where she "stops over" to do laundry before moving on to her next film. In January 2007, she admitted that she gets scared at home alone due to security problems and fans who send or leave mail at her homes; she said that she considered buying a gun for reasons of personal security.
Relationships

Her first high-profile romance was with actor/comedian Jim Carrey. The relationship ended in December 2000. The two were rumored to have been engaged, but Zellweger frequently denied this claim. Zellweger poked fun at the prior relationship when she ended her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live by reading an entry from her own "diary", marked "Dear Diary, I can't believe I am dating Jim Carrey."

For two years, Zellweger dated The White Stripes singer Jack White. The pair met while filming Cold Mountain, and later began dating after the film wrapped. They broke up two years later, after schedule demands kept them apart. Friends said the split was amicable.

On May 9, 2005, Zellweger married singer Kenny Chesney in a ceremony at the island of St. John. They had met in January at a tsunami relief benefit concert. Zellweger missed out on the engagement ring since the wedding was planned over a short span of time. On September 15, 2005, after only four months of marriage, they announced their plans for an annulment. Zellweger cited "fraud" as the reason in the related papers. After media scrutiny of her use of the word "fraud", she qualified the use of the term, stating it was "simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny's character. I would personally be very grateful for your support in refraining from drawing derogatory, hurtful, sensationalized or untrue conclusions. We hope to experience this transition as privately as possible." The annulment was finalized in late December 2005.

In September 2010, it was reported that Zellweger and actor Bradley Cooper had been in a relationship for over a year. On March 18, 2011, People Magazine announced that the two had broken off their relationship.
Activism

Zellweger and Marc Forster took part in the 2005 HIV prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department.
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1992 Taste for Killing, AA Taste for Killing Mary Lou Television film
1993 Murder in the Heartland Barbara Von Busch Television film
1993 My Boyfriend's Back Uncredited
1993 Dazed and Confused Nesi White Uncredited
1994 Reality Bites Tami
1994 8 Seconds Prescott Buckle Bunny Cameo
1994 Shake, Rattle and Rock! Susan Doyle
1994 Love and a .45 Starlene Cheatham Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance
1994 Rebel Highway Susan
1994 Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation Jenny
1995 Empire Records Gina
1995 Low Life, TheThe Low Life Poet
1996 Whole Wide World, TheThe Whole Wide World Novalyne Price Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
1996 Jerry Maguire Dorothy Boyd

    * Broadcast Film Critics Association for Breakthrough Artist
    * National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance
    * Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
    * Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture

1997 Deceiver Elizabeth
1998 Price Above Rubies, AA Price Above Rubies Sonia Horowitz
1998 One True Thing Ellen Gulden
1999 Bachelor, TheThe Bachelor Anne Arden
2000 Nurse Betty Betty Sizemore

    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture
    * Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

2000 Me, Myself & Irene Irene P. Waters
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary Bridget Jones

    * Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    * Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture

2002 White Oleander Claire Richards Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2002 Chicago Roxie Hart

    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
    * Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    * Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast

2003 Down with Love Barbara Novak
2003 Cold Mountain Ruby Thewes

    * Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
    * San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress

2004 Shark Tale Angie
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Bridget Jones Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2005 Cinderella Man Mae Braddock Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress
2006 Miss Potter Beatrix Potter

    * Also executive producer
    * Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress

2007 Bee Movie Vanessa Bloom
2008 Leatherheads Lexi Littleton
2008 Appaloosa Allie French
2009 New in Town Lucy Hill
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Katie
2009 My One and Only Anne Deveraux
2009 Case 39 Emily Jenkins
2010 My Own Love Song Jane
TBA Bridget Jones 3 Bridget Jones
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z229/Swinging_Sixties/Pics%20-%20People/ReneeZellweger.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu342/jones_jeffrey89/New%20Album5/ReneeZellweger.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/25/11 at 6:17 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlz22hJcwUw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/25/11 at 7:07 am


The person of the day..Renee Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire (1996), and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) (which she reprised in its sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)), and as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago (2002). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Cold Mountain (2003).

She has won three Golden Globe Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, was named Hasty Pudding's Woman of the Year in 2009, and established herself as one of the highest-paid Hollywood actresses as of 2007
While still in Texas, Zellweger appeared in several films. One was A Taste for Killing (1992), followed by a role in the ABC miniseries Murder in the Heartland (1993). The following year, she appeared in Reality Bites (1994), the directorial debut of Ben Stiller, and in the biographical film 8 Seconds, directed by John G. Avildsen.

Zellweger's first main part in a movie came with the 1994 horror story Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, alongside Matthew McConaughey. She played Jenny, a teenager who leaves a prom early with three friends and ended up getting into a car accident, which leads to their meeting a murderous family. Her next movie was Love and a .45 (1994), in which she played the role of Starlene Cheatham, a woman who plans a robbery with her boyfriend. The performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. She subsequently moved to Los Angeles, winning roles in the films Empire Records (1995) and The Whole Wide World (1996). Zellweger first became widely known to audiences around the world with Jerry Maguire (1996), in which she played the romantic interest of Tom Cruise's character.

Zellweger later won acclaim in One True Thing (1998) opposite William Hurt and Meryl Streep, and in Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty opposite Morgan Freeman. The role garnered the actress her first of three Golden Globe Awards, but she was in the bathroom when future co-star Hugh Grant announced her name. Zellweger later protested: "I had lipstick on my teeth!"
Critical success

In 2001, Zellweger gained the prized lead role as Bridget Jones, playing alongside Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, in the British romantic comedy film Bridget Jones's Diary, based on the 1996 novel Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. The choice came amid much controversy since she was neither British nor overweight. During casting Zellweger was told she was too skinny to play the chubby Bridget, so she quickly embarked on gaining the required weight and learning an English accent. She gained 20 pounds in order to complete her transformation to Bridget Jones. Her dramatic weight fluctuations became the subject of much media interest. Her performance as Bridget received praise from critics, with Stephen Holden of The New York Times commenting, "Ms. Zellweger accomplishes the small miracle of making Bridget both entirely endearing and utterly real." Along with receiving voice coaching to fine-tune her English accent, part of Zellweger's preparations involved spending three weeks working undercover in a "work experience placement" for British publishing firm Picador in Victoria, London. As a result of her considerable efforts to effect author Helen Fielding's character, Zellweger caught the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and won her first Best Actress Academy Award nomination.

In 2002, she starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander. She played an actress in the film, and a clip from her role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation was shown as she discussed her career with the main character, Astrid Magnussen. The same year, she appeared as Roxie Hart in the critically acclaimed musical film Chicago, directed by Rob Marshall, co-starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Zellweger received positive reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle's web site SFGate commented, "Zellweger is a joy to watch, with marvelous comic timing and, in her stage numbers, a commanding presence." The Washington Post noted that even though Zellweger couldn't dance well in real life, the audience "wouldn't know it from this movie, in which she dances up a storm." As a result, she earned her second Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award.
2003–present
Zellweger at the Harvard Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Parade in February 2009.

In 2004, Zellweger received an Academy Award, this time as Best Supporting Actress in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain opposite Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Zellweger has since starred in the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, lent her voice to the DreamWorks animated features Shark Tale and Bee Movie, and starred in the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella Man opposite Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti. On May 24, 2005, Zellweger received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She produced and appeared in Miss Potter, based on the life story of acclaimed author Beatrix Potter, with Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, released in December 2006. In 2008, she starred in the western Appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen and the period comedy Leatherheads with fellow Oscar-winner George Clooney.

In 2008, she produced a film starring Harry Connick, Jr., about the true story of Dr. Denny Slamon. The film, called Living Proof, premiered in October 2008 on Lifetime Television. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron produced.

In 2009, she starred alongside Chris Noth and Kevin Bacon in the feature film My One and Only, as well as in the film New in Town, a comedy about a corporate executive from Miami who is sent to New Ulm, Minnesota, to oversee a small manufacturing company making minimal profits producing and selling pudding. She also had a cameo role in the animated film Monsters vs. Aliens.

Renee has expressed a strong interest in reprising her role as Bridget Jones in the planned third installment of the "Bridget Jones" film series.
Personal life

In 2002, Zellweger bought a US$6.8 million home in Bel Air, then sold her previous home in the Hollywood Hills, bought for US$1.9 million in 2000. Due to the constant attention from the paparazzi, she purchased a home in Connecticut and moved there in 2005. She claims she rarely spends time there, and keeps a small apartment in New York where she "stops over" to do laundry before moving on to her next film. In January 2007, she admitted that she gets scared at home alone due to security problems and fans who send or leave mail at her homes; she said that she considered buying a gun for reasons of personal security.
Relationships

Her first high-profile romance was with actor/comedian Jim Carrey. The relationship ended in December 2000. The two were rumored to have been engaged, but Zellweger frequently denied this claim. Zellweger poked fun at the prior relationship when she ended her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live by reading an entry from her own "diary", marked "Dear Diary, I can't believe I am dating Jim Carrey."

For two years, Zellweger dated The White Stripes singer Jack White. The pair met while filming Cold Mountain, and later began dating after the film wrapped. They broke up two years later, after schedule demands kept them apart. Friends said the split was amicable.

On May 9, 2005, Zellweger married singer Kenny Chesney in a ceremony at the island of St. John. They had met in January at a tsunami relief benefit concert. Zellweger missed out on the engagement ring since the wedding was planned over a short span of time. On September 15, 2005, after only four months of marriage, they announced their plans for an annulment. Zellweger cited "fraud" as the reason in the related papers. After media scrutiny of her use of the word "fraud", she qualified the use of the term, stating it was "simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny's character. I would personally be very grateful for your support in refraining from drawing derogatory, hurtful, sensationalized or untrue conclusions. We hope to experience this transition as privately as possible." The annulment was finalized in late December 2005.

In September 2010, it was reported that Zellweger and actor Bradley Cooper had been in a relationship for over a year. On March 18, 2011, People Magazine announced that the two had broken off their relationship.
Activism

Zellweger and Marc Forster took part in the 2005 HIV prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department.
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1992 Taste for Killing, AA Taste for Killing Mary Lou Television film
1993 Murder in the Heartland Barbara Von Busch Television film
1993 My Boyfriend's Back Uncredited
1993 Dazed and Confused Nesi White Uncredited
1994 Reality Bites Tami
1994 8 Seconds Prescott Buckle Bunny Cameo
1994 Shake, Rattle and Rock! Susan Doyle
1994 Love and a .45 Starlene Cheatham Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance
1994 Rebel Highway Susan
1994 Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation Jenny
1995 Empire Records Gina
1995 Low Life, TheThe Low Life Poet
1996 Whole Wide World, TheThe Whole Wide World Novalyne Price Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
1996 Jerry Maguire Dorothy Boyd

    * Broadcast Film Critics Association for Breakthrough Artist
    * National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance
    * Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
    * Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture

1997 Deceiver Elizabeth
1998 Price Above Rubies, AA Price Above Rubies Sonia Horowitz
1998 One True Thing Ellen Gulden
1999 Bachelor, TheThe Bachelor Anne Arden
2000 Nurse Betty Betty Sizemore

    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture
    * Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

2000 Me, Myself & Irene Irene P. Waters
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary Bridget Jones

    * Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    * Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture

2002 White Oleander Claire Richards Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2002 Chicago Roxie Hart

    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
    * Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    * Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
    * Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast

2003 Down with Love Barbara Novak
2003 Cold Mountain Ruby Thewes

    * Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
    * San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    * Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress

2004 Shark Tale Angie
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Bridget Jones Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2005 Cinderella Man Mae Braddock Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress
2006 Miss Potter Beatrix Potter

    * Also executive producer
    * Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress

2007 Bee Movie Vanessa Bloom
2008 Leatherheads Lexi Littleton
2008 Appaloosa Allie French
2009 New in Town Lucy Hill
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Katie
2009 My One and Only Anne Deveraux
2009 Case 39 Emily Jenkins
2010 My Own Love Song Jane
TBA Bridget Jones 3 Bridget Jones
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z229/Swinging_Sixties/Pics%20-%20People/ReneeZellweger.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu342/jones_jeffrey89/New%20Album5/ReneeZellweger.png


I like Renee Zellweger,She's a cool actress.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/25/11 at 11:29 am



I missed that one, too.


She is really extremely talented. She can do comedy & drama. I love the movie What's Up, Doc? And of course Hello Dolly.



Cat




She certainly is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/26/11 at 6:01 am

The person of the day...Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show which combined comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from film parodies to character pieces. Burnett created many endearing characters during the show's television run.
The hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the 9th season), Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a young Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make. She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes and the rest is history.

Burnett became known for her acting and talent, and for ending each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to her grandmother who had raised her. This was done to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her.

A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers through parodies of films ("Went With the Wind" as a parody of Gone With the Wind), television ("As the Stomach Turns" parodying of the soap opera As the World Turns) and commercials. Burnett and team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.

The show also became known for its closing theme song, with the following lyrics:

    I'm so glad we had this time together
    Just to have a laugh or sing a song
    Seems we just get started and before you know it
    Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'

During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. During a biography on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"

The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show, to date. It continues to have success in syndicated reruns. She was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."
Other roles

Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.

Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password, an association she maintained until the early 1980s. She was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series, Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's "The Family" sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. She returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You, playing Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).

Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds) and causing trouble for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo appearance as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005 episode which celebrated the show's 35th anniversary.

In 2008, she had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan. In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. In November 2010, she guest starred on an episode of Glee as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester's mother.
Personal life

The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was idea of spacious."

She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer. On November 24, 2001, she married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.

In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother, and Michele Pawk as Burnett's mother Louise. Pawk went on to receive the 2003 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.
Lawsuits

Burnett drew attention in 1981, when she sued the tabloid newspaper National Enquirer for libel after the Enquirer described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case, Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc., was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal. She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "cab fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.

In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her charwoman character in an episode of Family Guy. On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge. The judge used Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as the general basis for the decision.
Awards and recognition
Emmy Awards
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6439 Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre (below), where she was once fired from a job as an usherette. At the time, it was known as the Warner Hollywood Theatre.
Hollywood Pacific Theater 2010.JPG

    * 1962 – Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
    * 1963 – Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
    * 1969, 1970, 1971 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
    * 1972 – Outstanding Variety Series – Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
    * 1972 – Nominated for Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Musical – Variety and Popular Music, Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center
    * 1973 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
    * 1974 – Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
    * 1974 – Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
    * 1975 – Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
    * 1976, 1977, 1978 – Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
    * 1977 – Nominated for Outstanding Special – Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
    * 1979 – Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
    * 1983 – Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
    * 1993 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
    * 1995 – Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
    * 1997 – Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
    * 1998 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
    * 2002 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
    * 2009 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1968 – Best TV Star – Female, The Carol Burnett Show
    * 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 – Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
    * 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 – Nominated for Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
    * 1973 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
    * 1979 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
    * 1982 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
    * 1983 – Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical, Annie
    * 1983 – Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
    * 1991 – Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company

Tony Awards

    * 1969 – Special Award (for "her charitable work . . . From her roots in the theatre, she has drawn upon her experience to create a very special rapport with audiences in another medium -- television -- and she has widened the theatrical horizons of her viewers.")

Other

    * Burnett received a Peabody Award in 1962.
    * She was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors.
    * President George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.
    * She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
    * She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
    * On December 1, 2009, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
    * Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.

Work
Television

    * The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
    * Stanley (1956–1957)
    * Omnibus (October 1956)
    * The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
    * Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
    * The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode "Cavender Is Coming" – 1962)
    * An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
    * Calamity Jane (1963)
    * Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
    * The Entertainers (1964–1965)
    * The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
    * Carol + 2 (1967)
    * Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
    * The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
    * The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
    * Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
    * Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
    * 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
    * Out to Lunch (1974)
    * Twigs (1975)
    * Cher (1975)
    * Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
    * All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, and 2005)
    * Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
    * The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
    * Friendly Fire (1979)
    * Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
    * The Tenth Month (1979)
    * Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
    * Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice' (1982)
    * Between Friends (1983)
    * Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
    * Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
    * Magnum, P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
    * The Laundromat (1985)
    * Follies in Concert (1986)
    * Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
    * Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
    * Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
    * Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
    * Hostage (1988)
    * Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
    * Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
    * The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
    * The Larry Sanders Show (1992) - episode The Spider Episode
    * The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
    * Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
    * Seasons of the Heart (1994)
    * Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
    * Mad About You (Theresa Stemple, 1996–1999)
    * Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
    * The Marriage Fool (1998)
    * Putting It Together (2000)
    * Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
    * The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
    * Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
    * Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
    * American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
    * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance)
    * The Bonnie Hunt Show (2010) (Special guest)
    * Glee (2010) (Special guest star)

Filmography

    * Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
    * Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
    * Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
    * Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
    * The Front Page (1974)
    * A Wedding (1978)
    * Health (1980)
    * The Four Seasons (1981)
    * Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
    * Annie (1982)
    * Noises Off... (1992)
    * Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
    * Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
    * The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
    * Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
    * Once Upon A Mattress (2005)
    * Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
    * Post Grad (2009)

Stage

    * Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
    * Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
    * Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
    * Putting It Together (1999)
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373/SaturnMauve/Celebs/CarolBurnett2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/26/11 at 6:54 am

I always loved The Carol Burnett show back in the 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/26/11 at 12:12 pm

The Carol Burnett Show was my absolute favorite when it was on. That was one of the shows that I HAD to watch.

We had the album Julie & Carol at Carnegie Hall  (Carol Burnett & Julie Andrews) My sister & I put on the album on and I was Carol & she was Julie. This is one act from that performance (not with my sister & me, but with Carol & Julie lol).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B7LZkJtFo



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/11 at 5:24 am

The person of the day...Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr; 27 April 1959) is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.

Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop hits "9 to 5" — known as "Morning Train" in the United States — and "For Your Eyes Only", "Strut", "Sugar Walls", "U Got the Look" with Prince, and "The Lover in Me". She went on to become successful in the United States and Japan, working with prominent vocalists and producers, such as Prince, Kenny Rogers, Luis Miguel, L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Nile Rodgers.
Her first single, the disco-tinged soft-synth-pop tune "Modern Girl", was released in the UK before the show aired and reached #56. At the end of the show, Easton was still unsure of her future as a singer. The question was soon resolved when, after the show aired, her second single, "9 to 5", reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1980. "Modern Girl" re-entered the chart subsequently and climbed into the top 10, and Easton found herself with two songs in the top 10 simultaneously. Sheena was voted Best British Female Singer by the Daily Mirror Pop & Rock Awards in 1980, "Best Newcomer" 1980 by Capital Radio, and "Best Female Singer" 1980 by the TV Times Readers Awards.

"9 to 5" was Easton's first single release in the United States, although it was renamed "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" for its release in the U.S. and Canada to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's hit movie title song "9 to 5". "Morning Train" became Easton's first and only #1 hit in the U.S. and topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in Billboard magazine. "Modern Girl" was released as the follow-up and peaked at #18, and before 1981 was over Sheena had a top 10 hit in both the U.S. and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme For Your Eyes Only. The song was nominated for the "Best Female Vocal Performance" in 1981 and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1982. Easton's U.S. success culminated in her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1981.

Easton's first three U.S. albums, Sheena Easton, You Could Have Been With Me, and Madness, Money and Music, were all in the same Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary pop vein (although she made a grab for the new wave audience with "Machinery", from the latter album). The title track from You Could Have Been With Me went Top 15 U.S., however, by the end of 1982, she saw her sales slumping.

In 1983, she released the album Best Kept Secret and its first single, the synthesized dance-pop tune "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" became her fourth top 10 hit. The single "Telefone" was Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983. That year, she also had a top-10 hit in the USA with "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Kenny Rogers a cover of the Bob Seger song also earning a #1 single on the country chart (also reaching the top 30 in the British charts). The follow-up to "Telefone", "Almost Over You", was a #4 AC chart hit and Top 30 pop hit, and later became a hit on the country charts for Lila McCann in 1998.

In 1983, Easton recorded a Spanish-language single, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" ("I Like You Just the Way You Are"), a duet with Mexican star Luis Miguel. The single earned her a second Grammy, this time for Best Mexican-American Performance. The track was taken from the album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti, which featured Spanish-language covers of seven previous Easton recordings and three new tracks. The disc went gold in many Spanish-speaking countries.

In 1984, she collaborated with Prince and made a transformation into a sexy dance-pop siren. She was rewarded with the biggest-selling U.S. album of her career, RIAA certified platinum A Private Heaven, and her fifth top 10 single, "Strut". Easton was again Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1984. She was also one of the first artists to have a music video banned because of its lyrics rather than its imagery. Some broadcasters refused to air the sexually risqué "Sugar Walls" which had been written for her by Prince (using the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind). "Sugar Walls" was also named by Tipper Gore of the Parents' Music Resource Council as one of the Filthy Fifteen, a list of songs deemed indecent because of their lyrics, alongside Prince's own "Darling Nikki". The song eventually hit #3 on the R&B singles chart and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You, was produced by Nile Rodgers and achieved gold status. In late 1985, Easton contributed "It's Christmas (All Over the World)" to the holiday release Santa Claus The Movie. Release of a follow-up album, 1987's No Sound But a Heart, was hampered in the United States after an initial single release, Eternity, (another Prince composition) failed to reach the pop, R&B or adult contemporary charts. The album's release moved from February to June; then in August the release was further held up as Easton's attorneys asked that the album be delayed after EMI Records was absorbed into EMI/Manhattan. Songs from the album were covered by other artists: Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris featured "Wanna Give My Love" and "What If We Fall In Love" on a 1987 duet album named for the latter song; Celine Dion recorded "The Last to Know" on 1990's Unison while Mexican singer Yuri featured the tune on her album Espejos De Alma (1995); Patti LaBelle covered "Still In Love" on 1989's Be Yourself; and Pia Zadora recorded "Floating Hearts" on 1989's Pia Z. No Sound But a Heart eventually did get released in the United States in 1999, with four bonus tracks, including Easton's contributions to the soundtrack of the 1986 film About Last Night..., "Natural Love" and the Top 50 single "So Far, So Good".

In 1987, she sang on Prince's #2 hit, "U Got the Look", and also appeared in the video. Prince and Sheena were Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" in 1987. The two would later team again for "The Arms of Orion" written by Easton and featured on Prince's soundtrack to the movie Batman in 1989, reaching #36 in the US and #27 in the UK. They also co-wrote a song for Patti LaBelle's album that year titled "Love '89". In addition they co-wrote "La, La, La, He, He, Hee", which Prince recorded. Tabloid press linked the two romantically, which she has always denied.

In November 1987, Easton made her first dramatic acting appearance on the television program Miami Vice. She played a singer named Caitlin Davies whom Sonny Crockett was assigned to protect until her court appearance to render crucial testimony against certain corrupt music industry mavens. Sonny and Caitlin ended up married by the end of the episode, the first of five for Easton until her character was killed off. Easton garnered good reviews and the episodes she was featured on earned the show higher ratings. By the spring of 1988, the latest installment of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released and featured "Follow My Rainbow", which Easton had finished singing on her last appearance just moments before her character was eliminated.

The song also appeared on her next album The Lover In Me, a gold-selling disc debut released the following autumn on her new label MCA Records that put Easton back on the charts. This album features Urban R&B and Dance-pop, and a sexier image. The title song from "The Lover In Me" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (UK#15) and became her biggest pop hit since "Morning Train". It also became a (#5) hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart. It was followed on the R&B chart by "Days Like This" (#35) (UK #43), which missed the Billboard Hot 100. A third single was released "101" (UK #54) and missed the Billboard top 100 but did make it to #2 on the Billboard Dance chart. The album received positive reviews and featured collaborations with LA and Babyface, Prince, Angela Winbush, and Jellybean Benitez.
1990s

In 1991, What Comes Naturally US#90 became the last of Easton's albums to chart in the United States; the title song was also her last Top 40 single to date, reaching #19. It also became her first hit in Australia since the mid 1980s, peaking at number 4. Another two singles "You Can Swing It" and "To Anyone" followed but failed to chart.

Easton followed this with the critically acclaimed, but non-charting No Strings, an album of Jazz standards and My Cherie her last album to date stateside.

Easton was set to star as the voice of a female canine (Sasha La Fleur) in All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 in 1996. She also contributed vocals to the soundtrack on "Count Me Out" and "I Will Always Be With You." Easton also contributed the theme song "Are There Angels" to the soundtrack for Shiloh in 1997; and provided the song "A Dream Worth Keeping" for the 1993 animated film Ferngully The last Rainforest.

In the late 1990s, Easton retained an album contract with MCA Japan and released 2 discs of new material. Freedom in 1997, a return to her trademark pop including a remake of her debut single "Modern Girl" and in 1999 Universal/Victor released the self-produced acoustic set, Home. Also around this time, a greatest hits collection featuring 12 MCA singles recorded from 1988-1995 charted in Japan at #98.

Easton adopted a boy (Jake) and girl (Skylar) between 1995 and 1996. Motherhood led her to curtail her appearances and focus on casino gigs, corporate shows and theatrical work. "Because I adopted my children, I could plan my timing," she told The Arizona Republic. "I knew exactly when they were coming along, so I knew when I had to change my life so it would be a stable life."

Easton continued acting in America, starring in Broadway revivals of Man Of La Mancha opposite Raul Julia in his last stage role, (1992) and Grease (1996). Between 1994 and 1996, she played several characters in Gargoyles the animated series, including Lady Finella, the Banshee, Molly and Robyn Canmore. In 1999, she voice-acted a part-demon character, Annah-of-the-Shadows, in the computer game Planescape: Torment. She lives in Las Vegas with her two children and often performs in various casinos' entertainment venues. She voiced the character of Fiona Canmore for a scripted but unfinished episode of the cancelled animated feature, Team Atlantis.

In December 1998, Easton toured with "The Colors of Christmas" with artists Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Peabo Bryson, and Jeffrey Osborne. Windham Hill Records produced "The Colors of Christmas" disc by Robbie Buchanan of holiday music. Easton contributed two tracks, "The Place Where We Belong" (a duet with Jeffrey Osborne), and "The Lord's Prayer".

1999-2000 saw New York based One Way Records gain the rights to release all of Easton's EMI-America catalog. For the first time in the US, No Sound But a Heart was released. All Easton's EMI back catalogue was re-released with bonus tracks, incorporating b-sides and remixes. However, there was one notable exception to the re-release schedule, Easton's Spanish language album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti.
2000-present

In 2000, Easton co-starred with David Cassidy in At The Copa, a show in Las Vegas at The Rio Hotel for one year.

She also signed an album contract with Universal International UK and attempted a comeback of sorts with Fabulous, an album of classic disco covers produced by Ian Masterson of Trouser Enthusiasts fame and Terry Ronald. The first single, "Giving Up, Giving In", reached UK #54, and the album failed to chart in the UK and was not released in the US. A second single, a cover of Donna Summer's hit "Love is in Control", was withdrawn. In Japan, the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and the album included a cover of Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin" as a bonus track. Remixes of the singles were produced by Joey Negro, Sleaze Sisters, Sharp Boys, Rob Searle, DJ Soma Grow and Almighty. This was to be Easton's last album release to date.

Easton also went back to Australia in 2001 for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and closed the celebration with songs from Fabulous. She also performed in (The Concert: Celebrating Women in Music,) Centennial Park, Australia, on 24 February 2001.

In 2001, Easton began a successful run headlining at the Las Vegas Hilton.

In 2003, Easton contributed vocals to "If You're Happy", a cover for a Japanese disc called Cover Morning Musume-Hello Project. She also began to host Vegas Live, a talk show with Clint Holmes (later replaced by Brian McKnight).

On 31 October 2004, she was inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Resort & Casino along with fellow Las Vegas icons Debbie Reynolds, Ben Vereen, Patti Page, Jack Jones and Tempest Storm.

In January 2005, Easton appeared in the television series Young Blades.

In July 2005, she performed as the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh, NC. The show co-starred Ray Walker as Joseph, Merwin Foard as the Pharaoh, David F.M. Vaughn as Reuben, Demond Green as Judah, and Darryl Winslow as Simeon.

Easton worked with composer Nobuo Uematsu for two songs on the video game Lost Odyssey, released for the Xbox 360 video game system in February 2008.

In 2008 and 2009, Easton performed Perry the Teenage Girl and Happy Evil Love Song for the Phineas and Ferb television series.

Easton appeared in a celebration with Kenny Rogers at the MGM Grand in Foxwood, Connecticut, on 10 April 2010. The show was in honor of his 50-year music career. This special is set debut on 8 March 2011 on Great American Country.
Achievements

Easton is a two-time Grammy Award winner one for "Best New Artist" of 1981 and a second "Best Mexican/American performance" in 1984 and has 13 gold albums, 4 platinum, and 1 Silver. She achieved 15 Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. She has sold over four million album copies in the United States alone and over 20 million copies worldwide. She has recorded 16 studio albums, released 23 US singles, and a total of 45 singles in all to her credit.

Easton is the only artist in the history of the Billboard charts to have a Top 5 hit on each of Billboard's key charts: Adult Contemporary, Dance, Pop, Country and R&B. Sheena Easton achieve her five-way Billboard record were, in order of release: 1981 Pop and Adult Contemporary hit "Morning Train (9 to 5)"; the 1983 Dance hit "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)"; the 1983 Country hit "We've Got Tonight" (a duet with Kenny Rogers); and the infamous 1985 R&B hit "Sugar Walls."

In the United Kingdom, Easton has three Top 40 albums and eight Top 40 singles, and one gold single for "9-5" on the UK singles and album charts to date.

Grammy Nominations

    * Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Vocal Performance" in 1981- "For Your Eyes Only"
    * Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983- "Telephone" (Long Distance Love Affair)
    * Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1984- "Strut"
    * Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" 1987- "U Got The Look" With Prince

Academy Award Nomination

    * Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1982- "For Your Eyes Only"
Easton has been married four times. The first was when she was still in Scotland to Sandi Easton at the age of 19. The marriage lasted just eight months. Sandi attributed the break-up to the launch of her career, but Sheena denies this claiming that the marriage was over before her career took off. Sandi Easton died in 1998, aged 48.

Her second marriage in 1984 to Rob Light, a talent agent, ended after 18 months. Easton earned U.S. citizenship in 1992 and adopted her first child, Jake Rion Cousins Easton, in 1994. Two years later, she adopted again, this time a baby girl named Skylar. In the summer of 1997, she met producer Tim Delarm while filming an episode of ESPN Canon Photo Safari in Yellowstone National Park and later married Delarm in Las Vegas in July 1997. The marriage lasted one year. In 2001, she became engaged to John Minoli, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, and married him on 9 November 2002. They divorced in 2003.

Easton is a single mother to her two children, and currently resides in Henderson, Nevada. She reportedly made shrewd investments in Florida property that led to her appearance on the Sunday Times Rich List, but she denies such claims.
Discography
Main article: Sheena Easton discography
Albums

    * Take My Time (1980)
    * Sheena Easton (1981) retitled edition of Take My Time
    * You Could Have Been with Me (1981)
    * Madness, Money & Music (1982)
    * Best Kept Secret (1983)
    * A Private Heaven (1984)
    * Todo Me Recuerda a Ti (1984) - Spanish language release
    * Do You (1985)
    * No Sound But a Heart (1987)
    * The Lover in Me (1988)
    * What Comes Naturally (1991)
    * No Strings (1993)
    * My Cherie (1995)
    * Freedom (1997)
    * Home (1999)
    * Fabulous (2000)

Filmography

    * Miami Vice (1987) - Caitlin Davies (five episodes)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996 - TV series), An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) - voice of Sasha LeFleur
    * Body Bags (1993) - Megan (in segment titled "Hair")
    * Highlander: The Series (1993) - Annie Devlin (in episode titled "An Eye for an Eye")
    * The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993) - Crystal Hawks (one episode)
    * Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1993) - voice of Agnes
    * TekWar (TV series) (1994) - War Bride
    * Real Ghosts (1995) - Janet (nightclub owner)
    * Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken (1995) - Robyn Canmore, Banshee, Molly, Finella
    * The Outer Limits (1996) - Melissa McCammon in episode titled "Falling Star"
    * Road Rovers (1996) - Groomer, Persia, Mrs. British Prime Minister
    * Duckman (1997) - Betty (one episode)
    * Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999) - Vicky in episode titled "Sand Castles"
    * Disney's The Legend of Tarzan (2001) - voice of Dr. Robin Doyle (two episodes)
    * Vegas Live! With Clint Holmes and Sheena Easton (2003)
    * Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004) - voice of Professor Fiona Pembrooke
    * Young Blades (2005) - Queen Anne

Broadway

    * Man of La Mancha- Aldonza- 1991-1992-reprise role in 1998 (Broadway show)
    * Grease- 1996- Betty Rizzo (Broadway show)

See also

    * List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/sravinsky/Female%20Vocalists/165021__easton_l.jpg
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz299/Joleemonty38/Decorated%20images/SINGSNAP%20COMMENTS%20BANDS%20ALBUMS/263759Sheena-Easton-Posters.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/27/11 at 6:44 am

Strut and Morning Train are my favorite songs. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/27/11 at 12:04 pm


The person of the day...Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr; 27 April 1959) is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.

Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop hits "9 to 5" — known as "Morning Train" in the United States — and "For Your Eyes Only", "Strut", "Sugar Walls", "U Got the Look" with Prince, and "The Lover in Me". She went on to become successful in the United States and Japan, working with prominent vocalists and producers, such as Prince, Kenny Rogers, Luis Miguel, L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Nile Rodgers.
Her first single, the disco-tinged soft-synth-pop tune "Modern Girl", was released in the UK before the show aired and reached #56. At the end of the show, Easton was still unsure of her future as a singer. The question was soon resolved when, after the show aired, her second single, "9 to 5", reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1980. "Modern Girl" re-entered the chart subsequently and climbed into the top 10, and Easton found herself with two songs in the top 10 simultaneously. Sheena was voted Best British Female Singer by the Daily Mirror Pop & Rock Awards in 1980, "Best Newcomer" 1980 by Capital Radio, and "Best Female Singer" 1980 by the TV Times Readers Awards.

"9 to 5" was Easton's first single release in the United States, although it was renamed "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" for its release in the U.S. and Canada to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's hit movie title song "9 to 5". "Morning Train" became Easton's first and only #1 hit in the U.S. and topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in Billboard magazine. "Modern Girl" was released as the follow-up and peaked at #18, and before 1981 was over Sheena had a top 10 hit in both the U.S. and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme For Your Eyes Only. The song was nominated for the "Best Female Vocal Performance" in 1981 and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1982. Easton's U.S. success culminated in her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1981.

Easton's first three U.S. albums, Sheena Easton, You Could Have Been With Me, and Madness, Money and Music, were all in the same Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary pop vein (although she made a grab for the new wave audience with "Machinery", from the latter album). The title track from You Could Have Been With Me went Top 15 U.S., however, by the end of 1982, she saw her sales slumping.

In 1983, she released the album Best Kept Secret and its first single, the synthesized dance-pop tune "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" became her fourth top 10 hit. The single "Telefone" was Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983. That year, she also had a top-10 hit in the USA with "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Kenny Rogers a cover of the Bob Seger song also earning a #1 single on the country chart (also reaching the top 30 in the British charts). The follow-up to "Telefone", "Almost Over You", was a #4 AC chart hit and Top 30 pop hit, and later became a hit on the country charts for Lila McCann in 1998.

In 1983, Easton recorded a Spanish-language single, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" ("I Like You Just the Way You Are"), a duet with Mexican star Luis Miguel. The single earned her a second Grammy, this time for Best Mexican-American Performance. The track was taken from the album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti, which featured Spanish-language covers of seven previous Easton recordings and three new tracks. The disc went gold in many Spanish-speaking countries.

In 1984, she collaborated with Prince and made a transformation into a sexy dance-pop siren. She was rewarded with the biggest-selling U.S. album of her career, RIAA certified platinum A Private Heaven, and her fifth top 10 single, "Strut". Easton was again Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1984. She was also one of the first artists to have a music video banned because of its lyrics rather than its imagery. Some broadcasters refused to air the sexually risqué "Sugar Walls" which had been written for her by Prince (using the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind). "Sugar Walls" was also named by Tipper Gore of the Parents' Music Resource Council as one of the Filthy Fifteen, a list of songs deemed indecent because of their lyrics, alongside Prince's own "Darling Nikki". The song eventually hit #3 on the R&B singles chart and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You, was produced by Nile Rodgers and achieved gold status. In late 1985, Easton contributed "It's Christmas (All Over the World)" to the holiday release Santa Claus The Movie. Release of a follow-up album, 1987's No Sound But a Heart, was hampered in the United States after an initial single release, Eternity, (another Prince composition) failed to reach the pop, R&B or adult contemporary charts. The album's release moved from February to June; then in August the release was further held up as Easton's attorneys asked that the album be delayed after EMI Records was absorbed into EMI/Manhattan. Songs from the album were covered by other artists: Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris featured "Wanna Give My Love" and "What If We Fall In Love" on a 1987 duet album named for the latter song; Celine Dion recorded "The Last to Know" on 1990's Unison while Mexican singer Yuri featured the tune on her album Espejos De Alma (1995); Patti LaBelle covered "Still In Love" on 1989's Be Yourself; and Pia Zadora recorded "Floating Hearts" on 1989's Pia Z. No Sound But a Heart eventually did get released in the United States in 1999, with four bonus tracks, including Easton's contributions to the soundtrack of the 1986 film About Last Night..., "Natural Love" and the Top 50 single "So Far, So Good".

In 1987, she sang on Prince's #2 hit, "U Got the Look", and also appeared in the video. Prince and Sheena were Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" in 1987. The two would later team again for "The Arms of Orion" written by Easton and featured on Prince's soundtrack to the movie Batman in 1989, reaching #36 in the US and #27 in the UK. They also co-wrote a song for Patti LaBelle's album that year titled "Love '89". In addition they co-wrote "La, La, La, He, He, Hee", which Prince recorded. Tabloid press linked the two romantically, which she has always denied.

In November 1987, Easton made her first dramatic acting appearance on the television program Miami Vice. She played a singer named Caitlin Davies whom Sonny Crockett was assigned to protect until her court appearance to render crucial testimony against certain corrupt music industry mavens. Sonny and Caitlin ended up married by the end of the episode, the first of five for Easton until her character was killed off. Easton garnered good reviews and the episodes she was featured on earned the show higher ratings. By the spring of 1988, the latest installment of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released and featured "Follow My Rainbow", which Easton had finished singing on her last appearance just moments before her character was eliminated.

The song also appeared on her next album The Lover In Me, a gold-selling disc debut released the following autumn on her new label MCA Records that put Easton back on the charts. This album features Urban R&B and Dance-pop, and a sexier image. The title song from "The Lover In Me" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (UK#15) and became her biggest pop hit since "Morning Train". It also became a (#5) hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart. It was followed on the R&B chart by "Days Like This" (#35) (UK #43), which missed the Billboard Hot 100. A third single was released "101" (UK #54) and missed the Billboard top 100 but did make it to #2 on the Billboard Dance chart. The album received positive reviews and featured collaborations with LA and Babyface, Prince, Angela Winbush, and Jellybean Benitez.
1990s

In 1991, What Comes Naturally US#90 became the last of Easton's albums to chart in the United States; the title song was also her last Top 40 single to date, reaching #19. It also became her first hit in Australia since the mid 1980s, peaking at number 4. Another two singles "You Can Swing It" and "To Anyone" followed but failed to chart.

Easton followed this with the critically acclaimed, but non-charting No Strings, an album of Jazz standards and My Cherie her last album to date stateside.

Easton was set to star as the voice of a female canine (Sasha La Fleur) in All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 in 1996. She also contributed vocals to the soundtrack on "Count Me Out" and "I Will Always Be With You." Easton also contributed the theme song "Are There Angels" to the soundtrack for Shiloh in 1997; and provided the song "A Dream Worth Keeping" for the 1993 animated film Ferngully The last Rainforest.

In the late 1990s, Easton retained an album contract with MCA Japan and released 2 discs of new material. Freedom in 1997, a return to her trademark pop including a remake of her debut single "Modern Girl" and in 1999 Universal/Victor released the self-produced acoustic set, Home. Also around this time, a greatest hits collection featuring 12 MCA singles recorded from 1988-1995 charted in Japan at #98.

Easton adopted a boy (Jake) and girl (Skylar) between 1995 and 1996. Motherhood led her to curtail her appearances and focus on casino gigs, corporate shows and theatrical work. "Because I adopted my children, I could plan my timing," she told The Arizona Republic. "I knew exactly when they were coming along, so I knew when I had to change my life so it would be a stable life."

Easton continued acting in America, starring in Broadway revivals of Man Of La Mancha opposite Raul Julia in his last stage role, (1992) and Grease (1996). Between 1994 and 1996, she played several characters in Gargoyles the animated series, including Lady Finella, the Banshee, Molly and Robyn Canmore. In 1999, she voice-acted a part-demon character, Annah-of-the-Shadows, in the computer game Planescape: Torment. She lives in Las Vegas with her two children and often performs in various casinos' entertainment venues. She voiced the character of Fiona Canmore for a scripted but unfinished episode of the cancelled animated feature, Team Atlantis.

In December 1998, Easton toured with "The Colors of Christmas" with artists Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Peabo Bryson, and Jeffrey Osborne. Windham Hill Records produced "The Colors of Christmas" disc by Robbie Buchanan of holiday music. Easton contributed two tracks, "The Place Where We Belong" (a duet with Jeffrey Osborne), and "The Lord's Prayer".

1999-2000 saw New York based One Way Records gain the rights to release all of Easton's EMI-America catalog. For the first time in the US, No Sound But a Heart was released. All Easton's EMI back catalogue was re-released with bonus tracks, incorporating b-sides and remixes. However, there was one notable exception to the re-release schedule, Easton's Spanish language album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti.
2000-present

In 2000, Easton co-starred with David Cassidy in At The Copa, a show in Las Vegas at The Rio Hotel for one year.

She also signed an album contract with Universal International UK and attempted a comeback of sorts with Fabulous, an album of classic disco covers produced by Ian Masterson of Trouser Enthusiasts fame and Terry Ronald. The first single, "Giving Up, Giving In", reached UK #54, and the album failed to chart in the UK and was not released in the US. A second single, a cover of Donna Summer's hit "Love is in Control", was withdrawn. In Japan, the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and the album included a cover of Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin" as a bonus track. Remixes of the singles were produced by Joey Negro, Sleaze Sisters, Sharp Boys, Rob Searle, DJ Soma Grow and Almighty. This was to be Easton's last album release to date.

Easton also went back to Australia in 2001 for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and closed the celebration with songs from Fabulous. She also performed in (The Concert: Celebrating Women in Music,) Centennial Park, Australia, on 24 February 2001.

In 2001, Easton began a successful run headlining at the Las Vegas Hilton.

In 2003, Easton contributed vocals to "If You're Happy", a cover for a Japanese disc called Cover Morning Musume-Hello Project. She also began to host Vegas Live, a talk show with Clint Holmes (later replaced by Brian McKnight).

On 31 October 2004, she was inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Resort & Casino along with fellow Las Vegas icons Debbie Reynolds, Ben Vereen, Patti Page, Jack Jones and Tempest Storm.

In January 2005, Easton appeared in the television series Young Blades.

In July 2005, she performed as the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh, NC. The show co-starred Ray Walker as Joseph, Merwin Foard as the Pharaoh, David F.M. Vaughn as Reuben, Demond Green as Judah, and Darryl Winslow as Simeon.

Easton worked with composer Nobuo Uematsu for two songs on the video game Lost Odyssey, released for the Xbox 360 video game system in February 2008.

In 2008 and 2009, Easton performed Perry the Teenage Girl and Happy Evil Love Song for the Phineas and Ferb television series.

Easton appeared in a celebration with Kenny Rogers at the MGM Grand in Foxwood, Connecticut, on 10 April 2010. The show was in honor of his 50-year music career. This special is set debut on 8 March 2011 on Great American Country.
Achievements

Easton is a two-time Grammy Award winner one for "Best New Artist" of 1981 and a second "Best Mexican/American performance" in 1984 and has 13 gold albums, 4 platinum, and 1 Silver. She achieved 15 Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. She has sold over four million album copies in the United States alone and over 20 million copies worldwide. She has recorded 16 studio albums, released 23 US singles, and a total of 45 singles in all to her credit.

Easton is the only artist in the history of the Billboard charts to have a Top 5 hit on each of Billboard's key charts: Adult Contemporary, Dance, Pop, Country and R&B. Sheena Easton achieve her five-way Billboard record were, in order of release: 1981 Pop and Adult Contemporary hit "Morning Train (9 to 5)"; the 1983 Dance hit "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)"; the 1983 Country hit "We've Got Tonight" (a duet with Kenny Rogers); and the infamous 1985 R&B hit "Sugar Walls."

In the United Kingdom, Easton has three Top 40 albums and eight Top 40 singles, and one gold single for "9-5" on the UK singles and album charts to date.

Grammy Nominations

    * Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Vocal Performance" in 1981- "For Your Eyes Only"
    * Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983- "Telephone" (Long Distance Love Affair)
    * Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1984- "Strut"
    * Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" 1987- "U Got The Look" With Prince

Academy Award Nomination

    * Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1982- "For Your Eyes Only"
Easton has been married four times. The first was when she was still in Scotland to Sandi Easton at the age of 19. The marriage lasted just eight months. Sandi attributed the break-up to the launch of her career, but Sheena denies this claiming that the marriage was over before her career took off. Sandi Easton died in 1998, aged 48.

Her second marriage in 1984 to Rob Light, a talent agent, ended after 18 months. Easton earned U.S. citizenship in 1992 and adopted her first child, Jake Rion Cousins Easton, in 1994. Two years later, she adopted again, this time a baby girl named Skylar. In the summer of 1997, she met producer Tim Delarm while filming an episode of ESPN Canon Photo Safari in Yellowstone National Park and later married Delarm in Las Vegas in July 1997. The marriage lasted one year. In 2001, she became engaged to John Minoli, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, and married him on 9 November 2002. They divorced in 2003.

Easton is a single mother to her two children, and currently resides in Henderson, Nevada. She reportedly made shrewd investments in Florida property that led to her appearance on the Sunday Times Rich List, but she denies such claims.
Discography
Main article: Sheena Easton discography
Albums

    * Take My Time (1980)
    * Sheena Easton (1981) retitled edition of Take My Time
    * You Could Have Been with Me (1981)
    * Madness, Money & Music (1982)
    * Best Kept Secret (1983)
    * A Private Heaven (1984)
    * Todo Me Recuerda a Ti (1984) - Spanish language release
    * Do You (1985)
    * No Sound But a Heart (1987)
    * The Lover in Me (1988)
    * What Comes Naturally (1991)
    * No Strings (1993)
    * My Cherie (1995)
    * Freedom (1997)
    * Home (1999)
    * Fabulous (2000)

Filmography

    * Miami Vice (1987) - Caitlin Davies (five episodes)
    * All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996 - TV series), An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998) - voice of Sasha LeFleur
    * Body Bags (1993) - Megan (in segment titled "Hair")
    * Highlander: The Series (1993) - Annie Devlin (in episode titled "An Eye for an Eye")
    * The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993) - Crystal Hawks (one episode)
    * Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1993) - voice of Agnes
    * TekWar (TV series) (1994) - War Bride
    * Real Ghosts (1995) - Janet (nightclub owner)
    * Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken (1995) - Robyn Canmore, Banshee, Molly, Finella
    * The Outer Limits (1996) - Melissa McCammon in episode titled "Falling Star"
    * Road Rovers (1996) - Groomer, Persia, Mrs. British Prime Minister
    * Duckman (1997) - Betty (one episode)
    * Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999) - Vicky in episode titled "Sand Castles"
    * Disney's The Legend of Tarzan (2001) - voice of Dr. Robin Doyle (two episodes)
    * Vegas Live! With Clint Holmes and Sheena Easton (2003)
    * Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster (2004) - voice of Professor Fiona Pembrooke
    * Young Blades (2005) - Queen Anne

Broadway

    * Man of La Mancha- Aldonza- 1991-1992-reprise role in 1998 (Broadway show)
    * Grease- 1996- Betty Rizzo (Broadway show)

See also

    * List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
    * List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/sravinsky/Female%20Vocalists/165021__easton_l.jpg
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz299/Joleemonty38/Decorated%20images/SINGSNAP%20COMMENTS%20BANDS%20ALBUMS/263759Sheena-Easton-Posters.jpg
I can remember watching the program The Big Time on television, the program that started her career off.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/27/11 at 12:54 pm


Strut and Morning Train are my favorite songs. :)

Good songs

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/27/11 at 1:19 pm


I can remember watching the program The Big Time on television, the program that started her career off.
That was the days before we had a video.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/27/11 at 4:04 pm


Good songs

Indeed they are. My favorites are "Morning Train" and "For Your Eyes Only." :)





In 2008 and 2009, Easton performed Perry the Teenage Girl and Happy Evil Love Song for the Phineas and Ferb television series.



I remember those. In the episode that featured the "Happy Evil Love Song", she provided a guest voice, namely that of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's girlfriend.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/27/11 at 7:15 pm

And she is still touring the globe,her next concert is Mohegan Sun.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/28/11 at 5:51 am


Indeed they are. My favorites are "Morning Train" and "For Your Eyes Only." :)


I remember those. In the episode that featured the "Happy Evil Love Song", she provided a guest voice, namely that of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's girlfriend.

For Your Eyes Only is great and now stuck in my head ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/28/11 at 5:55 am

The person of the day...Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born April 28, 1974) is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón (1992), to critical acclaim. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included Open Your Eyes (1997), The Hi-Lo Country (1999), The Girl of Your Dreams (2000) and Woman on Top (2000). Cruz achieved recognition for her lead roles in Vanilla Sky and Blow. Both films were released in 2001 and were commercially successful worldwide.

In the 2000s she has appeared in films from a wide range of genres, including the comedy Waking Up in Reno (2002), the thriller Gothika (2003), the Christmas movie Noel (2004), the action adventure Sahara (2005), the animated G-Force and the musical drama Nine. Her most notable films to date are Volver (2006), for which she earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), for which she received an Academy Award. She was the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award and the first Spanish actress to receive a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Cruz has modeled for companies such as Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal. Cruz and her younger sister Mónica Cruz have designed items for Mango. She has donated both her time and money to charities. Cruz has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working for Mother Teresa; she donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to help fund the late nun's mission.
In 1997 Cruz appeared in the Spanish comedy film Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health. She portrays Diana, a fan of The Beatles band member John Lennon; she tries unsuccessfully to meet him. Years later, after multiple failed relationships, Diana re-unites with an acquaintance under unusual circumstances. Also in 1997 she appeared in the opening scene of Pedro Almodóvar's Live Flesh as a prostitute who gives birth on a bus and in Et hjørne af paradis (A Corner of Paradise) as Doña Helena. Cruz's final appearance in 1997 was the Amenabar-directed Spanish sci-fi drama Open Your Eyes. She plays Sofia, the girlfriend of lead character's best friend, who eventually begins a brief relationship with the lead character. Open Your Eyes received positive reviews but was not commercially successful, grossing $370,000 in the United States. Kevin N. Laforest of the Montreal Film Journal commented in his September 2002 review that Cruz "has been getting some really bad reviews for her recent American work, but I personally think that she's a more than decent actress, especially here, where she's charming, moving and always believable. There's one shot in particular, where Cruz enters a room in a greenish glow, which is right out of Hitchcock's picture ."

The following year Cruz appeared in her first American film as Billy Crudup's consolation-prize Mexican girlfriend in Stephen Frears' western film, The Hi-Lo Country. Cruz stated that she had difficulties understanding people speaking English while she was filming The Hi-Lo Country. The film was critically and commercially unsuccessful. Kevin Lally of the Film Journal International commented in his review for the film that "in an ironic casting twist, the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz is much more appealing as Josepha ." For her performance in the film, she was nominated for an ALMA Award for Best Actress. Also in 1998 Cruz appeared in Don Juan and The Girl of Your Dreams. In The Girl of Your Dreams Cruz portrayed Macarena Granada, a singer who is in an on-and-off relationship with Antonio Resines's character, Blas. They are part of a movie troupe that moved from Spain to Berlin (Germany) for a joint production with UFA during the years of Nazis. Cruz's performance in the film was praised by film critics, with Jonathan Holloland of Variety magazine writing "if confirmation is still needed that Cruz is an actress first and a pretty face second, then here it is." A writer for Film4 commented that "Cruz herself is the inevitable focus of the film" but noted that overall the film "looks great." Cruz's role as Macerna has been viewed as her "largest role to date." For her performance, Cruz received a Goya Award and Spanish Actors Union Award, and was nominated for a European Film Award. In 1999, Cruz worked with Almodóvar again in All About My Mother, playing Sister María Rosa Sanz, a pregnant nun with AIDS. The film received favorable reviews, and was commercially successful, grossing over $67 million worldwide, although it performed better at the box office internationally than domestically.

In 2000 she appeared in Woman on Top in the lead female role as Isabelle, a world-class chef who has suffered from motion sickness since birth, her first American lead role. Lisa Nesselson of Variety magazine praised the performances of both Cruz and her co-star, Harold Perrineau, saying they "burst off the screen," and added that Cruz has a charming accent. BBC film critic Jane Crowther said that "Cruz is wonderfully ditzy as the innocent abroad" but remarked that "it's Harold Perrineau Jr as Monica who pockets the movie." Annlee Ellingson of Box Office magazine wrote "Cruz is stunning in the role—innocent and vulnerable yet possessing a mature grace and determined strength, all while sizzling with unchecked sensuality." Also in 2000 she played Alejandra Villarreal, who is Matt Damon's love interest in Billy Bob Thornton's film adaptation of the western bestselling novel, All the Pretty Horses. Susan Stark of the Detroit News commented that in the film Thornton was able to guide Damon, Henry Thomas and Cruz to "their most impressive performances in a major movie yet." However, Bob Longigo of the Atlanta Journal Constitution was less enthusiastic about Cruz and Damon's performance, saying that their "resulting onscreen chemistry would hardly warm a can of beans."
Breakthrough, 2001–2005

2001 marked a turning point when Cruz starred in the feature films Vanilla Sky and Blow. In Vanilla Sky, Cameron Crowe's interpretation of Open Your Eyes, she played Sofia Serrano, the love interest of Tom Cruise's character. The film received mixed reviews but made $200 million worldwide. Her performance was well received by critics, with BBC film critic Brandon Graydon saying that Cruz "is an enchanting screen presence," and Ethan Alter of the Film Journal International noting that Cruz and her co-star Cruise were "able to generate some actual chemistry."

Her next film was Blow, adapted from Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All. She had a supporting role as Mirtha Jung, the wife of Johnny Depp's character. The film received mixed reviews, but made $80 million worldwide. Nina Willdorf of the Boston Phoenix described Cruz as "multi-talented" and Mark Salvo of the Austin Chronicle wrote "I may be one of the last male holdouts to join the Cruz-Rules camp, but her tour de force performance here sucks you right in." In 2001, Cruz also appeared in Don't Tempt Me, playing Carmen Ramos. The film received negative reviews,. Jeff Vice of the Deseret News commented that "unfortunately, casting Cruz as a tough girl is a hilariously bad one..." and Michael Miller of the Village Voice writing that "as Satan's helper Carmen, Penélope Cruz doesn't hold a candle to her cocaine-huffing enabler in Blow."

Cruz's last film in 2001 was Captain Corelli's Mandolin, film adaption of the novel of the same name. She played Pelagia, who falls in love with another man while her fiancé is in battle during World War II. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was not well received by critics, but made $62 million worldwide.

In 2002 she had a minor role in Waking Up in Reno. It had negative reviews and was a box office failure, making $267,000 worldwide. The following year, Cruz had a minor role in the horror film Gothika, as Chloe Sava, a patient at a mental hospital. David Rooney of Variety wrote that Cruz "adds a serviceably malevolent edge to Chole's apparent madness." Cruz's performance in Fanfan la Tulipe, also in 2003, was not well received, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian commenting that Cruz "deserves a special Cannes Razzie for a performance of purest teak."

In 2004 Cruz appeared in the Christmas film Noel as Nina, the girlfriend of Paul Walker's character and as Mia in the romantic drama, Head in the Clouds, set in the 1930s. Head in the Clouds performed poorly at the box office. For Head in the Clouds, Bruce Birkland of Jam! Canoe said, "The story feels forced and the performances dreary, with the notable exception of Cruz, who seems to be in a different film from the rest of the cast." Desson Thompson of the Washington Post was more critical; his comment about the character's "pronounced limp" was that "Cruz (hardly the world's greatest actress) can't even perform without looking fake." She also starred in Sergio Castellitto’s melodrama Don’t Move. Cruz, who learned Italian for the role, earned critical acclaim for her performance and won the David di Donatello. She was also awarded the European Film Award for Best Actress for the film in 2004..

In 2005 Cruz appeared as Dr Eva Rojas in the action adventure Sahara. She earned $1.6 million for her supporting role. The film grossed $110 million worldwide but did not recoup its $160 million budget. Moviefone dubbed the film "one of the most famous flops in history" and in 2007 listed it at 24 on its list of "Biggest Box-Office Turkeys of All Time" . Lori Hoffman of the Atlantic City Weekly felt Cruz put her "considerable skills on cruise control as Dr Eva Rojas" and James Berardnelli of ReelViews described Cruz's performance as a "black hole," that she "lacks screen presence." Also in 2005 Cruz appeared in Chromophobia, screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and released the following year. Mathew Turner of View London said Cruz's character Gloria, a cancer-riddled prostitute, is "actually more interesting than the main storyline" while Time Evan's of Sky Movies wrote, "The Cruz/Ifans storyline – featuring the only two remotely sympathetic characters – never really fuses with the main plot." Her final 2005 film was Don't Move playing Italia. Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle noted that Cruz "goes all out" with her appearance and Patrick Peters of Empire magazine commented that the film's director, who also appears in the film, was able to draw a "sensitive performance" from Cruz.
Worldwide recognition, 2006–present
In the photo a Caucasian male and a Hispanic female can be seen. The female has short to medium brown hair and is wearing a white sleeveless dress. She is smiling and tilting her head to look to her right. The male has light and dark grey hair and is wearing an all black long sleeved suit with black sunglasses. In the background there are people standing with cameras.
Cruz with Volver director Pedro Almodovar at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Cruz appeared in the 2006 Western comedy film, Bandidas, as María Álvarez, a poor farm girl who robs banks with a wealthy friend to combat an enforcer terrorizing their town. Randy Cordova of the Arizona Republic said the film "sports" Cruz and her co-star Salma Hayek as the "lusty dream team" and that they were the "marketing fantasy" for the film. A writer for 20minutos.es called Cruz and Hayek the "demand curves" of the film. Also in 2006, Cruz received favourable reviews for her performance as Raimunda in Pedro Almodóvar's Volver. The film was well received by critics and on multiple top ten film lists for 2006. Carina Chocano of The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Cruz, who has remarked that in Hollywood she's rarely allowed to be anything more than pretty, instills her with an awesome resoluteness and strength of character." Jan Stuart of Newsday described Cruz as having "never been more radiant and funny." IGN film critic Todd Gilchrist praised Cruz, saying her "performance is nothing short of revelatory" and that "Here, she finds the best role of her career, and leaps in with complete commitment." She shared a Best Actress award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival with five of her co-stars, as well as receiving a Goya Award and European Film Award, and was nominated for the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role. She was the first Spaniard to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 2007 Cruz appeared in the lead female role in Manolete, a biopic of bullfighter Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, playing Antoñita "Lupe" Sino. She also appeared in The Good Night, playing two characters, Anna and Melody. The film received negative reviews and did not perform well at the box office. TV Guide film critic Maitland McDonagh noted that in the film Cruz "expertly mines the contrast between chic, compliant, white-clad Anna and funky, street-smart Melody, who treats Gary like the world-class drag he is." David Edelstein of New York Magazine said "Cruz shows up in the flesh, and she's wonderfully tart and funny." In 2008, Cruz appeared in Isabel Coixet's film Elegy, which was based on the Philip Roth story The Dying Animal, as the lead female role, Consuela Castillo. The film generated mixed to positive reviews, and appeared on multiple film critics' top ten film lists for 2008. Ray Bennett of the Hollywood Reporter described Cruz's performance as being "outstanding in an otherwise lame male fantasy " and MSNBC film critic Alonso Duralde praised Cruz and her co-star, Ben Kingsley, writing that they give "extraordinary performances" in the film.
In the photo, a Hispanic female wearing a white sleeveless dress that has beaded designs with a white pearl neckless and white earrings can be seen. The female has medium brown hair with side bangs, the rest of her hair is clipped behind her head and she is waving with her left hand while tilting her head to her right.
Cruz at the 81st Academy Awards. She won her first Academy Award later that night for her performance as María Elena.

Later that year she starred in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona as María Elena, a mentally unstable woman. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Cruz's performance in the film, commenting, "Cruz looks as if she has wandered in from a more hefty film entirely; everything she does and says seems to mean more, count for more. This isn't to say that she gets bigger laughs, or perhaps any laughs, but she certainly walks off with the film." Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter remarked that the film "belongs" to Cruz and her co-star Bardem. Todd McCarthy of Variety magazine felt that Cruz's performance was "dynamite" in both of the languages she spoke. A writer for 20minutos.es described Cruz as having planted "relentless growth" in the film. Cruz received a Goya Award and her first Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also received a Golden Globe and SAG nomination. Cruz was the first Spanish actress to ever be awarded an Academy Award and the sixth Hispanic person to ever receive the award.

Cruz's next film was the kid-friendly animated film, G-Force, which was released to theaters in July 2009. In the film, she voiced a guinea pig spy named Juarez. G-Force was a commercial success, making over $290 million worldwide. Also in 2009, she appeared in the film Broken Embraces as Lena, the lead character's mistress and assistant who is an aspiring actress. Moira Macdonald of the Seattle Times wrote "Cruz, so lovely she hardly seems real, makes Lena both vulnerable and steely. Lena's life, it seems, is turning into a movie that she can't escape, as men and cameras seem to blur together and her dazzling smile becomes little defense." Claudia Puig of USA Today described Cruz's performance as Lena as being "superb." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com noted in her review for the film that Cruz "doesn't coast on her beauty in Broken Embraces, and she has the kind of role that can be difficult to flesh out." Cruz received nominations from the Satellite Awards and European Film Awards for her performance in Broken Embraces.

Cruz's final 2009 film was the film version of the musical Nine, playing the character Carla Albanese, the lead character's mistress. Variety reported that Cruz had originally auditioned for the role of the film within a film's star, Claudia, which eventually went to Nicole Kidman. Cruz said that she trained for three months for the dance routine in the film. The film generated negative reviews and was a financial failure. Claudia Puig of USA Today commented that while Cruz "does a steamy song and dance," her "acting is strangely caricatured." Chris Tookey of the Daily Mail made a similar comment, saying: "I know Penelope Cruz has been nominated for a Golden Globe for her camp vamp act, but to me she is unnervingly over the top , like Strictly Come Dancing's Bruno Tonioli in drag." F. Bernal of Que.es commented, "In terms of its ability to integrate with luck in the cast of a musical, it is clear that Penelope does a good note ." Cruz's performance as Carla garnered her nominations for Best Supporting Actress from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and SAG Awards.
Cruz at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2011

In 2010, Cruz appeared in the film Sex and the City 2, the sequel to the 2008 film, in a cameo role. Cruz will appear in her biggest Hollywood turn to date, in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film as Angelica Teach, Blackbeard's daughter and the former love interest of Captain Jack Sparrow. This film has Cruz and director Rob Marshall returning once more for a film. On April 1, 2011 Cruz received the 2,436th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the El Capitan Theatre. Cruz becomes the first Spanish actress to receive a Star. Her upcoming roles include an untitled Woody Allen Project set in Rome, and she is set to reunite with Italian director Sergio Castellitto in his war tale "Venuto al Mondo" as Gemma, a single mother who brings her teenage son to Sarajevo, where the boy’s father died during the Balkan War. The film is based on an Italian bestseller. The part is a switch for Cruz, who has until now mostly been sliding between Hollywood- and Spain-based movies. “I like that it’s a movie that’s not Spanish or English. I love this part of the job that lets you become someone else with a different nationality.” In an interview with the Italian publication La Repubblica Cruz commented on playing Gemma, saying, "I feel as an actress Gemma will be playing one of the most important opportunities of my life." And finally, after being shelfed since 2007 Cruz's film Manolete (originally shot in 2005, four years before Cruz won her Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona) will release on demand via cable, satellite, telco and online in June 7, 2011 under the title, A Madator’s Mistress.
Cruz is friends with Pedro Almodovar, whom she has known for almost two decades and with whom she has worked on films. Cruz, is known to friends as Pe, owns a house near her family's home in Madrid and another in Los Angeles. Although Cruz's parents are divorced, in 2008 she said she is close to both parents and to her brother as well as having a "100 percent" bond with her younger sister. She speaks Spanish, Italian, French and English. She learned Italian for Don't Move. She was a vegetarian in her youth and has spoken out about bullfights. She picked up a stray dog when filming Bandidas in Mexico and took it home to Los Angeles. In 2008, she said she described tabloid newspapers as "disgusting" and said that, aside from false stories that affect her directly, "this culture of gossip affects our society on a much deeper level, on an ethical level." Cruz owns a clothing store in Madrid and designed jewelry and handbags with her younger sister for a company in Japan.

Cruz had a three-year relationship with Tom Cruise after they appeared together in Vanilla Sky. It ended in January 2004. In April 2003, she filed a lawsuit against the Australian magazine New Idea for defamation over an article about her relationship with Cruise. Her lawyers claimed that "the proceedings state that the article contains a number of false and defamatory statements concerning Ms. Cruz" and she is seeking "substantial damages and is confident that legal proceedings will vindicate her reputation."

After filming Sahara in February 2005, she began dating actor Matthew McConaughey. In June 2006, they told People that they "have decided to take time off as a couple" and that "due to busy work schedules and so much time apart" they decided that "separating was the best thing to do." In April 2007, Cruz who was single, told the Spanish edition of Marie Claire said she would like to adopt children.

Cruz began dating co-star Javier Bardem in 2007. They married in early July 2010 in a private ceremony at a friend's home in the Bahamas, with a rep speaking only to confirm the ceremony, and to reveal the bride wore a dress by Galliano. After photos emerged of Cruz appearing to be pregnant on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, representatives said the couple expect a child in January 2011. Marie Claire reported that Cruz gave birth to her first child, son Leo Encinas Bardem, on January 22, 2011 at the Cedars Sinai Hospital, three days before Bardem was nominated for an Oscar.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Other notes
1992 Jamón, jamón Silvia Nominated—Goya Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Spanish Actors Union Newcomer Award
1992 Belle Époque Luz Spanish Actors Union Award for Supporting Performance (Secundario Cine)
1993 For Love, Only for Love Mary Per amore, solo per amore
1993 The Greek Labyrinth Elise El Laberinto griego
1993 The Rebel Enza La Ribelle
1994 Alegre ma non troppo Salomé
1994 Todo es mentira Lucía Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival for Best Actress
1995 Entre rojas Lucía
1995 El Efecto mariposa Party guest
1996 La Celestina Melibea
1996 Brujas Patricia
1996 Más que amor, frenesí
1997 Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health Younger Diana / Diana's daughter El amor perjudica seriamente la salud
1997 Open Your Eyes Sofía Abre los ojos
1997 Live Flesh Isabel Plaza Caballero Carne trémula
Nominated—Spanish Actors Union Award for Performance in a Minor Role (Reparto Cine)
1997 Et horne af paradis Doña Helena
1998 The Girl of Your Dreams Macarena La niña de tus ojos
Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actress (Mejor Actriz de Cine)
Goya Award for Best Actress
Spanish Actors Union Award for Lead Performance (Protagonista Cine)
Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actress
1998 The Hi-Lo Country Josepha Nominated—ALMA Award for Best Actress
1998 Don Juan Mathurine
1999 All About My Mother Sister María Rosa Sanz Todo sobre mi madre
1999 Twice Upon A Yesterday Louise
2000 All the Pretty Horses Alejandra Villarreal Nominated–Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama/Romance
2000 Woman on Top Isabella Oliveira
2001 Blow Mirtha Jung Nominated–MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance
2001 Don't Tempt Me Carmen Ramos Bendito infierno (Spanish) / No News from God (English)
2001 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Pelagia Nominated—European Film Award – Audience Award for Best Actress
2001 Vanilla Sky Sofia Serrano Nominated—ALMA Award for Best Actress
2002 Waking Up in Reno Brenda
2003 Fanfan la Tulipe Adeline La Franchise Nominated—European Film Award – Audience Award for Best Actress
2003 Gothika Chloe Sava
2004 Head in the Clouds Mia
2004 Noel Nina Vasquez
2004 Don't Move Italia Non ti muovere
David di Donatello Award for Best Actress
European Film Award – Audience Award for Best Actress
Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Goya Award for Best Actress
2005 Sahara Doctor Eva Rojas
2005 Chromophobia Gloria
2006 Bandidas María Álvarez
2006 Volver Raimunda Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress (Prix d'interprétation féminine) shared with Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave
Cinema Writers Circle Award for Best Actress
Empire Award for Best Actress
European Film Award for Best Actress
Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actress (Mejor Actriz de Cine)
Goya Award for Best Actress
Spanish Actors Union Award for Lead Performance (Protagonista Cine)
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Irish Film and Television Audience Award for Best Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
2007 Manolete Antoñita "Lupe" Sino
2007 The Good Night Anna
2008 Elegy Consuela Castillo Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performer of the Year Award also for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2008 Vicky Cristina Barcelona María Elena Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
ALMA Award for Best Actress
Village Voice Film Poll - Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
2009 G-Force Juarez (voice)
2009 Broken Embraces Magdalena Los abrazos rotos
Nominated—Goya Award for Best Actress
Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2009 Nine Carla Albanese Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
2010 Sex and the City 2 Carmen Garcia Garron
2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Angelica post-production
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i74/babaes0/Penelope-Cruz.jpg
http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac263/cinespacio/Imagenes/penelope_cruz.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/28/11 at 7:08 am


For Your Eyes Only is great and now stuck in my head ;D


What about Morning Train?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/28/11 at 11:04 am


And she is still touring the globe,her next concert is Mohegan Sun.



Mohegan Sun is a terrible place for concerts. We went to see Jethro Tull there several years ago and the acrostics were just AWFUL. The place is made of cinder blocks because it really is a sports arena. The people who sat next to us left after the first song or two because it sounded REALLY BAD!!!!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/28/11 at 12:58 pm



Mohegan Sun is a terrible place for concerts. We went to see Jethro Tull there several years ago and the acrostics were just AWFUL. The place is made of cinder blocks because it really is a sports arena. The people who sat next to us left after the first song or two because it sounded REALLY BAD!!!!



Cat


Will you go see a Sheena Easton concert? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/28/11 at 1:48 pm


For Your Eyes Only is great and now stuck in my head ;D

It often gets stuck in my head too! :D But I still love it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/28/11 at 2:23 pm


Will you go see a Sheena Easton concert? ???



Probably not. I will not go to another concert at Mohegan Sun-not to mention it is about 5 hours from here. Now, if she was in concert closer to me, that would be a different story.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 04/28/11 at 6:12 pm

Just doing some back reading about Paula Yates. That was a pretty sad decline... I didn't know she died back in 2000 (of a heroin overdose) :o.

Sheena Easton was a real cutie ... and had a great set of pipes. I always thought that it was an odd connection she had with Prince.

Penelope Cruz ... overrated actress .... and (to me) not as attractive as she is hyped up to be...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/28/11 at 9:03 pm


Just doing some back reading about Paula Yates. That was a pretty sad decline... I didn't know she died back in 2000 (of a heroin overdose) :o.

Sheena Easton was a real cutie ... and had a great set of pipes. I always thought that it was an odd connection she had with Prince.

Penelope Cruz ... overrated actress .... and (to me) not as attractive as she is hyped up to be...

When I was looking at Penelope's pics I thought to myself isn't she suppose to be better looking. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/28/11 at 9:05 pm


What about Morning Train?

Sorry I thought I mentioned that I liked that song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/29/11 at 5:01 am

The person of the day....Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for There Will Be Blood. His role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002) earned him the BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Day-Lewis, who grew up in London, is the son of actress Jill Balcon and the Anglo-Irish Poet Laureate, Cecil Day-Lewis. He is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles.
During the early '80s, Day-Lewis worked in theatre and television including Frost in May (where he played an impotent man-child) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (as a World War I officer torn between allegiances to Britain and Ireland) for the BBC. Eleven years after his film debut, Day-Lewis continued his film career with a small part in Gandhi (1982) as Colin, a street thug who bullies the title character, only to be immediately chastised by his high-strung mother. In late 1982 he had his big theatre break when he took over the lead in Another Country. The following year, he had a supporting role as the conflicted, but ultimately loyal first mate in The Bounty, after which he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Next he played a gay man in an interracial relationship in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Day-Lewis gained further public notice with A Room with a View (1986), in which he portrayed an entirely different character: Cecil Vyse, the effete upper-class fiancé of the main character (played by Helena Bonham Carter).

In 1987, Day-Lewis assumed leading-man status by starring in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, co-starring Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche, as a Czech doctor whose hyperactive and purely physical sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman. During the eight-month shoot he learned Czech and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule.

Day-Lewis put his personal version of "method acting" into full use in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot which won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. During filming, his eccentricities came to the fore, due to his refusal to break character. Playing a severely paralyzed character on screen, off screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments. He broke two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks.

Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, in Hamlet at the National Theatre, but collapsed in the middle of a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father first appears to his son. He began sobbing uncontrollably and refused to go back on stage; he was replaced by Ian Charleson before a then-unknown Jeremy Northam finished what little was left of the production's run. Although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion, one rumour following the incident was that Day-Lewis had seen the ghost of his own father. He confirmed on the British celebrity chat show Parkinson, that this rumour was true. He has not appeared on stage since.
1990s

In 1992, three years after his Oscar win, The Last of the Mohicans was released. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicized; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting and fishing. He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals.

He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father, in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost a substantial amount of weight for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell. He also insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him. The film earned him his second Academy Award nomination, his third BAFTA nomination, and his second Golden Globe nomination.

Day-Lewis returned in 1993, playing Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence, opposite Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane and cape during colder periods.

In 1996, Day-Lewis starred in a film version of The Crucible, the play by Arthur Miller, again opposite Winona Ryder. He followed that with Jim Sheridan's The Boxer as a former boxer and IRA member recently released from prison. His preparation included training with former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan.

Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by putting himself into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking. He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoemaking, eventually apprenticing as a shoemaker. For a time his exact whereabouts and actions were not made publicly known. Day-Lewis has declined to discuss this period of his life, stating that "it was a period of my life that I had a right to without any intervention of that kind."
2000s

After a five-year absence from filming, Day-Lewis returned to act in multiple Academy Award-nominated films such as Gangs of New York, a film directed by Martin Scorsese (with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence) and produced by Harvey Weinstein. In his role as the villain gang leader "Bill the Butcher", he starred along with Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protegé. He began his lengthy, self-disciplined process by taking lessons as an apprentice butcher, and while filming, he was never out of character between takes (including keeping his character's New York accent). At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat or to take treatment because it was not in keeping with the period; however, he was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment. His performance in Gangs of New York earned him his third Academy Award nomination and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

After Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis's wife, director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller), offered him the lead role in her film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, in which he played a dying man with regrets over how his life had evolved and over how he had raised his teenage daughter. During filming he arranged to live separately from his wife in order to achieve the "isolation" needed to focus on his own character's reality. The film received mixed reviews.

In 2007, Day-Lewis appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood. Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect"), and a variety of film critics circle awards for the role.

In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Nine as film director Guido Contini. Day-Lewis was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role, as well as sharing nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast and the Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture with the rest of the cast members.

In November 2010, it was announced that Day-Lewis was cast in the main role in Steven Spielberg's upcoming biographical film about Abraham Lincoln.
Personal life

Day-Lewis rarely talks publicly about his personal life. He had a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani, which lasted six years and eventually ended after a split and reconciliation. Their son Gabriel Day-Lewis was born in 1995 in New York, several months after the relationship between the two actors had ended. Gabriel now lives with him in Wicklow, attending St. Gerard's School.

In 1996, while working on the film version of the stage-play The Crucible, he visited the home of playwright Arthur Miller where he was introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller. They married later that year. The couple has two sons, Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born 14 June 1998) and Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born in May 2002) and divide their time between their homes in the U.S. and Ireland. Day-Lewis currently holds dual British and Irish citizenship, He became an Irish citizen in 1993. He is a supporter of Millwall Football Club. On 15 July 2010, he received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Bristol, in part because of his attendance at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in his youth. Day-Lewis is an agnostic.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Child vandal Uncredited
1982 Gandhi Colin - South African Street Thug
1984 Bounty, TheThe Bounty John Fryer
1985 My Beautiful Laundrette Johnny National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for A Room with a View)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for A Room with a View)
1985 Room with a View, AA Room with a View Cecil Vyse National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for My Beautiful Laundrette)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for My Beautiful Laundrette)
1988 Unbearable Lightness of Being, TheThe Unbearable Lightness of Being Tomas
1988 Stars and Bars Henderson Dores
1989 Eversmile, New Jersey Dr. Fergus O'Connell
1989 My Left Foot Christy Brown Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Montreal World Film Festival - Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention (Shared with Jim Sheridan)
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1992 Last of the Mohicans, TheThe Last of the Mohicans Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe) Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1993 Age of Innocence, TheThe Age of Innocence Newland Archer
1993 In the Name of the Father Gerry Conlon Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1996 Crucible, TheThe Crucible John Proctor
1997 Boxer, TheThe Boxer Danny Flynn Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2002 Gangs of New York Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (Tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt)
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (Tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actor
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Tied with Michael Caine for The Quiet American)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
2005 Ballad of Jack and Rose, TheThe Ballad of Jack and Rose Jack Slavin Marrakech International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2007 There Will Be Blood Daniel Plainview Academy Award for Best Actor
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actor
Austin Film Critics Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Irish Film Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Desert Palm Achievement Award
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Village Voice Film Poll - Best Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
2009 Nine Guido Contini Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x212/Mable980/DanielDay-Lewis.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn192/FlyteOfTheDragon/DanielDay-Lewis-3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/29/11 at 7:00 am


Sorry I thought I mentioned that I liked that song.


The video is so retro.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/29/11 at 7:01 am


The person of the day....Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for There Will Be Blood. His role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002) earned him the BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Day-Lewis, who grew up in London, is the son of actress Jill Balcon and the Anglo-Irish Poet Laureate, Cecil Day-Lewis. He is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles.
During the early '80s, Day-Lewis worked in theatre and television including Frost in May (where he played an impotent man-child) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (as a World War I officer torn between allegiances to Britain and Ireland) for the BBC. Eleven years after his film debut, Day-Lewis continued his film career with a small part in Gandhi (1982) as Colin, a street thug who bullies the title character, only to be immediately chastised by his high-strung mother. In late 1982 he had his big theatre break when he took over the lead in Another Country. The following year, he had a supporting role as the conflicted, but ultimately loyal first mate in The Bounty, after which he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Next he played a gay man in an interracial relationship in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Day-Lewis gained further public notice with A Room with a View (1986), in which he portrayed an entirely different character: Cecil Vyse, the effete upper-class fiancé of the main character (played by Helena Bonham Carter).

In 1987, Day-Lewis assumed leading-man status by starring in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, co-starring Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche, as a Czech doctor whose hyperactive and purely physical sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman. During the eight-month shoot he learned Czech and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule.

Day-Lewis put his personal version of "method acting" into full use in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot which won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. During filming, his eccentricities came to the fore, due to his refusal to break character. Playing a severely paralyzed character on screen, off screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments. He broke two ribs during filming from assuming a hunched-over position in his wheelchair for so many weeks.

Day-Lewis returned to the stage in 1989 to work with Richard Eyre, in Hamlet at the National Theatre, but collapsed in the middle of a scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father first appears to his son. He began sobbing uncontrollably and refused to go back on stage; he was replaced by Ian Charleson before a then-unknown Jeremy Northam finished what little was left of the production's run. Although the incident was officially attributed to exhaustion, one rumour following the incident was that Day-Lewis had seen the ghost of his own father. He confirmed on the British celebrity chat show Parkinson, that this rumour was true. He has not appeared on stage since.
1990s

In 1992, three years after his Oscar win, The Last of the Mohicans was released. Day-Lewis's character research for this film was well-publicized; he reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting and fishing. He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals.

He returned to work with Jim Sheridan on In the Name of the Father, in which he played Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four who were wrongfully convicted of a bombing carried out by the Provisional IRA. He lost a substantial amount of weight for the part, kept his Northern Irish accent on and off the set for the entire shooting schedule, and spent stretches of time in a prison cell. He also insisted that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him. The film earned him his second Academy Award nomination, his third BAFTA nomination, and his second Golden Globe nomination.

Day-Lewis returned in 1993, playing Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence, opposite Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane and cape during colder periods.

In 1996, Day-Lewis starred in a film version of The Crucible, the play by Arthur Miller, again opposite Winona Ryder. He followed that with Jim Sheridan's The Boxer as a former boxer and IRA member recently released from prison. His preparation included training with former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan.

Following The Boxer, Day-Lewis took a leave of absence from acting by putting himself into "semi-retirement" and returning to his old passion of woodworking. He moved to Florence, Italy, where he became intrigued by the craft of shoemaking, eventually apprenticing as a shoemaker. For a time his exact whereabouts and actions were not made publicly known. Day-Lewis has declined to discuss this period of his life, stating that "it was a period of my life that I had a right to without any intervention of that kind."
2000s

After a five-year absence from filming, Day-Lewis returned to act in multiple Academy Award-nominated films such as Gangs of New York, a film directed by Martin Scorsese (with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence) and produced by Harvey Weinstein. In his role as the villain gang leader "Bill the Butcher", he starred along with Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bill's young protegé. He began his lengthy, self-disciplined process by taking lessons as an apprentice butcher, and while filming, he was never out of character between takes (including keeping his character's New York accent). At one point during filming, having been diagnosed with pneumonia, he refused to wear a warmer coat or to take treatment because it was not in keeping with the period; however, he was eventually persuaded to seek medical treatment. His performance in Gangs of New York earned him his third Academy Award nomination and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

After Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis's wife, director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller), offered him the lead role in her film The Ballad of Jack and Rose, in which he played a dying man with regrets over how his life had evolved and over how he had raised his teenage daughter. During filming he arranged to live separately from his wife in order to achieve the "isolation" needed to focus on his own character's reality. The film received mixed reviews.

In 2007, Day-Lewis appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, titled There Will Be Blood. Day-Lewis received the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture (which he dedicated to Heath Ledger, saying that he was inspired by Ledger's acting and calling the actor's performance in Brokeback Mountain "unique, perfect"), and a variety of film critics circle awards for the role.

In 2009, Day-Lewis starred in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Nine as film director Guido Contini. Day-Lewis was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role, as well as sharing nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast and the Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture with the rest of the cast members.

In November 2010, it was announced that Day-Lewis was cast in the main role in Steven Spielberg's upcoming biographical film about Abraham Lincoln.
Personal life

Day-Lewis rarely talks publicly about his personal life. He had a relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani, which lasted six years and eventually ended after a split and reconciliation. Their son Gabriel Day-Lewis was born in 1995 in New York, several months after the relationship between the two actors had ended. Gabriel now lives with him in Wicklow, attending St. Gerard's School.

In 1996, while working on the film version of the stage-play The Crucible, he visited the home of playwright Arthur Miller where he was introduced to the writer's daughter, Rebecca Miller. They married later that year. The couple has two sons, Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born 14 June 1998) and Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born in May 2002) and divide their time between their homes in the U.S. and Ireland. Day-Lewis currently holds dual British and Irish citizenship, He became an Irish citizen in 1993. He is a supporter of Millwall Football Club. On 15 July 2010, he received an honorary doctorate in letters from the University of Bristol, in part because of his attendance at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in his youth. Day-Lewis is an agnostic.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Child vandal Uncredited
1982 Gandhi Colin - South African Street Thug
1984 Bounty, TheThe Bounty John Fryer
1985 My Beautiful Laundrette Johnny National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for A Room with a View)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for A Room with a View)
1985 Room with a View, AA Room with a View Cecil Vyse National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for My Beautiful Laundrette)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (Also for My Beautiful Laundrette)
1988 Unbearable Lightness of Being, TheThe Unbearable Lightness of Being Tomas
1988 Stars and Bars Henderson Dores
1989 Eversmile, New Jersey Dr. Fergus O'Connell
1989 My Left Foot Christy Brown Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Montreal World Film Festival - Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention (Shared with Jim Sheridan)
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1992 Last of the Mohicans, TheThe Last of the Mohicans Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe) Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1993 Age of Innocence, TheThe Age of Innocence Newland Archer
1993 In the Name of the Father Gerry Conlon Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1996 Crucible, TheThe Crucible John Proctor
1997 Boxer, TheThe Boxer Danny Flynn Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2002 Gangs of New York Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (Tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt)
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (Tied with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actor
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Tied with Michael Caine for The Quiet American)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
2005 Ballad of Jack and Rose, TheThe Ballad of Jack and Rose Jack Slavin Marrakech International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2007 There Will Be Blood Daniel Plainview Academy Award for Best Actor
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actor
Austin Film Critics Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Irish Film Award for Best Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Palm Springs International Film Festival - Desert Palm Achievement Award
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Village Voice Film Poll - Best Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
2009 Nine Guido Contini Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x212/Mable980/DanielDay-Lewis.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn192/FlyteOfTheDragon/DanielDay-Lewis-3.jpg


such a fine actor,I think I remember My Left Foot. ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 04/30/11 at 7:25 am

The person of the day..Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist. Nelson started studying music from mail order material that his grandparents gave him. He wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at nine. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Fiddlers as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the Air Force. However, he was discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. In 1960, he signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1962, he recorded his first album, And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1965 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry.

In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album, Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he confirmed his move to outlaw country with the 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws, which he recorded with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid 1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho & Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. Nelson explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk. Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film, The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television.

Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. He is the co-founder and president of Farm Aid, and has been contributing to the benefit concert series since the first event in 1985, organizing concerts and performing with other prominent artists. Nelson is also the Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.
His first Atlantic release was Shotgun Willie (1973), which earned excellent reviews but did not sell well. Nelson wrote the song that named the album after a recording session. Pacing in his room, he went to the bathroom where he penned the song on the empty envelope of a sanitary napkin in the sink. The album led Nelson to a new style. He later stated that Shotgun Willie had "cleared his throat". His next album, Phases and Stages, in 1974, was a concept album about a couple's divorce, inspired by his experience. On side one of the record, he sings from the viewpoint of the man, and on the other side, from the viewpoint of the woman. Highlights included The hit single "Bloody Mary Morning" and a duet of "After the Fire is Gone" with Tracy Nelson.

Nelson then moved to Columbia Records, where he achieved complete creative control. The result was the critically acclaimed, massively popular 1975 concept album, Red Headed Stranger. Although Columbia was reluctant to release an album with primarily a guitar and piano for accompaniment, Nelson and Waylon Jennings insisted. The album was a hit, partially because it included a popular cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", written by Fred Rose in 1945. "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" became Nelson's first number one hit as a singer.
Three men. From left to right, the first man has brown hair and beard. He wears a blue t-shirt and a white jacket and is looking at the man in the middle. The man in the middle wears a green cap and shades, and long red hair. He wears a brown t-shirt. The man at the right has brown hair, he looks at the man at the middle. He wears a white shirt and a black letter jacket.
L-R: Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings at Willie's 4th of July Picnic 1972

Along with Nelson, Jennings was also achieving success in country music in the early 1970s, and the pair were soon combined into a genre called outlaw country ("outlaw" because it did not conform to Nashville standards). The album Wanted! The Outlaws in 1976 with Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser cemented the pair's outlaw image and became country music's first platinum album. Later that year Nelson released The Sound in Your Mind (certified gold in 1978 and platinum in 2001) and his first gospel album Troublemaker, (certified gold in 1986).

In 1978, Nelson released two more platinum albums, Waylon and Willie, a collaboration with Jennings that included "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys", a hit single written and performed by Ed Bruce. His next album, Stardust, an album of standards from the American songbook, was produced by Booker T. Jones. Though observers predicted that Stardust would ruin his career, it went platinum the same year. Nelson continued to top the charts with hit songs during the late 1970s, including "Good Hearted Woman", "Remember Me", "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time", "Uncloudy Day", "I Love You a Thousand Ways", and "Something to Brag About" in a duet with Mary Kay Place. He also did a duet album with Leon Russell titled One for the Road, in 1979.
1980s–90s

"On the Road Again"
Play sound
Part of the hit album Honeysuckle Rose. On the Road Again peaked number one on Hot Country Songs in 1980.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

During the 1980s Nelson recorded a series of hit singles including "Midnight Rider", a 1980 cover of the Allman Brothers song, which Nelson recorded for The Electric Horseman, the soundtrack "On the Road Again", from the movie Honeysuckle Rose, and a duet with Julio Iglesias, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before". "Pancho & Lefty", a duet album with Merle Haggard and WWII with Jennings came out in 1982, while Take it to the Limit debuted in 1983, also with Jennings.

In the mid-1980s, Nelson, Jennings, Kristofferson and Johnny Cash formed a group called The Highwaymen. They achieved platinum record sales and toured the world. Meanwhile, he became more involved with charity work, such as singing on We are the World in 1984. In 1985, Nelson had another success with Half Nelson, featuring duets with artists such as Ray Charles, Lacy J. Dalton, Haggard, Iglesias, George Jones, Mel Tillis and Neil Young.
A man with withe bear holding a guitar. He wears a bandanna with the design of an American flag, a black shirt and Hawaiian wreaths hangin from his neck.
Willie Nelson

In 1980, Nelson performed on the south lawn of the White House. The September 13 concert featured first lady Rosalynn Carter and Nelson in a duet of Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother". Nelson frequently visited the White House according to his biography, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, where, watched by the Secret Service, he smoked marijuana, which he nicknamed the "big fat Austin torpedo", on the White House roof. Carter denied knowing about the marijuana and never discussed drug use with him. Friend and fan Carter told Rolling Stone: "All the good things I did as president, all the mistakes I made—you can blame half of that on Willie."

In 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized most of Nelson's assets, claiming he owed US$32,000,000. It was later discovered that his accountants, Price Waterhouse, had not been paying Nelson's taxes for years, and used his money in poor investments. Nelson's attorney negotiated a settlement with the IRS, in which he paid US$6,000,000. Nelson did not comply with the agreement.

Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits destined for the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who donated or rented his possessions to him for a nominal fee. He sued Price Waterhouse, contending that they put him into illegal tax shelters. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount and Nelson cleared his debts by 1993.

In 1993, he released Across the Borderline , with guests Bob Dylan, Sinéad O'Connor, David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt, Kristofferson and Paul Simon. In 1996, Nelson was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 singing a cover of their 1964 song "The Warmth of the Sun" with the Beach Boys themselves doing the backing vocals.
Later career
A man with white beard, playing a guitar. He wears a black hat, a black shirt which is crossed by the blue, white and red strap of the guitar and jean pants. There is a microphone in front of him and behind there is yellow smoke.
Willie Nelson performing at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California

During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson toured continuously and released albums that generally received mixed reviews, with the exception of 1998's critically acclaimed Teatro, which was produced by U2 producer Daniel Lanois and featured supporting vocals by Emmylou Harris. He performed with other acts including Phish and Johnny Cash and on the VH1 Storytellers series.

Nelson received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. In 2002 he released the The Great Divide, with songs from Rob Thomas, member of Matchbox 20 and Bernie Taupin. Thomas contributed background vocals and made an appearance in the video for, "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)". Lee Ann Womack appeared on "Mendocino County Line" which was also released as a single. The title refers to Mendocino County in northern California, whose voters had approved "Measure G", which called for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use. Other guests on The Great Divide include Kid Rock, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, and Alison Krauss. Nelson also covered Cyndi Lauper's, "Time After Time".

The same year director Peter Lindbergh featured him in a spot for Gap where he performed Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" alongside Ryan Adams.
A man with long white hair and white beard playing a guitar. He wears a black t-shirt, which is crossed by the red, white and blue strap of the guitar. He also wears black pants.
Willie, and his guitar "Trigger", performing at Cardiff on 25 January 2007

Nelson performed a duet of "Beer for My Horses" with Toby Keith, on the latter's Unleashed 2002 album. This song and accompanying video was released as a single in 2003. The single topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for six consecutive weeks and the video won an award for "Best Video" at the 2004 Academy of Country Music Awards. A USA Network television special celebrated Nelson's 70th birthday and featured many celebrities. Nelson released The Essential Willie Nelson as part of the celebration. Nelson did a duet with former Beatle Ringo Starr on Starr's album Ringo Rama called "Write One for Me". In 2004, he released Outlaws & Angels, featuring Keith, Joe Walsh, Merle Haggard, Kid Rock, Al Green, Shelby Lynne, Carole King, Toots Hibbert, Ben Harper, Womack, The Holmes Brothers, Los Lonely Boys, Lucinda Williams, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rickie Lee Jones.

In 2007, Nelson performed with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in a concert at Lincoln Center, a date commemorated the following year with both a CD and DVD. Nelson participated in Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, contributing his version of Domino's "I Hear You Knocking".

In 2008 he released Moment of Forever. Nelson appeared in Amsterdam with rap icon Snoop Dogg, where they did a live version of "SuperMan". Subsequently the two became friends, releasing the video "My Medicine". Nelson performed a duet with Norwegian pop star and former World Idol winner Kurt Nilsen on the country classic "Lost Highway". The single topped the Norwegian charts and was released on Nilsen's Rise To The Occasion. Subsequent reports stated that Nelson was eager to expand the collaboration further.

In 2009 Nelson teamed with Asleep at the Wheel on Willie and the Wheel on the Bismeaux Records label, a western swing album, with covers of Bob Wills, Milton Brown and Cliff Bruner among others. Nelson released Naked Willie, including remixes of recordings from 1966–1970, removing orchestration and background vocals. The same year, Nelson dedicated the Patsy Cline Theatre in Winchester, Virginia.

In 2010, he provided background vocals for Reggae artist Mishka on the latter's Talk About album. In June he played in the United Kingdom at Glastonbury Festival 2010.
Actor

Nelson's acting debut was in the 1979 movie, The Electric Horseman, followed by Honeysuckle Rose, Thief, and Barbarosa. In 1982 he played the role of Red Loon in Coming Out of the Ice with John Savage. In 1984 he starred in Songwriter, with Kristofferson. He portrayed the lead role in the 1986 film version of his concept album Red Headed Stranger. Other movies include Wag the Dog, Gone Fishin' (as Billy 'Catch' Pooler), the 1986 television movie Stagecoach (with Johnny Cash); Half Baked, Beerfest, The Dukes of Hazzard, Surfer, Dude and Swing Vote. He has also made guest appearances on Miami Vice (1986's "El Viejo" episode), Delta, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons, Monk, Adventures in Wonderland, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, King of the Hill, The Colbert Report, Swing Vote and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
Farm Aid
Main article: Farm Aid

Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985. The original objective was to raise money for families in danger of losing their farms; later Farm Aid promoted awareness of the economic importance of farming. The 1985 concert was held at University of Illinois' Memorial stadium in Champaign, Illinois on September 25. Among the performing artists were Alabama, Beach Boys, Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffett, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, Charlie Daniels, John Denver, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard , Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, George Jones, B.B. King, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson and Family, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Lou Reed, Eddie Van Halen and Neil Young. Besides organizing and performing in the annual concerts, Nelson is the president of the board.
Marijuana legalization

Nelson is a co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advisory board. He has worked with NORML for years for marijuana legalization. In 2005 Nelson and his family hosted the first annual "Willie Nelson & NORML Benefit Golf Tournament," leading to a cover appearance in the January–2008 issue of High Times magazine and an interview inside. Filmography
Year Movie
1979 The Electric Horseman
1980 Honeysuckle Rose
1981 Thief
1982 Barbarosa
1984 Songwriter
1986 Red Headed Stranger
1986 Stagecoach
1988 Once Upon a Texas Train
1988 Where The Hell's That Gold?
1996 Starlight
1997 Gone Fishin'
1997 Wag the Dog
1998 Half Baked
1999 Outlaw Justice
1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
2002 Monk (TV series)
2002 The Country Bears
2002 The Long Kill
2003 The Austin Disaster, 1911
2004 The Big Bounce
2005 The Dukes of Hazzard
2006 Beerfest
2006 Broken Bridges
2007 The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning
2007 Blonde Ambition
2007 Fighting with Anger
2008 Swing Vote
2008 Surfer, Dude
2008 Shoot Out of Luck
2008 The Boom Boom Room
2008 Beer For My Horses
2008 A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All
2009 One Peace at a Time
Books
Willie: Autobiography 1988 Bud Shrake ISBN 0-8154-1080-8
The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes 2002 ISBN 0-375-50731-0
The Tao of Willie 2006 Turk Pipkin ISBN 1-59240-197-X
Willie Nelson: An Epic Life 2008 Joe Nick Patoski ISBN 0-316-01778-7
Awards
Year Organization Award
1975 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1976 CMA Awards Vocal Duo of the Year
1976 CMA Awards Single of the Year
1976 CMA Awards Album of the Year
1977 American Music Awards Favorite Single
1978 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1978 Grammy Best Country Performance by Duo/Group W/Vocals
1979 CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year
1979 ACM Entertainer of the Year
1980 Grammy Best Country Song
1982 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1982 CMA Awards Single of the Year
1982 CMA Awards Album of the Year
1982 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1982 ACM Single of the Year
1982 ACM Album of the Year
1983 CMA Awards Vocal Duo of the Year
1983 American Music Awards Favorite Album
1984 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1984 ACM Single of the Year
1985 ACM Single of the Year
1986 American Music Awards Favorite Single
1986 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1987 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1990 Grammy Legend Awards
1995 TNN/Music City News Minnie Pearl Award
1995 TNN/Music City News Living Legend
1999 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
2001 BMI 49th Annual Country Awards President's Award
2002 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
2002 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Video Collaboration of the Year
2002 CMA Awards Vocal Event of the Year
2003 CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music #4 ranking
2003 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
2004 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Video Collaboration of the Year
2007 BMI 55th Annual Country Awards BMI Icon
2008 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
See also
Sixth Street Austin.jpg Austin portal

    * Academy of Country Music
    * Country Music Association
    * Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame
    * Outlaw Country
    * List of country musicians
    * Music of Austin
    * Best selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists
    * National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq25/kelsey140821_2008/willie_nelson.jpg
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/zanneyz_2008/willie-nelson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/30/11 at 10:20 am

I never cared for Willie Nelson.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/30/11 at 10:53 am


I never cared for Willie Nelson.


Cat
I like his songs when sung by other people.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/30/11 at 10:55 am


I like his songs when sung by other people.



This is how I used to listen to one of his songs when it came on the radio:


"To all the girls I" Click!  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 04/30/11 at 10:56 am



This is how I used to listen to one of his songs when it came on the radio:


"To all the girls I" Click!  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat
He-He!!

Karma

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/30/11 at 12:50 pm



This is how I used to listen to one of his songs when it came on the radio:


"To all the girls I" Click!  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

He-He!!

Karma
Ditto! :D ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 04/30/11 at 7:38 pm


I never cared for Willie Nelson.


Cat


Me neither.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 04/30/11 at 8:55 pm


Me neither.

Not one of my favorites, really. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/01/11 at 4:10 am

Yeah...not one of my favs either. I admire his way of singing with feeling ... but his voice grates on me. My brother-in-law thinks the sun shines out of him.... :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 05/01/11 at 4:52 am

I love Willy Nelson.  He is the only country music singer/songwriter I can listen to.  I love him, I love the life he has lived, I love the man he is.  God Bless You Willie  :-*





Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/11 at 6:15 am

I'm neutral here. There are songs he sings that I love "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" with Waylon Jennings, but he's not one of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/01/11 at 6:20 am

The person of the day...Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, voice-over artist and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive Skin. She is a former model and Bond girl. Her distinctive voice has been supplied for animated characters, film narration, and AOL's "You have email" notification in the UK. She has spoken out as a human rights activist for Survival International and the Gurkha Justice Campaign, and is now considered a "national treasure" of Nepal because of her support. She is an advocate for a number of charities and animal welfare groups such as CIWF and Viva!. She has won three BAFTA awards and a British comedy award.
Tall, slim and blonde, she spent three years as a photographic model, notably for Brian Duffy by whom she was photographed with her son. She also worked as a house model for Jean Muir. Over forty years later, she participated in another photoshoot - again with her son - for Duffy as part of a retrospective of the photographer's work.

Lumley appeared in an early episode of The Bruce Forsyth Show in 1966. She appeared in a UK television advertisement for Nimble bread first screened in 1969.

Lumley did not receive any formal training at drama school. Her acting career began in 1969 with a small role in the film Some Girls Do and as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; she played the English girl among Blofeld's 'Angels of Death' and had two lines. She went on to have a brief but memorable role in Coronation Street, in which her character turned down Ken Barlow's offer of marriage.

In the Are You Being Served? episode "His and Hers" (season 1; episode 4), she was featured as Miss French, a perfume representative. In the episode "German Week" (season 3; episode 6), she appeared as "German Lady". She also appeared as "Jessica" on the big screen in The Satanic Rites of Dracula, released in the UK on 13 January 1974, which was the last of Hammer Film's Dracula series starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. She also appeared in the TV series Steptoe & Son in the episode "Loathe Story".
Major roles

Throughout her career, she has specialised in playing upper-class parts, and her distinctive plummy voice has reinforced this. Lumley's first major role was as Purdey in The New Avengers, a revival of the secret agent series The Avengers. Although critical reaction to the series was lukewarm, the casting of Lumley was seen as inspired and following the tradition of iconic Avengers actresses Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson.

In 1979, she appeared in another series which acquired a following: Sapphire and Steel, with David McCallum. Conceived as ITV's answer to Doctor Who, Lumley played a mysterious elemental being ('Sapphire') who, with her collaborator 'Steel', dealt with breaches in the fabric of time.

Over a decade later, Lumley's career was boosted by her portrayal of the louche, solipsistic and frequently drunken fashion director Patsy Stone, companion to Jennifer Saunders' Edina Monsoon in the BBC comedy television series Absolutely Fabulous (1992–1996) and (2001–2004).

Other work has included: Lovejoy as widow Victoria Cavero, a film about a journey made by her grandparents in Bhutan - In the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon (1996) - and A Rather English Marriage (nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress 1999) and Dr Willoughby (1999). In 1995, she provided the voice of Annie the rag doll in the animated series The Forgotten Toys. In 1999, she also provided the voice for Sims the chicken in the BAFTA award winning animated series The Foxbusters. In 2000, she co-produced a new drama series The Cazalets. She has also appeared in a TV series on Sarawak, where she spent time in her childhood. She has demonstrated her ability to go beyond stereotypical images, most notably in the monologue series of playlets Up In Town (2002), written by Hugo Blick, and focusing on a society hostess's realisation that her star is fading.

Lumley stars as the elderly Delilah Stagg in the 2006 sitcom Jam & Jerusalem with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Sue Johnston. In July 2007, she starred in the second series of the drama Sensitive Skin where she played the main character Davina Jackson. The BBC said this will be the final series of the dark comedy.
Media work

As the possessor of one of the most recognised voices in the United Kingdom, Lumley has gained prominence as a voice-over artist. Users of AOL in the United Kingdom are familiar with Joanna Lumley's voice. She recorded the greetings "Welcome" and "You've got post" for that company. She also did a voice over for the BBC series Posh Nosh as a voice-over usually saying "From the Posh Nosh range (a faux product)."

She appeared as a guest host on Channel 4's The Friday Night Project, which aired on 3 August 2007.

From 2005-2006, she appeared in adverts for insurance brokers Privilege.

Lumley has also appeared on the last run of ITV1's Parkinson as a guest, on 27 October 2007, discussing the subject of young girls across the UK and how they need to behave better if they hope to be successful. She was asked to write the introduction to a re-edition in November 2007 of the book called The Magic Key To Charm written by the pioneering female journalist Eileen Ascroft. This is a book of tips to women, first written by Ascroft in 1938 about how to be glamorous. "I thought it was absolutely enchanting, it's how young women were told how to behave in the old days and I think it might be just coming back for a bit of a revival," she explained in the interview.

    "Because, I have to say I adore our young ones and I think we have got some of the prettiest and loveliest girls in the world but I think sometimes the behaviour gets a bit bad and I think the girls let themselves down. They are so pretty and so lovely but they should behave better, I think, then they will be more successful."

In 1999, she appeared in the Comic Relief Doctor Who parody The Curse of Fatal Death as the final incarnation of the Doctor. She also appeared with Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Sienna Miller in French and Saunders pastiche of Mamma Mia for Comic Relief 2009 in which she played the role of Tanya (Patsy in the spoof).

In 2004, Lumley appeared as the "Woman with the Sydney Opera House Head" in Dirk Maggs' long-awaited radio adaptation of the third book of the Douglas Adams series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

In 2005, she published her autobiography No Room for Secrets which was serialized by The Times, for which she was once a regular contributor.

In September and December 2008, and April 2009, the BBC showed Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights, a documentary about her search to see the Northern Lights in northern Norway.

In May 2009, she supported the Green Party during the 2009 European Elections campaign. For Joanna Lumley, the work of Green MEPs in the European Parliament in pursuing human rights and animal rights made the Green Party "the obvious choice", and urged UK voters "to cast a positive vote for a better future by voting Green in the European Elections". Lumley also appeared in literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.

In 2009, she portrayed a rock star, believed to be dead for 35 years, in the "Counter Culture Blues" episode of the British television mystery series Lewis (known in the U.S. as Inspector Lewis).

In 2010, she donated £1,000 to Caroline Lucas' campaign to become the first Green MP during the 2010 General Election campaign.

In 2010, Lumley worked on the show, for ITV, Joanna Lumley's Nile, where she takes a journey down the Nile, from sea to source. This was broadcast in four parts on ITV1 from 28 to 31 December 2010.

In August 2010, Lumley teamed up with British food company Sharwood's to help develop a limited edition Mango Chutney with Kashmiri Chilli, an ingredient from her birthplace. Sharwood’s will donate 10p from each jar sold to the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
Activism

As an activist, Lumley is best known for her support for Gurkhas, the exiled Tibetan people and government, the Kondha indigenous people of India, and the Prospect Burma charity which offers grants to Burmese students, for whom she broadcast a BBC Radio 4 charity appeal in 2001.
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1969 Some Girls Do Uncredited
On Her Majesty's Secret Service The English Girl
1970 The Breaking of Bumbo Susie
Games That Lovers Play Fanny Hill
Tam-Lin Georgia
1971 The House That Dripped Blood Uncredited
1973 Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! Giselle Parkyn
The Satanic Rites of Dracula Jessica Van Helsing
1982 Trail of the Pink Panther Marie Jouvet
1983 Curse of the Pink Panther Countess Chandra
1989 Shirley Valentine Marjorie Majors
1995 Innocent Lies Lady Helena Graves
1996 James and the Giant Peach Aunt Spiker
1997 Prince Valiant Morgan le Fay
1999 Parting Shots Freda
Mad Cows Gillian
2000 Maybe Baby Sheila
Whispers: An Elephant's Tale Half Tusk (voice)
2001 The Cat's Meow Elinor Glyn
2004 Standing Room Only Last in Line Short film
EuroTrip Hostel Clerk
Ella Enchanted Dame Olga
2005 The Magic Roundabout Ermintrude
Corpse Bride Maudeline Everglot
2006 Dolls Madame Muscat Short film
2009 Boogie Woogie Alfreda Rhinegold
2010 This Beautiful Fantastic TBA In production
2011 Late Bloomers Charlotte Filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1969 The Wednesday Play Elsie Engelfield 1 episode
1971 It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes, Darling Samantha Ryder-Ross TV series
1972 Steptoe and Son Bunty 1 episode 'Loathe Story'
1973 Coronation Street Elaine Perkins 102 episodes (although some say it was 104)
1973-75 Are You Being Served? Miss French/German Lady 2 episodes 'His and Hers', 'German Week'
1976 The Cuckoo Waltz Harriet Paulden 1 episode 'Babysitter'
1976-77 The New Avengers Purdey 26 episodes. BAFTA win - "Special Award" (2000)
1979 The Plank Hitchhiker
1979-82 Sapphire & Steel Sapphire 34 episodes
1981-85 The Kenny Everett Television Show Various 5 episodes
1982 The Weather in the Streets Kate TV film
1984 Mistral's Daughter Lally Longbridge TV mini-series
The Glory Boys Helen TV film
Oxbridge Blues Gigi 1 episode 'That Was Tory'
1986 The Two Ronnies Miss Dibley 1 episode
1990 A Ghost in Monte Carlo Lady Drayton TV film
1991 A Perfect Hero Loretta Stone TV miniseries
1992 Lovejoy Victoria Cavero 3 episodes
1992–2005 Absolutely Fabulous Patsy Stone 37 episodes. British Comedy Award win - "Best Comedy Actress" (1993)
BAFTA win - "Best Light Entertainment Performance" (1993)
BAFTA win - "Best Comedy Performance" (1995)
BAFTA nomination - "Best Comedy Performance" (1996)
BAFTA nomination - "Best Comedy Performance" (1997)
BAFTA nomination - "Best Comedy Performance" (2002)
1993 Cluedo Mrs. Peacock 6 episodes
1994 Girl Friday TV series
1994-95 Class Act Kate Swift 14 episodes
1995 Cold Comfort Farm Mrs. Mary Smiling TV film
The Forgotten Toys Annie (voice) Animated series
1996 Roseanne Patsy Stone 1 episode 'Satan, Darling'
1998 The Tale of Sweeney Todd Mrs. Lovett TV film
Coming Home Diana Carey-Lewis TV serial
A Rather English Marriage Liz Franks TV film. BAFTA nomination - "Best Actress"
1999 Alice in Wonderland Tiger Lily TV film
Nancherrow Diana Carey-Lewis TV film
Foxbusters Sims (voice) Animation series
Dr Willoughby Donna Sinclair 1 series of 6 episodes
2000 Mirrorball Jackie Riviera Pilot
2002 Up In Town Madison Blakelock TV series. British Comedy Award nomination - "Best Comedy Actress"
2004, 2009 Marple Dolly Bantry 2 episodes 'The Body in the Library' & 'The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side'
2005-07 Sensitive Skin Davina Jackson 12 episodes
2006–present Jam & Jerusalem Delilah Stagg 6 episodes
2009 Lewis Esme Ford 1 episode 'Counter Culture Blues'
2010 Mistresses Vivienne 4 episodes
Documentary
Year Title Role
2008 Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights Herself
Ian Fleming: Where Bond Began Herself
2009 Joanna Lumley Catwoman Herself
2010 Joanna Lumley's Nile Herself
Theatre

    * Blithe Spirit
    * Hedda Gabler - Dundee Rep
    * Noel & Gertie - King's Head
    * Private Lives
    * The Letter by Somerset Maugham, Lyric Hammersmith, 1995
    * Jack and the Beanstalk by Roald Dahl, Royal Albert Hall, December 1996
    * The Cherry Orchard - Sheffield Crucible, March 2007
    * David Hirson's La Bête - Comedy Theatre, London, 26 June - 28 August 2010 with David Hyde Pierce and Mark Rylance, directed by Matthew Warchus. Opened at the Music Box Theater, Broadway, New York - 14 October 2010.

Books
As author

    * Peacocks and Commas: Best of the "Spectator" Competitions (1983) - Editor
    * Stare Back and Smile: Memoirs (1989) - Autobiography
    * Forces Sweethearts
    * Girl Friday (1994)
    * In the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon (1997)
    * No Room for Secrets (2005) - Autobiography

She has also narrated a number of audiobooks and provided forewords for works by other authors.
As subject

    * Joanna Lumley — The Biography by Tim Ewbank and Stafford Hildred; an unauthorised biography.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa4/Vertiginoso/joannaLumleyfromHARPERSBAZAARukNove.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee194/believemeerika/da14fc62.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/01/11 at 6:57 am


Not one of my favorites, really. :-\\


I liked him when he was in the video We Are The World.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/02/11 at 5:32 am

The person of the day...Lou Gramm
Lou Gramm (born Louis Andrew Grammatico; May 2, 1950) is an American rock vocalist and songwriter best known for his role as the lead vocalist and co-writer of many of the songs for the rock band Foreigner. He also had a successful solo career. Gramm was the vocalist for many top-40 hits including "Cold as Ice", "Waiting for a Girl Like You", "I Want to Know What Love Is" and "Midnight Blue". Most recently, the Lou Gramm Band has released a self-titled Christian rock album in 2009.
Gramm was born in Rochester, New York. He attended Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, graduating with the class of 1968. He is also an alumnus of Monroe Community College in Rochester.

Gramm began his musical career in his mid-teens, playing in local Rochester bands, including St. James Infirmary (later The Infirmary), and PHFFT. He later sang harmony vocals in another local band, Poor Heart. Gramm then went on to sing and play drums, and to eventually become front man for the band Black Sheep. Black Sheep had the distinction of being the first American band signed to the Chrysalis label, which released their first single, "Stick Around" (1973). Soon after this initial bit of success, Black Sheep signed with Capitol Records, releasing two albums in succession Foreigner era

With the blessings of his Black Sheep bandmates, Gramm flew down to New York to audition for the still-unnamed band. With his powerful vocals, he easily got the job. Lou Grammatico then became Lou Gramm, and, with the band initially known as "Trigger," and later renamed Foreigner, became one of the most successful rock vocalists of the late 1970s and 1980s.

Gramm was the lead vocalist on many of Foreigner's hit songs, including "Feels Like the First Time", "Cold as Ice", "Hot Blooded", "Urgent", "Double Vision", "Juke Box Hero", "Head Games", "Break It Up", "Dirty White Boy" and "Say You Will". He co-wrote most of the songs for the band, which achieved two of its biggest hits with the ballads "Waiting for a Girl Like You", which spent ten weeks at #2 on the 1981-82 American Hot 100, and "I Want to Know What Love Is", which was a #1 hit internationally (US & UK) in 1985. The latter was credited only to Jones; however, Gramm indicated that he had contributed to its writing.

Gramm and Mick Jones had a volatile sort of chemistry that exploded into many a chart-topper, yet at times they clashed artistically. Following the band's second album, the wildly successful Double Vision, shifts in personnel began to take place. Following their next album, Head Games, Gramm and Jones jointly decided to reduce the band's lineup from six to four members. The next album, which Gramm has called the high point of his work with Foreigner, was aptly titled 4. Gramm wanted the band to remain true to its purer rock origins, favoring music with a solid drum and guitar structure, whereas Jones embraced the 1980s style of synthesizer ballads - a more lucrative approach at the time. Indeed, the next album, Agent Provocateur, would find Jones moving creatively in the opposite direction from Gramm, seeking out potential co-producers such as Trevor Horn, and then Alex Sadkin, which ended up giving Foreigner's sound a somewhat new-wavish, keyboard-dominant quality.
Solo era

By 1987, Foreigner continued to struggle with ongoing internal conflicts. During this period, Gramm released his first solo album, Ready or Not, which received critical acclaim and contained a top five hit single with "Midnight Blue". This was followed by the late-1987 Foreigner album Inside Information, which reached number 15 on Billboard's album chart. The extracted "Say You Will" was released late that year, reaching number 6 on the Hot 100 early in 1988, and "I Don't Want to Live Without You" followed, reaching number 5 on the Hot 100 and number one on the adult contemporary chart in the spring. A third single, "Heart Turns to Stone" reached number 56 in the summer. Eventually a second solo effort, Long Hard Look, that included the top ten hit, "Just Between You and Me", and "True Blue Love", reached the Top 40. Gramm also contributed a song to the soundtrack for the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, titled "Lost in the Shadows."

Encouraged by his solo success, and increasingly displeased with the direction in which Jones was taking Foreigner, Gramm left the group to form Shadow King with close friend and former Black Sheep bassist Bruce Turgon. The new group's 1991 self-titled album was released by Virgin Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the U.S. Despite positive reviews, the group lacked cohesiveness. It also did not enjoy the level of marketing and promotional support necessary to sustain a new project. Shadow King soon disbanded. The same year, Foreigner released the album Unusual Heat, a relatively unsuccessful effort fronted by vocalist Johnny Edwards.

Edwards was not widely accepted by the Foreigner fan base. Gramm returned to the group in 1992 to record three new songs for the compilation, The Very Best of ... and Beyond, bringing a new energy back into the mix. Gramm also brought Bruce Turgon with him to join the Foreigner lineup at this point.

In 1995, the group released the album Mr. Moonlight on the Rhythm Safari label which, although relatively successful in Europe, was not as widely marketed or distributed in the U.S. Still, "Until the End of Time" made inroads at adult contemporary radio. With the changing trends in popular music, this now-classic rock band came to suffer the inevitable slowing of their genre's momentum.
New Foreigner era

In 1996, Mick Jones invited Gramm to perform backing vocals on a cover version of "I Want to Know What Love Is" he was producing for the Australian singer Tina Arena. The song went on to become a major hit again throughout Europe.

In April 1997, two months after providing vocals for Christian rock band Petra's Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus, and on the eve the band was to leave for a Japan tour, Gramm was diagnosed with a type of brain tumor called a craniopharyngioma. Although the tumor was benign, the resulting surgery damaged his pituitary gland. In addition, the recovery program had caused Gramm to gain weight, and likewise affected his stamina and voice. He continued to work with Jones throughout his illness and in 1999, Gramm was back touring with Foreigner playing summer festivals and smaller markets until late 2002.
Lou Gramm Band
Lou Gramm today.

In 2003, Gramm once again split from Foreigner to rejuvenate his solo career with a band that included Bruce Turgon on bass, Rocket Richotte on guitar, Kevin Neal on drums, John Purdell on keyboards (who died suddenly very early in the tour), and Gary Corbett on keyboards. Following the death of both his father and mother, Bennie and Nikki Grammatico - - he a trumpeter and bandleader, she a singer for his Big Band - - Gramm and the initial lineup decided it best to take different paths. Fulfilling a lifelong wish of his parents that their three musical sons might someday make their music together, Gramm and his brother, Ben formed the current lineup of the Lou Gramm Band (also known as "LGB").

Gradually, Gramm's health and energy have rebounded, although his voice has been obviously affected, and sounds quite different on much of his new material. The Lou Gramm band has been touring the U.S., Canada, and Mexico steadily since January 2004, as well as occasional dates off the continent, and the touring continues.

Lou, Ben, with friends Don Mancuso and Andy Knoll, play a retrospective of Gramm's work with Foreigner, his solo material, plus a few personal favorites of their own. In addition, the band has taken on Christian rock. The Lou Gramm Band has recently finished an all-Christian rock album, which was released in the U.S. on June 2, 2009, through Spectra Records.

Gramm counts John Lennon, Marvin Gaye, Steve Marriott, Paul Rodgers and Wilson Pickett among his influences.
Discography
Solo albums
Title Details Peak chart
positions
US
CAN

Ready or Not

    * Release date: 1987
    * Label: Atlantic Records
    * Formats: CD, cassette

27 24
Long Hard Look

    * Release date: 1989
    * Label: Atlantic Records
    * Formats: CD, cassette

85 44
Lou Gramm Band

    * Release date: June 2, 2009
    * Label: Spectra Records
    * Formats: CD, music download

— —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Solo singles
Year Song US Hot 100 US MSR US A.C. UK singles Album
1987 "Midnight Blue" 5 1 - 82 Ready Or Not
1987 "Ready or Not" 54 7 - - Ready Or Not
1989 "Just Between You and Me" 6 4 4 - Long Hard Look
1989 "True Blue Love" 40 23 - - Long Hard Look
With Poor Heart

    * Foreigner in a Strange Land (1988)
    * The Best of the Early Years (1993)

(Note: These are actually releases of much older recordings.)
With Black Sheep

    * S/T (1975)
    * Encouraging Words (1975)

With Foreigner

    * Foreigner (1977) #4 US
    * Double Vision (1978) #3 US, #32 UK
    * Head Games (1979) #5 US
    * 4 (1981) #1 US (10 weeks), #5 UK
    * Records (1982) #10 US, #58 UK
    * Agent Provocateur (1984) #4 US, #1 UK
    * Inside Information (1987) #15 US, #64 UK
    * The Very Best of (1992)
    * The Very Best of... and Beyond (1992) #123 US, #19 UK
    * Classic Hits Live/Best of Live (1993)
    * JukeBox Heroes: The Best of (1994)
    * Mr. Moonlight (1994) #136 US, #59 UK
    * The Platinum Collection (1999)
    * Rough Diamonds No. 1 (1999)
    * Hot Blooded and Other Hits (2000)
    * Anthology: Jukebox Heroes (2000)
    * Complete Greatest Hits (2002) #80 US
    * The Definitive (2002) #33 UK
    * No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner (2008)

With Shadow King

    * Shadow King (1991)

With Liberty N' Justice

    * Welcome To The Revolution 2001

With Don Mancuso

    * D: Drive (2005)
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm165/melomana471/LouGrammcopy1.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii222/larrymac98/lougram.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/03/11 at 6:47 am

The person of the day...Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli (born Francis Stephen Castelluccio, May 3, 1934, First Ward, Newark, New Jersey) is an Italian-American musician, most famous as frontman of The 4 Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice. Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio, (the original members of The Four Seasons), were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

Valli scored 29 Top 40 hits with The 4 Seasons, one Top 40 hit under The 4 Seasons' alias 'The Wonder Who?', and nine Top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of The 4 Seasons, Valli's number one hits included "Sherry", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", "Rag Doll" and "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)". As a solo artist, Valli scored number one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" and "Grease". Valli's recording of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" reached number two in 1967. "You're Ready Now," a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in Great Britain as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number eleven on the British pop charts in December 1970.
Frankie Valli began his professional singing career in 1951 with the Variety Trio (Nickie DeVito, Tommy DeVito and Nick Macioci). Valli's desire to sing in public was initially granted when, having heard Valli sing, the group offered him a guest spot when the group performed. In late 1952, the Variety Trio disbanded and Valli, along with Tommy DeVito, became part of the house band at The Strand in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For his part, Valli played bass and sang. He cut his first single, "My Mother's Eyes," in 1953 as "Frankie Valley," a name he adopted from "Texas" Jean Valley, a favorite female singer. Around this time, Valli and Tommy DeVito left the house band at The Strand and formed The Variatones with Hank Majewski, Frank Cattone and Billy Thompson. In 1956, as part of an audition backing a female singer, the group impressed New York record man Peter Paul, who had them auditioning at RCA Victor a week later. Renamed The Four Lovers, the group recorded several singles and one album's worth of tracks. They had a minor hit with "You're the Apple of My Eye" in 1956. Nickie DeVito and Hank Majewski left in 1958 to be replaced by Nick Macioci (now Nick Massi) and Hugh Garrity. Massi was in and out of the group, and, occasionally Charles Calello joined on accordion. The group continued to perform until 1959, when Bob Gaudio became a member. After a few more changes, the group was renamed "The 4 Seasons" in 1960.

As the lead singer of The 4 Seasons, he had a string of hits beginning with the number one hit "Sherry" in 1962. As a footnote to this period of Frankie's career with The 4 Seasons, the group's bassist and vocal arranger Nick Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charlie Calello, the group's instrumental arranger, and, then shortly thereafter, Charlie was replaced by Joseph LaBracio, who went by the pseudonym Joe Long.

During the 1960s, Gaudio and his then songwriting partner, producer Bob Crewe (born Stanley Robert Crewe on November 12, 1931), worked with Valli to craft solo recordings with varying degrees of success. This concept of a major recording artist performing solo in opposition to his or her own group performances was new to the rock/pop world and may have given tacit approval to other groups and members of other groups to pursue such a path. The potential to dominate the charts with group and solo recordings was great, and, Valli, Gaudio and Crewe occasionally rose to the occasion with both great performances and commercial hits. Valli was the original artist to record the Gaudio-Crewe composition "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", a performance that was copied nearly note for note when recorded by The Walker Brothers, an American group based in England. The Walker Brothers version was a huge success. Valli continued to record solo performances and finally reached major success with the release of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Though it only reached number two in the charts, the song itself was widely recorded by many other artists.

Valli's debut solo album was a gathering together of various single releases and a few new recordings. Prior to the release of Valli's second solo album, a single was released in July 1967 with the A-side "I Make A Fool Of Myself," a record that reached number 18. 'Timeless,' Valli's second solo album release was more coherent and Valli took more time in recording it. 'Timeless' contains one Top 40 hit, "To Give (The Reason I Live)."

Finally, Valli ended the '60s with a string of recordings that were included in the Valli/4 Seasons album 'Half & Half' or released as various singles. The only hit to emerge at this time was the recording of "The Girl I'll Never Know (Angels Never Fly This Low)," reaching number 52.
1970s to the present

In 1975, Valli's single "My Eyes Adored You" hit number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. In the same year, he also had a number 6 Billboard hit with the disco-laden "Swearin' To God".

In 1976, Valli covered the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

In 1978, Valli sang the theme song for the film version of the stage play, Grease, a song written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, which became a number 1 hit. He had two further chart successes the following year, "Save Me, Save Me" in November 1978, which entered the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and "Fancy Dancer" in January 1979, which entered the pop charts.

Valli suffered from otosclerosis in the 1970s, forcing him to "sing from memory" in the latter part of the decade. Surgery restored most of his hearing by 1980.

In 1992, a new Four Seasons album was released entitled Hope and Glory.

In October of 2007, Valli released Romancing the 60s, an album containing covers of his favorite songs from the 1960s, two of which he had previously recorded. Those songs were "Sunny" and "Any Day Now".

In October 2010, a duet version of "The Biggest Part of Me" by Frankie Valli and Juice Newton was released on Newton's album Duets: Friends & Memories.
Philanthropic activities

Valli has been a supporter of heritage-related causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2006, he received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala. In 2008, NIAF presented a scholarship in his name to an Italian American music student during the Foundation's East Coast Gala.
Discography

Singles:
Main article: List of U.S. singles by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
Studio Albums

    For albums recorded as part of The Four Seasons, see Discography of The Four Seasons

Many of Valli's solo recordings, recorded before 1975, were recorded with the participation of one or more of The 4 Seasons.

    * 06/1967: The 4 Seasons Present frankie valli solo - Philips PHS 600-247
    * 07/1968: Timeless - Philips PHS 600-274
    * 02/1975: Closeup - Private Stock PS 2000
    * 09/1975: Inside You - Motown M6-852S1 (five new tracks plus four previously released album and single tracks, remixed; of the nine tracks, "The Night", with The Four Seasons)
    * 11/1975: Our Day Will Come - Private Stock PS 2006
    * 09/1976: Valli - Private Stock PS 2017
    * 11/1977: Lady Put the Light Out - Private Stock PS 7002
    * 08/1978: Frankie Valli... Is the Word - Warner Bros/Curb BS 3233
    * 11/1980: Heaven Above Me - MCA/Curb 5134
    * 10/2007: Romancing The '60s - cherry entertainment/universalmotown B0009908-02

Compilations and Misc. Four Seasons Albums with Frankie Valli "Solo" Songs

    * 04/1970: Half & Half - Philips PHS 600-341 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; five tracks by The 4 Seasons)
    * 05/1972: Chameleon - MoWest MW108L (two tracks by Frankie Valli; seven tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * 12/1975: Valli Gold - Private Stock PS 2001
    * 04/1978: Frankie Valli Hits - Private Stock PS 7012
    * 12/1979: Very Best Of Frankie Valli - MCA 3198
    * 08/1980: Superstar Series Volume 4 - Motown M5-104V1 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; four tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * xx/1988: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 25th Anniversary Collection - Rhino Records Inc RNRD 72998-2 (twelve tracks by Frankie Valli; forty-two tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
    * xx/1990: Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons volume 2 rarities - Rhino Records Inc R2 70924 (two tracks by Frankie Valli; sixteen tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * xx/1994: FRANKIE VALLI SOLO TIMELESS 2LPs ON 1 CD + BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 538
    * xx/1996: THE 4 SEASONS FRANKIE VALLI HALF & HALF PLUS 6 BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 635 (eight tracks by Frankie Valli; eight tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * 07/1996: FRANKIE VALLI GREATEST HITS - Curb Records D2-77714
    * 05/2001: IN SEASON THE FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS ANTHOLOGY - Rhino/Warner Special Products R2 74266 OPCD-5508 (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirty-seven tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
    * 06/2007: ...Jersey Beat... The Music Of FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS - Rhino R2 74852 3 CDs + 1 DVD (thirteen tracks by Frankie Valli; sixty-three tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?) (DVD contains two solo performances by Frankie Valli and ten group performances by The Four Seasons)
    * 04/2008: The Four Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo - Timeless - collector's choice Music CCM-927
    * 04/2008: Closeup - Valli - collector's choice Music CCM-928 (this CD contains a longer version of "Swearin' To God" than the original album release of 02/1975. This version clocks in at 10:35. Also, the tracks "Can't Get You Off My Mind" and "Easily" have been edited down from their original album lengths.)
    * 04/2008: Our Day Will Come - Lady Put the Light Out - collector's choice Music CCM-929
    * 04/2008: Frankie Valli Is the Word - Heaven Above Me - collector's choice Music CCM-930
    * 05/2008: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: The Motown Years - Hip-O Select.com Motown A Universal Music Company B0010777-02 2 CDs (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirteen tracks by The Four Seasons)

Television appearances

Valli made several appearances on the HBO series The Sopranos, portraying New York mob captain Rusty Millio.

Valli also played a role in an episode of Miami Vice.

Valli once performed with Frankie Avalon, Dion, and Pat Boone on the "Cher" TV show.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons performed for an NBC television special, Frankie Valli: Tribute on Ice.

Valli performed "Grease" with the Commodores in 1980 on The Midnight Special.

Valli sang solo on an 8th season episode of Full House.

Frankie Valli voiced the role of Little David in "Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten".
Broadway

John Lloyd Young won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, for his portrayal of Valli, in the musical Jersey Boys.
Date of birth

As with many other celebrities, Valli's birth year has been called into question. Valli never addressed the issue himself, until the 2007 posting at the Official Frankie Valli Site, sponsored by his current record label, Universal Records. Much of the previous official publicity surrounding his career had used 1937 as the birth year. It is hard to tell when and why this occurred, but inference can be made that by chopping a few years off his age, he would seem more commercially viable to a younger audience. Other sources, such as the Bear Family Records release, entitled 'The Four Lovers' (BCD 15424), as well as a 1965 "mug shot", available through The Smoking Gun, all identify his year of birth as 1934.
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu312/edtombell/MY%20SHOWS/fvalli.jpg
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv234/southerngaming/frankie-valli-328.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/03/11 at 7:00 am

Happy Birthday Frankie Valli,your music is wonderful.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/03/11 at 3:22 pm


The person of the day...Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli (born Francis Stephen Castelluccio, May 3, 1934, First Ward, Newark, New Jersey) is an Italian-American musician, most famous as frontman of The 4 Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice. Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio, (the original members of The Four Seasons), were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

Valli scored 29 Top 40 hits with The 4 Seasons, one Top 40 hit under The 4 Seasons' alias 'The Wonder Who?', and nine Top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of The 4 Seasons, Valli's number one hits included "Sherry", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", "Rag Doll" and "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)". As a solo artist, Valli scored number one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" and "Grease". Valli's recording of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" reached number two in 1967. "You're Ready Now," a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in Great Britain as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number eleven on the British pop charts in December 1970.
Frankie Valli began his professional singing career in 1951 with the Variety Trio (Nickie DeVito, Tommy DeVito and Nick Macioci). Valli's desire to sing in public was initially granted when, having heard Valli sing, the group offered him a guest spot when the group performed. In late 1952, the Variety Trio disbanded and Valli, along with Tommy DeVito, became part of the house band at The Strand in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For his part, Valli played bass and sang. He cut his first single, "My Mother's Eyes," in 1953 as "Frankie Valley," a name he adopted from "Texas" Jean Valley, a favorite female singer. Around this time, Valli and Tommy DeVito left the house band at The Strand and formed The Variatones with Hank Majewski, Frank Cattone and Billy Thompson. In 1956, as part of an audition backing a female singer, the group impressed New York record man Peter Paul, who had them auditioning at RCA Victor a week later. Renamed The Four Lovers, the group recorded several singles and one album's worth of tracks. They had a minor hit with "You're the Apple of My Eye" in 1956. Nickie DeVito and Hank Majewski left in 1958 to be replaced by Nick Macioci (now Nick Massi) and Hugh Garrity. Massi was in and out of the group, and, occasionally Charles Calello joined on accordion. The group continued to perform until 1959, when Bob Gaudio became a member. After a few more changes, the group was renamed "The 4 Seasons" in 1960.

As the lead singer of The 4 Seasons, he had a string of hits beginning with the number one hit "Sherry" in 1962. As a footnote to this period of Frankie's career with The 4 Seasons, the group's bassist and vocal arranger Nick Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charlie Calello, the group's instrumental arranger, and, then shortly thereafter, Charlie was replaced by Joseph LaBracio, who went by the pseudonym Joe Long.

During the 1960s, Gaudio and his then songwriting partner, producer Bob Crewe (born Stanley Robert Crewe on November 12, 1931), worked with Valli to craft solo recordings with varying degrees of success. This concept of a major recording artist performing solo in opposition to his or her own group performances was new to the rock/pop world and may have given tacit approval to other groups and members of other groups to pursue such a path. The potential to dominate the charts with group and solo recordings was great, and, Valli, Gaudio and Crewe occasionally rose to the occasion with both great performances and commercial hits. Valli was the original artist to record the Gaudio-Crewe composition "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", a performance that was copied nearly note for note when recorded by The Walker Brothers, an American group based in England. The Walker Brothers version was a huge success. Valli continued to record solo performances and finally reached major success with the release of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Though it only reached number two in the charts, the song itself was widely recorded by many other artists.

Valli's debut solo album was a gathering together of various single releases and a few new recordings. Prior to the release of Valli's second solo album, a single was released in July 1967 with the A-side "I Make A Fool Of Myself," a record that reached number 18. 'Timeless,' Valli's second solo album release was more coherent and Valli took more time in recording it. 'Timeless' contains one Top 40 hit, "To Give (The Reason I Live)."

Finally, Valli ended the '60s with a string of recordings that were included in the Valli/4 Seasons album 'Half & Half' or released as various singles. The only hit to emerge at this time was the recording of "The Girl I'll Never Know (Angels Never Fly This Low)," reaching number 52.
1970s to the present

In 1975, Valli's single "My Eyes Adored You" hit number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. In the same year, he also had a number 6 Billboard hit with the disco-laden "Swearin' To God".

In 1976, Valli covered the Beatles song "A Day in the Life" for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

In 1978, Valli sang the theme song for the film version of the stage play, Grease, a song written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, which became a number 1 hit. He had two further chart successes the following year, "Save Me, Save Me" in November 1978, which entered the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and "Fancy Dancer" in January 1979, which entered the pop charts.

Valli suffered from otosclerosis in the 1970s, forcing him to "sing from memory" in the latter part of the decade. Surgery restored most of his hearing by 1980.

In 1992, a new Four Seasons album was released entitled Hope and Glory.

In October of 2007, Valli released Romancing the 60s, an album containing covers of his favorite songs from the 1960s, two of which he had previously recorded. Those songs were "Sunny" and "Any Day Now".

In October 2010, a duet version of "The Biggest Part of Me" by Frankie Valli and Juice Newton was released on Newton's album Duets: Friends & Memories.
Philanthropic activities

Valli has been a supporter of heritage-related causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2006, he received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala. In 2008, NIAF presented a scholarship in his name to an Italian American music student during the Foundation's East Coast Gala.
Discography

Singles:
Main article: List of U.S. singles by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
Studio Albums

    For albums recorded as part of The Four Seasons, see Discography of The Four Seasons

Many of Valli's solo recordings, recorded before 1975, were recorded with the participation of one or more of The 4 Seasons.

    * 06/1967: The 4 Seasons Present frankie valli solo - Philips PHS 600-247
    * 07/1968: Timeless - Philips PHS 600-274
    * 02/1975: Closeup - Private Stock PS 2000
    * 09/1975: Inside You - Motown M6-852S1 (five new tracks plus four previously released album and single tracks, remixed; of the nine tracks, "The Night", with The Four Seasons)
    * 11/1975: Our Day Will Come - Private Stock PS 2006
    * 09/1976: Valli - Private Stock PS 2017
    * 11/1977: Lady Put the Light Out - Private Stock PS 7002
    * 08/1978: Frankie Valli... Is the Word - Warner Bros/Curb BS 3233
    * 11/1980: Heaven Above Me - MCA/Curb 5134
    * 10/2007: Romancing The '60s - cherry entertainment/universalmotown B0009908-02

Compilations and Misc. Four Seasons Albums with Frankie Valli "Solo" Songs

    * 04/1970: Half & Half - Philips PHS 600-341 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; five tracks by The 4 Seasons)
    * 05/1972: Chameleon - MoWest MW108L (two tracks by Frankie Valli; seven tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * 12/1975: Valli Gold - Private Stock PS 2001
    * 04/1978: Frankie Valli Hits - Private Stock PS 7012
    * 12/1979: Very Best Of Frankie Valli - MCA 3198
    * 08/1980: Superstar Series Volume 4 - Motown M5-104V1 (five tracks by Frankie Valli; four tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * xx/1988: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 25th Anniversary Collection - Rhino Records Inc RNRD 72998-2 (twelve tracks by Frankie Valli; forty-two tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
    * xx/1990: Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons volume 2 rarities - Rhino Records Inc R2 70924 (two tracks by Frankie Valli; sixteen tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * xx/1994: FRANKIE VALLI SOLO TIMELESS 2LPs ON 1 CD + BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 538
    * xx/1996: THE 4 SEASONS FRANKIE VALLI HALF & HALF PLUS 6 BONUS TRACKS - ACE Records Ltd CDCHD 635 (eight tracks by Frankie Valli; eight tracks by The Four Seasons)
    * 07/1996: FRANKIE VALLI GREATEST HITS - Curb Records D2-77714
    * 05/2001: IN SEASON THE FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS ANTHOLOGY - Rhino/Warner Special Products R2 74266 OPCD-5508 (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirty-seven tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?)
    * 06/2007: ...Jersey Beat... The Music Of FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS - Rhino R2 74852 3 CDs + 1 DVD (thirteen tracks by Frankie Valli; sixty-three tracks by either The Four Seasons or The Wonder Who?) (DVD contains two solo performances by Frankie Valli and ten group performances by The Four Seasons)
    * 04/2008: The Four Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo - Timeless - collector's choice Music CCM-927
    * 04/2008: Closeup - Valli - collector's choice Music CCM-928 (this CD contains a longer version of "Swearin' To God" than the original album release of 02/1975. This version clocks in at 10:35. Also, the tracks "Can't Get You Off My Mind" and "Easily" have been edited down from their original album lengths.)
    * 04/2008: Our Day Will Come - Lady Put the Light Out - collector's choice Music CCM-929
    * 04/2008: Frankie Valli Is the Word - Heaven Above Me - collector's choice Music CCM-930
    * 05/2008: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: The Motown Years - Hip-O Select.com Motown A Universal Music Company B0010777-02 2 CDs (fourteen tracks by Frankie Valli; thirteen tracks by The Four Seasons)

Television appearances

Valli made several appearances on the HBO series The Sopranos, portraying New York mob captain Rusty Millio.

Valli also played a role in an episode of Miami Vice.

Valli once performed with Frankie Avalon, Dion, and Pat Boone on the "Cher" TV show.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons performed for an NBC television special, Frankie Valli: Tribute on Ice.

Valli performed "Grease" with the Commodores in 1980 on The Midnight Special.

Valli sang solo on an 8th season episode of Full House.

Frankie Valli voiced the role of Little David in "Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten".
Broadway

John Lloyd Young won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, for his portrayal of Valli, in the musical Jersey Boys.
Date of birth

As with many other celebrities, Valli's birth year has been called into question. Valli never addressed the issue himself, until the 2007 posting at the Official Frankie Valli Site, sponsored by his current record label, Universal Records. Much of the previous official publicity surrounding his career had used 1937 as the birth year. It is hard to tell when and why this occurred, but inference can be made that by chopping a few years off his age, he would seem more commercially viable to a younger audience. Other sources, such as the Bear Family Records release, entitled 'The Four Lovers' (BCD 15424), as well as a 1965 "mug shot", available through The Smoking Gun, all identify his year of birth as 1934.
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu312/edtombell/MY%20SHOWS/fvalli.jpg
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv234/southerngaming/frankie-valli-328.jpg
Is he still on the circuit?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/03/11 at 5:56 pm

I really enjoy both Lou Gramm and Frankie Valli. Gramm has possibly my favourite rock voice.... and Valli was exceptional with The Four Seasons.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/03/11 at 6:20 pm

I always thought that Frankie Valli wore his shorts just a bit too tight.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


But, I do love his music-with or without the Four Seasons.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/03/11 at 7:46 pm


Is he still on the circuit?


Yes He Is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/03/11 at 7:51 pm

I also love Swearin To God. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/04/11 at 3:48 am

British Person of the Day: Alice Liddell

Alice Pleasance Liddell (4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice was named after her.

Biography

Alice Liddell was the fourth child of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and his wife Lorina Hanna Liddell (née Reeve). She had two older brothers, Harry (born 1847) and Arthur (born 1850, died of scarlet fever in 1853), and an older sister Lorina (born 1849). She also had six younger siblings, including her sister Edith (born 1854) with whom she was very close.

At the time of her birth, Liddell's father was the Headmaster of Westminster School but was soon after appointed to the deanery of Christ Church, Oxford. The Liddell family moved to Oxford in 1856. Soon after this move, she met Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who encountered the family while he was photographing the cathedral on 25 April 1856. He became a close friend of the Liddell family in subsequent years.

Liddell grew up primarily in the company of the two sisters nearest to her in age: Lorina, who was three years older, and Edith, who was two years younger. She and her family regularly spent holidays at their holiday home Penmorfa, which later became the Gogarth Abbey Hotel, on the West Shore of Llandudno in North Wales.

When Alice Liddell was a young woman, she set out on a grand tour of Europe with Lorina and Edith. One story has it that she became a romantic interest of Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria, during the four years he spent at Christ Church, but the evidence for this is sparse. It is true that years later, Leopold named his first child Alice, and acted as godfather to Alice's second son Leopold. (A recent biographer of Leopold suggests it is far more likely that Alice's sister Edith was the true recipient of Leopold's attention.) Edith died on 26 June 1876, possibly of measles or peritonitis (accounts differ), shortly before she was to be married to Aubrey Harcourt, a cricket player. At her funeral on 30 June 1876, Prince Leopold served as a pall-bearer.

Alice Liddell married Reginald Hargreaves, also a cricket player, on 15 September 1880, at the age of 28 in Westminster Abbey. They had three sons: Alan Knyveton Hargreaves and Leopold Reginald "Rex" Hargreaves (both were killed in action in World War I); and Caryl Liddell Hargreaves, who survived to have a daughter of his own. Liddell denied that the name 'Caryl' was in any way associated with Charles Dodgson's pseudonym. Reginald Hargreaves inherited a considerable fortune, and Alice became a noted society hostess.

After her husband's death, the cost of maintaining their home, Cuffnells, was such that she deemed it necessary to sell her copy of Alice's Adventures Under Ground. The manuscript fetched £15,400, nearly four times the reserve price given it by Sotheby's auction house. It later became the possession of Eldridge R. Johnson and was displayed at Columbia University on the centennial of Carroll's birth. (Alice was present, aged 80, and it was on this visit to America that she met Peter Llewelyn-Davies, one of the brothers who inspired J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan). Upon Johnson's death, the book was purchased by a consortium of American bibliophiles and presented to the British people "in recognition of Britain's courage in facing Hitler before America came into the war." The manuscript now resides in the British Library.

Late in life, she lived in and around Lyndhurst in the New Forest, After her death she was cremated and her ashes were buried in the graveyard of the church of St. Michael & All Angels, Lyndhurst (a memorial plaque, naming her "Mrs. Reginald Hargreaves" can be seen in the picture in the monograph).

Origin of Alice in Wonderland

On 4 July 1862, in a rowing boat travelling on the Isis from Folly Bridge, Oxford to Godstow for a picnic outing, 10-year-old Alice asked Charles Dodgson (who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll) to entertain her and her sisters, Edith (age 8) and Lorina (age 13), with a story. As the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed the boat, Dodgson regaled the girls with fantastic stories of a girl, named Alice, and her adventures after she fell into a rabbit-hole. The story was not unlike those Dodgson had spun for the sisters before, but this time Liddell asked Mr. Dodgson to write it down for her. He promised to do so but did not get around to the task for some months. He eventually presented her with the manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground in November 1864.

In the meantime, Dodgson had decided to rewrite the story as a possible commercial venture. Probably with a view to canvassing his opinion, Dodgson sent the manuscript of Under Ground to a friend, the author George MacDonald, in the spring of 1863. The MacDonald children read the story and loved it, and this response probably persuaded Dodgson to seek a publisher. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with illustrations by John Tenniel, was published in 1865, under the name Lewis Carroll. A second book about the character Alice, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, followed in 1871. In 1886, a facsimile of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, the original manuscript that Dodgson had given Liddell, was published.

Relationship with Lewis Carroll

The relationship between Liddell and Dodgson has been the source of much controversy. Many biographers have supposed that Dodgson was romantically or sexually attached to her as a child, though there has never been any direct proof for this and more benign accounts assume merely a platonic fondness. Karoline Leach has claimed this supposition is part of what she terms the "Carroll Myth" and thus wildly distorted. The evidence for any given interpretation is small, and many authors writing on the topic have tended to indulge in a great deal of speculation.

Dodgson met the Liddell family in 1855. He first befriended Harry, the older brother, and later took both Harry and Ina on several boating trips and picnics to the scenic areas around Oxford. Later, when Harry went to school, Alice and her younger sister Edith joined the party. Dodgson entertained the children by telling them fantastic stories to while away the time. He also used them as subjects for his hobby, photography. It has often been stated that Alice was clearly his favorite subject in these years, but there is very little evidence to suggest that this is so. Dodgson's diaries from 18 April 1858 to 8 May 1862 are missing.

"Cut pages in diary"

The relationship between the Liddells and Dodgson suffered a sudden break in June 1863. There was no record of why the rift occurred, since the Liddells never openly spoke of it, and the single page in Dodgson's diary recording 27–29 June 1863 (which seems to cover the period in which it began) was missing. Until recently, the only source for what happened on that day had been speculation, and generally centered on the idea that Alice Liddell was, somehow, the cause of the break. It was long suspected that her mother disapproved of Dodgson's interest in her, seeing him as an unfit companion for an 11-year-old girl.

In 1996, Karoline Leach found what became known as the "Cut pages in diary" document — a note allegedly written by Charles Dodgson's niece, Violet Dodgson, summarizing the missing page from 27–29 June 1863, apparently written before she (or her sister Menella) removed the page. The note reads:

    "L.C. learns from Mrs. Liddell that he is supposed to be using the children as a means of paying court to the governess — he is also supposed soon to be courting Ina". (Leach, 1999)

This might imply that the break between Dodgson and the Liddell family was caused by concern over alleged gossip linking Dodgson to the family governess and to "Ina" (Alice's older sister, Lorina).

It is uncertain who wrote the note. Leach has said that the handwriting on the front of the document most closely resembles that of either Menella or Violet Dodgson, Dodgson's nieces. However, Morton N. Cohen says in an article published in the Times Literary Supplement in 2003 that in the 1960s, Dodgson's great-nephew Philip Dodgson Jacques told him that Jacques had written the note himself based on conversations he remembered with Dodgson's nieces. Cohen's article offered no evidence to support this, however, and known samples of Jacques' handwriting do not seem to resemble the writing of the note.

After this incident, Dodgson avoided the Liddell home for six months but eventually returned for a visit in December 1863. However, the former closeness does not seem to have been re-established, and the friendship gradually faded away, possibly because Dodgson was in opposition to Dean Liddell over college politics. Other explanations involving romantic entanglements and broken hearts have also been put forward, but while there is some evidence to suggest these as possibilities, nothing definite is known. John Ruskin states in his autobiography Praeterita that after the rift between Dodgson and the Liddells, the sisters pursued a similar relationship with him.

Comparison with fictional Alice

The extent to which Dodgson's Alice may be identified with Liddell is controversial. The two Alices are clearly not identical, and though it was long assumed that the fictional Alice was based very heavily on Liddell, recent research has contradicted this assumption. Dodgson himself claimed in later years that his Alice was entirely imaginary and not based upon any real child at all.

There was a rumour that Dodgson sent Tenniel a photo of one of his other child-friends, Mary Hilton Badcock, suggesting that he used her as a model, but attempts to find documentary support for this theory have proved fruitless. Dodgson's own drawings of the character in the original manuscript of Alice's Adventures under Ground show little resemblance to Liddell. Biographer Anne Clark suggests that Dodgson might have used Edith Liddell as a model for his drawings.

There are at least three direct links to Liddell in the two books. First, he set them on 4 May (Liddell's birthday) and 4 November (her "half-birthday"), and in Through the Looking-Glass the fictional Alice declares that her age is "seven and a half exactly", the same as Liddell on that date. Second, he dedicated them "to Alice Pleasance Liddell". Third, there is an acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass. Reading downward, taking the first letter of each line, spells out Liddell's full name. The poem has no title in Through the Looking-Glass, but is usually referred to by its first line, "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky".

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Alice_Liddell.jpg/200px-Alice_Liddell.jpg
Alice Liddell, age 7, photographed by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1860.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Alice_hargreaves.gif/150px-Alice_hargreaves.gif
Alice Hargreaves in old age



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/04/11 at 6:31 am


British Person of the Day: Alice Liddell

Alice Pleasance Liddell (4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice was named after her.

Biography

Alice Liddell was the fourth child of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and his wife Lorina Hanna Liddell (née Reeve). She had two older brothers, Harry (born 1847) and Arthur (born 1850, died of scarlet fever in 1853), and an older sister Lorina (born 1849). She also had six younger siblings, including her sister Edith (born 1854) with whom she was very close.

At the time of her birth, Liddell's father was the Headmaster of Westminster School but was soon after appointed to the deanery of Christ Church, Oxford. The Liddell family moved to Oxford in 1856. Soon after this move, she met Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who encountered the family while he was photographing the cathedral on 25 April 1856. He became a close friend of the Liddell family in subsequent years.

Liddell grew up primarily in the company of the two sisters nearest to her in age: Lorina, who was three years older, and Edith, who was two years younger. She and her family regularly spent holidays at their holiday home Penmorfa, which later became the Gogarth Abbey Hotel, on the West Shore of Llandudno in North Wales.

When Alice Liddell was a young woman, she set out on a grand tour of Europe with Lorina and Edith. One story has it that she became a romantic interest of Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria, during the four years he spent at Christ Church, but the evidence for this is sparse. It is true that years later, Leopold named his first child Alice, and acted as godfather to Alice's second son Leopold. (A recent biographer of Leopold suggests it is far more likely that Alice's sister Edith was the true recipient of Leopold's attention.) Edith died on 26 June 1876, possibly of measles or peritonitis (accounts differ), shortly before she was to be married to Aubrey Harcourt, a cricket player. At her funeral on 30 June 1876, Prince Leopold served as a pall-bearer.

Alice Liddell married Reginald Hargreaves, also a cricket player, on 15 September 1880, at the age of 28 in Westminster Abbey. They had three sons: Alan Knyveton Hargreaves and Leopold Reginald "Rex" Hargreaves (both were killed in action in World War I); and Caryl Liddell Hargreaves, who survived to have a daughter of his own. Liddell denied that the name 'Caryl' was in any way associated with Charles Dodgson's pseudonym. Reginald Hargreaves inherited a considerable fortune, and Alice became a noted society hostess.

After her husband's death, the cost of maintaining their home, Cuffnells, was such that she deemed it necessary to sell her copy of Alice's Adventures Under Ground. The manuscript fetched £15,400, nearly four times the reserve price given it by Sotheby's auction house. It later became the possession of Eldridge R. Johnson and was displayed at Columbia University on the centennial of Carroll's birth. (Alice was present, aged 80, and it was on this visit to America that she met Peter Llewelyn-Davies, one of the brothers who inspired J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan). Upon Johnson's death, the book was purchased by a consortium of American bibliophiles and presented to the British people "in recognition of Britain's courage in facing Hitler before America came into the war." The manuscript now resides in the British Library.

Late in life, she lived in and around Lyndhurst in the New Forest, After her death she was cremated and her ashes were buried in the graveyard of the church of St. Michael & All Angels, Lyndhurst (a memorial plaque, naming her "Mrs. Reginald Hargreaves" can be seen in the picture in the monograph).

Origin of Alice in Wonderland

On 4 July 1862, in a rowing boat travelling on the Isis from Folly Bridge, Oxford to Godstow for a picnic outing, 10-year-old Alice asked Charles Dodgson (who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll) to entertain her and her sisters, Edith (age 8) and Lorina (age 13), with a story. As the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed the boat, Dodgson regaled the girls with fantastic stories of a girl, named Alice, and her adventures after she fell into a rabbit-hole. The story was not unlike those Dodgson had spun for the sisters before, but this time Liddell asked Mr. Dodgson to write it down for her. He promised to do so but did not get around to the task for some months. He eventually presented her with the manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground in November 1864.

In the meantime, Dodgson had decided to rewrite the story as a possible commercial venture. Probably with a view to canvassing his opinion, Dodgson sent the manuscript of Under Ground to a friend, the author George MacDonald, in the spring of 1863. The MacDonald children read the story and loved it, and this response probably persuaded Dodgson to seek a publisher. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with illustrations by John Tenniel, was published in 1865, under the name Lewis Carroll. A second book about the character Alice, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, followed in 1871. In 1886, a facsimile of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, the original manuscript that Dodgson had given Liddell, was published.

Relationship with Lewis Carroll

The relationship between Liddell and Dodgson has been the source of much controversy. Many biographers have supposed that Dodgson was romantically or sexually attached to her as a child, though there has never been any direct proof for this and more benign accounts assume merely a platonic fondness. Karoline Leach has claimed this supposition is part of what she terms the "Carroll Myth" and thus wildly distorted. The evidence for any given interpretation is small, and many authors writing on the topic have tended to indulge in a great deal of speculation.

Dodgson met the Liddell family in 1855. He first befriended Harry, the older brother, and later took both Harry and Ina on several boating trips and picnics to the scenic areas around Oxford. Later, when Harry went to school, Alice and her younger sister Edith joined the party. Dodgson entertained the children by telling them fantastic stories to while away the time. He also used them as subjects for his hobby, photography. It has often been stated that Alice was clearly his favorite subject in these years, but there is very little evidence to suggest that this is so. Dodgson's diaries from 18 April 1858 to 8 May 1862 are missing.

"Cut pages in diary"

The relationship between the Liddells and Dodgson suffered a sudden break in June 1863. There was no record of why the rift occurred, since the Liddells never openly spoke of it, and the single page in Dodgson's diary recording 27–29 June 1863 (which seems to cover the period in which it began) was missing. Until recently, the only source for what happened on that day had been speculation, and generally centered on the idea that Alice Liddell was, somehow, the cause of the break. It was long suspected that her mother disapproved of Dodgson's interest in her, seeing him as an unfit companion for an 11-year-old girl.

In 1996, Karoline Leach found what became known as the "Cut pages in diary" document — a note allegedly written by Charles Dodgson's niece, Violet Dodgson, summarizing the missing page from 27–29 June 1863, apparently written before she (or her sister Menella) removed the page. The note reads:

    "L.C. learns from Mrs. Liddell that he is supposed to be using the children as a means of paying court to the governess — he is also supposed soon to be courting Ina". (Leach, 1999)

This might imply that the break between Dodgson and the Liddell family was caused by concern over alleged gossip linking Dodgson to the family governess and to "Ina" (Alice's older sister, Lorina).

It is uncertain who wrote the note. Leach has said that the handwriting on the front of the document most closely resembles that of either Menella or Violet Dodgson, Dodgson's nieces. However, Morton N. Cohen says in an article published in the Times Literary Supplement in 2003 that in the 1960s, Dodgson's great-nephew Philip Dodgson Jacques told him that Jacques had written the note himself based on conversations he remembered with Dodgson's nieces. Cohen's article offered no evidence to support this, however, and known samples of Jacques' handwriting do not seem to resemble the writing of the note.

After this incident, Dodgson avoided the Liddell home for six months but eventually returned for a visit in December 1863. However, the former closeness does not seem to have been re-established, and the friendship gradually faded away, possibly because Dodgson was in opposition to Dean Liddell over college politics. Other explanations involving romantic entanglements and broken hearts have also been put forward, but while there is some evidence to suggest these as possibilities, nothing definite is known. John Ruskin states in his autobiography Praeterita that after the rift between Dodgson and the Liddells, the sisters pursued a similar relationship with him.

Comparison with fictional Alice

The extent to which Dodgson's Alice may be identified with Liddell is controversial. The two Alices are clearly not identical, and though it was long assumed that the fictional Alice was based very heavily on Liddell, recent research has contradicted this assumption. Dodgson himself claimed in later years that his Alice was entirely imaginary and not based upon any real child at all.

There was a rumour that Dodgson sent Tenniel a photo of one of his other child-friends, Mary Hilton Badcock, suggesting that he used her as a model, but attempts to find documentary support for this theory have proved fruitless. Dodgson's own drawings of the character in the original manuscript of Alice's Adventures under Ground show little resemblance to Liddell. Biographer Anne Clark suggests that Dodgson might have used Edith Liddell as a model for his drawings.

There are at least three direct links to Liddell in the two books. First, he set them on 4 May (Liddell's birthday) and 4 November (her "half-birthday"), and in Through the Looking-Glass the fictional Alice declares that her age is "seven and a half exactly", the same as Liddell on that date. Second, he dedicated them "to Alice Pleasance Liddell". Third, there is an acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass. Reading downward, taking the first letter of each line, spells out Liddell's full name. The poem has no title in Through the Looking-Glass, but is usually referred to by its first line, "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky".

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Alice_Liddell.jpg/200px-Alice_Liddell.jpg
Alice Liddell, age 7, photographed by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1860.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Alice_hargreaves.gif/150px-Alice_hargreaves.gif
Alice Hargreaves in old age





Thanks Phil, I was just reading about her. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/04/11 at 6:34 am


Thanks Phil, I was just reading about her. :)
Many thanks

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/04/11 at 6:37 am

The person of the day...Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett (pronounced /ɑrˈnɛt/; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for roles as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development and as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major film roles. He recently played supporting roles in the comedy films Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory, and Hot Rod. He starred in 2006's Let's Go to Prison and 2007's The Brothers Solomon. Arnett has also done work as a voiceover artist for commercials, films, television programs, and video games.
Arnett was born in Toronto, the son of Edith Alexandra (née Palk) and Emerson James Arnett, who was a corporate lawyer and brewer, among other occupations.

In Toronto, he attended Francophone schools. He speaks French, but has stated that he is not currently fluent in the language. Arnett briefly attended Lakefield College School in Lakefield, Ontario, but was expelled as a troublemaker. He then attended the Subway Academy II which allowed him to take theatre classes at the Tarragon Theatre, and eventually graduated from Leaside High School.

He attended Concordia University in Montreal for a semester, but dropped out. When he was a teenager, Arnett's mother encouraged him to pursue an acting career and he began to audition for commercials in Toronto. He decided that he really enjoyed acting and that it was something that he wanted to do with his life. Aged 20, in 1990, Arnett moved to New York City to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. He began appearing in plays in New York and his first acting role was in the Felicity Huffman independent film Erie, which was filmed on the Erie Canal.
Career
Early struggles

In February 1996, Arnett began acting in television pilots. His first was a pilot with Kevin Pollak and his wife, Lucy Webb, for CBS, that was not picked up. The pilot, The Underworld, revolved around "The head of an organized crime family hounds an ex-con who only wants to go straight." After the show was not picked up, he appeared in the movie Southie, which was written by Arnett's friend Dave McLaughlin. In 1999, Arnett was cast in another pilot for The Mike O'Malley Show on NBC. Arnett was a regular on the series, playing the protagonist's friend Jimmy. The show was picked up, but it was canceled after only two episodes. Arnett has referred to 2000, the year after that show was cancelled, as "the darkest year of life" and he admits that he "didn't get a lot of work" and "drank those years away".

Arnett considers the summer of 2000 to have been a turning point for him because a friend helped pull him out of his battle with alcoholism and he began to get his career back on track.

In 2001, Arnett was cast in another television pilot, Loomis, for CBS. The pilot starred Cheri Oteri as a local news reporter, and Arnett played her slacker brother. The pilot was not picked up. In 2002, Arnett was cast in a fourth television pilot. This pilot was for the CBS sitcom Still Standing. This time the show was picked up and ran for several seasons, but his character was cut from the series after the pilot. Arnett became so frustrated, after his fourth failed pilot, that he "swore off pilots" altogether, until his agent persuaded him to audition for the pilot for Arrested Development.
Career breakthrough
Arnett as George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II in Arrested Development

In 2003, Will Arnett found mainstream success in television when he was cast in the role of George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II in the Fox comedy series Arrested Development. Arnett's character was one of the show's most popular, and he was nominated for an Emmy in 2006 for his portrayal. His character was also listed at #33 on TV's Top 50 Catch Phrases with the line, "I've made a huge mistake." The show was cancelled after three seasons due to low ratings, despite its critical acclaim and cult following. Arnett has said that his favorite episodes of the show were "Pier Pressure" and "Afternoon Delight".

Arnett's exposure on Arrested Development led to a number of larger roles in feature films. Although he had previously worked largely as a dramatic actor, his roles since Arrested Development have been mostly comedic, often playing smug antagonists. Despite the fact that Arnett has emerged as a comic actor, Arnett "never considered himself a comic" and considers himself an "actor first." Before Arrested Development, he did play the dramatic role of FBI agent Mike Waldrup on several episodes of The Sopranos. Arnett's first major starring role was in Let's Go to Prison, a comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk. The film was made on a small budget of 4 million dollars. It made over $4 million at the box office and over $13 million in rentals. One of Arnett's recent films was Blades of Glory, an ice-skating comedy in which Arnett and his wife, Amy Poehler, played supporting roles to Will Ferrell. In the film, they played a brother/sister skating duo with an unhealthily intimate relationship. The film was number one at the US box office during its first two weeks, and grossed approximately $118 million domestically during its theatrical run. and $36 million on home video.

Arnett has made guest appearances on King of the Hill and 30 Rock. On 30 Rock, he played Devon Banks, a scheming network executive who plays a rival to Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy. His role as Devon Banks earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series. Arnett also played supporting roles in the films Spring Breakdown, Hot Rod, The Comebacks, and On Broadway. In On Broadway, he once again worked with director Dave McLaughlin who is a close friend of Arnett's and gave him one of his first movie roles in Southie.

Arnett's next starring role was in the comedy The Brothers Solomon, in which he again teamed with director Bob Odenkirk and starred opposite Saturday Night Live's Will Forte. He recently appeared in a major supporting role in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro, his second film with Ferrell. He plays Lou Redwood, the commentator of the team, who is "a former player, a bit of a womanizer, and a boozer".

Arnett was signed on for a supporting role in Ye Olde Times, along with Jack Black, but the project has fallen through. He has signed on to new projects in which he will play starring roles, including Jeff the Demon for New Line Cinema, in which he will play a demon who is summoned by a pair of high school losers. He is also signed on to the lead role in The Ambassador for DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, in which he will play "a former U.S. vice president's privileged son, who is assigned an ambassadorship in Europe, where he quickly becomes the quintessential ugly American." Arnett has signed on for the lead in Space Invader for Fox Atomic, which will center on a love triangle set on a space station. Arnett is also attached to lead roles in Dad Can't Lose, Get 'Em Wet, and Most Likely to Succeed. Arnett was originally attached to play the lead role of David Miller in the film We're the Millers, but had to pass on the project due to "scheduling reasons" and the part went to Steve Buscemi.

On November 17, 2009, it was announced that Will Arnett would try to win over real-life wife Amy Poehler in a guest spot on Parks and Recreation. Arnett played Chris, an MRI technologist and possible love interest for Poehler's Leslie Knope. Justin Theroux appeared in the same episode as yet another suitor. Arnett signed on for one episode, and the episode entitled "The Set Up" aired January 14, 2010.

In 2010, Arnett and former Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman created DumbDumb Productions, a production company focusing on digital content. Their first video was "Prom Date," the first in a series of "Dirty shorts" for Orbit (gum).

As of 2010, Arnett was starring in Running Wilde, a comedy where he plays a spoiled, rich man opposite Keri Russell, the daughter of his father's former housekeeper, as well as The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, created by and starring Arrested Development castmate David Cross. Running Wilde was recently cancelled.

On March 23, 2011, it was announced that Arnett would be appearing in the final episode of season 7 of The Office.
Voice work

Arnett has a distinctive gravelly voice and has done voice-over work for CBS TV promos, film trailers and numerous advertisements, including Lamisil medication. Perhaps most recognizable is Arnett's voice saying, "It's not more than you need, just more than you're used to" in ads for GMC trucks.

Arnett has also lent his voice to a number of television shows. In 2005, he guest starred in Nickelodeon's hit series 'Danny Phantom' as Ghostwriter. In 2006, Arnett voiced the character Duncan Schiesst for the Comedy Central animated program Freak Show, which was created by and also stars the voice of his former Arrested Development co-star, David Cross. Recently, Arnett took the role of announcer for the faux trailer "Don't" in the movie Grindhouse. He also voiced the character "Vlad" from the CGI film Horton Hears a Who!. He voiced 'The Missing Link' in Dreamworks' film Monsters vs. Aliens. In 2007, he voiced Horst the German sous-chef, in the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille.

Arnett was to have been the voice of the K.I.T.T. in Universal's Knight Rider, a sequel to the popular 1980s television series. The production featured a Ford Mustang as K.I.T.T. Since Arnett had a previous long standing relationship with competitor automaker General Motors as the voice for GMC Trucks commercials, GM asked Arnett to pull out of the project. Arnett opted to withdraw from the project and he was replaced by Val Kilmer.

In 2009, Arnett became a regular voice cast in the Fox comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up. He voiced Ennis Hofftard, a bodybuilder who teaches English and always attempts to chase women. The series premiered on April 19, 2009 but was eventually cancelled after several months due to poor ratings. It aired its last episode on free-to-air television on November 21, 2009. Jason Bateman, Kristin Chenoweth, Will Forte, Tom Kenny, Nick Kroll, Cheri Oteri, Kenan Thompson and Henry Winkler were the other main cast members.
Personal life

Arnett has two elder sisters and a younger brother. His father was a corporate lawyer and became the president and CEO of Molson Breweries in 1997, until he stepped down in 2000. His father, a graduate of Harvard University, previously worked as a director for the company.

In 1994, Arnett married actress Penelope Ann Miller, and they divorced in 1995. Arnett dated actress Missy Yager, with whom he lived for four years. They starred on The Mike O'Malley Show together and broke up around the time the show began.

Arnett began dating comic actress Amy Poehler in 2000; Arnett moved to New York City in 2001 when she became a featured player on NBC's Saturday Night Live. On August 29, 2003, Arnett and Poehler married. Poehler appeared alongside Arnett in four episodes of Arrested Development in 2004 and 2005. Arnett and Poehler starred alongside each other in the films Blades of Glory, Horton Hears a Who!, On Broadway, Spring Breakdown, and Monsters vs. Aliens. On October 25, 2008, Poehler gave birth to a son, Archibald William Emerson Arnett, in New York City. On August 6, 2010, Poehler gave birth to son Abel James Arnett. Arnett and Poehler have two dogs, Puzzle and Suki.

Arnett lists Steve Martin and Chevy Chase as his two biggest comic influences. Arnett grew up watching hockey in Canada, and is an avid follower of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team.
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1995 Erie Role Unknown
1996 Close Up Dave
Ed's Next Move Weather Video Guy
1998 The Broken Giant Ezra Caton
Weekend Getaway Chuck short film
1999 Southie Whitey
The Waiting Game Lenny
2000 The Acting Class Will Bennett
2001 Series 7: The Contenders Narrator
2005 Monster-in-Law Kit
2006 Ice Age: The Meltdown Lone Gunslinger Vulture voice only
RV Todd Mallory
The Great New Wonderful Danny
Let's Go to Prison Nelson Biederman IV
2007 Blades of Glory Stranz Van Waldenberg
Grindhouse Announcer voice only, segment: "Don't"
On Broadway Tom
Ratatouille Horst voice only
Hot Rod Jonathan
Wristcutters: A Love Story Messiah
The Brothers Solomon John Solomon
The Comebacks Mailman
2008 Semi-Pro Lou Redwood
Horton Hears a Who! Vlad Vladikoff voice only
The Rocker Lex
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens The Missing Link voice only
Spring Breakdown Ted direct-to-video
G-Force Kip Killian
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Subject #11
2010 When in Rome Antonio
Jonah Hex Lieutenant Grass
Despicable Me Mr. Perkins (voice only)
2011 Bunnicula Miles Tanner
Your Right Revisited Himself
Television
Year(s) Title Role Notes
1997 The Underworld (Role Unknown) Series regular, failed pilot
1999 Sex and the City Jack Guest star, episode: "La Douleur Exquise!"
The Mike O'Malley Show Jimmy Series regular
2000 Third Watch Kenny Guest star, episode: "Spring Forward, Fall Back"
2001 Loomis (Role Unknown) Series regular, failed pilot
Boston Public Hand Salesman Guest star, episode: "Chapter Twenty-nine"
2002 Still Standing (Role Unknown) Appeared in the original pilot and was intended to be a series regular, but his role was cut out of the pilot and he did not appear in later episodes
Yes, Dear Bobby Guest star, episode: "Johnny Ampleseed"
The Sopranos Agent Mike Waldrup Guest star, episodes: "For All Debts Public and Private", "No Show"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Tony Damon Guest star, episode: "Angels"
2003 Undefeated Scott Green's assistant Small role, television movie
2003–2006 Arrested Development George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II Series regular
2004 Will & Grace Artemis Johnson Guest star, episode: "Back Up Dancer"
2005 Odd Job Jack Tiberius McKorkindale Guest star, voice only, episodes: "The Biggest Bang", "Close Encounters of the Uncomfortable Kind"
Danny Phantom Ghost Writer Guest star, voice only, episode: "The Fright Before Christmas"
2006 All-Star American Destiny Trek TJ Cooter Series regular, failed pilot, voice only
Freak Show Duncan Schiesst/Various Series regular, voice only
2007 King of the Hill Portis Guest star, voice only, episode: "Hank Gets Dusted"
2007–present 30 Rock Devon Banks Guest star, episodes: "Fireworks", "Jack Gets In the Game", "Succession", "Do Over", "Into the Crevasse", "Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001", "Plan B"
2008 Sesame Street Max the Magician Guest star, episode: "Max the Magician"
2009 Sit Down, Shut Up Ennis Hofftard Series regular, voice only
Delocated TV Announcer Guest star, episode: "Good Buds"
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret Brent Wilts
Eva Adams Adam Evanston Series regular, failed pilot
2010 Parks and Recreation Chris Guest star, episode: "The Set Up"
2010–2011 Running Wilde Steve Wilde Series regular, title character
2011 The Office Fred Henry Guest star, episode: "Search Committee"
Video games
Year(s) Title Role
2009 Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard Matt Hazard
Monsters vs. Aliens The Missing Link
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Additional voices
Awards
Year For Award Category Won Other notes
2005 Arrested Development Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series No Shared with Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter
2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series No Shared with Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter
Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series No
2008 30 Rock Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series No
2010 Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series No
Honors

New York magazine named Will Arnett and wife Amy Poehler "New Yorkers of the Year" for 2005 during their New York Magazine Culture Awards.

In April 2007, during a panel hosted by The Paley Center for Media, talk show Conan O'Brien and his writing staff named Will Arnett as one of their three all-time favorite guests, sharing the honor with Norm Macdonald and Harland Williams. Also in April 2007, Entertainment Weekly named Will Arnett a Future King of Comedy." In May of 2007, Arnett ranked #9 on Best Week Ever's "Top 15 Sexiest Nerd Boys" poll. In July 2007, Premiere magazine named Arnett one of "The 20 Hottest New Faces in Comedy."
http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx277/100tuckman/Will_Arnett.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4/katie__pillar/newvoiceofkitt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/05/11 at 6:18 am

The person of the day...John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor and vocal artist. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which he also voiced the ent, Treebeard. He also played Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables, Professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders, King Richard I in Robin of Sherwood, General Leonid Pushkin in the James Bond film The Living Daylights, and Macro in I, Claudius. Additionally, he provided the voices of Cassim in Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Man Ray in SpongeBob SquarePants, and Tobias in the computer game Freelancer. He is also the narrator for the TV show Wildboyz.
Rhys-Davies was born in Ammanford, Wales, the son of Welsh parents Mary Margaretta Phyllis Jones, a nurse, and Rhys Davies, a mechanical engineer and Colonial Officer. He spent much of his childhood in his mother's home town of Ammanford, although he was also brought up in Tanganyika. He was educated at Truro School and at the University of East Anglia where he was one of the first 87 students admitted, and where he founded the Dramatic Society. After teaching at Watton County Secondary School in Norfolk he won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Career

Although appearing sporadically on UK television in the early 1970s (for instance, as gangster Laughing Spam Fritter opposite Adam Faith in Budgie), Rhys-Davies first gained widespread popularity for his performance as Praetorian officer Naevius Sutorius Macro in I, Claudius. He then began to appear more frequently, and not just in the UK, with roles as a Portuguese navigator Rodrigues in the 1980 television miniseries Shogun, based on the novel by James Clavell, and in the Indiana Jones movies. In 1989, Rhys-Davies also starred in another James Clavell adaption, Noble House (TV miniseries), set in Hong Kong, in which he plays Ian Dunross' corporate enemy, Quillian Gornt. He has since appeared in numerous television shows and miniseries, including Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables as well as a leading role in the television series Sliders as Professor Maximillian Arturo from 1995 to 1997. He also appeared in Reilly, Ace of Spies in 1983. He also made several appearances on Star Trek: Voyager as a holodeck version of Leonardo da Vinci. He also starred as an ally of James Bond in The Living Daylights and appeared in the movie One Night with the King. Davies has played the character Porthos in two separate projects; a two-part episode of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and the Hallmark Channel movie La Femme Musketeer. He has also appeared in a number of Sci Fi Channel original movies. In 2004, he starred in The Privileged Planet, a documentary that makes the case for Intelligent Design.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Rhys-Davies as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

He is also known for his popular portrayal of the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The cinematography of the films was aided in that Rhys-Davies is tall—6' 1", compared to the actors playing hobbits at around 5' 6". Therefore, whereas his character was supposed to be short, he was properly in proportion compared to the hobbit actors. Had he been of more similar height, shots of the entire fellowship would have required three camera passes rather than two. Rhys-Davies is the only one of the nine Fellowship of the Ring actors who did not receive a tattoo of the word "nine" written in the Tengwar script. The other members of the cast (Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, and Elijah Wood) got the same tattoo. Rhys-Davies' stunt double (Brett Beattie) got the tattoo instead as Rhys-Davies was disinclined to get one himself.

Rhys-Davies suffered severe allergic reactions to the prosthetics used during filming, with his eyes sometimes swelling shut. When an interviewer asked him whether he would consider returning to the role for the film version of The Hobbit, he said, "I've already been asked and to be honest with you, I wouldn't. I have already completely ruled it out. There's a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. Really I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment any more." He added that this time around "They've got a different set of problems... because you've got 13 dwarves, a whole band of them... You're trying to represent a whole race... You're trying to do for dwarves what 'The Lord of the Rings' did for hobbits".
Voice work

In addition to voicing the Ent Treebeard in Lord of the Rings, Rhys-Davies has also lent his distinctive deep, Welsh voice to many video games and animated television series, including playing the role of Hades in Justice League and numerous times in Gargoyles (1994–1996), as the character Macbeth. He appears in the full motion video cut scenes of computer games including Ripper (as Vigo Haman) (1996), Dune 2000 (as Noree Moneo) (1998), and the Wing Commander series (as James "Paladin" Taggart). He also lent his vocal talents to the games Freelancer (as Winston Tobias) and Lords of Everquest (both in 2003) and the game Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, which was released with his narration on a CD-ROM version in 1995. He also made a voice role on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance as the character Jherek, and narrated a documentary called The Glory of Macedonia.

John Rhys-Davies distinctive voice can also be heard on the 2009 documentary Reclaiming The Blade. In the narration, Rhys-Davies explores swords and fight choreography on film, a topic very familiar to him from his experiences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where his character Gimli wielded an axe in many scenes.

In 2004, he was the unknowing subject of an internet prank that spread false rumours in several mainstream media sources that he was scheduled to play the role of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III.

Rhys-Davies is the Narrator of "The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible," a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully-dramatized audio New Testament which uses the RSV-CE translation.
Political views
Rhys-Davies in an autograph session in Sweden

Rhys-Davies holds politically conservative views. As a university student in the 1960s, he had been a radical leftist, but changed his views when he went to heckle a young local member of parliament, Margaret Thatcher. Rhys-Davies says that "she shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that I decided I ought for once to shut up and listen".

In 2004, in a magazine interview, Rhys-Davies compared the theme of The Lord of the Rings with the current situation of Western Europe, whose civilisation he described as being challenged by a rise of the Muslim population, stating:

    There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren’t bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well… By 2020, fifty percent of the children in the Netherlands under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent… And don’t forget, coupled with this there is this collapse of numbers. Western Europeans are not having any babies. The population of Germany at the end of the century is going to be 56% of what it is now. The populations of France, 52% of what it is now. The population of Italy is going to be down 7 million people.

His comments were endorsed by the British National Party. Rhys-Davies commented that it was "distressing to find yourself on a BNP leaflet". He was also endorsed in a National Vanguard editorial. Yet, in an interview with the conservative National Review, he clarifies that he is opposed to Islamic extremism precisely because he feels that it violates Western beliefs in equality, democracy, tolerance, and the abolition of slavery.
Personal life

In 1966 he married Suzanne A.D. Wilkinson, a translator. They have two sons, Ben and Tom. Although he separated from Suzanne (who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995) he did not divorce her and he remained close to her until her death in August 2010. He has lived with Lisa Manning (ex-host from television show Good Morning) since 2004. They have a daughter, Maia. Davies has a house on the Isle of Man. Davies currently lives in Glen Murray, a country town north of Huntly, New Zealand.
Filmography

    * The Black Windmill (1974)
    * Fall of Eagles (1974)
    * The Naked Civil Servant (1975)
    * A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
    * Shōgun (1980)
    * Peter and Paul (1981)
    * Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
    * Ivanhoe (1982)
    * Best Revenge (1982)
    * Victor Victoria (1982)
    * Sahara (1983)
    * Sadat (1983)
    * Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983)
    * King Solomon's Mines (1985)
    * Firewalker (film) (1986)
    * The Living Daylights (1987)
    * Waxwork (1988)
    * War and Remembrance (1988)
    * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
    * The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)
    * Great Expectations (1989)
    * The Unnamable Returns (1991)
    * The Double 0 Kid (1992)
    * The Lost World (1992)
    * Return to the Lost World (1992)
    * Sunset Grill (1993)
    * Cyborg Cop (1993)
    * The Seventh Coin (1993)
    * The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1993)
    * The High Crusade (1994)
    * A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
    * Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness (1994)
    * Sliders (1995–1997)
    * Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996)
    * The Great White Hype (1996)
    * Glory Daze (1996)
    * Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) (voice)
    * Marquis de Sade (1996)
    * Cats Don't Dance (1997) (voice)
    * Bloodsport III (1997)
    * Secret of the Andes (1998)
    * Dune 2000 (1999)
    * Au Pair (1999)
    * Britannic (2000)
    * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    * Never Say Never Mind: The Swedish Bikini Team (2001)
    * Sabretooth (2002)
    * The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (dual role)
    * Endangered Species (2002)
    * Scorcher (2002)
    * Coronado (2003)
    * Freelancer (2003) (voice)
    * The Jungle Book 2 (2003) (voice)
    * The Medallion (2003)
    * The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (dual role)
    * 12 Days of Terror (2004)
    * The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
    * La Femme Musketeer (2004)
    * The Lost Angel (2004)
    * The Privileged Planet (2004) (voice of Narrator)
    * Dragon Storm (2004 TV Movie)
    * The Game of Their Lives (DVD title: The Miracle Match) (2005)
    * Chupacabra: Dark Seas (DVD title: Chupacabra Terror) (2005)
    * The King Maker (2005)
    * One Night with the King (2006)
    * The Legend of Sasquatch (2006)
    * In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007)
    * The Ferryman (2007)
    * Catching Kringle (Short Film; 2007) (voice)
    * Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008)
    * Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008)
    * Prisoners of the Sun (2009)
    * Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009)
    * Reclaiming the Blade (2009)
    * 31 North 62 East (2009)

Television appearances

    * The Sweeney (1975) (Ron Brett, "Poppy")
    * I, Claudius (1976)
    * Blackadder (1983)
    * 1990 (1977) (TV)
    * The Nativity (1978) (TV)
    * Peter and Paul (1981) (TV)
    * Robin of Sherwood (1983) (TV)
    * Marjorie and the Preacher Man (1987) (TV)
    * Noble House (1988)
    * I misteri della giungla nera (1991)
    * Archaeology (1991) (Host)
    * Tales from the Crypt (1991) (Emil Duvall, "Dead Wait")
    * Batman: The Animated Series (1992) (voice only, "The Cape and the Cowl Conspiracy")
    * The Untouchables (TV series, 1993–1994)
    * Fantastic Four (1994 TV series) (1994–1995) (voice only- Thor, god of thunder, "To Battle the Living Planet")
    * The Incredible Hulk (1996 TV series) (1996-1997) (voice only- Thor, "Mortal Bounds")
    * Gargoyles (1994–96) (voice only, Macbeth)
    * Sliders (TV series, 1995–1997)
    * You Wish (TV series, 1997) (Mad Man Mustafa)
    * Star Trek Voyager (1997–1998) as Leonardo da Vinci
    * Justice League (2002) (voice only, "Paradise Lost")
    * Helen of Troy as King Priam (2003)
    * Revelations (Omnium Finis Imminet) (TV miniseries) (2005) as Professor Jonah Lampley
    * Dark Days in Monkey City (2009) Narrator
    * Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (2009) as Grimshank
    * Legend of the Seeker (2010) as Horace/Panis Rahl

Audio books

    * AFFABEL (2006) (Voice)
http://i643.photobucket.com/albums/uu156/NerfHerdAnon/Actors/JohnRhysDavies.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/RockiesFan33/JohnRhysDavies.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/05/11 at 10:54 am

I have always liked him. I think he is a terrific actor. Love his voice. His resumé looks like the Encyclopedia Britannica.



Cat 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/06/11 at 6:25 am

The person of the day...George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Clooney is also noted for his social activism and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 31, 2008.

Though he made his acting debut on television in 1978, Clooney gained fame and recognition by portraying Dr. Douglas "Doug" Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999. While working on ER, he started attracting a variety of leading roles in films including Batman & Robin (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), where he first teamed with long-term collaborator Steven Soderbergh. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, Ocean's Eleven, the first of a profitable film trilogy, that is a remake of the movie from 1960 with the members of The Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. He made his directorial debut a year later with the 2002 biographical thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and has since directed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and Leatherheads (2008). He won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005).

Clooney's humanitarian work includes his advocacy of finding a resolution for the Darfur conflict, raising funds for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 2004 Tsunami and 9/11 victims, and creating documentaries such as Sand and Sorrow to raise awareness about international crises.
Clooney's first role was as an extra in the TV series Centennial in 1978. The series was based on the novel of the same name by James Michener and was partially filmed in Clooney's hometown of Augusta, Kentucky. Clooney's first major role came in 1984 in the short-lived sitcom E/R (not to be confused with ER, the better-known hospital drama, on which Clooney also costarred a decade later). He played a handyman on the series The Facts of Life and appeared as Bobby Hopkins, a detective, on an episode of The Golden Girls. His first significant break was a semi-regular supporting role in the sitcom Roseanne, playing Roseanne Barr's overbearing boss Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on Baby Talk and then as a sexy detective on Sisters. In 1988, Clooney also played a role in Return of the Killer Tomatoes.
Breakthrough, 1994–1999

Clooney achieved stardom when he played Dr. Doug Ross, alongside Anthony Edwards and Noah Wyle on the hit NBC drama ER from 1994 to 1999. After leaving the series in 1999, he made a cameo appearance in the 6th season and returned for a guest spot in the show's final season.

Clooney began appearing in movies while working on ER. His first major Hollywood role was in From Dusk till Dawn, directed by Robert Rodriguez. He followed its success with One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and The Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman. Clooney was then cast as the new Batman in Batman & Robin, which was a moderate box office success, but a critical failure (with Clooney himself calling the film "a waste of money"). In 1998, he starred in Out of Sight opposite Jennifer Lopez, marking the first of his many collaborations with director Steven Soderbergh. He also starred in Three Kings during the last weeks of his contract with ER.
International success, 2000–present
George Clooney cast his hands and shoes in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 2007.

After leaving ER, Clooney starred in commercially successful projects such as The Perfect Storm and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. In 2001, he teamed up with Soderbergh again for Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name. It remains Clooney's most commercially successful movie, earning more than $450 million worldwide. The film spawned two sequels starring Clooney, Ocean's Twelve in 2004 and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007.

In 2001, Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh co-founded the Section Eight Productions, for which Grant Heslov was president of television. He made his directorial debut in the 2002 film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, an adaptation of the autobiography of TV producer Chuck Barris. Though the movie didn't do well at the box office, Clooney's direction was praised among critics and audiences alike.

In 2005, Clooney starred in Syriana, which was based loosely on former Central Intelligence Agency agent Robert Baer and his memoirs of being an agent in the Middle East. Clooney suffered an accident on the set of Syriana, which resulted in a brain injury with complications arising from a punctured dura. The same year he directed, produced, and starred in Good Night, and Good Luck., a film about 1950s television journalist Edward R. Murrow's famous war of words with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Both films received critical acclaim and decent box-office returns despite being in limited release. At the 2006 Academy Awards, Clooney was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Good Night, and Good Luck, as well as Best Supporting Actor for Syriana. He became the first person in Oscar history to be nominated for directing one movie and acting in another in the same year. He won the Oscar for his role in Syriana.
George Clooney at the premiere of The Men Who Stare At Goats in the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Clooney next appeared in The Good German (2006), a film-noir directed by Soderbergh that is set in post-World War II Germany. Clooney also received the American Cinematheque Award in October 2006, an award that honors an artist in the entertainment industry who has made "a significant contribution to the art of motion pictures". In August 2006, Clooney and Grant Heslov started a new production company: Smokehouse Pictures.

On January 22, 2008, Clooney was nominated for an Academy Award (and many others awards) for Best Actor for his role in Michael Clayton (2007). Clooney then directed his third film, Leatherheads (2008), in which he also starred. It was reported on April 4, 2008 in Variety that Clooney had quietly resigned from the Writers Guild of America over controversy surrounding Leatherheads. Clooney, who is the director, producer, and star of the film, stated that he had contributed in writing, "all but two scenes," of the film and requested a writing credit, alongside Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, who had been working on the project for 17 years. In an arbitration vote, Clooney lost 2–1 and ultimately decided to withdraw from the union over the decision. Clooney is now technically a "financial core status" nonmember, meaning he loses his voting rights, and cannot run for office or attend membership meetings, according to the WGA's constitution.

Clooney next co-starred with Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey in The Men Who Stare At Goats, which was directed by his friend Grant Heslov and released in November 2009. Also in November 2009, he voiced Mr. Fox in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox. The same year, Clooney starred in Up in the Air, which was initially given limited release, and then wide-released on December 25, 2009. For his performance in the film, which was directed by Jason Reitman, he was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA and an Academy Award.

Clooney is represented by Bryan Lourd, Co-Chairman of Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Humanitarian work
Clooney in Abéché, Chad in January 2008 with the UN

Clooney has been active in advocating a resolution of the Darfur conflict. His efforts include appearing on an episode of Oprah and speaking at the Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2006. On March 25, 2007, he sent an open letter to German chancellor Angela Merkel, calling on the European Union to take "decisive action" in the region in the face of Omar al-Bashir's failure to respond to the UN resolutions.

In April 2006, he spent ten days in Chad and Sudan with his father to make a film in order to show the dramatic situation of Darfur's refugees. In September of the same year, he spoke in front of the Security Council of the UN with Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel to ask the UN to find a solution to the conflict and to help the people of Darfur. In December, he made a trip to China and Egypt with Don Cheadle and two Olympic winners to ask both governments to pressure Sudan's government.

After making his first trip to Darfur in 2006 with his father Nick, Clooney made the TV special "A Journey to Darfur", and advocated for action in the US. The documentary was broadcast on American cable TV as well as in the UK and France. In 2008, it was released on DVD with the proceeds from its sale being donated to the International Rescue Committee.

Clooney is involved with Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities, along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub. He narrated and was co-executor producer of the documentary Sand and Sorrow. Clooney also appeared in the documentary film Darfur Now, a call to action film for people all over the world to help stop the ongoing crisis in Darfur. The film was released on November 2, 2007. In February 2009, he visited Goz Beida, Chad with NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. In January 2010. he organized the Telethon Hope for Haiti Now, which collects donations for the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims.
Clooney discusses Sudan with President Barack Obama at the White House in October 2010.

On December 13, 2007, Clooney and fellow actor Don Cheadle were presented with the Summit Peace Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. In his acceptance speech, Clooney said that "Don and I…stand here before you as failures. The simple truth is that when it comes to the atrocities in Darfur…those people are not better off now than they were years ago." On January 18, 2008, the United Nations announced Clooney's appointment as a United Nations messenger of peace, effective from January 31.
Political views

Clooney is a self-described political liberal. In 2003, he opposed the Iraq war, saying: "You can't beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people seeking revenge.... Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win.... I believe (Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can't beat anyone anymore."

In February 2003, syndicated columnist Liz Smith reported that while speaking at a National Board of Review event, Clooney had made the following remarks: "Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's." Clooney later said, "It was a joke,... They got the quote wrong. What I said was 'The head of the NRA announced today ...' (Filmmaker) Michael Moore had just gotten an award. Anyway, Charlton Heston shows up with guns over his head after a school shooting and then says in the documentary it's because of ethnic diversity that we have problems with violence in America. I think he's going to have to take whatever hits he gets. It was just a joke. That was someone else trying to make a bigger story." When asked if the actor went too far with his remarks, Clooney responded by saying, "I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association; he deserves whatever anyone says about him." Heston himself commented, "It just goes to show that sometimes class does skip a generation," referring to Clooney's aunt, Rosemary Clooney. Heston further commented on the Clooney joke: "I don't know the man – never met him, never even spoken to him, but I feel sorry for George Clooney – one day he may get Alzheimer's disease. I served my country in World War II. I survived that – I guess I can survive some bad words from this fellow". Clooney said he subsequently apologized to Heston in a letter, and that he received a positive response from Heston's wife.

On January 16, 2006, during his acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Syriana, Clooney paused to sarcastically thank disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff before adding, "Who would name their kid Jack with the word ‘off’ at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up!"

Clooney supported then-Senator Barack Obama's campaign in the 2008 presidential election.

About the possibility of him ever running for office, Clooney has said: "Run for office? No. I've slept with too many women, I've done too many drugs, and I've been to too many parties."

In a 2011 interview with Newsweek magazine Clooney was quoted as saying "“I didn’t live my life in the right way for politics, you know,” ... “I f—ked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth.”
Personal life
Relationships
Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis at the 66th Venice International Film Festival

Clooney was married to Talia Balsam from 1989 until they divorced in 1993. Since then, Clooney has said that he will never marry again. After meeting on the set of a Martini advertisement in 2000, he had a five-year on/off relationship with British model Lisa Snowdon. In 2007, he started dating Sarah Larson and the couple broke up in May 2008. Since 2009, Clooney has been in a relationship with Elisabetta Canalis.

Often featured in People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" issue, Clooney's marital status and availability is a running joke for female fans who still fantasize they have a chance to bring him to the altar. Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Las Vegas has a "Marrying George Clooney" photo-op in which museum visitors can put on a wedding gown and stand next to a wax statue of the smiling actor in a tuxedo.
Awards and honors
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney
Filmography
Actor Year↓ Title↓ Medium↓ Role↓ Notes
1984–85 E/R TV Mark "Ace" Kolmar
1985 Street Hawk TV Kevin Stark
1985–86 Facts of Life, TheThe Facts of Life TV George Burnett
1987 Return to Horror High Film Oliver
1987 Grizzly II: The Predator Film Uncredited
1987 Combat Academy Film Maj. Biff Woods
1987 Murder, She Wrote TV Kip Howard Episode: "No Laughing Murder"
1987 Golden Girls, TheThe Golden Girls TV Detective Bobby Hopkins Episode: "To Catch a Neighbor"
1988 Return of the Killer Tomatoes Film Matt Stevens
1988–91 Roseanne TV Booker Brooks 11 episodes
1990 Red Surf Film Remar
1992 Unbecoming Age Film Mac
1993 Harvest, TheThe Harvest Film Lip Synching Transvestite
1993–94 Sisters TV Detective James Falconer
1994–99, 2009 ER TV Dr. Doug Ross 107 episodes
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series, 1995, 1996
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, 1995, 1996, 1997
1995 Friends TV Dr. Michael Mitchell Episode: "The One with Two Parts, Part Two"
1996 From Dusk till Dawn Film Seth Gecko MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996 One Fine Day Film Jack Taylor
1996 Curdled Film Seth Gecko Uncredited; only photo shown
1997 Full-Tilt Boogie TV Himself Documentary
1997 Peacemaker, TheThe Peacemaker Film Thomas Devoe
1997 Batman & Robin Film Bruce Wayne/Batman Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Chris O'Donnell)
1997 South Park TV Sparky the Dog Voice only; episode: "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"
1998 Thin Red Line, TheThe Thin Red Line Film Captain Bosche
1998 Out of Sight Film Jack Foley
1998 Waiting for Woody Film Himself Comedic short
1999 Three Kings Film Major Archie Gates
1999 Book That Wrote Itself, TheThe Book That Wrote Itself Film Himself
1999 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Film Doctor Gouache Voice only
1999 Limey, TheThe Limey Film Archive footage, uncredited
2000 Perfect Storm, TheThe Perfect Storm Film Billy 'Skip' Tyne
2000 Fail Safe TV Col. Jack Grady
2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou? Film Ulysses Everett McGill Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2001 Ocean's Eleven Film Danny Ocean Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Dressed
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2001 Spy Kids Film Devlin
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Film CIA Officer Jim Byrd Also director
2002 Solaris Film Chris Kelvin Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
2002 Welcome to Collinwood Film Jerzy Also producer
2002 Starbuck Holger Meins Film Documentary
2003 Intolerable Cruelty Film Miles Massey
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Film Devlin
2004 Ocean's Twelve Film Danny Ocean Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2005 Good Night, and Good Luck Film Fred Friendly Also director, writer
Golden Osella for Best Screenplay
Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—Academy Award for Writing (Original Screenplay)
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Writer
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Director
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
Nominated—Gotham Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
2005 Syriana Film Bob Barnes Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2006 Good German, TheThe Good German Film Jake Geismar
2007 Michael Clayton Film Michael Clayton National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2007 Darfur Now Film Himself
2007 Ocean's Thirteen Film Danny Ocean
2008 Leatherheads Film Jimmy "Dodge" Connelly Co-writer, director
2008 Burn After Reading Film Harry Pfarrer
2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox Film Mr. Fox Voice only
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (and Up in the Air)
2009 Men Who Stare at Goats, TheThe Men Who Stare at Goats Film Lyn Cassady
2009 Up in the Air Film Ryan Bingham Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (tied with Morgan Freeman for Invictus)
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (and Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2010 American, TheThe American Film Jack
2011 Descendants, TheThe Descendants Film {{ sortname Disney Princess: A Christmas of enchantment 2 Role: Slick Rivalry Filming
2011 Ides of March (film), TheThe Ides of March (film) Film Governor Mike Morris Filming, also director
2012 Suburbicon Film Also director
Director Year↓ Title↓ Notes
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Nominated—Golden Bear
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association for Most Promising New Director
2005 Good Night, and Good Luck Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Foreign Film
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Original Screenplay
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay
Pasinetti Award for Best Film
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Director
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Direction
Nominated—Bodil Award for Best American Film
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
Nominated—David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film
Nominated—Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Director
Nominated—Golden Lion
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Director
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Director
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
2005 Unscripted 5 episodes
2008 Leatherheads
2011 The Ides of March (film) Filming
2012 Suburbicon Announced
Producer Year↓ Title↓ Notes
1999 Kilroy TV; also writer
2000 Fail Safe Executive producer
2001 Rock Star Executive producer
2002 Insomnia Executive producer
2002 Welcome to Collinwood Executive producer
2002 Far from Heaven Executive producer
2003 K Street Executive producer, 10 episodes
2004 Criminal
2005 Jacket, TheThe Jacket
2005 Unscripted 10 episodes
2005 Big Empty, TheThe Big Empty Executive producer
2005 Syriana Executive producer
2005 Rumor Has It... Executive producer
2006 Scanner Darkly, AA Scanner Darkly Executive producer
2006 Pu-239 Executive producer
2007 Michael Clayton Executive producer
2007 Sand and Sorrow Executive producer
Documentary
2007 Wind Chill Executive producer
2008 Leatherheads
2009 Informant!, TheThe Informant! Executive producer
2009 Playground Executive producer
2009 Men Who Stare at Goats, TheThe Men Who Stare at Goats
2010 Hope for Haiti Now Producer
http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu65/suitupmen/george-clooney.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f44/sevenweblog3/George_Clooney.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/06/11 at 7:01 am

He will age gracefully,He just has that babyface.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/11 at 5:43 am

The person of the day...Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Razor's Edge (1946), All About Eve (1950) and The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and Catherine Wright; her maternal grandfather was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Baxter's father was a prominent executive with the Seagrams Distillery Co. and she was raised in New York City in a well-to-do home, and attended the prestigious Brearley School. At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway. During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of the famed teacher Maria Ouspenskaya.
Career
Baxter as Eve Harrington, from the trailer for All About Eve (1950)

At 16 Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, losing to Joan Fontaine because director Alfred Hitchcock considered her too young for the role, but she soon secured a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Her first movie role was in 20 Mule Team in 1940. She was chosen by director Orson Welles to appear in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in 1946's The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Baxter later recounted that The Razor's Edge contained her only great performance which was a hospital scene where the character, Sophie, "loses her husband, child and everything else". She said she relived the death of her brother, who had died at age three.

In 1950, she was chosen to co-star in All About Eve, largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who had initially been chosen to co-star in the film; the original idea being to have her character gradually come to visually mirror Colbert's over the course of the film. Baxter received a nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington. She said she modeled the role on a bitchy understudy she had for her debut performance in the Broadway play Seen But Not Heard at the age of thirteen and who had threatened to "finish her off". Through the 1950s she continued to act on stage. According to a program from the production, Baxter appeared on Broadway in 1953 opposite Tyrone Power in Charles Laughton's John Brown's Body, a play based upon the narrative poem by Stephen Vincent Benét (though the Internet Broadway Database states that Power's co-star was Judith Anderson). In 1953 Baxter contracted a two picture deal for Warner Brothers. Her first was opposite Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess; the second was the whodunit The Blue Gardenia as a woman accused of murder.
Baxter with Yul Brynner, from the trailer for The Ten Commandments (1956)

Baxter is also remembered for her role as the Egyptian Queen Nefretiri opposite Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's award winning The Ten Commandments (1956).

Baxter appeared regularly on television in the 1960s. She did a stint as one of the What's My Line? "Mystery Guests" on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. She also starred as guest villain "Zelda the Great" in two episodes of the superhero show Batman. She appeared as another villain, "Olga, Queen of the Cossacks," opposite Vincent Price's "Egghead" in three episodes of the show's third season. She also played an old flame of Raymond Burr on his crime series Ironside.

Baxter returned to Broadway during the 1970s in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, but this time in the "Margo Channing" role played by Bette Davis in the film. (She was replacing Lauren Bacall, who won a Tony Award in the role.)

In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and stand-in host on The Mike Douglas Show, since Baxter and host Mike Douglas were friends. She portrayed a murderous film star on an episode of Columbo, called "Requiem for a Fallen Star". In 1983, Baxter starred in the television series Hotel, replacing Bette Davis after Davis became ill.

Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life

In 1946, Baxter married actor John Hodiak. They had a daughter, Katrina, born 1951, and divorced in 1953, which she later blamed on herself.

In 1960, Baxter married her second husband, Randolph Galt. Galt was the American owner of a neighboring cattle station near Sydney, Australia where she was filming Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. She left Hollywood with Katrina to live with him on a remote 37,000 acre cattle station he bought 180 miles north of Sydney called Giro (pronounced Ghee-ro). During this time, they had two daughters, Melissa (b. 1962) and Maginel (b. 1964). After the birth of Maginel, back in California, Galt suddenly announced they were moving to an 11,000 acre ranch south of Grants New Mexico. They then moved to Hawaii before settling back in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Melissa Galt became an interior designer, and Maginel became a Roman Catholic nun.

Baxter married again, in 1977 to David Klee, a prominent stockbroker. It was a brief marriage; Klee died unexpectedly from illness. The newlywed couple had purchased a sprawling property in Easton, Connecticut which they extensively remodeled, however, Klee did not live to see the renovations completed. Aspects of the house were redesigned to be architecturally reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's 'Prairie School Architecture. The living-room fireplace was remodeled to resemble the famous stone structure in the living room of her grandfather's masterpiece, Fallingwater. Vaulted ceilings were lowered to embrace Wright's essential design protocol against soaring ceilings. Baxter never remarried. Although she maintained a residence in West Hollywood, Baxter considered her Connecticut home to be her primary residence. Baxter was an active benefactor of The Connecticut Early Music Society.

Baxter was a long time friend of celebrated costume designer Edith Head, whom she first met on the set of The Ten Commandments. Head appeared with Baxter in a cameo role in Requiem For A Falling Star, a 1973 Columbo episode. Upon Head's death in 1981, Melissa Galt, who was also a goddaughter of Head, was bequeathed Head's jewelry collection.
Death

Baxter suffered a brain aneurysm on December 4, 1985, while hailing a taxi on Madison Avenue in New York City. She died 8 days later at Lenox Hill hospital on December 12, aged 62.

Baxter is buried on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright at Lloyd Jones Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She was survived by her three daughters.
Filmography

    * 20 Mule Team (1940)
    * The Great Profile (1940)
    * Charley's Aunt (1941)
    * Swamp Water (1941)
    * The Pied Piper (1942)
    * The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
    * Crash Dive (1943)
    * Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
    * The North Star (1943)
    * The Fighting Sullivans (1944)
    * The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
    * Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
    * Guest in the House (1944)
    * A Royal Scandal (1945)
    * Smoky (1946)
    * Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
    * The Razor's Edge (1946)
    * Blaze of Noon (1947)
    * Mother Wore Tights (1947) (narrator)
    * Homecoming (1948)
    * The Walls of Jericho (1948)
    * The Luck of the Irish (1948)
    * Yellow Sky (1949)
    * You're My Everything (1949)
    * A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
    * All About Eve (1950)



    * Follow the Sun (1951)
    * The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
    * O. Henry's Full House (1952)
    * My Wife's Best Friend (1952)
    * I Confess (1953)
    * The Blue Gardenia (1953)
    * Carnival Story (1954) (also cameo in German version titled Carnival of Love)
    * Bedevilled (1955)
    * One Desire (1955)
    * The Spoilers (1955)
    * The Come On (1956)
    * The Ten Commandments (1956)
    * Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957)
    * Three Violent People (1957)
    * Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
    * Cimarron (1960)
    * The DuPont Show with June Allyson, as Louise in "The Dance Man" (CBS, 1960)
    * Mix Me a Person (1962)
    * Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
    * The Family Jewels (1965) (Cameo)
    * Seven Vengeful Women (1966)
    * The Busy Body (1967)
    * Fools' Parade (1971)
    * The Late Liz (1971)
    * Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973)
    * Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t53/ilyvivi/anne-baxter-004-img.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn55/JLS414TMD/214373_f260.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/11 at 5:44 am

For Howie a special birthday wish to
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e194/fantasibaibi/traci_l111.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/07/11 at 6:50 am


For Howie a special birthday wish to
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e194/fantasibaibi/traci_l111.jpg


My birthday was 2 months ago but thanks a lot Ninny. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/07/11 at 7:01 am

Yes indeed...thank you ninny. Not my birthday either...but that girl can blow my candle (out that is)... ;)

That first pic of Anne Baxter looks nothing like her... :-\\  I saw her in a couple of episodes of The Virginian recently (or was it Wagon Train  :-\\).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/07/11 at 9:07 am


Yes indeed...thank you ninny. Not my birthday either...but that girl can blow my candle (out that is)... ;)

That first pic of Anne Baxter looks nothing like her... :-\\  I saw her in a couple of episodes of The Virginian recently (or was it Wagon Train  :-\\).

My birthday was 2 months ago but thanks a lot Ninny. :D

Ok I'll be more specific it's Traci's B-Day today..you are wishing her happy b-day ;D

I just went by what Photobucket had for pics, so I hope that's Anne

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/11 at 6:26 am

The person of the day...Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009, her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Gilbert was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon, he changed his name to Paul Gilbert to get a Screen Actors Guild card)and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane, the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. The couple later adopted a son, Jonathan Gilbert, who co-starred with Melissa as Willie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. When Melissa was 8, her parents divorced. Barbara then married Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Rebecca Abeles (the actress known professionally as Sara Gilbert), born on January 29, 1975. On February 12, 1975, Paul Gilbert suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56. Barbara and Harold Abeles' marriage later ended in divorce.

With Hollywood connections in her family background and a natural ability for entertaining at a very young age, Gilbert had already done dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She tried out for the role of Laura Ingalls, Charles Ingalls' middle daughter, on NBC's 2-hour pilot of the book Little House on the Prairie. Growing up she was unfamiliar with Landon, having never met him or watched Bonanza. She attended school with his daughter, Leslie Landon who guested on Little House as a teen and then played school teacher Etta Plumb during the last season. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura, beating out over 500 child actresses for this part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later Gilbert began filming the series. Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. A rift, however, developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.

Gilbert had no contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983/1984 season. Seven years later, on May 9, 1991, when she saw a gaunt-looking Landon on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson discussing his pancreatic cancer, she was compelled to finally telephone him. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bedridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael, in honor of Landon.
Career after Little House
Gilbert at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, MO. in June 2010

Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as "The Queen of the television movies and mini-series" having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the television mini-series, Zoya, in St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Montreal, and New York, she was pregnant with her second child.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 2006, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient looking to reconstruct her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog in a season 4 episode of Nip/Tuck.

Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. Although their respective characters were enemies for years, in real life, they are close friends.

In 2008 and through 2009, Gilbert plays Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. This world premiere production at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was directed by Francesca Zambello and also stars Kara Lindsay as Laura. The show ran through October 19 and is on a US National tour for 2009–10. The tour ended in June 2010 at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri.

For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985. Her then fiance, Rob Lowe, was present with her when her star was unveiled during the ceremony. She is one of the youngest actresses to have been honored with a star.
Screen Actor's Guild Presidency

Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a contentious election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Rhoda actress Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In 2003, she was re-elected, defeating Kent McCord with 50% of the vote to his 42%. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term and she was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
Personal life

At 17, she reconnected with then little-known actor Rob Lowe, also 17. They met briefly when they were about 14. In 1981, Melissa, in her convertible, saw Lowe stopped next to her at a red light. Gilbert dated Lowe on-and-off for six years. During this time, both had affairs with other famous people. Melissa dated Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Scott Baio, and Billy Idol. After Lowe's failed romance with Princess Stéphanie, he suddenly proposed to Gilbert. While making wedding plans, Gilbert found out she was pregnant. Upon being informed of the pregnancy, Lowe ended their relationship. Gilbert miscarried days later.

Heart-broken, Gilbert left for New York City to star in the play A Shayna Maidel. Gilbert was set up with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actors Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, only seven weeks after she ended her relationship with Rob Lowe. Gilbert became pregnant months later. US Magazine featured a very pregnant Gilbert wrapped in a sheer sheet and named her one of "America's Ten Most Beautiful Women" in 1988. On May 1, 1989, she gave birth to Dakota Paul Brinkman. After Dakota's birth, the couple began to have marital problems and divorced in 1992.

Only weeks after Gilbert's divorce filing, Bruce Boxleitner's ex-wife (Kathryn Holcomb) set Bruce up with Gilbert. Holcomb by then was married to actor Ian Ogilvy. Gilbert had met Boxleitner as a teenager when they both were on Battle of the Network Stars. Gilbert introduced herself as she had a pin-up of him in her locker. Boxleitner ignored her as she was a teen and he was many years older than her. The couple was on-and-off for over a year. They were engaged twice and Boxleitner broke up with her each time. After re-uniting for a third time, they finally married on January 1, 1995 in her mother's living room. Gilbert quickly became pregnant, but went into premature labor more than two months before her due date. She gave birth to a son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, named in honor of Michael Landon, on October 6, 1995. His middle name is in honor of Garret Peckinpah, her friend Sandy Peckinpah's son, who had died suddenly of meningitis at age 16.

Gilbert is also stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons with Holcomb, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985).

She has battled alcoholism and drug abuse, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.

On July 22, 2010, Gilbert underwent surgery to replace a disc as well as fuse a vertebra in her lower spine. The surgery was described as a complete success. It was discovered during a doctor's visit that she had been playing the role of Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the touring musical Little House on the Prairie with a broken back for months.

On March 1, 2011, Gilbert announced that she and Boxleitner had separated.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Circus, Lions, Tigers and Melissas Too -
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Kelly Sullivan TV movie
1979 Nutcracker Fantasy Clara Voice
The Miracle Worker Helen Keller TV movie / Nominated for an Emmy Award
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank TV movie
1981 Splendor in the Grass Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis TV movie
1983 Choices of the Heart Jean Donovan TV movie
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Family Secrets Sara Calloway TV movie
1985 Sylvester Charlie
1986 Drug Free Kids: A Parents' Guide - Direct-to-video
Choices Terry Granger TV movie
The Penalty Phase Leah Furman TV movie
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife Marian TV movie
1988 Killer Instinct Dr. Lisa DaVito TV movie
1989 Ice House Kay
1990 Without Her Consent Emily Briggs TV movie
Forbidden Nights Judith Shapiro TV movie
Joshua's Heart Claudia TV movie
Donor Dr. Kristine Lipton TV movie
The Lookalike Gina/Jennifer TV movie
1992 With a Vengeance Janet King/Vanessa TV movie
1993 Family of Strangers Julie TV movie
With Hostile Intent Miranda Berkley TV movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Shari Karney TV movie
House of Secrets Marion Ravinel TV movie
Dying to Remember Lynn Matthews TV movie
1994 The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story Mary Bennett TV movie
Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story Melissa Prentice TV movie
Cries from the Heart Karen TV movie
1995 Zoya Zoya Ossipov TV movie
1996 Christmas in My Hometown
(a.k.a. A Holiday for Love) Emma Murphy TV movie
1997 Seduction in a Small Town Sarah Jenks TV movie
Childhood Sweetheart? Karen Carlson TV movie
1998 Her Own Rules Meredith Sanders TV movie
1999 Murder at 75 Birch Gwen Todson TV movie
The Soul Collector Rebecca TV movie
Switched at Birth Sarah Barlow TV movie
2000 A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle Donielle TV movie
2001 Sanctuary Jo Ellen Hathaway TV movie
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Taylor Singer TV movie
2004 Heart of the Storm Cassie Broadbeck
2005 Thicker Than Water Natalie Jones TV movie
2007 Sacrifices of the Heart originally titled Spring Thaw Kate Weston/Anne Weston TV movie
Safe Harbour Ophelia Direct-to-video
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1974–83 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1–9 Won two Young Artist Awards. Also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1992 Stand By Your Man Rochelle Dumphy 1
1992–95 Batman: The Animated Series Barbara Gordon/Batgirl 1-2 Voice
1994–95 Sweet Justice Kate Delacroy 1
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1972 Gunsmoke 18 Spratt's Child "The Judgement" Episode 4
Emergency! 2 Jenny "Dinner Date" Episode 10
1978 The Love Boat 2 Rocky "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky" Episode 3
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre 4 Gerda "The Snow Queen" Episode 2
1991 The Hidden Room 1 - "Spirit Cabinet" Episode 4
1996 Babylon 5 3 Anna Sheridan "War Without End: Part 2"
"Shadow Dancing"
"Z'ha'dum" Episode 17
Episode 21
Episode 22
1998 The Outer Limits 4 Teresa Janovitch "Relativity Theory" Episode 6
Touched by an Angel 5 Michelle Tanner "The Peacemaker" Episode 10
2002 Providence 4 Lorna Berlin "Smoke and Mirrors" Episode 21
Presidio Med 1 Grace Bennett "Once Upon a Family" Episode 7
2005 7th Heaven 9 Marie Wagner "Honor Thy Mother" Episode 18
2006 Nip/Tuck 4 Shari Noble "Shari Noble" Episode 4
2009 Chelsea Lately 3 Herself "Chelsea Lately" Episode 131
2010 The Talk 1 Herself - Guest - Episode 29
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/bbb44bb/Gilbert010.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x132/coc3nhep/melissa_gilbert22.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/08/11 at 7:04 am


The person of the day...Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009, her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Gilbert was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon, he changed his name to Paul Gilbert to get a Screen Actors Guild card)and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane, the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. The couple later adopted a son, Jonathan Gilbert, who co-starred with Melissa as Willie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. When Melissa was 8, her parents divorced. Barbara then married Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Rebecca Abeles (the actress known professionally as Sara Gilbert), born on January 29, 1975. On February 12, 1975, Paul Gilbert suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56. Barbara and Harold Abeles' marriage later ended in divorce.

With Hollywood connections in her family background and a natural ability for entertaining at a very young age, Gilbert had already done dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She tried out for the role of Laura Ingalls, Charles Ingalls' middle daughter, on NBC's 2-hour pilot of the book Little House on the Prairie. Growing up she was unfamiliar with Landon, having never met him or watched Bonanza. She attended school with his daughter, Leslie Landon who guested on Little House as a teen and then played school teacher Etta Plumb during the last season. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura, beating out over 500 child actresses for this part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later Gilbert began filming the series. Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. A rift, however, developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.

Gilbert had no contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983/1984 season. Seven years later, on May 9, 1991, when she saw a gaunt-looking Landon on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson discussing his pancreatic cancer, she was compelled to finally telephone him. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bedridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael, in honor of Landon.
Career after Little House
Gilbert at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, MO. in June 2010

Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as "The Queen of the television movies and mini-series" having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the television mini-series, Zoya, in St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Montreal, and New York, she was pregnant with her second child.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 2006, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient looking to reconstruct her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog in a season 4 episode of Nip/Tuck.

Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. Although their respective characters were enemies for years, in real life, they are close friends.

In 2008 and through 2009, Gilbert plays Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. This world premiere production at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was directed by Francesca Zambello and also stars Kara Lindsay as Laura. The show ran through October 19 and is on a US National tour for 2009–10. The tour ended in June 2010 at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri.

For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985. Her then fiance, Rob Lowe, was present with her when her star was unveiled during the ceremony. She is one of the youngest actresses to have been honored with a star.
Screen Actor's Guild Presidency

Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a contentious election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Rhoda actress Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In 2003, she was re-elected, defeating Kent McCord with 50% of the vote to his 42%. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term and she was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
Personal life

At 17, she reconnected with then little-known actor Rob Lowe, also 17. They met briefly when they were about 14. In 1981, Melissa, in her convertible, saw Lowe stopped next to her at a red light. Gilbert dated Lowe on-and-off for six years. During this time, both had affairs with other famous people. Melissa dated Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Scott Baio, and Billy Idol. After Lowe's failed romance with Princess Stéphanie, he suddenly proposed to Gilbert. While making wedding plans, Gilbert found out she was pregnant. Upon being informed of the pregnancy, Lowe ended their relationship. Gilbert miscarried days later.

Heart-broken, Gilbert left for New York City to star in the play A Shayna Maidel. Gilbert was set up with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actors Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, only seven weeks after she ended her relationship with Rob Lowe. Gilbert became pregnant months later. US Magazine featured a very pregnant Gilbert wrapped in a sheer sheet and named her one of "America's Ten Most Beautiful Women" in 1988. On May 1, 1989, she gave birth to Dakota Paul Brinkman. After Dakota's birth, the couple began to have marital problems and divorced in 1992.

Only weeks after Gilbert's divorce filing, Bruce Boxleitner's ex-wife (Kathryn Holcomb) set Bruce up with Gilbert. Holcomb by then was married to actor Ian Ogilvy. Gilbert had met Boxleitner as a teenager when they both were on Battle of the Network Stars. Gilbert introduced herself as she had a pin-up of him in her locker. Boxleitner ignored her as she was a teen and he was many years older than her. The couple was on-and-off for over a year. They were engaged twice and Boxleitner broke up with her each time. After re-uniting for a third time, they finally married on January 1, 1995 in her mother's living room. Gilbert quickly became pregnant, but went into premature labor more than two months before her due date. She gave birth to a son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, named in honor of Michael Landon, on October 6, 1995. His middle name is in honor of Garret Peckinpah, her friend Sandy Peckinpah's son, who had died suddenly of meningitis at age 16.

Gilbert is also stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons with Holcomb, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985).

She has battled alcoholism and drug abuse, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.

On July 22, 2010, Gilbert underwent surgery to replace a disc as well as fuse a vertebra in her lower spine. The surgery was described as a complete success. It was discovered during a doctor's visit that she had been playing the role of Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the touring musical Little House on the Prairie with a broken back for months.

On March 1, 2011, Gilbert announced that she and Boxleitner had separated.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Circus, Lions, Tigers and Melissas Too -
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Kelly Sullivan TV movie
1979 Nutcracker Fantasy Clara Voice
The Miracle Worker Helen Keller TV movie / Nominated for an Emmy Award
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank TV movie
1981 Splendor in the Grass Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis TV movie
1983 Choices of the Heart Jean Donovan TV movie
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Family Secrets Sara Calloway TV movie
1985 Sylvester Charlie
1986 Drug Free Kids: A Parents' Guide - Direct-to-video
Choices Terry Granger TV movie
The Penalty Phase Leah Furman TV movie
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife Marian TV movie
1988 Killer Instinct Dr. Lisa DaVito TV movie
1989 Ice House Kay
1990 Without Her Consent Emily Briggs TV movie
Forbidden Nights Judith Shapiro TV movie
Joshua's Heart Claudia TV movie
Donor Dr. Kristine Lipton TV movie
The Lookalike Gina/Jennifer TV movie
1992 With a Vengeance Janet King/Vanessa TV movie
1993 Family of Strangers Julie TV movie
With Hostile Intent Miranda Berkley TV movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Shari Karney TV movie
House of Secrets Marion Ravinel TV movie
Dying to Remember Lynn Matthews TV movie
1994 The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story Mary Bennett TV movie
Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story Melissa Prentice TV movie
Cries from the Heart Karen TV movie
1995 Zoya Zoya Ossipov TV movie
1996 Christmas in My Hometown
(a.k.a. A Holiday for Love) Emma Murphy TV movie
1997 Seduction in a Small Town Sarah Jenks TV movie
Childhood Sweetheart? Karen Carlson TV movie
1998 Her Own Rules Meredith Sanders TV movie
1999 Murder at 75 Birch Gwen Todson TV movie
The Soul Collector Rebecca TV movie
Switched at Birth Sarah Barlow TV movie
2000 A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle Donielle TV movie
2001 Sanctuary Jo Ellen Hathaway TV movie
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Taylor Singer TV movie
2004 Heart of the Storm Cassie Broadbeck
2005 Thicker Than Water Natalie Jones TV movie
2007 Sacrifices of the Heart originally titled Spring Thaw Kate Weston/Anne Weston TV movie
Safe Harbour Ophelia Direct-to-video
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1974–83 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1–9 Won two Young Artist Awards. Also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1992 Stand By Your Man Rochelle Dumphy 1
1992–95 Batman: The Animated Series Barbara Gordon/Batgirl 1-2 Voice
1994–95 Sweet Justice Kate Delacroy 1
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1972 Gunsmoke 18 Spratt's Child "The Judgement" Episode 4
Emergency! 2 Jenny "Dinner Date" Episode 10
1978 The Love Boat 2 Rocky "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky" Episode 3
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre 4 Gerda "The Snow Queen" Episode 2
1991 The Hidden Room 1 - "Spirit Cabinet" Episode 4
1996 Babylon 5 3 Anna Sheridan "War Without End: Part 2"
"Shadow Dancing"
"Z'ha'dum" Episode 17
Episode 21
Episode 22
1998 The Outer Limits 4 Teresa Janovitch "Relativity Theory" Episode 6
Touched by an Angel 5 Michelle Tanner "The Peacemaker" Episode 10
2002 Providence 4 Lorna Berlin "Smoke and Mirrors" Episode 21
Presidio Med 1 Grace Bennett "Once Upon a Family" Episode 7
2005 7th Heaven 9 Marie Wagner "Honor Thy Mother" Episode 18
2006 Nip/Tuck 4 Shari Noble "Shari Noble" Episode 4
2009 Chelsea Lately 3 Herself "Chelsea Lately" Episode 131
2010 The Talk 1 Herself - Guest - Episode 29
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/bbb44bb/Gilbert010.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x132/coc3nhep/melissa_gilbert22.jpg


I like Little House On The Prairie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/08/11 at 7:44 am


I like Little House On The Prairie.

Me too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/09/11 at 6:30 am

The person of the day...Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress and former fashion model.

She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown (1988–1998), for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal (2004–2008), for which she was nominated for two Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She starred in several major films throughout the mid 1960s to early 1980s such as The Sand Pebbles, Carnal Knowledge, The Wind and the Lion, and Gandhi and received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Starting Over. Her later career includes character roles in Miss Congeniality and Sweet Home Alabama.
Bergen was born in Beverly Hills, California. Her mother, Frances Bergen (née Westerman), was a Powers model who was known professionally as Frances Westcott. Her father, Edgar Bergen, was a ventriloquist, comedian, and actor. Her paternal grandparents were Swedish-born immigrants who anglicized their surname. As a child, Bergen was irritated at being referred to as Charlie McCarthy's little sister, Charlie McCarthy being her father's star dummy.
Career

Bergen began appearing on her father's radio program at a young age, and in 1958, at age eleven, with her father on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life as Candy Bergen. She said that when she grew up she wanted to design clothes.

Bergen made her screen debut playing an aloof university student in The Group (1966), which delicately touched on the then-forbidden subject of lesbianism. Her second film in 1966 was The Sand Pebbles, in which she played Shirley Eckert, an assistant school teacher and missionary opposite Steve McQueen. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards. After starring in the French film Live for Life (1967) and The Magus (1968) with Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn, she was featured in a 1970 political satire, The Adventurers, playing a frustrated socialite who has a lesbian affair. In 1975 she starred with Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion, as a headstrong American widow kidnapped in Morocco in 1904 along with her two young children.
Bergen at the 60th Academy Awards in 1988.

Despite initial rocky reviews, she appeared in such films as Mike Nichols' provocative Carnal Knowledge (1971) and the Burt Reynolds romantic comedy Starting Over (1979), for which she received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress.

Bergen had roles in Western films including The Hunting Party and Bite the Bullet, both of which starred Gene Hackman. She was the love interest of Ryan O'Neal in the Love Story sequel, Oliver's Story, and portrayed a best-selling author in Rich and Famous (1981) with Jacqueline Bisset.

Bergen has written articles, a play, and a memoir, Knock Wood (1984). She has also studied photography and worked as a photojournalist. Considered one of Hollywood's most beautiful women, Bergen worked as a fashion model before she took up acting.

Turning to television and given a chance to show her little-seen comic talent, Murphy Brown, Bergen played a tough television reporter. Primarily a conventional sit-com, the show did tackle important issues: TV star Murphy Brown, a recovering alcoholic, became a single mother and later battled breast cancer. In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle criticized prime-time TV for showing the Murphy Brown character "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." His remarks became comedic fodder, and were written into the show as if he were talking about the Murphy Brown character, who was depicted watching Quayle's speech. A subsequent episode explored the subject of family values within a diverse set of families. The Brown character arranges for a truckload of potatoes to be dumped in front of Quayle's residence, an allusion to an infamous incident in which Quayle erroneously directed a school child to spell the word "potato" as "potatoe". In reality, Bergen agreed with at least some of Quayle's observations, saying that while the particular remark was "an arrogant and uninformed posture", as a whole, it was "a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody agreed with that more than I did." Bergen's run on Murphy Brown was extremely successful: between 1989 and 1995 she was nominated for an Emmy Award seven times and won five. After her fifth win, she declined future nominations for the role. Throughout the same time frame as Murphy Brown, Bergen also appeared as the main spokesperson for a Sprint telephone ad campaign, known to many in the ads as the "Dime Lady", for advertising Sprint's 10 cents a minute rate.

After playing the role of the successful journalist, Bergen was offered a chance to work as a real-life one. After the run of Murphy Brown ended in 1998, CBS approached her to cover stories for 60 Minutes, an offer she declined, with the conviction that she didn't personally want to blur the lines between actor and journalist at the time.

After Murphy Brown, Bergen hosted Exhale with Candice Bergen on the Oxygen network. She also appeared in character roles in films, most notably Miss Congeniality (2000) as a former beauty queen who rivals Sandra Bullock; and as the mayor of New York who disapproves of her son marrying Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama (2002). She also appeared in the comedies View from the Top with Gwyneth Paltrow and The In-Laws with Michael Douglas, both released in 2003.

In January 2005, Bergen joined the cast of the television series Boston Legal as Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner in the law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. She played the role for five seasons. In 2006 and 2008, she received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

A frequent host on NBC's Saturday Night Live, she was the first woman to host the show and the first host to do a second show. Bergen guest-starred on The Muppet Show in its first year, appearing in several skits, an episode now available in a DVD collection. She was also featured in a long-running "Dime Lady" ad campaign for the Sprint phone company.

She has also made guest appearances on many other TV shows, including Seinfeld (as herself playing Murphy Brown), Law & Order, Family Guy, Will & Grace (playing herself), and Sex and the City, where she played Enid Frick, Carrie Bradshaw's editor at Vogue. More recently she appeared in the 2009 movie Bride Wars as Marion St. Claire, New York's most sought-after wedding planner, who also serves as the narrator of the story.

Since its launch in 2008, Candice Bergen has been a contributor for wowOwow.com, a website for women to talk culture, politics and gossip.

Bergen has an occasional role on House as Lisa Cuddy's mother, starting in Season 7, including the 2011 episodes "Larger Than Life" and "Family Practice".
Personal life

Candice Bergen attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she was elected both Homecoming Queen and Miss University, but acknowledges that her failure to take her education seriously resulted in her being asked to leave.

During the 1960s, Bergen and then-boyfriend Terry Melcher, the son of Doris Day, lived at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles, which was later occupied by Sharon Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski. Tate and four others were murdered in the home in 1969 by followers of Charles Manson. There was some initial speculation that Melcher may have been the intended victim.

A political activist, Bergen accepted a date with Henry Kissinger. During her activist days she participated in a Yippie prank when she, Abbie Hoffman, and others threw dollar bills onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1967, leading to its temporary shut-down. In 1972, she served as a fundraiser and organizer for George McGovern's presidential campaign.

On September 27, 1980, she married French film director Louis Malle (Bergen herself has traveled extensively and speaks French fluently). They had one child, a daughter named Chloé Malle, in 1985. The couple were married until Malle's death from cancer on Thanksgiving Day in 1995.

Since June 15, 2000, she has been married to New York real estate magnate and philanthropist Marshall Rose.
Awards won

Emmy Awards:

    * Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for: Murphy Brown (1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995) 5 wins

Golden Globe Awards:

    * Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical for: Murphy Brown (1989, 1992) 2 wins

Filmography
Candice Bergen and her mother Frances Bergen at the 62nd Academy Awards March 26, 1990
List of feature film credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1966 Group, TheThe Group Lakey
1966 Sand Pebbles, TheThe Sand Pebbles Shirley Eckert
1967 Day the Fish Came Out, TheThe Day the Fish Came Out Electra Brown
1967 Vivre pour vivre Candice aka Live for Life (US)
1968 Magus, TheThe Magus Lily
1970 Adventurers, TheThe Adventurers Sue Ann Daley
1970 Getting Straight Jan
1970 Soldier Blue Kathy Maribel Lee, 'Cresta'
1971 Carnal Knowledge Susan
1971 Hunting Party, TheThe Hunting Party Melissa Ruger
1971 T.R. Baskin T. R. Baskin aka A Date with a Lonely Girl (UK)
1974 11 Harrowhouse Maren Shirell
1975 Wind and the Lion, TheThe Wind and the Lion Eden Pedecaris
1975 Bite the Bullet Miss Jones
1977 Domino Principle, TheThe Domino Principle Ellie Tucker aka The Domino Killings (UK)
1978 Night Full of Rain, AA Night Full of Rain Lizzy
1978 Oliver's Story Marcie Bonwit
1979 Starting Over Jessica Potter
1981 Rich and Famous Merry Noel Blake
1982 Gandhi Margaret Bourke-White
1984 2010 SAL 9000 voice only (credited as Olga Mallsnerd)
1985 Stick Kyle McClaren
2000 Miss Congeniality Kathy Morningside
2002 Sweet Home Alabama Mayor Kate Hennings
2003 View from the Top Sally Weston
2003 In-Laws, TheThe In-Laws Judy Tobias
2008 Sex and the City Enid Frick
2008 Women, TheThe Women Catherine Frazier
2009 Bride Wars Marion St. Claire
2010 Romantics, TheThe Romantics Augusta
Short subject

    * Unusual Occupations: Film Tot Holiday (1947)
    * Flash 02 (1967)
    * The Lion Roars Again (1975)

Documentary

    * Wedding of the Doll (1968)
    * Frames from the Edge (1989)
    * Belly Talkers (1996)
    * Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997)

Television

    * Coronet Blue (1 episode, 1967)
    * The Kraft Music Hall (1 episode, 1969)
    * Saturday Night Live (1975)
    * The Muppet Show (1976)
    * Arthur the King (1985) (aka Merlin & the Sword) .... Morgan le Fay
    * Murder: By Reason of Insanity (1985)
    * Hollywood Wives (1985) (miniseries)
    * Mayflower Madam (1987)
    * Trying Times (1 episode, 1987)
    * Murphy Brown (247 episodes, 1988–1998) (also executive producer)
    * Seinfeld (1 episode, 1992)
    * Understanding Sex (1994) .... Narrator
    * Understanding (2 episodes, 1995) .... Narrator
    * Mary & Tim (1996) (also co-executive producer)
    * Ink (1 episode, 1997)
    * Family Guy (2 episodes, 2000) as Gloria Ironbox
    * Footsteps (2003)
    * Sex and the City (3 episodes, 2004) as Vogue editor Enid Frick
    * Law & Order (1 episode, 2004) .... Judge Amanda Anderlee
    * Will & Grace (2004) as herself
    * Law & Order: Trial by Jury (3 episodes, 2005) .... Judge Amanda Anderlee
    * Boston Legal (78 episodes, cast member from 2005–2008)
    * House (3 episodes, 2011)
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm283/coachcsmith1/1970s/candacebergen71.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk119/lint_clouds/Deuxieme/Candice_Bergen_1993-2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/09/11 at 7:17 am

I used to watch Murphy Brown.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/10/11 at 6:33 am

The person of the day...Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono (pronounced /ˈbɒnoʊ/ BON-oh), is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes. During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.

Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organised and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticised for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time, among other awards and nominations.
Bono is married to Alison Hewson (née Stewart). Their relationship began in 1975 and the couple were married on 21 August 1982 in a Church of Ireland (Anglican) ceremony at All Saints Church, Raheny (built by the Guinness family), with Adam Clayton acting as Bono's best man. The couple have four children: daughters Jordan (b. 10 May 1989) and Memphis Eve (b. 7 July 1991) and sons Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (b. 18 August 1999) and John Abraham (b. 21 May 2001); Memphis Eve portrayed the character Stella in the 2008 film The 27 Club. Bono lives in Killiney in south County Dublin with his family and shares a villa in Èze in the Alpes-Maritimes in the south of France with The Edge. Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses. During a Rolling Stone interview he stated:
very sensitive eyes to light. If somebody takes my photograph, I will see the flash for the rest of the day. My right eye swells up. I've a blockage there, so that my eyes go red a lot. So it's part vanity, it's part privacy and part sensitivity.

In 2002, he was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Britons in a poll conducted among the general public, despite the fact that he is Irish.

In May 2010, Bono suffered an injury while preparing for the forthcoming U2 tour, and was taken to a German neurosurgery clinic in Munich for emergency surgery. The entire North American leg was postponed and rescheduled into 2011.
Musical career
U2
A black and white image of a light-skinned man singing into a microphone. He is visible from the chest up and wears a sleeveless black shirt with an opened sleeveless white vest overtop. A small cross is worn around his neck. His black hair is styled into a mullet. The man looks past the camera to the left. A mixture of trees and sky are visible in the background.
Bono on stage in 1983
Main article: U2

On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.

The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it.'" When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.

Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.
Bono as his alter-ego "The Fly" on the Zoo TV Tour in 1992

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.

During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fudgeing brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fudge" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.
U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005.

In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all-time.

Bono and his bandmates were criticised in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimise their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.
Collaborations

In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, BB King and Zucchero. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of "Slide Away" as a duet with Hutchence.
Other endeavours

In 1992, Bono, along with the Edge, bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel with The Edge, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel.

The Edge and Bono have also recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the 2011 rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club, which Bono denied.

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail". The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake", and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."

Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).

In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical Across the Universe. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I Am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's Entropy and 2000's Million Dollar Hotel, the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film Sightings of Bono, adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.

Bono owns a 1.5% stake in social networking site Facebook, an investment that is currently valued at £500 million
Humanitarian work
Bono with President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2006

Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers and was named the most politically effective celebrity of all time by the National Journal. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organisations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.

In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organisation Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.

Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organised by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organise the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.
Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006

Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.

In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, Time named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organised a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
Bono at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, 2008.

In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.

Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organisation. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.

In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.

On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. Kipling's The White Man's Burden) that criticised stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for " the legitimate voices of Africa and a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy.
Bono meeting with President Barack Obama in 2010.

On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely cancelled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.

The organisation DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.

In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.
Bono after accepting the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007.

Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.

In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funnelled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimise taxes."

Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organisations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."

In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had travelled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.

Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c382/make_the_maker_smile/Bono.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww158/kbartke/bono.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/10/11 at 6:58 am


The person of the day...Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono (pronounced /ˈbɒnoʊ/ BON-oh), is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes. During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.

Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organised and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticised for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time, among other awards and nominations.
Bono is married to Alison Hewson (née Stewart). Their relationship began in 1975 and the couple were married on 21 August 1982 in a Church of Ireland (Anglican) ceremony at All Saints Church, Raheny (built by the Guinness family), with Adam Clayton acting as Bono's best man. The couple have four children: daughters Jordan (b. 10 May 1989) and Memphis Eve (b. 7 July 1991) and sons Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q (b. 18 August 1999) and John Abraham (b. 21 May 2001); Memphis Eve portrayed the character Stella in the 2008 film The 27 Club. Bono lives in Killiney in south County Dublin with his family and shares a villa in Èze in the Alpes-Maritimes in the south of France with The Edge. Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses. During a Rolling Stone interview he stated:
very sensitive eyes to light. If somebody takes my photograph, I will see the flash for the rest of the day. My right eye swells up. I've a blockage there, so that my eyes go red a lot. So it's part vanity, it's part privacy and part sensitivity.

In 2002, he was listed as one of the 100 Greatest Britons in a poll conducted among the general public, despite the fact that he is Irish.

In May 2010, Bono suffered an injury while preparing for the forthcoming U2 tour, and was taken to a German neurosurgery clinic in Munich for emergency surgery. The entire North American leg was postponed and rescheduled into 2011.
Musical career
U2
A black and white image of a light-skinned man singing into a microphone. He is visible from the chest up and wears a sleeveless black shirt with an opened sleeveless white vest overtop. A small cross is worn around his neck. His black hair is styled into a mullet. The man looks past the camera to the left. A mixture of trees and sky are visible in the background.
Bono on stage in 1983
Main article: U2

On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.

The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it.'" When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.

Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.
Bono as his alter-ego "The Fly" on the Zoo TV Tour in 1992

U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.

During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.

Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fudgeing brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fudge" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.
U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005.

In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all-time.

Bono and his bandmates were criticised in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimise their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.
Collaborations

In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, BB King and Zucchero. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of "Slide Away" as a duet with Hutchence.
Other endeavours

In 1992, Bono, along with the Edge, bought and refurbished Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel with The Edge, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel.

The Edge and Bono have also recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the 2011 rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club, which Bono denied.

In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail". The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake", and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."

Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).

In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical Across the Universe. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I Am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's Entropy and 2000's Million Dollar Hotel, the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film Sightings of Bono, adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.

Bono owns a 1.5% stake in social networking site Facebook, an investment that is currently valued at £500 million
Humanitarian work
Bono with President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2006

Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers and was named the most politically effective celebrity of all time by the National Journal. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organisations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.

In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organisation Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.

Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organised by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organise the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.
Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006

Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.

In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, Time named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organised a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
Bono at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, 2008.

In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.

Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organisation. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.

In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.

On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. Kipling's The White Man's Burden) that criticised stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for " the legitimate voices of Africa and a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy.
Bono meeting with President Barack Obama in 2010.

On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely cancelled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.

The organisation DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.

In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.
Bono after accepting the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007.

Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.

In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funnelled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimise taxes."

Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organisations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."

In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had travelled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.

Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c382/make_the_maker_smile/Bono.jpg
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww158/kbartke/bono.jpg


U2 is one of the greatest bands of all time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/11/11 at 5:00 am

The person of the day...Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Early in her career, she portrayed Mary Shelley and Patty Hearst in feature films, and she received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret. Some of her notable films included Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Her first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox ended in divorce in 1992. In 1994, she married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom she had met when the two appeared in Anna Christie. The couple had two sons, Micheál and Daniel. Richardson's father died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS through the charity amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Richardson died in 2009 following a head injury sustained when she fell during a skiing lesson in Quebec.
Richardson was born and raised in London, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, half sister of Carlo Gabriel Nero and Katharine Grimond Hess, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two leading independent schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. Soon after, she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' acclaimed revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005, she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in their revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski. In January 2009, two months before her death, Richardson played the role of Desirée in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, opposite her mother, Vanessa Redgrave who played Mme. Armfeldt. The two were slated to headline a brand new Broadway production (which became the current Broadway revival directed by Trevor Nunn), which never came to fruition.
Film

Richardson portrayed Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalized account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her alleged kidnapping. Her performances opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak, and that same year appeared in Nell opposite Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. Additional film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role of the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the 2010 documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provides narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing."
Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 CBS miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her British television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and starred in Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC.
Personal life
Richardson in 1999

Richardson's first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox lasted from 1990 to 1992. She married Irish actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared near Millbrook, New York; she had taken American citizenship. Richardson and Neeson have two sons: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996). Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Richardson was actively involved in amfAR, becoming a board of trustees member in 2006, and participated in many other AIDS charities including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

A long-time smoker, although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken opponent of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.
Injury and death
Wikinews has related news: British actress Natasha Richardson dies at age 45

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a beginner skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention twice, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head", and her death was ruled an accident.

On 19 March, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway in New York and in London's West End as a mark of respect for Richardson. The following day, a private wake was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home, and Richardson was buried near her grandmother Rachel Kempson in the church cemetery. Richardson's aunt Lynn Redgrave was also buried in the same cemetery on 8 May 2010, near Richardson and Kempson. Richardson's family issued a statement the day of her death, "Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time." Her death garnered attention due to the fact that she was not wearing a helmet at the time when she sustained her injury.

The controversial debate regarding Richardson's death focused on whether wearing helmets should be mandatory. After the incident, the spokesman for Mont Tremblant ski resort, Ian Galbraith, stated that "we recommend all skiers and boarders wear helmets, (but) it is a matter of personal preference whether our guests choose to do so." The main question that millions of people all over the world asked, was whether a helmet could have saved Richardson's life. However, there is not enough sound medical evidence to determine whether wearing helmets decreases the risk of injury or death. Therefore, a mandatory helmet law was never implemented in Quebec; however, the Quebec Ski Areas Association budgeted 200,000 dollars towards a safety campaign. Furthermore, according to a BBC report, the number of skiers and snowboarders who wore helmets increased substantially after several high profile incidents, including Richardson`s tragic death.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1986 Gothic Mary Shelley
1987 A Month in the Country Alice Keach
1988 Patty Hearst Patty Hearst
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Jean Tatlock
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate/Offred Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
The Comfort of Strangers Mary
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs Edwina Broome Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — Best Actress
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up In Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
Asylum Stella Raphael Executive producer
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Awards — Best Actress
2007 Evening Constance Lord
2008 Wild Child Mrs. Kingsley Final film appearance
2009 The Wildest Dream Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory) Voice only, final performance before death, Liam Neeson narrated.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Oxbridge Blues Gabriella
1985 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Violet Hunter Episode — "The Copper Beeches"
1987 Ghosts Regina
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
Hostages Jill Morrell
Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef Guest Judge
Theatre
Year Production Role Notes
1983 On the Razzle
Top Girls
Charley's Aunt
1985 The Seagull Nina Plays and Players - Most Promising Newcomer Award
A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena
Hamlet Ophelia
1987 High Society Tracy
1993 Anna Christie Anna London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award (London production)
Outer Critics Circle Award — Outstanding Debut of an Actress
Theatre World Award — Outstanding Debut
Nominated — Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998 Cabaret Sally Bowles Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999 Closer Anna
2003 The Lady from the Sea
2005 A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww117/cometsandcupids/ew-natasha-richardson-cover1.jpg
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww321/moremsmani/tash-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/11/11 at 6:55 am


The person of the day...Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Early in her career, she portrayed Mary Shelley and Patty Hearst in feature films, and she received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret. Some of her notable films included Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Her first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox ended in divorce in 1992. In 1994, she married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom she had met when the two appeared in Anna Christie. The couple had two sons, Micheál and Daniel. Richardson's father died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS through the charity amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Richardson died in 2009 following a head injury sustained when she fell during a skiing lesson in Quebec.
Richardson was born and raised in London, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, half sister of Carlo Gabriel Nero and Katharine Grimond Hess, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two leading independent schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. Soon after, she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' acclaimed revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005, she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in their revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski. In January 2009, two months before her death, Richardson played the role of Desirée in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, opposite her mother, Vanessa Redgrave who played Mme. Armfeldt. The two were slated to headline a brand new Broadway production (which became the current Broadway revival directed by Trevor Nunn), which never came to fruition.
Film

Richardson portrayed Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalized account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her alleged kidnapping. Her performances opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak, and that same year appeared in Nell opposite Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. Additional film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role of the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the 2010 documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provides narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing."
Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 CBS miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her British television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and starred in Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC.
Personal life
Richardson in 1999

Richardson's first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox lasted from 1990 to 1992. She married Irish actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared near Millbrook, New York; she had taken American citizenship. Richardson and Neeson have two sons: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996). Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Richardson was actively involved in amfAR, becoming a board of trustees member in 2006, and participated in many other AIDS charities including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

A long-time smoker, although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken opponent of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.
Injury and death
Wikinews has related news: British actress Natasha Richardson dies at age 45

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a beginner skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention twice, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head", and her death was ruled an accident.

On 19 March, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway in New York and in London's West End as a mark of respect for Richardson. The following day, a private wake was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home, and Richardson was buried near her grandmother Rachel Kempson in the church cemetery. Richardson's aunt Lynn Redgrave was also buried in the same cemetery on 8 May 2010, near Richardson and Kempson. Richardson's family issued a statement the day of her death, "Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time." Her death garnered attention due to the fact that she was not wearing a helmet at the time when she sustained her injury.

The controversial debate regarding Richardson's death focused on whether wearing helmets should be mandatory. After the incident, the spokesman for Mont Tremblant ski resort, Ian Galbraith, stated that "we recommend all skiers and boarders wear helmets, (but) it is a matter of personal preference whether our guests choose to do so." The main question that millions of people all over the world asked, was whether a helmet could have saved Richardson's life. However, there is not enough sound medical evidence to determine whether wearing helmets decreases the risk of injury or death. Therefore, a mandatory helmet law was never implemented in Quebec; however, the Quebec Ski Areas Association budgeted 200,000 dollars towards a safety campaign. Furthermore, according to a BBC report, the number of skiers and snowboarders who wore helmets increased substantially after several high profile incidents, including Richardson`s tragic death.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1986 Gothic Mary Shelley
1987 A Month in the Country Alice Keach
1988 Patty Hearst Patty Hearst
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Jean Tatlock
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate/Offred Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
The Comfort of Strangers Mary
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs Edwina Broome Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — Best Actress
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up In Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
Asylum Stella Raphael Executive producer
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Awards — Best Actress
2007 Evening Constance Lord
2008 Wild Child Mrs. Kingsley Final film appearance
2009 The Wildest Dream Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory) Voice only, final performance before death, Liam Neeson narrated.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Oxbridge Blues Gabriella
1985 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Violet Hunter Episode — "The Copper Beeches"
1987 Ghosts Regina
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
Hostages Jill Morrell
Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef Guest Judge
Theatre
Year Production Role Notes
1983 On the Razzle
Top Girls
Charley's Aunt
1985 The Seagull Nina Plays and Players - Most Promising Newcomer Award
A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena
Hamlet Ophelia
1987 High Society Tracy
1993 Anna Christie Anna London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award (London production)
Outer Critics Circle Award — Outstanding Debut of an Actress
Theatre World Award — Outstanding Debut
Nominated — Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998 Cabaret Sally Bowles Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999 Closer Anna
2003 The Lady from the Sea
2005 A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww117/cometsandcupids/ew-natasha-richardson-cover1.jpg
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww321/moremsmani/tash-1.jpg


She died so young.  :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/11/11 at 6:56 am

http://www.yorapper.com/Photos/bob-marley-ringtones.jpg

It's also the 30th Anniversary of Bob Marley's death.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/11/11 at 11:12 am


The person of the day...Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Early in her career, she portrayed Mary Shelley and Patty Hearst in feature films, and she received critical acclaim and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 1993 revival of Anna Christie. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret. Some of her notable films included Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Nell (1994), The Parent Trap (1998) and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Her first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox ended in divorce in 1992. In 1994, she married Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson, whom she had met when the two appeared in Anna Christie. The couple had two sons, Micheál and Daniel. Richardson's father died of AIDS-related causes in 1991. She helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS through the charity amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Richardson died in 2009 following a head injury sustained when she fell during a skiing lesson in Quebec.
Richardson was born and raised in London, a member of the Redgrave family, known as a theatrical and film acting dynasty. She was the daughter of director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, sister of Joely Richardson, half sister of Carlo Gabriel Nero and Katharine Grimond Hess, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Richardson's parents divorced in 1967. The following year, she made her film debut at the age of four in an uncredited role in The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson was educated in London at two leading independent schools, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London and St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, before training at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Theatre

Richardson began her career in regional theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Her first professional work in London's West End was in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in 1985. Soon after, she starred in a London stage production of High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film. In 1998, she played the role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' acclaimed revival of Cabaret on Broadway, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The following year she returned to Broadway in Closer, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and in 2005, she appeared again with the Roundabout, this time as Blanche DuBois in their revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John C. Reilly as Stanley Kowalski. In January 2009, two months before her death, Richardson played the role of Desirée in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, opposite her mother, Vanessa Redgrave who played Mme. Armfeldt. The two were slated to headline a brand new Broadway production (which became the current Broadway revival directed by Trevor Nunn), which never came to fruition.
Film

Richardson portrayed Mary Shelley in the 1986 film Gothic, a fictionalized account of the author's creation of Frankenstein. The following year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. Director Paul Schrader signed her for the title role in Patty Hearst, his 1988 docudrama about the heiress and her alleged kidnapping. Her performances opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid's Tale and Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (directed by Schrader) won her the 1990 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She was named Best Actress at the 1994 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for Widows' Peak, and that same year appeared in Nell opposite Jodie Foster and future husband Liam Neeson. Additional film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), Blow Dry (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Waking Up in Reno (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Asylum (2005), which won her a second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, The White Countess (2005), and Evening (2007). Her last screen appearance was as headmistress of a girls' school in the 2008 comedy Wild Child. During the last week of January 2009, she recorded her offscreen role of the wife of climber George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest during a 1924 expedition, in the 2010 documentary film The Wildest Dream, for which Liam Neeson provides narration. Director Anthony Geffen described listening to the film since her death as "harrowing."
Television

Richardson made her American television debut in a small role in the 1984 CBS miniseries Ellis Island. That same year she made her British television debut in an episode of the BBC series Oxbridge Blues. The following year she appeared as Violet Hunter alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in the episode entitled "The Copper Beeches". She starred with Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Branagh in a 1987 BBC adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe in a 1993 BBC adaptation of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams; portrayed Zelda Fitzgerald in the 1993 television movie Zelda; and starred in Haven (2001) on CBS and The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007) on NBC.
Personal life
Richardson in 1999

Richardson's first marriage to filmmaker Robert Fox lasted from 1990 to 1992. She married Irish actor Liam Neeson in the summer of 1994 at the home they shared near Millbrook, New York; she had taken American citizenship. Richardson and Neeson have two sons: Micheál (born 1995) and Daniel (born 1996). Richardson helped raise millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS; her father, director Tony Richardson, died of AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Richardson was actively involved in amfAR, becoming a board of trustees member in 2006, and participated in many other AIDS charities including Bailey House, God's Love We Deliver, Mothers' Voices, AIDS Crisis Trust and National AIDS Trust, for which she was an ambassador. Richardson received amfAR's Award of Courage in November 2000.

A long-time smoker, although she had reportedly quit smoking, Richardson was an outspoken opponent of the ban on smoking in New York City restaurants.
Injury and death
Wikinews has related news: British actress Natasha Richardson dies at age 45

On 16 March 2009, Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a beginner skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention twice, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head", and her death was ruled an accident.

On 19 March, theatre lights were dimmed on Broadway in New York and in London's West End as a mark of respect for Richardson. The following day, a private wake was held at the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan. On 22 March, a private funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church near Millbrook, New York, close to the family's upstate home, and Richardson was buried near her grandmother Rachel Kempson in the church cemetery. Richardson's aunt Lynn Redgrave was also buried in the same cemetery on 8 May 2010, near Richardson and Kempson. Richardson's family issued a statement the day of her death, "Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time." Her death garnered attention due to the fact that she was not wearing a helmet at the time when she sustained her injury.

The controversial debate regarding Richardson's death focused on whether wearing helmets should be mandatory. After the incident, the spokesman for Mont Tremblant ski resort, Ian Galbraith, stated that "we recommend all skiers and boarders wear helmets, (but) it is a matter of personal preference whether our guests choose to do so." The main question that millions of people all over the world asked, was whether a helmet could have saved Richardson's life. However, there is not enough sound medical evidence to determine whether wearing helmets decreases the risk of injury or death. Therefore, a mandatory helmet law was never implemented in Quebec; however, the Quebec Ski Areas Association budgeted 200,000 dollars towards a safety campaign. Furthermore, according to a BBC report, the number of skiers and snowboarders who wore helmets increased substantially after several high profile incidents, including Richardson`s tragic death.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1968 The Charge of the Light Brigade Flower girl at wedding Uncredited appearance
1986 Gothic Mary Shelley
1987 A Month in the Country Alice Keach
1988 Patty Hearst Patty Hearst
1989 Fat Man and Little Boy Jean Tatlock
1990 The Handmaid's Tale Kate/Offred Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
The Comfort of Strangers Mary
1991 The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish Sybil
1992 Past Midnight Laura Mathews
1994 Nell Dr. Paula Olsen
Widows' Peak Mrs Edwina Broome Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — Best Actress
1998 The Parent Trap Elizabeth James
2001 Blow Dry Shelley Allen
Chelsea Walls Mary
2002 Waking Up In Reno Darlene Dodd
Maid in Manhattan Caroline Lane
2005 The White Countess Countess Sofia Belinskya
Asylum Stella Raphael Executive producer
Evening Standard British Film Awards — Best Actress
Nominated — British Independent Film Awards — Best Actress
2007 Evening Constance Lord
2008 Wild Child Mrs. Kingsley Final film appearance
2009 The Wildest Dream Ruth Mallory (wife of George Mallory) Voice only, final performance before death, Liam Neeson narrated.
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Oxbridge Blues Gabriella
1985 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Violet Hunter Episode — "The Copper Beeches"
1987 Ghosts Regina
1993 Zelda Zelda Fitzgerald
Hostages Jill Morrell
Suddenly Last Summer Catharine Holly
1996 Tales from the Crypt Fiona Havisham
2001 Haven Ruth Gruber
2007 Mastersons of Manhattan Victoria Masterson
2008 Top Chef Guest Judge
Theatre
Year Production Role Notes
1983 On the Razzle
Top Girls
Charley's Aunt
1985 The Seagull Nina Plays and Players - Most Promising Newcomer Award
A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena
Hamlet Ophelia
1987 High Society Tracy
1993 Anna Christie Anna London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award (London production)
Outer Critics Circle Award — Outstanding Debut of an Actress
Theatre World Award — Outstanding Debut
Nominated — Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1998 Cabaret Sally Bowles Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999 Closer Anna
2003 The Lady from the Sea
2005 A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois
http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww117/cometsandcupids/ew-natasha-richardson-cover1.jpg
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww321/moremsmani/tash-1.jpg



:\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/12/11 at 6:30 am

The person of the day...Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach (play /ˈbækəræk/ bak-ə-rak; born May 12, 1928) is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick. Following on with the initial success of this collaboration, Bacharach went on to produce hits with Dusty Springfield, Bobbie Gentry and others.

As of 2006, Bacharach had written 70 Top 40 hits in the US, and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK.
In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were introduced while at the Brill Building in New York City, and began their writing partnership. Almost a year later, they received a significant career break when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins for Columbia Records, becoming a No. 1 hit on the U.S. country music charts in late 1957. Soon after, "Magic Moments" was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and became a No. 4 U.S. hit in February of that year. These two songs were back-to-back No. 1 singles in the UK ("The Story of My Life" in a version by Michael Holliday), giving Bacharach and David the honor of being the first songwriters to have written consecutive No. 1 UK singles. In 1959, their song "Make Room for the Joy" was featured in Columbia's film musical Jukebox Rhythm,, sung by Jack Jones.

In the early 1960s, Bacharach wrote well over 100 songs with David. The two were associated throughout the '60s with Dionne Warwick, a conservatory-trained vocalist. Bacharach and David started writing a portion of their work with Warwick in mind, leading to one of the most successful teams in popular music history.

Over a 20-year period, beginning in the early 1960s, Warwick charted 38 singles co-written or produced by Bacharach and David, including 22 Top-40, 12 Top-20, and nine Top-10 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts. During the early '60s, Bacharach also collaborated with Bob Hilliard on a number of songs, including "Please Stay" and "Mexican Divorce" for The Drifters, "Any Day Now" for Chuck Jackson, "Tower of Strength" for Gene McDaniels, and "Dreamin' All the Time" and "Pick Up the Pieces" for Jack Jones.

Other singers of Bacharach songs in the '60s and '70s included Bobby Vinton ("Blue on Blue"); Dusty Springfield ("The Look of Love" from Casino Royale), (a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Wishin' and Hopin'"); Cilla Black (a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Anyone Who Had A Heart"), Cher ("Alfie"); The Shirelles, The Beatles ("Baby, It's You"); The Carpenters ("(They Long to Be) Close to You"); Aretha Franklin ("I Say a Little Prayer"); Isaac Hayes ("Walk On By", from the Hot Buttered Soul album); B. J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head", "Everybody's Out of Town"); Tom Jones ("What's New, Pussycat?"); Engelbert Humperdinck ("I'm A Better Man"); Sandie Shaw ("((There's) Always Something There to Remind Me"); Jack Jones ("Wives and Lovers"); Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now is Love"); Gene Pitney ("Only Love Can Break a Heart," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "24 Hours From Tulsa" and "True Love Never Runs Smooth"); Herb Alpert, ("This Guy's In Love With You"); Liz Damon's Orient Express ("Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets); Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 ("The Look of Love"); Jerry Butler, the Walker Brothers ("Make It Easy on Yourself"); and the Fifth Dimension ("One Less Bell to Answer").

Bacharach songs were adapted by jazz artists of the time, such as Stan Getz, Cal Tjader and Wes Montgomery. The Bacharach/David composition "My Little Red Book", originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the film What's New, Pussycat?, and promptly covered by Love in 1966, has become a rock standard; however, according to Robin Platts' book "Burt Bacharach and Hal David,", the composer did not like Love's version. The title of the song is likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to Mao Zedong's Little Red Book, which was first published by the Communist Party of China in April 1964.

Bacharach composed and arranged the soundtrack of the 1967 film Casino Royale, which included "The Look of Love," performed by Dusty Springfield, and the title song, an instrumental Top 40 single for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Bacharach and David also collaborated with Broadway producer David Merrick on the 1968 musical Promises, Promises, which yielded two hits, the title tune and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," for Dionne Warwick. The year 1969 marked, perhaps, the most successful Bacharach-David collaboration, the Oscar-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," written for and prominently featured in the acclaimed film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Style

Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd, changing meters. Bacharach has arranged, conducted, and co-produced much of his recorded output.

An example of his distinctive use of changing meter is found in "Promises, Promises" (from his score for the musical of the same name). His style is sometimes also associated with particular instrumental combinations he is assumed to favor or to have favored, including the prominent use of the flugelhorn in such works as "Walk on By", "Nikki", and "Toledo".
1970s and 1980s

In 1970, Johnny Mathis issued a double-LP album set, "Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert," for Columbia. It consisted of 21 tracks in a heavyweight gatefold picture sleeve. The Bert Kaempfert tracks were done in the arrangement style of the German composer and orchestra leader, and the Bacharach tracks were in the American's upbeat style.

In 1973, Bacharach and David were commissioned to score the Ross Hunter-produced revival of the 1937 film, Lost Horizon for Columbia Pictures. The result was a critical and commercial disaster, and resulted in a flurry of lawsuits between the composer and the lyricist, as well as from Warwick. She reportedly felt abandoned when Bacharach and David refused to work together. Bacharach tried several solo projects (including the 1977 album Futures), but the projects failed to yield hits.

By the early 1980s, Bacharach's marriage to Angie Dickinson had ended, but a new partnership with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager proved rewarding, both commercially and personally. The two married and collaborated on several major hits during the decade, including "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross), co-written with Cross and Peter Allen; "Heartlight" (Neil Diamond); "Making Love" (Roberta Flack); "On My Own" (Patti LaBelle with Michael McDonald), and perhaps most memorably, "That's What Friends Are For" in 1985, actually the second single which reunited Bacharach and singer Warwick. The profits for the latter song were given to AIDS research. Bacharach's 1980s tunes showed a new sound.

Other artists continued to revive Bacharach's earlier hits, giving them a new audience in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples included Luther Vandross' recording of "A House is Not a Home"; Naked Eyes' 1983 pop hit version of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", and Ronnie Milsap's 1982 country version of "Any Day Now". Bacharach continued a concert career, appearing at auditoriums throughout the world, often featuring large orchestras as accompaniment. He occasionally joined with Warwick, appearing in sold-out concerts in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
1990s and beyond

In 1990, Deacon Blue charted number 2 in the UK singles chart with an EP entitled "4 Bacharach & David Songs", with the first track, "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" receiving extensive media coverage. In 1996, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner recorded an album of nine Bacharach standards that featured Tyner's trio with an orchestra arranged and conducted by John Clayton. In 1998, Bacharach co-wrote and recorded a Grammy-winning album with Elvis Costello, Painted from Memory, on which the compositions began to take on the sound of his earlier work. In 2006, he recorded a jazz album with Trijntje Oosterhuis and the Metropole Orchestra called The Look of Love (Burt Bacharach Songbook) which was released in November that year. Bacharach collaborated with Cathy Dennis in 2002 to write an original song for the Pop Idol winner Will Young. This was "What's In Goodbye", and it appears on Young's debut album From Now On. During July 2002, Young was a guest vocalist at two of Bacharach's concerts, one at the Hammersmith Apollo and the other at Liverpool Pops.

Another star treatment of his compositions was the 2003 album Here I Am featuring Ronald Isley, revisiting a number of his 1960s compositions, and also the Vandross arrangement of A House Is Not a Home.

Bacharach's 2005 solo album At This Time saw a departure from past works in that Bacharach penned his own lyrics, some of which dealt with political themes. Guest stars on some tracks included Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, and hip-hop producer Dr. Dre.

On October 24, 2008, Bacharach opened the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse in London, performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra accompanied by guest vocalists Adele, Beth Rowley and Jamie Cullum. The concert was a retrospective look back at his unparalleled six-decade career, including classics such as "Walk On By", "The Look of Love", "I Say a Little Prayer", "What The World Needs Now", "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" and "Make It Easy On Yourself", featuring Jamie Cullum.

In early 2009 Bacharach worked with Italian soul singer Karima Ammar and produced her debut single Come In Ogni Ora. The song has been heard during the 59th Sanremo Music Festival and also features him playing piano.
Film and Television

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach was featured in a dozen TV musical and variety specials videotaped in the UK for ITC, several were nominated for Emmy awards for direction (by Dwight Hemion). The guests included artists such as Joel Grey, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Barbra Streisand. Bacharach and David did the score for a short-lived ABC-TV series, ABC Stage 67, for a show titled On the Flip Side, starring Rick Nelson as a faded pop star trying for a comeback. While the series' ratings were dismal, the soundtrack showcased Bacharach's abilities to try different kinds of musical styles, ranging from (almost) 1960s rock, to pop, ballads, and Latin-tinged dance numbers.

In 1969, Harry Betts arranged Bacharach's instrumental composition "Nikki" (named for Bacharach's daughter) into a new theme for the ABC Movie of the Week, a TV series which ran on the U.S. network until 1976. The arrangement by Betts is published by MCA Duchess Music Corporation (BMI).

During the 1970s, Bacharach and then-wife Angie Dickinson appeared in several TV commercials for Martini & Rossi beverages, and even penned a short jingle ("Say Yes") for the spots. Bacharach also occasionally appeared on TV/variety shows, such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and many others.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Bacharach had cameo roles in Hollywood movies including all three Austin Powers movies. His music is credited as providing inspiration for these movies, partially stemming from Bacharach's score for the 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale. During subsequent Bacharach concert tours, each show would open with a very brief video clip from the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, with Mike Myers (as Austin Powers) uttering "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Burt Bacharach."

Bacharach appeared as a celebrity performer and guest vocal coach for contestants on the television show, "American Idol" during the 2006 season, during which an entire episode was dedicated to his music. In late 2006, Bacharach appeared as the celebrity in a Geico auto insurance commercial, where he sings and plays the piano. He translates the customer's story through song ("I was hit...in the rear!")

In 2008, Bacharach featured in the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He performed similar shows in the same year at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and with the Sydney Symphony.
Legacy and influence

    * Songwriter Jimmy Webb has acknowledged Bacharach's influence on his work. So did singer-songwriters Laura Nyro and Mark Hollis.
    * On Status Quo's album Heavy Traffic, Track number 8 is named "Diggin' Burt Bacharach."
    * In interviews, Donald Fagen from Steely Dan has frequently cited Bacharach's combination of "Ravel-like harmony and street corner soul" as an early influence. Bacharach has praised Steely Dan's Aja highly.
    * On the cover of Oasis' seminal debut album Definitely Maybe, there is a framed picture of Bacharach to the left resting up against the sofa - Bacharach is cited influence on chief songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher. Later, Gallagher performed a duet of "This Guy's In Love With You" live with Bacharach. Gallagher admits to having stolen elements of that same song when composing the Oasis track "Half the World Away".
    * Alternative-avant garde guitarist and composer Leonid Soybelman released an album named Much Ado About Burt Bacharach's Walk On By.
    * The British duo Swing Out Sister cites Bacharach as a major influence as well.
    * Composer, singer, and songwriter Mary Edwards used Bacharach-influenced motifs on her debut album "A Smile in the Mind".
    * The British band Saint Etienne were influenced heavily by Bacharach's piano motifs.
    * Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson has cited Bacharach as a heavy influence on his songwriting.
    * Welsh rock/electronic/psychedelic band Super Furry Animals were influenced by Bacharach's distinctive sound.
    * American jazz pianist Bill Cunliffe cited Bacharach's music which he described as "jazz oriented" as an important influence in his early years. Discography
Albums

    * Hitmaker!Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits (1965)
    * What's New Pussycat? (Film Soundtrack) (1965)
    * After the Fox (Film Soundtrack) (1966)
    * Reach Out (1967)
    * Casino Royale (Film Soundtrack) (1967)
    * On The Flip Side (Television soundtrack) (1967)
    * Make it Easy on Yourself (1969)
    * Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Film Soundtrack) (1969)
    * Promises, Promises (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (1969)
    * Burt Bacharach (1971)
    * Lost Horizon (Film soundtrack) (1973)
    * Burt Bacharach in Concert (1974)
    * Living Together (1974)
    * Futures (1977)
    * Woman (1979)
    * Arthur (Film soundtrack) (1981)
    * Night Shift (Film soundtrack) (1982)
    * Arthur 2: On The Rocks (Film soundtrack) (1988)
    * One Amazing Night (1998)
    * Painted From Memory with Elvis Costello (1998)
    * The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection (2001)
    * Motown Salutes Bacharach (2002)
    * Isley Meets Bacharach: Here I Am with Ronald Isley (2003)*
    * Blue Note Plays Burt Bacharach (2004)
    * At This Time (2005)
    * Colour Collection (2007)
    * Marlene Dietrich with the Burt Bacharach Orchestra (2007)
    * Burt Bacharach: Live at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Live) (2008)

Singles

    * "The Story of My Life" Marty Robbins, US No. 15, C&W No. 1, 1957 - his first hit. Michael Holiday UK No. 1, Gary Miller UK No. 14, Dave King UK No. 20, Alma Cogan UK No. 25
    * "Magic Moments" (Perry Como, US No. 4 / UK No. 1, 1957/1958 – his first big pop hit)
    * "The Blob" (The Five Blobs, US No. 33 1958 with Mack David—brother of Hal David—from the movie The Blob)
    * "Heavenly" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
    * "Faithfully" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
    * "With Open Arms" Jane Morgan US No. 39 1959
    * "Tower of Strength" Gloria Lynne 1961, Gene McDaniels US No. 5 1961, Frankie Vaughan UK No. 1 1961
    * "Another Tear Falls" Gene McDaniels, 1961, Walker Brothers UK No. 12 1966.
    * "Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, US No. 8 1962, then The Beatles, 1963, then Smith, 1969 US No. 8)
    * "Please Stay" (The Drifters, US No. 14 1961; The Cryin' Shames, UK No. 26 1966; Marc Almond, 2001)
    * "Any Day Now" (Chuck Jackson, US No. 23 1962, Elvis Presley, 1969, then Ronnie Milsap, US No. 14 1982)
    * "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" (Gene Pitney, US No. 4 1962)
    * "Only Love Can Break a Heart" (Gene Pitney, US No. 2 1962)
    * "Don't Make Me Over" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 21 1962) (The Swinging Blue Jeans, UK No. 31 1966) (Petula Clark in 1976), (Sybil, 1989)
    * "Make It Easy On Yourself" (Dionne Warwick, demo 1962, then Jerry Butler), US No. 20 1962, then The Walker Brothers, US No. 16, UK No. 1 1965); then Dionne Warwick live from Garden State Arts Center, USNo. 37 1970)
    * "Don't You Believe It" Andy Williams US No. 39 1962
    * "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" (Gene Pitney, US No. 17, UK No. 5 1963)
    * "Be True To Yourself" Bobby Vee US No. 34 1963
    * "Blue on Blue" (Bobby Vinton, US No. 3 1963)
    * "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 8, UK No. 42, 1963; then Cilla Black, UK No. 1 1964; Dusty Springfield, 1964; Tim Curry, 1978; Luther Vandross, 1986; Linda Ronstadt, 1991; Maureen McGovern, 1992; Olivia Newton-John, 2004; Shelby Lynne, 2007)
    * "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (Richard Chamberlain, 1963, then Dionne Warwick, 1964, Dusty Springfield, 1964, Johnny Mathis and The Carpenters US No. 1, UK No. 6 1970). In 1969 Grammy nominee Record of the Year.
    * "True Love Never Runs Smooth" Don and Juan, 1963, Gene Pitney US No. 21 1963.
    * "Wives and Lovers" (Jack Jones, US No. 14 1963). Grammy nominee Record of the Year and Song of the Year
    * "Wishin' and Hopin'" (Dionne Warwick, 1963, then Dusty Springfield US No. 6 1964, Merseybeats UK No. 13 1964, Ani DiFranco (on the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack), 1997, Stephanie McIntosh, 2006)
    * "Walk On By" Dionne Warwick, US No. 6, UK No. 8 1964, then Isaac Hayes, US No. 30 1969 and The Stranglers in 1978) 1983 Jo Jo Zep, 1989 Sybil, 2006 Seal
    * "Reach Out for Me" Lou Johnson, 1964, then Dionne Warwick, US No. 20, Canada No. 12, UK No. 23 1964
    * "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" Tommy Hunt, 1962 Dusty Springfield, UK No. 3 1964, Dionne Warwick, US No. 26 1966, then The White Stripes, 2003)
    * "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Lou Johnson, 1964 then Sandie Shaw, UK No. 1, 1964, Dionne Warwick, 1967,then Naked Eyes, 1982)
    * "A House Is Not a Home" (Brook Benton, 1964; Dionne Warwick, 1964; Barbra Streisand, 1971; Luther Vandross, 1981)
    * "A Message to Martha" Lou Johnson, UK No. 36 1964, Adam Faith, UK No. 12, 1964, Recorded as "Message to Michael" Dionne Warwick, US No. 8 1966, Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo in 1970
    * "You'll Never Get to Heaven" 1964 Dionne Warwick US No. 32, UK No. 12, Canada No. 23, then Stylistics, US No. 23, 1973 UK No. 24 (EP) 1976)
    * "What the World Needs Now Is Love" 1965 Jackie DeShannon US No. 7, then Dionne Warwick 1967, then Daniel Johnston, 1988; Dionne Warwick and the Hip-Hop Nation United, 1998
    * "Long After Tonight Is All Over" Jimmy Radcliffe UK No. 40 1965
    * "What's New Pussycat?" (Tom Jones, US No. 3, UK No. 11 1965, from the film What's New Pussycat?)

    Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1965.

    * "Here I Am" (Dionne Warwick, 1965, from the film What's New Pussycat?, US No. 65 AC No. 11, Canada No. 19)
    * "Trains and Boats and Planes" Burt Bacharach, UK No. 4 1965, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, UK No. 12 1965, Dionne Warwick, US No. 22 1966.
    * "My Little Red Book" (Manfred Mann, June 1965) (Love, 1966) (Tony Middleton, 1965)
    * "A Lifetime of Loneliness" (Jackie DeShannon, US No. 66 1965)
    * "Are You There (With Another Girl)?" Dionne Warwick US No. 39 1966
    * "Come and Get Me" (Jackie DeShannon 1966)
    * "Alfie" (Cilla Black, 1966 UK No. 8, US No. 95, then Cher, US No. 32 1966, then Dionne Warwick, US No. 15, No. 5 R&B 1967, originally from the movie of the same name). Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1966. Won Bacharach a Grammy for instrumental arrangement in 1967. Everything But The Girl 1986. Rumer 2010.
    * "Windows and Doors" (Jackie DeShannon 1966)
    * "So Long Johnny" (Jackie DeShannon 1966)
    * "The Windows of the World" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 32 1967)
    * "I Say a Little Prayer" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 4 1967, then Aretha Franklin US No. 10, UK No. 4 1968, then Diana King, 1997)
    * "The Look of Love" (Dusty Springfield, US No. 22 1967, from the soundtrack of the movie Casino Royale, then Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, US No. 4 1968, Roger Williams, 1969, Gladys Knight & the Pips, UK No. 21 1973). Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.
    * "Casino Royale" Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass US No. 27, UK No. 27 1967.
    * "One Less Bell to Answer" (Keely Smith, 1967, then The 5th Dimension, 1970 US No. 2, then (Dionne Warwick), 1971)
    * "This Guy's in Love with You" (Herb Alpert, US No. 1, (4 weeks), UK No. 3 1968; Dionne Warwick), US No. 7 1969

    This song was also recorded much later by Oasis' Noel Gallagher in tribute to Bacharach on his 70th Birthday. According to Robin Platts' book What The World Needs Now the song was not written with Alpert, a non-singer with limited range, in mind, but was altered to suit him. Originally written as "This Girl's In Love With You" and recorded with that title by Dionne Warwick.

    * "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (Dionne Warwick, 1968 US No. 10, UK No. 8)
    * "Promises, Promises" (Dionne Warwick, 1968 US No. 19, and Jill O'Hara, 1968). Warwick's version was released prior to the opening of the show and the release of the Broadway cast album. Bacharach recorded Dionne's version to help the cast learn the difficult tune. The B" side of Warwick's single was another Bacharach/David tune from the show "Whoever You Are (I Love You)". The Broadway cast album won Bacharach a Grammy in 1969.
    * "The April Fools" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 37 1969, from the film The April Fools, US No. 37, AC No. 8, Canada No. 32)
    * "I'm a Better Man (For Having Loved You)" Engelbert Humperdinck US No. 38, UK No. 15, 1969.
    * "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (B.J. Thomas, US No. 1, 1969, UK No. 38 1970 Johnny Mathis 1969 in Great Britain, Sacha Distel, UK No. 10 1970, Bobbie Gentry UK No. 40, 1970. from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1969. The movie score by Bacharach won the Academy Awards and Grammy for Original Score. Grammy nominee for Song of the Year
    * "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" Bobbie Gentry (UK No. 1, 1969), Dionne Warwick US No. 6 1970, Anne Murray in 1971, originally from the musical Promises, Promises). Grammy nominee Song of the Year
    * "Everybody's Out Of Town" B. J. Thomas US No. 26 1970
    * "Let Me Go To Him" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US No. 32 AC No. 5, Canada No. 30)
    * "Paper Mache" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US No. 43, AC No. 6)
    * "The Green Grass Starts to Grow" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US No. 43, AC No. 2, Canada No. 35)
    * "Who Gets the Guy" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US No. 57 R & B 41, AC No. 6)
    * "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross, 1981, from the film Arthur). Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1981. Grammy nominee for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
    * "That's What Friends Are For" (1982)

    This song was originally written for the movie Night Shift and performed on the soundtrack by Rod Stewart. In 1986, a version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John became an enormous hit, raising millions for AIDS charities. The song also won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Grammy nominee for Record of the Year

    * "On My Own" (Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, US no. 1, 1986)
    * "Love Power" (Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne, US no. 12, AC No. 1, 1987)

Broadway works

    * Marlene Dietrich (1968) – concert – music arranger and conductor
    * Promises, Promises (1968) – musical —composer – Tony Nomination for Best Musical
    * André DeShield's Haarlem Nocturne (1984) – revue – featured songwriter
    * The Look of Love (2003) – revue – composer
    * The Boy from Oz (2003) – musical – additional composer

Other recordings

As arranger, conductor

    * For Marlene Dietrich:
    * Live at the Café de Paris (1954)
    * Dietrich in Rio (1959)

As composer

    * For SMAP:
    * Super.Modern.Artistic.Performance (2008 - song: Life Walker)

Tribute albums

    * Jazz musician John Zorn produced a 2-CD set of Bacharach tunes (1997), featuring several avantgarde musicians, as part of his Great Jewish Music series.
    * Marie McAuliffe's Ark Sextet released the Bacharach tribute album "Refractions" in 1998. McAuliffe had been featured on John Zorn's tribute album.
    * To Hal and Bacharach is a 1998 tribute album with 18 tunes, performed by notable Australian artists.
    * Michael Ball's 2007 album Back to Bacharach
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r436/cornflakesthree11/burt.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/allhallowsday/BURTBACHARACHtheLOOKofLOVEcollection.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/13/11 at 6:27 am

The person of the day...Robert Pattinson
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Later, he landed the leading role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer, and came to worldwide international fame. Pattinson was ranked as one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood based on 2009 earnings. In 2010, Pattinson was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World, and also in the same year Forbes ranked him as one of the most powerful celebrities in the world in the Celebrity 100.
Pattinson was born in London. His mother, Clare, worked for a modelling agency, and his father, Richard, imported vintage cars from the U.S. Pattinson has two elder sisters, singer Lizzy Pattinson, and Victoria Pattinson. Growing up in the Barnes suburb of London, he attended Tower House School until he was 12, and then the Harrodian School. He became involved in amateur theatre at the Barnes Theatre Company. He auditioned and was cast in a small role in Guys and Dolls. He next auditioned for Thornton Wilder's Our Town and was cast as George Gibbs. He also played in Anything Goes and Macbeth. He caught the attention of an acting agent in a production of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and began looking for professional roles.
Career
Modelling

Pattinson began modelling when he was twelve years old, but the number of jobs began to decrease only four years later. In December 2008 he blamed the lack of work as a model on his masculine appearance: "When I first started I was quite tall and looked like a girl, so I got lots of jobs, because it was during that period where the androgynous look was cool. Then, I guess, I became too much of a guy, so I never got any more jobs. I had the most unsuccessful modelling career." Pattinson appeared in the advertising campaign for Hackett's autumn 2007 collection.
Acting
Pattinson at the 2008 premiere of the film Twilight

Pattinson had supporting roles in the made for television film Ring of the Nibelungs in 2004 and in director Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, although his scenes in the latter were deleted and only appear on the DVD version. In May 2005, he was slated to appear in the UK premiere of The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre, but was fired shortly before the opening night and was replaced by Tom Riley. Later that year he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. For this role he was named that year's British Star of Tomorrow by The Times. He has more than once been touted as the next Jude Law.

Pattinson played Edward Cullen in the film Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling novel of the same name, which was released on 21 November 2008 in North America. According to TV Guide, Pattinson was initially apprehensive about auditioning for the role of Edward Cullen, fearful that he would not be able to live up to the "perfection" expected from the character. He reprised his role as Edward Cullen in the Twilight sequels The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which was released 30 June 2010.

Pattinson had lead roles in the feature films Little Ashes (in which he plays Salvador Dalí), How to Be (a British comedy), and the short film The Summer House.

In 2009, Pattinson presented at the 81st Academy Awards. On 10 November, Revolver Entertainment released the DVD Robsessed, a documentary which details Pattinson's life and popularity.

In 2010, Pattinson executively produced and starred in the film Remember Me, which was released on 12 March 2010. On 13 May 2010, Pattinson appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and also made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on 18 May, which aired the following day. Pattinson attended the official worldwide red carpet premiere for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on 24 June 2010 at the Los Angeles Nokia Theatre.

In 2011, he starred in Water for Elephants, a film adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel of the same name, with Christoph Waltz and Reese Witherspoon.

He will play Georges Duroy in a film adaptation of the 1885 novel Bel Ami, with Uma Thurman, which will be released in 2011. He will also appear in a theatre production for producer David Pugh.
Music

Pattinson plays guitar and piano, and composes his own music. He also appears as the singer of two songs on the Twilight soundtrack: "Never Think", which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley, and "Let Me Sign", which was written by Marcus Foster and Bobby Long. The songs were included in the film after director Catherine Hardwicke added Pattinson's recordings into an early cut without his knowledge, and he agreed that "one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was like it was supposed to be there." The soundtrack for the film How To Be features three original songs performed by Pattinson and written by composer Joe Hastings.

Aside from recording for the soundtracks, Pattinson has said, "I've never really recorded anything – I just played in pubs and stuff", and when asked about a professional music career, he said, "Music is my back-up plan if acting fails." In 2010, Pattinson was awarded the 'Hollywood's Most Influential Top Unexpected Musicians' award.
In the media
Pattinson after The Twilight Saga: New Moon photo call at Crillon Hotel in 2009

Pattinson was named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2008 and 2009 by People magazine. In 2009, he was also named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by Glamour. Ask Men named Pattinson as one of the top 49 most influential men of 2009. In 2009, Vanity Fair named Pattinson "the most handsome man in the world" along with Angelina Jolie as the most beautiful woman in the world.

He was named one of Vanity Fair's "Top Hollywood Earners of 2009" with estimated earnings of $18 million in 2009.

In December 2009, Pattinson autographed a guitar to be auctioned off for charity. He also volunteered for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief in January 2010.

GQ and Glamour both named him the "Best Dressed Man" of 2010, with GQ stating, "Extremely elegant and inspiring, the true essence of a contemporary man." In 2010, People also listed Pattinson in their "World's Most Beautiful" issue.

In 2010, Britain's The Sunday Times "Rich List" put him on its "list of young millionaires" in the UK, worth £13 million. Time magazine named him as one of 2010's 100 Most Influential People in The World. In June 2010, Pattinson was named by Forbes Magazine the #50 most powerful celebrity in the world with earnings $17 million. Due to Pattinson's rising fame, a wax statue of him was added to the Madame Tussauds collection in London and New York City. On 14 November 2010, Pattinson received two BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, Best Dressed and Best Actor.

In 2011, Pattinson was No. 15 on Vanity Fair's "Hollywood Top 40" with earnings of $27.5 million in 2010.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2004 Vanity Fair Rawdy Crawley Only seen on DVD release
2004 Ring of the Nibelungs Giselher Television film
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Cedric Diggory
2006 Haunted Airman, TheThe Haunted Airman Toby Jugg Television film
2007 Bad Mother's Handbook, TheThe Bad Mother's Handbook Daniel Gale Television film
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Cedric Diggory Cameo
2008 How to Be Art Strasbourg Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2008 Twilight Edward Cullen Hollywood Film Award for New Hollywood
MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Performance Male
MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (With Kristen Stewart)
MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (With Cam Gigandet)
People's Choice Award for Favourite On-Screen-Team (Shared with Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart)
Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor
Teen Choice Award for Choice Hottie
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor Drama
Teen Choice Award for Movie Liplock (With Kristen Stewart)
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Rumble (With Cam Gigandet)
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Newcomer
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favourite Movie Actor
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2009 Little Ashes Salvador Dalí
2009 Twilight Saga: New Moon, TheThe Twilight Saga: New Moon Edward Cullen Russia's Georges Award for Best Foreign Actor
National Movie Award for Best Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
MTV Movie Award for Global Superstar
MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (With Kristen Stewart)
Teen Choice Award for Movie Liplock (With Kristen Stewart)
Teen Choice Award for Movie chemistry (With Kristen Stewart)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor Fantasy
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Hottie
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for Cutest Couple (Shared with Kristen Stewart)
2010 Remember Me Tyler Hawkins Executive producer
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor Drama
2010 Twilight Saga: Eclipse, TheThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse Edward Cullen Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star – Male
People's Choice Award for Favourite On-Screen-Team (Shared with Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Star Under 25
2011 Water for Elephants Jacob Jankowski
2011 Bel Ami Georges Duroy Post-production
2011 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Edward Cullen Post-production
2012 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 Edward Cullen Post-production
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab292/katty-chanxD/Twilight%20Saga/RobertPattinson.jpg
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo294/nutmeg92/RobertPattinson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 05/13/11 at 8:41 pm

Bacharach is simply one of the best ever  (possibly the best).

Pattinson is a mystery to me!  :o  I have no idea what women see in this ugly Englishman!  8-P 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/14/11 at 5:10 pm

Sorry I was at my sons graduation..so I'll do the person of the day tomorrow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/14/11 at 5:23 pm


Sorry I was at my sons graduation..so I'll do the person of the day tomorrow.
I was meant to do one for you today!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/14/11 at 5:25 pm

British Person of the Day: Henry McGee

Henry McGee (14 May 1929 – 28 January 2006) was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announcer on Hill's TV programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!"

Born as Henry Marris-McGee in South Kensington, London, and educated at Stonyhurst College, McGee hoped to become a doctor, but the death of his father when he was 17 put financial strains on the family that ended his plans. Having enjoyed acting as a boy, McGee decided to follow his mother's side of the family, which could trace its involvement in acting back to Kitty Clive. He went on to play supporting roles in films and television series and dramas, including The Saint and The Avengers, but it is for comedy roles that he is best remembered, primarily and most famously for his straight man interviewer in the Benny Hill Show. He was also remembered by some as the 'mummy' of Honey Monster, a large, yellow, furry creature in advertisements for the breakfast cereal Sugar Puffs.

McGee played Two-Ton Ted in the video of Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West). Other comedy roles included the holiday centre manager in the 1973 film Holiday on the Buses, opposite Charlie Drake in the ATV/ITV situation comedy The Worker (1965–1970), and There Was An Englishman, An Irishman and a Scotsman for a BBC Scotland comedy series written by Lew Schwarz. McGee was the Englishman, with Harry Towb and Roy Kinnear in their respective roles. The show ran for 1 season in 1972. He also appeared in an episode of Rising Damp as a conman, Seymour. He had a long and successful theatre career, during which he tackled a wide range of roles, receiving plaudits for deadpan delivery in farces such as Plunder.

McGee had one daughter, Stephanie (born 1963). He spent his last six months in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He is buried at Brompton Cemetery, London.

http://images.tvrage.com/people/14/41434.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41278000/jpg/_41278374_mcgee203bbc.jpg
With Benny Hill.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/14/11 at 7:30 pm


Sorry I was at my sons graduation..so I'll do the person of the day tomorrow.


It's ok take your time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/14/11 at 7:31 pm


British Person of the Day: Henry McGee

Henry McGee (14 May 1929 – 28 January 2006) was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announcer on Hill's TV programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!"

Born as Henry Marris-McGee in South Kensington, London, and educated at Stonyhurst College, McGee hoped to become a doctor, but the death of his father when he was 17 put financial strains on the family that ended his plans. Having enjoyed acting as a boy, McGee decided to follow his mother's side of the family, which could trace its involvement in acting back to Kitty Clive. He went on to play supporting roles in films and television series and dramas, including The Saint and The Avengers, but it is for comedy roles that he is best remembered, primarily and most famously for his straight man interviewer in the Benny Hill Show. He was also remembered by some as the 'mummy' of Honey Monster, a large, yellow, furry creature in advertisements for the breakfast cereal Sugar Puffs.

McGee played Two-Ton Ted in the video of Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West). Other comedy roles included the holiday centre manager in the 1973 film Holiday on the Buses, opposite Charlie Drake in the ATV/ITV situation comedy The Worker (1965–1970), and There Was An Englishman, An Irishman and a Scotsman for a BBC Scotland comedy series written by Lew Schwarz. McGee was the Englishman, with Harry Towb and Roy Kinnear in their respective roles. The show ran for 1 season in 1972. He also appeared in an episode of Rising Damp as a conman, Seymour. He had a long and successful theatre career, during which he tackled a wide range of roles, receiving plaudits for deadpan delivery in farces such as Plunder.

McGee had one daughter, Stephanie (born 1963). He spent his last six months in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He is buried at Brompton Cemetery, London.

http://images.tvrage.com/people/14/41434.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41278000/jpg/_41278374_mcgee203bbc.jpg
With Benny Hill.


I remember this guy on Benny Hill.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/15/11 at 7:56 am


British Person of the Day: Henry McGee

Henry McGee (14 May 1929 – 28 January 2006) was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announcer on Hill's TV programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!"

Born as Henry Marris-McGee in South Kensington, London, and educated at Stonyhurst College, McGee hoped to become a doctor, but the death of his father when he was 17 put financial strains on the family that ended his plans. Having enjoyed acting as a boy, McGee decided to follow his mother's side of the family, which could trace its involvement in acting back to Kitty Clive. He went on to play supporting roles in films and television series and dramas, including The Saint and The Avengers, but it is for comedy roles that he is best remembered, primarily and most famously for his straight man interviewer in the Benny Hill Show. He was also remembered by some as the 'mummy' of Honey Monster, a large, yellow, furry creature in advertisements for the breakfast cereal Sugar Puffs.

McGee played Two-Ton Ted in the video of Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West). Other comedy roles included the holiday centre manager in the 1973 film Holiday on the Buses, opposite Charlie Drake in the ATV/ITV situation comedy The Worker (1965–1970), and There Was An Englishman, An Irishman and a Scotsman for a BBC Scotland comedy series written by Lew Schwarz. McGee was the Englishman, with Harry Towb and Roy Kinnear in their respective roles. The show ran for 1 season in 1972. He also appeared in an episode of Rising Damp as a conman, Seymour. He had a long and successful theatre career, during which he tackled a wide range of roles, receiving plaudits for deadpan delivery in farces such as Plunder.

McGee had one daughter, Stephanie (born 1963). He spent his last six months in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He is buried at Brompton Cemetery, London.

http://images.tvrage.com/people/14/41434.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41278000/jpg/_41278374_mcgee203bbc.jpg
With Benny Hill.

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/11 at 7:58 am


Thanks Phil :)
No problem

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/15/11 at 8:00 am

The person of the ....Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (born 15 May 1948), commonly shortened to Brian Eno and previously as simply Eno (play /ˈiːnoʊ/), is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist, singer and visual artist, best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.

Eno studied at art school, taking inspiration from minimalist painting, but he had little musical education or playing experience when he joined the band Roxy Music as their keyboards and synthesizers player in the early 1970s. Roxy Music's success in the glam rock scene came quickly, but Eno soon tired of conflicts with lead singer Bryan Ferry, and of touring, and he left the group after the release of For Your Pleasure (1973), beginning his solo career with the art rock records Here Come the Warm Jets (1974) and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974).

Eno extended his reach into more experimental musical styles with No Pussyfooting (1973) and Evening Star (1975), both collaborations with Robert Fripp, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) by Genesis where his work is credited as "Enossification", and his influential solo records Another Green World (1975) and Discreet Music (1975). His pioneering ambient efforts at "sonic landscapes" began to consume more of his time beginning with Ambient 1/Music for Airports (1978) and later Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983) which was composed for the documentary film For All Mankind. Eno nevertheless continued to sing on some of his records, ranging from Before and After Science (1977) to Wrong Way Up (1990) with John Cale to most recently Another Day on Earth (2005).

Eno's solo work has been extremely influential, pioneering ambient and generative music, innovating production techniques, and emphasizing "theory over practice". He also introduced the concept of chance music to popular audiences partly through collaborations with other musicians. By the end of the 1970s, Eno had worked with David Bowie on the seminal "Berlin Trilogy," helped popularise the American punk rock band Devo and the punk-influenced "No Wave" genre, and worked frequently with Harold Budd, John Cale, Cluster, Robert Fripp and David Byrne, with whom he produced the influential My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981). He produced and performed on three albums by Talking Heads, including Remain in Light (1980); produced seven albums for U2, including The Joshua Tree (1987); and worked on records by James, Laurie Anderson, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon, Grace Jones and Slowdive, among others.

Eno pursues multimedia ventures in parallel to his music career, including art installations, a newspaper column in The Observer and a regular column on society and innovation in Prospect magazine, and "Oblique Strategies" (written with Peter Schmidt), a deck of cards in which each card has a cryptic remark or random insight meant to resolve a dilemma. He continues to collaborate with other musicians, produce records, release his own music, and write.
Brian Eno's professional music career began in London, as a member (1971–1973) of the glam/art rock band Roxy Music, initially not appearing on stage with them at live shows, but operating the mixing desk, processing the band's sound with a VCS3 synthesizer and tape recorders, and singing backing vocals. He then progressed to appearing on stage as a performing member of the group, usually flamboyantly costumed. He quit the band on completing the promotion tour for the band's second album, For Your Pleasure because of disagreements with lead singer Bryan Ferry and boredom with the rock star life.

In 1992, he described his Roxy Music tenure as important to his career: "As a result of going into a subway station and meeting Andy , I joined Roxy Music, and, as a result of that, I have a career in music. If I'd walked ten yards farther, on the platform, or missed that train, or been in the next carriage, I probably would have been an art teacher now". During his period with Roxy Music, and for his first three solo albums, he was credited on these records only as 'Eno'.
Solo work

Eno embarked on a solo career almost immediately. Between 1973 and 1977 he created four albums of largely electronically inflected pop songs – Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Another Green World and Before and after Science, though the latter two also contained a number of minimal instrumental pieces in the so-called ambient style. Tiger Mountain contains the galloping "Third Uncle", one of Eno's best-known songs, due in part to its later being covered by Bauhaus. Critic Dave Thompson writes that the song is "a near punk attack of riffing guitars and clattering percussion, 'Third Uncle' could, in other hands, be a heavy metal anthem, albeit one whose lyrical content would tongue-tie the most slavish air guitarist."

These four albums were remastered and reissued in 2004 by Virgin's Astralwerks label. Due to Eno's decision not to add any extra tracks of the original material, a handful of tracks originally issued as singles have not been reissued ("Seven Deadly Finns" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" were included on the deleted Eno Vocal Box set and the single mix of "King's Lead Hat" has never been reissued).

During this period, Eno also played three dates with Phil Manzanera in the band 801, a "supergroup" that performed more or less mutated selections from albums by Eno, Manzanera, and Quiet Sun, as well as covers of songs by The Beatles and The Kinks.

In 1972, Eno developed a tape-delay system first utilized by Eno and Robert Fripp (from King Crimson), described as 'Frippertronics', and the pair released an album in 1973 called (No Pussyfooting). It is said the technique was borrowed from minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose tape delay feedback system with a pair of Revox tape recorders (a setup Riley used to call the "Time Lag Accumulator") was first used on Riley's album Music for The Gift in 1963. In 1975, Fripp and Eno released a second album, Evening Star, and played several live shows in Europe.

Eno was a prominent member of the performance art-classical orchestra the Portsmouth Sinfonia – having started playing with them in 1972. In 1973 he produced the orchestra's first album The Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics (released in March 1974) and in 1974 he produced the live album Hallellujah! The Portsmouth Sinfonia Live At The Royal Albert Hall of their infamous May 1974 concert (released in October 1974.) In addition to producing both albums, Eno performed in the orchestra on both recordings – playing the clarinet. Eno also deployed the orchestra's famously dissonant string section on his second solo album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). The orchestra at this time included other musicians whose solo work he would subsequently release on his Obscure label including Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman. That year he also composed music for the album Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, with Kevin Ayers, to accompany the poet June Campbell Cramer.

Eno continued his career by producing a larger number of highly eclectic and increasingly ambient electronic and acoustic albums. He is widely credited with coining the term "ambient music", low-volume music designed to modify one's perception of a surrounding environment.

His first such work, 1975's Discreet Music (again created via an elaborate tape-delay methodology, which Eno diagrammed on the back cover of the LP ), is considered the landmark album of the genre. This was followed by his Ambient series (Music for Airports (Ambient 1), The Plateaux of Mirror (Ambient 2), Day of Radiance (Ambient 3) and On Land (Ambient 4)). Eno was the primary musician on these releases with the exception of Ambient 2 which featured Harold Budd on keyboard, and Ambient 3 where the American composer Laraaji was the sole musician playing the zither and hammered dulcimer with Eno producing.

In 1980 Eno provided a film score for Herbert Vesely's Egon Schiele Exzess und Bestrafung, also known as Egon Schiele Excess and Punishment. The ambient-style score was an unusual choice for a historical piece, but it worked effectively with the film's themes of sexual obsession and death.

In 1981, having returned from Ghana and before On Land, he discovered Miles Davis' 1974 track "He Loved Him Madly", a melancholy tribute to Duke Ellington influenced by both African music and Karlheinz Stockhausen: as Eno stated in the liner notes for On Land, "Teo Macero's revolutionary production on that piece seemed to me to have the "spacious" quality I was after, and like Federico Fellini's 1973 film Amarcord, it too became a touchstone to which I returned frequently."

Eno describes himself as a "non-musician" and coined the term "treatments" to describe his modification of the sound of musical instruments, and to separate his role from that of the traditional instrumentalist. His skill at using "The Studio as a Compositional Tool" (the title of an essay by Eno) led in part to his career as a producer. His methods were recognized at the time (mid-1970s) as unique, so much so that on Genesis's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, he is credited with 'Enossification'; on Robert Wyatt's Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard with a Direct inject anti-jazz raygun and on John Cale's Island albums as simply being "Eno".
Obscure Records label
Main article: Obscure Records

Eno started the Obscure Records label in Britain in 1975 to release works by lesser-known composers. The first group of three releases included his own composition, Discreet Music, and the now-famous The Sinking of the Titanic (1969) and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971) by Gavin Bryars. The second side of Discreet Music consisted of several versions of Pachelbel's Canon, the composition which Eno had previously chosen to precede Roxy Music's appearances on stage, to which various algorithmic transformations have been applied, rendering it almost unrecognizable. Side 1 consisted of a tape loop system for generating music from relatively sparse input. These tapes had previously been used as backgrounds in some of his collaborations with Fripp, most notably on Evening Star. Only 10 albums were released on Obscure, including works by John Adams, Michael Nyman, and John Cage. At this time he was also affiliating with artists in the Fluxus movement.
Collaboration

In 1975 Eno performed as the Wolf in a rock version of Sergei Prokofiev's classic Peter and The Wolf. Produced by Robin Lumley and Jack Lancaster, the album featured Gary Moore, Manfred Mann, Phil Collins, Stephane Grapelli, Chris Spedding, Cozy Powell, Jon Hiseman, Bill Bruford and Alvin Lee. Also in 1975, Eno provided sythesizers and treatments on Quiet Sun's Mainstream album alongside Phil Manzanera, Charles Hayward, Dave Jarrett, and Bill MacCormick, and he performed on and contributed songs and vocals to Phil Manzanera's Diamond Head album.

In 1980–1981, Eno collaborated with David Byrne of Talking Heads (which he had already anagrammatized as 'King's Lead Hat') on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which was built around radio broadcasts Eno collected while living in the United States, along with sampling recordings from around the world transposed over music predominately inspired by African and Middle Eastern rhythms.

He worked with David Bowie as a writer and musician on Bowie's influential 1977–79 'Berlin Trilogy' of albums, Low, "Heroes" and Lodger, on Bowie's later album Outside, and on the song "I'm Afraid of Americans". In 1980 Eno developed an interest in altered guitar tunings, which led to Guitarchitecture discussions with Chuck Hammer, former Lou Reed guitarist. Following on from his No-Wave involvement which brought him in contact with the "renegade" artist Greg Belcastro, who introduced him to the guitar techniques of a fledgling Sonic Youth, Eno has also collaborated with John Cale, former member of Velvet Underground, on his trilogy Fear, Slow Dazzle and Helen of Troy, Robert Wyatt on his Shleep CD, with Jon Hassell, with the German duo Cluster, with composers Harold Budd, Philip Glass and Roberto Carnevale. A new collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno titled Everything That Happens Will Happen Today was released digitally on 18 August 2008, with the enhanced CD released in October.
1990s

In 1992, Eno released an album featuring heavily syncopated rhythms entitled Nerve Net, with contributions from several former collaborators including Robert Fripp, Benmont Tench, Robert Quine and John Paul Jones. This album was a last-minute substitution for My Squelchy Life, which featured more pop oriented material, with Eno on vocals. (Several tracks from My Squelchy Life later appeared on 1993's retrospective box set Eno Box II: Vocals.) Eno also released in 1992 a work entitled The Shutov Assembly, recorded between 1985 and 1990. This album embraces atonality and abandons most conventional concepts of modes, scales and pitch. Much of the music shifts gradually and without discernible focus, and is one of Eno's most varied ambient collections. Conventional instrumentation is eschewed, save for treated keyboards.

During the 1990s, Eno became increasingly interested in self-generating musical systems, the results of which he called generative music. The basic premise of generative music is the blending of several independent musical tracks, of varying sounds, length, and in some cases, silence. When each individual track concludes, it starts again mixing with the other tracks allowing the listener to hear an almost infinite combination. In one instance of generative music, Eno calculated that it would take almost 10,000 years to hear the entire possibilities of one individual piece. Eno has presented this music in his own, and other artists', art and sound installations, most notably "I Dormienti (The Sleepers)", Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace, Music for Civic Recovery Centre, The Quiet Room and "Music for Prague".
2000s

In 2004, Fripp and Eno recorded another ambient collaboration album, The Equatorial Stars.

Eno returned in June 2005 with Another Day on Earth, his first major album since Wrong Way Up (with John Cale) to prominently feature vocals (a trend continued with Everything That Happens Will Happen Today). The album differs from his 70s solo work as musical production has changed since then, evident in its semi-electronic production.

In early 2006, Eno collaborated with David Byrne, again, for the reissue of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in celebration of the influential album's 25th anniversary. Eight previously unreleased tracks, recorded during the initial sessions in 1980/81, were added to the album, while one track, "Qu'ran", was removed due to requests from Muslims. An unusual interactive marketing strategy coincided with its re-release, the album’s promotional website features the ability for anyone to officially and legally download the multi-tracks of two songs from the album, "A Secret Life" and "Help Me Somebody". Individuals can then remix and upload new mixes of these tracks to the website so others can listen to and rate them.

In late 2006, Eno released 77 Million Paintings, a program of generative video and music specifically for the PC. As its title suggests, there is a possible combination of 77 million paintings where the viewer will see different combinations of video slides prepared by Eno each time the program is launched. Likewise, the accompanying music is generated by the program so that it's almost certain the listener will never quite hear the same arrangement twice. The second edition of "77 Million Paintings" featuring improved morphing and a further two layers of sound was released on 14 January 2008.

In 2007, Eno's music was featured in a movie adaption of Irvine Welsh's best-selling collection Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. He also appeared playing keyboards in Voila, Belinda Carlisle's solo album sung entirely in French.

Also in 2007, Eno contributed a composition titled "Grafton Street" to Dido's third album, Safe Trip Home, released in November 2008.

In 2008, he released Everything That Happens Will Happen Today with David Byrne, designed the sound for the video game Spore and wrote a chapter to Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture, edited by Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky).

Eno revealed on radio in May 2009 that a skin graft he received as treatment for a severe burn on his arm was part human skin, part carbon fibre. He explained that as human skin is based on carbon, the experimental treatment was likely going to work out well for him, in spite of the fact that he feels a lightness in the affected arm.

In June 2009, Eno curated the Luminous Festival at Sydney Opera House, culminating in his first live appearance in many years. "Pure Scenius" consisted of three live improvised performances on the same day, featuring Eno, Australian improv trio The Necks, Karl Hyde from Underworld, electronic artist Jon Hopkins and guitarist Leo Abrahams.

Eno scored the music for Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lovely Bones, released in December 2009.
2010s

In May 2010, the same Pure Scenius line-up as in 2009 performed 'This is Pure Scenius!', in the same format of three live improvised performances on the same day, at the Brighton Festival in England. Also at the 2010 Brighton Festival, after a performance of Woojun Lee's live arrangement of 'Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks' by Icebreaker and BJ Cole, Eno and the band performed four of his songs.

Eno released a new solo album on Warp Records in late 2010. Small Craft on a Milk Sea, made in association with long-time collaborator Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins, was released on 2 November in the United States and 15 November in the UK. In April 2011, Eno announced that Drums Between The Bells, a collaboration with poet Rick Holland, would be released in July 2011.
Brian Eno has been active politically throughout his life, frequently writing letters to government ministers, appearing on political debates, and writing newspaper columns to express his political views. He was sharply critical of the Thatcher government's decision to reduce funding to the BBC World Service, arguing that the £5 million cut to its £25 million budget was damaging, and was the equivalent cost of "just one wing of one F-16 fighter jet"- a reference to a large order of military hardware the government had just made.

In 1996, Eno and others started the Long Now Foundation to educate the public about the very long term future of society. He is also a columnist for the British newspaper The Observer.

In 2003, he appeared on a UK Channel 4 discussion about the Iraq war with a top military spokesman; Eno was highly critical of the war. In 2005, he spoke at an anti-war demonstration in Hyde Park, London. In March 2006, he spoke at an anti-war demonstration at Trafalgar Square; he noted that 2 billion people on this planet do not have clean drinking water, and that water could have been supplied to them for about one-fifth of the cost of the Iraq war.

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition mobile phone features exclusive music composed by Eno. Between 8 January 2007 and 12 February 2007, ten units of Nokia 8800 Sirocco Brian Eno Signature Edition mobile phones, individually numbered and engraved with Eno's signature were auctioned off. All proceeds went to two charities chosen by Eno: the Keiskamma Aids Treatment program and The World Land Trust.

In 2006, Eno was one of more than 100 artists and writers who signed an open letter calling for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions.

In December 2007, the newly-elected Leader of Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, appointed Eno as his youth affairs adviser.

In January 2009, Eno spoke out against Israel's military action on the Gaza Strip by writing an opinion for CounterPunch and participating in a large-scale protest in London.
Discography
Main article: Brian Eno discography
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo49/Armanaeus/eno.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w215/sonicblog/Brian_Eno_1988.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/15/11 at 8:03 am


The person of the ....Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (born 15 May 1948), commonly shortened to Brian Eno and previously as simply Eno (play /ˈiːnoʊ/), is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist, singer and visual artist, best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.

Eno studied at art school, taking inspiration from minimalist painting, but he had little musical education or playing experience when he joined the band Roxy Music as their keyboards and synthesizers player in the early 1970s. Roxy Music's success in the glam rock scene came quickly, but Eno soon tired of conflicts with lead singer Bryan Ferry, and of touring, and he left the group after the release of For Your Pleasure (1973), beginning his solo career with the art rock records Here Come the Warm Jets (1974) and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974).

Eno extended his reach into more experimental musical styles with No Pussyfooting (1973) and Evening Star (1975), both collaborations with Robert Fripp, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) by Genesis where his work is credited as "Enossification", and his influential solo records Another Green World (1975) and Discreet Music (1975). His pioneering ambient efforts at "sonic landscapes" began to consume more of his time beginning with Ambient 1/Music for Airports (1978) and later Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983) which was composed for the documentary film For All Mankind. Eno nevertheless continued to sing on some of his records, ranging from Before and After Science (1977) to Wrong Way Up (1990) with John Cale to most recently Another Day on Earth (2005).

Eno's solo work has been extremely influential, pioneering ambient and generative music, innovating production techniques, and emphasizing "theory over practice". He also introduced the concept of chance music to popular audiences partly through collaborations with other musicians. By the end of the 1970s, Eno had worked with David Bowie on the seminal "Berlin Trilogy," helped popularise the American punk rock band Devo and the punk-influenced "No Wave" genre, and worked frequently with Harold Budd, John Cale, Cluster, Robert Fripp and David Byrne, with whom he produced the influential My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981). He produced and performed on three albums by Talking Heads, including Remain in Light (1980); produced seven albums for U2, including The Joshua Tree (1987); and worked on records by James, Laurie Anderson, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon, Grace Jones and Slowdive, among others.

Eno pursues multimedia ventures in parallel to his music career, including art installations, a newspaper column in The Observer and a regular column on society and innovation in Prospect magazine, and "Oblique Strategies" (written with Peter Schmidt), a deck of cards in which each card has a cryptic remark or random insight meant to resolve a dilemma. He continues to collaborate with other musicians, produce records, release his own music, and write.
Brian Eno's professional music career began in London, as a member (1971–1973) of the glam/art rock band Roxy Music, initially not appearing on stage with them at live shows, but operating the mixing desk, processing the band's sound with a VCS3 synthesizer and tape recorders, and singing backing vocals. He then progressed to appearing on stage as a performing member of the group, usually flamboyantly costumed. He quit the band on completing the promotion tour for the band's second album, For Your Pleasure because of disagreements with lead singer Bryan Ferry and boredom with the rock star life.

In 1992, he described his Roxy Music tenure as important to his career: "As a result of going into a subway station and meeting Andy , I joined Roxy Music, and, as a result of that, I have a career in music. If I'd walked ten yards farther, on the platform, or missed that train, or been in the next carriage, I probably would have been an art teacher now". During his period with Roxy Music, and for his first three solo albums, he was credited on these records only as 'Eno'.
Solo work

Eno embarked on a solo career almost immediately. Between 1973 and 1977 he created four albums of largely electronically inflected pop songs – Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Another Green World and Before and after Science, though the latter two also contained a number of minimal instrumental pieces in the so-called ambient style. Tiger Mountain contains the galloping "Third Uncle", one of Eno's best-known songs, due in part to its later being covered by Bauhaus. Critic Dave Thompson writes that the song is "a near punk attack of riffing guitars and clattering percussion, 'Third Uncle' could, in other hands, be a heavy metal anthem, albeit one whose lyrical content would tongue-tie the most slavish air guitarist."

These four albums were remastered and reissued in 2004 by Virgin's Astralwerks label. Due to Eno's decision not to add any extra tracks of the original material, a handful of tracks originally issued as singles have not been reissued ("Seven Deadly Finns" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" were included on the deleted Eno Vocal Box set and the single mix of "King's Lead Hat" has never been reissued).

During this period, Eno also played three dates with Phil Manzanera in the band 801, a "supergroup" that performed more or less mutated selections from albums by Eno, Manzanera, and Quiet Sun, as well as covers of songs by The Beatles and The Kinks.

In 1972, Eno developed a tape-delay system first utilized by Eno and Robert Fripp (from King Crimson), described as 'Frippertronics', and the pair released an album in 1973 called (No Pussyfooting). It is said the technique was borrowed from minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose tape delay feedback system with a pair of Revox tape recorders (a setup Riley used to call the "Time Lag Accumulator") was first used on Riley's album Music for The Gift in 1963. In 1975, Fripp and Eno released a second album, Evening Star, and played several live shows in Europe.

Eno was a prominent member of the performance art-classical orchestra the Portsmouth Sinfonia – having started playing with them in 1972. In 1973 he produced the orchestra's first album The Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics (released in March 1974) and in 1974 he produced the live album Hallellujah! The Portsmouth Sinfonia Live At The Royal Albert Hall of their infamous May 1974 concert (released in October 1974.) In addition to producing both albums, Eno performed in the orchestra on both recordings – playing the clarinet. Eno also deployed the orchestra's famously dissonant string section on his second solo album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). The orchestra at this time included other musicians whose solo work he would subsequently release on his Obscure label including Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman. That year he also composed music for the album Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, with Kevin Ayers, to accompany the poet June Campbell Cramer.

Eno continued his career by producing a larger number of highly eclectic and increasingly ambient electronic and acoustic albums. He is widely credited with coining the term "ambient music", low-volume music designed to modify one's perception of a surrounding environment.

His first such work, 1975's Discreet Music (again created via an elaborate tape-delay methodology, which Eno diagrammed on the back cover of the LP ), is considered the landmark album of the genre. This was followed by his Ambient series (Music for Airports (Ambient 1), The Plateaux of Mirror (Ambient 2), Day of Radiance (Ambient 3) and On Land (Ambient 4)). Eno was the primary musician on these releases with the exception of Ambient 2 which featured Harold Budd on keyboard, and Ambient 3 where the American composer Laraaji was the sole musician playing the zither and hammered dulcimer with Eno producing.

In 1980 Eno provided a film score for Herbert Vesely's Egon Schiele Exzess und Bestrafung, also known as Egon Schiele Excess and Punishment. The ambient-style score was an unusual choice for a historical piece, but it worked effectively with the film's themes of sexual obsession and death.

In 1981, having returned from Ghana and before On Land, he discovered Miles Davis' 1974 track "He Loved Him Madly", a melancholy tribute to Duke Ellington influenced by both African music and Karlheinz Stockhausen: as Eno stated in the liner notes for On Land, "Teo Macero's revolutionary production on that piece seemed to me to have the "spacious" quality I was after, and like Federico Fellini's 1973 film Amarcord, it too became a touchstone to which I returned frequently."

Eno describes himself as a "non-musician" and coined the term "treatments" to describe his modification of the sound of musical instruments, and to separate his role from that of the traditional instrumentalist. His skill at using "The Studio as a Compositional Tool" (the title of an essay by Eno) led in part to his career as a producer. His methods were recognized at the time (mid-1970s) as unique, so much so that on Genesis's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, he is credited with 'Enossification'; on Robert Wyatt's Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard with a Direct inject anti-jazz raygun and on John Cale's Island albums as simply being "Eno".
Obscure Records label
Main article: Obscure Records

Eno started the Obscure Records label in Britain in 1975 to release works by lesser-known composers. The first group of three releases included his own composition, Discreet Music, and the now-famous The Sinking of the Titanic (1969) and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971) by Gavin Bryars. The second side of Discreet Music consisted of several versions of Pachelbel's Canon, the composition which Eno had previously chosen to precede Roxy Music's appearances on stage, to which various algorithmic transformations have been applied, rendering it almost unrecognizable. Side 1 consisted of a tape loop system for generating music from relatively sparse input. These tapes had previously been used as backgrounds in some of his collaborations with Fripp, most notably on Evening Star. Only 10 albums were released on Obscure, including works by John Adams, Michael Nyman, and John Cage. At this time he was also affiliating with artists in the Fluxus movement.
Collaboration

In 1975 Eno performed as the Wolf in a rock version of Sergei Prokofiev's classic Peter and The Wolf. Produced by Robin Lumley and Jack Lancaster, the album featured Gary Moore, Manfred Mann, Phil Collins, Stephane Grapelli, Chris Spedding, Cozy Powell, Jon Hiseman, Bill Bruford and Alvin Lee. Also in 1975, Eno provided sythesizers and treatments on Quiet Sun's Mainstream album alongside Phil Manzanera, Charles Hayward, Dave Jarrett, and Bill MacCormick, and he performed on and contributed songs and vocals to Phil Manzanera's Diamond Head album.

In 1980–1981, Eno collaborated with David Byrne of Talking Heads (which he had already anagrammatized as 'King's Lead Hat') on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which was built around radio broadcasts Eno collected while living in the United States, along with sampling recordings from around the world transposed over music predominately inspired by African and Middle Eastern rhythms.

He worked with David Bowie as a writer and musician on Bowie's influential 1977–79 'Berlin Trilogy' of albums, Low, "Heroes" and Lodger, on Bowie's later album Outside, and on the song "I'm Afraid of Americans". In 1980 Eno developed an interest in altered guitar tunings, which led to Guitarchitecture discussions with Chuck Hammer, former Lou Reed guitarist. Following on from his No-Wave involvement which brought him in contact with the "renegade" artist Greg Belcastro, who introduced him to the guitar techniques of a fledgling Sonic Youth, Eno has also collaborated with John Cale, former member of Velvet Underground, on his trilogy Fear, Slow Dazzle and Helen of Troy, Robert Wyatt on his Shleep CD, with Jon Hassell, with the German duo Cluster, with composers Harold Budd, Philip Glass and Roberto Carnevale. A new collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno titled Everything That Happens Will Happen Today was released digitally on 18 August 2008, with the enhanced CD released in October.
1990s

In 1992, Eno released an album featuring heavily syncopated rhythms entitled Nerve Net, with contributions from several former collaborators including Robert Fripp, Benmont Tench, Robert Quine and John Paul Jones. This album was a last-minute substitution for My Squelchy Life, which featured more pop oriented material, with Eno on vocals. (Several tracks from My Squelchy Life later appeared on 1993's retrospective box set Eno Box II: Vocals.) Eno also released in 1992 a work entitled The Shutov Assembly, recorded between 1985 and 1990. This album embraces atonality and abandons most conventional concepts of modes, scales and pitch. Much of the music shifts gradually and without discernible focus, and is one of Eno's most varied ambient collections. Conventional instrumentation is eschewed, save for treated keyboards.

During the 1990s, Eno became increasingly interested in self-generating musical systems, the results of which he called generative music. The basic premise of generative music is the blending of several independent musical tracks, of varying sounds, length, and in some cases, silence. When each individual track concludes, it starts again mixing with the other tracks allowing the listener to hear an almost infinite combination. In one instance of generative music, Eno calculated that it would take almost 10,000 years to hear the entire possibilities of one individual piece. Eno has presented this music in his own, and other artists', art and sound installations, most notably "I Dormienti (The Sleepers)", Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace, Music for Civic Recovery Centre, The Quiet Room and "Music for Prague".
2000s

In 2004, Fripp and Eno recorded another ambient collaboration album, The Equatorial Stars.

Eno returned in June 2005 with Another Day on Earth, his first major album since Wrong Way Up (with John Cale) to prominently feature vocals (a trend continued with Everything That Happens Will Happen Today). The album differs from his 70s solo work as musical production has changed since then, evident in its semi-electronic production.

In early 2006, Eno collaborated with David Byrne, again, for the reissue of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in celebration of the influential album's 25th anniversary. Eight previously unreleased tracks, recorded during the initial sessions in 1980/81, were added to the album, while one track, "Qu'ran", was removed due to requests from Muslims. An unusual interactive marketing strategy coincided with its re-release, the album’s promotional website features the ability for anyone to officially and legally download the multi-tracks of two songs from the album, "A Secret Life" and "Help Me Somebody". Individuals can then remix and upload new mixes of these tracks to the website so others can listen to and rate them.

In late 2006, Eno released 77 Million Paintings, a program of generative video and music specifically for the PC. As its title suggests, there is a possible combination of 77 million paintings where the viewer will see different combinations of video slides prepared by Eno each time the program is launched. Likewise, the accompanying music is generated by the program so that it's almost certain the listener will never quite hear the same arrangement twice. The second edition of "77 Million Paintings" featuring improved morphing and a further two layers of sound was released on 14 January 2008.

In 2007, Eno's music was featured in a movie adaption of Irvine Welsh's best-selling collection Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. He also appeared playing keyboards in Voila, Belinda Carlisle's solo album sung entirely in French.

Also in 2007, Eno contributed a composition titled "Grafton Street" to Dido's third album, Safe Trip Home, released in November 2008.

In 2008, he released Everything That Happens Will Happen Today with David Byrne, designed the sound for the video game Spore and wrote a chapter to Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture, edited by Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky).

Eno revealed on radio in May 2009 that a skin graft he received as treatment for a severe burn on his arm was part human skin, part carbon fibre. He explained that as human skin is based on carbon, the experimental treatment was likely going to work out well for him, in spite of the fact that he feels a lightness in the affected arm.

In June 2009, Eno curated the Luminous Festival at Sydney Opera House, culminating in his first live appearance in many years. "Pure Scenius" consisted of three live improvised performances on the same day, featuring Eno, Australian improv trio The Necks, Karl Hyde from Underworld, electronic artist Jon Hopkins and guitarist Leo Abrahams.

Eno scored the music for Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lovely Bones, released in December 2009.
2010s

In May 2010, the same Pure Scenius line-up as in 2009 performed 'This is Pure Scenius!', in the same format of three live improvised performances on the same day, at the Brighton Festival in England. Also at the 2010 Brighton Festival, after a performance of Woojun Lee's live arrangement of 'Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks' by Icebreaker and BJ Cole, Eno and the band performed four of his songs.

Eno released a new solo album on Warp Records in late 2010. Small Craft on a Milk Sea, made in association with long-time collaborator Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins, was released on 2 November in the United States and 15 November in the UK. In April 2011, Eno announced that Drums Between The Bells, a collaboration with poet Rick Holland, would be released in July 2011.
Brian Eno has been active politically throughout his life, frequently writing letters to government ministers, appearing on political debates, and writing newspaper columns to express his political views. He was sharply critical of the Thatcher government's decision to reduce funding to the BBC World Service, arguing that the £5 million cut to its £25 million budget was damaging, and was the equivalent cost of "just one wing of one F-16 fighter jet"- a reference to a large order of military hardware the government had just made.

In 1996, Eno and others started the Long Now Foundation to educate the public about the very long term future of society. He is also a columnist for the British newspaper The Observer.

In 2003, he appeared on a UK Channel 4 discussion about the Iraq war with a top military spokesman; Eno was highly critical of the war. In 2005, he spoke at an anti-war demonstration in Hyde Park, London. In March 2006, he spoke at an anti-war demonstration at Trafalgar Square; he noted that 2 billion people on this planet do not have clean drinking water, and that water could have been supplied to them for about one-fifth of the cost of the Iraq war.

The Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition mobile phone features exclusive music composed by Eno. Between 8 January 2007 and 12 February 2007, ten units of Nokia 8800 Sirocco Brian Eno Signature Edition mobile phones, individually numbered and engraved with Eno's signature were auctioned off. All proceeds went to two charities chosen by Eno: the Keiskamma Aids Treatment program and The World Land Trust.

In 2006, Eno was one of more than 100 artists and writers who signed an open letter calling for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions.

In December 2007, the newly-elected Leader of Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, appointed Eno as his youth affairs adviser.

In January 2009, Eno spoke out against Israel's military action on the Gaza Strip by writing an opinion for CounterPunch and participating in a large-scale protest in London.
Discography
Main article: Brian Eno discography
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo49/Armanaeus/eno.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w215/sonicblog/Brian_Eno_1988.jpg
No relation, my name is only a screen name.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/16/11 at 5:56 am

The person of the day...Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years. She is ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the richest women in entertainment. The youngest child of the Jackson family, she began her career with the variety television series The Jacksons in 1976 and went on to appear in other television shows throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including Good Times and Fame.

After signing a recording contract with A&M in 1982, she became a pop icon following the release of her third studio album Control (1986). Her collaborations with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis incorporated elements of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap, and industrial beats, which led to crossover appeal in popular music. In addition to receiving recognition for the innovation in her records, choreography, music videos, and prominence on radio airplay and MTV, she was acknowledged as a role model for her socially conscious lyrics.

In 1991, she signed the first of two record-breaking, multi-million dollar contracts with Virgin Records, establishing her as one of the highest paid artists in the industry. Her debut album under the label, Janet (1993), saw her develop a public image as a sex symbol as she began to explore sexuality in her work. That same year, she appeared in her first starring film role in Poetic Justice; since then she has continued to act in feature films. By the end of the 1990s, she was named the second most successful recording artist of the decade. She has amassed an extensive catalog of hits, with singles such as "Nasty", "Rhythm Nation", "That's the Way Love Goes", "Together Again" and "All for You" among her most iconic.

Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, she is ranked as one of the best-selling artists in the history of contemporary music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lists her as the eleventh best-selling female artist in the United States, with 26 million certified albums. In 2008, Billboard magazine released its list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, ranking her at number seven. In 2010, the magazine announced the "Top 50 R&B / Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years", ranking her at number five. One of the world's most awarded artists, her longevity, records and achievements reflect her influence in shaping and redefining the scope of popular music. She has been cited as an inspiration among numerous performers.
Following the release of Dream Street, Jackson decided to separate her business affairs from her family. She later commented, "I just wanted to get out of the house, get out from under my father, which was one of the most difficult things that I had to do, telling him that I didn't want to work with him again." A&M Records executive John McClain hired producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to work with her. Within six weeks, Jackson, Jam and Lewis crafted her third studio album, Control. Jackson recalled that during the recording of the album, she was threatened by a group of men outside of her hotel in Minneapolis. She stated that "he danger hit home when a couple of guys started stalking me on the street ... Instead of running to Jimmy or Terry for protection, I took a stand. I backed them down. That's how songs like 'Nasty' and 'What Have You Done for Me Lately' were born, out of a sense of self-defense."

Though Jam and Lewis were concerned with achieving cross-over appeal, their primary goal was to create a strong following for the singer within the African American community first. Jam commented, "e wanted to do an album that would be in every black home in America ... we were going for the black album of all time." Released in February 1986, the album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, with over 200,000 copies sold in one week. Los Angeles Times critic Connie Johnson wrote: "Though still a teen-ager, this singer's stance is remarkably nervy and mature. She has a snotty sort of assurance that permeates several cuts, plus the musical muscle to back it up." The Newsweek review of Control noted that the album was "an alternative to the sentimental balladry and opulent arrangements of Patti LaBelle and Whitney Houston." Rob Hoerburger of Rolling Stone asserted, "Control is a better album than Diana Ross has made in five years and puts Janet in a position similar to the young Donna Summer's—unwilling to accept novelty status and taking her own steps to rise above it." Five of the album's singles—"What Have You Done for Me Lately", "Nasty", "When I Think of You", "Control", and "Let's Wait Awhile"—peaked within the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. "When I Think of You" became Jackson's first single to peak at number one. "The Pleasure Principle" became a top 20 hit, peaking at number fourteen. Most of the Control music videos were choreographed by a then-unknown Paula Abdul. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard magazine commented " accessible sound and spectacularly choreographed videos were irresistible to MTV, and helped the channel evolve from rock programming to a broader, beat-driven musical mix."

Control was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has sold over fourteen million copies worldwide. It won four American Music Awards, from twelve nominations—a record that has yet to be broken—and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 1987 Grammy Awards. Musicologist Richard J. Ripani Ph.D., author of The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950–1999 (2006), observed that the album was one of the first successful records to influence the rise of new jack swing by creating a fusion of R&B, rap, funk, disco and synthesized percussion. The success of Control, according to Ripani, bridged the gap between R&B and rap music.
1989–92: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

"Rhythm Nation" (1989)
Play sound
"Rhythm Nation" encompasses the full range of new jack swing genre. The use of sample loop and triplet swing are present, while vocals for the song are alternatively sung in octaves or rapped in spoken verse.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In September 1989, Jackson released her fourth album, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. Though executives at A&M wanted an album similar to Control, she was determined to imbue her music with a socially conscious message that complimented her songs about love and relationships. She stated, "I'm not naive—I know an album or a song can't change the world. I just want my music and my dance to catch the audience's attention, and to hold it long enough for them to listen to the lyrics and what we're saying." Producer Jimmy Jam told The Boston Globe, "We would always have a TV turned on, usually to CNN ... And I think the social slant of songs like Rhythm Nation, State of the World and The Knowledge came from that." Rolling Stone magazine's Vince Aletti observed Jackson shifted from "personal freedom to more universal concerns—injustice, illiteracy, crime, drugs—without missing a beat."

Peaking at number one on the Billboard 200, the album was later certified six times platinum and eventually sold over fourteen million copies worldwide. The release became the only album in history to produce number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in three separate calendar years—"Miss You Much" in 1989, "Escapade" and "Black Cat" in 1990, and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" in 1991—and the only album in the history of the Hot 100 to have seven top 5 hit singles. The corresponding music video for "Rhythm Nation" won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. Billboard named Rhythm Nation 1814 the number-one selling album of the year in 1990, winning multiple music awards. The Rhythm Nation World Tour, Jackson's first world tour in support of a studio album, became the most successful debut tour by any recording artist. As Jackson began her tour, she was acknowledged for the cultural impact of her music. Joel Selvin of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "the 23-year-old has been making smash hit records for four years, becoming a fixture on MTV and a major role model to teenage girls across the country", and William Allen, then-executive vice president of the United Negro College Fund, told the Los Angeles Times, "Jackson is a role model for all young people to emulate and the message she has gotten to the young people of this country through the lyrics of 'Rhythm Nation 1814' is having positive effects." She established the "Rhythm Nation Scholarship" as a joint venture with the United Negro College Fund, as well as donating funds from her concert tour to other educational programs, raising over $1/2 million dollars to fund educational projects. Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge (2000) documented that Jackson's success during this time period placed her on par with several other recording artists, including her older brother Michael Jackson, Madonna and Tina Turner.

With the release of Rhythm Nation 1814, Jackson fulfilled her contract with A&M Records. In 1991, after being approached personally by Virgin Records owner Richard Branson, she signed a highly publicized multi-million dollar contract with the label. The contract value, estimated between $32–50 million, made her the highest paid recording artist in contemporary music, until her brother Michael signed a $65 million dollar contract with Sony only a few days later. Ebony reported: "No individual or group has impacted the world of entertainment as have Michael and Janet Jackson, who both signed multimillion dollar contracts in recent months ... There are many imitators, but few can match Michael and Janet's stunning style and dexterity." Her reputation as a fashion icon also garnered recognition, in that "s Janet was entertaining 2 million fans during her triumphant Rhythm Nation tour, hoards of teen girls were imitating her distinctive look—black quasi-military long jackets, black tight-tight pants, and big white shirts." That same year, she secretly entered into her second marriage with long-term friend—dancer, songwriter and director René Elizondo, Jr. In early 1992, Jackson recorded a song entitled "The Best Things in Life Are Free" with Luther Vandross, featuring Bell Biv DeVoe and Ralph Tresvant, for the Mo' Money film soundtrack.
1993–96: Janet, Poetic Justice and Design of a Decade 1986/1996
Janet Jackson featured on a 1993 cover of Rolling Stone with the hands of her then-unknown husband René Elizondo, Jr. cupping her breasts.

In August 1992, after completing work on Poetic Justice, Jackson set out to plan on recording her first album for Virgin Records. Recording sessions for the album began in September 1992, commencing in the first quarter of 1993. In May 1993, Jackson's fifth studio album Janet, was released and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. She commented, "ertain people feel I'm just riding on my last name ... That's why I just put my first name on janet. and why I never asked my brothers to write or produce music for me." Billboard magazine's Larry Flick noted she "also broadens her musical scope on 'janet.' by layering deep house, swing jazz, hip hop, rock, and Caribbean elements on top of a radio-minded jack/funk foundation." Rolling Stone wrote: "As princess of America's black royal family, everything Janet Jackson does is important. Whether proclaiming herself in charge of her life, as she did on Control (1986), or commander in chief of a rhythm army dancing to fight society's problems (Rhythm Nation 1814, from 1989), she's influential. And when she announces her sexual maturity, as she does on her new album, Janet., it's a cultural moment." The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) commented that the album's number one hit single "That's the Way Love Goes"—winner of the 1994 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song—and the top 10 singles "If", "Because of Love", "You Want This", and "Any Time, Any Place", all contained "grown-up desires". Janet was certified six times platinum by the RIAA, with worldwide sales exceeding twenty million copies.

In July 1993, Jackson made her film debut in Poetic Justice. Rolling Stone described her performance as "a beguiling film debut" despite her inexperience, while The Washington Post considered her "believably eccentric". Several reviews were also negative, as Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly noted she "isn't an inept actress, yet there are no more edges to her personality than there are to her plastic Kewpie-doll visage." Jackson's ballad "Again" was featured in the film, and she received her first Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song. In September 1993, Jackson appeared topless on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine with the hands of her then-husband René Elizondo, Jr. covering her breasts. The photograph is the original full-length version of the cropped image used on the cover of the Janet album, shot by Patrick Demarchelier. Sonia Murray of The Vancouver Sun later reported, "Jackson, 27, remains clearly established as both role model and sex symbol; the Rolling Stone photo of Jackson ... became one of the most recognizable, and most lampooned, magazine covers of the year." David Ritz likened her transformation to Marvin Gaye, stating "ust as Gaye moved from What's Going On to Let's Get It On, from the austere to the ecstatic, Janet, every bit as serious-minded as Marvin, moved from Rhythm Nation to janet., her statement of sexual liberation." Her second world tour—the Janet World Tour—garnered critical acclaim as Michael Snyder of the San Francisco Chronicle described Jackson's stage performance as erasing the line between "stadium-size pop music concerts and full-scale theatrical extravaganzas."

During this time period, her brother Michael was immersed in a child sex abuse scandal, of which he denied any wrongdoing. She gave moral support to her brother, and denied allegations made by her sister La Toya in her book La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family (1991) that their parents had abused her and her siblings as children. In an interview with Lynn Norment of Ebony, she commented on her sister's then-estrangement from the family, stating, "her has ... brainwashed her so much she keeps herself away from us." In addition, she criticized her brother Jermaine for attacking Michael in his 1991 single "Word to the Badd". In December 1994, she collaborated with her brother Michael on "Scream", the lead single from his 1995 album HIStory, which was written by both siblings as a response to the media scrutiny he suffered from being accused of child sexual abuse. The song debuted at number five on the Hot 100 singles chart, becoming the first song ever to debut in the top 5. "Scream" is featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the "Most Expensive Music Video Ever Made" at a cost of $7 million, which was filmed in May 1995. Jackson and her brother won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video for "Scream".

In October 1995, Jackson's first compilation album, Design of a Decade 1986/1996, was released via A&M Records. It debuted at number four and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. The lead single "Runaway" became the first song by a female artist to debut within the top ten of the Hot 100, which eventually peaked at number three. Design of a Decade 1986/1996 was certified two times platinum by the RIAA and sold over four million copies worldwide. Jackson's influence in popular music continued to garner recognition, as Steve Morse of The Boston Globe remarked: "If you're talking about the female power elite in pop, you can't get much higher than Janet Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, Madonna and Yoko Ono. Their collective influence ... is beyond measure. And who could dispute that Janet Jackson now has more credibility than brother Michael?" In January 1996, Jackson renewed her contract with Virgin Records for a reported $80 million dollars. The contract established her as the then-highest paid recording artist in contemporary music, surpassing the recording industry's then-unparalleled $60 million dollar contracts earned by her brother, Michael Jackson, and Madonna.
1997–99: The Velvet Rope

During the two year period prior to the release of her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope, Jackson reportedly suffered from depression and anxiety. Michael Saunders of The Boston Globe considered the album to be an introspective look into her bout with depression, describing it as a "critical self-examination and an audio journal of a woman's road to self-discovery." The Velvet Rope also introduced sadomasochism into Jackson's music. Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine wrote, "The Velvet Rope is a richly dark masterwork that illustrates that, amid the whips and chains, there is nothing sexier than emotional nakedness." Larry Flick of Billboard called The Velvet Rope "he best American album of the year and the most empowering of her last five." Released in October 1997, The Velvet Rope debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. In August, 1997 the album's lead single, "Got 'til It's Gone", was released to radio, peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay Chart. The single sampled the Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi", and featured a cameo appearance by rapper Q-Tip. "Got 'til It's Gone" won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. The album's second single "Together Again", became her eighth number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and placing her on par with Elton John, Diana Ross, and The Rolling Stones. The single spent a record 46 weeks on the Hot 100, as well as spending 19 weeks on the UK singles chart. "I Get Lonely" peaked at number three on the Hot 100. The Velvet Rope sold over ten million albums worldwide and was certified three times platinum by the RIAA.

Jackson donated a portion of the proceeds earned from "Together Again" to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph observed, " even makes a bid for gay icon status, delivering a diva-ish performance reminiscent of Diana Ross on 'Together Again' (a post-Aids pop song), singing a paean to homosexuality on the jazzy 'Free Xone' and climaxing (if that's the right word) with a bizarre lesbian reinterpretation of Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's the Night'." Rolling Stone regarded "Free Xone" as the album's "best song", describing it as an "anti-homophobia track shifts moods and tempos on a dime, segueing from a Prince-like jam to a masterful sample from Archie Bell and the Drells' 'Tighten Up'." The Velvet Rope was honored by the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, and received the award for Outstanding Music Album at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

In 1998, Jackson began The Velvet Rope World Tour, an international trek that included Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Robert Hilburn of The Los Angeles Times reported, "here is so much of the ambition and glamour of a Broadway musical in Janet Jackson's new Velvet Rope tour that it's only fitting that the concert program credits her as the show's 'creator and director'." Her HBO special, The Velvet Rope: Live in Madison Square Garden, was watched by more than fifteen million viewers. The two hour concert beat the ratings of all four major networks in homes that were subscribed to HBO. The HBO concert special was awarded four Emmy nominations including one win. Jackson donated a portion of her concert ticket sales to America's Promise, a non-profit organization designed by Colin Powell to assist disenfranchised youth.

The following month, Jackson separated from Elizondo Jr. As her world tour came to a close in 1999, Jackson lent guest vocals to a number of songs by other artists, including Shaggy's "Luv Me, Luv Me", for the soundtrack to How Stella Got Her Groove Back, "God's Stepchild" from the Down on the Delta soundtrack, "Girlfriend/Boyfriend" with BLACKstreet, and "What's It Gonna Be?!" with Busta Rhymes. She also performed a duet with Elton John for the song "I Know the Truth". At the 1999 World Music Awards, Jackson received the Legend Award alongside Cher for "lifelong contribution to the music industry and outstanding contribution to the pop industry." As 1999 ended, Billboard magazine ranked Jackson as the second most successful artist of the decade, behind Mariah Carey.
2000–03: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and All for You

In July 2000, Jackson appeared in her second film, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, as Professor Denise Gaines, opposite Eddie Murphy. The film became her second to open at number one at the box office, grossing an estimated $42.7 million dollars in its opening weekend. Her contribution to the film's soundtrack, "Doesn't Really Matter", became her ninth number one Billboard Hot 100 single. In the same year, Jackson's husband filed for divorce. Jeff Gordinier of Entertainment Weekly reported that for eight of the thirteen years she and Elizondo had known one another, " were married—a fact they managed to hide not only from the international press but from Jackson's own father." Elizondo filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against her, estimated between $10–25 million; they did not reach a settlement until 2003.

Jackson was awarded the American Music Awards' Award of Merit in March 2001 for "her finely crafted, critically acclaimed and socially conscious, multi-platinum albums." She became the inaugural honoree of the "mtvICON" award, "an annual recognition of artists who have made significant contributions to music, music video and pop culture while tremendously impacting the MTV generation." Jackson's seventh album, All for You, was released in April 2001, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Selling 605,000 copies, All for You had the highest first-week sales total of her career. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated " created a record that's luxurious and sensual, spreading leisurely over its 70 minutes, luring you in even when you know better", and Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented, "s other rhythm and blues strips down to match the angularity of hip-hop, Ms. Jackson luxuriates in textures as dizzying as a new infatuation."

"All for You" (2001)
Play sound
The disco inspired "All for You" features an uptempo dance beat and samples "The Glow of Love" originally performed by Change
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The album's title-track, "All for You", debuted on the Hot 100 at number fourteen, the highest debut ever for a single that was not commercially available. Teri VanHorn of MTV dubbed Jackson "Queen of Radio" as the single made radio airplay history, " added to every pop, rhythmic and urban radio station that reports to the national trade magazine Radio & Records" in its first week. The single peaked at number one, where it topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks. It received the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. The second single, "Someone to Call My Lover", which contained a heavy guitar loop of America's "Ventura Highway", peaked at number three on the Hot 100. All for You was certified double platinum by the RIAA and sold more than nine million copies worldwide.


Jackson's All for You Tour began in July, 2001. Los Angeles Times' pop music critic Robert Hilburn gave a negative review of the concert tour, comparing it unfavorably to Madonna's Drowned World Tour and Britney Spears' Dream Within a Dream Tour. Hilburn remarked: "At 35, Jackson is only eight years younger than Madonna, but her presentation feels more akin to Britney Spears'. Madonna knows how to dig beneath the surface; Jackson lives on it." Hilburns' review sparked backlash from those who felt Jackson gave the superior performance. David Massey commented that "Janet outdid the Material Girl by a mile ... And the gall to bring Britney Spears' name into the picture by saying Janet's show is like Britney's? Hello, it's the other way around!" Similarly, Rudy Scalese complimented Jackson's performance, stating: "Janet Jackson hasn't skipped a beat. She is still the Queen of Pop." Jackson donated a portion of the proceeds from the tour's ticket sales to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, with President Roxanne Spillett stating, "he increased awareness she will bring to our cause, along with her generous financial contribution, will help us reach an even greater number of young people in search of hope and opportunity."

In 2002, Jackson collaborated with reggae singer Beenie Man on the song "Feel It Boy". She later admitted regret over the collaboration after discovering Beenie Man's music often contained homophobic lyrics, and soon issued an apology to her gay fans in an article published in The Voice. Jackson also began her relationship with record producer Jermaine Dupri that same year.
Discography
Main article: Janet Jackson discography

    * Janet Jackson (1982)
    * Dream Street (1984)
    * Control (1986)
    * Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
    * janet. (1993)
    * The Velvet Rope (1997)
    * All for You (2001)
    * Damita Jo (2004)
    * 20 Y.O. (2006)
    * Discipline (2008)

Other works

Television

    * The Jacksons (1976–77)
    * Good Times (1977–79)
    * A New Kind of Family (1979–80)
    * Diff'rent Strokes (1980–84)
    * Fame (1984–85)

Film

    * Poetic Justice (1993)
    * Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)
    * Why Did I Get Married? (2007)
    * Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010)
    * For Colored Girls (2010)



Tours

    * Rhythm Nation World Tour (1990)
    * Janet World Tour (1993–95)
    * The Velvet Rope World Tour (1998–99)
    * All for You Tour (2001–02)
    * Rock Witchu Tour (2008)
    * Number Ones: Up Close and Personal (2011)

Books

    * True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself (2011)


See also
Book: Janet Jackson
Wikipedia Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.
Janet Jackson portal
The Jackson Family portal

    * Honorific nicknames in popular music
    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of best-selling music artists in the United States
    * List of artists who reached number one in the United State
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac8/Tianzhanae_Smith/janet%20jackson/Janet-1.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac8/Tianzhanae_Smith/janet%20jackson/janet106.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/16/11 at 7:09 am

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9kdqHSTS5-0/Sww-GYamIuI/AAAAAAAABAg/9GK31u0sFjg/s1600/dontstandanotherchance.jpg

This album was 1982 and today she still looks good for 45 years old. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/16/11 at 10:52 am

I knew a girl by the name of Janet Jackson and everyone called her "Nasty."



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9kdqHSTS5-0/Sww-GYamIuI/AAAAAAAABAg/9GK31u0sFjg/s1600/dontstandanotherchance.jpg

This album was 1982 and today she still looks good for 45 years old. :)



45 isn't THAT old, Howard.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/16/11 at 12:40 pm


I knew a girl by the name of Janet Jackson and everyone called her "Nasty."



45 isn't THAT old, Howard.



Cat


She still looks good.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/17/11 at 6:29 am

The person of the day...Bob Saget
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget (born May 17, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his past roles in the family-oriented shows Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos, Saget is known outside of television for his starkly blue stand-up routine. He is also an honorary member of Seal and Serpent.
Saget was born in Philadelphia. His father, Benjamin, was a supermarket executive, and his mother, Rosalyn, was a hospital administrator. Saget lived in Norfolk, Virginia, and Encino, California, before moving back to Philadelphia and graduating from Abington Senior High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher, Elaine Zimmerman, saw his creative potential and urged him to seek a career in films.

He attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery, and was honored with an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. He graduated with a B.A. in 1978. Saget intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California but quit a few days later. Saget describes himself at the time in an article by Glenn Esterly in the 1990 Saturday Evening Post: "I was a cocky, overweight twenty-two-year-old. Then I had a gangrenous appendix taken out, almost died, and I got over being cocky or overweight." Saget talked about his burst appendix on Anytime with Bob Kushell, saying that it happened on the Fourth of July, at the UCLASS Medical Center and that they at first just iced the area for seven hours before taking it out and finding that it had become gangrenous.
Career
Early career

Saget started performing stand-up comedy and did a number of national tours. Later, in 1987, he became the co-host of The Morning Program—an attempt by CBS to take a different direction with morning television—for which he also wrote and produced content.
Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos

Soon after, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in Full House, which became a huge success through family viewers and landed in the Nielsen ratings's Top 30 from the third season onward. In 1989 Saget was cast as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s Saget worked both on Full House and AFV simultaneously, and in 2009 ABC had Saget return to AFV for a 20th anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Bergeron.
Continued career

Saget was also host of NBC's game show 1 vs. 100, which debuted October 13, 2006.

He plays the narrator of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which premiered on September 19, 2005. In the series he portrays the future version of the protagonist Ted Mosby. Throughout the series, only his voice is heard and it is yet to be seen if he will make an appearance.

His HBO comedy special, That Ain't Right, came out on DVD on August 28, 2007. It is dedicated to his father, Ben Saget, who died on January 30, 2007, due to complications from congestive heart failure. He was 89.

He has had recurring roles in HBO's Entourage playing a parody of himself.

Saget appeared in the Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" for a limited four-month engagement. He played "Man in Chair" while Jonathan Crombie, who normally played the character on Broadway, was with the national tour of the musical. On January 4, 2008, Saget's caricature was unveiled at Sardi's Restaurant.

On August 17, 2008, Saget was roasted by Comedy Central in a special, titled The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget.

In April 2009, he debuted in a new sitcom along with his co-star Cynthia Stevenson on ABC called Surviving Suburbia. The series, which was originally to air on The CW, ended after one abbreviated season.
Directing career

Saget directed the 1996 ABC television movie For Hope, which was inspired by the life story of his sister, Gay Saget, who died from scleroderma three years earlier.

Saget wrote, directed, and starred in Farce of the Penguins, a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins, which was released direct-to-DVD, in January 2007.
Other works

In 1998, Saget played a cocaine addict in the stoner comedy Half Baked.

In 2006, Jamie Kennedy released a rap song and music video entitled "Rollin' with Saget", which featured Saget and is on his website.

In 2010, Saget starred in an A&E series Strange Days in which he follows others in different activities and lifestyles, documenting their adventures in unusual ways.
Charity work

Saget is currently a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His scleroderma efforts have further benefited such celebrities as Scary Movie star Regina Hall. “When my mom was diagnosed, I didn’t know much about the condition," said Hall. "But Dana Delaney, who is an actress and now a friend of mine, put me in touch with Bob Saget. Bob had made a television movie about scleroderma years ago because his sister had died from it. That was back when they didn’t even know what it was. Anyway, Bob had a group called the Scleroderma Research Foundation, so I donated to that and my mother even went to the doctor Bob had suggested, who happened to be over at Johns Hopkins.”
Television and filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1979 Outer Touch Voice of Wurlitzer Voice
Also writer
1980 Devices Therapy Patient
1981 Full High Moon Sportscaster
Bosom Buddies Bob the Comic Episode: "The Show Must Go On"
1983 The Greatest American Hero Cook Episode: "Wizards and Warlocks"
1985 New Love, American Style Comedy Vignettes unknown episodes
1986 It's a Living Dr. Bartlett Episode: "The Doctor Danny Show"
1987 Critical Condition Dr. Joffe
1987–1995 Full House Daniel 'Danny' Tanner 192 episodes
1989–1997; 2009 America's Funniest Home Videos Himself (host)
1989 MMC Episode: Guest Day"
1992 Quantum Leap Macklyn 'Mack' MacKay Episode: "Stand Up - April 30, 1959"
To Grandmother's House We Go Win-O-Lotto Lottery Host TV film
uncredited'
1993 For Goodness Sake Surgeon
1994 Father and Scout Spencer Paley TV film
Also executive producer
1997 Meet Wally Sparks Reporter #4
1998 Half Baked Cocaine Addict uncredited
1999 Sorority Dean Tinker TV film
uncredited
2000 Becoming Dick Bob TV film
uncredited
Also director
The Norm Show Mr. Atkitson Episode: "Norm vs. Schoolin'"
Also director
2001–2002 Raising Dad Matt Stewart 17 episodes
2003 Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd Jessica's Dad
2004 Huff Butch Episode: "Flashpants"
2005 Listen Up Mitch Coach Potato
Madagascar Zoo Animal Voice
The Aristocrats Himself Documentary
2005–present How I Met Your Mother Ted Mosby (2030) Voice only TV series
2006
1 vs. 100 Himself (host) Hosted from 2006-2008 on NBC
Casper's Scare School Dash Voice
TV film
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Glenn Cheales Episode: "Choreographed"
2007 Farce of the Penguins Carl Voice
Direct-to-video
Also writer, director and producer
Howard Stern on Demand Episode: "Brad Garrett"
The Tuttles: Madcap Misadventures Barry Tuttle Video game
2008 The Life & Times of Tim Voice
Episode: "Mugger/Cin City"
2009 Surviving Suburbia Steve Patterson 13 episodes
2010 Conan Episode: "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Dead Fish"
Strange Days with Bob Saget Himself (host) 6 episodes
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w3/pistol_saf/RITR/bob_saget_2.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/food_luffy/woodlandpixie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/17/11 at 6:56 am


The person of the day...Bob Saget
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget (born May 17, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his past roles in the family-oriented shows Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos, Saget is known outside of television for his starkly blue stand-up routine. He is also an honorary member of Seal and Serpent.
Saget was born in Philadelphia. His father, Benjamin, was a supermarket executive, and his mother, Rosalyn, was a hospital administrator. Saget lived in Norfolk, Virginia, and Encino, California, before moving back to Philadelphia and graduating from Abington Senior High School. Saget originally intended to become a doctor, but his Honors English teacher, Elaine Zimmerman, saw his creative potential and urged him to seek a career in films.

He attended Temple University's film school, where he created Through Adam's Eyes, a black-and-white film about a boy who received reconstructive facial surgery, and was honored with an award of merit in the Student Academy Awards. He graduated with a B.A. in 1978. Saget intended to take graduate courses at the University of Southern California but quit a few days later. Saget describes himself at the time in an article by Glenn Esterly in the 1990 Saturday Evening Post: "I was a cocky, overweight twenty-two-year-old. Then I had a gangrenous appendix taken out, almost died, and I got over being cocky or overweight." Saget talked about his burst appendix on Anytime with Bob Kushell, saying that it happened on the Fourth of July, at the UCLASS Medical Center and that they at first just iced the area for seven hours before taking it out and finding that it had become gangrenous.
Career
Early career

Saget started performing stand-up comedy and did a number of national tours. Later, in 1987, he became the co-host of The Morning Program—an attempt by CBS to take a different direction with morning television—for which he also wrote and produced content.
Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos

Soon after, Saget was cast as Danny Tanner in Full House, which became a huge success through family viewers and landed in the Nielsen ratings's Top 30 from the third season onward. In 1989 Saget was cast as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, a role he held until 1997. During the early 1990s Saget worked both on Full House and AFV simultaneously, and in 2009 ABC had Saget return to AFV for a 20th anniversary one-hour special co-hosted with Bergeron.
Continued career

Saget was also host of NBC's game show 1 vs. 100, which debuted October 13, 2006.

He plays the narrator of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which premiered on September 19, 2005. In the series he portrays the future version of the protagonist Ted Mosby. Throughout the series, only his voice is heard and it is yet to be seen if he will make an appearance.

His HBO comedy special, That Ain't Right, came out on DVD on August 28, 2007. It is dedicated to his father, Ben Saget, who died on January 30, 2007, due to complications from congestive heart failure. He was 89.

He has had recurring roles in HBO's Entourage playing a parody of himself.

Saget appeared in the Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" for a limited four-month engagement. He played "Man in Chair" while Jonathan Crombie, who normally played the character on Broadway, was with the national tour of the musical. On January 4, 2008, Saget's caricature was unveiled at Sardi's Restaurant.

On August 17, 2008, Saget was roasted by Comedy Central in a special, titled The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget.

In April 2009, he debuted in a new sitcom along with his co-star Cynthia Stevenson on ABC called Surviving Suburbia. The series, which was originally to air on The CW, ended after one abbreviated season.
Directing career

Saget directed the 1996 ABC television movie For Hope, which was inspired by the life story of his sister, Gay Saget, who died from scleroderma three years earlier.

Saget wrote, directed, and starred in Farce of the Penguins, a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins, which was released direct-to-DVD, in January 2007.
Other works

In 1998, Saget played a cocaine addict in the stoner comedy Half Baked.

In 2006, Jamie Kennedy released a rap song and music video entitled "Rollin' with Saget", which featured Saget and is on his website.

In 2010, Saget starred in an A&E series Strange Days in which he follows others in different activities and lifestyles, documenting their adventures in unusual ways.
Charity work

Saget is currently a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His scleroderma efforts have further benefited such celebrities as Scary Movie star Regina Hall. “When my mom was diagnosed, I didn’t know much about the condition," said Hall. "But Dana Delaney, who is an actress and now a friend of mine, put me in touch with Bob Saget. Bob had made a television movie about scleroderma years ago because his sister had died from it. That was back when they didn’t even know what it was. Anyway, Bob had a group called the Scleroderma Research Foundation, so I donated to that and my mother even went to the doctor Bob had suggested, who happened to be over at Johns Hopkins.”
Television and filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1979 Outer Touch Voice of Wurlitzer Voice
Also writer
1980 Devices Therapy Patient
1981 Full High Moon Sportscaster
Bosom Buddies Bob the Comic Episode: "The Show Must Go On"
1983 The Greatest American Hero Cook Episode: "Wizards and Warlocks"
1985 New Love, American Style Comedy Vignettes unknown episodes
1986 It's a Living Dr. Bartlett Episode: "The Doctor Danny Show"
1987 Critical Condition Dr. Joffe
1987–1995 Full House Daniel 'Danny' Tanner 192 episodes
1989–1997; 2009 America's Funniest Home Videos Himself (host)
1989 MMC Episode: Guest Day"
1992 Quantum Leap Macklyn 'Mack' MacKay Episode: "Stand Up - April 30, 1959"
To Grandmother's House We Go Win-O-Lotto Lottery Host TV film
uncredited'
1993 For Goodness Sake Surgeon
1994 Father and Scout Spencer Paley TV film
Also executive producer
1997 Meet Wally Sparks Reporter #4
1998 Half Baked Cocaine Addict uncredited
1999 Sorority Dean Tinker TV film
uncredited
2000 Becoming Dick Bob TV film
uncredited
Also director
The Norm Show Mr. Atkitson Episode: "Norm vs. Schoolin'"
Also director
2001–2002 Raising Dad Matt Stewart 17 episodes
2003 Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd Jessica's Dad
2004 Huff Butch Episode: "Flashpants"
2005 Listen Up Mitch Coach Potato
Madagascar Zoo Animal Voice
The Aristocrats Himself Documentary
2005–present How I Met Your Mother Ted Mosby (2030) Voice only TV series
2006
1 vs. 100 Himself (host) Hosted from 2006-2008 on NBC
Casper's Scare School Dash Voice
TV film
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Glenn Cheales Episode: "Choreographed"
2007 Farce of the Penguins Carl Voice
Direct-to-video
Also writer, director and producer
Howard Stern on Demand Episode: "Brad Garrett"
The Tuttles: Madcap Misadventures Barry Tuttle Video game
2008 The Life & Times of Tim Voice
Episode: "Mugger/Cin City"
2009 Surviving Suburbia Steve Patterson 13 episodes
2010 Conan Episode: "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Dead Fish"
Strange Days with Bob Saget Himself (host) 6 episodes
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w3/pistol_saf/RITR/bob_saget_2.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/food_luffy/woodlandpixie.jpg


loved him in Full House as Danny Tanner.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/18/11 at 6:53 am

The person of the day...Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (play /ˈfeɪ/; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (SNL), the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls (2004), Baby Mama (2008), and Date Night (2010).

Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She later joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment. In 2004 she adapted the screenplay Mean Girls in which she also co-starred. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created the television series 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside former SNL co-star Amy Poehler. Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy films Date Night and Megamind.

She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, which gave her its AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL. In 2010, Fey was the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and the youngest-ever winner of the award.
While performing shows with the Second City in 1997, Fey submitted several scripts to NBC's variety show Saturday Night Live (SNL), at the request of its head writer Adam McKay, a former performer at Second City. She was hired as a writer for SNL following a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and moved to New York. Fey told The New Yorker, "I’d had my eye on the show forever, the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter." Originally, Fey "struggled" at SNL. Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire. Fey went on to write a series of parodies, including one of ABC's morning talk show The View. She co-wrote the "Sully and Denise" sketches with Rachel Dratch, who plays one of the teens.

Fey played an extra in one of the episodes in 1998, and after watching herself, decided to diet and lost 30 pounds. She told The New York Times, "I was a completely normal weight. But I was here in New York City, I had money and I couldn't buy any clothes. After I lost weight, there was interest in putting me on camera." In 1999, McKay stepped down as head writer, which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position. She became SNL's first female head writer, a milestone she downplays.

In 2000, Fey began performing in sketches, and she and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of SNL's Weekend Update segment. Fey said she did not ask to audition, but that Michaels approached her. Michaels explained that there was "chemistry" between Fey and Fallon. Michaels, however, revealed that choosing Fey was "kind of risky" at the time. Her role in Weekend Update was well received by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "...Fey delivers such blow darts – poison filled jokes written in long, precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in Update history – with such a bright, sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful." Dennis Miller, a former cast member of SNL and anchor of Weekend Update, was pleased with Fey as one of the anchors for the segment: "...Fey might be the best Weekend Update anchor who ever did it. She writes the funniest jokes". Robert Bianco of USA Today, however, commented that he was "not enamored" of the pairing.

In 2001, Fey and the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL's 25th anniversary special. The following year at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, she and the writing team won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.

The pairing of Fey and Fallon ended in May 2004 when Fallon last appeared as a cast member. He was replaced by Amy Poehler. It was the first time that two women co-anchored Weekend Update. Fey revealed that she "hired" Poehler as her co-host for the segment. The reception to the teaming of Fey and Poehler was positive, with Rachel Sklar of the Chicago Tribune noting that the pairing "has been a hilarious, pitch-perfect success as they play off each other with quick one-liners and deadpan delivery".

The 2005–2006 season was her last; she thereafter departed to develop 30 Rock.
30 Rock (2006–present)
Main article: 30 Rock
Fey filming an episode of 30 Rock at Rockefeller Center in October 2007.

In 2002, Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC, who rejected it. The pilot was reworked to revolve around an SNL style series, and was accepted by NBC. She signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to remain in her SNL head writer position at least through the 2004–2005 television season. As part of the contract, Fey was to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal. She began developing the pilot project under the working title Untitled Tina Fey Project. The pilot, directed by Adam Bernstein, centered on the head writer of a variety show and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile star and its executive producer. In October 2006, the pilot aired on NBC as 30 Rock. Although the episode received generally favorable reviews, it finished third in its timeslot.

The network renewed the series for a second season, which began in October 2007. The show's third season premiered on October 30, 2008. The premiere episode set records for the highest ratings of the series. In January 2009, NBC renewed 30 Rock for the 2009–2010 season.

In 2007, Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year, Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In early 2010, Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress. 30 Rock was renewed for the 2010–2011 season in March 2010.
Sarah Palin
See also: Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin
Web promo for 2008 web video of Palin (Fey) and Clinton (Poehler) from NBC.com.

From September to October 2008, Fey made frequent guest appearances on SNL to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On the 34th season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey imitated Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". The sketch quickly became NBC.com's most-watched viral video ever, with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday. Fey reprised this role on the October 4 show, and on the October 18 show where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin. The October 18 show had the best ratings of any SNL show since 1994. The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin. Fey returned to SNL in April 2010, and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled "Sarah Palin Network".

In December 2009, Entertainment Weekly put her impersonation on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, writing, "Fey's freakishly spot-on SNL impersonation of the wannabe VP (and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty) made for truly transcendent television."
Other work
Fey at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International promoting Megamind.

In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two-woman show Dratch & Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The production was well received by critics. Tim Townsend of The Wall Street Journal in review of Dratch & Fey, wrote that the fun part of watching them perform was "seeing how comfortable they are with each other". He concluded that the production "isn't about two women being funny. Dratch and Fey are just funny. Period." One of the SNL sketches, "Sully and Denise", originated at Second City in Chicago.

On August 13, 2007, Fey made a guest appearance on the children's television series Sesame Street, in the episode, "The Bookaneers". She appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007 episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America. Fey has appeared in Disney's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bündchen as Wendy Darling. She has also done commercials for American Express credit card.

On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. For this appearance, she was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Fey hosted SNL for a second time on April 10, 2010, and for her appearance she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

On April 5, 2011, her book, an autobiographical comedy entitled Bossypants, was released. It received a positive review from the New York Times.
Feature films

In 2002, Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin & Orloff. She made her debut as writer and co-star of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. The film received favorable reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $129 million worldwide.
Fey with Amy Poehler at the premiere of Baby Mama in New York.

In a 2004 interview, Fey expressed that she would like to write and direct movies in which she has small parts. In 2006, Fey worked on a movie script for Paramount Pictures, which was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen, by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill, based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. In 2007, she was cast in the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the Aqua Teens' mother, a giant burrito.

Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama. The movie was written and directed by Michael McCullers. The plot concerns Kate (Fey), a business woman, who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: Angie (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. Baby Mama received mixed reviews, but many critics enjoyed Fey's performance. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Fey is a delight to watch throughout. Able to convey Kate's intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections, she never melodramatizes her situation; nor does her efficient, perfectionist side become overbearing." The movie grossed over $64 million at the box office.

Fey's projects after 2008 include her lending her voice to the character Lisa in the English language version of the Japanese animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (titled Ponyo for its U.S. release). In 2009, she appeared in The Invention of Lying, alongside Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Christopher Guest. Her next film role was in Shawn Levy's 2010 comedy Date Night, a feature that focuses on a married couple, played by Fey and Steve Carell, who go on a date; however, the night goes awry for the two. Also in the same year, she voiced Roxanne Ritchie, a television reporter, in the DreamWorks animated film Megamind (2010). With a total worldwide gross of $321 million, Megamind is Fey's most commercially successful picture to date. It earned $173 million outside the U.S. and $148 million domestically.

In July 2010 it was announced that Fey will star in an upcoming comedy entitled Mommy & Me alongside Meryl Streep, who will play her mother. The film will be directed by Stanley Tucci.
In the media

Fey was ranked in the Hot 100 List at number 80 on Maxim magazine in 2002. She was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003, and one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2007, she was included in People's 100 Most Beautiful issue. Also in 2007, Fey placed seventh on the Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com. She repeated the appearance the following year, however, being voted as number one on the list.

In 2001, Entertainment Weekly named Fey as one of their Entertainers of the Year for her work on Weekend Update. She again was named one of the magazine's Entertainers of the Year in 2007, and placed number two in 2008. In 2009, Fey was named as Entertainment Weekly's fifth individual in their 15 Entertainers of the 2000s list. The newspaper editors and broadcast producers of the Associated Press voted Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008, citing her impression of Sarah Palin on SNL. She has appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2008, 2009, and 2010, at No. 99, No. 86, and No. 90 respectively.

In 2007, the New York Post included Fey in New York's 50 Most Powerful Women, ranking her at number 33. Fey was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2007 and 2009, as selected annually by Time magazine. Fey's featured article for the 2009 list was written by 30 Rock co-star, Alec Baldwin. She was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008.
Personal life
Fey with husband Jeff Richmond in April 2010 at the premiere of Date Night

Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, composer on 30 Rock. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. The couple's daughter—Alice Zenobia Richmond—was born on September 10, 2005, during Fey's tenure at SNL. Fey returned to the show on October 22, saying "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I have only a verbal agreement." In April 2009, Fey and Richmond purchased a $3.4 million apartment in the Upper West Side in New York City. On April 6, 2011, Fey announced she and Richmond were expecting their second child.

Fey has a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek. Responding to questions about its origin, Fey was quoted in the November 25, 2001, New York Times article as saying: "It's a childhood injury that was kind of grim. And it kind of bums my parents out for me to talk about it". Later, in an interview with Fey and Richmond in the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, Richmond revealed the scar resulted from a slashing incident, which happened when she was five. Richmond said: "It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen." She has said she was reluctant to discuss the incident in part because "It's impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it." Fey favors the right (non-scar) side of her face when acting as her character Liz Lemon.

Her charity work includes support of Autism Speaks, an organization that sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards, Fey wore a blue puzzle piece pin to raise awareness for the organization. In April 2008, she participated in Night of Too Many Stars, a comedy show benefit for autism education.

Fey is also a supporter of Mercy Corps, a global relief and development organization, in their campaign to end world hunger. Fey narrated a video for Mercy Corps's Action Center in New York City, describing hunger as a symptom of many wider world problems. She also supports the Love Our Children USA organization, which fights violence against children, who named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009. She is the 2009 national spokesperson for the Light the Night Walk, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In June 2010, it was announced she would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.
Detailed works
As a writer Year(s)↓ Title↓ Medium↓ Notes↓
1997–2006 Saturday Night Live TV Head writer 1999–2006
2004 Mean Girls Film Screenplay adapted from Queen Bees and Wannabes
2006–present 30 Rock TV Episodes written:
Season 1: (8/21) "Pilot", "The Aftermath", "Tracy Does Conan", "The Head and the Hair"‡, "Black Tie"‡, "Up All Night", "The C Word", "Hiatus"
Season 2: (4/15) "SeinfeldVision", "Somebody to Love"‡, "MILF Island"‡, "Cooter"
Season 3: (5) "Do-Over", "Christmas Special"‡, "St. Valentine's Day"‡, "The Bubble", "The Natural Order"‡
Season 4: (4) "Season 4", "Secret Santa, "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter"‡, "I Do Do"
Season 5: (3) "The Fabian Strategy", Live Show"‡, "100‡
‡denotes episode co-written.
As an actress Year(s)↓ Title↓ Medium↓ Role(s)↓ Notes↓
1998–2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 Saturday Night Live TV Multiple Includes being a cast member from 1998 to 2006, host of Weekend Update (2000–2006), host in 2008, 2010, and 2011, and made five appearances impersonating Sarah Palin.
1999 Upright Citizens Brigade TV Kerri Downey One episode
2002 Martin & Orloff Film Southern Woman
2004 Mean Girls Film Ms. Norbury Features several colleagues from Saturday Night Live
2006 Artie Lange's Beer League Film Gym Secretary
2006 Man of the Year Film Herself SNL's Weekend Update with Fey and Amy Poehler was featured in the movie
2006–present 30 Rock TV Liz Lemon Main role
2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Film Giant Burrito
2008 Baby Mama Film Kate Holbrook Re-teams with Amy Poehler, colleague from SNL
2009 Ponyo Film Lisa Voice (English version)
2009 Invention of Lying, TheThe Invention of Lying Film Shelley
2009 SpongeBob's Truth or Square TV Herself
2010 Date Night Film Claire Foster
2010 Megamind Film Roxanne Ritchi Voice
2011 Phineas and Ferb TV Guest Star Voice
Awards and nominations

The following awards are categorized under the year they were announced (and not necessarily the year covered by the award ceremony).
Year↓ Award↓ Category↓ Work↓ Result↓
2001 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2001 WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Saturday Night Live Nominated
2001 WGA Award Comedy/Variety special Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special Won
2002 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Won
2002 WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Saturday Night Live Nominated
2003 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2003 WGA Award Comedy/Variety Series Saturday Night Live Nominated
2003 WGA Award Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live: NBC 75th Anniversary Special Nominated
2004 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress: Comedy Saturday Night Live Nominated
2005 People's Choice Awards Favorite Funny Female Star Nominated
2005 Teen Choice Award Choice Comedian Nominated
2005 WGA Award Best Adapted Screenplay Mean Girls Nominated
2007 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2007 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2007 Emmy Award Writing for a Comedy Series "Tracy Does Conan" for 30 Rock Nominated
2007 WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2007 WGA Award New Series 30 Rock Nominated
2007 WGA Award Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live Won
2008 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2008 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2008 Emmy Award Writing for a Comedy Series "Cooter" for 30 Rock Won
2008 Emmy Award Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2008 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2008 WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
2009 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 WGA Award Episodic Comedy "Cooter" for 30 Rock Nominated
2009 Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live Won
2009 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2010 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Writing for a Comedy Series "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter" for 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2010 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Comedy Date Night Won
2010 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor American Humor Won
2011 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2011 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2011 The Comedy Awards Best Actress in Film Comedy Date Night Won
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/RussianReject/Tina-Fey.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j17/debroe/tina-fey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/18/11 at 6:56 am


The person of the day...Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (play /ˈfeɪ/; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (SNL), the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls (2004), Baby Mama (2008), and Date Night (2010).

Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She later joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment. In 2004 she adapted the screenplay Mean Girls in which she also co-starred. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created the television series 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside former SNL co-star Amy Poehler. Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy films Date Night and Megamind.

She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, which gave her its AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL. In 2010, Fey was the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and the youngest-ever winner of the award.
While performing shows with the Second City in 1997, Fey submitted several scripts to NBC's variety show Saturday Night Live (SNL), at the request of its head writer Adam McKay, a former performer at Second City. She was hired as a writer for SNL following a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and moved to New York. Fey told The New Yorker, "I’d had my eye on the show forever, the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter." Originally, Fey "struggled" at SNL. Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire. Fey went on to write a series of parodies, including one of ABC's morning talk show The View. She co-wrote the "Sully and Denise" sketches with Rachel Dratch, who plays one of the teens.

Fey played an extra in one of the episodes in 1998, and after watching herself, decided to diet and lost 30 pounds. She told The New York Times, "I was a completely normal weight. But I was here in New York City, I had money and I couldn't buy any clothes. After I lost weight, there was interest in putting me on camera." In 1999, McKay stepped down as head writer, which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position. She became SNL's first female head writer, a milestone she downplays.

In 2000, Fey began performing in sketches, and she and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of SNL's Weekend Update segment. Fey said she did not ask to audition, but that Michaels approached her. Michaels explained that there was "chemistry" between Fey and Fallon. Michaels, however, revealed that choosing Fey was "kind of risky" at the time. Her role in Weekend Update was well received by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "...Fey delivers such blow darts – poison filled jokes written in long, precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in Update history – with such a bright, sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful." Dennis Miller, a former cast member of SNL and anchor of Weekend Update, was pleased with Fey as one of the anchors for the segment: "...Fey might be the best Weekend Update anchor who ever did it. She writes the funniest jokes". Robert Bianco of USA Today, however, commented that he was "not enamored" of the pairing.

In 2001, Fey and the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for SNL's 25th anniversary special. The following year at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, she and the writing team won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.

The pairing of Fey and Fallon ended in May 2004 when Fallon last appeared as a cast member. He was replaced by Amy Poehler. It was the first time that two women co-anchored Weekend Update. Fey revealed that she "hired" Poehler as her co-host for the segment. The reception to the teaming of Fey and Poehler was positive, with Rachel Sklar of the Chicago Tribune noting that the pairing "has been a hilarious, pitch-perfect success as they play off each other with quick one-liners and deadpan delivery".

The 2005–2006 season was her last; she thereafter departed to develop 30 Rock.
30 Rock (2006–present)
Main article: 30 Rock
Fey filming an episode of 30 Rock at Rockefeller Center in October 2007.

In 2002, Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC, who rejected it. The pilot was reworked to revolve around an SNL style series, and was accepted by NBC. She signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to remain in her SNL head writer position at least through the 2004–2005 television season. As part of the contract, Fey was to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal. She began developing the pilot project under the working title Untitled Tina Fey Project. The pilot, directed by Adam Bernstein, centered on the head writer of a variety show and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile star and its executive producer. In October 2006, the pilot aired on NBC as 30 Rock. Although the episode received generally favorable reviews, it finished third in its timeslot.

The network renewed the series for a second season, which began in October 2007. The show's third season premiered on October 30, 2008. The premiere episode set records for the highest ratings of the series. In January 2009, NBC renewed 30 Rock for the 2009–2010 season.

In 2007, Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year, Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In early 2010, Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress. 30 Rock was renewed for the 2010–2011 season in March 2010.
Sarah Palin
See also: Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin
Web promo for 2008 web video of Palin (Fey) and Clinton (Poehler) from NBC.com.

From September to October 2008, Fey made frequent guest appearances on SNL to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On the 34th season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey imitated Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". The sketch quickly became NBC.com's most-watched viral video ever, with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday. Fey reprised this role on the October 4 show, and on the October 18 show where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin. The October 18 show had the best ratings of any SNL show since 1994. The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin. Fey returned to SNL in April 2010, and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled "Sarah Palin Network".

In December 2009, Entertainment Weekly put her impersonation on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, writing, "Fey's freakishly spot-on SNL impersonation of the wannabe VP (and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty) made for truly transcendent television."
Other work
Fey at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International promoting Megamind.

In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two-woman show Dratch & Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The production was well received by critics. Tim Townsend of The Wall Street Journal in review of Dratch & Fey, wrote that the fun part of watching them perform was "seeing how comfortable they are with each other". He concluded that the production "isn't about two women being funny. Dratch and Fey are just funny. Period." One of the SNL sketches, "Sully and Denise", originated at Second City in Chicago.

On August 13, 2007, Fey made a guest appearance on the children's television series Sesame Street, in the episode, "The Bookaneers". She appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007 episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America. Fey has appeared in Disney's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bündchen as Wendy Darling. She has also done commercials for American Express credit card.

On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. For this appearance, she was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Fey hosted SNL for a second time on April 10, 2010, and for her appearance she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

On April 5, 2011, her book, an autobiographical comedy entitled Bossypants, was released. It received a positive review from the New York Times.
Feature films

In 2002, Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin & Orloff. She made her debut as writer and co-star of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. The film received favorable reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $129 million worldwide.
Fey with Amy Poehler at the premiere of Baby Mama in New York.

In a 2004 interview, Fey expressed that she would like to write and direct movies in which she has small parts. In 2006, Fey worked on a movie script for Paramount Pictures, which was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen, by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill, based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. In 2007, she was cast in the animated comedy film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the Aqua Teens' mother, a giant burrito.

Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama. The movie was written and directed by Michael McCullers. The plot concerns Kate (Fey), a business woman, who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: Angie (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. Baby Mama received mixed reviews, but many critics enjoyed Fey's performance. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Fey is a delight to watch throughout. Able to convey Kate's intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections, she never melodramatizes her situation; nor does her efficient, perfectionist side become overbearing." The movie grossed over $64 million at the box office.

Fey's projects after 2008 include her lending her voice to the character Lisa in the English language version of the Japanese animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (titled Ponyo for its U.S. release). In 2009, she appeared in The Invention of Lying, alongside Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Christopher Guest. Her next film role was in Shawn Levy's 2010 comedy Date Night, a feature that focuses on a married couple, played by Fey and Steve Carell, who go on a date; however, the night goes awry for the two. Also in the same year, she voiced Roxanne Ritchie, a television reporter, in the DreamWorks animated film Megamind (2010). With a total worldwide gross of $321 million, Megamind is Fey's most commercially successful picture to date. It earned $173 million outside the U.S. and $148 million domestically.

In July 2010 it was announced that Fey will star in an upcoming comedy entitled Mommy & Me alongside Meryl Streep, who will play her mother. The film will be directed by Stanley Tucci.
In the media

Fey was ranked in the Hot 100 List at number 80 on Maxim magazine in 2002. She was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003, and one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2007, she was included in People's 100 Most Beautiful issue. Also in 2007, Fey placed seventh on the Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com. She repeated the appearance the following year, however, being voted as number one on the list.

In 2001, Entertainment Weekly named Fey as one of their Entertainers of the Year for her work on Weekend Update. She again was named one of the magazine's Entertainers of the Year in 2007, and placed number two in 2008. In 2009, Fey was named as Entertainment Weekly's fifth individual in their 15 Entertainers of the 2000s list. The newspaper editors and broadcast producers of the Associated Press voted Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008, citing her impression of Sarah Palin on SNL. She has appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2008, 2009, and 2010, at No. 99, No. 86, and No. 90 respectively.

In 2007, the New York Post included Fey in New York's 50 Most Powerful Women, ranking her at number 33. Fey was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2007 and 2009, as selected annually by Time magazine. Fey's featured article for the 2009 list was written by 30 Rock co-star, Alec Baldwin. She was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008.
Personal life
Fey with husband Jeff Richmond in April 2010 at the premiere of Date Night

Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, composer on 30 Rock. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. The couple's daughter—Alice Zenobia Richmond—was born on September 10, 2005, during Fey's tenure at SNL. Fey returned to the show on October 22, saying "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I have only a verbal agreement." In April 2009, Fey and Richmond purchased a $3.4 million apartment in the Upper West Side in New York City. On April 6, 2011, Fey announced she and Richmond were expecting their second child.

Fey has a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek. Responding to questions about its origin, Fey was quoted in the November 25, 2001, New York Times article as saying: "It's a childhood injury that was kind of grim. And it kind of bums my parents out for me to talk about it". Later, in an interview with Fey and Richmond in the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, Richmond revealed the scar resulted from a slashing incident, which happened when she was five. Richmond said: "It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen." She has said she was reluctant to discuss the incident in part because "It's impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it." Fey favors the right (non-scar) side of her face when acting as her character Liz Lemon.

Her charity work includes support of Autism Speaks, an organization that sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards, Fey wore a blue puzzle piece pin to raise awareness for the organization. In April 2008, she participated in Night of Too Many Stars, a comedy show benefit for autism education.

Fey is also a supporter of Mercy Corps, a global relief and development organization, in their campaign to end world hunger. Fey narrated a video for Mercy Corps's Action Center in New York City, describing hunger as a symptom of many wider world problems. She also supports the Love Our Children USA organization, which fights violence against children, who named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009. She is the 2009 national spokesperson for the Light the Night Walk, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In June 2010, it was announced she would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.
Detailed works
As a writer Year(s)↓ Title↓ Medium↓ Notes↓
1997–2006 Saturday Night Live TV Head writer 1999–2006
2004 Mean Girls Film Screenplay adapted from Queen Bees and Wannabes
2006–present 30 Rock TV Episodes written:
Season 1: (8/21) "Pilot", "The Aftermath", "Tracy Does Conan", "The Head and the Hair"‡, "Black Tie"‡, "Up All Night", "The C Word", "Hiatus"
Season 2: (4/15) "SeinfeldVision", "Somebody to Love"‡, "MILF Island"‡, "Cooter"
Season 3: (5) "Do-Over", "Christmas Special"‡, "St. Valentine's Day"‡, "The Bubble", "The Natural Order"‡
Season 4: (4) "Season 4", "Secret Santa, "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter"‡, "I Do Do"
Season 5: (3) "The Fabian Strategy", Live Show"‡, "100‡
‡denotes episode co-written.
As an actress Year(s)↓ Title↓ Medium↓ Role(s)↓ Notes↓
1998–2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 Saturday Night Live TV Multiple Includes being a cast member from 1998 to 2006, host of Weekend Update (2000–2006), host in 2008, 2010, and 2011, and made five appearances impersonating Sarah Palin.
1999 Upright Citizens Brigade TV Kerri Downey One episode
2002 Martin & Orloff Film Southern Woman
2004 Mean Girls Film Ms. Norbury Features several colleagues from Saturday Night Live
2006 Artie Lange's Beer League Film Gym Secretary
2006 Man of the Year Film Herself SNL's Weekend Update with Fey and Amy Poehler was featured in the movie
2006–present 30 Rock TV Liz Lemon Main role
2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Film Giant Burrito
2008 Baby Mama Film Kate Holbrook Re-teams with Amy Poehler, colleague from SNL
2009 Ponyo Film Lisa Voice (English version)
2009 Invention of Lying, TheThe Invention of Lying Film Shelley
2009 SpongeBob's Truth or Square TV Herself
2010 Date Night Film Claire Foster
2010 Megamind Film Roxanne Ritchi Voice
2011 Phineas and Ferb TV Guest Star Voice
Awards and nominations

The following awards are categorized under the year they were announced (and not necessarily the year covered by the award ceremony).
Year↓ Award↓ Category↓ Work↓ Result↓
2001 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2001 WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Saturday Night Live Nominated
2001 WGA Award Comedy/Variety special Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special Won
2002 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Won
2002 WGA Award Comedy/Variety series Saturday Night Live Nominated
2003 Emmy Award Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2003 WGA Award Comedy/Variety Series Saturday Night Live Nominated
2003 WGA Award Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live: NBC 75th Anniversary Special Nominated
2004 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress: Comedy Saturday Night Live Nominated
2005 People's Choice Awards Favorite Funny Female Star Nominated
2005 Teen Choice Award Choice Comedian Nominated
2005 WGA Award Best Adapted Screenplay Mean Girls Nominated
2007 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2007 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2007 Emmy Award Writing for a Comedy Series "Tracy Does Conan" for 30 Rock Nominated
2007 WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2007 WGA Award New Series 30 Rock Nominated
2007 WGA Award Comedy/Variety Special Saturday Night Live Won
2008 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2008 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2008 Emmy Award Writing for a Comedy Series "Cooter" for 30 Rock Won
2008 Emmy Award Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2008 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2008 WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
2009 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Won
2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 WGA Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 WGA Award Episodic Comedy "Cooter" for 30 Rock Nominated
2009 Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live Won
2009 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2009 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2010 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Female Actor in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Won
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Ensemble in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Lead Actress in a Comedy Series 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Writing for a Comedy Series "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter" for 30 Rock Nominated
2010 Emmy Award Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Saturday Night Live Nominated
2010 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Comedy Date Night Won
2010 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor American Humor Won
2011 Golden Globe Award Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2011 Golden Globe Award Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy 30 Rock Nominated
2011 The Comedy Awards Best Actress in Film Comedy Date Night Won
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/RussianReject/Tina-Fey.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j17/debroe/tina-fey.jpg



She's a very funny actress,I always enjoyed her Sarah Palin disguise. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/18/11 at 12:38 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lufvZTnaIrg



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/18/11 at 7:52 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lufvZTnaIrg



Cat


;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/19/11 at 6:19 am

The person of the day...Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone (born Jeffry Ross Hyman; May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001) was a vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.
In 1974, Jeffry Hyman co-founded the punk rock band the Ramones with friends John Cummings and Douglas Colvin, upon which point all three adopted stage names using "Ramone" as their surname: Cummings became Johnny Ramone, Colvin became Dee Dee Ramone, and Hyman became name Joey Ramone. The name Ramone stems from a story that Paul McCartney of the The Beatles would check into hotels under the pseudonym "Paul Ramon" while touring.

Joey initially served as the group's drummer while Dee Dee Ramone was the original vocalist. Ramones manager Tommy Ramone (aka Tommy Erdelyi), suggested Joey switch to vocals while Tommy took over on drums.

The Ramones were a major influence on the punk rock movement in the United States, though they achieved only minor commercial success. Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. Recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now regularly represented in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and 25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojo's 100 Greatest Albums. In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band ever in Spin, trailing only The Beatles.

In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played their final show and then disbanded. Less than nine years after the breakup, three of the band's four founding members (Joey, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone) were dead.
Vocal style

Ramone's vocal style was unorthodox in that he had no formal training in an era where vocal proficiency was arguably the norm for most rock bands. His signature cracks, hiccups, snarls, crooning and youthful voice made his one of punk rock's most recognizable voices. Allmusic.com claims that "Joey Ramone's signature bleat was the voice of punk rock in America." As his vocals matured and deepened through his career, so did the Ramones' songwriting, leaving a notable difference from Joey's initial melodic and callow style—two notable tracks serving as examples are "Somebody Put Something in My Drink" and "Mama's Boy".
Other projects
Joey Ramone was honored with the creation of "Joey Ramone Place" outside the address of CBGB in New York City.

In 1985, Joey joined Little Steven Van Zandt's music-industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid which acted against the Sun City resort in South Africa. Joey and forty-nine other top recording artists, including Bruce Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan and Run DMC, collaborated on the song "Sun City" in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort.

In 1994, Joey appeared on the Helen Love album Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music singing the track "Punk Boy". Helen Love returned the favor, singing on Joey's song "Mr. Punchy".

Hyman co-wrote and recorded the song "Meatball Sandwich" with Youth Gone Mad. For a short time before his death, he took the role of manager and producer for the punk rock group The Independents.

His last recording as a vocalist was singing backup vocals on the CD One Nation Under by the Dine Navajo rock group Blackfire. He appeared on two tracks, "What Do You See" and "Lying to Myself". The CD, released in 2002, won "Best Pop/Rock Album of the Year" at the 2002 Native American Music Awards.

Joey also produced the Ronnie Spector album, She Talks to Rainbows, in 1999. It was critically acclaimed, but did not perform too well with the public and went virtually unnoticed. The title track was previously on the Ramones' last studio album, ¡Adios Amigos!.
Death and influence
Headstone for Joey Ramone with fan tributes

Joey Ramone died of lymphoma at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on April 15, 2001, after a seven-year battle. He was reportedly listening to the song "In a Little While" by U2 when he died. This was during U2's Elevation Tour, and from that point on during shows Bono would introduce the song as a tune that was originally about a lovestruck hangover but that Joey turned it into a gospel song.

His solo album Don't Worry About Me was released posthumously in 2002, and features the single "What a Wonderful World", a cover of the Louis Armstrong standard. MTV News claimed: "With his trademark rose-colored shades, black leather jacket, shoulder-length hair, ripped jeans and alternately snarling and crooning, hiccoughing vocals, Joey was the iconic godfather of punk."

On November 30, 2003, a block of East 2nd Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Hyman once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, and is near the former site of the music club CBGB, where the Ramones got their start. Hyman's birthday is celebrated annually by rock 'n' roll nightclubs, hosted in New York City by his brother and, until 2007, his mother, Charlotte. Joey Ramone was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

In 2001, when Joey Ramone died, the Ramones were named as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, prior to the actual ceremony held early the following year (2002).

Several songs have been presented as a tribute to Joey Ramone, including "Hello Joe" by Blondie from the album The Curse Of Blondie, Don't Take Me For Granted by Social Distortion and Here's To You by Minus3.

In September 2010, the Associated Press reported that "Joey Ramone Place," a sign at the corner of Bowery and East Second Street was New York City's most stolen sign. As of September 27, the sign has been moved to 20 feet above ground level. Drummer Marky Ramone thought Joey would appreciate the fact that his sign would be the most stolen adding "Now you have to be an NBA player to see it."
Discography

    For Ramones albums, see Ramones discography.

Solo

    * Don't Worry About Me – (2002)

EPs

    * In a Family Way – Sibling Rivalry (1994)
    * Ramones: Leathers from New York – The Ramones and Joey Ramone (solo) (1997)
    * Christmas Spirit...In My House – (2002)

Singles

    * "I Got You Babe" - (1982) (Duet with Holly Beth Vincent)
    * "What a Wonderful World" - (2002)

Memorial books

    * "Heaven Needed A Lead Singer: Fans Remember Joey Ramone" by Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone - (2002)
    * "Rock In Peace: Dee Dee And Joey Ramone" by Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone - (2004)
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x75/tock117/base_joey_ramone.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/sasnnat/Joey-Ramone--C10068650.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/19/11 at 1:37 pm


The person of the day...Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone (born Jeffry Ross Hyman; May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001) was a vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.
In 1974, Jeffry Hyman co-founded the punk rock band the Ramones with friends John Cummings and Douglas Colvin, upon which point all three adopted stage names using "Ramone" as their surname: Cummings became Johnny Ramone, Colvin became Dee Dee Ramone, and Hyman became name Joey Ramone. The name Ramone stems from a story that Paul McCartney of the The Beatles would check into hotels under the pseudonym "Paul Ramon" while touring.

Joey initially served as the group's drummer while Dee Dee Ramone was the original vocalist. Ramones manager Tommy Ramone (aka Tommy Erdelyi), suggested Joey switch to vocals while Tommy took over on drums.

The Ramones were a major influence on the punk rock movement in the United States, though they achieved only minor commercial success. Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. Recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now regularly represented in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and 25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojo's 100 Greatest Albums. In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band ever in Spin, trailing only The Beatles.

In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played their final show and then disbanded. Less than nine years after the breakup, three of the band's four founding members (Joey, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone) were dead.
Vocal style

Ramone's vocal style was unorthodox in that he had no formal training in an era where vocal proficiency was arguably the norm for most rock bands. His signature cracks, hiccups, snarls, crooning and youthful voice made his one of punk rock's most recognizable voices. Allmusic.com claims that "Joey Ramone's signature bleat was the voice of punk rock in America." As his vocals matured and deepened through his career, so did the Ramones' songwriting, leaving a notable difference from Joey's initial melodic and callow style—two notable tracks serving as examples are "Somebody Put Something in My Drink" and "Mama's Boy".
Other projects
Joey Ramone was honored with the creation of "Joey Ramone Place" outside the address of CBGB in New York City.

In 1985, Joey joined Little Steven Van Zandt's music-industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid which acted against the Sun City resort in South Africa. Joey and forty-nine other top recording artists, including Bruce Springsteen, U2, Bob Dylan and Run DMC, collaborated on the song "Sun City" in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort.

In 1994, Joey appeared on the Helen Love album Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music singing the track "Punk Boy". Helen Love returned the favor, singing on Joey's song "Mr. Punchy".

Hyman co-wrote and recorded the song "Meatball Sandwich" with Youth Gone Mad. For a short time before his death, he took the role of manager and producer for the punk rock group The Independents.

His last recording as a vocalist was singing backup vocals on the CD One Nation Under by the Dine Navajo rock group Blackfire. He appeared on two tracks, "What Do You See" and "Lying to Myself". The CD, released in 2002, won "Best Pop/Rock Album of the Year" at the 2002 Native American Music Awards.

Joey also produced the Ronnie Spector album, She Talks to Rainbows, in 1999. It was critically acclaimed, but did not perform too well with the public and went virtually unnoticed. The title track was previously on the Ramones' last studio album, ¡Adios Amigos!.
Death and influence
Headstone for Joey Ramone with fan tributes

Joey Ramone died of lymphoma at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on April 15, 2001, after a seven-year battle. He was reportedly listening to the song "In a Little While" by U2 when he died. This was during U2's Elevation Tour, and from that point on during shows Bono would introduce the song as a tune that was originally about a lovestruck hangover but that Joey turned it into a gospel song.

His solo album Don't Worry About Me was released posthumously in 2002, and features the single "What a Wonderful World", a cover of the Louis Armstrong standard. MTV News claimed: "With his trademark rose-colored shades, black leather jacket, shoulder-length hair, ripped jeans and alternately snarling and crooning, hiccoughing vocals, Joey was the iconic godfather of punk."

On November 30, 2003, a block of East 2nd Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Hyman once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, and is near the former site of the music club CBGB, where the Ramones got their start. Hyman's birthday is celebrated annually by rock 'n' roll nightclubs, hosted in New York City by his brother and, until 2007, his mother, Charlotte. Joey Ramone was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

In 2001, when Joey Ramone died, the Ramones were named as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, prior to the actual ceremony held early the following year (2002).

Several songs have been presented as a tribute to Joey Ramone, including "Hello Joe" by Blondie from the album The Curse Of Blondie, Don't Take Me For Granted by Social Distortion and Here's To You by Minus3.

In September 2010, the Associated Press reported that "Joey Ramone Place," a sign at the corner of Bowery and East Second Street was New York City's most stolen sign. As of September 27, the sign has been moved to 20 feet above ground level. Drummer Marky Ramone thought Joey would appreciate the fact that his sign would be the most stolen adding "Now you have to be an NBA player to see it."
Discography

    For Ramones albums, see Ramones discography.

Solo

    * Don't Worry About Me – (2002)

EPs

    * In a Family Way – Sibling Rivalry (1994)
    * Ramones: Leathers from New York – The Ramones and Joey Ramone (solo) (1997)
    * Christmas Spirit...In My House – (2002)

Singles

    * "I Got You Babe" - (1982) (Duet with Holly Beth Vincent)
    * "What a Wonderful World" - (2002)

Memorial books

    * "Heaven Needed A Lead Singer: Fans Remember Joey Ramone" by Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone - (2002)
    * "Rock In Peace: Dee Dee And Joey Ramone" by Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone - (2004)
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x75/tock117/base_joey_ramone.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/sasnnat/Joey-Ramone--C10068650.jpg


so who's left of The Ramones? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/11 at 6:26 am


so who's left of The Ramones? ???

Tommy
Marky

New people..Richie
Some guy name C.J and a guy named Elvis.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/20/11 at 6:28 am

The person of the day....Timothy Olyphant
Timothy David Olyphant (born May 20, 1968) is an American actor whose notable roles in television drama series include Deadwood as Seth Bullock, Justified as Raylan Givens, and Damages as Wes Krulik. He has also starred in the films Scream 2, Gone in 60 Seconds, Dreamcatcher, Live Free or Die Hard, A Perfect Getaway, The Crazies, and Hitman.
Olyphant was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Katherine and John Vernon Bevan Olyphant, a college teacher who worked for a winery. He moved to Modesto, California, a city of 200,000 southeast of San Francisco, where he was raised. Olyphant began competitive swimming at age 6, and started training seriously in the seventh grade under coach Darrell Lohrke, who came to Modesto via Arden Hills Swimming and Tennis Club. Olyphant made remarkable strides and soon became a nationally ranked swimmer. He was a finalist at the USA Swimming Short Course National Championships in 1986 in the 200 Individual Medley. He graduated from Modesto's Fred C. Beyer High School that year.

Olyphant continued swimming at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he studied fine art. He took a beginning acting class as an elective at UC Irvine, in order to fulfill the final credits he needed to graduate from USC. Olyphant then decided to move to New York City to study acting, rather than pursue a master's degree in fine arts. He took acting classes with William Esper at William Esper Studio for two years, and then started looking for acting work.
Career

Olyphant began acting off-Broadway, making his professional debut in 1995 in the Playwrights Horizons' production of The Monogamist as Tim Hapgood. He received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance for his performance. He subsequently appeared in the one-man play The SantaLand Diaries in 1996, written by David Sedaris, adapted and directed by Joe Mantello, and in Plunge.

Olyphant returned to Los Angeles and found work in television. He landed his first TV role in a pilot for a remake of the series 77 Sunset Strip in 1995, produced by Clint Eastwood. He was cast in the pilot of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996), a short-lived CBS spy series, as Scooby, Mr. Smith's (Scott Bakula's) assistant. Olyphant appeared in 3 episodes of the acclaimed police drama High Incident and in the Hallmark Channel TV film Ellen Foster in 1997. A role in the HBO movie When Trumpets Fade was next in 1998, a dramatization of the 1944 Battle of Hürtgen Forest, followed by a guest starring role in the Sex and the City episode "Valley of the Twenty Something Guys", as one of Carrie Bradshaw's boyfriends.

Olyphant made his feature film debut with a small part in The First Wives Club (1996). He appeared briefly in A Life Less Ordinary (1997), starring Ewan McGregor, but gained notice starring in the horror film Scream 2 (1997), as a cynical film student, Mickey. He portrayed the drug dealer Todd Gaines in Go (1999), directed by Doug Liman, a comedy-drama with Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf and Sarah Polley in the cast, and a script by first time screenwriter John August. He followed the role up with parts in Advice from a Caterpillar (1999), No Vacancy (1999), The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).

Olyphant played the lead role of Sheriff Seth Bullock on HBO's Deadwood from March 2004 until the series' end. Olyphant considered it to be one of his first leading roles as a "complicated" and "complex" character.

Prior to that he had roles in Rock Star (2001) and Dreamcatcher (2003). He played a porn film producer in The Girl Next Door in 2004 alongside Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert.

In January 2007, Olyphant appeared in the comedy Catch and Release, playing the love interest of Jennifer Garner's character; Olyphant was cast in the role over several other known actors, including Matthew Fox. Olyphant had studied acting alongside Jennifer Garner when he moved to New York. He next appeared in Live Free or Die Hard, as the villain, a cyber-terrorist and in Hitman, as the title character. Olyphant shaved his head for his role in Hitman. His 2008 roles included Stop-Loss, about the Iraq War, playing a Lieutenant Colonel, Meet Bill, a comedy co-starring Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba, and a voice-acting role in Turok (2008) as Cowboy.

Olyphant served as the on-air, unpaid sports commentator for Joe Escalante's morning show on LA radio station Indie 103.1, every Monday through Friday, until the channel's demise in January 2009.

In June 2008 he joined the cast of FX's show Damages, starring Glenn Close. As a result, his part in Samantha Who? was recast and filled by Billy Zane.

In 2009, he starred with Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich in the thriller A Perfect Getaway as an Iraq war veteran and possible serial killer of honeymooners on the Hawaii islands. In 2010, he featured in the lead role of the town sheriff in the remake film The Crazies.

In the spring of 2010, Olyphant began portraying the lead role of Raylan Givens in the FX series Justified. His character is a 21st century U.S. Marshal who, for his questionable tactics, is banished to the part of Kentucky in which he was born and raised. Givens wears a Stetson hat and behaves like an Old West sheriff. The show is based on a character created by Elmore Leonard in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap, and the short story "Fire in the Hole". The pilot episode was an adaptation of the latter.

Olyphant played a paper salesman in two episodes of the seventh season of the NBC comedy The Office.

Olyphant's most recent role was in 2011 as the voice of "The Spirit of the West" in the animated picture Rango.
Personal life

Olyphant lives in Westwood, Los Angeles with his wife, Alexis Knief, and their three children: Grace, Henry, and Vivian. The couple married in July of 1991.
Film and television credits
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1996 First Wives Club, TheThe First Wives Club Brett Artounian
1997 Life Less Ordinary, AA Life Less Ordinary Hiker
1997 Scream 2 Mickey
1998 1999 (Girls and Boys) Hooks
1998 When Trumpets Fade Lt. Terrence Lukas
1999 No Vacancy Luke
1999 Go Todd Gaines
1999 Advice from a Caterpillar Brat
2000 Gone in 60 Seconds Det. Drycoff
2000 Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, TheThe Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy Dennis
2001 Head Over Heels Michael
2001 Auggie Rose Roy Mason
2001 Rock Star Rob Malcolm – Guitarist, Blood Pollution
2001 Doppelganger Brian
2002 Coastlines Sonny Mann
2003 Safety of Objects, TheThe Safety of Objects Randy
2003 Dreamcatcher Pete Moore
2003 Man Apart, AA Man Apart Hollywood Jack
2004 Girl Next Door, TheThe Girl Next Door Kelly
2007 Catch and Release Fritz
2007 Live Free or Die Hard Thomas Gabriel (also known as Die Hard 4.0)
2007 Hitman Agent 47
2008 Stop-Loss Lt. Col. Boot Miller
2008 Meet Bill Chip
2009 Perfect Getaway, AA Perfect Getaway Nick Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2009 High Life Dick
2010 Crazies, TheThe Crazies David Dutten
2010 Elektra Luxx Del
2011 I Am Number Four Henri
2011 Rango The Spirit of the West voice only
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1996 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Scooby Pilot guest star
1997–1998 High Incident Brett Farraday Recurring role, 3 Episodes
1998 Sex and the City Sam Guest star, 1 Episode
2002 Night Visions Eli Guest star, 1 Episode
2004–2006 Deadwood Sheriff Seth Bullock Lead Actor: 36 Episodes
2006 My Name Is Earl Billy Reed Guest star, 1 Episode
2009–2010 Damages Wes Krulik Regular season 2 (Only)
2009 Samantha Who? Winston Funk 2 Episodes
2010 Bonnie Hunt Show, TheThe Bonnie Hunt Show himself Talk show
2010–present Justified Raylan Givens Lead actor
2010 Office, TheThe Office Danny Cordray Guest star, episode: "The Sting" Guest Star, episode: "Costume Contest
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t202/mathuisland/timothy_olyphant-1.jpg
http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae272/charlotte_q/timothy-olyphant.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/21/11 at 7:23 am

The person of the day..The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997) was an American rapper. He was popularly known as Biggie Smalls (after a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again), Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White (after the main character of the 1990 film King of New York), but primarily by his stage name The Notorious B.I.G..

Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. When Wallace released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene and increased New York's visibility at a time when West Coast artists were more common in the mainstream. The following year, Wallace led his childhood friends to chart success through his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A.. While recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud, dominating the scene at the time.

On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His double-disc set Life After Death, released 15 days later, hit #1 on the U.S. album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000 (one of the few hip hop albums to receive this certification). Wallace was noted for his "loose, easy flow", dark semi-autobiographical lyrics and storytelling abilities. Since his death, a further two albums have been released. MTV ranked him at #3 on their list of The Greatest MCs (Rappers) of All Time. He has certified sales of 17 million units in the United States.
Wallace began rapping when he was a teenager. He would entertain people on the streets as well as perform with local groups, the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques. After being released from prison, Wallace made a demo tape under the name Biggie Smalls, a reference to his childhood nickname and to his stature; he stood at 6' 3" (1.91 m) and weighed as much as 300 to 380 pounds according to differing accounts. The tape was reportedly made with no serious intent of getting a recording deal, but was promoted by New York-based DJ Mister Cee, who had previously worked with Big Daddy Kane, and was heard by the editor of The Source.

In March 1992, Wallace featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype column, dedicated to aspiring rappers, and was invited to produce a recording with other unsigned artists in a move that was reportedly uncommon at the time. The demo tape was heard by Uptown Records A&R and record producer, Sean Combs, who arranged for a meeting with Wallace. He was signed to Uptown immediately and made an appearance on label mates, Heavy D & the Boyz' "A Buncha Niggas" (from the album Blue Funk). Soon after signing his recording contract, Combs was fired from Uptown and started a new label. Wallace followed and in mid-1992, signed to Combs' new imprint label, Bad Boy Records. On August 8, 1993, Wallace's long-term girlfriend gave birth to his first child, T'yanna. Wallace continued selling drugs after the birth to support his daughter financially. Once Combs discovered this, he was made to quit.

Wallace gained exposure later in the year on a remix to Mary J. Blige's single "Real Love", under the pseudonym The Notorious B.I.G., the name he would record under for the remainder of his career, after finding the original moniker "Biggie Smalls" was already in use. "Real Love" peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was followed by a remix of Blige's "What's the 411". He continued this success, to a lesser extent, on remixes with Neneh Cherry ("Buddy X") and reggae artist Super Cat ("Dolly My Baby", also featuring Combs) in 1993. In April 1993, his solo track, "Party and Bullsheesh", appeared on the Who's the Man? soundtrack. In July 1994, he appeared alongside LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes on a remix to label mate Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear", reaching #9 on the Hot 100.
Ready to Die and marriage

On August 4, 1994, Wallace married singer Faith Evans after they met at a Bad Boy photoshoot. Four days later, Wallace had his first pop chart success as a solo artist with double A-side, "Juicy/Unbelievable", which reached #27 as the lead single to his debut album.

Ready to Die was released on September 13, 1994, and reached #13 on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually being certified four times Platinum. The album, released at a time when West Coast hip hop was prominent in the U.S. charts, according to Rolling Stone, "almost single-handedly... shifted the focus back to East Coast rap". It gained strong reviews on release and has received much praise in retrospect. In addition to "Juicy", the record produced two hit singles; the Platinum-selling "Big Poppa", which reached #1 on the U.S. rap chart, and "One More Chance" featuring Faith Evans, a loosely related remix of an album track and its best selling single.
Junior M.A.F.I.A. and coastal feud
Early image of Wallace (left) and Tupac Shakur. Photograph is taken from the documentary film Biggie & Tupac, directed by Nick Broomfield

In August 1995, Wallace's protegé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. ("Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes"), released their debut album Conspiracy. The group consisting of his friends from childhood and included rappers such as Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, who went on to have solo careers. The record went Gold and its singles, "Player's Anthem" and "Get Money" both featuring Wallace, went Gold and Platinum. Wallace continued to work with R&B artists, collaborating with Bad Boy groups 112 (on "Only You") and Total (on "Can't You See"), with both reaching the top 20 of the Hot 100. By the end of the year, Wallace was the top-selling male solo artist and rapper on the U.S. pop and R&B charts. In July 1995, he appeared on the cover of The Source with the caption "The King of New York Takes Over". At the Source Awards in August 1995, he was named Best New Artist (Solo), Lyricist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year, and his debut Album of the Year. At the Billboard Awards, he was Rap Artist of the Year.

In his year of success, Wallace became involved in a rivalry between the East and West Coast hip-hop scenes with Tupac Shakur, his former associate. In an interview with Vibe magazine in April 1995, while serving time in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur accused Uptown Records' founder Andre Harrell, Sean Combs, and Wallace of having prior knowledge of a robbery that resulted in him being shot repeatedly and losing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry on the night of November 30, 1994. Though Wallace and his entourage were in the same Manhattan-based recording studio at the time of the occurrence, they denied the accusation.
“ It just happened to be a coincidence that he was in the studio. He just, he couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time. So he just kinda' leaned the blame on me.

Following release from prison, Shakur signed to Death Row Records on October 15, 1995. Bad Boy Records and Death Row, now business rivals, became involved in an intense quarrel.
Arrests, Shakur's death and second child

Wallace began recording his second record album in September 1995. The album, recorded in New York, Trinidad and Los Angeles, was interrupted during its 18 months of creation by injury, legal wranglings and the highly publicized hip hop dispute in which he was involved. During this time he also worked with pop singer Michael Jackson for the HIStory album.

On March 23, 1996, Wallace was arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening to kill two autograph seekers, smashing the windows of their taxicab and then pulling one of the fans out and punching them. He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. In mid-1996, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, for drug and weapons possession charges.

In June 1996, Shakur released "Hit 'Em Up"; a diss song in which he explicitly claimed to have had sex with Wallace's wife (at the time estranged), and that Wallace copied his style and image. Wallace referred to the first claim in regards to his wife's pregnancy on Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest" where he raps: "If Faye (Faith Evans, his wife at the time) have twins, she'd probably have two 'Pacs. Geddit? 2Pac's?" However he did not directly respond to the record during his lifetime, stating in a 1997 radio interview it is "not style" to respond.

Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 7, 1996. He would die six days later of complications from the gunshot wounds. Rumors of Wallace's involvement with Shakur's murder were reported almost immediately, and later in a two-part article by investigative reporter Chuck Philips in the Los Angeles Times in September 2002. Wallace denied the allegation claiming he was in a New York recording studio at the time. The Times later determined the article written by Philips "relied heavily on information that The Times no longer believes to be credible", including false FBI reports, and the paper published a retraction. Following his death, an anti-violence hip hop summit was held.

On October 29, 1996, Faith Evans gave birth to Wallace's son, Christopher "C.J." Wallace, Jr. The following month Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Kim released her debut album, Hard Core, under Wallace's direction while the two were involved in an apparent love affair. She was also pregnant with Wallace's child but decided to have an abortion.
Life After Death and car accident

During the recording sessions for his second record, tentatively named "Life After Death... 'Til Death Do Us Part", later shortened to Life After Death, Wallace was involved in a car accident that shattered his left leg and confined him to a wheelchair. The injury forced him to use a cane.

In January 1997, Wallace was ordered to pay US$41,000 in damages following an incident involving a friend of a concert promoter who claimed Wallace and his entourage beat him up following a dispute in May 1995. He faced criminal assault charges for the incident which remain unresolved, but all robbery charges were dropped. Following the events of the previous year, Wallace spoke of a desire to focus on his "peace of mind". "My mom... my son... my daughter... my family... my friends are what matters to me now".
March 1997 shooting and death
Composite sketch of the suspect in the shooting.

Wallace traveled to California in February 1997 to promote his upcoming album and record a music video for its lead single, "Hypnotize". On March 5, 1997 he gave a radio interview with The Dog House on KYLD in San Francisco, California. In the interview he stated that he had hired security since he feared for his safety; this was because he was a celebrity figure in general, not because he was a rapper. Life After Death was scheduled for release on March 25, 1997. On January 8, 1997, Biggie Smalls and Sean "Puffy" Combs made a video "What's Beef" which was directed by Dave Meyers. On March 8, 1997, he presented an award to Toni Braxton at the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles and was booed by some of the audience. After the ceremony, Wallace attended an after party hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest Records at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Other guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Sean Combs, and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs.

On March 9, 1997, at around 12:30 a.m., Wallace left with his entourage in two GMC Suburbans to return to his hotel after the Fire Department closed the party early because of overcrowding. Wallace traveled in the front passenger seat alongside his associates, Damion "D-Roc" Butler, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Cease and driver, Gregory "G-Money" Young. Combs traveled in the other vehicle with three bodyguards. The two trucks were trailed by a Chevrolet Blazer carrying Bad Boy's director of security.

By 12:45 a.m., the streets were crowded with people leaving the event. Wallace's truck stopped at a red light 50 yards (46 m) from the museum. A black Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up alongside Wallace's truck. The driver of the Impala, an African American male dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol and fired at the GMC Suburban; four bullets hit Wallace in the chest. Wallace's entourage rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.
Murder case

Wallace's murder remains unsolved and there are many theories regarding the identities and motives of the murderers. Immediately after the shooting, reports surfaced linking the Shakur and Wallace murders, because of the similarities in the drive-by shootings.

In 2002, Randall Sullivan released LAbyrinth, a book compiling information regarding the murders of Wallace and Shakur based on evidence provided by retired LAPD detective, Russell Poole. Sullivan accused Marion "Suge" Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and an alleged Bloods affiliate, of conspiring with David Mack, an LAPD officer and alleged Death Row security employee, to kill Wallace and make Shakur and his death appear the result of a fictitious bi-coastal rap rivalry. Sullivan believed that one of Mack's associates, Amir Muhammad (also known as Harry Billups), was the hitman based on evidence provided by an informant, and due to his close resemblance to the facial composite. Filmmaker Nick Broomfield released an investigative documentary, Biggie & Tupac, based mainly on the evidence used in the book.

An article published in Rolling Stone by Sullivan in December 2005 accused the LAPD of not fully investigating links with Death Row Records based on evidence from Poole. Sullivan claimed that Sean Combs "failed to fully cooperate with the investigation" and according to Poole, encouraged Bad Boy staff to do the same. The accuracy of the article was later refuted in a letter by the Assistant Managing Editor of the LA Times accusing Sullivan of using "shoddy tactics." Sullivan, in response, quoted the lead attorney of the Wallace estate calling the newspaper "a co-conspirator in the cover-up."

In January 2011, the case was reinvigorated as a result of new information reported by Anderson Cooper's AC360 "Cold Case" show and blog that it was being re-investigated by a law enforcement task force comprised of the LAPD, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, and the FBI. In April, the FBI released redacted documents about their investigation into the shooting, revealing that the bullets were rare 9mm Gecko ammunition manufactured in Germany. The documents reported that LAPD officers monitoring the party Wallace was attending were also employed as security personnel for Knight; the documents also speculated that the Genovese crime family was withholding evidence about Wallace's death.

Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal was a close friend of Wallace's and on the night of Wallace's death, he was supposed to meet him at an after party. O'Neal has reportedly struggled with guilt about Wallace's death since that night.
Wallace's lyrical topics and themes included mafioso tales ("Niggas Bleed"), his drug dealing past ("10 Crack Commandments"), materialistic bragging ("Hypnotize"), as well as humor ("Just Playing (Dreams)"), and romance ("Me & My Bitch"). Rolling Stone named Wallace in 2004 as "one of the few young male songwriters in any pop style writing credible love songs".

Guerilla Black, in the book How to Rap, describes how Wallace was able to both “glorify the upper echelon” and “ you feel his struggle”. According to Touré of the New York Times in 1994, Wallace's lyrics " autobiographical details about crime and violence with emotional honesty". Marriott of the New York Times (in 1997) believed his lyrics were not strictly autobiographical and wrote he "had a knack for exaggeration that increased sales". Wallace described his debut as "a big pie, with each slice indicating a different point in my life involving bitches and niggaz... from the beginning to the end".

Ready to Die is described by Rolling Stone as a contrast of "bleak" street visions and being "full of high-spirited fun, bringing the pleasure principle back to hip-hop". Allmusic write of "a sense of doom" in some of his songs and the NY Times note some being "laced with paranoia"; Wallace described himself as feeling "broke and depressed" when he made his debut. The final song on the album, "Suicidal Thoughts", featured Wallace contemplating suicide and concluded with him committing the act.

On Life After Death, Wallace's lyrics went "deeper". Krims explains how upbeat, dance-oriented tracks (which featured less heavily on his debut) alternate with "reality rap" songs on the record and suggests that he was "going pimp" through some of the lyrical topics of the former. XXL magazine wrote that Wallace "revamped his image" through the portrayal of himself between the albums, going from "midlevel hustler" on his debut to "drug lord".

Allmusic wrote that the success of Ready to Die is "mostly due to Wallace's skill as a storyteller"; In 1994, Rolling Stone described Wallace's ability in this technique as painting "a sonic picture so vibrant that you're transported right to the scene". On Life After Death Wallace notably demonstrated this skill on "I Got a Story to Tell" telling a story as a rap for the first half of the song and then as a story "for his boys" in conversation form.
Biopic

Notorious is a 2009 biographical film about Wallace and his life that starred rapper Jamal "Gravy" Woolard as Wallace. The film was directed by George Tillman, Jr. and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Producers included Sean "Diddy" Combs, Wallace's former managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, as well as Voletta Wallace. On January 16, 2009, the movie's debut at the Grand 18 theater in Greensboro, North Carolina was postponed after a man was shot in the parking lot before the show. Ultimately, the film grossed over $43,000,000 worldwide.

In early October 2007, open casting calls for the role of Wallace began. Actors, rappers and unknowns all tried out. Beanie Sigel auditioned for the role, but was not picked. Sean Kingston claimed that he would play the role of Wallace, but producers denied he would be in the film. Eventually it was announced that rapper Jamal "Gravy" Woolard was cast as Wallace while Wallace's son, Christopher Wallace, Jr. was cast to play Wallace as a child. Other cast members include Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, Antonique Smith as Faith Evans, Naturi Naughton formerly of 3LW as Lil' Kim, and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. Bad Boy released a soundtrack album to the film on January 13, 2009; the album contains hit singles of B.I.G. such as "Hypnotize", "Juicy", and "Warning" as well as rarities.
Discography
Main article: The Notorious B.I.G. discography
Studio albums

    * 1994: Ready to Die
    * 1997: Life After Death

Posthumous albums

    * 1999: Born Again
    * 2005: Duets: The Final Chapter


Collaboration albums

    * 1995: Conspiracy (with Junior M.A.F.I.A.)

Compilation albums

    * 2007: Greatest Hits
    * 2009: Notorious: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Awards and nominations
The Notorious B.I.G. awards and nominations
Awards and nominations
Award Wins Nominations

Billboard Music Awards

2 2

Grammy Awards

0 4

MTV Video Music Awards

1 2

Soul Train Music Awards

1 3
Totals
Awards won 4
Nominations 11

Wallace received two nominations from the Billboard Music Awards in 1995, including Rap Artist of the Year and Rap Single of the Year. The song "Mo Money Mo Problems" received several nominations in 1998, including Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the Grammy Awards; Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards; and Best R&B/Soul Album and Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video at the Soul Train Music Awards. Overall, Wallace has received four awards from eleven nominations; one award and six nominations were received posthumously.
Billboard Music Awards

The Billboard Music Awards is sponsored by Billboard magazine and held annually in December.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1995 The Notorious B.I.G. Rap Artist of the Year Won
"One More Chance" Rap Single of the Year Won
Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1996 "Big Poppa" Best Rap Solo Performance Nominated
1998 "Hypnotize" Best Rap Solo Performance Nominated
"Mo Money Mo Problems" (with Mase and Puff Daddy) Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Nominated
Life After Death Best Rap Album Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1997 "Hypnotize" Best Rap Video Won
1998 "Mo Money Mo Problems" (with Mase and Puff Daddy) Best Rap Video Nominated
Soul Train Music Awards

The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual awards show that honors black musicians and entertainers.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1998 Life After Death Best R&B/Soul Album, Male Won
"Mo Money Mo Problems" (with Mase and Puff Daddy) Best R&B/Soul Album Nominated
Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video Nominated
The Source Awards

The Source Awards were awarded by hip hop magazine The Source.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1995 The Notorious B.I.G. New Artist of the Year, Solo Won
Ready to Die Album of the Year Won
The Notorious B.I.G. Lyricist of the Year Won
The Notorious B.I.G. Live Performer of the Year Won
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u113/dirtymic07/Notorious-B-I-G-Will-Be-Honored-At-.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh235/JUAN_FRANCISCO_MENDOZA/For%20Gaia/Yu-Gi-Oh004.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/21/11 at 7:44 pm


The person of the day..The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997) was an American rapper. He was popularly known as Biggie Smalls (after a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again), Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White (after the main character of the 1990 film King of New York), but primarily by his stage name The Notorious B.I.G..

Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. When Wallace released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene and increased New York's visibility at a time when West Coast artists were more common in the mainstream. The following year, Wallace led his childhood friends to chart success through his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A.. While recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud, dominating the scene at the time.

On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His double-disc set Life After Death, released 15 days later, hit #1 on the U.S. album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000 (one of the few hip hop albums to receive this certification). Wallace was noted for his "loose, easy flow", dark semi-autobiographical lyrics and storytelling abilities. Since his death, a further two albums have been released. MTV ranked him at #3 on their list of The Greatest MCs (Rappers) of All Time. He has certified sales of 17 million units in the United States.
Wallace began rapping when he was a teenager. He would entertain people on the streets as well as perform with local groups, the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques. After being released from prison, Wallace made a demo tape under the name Biggie Smalls, a reference to his childhood nickname and to his stature; he stood at 6' 3" (1.91 m) and weighed as much as 300 to 380 pounds according to differing accounts. The tape was reportedly made with no serious intent of getting a recording deal, but was promoted by New York-based DJ Mister Cee, who had previously worked with Big Daddy Kane, and was heard by the editor of The Source.

In March 1992, Wallace featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype column, dedicated to aspiring rappers, and was invited to produce a recording with other unsigned artists in a move that was reportedly uncommon at the time. The demo tape was heard by Uptown Records A&R and record producer, Sean Combs, who arranged for a meeting with Wallace. He was signed to Uptown immediately and made an appearance on label mates, Heavy D & the Boyz' "A Buncha Niggas" (from the album Blue Funk). Soon after signing his recording contract, Combs was fired from Uptown and started a new label. Wallace followed and in mid-1992, signed to Combs' new imprint label, Bad Boy Records. On August 8, 1993, Wallace's long-term girlfriend gave birth to his first child, T'yanna. Wallace continued selling drugs after the birth to support his daughter financially. Once Combs discovered this, he was made to quit.

Wallace gained exposure later in the year on a remix to Mary J. Blige's single "Real Love", under the pseudonym The Notorious B.I.G., the name he would record under for the remainder of his career, after finding the original moniker "Biggie Smalls" was already in use. "Real Love" peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was followed by a remix of Blige's "What's the 411". He continued this success, to a lesser extent, on remixes with Neneh Cherry ("Buddy X") and reggae artist Super Cat ("Dolly My Baby", also featuring Combs) in 1993. In April 1993, his solo track, "Party and Bullsheesh", appeared on the Who's the Man? soundtrack. In July 1994, he appeared alongside LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes on a remix to label mate Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear", reaching #9 on the Hot 100.
Ready to Die and marriage

On August 4, 1994, Wallace married singer Faith Evans after they met at a Bad Boy photoshoot. Four days later, Wallace had his first pop chart success as a solo artist with double A-side, "Juicy/Unbelievable", which reached #27 as the lead single to his debut album.

Ready to Die was released on September 13, 1994, and reached #13 on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually being certified four times Platinum. The album, released at a time when West Coast hip hop was prominent in the U.S. charts, according to Rolling Stone, "almost single-handedly... shifted the focus back to East Coast rap". It gained strong reviews on release and has received much praise in retrospect. In addition to "Juicy", the record produced two hit singles; the Platinum-selling "Big Poppa", which reached #1 on the U.S. rap chart, and "One More Chance" featuring Faith Evans, a loosely related remix of an album track and its best selling single.
Junior M.A.F.I.A. and coastal feud
Early image of Wallace (left) and Tupac Shakur. Photograph is taken from the documentary film Biggie & Tupac, directed by Nick Broomfield

In August 1995, Wallace's protegé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. ("Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes"), released their debut album Conspiracy. The group consisting of his friends from childhood and included rappers such as Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, who went on to have solo careers. The record went Gold and its singles, "Player's Anthem" and "Get Money" both featuring Wallace, went Gold and Platinum. Wallace continued to work with R&B artists, collaborating with Bad Boy groups 112 (on "Only You") and Total (on "Can't You See"), with both reaching the top 20 of the Hot 100. By the end of the year, Wallace was the top-selling male solo artist and rapper on the U.S. pop and R&B charts. In July 1995, he appeared on the cover of The Source with the caption "The King of New York Takes Over". At the Source Awards in August 1995, he was named Best New Artist (Solo), Lyricist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year, and his debut Album of the Year. At the Billboard Awards, he was Rap Artist of the Year.

In his year of success, Wallace became involved in a rivalry between the East and West Coast hip-hop scenes with Tupac Shakur, his former associate. In an interview with Vibe magazine in April 1995, while serving time in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur accused Uptown Records' founder Andre Harrell, Sean Combs, and Wallace of having prior knowledge of a robbery that resulted in him being shot repeatedly and losing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry on the night of November 30, 1994. Though Wallace and his entourage were in the same Manhattan-based recording studio at the time of the occurrence, they denied the accusation.
“ It just happened to be a coincidence that he was in the studio. He just, he couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time. So he just kinda' leaned the blame on me.

Following release from prison, Shakur signed to Death Row Records on October 15, 1995. Bad Boy Records and Death Row, now business rivals, became involved in an intense quarrel.
Arrests, Shakur's death and second child

Wallace began recording his second record album in September 1995. The album, recorded in New York, Trinidad and Los Angeles, was interrupted during its 18 months of creation by injury, legal wranglings and the highly publicized hip hop dispute in which he was involved. During this time he also worked with pop singer Michael Jackson for the HIStory album.

On March 23, 1996, Wallace was arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening to kill two autograph seekers, smashing the windows of their taxicab and then pulling one of the fans out and punching them. He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. In mid-1996, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, for drug and weapons possession charges.

In June 1996, Shakur released "Hit 'Em Up"; a diss song in which he explicitly claimed to have had sex with Wallace's wife (at the time estranged), and that Wallace copied his style and image. Wallace referred to the first claim in regards to his wife's pregnancy on Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest" where he raps: "If Faye (Faith Evans, his wife at the time) have twins, she'd probably have two 'Pacs. Geddit? 2Pac's?" However he did not directly respond to the record during his lifetime, stating in a 1997 radio interview it is "not style" to respond.

Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 7, 1996. He would die six days later of complications from the gunshot wounds. Rumors of Wallace's involvement with Shakur's murder were reported almost immediately, and later in a two-part article by investigative reporter Chuck Philips in the Los Angeles Times in September 2002. Wallace denied the allegation claiming he was in a New York recording studio at the time. The Times later determined the article written by Philips "relied heavily on information that The Times no longer believes to be credible", including false FBI reports, and the paper published a retraction. Following his death, an anti-violence hip hop summit was held.

On October 29, 1996, Faith Evans gave birth to Wallace's son, Christopher "C.J." Wallace, Jr. The following month Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Kim released her debut album, Hard Core, under Wallace's direction while the two were involved in an apparent love affair. She was also pregnant with Wallace's child but decided to have an abortion.
Life After Death and car accident

During the recording sessions for his second record, tentatively named "Life After Death... 'Til Death Do Us Part", later shortened to Life After Death, Wallace was involved in a car accident that shattered his left leg and confined him to a wheelchair. The injury forced him to use a cane.

In January 1997, Wallace was ordered to pay US$41,000 in damages following an incident involving a friend of a concert promoter who claimed Wallace and his entourage beat him up following a dispute in May 1995. He faced criminal assault charges for the incident which remain unresolved, but all robbery charges were dropped. Following the events of the previous year, Wallace spoke of a desire to focus on his "peace of mind". "My mom... my son... my daughter... my family... my friends are what matters to me now".
March 1997 shooting and death
Composite sketch of the suspect in the shooting.

Wallace traveled to California in February 1997 to promote his upcoming album and record a music video for its lead single, "Hypnotize". On March 5, 1997 he gave a radio interview with The Dog House on KYLD in San Francisco, California. In the interview he stated that he had hired security since he feared for his safety; this was because he was a celebrity figure in general, not because he was a rapper. Life After Death was scheduled for release on March 25, 1997. On January 8, 1997, Biggie Smalls and Sean "Puffy" Combs made a video "What's Beef" which was directed by Dave Meyers. On March 8, 1997, he presented an award to Toni Braxton at the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles and was booed by some of the audience. After the ceremony, Wallace attended an after party hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest Records at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Other guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Sean Combs, and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs.

On March 9, 1997, at around 12:30 a.m., Wallace left with his entourage in two GMC Suburbans to return to his hotel after the Fire Department closed the party early because of overcrowding. Wallace traveled in the front passenger seat alongside his associates, Damion "D-Roc" Butler, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Cease and driver, Gregory "G-Money" Young. Combs traveled in the other vehicle with three bodyguards. The two trucks were trailed by a Chevrolet Blazer carrying Bad Boy's director of security.

By 12:45 a.m., the streets were crowded with people leaving the event. Wallace's truck stopped at a red light 50 yards (46 m) from the museum. A black Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up alongside Wallace's truck. The driver of the Impala, an African American male dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol and fired at the GMC Suburban; four bullets hit Wallace in the chest. Wallace's entourage rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.
Murder case

Wallace's murder remains unsolved and there are many theories regarding the identities and motives of the murderers. Immediately after the shooting, reports surfaced linking the Shakur and Wallace murders, because of the similarities in the drive-by shootings.

In 2002, Randall Sullivan released LAbyrinth, a book compiling information regarding the murders of Wallace and Shakur based on evidence provided by retired LAPD detective, Russell Poole. Sullivan accused Marion "Suge" Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and an alleged Bloods affiliate, of conspiring with David Mack, an LAPD officer and alleged Death Row security employee, to kill Wallace and make Shakur and his death appear the result of a fictitious bi-coastal rap rivalry. Sullivan believed that one of Mack's associates, Amir Muhammad (also known as Harry Billups), was the hitman based on evidence provided by an informant, and due to his close resemblance to the facial composite. Filmmaker Nick Broomfield released an investigative documentary, Biggie & Tupac, based mainly on the evidence used in the book.

An article published in Rolling Stone by Sullivan in December 2005 accused the LAPD of not fully investigating links with Death Row Records based on evidence from Poole. Sullivan claimed that Sean Combs "failed to fully cooperate with the investigation" and according to Poole, encouraged Bad Boy staff to do the same. The accuracy of the article was later refuted in a letter by the Assistant Managing Editor of the LA Times accusing Sullivan of using "shoddy tactics." Sullivan, in response, quoted the lead attorney of the Wallace estate calling the newspaper "a co-conspirator in the cover-up."

In January 2011, the case was reinvigorated as a result of new information reported by Anderson Cooper's AC360 "Cold Case" show and blog that it was being re-investigated by a law enforcement task force comprised of the LAPD, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, and the FBI. In April, the FBI released redacted documents about their investigation into the shooting, revealing that the bullets were rare 9mm Gecko ammunition manufactured in Germany. The documents reported that LAPD officers monitoring the party Wallace was attending were also employed as security personnel for Knight; the documents also speculated that the Genovese crime family was withholding evidence about Wallace's death.

Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal was a close friend of Wallace's and on the night of Wallace's death, he was supposed to meet him at an after party. O'Neal has reportedly struggled with guilt about Wallace's death since that night.
Wallace's lyrical topics and themes included mafioso tales ("Niggas Bleed"), his drug dealing past ("10 Crack Commandments"), materialistic bragging ("Hypnotize"), as well as humor ("Just Playing (Dreams)"), and romance ("Me & My Bitch"). Rolling Stone named Wallace in 2004 as "one of the few young male songwriters in any pop style writing credible love songs".

Guerilla Black, in the book How to Rap, describes how Wallace was able to both “glorify the upper echelon” and “ you feel his struggle”. According to Touré of the New York Times in 1994, Wallace's lyrics " autobiographical details about crime and violence with emotional honesty". Marriott of the New York Times (in 1997) believed his lyrics were not strictly autobiographical and wrote he "had a knack for exaggeration that increased sales". Wallace described his debut as "a big pie, with each slice indicating a different point in my life involving bitches and niggaz... from the beginning to the end".

Ready to Die is described by Rolling Stone as a contrast of "bleak" street visions and being "full of high-spirited fun, bringing the pleasure principle back to hip-hop". Allmusic write of "a sense of doom" in some of his songs and the NY Times note some being "laced with paranoia"; Wallace described himself as feeling "broke and depressed" when he made his debut. The final song on the album, "Suicidal Thoughts", featured Wallace contemplating suicide and concluded with him committing the act.

On Life After Death, Wallace's lyrics went "deeper". Krims explains how upbeat, dance-oriented tracks (which featured less heavily on his debut) alternate with "reality rap" songs on the record and suggests that he was "going pimp" through some of the lyrical topics of the former. XXL magazine wrote that Wallace "revamped his image" through the portrayal of himself between the albums, going from "midlevel hustler" on his debut to "drug lord".

Allmusic wrote that the success of Ready to Die is "mostly due to Wallace's skill as a storyteller"; In 1994, Rolling Stone described Wallace's ability in this technique as painting "a sonic picture so vibrant that you're transported right to the scene". On Life After Death Wallace notably demonstrated this skill on "I Got a Story to Tell" telling a story as a rap for the first half of the song and then as a story "for his boys" in conversation form.
Biopic

Notorious is a 2009 biographical film about Wallace and his life that starred rapper Jamal "Gravy" Woolard as Wallace. The film was directed by George Tillman, Jr. and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Producers included Sean "Diddy" Combs, Wallace's former managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, as well as Voletta Wallace. On January 16, 2009, the movie's debut at the Grand 18 theater in Greensboro, North Carolina was postponed after a man was shot in the parking lot before the show. Ultimately, the film grossed over $43,000,000 worldwide.

In early October 2007, open casting calls for the role of Wallace began. Actors, rappers and unknowns all tried out. Beanie Sigel auditioned for the role, but was not picked. Sean Kingston claimed that he would play the role of Wallace, but producers denied he would be in the film. Eventually it was announced that rapper Jamal "Gravy" Woolard was cast as Wallace while Wallace's son, Christopher Wallace, Jr. was cast to play Wallace as a child. Other cast members include Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, Antonique Smith as Faith Evans, Naturi Naughton formerly of 3LW as Lil' Kim, and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. Bad Boy released a soundtrack album to the film on January 13, 2009; the album contains hit singles of B.I.G. such as "Hypnotize", "Juicy", and "Warning" as well as rarities.
Discography
Main article: The Notorious B.I.G. discography
Studio albums

    * 1994: Ready to Die
    * 1997: Life After Death

Posthumous albums

    * 1999: Born Again
    * 2005: Duets: The Final Chapter


Collaboration albums

    * 1995: Conspiracy (with Junior M.A.F.I.A.)

Compilation albums

    * 2007: Greatest Hits
    * 2009: Notorious: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Awards and nominations
The Notorious B.I.G. awards and nominations
Awards and nominations
Award Wins Nominations

Billboard Music Awards

2 2

Grammy Awards

0 4

MTV Video Music Awards

1 2

Soul Train Music Awards

1 3
Totals
Awards won 4
Nominations 11

Wallace received two nominations from the Billboard Music Awards in 1995, including Rap Artist of the Year and Rap Single of the Year. The song "Mo Money Mo Problems" received several nominations in 1998, including Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the Grammy Awards; Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards; and Best R&B/Soul Album and Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video at the Soul Train Music Awards. Overall, Wallace has received four awards from eleven nominations; one award and six nominations were received posthumously.
Billboard Music Awards

The Billboard Music Awards is sponsored by Billboard magazine and held annually in December.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1995 The Notorious B.I.G. Rap Artist of the Year Won
"One More Chance" Rap Single of the Year Won
Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1996 "Big Poppa" Best Rap Solo Performance Nominated
1998 "Hypnotize" Best Rap Solo Performance Nominated
"Mo Money Mo Problems" (with Mase and Puff Daddy) Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Nominated
Life After Death Best Rap Album Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1997 "Hypnotize" Best Rap Video Won
1998 "Mo Money Mo Problems" (with Mase and Puff Daddy) Best Rap Video Nominated
Soul Train Music Awards

The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual awards show that honors black musicians and entertainers.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1998 Life After Death Best R&B/Soul Album, Male Won
"Mo Money Mo Problems" (with Mase and Puff Daddy) Best R&B/Soul Album Nominated
Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video Nominated
The Source Awards

The Source Awards were awarded by hip hop magazine The Source.
Year Nominated work Award Result
1995 The Notorious B.I.G. New Artist of the Year, Solo Won
Ready to Die Album of the Year Won
The Notorious B.I.G. Lyricist of the Year Won
The Notorious B.I.G. Live Performer of the Year Won
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u113/dirtymic07/Notorious-B-I-G-Will-Be-Honored-At-.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh235/JUAN_FRANCISCO_MENDOZA/For%20Gaia/Yu-Gi-Oh004.jpg


I like his music but not crazy about it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/22/11 at 5:46 am

British Person of the Day: Margaret Rutherford

Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. She is best-known for her 1960s performances as Miss Marple in several films based loosely on Agatha Christie's novels.

Early life

Born in Balham, London, she was the only child of William Rutherford Benn and his wife Florence, née Nicholson. Her father's brother Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet was a British politician, and her first cousin once removed is British politician Tony Benn.

Her father suffered from mental illness, having suffered a nervous breakdown on his honeymoon, and was confined to an asylum. He was eventually released on holiday and on 4 March 1883, he murdered his father, the Reverend Julius Benn, a Congregational church minister, by bludgeoning him to death with a chamberpot; shortly afterward, William tried to kill himself as well, by slashing his throat with a pocketknife. After the murder, William Benn was confined to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Several years later he was released, reportedly cured of his mental affliction, changed his surname to Rutherford, and returned to his wife, Ann (née Taylor).

As an infant Rutherford and her parents moved to India but she was returned to Britain when she was three to live with an aunt, professional governess Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon, England, after her mother committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Her father returned to England as well. His continued mental illness resulted in his being confined once more to Broadmoor in 1904; he died in 1921.

Margaret Rutherford was educated at Wimbledon High School, and, from the age of about 13, at Raven's Croft School, a boarding school at Sutton Avenue, Seaford, where she is listed, aged 18, on the 1911 census.

Stage Career

Having worked as a teacher of elocution, she went into acting later in life, making her stage debut at the Old Vic in 1925, aged 33. Her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were out of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many of the most successful British plays and films. "I never intended to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at all", Rutherford wrote in her autobiography.

Rutherford made her first appearance in London's West End in 1933 but her talent was not recognised by the critics until her performance as Miss Prism in the play The Importance of Being Earnest at the Globe Theatre in 1939. In 1941 Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit opened on the London stage at the Piccadilly Theatre, with Coward himself directing. Rutherford played Madame Arcati, the bumbling medium, a role which Coward had earlier envisaged for her.

Rutherford had a distinguished theatrical career alongside her film successes. Totally against type, she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca at the Queen's Theatre in 1940. Her post-war theatre credits included Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest again at the Haymarket Theatre in 1946 and Lady Bracknell when the same play transferred to New York in 1947. She played an officious headmistress in The Happiest Days of Your Life at the Apollo Theatre in 1948 and such classical roles as Madame Desmortes in Ring Round the Moon (Globe Theatre, 1950), Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World (Lyric Hammersmith, 1953 and Saville Theatre, 1956) and Mrs Candour in The School for Scandal (Haymarket Theatre, 1962).

Her final stage performance came in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson. Unfortunately, her declining health meant she had to reluctantly give up the role after a few weeks.

Film career

Although she made her film debut in 1936, it would be Rutherford's turn as Madame Arcati in David Lean's film of Blithe Spirit (1945) that would actually establish her screen success. This would become one of her most memorable performances, with her bicycling about the Kent countryside, cape fluttering behind her. Interestingly, it would also establish the model for portraying that role forever thereafter.

Some of Rutherford's finest screen work was done when she was in her fifties and beyond. She was Nurse Carey in Miranda (1948) and Professor Hatton Jones in Passport to Pimlico (1949). She reprised her stage roles of the headmistress alongside Alastair Sim in The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Miss Prism in Anthony Asquith's The Importance of Being Earnest (1952).

More comedies followed, including Trouble in Store (1953) with Norman Wisdom, The Runaway Bus (1954) with Frankie Howerd and An Alligator Named Daisy (1955) with Donald Sinden and Diana Dors. Rutherford then rejoined Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck and co-starred in The Smallest Show on Earth with Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Leslie Phillips (both 1957). She also joined a host of distinguished comedy stars, including Ian Carmichael and Peter Sellers, in the Boulting Brothers' satire I'm All Right Jack (1959).

In the early 1960s she became synonymous with Miss Jane Marple in a series of four films loosely based on the novels of Agatha Christie. Rutherford, then aged 70, insisted on wearing her own clothes for the part and having her husband appear alongside her. In 1963 Christie dedicated her novel The Mirror Crack'd : "To Margaret Rutherford in admiration". Christie reportedly did not approve of the 1960s films as they portrayed Marple as a comedy character and were not faithful to the original plots.

In 1963 Rutherford was awarded an Academy Award and Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the absent-minded, impoverished, pill-popping Duchess of Brighton, the only light relief, in Terence Rattigan's The V.I.P.s, a film featuring a star-studded cast led by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

She appeared as Mistress Quickly in Orson Welles' film Chimes at Midnight (1965) and was directed by Charlie Chaplin in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, which was one of her final films.

Rutherford was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.

Personal Life

Rutherford married character actor Stringer Davis in 1945 and the couple appeared in many productions together. They were happily together until Rutherford's death in 1972. Davis adored Rutherford, with one friend noting: "For him she was not only a great talent but, above all, a beauty." Davis rarely left her side. He was private secretary and general dogsbody - lugging bags, teapots, hot water bottles, teddy bears and nursing Rutherford through periods of depression. These illnesses, often involving stays in mental hospitals and electric shock treatment, were kept hidden from the press during Rutherford's life. In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis unofficially adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn Langley Simmons, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.

Death

Rutherford suffered from Alzheimer's disease at the end of her life and was unable to work. Davis cared for his wife devotedly at their Buckinghamshire home but she died on 22 May 1972, aged 80. Many of Britain's top actors, including Sir John Gielgud, Robert Morley and Joyce Grenfell, paid tribute at a memorial service, where 90-year-old Sybil Thorndike praised her friend's enormous talent and recalled that Rutherford had "never said anything horrid about anyone".

Rutherford and Davis (who died in 1973) are interred alongside each other in the graveyard of St. James Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.

Filmography

1936 Dusty Ermine
1936 Talk of the Devil
1937 Beauty and the Barge
1937 Big Fella
1937 Catch as Catch Can
1937 Missing Believed Married
1940 Quiet Wedding
1941 Spring Meeting
1943 The Yellow Canary
1943 The Demi-Paradise
1944 English Without Tears
1945 Blithe Spirit
1946 While the Sun Shines
1947 Meet Me at Dawn
1948 Miranda
1949 Passport to Pimlico
1950 The Happiest Days of Your Life
1950 My Favourite Husband
1951 The Magic Box
1952 Curtain Up
1952 The Importance of Being Earnest
1952 Castle in the Air
1952 Miss Robin Hood
1953 Innocents in Paris
1953 Trouble in Store
1954 The Runaway Bus
1954 Aunt Clara
1954 Mad About Men
1955 An Alligator named Daisy
1957 The Smallest Show On Earth
1957 Just My Luck
1959 I'm All Right, Jack
1961 On the Double
1962 Murder She Said
1963 Mouse on the Moon
1963 The VIPs
1963 Murder at the Gallop
1964 Murder Ahoy
1965 Murder Most Foul
1965 The Alphabet Murders
1966 The Chimes at Midnight
1966 A Countess From Hong Kong
1968 Arabella

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Margaret_Rutherford.gif


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/11 at 6:31 am


British Person of the Day: Margaret Rutherford

Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. She is best-known for her 1960s performances as Miss Marple in several films based loosely on Agatha Christie's novels.

Early life

Born in Balham, London, she was the only child of William Rutherford Benn and his wife Florence, née Nicholson. Her father's brother Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet was a British politician, and her first cousin once removed is British politician Tony Benn.

Her father suffered from mental illness, having suffered a nervous breakdown on his honeymoon, and was confined to an asylum. He was eventually released on holiday and on 4 March 1883, he murdered his father, the Reverend Julius Benn, a Congregational church minister, by bludgeoning him to death with a chamberpot; shortly afterward, William tried to kill himself as well, by slashing his throat with a pocketknife. After the murder, William Benn was confined to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Several years later he was released, reportedly cured of his mental affliction, changed his surname to Rutherford, and returned to his wife, Ann (née Taylor).

As an infant Rutherford and her parents moved to India but she was returned to Britain when she was three to live with an aunt, professional governess Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon, England, after her mother committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Her father returned to England as well. His continued mental illness resulted in his being confined once more to Broadmoor in 1904; he died in 1921.

Margaret Rutherford was educated at Wimbledon High School, and, from the age of about 13, at Raven's Croft School, a boarding school at Sutton Avenue, Seaford, where she is listed, aged 18, on the 1911 census.

Stage Career

Having worked as a teacher of elocution, she went into acting later in life, making her stage debut at the Old Vic in 1925, aged 33. Her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were out of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many of the most successful British plays and films. "I never intended to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at all", Rutherford wrote in her autobiography.

Rutherford made her first appearance in London's West End in 1933 but her talent was not recognised by the critics until her performance as Miss Prism in the play The Importance of Being Earnest at the Globe Theatre in 1939. In 1941 Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit opened on the London stage at the Piccadilly Theatre, with Coward himself directing. Rutherford played Madame Arcati, the bumbling medium, a role which Coward had earlier envisaged for her.

Rutherford had a distinguished theatrical career alongside her film successes. Totally against type, she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca at the Queen's Theatre in 1940. Her post-war theatre credits included Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest again at the Haymarket Theatre in 1946 and Lady Bracknell when the same play transferred to New York in 1947. She played an officious headmistress in The Happiest Days of Your Life at the Apollo Theatre in 1948 and such classical roles as Madame Desmortes in Ring Round the Moon (Globe Theatre, 1950), Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World (Lyric Hammersmith, 1953 and Saville Theatre, 1956) and Mrs Candour in The School for Scandal (Haymarket Theatre, 1962).

Her final stage performance came in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson. Unfortunately, her declining health meant she had to reluctantly give up the role after a few weeks.

Film career

Although she made her film debut in 1936, it would be Rutherford's turn as Madame Arcati in David Lean's film of Blithe Spirit (1945) that would actually establish her screen success. This would become one of her most memorable performances, with her bicycling about the Kent countryside, cape fluttering behind her. Interestingly, it would also establish the model for portraying that role forever thereafter.

Some of Rutherford's finest screen work was done when she was in her fifties and beyond. She was Nurse Carey in Miranda (1948) and Professor Hatton Jones in Passport to Pimlico (1949). She reprised her stage roles of the headmistress alongside Alastair Sim in The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Miss Prism in Anthony Asquith's The Importance of Being Earnest (1952).

More comedies followed, including Trouble in Store (1953) with Norman Wisdom, The Runaway Bus (1954) with Frankie Howerd and An Alligator Named Daisy (1955) with Donald Sinden and Diana Dors. Rutherford then rejoined Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck and co-starred in The Smallest Show on Earth with Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Leslie Phillips (both 1957). She also joined a host of distinguished comedy stars, including Ian Carmichael and Peter Sellers, in the Boulting Brothers' satire I'm All Right Jack (1959).

In the early 1960s she became synonymous with Miss Jane Marple in a series of four films loosely based on the novels of Agatha Christie. Rutherford, then aged 70, insisted on wearing her own clothes for the part and having her husband appear alongside her. In 1963 Christie dedicated her novel The Mirror Crack'd : "To Margaret Rutherford in admiration". Christie reportedly did not approve of the 1960s films as they portrayed Marple as a comedy character and were not faithful to the original plots.

In 1963 Rutherford was awarded an Academy Award and Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the absent-minded, impoverished, pill-popping Duchess of Brighton, the only light relief, in Terence Rattigan's The V.I.P.s, a film featuring a star-studded cast led by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

She appeared as Mistress Quickly in Orson Welles' film Chimes at Midnight (1965) and was directed by Charlie Chaplin in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, which was one of her final films.

Rutherford was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.

Personal Life

Rutherford married character actor Stringer Davis in 1945 and the couple appeared in many productions together. They were happily together until Rutherford's death in 1972. Davis adored Rutherford, with one friend noting: "For him she was not only a great talent but, above all, a beauty." Davis rarely left her side. He was private secretary and general dogsbody - lugging bags, teapots, hot water bottles, teddy bears and nursing Rutherford through periods of depression. These illnesses, often involving stays in mental hospitals and electric shock treatment, were kept hidden from the press during Rutherford's life. In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis unofficially adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn Langley Simmons, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.

Death

Rutherford suffered from Alzheimer's disease at the end of her life and was unable to work. Davis cared for his wife devotedly at their Buckinghamshire home but she died on 22 May 1972, aged 80. Many of Britain's top actors, including Sir John Gielgud, Robert Morley and Joyce Grenfell, paid tribute at a memorial service, where 90-year-old Sybil Thorndike praised her friend's enormous talent and recalled that Rutherford had "never said anything horrid about anyone".

Rutherford and Davis (who died in 1973) are interred alongside each other in the graveyard of St. James Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.

Filmography

1936 Dusty Ermine
1936 Talk of the Devil
1937 Beauty and the Barge
1937 Big Fella
1937 Catch as Catch Can
1937 Missing Believed Married
1940 Quiet Wedding
1941 Spring Meeting
1943 The Yellow Canary
1943 The Demi-Paradise
1944 English Without Tears
1945 Blithe Spirit
1946 While the Sun Shines
1947 Meet Me at Dawn
1948 Miranda
1949 Passport to Pimlico
1950 The Happiest Days of Your Life
1950 My Favourite Husband
1951 The Magic Box
1952 Curtain Up
1952 The Importance of Being Earnest
1952 Castle in the Air
1952 Miss Robin Hood
1953 Innocents in Paris
1953 Trouble in Store
1954 The Runaway Bus
1954 Aunt Clara
1954 Mad About Men
1955 An Alligator named Daisy
1957 The Smallest Show On Earth
1957 Just My Luck
1959 I'm All Right, Jack
1961 On the Double
1962 Murder She Said
1963 Mouse on the Moon
1963 The VIPs
1963 Murder at the Gallop
1964 Murder Ahoy
1965 Murder Most Foul
1965 The Alphabet Murders
1966 The Chimes at Midnight
1966 A Countess From Hong Kong
1968 Arabella

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Margaret_Rutherford.gif




She had a great career.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/11 at 6:37 am

The person of the day...Bernie Taupin

Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.

In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in England's music paper New Musical Express that was seeking new songwriters. Around the same time Elton John submitted samples of his work to the paper, and the pair were brought together, collaborating on many projects since.
Taupin's mother had studied French Literature and his maternal grandfather "Poppy" was a classics teacher and graduate of Cambridge University. They taught him an appreciation for nature and for literature and narrative poetry, both of which influenced his early lyrics. Taupin's upbringing also influenced his lyrics - in songs such as "Lady, What's Tomorrow?", "Your Song" and "Country Comfort". Taupin's unique blend of influences gave his early lyrics a nostalgic romanticism that fit perfectly with the hippie sensibilities of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Taupin sometimes wrote about specific places in Lincolnshire. For example, "Grimsby" on Caribou was a tongue-in-cheek tribute to a nearby port town often visited by Taupin and his friends. More famously, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was inspired by Taupin's experiences in the dance halls and pubs of his youth. More often he wrote in more general autobiographical terms, as in his reference to hitching rides home in "Country Comfort." These autobiographical references to his rural upbringing continued after his departure for London and a life in show business, with songs such as "Honky Cat" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", in which he thinks about "going back to my plough."

Taupin's most important influence was his interest in America's Old West, imbuing Tumbleweed Connection and recent songs such as "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore". When Taupin and Elton decided to write an autobiographical album in 1975, Taupin dubbed himself "The Brown Dirt Cowboy", in contrast to Elton's "Captain Fantastic."
Collaboration with Elton John

In 1967 Taupin answered an advertisement for talent placed in the New Musical Express by Liberty records A&R man Ray Williams who was searching for new talent. Elton John answered the same advert and although neither Bernie nor Elton passed the audition for Liberty Records Ray Williams recognised their respective talents and put them in touch with each other. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. The team took some time off from each other for a while between 1977 and 1979, while Taupin worked with other songwriters, including Alice Cooper, and John worked with other lyricists, including Gary Osborne and Tom Robinson. (The 1978 single-only A side "Ego" was their only collaboration of note during the period, although John/Taupin B-sides such as "Lovesick" and "I Cry at Night" were issued with the respective singles "Song for Guy" and "Part-time Love" from the album A Single Man.)

John and Taupin resumed writing together on (at first) an occasional basis in 1980, with Taupin contributing only three or four lyrics each on albums such as The Fox, 21 at 33 and Jump Up! However, by 1983's Too Low for Zero, the two renewed their partnership on a full-time basis and from that point forward Taupin was again John's primary lyricist. (John often works with other lyricists on specific theatrical or film projects such as 1993's The Lion King, which featured lyrics by Tim Rice.)

Taupin's lyrics include such tunes as "Rocket Man", "Levon", "Crocodile Rock", "Honky Cat", "Tiny Dancer", which was dedicated for his first wife, Maxine, "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "The Bitch is Back", "Daniel", and 1970's "Your Song", their first hit. Hits in the 1980s include "I'm Still Standing", "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", and "Nikita." In the 1990s, Taupin and John had more hits, including "The One", "Simple Life", "The Last Song" and "Believe." In September 1997, Taupin rewrote the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" (for "Candle in the Wind 1997") in tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

I thought it was very important to project it from a nation's standpoint. I wanted to make it sound like a country singing it. From the first couple of lines I wrote , the rest sort of fell into place


Bernie Taupin on writing the lyrics
for "Candle in the Wind 1997"

The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the John/Taupin writing style, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own and John then putting them to music, with no further interaction between the two. This however was a process that was to change considerably over the years. The process is still fundamentally the same, with John composing to Taupin's words, but the two interact on songs far more today, with Taupin joining John in the studio as the songs are written and occasionally during recording sessions.

Taupin and John had their first Broadway musical open in March 2006 with Lestat: The Musical. Taupin wrote lyrics for 10 songs (and an 11th completed non-album track "Across the River Thames") for John's 2006 album The Captain & The Kid (sequel to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy) and appeared on the cover with him for the first time marking their 40th anniversary of working together. ("Across the River Thames" was issued as an Internet-only download as a bonus with certain editions of The Captain and the Kid.) On 25 March 2007 Taupin made a surprise appearance at John's 60th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden, briefly discussing their 40-year songwriting partnership. Of Taupin's importance to their careers, as recorded on the Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden DVD, John told the audience that without Taupin there probably wouldn't be an Elton John as the public has come to know him. Taupin and John also composed several songs for "The Union," a collaboration album between Elton and his longtime hero Leon Russell released in October 2010. They have also collaborated on five original songs for the upcoming Miramax movie Gnomeo and Juliet, due out in 2011.
Collaboration with other artists

In addition to writing for Elton John, Taupin has also written lyrics for use by other composers, with notable successes including "We Built This City", which was recorded by Starship, and "These Dreams", recorded by Heart. In 1978, he co-wrote the album From the Inside with Alice Cooper. Taupin has also sat in the producer's chair, helming American Gothic for singer-songwriter David Ackles. Released in 1972, it did not enjoy big sales, but the album was highly acclaimed by music critics in the US and UK. The influential British music critic Derek Jewell of the UK Sunday Times described the album as being "the Sgt. Pepper of folk." Of Ackles' four albums, it was the only one recorded in England rather than in the United States. Taupin and Ackles had become acquainted when Ackles was selected to be the co-headlining act for Elton John's 1970 American debut at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Taupin was mentioned specifically as being one of the reasons American Gothic was selected by the writers and editors for inclusion in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 2002, Willie Nelson and Kid Rock recorded "Last Stand in Open Country" for Nelson's album The Great Divide. The song was the title track of the first album from Taupin's band Farm Dogs (see below). Nelson's album included two other Taupin songs, "This Face" and "Mendocino County Line." The latter song, a duet between Nelson and Lee Ann Womack, was made into a video and released as the album's first single. The song won the 2003 Grammy for best vocal collaboration in country music. In 2004, he co-wrote Courtney Love's song "Uncool", from her 2004 debut solo album America's Sweetheart. In 2005, he co-wrote the title track to What I Really Want For Christmas with Brian Wilson for his first seasonal album. In 2006, he won a Golden Globe Award for his lyrics to the song "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" from the film Brokeback Mountain. The music of the song was composed by Argentine producer and songwriter Gustavo Santaolalla.
Works as a performer
Solo albums

    * 1971 Taupin
    * 1980 He Who Rides The Tiger
    * 1987 Tribe

With Farm Dogs

    * 1996 Last Stand in Open Country
    * 1998 Immigrant Sons

In 1971, Taupin recorded a spoken-word album entitled Taupin, in which he recites some of his early poems against a background of impromptu, sitar-heavy music created by some members of Elton's band, including Davey Johnstone and Caleb Quaye. Side One is entitled "Child" and contains poems about his early childhood in southern Lincolnshire. The first poem, "The Greatest Discovery," which looks at his birth from the perspective of his older brother Tony, was also set to music by Elton John and included on Elton's eponymous second album, Elton John. There are poems about Taupin's first two childhood homes, Flatters and Rowston Manor, and others about his relationship with his brother and grandfather. Side Two includes a variety of poems of varying obscurity, from a marionette telling her own story to a rat catcher who falls victim to his prey. While the lyrics to Side One provide interesting insights into Taupin's childhood, the album makes for a tedious listening experience, and Taupin stated in interviews that he wasn't pleased with the results.

In 1980, Taupin recorded his first album as a singer, He Who Rides the Tiger. Although he demonstrated a more-than-adequate vocal ability, the album failed to make a dent in the charts. Taupin later suggested in interviews that he didn't have the creative control he would have liked over the album. In 1987, he recorded another album entitled Tribe. The songs were co-written with Martin Page. "Citizen Jane" and "Friend of the Flag" were released as singles. Videos of both singles featured Rene Russo, the sister of Toni, his wife at that time.

In 1996, Taupin pulled together a band called Farm Dogs, whose two albums were conscious (and successful) throwbacks to the grittier, earthier sound of Tumbleweed Connection. While Taupin wrote the lyrics, the music was a collaborative effort among the band members. Their first album, 1996's Last Stand in Open Country, received critical praise but little airplay. As mentioned above, the title track was later recorded by Willie Nelson and Kid Rock for Nelson's 2002 album The Great Divide. In 1998, Farm Dogs released its second and final album, Immigrant Sons. The album was unsuccessful despite a tour of small clubs across America.
Non-musical projects

In 1973, Taupin collected all his lyrics up through the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album into a book entitled Bernie Taupin: The One Who Writes the Words for Elton John. In addition to the lyrics from the albums, this book contained the lyrics to all the single b-sides, various rarities, and Taupin's 1970 spoken-word album. The songs are illustrated by various artists, friends, and celebrity guests such as John Lennon and Joni Mitchell. The book is in black & white except for the cover.

In 1977, Taupin collaborated with rock photographer David Nutter on, "It's A Little Bit Funny," adding text and helping chronicle Elton John's year-long, "Louder Than Concorde, But Not Quite As Pretty" world concert tour. The now-collectible book was published in hard and soft cover editions by Penguin Books. It collects the better part of one year's worth of personal adventures and memories of Elton and the band, aboard his private plane, on the beaches of Barbados, at backstage gatherings and in some quieter off-stage moments with friends (including some famous faces that Elton and Bernie met and palled around with in their travels).

In 1978, Taupin also appeared in an episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula, singing backup to Shaun Cassidy. In 1988, Taupin published an autobiography of his childhood entitled A Cradle of Haloes: Sketches of a Childhood. The book was released only in England. It tells the tale of a childhood fuelled by fantasy in rural Lincolnshire in the 1950s and 1960s, ending in 1969 as Taupin gets on the train to seek his fortune in London.

In 1991, Taupin self-published a book of poems called The Devil at High Noon. In 1994, Taupin's lyrics up through the Made In England album were collected into a hardcover book entitled, Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Complete Lyrics, published by Hyperion. However, it doesn't appear that Taupin was intimately involved in this project, as it contains multiple misspellings and outright misrenderings of the lyrics. It is also missing some of the rarities and b-sides found in the earlier collection. As with the 1973 collection, the songs are illustrated by various artists, this time in full color throughout.

In 2009, Taupin debuted his American Roots Radio with Bernie Taupin - roots music show hosted by Taupin on satellite radio Sirius XM Radio's The Loft channel.
Personal life

Taupin married Maxine Feibelman in 1971 (divorced 1976). In 1979 Taupin married Toni Lynn Russo, sister of actress Rene Russo. He and Russo divorced in 1991. Taupin married Stephanie Haymes, daughter of entertainers Dick Haymes and Fran Jeffries, on August 21, 1993. Taupin and Haymes divorced in 1998. Taupin is now married to Heather Lynn Hodgins Kidd, whom he wed on March 27, 2004, and with whom he has fathered two daughters, Charley Indiana and Georgey Devon.

Taupin has lived his dream of being a "Brown Dirt Cowboy". He moved to Southern California with then-wife Maxine in the mid-1970s; since the 1980s, he has been living on a working ranch north of Los Angeles near Santa Ynez, California, raising cutting horses. He co-owned a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles called "Cicada" with then-wife Stephanie Haymes. In the early 2000s, Taupin publicly displayed some of his paintings. He co-owned a PBR bucking bull named Little Yellow Jacket, which was recently retired as an unprecedented three-time world champion. He is a vocal supporter of gay rights.


    * List of songs written by Bernie Taupin
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd208/gotpinkfever/BernieTaupin.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii42/dwfargo/elt-ber20.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/22/11 at 6:52 am


The person of the day...Bernie Taupin

Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.

In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in England's music paper New Musical Express that was seeking new songwriters. Around the same time Elton John submitted samples of his work to the paper, and the pair were brought together, collaborating on many projects since.
Taupin's mother had studied French Literature and his maternal grandfather "Poppy" was a classics teacher and graduate of Cambridge University. They taught him an appreciation for nature and for literature and narrative poetry, both of which influenced his early lyrics. Taupin's upbringing also influenced his lyrics - in songs such as "Lady, What's Tomorrow?", "Your Song" and "Country Comfort". Taupin's unique blend of influences gave his early lyrics a nostalgic romanticism that fit perfectly with the hippie sensibilities of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Taupin sometimes wrote about specific places in Lincolnshire. For example, "Grimsby" on Caribou was a tongue-in-cheek tribute to a nearby port town often visited by Taupin and his friends. More famously, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was inspired by Taupin's experiences in the dance halls and pubs of his youth. More often he wrote in more general autobiographical terms, as in his reference to hitching rides home in "Country Comfort." These autobiographical references to his rural upbringing continued after his departure for London and a life in show business, with songs such as "Honky Cat" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", in which he thinks about "going back to my plough."

Taupin's most important influence was his interest in America's Old West, imbuing Tumbleweed Connection and recent songs such as "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore". When Taupin and Elton decided to write an autobiographical album in 1975, Taupin dubbed himself "The Brown Dirt Cowboy", in contrast to Elton's "Captain Fantastic."
Collaboration with Elton John

In 1967 Taupin answered an advertisement for talent placed in the New Musical Express by Liberty records A&R man Ray Williams who was searching for new talent. Elton John answered the same advert and although neither Bernie nor Elton passed the audition for Liberty Records Ray Williams recognised their respective talents and put them in touch with each other. The pair have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date. The team took some time off from each other for a while between 1977 and 1979, while Taupin worked with other songwriters, including Alice Cooper, and John worked with other lyricists, including Gary Osborne and Tom Robinson. (The 1978 single-only A side "Ego" was their only collaboration of note during the period, although John/Taupin B-sides such as "Lovesick" and "I Cry at Night" were issued with the respective singles "Song for Guy" and "Part-time Love" from the album A Single Man.)

John and Taupin resumed writing together on (at first) an occasional basis in 1980, with Taupin contributing only three or four lyrics each on albums such as The Fox, 21 at 33 and Jump Up! However, by 1983's Too Low for Zero, the two renewed their partnership on a full-time basis and from that point forward Taupin was again John's primary lyricist. (John often works with other lyricists on specific theatrical or film projects such as 1993's The Lion King, which featured lyrics by Tim Rice.)

Taupin's lyrics include such tunes as "Rocket Man", "Levon", "Crocodile Rock", "Honky Cat", "Tiny Dancer", which was dedicated for his first wife, Maxine, "Candle in the Wind", "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "The Bitch is Back", "Daniel", and 1970's "Your Song", their first hit. Hits in the 1980s include "I'm Still Standing", "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", and "Nikita." In the 1990s, Taupin and John had more hits, including "The One", "Simple Life", "The Last Song" and "Believe." In September 1997, Taupin rewrote the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind" (for "Candle in the Wind 1997") in tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

I thought it was very important to project it from a nation's standpoint. I wanted to make it sound like a country singing it. From the first couple of lines I wrote , the rest sort of fell into place


Bernie Taupin on writing the lyrics
for "Candle in the Wind 1997"

The 1991 film documentary Two Rooms described the John/Taupin writing style, which involves Taupin writing the lyrics on his own and John then putting them to music, with no further interaction between the two. This however was a process that was to change considerably over the years. The process is still fundamentally the same, with John composing to Taupin's words, but the two interact on songs far more today, with Taupin joining John in the studio as the songs are written and occasionally during recording sessions.

Taupin and John had their first Broadway musical open in March 2006 with Lestat: The Musical. Taupin wrote lyrics for 10 songs (and an 11th completed non-album track "Across the River Thames") for John's 2006 album The Captain & The Kid (sequel to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy) and appeared on the cover with him for the first time marking their 40th anniversary of working together. ("Across the River Thames" was issued as an Internet-only download as a bonus with certain editions of The Captain and the Kid.) On 25 March 2007 Taupin made a surprise appearance at John's 60th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden, briefly discussing their 40-year songwriting partnership. Of Taupin's importance to their careers, as recorded on the Elton 60 - Live at Madison Square Garden DVD, John told the audience that without Taupin there probably wouldn't be an Elton John as the public has come to know him. Taupin and John also composed several songs for "The Union," a collaboration album between Elton and his longtime hero Leon Russell released in October 2010. They have also collaborated on five original songs for the upcoming Miramax movie Gnomeo and Juliet, due out in 2011.
Collaboration with other artists

In addition to writing for Elton John, Taupin has also written lyrics for use by other composers, with notable successes including "We Built This City", which was recorded by Starship, and "These Dreams", recorded by Heart. In 1978, he co-wrote the album From the Inside with Alice Cooper. Taupin has also sat in the producer's chair, helming American Gothic for singer-songwriter David Ackles. Released in 1972, it did not enjoy big sales, but the album was highly acclaimed by music critics in the US and UK. The influential British music critic Derek Jewell of the UK Sunday Times described the album as being "the Sgt. Pepper of folk." Of Ackles' four albums, it was the only one recorded in England rather than in the United States. Taupin and Ackles had become acquainted when Ackles was selected to be the co-headlining act for Elton John's 1970 American debut at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Taupin was mentioned specifically as being one of the reasons American Gothic was selected by the writers and editors for inclusion in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 2002, Willie Nelson and Kid Rock recorded "Last Stand in Open Country" for Nelson's album The Great Divide. The song was the title track of the first album from Taupin's band Farm Dogs (see below). Nelson's album included two other Taupin songs, "This Face" and "Mendocino County Line." The latter song, a duet between Nelson and Lee Ann Womack, was made into a video and released as the album's first single. The song won the 2003 Grammy for best vocal collaboration in country music. In 2004, he co-wrote Courtney Love's song "Uncool", from her 2004 debut solo album America's Sweetheart. In 2005, he co-wrote the title track to What I Really Want For Christmas with Brian Wilson for his first seasonal album. In 2006, he won a Golden Globe Award for his lyrics to the song "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" from the film Brokeback Mountain. The music of the song was composed by Argentine producer and songwriter Gustavo Santaolalla.
Works as a performer
Solo albums

    * 1971 Taupin
    * 1980 He Who Rides The Tiger
    * 1987 Tribe

With Farm Dogs

    * 1996 Last Stand in Open Country
    * 1998 Immigrant Sons

In 1971, Taupin recorded a spoken-word album entitled Taupin, in which he recites some of his early poems against a background of impromptu, sitar-heavy music created by some members of Elton's band, including Davey Johnstone and Caleb Quaye. Side One is entitled "Child" and contains poems about his early childhood in southern Lincolnshire. The first poem, "The Greatest Discovery," which looks at his birth from the perspective of his older brother Tony, was also set to music by Elton John and included on Elton's eponymous second album, Elton John. There are poems about Taupin's first two childhood homes, Flatters and Rowston Manor, and others about his relationship with his brother and grandfather. Side Two includes a variety of poems of varying obscurity, from a marionette telling her own story to a rat catcher who falls victim to his prey. While the lyrics to Side One provide interesting insights into Taupin's childhood, the album makes for a tedious listening experience, and Taupin stated in interviews that he wasn't pleased with the results.

In 1980, Taupin recorded his first album as a singer, He Who Rides the Tiger. Although he demonstrated a more-than-adequate vocal ability, the album failed to make a dent in the charts. Taupin later suggested in interviews that he didn't have the creative control he would have liked over the album. In 1987, he recorded another album entitled Tribe. The songs were co-written with Martin Page. "Citizen Jane" and "Friend of the Flag" were released as singles. Videos of both singles featured Rene Russo, the sister of Toni, his wife at that time.

In 1996, Taupin pulled together a band called Farm Dogs, whose two albums were conscious (and successful) throwbacks to the grittier, earthier sound of Tumbleweed Connection. While Taupin wrote the lyrics, the music was a collaborative effort among the band members. Their first album, 1996's Last Stand in Open Country, received critical praise but little airplay. As mentioned above, the title track was later recorded by Willie Nelson and Kid Rock for Nelson's 2002 album The Great Divide. In 1998, Farm Dogs released its second and final album, Immigrant Sons. The album was unsuccessful despite a tour of small clubs across America.
Non-musical projects

In 1973, Taupin collected all his lyrics up through the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album into a book entitled Bernie Taupin: The One Who Writes the Words for Elton John. In addition to the lyrics from the albums, this book contained the lyrics to all the single b-sides, various rarities, and Taupin's 1970 spoken-word album. The songs are illustrated by various artists, friends, and celebrity guests such as John Lennon and Joni Mitchell. The book is in black & white except for the cover.

In 1977, Taupin collaborated with rock photographer David Nutter on, "It's A Little Bit Funny," adding text and helping chronicle Elton John's year-long, "Louder Than Concorde, But Not Quite As Pretty" world concert tour. The now-collectible book was published in hard and soft cover editions by Penguin Books. It collects the better part of one year's worth of personal adventures and memories of Elton and the band, aboard his private plane, on the beaches of Barbados, at backstage gatherings and in some quieter off-stage moments with friends (including some famous faces that Elton and Bernie met and palled around with in their travels).

In 1978, Taupin also appeared in an episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula, singing backup to Shaun Cassidy. In 1988, Taupin published an autobiography of his childhood entitled A Cradle of Haloes: Sketches of a Childhood. The book was released only in England. It tells the tale of a childhood fuelled by fantasy in rural Lincolnshire in the 1950s and 1960s, ending in 1969 as Taupin gets on the train to seek his fortune in London.

In 1991, Taupin self-published a book of poems called The Devil at High Noon. In 1994, Taupin's lyrics up through the Made In England album were collected into a hardcover book entitled, Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Complete Lyrics, published by Hyperion. However, it doesn't appear that Taupin was intimately involved in this project, as it contains multiple misspellings and outright misrenderings of the lyrics. It is also missing some of the rarities and b-sides found in the earlier collection. As with the 1973 collection, the songs are illustrated by various artists, this time in full color throughout.

In 2009, Taupin debuted his American Roots Radio with Bernie Taupin - roots music show hosted by Taupin on satellite radio Sirius XM Radio's The Loft channel.
Personal life

Taupin married Maxine Feibelman in 1971 (divorced 1976). In 1979 Taupin married Toni Lynn Russo, sister of actress Rene Russo. He and Russo divorced in 1991. Taupin married Stephanie Haymes, daughter of entertainers Dick Haymes and Fran Jeffries, on August 21, 1993. Taupin and Haymes divorced in 1998. Taupin is now married to Heather Lynn Hodgins Kidd, whom he wed on March 27, 2004, and with whom he has fathered two daughters, Charley Indiana and Georgey Devon.

Taupin has lived his dream of being a "Brown Dirt Cowboy". He moved to Southern California with then-wife Maxine in the mid-1970s; since the 1980s, he has been living on a working ranch north of Los Angeles near Santa Ynez, California, raising cutting horses. He co-owned a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles called "Cicada" with then-wife Stephanie Haymes. In the early 2000s, Taupin publicly displayed some of his paintings. He co-owned a PBR bucking bull named Little Yellow Jacket, which was recently retired as an unprecedented three-time world champion. He is a vocal supporter of gay rights.


    * List of songs written by Bernie Taupin
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd208/gotpinkfever/BernieTaupin.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii42/dwfargo/elt-ber20.jpg

Somehow I knew that you would chose him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/22/11 at 6:58 am

Always nice to hear one of Elton's songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/22/11 at 6:59 am


Always nice to hear one of Elton's songs.
Many of his songs are pleasant to hear

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/22/11 at 7:00 am


Many of his songs are pleasant to hear


I just listened to Honky Cat.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/11 at 8:08 am


Always nice to hear one of Elton's songs.

Yes it is :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/22/11 at 8:09 am


Somehow I knew that you would chose him.

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/22/11 at 9:10 am


:)
Daniel comes to mind.

Good choice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/22/11 at 1:47 pm


Daniel comes to mind.

Good choice.


I'm Still Standing
That's Why They Call It The Blues

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/11 at 8:01 am


Daniel comes to mind.

Good choice.

I'm Still Standing
That's Why They Call It The Blues

All good choices :)

Did I ever tell the story where I was singing "Daniel" to Daniel and when it came to the part of" Daniel is leaving tonight on the plane", he looked at me and said "no I'm not"..so cute and he's only 2.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/23/11 at 8:11 am

The person of the day...Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, photographer, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as host on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both of which aired on ABC.

Carey has appeared in several films, television series, music videos, a made-for-television film, and a computer game. He currently hosts the game show The Price Is Right and the improv comedy show Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. He is interested in a variety of sports, has worked as a photographer at U.S. National Team soccer games, is a minority owner of the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders FC and is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Carey is engaged and has written an autobiography detailing his early life and television career.
In 1985, he began his comedy career by following up on a suggestion by David Lawrence (a disc jockey friend who had been paying Drew to write jokes for David's radio show in Cleveland) to go to the library and borrow books on how to write jokes. In 1986, after winning an open-mic contest, he became MC at the Cleveland Comedy Club. For the next few years, he performed at multiple comedy clubs in Cleveland and Los Angeles. He was first brought to the national eye as a comedian when he competed in the 1988 Star Search. Carey was working as a stand-up comedian in 1991 when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His performance that night impressed Carson, who invited Carey to the couch next to his desk; this was considered a rare honor for any comedian. In that same year, Carey joined the 14th Annual Young Comedians Special on HBO and made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1994, Carey wrote his own stand-up comedy special which aired on Showtime, entitled Drew Carey: Human Cartoon, for which he won a CableACE Award for Best Writing.
Acting career
Early roles

Following on the success of his early stand-up career, he subsequently appeared in a number of supporting roles on television shows, during which he developed the character of a hapless middle-class bachelor. In 1993, Carey had a small role in the film Coneheads as a taxi passenger. Turning his attention to television, in 1994, Carey co-starred with John Caponera in The Good Life, a short-lived sitcom that aired on NBC. After the show's cancellation, Carey joined up with writer Bruce Helford (who was also a writer for The Good Life), who gave Carey a job as a consultant for the television show Someone Like Me.
The Drew Carey Show
Main article: The Drew Carey Show

After their stint on Someone Like Me, Carey and Helford developed and produced the storyline for The Drew Carey Show. The show premiered on September 13, 1995 on ABC. In his autobiography, Carey revealed his frustration with having to deal with censors and being unable to employ the off-color humor common to his stand-up routines. Carey initially earned $60,000 per episode in the first seasons, then renegotiated for $300,000. By the final season, he was earning $750,000 per episode. The show had high ratings for its first few seasons, but declining ratings and increasing production costs (around $3 million per episode) preceded its cancellation. The program had a total of 233 episodes over its nine-year run. Carey was one of four actors to appear in every episode. The show starred (in order of the amount of episodes they were in) Drew Carey, Diedrich Bader, Kathy Kinney, Ryan Stiles (all in every episode), Craig Ferguson (starring role in seasons 2-8 and guest appearances in 9), Christa Miller (seasons 1-7), and John Carroll Lynch (semi-regular from seasons 3/4-9).
Improv television
Main article: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series)

In 1998, Carey began hosting the American version of the improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? He would announce the improv guests, direct the games, and then would usually involve himself in the final game of the episode. The show ran for a total of 220 episodes from 1998 to 2006. In 1998, the New York Friars' Club made Carey the newest inductee of the group's Comedy Central Roast. His friend Ryan Stiles (who costarred in The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?) served as the roastmaster. Carey's income from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show led to his inclusion on the Forbes list of highest-paid entertainers of 1998, at 24th with $45.5 million.

For the WB's 2004-2005 prime time schedule, Carey co-produced and starred in Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, a spin-off of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. It was canceled by the WB, but picked up shortly afterward by Comedy Central. The catch on this show was that all the improv was done in front of a green screen, and then animation was inserted in post-production.

On November 18, 2010, the Game Show Network announced that Drew Carey will host a new improv show in primetime in the Spring of 2011, called Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. The shows will be filmed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in January and February 2011, and will begin to air on April 11, 2011. The show will take on the premise of Whose Line? and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show in that it features many of the same performers from both shows and they will do improv based on audience-provided suggestions.
Improv All-Stars

Carey was one of the founders of the Improv All-Stars, a group of eleven actors who perform in unscripted skits. The group joined Carey in all three of his improv shows, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, and "Drew Carey's Improv-a-ganza" and some members had major roles or guest starred on his previous shows. The Improv All-Stars travel on comedy tours, performing at comedy clubs throughout the United States. Laura Hall also reprises her role as the in-house musician.
Game show host
Power of 10
Main article: Power of 10

In 2007, Carey began hosting game shows. On April 13, 2007, Carey was selected to host the CBS game show pilot Power of 10. The show ran from August 7, 2007 to April 7, 2008 and aired twice weekly during the late summer and early fall. Each game featured contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS.
The Price Is Right
Main article: The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)

After taping the pilot episode for Power of 10, Carey was contacted by CBS about replacing the retiring Bob Barker at The Price Is Right. After initially turning down the offer, Carey announced on Late Show with David Letterman that he would succeed Barker as host of the program beginning in the fall of 2007. His first episode of The Price Is Right was taped on August 15, and his shows began airing on October 15, 2007. In response to replacing Barker as host of the game show, Carey stated:
“ You can't replace Bob Barker. I don't compare myself to anybody... It's only about what you're doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this.

When Carey began hosting, the set, theme music, and show logo were updated. Prizes previously removed at the request of Barker returned (such as leather and wool goods and foreign automobiles). During Carey's second year as host, he began to write some of the sketches used during the Showcase, which features guest appearances by stars of other CBS programs. The show also began including live performances by endorsers of musical instruments when those prizes were offered.
Other roles and appearances

Carey began appearing in commercials for restaurants in the late 1990s in Canada with The Great Root Bear, but his two-year contract with A&W Food Services of Canada was cut short in November 1998 after an episode of The Drew Carey Show featured McDonald's. As a result of his dismissal, Carey sued A&W for compensation.
Larger than life figure of Carey's head and shoulders, posted above the studio entrance.
Entrance to Sounds Dangerous! at Disney's Hollywood Studios

On April 22, 1999 at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then "Disney-MGM Studios"), part of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Carey debuted a 12-minute attraction entitled Sounds Dangerous! In the show, a camera follows Carey through a day as an undercover detective. When his video camera fails, the audience is left in complete darkness wearing earphones, following his adventure through sound cues. The attraction is presently running on a limited "seasonal" schedule.

In 1999, Carey made a cameo appearance in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "It's All About the Pentiums". In 2004, he made an appearance for Fountains of Wayne's video for "Mexican Wine" giving an introduction to the video as if it were on a stage.

On May 7, 2000, Carey's television film Geppetto debuted on The Wonderful World of Disney. The film, an adaptation of Pinocchio, included actor Wayne Brady who had joined Carey on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and a few episodes of The Drew Carey Show. Carey took singing lessons to prepare for the role.
Drew Carey featured in The Sims

In 2000, Carey was given a cameo appearance in the House Party expansion pack of the computer game The Sims. To make him appear, the Sims must throw a successful party, which causes Carey to arrive in a limo and join the festivities. Carey is a fan of The Sims series and during one April Fool's episode of The Drew Carey Show, a scene takes place completely within The Sims.

In 2001, he made an appearance in the WWF's annual Royal Rumble event. He eliminated himself after Kane made his way to the ring.

Carey provided the entertainment for the 2002 Annual White House correspondents' dinner. Once Carey completed his standup routine for the 1,800 guests, President George W. Bush, noting Carey's improv work, made a joke of his own: "Drew? Got any interest in the Middle East?" In 2003, he joined Jamie Kennedy to host the WB's live special Play for a Billion. In September 2003, Carey led a group of comedians, including Blake Clark and the Drew Carey Show's Kathy Kinney, on a comedy tour of Iraq.

In 2005, Carey appeared in three films: the animated film Robots, where he provided a voice-over for the character Crank; The Aristocrats where he retold a dirty joke along with other celebrities; and the documentary, fudge, where he was interviewed.

On June 8, 2006, Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures debuted on the Travel Channel. In this series, Carey traveled throughout Germany to photograph multiple FIFA World Cup soccer games while he immerses himself in the culture of the towns and states he visits.

In early 2008, Carey appeared in Matt Groenings The Simpsons as part of the episode 'All About Lisa' as a guest on Krusty the Clown's Krusty The Clown Show.

In September 2008, Carey began filling in as a guest DJ on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius Satellite Radio.

On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Writing
Full figure of Carey on book cover, along with the title.
Cover of Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined

Carey has routinely written throughout his career, including developing his stand-up comedy routines in his early stand-up career, and then moving on to assist in writing sitcoms. In 1997, Carey published his autobiography, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined wherein he shared memories of his early childhood and of his father's death when he was eight. He also revealed that he was once molested, had suffered bouts of depression, and had made two suicide attempts by swallowing a large amount of sleeping pills. The book discusses his college fraternity years while attending Kent State University, and his professional career up to that time. The book featured large amounts of profanity and, as the title suggests, includes multiple dirty jokes (there is one at the start of each chapter) and references to beer. The book was featured on The New York Times bestseller list for three months.
Personal life

A United States Marine, he adopted his crew cut hair style during his time in the service. Carey has had refractive surgery to correct his vision and therefore did not really require glasses (any glasses he wore in public were merely props to help the audience recognize him). However, while this was true for several years, on the May 17, 2006 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! he revealed that when he turned 40, he actually developed a need for bifocals. Carey currently lives in Los Angeles and New York City.

On October 9, 2007 Carey proposed to Nicole Jaracz. In a statement regarding the engagement, publicist Christina Papadopoulos said, "It will be the first marriage for both. No date for a wedding has been set yet. They are both very happy and excited about their future together." She has a five-year-old son, Connor, from a previous relationship. They have no children of their own. Connor has appeared on The Price is Right several times, and Drew has referred to Connor as "his son" on the air, even though he is not Connor's biological father.

Carey had coronary angioplasty in 2001, which encouraged him to change his eating habits. This led to one of his comments on a Whose Line? episode after returning from commercials being, "I'm Drew Carey, and yes, I have lost weight. Thanks for asking."

In July 2010, Carey announced that he had lost an estimated 92 pounds.
Political views

Carey is an outspoken libertarian. He has expressed his political philosophy in the following terms:

    I believe the answers to all the problems we face as a society won't come from Washington, it will come from us. So the way we decide to live our lives and our decisions about what we buy or don't buy are much more important than who we vote for.

Carey has expressed his distaste for the Bush administration's management of the War in Iraq, specifically on the September 15, 2007, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. In 2007, he made donations to Ron Paul's presidential campaign. On the September 26, 2008 episode of The Late Late Show, Carey defined "libertarian" to host Craig Ferguson as "a conservative who still gets high."

Carey has spoken about his various political beliefs in several interviews and in 1998, he led a "smoke-in" in defiance of California's newly passed no-smoking ordinance inside bars and restaurants. Carey has hosted a series of mini-documentaries called The Drew Carey Project on Reason.tv, an online project of Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank. The first episode, "Gridlock", addresses private highway ownership and was released on October 15, 2007. Other episodes discuss topics such as eminent domain, urban traffic congestion, and medical marijuana.
Sports involvement

Carey is a devoted fan of the U.S. National Soccer Team, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians. In 1999, Carey was part of the pregame ceremonies at the first game of the return of the Cleveland Browns, televised on ESPN. Carey attended the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Carey preparing for a TV broadcast at the dedication of Cleveland Browns Stadium, September 1999

On November 12, 2007, Carey became a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, who began play in Major League Soccer on March 19, 2009. On that evening in 2007, Carey raised the 12th man flag at the Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Football game against San Francisco; the Sounders and Seahawks share some partners and a stadium. He told reporters at the game that fans will have the option to purchase membership in the club and that every four years members will be able to vote out the team's general manager, in a move similar to Spanish powerhouses FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Carey is a fan of Real Madrid and of the Scottish team Rangers. In 2006 he was a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Carey has shown his support for the Indians by throwing the first pitch at an August 12, 2006 game against the Kansas City Royals. He was rewarded by the Cleveland Indians for being "the greatest Indians fan alive" with a personal bobblehead doll made in his likeness that was given to fans. Carey responded to his bobblehead likeness by saying "Bobblehead Day, for me, is as big as getting a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame."

In 2001, Carey was the first television actor to enter World Wrestling Entertainment's 30-man "Royal Rumble" match, which he did to promote an improv comedy pay-per-view at the time. He appeared in a few backstage segments before his brief participation in the match. Upon entering the ring, Carey stood unopposed for more than half a minute, but after the next entrant Kane refused a monetary bribe, Carey eliminated himself from the match by jumping over the top rope and retreated from ringside.

In 2003, Carey competed against five other celebrities in the first celebrity edition of the World Poker Tour. He placed fifth, only beating out comedian/actor/musician Jack Black. Carey won $2,000 for his charity.

On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Philanthropy
Carey smiling broadly, minus his usual glasses and in casual clothes with a green contest entry top. He is holding a camera with a long lens.
Carey at the World Cup Fest in Kaiserslautern, Germany in June 2006 while filming Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures

Carey is a supporter of libraries, crediting them for beginning his successful comedy career. On May 2, 2000, in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he selected the Ohio Library Foundation to receive his $500,000 winnings. He later went on to win an additional $32,000 on the second celebrity Millionaire, making him one of the biggest winning contestants on Millionaire who did not win the top prize. Carey also has played on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cleveland Public Library charity. In June 2007, Carey offered to donate up to $100,000 (in $10,000 increments) to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund if anybody could beat him at the video game FIFA Soccer 07 for the Xbox 360. He dared five players from both the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams to compete against him. Carey ended up donating $100,000 plus $60,000 for losing two games out of the six games he played.

In October 2009, Carey made a bid of $25,000 in a charity auction for the @drew Twitter account. He later increased his offer to $100,000 if the number of followers of his account @DrewFromTV reached 100,000 by the end of the auction. In an interview with CBS News, he announced that he would instead donate $1 million to the charity, Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation, if his follower count reached one million by December 31, 2009. In 2010, Carey became a public advocate for poor children through Children International Supporters.
Photography

Carey can sometimes be seen on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer. His images are sold via wire services under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge. He was at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2006, for his television show Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures.
Awards and honors
Carey's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * Carey won the Cable Ace Award for Best Writing for his work on Drew Carey: Human Cartoon.
    * In 1995, he was named one of the "10 Hottest New Faces of '95" by TV Guide.
    * Carey received an honorary DHL from Cleveland State University in 2000.
    * He won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Television Performer for his work in The Drew Carey Show, in both 2000 and 2001.
    * On February 21, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star can be found at 6664 Hollywood Blvd.
    * In 2004, Comedy Central ranked him #84 on its list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.
    * On June 21, 2008 Carey won second place from the Los Angeles Press Club for his feature on medical marijuana in the multimedia package category.
    * On April 2, 2011 Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, inducted by Kane.

Filmography

Carey has starred in only a few television shows and films, but also has numerous guest star appearances in a variety of other sitcoms and comedy shows.
Television work
Year Title Role Notes
1992 The Torkelsons Herby Scroggins Episode "Say Uncle"
1994 The Good Life Drew Clark
1994 The Adventures of Pete & Pete (uncredited) Veteran Episode "Grounded for Life"
1995–2004 The Drew Carey Show Drew Carey
1997 Home Improvement Road Kill specialist (Seymour 'Sy' Winterfleffin)
The Weird Al Show Himself Episode "The Competition"
Sabrina the Teenage Witch Episode "To Tell a Mortal"
1998–2007 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Host
1999 King of the Hill Hal Episode "Not in My Back-hoe"
2000 Baby Blues Himself Episode "Bizzy Moves In"
2001 WWE Royal Rumble 2001 Himself (5th Entrant)
2004–2005 Drew Carey's Green Screen Show Himself Host/Performer
2006 Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
2007–2008 Power of 10 Host
2007–present The Price Is Right
2008 The Simpsons Guest on the Krusty the Clown Show
2010 Community Ted Episode "Accounting for Lawyers"
2011-present Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza Himself Host/Performer
2011 Family Guy Himself Host of The Price Is Right
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Coneheads Taxi passenger
2000 Geppetto Mister Geppetto Made-for-TV movie
2005 Robots Crank Voice role
The Aristocrats Himself
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv236/GaryMetsBlue/drew-carey3.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/DucksJuniperLeeFan/Carey_tpir.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/23/11 at 11:52 am


The person of the day...Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, photographer, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as host on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both of which aired on ABC.

Carey has appeared in several films, television series, music videos, a made-for-television film, and a computer game. He currently hosts the game show The Price Is Right and the improv comedy show Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. He is interested in a variety of sports, has worked as a photographer at U.S. National Team soccer games, is a minority owner of the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders FC and is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Carey is engaged and has written an autobiography detailing his early life and television career.
In 1985, he began his comedy career by following up on a suggestion by David Lawrence (a disc jockey friend who had been paying Drew to write jokes for David's radio show in Cleveland) to go to the library and borrow books on how to write jokes. In 1986, after winning an open-mic contest, he became MC at the Cleveland Comedy Club. For the next few years, he performed at multiple comedy clubs in Cleveland and Los Angeles. He was first brought to the national eye as a comedian when he competed in the 1988 Star Search. Carey was working as a stand-up comedian in 1991 when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His performance that night impressed Carson, who invited Carey to the couch next to his desk; this was considered a rare honor for any comedian. In that same year, Carey joined the 14th Annual Young Comedians Special on HBO and made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1994, Carey wrote his own stand-up comedy special which aired on Showtime, entitled Drew Carey: Human Cartoon, for which he won a CableACE Award for Best Writing.
Acting career
Early roles

Following on the success of his early stand-up career, he subsequently appeared in a number of supporting roles on television shows, during which he developed the character of a hapless middle-class bachelor. In 1993, Carey had a small role in the film Coneheads as a taxi passenger. Turning his attention to television, in 1994, Carey co-starred with John Caponera in The Good Life, a short-lived sitcom that aired on NBC. After the show's cancellation, Carey joined up with writer Bruce Helford (who was also a writer for The Good Life), who gave Carey a job as a consultant for the television show Someone Like Me.
The Drew Carey Show
Main article: The Drew Carey Show

After their stint on Someone Like Me, Carey and Helford developed and produced the storyline for The Drew Carey Show. The show premiered on September 13, 1995 on ABC. In his autobiography, Carey revealed his frustration with having to deal with censors and being unable to employ the off-color humor common to his stand-up routines. Carey initially earned $60,000 per episode in the first seasons, then renegotiated for $300,000. By the final season, he was earning $750,000 per episode. The show had high ratings for its first few seasons, but declining ratings and increasing production costs (around $3 million per episode) preceded its cancellation. The program had a total of 233 episodes over its nine-year run. Carey was one of four actors to appear in every episode. The show starred (in order of the amount of episodes they were in) Drew Carey, Diedrich Bader, Kathy Kinney, Ryan Stiles (all in every episode), Craig Ferguson (starring role in seasons 2-8 and guest appearances in 9), Christa Miller (seasons 1-7), and John Carroll Lynch (semi-regular from seasons 3/4-9).
Improv television
Main article: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series)

In 1998, Carey began hosting the American version of the improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? He would announce the improv guests, direct the games, and then would usually involve himself in the final game of the episode. The show ran for a total of 220 episodes from 1998 to 2006. In 1998, the New York Friars' Club made Carey the newest inductee of the group's Comedy Central Roast. His friend Ryan Stiles (who costarred in The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?) served as the roastmaster. Carey's income from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show led to his inclusion on the Forbes list of highest-paid entertainers of 1998, at 24th with $45.5 million.

For the WB's 2004-2005 prime time schedule, Carey co-produced and starred in Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, a spin-off of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. It was canceled by the WB, but picked up shortly afterward by Comedy Central. The catch on this show was that all the improv was done in front of a green screen, and then animation was inserted in post-production.

On November 18, 2010, the Game Show Network announced that Drew Carey will host a new improv show in primetime in the Spring of 2011, called Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. The shows will be filmed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in January and February 2011, and will begin to air on April 11, 2011. The show will take on the premise of Whose Line? and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show in that it features many of the same performers from both shows and they will do improv based on audience-provided suggestions.
Improv All-Stars

Carey was one of the founders of the Improv All-Stars, a group of eleven actors who perform in unscripted skits. The group joined Carey in all three of his improv shows, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, and "Drew Carey's Improv-a-ganza" and some members had major roles or guest starred on his previous shows. The Improv All-Stars travel on comedy tours, performing at comedy clubs throughout the United States. Laura Hall also reprises her role as the in-house musician.
Game show host
Power of 10
Main article: Power of 10

In 2007, Carey began hosting game shows. On April 13, 2007, Carey was selected to host the CBS game show pilot Power of 10. The show ran from August 7, 2007 to April 7, 2008 and aired twice weekly during the late summer and early fall. Each game featured contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS.
The Price Is Right
Main article: The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)

After taping the pilot episode for Power of 10, Carey was contacted by CBS about replacing the retiring Bob Barker at The Price Is Right. After initially turning down the offer, Carey announced on Late Show with David Letterman that he would succeed Barker as host of the program beginning in the fall of 2007. His first episode of The Price Is Right was taped on August 15, and his shows began airing on October 15, 2007. In response to replacing Barker as host of the game show, Carey stated:
“ You can't replace Bob Barker. I don't compare myself to anybody... It's only about what you're doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this.

When Carey began hosting, the set, theme music, and show logo were updated. Prizes previously removed at the request of Barker returned (such as leather and wool goods and foreign automobiles). During Carey's second year as host, he began to write some of the sketches used during the Showcase, which features guest appearances by stars of other CBS programs. The show also began including live performances by endorsers of musical instruments when those prizes were offered.
Other roles and appearances

Carey began appearing in commercials for restaurants in the late 1990s in Canada with The Great Root Bear, but his two-year contract with A&W Food Services of Canada was cut short in November 1998 after an episode of The Drew Carey Show featured McDonald's. As a result of his dismissal, Carey sued A&W for compensation.
Larger than life figure of Carey's head and shoulders, posted above the studio entrance.
Entrance to Sounds Dangerous! at Disney's Hollywood Studios

On April 22, 1999 at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then "Disney-MGM Studios"), part of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Carey debuted a 12-minute attraction entitled Sounds Dangerous! In the show, a camera follows Carey through a day as an undercover detective. When his video camera fails, the audience is left in complete darkness wearing earphones, following his adventure through sound cues. The attraction is presently running on a limited "seasonal" schedule.

In 1999, Carey made a cameo appearance in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "It's All About the Pentiums". In 2004, he made an appearance for Fountains of Wayne's video for "Mexican Wine" giving an introduction to the video as if it were on a stage.

On May 7, 2000, Carey's television film Geppetto debuted on The Wonderful World of Disney. The film, an adaptation of Pinocchio, included actor Wayne Brady who had joined Carey on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and a few episodes of The Drew Carey Show. Carey took singing lessons to prepare for the role.
Drew Carey featured in The Sims

In 2000, Carey was given a cameo appearance in the House Party expansion pack of the computer game The Sims. To make him appear, the Sims must throw a successful party, which causes Carey to arrive in a limo and join the festivities. Carey is a fan of The Sims series and during one April Fool's episode of The Drew Carey Show, a scene takes place completely within The Sims.

In 2001, he made an appearance in the WWF's annual Royal Rumble event. He eliminated himself after Kane made his way to the ring.

Carey provided the entertainment for the 2002 Annual White House correspondents' dinner. Once Carey completed his standup routine for the 1,800 guests, President George W. Bush, noting Carey's improv work, made a joke of his own: "Drew? Got any interest in the Middle East?" In 2003, he joined Jamie Kennedy to host the WB's live special Play for a Billion. In September 2003, Carey led a group of comedians, including Blake Clark and the Drew Carey Show's Kathy Kinney, on a comedy tour of Iraq.

In 2005, Carey appeared in three films: the animated film Robots, where he provided a voice-over for the character Crank; The Aristocrats where he retold a dirty joke along with other celebrities; and the documentary, fudge, where he was interviewed.

On June 8, 2006, Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures debuted on the Travel Channel. In this series, Carey traveled throughout Germany to photograph multiple FIFA World Cup soccer games while he immerses himself in the culture of the towns and states he visits.

In early 2008, Carey appeared in Matt Groenings The Simpsons as part of the episode 'All About Lisa' as a guest on Krusty the Clown's Krusty The Clown Show.

In September 2008, Carey began filling in as a guest DJ on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius Satellite Radio.

On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Writing
Full figure of Carey on book cover, along with the title.
Cover of Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined

Carey has routinely written throughout his career, including developing his stand-up comedy routines in his early stand-up career, and then moving on to assist in writing sitcoms. In 1997, Carey published his autobiography, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined wherein he shared memories of his early childhood and of his father's death when he was eight. He also revealed that he was once molested, had suffered bouts of depression, and had made two suicide attempts by swallowing a large amount of sleeping pills. The book discusses his college fraternity years while attending Kent State University, and his professional career up to that time. The book featured large amounts of profanity and, as the title suggests, includes multiple dirty jokes (there is one at the start of each chapter) and references to beer. The book was featured on The New York Times bestseller list for three months.
Personal life

A United States Marine, he adopted his crew cut hair style during his time in the service. Carey has had refractive surgery to correct his vision and therefore did not really require glasses (any glasses he wore in public were merely props to help the audience recognize him). However, while this was true for several years, on the May 17, 2006 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! he revealed that when he turned 40, he actually developed a need for bifocals. Carey currently lives in Los Angeles and New York City.

On October 9, 2007 Carey proposed to Nicole Jaracz. In a statement regarding the engagement, publicist Christina Papadopoulos said, "It will be the first marriage for both. No date for a wedding has been set yet. They are both very happy and excited about their future together." She has a five-year-old son, Connor, from a previous relationship. They have no children of their own. Connor has appeared on The Price is Right several times, and Drew has referred to Connor as "his son" on the air, even though he is not Connor's biological father.

Carey had coronary angioplasty in 2001, which encouraged him to change his eating habits. This led to one of his comments on a Whose Line? episode after returning from commercials being, "I'm Drew Carey, and yes, I have lost weight. Thanks for asking."

In July 2010, Carey announced that he had lost an estimated 92 pounds.
Political views

Carey is an outspoken libertarian. He has expressed his political philosophy in the following terms:

    I believe the answers to all the problems we face as a society won't come from Washington, it will come from us. So the way we decide to live our lives and our decisions about what we buy or don't buy are much more important than who we vote for.

Carey has expressed his distaste for the Bush administration's management of the War in Iraq, specifically on the September 15, 2007, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. In 2007, he made donations to Ron Paul's presidential campaign. On the September 26, 2008 episode of The Late Late Show, Carey defined "libertarian" to host Craig Ferguson as "a conservative who still gets high."

Carey has spoken about his various political beliefs in several interviews and in 1998, he led a "smoke-in" in defiance of California's newly passed no-smoking ordinance inside bars and restaurants. Carey has hosted a series of mini-documentaries called The Drew Carey Project on Reason.tv, an online project of Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank. The first episode, "Gridlock", addresses private highway ownership and was released on October 15, 2007. Other episodes discuss topics such as eminent domain, urban traffic congestion, and medical marijuana.
Sports involvement

Carey is a devoted fan of the U.S. National Soccer Team, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians. In 1999, Carey was part of the pregame ceremonies at the first game of the return of the Cleveland Browns, televised on ESPN. Carey attended the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Carey preparing for a TV broadcast at the dedication of Cleveland Browns Stadium, September 1999

On November 12, 2007, Carey became a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, who began play in Major League Soccer on March 19, 2009. On that evening in 2007, Carey raised the 12th man flag at the Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Football game against San Francisco; the Sounders and Seahawks share some partners and a stadium. He told reporters at the game that fans will have the option to purchase membership in the club and that every four years members will be able to vote out the team's general manager, in a move similar to Spanish powerhouses FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Carey is a fan of Real Madrid and of the Scottish team Rangers. In 2006 he was a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Carey has shown his support for the Indians by throwing the first pitch at an August 12, 2006 game against the Kansas City Royals. He was rewarded by the Cleveland Indians for being "the greatest Indians fan alive" with a personal bobblehead doll made in his likeness that was given to fans. Carey responded to his bobblehead likeness by saying "Bobblehead Day, for me, is as big as getting a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame."

In 2001, Carey was the first television actor to enter World Wrestling Entertainment's 30-man "Royal Rumble" match, which he did to promote an improv comedy pay-per-view at the time. He appeared in a few backstage segments before his brief participation in the match. Upon entering the ring, Carey stood unopposed for more than half a minute, but after the next entrant Kane refused a monetary bribe, Carey eliminated himself from the match by jumping over the top rope and retreated from ringside.

In 2003, Carey competed against five other celebrities in the first celebrity edition of the World Poker Tour. He placed fifth, only beating out comedian/actor/musician Jack Black. Carey won $2,000 for his charity.

On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Philanthropy
Carey smiling broadly, minus his usual glasses and in casual clothes with a green contest entry top. He is holding a camera with a long lens.
Carey at the World Cup Fest in Kaiserslautern, Germany in June 2006 while filming Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures

Carey is a supporter of libraries, crediting them for beginning his successful comedy career. On May 2, 2000, in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he selected the Ohio Library Foundation to receive his $500,000 winnings. He later went on to win an additional $32,000 on the second celebrity Millionaire, making him one of the biggest winning contestants on Millionaire who did not win the top prize. Carey also has played on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cleveland Public Library charity. In June 2007, Carey offered to donate up to $100,000 (in $10,000 increments) to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund if anybody could beat him at the video game FIFA Soccer 07 for the Xbox 360. He dared five players from both the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams to compete against him. Carey ended up donating $100,000 plus $60,000 for losing two games out of the six games he played.

In October 2009, Carey made a bid of $25,000 in a charity auction for the @drew Twitter account. He later increased his offer to $100,000 if the number of followers of his account @DrewFromTV reached 100,000 by the end of the auction. In an interview with CBS News, he announced that he would instead donate $1 million to the charity, Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation, if his follower count reached one million by December 31, 2009. In 2010, Carey became a public advocate for poor children through Children International Supporters.
Photography

Carey can sometimes be seen on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer. His images are sold via wire services under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge. He was at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2006, for his television show Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures.
Awards and honors
Carey's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * Carey won the Cable Ace Award for Best Writing for his work on Drew Carey: Human Cartoon.
    * In 1995, he was named one of the "10 Hottest New Faces of '95" by TV Guide.
    * Carey received an honorary DHL from Cleveland State University in 2000.
    * He won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Television Performer for his work in The Drew Carey Show, in both 2000 and 2001.
    * On February 21, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star can be found at 6664 Hollywood Blvd.
    * In 2004, Comedy Central ranked him #84 on its list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.
    * On June 21, 2008 Carey won second place from the Los Angeles Press Club for his feature on medical marijuana in the multimedia package category.
    * On April 2, 2011 Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, inducted by Kane.

Filmography

Carey has starred in only a few television shows and films, but also has numerous guest star appearances in a variety of other sitcoms and comedy shows.
Television work
Year Title Role Notes
1992 The Torkelsons Herby Scroggins Episode "Say Uncle"
1994 The Good Life Drew Clark
1994 The Adventures of Pete & Pete (uncredited) Veteran Episode "Grounded for Life"
1995–2004 The Drew Carey Show Drew Carey
1997 Home Improvement Road Kill specialist (Seymour 'Sy' Winterfleffin)
The Weird Al Show Himself Episode "The Competition"
Sabrina the Teenage Witch Episode "To Tell a Mortal"
1998–2007 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Host
1999 King of the Hill Hal Episode "Not in My Back-hoe"
2000 Baby Blues Himself Episode "Bizzy Moves In"
2001 WWE Royal Rumble 2001 Himself (5th Entrant)
2004–2005 Drew Carey's Green Screen Show Himself Host/Performer
2006 Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
2007–2008 Power of 10 Host
2007–present The Price Is Right
2008 The Simpsons Guest on the Krusty the Clown Show
2010 Community Ted Episode "Accounting for Lawyers"
2011-present Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza Himself Host/Performer
2011 Family Guy Himself Host of The Price Is Right
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Coneheads Taxi passenger
2000 Geppetto Mister Geppetto Made-for-TV movie
2005 Robots Crank Voice role
The Aristocrats Himself
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv236/GaryMetsBlue/drew-carey3.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/DucksJuniperLeeFan/Carey_tpir.jpg
I only know him from WLIIA, which is a show I enjoy every time I see it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/23/11 at 1:53 pm


All good choices :)

Did I ever tell the story where I was singing "Daniel" to Daniel and when it came to the part of" Daniel is leaving tonight on the plane", he looked at me and said "no I'm not"..so cute and he's only 2.


That's cute.  ;D :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/23/11 at 1:54 pm


The person of the day...Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, photographer, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as host on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both of which aired on ABC.

Carey has appeared in several films, television series, music videos, a made-for-television film, and a computer game. He currently hosts the game show The Price Is Right and the improv comedy show Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. He is interested in a variety of sports, has worked as a photographer at U.S. National Team soccer games, is a minority owner of the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders FC and is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Carey is engaged and has written an autobiography detailing his early life and television career.
In 1985, he began his comedy career by following up on a suggestion by David Lawrence (a disc jockey friend who had been paying Drew to write jokes for David's radio show in Cleveland) to go to the library and borrow books on how to write jokes. In 1986, after winning an open-mic contest, he became MC at the Cleveland Comedy Club. For the next few years, he performed at multiple comedy clubs in Cleveland and Los Angeles. He was first brought to the national eye as a comedian when he competed in the 1988 Star Search. Carey was working as a stand-up comedian in 1991 when he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His performance that night impressed Carson, who invited Carey to the couch next to his desk; this was considered a rare honor for any comedian. In that same year, Carey joined the 14th Annual Young Comedians Special on HBO and made his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1994, Carey wrote his own stand-up comedy special which aired on Showtime, entitled Drew Carey: Human Cartoon, for which he won a CableACE Award for Best Writing.
Acting career
Early roles

Following on the success of his early stand-up career, he subsequently appeared in a number of supporting roles on television shows, during which he developed the character of a hapless middle-class bachelor. In 1993, Carey had a small role in the film Coneheads as a taxi passenger. Turning his attention to television, in 1994, Carey co-starred with John Caponera in The Good Life, a short-lived sitcom that aired on NBC. After the show's cancellation, Carey joined up with writer Bruce Helford (who was also a writer for The Good Life), who gave Carey a job as a consultant for the television show Someone Like Me.
The Drew Carey Show
Main article: The Drew Carey Show

After their stint on Someone Like Me, Carey and Helford developed and produced the storyline for The Drew Carey Show. The show premiered on September 13, 1995 on ABC. In his autobiography, Carey revealed his frustration with having to deal with censors and being unable to employ the off-color humor common to his stand-up routines. Carey initially earned $60,000 per episode in the first seasons, then renegotiated for $300,000. By the final season, he was earning $750,000 per episode. The show had high ratings for its first few seasons, but declining ratings and increasing production costs (around $3 million per episode) preceded its cancellation. The program had a total of 233 episodes over its nine-year run. Carey was one of four actors to appear in every episode. The show starred (in order of the amount of episodes they were in) Drew Carey, Diedrich Bader, Kathy Kinney, Ryan Stiles (all in every episode), Craig Ferguson (starring role in seasons 2-8 and guest appearances in 9), Christa Miller (seasons 1-7), and John Carroll Lynch (semi-regular from seasons 3/4-9).
Improv television
Main article: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series)

In 1998, Carey began hosting the American version of the improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? He would announce the improv guests, direct the games, and then would usually involve himself in the final game of the episode. The show ran for a total of 220 episodes from 1998 to 2006. In 1998, the New York Friars' Club made Carey the newest inductee of the group's Comedy Central Roast. His friend Ryan Stiles (who costarred in The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?) served as the roastmaster. Carey's income from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show led to his inclusion on the Forbes list of highest-paid entertainers of 1998, at 24th with $45.5 million.

For the WB's 2004-2005 prime time schedule, Carey co-produced and starred in Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, a spin-off of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. It was canceled by the WB, but picked up shortly afterward by Comedy Central. The catch on this show was that all the improv was done in front of a green screen, and then animation was inserted in post-production.

On November 18, 2010, the Game Show Network announced that Drew Carey will host a new improv show in primetime in the Spring of 2011, called Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. The shows will be filmed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in January and February 2011, and will begin to air on April 11, 2011. The show will take on the premise of Whose Line? and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show in that it features many of the same performers from both shows and they will do improv based on audience-provided suggestions.
Improv All-Stars

Carey was one of the founders of the Improv All-Stars, a group of eleven actors who perform in unscripted skits. The group joined Carey in all three of his improv shows, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, and "Drew Carey's Improv-a-ganza" and some members had major roles or guest starred on his previous shows. The Improv All-Stars travel on comedy tours, performing at comedy clubs throughout the United States. Laura Hall also reprises her role as the in-house musician.
Game show host
Power of 10
Main article: Power of 10

In 2007, Carey began hosting game shows. On April 13, 2007, Carey was selected to host the CBS game show pilot Power of 10. The show ran from August 7, 2007 to April 7, 2008 and aired twice weekly during the late summer and early fall. Each game featured contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS.
The Price Is Right
Main article: The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)

After taping the pilot episode for Power of 10, Carey was contacted by CBS about replacing the retiring Bob Barker at The Price Is Right. After initially turning down the offer, Carey announced on Late Show with David Letterman that he would succeed Barker as host of the program beginning in the fall of 2007. His first episode of The Price Is Right was taped on August 15, and his shows began airing on October 15, 2007. In response to replacing Barker as host of the game show, Carey stated:
“ You can't replace Bob Barker. I don't compare myself to anybody... It's only about what you're doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this.

When Carey began hosting, the set, theme music, and show logo were updated. Prizes previously removed at the request of Barker returned (such as leather and wool goods and foreign automobiles). During Carey's second year as host, he began to write some of the sketches used during the Showcase, which features guest appearances by stars of other CBS programs. The show also began including live performances by endorsers of musical instruments when those prizes were offered.
Other roles and appearances

Carey began appearing in commercials for restaurants in the late 1990s in Canada with The Great Root Bear, but his two-year contract with A&W Food Services of Canada was cut short in November 1998 after an episode of The Drew Carey Show featured McDonald's. As a result of his dismissal, Carey sued A&W for compensation.
Larger than life figure of Carey's head and shoulders, posted above the studio entrance.
Entrance to Sounds Dangerous! at Disney's Hollywood Studios

On April 22, 1999 at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then "Disney-MGM Studios"), part of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Carey debuted a 12-minute attraction entitled Sounds Dangerous! In the show, a camera follows Carey through a day as an undercover detective. When his video camera fails, the audience is left in complete darkness wearing earphones, following his adventure through sound cues. The attraction is presently running on a limited "seasonal" schedule.

In 1999, Carey made a cameo appearance in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "It's All About the Pentiums". In 2004, he made an appearance for Fountains of Wayne's video for "Mexican Wine" giving an introduction to the video as if it were on a stage.

On May 7, 2000, Carey's television film Geppetto debuted on The Wonderful World of Disney. The film, an adaptation of Pinocchio, included actor Wayne Brady who had joined Carey on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and a few episodes of The Drew Carey Show. Carey took singing lessons to prepare for the role.
Drew Carey featured in The Sims

In 2000, Carey was given a cameo appearance in the House Party expansion pack of the computer game The Sims. To make him appear, the Sims must throw a successful party, which causes Carey to arrive in a limo and join the festivities. Carey is a fan of The Sims series and during one April Fool's episode of The Drew Carey Show, a scene takes place completely within The Sims.

In 2001, he made an appearance in the WWF's annual Royal Rumble event. He eliminated himself after Kane made his way to the ring.

Carey provided the entertainment for the 2002 Annual White House correspondents' dinner. Once Carey completed his standup routine for the 1,800 guests, President George W. Bush, noting Carey's improv work, made a joke of his own: "Drew? Got any interest in the Middle East?" In 2003, he joined Jamie Kennedy to host the WB's live special Play for a Billion. In September 2003, Carey led a group of comedians, including Blake Clark and the Drew Carey Show's Kathy Kinney, on a comedy tour of Iraq.

In 2005, Carey appeared in three films: the animated film Robots, where he provided a voice-over for the character Crank; The Aristocrats where he retold a dirty joke along with other celebrities; and the documentary, fudge, where he was interviewed.

On June 8, 2006, Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures debuted on the Travel Channel. In this series, Carey traveled throughout Germany to photograph multiple FIFA World Cup soccer games while he immerses himself in the culture of the towns and states he visits.

In early 2008, Carey appeared in Matt Groenings The Simpsons as part of the episode 'All About Lisa' as a guest on Krusty the Clown's Krusty The Clown Show.

In September 2008, Carey began filling in as a guest DJ on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius Satellite Radio.

On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Writing
Full figure of Carey on book cover, along with the title.
Cover of Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined

Carey has routinely written throughout his career, including developing his stand-up comedy routines in his early stand-up career, and then moving on to assist in writing sitcoms. In 1997, Carey published his autobiography, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined wherein he shared memories of his early childhood and of his father's death when he was eight. He also revealed that he was once molested, had suffered bouts of depression, and had made two suicide attempts by swallowing a large amount of sleeping pills. The book discusses his college fraternity years while attending Kent State University, and his professional career up to that time. The book featured large amounts of profanity and, as the title suggests, includes multiple dirty jokes (there is one at the start of each chapter) and references to beer. The book was featured on The New York Times bestseller list for three months.
Personal life

A United States Marine, he adopted his crew cut hair style during his time in the service. Carey has had refractive surgery to correct his vision and therefore did not really require glasses (any glasses he wore in public were merely props to help the audience recognize him). However, while this was true for several years, on the May 17, 2006 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! he revealed that when he turned 40, he actually developed a need for bifocals. Carey currently lives in Los Angeles and New York City.

On October 9, 2007 Carey proposed to Nicole Jaracz. In a statement regarding the engagement, publicist Christina Papadopoulos said, "It will be the first marriage for both. No date for a wedding has been set yet. They are both very happy and excited about their future together." She has a five-year-old son, Connor, from a previous relationship. They have no children of their own. Connor has appeared on The Price is Right several times, and Drew has referred to Connor as "his son" on the air, even though he is not Connor's biological father.

Carey had coronary angioplasty in 2001, which encouraged him to change his eating habits. This led to one of his comments on a Whose Line? episode after returning from commercials being, "I'm Drew Carey, and yes, I have lost weight. Thanks for asking."

In July 2010, Carey announced that he had lost an estimated 92 pounds.
Political views

Carey is an outspoken libertarian. He has expressed his political philosophy in the following terms:

    I believe the answers to all the problems we face as a society won't come from Washington, it will come from us. So the way we decide to live our lives and our decisions about what we buy or don't buy are much more important than who we vote for.

Carey has expressed his distaste for the Bush administration's management of the War in Iraq, specifically on the September 15, 2007, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. In 2007, he made donations to Ron Paul's presidential campaign. On the September 26, 2008 episode of The Late Late Show, Carey defined "libertarian" to host Craig Ferguson as "a conservative who still gets high."

Carey has spoken about his various political beliefs in several interviews and in 1998, he led a "smoke-in" in defiance of California's newly passed no-smoking ordinance inside bars and restaurants. Carey has hosted a series of mini-documentaries called The Drew Carey Project on Reason.tv, an online project of Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank. The first episode, "Gridlock", addresses private highway ownership and was released on October 15, 2007. Other episodes discuss topics such as eminent domain, urban traffic congestion, and medical marijuana.
Sports involvement

Carey is a devoted fan of the U.S. National Soccer Team, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians. In 1999, Carey was part of the pregame ceremonies at the first game of the return of the Cleveland Browns, televised on ESPN. Carey attended the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Carey preparing for a TV broadcast at the dedication of Cleveland Browns Stadium, September 1999

On November 12, 2007, Carey became a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, who began play in Major League Soccer on March 19, 2009. On that evening in 2007, Carey raised the 12th man flag at the Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Football game against San Francisco; the Sounders and Seahawks share some partners and a stadium. He told reporters at the game that fans will have the option to purchase membership in the club and that every four years members will be able to vote out the team's general manager, in a move similar to Spanish powerhouses FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Carey is a fan of Real Madrid and of the Scottish team Rangers. In 2006 he was a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Carey has shown his support for the Indians by throwing the first pitch at an August 12, 2006 game against the Kansas City Royals. He was rewarded by the Cleveland Indians for being "the greatest Indians fan alive" with a personal bobblehead doll made in his likeness that was given to fans. Carey responded to his bobblehead likeness by saying "Bobblehead Day, for me, is as big as getting a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame."

In 2001, Carey was the first television actor to enter World Wrestling Entertainment's 30-man "Royal Rumble" match, which he did to promote an improv comedy pay-per-view at the time. He appeared in a few backstage segments before his brief participation in the match. Upon entering the ring, Carey stood unopposed for more than half a minute, but after the next entrant Kane refused a monetary bribe, Carey eliminated himself from the match by jumping over the top rope and retreated from ringside.

In 2003, Carey competed against five other celebrities in the first celebrity edition of the World Poker Tour. He placed fifth, only beating out comedian/actor/musician Jack Black. Carey won $2,000 for his charity.

On April 2, 2011, Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Philanthropy
Carey smiling broadly, minus his usual glasses and in casual clothes with a green contest entry top. He is holding a camera with a long lens.
Carey at the World Cup Fest in Kaiserslautern, Germany in June 2006 while filming Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures

Carey is a supporter of libraries, crediting them for beginning his successful comedy career. On May 2, 2000, in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he selected the Ohio Library Foundation to receive his $500,000 winnings. He later went on to win an additional $32,000 on the second celebrity Millionaire, making him one of the biggest winning contestants on Millionaire who did not win the top prize. Carey also has played on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cleveland Public Library charity. In June 2007, Carey offered to donate up to $100,000 (in $10,000 increments) to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund if anybody could beat him at the video game FIFA Soccer 07 for the Xbox 360. He dared five players from both the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams to compete against him. Carey ended up donating $100,000 plus $60,000 for losing two games out of the six games he played.

In October 2009, Carey made a bid of $25,000 in a charity auction for the @drew Twitter account. He later increased his offer to $100,000 if the number of followers of his account @DrewFromTV reached 100,000 by the end of the auction. In an interview with CBS News, he announced that he would instead donate $1 million to the charity, Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation, if his follower count reached one million by December 31, 2009. In 2010, Carey became a public advocate for poor children through Children International Supporters.
Photography

Carey can sometimes be seen on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer. His images are sold via wire services under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge. He was at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2006, for his television show Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures.
Awards and honors
Carey's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * Carey won the Cable Ace Award for Best Writing for his work on Drew Carey: Human Cartoon.
    * In 1995, he was named one of the "10 Hottest New Faces of '95" by TV Guide.
    * Carey received an honorary DHL from Cleveland State University in 2000.
    * He won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Television Performer for his work in The Drew Carey Show, in both 2000 and 2001.
    * On February 21, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star can be found at 6664 Hollywood Blvd.
    * In 2004, Comedy Central ranked him #84 on its list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.
    * On June 21, 2008 Carey won second place from the Los Angeles Press Club for his feature on medical marijuana in the multimedia package category.
    * On April 2, 2011 Carey was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, inducted by Kane.

Filmography

Carey has starred in only a few television shows and films, but also has numerous guest star appearances in a variety of other sitcoms and comedy shows.
Television work
Year Title Role Notes
1992 The Torkelsons Herby Scroggins Episode "Say Uncle"
1994 The Good Life Drew Clark
1994 The Adventures of Pete & Pete (uncredited) Veteran Episode "Grounded for Life"
1995–2004 The Drew Carey Show Drew Carey
1997 Home Improvement Road Kill specialist (Seymour 'Sy' Winterfleffin)
The Weird Al Show Himself Episode "The Competition"
Sabrina the Teenage Witch Episode "To Tell a Mortal"
1998–2007 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Host
1999 King of the Hill Hal Episode "Not in My Back-hoe"
2000 Baby Blues Himself Episode "Bizzy Moves In"
2001 WWE Royal Rumble 2001 Himself (5th Entrant)
2004–2005 Drew Carey's Green Screen Show Himself Host/Performer
2006 Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
2007–2008 Power of 10 Host
2007–present The Price Is Right
2008 The Simpsons Guest on the Krusty the Clown Show
2010 Community Ted Episode "Accounting for Lawyers"
2011-present Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza Himself Host/Performer
2011 Family Guy Himself Host of The Price Is Right
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Coneheads Taxi passenger
2000 Geppetto Mister Geppetto Made-for-TV movie
2005 Robots Crank Voice role
The Aristocrats Himself
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv236/GaryMetsBlue/drew-carey3.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/DucksJuniperLeeFan/Carey_tpir.jpg


I'm not crazy about him,He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/11 at 5:37 am


I'm not crazy about him,He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

How did he get inducted?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/11 at 5:41 am

The person of the day...Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and painter. He has been a major figure in music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler, and an apparently reluctant figurehead, of social unrest. Though he is well-known for revolutionizing perceptions of the limits of popular music in 1965 with the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone," a number of his earlier songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements.

His early lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social and philosophical, as well as literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, and the performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting.

Since 1994, Dylan has published three books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a songwriter and musician, Dylan has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2008, a road called the Bob Dylan Pathway was opened in the singer's honor in his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
In May 1963, Dylan's political profile was raised when he walked out of The Ed Sullivan Show. During rehearsals, Dylan had been informed by CBS Television's "head of program practices" that the song he was planning to perform, "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", was potentially libelous to the John Birch Society. Rather than comply with the censorship, Dylan refused to appear on the program.

"The Times They Are a-Changin'"
Play sound
Dylan said of "The Times They Are a-Changin'": "This was definitely a song with a purpose. I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close and allied together at that time."
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

By this time, Dylan and Baez were both prominent in the civil rights movement, singing together at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Dylan's third album, The Times They Are a-Changin', reflected a more politicized and cynical Dylan. The songs often took as their subject matter contemporary, real life stories, with "Only A Pawn In Their Game" addressing the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers; and the Brechtian "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" the death of black hotel barmaid Hattie Carroll, at the hands of young white socialite William Zantzinger. On a more general theme, "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and "North Country Blues" address the despair engendered by the breakdown of farming and mining communities. This political material was accompanied by two personal love songs, "Boots of Spanish Leather" and "One Too Many Mornings".

By the end of 1963, Dylan felt both manipulated and constrained by the folk and protest movements. These tensions were publicly displayed when, accepting the "Tom Paine Award" from the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an intoxicated Dylan brashly questioned the role of the committee, characterized the members as old and balding, and claimed to see something of himself (and of every man) in Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
A spotlight shines on Dylan as he performs onstage.
Bob Dylan, as the college yearbook lists him: St. Lawrence University, upstate New York, November 1963

Another Side of Bob Dylan, recorded on a single June evening in 1964, had a lighter mood than its predecessor. The surreal, humorous Dylan reemerged on "I Shall Be Free #10" and "Motorpsycho Nightmare". "Spanish Harlem Incident" and "To Ramona" are romantic and passionate love songs, while "Black Crow Blues" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" suggest the rock and roll soon to dominate Dylan's music. "It Ain't Me Babe", on the surface a song about spurned love, has been described as a rejection of the role his reputation had thrust at him. His newest direction was signaled by two lengthy songs: the impressionistic "Chimes of Freedom," which sets elements of social commentary against a denser metaphorical landscape in a style later characterized by Allen Ginsberg as "chains of flashing images," and "My Back Pages," which attacks the simplistic and arch seriousness of his own earlier topical songs and seems to predict the backlash he was about to encounter from his former champions as he took a new direction.

In the latter half of 1964 and 1965, Dylan's appearance and musical style changed rapidly, as he made his move from leading contemporary songwriter of the folk scene to folk-rock pop-music star. His scruffy jeans and work shirts were replaced by a Carnaby Street wardrobe, sunglasses day or night, and pointy "Beatle boots". A London reporter wrote: "Hair that would set the teeth of a comb on edge. A loud shirt that would dim the neon lights of Leicester Square. He looks like an undernourished cockatoo." Dylan also began to spar in increasingly surreal ways with his interviewers. Appearing on the Les Crane TV show and asked about a movie he was planning to make, he told Crane it would be a cowboy horror movie. Asked if he played the cowboy, Dylan replied, "No, I play my mother."
Going electric
Main article: Electric Dylan controversy

Dylan's April 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home was yet another stylistic leap, featuring his first recordings made with electric instruments. The first single, "Subterranean Homesick Blues", owed much to Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business"; its free association lyrics have been described as both harkening back to the manic energy of Beat poetry and as a forerunner of rap and hip-hop. The song was provided with an early music video which opened D. A. Pennebaker's cinéma vérité presentation of Dylan's 1965 tour of England, Dont Look Back. Instead of miming to the recording, Dylan illustrated the lyrics by throwing cue cards containing key words from the song on the ground. Pennebaker has said the sequence was Dylan's idea, and it has been widely imitated in both music videos and advertisements.

The B side of Bringing It All Back Home consisted of four long songs on which Dylan accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. "Mr. Tambourine Man" quickly became one of Dylan's best known songs when The Byrds recorded an electric version that reached number one in both the U.S. and the U.K. charts. "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" and "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" were acclaimed as two of Dylan's most important compositions.

In the summer of 1965, as the headliner at the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan performed his first electric set since his high school days with a pickup group drawn mostly from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, featuring Mike Bloomfield (guitar), Sam Lay (drums) and Jerome Arnold (bass), plus Al Kooper (organ) and Barry Goldberg (piano). Dylan had appeared at Newport in 1963 and 1964, but in 1965 Dylan, met with a mix of cheering and booing, left the stage after only three songs. One version of the legend has it that the boos were from the outraged folk fans whom Dylan had alienated by appearing, unexpectedly, with an electric guitar. Murray Lerner, who filmed the performance, said: "I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric." An alternative account claims audience members were merely upset by poor sound quality and a surprisingly short set. This account is supported by Kooper and one of the directors of the festival, who reports his audio recording of the concert proves that the only boos were in reaction to the emcee's announcement that there was only enough time for a short set.

Nevertheless, Dylan's 1965 Newport performance provoked a hostile response from the folk music establishment. In the September issue of Sing Out!, singer Ewan MacColl wrote: "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside disciplines formulated over time... 'But what of Bobby Dylan?' scream the outraged teenagers... Only a completely non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music, could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel." On July 29, just four days after his controversial performance at Newport, Dylan was back in the studio in New York, recording "Positively 4th Street". The lyrics teemed with images of vengeance and paranoia, and it was widely interpreted as Dylan's put-down of former friends from the folk community—friends he had known in the clubs along West 4th Street.
Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde

"Like A Rolling Stone"
Play sound
Dylan's 1965 hit single, which appeared on the album Highway 61 Revisited. In 2004, it was labelled the Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In July 1965, Dylan released the single "Like a Rolling Stone", which peaked at #2 in the U.S. and at #4 in the UK charts. At over six minutes, the song has been widely credited with altering attitudes about what a pop single could convey. Bruce Springsteen, in his speech during Dylan's inauguration into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said that on first hearing the single, "that snare shot sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind". In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine listed it as number one on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song also opened Dylan's next album, Highway 61 Revisited, titled after the road that led from Dylan's Minnesota to the musical hotbed of New Orleans. The songs were in the same vein as the hit single, flavored by Mike Bloomfield's blues guitar and Al Kooper's organ riffs. "Desolation Row" offers the sole acoustic exception, with Dylan making surreal allusions to a variety of figures in Western culture during this epic song, which was described by Andy Gill as "an 11-minute epic of entropy, which takes the form of a Fellini-esque parade of grotesques and oddities featuring a huge cast of celebrated characters, some historical (Einstein, Nero), some biblical (Noah, Cain and Abel), some fictional (Ophelia, Romeo, Cinderella), some literary (T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound), and some who fit into none of the above categories, notably Dr. Filth and his dubious nurse."

In support of the record, Dylan was booked for two U.S. concerts and set about assembling a band. Mike Bloomfield was unwilling to leave the Butterfield Band, so Dylan mixed Al Kooper and Harvey Brooks from his studio crew with bar-band stalwarts Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, best known at the time for being part of Ronnie Hawkins's backing band The Hawks (later to become The Band). On August 28 at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, the group was heckled by an audience still annoyed by Dylan's electric sound. The band's reception on September 3 at the Hollywood Bowl was more favorable.

While Dylan and the Hawks met increasingly receptive audiences on tour, their studio efforts floundered. Producer Bob Johnston persuaded Dylan to record in Nashville in February 1966, and surrounded him with a cadre of top-notch session men. At Dylan's insistence, Robertson and Kooper came down from New York City to play on the sessions. The Nashville sessions produced the double-album Blonde on Blonde (1966), featuring what Dylan later called "that thin wild mercury sound". Al Kooper described the album as "taking two cultures and smashing them together with a huge explosion": the musical world of Nashville and the world of the "quintessential New York hipster" Bob Dylan.

On November 22, 1965, Dylan secretly married 25-year-old former model Sara Lownds. Some of Dylan's friends (including Ramblin' Jack Elliott) claim that, in conversation immediately after the event, Dylan denied that he was married. Journalist Nora Ephron first made the news public in the New York Post in February 1966 with the headline "Hush! Bob Dylan is wed."

Dylan undertook a world tour of Australia and Europe in the spring of 1966. Each show was split into two parts. Dylan performed solo during the first half, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. In the second half, backed by the Hawks, he played high voltage electric music. This contrast provoked many fans, who jeered and slow handclapped. The tour culminated in a famously raucous confrontation between Dylan and his audience at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in England. A recording of this concert was finally given an official release in 1998, on the album The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966. At the climax of the evening, a member of the audience, John Cordwell, who was angry with Dylan's electric sound, shouted: "Judas!" to which Dylan responded, "I don't believe you ... You're a liar!" Dylan turned to his band and said, "Play it fudgeing loud!" and they launched into the final song of the night with gusto—"Like a Rolling Stone."
Motorcycle accident and reclusion

After his European tour, Dylan returned to New York, but the pressures on him increased. ABC Television had paid an advance for a TV show they could screen. His publisher, Macmillan, was demanding a finished manuscript of the poem/novel Tarantula. Manager Albert Grossman had already scheduled an extensive concert tour for that summer and fall.

On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his 500cc Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle on a road near his home in Woodstock, New York, throwing him to the ground. Though the extent of his injuries were never fully disclosed, Dylan said that he broke several vertebrae in his neck. Mystery still surrounds the circumstances of the accident since no ambulance was called to the scene and Dylan was not hospitalized. Dylan's biographers have written that the crash offered Dylan the much-needed chance to escape from the pressures that had built up around him. Dylan confirmed this interpretation of the crash when he stated in his autobiography, "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race." In the wake of his accident, Dylan withdrew from the public and, apart from a few select appearances, did not tour again for eight years.

Once Dylan was well enough to resume creative work, he began editing film footage of his 1966 tour for Eat the Document, a rarely exhibited follow-up to Dont Look Back. A rough-cut was shown to ABC Television and was promptly rejected as incomprehensible to a mainstream audience. In 1967 he began recording music with the Hawks at his home and in the basement of the Hawks' nearby house, called "Big Pink". These songs, initially compiled as demos for other artists to record, provided hit singles for Julie Driscoll ("This Wheel's on Fire"), The Byrds ("You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Nothing Was Delivered"), and Manfred Mann ("Mighty Quinn"). Columbia belatedly released selections from them in 1975 as The Basement Tapes. Over the years, more and more of the songs recorded by Dylan and his band in 1967 appeared on various bootleg recordings, culminating in a five-CD bootleg set titled The Genuine Basement Tapes, containing 107 songs and alternate takes. In the coming months, the Hawks recorded the album Music from Big Pink using songs they first worked on in their basement in Woodstock, and renamed themselves The Band, thus beginning a long and successful recording and performing career of their own.

In October and November 1967, Dylan returned to Nashville. Back in the recording studio after a 19-month break, he was accompanied only by Charlie McCoy on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums, and Pete Drake on steel guitar. The result was John Wesley Harding, a quiet, contemplative record of shorter songs, set in a landscape that drew on both the American West and the Bible. The sparse structure and instrumentation, coupled with lyrics that took the Judeo-Christian tradition seriously, marked a departure not only from Dylan's own work but from the escalating psychedelic fervor of the 1960s musical culture. It included "All Along the Watchtower", with lyrics derived from the Book of Isaiah (21:5–9). The song was later recorded by Jimi Hendrix, whose version Dylan later acknowledged as definitive. Woody Guthrie died on October 3, 1967, and Dylan made his first live appearance in twenty months at a Guthrie memorial concert held at Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1968, where he was backed by The Band.

"Lay Lady Lay"
Play sound
"Lay Lady Lay," on the country album Nashville Skyline, has been one of Dylan's biggest hits, reaching #7 in the U.S.A.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Dylan's next release, Nashville Skyline (1969), was virtually a mainstream country record featuring instrumental backing by Nashville musicians, a mellow-voiced Dylan, a duet with Johnny Cash, and the hit single "Lay Lady Lay." Dylan and Cash also recorded a series of duets, including Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings," but they were not used on the album.

In May 1969, Dylan appeared on the first episode of Johnny Cash's new television show, duetting with Cash on "Girl from the North Country", "I Threw It All Away" and "Living the Blues". Dylan next travelled to England to top the bill at the Isle of Wight rock festival on August 31, 1969, after rejecting overtures to appear at the Woodstock Festival far closer to his home.
Bob Dylan is one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, musically and culturally. Dylan was included in the Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century where he was called "master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation". Biographer Howard Sounes placed him among the most exalted company when he said, "There are giant figures in art who are sublimely good—Mozart, Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Shakespeare, Dickens. Dylan ranks alongside these artists."

Initially modeling his style on the songs of Woody Guthrie, and lessons learned from the blues of Robert Johnson, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 60s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". Paul Simon suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: " early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind' has a really strong melody. He so enlarged himself through the folk background that he incorporated it for a while. He defined the genre for a while."

When Dylan made his move from acoustic music to a rock backing, the mix became more complex. For many critics, Dylan's greatest achievement was the cultural synthesis exemplified by his mid-'60s trilogy of albums—Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. In Mike Marqusee's words: "Between late 1964 and the summer of 1966, Dylan created a body of work that remains unique. Drawing on folk, blues, country, R&B, rock'n'roll, gospel, British beat, symbolist, modernist and Beat poetry, surrealism and Dada, advertising jargon and social commentary, Fellini and Mad magazine, he forged a coherent and original artistic voice and vision. The beauty of these albums retains the power to shock and console."

One legacy of Dylan's verbal sophistication was the increasing attention paid by literary critics to his lyrics. Professor Christopher Ricks published a 500 page analysis of Dylan's work, placing him in the context of Eliot, Keats and Tennyson, and claiming that Dylan was a poet worthy of the same close and painstaking analysis. Former British poet laureate, Andrew Motion, argued that Bob Dylan's lyrics should be studied in schools. Since 1996, academics have lobbied the Swedish Academy to award Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dylan's voice was, in some ways, as startling as his lyrics. New York Times critic Robert Shelton described Dylan's early vocal style as "a rusty voice suggesting Guthrie's old performances, etched in gravel like Dave Van Ronk's." David Bowie, in his tribute, "Song for Bob Dylan", described Dylan's singing as "a voice of sand and glue". Dylan's voice continued to develop as he began to work with rock'n'roll backing bands; critic Michael Gray described the sound of Dylan's vocal on his hit single, "Like a Rolling Stone", as "at once young and jeeringly cynical". As Dylan's voice aged during the 1980s, for some critics, it became more expressive. Christophe Lebold writes in the journal Oral Tradition, "Dylan's more recent broken voice enables him to present a world view at the sonic surface of the songs—this voice carries us across the landscape of a broken, fallen world. The anatomy of a broken world in "Everything is Broken" (on the album Oh Mercy) is but an example of how the thematic concern with all things broken is grounded in a concrete sonic reality."

Dylan's influence has been felt in several musical genres. As Edna Gundersen stated in USA Today: "Dylan's musical DNA has informed nearly every simple twist of pop since 1962." Many musicians have testified to Dylan's influence, such as Joe Strummer, who praised Dylan as having "laid down the template for lyric, tune, seriousness, spirituality, depth of rock music." Other major musicians to have acknowledged Dylan's importance include John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Syd Barrett, Cat Stevens, and Tom Waits. More directly, both The Byrds and The Band, two 1960s contemporary groups with some measure of influence on popular music themselves, largely owed their initial success to Dylan: the Byrds with their hit of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and subsequent album; and the Band for their association with him on tour in 1966, on retreat in Woodstock, and on their debut album featuring three previously unreleased Dylan songs.

There have been dissenters. Because Dylan was widely credited with imbuing pop culture with a new seriousness, the critic Nik Cohn objected: "I can't take the vision of Dylan as seer, as teenage messiah, as everything else he's been worshipped as. The way I see him, he's a minor talent with a major gift for self-hype." Similarly, Australian critic Jack Marx credited Dylan with changing the persona of the rock star: "What cannot be disputed is that Dylan invented the arrogant, faux-cerebral posturing that has been the dominant style in rock since, with everyone from Mick Jagger to Eminem educating themselves from the Dylan handbook." Joni Mitchell described Dylan as a "plagiarist" and a "fake" in a 2010 interview in the Los Angeles Times, while responding to a suggestion that she and Dylan were similar since they had both changed their birthnames. Mitchell's comment led to discussions of Dylan's use of other people's material, both supporting and criticising Dylan.

If Dylan's legacy in the 1960s was seen as bringing intellectual ambition to popular music, as Dylan reaches the age of 70, he is described as a figure who has greatly expanded the folk culture from which he initially emerged. As J. Hoberman wrote in The Village Voice, "Elvis might never have been born, but someone else would surely have brought the world rock 'n' roll. No such logic accounts for Bob Dylan. No iron law of history demanded that a would-be Elvis from Hibbing, Minnesota, would swerve through the Greenwich Village folk revival to become the world's first and greatest rock 'n' roll beatnik bard and then—having achieved fame and adoration beyond reckoning—vanish into a folk tradition of his own making."
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f334/tomsunx/bob_dylan.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/bob-dylan.jpg



* You can read more on Bob in wikipedia

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/24/11 at 6:52 am


How did he get inducted?


By appearing in one Royal Rumble and getting himself eliminated by Kane.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/24/11 at 6:54 am


The person of the day...Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and painter. He has been a major figure in music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler, and an apparently reluctant figurehead, of social unrest. Though he is well-known for revolutionizing perceptions of the limits of popular music in 1965 with the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone," a number of his earlier songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements.

His early lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social and philosophical, as well as literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, and the performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting.

Since 1994, Dylan has published three books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a songwriter and musician, Dylan has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2008, a road called the Bob Dylan Pathway was opened in the singer's honor in his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
In May 1963, Dylan's political profile was raised when he walked out of The Ed Sullivan Show. During rehearsals, Dylan had been informed by CBS Television's "head of program practices" that the song he was planning to perform, "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", was potentially libelous to the John Birch Society. Rather than comply with the censorship, Dylan refused to appear on the program.

"The Times They Are a-Changin'"
Play sound
Dylan said of "The Times They Are a-Changin'": "This was definitely a song with a purpose. I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close and allied together at that time."
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

By this time, Dylan and Baez were both prominent in the civil rights movement, singing together at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Dylan's third album, The Times They Are a-Changin', reflected a more politicized and cynical Dylan. The songs often took as their subject matter contemporary, real life stories, with "Only A Pawn In Their Game" addressing the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers; and the Brechtian "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" the death of black hotel barmaid Hattie Carroll, at the hands of young white socialite William Zantzinger. On a more general theme, "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and "North Country Blues" address the despair engendered by the breakdown of farming and mining communities. This political material was accompanied by two personal love songs, "Boots of Spanish Leather" and "One Too Many Mornings".

By the end of 1963, Dylan felt both manipulated and constrained by the folk and protest movements. These tensions were publicly displayed when, accepting the "Tom Paine Award" from the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an intoxicated Dylan brashly questioned the role of the committee, characterized the members as old and balding, and claimed to see something of himself (and of every man) in Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
A spotlight shines on Dylan as he performs onstage.
Bob Dylan, as the college yearbook lists him: St. Lawrence University, upstate New York, November 1963

Another Side of Bob Dylan, recorded on a single June evening in 1964, had a lighter mood than its predecessor. The surreal, humorous Dylan reemerged on "I Shall Be Free #10" and "Motorpsycho Nightmare". "Spanish Harlem Incident" and "To Ramona" are romantic and passionate love songs, while "Black Crow Blues" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" suggest the rock and roll soon to dominate Dylan's music. "It Ain't Me Babe", on the surface a song about spurned love, has been described as a rejection of the role his reputation had thrust at him. His newest direction was signaled by two lengthy songs: the impressionistic "Chimes of Freedom," which sets elements of social commentary against a denser metaphorical landscape in a style later characterized by Allen Ginsberg as "chains of flashing images," and "My Back Pages," which attacks the simplistic and arch seriousness of his own earlier topical songs and seems to predict the backlash he was about to encounter from his former champions as he took a new direction.

In the latter half of 1964 and 1965, Dylan's appearance and musical style changed rapidly, as he made his move from leading contemporary songwriter of the folk scene to folk-rock pop-music star. His scruffy jeans and work shirts were replaced by a Carnaby Street wardrobe, sunglasses day or night, and pointy "Beatle boots". A London reporter wrote: "Hair that would set the teeth of a comb on edge. A loud shirt that would dim the neon lights of Leicester Square. He looks like an undernourished cockatoo." Dylan also began to spar in increasingly surreal ways with his interviewers. Appearing on the Les Crane TV show and asked about a movie he was planning to make, he told Crane it would be a cowboy horror movie. Asked if he played the cowboy, Dylan replied, "No, I play my mother."
Going electric
Main article: Electric Dylan controversy

Dylan's April 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home was yet another stylistic leap, featuring his first recordings made with electric instruments. The first single, "Subterranean Homesick Blues", owed much to Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business"; its free association lyrics have been described as both harkening back to the manic energy of Beat poetry and as a forerunner of rap and hip-hop. The song was provided with an early music video which opened D. A. Pennebaker's cinéma vérité presentation of Dylan's 1965 tour of England, Dont Look Back. Instead of miming to the recording, Dylan illustrated the lyrics by throwing cue cards containing key words from the song on the ground. Pennebaker has said the sequence was Dylan's idea, and it has been widely imitated in both music videos and advertisements.

The B side of Bringing It All Back Home consisted of four long songs on which Dylan accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. "Mr. Tambourine Man" quickly became one of Dylan's best known songs when The Byrds recorded an electric version that reached number one in both the U.S. and the U.K. charts. "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" and "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" were acclaimed as two of Dylan's most important compositions.

In the summer of 1965, as the headliner at the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan performed his first electric set since his high school days with a pickup group drawn mostly from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, featuring Mike Bloomfield (guitar), Sam Lay (drums) and Jerome Arnold (bass), plus Al Kooper (organ) and Barry Goldberg (piano). Dylan had appeared at Newport in 1963 and 1964, but in 1965 Dylan, met with a mix of cheering and booing, left the stage after only three songs. One version of the legend has it that the boos were from the outraged folk fans whom Dylan had alienated by appearing, unexpectedly, with an electric guitar. Murray Lerner, who filmed the performance, said: "I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric." An alternative account claims audience members were merely upset by poor sound quality and a surprisingly short set. This account is supported by Kooper and one of the directors of the festival, who reports his audio recording of the concert proves that the only boos were in reaction to the emcee's announcement that there was only enough time for a short set.

Nevertheless, Dylan's 1965 Newport performance provoked a hostile response from the folk music establishment. In the September issue of Sing Out!, singer Ewan MacColl wrote: "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside disciplines formulated over time... 'But what of Bobby Dylan?' scream the outraged teenagers... Only a completely non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music, could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel." On July 29, just four days after his controversial performance at Newport, Dylan was back in the studio in New York, recording "Positively 4th Street". The lyrics teemed with images of vengeance and paranoia, and it was widely interpreted as Dylan's put-down of former friends from the folk community—friends he had known in the clubs along West 4th Street.
Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde

"Like A Rolling Stone"
Play sound
Dylan's 1965 hit single, which appeared on the album Highway 61 Revisited. In 2004, it was labelled the Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In July 1965, Dylan released the single "Like a Rolling Stone", which peaked at #2 in the U.S. and at #4 in the UK charts. At over six minutes, the song has been widely credited with altering attitudes about what a pop single could convey. Bruce Springsteen, in his speech during Dylan's inauguration into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said that on first hearing the single, "that snare shot sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind". In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine listed it as number one on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song also opened Dylan's next album, Highway 61 Revisited, titled after the road that led from Dylan's Minnesota to the musical hotbed of New Orleans. The songs were in the same vein as the hit single, flavored by Mike Bloomfield's blues guitar and Al Kooper's organ riffs. "Desolation Row" offers the sole acoustic exception, with Dylan making surreal allusions to a variety of figures in Western culture during this epic song, which was described by Andy Gill as "an 11-minute epic of entropy, which takes the form of a Fellini-esque parade of grotesques and oddities featuring a huge cast of celebrated characters, some historical (Einstein, Nero), some biblical (Noah, Cain and Abel), some fictional (Ophelia, Romeo, Cinderella), some literary (T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound), and some who fit into none of the above categories, notably Dr. Filth and his dubious nurse."

In support of the record, Dylan was booked for two U.S. concerts and set about assembling a band. Mike Bloomfield was unwilling to leave the Butterfield Band, so Dylan mixed Al Kooper and Harvey Brooks from his studio crew with bar-band stalwarts Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, best known at the time for being part of Ronnie Hawkins's backing band The Hawks (later to become The Band). On August 28 at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, the group was heckled by an audience still annoyed by Dylan's electric sound. The band's reception on September 3 at the Hollywood Bowl was more favorable.

While Dylan and the Hawks met increasingly receptive audiences on tour, their studio efforts floundered. Producer Bob Johnston persuaded Dylan to record in Nashville in February 1966, and surrounded him with a cadre of top-notch session men. At Dylan's insistence, Robertson and Kooper came down from New York City to play on the sessions. The Nashville sessions produced the double-album Blonde on Blonde (1966), featuring what Dylan later called "that thin wild mercury sound". Al Kooper described the album as "taking two cultures and smashing them together with a huge explosion": the musical world of Nashville and the world of the "quintessential New York hipster" Bob Dylan.

On November 22, 1965, Dylan secretly married 25-year-old former model Sara Lownds. Some of Dylan's friends (including Ramblin' Jack Elliott) claim that, in conversation immediately after the event, Dylan denied that he was married. Journalist Nora Ephron first made the news public in the New York Post in February 1966 with the headline "Hush! Bob Dylan is wed."

Dylan undertook a world tour of Australia and Europe in the spring of 1966. Each show was split into two parts. Dylan performed solo during the first half, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. In the second half, backed by the Hawks, he played high voltage electric music. This contrast provoked many fans, who jeered and slow handclapped. The tour culminated in a famously raucous confrontation between Dylan and his audience at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in England. A recording of this concert was finally given an official release in 1998, on the album The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966. At the climax of the evening, a member of the audience, John Cordwell, who was angry with Dylan's electric sound, shouted: "Judas!" to which Dylan responded, "I don't believe you ... You're a liar!" Dylan turned to his band and said, "Play it fudgeing loud!" and they launched into the final song of the night with gusto—"Like a Rolling Stone."
Motorcycle accident and reclusion

After his European tour, Dylan returned to New York, but the pressures on him increased. ABC Television had paid an advance for a TV show they could screen. His publisher, Macmillan, was demanding a finished manuscript of the poem/novel Tarantula. Manager Albert Grossman had already scheduled an extensive concert tour for that summer and fall.

On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his 500cc Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle on a road near his home in Woodstock, New York, throwing him to the ground. Though the extent of his injuries were never fully disclosed, Dylan said that he broke several vertebrae in his neck. Mystery still surrounds the circumstances of the accident since no ambulance was called to the scene and Dylan was not hospitalized. Dylan's biographers have written that the crash offered Dylan the much-needed chance to escape from the pressures that had built up around him. Dylan confirmed this interpretation of the crash when he stated in his autobiography, "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race." In the wake of his accident, Dylan withdrew from the public and, apart from a few select appearances, did not tour again for eight years.

Once Dylan was well enough to resume creative work, he began editing film footage of his 1966 tour for Eat the Document, a rarely exhibited follow-up to Dont Look Back. A rough-cut was shown to ABC Television and was promptly rejected as incomprehensible to a mainstream audience. In 1967 he began recording music with the Hawks at his home and in the basement of the Hawks' nearby house, called "Big Pink". These songs, initially compiled as demos for other artists to record, provided hit singles for Julie Driscoll ("This Wheel's on Fire"), The Byrds ("You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Nothing Was Delivered"), and Manfred Mann ("Mighty Quinn"). Columbia belatedly released selections from them in 1975 as The Basement Tapes. Over the years, more and more of the songs recorded by Dylan and his band in 1967 appeared on various bootleg recordings, culminating in a five-CD bootleg set titled The Genuine Basement Tapes, containing 107 songs and alternate takes. In the coming months, the Hawks recorded the album Music from Big Pink using songs they first worked on in their basement in Woodstock, and renamed themselves The Band, thus beginning a long and successful recording and performing career of their own.

In October and November 1967, Dylan returned to Nashville. Back in the recording studio after a 19-month break, he was accompanied only by Charlie McCoy on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums, and Pete Drake on steel guitar. The result was John Wesley Harding, a quiet, contemplative record of shorter songs, set in a landscape that drew on both the American West and the Bible. The sparse structure and instrumentation, coupled with lyrics that took the Judeo-Christian tradition seriously, marked a departure not only from Dylan's own work but from the escalating psychedelic fervor of the 1960s musical culture. It included "All Along the Watchtower", with lyrics derived from the Book of Isaiah (21:5–9). The song was later recorded by Jimi Hendrix, whose version Dylan later acknowledged as definitive. Woody Guthrie died on October 3, 1967, and Dylan made his first live appearance in twenty months at a Guthrie memorial concert held at Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1968, where he was backed by The Band.

"Lay Lady Lay"
Play sound
"Lay Lady Lay," on the country album Nashville Skyline, has been one of Dylan's biggest hits, reaching #7 in the U.S.A.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Dylan's next release, Nashville Skyline (1969), was virtually a mainstream country record featuring instrumental backing by Nashville musicians, a mellow-voiced Dylan, a duet with Johnny Cash, and the hit single "Lay Lady Lay." Dylan and Cash also recorded a series of duets, including Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings," but they were not used on the album.

In May 1969, Dylan appeared on the first episode of Johnny Cash's new television show, duetting with Cash on "Girl from the North Country", "I Threw It All Away" and "Living the Blues". Dylan next travelled to England to top the bill at the Isle of Wight rock festival on August 31, 1969, after rejecting overtures to appear at the Woodstock Festival far closer to his home.
Bob Dylan is one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, musically and culturally. Dylan was included in the Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century where he was called "master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation". Biographer Howard Sounes placed him among the most exalted company when he said, "There are giant figures in art who are sublimely good—Mozart, Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Shakespeare, Dickens. Dylan ranks alongside these artists."

Initially modeling his style on the songs of Woody Guthrie, and lessons learned from the blues of Robert Johnson, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 60s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". Paul Simon suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: " early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind' has a really strong melody. He so enlarged himself through the folk background that he incorporated it for a while. He defined the genre for a while."

When Dylan made his move from acoustic music to a rock backing, the mix became more complex. For many critics, Dylan's greatest achievement was the cultural synthesis exemplified by his mid-'60s trilogy of albums—Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. In Mike Marqusee's words: "Between late 1964 and the summer of 1966, Dylan created a body of work that remains unique. Drawing on folk, blues, country, R&B, rock'n'roll, gospel, British beat, symbolist, modernist and Beat poetry, surrealism and Dada, advertising jargon and social commentary, Fellini and Mad magazine, he forged a coherent and original artistic voice and vision. The beauty of these albums retains the power to shock and console."

One legacy of Dylan's verbal sophistication was the increasing attention paid by literary critics to his lyrics. Professor Christopher Ricks published a 500 page analysis of Dylan's work, placing him in the context of Eliot, Keats and Tennyson, and claiming that Dylan was a poet worthy of the same close and painstaking analysis. Former British poet laureate, Andrew Motion, argued that Bob Dylan's lyrics should be studied in schools. Since 1996, academics have lobbied the Swedish Academy to award Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dylan's voice was, in some ways, as startling as his lyrics. New York Times critic Robert Shelton described Dylan's early vocal style as "a rusty voice suggesting Guthrie's old performances, etched in gravel like Dave Van Ronk's." David Bowie, in his tribute, "Song for Bob Dylan", described Dylan's singing as "a voice of sand and glue". Dylan's voice continued to develop as he began to work with rock'n'roll backing bands; critic Michael Gray described the sound of Dylan's vocal on his hit single, "Like a Rolling Stone", as "at once young and jeeringly cynical". As Dylan's voice aged during the 1980s, for some critics, it became more expressive. Christophe Lebold writes in the journal Oral Tradition, "Dylan's more recent broken voice enables him to present a world view at the sonic surface of the songs—this voice carries us across the landscape of a broken, fallen world. The anatomy of a broken world in "Everything is Broken" (on the album Oh Mercy) is but an example of how the thematic concern with all things broken is grounded in a concrete sonic reality."

Dylan's influence has been felt in several musical genres. As Edna Gundersen stated in USA Today: "Dylan's musical DNA has informed nearly every simple twist of pop since 1962." Many musicians have testified to Dylan's influence, such as Joe Strummer, who praised Dylan as having "laid down the template for lyric, tune, seriousness, spirituality, depth of rock music." Other major musicians to have acknowledged Dylan's importance include John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Syd Barrett, Cat Stevens, and Tom Waits. More directly, both The Byrds and The Band, two 1960s contemporary groups with some measure of influence on popular music themselves, largely owed their initial success to Dylan: the Byrds with their hit of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and subsequent album; and the Band for their association with him on tour in 1966, on retreat in Woodstock, and on their debut album featuring three previously unreleased Dylan songs.

There have been dissenters. Because Dylan was widely credited with imbuing pop culture with a new seriousness, the critic Nik Cohn objected: "I can't take the vision of Dylan as seer, as teenage messiah, as everything else he's been worshipped as. The way I see him, he's a minor talent with a major gift for self-hype." Similarly, Australian critic Jack Marx credited Dylan with changing the persona of the rock star: "What cannot be disputed is that Dylan invented the arrogant, faux-cerebral posturing that has been the dominant style in rock since, with everyone from Mick Jagger to Eminem educating themselves from the Dylan handbook." Joni Mitchell described Dylan as a "plagiarist" and a "fake" in a 2010 interview in the Los Angeles Times, while responding to a suggestion that she and Dylan were similar since they had both changed their birthnames. Mitchell's comment led to discussions of Dylan's use of other people's material, both supporting and criticising Dylan.

If Dylan's legacy in the 1960s was seen as bringing intellectual ambition to popular music, as Dylan reaches the age of 70, he is described as a figure who has greatly expanded the folk culture from which he initially emerged. As J. Hoberman wrote in The Village Voice, "Elvis might never have been born, but someone else would surely have brought the world rock 'n' roll. No such logic accounts for Bob Dylan. No iron law of history demanded that a would-be Elvis from Hibbing, Minnesota, would swerve through the Greenwich Village folk revival to become the world's first and greatest rock 'n' roll beatnik bard and then—having achieved fame and adoration beyond reckoning—vanish into a folk tradition of his own making."
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f334/tomsunx/bob_dylan.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/bob-dylan.jpg



* You can read more on Bob in wikipedia


I remember when he was with The Traveling Wilburys.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/24/11 at 10:51 am

There is a rumor that Bob Dylan may be getting back together again.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/24/11 at 11:42 am


I remember when he was with The Traveling Wilburys.
Great band, I should have the album somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/24/11 at 12:45 pm


By appearing in one Royal Rumble and getting himself eliminated by Kane.

That's it..I'm sure their are wrestlers out there who have wrestled for years that aren't even inducted. >:(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/24/11 at 7:54 pm


That's it..I'm sure their are wrestlers out there who have wrestled for years that aren't even inducted. >:(


I agree Ninny I agree Randy Savage should've been inducted instead of Drew Carey. ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/24/11 at 7:55 pm


There is a rumor that Bob Dylan may be getting back together again.



Cat


The Traveling Wilburys? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/25/11 at 5:39 am

The person of the day...Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American recording artist, musician, producer and actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The recording earned Hill five Grammy Awards, including the coveted Album of the Year and Best New Artist.

Following the success of her debut album, Hill largely dropped out of public view, in part due to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. After a four-year hiatus, she released MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, a live recording of "deeply personal songs" performed mostly solo with an acoustic guitar. In more recent years, Lauryn Hill has recorded songs for soundtracks and mixtapes, as well as performing live at several music festivals. To date, she still avoids publicity, and is the mother of five children with Rohan Marley, the fourth son of reggae musician Bob Marley.
The Refugee Camp ("Fugees") formed after Prakazrel "Pras" Michel approached Hill in high school about joining a music group he was creating. Soon after, she met Michel's cousin and fellow Haïtian, Wyclef Jean. At some point, Hill was nicknamed "L Boogie", as she began to convert her poetic writing into rap verses. Hill's singing gained worldwide acclaim with the Fugees' remake of "Killing Me Softly with His Song", accompanied by a sample from Rotary Connection's "Memory Band".

The Fugees' first album, Blunted on Reality, peaked at #49 on the U.S. Hot 100. The album sold over two million copies worldwide. Blunted on Reality was followed by The Score, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album that established two of the three Fugees as international rap stars. Singles from The Score include "Ready or Not", "Fu-Gee-La", "No Woman, No Cry" (made famous by Bob Marley), and "Killing Me Softly" (made famous by Roberta Flack).
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

In 1996, Hill began production on an album that would eventually become The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The title was inspired by The Mis-Education of the Negro book by Carter G. Woodson and The Education of Sonny Carson, a film and autobiographical novel. The album featured contributions from D'Angelo, Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige and a then-unknown John Legend. Songs for the album were largely written in an attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey and recorded at Chung King Studios in Jamaica. Wyclef Jean initially did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered his production help; Hill turned him down. Several songs on the album concerned her frustrations with The Fugees; "I Used to Love Him" dealt with the break-down of the relationship between Hill and Wyclef Jean. "To Zion" spoke about her decision to have her first baby, even though many at the time encouraged her to abort the pregnancy so as to not interfere with her blossoming career.

The Miseducation contained several interludes of a teacher speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children; in fact, the "teacher" was played by Ras Baraka (a poet, educator and politician) speaking to a group of kids in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home. The singer requested that Baraka speak to the children about the concept of love, and he improvised the lecture. Though The Miseducation was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold and Johari Newton), there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing," wherein all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, when Hill was asked about providing contracts or documentation to the musicians, she replied, "We all love each other. This ain't about documents. This is blessed." Hill, her management, and her record label were sued in 1998 by New Ark, claiming to be the primary songwriters on two tracks, and major contributors on several others. The suit was settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported $5 million.

In 1998, Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was both critically and commercially successful. It sold over 423,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for four weeks and the Billboard R&B Album chart for six weeks; it would go on to sell more than 18 million copies over the next decade. The first single off the album was "Lost Ones" (US #27), released in Spring 1998. The second was "Doo Wop (That Thing)", which reached #1 in the Billboard charts. Other singles released in support of the album were "Ex-Factor" (US #21), "Everything Is Everything" (US #35), and "To Zion". At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated 10 times, becoming the first woman ever to be nominated 10 times in one year: Hill won five Grammys including Album of the Year (beating Madonna's critically acclaimed Ray of Light and Shania Twain's bestselling Come on Over), Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Hill set a new record in the industry, becoming the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Between 1998 and 1999, Hill earned $25 million from record sales and touring.

Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time to Esquire to Teen People vied to put her on the cover. In the late 1990s, Hill was noted by some as a humanitarian. In 1996 she received an Essence Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999 Ebony named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She was named with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10 For Tomorrow," in the EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue.
Self-Imposed Exile and MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2000–2003)

After the release of her debut album, she explored other methods of expressing herself, including creating an extensive amount of music, poetry, and clothing designs. She started writing a screenplay about the life of Bob Marley, in which she planned to act as his wife Rita. She also began producing a romantic comedy about soul food with a working title of Sauce, and accepted a starring role in the film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved; she later dropped out of both projects due to pregnancy. Hill became dissatisfied with the music industry; she felt she was being unfairly controlled by her record label, and disliked being unable "to go to the grocery store without makeup." She fired her management team and began attending Bible study classes five days a week; she also stopped doing interviews, watching television and listening to music. She started associating with a "spiritual adviser" named Brother Anthony. Some familiar with Hill believe Anthony more resembled a cult leader than a spiritual advisor, and thought his guidance probably inspired much of Hill's more controversial public behavior.

"There were a number of different reasons. But partly, the support system that I needed was not necessarily in place. There were things about myself, personal-growth things, that I had to go through in order to feel like it was worth it. In fact, as musicians and artists, it's important we have an environment — and I guess when I say environment, I really mean the industry, that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes, the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society, or at least some aspect of society. And it's important that people be given the time that they need to go through, to grow, so that the consciousness level of the general public is properly affected. Oftentimes, I think people are forced to make decisions prematurely. And then that sound radiates."
- Hill talks about why she left music.

In 2000, she dropped out of the public eye. She described this period of her life to Essence: "People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at that time… I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable about having to smile in someone's face when I really didn't like them or even know them well enough to like them." She also spoke about her emotional crisis, saying, "For two or three years I was away from all social interaction. It was a very introspective time because I had to confront my fears and master every demonic thought about inferiority, about insecurity or the fear of being black, young and gifted in this western culture." She went on to say that she had to fight to retain her identity, and was forced "to deal with folks who weren't happy about that."

On July 21, 2001, Hill unveiled her new material to a small crowd, for a taping of an MTV Unplugged special. An album of the concert, titled MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, focused on the lyrics and the message rather than the musical arrangements. "Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need", she said during the concert. "I've just retired from the fantasy part." Most of the songs featured only an acoustic guitar and her voice, somewhat raspy from rehearsal on the day before the recording. Hill used the set as an opportunity to give information on why she had been absent from the public for a period of time and what she had found while away. Unlike the near-unanimous praise of The Miseducation, 2.0 sharply divided critics. AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the recording "is the unfinished, unflinching presentation of ideas and of a person. It may not be a proper follow-up to her first album, but it is fascinating." Rolling Stone called the album "a public breakdown". Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote, "Hill's guitarwork is multi-textured and fine-tuned but her vocals lack confidence and seem to toe the edge of her range throughout the album. And though the stripped-down nature of the show is fitting, many of the songs sound as if they are still in their infancy." Despite the mixed reviews, 2.0 debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum four weeks after its release. Despite Hill's departure from the media and celebrity, she continued to have some success in the music world. Her song "Mystery of Iniquity" was nominated for a Grammy without promotion or radio airplay and used as an interpolation by hip-hop producer/song-writer Kanye West for his single "All Falls Down" (eventually recorded by Syleena Johnson).
Vatican controversy

On December 13, 2003, Hill made headlines by denouncing "corruption, exploitation, and abuses" in reference to the molestation of boys by Catholic priests in the United States and the cover-up of offenses by Catholic Church officials. The statements were made during a performance at a Christmas benefit concert at the Vatican. Reading from a prepared statement, Hill told the crowd of 7,500:
“ I am sorry if I am about to offend some of you. I did not accept my invitation to celebrate with you the birth of Christ. Instead I ask you why you are not in mourning for Him in this place? I want to ask you, what have you got to say about the lives you have broken? What about the families who were expecting God and instead were cheated by the Devil? Who feels sorry for them, the men, women and children damaged psychologically, emotionally and mentally by the sexual perversions and abuse carried out by the people they believed in? Holy God is a witness to the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy. There is no acceptable excuse to defend the church."

Hill called on the church leaders to "repent" and encouraged the crowd to "not seek blessings from man but from God." She then performed the songs "Damnable Heresies" and "Social Drugs". High-ranking church officials in attendance included Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Monsignor Rino Fisichella and Cardinal Edmund Szoka. Pope John Paul II was not present. The segment was cut from the television broadcast. Both the Vatican and Columbia Records refused to issue official statements regarding Hill's actions. Monsignor Fisichella told reporters that Hill had acted "in poor taste and very bad mannered. It showed a complete lack of respect for her invitation and for the place where she had been invited to perform". The Catholic League called Hill "pathologically miserable" and claimed her career is "in decline". Hill responded to the controversy on December 16: "What I said was the truth. Is telling the truth bad manners? What I asked was the church to repent for what has happened." The following day, several reporters suggested that Hill's comments at the Vatican may have been influenced by her "advisor" Brother Anthony.
Short-lived return of the Fugees (2004–2006)

The Fugees performed on September 18, 2004 at Dave Chappelle's Block Party in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. They headlined a bill that included a star-studded cast of hip-hop celebrities. The concert featured Hill's nearly a cappella rendition of "Killing Me Softly". The event was recorded by director Michel Gondry and was released on March 3, 2006 to mostly positive reviews. In 2005, she told an interviewer that "The Fugees was a conspiracy to control, to manipulate and to encourage dependence. I took a lot of abuse that many people would not have taken in these circumstances." The Fugees also appeared at BET's 2005 Music Awards on June 28, 2005, where they opened the show with a 12-minute set. One track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and thereafter was released as an internet single on September 27, 2005. It peaked at #40 on the Billboard R&B Chart. The song was mostly panned by critics, as The Village Voice wrote, "Turns out that a Fugees reunion wasn't really what anyone was waiting for; we just wanted Lauryn to start rapping again."

"I'm trying to open up my range and really sing more. With The Fugees initially, and even with Miseducation, it was very hip-hop — always a singing over beats. I don't think people have really heard me sing out. So if I do record again, perhaps it will have an expanded context. Where people can hear a bit more."
- Hill talks about her work with The Fugees.

The Fugees embarked on a European tour from November 30, 2005 through December 20, 2005. The group played in Austria, Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, England, Ireland and Switzerland. On February 6, 2006, the Fugees did a special "Reunion Concert" in Hollywood, that was offered as a live webcast on the Verizon Wireless website. The Fugees were featured in numerous Verizon Wireless VCast advertisements in magazines and on TV around that same time. A new song titled "Foxy" was made available on VCast and a third new song was leaked, unofficially titled "Wannabe", which uses the same hook as the Michael Jackson song "I Wanna Be Where You Are". Old tensions between Hill and the other members of the group soon resurfaced, and the reunion fizzled before an album could be recorded. Jean and Michel both blamed Hill for the split. Hill reportedly demanded to be addressed by everyone, including her bandmates, as "Ms. Hill"; she also considered changing her moniker to "Empress". Her chronic tardiness — sometimes stalling up to 45 minutes after the two had taken the stage to join them — has been cited as another contributing factor to the break up. Michel told the press in August 2007, "Before I work with Lauryn Hill again, you will have a better chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing foreign policies… At this point I really think it will take an act of God to change her, because she is that far out there."
2004–2009

Hill has been slowly working on a new album and in November 2004 shot a music video. The album had a slated street date of November 2005, and neither it nor the music video have been released. It was also reported that as of 2003, Columbia Records had spent more than $2.5 million funding Hill's new album, mostly spent on installing a recording studio in the singer's Miami apartment and flying different musicians around the country. In 2004, Hill contributed a new song, "The Passion", to The Passion of the Christ: Songs. Around this time, Hill began selling a pay-per-view music video of the song "Social Drugs" through her website. Those who purchase the $15 video would only be able to view it three times before it expired. In addition to the video, Hill began selling autographed posters and Polaroids through her website, with some items listed at upwards of $500. In 2005, she told USA Today, "If I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own children. If other people benefit from it, then so be it." When asked how she now felt about the songs on 2.0, she stated "a lot of the songs were transitional. The music was about how I was feeling at the time, even though I was documenting my distress as well as my bursts of joy."

She has toured several times in recent years, though most of her concerts have received mixed reviews. Hill is often late to concerts (sometimes by over two hours) and reconfigures her well-known hits in to "unrecognizable scat chants" while "sporting frizzy orange hair and exaggerated makeup". On some occasions, fans have booed her and left early; some fans have also demanded their money back after concerts. On October 6, 2005, Hill emceed and performed two songs at the Take Back TV concert launching Al Gore's CurrentTV. In June 2007, Sony records said though Hill has "consistently recorded over the past decade" and has what amounts to "a library of unreleased material in the vault", she had recently re-entered the studio "with the goal of making a new LP." Later that same year, a new album entitled Ms. Hill, which featured cuts from The Miseducation, various soundtracks contributions and other "unreleased" songs, was released. It features guest appearances from D'Angelo, Rah Digga and John Forté. Also in June 2007, Hill released a new song, "Lose Myself" on the soundtrack to the film Surf's Up under her new professional name, Ms. Lauryn Hill. The song is also played over the credits.

Reports in mid-2008 claimed that Columbia Records currently believe Hill to be "on hiatus." Rohan Marley disputed these claims, telling an interviewer that Hill has enough material for several albums: "She writes music in the bathroom, on toilet paper, on the wall. She writes it in the mirror if the mirror smokes up. She writes constantly. This woman does not sleep". One of the few public appearances Hill made in 2008 was at a Martha Stewart book-signing in New Jersey, perplexing some in the press. On November 4, 2008, Hill was scheduled to perform at the Avo Session Basel music festival in Basel, Switzerland. Her concert was canceled "for personal reasons". In April 2009, it was reported that Hill would engage in a 10 day tour of European summer festivals during mid-July of that year. She performed two shows for the tour and passed out on stage during the start of her second performance and left the stage. She refused to give refunds to angry consumers for the show. On June 10, Hill's management informed the promoters of the Stockholm Jazz Festival, which she was scheduled to headline, that she would not be performing due to unspecified "health reasons." Shortly afterward, the rest of the tour was canceled as well.
2010-Present

In January 2010, Hill returned to the live stage and performed in stops across New Zealand and Australia on the 'Raggamuffin Festival'- a music festival that celebrates reggae music. She performed songs from the Miseducation album and some Fugees hits. On April 19, Hill appeared at the Tanzania Education Trust Gala And Reception in New York City for a Charity Event. When making this public appearance, she was asked by paparazzi whether she is working on a new album, to which she replied "Yeah, possibly", suggesting that she may be working on new projects, and possibly a sophomore album. On June 8, it was announced that Hill would be the very special guest performer at Rock the Bells hip hop Festival series. Five days later, Hill appeared at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California, her first live American performance in several years. In a June interview with NPR reporter/producer Zoe Chace as part of NPR's 50 Great Voices Series, Hill confirmed that she was planning to begin recording again and discussed her hiatus and five children. Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers confirmed he worked with Hill on an upcoming album as well. On September 8, 2010, Isley and Hill's duet, Close To You, a remake of the classic song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was leaked online.

"There are a lot of different creative energies out there right now. I respect the different sounds that I'm hearing. It's been such a long time since I've gotten my voice and my ideas out In terms of collaborations, that's not even something I've been thinking about per se. I'm happy that people are still making music. That we still have a platform with which to make music. It's gonna be interesting to see what the future holds."
- Hill talks to MTV.

An unreleased song called "Repercussions" was leaked via the internet in late July. On August 28, 2010 the song debuted at #94 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (which peaked at #83 the following week), making it her first Billboard chart appearance as a lead artist since 1999; last song on the charts being her cover version of Bob Marley's "Turn Your Lights Down Low" which reached #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #49 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In April 2010, many of the songs that Hill had performed and recorded over the past six years were included on an unofficial compilation album titled Khulami Phase. The album also features a range of other material found on the Ms. Hill compilation. On August 28, Hill performed at Rock the Bells Hip Hop festival on Governor's Island in Brooklyn. Hill performed several songs from The Miseducation, including "To Zion", during which she brought her five children on stage. On November 5, 2010, Hill headlined the University of Miami's annual Homecoming concert. Hill performed several songs in front of a very large and responsive crowd. Her hour long set included songs from the Miseducation album such as "Lost Ones", "Ex-Factor", "To Zion" (during which she brought her son Joshua on stage and allowed him to sing into the microphone), a few Bob Marley songs, and several Fugees tracks. Hill was announced to headline the 6th Annual Jazz in the Gardens, in Miami Gardens, Florida in December 2010. She performed on the first day of the two day concert, March 19, 2011, along with Jazmine Sullivan, Charlie Wilson, Al Jarreau, and Doug E. Fresh with Slick Rick.

In spring of 2011, Lauryn Hill preformed at the Coachella Valley Music Festival to a multitudinous crowd. Hill is also playing at the New Orleans JazzFest, on the Congo Square Stage, Saturday, May 7 at 5:25 pm and at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on May 13 at 8:00 pm.
Controversy

In 1998, a caller on The Howard Stern Show mentioned that he heard Lauryn Hill state on MTV "I would rather have my family starve than have white people buy my albums". MTV publicly disclaimed the quotation, and after a discussion on The Howard Stern Show, Hill herself called in from Norway to refute the rumor, stating "How can I possibly be a racist? My music is universal music. And I believe in God. If I believe in God, then I have to love all of God's creations. There can be no segregation". She also told Teen People magazine "There's absolutely nothing racist about anything in my heart". As this rumor would continue through the press, Hill would repeatedly assert in later interviews that this accusation was false, that she never made such statements, would never make such statements, and that she is in no way racist.
Humanitarian

In the late 1990s, Hill was noted as a humanitarian. In 1996 she received an Essence Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999 Ebony named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She was named with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10 For Tomorrow," in the EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue.
Legacy and influences

Lauryn Hill has been cited as an influence by many, especially those in the neo-soul movement of the 2000s. Musicians who have acknowledged Hill's importance include Prince, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim and Jazmine Sullivan. In 2005, Talib Kweli released a song about the singer, titled "Ms. Hill", on Right About Now.

Michelle Obama, wife of U.S. President Barack Obama, told the BBC that she frequently listens to Hill's music on her iPod, while 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain's daughter Meghan stated that her father listens to Hill: "I borrowed his car once in D.C., and I was looking through CDs, and I was like, 'Oh, Lauryn Hill.'" Actors Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are also reportedly fans of the singer. D'Angelo, who appeared on "Nothing Even Matters," referred in an interview to at least one church reportedly having used the song in a service.
Discography
Main article: Lauryn Hill discography
Filmography

    * 1998 - Restaurant .... Leslie
    * 1997 - Hav Plenty .... Debra
    * 1996 - ABC Afterschool Specials .... Malika
    * 1993 - Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit .... Rita Louise Watson
    * 1993 - King of the Hill .... Elevator Operator
    * 1992 - Here and Now
    * 1991 - As the World Turns .... Kira Johnson

See also

    * List of awards and nominations received by Lauryn Hill

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k289/nellersbme/Lauryn_Hill.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii55/sammyda12/lauryn_hill.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/25/11 at 6:50 am


The person of the day...Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American recording artist, musician, producer and actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The recording earned Hill five Grammy Awards, including the coveted Album of the Year and Best New Artist.

Following the success of her debut album, Hill largely dropped out of public view, in part due to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. After a four-year hiatus, she released MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, a live recording of "deeply personal songs" performed mostly solo with an acoustic guitar. In more recent years, Lauryn Hill has recorded songs for soundtracks and mixtapes, as well as performing live at several music festivals. To date, she still avoids publicity, and is the mother of five children with Rohan Marley, the fourth son of reggae musician Bob Marley.
The Refugee Camp ("Fugees") formed after Prakazrel "Pras" Michel approached Hill in high school about joining a music group he was creating. Soon after, she met Michel's cousin and fellow Haïtian, Wyclef Jean. At some point, Hill was nicknamed "L Boogie", as she began to convert her poetic writing into rap verses. Hill's singing gained worldwide acclaim with the Fugees' remake of "Killing Me Softly with His Song", accompanied by a sample from Rotary Connection's "Memory Band".

The Fugees' first album, Blunted on Reality, peaked at #49 on the U.S. Hot 100. The album sold over two million copies worldwide. Blunted on Reality was followed by The Score, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album that established two of the three Fugees as international rap stars. Singles from The Score include "Ready or Not", "Fu-Gee-La", "No Woman, No Cry" (made famous by Bob Marley), and "Killing Me Softly" (made famous by Roberta Flack).
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

In 1996, Hill began production on an album that would eventually become The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The title was inspired by The Mis-Education of the Negro book by Carter G. Woodson and The Education of Sonny Carson, a film and autobiographical novel. The album featured contributions from D'Angelo, Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige and a then-unknown John Legend. Songs for the album were largely written in an attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey and recorded at Chung King Studios in Jamaica. Wyclef Jean initially did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered his production help; Hill turned him down. Several songs on the album concerned her frustrations with The Fugees; "I Used to Love Him" dealt with the break-down of the relationship between Hill and Wyclef Jean. "To Zion" spoke about her decision to have her first baby, even though many at the time encouraged her to abort the pregnancy so as to not interfere with her blossoming career.

The Miseducation contained several interludes of a teacher speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children; in fact, the "teacher" was played by Ras Baraka (a poet, educator and politician) speaking to a group of kids in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home. The singer requested that Baraka speak to the children about the concept of love, and he improvised the lecture. Though The Miseducation was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold and Johari Newton), there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing," wherein all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, when Hill was asked about providing contracts or documentation to the musicians, she replied, "We all love each other. This ain't about documents. This is blessed." Hill, her management, and her record label were sued in 1998 by New Ark, claiming to be the primary songwriters on two tracks, and major contributors on several others. The suit was settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported $5 million.

In 1998, Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was both critically and commercially successful. It sold over 423,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for four weeks and the Billboard R&B Album chart for six weeks; it would go on to sell more than 18 million copies over the next decade. The first single off the album was "Lost Ones" (US #27), released in Spring 1998. The second was "Doo Wop (That Thing)", which reached #1 in the Billboard charts. Other singles released in support of the album were "Ex-Factor" (US #21), "Everything Is Everything" (US #35), and "To Zion". At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated 10 times, becoming the first woman ever to be nominated 10 times in one year: Hill won five Grammys including Album of the Year (beating Madonna's critically acclaimed Ray of Light and Shania Twain's bestselling Come on Over), Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Hill set a new record in the industry, becoming the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Between 1998 and 1999, Hill earned $25 million from record sales and touring.

Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time to Esquire to Teen People vied to put her on the cover. In the late 1990s, Hill was noted by some as a humanitarian. In 1996 she received an Essence Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999 Ebony named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She was named with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10 For Tomorrow," in the EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue.
Self-Imposed Exile and MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2000–2003)

After the release of her debut album, she explored other methods of expressing herself, including creating an extensive amount of music, poetry, and clothing designs. She started writing a screenplay about the life of Bob Marley, in which she planned to act as his wife Rita. She also began producing a romantic comedy about soul food with a working title of Sauce, and accepted a starring role in the film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved; she later dropped out of both projects due to pregnancy. Hill became dissatisfied with the music industry; she felt she was being unfairly controlled by her record label, and disliked being unable "to go to the grocery store without makeup." She fired her management team and began attending Bible study classes five days a week; she also stopped doing interviews, watching television and listening to music. She started associating with a "spiritual adviser" named Brother Anthony. Some familiar with Hill believe Anthony more resembled a cult leader than a spiritual advisor, and thought his guidance probably inspired much of Hill's more controversial public behavior.

"There were a number of different reasons. But partly, the support system that I needed was not necessarily in place. There were things about myself, personal-growth things, that I had to go through in order to feel like it was worth it. In fact, as musicians and artists, it's important we have an environment — and I guess when I say environment, I really mean the industry, that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes, the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society, or at least some aspect of society. And it's important that people be given the time that they need to go through, to grow, so that the consciousness level of the general public is properly affected. Oftentimes, I think people are forced to make decisions prematurely. And then that sound radiates."
- Hill talks about why she left music.

In 2000, she dropped out of the public eye. She described this period of her life to Essence: "People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at that time… I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable about having to smile in someone's face when I really didn't like them or even know them well enough to like them." She also spoke about her emotional crisis, saying, "For two or three years I was away from all social interaction. It was a very introspective time because I had to confront my fears and master every demonic thought about inferiority, about insecurity or the fear of being black, young and gifted in this western culture." She went on to say that she had to fight to retain her identity, and was forced "to deal with folks who weren't happy about that."

On July 21, 2001, Hill unveiled her new material to a small crowd, for a taping of an MTV Unplugged special. An album of the concert, titled MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, focused on the lyrics and the message rather than the musical arrangements. "Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need", she said during the concert. "I've just retired from the fantasy part." Most of the songs featured only an acoustic guitar and her voice, somewhat raspy from rehearsal on the day before the recording. Hill used the set as an opportunity to give information on why she had been absent from the public for a period of time and what she had found while away. Unlike the near-unanimous praise of The Miseducation, 2.0 sharply divided critics. AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the recording "is the unfinished, unflinching presentation of ideas and of a person. It may not be a proper follow-up to her first album, but it is fascinating." Rolling Stone called the album "a public breakdown". Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote, "Hill's guitarwork is multi-textured and fine-tuned but her vocals lack confidence and seem to toe the edge of her range throughout the album. And though the stripped-down nature of the show is fitting, many of the songs sound as if they are still in their infancy." Despite the mixed reviews, 2.0 debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum four weeks after its release. Despite Hill's departure from the media and celebrity, she continued to have some success in the music world. Her song "Mystery of Iniquity" was nominated for a Grammy without promotion or radio airplay and used as an interpolation by hip-hop producer/song-writer Kanye West for his single "All Falls Down" (eventually recorded by Syleena Johnson).
Vatican controversy

On December 13, 2003, Hill made headlines by denouncing "corruption, exploitation, and abuses" in reference to the molestation of boys by Catholic priests in the United States and the cover-up of offenses by Catholic Church officials. The statements were made during a performance at a Christmas benefit concert at the Vatican. Reading from a prepared statement, Hill told the crowd of 7,500:
“ I am sorry if I am about to offend some of you. I did not accept my invitation to celebrate with you the birth of Christ. Instead I ask you why you are not in mourning for Him in this place? I want to ask you, what have you got to say about the lives you have broken? What about the families who were expecting God and instead were cheated by the Devil? Who feels sorry for them, the men, women and children damaged psychologically, emotionally and mentally by the sexual perversions and abuse carried out by the people they believed in? Holy God is a witness to the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy. There is no acceptable excuse to defend the church."

Hill called on the church leaders to "repent" and encouraged the crowd to "not seek blessings from man but from God." She then performed the songs "Damnable Heresies" and "Social Drugs". High-ranking church officials in attendance included Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Monsignor Rino Fisichella and Cardinal Edmund Szoka. Pope John Paul II was not present. The segment was cut from the television broadcast. Both the Vatican and Columbia Records refused to issue official statements regarding Hill's actions. Monsignor Fisichella told reporters that Hill had acted "in poor taste and very bad mannered. It showed a complete lack of respect for her invitation and for the place where she had been invited to perform". The Catholic League called Hill "pathologically miserable" and claimed her career is "in decline". Hill responded to the controversy on December 16: "What I said was the truth. Is telling the truth bad manners? What I asked was the church to repent for what has happened." The following day, several reporters suggested that Hill's comments at the Vatican may have been influenced by her "advisor" Brother Anthony.
Short-lived return of the Fugees (2004–2006)

The Fugees performed on September 18, 2004 at Dave Chappelle's Block Party in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. They headlined a bill that included a star-studded cast of hip-hop celebrities. The concert featured Hill's nearly a cappella rendition of "Killing Me Softly". The event was recorded by director Michel Gondry and was released on March 3, 2006 to mostly positive reviews. In 2005, she told an interviewer that "The Fugees was a conspiracy to control, to manipulate and to encourage dependence. I took a lot of abuse that many people would not have taken in these circumstances." The Fugees also appeared at BET's 2005 Music Awards on June 28, 2005, where they opened the show with a 12-minute set. One track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and thereafter was released as an internet single on September 27, 2005. It peaked at #40 on the Billboard R&B Chart. The song was mostly panned by critics, as The Village Voice wrote, "Turns out that a Fugees reunion wasn't really what anyone was waiting for; we just wanted Lauryn to start rapping again."

"I'm trying to open up my range and really sing more. With The Fugees initially, and even with Miseducation, it was very hip-hop — always a singing over beats. I don't think people have really heard me sing out. So if I do record again, perhaps it will have an expanded context. Where people can hear a bit more."
- Hill talks about her work with The Fugees.

The Fugees embarked on a European tour from November 30, 2005 through December 20, 2005. The group played in Austria, Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, England, Ireland and Switzerland. On February 6, 2006, the Fugees did a special "Reunion Concert" in Hollywood, that was offered as a live webcast on the Verizon Wireless website. The Fugees were featured in numerous Verizon Wireless VCast advertisements in magazines and on TV around that same time. A new song titled "Foxy" was made available on VCast and a third new song was leaked, unofficially titled "Wannabe", which uses the same hook as the Michael Jackson song "I Wanna Be Where You Are". Old tensions between Hill and the other members of the group soon resurfaced, and the reunion fizzled before an album could be recorded. Jean and Michel both blamed Hill for the split. Hill reportedly demanded to be addressed by everyone, including her bandmates, as "Ms. Hill"; she also considered changing her moniker to "Empress". Her chronic tardiness — sometimes stalling up to 45 minutes after the two had taken the stage to join them — has been cited as another contributing factor to the break up. Michel told the press in August 2007, "Before I work with Lauryn Hill again, you will have a better chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing foreign policies… At this point I really think it will take an act of God to change her, because she is that far out there."
2004–2009

Hill has been slowly working on a new album and in November 2004 shot a music video. The album had a slated street date of November 2005, and neither it nor the music video have been released. It was also reported that as of 2003, Columbia Records had spent more than $2.5 million funding Hill's new album, mostly spent on installing a recording studio in the singer's Miami apartment and flying different musicians around the country. In 2004, Hill contributed a new song, "The Passion", to The Passion of the Christ: Songs. Around this time, Hill began selling a pay-per-view music video of the song "Social Drugs" through her website. Those who purchase the $15 video would only be able to view it three times before it expired. In addition to the video, Hill began selling autographed posters and Polaroids through her website, with some items listed at upwards of $500. In 2005, she told USA Today, "If I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own children. If other people benefit from it, then so be it." When asked how she now felt about the songs on 2.0, she stated "a lot of the songs were transitional. The music was about how I was feeling at the time, even though I was documenting my distress as well as my bursts of joy."

She has toured several times in recent years, though most of her concerts have received mixed reviews. Hill is often late to concerts (sometimes by over two hours) and reconfigures her well-known hits in to "unrecognizable scat chants" while "sporting frizzy orange hair and exaggerated makeup". On some occasions, fans have booed her and left early; some fans have also demanded their money back after concerts. On October 6, 2005, Hill emceed and performed two songs at the Take Back TV concert launching Al Gore's CurrentTV. In June 2007, Sony records said though Hill has "consistently recorded over the past decade" and has what amounts to "a library of unreleased material in the vault", she had recently re-entered the studio "with the goal of making a new LP." Later that same year, a new album entitled Ms. Hill, which featured cuts from The Miseducation, various soundtracks contributions and other "unreleased" songs, was released. It features guest appearances from D'Angelo, Rah Digga and John Forté. Also in June 2007, Hill released a new song, "Lose Myself" on the soundtrack to the film Surf's Up under her new professional name, Ms. Lauryn Hill. The song is also played over the credits.

Reports in mid-2008 claimed that Columbia Records currently believe Hill to be "on hiatus." Rohan Marley disputed these claims, telling an interviewer that Hill has enough material for several albums: "She writes music in the bathroom, on toilet paper, on the wall. She writes it in the mirror if the mirror smokes up. She writes constantly. This woman does not sleep". One of the few public appearances Hill made in 2008 was at a Martha Stewart book-signing in New Jersey, perplexing some in the press. On November 4, 2008, Hill was scheduled to perform at the Avo Session Basel music festival in Basel, Switzerland. Her concert was canceled "for personal reasons". In April 2009, it was reported that Hill would engage in a 10 day tour of European summer festivals during mid-July of that year. She performed two shows for the tour and passed out on stage during the start of her second performance and left the stage. She refused to give refunds to angry consumers for the show. On June 10, Hill's management informed the promoters of the Stockholm Jazz Festival, which she was scheduled to headline, that she would not be performing due to unspecified "health reasons." Shortly afterward, the rest of the tour was canceled as well.
2010-Present

In January 2010, Hill returned to the live stage and performed in stops across New Zealand and Australia on the 'Raggamuffin Festival'- a music festival that celebrates reggae music. She performed songs from the Miseducation album and some Fugees hits. On April 19, Hill appeared at the Tanzania Education Trust Gala And Reception in New York City for a Charity Event. When making this public appearance, she was asked by paparazzi whether she is working on a new album, to which she replied "Yeah, possibly", suggesting that she may be working on new projects, and possibly a sophomore album. On June 8, it was announced that Hill would be the very special guest performer at Rock the Bells hip hop Festival series. Five days later, Hill appeared at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California, her first live American performance in several years. In a June interview with NPR reporter/producer Zoe Chace as part of NPR's 50 Great Voices Series, Hill confirmed that she was planning to begin recording again and discussed her hiatus and five children. Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers confirmed he worked with Hill on an upcoming album as well. On September 8, 2010, Isley and Hill's duet, Close To You, a remake of the classic song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was leaked online.

"There are a lot of different creative energies out there right now. I respect the different sounds that I'm hearing. It's been such a long time since I've gotten my voice and my ideas out In terms of collaborations, that's not even something I've been thinking about per se. I'm happy that people are still making music. That we still have a platform with which to make music. It's gonna be interesting to see what the future holds."
- Hill talks to MTV.

An unreleased song called "Repercussions" was leaked via the internet in late July. On August 28, 2010 the song debuted at #94 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (which peaked at #83 the following week), making it her first Billboard chart appearance as a lead artist since 1999; last song on the charts being her cover version of Bob Marley's "Turn Your Lights Down Low" which reached #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #49 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In April 2010, many of the songs that Hill had performed and recorded over the past six years were included on an unofficial compilation album titled Khulami Phase. The album also features a range of other material found on the Ms. Hill compilation. On August 28, Hill performed at Rock the Bells Hip Hop festival on Governor's Island in Brooklyn. Hill performed several songs from The Miseducation, including "To Zion", during which she brought her five children on stage. On November 5, 2010, Hill headlined the University of Miami's annual Homecoming concert. Hill performed several songs in front of a very large and responsive crowd. Her hour long set included songs from the Miseducation album such as "Lost Ones", "Ex-Factor", "To Zion" (during which she brought her son Joshua on stage and allowed him to sing into the microphone), a few Bob Marley songs, and several Fugees tracks. Hill was announced to headline the 6th Annual Jazz in the Gardens, in Miami Gardens, Florida in December 2010. She performed on the first day of the two day concert, March 19, 2011, along with Jazmine Sullivan, Charlie Wilson, Al Jarreau, and Doug E. Fresh with Slick Rick.

In spring of 2011, Lauryn Hill preformed at the Coachella Valley Music Festival to a multitudinous crowd. Hill is also playing at the New Orleans JazzFest, on the Congo Square Stage, Saturday, May 7 at 5:25 pm and at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on May 13 at 8:00 pm.
Controversy

In 1998, a caller on The Howard Stern Show mentioned that he heard Lauryn Hill state on MTV "I would rather have my family starve than have white people buy my albums". MTV publicly disclaimed the quotation, and after a discussion on The Howard Stern Show, Hill herself called in from Norway to refute the rumor, stating "How can I possibly be a racist? My music is universal music. And I believe in God. If I believe in God, then I have to love all of God's creations. There can be no segregation". She also told Teen People magazine "There's absolutely nothing racist about anything in my heart". As this rumor would continue through the press, Hill would repeatedly assert in later interviews that this accusation was false, that she never made such statements, would never make such statements, and that she is in no way racist.
Humanitarian

In the late 1990s, Hill was noted as a humanitarian. In 1996 she received an Essence Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999 Ebony named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She was named with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10 For Tomorrow," in the EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue.
Legacy and influences

Lauryn Hill has been cited as an influence by many, especially those in the neo-soul movement of the 2000s. Musicians who have acknowledged Hill's importance include Prince, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim and Jazmine Sullivan. In 2005, Talib Kweli released a song about the singer, titled "Ms. Hill", on Right About Now.

Michelle Obama, wife of U.S. President Barack Obama, told the BBC that she frequently listens to Hill's music on her iPod, while 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain's daughter Meghan stated that her father listens to Hill: "I borrowed his car once in D.C., and I was looking through CDs, and I was like, 'Oh, Lauryn Hill.'" Actors Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are also reportedly fans of the singer. D'Angelo, who appeared on "Nothing Even Matters," referred in an interview to at least one church reportedly having used the song in a service.
Discography
Main article: Lauryn Hill discography
Filmography

    * 1998 - Restaurant .... Leslie
    * 1997 - Hav Plenty .... Debra
    * 1996 - ABC Afterschool Specials .... Malika
    * 1993 - Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit .... Rita Louise Watson
    * 1993 - King of the Hill .... Elevator Operator
    * 1992 - Here and Now
    * 1991 - As the World Turns .... Kira Johnson

See also

    * List of awards and nominations received by Lauryn Hill

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k289/nellersbme/Lauryn_Hill.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii55/sammyda12/lauryn_hill.jpg


My favorite song is Doo Wop (That thing)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/25/11 at 11:37 am


The Traveling Wilburys? ???



My joke just went WAY over your head (and under your feet).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/26/11 at 1:37 am


There is a rumor that Bob Dylan may be getting back together again.



Cat
Is the answer blowin' in the wind?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/26/11 at 5:53 am

The person of the day...Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her film debut in K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first leading role as the titular character in Lady Jane. She is known for her roles in films such as A Room with a View, Fight Club, and the Harry Potter series, as well as for frequently collaborating with director Tim Burton, her domestic partner since 2001. Bonham Carter is a two-time Academy Award nominee for her performances in The Wings of the Dove and The King's Speech; her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the latter film garnering her a BAFTA Award in 2011.
Bonham Carter has not received any formal training in acting. In 1979, she won a national writing contest and used the money to pay for her entry into the actors directory Spotlight. She made her professional acting début at the age of 16 in a television commercial. She also had a part in a minor TV film A Pattern of Roses.

Her first starring film role was as Lady Jane Grey in Lady Jane (1986), which was given mixed reviews by critics. The story reflected the tragic life of England's nine-days' Queen from her troubled adolescence and arranged marriage to her ill-fated accession and subsequent execution. Her breakthrough role was Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View, which was filmed after Lady Jane, but released beforehand. Bonham Carter also appeared in episodes of Miami Vice as Don Johnson's love interest during the 1986–87 season and then, in 1987 opposite Dirk Bogarde in The Vision and Stewart Granger in A Hazard of Hearts. Bonham Carter was originally cast in the role of Bess McNeill in Breaking the Waves, but backed out during production due to, "...the character's painful psychic and physical exposure," according to Roger Ebert. The role went to Emily Watson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the role.

These early films led to her to being typecast as a "corset queen", and "English rose", playing pre- and early 20th century characters, particularly in Merchant-Ivory films. She played Olivia in Trevor Nunn's film version of Twelfth Night in 1996. She has since expanded her range, with her more recent films being Fight Club, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland.

Bonham Carter speaks French fluently, starring in a 1996 French film Portraits chinois. In August 2001, she was featured in Maxim. She played her second Queen of England when she was cast as Anne Boleyn in the ITV1 mini-series Henry VIII; however her role was restricted, as she was pregnant with her first child at the time of filming. Bonham Carter was a member of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival jury that unanimously selected The Wind That Shakes the Barley as best film.

Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the 2010–2011 film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bonham Carter received positive reviews as Lestrange, described as a "shining but underused talent". She then played Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's (Johnny Depp) amorous accomplice in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film was released on 21 December 2007 in the US and 25 January 2008 in the UK. Directed by Tim Burton, Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance. She won the Best Actress award in the 2007 Evening Standard British Film Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd and Conversations With Other Women, along with another Best Actress award at the 2009 Empire Awards. Bonham Carter also appeared in the fourth Terminator film entitled Terminator Salvation, playing a small but pivotal role.
Helena Bonham Carter at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2011.

In May 2006, Bonham Carter launched her own fashion line, "The Pantaloonies", with swimwear designer Samantha Sage. Their first collection, called Bloomin' Bloomers, is a Victorian style selection of camisoles, mop caps and bloomers. The duo are now working on Pantaloonies customised jeans, which Bonham Carter describes as "a kind of scrapbook on the bum".

Bonham Carter joined the cast of partner Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland as The Red Queen. Bonham Carter appears alongside Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman. Bonham Carter's role was an amalgamation of two roles, The Queen of Hearts, and The Red Queen. In early 2009, Bonham Carter was named one of The Times newspaper's top 10 British Actresses of all time. Bonham Carter appeared on the list with fellow actresses Julie Andrews, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Audrey Hepburn.

In 2010, Bonham Carter played Queen Elizabeth in the film The King's Speech. As of January 2011, Bonham Carter had received numerous plaudits for her performance, including nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Bonham Carter won her first BAFTA Award but lost the Academy Award to Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Bonham Carter signed to play author Enid Blyton in the BBC Four television biopic, Enid. It was the first depiction of Blyton's life on the screen, and Bonham Carter starred with Matthew Macfadyen and Denis Lawson. Bonham Carter also received her first Television BAFTA Nomination for Best Actress, for Enid. In 2010, she starred with Freddie Highmore in the Nigel Slater biopic Toast, which was filmed in the West Midlands and received a gala at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. She has now been confirmed to be taking on the role of Miss Havisham in Mike Newell's adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations.
Personal life

In 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton, whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. Burton has taken to casting Bonham Carter in his movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Alice in Wonderland. They live in Belsize Park, London, in neighbouring houses with a connecting doorway because they could not get along in the same house.

They purchased the houses when she became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Raymond Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. The couple maintains a close relationship with Johnny Depp, who appears in many of Burton's films. Depp is godfather to both of Burton and Bonham Carter's children, accepting the role after Burton persuaded Bonham Carter to ask him. At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Nell Burton, on 15 December 2007 in Central London. She says she named her daughter Nell after all the "Helens" in her family.

In August 2008, four of her relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa, and she was given indefinite leave from filming Terminator Salvation, returning later to complete filming.

In 2008, Bonham Carter and Burton put their American apartments up for sale. The apartments are in the Greenwich Village area, in New York City. The couple sold them for a collective $8.75 million. In early October 2008, it was released that Bonham Carter had become a patron of the charity Action Duchenne, the national charity established to support parents and sufferers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

On 5 January 2011, a photo was released of Bonham Carter and Burton walking on Coombe Hill, the Chilterns, with British Prime Minister David Cameron and his family. It has been suggested that the two couples were introduced through Nick Clegg whom Bonham Carter had performed alongside in a play while attending Westminster School.
Filmography
Films Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1983 Pattern of Roses, AA Pattern of Roses Netty Bellinger
1985 Room with a View, AA Room with a View Lucy Honeychurch
1986 Lady Jane Lady Jane Grey
1987 Maurice Lady at Cricket Match (cameo role)
1987 Hazard of Hearts, AA Hazard of Hearts Serena Staverley
1988 Mask, TheThe Mask Iris
1988 Six Minutes with Ludwig The Star
1989 Francesco Chiara Offreduccio
1989 Getting It Right Lady Minerva Munday
1990 Hamlet Ophelia
1990 Early Life of Beatrix Potter, TheThe Early Life of Beatrix Potter Beatrix Potter
1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Caroline Abbott
1991 Brown Bear's Wedding White Bear (voice)
1992 Howards End Helen Schlegel Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1993 Dancing Queen Pandora/Julie aka Rik Mayall Presents Dancing Queen
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Elizabeth Frankenstein Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1994 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald Marina Oswald Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1994 Dark-Adapted Eye, AA Dark-Adapted Eye Faith Severn (adult)
1994 Butter Dorothy
1995 Mighty Aphrodite Amanda Weinrib
1995 Margaret's Museum Margaret MacNeil Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for The Wings of the Dove)
Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actress
1995 Jeremy Hardy Gives Good Sex Herself (voice)
1996 Twelfth Night: Or What You Will Olivia
1996 Portraits chinois Ada
1997 Petticoat Expeditions, TheThe Petticoat Expeditions Narrator (voice)
1997 Keep the Aspidistra Flying Rosemary aka A Merry War
1997 Wings of the Dove, TheThe Wings of the Dove Kate Croy Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for Margaret's Museum)
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1998 Merlin Morgan le Fay Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Sweet Revenge Karen Knightly
1998 Theory of Flight, TheThe Theory of Flight Jane Thatchard Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1999 Fight Club Marla Singer Empire Award for Best British Actress
1999 Women Talking Dirty Cora
1999 Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything, TheThe Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything Lily
2000 Carnivale Milly (voice)
2001 Planet of the Apes Ari Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2001 Novocaine Susan Ivey
2001 Football Mum
2002 Heart of Me, TheThe Heart of Me Dinah Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
2002 Live from Baghdad Ingrid Formanek Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2002 Till Human Voices Wake Us Ruby
2003 Big Fish Jennifer Hill/The Witch
2003 Henry VIII Anne Boleyn Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Zee Cine Award – Critics' Choice Best Actress
2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Beatrice Baudelaire Uncredited cameo
2005 Conversations with Other Women Woman Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2005 Magnificent 7 Maggi Jackson
2005 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Lady Tottington (voice) Zee Cine Award for Best Voice Actress
Nominated—Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2005 Corpse Bride Emily the Corpse Bride
(voice)
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mrs. Bucket
2006 Sixty Six Esther Reubens
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Bellatrix Lestrange Nominated—Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Scream Queen
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Mrs. Lovett Empire Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Actress in a Horror Movie or Show
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bellatrix Lestrange Nominated—Scream Award for Best Villain
2009 Terminator Salvation Dr. Serena Kogan Nominated—Scream Award for Best Cameo
2009 Enid Enid Blyton International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress
Nominated—BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2009 Gruffalo, TheThe Gruffalo Mother Squirrel (voice)
2010 Alice in Wonderland The Red Queen Nominated—Comedy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Bellatrix Lestrange
2010 King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech Queen Elizabeth American Film Institute Award – A Year of Excellence Award
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
British Independent Film Award – The Richard Harris Award
Hollywood Award for Best Supporting Actress
Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
Nominated—North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010 Toast Joan Potter Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Bellatrix Lestrange, Hermione Granger Post-production
2012 Dark Shadows Dr. Julia Hoffman Filming
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Miami Vice Dr. Theresa Lyons Multiple Guest Arc
- "Duty and Honor"
- "Theresa"
1987 Screen Two Jo Marriner Episode: "The Vision"
1989 Theatre Night Raina Petkoff Episode: "Arms and the Man"
1991 Jackanory Reader Multiple Guest Arc
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 1"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 2"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 3"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 4"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 5"
1994 Absolutely Fabulous Dream Saffron Episode: "Hospital"
1994 Good Sex Guide, TheThe Good Sex Guide Herself Episode: "Episode #2.1"
1996 Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, TheThe Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century Vera Brittain Multiple Guest Arc
- "Slaughter"
- "Explosion"
Stage and radio Year↓ Production↓ Role↓ Notes
1985 Reluctant Debutante, TheThe Reluctant Debutante Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1987 Tempest, TheThe Tempest Unknown Performed at Oxford Playhouse
1988 Woman in White, TheThe Woman in White Laura Fairlie Performed at Greenwich Theatre, London
1989 Happiest of All Princesses, TheThe Happiest of All Princesses Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1989 Chalk Garden, TheThe Chalk Garden Unknown Performed at Windsor/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
1991 House of Bernarda Alba, TheThe House of Bernarda Alba Magdalena Performed at Nottingham Playhouse
1992 Barber of Seville, TheThe Barber of Seville Rosina Performed at Palace Theatre, Watford
1992 Trelawney of the Wells Imogen Parrot Performed at Comedy Theatre, London
1993 Secret Garden, TheThe Secret Garden Narrator by Frances Burnett
1993 Whales' Song, TheThe Whales' Song Narrator by Dyan Sheldon
1994 Seagull, TheThe Seagull Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya Performed on BBC Radio 4
1994 Dog So Small, AA Dog So Small Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1994 Way to Sattin Shore, TheThe Way to Sattin Shore Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1995 Song of Love Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1995 Remember Me Narrator
1996 Capture the Castle, II Capture the Castle Rose Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 House by the Sea, AA House by the Sea Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 Diary of Anne Frank, TheThe Diary of Anne Frank Narrator
1998 Lantern Slides Violet Bonham Carter Performed on BBC Radio 4
2000 As You Like It Rosalind Performed on BBC Radio 4
2004 Rubenstein Kiss, TheThe Rubenstein Kiss Unknown Postponed
2010 Private Lives Amanda Performed on BBC Radio 4
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/scaryxairy/helena.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/NellieBlye8/Helena%20Bonham%20Carter/Helena.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/26/11 at 11:42 am


The person of the day...Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her film debut in K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first leading role as the titular character in Lady Jane. She is known for her roles in films such as A Room with a View, Fight Club, and the Harry Potter series, as well as for frequently collaborating with director Tim Burton, her domestic partner since 2001. Bonham Carter is a two-time Academy Award nominee for her performances in The Wings of the Dove and The King's Speech; her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the latter film garnering her a BAFTA Award in 2011.
Bonham Carter has not received any formal training in acting. In 1979, she won a national writing contest and used the money to pay for her entry into the actors directory Spotlight. She made her professional acting début at the age of 16 in a television commercial. She also had a part in a minor TV film A Pattern of Roses.

Her first starring film role was as Lady Jane Grey in Lady Jane (1986), which was given mixed reviews by critics. The story reflected the tragic life of England's nine-days' Queen from her troubled adolescence and arranged marriage to her ill-fated accession and subsequent execution. Her breakthrough role was Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View, which was filmed after Lady Jane, but released beforehand. Bonham Carter also appeared in episodes of Miami Vice as Don Johnson's love interest during the 1986–87 season and then, in 1987 opposite Dirk Bogarde in The Vision and Stewart Granger in A Hazard of Hearts. Bonham Carter was originally cast in the role of Bess McNeill in Breaking the Waves, but backed out during production due to, "...the character's painful psychic and physical exposure," according to Roger Ebert. The role went to Emily Watson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the role.

These early films led to her to being typecast as a "corset queen", and "English rose", playing pre- and early 20th century characters, particularly in Merchant-Ivory films. She played Olivia in Trevor Nunn's film version of Twelfth Night in 1996. She has since expanded her range, with her more recent films being Fight Club, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland.

Bonham Carter speaks French fluently, starring in a 1996 French film Portraits chinois. In August 2001, she was featured in Maxim. She played her second Queen of England when she was cast as Anne Boleyn in the ITV1 mini-series Henry VIII; however her role was restricted, as she was pregnant with her first child at the time of filming. Bonham Carter was a member of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival jury that unanimously selected The Wind That Shakes the Barley as best film.

Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the 2010–2011 film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bonham Carter received positive reviews as Lestrange, described as a "shining but underused talent". She then played Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's (Johnny Depp) amorous accomplice in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film was released on 21 December 2007 in the US and 25 January 2008 in the UK. Directed by Tim Burton, Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance. She won the Best Actress award in the 2007 Evening Standard British Film Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd and Conversations With Other Women, along with another Best Actress award at the 2009 Empire Awards. Bonham Carter also appeared in the fourth Terminator film entitled Terminator Salvation, playing a small but pivotal role.
Helena Bonham Carter at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2011.

In May 2006, Bonham Carter launched her own fashion line, "The Pantaloonies", with swimwear designer Samantha Sage. Their first collection, called Bloomin' Bloomers, is a Victorian style selection of camisoles, mop caps and bloomers. The duo are now working on Pantaloonies customised jeans, which Bonham Carter describes as "a kind of scrapbook on the bum".

Bonham Carter joined the cast of partner Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland as The Red Queen. Bonham Carter appears alongside Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman. Bonham Carter's role was an amalgamation of two roles, The Queen of Hearts, and The Red Queen. In early 2009, Bonham Carter was named one of The Times newspaper's top 10 British Actresses of all time. Bonham Carter appeared on the list with fellow actresses Julie Andrews, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Audrey Hepburn.

In 2010, Bonham Carter played Queen Elizabeth in the film The King's Speech. As of January 2011, Bonham Carter had received numerous plaudits for her performance, including nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Bonham Carter won her first BAFTA Award but lost the Academy Award to Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Bonham Carter signed to play author Enid Blyton in the BBC Four television biopic, Enid. It was the first depiction of Blyton's life on the screen, and Bonham Carter starred with Matthew Macfadyen and Denis Lawson. Bonham Carter also received her first Television BAFTA Nomination for Best Actress, for Enid. In 2010, she starred with Freddie Highmore in the Nigel Slater biopic Toast, which was filmed in the West Midlands and received a gala at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. She has now been confirmed to be taking on the role of Miss Havisham in Mike Newell's adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations.
Personal life

In 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton, whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. Burton has taken to casting Bonham Carter in his movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Alice in Wonderland. They live in Belsize Park, London, in neighbouring houses with a connecting doorway because they could not get along in the same house.

They purchased the houses when she became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Raymond Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. The couple maintains a close relationship with Johnny Depp, who appears in many of Burton's films. Depp is godfather to both of Burton and Bonham Carter's children, accepting the role after Burton persuaded Bonham Carter to ask him. At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Nell Burton, on 15 December 2007 in Central London. She says she named her daughter Nell after all the "Helens" in her family.

In August 2008, four of her relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa, and she was given indefinite leave from filming Terminator Salvation, returning later to complete filming.

In 2008, Bonham Carter and Burton put their American apartments up for sale. The apartments are in the Greenwich Village area, in New York City. The couple sold them for a collective $8.75 million. In early October 2008, it was released that Bonham Carter had become a patron of the charity Action Duchenne, the national charity established to support parents and sufferers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

On 5 January 2011, a photo was released of Bonham Carter and Burton walking on Coombe Hill, the Chilterns, with British Prime Minister David Cameron and his family. It has been suggested that the two couples were introduced through Nick Clegg whom Bonham Carter had performed alongside in a play while attending Westminster School.
Filmography
Films Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1983 Pattern of Roses, AA Pattern of Roses Netty Bellinger
1985 Room with a View, AA Room with a View Lucy Honeychurch
1986 Lady Jane Lady Jane Grey
1987 Maurice Lady at Cricket Match (cameo role)
1987 Hazard of Hearts, AA Hazard of Hearts Serena Staverley
1988 Mask, TheThe Mask Iris
1988 Six Minutes with Ludwig The Star
1989 Francesco Chiara Offreduccio
1989 Getting It Right Lady Minerva Munday
1990 Hamlet Ophelia
1990 Early Life of Beatrix Potter, TheThe Early Life of Beatrix Potter Beatrix Potter
1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Caroline Abbott
1991 Brown Bear's Wedding White Bear (voice)
1992 Howards End Helen Schlegel Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1993 Dancing Queen Pandora/Julie aka Rik Mayall Presents Dancing Queen
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Elizabeth Frankenstein Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1994 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald Marina Oswald Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1994 Dark-Adapted Eye, AA Dark-Adapted Eye Faith Severn (adult)
1994 Butter Dorothy
1995 Mighty Aphrodite Amanda Weinrib
1995 Margaret's Museum Margaret MacNeil Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for The Wings of the Dove)
Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actress
1995 Jeremy Hardy Gives Good Sex Herself (voice)
1996 Twelfth Night: Or What You Will Olivia
1996 Portraits chinois Ada
1997 Petticoat Expeditions, TheThe Petticoat Expeditions Narrator (voice)
1997 Keep the Aspidistra Flying Rosemary aka A Merry War
1997 Wings of the Dove, TheThe Wings of the Dove Kate Croy Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for Margaret's Museum)
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1998 Merlin Morgan le Fay Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Sweet Revenge Karen Knightly
1998 Theory of Flight, TheThe Theory of Flight Jane Thatchard Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1999 Fight Club Marla Singer Empire Award for Best British Actress
1999 Women Talking Dirty Cora
1999 Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything, TheThe Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything Lily
2000 Carnivale Milly (voice)
2001 Planet of the Apes Ari Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2001 Novocaine Susan Ivey
2001 Football Mum
2002 Heart of Me, TheThe Heart of Me Dinah Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
2002 Live from Baghdad Ingrid Formanek Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2002 Till Human Voices Wake Us Ruby
2003 Big Fish Jennifer Hill/The Witch
2003 Henry VIII Anne Boleyn Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Zee Cine Award – Critics' Choice Best Actress
2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Beatrice Baudelaire Uncredited cameo
2005 Conversations with Other Women Woman Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2005 Magnificent 7 Maggi Jackson
2005 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Lady Tottington (voice) Zee Cine Award for Best Voice Actress
Nominated—Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2005 Corpse Bride Emily the Corpse Bride
(voice)
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mrs. Bucket
2006 Sixty Six Esther Reubens
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Bellatrix Lestrange Nominated—Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Scream Queen
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Mrs. Lovett Empire Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Actress in a Horror Movie or Show
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bellatrix Lestrange Nominated—Scream Award for Best Villain
2009 Terminator Salvation Dr. Serena Kogan Nominated—Scream Award for Best Cameo
2009 Enid Enid Blyton International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress
Nominated—BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2009 Gruffalo, TheThe Gruffalo Mother Squirrel (voice)
2010 Alice in Wonderland The Red Queen Nominated—Comedy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Bellatrix Lestrange
2010 King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech Queen Elizabeth American Film Institute Award – A Year of Excellence Award
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
British Independent Film Award – The Richard Harris Award
Hollywood Award for Best Supporting Actress
Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
Nominated—North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010 Toast Joan Potter Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Bellatrix Lestrange, Hermione Granger Post-production
2012 Dark Shadows Dr. Julia Hoffman Filming
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Miami Vice Dr. Theresa Lyons Multiple Guest Arc
- "Duty and Honor"
- "Theresa"
1987 Screen Two Jo Marriner Episode: "The Vision"
1989 Theatre Night Raina Petkoff Episode: "Arms and the Man"
1991 Jackanory Reader Multiple Guest Arc
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 1"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 2"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 3"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 4"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 5"
1994 Absolutely Fabulous Dream Saffron Episode: "Hospital"
1994 Good Sex Guide, TheThe Good Sex Guide Herself Episode: "Episode #2.1"
1996 Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, TheThe Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century Vera Brittain Multiple Guest Arc
- "Slaughter"
- "Explosion"
Stage and radio Year↓ Production↓ Role↓ Notes
1985 Reluctant Debutante, TheThe Reluctant Debutante Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1987 Tempest, TheThe Tempest Unknown Performed at Oxford Playhouse
1988 Woman in White, TheThe Woman in White Laura Fairlie Performed at Greenwich Theatre, London
1989 Happiest of All Princesses, TheThe Happiest of All Princesses Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1989 Chalk Garden, TheThe Chalk Garden Unknown Performed at Windsor/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
1991 House of Bernarda Alba, TheThe House of Bernarda Alba Magdalena Performed at Nottingham Playhouse
1992 Barber of Seville, TheThe Barber of Seville Rosina Performed at Palace Theatre, Watford
1992 Trelawney of the Wells Imogen Parrot Performed at Comedy Theatre, London
1993 Secret Garden, TheThe Secret Garden Narrator by Frances Burnett
1993 Whales' Song, TheThe Whales' Song Narrator by Dyan Sheldon
1994 Seagull, TheThe Seagull Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya Performed on BBC Radio 4
1994 Dog So Small, AA Dog So Small Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1994 Way to Sattin Shore, TheThe Way to Sattin Shore Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1995 Song of Love Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1995 Remember Me Narrator
1996 Capture the Castle, II Capture the Castle Rose Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 House by the Sea, AA House by the Sea Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 Diary of Anne Frank, TheThe Diary of Anne Frank Narrator
1998 Lantern Slides Violet Bonham Carter Performed on BBC Radio 4
2000 As You Like It Rosalind Performed on BBC Radio 4
2004 Rubenstein Kiss, TheThe Rubenstein Kiss Unknown Postponed
2010 Private Lives Amanda Performed on BBC Radio 4
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/scaryxairy/helena.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/NellieBlye8/Helena%20Bonham%20Carter/Helena.jpg



She is an outstanding actress and is very beautiful.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 05/27/11 at 1:18 am


The person of the day...Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her film debut in K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first leading role as the titular character in Lady Jane. She is known for her roles in films such as A Room with a View, Fight Club, and the Harry Potter series, as well as for frequently collaborating with director Tim Burton, her domestic partner since 2001. Bonham Carter is a two-time Academy Award nominee for her performances in The Wings of the Dove and The King's Speech; her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the latter film garnering her a BAFTA Award in 2011.
Bonham Carter has not received any formal training in acting. In 1979, she won a national writing contest and used the money to pay for her entry into the actors directory Spotlight. She made her professional acting début at the age of 16 in a television commercial. She also had a part in a minor TV film A Pattern of Roses.

Her first starring film role was as Lady Jane Grey in Lady Jane (1986), which was given mixed reviews by critics. The story reflected the tragic life of England's nine-days' Queen from her troubled adolescence and arranged marriage to her ill-fated accession and subsequent execution. Her breakthrough role was Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View, which was filmed after Lady Jane, but released beforehand. Bonham Carter also appeared in episodes of Miami Vice as Don Johnson's love interest during the 1986–87 season and then, in 1987 opposite Dirk Bogarde in The Vision and Stewart Granger in A Hazard of Hearts. Bonham Carter was originally cast in the role of Bess McNeill in Breaking the Waves, but backed out during production due to, "...the character's painful psychic and physical exposure," according to Roger Ebert. The role went to Emily Watson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the role.

These early films led to her to being typecast as a "corset queen", and "English rose", playing pre- and early 20th century characters, particularly in Merchant-Ivory films. She played Olivia in Trevor Nunn's film version of Twelfth Night in 1996. She has since expanded her range, with her more recent films being Fight Club, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland.

Bonham Carter speaks French fluently, starring in a 1996 French film Portraits chinois. In August 2001, she was featured in Maxim. She played her second Queen of England when she was cast as Anne Boleyn in the ITV1 mini-series Henry VIII; however her role was restricted, as she was pregnant with her first child at the time of filming. Bonham Carter was a member of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival jury that unanimously selected The Wind That Shakes the Barley as best film.

Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the 2010–2011 film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bonham Carter received positive reviews as Lestrange, described as a "shining but underused talent". She then played Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's (Johnny Depp) amorous accomplice in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film was released on 21 December 2007 in the US and 25 January 2008 in the UK. Directed by Tim Burton, Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance. She won the Best Actress award in the 2007 Evening Standard British Film Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd and Conversations With Other Women, along with another Best Actress award at the 2009 Empire Awards. Bonham Carter also appeared in the fourth Terminator film entitled Terminator Salvation, playing a small but pivotal role.
Helena Bonham Carter at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2011.

In May 2006, Bonham Carter launched her own fashion line, "The Pantaloonies", with swimwear designer Samantha Sage. Their first collection, called Bloomin' Bloomers, is a Victorian style selection of camisoles, mop caps and bloomers. The duo are now working on Pantaloonies customised jeans, which Bonham Carter describes as "a kind of scrapbook on the bum".

Bonham Carter joined the cast of partner Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland as The Red Queen. Bonham Carter appears alongside Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman. Bonham Carter's role was an amalgamation of two roles, The Queen of Hearts, and The Red Queen. In early 2009, Bonham Carter was named one of The Times newspaper's top 10 British Actresses of all time. Bonham Carter appeared on the list with fellow actresses Julie Andrews, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Audrey Hepburn.

In 2010, Bonham Carter played Queen Elizabeth in the film The King's Speech. As of January 2011, Bonham Carter had received numerous plaudits for her performance, including nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Bonham Carter won her first BAFTA Award but lost the Academy Award to Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Bonham Carter signed to play author Enid Blyton in the BBC Four television biopic, Enid. It was the first depiction of Blyton's life on the screen, and Bonham Carter starred with Matthew Macfadyen and Denis Lawson. Bonham Carter also received her first Television BAFTA Nomination for Best Actress, for Enid. In 2010, she starred with Freddie Highmore in the Nigel Slater biopic Toast, which was filmed in the West Midlands and received a gala at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. She has now been confirmed to be taking on the role of Miss Havisham in Mike Newell's adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations.
Personal life

In 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton, whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. Burton has taken to casting Bonham Carter in his movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Alice in Wonderland. They live in Belsize Park, London, in neighbouring houses with a connecting doorway because they could not get along in the same house.

They purchased the houses when she became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Raymond Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. The couple maintains a close relationship with Johnny Depp, who appears in many of Burton's films. Depp is godfather to both of Burton and Bonham Carter's children, accepting the role after Burton persuaded Bonham Carter to ask him. At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Nell Burton, on 15 December 2007 in Central London. She says she named her daughter Nell after all the "Helens" in her family.

In August 2008, four of her relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa, and she was given indefinite leave from filming Terminator Salvation, returning later to complete filming.

In 2008, Bonham Carter and Burton put their American apartments up for sale. The apartments are in the Greenwich Village area, in New York City. The couple sold them for a collective $8.75 million. In early October 2008, it was released that Bonham Carter had become a patron of the charity Action Duchenne, the national charity established to support parents and sufferers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

On 5 January 2011, a photo was released of Bonham Carter and Burton walking on Coombe Hill, the Chilterns, with British Prime Minister David Cameron and his family. It has been suggested that the two couples were introduced through Nick Clegg whom Bonham Carter had performed alongside in a play while attending Westminster School.
Filmography
Films Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1983 Pattern of Roses, AA Pattern of Roses Netty Bellinger
1985 Room with a View, AA Room with a View Lucy Honeychurch
1986 Lady Jane Lady Jane Grey
1987 Maurice Lady at Cricket Match (cameo role)
1987 Hazard of Hearts, AA Hazard of Hearts Serena Staverley
1988 Mask, TheThe Mask Iris
1988 Six Minutes with Ludwig The Star
1989 Francesco Chiara Offreduccio
1989 Getting It Right Lady Minerva Munday
1990 Hamlet Ophelia
1990 Early Life of Beatrix Potter, TheThe Early Life of Beatrix Potter Beatrix Potter
1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Caroline Abbott
1991 Brown Bear's Wedding White Bear (voice)
1992 Howards End Helen Schlegel Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1993 Dancing Queen Pandora/Julie aka Rik Mayall Presents Dancing Queen
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Elizabeth Frankenstein Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1994 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald Marina Oswald Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1994 Dark-Adapted Eye, AA Dark-Adapted Eye Faith Severn (adult)
1994 Butter Dorothy
1995 Mighty Aphrodite Amanda Weinrib
1995 Margaret's Museum Margaret MacNeil Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for The Wings of the Dove)
Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actress
1995 Jeremy Hardy Gives Good Sex Herself (voice)
1996 Twelfth Night: Or What You Will Olivia
1996 Portraits chinois Ada
1997 Petticoat Expeditions, TheThe Petticoat Expeditions Narrator (voice)
1997 Keep the Aspidistra Flying Rosemary aka A Merry War
1997 Wings of the Dove, TheThe Wings of the Dove Kate Croy Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress (also for Margaret's Museum)
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1998 Merlin Morgan le Fay Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1998 Sweet Revenge Karen Knightly
1998 Theory of Flight, TheThe Theory of Flight Jane Thatchard Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1999 Fight Club Marla Singer Empire Award for Best British Actress
1999 Women Talking Dirty Cora
1999 Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything, TheThe Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything Lily
2000 Carnivale Milly (voice)
2001 Planet of the Apes Ari Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2001 Novocaine Susan Ivey
2001 Football Mum
2002 Heart of Me, TheThe Heart of Me Dinah Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
2002 Live from Baghdad Ingrid Formanek Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2002 Till Human Voices Wake Us Ruby
2003 Big Fish Jennifer Hill/The Witch
2003 Henry VIII Anne Boleyn Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Zee Cine Award – Critics' Choice Best Actress
2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Beatrice Baudelaire Uncredited cameo
2005 Conversations with Other Women Woman Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2005 Magnificent 7 Maggi Jackson
2005 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Lady Tottington (voice) Zee Cine Award for Best Voice Actress
Nominated—Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2005 Corpse Bride Emily the Corpse Bride
(voice)
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mrs. Bucket
2006 Sixty Six Esther Reubens
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Bellatrix Lestrange Nominated—Fantasporto Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Scream Queen
2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Mrs. Lovett Empire Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Actress in a Horror Movie or Show
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bellatrix Lestrange Nominated—Scream Award for Best Villain
2009 Terminator Salvation Dr. Serena Kogan Nominated—Scream Award for Best Cameo
2009 Enid Enid Blyton International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress
Nominated—BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2009 Gruffalo, TheThe Gruffalo Mother Squirrel (voice)
2010 Alice in Wonderland The Red Queen Nominated—Comedy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Bellatrix Lestrange
2010 King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech Queen Elizabeth American Film Institute Award – A Year of Excellence Award
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
British Independent Film Award – The Richard Harris Award
Hollywood Award for Best Supporting Actress
Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
Nominated—North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2010 Toast Joan Potter Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Bellatrix Lestrange, Hermione Granger Post-production
2012 Dark Shadows Dr. Julia Hoffman Filming
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1987 Miami Vice Dr. Theresa Lyons Multiple Guest Arc
- "Duty and Honor"
- "Theresa"
1987 Screen Two Jo Marriner Episode: "The Vision"
1989 Theatre Night Raina Petkoff Episode: "Arms and the Man"
1991 Jackanory Reader Multiple Guest Arc
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 1"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 2"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 3"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 4"
- "The Way to Sattin Shore: Part 5"
1994 Absolutely Fabulous Dream Saffron Episode: "Hospital"
1994 Good Sex Guide, TheThe Good Sex Guide Herself Episode: "Episode #2.1"
1996 Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, TheThe Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century Vera Brittain Multiple Guest Arc
- "Slaughter"
- "Explosion"
Stage and radio Year↓ Production↓ Role↓ Notes
1985 Reluctant Debutante, TheThe Reluctant Debutante Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1987 Tempest, TheThe Tempest Unknown Performed at Oxford Playhouse
1988 Woman in White, TheThe Woman in White Laura Fairlie Performed at Greenwich Theatre, London
1989 Happiest of All Princesses, TheThe Happiest of All Princesses Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1989 Chalk Garden, TheThe Chalk Garden Unknown Performed at Windsor/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
1991 House of Bernarda Alba, TheThe House of Bernarda Alba Magdalena Performed at Nottingham Playhouse
1992 Barber of Seville, TheThe Barber of Seville Rosina Performed at Palace Theatre, Watford
1992 Trelawney of the Wells Imogen Parrot Performed at Comedy Theatre, London
1993 Secret Garden, TheThe Secret Garden Narrator by Frances Burnett
1993 Whales' Song, TheThe Whales' Song Narrator by Dyan Sheldon
1994 Seagull, TheThe Seagull Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya Performed on BBC Radio 4
1994 Dog So Small, AA Dog So Small Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1994 Way to Sattin Shore, TheThe Way to Sattin Shore Narrator by Philippa Pearce
1995 Song of Love Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1995 Remember Me Narrator
1996 Capture the Castle, II Capture the Castle Rose Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 House by the Sea, AA House by the Sea Unknown Performed on BBC Radio 4
1997 Diary of Anne Frank, TheThe Diary of Anne Frank Narrator
1998 Lantern Slides Violet Bonham Carter Performed on BBC Radio 4
2000 As You Like It Rosalind Performed on BBC Radio 4
2004 Rubenstein Kiss, TheThe Rubenstein Kiss Unknown Postponed
2010 Private Lives Amanda Performed on BBC Radio 4
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn12/scaryxairy/helena.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/NellieBlye8/Helena%20Bonham%20Carter/Helena.jpg
She was great in The King's Speech.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/27/11 at 5:28 am

The person of the day...Louis Gossett Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970's television miniseries Roots. Gossett has also starred in numerous film productions such as The Deep, Jaws 3-D (as SeaWorld manager Calvin Bouchard), Wolfgang Peterson's Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series, Toy Soldiers and The Punisher. He has won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Award's in an acting career that spans over five decades.
Gossett made Broadway history in 1953 when he appeared as a star in Take a Giant Step, which was selected by The New York Times drama critics as one of the 10 best shows of the year. He was 17, and still a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, with no formal drama training.

Gossett stepped into the world of cinema in the Sidney Poitier vehicle A Raisin in the Sun in 1961. His role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman (opposite Richard Gere) showcased his talent and won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first African-American male to win an Oscar in a supporting role, the second black male to win for acting, and the third African-American actor to win overall. His win ended a 19-year Oscar drought for African-Americans, the second longest in the Academy's history since Hattie McDaniel's 1939 win for her supporting role in Gone with the Wind.

In 1986, Gossett starred in another role as a military man in the film Iron Eagle. It was followed by three sequels.

Gossett's Broadway theatre credits include A Raisin in the Sun (1959), Golden Boy (1964), and Chicago (2002).

He also has performed in other media, including television productions. His Emmy Award-winning role of Fiddler in the 1977 groundbreaking television miniseries Roots first brought Gossett to the audience's attention. In 1983, he was cast in the title role in Sadat, a miniseries which chronicled the life and assassination of Anwar Sadat. While filming An Officer and a Gentleman, Gossett was also starring in the 1982–1983 science fiction series, The Powers of Matthew Star. He plays the role of fictional U.S. President Gerald Fitzhugh in the movie Left Behind: World at War.

Gossett is the voice of the Vortigaunts in the video game Half-Life 2 (but he did not reprise the role in Half-Life 2: Episode Two) and is the Free Jaffa Leader Gerak in Season 9 of the sci-fi television series Stargate SG-1. He provides the voice of Lucius Fox in The Batman animated series. He recorded several commercials for a Nashville-based diabetic company, AmMed Direct, LLC. In 2008 he filmed the "Keep It Real" series of commercials for the Namibian lager Windhoek.

In 1997, Gossett presented When Animals Attack! 4, a one hour special on Fox. Gossett also co-wrote the antiwar folk song "Handsome Johnny" with Richie Havens.

Gossett portrayed John in the Word of Promise audio bible.
Philanthropy

In 2007, Gossett, Jr., was the honored guest and keynote speaker for the alumni hall of fame gala benefiting Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, St. Petersburg, Florida. Gossett has appeared every year supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He is an alumnus himself and has continued to work for and with the organization.
Personal life

Gossett has been married three times. His first marriage was to Hattie Glascoe; it was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, took place on August 21, 1973. Their son Satie was born in 1974. Gossett and Mangosing divorced in 1975. His third marriage, to Star Search champion Cyndi James-Reese, took place on December 25, 1987. They adopted a son, Sharron (born 1977). Gossett and James-Reese divorced in 1992.. Louis is cousin to TV actor Robert Gossett who stars on TNT's The Closer.

On February 9, 2010, Gossett announced that he is suffering from prostate cancer. He added the disease was caught in its early stages, and expects to make a full recovery.
Filmography
Year↓ Medium↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
2011 Film The Grace Card George Wright
2010 Film Why Did I Get Married Too? Porter
2010 Film Smitty Mr. Smith post-production
2009 Film The Least Among You Samuel Benton
2009 Film Shannon's Rainbow Max
2009 Film Dog Jack Grown up Jed
2009 Television ER Leo Malcolm Episode: The Family Man
2008 Film Delgo Zahn voice only
2008 Film The Perfect Game Cool Papa Bell awaiting release
2008 Film The B.A.M.N. Squad TBA awaiting release
2007 Film Cover Det. Hicks
2007 Film Daddy's Little Girls Willie
2007 Television The Batman Lucius Fox Voice Role
2006 Film Club Soda Doc
2006 Film All In Caps
2006 Television Family Guy Sergeant Angryman Voice Role
Episode: Saving Private Brian
2005–2006 Television Stargate SG-1 Gerak
2005 Film Left Behind: World at War President Gerald Fitzhugh
2005 Film Window Ralph Stanley
2005 Television Lackawanna Blues Ol'lem Taylor HBO TV-Movie
2005 Television Solar Attack President Ryan Gordon Direct-to-DVD Release
2004 Television Half & Half Ray Willis Episode: The Big Lover, My Brother Episode
Episode: The Big Thanks for Nothing Episode
2003 Television Momentum Raymond Addison SCI FI TV-Movie
2003 Television Jasper, Texas R.C. Horn Image Award (nominated)
Showtime TV-Movie
2003 Television The Dead Zone Pastor David Lewis Episode: Zion
2002 Film Deceived Col. David Garrett Direct-to-Video Release
2002 Television Resurrection Blvd. Ezekiel 'Zeke' Grant Episode: En Un Momento
Episode: Esperando Lagrimas
2002 Television What About Your Friends: Weekend Getaway Dr. Barnes UPN TV-Movie
2002 Television Opening Ceremony Salt Lake Paralympic Winter Games Narrator
2001 Television For Love of Olivia Daniel Stewart CBS TV-Movie
2000 Film The Highwayman Phil Bishop
2000 Television The Color of Love: Jacey's Story Lou Hastings Satellite Award (nominated)
CBS TV-Movie
2000 Television The Inspectors 2: A Shred of Evidence Inspector Frank Hughes Showtime TV-Movie
2000 Television Dr. Lucille David Mulera TV-Movie
1999 Film Y2K Morgan
1999 Television Strange Justice Vernon Jordan Showtime TV-Movie
1999 Television Love Songs Reuben Segment: A Love Song for Dad
Showtime TV-Movie
Black Reel Award (won-1) (nominated-1)
1998 Television The Inspectors Inspector Frank Hughes Showtime TV-Movie
1997 Film Legend of the Mummy Corbeck
1997 Film The Wall That Heals Narrator
1997 Television Ellen Sgt. Timko Episode: G.I. Ellen
1997 Television Early Edition Jim Matthews Episode: The Medal
1997 Television In His Father's Shoes Frank Crosby/Richard CableACE Award (nominated)
Daytime Emmy Award (won-1) (nominated-1)
Showtime TV-Movie
1997 Television To Dance with Olivia Daniel Stewart CBS TV-Movie
1997 Television Touched by an Angel Anderson Walker Episode: Amazing Grace (1)
Episode: Amazing Grace (2)
Emmy Award (nominated)
Image Award (won)
1996 Film Managua Paul
1996 Television Inside Questioner TV-Movie
1996 Television Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story Bob Kersee TV-Movie
1996 Television Captive Heart: The James Mink Story James Mink Image Award (nominated)
TV-Movie
1995 Film Iron Eagle on the Attack Chappy Sinclair
1995 Television Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder Ray Alexander
1995 Television Zooman Rueben Tate
1995 Television A Father for Charlie Walter Osgood
1994 Film Curse of the Starving Class Ellis
1994 Film A Good Man in Africa Prof. Sam Adekunle
1994 Film Blue Chips Father Dawkins
1994 Television Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice Ray Alexander NBC TV-Movie
1994 Television Picket Fences Rick Jennings Episode: Terms of Estrangement
1993 Film Flashfire Ben Durand
1993 Film Monolith Capt. MacCandless
1993 Television Return to Lonesome Dove Isom Pickett Miniseries
1993 Television Father & Son: Dangerous Relations NBC TV-Movie
1993 Television Story of a People Host Miniseries
1992 Film Diggstown 'Honey' Roy Palmer
1992 Film Aces: Iron Eagle III Chappy Sinclair
1991 Film Toy Soldiers Dean Parker
1991 Film Cover Up Lou Jackson
1991 Television Keeper of the City Det. James Dela TV-Movie
1991 Television Carolina Skeletons James Bragg NBC TV-Movie
1991 Television The Josephine Baker Story Sidney Williams Golden Globe Award (won)
HBO TV-Movie
1990 Television Sudie and Simpson Simpson TV-Movie
1990 Television Captain Planet and the Planeteers Commander Clash Voice Role
1990 Television El Diablo Van Leek HBO TV-Movie
1989 Film The Punisher Jake Berkowitz
1989 Television Gideon Oliver Gideon Oliver
1988 Film Iron Eagle II Chappy Sinclair
1988 Television Roots: The Gift Fiddler ABC TV-Movie
1988 Television Goodbye, Miss 4th of July Big John Creed Disney Channel TV-Movie
1988 Television Sam Found Out: A Triple Play ABC TV-Movie
1987 Film The Principal Jake Phillips
1987 Film A Gathering of Old Men
1987 Television The Father Clements Story Father Clements NBC TV-Movie
1987 Television A Gathering of Old Men Mathu Emmy Award (nominated)
CBS TV-Movie
1986 Film Firewalker Leo Porter
1986 Film Iron Eagle Chappy Sinclair
1985 Film Enemy Mine Jeriba 'Jerry' Shigan Saturn Award (nominated)
1984 Film Finders Keepers Century
1984 Television The Guardian John Mack CableACE Award (nominated)
HBO TV-Movie
1983 Film Jaws 3-D Calvin Bouchard Razzie Award (nominated)
1983 Television Sadat Anwar al-Sadat Emmy Award (nominated)
Golden Globe Award (nominated)
TV-Movie
1982–1983 Television The Powers of Matthew Star Walter 'Walt' Shepherd/D'Hai
1982 Film An Officer and a Gentleman Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award
NAACP Image Award
1982 Television Saturday Night Live Host Episode: Louis Gossett Jr/George Thorogood & The Destroyers
1982 Television Benny's Place Benny Moore ABC TV-Movie
1982 Television American Playhouse Episode: Zora is My Name!
1981 Television Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige Leroy 'Satchel' Paige ABC TV-Movie
1980 Film It Rained All Night the Day I Left Leo Garcia
1980 Television Palmerstown, USA Emmy Award (nominated)
1979 Television The Lazarus Syndrome Dr. MacArthur St. Clair
1979 Television Lawman Without a Gun Tom Hayward NBC TV-Movie
1979 Television Backstairs at the White House Levi Mercer Emmy Award (nominated)
NBC Miniseries
1978 Television The Critical List Lem Harper NBC TV-Movie
1978 Television To Kill a Cop Everett Walker Uncredited Role
NBC TV-Movie
1978 Television The Sentry Collection Presents Ben Vereen: His Roots Emmy Award (nominated)
1978 Television The Lazarus Syndrome Dr. MacArthur St. Clair ABC TV-Movie
1977 Film The Choirboys Calvin Motts
1977 Film The Deep Henri Cloche
1977 Television Visions Rex Episode: Freeman
1977 Television Roots Fiddler Emmy Award (won)
TV Land Awards (won)
ABC Miniseries
1977 Television Little Ladies of the Night Russ Garfield ABC TV-Movie
1976–1977 Television The Rockford Files Marcus 'Gabby' Hayes Episode: Foul on the First Play
Episode: Just Another Polish Wedding
1976 Film J. D.'s Revenge Rev. Elija Bliss
1976 Film The River Niger Dr. Dudley Stanton
1976 Television Little House on the Prairie Henry Hill Episode: The Long Road Home
1975–1976 Television Police Story Freddie
Virgil Barnes Episode: The Cut Man Caper
Episode: 50 Cents-First Half Hour, $1.75 All Day
1975 Television The Six Million Dollar Man O'Flaherty Episode: Clark Templeton O’Flaherty
1975 Television The Jeffersons Wendell Brown Episode: George's Best Friend
1975 Television Harry O Cleon Jackson Episode: Shades
1975 Television Caribe David Wallace Episode: The Assassin
1975 Television Delancey Street: The Crisis Within Otis James NBC TV-Movie
1975 Television Black Bart Black Bart CBS TV-Movie
1975 Television Lucas Tanner Bobby Koball Episode: Bonus Baby
1974–1975 Television Good Times Donald Knight
Uncle Wilbert Episode: Thelma's Young Man
Episode: Michael's Big Fall
1974–1975 Television Petrocelli D.A. Kurt Olson Episode: A Very Lonely Lady
Episode: A Fallen Idol
1974 Film The White Dawn Portagee
1974 Television McCloud Dewey Justin Episode: Shivaree on Delancy Street
1974 Television The White Dawn Portagee ABC TV-Movie
1974 Television Sidekicks Jason O'Rourke TV remake of Gossett's 1971 Skin Game
CBS TV-Movie
1974 Television It's Good to Be Alive Sam Brockington CBS TV-Movie
1973 Film The Laughing Policeman Insp. James Larrimore SFPD
1973 Film The Fuzz Brothers Francis Fuzz
1973 Television Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law Episode: An Often and Familiar Ghost
1972 Film Travels with My Aunt Zachary/'Wordsworth'
1968–1969,
1972 Television The Mod Squad Smitty
Lloyd
Charley Jameson Episode: When Smitty Comes Marching Home
Episode: The Uptight Town
Episode: Can You Hear Me Out There?
1972 Television Love, American Style Segment: Love and the Christmas Punch...
1972 Television The Rookies Toby Jones Episode: Covenant with Death
1972 Television The Living End Doug Newman CBS TV-Pilot
1972 Television Insight Episode: The Man from Inner Space
1971 Film Skin Game Jason O'Rourke
1971 Television Cade's County Episode: The Alien Land
1971 Television Alias Smith and Jones Joe Sims Episode: The Bounty Hunter
1971 Television The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Dr. Karnes Episode: One Lonely Step
1971 Television Longstreet Sergeant Cory Episode: The Way of the Intercepting Fist
1971 Television Bonanza Buck Walter Episode: The Desperado
1971 Television The Partridge Family Sam Episode: Soul Club
1971 Television Big Fish, Little Fish
1970–1971 Television The Young Rebels Isak Poole
1970 Film The Landlord Copee
1970 Film Leo the Last Roscoe
1970 Television The Bill Cosby Show Hurricane Smith Episode: The Return of Big Bad Bubba Bronson
1969 Film The Bushbaby Tembo
1968 Television The Mod Squad Sgt William Smith (Smithy) Episode: When Smitty Comes Marching Home
1968 Television Companions in Nightmare Lt. Adam McKay NBC TV-Movie
1968 Television Daktari Mkono Episode: Adam and Jenny
1968 Television The Invaders Ollie Episode: The Vise
1967, 1968 Television Cowboy in Africa Fulah
Hemera Episode: Fang and Claw
Episode: The Quiet Death
1962 Television The Nurses William Taylor Episode: The Prisoner
1961 Film A Raisin in the Sun George Murchison
1958 Television The Big Story Jamie Goodwin Episode: The Stubbornest Man
Theatre

2006 Dvorak's New World: Chamber Music Plus. Louis Gossett, Jr., narrator, with Aubrey Allicock (Baritone), Sanda Schuldmann (piano), and Harry Clark (writer).
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/kameko_w/movies%20tv/LouisGossettJr.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/seremot2/New/3d93bca8.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/27/11 at 6:44 am


The person of the day...Louis Gossett Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970's television miniseries Roots. Gossett has also starred in numerous film productions such as The Deep, Jaws 3-D (as SeaWorld manager Calvin Bouchard), Wolfgang Peterson's Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series, Toy Soldiers and The Punisher. He has won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Award's in an acting career that spans over five decades.
Gossett made Broadway history in 1953 when he appeared as a star in Take a Giant Step, which was selected by The New York Times drama critics as one of the 10 best shows of the year. He was 17, and still a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, with no formal drama training.

Gossett stepped into the world of cinema in the Sidney Poitier vehicle A Raisin in the Sun in 1961. His role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman (opposite Richard Gere) showcased his talent and won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first African-American male to win an Oscar in a supporting role, the second black male to win for acting, and the third African-American actor to win overall. His win ended a 19-year Oscar drought for African-Americans, the second longest in the Academy's history since Hattie McDaniel's 1939 win for her supporting role in Gone with the Wind.

In 1986, Gossett starred in another role as a military man in the film Iron Eagle. It was followed by three sequels.

Gossett's Broadway theatre credits include A Raisin in the Sun (1959), Golden Boy (1964), and Chicago (2002).

He also has performed in other media, including television productions. His Emmy Award-winning role of Fiddler in the 1977 groundbreaking television miniseries Roots first brought Gossett to the audience's attention. In 1983, he was cast in the title role in Sadat, a miniseries which chronicled the life and assassination of Anwar Sadat. While filming An Officer and a Gentleman, Gossett was also starring in the 1982–1983 science fiction series, The Powers of Matthew Star. He plays the role of fictional U.S. President Gerald Fitzhugh in the movie Left Behind: World at War.

Gossett is the voice of the Vortigaunts in the video game Half-Life 2 (but he did not reprise the role in Half-Life 2: Episode Two) and is the Free Jaffa Leader Gerak in Season 9 of the sci-fi television series Stargate SG-1. He provides the voice of Lucius Fox in The Batman animated series. He recorded several commercials for a Nashville-based diabetic company, AmMed Direct, LLC. In 2008 he filmed the "Keep It Real" series of commercials for the Namibian lager Windhoek.

In 1997, Gossett presented When Animals Attack! 4, a one hour special on Fox. Gossett also co-wrote the antiwar folk song "Handsome Johnny" with Richie Havens.

Gossett portrayed John in the Word of Promise audio bible.
Philanthropy

In 2007, Gossett, Jr., was the honored guest and keynote speaker for the alumni hall of fame gala benefiting Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, St. Petersburg, Florida. Gossett has appeared every year supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He is an alumnus himself and has continued to work for and with the organization.
Personal life

Gossett has been married three times. His first marriage was to Hattie Glascoe; it was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, took place on August 21, 1973. Their son Satie was born in 1974. Gossett and Mangosing divorced in 1975. His third marriage, to Star Search champion Cyndi James-Reese, took place on December 25, 1987. They adopted a son, Sharron (born 1977). Gossett and James-Reese divorced in 1992.. Louis is cousin to TV actor Robert Gossett who stars on TNT's The Closer.

On February 9, 2010, Gossett announced that he is suffering from prostate cancer. He added the disease was caught in its early stages, and expects to make a full recovery.
Filmography
Year↓ Medium↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
2011 Film The Grace Card George Wright
2010 Film Why Did I Get Married Too? Porter
2010 Film Smitty Mr. Smith post-production
2009 Film The Least Among You Samuel Benton
2009 Film Shannon's Rainbow Max
2009 Film Dog Jack Grown up Jed
2009 Television ER Leo Malcolm Episode: The Family Man
2008 Film Delgo Zahn voice only
2008 Film The Perfect Game Cool Papa Bell awaiting release
2008 Film The B.A.M.N. Squad TBA awaiting release
2007 Film Cover Det. Hicks
2007 Film Daddy's Little Girls Willie
2007 Television The Batman Lucius Fox Voice Role
2006 Film Club Soda Doc
2006 Film All In Caps
2006 Television Family Guy Sergeant Angryman Voice Role
Episode: Saving Private Brian
2005–2006 Television Stargate SG-1 Gerak
2005 Film Left Behind: World at War President Gerald Fitzhugh
2005 Film Window Ralph Stanley
2005 Television Lackawanna Blues Ol'lem Taylor HBO TV-Movie
2005 Television Solar Attack President Ryan Gordon Direct-to-DVD Release
2004 Television Half & Half Ray Willis Episode: The Big Lover, My Brother Episode
Episode: The Big Thanks for Nothing Episode
2003 Television Momentum Raymond Addison SCI FI TV-Movie
2003 Television Jasper, Texas R.C. Horn Image Award (nominated)
Showtime TV-Movie
2003 Television The Dead Zone Pastor David Lewis Episode: Zion
2002 Film Deceived Col. David Garrett Direct-to-Video Release
2002 Television Resurrection Blvd. Ezekiel 'Zeke' Grant Episode: En Un Momento
Episode: Esperando Lagrimas
2002 Television What About Your Friends: Weekend Getaway Dr. Barnes UPN TV-Movie
2002 Television Opening Ceremony Salt Lake Paralympic Winter Games Narrator
2001 Television For Love of Olivia Daniel Stewart CBS TV-Movie
2000 Film The Highwayman Phil Bishop
2000 Television The Color of Love: Jacey's Story Lou Hastings Satellite Award (nominated)
CBS TV-Movie
2000 Television The Inspectors 2: A Shred of Evidence Inspector Frank Hughes Showtime TV-Movie
2000 Television Dr. Lucille David Mulera TV-Movie
1999 Film Y2K Morgan
1999 Television Strange Justice Vernon Jordan Showtime TV-Movie
1999 Television Love Songs Reuben Segment: A Love Song for Dad
Showtime TV-Movie
Black Reel Award (won-1) (nominated-1)
1998 Television The Inspectors Inspector Frank Hughes Showtime TV-Movie
1997 Film Legend of the Mummy Corbeck
1997 Film The Wall That Heals Narrator
1997 Television Ellen Sgt. Timko Episode: G.I. Ellen
1997 Television Early Edition Jim Matthews Episode: The Medal
1997 Television In His Father's Shoes Frank Crosby/Richard CableACE Award (nominated)
Daytime Emmy Award (won-1) (nominated-1)
Showtime TV-Movie
1997 Television To Dance with Olivia Daniel Stewart CBS TV-Movie
1997 Television Touched by an Angel Anderson Walker Episode: Amazing Grace (1)
Episode: Amazing Grace (2)
Emmy Award (nominated)
Image Award (won)
1996 Film Managua Paul
1996 Television Inside Questioner TV-Movie
1996 Television Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story Bob Kersee TV-Movie
1996 Television Captive Heart: The James Mink Story James Mink Image Award (nominated)
TV-Movie
1995 Film Iron Eagle on the Attack Chappy Sinclair
1995 Television Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder Ray Alexander
1995 Television Zooman Rueben Tate
1995 Television A Father for Charlie Walter Osgood
1994 Film Curse of the Starving Class Ellis
1994 Film A Good Man in Africa Prof. Sam Adekunle
1994 Film Blue Chips Father Dawkins
1994 Television Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice Ray Alexander NBC TV-Movie
1994 Television Picket Fences Rick Jennings Episode: Terms of Estrangement
1993 Film Flashfire Ben Durand
1993 Film Monolith Capt. MacCandless
1993 Television Return to Lonesome Dove Isom Pickett Miniseries
1993 Television Father & Son: Dangerous Relations NBC TV-Movie
1993 Television Story of a People Host Miniseries
1992 Film Diggstown 'Honey' Roy Palmer
1992 Film Aces: Iron Eagle III Chappy Sinclair
1991 Film Toy Soldiers Dean Parker
1991 Film Cover Up Lou Jackson
1991 Television Keeper of the City Det. James Dela TV-Movie
1991 Television Carolina Skeletons James Bragg NBC TV-Movie
1991 Television The Josephine Baker Story Sidney Williams Golden Globe Award (won)
HBO TV-Movie
1990 Television Sudie and Simpson Simpson TV-Movie
1990 Television Captain Planet and the Planeteers Commander Clash Voice Role
1990 Television El Diablo Van Leek HBO TV-Movie
1989 Film The Punisher Jake Berkowitz
1989 Television Gideon Oliver Gideon Oliver
1988 Film Iron Eagle II Chappy Sinclair
1988 Television Roots: The Gift Fiddler ABC TV-Movie
1988 Television Goodbye, Miss 4th of July Big John Creed Disney Channel TV-Movie
1988 Television Sam Found Out: A Triple Play ABC TV-Movie
1987 Film The Principal Jake Phillips
1987 Film A Gathering of Old Men
1987 Television The Father Clements Story Father Clements NBC TV-Movie
1987 Television A Gathering of Old Men Mathu Emmy Award (nominated)
CBS TV-Movie
1986 Film Firewalker Leo Porter
1986 Film Iron Eagle Chappy Sinclair
1985 Film Enemy Mine Jeriba 'Jerry' Shigan Saturn Award (nominated)
1984 Film Finders Keepers Century
1984 Television The Guardian John Mack CableACE Award (nominated)
HBO TV-Movie
1983 Film Jaws 3-D Calvin Bouchard Razzie Award (nominated)
1983 Television Sadat Anwar al-Sadat Emmy Award (nominated)
Golden Globe Award (nominated)
TV-Movie
1982–1983 Television The Powers of Matthew Star Walter 'Walt' Shepherd/D'Hai
1982 Film An Officer and a Gentleman Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award
NAACP Image Award
1982 Television Saturday Night Live Host Episode: Louis Gossett Jr/George Thorogood & The Destroyers
1982 Television Benny's Place Benny Moore ABC TV-Movie
1982 Television American Playhouse Episode: Zora is My Name!
1981 Television Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige Leroy 'Satchel' Paige ABC TV-Movie
1980 Film It Rained All Night the Day I Left Leo Garcia
1980 Television Palmerstown, USA Emmy Award (nominated)
1979 Television The Lazarus Syndrome Dr. MacArthur St. Clair
1979 Television Lawman Without a Gun Tom Hayward NBC TV-Movie
1979 Television Backstairs at the White House Levi Mercer Emmy Award (nominated)
NBC Miniseries
1978 Television The Critical List Lem Harper NBC TV-Movie
1978 Television To Kill a Cop Everett Walker Uncredited Role
NBC TV-Movie
1978 Television The Sentry Collection Presents Ben Vereen: His Roots Emmy Award (nominated)
1978 Television The Lazarus Syndrome Dr. MacArthur St. Clair ABC TV-Movie
1977 Film The Choirboys Calvin Motts
1977 Film The Deep Henri Cloche
1977 Television Visions Rex Episode: Freeman
1977 Television Roots Fiddler Emmy Award (won)
TV Land Awards (won)
ABC Miniseries
1977 Television Little Ladies of the Night Russ Garfield ABC TV-Movie
1976–1977 Television The Rockford Files Marcus 'Gabby' Hayes Episode: Foul on the First Play
Episode: Just Another Polish Wedding
1976 Film J. D.'s Revenge Rev. Elija Bliss
1976 Film The River Niger Dr. Dudley Stanton
1976 Television Little House on the Prairie Henry Hill Episode: The Long Road Home
1975–1976 Television Police Story Freddie
Virgil Barnes Episode: The Cut Man Caper
Episode: 50 Cents-First Half Hour, $1.75 All Day
1975 Television The Six Million Dollar Man O'Flaherty Episode: Clark Templeton O’Flaherty
1975 Television The Jeffersons Wendell Brown Episode: George's Best Friend
1975 Television Harry O Cleon Jackson Episode: Shades
1975 Television Caribe David Wallace Episode: The Assassin
1975 Television Delancey Street: The Crisis Within Otis James NBC TV-Movie
1975 Television Black Bart Black Bart CBS TV-Movie
1975 Television Lucas Tanner Bobby Koball Episode: Bonus Baby
1974–1975 Television Good Times Donald Knight
Uncle Wilbert Episode: Thelma's Young Man
Episode: Michael's Big Fall
1974–1975 Television Petrocelli D.A. Kurt Olson Episode: A Very Lonely Lady
Episode: A Fallen Idol
1974 Film The White Dawn Portagee
1974 Television McCloud Dewey Justin Episode: Shivaree on Delancy Street
1974 Television The White Dawn Portagee ABC TV-Movie
1974 Television Sidekicks Jason O'Rourke TV remake of Gossett's 1971 Skin Game
CBS TV-Movie
1974 Television It's Good to Be Alive Sam Brockington CBS TV-Movie
1973 Film The Laughing Policeman Insp. James Larrimore SFPD
1973 Film The Fuzz Brothers Francis Fuzz
1973 Television Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law Episode: An Often and Familiar Ghost
1972 Film Travels with My Aunt Zachary/'Wordsworth'
1968–1969,
1972 Television The Mod Squad Smitty
Lloyd
Charley Jameson Episode: When Smitty Comes Marching Home
Episode: The Uptight Town
Episode: Can You Hear Me Out There?
1972 Television Love, American Style Segment: Love and the Christmas Punch...
1972 Television The Rookies Toby Jones Episode: Covenant with Death
1972 Television The Living End Doug Newman CBS TV-Pilot
1972 Television Insight Episode: The Man from Inner Space
1971 Film Skin Game Jason O'Rourke
1971 Television Cade's County Episode: The Alien Land
1971 Television Alias Smith and Jones Joe Sims Episode: The Bounty Hunter
1971 Television The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Dr. Karnes Episode: One Lonely Step
1971 Television Longstreet Sergeant Cory Episode: The Way of the Intercepting Fist
1971 Television Bonanza Buck Walter Episode: The Desperado
1971 Television The Partridge Family Sam Episode: Soul Club
1971 Television Big Fish, Little Fish
1970–1971 Television The Young Rebels Isak Poole
1970 Film The Landlord Copee
1970 Film Leo the Last Roscoe
1970 Television The Bill Cosby Show Hurricane Smith Episode: The Return of Big Bad Bubba Bronson
1969 Film The Bushbaby Tembo
1968 Television The Mod Squad Sgt William Smith (Smithy) Episode: When Smitty Comes Marching Home
1968 Television Companions in Nightmare Lt. Adam McKay NBC TV-Movie
1968 Television Daktari Mkono Episode: Adam and Jenny
1968 Television The Invaders Ollie Episode: The Vise
1967, 1968 Television Cowboy in Africa Fulah
Hemera Episode: Fang and Claw
Episode: The Quiet Death
1962 Television The Nurses William Taylor Episode: The Prisoner
1961 Film A Raisin in the Sun George Murchison
1958 Television The Big Story Jamie Goodwin Episode: The Stubbornest Man
Theatre

2006 Dvorak's New World: Chamber Music Plus. Louis Gossett, Jr., narrator, with Aubrey Allicock (Baritone), Sanda Schuldmann (piano), and Harry Clark (writer).
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/kameko_w/movies%20tv/LouisGossettJr.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/seremot2/New/3d93bca8.jpg


a most well respected actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/28/11 at 6:28 am

The person of the day,,,Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", (recorded later by Marvin Gaye), "Friendship Train" (1969), "If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), the Grammy Award winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" (1972), and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973). In their early Motown career Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Miss Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Gladys that she was giving his act a hard time.
Knight and the Pips perform aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger on November 1, 1981.

The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train to Georgia" (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. However, the Buddah hits all followed a number of years after their success in the U.S.. For example "Midnight Train to Georgia" hit the UK pop charts Top 5 in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S..

During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo LP recordings--Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. Having divorced James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer Aaliyah), then Detroit mayor Coleman Young's executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Upon their divorce, Hankerson and Knight were embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – "When A Child Is Born" (previously a hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer".

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Play sound
Gladys Knight & the Pips' version of the song, from their 1967 album Everybody Needs Love.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two LPs--About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.

In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its lead single, "Love Overboard", was a successful hit and won a third Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Solo music career

While still with The Pips, Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For" which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, Gladys Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10 hit both in the UK, reaching #6, and Germany.

Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released by MCA in 1991. It rose to #1 on the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit "Men". The album also featured "Superwoman", written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on "I Don't Do Duets", a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle's album Burnin'.

Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

In 1992 Vernon Ray Blue II, choir master of the year asked Gladys to record his first single "He Lifted Me"

Knight joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1998. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.

In 2008, a duet between Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis' album A Night to Remember. Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Diana Ross at the 'Divas with Heart' concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York's Radio City Hall.

In 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity. In March 2010, Randy Jackson mentioned on a new episode of the same show that he is back in the studio with Gladys Knight working on a new album.

In 2009 Knight sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.

On December 21, 2010, Knight released her new single "Settle" on iTunes and Amazon.
UK Farewell Tour

In October 2009, Gladys started her farewell tour of the United Kingdom which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick.

Speaking ahead of the Manchester show, Jackson said: "The UK was a very special place to my brother Michael and I'm so excited to be able to pay my respect to his fans here. To be able to do this whilst supporting our dear friend Gladys is a complete blessing." On the October 9 concert, his mother Katherine Jackson and his brother Randy were acknowledged in the audience.

The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production value than previous "Gladys Knight, a mic and a light" appearances by Gladys in the UK. A glossy program was available and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program Later... with Jools Holland where Gladys performed "If I Were Your Woman" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night".

At select performances on the UK Farewell Tour recordings of the concerts were made available for sale on USB flash drives.
Acting and other work

Knight guest-starred on several television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s ,with roles on Benson, The Jeffersons, A Different World, Living Single, The Jamie Foxx Show and New York Undercover. In 1985, she co-starred on the CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. with comedian Flip Wilson. It lasted for one season. In April 2009, she made a special guest appearance and performed a song on Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Knight has also made a number of television cameo appearances, including Las Vegas, and 30 Rock.

Knight's son Shanga owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name. Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations in the Atlanta area. One location was featured on the Travel Channel original series Man v. Food.
Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles in Atlanta.

In 2009, Gladys was featured in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself and performed her song The Need To Be from the 1974 album I Feel a Song.

In 2008, she had a cameo in 30 Rock as the rest of the cast sang Midnight Train To Georgia.
Personal life

Knight has been married four times and has three children. In 1960, Knight married her high school sweetheart, Jimmy Newman. Knight became pregnant in 1962 and gave birth to a son, Jimmy III, that year. She retired from the road to raise her child while The Pips toured on their own. After giving birth in 1963 to a daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family. Newman and Knight divorced in 1973. She lived in Detroit neighborhood (Sherwood Forest) and her children attended Gesu Catholic Grade School. She married producer and Blackground Records founder, Barry Hankerson, in 1974. They had one son, Shanga Hankerson. They later divorced in 1979. She married motivational speaker, Les Brown in 1995 but separated and divorced in 1997. Knight married current husband, William McDowell in 2001. They have fifteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Knight converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1998.
Awards, honors and achievements
For awards won by Knight with the Pips, see Gladys Knight & the Pips.

    * Grammy Awards
          o 1986 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal – "That's What Friends Are For" – Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder.
          o 2001 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album – "At Last"
          o 2004 Best Gospel Performance – "Heaven Help Us All" – Ray Charles & Gladys Knight.
          o 2005 Best Gospel Choir Or Chorus Album – One Voice – Gladys Knight & The Saints Unified Voices.
          o 1996–2001 The Jamie Foxx Show- Played Jamie's Mother

    * Other awards
          o 1992 Gladys Knight was awarded an Essence Award for Career Achievement.
          o 1995 Gladys Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
          o 1997: Gladys Knight received the Pinnacle Award during 5th Annual Trumpet Awards presentation in Atlanta, Georgia.
          o 2005: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BET cable network.
          o 2006: Gladys Knight received a Legendary Award from the Las Vegas Music Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight received Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist during The 38th NAACP Image Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight was declared the "Empress of Soul" and presented with the 16th Annual Ella Award by the Society of Singers
          o 2008: Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder were presented with the Best Living Legend Award at the 1st Annual The BET Honors.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Diva Award at the Stardust Music Awards in March.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight was honored by The National Black Arts Festival and The Coca Cola Company at the 2008 Legends Celebration.
          o 2009: Gladys Knight was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

She sang to President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his birthday in a tribute at his life in 2005.
Solo discography
See also: Gladys Knight & the Pips discography
Singles

    * 1978: "I'm Coming Home Again" (#54 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: "Am I Too Late" (#45 U.S. R&B)
    * 1981: "When a Child Is Born" (with Johnny Mathis) (#74 UK)
    * 1985: "That's What Friends Are For" (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John & Stevie Wonder) (#1 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. AC, UK #16)
    * 1986: "Loving On Borrowed Time" (w/Bill Medley) (#16 US AC)
    * 1989: "License to Kill" (#69 U.S. R&B, #18 U.S. AC, #6 UK) Wind Beneath My Wings (12# U.S. U.K. R&B #12 UK)
    * 1990: "If I Knew Then What I Know Now" (with Kenny Rogers) (#10 U.S. AC)
    * 1991: "Men" (#2 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Meet Me in the Middle" (#78 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Where Would I Be" (#66 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Superwoman" (with Dionne Warwick & Patti LaBelle) (airplay-only)
    * 1994: "I Don't Want to Know" (#32 U.S. R&B)(#113 US POP)
    * 1994: "End of the Road" Medley: "If You Don't Know Me by Now"/"Love Don't Love Nobody" (#76 U.S. R&B)
    * 1995: "Next Time" (#30 U.S. R&B)
    * 1996: "Missing You" (with Brandy, Tamia & Chaka Khan) (#25 U.S. Pop, #10, U.S. R&B, #30 U.S. AC)

Albums

    * 1974: I feel a song (Buddah Records | Distributed by RCA)
    * 1978: Miss Gladys Knight (#57 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: Gladys Knight (#79 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: Good Woman (#45 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B)
    * 1994: Just for You (#53 U.S. Pop, #6 U.S. R&B)
    * 1998: Many Different Roads (#21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2001: At Last (#98 U.S. Pop, #30 U.S. R&B)
    * 2005: One Voice (with Saints Unified Voices) (#95 U.S. R&B, #21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: A Christmas Celebration (with Saints Unified Voices) (#155 U.S. Pop, #59 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: Before Me (#93 U.S. Pop, #18 U.S. R&B, #4 U.S. Jazz)

Published works

    * Knight, Gladys. At Home With Gladys Knight, McGraw-Hill, 2001 – ISBN 1-58040-075-2
    * Knight, Gladys. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, Hyperion Press, 1998 – ISBN 0-7868-8371-5
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm125/DJB2607/Gladys_Knight1.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t66/AAS151/1950/gladys.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/28/11 at 6:57 am


The person of the day,,,Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", (recorded later by Marvin Gaye), "Friendship Train" (1969), "If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), the Grammy Award winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" (1972), and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973). In their early Motown career Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Miss Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Gladys that she was giving his act a hard time.
Knight and the Pips perform aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger on November 1, 1981.

The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train to Georgia" (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. However, the Buddah hits all followed a number of years after their success in the U.S.. For example "Midnight Train to Georgia" hit the UK pop charts Top 5 in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S..

During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo LP recordings--Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. Having divorced James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer Aaliyah), then Detroit mayor Coleman Young's executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Upon their divorce, Hankerson and Knight were embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – "When A Child Is Born" (previously a hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer".

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Play sound
Gladys Knight & the Pips' version of the song, from their 1967 album Everybody Needs Love.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two LPs--About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.

In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its lead single, "Love Overboard", was a successful hit and won a third Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Solo music career

While still with The Pips, Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For" which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, Gladys Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10 hit both in the UK, reaching #6, and Germany.

Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released by MCA in 1991. It rose to #1 on the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit "Men". The album also featured "Superwoman", written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on "I Don't Do Duets", a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle's album Burnin'.

Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

In 1992 Vernon Ray Blue II, choir master of the year asked Gladys to record his first single "He Lifted Me"

Knight joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1998. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.

In 2008, a duet between Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis' album A Night to Remember. Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Diana Ross at the 'Divas with Heart' concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York's Radio City Hall.

In 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity. In March 2010, Randy Jackson mentioned on a new episode of the same show that he is back in the studio with Gladys Knight working on a new album.

In 2009 Knight sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.

On December 21, 2010, Knight released her new single "Settle" on iTunes and Amazon.
UK Farewell Tour

In October 2009, Gladys started her farewell tour of the United Kingdom which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick.

Speaking ahead of the Manchester show, Jackson said: "The UK was a very special place to my brother Michael and I'm so excited to be able to pay my respect to his fans here. To be able to do this whilst supporting our dear friend Gladys is a complete blessing." On the October 9 concert, his mother Katherine Jackson and his brother Randy were acknowledged in the audience.

The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production value than previous "Gladys Knight, a mic and a light" appearances by Gladys in the UK. A glossy program was available and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program Later... with Jools Holland where Gladys performed "If I Were Your Woman" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night".

At select performances on the UK Farewell Tour recordings of the concerts were made available for sale on USB flash drives.
Acting and other work

Knight guest-starred on several television series throughout the 1980s and 1990s ,with roles on Benson, The Jeffersons, A Different World, Living Single, The Jamie Foxx Show and New York Undercover. In 1985, she co-starred on the CBS sitcom Charlie & Co. with comedian Flip Wilson. It lasted for one season. In April 2009, she made a special guest appearance and performed a song on Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Knight has also made a number of television cameo appearances, including Las Vegas, and 30 Rock.

Knight's son Shanga owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name. Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations in the Atlanta area. One location was featured on the Travel Channel original series Man v. Food.
Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken & Waffles in Atlanta.

In 2009, Gladys was featured in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself and performed her song The Need To Be from the 1974 album I Feel a Song.

In 2008, she had a cameo in 30 Rock as the rest of the cast sang Midnight Train To Georgia.
Personal life

Knight has been married four times and has three children. In 1960, Knight married her high school sweetheart, Jimmy Newman. Knight became pregnant in 1962 and gave birth to a son, Jimmy III, that year. She retired from the road to raise her child while The Pips toured on their own. After giving birth in 1963 to a daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family. Newman and Knight divorced in 1973. She lived in Detroit neighborhood (Sherwood Forest) and her children attended Gesu Catholic Grade School. She married producer and Blackground Records founder, Barry Hankerson, in 1974. They had one son, Shanga Hankerson. They later divorced in 1979. She married motivational speaker, Les Brown in 1995 but separated and divorced in 1997. Knight married current husband, William McDowell in 2001. They have fifteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Knight converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1998.
Awards, honors and achievements
For awards won by Knight with the Pips, see Gladys Knight & the Pips.

    * Grammy Awards
          o 1986 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal – "That's What Friends Are For" – Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder.
          o 2001 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album – "At Last"
          o 2004 Best Gospel Performance – "Heaven Help Us All" – Ray Charles & Gladys Knight.
          o 2005 Best Gospel Choir Or Chorus Album – One Voice – Gladys Knight & The Saints Unified Voices.
          o 1996–2001 The Jamie Foxx Show- Played Jamie's Mother

    * Other awards
          o 1992 Gladys Knight was awarded an Essence Award for Career Achievement.
          o 1995 Gladys Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
          o 1997: Gladys Knight received the Pinnacle Award during 5th Annual Trumpet Awards presentation in Atlanta, Georgia.
          o 2005: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BET cable network.
          o 2006: Gladys Knight received a Legendary Award from the Las Vegas Music Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight received Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist during The 38th NAACP Image Awards.
          o 2007: Gladys Knight was declared the "Empress of Soul" and presented with the 16th Annual Ella Award by the Society of Singers
          o 2008: Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder were presented with the Best Living Legend Award at the 1st Annual The BET Honors.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Diva Award at the Stardust Music Awards in March.
          o 2008: Gladys Knight was honored by The National Black Arts Festival and The Coca Cola Company at the 2008 Legends Celebration.
          o 2009: Gladys Knight was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

She sang to President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his birthday in a tribute at his life in 2005.
Solo discography
See also: Gladys Knight & the Pips discography
Singles

    * 1978: "I'm Coming Home Again" (#54 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: "Am I Too Late" (#45 U.S. R&B)
    * 1981: "When a Child Is Born" (with Johnny Mathis) (#74 UK)
    * 1985: "That's What Friends Are For" (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John & Stevie Wonder) (#1 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. AC, UK #16)
    * 1986: "Loving On Borrowed Time" (w/Bill Medley) (#16 US AC)
    * 1989: "License to Kill" (#69 U.S. R&B, #18 U.S. AC, #6 UK) Wind Beneath My Wings (12# U.S. U.K. R&B #12 UK)
    * 1990: "If I Knew Then What I Know Now" (with Kenny Rogers) (#10 U.S. AC)
    * 1991: "Men" (#2 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Meet Me in the Middle" (#78 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Where Would I Be" (#66 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: "Superwoman" (with Dionne Warwick & Patti LaBelle) (airplay-only)
    * 1994: "I Don't Want to Know" (#32 U.S. R&B)(#113 US POP)
    * 1994: "End of the Road" Medley: "If You Don't Know Me by Now"/"Love Don't Love Nobody" (#76 U.S. R&B)
    * 1995: "Next Time" (#30 U.S. R&B)
    * 1996: "Missing You" (with Brandy, Tamia & Chaka Khan) (#25 U.S. Pop, #10, U.S. R&B, #30 U.S. AC)

Albums

    * 1974: I feel a song (Buddah Records | Distributed by RCA)
    * 1978: Miss Gladys Knight (#57 U.S. R&B)
    * 1979: Gladys Knight (#79 U.S. R&B)
    * 1991: Good Woman (#45 U.S. Pop, #1 U.S. R&B)
    * 1994: Just for You (#53 U.S. Pop, #6 U.S. R&B)
    * 1998: Many Different Roads (#21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2001: At Last (#98 U.S. Pop, #30 U.S. R&B)
    * 2005: One Voice (with Saints Unified Voices) (#95 U.S. R&B, #21 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: A Christmas Celebration (with Saints Unified Voices) (#155 U.S. Pop, #59 U.S. R&B, #1 U.S. Gospel)
    * 2006: Before Me (#93 U.S. Pop, #18 U.S. R&B, #4 U.S. Jazz)

Published works

    * Knight, Gladys. At Home With Gladys Knight, McGraw-Hill, 2001 – ISBN 1-58040-075-2
    * Knight, Gladys. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, Hyperion Press, 1998 – ISBN 0-7868-8371-5
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm125/DJB2607/Gladys_Knight1.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t66/AAS151/1950/gladys.jpg


It is always great to hear her music,there are so many songs I enjoy of hers.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/28/11 at 4:08 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78-ftcqpNw



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/29/11 at 10:11 am

The person of the day...Rupert Everett
Rupert James Hector Everett (born 29 May 1959, UK: /ˈruːpət ˈevərɪt/) is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s. He has since appeared in many other films including My Best Friend's Wedding, An Ideal Husband, The Next Best Thing and the Shrek sequels.
Everett's break came in 1981 at the Greenwich Theatre and later West End production of Another Country, playing a gay schoolboy opposite Kenneth Branagh, followed by a film version in 1984 with Colin Firth. Following on with 1985's Dance With A Stranger, Everett began to develop a promising film career until he co-starred with Bob Dylan in the huge flop Hearts of Fire (1987). Around the same time, Everett recorded and released an album of pop songs entitled Generation Of Loneliness. Despite being managed by the largely successful pop svengali Simon Napier-Bell (who also managed Marc Bolan, launched and managed Japan, and steered Wham! to international fame), the public didn't take to his change in direction. The shift was short-lived, and he would only return to pop indirectly by providing backing vocals for his friend Madonna many years later, on her cover of "American Pie" and on the track "They Can't Take That Away from Me" on Robbie Williams' Swing When You're Winning in 2001.
1990s
Rupert Everett at the Cannes film festival.

In 1989, Everett moved to Paris, writing a novel, Hello, Darling, Are You Working? and coming out as gay, a disclosure which he has said may well have damaged his career. Returning to the public eye in The Comfort of Strangers (1990), several films of variable success followed. The Italian comics character Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi, is graphically inspired by him. The English actor, in turn, later appeared in an adaptation of a novel based on Sclavi's novel, Dellamorte Dellamore. In 1995 he released a second novel, The Hairdressers of St. Tropez.

His career was revitalised by his award-winning performance in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), playing Julia Roberts's friend. In 1999, he played Madonna's best friend in The Next Best Thing (he also sang backup on her cover of "American Pie", which is on the film's soundtrack). He has since appeared in a number of high-profile film roles, often playing leads. Also in 1999 he starred as the villainous Sanford Scolex/Dr. Claw in Disney's Inspector Gadget with Matthew Broderick.
2000s
Everett at a speed dating event with When The Music Stops, for Channel 4's The Friday Night Project in July 2007

In recent years, Everett has decided to write again. He has been a Vanity Fair contributing editor and wrote a film screenplay on playwright Oscar Wilde's final years, for which he seeks funding. In 2006, he published a memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins. In it he revealed he had a six-year affair with British television presenter Paula Yates. "I am mystified by my heterosexual affairs — but then I am mystified by most of my relationships," he wrote. Although he is sometimes described as bisexual as opposed to homosexual, at a radio show with Jonathan Ross, he described his heterosexual affairs as resulting from adventurousness: "I was basically adventurous, I think I wanted to try everything" and in an interview on This Morning he simply described himself as homosexual, making a joke of any suggestion he might find a woman attractive.

Since then, Everett has participated in public activities (leading the 2007 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras), played a double role in the film St. Trinian's, and has appeared on TV several times (as a contestant in the special Comic Relief Does The Apprentice, as a presenter at Live Earth and as guest host at Channel 4 show The Friday Night Project among others), but has made much news for making shocking comments and remarks at interviews that have caused public outrage.

In May 2007, he delivered one of the eulogies at the funeral of fashionista Isabella Blow, his friend since they were in their teens. He currently lives in London.

Everett recently told British newspaper The Observer that he wished he had never come out of the closet as he feels that it hurt his career and advises younger actors not to:
“ The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business. It just doesn't work and you're going to hit a brick wall at some point. You're going to manage to make it roll for a certain amount of time, but at the first sign of failure they'll cut you right off... Honestly, I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.
Recent projects

Everett presented the Channel 4 documentary on Romantic poet Lord Byron's travels, broadcast in July 2009 and has a part in the comedy film Wild Target, starring Bill Nighy. He recently made his Broadway debut at the Shubert Theatre to good critical review, performing in a Noël Coward play, Blithe Spirit, starring alongside Angela Lansbury, Christine Ebersole and Jayne Atkinson, directed by Michael Blakemore. He was also expected to tour several Italian cities, during the 2008–2009 winter season in another Noël Coward play, Private Lives (performed in Italian, which he speaks fluently), playing Elyot to Italian actress Asia Argento's Amanda. However, production was canceled and the play never opened. He played in a revival of Pygmalion as Professor Henry Higgins next to English actress Honeysuckle Weeks, with Stephanie Cole in the role of the Professor's mother, at the Chichester Festival Theatre during the summer of 2010. In May 2011 he revived this role in the Garrick Theatre in Londons West End. Starring along side him were Diana Rigg as Professor Higgins mother and Kara Tointon as Eliza.

In July 2010, Everett featured in the popular family history programme Who Do You Think You Are?.
Filmography
Cinema
Year Film Role Notes
1982 A Shocking Accident Jerome and Mr. Weathersby Short film
1983 Princess Daisy Ram Valenski TV mini-series
1984 Another Country Guy Bennett based on the young Guy Burgess
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1985 Dance with a Stranger David Blakeley
1986 Duet for One Constantine Kassanis
1987 Gli occhiali d'oro Davide Lattes
1987 Hearts of Fire James Colt
1987 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Bayardo San Román
1990 The Comfort of Strangers Colin
1992 And Quiet Flows the Don Grigory aka Tikhiy Don
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Jack Lowenthal
The Madness of King George Prince of Wales
Dellamorte Dellamore Francesco Dellamorte aka Cemetery Man
1996 Dunston Checks In Lord Rutledge
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding George Downes American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
1998 Shakespeare in Love Christopher Marlowe
1998 B. Monkey Paul Neville
1999 An Ideal Husband Lord Goring Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Inspector Gadget Sanford Scolex/Dr. Claw
A Midsummer Night's Dream Oberon
2000 The Next Best Thing Robert Whittaker
2000 Paragraph 175 Narrator Narrator for documentary film
2001 South Kensington Nick
2002 The Importance of Being Earnest Algernon / "Ernest"
2002 The Wild Thornberrys Movie Sloan Blackburn voice role
2003 Unconditional Love Dirk S.
2003 To Kill a King King Charles I
2004 Stage Beauty King Charles II
Shrek 2 Prince Charming voice role
A Different Loyalty Leo Cauffield
2005 Separate Lies Bill Bule
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Mr. Fox voice role
2007 Stardust Secundus
Shrek the Third Prince Charming voice role
St. Trinian's Headmistress Camilla Fritton/Carnaby Fritton
2009 St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold Headmistress Camilla Fritton
2010 Wild Target Ferguson
Television (selection)

    * The Manhood of Edward Robinson (1981) — guy
    * Soft Targets (1982) — Actor
    * Princess Daisy (1983) — Ram Valenski
    * The Far Pavilions (1984) — George Garforth
    * Arthur the King (1985) — Lancelot
    * Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (2001) — Host
    * Les Liaisons dangereuses (2003) — Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont
    * Mr. Ambassador (2003) — Ambassador Ronnie Childers
    * To Kill a King (2003) — King Charles I
    * Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (2004) — Sherlock Holmes
    * Boston Legal (2005) — Malcolm Holmes
    * The Friday Night Project (2006) — Guest host, himself
    * Comic Relief Does The Apprentice (2007) — Celebrity contestant (walked out during first episode)
    * The Friday Night Project (2007) — Guest host
    * Katie & Peter: Unleashed (2007) — Celebrity guest
    * The Victorian Sex Explorer (2008) — Presenter
    * The Paul O'Grady Show (2009) — Guest
    * Who Do You Think You Are? (2010) — The subject, himself
    * The Chris Moyles Show (2010) - Guest
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h68/stranger_carrie/Rupert%20Everett/5.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/Nrosa/rupert_everett_4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 05/31/11 at 6:06 am

The person of the day....Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Following his breakthrough role on the TV series Rawhide (1959–65), Eastwood starred as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) in the 1960s, and as San Francisco Police Department Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) during the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, along with several others in which he plays tough-talking no-nonsense police officers, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.

Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor, for his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). These films in particular, as well as others including Play Misty for Me (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Pale Rider (1985), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980); despite being widely panned by critics they are the two highest-grossing films of his career after adjusting for inflation.

Eastwood has directed most of his own star vehicles, but he has also directed films in which he did not appear such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations and Changeling (2008), which received Golden Globe Award nominations. He has received considerable critical praise in France in particular, including for several of his films which were panned in the United States, and was awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994 he received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal and in 2007 was awarded the Légion d'honneur medal. In 2000 he was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

Since 1967 Eastwood has run his own production company, Malpaso, which has produced the vast majority of his films. He also served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from 1986 to 1988. Eastwood has seven children by five women, although he has only married twice. An audiophile, Eastwood is also associated with jazz and has composed and performed pieces in several films along with his eldest son, Kyle Eastwood.
Main articles: List of awards and nominations received by Clint Eastwood and List of awards and nominations received by Clint Eastwood by film
Academy Awards Year Award Film W/N
1992 Best Director Unforgiven Won
Best Picture Unforgiven Won
Best Actor Unforgiven Nominated
1994 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Won
2003 Best Director Mystic River Nominated
Best Picture Mystic River Nominated
2004 Best Director Million Dollar Baby Won
Best Picture Million Dollar Baby Won
Best Actor Million Dollar Baby Nominated
2006 Best Director Letters from Iwo Jima Nominated
Best Picture Letters from Iwo Jima Nominated

Eastwood has been recognized with multiple awards and nominations for his work in film, television, and music. His widest reception has been in film work, for which he has received Academy Awards, Directors Guild of America Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and People's Choice Awards, among others. Eastwood is one of only two people to have been twice nominated for Best Actor and Best Director for the same film (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) the other being Warren Beatty (Heaven Can Wait and Reds). Along with Beatty, Robert Redford, Richard Attenborough, Kevin Costner, and Mel Gibson, he is one of the few directors best known as an actor to win an Academy Award for directing. On February 27, 2005, he became one of only three living directors (along with Miloš Forman and Francis Ford Coppola) to have directed two Best Picture winners. At age 74, he was also the oldest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Director. Eastwood has directed five actors in Academy Award–winning performances: Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn in Mystic River, and Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby.
Clint Eastwood display in the entrance to the California Hall of Fame

On August 22, 1984, Eastwood was honored at a ceremony at Grauman's Chinese theater to record his hand and footprints in cement. Eastwood received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1996 and received an honorary degree from AFI in 2009. On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Eastwood into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts. In early 2007, Eastwood was presented with the highest civilian distinction in France, Légion d'honneur, at a ceremony in Paris. French President Jacques Chirac told Eastwood that he embodied "the best of Hollywood". In October 2009, he was honored by the Lumière Award (in honor of the Lumière Brothers, inventors of the Cinematograph) during the first edition of the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France. This award honors his entire career and his major contribution to the 7th Art. In February 2010, Eastwood was recognized by President Barack Obama with an arts and humanities award. Obama described Eastwood's films as "essays in individuality, hard truths and the essence of what it means to be American."

Eastwood has also been awarded at least three honorary degrees from universities and colleges, including an honorary degree from University of the Pacific in 2006, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Southern California on May 27, 2007, and an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 22, 2007.
Filmography
Main article: Clint Eastwood filmography

Eastwood has contributed to over 50 films over his career as actor, director, producer, and composer. He has acted in several television series, most notably starring in Rawhide. He started directing in 1971 and made his debut as a producer in 1982 with Firefox and Honkytonk Man. Eastwood also has contributed music to his films, either through performing, writing, or composing. He has mainly starred in western, action, and drama films. According to the box office-revenue tracking website, Box Office Mojo, films featuring Eastwood have grossed a total of more than US$1.68 billion domestically, with an average of $37 million per film.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii232/sharongross32/clint_eastwood.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w128/BravoFoxtrott/clint_eastwood.gif


* There is more to read in Wikipedia

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 05/31/11 at 6:25 am

Clint Eastwood is one of a kind. I have appreciated him since he was Rowdy Yates.  I have been sitting home ever since, waiting for him to call  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/01/arrow-thru-heart.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/31/11 at 9:48 am

Go ahead. Make my day.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 05/31/11 at 12:40 pm

In My Dreams......BUT  Sig always says I'm more Jessica Walter than Donna Mills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypSPbIAApuQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 05/31/11 at 3:53 pm

http://mychinaconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/go-ahead-make-my-day1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/01/11 at 6:52 am

The person of the day...Powers Boothe
Powers Allen Boothe (born June 1, 1948) is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, as well as Vice-President Noah Daniels on 24.
After graduating from college, Boothe joined the repertory company of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with roles in Henry IV, Part 2 (portraying Henry IV of England), Troilus and Cressida, and others. His New York stage debut was in the 1974 Lincoln Center production of Richard III. Five years later, his Broadway theater debut came in a starring role in the one-act play Lone Star, written by James McLure. Boothe first came to national attention in 1980, playing Jim Jones in the CBS-TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. Boothe's portrayal of the crazed cult leader received critical acclaim. In Time's story on the production, Boothe was praised: "There is one extraordinary performance. A young actor named Powers Boothe captures all the charisma and evil of 'Dad', Jim Jones."

Boothe won the Emmy Award for his role, beating out veterans Henry Fonda and Jason Robards. As the Screen Actors Guild were on strike in the fall of 1980, he was the only actor to cross picket lines to attend the ceremonies. He said at the time, "This may be either the bravest moment of my career or the dumbest."

Powers Boothe made an appearance during the 1987 Celebrity Golf Challenge for Charity where he made the current long drive record for celebrities of 490 yards. For these efforts, Boothe was awarded the Golden Pumpkin. However, due to scheduling conflicts he could not receive the award in person.

Boothe joined the ranks of Humphrey Bogart and other actors when he portrayed Philip Marlowe in a series of short films for HBO in the 1980s. He appeared in films like Southern Comfort, A Breed Apart, Red Dawn, The Emerald Forest, Oliver Stone's Nixon (where he played Chief of Staff Alexander Haig), U Turn, and Extreme Prejudice, as well as HBO films like Into The Homeland and By Dawn's Early Light. He also appeared in the 1990 CBS-TV film Family of Spies, in which he played traitor Navy Officer John Walker. Boothe also portrayed Curly Bill Brocius in Tombstone, as well as the disloyal senior Army officer in Blue Sky (opposite Jessica Lange's Oscar-winning performance).

In 2001, he starred as Flavius Aëtius, the Roman general in charge of stopping the Hun invasion in the made-for-TV mini-series Attila. Most recently, Boothe has played a featured role as brothel-owner Cy Tolliver on the HBO series Deadwood, and the seedy Senator Roark in the motion picture Sin City. He is the voice of one of the characters in the 2005 video game Area 51 and Gorilla Grodd, the hyper-intelligent telepathic supervillain in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He voiced the villain, Kane, in the 2008 video game entitled Turok.

He was a special guest star on 24, where he played Vice President Noah Daniels. He returned in the prequel to the seventh season, 24: Redemption. Just after taking the role as acting President, Boothe is seen exiting Air Force Two with F-15s in the background. Boothe played a downed F-15 pilot in Red Dawn. In March 2008, he narrated a television campaign ad for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign. He maintains a private art collection which includes Western paintings of his friend and fellow actor Buck Taylor.
Filmography

    * The Goodbye Girl (1977) as a member of Richard III's Court
    * The Cold Eye (My Darling, Be Careful) (1980)
    * Skag (1980 TV series) as Whalen
    * Cruising (1980) as Hanky salesman
    * The Plutonium Incident (1980 TV) as Dick Hawkins
    * Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980 TV) as Rev. Jim Jones
    * A Cry for Love (1980 TV) as Tony Bonnell
    * Southern Comfort (1981) as Cpl. Charles Hardin
    * A Breed Apart (1984) as Mike Walker
    * Red Dawn (1984) as Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner
    * The Emerald Forest (1985) as Bill Markham
    * Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1986 TV) as Philip Marlowe
    * Extreme Prejudice (1987) as Cash Bailey
    * Into the Homeland (1987 TV) as Jackson Swallow
    * Sapphire Man (1988)
    * Stalingrad (1989) as Vasily Chuikov
    * Family of Spies (1990 TV) as John A. Walker Jr
    * By Dawn's Early Light (1990 HBO Original Movie) as Maj. Cassidy
    * Rapid Fire (1992) as Mace Ryan
    * Wild Card (1992 TV) as Preacher
    * Angely Smerti (1993)
    * Marked for Murder (1993 TV) as Mace 'Sandman' Moutron
    * Tombstone (1993) as "Curly Bill" Brocious
    * Web of Deception (1994 TV) as Dr. Philip Benesch
    * Blue Sky (1994) as Vince Johnson
    * Mutant Species (1995) as Frost
    * Sudden Death (1995) as Joshua Foss
    * Nixon (1995) as Alexander Haig
    * Dalva (1996 TV) as Sam
    * True Women (1997 TV) as Bartlett McClure
    * U Turn (1997) as Sheriff Virgil Potter
    * The Spree (1998 TV) as Det. Bram Hatcher
    * Joan of Arc (1999 TV miniseries) as Jacques D'Arc
    * A Crime of Passion (1999 TV) as Dr. Ben Pierce
    * Men of Honor (2000) as Captain Pullman
    * Attila (2001 TV miniseries) as Flavius Aetius
    * Frailty (2001) as FBI Agent Wesley Doyle
    * Justice League (2001-2004 TV series, voice) as Gorilla Grodd
    * Second Nature (2003 TV) as Kelton Reed
    * Area 51 (2005 video game, voice) as Major Bridges
    * Sin City (2005) as Senator Roark
    * Deadwood (2004-2006 HBO TV series) as Cy Tolliver
    * Justice League Unlimited (2005-2006 TV series, voice) as Gorilla Grodd and Red Tornado
    * Ottoman Empire: The War Machine (2006 History Channel voice-over)
    * Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006, voice) as Lex Luthor
    * The Final Season (2007) as Jim Van Scoyoc
    * 24 (2007 TV) as Vice President Noah Daniels, 14 episodes
    * The Final Season (2007) Coach
    * Indianapolis 500 (2009 TV) as narrator for ABC's opening
    * Turok (2008 video game, voice) as Roland Kane
    * Ben 10: Alien Force as Sunder (Singlehanded)
    * MacGruber (2010) Col. Jim Faith
    * DC Universe Online (2010 video game, voice) as Gorilla Grodd
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae326/HueyLewisandEaglesfan/Powers%20Boothe/29891778.jpg
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae326/HueyLewisandEaglesfan/Powers%20Boothe/Powers14.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/02/11 at 7:31 am

The person of the day...Stacy Keach
Walter Stacy Keach, Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He is most famous for his dramatic roles; however, he has done narration work in educational programming on PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as some comedy (particularly his role in the FOX sitcom Titus as Ken, the hard-drinking, chain-smoking, womanizing father of comedian Christopher Titus) and musical roles.
In 1966 Keach played the title role, (with his take on Lyndon Johnson being MacBeth) in MacBird! an Off Broadway spoof at the Village Gate. Then in 1967, he was cast, again Off Broadway, in George Tabori's The ******lovers with Morgan Freeman (in his first ever acting job). To this day, Freeman credits Keach with teaching him the most about acting. Keach first appeared on Broadway in 1969 as Buffalo Bill in Indians by Arthur Kopit. Early in his career, he was credited as Stacy Keach, Jr. to distinguish himself from his father Stacy Keach, Sr. He played the lead actor in The Nude Paper Sermon an avant-garde musical theatre piece for media presentation, commissioned by Nonesuch Records by composer Eric Salzman.

He has won numerous awards including Obie awards, Drama Desk Awards, and Vernon Rice Awards. In the early 1980s, he starred in the title role of the national touring company of the musical Barnum composed by Cy Coleman. In 2006, he performed the lead role in Shakespeare's King Lear at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. In 2008, he played Merlin in Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot", done with the NY Philharmonic. In the summer of 2009, he starred when Shakespeare Theatre Company mounted that production again at Sidney Harman Hall in Washington D.C..

He has played the title role in three separate productions of Hamlet.

In 2008 and 2009 Keach played Richard M. Nixon in the U.S. traveling version of the play Frost/Nixon.
Films

He played a rookie cop in The New Centurions (1972), opposite George C. Scott. That year he also starred in Fat City, a boxing film directed by John Huston. He was the first choice for the role of father Damien Karras in the 1973 movie The Exorcist, but he did not accept the role. He went on to play Kane in the 1980 movie The Ninth Configuration, written and directed by Blatty; this role was itself intended for Nicol Williamson.

Stacy Keach's storytelling talent as narrator was given worldwide exposure in the 1973 Formula One racing documentary "Champions Forever, The Quick and the Dead" by Claude du Boc.

Keach played Cheech and Chong's Police Department arch-nemesis Sgt. Stedenko in Up In Smoke and Nice Dreams. He also appeared as Barabbas in Jesus of Nazareth. In 1978 he played a role of explorer and scientist in The Mountain of the Cannibal God, co-starring former Bond girl Ursula Andress. The film became a cult favorite as a "Video nasty".

One of his most convincing screen performances was as Frank James (elder brother of Jesse) in The Long Riders (1980). Keach excelled in this role, portraying a character who shows maturity and perspective during the outlaws’ doomed career, but who is ultimately imprisoned by fraternal ties.. Long Riders famously included brothers playing brothers and Stacey's Brother James Keach played Jesse James ( The Carradine and Quaid brothers also starred in the film ). In 1982 Keach starred in Butterfly with Pia Zadora.

He portrayed a white supremacist in American History X, alongside Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. In Oliver Stone's 2008 biopic W., Keach portrays a Texas preacher whose spiritual guidance begins with George W. Bush's AA experience, but extends long thereafter.

Keach also starred in the TV film, Ring of Death playing a sadistic prison warden who runs an underground fight club where prisoners compete for their lives.
Television

One of Keach's early television roles was in 1958 on the syndicated romantic comedy, How to Marry a Millionaire, with Barbara Eden and Merry Anders. He played Barabbas in the 1977 Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries), and portrayed Jonas Steele, a psychic and Scout of the United States Army in the 1982 CBS miniseries, The Blue and the Gray. He later portrayed Mike Hammer in the CBS television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and The New Mike Hammer from 1984 to 1987. He returned to the role of Hammer in Mike Hammer, Private Eye, a new syndicated series that aired from 1997 to 1998.

In 2000, he played the cantankerous father Ken Titus in the title family of Fox's sitcom Titus. Cast members of Titus have commented they enjoyed working with Keach because, even with the dryest line the writers could invent, Keach would find a way to make the line funny.

Fans of The Simpsons may also recognize Keach's voice in the recurring role of Duff Brewery President, Howard K. Duff VIII, beginning with the 12th season episode, "Hungry, Hungry Homer", wherein Homer attempts to stop Howard K. Duff from moving the Springfield Isotopes baseball team to Albuquerque by staging a hunger strike.

Keach guest starred in the sitcom Will & Grace. He also had a recurring role as Warden Henry Pope in the Fox drama Prison Break. In 1984, he was convicted of smuggling cocaine into the United Kingdom and spent six months imprisoned in Reading Prison. The governor of that prison would serve as the basis for his character.
Narrator

Stacy Keach is perhaps most familiar to younger television viewers for narrating episodes of Nova, National Geographic, and various other informational series. Beginning in 1999, he served as the narrator for the home video clip show World's Most Amazing Videos, which is now seen on Spike TV. He currently hosts The Twilight Zone radio series. Keach can also be heard narrating the CNBC series American Greed. For the PBS series American Experience, he narrated The Kennedys, among others.

Keach portrays the role of "John" in "The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible," a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully-dramatized audio New Testament which uses the RSV-CE translation.
Personal life

Keach was born with a cleft lip and a partial cleft of the hard palate and underwent numerous operations as a child. Throughout his adult life he has often worn a mustache to hide the scars. He is now the honorary chairman of the Cleft Palate Foundation, and advocates for insurance coverage for such surgeries. In the 1971 film Doc, Keach played the title character, John "Doc" Holiday, who may have been born with a cleft palate.

In 1984, London police arrested Keach at Heathrow Airport for carrying cocaine. Keach pleaded guilty, and served a nine-month sentence at Reading Prison.

He has been married four times: to Kathryn Baker in 1964, to Marilyn Aiken in 1975, to Jill Donahue in 1981, and to Malgosia Tomassi around 1986. He has two children from his third marriage. He was also romantically linked to singer Judy Collins in the early 1970s.

He had a mild stroke in March 2009 but has made a full recovery.
Filmography
Title↓ Year↓ Role↓ Notes
Joy Ride 1958 Wechsler
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, TheThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 1968 Blount
Brewster McCloud 1970 Abraham Wright
End of The Road 1970 Jacob Horner
Traveling Executioner, TheThe Traveling Executioner 1970 Jonas Candide
Doc 1971 Doc Holliday
New Centurions, TheThe New Centurions 1972 Roy Fehler
Fat City 1972 Billy Tully KCFCC Award for Best Actor (tied with Marlon Brando forThe Godfather)
Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, TheThe Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean 1972 Original Bad Bob the Albino
Wilbur and Orville: The First to Fly 1973 Wilbur Wright
Luther 1973 Martin Luther
Dion Brothers, TheThe Dion Brothers 1974 Calvin
Watched! 1974 Mike Mandell/Sonny
Conduct Unbecoming 1975 Captain Harper
Street People 1976 Charlie Hanson
Killer Inside Me, TheThe Killer Inside Me 1976 Lou Ford
Squeeze, TheThe Squeeze 1977 Jim Naboth
Greatest Battle, TheThe Greatest Battle 1978 Major Mannfred Roland
Gray Lady Down 1978 Capt. Bennett
Up in Smoke 1978 Sergeant Stedanko
Two Solitudes 1978 Huntley McQueen
Mountain of the Cannibal God 1979 Professor Edward Foster
Ninth Configuration, TheThe Ninth Configuration 1980 Col. Vincent Kane
Long Riders, TheThe Long Riders 1980 Frank James
Roadgames 1981 Patrick Quid
Nice Dreams 1981 Sergeant Stedanko
Butterfly 1982 Jess Tyler
That Championship Season 1982 James Daley
False Identity 1990 Ben Driscoll/Harlan Errickson
Class of 1999 1990 Dr. Bob Forest
Milena 1991 Jesenski
Sunset Grill 1993 Harrison Shelgrove
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 1993 Carl Beaumont / Voice of Phantasm Voice only
New Crime City 1994 Wynorski
Raw Justice 1994 Deputy Mayor Bob Jenkins
Escape From L.A. 1996 Commander Malloy
Prey of the Jaguar 1996 The Commander
Sea Wolf, TheThe Sea Wolf 1997 Captain Wolf
American History X 1998 Cameron Alexander
Future Fear 1998 General Wallace
Fear Runs Silent 1999 Mr. Hill
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return 1999 Dr. Michaels
Unshackled 2000 Warden Kelso
Icebreaker 2000 Bill Foster
Militia 2000 George Armstrong Montgomery
Mercy Streets 2000 Tom
Sunstorm 2001 General John Parker
Birds of Passage 2001 Captain Savienko
When Eagles Strike 2003 General Thurmond
Hollow, TheThe Hollow 2004 Claus Van Ripper
Caught in the Headlights 2004 Mr. Jones
Galaxy Hunter 2004 3V3
El Padrino: The Latin Godfather 2004 Governor Lancaster
Man with the Screaming Brain 2005 Dr. Ivanov
Keep Your Distance 2005 Brooks Voight
Come Early Morning 2006 Owen Allen
Jesus, Mary and Joey 2006 Jack O'Callahan
Honeydripper 2007 Sheriff
W. 2008 Earle Hudd
Chicago Overcoat 2009 Ray Berkowski
Boxer, TheThe Boxer 2009 Joe
Title↓ Year↓ Role↓ Notes
All the Kind Strangers 1974 Jimmy Wheeler Television film
Dynasty 1976 Matt Blackwood Mini series
Jesus of Nazareth 1977 Barabbas Mini series
Rumor of War, AA Rumor of War 1980 Maj. Ball Mini series
Blue and the Gray, TheThe Blue and the Gray 1982 Jonas Steele Mini series
Princess Daisy 1983 Prince Alexander "Stash" Valensky Mini series
Murder Me, Murder You 1983 Mike Hammer Television film
Mistral's Daughter 1984 Julien Mistral Mini series
More Than Murder 1984 Mike Hammer Television film
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer 1984–1985 Mike Hammer Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, TheThe Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer 1986 Mike Hammer Television film
Intimate Strangers 1986 Dr. Jeff Bierston Television film
New Mike Hammer, TheThe New Mike Hammer 1986–1987 Mike Hammer Television series
Hemingway 1988 Ernest Hemingway Mini series
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film (tied with Michael Caine for Jack the Ripper)
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
Forgotten, TheThe Forgotten 1989 Adam Roth Television film
Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All 1989 Mike Hammer Television film
Mysteries of the Dark Jungle, TheThe Mysteries of the Dark Jungle 1991 Colonel Edward Corishant Mini series
Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis 1991 Capt. Charles Butler McVay Television film
Lincoln 1992 George McClellan (voice only) Television film
Rio Diablo 1993 Kansas Television film
Body Bags 1993 Richard Coberts Television film
Against Their Will: Women in Prison 1994 Jack Devlin Television film
Texas 1994 Sam Houston ABC Television film
Young Ivanhoe 1995 Pembrooke Television film
Amanda & the Alien 1995 Emmitt Mallory Television film
Pathfinder, TheThe Pathfinder 1996 Compte du Leon Television film
Legend of the Lost Tomb 1997 Dr. William Bent Television film
Murder in My Mind 1997 Cargill Television film
Mike Hammer, Private Eye 1997–1998 Mike Hammer Television series
Courage to Love, TheThe Courage to Love 2000 Jean Baptiste Television film
Titus 2000–2002 Ken Titus Television series
Lightning: Fire from the Sky 2001 Bart Pointdexter Television film
Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons 2001, 2003, 2006 Howard Duff (voice only) Television series
Santa Trap, TheThe Santa Trap 2002 Max Hurst Television film
Miracle Dogs 2003 C.W. Aldrich Television film
Frozen Impact 2003 Pete Crane Television film
Prison Break 2005–2007 Henry Pope Television series
Desolation Canyon 2006 Samuel Kendrick Television film
Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America 2006 Secretary Collin Reed Television film
Blackbeard 2006 Capt. Benjamin Hornigold Television film
Death Row (a.k.a. Haunted Prison) 2006 John Elias Television film
Lone Rider 2008 Robert Hattaway Television film
Ring of Death 2008 Warden Golan Television film
Nanny Express, TheThe Nanny Express 2009 Rev. McGuiness Television film
Two and a Half Men 2009 Chelsea's father Television Series
Lights Out 2011 Pops Leary Television Series
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f159/RaulMonkey/stacykeach1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/Stonergrunge/Varios/Stacy_Keach.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/02/11 at 7:36 am


In My Dreams......BUT   Sig always says I'm more Jessica Walter than Donna Mills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypSPbIAApuQ


Both are rather dishy in that film.  ::)

Clint is one of 3 actors that I can name 15 or more of their films. (With John Wayne and Elvis being the other two... ;D)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/03/11 at 6:02 am

The person of the day... Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress.

She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.
Quatro was born into a Catholic musical family, in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Art, a part-time jazz musician, was of Italian descent, while her mother, Helen Sanislay, was Hungarian. Quatro stated in her autobiography that her paternal grandfather, whose last name was Quattrocchi, shortened the family name to "Quatro" before she was born. She is the aunt of actress Sherilyn Fenn, whose mother is Quatro's sister Arlene. Quatro began her musical career at the age of fourteen. She played the bass guitar in the all-female band Pleasure Seekers and Cradle with her sisters Patti, Nancy, and Arlene. Also, according to her autobiography, her first bass guitar was a 1957 Fender Precision, given to her by her father. Patti Quatro later joined the band Fanny, one of the earliest all-female rock bands to gain national attention. She has a brother, Michael Quatro, who is also a musician.

Quatro moved to the United Kingdom in 1971 after being discovered in Detroit by the record producer Mickie Most, who produced The Animals, Jeff Beck, Lulu, and Donovan. By this time he had started his own label RAK Records, which made stars of Hot Chocolate and Mud.
Career
Music

Quatro's first single "Rolling Stone" did not achieve popularity except in Portugal, where it hit number one on the charts. Most introduced Quatro to the songwriting and production team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Following a support slot on a UK tour with Thin Lizzy and headliners Slade, her second single "Can the Can" (1973) was a number one hit throughout Europe and in Australia. It was followed up by three further hits: "48 Crash" (1973), "Daytona Demon" (1973), and "Devil Gate Drive" (1974) on RAK Records. "Can the Can", "48 Crash" and "Devil Gate Drive" each sold over one million copies, and were each awarded gold discs.

These recordings, a hybrid of glam rock and bubblegum pop, met little success in her native United States, despite tours in the mid-1970s supporting Alice Cooper. With the exception of Australia, from 1975 onwards, glam rock's popularity declined. In the interim, she did enjoy some success as a session player.

Quatro's fortunes did not change until 1978, when "If You Can't Give Me Love" became a hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. This did nothing to prompt Stateside success, but "Stumblin' In", a duet recorded that same year for RSO Records with Chris Norman of the band Smokie reached a #4 peak in the U.S. Both tracks featured on the If You Knew Suzi album. A year later, Quatro released Suzi... And Other Four Letter Words, which she called her favourite album. This featured singles, such as "She's In Love With You", which made number 11 in Britain, "Mama's Boy" (34), and "I've Never Been In Love" (56). In 1980, her song "Rock Hard" was featured on the soundtrack of the cult film Times Square, along with some punk and new wave bands like Talking Heads, Ramones, XTC, and The Pretenders. 1980 also saw the release of Suzi Quatro's Greatest Hits. This record was promoted with TV and radio promotions from the record label. This was her highest charting album in the UK, peaking at #4 in the UK Albums Chart. This success period proved brief however, and her last UK hit was "Heart of Stone" in late 1982. In 1985, Quatro collaborated with Bronski Beat and members of The Kinks, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Dr. Feelgood on the Mark Cunningham produced version of David Bowie's "Heroes", released the following year as the 1986 BBC "Children In Need" single.

In December 2005, a documentary chronicling Quatro's life, Naked Under Leather, directed by former member of The Runaways Victory Tischler Blue, appeared. In February 2006, Quatro released "Back To the Drive", produced by Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. The album's title track was written by her former collaborator Mike Chapman.

In March 2007, Quatro released a version of the Eagles song "Desperado", followed by the publication of her autobiography, Unzipped.

Quatro has sold nearly 50 million records.
Acting and radio hosting

She is known in the United States for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV show Happy Days. Show producer Garry Marshall offered the role without an audition after seeing her on his daughter's bedroom wall. Leather was the younger sister of Fonzie's girlfriend, hot-rod driver Pinky Tuscadero. Leather fronted an all-girl rock band joined by principal character Joanie Cunningham. The character returned in other cameo roles, including once for a date to a fraternity formal with Ralph Malph. Marshall offered Quatro a Leather Tuscadero spin-off, but she refused, saying she did not want to be typecast. The indie rock band, Tuscadero, was named after her character.

Other acting roles include a 1982 episode of British comedy-drama series Minder called "Dead Men Do Tell Tales", as the singer girlfriend of Terry's (Dennis Waterman). In 1985, she starred as a mentally disturbed ex-MI5 operative in Dempsey and Makepeace - "Love you to Death". In 1986, Quatro appeared as Annie Oakley in a London production of Annie Get Your Gun.

In 1991, Quatro wrote and performed in a musical about the life of actress Tallulah Bankhead. Entitled "Tallulah who?" it was adapted from a book by Willie Rushton and ran from 15 February – 19 March at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch (Greater London - Essex). Suzi co-wrote the music and adapted the book with Shirlie Roden.

In 1994, she made a cameo appearance in an episode of the comedy Absolutely Fabulous. She also was filmed in the 1990 Clive Barker horror film Nightbreed, but the studio cut out her character.

In 2006, Quatro performed the voice of Rio in the Bob the Builder film Built To Be Wild, and appeared in an episode of the second season of Rock School, in Lowestoft. She also appeared in the episode "The Axeman Cometh" of Midsomer Murders alongside Phil Grainger in the role of Mimi Clifton.

In October 2006, Quatro was a contestant on the British reality television show Trust Me – I'm a Beauty Therapist'.

In addition to touring, Quatro has hosted weekly rock and roll programmes on BBC Radio 2. The first one was Rockin' with Suzi Q. Her second programme called "Wake Up Little Suzi". It aired on Thursdays.
Personal life

Quatro married her longtime guitarist Len Tuckey in 1976. They had two children together (Laura in 1982 and Richard Leonard in 1984) and divorced in 1992. Before 1993, Quatro lived in a manor house in Essex that she and Tuckey bought in 1980, with her two children and grandchild. She married German concert promoter Rainer Haas in 1993. Toward the end of 2008, Quatro's children moved out of the house, and she put it up for sale, but later she decided to remain in England. She explained that she had empty nest syndrome. Quatro continues to live in Essex, England. She continues to perform live around the world, doing an average of about 60 concerts per year.
Legacy

Quatro proved it was possible for a woman of small stature to proudly and raunchily wear leather, sing and play bass. She had a direct influence on The Runaways and Joan Jett. A number of music history revisionists have credited her with being a precursor to the 1990s riot grrrl movement. This has been disputed by Allmusic who noted her "innocuous" lyrics and that many of her songs were written for her by professional writers.

A Spanish rock band called Suzy & los Quattro released two albums on No Tomorrow in 2006 and 2008; in the tradition of Ramones and the Donnas, all of the bandmembers except for Suzy Chain list their last name as Quattro.
Discography
Studio albums

    * Suzi Quatro (1973, Can the Can in Australia)
    * Quatro (1974)
    * Your Mamma Won't Like Me (1975)
    * Aggro-Phobia (1976)
    * If You Knew Suzi (1978)
    * Suzi... And Other Four Letter Words (1979)
    * Rock Hard (1980)
    * Main Attraction (1982)
    * Oh Suzi Q. (1990)
    * What Goes Around (1996)
    * Unreleased Emotion (1998)
    * Back to the Drive (2006)
    * In The Spotlight (2011)

Live albums

    * Live and Kickin' (1977, Japan & Australia only live album; re-released as double CD in 1990 in Australia)

Compilation albums

    * Suzi Quatro's Greatest Hits' (1980)
    * The Best of... (1984, limited to RSO years)
    * The Wild One - The Greatest Hits (1990)
    * The Gold Collection (1996)

Singles
Year↓ Title↓ B-Side↓ UK Singles Chart↓ U.S.↓ Australia↓
1972 "Rolling Stone" "Brain Confusion" - - -
1973 "Can the Can" "Ain't Ya Something Honey" / "Don't Mess Around" (US) 1 56 1
1973 "48 Crash" "Little Bitch Blue" 3 - 1
1973 "Daytona Demon" "Roman Fingers" 14 - 4
1974 "All Shook Up" "Glycerine Queen" - 85 -
1974 "Devil Gate Drive" "In The Morning" 1 - 1
1974 "Too Big" "I Wanna Be Free" 14 - 13
1974 "The Wild One" "Shake My Sugar" 7 - 2
1975 "Your Mamma Won't Like Me" "Peter, Peter" 31 - 14
1975 "I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew" "Red Hot Rosie" - - -
1975 "Michael" "Savage Silk" - - 100
1975 "I May Be Too Young" "Don't Mess Around" - - 50
1977 "Tear Me Apart" "Close Enough For Rock 'n' Roll" 27 - 25
1977 "Make Me Smile" "Same As I Do" - - -
1977 "Roxy Roller" "I'll Grow on You" - - -
1978 "If You Can't Give Me Love" "Cream Dream" / "Non-Citizen" (US) 4 45 10
1978 "She's In Love With You" "Space Cadets" / "Starlight Lady" (US) 11 41 30
1979 "Stumblin' In" † "Stranger With You" 41 4 2
1979 "The Race Is On" "Non-Citizen" 43 - 28
1979 "Don't Change My Luck" "Wiser Than You" - - 72
1980 "Mama's Boy" "Mind Demons" 34 - -
1980 "I've Never Been In Love" "Starlight Lady" / "Space Cadets" (US) 56 44 -
1980 "Rock Hard" "State Of Mind" 68 - 9
1981 "Glad All Over" "Ego In The Night" - - -
1981 "Lipstick" "Woman Cry" - 51 46
1982 "Heart Of Stone" "Remote Control" 60 - 99
1983 "Down At The Superstore" "Half Day Closing (Down At The Superstore) " - - -
1983 "Main Attraction" "Transparent" - - -
1984 "I Go Wild" "I'm A Rocker" - - -
1985 "Tonight I Could Fall In Love" "Good Girl (Looking For A Bad Time)" - - -
1986 "Heroes" "A Long Way To Go"/"The County Line" - - -
1986 "I Got Lost In His Arms" "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun" - - -
1986 "Wild Thing" "I Don't Want You" - - -
1987 "Let It Be" "Let It Be (Gospel Jam Mix)" - - -
1988 "We Found Love" "We Found Love" (Instrumental) - - -
1989 "Baby You're A Star" "Baby You're A Star" (Instrumental) - - -
1991 "Kiss Me Goodbye" "Kiss Me Goodbye" (Instrumental) - - -
1991 "The Great Midnight Rock 'n' Roll House Party" "Intimate Strangers" - - -
1992 "Love Touch"
"Love Touch" (Single Version) "We Found Love" - - -
1992 "Hey Charley" - - - -
1992 "I Need Your Love" "The Growing Years" - - -
1993 "Fear Of The Unknown" (Radio Version) "And So To Bed" - - -
1994 "If I Get Lucky" (Radio Version) "If I Get Lucky" (Long version) - - -
1994 "Peace On Earth" (Radio edit)
"Peace On Earth" (Album Version) "Frosty The Snowman" - - -
1995 "What Goes Round" (Radio Edit)
"What Goes Round" (Album Version) "Four Letter Words" (Remix version) - - -
2006 "I'll Walk Through The Fire With You" - - - -
2009 "Singing with Angels" (Australian September tour limited edition) - - - -



† Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
Filmography
Television

    * Disco (eleven episodes plus one retrospection, 1973–1980)
    * Happy Days (seven episodes, 1977–1979)
    * Minder (one episode, 1982)
    * Rod and Emu's Saturday Special (one episode, 1983)
    * The Krankies Klub (one episode, 1983)
    * Dempsey & Makepeace (one episode, 1985)
    * Absolutely Fabulous (one episode, 1994)
    * Countdown (six episodes, 1997)
    * Gene Simmons' Rock School (one episode on series two, 2006)
    * Bob the Builder - Built to be wild (voice of Rio, 2006)
    * Midsomer Murders (one episode, 2007)
    * Australian Idol (one episode as guest judge, 2009)

See also

    * Pleasure Seekers
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh75/Nigelvonshaft/suzi-leather.jpg
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq117/parko61/Music/Suzi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/03/11 at 6:42 am

"With the exception of Australia, from 1975 onwards, glam rock's popularity declined."

Yep...I thought Suzi Q was just fantastic. What a big voice for a little girl.... her bass guitar was almost bigger than she was!  :o  Her music was a big part of my early teens... :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/03/11 at 6:48 am


The person of the day... Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress.

She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.
Quatro was born into a Catholic musical family, in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Art, a part-time jazz musician, was of Italian descent, while her mother, Helen Sanislay, was Hungarian. Quatro stated in her autobiography that her paternal grandfather, whose last name was Quattrocchi, shortened the family name to "Quatro" before she was born. She is the aunt of actress Sherilyn Fenn, whose mother is Quatro's sister Arlene. Quatro began her musical career at the age of fourteen. She played the bass guitar in the all-female band Pleasure Seekers and Cradle with her sisters Patti, Nancy, and Arlene. Also, according to her autobiography, her first bass guitar was a 1957 Fender Precision, given to her by her father. Patti Quatro later joined the band Fanny, one of the earliest all-female rock bands to gain national attention. She has a brother, Michael Quatro, who is also a musician.

Quatro moved to the United Kingdom in 1971 after being discovered in Detroit by the record producer Mickie Most, who produced The Animals, Jeff Beck, Lulu, and Donovan. By this time he had started his own label RAK Records, which made stars of Hot Chocolate and Mud.
Career
Music

Quatro's first single "Rolling Stone" did not achieve popularity except in Portugal, where it hit number one on the charts. Most introduced Quatro to the songwriting and production team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Following a support slot on a UK tour with Thin Lizzy and headliners Slade, her second single "Can the Can" (1973) was a number one hit throughout Europe and in Australia. It was followed up by three further hits: "48 Crash" (1973), "Daytona Demon" (1973), and "Devil Gate Drive" (1974) on RAK Records. "Can the Can", "48 Crash" and "Devil Gate Drive" each sold over one million copies, and were each awarded gold discs.

These recordings, a hybrid of glam rock and bubblegum pop, met little success in her native United States, despite tours in the mid-1970s supporting Alice Cooper. With the exception of Australia, from 1975 onwards, glam rock's popularity declined. In the interim, she did enjoy some success as a session player.

Quatro's fortunes did not change until 1978, when "If You Can't Give Me Love" became a hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. This did nothing to prompt Stateside success, but "Stumblin' In", a duet recorded that same year for RSO Records with Chris Norman of the band Smokie reached a #4 peak in the U.S. Both tracks featured on the If You Knew Suzi album. A year later, Quatro released Suzi... And Other Four Letter Words, which she called her favourite album. This featured singles, such as "She's In Love With You", which made number 11 in Britain, "Mama's Boy" (34), and "I've Never Been In Love" (56). In 1980, her song "Rock Hard" was featured on the soundtrack of the cult film Times Square, along with some punk and new wave bands like Talking Heads, Ramones, XTC, and The Pretenders. 1980 also saw the release of Suzi Quatro's Greatest Hits. This record was promoted with TV and radio promotions from the record label. This was her highest charting album in the UK, peaking at #4 in the UK Albums Chart. This success period proved brief however, and her last UK hit was "Heart of Stone" in late 1982. In 1985, Quatro collaborated with Bronski Beat and members of The Kinks, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Dr. Feelgood on the Mark Cunningham produced version of David Bowie's "Heroes", released the following year as the 1986 BBC "Children In Need" single.

In December 2005, a documentary chronicling Quatro's life, Naked Under Leather, directed by former member of The Runaways Victory Tischler Blue, appeared. In February 2006, Quatro released "Back To the Drive", produced by Sweet guitarist Andy Scott. The album's title track was written by her former collaborator Mike Chapman.

In March 2007, Quatro released a version of the Eagles song "Desperado", followed by the publication of her autobiography, Unzipped.

Quatro has sold nearly 50 million records.
Acting and radio hosting

She is known in the United States for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV show Happy Days. Show producer Garry Marshall offered the role without an audition after seeing her on his daughter's bedroom wall. Leather was the younger sister of Fonzie's girlfriend, hot-rod driver Pinky Tuscadero. Leather fronted an all-girl rock band joined by principal character Joanie Cunningham. The character returned in other cameo roles, including once for a date to a fraternity formal with Ralph Malph. Marshall offered Quatro a Leather Tuscadero spin-off, but she refused, saying she did not want to be typecast. The indie rock band, Tuscadero, was named after her character.

Other acting roles include a 1982 episode of British comedy-drama series Minder called "Dead Men Do Tell Tales", as the singer girlfriend of Terry's (Dennis Waterman). In 1985, she starred as a mentally disturbed ex-MI5 operative in Dempsey and Makepeace - "Love you to Death". In 1986, Quatro appeared as Annie Oakley in a London production of Annie Get Your Gun.

In 1991, Quatro wrote and performed in a musical about the life of actress Tallulah Bankhead. Entitled "Tallulah who?" it was adapted from a book by Willie Rushton and ran from 15 February – 19 March at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch (Greater London - Essex). Suzi co-wrote the music and adapted the book with Shirlie Roden.

In 1994, she made a cameo appearance in an episode of the comedy Absolutely Fabulous. She also was filmed in the 1990 Clive Barker horror film Nightbreed, but the studio cut out her character.

In 2006, Quatro performed the voice of Rio in the Bob the Builder film Built To Be Wild, and appeared in an episode of the second season of Rock School, in Lowestoft. She also appeared in the episode "The Axeman Cometh" of Midsomer Murders alongside Phil Grainger in the role of Mimi Clifton.

In October 2006, Quatro was a contestant on the British reality television show Trust Me – I'm a Beauty Therapist'.

In addition to touring, Quatro has hosted weekly rock and roll programmes on BBC Radio 2. The first one was Rockin' with Suzi Q. Her second programme called "Wake Up Little Suzi". It aired on Thursdays.
Personal life

Quatro married her longtime guitarist Len Tuckey in 1976. They had two children together (Laura in 1982 and Richard Leonard in 1984) and divorced in 1992. Before 1993, Quatro lived in a manor house in Essex that she and Tuckey bought in 1980, with her two children and grandchild. She married German concert promoter Rainer Haas in 1993. Toward the end of 2008, Quatro's children moved out of the house, and she put it up for sale, but later she decided to remain in England. She explained that she had empty nest syndrome. Quatro continues to live in Essex, England. She continues to perform live around the world, doing an average of about 60 concerts per year.
Legacy

Quatro proved it was possible for a woman of small stature to proudly and raunchily wear leather, sing and play bass. She had a direct influence on The Runaways and Joan Jett. A number of music history revisionists have credited her with being a precursor to the 1990s riot grrrl movement. This has been disputed by Allmusic who noted her "innocuous" lyrics and that many of her songs were written for her by professional writers.

A Spanish rock band called Suzy & los Quattro released two albums on No Tomorrow in 2006 and 2008; in the tradition of Ramones and the Donnas, all of the bandmembers except for Suzy Chain list their last name as Quattro.
Discography
Studio albums

   * Suzi Quatro (1973, Can the Can in Australia)
   * Quatro (1974)
   * Your Mamma Won't Like Me (1975)
   * Aggro-Phobia (1976)
   * If You Knew Suzi (1978)
   * Suzi... And Other Four Letter Words (1979)
   * Rock Hard (1980)
   * Main Attraction (1982)
   * Oh Suzi Q. (1990)
   * What Goes Around (1996)
   * Unreleased Emotion (1998)
   * Back to the Drive (2006)
   * In The Spotlight (2011)

Live albums

   * Live and Kickin' (1977, Japan & Australia only live album; re-released as double CD in 1990 in Australia)

Compilation albums

   * Suzi Quatro's Greatest Hits' (1980)
   * The Best of... (1984, limited to RSO years)
   * The Wild One - The Greatest Hits (1990)
   * The Gold Collection (1996)

Singles
Year↓ Title↓ B-Side↓ UK Singles Chart↓ U.S.↓ Australia↓
1972 "Rolling Stone" "Brain Confusion" - - -
1973 "Can the Can" "Ain't Ya Something Honey" / "Don't Mess Around" (US) 1 56 1
1973 "48 Crash" "Little Bitch Blue" 3 - 1
1973 "Daytona Demon" "Roman Fingers" 14 - 4
1974 "All Shook Up" "Glycerine Queen" - 85 -
1974 "Devil Gate Drive" "In The Morning" 1 - 1
1974 "Too Big" "I Wanna Be Free" 14 - 13
1974 "The Wild One" "Shake My Sugar" 7 - 2
1975 "Your Mamma Won't Like Me" "Peter, Peter" 31 - 14
1975 "I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew" "Red Hot Rosie" - - -
1975 "Michael" "Savage Silk" - - 100
1975 "I May Be Too Young" "Don't Mess Around" - - 50
1977 "Tear Me Apart" "Close Enough For Rock 'n' Roll" 27 - 25
1977 "Make Me Smile" "Same As I Do" - - -
1977 "Roxy Roller" "I'll Grow on You" - - -
1978 "If You Can't Give Me Love" "Cream Dream" / "Non-Citizen" (US) 4 45 10
1978 "She's In Love With You" "Space Cadets" / "Starlight Lady" (US) 11 41 30
1979 "Stumblin' In" † "Stranger With You" 41 4 2
1979 "The Race Is On" "Non-Citizen" 43 - 28
1979 "Don't Change My Luck" "Wiser Than You" - - 72
1980 "Mama's Boy" "Mind Demons" 34 - -
1980 "I've Never Been In Love" "Starlight Lady" / "Space Cadets" (US) 56 44 -
1980 "Rock Hard" "State Of Mind" 68 - 9
1981 "Glad All Over" "Ego In The Night" - - -
1981 "Lipstick" "Woman Cry" - 51 46
1982 "Heart Of Stone" "Remote Control" 60 - 99
1983 "Down At The Superstore" "Half Day Closing (Down At The Superstore) " - - -
1983 "Main Attraction" "Transparent" - - -
1984 "I Go Wild" "I'm A Rocker" - - -
1985 "Tonight I Could Fall In Love" "Good Girl (Looking For A Bad Time)" - - -
1986 "Heroes" "A Long Way To Go"/"The County Line" - - -
1986 "I Got Lost In His Arms" "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun" - - -
1986 "Wild Thing" "I Don't Want You" - - -
1987 "Let It Be" "Let It Be (Gospel Jam Mix)" - - -
1988 "We Found Love" "We Found Love" (Instrumental) - - -
1989 "Baby You're A Star" "Baby You're A Star" (Instrumental) - - -
1991 "Kiss Me Goodbye" "Kiss Me Goodbye" (Instrumental) - - -
1991 "The Great Midnight Rock 'n' Roll House Party" "Intimate Strangers" - - -
1992 "Love Touch"
"Love Touch" (Single Version) "We Found Love" - - -
1992 "Hey Charley" - - - -
1992 "I Need Your Love" "The Growing Years" - - -
1993 "Fear Of The Unknown" (Radio Version) "And So To Bed" - - -
1994 "If I Get Lucky" (Radio Version) "If I Get Lucky" (Long version) - - -
1994 "Peace On Earth" (Radio edit)
"Peace On Earth" (Album Version) "Frosty The Snowman" - - -
1995 "What Goes Round" (Radio Edit)
"What Goes Round" (Album Version) "Four Letter Words" (Remix version) - - -
2006 "I'll Walk Through The Fire With You" - - - -
2009 "Singing with Angels" (Australian September tour limited edition) - - - -



† Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
Filmography
Television

   * Disco (eleven episodes plus one retrospection, 1973–1980)
   * Happy Days (seven episodes, 1977–1979)
   * Minder (one episode, 1982)
   * Rod and Emu's Saturday Special (one episode, 1983)
   * The Krankies Klub (one episode, 1983)
   * Dempsey & Makepeace (one episode, 1985)
   * Absolutely Fabulous (one episode, 1994)
   * Countdown (six episodes, 1997)
   * Gene Simmons' Rock School (one episode on series two, 2006)
   * Bob the Builder - Built to be wild (voice of Rio, 2006)
   * Midsomer Murders (one episode, 2007)
   * Australian Idol (one episode as guest judge, 2009)

See also

   * Pleasure Seekers
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh75/Nigelvonshaft/suzi-leather.jpg
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq117/parko61/Music/Suzi.jpg


Was she the one who sang Two Hearts in 1988?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/04/11 at 6:09 am


Was she the one who sang Two Hearts in 1988?  ???

I think that was Stacey Q :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/04/11 at 6:35 am

The person of the day...Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (pronounced /dʒoʊˈliː/ joh-lee, born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as one of the world's most attractive people, as well as the world's "sexiest" and "most beautiful" woman, titles for which she has received substantial media attention.

Although she made her screen debut as a child with her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in the cyber-thriller Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical television films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved wider fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She received further critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008), which earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and reinforced her reputation as a leading action star with the comic book adaptation Wanted (2008) and the action-thriller Salt (2010). Jolie has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008).

Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, and three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
Breakthrough: 1998–2000

Jolie's career prospects began to improve after she won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the biographical television film George Wallace (1997). She portrayed Cornelia Wallace, the second wife of Alabama Governor George Wallace, played by Gary Sinise. The film was very well-received by critics and won, among other awards, the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film. Jolie also received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance.

In 1998, Jolie starred in HBO's Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi. The film chronicled the destruction of Carangi's life and career as a result of her addiction to heroin, and her decline and death from AIDS. Vanessa Vance from Reel.com noted, "Angelina Jolie gained wide recognition for her role as the titular Gia, and it's easy to see why. Jolie is fierce in her portrayal—filling the part with nerve, charm, and desperation—and her role in this film is quite possibly the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed." For the second consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also won her first Screen Actors Guild Award.

In accordance with Lee Strasberg's method acting, Jolie reportedly preferred to stay in character in between scenes during many of her early films, and as a result she had gained a reputation for being difficult to deal with. While shooting Gia, she told her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller that she would not be able to phone him: "I'd tell him: 'I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks.'" After Gia wrapped, in 1997, Jolie announced that she had given up acting for good, because she felt that she had "nothing else to give". She separated from Miller and moved to New York, where she enrolled at New York University to study filmmaking and attended writing classes; she later described it as "just good for me to collect myself". After a period of being badly depressed, Jolie was pulled out of the depression when she won her Golden Globe Award for George Wallace. Encouraged further by the positive critical reception that met Gia, she resumed her career.

Jolie returned to film as Gloria McNeary in the 1998 gangster movie Hell's Kitchen, and later that year appeared in Playing by Heart, part of an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe, and Jon Stewart. The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Jolie was praised in particular. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jolie, working through an overwritten part, is a sensation as the desperate club crawler learning truths about what she's willing to gamble." Jolie won the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review.

In 1999, she starred in Mike Newell's comedy-drama Pushing Tin, alongside John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. The film received a mixed reception from critics and Jolie's character—Thornton's seductive wife—was particularly criticized. The Washington Post wrote, "Mary (Angelina Jolie), a completely ludicrous writer's creation of a free-spirited woman who weeps over hibiscus plants that die, wears lots of turquoise rings and gets real lonely when Russell spends entire nights away from home." She then co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector (1999), an adaptation of a crime novel by Jeffery Deaver. Jolie played Amelia Donaghy, a police officer haunted by her cop father's suicide, who reluctantly helps Washington track down a serial killer. The movie grossed $151 million worldwide, but was a critical failure. The Detroit Free Press concluded, "Jolie, while always delicious to look at, is simply and woefully miscast."

"Jolie is emerging as one of the great wild spirits of current movies, a loose cannon who somehow has deadly aim."
Roger Ebert on Jolie's performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Jolie next took the supporting role of the sociopathic Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted (1999), a film that tells the story of mental patient Susanna Kaysen, and which was adapted from Kaysen's memoir of the same name. While Winona Ryder played the main character in what was hoped to be a comeback for her, the film instead marked Jolie's final breakthrough in Hollywood. She won her third Golden Globe Award, her second Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Variety noted, "Jolie is excellent as the flamboyant, irresponsible girl who turns out to be far more instrumental than the doctors in Susanna's rehabilitation".

In 2000, Jolie appeared in her first summer blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, in which she played Sarah "Sway" Wayland, ex-girlfriend of car-thief Nicolas Cage. The role was small, and the Washington Post criticized that "all she does in this movie is stand around, cooling down, modeling those fleshy, pulsating muscle-tubes that nest so provocatively around her teeth." She later explained that the film was a welcome relief after the emotionally heavy role of Lisa Rowe, and it became her highest grossing movie up until then, earning $237 million internationally.
International success: 2001–present

Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Jolie's films to date had often not appealed to a wide audience, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) made her an international superstar. An adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider videogame, Jolie was required to learn a British accent and undergo extensive martial arts training to play the title role of Lara Croft. She was generally praised for her physical performance, but the movie generated mostly negative reviews. Slant Magazine commented, "Angelina Jolie was born to play Lara Croft but Simon West makes her journey into a game of Frogger." The movie was an international success nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide, and launched her global reputation as a female action star.

Jolie then starred opposite Antonio Banderas as his mail-order bride in Original Sin (2001), a thriller based on the novel Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich. The film was a major critical failure, with The New York Times noting, "The story plunges more precipitously than Ms. Jolie's neckline." In 2002, she starred in Life or Something Like It as an ambitious television reporter who is told that she will die in a week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in the middle of the film, this Academy Award-winning actress is exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the true meaning of fulfilling life."
Jolie at the Cologne premiere of Alexander in 2004

Jolie reprised her role as Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003. The sequel, while not as lucrative as the original, earned $156 million at the international box-office. Jolie appeared in the music video for Korn's "Did My Time", which was used to promote the film. Later that year, Jolie starred in Beyond Borders, a film about aid workers in Africa. Although reflecting Jolie's real-life interest in promoting humanitarian relief, the film was critically and financially unsuccessful. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Jolie, as she did in her Oscar-winning role in Girl, Interrupted, can bring electricity and believability to roles that have a reality she can understand. She can also, witness the Lara Croft films, do acknowledged cartoons. But the limbo of a hybrid character, a badly written cardboard person in a fly-infested, blood-and-guts world, completely defeats her."

In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking Lives. She portrayed Illeana Scott, an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour." She also provided the voice of an angelfish named Lola in the animated DreamWorks movie Shark Tale (2004), and she had a brief appearance in Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot entirely with actors in front of a bluescreen. Also in 2004, Jolie played Olympias in Alexander, Oliver Stone's biographical film about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed domestically, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality, but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States.

Jolie's next movie was the 2005 action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The film, directed by Doug Liman, tells the story of a bored married couple, John and Jane Smith, who find out that they are both secret assassins. Jolie starred opposite Brad Pitt. The film received mixed reviews, but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two leads. The Star Tribune noted, "While the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry." The movie earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.
Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007

She next appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), a film about the early history of the CIA, as seen through the eyes of Edward Wilson, played by Matt Damon. Jolie played the supporting role of Margaret Russell, Wilson's neglected wife. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Jolie ages convincingly throughout, and is blithely unconcerned with how her brittle character is coming off in terms of audience sympathy."

In 2007, Jolie made her directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures the life in 27 locations around the globe during a single week. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was intended to be distributed through the National Education Association, mainly in high schools. Jolie starred as Mariane Pearl in Michael Winterbottom's documentary-style drama A Mighty Heart (2007), about the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. Filmed in Pune, India, the film is based on Mariane Pearl's memoir of the same name and had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving", played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent." The film earned her a fourth Golden Globe Award and a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Jolie also played Grendel's mother in Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf (2007), which was created through the motion capture technique.
Jolie as Christine Collins on the set of Changeling in 2007

Jolie co-starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Mark Millar. The film received predominately favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $342 million worldwide. She also provided the voice of Master Tigress in the DreamWorks animated movie Kung Fu Panda (2008). With revenue of $632 million internationally, it became her highest grossing film to date. That same year, Jolie portrayed Christine Collins in Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling (2008), which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the true story of a woman in 1928 Los Angeles who is reunited with her kidnapped son—only to realize he is an impostor. The Chicago Tribune noted, "Jolie really shines in the calm before the storm, the scenes when one patronizing male authority figure after another belittles her at their peril." Jolie received her second Academy Award nomination, and also was nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Jolie next appeared as the eponymous character in the 2010 thriller Salt, her first film in two years. She starred alongside Liev Schreiber as CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who goes on the run after she is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent. Originally written as male, the character Salt underwent a gender change after a Colombia Pictures executive suggested Jolie for the role to director Phillip Noyce. Salt grossed $293 million worldwide and received generally favorable reviews, with Empire remarking that "when it comes to selling incredible, crazy, death-defying antics, Jolie has few peers in the action business." Later that year, she co-starred with Johnny Depp in The Tourist, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Despite a mostly negative critical reception, the film grossed $268 million worldwide, and garnered Jolie a controversial nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Humanitarian work

Jolie first became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming Tomb Raider in Cambodia. She eventually turned to UNHCR for more information on international trouble spots. In order to learn more about the situation and the conditions in these areas, she began visiting refugee camps around the world. In February 2001, Jolie went on her first field visit, an 18-day mission to Sierra Leone and Tanzania; she later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed. In the following months, she returned to Cambodia for two weeks and later met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan, where she donated $1 million for Afghan refugees in response to an international UNHCR emergency appeal. She insisted on covering all costs related to her missions and shared the same rudimentary working and living conditions as UNHCR field staff on all of her visits. Jolie was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador on August 27, 2001 at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.

"We cannot close ourselves off to information and ignore the fact that millions of people are out there suffering. I honestly want to help. I don't believe I feel differently from other people. I think we all want justice and equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us."
Jolie on her motives for joining UNHCR in 2001

Jolie has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 20 countries.



Filmography
Actor Title↓ Year↓ Role↓ Notes
Lookin' to Get Out 1982 Tosh
Angela & Viril Angela & Viril 1993 Angela Short film
Angela & Viril Alice & Viril 1993 Alice Short film
Cyborg 2 1993 Casella "Cash" Reese
Without Evidence 1995 Jodie Swearingen
Hackers 1995 Kate "Acid Burn" Libby
Love Is All There Is 1996 Gina Malacici
Mojave Moon 1996 Eleanor "Elie" Rigby
Foxfire 1996 Margret "Legs" Sadovsky
True Women 1997 Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods TV film
George Wallace 1997 Cornelia Wallace TV film
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Playing God 1997 Claire
Gia 1998 Gia Marie Carangi TV film
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Hell's Kitchen 1998 Gloria McNeary
Playing by Heart 1998 Joan National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female
Pushing Tin 1998 Mary Bell
Bone Collector, TheThe Bone Collector 1999 Amelia Donaghy Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Suspense
Girl, Interrupted 1999 Lisa Rowe Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Drama
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Hollywood Film Festival Award for Actress of the Year
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
ShoWest Award for Supporting Actress of the Year
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Hissy Fit
Gone in 60 Seconds 2000 Sara "Sway" Wayland Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Action
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2001 Lara Croft Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Hero
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress
Original Sin 2001 Julia Russell
Life or Something Like It 2002 Lanie Kerrigan
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life 2003 Lara Croft
Beyond Borders 2003 Sarah Jordan
Taking Lives 2004 Illeana Scott Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scary Scene
Shark Tale 2004 Lola Voice
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 2004 Francesca "Franky" Cook People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Movie Star
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Fever, TheThe Fever 2004 Revolutionary TV film
Cameo
Alexander 2004 Olympias
Mr. & Mrs. Smith 2005 Jane Smith MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
NRJ Ciné Award for Best Kiss
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Action Adventure/Thriller
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Rumble
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Movie Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Match-Up
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Dance Scene
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock
Good Shepherd, TheThe Good Shepherd 2006 Margaret Russell
Mighty Heart, AA Mighty Heart 2007 Mariane Pearl Santa Barbara International Film Festival Outstanding Performance Award
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama
Beowulf 2007 Grendel's mother Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Kung Fu Panda 2008 Master Tigress Voice
Wanted 2008 Fox People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Star
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment
Nominated—National Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Movie Star
Changeling 2008 Christine Collins Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominated—Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama
Salt 2010 Evelyn Salt Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Action Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Movie Star
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star – Female
Tourist, TheThe Tourist 2010 Elise Ward Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Kung Fu Panda 2 2011 Master Tigress Voice (post-production)
Director Title↓ Year↓ Notes
A Place in Time 2007 Documentary
In the Land of Blood and Honey 2011
Selected awards
Year↓ Award↓ Category↓ Film↓ Result↓
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie George Wallace Nominated
1998 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television George Wallace Won
1998 National Board of Review Award Breakthrough Performance – Female Playing by Heart Won
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Gia Nominated
1999 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Gia Won
1999 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Gia Won
2000 Academy Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Girl, Interrupted Won
2000 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Girl, Interrupted Won
2000 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Girl, Interrupted Won
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Mighty Heart, AA Mighty Heart Nominated
2008 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Mighty Heart, AA Mighty Heart Nominated
2009 Academy Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Changeling Nominated
2009 BAFTA Award Best Leading Actress Changeling Nominated
2009 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Changeling Nominated
2009 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Changeling Nominated
2011 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy The Tourist Nominated
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u289/Angelina72806/angelina-jolie.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm236/troge07/angelina-jolie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/04/11 at 6:49 am


I think that was Stacey Q :-\\


It was Stacey Q, Ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/04/11 at 6:50 am


The person of the day...Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (pronounced /dʒoʊˈliː/ joh-lee, born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as one of the world's most attractive people, as well as the world's "sexiest" and "most beautiful" woman, titles for which she has received substantial media attention.

Although she made her screen debut as a child with her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in the cyber-thriller Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical television films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved wider fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She received further critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008), which earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and reinforced her reputation as a leading action star with the comic book adaptation Wanted (2008) and the action-thriller Salt (2010). Jolie has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008).

Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, and three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
Breakthrough: 1998–2000

Jolie's career prospects began to improve after she won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the biographical television film George Wallace (1997). She portrayed Cornelia Wallace, the second wife of Alabama Governor George Wallace, played by Gary Sinise. The film was very well-received by critics and won, among other awards, the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film. Jolie also received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance.

In 1998, Jolie starred in HBO's Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi. The film chronicled the destruction of Carangi's life and career as a result of her addiction to heroin, and her decline and death from AIDS. Vanessa Vance from Reel.com noted, "Angelina Jolie gained wide recognition for her role as the titular Gia, and it's easy to see why. Jolie is fierce in her portrayal—filling the part with nerve, charm, and desperation—and her role in this film is quite possibly the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed." For the second consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also won her first Screen Actors Guild Award.

In accordance with Lee Strasberg's method acting, Jolie reportedly preferred to stay in character in between scenes during many of her early films, and as a result she had gained a reputation for being difficult to deal with. While shooting Gia, she told her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller that she would not be able to phone him: "I'd tell him: 'I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks.'" After Gia wrapped, in 1997, Jolie announced that she had given up acting for good, because she felt that she had "nothing else to give". She separated from Miller and moved to New York, where she enrolled at New York University to study filmmaking and attended writing classes; she later described it as "just good for me to collect myself". After a period of being badly depressed, Jolie was pulled out of the depression when she won her Golden Globe Award for George Wallace. Encouraged further by the positive critical reception that met Gia, she resumed her career.

Jolie returned to film as Gloria McNeary in the 1998 gangster movie Hell's Kitchen, and later that year appeared in Playing by Heart, part of an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe, and Jon Stewart. The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Jolie was praised in particular. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jolie, working through an overwritten part, is a sensation as the desperate club crawler learning truths about what she's willing to gamble." Jolie won the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review.

In 1999, she starred in Mike Newell's comedy-drama Pushing Tin, alongside John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. The film received a mixed reception from critics and Jolie's character—Thornton's seductive wife—was particularly criticized. The Washington Post wrote, "Mary (Angelina Jolie), a completely ludicrous writer's creation of a free-spirited woman who weeps over hibiscus plants that die, wears lots of turquoise rings and gets real lonely when Russell spends entire nights away from home." She then co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector (1999), an adaptation of a crime novel by Jeffery Deaver. Jolie played Amelia Donaghy, a police officer haunted by her cop father's suicide, who reluctantly helps Washington track down a serial killer. The movie grossed $151 million worldwide, but was a critical failure. The Detroit Free Press concluded, "Jolie, while always delicious to look at, is simply and woefully miscast."

"Jolie is emerging as one of the great wild spirits of current movies, a loose cannon who somehow has deadly aim."
Roger Ebert on Jolie's performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Jolie next took the supporting role of the sociopathic Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted (1999), a film that tells the story of mental patient Susanna Kaysen, and which was adapted from Kaysen's memoir of the same name. While Winona Ryder played the main character in what was hoped to be a comeback for her, the film instead marked Jolie's final breakthrough in Hollywood. She won her third Golden Globe Award, her second Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Variety noted, "Jolie is excellent as the flamboyant, irresponsible girl who turns out to be far more instrumental than the doctors in Susanna's rehabilitation".

In 2000, Jolie appeared in her first summer blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, in which she played Sarah "Sway" Wayland, ex-girlfriend of car-thief Nicolas Cage. The role was small, and the Washington Post criticized that "all she does in this movie is stand around, cooling down, modeling those fleshy, pulsating muscle-tubes that nest so provocatively around her teeth." She later explained that the film was a welcome relief after the emotionally heavy role of Lisa Rowe, and it became her highest grossing movie up until then, earning $237 million internationally.
International success: 2001–present

Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Jolie's films to date had often not appealed to a wide audience, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) made her an international superstar. An adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider videogame, Jolie was required to learn a British accent and undergo extensive martial arts training to play the title role of Lara Croft. She was generally praised for her physical performance, but the movie generated mostly negative reviews. Slant Magazine commented, "Angelina Jolie was born to play Lara Croft but Simon West makes her journey into a game of Frogger." The movie was an international success nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide, and launched her global reputation as a female action star.

Jolie then starred opposite Antonio Banderas as his mail-order bride in Original Sin (2001), a thriller based on the novel Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich. The film was a major critical failure, with The New York Times noting, "The story plunges more precipitously than Ms. Jolie's neckline." In 2002, she starred in Life or Something Like It as an ambitious television reporter who is told that she will die in a week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in the middle of the film, this Academy Award-winning actress is exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the true meaning of fulfilling life."
Jolie at the Cologne premiere of Alexander in 2004

Jolie reprised her role as Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003. The sequel, while not as lucrative as the original, earned $156 million at the international box-office. Jolie appeared in the music video for Korn's "Did My Time", which was used to promote the film. Later that year, Jolie starred in Beyond Borders, a film about aid workers in Africa. Although reflecting Jolie's real-life interest in promoting humanitarian relief, the film was critically and financially unsuccessful. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Jolie, as she did in her Oscar-winning role in Girl, Interrupted, can bring electricity and believability to roles that have a reality she can understand. She can also, witness the Lara Croft films, do acknowledged cartoons. But the limbo of a hybrid character, a badly written cardboard person in a fly-infested, blood-and-guts world, completely defeats her."

In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking Lives. She portrayed Illeana Scott, an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour." She also provided the voice of an angelfish named Lola in the animated DreamWorks movie Shark Tale (2004), and she had a brief appearance in Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot entirely with actors in front of a bluescreen. Also in 2004, Jolie played Olympias in Alexander, Oliver Stone's biographical film about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed domestically, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality, but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States.

Jolie's next movie was the 2005 action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The film, directed by Doug Liman, tells the story of a bored married couple, John and Jane Smith, who find out that they are both secret assassins. Jolie starred opposite Brad Pitt. The film received mixed reviews, but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two leads. The Star Tribune noted, "While the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry." The movie earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.
Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007

She next appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), a film about the early history of the CIA, as seen through the eyes of Edward Wilson, played by Matt Damon. Jolie played the supporting role of Margaret Russell, Wilson's neglected wife. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Jolie ages convincingly throughout, and is blithely unconcerned with how her brittle character is coming off in terms of audience sympathy."

In 2007, Jolie made her directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures the life in 27 locations around the globe during a single week. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was intended to be distributed through the National Education Association, mainly in high schools. Jolie starred as Mariane Pearl in Michael Winterbottom's documentary-style drama A Mighty Heart (2007), about the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. Filmed in Pune, India, the film is based on Mariane Pearl's memoir of the same name and had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving", played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent." The film earned her a fourth Golden Globe Award and a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Jolie also played Grendel's mother in Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf (2007), which was created through the motion capture technique.
Jolie as Christine Collins on the set of Changeling in 2007

Jolie co-starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Mark Millar. The film received predominately favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $342 million worldwide. She also provided the voice of Master Tigress in the DreamWorks animated movie Kung Fu Panda (2008). With revenue of $632 million internationally, it became her highest grossing film to date. That same year, Jolie portrayed Christine Collins in Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling (2008), which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the true story of a woman in 1928 Los Angeles who is reunited with her kidnapped son—only to realize he is an impostor. The Chicago Tribune noted, "Jolie really shines in the calm before the storm, the scenes when one patronizing male authority figure after another belittles her at their peril." Jolie received her second Academy Award nomination, and also was nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Jolie next appeared as the eponymous character in the 2010 thriller Salt, her first film in two years. She starred alongside Liev Schreiber as CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who goes on the run after she is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent. Originally written as male, the character Salt underwent a gender change after a Colombia Pictures executive suggested Jolie for the role to director Phillip Noyce. Salt grossed $293 million worldwide and received generally favorable reviews, with Empire remarking that "when it comes to selling incredible, crazy, death-defying antics, Jolie has few peers in the action business." Later that year, she co-starred with Johnny Depp in The Tourist, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Despite a mostly negative critical reception, the film grossed $268 million worldwide, and garnered Jolie a controversial nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Humanitarian work

Jolie first became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming Tomb Raider in Cambodia. She eventually turned to UNHCR for more information on international trouble spots. In order to learn more about the situation and the conditions in these areas, she began visiting refugee camps around the world. In February 2001, Jolie went on her first field visit, an 18-day mission to Sierra Leone and Tanzania; she later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed. In the following months, she returned to Cambodia for two weeks and later met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan, where she donated $1 million for Afghan refugees in response to an international UNHCR emergency appeal. She insisted on covering all costs related to her missions and shared the same rudimentary working and living conditions as UNHCR field staff on all of her visits. Jolie was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador on August 27, 2001 at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.

"We cannot close ourselves off to information and ignore the fact that millions of people are out there suffering. I honestly want to help. I don't believe I feel differently from other people. I think we all want justice and equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us."
Jolie on her motives for joining UNHCR in 2001

Jolie has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 20 countries.



Filmography
Actor Title↓ Year↓ Role↓ Notes
Lookin' to Get Out 1982 Tosh
Angela & Viril Angela & Viril 1993 Angela Short film
Angela & Viril Alice & Viril 1993 Alice Short film
Cyborg 2 1993 Casella "Cash" Reese
Without Evidence 1995 Jodie Swearingen
Hackers 1995 Kate "Acid Burn" Libby
Love Is All There Is 1996 Gina Malacici
Mojave Moon 1996 Eleanor "Elie" Rigby
Foxfire 1996 Margret "Legs" Sadovsky
True Women 1997 Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods TV film
George Wallace 1997 Cornelia Wallace TV film
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Playing God 1997 Claire
Gia 1998 Gia Marie Carangi TV film
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
Hell's Kitchen 1998 Gloria McNeary
Playing by Heart 1998 Joan National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female
Pushing Tin 1998 Mary Bell
Bone Collector, TheThe Bone Collector 1999 Amelia Donaghy Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Suspense
Girl, Interrupted 1999 Lisa Rowe Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Drama
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Hollywood Film Festival Award for Actress of the Year
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
ShoWest Award for Supporting Actress of the Year
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Hissy Fit
Gone in 60 Seconds 2000 Sara "Sway" Wayland Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Action
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2001 Lara Croft Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Hero
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress
Original Sin 2001 Julia Russell
Life or Something Like It 2002 Lanie Kerrigan
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life 2003 Lara Croft
Beyond Borders 2003 Sarah Jordan
Taking Lives 2004 Illeana Scott Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scary Scene
Shark Tale 2004 Lola Voice
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 2004 Francesca "Franky" Cook People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Movie Star
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Fever, TheThe Fever 2004 Revolutionary TV film
Cameo
Alexander 2004 Olympias
Mr. & Mrs. Smith 2005 Jane Smith MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
NRJ Ciné Award for Best Kiss
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Action Adventure/Thriller
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Rumble
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Movie Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Match-Up
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Dance Scene
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock
Good Shepherd, TheThe Good Shepherd 2006 Margaret Russell
Mighty Heart, AA Mighty Heart 2007 Mariane Pearl Santa Barbara International Film Festival Outstanding Performance Award
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama
Beowulf 2007 Grendel's mother Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
Kung Fu Panda 2008 Master Tigress Voice
Wanted 2008 Fox People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Star
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment
Nominated—National Movie Award for Best Performance – Female
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Movie Star
Changeling 2008 Christine Collins Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominated—Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Drama
Salt 2010 Evelyn Salt Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Action Star
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Movie Star
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star – Female
Tourist, TheThe Tourist 2010 Elise Ward Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Kung Fu Panda 2 2011 Master Tigress Voice (post-production)
Director Title↓ Year↓ Notes
A Place in Time 2007 Documentary
In the Land of Blood and Honey 2011
Selected awards
Year↓ Award↓ Category↓ Film↓ Result↓
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie George Wallace Nominated
1998 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television George Wallace Won
1998 National Board of Review Award Breakthrough Performance – Female Playing by Heart Won
1998 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Gia Nominated
1999 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Gia Won
1999 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Gia Won
2000 Academy Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Girl, Interrupted Won
2000 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Girl, Interrupted Won
2000 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Girl, Interrupted Won
2008 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Mighty Heart, AA Mighty Heart Nominated
2008 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Mighty Heart, AA Mighty Heart Nominated
2009 Academy Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Changeling Nominated
2009 BAFTA Award Best Leading Actress Changeling Nominated
2009 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Changeling Nominated
2009 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Changeling Nominated
2011 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy The Tourist Nominated
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u289/Angelina72806/angelina-jolie.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm236/troge07/angelina-jolie.jpg


loved her in Gia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/05/11 at 6:52 am

The person of the day...Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight (born June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and R&B musician, hosting his own evening short-lived talk show. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussions, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet.
McKnight was born in Buffalo, New York. His musical career began in childhood when he became a member of his church, NY choir and a band leader for his high school, Sweet Home High School. In 1987, McKnight's older brother, Claude McKnight III, and his band, Take 6, signed a record deal with Warner Brothers. This encouraged McKnight to shop his own demo tapes and by the age of 19, he'd signed his first recording deal with Mercury Records subsidiary, Wing Records. (He ended up recording his albums for Mercury.) In 1992, Brian McKnight was released and was followed by two more albums for Mercury, 1995's I Remember You and 1997's Anytime. Anytime sold over two million copies and was nominated for a Grammy. It was also his last album with Mercury Records; by 1998, McKnight had moved on to Motown Records.

In 1997, McKnight recorded "Remember the Magic" for Disney World's 25th anniversary.

In 1999, McKnight released Back at One (his second release from Motown; after the Christmas album Bethlehem), which sold over three million copies. Throughout his career he has collaborated with a variety of musicians including Mariah Carey, Sin Bandera, Mase, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Mary J. Blige, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, Vanessa Williams, Ivete Sangalo, Kirk Franklin, For Real, Canibus, Quincy Jones, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, Regine Velasquez, Shoshana Bean, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Rascal Flatts, Talib Kweli, MJG (of the Southern Rap duo Eightball & MJG), Josh Groban (on his 2007 #1 Christmas album Noel Schajris), Justin Bieber, Ashley "Awesome" Speelman and CeCe Peniston.

McKnight in 2004, co-wrote with Australian Soul artist Guy Sebastian the song Wait which is a track off the Beautiful Life.

McKnight's vocal style draws from Stevie Wonder (particularly in his use of melisma), Michael Sembello, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, and his own brother, Take 6 co-founder Claude V. McKnight. Soul singer James Ingram also strongly influenced McKnight. His music production sensibilities especially his penchant for piano based pop ballads, method of background vocal recording and melismatic voice inflections all draw heavily from Ingram. Brian McKnight also has the uncanny ability to mimic the timbre and style of other singers such as Nat King Cole, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Prince.

McKnight is divorced and has four sons and 2 daughters (Brian Jr. 21, Cole Nikolas 19, Clyde Lee 18, Evan 10, Brianna 9 and Braylinn 3). On February 11, 2010, Brian proposed to his girlfriend Annalisa Mungcal during one of his performances. No wedding date has been set at this time.

McKnight currently lives in Los Angeles, California. From 2006 to 2010 he hosted a radio show, The Brian McKnight Morning Show with Pat Prescott on KTWV The Wave in Los Angeles, CA. The show was at one time simulcasted on KHJZ-FM, Smooth Jazz 95.7 The Wave in Houston, TX from 6am-9am CST, but this station has changed its format. On January 26, 2009, Brian McKnight hosted "The Brian McKnight show" from 7PM-Midnight on 98.7 KISS FM in New York City.

In October 2007, McKnight made his Broadway debut in the show Chicago.

In 2009, he appeared in the second season of Celebrity Apprentice. Each celebrity played to raise money for the charity of his or her choice; McKnight elected to play for Youthville USA.

From September 2009 to May 2010, The Brian McKnight Show, a late night talk show premiered in syndication. The show is a combination of talk and variety. The show was cancelled on May 29, 2010 due to low ratings and will not return for a second season. Although he promised to pay employees and staff in full, no one who worked on the show has received any payment. As of April 2011, employees and staff are still waiting for payment.

On March 31, 2011 McKnight sang the National Anthem for MLB Opening Day in Cincinnati, Ohio with his sons Brian, Jr. and Niko.
Religion

Brian McKnight is a Seventh-day Adventist. He grew up attending Emmanuel Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church in Buffalo. He also attended Oakwood University, a Seventh-day Adventist university, in Huntsville, Alabama from 1987-1989. McKnight explains, concerning his musical beginnings in the church:

"I'm the fifth generation of Seventh Day Adventists and the youngest of four brothers. When I was still very small, we formed a gospel quartet. Our models were the great gospel groups, the Swan Silvertones and Mighty Clouds of Joy. The McKnight brothers were serious singers. The reputation went out: these boys could shout. My big brothers—Claude (a part of the gospel group Take 6), Freddie and Michael—man, they were my heroes. Each was a leader in his own right. Outside church, they listened to jazz. Church music thrilled me, but jazz stimulated me."
Discography

    * Brian McKnight discography

    *
          o Brian McKnight (1992)
          o I Remember You (1995)
          o Anytime (1997)
          o Back at One (1999)
          o Superhero (2001)
          o U-Turn (2003)
          o Gemini (2005)
          o Ten (2006)
          o Evolution of a Man (2009)
          o Just Me (2011)

Awards and nominations

    * American Music Awards

    *
          o 1999, Favorite R&B/Soul Album: Anytime (Nominated)

2010

    * BET Awards
          o 2007, BET J Cool Like Dat: (Nominated)

    * Grammy Awards
          o 2005, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "What We Do Here" (Nominated)
          o 2004, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda" (Nominated)
          o 2003, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: "All the Way" w/ Kenny G (Nominated)
          o 2002, Outstanding Song Written for a Motion Picture of Television Series: "Win" from Men of Honor (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Still" (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best Pop Collaboration w/ Vocals: "My Kind of Girl" w/ Justin Timberlake (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best R&B Song: "Love of My Life" (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Love of My Life" (Nominated)
          o 2001, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "6, 8, 12" (Nominated)
          o 2001, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Stay or Let It Go" (Nominated)
          o 2001, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: "Coming Back Home" w/ Bebe Winans & Joe (singer) (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best R&B Album: Back at One (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best Short-Form Music Video: "Back at One" (Nominated)
          o 1999, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "The Only One For Me" (Nominated)
          o 1999, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Anytime" (Nominated)
          o 1994, Best Pop Collaboration w/ Vocals: "Love Is" w/ Vanessa L. Williams (Nominated)

McKnight holds a record, having received 16 nominations without a win.

    * Image Awards
          o 2002, Outstanding Male Artist: Superhero (Nominated)
          o 2001, Outstanding Male Artist: "Stay or Let It Go" (Nominated)
          o 2000, Outstanding Male Artist: "Back at One" (Winner)

    * MTV Video Music Awards
          o 2000, Best R&B Video: "Back at One" (Nominated)
          o 1998, Best R&B Video: "Anytime" (Nominated)

    * Soul Train Awards
          o 2002, Best R&B/Soul Male Single: "Love of My Life" (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best R&B/Soul Single Male: "Back at One" (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best R&B/Soul Male Album: Back at One (Nominated)
          o 1999, Best R&B/Soul Male Album: "Anytime" (Winner)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/LadyMac2005/Brian_McKnight_umvd006.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e64/SmithSha0486/brian-mcknight-008.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/05/11 at 7:01 am


The person of the day...Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight (born June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and R&B musician, hosting his own evening short-lived talk show. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussions, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet.
McKnight was born in Buffalo, New York. His musical career began in childhood when he became a member of his church, NY choir and a band leader for his high school, Sweet Home High School. In 1987, McKnight's older brother, Claude McKnight III, and his band, Take 6, signed a record deal with Warner Brothers. This encouraged McKnight to shop his own demo tapes and by the age of 19, he'd signed his first recording deal with Mercury Records subsidiary, Wing Records. (He ended up recording his albums for Mercury.) In 1992, Brian McKnight was released and was followed by two more albums for Mercury, 1995's I Remember You and 1997's Anytime. Anytime sold over two million copies and was nominated for a Grammy. It was also his last album with Mercury Records; by 1998, McKnight had moved on to Motown Records.

In 1997, McKnight recorded "Remember the Magic" for Disney World's 25th anniversary.

In 1999, McKnight released Back at One (his second release from Motown; after the Christmas album Bethlehem), which sold over three million copies. Throughout his career he has collaborated with a variety of musicians including Mariah Carey, Sin Bandera, Mase, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Mary J. Blige, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, Vanessa Williams, Ivete Sangalo, Kirk Franklin, For Real, Canibus, Quincy Jones, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, Regine Velasquez, Shoshana Bean, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Rascal Flatts, Talib Kweli, MJG (of the Southern Rap duo Eightball & MJG), Josh Groban (on his 2007 #1 Christmas album Noel Schajris), Justin Bieber, Ashley "Awesome" Speelman and CeCe Peniston.

McKnight in 2004, co-wrote with Australian Soul artist Guy Sebastian the song Wait which is a track off the Beautiful Life.

McKnight's vocal style draws from Stevie Wonder (particularly in his use of melisma), Michael Sembello, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, and his own brother, Take 6 co-founder Claude V. McKnight. Soul singer James Ingram also strongly influenced McKnight. His music production sensibilities especially his penchant for piano based pop ballads, method of background vocal recording and melismatic voice inflections all draw heavily from Ingram. Brian McKnight also has the uncanny ability to mimic the timbre and style of other singers such as Nat King Cole, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Prince.

McKnight is divorced and has four sons and 2 daughters (Brian Jr. 21, Cole Nikolas 19, Clyde Lee 18, Evan 10, Brianna 9 and Braylinn 3). On February 11, 2010, Brian proposed to his girlfriend Annalisa Mungcal during one of his performances. No wedding date has been set at this time.

McKnight currently lives in Los Angeles, California. From 2006 to 2010 he hosted a radio show, The Brian McKnight Morning Show with Pat Prescott on KTWV The Wave in Los Angeles, CA. The show was at one time simulcasted on KHJZ-FM, Smooth Jazz 95.7 The Wave in Houston, TX from 6am-9am CST, but this station has changed its format. On January 26, 2009, Brian McKnight hosted "The Brian McKnight show" from 7PM-Midnight on 98.7 KISS FM in New York City.

In October 2007, McKnight made his Broadway debut in the show Chicago.

In 2009, he appeared in the second season of Celebrity Apprentice. Each celebrity played to raise money for the charity of his or her choice; McKnight elected to play for Youthville USA.

From September 2009 to May 2010, The Brian McKnight Show, a late night talk show premiered in syndication. The show is a combination of talk and variety. The show was cancelled on May 29, 2010 due to low ratings and will not return for a second season. Although he promised to pay employees and staff in full, no one who worked on the show has received any payment. As of April 2011, employees and staff are still waiting for payment.

On March 31, 2011 McKnight sang the National Anthem for MLB Opening Day in Cincinnati, Ohio with his sons Brian, Jr. and Niko.
Religion

Brian McKnight is a Seventh-day Adventist. He grew up attending Emmanuel Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church in Buffalo. He also attended Oakwood University, a Seventh-day Adventist university, in Huntsville, Alabama from 1987-1989. McKnight explains, concerning his musical beginnings in the church:

"I'm the fifth generation of Seventh Day Adventists and the youngest of four brothers. When I was still very small, we formed a gospel quartet. Our models were the great gospel groups, the Swan Silvertones and Mighty Clouds of Joy. The McKnight brothers were serious singers. The reputation went out: these boys could shout. My big brothers—Claude (a part of the gospel group Take 6), Freddie and Michael—man, they were my heroes. Each was a leader in his own right. Outside church, they listened to jazz. Church music thrilled me, but jazz stimulated me."
Discography

    * Brian McKnight discography

    *
          o Brian McKnight (1992)
          o I Remember You (1995)
          o Anytime (1997)
          o Back at One (1999)
          o Superhero (2001)
          o U-Turn (2003)
          o Gemini (2005)
          o Ten (2006)
          o Evolution of a Man (2009)
          o Just Me (2011)

Awards and nominations

    * American Music Awards

    *
          o 1999, Favorite R&B/Soul Album: Anytime (Nominated)

2010

    * BET Awards
          o 2007, BET J Cool Like Dat: (Nominated)

    * Grammy Awards
          o 2005, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "What We Do Here" (Nominated)
          o 2004, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda" (Nominated)
          o 2003, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: "All the Way" w/ Kenny G (Nominated)
          o 2002, Outstanding Song Written for a Motion Picture of Television Series: "Win" from Men of Honor (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Still" (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best Pop Collaboration w/ Vocals: "My Kind of Girl" w/ Justin Timberlake (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best R&B Song: "Love of My Life" (Nominated)
          o 2002, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Love of My Life" (Nominated)
          o 2001, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "6, 8, 12" (Nominated)
          o 2001, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Stay or Let It Go" (Nominated)
          o 2001, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: "Coming Back Home" w/ Bebe Winans & Joe (singer) (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best R&B Album: Back at One (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best Short-Form Music Video: "Back at One" (Nominated)
          o 1999, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "The Only One For Me" (Nominated)
          o 1999, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Anytime" (Nominated)
          o 1994, Best Pop Collaboration w/ Vocals: "Love Is" w/ Vanessa L. Williams (Nominated)

McKnight holds a record, having received 16 nominations without a win.

    * Image Awards
          o 2002, Outstanding Male Artist: Superhero (Nominated)
          o 2001, Outstanding Male Artist: "Stay or Let It Go" (Nominated)
          o 2000, Outstanding Male Artist: "Back at One" (Winner)

    * MTV Video Music Awards
          o 2000, Best R&B Video: "Back at One" (Nominated)
          o 1998, Best R&B Video: "Anytime" (Nominated)

    * Soul Train Awards
          o 2002, Best R&B/Soul Male Single: "Love of My Life" (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best R&B/Soul Single Male: "Back at One" (Nominated)
          o 2000, Best R&B/Soul Male Album: Back at One (Nominated)
          o 1999, Best R&B/Soul Male Album: "Anytime" (Winner)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/LadyMac2005/Brian_McKnight_umvd006.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e64/SmithSha0486/brian-mcknight-008.jpg


Back At One is my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/06/11 at 7:38 am

The person of the day...Paul Giamatti
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (pronounced /dʒiəˈmɑːti/; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several commercially successful and critically acclaimed films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the 2000s including American Splendor, Sideways, Cinderella Man, The Illusionist, John Adams, Cold Souls, and Barney's Version.
Giamatti was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Marilyn (née Smith), was a homemaker and English teacher who taught at Hopkins School and had also previously acted. Giamatti's mother was of Irish descent; his paternal grandfather, Valentine Giamatti, was the son of Italian immigrants from Telese, and his paternal grandmother, Mary Claybaugh Walton, was from a New England family.

Giamatti is the youngest of three children. His brother, Marcus, is also an actor, and his sister, Elena, is a jewelry designer. He was educated at The Foote School and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1985. He attended Yale University, where he was elected to the Skull and Bones secret society.

He was active in the undergraduate theater scene, working alongside actors Ron Livingston and Edward Norton, who were also Yale students. He graduated from Yale in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in English. He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama where he studied with Earle R. Gister. He performed in numerous theatrical productions (including Broadway) before appearing in some small television and film roles in the early 1990s.
Career

Giamatti's first high profile role was in the film adaptation of Howard Stern's Private Parts (1997) as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, Stern's antagonistic program director at WNBC. Stern praised Giamatti's performance often on his radio program, calling for him to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He appeared in a number of supporting roles in big-budget movies such as The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, and The Negotiator (all 1998). In 1999, he played Bob Zmuda (and Tony Clifton) in the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon. Giamatti continued to be featured in major studio releases such as Big Momma's House (2000) with Martin Lawrence, the Planet of the Apes remake (2001), and in Big Fat Liar (2002) opposite Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes.

Giamatti began to earn critical acclaim after his lead role in the 2003 film American Splendor. He gained mainstream recognition and fame with the 2004 independent romantic comedy Sideways. His portrayal of a depressed writer vacationing in the Santa Barbara wine country garnered him a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award. Following the commercial success of Sideways, Giamatti appeared in Cinderella Man, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture.

In 2006, he was the lead in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, a supernatural thriller, followed by the animated film The Ant Bully, and Neil Burger's drama The Illusionist co-starring Edward Norton. He also played Mr. Hertz in the action movie Shoot 'Em Up and Santa Claus in the comedy Fred Claus. In 2008, he received his first Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie" for his title performance in the HBO miniseries John Adams, a role that also led to a Screen Actors Guild award. That same year, he starred in the independent film Pretty Bird which is a fictionalized retelling about the drama behind the invention of a rocketbelt.

He was nominated for 45 separate awards between 2001 and 2008, and won 26 of them, including both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for John Adams. All of his nominations except one were for American Splendor, Sideways, Cinderella Man, or John Adams; the exception was a Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination for Big Momma's House. In 2011 he won a second Golden globe for his portrayal of the titular character in the Canadian film Barney's Version. The Brooklyn Academy of Music asked Giamatti, its "2007 BAM Cinema Club Chair", to pick films for an eight-movie series called "Paul Giamatti Selects" and shown at the Academy in August and September 2007. His selections indicated a taste for paranoia and "the darkest of dark comedy," according to a writer for The New York Times, and included Frenzy, Dr. Strangelove, Brewster McCloud, The Big Clock, The Seventh Victim, Dawn of the Dead (1978 version), Seconds, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version).

Giamatti will play noted science fiction author Philip K. Dick in the semi-biopic The Owl in Daylight, which he is producing through his production company, Touchy Feely Productions. He is set for the lead role as Colonel Tom Parker in Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires, which co-stars Ron Perlman, who recently replaced Bruce Campbell.
Personal life

A resident of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Giamatti has been married to Elizabeth Giamatti (née Cohen) since 1997. They have a son, Samuel Paul, known as Sam, (born 2001), who is raised in Elizabeth's Jewish religion. Giamatti is an atheist.
In culture

Comedian James Adomian performs an impression of Giamatti on the Comedy Death-Ray Radio podcast. The AV Club describes Adomian's caricature of Giamatti as "a fantastically broken-down sad-sack."
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1991 Past Midnight Larry Canipe
1992 Singles Kissing Man
1994 NYPD Blue Man In Sleeping Bag Television series; Episode: "You Bet Your Life"
1995 Mighty Aphrodite Extras Guild Researcher
1995 New York News Dr. Wargner Television series; Episode: "Past Imperfect"
1995 Sabrina Scott
1996 Show, TheThe Show Jeffrey Roffman Television series; Pilot
1996 Breathing Room George
1996 Ripper Doctor Bud Cable Video game
1997 Arresting Gena Detective Wilson
1997 Donnie Brasco FBI Technician
1997 Private Parts Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding Richard the Bellman
1997 Deconstructing Harry Professor Abbot
1997 Further Gesture, AA Further Gesture Hotel Clerk
1998 Homicide: Life on the Street Harry Tjarks Television series; Episode: "Pit Bull Sessions"
1998 Truman Show, TheThe Truman Show Control Room Director
1998 Dr. Dolittle Blaine
1998 Saving Private Ryan Sergeant Hill
1998 Negotiator, TheThe Negotiator Rudy Timmons
1998 Safe Men Veal Chop
1999 Cradle Will Rock Carlo
1999 Man on the Moon Bob Zmuda/Tony Clifton
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Ted Hedley Television series; Segment: "1961"
2000 Big Momma's House John Maxwell Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy
2000 Duets Todd Woods
2001 King of the Hill Mr. McKay Television series; Episode: "It's Not Easy Being Green"
2001 Storytelling Toby Oxman
2001 Planet of the Apes Limbo
2002 Big Fat Liar Marty Wolf
2002 Thunderpants Johnson J. Johnson
2003 American Splendor Harvey Pekar

    * National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
    * Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor (Also for Sideways and Cinderella Man
    * Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

2003 Paycheck Shorty
2003 Confidence Gordo
2003 Pentagon Papers, TheThe Pentagon Papers Anthony Russo Television series
2004 Sideways Miles Raymond

    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Comedy Film Honor for Best Actor
    * Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
    * San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor (Also for American Splendor and Cinderella Man
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
    * Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Performance, Male
    * Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated – London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year
    * Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

2005 Saturday Night Live Host Television series; Episode: 30x10
2005 Robots Tim the Gate Guard
2005 Fan and the Flower, TheThe Fan and the Flower Narrator
2005 Cinderella Man Joe Gould

    * Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actor Also for Sideways and American Splendor
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Performance, Male
    * Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
    * Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
    * Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor

2006 Asterix and the Vikings Asterix English Dub
2006 Hawk Is Dying, TheThe Hawk Is Dying George Gattling
2006 Illusionist, TheThe Illusionist Chief Inspector Uhl
2006 Lady in the Water Cleveland Heep
2006 Ant Bully, TheThe Ant Bully Stan Beals
2006 Amazing Screw-On Head, TheThe Amazing Screw-On Head Screw-On Head Television series
2007 Nanny Diaries, TheThe Nanny Diaries Mr. X
2007 Shoot 'Em Up Karl Hertz
2007 Fred Claus Nicholas "Nick" Claus
2008 John Adams John Adams

    * Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
    * Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor – Mini Series
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
    * Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
    * Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama

2008 Pretty Bird Rick
2009 Duplicity Richard "Dick" Garsik
2009 Cold Souls Paul

    * Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated – Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast

2009 Haunted World of El Superbeasto, TheThe Haunted World of El Superbeasto Dr. Satan
2009 Last Station, TheThe Last Station Vladimir Chertkov
2010 Barney's Version Barney Panofsky Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2011 Win Win Mike Flaherty
2011 Ironclad King John
2011 The Hangover Part II Kingsley
2011 Too Big to Fail Ben Bernanke
2012 Cosmopolis TBA filming
2012 John Dies at the End Arnie Blondestone Also producer
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p279/apatamwa/untitledersdf.jpg
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt8/GayWired/ugly%20hot%20actors/Paul.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/11 at 6:35 am

The person of the day...Tom Jones
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice. Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records.
Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.

In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.

The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He contrived the stage name, "Tom Jones," which not only linked the singer to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's hit film, but also emphasised Jones' Welsh nationality.

Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever," was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit. The BBC initially refused to play it, but the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The heavily orchestrated pop arrangement perfectly meshed with Jones' swinging, sexy image, and in early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States.

During 1965, Mills secured a number of movie themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film What's New Pussycat? (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film Thunderball. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965.

In 1966, Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable and mature crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the USA. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a consistent string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Las Vegas

In 1967, Jones performed for the first time in Las Vegas at the Flamingo. His charismatic performances and style of dress (increasingly featuring his open half unbuttoned shirts and tight pants) became part of his stage act. Women would swoon and scream, and some would throw their knickers on stage. Soon after he began to play Las Vegas, he chose to record less, instead concentrating on his lucrative club performances. At Caesars Palace, his shows were traditionally a knicker-hurling frenzy of raw sexual tension and good-time entertainment. It was there that women started throwing hotel room keys on stage. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount film stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Afterward, they became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas and even duetting until the early hours at Presley's private Las Vegas suite. Their friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977.
Television and lawsuits

Jones had an internationally successful television variety show from 1969 to 1971, titled This Is Tom Jones. The show, which was worth a reported $9m to Jones over three years, was broadcast by ITV in the UK and by ABC in America. From 1980 to 1981, he had a second television variety show, The Tom Jones Show, which lasted for a series of 24 episodes. In recent years, both television shows have been the subject of litigation in relation to the original license holder, C/F International.

As of December 2004, C/F International was a secured judgment creditor of Classic World Productions and its principal, Darryl Payne, for approximately one million US dollars, and was the principal secured creditor at the time of the subsequent bankruptcy filing by the company. C/F International's action against Classic World Productions and owner Darryl Payne was based on unpaid royalties in relation to This Is Tom Jones, and related recordings. This Is Tom Jones is currently sold on DVD by Time-Life, rather than by Classic World Productions or C/F International.

C/F International's rights to later Tom Jones material were also subject to dispute. In March 2007, Tom Jones and Tom Jones Enterprises sued C/F International to stop the company from licensing sound recordings made from The Tom Jones Show, recorded in Vancouver, Canada. It was contended that any rights that C/F International had to license The Tom Jones Show did not include the right to make and license separate recordings of the performances on the show. In addition, it was contended that any rights that C/F International had in The Tom Jones Show no longer existed, due to numerous breaches of contract. Examples of contentious CDs include "Live on the Tom Jones Show", released in 2006.

Jones appeared on 1 January 1970, on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Delilah" (in a telerecording of an earlier appearance on Top of the Pops).

Later in 1970, Jones teamed up with Raquel Welch and Producer/Choreographer David Winters of Winters-Rosen Productions for the TV special Raquel!. The multimillion dollar TV song & dance extravaganza was filmed around the world. It included lavish production numbers of classic songs from the era, lavish costumes, and guest performances from Jones, John Wayne and Bob Hope.
Decline and resurgence

In the early 1970s, Jones had a number of hit singles, including "She's A Lady", "Till", and "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer", but in the mid 1970s his popularity declined, although he did have a big hit in 1976 with "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow", which went to #1 on the US country chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the early 1980s, Jones started to record country music. From 1980 to 1986, Jones had nine songs hit the top 40 on the US country chart, yet he failed to crack the top 100 in the UK or chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

After Jones' long-time manager Gordon Mills died of cancer on 29 July 1986, Jones' son Mark became his new manager. Mark recognised that Jones was incorporating modern music in his live shows and suggested that he should start to record songs from a fresh genre and leave country music behind.

In 1987, Jones re-entered the singles chart with "A Boy From Nowhere", which went to #2 in the United Kingdom. The following year, he covered Prince's "Kiss" with The Art of Noise. The song was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #5 in the UK and #31 in the US. The video for "Kiss" was seen in heavy rotation on both MTV and VH1, and it won the MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video."

Jones received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989. His star is located at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, in front of Frederick's of Hollywood.

In 1992, he made his first appearance at the UK's Glastonbury Festival, and in 1993, he appeared as himself on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a television sitcom, and in animated form for an episode of The Simpsons.

Jones signed with Interscope Records in 1993 and released the album The Lead And How To Swing It. The first single, "If I Only Knew," went to #11 in the UK.

In 1999, Jones released the album Reload, a collection of cover duets with artists such as The Cardigans, Natalie Imbruglia, Cerys Matthews, Van Morrison, Mousse T, Portishead, The Stereophonics, and Robbie Williams. The album went to #1 in the UK and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Five singles from Reload hit the UK top 40.
Into the 21st century

To ring in the year 2000, United States President Bill Clinton invited Jones to perform on New Year's Eve at the Millennium celebrations in Washington, D.C.. Throughout 2000, Jones garnered a number of honours for his work, including a BRIT Award for Best Male. He was also hired as the new voice of Australia's National Rugby League, singing in an advertisement to market the 2000 season.

In 2002, Jones released the album Mr. Jones, which was produced by Wyclef Jean. The album and the first single, "Tom Jones International", were top 40 hits in the UK.

Jones received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2003. The following year, he teamed up with pianist Jools Holland and released Tom Jones & Jools Holland, a roots rock 'n' roll album. It peaked at #5 in the UK.

On 28 May 2005, in celebration of his upcoming 65th birthday, Jones returned to his homeland to perform a concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd before a crowd of about 20,000. This was his first performance in Pontypridd since 1964. That same year, the BBC reported that Jones was Wales' wealthiest entertainer, having amassed a fortune of £175 million. Jones collaborated with English-born Australian pop singer John Farnham in 2005 and released the live album John Farnham & Tom Jones - Together In Concert. The following year, Jones worked with Chicane and released the single "Stoned in Love", which went to #7 in the UK.

Jones, who was awarded an OBE in 1999, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 at Buckingham Palace for his services to music. "When you first come into show business and get a hit record, it is the start of something," Jones said. "As time goes by, it just gets better. This is the best thing I have had. It's a wonderful feeling, a heady feeling."
Recent work

On 1 July 2007, Jones was among the invited artists who performed at Wembley Stadium at the Concert for Diana, joined on stage by guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith and British soul singer Joss Stone. In addition to performing some of his own songs, the group covered Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor". Jones, a big boxing fan, has performed national anthems before a number of boxing matches. He sang "God Save the Queen", the United Kingdom's national anthem, before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton fight in 2007, he sang "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem, at the fight between fellow Welshman Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins in 2008, and he sang "God Save the Queen" before the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight in 2009.

In 2008, he released 24 Hours on S-Curve Records, his first album of new material to be issued in the US for over 15 years. Jones, who was still performing over 200 dates a year as he approached his 70th birthday, set out on a world tour to promote the album. "The fire is still in me. Not to be an oldie, but a goodie. I want to be a contender," Jones said. In 2008 also Tom Jones was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. On 16 November 2008, Jones was invited to perform on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. He performed the debut single from 24 Hours, "If He Should Ever Leave You", which was named the 9th best song of 2008 by Spinner. One of the songs from 24 Hours, "Give a Little Love", would later be featured in the first trailer for Little Fockers.

In February 2009, he did an exclusive Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, performing three songs live in front of a camera in a New York hotel room. In 2009 Jones was voted "Sexiest Man In The World" in the Hungarian magazine Periodika.

Jones went to the top of the UK Music Charts for the third time in his career thanks to a cover of "Islands in the Stream", sung with Ruth Jones, Rob Brydon and Robin Gibb, who co-wrote the original with his brothers Barry and Maurice. The song, inspired by BBC's hit sitcom Gavin and Stacey, was released in aid of Comic Relief and reached #1 in March 2009.

On 5 June 2010, Jones had been due to perform at Norwich City Football Club's Carrow Road stadium, two days before he celebrated his 70th birthday. Unfortunately the show was cancelled due to uncompleted improvements to the stadium and the work falling behind schedule meaning the stadium wouldn't be ready in time. Jones announced that his new album Praise & Blame would be released on 26 July 2010. The album, produced by Ethan Johns (who has previously worked with Kings Of Leon, Rufus Wainwright and Laura Marling), would include covers of songs by such artists as Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver and feature such guest musicians as Booker T.

On Jones' 70th birthday, 7 June 2010, the single "Burning Hell", a cover of the John Lee Hooker classic, from the forthcoming Praise & Blame album, was released. In July 2010 it was reported, however, that David Sharpe, vice-president of Island Records (to whom Jones had moved, from EMI, for £1.5m in October 2009), had emailed colleagues demanding that they "pull back this project immediately or get my money back" and asking if the record had been "a sick joke". Jones later attacked Sharpe and revealed that he was furious about the leaked email.

In July 2010, Jones appeared on the penultimate episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and performed "Burning Hell". In August 2010, Praise & Blame debuted at number 2 on the UK album chart.

On 11 September 2010 Jones performed for an audience of 50,000 at the Help for Heroes charity concert at Twickenham Stadium performing "Strange Things Are Happening Every Day" and his classic hit "Green Green Grass of Home". On 22 September, Jones appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. Last year he ditched his hair dye and declared he’d moved onto a new stage in his life: "Over Christmas, I always take a month off and let my hair go and don’t even shave. ‘Normally it comes out like salt and pepper which I hated. But this year it grew out a silver colour, so I kept it because it’s more distinguished," he said.

In May 2011 Jones appeared as guest vocalist on the debut album Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie. On 15 May 2011 he appeared alongside Laurie in the UK ITV series Perspectives, singing music from the album in New Orleans. On May 25, 2011, he appeared on American Idol after a medley of his hits performed by the American Idol "Top 13."
Personal life

Jones has remained married to his Linda since 1957, despite his many well publicised infidelities. His philandering once led her to beat him black and blue. She snapped after reading about one infidelity in a newspaper. She punched and kicked him, but Jones did not fight back: "I took it," Jones said.

Jones has had affairs with such well-known women as Mary Wilson of The Supremes, former Miss World Marjorie Wallace and Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson claims that she lost her virginity to Jones.

One affair resulted in the birth of a son. In October 1987, while on tour in America, Jones had a brief relationship with model Katherine Berkery. Three months later, Berkery discovered that she was pregnant. After a lengthy fight and DNA testing, an American court ruled in 1989 that Jones is the boy's father. He flatly denied paternity for 20 years, but finally admitted it in 2008. However, he made no suggestion that he wanted to meet his son, Jonathan Berkery.

Jones moved to the United States in 1974, buying Dean Martin's former mansion in the East Gate Old Bel Air in Los Angeles. In 2009, after 35 years in America, he revealed that he and Linda were planning to move back to the United Kingdom. "I've had a great time living in Los Angeles," Jones said, "but after all these years, we think now is the time to move home." However, on The Chris Moyles Show on 27 July 2009, he said he still lives in Los Angeles and will remain there for the foreseeable future as he still frequently stays at his home in London.
Discography
Main article: Tom Jones discography
Filmography

    * The Special London Bridge Special, TV special, UK/USA (1972)
          o A fantasy story about London Bridge being brought to America
    * On Happiness Island, BBC TV special, UK (1974)
    * Pleasure Cove, feature film, USA (1979)
    * Fantasy Island, TV series, USA (ABC, 7 April 1984)
    * The Ghosts Of Oxford Street, TV special, UK (1991)
          o A TV musical celebrating the 200th anniversary of London's most renowned Oxford Street
    * Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, TV series (Guest: As Himself) (1991)
    * The Simpsons, TV series, Season 4 Episode 7 ("Marge Gets a Job") (1992)
    * Silk n' Sabotage, feature film, USA (1994)
    * Jerky Boys: The Movie, feature film, USA (1995)
    * Mars Attacks!, feature film, USA (1996)
    * Agnes Browne (a.k.a. The Mammy), feature film (1999)
    * The Emperor's New Groove, animated film (As the Theme Song Guy) (2000)
    * Duck Dodgers, opening theme and a guest appearance in episode "Talent Show A Go-Go"

In popular culture

Space and Cerys Matthews released "The Ballad of Tom Jones", a song about a fighting couple who are calmed down by listening to Jones' music on the radio. The song reached #4 in the UK. in 1998.
Compositions

Tom Jones wrote or co-wrote the following songs: "And I Tell The Sea", "Looking Out My Window", "Feel The Rain", "Jezebel", "The Letter", "Younger Days", "Tom Jones International", "Holiday", "The Road", "24 Hours", "Seasons", "We Got Love", "Seen That Face", "Give A Little Love", "If He Should Ever Leave You", "Whatever It Takes" and "Didn't It Rain".
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq294/otrekojom/Tom-Jones.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/TheXenaScrolls/miscellaneous/tom-jones.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/07/11 at 6:45 am


The person of the day...Tom Jones
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice. Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records.
Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.

In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.

The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He contrived the stage name, "Tom Jones," which not only linked the singer to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's hit film, but also emphasised Jones' Welsh nationality.

Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever," was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit. The BBC initially refused to play it, but the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The heavily orchestrated pop arrangement perfectly meshed with Jones' swinging, sexy image, and in early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States.

During 1965, Mills secured a number of movie themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film What's New Pussycat? (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film Thunderball. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965.

In 1966, Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable and mature crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the USA. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a consistent string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Las Vegas

In 1967, Jones performed for the first time in Las Vegas at the Flamingo. His charismatic performances and style of dress (increasingly featuring his open half unbuttoned shirts and tight pants) became part of his stage act. Women would swoon and scream, and some would throw their knickers on stage. Soon after he began to play Las Vegas, he chose to record less, instead concentrating on his lucrative club performances. At Caesars Palace, his shows were traditionally a knicker-hurling frenzy of raw sexual tension and good-time entertainment. It was there that women started throwing hotel room keys on stage. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount film stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Afterward, they became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas and even duetting until the early hours at Presley's private Las Vegas suite. Their friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977.
Television and lawsuits

Jones had an internationally successful television variety show from 1969 to 1971, titled This Is Tom Jones. The show, which was worth a reported $9m to Jones over three years, was broadcast by ITV in the UK and by ABC in America. From 1980 to 1981, he had a second television variety show, The Tom Jones Show, which lasted for a series of 24 episodes. In recent years, both television shows have been the subject of litigation in relation to the original license holder, C/F International.

As of December 2004, C/F International was a secured judgment creditor of Classic World Productions and its principal, Darryl Payne, for approximately one million US dollars, and was the principal secured creditor at the time of the subsequent bankruptcy filing by the company. C/F International's action against Classic World Productions and owner Darryl Payne was based on unpaid royalties in relation to This Is Tom Jones, and related recordings. This Is Tom Jones is currently sold on DVD by Time-Life, rather than by Classic World Productions or C/F International.

C/F International's rights to later Tom Jones material were also subject to dispute. In March 2007, Tom Jones and Tom Jones Enterprises sued C/F International to stop the company from licensing sound recordings made from The Tom Jones Show, recorded in Vancouver, Canada. It was contended that any rights that C/F International had to license The Tom Jones Show did not include the right to make and license separate recordings of the performances on the show. In addition, it was contended that any rights that C/F International had in The Tom Jones Show no longer existed, due to numerous breaches of contract. Examples of contentious CDs include "Live on the Tom Jones Show", released in 2006.

Jones appeared on 1 January 1970, on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Delilah" (in a telerecording of an earlier appearance on Top of the Pops).

Later in 1970, Jones teamed up with Raquel Welch and Producer/Choreographer David Winters of Winters-Rosen Productions for the TV special Raquel!. The multimillion dollar TV song & dance extravaganza was filmed around the world. It included lavish production numbers of classic songs from the era, lavish costumes, and guest performances from Jones, John Wayne and Bob Hope.
Decline and resurgence

In the early 1970s, Jones had a number of hit singles, including "She's A Lady", "Till", and "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer", but in the mid 1970s his popularity declined, although he did have a big hit in 1976 with "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow", which went to #1 on the US country chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the early 1980s, Jones started to record country music. From 1980 to 1986, Jones had nine songs hit the top 40 on the US country chart, yet he failed to crack the top 100 in the UK or chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

After Jones' long-time manager Gordon Mills died of cancer on 29 July 1986, Jones' son Mark became his new manager. Mark recognised that Jones was incorporating modern music in his live shows and suggested that he should start to record songs from a fresh genre and leave country music behind.

In 1987, Jones re-entered the singles chart with "A Boy From Nowhere", which went to #2 in the United Kingdom. The following year, he covered Prince's "Kiss" with The Art of Noise. The song was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #5 in the UK and #31 in the US. The video for "Kiss" was seen in heavy rotation on both MTV and VH1, and it won the MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video."

Jones received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989. His star is located at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, in front of Frederick's of Hollywood.

In 1992, he made his first appearance at the UK's Glastonbury Festival, and in 1993, he appeared as himself on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a television sitcom, and in animated form for an episode of The Simpsons.

Jones signed with Interscope Records in 1993 and released the album The Lead And How To Swing It. The first single, "If I Only Knew," went to #11 in the UK.

In 1999, Jones released the album Reload, a collection of cover duets with artists such as The Cardigans, Natalie Imbruglia, Cerys Matthews, Van Morrison, Mousse T, Portishead, The Stereophonics, and Robbie Williams. The album went to #1 in the UK and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Five singles from Reload hit the UK top 40.
Into the 21st century

To ring in the year 2000, United States President Bill Clinton invited Jones to perform on New Year's Eve at the Millennium celebrations in Washington, D.C.. Throughout 2000, Jones garnered a number of honours for his work, including a BRIT Award for Best Male. He was also hired as the new voice of Australia's National Rugby League, singing in an advertisement to market the 2000 season.

In 2002, Jones released the album Mr. Jones, which was produced by Wyclef Jean. The album and the first single, "Tom Jones International", were top 40 hits in the UK.

Jones received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2003. The following year, he teamed up with pianist Jools Holland and released Tom Jones & Jools Holland, a roots rock 'n' roll album. It peaked at #5 in the UK.

On 28 May 2005, in celebration of his upcoming 65th birthday, Jones returned to his homeland to perform a concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd before a crowd of about 20,000. This was his first performance in Pontypridd since 1964. That same year, the BBC reported that Jones was Wales' wealthiest entertainer, having amassed a fortune of £175 million. Jones collaborated with English-born Australian pop singer John Farnham in 2005 and released the live album John Farnham & Tom Jones - Together In Concert. The following year, Jones worked with Chicane and released the single "Stoned in Love", which went to #7 in the UK.

Jones, who was awarded an OBE in 1999, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 at Buckingham Palace for his services to music. "When you first come into show business and get a hit record, it is the start of something," Jones said. "As time goes by, it just gets better. This is the best thing I have had. It's a wonderful feeling, a heady feeling."
Recent work

On 1 July 2007, Jones was among the invited artists who performed at Wembley Stadium at the Concert for Diana, joined on stage by guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith and British soul singer Joss Stone. In addition to performing some of his own songs, the group covered Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor". Jones, a big boxing fan, has performed national anthems before a number of boxing matches. He sang "God Save the Queen", the United Kingdom's national anthem, before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton fight in 2007, he sang "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem, at the fight between fellow Welshman Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins in 2008, and he sang "God Save the Queen" before the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight in 2009.

In 2008, he released 24 Hours on S-Curve Records, his first album of new material to be issued in the US for over 15 years. Jones, who was still performing over 200 dates a year as he approached his 70th birthday, set out on a world tour to promote the album. "The fire is still in me. Not to be an oldie, but a goodie. I want to be a contender," Jones said. In 2008 also Tom Jones was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. On 16 November 2008, Jones was invited to perform on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. He performed the debut single from 24 Hours, "If He Should Ever Leave You", which was named the 9th best song of 2008 by Spinner. One of the songs from 24 Hours, "Give a Little Love", would later be featured in the first trailer for Little Fockers.

In February 2009, he did an exclusive Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, performing three songs live in front of a camera in a New York hotel room. In 2009 Jones was voted "Sexiest Man In The World" in the Hungarian magazine Periodika.

Jones went to the top of the UK Music Charts for the third time in his career thanks to a cover of "Islands in the Stream", sung with Ruth Jones, Rob Brydon and Robin Gibb, who co-wrote the original with his brothers Barry and Maurice. The song, inspired by BBC's hit sitcom Gavin and Stacey, was released in aid of Comic Relief and reached #1 in March 2009.

On 5 June 2010, Jones had been due to perform at Norwich City Football Club's Carrow Road stadium, two days before he celebrated his 70th birthday. Unfortunately the show was cancelled due to uncompleted improvements to the stadium and the work falling behind schedule meaning the stadium wouldn't be ready in time. Jones announced that his new album Praise & Blame would be released on 26 July 2010. The album, produced by Ethan Johns (who has previously worked with Kings Of Leon, Rufus Wainwright and Laura Marling), would include covers of songs by such artists as Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver and feature such guest musicians as Booker T.

On Jones' 70th birthday, 7 June 2010, the single "Burning Hell", a cover of the John Lee Hooker classic, from the forthcoming Praise & Blame album, was released. In July 2010 it was reported, however, that David Sharpe, vice-president of Island Records (to whom Jones had moved, from EMI, for £1.5m in October 2009), had emailed colleagues demanding that they "pull back this project immediately or get my money back" and asking if the record had been "a sick joke". Jones later attacked Sharpe and revealed that he was furious about the leaked email.

In July 2010, Jones appeared on the penultimate episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and performed "Burning Hell". In August 2010, Praise & Blame debuted at number 2 on the UK album chart.

On 11 September 2010 Jones performed for an audience of 50,000 at the Help for Heroes charity concert at Twickenham Stadium performing "Strange Things Are Happening Every Day" and his classic hit "Green Green Grass of Home". On 22 September, Jones appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. Last year he ditched his hair dye and declared he’d moved onto a new stage in his life: "Over Christmas, I always take a month off and let my hair go and don’t even shave. ‘Normally it comes out like salt and pepper which I hated. But this year it grew out a silver colour, so I kept it because it’s more distinguished," he said.

In May 2011 Jones appeared as guest vocalist on the debut album Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie. On 15 May 2011 he appeared alongside Laurie in the UK ITV series Perspectives, singing music from the album in New Orleans. On May 25, 2011, he appeared on American Idol after a medley of his hits performed by the American Idol "Top 13."
Personal life

Jones has remained married to his Linda since 1957, despite his many well publicised infidelities. His philandering once led her to beat him black and blue. She snapped after reading about one infidelity in a newspaper. She punched and kicked him, but Jones did not fight back: "I took it," Jones said.

Jones has had affairs with such well-known women as Mary Wilson of The Supremes, former Miss World Marjorie Wallace and Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson claims that she lost her virginity to Jones.

One affair resulted in the birth of a son. In October 1987, while on tour in America, Jones had a brief relationship with model Katherine Berkery. Three months later, Berkery discovered that she was pregnant. After a lengthy fight and DNA testing, an American court ruled in 1989 that Jones is the boy's father. He flatly denied paternity for 20 years, but finally admitted it in 2008. However, he made no suggestion that he wanted to meet his son, Jonathan Berkery.

Jones moved to the United States in 1974, buying Dean Martin's former mansion in the East Gate Old Bel Air in Los Angeles. In 2009, after 35 years in America, he revealed that he and Linda were planning to move back to the United Kingdom. "I've had a great time living in Los Angeles," Jones said, "but after all these years, we think now is the time to move home." However, on The Chris Moyles Show on 27 July 2009, he said he still lives in Los Angeles and will remain there for the foreseeable future as he still frequently stays at his home in London.
Discography
Main article: Tom Jones discography
Filmography

   * The Special London Bridge Special, TV special, UK/USA (1972)
         o A fantasy story about London Bridge being brought to America
   * On Happiness Island, BBC TV special, UK (1974)
   * Pleasure Cove, feature film, USA (1979)
   * Fantasy Island, TV series, USA (ABC, 7 April 1984)
   * The Ghosts Of Oxford Street, TV special, UK (1991)
         o A TV musical celebrating the 200th anniversary of London's most renowned Oxford Street
   * Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, TV series (Guest: As Himself) (1991)
   * The Simpsons, TV series, Season 4 Episode 7 ("Marge Gets a Job") (1992)
   * Silk n' Sabotage, feature film, USA (1994)
   * Jerky Boys: The Movie, feature film, USA (1995)
   * Mars Attacks!, feature film, USA (1996)
   * Agnes Browne (a.k.a. The Mammy), feature film (1999)
   * The Emperor's New Groove, animated film (As the Theme Song Guy) (2000)
   * Duck Dodgers, opening theme and a guest appearance in episode "Talent Show A Go-Go"

In popular culture

Space and Cerys Matthews released "The Ballad of Tom Jones", a song about a fighting couple who are calmed down by listening to Jones' music on the radio. The song reached #4 in the UK. in 1998.
Compositions

Tom Jones wrote or co-wrote the following songs: "And I Tell The Sea", "Looking Out My Window", "Feel The Rain", "Jezebel", "The Letter", "Younger Days", "Tom Jones International", "Holiday", "The Road", "24 Hours", "Seasons", "We Got Love", "Seen That Face", "Give A Little Love", "If He Should Ever Leave You", "Whatever It Takes" and "Didn't It Rain".
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq294/otrekojom/Tom-Jones.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/TheXenaScrolls/miscellaneous/tom-jones.jpg


My favorite is "She's A Lady.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/07/11 at 8:17 am

I don't know why but I used to hate Tom Jones. Now as I am older, I do admit to liking some of his songs-and I can understand the appeal (when I couldn't in my younger days).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/11 at 2:24 pm


I don't know why but I used to hate Tom Jones. Now as I am older, I do admit to liking some of his songs-and I can understand the appeal (when I couldn't in my younger days).



Cat

I'm not a big fan, but do like some of his songs. My dad use to be jealous of him and Engelbert Humperdinck because my mom thought they were hot lol.
My mom sang Engelbert's song "Please Release Me" and my father got so mad that he flung open are front door and the handle made a hole in the wall.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Paul on 06/07/11 at 2:30 pm


My mom sang Engelbert's song "Please Release Me" and my father got so mad that he flung open are front door and the handle made a hole in the wall.


My mother still thinks the world of the 'Dinck'...so much so, that I'm packing her off to visit him on his British tour later this year...

The voice may have difficulty in knocking holes in walls, but he can still belt out a tune...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/07/11 at 2:43 pm


The person of the day...Tom Jones
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice. Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records.
Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.

In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.

The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He contrived the stage name, "Tom Jones," which not only linked the singer to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's hit film, but also emphasised Jones' Welsh nationality.

Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever," was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit. The BBC initially refused to play it, but the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The heavily orchestrated pop arrangement perfectly meshed with Jones' swinging, sexy image, and in early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States.

During 1965, Mills secured a number of movie themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film What's New Pussycat? (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film Thunderball. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965.

In 1966, Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable and mature crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the USA. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a consistent string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Las Vegas

In 1967, Jones performed for the first time in Las Vegas at the Flamingo. His charismatic performances and style of dress (increasingly featuring his open half unbuttoned shirts and tight pants) became part of his stage act. Women would swoon and scream, and some would throw their knickers on stage. Soon after he began to play Las Vegas, he chose to record less, instead concentrating on his lucrative club performances. At Caesars Palace, his shows were traditionally a knicker-hurling frenzy of raw sexual tension and good-time entertainment. It was there that women started throwing hotel room keys on stage. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount film stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Afterward, they became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas and even duetting until the early hours at Presley's private Las Vegas suite. Their friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977.
Television and lawsuits

Jones had an internationally successful television variety show from 1969 to 1971, titled This Is Tom Jones. The show, which was worth a reported $9m to Jones over three years, was broadcast by ITV in the UK and by ABC in America. From 1980 to 1981, he had a second television variety show, The Tom Jones Show, which lasted for a series of 24 episodes. In recent years, both television shows have been the subject of litigation in relation to the original license holder, C/F International.

As of December 2004, C/F International was a secured judgment creditor of Classic World Productions and its principal, Darryl Payne, for approximately one million US dollars, and was the principal secured creditor at the time of the subsequent bankruptcy filing by the company. C/F International's action against Classic World Productions and owner Darryl Payne was based on unpaid royalties in relation to This Is Tom Jones, and related recordings. This Is Tom Jones is currently sold on DVD by Time-Life, rather than by Classic World Productions or C/F International.

C/F International's rights to later Tom Jones material were also subject to dispute. In March 2007, Tom Jones and Tom Jones Enterprises sued C/F International to stop the company from licensing sound recordings made from The Tom Jones Show, recorded in Vancouver, Canada. It was contended that any rights that C/F International had to license The Tom Jones Show did not include the right to make and license separate recordings of the performances on the show. In addition, it was contended that any rights that C/F International had in The Tom Jones Show no longer existed, due to numerous breaches of contract. Examples of contentious CDs include "Live on the Tom Jones Show", released in 2006.

Jones appeared on 1 January 1970, on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Delilah" (in a telerecording of an earlier appearance on Top of the Pops).

Later in 1970, Jones teamed up with Raquel Welch and Producer/Choreographer David Winters of Winters-Rosen Productions for the TV special Raquel!. The multimillion dollar TV song & dance extravaganza was filmed around the world. It included lavish production numbers of classic songs from the era, lavish costumes, and guest performances from Jones, John Wayne and Bob Hope.
Decline and resurgence

In the early 1970s, Jones had a number of hit singles, including "She's A Lady", "Till", and "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer", but in the mid 1970s his popularity declined, although he did have a big hit in 1976 with "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow", which went to #1 on the US country chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the early 1980s, Jones started to record country music. From 1980 to 1986, Jones had nine songs hit the top 40 on the US country chart, yet he failed to crack the top 100 in the UK or chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

After Jones' long-time manager Gordon Mills died of cancer on 29 July 1986, Jones' son Mark became his new manager. Mark recognised that Jones was incorporating modern music in his live shows and suggested that he should start to record songs from a fresh genre and leave country music behind.

In 1987, Jones re-entered the singles chart with "A Boy From Nowhere", which went to #2 in the United Kingdom. The following year, he covered Prince's "Kiss" with The Art of Noise. The song was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #5 in the UK and #31 in the US. The video for "Kiss" was seen in heavy rotation on both MTV and VH1, and it won the MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video."

Jones received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989. His star is located at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, in front of Frederick's of Hollywood.

In 1992, he made his first appearance at the UK's Glastonbury Festival, and in 1993, he appeared as himself on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a television sitcom, and in animated form for an episode of The Simpsons.

Jones signed with Interscope Records in 1993 and released the album The Lead And How To Swing It. The first single, "If I Only Knew," went to #11 in the UK.

In 1999, Jones released the album Reload, a collection of cover duets with artists such as The Cardigans, Natalie Imbruglia, Cerys Matthews, Van Morrison, Mousse T, Portishead, The Stereophonics, and Robbie Williams. The album went to #1 in the UK and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Five singles from Reload hit the UK top 40.
Into the 21st century

To ring in the year 2000, United States President Bill Clinton invited Jones to perform on New Year's Eve at the Millennium celebrations in Washington, D.C.. Throughout 2000, Jones garnered a number of honours for his work, including a BRIT Award for Best Male. He was also hired as the new voice of Australia's National Rugby League, singing in an advertisement to market the 2000 season.

In 2002, Jones released the album Mr. Jones, which was produced by Wyclef Jean. The album and the first single, "Tom Jones International", were top 40 hits in the UK.

Jones received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2003. The following year, he teamed up with pianist Jools Holland and released Tom Jones & Jools Holland, a roots rock 'n' roll album. It peaked at #5 in the UK.

On 28 May 2005, in celebration of his upcoming 65th birthday, Jones returned to his homeland to perform a concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd before a crowd of about 20,000. This was his first performance in Pontypridd since 1964. That same year, the BBC reported that Jones was Wales' wealthiest entertainer, having amassed a fortune of £175 million. Jones collaborated with English-born Australian pop singer John Farnham in 2005 and released the live album John Farnham & Tom Jones - Together In Concert. The following year, Jones worked with Chicane and released the single "Stoned in Love", which went to #7 in the UK.

Jones, who was awarded an OBE in 1999, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 at Buckingham Palace for his services to music. "When you first come into show business and get a hit record, it is the start of something," Jones said. "As time goes by, it just gets better. This is the best thing I have had. It's a wonderful feeling, a heady feeling."
Recent work

On 1 July 2007, Jones was among the invited artists who performed at Wembley Stadium at the Concert for Diana, joined on stage by guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith and British soul singer Joss Stone. In addition to performing some of his own songs, the group covered Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor". Jones, a big boxing fan, has performed national anthems before a number of boxing matches. He sang "God Save the Queen", the United Kingdom's national anthem, before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton fight in 2007, he sang "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem, at the fight between fellow Welshman Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins in 2008, and he sang "God Save the Queen" before the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight in 2009.

In 2008, he released 24 Hours on S-Curve Records, his first album of new material to be issued in the US for over 15 years. Jones, who was still performing over 200 dates a year as he approached his 70th birthday, set out on a world tour to promote the album. "The fire is still in me. Not to be an oldie, but a goodie. I want to be a contender," Jones said. In 2008 also Tom Jones was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. On 16 November 2008, Jones was invited to perform on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. He performed the debut single from 24 Hours, "If He Should Ever Leave You", which was named the 9th best song of 2008 by Spinner. One of the songs from 24 Hours, "Give a Little Love", would later be featured in the first trailer for Little Fockers.

In February 2009, he did an exclusive Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, performing three songs live in front of a camera in a New York hotel room. In 2009 Jones was voted "Sexiest Man In The World" in the Hungarian magazine Periodika.

Jones went to the top of the UK Music Charts for the third time in his career thanks to a cover of "Islands in the Stream", sung with Ruth Jones, Rob Brydon and Robin Gibb, who co-wrote the original with his brothers Barry and Maurice. The song, inspired by BBC's hit sitcom Gavin and Stacey, was released in aid of Comic Relief and reached #1 in March 2009.

On 5 June 2010, Jones had been due to perform at Norwich City Football Club's Carrow Road stadium, two days before he celebrated his 70th birthday. Unfortunately the show was cancelled due to uncompleted improvements to the stadium and the work falling behind schedule meaning the stadium wouldn't be ready in time. Jones announced that his new album Praise & Blame would be released on 26 July 2010. The album, produced by Ethan Johns (who has previously worked with Kings Of Leon, Rufus Wainwright and Laura Marling), would include covers of songs by such artists as Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver and feature such guest musicians as Booker T.

On Jones' 70th birthday, 7 June 2010, the single "Burning Hell", a cover of the John Lee Hooker classic, from the forthcoming Praise & Blame album, was released. In July 2010 it was reported, however, that David Sharpe, vice-president of Island Records (to whom Jones had moved, from EMI, for £1.5m in October 2009), had emailed colleagues demanding that they "pull back this project immediately or get my money back" and asking if the record had been "a sick joke". Jones later attacked Sharpe and revealed that he was furious about the leaked email.

In July 2010, Jones appeared on the penultimate episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and performed "Burning Hell". In August 2010, Praise & Blame debuted at number 2 on the UK album chart.

On 11 September 2010 Jones performed for an audience of 50,000 at the Help for Heroes charity concert at Twickenham Stadium performing "Strange Things Are Happening Every Day" and his classic hit "Green Green Grass of Home". On 22 September, Jones appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. Last year he ditched his hair dye and declared he’d moved onto a new stage in his life: "Over Christmas, I always take a month off and let my hair go and don’t even shave. ‘Normally it comes out like salt and pepper which I hated. But this year it grew out a silver colour, so I kept it because it’s more distinguished," he said.

In May 2011 Jones appeared as guest vocalist on the debut album Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie. On 15 May 2011 he appeared alongside Laurie in the UK ITV series Perspectives, singing music from the album in New Orleans. On May 25, 2011, he appeared on American Idol after a medley of his hits performed by the American Idol "Top 13."
Personal life

Jones has remained married to his Linda since 1957, despite his many well publicised infidelities. His philandering once led her to beat him black and blue. She snapped after reading about one infidelity in a newspaper. She punched and kicked him, but Jones did not fight back: "I took it," Jones said.

Jones has had affairs with such well-known women as Mary Wilson of The Supremes, former Miss World Marjorie Wallace and Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson claims that she lost her virginity to Jones.

One affair resulted in the birth of a son. In October 1987, while on tour in America, Jones had a brief relationship with model Katherine Berkery. Three months later, Berkery discovered that she was pregnant. After a lengthy fight and DNA testing, an American court ruled in 1989 that Jones is the boy's father. He flatly denied paternity for 20 years, but finally admitted it in 2008. However, he made no suggestion that he wanted to meet his son, Jonathan Berkery.

Jones moved to the United States in 1974, buying Dean Martin's former mansion in the East Gate Old Bel Air in Los Angeles. In 2009, after 35 years in America, he revealed that he and Linda were planning to move back to the United Kingdom. "I've had a great time living in Los Angeles," Jones said, "but after all these years, we think now is the time to move home." However, on The Chris Moyles Show on 27 July 2009, he said he still lives in Los Angeles and will remain there for the foreseeable future as he still frequently stays at his home in London.
Discography
Main article: Tom Jones discography
Filmography

    * The Special London Bridge Special, TV special, UK/USA (1972)
          o A fantasy story about London Bridge being brought to America
    * On Happiness Island, BBC TV special, UK (1974)
    * Pleasure Cove, feature film, USA (1979)
    * Fantasy Island, TV series, USA (ABC, 7 April 1984)
    * The Ghosts Of Oxford Street, TV special, UK (1991)
          o A TV musical celebrating the 200th anniversary of London's most renowned Oxford Street
    * Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, TV series (Guest: As Himself) (1991)
    * The Simpsons, TV series, Season 4 Episode 7 ("Marge Gets a Job") (1992)
    * Silk n' Sabotage, feature film, USA (1994)
    * Jerky Boys: The Movie, feature film, USA (1995)
    * Mars Attacks!, feature film, USA (1996)
    * Agnes Browne (a.k.a. The Mammy), feature film (1999)
    * The Emperor's New Groove, animated film (As the Theme Song Guy) (2000)
    * Duck Dodgers, opening theme and a guest appearance in episode "Talent Show A Go-Go"

In popular culture

Space and Cerys Matthews released "The Ballad of Tom Jones", a song about a fighting couple who are calmed down by listening to Jones' music on the radio. The song reached #4 in the UK. in 1998.
Compositions

Tom Jones wrote or co-wrote the following songs: "And I Tell The Sea", "Looking Out My Window", "Feel The Rain", "Jezebel", "The Letter", "Younger Days", "Tom Jones International", "Holiday", "The Road", "24 Hours", "Seasons", "We Got Love", "Seen That Face", "Give A Little Love", "If He Should Ever Leave You", "Whatever It Takes" and "Didn't It Rain".
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq294/otrekojom/Tom-Jones.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/TheXenaScrolls/miscellaneous/tom-jones.jpg
My favourite is Delilah.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/11 at 2:55 pm


My mother still thinks the world of the 'Dinck'...so much so, that I'm packing her off to visit him on his British tour later this year...

The voice may have difficulty in knocking holes in walls, but he can still belt out a tune...

That's very nice of you to do that. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/07/11 at 2:57 pm


My favourite is Delilah.

That's a good song I also like Green Green Grass of Home and It's Not Unusual.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/07/11 at 3:01 pm


That's a good song I also like Green Green Grass of Home and It's Not Unusual.
Delilah is good song for singing Karaoke

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/07/11 at 7:28 pm


My favourite is Delilah.


It's Not Unusual is my favorite as well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/09/11 at 1:30 am


It's Not Unusual is my favorite as well.
Green Green Grass Of Home brings back childhood memories for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/11 at 8:40 am


Green Green Grass Of Home brings back childhood memories for me.

Are they good memories?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/11 at 8:43 am

The person of the day...Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC (born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9, 1961) is a Canadian–American actor, author, comedian, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982-1989) for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create The Michael J. Fox Foundation, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.

Since 2000 Fox has mainly worked as a voice over actor in films such as Stuart Little and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and taken minor TV roles such as in Boston Legal, The Good Wife and Scrubs. He has also released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 27, 2011 for his outreach and fundraising work.
Fox's first feature film roles were in Midnight Madness (1980) and Class of 1984 (1982), credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing "Young Republican" Alex P. Keaton in the show Family Ties which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Fox only received the role after Matthew Broderick was unavailable. Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids," with the parents originally intended to be the main characters. However, the positive reaction to Fox's performance led to his character becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode. At its peak, the audience for Family Ties drew one-third of America's households every week. Fox won three Emmy awards for Family Ties in 1986, 1987 and 1988 respectively. He also won a Golden Globe Award in 1989.

Brandon Tartikoff, one of the show's producers, felt that Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced. Tartikoff reportedly said that "this is not the kind of face you'll ever find on a lunch-box". After his later successes, Fox presented Tartikoff with a custom-made lunch-box with the inscription "To Brandon, this is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox". Tartikoff kept the lunch-box in his office for the rest of his NBC career.

While filming Family Ties, Fox met his future wife, Tracy Pollan, when she portrayed his girlfriend, Ellen. When Fox left the TV series Spin City, his final episodes made numerous allusions to Family Ties: Michael Gross (who played Alex's father Steven) portrays Mike Flaherty's (Fox's) therapist, and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory". Also, when Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C., he meets a conservative senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton, and in one episode Meredith Baxter played Mike's mother.
Back to the Future trilogy

Back to the Future tells the story of Marty McFly (Fox), a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955. He meets his parents in high school, accidentally attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents to fall in love, while finding a way to return to 1985. Robert Zemeckis, the director, originally wanted Fox to play Marty but Gary David Goldberg the creator of Family Ties, which Fox was working on at the time refused to allow Zemeckis to even approach Fox as he felt that as Meredith Baxter was on maternity leave at the time that Fox's character Alex Keaton was needed to carry the show in her absence. Eric Stoltz was cast and he was already filming Back to the Future when Robert Zemeckis, felt that Stoltz was not giving the right type of performance for the humor involved. Zemeckis quickly replaced Stoltz with Fox whose schedule was now more open with the return of Meredith Baxter. During filming, Fox would rehearse for Family Ties from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, then rush to the Back to the Future set where he would rehearse and shoot until 2:30 a.m. This schedule lasted for two full months. Back to the Future was both a commercial and critical success. The film spent 8 consecutive weekends as the number one grossing movie at the US box office in 1985, and eventually earned a worldwide total of $381.11 million. Variety applauded the performances, arguing Fox and Lloyd imbued Marty and Doc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent of King Arthur and Merlin. Two sequels, Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III, were released in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
Mid-career
Fox in September 1987

During and immediately after the Back to the Future trilogy, Fox starred in Teen Wolf (1985), Light of Day (1987), The Secret of My Success (1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988) and Casualties of War (1989).

In The Secret of My Success, Fox played a graduate student from Kansas State University who moves to New York City where he has landed a job as a financier. The film was successful at the box office, taking $110 million worldwide. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times wrote; "Fox provides a fairly desperate center for the film. It could not have been much fun for him to follow the movie's arbitrary shifts of mood, from sitcom to slapstick, from sex farce to boardroom brawls."

In Bright Lights, Big City Fox played a fact-checker for a New York magazine, who spends his nights partying with alcohol and drugs. The film received mixed reviews, with Hal Hinson in The Washington post criticizing Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job". Meanwhile Roger Ebert praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)". During the shooting of Bright Lights, Big City, Michael was reunited with his on-screen girlfriend Tracy Pollan from Family Ties.

Fox then starred in Casualties of War, a war drama about the Vietnam War, alongside Sean Penn. Casualties of War was not a box office hit, but Fox, playing a Private serving in Vietnam, received good reviews for his performance. Don Willmott on film critic’s website wrote; "Fox, only one year beyond his Family Ties sitcom silliness, rises to the challenges of acting as the film's moral voice and sharing scenes with the always intimidating Penn."

In 1991, he starred in Doc Hollywood, a romantic comedy about a talented medical doctor who decides to become a plastic surgeon. While relocating from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, California, he winds up as a doctor in a small southern town. Michael Caton-Jones, from Time Out, described Fox in the film as "at his frenetic best". The Hard Way was also released in 1991, with Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officer James Woods. Between 1992 and 1996, he continued making several films, such as For Love or Money (1993), Life With Mikey (1993) and Greedy (1994). Fox then played small supporting roles in political drama The American President (1995) and comedy Mars Attacks! (1996).

His last major film role was in The Frighteners (1996). The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he uses his new abilities by cheating money out of customers for his "ghosthunting" business. However, a mass murderer comes back from Hell, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence. Fox's performance received critical praise, Kenneth Turan in The Los Angeles Times wrote; "The film's actors are equally pleasing. Both Fox, in his most successful starring role in some time, and Alvarado, who looks rather like Andie MacDowell here, have no difficulty getting into the manic spirit of things."

Fox has also done voice-over work providing the voice of Stuart Little in the Stuart Little movie and its sequel, both of which were based on the popular book by E. B. White. He also voiced the American Bulldog Chance in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and its sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, as well as Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Spin City and later career
The hand prints of Michael J. Fox in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Spin City ran from 1996 to 2002 on American television network channel ABC. The show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Fox as Mike Flaherty, a Fordham Law graduate serving as the Deputy Mayor of New York. Fox won an Emmy award for Spin City in 2000, three Golden Globe Awards in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and two Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1999 and 2000. During the third season of Spin City, Fox made the announcement to the cast and crew of the show that he had Parkinson's Disease. During the fourth season, he announced his retirement from the show to focus on spending more time with his family. He announced that he planned to continue to act and would make guest appearances on Spin City (he made three more appearances on the show during the final season). After leaving the show, he was replaced by Charlie Sheen, who portrayed the character Charlie Crawford. Altogether, 145 episodes were made. Fox also served as an executive producer during his time on the show, alongside co-creators Bill Lawrence and Gary David Goldberg.

In 2004, Fox guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama Scrubs as Dr. Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. The series was created by Spin City creator Bill Lawrence. In 2006, he appeared in four episodes of Boston Legal as a lung cancer patient. The producers brought him back in a recurring role for Season three, beginning with the season premiere. Fox was nominated for an Emmy Award for best guest appearance. In 2009, he appeared in five episodes of the television series Rescue Me which earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Since 2000 Fox has released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). In 2010, Fox returned to television as a guest star in US drama The Good Wife. Fox will make another guest-star appearance on The Good Wife in episode 13.

He made an appearance at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver, Canada and delivered comedic monologues, along with William Shatner and Catherine O'Hara, in the "I am Canadian" part of the show.

Along with Tatjana Patitz, Fox appears in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG calendar, photographed by Bryan Adams in New York City in the summer of 2010.

Despite a soundalike voicing his character of Marty McFly in the 2011 Back to the Future episodic adventure game, Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of McFly alongside Christopher Lloyd. Developers Telltale Games have confirmed that Fox will make a special guest appearance in the final episode of the series.
Personal life
The Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby

Fox married actress Tracy Pollan on July 16, 1988, at West Mountain Inn in Arlington, Vermont. The couple have four children: Sam Michael (born May 30, 1989), twins Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances (born February 15, 1995), and Esmé Annabelle (born November 3, 2001). Fox holds dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. On February 28, 2010, Fox provided a light-hearted segment during the 2010 Winter Olympics' closing ceremony which took place in Vancouver, Canada wherein he expressed how proud he is to be Canadian. On June 4, 2010, the City of Burnaby, British Columbia honoured Fox by granting him the Freedom of the City.
Illness and activism

Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year. After his diagnosis, Fox began drinking more heavily than in the past; however, he sought help and stopped drinking altogether. In 1998, he decided to go public with his condition, and since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research. His foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease, through embryonic stem cell studies.

Fox manages the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease with the drug Sinemet, and he also had a thalamotomy in 1998.

In his memoir, Lucky Man, Fox wrote that he did not take his medication prior to his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 1998; "I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling". His first book, Lucky Man focused on how after seven years of unacceptance of the disease he set up the Michael J Fox Foundation, stopped drinking and began to be an advocate of PD sufferers.

In an April 2002 NPR interview, Fox explained what he does when he becomes symptomatic during an interview: "Well, actually, I've been erring on the side of caution — I think 'erring' is actually the right word — in that I've been medicating perhaps too much, in the sense times the symptoms that people see in some of these interviews that have been on are actually dyskinesia, which is a reaction to the medication. Because if I were purely symptomatic with Parkinson's symptoms, a lot of times speaking is difficult. There's a kind of a cluttering of speech and it's very difficult to sit still, to sit in one place. You know, the symptoms are different, so I'd rather kind of suffer the symptoms of dyskinesia... this kind of weaving and this kind of continuous thing is much preferable, actually, than pure Parkinson's symptoms. So that's what I generally do...I haven't had any, you know, problems with pure Parkinson's symptoms in any of these interviews, because I'll tend to just make sure that I have enough Sinemet in my system and, in some cases, too much. But to me, it's preferable. It's not representative of what I'm like in my everyday life. I get a lot of people with Parkinson's coming up to me saying, 'You take too much medication.' I say, Well, you sit across from Larry King and see if you want to tempt it."

In 2006, Fox starred in a campaign ad for Claire McCaskill expressing her support for stem cell research. In the ad, he visibly showed the effects of his Parkinson's medication. "As you might know, I care deeply about stem cell research. In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures. Unfortunately, Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research. Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us the chance for hope. They say all politics is local, but that's not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans, Americans like me." The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful and talked about political advertisements in years" and polls indicated that the commercial had a statistical impact on the way voters voted. His second book Always Looking Up: The Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist describes his life between 1999 and 2009, with much of the book centered on how Fox got into campaigning for stem cell research. On March 31, 2009, Fox appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Dr. Oz to publicly discuss his condition as well as his book, his family and his prime time special which aired May 7, 2009 (Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist).

His work led him to be named one of the 100 people "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 by Time magazine. On March 5, 2010, Fox received an honorary doctorate in medicine from Karolinska Institutet for his contributions to research in Parkinson's disease. He also has received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of British Columbia.
Filmography
Actor
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Midnight Madness Scott Larson
1982 Class of 1984 Arthur
1985 Back to the Future Marty McFly
Teen Wolf Scott Howard
1987 Light of Day Joe Rasnick
The Secret of My Success Brantley Foster/Carlton Whitfield
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Jamie Conway
1989 Casualties of War PFC. Eriksson
Back to the Future Part II Marty McFly, Marty McFly Jr, Marlene McFly
1990 Back to the Future Part III Marty McFly, Seamus McFly
1991 The Hard Way Nick Lang/Ray Casanov
Doc Hollywood Dr. Benjamin Stone
1993 Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Chance Voice
Life with Mikey Michael "Mikey" Chapman
For Love or Money Doug Ireland
1994 Where the Rivers Flow North Clayton Farnsworth
Greedy Daniel McTeague
1995 Blue in the Face Pete Maloney
Coldblooded Tim Alexander Also Producer
The American President Lewis Rothschild
1996 Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco Chance Voice
The Frighteners Frank Bannister
Mars Attacks! Jason Stone
1999 Stuart Little Stuart Little Voice
2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire Milo James Thatch Voice
2002 Interstate 60 Mr. Baker
Stuart Little 2 Stuart Little Voice
2005 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Stuart Little Voice
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1977 The Magic Lie Episode: "The Master"
1979 Letters from Frank Ricky CBS TV-Movie
Lou Grant Paul Stone Episode: "Kids"
1980 Palmerstown, U.S.A. Willy-Joe Hall
Family Richard Topol Episode: "Such a Fine Line"
Trouble in High Timber Country Thomas Elston ABC TV-Movie
1981 Trapper John, M.D. Elliot Schweitzer Episode: Brain Child
Leo and Me Jamie Produced in 1976; was not televised on CBC until 1981
credited as "Mike Fox"
1982–1989 Family Ties Alex P. Keaton
1983 The Love Boat Episode: "I Like to Be in America..."
High School U.S.A. Jay-Jay Manners NBC TV-Movie/TV-Pilot
1984 Night Court Eddie Simms Episode: "Santa Goes Downtown"
The Homemade Comedy Special Host NBC TV-Special
1985 Poison Ivy Dennis Baxter NBC TV-Movie
1986 David Letterman's 2nd Annual Holiday Film Festival NBC TV-Special
Segment: The Iceman Hummeth
1988 Mickey's 60th Birthday Alex P. Keaton (a flashback clip) TV-Special
1990 Sex, Buys & Advertising TV-Special
1991 Saturday Night Live Host Episode: "Michael J. Fox/The Black Crowes"
Tales from the Crypt Prosecutor Episode: "The Trap"
1994 Don't Drink the Water Axel Magee ABC TV-Movie
1996–2001 Spin City Mike Flaherty Seasons 1 – 4
2002 Clone High Gandhi's Remaining Kidney Voice Role
"Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand"
2004 Scrubs Dr. Kevin Casey Episode: "My Catalyst"
Episode: "My Porcelain God"
2006 Boston Legal Daniel Post
2009 Rescue Me Dwight
2010 The Colbert Report Himself
The Good Wife Louis Canning Recurring role
2011 Ace of Cakes Himself
2011 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself Season 8
2011 Back to the Future: The Game TBA Videogame Voice, Episode 5: "Outatime"
Producer
Year(s) Film or television show Notes
1995 Coldblooded Producer
1996–2000 Spin City Executive producer
1999 Anna Says Executive producer
2002 Otherwise Engaged Executive producer
2003 Hench at Home Executive producer
Awards and nominations

Canada's Walk of Fame

    * 2000: Inducted, Canada's Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * 2002: Star on the Walk of Fame – 7021 Hollywood Blvd.

Emmy Awards

    * 1985: Nominated, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1986: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1987: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1988: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1989: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1997: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 1998: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 1999: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 2000: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 2006: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Boston Legal
    * 2009: Won, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Rescue Me

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
    * 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy/Musical – Back to the Future
    * 1987: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
    * 1989: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
    * 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
    * 1998: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
    * 1999: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
    * 2000: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 1999: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 2000: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City

Saturn Awards

    * 1985: Won, Best Actor – Back to the Future

People's Choice Awards

    * 1997: Won, Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series

Satellite Awards

    * 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
    * 1998: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
    * 1999: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City

Honorary Degrees

    * 2008: Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, New York University
    * 2008: Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of British Columbia
    * 2010: Honoris causa doctorate, Karolinska Institutet

Grammy Awards

    * 2010: Won, Best Spoken Word Album – Always Looking Up: Adventures of An Incurable Optimist

Influential Canadian Expat Award

    * 2009: Awarded "Most Influential Canadian Expat", Canadian Expat Association

Goldene Kamera

    * 2011: Goldene Kamera für Lebenswerk (Lifetime Achievement Award), German film and TV award.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg124/martina100_2008/michael_j_fox.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q179/lawin_daniel/michael_j_fox_220.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/09/11 at 8:45 am

^ used to have a place in Vermont.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/11 at 8:46 am

And yes I know it's Johnny Depp's birthday also so a couple of pics.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y192/Selizabeth/johnnydepp.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/mocin/johnnydepp.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/09/11 at 8:47 am


^ used to have a place in Vermont.


Cat

Any where near you?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/09/11 at 9:41 am


Any where near you?


About an hour & a half away. I think he sold his farm.

Dom Deluise used to own a place about an hour away and I was told that he used to go to the restaurant that my best friend & I used to go to for lunch all the time. Our waitress told us that she has served him a few times. But, he never came in while we were there.  :\'( Now, both the restaurant & Dom Deluise is no longer.  :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(

I used to live in one town over from Ron Howard. People I knew said they would see him all the time but I never did. Didn't live there long enough to see him.  :\'( :\'(



Cat


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/09/11 at 12:24 pm


Are they good memories?
Oh yes, family and schooldays.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/09/11 at 12:37 pm


The person of the day...Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC (born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9, 1961) is a Canadian–American actor, author, comedian, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982-1989) for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create The Michael J. Fox Foundation, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.

Since 2000 Fox has mainly worked as a voice over actor in films such as Stuart Little and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and taken minor TV roles such as in Boston Legal, The Good Wife and Scrubs. He has also released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 27, 2011 for his outreach and fundraising work.
Fox's first feature film roles were in Midnight Madness (1980) and Class of 1984 (1982), credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing "Young Republican" Alex P. Keaton in the show Family Ties which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Fox only received the role after Matthew Broderick was unavailable. Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids," with the parents originally intended to be the main characters. However, the positive reaction to Fox's performance led to his character becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode. At its peak, the audience for Family Ties drew one-third of America's households every week. Fox won three Emmy awards for Family Ties in 1986, 1987 and 1988 respectively. He also won a Golden Globe Award in 1989.

Brandon Tartikoff, one of the show's producers, felt that Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced. Tartikoff reportedly said that "this is not the kind of face you'll ever find on a lunch-box". After his later successes, Fox presented Tartikoff with a custom-made lunch-box with the inscription "To Brandon, this is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox". Tartikoff kept the lunch-box in his office for the rest of his NBC career.

While filming Family Ties, Fox met his future wife, Tracy Pollan, when she portrayed his girlfriend, Ellen. When Fox left the TV series Spin City, his final episodes made numerous allusions to Family Ties: Michael Gross (who played Alex's father Steven) portrays Mike Flaherty's (Fox's) therapist, and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory". Also, when Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C., he meets a conservative senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton, and in one episode Meredith Baxter played Mike's mother.
Back to the Future trilogy

Back to the Future tells the story of Marty McFly (Fox), a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955. He meets his parents in high school, accidentally attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents to fall in love, while finding a way to return to 1985. Robert Zemeckis, the director, originally wanted Fox to play Marty but Gary David Goldberg the creator of Family Ties, which Fox was working on at the time refused to allow Zemeckis to even approach Fox as he felt that as Meredith Baxter was on maternity leave at the time that Fox's character Alex Keaton was needed to carry the show in her absence. Eric Stoltz was cast and he was already filming Back to the Future when Robert Zemeckis, felt that Stoltz was not giving the right type of performance for the humor involved. Zemeckis quickly replaced Stoltz with Fox whose schedule was now more open with the return of Meredith Baxter. During filming, Fox would rehearse for Family Ties from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, then rush to the Back to the Future set where he would rehearse and shoot until 2:30 a.m. This schedule lasted for two full months. Back to the Future was both a commercial and critical success. The film spent 8 consecutive weekends as the number one grossing movie at the US box office in 1985, and eventually earned a worldwide total of $381.11 million. Variety applauded the performances, arguing Fox and Lloyd imbued Marty and Doc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent of King Arthur and Merlin. Two sequels, Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III, were released in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
Mid-career
Fox in September 1987

During and immediately after the Back to the Future trilogy, Fox starred in Teen Wolf (1985), Light of Day (1987), The Secret of My Success (1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988) and Casualties of War (1989).

In The Secret of My Success, Fox played a graduate student from Kansas State University who moves to New York City where he has landed a job as a financier. The film was successful at the box office, taking $110 million worldwide. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times wrote; "Fox provides a fairly desperate center for the film. It could not have been much fun for him to follow the movie's arbitrary shifts of mood, from sitcom to slapstick, from sex farce to boardroom brawls."

In Bright Lights, Big City Fox played a fact-checker for a New York magazine, who spends his nights partying with alcohol and drugs. The film received mixed reviews, with Hal Hinson in The Washington post criticizing Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job". Meanwhile Roger Ebert praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)". During the shooting of Bright Lights, Big City, Michael was reunited with his on-screen girlfriend Tracy Pollan from Family Ties.

Fox then starred in Casualties of War, a war drama about the Vietnam War, alongside Sean Penn. Casualties of War was not a box office hit, but Fox, playing a Private serving in Vietnam, received good reviews for his performance. Don Willmott on film critic’s website wrote; "Fox, only one year beyond his Family Ties sitcom silliness, rises to the challenges of acting as the film's moral voice and sharing scenes with the always intimidating Penn."

In 1991, he starred in Doc Hollywood, a romantic comedy about a talented medical doctor who decides to become a plastic surgeon. While relocating from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, California, he winds up as a doctor in a small southern town. Michael Caton-Jones, from Time Out, described Fox in the film as "at his frenetic best". The Hard Way was also released in 1991, with Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officer James Woods. Between 1992 and 1996, he continued making several films, such as For Love or Money (1993), Life With Mikey (1993) and Greedy (1994). Fox then played small supporting roles in political drama The American President (1995) and comedy Mars Attacks! (1996).

His last major film role was in The Frighteners (1996). The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he uses his new abilities by cheating money out of customers for his "ghosthunting" business. However, a mass murderer comes back from Hell, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence. Fox's performance received critical praise, Kenneth Turan in The Los Angeles Times wrote; "The film's actors are equally pleasing. Both Fox, in his most successful starring role in some time, and Alvarado, who looks rather like Andie MacDowell here, have no difficulty getting into the manic spirit of things."

Fox has also done voice-over work providing the voice of Stuart Little in the Stuart Little movie and its sequel, both of which were based on the popular book by E. B. White. He also voiced the American Bulldog Chance in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and its sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, as well as Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Spin City and later career
The hand prints of Michael J. Fox in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Spin City ran from 1996 to 2002 on American television network channel ABC. The show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Fox as Mike Flaherty, a Fordham Law graduate serving as the Deputy Mayor of New York. Fox won an Emmy award for Spin City in 2000, three Golden Globe Awards in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and two Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1999 and 2000. During the third season of Spin City, Fox made the announcement to the cast and crew of the show that he had Parkinson's Disease. During the fourth season, he announced his retirement from the show to focus on spending more time with his family. He announced that he planned to continue to act and would make guest appearances on Spin City (he made three more appearances on the show during the final season). After leaving the show, he was replaced by Charlie Sheen, who portrayed the character Charlie Crawford. Altogether, 145 episodes were made. Fox also served as an executive producer during his time on the show, alongside co-creators Bill Lawrence and Gary David Goldberg.

In 2004, Fox guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama Scrubs as Dr. Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. The series was created by Spin City creator Bill Lawrence. In 2006, he appeared in four episodes of Boston Legal as a lung cancer patient. The producers brought him back in a recurring role for Season three, beginning with the season premiere. Fox was nominated for an Emmy Award for best guest appearance. In 2009, he appeared in five episodes of the television series Rescue Me which earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Since 2000 Fox has released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). In 2010, Fox returned to television as a guest star in US drama The Good Wife. Fox will make another guest-star appearance on The Good Wife in episode 13.

He made an appearance at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver, Canada and delivered comedic monologues, along with William Shatner and Catherine O'Hara, in the "I am Canadian" part of the show.

Along with Tatjana Patitz, Fox appears in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG calendar, photographed by Bryan Adams in New York City in the summer of 2010.

Despite a soundalike voicing his character of Marty McFly in the 2011 Back to the Future episodic adventure game, Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of McFly alongside Christopher Lloyd. Developers Telltale Games have confirmed that Fox will make a special guest appearance in the final episode of the series.
Personal life
The Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby

Fox married actress Tracy Pollan on July 16, 1988, at West Mountain Inn in Arlington, Vermont. The couple have four children: Sam Michael (born May 30, 1989), twins Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances (born February 15, 1995), and Esmé Annabelle (born November 3, 2001). Fox holds dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. On February 28, 2010, Fox provided a light-hearted segment during the 2010 Winter Olympics' closing ceremony which took place in Vancouver, Canada wherein he expressed how proud he is to be Canadian. On June 4, 2010, the City of Burnaby, British Columbia honoured Fox by granting him the Freedom of the City.
Illness and activism

Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year. After his diagnosis, Fox began drinking more heavily than in the past; however, he sought help and stopped drinking altogether. In 1998, he decided to go public with his condition, and since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research. His foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease, through embryonic stem cell studies.

Fox manages the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease with the drug Sinemet, and he also had a thalamotomy in 1998.

In his memoir, Lucky Man, Fox wrote that he did not take his medication prior to his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 1998; "I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling". His first book, Lucky Man focused on how after seven years of unacceptance of the disease he set up the Michael J Fox Foundation, stopped drinking and began to be an advocate of PD sufferers.

In an April 2002 NPR interview, Fox explained what he does when he becomes symptomatic during an interview: "Well, actually, I've been erring on the side of caution — I think 'erring' is actually the right word — in that I've been medicating perhaps too much, in the sense times the symptoms that people see in some of these interviews that have been on are actually dyskinesia, which is a reaction to the medication. Because if I were purely symptomatic with Parkinson's symptoms, a lot of times speaking is difficult. There's a kind of a cluttering of speech and it's very difficult to sit still, to sit in one place. You know, the symptoms are different, so I'd rather kind of suffer the symptoms of dyskinesia... this kind of weaving and this kind of continuous thing is much preferable, actually, than pure Parkinson's symptoms. So that's what I generally do...I haven't had any, you know, problems with pure Parkinson's symptoms in any of these interviews, because I'll tend to just make sure that I have enough Sinemet in my system and, in some cases, too much. But to me, it's preferable. It's not representative of what I'm like in my everyday life. I get a lot of people with Parkinson's coming up to me saying, 'You take too much medication.' I say, Well, you sit across from Larry King and see if you want to tempt it."

In 2006, Fox starred in a campaign ad for Claire McCaskill expressing her support for stem cell research. In the ad, he visibly showed the effects of his Parkinson's medication. "As you might know, I care deeply about stem cell research. In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures. Unfortunately, Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research. Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us the chance for hope. They say all politics is local, but that's not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans, Americans like me." The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful and talked about political advertisements in years" and polls indicated that the commercial had a statistical impact on the way voters voted. His second book Always Looking Up: The Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist describes his life between 1999 and 2009, with much of the book centered on how Fox got into campaigning for stem cell research. On March 31, 2009, Fox appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Dr. Oz to publicly discuss his condition as well as his book, his family and his prime time special which aired May 7, 2009 (Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist).

His work led him to be named one of the 100 people "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 by Time magazine. On March 5, 2010, Fox received an honorary doctorate in medicine from Karolinska Institutet for his contributions to research in Parkinson's disease. He also has received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of British Columbia.
Filmography
Actor
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1980 Midnight Madness Scott Larson
1982 Class of 1984 Arthur
1985 Back to the Future Marty McFly
Teen Wolf Scott Howard
1987 Light of Day Joe Rasnick
The Secret of My Success Brantley Foster/Carlton Whitfield
1988 Bright Lights, Big City Jamie Conway
1989 Casualties of War PFC. Eriksson
Back to the Future Part II Marty McFly, Marty McFly Jr, Marlene McFly
1990 Back to the Future Part III Marty McFly, Seamus McFly
1991 The Hard Way Nick Lang/Ray Casanov
Doc Hollywood Dr. Benjamin Stone
1993 Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Chance Voice
Life with Mikey Michael "Mikey" Chapman
For Love or Money Doug Ireland
1994 Where the Rivers Flow North Clayton Farnsworth
Greedy Daniel McTeague
1995 Blue in the Face Pete Maloney
Coldblooded Tim Alexander Also Producer
The American President Lewis Rothschild
1996 Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco Chance Voice
The Frighteners Frank Bannister
Mars Attacks! Jason Stone
1999 Stuart Little Stuart Little Voice
2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire Milo James Thatch Voice
2002 Interstate 60 Mr. Baker
Stuart Little 2 Stuart Little Voice
2005 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Stuart Little Voice
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1977 The Magic Lie Episode: "The Master"
1979 Letters from Frank Ricky CBS TV-Movie
Lou Grant Paul Stone Episode: "Kids"
1980 Palmerstown, U.S.A. Willy-Joe Hall
Family Richard Topol Episode: "Such a Fine Line"
Trouble in High Timber Country Thomas Elston ABC TV-Movie
1981 Trapper John, M.D. Elliot Schweitzer Episode: Brain Child
Leo and Me Jamie Produced in 1976; was not televised on CBC until 1981
credited as "Mike Fox"
1982–1989 Family Ties Alex P. Keaton
1983 The Love Boat Episode: "I Like to Be in America..."
High School U.S.A. Jay-Jay Manners NBC TV-Movie/TV-Pilot
1984 Night Court Eddie Simms Episode: "Santa Goes Downtown"
The Homemade Comedy Special Host NBC TV-Special
1985 Poison Ivy Dennis Baxter NBC TV-Movie
1986 David Letterman's 2nd Annual Holiday Film Festival NBC TV-Special
Segment: The Iceman Hummeth
1988 Mickey's 60th Birthday Alex P. Keaton (a flashback clip) TV-Special
1990 Sex, Buys & Advertising TV-Special
1991 Saturday Night Live Host Episode: "Michael J. Fox/The Black Crowes"
Tales from the Crypt Prosecutor Episode: "The Trap"
1994 Don't Drink the Water Axel Magee ABC TV-Movie
1996–2001 Spin City Mike Flaherty Seasons 1 – 4
2002 Clone High Gandhi's Remaining Kidney Voice Role
"Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand"
2004 Scrubs Dr. Kevin Casey Episode: "My Catalyst"
Episode: "My Porcelain God"
2006 Boston Legal Daniel Post
2009 Rescue Me Dwight
2010 The Colbert Report Himself
The Good Wife Louis Canning Recurring role
2011 Ace of Cakes Himself
2011 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself Season 8
2011 Back to the Future: The Game TBA Videogame Voice, Episode 5: "Outatime"
Producer
Year(s) Film or television show Notes
1995 Coldblooded Producer
1996–2000 Spin City Executive producer
1999 Anna Says Executive producer
2002 Otherwise Engaged Executive producer
2003 Hench at Home Executive producer
Awards and nominations

Canada's Walk of Fame

    * 2000: Inducted, Canada's Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

    * 2002: Star on the Walk of Fame – 7021 Hollywood Blvd.

Emmy Awards

    * 1985: Nominated, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1986: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1987: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1988: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1989: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
    * 1997: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 1998: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 1999: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 2000: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 2006: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Boston Legal
    * 2009: Won, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Rescue Me

Golden Globe Awards

    * 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
    * 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy/Musical – Back to the Future
    * 1987: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
    * 1989: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
    * 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
    * 1998: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
    * 1999: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
    * 2000: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 1999: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
    * 2000: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City

Saturn Awards

    * 1985: Won, Best Actor – Back to the Future

People's Choice Awards

    * 1997: Won, Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series

Satellite Awards

    * 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
    * 1998: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
    * 1999: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City

Honorary Degrees

    * 2008: Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, New York University
    * 2008: Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of British Columbia
    * 2010: Honoris causa doctorate, Karolinska Institutet

Grammy Awards

    * 2010: Won, Best Spoken Word Album – Always Looking Up: Adventures of An Incurable Optimist

Influential Canadian Expat Award

    * 2009: Awarded "Most Influential Canadian Expat", Canadian Expat Association

Goldene Kamera

    * 2011: Goldene Kamera für Lebenswerk (Lifetime Achievement Award), German film and TV award.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg124/martina100_2008/michael_j_fox.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q179/lawin_daniel/michael_j_fox_220.jpg


I saw all The Back To The future films. I kinda wish they would continue Back To The Future from where they left off.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/09/11 at 6:59 pm


And yes I know it's Johnny Depp's birthday also so a couple of pics.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y192/Selizabeth/johnnydepp.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/mocin/johnnydepp.png



Yum!


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/10/11 at 7:36 am

The person of the day...Judy Garland
Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgement at Nuremberg.

At 40 years of age, she was the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

After appearing in vaudeville with her sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, Garland was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.

In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.
In 1935, Garland was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, supposedly without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. The studio did not know what to do with Garland, as at age 13 she was older than the traditional child star but too young for adult roles. Garland's physical appearance created a dilemma for MGM. At only 4 feet 11.5 inches (151.1 cm), Garland's "cute" or "girl next door" looks did not exemplify the more glamorous persona required of leading ladies of the time. She was self-conscious and anxious about her appearance. "Judy went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, real beauties," said Charles Walters, who directed Garland in a number of films. "Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling ... I think it had a very damaging effect on her emotionally for a long time. I think it lasted forever, really." Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who referred to her as his "little hunchback". During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments or frilly juvenile gowns and costumes to match the "girl-next-door" image that was created for her. She was made to wear removable caps on her teeth and rubberized disks to reshape her nose. She performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday. The film contrasted Garland's contralto vocal range and swing style with Durbin's operatic soprano and served as an extended screen test for the pair, as studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster. Mayer finally decided to keep both girls, but by that time Durbin's option had lapsed and she was signed by Universal Studios.

On November 16, 1935, in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateau Hour, Garland learned that her father—who had been hospitalized with meningitis—had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Gumm died the following morning, on November 17, leaving Garland devastated. Garland's song for the Shell Chateau Hour was her first professional rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a song which would become a standard in many of her concerts.
Garland with Mickey Rooney in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

Garland next came to the attention of studio executives by singing a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the actor; her rendition was so well regarded that Garland performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), in which she sang the song to a photograph of Gable.

MGM hit on a winning formula when it paired Garland with Mickey Rooney in a string of "backyard musicals". The duo first appeared together in the 1937 B movie Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation, and teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy. Garland would eventually star with Rooney in nine films.

To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before bed. For Garland, this regular dose of drugs led to addiction and a lifelong struggle, and contributed to her eventual demise. She later resented the hectic schedule and felt that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. Despite successful film and recording careers, several awards, critical praise, and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, Garland was plagued throughout her life with self-doubt and required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.
The Wizard of Oz
Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

In 1938, at the age of 16, Garland was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), a film based on the children's book by L. Frank Baum. In this film, Garland sang the song for which she would forever be identified, "Over the Rainbow". Although producers Arthur Freed and Mervyn LeRoy had wanted Garland from the start, studio chief Mayer tried first to borrow Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox. Temple's services were denied and Garland was cast. Garland was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her breasts were bound with tape and she was made to wear a special corset to flatten out her curves and make her appear younger; her blue gingham dress was also chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.

Shooting commenced on October 13, 1938, and was completed on March 16, 1939, with a final cost of more than US$2 million. From the conclusion of filming, MGM kept Garland busy with promotional tours and the shooting of Babes in Arms. Garland and Mickey Rooney were sent on a cross-country promotional tour, culminating in the August 17 New York City premiere at the Capitol Theater, which included a five-show-a-day appearance schedule for the two stars.

On November 17, 1939, Garland's mother, Ethel, married William P. Gillmore in Yuma, Arizona. It was the fourth anniversary of her first husband's death.

The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4 million coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s. At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. Following this recognition, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
Stardom as an adult

In 1940, she starred in three films: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly. In the latter, Garland played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. Little Nellie Kelly was purchased from George M. Cohan as a vehicle for Garland to display both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss, and the only death scene of her career. The success of these three films, and a further three films in 1941, secured her position at MGM as a major property.
Garland performing "The Trolley Song" in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

During this time Garland experienced her first serious adult romances. The first was with the band leader Artie Shaw. Garland was deeply devoted to Shaw and was devastated in early 1940 when Shaw eloped with Lana Turner. She was noticeably thinner in her next film, For Me and My Gal, alongside Gene Kelly in his first screen appearance. Garland was top billed over the credits for the first time, and effectively made the transition from teenage star to adult actress.

At the age of 21, she was given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident in her appearance and never escaped the "girl next door" image that had been created for her.

One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Vincente Minnelli was assigned to direct this movie, and he requested that make-up artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland for the picture. Ponedel refined Garland's appearance in several ways, including extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line, and removing her nose discs. Garland appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.

The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film, opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. It would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role.

Garland's other famous films of the 1940s include The Harvey Girls (1946), in which she introduced the Academy Award-winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", and The Pirate (1948).
Beginning in 1955, Garland appeared in a number of television specials. The first, the 1955 debut episode of Ford Star Jubilee, was the first full-scale color broadcast ever on CBS and was a ratings triumph, scoring a 34.8 Nielsen rating. Garland signed a three-year, $300,000 contract with the network. Only one additional special, a live concert edition of General Electric Theater, was broadcast in 1956 before the relationship between the Lufts and CBS broke down in a dispute over the planned format of upcoming specials. In 1956, Garland performed four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of $55,000 per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas. Despite a brief bout of laryngitis, her performances there were so successful that her run was extended an extra week. Later that year she returned to the Palace Theatre, site of her two-a-day triumph. She opened in September, once again to rave reviews and popular acclaim.
Garland before a concert, 1957

In November 1959 Garland was hospitalized, diagnosed with acute hepatitis. Over the next few weeks several quarts of fluid were drained from her body until, still weak, she was released from the hospital in January 1960. She was told by doctors that she likely had five years or less to live, and that even if she did survive she would be a semi-invalid and would never sing again. She initially felt "greatly relieved" at the diagnosis. "The pressure was off me for the first time in my life." However, Garland successfully recovered over the next several months and, in August of that year, returned to the stage of the Palladium. She felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.

Her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many "the greatest night in show business history". The two-record Judy at Carnegie Hall was certified gold, charting for 95 weeks on Billboard, including 13 weeks at number one. The album won four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year. The album has never been out of print.

In 1961, Garland and CBS settled their contract disputes with the help of her new agent, Freddie Fields, and negotiated a new round of specials. The first, entitled The Judy Garland Show, aired in 1962 and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Following this success, CBS made a $24 million offer to Garland for a weekly television series of her own, also to be called The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history". Although Garland had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series, in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. Garland was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the financial failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment. A successful run on television was intended to secure Garland's financial future.

Following a third special, Judy Garland and Her Guests Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet, Garland's weekly series debuted September 29, 1963. The Judy Garland Show was critically praised, but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in the time slot opposite Bonanza on NBC) the show lasted only one season and was cancelled in 1964 after 26 episodes. Despite its short run, the series was nominated for four Emmy Awards. The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland, who never fully recovered from its failure.
Final years
Garland and Mickey Deans, at their wedding, March 1969, three months before her death

With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for British television network ITV, was one of Garland's final appearances at the venue. She made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Merv Griffin Show, guest-hosting an episode of the last one.

A 1964 tour of Australia was largely disastrous. Garland's first concert in Sydney, held in the Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the crowds who wanted to see her, went well and received positive reviews. Her second performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late. The crowd of 7,000, angered by her tardiness—and believing Garland to be drunk—booed and heckled her, and she fled the stage after just 45 minutes. She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as "brutish". A second concert in Sydney was uneventful but the Melbourne appearance garnered her significant bad press. Some of that bad press was deflected by the announcement of a near fatal episode of pleurisy.

In February 1967, Garland had been cast as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox. The character of Neely O'Hara in the book by Jacqueline Susann was rumored to have been based on Garland. The role of O'Hara in the film was played by Patty Duke. During the filming, Garland missed rehearsals and was fired in April. She was replaced by Susan Hayward. Garland's prerecording of the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" survived, along with her wardrobe tests.

Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a 16-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. Garland wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.
Personal life

Garland began a relationship with musician David Rose, and, on her 18th birthday, Rose gave her an engagement ring. The studio intervened because Rose was still married at the time to the actress and singer Martha Raye. The couple agreed to wait a year to allow for Rose's divorce from Raye to become final, and were wed on July 27, 1941. Garland, who had aborted her pregnancy by Rose in 1942, agreed to a trial separation in January 1943, and they divorced in 1944.

During the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis, after some initial conflict between them, Garland and Vincent Minnelli entered a relationship together. They were married June 15, 1945, and on March 12, 1946, daughter Liza Minnelli was born. In 1951, Garland divorced Vincente Minnelli.

She engaged Sid Luft as her manager the same year. Luft arranged a four-month concert tour of the United Kingdom, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. The tour included Garland's first appearances at the renowned London Palladium, for a four-week stand in April. Although some in the British press chided her before her opening for being "too plump", she received rave reviews and the ovation was described by the Palladium manager as the loudest he had ever heard.

Garland and Luft were married on June 8, 1952, in Hollister, California, and Garland gave birth to the couple's first child, Lorna Luft, on November 21 that year.

Garland sued Sid Luft for divorce in 1963, claiming "cruelty" as the grounds. She also asserted that Luft had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force. She had filed for divorce more than once previously, including as early as 1956.

Garland's fourth marriage was to tour promoter Mark Herron. They announced that their marriage had taken place aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong; however, Garland was not legally divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed. Her divorce from Luft became final on May 19, 1965, but Herron and Garland did not legally marry until November 14.

By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. She performed in London at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969. She married her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on March 15, 1969, her divorce from Herron having been finalized on February 11 of that year.
Death

On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented Chelsea, London house. The coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules. Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Garland's autopsy showed that there was no inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue in her stomach, which indicated that the drug had been ingested over a long period of time, rather than in one dose. Her death certificate stated that her death had been "accidental." Even so, a British specialist who had attended Garland said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver. Garland had turned 47 just 12 days prior to her death. Her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented at Garland's funeral, "She just plain wore out." An estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to view her body. James Mason gave a eulogy at the funeral, which was an Episcopalian service led by the Rev. Peter A. Delaney of Marylebone Church, London, who had officiated at Garland's marriage to Deans. Garland was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York.
Legacy
Star for recognition of film work at 1715 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has another for recording at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.

Judy Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Garland eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She has been the subject of over two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft. Luft's memoir was later adapted into the multiple award-winning television miniseries, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for two actresses portraying Garland (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis). English actress Tracie Bennett portrayed Garland to critical acclaim in a dramatization of her eventual decline and months preceding her death in a play titled End of the Rainbow at London's Trafalgar Studios. Both the play and Bennett received Laurence Olivier Award nominations.

Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. These include "Over the Rainbow", which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11). Garland has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy) and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).. Garland is mentioned in the 1998 horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer when the hotel clerk is explaining the history of the hotel in the Bahamas where the film takes place.
Gay icon
Main article: Judy Garland as gay icon

Garland always had a large base of fans in the gay community and has become a gay icon. Reasons often given for her standing, especially among gay men, are admiration of her ability as a performer, the way her personal struggles mirrored those of gay men in America during the height of her fame and her value as a camp figure. When asked about how she felt about being a gay icon, she responded, "I couldn't care less. I sing to people."

Some have also suggested a connection between the date of Garland's death and funeral on June 27, 1969 and the Stonewall riots, the flashpoint of the modern Gay Liberation movement, which started in the early hours of June 28.
Filmography and performances
Main article: List of Judy Garland performances
Discography
Main article: Judy Garland discography
Awards
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Judy Garland
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l295/klasix/Judy_Garland.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e251/elruch/Judy_Garland_55.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/10/11 at 7:51 am

A Wonderful singer and a handy actress...  I really enjoyed those Andy Hardy movies.... :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/10/11 at 7:50 pm


The person of the day...Judy Garland
Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgement at Nuremberg.

At 40 years of age, she was the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

After appearing in vaudeville with her sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, Garland was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.

In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.
In 1935, Garland was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, supposedly without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. The studio did not know what to do with Garland, as at age 13 she was older than the traditional child star but too young for adult roles. Garland's physical appearance created a dilemma for MGM. At only 4 feet 11.5 inches (151.1 cm), Garland's "cute" or "girl next door" looks did not exemplify the more glamorous persona required of leading ladies of the time. She was self-conscious and anxious about her appearance. "Judy went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, real beauties," said Charles Walters, who directed Garland in a number of films. "Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling ... I think it had a very damaging effect on her emotionally for a long time. I think it lasted forever, really." Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who referred to her as his "little hunchback". During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments or frilly juvenile gowns and costumes to match the "girl-next-door" image that was created for her. She was made to wear removable caps on her teeth and rubberized disks to reshape her nose. She performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday. The film contrasted Garland's contralto vocal range and swing style with Durbin's operatic soprano and served as an extended screen test for the pair, as studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster. Mayer finally decided to keep both girls, but by that time Durbin's option had lapsed and she was signed by Universal Studios.

On November 16, 1935, in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateau Hour, Garland learned that her father—who had been hospitalized with meningitis—had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Gumm died the following morning, on November 17, leaving Garland devastated. Garland's song for the Shell Chateau Hour was her first professional rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a song which would become a standard in many of her concerts.
Garland with Mickey Rooney in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

Garland next came to the attention of studio executives by singing a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the actor; her rendition was so well regarded that Garland performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), in which she sang the song to a photograph of Gable.

MGM hit on a winning formula when it paired Garland with Mickey Rooney in a string of "backyard musicals". The duo first appeared together in the 1937 B movie Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation, and teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy. Garland would eventually star with Rooney in nine films.

To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before bed. For Garland, this regular dose of drugs led to addiction and a lifelong struggle, and contributed to her eventual demise. She later resented the hectic schedule and felt that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. Despite successful film and recording careers, several awards, critical praise, and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, Garland was plagued throughout her life with self-doubt and required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.
The Wizard of Oz
Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

In 1938, at the age of 16, Garland was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), a film based on the children's book by L. Frank Baum. In this film, Garland sang the song for which she would forever be identified, "Over the Rainbow". Although producers Arthur Freed and Mervyn LeRoy had wanted Garland from the start, studio chief Mayer tried first to borrow Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox. Temple's services were denied and Garland was cast. Garland was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her breasts were bound with tape and she was made to wear a special corset to flatten out her curves and make her appear younger; her blue gingham dress was also chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.

Shooting commenced on October 13, 1938, and was completed on March 16, 1939, with a final cost of more than US$2 million. From the conclusion of filming, MGM kept Garland busy with promotional tours and the shooting of Babes in Arms. Garland and Mickey Rooney were sent on a cross-country promotional tour, culminating in the August 17 New York City premiere at the Capitol Theater, which included a five-show-a-day appearance schedule for the two stars.

On November 17, 1939, Garland's mother, Ethel, married William P. Gillmore in Yuma, Arizona. It was the fourth anniversary of her first husband's death.

The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4 million coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s. At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. Following this recognition, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
Stardom as an adult

In 1940, she starred in three films: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly. In the latter, Garland played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. Little Nellie Kelly was purchased from George M. Cohan as a vehicle for Garland to display both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss, and the only death scene of her career. The success of these three films, and a further three films in 1941, secured her position at MGM as a major property.
Garland performing "The Trolley Song" in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

During this time Garland experienced her first serious adult romances. The first was with the band leader Artie Shaw. Garland was deeply devoted to Shaw and was devastated in early 1940 when Shaw eloped with Lana Turner. She was noticeably thinner in her next film, For Me and My Gal, alongside Gene Kelly in his first screen appearance. Garland was top billed over the credits for the first time, and effectively made the transition from teenage star to adult actress.

At the age of 21, she was given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident in her appearance and never escaped the "girl next door" image that had been created for her.

One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Vincente Minnelli was assigned to direct this movie, and he requested that make-up artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland for the picture. Ponedel refined Garland's appearance in several ways, including extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line, and removing her nose discs. Garland appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.

The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film, opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. It would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role.

Garland's other famous films of the 1940s include The Harvey Girls (1946), in which she introduced the Academy Award-winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", and The Pirate (1948).
Beginning in 1955, Garland appeared in a number of television specials. The first, the 1955 debut episode of Ford Star Jubilee, was the first full-scale color broadcast ever on CBS and was a ratings triumph, scoring a 34.8 Nielsen rating. Garland signed a three-year, $300,000 contract with the network. Only one additional special, a live concert edition of General Electric Theater, was broadcast in 1956 before the relationship between the Lufts and CBS broke down in a dispute over the planned format of upcoming specials. In 1956, Garland performed four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of $55,000 per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas. Despite a brief bout of laryngitis, her performances there were so successful that her run was extended an extra week. Later that year she returned to the Palace Theatre, site of her two-a-day triumph. She opened in September, once again to rave reviews and popular acclaim.
Garland before a concert, 1957

In November 1959 Garland was hospitalized, diagnosed with acute hepatitis. Over the next few weeks several quarts of fluid were drained from her body until, still weak, she was released from the hospital in January 1960. She was told by doctors that she likely had five years or less to live, and that even if she did survive she would be a semi-invalid and would never sing again. She initially felt "greatly relieved" at the diagnosis. "The pressure was off me for the first time in my life." However, Garland successfully recovered over the next several months and, in August of that year, returned to the stage of the Palladium. She felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.

Her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many "the greatest night in show business history". The two-record Judy at Carnegie Hall was certified gold, charting for 95 weeks on Billboard, including 13 weeks at number one. The album won four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year. The album has never been out of print.

In 1961, Garland and CBS settled their contract disputes with the help of her new agent, Freddie Fields, and negotiated a new round of specials. The first, entitled The Judy Garland Show, aired in 1962 and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Following this success, CBS made a $24 million offer to Garland for a weekly television series of her own, also to be called The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history". Although Garland had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series, in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. Garland was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the financial failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment. A successful run on television was intended to secure Garland's financial future.

Following a third special, Judy Garland and Her Guests Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet, Garland's weekly series debuted September 29, 1963. The Judy Garland Show was critically praised, but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in the time slot opposite Bonanza on NBC) the show lasted only one season and was cancelled in 1964 after 26 episodes. Despite its short run, the series was nominated for four Emmy Awards. The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland, who never fully recovered from its failure.
Final years
Garland and Mickey Deans, at their wedding, March 1969, three months before her death

With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for British television network ITV, was one of Garland's final appearances at the venue. She made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Merv Griffin Show, guest-hosting an episode of the last one.

A 1964 tour of Australia was largely disastrous. Garland's first concert in Sydney, held in the Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the crowds who wanted to see her, went well and received positive reviews. Her second performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late. The crowd of 7,000, angered by her tardiness—and believing Garland to be drunk—booed and heckled her, and she fled the stage after just 45 minutes. She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as "brutish". A second concert in Sydney was uneventful but the Melbourne appearance garnered her significant bad press. Some of that bad press was deflected by the announcement of a near fatal episode of pleurisy.

In February 1967, Garland had been cast as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox. The character of Neely O'Hara in the book by Jacqueline Susann was rumored to have been based on Garland. The role of O'Hara in the film was played by Patty Duke. During the filming, Garland missed rehearsals and was fired in April. She was replaced by Susan Hayward. Garland's prerecording of the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" survived, along with her wardrobe tests.

Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a 16-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. Garland wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.
Personal life

Garland began a relationship with musician David Rose, and, on her 18th birthday, Rose gave her an engagement ring. The studio intervened because Rose was still married at the time to the actress and singer Martha Raye. The couple agreed to wait a year to allow for Rose's divorce from Raye to become final, and were wed on July 27, 1941. Garland, who had aborted her pregnancy by Rose in 1942, agreed to a trial separation in January 1943, and they divorced in 1944.

During the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis, after some initial conflict between them, Garland and Vincent Minnelli entered a relationship together. They were married June 15, 1945, and on March 12, 1946, daughter Liza Minnelli was born. In 1951, Garland divorced Vincente Minnelli.

She engaged Sid Luft as her manager the same year. Luft arranged a four-month concert tour of the United Kingdom, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. The tour included Garland's first appearances at the renowned London Palladium, for a four-week stand in April. Although some in the British press chided her before her opening for being "too plump", she received rave reviews and the ovation was described by the Palladium manager as the loudest he had ever heard.

Garland and Luft were married on June 8, 1952, in Hollister, California, and Garland gave birth to the couple's first child, Lorna Luft, on November 21 that year.

Garland sued Sid Luft for divorce in 1963, claiming "cruelty" as the grounds. She also asserted that Luft had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force. She had filed for divorce more than once previously, including as early as 1956.

Garland's fourth marriage was to tour promoter Mark Herron. They announced that their marriage had taken place aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong; however, Garland was not legally divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed. Her divorce from Luft became final on May 19, 1965, but Herron and Garland did not legally marry until November 14.

By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. She performed in London at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969. She married her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on March 15, 1969, her divorce from Herron having been finalized on February 11 of that year.
Death

On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented Chelsea, London house. The coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules. Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Garland's autopsy showed that there was no inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue in her stomach, which indicated that the drug had been ingested over a long period of time, rather than in one dose. Her death certificate stated that her death had been "accidental." Even so, a British specialist who had attended Garland said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver. Garland had turned 47 just 12 days prior to her death. Her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented at Garland's funeral, "She just plain wore out." An estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to view her body. James Mason gave a eulogy at the funeral, which was an Episcopalian service led by the Rev. Peter A. Delaney of Marylebone Church, London, who had officiated at Garland's marriage to Deans. Garland was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York.
Legacy
Star for recognition of film work at 1715 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has another for recording at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.

Judy Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Garland eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She has been the subject of over two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft. Luft's memoir was later adapted into the multiple award-winning television miniseries, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for two actresses portraying Garland (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis). English actress Tracie Bennett portrayed Garland to critical acclaim in a dramatization of her eventual decline and months preceding her death in a play titled End of the Rainbow at London's Trafalgar Studios. Both the play and Bennett received Laurence Olivier Award nominations.

Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. These include "Over the Rainbow", which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11). Garland has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy) and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).. Garland is mentioned in the 1998 horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer when the hotel clerk is explaining the history of the hotel in the Bahamas where the film takes place.
Gay icon
Main article: Judy Garland as gay icon

Garland always had a large base of fans in the gay community and has become a gay icon. Reasons often given for her standing, especially among gay men, are admiration of her ability as a performer, the way her personal struggles mirrored those of gay men in America during the height of her fame and her value as a camp figure. When asked about how she felt about being a gay icon, she responded, "I couldn't care less. I sing to people."

Some have also suggested a connection between the date of Garland's death and funeral on June 27, 1969 and the Stonewall riots, the flashpoint of the modern Gay Liberation movement, which started in the early hours of June 28.
Filmography and performances
Main article: List of Judy Garland performances
Discography
Main article: Judy Garland discography
Awards
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Judy Garland
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l295/klasix/Judy_Garland.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e251/elruch/Judy_Garland_55.jpg


Wizard of Oz is still my favorite. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/11/11 at 3:15 am


The person of the day...Judy Garland
Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgement at Nuremberg.

At 40 years of age, she was the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

After appearing in vaudeville with her sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, Garland was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.

In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.
In 1935, Garland was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, supposedly without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. The studio did not know what to do with Garland, as at age 13 she was older than the traditional child star but too young for adult roles. Garland's physical appearance created a dilemma for MGM. At only 4 feet 11.5 inches (151.1 cm), Garland's "cute" or "girl next door" looks did not exemplify the more glamorous persona required of leading ladies of the time. She was self-conscious and anxious about her appearance. "Judy went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, real beauties," said Charles Walters, who directed Garland in a number of films. "Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling ... I think it had a very damaging effect on her emotionally for a long time. I think it lasted forever, really." Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who referred to her as his "little hunchback". During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments or frilly juvenile gowns and costumes to match the "girl-next-door" image that was created for her. She was made to wear removable caps on her teeth and rubberized disks to reshape her nose. She performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday. The film contrasted Garland's contralto vocal range and swing style with Durbin's operatic soprano and served as an extended screen test for the pair, as studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster. Mayer finally decided to keep both girls, but by that time Durbin's option had lapsed and she was signed by Universal Studios.

On November 16, 1935, in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateau Hour, Garland learned that her father—who had been hospitalized with meningitis—had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Gumm died the following morning, on November 17, leaving Garland devastated. Garland's song for the Shell Chateau Hour was her first professional rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a song which would become a standard in many of her concerts.
Garland with Mickey Rooney in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

Garland next came to the attention of studio executives by singing a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the actor; her rendition was so well regarded that Garland performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), in which she sang the song to a photograph of Gable.

MGM hit on a winning formula when it paired Garland with Mickey Rooney in a string of "backyard musicals". The duo first appeared together in the 1937 B movie Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation, and teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy. Garland would eventually star with Rooney in nine films.

To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before bed. For Garland, this regular dose of drugs led to addiction and a lifelong struggle, and contributed to her eventual demise. She later resented the hectic schedule and felt that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. Despite successful film and recording careers, several awards, critical praise, and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, Garland was plagued throughout her life with self-doubt and required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.
The Wizard of Oz
Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

In 1938, at the age of 16, Garland was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), a film based on the children's book by L. Frank Baum. In this film, Garland sang the song for which she would forever be identified, "Over the Rainbow". Although producers Arthur Freed and Mervyn LeRoy had wanted Garland from the start, studio chief Mayer tried first to borrow Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox. Temple's services were denied and Garland was cast. Garland was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her breasts were bound with tape and she was made to wear a special corset to flatten out her curves and make her appear younger; her blue gingham dress was also chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.

Shooting commenced on October 13, 1938, and was completed on March 16, 1939, with a final cost of more than US$2 million. From the conclusion of filming, MGM kept Garland busy with promotional tours and the shooting of Babes in Arms. Garland and Mickey Rooney were sent on a cross-country promotional tour, culminating in the August 17 New York City premiere at the Capitol Theater, which included a five-show-a-day appearance schedule for the two stars.

On November 17, 1939, Garland's mother, Ethel, married William P. Gillmore in Yuma, Arizona. It was the fourth anniversary of her first husband's death.

The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4 million coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s. At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. Following this recognition, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
Stardom as an adult

In 1940, she starred in three films: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly. In the latter, Garland played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. Little Nellie Kelly was purchased from George M. Cohan as a vehicle for Garland to display both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss, and the only death scene of her career. The success of these three films, and a further three films in 1941, secured her position at MGM as a major property.
Garland performing "The Trolley Song" in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

During this time Garland experienced her first serious adult romances. The first was with the band leader Artie Shaw. Garland was deeply devoted to Shaw and was devastated in early 1940 when Shaw eloped with Lana Turner. She was noticeably thinner in her next film, For Me and My Gal, alongside Gene Kelly in his first screen appearance. Garland was top billed over the credits for the first time, and effectively made the transition from teenage star to adult actress.

At the age of 21, she was given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident in her appearance and never escaped the "girl next door" image that had been created for her.

One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Vincente Minnelli was assigned to direct this movie, and he requested that make-up artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland for the picture. Ponedel refined Garland's appearance in several ways, including extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line, and removing her nose discs. Garland appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.

The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film, opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. It would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role.

Garland's other famous films of the 1940s include The Harvey Girls (1946), in which she introduced the Academy Award-winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", and The Pirate (1948).
Beginning in 1955, Garland appeared in a number of television specials. The first, the 1955 debut episode of Ford Star Jubilee, was the first full-scale color broadcast ever on CBS and was a ratings triumph, scoring a 34.8 Nielsen rating. Garland signed a three-year, $300,000 contract with the network. Only one additional special, a live concert edition of General Electric Theater, was broadcast in 1956 before the relationship between the Lufts and CBS broke down in a dispute over the planned format of upcoming specials. In 1956, Garland performed four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of $55,000 per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas. Despite a brief bout of laryngitis, her performances there were so successful that her run was extended an extra week. Later that year she returned to the Palace Theatre, site of her two-a-day triumph. She opened in September, once again to rave reviews and popular acclaim.
Garland before a concert, 1957

In November 1959 Garland was hospitalized, diagnosed with acute hepatitis. Over the next few weeks several quarts of fluid were drained from her body until, still weak, she was released from the hospital in January 1960. She was told by doctors that she likely had five years or less to live, and that even if she did survive she would be a semi-invalid and would never sing again. She initially felt "greatly relieved" at the diagnosis. "The pressure was off me for the first time in my life." However, Garland successfully recovered over the next several months and, in August of that year, returned to the stage of the Palladium. She felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.

Her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many "the greatest night in show business history". The two-record Judy at Carnegie Hall was certified gold, charting for 95 weeks on Billboard, including 13 weeks at number one. The album won four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year. The album has never been out of print.

In 1961, Garland and CBS settled their contract disputes with the help of her new agent, Freddie Fields, and negotiated a new round of specials. The first, entitled The Judy Garland Show, aired in 1962 and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Following this success, CBS made a $24 million offer to Garland for a weekly television series of her own, also to be called The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history". Although Garland had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series, in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. Garland was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the financial failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment. A successful run on television was intended to secure Garland's financial future.

Following a third special, Judy Garland and Her Guests Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet, Garland's weekly series debuted September 29, 1963. The Judy Garland Show was critically praised, but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in the time slot opposite Bonanza on NBC) the show lasted only one season and was cancelled in 1964 after 26 episodes. Despite its short run, the series was nominated for four Emmy Awards. The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland, who never fully recovered from its failure.
Final years
Garland and Mickey Deans, at their wedding, March 1969, three months before her death

With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for British television network ITV, was one of Garland's final appearances at the venue. She made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Merv Griffin Show, guest-hosting an episode of the last one.

A 1964 tour of Australia was largely disastrous. Garland's first concert in Sydney, held in the Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the crowds who wanted to see her, went well and received positive reviews. Her second performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late. The crowd of 7,000, angered by her tardiness—and believing Garland to be drunk—booed and heckled her, and she fled the stage after just 45 minutes. She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as "brutish". A second concert in Sydney was uneventful but the Melbourne appearance garnered her significant bad press. Some of that bad press was deflected by the announcement of a near fatal episode of pleurisy.

In February 1967, Garland had been cast as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox. The character of Neely O'Hara in the book by Jacqueline Susann was rumored to have been based on Garland. The role of O'Hara in the film was played by Patty Duke. During the filming, Garland missed rehearsals and was fired in April. She was replaced by Susan Hayward. Garland's prerecording of the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" survived, along with her wardrobe tests.

Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a 16-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. Garland wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.
Personal life

Garland began a relationship with musician David Rose, and, on her 18th birthday, Rose gave her an engagement ring. The studio intervened because Rose was still married at the time to the actress and singer Martha Raye. The couple agreed to wait a year to allow for Rose's divorce from Raye to become final, and were wed on July 27, 1941. Garland, who had aborted her pregnancy by Rose in 1942, agreed to a trial separation in January 1943, and they divorced in 1944.

During the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis, after some initial conflict between them, Garland and Vincent Minnelli entered a relationship together. They were married June 15, 1945, and on March 12, 1946, daughter Liza Minnelli was born. In 1951, Garland divorced Vincente Minnelli.

She engaged Sid Luft as her manager the same year. Luft arranged a four-month concert tour of the United Kingdom, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. The tour included Garland's first appearances at the renowned London Palladium, for a four-week stand in April. Although some in the British press chided her before her opening for being "too plump", she received rave reviews and the ovation was described by the Palladium manager as the loudest he had ever heard.

Garland and Luft were married on June 8, 1952, in Hollister, California, and Garland gave birth to the couple's first child, Lorna Luft, on November 21 that year.

Garland sued Sid Luft for divorce in 1963, claiming "cruelty" as the grounds. She also asserted that Luft had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force. She had filed for divorce more than once previously, including as early as 1956.

Garland's fourth marriage was to tour promoter Mark Herron. They announced that their marriage had taken place aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong; however, Garland was not legally divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed. Her divorce from Luft became final on May 19, 1965, but Herron and Garland did not legally marry until November 14.

By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. She performed in London at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969. She married her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on March 15, 1969, her divorce from Herron having been finalized on February 11 of that year.
Death

On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented Chelsea, London house. The coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules. Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Garland's autopsy showed that there was no inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue in her stomach, which indicated that the drug had been ingested over a long period of time, rather than in one dose. Her death certificate stated that her death had been "accidental." Even so, a British specialist who had attended Garland said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver. Garland had turned 47 just 12 days prior to her death. Her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented at Garland's funeral, "She just plain wore out." An estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to view her body. James Mason gave a eulogy at the funeral, which was an Episcopalian service led by the Rev. Peter A. Delaney of Marylebone Church, London, who had officiated at Garland's marriage to Deans. Garland was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York.
Legacy
Star for recognition of film work at 1715 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has another for recording at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.

Judy Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Garland eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. She has been the subject of over two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft. Luft's memoir was later adapted into the multiple award-winning television miniseries, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for two actresses portraying Garland (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis). English actress Tracie Bennett portrayed Garland to critical acclaim in a dramatization of her eventual decline and months preceding her death in a play titled End of the Rainbow at London's Trafalgar Studios. Both the play and Bennett received Laurence Olivier Award nominations.

Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. These include "Over the Rainbow", which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11). Garland has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy) and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).. Garland is mentioned in the 1998 horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer when the hotel clerk is explaining the history of the hotel in the Bahamas where the film takes place.
Gay icon
Main article: Judy Garland as gay icon

Garland always had a large base of fans in the gay community and has become a gay icon. Reasons often given for her standing, especially among gay men, are admiration of her ability as a performer, the way her personal struggles mirrored those of gay men in America during the height of her fame and her value as a camp figure. When asked about how she felt about being a gay icon, she responded, "I couldn't care less. I sing to people."

Some have also suggested a connection between the date of Garland's death and funeral on June 27, 1969 and the Stonewall riots, the flashpoint of the modern Gay Liberation movement, which started in the early hours of June 28.
Filmography and performances
Main article: List of Judy Garland performances
Discography
Main article: Judy Garland discography
Awards
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Judy Garland
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l295/klasix/Judy_Garland.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e251/elruch/Judy_Garland_55.jpg
Her daughter Liza Minnelli is going on tour soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/11/11 at 6:26 am

The person of the day....Vic Damone
Vic Damone (born June 12, 1928) is an American singer and entertainer.
Damone entered the talent search on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and won in April 1947. This led to his becoming a regular on Godfrey's show. He met Milton Berle at the studio and Berle got him work at two night clubs. By mid 1947, Damone had signed a contract with Mercury Records.

His first release, "I Have But One Heart", reached #7 on the Billboard chart. "You Do" (released November 1) reached the same peak. These were followed by a number of other hits. In 1948 he got his own weekly radio show, Saturday Night Serenade.

In 1951, Damone appeared in two movies: The Strip and Rich, Young and Pretty. From 1951 to 1953 he served in the United States Army, but before going into the service he recorded a number of songs which were released during that time. He served with future Northwest Indiana radio personality Al Evans, and also country music star Johnny Cash. After leaving the service, he married the Italian actress Pier Angeli (Anna Maria Pierangeli), and in 1954 made two more movies: Deep in My Heart and Athena. He also made some guest appearances on Milton Berle's television show in 1954.

In 1955, Damone had only one song on the charts, "Por Favor," which did not make it above #73. However, he did have major roles in two movie musicals, Hit the Deck and Kismet. In early 1956, he moved from Mercury to Columbia Records and had some success on that label with hits like "On the Street Where You Live" (from My Fair Lady, his final pop top ten) and "An Affair to Remember" (from the movie of the same name). His six original, long-playing albums on Columbia between 1957 and 1961 were That Towering Feeling, Angela Mia, Closer Than a Kiss, This Game of Love, On the Swingin' Side and Young and Lively.

In 1961, he was released by Columbia, moving over to Capitol Records, where he filled in the gap left by Frank Sinatra's leaving to help found Reprise Records. He lasted at Capitol only until 1965; however, he recorded some of his most highly-regarded albums there, including two which made the Billboard chart, Linger Awhile with Vic Damone and The Lively Ones, the latter with arrangements by Billy May, who also arranged another of Damone's Capitol albums, Strange Enchantment. Other original Capitol albums included My Baby Loves to Swing, The Liveliest, and On the Street Where You Live.

In the summers of 1962 and 1963 Damone hosted a television variety series on NBC called The Lively Ones, which showcased current jazz, pop and folk performers as well as comedians. His distinguished group of musical guests over two seasons included Count Basie, Louie Bellson, Dave Brubeck, Chris Connor, Matt Dennis, Frances Faye, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Greco, Woody Herman, Jack Jones, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Peggy Lee, Nellie Lutcher, Shelly Manne, Anita O'Day, Ruth Olay, Oscar Peterson, Andre Previn, Della Reese, Shorty Rogers, Cal Tjader, and Joe Williams.

Other notable television work during this time included Damone's three guest appearances on Judy Garland's CBS variety series The Judy Garland Show (1963–64). In addition to his solo performances on these three episodes, Damone and Garland sang duet medleys of songs from Porgy and Bess, West Side Story, and Kismet.

In 1964, he sang Back Home Again in Indiana, before the Indianapolis 500 car race.

In 1965 Damone moved next to Warner Bros. Records, releasing the albums You Were Only Fooling and Country Love Songs. On Warners he had one chart hit: "You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling In Love)." The next year he moved again, to RCA Victor Records, releasing the albums Stay with Me, Why Can't I Walk Away, On the South Side of Chicago and The Damone Type of Thing. In 1969 he released his last US chart record, a cover of the 1966 song "To Make A Big Man Cry", which made the Billboard Easy Listening chart.
Later career

In 1971, Damone started touring Las Vegas casinos as a performer, and although he had to declare bankruptcy in the early 1970s, he earned enough as a casino performer to clear up his financial difficulties. He extended his geographical range, touring through the United States and the United Kingdom, and as a result of his popularity decided to record some albums again, releasing them on the RCA label.

His final album was issued in 2002, with other albums being re-packaged and re-released. He has recorded over 2,000 songs over his entire career.

He has garnered new fans following the launch of the Vic Damone website in 2002 www.vicdamone.com, managed by his son-in-law William "Bill" Karant.

One of his final public performances was on January 19, 2002 at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Palm Beach, Florida. Damone did however step out of retirement on January 22, 2011, when he performed at the Kravis Performing Arts Center in Palm Beach, Florida to a sold out crowd. Damone dedicated this performance to his six grandchildren who had never seen him perform.

In Brett Ratner's movie Money Talks, Chris Tucker's character sees a commercial about Vic Damone and then pretends to be Damone's son.

On June 12, 2009, Vic Damone released his autobiography titled Singing Was the Easy Part from St. Martin's Press.
Personal life

Damone has married five times and divorced four:

    * 1) The Italian actress Anna Maria Pierangeli (Pier Angeli) (1954–1958) (one son - Perry Damone)
    * 2) Judith Rawlins (1963–1971) (three daughters)
    * 3) Becky Ann Jones (1974–1982), the American entertainer
    * 4) Diahann Carroll (1987–1996) (This relationship is referenced in the 1997 film Money Talks, in which Chris Tucker's character claims to be Vic Damone Jr., the son of Damone and Carroll)
    * 5) Rena Rowan-Damone (1998 to present), the fashion designer and co-creator of Jones New York (Jones Apparel Group).

Damone has 6 grandchildren from his daughters (Tate, Page, Sloan, Rocco, Daniella Grace, Grant).

In the late 1950s, Damone was introduced to the Bahá'í Faith by a drummer in his band. Damone relates his rendition of "On the Street Where You Live" incorporates gestures meant to summon a sustaining vitality from `Abdu'l-Bahá. He officially joined the religion in the early 1960s.
Awards

In 1997, Damone received his high school diploma from Lafayette High School in Brooklyn when officials with the school granted credits for life experience and asked him to give the commencement address - advising students to "Have spiritual guidance. Don't lose God. There is a God. Trust me."

In 1997, Damone received the "Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Frank Sinatra said that Damone had "the best set of pipes in the business".

For his contribution to the recording industry, Vic Damone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1731 Vine Street in Los Angeles, California.
Hit records
Year Single Chart positions
U.S. U.S.
AC UK
1947 "I Have But One Heart" 7
"You Do" 7
1948 "Thoughtless" 22
"My Fair Lady" 27
"It's Magic" 24
"Say Something Sweet To Your Sweetheart"(with Patti Page) 23
1949 "Again"(gold record) 6
"You're Breaking My Heart"(gold record) 1
"The Four Winds and the Seven Seas" 16
"My Bolero" 10
"Why Was I Born?" 20
1950 "Sitting By the Window" 29
"God's Country" 27
"Vagabond Shoes" 17
"Tzena Tzena Tzena" 6
"Just Say I Love Her" 13
"Can Anyone Explain" 25
"Cincinnati Dancing Pig" 11
"My Heart Cries For You" 4
"Music By the Angels" 18
1951 "Tell Me You Love Me" 21
"If" 28
"My Truly Truly Fair" 4
"Longing For You" 12
"Calla Calla" 13
1952 "Jump Through the Ring" 22
"Here In My Heart" 8
"Take My Heart" 30
"Rosanne" 23
1953 "Sugar" 13
"April In Portugal" 10
"Eternally" 12
"Ebb Tide" 10
"A Village In Peru" 30
1954 "The Breeze and I" 21
"The Sparrow Sings" 27
1955 "Por Favor" 73
1956 "On the Street Where You Live" 4 1
"War and Peace" 59
1957 "Do I Love You" 62
"An Affair To Remember" 16 29
1958 "Gigi" 88
"The Only Man On the Island" 24
1962 "What Kind of Fool Am I" 131
1965 "You Were Only Fooling" 30 8
"Why Don't You Believe Me" 127 25
"Tears (For Souvenirs)" 35
1967 "On the South Side of Chicago" 22
"It Makes No Difference" 12
"The Glory of Love" 15
1968 "Nothing To Lose" 40
"Why Can't I Walk Away" 21
1969 "To Make a Big Man Cry" 31
Songs

The following songs recorded by Damone made the Billboard charts:

    * "An Affair to Remember" (#16) (1957)
    * "Again" (#6) (1949) (arguably a bigger hit for Doris Day and Gordon Jenkins, but a gold record for Damone)
    * "April in Portugal" (#10) (1953)
    * "Calla Calla" (#13) (1951)
    * "Can Anyone Explain? (No! No! No!)" (#25) (1950) (bigger hit for The Ames Brothers)
    * "Cincinnati Dancing Pig" (#11) (1950)
    * "Do I Love You (Because You’re Beautiful)" (#62) (1957)
    * "Ebb Tide" (#10) (1953)
    * "Eternally (The Song From Limelight)" (#12) (1953)
    * "Four Winds and Seven Seas" (#16) (1949)
    * "Gigi" (#88) (1958)
    * "God’s Country" (#27) (1950)
    * "Here in My Heart" (#8) (1952) (bigger hit for Al Martino)
    * "If" (#28) (1951) (bigger hit for Perry Como)
    * "I Have But One Heart" (#7) (1947)
    * "It’s Magic" (#24) (1948) (bigger hit for Doris Day)
    * "Jump Through the Ring" (#22) (1952)
    * "Just Say I Love Her" (#13) (1950)
    * "Longing for You" (#12) (1951)
    * "Music By the Angels" (#18) (1950)
    * "My Bolero" (#10) (1949)
    * "My Heart Cries for You" (#4) (1950) (bigger hit for Guy Mitchell)
    * "My Truly, Truly Fair" (#4) (1951) (bigger hit for Guy Mitchell)
    * "On the Street Where You Live" (#4) (1956)
    * "Por Favor" (#73) (1955)
    * "Rosanne" (#23) (1952)
    * "Say Something Sweet to Your Sweetheart" (#23) (1948) (duet with Patti Page)
    * "Sugar" (#13) (1953)
    * "Sitting By the Window" (#29) (1950)
    * "Take My Heart" (#30) (1952)
    * "Tell Me You Love Me" (#21) (1951)
    * "Tomorrow Never Comes" 1952
    * "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" (#7) (1950) (bigger hit for The Weavers)
    * "Vagabond Shoes" (#17) (1950)
    * "War and Peace" (#59) (1956)
    * "Why Was I Born?" (#20) (1949)
    * "Wonder Why" (#21) (1951)
    * "You Do" (#7) (1947)
    * "You're Breaking My Heart" (#1) (1949) (Damone's 2nd gold record and his biggest hit)
    * "You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling in Love)" (#30) (1965)
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm45/incolel/fav%20singers/VicDamone.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z157/nadir01/Picture675.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/11/11 at 6:30 am


Her daughter Liza Minnelli is going on tour soon.


When will that take place?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/11/11 at 11:09 am


When will that take place?
This year.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/11/11 at 11:10 am


When will that take place?

This year.
June and July.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/11 at 7:25 am

I see my person of the day for yesterday was actually born today :-[

I will look at yesterday's birthday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/12/11 at 7:31 am


I see my person of the day for yesterday was actually born today :-[

I will look at yesterday's birthday.
Oops!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/12/11 at 7:50 am

The person of the day for June 11th......Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959) better known as Hugh Laurie (play /hjuː ˈlɒri/), is a British actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director. He first became well known in the media as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has played the lead as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards and several Emmy nominations.

As of August 2010, Laurie is the highest paid actor in a drama series on US television. His debut album, Let Them Talk, was released in May 2011.
Laurie was born in Oxford, England. The youngest of four children, Laurie has an older brother named Charles and two older sisters named Susan and Janet. He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw). His father, Ran Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Although Laurie was raised in the Presbyterian church as a child, he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in archaeology and social anthropology. While at Cambridge he was a member of Footlights, the university dramatic club that has produced many well known actors and comedians, and he was club president in 1981. He was also a member of the Hermes Club and the Hawks' Club.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by 5 feet. Laurie is a member of Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever (mononucleosis), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.
Career

The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.

Laurie starred in the Thames Television film "Letters from a Bomber Pilot" (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Regency-period costume, a toned-down version of his Prince George character from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurie’s later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton’s adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl From Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a bestseller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent. Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown".

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Laurie's success on the show extends to the financial: in August 2010, TV Guide identified him as the highest-paid actor in a drama, saying he's paid over $400,000 per episode.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday.

In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue.

In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House and himself assuming an American accent.

In 2010, Laurie filmed an independent feature called The Oranges and played piano on a track of Meat Loaf's CD Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.
Music
Musical ability

From the age of six Laurie took piano lessons with a Mrs Hare. He plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation," Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

On episodes of House he has played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale". Laurie appears as a scientist/doctor in the pop video to accompany Kate Bush's song Experiment IV. On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.

On 15 May 2011 Laurie appeared in the UK ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the Music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself.
Discography
Albums

On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album, after signing a contract with Warner Bros. The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April.
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK AUS
AUT
BEL (FLA)
BEL (WAL)
FRA
GER
IRE
NL
SWI

2011 Let Them Talk

    * Released: 18 April 2011
    * Label: Warner Bros.
    * Formats: CD, digital download

2 37 1 22 5 2 8 14 25 4

    * UK: Gold

Singles
Year Single Peak chart
positions Album
UK
AUT

2011 "You Don't Know My Mind" 164 47 Let Them Talk
Other charting songs
Year Single Charts Album
FRA

2011 "St James' Infirmary" 92 Let Them Talk
Appearances
Year Song Album
2010 "If I Can't Have You" (Meat Loaf featuring Kara DioGuardi & Hugh Laurie) Hang Cool Teddy Bear
Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at aged 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park, London with sons Charles Archibald "Charlie" (born November 1988, Camden), William Albert "Bill" (born January 1991, Camden) and daughter Rebecca Augusta (born 10 September 1993, Westminster, London). They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for 9 months each year, but ultimately decided against it. Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing.

Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson. His best friend is long time comedy partner Stephen Fry.

Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt bored). "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his Los Angeles home and one at his London home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".
Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role on House:

Emmy Awards

    * 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2010 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2011 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

    * 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

Teen Choice Award

    * 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
    * 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

    * 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2010 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
    * 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
    * 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Doctor

Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1981 Cellar Tapes, TheThe Cellar Tapes various characters also writer
1983 Alfresco various characters also writer
1983 Crystal Cube, TheThe Crystal Cube Max Belhaven
various characters
1984 Young Ones, TheThe Young Ones Lord Monty episode: "Bambi"
1985 From a Bomber Pilot, LettersLetters From a Bomber Pilot Pilot Officer Bob Hodgson Thames Television film
1985 Plenty Michael
1985 Mrs. Capper's Birthday Bobby
1985 Happy Families Jim
1986 Blackadder II Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters)
Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
1986 Platoon Pte Trevor
1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap N'Bend
1987 Blackadder the Third George, Prince of Wales, The Prince Regent
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol Prince George
Lord Pigmot (future)
1989–1995 Bit of Fry & Laurie, AA Bit of Fry & Laurie various characters also writer
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh
1989 Strapless Colin
1989 New Statesman, TheThe New Statesman Waiter
1990–1993 Jeeves and Wooster Bertie Wooster
1992 Peter's Friends Roger Charleston
1993 All or Nothing at All Leo Hopkins television film
1993–1995 Legends of Treasure Island, TheThe Legends of Treasure Island Squire Trelawney voice
1994 Pin for the Butterfly, AA Pin for the Butterfly Uncle television film
1995 Sense and Sensibility Mr. Palmer
1996 Tracey Takes On... Timothy Bugge season 1
1996 101 Dalmatians Jasper
1997 Spiceworld Poirot
1997 Borrowers, TheThe Borrowers Police Officer Oliver Steady
1997 Ugly Duckling, TheThe Ugly Duckling Tarquin voice
1998 Friends Gentleman on the Plane episode: "The One with Ross's Wedding"
1998 Bill, TheThe Bill Harrap, a Barrister
1998 Man in the Iron Mask, TheThe Man in the Iron Mask Pierre, The King's Advisor
1998 Cousin Bette Baron Hector Hulot
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius
1999 Stuart Little Mr. Frederick Little
2000 Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Dr. Lawyer episode: "Mental Apparition Disorder"
2000 Maybe Baby Sam Bell
2001 Chica de Río Raymond Woods alternate title: Girl from Rio
2001 Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Vincente Minnelli
2001 Family Guy Bar patron voice
episode: "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea"
2001 Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter Narrator voice
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mr. Frederick Little
2002 Spooks Jools Siviter
2003 The Young Visiters Lord Bernard Clark
2003 Fortysomething Paul Slippery
2003 Stuart Little: The Animated Series' Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2004–present House Dr. Gregory House lead actor
also directed episode: Lockdown
2004 Fire Engine Fred
2004 Flight of the Phoenix Ian
2005 Valiant Wing Commander Gutsy voice
2005 Big Empty, TheThe Big Empty Doctor #5
2006 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mr. Frederick Little voice
2006, 2008 Saturday Night Live Host
various characters season 32, episode 4
season 34, episode 11
2008 Street Kings Captain Biggs
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Cockroach, PhD voice
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space Dr. Cockroach, PhD voice
2010 Family Guy Gregory House/himself voice
episode: "Business Guy"
2010 Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons Roger voice
episode: "Treehouse of Horror XXI"
2010 Fry and Laurie Reunited himself
2011 Hop Mr Bunny voice
2011 The Oranges
2011 Later... with Jools Holland himself Performed "You Don't Know My Mind" and "Swanee River"

(both from his forthcoming album Let Them Talk )
Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

    * The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
          o (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (November 2000); New Ed (October 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
    * The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (March 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
          o (PB) (Washington Square Press (November 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X
    * Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
    * The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
          o (PB) (Penguin Books (28 September 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d102/blueapplejack/hugh_laurie.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/hugh_laurie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/12/11 at 7:55 am


The person of the day for June 11th......Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959) better known as Hugh Laurie (play /hjuː ˈlɒri/), is a British actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director. He first became well known in the media as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has played the lead as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards and several Emmy nominations.

As of August 2010, Laurie is the highest paid actor in a drama series on US television. His debut album, Let Them Talk, was released in May 2011.
Laurie was born in Oxford, England. The youngest of four children, Laurie has an older brother named Charles and two older sisters named Susan and Janet. He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw). His father, Ran Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Although Laurie was raised in the Presbyterian church as a child, he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in archaeology and social anthropology. While at Cambridge he was a member of Footlights, the university dramatic club that has produced many well known actors and comedians, and he was club president in 1981. He was also a member of the Hermes Club and the Hawks' Club.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by 5 feet. Laurie is a member of Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever (mononucleosis), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.
Career

The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.

Laurie starred in the Thames Television film "Letters from a Bomber Pilot" (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Regency-period costume, a toned-down version of his Prince George character from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurie’s later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton’s adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl From Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a bestseller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent. Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown".

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Laurie's success on the show extends to the financial: in August 2010, TV Guide identified him as the highest-paid actor in a drama, saying he's paid over $400,000 per episode.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday.

In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue.

In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House and himself assuming an American accent.

In 2010, Laurie filmed an independent feature called The Oranges and played piano on a track of Meat Loaf's CD Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.
Music
Musical ability

From the age of six Laurie took piano lessons with a Mrs Hare. He plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation," Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

On episodes of House he has played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale". Laurie appears as a scientist/doctor in the pop video to accompany Kate Bush's song Experiment IV. On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.

On 15 May 2011 Laurie appeared in the UK ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the Music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself.
Discography
Albums

On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album, after signing a contract with Warner Bros. The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April.
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK AUS
AUT
BEL (FLA)
BEL (WAL)
FRA
GER
IRE
NL
SWI

2011 Let Them Talk

    * Released: 18 April 2011
    * Label: Warner Bros.
    * Formats: CD, digital download

2 37 1 22 5 2 8 14 25 4

    * UK: Gold

Singles
Year Single Peak chart
positions Album
UK
AUT

2011 "You Don't Know My Mind" 164 47 Let Them Talk
Other charting songs
Year Single Charts Album
FRA

2011 "St James' Infirmary" 92 Let Them Talk
Appearances
Year Song Album
2010 "If I Can't Have You" (Meat Loaf featuring Kara DioGuardi & Hugh Laurie) Hang Cool Teddy Bear
Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at aged 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park, London with sons Charles Archibald "Charlie" (born November 1988, Camden), William Albert "Bill" (born January 1991, Camden) and daughter Rebecca Augusta (born 10 September 1993, Westminster, London). They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for 9 months each year, but ultimately decided against it. Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing.

Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson. His best friend is long time comedy partner Stephen Fry.

Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt bored). "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his Los Angeles home and one at his London home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".
Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role on House:

Emmy Awards

    * 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2010 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2011 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

    * 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

Teen Choice Award

    * 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
    * 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

    * 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2010 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
    * 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
    * 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Doctor

Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1981 Cellar Tapes, TheThe Cellar Tapes various characters also writer
1983 Alfresco various characters also writer
1983 Crystal Cube, TheThe Crystal Cube Max Belhaven
various characters
1984 Young Ones, TheThe Young Ones Lord Monty episode: "Bambi"
1985 From a Bomber Pilot, LettersLetters From a Bomber Pilot Pilot Officer Bob Hodgson Thames Television film
1985 Plenty Michael
1985 Mrs. Capper's Birthday Bobby
1985 Happy Families Jim
1986 Blackadder II Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters)
Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
1986 Platoon Pte Trevor
1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap N'Bend
1987 Blackadder the Third George, Prince of Wales, The Prince Regent
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol Prince George
Lord Pigmot (future)
1989–1995 Bit of Fry & Laurie, AA Bit of Fry & Laurie various characters also writer
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh
1989 Strapless Colin
1989 New Statesman, TheThe New Statesman Waiter
1990–1993 Jeeves and Wooster Bertie Wooster
1992 Peter's Friends Roger Charleston
1993 All or Nothing at All Leo Hopkins television film
1993–1995 Legends of Treasure Island, TheThe Legends of Treasure Island Squire Trelawney voice
1994 Pin for the Butterfly, AA Pin for the Butterfly Uncle television film
1995 Sense and Sensibility Mr. Palmer
1996 Tracey Takes On... Timothy Bugge season 1
1996 101 Dalmatians Jasper
1997 Spiceworld Poirot
1997 Borrowers, TheThe Borrowers Police Officer Oliver Steady
1997 Ugly Duckling, TheThe Ugly Duckling Tarquin voice
1998 Friends Gentleman on the Plane episode: "The One with Ross's Wedding"
1998 Bill, TheThe Bill Harrap, a Barrister
1998 Man in the Iron Mask, TheThe Man in the Iron Mask Pierre, The King's Advisor
1998 Cousin Bette Baron Hector Hulot
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius
1999 Stuart Little Mr. Frederick Little
2000 Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Dr. Lawyer episode: "Mental Apparition Disorder"
2000 Maybe Baby Sam Bell
2001 Chica de Río Raymond Woods alternate title: Girl from Rio
2001 Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Vincente Minnelli
2001 Family Guy Bar patron voice
episode: "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea"
2001 Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter Narrator voice
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mr. Frederick Little
2002 Spooks Jools Siviter
2003 The Young Visiters Lord Bernard Clark
2003 Fortysomething Paul Slippery
2003 Stuart Little: The Animated Series' Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2004–present House Dr. Gregory House lead actor
also directed episode: Lockdown
2004 Fire Engine Fred
2004 Flight of the Phoenix Ian
2005 Valiant Wing Commander Gutsy voice
2005 Big Empty, TheThe Big Empty Doctor #5
2006 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mr. Frederick Little voice
2006, 2008 Saturday Night Live Host
various characters season 32, episode 4
season 34, episode 11
2008 Street Kings Captain Biggs
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Cockroach, PhD voice
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space Dr. Cockroach, PhD voice
2010 Family Guy Gregory House/himself voice
episode: "Business Guy"
2010 Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons Roger voice
episode: "Treehouse of Horror XXI"
2010 Fry and Laurie Reunited himself
2011 Hop Mr Bunny voice
2011 The Oranges
2011 Later... with Jools Holland himself Performed "You Don't Know My Mind" and "Swanee River"

(both from his forthcoming album Let Them Talk )
Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

    * The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
          o (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (November 2000); New Ed (October 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
    * The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (March 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
          o (PB) (Washington Square Press (November 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X
    * Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
    * The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
          o (PB) (Penguin Books (28 September 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d102/blueapplejack/hugh_laurie.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/hugh_laurie.jpg
One of our nation's treasures.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/12/11 at 2:42 pm


The person of the day for June 11th......Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959) better known as Hugh Laurie (play /hjuː ˈlɒri/), is a British actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director. He first became well known in the media as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 until 1999. Since 2004, he has played the lead as Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards and several Emmy nominations.

As of August 2010, Laurie is the highest paid actor in a drama series on US television. His debut album, Let Them Talk, was released in May 2011.
Laurie was born in Oxford, England. The youngest of four children, Laurie has an older brother named Charles and two older sisters named Susan and Janet. He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw). His father, Ran Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Although Laurie was raised in the Presbyterian church as a child, he has declared: "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away." He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School. He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in archaeology and social anthropology. While at Cambridge he was a member of Footlights, the university dramatic club that has produced many well known actors and comedians, and he was club president in 1981. He was also a member of the Hermes Club and the Hawks' Club.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Cambridge lost that year by 5 feet. Laurie is a member of Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever (mononucleosis), he joined the Cambridge Footlights, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends. She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team. In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer.
Career

The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.

Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George. Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse’s stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves’s employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International’s The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.

Laurie starred in the Thames Television film "Letters from a Bomber Pilot" (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.

Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush and the 1992 single "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox, in full Regency-period costume, a toned-down version of his Prince George character from Blackadder the Third, opposite John Malkovich, similarly reprising his role of the Vicomte Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons.

Laurie’s later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton’s adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl From Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix; and the three Stuart Little films.

In 1996, Laurie’s first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a bestseller. He has since been working on the screenplay for a movie version and on a second novel, The Paper Soldier. In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding, Part Two".

Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.

Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent. Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light. His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for. Laurie also adopts the accent between takes on the set of House, as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown".

Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives, but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Laurie's success on the show extends to the financial: in August 2010, TV Guide identified him as the highest-paid actor in a drama, saying he's paid over $400,000 per episode.

Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Bravo!'s Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man’s wife.

In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday.

In 2008, Laurie appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue.

In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House and himself assuming an American accent.

In 2010, Laurie filmed an independent feature called The Oranges and played piano on a track of Meat Loaf's CD Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.
Music
Musical ability

From the age of six Laurie took piano lessons with a Mrs Hare. He plays the piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents in episodes of several series, most notably A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation," Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear.

On episodes of House he has played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale". Laurie appears as a scientist/doctor in the pop video to accompany Kate Bush's song Experiment IV. On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.

On 15 May 2011 Laurie appeared in the UK ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the Music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself.
Discography
Albums

On 26 July 2010 it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album, after signing a contract with Warner Bros. The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April.
Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK AUS
AUT
BEL (FLA)
BEL (WAL)
FRA
GER
IRE
NL
SWI

2011 Let Them Talk

    * Released: 18 April 2011
    * Label: Warner Bros.
    * Formats: CD, digital download

2 37 1 22 5 2 8 14 25 4

    * UK: Gold

Singles
Year Single Peak chart
positions Album
UK
AUT

2011 "You Don't Know My Mind" 164 47 Let Them Talk
Other charting songs
Year Single Charts Album
FRA

2011 "St James' Infirmary" 92 Let Them Talk
Appearances
Year Song Album
2010 "If I Can't Have You" (Meat Loaf featuring Kara DioGuardi & Hugh Laurie) Hang Cool Teddy Bear
Personal life

Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at aged 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".

Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park, London with sons Charles Archibald "Charlie" (born November 1988, Camden), William Albert "Bill" (born January 1991, Camden) and daughter Rebecca Augusta (born 10 September 1993, Westminster, London). They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for 9 months each year, but ultimately decided against it. Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled Special Squad, as baby William (whom Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy) during his infancy, while Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing.

Laurie is good friends with his House co-star Robert Sean Leonard and continues his friendship with actress Emma Thompson. His best friend is long time comedy partner Stephen Fry.

Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List for his services to drama on 23 May 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Laurie has periodically struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He stated in an interview that he first concluded he had a problem while driving in a charity demolition derby in 1996, and realised that driving around explosive crashes caused him to be neither excited nor frightened (he said that he felt bored). "Boredom," he commented in an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."

Laurie admires the writings of P.G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.

Laurie is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He has two motorcycles, one at his Los Angeles home and one at his London home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".
Awards

All of the following are nominations or wins for Laurie's role on House:

Emmy Awards

    * 2005 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Golden Globe Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2008 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2009 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
    * 2010 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Satellite Awards

    * 2005 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama

Screen Actors Guild Awards

    * 2006 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2007 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2008 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2009 – Winner – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2010 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
    * 2011 – Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Television Critics Association

    * 2005 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2006 – Winner – Individual Achievement in Drama
    * 2007 – Nominated – Individual Achievement in Drama

Teen Choice Award

    * 2006 – Nominated – TV Actor: Drama
    * 2007 – Winner – TV Actor: Drama

People's Choice Awards

    * 2008 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2009 – Winner – Favorite Male TV Star
    * 2010 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
    * 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Drama Actor
    * 2011 – Winner – Favorite TV Doctor

Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1981 Cellar Tapes, TheThe Cellar Tapes various characters also writer
1983 Alfresco various characters also writer
1983 Crystal Cube, TheThe Crystal Cube Max Belhaven
various characters
1984 Young Ones, TheThe Young Ones Lord Monty episode: "Bambi"
1985 From a Bomber Pilot, LettersLetters From a Bomber Pilot Pilot Officer Bob Hodgson Thames Television film
1985 Plenty Michael
1985 Mrs. Capper's Birthday Bobby
1985 Happy Families Jim
1986 Blackadder II Simon Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich & Farters Parters)
Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
1986 Platoon Pte Trevor
1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap N'Bend
1987 Blackadder the Third George, Prince of Wales, The Prince Regent
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol Prince George
Lord Pigmot (future)
1989–1995 Bit of Fry & Laurie, AA Bit of Fry & Laurie various characters also writer
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Lt. the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh
1989 Strapless Colin
1989 New Statesman, TheThe New Statesman Waiter
1990–1993 Jeeves and Wooster Bertie Wooster
1992 Peter's Friends Roger Charleston
1993 All or Nothing at All Leo Hopkins television film
1993–1995 Legends of Treasure Island, TheThe Legends of Treasure Island Squire Trelawney voice
1994 Pin for the Butterfly, AA Pin for the Butterfly Uncle television film
1995 Sense and Sensibility Mr. Palmer
1996 Tracey Takes On... Timothy Bugge season 1
1996 101 Dalmatians Jasper
1997 Spiceworld Poirot
1997 Borrowers, TheThe Borrowers Police Officer Oliver Steady
1997 Ugly Duckling, TheThe Ugly Duckling Tarquin voice
1998 Friends Gentleman on the Plane episode: "The One with Ross's Wedding"
1998 Bill, TheThe Bill Harrap, a Barrister
1998 Man in the Iron Mask, TheThe Man in the Iron Mask Pierre, The King's Advisor
1998 Cousin Bette Baron Hector Hulot
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth Viscount George Bufton-Tufton/Georgius
1999 Stuart Little Mr. Frederick Little
2000 Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Dr. Lawyer episode: "Mental Apparition Disorder"
2000 Maybe Baby Sam Bell
2001 Chica de Río Raymond Woods alternate title: Girl from Rio
2001 Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows Vincente Minnelli
2001 Family Guy Bar patron voice
episode: "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea"
2001 Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter Narrator voice
2002 Stuart Little 2 Mr. Frederick Little
2002 Spooks Jools Siviter
2003 The Young Visiters Lord Bernard Clark
2003 Fortysomething Paul Slippery
2003 Stuart Little: The Animated Series' Mr. Frederick Little (Voice) episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2004–present House Dr. Gregory House lead actor
also directed episode: Lockdown
2004 Fire Engine Fred
2004 Flight of the Phoenix Ian
2005 Valiant Wing Commander Gutsy voice
2005 Big Empty, TheThe Big Empty Doctor #5
2006 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Mr. Frederick Little voice
2006, 2008 Saturday Night Live Host
various characters season 32, episode 4
season 34, episode 11
2008 Street Kings Captain Biggs
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Cockroach, PhD voice
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space Dr. Cockroach, PhD voice
2010 Family Guy Gregory House/himself voice
episode: "Business Guy"
2010 Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons Roger voice
episode: "Treehouse of Horror XXI"
2010 Fry and Laurie Reunited himself
2011 Hop Mr Bunny voice
2011 The Oranges
2011 Later... with Jools Holland himself Performed "You Don't Know My Mind" and "Swanee River"

(both from his forthcoming album Let Them Talk )
Writing

Hugh Laurie has written one full-length novel, The Gun Seller, which has undergone multiple printings from several publishers. His second novel, Paper Soldiers (US: The Paper Soldier), was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.

    * The Gun Seller UK (HB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00297-6 (PB) (William Heinemann Ltd (May 1996)) ISBN 0-434-00375-1
          o (PB) (Arrow Books Ltd (November 2000); New Ed (October 2004)) ISBN 0-09-941927-0 & ISBN 0-09-946939-1
    * The Gun Seller US (HB) (Soho Press (May 1997)) ISBN 1-56947-087-1 (PB) (Mandarin (March 1997)) ISBN 0-7493-2385-X
          o (PB) (Washington Square Press (November 1998)) ISBN 0-671-02082-X
    * Paper Soldiers UK (PB) (Michael Joseph (24 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4391-4
    * The Paper Soldier US (HB) (Michael Joseph (27 September 2009)) ISBN 0-7181-4390-6
          o (PB) (Penguin Books (28 September 2009)) ISBN 0-14-028210-6
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d102/blueapplejack/hugh_laurie.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/hugh_laurie.jpg


I've watched House before

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/11 at 2:09 pm


One of our nation's treasures.

You know I never knew till a short while ago that he was even British.
I've watched House before

I just started to in the last year or so.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/13/11 at 2:15 pm

The person of the day...Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born 13 June 1943) is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.

McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange. and Caligula. His versatility as an actor has led to his presence in many films and television series of different genres, including Tank Girl, Star Trek Generations, the TV serial Our Friends in the North, Entourage, Heroes, Metalocalypse, animated film Bolt and the 2007 remake of Halloween and the 2009 sequel Halloween II. He is also well known for his narration of the seminal 1982 documentary, The Compleat Beatles.
McDowell began his professional life serving drinks in his parents' pub and then as a coffee salesman (the latter job providing inspiration for the movie O Lucky Man!). While enrolled in Cannock House School, he began taking acting classes, and eventually secured work as an extra with the Royal Shakespeare Company. McDowell made his screen debut as school rebel Mick Travis in If.... (1968) by British director Lindsay Anderson. This was followed by Figures in a Landscape (1970) and The Raging Moon (1971). His performance in If.... caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who cast McDowell as the lead in A Clockwork Orange, adapted from the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess. He won great acclaim (nominated for a Golden Globe and an award by the New York Film Critics Circle in the category of Best Actor) for his role as Alex, a young sociopath brainwashed by an authoritarian British government.

McDowell worked with Anderson again for O Lucky Man! (1973), which was based on his own idea, and Britannia Hospital (1982). McDowell regularly turned up on British television productions in the 1970s in adaptations of theatre classics, one example being with Laurence Olivier in The Collection (1976), as part of the series Laurence Olivier Presents, as Olivier's younger lover. He starred in Aces High (1975) and co-starred in Voyage of the Damned (1976), and as Dornford Yates' gentleman hero Richard Chandos in She Fell Among Thieves (1977). He made his Hollywood debut as H.G. Wells in Time After Time (1979).

McDowell mainly portrayed antagonists in the late 1970s and 1980s, including the title character in Caligula (1979). He later remarked upon his career playing film villains: "I suppose I'm primarily known for that but in fact, that would only be half of my career if I was to tot it all up."

In his biography Anthony Burgess: A Life, author Roger Lewis commented on McDowell's later career; "his pretty-boy looks faded and he was condemned to playing villains in straight-to-video movies that turn up on Channel 5."

McDowell also appeared in the 1983 action film Blue Thunder as F.E. Cochrane, and the 1982 remake of Cat People. In 1983, he starred in Get Crazy as Reggie Wanker, a parody of Mick Jagger. Also in 1983, McDowell starred as The Wolf (Reginald von Lupen) in Faerie Tale Theatre's rendition of "Little Red Riding Hood" (his wife at that time, Mary Steenburgen, played Little Red Riding Hood). In 1984, he narrated the documentary The Compleat Beatles.

McDowell is well known in Star Trek circles as "the man who killed Captain Kirk" in the 1994 film Star Trek Generations, in which he played the mad scientist Dr. Tolian Soran. McDowell has also appeared in several computer games, most notably as Admiral Tolwyn in the Wing Commander series of computer games. His appearance in Wing Commander III marked the series transition from 2D pre-rendered cutscenes to live-action cutscenes. His appearance in Wing Commander IV was during the final days of video game live action cutscenes.

In 1995, McDowell co-starred with actress and artist Lori Petty in the action/science fiction/comedy film Tank Girl. Here, he played the villain Dr. Kesslee, the evil director of the global Water and Power Company, whose main goal in the story was to control the planet's entire water supply on a future desert-like, post-apocalyptic Earth.

McDowell played himself in Robert Altman's The Player, in which he chastises protagonist Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) for badmouthing him behind his back. He worked with Altman once again in 2003 for The Company as Mr. A. the fictional director of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. His character was based on real-life director Gerald Arpino.

In the 2003 film I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, he played a straight married man who rapes a young drug dealer to "teach him a lesson". The film also starred Clive Owen as the victim's older brother.

In 2006, McDowell portrayed radio mogul Jonas Slaughter on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, In 2007, he portrayed the wealthy, conspiratorial villain Mr. Linderman during the first season of the NBC hit series Heroes, a role he reprised in the third season premiere. He has starred in Jerry Was a Man, which has appeared as an episode of Masters of Science Fiction, on ABC and Sky. He also portrayed Terrence McQuewick on Entourage and Julian Hodge on Monk.

McDowell appeared as Dr. Sam Loomis in Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of the horror film Halloween, and its sequel Halloween II. He also played Desmond LaRochette in Robert Whitlow's The List, and Irish patriarch Enda Doyle in 2008's Red Roses and Petrol. His next film is Canadian vampire comedy rock and roll movie Suck with director and actor Rob Stefaniuk and the upcoming Alex Wright film Two Wolves. In December 2009 McDowell made an appearance in the music video "Snuff" by the band Slipknot. He appears, uncredited, as Lombardi, the curator, in the 2010 film The Book of Eli. McDowell portrayed Satan in the upcoming comedy drama thriller Suing the Devil. He will appear in the upcoming film Silent Hill: Revelation 3D as Leonard Wolf, the insane co-leader of a cult.
Voice acting

McDowell was the featured narrator in the documentary, The Compleat Beatles released in 1982.

McDowell has lent his voice to Lord Maliss in Happily Ever After, the Superman villain Metallo in Superman: The Animated Series, Mad Mod in Teen Titans, Merlyn in DC Showcase: Green Arrow, Arkady Duvall (son of Ra's Al Ghul) in Batman: The Animated Series, the narrator of an episode of South Park - wherein he is introduced as "A British Person" - and as the voice of a Death Star commander in a Robot Chicken episode parodying Star Wars. He is also a regular on the second season of the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse as Vater Orlaag and other characters. McDowell also voiced Dr. Calico in Disney's Bolt.

In 2006-07, he contributed spoken word to two Pink Floyd tribute albums produced by Billy Sherwood: Back Against the Wall, and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon. In 2008, McDowell began a recurring role as Grandpa Fletcher on Phineas and Ferb. He also narrated the award-winning documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars.

McDowell reprised his role of Metallo in the video game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips and an episode of Justice League Unlimited. He also provided his voice for the character President John Henry Eden in the video game Fallout 3, Rupert Pelham in the game WET, King Solomon in the Word of Promise Audio Bible, and the CEO of Stahl Arms in Killzone 3, Jorhan Stahl. He also voiced Daedalus in God of War III.

McDowell portrays the role of "Caiaphas" in "The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible," a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully-dramatized audio New Testament which uses the RSV-CE translation.
Personal life

McDowell was married to actress Margot Bennett from 1975-80. He then married actress Mary Steenburgen, whom he had first met while filming Time After Time, and they had two children together: Lily Amanda (born 21 January 1981) and Charles Malcolm (born 10 July 1983), before divorcing in 1990. In 1991, McDowell married Kelley Kuhr, with whom he has three children: Beckett Taylor McDowell (born 29 January 2004), Finnian Anderson McDowell (born 23 December 2006), and Seamus Hudson McDowell (born 7 January 2009). He currently resides in Ojai, California. He is the maternal uncle of actor Alexander Siddig, who appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Kingdom of Heaven, Syriana, 24, and the current fourth (2011) season of the UK and BBC America hit series Primeval. He and his nephew both appeared in the movie Doomsday by director Neil Marshall. McDowell has been known to enjoy a hot cup of Russian Caravan with a spot of milk.
Filmography, Voice-overs and TV work

    * if.... (1968)
    * Figures in a Landscape (1970)
    * The Raging Moon (1971)
    * A Clockwork Orange (1971)
    * O Lucky Man!- also writer (1973)
    * Royal Flash (1975)
    * Voyage of the Damned (1976)
    * Aces High (1976)
    * The Collection (1976)
    * Caligula (1979)
    * The Passage (1979)
    * Time After Time (1979)
    * Look Back in Anger (1980)
    * Britannia Hospital (1982)
    * Cat People (1982)
    * Blue Thunder (1983)
    * Cross Creek (1983)
    * Faerie Tale Theatre's Little Red Riding Hood (TV) (1983)
    * Get Crazy (1983)
    * The Compleat Beatles (1984)
    * Merlin and the Sword (TV) (1985)
    * Gulag (TV) (1985)
    * The Caller (1987)
    * Buy & Cell (1987)
    * Sunset (1988)
    * Mortacci (1989)
    * II Maestro (1989)
    * Jezebel's Kiss (1990)
    * Schweitzer (1990)
    * Class of 1999 (1990)
    * Moon 44 (1990)
    * Disturbed (1990).
    * The Assassin of the Tsar (1991)
    * Tales from the Crypt (episode The Reluctant Vampire)(TV)(1991)
    * The Player (1992)
    * Chain of Desire (1992)
    * Vent d'est (1993)
    * Happily Ever After (voice) (1993)
    * Night Train to Venice (1993)
    * Bopha! (1993)
    * Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (VG) (1994)
    * The Man Who Wouldn't Die (TV) (1994)
    * Cyborg 3: The Recycler (1994)
    * Star Trek Generations (1994)
    * In The Eye of the Snake (1994)
    * Dangerous Indescretion (1994)
    * Milk Money (1994)
    * Spider-Man (TV) (voice)(1994)
    * Exquisite Tenderness (1995)
    * Tank Girl (1995)
    * Fist of the North Star (1995)
    * The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (TV) (voice) (1996)
    * Ringer (1996)
    * Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (VG) (1996)
    * Our Friends in the North (TV) (1996)
    * The Little Riders (TV) (1996)
    * Where Truth Lies (1996)
    * Wing Commander Academy (TV) (voice) (1996)
    * Pearl (TV) (1996–1997)
    * Superman: The Animated Series (TV) (voice) (1996–2000)
    * Kids of the Round Table (1995)
    * Asylum (1997)
    * 2103: The Deadly Wake (1997)
    * Hugo Pool (1997)
    * Mr. Magoo (1997)
    * Lexx (TV, episode Giga Shadow) (1997)
    * Fantasy Island (TV) (1998–1999)
    * The Fairy King of Ar (1998)
    * The Gardener (1998) (Also known as Garden of Evil and as Silent Screams)
    * Fatal Pursuit (1998)
    * The First 9½ Weeks (1998)
    * Can of Worms (TV) (voice) (1999)
    * Southern Cross (1999)
    * Love Lies Bleeding (1999)
    * My Life So Far (1999)
    * Y2K (1999) (Also known as Terminal Countdown)
    * The David Cassidy Story (TV) (2000)
    * Gangster No. 1 (2000)
    * Island of the Dead (2000)
    * St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (TV) (2000)
    * South Park (episode Pip) (TV) (2000)
    * The Barber (2001) (Also known as Le Barbier)
    * Pact with the Devil (2001)
    * Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)
    * Just Visiting (2001)
    * Princess of Thieves (TV) (2001)
    * The Void (2001)
    * Firestarter 2: Rekindled (TV) (2002)
    * I Spy (2002)
    * Between Strangers (2002)
    * Shadow Realm (TV) (2002)
    * Superman: Shadow of Apokolips (VG) (voice) (2002)
    * Tempo (2003)
    * The Company (2003)
    * Inhabited (2003)
    * I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)
    * Hidalgo (2004)
    * Evilenko (2004)
    * Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius (2004)
    * Tempesta (2004)
    * Pinocchio 3000 (voice) (2004)
    * Chalkzone (TV) (voice) (2004)
    * In Good Company (2004)
    * Rag Tale (2005)
    * Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone (voice) (2005)
    * Mirror Wars: Reflection One (2005)
    * The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (TV) (voice) (2005)
    * Cut Off (2006)
    * Bye Bye Benjamin (2006)
    * Spooks (TV) (2006)
    * Monk (TV) (2006)
    * The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (TV) (2006)
    * Entourage (TV) (2005–2006, 2009)
    * The List (2007)
    * Exitz (2007)
    * Robot Chicken: Star Wars (TV) (2007)
    * Halloween (2007)
    * Heroes (TV) (2007, 2008)
    * War and Peace (TV) (2007)
    * Metalocalypse (TV) (voice) (2007–Present)
    * Phineas and Ferb (TV) (voice) (2007–2009)
    * Red Roses and Petrol (2008)
    * Doomsday (2008)
    * Delgo (voice) (2008)
    * Coco Chanel (TV) (2008)
    * Fallout 3 (VG) (voice) (2008)
    * Bolt (voice) (2008)
    * The Evening Journey (2008)
    * Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)
    * Bolt (VG) (voice) (2009)
    * Super Rhino (short) (voice) (2009)
    * Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising (VG) (2009)
    * Halloween II (2009)
    * Suck (2009)
    * Wet (VG) (2009)
    * Snuff (Music video) by Slipknot (2009)
    * The Book of Eli (2010)
    * CSI: Miami (TV series) (2010)
    * Barry Munday (2010)
    * Pound of Flesh (2010)
    * Golf in the Kingdom (2010)
    * LEGO Hero Factory (TV series) (voice) (2010-2011)
    * Easy A (2010)
    * Santiago Files (narrator) (2010)
    * God of War 3 (VG) (2010)
    * Green Arrow (voice) (2010)
    * The Mentalist (TV series) (2010)
    * Franklin & Bash (TV series)
    * Killzone 3 (VG) (2011)
    * Psych (2011)
    * Suing the Devil (2011)
    * Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (TBA)

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr301/myersgirl_2008/malcolm.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc321/stellastellina2/soapealtro/Heroes.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/11 at 6:34 am

The person of the day...Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, author, and television personality. He is the Chairman and CEO of The Trump Organization, a real-estate developer based in the United States. Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous casinos and hotels worldwide. Trump's extravagant lifestyle and outspoken manner have made him a celebrity for years, and more recently with his NBC reality show, The Apprentice, where he serves as host and executive producer. In 2010, Trump expressed interest in becoming a candidate for President of the United States in 2012. On May 16, 2011, he announced he would not run. On May 23, he stated he has not completely ruled out running if no viable Republican Party candidate emerges. In 2011, he ranked #17 on Forbes Celebrity 100 List.

Trump is the fourth of five children of Fred Trump, a real-estate tycoon and developer based in New York City. Donald was inspired to follow his father into real-estate development, and began working on projects for his father's real-estate firm while still in college. Upon his graduation from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Trump formally joined his father's company, Elizabeth Trump & Son. He took the helm in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.
Starting with the renovation of the Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt with the Pritzker family, Trump continued with Trump Tower in New York City and several other residential projects. He would later expand into the airline industry (buying the Eastern Shuttle routes), and Atlantic City casino business, including acquiring the Taj Mahal Casino in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.

In March 1990, Trump threatened to sue Janney Montgomery Scott, a stock brokerage, whose analyst made negative comments on the financial prospects of Taj Mahal. The analyst refused to retract the statements, and the firm fired him. The firm denied being influenced by Trump's threat. Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy for the first time in November 1990. The analyst was awarded $750,000 by arbitration panel against his firm for his termination. A defamation lawsuit by the analyst against Trump for $2 million was settled out of court.

This expansion, both personal and business, led to mounting debt. Much of the news about him in the early 1990s involved his much publicized financial problems, creditor-led bailout, extramarital affair with Marla Maples (whom he later married), and the resulting divorce from his first wife, Ivana Trump.

The late 1990s saw a resurgence in his financial situation and fame. In 2001, he completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters. Also, he began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. Trump owns commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle. Trump currently owns several million square feet of prime Manhattan real estate, and remains a major figure in the field of real estate in the United States and a celebrity for his prominent media exposures.
Early success (1968–1989)

Trump began his career at his father's company, the Trump Organization, and initially concentrated on his father's preferred field of middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. One of Trump's first projects, while he was still in college, was the revitalization of the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio, which his father had purchased for $5.7 million in 1962. Trump became intimately involved in the project, personally flying in for a few days at a time to carry out landscaping and other low-level tasks. After $500,000 investment, Trump successfully turned a 1200-unit complex with a 66% vacancy rate to 100% occupancy within two years. The Trump Organization sold Swifton Village for $6.75 million in 1972.

In 1971 Trump moved to Manhattan, where he became convinced of the economic opportunity in the city, specifically large building projects in Manhattan that would offer opportunities for earning high profits, utilizing attractive architectural design, and winning public recognition. Trump began by landing the rights to develop the old Penn Central yards on the West Side, then — with the help of a 40-year tax abatement by the financially strained New York City government, which was eager to give tax concessions in exchange for investments at a time of financial crisis — turned the bankrupt Commodore Hotel into a new Grand Hyatt.

He was also instrumental in steering the development of the Javits Convention Center on property he had an option on. The development saga of the Javits Convention Center brought Trump into contact with the New York City government when a project that he had estimated could have been completed by his company for $110 million ended up costing the city between $750 million and $1 billion. He offered to take over the project at cost, but the offer was not accepted.

A similar opportunity would arise in the city's attempt to restore the Wollman Rink in Central Park, a project started in 1980 with an expected 2½-year construction schedule that was still, with $12 million spent, nowhere near completion in 1986. Trump offered to take over the job at no charge to the city, an offer that was initially rebuffed until it received much local media attention. Trump then was given the job which he completed in six months and with $750,000 of the $3 million budgeted for the project left over.

Trump was also involved with the old USFL, a competitor to the NFL, as owner of the New Jersey Generals. In addition, Trump at one time acted as a financial advisor for Mike Tyson, hosting Tyson's fight against Michael Spinks in Atlantic City.
Financial problems (1989–1997)

By 1989, the effects of the recession left Trump unable to meet loan payments. Trump financed the construction of his third casino, the $1 billion Taj Mahal, primarily with high-interest junk bonds. Although he shored up his businesses with additional loans and postponed interest payments, by 1991 increasing debt brought Trump to business bankruptcy and the brink of personal bankruptcy. Banks and bond holders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but opted to restructure his debt to avoid the risk of losing more money in court. The Taj Mahal re-emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50% ownership in the casino to the original bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates on the debt and more time to pay it off.

On November 2, 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel was forced to file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan after being unable to make its debt payments. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49% stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders. In return Trump would receive more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and retain his position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.

By 1994, Trump had eliminated a large portion of his $900 million personal debt and reduced significantly his nearly $3.5 billion in business debt. While he was forced to relinquish the Trump Shuttle (which he had bought in 1989), he managed to retain Trump Tower in New York City and control of his three casinos in Atlantic City. Chase Manhattan Bank, which lent Trump the money to buy the West Side yards, his biggest Manhattan parcel, forced the sale of a parcel to Asian developers. According to former members of the Trump Organization, Trump did not retain any ownership of the site's real estate – the owners merely promised to give him about 30 percent of the profits once the site was completely developed or sold. Until that time, the owners wanted to keep Trump on to do what he did best: build things. They gave him modest construction and management fees to oversee the development, and allowed him to put his name on the buildings that eventually rose on the yards because his well-known moniker allowed them to charge a premium for their condos.

Trump was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1995.

In 1995, he combined his casino holdings into the publicly held Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Wall Street drove its stock above $35 in 1996, but by 1998 it had fallen into single digits as the company remained profitless and struggled to pay just the interest on its nearly $3 billion in debt. Under such financial pressure, the properties were unable to make the improvements necessary for keeping up with their flashier competitors.
Legal developments (2002–2005)

In January 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a financial-reporting case against Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., alleging that it had committed several "misleading statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release." The matter was settled with the defendant neither admitting nor denying the charge.

Finally, on October 21, 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts announced a restructuring of its debt. The plan called for Trump's individual ownership to be reduced from 56 percent to 27 percent, with bondholders receiving stock in exchange for surrendering part of the debt. Since then, Trump Hotels has been forced to seek voluntary bankruptcy protection to stay afloat. After the company applied for Chapter 11 Protection in November 2004, Trump relinquished his CEO position but retained a role as Chairman of the Board. In May 2005 the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings.
Resurgence (1997–2007)

Trump has several projects under way, with varying levels of success in their progress. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Honolulu seems to be a success. According to Trump, buyers paid non-refundable deposits, committing to purchase every unit on the first day they were made available. Construction of the Trump International Hotel and Tower – Chicago seems to be proceeding as planned, although 30% of the units remain unsold. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Toronto has had a series of delays and a height reduction. The Trump Tower – Tampa has been quite controversial because the initial sales were so successful that all deposits were returned in order to charge a higher price. Three years after construction of this controversial development began, construction has delayed and lawsuits have been filed. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one Trump construction project was put on hold in favor of another (Trump International Hotel and Tower – Fort Lauderdale). Meanwhile, Trump Towers – Atlanta is being developed in a housing market having the nation's second-highest inventory of unsold homes.
Financial crisis

Sales for Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago have been lagging. Lender Deutsche Bank refused to let Trump lower the prices on the units to spur sales. Arguing that the financial crisis and resulting drop in the real estate market is due to circumstances beyond his control, Trump invoked a clause in the contract to not pay the loan. Deutsche Bank then noted in court that "Trump is no stranger to overdue debt" and that he had twice previously filed for bankruptcy regarding his casino operations. Trump then initiated a suit asserting that his image had been damaged. Both parties agreed to drop their suits, and sale of the units is nearly complete.

On February 17, 2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; Trump stating on February 13 that he would resign from the board. Trump Entertainment Resorts has three properties in Atlantic City.
In 2003, Trump became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show, The Apprentice, in which a group of competitors battled for a high-level management job in one of Trump's commercial enterprises. The other contestants were successively "fired" and eliminated from the game. In 2004, Donald Trump filed a trademark application for the catchphrase "You're fired."

For the first year of the show Trump was paid $50,000 per episode (roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's initial success, he is now paid a reported $3 million per episode, making him one of the highest paid TV personalities. In 2007, Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television (The Apprentice).

Along with British TV producer Mark Burnett, Trump also put together The Celebrity Apprentice, where well-known stars compete to win money for their charities. While Trump and Burnett co-produced the show, Trump stayed in the forefront, deciding winners and "firing" losers.
World Wrestling Entertainment

Trump is a known World Wrestling Entertainment fan and friend of WWE owner Vince McMahon. He has hosted two WrestleMania events in the Trump Plaza and has been an active participant in several of the shows. Trump's Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City was host to the 1991 WBF Championship (which was owned by WWE, known at the time as the "World Wrestling Federation."). Trump was interviewed by Jesse Ventura ringside at WrestleMania XX. He also appeared at WrestleMania 23 in the corner of Bobby Lashley who competed against Umaga with WWE Chairman McMahon in his corner, in a hair versus hair match, with either Trump or McMahon having their head shaved if their competitor lost. Lashley won the match, and he and Trump both proceeded to shave McMahon bald.

On June 15, 2009, as part of a storyline, McMahon announced on WWE Raw that he had 'sold' the show to Donald Trump. Appearing on screen, Trump confirmed it and declared he would be at the following commercial-free episode in person and would give a full refund to the people who purchased tickets to the arena for that night's show in the amount of USD $235,000. McMahon "bought back" Raw on June 22, 2009. His entrance theme "Money, Money" was written by Jim Johnston.
Beauty pageants

The Miss Universe Organization is owned by Donald Trump and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The organization produces the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants.

In December 2006, talk show host Rosie O'Donnell criticized Trump's lenience toward Miss USA, Tara Conner, who had violated pageant behavioral guidelines. This sparked a tabloid war between the two celebrities which lasted for several weeks thereafter.
The Trump Brand

In 2011, Forbes reported that its financial experts had estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million. Trump disputes this valuation, saying that his brand is worth about $3 billion.
Speaking to an audience in Boca Raton, Florida on April 16, 2011, Trump contended that voter reaction to George W. Bush's performance as U.S. President was the cause for the election of his successor, Barack Obama, and further that Obama would probably be known as the worst president in U.S. history.

Trump has promoted conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship status in media appearances, and been criticized for this. In an NBC-TV interview broadcast April 7, 2011, Trump said he was not satisfied that Obama had proven his citizenship.

In an April, 2011 NBC interview, Trump claimed he had sent people to Hawaii to investigate Obama's citizenship, commenting "they cannot believe what they're finding." On Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN April 25, 2011, Trump said he wanted Obama to end the issue by releasing his long-form Certificate of Live Birth (distinct from the short-form Certification of Live Birth – Hawaii's prima facie evidence of birth), adding, "I've been told very recently ... the birth certificate is missing."

On April 27, 2011, the long-form of Obama's birth certificate was released by the White House. Obama said it should put the matter to rest; that the nation had more pressing problems to solve and could not afford to be "distracted by side shows and carnival barkers". Trump expressed pride at his role in the release of the long-form certificate in a press conference followup. Public Policy Polling described the events as "one of the quickest rises and falls in the history of presidential politics", reporting:

    "Trump really made hay out of the 'birther' issue and as the resonance of that has declined, so has his standing. In February we found that 51% of Republican primary voters thought Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Now with the release of his birth certificate only 34% of Republican partisans fall into that camp, and Trump's only in fifth place with that now smaller group of the electorate at 9%."
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t44/BlackMoonVampyre/donald_trump.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/cityblueasian1108/donald-trump.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/14/11 at 6:36 am


The person of the day...Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, author, and television personality. He is the Chairman and CEO of The Trump Organization, a real-estate developer based in the United States. Trump is also the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates numerous casinos and hotels worldwide. Trump's extravagant lifestyle and outspoken manner have made him a celebrity for years, and more recently with his NBC reality show, The Apprentice, where he serves as host and executive producer. In 2010, Trump expressed interest in becoming a candidate for President of the United States in 2012. On May 16, 2011, he announced he would not run. On May 23, he stated he has not completely ruled out running if no viable Republican Party candidate emerges. In 2011, he ranked #17 on Forbes Celebrity 100 List.

Trump is the fourth of five children of Fred Trump, a real-estate tycoon and developer based in New York City. Donald was inspired to follow his father into real-estate development, and began working on projects for his father's real-estate firm while still in college. Upon his graduation from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Trump formally joined his father's company, Elizabeth Trump & Son. He took the helm in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.
Starting with the renovation of the Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt with the Pritzker family, Trump continued with Trump Tower in New York City and several other residential projects. He would later expand into the airline industry (buying the Eastern Shuttle routes), and Atlantic City casino business, including acquiring the Taj Mahal Casino in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.

In March 1990, Trump threatened to sue Janney Montgomery Scott, a stock brokerage, whose analyst made negative comments on the financial prospects of Taj Mahal. The analyst refused to retract the statements, and the firm fired him. The firm denied being influenced by Trump's threat. Taj Mahal declared bankruptcy for the first time in November 1990. The analyst was awarded $750,000 by arbitration panel against his firm for his termination. A defamation lawsuit by the analyst against Trump for $2 million was settled out of court.

This expansion, both personal and business, led to mounting debt. Much of the news about him in the early 1990s involved his much publicized financial problems, creditor-led bailout, extramarital affair with Marla Maples (whom he later married), and the resulting divorce from his first wife, Ivana Trump.

The late 1990s saw a resurgence in his financial situation and fame. In 2001, he completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters. Also, he began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. Trump owns commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle. Trump currently owns several million square feet of prime Manhattan real estate, and remains a major figure in the field of real estate in the United States and a celebrity for his prominent media exposures.
Early success (1968–1989)

Trump began his career at his father's company, the Trump Organization, and initially concentrated on his father's preferred field of middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. One of Trump's first projects, while he was still in college, was the revitalization of the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio, which his father had purchased for $5.7 million in 1962. Trump became intimately involved in the project, personally flying in for a few days at a time to carry out landscaping and other low-level tasks. After $500,000 investment, Trump successfully turned a 1200-unit complex with a 66% vacancy rate to 100% occupancy within two years. The Trump Organization sold Swifton Village for $6.75 million in 1972.

In 1971 Trump moved to Manhattan, where he became convinced of the economic opportunity in the city, specifically large building projects in Manhattan that would offer opportunities for earning high profits, utilizing attractive architectural design, and winning public recognition. Trump began by landing the rights to develop the old Penn Central yards on the West Side, then — with the help of a 40-year tax abatement by the financially strained New York City government, which was eager to give tax concessions in exchange for investments at a time of financial crisis — turned the bankrupt Commodore Hotel into a new Grand Hyatt.

He was also instrumental in steering the development of the Javits Convention Center on property he had an option on. The development saga of the Javits Convention Center brought Trump into contact with the New York City government when a project that he had estimated could have been completed by his company for $110 million ended up costing the city between $750 million and $1 billion. He offered to take over the project at cost, but the offer was not accepted.

A similar opportunity would arise in the city's attempt to restore the Wollman Rink in Central Park, a project started in 1980 with an expected 2½-year construction schedule that was still, with $12 million spent, nowhere near completion in 1986. Trump offered to take over the job at no charge to the city, an offer that was initially rebuffed until it received much local media attention. Trump then was given the job which he completed in six months and with $750,000 of the $3 million budgeted for the project left over.

Trump was also involved with the old USFL, a competitor to the NFL, as owner of the New Jersey Generals. In addition, Trump at one time acted as a financial advisor for Mike Tyson, hosting Tyson's fight against Michael Spinks in Atlantic City.
Financial problems (1989–1997)

By 1989, the effects of the recession left Trump unable to meet loan payments. Trump financed the construction of his third casino, the $1 billion Taj Mahal, primarily with high-interest junk bonds. Although he shored up his businesses with additional loans and postponed interest payments, by 1991 increasing debt brought Trump to business bankruptcy and the brink of personal bankruptcy. Banks and bond holders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but opted to restructure his debt to avoid the risk of losing more money in court. The Taj Mahal re-emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50% ownership in the casino to the original bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates on the debt and more time to pay it off.

On November 2, 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel was forced to file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan after being unable to make its debt payments. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49% stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders. In return Trump would receive more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders, and retain his position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.

By 1994, Trump had eliminated a large portion of his $900 million personal debt and reduced significantly his nearly $3.5 billion in business debt. While he was forced to relinquish the Trump Shuttle (which he had bought in 1989), he managed to retain Trump Tower in New York City and control of his three casinos in Atlantic City. Chase Manhattan Bank, which lent Trump the money to buy the West Side yards, his biggest Manhattan parcel, forced the sale of a parcel to Asian developers. According to former members of the Trump Organization, Trump did not retain any ownership of the site's real estate – the owners merely promised to give him about 30 percent of the profits once the site was completely developed or sold. Until that time, the owners wanted to keep Trump on to do what he did best: build things. They gave him modest construction and management fees to oversee the development, and allowed him to put his name on the buildings that eventually rose on the yards because his well-known moniker allowed them to charge a premium for their condos.

Trump was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 1995.

In 1995, he combined his casino holdings into the publicly held Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Wall Street drove its stock above $35 in 1996, but by 1998 it had fallen into single digits as the company remained profitless and struggled to pay just the interest on its nearly $3 billion in debt. Under such financial pressure, the properties were unable to make the improvements necessary for keeping up with their flashier competitors.
Legal developments (2002–2005)

In January 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a financial-reporting case against Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., alleging that it had committed several "misleading statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release." The matter was settled with the defendant neither admitting nor denying the charge.

Finally, on October 21, 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts announced a restructuring of its debt. The plan called for Trump's individual ownership to be reduced from 56 percent to 27 percent, with bondholders receiving stock in exchange for surrendering part of the debt. Since then, Trump Hotels has been forced to seek voluntary bankruptcy protection to stay afloat. After the company applied for Chapter 11 Protection in November 2004, Trump relinquished his CEO position but retained a role as Chairman of the Board. In May 2005 the company re-emerged from bankruptcy as Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings.
Resurgence (1997–2007)

Trump has several projects under way, with varying levels of success in their progress. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Honolulu seems to be a success. According to Trump, buyers paid non-refundable deposits, committing to purchase every unit on the first day they were made available. Construction of the Trump International Hotel and Tower – Chicago seems to be proceeding as planned, although 30% of the units remain unsold. The Trump International Hotel and Tower – Toronto has had a series of delays and a height reduction. The Trump Tower – Tampa has been quite controversial because the initial sales were so successful that all deposits were returned in order to charge a higher price. Three years after construction of this controversial development began, construction has delayed and lawsuits have been filed. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one Trump construction project was put on hold in favor of another (Trump International Hotel and Tower – Fort Lauderdale). Meanwhile, Trump Towers – Atlanta is being developed in a housing market having the nation's second-highest inventory of unsold homes.
Financial crisis

Sales for Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago have been lagging. Lender Deutsche Bank refused to let Trump lower the prices on the units to spur sales. Arguing that the financial crisis and resulting drop in the real estate market is due to circumstances beyond his control, Trump invoked a clause in the contract to not pay the loan. Deutsche Bank then noted in court that "Trump is no stranger to overdue debt" and that he had twice previously filed for bankruptcy regarding his casino operations. Trump then initiated a suit asserting that his image had been damaged. Both parties agreed to drop their suits, and sale of the units is nearly complete.

On February 17, 2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; Trump stating on February 13 that he would resign from the board. Trump Entertainment Resorts has three properties in Atlantic City.
In 2003, Trump became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show, The Apprentice, in which a group of competitors battled for a high-level management job in one of Trump's commercial enterprises. The other contestants were successively "fired" and eliminated from the game. In 2004, Donald Trump filed a trademark application for the catchphrase "You're fired."

For the first year of the show Trump was paid $50,000 per episode (roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's initial success, he is now paid a reported $3 million per episode, making him one of the highest paid TV personalities. In 2007, Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to television (The Apprentice).

Along with British TV producer Mark Burnett, Trump also put together The Celebrity Apprentice, where well-known stars compete to win money for their charities. While Trump and Burnett co-produced the show, Trump stayed in the forefront, deciding winners and "firing" losers.
World Wrestling Entertainment

Trump is a known World Wrestling Entertainment fan and friend of WWE owner Vince McMahon. He has hosted two WrestleMania events in the Trump Plaza and has been an active participant in several of the shows. Trump's Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City was host to the 1991 WBF Championship (which was owned by WWE, known at the time as the "World Wrestling Federation."). Trump was interviewed by Jesse Ventura ringside at WrestleMania XX. He also appeared at WrestleMania 23 in the corner of Bobby Lashley who competed against Umaga with WWE Chairman McMahon in his corner, in a hair versus hair match, with either Trump or McMahon having their head shaved if their competitor lost. Lashley won the match, and he and Trump both proceeded to shave McMahon bald.

On June 15, 2009, as part of a storyline, McMahon announced on WWE Raw that he had 'sold' the show to Donald Trump. Appearing on screen, Trump confirmed it and declared he would be at the following commercial-free episode in person and would give a full refund to the people who purchased tickets to the arena for that night's show in the amount of USD $235,000. McMahon "bought back" Raw on June 22, 2009. His entrance theme "Money, Money" was written by Jim Johnston.
Beauty pageants

The Miss Universe Organization is owned by Donald Trump and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The organization produces the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants.

In December 2006, talk show host Rosie O'Donnell criticized Trump's lenience toward Miss USA, Tara Conner, who had violated pageant behavioral guidelines. This sparked a tabloid war between the two celebrities which lasted for several weeks thereafter.
The Trump Brand

In 2011, Forbes reported that its financial experts had estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million. Trump disputes this valuation, saying that his brand is worth about $3 billion.
Speaking to an audience in Boca Raton, Florida on April 16, 2011, Trump contended that voter reaction to George W. Bush's performance as U.S. President was the cause for the election of his successor, Barack Obama, and further that Obama would probably be known as the worst president in U.S. history.

Trump has promoted conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship status in media appearances, and been criticized for this. In an NBC-TV interview broadcast April 7, 2011, Trump said he was not satisfied that Obama had proven his citizenship.

In an April, 2011 NBC interview, Trump claimed he had sent people to Hawaii to investigate Obama's citizenship, commenting "they cannot believe what they're finding." On Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN April 25, 2011, Trump said he wanted Obama to end the issue by releasing his long-form Certificate of Live Birth (distinct from the short-form Certification of Live Birth – Hawaii's prima facie evidence of birth), adding, "I've been told very recently ... the birth certificate is missing."

On April 27, 2011, the long-form of Obama's birth certificate was released by the White House. Obama said it should put the matter to rest; that the nation had more pressing problems to solve and could not afford to be "distracted by side shows and carnival barkers". Trump expressed pride at his role in the release of the long-form certificate in a press conference followup. Public Policy Polling described the events as "one of the quickest rises and falls in the history of presidential politics", reporting:

    "Trump really made hay out of the 'birther' issue and as the resonance of that has declined, so has his standing. In February we found that 51% of Republican primary voters thought Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Now with the release of his birth certificate only 34% of Republican partisans fall into that camp, and Trump's only in fifth place with that now smaller group of the electorate at 9%."
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t44/BlackMoonVampyre/donald_trump.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/cityblueasian1108/donald-trump.jpg


How would Donald look in a crewcut?  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/14/11 at 7:06 am


How would Donald look in a crewcut?  :D


You could only tell when that badger stopped living on his head!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/14/11 at 7:27 am


You could only tell when that badger stopped living on his head!



Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/14/11 at 7:28 am


You could only tell when that badger stopped living on his head!

He's got a lifetime supply.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/14/11 at 8:00 pm


You could only tell when that badger stopped living on his head!


That's a badger?  :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/15/11 at 7:53 am

The person of the day...Ice Cube
Ice Cube, whose real name is O'Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969), is an American rapper, actor, screenwriter, film director, and producer. He began his career as a member of C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer, director, actor and producer in cinema. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop and the TBS series Are We There Yet?, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the lead character.
In 1987, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre released the single My Posse, under the alias CIA. After the collaboration, Ice Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to "Boyz-n-the-Hood". Eazy-E, although initially rejecting the lyrics, eventually recorded the song for N.W.A. and the Posse, the debut album for the group N.W.A that included him, Dre, and other rappers MC Ren and DJ Yella.

By this point Ice Cube was a full-time member of N.W.A along with Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Ice Cube wrote Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's rhymes for the group's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988. However, as 1990 approached, Ice Cube found himself at odds with the group's manager, Jerry Heller, after rejecting Heller's proposed contract terms.

Since Ice Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton, and Eazy-E's solo album, Eazy-Duz-It, he was advised of the amounts he was truly owed by Heller, and took legal action soon after leaving the group and the label. In response, the remaining N.W.A members attacked him on the EP 100 Miles and Runnin' and on their next and final album, Efil4zaggin (Niggaz4life spelled backwards).
Solo career

In late 1989, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album in Los Angeles with the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy's production team). AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was released in May 1990 and was an instant hit, riding and contributing to the rising tide of rap's popularity in mainstream society. The album was charged with controversy, and he was accused of misogyny and racism. Subsequently, Ice Cube appointed the female rapper Yo-Yo (who appeared on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted) to the head of his own record label and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. This was followed by a critically acclaimed role as 'Doughboy' in John Singleton's hood-based drama, Boyz n the Hood. In the same year as AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube released the acclaimed EP, Kill At Will which sold well, becoming the first hip hop EP to go both Gold and Platinum.

His 1991 follow-up, Death Certificate was regarded as more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being anti-white, misogynist, and antisemitic. The album is thematically divided into the 'Death Side' ("a vision of where we are today") and the 'Life Side' ("a vision of where we need to go"). It features "No Vaseline", a scathing response to N.W.A's attacks and "Black Korea," a track regarded by some as prophetic of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but also interpreted as racist by many; it was still being cited years after its release. Ice Cube toured with Lollapalooza in 1992, which widened his fan base.

Ice Cube released The Predator in November 1992. Referring specifically to that year's Los Angeles riots, in the first single, "Wicked", he rapped "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel". The Predator debuted at number one on both the pop and R&B charts, the first album in history to do so. Singles from The Predator included "It Was a Good Day" and the "Check Yo Self" remix, and the songs had a two-part music video. The album remains his most successful release, with over three million copies sold in the US. However, after The Predator, Ice Cube's rap audience diminished. Lethal Injection which was released in the end of 1993 and represented Ice Cube's first attempt at imitating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic, was not well received by critics. He had more successful hits from Lethal Injection, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It" & "What Can I Do?". After 1994, he took a hiatus from music and concentrated on film work and developing the careers of other rap musicians, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, Kausion, and Da Lench Mob.

In 1994, Ice Cube had reunited with former N.W.A member Dr. Dre, who was now part of Death Row Records, in their duet "Natural Born Killaz". In 1998, he released his long-awaited solo album, War & Peace Volume 1. The delayed Volume 2, was released in 2000. The albums featured appearances from Westside Connection as well as a reunion with fellow N.W.A members, Dr. Dre and MC Ren, though many fans maintained that the two albums were not on par with his past work, especially the second volume. In 2000, Ice Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem & Snoop Dogg on the Up In Smoke Tour.

In 2006, Ice Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on his Lench Mob Records label, debuting at number four on the Billboard Charts and selling 144,000 units in the first week. The album featured production from Lil Jon and Scott Storch, who produced the lead single "Why We Thugs". He released his eighth studio album, Raw Footage, on August 19, 2008, featuring the controversial single "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It".

On Oct 12, 2009 he released a non-album track called 'Raider Nation' in tribute to the Oakland Raiders' football team he supports.

On May 11, 2010, Ice Cube released a 30 for 30 documentary, "Straight Outta L.A.", for ESPN on the relationship between the gangster rap scene in Los Angeles and the tenure of the Raiders there. He has been voted as eighth of MTV's "greatest emcees of all time."
Westside Connection

In 1996, Ice Cube formed Westside Connection with Mack 10 and WC, and together they released an album called Bow Down. Most of the album was used to engage in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry of the 90s. The album's eponymous single reached number 21 on the singles charts, and the album itself was certified Platinum by the end of 1996. With Bow Down, Westside Connection brought their own agenda to the hip hop scene. Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC had grown tired of being overlooked by most East Coast media outlets; the album was designed to instil a sense of pride in West Coast rap fans and to start a larger movement that some people who felt underappreciated might identify with. Songs like "Bow Down" and "Gangstas Make the World Go 'Round" make reference to this. Ice Cube would also eventually make amends with Eazy-E shortly before the latter's death in 1995.

After a seven-year hiatus, Westside Connection returned with their second effort Terrorist Threats in 2003. The album fared well critically, but its commercial reception was less than that of Bow Down. "Gangsta Nation" was the only single released from the album, which was produced by Fredwreck and featured Nate Dogg; it was a radio hit. After a rift between Ice Cube and Mack 10 about Ice Cube's commitments to film work rather than touring with the group, Westside Connection disbanded. WC, however, did release a new solo album on Lench Mob Records entitled Guilty by Affiliation on August 14, 2007.
Collaborations

In 1992 Ice Cube assisted on debut albums from Da Lench Mob (Guerillas in tha Mist, 1992) and Kam (Neva Again, 1993), both of which enjoyed critical acclaim and some moderate commercial success. He handled most of the production on Guerillas in tha Mist.

In 1993, Lench Mob member, J-Dee, was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder, and Ice Cube did not produce their next album, Planet of tha Apes. Around this time in 1993, he also worked with Tupac Shakur on his album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., appearing on the track "Last Wordz" with Ice-T. He also did a song with Dr. Dre for the first time since he left N.W.A: "Natural Born Killaz", for the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, and also contributed to the Office Space soundtrack. He also featured on Kool G Rap's song "Two To The Head" from the Kool G Rap & DJ Polo album "Live And Let Die". Ice Cube appeared on the song "Children of the Korn" by the band Korn, and lent his voice to British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".
2004–2010

In 2004, his hit singles "Check Yo Self", "It Was a Good Day" and affiliated song "Guerrillas in tha Mist" with Da Lench Mob appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on fictional radio station Radio Los Santos.

In late 2005, Ice Cube and R. J. Cutler teamed up to create the six-part documentary series titled Black. White., which was broadcast on cable network FX. In May 2006 Ice Cube complained that Oprah Winfrey would not welcome him and other rappers on her show. Ice Cube's other movie projects include Teacher of the Year, released in 2007, and The Extractors, released in 2008.

He has signed on to star in and produce Welcome Back, Kotter, a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s television series. Ice Cube will play the title character, originally portrayed by Gabe Kaplan and his film company, Cube Vision Productions, has sealed a deal with Dimension Films to bring the show to the big screen.

In a London interview he revealed he is in talks of a collaboration with Gorillaz after speaking to frontman Damon Albarn.

In October 2006 Xzibit, Lil Jon and WC from the Westside Connection honoured Ice Cube at VH1's Annual Hip Hop Honors, performing some classic Ice Cube tracks, and Ice Cube also performed "Why We Thugs" and "Go To Church" from his album Laugh Now, Cry Later, where the New York crowd were greeted with Cube's vintage Cali sound. After launching that comeback album, Ice Cube toured across the world to promote it. The tour is known as "Straight Outta Compton Tour", and accompanying him is his friend and fellow rapper WC from the Westside Connection. Some places he has recently performed include the Paradiso in Amsterdam and various venues in England. After touring the U.S. and Europe, he performed all around Australia, from Sydney's Enmore Theatre to The Forum Arena in Melbourne, before heading to Japan.

Although Ice Cube has made references of going to church and mosque, he has indicated that he is a deist, without following religious "rituals and traditions".

Ice Cube collaborated with Tech N9ne on the song "Blackboy" that appears on Tech N9ne's July 2008 album Killer. The eighth Ice Cube studio LP, titled Raw Footage, was released on August 19, 2008, and featured the singles Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It and Do Ya Thang. Ice Cube appeared on a song by rapper The Game titled "State of Emergency" off The Game's Album, L.A.X. In 2009, Ice Cube performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos, and will return to perform at the 2011 festival.

Despite rumors of conflicts with other rappers in 2010, Ice Cube stated in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on Sirius Shade 45 that he has "no beef."

Ice Cube's ninth studio album I Am the West was released on September 28, 2010. Ice Cube has stated this album has a different direction than any one of his other albums. He received beats from West coast veteran producers such as DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and Sir Jinx, not having worked on a solo album with the latter in nearly 20 years. The album was released independently under his label Lench Mob. Ice Cube has stated that "being independent is beautiful because we can do things 'out the box' that record companies would usually frown at. Instead of working from a ready-made cookie-cutter marketing plan, we can tailor make a marketing plan specifically for me."
Other ventures
Film and television career

Following his role as 'Doughboy' in Boyz-n-the-Hood, in 1992 he starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield.

Ice Cube was offered a co-star role with Janet Jackson in the 1993 romantic film Poetic Justice, but he refused the role, which was given to Tupac Shakur instead.

John Singleton had encouraged Ice Cube to try his hand at screenwriting, telling him, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie." With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then up-and-coming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday earned $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget, and spawned two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next. That year, he also starred in his second collaboration with John Singleton, Higher Learning, as world-weary university student "Fudge"; a role for which he earned award nominations.

In 1997 Ice Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground as a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later. He also had a supporting role in the film Anaconda that same year. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998, and in 1999 starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Friday sequel Next Friday. In 2002, Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins and the third film in the Friday trilogy, Friday after Next (which he again wrote). In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque; in 2005 he starred in the action movie XXX: State of the Union, the comedy Are We There Yet? and Are We Done Yet?, co-starring Nia Long.

In early April 2007 Ice Cube was a guest on Angie Martinez' Hot97 radio show and stated that he was interested in bringing back Chris Tucker as Smokey in a possible Friday sequel, but that was only possible "if New Line cuts the cheque." In an interview with BlackFilm.com, Ice Cube stated that he would be interested in involving all major characters from the Friday franchise in a possible sequel, but added "I know I'm not going to get Chris back, but I'd love to get everybody else back."

In the Movies is a compilation album of Ice Cube songs that have appeared in movie soundtracks, which was released on September 4, 2007.

Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James have paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James's life. Ice Cube's Are We There Yet television series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. Based on the 2005 feature film of the same name, the show revolves around a family adjusting to the matriarch's new husband (Terry Crews) and trying to deal with normal family situations. On August 16, 2010, Are We There Yet? was renewed for 90 additional episodes. In an August 2010 interview with UrbLife.com, Ice Cube expressed excitement about the show being picked up for the run, which will pan out to around six seasons. He also credits Tyler Perry for opening the door for him at TBS.
Clothing line

Ice Cube has licenced a clothing line, SOLO by Cube, which features hooded sweatshirts with built -in headphones in the hood strings.
Personal life
Family

He married Kimberly Woodruff in 1992, with whom he has four children (three boys, one girl).

A father of four, Ice Cube was asked by Fresh Air's Terry Gross to provide some perspective on the relationship between his work and his family. When asked whether or not he allowed his children to listen to his music, he responded: "What's worked for me is instilling in my kids a level of self-respect," helping them to understand the content of not just music but the violence found on the evening news. When asked what he tells his children about profanity, he recalled telling his kids that there are "appropriate times to use any kind of language.... Adults should never hear you use these words. If you want to use these words around your friends, that's really on you." Ice Cube is also the father of rappers OMG and Doughboy, who were featured on his album, I Am the West.
Religion

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Ice Cube stated that he is a Muslim having converted sometime in the 1990s. He described his Muslim faith as a simple, personal one that does not involve attending prayer services or following rituals. Although he has spoken favorably of the Nation of Islam, he denied ever being in the organization.
Discography
Main article: Ice Cube discography

Studio albums

   * 1990: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
   * 1991: Death Certificate
   * 1992: The Predator
   * 1993: Lethal Injection
   * 1998: War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc)
   * 2000: War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc)
   * 2006: Laugh Now, Cry Later
   * 2008: Raw Footage
   * 2010: I Am the West

Other albums

   * 1991: Kill at Will
   * 1994: Bootlegs & B-Sides
   * 1997: Featuring…Ice Cube
   * 2001: Greatest Hits
   * 2007: In the Movies
   * 2008: The Essentials

Filmography
As an actor
Films
Title Year Role Other notes
Boyz n the Hood 1991 Darin "Doughboy" Baker Main Role
Trespass 1992 Savon Main Role
CB4 1993 himself Cameo
The Glass Shield 1995 Teddy Woods Main Role
Higher Learning 1995 Fudge Main Role
Friday 1995 Craig Jones Main Role
Dangerous Ground 1997 Vusi Madlazi Main Role
Anaconda 1997 Danny Rich Main Role
The Players Club 1998 Reggie Minor Role
I Got The Hook Up 1998 Gun Runner Minor Role
Three Kings 1999 SSgt. Chief Elgin Main Role
Thicker Than Water 1999 Slink Supporting Role
Next Friday 1999 Craig Jones Main Role
Ghosts of Mars 2001 James 'Desolation' Williams Main Role
All About The Benjamins 2002 Detective Bucum Main Role
BarberShop 2002 Calvin Palmer Main Role
Friday After Next 2002 Craig Jones Main Role
Torque 2004 Trey Main Role
BarberShop 2: Back in Business 2004 Calvin Palmer Main Role
Are We There Yet? 2005 Nick Persons Main Role
XXX: State of the Union 2005 Darius Stone Main Role
Are We Done Yet? 2007 Nick Persons Main Role
First Sunday 2008 Durell Main Role
The Longshots 2008 Curtis Plummer Main Role
Janky Promoters 2009 Russell Redds Main Role
Lottery Ticket 2010 Jerome "Thump" Washington Supporting Role
Rampart 2011 TBA TBA
Last Friday 2012 Craig Jones Main Role
21 Jump Street 2012 Capt. Dickson Main Role
Television
Title Year Role Other notes
Are We There Yet? TV series 2010–present Terrence Recurring Role
Video games
Title Year Role Other notes
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2010 Chief Petty Officer Bowman/SOG multiplayer announcer Voice actor
As director/writer/producer

   * Friday (1995) writer, executive producer
   * Dangerous Ground (1997) executive producer
   * The Players Club (1998) writer, director, executive producer
   * Next Friday (2000) writer, producer
   * All About The Benjamins (2002) writer, producer
   * Friday After Next (2002) writer, producer
   * BarberShop 2: Back in Business (2004) executive producer
   * BarberShop: The Series (2005) executive producer
   * Are We There Yet? (2005) producer
   * Beauty Shop (2005) executive producer
   * Black. White. (2006) executive producer
   * Are We Done Yet? (2007) producer
   * Friday: The Animated Series (2007) executive producer
   * Pirate Island (2008) producer
   * The Longshots (2008) producer
   * First Sunday (2008) producer
   * Straight Outta L.A. (2010) director
   * Are We There Yet? (TV series) (2010) executive producer
   * Last Friday (2012) writer, executive producer

Awards
Film award history

Ice Cube has received nominations for several films in the past. To date, he has won two awards:

   * 2000: Blockbuster Entertainment Award: Favorite Action Team (for Three Kings)
   * 2002: MECCA Movie Award: Acting Award

Music awards

   * VH1 Hip Hop Honors 2006
         o 2006 Honoree Snoop Dogg
   * BET Hip-Hop Awards 2009
         o I Am Hip-Hop Award
I'll post pics later my photobucket is not working.


http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff352/bukskia/ice_cube.jpg
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss317/DesertPunk-/Ice-Cube.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/15/11 at 7:31 pm


The person of the day...Ice Cube
Ice Cube, whose real name is O'Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969), is an American rapper, actor, screenwriter, film director, and producer. He began his career as a member of C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer, director, actor and producer in cinema. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop and the TBS series Are We There Yet?, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the lead character.
In 1987, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre released the single My Posse, under the alias CIA. After the collaboration, Ice Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to "Boyz-n-the-Hood". Eazy-E, although initially rejecting the lyrics, eventually recorded the song for N.W.A. and the Posse, the debut album for the group N.W.A that included him, Dre, and other rappers MC Ren and DJ Yella.

By this point Ice Cube was a full-time member of N.W.A along with Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Ice Cube wrote Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's rhymes for the group's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988. However, as 1990 approached, Ice Cube found himself at odds with the group's manager, Jerry Heller, after rejecting Heller's proposed contract terms.

Since Ice Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton, and Eazy-E's solo album, Eazy-Duz-It, he was advised of the amounts he was truly owed by Heller, and took legal action soon after leaving the group and the label. In response, the remaining N.W.A members attacked him on the EP 100 Miles and Runnin' and on their next and final album, Efil4zaggin (Niggaz4life spelled backwards).
Solo career

In late 1989, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album in Los Angeles with the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy's production team). AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was released in May 1990 and was an instant hit, riding and contributing to the rising tide of rap's popularity in mainstream society. The album was charged with controversy, and he was accused of misogyny and racism. Subsequently, Ice Cube appointed the female rapper Yo-Yo (who appeared on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted) to the head of his own record label and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. This was followed by a critically acclaimed role as 'Doughboy' in John Singleton's hood-based drama, Boyz n the Hood. In the same year as AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube released the acclaimed EP, Kill At Will which sold well, becoming the first hip hop EP to go both Gold and Platinum.

His 1991 follow-up, Death Certificate was regarded as more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being anti-white, misogynist, and antisemitic. The album is thematically divided into the 'Death Side' ("a vision of where we are today") and the 'Life Side' ("a vision of where we need to go"). It features "No Vaseline", a scathing response to N.W.A's attacks and "Black Korea," a track regarded by some as prophetic of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but also interpreted as racist by many; it was still being cited years after its release. Ice Cube toured with Lollapalooza in 1992, which widened his fan base.

Ice Cube released The Predator in November 1992. Referring specifically to that year's Los Angeles riots, in the first single, "Wicked", he rapped "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel". The Predator debuted at number one on both the pop and R&B charts, the first album in history to do so. Singles from The Predator included "It Was a Good Day" and the "Check Yo Self" remix, and the songs had a two-part music video. The album remains his most successful release, with over three million copies sold in the US. However, after The Predator, Ice Cube's rap audience diminished. Lethal Injection which was released in the end of 1993 and represented Ice Cube's first attempt at imitating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic, was not well received by critics. He had more successful hits from Lethal Injection, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It" & "What Can I Do?". After 1994, he took a hiatus from music and concentrated on film work and developing the careers of other rap musicians, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, Kausion, and Da Lench Mob.

In 1994, Ice Cube had reunited with former N.W.A member Dr. Dre, who was now part of Death Row Records, in their duet "Natural Born Killaz". In 1998, he released his long-awaited solo album, War & Peace Volume 1. The delayed Volume 2, was released in 2000. The albums featured appearances from Westside Connection as well as a reunion with fellow N.W.A members, Dr. Dre and MC Ren, though many fans maintained that the two albums were not on par with his past work, especially the second volume. In 2000, Ice Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem & Snoop Dogg on the Up In Smoke Tour.

In 2006, Ice Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on his Lench Mob Records label, debuting at number four on the Billboard Charts and selling 144,000 units in the first week. The album featured production from Lil Jon and Scott Storch, who produced the lead single "Why We Thugs". He released his eighth studio album, Raw Footage, on August 19, 2008, featuring the controversial single "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It".

On Oct 12, 2009 he released a non-album track called 'Raider Nation' in tribute to the Oakland Raiders' football team he supports.

On May 11, 2010, Ice Cube released a 30 for 30 documentary, "Straight Outta L.A.", for ESPN on the relationship between the gangster rap scene in Los Angeles and the tenure of the Raiders there. He has been voted as eighth of MTV's "greatest emcees of all time."
Westside Connection

In 1996, Ice Cube formed Westside Connection with Mack 10 and WC, and together they released an album called Bow Down. Most of the album was used to engage in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry of the 90s. The album's eponymous single reached number 21 on the singles charts, and the album itself was certified Platinum by the end of 1996. With Bow Down, Westside Connection brought their own agenda to the hip hop scene. Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC had grown tired of being overlooked by most East Coast media outlets; the album was designed to instil a sense of pride in West Coast rap fans and to start a larger movement that some people who felt underappreciated might identify with. Songs like "Bow Down" and "Gangstas Make the World Go 'Round" make reference to this. Ice Cube would also eventually make amends with Eazy-E shortly before the latter's death in 1995.

After a seven-year hiatus, Westside Connection returned with their second effort Terrorist Threats in 2003. The album fared well critically, but its commercial reception was less than that of Bow Down. "Gangsta Nation" was the only single released from the album, which was produced by Fredwreck and featured Nate Dogg; it was a radio hit. After a rift between Ice Cube and Mack 10 about Ice Cube's commitments to film work rather than touring with the group, Westside Connection disbanded. WC, however, did release a new solo album on Lench Mob Records entitled Guilty by Affiliation on August 14, 2007.
Collaborations

In 1992 Ice Cube assisted on debut albums from Da Lench Mob (Guerillas in tha Mist, 1992) and Kam (Neva Again, 1993), both of which enjoyed critical acclaim and some moderate commercial success. He handled most of the production on Guerillas in tha Mist.

In 1993, Lench Mob member, J-Dee, was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder, and Ice Cube did not produce their next album, Planet of tha Apes. Around this time in 1993, he also worked with Tupac Shakur on his album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., appearing on the track "Last Wordz" with Ice-T. He also did a song with Dr. Dre for the first time since he left N.W.A: "Natural Born Killaz", for the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, and also contributed to the Office Space soundtrack. He also featured on Kool G Rap's song "Two To The Head" from the Kool G Rap & DJ Polo album "Live And Let Die". Ice Cube appeared on the song "Children of the Korn" by the band Korn, and lent his voice to British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up".
2004–2010

In 2004, his hit singles "Check Yo Self", "It Was a Good Day" and affiliated song "Guerrillas in tha Mist" with Da Lench Mob appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on fictional radio station Radio Los Santos.

In late 2005, Ice Cube and R. J. Cutler teamed up to create the six-part documentary series titled Black. White., which was broadcast on cable network FX. In May 2006 Ice Cube complained that Oprah Winfrey would not welcome him and other rappers on her show. Ice Cube's other movie projects include Teacher of the Year, released in 2007, and The Extractors, released in 2008.

He has signed on to star in and produce Welcome Back, Kotter, a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s television series. Ice Cube will play the title character, originally portrayed by Gabe Kaplan and his film company, Cube Vision Productions, has sealed a deal with Dimension Films to bring the show to the big screen.

In a London interview he revealed he is in talks of a collaboration with Gorillaz after speaking to frontman Damon Albarn.

In October 2006 Xzibit, Lil Jon and WC from the Westside Connection honoured Ice Cube at VH1's Annual Hip Hop Honors, performing some classic Ice Cube tracks, and Ice Cube also performed "Why We Thugs" and "Go To Church" from his album Laugh Now, Cry Later, where the New York crowd were greeted with Cube's vintage Cali sound. After launching that comeback album, Ice Cube toured across the world to promote it. The tour is known as "Straight Outta Compton Tour", and accompanying him is his friend and fellow rapper WC from the Westside Connection. Some places he has recently performed include the Paradiso in Amsterdam and various venues in England. After touring the U.S. and Europe, he performed all around Australia, from Sydney's Enmore Theatre to The Forum Arena in Melbourne, before heading to Japan.

Although Ice Cube has made references of going to church and mosque, he has indicated that he is a deist, without following religious "rituals and traditions".

Ice Cube collaborated with Tech N9ne on the song "Blackboy" that appears on Tech N9ne's July 2008 album Killer. The eighth Ice Cube studio LP, titled Raw Footage, was released on August 19, 2008, and featured the singles Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It and Do Ya Thang. Ice Cube appeared on a song by rapper The Game titled "State of Emergency" off The Game's Album, L.A.X. In 2009, Ice Cube performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos, and will return to perform at the 2011 festival.

Despite rumors of conflicts with other rappers in 2010, Ice Cube stated in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on Sirius Shade 45 that he has "no beef."

Ice Cube's ninth studio album I Am the West was released on September 28, 2010. Ice Cube has stated this album has a different direction than any one of his other albums. He received beats from West coast veteran producers such as DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and Sir Jinx, not having worked on a solo album with the latter in nearly 20 years. The album was released independently under his label Lench Mob. Ice Cube has stated that "being independent is beautiful because we can do things 'out the box' that record companies would usually frown at. Instead of working from a ready-made cookie-cutter marketing plan, we can tailor make a marketing plan specifically for me."
Other ventures
Film and television career

Following his role as 'Doughboy' in Boyz-n-the-Hood, in 1992 he starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield.

Ice Cube was offered a co-star role with Janet Jackson in the 1993 romantic film Poetic Justice, but he refused the role, which was given to Tupac Shakur instead.

John Singleton had encouraged Ice Cube to try his hand at screenwriting, telling him, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie." With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then up-and-coming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday earned $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget, and spawned two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next. That year, he also starred in his second collaboration with John Singleton, Higher Learning, as world-weary university student "Fudge"; a role for which he earned award nominations.

In 1997 Ice Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground as a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later. He also had a supporting role in the film Anaconda that same year. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998, and in 1999 starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. In 2000, he wrote and appeared in the Friday sequel Next Friday. In 2002, Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins and the third film in the Friday trilogy, Friday after Next (which he again wrote). In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque; in 2005 he starred in the action movie XXX: State of the Union, the comedy Are We There Yet? and Are We Done Yet?, co-starring Nia Long.

In early April 2007 Ice Cube was a guest on Angie Martinez' Hot97 radio show and stated that he was interested in bringing back Chris Tucker as Smokey in a possible Friday sequel, but that was only possible "if New Line cuts the cheque." In an interview with BlackFilm.com, Ice Cube stated that he would be interested in involving all major characters from the Friday franchise in a possible sequel, but added "I know I'm not going to get Chris back, but I'd love to get everybody else back."

In the Movies is a compilation album of Ice Cube songs that have appeared in movie soundtracks, which was released on September 4, 2007.

Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James have paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James's life. Ice Cube's Are We There Yet television series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. Based on the 2005 feature film of the same name, the show revolves around a family adjusting to the matriarch's new husband (Terry Crews) and trying to deal with normal family situations. On August 16, 2010, Are We There Yet? was renewed for 90 additional episodes. In an August 2010 interview with UrbLife.com, Ice Cube expressed excitement about the show being picked up for the run, which will pan out to around six seasons. He also credits Tyler Perry for opening the door for him at TBS.
Clothing line

Ice Cube has licenced a clothing line, SOLO by Cube, which features hooded sweatshirts with built -in headphones in the hood strings.
Personal life
Family

He married Kimberly Woodruff in 1992, with whom he has four children (three boys, one girl).

A father of four, Ice Cube was asked by Fresh Air's Terry Gross to provide some perspective on the relationship between his work and his family. When asked whether or not he allowed his children to listen to his music, he responded: "What's worked for me is instilling in my kids a level of self-respect," helping them to understand the content of not just music but the violence found on the evening news. When asked what he tells his children about profanity, he recalled telling his kids that there are "appropriate times to use any kind of language.... Adults should never hear you use these words. If you want to use these words around your friends, that's really on you." Ice Cube is also the father of rappers OMG and Doughboy, who were featured on his album, I Am the West.
Religion

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Ice Cube stated that he is a Muslim having converted sometime in the 1990s. He described his Muslim faith as a simple, personal one that does not involve attending prayer services or following rituals. Although he has spoken favorably of the Nation of Islam, he denied ever being in the organization.
Discography
Main article: Ice Cube discography

Studio albums

   * 1990: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
   * 1991: Death Certificate
   * 1992: The Predator
   * 1993: Lethal Injection
   * 1998: War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc)
   * 2000: War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc)
   * 2006: Laugh Now, Cry Later
   * 2008: Raw Footage
   * 2010: I Am the West

Other albums

   * 1991: Kill at Will
   * 1994: Bootlegs & B-Sides
   * 1997: Featuring…Ice Cube
   * 2001: Greatest Hits
   * 2007: In the Movies
   * 2008: The Essentials

Filmography
As an actor
Films
Title Year Role Other notes
Boyz n the Hood 1991 Darin "Doughboy" Baker Main Role
Trespass 1992 Savon Main Role
CB4 1993 himself Cameo
The Glass Shield 1995 Teddy Woods Main Role
Higher Learning 1995 Fudge Main Role
Friday 1995 Craig Jones Main Role
Dangerous Ground 1997 Vusi Madlazi Main Role
Anaconda 1997 Danny Rich Main Role
The Players Club 1998 Reggie Minor Role
I Got The Hook Up 1998 Gun Runner Minor Role
Three Kings 1999 SSgt. Chief Elgin Main Role
Thicker Than Water 1999 Slink Supporting Role
Next Friday 1999 Craig Jones Main Role
Ghosts of Mars 2001 James 'Desolation' Williams Main Role
All About The Benjamins 2002 Detective Bucum Main Role
BarberShop 2002 Calvin Palmer Main Role
Friday After Next 2002 Craig Jones Main Role
Torque 2004 Trey Main Role
BarberShop 2: Back in Business 2004 Calvin Palmer Main Role
Are We There Yet? 2005 Nick Persons Main Role
XXX: State of the Union 2005 Darius Stone Main Role
Are We Done Yet? 2007 Nick Persons Main Role
First Sunday 2008 Durell Main Role
The Longshots 2008 Curtis Plummer Main Role
Janky Promoters 2009 Russell Redds Main Role
Lottery Ticket 2010 Jerome "Thump" Washington Supporting Role
Rampart 2011 TBA TBA
Last Friday 2012 Craig Jones Main Role
21 Jump Street 2012 Capt. Dickson Main Role
Television
Title Year Role Other notes
Are We There Yet? TV series 2010–present Terrence Recurring Role
Video games
Title Year Role Other notes
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2010 Chief Petty Officer Bowman/SOG multiplayer announcer Voice actor
As director/writer/producer

   * Friday (1995) writer, executive producer
   * Dangerous Ground (1997) executive producer
   * The Players Club (1998) writer, director, executive producer
   * Next Friday (2000) writer, producer
   * All About The Benjamins (2002) writer, producer
   * Friday After Next (2002) writer, producer
   * BarberShop 2: Back in Business (2004) executive producer
   * BarberShop: The Series (2005) executive producer
   * Are We There Yet? (2005) producer
   * Beauty Shop (2005) executive producer
   * Black. White. (2006) executive producer
   * Are We Done Yet? (2007) producer
   * Friday: The Animated Series (2007) executive producer
   * Pirate Island (2008) producer
   * The Longshots (2008) producer
   * First Sunday (2008) producer
   * Straight Outta L.A. (2010) director
   * Are We There Yet? (TV series) (2010) executive producer
   * Last Friday (2012) writer, executive producer

Awards
Film award history

Ice Cube has received nominations for several films in the past. To date, he has won two awards:

   * 2000: Blockbuster Entertainment Award: Favorite Action Team (for Three Kings)
   * 2002: MECCA Movie Award: Acting Award

Music awards

   * VH1 Hip Hop Honors 2006
         o 2006 Honoree Snoop Dogg
   * BET Hip-Hop Awards 2009
         o I Am Hip-Hop Award
I'll post pics later my photobucket is not working.


http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff352/bukskia/ice_cube.jpg
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss317/DesertPunk-/Ice-Cube.jpg


I always thought Ice Cube and Ice T were the same person. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/11 at 6:44 am


I always thought Ice Cube and Ice T were the same person. :D

:D
We need Ice Cream :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/11 at 6:48 am

The person of the day...Phil Mickelson
Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed. According to estimates by Fortune Magazine, Mickelson's income for 2007 was over $51 million, with $47 million coming from endorsements.
Mickelson's first major championship win came at the 2004 Masters, where he won with an 18-foot final hole birdie putt, defeating Ernie Els in a Sunday back-nine duel in which the two traded birdies and eagles back and forth. In addition to getting the "majors monkey" off his back, this made him only the third golfer with a left-handed swing to win a major, the others being New Zealander Sir Bob Charles who won the British Open in 1963 and Canadian Mike Weir who won The Masters in 2003. (Like Mickelson, Weir is a right-hander who plays left-handed.)

Just prior to the 2004 Ryder Cup, Mickelson was dropped from his long-standing contract with Titleist/Acushnet Golf, when he took heat for a voicemail message he left for a Callaway Golf executive. In it, he praised their driver and golf ball and thanked them for their help in getting some equipment for his brother. This memo was played to all of their salesmen, and eventually found its way back to Titleist. He was then let out of his multi-year deal with Titleist 16 months early, and signed on with Callaway Golf, his current equipment sponsor. He endured a great deal of ridicule and scrutiny from the press and fellow Ryder Cup members for his equipment change so close to the Ryder Cup matches. He faltered at the 2004 Ryder Cup, going 1-3-0, but refused to blame the sudden change in equipment or his practice methods for his performance.

The following year, in a Monday final round conclusion forced by weather, Mickelson captured his second career major championship with his victory at the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. On the 18th hole, Mickelson hit one of his trademark soft pitches from deep greenside rough to within a foot and a half of the cup, and then made his birdie to finish at a 4-under-par total of 276, one shot ahead of Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjørn.

Mickelson captured his third major championship the following spring by winning the 2006 Masters. Mickelson won his second Green Jacket after shooting a 3-under-par final round, winning by two strokes over his nearest rival Tim Clark. This win propelled him to 2nd place in the Official World Golf Rankings (his career best), behind Tiger Woods and ahead of Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen.
Winged Foot

At the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Mickelson was part of a wild finish, in which he ended up in a tie for second place at +6 (286), one shot behind champion Geoff Ogilvy. On the 71st hole, Mickelson, with the lead at +3, missed the fairway to the left, and his drive finished inside a garbage can, from which he was granted a free drop; he parred the hole, but his bogey on the previous hole reduced his lead to one shot heading to the final hole. Needing a par for a one-shot victory, he chose to hit driver on the final hole of the tournament, and hit it well left of the fairway (he had only hit two of thirteen fairways previously in the round). The ball bounced off a corporate hospitality tent and settled in an area of trampled-down grass that was enclosed with trees. He decided to go for the green with his second shot, rather than play it safe and pitch out into the fairway. His ball then hit a tree, and did not advance more than 50 yards. His next shot plugged into the left greenside bunker. He was unable to get up and down from there, resulting in a double bogey, and costing him a chance of winning the championship outright or getting into a playoff, and also ending his bid to join Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three consecutive professional majors (he had won two in a row heading into Winged Foot).
2006–08
Phil Mickelson at 2007 Barclays Singapore Open.

During the third round of the 2006 Ford Championship at Doral, Mickelson gave $200 to a spectator after his wayward tee shot at the par-5 10th broke the man's watch.

Mickelson has also shown other signs of appreciation. In 2007, after hearing the story of retired NFL player Conrad Dobler and his family on ESPN explaining their struggles to pay medical bills, Mickelson volunteered to pay tuition for Holli Dobler, Conrad Dobler's daughter, at Miami University in Ohio.

Frustrated with his driving accuracy, Mickelson made the decision in April 2007 to leave longtime swing coach Rick Smith. He currently works with Butch Harmon, a former coach of Tiger Woods. On May 13, 2007, Mickelson came from a stroke back on the final round to shoot a three-under 69 to win The Players Championship with an 11-under-par 277. This Mother's Day win was his first without his wife and children present.

In the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont, after shooting 11 over par after 2 rounds, Mickelson missed the cut (by a stroke) for the first time in 31 majors, since the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie. He had been hampered by a wrist injury that was incurred while practicing in the thick rough at Oakmont a few weeks before the tournament.

On September 3, 2007, Mickelson won the Deutsche Bank Championship which is the second FedEx Cup playoff event. On the final day, he was paired with Tiger Woods, who ended up finishing two strokes behind Mickelson in a tie for second. It was the first time Mickelson was able to best Woods while paired together on the final day of a tournament. The next day Mickelson announced that he would not be competing in the third FedEx Cup playoff event. The day before his withdrawal, Mickelson said during a television interview that PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem had not responded to advice he had given him on undisclosed issues.

In a Men's Vogue article, Mickelson recounted his effort to lose 20 pounds with the help of trainer Sean Cochran. "Once the younger players started to come on tour, he realized that he had to start working out to maintain longevity in his career," Cochran said. Mickelson's regimen consisted of increasing flexibility and power, eating five smaller meals a day, aerobic training, and carrying his own golf bag.

Mickelson was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
2009

Mickelson won for the first time in 2009 by defending his title at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. He finished one stroke ahead of Steve Stricker. It was Mickelson's 35th win on tour; he surpassed Vijay Singh for second place on the current PGA Tour wins list. A month later, he won his 36th title on the tour, and his first World Golf Championship, at the 2009 WGC-CA Championship with a one- stroke win over Nick Watney.

On May 20, 2009, it was announced that Mickelson's wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Mickelson announced he would suspend his PGA Tour schedule indefinitely. His management company said that Amy Mickelson would begin treatment with major surgery as early as the following two weeks. Mickelson was scheduled to play the HP Byron Nelson Championship May 21–24, and to defend his title May 28–31 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, but withdrew from both events. During the final round of the 2009 BMW PGA Championship, fellow golfer and family friend John Daly wore bright pink trousers in support of Mickelson's wife. Also, the next Saturday, at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, a "Pink Out" event was hosted, and the PGA Tour players all wore pink that day, to support the Mickelson family. On May 31, Mickelson announced that he would return to play on the PGA Tour in June at the St. Jude Classic and the U.S. Open, since he had heard from the doctors treating his wife that her cancer had been detected in an early stage.

Mickelson shot a final round 70 at the 2009 U.S. Open and recorded his fifth runner-up finish at the U.S. Open, a record. He shared the lead after an eagle at the 13th hole, but fell back with bogeys on 15 and 17; Lucas Glover captured the championship.

On July 6, 2009 it was announced that his mother, Mary Mickelson, was diagnosed with breast cancer and would have surgery at the same hospital where his wife was treated. After hearing the news of his mother now being diagnosed with breast cancer, Mickelson took another leave of absence from the Tour, missing The Open Championship. On July 28, Mickelson announced he would return to the PGA Tour in August at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the week before the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.

In September, Mickelson won The Tour Championship for the second time in his career. He entered the final round four strokes off the lead, but shot a final round 65 to win the event by three strokes over Tiger Woods. With the win, Mickelson finished the season second behind Woods in the 2009 FedEx Cup standings.

On November 8, 2009, Mickelson won the WGC-HSBC Champions by one shot over Ernie Els in Shanghai.
2010: Third Masters win

On April 11, 2010, Mickelson won the 2010 Masters Tournament with a 16-under-par performance, giving him a three-stroke win over Lee Westwood in Augusta, Georgia. The win marked the third Masters victory for Mickelson and his fourth major championship overall. Critical to Mickelson's win was a dramatic run in the third round on Saturday in which Mickelson, trailing leader Westwood by five strokes as he prepared his approach shot to the 13th green, proceeded to make eagle, then to hole-out for eagle from 141 yards at the next hole, the par 4 14th, then on the next, the par 5 15th, to miss eagle from 81 yards by mere inches. After tapping in for birdie at 15, Mickelson, at -12, led Westwood, at -11, who had bogeyed hole 12 and failed to capitalize on the par 5 13th, settling for par.

Westwood did recapture the one-stroke lead by round's end, but the momentum carried forward for Mickelson into round 4, where he posted a bogey-free 67 to Westwood's 71, and no other pursuer was able to keep pace to the end, though K.J. Choi and Anthony Kim made notable charges. For good measure, Mickelson birdied the final hole and memorably greeted his waiting wife, Amy, with a prolonged hug and kiss.

For many fans, this finish to the tournament was especially poignant, given Amy's suffering from breast cancer for the preceding year; Mary Mickelson, Phil's mother, was also dealing with cancer. CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz's call of the final birdie putt, "That's a win for the family," was seen by many as capturing the moment well.

Thanks to the dramatic return of Tiger Woods to competitive play after a scandal-ridden 20-week absence, to his close contention throughout for the lead (he finished tied with Choi for 4th at -11), and to Mickelson and others' memorably exciting play over the weekend, the 2010 Masters showed strong television ratings in the United States, ranking third all-time to Woods's historic wins in 1997 and 2001. Mickelson's win left him second only to Woods in major championships among his competitive contemporaries, moving him ahead of Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Pádraig Harrington, with three major championships each and each, like Mickelson, with dozens of worldwide wins.

Mickelson, who was one of the favorites for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, shot 74 and 66 on Thursday and Friday to sit a shot off the lead. However, two weekend scores of 73 gave him a T4 finish. During the rest of the 2010 season, Mickelson had multiple opportunities to become the number one player in the Official World Golf Rankings following the travails of Tiger Woods. However, a string of disappointing finishes by Mickelson saw the number one spot eventually go to Englishman Lee Westwood.

In the days leading up to the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Mickelson announced he had been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. He added that he had started medical treatment, and had become a vegetarian in hopes of aiding his recovery. He maintains that both his short and long term prognosis are good, that the condition should have no long term effect on his golfing career, and that he currently feels well. He also stated that the arthritis may go into permanent remission after one year of medical treatment. He went on to finish the championship T12, five shots back of victor Martin Kaymer.
2011

On April 3, 2011, Mickelson won the Shell Houston Open with a 20-under-par performance, giving him a three-stroke win over Scott Verplank. Mickelson rose to No. 3 in the world ranking, while Tiger Woods fell to No. 7. Mickelson had not been ranked above Woods since the week prior to the 1997 Masters Tournament.
Amateur wins (7)

    * 1981 Junior World Golf Championships (Boys 9-10)
    * 1989 NCAA Division I Championship
    * 1990 NCAA Division I Championship, U.S. Amateur, Porter Cup
    * 1991 Western Amateur
    * 1992 NCAA Division I Championship

Professional wins (47)
Mickelson with the trophy for the 2007 Players Championship
PGA Tour wins (39)
Legend
Major Championships (4)
World Golf Championships (1)
FedEx Cup Events (2)
Other PGA Tour (32)
http://i558.photobucket.com/albums/ss21/Henry_Taso/mickelson1.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa303/aaaswingersgolf/MP_Phil.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/16/11 at 7:00 am


:D
We need Ice Cream :D


or Vanilla Ice. :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/16/11 at 10:00 am


or Vanilla Ice. :D

Nice ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/16/11 at 1:16 pm

It's also Stan Laurel's birthday,today he would've been 121.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/17/11 at 7:08 am

The person of the day...Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born June 17, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-selling charts simultaneously, a feat equalled only by Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded a string of Billboard hit singles and multi-platinum albums that have resulted in his being named Radio & Records number one Adult Contemporary artist and winning three straight American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist. Several well-known entertainers have given Manilow their "stamp of approval," including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s regarding Manilow, "He's next." In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, "Don't stop what you're doing, man. We're all inspired by you."

As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, such as Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. From February 2005 to December 30, 2009, he was the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, performing hundreds of shows before ending relationship with the hotel. From March 2010, he has headlined at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. He has sold more than 250 million records worldwide.
Manilow's well-known association with Bette Midler began at the Continental Baths in New York City. He accompanied her and other artists on the piano from 1970 to 1971, and Midler chose him to assist with the production of her first two albums, The Divine Miss M (1972) and Bette Midler (1973), and act as her musical director on The Divine Miss M tour. Manilow worked with Midler for four years, from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, Bell Records released Manilow's first album, Barry Manilow, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song that Manilow had composed for the 1972 war drama Parades.

Among other songs on the album were "Cloudburst", and "Could It Be Magic." The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, Number 20", and provided Donna Summer with one of her major hits. (It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an up-beat disco version of the song. Take That have since performed Manilow's original version in their Beautiful World Tour.) When Manilow's record company, Bell Records, merged with other labels, new entity Arista Records formed. Under the auspices of its head Clive Davis many artists were dropped. Davis was reassured by the Manilow acquisition after seeing him perform as the opening act at a Dionne Warwick concert.

The partnership began to gain traction in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, Barry Manilow II, originally titled Sweetwater Jones on Bell Records and given its eventual title when reissued on Arista, which contained the breakthrough number-one hit, "Mandy." Manilow had not wanted to record "Mandy," which had originally been titled "Brandy" and was co-written and originally recorded by Scott English, but the song was included at the insistence of Davis. Following the success of Barry Manilow II, the first Bell Records album release was re-mixed and re-issued on Arista Records as Barry Manilow I. When Manilow went on his first tour, he included, in his show, what he called "A V.S.M.," or "A Very Strange Medley." As previously stated, this was a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written, composed, and/or sung. Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975, appearance on American Bandstand to promote the second album, a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, singing his original seasonal favorite "It's Just Another New Year's Eve," American Bandstand anniversary shows, American Music Awards performances, and his 1985 television movie Copacabana are among their projects together.

"Mandy" was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s to the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums Tryin' to Get the Feeling, This One's for You, Even Now, and One Voice. Despite being a songwriter in his own right, several of Manilow's commercial successes were with songs by others. Among hits he did not write or compose are "Mandy," "Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again" by David Pomerantz, "Weekend in New England" (by Randy Edelman), "Looks Like We Made It" by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings, "Can't Smile Without You" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again." Ironically, another one of his hits that Manilow did not write or compose himself was his number 1 "I Write The Songs" (by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys). According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, co-produce them with Ron Dante and arrange them.

Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of "Even Now," the first of many top 20 albums on that side of the Atlantic. This was quickly followed by Manilow Magic – The Best Of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits. On its initial release it was marketed with a large television campaign by the mail order label "Teledisc." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring and executive produced by Manilow. The Barry Manilow Special with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977 to an audience of 37 million. The breakthrough special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of "Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special." The Second Barry Manilow Special in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.
Manilow in 1979

Manilow's "Ready To Take a Chance Again" originated in the film Foul Play, which also featured "Copacabana," from his 4th studio album "Even Now." "Ready To Take A Chance Again" was nominated that year for the "Best Original Song" Oscar. Copacabana would later take the form of a musical television movie, starring Manilow, and three musical plays. On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California aired on HBO series Standing Room Only, which was the first pay-television show to pose a serious challenge to network primetime specials in the ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.

On May 23, 1979, ABC aired The Third Barry Manilow Special, with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography." Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's "comeback" album Dionne, her first to go platinum. He scored a top ten hit of his own in the fall of 1979 with the song "Ships" (written and composed by Ian Hunter, former lead singer of Mott the Hoople) from the album "One Voice."
1980s

The 1980s gave Manilow the adult contemporary chart-topping songs "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" (a Meat Loaf cover, written by Jim Steinman) and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Manilow continued having high radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow had five sold-out performances at Royal Albert Hall. In the United States, at Radio City Music Hall (1984) his 10-night run set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the then 52-year history of the venue. In 1980, Manilow's One Voice special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction".

Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's sold-out shows at England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled Barry (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at #15. The album contained "I Made It Through The Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle." The album If I Should Love Again followed in 1981, containing "The Old Songs," "Let's Hang On," and "Somewhere Down The Road." This was the first of his own albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante, who had co-produced all the previous albums. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh aired nationally on Showtime, and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his sold out Royal Albert Hall show was broadcast in England. The live album and video Barry Live in Britain also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.

On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by a conservative estimate of 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.

In 1984 Manilow released 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. That same year, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends, such as Sarah Vaughn and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records. There he released the pop album Manilow, and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese, among other languages. The Manilow album was a complete about face from the Paradise Cafe album, containing a number of tracks of a modern uptempo and synthesized quality. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.

In his only lead acting role, he portrayed Tony Starr in a 1985 CBS film based on Copacabana, alongside Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr and Joseph Bologna as Rico. Manilow penned all the songs for the movie, with lyrics provided by established collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, and released Copacabana: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album on RCA Records. In October 1986, Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, Tom Scott, and Charlie Fox, went to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with legislators, including lunch with then Senator Al Gore (D-TN). They were there to lobby against a copyright bill put forward by local television broadcasters that would mandate songwriter-producer source licensing of theme and incidental music on syndicated television show reruns and would disallow use of the blanket license now in effect. The songwriters said without the blanket license, artists would have to negotiate up front with producers individually, without knowing if a series would be a success. The license now pays according to a per-use formula. Manilow said that such a bill would act as a precedent for broadcasters to get rid of the blanket license entirely.

The following year, McGraw-Hill published his autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise, which had taken him about three years to complete. While promoting the work, Manilow defended his music in a telephone interview: "I live in laid-back L.A., but in my heart, I'm an energetic New Yorker and that's what has always come out of my music. I've always been surprised when the critics said I made wimpy little ballads". Manilow returned to Arista Records in 1987 with the release of Swing Street. The album, a mixture of traditional after-dark and techno jazz, contained "Brooklyn Blues," an autobiographical song for Manilow, and "Hey Mambo," an uptempo Latin style duet with Kid Creole, produced with the help of Emilio Estefan, Jr., founder of Miami Sound Machine.

In March 1988, CBS aired Manilow's Big Fun on Swing Street special. It featured songs and special guests from his Swing Street and 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe albums, including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Phyllis Hyman, Stanley Clarke, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott, and Uncle Festive, a band within Manilow's band at the time. The special was nominated for two Emmys in technical categories, and won in the category of "Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music program".

In 1988, he performed "Please Don't Be Scared" and "Mandy/Could It Be Magic" at That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88, a benefit concert for the Warwick Foundation headed by Dionne Warwick and shown on Showtime a few years later. In the 1988 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature Oliver & Company, Bette Midler's character sang a new Manilow composition called "Perfect Isn't Easy." The 1989 release of Barry Manilow, which contained "Please Don't Be Scared," "Keep Each Other Warm," and "The One That Got Away," ended Manilow's streak of albums of original self-written material (he neither wrote nor arranged any of the songs except for two) and began a phase of his recording career consisting of covers and compilations.

From April 18 to June 10, 1989, Manilow put on a show called Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, making 44 appearances at the Gershwin Theatre (also known as the Uris Theatre), where, by coincidence, he recorded Barry Manilow Live in 1976. A best-selling 90-minute video of the same show was released the following year as Barry Manilow Live On Broadway. The Showtime one-hour special Barry Manilow SRO on Broadway consisted of edited highlights from this video. Manilow followed this set of shows with a world tour of the Broadway show.
Discography
Main article: Barry Manilow discography
Awards

    * 1977 Grammy – I Write The Songs – Song of the Year (award went to the song's writer Bruce Johnston)
    * 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Special – Comedy, Variety or Music – The Barry Manilow Special
    * 1977 Special Tony Award – Barry Manilow on Broadway
    * 1978 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1979 Grammy – Copacabana Best Pop Male Vocal Performance
    * 1979 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1980 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 2002 Songwriter's Hall of Fame
    * 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barry Manilow: Music And Passion
    * 2007 RIAA – Plaque commemorating worldwide record sales of 75 million
    * 2009 Clio Awards Honorary award for prior work with commercial jingles
    *  ? Kentucky Colonel
    * 2009 Inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame

Selected TV and movie appearances
Barry Manilow at the premiere of The Rose (starring Bette Midler), November 7, 1979

    * Donny & Marie in 1977.

    * ABC special The Stars Salute Israel At 30 on May 8, 1978.

    * May 8, 1982, Goldie & Kids a special where he acted in skits and sang "One Voice" and "I Am Your Child" with hostess Goldie Hawn.

    * On September 17, 1987 he appeared in the star-studded CBS special We The People 200: The Constitutional Gala taped at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to debut his song "Let Freedom Ring" where President Ronald Reagan was in attendance.

    * On May 17, 1993, Manilow made a guest appearance on the CBS show Murphy Brown. On the show, Candice Bergen's title character had frequently made reference to her hatred of Manilow's music, but after she became a mother, Manilow appeared to sing her a sweet version of his tune "I Am Your Child," winning her over with the song about a parent's bond with a child. Later that year he appeared in England on Surprise! Surprise! with Cilla Black where he performed the new single he had recorded with Cilla of "You'll Never Walk Alone".

    * Guest appearance in a 2001 episode of Ally McBeal. He played both a hallucination of Ally's and himself on stage at the end of the show.

    * Played himself in a cameo in the 2002 dark comedy Unconditional Love starring Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett where "Can't Smile Without You" also played a key role in the plot.

    * On December 11, 2003, Manilow appeared on the NBC show Will & Grace as himself backstage between tour stops. The name of the episode is

"Fanilow" as in a fan of Manilow.

    * On April 20, 2004 – April 21, 2004 Manilow reunited with Debra Byrd his former backup singer who is now the vocal coach at American Idol when he appeared as a guest judge and worked with the top seven finalists for the popular FOX variety prize show where the season three contestants sang his songs as the theme for the week.

    * On December 8, 2004, he was a guest on the NBC special A Clay Aiken Christmas, hosted by the former Idol runner-up.

    * On March 21, 2006 – March 22, 2006 Manilow returned to American Idol in season five when 1950s music was the theme. He again helped the top eleven finalists to fine tune their performances and again sang on the results show.

    * In November 2006, he appeared on Logo's reality show Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising as himself in Las Vegas for a recording session with the twins.

    * On November 23, 2006, Manilow appeared live on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and performed the song "What the World Needs Now" on the television broadcast of the parade.

    * On December 2, 2006, Manilow was the celebrity guest and theme for the week on series three of The X Factor where he assisted the top four acts with their performances.

    * On December 12, 2006, appeared live at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance and performed a selection from his latest album.

    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 31, 2007 and on November 17, 2008.

    * He guest starred on Family Guy in "Back to the Woods" on February 17, 2008

    * He guest starred on Strictly Come Dancing on December 7, 2008

    * Barry narrated and wrote original music for the Ocean Spray Christmas special "Cranberry Christmas".
    * He appeared as a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (UK) on September 11, 2009.

    * On October 2, 2009 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

    * He appeared as a guest on The Jay Leno Show (US) on December 10, 2009.

    * He appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (US) on January 21, 2010. He mentioned that, before he became famous, he wrote advertising jingles, including two well-known jingles for Band-Aid and State Farm. Also, he commented on his diet of "forgetting to eat".

    * On February 6, 2010, he was a guest on The Jimmy Kimmel Show where Jimmy showed a photo of him in the 1970s and discussed his new album.

    * On December 11, 2010 he ended the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway singing four of his most known and popular songs. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

    * On June 15, 2011 he appeared on "Good Morning America" performing his new album, "Fifteen Minutes".
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj77/micksluvsmanilow/Manilow/1.jpg
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp1/kaneang/Barry-Manilow-pb031.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/17/11 at 7:37 am

I'll confess, I really like the song, "Ready To Take A Chance." (I also like the movie it came from, too-Foul Play.)



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/17/11 at 12:38 pm


The person of the day...Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born June 17, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-selling charts simultaneously, a feat equalled only by Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded a string of Billboard hit singles and multi-platinum albums that have resulted in his being named Radio & Records number one Adult Contemporary artist and winning three straight American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist. Several well-known entertainers have given Manilow their "stamp of approval," including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s regarding Manilow, "He's next." In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, "Don't stop what you're doing, man. We're all inspired by you."

As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, such as Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. From February 2005 to December 30, 2009, he was the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, performing hundreds of shows before ending relationship with the hotel. From March 2010, he has headlined at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. He has sold more than 250 million records worldwide.
Manilow's well-known association with Bette Midler began at the Continental Baths in New York City. He accompanied her and other artists on the piano from 1970 to 1971, and Midler chose him to assist with the production of her first two albums, The Divine Miss M (1972) and Bette Midler (1973), and act as her musical director on The Divine Miss M tour. Manilow worked with Midler for four years, from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, Bell Records released Manilow's first album, Barry Manilow, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song that Manilow had composed for the 1972 war drama Parades.

Among other songs on the album were "Cloudburst", and "Could It Be Magic." The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, Number 20", and provided Donna Summer with one of her major hits. (It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an up-beat disco version of the song. Take That have since performed Manilow's original version in their Beautiful World Tour.) When Manilow's record company, Bell Records, merged with other labels, new entity Arista Records formed. Under the auspices of its head Clive Davis many artists were dropped. Davis was reassured by the Manilow acquisition after seeing him perform as the opening act at a Dionne Warwick concert.

The partnership began to gain traction in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, Barry Manilow II, originally titled Sweetwater Jones on Bell Records and given its eventual title when reissued on Arista, which contained the breakthrough number-one hit, "Mandy." Manilow had not wanted to record "Mandy," which had originally been titled "Brandy" and was co-written and originally recorded by Scott English, but the song was included at the insistence of Davis. Following the success of Barry Manilow II, the first Bell Records album release was re-mixed and re-issued on Arista Records as Barry Manilow I. When Manilow went on his first tour, he included, in his show, what he called "A V.S.M.," or "A Very Strange Medley." As previously stated, this was a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written, composed, and/or sung. Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975, appearance on American Bandstand to promote the second album, a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, singing his original seasonal favorite "It's Just Another New Year's Eve," American Bandstand anniversary shows, American Music Awards performances, and his 1985 television movie Copacabana are among their projects together.

"Mandy" was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s to the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums Tryin' to Get the Feeling, This One's for You, Even Now, and One Voice. Despite being a songwriter in his own right, several of Manilow's commercial successes were with songs by others. Among hits he did not write or compose are "Mandy," "Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again" by David Pomerantz, "Weekend in New England" (by Randy Edelman), "Looks Like We Made It" by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings, "Can't Smile Without You" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again." Ironically, another one of his hits that Manilow did not write or compose himself was his number 1 "I Write The Songs" (by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys). According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, co-produce them with Ron Dante and arrange them.

Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of "Even Now," the first of many top 20 albums on that side of the Atlantic. This was quickly followed by Manilow Magic – The Best Of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits. On its initial release it was marketed with a large television campaign by the mail order label "Teledisc." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring and executive produced by Manilow. The Barry Manilow Special with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977 to an audience of 37 million. The breakthrough special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of "Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special." The Second Barry Manilow Special in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.
Manilow in 1979

Manilow's "Ready To Take a Chance Again" originated in the film Foul Play, which also featured "Copacabana," from his 4th studio album "Even Now." "Ready To Take A Chance Again" was nominated that year for the "Best Original Song" Oscar. Copacabana would later take the form of a musical television movie, starring Manilow, and three musical plays. On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California aired on HBO series Standing Room Only, which was the first pay-television show to pose a serious challenge to network primetime specials in the ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.

On May 23, 1979, ABC aired The Third Barry Manilow Special, with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography." Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's "comeback" album Dionne, her first to go platinum. He scored a top ten hit of his own in the fall of 1979 with the song "Ships" (written and composed by Ian Hunter, former lead singer of Mott the Hoople) from the album "One Voice."
1980s

The 1980s gave Manilow the adult contemporary chart-topping songs "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" (a Meat Loaf cover, written by Jim Steinman) and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Manilow continued having high radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow had five sold-out performances at Royal Albert Hall. In the United States, at Radio City Music Hall (1984) his 10-night run set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the then 52-year history of the venue. In 1980, Manilow's One Voice special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction".

Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's sold-out shows at England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled Barry (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at #15. The album contained "I Made It Through The Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle." The album If I Should Love Again followed in 1981, containing "The Old Songs," "Let's Hang On," and "Somewhere Down The Road." This was the first of his own albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante, who had co-produced all the previous albums. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh aired nationally on Showtime, and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his sold out Royal Albert Hall show was broadcast in England. The live album and video Barry Live in Britain also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.

On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by a conservative estimate of 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.

In 1984 Manilow released 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. That same year, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends, such as Sarah Vaughn and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records. There he released the pop album Manilow, and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese, among other languages. The Manilow album was a complete about face from the Paradise Cafe album, containing a number of tracks of a modern uptempo and synthesized quality. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.

In his only lead acting role, he portrayed Tony Starr in a 1985 CBS film based on Copacabana, alongside Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr and Joseph Bologna as Rico. Manilow penned all the songs for the movie, with lyrics provided by established collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, and released Copacabana: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album on RCA Records. In October 1986, Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, Tom Scott, and Charlie Fox, went to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with legislators, including lunch with then Senator Al Gore (D-TN). They were there to lobby against a copyright bill put forward by local television broadcasters that would mandate songwriter-producer source licensing of theme and incidental music on syndicated television show reruns and would disallow use of the blanket license now in effect. The songwriters said without the blanket license, artists would have to negotiate up front with producers individually, without knowing if a series would be a success. The license now pays according to a per-use formula. Manilow said that such a bill would act as a precedent for broadcasters to get rid of the blanket license entirely.

The following year, McGraw-Hill published his autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise, which had taken him about three years to complete. While promoting the work, Manilow defended his music in a telephone interview: "I live in laid-back L.A., but in my heart, I'm an energetic New Yorker and that's what has always come out of my music. I've always been surprised when the critics said I made wimpy little ballads". Manilow returned to Arista Records in 1987 with the release of Swing Street. The album, a mixture of traditional after-dark and techno jazz, contained "Brooklyn Blues," an autobiographical song for Manilow, and "Hey Mambo," an uptempo Latin style duet with Kid Creole, produced with the help of Emilio Estefan, Jr., founder of Miami Sound Machine.

In March 1988, CBS aired Manilow's Big Fun on Swing Street special. It featured songs and special guests from his Swing Street and 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe albums, including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Phyllis Hyman, Stanley Clarke, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott, and Uncle Festive, a band within Manilow's band at the time. The special was nominated for two Emmys in technical categories, and won in the category of "Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music program".

In 1988, he performed "Please Don't Be Scared" and "Mandy/Could It Be Magic" at That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88, a benefit concert for the Warwick Foundation headed by Dionne Warwick and shown on Showtime a few years later. In the 1988 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature Oliver & Company, Bette Midler's character sang a new Manilow composition called "Perfect Isn't Easy." The 1989 release of Barry Manilow, which contained "Please Don't Be Scared," "Keep Each Other Warm," and "The One That Got Away," ended Manilow's streak of albums of original self-written material (he neither wrote nor arranged any of the songs except for two) and began a phase of his recording career consisting of covers and compilations.

From April 18 to June 10, 1989, Manilow put on a show called Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, making 44 appearances at the Gershwin Theatre (also known as the Uris Theatre), where, by coincidence, he recorded Barry Manilow Live in 1976. A best-selling 90-minute video of the same show was released the following year as Barry Manilow Live On Broadway. The Showtime one-hour special Barry Manilow SRO on Broadway consisted of edited highlights from this video. Manilow followed this set of shows with a world tour of the Broadway show.
Discography
Main article: Barry Manilow discography
Awards

    * 1977 Grammy – I Write The Songs – Song of the Year (award went to the song's writer Bruce Johnston)
    * 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Special – Comedy, Variety or Music – The Barry Manilow Special
    * 1977 Special Tony Award – Barry Manilow on Broadway
    * 1978 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1979 Grammy – Copacabana Best Pop Male Vocal Performance
    * 1979 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1980 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 2002 Songwriter's Hall of Fame
    * 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barry Manilow: Music And Passion
    * 2007 RIAA – Plaque commemorating worldwide record sales of 75 million
    * 2009 Clio Awards Honorary award for prior work with commercial jingles
    *  ? Kentucky Colonel
    * 2009 Inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame

Selected TV and movie appearances
Barry Manilow at the premiere of The Rose (starring Bette Midler), November 7, 1979

    * Donny & Marie in 1977.

    * ABC special The Stars Salute Israel At 30 on May 8, 1978.

    * May 8, 1982, Goldie & Kids a special where he acted in skits and sang "One Voice" and "I Am Your Child" with hostess Goldie Hawn.

    * On September 17, 1987 he appeared in the star-studded CBS special We The People 200: The Constitutional Gala taped at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to debut his song "Let Freedom Ring" where President Ronald Reagan was in attendance.

    * On May 17, 1993, Manilow made a guest appearance on the CBS show Murphy Brown. On the show, Candice Bergen's title character had frequently made reference to her hatred of Manilow's music, but after she became a mother, Manilow appeared to sing her a sweet version of his tune "I Am Your Child," winning her over with the song about a parent's bond with a child. Later that year he appeared in England on Surprise! Surprise! with Cilla Black where he performed the new single he had recorded with Cilla of "You'll Never Walk Alone".

    * Guest appearance in a 2001 episode of Ally McBeal. He played both a hallucination of Ally's and himself on stage at the end of the show.

    * Played himself in a cameo in the 2002 dark comedy Unconditional Love starring Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett where "Can't Smile Without You" also played a key role in the plot.

    * On December 11, 2003, Manilow appeared on the NBC show Will & Grace as himself backstage between tour stops. The name of the episode is

"Fanilow" as in a fan of Manilow.

    * On April 20, 2004 – April 21, 2004 Manilow reunited with Debra Byrd his former backup singer who is now the vocal coach at American Idol when he appeared as a guest judge and worked with the top seven finalists for the popular FOX variety prize show where the season three contestants sang his songs as the theme for the week.

    * On December 8, 2004, he was a guest on the NBC special A Clay Aiken Christmas, hosted by the former Idol runner-up.

    * On March 21, 2006 – March 22, 2006 Manilow returned to American Idol in season five when 1950s music was the theme. He again helped the top eleven finalists to fine tune their performances and again sang on the results show.

    * In November 2006, he appeared on Logo's reality show Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising as himself in Las Vegas for a recording session with the twins.

    * On November 23, 2006, Manilow appeared live on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and performed the song "What the World Needs Now" on the television broadcast of the parade.

    * On December 2, 2006, Manilow was the celebrity guest and theme for the week on series three of The X Factor where he assisted the top four acts with their performances.

    * On December 12, 2006, appeared live at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance and performed a selection from his latest album.

    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 31, 2007 and on November 17, 2008.

    * He guest starred on Family Guy in "Back to the Woods" on February 17, 2008

    * He guest starred on Strictly Come Dancing on December 7, 2008

    * Barry narrated and wrote original music for the Ocean Spray Christmas special "Cranberry Christmas".
    * He appeared as a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (UK) on September 11, 2009.

    * On October 2, 2009 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

    * He appeared as a guest on The Jay Leno Show (US) on December 10, 2009.

    * He appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (US) on January 21, 2010. He mentioned that, before he became famous, he wrote advertising jingles, including two well-known jingles for Band-Aid and State Farm. Also, he commented on his diet of "forgetting to eat".

    * On February 6, 2010, he was a guest on The Jimmy Kimmel Show where Jimmy showed a photo of him in the 1970s and discussed his new album.

    * On December 11, 2010 he ended the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway singing four of his most known and popular songs. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

    * On June 15, 2011 he appeared on "Good Morning America" performing his new album, "Fifteen Minutes".
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj77/micksluvsmanilow/Manilow/1.jpg
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp1/kaneang/Barry-Manilow-pb031.jpg
Currently on tour here in the UK.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/17/11 at 7:34 pm


The person of the day...Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born June 17, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-selling charts simultaneously, a feat equalled only by Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded a string of Billboard hit singles and multi-platinum albums that have resulted in his being named Radio & Records number one Adult Contemporary artist and winning three straight American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist. Several well-known entertainers have given Manilow their "stamp of approval," including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s regarding Manilow, "He's next." In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, "Don't stop what you're doing, man. We're all inspired by you."

As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, such as Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. From February 2005 to December 30, 2009, he was the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, performing hundreds of shows before ending relationship with the hotel. From March 2010, he has headlined at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. He has sold more than 250 million records worldwide.
Manilow's well-known association with Bette Midler began at the Continental Baths in New York City. He accompanied her and other artists on the piano from 1970 to 1971, and Midler chose him to assist with the production of her first two albums, The Divine Miss M (1972) and Bette Midler (1973), and act as her musical director on The Divine Miss M tour. Manilow worked with Midler for four years, from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, Bell Records released Manilow's first album, Barry Manilow, which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song that Manilow had composed for the 1972 war drama Parades.

Among other songs on the album were "Cloudburst", and "Could It Be Magic." The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, Number 20", and provided Donna Summer with one of her major hits. (It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an up-beat disco version of the song. Take That have since performed Manilow's original version in their Beautiful World Tour.) When Manilow's record company, Bell Records, merged with other labels, new entity Arista Records formed. Under the auspices of its head Clive Davis many artists were dropped. Davis was reassured by the Manilow acquisition after seeing him perform as the opening act at a Dionne Warwick concert.

The partnership began to gain traction in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, Barry Manilow II, originally titled Sweetwater Jones on Bell Records and given its eventual title when reissued on Arista, which contained the breakthrough number-one hit, "Mandy." Manilow had not wanted to record "Mandy," which had originally been titled "Brandy" and was co-written and originally recorded by Scott English, but the song was included at the insistence of Davis. Following the success of Barry Manilow II, the first Bell Records album release was re-mixed and re-issued on Arista Records as Barry Manilow I. When Manilow went on his first tour, he included, in his show, what he called "A V.S.M.," or "A Very Strange Medley." As previously stated, this was a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written, composed, and/or sung. Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975, appearance on American Bandstand to promote the second album, a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, singing his original seasonal favorite "It's Just Another New Year's Eve," American Bandstand anniversary shows, American Music Awards performances, and his 1985 television movie Copacabana are among their projects together.

"Mandy" was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the rest of the 1970s to the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums Tryin' to Get the Feeling, This One's for You, Even Now, and One Voice. Despite being a songwriter in his own right, several of Manilow's commercial successes were with songs by others. Among hits he did not write or compose are "Mandy," "Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again" by David Pomerantz, "Weekend in New England" (by Randy Edelman), "Looks Like We Made It" by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings, "Can't Smile Without You" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again." Ironically, another one of his hits that Manilow did not write or compose himself was his number 1 "I Write The Songs" (by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys). According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, co-produce them with Ron Dante and arrange them.

Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of "Even Now," the first of many top 20 albums on that side of the Atlantic. This was quickly followed by Manilow Magic – The Best Of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits. On its initial release it was marketed with a large television campaign by the mail order label "Teledisc." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring and executive produced by Manilow. The Barry Manilow Special with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977 to an audience of 37 million. The breakthrough special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of "Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special." The Second Barry Manilow Special in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.
Manilow in 1979

Manilow's "Ready To Take a Chance Again" originated in the film Foul Play, which also featured "Copacabana," from his 4th studio album "Even Now." "Ready To Take A Chance Again" was nominated that year for the "Best Original Song" Oscar. Copacabana would later take the form of a musical television movie, starring Manilow, and three musical plays. On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California aired on HBO series Standing Room Only, which was the first pay-television show to pose a serious challenge to network primetime specials in the ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.

On May 23, 1979, ABC aired The Third Barry Manilow Special, with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography." Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's "comeback" album Dionne, her first to go platinum. He scored a top ten hit of his own in the fall of 1979 with the song "Ships" (written and composed by Ian Hunter, former lead singer of Mott the Hoople) from the album "One Voice."
1980s

The 1980s gave Manilow the adult contemporary chart-topping songs "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" (a Meat Loaf cover, written by Jim Steinman) and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Manilow continued having high radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow had five sold-out performances at Royal Albert Hall. In the United States, at Radio City Music Hall (1984) his 10-night run set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the then 52-year history of the venue. In 1980, Manilow's One Voice special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction".

Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's sold-out shows at England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled Barry (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at #15. The album contained "I Made It Through The Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle." The album If I Should Love Again followed in 1981, containing "The Old Songs," "Let's Hang On," and "Somewhere Down The Road." This was the first of his own albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante, who had co-produced all the previous albums. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh aired nationally on Showtime, and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his sold out Royal Albert Hall show was broadcast in England. The live album and video Barry Live in Britain also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.

On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by a conservative estimate of 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.

In 1984 Manilow released 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. That same year, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends, such as Sarah Vaughn and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records. There he released the pop album Manilow, and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese, among other languages. The Manilow album was a complete about face from the Paradise Cafe album, containing a number of tracks of a modern uptempo and synthesized quality. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.

In his only lead acting role, he portrayed Tony Starr in a 1985 CBS film based on Copacabana, alongside Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr and Joseph Bologna as Rico. Manilow penned all the songs for the movie, with lyrics provided by established collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, and released Copacabana: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album on RCA Records. In October 1986, Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, Tom Scott, and Charlie Fox, went to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with legislators, including lunch with then Senator Al Gore (D-TN). They were there to lobby against a copyright bill put forward by local television broadcasters that would mandate songwriter-producer source licensing of theme and incidental music on syndicated television show reruns and would disallow use of the blanket license now in effect. The songwriters said without the blanket license, artists would have to negotiate up front with producers individually, without knowing if a series would be a success. The license now pays according to a per-use formula. Manilow said that such a bill would act as a precedent for broadcasters to get rid of the blanket license entirely.

The following year, McGraw-Hill published his autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise, which had taken him about three years to complete. While promoting the work, Manilow defended his music in a telephone interview: "I live in laid-back L.A., but in my heart, I'm an energetic New Yorker and that's what has always come out of my music. I've always been surprised when the critics said I made wimpy little ballads". Manilow returned to Arista Records in 1987 with the release of Swing Street. The album, a mixture of traditional after-dark and techno jazz, contained "Brooklyn Blues," an autobiographical song for Manilow, and "Hey Mambo," an uptempo Latin style duet with Kid Creole, produced with the help of Emilio Estefan, Jr., founder of Miami Sound Machine.

In March 1988, CBS aired Manilow's Big Fun on Swing Street special. It featured songs and special guests from his Swing Street and 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe albums, including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Phyllis Hyman, Stanley Clarke, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott, and Uncle Festive, a band within Manilow's band at the time. The special was nominated for two Emmys in technical categories, and won in the category of "Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music program".

In 1988, he performed "Please Don't Be Scared" and "Mandy/Could It Be Magic" at That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88, a benefit concert for the Warwick Foundation headed by Dionne Warwick and shown on Showtime a few years later. In the 1988 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature Oliver & Company, Bette Midler's character sang a new Manilow composition called "Perfect Isn't Easy." The 1989 release of Barry Manilow, which contained "Please Don't Be Scared," "Keep Each Other Warm," and "The One That Got Away," ended Manilow's streak of albums of original self-written material (he neither wrote nor arranged any of the songs except for two) and began a phase of his recording career consisting of covers and compilations.

From April 18 to June 10, 1989, Manilow put on a show called Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, making 44 appearances at the Gershwin Theatre (also known as the Uris Theatre), where, by coincidence, he recorded Barry Manilow Live in 1976. A best-selling 90-minute video of the same show was released the following year as Barry Manilow Live On Broadway. The Showtime one-hour special Barry Manilow SRO on Broadway consisted of edited highlights from this video. Manilow followed this set of shows with a world tour of the Broadway show.
Discography
Main article: Barry Manilow discography
Awards

    * 1977 Grammy – I Write The Songs – Song of the Year (award went to the song's writer Bruce Johnston)
    * 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Special – Comedy, Variety or Music – The Barry Manilow Special
    * 1977 Special Tony Award – Barry Manilow on Broadway
    * 1978 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1979 Grammy – Copacabana Best Pop Male Vocal Performance
    * 1979 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 1980 American Music Awards – Best Pop/Rock Male Artist
    * 2002 Songwriter's Hall of Fame
    * 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barry Manilow: Music And Passion
    * 2007 RIAA – Plaque commemorating worldwide record sales of 75 million
    * 2009 Clio Awards Honorary award for prior work with commercial jingles
    *  ? Kentucky Colonel
    * 2009 Inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame

Selected TV and movie appearances
Barry Manilow at the premiere of The Rose (starring Bette Midler), November 7, 1979

    * Donny & Marie in 1977.

    * ABC special The Stars Salute Israel At 30 on May 8, 1978.

    * May 8, 1982, Goldie & Kids a special where he acted in skits and sang "One Voice" and "I Am Your Child" with hostess Goldie Hawn.

    * On September 17, 1987 he appeared in the star-studded CBS special We The People 200: The Constitutional Gala taped at the Philadelphia Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to debut his song "Let Freedom Ring" where President Ronald Reagan was in attendance.

    * On May 17, 1993, Manilow made a guest appearance on the CBS show Murphy Brown. On the show, Candice Bergen's title character had frequently made reference to her hatred of Manilow's music, but after she became a mother, Manilow appeared to sing her a sweet version of his tune "I Am Your Child," winning her over with the song about a parent's bond with a child. Later that year he appeared in England on Surprise! Surprise! with Cilla Black where he performed the new single he had recorded with Cilla of "You'll Never Walk Alone".

    * Guest appearance in a 2001 episode of Ally McBeal. He played both a hallucination of Ally's and himself on stage at the end of the show.

    * Played himself in a cameo in the 2002 dark comedy Unconditional Love starring Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett where "Can't Smile Without You" also played a key role in the plot.

    * On December 11, 2003, Manilow appeared on the NBC show Will & Grace as himself backstage between tour stops. The name of the episode is

"Fanilow" as in a fan of Manilow.

    * On April 20, 2004 – April 21, 2004 Manilow reunited with Debra Byrd his former backup singer who is now the vocal coach at American Idol when he appeared as a guest judge and worked with the top seven finalists for the popular FOX variety prize show where the season three contestants sang his songs as the theme for the week.

    * On December 8, 2004, he was a guest on the NBC special A Clay Aiken Christmas, hosted by the former Idol runner-up.

    * On March 21, 2006 – March 22, 2006 Manilow returned to American Idol in season five when 1950s music was the theme. He again helped the top eleven finalists to fine tune their performances and again sang on the results show.

    * In November 2006, he appeared on Logo's reality show Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising as himself in Las Vegas for a recording session with the twins.

    * On November 23, 2006, Manilow appeared live on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and performed the song "What the World Needs Now" on the television broadcast of the parade.

    * On December 2, 2006, Manilow was the celebrity guest and theme for the week on series three of The X Factor where he assisted the top four acts with their performances.

    * On December 12, 2006, appeared live at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance and performed a selection from his latest album.

    * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 31, 2007 and on November 17, 2008.

    * He guest starred on Family Guy in "Back to the Woods" on February 17, 2008

    * He guest starred on Strictly Come Dancing on December 7, 2008

    * Barry narrated and wrote original music for the Ocean Spray Christmas special "Cranberry Christmas".
    * He appeared as a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (UK) on September 11, 2009.

    * On October 2, 2009 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

    * He appeared as a guest on The Jay Leno Show (US) on December 10, 2009.

    * He appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (US) on January 21, 2010. He mentioned that, before he became famous, he wrote advertising jingles, including two well-known jingles for Band-Aid and State Farm. Also, he commented on his diet of "forgetting to eat".

    * On February 6, 2010, he was a guest on The Jimmy Kimmel Show where Jimmy showed a photo of him in the 1970s and discussed his new album.

    * On December 11, 2010 he ended the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway singing four of his most known and popular songs. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

    * On June 15, 2011 he appeared on "Good Morning America" performing his new album, "Fifteen Minutes".
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj77/micksluvsmanilow/Manilow/1.jpg
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp1/kaneang/Barry-Manilow-pb031.jpg


I love his music. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 06/18/11 at 1:03 am



Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!



Cat


;D ;D ;D  I always loved that line!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/18/11 at 7:12 am

The person of the day...Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), McCartney is the most commercially successful songwriter in the history of popular music, according to Guinness World Records.

McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.

BBC News Online readers named McCartney the "greatest composer of the millennium", and BBC News cites his Beatles song "Yesterday" as the most covered song in the history of recorded music—by over 2,200 artists—and since its 1965 release, has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio according to the BBC. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. Based on the 93 weeks his compositions have spent at the top spot of the UK chart, and 24 number one singles to his credit, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history. As a performer or songwriter, McCartney was responsible for 32 number one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified albums in the US alone.

McCartney has composed film scores, classical and electronic music, released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist, and has taken part in projects to help international charities. He is an advocate for animal rights, for vegetarianism, and for music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt. He is a keen football fan, supporting both Everton and Liverpool football clubs. His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is one of the UK's wealthiest people, with an estimated fortune of £475 million in 2010.
At the age of 15, McCartney met John Lennon and The Quarrymen at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton on 6 July 1957. He formed a close working relationship with Lennon and they collaborated writing many songs. Harrison joined the group in early 1958 as lead guitarist, followed in early 1960 by Lennon's art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including "Johnny and the Moondogs" and "The Silver Beetles", playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle. They finally changed the name of the group to "The Beatles" in mid-August 1960 and recruited Pete Best at short-notice to become their drummer for an imminent engagement in Hamburg.
1960–1970: The Beatles
A black-and-white image of three men playing guitar. They are wearing grey buttoned-up suit jackets with ties underneath. An audience is visible behind them on the left.
McCartney (left) in 1964 with Beatles bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon

From August 1960, The Beatles were booked by Allan Williams, to perform at a club in Hamburg. During extended stays over the next two years, The Beatles performed as a resident group in a number of Hamburg clubs. On returns to Liverpool they played at the Cavern club. Prior to the end of the residency, Sutcliffe left the band, so McCartney, reluctantly, became The Beatles' bass player. The Beatles recorded their first published musical material in Hamburg, performing as the backing group for Tony Sheridan on the single "My Bonnie". This recording later brought the Beatles to the attention of a key figure in their subsequent development and commercial success, Brian Epstein, who became their next manager. Epstein eventually negotiated a record contract for the group with Parlophone in May 1962. After replacing Best with Ringo Starr on drums, The Beatles became popular in the UK in 1963 and in the US in 1964. In 1965, they were each appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). After performing concerts, plays, and tours almost non-stop for a period of nearly four years, and giving more than one thousand four hundred live performances internationally, The Beatles gave their last commercial concert at the end of their 1966 US tour. They continued to work in the recording studio from 1966 until their break-up in 1970. In the eight years from 1962 to 1970, the group had released twenty-four UK singles and twelve studio albums, often released in different configurations in the USA and other countries (see discography).
Since 1970
Coloured image of a long-haired McCartney in the 70s playing a guitar.
McCartney during a Wings concert, 1976

After the break-up of The Beatles, McCartney continued his musical career, in solo work as well as in collaborations with other musicians. After releasing his solo album McCartney in 1970, he worked with Linda McCartney to record the album Ram in 1971. Later the same year, the pair were joined by guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell to form the group Wings, which was active between 1971 and 1981 and released numerous successful singles and albums (see discography). McCartney also collaborated with a number of other popular artists including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Eric Stewart, and Elvis Costello. In 1985, McCartney played "Let It Be" at the Live Aid concert in London, backed by Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend, David Bowie, and Alison Moyet. The 1990s saw McCartney venture into orchestral music, and in 1991 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by McCartney to celebrate its sesquicentennial.

He collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio; involving the opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess, Jerry Hadley and Willard White, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral. The Prince of Wales later honoured McCartney as a Fellow of The Royal College of Music and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (2008). Other forays into classical music included Standing Stone (1997), Working Classical (1999), and Ecce Cor Meum (2006). It was announced in the 1997 New Year Honours that McCartney was to be knighted for services to music, becoming Sir Paul McCartney. In 1999, McCartney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and in May 2000, he was awarded a Fellowship by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. The 1990s also saw McCartney, Harrison, and Starr working together on Apple's The Beatles Anthology documentary series.

Having witnessed the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks from the JFK airport tarmac, McCartney took a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City. In November 2002, on the first anniversary of George Harrison's death, McCartney performed at the Concert for George. He has also participated in the National Football League's Super Bowl, performing in the pre-game show for Super Bowl XXXVI and headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX.
McCartney and Ringo Starr promoting The Beatles: Rock Band in 2009.
Black-and-white image of McCartney, in his sixties, holding an electric bass. He wears a black buttoned-up suit jacket with black pants.
McCartney performing in England in 2010

McCartney has continued to work in the realms of popular and classical music, touring the world and performing at a large number of concerts and events; on more than one occasion he has performed again with Ringo Starr. In 2008, he received a BRIT award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and an honorary degree, Doctor of Music, from Yale University. The same year, he performed at a concert in Liverpool to celebrate the city's year as European Capital of Culture. In 2009, he received two nominations for the 51st annual Grammy awards, while in October of the same year he was named songwriter of the year at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards. On 15 July 2009, more than 45 years after The Beatles first appeared on American television on The Ed Sullivan Show, McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater and performed atop the marquee of Late Show with David Letterman. McCartney was portrayed in the 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about Lennon's teenage years, by Thomas Sangster.

On 2 June 2010, McCartney was honoured by Barack Obama with the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music in a live show for the White House with performances by Stevie Wonder, Lang Lang and many others.

McCartney's enduring popularity has helped him schedule performances in new venues. He played three sold out concerts at newly-built Citi Field in Queens, New York (built to replace the Shea Stadium) in July 2009. On 18 August 2010, McCartney opened the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

McCartney has been touring since 2001 with guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, Paul "Wix" Wickens on keyboards and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr.

There are plans for an upcoming Paul McCartney tribute album with recordings of McCartney songs by Kiss, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, B.B. King and others.
McCartney is listed in The Guinness Book Of Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold discs, "Sir Paul McCartney became the Most Successful Songwriter who has written/co written 188 charted records, of which 91 reached the Top 10 and 33 made it to No.1 totalling 1,662 weeks on the chart (up to the beginning of 2008)."

In the US, McCartney has achieved thirty-two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including twenty-one with The Beatles, one as a co-writer on Elton John's cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", nine solo, with Wings or other collaborators, and one as the composer of "A World Without Love", a number one single for Peter and Gordon. In the UK, McCartney has been involved in more number-one singles than any other artist under a variety of credits, although Elvis Presley has achieved more as a solo artist. McCartney has twenty four number-one singles in the UK, including seventeen with the Beatles, one solo, and one each with Wings, Stevie Wonder, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Band Aid 20 and one with "The Christians et all". McCartney is the only artist to reach the UK number one as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder), trio ("Mull of Kintyre", Wings), quartet ("She Loves You", The Beatles), quintet ("Get Back", The Beatles with Billy Preston), and as part of a musical ensemble for charity (Ferry Aid).

McCartney was voted the "Greatest Composer of the Millennium" by BBC News Online readers and McCartney's song "Yesterday" is thought to be the most covered song in history with more than 2,200 recorded versions and according to the BBC, "The track is the only one by a UK writer to have been aired more than seven million times on American TV and radio and is third in the all-time list. Sir Paul McCartney's Yesterday is the most played song by a British writer this century in the US." After its 1977 release, the Wings single "Mull of Kintyre" became the highest-selling record in British chart history, and remained so until 1984. (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so, in 1984, was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in which McCartney was a participant.)

On 2 July 2005, he was involved with the fastest-released single in history. His performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 was released only 45 minutes after it was performed, before the end of the concert. The single reached number six on the Billboard charts, just hours after the single's release, and hit number one on numerous online download charts across the world. McCartney played for the largest stadium audience in history when 184,000 people paid to see him perform at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 21 April 1990.

McCartney's scheduled concert in St Petersburg, Russia was his 3,000th concert and took place in front of 60,000 fans in Russia, on 20 June 2004. Over his career, McCartney has played 2,523 gigs with The Beatles, 140 with Wings, and 325 as a solo artist. Only his second concert in Russia, with the first just the year before on Moscow's Red Square as the former Communist U.S.S.R. had previously banned music from The Beatles as a "corrupting influence", McCartney hired 3 jets, at a reported cost of $36,000 (€29,800) (£28,000), to spray dry ice in the clouds above Saint Petersburg's Winter Palace Square in a successful attempt to prevent rain.

The day McCartney flew into the former Soviet country, he celebrated his 62nd birthday, and after the concert, according to RIA Novosti news agency, he received a phone call from a fan; then-President Vladimir Putin, who telephoned him after the concert to wish him a happy birthday.
McCartney receiving the Gershwin Award from President Barack Obama in the White House, June 2010

In the concert programme for his 1989 world tour, McCartney wrote that Lennon received all the credit for being the avant-garde Beatle, and McCartney was known as "baby-faced", which he disagreed with. People also assumed that Lennon was the "hard-edged one", and McCartney was the "soft-edged" Beatle, although McCartney admitted to "bossing Lennon around." Linda McCartney said that McCartney had a "hard-edge"—and not just on the surface—which she knew about after all the years she had spent living with him. McCartney seemed to confirm this edge when he commented that he sometimes meditates, which he said is better than "sleeping, eating, or shouting at someone".

The minor planet 4148, discovered in 1983, was named "McCartney" in his honour.

On 18 June 2006, McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, a milestone that was the subject of one of the first songs he ever wrote, at the age of sixteen, The Beatles' song "When I'm Sixty-Four". Paul Vallely noted in The Independent:
“ "Paul McCartney's 64th birthday is not merely a personal event. It is a cultural milestone for a generation. Such is the nature of celebrity, McCartney is one of those people who has represented the hopes and aspirations of those born in the baby-boom era, which had its awakening in the Sixties."
Discography
Main articles: Paul McCartney discography, Wings discography, and The Beatles discography
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l533/Your_Favorite_Lover/Fun%20Stuff/Music%20Groups/PaulMcCartney.png
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s191/Atravesdevenezuela/paul-mccartney.jpg



* You can read more in Wikipedia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/18/11 at 7:36 pm

Say Say Say is my favorite,corny video but all time good party music. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/19/11 at 7:29 am

The person of the day...Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player,songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the rock band Heart.
Wilson was born in San Diego, California. Her father was a colonel in the Marine Corps, and she moved frequently. Her family eventually settled in Bellevue, then a suburb (and now a city) east of Seattle, Washington. Shy because of a stutter, Wilson sought fulfillment in music. In the early 1970s she joined a local band, White Heart, which changed its name to Hocus Pocus, and then in 1974, to Heart.

During the 1970s, Ann Wilson was in a relationship with Michael Fisher, the manager of the band, while her younger sister Nancy was involved with lead guitarist Roger Fisher, Michael's younger brother. Both couples controlled the band. In 1979, both relationships ended; Ann stated that Michael had fallen in love with another woman and they parted. The song "Magic Man" was written about Michael and contains autobiographical lyrics about the beginning of their relationship.

Ann adopted her daughter Marie in 1991 and her son Dustin in 1998.

As a child, Ann was teased for being overweight. She revealed that in the 1970s she would starve herself to stay thin. When Heart created a comeback in the mid-1980s, Ann had gained significant weight. Fearing it would compromise the band's image, record company executives and band members began pressuring her to lose weight. In music videos, camera angles and clothes were often used to minimize her girth, and more focus was put on her sister Nancy. Ann stated she began suffering from stress-related panic attacks due to the negative publicity surrounding her obesity. She underwent a weight-loss surgery called "adjustable gastric band" in January 2002 after what she calls "a lifelong battle" with her weight.
Recording career

In 1974 Ann's younger sister Nancy joined Heart, and the band moved to Canada. Heart recorded their first album Dreamboat Annie in Vancouver in 1975; it was released in the United States in 1976. In 1977 Little Queen was released, and in 1978, Dog & Butterfly. Ann also sang the duet "Almost Paradise" with Mike Reno in the movie Footloose from 1984 which reached number seven on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1986 she released a solo single from the movie "The Golden Child" called "The Best Man in the World" which reached number sixty-one in the U.S. She also had a hit with "Surrender to Me" in 1988/1989, a duet with Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander, taken from the film Tequila Sunrise which reached number six in the U.S. singles chart.

In 1992 Ann appeared on Alice in Chains' EP Sap; she did vocals for "Brother", "Am I Inside" and "Love Song". In 1993, Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley contributed to vocals on "Ring Them Bells," a Bob Dylan cover from Heart's album Desire Walks On. In addition, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and touring guitarist Scott Olson appeared on Heart's 2003 release Alive in Seattle.

Ann and Nancy started a recording studio, Bad Animals, in Seattle in the mid-1990s. They formed a side band, The Lovemongers, which performed "The Battle of Evermore" on the 1992 soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe (Nancy's then husband) movie Singles, and later released a four-song EP. The Lovemongers' debut album Whirlygig was released in 1997.
Solo career

In 2006 Ann began recording her first solo album, Hope & Glory, produced by Ben Mink, and released by the Rounder (Zoe) Music Group on September 11, 2007. Hope & Glory features guest appearances from Elton John, k.d. lang, Alison Krauss, Gretchen Wilson, Shawn Colvin, Rufus Wainwright, Wynonna Judd and Deana Carter. Ann's sister, Nancy, also contributed. Four singles were released from the project, "Little Problems, Little Lies", "Isolation" and "Immigrant Song".

The Hope & Glory version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is available on Ann's official MySpace page, and charted as "the #9 most podcasted song of 2007" on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. Ann's powerful, piercing voice led many to refer to her as "the female Robert Plant" (Led Zeppelin's lead vocalist).

Ann joined producer Alan Parsons in the 2001 live tribute tour to Beatles music called A Walk Down Abbey Road.

In June 2007 she sang with the group Sed Nove and Ian Gillan in the Festival of Music in Paris.
http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz230/roger_paul_fan/general/Ann_Wilson_70s.jpg
http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr324/Thewholetruth1/musicians/ann_wilson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 06/19/11 at 9:03 am

On the plane down here, I was watching a Heart concert.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/19/11 at 1:33 pm


The person of the day...Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player,songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the rock band Heart.
Wilson was born in San Diego, California. Her father was a colonel in the Marine Corps, and she moved frequently. Her family eventually settled in Bellevue, then a suburb (and now a city) east of Seattle, Washington. Shy because of a stutter, Wilson sought fulfillment in music. In the early 1970s she joined a local band, White Heart, which changed its name to Hocus Pocus, and then in 1974, to Heart.

During the 1970s, Ann Wilson was in a relationship with Michael Fisher, the manager of the band, while her younger sister Nancy was involved with lead guitarist Roger Fisher, Michael's younger brother. Both couples controlled the band. In 1979, both relationships ended; Ann stated that Michael had fallen in love with another woman and they parted. The song "Magic Man" was written about Michael and contains autobiographical lyrics about the beginning of their relationship.

Ann adopted her daughter Marie in 1991 and her son Dustin in 1998.

As a child, Ann was teased for being overweight. She revealed that in the 1970s she would starve herself to stay thin. When Heart created a comeback in the mid-1980s, Ann had gained significant weight. Fearing it would compromise the band's image, record company executives and band members began pressuring her to lose weight. In music videos, camera angles and clothes were often used to minimize her girth, and more focus was put on her sister Nancy. Ann stated she began suffering from stress-related panic attacks due to the negative publicity surrounding her obesity. She underwent a weight-loss surgery called "adjustable gastric band" in January 2002 after what she calls "a lifelong battle" with her weight.
Recording career

In 1974 Ann's younger sister Nancy joined Heart, and the band moved to Canada. Heart recorded their first album Dreamboat Annie in Vancouver in 1975; it was released in the United States in 1976. In 1977 Little Queen was released, and in 1978, Dog & Butterfly. Ann also sang the duet "Almost Paradise" with Mike Reno in the movie Footloose from 1984 which reached number seven on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1986 she released a solo single from the movie "The Golden Child" called "The Best Man in the World" which reached number sixty-one in the U.S. She also had a hit with "Surrender to Me" in 1988/1989, a duet with Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander, taken from the film Tequila Sunrise which reached number six in the U.S. singles chart.

In 1992 Ann appeared on Alice in Chains' EP Sap; she did vocals for "Brother", "Am I Inside" and "Love Song". In 1993, Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley contributed to vocals on "Ring Them Bells," a Bob Dylan cover from Heart's album Desire Walks On. In addition, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and touring guitarist Scott Olson appeared on Heart's 2003 release Alive in Seattle.

Ann and Nancy started a recording studio, Bad Animals, in Seattle in the mid-1990s. They formed a side band, The Lovemongers, which performed "The Battle of Evermore" on the 1992 soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe (Nancy's then husband) movie Singles, and later released a four-song EP. The Lovemongers' debut album Whirlygig was released in 1997.
Solo career

In 2006 Ann began recording her first solo album, Hope & Glory, produced by Ben Mink, and released by the Rounder (Zoe) Music Group on September 11, 2007. Hope & Glory features guest appearances from Elton John, k.d. lang, Alison Krauss, Gretchen Wilson, Shawn Colvin, Rufus Wainwright, Wynonna Judd and Deana Carter. Ann's sister, Nancy, also contributed. Four singles were released from the project, "Little Problems, Little Lies", "Isolation" and "Immigrant Song".

The Hope & Glory version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is available on Ann's official MySpace page, and charted as "the #9 most podcasted song of 2007" on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. Ann's powerful, piercing voice led many to refer to her as "the female Robert Plant" (Led Zeppelin's lead vocalist).

Ann joined producer Alan Parsons in the 2001 live tribute tour to Beatles music called A Walk Down Abbey Road.

In June 2007 she sang with the group Sed Nove and Ian Gillan in the Festival of Music in Paris.
http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz230/roger_paul_fan/general/Ann_Wilson_70s.jpg
http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr324/Thewholetruth1/musicians/ann_wilson.jpg


Alone is one of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/11 at 5:13 am


On the plane down here, I was watching a Heart concert.



Cat

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/11 at 5:14 am


Alone is one of my favorites.

Mine too :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/20/11 at 5:20 am

The person of the day...Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Following several films over the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1992), and Batman Forever (1995). Kidman followed this with other successful films in the late 1990s, it was her performance in the musical, Moulin Rouge! (2001) which earned Kidman her second Golden Globe Award and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as Virginia Woolf the following year in the drama film The Hours received critical acclaim and earned Kidman the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Kidman's other successful films include Cold Mountain (2003), The Interpreter (2005), Happy Feet (2006), and Australia (2008). Her performance in 2010's Rabbit Hole (which she also produced) earned Kidman further accolades including a subsequent Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNIFEM since 2006. Kidman's work has earned her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA, and an Academy Award. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honour, and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry. As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.
In 1995, Kidman appeared in her highest-grossing film as of 2011, playing Dr. Chase Meridian, the damsel in distress, in the superhero film Batman Forever, opposite Val Kilmer as the film's title character. That same year Kidman appeared in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed To Die For, earning praise for her portrayal of murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto.

Kidman next appeared in The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the novel the same name, alongside, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker. The following year she appeared in the action-thriller The Peacemaker (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The film received mixed reviews but grossed some $110,000,000 worldwide. That same year she appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in the poorly received fantasy Practical Magic as a modern-day witch. Kidman returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play The Blue Room, which opened in London.

In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a married couple in Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of Stanley Kubrick. The film opened to generally positive reviews but was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of its sex scenes. The film received further attention following Kubrick's death shortly after its release. After brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise, Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama Birthday Girl.

In 2001, Kidman appeared in two of her most critically and commercially successful films. In the first she played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann's musical Moulin Rouge!, opposite Ewan McGregor. In her first singing role, Kidman's musical numbers and performance earned her critical praise. Subsequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as other acting awards. She also received her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress. Also in 2001, she had a well-received starring role in Alejandro Amenábar's Spanish horror film The Others as Grace Stewart. Grossing over $210,947,037 worldwide, the film also earned several Goya Awards award nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Kidman. Additionally she received her second BAFTA and fifth Golden Globe nominations.

In 2003, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry's The Hours, which also featured Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman wore prosthetics that were applied to her nose making her almost unrecognisable playing the author during her time in 1920s England, and her bouts with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The film earned positive notices and several nominations, including for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The New York Times wrote that , "Kidman tunnels like a ferret into the soul of a woman besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness. As you watch her wrestle with the demon of depression, it is as if its torment has never been shown on the screen before. Directing her desperate, furious stare into the void, her eyes not really focusing, Ms. Kidman, in a performance of astounding bravery, evokes the savage inner war waged by a brilliant mind against a system of faulty wiring that transmits a searing, crazy static into her brain". Kidman won numerous critics' awards, including her first BAFTA, third Golden Globe, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. As the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award, Kidman made a teary acceptance speech about the importance of art, even during times of war, saying, "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."

Following her Oscar win, Kidman appeared in three very different films in 2003. The first, a leading role in Dogville, by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. The second was an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Human Stain, opposite Anthony Hopkins. Her third film, Anthony Minghella's war drama Cold Mountain, was a critical and commercial success. Kidman appeared opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, playing Southerner Ada Monroe, who is in love with Law's character and separated by the Civil War. TIME magazine wrote, "Kidman takes strength from Ada's plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight". The film garnered several award nominations and wins for its actors; Kidman received her sixth Golden Globe nomination at the 61st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress.
2004–2008

In 2004 she appeared in the film, Birth, which received controversy over a scene in which Kidman shares a bath with her co-star, 10-year old Cameron Bright. At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Kidman addressed the controversy saying, "It wasn't that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love". Though the film received negative to mixed reviews, Kidman earned her seventh Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That same year she appeared in the black comedy-science-fiction film The Stepford Wives, a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. Kidman appeared in the lead role as Joanna Eberhart, a successful producer. The film, directed by Frank Oz, was critically panned and a commercial failure. The following year, Kidman appeared opposite Sean Penn in the Sydney Pollack thriller The Interpreter, playing UN translator Silvia Broome. Also that year she starred in Bewitched, based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, opposite Will Ferrell. Both Kidman and Ferrell earned that year's Razzie Award for "Worst Screen Couple". Neither film fared well in the United States, with box office sales falling well short of the production costs, but both films fared well internationally.

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No. 5 perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann, to promote the fragrance during the holiday seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. The three-minute commercial produced for Chanel No. 5 made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$12million for the three-minute advert. During this time, Kidman was also listed as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 Forbes Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004–2005. On People magazine's list of 2005's highest paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts, with US$16–17 million per-film price tag. Nintendo in 2007 announced that Kidman would be the new face of Nintendo's advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.

Kidman portrayed photographer Diane Arbus in the biography Fur (2006), opposite Robert Downey Jr.. Though the film was released to mixed reviews, both Kidman and Downey Jr. received praise for their performances. She also lent her voice to the animated film Happy Feet (2006), which grossed over US$384 million worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science-fiction movie The Invasion directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, a remake of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers that proved a critical and commercial failure. She also played opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding, released to positive reviews and earning Kidman a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She then starred in the commercially successful fantasy-adventure, The Golden Compass (2007), playing the villainous Marisa Coulter. In 2008, she reunited with Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann in the Australian period film Australia, set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman played opposite Hugh Jackman as an Englishwoman feeling overwhelmed by the continent. Despite the film's mixed reviews, the acting was praised and the movie was a box office success worldwide. Kidman was originally set to star in the post-World War II German drama, The Reader, working with previous collaborators Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, but due to her pregnancy prior to filming she had to back out. The role went to Kate Winslet, who ultimately won the Oscar for Best Actress, which Kidman presented to her during the 81st Academy Awards.
2009–present

Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical Nine, portraying the Federico Fellini-like character's muse, Claudia Jenssen. She was featured alongside fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman's, whose screen time was brief compared to the other actresses, performed the musical number "Unusual Way" alongside Day-Lewis. Although the film was released to mixed reviews, it received several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Cast. Also in 2009, Kidman was the face of an international Schweppes advertisement. In 2010, she starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The five-minute video was broadcast at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

TV Guide reported in 2008 that Kidman will star in The Danish Girl, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, playing Einar Wegener, the world's first postoperative transsexual. Screen Daily reported that shooting would begin in Germany in July 2011. However the project has been delayed following the exit of the director, Lasse Hallström and Kidman's co-star Rachel Weisz. In 2009, Variety said that she would produce and star in a film adaptation of the Chris Cleave novel Little Bee, in association with BBC Films.

In June 2010, TV Guide announced that Kidman and Clive Owen will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman, began shooting in March 2011, with an air date scheduled for 2012. She also stars alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher's action-thriller Trespass, with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage.

On 17 September 2010, ContactMusic.com said Kidman will return to Broadway in 2011 to portray Alexandra Del Lago in David Cromer's revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, with Scott Rudin producing and James Franco playing Chance Wayne. In February 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Kidman is in talks to join the cast of Park Chan Wook's Stoker. In May 2011 it was reported that Kidman would star and produce in Spectre, a supernatural thriller directed by James Wan. The film closed major territory deals at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Singing

Not a singer before Moulin Rouge!, Kidman had well-received vocal performances in the film. Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on "Come What May" peaked at No.27 in the UK Singles Chart. Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of Williams' swing covers album Swing When You're Winning. It peaked at No.8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at No.1 for three weeks in the UK.

In 2006, while voicing a role in the animated movie Happy Feet, she provided vocals for Norma Jean's "heartsong", a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince. Kidman sang in Rob Marshall's movie musical Nine.
Personal life

Kidman has been married twice, first to actor Tom Cruise, and then to singer Keith Urban.
Kidman's movies have grossed more than $2 billion (US), with 17 movies making more than $100 million.
Feature films and television Year↓ Title↓ Role Notes
1983 BMX Bandits Judy
1983 Bush Christmas Helen
1983 Five Mile Creek Annie TV series
1983 Skin Deep Sheena Henderson TV movie
1983 Chase Through the Night Petra TV movie
1984 Matthew and Son Bridget Elliot TV movie
1984 The Wacky World of Wills & Burke Julia Matthews
1984 Country Practice, AA Country Practice Simone Jenkins TV series, 2 episodes (4x43-44)
1985 Archer's Adventure Catherine TV movie
1985 Winners Carol Trig TV series – episode 1
1986 Windrider Jade
1987 Watch the Shadows Dance Amy Gabriel
1987 Bit Part, TheThe Bit Part Mary McAllister
1987 Room to Move Carol Trig TV miniseries
1987 Australian in Rome, AnAn Australian in Rome Jill TV movie
1987 Vietnam Megan Goddard TV mini-series
1988 Emerald City Helen
1989 Dead Calm Rae Ingram
1989 Bangkok Hilton Katrina Stanton TV mini-series
1990 Days of Thunder Dr. Claire Lewicki
1991 Flirting Nicola
1991 Billy Bathgate Drew Preston Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1992 Far and Away Shannon Christie
1993 Malice Tracy Kennsinger
1993 My Life Gail Jones
1995 To Die For Suzanne Stone Maretto Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1995 Batman Forever Dr. Chase Meridian Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1996 Portrait of a Lady, TheThe Portrait of a Lady Isabel Archer
1996 Shine Woman in bar uncredited cameo
1996 Leading Man, TheThe Leading Man Academy Awards Presenter
1997 Peacemaker, TheThe Peacemaker Dr. Julia Kelly
1998 Practical Magic Gillian Owens
1999 Eyes Wide Shut Alice Harford
2001 Moulin Rouge! Satine Empire Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for The Others)
MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence (shared with Ewan McGregor)
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Female Actor
Nominated—IF Award for Best Actress
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Ewan McGregor)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Others, TheThe Others Grace Stewart Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Moulin Rouge!)
Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Goya Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
2001 Birthday Girl Sophia/Nadia
2002 Panic Room Stephen's girlfriend, on the phone
2002 Hours, TheThe Hours Virginia Woolf Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival For Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 Dogville Grace Margaret Mulligan Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated—Bodil Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast
2003 Human Stain, TheThe Human Stain Faunia Farley
2003 Cold Mountain Ada Monroe Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
2004 Stepford Wives, TheThe Stepford Wives Joanna Eberhart
2004 Birth Anna Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
2005 Interpreter, TheThe Interpreter Silvia Broome
2005 Bewitched Isabel Bigelow/Samantha Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Will Ferrell)
2006 Fur Diane Arbus
2006 Happy Feet Norma Jean voice
2007 Invasion, TheThe Invasion Dr. Carol Bennell
2007 Margot at the Wedding Margot Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Gotham Awards For Best Ensemble Cast
2007 Golden Compass, TheThe Golden Compass Marisa Coulter
2008 Australia Lady Sarah Ashley
2009 Nine Claudia Jenssen Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010 Rabbit Hole Becca Corbett Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2011 Just Go With It Devlin Adams
2011 Trespass Sarah Post-production
2011 Monte Carlo – Producer
2012 Hemingway & Gellhorn Martha Gellhorn post-production
Awards
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Nicole Kidman

In 2003, Kidman received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to her 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the following critics' groups or award-granting organisations: the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes), the Australian Film Institute, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Empire Awards, Golden Satellite Awards, Hollywood Film Festival, London Critics Circle, Russian Guild of Film Critics, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. In 2003, Kidman was given the American Cinematheque Award. She also received recognition from the National Association of Theatre Owners at the ShoWest Convention in 1992 as the Female Star of Tomorrow and in 2002 for a Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film.
Government honours

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, for "service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally." However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it was 13 April 2007 that she was presented with the honour. It was presented by Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/hilihili/nicole_kidman.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg12/nixybixy/nicole_kidman.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/20/11 at 6:30 am


Mine too :)


and "Who Do You Run" To as well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/20/11 at 6:32 am


The person of the day...Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Following several films over the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1992), and Batman Forever (1995). Kidman followed this with other successful films in the late 1990s, it was her performance in the musical, Moulin Rouge! (2001) which earned Kidman her second Golden Globe Award and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as Virginia Woolf the following year in the drama film The Hours received critical acclaim and earned Kidman the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Kidman's other successful films include Cold Mountain (2003), The Interpreter (2005), Happy Feet (2006), and Australia (2008). Her performance in 2010's Rabbit Hole (which she also produced) earned Kidman further accolades including a subsequent Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNIFEM since 2006. Kidman's work has earned her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA, and an Academy Award. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honour, and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry. As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.
In 1995, Kidman appeared in her highest-grossing film as of 2011, playing Dr. Chase Meridian, the damsel in distress, in the superhero film Batman Forever, opposite Val Kilmer as the film's title character. That same year Kidman appeared in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed To Die For, earning praise for her portrayal of murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto.

Kidman next appeared in The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the novel the same name, alongside, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker. The following year she appeared in the action-thriller The Peacemaker (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The film received mixed reviews but grossed some $110,000,000 worldwide. That same year she appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in the poorly received fantasy Practical Magic as a modern-day witch. Kidman returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play The Blue Room, which opened in London.

In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a married couple in Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of Stanley Kubrick. The film opened to generally positive reviews but was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of its sex scenes. The film received further attention following Kubrick's death shortly after its release. After brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise, Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama Birthday Girl.

In 2001, Kidman appeared in two of her most critically and commercially successful films. In the first she played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann's musical Moulin Rouge!, opposite Ewan McGregor. In her first singing role, Kidman's musical numbers and performance earned her critical praise. Subsequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as other acting awards. She also received her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress. Also in 2001, she had a well-received starring role in Alejandro Amenábar's Spanish horror film The Others as Grace Stewart. Grossing over $210,947,037 worldwide, the film also earned several Goya Awards award nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Kidman. Additionally she received her second BAFTA and fifth Golden Globe nominations.

In 2003, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry's The Hours, which also featured Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman wore prosthetics that were applied to her nose making her almost unrecognisable playing the author during her time in 1920s England, and her bouts with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The film earned positive notices and several nominations, including for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The New York Times wrote that , "Kidman tunnels like a ferret into the soul of a woman besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness. As you watch her wrestle with the demon of depression, it is as if its torment has never been shown on the screen before. Directing her desperate, furious stare into the void, her eyes not really focusing, Ms. Kidman, in a performance of astounding bravery, evokes the savage inner war waged by a brilliant mind against a system of faulty wiring that transmits a searing, crazy static into her brain". Kidman won numerous critics' awards, including her first BAFTA, third Golden Globe, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. As the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award, Kidman made a teary acceptance speech about the importance of art, even during times of war, saying, "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."

Following her Oscar win, Kidman appeared in three very different films in 2003. The first, a leading role in Dogville, by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. The second was an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Human Stain, opposite Anthony Hopkins. Her third film, Anthony Minghella's war drama Cold Mountain, was a critical and commercial success. Kidman appeared opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, playing Southerner Ada Monroe, who is in love with Law's character and separated by the Civil War. TIME magazine wrote, "Kidman takes strength from Ada's plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight". The film garnered several award nominations and wins for its actors; Kidman received her sixth Golden Globe nomination at the 61st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress.
2004–2008

In 2004 she appeared in the film, Birth, which received controversy over a scene in which Kidman shares a bath with her co-star, 10-year old Cameron Bright. At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Kidman addressed the controversy saying, "It wasn't that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love". Though the film received negative to mixed reviews, Kidman earned her seventh Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That same year she appeared in the black comedy-science-fiction film The Stepford Wives, a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. Kidman appeared in the lead role as Joanna Eberhart, a successful producer. The film, directed by Frank Oz, was critically panned and a commercial failure. The following year, Kidman appeared opposite Sean Penn in the Sydney Pollack thriller The Interpreter, playing UN translator Silvia Broome. Also that year she starred in Bewitched, based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, opposite Will Ferrell. Both Kidman and Ferrell earned that year's Razzie Award for "Worst Screen Couple". Neither film fared well in the United States, with box office sales falling well short of the production costs, but both films fared well internationally.

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No. 5 perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann, to promote the fragrance during the holiday seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. The three-minute commercial produced for Chanel No. 5 made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$12million for the three-minute advert. During this time, Kidman was also listed as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 Forbes Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004–2005. On People magazine's list of 2005's highest paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts, with US$16–17 million per-film price tag. Nintendo in 2007 announced that Kidman would be the new face of Nintendo's advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.

Kidman portrayed photographer Diane Arbus in the biography Fur (2006), opposite Robert Downey Jr.. Though the film was released to mixed reviews, both Kidman and Downey Jr. received praise for their performances. She also lent her voice to the animated film Happy Feet (2006), which grossed over US$384 million worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science-fiction movie The Invasion directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, a remake of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers that proved a critical and commercial failure. She also played opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding, released to positive reviews and earning Kidman a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She then starred in the commercially successful fantasy-adventure, The Golden Compass (2007), playing the villainous Marisa Coulter. In 2008, she reunited with Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann in the Australian period film Australia, set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman played opposite Hugh Jackman as an Englishwoman feeling overwhelmed by the continent. Despite the film's mixed reviews, the acting was praised and the movie was a box office success worldwide. Kidman was originally set to star in the post-World War II German drama, The Reader, working with previous collaborators Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, but due to her pregnancy prior to filming she had to back out. The role went to Kate Winslet, who ultimately won the Oscar for Best Actress, which Kidman presented to her during the 81st Academy Awards.
2009–present

Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical Nine, portraying the Federico Fellini-like character's muse, Claudia Jenssen. She was featured alongside fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman's, whose screen time was brief compared to the other actresses, performed the musical number "Unusual Way" alongside Day-Lewis. Although the film was released to mixed reviews, it received several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Cast. Also in 2009, Kidman was the face of an international Schweppes advertisement. In 2010, she starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The five-minute video was broadcast at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

TV Guide reported in 2008 that Kidman will star in The Danish Girl, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, playing Einar Wegener, the world's first postoperative transsexual. Screen Daily reported that shooting would begin in Germany in July 2011. However the project has been delayed following the exit of the director, Lasse Hallström and Kidman's co-star Rachel Weisz. In 2009, Variety said that she would produce and star in a film adaptation of the Chris Cleave novel Little Bee, in association with BBC Films.

In June 2010, TV Guide announced that Kidman and Clive Owen will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman, began shooting in March 2011, with an air date scheduled for 2012. She also stars alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher's action-thriller Trespass, with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage.

On 17 September 2010, ContactMusic.com said Kidman will return to Broadway in 2011 to portray Alexandra Del Lago in David Cromer's revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, with Scott Rudin producing and James Franco playing Chance Wayne. In February 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Kidman is in talks to join the cast of Park Chan Wook's Stoker. In May 2011 it was reported that Kidman would star and produce in Spectre, a supernatural thriller directed by James Wan. The film closed major territory deals at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Singing

Not a singer before Moulin Rouge!, Kidman had well-received vocal performances in the film. Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on "Come What May" peaked at No.27 in the UK Singles Chart. Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of Williams' swing covers album Swing When You're Winning. It peaked at No.8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at No.1 for three weeks in the UK.

In 2006, while voicing a role in the animated movie Happy Feet, she provided vocals for Norma Jean's "heartsong", a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince. Kidman sang in Rob Marshall's movie musical Nine.
Personal life

Kidman has been married twice, first to actor Tom Cruise, and then to singer Keith Urban.
Kidman's movies have grossed more than $2 billion (US), with 17 movies making more than $100 million.
Feature films and television Year↓ Title↓ Role Notes
1983 BMX Bandits Judy
1983 Bush Christmas Helen
1983 Five Mile Creek Annie TV series
1983 Skin Deep Sheena Henderson TV movie
1983 Chase Through the Night Petra TV movie
1984 Matthew and Son Bridget Elliot TV movie
1984 The Wacky World of Wills & Burke Julia Matthews
1984 Country Practice, AA Country Practice Simone Jenkins TV series, 2 episodes (4x43-44)
1985 Archer's Adventure Catherine TV movie
1985 Winners Carol Trig TV series – episode 1
1986 Windrider Jade
1987 Watch the Shadows Dance Amy Gabriel
1987 Bit Part, TheThe Bit Part Mary McAllister
1987 Room to Move Carol Trig TV miniseries
1987 Australian in Rome, AnAn Australian in Rome Jill TV movie
1987 Vietnam Megan Goddard TV mini-series
1988 Emerald City Helen
1989 Dead Calm Rae Ingram
1989 Bangkok Hilton Katrina Stanton TV mini-series
1990 Days of Thunder Dr. Claire Lewicki
1991 Flirting Nicola
1991 Billy Bathgate Drew Preston Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1992 Far and Away Shannon Christie
1993 Malice Tracy Kennsinger
1993 My Life Gail Jones
1995 To Die For Suzanne Stone Maretto Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1995 Batman Forever Dr. Chase Meridian Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1996 Portrait of a Lady, TheThe Portrait of a Lady Isabel Archer
1996 Shine Woman in bar uncredited cameo
1996 Leading Man, TheThe Leading Man Academy Awards Presenter
1997 Peacemaker, TheThe Peacemaker Dr. Julia Kelly
1998 Practical Magic Gillian Owens
1999 Eyes Wide Shut Alice Harford
2001 Moulin Rouge! Satine Empire Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for The Others)
MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence (shared with Ewan McGregor)
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Female Actor
Nominated—IF Award for Best Actress
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Ewan McGregor)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Others, TheThe Others Grace Stewart Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Moulin Rouge!)
Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Goya Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
2001 Birthday Girl Sophia/Nadia
2002 Panic Room Stephen's girlfriend, on the phone
2002 Hours, TheThe Hours Virginia Woolf Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Berlin Film Festival For Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 Dogville Grace Margaret Mulligan Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated—Bodil Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast
2003 Human Stain, TheThe Human Stain Faunia Farley
2003 Cold Mountain Ada Monroe Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
2004 Stepford Wives, TheThe Stepford Wives Joanna Eberhart
2004 Birth Anna Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
2005 Interpreter, TheThe Interpreter Silvia Broome
2005 Bewitched Isabel Bigelow/Samantha Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Will Ferrell)
2006 Fur Diane Arbus
2006 Happy Feet Norma Jean voice
2007 Invasion, TheThe Invasion Dr. Carol Bennell
2007 Margot at the Wedding Margot Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Gotham Awards For Best Ensemble Cast
2007 Golden Compass, TheThe Golden Compass Marisa Coulter
2008 Australia Lady Sarah Ashley
2009 Nine Claudia Jenssen Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010 Rabbit Hole Becca Corbett Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2011 Just Go With It Devlin Adams
2011 Trespass Sarah Post-production
2011 Monte Carlo – Producer
2012 Hemingway & Gellhorn Martha Gellhorn post-production
Awards
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Nicole Kidman

In 2003, Kidman received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to her 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the following critics' groups or award-granting organisations: the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes), the Australian Film Institute, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Empire Awards, Golden Satellite Awards, Hollywood Film Festival, London Critics Circle, Russian Guild of Film Critics, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. In 2003, Kidman was given the American Cinematheque Award. She also received recognition from the National Association of Theatre Owners at the ShoWest Convention in 1992 as the Female Star of Tomorrow and in 2002 for a Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film.
Government honours

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, for "service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally." However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it was 13 April 2007 that she was presented with the honour. It was presented by Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/hilihili/nicole_kidman.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg12/nixybixy/nicole_kidman.jpg


I like her films especially in I Dream Of Jeannie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/11 at 6:17 am

The person of the day...Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she received an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This followed with major roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Natural Born Killers, The Evening Star, and From Dusk Till Dawn. Her work in television has resulted in two Emmy nominations.
Juliette Lewis was born in Los Angeles, California to Geoffrey Lewis, an actor, and Glenis Duggan Batley, a graphic designer. She has four siblings – brothers Lightfield and Peter, and sisters Deirdre and Brandy.

She appeared in The Wonder Years as Wayne's girlfriend in Episodes 24, 34 and 36. Lewis first garnered international attention and acclaim in 1991 with her turn as Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991. Over the next few years, she won further critical support in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives," Peter Medak's Romeo Is Bleeding, and opposite Brad Pitt in Kalifornia. In 1993, she acted alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp in the drama film What's Eating Gilbert Grape. She played Mallory Knox in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. She played a rock singer in the film Strange Days, doing her own singing on covers of two songs written by PJ Harvey, revealing her musical ability.

She received an Emmy nomination for her performance in Hysterical Blindness in 2003. She also appeared in the HIM music video for "Buried Alive By Love" in 2003.

Lewis appeared in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, providing the voice of "Juliette," the host of fictional radio station "Radio Broker." She starred in the video for the Melissa Etheridge song "Come To My Window," and has also appeared in a GAP commercial in which she was dancing with Daft Punk to the tune of the song "Digital Love." She also hosted the UK pop quiz show "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" in 2010.
Music
Lewis performing with the Licks at the Eurockéennes 2007

Lewis launched a career as a solo singer and musician, leading American rock band Juliette and the Licks until 2009. After splitting with the Licks, she has formed a new band The New Romantiques, with whom she has recorded an album entitled Terra Incognita.

Lewis features on the track "Bad Brother" by the band The Infidels, from The Crow: Salvation Soundtrack album, which was released on April 2000. She is working with rock songwriter Linda Perry, among others. Lewis has also appeared on three tracks by Electronic Music group The Prodigy's 2004 CD Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned ("Spitfire", "Get Up Get Off", and "Hot Ride"). In 2006, Blender magazine included her in their hottest women of rock music list while saying, " delivered sonically varnished melodic punk replete with purring vocals and lyrics that bash porn, pharmaceutical companies and rotten lovers. (in no particular order)".

Lewis says of her acting and music, "I was always using music in my acting to prepare for roles. To me, cinema and music go hand in hand. Now I’m just giving attention to the other side of my art.”

In 2009, Juliette played at Przystanek Woodstock in Poland.
Personal life

At fourteen, she left her parents and went to live with family friend and actress, Karen Black, before moving into her own apartment. Dropping out of high school, she got into trouble with the law for driving illegally at age fifteen and then for illegally patronizing a nightclub when she was sixteen. While in her twenties, she eventually went into rehab for drug addiction.

Lewis married professional skateboarder Steve Berra in 1999; they divorced in 2003.

Lewis is a Christian and a member of the Church of Scientology.

In October 2010, she was the victim of a hit-and-run car accident in which an unknown driver T-boned the Lincoln Town Car she was traveling in.
Discography

    * …Like a Bolt of Lightning (2004)
    * You're Speaking My Language (2005)
    * Four on the Floor (2006)
    * Terra Incognita (2009)

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1987 I Married Dora Kate Farrell (TV series)
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Starring in a New Television Comedy Series
Home Fires Maty (TV)
1988 My Stepmother Is an Alien Lexie, Jessie's Friend #1
The Facts of Life Terry Rankin (TV series)
1989 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Audrey Griswold
Meet the Hollowheads Cindy Hollowhead
The Runnin' Kind Amy Curtis
The Wonder Years Delores (TV Series)
1990 A Family for Joe Holly Bankston #2 (TV Series)
Too Young to Die? Amanda Sue Bradley
1991 Cape Fear Danielle Bowden Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Robert De Niro)
Crooked Hearts Cassie
1992 That Night Sheryl O'Connor
Husbands and Wives Rain
1993 What's Eating Gilbert Grape Becky
Romeo Is Bleeding Sheri
Kalifornia Adele Corners
1994 Mixed Nuts Gracie Barzini
Natural Born Killers Mallory Knox Pasinetti Award for Best Actress
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Woody Harrelson)
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Woody Harrelson)
1995 Strange Days Faith Justin
The Basketball Diaries Diane Moody
1996 The Evening Star Melanie Horton Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama
From Dusk till Dawn Kate Fuller Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1998 Some Girl April
1999 The Other Sister Carla Tate Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
The 4th Floor Jane Emelin
2000 Room to Rent Linda
The Way of the Gun Robin
2001 Picture Claire Claire Beaucage
My Louisiana Sky Dorie Kay (TV)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special
Gaudi Afternoon April
2002 Enough Ginny
Armitage: Dual Matrix (Anime)
Dharma & Greg September "Try To Remember This Kind Of September" episode
Hysterical Blindness Beth (TV)
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
2003 Cold Creek Manor
Free for All Paula
Old School Heidi
2004 Renegade Maria Sullivan aka Blueberry
Starsky & Hutch Kitty
Chasing Freedom Libby (TV)
2005 Daltry Calhoun Flora Flick
The Darwin Awards Joleen
Lightfield's Home Videos
Aurora Borealis Kate
Grilled Suzanne
2006 My Name Is Earl Jesse — Bounty Hunter in "The Bounty Hunter" episode
2007 Catch and Release Maureen
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Herself as a radio DJ (video game)
2009 Whip It! Iron Maven
Metropia Nina (voice)
2010 Sympathy for Delicious Ariel Lee
The Switch Debbie Epstein
Conviction Roseanna Perry Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Due Date Heidi
Memphis Beat Cleo (TV Series) "Baby, Let's Play House"
http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo121/khizaw/juliette_lewis_3.jpg
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/Leading%20Ladies/juliette.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/21/11 at 6:43 am

also Happy Birthday to Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter Birney from Family Ties who both turn 64.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/21/11 at 8:58 am


also Happy Birthday to Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter Birney from Family Ties who both turn 64.

Thanks Howie :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/21/11 at 7:41 pm


Thanks Howie :)


you're welcome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/22/11 at 10:57 am

The person of the day...Amy Brenneman
Amy Frederica Brenneman (born June 22, 1964) is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in the television series NYPD Blue, Judging Amy and Private Practice. She has also starred in films such as Heat, Fear, Daylight, Nine Lives and 88 Minutes.
In her first major television role, Brenneman played mob-connected uniformed officer Janice Licalsi on the police drama NYPD Blue. Her story arc, which included a romantic relationship with David Caruso's character, ran through the show's first season (1993–1994) and the first few episodes of the second season. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1994 and for Outstanding Guest Actress the following year.

After leaving NYPD Blue, Brenneman appeared in a number of films, including Casper (1995), Heat (1995), Fear (1996), Daylight (1996) and Nevada (1997). She had a brief recurring role on Frasier in its 1998–1999 season.

In 1999, Brenneman became creator and executive producer of the television series Judging Amy, in which she played the title character. Brenneman portrayed a divorced single mother working as a Family Court Judge in Hartford, Connecticut. The show's concept was based on the real-life experiences of her mother, Frederica Brenneman, as a superior court judge in the state of Connecticut. Judging Amy ran on CBS for six seasons and 138 episodes from September 19, 1999 to May 3, 2005 to good ratings. Frederica Brenneman was one of Harvard Law School's first female graduates and became a juvenile court judge in Connecticut when Amy was 3 years old. Amy has said, "I play my mother's job, not my mother."

In 2002, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.

In March 2007, Brenneman was cast to co-star in the Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice.

In 2007, Brenneman played "Sylvia Avila" in The Jane Austen Book Club. In 2008, Brenneman co-starred in 88 Minutes alongside Al Pacino.
Personal life

In 1995, Brenneman married director Brad Silberling in the garden at the home of her parents. They have two children: Charlotte Tucker (b. March 20, 2001) and Bodhi Russell (b. June 8, 2005). Brenneman attends an Episcopalian church (and has described herself as "also half-Jewish", on her mother's side).

Brenneman, who is very actively pro-choice, signed the "We Had Abortions" petition which appears in the October 2006 issue of Ms. Magazine. The petition contains signatures of over 5,000 women declaring that they had an abortion and were "unashamed of the choice they made".

In the February 28, 2007, all-star benefit reading of "The Gift of Peace" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, she portrays an entrepreneur, alongside actors Ed Asner, Barbara Bain, George Coe, Wendie Malick, and James Pickens, Jr.. The play was an open appeal and fundraiser for passage of U.S. House Resolution 808, which sought to establish a Cabinet-level "Department of Peace" in the U.S. government, funded by a two percent diversion of The Pentagon's annual budget.

In July 2008, Brenneman was nominated as a candidate on the 'Unite for Strength' slate for a place on the national governing board of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in elections scheduled for 18 September 2008. The bid was successful.

Brenneman is also a strong supporter of more restrictive gun control laws, and in 2009 she hosted the Target for a Safe America gala at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control group that favors restrictive gun laws and supports gun bans.
Filmography
Feature films
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Bye Bye Love Susan
Casper Amelia
Heat Eady
1996 Fear Laura Walker aka No Fear
Daylight Madelyne Thompson
1997 Lesser Prophets Annie aka The Last Bet
Nevada Chrysty
1998 Your Friends & Neighbors Mary
1999 The Suburbans Grace
Mary Cassatt: An American Impressionist Mary Cassatt
2000 Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Detective Kathy Faber segment "Love Waits For Kathy"
2003 Off The Map Adult Bo Grodin
2005 Nine Lives Lorna Won - Locarno International Film Festival - Best Actress (2005)

Nominated Gotham Awards - Best Ensemble Cast (2005)
2007 The Jane Austen Book Club Sylvia Avila
88 Minutes Shelly Barnes
2008 Downloading Nancy Carol
2010 Mother and Child Dr. Stone
Television
Year Title Role Other notes
1993–1994 NYPD Blue Officer Janice Licalsi Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1998–1999 Frasier Faye Moskowitz Episodes: "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz", "When a Man Loves Two Women", "Shutout in Seattle: Part 1", "Shutout in Seattle: Part 2"
1999–2005 Judging Amy Amy Madison Gray Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2000-2002,3 times)

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series (2003)
Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series (2000-2002,3 times)
PGA Awards - Television Producer of the Year Award in Episodic (2000)
Satellite Awards Best Actress – Television Series Drama (2002)
TV Guide Awards - Actress of the Year in a Drama Series (2000-2001)
Viewers for Quality Television Awards - Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series (2000)
2007 Grey's Anatomy Dr. Violet Turner Episodes: The Other Side of This Life: Part 1/Part 2 (Private Practice backdoor pilot)
2007–present Private Practice Dr. Violet Turner
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/karlena_simon/Backgrounds/AmyBrennemanBackground.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/DTrent/The%20Beauty%20Of%20Woman/dal5.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/22/11 at 7:47 pm

Happy Birthday Cyndi Lauper,She is 58.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/23/11 at 8:41 am


Happy Birthday Cyndi Lauper,She is 58.

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/23/11 at 8:48 am

The person of the day...Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon (play /ˈwiːdən/; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, occasional composer and actor, and founder of Mutant Enemy Productions. He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), Angel (1999–2004), Firefly (2002) and Dollhouse (2009–2010), as well as the short film Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008). He is also notable for his work in film, comic books, and online media. Many of Whedon's projects, as well as Whedon himself, enjoy a cult status.
Following a move to Los Angeles, Whedon secured his first writing job on the television series Roseanne. After working several years as a script doctor for films, he returned to television, where he created four TV shows.
(From left to right) Tom Lenk, Emma Caulfield, Alexis Denisof, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Whedon, Michelle Trachtenberg at the Buffy cast party.

Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer produced, Whedon revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit receiving an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series in 2000. Buffy ran for five seasons on The WB Television Network before being relocated to the UPN Network for its final two seasons. Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring Buffy's vampire-with-a-soul ex-boyfriend as the title character. Debuting in September 1999 on the WB, Angel was broadcast following Buffy during its first two seasons. The WB canceled the show in February 2004 while it was in its fifth season.

In 2002, Fox canceled Firefly, after only 11 of 14 episodes were aired, many out of intended order. The original ninety-minute pilot ("Serenity") was aired last. After the cancellation, Whedon wrote the script for a Firefly movie, titled Serenity. In early 2004 Whedon announced that it had been greenlit by Universal Studios. It was widely released in the United States on September 30, 2005. In the DVD release, Whedon discusses how Serenity would not have been made if not for the dedication of the Browncoats, fans of the series.

In late 2007, Eliza Dushku, with whom Whedon worked on Buffy and Angel, met over lunch to discuss possible ideas for a series for her to star in and came up with an idea which excited both of them. The show, Dollhouse, was announced by Fox in November 2008 to begin airing on February 13, 2009. Dollhouse was canceled after two seasons due to low ratings.

Whedon is also noted for his directing work in television, which includes two 2007 episodes of The Office ("Business School" and "Branch Wars") as well as a 2010 episode of the musical series Glee ("Dream On") in which he reunited with his Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog star Neil Patrick Harris.

Although not an actor, he has made cameos in his own shows as well as others. He appeared as a newsreader in the Buffy season one episode, "I, Robot... You, Jane". During the second season of Angel, he made a cameo appearance as the character Numfar under heavy makeup, where his entire role was to perform comical dances in "Through the Looking Glass". In Firefly, Whedon appeared as a guest at a funeral in the final produced episode, "The Message". He made a brief appearance as an overbearing rental-car clerk in an episode of Veronica Mars, "Rat Saw God", in 2005; Whedon is a vocal fan of Veronica Mars. He voiced himself in two episodes of Seth Green's television series Robot Chicken titled "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster" in 2007 and "Help Me" in 2008.
Feature films and video

Whedon wrote or co-wrote several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Alien Resurrection and Titan A.E.. The song "My Lullaby" from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride was written by him and Seattle native Scott Warrender. He was nominated (along with six other writers) for an Academy Award for Toy Story's screenplay.

He also wrote uncredited drafts or rewrites of Speed, Waterworld, Twister and X-Men, although in interviews, Whedon disowned the latter three films.He claimed that he had a good script for Alien Resurrection, which he felt was spoiled by its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His Waterworld script was thrown out, and only two of his lines were kept in the final script of X-Men. Even the Buffy movie bore little resemblance to his original screenplay. According to Graham Yost, the credited writer of Speed, Whedon wrote most of its dialogue.

He wrote and directed 2005's Serenity, based on his television series Firefly. Serenity won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Beginning in January 2006, fans (with Universal's blessing) began organizing worldwide charity screenings of Serenity called "Can't Stop the Serenity" (CSTS) to benefit Equality Now, a human rights organization supported by Joss Whedon. Over $500,000 has been raised for Equality Now since 2006. As of May 1, 2011, 45 cities were registered for CSTS 2011 in 6 countries and 24 U.S. states.

Whedon wrote a horror film titled The Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard which is currently in production with MGM, with Goddard directing.

In November 2008, Whedon guest starred in the premiere episode of The Write Environment, a direct to DVD series featuring in-depth, candid one-on-one interviews with some of TV's most prolific and well known series creator/writers.

In April 2010 it was confirmed that Whedon will direct The Avengers, a live-action adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name.
Comic books

Whedon, a lifelong comic book fan, is the author of the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Fray which takes place in the far future of the Buffyverse. Whedon returned to the world of Fray during the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight arc, "Time of Your Life".

Like many other authors from the Buffy TV show, he also contributed to the show's comic book version: he wrote three stories in the anthology Tales of the Slayers (including one featuring Melaka Fray from Fray) and also the main storyline of the five-issue miniseries Tales of the Vampires.

The three-issue miniseries Serenity: Those Left Behind, based on the Firefly series and leading up to the film Serenity, was released June through August 2005. Co-written with Brett Matthews and pencilled by Will Conrad, the first issue featured covers drawn by John Cassaday, J.G. Jones, and Bryan Hitch, as well as other artists for the second and third issues. The first two issues went to a second printing. The trade paperback featured a new cover by acclaimed painter Adam Hughes.

A second three-issue Serenity miniseries Serenity: Better Days, was released in March, April, and May 2008. "Better Days" reunites Whedon, Matthews, Conrad, and Adam Hughes, who will provide all three covers. The three covers form a larger panorama of the ship's crew. "Better Days" is set before "Those Left Behind", and features the full crew of Serenity. A trade paperback featuring a cover by Jo Chen was released in October 2008.

Whedon and others have mentioned that more Serenity comics are planned for the near future, and will be based in the Firefly continuation of the series, including one about Shepherd Book. Likewise, Whedon and other former Buffy writers have released a new ongoing Buffy which takes place after the series finale "Chosen", which he officially recognizes as the canonical "Season 8". The first issue was released on March 14, 2007 by Dark Horse Comics. Following the success of issue one of Buffy season eight, IDW Publishing approached Whedon about similarly producing a canonical Angel Season 6. Angel: After the Fall has 14 issues published as of November 19, 2008 with 3 more to come following the adventures of Angel and his team after the TV series ended, where the title of the series will then change to Angel: Aftermath. Although Whedon has not had the time to write the series, he has served as executive producer with Brian Lynch, writing the season 6 story.

Whedon wrote Astonishing X-Men in Marvel Comics' popular line of comics about the X-Men but finished his 24 issue run in 2008 and handed over the writing reins to Warren Ellis. The title, recreated specifically for Whedon, has been one of Marvel's best-selling comics as of 2006 and was nominated for several Eisner Awards including Best Serialized Story, Best Continuing Series, Best New Series and Best Writer, winning the Best Continuing Series award in 2006. One storyline from this comic, the notion of a cure for mutation being found, was also an element in the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand. Whedon also introduced several new characters into the Marvel Universe such as the villainous Ord, X-Men Ruth "Blindfold" Aldine and Hisako "Armor" Ichiki, Runaway Klara Prast and Special Agent Abigail Brand, along with S.W.O.R.D., the organization she commands.

Whedon is the second writer of the critically acclaimed and fan-favorite Marvel comic Runaways, taking over after series creator Brian K. Vaughan completed his run. Whedon had been a fan of the series for some time, and had a letter published in the first volume, which was included in the Volume 1 hardcover.

Whedon's other comic-related work includes writing the introduction to Identity Crisis trade paperback and a contribution to the "jam issue" Superman/Batman #26 (to date his only published work for DC Comics), writing short pieces for Marvel's Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man and Giant-Size X-Men #3 and also being the subject of an issue of Marvel Spotlight (alongside artist Michael Lark). He contributed as part of a panel of writers to Marvel Comics' Civil War crossover event, lending advice in how to tell the story and how to end it.

In February 2009, Astonishing X-Men #6, which depicted the return of Colossus to the title, and concluded Whedon's first story arc on that title, was named by Marvel Comics readers the #65 in Marvel's Top 70 Comics of all time.
Online media

In 2005 he released a series of online shorts titled the R. Tam sessions, starring himself and Summer Glau, which served as a form of viral marketing for Serenity. In 2007, he launched a free webcomic, titled Sugarshock! hosted on Dark Horse comic's Myspace page.

In March 2008, Whedon teamed up with his brothers Zack Whedon and Jed Whedon, along with Jed's then-fiancée Maurissa Tancharoen to write, compose and produce the musical superhero spoof, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The musical stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. Whedon conceived of Dr. Horrible over the year before and production took place over seven days during the Writers Guild strike. The project was freely available online from July 15 until July 20. In August, Whedon released a new Serenity/Firefly comic free online Serenity: The Other Half. In September, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Soundtrack, made the top 40 Album list despite being a digital exclusive only available on iTunes. The Soundtrack was successful enough to pay its crew and all its bills.

In February 2009, he stated that after his series Dollhouse is over, whether by cancellation or reaching its end, that he plans on putting his efforts purely into on-line content like Dr. Horrible. In the Dr. Horrible bonus feature Commentary! The Musical!, Joss sings the song "Heart (Broken)" about the crippling scrutiny and commercialisation of producing fiction for a modern consumer audience.
Unrealized projects

Whedon had a number of planned television projects that have become stuck in development or terminally stalled. Among these was a Buffy animated series, a set of made-for-television movies for The WB based on Angel and Buffy characters, and Ripper, a proposed BBC pilot about Rupert Giles. Ripper was announced to be in development at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007. The development process was set to begin in 2008 and Ripper to be shown that summer but the pilot has not materialized yet due to characters rights.

Early in his career Whedon sold two spec scripts that have not yet been produced, Suspension and Afterlife. He sold Suspension for $750,000 with an additional $250,000 if production commences. It has been described as "Die Hard on a bridge." A year later in 1994 he sold Afterlife for $1.5 million with an additional $500,000 if production commences. As of 2000 Andy Tennant was in talks to direct and rewrite. In Afterlife are precursors to many of the themes Whedon would later explore in Dollhouse. The script is about Daniel Hoffstetter, a government scientist, who awakes after dying to discover his mind has been imprinted on a mind-wiped body.

Whedon had been signed to write and direct Warner Bros.' adaptation of Wonder Woman but on February 3, 2007, Whedon announced that he would no longer be involved with the project. "We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time."

Late in 2009, Whedon made a humorous bid of $10,000 for control of future Terminator material. He was rebuffed at that time and it is not known if he has plans to attempt this again.
Common themes and motifs in Whedon's works
Feminism

Whedon identifies himself as a feminist, and feminist themes are common in his work. For his part, Whedon credits his mother, Lee Stearns, as the inspiration for his feminist worldview. When Roseanne Barr asked him how he could write so well for women, he replied, "If you met my mom, you wouldn't ask."

The character Kitty Pryde from the X-Men comics was an early model for Whedon's strong teenage girl characters: "If there's a bigger influence on Buffy than Kitty, I don't know what it was. She was an adolescent girl finding out she has great power and dealing with it." Kitty Pryde was one of the main characters in Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men.

Whedon was honored at an Equality Now benefit in 2006: "Honoring Men on the Front Lines", and his fans raised a considerable amount of money in support of the organization.
Dialogue

The dialogue in Joss Whedon's shows and movies usually involves pop culture references both notable and obscure, and the turning of nouns into adjectives by adding a "y" at the end of the word ("listy"). According to one of the Buffy writers, "It's just the way that Joss actually talks."

Whedon also heavily favors the suffix -age (Linkage, Lurkage, Poofage, Postage, Scrollage, Slayage). Also, phrasal verbs usually ending with "out" are changed into direct verbs, for example "freak" rather than "freak out", "bail" rather than "bail out", or "hang" rather than "hang out". Whedon also tends to change adjectives into nouns such as "happy", "shiny" (positive thing), "bad" (mistake), "funny" (joke) – for example, a character may say "I made a funny" instead of "I made a joke". Another common phrase used in most of Whedon's shows is "safe as houses." So many of Whedon's altered usages, new words, and heavily popularized words have entered the common usage that PBS in their article series "Do You Speak American" included an entire section on "Slayer Slang".
Spiritual and philosophical beliefs

Whedon has identified himself as an atheist on multiple occasions. When interviewed by The AV Club on October 9, 2002, Whedon answered the question "Is there a God?" with one word: "No." The interviewer followed up with: "That's it, end of story, no?" Whedon answered: "Absolutely not. That's a very important and necessary thing to learn." In one of the Buffy DVD commentaries, Whedon comments that "I don't believe in the 'sky bully'", referring to God under a name coined by his colleague Tim Minear. In addition, during a question and answer session found on the Serenity DVD with fans of the Firefly series at Fox Studios in Sydney, he identifies himself as an atheist and absurdist.

Whedon has also spoken about existentialism. On the Firefly DVD set, Whedon explains in detail how existentialism, and more specifically the book Nausea, by Jean-Paul Sartre, was used as a basis for the episode "Objects in Space". On this commentary he claimed interest in existential ideas and described the impact of Nausea on his early life.

Whedon also identifies himself as a humanist. In April 2009, the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard presented Whedon with the 2009 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism.


    * Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) – writer
    * Speed (1994) – co-writer (uncredited)
    * The Getaway (1994) – co-writer (uncredited)
    * Waterworld (1995) – co-writer (uncredited)
    * Toy Story (1995) – co-writer
    * Alien Resurrection (1997) – writer
    * Titan A.E. (2000) – co-writer
    * X-Men (2000) – treatment (uncredited)
    * Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) – treatment
    * Serenity (2005) – writer and director
    * Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – co-writer
    * The Avengers (2012) – co-writer and director
    * The Cabin in the Woods (TBA) – co-writer and producer
    * Goners (TBA) – writer and director

Television

    * Roseanne (1989–1990) – writer, story editor
    * Parenthood (1990) – writer, co-producer
    * Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) – creator, executive producer, writer, director
    * Angel (1999–2004) – co-creator, executive producer, writer, director
    * Firefly (2002) – creator, executive producer, writer, director
    * Buffy the Animated Series (2004) (unaired) – co-creator, executive producer, writer
    * The Office (2007) – guest director
    * Dollhouse (2009–2010) – creator, executive producer, writer, director
    * Glee (2010) – guest director

Web

    * Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008) – co-creator, executive producer, writer, director

Awards
Awards won

Nebula Awards:

    * Best Script – Serenity (2005)

Hugo Awards:

    * Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form – Serenity (2006)
    * Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2009)

Emmy Awards:

    * Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Program – Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2009)

Eisner Awards:

    * Best Continuing Series – Astonishing X-Men with John Cassaday (2006)
    * Best New Series – Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight with Brian K. Vaughan, Georges Jeanty, and Andy Owens (2008)
    * Best Digital Comic – Sugarshock! with Fábio Moon (2008)

Prometheus Award:

    * Special Award – Serenity (2006)

Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard:

    * Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism (2009)

Streamy Awards:

    * Best Directing in a Comedy Series – Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2009)
    * Best Writing in a Comedy Series – Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon (2009)

Awards nominated

Academy Awards:

    * Best Writing (Original Screenplay) – Toy Story (1995)

Emmy Awards:

    * Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series – "Hush" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2000)

Hugo Awards:

    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "Waiting in the Wings" (Angel, 2003)
    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "Serenity" (Firefly, 2003)
    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "Chosen" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2004)
    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "The Message" with Tim Minear (Firefly, 2004)
    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "Not Fade Away" with Jeffrey Bell (Angel, 2005)
    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "Smile Time" with Ben Edlund (Angel, 2005)
    * Dramatic Presentation, Short Form – "Epitaph One" with Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon (Dollhouse, 2010)
    * Graphic Story – Serenity: Better Days with Brett Matthews, Will Conrad, Michelle Madsen, and Jo Chen (2009)

Nebula Awards:

    * Best Script – "The Body" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2001)
    * Best Script – "Once More, with Feeling" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2002)

Saturn Awards:

    * Best Writing – Screenplay for Toy Story (1996)
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii27/angry_wulf/joss-whedon-1.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z221/McBored/whedon_chosen.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/24/11 at 8:01 am

The person of the day...Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. One of three noted guitarists, with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, to have played with The Yardbirds, Beck also formed The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. He was ranked 14th in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and the magazine has described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock". He was also ranked second greatest rock guitarist of all time in Digital Dream Door, a site that ranks movies and music. MSNBC has called him a "guitarist's guitarist".

Much of Beck's recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and most recently, an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Beck has earned wide critical praise; furthermore, he has received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times. Although he has had two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not established or maintained a broad following or the sustained commercial success of many of his collaborators and bandmates. Beck appears on albums by Mick Jagger, Kate Bush, Roger Waters, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Zucchero, Cyndi Lauper, Brian May and ZZ Top. He also made a cameo appearance in the movie Twins (1988).

He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of The Yardbirds (1992) and as a solo artist (2009).
Beck began his career in the 1960s. He joined "The Rumbles" a Croydon band in 1963 for a short period as lead guitarist, playing Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly songs, displaying a talent for mimicking guitar styles. His first appearance on vinyl was as a session guitarist on a 1964 Parlophone single by The Fitz and Startz entitled 'I'm Not Running Away' c/w 'So Sweet'.

In March 1965 Beck was recruited to replace Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds on the recommendation of fellow session man Jimmy Page, their initial choice. The Yardbirds recorded most of their Top 40 hit songs during Beck's time with The Yardbirds, which was short (but significant), allowing him only one full album, Yardbirds which became known as Roger the Engineer, released in 1966. From September to November 1966 he shared lead guitar duties with Page, who initially joined as bass player in June of that year.
Beck with the Jeff Beck Group, 1968

In February 1967, after recording the one-off "Beck's Bolero" (with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins and Keith Moon) and two solo hit singles in the UK, "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman", Beck formed The Jeff Beck Group, which featured Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and, after a series of drummers, eventually Micky Waller.

The group produced two albums for Columbia Records (Epic in the US): Truth (August 1968) and Beck-Ola (July 1969), both highly acclaimed. Truth, released five months before the first Led Zeppelin album, features "You Shook Me", a song written and first recorded by Willie Dixon that was also covered on the Led Zeppelin debut. It sold well (reaching number 15 on the Billboard charts). Beck-Ola while well-received, was less successful both commercially and critically. Resentment, coupled with touring incidents, led the group to dissolve in July 1969.

During 1967 Pink Floyd wanted Beck to be their guitarist after the departure of Syd Barrett but Nick Mason recalls in his autobiography that, "None of us had the nerve to ask him".

After the break-up of his group Beck took part in the Music From Free Creek "super session" project, billed as "A.N. Other" and contributed lead guitar on four songs, including one co-written by him. Next he teamed up with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, the rhythm section of Vanilla Fudge in September 1969, when Bogert and Appice came to England to resolve contractual issues, but when Beck fractured his skull in a car accident near Maidstone in December the plan was postponed for two-and-a-half years, during which time Bogert and Appice formed Cactus.

In 1970, when Beck had regained his health, he set about forming a band with drummer Cozy Powell. Beck, Powell and producer Mickie Most flew to the US and recorded several tracks at Motown Studios with Motown session men, but the results remained unreleased. By April 1971 Beck had completed the line-up of this new group with guitarist/vocalist Bobby Tench, keyboard player Max Middleton and bassist Clive Chaman. The new band performed as the "Jeff Beck Group" but had a substantially different sound from the first line-up. Rough and Ready (October 1971), the first album they recorded, on which Beck wrote or co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks (the exception being written by Middleton), included elements of soul, rhythm-and-blues and jazz, foreshadowing the direction Beck's music would take later in the decade.
Beck playing in 1973

A second album Jeff Beck Group (July 1972) was recorded at TMI studios in Memphis, Tennessee with the same personnel. Beck employed Steve Cropper as producer and the album displayed a strong soul influence, five of the nine tracks being covers of songs by American artists. One, "I Got To Have A Song", was the first of four Stevie Wonder compositions covered by Beck. Shortly after the release of the Jeff Beck Group album the band was dissolved and Beck's management put out this statement:

    “ The fusion of the musical styles of the various members has been successful within the terms of individual musicians, but they didn't feel it had led to the creation of a new musical style with the strength they had originally sought.

Beck then started collaborating with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, who became available following the demise of Cactus but continued touring as Jeff Beck Group in August 1972, to fulfil contractual obligations with his promoter, with a line-up including Bogert, Appice, Max Middleton and vocalist Kim Milford. After six appearances Milford was replaced by Bobby Tench, who was flown in from the UK for the Arie Crown Theatre Chicago performance and the rest of the tour, which concluded at the Paramount North West Theatre, Seattle.

After the tour Tench and Middleton left the band and the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice appeared: Appice took on the role of vocalist with Bogert and Beck contributing occasionally. They were included on the bill for Rock at The Oval in September 1972, still as the "Jeff Beck Group", which marked the start of a tour schedule of UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Another US tour began in October 1972, starting at the Hollywood Sportatorium Florida and concluding on 11 November 1972 at The Warehouse, New Orleans. In April 1973 the album Beck, Bogert & Appice was released (on Epic Records). While critics acknowledged the band's instrumental prowess the album was not commercially well received except for its cover of Stevie Wonder's hit "Superstition".

On 3 July 1973 Beck joined David Bowie on-stage to perform "The Jean Genie"/"Love Me Do" and "Around and Around". The show was recorded and filmed but none of the released editions included Beck. During October 1973 Beck recorded tracks for Michael Fennelly's album Lane Changer and attended sessions with Hummingbird, a band derived from The Jeff Beck Group, but did not to contribute to their eponymous first album

Early in January 1974 the band played at the Rainbow Theatre, as part of a European tour. The concert was broadcast in full on the US show Rock Around the World in September of the same year. This last recorded work by the band previewed material intended for a second studio album, included on the bootleg At Last Rainbow. The tracks Blues Deluxe and BBA Boogie from this concert were later included on the Jeff Beck compilation Beckology (1991). Beck, Bogert & Appice dissolved in April 1974 before their second studio album (produced by Jimmy Miller) was finished. Their live album Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan, recorded during their 1973 tour of Japan, was not released until February 1975 by Epic/Sony.

After a few months Beck entered Underhill Studio and met with the group Upp, whom he recruited as backing band for his appearance on the BBC TV programme "Guitar Workshop" in August 1974. Beck produced and played on their self-titled debut album and their second album This Way Upp, though his contributions to the second album went uncredited. In October Beck began to record instrumentals at AIR Studios with Max Middleton, bassist Phil Chen and drummer Richard Bailey, using George Martin as producer and arranger. Blow by Blow (March 1975) evolved from these sessions and showcased Beck's technical prowess in jazz-rock. The album reached number four in the charts and is Beck's most commercially-successful release. Beck, fastidious about overdubs and often dissatisfied with his solos, often returned to AIR Studios until he was satisfied. A couple of months after the sessions had finished Martin received a telephone call from Beck, who wanted to record a solo section again. Bemused, Martin replied: "I'm sorry, Jeff, but the record is in the shops!"

Beck put together a live band for a US tour, preceded by a small and unannounced gig at The Newlands Tavern in Peckham, London. He toured through April and May 1975, mostly supporting the Mahavishnu Orchestra, retaining Max Middleton on keyboards but with the new rhythm section of Wilbur Bascomb (bass) and noted session drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. In a May 1975 show in Cleveland, Ohio (Music Hall), he became frustrated with an early version of a "talk box" he used on his arrangement of The Beatles "She's A Woman," and after breaking a string, tossed his legendary Yardbirds-era Stratocaster off the stage. He did the same with the talk box and finished the show playing a Les Paul and without the box. During this tour he performed at Yuya Uchida's "World Rock Festival," playing a total of eight songs with Purdie. In addition he performed a guitar and drum instrumental with Johnny Yoshinaga and, at the end of the festival, joined in a live jam with bassist Felix Pappalardi of Mountain and vocalist Akira "Joe" Yamanaka from the Flower Travellin' Band. Only his set with Purdie was recorded and released.

He returned to the studio and recorded Wired (1976), which paired the drummer and composer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jan Hammer. The album used a jazz-rock fusion style which sounded similar to the work of his two collaborators. To promote the album, Beck joined forces with the Jan Hammer Group and they played a show supporting Alvin Lee at The Roundhouse in May 1976, before embarking on a seven-month long world tour. This resulted in the live album Jeff Beck with The Jan Hammer Group - Live (1977).
“ Everyone thinks of the 1960s as something they really weren't. It was the frustration period of my life. The electronic equipment just wasn't up to the sounds I had in my head. ”

NME - September 1976

At this point, Beck was a tax exile and took up residency in the US, remaining there until his return to the UK in the autumn of 1977. In the spring of 1978, he began rehearsing with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Gerry Brown towards a projected appearance at the Knebworth Festival, but this was cancelled after Brown dropped out. Beck toured Japan for three weeks in November 1978 with an ad-hoc group consisting of Clarke and newcomers Tony Hymas (keyboards) and Simon Phillips (drums) from Jack Bruce's band. Work then began on a new studio album at The Who's Ramport Studios in London and continued sporadically throughout 1979, resulting in There and Back in June 1980. It featured three tracks composed and recorded with Jan Hammer, while five were written with Hymas. Stanley Clarke was replaced by Mo Foster on bass, both on the album and the subsequent tours. Its release was followed by extensive touring in the USA, Japan and the UK.
1980s

In 1981 Beck made a series of historic live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor Eric Clapton at the Amnesty International-sponsored benefit concerts dubbed The Secret Policeman's Other Ball shows. He appeared with Clapton on "Crossroads", "Further On Up The Road", and his own arrangement of Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers". Beck also featured prominently in an all-star band finale performance of "I Shall Be Released" with Clapton, Sting, Phil Collins, Donovan and Bob Geldof. Beck's contributions were seen and heard in the resulting album and film, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982. Another benefit show, the ARMS Concert for Multiple Sclerosis featured a jam with Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. They performed "Tulsa Time" and "Layla". This is the only time all of the Yardbirds lead guitarists appeared on stage together.

In 1985 Jeff released Flash, featurng a variety of vocalists, but most notably former bandmate Rod Stewart on a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready.

After a four year break, Jeff made a return to instrumental music with the album Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989), the first album to feature Jeff's switch to a pick free playing style. It was only his 3rd album to be released in the 1980s. Much of Beck's sparse and sporadic recording schedule was due in part to a long battle with noise-induced tinnitus.
Discography
Year Album US UK RIAA Certification Notes
1968 Truth 15 — Gold First album with original line-up of the Jeff Beck Group
1969 Beck-Ola 15 39 Gold Second album with original line-up of the Jeff Beck Group
1971 Rough and Ready 46 — — First album with new line-up of the Jeff Beck Group
1972 Jeff Beck Group 19 — Gold Second album with new line-up of the Jeff Beck Group
1973 Beck, Bogert & Appice 12 28 Gold Only studio album as Beck, Bogert & Appice
1975 Blow by Blow 4 — Platinum First solo album
1975 UPP — — — Plays guitar and produced this debut album by UPP
1975 Truth/Beck-Ola — — — double album of Truth & Beck-Ola records
1976 Wired 16 38 Platinum Second solo album
1980 There and Back 21 38 — Contains one of his more acclaimed pieces, "The Pump"
1985 Flash 42 83 — Grammy Award winner
1989 Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop 49 — — Grammy Award winner
1992 Frankie's House — — — Soundtrack collaboration with Jed Lieber
1993 Crazy Legs 171 — — Album with covers of Gene Vincent's songs
1999 Who Else! 99 74 — Album with influence of electronic music
2001 You Had It Coming 110 — — Grammy Award winner
2003 Jeff — — — Grammy Award winner
April 2010 Emotion & Commotion 11 21 — Highest charting album by Jeff Beck in UK
Live Albums
1974 Live in Japan — — — First live album
1977 Jeff Beck With the Jan Hammer Group Live 23 — Gold Last album with RIAA Certification
2003 Live At BB King Blues Club — — — Official bootleg
2007 Official Bootleg USA '06 — — — Official bootleg
2008 Live at Ronnie Scotts — 143 — Complemented later with a DVD that was certified Platinum for the US sales of 'Jeff Beck performing this week.. live at Ronnie Scott's'. This is an extreme rarity for a music concert DVD of any musical genre. Grammy Award winner.
Oct 2010 Live and Exclusive from the Grammy Museum — — — Follow up live album for Emotion and Commotion.
2011 Rock & Roll Party: Honoring Les Paul — 106 —
Compilations
1991 Beckology — — — Included songs from Beck's early bands such as Tridents and Yardbirds
1995 Best of Beck — — — Abbreviated compilation
DVDs
2008 Performing This Week... Live at Ronnie Scott's — — Platinum Grammy Award winner
2011 Rock & Roll Party: Honoring Les Paul — —
Guest Appearances

Beck has appeared as a guest artist on dozens of recordings, including:

    * John's Childrens single "Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get" b/w "But She's Mine" (rel. Feb 1967) as uncredited session musician.
    * Beck's group plays with Donovan on the songs "Barabajagal (Love is Hot)," "Trudi" and "Homesickness"
    * Stevie Wonder's Talking Book
    * Stanley Clarke's 1975 album Journey to Love
    * Stanley Clarke's 1978 album Modern Man
    * The soundtrack to the movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (Beck was once quoted as saying that after he saw Peter Frampton use the talk box, he gave it up).
    * Murray Head's Voices (1981)
    * Rod Stewart's 1983 album Camouflage on three tracks, also appears in video for the song "Infatuation" and in the video for " People Get Ready"
    * Tina Turner's Private Dancer
    * Reunited with former Yardbirds bandmates in 1984 with the group Box of Frogs
    * Mick Jagger's "She's the Boss"
    * The Honeydrippers: Volume One
    * Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Darling, released in 1989, on the songs "House Of The Blue Danube" and "Call A Wave".
    * Tony Hymas's Oyaté, on the track "Crazy Horse" (feat. John Trudell) and "Tashunka Witko" 1990.
    * Buddy Guy's Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, on the tracks "Mustang Sally" and "Early In The Morning" 1991.
    * Kate Bush's 1993 album The Red Shoes
    * Two songs of the Italian singer Zucchero: the song Papa Perche? (from the 1995 album Spirito DiVino) and Like the sun (from out of nowhere) (from the 2004 album ZU & Co, also featuring Macy Gray).
    * The 2003 Yardbirds' reunion album Birdland - on track "My Blind Life"
    * Toots & the Maytals 2004 album "True Love" on the song "54-46."
    * Ursus Minor's Zugzwang released in 2005
    * Cyndi Lauper's song "Above The Clouds" from her 2005 album The Body Acoustic
    * American Idol on 24 April 2007 for the Idol Gives Back special, with Kelly Clarkson, playing "Up to the Mountain", originally by Patty Griffin
    * Played guitar solo in Pavarotti's rendition of "Caruso"
    * The rare blues album Guitar Boogie with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page
    * Guitarist for Hans Zimmer's Days of Thunder Instrumental Score.
    * Beck plays an instrumental version of Lennon/McCartney classic "A Day in the Life" on Sir George Martin's album In My Life (1998), which also appeared in Julie Taymor's Beatles-inspired movie, Across the Universe.
    * His song "Hot Rod Honeymoon" was used for the video game Gran Turismo 4
    * Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix on Manic Depression with Seal.
    * The Pretenders album Viva El Amor on the song "Legalise Me"
    * Stevie Wonder originally wrote "Superstition" for Beck. However, Wonder's manager insisted that he record it before Beck did.
    * John McLaughlin's The Promise, on the track "Django".
    * Joe Cocker's Heart & Soul album on 4th track I (Who Have Nothing) playing lead guitar.
    * Brian May's "The Guv'nor" from the album Another World
    * Imogen Heap's Speak for Yourself
    * Roger Waters' Amused to Death
    * Cozy Powell's Tilt on the tracks "Cat Moves" and "Hot Rock"
    * Mood Swings' song Skinthieves
    * Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Blaze of Glory
    * Paul Rodgers' song "Good Morning Little School Girl"
    * Appears in the movie Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger
    * Morrissey album Years of Refusal on the song Black Cloud.
    * "Mystery Train" on Never Stop Rockin', Carlo Little All Stars album (released 2009, Angel Air Records)
    * Beverley Craven album Love Scenes (EPIC 1993) on the songs Love is the Light, Hope and The Winner Takes It All
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/jeffbeck2.jpg
http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m430/Geronez/jeff-beck-live-21.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/25/11 at 8:04 am

The person of the day...Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais (English pronunciation: /dʒəˈveɪz/; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician and writer.

Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, Gervais also played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has also starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. He has performed on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast in the world as of March 2009, The Ricky Gervais Show.

He has won a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2007 he was voted the 11th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 3rd greatest stand-up comic. In 2010 he was named on the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people. Gervais hosted both the 2010 and 2011 Golden Globe Awards.
Gervais has contributed to the BAFTA-winning The Sketch Show (ITV), penning several sketches. His mainstream-TV debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's "Comedy Lab" series of pilots. His one-off show Golden Years focused on a David Bowie–obsessed character called Clive Meadows. Gervais then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot that replaced Ali G's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999, in which his character used as many expletives as was possible and produced an inordinate amount of politically incorrect statements. Among the other regular featured comedians on the show was Mackenzie Crook, later a co-star of The Office. Two years later, Gervais went on to present his own comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais; it was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself. The Independent newspaper has described Gervais as "obsessed by his own celebrity", but adds, "Who wouldn't want to be Peter Lawford in a comedy Rat Pack?" in reference to Ricky Gervais Meets...; the article, however, also describes him as "a very funny man" who "created one of the great sitcoms". The Guardian's Chris Tryhorn explained the "few gripes" he had with Extras, "particularly in the second series". "You can forgive Gervais a certain arrogance after the success of The Office, but..." He remarks on the confused tone of the series, taking in the clash between the broad comedy of characters Barry (Shaun Williamson) and Darren (Stephen Merchant), and the apparent parody of this style with When The Whistle Blows, and "given their total indulgence of Gervais, the BBC is portrayed as interfering, its comedy department run by a rather crudely stereotyped gay couple".

Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for the BBC sketch show Bruiser and The Jim Tavare Show, and he had cameo roles in Channel 4's sitcom Spaced; it is speculated that the cameo is indeed The Office character David Brent. However, both series of Spaced finished airing before The Office premiered. Gervais also appeared in a few of Channel 4's 'Top 100...' list programmes, and he voiced the character of Penguin in Robbie the Reindeer's Legend of the Lost Tribe. His voice was redubbed for the US market.

On 5 January 2006 he interviewed Larry David in a one off special, Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David. On 25 and 26 December of the same year Channel 4 aired similar specials in which he interviewed the actor/comedian Christopher Guest and comedian Garry Shandling. There are no plans for further episodes of "Meets...", although editions with John Cleese and Matt Groening were recorded in 2006 for broadcast in 2007. A source claimed, "The Shandling experience put him off for good".

Gervais guest-starred in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", which aired on 26 March 2006 in the United States, on 23 April 2006 on satellite station Sky One in the United Kingdom (first appearing on terrestrial television in 2010), and on 18 July 2006 in Australia. He is the only British comic to write and star in a Simpsons episode. The episode was the highest rated in Sky One's history, arguably because of its extensive promotion, which revolved around the angle that Gervais was the episode's sole writer (and the first guest star on the show to also receive a writing credit for the episode of his appearance). Gervais clarified the extent of his input in a joint interview (with Christopher Guest) for Dazed and Confused magazine (January 2006): "No, all I did was put down a load of observations on an email and they made it look like a Simpsons script. I'm going to get the credit, but I think everyone in the industry knows it was a joint effort". Asked in a separate interview about how his idea for the episode (in which Homer swaps Marge on a game show) came about, Gervais replied:

    I've always been fascinated with reality game shows but I think it was my girlfriend's idea. We watch Celebrity Big Brother at the moment, we watch I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here... we watch all those reality TV shows — The Office came out of those docu-soaps".

Gervais, a longstanding Simpsons fan, presented a segment to mark the show's 20th anniversary on BBC Two's The Culture Show on 16 June 2007. Recently on Gervais's blog it was announced that he will be returning to The Simpsons and will feature him doing a skit based on his recent controversial performance at the 2011 Golden Globes. It is unknown if he will be writing the episode this time around.

Gervais has also guest-starred on Alias (appearing in the third-season episode "Façade") as Daniel Ryan, a former Royal Navy bomb-disposal specialist turned rogue Irish Republican Army bomb-maker. He has said about the appearance, "I did an episode of Alias, and I can't watch it. Me being serious. I can't watch it".

Gervais made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live in a Digital Short during which he claims that The Office was adapted from a Japanese program of the same name (with Steve Carell reprising his role as Michael Scott). The sketch re-creates scenes from the American and British pilot episode with Japanese elements (although in an exaggerated way). "It's funny", Gervais laughs at the end, "because it's racist".

In January 2009 Gervais was interviewed by James Lipton for Season 15 of BravoTV's Inside the Actors Studio.

In January 2010 he hosted the 67th Golden Globe Awards, making him the first master of ceremonies since 1995. He stated:

    "I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down."

His performance as host received a mixed response with positive reviews from the New York Daily News and The Associated Press, but also some negative comments from industry bible, The Hollywood Reporter.

Gervais was a guest judge/panelist on Jerry Seinfeld's NBC show The Marriage Ref alongside Larry David and Madonna. On 1 April 2010 Gervais made his first appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC.

As of April 2011 he has made 18 guest appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman on the CBS network.

In April 2010 it was announced that Gervais and Stephen Merchant will be writing a new show, called Life's Too Short, which they described as, "A cross between Extras and Curb your Enthusiasm and One Foot in the Grave but with a dwarf. That is out and out funny." The show will star actor Warwick Davis as himself, as well as Gervais and Merchant.

In June 2010 it was announced that Gervais had been cast in the upcoming Season 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm playing himself.
The Office
Main article: The Office (UK TV series)

In August 1999, while on a BBC production course, Stephen Merchant had to make his own short film. He chose to make a docu-soap parody, set in an office. This sketch later formed the basis of the interview episode. With help from Ash Atalla, Merchant passed this tape on to the BBC's Head of Entertainment Paul Jackson at the Edinburgh Fringe, who then passed it on to Head of Comedy Jon Plowman, who eventually commissioned a full-pilot script from Merchant and Gervais.

The first six-episode series of The Office aired in the UK in July and August 2001 to little fanfare or attention. Word-of-mouth, repeats, and DVDs helped spread the word, building up huge momentum and anticipation for the second series, also comprising six episodes, in September 2002. The second series topped the BBC Two ratings, and the show then switched to BBC One in December 2003 for its final two special episodes.

The Office has since been remade for audiences in France, Germany, Quebec, Brazil, and the United States. Gervais and Merchant are producers of the American version, and they also co-wrote the episode "The Convict" for the show's third season. The original UK version is currently airing on Adult Swim on Fridays, and prior to the show's airing, Gervais appears as himself talking about the episode that will air. In one of those segments Gervais claimed the episode "Training" to be his favourite.
Gervais has received many awards for his work on The Office, most notably two Golden Globes (one for acting, one for the show itself), as well as numerous British Academy Television Awards and British Comedy Awards, amongst others.

Gervais received an honorary award at the annual Rose d'Or ceremony in Switzerland on 29 April 2006. The award is given to "an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business".

On 16 September 2007, Gervais won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Andy Millman on Extras.
Awarding Body/Event Awarded
Writers Guild of America

    * 2007 Best Comedy Series The Office (U.S.)

Rose d'Or

    * 2006 Honorary Rose for Exceptional Contribution to the Global Entertainment Business

Emmy Awards

    * 2007 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Extras
    * 2006 Emmy Outstanding Comedy Series The Office (U.S.)

Golden Globe

    * 2008 Best Television Comedy or Musical (TV) Extras
    * 2003 Best Actor — Musical or Comedy (TV) The Office (UK)
    * 2003 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)

Peabody Awards

    * 2004 Peabody Award The Office (UK)

BAFTA Awards

    * 2007 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2004 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2004 Best Situation Comedy The Office (UK)
    * 2003 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2003 Situation Comedy Award The Office (UK)
    * 2002 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2002 Situation Comedy Award The Office (UK)

Royal Television Society

    * 2003 Best Comedy Performance for: The Office (UK)

British Comedy Award

    * 2008 Best TV Comedy Actor
    * 2004 Writer of the Year Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
    * 2002 Best Comedy Actor
    * 2002 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)
    * 2001 Best New Television Comedy The Office (UK)

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards

    * 2003 Writer's Award for: The Office (UK)
    * 2002 Writer's Award for: The Office (UK)

Satellite Awards

    * 2008 Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical Ghost Town

Television Critics Association

    * 2004 Individual Achievement in Comedy The Office (UK)

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
2001 Dog Eat Dog Bouncer
2005 Valiant Bugsy Voice role
2006 For Your Consideration Martin Gibb
Night at the Museum Dr. McPhee
2007 Stardust Ferdy the Fence
2008 Ghost Town Dr. Bertram Pincus Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Dr. McPhee
The Invention of Lying Mark Bellison Also Writer/Producer/Director
2010 Cemetery Junction Len Taylor Also Writer/Executive Producer/Director (with Stephen Merchant)
2011 Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World Argonut Voice Only
The Muppets Cameo post-production
2012 The Wind in the Willows Mole Voice Only
pre-production
Television
Year Programme Role Notes
1998 The 11 O'Clock Show Various Unknown episodes
1999 Comedy Lab Clive Meadows Episode: "Golden Years"
2000 Bruiser Recurring 6 episodes
Meet Ricky Gervais Himself 6 episodes
2001 The Sketch Show Various (Unknown episodes)
The Office David Brent 2001–2003, (14 episodes including 2 Christmas specials) Also writer, director
2004 Alias Daniel Ryan Episode: "Façade"
2005 Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show Various (Unknown episodes)
Extras Andy Millman 2005–2007, (13 episodes) Also writer, director, executive producer
2006 The Simpsons Charles Heathbar Also Writer, Episode: "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife"
2008 Ricky Gervais: Out of England-The Stand-Up Special Himself (written by)
2009 Sesame Street Himself
2010– The Ricky Gervais Show Himself with Karl Pilkington & Stephen Merchant
An Idiot Abroad Himself with Karl Pilkington & Stephen Merchant
2010 Louie Dr. Ben guest star (episodes "Dr. Ben/Nick" & "Gym")
2011 Life's Too Short Himself with Stephen Merchant & Warwick Davis
The Office David Brent Episode: The Seminar & Search Committee
The Simpsons Himself Episode: "Angry Dad: The Movie"
Talking Funny Himself With Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Louis C.K.
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Himself
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/Xvicky_viksterX/ricky.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p262/earthtoemilee/myspace/ricky.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/26/11 at 11:59 am

The person of the day...Pearl Buck
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu (Chinese: 賽珍珠; pinyin: Sài Zhēnzhū), was an award-winning American writer who spent most of her time until 1934 in China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces."
Buck was highly committed and passionate about a range of issues that were largely ignored by her generation; many of her life experiences and political views are described in her novels, short stories, fiction, children's stories, and the biographies of her parents entitled Fighting Angel (on Absalom) and The Exile (on Carrie). She wrote on a diverse variety of topics including woman's rights, Asian cultures, immigration, adoption, missionary work, and war.

In 1949, outraged that existing adoption services considered Asian and mixed-race children unadoptable, Buck established Welcome House, Inc., the first international, interracial adoption agency. In nearly five decades of work, Welcome House has placed over five thousand children. In 1964, to support children who were not eligible for adoption, Buck established the Pearl S. Buck Foundation to "address poverty and discrimination faced by children in Asian countries." In 1965, she opened the Opportunity Center and Orphanage in South Korea, and later offices were opened in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. When establishing Opportunity House, Buck said, "The purpose... is to publicize and eliminate injustices and prejudices suffered by children, who, because of their birth, are not permitted to enjoy the educational, social, economic and civil privileges normally accorded to children."

In the late 1960s, Buck toured West Virginia to raise money to preserve her family farm in Hillsboro, WV. Today The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace is a historic house museum and cultural center. She hoped the house would "belong to everyone who cares to go there," and serve as a "gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life."

Long before it was considered fashionable or politically safe to do so, Buck challenged the American public on topics such as racism, sex discrimination and the plight of the thousands of babies born to Asian women left behind and unwanted wherever American soldiers were based in Asia. During her life Buck combined the multiple careers of wife, mother, author, editor and political activist.
Legacy

Contemporary reviewers were positive, and praised her "beautiful prose," even though her "style is apt to degenerate into overrepetition and confusion." Peter Conn, in his biography of Buck, argues that despite the accolades awarded her, Buck's contribution to literature has been mostly forgotten or deliberately ignored by America's cultural gatekeepers. Kang Liao argues that Buck played a "pioneering role in demythologizing China and the Chinese people in the American mind." Phyllis Bentley, in an overview of her work published in 1935, was altogether impressed: "But we may say at least that for the interest of her chosen material, the sustained high level of her technical skill, and the frequent universality of her conceptions, Mrs. Buck is entitled to take rank as a considerable artist. To read her novels is to gain not merely knowledge of China but wisdom about life." These works aroused considerable popular sympathy for China, and helped foment poor relations with Japan.

Anchee Min, author of a fictionalized life of Pearl Buck, broke down upon reading Buck's work, because she had portrayed the Chinese peasants "with such love, affection and humanity"."

Buck was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 5¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

(賽珍珠故居) Buck's former residence at Nanjing University is now the Nanjing University Science and Technology Industry Group Building along the West Wall of the university's north campus. U.S. President George H.W. Bush toured the Pearl S. Buck House in October 1998. He expressed that he, like millions of other Americans, had gained an appreciation for the Chinese through Buck's writing.
Selected bibliography
Autobiographies

    * My Several Worlds (1954)
    * A Bridge For Passing (1962)

Biographies

    * The Exile (1936)
    * Fighting Angel (1936)

Novels
See also: List of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1930s

    * East Wind:West Wind (1930)
    * The House of Earth (1935)
          o The Good Earth (1931)
          o Sons (1933)
          o A House Divided (1935)
    * The Mother (1933)
    * This Proud Heart (1938)
    * The Patriot (1939)
    * Other Gods (1940)
    * China Sky (1941)
    * Dragon Seed (1942)
    * The Promise (1943)
    * China Flight (1943)
    * The Townsman (1945) – as John Sedges
    * Portrait of a Marriage (1945)
    * Pavilion of Women (1946)
    * The Angry Wife (1947) – as John Sedges
    * Peony (1948)
    * The Big Wave (1948)
    * A Long Love (1949) – as John Sedges
    * Kinfolk (1950)
    * God's Men (1951)
    * The Hidden Flower (1952)
    * Come, My Beloved (1953)
    * Voices in the House (1953) – as John Sedges
    * Imperial Woman (1956)
    * Letter from Peking (1957)
    * Command the Morning (1959)
    * Satan Never Sleeps (1962; see 1962 film Satan Never Sleeps)
    * The Living Reed (1963)
    * Death in the Castle (1965)
    * The Time Is Noon (1966)
    * Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (1967)
    * The New Year (1968)
    * The Three Daughters of Madame Liang (1969)
    * Mandala (1970)
    * The Goddess Abides (1972)
    * All Under Heaven (1973)
    * The Rainbow (1974)

Non-fiction

    * Of Men and Women (1941)
    * How It Happens: Talk about the German People, 1914–1933, with Erna von Pustau (1947)
    * The Child Who Never Grew (1950)
    * The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen (1953) for young readers
    * My Several Worlds (1954)
    * For Spacious Skies (1966)
    * The People of Japan (1966)
    * The Kennedy Women (1970)
    * China as I See It (1970)
    * The Story Bible (1971)
    * Pearl S. Buck's Oriental Cookbook (1972)

Short Stories

    * The First Wife and Other Stories (1933)
    * Today and Forever: Stories of China (1941)
    * Twenty-Seven Stories (1943)
    * Far and Near: Stories of Japan, China, and America (1949)
    * Fourteen Stories (1961)
    * Hearts Come Home and Other Stories (1962)
    * Stories of China (1964)
    * Escape at Midnight and Other Stories (1964)
    * The Good Deed and Other Stories of Asia, Past and Present (1969)
    * Once Upon a Christmas (1972)
    * East and West Stories (1975)
    * Secrets of the Heart: Stories (1976)
    * The Lovers and Other Stories (1977)
    * Mrs. Stoner and the Sea and Other Stories (1978)
    * The Woman Who Was Changed and Other Stories (1979)
    * The Good Deed (1969)
    * "Christmas Day in the Morning"
    * "The Refugee"
    * "The Chinese Children Next Door" (for children)
    * ″The Enemy"
    * "The Frill"
    * "The Golden Flower"

Awards

    * Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: The Good Earth (1932)
    * William Dean Howells Medal (1935)
    * Nobel Prize in Literature (1938)

Museums and historic houses

Several historic sites work to preserve and display artifacts from Pearl's profoundly multicultural life:

    * The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, West Virginia
    * Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
    * The Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association in Zhenjiang, China
    * Pearl S. Buck House in Nanjing, China
    * The Pearl S. Buck Summer Villa, on Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province, China
    * The Pearl S. Buck Memorial Hall, Bucheon City, South Korea
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z54/MoyerBell/psb2.gif
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z54/MoyerBell/Buck_portrait2_72.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 06/26/11 at 12:01 pm


The person of the day...Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais (English pronunciation: /dʒəˈveɪz/; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician and writer.

Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, Gervais also played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has also starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. He has performed on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast in the world as of March 2009, The Ricky Gervais Show.

He has won a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2007 he was voted the 11th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 3rd greatest stand-up comic. In 2010 he was named on the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people. Gervais hosted both the 2010 and 2011 Golden Globe Awards.
Gervais has contributed to the BAFTA-winning The Sketch Show (ITV), penning several sketches. His mainstream-TV debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's "Comedy Lab" series of pilots. His one-off show Golden Years focused on a David Bowie–obsessed character called Clive Meadows. Gervais then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot that replaced Ali G's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999, in which his character used as many expletives as was possible and produced an inordinate amount of politically incorrect statements. Among the other regular featured comedians on the show was Mackenzie Crook, later a co-star of The Office. Two years later, Gervais went on to present his own comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais; it was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself. The Independent newspaper has described Gervais as "obsessed by his own celebrity", but adds, "Who wouldn't want to be Peter Lawford in a comedy Rat Pack?" in reference to Ricky Gervais Meets...; the article, however, also describes him as "a very funny man" who "created one of the great sitcoms". The Guardian's Chris Tryhorn explained the "few gripes" he had with Extras, "particularly in the second series". "You can forgive Gervais a certain arrogance after the success of The Office, but..." He remarks on the confused tone of the series, taking in the clash between the broad comedy of characters Barry (Shaun Williamson) and Darren (Stephen Merchant), and the apparent parody of this style with When The Whistle Blows, and "given their total indulgence of Gervais, the BBC is portrayed as interfering, its comedy department run by a rather crudely stereotyped gay couple".

Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for the BBC sketch show Bruiser and The Jim Tavare Show, and he had cameo roles in Channel 4's sitcom Spaced; it is speculated that the cameo is indeed The Office character David Brent. However, both series of Spaced finished airing before The Office premiered. Gervais also appeared in a few of Channel 4's 'Top 100...' list programmes, and he voiced the character of Penguin in Robbie the Reindeer's Legend of the Lost Tribe. His voice was redubbed for the US market.

On 5 January 2006 he interviewed Larry David in a one off special, Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David. On 25 and 26 December of the same year Channel 4 aired similar specials in which he interviewed the actor/comedian Christopher Guest and comedian Garry Shandling. There are no plans for further episodes of "Meets...", although editions with John Cleese and Matt Groening were recorded in 2006 for broadcast in 2007. A source claimed, "The Shandling experience put him off for good".

Gervais guest-starred in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", which aired on 26 March 2006 in the United States, on 23 April 2006 on satellite station Sky One in the United Kingdom (first appearing on terrestrial television in 2010), and on 18 July 2006 in Australia. He is the only British comic to write and star in a Simpsons episode. The episode was the highest rated in Sky One's history, arguably because of its extensive promotion, which revolved around the angle that Gervais was the episode's sole writer (and the first guest star on the show to also receive a writing credit for the episode of his appearance). Gervais clarified the extent of his input in a joint interview (with Christopher Guest) for Dazed and Confused magazine (January 2006): "No, all I did was put down a load of observations on an email and they made it look like a Simpsons script. I'm going to get the credit, but I think everyone in the industry knows it was a joint effort". Asked in a separate interview about how his idea for the episode (in which Homer swaps Marge on a game show) came about, Gervais replied:

    I've always been fascinated with reality game shows but I think it was my girlfriend's idea. We watch Celebrity Big Brother at the moment, we watch I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here... we watch all those reality TV shows — The Office came out of those docu-soaps".

Gervais, a longstanding Simpsons fan, presented a segment to mark the show's 20th anniversary on BBC Two's The Culture Show on 16 June 2007. Recently on Gervais's blog it was announced that he will be returning to The Simpsons and will feature him doing a skit based on his recent controversial performance at the 2011 Golden Globes. It is unknown if he will be writing the episode this time around.

Gervais has also guest-starred on Alias (appearing in the third-season episode "Façade") as Daniel Ryan, a former Royal Navy bomb-disposal specialist turned rogue Irish Republican Army bomb-maker. He has said about the appearance, "I did an episode of Alias, and I can't watch it. Me being serious. I can't watch it".

Gervais made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live in a Digital Short during which he claims that The Office was adapted from a Japanese program of the same name (with Steve Carell reprising his role as Michael Scott). The sketch re-creates scenes from the American and British pilot episode with Japanese elements (although in an exaggerated way). "It's funny", Gervais laughs at the end, "because it's racist".

In January 2009 Gervais was interviewed by James Lipton for Season 15 of BravoTV's Inside the Actors Studio.

In January 2010 he hosted the 67th Golden Globe Awards, making him the first master of ceremonies since 1995. He stated:

    "I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down."

His performance as host received a mixed response with positive reviews from the New York Daily News and The Associated Press, but also some negative comments from industry bible, The Hollywood Reporter.

Gervais was a guest judge/panelist on Jerry Seinfeld's NBC show The Marriage Ref alongside Larry David and Madonna. On 1 April 2010 Gervais made his first appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC.

As of April 2011 he has made 18 guest appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman on the CBS network.

In April 2010 it was announced that Gervais and Stephen Merchant will be writing a new show, called Life's Too Short, which they described as, "A cross between Extras and Curb your Enthusiasm and One Foot in the Grave but with a dwarf. That is out and out funny." The show will star actor Warwick Davis as himself, as well as Gervais and Merchant.

In June 2010 it was announced that Gervais had been cast in the upcoming Season 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm playing himself.
The Office
Main article: The Office (UK TV series)

In August 1999, while on a BBC production course, Stephen Merchant had to make his own short film. He chose to make a docu-soap parody, set in an office. This sketch later formed the basis of the interview episode. With help from Ash Atalla, Merchant passed this tape on to the BBC's Head of Entertainment Paul Jackson at the Edinburgh Fringe, who then passed it on to Head of Comedy Jon Plowman, who eventually commissioned a full-pilot script from Merchant and Gervais.

The first six-episode series of The Office aired in the UK in July and August 2001 to little fanfare or attention. Word-of-mouth, repeats, and DVDs helped spread the word, building up huge momentum and anticipation for the second series, also comprising six episodes, in September 2002. The second series topped the BBC Two ratings, and the show then switched to BBC One in December 2003 for its final two special episodes.

The Office has since been remade for audiences in France, Germany, Quebec, Brazil, and the United States. Gervais and Merchant are producers of the American version, and they also co-wrote the episode "The Convict" for the show's third season. The original UK version is currently airing on Adult Swim on Fridays, and prior to the show's airing, Gervais appears as himself talking about the episode that will air. In one of those segments Gervais claimed the episode "Training" to be his favourite.
Gervais has received many awards for his work on The Office, most notably two Golden Globes (one for acting, one for the show itself), as well as numerous British Academy Television Awards and British Comedy Awards, amongst others.

Gervais received an honorary award at the annual Rose d'Or ceremony in Switzerland on 29 April 2006. The award is given to "an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business".

On 16 September 2007, Gervais won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Andy Millman on Extras.
Awarding Body/Event Awarded
Writers Guild of America

    * 2007 Best Comedy Series The Office (U.S.)

Rose d'Or

    * 2006 Honorary Rose for Exceptional Contribution to the Global Entertainment Business

Emmy Awards

    * 2007 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Extras
    * 2006 Emmy Outstanding Comedy Series The Office (U.S.)

Golden Globe

    * 2008 Best Television Comedy or Musical (TV) Extras
    * 2003 Best Actor — Musical or Comedy (TV) The Office (UK)
    * 2003 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)

Peabody Awards

    * 2004 Peabody Award The Office (UK)

BAFTA Awards

    * 2007 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2004 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2004 Best Situation Comedy The Office (UK)
    * 2003 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2003 Situation Comedy Award The Office (UK)
    * 2002 Best Comedy Performance
    * 2002 Situation Comedy Award The Office (UK)

Royal Television Society

    * 2003 Best Comedy Performance for: The Office (UK)

British Comedy Award

    * 2008 Best TV Comedy Actor
    * 2004 Writer of the Year Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
    * 2002 Best Comedy Actor
    * 2002 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)
    * 2001 Best New Television Comedy The Office (UK)

Broadcasting Press Guild Awards

    * 2003 Writer's Award for: The Office (UK)
    * 2002 Writer's Award for: The Office (UK)

Satellite Awards

    * 2008 Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical Ghost Town

Television Critics Association

    * 2004 Individual Achievement in Comedy The Office (UK)

Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
2001 Dog Eat Dog Bouncer
2005 Valiant Bugsy Voice role
2006 For Your Consideration Martin Gibb
Night at the Museum Dr. McPhee
2007 Stardust Ferdy the Fence
2008 Ghost Town Dr. Bertram Pincus Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Dr. McPhee
The Invention of Lying Mark Bellison Also Writer/Producer/Director
2010 Cemetery Junction Len Taylor Also Writer/Executive Producer/Director (with Stephen Merchant)
2011 Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World Argonut Voice Only
The Muppets Cameo post-production
2012 The Wind in the Willows Mole Voice Only
pre-production
Television
Year Programme Role Notes
1998 The 11 O'Clock Show Various Unknown episodes
1999 Comedy Lab Clive Meadows Episode: "Golden Years"
2000 Bruiser Recurring 6 episodes
Meet Ricky Gervais Himself 6 episodes
2001 The Sketch Show Various (Unknown episodes)
The Office David Brent 2001–2003, (14 episodes including 2 Christmas specials) Also writer, director
2004 Alias Daniel Ryan Episode: "Façade"
2005 Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show Various (Unknown episodes)
Extras Andy Millman 2005–2007, (13 episodes) Also writer, director, executive producer
2006 The Simpsons Charles Heathbar Also Writer, Episode: "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife"
2008 Ricky Gervais: Out of England-The Stand-Up Special Himself (written by)
2009 Sesame Street Himself
2010– The Ricky Gervais Show Himself with Karl Pilkington & Stephen Merchant
An Idiot Abroad Himself with Karl Pilkington & Stephen Merchant
2010 Louie Dr. Ben guest star (episodes "Dr. Ben/Nick" & "Gym")
2011 Life's Too Short Himself with Stephen Merchant & Warwick Davis
The Office David Brent Episode: The Seminar & Search Committee
The Simpsons Himself Episode: "Angry Dad: The Movie"
Talking Funny Himself With Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Louis C.K.
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Himself
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/Xvicky_viksterX/ricky.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p262/earthtoemilee/myspace/ricky.jpg
Believe it or not, The Office has never made me laugh.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/26/11 at 1:00 pm


Believe it or not, The Office has never made me laugh.


It's an ok show.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/11 at 8:36 am


Believe it or not, The Office has never made me laugh.

I've never watched either version.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/27/11 at 8:40 am

The person of the day J.J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob "J.J." Abrams (born June 27, 1966), is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity (1998–2002). He also created Alias (2001–2006) and co-created Lost (2004–2010), Fringe (2008–present), and Undercovers (2010). Abrams directed the films Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009), and Super 8 (2011) and produced the films Cloverfield (2008) and Morning Glory (2010).
Abrams's first job in the movie business started when he was 16 when he wrote music for Don Dohler's film Nightbeast. During his senior year at college, he teamed with Jill Mazursky to write a feature film treatment. Purchased by Touchstone Pictures, the treatment was the basis for Taking Care of Business, Abrams's first produced film, which starred Charles Grodin and Jim Belushi. He followed that up with Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford, and Forever Young, starring Mel Gibson.

Abrams collaborated with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay on the 1998 film, Armageddon. That same year, he made his first foray into television with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network, serving as the show's co-creator (with Matt Reeves) and executive producer. He also composed its opening theme music.

Under his production company, Bad Robot, Abrams created and executive-produced ABC's Alias and is co-creator (with Damon Lindelof) and executive producer of Lost. He later co-wrote the teleplay for Lost's third season premiere "A Tale of Two Cities". As with Felicity, Abrams also composed the opening theme music for Alias and Lost.

In 2001 Abrams co-wrote and produced the thriller Joy Ride, and wrote an unproduced screenplay for a fifth Superman film in 2002.

In 2006 he served as executive producer of What About Brian and Six Degrees, also on ABC. Abrams directed and wrote the two-part pilot for Lost and remained active producer for the first half of the season. That same year he made his feature directorial debut in 2006 with Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise.
Abrams at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010.

Abrams spoke at the TED conference in 2007.

In 2008 Abrams produced the monster movie, Cloverfield. In 2009 he directed the science fiction film Star Trek, which he produced with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. While it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels, they publicly stated in November 2009 that they were no longer looking to take on that project.

He is one of the creators of the Fox Network series Fringe, for which he again composed the theme music.

Abrams is featured in the 2009 MTV Movie Awards 1980s-style digital short "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions", with Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell, in which he plays a keyboard solo.

The NBC network picked up Abrams's Undercovers as its first new drama series for the 2010–11 season. However, it was subsequently cancelled by NBC in November 2010. He wrote and directed Super 8, while co-producing with Steven Spielberg; it was released on June 10, 2011.
Personal life

Abrams is married to public relations exec Katie McGrath and has three children: sons August and Henry and daughter Gracie. He resides in Pacific Palisades, California.

Abrams has made donations to the Democratic Party. Campaigns he has contributed to include those of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Bradley, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Bob Casey, Jr., Mark Udall, Harry Reid, Russ Feingold, and Patrick J. Kennedy. However, he has also donated $2,000 to the Republican Robert Vasquez.
Filmography

    * Taking Care of Business (1990) (writer)
    * Regarding Henry (1991) (writer, co-producer)
    * Forever Young (1992) (writer, executive producer)
    * Diabolique (1996) Actor, Videographer #2, as Jeffrey Abrams
    * The Pallbearer (1996) (producer)
    * Gone Fishin' (1997) (co-writer)
    * Armageddon (1998) (writer)
    * The Suburbans (1999) (producer)
    * Joy Ride (2001) (writer, producer)
    * Mission: Impossible III (2006) (director, co-writer)
    * Cloverfield (2008) (producer)
    * Star Trek (2009) (director, producer)
    * Morning Glory (2010) (producer)
    * Super 8 (June 10, 2011) (director, writer, producer)
    * Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (December 16, 2011) (writer, producer)
    * Untitled Star Trek sequel (2012) (producer/possible director)
    * Samurai Jack feature film (TBA) (co-producer)
    * Infinitely Polar Bear feature film (TBA) (co-producer)

Television

    * Felicity (1998–2002) (co-creator, writer, executive producer, director, co-composer of theme music)
    * Alias (2001–2006) (creator, writer, executive producer, director, theme music composer)
    * Lost (2004) (Executive Producer, theme music composer, co-creator, writer, director)
    * The Office (2005–2011) (guest director)
    * What About Brian (2006–2007) (executive producer)
    * Six Degrees (2006–2007) (executive producer)
    * Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2006) (guest director)
    * Fringe (2008–present) (co-creator, writer, executive producer, theme music composer)
    * Anatomy of Hope (2009) (executive producer, writer, director)
    * Undercovers (2010) (co-creator, executive producer, writer, director)
    * Person of Interest (Announced - Series by CBS)
    * Alcatraz (Announced - Series by Fox)

Awards and nominations
Wins

    * 2005 Emmy Award Winner, Outstanding Drama Series (Lost)
    * 2005 Emmy Award Winner, Outstanding Directing for A Drama Series (Lost)
    * 2006 Golden Globe Award Winner, Best Television Series —Drama (Lost)

Nominations

    * 2002 Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series (Alias)
    * 2005 Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series (Lost)
    * 2007 Golden Globe Award Nomination, Best Television Series —Drama (Lost)
    * 2006 Writers Guild of America Award Nomination for Best Dramatic Series (Lost season 1)
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx353/masterpenguin/StarTrekJapanPremierei15ni80Nclpl.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/lostieforever/jj_abrams_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/28/11 at 7:31 am

The person of the day...John Cusack
John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand By Me, Con Air, High Fidelity, Serendipity, and 2012.
Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish Catholic family. His father, Dick Cusack (1925–2003), was also an actor, as are his siblings Ann, Joan, Bill and Susie. His father was also a documentary filmmaker, owned a film production company, and was a friend of activist Philip Berrigan. Cusack's mother, Nancy (née Carolan), is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in belly".
Career

Cusack gained fame in the mid-1980s after appearing in teen movies such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, and Sixteen Candles. Cusack made a cameo in the 1988 music video for "Trip At The Brain" by Suicidal Tendencies. In 1989 he starred as Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything.... His roles broadened in the late 1980s and early 1990s with more serious-minded fare such as the political satire True Colors and the film noir thriller The Grifters.

Cusack experienced box office success with his roles in the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Con Air. In the years since, his range of films has diversified, appearing in roles such as an obsessive puppeteer in Being John Malkovich, a lovelorn record store owner in High Fidelity, and a Jewish art dealer mentoring a young Adolf Hitler in Max. He starred in the horror film 1408, based on Stephen King's short story of the same name. He next appeared as a widowed father in the Iraq War-themed drama Grace is Gone and as assassin Brand Hauser in the dark political satire, War, Inc., along with Hilary Duff and Marisa Tomei.

His sister Joan Cusack and close friend Jeremy Piven have appeared in many of his films. The siblings appeared as two geeks in Sixteen Candles: John as one of Farmer Ted's posse, and Joan as the geek with the neck brace. They also appeared together in Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Martian Child, and War, Inc.. Piven and Cusack played opposite one another in One Crazy Summer, Serendipity, Say Anything, and Grosse Pointe Blank. Cusack also had a brief cameo, seen from behind but speaking a line of dialogue, in Broadcast News, in which Joan also appeared. Piven also had roles in The Grifters and Runaway Jury.

Cusack was next seen in Roland Emmerich's disaster film, 2012, which was released in theaters November 13, 2009; he played Jackson Curtis, a book writer and limo driver, with his Identity and Martian Child co-star Amanda Peet. Most recently Cusack was seen in Hot Tub Time Machine, opposite Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson, which came out in March 2010.
Personal life

Cusack has an allegiance to both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, for which, he says, he's "in trouble there for that." He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.

Cusack has trained in kickboxing for over 20 years under former world kickboxing champion Benny “The Jet" Urquidez. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything and currently holds the rank of Level 6 black belt in Urquidez’ Ukidokan Kickboxing system.
Politics

Since May 2005, John Cusack has been an avid blogger at The Huffington Post, including an interview with Naomi Klein. He has written extensively on his opposition to the war in Iraq and his disdain for the Bush administration, calling its worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd".

He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org ad, where he made the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.
Stalking incident

In March 2008, police arrested Emily Leatherman outside Cusack's home for stalking the actor. On October 10, 2008, Leatherman pled no contest and received five years probation and mandatory psychiatric counseling, and was ordered to stay away from Cusack, his home and business for the next 10 years.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Class Roscoe Maibaum
1984 Sixteen Candles Bryce
Grandview, U.S.A. Johnny Maine
1985 The Sure Thing Walter (Gib) Gibson
The Journey of Natty Gann Harry
Better Off Dead Lane Meyer
1986 Stand by Me Denny Lachance
One Crazy Summer Hoops McCann
1987 Hot Pursuit Dan Bartlett
Broadcast News Angry Messenger
1988 Eight Men Out George 'Buck' Weaver
Tapeheads Ivan Alexeev
1989 Elvis Stories Corky short subject
Say Anything... Lloyd Dobler Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
Fat Man and Little Boy Michael Merriman
1990 The Grifters Roy Dillon
1991 True Colors Peter Burton
1992 Shadows and Fog Student Jack
The Player Self Cameo
Bob Roberts Cutting Edge Host
Roadside Prophets Caspar
1993 Map of the Human Heart The Mapmaker
Money for Nothing Joey Coyle
1994 Floundering JC
Bullets Over Broadway David Shayne
The Road to Wellville Charles Ossining
1996 City Hall Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Martin Q. Blank Screenplay and co-producer
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Con Air U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor — Action/Adventure
Anastasia Dimitri voice
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Kelso
1998 Chicago Cab Scary man Executive producer
This Is My Father Eddie Sharp, the Pilot
The Thin Red Line Capt. Gaff Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble
1999 Pushing Tin Nick Falzone
Cradle Will Rock Nelson Rockefeller Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Being John Malkovich Craig Schwartz Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Jack Bull Myrl Redding TV film, executive producer
2000 High Fidelity Rob Gordon Screenplay and co-producer
Nominated — American Comedy Award
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
Nominated — USC Scripter Award 2000
Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2001 America's Sweethearts Eddie Thomas
Serendipity Jonathan Trager
2002 Max Max Rothman associate producer
Adaptation. Himself uncredited
2003 Identity Ed Dakota
Breakfast With Hunter Himself documentary
Runaway Jury Nicholas Easter
2005 Must Love Dogs Jake Anderson
The Ice Harvest Charlie Arglist
2006 Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film Himself documentary
The Contract Ray Keene
2007 Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten Himself documentary
Martian Child David Gordon
1408 Mike Enslin Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actor
Grace Is Gone Stanley Philipps Producer
2008 Igor Igor voice
2008 War, Inc. Brand Hauser also writer, producer
2009 2012 Jackson Curtis nominated-Teen choice award: Actor SCI-FI
2010
Hot Tub Time Machine Adam also producer
2011 The Factory Mike Fletcher post-production
The Raven Edgar Allan Poe filming
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd112/zmeli666/cusack.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/chhilt/j_cusack.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/28/11 at 7:48 pm


The person of the day...John Cusack
John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand By Me, Con Air, High Fidelity, Serendipity, and 2012.
Cusack was born in Evanston, Illinois, to an Irish Catholic family. His father, Dick Cusack (1925–2003), was also an actor, as are his siblings Ann, Joan, Bill and Susie. His father was also a documentary filmmaker, owned a film production company, and was a friend of activist Philip Berrigan. Cusack's mother, Nancy (née Carolan), is a former mathematics teacher and political activist. Cusack spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had "too much fire in belly".
Career

Cusack gained fame in the mid-1980s after appearing in teen movies such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, and Sixteen Candles. Cusack made a cameo in the 1988 music video for "Trip At The Brain" by Suicidal Tendencies. In 1989 he starred as Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything.... His roles broadened in the late 1980s and early 1990s with more serious-minded fare such as the political satire True Colors and the film noir thriller The Grifters.

Cusack experienced box office success with his roles in the dark comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster Con Air. In the years since, his range of films has diversified, appearing in roles such as an obsessive puppeteer in Being John Malkovich, a lovelorn record store owner in High Fidelity, and a Jewish art dealer mentoring a young Adolf Hitler in Max. He starred in the horror film 1408, based on Stephen King's short story of the same name. He next appeared as a widowed father in the Iraq War-themed drama Grace is Gone and as assassin Brand Hauser in the dark political satire, War, Inc., along with Hilary Duff and Marisa Tomei.

His sister Joan Cusack and close friend Jeremy Piven have appeared in many of his films. The siblings appeared as two geeks in Sixteen Candles: John as one of Farmer Ted's posse, and Joan as the geek with the neck brace. They also appeared together in Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, Martian Child, and War, Inc.. Piven and Cusack played opposite one another in One Crazy Summer, Serendipity, Say Anything, and Grosse Pointe Blank. Cusack also had a brief cameo, seen from behind but speaking a line of dialogue, in Broadcast News, in which Joan also appeared. Piven also had roles in The Grifters and Runaway Jury.

Cusack was next seen in Roland Emmerich's disaster film, 2012, which was released in theaters November 13, 2009; he played Jackson Curtis, a book writer and limo driver, with his Identity and Martian Child co-star Amanda Peet. Most recently Cusack was seen in Hot Tub Time Machine, opposite Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson, which came out in March 2010.
Personal life

Cusack has an allegiance to both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox, for which, he says, he's "in trouble there for that." He has led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.

Cusack has trained in kickboxing for over 20 years under former world kickboxing champion Benny “The Jet" Urquidez. He began training under Urquidez in preparation for his role in Say Anything and currently holds the rank of Level 6 black belt in Urquidez’ Ukidokan Kickboxing system.
Politics

Since May 2005, John Cusack has been an avid blogger at The Huffington Post, including an interview with Naomi Klein. He has written extensively on his opposition to the war in Iraq and his disdain for the Bush administration, calling its worldview "depressing, corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd".

He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org ad, where he made the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.
Stalking incident

In March 2008, police arrested Emily Leatherman outside Cusack's home for stalking the actor. On October 10, 2008, Leatherman pled no contest and received five years probation and mandatory psychiatric counseling, and was ordered to stay away from Cusack, his home and business for the next 10 years.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Class Roscoe Maibaum
1984 Sixteen Candles Bryce
Grandview, U.S.A. Johnny Maine
1985 The Sure Thing Walter (Gib) Gibson
The Journey of Natty Gann Harry
Better Off Dead Lane Meyer
1986 Stand by Me Denny Lachance
One Crazy Summer Hoops McCann
1987 Hot Pursuit Dan Bartlett
Broadcast News Angry Messenger
1988 Eight Men Out George 'Buck' Weaver
Tapeheads Ivan Alexeev
1989 Elvis Stories Corky short subject
Say Anything... Lloyd Dobler Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
Fat Man and Little Boy Michael Merriman
1990 The Grifters Roy Dillon
1991 True Colors Peter Burton
1992 Shadows and Fog Student Jack
The Player Self Cameo
Bob Roberts Cutting Edge Host
Roadside Prophets Caspar
1993 Map of the Human Heart The Mapmaker
Money for Nothing Joey Coyle
1994 Floundering JC
Bullets Over Broadway David Shayne
The Road to Wellville Charles Ossining
1996 City Hall Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun
1997 Grosse Pointe Blank Martin Q. Blank Screenplay and co-producer
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Con Air U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor — Action/Adventure
Anastasia Dimitri voice
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Kelso
1998 Chicago Cab Scary man Executive producer
This Is My Father Eddie Sharp, the Pilot
The Thin Red Line Capt. Gaff Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble
1999 Pushing Tin Nick Falzone
Cradle Will Rock Nelson Rockefeller Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Being John Malkovich Craig Schwartz Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Jack Bull Myrl Redding TV film, executive producer
2000 High Fidelity Rob Gordon Screenplay and co-producer
Nominated — American Comedy Award
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
Nominated — USC Scripter Award 2000
Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2001 America's Sweethearts Eddie Thomas
Serendipity Jonathan Trager
2002 Max Max Rothman associate producer
Adaptation. Himself uncredited
2003 Identity Ed Dakota
Breakfast With Hunter Himself documentary
Runaway Jury Nicholas Easter
2005 Must Love Dogs Jake Anderson
The Ice Harvest Charlie Arglist
2006 Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film Himself documentary
The Contract Ray Keene
2007 Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten Himself documentary
Martian Child David Gordon
1408 Mike Enslin Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actor
Grace Is Gone Stanley Philipps Producer
2008 Igor Igor voice
2008 War, Inc. Brand Hauser also writer, producer
2009 2012 Jackson Curtis nominated-Teen choice award: Actor SCI-FI
2010
Hot Tub Time Machine Adam also producer
2011 The Factory Mike Fletcher post-production
The Raven Edgar Allan Poe filming
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd112/zmeli666/cusack.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/chhilt/j_cusack.jpg


I like him,he's a cool actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/29/11 at 7:48 am

The person of the day... Gary Busey
William Gary Busey (born June 29, 1944), best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in over 120 films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story.
Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in The Rubber Band. He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names "Teddy Jack Eddy" and "Sprunk", a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). He played in a band called Carp, who released one album on Epic Records in 1969. Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the antepenultimate episode, No. 633 – "The Los Carnales").

In 1976 he was hired by Barbra Streisand and her producer-boyfriend Jon Peters to play Bobby Ritchie, Road Manager to Kris Kristofferson's character in the remake film A Star is Born. On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.

In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Academy Award nomination and the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award. In the film, he changes the lyrics to the song "Well All Right" and sings, "We're gonna love Teddy Jack..." a reference to his Teddy Jack Eddy persona. In the same year he also starred in the surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet, Barbarosa, Top Gun (providing voiceover for Tim Robbins' character, Merlin), Insignificance and Lethal Weapon. In the movie D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character Dell. At one point, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Busey singing the song "Why Baby Why" (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased). In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm, Lost Highway, Point Break and Black Sheep.

Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979, and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.

In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006. He also voiced himself on a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, narrating an informational video about restraining orders.

Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York City, London and Tel Aviv.
Busey in Kazakhstan, 2007.

In 2007, he appeared as himself on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor.

In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Per his contract and VH1's press release, he was to be part of the mentoring team and not a patient. Drew Pinsky has expressed a different opinion, saying that he can help by being in group meetings with others and is not part of the staff, but part of the patients of this second season. Busey returned to reality television in Celebrity Apprentice 4, which premiered in March 2011,

In a series of 2010 YouTube advertisements for Vitamin Water, Busey appears as Norman Tugwater, a lawyer who defends professional athletes' entitlements to a cut from Fantasy Football team owners.

The following year, he was let go from the horror movie Mansion of Blood after filming half his scenes, due what his publicist, Michael Conley, called "contractual issues and misunderstandings."
Personal life
Busey in September 2007
Family

In 1971, Busey's wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to their son, William Jacob Busey, now known as actor Jake Busey. Busey and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen.

Busey has a daughter named Alectra from a previous relationship.

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Gary Busey and girlfriend Steffanie Sampson were expecting their first child in May 2010. On February 23, 2010, their son Luke Sampson Busey was born.
Motorcycle accident and brain damage

On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.

At the recommendation of Dr. Drew Pinsky, Busey was seen by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. He recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote, to which he agreed.
Legal issues

In May 1995, Busey was arrested for cocaine possession after being hospitalized for an overdose of cocaine and GHB.

On August 20, 1997, Busey was accused of pushing a stewardess who bumped him on a flight to Las Vegas. Upon the flight's landing, he was questioned by police, but no charges were filed.

On January 25, 1999, Busey was arrested after a fight with his wife. He was released on bail.

On, December 2, 2001, Busey was again arrested for spousal abuse after his ex-wife Tiani Warden called authorities, complaining he left her bruised. Busey was released on $50,000 bail.

On September 7, 2004, Busey's landlord filed a lawsuit to evict him because Busey had refused to pay his rent for about three months.

On Sept 23, 2004, Busey was arrested for showing up late to a spousal support court hearing. His lawyer bailed him out two-and-a-half hours later.
Filmography

    * Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
    * The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
    * Dirty Little Billy (1972)
    * Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
    * Hex (1973)
    * Blood Sport (1973)
    * The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)
    * The Last American Hero (1973)
    * Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (as Garey Busey) (1974)
    * The Law (1974)
    * A Star Is Born (1976)
    * The Gumball Rally (1976)
    * The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
    * Straight Time (1978)
    * Big Wednesday (1978)
    * Carny (1980)
    * Foolin' Around (1980)
    * Barbarosa (1982)
    * Didn't You Hear... (1983)
    * D.C. Cab (1983)
    * The Bear (1984)
    * Insignificance (1985)
    * Silver Bullet (1985)
    * Half a Lifetime (1986)
    * Eye of the Tiger (1986)
    * Let's Get Harry (1986)
    * Lethal Weapon (1987)
    * Bulletproof (1988)
    * A Dangerous Life (1988)
    * The Neon Empire (1989)
    * Hider in the House (1989)
    * Act of Piracy (1990)
    * Predator 2 (1990)
    * Point Break (1991)
    * My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991)
    * Wild Texas Wind (1991)
    * Canvas (1992)
    * Chrome Soldiers (1992)
    * Under Siege (1992)
    * Breaking Point (1993)
    * The Firm (1993)
    * Rookie of the Year (1993)
    * South Beach (1993)
    * Warriors (1994)
    * Surviving the Game (1994)
    * Drop Zone (1994)
    * Chasers (1994)
    * Man with a Gun (1995)
    * Steel Sharks (1996)
    * One Clean Move (1996)
    * Livers Ain't Cheap (1996) (a.k.a. The Real Thing)
    * Black Sheep (1996)
    * Carried Away (1996)
    * Sticks & Stones (1996)
    * The Chain (1996)
    * Suspicious Minds (1997)
    * The Rage (1997)
    * Lost Highway (1997)
    * Lethal Tender (1997)
    * Plato's Run (1997)
    * Rough Riders (1997)
    * Rough Draft (1998) (a.k.a. Diary of a Serial Killer)
    * Soldier (1998)
    * Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
    * Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)
    * Detour (1998) (a.k.a. Too Hard to Die)
    * Hot Boyz (1999)
    * The Girl Next Door (1999)
    * No Tomorrow (1999)
    * Two Shades of Blue (1999)
    * Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1999)
    * A Crack in the Floor (2000)
    * Tribulation (2000)
    * Glory Glory (2000) (a.k.a. Hooded Angels)
    * Inside The Metal Box (2000)
    * Down 'n Dirty (2000)
    * G-Men from Hell (2000)
    * Frost: Portrait of a Vampire (2001)
    * On the Edge (2002)
    * Welcome 2 Ibiza (2002)
    * Sam & Janet (2002)
    * Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002)
    * The Prize Fighter (2003)
    * Scorched (2003)
    * Shadowlands (2003)
    * Shade of Pale (2004)
    * Motocross Kids (2004)
    * Lexie (2004)
    * El Padrino (2004)
    * Border Blues (2004)
    * Latin Dragon (2004)
    * Ghost Rock (2004)
    * American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004 (2004)
    * The Hand Job (2005)
    * Souled Out (2005)
    * No Rules (2005)
    * Chasing Ghosts (2005)
    * The Baker's Dozen (2005)
    * Into the West (2005)
    * Buckaroo: The Movie (2005)
    * A Sight for Sore Eyes (2005)
    * The Gingerdead Man (2005)
    * The Hard Easy (2005)
    * Descansos (2006)
    * Valley of the Wolves Iraq (2006)
    * Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006) (voice)
    * Shut Up and Shoot! (2006)
    * Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2006)
    * Soft Target (2006) (a.k.a. Crooked)
    * Quigley (2006)
    * Lady Samurai (2007)
    * Homo Erectus (2007) (a.k.a. National Lampoon's The Stoned Age)
    * Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007)
    * Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)
    * Maneater (2007)
    * Beyond the Ring (2008)
    * Nite Tales: The Movie (2008)
    * Hallettsville (2009)
    * Down and Distance (2009)
    * DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) – NonSeNse (2009)

Television

    * Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 15 ("The Ancient Warrior")) (1973)
    * Gunsmoke (1975)
    * The Texas Wheelers (ABC-TV 8-episode sitcom, 1974–75)
    * Saturday Night Live (1979) (himself – host)
    * Hawaii Five-O (1997 unaired pilot)
    * Walker, Texas Ranger (1999)
    * The Outer Limits (2000), Episode: "Revival"
    * Law & Order (2001)
    * King of the Hill (2001) (voice)
    * Entourage ("Busey and the Beach", Season 1, Episode 6; "The Boys Are Back In Town", Season 2, Episode 1; "Gary's Desk", Season 4, Episode 8) (2004, 2005, 2007) (as himself)
    * The Man Show (2002) (as himself)
    * I'm with Busey (Comedy Central, 2003) (as himself)
    * Penn & Teller: Bullsheesh! ("12 Stepping", 2004) (as himself)
    * High Chaparall (2004) (as himself)
    * The Simpsons (On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister, season 16, episode 11) (2005) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Fit Club 2 (VH1, 2005) (as himself)
    * Esenin (2005, Russia) (Zinger, Isedora Dunkan's ex-husbund )
    * Tom Goes to the Mayor (2006) (voice)
    * Scrubs ("My Missed Perception", 2006) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Paranormal Project (VH1, 2006) (as himself)
    * The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... (truTV, 2008) (as himself)
    * The Cho Show (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
    * The Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 2009) (as himself)
    * Conan (TBS, 2010) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Apprentice (2011) (as himself)

Video games

    * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (voice) (2002)
    * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (voice) (2006)
    * Saints Row 2 (voice) (2008)
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc358/Stefz1991/gary-busey.jpg
http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n554/Reactor2011/The%20Bachelorette/4-gary-busey.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/29/11 at 8:13 pm


The person of the day... Gary Busey
William Gary Busey (born June 29, 1944), best known as Gary Busey, is an American film and stage actor and artist. He has appeared in over 120 films, as well as making regular appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story.
Busey began his show-business career as a drummer in The Rubber Band. He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the names "Teddy Jack Eddy" and "Sprunk", a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). He played in a band called Carp, who released one album on Epic Records in 1969. Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley," he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the antepenultimate episode, No. 633 – "The Los Carnales").

In 1976 he was hired by Barbra Streisand and her producer-boyfriend Jon Peters to play Bobby Ritchie, Road Manager to Kris Kristofferson's character in the remake film A Star is Born. On the DVD commentary of the film, Streisand says Busey was great and that she had seen him on a TV series and thought he had the right qualities to play the role.

In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie earned Busey an Academy Award nomination and the National Society of Film Critics' Best Actor award. In the film, he changes the lyrics to the song "Well All Right" and sings, "We're gonna love Teddy Jack..." a reference to his Teddy Jack Eddy persona. In the same year he also starred in the surfing movie Big Wednesday.

In the 1980s, Busey's roles included Silver Bullet, Barbarosa, Top Gun (providing voiceover for Tim Robbins' character, Merlin), Insignificance and Lethal Weapon. In the movie D.C. Cab, Busey portrayed the character Dell. At one point, Dell is singing along with a cassette recording of Busey singing the song "Why Baby Why" (which Busey recorded, but still remains unreleased). In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, The Firm, Lost Highway, Point Break and Black Sheep.

Busey sang the song "Stay All Night" on Saturday Night Live in March 1979, and on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s.

In 2002, Busey voiced the character Phil Cassidy in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, then again in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in 2006. He also voiced himself on a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, narrating an informational video about restraining orders.

Busey appeared in the 2006 Turkish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). The film, accused of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich patients in New York City, London and Tel Aviv.
Busey in Kazakhstan, 2007.

In 2007, he appeared as himself on HBO's Entourage. Producers at HBO asked Busey to play a "character" on the show who was the self-named actor who is also a famous painter and sculptor.

In 2008, he joined the second season of the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Per his contract and VH1's press release, he was to be part of the mentoring team and not a patient. Drew Pinsky has expressed a different opinion, saying that he can help by being in group meetings with others and is not part of the staff, but part of the patients of this second season. Busey returned to reality television in Celebrity Apprentice 4, which premiered in March 2011,

In a series of 2010 YouTube advertisements for Vitamin Water, Busey appears as Norman Tugwater, a lawyer who defends professional athletes' entitlements to a cut from Fantasy Football team owners.

The following year, he was let go from the horror movie Mansion of Blood after filming half his scenes, due what his publicist, Michael Conley, called "contractual issues and misunderstandings."
Personal life
Busey in September 2007
Family

In 1971, Busey's wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to their son, William Jacob Busey, now known as actor Jake Busey. Busey and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen.

Busey has a daughter named Alectra from a previous relationship.

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Gary Busey and girlfriend Steffanie Sampson were expecting their first child in May 2010. On February 23, 2010, their son Luke Sampson Busey was born.
Motorcycle accident and brain damage

On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured, and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.

At the recommendation of Dr. Drew Pinsky, Busey was seen by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy. Sophy suspected that Busey's brain injury has had a greater effect on him than realized. He described it as essentially weakening his mental "filters" and causing him to speak and act impulsively. He recommended Busey take a medication called Depakote, to which he agreed.
Legal issues

In May 1995, Busey was arrested for cocaine possession after being hospitalized for an overdose of cocaine and GHB.

On August 20, 1997, Busey was accused of pushing a stewardess who bumped him on a flight to Las Vegas. Upon the flight's landing, he was questioned by police, but no charges were filed.

On January 25, 1999, Busey was arrested after a fight with his wife. He was released on bail.

On, December 2, 2001, Busey was again arrested for spousal abuse after his ex-wife Tiani Warden called authorities, complaining he left her bruised. Busey was released on $50,000 bail.

On September 7, 2004, Busey's landlord filed a lawsuit to evict him because Busey had refused to pay his rent for about three months.

On Sept 23, 2004, Busey was arrested for showing up late to a spousal support court hearing. His lawyer bailed him out two-and-a-half hours later.
Filmography

    * Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
    * The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
    * Dirty Little Billy (1972)
    * Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
    * Hex (1973)
    * Blood Sport (1973)
    * The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)
    * The Last American Hero (1973)
    * Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (as Garey Busey) (1974)
    * The Law (1974)
    * A Star Is Born (1976)
    * The Gumball Rally (1976)
    * The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
    * Straight Time (1978)
    * Big Wednesday (1978)
    * Carny (1980)
    * Foolin' Around (1980)
    * Barbarosa (1982)
    * Didn't You Hear... (1983)
    * D.C. Cab (1983)
    * The Bear (1984)
    * Insignificance (1985)
    * Silver Bullet (1985)
    * Half a Lifetime (1986)
    * Eye of the Tiger (1986)
    * Let's Get Harry (1986)
    * Lethal Weapon (1987)
    * Bulletproof (1988)
    * A Dangerous Life (1988)
    * The Neon Empire (1989)
    * Hider in the House (1989)
    * Act of Piracy (1990)
    * Predator 2 (1990)
    * Point Break (1991)
    * My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991)
    * Wild Texas Wind (1991)
    * Canvas (1992)
    * Chrome Soldiers (1992)
    * Under Siege (1992)
    * Breaking Point (1993)
    * The Firm (1993)
    * Rookie of the Year (1993)
    * South Beach (1993)
    * Warriors (1994)
    * Surviving the Game (1994)
    * Drop Zone (1994)
    * Chasers (1994)
    * Man with a Gun (1995)
    * Steel Sharks (1996)
    * One Clean Move (1996)
    * Livers Ain't Cheap (1996) (a.k.a. The Real Thing)
    * Black Sheep (1996)
    * Carried Away (1996)
    * Sticks & Stones (1996)
    * The Chain (1996)
    * Suspicious Minds (1997)
    * The Rage (1997)
    * Lost Highway (1997)
    * Lethal Tender (1997)
    * Plato's Run (1997)
    * Rough Riders (1997)
    * Rough Draft (1998) (a.k.a. Diary of a Serial Killer)
    * Soldier (1998)
    * Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
    * Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)
    * Detour (1998) (a.k.a. Too Hard to Die)
    * Hot Boyz (1999)
    * The Girl Next Door (1999)
    * No Tomorrow (1999)
    * Two Shades of Blue (1999)
    * Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1999)
    * A Crack in the Floor (2000)
    * Tribulation (2000)
    * Glory Glory (2000) (a.k.a. Hooded Angels)
    * Inside The Metal Box (2000)
    * Down 'n Dirty (2000)
    * G-Men from Hell (2000)
    * Frost: Portrait of a Vampire (2001)
    * On the Edge (2002)
    * Welcome 2 Ibiza (2002)
    * Sam & Janet (2002)
    * Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002)
    * The Prize Fighter (2003)
    * Scorched (2003)
    * Shadowlands (2003)
    * Shade of Pale (2004)
    * Motocross Kids (2004)
    * Lexie (2004)
    * El Padrino (2004)
    * Border Blues (2004)
    * Latin Dragon (2004)
    * Ghost Rock (2004)
    * American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004 (2004)
    * The Hand Job (2005)
    * Souled Out (2005)
    * No Rules (2005)
    * Chasing Ghosts (2005)
    * The Baker's Dozen (2005)
    * Into the West (2005)
    * Buckaroo: The Movie (2005)
    * A Sight for Sore Eyes (2005)
    * The Gingerdead Man (2005)
    * The Hard Easy (2005)
    * Descansos (2006)
    * Valley of the Wolves Iraq (2006)
    * Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006) (voice)
    * Shut Up and Shoot! (2006)
    * Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride (2006)
    * Soft Target (2006) (a.k.a. Crooked)
    * Quigley (2006)
    * Lady Samurai (2007)
    * Homo Erectus (2007) (a.k.a. National Lampoon's The Stoned Age)
    * Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007)
    * Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)
    * Maneater (2007)
    * Beyond the Ring (2008)
    * Nite Tales: The Movie (2008)
    * Hallettsville (2009)
    * Down and Distance (2009)
    * DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) – NonSeNse (2009)

Television

    * Kung Fu (Season 1, Episode 15 ("The Ancient Warrior")) (1973)
    * Gunsmoke (1975)
    * The Texas Wheelers (ABC-TV 8-episode sitcom, 1974–75)
    * Saturday Night Live (1979) (himself – host)
    * Hawaii Five-O (1997 unaired pilot)
    * Walker, Texas Ranger (1999)
    * The Outer Limits (2000), Episode: "Revival"
    * Law & Order (2001)
    * King of the Hill (2001) (voice)
    * Entourage ("Busey and the Beach", Season 1, Episode 6; "The Boys Are Back In Town", Season 2, Episode 1; "Gary's Desk", Season 4, Episode 8) (2004, 2005, 2007) (as himself)
    * The Man Show (2002) (as himself)
    * I'm with Busey (Comedy Central, 2003) (as himself)
    * Penn & Teller: Bullsheesh! ("12 Stepping", 2004) (as himself)
    * High Chaparall (2004) (as himself)
    * The Simpsons (On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister, season 16, episode 11) (2005) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Fit Club 2 (VH1, 2005) (as himself)
    * Esenin (2005, Russia) (Zinger, Isedora Dunkan's ex-husbund )
    * Tom Goes to the Mayor (2006) (voice)
    * Scrubs ("My Missed Perception", 2006) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Paranormal Project (VH1, 2006) (as himself)
    * The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... (truTV, 2008) (as himself)
    * The Cho Show (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (VH1, 2008) (as himself)
    * The Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy (Comedy Central, 2009) (as himself)
    * Conan (TBS, 2010) (as himself)
    * Celebrity Apprentice (2011) (as himself)

Video games

    * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (voice) (2002)
    * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (voice) (2006)
    * Saints Row 2 (voice) (2008)
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc358/Stefz1991/gary-busey.jpg
http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n554/Reactor2011/The%20Bachelorette/4-gary-busey.jpg


Did he clean up his act yet?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/11 at 5:35 am


Did he clean up his act yet?

I'm really not sure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 06/30/11 at 5:40 am


Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio (born June 30, 1959) is an American actor, film producer, and singer. He first gained attention for his role as Private Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence in the war film Full Metal Jacket and more recently for his role as Detective Robert Goren in the crime TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
In 1984, D'Onofrio became a full member of the American Stanislavsky Theatre, appearing in a number of its productions, including Of Mice and Men and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He also made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions. Before this breakthrough, he had been acting in New York University student films and was working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Cafe.

In 1987, D'Onofrio entered the mainstream consciousness with two film roles that demonstrated his range as an actor: In the first, he played the overweight Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, for which he gained 70 lb (32 kg), bringing his weight to 280 lb (130 kg). In the second, he played Dawson, the owner of Dawson's Garage in Adventures in Babysitting, directed by Chris Columbus. D'Onofrio appears in only one scene near the end of the film, but his role attracted attention because of his muscular physique and long blond hair; they cause Sara, the film's youngest character, to mistakenly believe he is Thor, the comic-book superhero she idolizes. In 1988, D'Onofrio was in the film Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts.

D'Onofrio continued to play a wide variety of roles, including iconic director Orson Welles in Tim Burton's Ed Wood, farmer Edgar and the evil "Bug" that possesses him from Men in Black, the father of a saint in Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Movie, a time traveler from the distant future in Happy Accidents, and opposite Jennifer Lopez as serial killer Carl Stargher in The Cell.

He produced The Whole Wide World (1996) and Guy (1997); executive produced The Velocity of Gary (1998) and Steal This Movie (2000); and directed the short Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005). This last represents a culmination of D'Onofrio's desire to improve on his performance as Welles in Ed Wood, which, in spite of D'Onofrio's striking physical resemblance to the actor/director, reportedly left director Tim Burton underwhelmed. Burton decided to procure the services of voice-over artist Maurice LaMarche (who is known for his peerless imitation of Welles' voice) to produce a more dramatically effective rendering of the character's dialogue.

D'Onofrio received an Emmy nomination in 1997 for his appearance as John Lange, the doomed victim in the Homicide: Life on the Street episode "Subway". He also starred as Det. Robert Goren on the NBC / USA Network television show Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001–10).

In 2003, it was reported that D'Onofrio and Joe Pantoliano began work on a small film entitled Little Victories, about a 12-year-old boy whose perceptions of the world are forever changed when his gangster uncle comes to live with him. According to a television interview with Pantoliano, Little Victories was not completed and went into turnaround because of a failure to raise the funds necessary for production.

In November 2005, D'Onofrio won Best Actor at the Stockholm International Film Festival for his role as Mike Cobb in the independent film Thumbsucker.

In 2006, he appeared in The Break Up, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, in which D'Onofrio played Vaughn's eccentric brother. He and Vaughn had appeared together in two previous films, in The Cell, where Vaughn played an FBI agent pursuing D'Onofrio's character, and Thumbsucker.

In 2008, D'Onofrio made a cameo appearance in a presidential election-related sketch in a Saturday Night Live episode as his character Det. Robert Goren. In the sketch, which originally aired on March 1, 2008, he interrogates Hillary Clinton (played by Amy Poehler). His entrance to and exit from the skit are punctuated by the classic Law & Order "dun-DUN" sound.

D'Onofrio turned down a role in The Sopranos.

D'Onofrio left Criminal Intent in the spring of 2010, with his last appearance occurring in the two-part Season 9 premiere. The 10th, and final season of the show features D'Onofrio returning as Detective Goren.
George Geronimo Gerkie

On October 27, 2009, D'Onofrio portrayed a comedic country singer named George Geronimo Gerkie at Joe's Pub in New York City. He appeared as Gerkie again at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on December 6, 2009, during Matt Pinfield's Holiday Extravaganza Show and at the premiere of his movie Don't go in to the Woods at Joe's Pub on May 28, 2010. A fourth concert was held at the pub on July 22, 2010 with proceeds from the event going to the Utah Meth Cops project. D'Onofrio serves as the projects spokesperson and, alongside his sister Toni, is regularly involved in efforts to raise money for the cause.
Personal life

D'Onofrio's father, Gene, and his sister Beth founded the River Run International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which began in 1998.

D'Onofrio has a daughter, Leila George D'Onofrio, born March 20, 1992 in Sydney. Her mother is actress Greta Scacchi, with whom D'Onofrio made several movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s (including The Player and Fires Within). The couple were in a relationship from 1991 until 1993. On March 22, 1997, D'Onofrio married model Carin van der Donk. In December 1999, the couple had a son, Elias Gene. D'Onofrio and van der Donk divorced in October 2003 they reconciled in 2007. Carin gave birth to their second son, Luca, on February 14, 2008.

D'Onofrio experienced a health issue when he collapsed on the set of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on November 10, 2004. He collapsed again at home a few days later and was taken back to the hospital for more thorough testing, where he was diagnosed with nervous exhaustion.
Partial filmography

   * The First Turn-On! (1983)
   * It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen (1984)
   * Full Metal Jacket (1987)
   * Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
   * Mystic Pizza (1988)
   * Signs of Life (1989)
   * The Blood of Heroes (1989) – also known as Salute of the Jugger
   * Crooked Hearts (1991)
   * Dying Young (1991)
   * Fires Within (1991)
   * Naked Tango (1991)
   * JFK (1991)
   * The Player (1992)
   * Salt on Our Skin (1992) – also known as Desire
   * Being Human (1993)
   * Household Saints (1993)
   * Mr. Wonderful (1993)
   * Ed Wood (1994)
   * The Investigator (1994)
   * Imaginary Crimes (1994)
   * Nunzio's Second Cousin (1994)
   * Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
   * Strange Days (1995)
   * Hotel Paradise (1995)
   * The Whole Wide World (1996)
   * The Winner (1996)
   * Feeling Minnesota (1996)
   * Good Luck (1996)
   * Boys Life 2 (1997)
   * Men in Black (1997)
   * Guy (1997)
   * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998) – TV remake of the 1974 film
   * The Newton Boys (1998)



   * Claire Dolan (1998)
   * The Velocity of Gary (1998)
   * Spanish Judges (1999)
   * The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
   * That Championship Season (1999)
   * Happy Accidents (2000)
   * Steal This Movie (2000)
   * The Cell (2000)
   * Chelsea Walls (2001)
   * Impostor (2002)
   * Bark! (2002)
   * The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
   * The Red Sneakers (2002)
   * The Salton Sea (2002)
   * Case of Evil (2002)
   * Thumbsucker (2005)
   * Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005)
   * The Break Up (2006)
   * 1408 (2007)
   * The Narrows (2008)
   * Cadillac Records (2008)
   * Staten Island (2009)
   * Brooklyn's Finest (2010)
   * Chlorine (2011)
   * Down and Dirty Pictures (2011)
   * High Midnight (2011)
   * Don't go in to the Woods (2011)
   * Ass Backwards (2011)
   * Kill the Irishman (2011)

Television (including notable guest appearances)

   * Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001—2010, 2011) as Det. Robert Goren
   * Men in Black: The Series as Bugs (voice) in "The Big Bad Bug Syndrome" (Episode 2.5)
   * Homicide: Life on the Street as John Lange in "Subway" (Episode 6.7)
   * The Equalizer as Davy Baylor in "Suspicion of Innocence" (Episode 3.3) and as Thomas Marley in "Counterfire" (Episode 2.7)
   * Miami Vice as Leon Wolf in "The Afternoon Plane" (Episode 3.17)
   * Spanish Judges (1999)
   * Saturday Night Live (2008) as Det. Robert Goren (Episode 33.630)
   * Xavier: Renegade Angel (2009) as Eric in the episode "El Tornadador" (Episode 2.3) and as The Judge in the episode "Damnesia Vu" (Episode 2.6)
   * Morning Joe (2011) as Himself (Aired on April 8, 2011)

Documentaries

   * Anatomy of a Homicide, PBS (1998)
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/JasonPandora/donofrio-sm.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj97/universe_moon/vincent%20donofrio/Feel20Min20Interview2036.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 06/30/11 at 7:19 am


I'm really not sure.


He was arrested a couple of times in the past.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/11 at 9:11 am

The person of the day....Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler (born July 1, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994 film Silent Fall. She then appeared in supporting roles in Empire Records (1995), Heavy (1996) and That Thing You Do! (1996). Tyler later achieved critical recognition in the leading role Stealing Beauty (1996). She followed this by starring in supporting roles including Inventing the Abbotts (1997) and Cookie's Fortune (1999).

Tyler achieved international recognition as a result of her portrayal of Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy Jersey Girl, the indie film Lonesome Jim (2005), the drama Reign Over Me (2007) and big-budget studio films such as Armageddon (1998), The Strangers (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008).

Since 2003, Tyler has served as a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador for the United States, and as a spokesperson for Givenchy's line of perfume and cosmetics.
Tyler was born Liv Rundgren at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She is the first-born daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith. Her mother named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5, 1977 issue of TV Guide. She is of Italian, German, Polish, Russian and English ancestry on her father's side and also has three half-siblings: Mia Tyler (born 1978), Chelsea Anna Tallarico (born 1989), and Taj Monroe Tallarico (born 1992). Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.

At birth, Buell claimed that rock star Todd Rundgren was Tyler's biological father. At age nine, Tyler discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter after meeting him and noticing a resemblance she shared with his other daughter, Mia. When she asked her mother about the similarity, the secret was revealed. The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until five years later, in 1991, when she changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a middle name. Buell's alleged reason for the initial decision was that Steven was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of her birth. Since learning the truth about her paternity, Liv and Steven have developed a close relationship. They have also worked together professionally, once when she appeared in Aerosmith's music video for "Crazy" in 1993 and again when Aerosmith performed many of the songs in the film Armageddon (1998), in which Liv Tyler starred.

Tyler attended the Congressional Schools of Virginia, Breakwater School and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, before returning to New York City with her mother at the age of 12. She went to York Preparatory in New York City for junior high and high school, after her mother researched the school to accommodate Tyler's ADHD. She graduated in 1995, and left to continue her acting career. When asked about the way she spent her early life, Tyler said: "For me, I didn’t get much of a childhood in my teen years because I’ve been working since I was 14. But that also kept me out of trouble. When everybody was doing acid and partying like crazy, I was at work on a movie in Tuscany ... having my own fun, of course, but it was a different kind of thing. I have no regrets. I love the way my life has gone."
Career
Early work

At the age of 14, Tyler received her first modeling job with assistance of Paulina Porizkova who took photos of her that ended up in Interview magazine. She later starred in television commercials. However, she became bored with her modeling career less than a year after it started, and decided to go into acting. She never took acting lessons. Tyler first became known to television audiences when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's 1993 song "Crazy".

Tyler made her feature film debut in Silent Fall in 1994, where she played the older sister of an autistic boy. In 1995, she starred in the comedy drama Empire Records. Tyler has described Empire Records as "one of the best experiences" she has ever had. Soon after, she landed a supporting role in James Mangold's 1996 drama Heavy as Callie, a naive young waitress. The film received favorable reviews; critic Janet Maslin noted: "Ms. Tyler ... gives a charmingly ingenuous performance, betraying no self-consciousness about her lush good looks."
Popular success

Tyler had her breakthrough role in Stealing Beauty (1996), in which she played Lucy Harmon, an innocent, romantic teenager who travels to Italy intent on losing her virginity. The film received generally mixed reviews, but Tyler's performance was favored by the critics; Variety wrote: "Tyler is the perfect accomplice. At times sweetly awkward, at others composed and serene, the actress appears to respond effortlessly and intuitively to the camera, creating a rich sense of what Lucy is about that often is not explicit in the dialogue." Empire noted, "Liv Tyler (here radiantly resembling a ganglier young Ava Gardner) with a rare opportunity to enamour, a break she capitalises on with composure." The film was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who chose Tyler for the role after meeting with a number of young girls in Los Angeles, including Tyler's music video co-star Alicia Silverstone. Bertolucci claimed "there was something missing in all of them". He later admitted that what he saw in Tyler was a gravitas he described as "a New York aura". During promotion of the film, Tyler admitted she wanted to separate herself from the character during production; "I tried my damnedest not to think of my own situation. But at one point, after a take, I just started to cry and cry. I remembered when I found out about my dad and how we just stared at each other from head to toe taking in every nook and cranny."
Tyler at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003

She later appeared in That Thing You Do! (1996), a movie about a fictional one-hit wonder rock band called The Oneders, following their whirlwind rise to the top of the pop charts, and just as quickly, their plunge back to obscurity. The film was written and directed by Tom Hanks. It grossed over $25 million worldwide, and was met with favorable reviews. The following year, she appeared in Inventing the Abbotts in 1997, in which she played the daughter of Will Patton and Barbara Williams' characters. The movie is based on a short story by Sue Miller. Entertainment Weekly declared Tyler's performance as "lovely and pliant". That same year, Tyler was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People.

Tyler next appeared in Armageddon (1998), where she played the daughter of Bruce Willis' character and love interest of Ben Affleck's character. The film generated mixed reviews, but was a box office success earning $553 million worldwide. The movie included the songs "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" by Aerosmith. In a 2001 interview with The Guardian, she admitted that she turned down the role in Armageddon; "I really didn't want to do it at first and I turned it down a couple of times, but the biggest reason I changed my mind was because I was scared of it. I wanted to try it for that very reason. I mean, I'm not really in this to do amazing things in my career - I just want it to be special when I make a movie."

She was then cast in the drama Onegin (1999), a film based on the 19th century Russian novel of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, in which she portrayed Tatyana Larina and co-starred with Ralph Fiennes. Tyler was required to master an English accent, though Stephen Holden of the New York Times felt that her approximation of an English accent was "inert". The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. That same year, she appeared in the historical comedy film Plunkett & Macleane.

She later appeared in two films directed by Robert Altman, Cookie's Fortune (1999) and Dr. T & the Women (2000). In Cookie's Fortune, she was part of an ensemble cast that included Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Chris O'Donnell, and Patricia Neal. Her performance well received among critics; Salon.com wrote: "This is the first time in which Tyler's acting is a match for her beauty (she's always been a bit forlorn). Altman helps her find some snap, but a relaxed, silly snap, as in the cartoon sound she makes when she takes a midday swig of bourbon. The lazy geniality of the movie is summed up by the way Emma saunters off to take a swim with her cowboy hat and pint of Wild Turkey." Entertainment Weekly also noted that Tyler is "sweetly gruff as the tomboy troublemaker". In the romantic comedy, Dr. T & the Women, she played Marilyn, a gynecological patient of Richard Gere's character, who is the lesbian lover of his daughter, played by Kate Hudson.

In 2001, Tyler played the object of infatuation for three men (Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser) in the black comedy One Night at McCool's. In discussion of the role, she said: "This was definitely the first part where I had to be so physically aware and have people so aware of me physically. Maybe it's not hard for anybody else, but it is a bit for me. I mean I love my body and I feel very comfortable in my skin, but this was tough." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Tyler, a true beauty, gives the role a valiant try, but her range is too limited to play this amalgam of female perfection."
Recent work

In 2001, she starred in the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson. She played the Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel. The film is based on the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The filmmakers approached Tyler after seeing her performance in Plunkett & Macleane. She learned to speak the fictitious Elvish language that was created by Tolkien. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Tyler's performance was "lovely and earnest".
Tyler and co-star Sean Astin at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003

A year later, Tyler again starred as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second installment of the series. The film received favorable reviews. Tyler spent months before filming learning swordfighting, to be used during the concluding battle scenes in The Two Towers, though her scenes from the battle were removed after the script was changed. The film was an enormous box office success, earning over $926 million worldwide, out grossing its predecessor, which earned over $871 million. In 2003, Tyler featured in the third and last installment of the series, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Following the success of The Lord of the Rings, she appeared opposite her Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck in writer-director Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Jersey Girl (2004), playing a woman who re-opens a widowed father's heart to love, played by Affleck. In an interview with MTV News, Tyler confessed that she felt "scared and vulnerable" while filming Jersey Girl, adding "I was so used to those other elements of the character . On The Lord of the Rings, a lot of things were done in post-production, whereas this was really just about me and Ben sitting there, just shooting off dialogue." However, she reiterated that doing Jersey Girl was what she wanted to do.

In 2005, she appeared in Steve Buscemi's independent drama Lonesome Jim, where she was cast alongside Casey Affleck, as a single mother and nurse who reconnects with an old fling who has returned to their small town of Indiana after a failed run as a novelist in New York. The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Tyler's next appearance in film was in a supporting role as an insightful therapist who tries to help a once-successful dentist (Adam Sandler) cope with the loss of his family during the events of the September 11th attacks in Reign Over Me (2007).

In 2008, she starred in the horror-thriller The Strangers with Scott Speedman, a film about a young couple who are terrorized one night by three masked assailants in their remote country house. Although the film garnered a mixed reception among critics, it was a box office success. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she noted that The Strangers was the most challenging role of her career. "It was as far as I could push myself in every way: physically, emotionally, mentally."

She appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which she played Dr. Betty Ross, the love interest of the title character, played by Edward Norton. Tyler was attracted to the love story in the script, and was a fan of the television show. She said filming the part was "very physical, which was fun", and compared her performance to "a deer caught in the headlights". The Incredible Hulk was a box office success, earning over $262 million worldwide. The Washington Post, in review of the film, wrote: "Tyler gives Betty an appropriately angelic nimbus of ethereal gentleness as the one Beauty who can tame the Beast ... during their most pivotal encounters."

Tyler is appearing in two films released in 2011: Super and The Ledge. In April 2011, publishing house Rodale announced that Tyler and her grandmother Dorothea Johnson, a noted etiquette expert, have written a book called "Modern Manners." Rodale plans to release the book in May 2012.
Personal life

In 1998, Tyler began dating British musician Royston Langdon of the band Spacehog. She and Langdon became engaged in February 2001, and married in Barbados on March 25, 2003. On December 14, 2004, she gave birth to a son, Milo William Langdon. On May 8, 2008, the couple confirmed through representatives that they would be separating but remain friends. In an interview with the Australian Daily Telegraph, Tyler revealed that her separation from Langdon led her to move to Los Angeles, explaining that it was hard to be in the New York home they shared. In June 2010, Tyler stated she was "far too sensitive" for casual dates, adding "I fall in love once in a blue moon."

Tyler is an active supporter of the charitable United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States in 2003. In November 2004, she hosted the lighting of the UNICEF Snowflake in New York City. Tyler also served as spokesperson for the 2004 Givenchy Mother's Day promotion, in support of UNICEF's Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) campaign.

Since 2004, she has donated to the Women's Cancer Research Fund to support innovative research, education, and outreach directed at the development of more effective approaches to the early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of all women's cancers. In October 2007, Tyler, along with her mother, Bebe Buell and her grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, helped launch the Emergen-C Pink energy drink, in which the event was in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

She is good friends with designer Stella McCartney, model Helena Christensen and actresses Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Tyler was formerly a vegan, but has since begun to eat meat. In 2003, she became the spokesperson for Givenchy perfume and cosmetics; in 2005 the brand named a rose after her, which was used in one of its fragrances. In 2009, Tyler signed on for two more years as Givenchy spokesperson.


Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1994 Silent Fall Sylvie Warden
1995 Heavy Callie
Empire Records Corey Mason
1996 Stealing Beauty Lucy Harmon Nominated – Young Star Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film
That Thing You Do! Faye Dolan
1997 Inventing the Abbotts Pamela Abbott
U Turn Girl in Bus Station Cameo appearance
1998 Armageddon Grace Stamper Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo Shared with Ben Affleck
Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress -Science Fiction
1999 Plunkett & Macleane Lady Rebecca Gibson
Cookie's Fortune Emma Duvall
Onegin Tatyana Larina Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actress
2000 Dr. T & the Women Marilyn
2001 One Night at McCool's Jewel
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Arwen Undómiel Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Arwen Undómiel Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Arwen Undómiel Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble
2004 Jersey Girl Maya
2005 Lonesome Jim Anika
2007 Reign Over Me Dr. Angela Oakhurst
2008 The Strangers Kristen McKay Scream Awards for Best Horror Actress
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Horror/Thriller
The Incredible Hulk Betty Ross
Smother Clare Cooper
2011 Super Sarah
The Ledge Shana
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/Rose_in_Winter/Liv_Tyler.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i243/clwitham/liv_tyler.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/01/11 at 9:15 am

* Princess Diana would have turned 50 today.... :\'( :\'(
http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq352/ophase/princess-diana-.jpg
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr187/meadow_bucket/Princess%20Diana/282.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/01/11 at 2:13 pm


* Princess Diana would have turned 50 today.... :\'( :\'(
http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq352/ophase/princess-diana-.jpg
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr187/meadow_bucket/Princess%20Diana/282.jpg
:\'( :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/01/11 at 3:31 pm


The person of the day....Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler (born July 1, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994 film Silent Fall. She then appeared in supporting roles in Empire Records (1995), Heavy (1996) and That Thing You Do! (1996). Tyler later achieved critical recognition in the leading role Stealing Beauty (1996). She followed this by starring in supporting roles including Inventing the Abbotts (1997) and Cookie's Fortune (1999).

Tyler achieved international recognition as a result of her portrayal of Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy Jersey Girl, the indie film Lonesome Jim (2005), the drama Reign Over Me (2007) and big-budget studio films such as Armageddon (1998), The Strangers (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008).

Since 2003, Tyler has served as a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador for the United States, and as a spokesperson for Givenchy's line of perfume and cosmetics.
Tyler was born Liv Rundgren at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She is the first-born daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith. Her mother named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5, 1977 issue of TV Guide. She is of Italian, German, Polish, Russian and English ancestry on her father's side and also has three half-siblings: Mia Tyler (born 1978), Chelsea Anna Tallarico (born 1989), and Taj Monroe Tallarico (born 1992). Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.

At birth, Buell claimed that rock star Todd Rundgren was Tyler's biological father. At age nine, Tyler discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter after meeting him and noticing a resemblance she shared with his other daughter, Mia. When she asked her mother about the similarity, the secret was revealed. The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until five years later, in 1991, when she changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a middle name. Buell's alleged reason for the initial decision was that Steven was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of her birth. Since learning the truth about her paternity, Liv and Steven have developed a close relationship. They have also worked together professionally, once when she appeared in Aerosmith's music video for "Crazy" in 1993 and again when Aerosmith performed many of the songs in the film Armageddon (1998), in which Liv Tyler starred.

Tyler attended the Congressional Schools of Virginia, Breakwater School and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, before returning to New York City with her mother at the age of 12. She went to York Preparatory in New York City for junior high and high school, after her mother researched the school to accommodate Tyler's ADHD. She graduated in 1995, and left to continue her acting career. When asked about the way she spent her early life, Tyler said: "For me, I didn’t get much of a childhood in my teen years because I’ve been working since I was 14. But that also kept me out of trouble. When everybody was doing acid and partying like crazy, I was at work on a movie in Tuscany ... having my own fun, of course, but it was a different kind of thing. I have no regrets. I love the way my life has gone."
Career
Early work

At the age of 14, Tyler received her first modeling job with assistance of Paulina Porizkova who took photos of her that ended up in Interview magazine. She later starred in television commercials. However, she became bored with her modeling career less than a year after it started, and decided to go into acting. She never took acting lessons. Tyler first became known to television audiences when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's 1993 song "Crazy".

Tyler made her feature film debut in Silent Fall in 1994, where she played the older sister of an autistic boy. In 1995, she starred in the comedy drama Empire Records. Tyler has described Empire Records as "one of the best experiences" she has ever had. Soon after, she landed a supporting role in James Mangold's 1996 drama Heavy as Callie, a naive young waitress. The film received favorable reviews; critic Janet Maslin noted: "Ms. Tyler ... gives a charmingly ingenuous performance, betraying no self-consciousness about her lush good looks."
Popular success

Tyler had her breakthrough role in Stealing Beauty (1996), in which she played Lucy Harmon, an innocent, romantic teenager who travels to Italy intent on losing her virginity. The film received generally mixed reviews, but Tyler's performance was favored by the critics; Variety wrote: "Tyler is the perfect accomplice. At times sweetly awkward, at others composed and serene, the actress appears to respond effortlessly and intuitively to the camera, creating a rich sense of what Lucy is about that often is not explicit in the dialogue." Empire noted, "Liv Tyler (here radiantly resembling a ganglier young Ava Gardner) with a rare opportunity to enamour, a break she capitalises on with composure." The film was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who chose Tyler for the role after meeting with a number of young girls in Los Angeles, including Tyler's music video co-star Alicia Silverstone. Bertolucci claimed "there was something missing in all of them". He later admitted that what he saw in Tyler was a gravitas he described as "a New York aura". During promotion of the film, Tyler admitted she wanted to separate herself from the character during production; "I tried my damnedest not to think of my own situation. But at one point, after a take, I just started to cry and cry. I remembered when I found out about my dad and how we just stared at each other from head to toe taking in every nook and cranny."
Tyler at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003

She later appeared in That Thing You Do! (1996), a movie about a fictional one-hit wonder rock band called The Oneders, following their whirlwind rise to the top of the pop charts, and just as quickly, their plunge back to obscurity. The film was written and directed by Tom Hanks. It grossed over $25 million worldwide, and was met with favorable reviews. The following year, she appeared in Inventing the Abbotts in 1997, in which she played the daughter of Will Patton and Barbara Williams' characters. The movie is based on a short story by Sue Miller. Entertainment Weekly declared Tyler's performance as "lovely and pliant". That same year, Tyler was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People.

Tyler next appeared in Armageddon (1998), where she played the daughter of Bruce Willis' character and love interest of Ben Affleck's character. The film generated mixed reviews, but was a box office success earning $553 million worldwide. The movie included the songs "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" by Aerosmith. In a 2001 interview with The Guardian, she admitted that she turned down the role in Armageddon; "I really didn't want to do it at first and I turned it down a couple of times, but the biggest reason I changed my mind was because I was scared of it. I wanted to try it for that very reason. I mean, I'm not really in this to do amazing things in my career - I just want it to be special when I make a movie."

She was then cast in the drama Onegin (1999), a film based on the 19th century Russian novel of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, in which she portrayed Tatyana Larina and co-starred with Ralph Fiennes. Tyler was required to master an English accent, though Stephen Holden of the New York Times felt that her approximation of an English accent was "inert". The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. That same year, she appeared in the historical comedy film Plunkett & Macleane.

She later appeared in two films directed by Robert Altman, Cookie's Fortune (1999) and Dr. T & the Women (2000). In Cookie's Fortune, she was part of an ensemble cast that included Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Chris O'Donnell, and Patricia Neal. Her performance well received among critics; Salon.com wrote: "This is the first time in which Tyler's acting is a match for her beauty (she's always been a bit forlorn). Altman helps her find some snap, but a relaxed, silly snap, as in the cartoon sound she makes when she takes a midday swig of bourbon. The lazy geniality of the movie is summed up by the way Emma saunters off to take a swim with her cowboy hat and pint of Wild Turkey." Entertainment Weekly also noted that Tyler is "sweetly gruff as the tomboy troublemaker". In the romantic comedy, Dr. T & the Women, she played Marilyn, a gynecological patient of Richard Gere's character, who is the lesbian lover of his daughter, played by Kate Hudson.

In 2001, Tyler played the object of infatuation for three men (Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser) in the black comedy One Night at McCool's. In discussion of the role, she said: "This was definitely the first part where I had to be so physically aware and have people so aware of me physically. Maybe it's not hard for anybody else, but it is a bit for me. I mean I love my body and I feel very comfortable in my skin, but this was tough." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Tyler, a true beauty, gives the role a valiant try, but her range is too limited to play this amalgam of female perfection."
Recent work

In 2001, she starred in the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson. She played the Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel. The film is based on the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The filmmakers approached Tyler after seeing her performance in Plunkett & Macleane. She learned to speak the fictitious Elvish language that was created by Tolkien. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Tyler's performance was "lovely and earnest".
Tyler and co-star Sean Astin at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003

A year later, Tyler again starred as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second installment of the series. The film received favorable reviews. Tyler spent months before filming learning swordfighting, to be used during the concluding battle scenes in The Two Towers, though her scenes from the battle were removed after the script was changed. The film was an enormous box office success, earning over $926 million worldwide, out grossing its predecessor, which earned over $871 million. In 2003, Tyler featured in the third and last installment of the series, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Following the success of The Lord of the Rings, she appeared opposite her Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck in writer-director Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Jersey Girl (2004), playing a woman who re-opens a widowed father's heart to love, played by Affleck. In an interview with MTV News, Tyler confessed that she felt "scared and vulnerable" while filming Jersey Girl, adding "I was so used to those other elements of the character . On The Lord of the Rings, a lot of things were done in post-production, whereas this was really just about me and Ben sitting there, just shooting off dialogue." However, she reiterated that doing Jersey Girl was what she wanted to do.

In 2005, she appeared in Steve Buscemi's independent drama Lonesome Jim, where she was cast alongside Casey Affleck, as a single mother and nurse who reconnects with an old fling who has returned to their small town of Indiana after a failed run as a novelist in New York. The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Tyler's next appearance in film was in a supporting role as an insightful therapist who tries to help a once-successful dentist (Adam Sandler) cope with the loss of his family during the events of the September 11th attacks in Reign Over Me (2007).

In 2008, she starred in the horror-thriller The Strangers with Scott Speedman, a film about a young couple who are terrorized one night by three masked assailants in their remote country house. Although the film garnered a mixed reception among critics, it was a box office success. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she noted that The Strangers was the most challenging role of her career. "It was as far as I could push myself in every way: physically, emotionally, mentally."

She appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which she played Dr. Betty Ross, the love interest of the title character, played by Edward Norton. Tyler was attracted to the love story in the script, and was a fan of the television show. She said filming the part was "very physical, which was fun", and compared her performance to "a deer caught in the headlights". The Incredible Hulk was a box office success, earning over $262 million worldwide. The Washington Post, in review of the film, wrote: "Tyler gives Betty an appropriately angelic nimbus of ethereal gentleness as the one Beauty who can tame the Beast ... during their most pivotal encounters."

Tyler is appearing in two films released in 2011: Super and The Ledge. In April 2011, publishing house Rodale announced that Tyler and her grandmother Dorothea Johnson, a noted etiquette expert, have written a book called "Modern Manners." Rodale plans to release the book in May 2012.
Personal life

In 1998, Tyler began dating British musician Royston Langdon of the band Spacehog. She and Langdon became engaged in February 2001, and married in Barbados on March 25, 2003. On December 14, 2004, she gave birth to a son, Milo William Langdon. On May 8, 2008, the couple confirmed through representatives that they would be separating but remain friends. In an interview with the Australian Daily Telegraph, Tyler revealed that her separation from Langdon led her to move to Los Angeles, explaining that it was hard to be in the New York home they shared. In June 2010, Tyler stated she was "far too sensitive" for casual dates, adding "I fall in love once in a blue moon."

Tyler is an active supporter of the charitable United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States in 2003. In November 2004, she hosted the lighting of the UNICEF Snowflake in New York City. Tyler also served as spokesperson for the 2004 Givenchy Mother's Day promotion, in support of UNICEF's Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) campaign.

Since 2004, she has donated to the Women's Cancer Research Fund to support innovative research, education, and outreach directed at the development of more effective approaches to the early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of all women's cancers. In October 2007, Tyler, along with her mother, Bebe Buell and her grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, helped launch the Emergen-C Pink energy drink, in which the event was in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

She is good friends with designer Stella McCartney, model Helena Christensen and actresses Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Tyler was formerly a vegan, but has since begun to eat meat. In 2003, she became the spokesperson for Givenchy perfume and cosmetics; in 2005 the brand named a rose after her, which was used in one of its fragrances. In 2009, Tyler signed on for two more years as Givenchy spokesperson.


Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1994 Silent Fall Sylvie Warden
1995 Heavy Callie
Empire Records Corey Mason
1996 Stealing Beauty Lucy Harmon Nominated – Young Star Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film
That Thing You Do! Faye Dolan
1997 Inventing the Abbotts Pamela Abbott
U Turn Girl in Bus Station Cameo appearance
1998 Armageddon Grace Stamper Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo Shared with Ben Affleck
Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress -Science Fiction
1999 Plunkett & Macleane Lady Rebecca Gibson
Cookie's Fortune Emma Duvall
Onegin Tatyana Larina Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Actress
2000 Dr. T & the Women Marilyn
2001 One Night at McCool's Jewel
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Arwen Undómiel Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Arwen Undómiel Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Arwen Undómiel Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble
2004 Jersey Girl Maya
2005 Lonesome Jim Anika
2007 Reign Over Me Dr. Angela Oakhurst
2008 The Strangers Kristen McKay Scream Awards for Best Horror Actress
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Horror/Thriller
The Incredible Hulk Betty Ross
Smother Clare Cooper
2011 Super Sarah
The Ledge Shana
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/Rose_in_Winter/Liv_Tyler.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i243/clwitham/liv_tyler.jpg



she is so beautiful.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/01/11 at 3:32 pm


* Princess Diana would have turned 50 today.... :\'( :\'(
http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq352/ophase/princess-diana-.jpg
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr187/meadow_bucket/Princess%20Diana/282.jpg


RIP Princess you are missed.  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/01/11 at 3:44 pm


RIP Princess you are missed.  :\'(
Missed by many a person

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/02/11 at 6:58 am

British Person of the Day: Alec Douglas-Home

Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC (2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964. He is the last member of the House of Lords to be appointed Prime Minister. In order to become Prime Minister, he chose to disclaim his peerage and contest a by-election to enter the House of Commons. He is also the only Prime Minister to have played first class cricket. He was, at the time of his appointment, the first Prime Minister since Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman (1836–1908) not born during the reign of Queen Victoria.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Lord_Alec_Douglas-Home_Allan_Warren.jpg/245px-Lord_Alec_Douglas-Home_Allan_Warren.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/11 at 7:02 am


Missed by many a person

So true.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/02/11 at 7:05 am

The person of the day...Brock Peters
Brock Peters (July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. He also gained recognition among Star Trek fans for his portrayals of Fleet Admiral Cartwright in two of the Star Trek feature films and Joseph Sisko, father of Benjamin Sisko, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Peters was born George Fisher in New York City, the son of Alma A. (née Norford) and Sonnie Fisher, a sailor. He was of African descent. Peters set his sights on a show business career early on, at age 10. A product of New York's famed High School of Music and Art, Peters initially fielded more odd jobs than acting jobs as he worked his way up from Harlem poverty. Landing a stage role in Porgy and Bess in 1949, he quit physical education studies at City College of New York and went on tour with the opera.
Career

Peters made his film debut in Carmen Jones in 1954, but he really began to make a name for himself in such films as To Kill a Mockingbird and The L-Shaped Room. He received a Tony nomination for his starring stint in Broadway's Lost in the Stars.

He sang background vocals on the 1956 hit, "Banana Boat (Day-O)" by Harry Belafonte as well as Belafonte's 1957 hit, "Mama Look a Boo-Boo". He also sang on the song "Where" from Randy Weston's 1959 album Live at the Five Spot and shared vocal duties with Martha Flowers on Weston's album of the following year, Uhuru Africa.

In the film Abe Lincoln, Freedom Fighter (1978), Peters plays Henry, a freed black slave who is falsely accused of robbery but, defended by Abraham Lincoln, is found not guilty due to the fact he has a damaged hand and couldn't have committed the crime. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Peters plays Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl, whom Atticus Finch shows could not have committed due to the fact his hand (and arm) were damaged.

In radio, Peters was the voice of Darth Vader for the National Public Radio adaptation of the original Star Wars trilogy.

He also worked in the films Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country as Fleet Admiral Cartwright of Starfleet Command. Peters also portrayed Joseph Sisko, father of Deep Space Nine's commanding officer, Benjamin Sisko, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

In 1993, he was a member of the jury at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.

In early 2005, Peters guest starred in an episode of JAG during its final season, "Bridging the Gulf", season 10 episode 15. He also played the role of a Colonial prosecutor trying to make a murder case against Starbuck in an episode of the original Battlestar Galactica.

Peters worked with Charlton Heston on several theater productions in the 1940s and 1950s. The two became friends and subsequently worked together on several films, including Major Dundee, Soylent Green, and Two-Minute Warning.

He also voiced Soul Power in the animated series Static Shock (2000–2004).
Personal life

Brock Peters read Gregory Peck's eulogy at Peck's funeral in 2003. Brock's character, Tom Robinson, was defended by Peck's Atticus Finch in 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird.
Death

He died in Los Angeles, California of pancreatic cancer on August 23, 2005 at the age of 78.
Notable performances

    * Sergeant Brown in Carmen Jones (1954 film version)
    * Crown in Porgy and Bess (1959 film version)
    * Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
    * Johnny in The L Shaped Room (1962)
    * Matthew Robinson in Heavens Above (1963)
    * Aesop in Major Dundee (1965)
    * Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weill & Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the Stars (stage revival and 1974 film version) — nominated for a Tony Award
    * The Reverend Canon Frederick Chasuble, D.D. in an all-black film version of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1992)
    * Lieutenant Hatcher in the film Soylent Green
    * Darth Vader in the Star Wars radio series
    * The Ogre in the Faerie Tale Theatre episode Puss in Boots.
    * Detective Frank Lewis in The Young and the Restless
    * Fleet Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
    * Lucius Fox in Batman: The Animated Series
    * Joseph Sisko, Benjamin Sisko's father, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    * Dark Kat in SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Bloth in The Pirates of Dark Water, Tormack in Galtar and the Golden Lance and Boneyard in Gravedale High.
    * An uncredited voice-acting performance as the boxer Jack Johnson on the Miles Davis album A Tribute to Jack Johnson.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/arctrooperbum/fark/Brock_Peters.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z58/mjdonovan02/Rifiuti/4d88.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/03/11 at 6:26 am

The person of the day...Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley (born July 3, 1947) is an American theater, film and television actress and singer.
Buckley made her Broadway debut in 1969 in the musical 1776; she has been called "The Voice of Broadway" by New York magazine. Her rendition of "Memory" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats established her reputation. She is perhaps best known for the 1977–81 TV dramedy Eight is Enough. She joined the show in its second season when the original star, Diana Hyland, died after the first four episodes of season one. Hyland's character (Joan Bradford) died, and Buckley was cast as the widower's new romantic interest, Sandra Sue Abbott (nicknamed Abby), who would become stepmother of the eight children to which the series' title refers.

Buckley also appeared in the original movie version of Carrie in 1976. She played Miss Collins, Carrie's gym teacher; in 1987, she appeared as Margaret White in the musical adaptation of the film. In 1977, she recorded an uncredited solo on the song "Walking in Space", in the movie Hair.

She played the role of a country singer in Bruce Beresford's film Tender Mercies (1982), in which she sang the song "Over You".

She also appeared in the Woody Allen film Another Woman (1988) and in Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988). In 2001–03, she played a role in seasons 4–6 of the HBO series Oz. She also has guest-starred in a number of television series, including Without a Trace, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Monk. She guest-starred in a Christmas special of the TV series Remember WENN, in which she sang "You Make It Christmas". In 2006 she was cast as the family matriarch Iva March/Nora Walker in the unseen pilot for Brothers and Sisters, with the role ultimately going to Sally Field.

Buckley sang "Memory" from Cats at the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2006 as part of the tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 2007, Buckley appeared with Quintessence at Lincoln Center in its Great American Songbook series.

In 2008, Buckley played "Mrs. Jones" in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening opposite Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. She appeared as "Marion Leckie", mother of Robert Leckie in the HBO series The Pacific, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which aired in 2010.

Buckley also appeared in the 18th episode of Melrose Place in 2010 as a food critic cast by her brother Norman Buckley, who directed the episode. She has recently filmed a guest star appearance in an episode of the new Fox series The Chicago Code, originally titled Ride-Along.

Buckley participated in a reading of the musical Ruthless! in September, 2010, playing the role of Sylvia St. Croix/Ruth DelMarco.

In 2011 Buckley will star in the Dallas Theater Center production of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring with Tovah Feldshuh.
Music career

Buckley has recorded 13 solo albums and gives concerts and makes guest solo appearances across the U.S. each year. She is also a composer; her first recording contains mostly songs she wrote. She is also featured on many Broadway compilation recordings, and on the original cast recordings of 1776, Cats, the Promises, Promises London recording, Triumph of Love and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She has been twice nominated for a Grammy Award.

Her albums, Quintessence and 1967, were released by Playbill Records in February 2008. Quintessence features jazz arrangements of standards by her long time collaborator, jazz pianist Kenny Werner. 1967 is a recording made when Miss Buckley was just 19, produced by T-Bone Burnett.

A new album, her 14th, is scheduled for release on October 16, 2010; she gives a concert at Town Hall in New York City that evening as part of the Broadway Cabaret Festival. That recording contains a track from her 15th album, which will be released in 2011 and was produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Recent concert appearances include Feinstein's at the Regency in New York City; Yoshi's in San Francisco; and the Freud Theater at UCLA.
Personal life

Buckley was married in 1972, divorced in 1979, and has no children. She lives on a ranch in Texas and participates in NCHA cutting horse competitions while continuing to appear in films, television and theater and to sing concerts in a wide variety of venues.

Buckley has also taught song interpretation and communication for over 30 years. She conducts master classes in Fort Worth and New York City. She has trained investment bankers and business professionals from many fields. "No matter what your career, to communicate at your best is absolutely vital, whether it's to one person, a group or an entire audience. But most people get nervous, forgetful and too fearful to express themselves," says Buckley. "I'll help you redefine that fear and use it to your advantage. We'll talk about the dynamics of communication, the essence of common respect, and training your mind to focus on your behalf."

Buckley's official website contains her concert and theater schedule, a detailed biography and timeline, and summaries of her singing and acting accomplishments.
Broadway credits

    * 1776 (1969)—her Broadway debut as Martha Jefferson.
    * Promises, Promises (London) (1970)
    * Pippin (1972)
    * Cats (1982)—Tony Award for featured actress in a musical in 1983 for playing Grizabella
    * The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1985) as Miss Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood/Dick Datchery
    * Song and Dance (1986)
    * Carrie - The Musical (1988) as Carrie's mother Margaret White
    * Sunset Boulevard (1994)—In Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of the film, as Norma Desmond, the aging silent screen diva in London and on Broadway
    * Triumph of Love (1997)—Tony Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical

Off-Broadway credits

    * White's Lies (2010) as Mrs. White.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt192/MusicalTheatreTalk/114-BettyBuckley.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae18/mansfielddrama/Betty%20Buckleys%20Awards%202011/DSC05056.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/03/11 at 7:13 am

It is also Tom Cruise's Birthday,He is 49.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/04/11 at 10:37 am

The person of the day...Neil Simon
Neil Simon (born July 4, 1927) is an American playwright and screenwriter. His numerous Broadway successes have caused his work to be amongst the most regularly performed in the world.
During 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, began at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it played for 678 performances. Six weeks after its closing, his second production, the musical Little Me began to mixed reviews. Although it failed to attract a large audience, it earned Simon his first Tony Award nomination. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. He also won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Lost In Yonkers.

During 1966 Simon had four shows playing in Broadway theaters at the same time: Sweet Charity, The Star-Spangled Girl, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. His professional association with producer Emanuel Azenberg began with The Sunshine Boys during 1972 and continued with The Good Doctor, God's Favorite, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Jake's Women, The Goodbye Girl, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor, among others.

Simon also has written screenplays for more than twenty films. These include adaptations of his own plays and also original work, including The Out-of-Towners, Murder by Death and The Goodbye Girl. He has received four Academy Award nominations for his screenplays.

Simon has been conferred with two honoris causa degrees; a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University and a Doctor of Laws from Williams College. He is the namesake of the legitimate Broadway theater the Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, and an honorary member of the Walnut Street Theatre's board of trustees.
Personal life

Simon has been married five times, to dancer Joan Baim (1953–1973), actress Marsha Mason (1973–1981), twice to Diane Lander (1987–1988 and 1990–1998), and currently actress Elaine Joyce. He is the father of Nancy and Ellen, from his first marriage, and Bryn, Lander's daughter from a previous relationship whom he adopted.
Awards

    * 1957 Emmy Award for Your Show of Shows
    * 1959 Emmy Award for The Phil Silvers Show
    * 1965 Tony Award for Best Author - The Odd Couple
    * 1967 Evening Standard Award - Barefoot in the Park
    * 1968 Sam S. Shubert Award - Sweet Charity
    * 1969 Writers Guild of America Award The Odd Couple
    * 1970 Writers Guild of America Award The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
    * 1971 Writers Guild of America Award The Out-of-Towners
    * 1972 Writers Guild of America Award The Trouble With People
    * 1972 Cue Entertainer of the Year Award
    * 1975 Special Tony Award for contribution to theatre
    * 1975 Writers Guild of America Award The Goodbye Girl
    * 1978 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay - The Goodbye Girl
    * 1979 Writers Guild of America Award Laurel Award



    * 1981 Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University
    * 1983 American Theatre Hall of Fame
    * 1983 New York Drama Critics Circle Award - Brighton Beach Memoirs
    * 1983 Outer Critics Circle Award - Brighton Beach Memoirs
    * 1985 Tony Award for Best Play - Biloxi Blues
    * 1986 New York State Governor's Award
    * 1989 American Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement
    * 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play - Lost in Yonkers
    * 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Lost in Yonkers
    * 1991 Tony Award for Best Play - Lost in Yonkers
    * 1995 Kennedy Center Honoree
    * 1996 William Inge Theatre Festival Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater
    * 2006 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Work
Plays

    * Come Blow Your Horn (1961)
    * Little Me (1962)
    * Barefoot in the Park (1963)
    * The Odd Couple (1965)
    * Sweet Charity (1966)
    * The Star-Spangled Girl (1966)
    * Plaza Suite (1968)
    * Promises, Promises (1968)
    * The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969)
    * The Gingerbread Lady (1970)
    * The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971)



    * The Sunshine Boys (1972)
    * The Good Doctor (1973)
    * God's Favorite (1974)
    * California Suite (1976)
    * Chapter Two (1977)
    * They're Playing Our Song (1979)
    * I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980)
    * Fools (1981)
    * Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983)
    * Biloxi Blues (1985)
    * The Female Odd Couple (1986)
    * Broadway Bound (1986)



    * Rumors (1988)
    * Lost in Yonkers (1991)
    * Jake's Women (1992)
    * The Goodbye Girl (1993)
    * Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993)
    * London Suite (1995)
    * Proposals (1997)
    * The Dinner Party (2000)
    * 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001)
    * Rose's Dilemma (2003)
    * Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple (2004)

Screenplays

    * 1963: Come Blow Your Horn - Director: Bud Yorkin, screenplay by Norman Lear with Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb
    * 1966: After the Fox - Director: Vittorio DeSica with Peter Sellers and Victor Mature
    * 1967: Barefoot in the Park - Director: Gene Saks with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda
    * 1968: The Odd Couple - Director: Gene Saks with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
    * 1969: Sweet Charity - Director: Bob Fosse with Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera and Sammy Davis Jr.
    * 1970: The Out-of-Towners - Director: Arthur Hiller with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis
    * 1971: Plaza Suite - Director: Arthur Hiller with Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant
    * 1972: The Last of the Red Hot Lovers - Director: Gene Saks with Alan Arkin
    * 1972: The Heartbreak Kid - Director: Elaine May with Cybill Shepard and Charles Grodin
    * 1975: The Prisoner of Second Avenue - Director: Melvin Frank with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft
    * 1975: The Sunshine Boys - Director: Herbert Ross with Walter Matthau and George Burns
    * 1976: Murder by Death - Director: Robert Moore with Truman Capote, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Elsa Lanchester and Peter Sellers
    * 1977: The Goodbye Girl - Director: Herbert Ross with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason
    * 1978: The Cheap Detective - Director: Robert Moore with Peter Falk, Louise Fletcher, Stockard Channing, Madeline Kahn, John Houseman, Nicol Williamson and Eileen Brennan
    * 1978: California Suite - Director: Herbert Ross with Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby
    * 1978: The Good Doctor - PBS - Director: Jack O'Brien with Edward Asner, Richard Chamberlain, Bob Dishy, Gary Dontzig, Lee Grant, and Marsha Mason
    * 1979: Chapter Two - Director: Robert Moore with James Caan and Marsha Mason
    * 1980: Seems Like Old Times - Director: Jay Sandrich with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase
    * 1981: Only When I Laugh - Director: Glenn Jordan with Marsha Mason, Joan Hackett, James Coco and Kristy McNichol
    * 1982: I Ought to Be in Pictures - Director: Herbert Ross with Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff
    * 1983: Max Dugan Returns - Director: Herbert Ross with Matthew Broderick, Marsha Mason, Jason Robards, Kiefer Sutherland and Donald Sutherland
    * 1984: The Lonely Guy - Director: Arthur Hiller with Steve Martin
    * 1985: The Slugger's Wife - Director: Hal Ashby with Michael O'Keefe and Rebecca De Mornay
    * 1986: Brighton Beach Memoirs - Director: Gene Saks with Jonathan Silverman and David Margulies
    * 1987: Plaza Suite - Director: Robert Beatty and Kenny Solms with Carol Burnett, Richard Crenna, Dabney Coleman, and Hal Holbrook for ABC
    * 1988: Biloxi Blues - Director: Mike Nichols with Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken
    * 1991: The Marrying Man - Director: Jerry Rees with Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin
    * 1993: Lost in Yonkers - Director: Martha Coolidge with Richard Dreyfuss
    * 1995: The Sunshine Boys - Director: John Erman with Woody Allen and Peter Falk
    * 1996: Jake's Women - Director: Glenn Jordan with Alan Alda, Anne Archer, Lolita Davidovich, Julie Kavner, Mira Sorvino, Joyce Van Patten, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley for CBS
    * 1996: London Suite - Director: Jay Sandrich with Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Clarkson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonathan Silverman, Madeline Kahn, Michael Richards, Julie Hagerty, Richard Mulligan, Kristen Johnston, Jane Carr, Paxton Whitheead, and William Franklyn for NBC
    * 1998: The Odd Couple II - Director: Howard Deutch with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
    * 2001: Laughter on the 23rd Floor - Director: Richard Benjamin with Nathan Lane, Mark Linn-Baker, Saul Rubinek, Dan Castellaneta, Richard Portnow, Kristi Angus, Ardon Bess, Victor Garber, Philip Craig, among many others for Showtime
    * 2004: The Goodbye Girl with Patricia Heaton and Jeff Daniels for Turner Network Television

Further reading

    * Simon, Neil (1996). Neil Simon Rewrites: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-82672-0.
    * Simon, Neil (1999). Neil Simon The Play Goes On: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84691-8.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/centaurivino/neilsimon.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc244/JimWhicker/NeilSimon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/04/11 at 4:47 pm

When I did Summer Stock when with 17, Chapter Two was the first play we did that summer. I was the "production assistant." In other words, I was the gofer to the stage manager. Mainly, I got his coffee.  :-\\  I knew the ENTIRE dialog. I still remember some of it. That play will always have a special place in heart.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/11 at 6:35 am


When I did Summer Stock when with 17, Chapter Two was the first play we did that summer. I was the "production assistant." In other words, I was the gofer to the stage manager. Mainly, I got his coffee.  :-\\  I knew the ENTIRE dialog. I still remember some of it. That play will always have a special place in heart.



Cat

That's pretty cool. The only thing I've done is our 6th grade production of A Christmas Carol.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/11 at 6:40 am

The person of the day...Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco (play /ˈiːdi ˈfælkoʊ/; born July 5, 1963) is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her role in Oz as Diane Wittlesey and her roles as both Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos and the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She is the first actress to win an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy as well as Outstanding Actress in a Drama.
Early in her career, Falco made guest appearances on television shows like Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. Tom Fontana, executive director of Homicide, cast Falco as Eva Thormann, the wife of an injured police officer, after watching Falco's performance in Laws of Gravity, a 1992 film directed by Nick Gomez. Fontana said of her, "She's an actress who's unadorned by any embroidery. She does everything with such simplicity and honesty, it's breathtaking." A struggling actress at the time, Falco said her salary from these television episodes paid for one month's worth of rent. Fontana cast Falco as a regular character, prison officer Diane Wittlesey, in his HBO series Oz based on her work in the Homicide episodes "Son of a Gun" and "A Shot in the Dark".

Her first big break in films was a small speaking role in the 1994 Woody Allen film Bullets Over Broadway. Her friendship with former SUNY Purchase classmate Eric Mendelsohn, who was the assistant to Allen's costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, helped her to be cast in the role. Mendelsohn would go on to direct Falco in his feature film Judy Berlin, for which he won "Best Director" honors at the Sundance Film Festival. Falco would go on to star in Mendelsohn's next film "3 Backyards", for which he won "Best Director" a second time. Mendelsohn is the only director to ever win this award twice.

Falco, The X-Files star Gillian Anderson, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, and 30 Rock's Tina Fey are the only actresses to have received a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a SAG Award in the same year. Falco won these awards in 2003 for her performance as Carmela during the fourth season of The Sopranos.

Edie has won four Emmys, two Golden Globes and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. Falco is the second actor to have won Emmys for lead acting in both a Drama and a Comedy series (the first actor to do so was Carroll O'Connor).

Falco has appeared in the films Trust, Cop Land, Private Parts (non-speaking part), Random Hearts, Freedomland, and John Sayles' Sunshine State, for which she received the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for "Best Supporting Actress". On Broadway, she appeared in the Tony Award-winning Side Man and in the revivals of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune opposite Stanley Tucci, and 'night, Mother opposite Brenda Blethyn. She has also appeared as a guest star on the television shows 30 Rock and Will & Grace.

Edie stars as the title character in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie, which premiered in June 2009.

She is currently playing Bananas in the Broadway revival of House of Blue Leaves in New York City with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh, for which she received her first and only Tony Award nomination.
Politics

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Falco appeared in a 30-second television commercial on behalf of M.O.B. (Mothers Opposing Bush) in which she said "Mothers always put their children first. Mr. Bush, can you say the same?" referring to George W. Bush who was running for re-election.

Records show that she donated $1,000 to John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, $300 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004, and two separate sums of $1,000 and $300 to Hillary Clinton in 2005. Coincidentally, Falco appears as a Democratic Congresswoman and friend of Hillary Clinton in 30 Rock.

Edie Falco has become the spokesperson for Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and appeared on CNN on June 25, 2009.
Personal life

Falco has an adopted son, Anderson Falco, and an adopted daughter, Macy Falco. Of her adopted children Anderson and Macy, she says, “I’m just not one of those people who thought having biological children was that important...To me it was more about wanting to raise a child."

In 2003, Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she survived. She chose not to make the news public for approximately one year.

Falco has said she had problems with alcohol and decided to become sober after "one particular night of debauchery." She said in an interview that it is hard to be around the hard-partying cast of The Sopranos; "This cast (of The Sopranos) in particular, they really love to hang out and party. They make it look like fun. And it was fun for me! They spend a lot more time without me than with me, by my own choice—I’m always invited, and I’m always there for two minutes and I leave, because I can’t live in that world anymore. It's too dangerous." She is an advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-step program.
Awards and recognition
Awards won

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series

    * 2010: Nurse Jackie (episode submitted: "Pilot")

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series

    * 1999: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "College")
    * 2001: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "Second Opinion")
    * 2003: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "Whitecaps")

Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

    * 1999: The Sopranos
    * 2002: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

    * 1999: The Sopranos
    * 2002: The Sopranos
    * 2007: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

    * 1999: The Sopranos
    * 2007: The Sopranos

Award nominations

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

    * 2011: The House of Blue Leaves

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series

    * 2000: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "Full Leather Jacket")
    * 2004: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "All Happy Families...")
    * 2007: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "The Second Coming")

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series

    * 2008: 30 Rock (episode submitted: "Episode 210")

Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

    * 2000: The Sopranos
    * 2001: The Sopranos
    * 2004: The Sopranos
    * 2006: The Sopranos
    * 2007: The Sopranos

Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

    * 2009: Nurse Jackie
    * 2010: Nurse Jackie

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

    * 2000: The Sopranos
    * 2001: The Sopranos
    * 2004: The Sopranos
    * 2006: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

    * 2000: The Sopranos
    * 2001: The Sopranos
    * 2002: The Sopranos
    * 2004: The Sopranos
    * 2006: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

    * 2009: Nurse Jackie
    * 2010: Nurse Jackie

Filmography

    * Nurse Jackie
    * 3 Backyards
    * 30 Rock
    * Celeste Cunningham
    * The Sopranos
    * Freedomland
    * The Quiet
    * The Great New Wonderful
    * The Girl from Monday
    * Will & Grace
    * Family of the Year
    * Fargo
    * Sunshine State
    * Jenifer
    * The Sight (uncredited)
    * Oz
    * Death of a Dog
    * Random Hearts
    * Judy Berlin
    * Law & Order
    * A Price Above Rubies
    * Blind Light
    * Firehouse
    * Cost of Living
    * Trouble on the Corner
    * Cop Land
    * New York Undercover
    * Homicide: Life on the Street
    * Childhood's End
    * Private Parts (uncredited)
    * Hurricane
    * Breathing Room
    * The Funeral
    * Layin' Low
    * Backfire!
    * The Addiction
    * The Sunshine Boys
    * Bullets Over Broadway
    * Time Expired (short)
    * I Was on Mars
    * Laws of Gravity
    * Trust
    * Sidewalk Stories
    * The Unbelievable Truth
    * Sweet Lorraine
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a76/Mysteriouskiss4/Fashion/Fashion%202/Award%20Shows/29e87049e66f3b08_edie-falco.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk142/tea_pot_1/nurse-jackie-edie-falco.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/05/11 at 6:59 am


The person of the day...Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco (play /ˈiːdi ˈfælkoʊ/; born July 5, 1963) is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her role in Oz as Diane Wittlesey and her roles as both Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos and the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She is the first actress to win an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy as well as Outstanding Actress in a Drama.
Early in her career, Falco made guest appearances on television shows like Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. Tom Fontana, executive director of Homicide, cast Falco as Eva Thormann, the wife of an injured police officer, after watching Falco's performance in Laws of Gravity, a 1992 film directed by Nick Gomez. Fontana said of her, "She's an actress who's unadorned by any embroidery. She does everything with such simplicity and honesty, it's breathtaking." A struggling actress at the time, Falco said her salary from these television episodes paid for one month's worth of rent. Fontana cast Falco as a regular character, prison officer Diane Wittlesey, in his HBO series Oz based on her work in the Homicide episodes "Son of a Gun" and "A Shot in the Dark".

Her first big break in films was a small speaking role in the 1994 Woody Allen film Bullets Over Broadway. Her friendship with former SUNY Purchase classmate Eric Mendelsohn, who was the assistant to Allen's costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, helped her to be cast in the role. Mendelsohn would go on to direct Falco in his feature film Judy Berlin, for which he won "Best Director" honors at the Sundance Film Festival. Falco would go on to star in Mendelsohn's next film "3 Backyards", for which he won "Best Director" a second time. Mendelsohn is the only director to ever win this award twice.

Falco, The X-Files star Gillian Anderson, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, and 30 Rock's Tina Fey are the only actresses to have received a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a SAG Award in the same year. Falco won these awards in 2003 for her performance as Carmela during the fourth season of The Sopranos.

Edie has won four Emmys, two Golden Globes and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. Falco is the second actor to have won Emmys for lead acting in both a Drama and a Comedy series (the first actor to do so was Carroll O'Connor).

Falco has appeared in the films Trust, Cop Land, Private Parts (non-speaking part), Random Hearts, Freedomland, and John Sayles' Sunshine State, for which she received the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for "Best Supporting Actress". On Broadway, she appeared in the Tony Award-winning Side Man and in the revivals of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune opposite Stanley Tucci, and 'night, Mother opposite Brenda Blethyn. She has also appeared as a guest star on the television shows 30 Rock and Will & Grace.

Edie stars as the title character in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie, which premiered in June 2009.

She is currently playing Bananas in the Broadway revival of House of Blue Leaves in New York City with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh, for which she received her first and only Tony Award nomination.
Politics

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Falco appeared in a 30-second television commercial on behalf of M.O.B. (Mothers Opposing Bush) in which she said "Mothers always put their children first. Mr. Bush, can you say the same?" referring to George W. Bush who was running for re-election.

Records show that she donated $1,000 to John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, $300 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004, and two separate sums of $1,000 and $300 to Hillary Clinton in 2005. Coincidentally, Falco appears as a Democratic Congresswoman and friend of Hillary Clinton in 30 Rock.

Edie Falco has become the spokesperson for Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and appeared on CNN on June 25, 2009.
Personal life

Falco has an adopted son, Anderson Falco, and an adopted daughter, Macy Falco. Of her adopted children Anderson and Macy, she says, “I’m just not one of those people who thought having biological children was that important...To me it was more about wanting to raise a child."

In 2003, Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she survived. She chose not to make the news public for approximately one year.

Falco has said she had problems with alcohol and decided to become sober after "one particular night of debauchery." She said in an interview that it is hard to be around the hard-partying cast of The Sopranos; "This cast (of The Sopranos) in particular, they really love to hang out and party. They make it look like fun. And it was fun for me! They spend a lot more time without me than with me, by my own choice—I’m always invited, and I’m always there for two minutes and I leave, because I can’t live in that world anymore. It's too dangerous." She is an advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-step program.
Awards and recognition
Awards won

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series

    * 2010: Nurse Jackie (episode submitted: "Pilot")

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series

    * 1999: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "College")
    * 2001: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "Second Opinion")
    * 2003: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "Whitecaps")

Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

    * 1999: The Sopranos
    * 2002: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

    * 1999: The Sopranos
    * 2002: The Sopranos
    * 2007: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

    * 1999: The Sopranos
    * 2007: The Sopranos

Award nominations

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

    * 2011: The House of Blue Leaves

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series

    * 2000: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "Full Leather Jacket")
    * 2004: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "All Happy Families...")
    * 2007: The Sopranos (episode submitted: "The Second Coming")

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series

    * 2008: 30 Rock (episode submitted: "Episode 210")

Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

    * 2000: The Sopranos
    * 2001: The Sopranos
    * 2004: The Sopranos
    * 2006: The Sopranos
    * 2007: The Sopranos

Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

    * 2009: Nurse Jackie
    * 2010: Nurse Jackie

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

    * 2000: The Sopranos
    * 2001: The Sopranos
    * 2004: The Sopranos
    * 2006: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

    * 2000: The Sopranos
    * 2001: The Sopranos
    * 2002: The Sopranos
    * 2004: The Sopranos
    * 2006: The Sopranos

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

    * 2009: Nurse Jackie
    * 2010: Nurse Jackie

Filmography

    * Nurse Jackie
    * 3 Backyards
    * 30 Rock
    * Celeste Cunningham
    * The Sopranos
    * Freedomland
    * The Quiet
    * The Great New Wonderful
    * The Girl from Monday
    * Will & Grace
    * Family of the Year
    * Fargo
    * Sunshine State
    * Jenifer
    * The Sight (uncredited)
    * Oz
    * Death of a Dog
    * Random Hearts
    * Judy Berlin
    * Law & Order
    * A Price Above Rubies
    * Blind Light
    * Firehouse
    * Cost of Living
    * Trouble on the Corner
    * Cop Land
    * New York Undercover
    * Homicide: Life on the Street
    * Childhood's End
    * Private Parts (uncredited)
    * Hurricane
    * Breathing Room
    * The Funeral
    * Layin' Low
    * Backfire!
    * The Addiction
    * The Sunshine Boys
    * Bullets Over Broadway
    * Time Expired (short)
    * I Was on Mars
    * Laws of Gravity
    * Trust
    * Sidewalk Stories
    * The Unbelievable Truth
    * Sweet Lorraine
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a76/Mysteriouskiss4/Fashion/Fashion%202/Award%20Shows/29e87049e66f3b08_edie-falco.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk142/tea_pot_1/nurse-jackie-edie-falco.jpg


I used to watch Sopranos.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/05/11 at 12:37 pm


I used to watch Sopranos.

So did my husband.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/06/11 at 8:45 am

The person of the day...Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (pronounced /stəˈloʊn/; born July 6, 1946), commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed include boxer Rocky Balboa and soldier John Rambo. The Rocky and Rambo franchises, along with several other films, strengthened his reputation as an actor and his box office earnings.

Stallone's film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallone's use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky character placed permanently near the museum, on the right side before the steps. It was announced on December 7, 2010 that Stallone was voted into boxing's Hall of Fame.
When Stallone was nearly broke in New York, barely $50 to his name, he sold the script to Paradise Alley for $100.
Italian Stallion and Score

Stallone had his first starring role in the soft core pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970). He was paid US$200 for two days' work. Stallone later explained that he had done the film out of desperation after being evicted from his apartment and finding himself homeless for several days. He has also said that he slept three weeks in the New York City Port Authority bus station prior to seeing a casting notice for the film. In the actor's words, "it was either do that movie or rob someone, because I was at the end – the very end – of my rope". The film was released several years later as Italian Stallion, in order to cash in on Stallone's new found fame (the new title was taken from Stallone's nickname since Rocky and a line from the film).

Stallone also starred in the erotic off-Broadway stage play Score which ran for 23 performances at the Martinique Theatre from October 28 – November 15, 1971 and was later made into a film by Radley Metzger.
Early film roles, 1970–1975

In 1970 Stallone appeared in the film No Place to Hide, which was re-cut and retitled Rebel, the second version featuring Stallone as its star. After the style of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily?, this film, in 1990, was re-edited from outtakes from the original movie and newly shot matching footage, then redubbed into an award-winning parody of itself titled A Man Called... Rainbo. Again starring Stallone, this self-parody was directed by David Casci and produced by Jeffrey Hilton. A Man Called...Rainbo won Silver Awards at the Chicago International Film Festival and Worldfest – Houston, and was featured on Entertainment Tonight along with its credited star, Sylvester Stallone. It received a Thumbs-Up on Siskel & Ebert, and was recommended by Michael Medved on the popular movie review show, Sneak Previews.

Stallone's other first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the psychological thriller Klute (1971) as an extra dancing in a club, and in the Jack Lemmon film The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) as a youth. In the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmon chases, tackles and mugs Stallone, thinking that Stallone's character is a pickpocket. He had his second starring role in The Lords of Flatbush, in 1974. In 1975, he played supporting roles in Farewell, My Lovely; Capone; and Death Race 2000. He made guest appearances on the TV series Police Story and Kojak.
Success with Rocky, 1976
Stallone at the Oscars in 1978

Stallone gained worldwide fame with his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976). On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Muhammad Ali–Chuck Wepner fight, which inspired the foundation idea of Rocky. That night Stallone went home, and after three days 20 straight hours he had written the script for Rocky. After that, he tried to sell the script with the intention of playing the lead role. Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler in particular liked the script. Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards in all, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Stallone. Rocky went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing.
Rocky, Rambo and new film roles, 1978–1989

The sequel Rocky II, which Stallone had also written and directed (replacing John G. Avildsen, who won an Academy Award for directing the first film) was released in 1979 and also became a major success, grossing $200 million.

Apart from the Rocky films, Stallone did many other films in the late 1970s and early 1980s which were critically acclaimed but were not successful at the box office. He received critical praise for films such as F.I.S.T. (1978), a social, epic styled drama in which he plays a warehouse worker, very loosely modeled on James Hoffa, who becomes involved in the labor union leadership, and Paradise Alley (1978), a family drama in which he plays one of three brothers who is a con artist and who helps his other brother who is involved in wrestling. Stallone made his directorial debut directing Paradise Alley.
Stallone in 1988

In the early 1980s, he starred alongside British veteran Michael Caine in Escape to Victory (1981), a sports drama in which he plays a prisoner of war involved in a Nazi propaganda soccer game. Stallone then made the action thriller film Nighthawks (1981), in which he plays a New York city cop who plays a cat and mouse game with a foreign terrorist, played by Rutger Hauer.
Sylvester Stallone with Brigitte Nielsen, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at the White House, 1985

Stallone had another major franchise success as Vietnam veteran John Rambo, a former Green Beret, in the action-war film First Blood (1982). The first installment of Rambo was both a critical and box office success. The critics praised Stallone's performance, saying he made Rambo seem human, as opposed to the way he is portrayed in the book of the same name, in First Blood and in the other films. Three Rambo sequels Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988) and Rambo (2008) followed. Although box office hits, they met with much less critical praise than the original. He also continued his box office success with the Rocky franchise and wrote, directed and starred in two more sequels to the series: Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985). Stallone has portrayed these two characters in a total of ten films. In preparation for these roles, Stallone embarked upon a vigorous training regimen which often meant six days a week in the gym and further sit ups in the evenings. Stallone claims to have gotten his body fat percentage down to his all time low of 2.8% for Rocky III.

It was during this time period that Stallone's work cultivated a strong overseas following. He also attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, roles in different genres when he co-wrote and starred in the comedy film Rhinestone (1984) where he played a wannabe country music singer and the drama film Over the Top (1987) where he played a struggling trucker who, after the death of his wife, tries to make amends with his son who he left behind years earlier. His son does not think too highly of him until he sees him compete in a nation-wide arm wrestling competition. For the Rhinestone soundtrack, he performed a song. These films did not do well at the box office and were poorly received by critics. It was around 1985 that Stallone was signed to a remake of the 1939 James Cagney classic Angels With Dirty Faces. The film would form part of his multi-picture deal with Cannon Pictures and was to co-star Christopher Reeve and be directed by Menahem Golan. The re-making of such a beloved classic was met with disapproval by Variety Magazine and horror by top critic Roger Ebert and so Cannon opted to make Cobra instead. Cobra (1986) and Tango and Cash (1989) did solid business domestically but overseas they did blockbuster business grossing over $100 million in foreign markets and over $160 million worldwide.
1990–2002

With the then recent success of Lock Up and Tango and Cash, at the start of the 1990s Stallone starred in the fifth installment of the Rocky franchise Rocky V which was considered a box office disappointment and was also disliked by fans as an unworthy entry in the series.

After starring in the critical and commercial disasters Oscar (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) during the early 90s, he made a comeback in 1993 with the hit Cliffhanger which was a success in the U.S., grossing $84 million, but even more successful worldwide, grossing $171 million for a total over US$255 million. Later that year he starred with Wesley Snipes in the futuristic action film Demolition Man which grossed in excess of $158 million worldwide. His string of hits continued with 1994's The Specialist (over $170 million worldwide gross).

In 1995, he played the comic book based title character Judge Dredd, who was taken from the British comic book 2000 AD in the film of the same name. His overseas box office appeal saved the domestic box office disappointment of Judge Dredd, which cost almost $100 million and barely made its budget back with a worldwide tally of $113 million. He also appeared in the thriller Assassins (1995) with co stars Julianne Moore and Antonio Banderas. In 1996, he starred in the disaster film Daylight which was not very successful in the US but still grossed $126 million overseas.

That same year Stallone, along with an all-star cast of celebrities, appeared in the Trey Parker and Matt Stone short comedy film Your Studio and You commissioned by the Seagram Company for a party celebrating their acquisition of Universal Studios and the MCA Corporation. Stallone speaks in his Rocky Balboa voice with subtitles translating what he was saying. At one point, Stallone starts yelling about how can they use his Balboa character, that he left it in the past; the narrator calms him with a wine cooler and calling him, "brainiac." In response, Stallone says, "Thank you very much." He then looks at the wine cooler and exclaims, "Stupid cheap studio!"

Following his breakthrough performance in Rocky, critic Roger Ebert had once said Stallone could become the next Marlon Brando, though he never quite recaptured the critical acclaim achieved with Rocky. Stallone did, however, go on to receive much acclaim for his role in the low budget crime drama Cop Land (1997) in which he starred alongside Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta, but the film was only a minor success at the box office. His performance led him to win the Stockholm International Film Festival Best Actor Award. In 1998 he did voice-over work for the computer-animated film Antz, which was a big hit domestically.

In 2000, Stallone starred in the thriller Get Carter – a remake of the 1971 British Michael Caine film of the same name—but the film was poorly received by both critics and audiences. Stallone's career declined considerably after his subsequent films Driven (2001), Avenging Angelo (2002) and D-Tox (2002) also underachieved expectations to do well at the box office and were poorly received by critics.
2003–2005

In 2003, he played a villainous role in the third installment of the Spy Kids trilogy Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over which was a huge box office success (almost $200 million worldwide). Stallone also had a cameo appearance in the 2003 French film Taxi 3 as a passenger.

Following several poorly reviewed box office flops, Stallone started to regain prominence for his supporting role in the neo-noir crime drama Shade (2003) which was only released in a limited fashion but was praised by critics. He was also attached to star and direct a film tentatively titled Rampart Scandal, which was to be about the murder of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. and the surrounding Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal. It was later titled Notorious but was shelved.

In 2005, he was the co-presenter, alongside Sugar Ray Leonard, of the NBC Reality television boxing series The Contender. That same year he also made a guest appearance in two episodes of the television series Las Vegas. In 2005, Stallone also inducted wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, who appeared in Rocky III as a wrestler named Thunderlips, into the WWE Hall of Fame; Stallone was also the person who offered Hogan the cameo in Rocky III.
Revisiting Rocky and Rambo, 2006–2008
Sylvester Stallone Hollywood Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

After a three year hiatus from films, Stallone made a comeback in 2006 with the sixth installment of his successful Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, which was a critical and commercial hit. After the critical and box office failure of the previous installment Rocky V, Stallone had decided to write, direct and star in a sixth installment which would be a more appropriate climax to the series. The total domestic box office came to $70.3 million (and $155.7 million worldwide). The budget of the movie was only $24 million. His performance in Rocky Balboa has been praised and garnered mostly positive reviews.

Stallone's fourth installment of his other successful movie franchise, Rambo, with the sequel being titled simply Rambo. The film opened in 2,751 theaters on January 25, 2008, grossing $6,490,000 on its opening day and $18,200,000 over its opening weekend. Its box office was $113,244,290 worldwide with a budget of $50 million.

Asked in February 2008 which of the icons he would rather be remembered for, Stallone said "it's a tough one, but Rocky is my first baby, so Rocky."
Other film work

Stallone's debut as a director came in 1978 with Paradise Alley, which he also wrote and starred in. In addition, he directed Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, along with Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky Balboa, and Rambo. In August 2005, Stallone released his book Sly Moves which claimed to be a guide to fitness and nutrition as well as a candid insight into his life and works from his own perspective. The book also contained many photographs of Stallone throughout the years as well as pictures of him performing exercises. In addition to writing all six Rocky films, Stallone also wrote Cobra, Driven, and Rambo. He has co-written several other films, such as F.I.S.T., Rhinestone, Over the Top, and the first three Rambo films. His last major success as a co-writer came with 1993's Cliffhanger. In addition, Stallone has continued to express his passion in directing a film on Edgar Allan Poe's life, a script he has been preparing for years. In July 2009, he appeared in a cameo in the Bollywood movie Kambakkht Ishq where he played himself, for which he has been nominated by the Indian version of Razzies, Golden Kela Awards. Stallone will also provide the voice of a lion in Kevin James's planned comedy Zookeeper. Stallone has also mentioned that he would like to adapt a Nelson DeMille novel, The Lion's Game and James Byron Huggin's novel Hunter, which Stallone had the film rights for several years and originally planned to use the plot from Hunter for Rambo V. In 2009, Stallone expressed interest in starring in a remake of Charles Bronson's 1974 movie Death Wish.
2010 onwards

The Expendables was Stallone's big success of 2010. The movie, which was filmed during summer/winter 2009, was released on August 13, 2010. Stallone wrote, directed and stars in the movie. Joining him in the film were fellow action stars Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren plus Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, and Stone Cold Steve Austin as well as much anticipated cameos for fellow '80s action icons Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Indeed, the cameos of Willis and Schwarzenegger have been pushed quite heavily in the promotion of the movie. Due to the overwhelmingly positive reaction to early test footage and trailers, producer Avi Lerner has reported that there is already talk of making two more sequels, or at least some sort of a longer franchise, based on the members of the team. The movie took $34,825,135 in its opening weekend, going straight in at No.1 in the US box office. The figure marked the biggest opening weekend in Stallone's illustrious 35 year career. In summer 2010, Brazilian company O2 Filmes released a statement saying it was still owed more than $2 million US for its work on the film. Stallone also confirmed the planned Rambo V was cancelled in May 2010. The movie was officially greenlit by Nu Image/Millenium Films in September 2009 and initially Stallone said the movie was to be entitled Rambo V: The Savage Hunt and would be loosely based on a novel called Hunter (a novel to which Stallone had the rights for ten years), involving Rambo hunting a "feral beast". In November 2009 Stallone confirmed that the story has been switched and that the man/beast hunt story will be saved for an unrelated film. Rambo V will now be based on Rambo searching for women who disappeared in a town over the Mexican border. It was confirmed by Stallone himself in May 2010 that he has scrapped Rambo V (and "retired" Rambo) in order to work on The Expendables sequel.
Also see Sylvester Stallone filmography.
Year Film Credited as Role Notes
Director Producer Writer Actor
1970 The Party at Kitty and Stud's Yes Stud
No Place to Hide Yes Jerry Savage
1971 Bananas Yes Subway Thug No.1 Uncredited
Klute Yes Discothèque Patron Uncredited
1974 The Lords of Flatbush Yes Yes Stanley Rosiello Writer (additional dialogue)
1975 The Prisoner of Second Avenue Yes Youth in Park
Capone Yes Frank Nitti
Death Race 2000 Yes Machine Gun Joe Viterbo
Mandingo Yes Young Man in Crowd Uncredited (Scenes deleted)
Farewell, My Lovely Yes Jonnie
Police Story Yes Caddo TV series (1 episode)
Kojak Yes Detective Rick Daly
1976 Cannonball Yes Mafioso Uncredited
Rocky Yes Yes Rocky Balboa Writer
1978 F.I.S.T. Yes Yes Johnny D. Kovak Screenplay
Paradise Alley Yes Yes Yes Cosmo Carboni Director and Writer
1979 Rocky II Yes Yes Yes Rocky Balboa Director and Writer
1981 Nighthawks Yes Det. Sgt. Deke DaSilva
Escape to Victory Yes Captain Robert Hatch
1982 Rocky III Yes Yes Yes Rocky Balboa Director and Writer
First Blood Yes Yes Rambo Screenplay
1983 Staying Alive Yes Yes Yes Yes Man on Street Cameo; Uncredited, Director, Producer and Writer
1984 Rhinestone Yes Yes Nick Martinelli Screenplay
1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II Yes Yes Rambo Screenplay
1985 Rocky IV Yes Yes Yes Rocky Balboa Director and Writer
1986 Cobra Yes Yes Lieutenant Marion 'Cobra' Cobretti Screenplay
1987 Over the Top Yes Yes Lincoln Hawk Screenplay
1988 Rambo III Yes Yes Rambo Writer
1989 Lock Up Yes Frank Leone
Tango & Cash Yes Raymond 'Ray' Tango
1990 Rocky V Yes Yes Rocky Balboa Writer
1991 Oscar Yes Angelo 'Snaps' Provolone
1992 Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot Yes Sgt. Joe Bomowski
1993 Cliffhanger Yes Yes Gabe Walker Screenplay
Demolition Man Yes John Spartan
1994 The Specialist Yes Ray Quick
1995 Judge Dredd Yes Judge Joseph Dredd
Assassins Yes Robert Rath
Your Studio and You Yes Himself
1996 Daylight Yes Kit Latura
1997 The Good Life Yes Boss not released
Men In Black Yes Alien on TV Monitors Cameo; uncredited
Cop Land Yes Sheriff Freddy Heflin
1998 Antz Yes Weaver Voice
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn Yes Himself
2000 Get Carter Yes Jack Carter
2001 Driven Yes Yes Yes Joe Tanto Producer and Screenplay
2002 Liberty's Kids Yes Paul Revere TV series (1 episode)
D-Tox Yes Jake Malloy
Avenging Angelo Yes Frankie Delano
2003 Taxi 3 Yes Passenger to Airport Cameo; Uncredited
Shade Yes Dean 'The Dean' Stevens
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over Yes The Toymaker
2005 Las Vegas Yes Frank the Repairman TV Series (2 episodes)
2006 Rocky Balboa Yes Yes Yes Rocky Balboa Director and Writer
2008 Rambo Yes Yes Yes Rambo Director and Writer
2009 Kambakkht Ishq Yes Himself Cameo
2010 The Expendables Yes Yes Yes Barney Ross Director and Writer
2011 Zookeeper Yes Lion Voice
2012 The Expendables 2 Yes Barney Ross
2012 Headshot Hitman
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac133/STALLOWNED/SYLVESTER%20STALLONE/52466.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk151/wizzie_87/sylvester_stallone.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/06/11 at 12:01 pm

Am I the only one who never really liked any of the Rocky movies?



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/06/11 at 7:53 pm


Am I the only one who never really liked any of the Rocky movies?



Cat


I liked Rocky 3 with Mr.T.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/11 at 1:20 am


Am I the only one who never really liked any of the Rocky movies?



Cat
I saw the first Rocky when it was first released, but it was not my kind of film for I am not into boxing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/11 at 6:31 am


Am I the only one who never really liked any of the Rocky movies?



Cat

I liked Rocky 3 with Mr.T.

I saw the first Rocky when it was first released, but it was not my kind of film for I am not into boxing.

I have only seen the original Rocky and the one with Mr T.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/07/11 at 6:35 am

The person of the day...Shelley Duvall
Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American film and television actress best known for her roles in 3 Women, Popeye, Thieves Like Us and The Shining.

She began her career in the 1970s films of Robert Altman, followed by roles in movies by Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton. She is also an Emmy-nominated producer, responsible for Faerie Tale Theatre and other kid-friendly programming.
Duvall's debut was portraying the free-spirited, disabled, love interest to Bud Cort's reclusive Brewster in Brewster McCloud. Altman was so impressed with Duvall that he cast her in his next films, including McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975). In 1977, Duvall was awarded a Best Actress Award by the Cannes Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for her portrayal of the delusional Millie Lammoreaux in Altman's 3 Women. That same year, she appeared in Annie Hall as Woody Allen's one-night stand, and she hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Duvall's next role was Wendy Torrance opposite Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). Nicholson states in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that Kubrick was great to work with but that he was "a different director" with Duvall. Due to Kubrick's highly methodical nature, principal photography took a year to complete. Perhaps the most notorious example of this was Kubrick's insistence that she and Nicholson perform 127 takes of the baseball bat scene, which broke a world record for the most retakes of a single movie scene with spoken dialogue. Kubrick and Duvall had frequent arguments although Duvall later said she learned more from working with Kubrick on The Shining than she did on all her previous films.

In January 1979, Altman offered her the role he believed she was born to play: Olive Oyl in the big-screen adaptation of Popeye. Duvall was initially reluctant to accept the role due to negative memories of being called "Olive Oyl" as a child but went on to accept it in stride. Her version of "He Needs Me" from Popeye was featured in Punch-Drunk Love.

Following the success of The Shining and Popeye, Duvall had supporting roles in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981), Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (1984) and the Steve Martin comedy Roxanne (1987).
Duvall as producer

During the making of Popeye, Duvall showed Robin Williams some of the antique illustrated fairy tale books that she had been collecting since she was 17. One of these was an old copy of The Frog Prince. Envisioning Williams as the perfect "Frog Prince", she formed her own production company, Platypus Productions, and approached Showtime with an idea for a cable television series based on classic fairy tales. Showtime embraced the project and began airing episodes of Faerie Tale Theatre in 1982. The one-hour anthology series featured live-action adaptations of well-known fairy tales and starred many of Duvall's celebrity friends. Duvall played characters in four episodes and hosted all 26 until the end of the series' run in 1987. In 1985, she created Tall Tales & Legends, another one-hour anthology series for Showtime, this one featuring adaptations of American folk tales. As with Faerie Tale Theatre, the series starred well-known Hollywood actors, with Duvall serving as host, executive producer, and occasional guest star. The series ran for only nine episodes but brought an Emmy nomination for Duvall.

After Tall Tales and Legends ended in 1988, Duvall founded a new production company called Think Entertainment to develop programs and made-for-TV movies for cable channels. Under the banner of Think Entertainment and Platypus Productions, she created Nightmare Classics, a third Showtime anthology series. It featured adaptations of well-known horror stories by such authors as Edgar Allan Poe. Unlike the previous two series, Nightmare Classics was aimed at a teenage and adult audience. It was the least successful series that Duvall produced for Showtime, running for only four episodes. In 1992, Think Entertainment joined forces with the newly-formed Universal Family Entertainment to create Duvall's fourth Showtime original series, Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories, which featured animated adaptations of children's storybooks with celebrity narrators. It earned her a second Emmy nomination.

Duvall produced a fifth series for Showtime, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, before selling Think Entertainment in 1993 and retiring as a producer.
Later career

Duvall continued to make film and television appearances throughout the 1990s. In 1998, she played Drew Barrymore's mother in the comedy Home Fries and Hilary Duff's aunt in the direct-to-video children's film Casper Meets Wendy. She returned to the horror genre with Tale of the Mummy (1998), The 4th Floor (1999) and the horror-comedy Boltneck (2000).

In 2000, she played Haylie Duff's aunt in the independent family film Dreams in the Attic, which was shopped to the Disney Channel but never released. Her last acting appearance was a small role in the 2002 independent film Manna from Heaven.

After her Los Angeles home was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Duvall left California and since then has lived primarily in Blanco, Texas. In 2007, she made a standing-room-only appearance at a library in Texas. She has been described as "reclusive."

In a November 5, 2010 interview with Mondo Film & Video Guide, Duvall talked about her current life, revealing that future film roles are a possibility:
“ I wouldn’t say I became a recluse. If you Google the meaning, it sounds much worse. I just took time out. I’ve been acting for over 35 years; it does take a lot out of you. I just needed some me time, and I’ve loved it. People seem to think I’ve turned into a recluse who never leaves the house and doesn’t communicate with the outside world, that’s just not true... I have a quiet life now, I have a lot of animals on my property and look after them; not a crazy cat lady yet though. I write a lot of poetry, would love to publish a book of my work one day. Still get a lot of scripts sent to me, a return to acting is never out of the question.
Filmography
Actor
Year Film Role Other notes
2002 Manna from Heaven Detective Dubrinski
2000 Dreams in the Attic Nellie (unreleased)
Boltneck Mrs. Stein (aka Big Monster on Campus)
1999 The 4th Floor Martha Stewart
1998 Home Fries Mrs. Jackson
Casper Meets Wendy Gabby
Tale of the Mummy Edith Butros
1997 Alone Estelle Television film
RocketMan Mrs. Randall (uncredited)
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs Amelia Glahn
Changing Habits Sister Agatha
My Teacher Ate My Homework Mrs. Fink
1996 The Portrait of a Lady Countess Gemini
1995 Underneath Nurse
1993 Sesame Street Stays Up Late! Herself
1992 Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories Herself
1991 Suburban Commando Jenny Wilcox
1991 Frogs! Annie Television film
1990 Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme Little Bo Peep Television film
1987 Roxanne Dixie
Frog Mrs. Anderson Television film
1984 Frankenweenie Susan Frankenstein
Booker Laura Television film
1981 Time Bandits Dame Pansy / Pansy
1980 Popeye Olive Oyl
The Shining Wendy Torrance Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress
1977 Annie Hall Pam
3 Women Millie Lammoreaux
1976 Bernice Bobs Her Hair Bernice Television film
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson The First Lady (Mrs. Grover Cleveland)
1975 Nashville L. A. Joan
1974 Thieves Like Us Keechie
1971 McCabe & Mrs. Miller Ida Coyle
1970 Brewster McCloud Suzanne Davis
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz74/barnabiesballs/shelley-duvall-3-women.jpg
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss181/millenniumactress/the-shining.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/07/11 at 7:23 am

That face she made in The Shining was priceless.http://www.genderacrossborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/duvall1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/07/11 at 10:09 am

I went to school with a girl who looked like Shelly Duvall. This was just about the time when Popeye came out so everyone called her Olive Oyl. She hated that nickname.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/07/11 at 1:58 pm


That face she made in The Shining was priceless.http://www.genderacrossborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/duvall1.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/the-shining-biscuit-dunk.gif

The Shining Biscuit Dunk!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/11 at 5:42 am


That face she made in The Shining was priceless.http://www.genderacrossborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/duvall1.jpg

True.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/11 at 5:43 am


I went to school with a girl who looked like Shelly Duvall. This was just about the time when Popeye came out so everyone called her Olive Oyl. She hated that nickname.



Cat

Gee I wonder why ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/11 at 5:43 am


http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/the-shining-biscuit-dunk.gif

The Shining Biscuit Dunk!

Oh no the killer biscuit :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/11 at 5:47 am

The person of the day...Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love and X-Men: First Class.

Bacon has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, was nominated for an Emmy Award, and was named by The Guardian as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Bacon left home at age 17 to pursue a theater career in New York, where he appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theater School. "I wanted life, man, the real thing", he later recalled to Nancy Mills of Cosmopolitan. "The message I got was 'The arts are it. Business is the devil's work. Art and creative expression are next to godliness.' Combine that with an immense ego and you wind up with an actor."

Bacon's debut in the fraternity comedy Animal House in 1978 did not lead to instant fame for which he had hoped, and Bacon returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater. He briefly worked on the television soap operas Search for Tomorrow (1979) and The Guiding Light (1980–81) in New York. He refused an offer of a television series based on Animal House to be filmed in California in order to remain close to the New York stage . Some of his early stage work included Getting Out performed at New York's Phoenix Theater, and Flux which he did at Second Stage Theatre during their 1981–1982 season.

In 1982, he won an Obie Award for his role in Forty Deuce, and soon after made his Broadway debut in Slab Boys, with then-unknowns Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. However, it was not until he portrayed Timothy Fenwick that same year in Barry Levinson's Diner – costarring Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly and Ellen Barkin – that he made an indelible impression on film critics and moviegoers alike.
Bacon in 2007

Bolstered by the attention garnered by his performance in Diner, Bacon starred in the 1984 box-office smash Footloose. Richard Corliss of TIME likened Footloose to the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause and the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, commenting that the film includes "motifs on book burning, mid-life crisis, AWOL parents, fatal car crashes, drug enforcement, and Bible Belt vigilantism." To prepare for the role, Bacon enrolled at a high school as a transfer student named "Ren McCormick" and studied teenagers before leaving in the middle of the day. Bacon did earn strong reviews for Footloose, and he appeared on the cover of People magazine soon after its release.

Bacon's critical and box-office success lead to a period of typecasting in roles similar to the two he portrayed in Diner and Footloose. Bacon would have difficulty shaking this on-screen image. For the next several years he chose films that cast him against either type and experienced, by his own estimation, a career slump. In 1988, he starred in John Hughes' comedy She's Having a Baby and the following year he was in another comedy called The Big Picture.

In 1990, Bacon had two successful roles. He played a character who saved his town from under-the-earth "graboid" monsters in the comedy/horror film Tremors – a role that People found him "far too accomplished" to play – and portrayed an earnest medical student experimenting with death in Joel Schumacher's Flatliners.

Bacon's next project was to star opposite Elizabeth Perkins in He Said, She Said. Despite lukewarm reviews and low audience turnout, He Said, She Said was illuminating for Bacon. Required to play a character with sexist attitudes, he admitted that the role was not that large a stretch for him.

By 1991, Bacon began to give up the idea of playing leading men in big-budget films and to remake himself as a character actor. "The only way I was going to be able to work on 'A' projects with really 'A' directors was if I wasn't the guy who was starring", he confided to The New York Times writer Trip Gabriel. "You can't afford to set up a $40 million movie if you don't have your star."

He performed that year as gay prostitute Willie O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's JFK. He went on to play a prosecuting attorney in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. Later that year he returned to the theater to play in Spike Heels, directed by Michael Greif.
Bacon receiving a Merit Award in April 2010

In 1994, Bacon earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in The River Wild opposite Meryl Streep. He described the film to Chase in Cosmopolitan as a "grueling shoot," in which "every one of us fell out of the boat at one point or another and had to be saved."

His next film, Murder in the First, earned him the Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award in 1995, the same year that he starred in the blockbuster hit Apollo 13.

Bacon reverted to his trademark dark role once again in Sleepers in 1996. This role was in stark contrast to his appearance in the lighthearted romantic comedy, Picture Perfect the following year. Bacon again resurrected his oddball mystique that year as a mentally-challenged houseguest in Digging to China, and as a disc jockey corrupted by payola in Telling Lies in America. As the executive producer of 1998's Wild Things, Bacon reserved a supporting role for himself, and went on to star in Stir of Echoes (directed by David Koepp) in 1999, and in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man in 2000.

Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard depict a ménage à trois in their film, Where the Truth Lies. Bacon and director Atom Egoyan have condemned the MPAA ratings board decision to give the film their "NC-17" rating over the preferable "R". Bacon decried the decision, commenting: "I don't get it, when I see films (that) are extremely violent, extremely objectionable sometimes in terms of the roles that women play, slide by with an R, no problem, because the people happen to have more of their clothes on." Bacon was again acclaimed for a dark starring role playing an offending pedophile on parole in the 2004 film The Woodsman; he was nominated best actor receiving the Independent Spirit Award.
Bacon speaking before a premiere of Taking Chance in February 2009

He appeared in the HBO Films production of Taking Chance, a film based on a story of the same name written by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, an American 'Desert Storm' war veteran. The film premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role.

On July 15, 2010, it was confirmed that Bacon would appear in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. His character was mutant villain Sebastian Shaw.
Personal life

Bacon has been married to actress Kyra Sedgwick since September 4, 1988; they met on the set of the PBS version of Lanford Wilson's play Lemon Sky. "The time I was hitting what I considered to be bottom was also the time I met my wife, our kids were born, good things were happening. And I was able to keep supporting myself; that always gave me strength."

Bacon and Sedgwick have starred together in Pyrates, Murder in the First, The Woodsman, and Loverboy. They have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon (born June 23, 1989 in Los Angeles, California) and Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Bacon and Sedgwick appeared in will.i.am's video It's a New Day which was released following Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.

Bacon and Sedgwick lost an undisclosed amount of money in the Ponzi scheme of infamous fraudulent investor Bernard Madoff.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Main article: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Bacon is the subject of the trivia game titled Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the idea that, due to his prolific screen career covering a diverse range of genres, any Hollywood actor can be linked to another in a handful of steps based on their associations with Bacon. The name of the game derives from the idea of six degrees of separation.

Though he was initially dismayed by the game, the meme stuck, and Bacon eventually embraced it, forming the charitable initiative SixDegrees.org, a social networking site intended to link people and charities to each other.

The measure of proximity to Bacon has been mathematically formalized as the Bacon Index and can be referenced at websites including Oracle Of Bacon which is in turn based upon Internet Movie Database data.
Music

In 1995, Bacon formed a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. The duo has released six albums.
Filmography
Films
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Chip Diller
1979 Starting Over Husband
1979 The Gift Teddy
1980 Hero at Large 2nd Teenager
1980 Friday the 13th Jack Burrell
1981 Only When I Laugh Don
1982 Diner Timothy Fenwick Jr.
1982 Forty Deuce Ricky
1983 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Dennis
1984 Footloose Ren McCormack
1986 Quicksilver Jack Casey
1987 White Water Summer Vic
1987 End of the Line Everett
1987 Planes, Trains & Automobiles Taxi Racer
1988 She's Having a Baby Jefferson 'Jake' Edward Briggs
1989 Criminal Law Martin Thiel
1989 The Big Picture Nick Chapman
1989 Tremors Valentine 'Val' McKee
1990 Flatliners David Labraccio
1991 Pyrates Ari
1991 Queens Logic Dennis
1991 He Said, She Said Dan Hanson
1991 JFK Willie O'Keefe
1991 A Little Vicious narrator short subject
1992 A Few Good Men Capt. Jack Ross
1994 The Air Up There Jimmy Dolan
1994 The River Wild Wade Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1994 "New York Skyride" narrator short subject
1995 Murder in the First Henri Young Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1995 Apollo 13 Jack Swigert Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 Balto Balto Voice only
1996 Sleepers Sean Nokes
1997 Picture Perfect Sam Mayfair
1997 Destination Anywhere Mike
1997 Telling Lies in America Billy Magic
1998 Digging to China Ricky Schroth
1998 Wild Things Sgt. Ray Duquette
1999 Stir of Echoes Tom Witzky
2000 My Dog Skip Jack Morris
2000 We Married Margo Himself
2000 Hollow Man Sebastian Caine
2001 Novocaine Lance Phelps
2002 Trapped Joe Hickey
2003 Mystic River Sean Devine Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 In the Cut John Graham
2003 "Imagine New York" Himself short subject
2004 The Woodsman Walter Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2004 Cavedweller Randall Pritchard
2004 "Natural Disasters: Forces of Nature" narrator short subject
2005 Loverboy Marty also directed
2005 Beauty Shop Jorge
2005 Where the Truth Lies Lanny Morris
2007 Death Sentence Nick Hume
2007 Rails & Ties Tom Stark
2008 The Air I Breathe Love
2008 Frost/Nixon Jack Brennan Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 Saving Angelo Brent short subject
2009 The Magic 7 Himself
2009 My One and Only Dan
2011 Elephant White Jimmy the Brit
2011 Super Jock
2011 X-Men: First Class Sebastian Shaw
2011 Crazy, Stupid, Love. David Lindhagen
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1979 Search for Tomorrow Todd Adamson
1980–1981 The Guiding Light T. J. 'Tim' Werner No.2 Six episodes
1983 The Demon Murder Case Kenny Miller
1984 Mister Roberts Ens. Frank Pulver
1985 The Little Sister Probation Officer Uncredited
1988 Lemon Sky Alan
1994 Frasier Vic Voice only
Episode: Adventures in Paradise: Part 2
2002 Will & Grace Himself Episode: "Bacon and Eggs"
2006 Will & Grace Himself Episode: "The Finale"
2009 Taking Chance Lt. Col. Michael Strobl Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2010 Bored to Death Himself Episode: "Forty-Two Down!"

Directing:

    * The Closer (2006) (Episode: Serving the King: Part 2)
    * The Closer (2007) (Episode: Blindsided)
    * The Closer (2008) (Episode: Sudden Death)
    * The Closer (2009) (Episode: Waivers of Extradition)
http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss232/Stephy_444/kevin_bacon_.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg71/Block1000/kevin_bacon.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/08/11 at 6:12 am


Oh no the killer biscuit :D



It will kill with calories!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/11 at 7:15 am


http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/the-shining-biscuit-dunk.gif

The Shining Biscuit Dunk!


HAHAHA!  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/08/11 at 7:16 am


The person of the day...Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love and X-Men: First Class.

Bacon has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, was nominated for an Emmy Award, and was named by The Guardian as one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Bacon left home at age 17 to pursue a theater career in New York, where he appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theater School. "I wanted life, man, the real thing", he later recalled to Nancy Mills of Cosmopolitan. "The message I got was 'The arts are it. Business is the devil's work. Art and creative expression are next to godliness.' Combine that with an immense ego and you wind up with an actor."

Bacon's debut in the fraternity comedy Animal House in 1978 did not lead to instant fame for which he had hoped, and Bacon returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater. He briefly worked on the television soap operas Search for Tomorrow (1979) and The Guiding Light (1980–81) in New York. He refused an offer of a television series based on Animal House to be filmed in California in order to remain close to the New York stage . Some of his early stage work included Getting Out performed at New York's Phoenix Theater, and Flux which he did at Second Stage Theatre during their 1981–1982 season.

In 1982, he won an Obie Award for his role in Forty Deuce, and soon after made his Broadway debut in Slab Boys, with then-unknowns Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. However, it was not until he portrayed Timothy Fenwick that same year in Barry Levinson's Diner – costarring Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly and Ellen Barkin – that he made an indelible impression on film critics and moviegoers alike.
Bacon in 2007

Bolstered by the attention garnered by his performance in Diner, Bacon starred in the 1984 box-office smash Footloose. Richard Corliss of TIME likened Footloose to the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause and the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, commenting that the film includes "motifs on book burning, mid-life crisis, AWOL parents, fatal car crashes, drug enforcement, and Bible Belt vigilantism." To prepare for the role, Bacon enrolled at a high school as a transfer student named "Ren McCormick" and studied teenagers before leaving in the middle of the day. Bacon did earn strong reviews for Footloose, and he appeared on the cover of People magazine soon after its release.

Bacon's critical and box-office success lead to a period of typecasting in roles similar to the two he portrayed in Diner and Footloose. Bacon would have difficulty shaking this on-screen image. For the next several years he chose films that cast him against either type and experienced, by his own estimation, a career slump. In 1988, he starred in John Hughes' comedy She's Having a Baby and the following year he was in another comedy called The Big Picture.

In 1990, Bacon had two successful roles. He played a character who saved his town from under-the-earth "graboid" monsters in the comedy/horror film Tremors – a role that People found him "far too accomplished" to play – and portrayed an earnest medical student experimenting with death in Joel Schumacher's Flatliners.

Bacon's next project was to star opposite Elizabeth Perkins in He Said, She Said. Despite lukewarm reviews and low audience turnout, He Said, She Said was illuminating for Bacon. Required to play a character with sexist attitudes, he admitted that the role was not that large a stretch for him.

By 1991, Bacon began to give up the idea of playing leading men in big-budget films and to remake himself as a character actor. "The only way I was going to be able to work on 'A' projects with really 'A' directors was if I wasn't the guy who was starring", he confided to The New York Times writer Trip Gabriel. "You can't afford to set up a $40 million movie if you don't have your star."

He performed that year as gay prostitute Willie O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's JFK. He went on to play a prosecuting attorney in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men. Later that year he returned to the theater to play in Spike Heels, directed by Michael Greif.
Bacon receiving a Merit Award in April 2010

In 1994, Bacon earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in The River Wild opposite Meryl Streep. He described the film to Chase in Cosmopolitan as a "grueling shoot," in which "every one of us fell out of the boat at one point or another and had to be saved."

His next film, Murder in the First, earned him the Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award in 1995, the same year that he starred in the blockbuster hit Apollo 13.

Bacon reverted to his trademark dark role once again in Sleepers in 1996. This role was in stark contrast to his appearance in the lighthearted romantic comedy, Picture Perfect the following year. Bacon again resurrected his oddball mystique that year as a mentally-challenged houseguest in Digging to China, and as a disc jockey corrupted by payola in Telling Lies in America. As the executive producer of 1998's Wild Things, Bacon reserved a supporting role for himself, and went on to star in Stir of Echoes (directed by David Koepp) in 1999, and in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man in 2000.

Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard depict a ménage à trois in their film, Where the Truth Lies. Bacon and director Atom Egoyan have condemned the MPAA ratings board decision to give the film their "NC-17" rating over the preferable "R". Bacon decried the decision, commenting: "I don't get it, when I see films (that) are extremely violent, extremely objectionable sometimes in terms of the roles that women play, slide by with an R, no problem, because the people happen to have more of their clothes on." Bacon was again acclaimed for a dark starring role playing an offending pedophile on parole in the 2004 film The Woodsman; he was nominated best actor receiving the Independent Spirit Award.
Bacon speaking before a premiere of Taking Chance in February 2009

He appeared in the HBO Films production of Taking Chance, a film based on a story of the same name written by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, an American 'Desert Storm' war veteran. The film premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role.

On July 15, 2010, it was confirmed that Bacon would appear in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. His character was mutant villain Sebastian Shaw.
Personal life

Bacon has been married to actress Kyra Sedgwick since September 4, 1988; they met on the set of the PBS version of Lanford Wilson's play Lemon Sky. "The time I was hitting what I considered to be bottom was also the time I met my wife, our kids were born, good things were happening. And I was able to keep supporting myself; that always gave me strength."

Bacon and Sedgwick have starred together in Pyrates, Murder in the First, The Woodsman, and Loverboy. They have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon (born June 23, 1989 in Los Angeles, California) and Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Bacon and Sedgwick appeared in will.i.am's video It's a New Day which was released following Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.

Bacon and Sedgwick lost an undisclosed amount of money in the Ponzi scheme of infamous fraudulent investor Bernard Madoff.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Main article: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Bacon is the subject of the trivia game titled Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, based on the idea that, due to his prolific screen career covering a diverse range of genres, any Hollywood actor can be linked to another in a handful of steps based on their associations with Bacon. The name of the game derives from the idea of six degrees of separation.

Though he was initially dismayed by the game, the meme stuck, and Bacon eventually embraced it, forming the charitable initiative SixDegrees.org, a social networking site intended to link people and charities to each other.

The measure of proximity to Bacon has been mathematically formalized as the Bacon Index and can be referenced at websites including Oracle Of Bacon which is in turn based upon Internet Movie Database data.
Music

In 1995, Bacon formed a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. The duo has released six albums.
Filmography
Films
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Chip Diller
1979 Starting Over Husband
1979 The Gift Teddy
1980 Hero at Large 2nd Teenager
1980 Friday the 13th Jack Burrell
1981 Only When I Laugh Don
1982 Diner Timothy Fenwick Jr.
1982 Forty Deuce Ricky
1983 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Dennis
1984 Footloose Ren McCormack
1986 Quicksilver Jack Casey
1987 White Water Summer Vic
1987 End of the Line Everett
1987 Planes, Trains & Automobiles Taxi Racer
1988 She's Having a Baby Jefferson 'Jake' Edward Briggs
1989 Criminal Law Martin Thiel
1989 The Big Picture Nick Chapman
1989 Tremors Valentine 'Val' McKee
1990 Flatliners David Labraccio
1991 Pyrates Ari
1991 Queens Logic Dennis
1991 He Said, She Said Dan Hanson
1991 JFK Willie O'Keefe
1991 A Little Vicious narrator short subject
1992 A Few Good Men Capt. Jack Ross
1994 The Air Up There Jimmy Dolan
1994 The River Wild Wade Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1994 "New York Skyride" narrator short subject
1995 Murder in the First Henri Young Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1995 Apollo 13 Jack Swigert Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 Balto Balto Voice only
1996 Sleepers Sean Nokes
1997 Picture Perfect Sam Mayfair
1997 Destination Anywhere Mike
1997 Telling Lies in America Billy Magic
1998 Digging to China Ricky Schroth
1998 Wild Things Sgt. Ray Duquette
1999 Stir of Echoes Tom Witzky
2000 My Dog Skip Jack Morris
2000 We Married Margo Himself
2000 Hollow Man Sebastian Caine
2001 Novocaine Lance Phelps
2002 Trapped Joe Hickey
2003 Mystic River Sean Devine Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003 In the Cut John Graham
2003 "Imagine New York" Himself short subject
2004 The Woodsman Walter Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2004 Cavedweller Randall Pritchard
2004 "Natural Disasters: Forces of Nature" narrator short subject
2005 Loverboy Marty also directed
2005 Beauty Shop Jorge
2005 Where the Truth Lies Lanny Morris
2007 Death Sentence Nick Hume
2007 Rails & Ties Tom Stark
2008 The Air I Breathe Love
2008 Frost/Nixon Jack Brennan Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008 Saving Angelo Brent short subject
2009 The Magic 7 Himself
2009 My One and Only Dan
2011 Elephant White Jimmy the Brit
2011 Super Jock
2011 X-Men: First Class Sebastian Shaw
2011 Crazy, Stupid, Love. David Lindhagen
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1979 Search for Tomorrow Todd Adamson
1980–1981 The Guiding Light T. J. 'Tim' Werner No.2 Six episodes
1983 The Demon Murder Case Kenny Miller
1984 Mister Roberts Ens. Frank Pulver
1985 The Little Sister Probation Officer Uncredited
1988 Lemon Sky Alan
1994 Frasier Vic Voice only
Episode: Adventures in Paradise: Part 2
2002 Will & Grace Himself Episode: "Bacon and Eggs"
2006 Will & Grace Himself Episode: "The Finale"
2009 Taking Chance Lt. Col. Michael Strobl Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2010 Bored to Death Himself Episode: "Forty-Two Down!"

Directing:

    * The Closer (2006) (Episode: Serving the King: Part 2)
    * The Closer (2007) (Episode: Blindsided)
    * The Closer (2008) (Episode: Sudden Death)
    * The Closer (2009) (Episode: Waivers of Extradition)
http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss232/Stephy_444/kevin_bacon_.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg71/Block1000/kevin_bacon.jpg


Footloose was my favorite film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/08/11 at 8:06 pm


Footloose was my favorite film.

I for some reason hate that film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/09/11 at 9:43 am

The person of the day...Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander James A. Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan, Joe Fox in You've Got Mail, Chuck Noland in Cast Away, and voicing the character Woody in the Toy Story series. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed US$3.9 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.
With Nothing in Common (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit, where the story is really about a guy and his house."

After a few more flops and a moderate success with Dragnet, Hanks succeeded with the film Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-star as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie Turner & Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw Turner & Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."
Progression into dramatic roles

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks noted his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top". This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle and then with Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of TIME called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.

In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.
A man is at the center of the image smiling into the camera. He is sitting on a blue crate and has his hands resting on his legs.
Hanks on the film set of Forrest Gump in 1994

Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie Apollo 13--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.
1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.

Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: " A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hanks in 2008

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film Charlie Wilson's War (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's The Great Buck Howard, Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live, impersonating himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 3, after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's Toy Story 3.
980 He Knows You're Alone Elliot
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling Made for television
1984 Splash Allen Bauer
1984 Bachelor Party Rick Gassko
1985 Man with One Red Shoe, TheThe Man with One Red Shoe Richard Harlan Drew
1985 Volunteers Lawrence Whatley Bourne III
1986 Money Pit, TheThe Money Pit Walter Fielding, Jr.
1986 Nothing in Common David Basner
1986 Every Time We Say Goodbye David Bradley
1987 Dragnet Pep Streebeck
1988 Big Adult Josh Baskin

    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Saturn Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor

1988 Punchline Steven Gold
1989 Turner & Hooch Detective Scott Turner
1989 BurbsThe 'Burbs Ray Peterson
1990 Joe Versus the Volcano Joe Banks
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities, TheThe Bonfire of the Vanities Sherman McCoy
1992 League of Their Own, AA League of Their Own Jimmy Dugan
1992 Radio Flyer Older Mike (uncredited)
1993 Sleepless in Seattle Sam Baldwin

    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Meg Ryan)

1993 Philadelphia Andrew Beckett

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
    * Silver Bear for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Denzel Washington)

1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor

1995 Apollo 13 Jim Lovell Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Actor
1995 Toy Story Woody (voice)
1996 That Thing You Do! Mr. White (writer and director)
1998 Saving Private Ryan Captain John H. Miller

    * Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
    * Empire Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

1998 You've Got Mail Joe Fox
1999 Toy Story 2 Woody (voice)
1999 Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile Paul Edgecomb Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
2000 Cast Away Chuck Noland

    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

2002 Road to Perdition Michael Sullivan, Sr.

    * Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor

2002 Catch Me If You Can FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
2004 Terminal, TheThe Terminal Viktor Navorski
2004 Ladykillers, TheThe Ladykillers Professor G.H. Dorr
2004 Elvis Has Left the Building Mailbox Elvis (cameo)
2004 Polar Express, TheThe Polar Express

    * Santa Claus, Express Conductor
    * Hobo, Hero Boy, Father



    * (executive producer)
    * (voice/motion capture)

2006 Da Vinci Code, TheThe Da Vinci Code Professor Robert Langdon
2006 Cars Woody Car (voice)
2007 Simpsons Movie, TheThe Simpsons Movie Himself (voice)
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Charlie Wilson Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2008 Great Buck Howard, TheThe Great Buck Howard Mr. Gable
2008 Mamma Mia! (producer)
2009 Angels & Demons Professor Robert Langdon
2009 National Parks: America's Best Idea, TheThe National Parks: America's Best Idea Various historical figures (voice)
2009 Where the Wild Things Are (producer)
2010 Toy Story 3 Woody

    * (voice)
    * Nominated— Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor
    * Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie

2011 Larry Crowne Larry Crowne (director, producer, writer)
2012 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Filming
List of television credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1980 Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat Rick Martin TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother"
1980–1982 Bosom Buddies Kip Wilson
1982 Taxi Gordon
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling
1982 Happy Days Dr. Dwayne Twitchell TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge"
1983 Family Ties Ned Elyse Keaton's brother
1994 Vault of Horror I Director
1998 From the Earth to the Moon Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer) Miniseries
2001 Band of Brothers Producer, director, writer Miniseries
2002 Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, TheThe Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Interviewee
2006–2011 Big Love Executive producer TV series
2008 John Adams Executive producer Miniseries
2010 Pacific, TheThe Pacific Executive producer/Narrator Miniseries
2011 Saturday Night Live Guest cast member
Other accolades
List of accolades and awards won Organization↓ Year↓ Award↓
Hollywood Women's Press Club 1988 Golden Apple Award
Hasty Pudding Theatricals 1995 Man of the Year
American Film Institute 2002 AFI Life Achievement Award
Hollywood Film Festival 2002 Actor of the Year
BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards 2004 Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
Bambi Awards 2004 Bambi for Film – International
Film Society of Lincoln Center 2009 Gala Tribute
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h173/DrunkDwarf/Tom_Hanks.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/LB1982_2006/tom_hanks-edited.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/11 at 9:44 am


The person of the day...Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander James A. Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan, Joe Fox in You've Got Mail, Chuck Noland in Cast Away, and voicing the character Woody in the Toy Story series. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed US$3.9 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.
With Nothing in Common (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit, where the story is really about a guy and his house."

After a few more flops and a moderate success with Dragnet, Hanks succeeded with the film Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-star as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie Turner & Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw Turner & Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."
Progression into dramatic roles

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks noted his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top". This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle and then with Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of TIME called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.

In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.
A man is at the center of the image smiling into the camera. He is sitting on a blue crate and has his hands resting on his legs.
Hanks on the film set of Forrest Gump in 1994

Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie Apollo 13--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.
1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.

Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: " A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hanks in 2008

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film Charlie Wilson's War (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's The Great Buck Howard, Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live, impersonating himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 3, after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's Toy Story 3.
980 He Knows You're Alone Elliot
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling Made for television
1984 Splash Allen Bauer
1984 Bachelor Party Rick Gassko
1985 Man with One Red Shoe, TheThe Man with One Red Shoe Richard Harlan Drew
1985 Volunteers Lawrence Whatley Bourne III
1986 Money Pit, TheThe Money Pit Walter Fielding, Jr.
1986 Nothing in Common David Basner
1986 Every Time We Say Goodbye David Bradley
1987 Dragnet Pep Streebeck
1988 Big Adult Josh Baskin

    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Saturn Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor

1988 Punchline Steven Gold
1989 Turner & Hooch Detective Scott Turner
1989 BurbsThe 'Burbs Ray Peterson
1990 Joe Versus the Volcano Joe Banks
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities, TheThe Bonfire of the Vanities Sherman McCoy
1992 League of Their Own, AA League of Their Own Jimmy Dugan
1992 Radio Flyer Older Mike (uncredited)
1993 Sleepless in Seattle Sam Baldwin

    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Meg Ryan)

1993 Philadelphia Andrew Beckett

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
    * Silver Bear for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Denzel Washington)

1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor

1995 Apollo 13 Jim Lovell Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Actor
1995 Toy Story Woody (voice)
1996 That Thing You Do! Mr. White (writer and director)
1998 Saving Private Ryan Captain John H. Miller

    * Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
    * Empire Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

1998 You've Got Mail Joe Fox
1999 Toy Story 2 Woody (voice)
1999 Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile Paul Edgecomb Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
2000 Cast Away Chuck Noland

    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

2002 Road to Perdition Michael Sullivan, Sr.

    * Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor

2002 Catch Me If You Can FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
2004 Terminal, TheThe Terminal Viktor Navorski
2004 Ladykillers, TheThe Ladykillers Professor G.H. Dorr
2004 Elvis Has Left the Building Mailbox Elvis (cameo)
2004 Polar Express, TheThe Polar Express

    * Santa Claus, Express Conductor
    * Hobo, Hero Boy, Father



    * (executive producer)
    * (voice/motion capture)

2006 Da Vinci Code, TheThe Da Vinci Code Professor Robert Langdon
2006 Cars Woody Car (voice)
2007 Simpsons Movie, TheThe Simpsons Movie Himself (voice)
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Charlie Wilson Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2008 Great Buck Howard, TheThe Great Buck Howard Mr. Gable
2008 Mamma Mia! (producer)
2009 Angels & Demons Professor Robert Langdon
2009 National Parks: America's Best Idea, TheThe National Parks: America's Best Idea Various historical figures (voice)
2009 Where the Wild Things Are (producer)
2010 Toy Story 3 Woody

    * (voice)
    * Nominated— Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor
    * Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie

2011 Larry Crowne Larry Crowne (director, producer, writer)
2012 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Filming
List of television credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1980 Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat Rick Martin TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother"
1980–1982 Bosom Buddies Kip Wilson
1982 Taxi Gordon
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling
1982 Happy Days Dr. Dwayne Twitchell TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge"
1983 Family Ties Ned Elyse Keaton's brother
1994 Vault of Horror I Director
1998 From the Earth to the Moon Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer) Miniseries
2001 Band of Brothers Producer, director, writer Miniseries
2002 Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, TheThe Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Interviewee
2006–2011 Big Love Executive producer TV series
2008 John Adams Executive producer Miniseries
2010 Pacific, TheThe Pacific Executive producer/Narrator Miniseries
2011 Saturday Night Live Guest cast member
Other accolades
List of accolades and awards won Organization↓ Year↓ Award↓
Hollywood Women's Press Club 1988 Golden Apple Award
Hasty Pudding Theatricals 1995 Man of the Year
American Film Institute 2002 AFI Life Achievement Award
Hollywood Film Festival 2002 Actor of the Year
BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards 2004 Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
Bambi Awards 2004 Bambi for Film – International
Film Society of Lincoln Center 2009 Gala Tribute
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h173/DrunkDwarf/Tom_Hanks.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/LB1982_2006/tom_hanks-edited.jpg
"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/09/11 at 11:43 am

THERE IS NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!!!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/11 at 11:48 am

"My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/09/11 at 11:51 am


The person of the day...Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander James A. Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan, Joe Fox in You've Got Mail, Chuck Noland in Cast Away, and voicing the character Woody in the Toy Story series. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed US$3.9 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.
With Nothing in Common (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit, where the story is really about a guy and his house."

After a few more flops and a moderate success with Dragnet, Hanks succeeded with the film Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-star as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie Turner & Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw Turner & Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."
Progression into dramatic roles

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks noted his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top". This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle and then with Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of TIME called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.

In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.
A man is at the center of the image smiling into the camera. He is sitting on a blue crate and has his hands resting on his legs.
Hanks on the film set of Forrest Gump in 1994

Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie Apollo 13--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.
1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.

Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: " A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hanks in 2008

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film Charlie Wilson's War (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's The Great Buck Howard, Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live, impersonating himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 3, after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's Toy Story 3.
980 He Knows You're Alone Elliot
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling Made for television
1984 Splash Allen Bauer
1984 Bachelor Party Rick Gassko
1985 Man with One Red Shoe, TheThe Man with One Red Shoe Richard Harlan Drew
1985 Volunteers Lawrence Whatley Bourne III
1986 Money Pit, TheThe Money Pit Walter Fielding, Jr.
1986 Nothing in Common David Basner
1986 Every Time We Say Goodbye David Bradley
1987 Dragnet Pep Streebeck
1988 Big Adult Josh Baskin

    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Saturn Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor

1988 Punchline Steven Gold
1989 Turner & Hooch Detective Scott Turner
1989 BurbsThe 'Burbs Ray Peterson
1990 Joe Versus the Volcano Joe Banks
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities, TheThe Bonfire of the Vanities Sherman McCoy
1992 League of Their Own, AA League of Their Own Jimmy Dugan
1992 Radio Flyer Older Mike (uncredited)
1993 Sleepless in Seattle Sam Baldwin

    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Meg Ryan)

1993 Philadelphia Andrew Beckett

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
    * Silver Bear for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Denzel Washington)

1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor

1995 Apollo 13 Jim Lovell Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Actor
1995 Toy Story Woody (voice)
1996 That Thing You Do! Mr. White (writer and director)
1998 Saving Private Ryan Captain John H. Miller

    * Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
    * Empire Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

1998 You've Got Mail Joe Fox
1999 Toy Story 2 Woody (voice)
1999 Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile Paul Edgecomb Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
2000 Cast Away Chuck Noland

    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

2002 Road to Perdition Michael Sullivan, Sr.

    * Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor

2002 Catch Me If You Can FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
2004 Terminal, TheThe Terminal Viktor Navorski
2004 Ladykillers, TheThe Ladykillers Professor G.H. Dorr
2004 Elvis Has Left the Building Mailbox Elvis (cameo)
2004 Polar Express, TheThe Polar Express

    * Santa Claus, Express Conductor
    * Hobo, Hero Boy, Father



    * (executive producer)
    * (voice/motion capture)

2006 Da Vinci Code, TheThe Da Vinci Code Professor Robert Langdon
2006 Cars Woody Car (voice)
2007 Simpsons Movie, TheThe Simpsons Movie Himself (voice)
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Charlie Wilson Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2008 Great Buck Howard, TheThe Great Buck Howard Mr. Gable
2008 Mamma Mia! (producer)
2009 Angels & Demons Professor Robert Langdon
2009 National Parks: America's Best Idea, TheThe National Parks: America's Best Idea Various historical figures (voice)
2009 Where the Wild Things Are (producer)
2010 Toy Story 3 Woody

    * (voice)
    * Nominated— Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor
    * Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie

2011 Larry Crowne Larry Crowne (director, producer, writer)
2012 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Filming
List of television credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1980 Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat Rick Martin TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother"
1980–1982 Bosom Buddies Kip Wilson
1982 Taxi Gordon
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling
1982 Happy Days Dr. Dwayne Twitchell TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge"
1983 Family Ties Ned Elyse Keaton's brother
1994 Vault of Horror I Director
1998 From the Earth to the Moon Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer) Miniseries
2001 Band of Brothers Producer, director, writer Miniseries
2002 Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, TheThe Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Interviewee
2006–2011 Big Love Executive producer TV series
2008 John Adams Executive producer Miniseries
2010 Pacific, TheThe Pacific Executive producer/Narrator Miniseries
2011 Saturday Night Live Guest cast member
Other accolades
List of accolades and awards won Organization↓ Year↓ Award↓
Hollywood Women's Press Club 1988 Golden Apple Award
Hasty Pudding Theatricals 1995 Man of the Year
American Film Institute 2002 AFI Life Achievement Award
Hollywood Film Festival 2002 Actor of the Year
BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards 2004 Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
Bambi Awards 2004 Bambi for Film – International
Film Society of Lincoln Center 2009 Gala Tribute
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h173/DrunkDwarf/Tom_Hanks.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/LB1982_2006/tom_hanks-edited.jpg
Bubba: "My name's Benjamin Beauford Blue, people call me Bubba."
Forrest: "My name's Forrest Gump, people call me Forrest Gump."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/09/11 at 7:24 pm


The person of the day...Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title role in Forrest Gump, Commander James A. Lovell in Apollo 13, Captain John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan, Joe Fox in You've Got Mail, Chuck Noland in Cast Away, and voicing the character Woody in the Toy Story series. Hanks won consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards, in 1993 for Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump. U.S. domestic box office totals for his films exceed US$3.9 billion. He is the father of actor Colin Hanks.
With Nothing in Common (1986) – about a young man alienated from his parents who must re-establish a relationship with his father, played by Jackie Gleason – Hanks began to establish the credentials of not only a comic actor but of someone who could carry a serious role. "It changed my desires about working in movies," Hanks told Rolling Stone. "Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people's relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit, where the story is really about a guy and his house."

After a few more flops and a moderate success with Dragnet, Hanks succeeded with the film Big (1988), both at the box office and within the industry. The film established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent. It was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-star as struggling comedians. Hanks's character, Steven Gold, a failing medical student trying to break into stand-up, was somewhat edgy and complex. Hanks' portrayal of Gold offered a glimpse of the far more dramatic roles Hanks would master in films to come. Hanks then suffered a pile of box-office failures: The 'Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as a greedy Wall Street type who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Only the 1989 movie Turner & Hooch brought success for Hanks during this time. In a 1993 issue of Disney Adventures, Hanks said, "I saw Turner & Hooch the other day in the SAC store and couldn't help but be reminiscent. I cried like a baby." He did admit to making a couple of "bum tickers," however, and blamed his "...deductive reasoning and decision making skills."
Progression into dramatic roles

Hanks climbed back to the top again with his portrayal of a washed-up baseball star turned manager in A League of Their Own (1992). Hanks admits that his acting in earlier roles was not great and that he has improved. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hanks noted his "modern era of moviemaking ... because enough self-discovery has gone on.... My work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top". This "modern era" began in 1993 for Hanks, first with Sleepless in Seattle and then with Philadelphia. The former was a blockbuster success about a widower who finds true love over the airwaves. Richard Schickel of TIME called his performance "charming," and most critics agreed that Hanks' portrayal ensured him a place among the premier romantic-comedy stars of his generation.

In Philadelphia, he played a gay lawyer with AIDS who sues his firm for discrimination. Hanks lost thirty-five pounds and thinned his hair in order to appear sickly for the role. In a review for People, Leah Rozen stated "Above all, credit for Philadelphia's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure that he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar." Hanks won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia. During his acceptance speech he revealed that his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and former classmate John Gilkerson, two people with whom he was close, were gay. The revelation inspired the 1997 film In & Out, starring Kevin Kline as an English Literature teacher who is outed by a former student in a similar way.
A man is at the center of the image smiling into the camera. He is sitting on a blue crate and has his hands resting on his legs.
Hanks on the film set of Forrest Gump in 1994

Hanks followed Philadelphia with the 1994 summer hit Forrest Gump. Of the film, Hanks has remarked: "When I read the script for Gump, I saw it as one of those kind of grand, hopeful movies that the audience can go to and feel ... some hope for their lot and their position in life... I got that from the movies a hundred million times when I was a kid. I still do." Hanks won his second Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Forrest Gump, becoming only the second actor to have accomplished the feat of winning consecutive Best Actor Oscars. (Spencer Tracy was the first, winning in 1937–38. Hanks and Tracy were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.)

Hanks' next role—astronaut and commander Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie Apollo 13--reunited him with Ron Howard. Critics generally applauded the film and the performances of the entire cast, which included actors Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. The movie also earned nine Academy Award nominations, winning two. The same year, Hanks starred in the animated blockbuster Toy Story as the voice of the toy Sheriff Woody.
1996 – present: Directing, producing and acting

Hanks turned to directing with his 1996 film That Thing You Do! about a 1960s pop group, also playing the role of a music producer. Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman went on to create Playtone, a record and film production company named for the record company in the film.

Hanks executive produced, co-wrote, and co-directed the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. The twelve-part series chronicles the space program from its inception, through the familiar flights of Neil Armstrong and Jim Lovell, to the personal feelings surrounding the reality of moon landings. The Emmy Award-winning project was, at US$68 million, one of the most expensive ventures taken for television.

Hanks's next project was no less expensive. For Saving Private Ryan he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make a film about a search through war-torn France after D-Day to bring back a soldier who has a ticket home. It earned the praise and respect of the film community, critics, and the general public. It was labeled one of the finest war films ever made and earned Spielberg his second Academy Award for direction, and Hanks another Best Actor nomination. Later in 1998, Hanks re-teamed with his Sleepless in Seattle co-star Meg Ryan for You've Got Mail, a remake of 1940's The Shop Around the Corner.

In 1999, Hanks starred in an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Green Mile. He also returned as the voice of Woody in Toy Story 2. The following year he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a marooned FedEx systems analyst in Robert Zemeckis's Cast Away. In 2001, Hanks helped direct and produce the acclaimed HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. He also appeared in the September 11 television special America: A Tribute to Heroes and the documentary Rescued From the Closet.

Next he teamed up with American Beauty director Sam Mendes for the adaptation of Max Allan Collins's and Richard Piers Rayner's graphic novel Road to Perdition, in which he played an anti-hero role as a hitman on the run with his son. That same year, Hanks collaborated with director Spielberg again, starring opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the hit crime comedy Catch Me if You Can, based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The same year, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson produced the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In August 2007, he along with co-producers Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, and writer and star Nia Vardalos, initiated a legal action against the production company Gold Circle Films for their share of profits from the movie. At the age of 45, he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on June 12, 2002.

In 2004, he appeared in three films: The Coen Brothers' The Ladykillers, another Spielberg film, The Terminal, and The Polar Express, a family film from Robert Zemeckis. In a USA Weekend interview, Hanks talked about how he chooses projects: " A League of Their Own, it can't be just another movie for me. It has to get me going somehow.... There has to be some all-encompassing desire or feeling about wanting to do that particular movie. I'd like to assume that I'm willing to go down any avenue in order to do it right". In August 2005, Hanks was voted in as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hanks in 2008

Hanks next starred in the highly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The film was released May 19, 2006 in the US and grossed over US$750 million worldwide. He followed the film with Ken Burns's 2007 documentary The War. For the documentary, Hanks did voice work, reading excerpts from World War II-era columns by Al McIntosh. In 2006, Hanks topped a 1,500-strong list of 'most trusted celebrities' compiled by Forbes magazine. Hanks next appeared in a cameo role as himself in The Simpsons Movie, in which he appeared in an advertisement claiming that the US government has lost its credibility and is hence buying some of his. He also made an appearance in the credits, expressing a desire to be left alone when he is out in public. Later in 2006, Hanks produced the British film Starter for Ten, a comedy based on working class students attempting to win University Challenge.

In 2007, Hanks starred in Mike Nichols's film Charlie Wilson's War (written by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin) in which he plays Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson. The film opened on December 21, 2007 and Hanks received a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2008's The Great Buck Howard, Hanks played the on-screen father of a young man (Hanks' real-life son, Colin Hanks) who chooses to follow in the footsteps of a fading magician (John Malkovich). Tom Hanks's character was less than thrilled about his son's career decision.

Hanks's next endeavor, released on May 15, 2009, was a film adaptation of Angels & Demons, based on the novel of the same name by Dan Brown. Its April 11, 2007 announcement revealed that Hanks would reprise his role as Robert Langdon, and that he would reportedly receive the highest salary ever for an actor. The following day he made his 10th appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live, impersonating himself for the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.

Hanks is producer of the Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the children's book by Maurice Sendak.

In 2010, Hanks reprised his role as Sheriff Woody in the third film in the Toy Story franchise, Toy Story 3, after he, Tim Allen, and John Ratzenberger were invited to a movie theater to see a complete story reel of the movie.

Hanks is ranked the highest all time box office star with over $3.639 billion total box office gross, an average of $107 million per film. He has been involved with seventeen films that grossed over $100 million at the worldwide box office, the highest grossing of which was 2010's Toy Story 3.
980 He Knows You're Alone Elliot
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling Made for television
1984 Splash Allen Bauer
1984 Bachelor Party Rick Gassko
1985 Man with One Red Shoe, TheThe Man with One Red Shoe Richard Harlan Drew
1985 Volunteers Lawrence Whatley Bourne III
1986 Money Pit, TheThe Money Pit Walter Fielding, Jr.
1986 Nothing in Common David Basner
1986 Every Time We Say Goodbye David Bradley
1987 Dragnet Pep Streebeck
1988 Big Adult Josh Baskin

    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Saturn Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor

1988 Punchline Steven Gold
1989 Turner & Hooch Detective Scott Turner
1989 BurbsThe 'Burbs Ray Peterson
1990 Joe Versus the Volcano Joe Banks
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities, TheThe Bonfire of the Vanities Sherman McCoy
1992 League of Their Own, AA League of Their Own Jimmy Dugan
1992 Radio Flyer Older Mike (uncredited)
1993 Sleepless in Seattle Sam Baldwin

    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Meg Ryan)

1993 Philadelphia Andrew Beckett

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
    * Silver Bear for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Denzel Washington)

1994 Forrest Gump Forrest Gump

    * Academy Award for Best Actor
    * American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture
    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
    * Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor

1995 Apollo 13 Jim Lovell Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Actor
1995 Toy Story Woody (voice)
1996 That Thing You Do! Mr. White (writer and director)
1998 Saving Private Ryan Captain John H. Miller

    * Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
    * Empire Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
    * Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—London Critics Circle Film Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

1998 You've Got Mail Joe Fox
1999 Toy Story 2 Woody (voice)
1999 Green Mile, TheThe Green Mile Paul Edgecomb Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
2000 Cast Away Chuck Noland

    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
    * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
    * New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
    * Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    * Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
    * Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor

2002 Road to Perdition Michael Sullivan, Sr.

    * Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
    * Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor

2002 Catch Me If You Can FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
2004 Terminal, TheThe Terminal Viktor Navorski
2004 Ladykillers, TheThe Ladykillers Professor G.H. Dorr
2004 Elvis Has Left the Building Mailbox Elvis (cameo)
2004 Polar Express, TheThe Polar Express

    * Santa Claus, Express Conductor
    * Hobo, Hero Boy, Father



    * (executive producer)
    * (voice/motion capture)

2006 Da Vinci Code, TheThe Da Vinci Code Professor Robert Langdon
2006 Cars Woody Car (voice)
2007 Simpsons Movie, TheThe Simpsons Movie Himself (voice)
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Charlie Wilson Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2008 Great Buck Howard, TheThe Great Buck Howard Mr. Gable
2008 Mamma Mia! (producer)
2009 Angels & Demons Professor Robert Langdon
2009 National Parks: America's Best Idea, TheThe National Parks: America's Best Idea Various historical figures (voice)
2009 Where the Wild Things Are (producer)
2010 Toy Story 3 Woody

    * (voice)
    * Nominated— Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor
    * Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie

2011 Larry Crowne Larry Crowne (director, producer, writer)
2012 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Filming
List of television credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1980 Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat Rick Martin TV series, episode: "Friends and Lovers/Sergeant Bull/Miss Mother"
1980–1982 Bosom Buddies Kip Wilson
1982 Taxi Gordon
1982 Mazes and Monsters Robbie Wheeling
1982 Happy Days Dr. Dwayne Twitchell TV series, episode: "A Case of Revenge"
1983 Family Ties Ned Elyse Keaton's brother
1994 Vault of Horror I Director
1998 From the Earth to the Moon Narrator (also executive producer/director/writer) Miniseries
2001 Band of Brothers Producer, director, writer Miniseries
2002 Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, TheThe Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Interviewee
2006–2011 Big Love Executive producer TV series
2008 John Adams Executive producer Miniseries
2010 Pacific, TheThe Pacific Executive producer/Narrator Miniseries
2011 Saturday Night Live Guest cast member
Other accolades
List of accolades and awards won Organization↓ Year↓ Award↓
Hollywood Women's Press Club 1988 Golden Apple Award
Hasty Pudding Theatricals 1995 Man of the Year
American Film Institute 2002 AFI Life Achievement Award
Hollywood Film Festival 2002 Actor of the Year
BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards 2004 Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
Bambi Awards 2004 Bambi for Film – International
Film Society of Lincoln Center 2009 Gala Tribute
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h173/DrunkDwarf/Tom_Hanks.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/LB1982_2006/tom_hanks-edited.jpg



http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Bosom-Buddies-tv-04.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/11 at 3:50 pm


"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."


THERE IS NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!!!



Cat


"My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on."


Bubba: "My name's Benjamin Beauford Blue, people call me Bubba."
Forrest: "My name's Forrest Gump, people call me Forrest Gump."



http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Bosom-Buddies-tv-04.jpg

Tom did make  and is still making lots of good movies :)
I use to watch Bosom Buddies all the time.

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Bosom-Buddies-tv-04.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/10/11 at 3:53 pm

The person of the day...Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice. One of Guthrie's better-known works is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song of about 18 minutes in length.
rlo Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of folk singer and composer Woody Guthrie and his wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. His sister is Nora Guthrie. His mother was a one-time professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of the Committee to Combat Huntington's disease, the disease that took her husband's life in 1967. His maternal grandmother was renowned Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. Guthrie's mother was Jewish, and he received religious training for his bar mitzvah from Rabbi Meir Kahane, who would go on to form the Jewish Defense League. "Rabbi Kahane was a really nice, patient teacher," Guthrie later recalled, "but shortly after he started giving me my lessons, he started going haywire. Maybe I was responsible." Guthrie attended Woodward School in Clinton Hill Brooklyn 1st through 8th grades and later graduated from the Stockbridge School, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1965, and briefly attended Rocky Mountain College. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Westfield State College, in 2008.

As a singer, songwriter and lifelong political activist, Guthrie carries on the legacy of his legendary father. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award on September 26, 1992.
"Alice's Restaurant"

His most famous work is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a talking blues song that lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds in its original recorded version. Guthrie has pointed out that this was also the exact length of one of the famous gaps in Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes. He has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert. The Alice in the song is Alice Brock, who now runs an art gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The song lampoons the Vietnam War draft. However, Guthrie stated in a 2009 interview with Ron Bennington that Alice's Restaurant is more an "anti-stupidity" song than an anti-war song, adding that it is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie is called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record — consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering and creating a public nuisance on Thanksgiving Day in 1965, when Arlo was 18 years old. On the DVD commentary for the film, Guthrie states that the events as presented in the song are true to real-life occurrences.

For a short period of time after its release in 1967, "Alice's Restaurant" was heavily played on U.S. college and counter-culture radio stations. It became a symbol of the late 1960s and for many it defined an attitude and lifestyle that were lived out across the country in the ensuing years. Many stations across the States have made playing "Alice's Restaurant" a Thanksgiving Day tradition.

A 1969 film, directed and co-written by Arthur Penn, was based on the true story told in the song, but with the addition of a large amount of fictional scenes. This film, also called Alice's Restaurant featured Arlo portraying himself. However, the part of his father Woody Guthrie was played by an actor, Joseph Boley.
From The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour 2007

Despite its popularity, the song Alice's Restaurant Massacree is not always featured on the set list of any given performance.
Popular and critical reception

In 1972 Guthrie made famous Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans", a paean to long-distance passenger rail travel. Guthrie's first trip on that train was in December 2005 (when his family joined other musicians on a train trip across the country to raise money for musicians financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, in the South of the United States). He also had a minor hit with his song "Coming into Los Angeles," which was played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, and success with a live version of "The Motorcycle Song." Guthrie's 1976 album Amigo received a 5-star (highest rating) from Rolling Stone, and may be his best-received work; unfortunately that milestone album, like Guthrie's earlier Warner Brothers albums, is rarely heard today even though each boasts compelling folk and folk rock music accompanied by top-notch musicians such as Ry Cooder.
Shenandoah

In the fall of 1975 during a benefit concert in Massachusetts, Arlo Guthrie performed with his band Shenandoah in public for the first time. They continued to tour and record throughout the 1970s until the early 1990s. Although the band received good reviews, it never gained the popularity that Guthrie did while playing solo. This band is not to be confused with the popular country music group Shenandoah, an entirely different group that had musical hits from 1986 to 2006. Arlo Guthrie's band Shenandoah consisted (after 1976) of David Grover, Steve Ide, Carol Ide, Terry A La Berry and Dan Velika.

A number of musicians from a variety of genres have joined Guthrie on stage, including Pete Seeger, David Bromberg, Cyril Neville, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, John Prine, Wesley Gray, Josh Ritter, and others.
Acting

Though Guthrie is best known for being a musician, singer, and composer, throughout the years he has also appeared as an actor in films and on television. The film Alice's Restaurant (1969) is his best known role, but he has had small parts in several films and even co-starred in a television drama, Byrds of Paradise.

Guthrie has had minor roles in several movies and television series. Usually, he has appeared as himself, often performing music and/or being interviewed about the 1960s, folk music and various social causes. His television appearances have included a broad range of programs from The Muppet Show (1979) to Politically Incorrect (1998). A rare dramatic film part was in the 1992 movie Roadside Prophets. Guthrie's memorable appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival was documented in the Michael Wadleigh film Woodstock.

Guthrie also made a pilot for a TV variety show called "The Arlo Guthrie Show" in February, 1987. The hour-long program included story telling and musical performances and was filmed in Austin, Texas. It was broadcast nationally on PBS. Special guests were Pete Seeger, Bonnie Raitt, David Bromberg and Jerry Jeff Walker.
Politics

A registered Republican, Guthrie endorsed Texas Congressman Ron Paul for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. He said, "I love this guy. Dr. Paul is the only candidate I know of who would have signed the Constitution of the United States had he been there. I'm with him, because he seems to be the only candidate who actually believes it has as much relevance today as it did a couple of hundred years ago. I look forward to the day when we can work out the differences we have with the same revolutionary vision and enthusiasm that is our American legacy." He told the New York Times Magazine that he is a Republican because, "We had enough good Democrats. We needed a few more good Republicans. We needed a loyal opposition."

About once a month, Guthrie posts short writings to the Announcements area of www.arlo.net, often sounding libertarian themes. However, on February 1, 2011, his post was to promote the cause of the public employee unions being opposed by Wisconsin Republicans, and to favor the cause of labor unions in general. Previously Guthrie had made comments in public disparaging musicians' unions and stating that he had refused to join one.

In earlier years, at least from the 1960s to the 1980s, Guthrie had taken a decidedly leftist approach to American politics. In his often lengthy comments during concerts his expressed positions were consistently anti-war, anti-Nixon, pro-drugs and in favor of making nuclear power illegal. However, he apparently regarded himself as more an individualist than the major youth culture spokesperson he had been regarded as by the media, as evidenced by the lyrics in his 1979 song "Prologue": "I can remember all of your smiles during the demonstrations, ... and together we sang our victory songs though we were worlds apart."

In 1984, he was the featured celebrity in George McGovern's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in Guthrie's home state of Massachusetts, performing at rallies and receptions.
Legacy

Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Guthrie often sings songs of protest against social injustice. He collaborated with poet Adrian Mitchell to tell the story of Chilean folk singer and activist Víctor Jara in song. He regularly performed with folk legend Pete Seeger, one of his father's longtime partners.

In 1991, Guthrie bought the church that had served as Alice and Ray Brock's former home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and converted it to the Guthrie Center, an interfaith meeting place that serves people of all religions. The center provides weekly free lunches in the community and support for families living with HIV/AIDS as well as other life-threatening illnesses. It also hosts a summertime concert series and Guthrie does six or seven fund raising shows there every year. There are several annual events such as the Walk-A-Thon to Cure Huntington's Disease and a "Thanksgiving Dinner That Can't Be Beat" for families, friends, doctors and scientists who live and work with Huntington's disease.
Family

Guthrie and his wife Jackie reside in the Town of Washington, Massachusetts. Guthrie's son Abe Guthrie and his daughters Sarah Lee Guthrie and Cathy Guthrie have also become musicians. Annie Guthrie writes songs and performs, and also takes care of family touring details. Sarah Lee performs and records with her husband Johnny Irion. Cathy plays ukulele in Folk Uke, a group she formed with Amy Nelson, the daughter of Willie Nelson. Abe Guthrie was formerly in a folk-rock band called Xavier, and now tours with his father. Abe Guthrie's son, Krishna, is a drummer and toured with Arlo Guthrie on his European tour in 2006 and plays guitar for the 2009-2010 Tour. Krishna plays drums in another local band and aspires to be the lead of his own band some day. Arlo Guthrie is a grandfather of Abe's son Krishna and daughter Serena, Annie's son Shiva Das (Mo) and daughter Jacklyn, Sarah Lee's daughters Olivia Nora and Sophia Irion and Cathy's daughter Marjorie Maybelle Midwood.
In fiction

Arlo Guthrie is mentioned in Tim Winton's novel The Riders - shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995. A character in the novel overhears locals in the small Irish town of Shinrone, recount the night Arlo Guthrie came to play. The actual event occurred in February 1988, when Arlo played the local gymnasium in Shinrone, County Offaly. The concert was organised by a local postman, Tom Stapleton.
Works
Discography

    * Alice's Restaurant (1967)
    * Arlo (1968)
    * Running Down the Road (1969)
    * Alice's Restaurant Soundtrack (1969)
    * Washington County (1970)
    * Hobo's Lullaby (1972)
    * Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)
    * Arlo Guthrie (1974)
    * Together In Concert (1975)
    * Amigo (1976)
    * The Best of Arlo Guthrie (1977)
    * One Night (1978)
    * Outlasting the Blues (1979)
    * Power Of Love (1981)
    * Precious Friend (1982)
    * Someday (1986)
    * All Over the World (1991)
    * Son of the Wind (1992)
    * 2 Songs (1992)
    * More Together Again (1994)
    * Alice's Restaurant - The Massacree Revisited (1996)
    * Mystic Journey (1996)
    * This Land Is Your Land: An All American Children's Folk Classic (1997)
    * "BanjoMan - a tribute to Derroll Adams" (2002)
    * Live In Sydney (2005)
    * In Times Like These (2007)
    * 32¢ Postage Due (2008)
    * Tales Of '69 (2009)

Select filmography

    * Alice's Restaurant (1969)
    * Renaldo and Clara (1978)
    * Baby's Storytime (1989)
    * Roadside Prophets (1992)

Notable television guest appearances

    * Beat Club (episode # 1.52) February 28, 1970
    * Byrds of Paradise (1994)
    * Relativity December 29, 1996
    * Renegade in episode: "Top Ten with a Bullet" (episode # 5.14) January 24, 1997
    * Rich Man, Poor Man: Book 2 2 episodes, 1976
    * The fourth season of "The Muppet Show".

Film and television composer

    * Alice's Restaurant (1969) (song "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree")
    * Woodstock (1970) (song "Coming Into Los Angeles" - the song heard on the officially released soundtrack recording was not played at the Woodstock festival. Rather, it is a recording of a previous live presentation.)
    * Clay Pigeon (1971) also known as Trip to Kill (UK)
    * Baby's Storytime (1989)

Producer

    * Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal (2004)

Writer

    * Mooses Come Walking (2004) (Children's Book)

Appearances as himself

    * Hylands hörna (episode # 4.4) January 31, 1970
    * Woodstock (1969) (also known as Woodstock 25th Anniversary Edition and as Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace & Music)
    * The Dick Cavett Show September 8, 1970
    * Arthur Penn 1922-: Themes and Variants (1970) (TV)
    * The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson playing "Himself" August 17, 1972
    * The Muppet Show (episode # 4.8) June 19, 1979
    * The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time (1982)
    * Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin' (1984)
    * Farm Aid '87 (1987) (TV)
    * A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly (1988)
    * Woodstock: The Lost Performances (1990)
    * Woodstock Diary (1994) (TV)
    * The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1994) (TV)
    * The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 6 (1995) (TV) (also known as My Generation)
    * This Land Is Your Land: The Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie (1997)
    * Healthy Kids (1998) (TV series)
    * The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (2000)
    * Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970) (2000) (TV)
    * Last Party 2000 (2001) (also known as The Party's Over)
    * Pops Goes the Fourth! (July 4, 2001)
    * NPR's Talk of the Nation radio broadcast (Nov. 14, 2001)
          o St. James Infirmary and The City Of New Orleans
    * Singing in the Shadow: The Children of Rock Royalty (2003)
    * Get Up, Stand Up (2003) (TV series)
    * From Wharf Rats to the Lords of the Docks (2004)
    * Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal (2004)
    * 1968 with Tom Brokaw (2007)
    * Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2008) (American Masters PBS TV special)
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x155/gostepho86/48972_eb.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/roadoftherighteous/arloguthrie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/10/11 at 4:12 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfxoM6trtZE



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/11 at 7:13 am


Tom did make  and is still making lots of good movies :)
I use to watch Bosom Buddies all the time.

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Bosom-Buddies-tv-04.jpg



I wish they'd make a Bosom Buddies reunion show. ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/11 at 9:56 am


I wish they'd make a Bosom Buddies reunion show. ???

That would be nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/11 at 9:59 am

The person of the day...Jeff Corwin
Jeffrey Scott Corwin (born July 11, 1967) (His middle name is commonly mistaken to be Samuel) is an American animal and nature conservationist, best known as host and executive producer of Animal Planet cable channel television programs, The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest.
in was born in Norwell, Massachusetts in 1967, where he attended Norwell High School, then went on to spend his freshman year of college at the Eastern Nazarene College, in Quincy, Massachusetts. Later he attended Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Jeff has bachelor of science degrees in biology and anthropology. He conducted his graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, obtaining a master of science in wildlife and fisheries conservation and doing work on bats and snakes. In 1999, Bridgewater awarded Corwin an honorary doctorate in public education.

Corwin was also certified as an Advanced Field Medical Specialist by the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Career
Conservation

Corwin first experienced the tropical rain forests in 1984 in Belize. As an undergraduate, he became active in conservation of rain forests in Central and South America. He also participated in the youth action committee for the United Nations Environmental Program.

In 1993, Jeff addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations regarding the need to conserve neotropical rain forests. Corwin lectures on wildlife, ecology and conservation to audiences throughout the United States.
Television

In 1994 Corwin served as expedition naturalist for the documentary series titled The JASON Project, led by oceanographer Bob Ballard and sponsored in part by National Geographic. From 1997–1999 Corwin hosted a show for the Disney Channel titled Going Wild with Jeff Corwin. In 2000 Corwin partnered with Animal Planet and Discovery Communications serving as host and executive producer of The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest. Corwin has been on expeditions to six of the seven continents—all except Antarctica.

In 2003 Corwin appeared in an episode of the crime drama CSI: Miami. In the episode he played himself, portrayed as a former classmate of Eric Delko, played by Adam Rodriguez. Titled "Death Grip", Corwin helped detectives retrieve a human foot from inside a live crocodile.

In the spring of 2007 Corwin began a new TV show on the Travel Channel titled Into Alaska with Jeff Corwin. Also in 2007, Corwin was sponsored by CNN to be an environment correspondent for an Anderson Cooper 360 special called "Planet in Peril," along with co-host Sanjay Gupta.

In 2009, Corwin partnered with Defenders of Wildlife, to host the documentary series Feeling the Heat. In 2009 Corwin also hosted a television special for MSNBC with the same title of his book Future Earth: 100 Heartbeats. In 2010 Corwin hosted a television documentary for Animal Planet titled Giant Monsters. Corwin still actively works on his show, The Jeff Corwin Experience which airs on Animal Planet Network.

In 2011, during the tsunami in Japan, Corwin was used as a geologist on MSNBC to help explain the Tsunami.
Close encounters

In filming a segment of CNN's Planet in Peril with Anderson Cooper at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center near Phnom Penh, Cambodia on March 22 of 2007, Corwin was the victim of a playful elephant. This rough-play consisted of the elephant putting Corwin's elbow in its mouth and wrapping its trunk around his arm, swinging him around. He yelled as the elephant shook its head, releasing and throwing Corwin into the shallow water in which they were standing. Corwin noted that the pain was so overwhelming that he nearly blacked out, and that his arm still does not work correctly. Corwin later posted the following summary of injuries that resulted:
“ To this day my arm doesn't work right. We tend to look at elephants as these very kind very gentle giants, like Dumbo and Jumbo from the cartoons. But the truth is, elephants are complex mammals with a huge array of emotions, from happiness to anger to jealousy, and when I turned away, this was his way of telling me he didn't want to be ignored. The trunk of an elephant can lift a 900-pound tree limb. You do not want to be that close to one when he's having a bad moment. ”
“ Truth is that elephant is easily 15,000 times stronger than my meager self, and if she had wanted to, she could have done far worse than crushing a bit of ligament and muscle. Lucky for me, no bone fracture, hopefully no connective tissue torn (we'll have to wait till I get home to find out about that).
Personal life

Corwin lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts, with his wife Natasha and their daughters, Maya Rose (b.July 6, 2003) and Marina (b.September 11, 2008).

He's of Hungarian and Romanian ancestry on his father's side.
Filmography

    * Going Wild With Jeff Corwin: Disney Channel 1997–1999.
    * The Jeff Corwin Experience: Animal Planet 2001–Present.
    * Jeff Corwin Unleashed: Discovery Kids Channel 2003.
    * King of the Jungle: Animal Planet 2003-2004.
    * Corwin's Quest: Animal Planet 2005.
    * Into America's West: Travel Channel 2008.
    * Into Alaska: Travel Channel 2007.
    * Feeling the Heat: Partnered with Defenders of Wildlife 2009.
    * Future Earth: 100 Heartbeats: MSNBC 2009.
    * Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin: Food Network 2009-10.
    * Giant Monsters: Animal Planet 2010.

Awards

    * In 2002, Corwin was named one of People Magazine´s 50 Most Beautiful People.
    * In 2004, Corwin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for Jeff Corwin Unleashed.
    * In 2005, Corwin was nominated for the same award as in the previous year.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm208/spearlight/guys/jcmj102h.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m133/Crazyawesomesupercoolwhiteboy/jeffcorwin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/11/11 at 1:08 pm


That would be nice.


Who was the other guy?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/11/11 at 3:57 pm


Who was the other guy?  ???

Peter Scolari
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p320/Galileo908/Other%20Guys/PeterScolari.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/11/11 at 5:01 pm


Peter Scolari
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p320/Galileo908/Other%20Guys/PeterScolari.jpg



Who was excellent in Stop The World I Want To Get Off with Stephanie Zimbalist.  Wonderful production. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

Here is a clip:

http://embedthevideo.com/popup.php?url=http://www.stephaniezimbalist.net/stoptheworld.swf

But it only shows Stephanie-not Peter.





Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/12/11 at 7:13 am


Peter Scolari
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p320/Galileo908/Other%20Guys/PeterScolari.jpg


Thank you Ninny I almost forgot his name. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/11 at 7:35 am

The person of the day...Topher Grace
Christopher John "Topher" Grace (pronounced /ˈtoʊfər/; born July 12, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Eric Forman on the FOX sitcom That '70s Show, Eddie Brock/Venom in the Sam Raimi film Spider-Man 3, and Edwin in the 2010 film Predators.
Grace was born in New York City, the son of Pat, an assistant to the schoolmaster of the New Canaan Country School, and John, a Madison Avenue executive.

Grace grew up in Darien, Connecticut, where he knew actress Kate Bosworth, as well as Opie & Anthony producer Nathaniel Bryan, and was sometimes babysat by actress Chloë Sevigny, who later appeared with him in high school stage plays. Grace chose the name Topher because he did not want his full name abbreviated to Chris at school.
Career
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Grace was cast as Eric Forman on Fox's That '70s Show, which debuted in 1998. The sitcom was successful and Grace became well known among television watchers; he played the role until the seventh season. The series was renewed for another season despite his absence before its ending in 2006. His character was written out and was replaced with a new character named Randy Pearson who was portrayed by Josh Meyers. Grace makes a very brief guest appearance in the final episode.

Grace plays a prep school student who uses cocaine and introduces his girlfriend to freebase cocaine in director Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film Traffic, as well as having uncredited cameos as himself in Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, and its 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve. "The joke is that you're supposed to play the worst version of yourself and I don't think too many people are comfortable with that. I never thought for a second that people were really going to think that's what I was like. I think that people will know that I was faking it in those movies," he told Flaunt magazine in 2007. He planned to cameo in Ocean's Thirteen but due to his filming Spider-Man 3 he had to drop out. As Grace said, "I was doing reshoots on this , I was bummed. I actually talked to Steven Soderbergh about that and we had a thing and then I couldn’t do it. I’m bummed because there’s nothing more fun than dropping in on that set for one or two days and hanging out with that crew." He also appeared in director Mike Newell's 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile.

In 2004, Grace had the starring role in two major feature films; he played the leading roles in the Robert Luketic-directed Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and the Paul Weitz dramedy, In Good Company, in which he played an ambitious but troubled corporate executive. That same year, Grace also starred in the film P.S., which received only a limited theatrical release. Grace won the National Board of Review's 2004 award for Breakthrough Performance Actor for his work in In Good Company and P.S.

On January 15, 2005, Grace hosted Saturday Night Live.

In 2007, Grace portrayed Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi. Grace himself was a fan of the comics, and read the Venom stories as a kid. A spin off film of Venom is in the works, but it is unknown if he will reprise the role. Grace is set to appear in the 1980s retro comedy Take Me Home Tonight. Grace co-wrote the script and will be co-producing the film. In 2010, Grace appeared in the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day alongside That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher, and also played the character of Edwin in Predators, the newest installment of the popular science fiction franchise. In 2011, Grace will star opposite Richard Gere in the Michael Brandt directed spy thriller, The Double.

In 2009, Grace became the subject of a recurring Videogum column entitled "What's Up With Topher Grace?" which relates the latest news in a snarky fashion.
Personal life

He dated Ivanka Trump in 2006. He dated his Take Me Home Tonight co-star, Teresa Palmer, in mid-to-late 2007. They reunited in 2009 after she broke up with Russell Brand.

He is also a celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
2000 Traffic Seth Abrahams
2001 Ocean's Eleven Himself Uncredited role
2002 Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio Lucignolo – Leonardo Voice role
2003 Mona Lisa Smile Tommy Donegal
2004 Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! Pete Monash
P.S. F. Scott Feinstadt
Ocean's Twelve Himself Uncredited role
In Good Company Carter Duryea
2007 Spider-Man 3 Eddie Brock/Venom
2009 Personal Effects Clay Voice role
2010 Valentine's Day Jason Morris
Predators Edwin
2011 Take Me Home Tonight Matt Franklin Also writer
The Double Unknown
2012 The Giant Mechanical Man Doug Filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1998–2006 That '70s Show Eric Forman
2003 King of the Hill Chris Voice role
Episode:Megalo Dale
2005 Saturday Night Live Host
2005 Stella Older Kevin Episode:Paper Route
2005 Robot Chicken Eric Forman Episode:Gold Dust Gasoline
2008 The Simpsons Donny Voice role
Episode:The Debarted
2011 Too Big to Fail Jim Wilkinson
2011 Ultimate Spider-Man Eddie Brock/Venom Voice role
post-production
Video Games
Year Title Role Notes
2007 Spider Man 3 (video game) Eddie Brock/Venom Voice role
2010 Call of Duty: Black Ops Special Agent Harris Voice role
Awards and nominations

2008 MTV Movie Awards

    * Nominated: Best Villain, in "Spider-Man 3" (2007)

National Board of Review, USA

    * Won: Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor, In Good Company (2004) and P.S. (2004)

Screen Actors Guild Award

    * Won: Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, Traffic (Shared with cast, 2001)

Young Hollywood Awards

    * Won: Breakthrough Performance – Male, Traffic (2001)

Teen Choice Awards

    * Nominated: Choice Movie: Rumble, Spider-Man 3 (Shared with Tobey Maguire, James Franco, and Thomas Haden Church, 2007)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie: Villain, Spider-Man 3 (2007)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie Hissy Fit, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie Liplock, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Shared with Kate Bosworth, 2004)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2004)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2003)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2002)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2001)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2000)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (1999)

Young Artist Awards

    * Nominated: Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble, That '70s Show (Shared with cast, 1999)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d178/shiningdoves/Topher%20Grace/37449_22139.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r272/Pati_G/35.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/11 at 7:36 am


Thank you Ninny I almost forgot his name. :)

Your Welcome :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/12/11 at 7:39 am



Who was excellent in Stop The World I Want To Get Off with Stephanie Zimbalist.  Wonderful production. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

Here is a clip:

http://embedthevideo.com/popup.php?url=http://www.stephaniezimbalist.net/stoptheworld.swf

But it only shows Stephanie-not Peter.





Cat

Thanks :)
I was going through channels yesterday and on The HUB Peter was on the tv version of Honey  I Shrunk The Kids.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/12/11 at 8:06 pm


The person of the day...Topher Grace
Christopher John "Topher" Grace (pronounced /ˈtoʊfər/; born July 12, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Eric Forman on the FOX sitcom That '70s Show, Eddie Brock/Venom in the Sam Raimi film Spider-Man 3, and Edwin in the 2010 film Predators.
Grace was born in New York City, the son of Pat, an assistant to the schoolmaster of the New Canaan Country School, and John, a Madison Avenue executive.

Grace grew up in Darien, Connecticut, where he knew actress Kate Bosworth, as well as Opie & Anthony producer Nathaniel Bryan, and was sometimes babysat by actress Chloë Sevigny, who later appeared with him in high school stage plays. Grace chose the name Topher because he did not want his full name abbreviated to Chris at school.
Career
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Grace was cast as Eric Forman on Fox's That '70s Show, which debuted in 1998. The sitcom was successful and Grace became well known among television watchers; he played the role until the seventh season. The series was renewed for another season despite his absence before its ending in 2006. His character was written out and was replaced with a new character named Randy Pearson who was portrayed by Josh Meyers. Grace makes a very brief guest appearance in the final episode.

Grace plays a prep school student who uses cocaine and introduces his girlfriend to freebase cocaine in director Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film Traffic, as well as having uncredited cameos as himself in Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, and its 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve. "The joke is that you're supposed to play the worst version of yourself and I don't think too many people are comfortable with that. I never thought for a second that people were really going to think that's what I was like. I think that people will know that I was faking it in those movies," he told Flaunt magazine in 2007. He planned to cameo in Ocean's Thirteen but due to his filming Spider-Man 3 he had to drop out. As Grace said, "I was doing reshoots on this , I was bummed. I actually talked to Steven Soderbergh about that and we had a thing and then I couldn’t do it. I’m bummed because there’s nothing more fun than dropping in on that set for one or two days and hanging out with that crew." He also appeared in director Mike Newell's 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile.

In 2004, Grace had the starring role in two major feature films; he played the leading roles in the Robert Luketic-directed Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and the Paul Weitz dramedy, In Good Company, in which he played an ambitious but troubled corporate executive. That same year, Grace also starred in the film P.S., which received only a limited theatrical release. Grace won the National Board of Review's 2004 award for Breakthrough Performance Actor for his work in In Good Company and P.S.

On January 15, 2005, Grace hosted Saturday Night Live.

In 2007, Grace portrayed Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi. Grace himself was a fan of the comics, and read the Venom stories as a kid. A spin off film of Venom is in the works, but it is unknown if he will reprise the role. Grace is set to appear in the 1980s retro comedy Take Me Home Tonight. Grace co-wrote the script and will be co-producing the film. In 2010, Grace appeared in the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day alongside That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher, and also played the character of Edwin in Predators, the newest installment of the popular science fiction franchise. In 2011, Grace will star opposite Richard Gere in the Michael Brandt directed spy thriller, The Double.

In 2009, Grace became the subject of a recurring Videogum column entitled "What's Up With Topher Grace?" which relates the latest news in a snarky fashion.
Personal life

He dated Ivanka Trump in 2006. He dated his Take Me Home Tonight co-star, Teresa Palmer, in mid-to-late 2007. They reunited in 2009 after she broke up with Russell Brand.

He is also a celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Other notes
2000 Traffic Seth Abrahams
2001 Ocean's Eleven Himself Uncredited role
2002 Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio Lucignolo – Leonardo Voice role
2003 Mona Lisa Smile Tommy Donegal
2004 Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! Pete Monash
P.S. F. Scott Feinstadt
Ocean's Twelve Himself Uncredited role
In Good Company Carter Duryea
2007 Spider-Man 3 Eddie Brock/Venom
2009 Personal Effects Clay Voice role
2010 Valentine's Day Jason Morris
Predators Edwin
2011 Take Me Home Tonight Matt Franklin Also writer
The Double Unknown
2012 The Giant Mechanical Man Doug Filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1998–2006 That '70s Show Eric Forman
2003 King of the Hill Chris Voice role
Episode:Megalo Dale
2005 Saturday Night Live Host
2005 Stella Older Kevin Episode:Paper Route
2005 Robot Chicken Eric Forman Episode:Gold Dust Gasoline
2008 The Simpsons Donny Voice role
Episode:The Debarted
2011 Too Big to Fail Jim Wilkinson
2011 Ultimate Spider-Man Eddie Brock/Venom Voice role
post-production
Video Games
Year Title Role Notes
2007 Spider Man 3 (video game) Eddie Brock/Venom Voice role
2010 Call of Duty: Black Ops Special Agent Harris Voice role
Awards and nominations

2008 MTV Movie Awards

    * Nominated: Best Villain, in "Spider-Man 3" (2007)

National Board of Review, USA

    * Won: Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor, In Good Company (2004) and P.S. (2004)

Screen Actors Guild Award

    * Won: Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, Traffic (Shared with cast, 2001)

Young Hollywood Awards

    * Won: Breakthrough Performance – Male, Traffic (2001)

Teen Choice Awards

    * Nominated: Choice Movie: Rumble, Spider-Man 3 (Shared with Tobey Maguire, James Franco, and Thomas Haden Church, 2007)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie: Villain, Spider-Man 3 (2007)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie Hissy Fit, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
    * Nominated: Choice Movie Liplock, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Shared with Kate Bosworth, 2004)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2004)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2003)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2002)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2001)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (2000)
    * Nominated: Choice TV Actor – Comedy, That '70s Show (1999)

Young Artist Awards

    * Nominated: Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble, That '70s Show (Shared with cast, 1999)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d178/shiningdoves/Topher%20Grace/37449_22139.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r272/Pati_G/35.jpg



Was Mila Kunis his girlfriend on the show?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/14/11 at 6:42 am


Was Mila Kunis his girlfriend on the show?  ???

No, that was Donna played by Laura Prepon
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/kayzee72/laura-prepon-010.jpg
Mila played Jackie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/14/11 at 6:46 am

The person of the day...SpongeBob SquarePants.. ;D just kidding.. but it is his birthday born in 1986



The real person of the day...Jackie Earle Haley
Jackie Earle Haley (born Jack E. Haley; July 14, 1961) is an American film actor. Establishing himself from child actor to adult Academy Award-nominee, he is perhaps best known for his roles as Moocher in Breaking Away, Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears, pedophile Ronnie McGorvey in Little Children, the vigilante Rorschach in Watchmen, and most recently, as horror icon Freddy Krueger in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, released on April 30, 2010.. He also starred as Guerrero in Fox's drama Human Target.
Haley was born and raised in Northridge, California, the son of Haven Earle "Bud" Haley, a radio show host/disc jockey and actor.
Career

Haley has appeared in numerous films, including Damnation Alley, John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust, and Losin' It, as well as guest roles on TV. A well known child actor, he starred as Kelly Leak in the comedy The Bad News Bears. He also starred in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan.

He played Moocher in Peter Yates' acclaimed 1979 film Breaking Away and later in the short-lived TV series of the same name. Throughout the 1970s, he often played a tough, angry, pimply, long-haired misfit; although in the offbeat 1972 film, The Outside Man, he plays Eric, a boy apparently so desperately lonely that he tries to impress the mob assassin holding him and his mother (Georgia Engel) hostage. It has been rumored that in 1984, Haley's friend Johnny Depp accompanied him to auditions for Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street; instead of Haley being chosen for a role, it was Depp who was spotted by director Craven, who asked him if he would like to read for a part.

He has made guest appearances on such TV shows as Marcus Welby, M.D., The Waltons, Planet of the Apes, MacGyver, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Renegade, and Get a Life.

Haley's acting career went dormant during most of the 1990s and early 2000s, when he moved to San Antonio, Texas, and eventually turned to directing, finding success as a producer and director of television commercials. With the recommendation of Sean Penn, Haley returned to acting in 2006, first appearing in Steven Zaillian's All the King's Men alongside Penn as Sugar Boy, his bodyguard, before giving a critically acclaimed performance as a recently paroled sex offender in Todd Field's Little Children. He stated that his preparation for the role was greatly influenced by the relationship shared between his mother and his brother True, who battled a heroin addiction before he died of an overdose. Haley was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this portrayal and in 2007 was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Currently, Haley owns a production company, JEH Productions, in San Antonio, Texas. In 2008, he appeared in Semi-Pro and starred in Fragments with Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce and Dakota Fanning. He also stars in Zack Snyder's 2009 adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel, Watchmen, as Rorschach, a masked vigilante working to find the identity of a costumed hero killer, a role which earned Haley praise from many reviewers. The film also reunited him with Little Children co-star Patrick Wilson who played Nite Owl II, former partner of Rorschach. Also in 2010, Haley appeared in Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese, playing a patient of a hospital for the criminally insane.

Haley played the role of Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake. He has signed on to play the role in three installments in the series.

Haley was a series regular on Human Target as Guerrero, an ally of the protagonist Christopher Chance. The series premiered on January 17, 2010 on Fox., and lasted for two seasons before being cancelled in May 2011.

He is confirmed to play the role of Willie Loomis in the 2012 film adaptation of Dark Shadows directed by Tim Burton.
Personal life

Haley's first marriage was to Sherry Vaughan in 1979. He has two children: a son, Christopher (born 1986), by his second wife, and a daughter, Olivia (born 1998), mother unknown. He married his third wife, Amelia Cruz, in 2004. The couple reside in San Antonio, Texas.
Awards
Wins

    * Chicago Film Critics Association Award
    * Chlotrudis Awards 2007
    * Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2006
    * New York Film Critics Circle Awards 2006
    * Online Film Critics Society Awards 2006
    * San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2006
    * Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards 2006

Nominations

    * Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Little Children
    * Screen Actors Guild Awards 2006

Filmography
Year Film Role
1972–1974 Wait Till Your Father Gets Home Jamie Boyle
1972 The Outside Man Eric
1974–1976 Valley of the Dinosaurs Gregory 'Greg' Butler
1975 The Day of the Locust Adore Loomis
1976 The Bad News Bears Kelly Leak
1977 The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training
Damnation Alley Bill
1978 The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Kelly Leak
1979 Breaking Away Moocher
1983 Losin' It Dave
1985 The Zoo Gang Little Joe
1991 Dollman Braxton Red
1992 Nemesis Einstein
1993 Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence Frank Jessup
2006 All the King's Men Roderick 'Sugar Boy' Ellis
Little Children Ronald James McGorvey
2008 Semi-Pro Dukes
2009 Fragments Bob Jasperson
Watchmen Walter Kovacs/Rorschach
2010–2011 Human Target Guerrero
2010 Shutter Island George Noyce
A Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Krueger
2011 Bolden! Judge Perry
2012 Dark Shadows Willie Loomis
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz179/The_Victiorian_Reaper/JEH.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u30/elphabachan/jeh.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/15/11 at 9:27 am

The person of the day...Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television series, The Shield.

Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker has also won a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA.
Whitaker has a long history of working with well-regarded film directors and fellow actors. In his first onscreen role of note, he played a football player in the 1982 film version of Cameron Crowe's coming-of-age teen-retrospective, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He co-starred alongside Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, and Sean Penn. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's film, The Color of Money (with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise), and in Oliver Stone's Platoon. The following year, he co-starred with Robin Williams in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam.

In 1988, Whitaker played in the film Bloodsport alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and he had the lead role as musician Charlie Parker in the Clint Eastwood-directed film, Bird. To prepare himself for the part, he sequestered himself in a loft with only a bed, couch, and saxophone, having also conducted extensive research and taken alto sax lessons. His performance, which has been called "transcendent," earned him the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination. Whitaker continued to work with a number of well-known directors throughout the 1990s. He starred in the 1990 film Downtown with Anthony Edwards and Penelope Ann Miller. Neil Jordan cast him in the pivotal role of "Jody" in his 1992 film, The Crying Game. Todd McCarthy, of Variety, described Whitaker's performance as "big-hearted," "hugely emotional," and "simply terrific." In 1994, he was a member of the cast that won the first ever National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble for Robert Altman's film, Prêt-à-Porter. He gave a "characteristically emotional performance" in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's 1995 film, Smoke.
Whitaker as the samurai, Ghost Dog

Whitaker played a serene, pigeon-raising, bushido-following, mob hit man in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a 1999 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Many consider this to have been a "definitive role" for Whitaker. In a manner similar to his preparation for Bird, he again immersed himself in his character's world—he studied Eastern philosophy and meditated for long hours "to hone his inner spiritual hitman." Jarmusch has told interviewers that he developed the title character with Whitaker in mind; the New York Times review of the film observed that "t's hard to think of another actor who could play a cold-blooded killer with such warmth and humanity."


Scene from Battlefield Earth, showing (left to right) Barry Pepper, John Travolta, and Whitaker in costume.

Whitaker next appeared in what has been called one of the "worst films ever made," the 2000 production of Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard. The film was widely criticized as a notorious commercial and critical disaster. However, Whitaker's performance was lauded by the film's director, Roger Christian, who commented that, "Everybody's going to be very surprised" by Whitaker, who "found this huge voice and laugh." Battlefield Earth "won" seven Razzie Awards; Whitaker was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to his co-star, Barry Pepper.

In 2001, Whitaker had a small, uncredited role in the Wong Kar-wai-directed The Follow, one of five short films produced by BMW that year to promote its cars. He co-starred in Joel Schumacher's 2002 thriller, Phone Booth, with Kiefer Sutherland and Colin Farrell. That year, he also co-starred with Jodie Foster in Panic Room. His performance as the film's "bad guy" was described as "a subtle chemistry of aggression and empathy."
Whitaker as General Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland'

Whitaker's 2006 portrayal of Idi Amin in the film, The Last King of Scotland earned him positive reviews by critics as well as multiple awards and honors. To portray the dictator, Whitaker gained 50 pounds, learned to play the accordion, and immersed himself in research. He read books about Amin, watched news and documentary footage, and spent time in Uganda meeting with Amin's friends, relatives, generals, and victims; he also learned Swahili and mastered Amin's East African accent. His performance earned him the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so, joining the ranks of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx. For that same role, he was also recognized with a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award, and accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association among others.

In 2007, Whitaker played Dr. James Farmer Sr. in The Great Debaters, for which he received an Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. In 2008, Whitaker appeared in three films, first as a business man known only as Happiness, who likes butterflies, in the film The Air I Breathe. He also portrayed a rogue police captain in Street Kings, and a heroic tourist in Vantage Point.
Television work

After completing several films in the early 1980s, Whitaker gained additional roles in multiple television shows. On the series, Diff'rent Strokes, he played a bully in the 1985 episode "Bully for Arnold". That same year, Whitaker also played the part of a comic book salesman in the Amazing Stories episode "Gather Ye Acorns". Throughout the 1990s, Whitaker mainly had roles in television films, including Criminal Justice, The Enemy Within, and Witness Protection.

From 2002 to 2003, Whitaker was the host and narrator of 44 new episodes of the Rod Serling classic, The Twilight Zone, which lasted one season on UPN. After working in several film roles, he returned to television in 2006 when he joined the cast of FX's police serial The Shield, as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh, who was determined to prove that the lead character, Vic Mackey, is a dirty cop. As opposed to with his previous character work, Whitaker states that he merely had to draw on his childhood years growing up in South Central Los Angeles for the role. He received rave reviews for his performance—Variety called it a "crackling-good guest stint"—and he reprised the role in the show's 2007 season.

In the fall of 2006, Whitaker started a multi-episode story arc on ER as Curtis Ames, a man who comes into the ER with a cough, but quickly faces the long-term consequences of a paralyzing stroke; he then takes out his anger on Doctors Luka Kovač and Abby Lockhart. Whitaker received a 2007 Emmy Award nomination for his performance on the series. Also in 2006, Whitaker appeared in T.I.'s music video "Live in the Sky" alongside Jamie Foxx.

Whitaker has recently been cast in the Criminal Minds spin-off, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.
Producing and directing

Whitaker branched out into producing and directing in the 1990s. He co-produced and co-starred in A Rage in Harlem in 1991. He made his directorial debut with a grim film about inner-city gun violence, Strapped, for HBO in 1993. In 1995, he directed his first feature, Waiting to Exhale, which was based on the Terry McMillan novel of the same name. Roger Ebert observed that the tone of the film resembled Whitaker's own acting style: "measured, serene, confident." Whitaker also directed co-star Whitney Houston's music video of the movie's theme song, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)".

Whitaker continued his directing career with the 1998 romantic comedy, Hope Floats, starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. He directed Katie Holmes in the romantic comedy, First Daughter in 2004; he had co-starred with Holmes in Phone Booth in 2002. Whitaker served as an executive producer on First Daughter. He had previously gained experience as the executive producer of several made-for-television movies, most notably the 2002 Emmy-award winning Door to Door, starring William H. Macy. He produced these projects through his production company, Spirit Dance Entertainment, which he shut down in 2005 to concentrate on his acting career.
Honors

In addition to the numerous awards Whitaker won for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, he has also received several other honors. In September 2006, the 10th Annual Hollywood Film Festival presented him with its "Hollywood Actor of the Year Award," calling him "one of Hollywood's most accomplished actors." He was honored at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2007, where he received the American Riviera Award.

Previously, in 2005, the Deauville (France) Festival of American Film paid tribute to him. Whitaker was the recipient of the 2,335th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 16, 2007. He received an Honorary Degree from Xavier University of Louisiana in 2009 at the 82nd Commencement Ceremony. He has also produced Monte Carlo. He produced many years ago for the new film with Selena Gomez.
Personal life
Whitaker presenting the film My Own Love Song in Paris, 2010.
Family

In 1996, Whitaker married actress Keisha Nash, whom he met on the set of Blown Away. The Whitakers have four children: two daughters together (Sonnet and True), his son (Ocean) from a previous relationship, and her daughter (Autumn) from a previous relationship. On Inside the Actors Studio, Whitaker said that a genetic test indicated he was of Igbo descent on his father's side, and Akan descent on his mother's side.
Martial arts

Whitaker studies yoga and has a black belt in kenpō. He also trains in the Filipino martial art of Kali, under Dan Inosanto.
Ptosis

Whitaker's left eye ptosis has been called "intriguing" by some critics and "gives him a sleepy, contemplative look." Whitaker has explained that the condition is hereditary and that he has considered having surgery to correct it, not for cosmetic reasons but because it affects his vision.
Activism
Charity work

Whitaker, who is a vegetarian, recorded a public service announcement with his daughter, True, promoting vegetarianism on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He is also a supporter and public advocate for Hope North, a boarding school and vocational training center in northern Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of the country's civil war.
Politics

In politics, Whitaker supported and spoke on behalf of Senator Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign. On April 6, 2009, Whitaker was given a chieftancy title in Imo State, Nigeria. Whitaker, who was named a chief among the Igbo community of Nkwerre, was given the title Nwannedinamba of Nkwerre, which means A Brother in a Foreign Land.
Filmography
Actor Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1982 Tag: The Assassination Game Gowdy's Bodyguard
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Charles Jefferson
1985 Vision Quest Balldozer
1985 North and South Cuffey
1986 Color of Money, TheThe Color of Money Amos
1986 North and South, Book II Cuffey
1986 Platoon Big Harold
1987 Stakeout Jack Pismo
1987 Good Morning, Vietnam Edward Garlick
1988 Bird Charlie 'Bird' Parker Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor
1988 Bloodsport Rawlins
1989 Johnny Handsome Dr. Steven Fisher
1990 Downtown Dennis Curren
1991 Diary of a Hitman Dekker
1991 Rage in Harlem, AA Rage in Harlem Jackson
1992 Article 99 Dr. Sid Handleman
1992 Crying Game, TheThe Crying Game Jody
1992 Consenting Adults David Duttonville
1993 Bank Robber Officer Battle
1993 Body Snatchers Major Collins
1994 Blown Away Anthony Franklin
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Cy Bianco NBR Award for Best Cast
1994 Jason's Lyric Maddog
1995 Species Dan Smithson, Empath
1995 Smoke Cyrus Cole
1996 Phenomenon Nate Pope
1998 Body Count Crane
1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Ghost Dog
1999 Light It Up Officer Dante Jackson
2000 Battlefield Earth Ker Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
2000 Four Dogs Playing Poker Mr. Ellington
2001 Fourth Angel, TheThe Fourth Angel Agent Jules Bernard
2001 Follow, TheThe Follow The Employer uncredited
2001 Green Dragon Addie
2002 Panic Room Burnham Nominated - Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Phone Booth Captain Ed Ramey Theatrical release was delayed due to the Beltway sniper attacks in October 2002.
2004 First Daughter Narrator also directed
2005 Little Trip to Heaven, AA Little Trip to Heaven Abe Holt
2005 American Gun Carter Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
2005 Mary Ted Younger
2006 Even Money Clyde Snow
2006 The Marsh Geoffrey Hunt
2006 Everyone's Hero Lonnie Brewster voice only
2006 Last King of Scotland, TheThe Last King of Scotland Idi Amin Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
BET Award for Best Actor
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
2007 Air I Breathe, TheThe Air I Breathe Happiness
2007 Ripple Effect Philip
2007 Great Debaters, TheThe Great Debaters James L. Farmer, Sr.
2008 Vantage Point Howard Lewis
2008 Street Kings Capt. Jack Wander
2008 Dragon Hunters Lian Chu Voice — English version
2009 Powder Blue Charlie
2009 Winged Creatures Charlie Archenault
2009 Where the Wild Things Are Ira (voice only)
2009 Lullaby for Pi George
2009 Hurricane Season Al Collins
2010 Repo Men Jake Freivald
2010 My Own Love Song Joey
2010 Experiment, TheThe Experiment Barris
2010 Our Family Wedding Bradford Boyd
2011 Catch .44 Ronny post-production
2012 Freelancers TBA pre-production
Director Year↓ Title↓
1993 Strapped
1995 Waiting to Exhale
1998 Hope Floats
2004 First Daughter
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1982 Making The Grade Episode "Marriage David Style"
1983 Cagney & Lacey Night Manager Episode "The Grandest Jewel Thief of Them All"
1984 Trapper John, M.D. Lewis Jordan Episode "School Nurse"
1984 Hill Street Blues Floyd Green Episode "Blues for Mr. Green"
1985 Diff'rent Strokes Herman Episode "Bully for Arnold"
1985 Grand Baby, TheThe Grand Baby Television movie
1985 Fall Guy, TheThe Fall Guy Friend Episode "Spring Break"
1986 Amazing Stories Jerry Episode "Gather Ye Acorns"
1987 Hands of a Stranger Sergeant Delaney Television movie
1990 Criminal Justice Jessie Williams Television movie
1993 Lush Life Buddy Chester Television movie
1993 Last Light Fred Whitmore Television movie
1994 Enemy Within, TheThe Enemy Within Colonel MacKenzie 'Mac' Casey Television movie
1996 Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault Mr. Rucker Television movie
1999 Witness Protection Steven Beck Television movie
2001 Feast of All Saints Daguerreotypist Picard Television movie
2003 Deacons for Defense Marcus Clay Television movie
2002–
2003 Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone Host / Narrator 44 episodes
2006–
2007 ER Curtis Ames 6 episodes
2006–
2007 The Shield Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh (Seasons 5 and 6)
2007–
2009 American Dad! Turlington 3 episodes
2010 Criminal Minds Sam Cooper Episode "The Fight"
2011 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior Sam Cooper Spin-off
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/foster666/550_FOREST_WHITAKER.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa234/biztechpro/Actors%20and%20Actresses/475-forest_whitaker.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/15/11 at 11:24 am

I always liked Forest Whitaker. I think he is a terrific actor. He was outstanding in The Great Debaters-actually, everyone was outstanding in that movie. Great movie but I don't think many people have seen it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/15/11 at 2:58 pm


The person of the day...Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television series, The Shield.

Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker has also won a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA.
Whitaker has a long history of working with well-regarded film directors and fellow actors. In his first onscreen role of note, he played a football player in the 1982 film version of Cameron Crowe's coming-of-age teen-retrospective, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He co-starred alongside Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, and Sean Penn. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's film, The Color of Money (with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise), and in Oliver Stone's Platoon. The following year, he co-starred with Robin Williams in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam.

In 1988, Whitaker played in the film Bloodsport alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and he had the lead role as musician Charlie Parker in the Clint Eastwood-directed film, Bird. To prepare himself for the part, he sequestered himself in a loft with only a bed, couch, and saxophone, having also conducted extensive research and taken alto sax lessons. His performance, which has been called "transcendent," earned him the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination. Whitaker continued to work with a number of well-known directors throughout the 1990s. He starred in the 1990 film Downtown with Anthony Edwards and Penelope Ann Miller. Neil Jordan cast him in the pivotal role of "Jody" in his 1992 film, The Crying Game. Todd McCarthy, of Variety, described Whitaker's performance as "big-hearted," "hugely emotional," and "simply terrific." In 1994, he was a member of the cast that won the first ever National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble for Robert Altman's film, Prêt-à-Porter. He gave a "characteristically emotional performance" in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's 1995 film, Smoke.
Whitaker as the samurai, Ghost Dog

Whitaker played a serene, pigeon-raising, bushido-following, mob hit man in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a 1999 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Many consider this to have been a "definitive role" for Whitaker. In a manner similar to his preparation for Bird, he again immersed himself in his character's world—he studied Eastern philosophy and meditated for long hours "to hone his inner spiritual hitman." Jarmusch has told interviewers that he developed the title character with Whitaker in mind; the New York Times review of the film observed that "t's hard to think of another actor who could play a cold-blooded killer with such warmth and humanity."


Scene from Battlefield Earth, showing (left to right) Barry Pepper, John Travolta, and Whitaker in costume.

Whitaker next appeared in what has been called one of the "worst films ever made," the 2000 production of Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard. The film was widely criticized as a notorious commercial and critical disaster. However, Whitaker's performance was lauded by the film's director, Roger Christian, who commented that, "Everybody's going to be very surprised" by Whitaker, who "found this huge voice and laugh." Battlefield Earth "won" seven Razzie Awards; Whitaker was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to his co-star, Barry Pepper.

In 2001, Whitaker had a small, uncredited role in the Wong Kar-wai-directed The Follow, one of five short films produced by BMW that year to promote its cars. He co-starred in Joel Schumacher's 2002 thriller, Phone Booth, with Kiefer Sutherland and Colin Farrell. That year, he also co-starred with Jodie Foster in Panic Room. His performance as the film's "bad guy" was described as "a subtle chemistry of aggression and empathy."
Whitaker as General Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland'

Whitaker's 2006 portrayal of Idi Amin in the film, The Last King of Scotland earned him positive reviews by critics as well as multiple awards and honors. To portray the dictator, Whitaker gained 50 pounds, learned to play the accordion, and immersed himself in research. He read books about Amin, watched news and documentary footage, and spent time in Uganda meeting with Amin's friends, relatives, generals, and victims; he also learned Swahili and mastered Amin's East African accent. His performance earned him the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so, joining the ranks of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx. For that same role, he was also recognized with a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award, and accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association among others.

In 2007, Whitaker played Dr. James Farmer Sr. in The Great Debaters, for which he received an Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. In 2008, Whitaker appeared in three films, first as a business man known only as Happiness, who likes butterflies, in the film The Air I Breathe. He also portrayed a rogue police captain in Street Kings, and a heroic tourist in Vantage Point.
Television work

After completing several films in the early 1980s, Whitaker gained additional roles in multiple television shows. On the series, Diff'rent Strokes, he played a bully in the 1985 episode "Bully for Arnold". That same year, Whitaker also played the part of a comic book salesman in the Amazing Stories episode "Gather Ye Acorns". Throughout the 1990s, Whitaker mainly had roles in television films, including Criminal Justice, The Enemy Within, and Witness Protection.

From 2002 to 2003, Whitaker was the host and narrator of 44 new episodes of the Rod Serling classic, The Twilight Zone, which lasted one season on UPN. After working in several film roles, he returned to television in 2006 when he joined the cast of FX's police serial The Shield, as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh, who was determined to prove that the lead character, Vic Mackey, is a dirty cop. As opposed to with his previous character work, Whitaker states that he merely had to draw on his childhood years growing up in South Central Los Angeles for the role. He received rave reviews for his performance—Variety called it a "crackling-good guest stint"—and he reprised the role in the show's 2007 season.

In the fall of 2006, Whitaker started a multi-episode story arc on ER as Curtis Ames, a man who comes into the ER with a cough, but quickly faces the long-term consequences of a paralyzing stroke; he then takes out his anger on Doctors Luka Kovač and Abby Lockhart. Whitaker received a 2007 Emmy Award nomination for his performance on the series. Also in 2006, Whitaker appeared in T.I.'s music video "Live in the Sky" alongside Jamie Foxx.

Whitaker has recently been cast in the Criminal Minds spin-off, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.
Producing and directing

Whitaker branched out into producing and directing in the 1990s. He co-produced and co-starred in A Rage in Harlem in 1991. He made his directorial debut with a grim film about inner-city gun violence, Strapped, for HBO in 1993. In 1995, he directed his first feature, Waiting to Exhale, which was based on the Terry McMillan novel of the same name. Roger Ebert observed that the tone of the film resembled Whitaker's own acting style: "measured, serene, confident." Whitaker also directed co-star Whitney Houston's music video of the movie's theme song, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)".

Whitaker continued his directing career with the 1998 romantic comedy, Hope Floats, starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. He directed Katie Holmes in the romantic comedy, First Daughter in 2004; he had co-starred with Holmes in Phone Booth in 2002. Whitaker served as an executive producer on First Daughter. He had previously gained experience as the executive producer of several made-for-television movies, most notably the 2002 Emmy-award winning Door to Door, starring William H. Macy. He produced these projects through his production company, Spirit Dance Entertainment, which he shut down in 2005 to concentrate on his acting career.
Honors

In addition to the numerous awards Whitaker won for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, he has also received several other honors. In September 2006, the 10th Annual Hollywood Film Festival presented him with its "Hollywood Actor of the Year Award," calling him "one of Hollywood's most accomplished actors." He was honored at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2007, where he received the American Riviera Award.

Previously, in 2005, the Deauville (France) Festival of American Film paid tribute to him. Whitaker was the recipient of the 2,335th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 16, 2007. He received an Honorary Degree from Xavier University of Louisiana in 2009 at the 82nd Commencement Ceremony. He has also produced Monte Carlo. He produced many years ago for the new film with Selena Gomez.
Personal life
Whitaker presenting the film My Own Love Song in Paris, 2010.
Family

In 1996, Whitaker married actress Keisha Nash, whom he met on the set of Blown Away. The Whitakers have four children: two daughters together (Sonnet and True), his son (Ocean) from a previous relationship, and her daughter (Autumn) from a previous relationship. On Inside the Actors Studio, Whitaker said that a genetic test indicated he was of Igbo descent on his father's side, and Akan descent on his mother's side.
Martial arts

Whitaker studies yoga and has a black belt in kenpō. He also trains in the Filipino martial art of Kali, under Dan Inosanto.
Ptosis

Whitaker's left eye ptosis has been called "intriguing" by some critics and "gives him a sleepy, contemplative look." Whitaker has explained that the condition is hereditary and that he has considered having surgery to correct it, not for cosmetic reasons but because it affects his vision.
Activism
Charity work

Whitaker, who is a vegetarian, recorded a public service announcement with his daughter, True, promoting vegetarianism on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He is also a supporter and public advocate for Hope North, a boarding school and vocational training center in northern Uganda for escaped child soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of the country's civil war.
Politics

In politics, Whitaker supported and spoke on behalf of Senator Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign. On April 6, 2009, Whitaker was given a chieftancy title in Imo State, Nigeria. Whitaker, who was named a chief among the Igbo community of Nkwerre, was given the title Nwannedinamba of Nkwerre, which means A Brother in a Foreign Land.
Filmography
Actor Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1982 Tag: The Assassination Game Gowdy's Bodyguard
1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High Charles Jefferson
1985 Vision Quest Balldozer
1985 North and South Cuffey
1986 Color of Money, TheThe Color of Money Amos
1986 North and South, Book II Cuffey
1986 Platoon Big Harold
1987 Stakeout Jack Pismo
1987 Good Morning, Vietnam Edward Garlick
1988 Bird Charlie 'Bird' Parker Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor
1988 Bloodsport Rawlins
1989 Johnny Handsome Dr. Steven Fisher
1990 Downtown Dennis Curren
1991 Diary of a Hitman Dekker
1991 Rage in Harlem, AA Rage in Harlem Jackson
1992 Article 99 Dr. Sid Handleman
1992 Crying Game, TheThe Crying Game Jody
1992 Consenting Adults David Duttonville
1993 Bank Robber Officer Battle
1993 Body Snatchers Major Collins
1994 Blown Away Anthony Franklin
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Cy Bianco NBR Award for Best Cast
1994 Jason's Lyric Maddog
1995 Species Dan Smithson, Empath
1995 Smoke Cyrus Cole
1996 Phenomenon Nate Pope
1998 Body Count Crane
1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Ghost Dog
1999 Light It Up Officer Dante Jackson
2000 Battlefield Earth Ker Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
2000 Four Dogs Playing Poker Mr. Ellington
2001 Fourth Angel, TheThe Fourth Angel Agent Jules Bernard
2001 Follow, TheThe Follow The Employer uncredited
2001 Green Dragon Addie
2002 Panic Room Burnham Nominated - Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Phone Booth Captain Ed Ramey Theatrical release was delayed due to the Beltway sniper attacks in October 2002.
2004 First Daughter Narrator also directed
2005 Little Trip to Heaven, AA Little Trip to Heaven Abe Holt
2005 American Gun Carter Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
2005 Mary Ted Younger
2006 Even Money Clyde Snow
2006 The Marsh Geoffrey Hunt
2006 Everyone's Hero Lonnie Brewster voice only
2006 Last King of Scotland, TheThe Last King of Scotland Idi Amin Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
BET Award for Best Actor
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
2007 Air I Breathe, TheThe Air I Breathe Happiness
2007 Ripple Effect Philip
2007 Great Debaters, TheThe Great Debaters James L. Farmer, Sr.
2008 Vantage Point Howard Lewis
2008 Street Kings Capt. Jack Wander
2008 Dragon Hunters Lian Chu Voice — English version
2009 Powder Blue Charlie
2009 Winged Creatures Charlie Archenault
2009 Where the Wild Things Are Ira (voice only)
2009 Lullaby for Pi George
2009 Hurricane Season Al Collins
2010 Repo Men Jake Freivald
2010 My Own Love Song Joey
2010 Experiment, TheThe Experiment Barris
2010 Our Family Wedding Bradford Boyd
2011 Catch .44 Ronny post-production
2012 Freelancers TBA pre-production
Director Year↓ Title↓
1993 Strapped
1995 Waiting to Exhale
1998 Hope Floats
2004 First Daughter
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1982 Making The Grade Episode "Marriage David Style"
1983 Cagney & Lacey Night Manager Episode "The Grandest Jewel Thief of Them All"
1984 Trapper John, M.D. Lewis Jordan Episode "School Nurse"
1984 Hill Street Blues Floyd Green Episode "Blues for Mr. Green"
1985 Diff'rent Strokes Herman Episode "Bully for Arnold"
1985 Grand Baby, TheThe Grand Baby Television movie
1985 Fall Guy, TheThe Fall Guy Friend Episode "Spring Break"
1986 Amazing Stories Jerry Episode "Gather Ye Acorns"
1987 Hands of a Stranger Sergeant Delaney Television movie
1990 Criminal Justice Jessie Williams Television movie
1993 Lush Life Buddy Chester Television movie
1993 Last Light Fred Whitmore Television movie
1994 Enemy Within, TheThe Enemy Within Colonel MacKenzie 'Mac' Casey Television movie
1996 Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault Mr. Rucker Television movie
1999 Witness Protection Steven Beck Television movie
2001 Feast of All Saints Daguerreotypist Picard Television movie
2003 Deacons for Defense Marcus Clay Television movie
2002–
2003 Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone Host / Narrator 44 episodes
2006–
2007 ER Curtis Ames 6 episodes
2006–
2007 The Shield Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh (Seasons 5 and 6)
2007–
2009 American Dad! Turlington 3 episodes
2010 Criminal Minds Sam Cooper Episode "The Fight"
2011 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior Sam Cooper Spin-off
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/foster666/550_FOREST_WHITAKER.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa234/biztechpro/Actors%20and%20Actresses/475-forest_whitaker.jpg
He was brilliant as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland   

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/15/11 at 8:06 pm

Forest Whitaker is a good actor,I liked him in Bird.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/16/11 at 7:22 am

The person of the day..Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell (play /ˈfɛrəl/; born July 16, 1967) is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson. He most recently guest starred in a four-episode story arc on the The Office.
After SNL's dip in popularity in 1994-1995 and in need of new castmembers for the next season, a producer saw The Groundlings and asked Ferrell, Kattan, and Cheri Oteri to audition for SNL's main producer, Lorne Michaels.

Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995 and left in 2002 after a successful seven-year tenure. He returned to host twice (both in season finales), and once in the cold open of the final episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday.

During his time on SNL, Ferrell made a name for himself with his impersonations, which included:

    * U.S. President George W. Bush
    * Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray,
    * Singer Robert Goulet (crooning a cappella pieces of music by Sisqó, Baha Men, and Notorious B.I.G.),
    * Singer Neil Diamond,
    * Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton (who was quoted several times to favor Ferrell's impersonation),
    * Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy,
    * United States Attorney General Janet Reno,
    * Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski,
    * Game show host Alex Trebek,
    * Fictitious black private detective Shaft,
    * Professional wrestler-turned-Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura,
    * U.S. Vice President Al Gore (Darrell Hammond took over once Ferrell started playing Bush),
    * Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
    * Cuban President Fidel Castro.

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse's twin brother Ned, fictional Blue Öyster Cult member Gene Frenkle (physically modeled after Blue Öyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom), music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant from "Dissing Your Dog", Hank of the Bill Brasky Buddies, David Leary from "Dog Show", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998's A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005, and May 16, 2009. Both times, he reprised his role as Alex Trebek in the "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketches. On the May 14 appearance, Ferrell reprised his role as Robert Goulet in a fake commercial advertising a series of crooned ringtones and, during the performance of the song "Little Sister" by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came on stage playing the cowbell.

Ferrell became the highest paid cast member of Saturday Night Live in 2001 with a season salary of $350,000.
Film career

During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, The Ladies Man, Dick, Drowning Mona, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank "The Tank" Richard in Old School (2003). The film "belongs to Mr. Ferrell," declared the New York Times, which described how he "uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part." Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.

The title role in Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in 2004 and 2005 in films such as Melinda and Melinda, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch earning himself a place among Hollywood's Frat Pack. In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million. In 2006, Ferrell starred in Stranger Than Fiction and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell's performance in Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell's acting talents. On December 27, 2006, 'The Magazine' named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.
Ferrell at the premiere of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, December 2007

Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the ESPY Awards in 2006 about Lance Armstrong and Neil Armstrong. He and John C. Reilly also did a spot during the 2008 ESPY Awards where they made demands in order for them to appear at the ESPYs like asking Portland Trail Blazers' center Greg Oden to tuck them in at night and tell them stories of the old times or to bring back the Cold War so the Olympics can be interesting again.

Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with John C. Reilly and Jack Black, wherein they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.

In May 2009 it was announced Ferrell is in talks to star in Neighborhood Watch, a comedy about an urbanite who moves to the suburbs and uncovers a conspiracy. In negotiations to direct is David Dobkin, who gave Ferrell a cameo in Wedding Crashers. In August 2009, Ferrell decided not to do the film. In the summer of 2009, Ferrell did a large amount of filming with several young actors. He helped out on a film entitled Making a Movie, which is now on DVD.

In June 2009, Land of the Lost was released. It was a commercial and critical flop after earning $19 million on opening weekend, about two-thirds of what the studio expected.

In 2010, he was the executive producer and star of The Other Guys, a buddy cop film, which also has an ensemble cast which consists of Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. Unlike Land of the Lost, the film was a commercial success, earning over $140 million, and was positively reviewed by critics.

Ferrell is set to star in Casa de Mi Padre, a telenovela spoof comedy set in a ranch with Mexican stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. The movie's story will be told in melodramatic telenovela form and will feature English-language subtitles.
Voice acting
Will Ferrell dressed as Megamind at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

Ferrell has worked as a voice actor in several animated television programs, including his portrayal of Bob Oblong, a 1950s-style father with no arms or legs, in the short-lived animated television series The Oblongs. He has had several guest appearances on Family Guy, where he played the Black Knight in Mr. Saturday Knight, as well as Fat Greek Guy and Miles "Chatterbox" Musket in Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Ferrell also starred as Ted (a.k.a. The Man in the Yellow Hat) in the film Curious George and guest voiced on an episode of the FOX sitcom King of the Hill as a political correct soccer coach. He voiced the title character in the 2010 DreamWorks Animation film Megamind.
Stage career

Ferrell made his Broadway debut taking on departing U.S. President George W. Bush in a one-man show called You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. The show started performances on January 20, 2009, in previews—Bush's final day in office—at the Cort Theatre and opened officially on February 1. The limited engagement played through March 15, 2009.
Emmy Awards

Nominated:

    * 2001: Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program (for Saturday Night Live)

ESPY Awards

Won:

    * 2007 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby)
    * 2008 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Semi-Pro)

Golden Globe Awards

Nominated:

    * 2006: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (for The Producers)
    * 2007: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (for Stranger than Fiction)

James Joyce Award

    * 2008: James Joyce Award from University College Dublin's Literary and Historical Society in recognition for "excelling in his field".

Kids Choice Awards

    * 2011: Favorite Buttkicker (for Megamind)

MTV Movie Awards

Won:

    * 2007: Best Kiss for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (with Sacha Baron Cohen)

Nominated:

    * 2003: Best Comedic Performance (for Old School)
    * 2003: Best On-Screen Team (with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn for Old School)
    * 2004: Best Comedic Performance (for Elf)
    * 2005: Best Comedic Performance (for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
    * 2005: Best On-Screen Team (with Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
    * 2005: Best Musical Performance (with Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
    * 2007: Best Comedic Performance (for Blades of Glory)
    * 2007: Best Fight (for Blades of Glory)

Razzie Awards

Nominated:

    * 2005: Worst Actor for Bewitched and Kicking & Screaming

Satellite Awards

Nominated:

    * 2006: Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (for Stranger Than Fiction)

Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards

Won:

    * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Funniest Mo-fo
    * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Most Viral Video

Teen Choice Awards

Won:

    * 2007: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Blades of Glory

Nominated:

    * 2004: Choice Comedian
    * 2004: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Elf
    * 2005: Choice Comedian
    * 2005: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Kicking & Screaming
    * 2005: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Kicking & Screaming
    * 2005: Choice Movie Rumble for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
    * 2005: Choice Movie Sleazebag for Kicking & Screaming
    * 2007: Choice Comedian
    * 2007: Choice Movie Chemistry (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
    * 2007: Choice Movie Dance (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
    * 2007: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Blades of Glory
    * 2008: Choice Comedian
    * 2008: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Semi-Pro
    * 2009: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Land of the Lost

Tony Awards

Nominated:

    * 2009: Best Special Theatrical Event (for You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush)

Filmography
Year Movie Role U.S. gross Notes
1995 Bucket of Blood Young Man Made for TV
Criminal Hearts Newscaster
1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Mustafa US$53.9 million
Men Seeking Women Al
1998 A Night at the Roxbury Steve Butabi US$30.3 million Also Writer
The Thin Pink Line Darren Clark
1999 Superstar Sky Corrigan/God US$30.6 million
Dick Bob Woodward US$6.2 million
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Mustafa US$206 million
The Suburbans Gil US$11,130
2000 The Ladies Man Lance DeLune US$13.6 million
Drowning Mona Cubby the Funeral Director US$15.4 million
2001 Zoolander Mugatu US$45.2 million
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly US$30.1 million
2002 Boat Trip Brian's Boyfriend US$8.6 million Uncredited
2003 Old School Frank "the Tank" Ricard US$74.6 million
Elf Buddy US$173.4 million
2004 Melinda and Melinda Hobie US$3.8 million
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Ron Burgundy US$84.1 million Also Writer
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Ron Burgundy Straight-To-DVD
Also Writer
Starsky & Hutch Big Earl US$88.2 million Uncredited
Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party Himself
2005 The Producers Franz Liebkind US$19.4 million
Wedding Crashers Chazz Reinhold US$209.2 million Uncredited
Winter Passing Corbit US$101,228
Bewitched Jack Wyatt/Darrin US$62.3 million
Kicking & Screaming Phil Weston US$52.6 million
The Wendell Baker Story Dave Bix US$127,144
2006 Stranger Than Fiction Harold Crick US$40.1 million
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Ricky Bobby US$148.2 million Also Writer/Executive Producer
Curious George Ted/The Man in the Yellow Hat US$58.3 million Voice Role
2007 Blades of Glory Chazz Michael Michaels US$118.2 million
2008 Semi-Pro Jackie Moon US$33.4 million
Step Brothers Brennan Huff US$101.1 million Also Writer/Executive Producer
2009 Land of the Lost Dr. Rick Marshall US$49.4 million
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Craig McDermott US$15.1 million Uncredited
Also Producer
SpongeBob's Truth or Square Himself
2010 The Other Guys Detective Allen Gamble US$119 million Also Executive Producer
Megamind Megamind US$147 million Voice Role
Hubworld Himself Guest star
Season 1, Episode 1
Everything Must Go Nick Halsey
2011 Jon Benjamin Has A Van Also Executive Producer
Casa de Mi Padre Armando Alvarez Also Producer
2011 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Also Producer
2012 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie TBA Also Producer/Co-Producer
2013 Bouncers Also Producer
Television work

    * Saturday Night Live (cast member from 1995 to 2002, host in 2005 and 2009)
    * Cow and Chicken (1997–2001, voice in various episodes)
    * Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000 (2000)
    * Family Guy (as the Black Knight, 2001)
    * Undeclared (guest star)
    * The Oblongs (Bob Oblong, 2001–2002, voice)
    * King of the Hill (as Coach Lucas, 1999, voice)
    * The Tom Green Show (guest star)
    * Family Guy (as himself, 2005)
    * The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (guest star)
    * Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (voiceover and guest)
    * Eastbound & Down (BMW Dealership Owner Ashley Schaeffer)
    * You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush
    * Man vs. Wild (guest star)
    * Live with Regis and Kelly (co-host)
    * 63rd Tony Awards (2009), 2009 MTV Movie Awards and 2009 TV Land Awards
    * The Merrick & Rosso Show (as himself, 2009)
    * SpongeBob SquarePants (as himself, 2009)
    * Strangers with Candy (2000)
    * Funny or Die Presents (2010)
    * Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job (2010)
    * 30 Rock (as the "Bitch Hunter", 2010)
    * The Office (as Deangelo Vickers, 2011)

Salary

    * Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) $20,000,000
    * Bewitched (2005) $20,000,000
    * Kicking & Screaming (2005) $20,000,000
    * Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) $6,900,000
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d62/dentalgrl/Ferrell.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/Mojomp007/will_ferrell.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/16/11 at 7:23 am


The person of the day..Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell (play /ˈfɛrəl/; born July 16, 1967) is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson. He most recently guest starred in a four-episode story arc on the The Office.
After SNL's dip in popularity in 1994-1995 and in need of new castmembers for the next season, a producer saw The Groundlings and asked Ferrell, Kattan, and Cheri Oteri to audition for SNL's main producer, Lorne Michaels.

Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995 and left in 2002 after a successful seven-year tenure. He returned to host twice (both in season finales), and once in the cold open of the final episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday.

During his time on SNL, Ferrell made a name for himself with his impersonations, which included:

   * U.S. President George W. Bush
   * Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray,
   * Singer Robert Goulet (crooning a cappella pieces of music by Sisqó, Baha Men, and Notorious B.I.G.),
   * Singer Neil Diamond,
   * Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton (who was quoted several times to favor Ferrell's impersonation),
   * Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy,
   * United States Attorney General Janet Reno,
   * Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski,
   * Game show host Alex Trebek,
   * Fictitious black private detective Shaft,
   * Professional wrestler-turned-Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura,
   * U.S. Vice President Al Gore (Darrell Hammond took over once Ferrell started playing Bush),
   * Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
   * Cuban President Fidel Castro.

His original characters included "Morning Latte" co-host Tom Wilkins, Ed the Horse's twin brother Ned, fictional Blue Öyster Cult member Gene Frenkle (physically modeled after Blue Öyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom), music teacher Marty Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, Dale Sturtevant from "Dissing Your Dog", Hank of the Bill Brasky Buddies, David Leary from "Dog Show", and night clubber Steve Butabi in a sketch that went to the big screen in 1998's A Night at the Roxbury.

Ferrell returned to Saturday Night Live as a guest host on May 14, 2005, and May 16, 2009. Both times, he reprised his role as Alex Trebek in the "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketches. On the May 14 appearance, Ferrell reprised his role as Robert Goulet in a fake commercial advertising a series of crooned ringtones and, during the performance of the song "Little Sister" by musical guests Queens of the Stone Age, Ferrell came on stage playing the cowbell.

Ferrell became the highest paid cast member of Saturday Night Live in 2001 with a season salary of $350,000.
Film career

During his time on Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, A Night at the Roxbury, Superstar, The Ladies Man, Dick, Drowning Mona, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Zoolander.

His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank "The Tank" Richard in Old School (2003). The film "belongs to Mr. Ferrell," declared the New York Times, which described how he "uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part." Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.

The title role in Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in 2004 and 2005 in films such as Melinda and Melinda, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Starsky & Hutch earning himself a place among Hollywood's Frat Pack. In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million. In 2006, Ferrell starred in Stranger Than Fiction and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell's performance in Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell's acting talents. On December 27, 2006, 'The Magazine' named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.
Ferrell at the premiere of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, December 2007

Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the ESPY Awards in 2006 about Lance Armstrong and Neil Armstrong. He and John C. Reilly also did a spot during the 2008 ESPY Awards where they made demands in order for them to appear at the ESPYs like asking Portland Trail Blazers' center Greg Oden to tuck them in at night and tell them stories of the old times or to bring back the Cold War so the Olympics can be interesting again.

Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with John C. Reilly and Jack Black, wherein they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.

In May 2009 it was announced Ferrell is in talks to star in Neighborhood Watch, a comedy about an urbanite who moves to the suburbs and uncovers a conspiracy. In negotiations to direct is David Dobkin, who gave Ferrell a cameo in Wedding Crashers. In August 2009, Ferrell decided not to do the film. In the summer of 2009, Ferrell did a large amount of filming with several young actors. He helped out on a film entitled Making a Movie, which is now on DVD.

In June 2009, Land of the Lost was released. It was a commercial and critical flop after earning $19 million on opening weekend, about two-thirds of what the studio expected.

In 2010, he was the executive producer and star of The Other Guys, a buddy cop film, which also has an ensemble cast which consists of Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. Unlike Land of the Lost, the film was a commercial success, earning over $140 million, and was positively reviewed by critics.

Ferrell is set to star in Casa de Mi Padre, a telenovela spoof comedy set in a ranch with Mexican stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. The movie's story will be told in melodramatic telenovela form and will feature English-language subtitles.
Voice acting
Will Ferrell dressed as Megamind at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

Ferrell has worked as a voice actor in several animated television programs, including his portrayal of Bob Oblong, a 1950s-style father with no arms or legs, in the short-lived animated television series The Oblongs. He has had several guest appearances on Family Guy, where he played the Black Knight in Mr. Saturday Knight, as well as Fat Greek Guy and Miles "Chatterbox" Musket in Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Ferrell also starred as Ted (a.k.a. The Man in the Yellow Hat) in the film Curious George and guest voiced on an episode of the FOX sitcom King of the Hill as a political correct soccer coach. He voiced the title character in the 2010 DreamWorks Animation film Megamind.
Stage career

Ferrell made his Broadway debut taking on departing U.S. President George W. Bush in a one-man show called You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush. The show started performances on January 20, 2009, in previews—Bush's final day in office—at the Cort Theatre and opened officially on February 1. The limited engagement played through March 15, 2009.
Emmy Awards

Nominated:

   * 2001: Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program (for Saturday Night Live)

ESPY Awards

Won:

   * 2007 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby)
   * 2008 ESPY Awards, Best Sports Movie (for Semi-Pro)

Golden Globe Awards

Nominated:

   * 2006: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (for The Producers)
   * 2007: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (for Stranger than Fiction)

James Joyce Award

   * 2008: James Joyce Award from University College Dublin's Literary and Historical Society in recognition for "excelling in his field".

Kids Choice Awards

   * 2011: Favorite Buttkicker (for Megamind)

MTV Movie Awards

Won:

   * 2007: Best Kiss for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (with Sacha Baron Cohen)

Nominated:

   * 2003: Best Comedic Performance (for Old School)
   * 2003: Best On-Screen Team (with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn for Old School)
   * 2004: Best Comedic Performance (for Elf)
   * 2005: Best Comedic Performance (for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
   * 2005: Best On-Screen Team (with Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
   * 2005: Best Musical Performance (with Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
   * 2007: Best Comedic Performance (for Blades of Glory)
   * 2007: Best Fight (for Blades of Glory)

Razzie Awards

Nominated:

   * 2005: Worst Actor for Bewitched and Kicking & Screaming

Satellite Awards

Nominated:

   * 2006: Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (for Stranger Than Fiction)

Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards

Won:

   * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Funniest Mo-fo
   * 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, Most Viral Video

Teen Choice Awards

Won:

   * 2007: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Blades of Glory

Nominated:

   * 2004: Choice Comedian
   * 2004: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Elf
   * 2005: Choice Comedian
   * 2005: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Kicking & Screaming
   * 2005: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Kicking & Screaming
   * 2005: Choice Movie Rumble for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
   * 2005: Choice Movie Sleazebag for Kicking & Screaming
   * 2007: Choice Comedian
   * 2007: Choice Movie Chemistry (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
   * 2007: Choice Movie Dance (with Jon Heder), for Blades of Glory
   * 2007: Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Blades of Glory
   * 2008: Choice Comedian
   * 2008: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Semi-Pro
   * 2009: Choice Movie Actor – Comedy for Land of the Lost

Tony Awards

Nominated:

   * 2009: Best Special Theatrical Event (for You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush)

Filmography
Year Movie Role U.S. gross Notes
1995 Bucket of Blood Young Man Made for TV
Criminal Hearts Newscaster
1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Mustafa US$53.9 million
Men Seeking Women Al
1998 A Night at the Roxbury Steve Butabi US$30.3 million Also Writer
The Thin Pink Line Darren Clark
1999 Superstar Sky Corrigan/God US$30.6 million
Dick Bob Woodward US$6.2 million
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Mustafa US$206 million
The Suburbans Gil US$11,130
2000 The Ladies Man Lance DeLune US$13.6 million
Drowning Mona Cubby the Funeral Director US$15.4 million
2001 Zoolander Mugatu US$45.2 million
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly US$30.1 million
2002 Boat Trip Brian's Boyfriend US$8.6 million Uncredited
2003 Old School Frank "the Tank" Ricard US$74.6 million
Elf Buddy US$173.4 million
2004 Melinda and Melinda Hobie US$3.8 million
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Ron Burgundy US$84.1 million Also Writer
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Ron Burgundy Straight-To-DVD
Also Writer
Starsky & Hutch Big Earl US$88.2 million Uncredited
Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party Himself
2005 The Producers Franz Liebkind US$19.4 million
Wedding Crashers Chazz Reinhold US$209.2 million Uncredited
Winter Passing Corbit US$101,228
Bewitched Jack Wyatt/Darrin US$62.3 million
Kicking & Screaming Phil Weston US$52.6 million
The Wendell Baker Story Dave Bix US$127,144
2006 Stranger Than Fiction Harold Crick US$40.1 million
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Ricky Bobby US$148.2 million Also Writer/Executive Producer
Curious George Ted/The Man in the Yellow Hat US$58.3 million Voice Role
2007 Blades of Glory Chazz Michael Michaels US$118.2 million
2008 Semi-Pro Jackie Moon US$33.4 million
Step Brothers Brennan Huff US$101.1 million Also Writer/Executive Producer
2009 Land of the Lost Dr. Rick Marshall US$49.4 million
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Craig McDermott US$15.1 million Uncredited
Also Producer
SpongeBob's Truth or Square Himself
2010 The Other Guys Detective Allen Gamble US$119 million Also Executive Producer
Megamind Megamind US$147 million Voice Role
Hubworld Himself Guest star
Season 1, Episode 1
Everything Must Go Nick Halsey
2011 Jon Benjamin Has A Van Also Executive Producer
Casa de Mi Padre Armando Alvarez Also Producer
2011 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Also Producer
2012 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie TBA Also Producer/Co-Producer
2013 Bouncers Also Producer
Television work

   * Saturday Night Live (cast member from 1995 to 2002, host in 2005 and 2009)
   * Cow and Chicken (1997–2001, voice in various episodes)
   * Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000 (2000)
   * Family Guy (as the Black Knight, 2001)
   * Undeclared (guest star)
   * The Oblongs (Bob Oblong, 2001–2002, voice)
   * King of the Hill (as Coach Lucas, 1999, voice)
   * The Tom Green Show (guest star)
   * Family Guy (as himself, 2005)
   * The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (guest star)
   * Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (voiceover and guest)
   * Eastbound & Down (BMW Dealership Owner Ashley Schaeffer)
   * You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush
   * Man vs. Wild (guest star)
   * Live with Regis and Kelly (co-host)
   * 63rd Tony Awards (2009), 2009 MTV Movie Awards and 2009 TV Land Awards
   * The Merrick & Rosso Show (as himself, 2009)
   * SpongeBob SquarePants (as himself, 2009)
   * Strangers with Candy (2000)
   * Funny or Die Presents (2010)
   * Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job (2010)
   * 30 Rock (as the "Bitch Hunter", 2010)
   * The Office (as Deangelo Vickers, 2011)

Salary

   * Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) $20,000,000
   * Bewitched (2005) $20,000,000
   * Kicking & Screaming (2005) $20,000,000
   * Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) $6,900,000
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d62/dentalgrl/Ferrell.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/Mojomp007/will_ferrell.jpg


I think he's funny in any of his films I've seen.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/11 at 8:56 am


I think he's funny in any of his films I've seen.

My son is a big fan of his.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/17/11 at 8:59 am

The person of the day...Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for her chart-topping 1975 hit "Poetry Man".

She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves." Snow was raised in a household where Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland jazz, classical music, and folk music recordings were played around the clock. Her father, Merrill Laub, an exterminator by trade, had an encyclopedic knowledge of American film and theater and was also an avid collector and restorer of antiques. Her mother, Lili Laub, was a dance teacher who had performed with the Martha Graham group.

Snow grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey and graduated from Teaneck High School. She subsequently attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate. Even as a student, she carried her prized Martin 00018 acoustic guitar from club to club in Greenwich Village, playing and singing on amateur nights. Her stage name is a fictional advertising character created in the early 1900s for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad---Phoebe Snow was a young woman who appeared on boxcars.

Snow was briefly married to Phil Kearns, and in December 1975 she gave birth to a severely brain-injured daughter, Valerie Rose. She resolved not to institutionalize her, and cared for her at home until Valerie died on March 18, 2007 at the age of 31. Snow's efforts to care for Valerie nearly ended her career.

Snow continued to take voice lessons, and she studied opera informally.
Professional life

It was at The Bitter End club in 1972 that Denny Cordell, a promotions executive for Shelter Records, was so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her first recording. She released an eponymous album, Phoebe Snow, in 1974. Featuring guest performances by The Persuasions, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, David Bromberg, and Dave Mason, Snow's album went on to sell over a million copies in the United States and became one of the most acclaimed recordings of the era. It spawned a Top Five single on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Poetry Man" and was itself a Top Five album in Billboard. It won Snow a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and established her as a formidable singer/songwriter. The cover of Rolling Stone magazine followed, while she performed as the opening act for tours by Jackson Browne and Paul Simon (with whom she recorded the hit single "Gone at Last" in 1975). 1975 also brought the first of several appearances as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, on which Snow performed both solo and in duets with Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt. During the 1975 appearance, she was seven months pregnant with her daughter who was severely brain damaged.

Snow's backup vocal is heard on Paul Simon's hit song "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" along with Valerie Simpson and Patti Austin, from 1975. She also duets with him on the song gospel-tinged "Gone At Last." Both songs appear on Simon's Grammy-winning 1975 album "Still Crazy After All These Years."

Legal battles took place between Snow and Shelter Records, and Snow ended up signed to Columbia Records. Her second album, Second Childhood, appeared in 1976, produced by Phil Ramone. It was jazzier and more introspective, and suffered disappointing sales. Snow moved to a harder sound for It Looks Like Snow, released later in 1976 with David Rubinson producing. 1977 saw Never Letting Go, again with Ramone, while 1978's Against the Grain was helmed by Barry Beckett. After that Snow parted ways with Columbia; she would later say that the stress of her parental obligations degraded her ability to make music effectively.

In 1981, Snow, now signed with Mirage Records, released Rock Away, recorded with members of Billy Joel's band; it spun off the Top 50 hit "Games". The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide summed up Snow's career so far by saying: "One of the most gifted voices of her generation, Phoebe Snow can do just about anything stylistically as well as technically ... The question that's still unanswered is how best to channel such talent." However, Snow would now spend long periods away from recording, often singing commercial jingles for AT&T and others in order to support herself and her daughter. During the 1980s she also battled her own life-threatening illness. Snow returned to recording with Something Real in 1989 and gathered a few more hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. Also, Snow composed the Detroit's WDIV-TV Go 4 It! campaign in 1980. She sang Ancient Places, Sacred Lands composed by Steve Horelick, http://stevehmusic.com/phoebesnow, on Reading Rainbow's tenth episode The Gift of the Sacred Dog which was based on the book by Paul Goble and narrated by actor Michael Ansara. It was shot at Crow Agency, Montana in 1983.

Snow performed in 1989 on stage at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City as part of Our Common Future, a five hour live television broadcast originating from several countries.

In 1990, she contributed a cover version of the Delaney & Bonnie song "Get ourselves together" to the Elektra compilation Rubáiyát which included Earth Wind & Fire guitarist Dick Smith. In 1992, she toured with Donald Fagen's New York Rock and Soul Revue and was featured on the group's album recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Even when she was not recording her own works, Phoebe continued to tour extensively as a solo artist throughout North America, Great Britain, Germany, and the Far East.

Throughout the 1990s she made numerous appearances on the Howard Stern radio show. She sang live for specials and birthday shows.

In 1997, she sang the Roseanne theme song a cappella during the closing moments of the final episode.

Snow has performed with a numerous artists including Lou Rawls, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dave Grusin, Avenue Blue with Jeff Golub, Garland Jeffreys, Jewel, Donald Fagen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Queen, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jackson Browne, Dave Mason, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Cyndi Lauper, Roger Daltrey, Chaka Khan, CeCe Peniston, Take 6, Michael Bolton, Thelma Houston, Mavis Staples, Laurie Anderson, Tracy Nelson and The Sisters of Glory (with whom she performed at the second Woodstock festival), among others. She also sings the title track on the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album, Time and Love, and recently Snow joined the pop group, Zap Mama, who recorded its own version of "Poetry Man," in an impromptu duet on the PBS series, "Sessions At West 54th." Hawaiian girl group Na Leo also had a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1999 with their cover version of "Poetry Man."

In May 1998, Snow received the Cultural Achievement Award by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. She was also the recipient of a Don Kirschner Rock Award, several Playboy Music Poll Awards, New York Music Awards and the Clio Award.

She performed for U.S. President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, and his cabinet at Camp David in 1999.

In 2003, Snow released her album Natural Wonder on Eagle Records, containing ten original tracks, her first original material in fourteen years.

Snow performed at Howard Stern's wedding in 2008, and made a special appearance in the film Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom as herself. Some of her music was also featured on the soundtrack of the film. Her Live album (2008) featured many of her hits as well as a cover of "Piece of My Heart."

Prior to her stroke, Snow had planned to release a new album in 2010, and had been scheduled to begin touring with her band in March.
Death

Snow suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on January 19, 2010 and slipped into a coma, enduring bouts of blood clots, pneumonia, and congestive heart failure. Snow died on April 26, 2011 at age 60 in Edison, New Jersey.
Discography

    This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Albums

    * 1974: Phoebe Snow (Platinum)
    * 1976: Second Childhood (Gold)
    * 1976: It Looks Like Snow
    * 1977: Never Letting Go
    * 1978: Against the Grain
    * 1981: The Best of Phoebe Snow
    * 1981: Rock Away
    * 1989: Something Real



    * 1991: The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon
    * 1994: Phoebe Snow (Gold Disc)
    * 1995: P.S.
    * 1995: Good News In Hard Times (with The Sisters of Glory)
    * 1998: I Can't Complain
    * 2002: Very Best of Phoebe Snow
    * 2003: Natural Wonder
    * 2008: Live

Compilations

    * 1982: The Best of Phoebe Snow
    * 1995: P.S.



    * 2001: The Very Best of Phoebe Snow

Singles

    * "Poetry Man" b/w "Easy Street" (non-album track included as a bonus on CD) (January 1975) – U.S. #5 Pop / #1 adult contemporary
    * "Harpo's Blues" (May 1975) – U.S. #20 adult contemporary
    * "Gone at Last" (August 1975) (with Paul Simon and Jessy Dixon Singers) – U.S. #23 Pop / #9 adult contemporary
    * "Shakey Ground" (January 1977) – U.S. #70 pop
    * "Every Night" (January 1979) – UK #37
    * "Games" (February 1981) – U.S. #46 pop



    * "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (May 1981) – U.S. #52 pop
    * "Dreams I Dream" (with Dave Mason) (January 1988) – U.S. #11 adult contemporary
    * "Three Little Birds" duet with Gregory Abbott (2003) – pop Caribbean
    * "If I Can Just Get Through the Night" (April 1989) — U.S. #13 adult contemporary
    * "Something Real" (July 1989) — U.S. #29 adult contemporary

With other artists

    * "Hymn" (Aftertones album 1975) – with Janis Ian
    * "Thankful N'Thoughtful" (Night Lines album 1990) – with Dave Grusin



    * "Between Old and New York" (Night Lines album 1990) – with Dave Grusin
    * "Tossin' and Turnin'" (Johnnie Be Back album 1991) – with Johnnie Johnson

    * "Sometimes Love Forgets" ("Hot Spot") Elektra Asylum album 1980; with
    * "Gone at Last" ("Still Crazy After All These Years") Columbia album 1975; with

Cultural references

    * In television drama series The Sopranos (1999–2007), Janice Soprano is said to have named her son Harpo after Snow's song "Harpo's Blues".
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm135/1000000emma/phoebe-1.jpg
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/PhoebeSnow-Lg.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/17/11 at 12:30 pm


My son is a big fan of his.


just as corny as Jim Carrey.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/17/11 at 12:31 pm


The person of the day...Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for her chart-topping 1975 hit "Poetry Man".

She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves." Snow was raised in a household where Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland jazz, classical music, and folk music recordings were played around the clock. Her father, Merrill Laub, an exterminator by trade, had an encyclopedic knowledge of American film and theater and was also an avid collector and restorer of antiques. Her mother, Lili Laub, was a dance teacher who had performed with the Martha Graham group.

Snow grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey and graduated from Teaneck High School. She subsequently attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate. Even as a student, she carried her prized Martin 00018 acoustic guitar from club to club in Greenwich Village, playing and singing on amateur nights. Her stage name is a fictional advertising character created in the early 1900s for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad---Phoebe Snow was a young woman who appeared on boxcars.

Snow was briefly married to Phil Kearns, and in December 1975 she gave birth to a severely brain-injured daughter, Valerie Rose. She resolved not to institutionalize her, and cared for her at home until Valerie died on March 18, 2007 at the age of 31. Snow's efforts to care for Valerie nearly ended her career.

Snow continued to take voice lessons, and she studied opera informally.
Professional life

It was at The Bitter End club in 1972 that Denny Cordell, a promotions executive for Shelter Records, was so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her first recording. She released an eponymous album, Phoebe Snow, in 1974. Featuring guest performances by The Persuasions, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, David Bromberg, and Dave Mason, Snow's album went on to sell over a million copies in the United States and became one of the most acclaimed recordings of the era. It spawned a Top Five single on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Poetry Man" and was itself a Top Five album in Billboard. It won Snow a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and established her as a formidable singer/songwriter. The cover of Rolling Stone magazine followed, while she performed as the opening act for tours by Jackson Browne and Paul Simon (with whom she recorded the hit single "Gone at Last" in 1975). 1975 also brought the first of several appearances as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, on which Snow performed both solo and in duets with Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt. During the 1975 appearance, she was seven months pregnant with her daughter who was severely brain damaged.

Snow's backup vocal is heard on Paul Simon's hit song "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" along with Valerie Simpson and Patti Austin, from 1975. She also duets with him on the song gospel-tinged "Gone At Last." Both songs appear on Simon's Grammy-winning 1975 album "Still Crazy After All These Years."

Legal battles took place between Snow and Shelter Records, and Snow ended up signed to Columbia Records. Her second album, Second Childhood, appeared in 1976, produced by Phil Ramone. It was jazzier and more introspective, and suffered disappointing sales. Snow moved to a harder sound for It Looks Like Snow, released later in 1976 with David Rubinson producing. 1977 saw Never Letting Go, again with Ramone, while 1978's Against the Grain was helmed by Barry Beckett. After that Snow parted ways with Columbia; she would later say that the stress of her parental obligations degraded her ability to make music effectively.

In 1981, Snow, now signed with Mirage Records, released Rock Away, recorded with members of Billy Joel's band; it spun off the Top 50 hit "Games". The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide summed up Snow's career so far by saying: "One of the most gifted voices of her generation, Phoebe Snow can do just about anything stylistically as well as technically ... The question that's still unanswered is how best to channel such talent." However, Snow would now spend long periods away from recording, often singing commercial jingles for AT&T and others in order to support herself and her daughter. During the 1980s she also battled her own life-threatening illness. Snow returned to recording with Something Real in 1989 and gathered a few more hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. Also, Snow composed the Detroit's WDIV-TV Go 4 It! campaign in 1980. She sang Ancient Places, Sacred Lands composed by Steve Horelick, http://stevehmusic.com/phoebesnow, on Reading Rainbow's tenth episode The Gift of the Sacred Dog which was based on the book by Paul Goble and narrated by actor Michael Ansara. It was shot at Crow Agency, Montana in 1983.

Snow performed in 1989 on stage at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City as part of Our Common Future, a five hour live television broadcast originating from several countries.

In 1990, she contributed a cover version of the Delaney & Bonnie song "Get ourselves together" to the Elektra compilation Rubáiyát which included Earth Wind & Fire guitarist Dick Smith. In 1992, she toured with Donald Fagen's New York Rock and Soul Revue and was featured on the group's album recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Even when she was not recording her own works, Phoebe continued to tour extensively as a solo artist throughout North America, Great Britain, Germany, and the Far East.

Throughout the 1990s she made numerous appearances on the Howard Stern radio show. She sang live for specials and birthday shows.

In 1997, she sang the Roseanne theme song a cappella during the closing moments of the final episode.

Snow has performed with a numerous artists including Lou Rawls, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dave Grusin, Avenue Blue with Jeff Golub, Garland Jeffreys, Jewel, Donald Fagen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Queen, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jackson Browne, Dave Mason, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Cyndi Lauper, Roger Daltrey, Chaka Khan, CeCe Peniston, Take 6, Michael Bolton, Thelma Houston, Mavis Staples, Laurie Anderson, Tracy Nelson and The Sisters of Glory (with whom she performed at the second Woodstock festival), among others. She also sings the title track on the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album, Time and Love, and recently Snow joined the pop group, Zap Mama, who recorded its own version of "Poetry Man," in an impromptu duet on the PBS series, "Sessions At West 54th." Hawaiian girl group Na Leo also had a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1999 with their cover version of "Poetry Man."

In May 1998, Snow received the Cultural Achievement Award by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. She was also the recipient of a Don Kirschner Rock Award, several Playboy Music Poll Awards, New York Music Awards and the Clio Award.

She performed for U.S. President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, and his cabinet at Camp David in 1999.

In 2003, Snow released her album Natural Wonder on Eagle Records, containing ten original tracks, her first original material in fourteen years.

Snow performed at Howard Stern's wedding in 2008, and made a special appearance in the film Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom as herself. Some of her music was also featured on the soundtrack of the film. Her Live album (2008) featured many of her hits as well as a cover of "Piece of My Heart."

Prior to her stroke, Snow had planned to release a new album in 2010, and had been scheduled to begin touring with her band in March.
Death

Snow suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on January 19, 2010 and slipped into a coma, enduring bouts of blood clots, pneumonia, and congestive heart failure. Snow died on April 26, 2011 at age 60 in Edison, New Jersey.
Discography

    This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Albums

    * 1974: Phoebe Snow (Platinum)
    * 1976: Second Childhood (Gold)
    * 1976: It Looks Like Snow
    * 1977: Never Letting Go
    * 1978: Against the Grain
    * 1981: The Best of Phoebe Snow
    * 1981: Rock Away
    * 1989: Something Real



    * 1991: The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon
    * 1994: Phoebe Snow (Gold Disc)
    * 1995: P.S.
    * 1995: Good News In Hard Times (with The Sisters of Glory)
    * 1998: I Can't Complain
    * 2002: Very Best of Phoebe Snow
    * 2003: Natural Wonder
    * 2008: Live

Compilations

    * 1982: The Best of Phoebe Snow
    * 1995: P.S.



    * 2001: The Very Best of Phoebe Snow

Singles

    * "Poetry Man" b/w "Easy Street" (non-album track included as a bonus on CD) (January 1975) – U.S. #5 Pop / #1 adult contemporary
    * "Harpo's Blues" (May 1975) – U.S. #20 adult contemporary
    * "Gone at Last" (August 1975) (with Paul Simon and Jessy Dixon Singers) – U.S. #23 Pop / #9 adult contemporary
    * "Shakey Ground" (January 1977) – U.S. #70 pop
    * "Every Night" (January 1979) – UK #37
    * "Games" (February 1981) – U.S. #46 pop



    * "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (May 1981) – U.S. #52 pop
    * "Dreams I Dream" (with Dave Mason) (January 1988) – U.S. #11 adult contemporary
    * "Three Little Birds" duet with Gregory Abbott (2003) – pop Caribbean
    * "If I Can Just Get Through the Night" (April 1989) — U.S. #13 adult contemporary
    * "Something Real" (July 1989) — U.S. #29 adult contemporary

With other artists

    * "Hymn" (Aftertones album 1975) – with Janis Ian
    * "Thankful N'Thoughtful" (Night Lines album 1990) – with Dave Grusin



    * "Between Old and New York" (Night Lines album 1990) – with Dave Grusin
    * "Tossin' and Turnin'" (Johnnie Be Back album 1991) – with Johnnie Johnson

    * "Sometimes Love Forgets" ("Hot Spot") Elektra Asylum album 1980; with
    * "Gone at Last" ("Still Crazy After All These Years") Columbia album 1975; with

Cultural references

    * In television drama series The Sopranos (1999–2007), Janice Soprano is said to have named her son Harpo after Snow's song "Harpo's Blues".
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm135/1000000emma/phoebe-1.jpg
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/PhoebeSnow-Lg.jpg


all these years our family thought that she was black.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/11 at 12:09 pm


just as corny as Jim Carrey.

I guess that's what makes them the big money.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/11 at 12:10 pm


all these years our family thought that she was black.

Because of her soulful voice?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/18/11 at 12:13 pm

The person of the day...Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent; July 18, 1967) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx. He founded the production companies One Race Films, Tigon Studios and Racetrack Records.
Diesel's first film role was a brief uncredited appearance in the 1990 film Awakenings. He then produced, directed, and starred in the 1994 short film Multi-Facial, a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process, because he is regarded as either "too black" or "too white", or not black or white enough. He made his first feature-length film, 1997's Strays, an urban drama in which he was self-cast as a gang boss whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series.

He was then cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. In 1999 he earned critical acclaim for his voice work as the title character in the animation film The Iron Giant. He followed it up with a major role in the Business drama Boiler Room (2000) and then got his breakthrough role as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black (2000). He attained action hero super stardom with the box office hits, the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), starring opposite Paul Walker, and the action thriller xXx (2002).

In 2004, he reprised his role as Pitch Black's Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick which did moderately well at the box office. In 2005 he played a lighthearted role in the comedy film The Pacifier, another box office success. In 2006 he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office. Later that year he made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and The Furious. Diesel was originally offered the lead in 2 Fast 2 Furious but turned it down. He was also offered the chance to reprise his role from xXx in xXx: State of the Union but turned it down as well. In March 2006, Diesel stated that he was working on a sequel to The Chronicles of Riddick which as of 2011 is still in pre-production stages.

In 2007, he was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008 he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D..

He returned to the The Fast and The Furious series, alongside all the actors from the original 2001 film, in Fast & Furious, which released in April 2009. In 2011, he once again returned, for the fifth film in the series, titled Fast Five.
Personal life

Diesel is noted for his recognizable deep voice; he has said that his voice broke at around age 15, giving him a mature sounding voice on the telephone.

Around 2001, Diesel dated his The Fast and the Furious co-star, Michelle Rodriguez.

Diesel has expressed his love for the Dominican Republic, and how he relates to its multicultural facets. He is also acquainted with President Leonel Fernandez, and has since appeared in one of his earlier campaign ads. "Los Bandoleros", a short film directed by Diesel, was also filmed in the Dominican Republic.

Diesel claims that he prefers dating in Europe, where he is less likely to be recognized and where celebrities are not romantically linked to each other. He prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life:
“ I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors. I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence. ”

Diesel has played Dungeons & Dragons for over twenty years and wrote the foreword for the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. In the 30th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons issue of Dragon Magazine, they examine the fact that Diesel played Dungeons & Dragons, and reveal that he had a fake tattoo of his character's name, "Melkor," on his stomach while filming xXx.

Diesel has a daughter, Hania Riley, born April 2, 2008, with his girlfriend, model Paloma Jimenez. Speaking to An tEolas, an Irish newspaper, Diesel stated he has been seen as a hard man, but is in touch with his soft side as a father.
Filmography
Actor
Year Movie Role Other notes
1990 Awakenings Orderly Uncredited role
1994 Multi-Facial Mike
1997 Strays Rick
1998 Saving Private Ryan Private Adrian Caparzo
1999 The Iron Giant The Iron Giant (voice) Animated
2000 Boiler Room Chris Varick
Pitch Black Richard B. Riddick
2001 The Fast and the Furious Dominic Toretto
Knockaround Guys Taylor Reese
2002 xXx Xander Cage
2003 A Man Apart Sean Vetter
2004 The Chronicles of Riddick Richard B. Riddick
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury Richard B. Riddick (voice) Straight-to-DVD; animated
2005 The Pacifier Lieutenant Shane Wolfe
2006 Find Me Guilty Jack DiNorscio
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Dominic Toretto Cameo appearance
2008 Babylon A.D. Hugo Cornelius Toorop
2009 Fast & Furious Dominic "Dom" Toretto
2011 Fast Five Dominic "Dom" Toretto
Producer
Film Title Year Description
Multi-Facial 1994 Producer
Strays 1997 Executive Producer, Producer
xXx 2002 Executive Producer
A Man Apart 2003 Producer
Chronicles of Riddick 2004 Executive Producer
Life is a Dream 2004 Documentary, Executive Producer
Find Me Guilty 2006 Producer
Hitman 2007 Executive Producer
Fast & Furious 2009 Producer
Fast Five 2011 Producer
Director & Writer
Film Year
Multi-Facial 1994
Strays 1997
Games
Main article: Tigon Studios

  1. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004)
  2. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009)
  3. Wheelman (2009)
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m112/mlh28_2006/vin-diesel.jpg
http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu65/esme22/Vin_Diesel.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/18/11 at 1:18 pm


Because of her soulful voice?


Yeah that's what I thought.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 07/19/11 at 4:14 am

Always liked Phoebe's Every Night ... and Poetry Man. :)

I have no idea what people see in Vin Diesel.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/21/11 at 8:17 am

The person of the day ...Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)
Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou, (born 21 July 1948) originally and commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English musician. He is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam.

His early 1970s record albums Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat were both certified as Triple Platinum by the RIAA in the United States; his 1972 album Catch Bull at Four sold half a million copies in the first two weeks of release alone and was Billboard's number-one LP for three consecutive weeks. He has also earned two ASCAP songwriting awards in consecutive years for "The First Cut Is the Deepest", which has been a hit single for four different artists.

Stevens converted to Islam in December 1977 and adopted his Muslim name, Yusuf Islam, the following year. In 1979, he auctioned all his guitars for charity and left his music career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. He has been given several awards for his work in promoting peace in the world, including 2003's World Award, the 2004 Man for Peace Award, and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace. In 2006, he returned to pop music with his first album of new pop songs in 28 years, entitled An Other Cup. He now goes professionally by the single name Yusuf. His newest album, Roadsinger, was released on 5 May 200
Georgiou began to perform his songs in coffee houses and pubs. At first he tried forming a band, but soon realised he preferred performing solo. Thinking that his given name might not be memorable to prospective fans, he chose a stage name Cat Stevens, in part because a girlfriend said he had eyes like a cat, but mainly because he said, "I couldn't imagine anyone going to the record store and asking for 'that Steven Demetre Georgiou album'. And in England, and I was sure in America, they loved animals." In 1966, at age 18, he impressed manager/producer Mike Hurst, formerly of British vocal group The Springfields, with his songs and Hurst arranged for him to record a demo and then helped him get a record deal. The first singles were hits. "I Love My Dog" charted at #28, and "Matthew and Son", the title song from his debut album, went to #2. "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" reached Britain's Top 10, and the album Matthew and Son itself began charting. The original version of the The Tremeloes cover hit, "Here Comes My Baby", was written and recorded by Stevens.

"The First Cut is the Deepest" (1967)
Play sound
Sample of "The First Cut is the Deepest", performed by Cat Stevens. Appears on New Masters.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Over the next two years, Stevens recorded and toured with artists ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Engelbert Humperdinck. The music business had not yet begun targeting specific audiences, so he frequently toured with what now would be considered an unusual array of celebrities. Stevens was considered a fresh-faced teen star, placing several single releases in the British pop music charts. Some of that success was attributed to the pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London, which gained him fans by playing his records. In August 1967, he went on the air with other recording artists who had benefited from the station to mourn its closure.

His December 1967 album New Masters failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The album is now most notable for his song "The First Cut Is the Deepest", a song he sold for £30 to P.P. Arnold that was to become a massive hit for her, and an international hit for Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, James Morrison, and Sheryl Crow. Forty years after he recorded the first demo of the song, it earned him two back-to-back ASCAP "Songwriter of the Year" awards, in 2005 and 2006.
Tuberculosis

Stevens contracted tuberculosis in 1969 and was close to death at the time of his admittance to the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst; he spent months recuperating in hospital and a year of convalescence. During this time Stevens began to question aspects of his life, and spirituality. He later said, "to go from the show business environment and find you are in hospital, getting injections day in and day out, and people around you are dying, it certainly changes your perspective. I got down to thinking about myself. It seemed almost as if I had my eyes shut."

He took up meditation, yoga, and metaphysics; read about other religions; and became a vegetarian. As a result of his serious illness and long convalescence, and as a part of his spiritual awakening and questioning, he wrote as many as forty songs, many of which would appear on his albums in years to come.
Changes in musical sound after illness

The lack of success of Stevens' second album mirrored a difference of personal tastes in musical direction, and a growing resentment at producer Mike Hurst's attempts to re-create another album like that of his debut, with heavy-handed orchestration, and over-production, rather than the folk rock sound Stevens was attempting to produce. He admits having purposefully sabotaged his own contract with Hurst, making outlandishly expensive orchestral demands and threatening legal action, which resulted in his goal: release from his contract with Deram Records, a sub-label of major Decca Records. Upon regaining his health at home after his release from the hospital, Stevens recorded some of his newly written songs on his tape recorder, and played his changing sound for a few new record executives. After hiring agent Barry Krost, who had arranged for an audition with Chris Blackwell of Island Records, Blackwell offered him a "chance to record whenever and with whomever he liked, and more importantly to Cat, however he liked". With Krost's recommendation, Stevens signed with Paul Samwell-Smith, previously the bassist of the Yardbirds, to be his new producer.
Musical career (1970–1978)
Height of popularity

Healthy and sporting a new beard, Stevens was armed with a catalogue of new songs that reflected his new perspective on what he wanted to bring to the world with his music. His previous work had sold in the United Kingdom, but Stevens was still relatively unknown by the public across the Atlantic. To rectify this, after signing with Island Records in 1970, an American distribution deal was arranged with A&M Records' Jerry Moss in North America. Stevens began work on Mona Bone Jakon, a folk-rock based album that was quite different from his earlier "pop" style records, drawing on his new, introspective work. Producer Paul Samwell-Smith paired guitarist Alun Davies, who was currently working as a session musician, with Stevens. Alun was the more experienced veteran of two albums which already had begun to explore the emerging genres of skiffle and folk rock music. Davies was also thought a perfect fit in particular for his "fingerwork" on the guitar, harmonizing and contributing backing vocals with Stevens. They originally met just to record Mona Bone Jakon, but developed a fast friendship; Davies, like Stevens, was a perfectionist, appearing after all the sound checks had been completed, just to be sure that all the equipment and sound were prepared for each concert. He recorded on all but two of the succeeding pop music albums Stevens released, and continued performing and recording with him until Stevens' retirement. The two remained friends, however, and years later, when Stevens re-emerged as Yusuf Islam after 27 years, Davies appeared again performing at his side, and has remained there.

"Wild World" (1971)
Play sound
Sample of "Wild World", performed by Cat Stevens. Appears on Tea for the Tillerman.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The first single released from Mona Bone Jakon was "Lady D'Arbanville", which Stevens wrote about his young American girlfriend Patti D'Arbanville. The record, with a madrigal sound unlike most music played on pop radio, with sounds of djembes and bass in addition to Stevens' and Davies' guitars, reached #8 in the UK. It was the first of his hits to get real airplay in the United States. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record in 1971. Other songs written for her included "Maybe You're Right", and "Just Another Night". In addition, the song, "Pop Star", about his experience as a teen star, and "Katmandu", featuring Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel playing flute, were featured. Mona Bone Jakon was an early example of the solo singer-songwriter album format that was becoming popular for other artists as well. Rolling Stone magazine compared its popularity with that of Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, saying it was played "across the board, across radio formats".

Mona Bone Jakon was the precursor for Stevens' international breakthrough album, Tea for the Tillerman, which became a top-10 Billboard hit. Within six months of its release, it had sold over 500,000 copies, attaining gold record status in the United States and in Britain. The combination of Stevens' new folk-rock style and accessible lyrics which spoke of everyday situations and problems, mixed with the beginning of spiritual questions about life, would remain in his music from then on. The album features the top 20 single "Wild World"; a parting song after D'Arbanville moved on. "Wild World" has been credited as the song that gave Tea for the Tillerman 'enough kick' to get it played on FM radio; and the head of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, was quoted as calling it "the best album we’ve ever released". Other album cuts include "Hard-Headed Woman", and "Father and Son", a song sung both in baritone and tenor, about the struggle between fathers and their sons who are faced with their own personal choices in life. In 2001, this album was certified by the RIAA as a Multi-Platinum record, having sold 3 million copies in the United States at that time. It is ranked at #206 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

"Father and Son" (1970)
Play sound
Sample of "Father and Son", performed by Cat Stevens. Appears on Tea for the Tillerman.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

After the end of his relationship with D'Arbanville, Stevens noted the effect it had on writing his music, saying,

    "Everything I wrote while I was away was in a transitional period and reflects that. Like Patti. A year ago we split; I had been with her for two years. What I write about Patti and my family... when I sing the songs now, I learn strange things. I learn the meanings of my songs late..."

Having established a signature sound, Stevens enjoyed a string of successes over the following years. 1971's Teaser and the Firecat album reached number two and achieved gold record status within three weeks of its release in the United States. It yielded several hits, including "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken" (a Christian hymn with lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon), and "Moon Shadow". This album was also certified by the RIAA as a Multi-Platinum record in 2001, with over three million US sales through that time. When interviewed on a Boston radio station, Stevens said about Teaser and the Firecat:

    "I get the tune and then I just keep on singing the tune until the words come out from the tune. It's kind of a hypnotic state that you reach after a while when you keep on playing it where words just evolve from it. So you take those words and just let them go whichever way they want... 'Moonshadow'? Funny, that was in Spain, I went there alone, completely alone, to get away from a few things. And I was dancin' on the rocks there... right on the rocks where the waves were, like, blowin' and splashin'. Really, it was so fantastic. And the moon was bright, ya know, and I started dancin' and singin' and I sang that song and it stayed. It's just the kind of moment that you want to find when you're writin' songs."

For seven months from 1971 to 1972 Stevens was romantically linked to popular singer Carly Simon while both were produced by Samwell-Smith. During that time both wrote songs for and about one another. Simon wrote and recorded at least two top 50 songs, "Legend in Your Own Time" and "Anticipation" about Stevens. He reciprocated in his song to her, after their romance, entitled, "Sweet Scarlet".

His next album, Catch Bull at Four, released in 1972, was his most rapidly successful album in the United States, reaching gold record status in 15 days, and holding the number-one position on the Billboard charts for three weeks. This album continued the introspective and spiritual lyrics that he was known for, combined with a rougher-edged voice and a less acoustic sound than his previous records, utilizing synthesizers and other instruments. Although the sales of the album indicated Stevens' popularity, the album did not produce any real hits, with the exception of the single "Sitting", which charted at #16. Catch Bull at Four was Platinum certified in 2001.
While on holiday in Marrakech, Morocco, shortly after visiting Ibiza, Stevens was intrigued by the sound of the Aḏhān, the Islamic ritual call to prayer, which was explained to him as "music for God". Stevens said, "I thought, music for God? I’d never heard that before – I’d heard of music for money, music for fame, music for personal power, but music for God!"

In 1976 Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California, USA and says he shouted: “Oh God! If you save me I will work for you.” He says that right afterward a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. This brush with death intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into "Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, Numerology, tarot cards and Astrology". Stevens' brother David Gordon brought him a copy of the Qur'an as a birthday gift from a trip to Jerusalem. Stevens took to it right away, and began his transition to Islam.

During the time he was studying the Qur'an, he began to identify more and more with the name of Joseph, a man bought and sold in the market place, which is how he says he had increasingly felt within the music business. Regarding his conversion, in his 2006 interview with Alan Yentob, he stated, "to some people, it may have seemed like an enormous jump, but for me, it was a gradual move to this." And, in a Rolling Stone magazine interview, he reaffirmed this, saying, "I had found the spiritual home I'd been seeking for most of my life. And if you listen to my music and lyrics, like "Peace Train" and "On The Road To Find Out", it clearly shows my yearning for direction and the spiritual path I was travelling."

Stevens formally converted to the Islamic religion on 23 December 1977, taking the name Yusuf Islam in 1978. Yusuf is the Arabic rendition of the name Joseph. He stated that he "always loved the name Joseph" and was particularly drawn to the story of Joseph in the Qur'an. Although he discontinued his pop career, he was persuaded to perform one last time before what would become his twenty-five year musical hiatus. Appearing with his hair freshly shorn and an untrimmed beard, he headlined a charity concert on 22 November 1979 in Wembley Stadium to benefit UNICEF's International Year of the Child. The concert closed with a performance by Stevens, David Essex, Alun Davies, and Stevens' brother, David, who wrote the song that was the finale, "Child for a Day".

Yusuf married Fauzia Mubarak Ali on 7 September 1979, at Regent's Park Mosque in London. They have five children and currently live in London, spending part of each year in Dubai.
Philanthropic and humanitarian awards

    * 2003 World Award also known as the "World Social Award" for "humanitarian relief work helping children and victims of war".
    * 2004 Man for Peace Award presented by Mikhail Gorbachev for his "dedication to promote peace, the reconciliation of people and to condemn terrorism", the ceremony was held in Rome, Italy and attended by five Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
    * (2005) Honorary Doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire for services to education and humanitarian relief.
    * 4 January 2007, The Mediterranean Prize for Peace in Naples, Italy. The award was received "as a result of the work he has done to increase peace in the world."
    * 10 July 2007, honorary doctorate (LLD) by the University of Exeter, in recognition of "his humanitarian work and improving understanding between Islamic and Western cultures". The ceremony was attended by esteemed personalities including Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and guitarist Brian May.
    * 6 November 2009, Special Achievement Award of the German Sustainability Award.

Music awards and recognition

    * 2005 Nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    * 20 October 2005, ASCAP named Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year for "The First Cut Is the Deepest"
    * 8 June 2006, listed as #49 in Paste magazine's "100 Best Living Songwriters"
    * 11 October 2006, awarded Songwriter of the Year for the second year running, for the same song "The First Cut Is the Deepest"
    * 25 March 2007, received the German ECHO "special award for life achievements as musician and ambassador between cultures", Europe's Grammy, in Berlin
    * 2008 Nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Discography
Main article: Cat Stevens discography

    (includes Yusuf discography)

See also

    * List of best-selling music artists
    * List of converts to Islam
    * Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv255/Miss_Stephanie_photo/Artists/Cat.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a312/TheiJawn/catstevens.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/21/11 at 11:06 am

One of my favorite Cat Steven songs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgrsiEIUAv0&feature=fvst

In my case, it should have been titled "Mother & Daughter" with me being the daughter.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/21/11 at 1:05 pm

I like Peace Train.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/21/11 at 1:52 pm


One of my favorite Cat Steven songs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgrsiEIUAv0&feature=fvst

In my case, it should have been titled "Mother & Daughter" with me being the daughter.



Cat
My favourite Cat Stevens song too!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/22/11 at 12:42 pm

British Person of the Day: William Archibald Spooner

William Archibald Spooner (22 July 1844 – 29 August 1930) was a famous Oxford don whose name is given to the linguistic phenomenon of spoonerism.

Biography

Spooner was born at 17 Chapel Street, Grosvenor Place, London. He was educated at Oswestry School and New College, Oxford, where he was the first non-Wykehamist to become an undergraduate. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1872 and priest in 1875.

He remained at New College for more than sixty years, serving as Fellow (1867), Lecturer (1868), Tutor (1869), Dean (1876–1889), and Warden (1903–1924). He lectured on ancient history, divinity, and philosophy (especially on Aristotle's ethics).

Spooner was well liked and respected, described as, "an albino, small, with a pink face, poor eyesight, and a head too large for his body", and, "His reputation was that of a genial, kindly, hospitable man."

In the opinion of Roy Harrod, William Spooner exceeded all the heads of Oxford and Cambridge colleges he had known "having regard to his scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom."

Spoonerisms

Spooner has become famous for his (real or alleged) "spoonerisms", plays on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched. Few, if any, of his own spoonerisms were deliberate, and many of those attributed to him are apocryphal.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) lists only one substantiated Spoonerism - "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer". Spooner himself admitted to uttering "Kinkering Congs Their Titles Take" in a 1930 interview. Spooner is said to have disliked the reputation gained for getting his words muddled.

After the concept of Spoonerisms became popularized, Spooner denounced a crowd that had gathered to hear him speak by saying, "You haven't come for my lecture, you just want to hear one of those...things."

Spooner is supposed to have committed other absent-minded gaffes. He was said to have invited a don to tea, "to welcome Stanley Casson, our new archaeology Fellow". "But, sir," the man replied, "I am Stanley Casson". "Never mind," Spooner said, "Come all the same."

At a party in North Oxfordshire his wife sustained a cut on her finger. When concerned friends asked him "Did she lose her finger permanently?", he is supposed to have answered "She lost her finger permanently, for a time."

One recorded incident had Spooner write a note asking for a fellow lecturer at New College to see him immediately about a matter. The note had a postscript informing the lecturer that the matter had been resolved and he no longer needed to see him.

Another story tells of Spooner preaching a sermon about St. Paul, but substituted the name Aristotle for St. Paul. When he finished, he came down from the pulpit, paused, went back up, and told his bewildered congregation, "Did I say Aristotle? I meant St. Paul." Some versions of this story have Spooner substituting Aristotle for Aquinas.

It is said that Canon Spooner not only mixed up words, but entire concepts upon occasion. Reportedly, he once spilled salt at a dinner and absent-mindedly poured some wine on it, a reversal of the usual procedure. According to sources, he once remarked of a widow that "her husband was eaten by missionaries."

Select spoonerisms

Some of the more famous quotations attributed to Spooner (and possibly Spooner's students) include:

    "The Lord is a shoving leopard", or "Come into the arms of the shoving leopard" (Loving shepherd)
    "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride" (...customary to kiss the bride)
    "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?" (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?)
    "You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain" (You have missed all my history lectures, and were caught lighting a fire in the quad. Having wasted two terms, you will leave by the next down train)
    He supposedly remarked to one lady, during a college reception, "You'll soon be had as a matter of course" (You'll soon be mad as a Hatter of course)
    "Let us glaze our rasses to the queer old Dean" (...raise our glasses to the dear old queen. Note: Alternatively, "Let us glaze our asses"; presumably to be a spoonerism the letter r is placed at the beginning of "asses" but when spoken the r's in "our" and "rasses" are nearly indistinguishable, thus producing the alternative, more humorous "glaze our asses.")
    "We'll have the hags flung out" (...flags hung out)
    "a half-warmed fish" (A half-formed wish)
    "Is the bean dizzy?" (Is the Dean busy?)
    "Go and shake a tower" (Go and take a shower)
    "a well-boiled icicle" (A well-oiled bicycle)
    "I've lost my signifying glass". (Later): "Oh, well, it doesn't magnify."
    "This vast display of cattleships and bruisers". (This vast display of battleships and cruisers)
    "Such Bulgarians should be vanished...". (Such vulgarians should be banished)
    "He was killed by a blushing crow". (He was killed by a crushing blow)


His attitude towards his unintentional fame softened in his final years, even granting the occasional reprint for humour's sake, regardless of validity.

On his death, the Times recorded that, "He was not afraid of conversation."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:26 pm

The person of the day...Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series. His work on the series has earned him several awards and more than £60 million.

Radcliffe made his acting debut at age ten in BBC One's television movie David Copperfield (1999), followed by his film debut in 2001's The Tailor of Panama. Cast as Harry at the age of eleven, Radcliffe has starred in eight Harry Potter films since 2001, with the final instalment released in July 2011. In 2007 Radcliffe began to branch out from the series, starring in the London and New York productions of the play Equus, and the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The Woman in Black (2012) will be his first film project following the final Harry Potter movie.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza House Children's Hospice and The Trevor Project. He has also made public service announcements for the latter. In 2011 the actor was awarded the Trevor Project's "Hero Award".
In 2000, producer David Heyman asked Radcliffe to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling book by British author J.K. Rowling. The author had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character. However, Radcliffe's parents did not want him to audition for the role as the contract required shooting all seven films in Los Angeles, California, so they did not tell him. Once the movie's director Chris Columbus saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield, he recalled thinking, "This is what I want. This is Harry Potter". Eight months later, after several auditions, he was selected to play the part. Rowling also endorsed the selection, saying the filmmaker could not "have found a better Harry". Warner Bros offered him a two-movie contract, with shooting in the UK, and assured his parents he would be protected. When signing up, Radcliffe was unsure if he would do any more pictures.

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) took place in 2001. The story follows Harry, a young boy who learns he is a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his magical education. He got a seven figure salary for the lead role but asserted that the fee was not "that important" to him. His parents chose to invest the money for him. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and became the highest-grossing film of 2001. With a total of US$974 million in ticket sales, Philosopher's Stone stands as the most commercially successful in the series. The adaptation met with strong reviews, and critics took notice of Radcliffe: "Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader's imagination. It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions, from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing," wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Radcliffe at the July 2009 premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A year later, Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post labelled it "big, dull and empty", whereas Desson Thomson of the same publication had more positive feelings. Observing that Radcliffe and his peers had matured, Los Angeles Times's staff writer Kenneth Turan believed the novel's magic could not be successfully duplicated in the film. Nonetheless, it still managed to earn US$878 million, taking the second spot of the highest-grossing 2002 films worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The 2004 release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban marked the third in the series. While garnering the highest critical acclaim of the series and grossing US$795.6 million worldwide, the film's performance at the box office ranks the lowest in the series. Meanwhile, Radcliffe's performance was panned by critics, who found him to be "wooden", with New York Times journalist A. O. Scott writing that Watson had to carry him with her performance. Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. The film explored romantic elements, included more humour and saw Harry selected as a competitor in a dangerous multi-wizard school competition. Goblet of Fire set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, as well as for a non-May opening weekend in the US and an opening weekend in the UK. In a 2005 interview, Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie's creative success.

Despite the success of the past movies, the future of the franchise was put into question as all three lead actors were unsure about signing on to continue their roles for the final two episodes. However, by 2 March 2007, Radcliffe signed for the final films, which put an end to weeks of press speculation that he would be denied the part due to his involvement in Equus. Radcliffe reprised his role for the fifth time in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), which details Harry's return to Hogwarts after his recent encounter with Lord Voldemort. It opened to positive responses from the press. IGN movie critic Steven Horn found Order of the Phoenix to be one of "those rare films that exceeds the source material" and Colin Bertram of New York's Daily News publication dubbed it the best movie in the series. Radcliffe has stated that he had formed a special bond with actor Gary Oldman while working with him on set and that director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton made Order of the Phoenix the "most fun" film in the series to work on. His performance earned several nominations, and he picked up the 2008 National Movie Award for "Best Male Performance". As the fame of the actor and the series continued, Radcliffe and fellow Harry Potter cast members Rupert Grint and Emma Watson left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

On 15 July 2009, the series's sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released. It centres around Harry discovering an old book belonging to the Half-Blood Prince and beginning to learn more about Lord Voldemort's past. The film did considerably better than the previous movie, breaking the then-record for biggest midnight US showings, with US$22.2 million at 3,000 theatres and with US$7 million, giving the UK its biggest Wednesday ever. In its total run, Half-Blood Prince totalled in US$933 million ticket sales. The film remains one of the most positively reviewed entries within the series among film critics, who praised the film's "emotionally satisfying" story, direction, cinematography, visuals and music. At the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Radcliffe received nominations for "Best Male Performance" and "Global Superstar".
David Yates directs Radcliffe for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 in 2009.

For financial and scripting reasons, the last book was divided into two films that were shot back to back, drawing criticism from the book's fanbase. The actor defended the split, pointing out that it would have been impossible to properly adapt the final novel into a single film. He added that the last movie was going to be extremely fast-paced with a lot of action, while the first part would be far more sedate, focussing on character development. Had they combined them, those things would not have made it to the final cut. Filming lasted for a year, concluding in June 2010. On the last day of shooting, like most of the cast and crew, Radcliffe openly wept. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) was released in November and grossed over US$950 million. Its most lucrative territory was the UK, where it reportedly had the highest-grossing three-day opening in history. Overseas, its earnings of US$205 million in 91 markets made it the top-grossing foreign opening for a non-summer picture. The movie received mostly favourable reviews in the media.

The final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, was released worldwide starting on 13 July 2011 in Australia. It was named the most highly anticipated film of 2011 by Fandango users and won the National Movie Awards's "Must See Movie of the Summer" accolade. Radcliffe admitted that some people would never be able to separate him from the character but also said he is "proud to be associated with this film series forever." Despite positive feelings about the movies, he has no interest in doing more Harry Potter films. After Rowling suggested writing an eighth book, Radcliffe was asked if he would do another film; he replied: " very doubtful. I think 10 years is a long time to spend with one character." Despite devoting so much time to the series, Radcliffe has asserted that he did not miss out on a childhood like other child actors: "I’ve been given a much better perspective on life by doing Potter.
Other acting work
Radcliffe at December Boys premiere in 2007

Prior to Harry Potter, Radcliffe made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama, an American 2001 film based on John le Carré's 1996 spy novel and a moderate commercial success. In 2002, he made his stage debut as a celebrity guest in the West End production The Play What I Wrote directed by Kenneth Branagh, who appeared with him in the second Harry Potter movie. In 2007, he appeared in December Boys, an Australian family drama about four orphans that was shot in 2005 and released to theatres in mid-September 2007. Also in 2007, Radcliffe co-starred with Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, a television drama film shown on ITV on Remembrance Day. The TV film received mostly good reviews, with several critics praising Radcliffe's performance as an 18 year-old who goes missing in action during a battle. Radcliffe stated, "For many people my age, the First World War is just a topic in a history book. But I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was."

At age 17, in a bid to show people he was not a kid anymore, he performed onstage in Peter Shaffer's play Equus, which had not been revived since its first run in 1973. Radcliffe took on the lead role as Alan Strang, a stable boy who has an obsession with horses, at the Gielgud Theatre. The role generated significant pre-opening media interest and advance sales topped £1.7 million, as Radcliffe appeared in a nude scene. Equus opened on 27 February 2007 and ran until 9 June 2007. Radcliffe's performance received positive reviews as critics were impressed by the nuance and depth of his against-type role. Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he "displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence that marks a tremendous leap forward." He added: "I never thought I would find the diminutive (but perfectly formed) Radcliffe a sinister figure, but as Alan Strang, there are moments when he seems genuinely scary in his rage and confusion." The production then transferred to Broadway in September 2008 with Radcliffe still in the lead role. Radcliffe stated he was nervous about repeating the role on Broadway because he considered American audiences more discerning than those in London. Radcliffe's performance was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late 2010, Radcliffe debuted as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 2011 Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick. Other cast members included Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber. Both the actor and production received favourable reviews, with the latter receiving 9 Tony Award nominations. His first post-Harry Potter project will be the 2012 supernatural thriller The Woman in Black, which is adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill and set for a February release in the UK. Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died. Soon after, he begins to experience strange events and hauntings from the ghost of a woman dressed in black. He said he was "incredibly excited" to be part of the film and described the script as "beautifully written". Variety confirmed Radcliffe will star in the indie comedy The Amateur Photographer, a film adaptation of the book of the same name, directed by Christopher Monger. Set in 1970, it follows a man (Radcliffe) who discovers his calling after being drafted by the residents of a small England mill town to serve as a photographer for their most personal moments.
Personal life

In 2007, Radcliffe was in a relationship with Laura O'Toole, an understudy for one of his co-stars in a play. Following the break-up, they remained friends. He is an atheist and has also stated that he is "very proud of being Jewish." In 2008, he revealed that he suffers from a mild form of the neurological disorder dyspraxia. The motor skill disorder sometimes gets so bad that he has trouble doing simple activities, such as writing or tying his own shoelaces. "I was having a hard time at school, in terms of being crap at everything, with no discernible talent," the actor commented. In August 2010, he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it.

Radcliffe is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats. He has voiced support for the political party's Nick Clegg and pledged to spend more time in the UK to help increase his profile to a younger audience. At the age of 16, Radcliffe became the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain's National Portrait Gallery. On 13 April 2006, his portrait, drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright, was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre, then moved to NPG where it resides.

He is a fan of underground and punk rock music, and is a keen follower of cricket. Writing short stories and poetry is also a passion. In November 2007, the actor published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon – a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother's maiden name Gresham – in Rubbish, an underground fashion magazine. He enjoys a close friendship with his fellow Harry Potter co-stars Emma Watson and Tom Felton and is tight-knit with his family, whom he credits for keeping him grounded.
Radcliffe at the 2008 BAFTA Awards

Speaking out against homophobia, Radcliffe filmed public service announcements for The Trevor Project promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention beginning in 2009. He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in 2008 and has contributed financially to it. "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it," he said in a 2010 interview. In the same interview, he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights. Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career. For his work for the organisation, he was given the "Hero Award" in 2011.

Radcliffe has supported various charities. He designed a Cu-Bed for Habitat's VIP Kids range, and all the royalties from the sale of the bed went directly to his favourite charity, Demelza House Children's Hospice, in Sittingbourne, Kent. Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations in lieu of Christmas presents to him to that charity's Candle for Care program. In 2008, he was among several celebrities to donate their old eyeglasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust. During the Broadway run of Equus, the actor also auctioned off a pair of jeans he wore in the show for several thousand dollars. He has also donated money to Get Connected UK, a London-based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth.

He is reported to have earned £1 million for the first Potter film and around £15 million for the sixth movie. Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006, which estimated his personal fortune to be £14 million, making him one of the richest young people in the UK. In March 2009, he was ranked number one on the Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars". By April, The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at £30m, making him the 12th richest young person in the UK. According to the publication, he is expected to have amassed £70m by the time the series of movies concludes. Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England as of June 2009. In February 2010, he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star and placed at number five on Forbes's December list of Hollywood's highest-grossing actors, with the revenue of US$780 million thanks to one movie released that year: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The actor was reported in 2010 to have personal assets of £28.5 million, making him richer than Princes William and Harry. Despite his wealth, Radcliffe has said he does not have expensive tastes. His main expense is buying books: "I read a lot." He also stated that money would never be the focus of his life.
Screen and stage credits
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2001 The Tailor of Panama Mark Pendel
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter Released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US and India
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter
2007 December Boys Maps
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Harry Potter
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Harry Potter
2012 The Woman in Black Arthur Kipps Post-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1999 David Copperfield young David Copperfield Television film shown on BBC One
2005 Foley and McColl: This Way Up Traffic Warden/Himself
2006 Extras Boy Scout/Himself
2007 My Boy Jack Jack Kipling Television film shown on ITV
2010 The Simpsons Edmund "Treehouse of Horror XXI", voice part
2010 QI Himself BBC comedy panel game television program
Stage
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2002 The Play What I Wrote Guest Wyndham's Theatre
2007 Equus Alan Strang Gielgud Theatre
2008 Equus Alan Strang Broadhurst Theatre
2011 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying J. Pierrepont Finch Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Awards
Year↓ Organisation↓ Award↓ Work↓ Result↓
2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Performer Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Hollywood Women's Press Club Male Youth Discovery of the Year Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Won
2001 MTV Movie Awards Best Breakthrough Male Performance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Young Artist Awards Best Ensemble in a Feature Film (shared with the movies cast) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Nominated
2006 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best On-Screan Team (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best Hero Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2007 National Movie Awards Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Won
2008 Empire Award Best Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (shared with Katie Leung) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 Saturn Awards Best Performance by a Young Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Leading Actor in a Broadway Play Equus Won
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Breakthrough Performance Equus Won
2009 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Actor in a Play Equus Nominated
2009 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Award Equus Nominated
2010 J-14's Teen Icon Awards Iconic Movie Star N/A Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Global Superstar N/A Nominated
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Actor in a Broadway Play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Onstage Pair (with John Larroquette) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Kiss (shared with Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Fight (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv357/jam_cullen/1_184477200l.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z219/misiak13/Blog-Graphic%20-Designs/danielradclifeblend.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:28 pm


British Person of the Day: William Archibald Spooner

William Archibald Spooner (22 July 1844 – 29 August 1930) was a famous Oxford don whose name is given to the linguistic phenomenon of spoonerism.

Biography

Spooner was born at 17 Chapel Street, Grosvenor Place, London. He was educated at Oswestry School and New College, Oxford, where he was the first non-Wykehamist to become an undergraduate. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1872 and priest in 1875.

He remained at New College for more than sixty years, serving as Fellow (1867), Lecturer (1868), Tutor (1869), Dean (1876–1889), and Warden (1903–1924). He lectured on ancient history, divinity, and philosophy (especially on Aristotle's ethics).

Spooner was well liked and respected, described as, "an albino, small, with a pink face, poor eyesight, and a head too large for his body", and, "His reputation was that of a genial, kindly, hospitable man."

In the opinion of Roy Harrod, William Spooner exceeded all the heads of Oxford and Cambridge colleges he had known "having regard to his scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom."

Spoonerisms

Spooner has become famous for his (real or alleged) "spoonerisms", plays on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched. Few, if any, of his own spoonerisms were deliberate, and many of those attributed to him are apocryphal.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) lists only one substantiated Spoonerism - "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer". Spooner himself admitted to uttering "Kinkering Congs Their Titles Take" in a 1930 interview. Spooner is said to have disliked the reputation gained for getting his words muddled.

After the concept of Spoonerisms became popularized, Spooner denounced a crowd that had gathered to hear him speak by saying, "You haven't come for my lecture, you just want to hear one of those...things."

Spooner is supposed to have committed other absent-minded gaffes. He was said to have invited a don to tea, "to welcome Stanley Casson, our new archaeology Fellow". "But, sir," the man replied, "I am Stanley Casson". "Never mind," Spooner said, "Come all the same."

At a party in North Oxfordshire his wife sustained a cut on her finger. When concerned friends asked him "Did she lose her finger permanently?", he is supposed to have answered "She lost her finger permanently, for a time."

One recorded incident had Spooner write a note asking for a fellow lecturer at New College to see him immediately about a matter. The note had a postscript informing the lecturer that the matter had been resolved and he no longer needed to see him.

Another story tells of Spooner preaching a sermon about St. Paul, but substituted the name Aristotle for St. Paul. When he finished, he came down from the pulpit, paused, went back up, and told his bewildered congregation, "Did I say Aristotle? I meant St. Paul." Some versions of this story have Spooner substituting Aristotle for Aquinas.

It is said that Canon Spooner not only mixed up words, but entire concepts upon occasion. Reportedly, he once spilled salt at a dinner and absent-mindedly poured some wine on it, a reversal of the usual procedure. According to sources, he once remarked of a widow that "her husband was eaten by missionaries."

Select spoonerisms

Some of the more famous quotations attributed to Spooner (and possibly Spooner's students) include:

    "The Lord is a shoving leopard", or "Come into the arms of the shoving leopard" (Loving shepherd)
    "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride" (...customary to kiss the bride)
    "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?" (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?)
    "You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain" (You have missed all my history lectures, and were caught lighting a fire in the quad. Having wasted two terms, you will leave by the next down train)
    He supposedly remarked to one lady, during a college reception, "You'll soon be had as a matter of course" (You'll soon be mad as a Hatter of course)
    "Let us glaze our rasses to the queer old Dean" (...raise our glasses to the dear old queen. Note: Alternatively, "Let us glaze our asses"; presumably to be a spoonerism the letter r is placed at the beginning of "asses" but when spoken the r's in "our" and "rasses" are nearly indistinguishable, thus producing the alternative, more humorous "glaze our asses.")
    "We'll have the hags flung out" (...flags hung out)
    "a half-warmed fish" (A half-formed wish)
    "Is the bean dizzy?" (Is the Dean busy?)
    "Go and shake a tower" (Go and take a shower)
    "a well-boiled icicle" (A well-oiled bicycle)
    "I've lost my signifying glass". (Later): "Oh, well, it doesn't magnify."
    "This vast display of cattleships and bruisers". (This vast display of battleships and cruisers)
    "Such Bulgarians should be vanished...". (Such vulgarians should be banished)
    "He was killed by a blushing crow". (He was killed by a crushing blow)


His attitude towards his unintentional fame softened in his final years, even granting the occasional reprint for humour's sake, regardless of validity.

On his death, the Times recorded that, "He was not afraid of conversation."

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/23/11 at 12:29 pm


The person of the day...Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series. His work on the series has earned him several awards and more than £60 million.

Radcliffe made his acting debut at age ten in BBC One's television movie David Copperfield (1999), followed by his film debut in 2001's The Tailor of Panama. Cast as Harry at the age of eleven, Radcliffe has starred in eight Harry Potter films since 2001, with the final instalment released in July 2011. In 2007 Radcliffe began to branch out from the series, starring in the London and New York productions of the play Equus, and the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The Woman in Black (2012) will be his first film project following the final Harry Potter movie.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza House Children's Hospice and The Trevor Project. He has also made public service announcements for the latter. In 2011 the actor was awarded the Trevor Project's "Hero Award".
In 2000, producer David Heyman asked Radcliffe to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling book by British author J.K. Rowling. The author had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character. However, Radcliffe's parents did not want him to audition for the role as the contract required shooting all seven films in Los Angeles, California, so they did not tell him. Once the movie's director Chris Columbus saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield, he recalled thinking, "This is what I want. This is Harry Potter". Eight months later, after several auditions, he was selected to play the part. Rowling also endorsed the selection, saying the filmmaker could not "have found a better Harry". Warner Bros offered him a two-movie contract, with shooting in the UK, and assured his parents he would be protected. When signing up, Radcliffe was unsure if he would do any more pictures.

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) took place in 2001. The story follows Harry, a young boy who learns he is a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his magical education. He got a seven figure salary for the lead role but asserted that the fee was not "that important" to him. His parents chose to invest the money for him. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and became the highest-grossing film of 2001. With a total of US$974 million in ticket sales, Philosopher's Stone stands as the most commercially successful in the series. The adaptation met with strong reviews, and critics took notice of Radcliffe: "Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader's imagination. It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions, from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing," wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Radcliffe at the July 2009 premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A year later, Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post labelled it "big, dull and empty", whereas Desson Thomson of the same publication had more positive feelings. Observing that Radcliffe and his peers had matured, Los Angeles Times's staff writer Kenneth Turan believed the novel's magic could not be successfully duplicated in the film. Nonetheless, it still managed to earn US$878 million, taking the second spot of the highest-grossing 2002 films worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The 2004 release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban marked the third in the series. While garnering the highest critical acclaim of the series and grossing US$795.6 million worldwide, the film's performance at the box office ranks the lowest in the series. Meanwhile, Radcliffe's performance was panned by critics, who found him to be "wooden", with New York Times journalist A. O. Scott writing that Watson had to carry him with her performance. Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. The film explored romantic elements, included more humour and saw Harry selected as a competitor in a dangerous multi-wizard school competition. Goblet of Fire set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, as well as for a non-May opening weekend in the US and an opening weekend in the UK. In a 2005 interview, Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie's creative success.

Despite the success of the past movies, the future of the franchise was put into question as all three lead actors were unsure about signing on to continue their roles for the final two episodes. However, by 2 March 2007, Radcliffe signed for the final films, which put an end to weeks of press speculation that he would be denied the part due to his involvement in Equus. Radcliffe reprised his role for the fifth time in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), which details Harry's return to Hogwarts after his recent encounter with Lord Voldemort. It opened to positive responses from the press. IGN movie critic Steven Horn found Order of the Phoenix to be one of "those rare films that exceeds the source material" and Colin Bertram of New York's Daily News publication dubbed it the best movie in the series. Radcliffe has stated that he had formed a special bond with actor Gary Oldman while working with him on set and that director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton made Order of the Phoenix the "most fun" film in the series to work on. His performance earned several nominations, and he picked up the 2008 National Movie Award for "Best Male Performance". As the fame of the actor and the series continued, Radcliffe and fellow Harry Potter cast members Rupert Grint and Emma Watson left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

On 15 July 2009, the series's sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released. It centres around Harry discovering an old book belonging to the Half-Blood Prince and beginning to learn more about Lord Voldemort's past. The film did considerably better than the previous movie, breaking the then-record for biggest midnight US showings, with US$22.2 million at 3,000 theatres and with US$7 million, giving the UK its biggest Wednesday ever. In its total run, Half-Blood Prince totalled in US$933 million ticket sales. The film remains one of the most positively reviewed entries within the series among film critics, who praised the film's "emotionally satisfying" story, direction, cinematography, visuals and music. At the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Radcliffe received nominations for "Best Male Performance" and "Global Superstar".
David Yates directs Radcliffe for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 in 2009.

For financial and scripting reasons, the last book was divided into two films that were shot back to back, drawing criticism from the book's fanbase. The actor defended the split, pointing out that it would have been impossible to properly adapt the final novel into a single film. He added that the last movie was going to be extremely fast-paced with a lot of action, while the first part would be far more sedate, focussing on character development. Had they combined them, those things would not have made it to the final cut. Filming lasted for a year, concluding in June 2010. On the last day of shooting, like most of the cast and crew, Radcliffe openly wept. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) was released in November and grossed over US$950 million. Its most lucrative territory was the UK, where it reportedly had the highest-grossing three-day opening in history. Overseas, its earnings of US$205 million in 91 markets made it the top-grossing foreign opening for a non-summer picture. The movie received mostly favourable reviews in the media.

The final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, was released worldwide starting on 13 July 2011 in Australia. It was named the most highly anticipated film of 2011 by Fandango users and won the National Movie Awards's "Must See Movie of the Summer" accolade. Radcliffe admitted that some people would never be able to separate him from the character but also said he is "proud to be associated with this film series forever." Despite positive feelings about the movies, he has no interest in doing more Harry Potter films. After Rowling suggested writing an eighth book, Radcliffe was asked if he would do another film; he replied: " very doubtful. I think 10 years is a long time to spend with one character." Despite devoting so much time to the series, Radcliffe has asserted that he did not miss out on a childhood like other child actors: "I’ve been given a much better perspective on life by doing Potter.
Other acting work
Radcliffe at December Boys premiere in 2007

Prior to Harry Potter, Radcliffe made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama, an American 2001 film based on John le Carré's 1996 spy novel and a moderate commercial success. In 2002, he made his stage debut as a celebrity guest in the West End production The Play What I Wrote directed by Kenneth Branagh, who appeared with him in the second Harry Potter movie. In 2007, he appeared in December Boys, an Australian family drama about four orphans that was shot in 2005 and released to theatres in mid-September 2007. Also in 2007, Radcliffe co-starred with Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, a television drama film shown on ITV on Remembrance Day. The TV film received mostly good reviews, with several critics praising Radcliffe's performance as an 18 year-old who goes missing in action during a battle. Radcliffe stated, "For many people my age, the First World War is just a topic in a history book. But I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was."

At age 17, in a bid to show people he was not a kid anymore, he performed onstage in Peter Shaffer's play Equus, which had not been revived since its first run in 1973. Radcliffe took on the lead role as Alan Strang, a stable boy who has an obsession with horses, at the Gielgud Theatre. The role generated significant pre-opening media interest and advance sales topped £1.7 million, as Radcliffe appeared in a nude scene. Equus opened on 27 February 2007 and ran until 9 June 2007. Radcliffe's performance received positive reviews as critics were impressed by the nuance and depth of his against-type role. Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he "displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence that marks a tremendous leap forward." He added: "I never thought I would find the diminutive (but perfectly formed) Radcliffe a sinister figure, but as Alan Strang, there are moments when he seems genuinely scary in his rage and confusion." The production then transferred to Broadway in September 2008 with Radcliffe still in the lead role. Radcliffe stated he was nervous about repeating the role on Broadway because he considered American audiences more discerning than those in London. Radcliffe's performance was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late 2010, Radcliffe debuted as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 2011 Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick. Other cast members included Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber. Both the actor and production received favourable reviews, with the latter receiving 9 Tony Award nominations. His first post-Harry Potter project will be the 2012 supernatural thriller The Woman in Black, which is adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill and set for a February release in the UK. Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died. Soon after, he begins to experience strange events and hauntings from the ghost of a woman dressed in black. He said he was "incredibly excited" to be part of the film and described the script as "beautifully written". Variety confirmed Radcliffe will star in the indie comedy The Amateur Photographer, a film adaptation of the book of the same name, directed by Christopher Monger. Set in 1970, it follows a man (Radcliffe) who discovers his calling after being drafted by the residents of a small England mill town to serve as a photographer for their most personal moments.
Personal life

In 2007, Radcliffe was in a relationship with Laura O'Toole, an understudy for one of his co-stars in a play. Following the break-up, they remained friends. He is an atheist and has also stated that he is "very proud of being Jewish." In 2008, he revealed that he suffers from a mild form of the neurological disorder dyspraxia. The motor skill disorder sometimes gets so bad that he has trouble doing simple activities, such as writing or tying his own shoelaces. "I was having a hard time at school, in terms of being crap at everything, with no discernible talent," the actor commented. In August 2010, he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it.

Radcliffe is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats. He has voiced support for the political party's Nick Clegg and pledged to spend more time in the UK to help increase his profile to a younger audience. At the age of 16, Radcliffe became the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain's National Portrait Gallery. On 13 April 2006, his portrait, drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright, was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre, then moved to NPG where it resides.

He is a fan of underground and punk rock music, and is a keen follower of cricket. Writing short stories and poetry is also a passion. In November 2007, the actor published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon – a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother's maiden name Gresham – in Rubbish, an underground fashion magazine. He enjoys a close friendship with his fellow Harry Potter co-stars Emma Watson and Tom Felton and is tight-knit with his family, whom he credits for keeping him grounded.
Radcliffe at the 2008 BAFTA Awards

Speaking out against homophobia, Radcliffe filmed public service announcements for The Trevor Project promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention beginning in 2009. He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in 2008 and has contributed financially to it. "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it," he said in a 2010 interview. In the same interview, he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights. Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career. For his work for the organisation, he was given the "Hero Award" in 2011.

Radcliffe has supported various charities. He designed a Cu-Bed for Habitat's VIP Kids range, and all the royalties from the sale of the bed went directly to his favourite charity, Demelza House Children's Hospice, in Sittingbourne, Kent. Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations in lieu of Christmas presents to him to that charity's Candle for Care program. In 2008, he was among several celebrities to donate their old eyeglasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust. During the Broadway run of Equus, the actor also auctioned off a pair of jeans he wore in the show for several thousand dollars. He has also donated money to Get Connected UK, a London-based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth.

He is reported to have earned £1 million for the first Potter film and around £15 million for the sixth movie. Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006, which estimated his personal fortune to be £14 million, making him one of the richest young people in the UK. In March 2009, he was ranked number one on the Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars". By April, The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at £30m, making him the 12th richest young person in the UK. According to the publication, he is expected to have amassed £70m by the time the series of movies concludes. Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England as of June 2009. In February 2010, he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star and placed at number five on Forbes's December list of Hollywood's highest-grossing actors, with the revenue of US$780 million thanks to one movie released that year: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The actor was reported in 2010 to have personal assets of £28.5 million, making him richer than Princes William and Harry. Despite his wealth, Radcliffe has said he does not have expensive tastes. His main expense is buying books: "I read a lot." He also stated that money would never be the focus of his life.
Screen and stage credits
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2001 The Tailor of Panama Mark Pendel
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter Released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US and India
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter
2007 December Boys Maps
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Harry Potter
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Harry Potter
2012 The Woman in Black Arthur Kipps Post-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1999 David Copperfield young David Copperfield Television film shown on BBC One
2005 Foley and McColl: This Way Up Traffic Warden/Himself
2006 Extras Boy Scout/Himself
2007 My Boy Jack Jack Kipling Television film shown on ITV
2010 The Simpsons Edmund "Treehouse of Horror XXI", voice part
2010 QI Himself BBC comedy panel game television program
Stage
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2002 The Play What I Wrote Guest Wyndham's Theatre
2007 Equus Alan Strang Gielgud Theatre
2008 Equus Alan Strang Broadhurst Theatre
2011 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying J. Pierrepont Finch Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Awards
Year↓ Organisation↓ Award↓ Work↓ Result↓
2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Performer Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Hollywood Women's Press Club Male Youth Discovery of the Year Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Won
2001 MTV Movie Awards Best Breakthrough Male Performance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Young Artist Awards Best Ensemble in a Feature Film (shared with the movies cast) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Nominated
2006 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best On-Screan Team (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best Hero Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2007 National Movie Awards Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Won
2008 Empire Award Best Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (shared with Katie Leung) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 Saturn Awards Best Performance by a Young Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Leading Actor in a Broadway Play Equus Won
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Breakthrough Performance Equus Won
2009 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Actor in a Play Equus Nominated
2009 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Award Equus Nominated
2010 J-14's Teen Icon Awards Iconic Movie Star N/A Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Global Superstar N/A Nominated
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Actor in a Broadway Play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Onstage Pair (with John Larroquette) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Kiss (shared with Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Fight (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv357/jam_cullen/1_184477200l.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z219/misiak13/Blog-Graphic%20-Designs/danielradclifeblend.png
There is one of the HP films on TV now, but the news interrupted my viewing of it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:31 pm


One of my favorite Cat Steven songs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgrsiEIUAv0&feature=fvst

In my case, it should have been titled "Mother & Daughter" with me being the daughter.



Cat

My favourite Cat Stevens song too!

Not my personal favorite, but a very good song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:31 pm


I like Peace Train.

Me too, and Morning Has Broken.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:33 pm


There is one of the HP films on TV now, but the news interrupted my viewing of it.

Is it more breaking news about Amy Winehouse, or do they interrupt movies with news all the time?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 07/23/11 at 12:35 pm


I like Peace Train.

Yeah, that's a good one; so is "Wild World."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/23/11 at 12:37 pm


Is it more breaking news about Amy Winehouse, or do they interrupt movies with news all the time?
I interrupted the film myself, I noticed the news of Amy Winehouse online.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:41 pm


I interrupted the film myself, I noticed the news of Amy Winehouse online.

Oh Ok.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/23/11 at 12:42 pm


Yeah, that's a good one; so is "Wild World."

Another good one :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/23/11 at 1:11 pm


Another good one :)
Matthew and Son brings back childhood memories for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/23/11 at 1:19 pm


The person of the day...Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series. His work on the series has earned him several awards and more than £60 million.

Radcliffe made his acting debut at age ten in BBC One's television movie David Copperfield (1999), followed by his film debut in 2001's The Tailor of Panama. Cast as Harry at the age of eleven, Radcliffe has starred in eight Harry Potter films since 2001, with the final instalment released in July 2011. In 2007 Radcliffe began to branch out from the series, starring in the London and New York productions of the play Equus, and the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The Woman in Black (2012) will be his first film project following the final Harry Potter movie.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza House Children's Hospice and The Trevor Project. He has also made public service announcements for the latter. In 2011 the actor was awarded the Trevor Project's "Hero Award".
In 2000, producer David Heyman asked Radcliffe to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling book by British author J.K. Rowling. The author had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character. However, Radcliffe's parents did not want him to audition for the role as the contract required shooting all seven films in Los Angeles, California, so they did not tell him. Once the movie's director Chris Columbus saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield, he recalled thinking, "This is what I want. This is Harry Potter". Eight months later, after several auditions, he was selected to play the part. Rowling also endorsed the selection, saying the filmmaker could not "have found a better Harry". Warner Bros offered him a two-movie contract, with shooting in the UK, and assured his parents he would be protected. When signing up, Radcliffe was unsure if he would do any more pictures.

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) took place in 2001. The story follows Harry, a young boy who learns he is a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his magical education. He got a seven figure salary for the lead role but asserted that the fee was not "that important" to him. His parents chose to invest the money for him. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and became the highest-grossing film of 2001. With a total of US$974 million in ticket sales, Philosopher's Stone stands as the most commercially successful in the series. The adaptation met with strong reviews, and critics took notice of Radcliffe: "Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader's imagination. It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions, from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing," wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Radcliffe at the July 2009 premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A year later, Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post labelled it "big, dull and empty", whereas Desson Thomson of the same publication had more positive feelings. Observing that Radcliffe and his peers had matured, Los Angeles Times's staff writer Kenneth Turan believed the novel's magic could not be successfully duplicated in the film. Nonetheless, it still managed to earn US$878 million, taking the second spot of the highest-grossing 2002 films worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The 2004 release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban marked the third in the series. While garnering the highest critical acclaim of the series and grossing US$795.6 million worldwide, the film's performance at the box office ranks the lowest in the series. Meanwhile, Radcliffe's performance was panned by critics, who found him to be "wooden", with New York Times journalist A. O. Scott writing that Watson had to carry him with her performance. Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. The film explored romantic elements, included more humour and saw Harry selected as a competitor in a dangerous multi-wizard school competition. Goblet of Fire set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, as well as for a non-May opening weekend in the US and an opening weekend in the UK. In a 2005 interview, Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie's creative success.

Despite the success of the past movies, the future of the franchise was put into question as all three lead actors were unsure about signing on to continue their roles for the final two episodes. However, by 2 March 2007, Radcliffe signed for the final films, which put an end to weeks of press speculation that he would be denied the part due to his involvement in Equus. Radcliffe reprised his role for the fifth time in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), which details Harry's return to Hogwarts after his recent encounter with Lord Voldemort. It opened to positive responses from the press. IGN movie critic Steven Horn found Order of the Phoenix to be one of "those rare films that exceeds the source material" and Colin Bertram of New York's Daily News publication dubbed it the best movie in the series. Radcliffe has stated that he had formed a special bond with actor Gary Oldman while working with him on set and that director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton made Order of the Phoenix the "most fun" film in the series to work on. His performance earned several nominations, and he picked up the 2008 National Movie Award for "Best Male Performance". As the fame of the actor and the series continued, Radcliffe and fellow Harry Potter cast members Rupert Grint and Emma Watson left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

On 15 July 2009, the series's sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released. It centres around Harry discovering an old book belonging to the Half-Blood Prince and beginning to learn more about Lord Voldemort's past. The film did considerably better than the previous movie, breaking the then-record for biggest midnight US showings, with US$22.2 million at 3,000 theatres and with US$7 million, giving the UK its biggest Wednesday ever. In its total run, Half-Blood Prince totalled in US$933 million ticket sales. The film remains one of the most positively reviewed entries within the series among film critics, who praised the film's "emotionally satisfying" story, direction, cinematography, visuals and music. At the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Radcliffe received nominations for "Best Male Performance" and "Global Superstar".
David Yates directs Radcliffe for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 in 2009.

For financial and scripting reasons, the last book was divided into two films that were shot back to back, drawing criticism from the book's fanbase. The actor defended the split, pointing out that it would have been impossible to properly adapt the final novel into a single film. He added that the last movie was going to be extremely fast-paced with a lot of action, while the first part would be far more sedate, focussing on character development. Had they combined them, those things would not have made it to the final cut. Filming lasted for a year, concluding in June 2010. On the last day of shooting, like most of the cast and crew, Radcliffe openly wept. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) was released in November and grossed over US$950 million. Its most lucrative territory was the UK, where it reportedly had the highest-grossing three-day opening in history. Overseas, its earnings of US$205 million in 91 markets made it the top-grossing foreign opening for a non-summer picture. The movie received mostly favourable reviews in the media.

The final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, was released worldwide starting on 13 July 2011 in Australia. It was named the most highly anticipated film of 2011 by Fandango users and won the National Movie Awards's "Must See Movie of the Summer" accolade. Radcliffe admitted that some people would never be able to separate him from the character but also said he is "proud to be associated with this film series forever." Despite positive feelings about the movies, he has no interest in doing more Harry Potter films. After Rowling suggested writing an eighth book, Radcliffe was asked if he would do another film; he replied: " very doubtful. I think 10 years is a long time to spend with one character." Despite devoting so much time to the series, Radcliffe has asserted that he did not miss out on a childhood like other child actors: "I’ve been given a much better perspective on life by doing Potter.
Other acting work
Radcliffe at December Boys premiere in 2007

Prior to Harry Potter, Radcliffe made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama, an American 2001 film based on John le Carré's 1996 spy novel and a moderate commercial success. In 2002, he made his stage debut as a celebrity guest in the West End production The Play What I Wrote directed by Kenneth Branagh, who appeared with him in the second Harry Potter movie. In 2007, he appeared in December Boys, an Australian family drama about four orphans that was shot in 2005 and released to theatres in mid-September 2007. Also in 2007, Radcliffe co-starred with Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, a television drama film shown on ITV on Remembrance Day. The TV film received mostly good reviews, with several critics praising Radcliffe's performance as an 18 year-old who goes missing in action during a battle. Radcliffe stated, "For many people my age, the First World War is just a topic in a history book. But I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was."

At age 17, in a bid to show people he was not a kid anymore, he performed onstage in Peter Shaffer's play Equus, which had not been revived since its first run in 1973. Radcliffe took on the lead role as Alan Strang, a stable boy who has an obsession with horses, at the Gielgud Theatre. The role generated significant pre-opening media interest and advance sales topped £1.7 million, as Radcliffe appeared in a nude scene. Equus opened on 27 February 2007 and ran until 9 June 2007. Radcliffe's performance received positive reviews as critics were impressed by the nuance and depth of his against-type role. Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he "displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence that marks a tremendous leap forward." He added: "I never thought I would find the diminutive (but perfectly formed) Radcliffe a sinister figure, but as Alan Strang, there are moments when he seems genuinely scary in his rage and confusion." The production then transferred to Broadway in September 2008 with Radcliffe still in the lead role. Radcliffe stated he was nervous about repeating the role on Broadway because he considered American audiences more discerning than those in London. Radcliffe's performance was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late 2010, Radcliffe debuted as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 2011 Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick. Other cast members included Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber. Both the actor and production received favourable reviews, with the latter receiving 9 Tony Award nominations. His first post-Harry Potter project will be the 2012 supernatural thriller The Woman in Black, which is adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill and set for a February release in the UK. Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died. Soon after, he begins to experience strange events and hauntings from the ghost of a woman dressed in black. He said he was "incredibly excited" to be part of the film and described the script as "beautifully written". Variety confirmed Radcliffe will star in the indie comedy The Amateur Photographer, a film adaptation of the book of the same name, directed by Christopher Monger. Set in 1970, it follows a man (Radcliffe) who discovers his calling after being drafted by the residents of a small England mill town to serve as a photographer for their most personal moments.
Personal life

In 2007, Radcliffe was in a relationship with Laura O'Toole, an understudy for one of his co-stars in a play. Following the break-up, they remained friends. He is an atheist and has also stated that he is "very proud of being Jewish." In 2008, he revealed that he suffers from a mild form of the neurological disorder dyspraxia. The motor skill disorder sometimes gets so bad that he has trouble doing simple activities, such as writing or tying his own shoelaces. "I was having a hard time at school, in terms of being crap at everything, with no discernible talent," the actor commented. In August 2010, he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it.

Radcliffe is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats. He has voiced support for the political party's Nick Clegg and pledged to spend more time in the UK to help increase his profile to a younger audience. At the age of 16, Radcliffe became the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain's National Portrait Gallery. On 13 April 2006, his portrait, drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright, was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre, then moved to NPG where it resides.

He is a fan of underground and punk rock music, and is a keen follower of cricket. Writing short stories and poetry is also a passion. In November 2007, the actor published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon – a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother's maiden name Gresham – in Rubbish, an underground fashion magazine. He enjoys a close friendship with his fellow Harry Potter co-stars Emma Watson and Tom Felton and is tight-knit with his family, whom he credits for keeping him grounded.
Radcliffe at the 2008 BAFTA Awards

Speaking out against homophobia, Radcliffe filmed public service announcements for The Trevor Project promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention beginning in 2009. He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in 2008 and has contributed financially to it. "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it," he said in a 2010 interview. In the same interview, he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights. Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career. For his work for the organisation, he was given the "Hero Award" in 2011.

Radcliffe has supported various charities. He designed a Cu-Bed for Habitat's VIP Kids range, and all the royalties from the sale of the bed went directly to his favourite charity, Demelza House Children's Hospice, in Sittingbourne, Kent. Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations in lieu of Christmas presents to him to that charity's Candle for Care program. In 2008, he was among several celebrities to donate their old eyeglasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust. During the Broadway run of Equus, the actor also auctioned off a pair of jeans he wore in the show for several thousand dollars. He has also donated money to Get Connected UK, a London-based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth.

He is reported to have earned £1 million for the first Potter film and around £15 million for the sixth movie. Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006, which estimated his personal fortune to be £14 million, making him one of the richest young people in the UK. In March 2009, he was ranked number one on the Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars". By April, The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at £30m, making him the 12th richest young person in the UK. According to the publication, he is expected to have amassed £70m by the time the series of movies concludes. Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England as of June 2009. In February 2010, he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star and placed at number five on Forbes's December list of Hollywood's highest-grossing actors, with the revenue of US$780 million thanks to one movie released that year: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The actor was reported in 2010 to have personal assets of £28.5 million, making him richer than Princes William and Harry. Despite his wealth, Radcliffe has said he does not have expensive tastes. His main expense is buying books: "I read a lot." He also stated that money would never be the focus of his life.
Screen and stage credits
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2001 The Tailor of Panama Mark Pendel
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter Released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US and India
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter
2007 December Boys Maps
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Harry Potter
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Harry Potter
2012 The Woman in Black Arthur Kipps Post-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1999 David Copperfield young David Copperfield Television film shown on BBC One
2005 Foley and McColl: This Way Up Traffic Warden/Himself
2006 Extras Boy Scout/Himself
2007 My Boy Jack Jack Kipling Television film shown on ITV
2010 The Simpsons Edmund "Treehouse of Horror XXI", voice part
2010 QI Himself BBC comedy panel game television program
Stage
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2002 The Play What I Wrote Guest Wyndham's Theatre
2007 Equus Alan Strang Gielgud Theatre
2008 Equus Alan Strang Broadhurst Theatre
2011 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying J. Pierrepont Finch Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Awards
Year↓ Organisation↓ Award↓ Work↓ Result↓
2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Performer Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Hollywood Women's Press Club Male Youth Discovery of the Year Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Won
2001 MTV Movie Awards Best Breakthrough Male Performance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Young Artist Awards Best Ensemble in a Feature Film (shared with the movies cast) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Nominated
2006 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best On-Screan Team (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best Hero Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2007 National Movie Awards Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Won
2008 Empire Award Best Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (shared with Katie Leung) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 Saturn Awards Best Performance by a Young Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Leading Actor in a Broadway Play Equus Won
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Breakthrough Performance Equus Won
2009 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Actor in a Play Equus Nominated
2009 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Award Equus Nominated
2010 J-14's Teen Icon Awards Iconic Movie Star N/A Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Global Superstar N/A Nominated
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Actor in a Broadway Play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Onstage Pair (with John Larroquette) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Kiss (shared with Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Fight (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv357/jam_cullen/1_184477200l.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z219/misiak13/Blog-Graphic%20-Designs/danielradclifeblend.png



He is a cutie and a wonderful actor.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/23/11 at 7:32 pm


The person of the day...Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series. His work on the series has earned him several awards and more than £60 million.

Radcliffe made his acting debut at age ten in BBC One's television movie David Copperfield (1999), followed by his film debut in 2001's The Tailor of Panama. Cast as Harry at the age of eleven, Radcliffe has starred in eight Harry Potter films since 2001, with the final instalment released in July 2011. In 2007 Radcliffe began to branch out from the series, starring in the London and New York productions of the play Equus, and the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The Woman in Black (2012) will be his first film project following the final Harry Potter movie.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza House Children's Hospice and The Trevor Project. He has also made public service announcements for the latter. In 2011 the actor was awarded the Trevor Project's "Hero Award".
In 2000, producer David Heyman asked Radcliffe to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling book by British author J.K. Rowling. The author had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character. However, Radcliffe's parents did not want him to audition for the role as the contract required shooting all seven films in Los Angeles, California, so they did not tell him. Once the movie's director Chris Columbus saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield, he recalled thinking, "This is what I want. This is Harry Potter". Eight months later, after several auditions, he was selected to play the part. Rowling also endorsed the selection, saying the filmmaker could not "have found a better Harry". Warner Bros offered him a two-movie contract, with shooting in the UK, and assured his parents he would be protected. When signing up, Radcliffe was unsure if he would do any more pictures.

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) took place in 2001. The story follows Harry, a young boy who learns he is a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his magical education. He got a seven figure salary for the lead role but asserted that the fee was not "that important" to him. His parents chose to invest the money for him. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and became the highest-grossing film of 2001. With a total of US$974 million in ticket sales, Philosopher's Stone stands as the most commercially successful in the series. The adaptation met with strong reviews, and critics took notice of Radcliffe: "Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader's imagination. It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions, from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing," wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Radcliffe at the July 2009 premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A year later, Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post labelled it "big, dull and empty", whereas Desson Thomson of the same publication had more positive feelings. Observing that Radcliffe and his peers had matured, Los Angeles Times's staff writer Kenneth Turan believed the novel's magic could not be successfully duplicated in the film. Nonetheless, it still managed to earn US$878 million, taking the second spot of the highest-grossing 2002 films worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The 2004 release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban marked the third in the series. While garnering the highest critical acclaim of the series and grossing US$795.6 million worldwide, the film's performance at the box office ranks the lowest in the series. Meanwhile, Radcliffe's performance was panned by critics, who found him to be "wooden", with New York Times journalist A. O. Scott writing that Watson had to carry him with her performance. Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. The film explored romantic elements, included more humour and saw Harry selected as a competitor in a dangerous multi-wizard school competition. Goblet of Fire set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, as well as for a non-May opening weekend in the US and an opening weekend in the UK. In a 2005 interview, Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie's creative success.

Despite the success of the past movies, the future of the franchise was put into question as all three lead actors were unsure about signing on to continue their roles for the final two episodes. However, by 2 March 2007, Radcliffe signed for the final films, which put an end to weeks of press speculation that he would be denied the part due to his involvement in Equus. Radcliffe reprised his role for the fifth time in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), which details Harry's return to Hogwarts after his recent encounter with Lord Voldemort. It opened to positive responses from the press. IGN movie critic Steven Horn found Order of the Phoenix to be one of "those rare films that exceeds the source material" and Colin Bertram of New York's Daily News publication dubbed it the best movie in the series. Radcliffe has stated that he had formed a special bond with actor Gary Oldman while working with him on set and that director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton made Order of the Phoenix the "most fun" film in the series to work on. His performance earned several nominations, and he picked up the 2008 National Movie Award for "Best Male Performance". As the fame of the actor and the series continued, Radcliffe and fellow Harry Potter cast members Rupert Grint and Emma Watson left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

On 15 July 2009, the series's sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released. It centres around Harry discovering an old book belonging to the Half-Blood Prince and beginning to learn more about Lord Voldemort's past. The film did considerably better than the previous movie, breaking the then-record for biggest midnight US showings, with US$22.2 million at 3,000 theatres and with US$7 million, giving the UK its biggest Wednesday ever. In its total run, Half-Blood Prince totalled in US$933 million ticket sales. The film remains one of the most positively reviewed entries within the series among film critics, who praised the film's "emotionally satisfying" story, direction, cinematography, visuals and music. At the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Radcliffe received nominations for "Best Male Performance" and "Global Superstar".
David Yates directs Radcliffe for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 in 2009.

For financial and scripting reasons, the last book was divided into two films that were shot back to back, drawing criticism from the book's fanbase. The actor defended the split, pointing out that it would have been impossible to properly adapt the final novel into a single film. He added that the last movie was going to be extremely fast-paced with a lot of action, while the first part would be far more sedate, focussing on character development. Had they combined them, those things would not have made it to the final cut. Filming lasted for a year, concluding in June 2010. On the last day of shooting, like most of the cast and crew, Radcliffe openly wept. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) was released in November and grossed over US$950 million. Its most lucrative territory was the UK, where it reportedly had the highest-grossing three-day opening in history. Overseas, its earnings of US$205 million in 91 markets made it the top-grossing foreign opening for a non-summer picture. The movie received mostly favourable reviews in the media.

The final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, was released worldwide starting on 13 July 2011 in Australia. It was named the most highly anticipated film of 2011 by Fandango users and won the National Movie Awards's "Must See Movie of the Summer" accolade. Radcliffe admitted that some people would never be able to separate him from the character but also said he is "proud to be associated with this film series forever." Despite positive feelings about the movies, he has no interest in doing more Harry Potter films. After Rowling suggested writing an eighth book, Radcliffe was asked if he would do another film; he replied: " very doubtful. I think 10 years is a long time to spend with one character." Despite devoting so much time to the series, Radcliffe has asserted that he did not miss out on a childhood like other child actors: "I’ve been given a much better perspective on life by doing Potter.
Other acting work
Radcliffe at December Boys premiere in 2007

Prior to Harry Potter, Radcliffe made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama, an American 2001 film based on John le Carré's 1996 spy novel and a moderate commercial success. In 2002, he made his stage debut as a celebrity guest in the West End production The Play What I Wrote directed by Kenneth Branagh, who appeared with him in the second Harry Potter movie. In 2007, he appeared in December Boys, an Australian family drama about four orphans that was shot in 2005 and released to theatres in mid-September 2007. Also in 2007, Radcliffe co-starred with Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, a television drama film shown on ITV on Remembrance Day. The TV film received mostly good reviews, with several critics praising Radcliffe's performance as an 18 year-old who goes missing in action during a battle. Radcliffe stated, "For many people my age, the First World War is just a topic in a history book. But I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was."

At age 17, in a bid to show people he was not a kid anymore, he performed onstage in Peter Shaffer's play Equus, which had not been revived since its first run in 1973. Radcliffe took on the lead role as Alan Strang, a stable boy who has an obsession with horses, at the Gielgud Theatre. The role generated significant pre-opening media interest and advance sales topped £1.7 million, as Radcliffe appeared in a nude scene. Equus opened on 27 February 2007 and ran until 9 June 2007. Radcliffe's performance received positive reviews as critics were impressed by the nuance and depth of his against-type role. Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he "displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence that marks a tremendous leap forward." He added: "I never thought I would find the diminutive (but perfectly formed) Radcliffe a sinister figure, but as Alan Strang, there are moments when he seems genuinely scary in his rage and confusion." The production then transferred to Broadway in September 2008 with Radcliffe still in the lead role. Radcliffe stated he was nervous about repeating the role on Broadway because he considered American audiences more discerning than those in London. Radcliffe's performance was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late 2010, Radcliffe debuted as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 2011 Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick. Other cast members included Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber. Both the actor and production received favourable reviews, with the latter receiving 9 Tony Award nominations. His first post-Harry Potter project will be the 2012 supernatural thriller The Woman in Black, which is adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill and set for a February release in the UK. Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died. Soon after, he begins to experience strange events and hauntings from the ghost of a woman dressed in black. He said he was "incredibly excited" to be part of the film and described the script as "beautifully written". Variety confirmed Radcliffe will star in the indie comedy The Amateur Photographer, a film adaptation of the book of the same name, directed by Christopher Monger. Set in 1970, it follows a man (Radcliffe) who discovers his calling after being drafted by the residents of a small England mill town to serve as a photographer for their most personal moments.
Personal life

In 2007, Radcliffe was in a relationship with Laura O'Toole, an understudy for one of his co-stars in a play. Following the break-up, they remained friends. He is an atheist and has also stated that he is "very proud of being Jewish." In 2008, he revealed that he suffers from a mild form of the neurological disorder dyspraxia. The motor skill disorder sometimes gets so bad that he has trouble doing simple activities, such as writing or tying his own shoelaces. "I was having a hard time at school, in terms of being crap at everything, with no discernible talent," the actor commented. In August 2010, he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it.

Radcliffe is a supporter of the Liberal Democrats. He has voiced support for the political party's Nick Clegg and pledged to spend more time in the UK to help increase his profile to a younger audience. At the age of 16, Radcliffe became the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain's National Portrait Gallery. On 13 April 2006, his portrait, drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright, was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre, then moved to NPG where it resides.

He is a fan of underground and punk rock music, and is a keen follower of cricket. Writing short stories and poetry is also a passion. In November 2007, the actor published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon – a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother's maiden name Gresham – in Rubbish, an underground fashion magazine. He enjoys a close friendship with his fellow Harry Potter co-stars Emma Watson and Tom Felton and is tight-knit with his family, whom he credits for keeping him grounded.
Radcliffe at the 2008 BAFTA Awards

Speaking out against homophobia, Radcliffe filmed public service announcements for The Trevor Project promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention beginning in 2009. He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in 2008 and has contributed financially to it. "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it," he said in a 2010 interview. In the same interview, he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights. Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career. For his work for the organisation, he was given the "Hero Award" in 2011.

Radcliffe has supported various charities. He designed a Cu-Bed for Habitat's VIP Kids range, and all the royalties from the sale of the bed went directly to his favourite charity, Demelza House Children's Hospice, in Sittingbourne, Kent. Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations in lieu of Christmas presents to him to that charity's Candle for Care program. In 2008, he was among several celebrities to donate their old eyeglasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust. During the Broadway run of Equus, the actor also auctioned off a pair of jeans he wore in the show for several thousand dollars. He has also donated money to Get Connected UK, a London-based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth.

He is reported to have earned £1 million for the first Potter film and around £15 million for the sixth movie. Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006, which estimated his personal fortune to be £14 million, making him one of the richest young people in the UK. In March 2009, he was ranked number one on the Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars". By April, The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at £30m, making him the 12th richest young person in the UK. According to the publication, he is expected to have amassed £70m by the time the series of movies concludes. Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England as of June 2009. In February 2010, he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star and placed at number five on Forbes's December list of Hollywood's highest-grossing actors, with the revenue of US$780 million thanks to one movie released that year: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The actor was reported in 2010 to have personal assets of £28.5 million, making him richer than Princes William and Harry. Despite his wealth, Radcliffe has said he does not have expensive tastes. His main expense is buying books: "I read a lot." He also stated that money would never be the focus of his life.
Screen and stage credits
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2001 The Tailor of Panama Mark Pendel
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter Released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US and India
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter
2007 December Boys Maps
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Harry Potter
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Harry Potter
2012 The Woman in Black Arthur Kipps Post-production
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1999 David Copperfield young David Copperfield Television film shown on BBC One
2005 Foley and McColl: This Way Up Traffic Warden/Himself
2006 Extras Boy Scout/Himself
2007 My Boy Jack Jack Kipling Television film shown on ITV
2010 The Simpsons Edmund "Treehouse of Horror XXI", voice part
2010 QI Himself BBC comedy panel game television program
Stage
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2002 The Play What I Wrote Guest Wyndham's Theatre
2007 Equus Alan Strang Gielgud Theatre
2008 Equus Alan Strang Broadhurst Theatre
2011 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying J. Pierrepont Finch Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Awards
Year↓ Organisation↓ Award↓ Work↓ Result↓
2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Performer Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Hollywood Women's Press Club Male Youth Discovery of the Year Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Won
2001 MTV Movie Awards Best Breakthrough Male Performance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2001 Young Artist Awards Best Ensemble in a Feature Film (shared with the movies cast) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Nominated
2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Nominated
2006 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Young Actor Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best On-Screan Team (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2006 MTV Movie Awards Best Hero Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Nominated
2007 National Movie Awards Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Won
2008 Empire Award Best Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (shared with Katie Leung) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2008 Saturn Awards Best Performance by a Young Actor Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Nominated
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Leading Actor in a Broadway Play Equus Won
2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Breakthrough Performance Equus Won
2009 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Actor in a Play Equus Nominated
2009 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Award Equus Nominated
2010 J-14's Teen Icon Awards Iconic Movie Star N/A Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Nominated
2010 MTV Movie Award Global Superstar N/A Nominated
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Actor in a Broadway Play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Onstage Pair (with John Larroquette) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Won
2011 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Kiss (shared with Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Fight (shared with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
2011 MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Nominated
http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/vv357/jam_cullen/1_184477200l.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z219/misiak13/Blog-Graphic%20-Designs/danielradclifeblend.png


I watched a few of The Harry Potter films,He's a good actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/23/11 at 7:33 pm


Is it more breaking news about Amy Winehouse, or do they interrupt movies with news all the time?


I hate those breaking news interruptions. ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/24/11 at 1:45 am



He is a cutie and a wonderful actor.



Cat
How good at acting was he in Equus?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 07/24/11 at 3:11 pm


I hate those breaking news interruptions. ::)

Ditto!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/24/11 at 4:17 pm


How good at acting was he in Equus?



Haven't seen it-yet!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/25/11 at 1:22 am



Haven't seen it-yet!



Cat
It was a stage production over here in London.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/25/11 at 7:22 am

Estelle Getty would've been 88 today. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/28/11 at 4:58 pm


Estelle Getty would've been 88 today. :\'(

:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/29/11 at 6:52 am


:\'(


2 of them are gone except Betty White is the final Golden Girl. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/29/11 at 7:23 am


2 of them are gone except Betty White is the final Golden Girl. :(

She is doing great nowadays. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/29/11 at 7:28 am

The person of the day...Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American director and producer of documentary films known for his style of using archival footage and photographs. Among his most notable productions are The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), and The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009).

Burns' documentaries have been nominated for two Academy Awards (Brooklyn Bridge in 1982 and The Statue of Liberty in 1986) and have won seven Emmy Awards, mostly for The Civil War and Baseball.
As chief cinematographer on many of his documentaries, he has shaped the overall looks of the works. A key visual trait is the filming of live-action material (such as old houses, or battlefield locations) during the low sunlight of dawn or dusk. As a result, much of the original filmed material in a typical Ken Burns documentary contains a distinctive golden cast of low light.

Burns frequently incorporates simple musical leitmotifs or melodies. For example, his acclaimed The Civil War features a distinctive violin melody throughout, "Ashokan Farewell", which was performed for the film by the musician Jay Ungar. In a review of Burns' work, the online journal Salon.com noted, "One of the most memorable things about The Civil War was its haunting, repeated violin melody, whose thin, yearning notes seemed somehow to sum up all the pathos of that great struggle."

Burns often gives "life" to still photographs by slowly zooming in on subjects of interest and panning from one subject to another. For example, in a photograph of a baseball team, he might slowly pan across the faces of the players and come to rest on the player who is the subject of the narrator.

This technique, possible in many professional and home software applications, was affectionately named "The Ken Burns Effect" in Apple Inc.'s iPhoto and iMovie software applications. It also figures in the sixth-generation iPod interface in the cover art of the main menu.

Of Burns' many film series, The Civil War is generally considered to be his masterpiece. He was director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer of the series. It has been honored with more than 40 major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, the Producer of the Year Award from the Producers Guild of America, a People's Choice Award, a Peabody Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, a D.W. Griffith Award, and the $50,000 Lincoln Prize, among dozens of others. The nine episodes explore the Civil War through personal stories and photos. During the creation of the movie, Burns filmed thousands of archived photographs. The Civil War has been seen by more than 40 million people.

The War, 15 hours in length and seven years in the making, tells the story of the Second World War from the personal perspective of the men and women from four geographically distributed American towns: Waterbury, CT; Mobile, AL; Sacramento, CA; and Luverne, MN. Airing in the fall of 2007, it was the most watched series in the last ten years on PBS. 117 PBS stations across the nation participated in some form of community outreach (local documentaries, screenings, workshops, etc.) and nearly 30,000 educator guides went to every high school in the country.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea was a 2009 documentary broadcast on PBS that explored the history of America's national parks, along with interviews with the people who helped create and influence the parks and park policies. Like his previous most prominent films, The National Parks was very well received. In a review, New York Times critic Mike Hale stated that the first episodes and John Muir's writings read aloud were Burns' best effort in the series, however, the following episodes lost focus. Hale stated that the "folksy music" in Burns' national park series was a distraction rather than adding anything valuable to historical context.
Politics

Burns is a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, with almost $40,000 in political donations. In 2008, the Democratic National Committee chose Burns to produce the introductory video for Senator Edward Kennedy's August 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention, a video described by Politico as a "Burns-crafted tribute casting him as the modern Ulysses bringing his party home to port." In endorsing Barack Obama for the U.S. presidency in December 2007, Burns compared Obama to Abraham Lincoln. He plans to be a regular contributor to Keith Olbermann's Countdown show on Current TV.
Filmography

    * Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
    * The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984)
    * The Statue of Liberty (1985)
    * Huey Long (1985)
    * The Congress (1988)
    * Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
    * The Civil War (1990)
    * Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
    * Baseball (1994), updated with the 10th Inning (2010)
    * Thomas Jefferson (1997)
    * Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
    * Frank Lloyd Wright (1998)
    * Not For Ourselves Alone: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1999)
    * Jazz (2001)
    * Mark Twain (2001)
    * Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003)
    * Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2005)
    * The War (2007)
    * The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009)
    * Prohibition (2011)
    * The Dust Bowl (scheduled for 2012)
    * The Central Park Five (2013)
    * The Roosevelts (2013)
    * The Vietnam War (2016)

Under Burns's name only

    * The West (1996) (Executive Producer, Directed by Stephen Ives)

Short Films

    * William Segal (Biography) (1992)
    * Vezelay (1996)
    * In the Marketplace (2000)

Film Roles

    * Gettysburg (1993) - Hancock's staff officer
http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/ww162/NMassi/MySpace/BurnsKen05.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a86/kmeersman/Ken%20Burns%209%2011%202006/ken_kt.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/30/11 at 1:32 am

British Person of the day: Emily Brontë

Emily Jane Brontë (30 July 1818 — 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, between Charlotte and Anne. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.

Biography

Emily Brontë was born on 30 July 1818 in Thornton, near Bradford in Yorkshire, to Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1824, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was perpetual curate, and it was in these surroundings that their literary gifts flourished.

After the death of their mother in 1821, when Emily was three years old, the older sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, where they encountered abuse and privations later described by Charlotte in Jane Eyre. Emily joined the school for a brief period. When a typhus epidemic swept the school, Maria and Elizabeth caught it. Maria, who may actually have had tuberculosis, was sent home, where she died. Emily was subsequently removed from the school along with Charlotte and Elizabeth. Elizabeth died soon after their return home.

The three remaining sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell were thereafter educated at home by their father and aunt Elizabeth Branwell, their mother's sister. In their leisure time the children created a number of paracosms, which were featured in stories they wrote and enacted about the imaginary adventures of their toy soldiers along with the Duke of Wellington and his sons, Charles and Arthur Wellesley. Little of Emily's work from this period survives, except for poems spoken by characters (The Brontës' Web of Childhood, Fannie Ratchford, 1941).

When Emily was 13, she and Anne withdrew from participation in the Angria story and began a new one about Gondal, a large island in the North Pacific. If they wrote stories or novels about Gondal, these were not preserved. Some "diary papers" of Emily's have survived in which she describes current events in Gondal, some of which were written, others enacted with Anne. One dates from 1841, when Emily was twenty-three: another from 1845, when she was twenty-seven. Anne made a list of Gondal names and places which also survives.

At seventeen, Emily attended the Roe Head girls' school, where Charlotte was a teacher, but managed to stay only three months before being overcome by extreme homesickness. She returned home and Anne took her place. At this time, the girls' objective was to obtain sufficient education to open a small school of their own.

Emily became a teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax beginning in September 1838, when she was twenty. Her health broke under the stress of the 17-hour work day and she returned home in April 1839. Thereafter she became the stay-at-home daughter, doing most of the cooking and cleaning and teaching Sunday school. She taught herself German out of books and practiced piano.

In 1842, Emily accompanied Charlotte to Brussels, Belgium, where they attended a girls' academy run by Constantin Heger. They planned to perfect their French and German in anticipation of opening their school. Nine of Emily's French essays survive from this period. The sisters returned home upon the death of their aunt. They did try to open a school at their home, but were unable to attract students to the remote area.

In 1844, Emily began going through all the poems she had written, recopying them neatly into two notebooks. One was labeled "Gondal Poems"; the other was unlabeled. Scholars such as Fannie Ratchford and Derek Roper have attempted to piece together a Gondal storyline and chronology from these poems.

In the fall of 1845, Charlotte discovered the notebooks and insisted that the poems be published. Emily, furious at the invasion of her privacy, at first refused, but relented when Anne brought out her own manuscripts and revealed she had been writing poems in secret as well.

In 1846, the sisters' poems were published in one volume as Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. The Brontë sisters had adopted pseudonyms for publication: Charlotte was Currer Bell, Emily was Ellis Bell and Anne was Acton Bell. Charlotte writes in the "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" that they chose "Christian names positively masculine" to dissuade any bias on the premise of their gender. The poetry, which was mostly if not all of Emily's, received unfavourable reviews. It was this that drove them to begin their first professional novels. In 1847, Emily published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, as two volumes of a three-volume set (the last volume being Agnes Grey by her sister Anne). Its innovative structure somewhat puzzled critics.

Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, and was often condemned for its portrayal of amoral passion, the book subsequently became an English literary classic. In 1850, Charlotte edited and published Wuthering Heights as a stand-alone novel and under Emily's real name.

Emily's health, like her sisters', had been weakened by unsanitary conditions at home, the source of water being contaminated by runoff from the church's graveyard. She caught a cold during the funeral of her brother in September 1848. She soon grew very thin and ill, but rejected medical help and refused all proffered remedies, saying that she would have "no poisoning doctor" near her. She died on 19 December 1848 at about two in the afternoon. She was interred in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels family vault, Haworth, West Yorkshire.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Emilybronte_retouche.jpg/200px-Emilybronte_retouche.jpg
A portrait of Emily made by her brother, Branwell Brontë

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/The_Climb_to_Top_Withens._-_geograph.org.uk_-_393405.jpg/240px-The_Climb_to_Top_Withens._-_geograph.org.uk_-_393405.jpg
The Climp to Top Withens, Yorkshire, 2007.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/30/11 at 7:12 am

The person of the day...Kate Bush
Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush 30 July 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years. Bush was signed by EMI at the age of 16 after being recommended by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. In 1978, at age 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights," becoming the first woman to have a UK number-one with a self-written song. She was also the most photographed woman in the United Kingdom the following year.

After her 1979 tour—the only concert tour of her career—Bush released the 1980 album Never for Ever, which made her the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist ever to enter the album chart at No. 1. In 1987, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Solo Artist. She has released ten albums, three of which topped the UK Albums Chart, and has had twenty-five UK Top 40 hit singles including "Wuthering Heights," "Running Up that Hill," "King of the Mountain," "Babooshka," "The Man with the Child in His Eyes," and "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Peter Gabriel)—all of which reached the Top 10.

In 2002, Bush's songwriting ability was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In 2005, she released Aerial, her first album in 12 years. The album earned her a BRIT Award nomination for Best Album and another for Best Solo Female Artist. During the course of her career, she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In early 2011, EMI Records also announced an upcoming re-issue of four of Bush's albums (The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes) under the name of her own label, Fish People, now that Bush has regained full control over these records. Bush released Director's Cut on 16 May 2011, which contains reworked material from her albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). As of May 2011, Bush was working on an album of new material.
Bush's music is eclectic, using various styles of music even within the same album. Her songs have spanned genres as diverse as rock, pop, alternative and art rock. Even in her earliest works where the piano was a primary instrument, she wove together many diverse influences, melding classical music, rock, and a wide range of ethnic and folk sources, and this has continued throughout her career.

In an interview with Melody Maker magazine in 1977, she revealed that male artists had more influence on her work than females, stating: "Every female you see at a piano is either Lynsey De Paul, or Carole King. And most male music—not all of it but the good stuff—really lays it on you. It really puts you against the wall and that's what I like to do. I'd like my music to intrude. Not many females succeed with that."

The experimental nature of her music has led it to be described as a later, more technological, and more accessible manifestation of the British progressive rock movement. Southern England was the home to the most influential and successful acts of the progressive rock movement and, like other artists in this genre, Bush rejects the classic American style of making pop music, which was adopted by most UK pop artists. Bush's vocals contain elements of British, Anglo-Irish and most prominently (southern) English accents and, in its utilization of musical instruments from many periods and cultures, her music has differed from American pop norms. Elements of Bush's lyrics tend to be more unusual and less clichéd than American-style pop lyrics, often employing historical or literary references and avoiding autobiographical lyrics. She considers herself a storyteller who embodies the character singing the song and strenuously rejects efforts by others to insist that her songs are autobiographical.

Reviewers have used the term "surreal" to describe her music. Many of her songs have a melodramatic emotional and musical surrealism that defies easy categorisation. It has been observed that even the more joyous pieces are often tinged with traces of melancholy, and even the most sorrowful pieces have elements of vitality struggling against all that would oppress them.

Bush is not afraid to tackle sensitive and taboo subjects. "The Kick Inside" is based on a traditional English folk song (The Ballad of Lucy Wan) about an incestuous pregnancy and a resulting suicide. "Kashka from Baghdad" is a song about a homosexual male couple; Out magazine listed two of her albums in their Top 100 Greatest Gayest albums list. "The Infant Kiss" is a song about a haunted, unstable woman's almost paedophile infatuation with a young boy in her care (inspired by Jack Clayton's film The Innocents (1961), which had been based on Henry James's famous novella The Turn of the Screw); and "Breathing" explores the results of nuclear fallout from the perspective of an unborn child in the womb. Her lyrics have referenced a wide array of subject matter, often relatively obscure, as in "Cloudbusting", which was inspired by Peter Reich's autobiography, "Book of Dreams", about his relationship with his father, Wilhelm Reich, and G. I. Gurdjieff in "Them Heavy People", while "Deeper Understanding", from The Sensual World, portrays a person who stays indoors, obsessively talking to a computer and shunning human contact.

Comedy is also a big influence on her and is a significant component of her work. She has cited Woody Allen, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and The Young Ones as particular favourites. Horror movies are another interest of Bush's and have influenced the gothic nature of several of her songs, such as "Get Out of My House", inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and "Hounds of Love", inspired by the 1957 horror movie Night of the Demon. Her songs have occasionally combined comedy and horror to form dark humour, such as murder by poisoning in "Coffee Homeground", an alcoholic mother in "Ran Tan Waltz" and the upbeat "The Wedding List", a song inspired by François Truffaut's 1967 film of Cornell Woolrich's The Bride Wore Black about the death of a groom and the bride's subsequent revenge against the killer.
Length of time between albums and false perception of perfectionism

The length of time in between album releases has led to rumours in the media concerning her health or appearance. In the past, stories of weight gain or mental instability have been disproved by Bush's periodic reappearance. In 2011 Bush told BBC Radio 4 that the amount of time between album releases is extremely stressful noting: "It's very frustrating the albums take as long as they do...I wish there weren't such big gaps between them." In the same interview Bush denied she was a perfectionist in the studio, saying: "I think it's important that things are flawed...That's what makes a piece of art interesting sometimes – the bit that's wrong or the mistake you've made that's led onto an idea you wouldn't have had otherwise," and reiterated her prioritization of her family life.
Live performances
Further information: The Tour of Life

Bush's only tour took place 2 April – 13 May 1979, after which she gave only the occasional live performance. Several reasons have been suggested as to why she abandoned touring, among them her reputed need to be in total control of the final product, which is incompatible with live stage performance, a rumour of a crippling fear of flying, and the suggestion that the death of 21-year-old Bill Duffield severely affected her. Duffield, her lighting director, was killed in an accident during her 2 April 1979 concert at Poole Arts Centre. Bush held a benefit concert on 12 May 1979, with Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley at London's Hammersmith Odeon for his family. Duffield would be honoured in two later songs: "Blow Away" on Never for Ever and "Moments of Pleasure" on The Red Shoes. Bush explained in a BBC Radio 2 interview with Mark Radcliffe that she actually enjoyed the tour but was consumed with producing her subsequent records.

During the same period as her tour, she made numerous television appearances around the world, including Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom, Bios Bahnhof in Germany, and Saturday Night Live in the United States (with Paul Shaffer on piano). On 28 December 1979, BBC TV aired the Kate Bush Christmas Special. It was recorded in October 1979 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham, England; choreography by Anthony Van Laast. As well as playing songs from her first two albums, she played "December Will Be Magic Again", and "Violin" from her forthcoming album, Never for Ever. Peter Gabriel made a guest appearance to play "Here Comes the Flood", and a duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" with Bush.

After the Tour of Life Bush desired to make two more albums before touring again. At that point she got involved with production techniques and sound experimentation that took up a lot of time and prevented her from touring. Later on there were a couple of instances where she came close to touring again.

In 1982, Bush participated in the first benefit concert in aid of The Prince's Trust alongside artists such as Madness, Midge Ure, Phil Collins, Mick Karn and Pete Townshend. On 25 April 1986 Bush performed live for British charity event Comic Relief, singing "Do Bears... ?", a humorous duet with Rowan Atkinson, and a rendition of "Breathing". Later in the year on 28 June 1986, she made a guest appearance to duet with Peter Gabriel on "Don't Give Up" at Earl's Court, London as part of his "So" tour. In March 1987, Bush sang "Running Up that Hill" at The Secret Policeman's Third Ball.

On 17 January 2002, Bush appeared with her long-time champion, David Gilmour, singing the part of the doctor in "Comfortably Numb" at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

In 2011 Bush told Classic Rock Magazine "I do hope that some time I get a chance to do some shows. Maybe not a tour, but something"
Video projects

In 1979 Bush's one live show, The Tour of Life, was recorded for the BBC and for release on VHS as Kate Bush Live at Hammersmith Odeon.

Bush has appeared in innovative music videos designed to accompany her singles releases. Among the best known are those for "Running Up that Hill," "Babooshka," "Breathing," "Wuthering Heights," and "The Man with the Child in His Eyes," and "Cloudbusting," featuring actor Donald Sutherland, who made time during the filming of another project to take part in the video. EMI has released collections of her videos, including The Single File, Hair of the Hound, The Whole Story, a career video overview released in conjunction with the 1986 compilation album of the same title, and The Sensual World.

In 1993, she directed and starred in the short film, The Line, the Cross & the Curve, a musical co-starring Miranda Richardson, featuring music from Bush's album The Red Shoes, which was inspired by the classic movie of the same name. It was released on VHS in the UK in 1994 and also received a small number of cinema screenings around the world. In recent interviews, Bush has said that she considers it a failure, and stated in 2001: "I'm very pleased with four minutes of it, but I'm very disappointed with the rest." In a 2005 interview, she described the film as "A load of bollocks."

In 1994, Bush provided the music used in a series of psychedelic-themed television commercials for the soft drink Fruitopia that appeared in the United States. The same company aired the ads in the United Kingdom, but the British version featured Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins instead of Bush.

In late 2006, a DVD documentary titled Kate Bush Under Review was released by Sexy Intellectual, which included archival interviews with Bush, along with interviews with a selection of music historians and journalists (including Phil Sutcliffe, Nigel Williamson, and Morris Pert). The DVD also includes clips from several of Bush's music videos.

On 2 December 2008, the DVD collection of the fourth season of Saturday Night Live, including her performances, was released. A three DVD set of The Secret Policeman's Balls benefit concerts that includes Bush's performance was released on 27 January 2009.
Movie projects

In 1990, Bush starred in the black comedy film Les Dogs, produced by The Comic Strip for BBC television. Aired on 8 March 1990, Bush plays the bride Angela at a wedding set in a post-apocalyptic version of Britain. While Bush's is a silent presence in a wedding dress throughout most of the film, she does have several lines of dialogue with Peter Richardson in two dream sequences. In another Comic Strip Presents film, GLC, she produced the theme song "Ken", which includes a vocal performance by Bush. The song was written about Ken Livingstone, the leader of the Greater London Council, who would later be elected as mayor of London and at the time was working with musicians to help the Labour Party garner the youth vote.

She also produced all the incidental music, which is synthesiser based. Bush wrote and performed the song "The Magician", in a fairground-like arrangement, for Menahem Golan's 1979 film The Magician of Lublin. In 1985, Bush contributed a darkly melancholic version of the Ary Barroso song "Brazil" to the soundtrack of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. The track was scored and arranged by Michael Kamen. In 1986, she wrote and recorded "Be Kind To My Mistakes" for the Nicolas Roeg film Castaway. An edited version of this track was used as the B side to her 1989 single "This Woman's Work". In 1988, the song "This Woman's Work" was featured in the John Hughes film She's Having a Baby, and a slightly remixed version appeared on Bush's album The Sensual World. The song has since appeared on numerous television shows, and in 2005 reached number eight on the UK download chart after featuring in a British television advertisement for the charity NSPCC.

In 1999, Bush wrote and recorded a song for the Disney film Dinosaur, but the track was ultimately not included on the soundtrack. According to the winter 1999 issue of HomeGround, a Bush fanzine, it was scrapped when Disney asked her to rewrite the song and she refused. Also in 1999, Bush's song "The Sensual World" was featured prominently in Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's film "Felicia's Journey". "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" is on the soundtrack for the 2007 British romantic comedy film Starter for 10.
Collaborations

Bush provided vocals on two of Peter Gabriel's albums, including the hits "Games Without Frontiers" and "Don't Give Up", as well as "No Self-Control". Gabriel appeared on Bush's 1979 television special, where they sang a duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day". She has sung on two Roy Harper tracks, "You", on his 1979 album, "The Unknown Soldier", and "Once", the title track of his 1990 album. She has also sung on the title song of the 1986 Big Country album The Seer, the Midge Ure song "Sister and Brother" from his 1988 album Answers to Nothing, Go West's 1987 single "The King Is Dead" and two songs with Prince – "Why Should I Love You?", from her 1993 album The Red Shoes, and in 1996, the song "My Computer" from Prince's album Emancipation. In 1987, she sang a verse on the charity single "Let It Be" by Ferry Aid. She sang a line on the charity single "Spirit of the Forest" by Spirit of the Forest in 1989. 1990 saw Kate producing, for the only time in her career, one song for another artist, Alan Stivell's "Kimiad," on his album Again. Stivell had appeared on The Sensual World. In 1995, Bush covered George Gershwin's "The Man I Love" for the tribute album The Glory of Gershwin. In 1996, Bush contributed a version of "Mná na hÉireann" (Irish for Women of Ireland) for the Anglo-Irish folk-rock compilation project Common Ground: The Voices of Modern Irish Music. Bush had to sing the song in Irish, which she learned to do phonetically. Artists who have contributed to Bush's own albums include Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Nigel Kennedy, Gary Brooker, and Prince. Bush provided backing vocals for a song that was recorded during the 1990s titled Wouldn't Change a Thing by Lionel Azulay, the drummer with the original band that was later to become the KT Bush Band. The song, which was engineered and produced by Del Palmer, is available for download and will be on Azulay’s upcoming CD.

Bush declined a request by Erasure to produce one of their albums because "she didn’t feel that that was her area".

In 2010, Bush provided vocals for Rolf Harris's cover of a traditional Irish song entitled "She Moves Through the Fair". Harris who described the collaboration the "best thing I’ve done" is unsure of how to release the track.
Influence

From the 1980s onward, it has become almost standard for individualistic female singer-songwriters to be compared to Bush by the media. She has been noted as an influence on female artists such as Tori Amos, Björk, Alison Goldfrapp, Nerina Pallot, KT Tunstall, Happy Rhodes, Lily Allen, PJ Harvey, Little Boots, and Florence Welch, in addition to acts as diverse as Muse, OutKast, and Bloc Party. Paula Cole named Bush as an influence while accepting the Best New Artist Grammy in 1996. Ariel Pink wrote a tribute song for her titled "For Kate I Wait" on the album The Doldrums. The trip-hop artist Tricky has said about Bush, "I don't believe in God, but if I did, her music would be my bible". Punk rocker John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, declared her work to be "fudgeing brilliant" and labelled her "a true original". Rotten once wrote a song for her, titled "Bird in Hand" (about exploitation of parrots) that Bush rejected. Rotten theorised that Bush thought the song contained insulting references aimed at her. Marc Almond chose "Moments of Pleasure" as one of his 10 favourite songs on Radio 2 in June 2007, saying that the song had a profound influence on him when he was combating drug addiction in New York in the 1990s. In November 2006, the singer Rufus Wainwright named Bush as one of his top ten gay icons. Outside music, Bush has been an inspiration to several fashion designers, most notably Hussein Chalayan.

Many artists around the world have recorded cover versions of Bush songs, including Charlotte Church, The Futureheads (who had a UK top ten hit with a cover of "Hounds of Love"), Placebo, Pat Benatar, Hayley Westenra, Jane Birkin, Natalie Cole, Ra Ra Riot, Maxwell, The Church and Nada Surf. The British dance act Utah Saints sampled a line from "Cloudbusting" for their single, "Something Good". Artists such as Tori Amos, Nolwenn Leroy, Patrick Wolf and Happy Rhodes (whose upper vocal range has been compared with the one of Kate Bush) have covered her songs in live performances. Coldplay said their track "Speed of Sound" was originally an attempt to re-create "Running Up that Hill". Suede front-man Brett Anderson has stated that "Wuthering Heights" was the first single he ever bought and mentioned "And Dream of Sheep" in Suede's song "These are the Sad Songs". British folk singer Jim Moray also references "And Dream of Sheep" in his self-penned track "Longing for Lucy". Progressive death metal act Novembre also covered "Cloudbusting" on their album Novembrine Waltz. In 2009, John Forté released a hip hop version of "Running Up that Hill". In 2010, Theo Bleckmann has been performing his work Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush and plans to release the project as an album in 2011. In 1998 a collection of independent musicians including Syd Straw recorded the tribute album I Wanna Be Kate, which was released in CD and mp3 form.
Discography
Main article: Kate Bush discography

    * The Kick Inside (1978)
    * Lionheart (1978)
    * Never for Ever (1980)
    * The Dreaming (1982)
    * Hounds of Love (1985)
    * The Sensual World (1989)
    * The Red Shoes (1993)
    * Aerial (2005)
    * Director's Cut (2011)
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/silviopozza/kate_bush.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/IfLonelinessWasArt/Kate%20Bush/kate.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/30/11 at 7:15 am


British Person of the day: Emily Brontë

Emily Jane Brontë (30 July 1818 — 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, between Charlotte and Anne. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.

Biography

Emily Brontë was born on 30 July 1818 in Thornton, near Bradford in Yorkshire, to Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1824, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was perpetual curate, and it was in these surroundings that their literary gifts flourished.

After the death of their mother in 1821, when Emily was three years old, the older sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, where they encountered abuse and privations later described by Charlotte in Jane Eyre. Emily joined the school for a brief period. When a typhus epidemic swept the school, Maria and Elizabeth caught it. Maria, who may actually have had tuberculosis, was sent home, where she died. Emily was subsequently removed from the school along with Charlotte and Elizabeth. Elizabeth died soon after their return home.

The three remaining sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell were thereafter educated at home by their father and aunt Elizabeth Branwell, their mother's sister. In their leisure time the children created a number of paracosms, which were featured in stories they wrote and enacted about the imaginary adventures of their toy soldiers along with the Duke of Wellington and his sons, Charles and Arthur Wellesley. Little of Emily's work from this period survives, except for poems spoken by characters (The Brontës' Web of Childhood, Fannie Ratchford, 1941).

When Emily was 13, she and Anne withdrew from participation in the Angria story and began a new one about Gondal, a large island in the North Pacific. If they wrote stories or novels about Gondal, these were not preserved. Some "diary papers" of Emily's have survived in which she describes current events in Gondal, some of which were written, others enacted with Anne. One dates from 1841, when Emily was twenty-three: another from 1845, when she was twenty-seven. Anne made a list of Gondal names and places which also survives.

At seventeen, Emily attended the Roe Head girls' school, where Charlotte was a teacher, but managed to stay only three months before being overcome by extreme homesickness. She returned home and Anne took her place. At this time, the girls' objective was to obtain sufficient education to open a small school of their own.

Emily became a teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax beginning in September 1838, when she was twenty. Her health broke under the stress of the 17-hour work day and she returned home in April 1839. Thereafter she became the stay-at-home daughter, doing most of the cooking and cleaning and teaching Sunday school. She taught herself German out of books and practiced piano.

In 1842, Emily accompanied Charlotte to Brussels, Belgium, where they attended a girls' academy run by Constantin Heger. They planned to perfect their French and German in anticipation of opening their school. Nine of Emily's French essays survive from this period. The sisters returned home upon the death of their aunt. They did try to open a school at their home, but were unable to attract students to the remote area.

In 1844, Emily began going through all the poems she had written, recopying them neatly into two notebooks. One was labeled "Gondal Poems"; the other was unlabeled. Scholars such as Fannie Ratchford and Derek Roper have attempted to piece together a Gondal storyline and chronology from these poems.

In the fall of 1845, Charlotte discovered the notebooks and insisted that the poems be published. Emily, furious at the invasion of her privacy, at first refused, but relented when Anne brought out her own manuscripts and revealed she had been writing poems in secret as well.

In 1846, the sisters' poems were published in one volume as Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. The Brontë sisters had adopted pseudonyms for publication: Charlotte was Currer Bell, Emily was Ellis Bell and Anne was Acton Bell. Charlotte writes in the "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" that they chose "Christian names positively masculine" to dissuade any bias on the premise of their gender. The poetry, which was mostly if not all of Emily's, received unfavourable reviews. It was this that drove them to begin their first professional novels. In 1847, Emily published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, as two volumes of a three-volume set (the last volume being Agnes Grey by her sister Anne). Its innovative structure somewhat puzzled critics.

Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, and was often condemned for its portrayal of amoral passion, the book subsequently became an English literary classic. In 1850, Charlotte edited and published Wuthering Heights as a stand-alone novel and under Emily's real name.

Emily's health, like her sisters', had been weakened by unsanitary conditions at home, the source of water being contaminated by runoff from the church's graveyard. She caught a cold during the funeral of her brother in September 1848. She soon grew very thin and ill, but rejected medical help and refused all proffered remedies, saying that she would have "no poisoning doctor" near her. She died on 19 December 1848 at about two in the afternoon. She was interred in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels family vault, Haworth, West Yorkshire.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Emilybronte_retouche.jpg/200px-Emilybronte_retouche.jpg
A portrait of Emily made by her brother, Branwell Brontë

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/The_Climb_to_Top_Withens._-_geograph.org.uk_-_393405.jpg/240px-The_Climb_to_Top_Withens._-_geograph.org.uk_-_393405.jpg
The Climp to Top Withens, Yorkshire, 2007.



Thanks Phil :) When I was a security guard in the early 80's I dd a lot of reading of English lit, with  Wuthering Heights among those I read.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 07/30/11 at 7:16 am

I like when Peter Gabriel sung with her in the song Don't Give Up.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/30/11 at 7:18 am


The person of the day...Kate Bush
Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush 30 July 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years. Bush was signed by EMI at the age of 16 after being recommended by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. In 1978, at age 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights," becoming the first woman to have a UK number-one with a self-written song. She was also the most photographed woman in the United Kingdom the following year.

After her 1979 tour—the only concert tour of her career—Bush released the 1980 album Never for Ever, which made her the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist ever to enter the album chart at No. 1. In 1987, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Solo Artist. She has released ten albums, three of which topped the UK Albums Chart, and has had twenty-five UK Top 40 hit singles including "Wuthering Heights," "Running Up that Hill," "King of the Mountain," "Babooshka," "The Man with the Child in His Eyes," and "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Peter Gabriel)—all of which reached the Top 10.

In 2002, Bush's songwriting ability was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In 2005, she released Aerial, her first album in 12 years. The album earned her a BRIT Award nomination for Best Album and another for Best Solo Female Artist. During the course of her career, she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In early 2011, EMI Records also announced an upcoming re-issue of four of Bush's albums (The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes) under the name of her own label, Fish People, now that Bush has regained full control over these records. Bush released Director's Cut on 16 May 2011, which contains reworked material from her albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). As of May 2011, Bush was working on an album of new material.
Bush's music is eclectic, using various styles of music even within the same album. Her songs have spanned genres as diverse as rock, pop, alternative and art rock. Even in her earliest works where the piano was a primary instrument, she wove together many diverse influences, melding classical music, rock, and a wide range of ethnic and folk sources, and this has continued throughout her career.

In an interview with Melody Maker magazine in 1977, she revealed that male artists had more influence on her work than females, stating: "Every female you see at a piano is either Lynsey De Paul, or Carole King. And most male music—not all of it but the good stuff—really lays it on you. It really puts you against the wall and that's what I like to do. I'd like my music to intrude. Not many females succeed with that."

The experimental nature of her music has led it to be described as a later, more technological, and more accessible manifestation of the British progressive rock movement. Southern England was the home to the most influential and successful acts of the progressive rock movement and, like other artists in this genre, Bush rejects the classic American style of making pop music, which was adopted by most UK pop artists. Bush's vocals contain elements of British, Anglo-Irish and most prominently (southern) English accents and, in its utilization of musical instruments from many periods and cultures, her music has differed from American pop norms. Elements of Bush's lyrics tend to be more unusual and less clichéd than American-style pop lyrics, often employing historical or literary references and avoiding autobiographical lyrics. She considers herself a storyteller who embodies the character singing the song and strenuously rejects efforts by others to insist that her songs are autobiographical.

Reviewers have used the term "surreal" to describe her music. Many of her songs have a melodramatic emotional and musical surrealism that defies easy categorisation. It has been observed that even the more joyous pieces are often tinged with traces of melancholy, and even the most sorrowful pieces have elements of vitality struggling against all that would oppress them.

Bush is not afraid to tackle sensitive and taboo subjects. "The Kick Inside" is based on a traditional English folk song (The Ballad of Lucy Wan) about an incestuous pregnancy and a resulting suicide. "Kashka from Baghdad" is a song about a homosexual male couple; Out magazine listed two of her albums in their Top 100 Greatest Gayest albums list. "The Infant Kiss" is a song about a haunted, unstable woman's almost paedophile infatuation with a young boy in her care (inspired by Jack Clayton's film The Innocents (1961), which had been based on Henry James's famous novella The Turn of the Screw); and "Breathing" explores the results of nuclear fallout from the perspective of an unborn child in the womb. Her lyrics have referenced a wide array of subject matter, often relatively obscure, as in "Cloudbusting", which was inspired by Peter Reich's autobiography, "Book of Dreams", about his relationship with his father, Wilhelm Reich, and G. I. Gurdjieff in "Them Heavy People", while "Deeper Understanding", from The Sensual World, portrays a person who stays indoors, obsessively talking to a computer and shunning human contact.

Comedy is also a big influence on her and is a significant component of her work. She has cited Woody Allen, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and The Young Ones as particular favourites. Horror movies are another interest of Bush's and have influenced the gothic nature of several of her songs, such as "Get Out of My House", inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and "Hounds of Love", inspired by the 1957 horror movie Night of the Demon. Her songs have occasionally combined comedy and horror to form dark humour, such as murder by poisoning in "Coffee Homeground", an alcoholic mother in "Ran Tan Waltz" and the upbeat "The Wedding List", a song inspired by François Truffaut's 1967 film of Cornell Woolrich's The Bride Wore Black about the death of a groom and the bride's subsequent revenge against the killer.
Length of time between albums and false perception of perfectionism

The length of time in between album releases has led to rumours in the media concerning her health or appearance. In the past, stories of weight gain or mental instability have been disproved by Bush's periodic reappearance. In 2011 Bush told BBC Radio 4 that the amount of time between album releases is extremely stressful noting: "It's very frustrating the albums take as long as they do...I wish there weren't such big gaps between them." In the same interview Bush denied she was a perfectionist in the studio, saying: "I think it's important that things are flawed...That's what makes a piece of art interesting sometimes – the bit that's wrong or the mistake you've made that's led onto an idea you wouldn't have had otherwise," and reiterated her prioritization of her family life.
Live performances
Further information: The Tour of Life

Bush's only tour took place 2 April – 13 May 1979, after which she gave only the occasional live performance. Several reasons have been suggested as to why she abandoned touring, among them her reputed need to be in total control of the final product, which is incompatible with live stage performance, a rumour of a crippling fear of flying, and the suggestion that the death of 21-year-old Bill Duffield severely affected her. Duffield, her lighting director, was killed in an accident during her 2 April 1979 concert at Poole Arts Centre. Bush held a benefit concert on 12 May 1979, with Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley at London's Hammersmith Odeon for his family. Duffield would be honoured in two later songs: "Blow Away" on Never for Ever and "Moments of Pleasure" on The Red Shoes. Bush explained in a BBC Radio 2 interview with Mark Radcliffe that she actually enjoyed the tour but was consumed with producing her subsequent records.

During the same period as her tour, she made numerous television appearances around the world, including Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom, Bios Bahnhof in Germany, and Saturday Night Live in the United States (with Paul Shaffer on piano). On 28 December 1979, BBC TV aired the Kate Bush Christmas Special. It was recorded in October 1979 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham, England; choreography by Anthony Van Laast. As well as playing songs from her first two albums, she played "December Will Be Magic Again", and "Violin" from her forthcoming album, Never for Ever. Peter Gabriel made a guest appearance to play "Here Comes the Flood", and a duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" with Bush.

After the Tour of Life Bush desired to make two more albums before touring again. At that point she got involved with production techniques and sound experimentation that took up a lot of time and prevented her from touring. Later on there were a couple of instances where she came close to touring again.

In 1982, Bush participated in the first benefit concert in aid of The Prince's Trust alongside artists such as Madness, Midge Ure, Phil Collins, Mick Karn and Pete Townshend. On 25 April 1986 Bush performed live for British charity event Comic Relief, singing "Do Bears... ?", a humorous duet with Rowan Atkinson, and a rendition of "Breathing". Later in the year on 28 June 1986, she made a guest appearance to duet with Peter Gabriel on "Don't Give Up" at Earl's Court, London as part of his "So" tour. In March 1987, Bush sang "Running Up that Hill" at The Secret Policeman's Third Ball.

On 17 January 2002, Bush appeared with her long-time champion, David Gilmour, singing the part of the doctor in "Comfortably Numb" at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

In 2011 Bush told Classic Rock Magazine "I do hope that some time I get a chance to do some shows. Maybe not a tour, but something"
Video projects

In 1979 Bush's one live show, The Tour of Life, was recorded for the BBC and for release on VHS as Kate Bush Live at Hammersmith Odeon.

Bush has appeared in innovative music videos designed to accompany her singles releases. Among the best known are those for "Running Up that Hill," "Babooshka," "Breathing," "Wuthering Heights," and "The Man with the Child in His Eyes," and "Cloudbusting," featuring actor Donald Sutherland, who made time during the filming of another project to take part in the video. EMI has released collections of her videos, including The Single File, Hair of the Hound, The Whole Story, a career video overview released in conjunction with the 1986 compilation album of the same title, and The Sensual World.

In 1993, she directed and starred in the short film, The Line, the Cross & the Curve, a musical co-starring Miranda Richardson, featuring music from Bush's album The Red Shoes, which was inspired by the classic movie of the same name. It was released on VHS in the UK in 1994 and also received a small number of cinema screenings around the world. In recent interviews, Bush has said that she considers it a failure, and stated in 2001: "I'm very pleased with four minutes of it, but I'm very disappointed with the rest." In a 2005 interview, she described the film as "A load of bollocks."

In 1994, Bush provided the music used in a series of psychedelic-themed television commercials for the soft drink Fruitopia that appeared in the United States. The same company aired the ads in the United Kingdom, but the British version featured Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins instead of Bush.

In late 2006, a DVD documentary titled Kate Bush Under Review was released by Sexy Intellectual, which included archival interviews with Bush, along with interviews with a selection of music historians and journalists (including Phil Sutcliffe, Nigel Williamson, and Morris Pert). The DVD also includes clips from several of Bush's music videos.

On 2 December 2008, the DVD collection of the fourth season of Saturday Night Live, including her performances, was released. A three DVD set of The Secret Policeman's Balls benefit concerts that includes Bush's performance was released on 27 January 2009.
Movie projects

In 1990, Bush starred in the black comedy film Les Dogs, produced by The Comic Strip for BBC television. Aired on 8 March 1990, Bush plays the bride Angela at a wedding set in a post-apocalyptic version of Britain. While Bush's is a silent presence in a wedding dress throughout most of the film, she does have several lines of dialogue with Peter Richardson in two dream sequences. In another Comic Strip Presents film, GLC, she produced the theme song "Ken", which includes a vocal performance by Bush. The song was written about Ken Livingstone, the leader of the Greater London Council, who would later be elected as mayor of London and at the time was working with musicians to help the Labour Party garner the youth vote.

She also produced all the incidental music, which is synthesiser based. Bush wrote and performed the song "The Magician", in a fairground-like arrangement, for Menahem Golan's 1979 film The Magician of Lublin. In 1985, Bush contributed a darkly melancholic version of the Ary Barroso song "Brazil" to the soundtrack of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. The track was scored and arranged by Michael Kamen. In 1986, she wrote and recorded "Be Kind To My Mistakes" for the Nicolas Roeg film Castaway. An edited version of this track was used as the B side to her 1989 single "This Woman's Work". In 1988, the song "This Woman's Work" was featured in the John Hughes film She's Having a Baby, and a slightly remixed version appeared on Bush's album The Sensual World. The song has since appeared on numerous television shows, and in 2005 reached number eight on the UK download chart after featuring in a British television advertisement for the charity NSPCC.

In 1999, Bush wrote and recorded a song for the Disney film Dinosaur, but the track was ultimately not included on the soundtrack. According to the winter 1999 issue of HomeGround, a Bush fanzine, it was scrapped when Disney asked her to rewrite the song and she refused. Also in 1999, Bush's song "The Sensual World" was featured prominently in Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's film "Felicia's Journey". "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" is on the soundtrack for the 2007 British romantic comedy film Starter for 10.
Collaborations

Bush provided vocals on two of Peter Gabriel's albums, including the hits "Games Without Frontiers" and "Don't Give Up", as well as "No Self-Control". Gabriel appeared on Bush's 1979 television special, where they sang a duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day". She has sung on two Roy Harper tracks, "You", on his 1979 album, "The Unknown Soldier", and "Once", the title track of his 1990 album. She has also sung on the title song of the 1986 Big Country album The Seer, the Midge Ure song "Sister and Brother" from his 1988 album Answers to Nothing, Go West's 1987 single "The King Is Dead" and two songs with Prince – "Why Should I Love You?", from her 1993 album The Red Shoes, and in 1996, the song "My Computer" from Prince's album Emancipation. In 1987, she sang a verse on the charity single "Let It Be" by Ferry Aid. She sang a line on the charity single "Spirit of the Forest" by Spirit of the Forest in 1989. 1990 saw Kate producing, for the only time in her career, one song for another artist, Alan Stivell's "Kimiad," on his album Again. Stivell had appeared on The Sensual World. In 1995, Bush covered George Gershwin's "The Man I Love" for the tribute album The Glory of Gershwin. In 1996, Bush contributed a version of "Mná na hÉireann" (Irish for Women of Ireland) for the Anglo-Irish folk-rock compilation project Common Ground: The Voices of Modern Irish Music. Bush had to sing the song in Irish, which she learned to do phonetically. Artists who have contributed to Bush's own albums include Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Nigel Kennedy, Gary Brooker, and Prince. Bush provided backing vocals for a song that was recorded during the 1990s titled Wouldn't Change a Thing by Lionel Azulay, the drummer with the original band that was later to become the KT Bush Band. The song, which was engineered and produced by Del Palmer, is available for download and will be on Azulay’s upcoming CD.

Bush declined a request by Erasure to produce one of their albums because "she didn’t feel that that was her area".

In 2010, Bush provided vocals for Rolf Harris's cover of a traditional Irish song entitled "She Moves Through the Fair". Harris who described the collaboration the "best thing I’ve done" is unsure of how to release the track.
Influence

From the 1980s onward, it has become almost standard for individualistic female singer-songwriters to be compared to Bush by the media. She has been noted as an influence on female artists such as Tori Amos, Björk, Alison Goldfrapp, Nerina Pallot, KT Tunstall, Happy Rhodes, Lily Allen, PJ Harvey, Little Boots, and Florence Welch, in addition to acts as diverse as Muse, OutKast, and Bloc Party. Paula Cole named Bush as an influence while accepting the Best New Artist Grammy in 1996. Ariel Pink wrote a tribute song for her titled "For Kate I Wait" on the album The Doldrums. The trip-hop artist Tricky has said about Bush, "I don't believe in God, but if I did, her music would be my bible". Punk rocker John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, declared her work to be "fudgeing brilliant" and labelled her "a true original". Rotten once wrote a song for her, titled "Bird in Hand" (about exploitation of parrots) that Bush rejected. Rotten theorised that Bush thought the song contained insulting references aimed at her. Marc Almond chose "Moments of Pleasure" as one of his 10 favourite songs on Radio 2 in June 2007, saying that the song had a profound influence on him when he was combating drug addiction in New York in the 1990s. In November 2006, the singer Rufus Wainwright named Bush as one of his top ten gay icons. Outside music, Bush has been an inspiration to several fashion designers, most notably Hussein Chalayan.

Many artists around the world have recorded cover versions of Bush songs, including Charlotte Church, The Futureheads (who had a UK top ten hit with a cover of "Hounds of Love"), Placebo, Pat Benatar, Hayley Westenra, Jane Birkin, Natalie Cole, Ra Ra Riot, Maxwell, The Church and Nada Surf. The British dance act Utah Saints sampled a line from "Cloudbusting" for their single, "Something Good". Artists such as Tori Amos, Nolwenn Leroy, Patrick Wolf and Happy Rhodes (whose upper vocal range has been compared with the one of Kate Bush) have covered her songs in live performances. Coldplay said their track "Speed of Sound" was originally an attempt to re-create "Running Up that Hill". Suede front-man Brett Anderson has stated that "Wuthering Heights" was the first single he ever bought and mentioned "And Dream of Sheep" in Suede's song "These are the Sad Songs". British folk singer Jim Moray also references "And Dream of Sheep" in his self-penned track "Longing for Lucy". Progressive death metal act Novembre also covered "Cloudbusting" on their album Novembrine Waltz. In 2009, John Forté released a hip hop version of "Running Up that Hill". In 2010, Theo Bleckmann has been performing his work Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush and plans to release the project as an album in 2011. In 1998 a collection of independent musicians including Syd Straw recorded the tribute album I Wanna Be Kate, which was released in CD and mp3 form.
Discography
Main article: Kate Bush discography

    * The Kick Inside (1978)
    * Lionheart (1978)
    * Never for Ever (1980)
    * The Dreaming (1982)
    * Hounds of Love (1985)
    * The Sensual World (1989)
    * The Red Shoes (1993)
    * Aerial (2005)
    * Director's Cut (2011)
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/silviopozza/kate_bush.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g367/IfLonelinessWasArt/Kate%20Bush/kate.jpg
Love her songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/30/11 at 7:18 am


Thanks Phil :) When I was a security guard in the early 80's I dd a lot of reading of English lit, with  Wuthering Heights among those I read.
I have never got round to reading it, it is not my kind of book.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/30/11 at 7:21 am


I like when Peter Gabriel sung with her in the song Don't Give Up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCRZLr9oRw

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/30/11 at 8:17 am


Love her songs.

I really don't know too much about her :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/30/11 at 8:57 am


I really don't know too much about her :-[
In the last few years she tried to make a comeback but failed, the album did not sell well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/30/11 at 11:25 am


Thanks Phil :) When I was a security guard in the early 80's I dd a lot of reading of English lit, with  Wuthering Heights among those I read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pMMIe4hb4

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/30/11 at 11:29 am

I find it interesting that the British person of the day wrote the book Wuthering Heights and the other person of the day wrote the song Wuthering Heights. (Personally, I like how Pat Benatar did Wuthering Heights better than Kate Bush but I do love the song).



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pMMIe4hb4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-oiBAubg4



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/31/11 at 9:12 am

The person of the day...J.K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE (born 31 July 1965), better known as J. K. Rowling (play /ˈroʊlɪŋ/ roh-ling), is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies and been the basis for a popular series of films, in which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts as well as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment.

Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. As of March 2011, when its latest world billionaires list was published, Forbes estimated Rowling's net worth to be US$1 billion. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in the United Kingdom. Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007, and Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans. In October 2010, J. K. Rowling was named 'Most Influential Woman in Britain' by leading magazine editors. She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and Lumos (formerly the Children's High Level Group).
Although she writes under the pen name "J. K. Rowling", pronounced like rolling (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/), her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply "Joanne Rowling". Fearing that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself "Jo" and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business.
In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evens, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later she was finally given the green light (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small publishing house in London. The decision to publish Rowling's book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children's books. Soon after, in 1997, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., for $105,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the news.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print-run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and later, the Children's Book Award. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and again Rowling won the Smarties Prize. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.

In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000, and broke sales records in both countries. Some 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during its first year. In the US, the book sold three million copies in its first 48 hours, smashing all literary sales records. Rowling admitted that she had had a moment of crisis while writing the novel; "Halfway through writing Four, I realised there was a serious fault with the plot ... I've had some of my blackest moments with this book ... One chapter I rewrote 13 times, though no-one who has read it can spot which one or know the pain it caused me." Rowling was named author of the year in the 2000 British Book Awards.

A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This gap led to press speculation that Rowling had developed writer's block, speculations she fervently denied. Rowling later admitted that writing the book was a chore. "I think Phoenix could have been shorter", she told Lev Grossman, "I knew that, and I ran out of time and energy toward the end."

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release. While writing, she told a fan online, "Book six has been planned for years, but before I started writing seriously I spend two months re-visiting the plan and making absolutely sure I knew what I was doing." She noted on her website that the opening chapter of book six, which features a conversation between the Minister of Magic and the British Prime Minister, had been intended as the first chapter first for Philosopher's Stone, then Chamber of Secrets then Prisoner of Azkaban. In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.

The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was revealed 21 December 2006 to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In February 2007 it was reported that Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 (0:00 BST) and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the entire series. During a year period when Rowling was completing the last book, she allowed herself to be filmed for a documentary which aired in Britain on ITV on 30 December 2007. It was entitled J K Rowling... A Year In The Life and showed her returning to her old Edinburgh tenement flat where she lived, and completed the first Harry Potter book. Re-visiting the flat for the first time reduced her to tears, saying it was "really where I turned my life around completely."

Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated £7 billion ($15 billion), and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.

The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books for computers and television, although the series' overall impact on children's reading habits has been questioned.
Harry Potter films
Main article: Harry Potter (film series)
J. K. Rowling, producer David Heyman and director David Yates on stage at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards.

In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum. A film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002. Both films were directed by Chris Columbus. 4 June 2004 saw the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by another new director, Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005. The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates directed, and Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay, having taken over the position from Steve Kloves. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on 15 July 2009. David Yates directed again, and Kloves returned to write the script. In March 2008, Warner Bros. announced that the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would be filmed in two segments, with part one being released in November 2010 and part two being released in July 2011. Yates would again return to direct both films.

Warner Bros took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts when drafting her contract. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has been adhered to strictly. In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to tie in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.

The first four, sixth and seventh films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She has said that she told him more about the later books than anybody else (prior to their release), but not everything. She has also said that she told Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters before they were revealed in the books. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) asked her if Harry died at any point in the series; Rowling answered him by saying, "You have a death scene", thereby not explicitly answering the question. Director Steven Spielberg was approached to helm the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated that she has no say in who directs the films and would not have vetoed Spielberg if she had. Rowling's first choice for the director had been Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, as she is a fan of his work. However, Warner Bros. wanted a more family friendly film and eventually they chose Chris Columbus, who was set to direct all seven entries in the series. Columbus declined to direct the succeeding films to the second adaptation as he claimed he was "burned out". This led to directors Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell and David Yates to join the series. Cuarón and Newell helmed one film each, while Yates directed the final four entries, becoming the only person to have guided more than one Harry Potter film since Columbus.

Rowling had gained creative control on the films, approving all the scripts as well as acting as a producer on the final two-part instalment, Deathly Hallows.

On her website, Rowling revealed that she was considered to have a cameo in the first film as Lily Potter in the Mirror of Erised scene. Rowling, however, turned down the role, stating that she was not cut out to be an actor and, "would have messed it up somehow". The role ultimately went to Geraldine Somerville.

Rowling, producers David Heyman and David Barron, along with directors David Yates, Mike Newell and Alfonso Cuarón collected the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in honour of the Harry Potter film franchise.
Life after Harry Potter

Forbes has named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S.-dollar billionaire by writing books, the second-richest female entertainer and the 1,062nd richest person in the world. When first listed as a billionaire by Forbes in 2004, Rowling disputed the calculations and said she had plenty of money, but was not a billionaire. In addition, the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List named Rowling the 144th richest person in Britain. In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th-century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a £4.5 million ($9 million) Georgian house in Kensington, West London, on a street with 24-hour security.

On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971), an anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her Aberfeldy home. This was a second marriage for both Rowling and Murray, as Murray had previously been married to Dr. Fiona Duncan in 1996. Murray and Duncan separated in 1999 and divorced in the summer of 2001. Rowling's and Murray's son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born on 24 March 2003. Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince she took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy. Rowling's youngest child, daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born 23 January 2005.

Rowling is a close friend of Sarah Brown, wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whom she met when they collaborated on a charitable project (see below). When Brown's son Fraser was born in 2003, Rowling was one of the first to visit her in the hospital.

Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen and Harvard University, for whom she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony. In 2009 Rowling was awarded the Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She revealed publicly, during the Elysée Palace ceremony, that her maternal grandfather was French and had also received the Légion d'honneur for his bravery at the First World War battle of Verdun.
Subsequent writing

Rowling has stated that she plans to continue writing. In an interview with Stephen Fry in 2005, Rowling claimed that she would much prefer to write any subsequent books under a pseudonym; however, she conceded to Jeremy Paxman in 2003 that if she did, the press would probably "find out in seconds." In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had finished writing a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than Harry Potter readers.

As regards the possibility of an eighth Harry Potter book, she has said, "I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know, in ten years' time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely." However, on 1 October 2010, Rowling had an interview with Oprah Winfrey, stating a new book on the saga might happen.

Rowling has said she will be writing an encyclopaedia of Harry Potter's wizarding world consisting of various unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity. During a news conference at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in 2007, Rowling, when asked how the encyclopaedia was coming along, said, "It's not coming along, and I haven't started writing it. I never said it was the next thing I'd do." As of the end of 2007, Rowling has said that the encyclopaedia could take up to ten years to complete, stating "There is no point in doing it unless it is amazing. The last thing I want to do is to rush something out".

In July 2007, Rowling said that she wants to dedicate "lots" of her time to her family, but is currently "sort of writing two things", one for children and the other for adults. She did not give any details about the two projects but did state that she was excited because the two book situation reminded her of writing the Philosopher's Stone, explaining how she was then writing two books until Harry took over. She stated in October 2007 that her future work was unlikely to be in the fantasy genre, explaining, "I think probably I've done my fantasy ... it would be incredibly difficult to go out and create another world that didn't in some way overlap with Harry's or maybe borrow a little too much from Harry." In November 2007, Rowling said that she was working on another book, a "half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing I publish." In March 2008, Rowling confirmed that her "political fairy tale" for children was nearing completion.

In March 2008, Rowling revealed in interview that she had returned to writing in Edinburgh cafés, intent on composing a new novel for children. "I will continue writing for children because that's what I enjoy," she told The Daily Telegraph. "I am very good at finding a suitable café; I blend into the crowd and, of course, I don't sit in the middle of the bar staring all around me."

In June 2011, Rowling announced that future Harry Potter projects, and all electronic downloads, would be concentrated in a new website, called Pottermore. The site includes 18,000 words of additional information on characters, places and objects in the Harry Potter universe. The following month, she parted company with her agent, Christopher Little, moving to a new agency founded by one of his staff, Neil Blair.
Rowling, her publishers, and Time Warner, the owner of the rights to the Harry Potter films, have taken numerous legal actions to protect their copyright. The worldwide popularity of the Harry Potter series has led to the appearance of a number of locally produced, unauthorised sequels and other derivative works, sparking efforts to ban or contain them.

Another area of legal dispute involves a series of injunctions obtained by Rowling and her publishers to prohibit anyone from reading her books before their official release date. The injunction drew fire from civil liberties and free speech campaigners and sparked debates over the "right to read".
Awards and honours

    * 1997: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
    * 1998: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    * 1998: British Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
    * 1999: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    * 1999: British Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    * 1999: Whitbread Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    * 2000: British Book Awards, Author of the Year.
    * 2000: Order of the British Empire, Officer.
    * 2003: Premio Príncipe de Asturias, Concord.
    * 2003: Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, winner Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    * 2006: British Book of the Year, winner for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
    * 2007: Blue Peter Badge, Gold.
    * 2008: British Book Awards, Outstanding Achievement.
    * 2009: Légion d'honneur, presented by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
    * 2010: Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, inaugural award winner.
    * 2011: British Academy Film Awards, Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema for the Harry Potter film series, shared with David Heyman, cast and crew.
    * Honorary degrees: St Andrews University, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, University of Exeter, Harvard University

Publications
Harry Potter series

  1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997)
  2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)
  3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999)
  4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)
  5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)
  6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005)
  7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)

Other books

    * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
    * Quidditch Through the Ages (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
    * The Tales of Beedle the Bard (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2008)

Short story

    * Harry Potter prequel (July 2008)

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/ifihadahifi78/jk_rowling.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/bombgirl205/jk-rowling.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/31/11 at 11:40 am

^ is an amazing writer. She has single-handedly, got kids (and adults) to read!


I don't think I need to tell anyone here how much I LOVE the Harry Potter books.  ;)




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 07/31/11 at 1:14 pm


^ is an amazing writer. She has single-handedly, got kids (and adults) to read!


I don't think I need to tell anyone here how much I LOVE the Harry Potter books.  ;)




Cat

My son is the same way, he grew up with Harry Potter and Timmy's birthday is July 29th while Harry's is the 31st so I think he feels a connection. He has the whole collection of books. Sadly I haven't seen the last 2 movies yet.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 07/31/11 at 1:17 pm


The person of the day...J.K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE (born 31 July 1965), better known as J. K. Rowling (play /ˈroʊlɪŋ/ roh-ling), is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies and been the basis for a popular series of films, in which Rowling had overall approval on the scripts as well as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment.

Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. As of March 2011, when its latest world billionaires list was published, Forbes estimated Rowling's net worth to be US$1 billion. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in the United Kingdom. Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007, and Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans. In October 2010, J. K. Rowling was named 'Most Influential Woman in Britain' by leading magazine editors. She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and Lumos (formerly the Children's High Level Group).
Although she writes under the pen name "J. K. Rowling", pronounced like rolling (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/), her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply "Joanne Rowling". Fearing that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself "Jo" and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business.
In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evens, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later she was finally given the green light (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small publishing house in London. The decision to publish Rowling's book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children's books. Soon after, in 1997, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., for $105,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the news.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print-run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Five months later, the book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and later, the Children's Book Award. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and again Rowling won the Smarties Prize. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.

In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000, and broke sales records in both countries. Some 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during its first year. In the US, the book sold three million copies in its first 48 hours, smashing all literary sales records. Rowling admitted that she had had a moment of crisis while writing the novel; "Halfway through writing Four, I realised there was a serious fault with the plot ... I've had some of my blackest moments with this book ... One chapter I rewrote 13 times, though no-one who has read it can spot which one or know the pain it caused me." Rowling was named author of the year in the 2000 British Book Awards.

A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This gap led to press speculation that Rowling had developed writer's block, speculations she fervently denied. Rowling later admitted that writing the book was a chore. "I think Phoenix could have been shorter", she told Lev Grossman, "I knew that, and I ran out of time and energy toward the end."

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release. While writing, she told a fan online, "Book six has been planned for years, but before I started writing seriously I spend two months re-visiting the plan and making absolutely sure I knew what I was doing." She noted on her website that the opening chapter of book six, which features a conversation between the Minister of Magic and the British Prime Minister, had been intended as the first chapter first for Philosopher's Stone, then Chamber of Secrets then Prisoner of Azkaban. In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.

The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was revealed 21 December 2006 to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In February 2007 it was reported that Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 (0:00 BST) and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the entire series. During a year period when Rowling was completing the last book, she allowed herself to be filmed for a documentary which aired in Britain on ITV on 30 December 2007. It was entitled J K Rowling... A Year In The Life and showed her returning to her old Edinburgh tenement flat where she lived, and completed the first Harry Potter book. Re-visiting the flat for the first time reduced her to tears, saying it was "really where I turned my life around completely."

Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated £7 billion ($15 billion), and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.

The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books for computers and television, although the series' overall impact on children's reading habits has been questioned.
Harry Potter films
Main article: Harry Potter (film series)
J. K. Rowling, producer David Heyman and director David Yates on stage at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards.

In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum. A film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002. Both films were directed by Chris Columbus. 4 June 2004 saw the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by another new director, Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005. The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates directed, and Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay, having taken over the position from Steve Kloves. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on 15 July 2009. David Yates directed again, and Kloves returned to write the script. In March 2008, Warner Bros. announced that the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would be filmed in two segments, with part one being released in November 2010 and part two being released in July 2011. Yates would again return to direct both films.

Warner Bros took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts when drafting her contract. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has been adhered to strictly. In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to tie in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.

The first four, sixth and seventh films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She has said that she told him more about the later books than anybody else (prior to their release), but not everything. She has also said that she told Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters before they were revealed in the books. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) asked her if Harry died at any point in the series; Rowling answered him by saying, "You have a death scene", thereby not explicitly answering the question. Director Steven Spielberg was approached to helm the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated that she has no say in who directs the films and would not have vetoed Spielberg if she had. Rowling's first choice for the director had been Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, as she is a fan of his work. However, Warner Bros. wanted a more family friendly film and eventually they chose Chris Columbus, who was set to direct all seven entries in the series. Columbus declined to direct the succeeding films to the second adaptation as he claimed he was "burned out". This led to directors Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell and David Yates to join the series. Cuarón and Newell helmed one film each, while Yates directed the final four entries, becoming the only person to have guided more than one Harry Potter film since Columbus.

Rowling had gained creative control on the films, approving all the scripts as well as acting as a producer on the final two-part instalment, Deathly Hallows.

On her website, Rowling revealed that she was considered to have a cameo in the first film as Lily Potter in the Mirror of Erised scene. Rowling, however, turned down the role, stating that she was not cut out to be an actor and, "would have messed it up somehow". The role ultimately went to Geraldine Somerville.

Rowling, producers David Heyman and David Barron, along with directors David Yates, Mike Newell and Alfonso Cuarón collected the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in honour of the Harry Potter film franchise.
Life after Harry Potter

Forbes has named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S.-dollar billionaire by writing books, the second-richest female entertainer and the 1,062nd richest person in the world. When first listed as a billionaire by Forbes in 2004, Rowling disputed the calculations and said she had plenty of money, but was not a billionaire. In addition, the 2008 Sunday Times Rich List named Rowling the 144th richest person in Britain. In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th-century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a £4.5 million ($9 million) Georgian house in Kensington, West London, on a street with 24-hour security.

On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Michael Murray (born 30 June 1971), an anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her Aberfeldy home. This was a second marriage for both Rowling and Murray, as Murray had previously been married to Dr. Fiona Duncan in 1996. Murray and Duncan separated in 1999 and divorced in the summer of 2001. Rowling's and Murray's son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born on 24 March 2003. Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince she took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy. Rowling's youngest child, daughter Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born 23 January 2005.

Rowling is a close friend of Sarah Brown, wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whom she met when they collaborated on a charitable project (see below). When Brown's son Fraser was born in 2003, Rowling was one of the first to visit her in the hospital.

Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen and Harvard University, for whom she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony. In 2009 Rowling was awarded the Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She revealed publicly, during the Elysée Palace ceremony, that her maternal grandfather was French and had also received the Légion d'honneur for his bravery at the First World War battle of Verdun.
Subsequent writing

Rowling has stated that she plans to continue writing. In an interview with Stephen Fry in 2005, Rowling claimed that she would much prefer to write any subsequent books under a pseudonym; however, she conceded to Jeremy Paxman in 2003 that if she did, the press would probably "find out in seconds." In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had finished writing a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than Harry Potter readers.

As regards the possibility of an eighth Harry Potter book, she has said, "I can't say I'll never write another book about that world just because I think, what do I know, in ten years' time I might want to return to it but I think it's unlikely." However, on 1 October 2010, Rowling had an interview with Oprah Winfrey, stating a new book on the saga might happen.

Rowling has said she will be writing an encyclopaedia of Harry Potter's wizarding world consisting of various unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity. During a news conference at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in 2007, Rowling, when asked how the encyclopaedia was coming along, said, "It's not coming along, and I haven't started writing it. I never said it was the next thing I'd do." As of the end of 2007, Rowling has said that the encyclopaedia could take up to ten years to complete, stating "There is no point in doing it unless it is amazing. The last thing I want to do is to rush something out".

In July 2007, Rowling said that she wants to dedicate "lots" of her time to her family, but is currently "sort of writing two things", one for children and the other for adults. She did not give any details about the two projects but did state that she was excited because the two book situation reminded her of writing the Philosopher's Stone, explaining how she was then writing two books until Harry took over. She stated in October 2007 that her future work was unlikely to be in the fantasy genre, explaining, "I think probably I've done my fantasy ... it would be incredibly difficult to go out and create another world that didn't in some way overlap with Harry's or maybe borrow a little too much from Harry." In November 2007, Rowling said that she was working on another book, a "half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing I publish." In March 2008, Rowling confirmed that her "political fairy tale" for children was nearing completion.

In March 2008, Rowling revealed in interview that she had returned to writing in Edinburgh cafés, intent on composing a new novel for children. "I will continue writing for children because that's what I enjoy," she told The Daily Telegraph. "I am very good at finding a suitable café; I blend into the crowd and, of course, I don't sit in the middle of the bar staring all around me."

In June 2011, Rowling announced that future Harry Potter projects, and all electronic downloads, would be concentrated in a new website, called Pottermore. The site includes 18,000 words of additional information on characters, places and objects in the Harry Potter universe. The following month, she parted company with her agent, Christopher Little, moving to a new agency founded by one of his staff, Neil Blair.
Rowling, her publishers, and Time Warner, the owner of the rights to the Harry Potter films, have taken numerous legal actions to protect their copyright. The worldwide popularity of the Harry Potter series has led to the appearance of a number of locally produced, unauthorised sequels and other derivative works, sparking efforts to ban or contain them.

Another area of legal dispute involves a series of injunctions obtained by Rowling and her publishers to prohibit anyone from reading her books before their official release date. The injunction drew fire from civil liberties and free speech campaigners and sparked debates over the "right to read".
Awards and honours

    * 1997: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
    * 1998: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    * 1998: British Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
    * 1999: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Gold Award for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    * 1999: British Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    * 1999: Whitbread Children's Book of the Year, winner Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    * 2000: British Book Awards, Author of the Year.
    * 2000: Order of the British Empire, Officer.
    * 2003: Premio Príncipe de Asturias, Concord.
    * 2003: Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, winner Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    * 2006: British Book of the Year, winner for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
    * 2007: Blue Peter Badge, Gold.
    * 2008: British Book Awards, Outstanding Achievement.
    * 2009: Légion d'honneur, presented by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
    * 2010: Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, inaugural award winner.
    * 2011: British Academy Film Awards, Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema for the Harry Potter film series, shared with David Heyman, cast and crew.
    * Honorary degrees: St Andrews University, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, University of Exeter, Harvard University

Publications
Harry Potter series

  1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997)
  2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)
  3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999)
  4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)
  5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)
  6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005)
  7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)

Other books

    * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
    * Quidditch Through the Ages (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2001)
    * The Tales of Beedle the Bard (supplement to the Harry Potter series) (2008)

Short story

    * Harry Potter prequel (July 2008)

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/ifihadahifi78/jk_rowling.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/bombgirl205/jk-rowling.jpg
It is amazing what unemployed people get up to when jobsearch is meant to be done.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/31/11 at 2:57 pm

I am sure that all those publishers who turned her down are now kicking themselves.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/01/11 at 9:17 am

The person of the day...Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he vehemently disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.

One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.

Later in life, Garcia was sometimes ill because of his unstable weight, and in 1986 went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after that, he also struggled with heroin addiction, and was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995.
Garcia served as lead guitarist, as well as one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the Grateful Dead for their entire career. Garcia composed such songs as "Dark Star", "Franklin's Tower", and "Scarlet Begonias", among many others. Robert Hunter, an ardent collaborator with the band, wrote the lyrics to all but a few of Garcia's songs.

Garcia was well-noted for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations", which would frequently feature interplay between himself and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice. Often, Garcia would take cues from rhythm guitarist Bob Weir on when to solo, remarking that "there are some kinds of ideas that would really throw me if I had to create a harmonic bridge between all the things going on rhythmically with two drums and Phil innovative bass playing. Weir's ability to solve that sort of problem is extraordinary. Harmonically, I take a lot of my solo cues from Bob."

When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it’s broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they’ll occur in the same places in the song. "

Garcia and the band toured almost constantly from their formation in 1965 until Garcia's death in 1995, a stint which gave credit to the name "endless tour". Periodically, there were breaks due to exhaustion or health problems, often due to unstable health and/or Garcia's drug use. During their three decade span, the Grateful Dead played 2,314 shows.

Garcia's mature guitar-playing melded elements from the various kinds of music that had enthralled him. Echoes of bluegrass playing (such as Arthur Smith and Doc Watson) could be heard. But the "roots music" behind bluegrass had its influence, too, and melodic riffs from Celtic fiddle jigs can be distinguished. There was also early rock (like Lonnie Mack, James Burton and Chuck Berry), contemporary blues (such as Freddie King and Lowell Fulson), country and western (such as Roy Nichols and Don Rich), and jazz (like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt) to be heard in Jerry's style. Don Rich was the sparkling country guitar player in Buck Owens's "the Buckaroos" band of the 1960s, but besides Rich's style, both Garcia's pedal steel guitar playing (on Grateful Dead records and others) and his standard electric guitar work, were influenced by another of Owens's Buckaroos of that time, pedal-steel player Tom Brumley. And as an improvisational soloist, John Coltrane was one of his greatest personal and musical influences.
Jerry Garcia in 1969

Garcia later described his playing style as having "descended from barroom rock and roll, country guitar. Just 'cause that's where all my stuff comes from. It's like that blues instrumental stuff that was happening in the late Fifties and early Sixties, like Freddie King." Garcia's style varied somewhat according to the song or instrumental to which he was contributing. His playing had a number of so-called "signatures" and, in his work through the years with the Grateful Dead, one of these was lead lines making much use of rhythmic triplets (examples include the songs "Good Morning Little School Girl", "New Speedway Boogie", "Brokedown Palace", "Deal", "Loser", "Truckin'", "That's It for the Other One", "U.S. Blues", "Sugaree", and "Don't Ease Me In").
Side projects

In addition to the Grateful Dead, Garcia had numerous side projects, the most notable being the Jerry Garcia Band. He was also involved with various acoustic projects such as Old and in the Way and other bluegrass bands, including collaborations with noted bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman. The documentary film Grateful Dawg chronicles the deep, long-term friendship between Garcia and Grisman.

Other groups of which Garcia was a member at one time or another include the Black Mountain Boys, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Jerry Garcia was also an appreciative fan of jazz artists and improvisation: he played with jazz keyboardists Merl Saunders and Howard Wales for many years in various groups and jam sessions, and he appeared on saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1988 album, Virgin Beauty. His collaboration with Merl Saunders and Muruga Booker on the Grammy-nominated world music album Blues From the Rainforest launched the Rainforest Band.
The album cover of Garcia (1972), Garcia's début solo album. Several of the songs featured on the album eventually became concert staples of the Grateful Dead

Garcia also spent a lot of time in the recording studio helping out fellow musician friends in session work, often adding guitar, vocals, pedal steel, sometimes banjo and piano and even producing. He played on over 50 studio albums the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. Artists who sought Garcia's help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably Surrealistic Pillow, Garcia being listed as their "Spiritual Advisor"), Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter (Liberty, on Relix Records), Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan and many more. He was also one of the first musicians to really cover in depth Motown music in the early 1970s and probably the most prolific coverer of Bob Dylan songs. In 1995 Garcia played on three tracks for the CD Blue Incantation by guitarist Sanjay Mishra, making it his last studio collaboration.

Throughout the early 1970s, Garcia, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, drummer Mickey Hart, and David Crosby collaborated intermittently with MIT-educated composer and biologist Ned Lagin on several projects in the realm of early electronica; these include the album Seastones (released by the Dead on their Round Records subsidiary) and L, an unfinished dance work.

Garcia also lent pedal-steel guitar playing to fellow-San Francisco musicians New Riders of the Purple Sage from their initial dates in 1969 to October 1971, when increased commitments with the Dead forced him to opt out of the group. He appears as a band member on their début album New Riders of the Purple Sage, and produced Home, Home On The Road, a 1974 live album by the band. He also contributed pedal steel guitar to the enduring hit "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Garcia also played steel guitar licks on Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album Tarkio. Despite considering himself a novice on the pedal steel, Garcia routinely ranked high in player polls. After a long lapse from playing the pedal-steel, he played it once more during several of the Dead's concerts with Bob Dylan during the summer of 1987.

Having studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute, Garcia embarked on a second career in the visual arts. He offered for sale and auction to the public a number of illustrations, lithographs, and water colors. Some of those pieces became the basis of a line of men's neckties characterized by bright colors and abstract patterns. Even in 2005, ten years after Garcia's death, new styles and designs continued to be produced and sold.
Personal life

Garcia met his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, in 1963. She was working at the coffee house in the back of Kepler's Bookstore where Garcia, Hunter, and Nelson performed. They married on April 23 of the same year, and had their only child together, a daughter whom they named Heather, on December 8, 1963.

Garcia and his fellow musicians were subjected to a handful of drug busts during their lifetime. On October 2, 1967, 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco (where the Grateful Dead had taken up residence the year before) was raided after a police tip-off. Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were apprehended on marijuana charges which were later dropped, although Garcia himself was not arrested. The following year, ironically, Garcia's picture was used in a campaign commercial for Richard Nixon.

Most of the Grateful Dead were arrested again in January 1970, after they flew to New Orleans from Hawaii. After returning to their hotel from a performance, the band checked into their rooms, only to be quickly raided by police. Around fifteen people were arrested on the spot, including many of the road crew, management, and nearly all of the Grateful Dead (except Garcia, who arrived later, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who was not doing substances at the time).

During August 1970, Garcia's mother Ruth was involved in a car accident near Twin Peaks in San Francisco. Garcia, who was recording the album American Beauty at the time, often left the sessions to visit his mother with his brother Clifford. She died on September 28, 1970. That same year, Garcia participated in the soundtrack for the film Zabriskie Point.

Carolyn Adams, also known as 'Mountain Girl', gave birth to Garcia's second and third daughters, Annabelle Walker Garcia (February 2, 1970) and Theresa Adams "Trixie" Garcia (September 21, 1974). Adams and Garcia married in 1981.

In 1975, around the time Blues for Allah was being created, Garcia met Deborah Koons, the woman who would much later become his third wife and widow. He began seeing her while he was still involved with Adams, with whom Koons had a less-than-perfect relationship. Garcia and Adams eventually went different ways.

Influenced by the stresses of creating and releasing The Grateful Dead Movie in 1977, Garcia began using cocaine, later progressing to smoking heroin. This, combined with the drug use of several other members of the Grateful Dead, produced turbulent times for the band: starting in 1981, the band's chemistry began "cracking and crumbling", resulting in poor live performances and group cohesion. The so-called "endless tour", the result of years of financial risks and mistakes, also became extremely taxing. During the same year, Garcia married Adams, making her his second wife.

Garcia's use of heroin increased heavily over the next seven years, eventually culminating in the rest of the Grateful Dead holding an intervention in 1984. Given the choice between the band or the drugs, Garcia readily agreed to check into a rehabilitation center in Oakland, California. In 1985, nearing the completion of his program in Oakland, Garcia was arrested for drug possession in Golden Gate Park; Garcia subsequently attended a drug diversion program.

Precipitated by an unhealthy weight, bad eating habits, and drug use, Garcia collapsed into a diabetic coma in 1986, waking up five days later. Garcia later spoke about this period of unconsciousness as surreal: "Well, I had some very weird experiences. My main experience was one of furious activity and tremendous struggle in a sort of futuristic, space-ship vehicle with insectoid presences. After I came out of my coma, I had this image of myself as these little hunks of protoplasm that were stuck together kind of like stamps with perforations between them that you could snap off." Garcia's coma had a profound effect on him: it forced him to have to relearn how to play the guitar, as well as other, more basic skills. Within a handful of months, Garcia quickly recovered, playing with the Jerry Garcia Band and the Grateful Dead again later that year. Garcia frequently saw a woman named Manasha Matheson during this period. Together they produced Garcia's fourth and final child, a girl named Keelin Noel Garcia, who was born December 20, 1987. Jerry, Keelin and Manasha toured and shared a home together as a family until 1993. During the creation of Built to Last in 1989, Garcia relapsed. In 1991, Garcia was confronted by the Grateful Dead with another intervention. After a disastrous meeting, Garcia invited Phil Lesh over to his home in San Rafael, California, where he explained that after the meeting he would start attending a methadone clinic. Garcia said that he simply wanted to clean up in his own way.

After returning from the Grateful Dead's 1992 summer tour, Garcia became extremely sick, evidently a throwback to his diabetic coma in 1986. Refusing to go to the hospital, he instead enlisted the aid of an acupuncturist named Yen Wei Choong and a licensed doctor to treat him personally at home. Garcia recovered over the following days, despite the Grateful Dead having to cancel their fall tour to allow him time to recuperate. Following this episode, Garcia began losing weight.

Garcia and girlfriend Barbara Meier, who had met in December of the previous year, separated at the beginning of the Dead's 1993 tour. In 1994, Garcia renewed acquaintances with Deborah Koons, with whom he had been involved sometime around 1975. They married on February 14, 1994, in Sausalito, California. The wedding was attended by family and friends. Garcia had divorced Adams in January of that year.

By the beginning of 1995, Garcia's physical and mental condition began a decline. His playing ability suffered to the point where he would turn down the volume of his guitar, and he often had to be reminded of what song he was performing.

In light of his drug relapse in 1989 and current condition, Garcia checked himself into the Betty Ford Center during July 1995. His stay was limited, however, lasting only two weeks. Motivated by the experience, he then checked into the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Forest Knolls, California.
Death

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 am, Garcia's body was discovered in his room at the rehabilitation clinic. The cause of death was a heart attack. Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction, weight problems, and sleep apnea, all of which contributed to his physical decline. Phil Lesh remarked in his autobiography that, upon hearing of Garcia's death, "I was struck numb; I had lost my oldest surviving friend, my brother." On the morning of August 10, Garcia was rested at a funeral home in San Rafael, California. On August 12, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, Garcia's funeral was held. It was attended by his family, the remaining Grateful Dead and their friends, including former basketball player Bill Walton and musician Bob Dylan, and his widow Deborah Koons, who barred Garcia's other two wives from the ceremony.

On August 13, a municipally-sanctioned public memorial took place in the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and was attended by about twenty-five thousand people. The crowds produced hundreds of flowers, gifts, images, and even a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" in remembrance.

On April 4, 1996, Bob Weir and Deborah Koons spread half of Garcia's cremated ashes into the Ganges River at the holy city of Rishikesh, India, a site sacred to the Hindus. Then, according to Garcia's last wishes, the other half of his ashes were poured into the San Francisco Bay. Deborah Koons did not allow one of Garcia's ex-wives, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, to attend the spreading of the ashes.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/missjamierose/garcia.gif
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo15/Abcefghigklmnop123/JerryGarcia.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/01/11 at 11:11 am

One of my favorite Dead songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmT6udys8Tc



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/01/11 at 1:14 pm


The person of the day...Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he vehemently disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.

One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.

Later in life, Garcia was sometimes ill because of his unstable weight, and in 1986 went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after that, he also struggled with heroin addiction, and was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995.
Garcia served as lead guitarist, as well as one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the Grateful Dead for their entire career. Garcia composed such songs as "Dark Star", "Franklin's Tower", and "Scarlet Begonias", among many others. Robert Hunter, an ardent collaborator with the band, wrote the lyrics to all but a few of Garcia's songs.

Garcia was well-noted for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations", which would frequently feature interplay between himself and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice. Often, Garcia would take cues from rhythm guitarist Bob Weir on when to solo, remarking that "there are some kinds of ideas that would really throw me if I had to create a harmonic bridge between all the things going on rhythmically with two drums and Phil innovative bass playing. Weir's ability to solve that sort of problem is extraordinary. Harmonically, I take a lot of my solo cues from Bob."

When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it’s broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they’ll occur in the same places in the song. "

Garcia and the band toured almost constantly from their formation in 1965 until Garcia's death in 1995, a stint which gave credit to the name "endless tour". Periodically, there were breaks due to exhaustion or health problems, often due to unstable health and/or Garcia's drug use. During their three decade span, the Grateful Dead played 2,314 shows.

Garcia's mature guitar-playing melded elements from the various kinds of music that had enthralled him. Echoes of bluegrass playing (such as Arthur Smith and Doc Watson) could be heard. But the "roots music" behind bluegrass had its influence, too, and melodic riffs from Celtic fiddle jigs can be distinguished. There was also early rock (like Lonnie Mack, James Burton and Chuck Berry), contemporary blues (such as Freddie King and Lowell Fulson), country and western (such as Roy Nichols and Don Rich), and jazz (like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt) to be heard in Jerry's style. Don Rich was the sparkling country guitar player in Buck Owens's "the Buckaroos" band of the 1960s, but besides Rich's style, both Garcia's pedal steel guitar playing (on Grateful Dead records and others) and his standard electric guitar work, were influenced by another of Owens's Buckaroos of that time, pedal-steel player Tom Brumley. And as an improvisational soloist, John Coltrane was one of his greatest personal and musical influences.
Jerry Garcia in 1969

Garcia later described his playing style as having "descended from barroom rock and roll, country guitar. Just 'cause that's where all my stuff comes from. It's like that blues instrumental stuff that was happening in the late Fifties and early Sixties, like Freddie King." Garcia's style varied somewhat according to the song or instrumental to which he was contributing. His playing had a number of so-called "signatures" and, in his work through the years with the Grateful Dead, one of these was lead lines making much use of rhythmic triplets (examples include the songs "Good Morning Little School Girl", "New Speedway Boogie", "Brokedown Palace", "Deal", "Loser", "Truckin'", "That's It for the Other One", "U.S. Blues", "Sugaree", and "Don't Ease Me In").
Side projects

In addition to the Grateful Dead, Garcia had numerous side projects, the most notable being the Jerry Garcia Band. He was also involved with various acoustic projects such as Old and in the Way and other bluegrass bands, including collaborations with noted bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman. The documentary film Grateful Dawg chronicles the deep, long-term friendship between Garcia and Grisman.

Other groups of which Garcia was a member at one time or another include the Black Mountain Boys, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Jerry Garcia was also an appreciative fan of jazz artists and improvisation: he played with jazz keyboardists Merl Saunders and Howard Wales for many years in various groups and jam sessions, and he appeared on saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1988 album, Virgin Beauty. His collaboration with Merl Saunders and Muruga Booker on the Grammy-nominated world music album Blues From the Rainforest launched the Rainforest Band.
The album cover of Garcia (1972), Garcia's début solo album. Several of the songs featured on the album eventually became concert staples of the Grateful Dead

Garcia also spent a lot of time in the recording studio helping out fellow musician friends in session work, often adding guitar, vocals, pedal steel, sometimes banjo and piano and even producing. He played on over 50 studio albums the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. Artists who sought Garcia's help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably Surrealistic Pillow, Garcia being listed as their "Spiritual Advisor"), Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter (Liberty, on Relix Records), Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan and many more. He was also one of the first musicians to really cover in depth Motown music in the early 1970s and probably the most prolific coverer of Bob Dylan songs. In 1995 Garcia played on three tracks for the CD Blue Incantation by guitarist Sanjay Mishra, making it his last studio collaboration.

Throughout the early 1970s, Garcia, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, drummer Mickey Hart, and David Crosby collaborated intermittently with MIT-educated composer and biologist Ned Lagin on several projects in the realm of early electronica; these include the album Seastones (released by the Dead on their Round Records subsidiary) and L, an unfinished dance work.

Garcia also lent pedal-steel guitar playing to fellow-San Francisco musicians New Riders of the Purple Sage from their initial dates in 1969 to October 1971, when increased commitments with the Dead forced him to opt out of the group. He appears as a band member on their début album New Riders of the Purple Sage, and produced Home, Home On The Road, a 1974 live album by the band. He also contributed pedal steel guitar to the enduring hit "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Garcia also played steel guitar licks on Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album Tarkio. Despite considering himself a novice on the pedal steel, Garcia routinely ranked high in player polls. After a long lapse from playing the pedal-steel, he played it once more during several of the Dead's concerts with Bob Dylan during the summer of 1987.

Having studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute, Garcia embarked on a second career in the visual arts. He offered for sale and auction to the public a number of illustrations, lithographs, and water colors. Some of those pieces became the basis of a line of men's neckties characterized by bright colors and abstract patterns. Even in 2005, ten years after Garcia's death, new styles and designs continued to be produced and sold.
Personal life

Garcia met his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, in 1963. She was working at the coffee house in the back of Kepler's Bookstore where Garcia, Hunter, and Nelson performed. They married on April 23 of the same year, and had their only child together, a daughter whom they named Heather, on December 8, 1963.

Garcia and his fellow musicians were subjected to a handful of drug busts during their lifetime. On October 2, 1967, 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco (where the Grateful Dead had taken up residence the year before) was raided after a police tip-off. Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were apprehended on marijuana charges which were later dropped, although Garcia himself was not arrested. The following year, ironically, Garcia's picture was used in a campaign commercial for Richard Nixon.

Most of the Grateful Dead were arrested again in January 1970, after they flew to New Orleans from Hawaii. After returning to their hotel from a performance, the band checked into their rooms, only to be quickly raided by police. Around fifteen people were arrested on the spot, including many of the road crew, management, and nearly all of the Grateful Dead (except Garcia, who arrived later, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who was not doing substances at the time).

During August 1970, Garcia's mother Ruth was involved in a car accident near Twin Peaks in San Francisco. Garcia, who was recording the album American Beauty at the time, often left the sessions to visit his mother with his brother Clifford. She died on September 28, 1970. That same year, Garcia participated in the soundtrack for the film Zabriskie Point.

Carolyn Adams, also known as 'Mountain Girl', gave birth to Garcia's second and third daughters, Annabelle Walker Garcia (February 2, 1970) and Theresa Adams "Trixie" Garcia (September 21, 1974). Adams and Garcia married in 1981.

In 1975, around the time Blues for Allah was being created, Garcia met Deborah Koons, the woman who would much later become his third wife and widow. He began seeing her while he was still involved with Adams, with whom Koons had a less-than-perfect relationship. Garcia and Adams eventually went different ways.

Influenced by the stresses of creating and releasing The Grateful Dead Movie in 1977, Garcia began using cocaine, later progressing to smoking heroin. This, combined with the drug use of several other members of the Grateful Dead, produced turbulent times for the band: starting in 1981, the band's chemistry began "cracking and crumbling", resulting in poor live performances and group cohesion. The so-called "endless tour", the result of years of financial risks and mistakes, also became extremely taxing. During the same year, Garcia married Adams, making her his second wife.

Garcia's use of heroin increased heavily over the next seven years, eventually culminating in the rest of the Grateful Dead holding an intervention in 1984. Given the choice between the band or the drugs, Garcia readily agreed to check into a rehabilitation center in Oakland, California. In 1985, nearing the completion of his program in Oakland, Garcia was arrested for drug possession in Golden Gate Park; Garcia subsequently attended a drug diversion program.

Precipitated by an unhealthy weight, bad eating habits, and drug use, Garcia collapsed into a diabetic coma in 1986, waking up five days later. Garcia later spoke about this period of unconsciousness as surreal: "Well, I had some very weird experiences. My main experience was one of furious activity and tremendous struggle in a sort of futuristic, space-ship vehicle with insectoid presences. After I came out of my coma, I had this image of myself as these little hunks of protoplasm that were stuck together kind of like stamps with perforations between them that you could snap off." Garcia's coma had a profound effect on him: it forced him to have to relearn how to play the guitar, as well as other, more basic skills. Within a handful of months, Garcia quickly recovered, playing with the Jerry Garcia Band and the Grateful Dead again later that year. Garcia frequently saw a woman named Manasha Matheson during this period. Together they produced Garcia's fourth and final child, a girl named Keelin Noel Garcia, who was born December 20, 1987. Jerry, Keelin and Manasha toured and shared a home together as a family until 1993. During the creation of Built to Last in 1989, Garcia relapsed. In 1991, Garcia was confronted by the Grateful Dead with another intervention. After a disastrous meeting, Garcia invited Phil Lesh over to his home in San Rafael, California, where he explained that after the meeting he would start attending a methadone clinic. Garcia said that he simply wanted to clean up in his own way.

After returning from the Grateful Dead's 1992 summer tour, Garcia became extremely sick, evidently a throwback to his diabetic coma in 1986. Refusing to go to the hospital, he instead enlisted the aid of an acupuncturist named Yen Wei Choong and a licensed doctor to treat him personally at home. Garcia recovered over the following days, despite the Grateful Dead having to cancel their fall tour to allow him time to recuperate. Following this episode, Garcia began losing weight.

Garcia and girlfriend Barbara Meier, who had met in December of the previous year, separated at the beginning of the Dead's 1993 tour. In 1994, Garcia renewed acquaintances with Deborah Koons, with whom he had been involved sometime around 1975. They married on February 14, 1994, in Sausalito, California. The wedding was attended by family and friends. Garcia had divorced Adams in January of that year.

By the beginning of 1995, Garcia's physical and mental condition began a decline. His playing ability suffered to the point where he would turn down the volume of his guitar, and he often had to be reminded of what song he was performing.

In light of his drug relapse in 1989 and current condition, Garcia checked himself into the Betty Ford Center during July 1995. His stay was limited, however, lasting only two weeks. Motivated by the experience, he then checked into the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Forest Knolls, California.
Death

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 am, Garcia's body was discovered in his room at the rehabilitation clinic. The cause of death was a heart attack. Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction, weight problems, and sleep apnea, all of which contributed to his physical decline. Phil Lesh remarked in his autobiography that, upon hearing of Garcia's death, "I was struck numb; I had lost my oldest surviving friend, my brother." On the morning of August 10, Garcia was rested at a funeral home in San Rafael, California. On August 12, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, Garcia's funeral was held. It was attended by his family, the remaining Grateful Dead and their friends, including former basketball player Bill Walton and musician Bob Dylan, and his widow Deborah Koons, who barred Garcia's other two wives from the ceremony.

On August 13, a municipally-sanctioned public memorial took place in the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and was attended by about twenty-five thousand people. The crowds produced hundreds of flowers, gifts, images, and even a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" in remembrance.

On April 4, 1996, Bob Weir and Deborah Koons spread half of Garcia's cremated ashes into the Ganges River at the holy city of Rishikesh, India, a site sacred to the Hindus. Then, according to Garcia's last wishes, the other half of his ashes were poured into the San Francisco Bay. Deborah Koons did not allow one of Garcia's ex-wives, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, to attend the spreading of the ashes.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/missjamierose/garcia.gif
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo15/Abcefghigklmnop123/JerryGarcia.jpg


Touch Of Grey is my favorite song. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/02/11 at 7:48 am


One of my favorite Dead songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmT6udys8Tc



Cat

Great Song :)

Touch Of Grey is my favorite song. :)

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/02/11 at 7:52 am

The person of the day...Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole (born 2 August 1932) is an Irish-born English actor of stage and screen who achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia. He went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most competitive Academy Award acting nominations without a win. He has won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003 for his body of work.
O'Toole began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954. He first appeared on film in 1959 in a bit part. O'Toole's major break came when he was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role. His performance was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. The role introduced him to U.S. audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

O'Toole is one of a handful of actors to be Oscar-nominated for playing the same role in two different films; he played King Henry II in both 1964's Becket and 1968's The Lion in Winter. O'Toole played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. He has also appeared in Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, and fulfilled a lifetime ambition when taking to the stage of the Irish capital's Abbey Theatre in 1970 to perform in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot alongside Donal McCann. In 1980, he received wide critical acclaim for playing the director in the behind-the-scenes film The Stunt Man. He received good reviews as John Tanner in Man and Superman and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, and won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989). O'Toole was nominated for another Oscar for 1982's My Favorite Year, a light romantic comedy about the behind-the-scenes at a 1950s TV variety-comedy show, much like Your Show of Shows, in which O'Toole plays an ageing swashbuckling film star strongly reminiscent (intentionally) of Errol Flynn.

In 1972, he played both Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, the motion picture adaptation of the 1965 smash hit Broadway musical, opposite Sophia Loren. Widely criticised for using mostly non-singing actors and shunned by the public at the time, the film has gone on to become more of a success on videocassette and DVD, though there are those who still find fault with it. O'Toole's singing was dubbed by tenor Simon Gilbert, but the other actors sang their own parts. O'Toole and co-star James Coco, who played both Cervantes's manservant and Sancho Panza, both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances.
Roger Ebert, Peter O'Toole and Jason Patric at the 2004 Savannah Film Festival (Photo: Roger Ebert)

O'Toole won an Emmy Award for his role in the 1999 mini-series Joan of Arc. In 2004, O'Toole played King Priam in the summer blockbuster Troy. In 2005, he appeared on television as the older version of legendary 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in the BBC drama serial Casanova. O'Toole's role was mainly to frame the drama, telling the story of his life to serving maid Edith (Rose Byrne). The younger Casanova, seen for most of the action, was played by David Tennant, who had to wear contact lenses to match his brown eyes to O'Toole's blue.

He was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film Venus, directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination. Most recently, O'Toole co-starred in the Pixar animated film Ratatouille, an animated film about a rat with dreams of becoming the greatest chef in Paris, as Anton Ego, a food critic. O'Toole appeared in the second season of Showtime's hit drama series The Tudors, portraying Pope Paul III, who excommunicates King Henry VIII from the church; an act that leads to a showdown between the two men in seven of the ten episodes.
Personal life

In a BBC Radio interview in January 2007, O'Toole said that he had studied women for a very long time, had given it his best try, but knew "nothing." In 1959, he married Welsh actress Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters: award-winning actress Kate (b. 1960) and Patricia. Peter and Sîan were divorced in 1979. Phillips later revealed in two autobiographies that O'Toole had subjected her to mental cruelty — largely fuelled by drinking — and was subject to bouts of extreme jealousy when she finally left him for a younger lover.

O'Toole and his girlfriend, model Karen Brown, had a son, Lorcan Patrick O'Toole (born 14 March 1983, when O'Toole was fifty years old). Lorcan, now an actor, was a pupil at Harrow School, boarding at West Acre from 1996.

Severe illness almost ended his life in the late 1970s. Owing to his heavy drinking and a digestive defect from birth, he underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin-dependent diabetes. In 1978 he nearly died from a blood disorder. O'Toole eventually recovered and returned to work, although he found it harder to get parts in films, resulting in more work for television and occasional stage roles. However, he did appear in 1987's much-garlanded The Last Emperor. He has resided in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland since 1963 and at the height of his career maintained homes in Dublin, London and Paris (at The Ritz which was the hotel where he was supposedly staying in the film How to Steal a Million), but now keeps only his home in the Hampstead area of London. While studying at RADA in the early 1950s he was active in protesting against British involvement in the Korean War. Later, in the 1960s, he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War.

He is perhaps the only one of his "London" acting contemporaries not to be knighted. However, according to London's Daily Mail, he was offered a knighthood or honorary knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons.

In an interview with National Public Radio in December 2006, O'Toole revealed that he knows all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets. A self-described romantic, O'Toole regards the sonnets as among the finest collection of English poems, reading them daily. In the movie Venus, he recites Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day." O'Toole has written two memoirs. Loitering With Intent: The Child chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to World War II and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992. His second, Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice, is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The books have been praised by critics such as Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: "A cascade of language, a rumbling tumbling riot of words, a pub soliloquy to an invisible but imaginable audience, and the more captivating for it. O'Toole as raconteur is grand company." O'Toole spent parts of 2007 writing his third installment. This book will have (as he described it) "the meat," meaning highlights from his stage and filmmaking career.

O'Toole is a noted fan of rugby union, and used to attend Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris, Kenneth Griffith, Peter Finch and Richard Burton. (O'Toole, Harris and Burton have a combined 17 Oscar nominations.) He is also a lifelong player, coach and enthusiast of cricket. O'Toole is licensed to teach and coach cricket to children as young as ten.

O'Toole has been interviewed at least three times by Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show. In the 17 January 2007 interview, O'Toole said that Eric Porter was the actor who had most influenced him. He also said that the difference between actors of yesterday and today is that actors of his generation were trained for "theatre, theatre, theatre." He also believes that the challenge for the actor is "to use his imagination to link to his emotion" and that "good parts make good actors." However, in other venues (including the DVD commentary for Becket), O'Toole has also credited Donald Wolfit as being his most important mentor. In an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 11 January 2007, O'Toole said that the actor he most enjoyed working with was Katharine Hepburn, his close friend, with whom he played Henry II to her Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter.

O'Toole remains close friends with his Lawrence of Arabia co-star Omar Sharif and his RADA classmate Albert Finney.

O'Toole is a fan of Sunderland A.F.C., as he told Chris Evans on an episode of TFI Friday, dated Friday, October 11, 1996. The allegiance may well have lapsed. Coincidentally, however, the mother of T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, was born in Sunderland.

Although he lost faith in organised religion as a teenager, O'Toole has expressed positive sentiments regarding the life of Jesus Christ. In an interview for The New York Times, he said 'No one can take Jesus away from me...there’s no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace.' Earlier in the interview, he announced 'I am a retired Christian'.
Academy Award nominations

O'Toole has been nominated eight times for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the most-nominated actor never to win the award.
Year Film Winner Also Nominated
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Gregory Peck – To Kill a Mockingbird Burt Lancaster – Birdman of Alcatraz
Jack Lemmon – Days of Wine and Roses
Marcello Mastroianni – Divorce, Italian Style
1964 Becket Rex Harrison – My Fair Lady Richard Burton – Becket
Anthony Quinn – Zorba the Greek
Peter Sellers – Dr. Strangelove
1968 The Lion in Winter Cliff Robertson – Charly Alan Arkin – The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Alan Bates – The Fixer
Ron Moody – Oliver!
1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips John Wayne – True Grit Richard Burton – Anne of the Thousand Days
Dustin Hoffman – Midnight Cowboy
Jon Voight – Midnight Cowboy
1972 The Ruling Class Marlon Brando – The Godfather (declined) Michael Caine – Sleuth
Laurence Olivier – Sleuth
Paul Winfield – Sounder
1980 The Stunt Man Robert De Niro – Raging Bull Robert Duvall – The Great Santini
John Hurt – The Elephant Man
Jack Lemmon – Tribute
1982 My Favorite Year Ben Kingsley – Gandhi Dustin Hoffman – Tootsie
Jack Lemmon – Missing
Paul Newman – The Verdict
2006 Venus Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness

In 2003, the Academy honoured him with an Academy Honorary Award for his entire body of work and his lifelong contribution to film. O'Toole initially balked about accepting, and wrote the Academy a letter saying that he was "still in the game" and would like more time to "win the lovely bugger outright." The Academy informed him that they would bestow the award whether he wanted it or not. Further, as he related on The Charlie Rose Show in January 2007, his children admonished him, saying that it was the highest honour one could receive in the filmmaking industry. O'Toole agreed to appear at the ceremony and receive his Honorary Oscar. It was presented to him by Meryl Streep, who has the most Oscar nominations of any actress (16). However, his old friend Kenneth Griffith was bitterly disappointed that he had belittled himself to accept such a "ridiculous award."
Filmography
Main article: Filmography of Peter O'Toole
Stage appearances
1955–1958 Bristol Old Vic

    * King Lear (1956) (Cornwall)
    * The Recruiting Officer (1956) (Bullock)
    * Major Barbara (1956) (Peter Shirley)
    * Othello (1956) (Lodovico)
    * Pygmalion (1957) (Henry Higgins)
    * A Midsummer Night's Dream (1957) (Lysander)
    * Look Back in Anger (1957) (Jimmy Porter)
    * Man and Superman (1958) (Tanner)
    * Hamlet (1958) (Hamlet)
    * Amphitryon '38 (1958) (Jupiter)
    * Waiting for Godot (1957) (Vladimir)

1959 Royal Court Theatre

    * The Long and the Short and the Tall (Bamforth)

1960 Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford

    * The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio)
    * The Merchant of Venice (Shylock)
    * Troilus and Cressida (Thersites)

1963 National Theatre

    * Hamlet (title role) directed by Laurence Olivier

1963–1965

    * Baal (Phoenix Theatre, 1963) (Baal)
    * Ride a Cock Horse (Piccadilly Theatre, 1965)

1966 Gaiety Theatre, Dublin

    * Juno and the Paycock (Jack Boyle)
    * Man and Superman (Tanner)

1969 Abbey Theatre, Dublin

    * Waiting for Godot (Vladimir)

1973–1974 Bristol Old Vic

    * Uncle Vanya (Vanya)
    * Plunder
    * The Apple Cart (King Magnus)
    * Judgement (monologue)

1978 Toronto, Washington and Chicago

    * Uncle Vanya (Vanya)

    * Present Laughter (Gary Essendine)

    * Caligula (film) (Tiberius)

1980–1999

    * Macbeth (1980) (Macbeth) (Old Vic Theatre)
    * Man and Superman (Theatre Royal, Haymarket)
    * Pygmalion (Professor Higgins) (Shaftesbury Theatre, 1984, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and Plymouth Theatre, New York, 1987)
    * The Apple Cart (Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1986)
    * Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (Apollo Theatre, 1989, Shaftesbury Theatre, 1991 and Old Vic, 1999)
    * Our Song (Apollo Theatre, 1992).

2008

    * The Tudors" (Ireland, 2008)
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz85/pixiedust222222/Images/OToole.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk90/firexam/priam-peter-otoole-troy-movie.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/02/11 at 11:33 am

I LOVE Peter O'Toole.

Some of my favorite movies of his are:

-Creator (which is one of my all time favorite movies)
-Man of LaMancha
-My Favorite Year (Love the line I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star! )
-King Ralph
-Stardust (even though he only had a bit part)


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/02/11 at 5:56 pm


I LOVE Peter O'Toole.

Some of my favorite movies of his are:

-Creator (which is one of my all time favorite movies)
-Man of LaMancha
-My Favorite Year (Love the line I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star! )
-King Ralph
-Stardust (even though he only had a bit part)


Cat

He is a great actor and when I was in my early 20's I always had a fantasy of going to a pub and meeting him,Richard Harris, David Warner,Oliver Reed, Michael Caine, Richard Burton and the cast of Monty Python.  weird I know. ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/02/11 at 6:10 pm


He is a great actor and when I was in my early 20's I always had a fantasy of going to a pub and meeting him,Richard Harris, David Warner,Oliver Reed, Michael Caine, Richard Burton and the cast of Monty Python.  weird I know. ;D



Sounds like a great fantasy. Can I join you?  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


I'm glad you mentioned David Warner. I think he is also a wonder actor but most people don't even know who he is and his resumé reads like the Encyclopedia Britannica.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/03/11 at 9:53 am



Sounds like a great fantasy. Can I join you?  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


I'm glad you mentioned David Warner. I think he is also a wonder actor but most people don't even know who he is and his resumé reads like the Encyclopedia Britannica.



Cat

Yes you can :)
I always like David Warner from The Omen on.
I'm kicking myself, because I just remembered that his birthday is the same as TImmy's and I did not pick him for the person of the day. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/03/11 at 9:58 am

The person of the day...Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979), and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.

He is considered one of the best actors who was never nominated for an Academy Award despite his acclaimed performances. In film he has won the Best Actor award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival for his performance as Kit Carruthers in Badlands. His portrayal of Capt. Willard in Apocalypse Now earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Sheen has worked with a wide variety of film directors, such as Richard Attenborough, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone. He has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1989. In television he has won both a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild awards for playing the lead role of President Bartlet in The West Wing, and an Emmy for guest acting in the sitcom Murphy Brown.

Born and raised in the United States to immigrant parents, a first-generation Irish mother, Mary-Anne Phelan from Borrisokane in County Tipperary and a Galician father, Francisco Estévez from Vigo in Galicia (Spain). He adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts. He is the father of actors Emilio Estevez, Ramón Estevez, Carlos Irwin Estevez (Charlie Sheen), and Renée Estevez. His younger brother Joe Estevez is also an actor.

Although known as an actor, he has also directed one film, Cadence (1990), appearing alongside sons Charlie and Ramon. He has also narrated, produced and directed in documentary television, earning two Daytime Emmy awards in the 1980s. In addition to film and television, Sheen has also become notable for his activism in liberal politics.
Sheen has said he was greatly influenced by the actor James Dean. He developed a theatre company with other actors in hopes that a production would earn him recognition. In 1963, he made an appearance in "Nightmare," an episode of the television science fiction series The Outer Limits." The following year, he starred in the Broadway play The Subject Was Roses, reprising his role in the 1968 film of the same name. In 1969 "Live Bait" (Mission: Impossible) third season of the TV series, Sheen played Albert, assistant to the colonel interrogating an American agent that IM was tasked to free. He then played Dobbs in the film adaptation of Catch-22." Sheen was then a co-star in the controversial Emmy Award-winning 1972 television movie That Certain Summer said to be the first television movie in America to portray homosexuality in a sympathetic light. His next important feature film role was in 1973, when he starred with Sissy Spacek in the crime drama Badlands, which he has said is his best film.

In 1974, Sheen portrayed a hot rod driver in the television movie The California Kid, and that same year received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his portrayal of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in the television film The Execution of Private Slovik. Based on an incident that occurred during World War II, the film told the story of the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Sheen's performance ultimately led to Francis Ford Coppola choosing him for a starring role in 1979's Apocalypse Now, a film that gained him wide recognition. Filming in the Philippine jungle, in the typhoon season of 1976, Sheen admitted he was not in the greatest shape and was drinking heavily. For the film’s legendary opening sequence in a Saigon hotel room Sheen didn’t have to act so much since it was his 36th birthday, and he was very drunk. After 12 months, Sheen reached breaking point, suffering a minor heart attack and he had to crawl out to a road for help. After his heart attack, his younger brother Joe Estevez stood in for him in a number of long shots and in some of the voice-overs. Sheen was able to resume filming a few weeks later.
Sheen in Annapolis, May 10, 2004

Sheen has played U.S. President John F. Kennedy (in the miniseries Kennedy — The Presidential Years), Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the television special The Missiles of October, White House Chief of Staff A.J. McInnerney in The American President, sinister future president Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, the President in the two-part TV movie, Medusa's Child, and fictional Democratic president Josiah "Jed" Bartlet in the acclaimed television drama, The West Wing.

As of November 4, 2010, it has been confirmed that he had been cast as Uncle Ben in Sony's 2012 reboot of the Spider-Man series, directed by Marc Webb.

Sheen has performed voice-over work as the narrator for the Eyewitness series and as the "real" Seymour Skinner in the controversial episode of The Simpsons titled "The Principal and the Pauper." In addition, he played the role of the Illusive Man in the highly acclaimed RPG Mass Effect 2.

Sheen recently travelled to Mexico City to star in Chamaco with Kirk Harris, Alex Perea, Gustavo Sanchez Parra and Michael Madsen. His next project will be Stella Days, which he is filming during November in Tipperary, Ireland, near the birthplace of his mother. Thaddeus O'Sullivan is directing and Irish actor Stephen Rea also stars.

Martin Sheen and son Ramon Estevez combined both their real and stage names to create the Warner Bros.-affiliated company, Estevez Sheen Productions. The company’s latest film is The Way, written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez who also stars in the film as Martin’s on-screen son, who dies while hiking the Camino de Santiago. His daughter, Renée, also has a part in the film. Driven by sadness, Martin’s character, an American doctor, leaves his Californian life and embarks on the 800-km pilgrimage from the French Pyrenees to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela himself, with his son’s ashes. It is set to be released in theaters on Easter 2011.

Martin will appear in a new Irish Film entitled Stella Days directed by Irish Director Thaddeus O'Sullivan and stars IFTA award winning actress Amy Huberman. The film sees Martin Sheen play parish priest, Daniel Barry, whose love for the cinema leads him on a path to help set up a local cinema in the town. Daniel comes up against opposition from doubtful local parishioners who question his faith and the Bishop Hegarty, played by Tom Hickey, who is more interested in raising funds for a new church.
Political activism
Martin Sheen at an anti-war protest in October 2007.

Although he did not attend college, Sheen credited the Marianists at University of Dayton as a major influence on his public activism. Sheen is known for his robust support of liberal political causes, such as opposition to United States military actions and a toxic-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. Sheen has resisted calls to run for office, saying: "There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House . . . I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living." Sheen is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.

He supported the 1965 farm worker movement with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California. He is a proponent of the Consistent life ethic, which advocates against abortion, capital punishment and war. He also supports the Democrats for Life of America's Pregnant Women Support Act. In 2004 along with Rob Reiner, Sheen campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and later campaigned for nominee John Kerry.

On May 16, 1995, Martin Sheen and Paul Watson from the non-profit environmental organization, Sea Shepherd, were confronted by a number of Canadian sealers in a hotel on Magdalen Islands over Sea Shepherd's history of attacks on sealing and whaling ships. Sheen negotiated with the sealers while Watson was escorted to the airport by police. In early 2003 Sheen signed the "Not in My Name" declaration opposing the invasion of Iraq (along with prominent figures such as Noam Chomsky and Susan Sarandon); the declaration appeared in the magazine The Nation. On August 28, 2005, he visited anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. He prayed with her and spoke to her supporters. He began his remarks by stating, "At least you've got the acting president of the United States," referring to his role as fictional president Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing. Cindy Sheehan had been demanding a second meeting with the President, George W. Bush.

Sheen endorsed marches and walkouts called by the civil rights group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) to force the state of California to honor the Cesar Chavez holiday. On the day of the protests (March 30) thousands of students, primarily Latino from California and elsewhere, walked out of school in support of the demand. Sheen also stated that he participated in the large-scale immigration marches in Los Angeles in 2006 and 2007.

On April 10, 2006, the New York Times reported that members of the Democratic Party in Ohio had contacted Sheen, attempting to persuade him to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. Sheen declined the offer, stating, "I'm just not qualified. You're mistaking celebrity for credibility." On November 26, 2006, the Sunday Times in the Republic of Ireland, where Sheen was then living due to his enrolment in NUI Galway, reported on his speaking out against mushroom farmers exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as €2.50 an hour in a country where the minimum wage was €7.65.

His latest activism includes attendances at meetings of the environmentalist group Earth First! and a speaking appearance at youth activism event We Day Sheen has also endorsed and supported Help Darfur Now, a student-run organization to help aid victims of the genocide in Darfur, the western region in Sudan. He also appears in the recent anti-fur documentary "Skin Trade."

Sheen has appeared in television and radio ads urging Washington State residents to vote no on Initiative 1000, a proposed assisted suicide law before voters in the 2008 election.

Sheen initially endorsed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, and helped raise funds for his campaign. After Richardson dropped out of the campaign, Sheen stated in a BBC Two interview that he was supporting Barack Obama.
Personal life
Sheen (right) with son Emilio Estevez in February 2011
Family

Sheen married art student Janet Templeton on December 23, 1961, and they have four children, three sons and a daughter, all of whom are actors: Emilio, Ramón, Carlos, and Renée. All but one decided to keep their own names when they began acting - Carlos made the decision to use his father's stage name, and is known as Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen is Martin's youngest son.

His son, Charlie Sheen, also starred in a film about Vietnam, Platoon. Charlie Sheen once stated that he wanted to star in a film similar to one his father was in because he wanted to know what it feels like. They jointly parodied their respective previous roles in the 1993 movie Hot Shots Part Deux: their river patrol boats passed each other, at which point they both shouted, "I loved you in Wall Street!", a film they both starred in as father and son in 1987.

He has played the father of sons Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen in various projects: he played Emilio's father in The War at Home, In the Custody of Strangers and The Way, and Charlie's father in Wall Street, No Code of Conduct and two episodes of Spin City. He also appeared as a guest star in one episode of Two and a Half Men playing the father of Charlie's neighbor Rose (Melanie Lynskey), and another as guest star Denise Richards' father; at the time that episode aired, Richards was still married to Charlie. Martin also played a "future" version of Charlie in a VISA TV commercial. Martin has played other characters with his sons and his daughter. He starred in the film Bobby, which was directed by Emilio. Estevez also starred in the movie alongside his father. His daughter Renée had a supporting role in The West Wing, as one of President Josiah Bartlet's (Sheen) secretaries.

Sheen became a grandfather at age 43 when his son, Emilio, had a son named Taylor Levi with his girlfriend, Carey Salley. Sheen has six other grandchildren, Paloma Rae (from Emilio), Cassandra, Sam J, Lola Rose, Bob and Max (from Charlie).

He will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary in late 2011 (rare for a Hollywood A-lister to be married to the same woman for five decades). "I haven't a clue," says Martin, on how they have managed that.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb302/Rasral/MartinSheenVaticanvisit1991.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss220/endee33/martin-sheen.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/03/11 at 11:33 am


Yes you can :)
I always like David Warner from The Omen on.
I'm kicking myself, because I just remembered that his birthday is the same as TImmy's and I did not pick him for the person of the day. :(



Next year.  ;)


I always like Martin Sheen. The movie that "introduced" me to him was called "Sweet Hostage" with Linda Blair. I'm wondering how many people remember that one because it wasn't the best movie.  :-\\



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/03/11 at 12:02 pm


Yes you can :)
I always like David Warner from The Omen on.
I'm kicking myself, because I just remembered that his birthday is the same as TImmy's and I did not pick him for the person of the day. :(
That is right, he played the photographer in The Omen.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/03/11 at 12:50 pm


The person of the day...Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979), and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.

He is considered one of the best actors who was never nominated for an Academy Award despite his acclaimed performances. In film he has won the Best Actor award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival for his performance as Kit Carruthers in Badlands. His portrayal of Capt. Willard in Apocalypse Now earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Sheen has worked with a wide variety of film directors, such as Richard Attenborough, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone. He has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1989. In television he has won both a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild awards for playing the lead role of President Bartlet in The West Wing, and an Emmy for guest acting in the sitcom Murphy Brown.

Born and raised in the United States to immigrant parents, a first-generation Irish mother, Mary-Anne Phelan from Borrisokane in County Tipperary and a Galician father, Francisco Estévez from Vigo in Galicia (Spain). He adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts. He is the father of actors Emilio Estevez, Ramón Estevez, Carlos Irwin Estevez (Charlie Sheen), and Renée Estevez. His younger brother Joe Estevez is also an actor.

Although known as an actor, he has also directed one film, Cadence (1990), appearing alongside sons Charlie and Ramon. He has also narrated, produced and directed in documentary television, earning two Daytime Emmy awards in the 1980s. In addition to film and television, Sheen has also become notable for his activism in liberal politics.
Sheen has said he was greatly influenced by the actor James Dean. He developed a theatre company with other actors in hopes that a production would earn him recognition. In 1963, he made an appearance in "Nightmare," an episode of the television science fiction series The Outer Limits." The following year, he starred in the Broadway play The Subject Was Roses, reprising his role in the 1968 film of the same name. In 1969 "Live Bait" (Mission: Impossible) third season of the TV series, Sheen played Albert, assistant to the colonel interrogating an American agent that IM was tasked to free. He then played Dobbs in the film adaptation of Catch-22." Sheen was then a co-star in the controversial Emmy Award-winning 1972 television movie That Certain Summer said to be the first television movie in America to portray homosexuality in a sympathetic light. His next important feature film role was in 1973, when he starred with Sissy Spacek in the crime drama Badlands, which he has said is his best film.

In 1974, Sheen portrayed a hot rod driver in the television movie The California Kid, and that same year received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his portrayal of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in the television film The Execution of Private Slovik. Based on an incident that occurred during World War II, the film told the story of the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Sheen's performance ultimately led to Francis Ford Coppola choosing him for a starring role in 1979's Apocalypse Now, a film that gained him wide recognition. Filming in the Philippine jungle, in the typhoon season of 1976, Sheen admitted he was not in the greatest shape and was drinking heavily. For the film’s legendary opening sequence in a Saigon hotel room Sheen didn’t have to act so much since it was his 36th birthday, and he was very drunk. After 12 months, Sheen reached breaking point, suffering a minor heart attack and he had to crawl out to a road for help. After his heart attack, his younger brother Joe Estevez stood in for him in a number of long shots and in some of the voice-overs. Sheen was able to resume filming a few weeks later.
Sheen in Annapolis, May 10, 2004

Sheen has played U.S. President John F. Kennedy (in the miniseries Kennedy — The Presidential Years), Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the television special The Missiles of October, White House Chief of Staff A.J. McInnerney in The American President, sinister future president Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, the President in the two-part TV movie, Medusa's Child, and fictional Democratic president Josiah "Jed" Bartlet in the acclaimed television drama, The West Wing.

As of November 4, 2010, it has been confirmed that he had been cast as Uncle Ben in Sony's 2012 reboot of the Spider-Man series, directed by Marc Webb.

Sheen has performed voice-over work as the narrator for the Eyewitness series and as the "real" Seymour Skinner in the controversial episode of The Simpsons titled "The Principal and the Pauper." In addition, he played the role of the Illusive Man in the highly acclaimed RPG Mass Effect 2.

Sheen recently travelled to Mexico City to star in Chamaco with Kirk Harris, Alex Perea, Gustavo Sanchez Parra and Michael Madsen. His next project will be Stella Days, which he is filming during November in Tipperary, Ireland, near the birthplace of his mother. Thaddeus O'Sullivan is directing and Irish actor Stephen Rea also stars.

Martin Sheen and son Ramon Estevez combined both their real and stage names to create the Warner Bros.-affiliated company, Estevez Sheen Productions. The company’s latest film is The Way, written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez who also stars in the film as Martin’s on-screen son, who dies while hiking the Camino de Santiago. His daughter, Renée, also has a part in the film. Driven by sadness, Martin’s character, an American doctor, leaves his Californian life and embarks on the 800-km pilgrimage from the French Pyrenees to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela himself, with his son’s ashes. It is set to be released in theaters on Easter 2011.

Martin will appear in a new Irish Film entitled Stella Days directed by Irish Director Thaddeus O'Sullivan and stars IFTA award winning actress Amy Huberman. The film sees Martin Sheen play parish priest, Daniel Barry, whose love for the cinema leads him on a path to help set up a local cinema in the town. Daniel comes up against opposition from doubtful local parishioners who question his faith and the Bishop Hegarty, played by Tom Hickey, who is more interested in raising funds for a new church.
Political activism
Martin Sheen at an anti-war protest in October 2007.

Although he did not attend college, Sheen credited the Marianists at University of Dayton as a major influence on his public activism. Sheen is known for his robust support of liberal political causes, such as opposition to United States military actions and a toxic-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. Sheen has resisted calls to run for office, saying: "There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House . . . I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living." Sheen is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.

He supported the 1965 farm worker movement with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California. He is a proponent of the Consistent life ethic, which advocates against abortion, capital punishment and war. He also supports the Democrats for Life of America's Pregnant Women Support Act. In 2004 along with Rob Reiner, Sheen campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and later campaigned for nominee John Kerry.

On May 16, 1995, Martin Sheen and Paul Watson from the non-profit environmental organization, Sea Shepherd, were confronted by a number of Canadian sealers in a hotel on Magdalen Islands over Sea Shepherd's history of attacks on sealing and whaling ships. Sheen negotiated with the sealers while Watson was escorted to the airport by police. In early 2003 Sheen signed the "Not in My Name" declaration opposing the invasion of Iraq (along with prominent figures such as Noam Chomsky and Susan Sarandon); the declaration appeared in the magazine The Nation. On August 28, 2005, he visited anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. He prayed with her and spoke to her supporters. He began his remarks by stating, "At least you've got the acting president of the United States," referring to his role as fictional president Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing. Cindy Sheehan had been demanding a second meeting with the President, George W. Bush.

Sheen endorsed marches and walkouts called by the civil rights group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) to force the state of California to honor the Cesar Chavez holiday. On the day of the protests (March 30) thousands of students, primarily Latino from California and elsewhere, walked out of school in support of the demand. Sheen also stated that he participated in the large-scale immigration marches in Los Angeles in 2006 and 2007.

On April 10, 2006, the New York Times reported that members of the Democratic Party in Ohio had contacted Sheen, attempting to persuade him to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. Sheen declined the offer, stating, "I'm just not qualified. You're mistaking celebrity for credibility." On November 26, 2006, the Sunday Times in the Republic of Ireland, where Sheen was then living due to his enrolment in NUI Galway, reported on his speaking out against mushroom farmers exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as €2.50 an hour in a country where the minimum wage was €7.65.

His latest activism includes attendances at meetings of the environmentalist group Earth First! and a speaking appearance at youth activism event We Day Sheen has also endorsed and supported Help Darfur Now, a student-run organization to help aid victims of the genocide in Darfur, the western region in Sudan. He also appears in the recent anti-fur documentary "Skin Trade."

Sheen has appeared in television and radio ads urging Washington State residents to vote no on Initiative 1000, a proposed assisted suicide law before voters in the 2008 election.

Sheen initially endorsed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, and helped raise funds for his campaign. After Richardson dropped out of the campaign, Sheen stated in a BBC Two interview that he was supporting Barack Obama.
Personal life
Sheen (right) with son Emilio Estevez in February 2011
Family

Sheen married art student Janet Templeton on December 23, 1961, and they have four children, three sons and a daughter, all of whom are actors: Emilio, Ramón, Carlos, and Renée. All but one decided to keep their own names when they began acting - Carlos made the decision to use his father's stage name, and is known as Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen is Martin's youngest son.

His son, Charlie Sheen, also starred in a film about Vietnam, Platoon. Charlie Sheen once stated that he wanted to star in a film similar to one his father was in because he wanted to know what it feels like. They jointly parodied their respective previous roles in the 1993 movie Hot Shots Part Deux: their river patrol boats passed each other, at which point they both shouted, "I loved you in Wall Street!", a film they both starred in as father and son in 1987.

He has played the father of sons Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen in various projects: he played Emilio's father in The War at Home, In the Custody of Strangers and The Way, and Charlie's father in Wall Street, No Code of Conduct and two episodes of Spin City. He also appeared as a guest star in one episode of Two and a Half Men playing the father of Charlie's neighbor Rose (Melanie Lynskey), and another as guest star Denise Richards' father; at the time that episode aired, Richards was still married to Charlie. Martin also played a "future" version of Charlie in a VISA TV commercial. Martin has played other characters with his sons and his daughter. He starred in the film Bobby, which was directed by Emilio. Estevez also starred in the movie alongside his father. His daughter Renée had a supporting role in The West Wing, as one of President Josiah Bartlet's (Sheen) secretaries.

Sheen became a grandfather at age 43 when his son, Emilio, had a son named Taylor Levi with his girlfriend, Carey Salley. Sheen has six other grandchildren, Paloma Rae (from Emilio), Cassandra, Sam J, Lola Rose, Bob and Max (from Charlie).

He will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary in late 2011 (rare for a Hollywood A-lister to be married to the same woman for five decades). "I haven't a clue," says Martin, on how they have managed that.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb302/Rasral/MartinSheenVaticanvisit1991.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss220/endee33/martin-sheen.jpg


Martin Sheen is a good actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/03/11 at 1:11 pm


That is right, he played the photographer in The Omen.



I, too had forgotten that fact, until ninny reminded me.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/04/11 at 7:13 am



Next year.  ;)


I always like Martin Sheen. The movie that "introduced" me to him was called "Sweet Hostage" with Linda Blair. I'm wondering how many people remember that one because it wasn't the best movie.  :-\\



Cat

Oh my God I remember that film well, another little known film that he was in that I loved was  The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, with Jodie Foster. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/04/11 at 7:16 am


That is right, he played the photographer in The Omen.

Yes he did and he lost his head :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/04/11 at 7:16 am


Martin Sheen is a good actor.

Very true :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/04/11 at 7:21 am

The person of the day...Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (Listeni/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act in December 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya, and issued a direct order to a small group of American military forces to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living – and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Obama's great-uncle served in the 89th Division that overran Ohrdruf, the first of the Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by U.S. troops during World War II.

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.
Obama holding a basketball above his head in midair while four other players look at him. He looks toward the camera over his right shoulder.
Obama playing basketball with U.S. military at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti in 2006

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolesence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy. Michelle Obama said he successfully quit in early 2010.
Religious views

As he described in The Audacity of Hope, Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988 and was an active member there for two decades. Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/ttfabyan/barack_obama.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bea2/Barack.jpg



* There is a lot more to read in Wikipedia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/04/11 at 9:53 am


Oh my God I remember that film well, another little known film that he was in that I loved was  The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, with Jodie Foster. :)



I remember that movie, too. In fact, I saw that one AT THE MOVIES!  :o :o :o :o



The person of the day...Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (Listeni/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act in December 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya, and issued a direct order to a small group of American military forces to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living – and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Obama's great-uncle served in the 89th Division that overran Ohrdruf, the first of the Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by U.S. troops during World War II.

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.
Obama holding a basketball above his head in midair while four other players look at him. He looks toward the camera over his right shoulder.
Obama playing basketball with U.S. military at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti in 2006

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolesence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy. Michelle Obama said he successfully quit in early 2010.
Religious views

As he described in The Audacity of Hope, Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988 and was an active member there for two decades. Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/ttfabyan/barack_obama.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bea2/Barack.jpg



* There is a lot more to read in Wikipedia.



Who? I don't think I have ever heard of him.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D ;D




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/04/11 at 11:54 am



I remember that movie, too. In fact, I saw that one AT THE MOVIES!  :o :o :o :o



Who? I don't think I have ever heard of him.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D ;D




Cat

I try to throw in some unknowns once in a while ;D :D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/04/11 at 7:41 pm


The person of the day...Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (Listeni/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act in December 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya, and issued a direct order to a small group of American military forces to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living – and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Obama's great-uncle served in the 89th Division that overran Ohrdruf, the first of the Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by U.S. troops during World War II.

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.
Obama holding a basketball above his head in midair while four other players look at him. He looks toward the camera over his right shoulder.
Obama playing basketball with U.S. military at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti in 2006

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolesence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy. Michelle Obama said he successfully quit in early 2010.
Religious views

As he described in The Audacity of Hope, Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988 and was an active member there for two decades. Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/ttfabyan/barack_obama.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bea2/Barack.jpg



* There is a lot more to read in Wikipedia.


I think he did a good job up to this day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/05/11 at 1:33 am


The person of the day...Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (Listeni/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act in December 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya, and issued a direct order to a small group of American military forces to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living – and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Obama's great-uncle served in the 89th Division that overran Ohrdruf, the first of the Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by U.S. troops during World War II.

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.
Obama holding a basketball above his head in midair while four other players look at him. He looks toward the camera over his right shoulder.
Obama playing basketball with U.S. military at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti in 2006

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolesence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy. Michelle Obama said he successfully quit in early 2010.
Religious views

As he described in The Audacity of Hope, Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988 and was an active member there for two decades. Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp3/ttfabyan/barack_obama.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bea2/Barack.jpg



* There is a lot more to read in Wikipedia.
The 43rd US President.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/05/11 at 10:43 am


The 43rd US President.



The 44th counting Grover Cleveland twice.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/05/11 at 12:14 pm



The 44th counting Grover Cleveland twice.



Cat
43 different men.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/05/11 at 12:31 pm


Love her songs. (Kate Bush)

I like "Running Up That Hill" the best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/05/11 at 12:35 pm



The 44th counting Grover Cleveland twice.



Cat

43 different men.

That's right, Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president because he had two stints as president. His presidency was interrupted by Benjamin Harrison, who served only a full term.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 08/05/11 at 5:54 pm

Hey Cat ... thanks for posting the Pat Benatar version of Wuthering Heights. I had no idea she covered it.  I really enjoy both versions of the song. Pat pretty well stayed faithful to the original song ... she sounded great! :)  Kate Bush is an amazing talent!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/05/11 at 6:33 pm


Hey Cat ... thanks for posting the Pat Benatar version of Wuthering Heights. I had no idea she covered it.   I really enjoy both versions of the song. Pat pretty well stayed faithful to the original song ... she sounded great! :)  Kate Bush is an amazing talent!



No problem. I am a BIG Pat Benatar fan. I saw her in concert last year and she can STILL belt it out (but she didn't sing Wuthering Heights.  :\'( :\'( :\'( )

One of my photos.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/CatwomanofV/Concert/075.jpg

For fear of hijacking this thread, you can check out my other pics from the concert here:

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=26885.285



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/05/11 at 7:46 pm



No problem. I am a BIG Pat Benatar fan. I saw her in concert last year and she can STILL belt it out (but she didn't sing Wuthering Heights.  :\'( :\'( :\'( )

One of my photos.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/CatwomanofV/Concert/075.jpg

For fear of hijacking this thread, you can check out my other pics from the concert here:

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=26885.285



Cat


Wow,She looks good. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 08/06/11 at 2:25 am



No problem. I am a BIG Pat Benatar fan. I saw her in concert last year and she can STILL belt it out (but she didn't sing Wuthering Heights.  :\'( :\'( :\'( )

One of my photos.

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww64/CatwomanofV/Concert/075.jpg

For fear of hijacking this thread, you can check out my other pics from the concert here:

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=26885.285



Cat


Nice pics Cat.  Pat appears to have aged well ... and I listened to more recent concerts on youtube and she definitely has lost little in the voice quality...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/06/11 at 8:42 am

The person of the day..M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan (play /ˈʃæməlɑːn/; Tamil: மனோஜ் நெல்லியாட்டு சியாமளன்;Maṉōj Nelliyāṭṭu Śyāmaḷaṉ; born 6 August 1970), known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised. Shyamalan released his first film, Praying with Anger, in 1992 while he was a New York University student. His second movie, Wide Awake, made in 1995 but not released until three years later, did not succeed financially.

Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense, which was a commercial success and nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He followed The Sixth Sense by writing and directing Unbreakable, released in 2000, which received positive reviews. His 2002 film Signs, where he also played Ray Reddy, gained both critical and financial success. His next movie The Village (2004) received mixed reviews from the critics, but turned out to be a financial success. His later fantasy film Lady in the Water (2006) performed worse critically and financially. The film The Happening (2008) was a financial success but also received negative reviews. The Last Airbender (2010) received extremely negative reviews in the United States and won 5 Razzie Awards, but has gone on to make nearly $320 million internationally at the box office. His latest film, Devil (2010), which he produced and wrote the story for, but did not direct, was not screened by critics before its release but eventually received mixed reviews. Devil was not a blockbuster hit but has become a commercial success relative to its budget.

Most of Shyamalan's commercially successful films were co-produced by Disney's Touchstone Pictures film division.
Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical drama Praying with Anger, while still an NYU student, using money borrowed from family and friends. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 1992, and played commercially at one theater for a week in rural Woodstock, Illinois. When the film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, Shyamalan was introduced by David Overbey who predicted that the world would see more of Shyamalan in the years to come. Praying with Anger has also been shown on Canadian television. Filmed in Chennai, it is his only film to be shot outside of Pennsylvania.

Shyamalan wrote and directed his second movie, Wide Awake, in 1995, though it was not released until 1998. His parents were the film's associate producers. The drama dealt with a ten-year-old Catholic schoolboy (Joseph Cross) who, after the death of his grandfather (Robert Loggia), searches for God. The film's supporting cast included Dana Delany and Denis Leary as the boy's parents, as well as Julia Stiles, and Camryn Manheim. Wide Awake was filmed in a school Shyamalan attended as a child and earned 1999 Young Artist Award nominations for Best Drama, and, for Cross, Best Performance. Only in limited release, the film grossed $305,704 in theaters.

That same year Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay for Stuart Little with Greg Brooker.

In 2008, Shyamalan was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India. In 2010, he directed The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Although Shyamalan has stated he is in the middle of writng his next thriller it has been confirmed that his next film will be a sci-fi epic titled One Thousand A.E. and would star Jaden Smith. In an interview when asked Shymalan denied the idea of shooting it in 3D but stated he was planning something technically special. It will be the first film Shymalan has directed but not written.
Personal life

In 1993, Shyamalan married psychologist Bhavna Vaswani, a fellow student whom he met at NYU and with whom he has two daughters. The family resides on a sprawling estate in Willistown, Pennsylvania, near Shyamalan's usual shooting site of Philadelphia. His production company, Blinding Edge Pictures is located in Berwyn, PA.
Filmography
Year Film Director Producer Writer Actor Role
1992 Praying with Anger Yes No Yes Yes Dev Raman
1998 Wide Awake Yes No Yes No
1999 The Sixth Sense Yes No Yes Yes Dr. Hill
Stuart Little No No Yes No
2000 Unbreakable Yes Yes Yes Yes Stadium drug dealer
2002 Signs Yes Yes Yes Yes Ray Reddy
2004 The Village Yes Yes Yes Yes Jay (Guard at desk)
2006 Lady in the Water Yes Yes Yes Yes Vick Ran/The Vessel
2008 The Happening Yes Yes Yes Yes Joey (unseen character)
2010 The Last Airbender Yes Yes Yes Yes Firebender at Earth Camp scene
Devil No Yes Yes No
Other films

In July 2000, on The Howard Stern Show, Shyamalan said he had met with Spielberg and was in early talks to write the script for the fourth Indiana Jones film. This would have given Shyamalan a chance to work with his longtime idol, Steven Spielberg. After the film fell through, Shyamalan later said it was too "tricky" to arrange and "not the right thing" for him to do.

Shyamalan's name was linked with the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but it conflicted with the production of Unbreakable. In July 2006, while doing press tours for Lady in the Water, Shyamalan had said he was still interested in directing one of the last two Harry Potter films. "The themes that run through it...the empowering of children, a positive outlook...you name it, it falls in line with my beliefs", Shyamalan said. "I enjoy the humor in it. When I read the first Harry Potter and was thinking about making it, I had a whole different vibe in my head of it".

After the release of The Village in 2004, Shyamalan had been planning a film adaptation of Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi with 20th Century Fox, but later backed out so that he could make Lady in the Water. "I love that book. I mean, it's basically a kid born in the same city as me — it almost felt predestined", Shyamalan said. "But I was hesitant because the book has kind of a twist ending. And I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience. Whereas if someone else did it, it would be much more satisfying, I think. Expectations, you've got to be aware of them. I'm wishing them all great luck. I hope they make a beautiful movie".

In July 2008, it was announced that Shyamalan had partnered with Media Rights Capital to form a production company called Night Chronicles. Shyamalan would produce, but not direct, one film a year for three years. The first of the three films was Devil, a supernatural thriller directed by siblings John and Drew Dowdle. The script was written by Brian Nelson, based on an original idea from Shyamalan. The movie was about a group of people stuck in an elevator with the devil, and starred Chris Messina.
Television
Sci-Fi Channel

In 2004, Shyamalan was involved in a media hoax with Sci-Fi Channel, which was eventually uncovered by the press. Sci-Fi claimed in its "documentary" special — The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan, shot on the set of The Village — that Shyamalan was legally dead for nearly a half-hour while drowned in a frozen pond in a childhood accident, and that upon being rescued he had experiences of communicating with spirits, fueling an obsession with the supernatural. The Sci-Fi Channel also claimed that Shyamalan had grown "sour" when the "documentary" filmmakers' questions got too personal, and had therefore withdrawn from participating and threatened to sue the filmmakers.

In truth, Shyamalan developed the hoax with Sci-Fi, going so far as having Sci-Fi staffers sign non disclosure agreements with a $5-million fine attached and requiring Shyamalan's office to formally approve each step. Neither the childhood accident nor the supposed rift with the filmmakers ever occurred. The hoax included a non-existent Sci-Fi publicist, "David Westover", whose name appeared on press releases regarding the special. Sci-Fi also fed false news stories to the Associated Press and Zap2It.com, among others. A New York Post news item, based on a Sci Fi press release, referred to Shyamalan's attorneys threatening to sue the filmmakers; the attorneys named were non-existent.

After an AP reporter confronted Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a guerrilla marketing campaign to generate pre-release publicity for The Village. This prompted Sci-Fi's parent company, NBC Universal, to state that the undertaking was "not consistent with our policy at NBC. We would never intend to offend the public or the press and we value our relationship with both."
Critical reception
Film Rotten Tomatoes
Overall Top Critics
Praying with Anger (1992) N/A N/A
Wide Awake (1998) 41% 29%
The Sixth Sense (1999) 85% 79%
Unbreakable (2000) 68% 58%
Signs (2002) 74% 56%
The Village (2004) 43% 49%
Lady in the Water (2006) 24% 13%
The Happening (2008) 18% 11%
The Last Airbender (2010) 6% 7%
Collaborations
Actors
The Sixth Sense Unbreakable Signs The Village Lady in the Water The Happening
Frank Collison
YesY

YesY
Bryce Dallas Howard
YesY

YesY

Cherry Jones
YesY

YesY

Joaquin Phoenix
YesY

YesY

Bruce Willis
YesY

YesY

Other

    * James Newton Howard has been Shyamalan's music composer since The Sixth Sense, with Edmund Choi providing music for Praying with Anger and Wide Awake.
    * Tak Fujimoto was cinematographer for The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Happening.
    * Andrew Mondshein edited Wide Awake and The Sixth Sense, having Barbara Tulliver editing Signs and Lady in the Water, and finally, Conrad Buff edited The Happening and The Last Airbender.

Criticism and controversy
Shyamalan Twists

With the exception of The Sixth Sense, a common criticism of Shyamalan's works is that they feature better direction than screenwriting. He has also been labeled a "one-trick pony" for his continuous use of the "twist" element in his screenplays. After the release of The Village, Slate's Michael Agger noted that Shyamalan was following "an uncomfortable pattern" of "making fragile, sealed-off movies that fell apart when exposed to outside logic."

In a May 31, 2008, interview with the London Independent, Shyamalan offered this answer to the question about his "one-trick" movies: "Q: A common misperception of me is ... A: That all my movies have twist endings, or that they're all scary. All my movies are spiritual and all have an emotional perspective."
Plagiarism

Shyamalan has been accused of plagiarism. Robert McIlhinney, a Pennsylvania screenwriter, sued Shyamalan over the similarity of Signs to his unpublished script Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil. Margaret Peterson Haddix noted that The Village has numerous elements found in her children's novel Running Out of Time, and publisher Simon & Schuster had talked about filing a lawsuit; it was never filed. In addition, the plot of The Sixth Sense shares similarities with an episode of Are You Afraid Of The Dark?, although Shyamalan has acknowledged this as an inspiration.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f323/ZeratulPy/shyamalan.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s105/ghots72/m_night_shyamalan_3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/06/11 at 9:19 am


The person of the day..M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan (play /ˈʃæməlɑːn/; Tamil: மனோஜ் நெல்லியாட்டு சியாமளன்;Maṉōj Nelliyāṭṭu Śyāmaḷaṉ; born 6 August 1970), known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised. Shyamalan released his first film, Praying with Anger, in 1992 while he was a New York University student. His second movie, Wide Awake, made in 1995 but not released until three years later, did not succeed financially.

Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense, which was a commercial success and nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He followed The Sixth Sense by writing and directing Unbreakable, released in 2000, which received positive reviews. His 2002 film Signs, where he also played Ray Reddy, gained both critical and financial success. His next movie The Village (2004) received mixed reviews from the critics, but turned out to be a financial success. His later fantasy film Lady in the Water (2006) performed worse critically and financially. The film The Happening (2008) was a financial success but also received negative reviews. The Last Airbender (2010) received extremely negative reviews in the United States and won 5 Razzie Awards, but has gone on to make nearly $320 million internationally at the box office. His latest film, Devil (2010), which he produced and wrote the story for, but did not direct, was not screened by critics before its release but eventually received mixed reviews. Devil was not a blockbuster hit but has become a commercial success relative to its budget.

Most of Shyamalan's commercially successful films were co-produced by Disney's Touchstone Pictures film division.
Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical drama Praying with Anger, while still an NYU student, using money borrowed from family and friends. It was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 1992, and played commercially at one theater for a week in rural Woodstock, Illinois. When the film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, Shyamalan was introduced by David Overbey who predicted that the world would see more of Shyamalan in the years to come. Praying with Anger has also been shown on Canadian television. Filmed in Chennai, it is his only film to be shot outside of Pennsylvania.

Shyamalan wrote and directed his second movie, Wide Awake, in 1995, though it was not released until 1998. His parents were the film's associate producers. The drama dealt with a ten-year-old Catholic schoolboy (Joseph Cross) who, after the death of his grandfather (Robert Loggia), searches for God. The film's supporting cast included Dana Delany and Denis Leary as the boy's parents, as well as Julia Stiles, and Camryn Manheim. Wide Awake was filmed in a school Shyamalan attended as a child and earned 1999 Young Artist Award nominations for Best Drama, and, for Cross, Best Performance. Only in limited release, the film grossed $305,704 in theaters.

That same year Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay for Stuart Little with Greg Brooker.

In 2008, Shyamalan was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India. In 2010, he directed The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Although Shyamalan has stated he is in the middle of writng his next thriller it has been confirmed that his next film will be a sci-fi epic titled One Thousand A.E. and would star Jaden Smith. In an interview when asked Shymalan denied the idea of shooting it in 3D but stated he was planning something technically special. It will be the first film Shymalan has directed but not written.
Personal life

In 1993, Shyamalan married psychologist Bhavna Vaswani, a fellow student whom he met at NYU and with whom he has two daughters. The family resides on a sprawling estate in Willistown, Pennsylvania, near Shyamalan's usual shooting site of Philadelphia. His production company, Blinding Edge Pictures is located in Berwyn, PA.
Filmography
Year Film Director Producer Writer Actor Role
1992 Praying with Anger Yes No Yes Yes Dev Raman
1998 Wide Awake Yes No Yes No
1999 The Sixth Sense Yes No Yes Yes Dr. Hill
Stuart Little No No Yes No
2000 Unbreakable Yes Yes Yes Yes Stadium drug dealer
2002 Signs Yes Yes Yes Yes Ray Reddy
2004 The Village Yes Yes Yes Yes Jay (Guard at desk)
2006 Lady in the Water Yes Yes Yes Yes Vick Ran/The Vessel
2008 The Happening Yes Yes Yes Yes Joey (unseen character)
2010 The Last Airbender Yes Yes Yes Yes Firebender at Earth Camp scene
Devil No Yes Yes No
Other films

In July 2000, on The Howard Stern Show, Shyamalan said he had met with Spielberg and was in early talks to write the script for the fourth Indiana Jones film. This would have given Shyamalan a chance to work with his longtime idol, Steven Spielberg. After the film fell through, Shyamalan later said it was too "tricky" to arrange and "not the right thing" for him to do.

Shyamalan's name was linked with the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but it conflicted with the production of Unbreakable. In July 2006, while doing press tours for Lady in the Water, Shyamalan had said he was still interested in directing one of the last two Harry Potter films. "The themes that run through it...the empowering of children, a positive outlook...you name it, it falls in line with my beliefs", Shyamalan said. "I enjoy the humor in it. When I read the first Harry Potter and was thinking about making it, I had a whole different vibe in my head of it".

After the release of The Village in 2004, Shyamalan had been planning a film adaptation of Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi with 20th Century Fox, but later backed out so that he could make Lady in the Water. "I love that book. I mean, it's basically a kid born in the same city as me — it almost felt predestined", Shyamalan said. "But I was hesitant because the book has kind of a twist ending. And I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience. Whereas if someone else did it, it would be much more satisfying, I think. Expectations, you've got to be aware of them. I'm wishing them all great luck. I hope they make a beautiful movie".

In July 2008, it was announced that Shyamalan had partnered with Media Rights Capital to form a production company called Night Chronicles. Shyamalan would produce, but not direct, one film a year for three years. The first of the three films was Devil, a supernatural thriller directed by siblings John and Drew Dowdle. The script was written by Brian Nelson, based on an original idea from Shyamalan. The movie was about a group of people stuck in an elevator with the devil, and starred Chris Messina.
Television
Sci-Fi Channel

In 2004, Shyamalan was involved in a media hoax with Sci-Fi Channel, which was eventually uncovered by the press. Sci-Fi claimed in its "documentary" special — The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan, shot on the set of The Village — that Shyamalan was legally dead for nearly a half-hour while drowned in a frozen pond in a childhood accident, and that upon being rescued he had experiences of communicating with spirits, fueling an obsession with the supernatural. The Sci-Fi Channel also claimed that Shyamalan had grown "sour" when the "documentary" filmmakers' questions got too personal, and had therefore withdrawn from participating and threatened to sue the filmmakers.

In truth, Shyamalan developed the hoax with Sci-Fi, going so far as having Sci-Fi staffers sign non disclosure agreements with a $5-million fine attached and requiring Shyamalan's office to formally approve each step. Neither the childhood accident nor the supposed rift with the filmmakers ever occurred. The hoax included a non-existent Sci-Fi publicist, "David Westover", whose name appeared on press releases regarding the special. Sci-Fi also fed false news stories to the Associated Press and Zap2It.com, among others. A New York Post news item, based on a Sci Fi press release, referred to Shyamalan's attorneys threatening to sue the filmmakers; the attorneys named were non-existent.

After an AP reporter confronted Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a guerrilla marketing campaign to generate pre-release publicity for The Village. This prompted Sci-Fi's parent company, NBC Universal, to state that the undertaking was "not consistent with our policy at NBC. We would never intend to offend the public or the press and we value our relationship with both."
Critical reception
Film Rotten Tomatoes
Overall Top Critics
Praying with Anger (1992) N/A N/A
Wide Awake (1998) 41% 29%
The Sixth Sense (1999) 85% 79%
Unbreakable (2000) 68% 58%
Signs (2002) 74% 56%
The Village (2004) 43% 49%
Lady in the Water (2006) 24% 13%
The Happening (2008) 18% 11%
The Last Airbender (2010) 6% 7%
Collaborations
Actors
The Sixth Sense Unbreakable Signs The Village Lady in the Water The Happening
Frank Collison
YesY

YesY
Bryce Dallas Howard
YesY

YesY

Cherry Jones
YesY

YesY

Joaquin Phoenix
YesY

YesY

Bruce Willis
YesY

YesY

Other

    * James Newton Howard has been Shyamalan's music composer since The Sixth Sense, with Edmund Choi providing music for Praying with Anger and Wide Awake.
    * Tak Fujimoto was cinematographer for The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Happening.
    * Andrew Mondshein edited Wide Awake and The Sixth Sense, having Barbara Tulliver editing Signs and Lady in the Water, and finally, Conrad Buff edited The Happening and The Last Airbender.

Criticism and controversy
Shyamalan Twists

With the exception of The Sixth Sense, a common criticism of Shyamalan's works is that they feature better direction than screenwriting. He has also been labeled a "one-trick pony" for his continuous use of the "twist" element in his screenplays. After the release of The Village, Slate's Michael Agger noted that Shyamalan was following "an uncomfortable pattern" of "making fragile, sealed-off movies that fell apart when exposed to outside logic."

In a May 31, 2008, interview with the London Independent, Shyamalan offered this answer to the question about his "one-trick" movies: "Q: A common misperception of me is ... A: That all my movies have twist endings, or that they're all scary. All my movies are spiritual and all have an emotional perspective."
Plagiarism

Shyamalan has been accused of plagiarism. Robert McIlhinney, a Pennsylvania screenwriter, sued Shyamalan over the similarity of Signs to his unpublished script Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil. Margaret Peterson Haddix noted that The Village has numerous elements found in her children's novel Running Out of Time, and publisher Simon & Schuster had talked about filing a lawsuit; it was never filed. In addition, the plot of The Sixth Sense shares similarities with an episode of Are You Afraid Of The Dark?, although Shyamalan has acknowledged this as an inspiration.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f323/ZeratulPy/shyamalan.jpg
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s105/ghots72/m_night_shyamalan_3.jpg
A good film director till he made Lady in the Water and The Happening.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/06/11 at 10:45 am


A good film director till he made Lady in the Water and The Happening.

I have not seen either of those movies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/06/11 at 11:56 am

I hope you don't mind ninny, but I HAVE to do this:


HONORABLE Person of the Day:

LUCILLE BALL

I tried to put in her bio but it was too long. Here is the shorten version:

Birth Name: Lucille Desiree Ball

Birth Date: August 6, 1911

Birth Place: Jamestown, New York

Died: April 26, 1989 (at age 77) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Final Resting Place: She was cremated and her ashes were
buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles

Parents: Henry Durrell Ball and Desiree "DeDe" Hunt

Sibling: Fred Hunt (4 years younger)

Married: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz (Nov. 30, 1940-May 4, 1960)
                Gary Morton (Nov. 19, 1961-her death)

Children: Lucie Desiree Arnaz (b. July 17, 1951)
                Desi Arnaz, Jr. (b. January 19, 1953)

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: blue

Natual Hair Color: "mousy brown" (by her own description)

Shoe Size: 7 1/2

Nicknames: "The Queen of the B's"
                    "Technicolor Tessie"
                    "That Crazy Red-Head"
                    "The First Lady of Television"
                    "The Queen of Comedy"

Screen Debut: Roman Scandals (1933)

First Starring Role: Go Chase Yourself (1938)

Final Film: Mame (1974)

Radio Series: My Favorite Husband (1948-1951)

TV Debut: February 1949 on The Chesterfield Supper Club

TV Series: I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
                The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960)
                The Lucy Show (1962-1968)
                Here's Lucy (1968-1974)
                Life With Lucy (1986)

http://news.m3n4.com/wp-content/uploads/1+lucille+ball.jpg





Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/06/11 at 12:04 pm


I hope you don't mind ninny, but I HAVE to do this:


HONORABLE Person of the Day:

LUCILLE BALL

I tried to put in her bio but it was too long. Here is the shorten version:

Birth Name: Lucille Desiree Ball

Birth Date: August 6, 1911

Birth Place: Jamestown, New York

Died: April 26, 1989 (at age 77) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Final Resting Place: She was cremated and her ashes were
buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles

Parents: Henry Durrell Ball and Desiree "DeDe" Hunt

Sibling: Fred Hunt (4 years younger)

Married: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz (Nov. 30, 1940-May 4, 1960)
                Gary Morton (Nov. 19, 1961-her death)

Children: Lucie Desiree Arnaz (b. July 17, 1951)
                Desi Arnaz, Jr. (b. January 19, 1953)

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: blue

Natual Hair Color: "mousy brown" (by her own description)

Shoe Size: 7 1/2

Nicknames: "The Queen of the B's"
                    "Technicolor Tessie"
                    "That Crazy Red-Head"
                    "The First Lady of Television"
                    "The Queen of Comedy"

Screen Debut: Roman Scandals (1933)

First Starring Role: Go Chase Yourself (1938)

Final Film: Mame (1974)

Radio Series: My Favorite Husband (1948-1951)

TV Debut: February 1949 on The Chesterfield Supper Club

TV Series: I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
                The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960)
                The Lucy Show (1962-1968)
                Here's Lucy (1968-1974)
                Life With Lucy (1986)

http://news.m3n4.com/wp-content/uploads/1+lucille+ball.jpg





Cat
If she had survived she would have been 100 today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/06/11 at 12:09 pm


If she had survived she would have been 100 today.



Exactly, which is why she should be Person of the Day.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/06/11 at 7:46 pm


I hope you don't mind ninny, but I HAVE to do this:


HONORABLE Person of the Day:

LUCILLE BALL

I tried to put in her bio but it was too long. Here is the shorten version:

Birth Name: Lucille Desiree Ball

Birth Date: August 6, 1911

Birth Place: Jamestown, New York

Died: April 26, 1989 (at age 77) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Final Resting Place: She was cremated and her ashes were
buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles

Parents: Henry Durrell Ball and Desiree "DeDe" Hunt

Sibling: Fred Hunt (4 years younger)

Married: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz (Nov. 30, 1940-May 4, 1960)
                Gary Morton (Nov. 19, 1961-her death)

Children: Lucie Desiree Arnaz (b. July 17, 1951)
                Desi Arnaz, Jr. (b. January 19, 1953)

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: blue

Natual Hair Color: "mousy brown" (by her own description)

Shoe Size: 7 1/2

Nicknames: "The Queen of the B's"
                    "Technicolor Tessie"
                    "That Crazy Red-Head"
                    "The First Lady of Television"
                    "The Queen of Comedy"

Screen Debut: Roman Scandals (1933)

First Starring Role: Go Chase Yourself (1938)

Final Film: Mame (1974)

Radio Series: My Favorite Husband (1948-1951)

TV Debut: February 1949 on The Chesterfield Supper Club

TV Series: I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
                 The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960)
                 The Lucy Show (1962-1968)
                 Here's Lucy (1968-1974)
                 Life With Lucy (1986)

http://news.m3n4.com/wp-content/uploads/1+lucille+ball.jpg





Cat


I remember her last film was Stone Pillow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/06/11 at 7:47 pm


If she had survived she would have been 100 today.


and Dezi would have been 94

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/06/11 at 11:04 pm


I hope you don't mind ninny, but I HAVE to do this:


HONORABLE Person of the Day:

LUCILLE BALL

I tried to put in her bio but it was too long. Here is the shorten version:

Birth Name: Lucille Desiree Ball

Birth Date: August 6, 1911

Birth Place: Jamestown, New York

Died: April 26, 1989 (at age 77) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Final Resting Place: She was cremated and her ashes were
buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles

Parents: Henry Durrell Ball and Desiree "DeDe" Hunt

Sibling: Fred Hunt (4 years younger)

Married: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz (Nov. 30, 1940-May 4, 1960)
                Gary Morton (Nov. 19, 1961-her death)

Children: Lucie Desiree Arnaz (b. July 17, 1951)
                Desi Arnaz, Jr. (b. January 19, 1953)

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: blue

Natual Hair Color: "mousy brown" (by her own description)

Shoe Size: 7 1/2

Nicknames: "The Queen of the B's"
                    "Technicolor Tessie"
                    "That Crazy Red-Head"
                    "The First Lady of Television"
                    "The Queen of Comedy"

Screen Debut: Roman Scandals (1933)

First Starring Role: Go Chase Yourself (1938)

Final Film: Mame (1974)

Radio Series: My Favorite Husband (1948-1951)

TV Debut: February 1949 on The Chesterfield Supper Club

TV Series: I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
                 The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960)
                 The Lucy Show (1962-1968)
                 Here's Lucy (1968-1974)
                 Life With Lucy (1986)

http://news.m3n4.com/wp-content/uploads/1+lucille+ball.jpg





Cat

Loved her. She may be long gone but her legacy lives on. :)




If she had survived she would have been 100 today.


Exactly, which is why she should be Person of the Day.



Cat

I agree. I even watched the clip that was featured on the 'Google Doodle' from the "Job Switching" episode. Classic.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/07/11 at 9:23 am


I hope you don't mind ninny, but I HAVE to do this:


HONORABLE Person of the Day:

LUCILLE BALL

I tried to put in her bio but it was too long. Here is the shorten version:

Birth Name: Lucille Desiree Ball

Birth Date: August 6, 1911

Birth Place: Jamestown, New York

Died: April 26, 1989 (at age 77) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Final Resting Place: She was cremated and her ashes were
buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles

Parents: Henry Durrell Ball and Desiree "DeDe" Hunt

Sibling: Fred Hunt (4 years younger)

Married: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz (Nov. 30, 1940-May 4, 1960)
                Gary Morton (Nov. 19, 1961-her death)

Children: Lucie Desiree Arnaz (b. July 17, 1951)
                Desi Arnaz, Jr. (b. January 19, 1953)

Height: 5'7"

Eyes: blue

Natual Hair Color: "mousy brown" (by her own description)

Shoe Size: 7 1/2

Nicknames: "The Queen of the B's"
                    "Technicolor Tessie"
                    "That Crazy Red-Head"
                    "The First Lady of Television"
                    "The Queen of Comedy"

Screen Debut: Roman Scandals (1933)

First Starring Role: Go Chase Yourself (1938)

Final Film: Mame (1974)

Radio Series: My Favorite Husband (1948-1951)

TV Debut: February 1949 on The Chesterfield Supper Club

TV Series: I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
                 The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-1960)
                 The Lucy Show (1962-1968)
                 Here's Lucy (1968-1974)
                 Life With Lucy (1986)

http://news.m3n4.com/wp-content/uploads/1+lucille+ball.jpg





Cat

Thank you Cat, I was going to come back and mention her, but never got to it.  Not to be corny but I Love Lucy :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/07/11 at 9:28 am

The person of the day....B.J  Thomas
Billy Joe "B. J." Thomas (born August 7, 1942, Hugo, Oklahoma) is an American popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s.
Thomas was raised in and around Houston, Texas, graduating from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg. Before his solo career, Thomas sang in a church choir as a teenager then joined the musical group The Triumphs. During his senior year he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events in the early 1960s featuring Head and Thomas.

In 1966, B. J. Thomas and The Triumphs released the album, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records). The album featured a hit cover of the Hank Williams song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In the same year, Thomas released a solo album of the same name (Scepter Records).

Thomas achieved mainstream success again in 1968, with the single "Hooked on a Feeling", which featured the sound of an electric sitar, first released on the album On My Way (Scepter Records). "Hooked on a Feeling" became Thomas's second million-selling record. The 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured Thomas performing the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", which won the Academy Award for best original song that year, became the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970. Sales of this disc also exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record. The song was also released on an album of the same name. Other hits of the 1970s were "I Just Can't Help Believing" (Billboard No. 9 in 1970, covered by Elvis Presley), "Rock and Roll Lullaby," "No Love At All," "Everybody's Out of Town" and "Mighty Clouds of Joy."

Thomas' earlier hits were with Scepter Records, with which he was associated for six years. He left Scepter Records in 1972, and spent a short period, in 1973 and 1974, with Paramount Records. During his time with Paramount Records, Thomas released two albums, Songs (1973) and Longhorns & London Bridges (1974).

In 1975, Thomas released the album Reunion (ABC Records, which had absorbed the Paramount label), which contained what would become his second number one hit single, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". It was his first big hit since 1968, and secured Thomas his fourth gold record. On ABC, he also charted with "Songs" and "Don’t Worry Baby".

In 1976, Thomas released Home Where I Belong on Myrrh Records, the first of several gospel albums to be recorded by Thomas. The album went platinum, and Thomas became the biggest contemporary Christian artist of the period.

During the 1980s, his success on the pop charts began to wane, but many of his singles reached the upper regions on the country singles charts, including two 1983 chart toppers, "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" and "New Looks from an Old Lover" (see 1984 in music), as well as "Two Car Garage", which reached No. 3 on the country singles chart. In 1981, on his 39th birthday, Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Thomas scored another hit, recording "As Long As We Got Each Other," the theme to Growing Pains with Jennifer Warnes. A later version, used for the show's fourth season, was recorded with the British singer Dusty Springfield. Thomas first released this track on his 1985 album Throwing Rocks at the Moon (Columbia Records).

Thomas has also authored two books including the autobiography Home Where I Belong, and starred in the movie Jory. Several commercial jingles, to include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Bell phone systems, have featured his singing voice and music.
Discography
Albums
Year Album Chart Positions Label
US US Country CAN
1966 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry Scepter Records
Tomorrow Never Comes
1968 On My Way 133
1969 Young and in Love
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head 12 10
1970 Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 90
Everybody's Out of Town 72 71
Most of All 67 44
1971 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 92
1972 B. J. Thomas Country 209
Billy Joe Thomas 145
Rock'n'Roll Lullaby
1973 Songs 221 Paramount
1974 Longhorns & Londonbridges
1975 Reunion 59 2 40 ABC
Help Me Make It (To My Rockin' Chair) 26
1977 B. J. Thomas 114 39 MCA
Home Where I Belong Myrrh
1979 Happy Man
You Gave Me Love (When Nobody Gave Me a Prayer) Word
1980 The Best Of B.J. Thomas Myrrh
In Concert MCA
1981 Amazing Grace Word
Some Love Songs Never Die MCA
1982 Peace in the Valley Word
1983 Love Shines Epic
New Looks 193 13 Columbia
The Great American Dream 27
1984 ShiningA 40
1985 Throwin' Rocks at the Moon
You Gave Me Love Myrrh
1986 Night Life Columbia
All Is Calm, All Is Bright
1987 Hey Won't You Play Another
Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song MCA
1989 Midnight Minute Reprise
1991 As We Knew Him MCA
Jesus Hearted People
1992 Rock Against the Wall Reprise
Rock & Roll Lullaby Trace
1994 Still Standing Here Laurie
1995 Precious Memories Warner Bros.
Scenes of Christmas Cross Three
1996 B. J. Thomas Sings Hank Williams and Other Favorites Buckboard
1997 I Believe Warner Bros.
Christmas Is Coming Home Warner Resound
1998 Sounds of Christmas Kardina
2000 You Call That a Mountain
2005 That Christmas Feeling Madacy
2006 We Praise: Glorify Thy Name Braun Media
We Praise: Just as I Am
2007 Home for Christmas Lifestyles

    * AShining also peaked at No. 17 on the RPM Country Albums chart in Canada.

Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album
US AC US US Country CAN AC CAN CAN Country
1966 "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" — 8 — — 2 — I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Greatest Hits, Volume 1
"Mama" — 22 — — 12 - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
"Billy and Sue" — 34 — — 23 - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
"Bring Back the Time" — 75 — — 53 — I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
"Tomorrow Never Comes" — 80 — — 89 — Tomorrow Never Comes
"Plain Jane" — 129 — — — - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
1967 "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" — 94 — — — - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
1968 "The Eyes of a New York Woman" — 28 — — 29 — On My Way, Greatest Hits, Volume 1
"Hooked on a Feeling" — 5 — — 3 — On My Way
1969 "It's Only Love" 37 45 — — 24 — Young and in Love
"Pass the Apple Eve" — 97 — — 78 —
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" 1 1 — 1 1 — Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
1970 "Everybody's Out of Town" 3 26 — — 18 — Everybody's Out of Town
"I Just Can't Help Believing" 1 9 — — 18 —
"Most of All" 2 38 — 13 20 — Most of All
1971 "No Love at All" 4 16 — 12 16 —
"Mighty Clouds of Joy" 8 34 — 25 26 — Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
"Long Ago Tomorrow" 13 61 — — 57 —
1972 "Rock and Roll Lullaby" 1 15 — 8 7 — Billy Joe Thomas
"That's What Friends Are For" 38 74 — — — —
"Happier Than the Morning Sun" 31 100 — — — —
1973 "Songs" 41 — — — — — Songs
1975 "(Hey Won't You Play) Another
Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" 1 1 1 1 3 2 Reunion
"Help Me Make It (To My Rockin' Chair)" 5 64 37 9 67 — Help Me Make It (To My Rockin' Chair)
1977 "Home Where I Belong" — — 98 — — — Home Where I Belong
"Don't Worry Baby" 2 17 — 1 12 — B. J. Thomas
"Still the Lovin' Is Fun" 8 77 — 13 86 —
1978 "Everybody Loves a Rain Song" 2 43 25 11 43 34 Singles only
1979 "We Could Have Been the Closest of Friends" — — 86 — — —
"God Bless the Children" 38 — — — — —
1980 "Walkin' On a Cloud" 30 — — — — —
1981 "Some Love Songs Never Die" 34 — 27 — — — Some Love Songs Never Die
"I Recall a Gypsy Woman" — — 22 — — 47
1982 "But Love Me" 27 — — — — — Single only
1983 "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" 13 93 1 — — 1 New Looks
"New Looks from an Old Lover" — — 1 — — 6
"Two Car Garage" 44 — 3 — — 1 The Great American Dream
1984 "The Whole World's in Love When You're Lonely" — — 10 — — 15 Shining
"The Girl Most Likely To" — — 17 — — 5
1985 "The Part of Me That Needs You Most" — — 61 — — 57 Throwin' Rocks at the Moon
1986 "America Is" — — 62 — — —
"Night Life" — — 59 — — — Night Life
1988 "As Long As We Got Each Other" (with Dusty Springfield) 7 — — — — — Midnight Minute
1989 "Don't Leave Me Love (Out There All Alone)" 39 — — — — — Single only
2000 "You Call That a Mountain" — — 66 — — — You Call That a Mountain
Guest singles
Year Artist Single Chart Positions Album
US Country CAN Country
1984 "Rock and Roll Shoes" Ray Charles 14 15 Friendship
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/momsline/music01/music01073.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w187/boogers0485_photos/bjthomas-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/07/11 at 9:48 am


Thank you Cat, I was going to come back and mention her, but never got to it.  Not to be corny but I Love Lucy :)
http://myvideostore.com/images/gallery/52196/10.jpeg

A still from a favourite film of mine, Rat Race, involving a coach load of Lucille Balls.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/07/11 at 10:29 am


http://myvideostore.com/images/gallery/52196/10.jpeg

A still from a favourite film of mine, Rat Race, involving a coach load of Lucille Balls.

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/07/11 at 11:02 am

I saw B.J. Thomas in concert-TWICE! Not saying that I am a big B.J. Thomas fan but things worked out for me to see him twice. The first time was when I was 15 and living in Tulsa, OK. I had a friend who wanted to go to the concert but didn't want to go alone. I said ok since I didn't have anything better to do. (His opening act was Debbie Boone.) The second time was a few years ago. Twice a year, I get a phone call from the Firefighters and they always have a fundraising concert & B.J. Thomas was one of their concerts-this time his opening act was Billy Joe Royal (of Down in the Boondock's fame).



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/07/11 at 1:27 pm


http://myvideostore.com/images/gallery/52196/10.jpeg

A still from a favourite film of mine, Rat Race, involving a coach load of Lucille Balls.


Oh Man,that's so funny.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/07/11 at 4:12 pm


I saw B.J. Thomas in concert-TWICE! Not saying that I am a big B.J. Thomas fan but things worked out for me to see him twice. The first time was when I was 15 and living in Tulsa, OK. I had a friend who wanted to go to the concert but didn't want to go alone. I said ok since I didn't have anything better to do. (His opening act was Debbie Boone.) The second time was a few years ago. Twice a year, I get a phone call from the Firefighters and they always have a fundraising concert & B.J. Thomas was one of their concerts-this time his opening act was Billy Joe Royal (of Down in the Boondock's fame).



Cat

I like a few of his songs. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is my favorite by him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/07/11 at 5:09 pm


I like a few of his songs. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is my favorite by him.



I like Hooked on a Feeling.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/07/11 at 8:33 pm



I like Hooked on a Feeling.



Cat

That is a good song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/08/11 at 7:07 am


That is a good song.


I like that song too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/08/11 at 8:32 am

The person of the day...Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable types of characters.

He first drew critical praise for the 1966 Off-Broadway play Eh? for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough movie role as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967). Since then Hoffman's career has largely been focused in cinema with only sporadic returns to television and the stage. Some of his most noted films are Papillon, Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag the Dog, and Meet the Fockers.

Hoffman has won two Academy Awards (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), five Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Dustin Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999.
In 1966, Mike Nichols cast Hoffman in The Graduate, which prevented him from appearing in the acclaimed Mel Brooks film, The Producers as Franz Liebkind. The film began production in March 1967. Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his performance and became a major star. Although he initially endured some anti-semitic derision for his unusual looks and ethnicity, Hoffman's outstanding success in this film and his numerous later acclaimed roles is credited with broadening the field of major film roles for other actors of once undesirable ethnicities

After the success of this film, another Hoffman film, Madigan's Millions, shot before The Graduate, was released on the tail of the actor's newfound success. It was considered a failure at the box office.

In December 1968, Hoffman returned to Broadway to appear in the title role of Murray Schisgal and John Sebastian's musical Jimmy Shine. For his performance in the production Hoffman won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. Just a few weeks after leaving the production, Hoffman's next major film Midnight Cowboy premiered in theatres across the United States on May 25, 1969. For his role as Ratso Rizzo in the film, Hoffman received his second Oscar nomination and the film won the Best Picture honor. This was followed by his role in Little Big Man (1970) where Jack Crabb, his character, ages from teenager to a 121-year-old man. The film was widely praised by critics, but was overlooked for an award except for a supporting nomination for Chief Dan George.

Hoffman continued to appear in major films over the next few years. Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), Straw Dogs (also 1971), and Papillon (1973) were followed by Lenny (1974), for which Hoffman received his third nomination for Best Actor in seven years.

Less than two years after the Watergate scandal, Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, respectively, in All the President's Men (1976). Hoffman next starred in Marathon Man (also 1976), a film based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, opposite Laurence Olivier. Hoffman's next roles were less successful. He opted out of directing Straight Time (1978) but starred as a thief. His next film, Michael Apted's Agatha, was with Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha Christie.

Hoffman next starred in Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) as workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife (Meryl Streep) unexpectedly leaves him; he raises their son alone. Hoffman gained his first Academy Award, and the film also received the Best Picture honor, plus the awards for Best Supporting Actress (Streep) and Director.

In Tootsie (1982), Hoffman portrays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself dressing up as a woman to land a role on a soap opera. His co-star was Jessica Lange. Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination.
Hoffman in France (1985)

Hoffman then turned to television in the role of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, for which he won the 1985 Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries. He would also go on to win a Golden Globe for the same performance.

Hoffman's largest film failure was Elaine May's Ishtar, with Warren Beatty. The film faced severe production problems, received almost completely negative reviews from critics and was nominated for three Razzie awards. However, Hoffman and Beatty liked the film's final cut and tried to defend it. Hoffmann and Beatty were unaffected by the flop, and Ishtar became a cult film. James House, who later became a country music artist, served as Hoffman's vocal coach in the film.

In director Barry Levinson's Rain Man (1988), Hoffman starred as an autistic savant, opposite Tom Cruise. Levinson, Hoffman and Cruise worked for two years on the film, and his performance garnered Hoffman his second Academy Award. Upon accepting, Hoffman stated softly to his fellow nominees that it was okay if they didn't vote for him because "I didn't vote for you guys either." After Rain Man, Hoffman appeared with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick in Family Business. The film did relatively poorly with the critics and at the box office. In 1991, Hoffman voiced substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Substitute", under the pseudonym Sam Etic. As a reference to this episode, during the episode featuring the Itchy & Scratchy movie, Lisa claims that Dustin Hoffman had a cameo in that movie but didn't use his real name.

Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, such as Dick Tracy (1990) (where his Ishtar co-star Beatty plays the titular character), Hero (1992) and the ill-fated Billy Bathgate (1991) co-starring with Nicole Kidman who was nominated for a Golden Globe). Hoffman also played the title role of Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's Hook (also 1991), earning a Golden Globe nomination; in this movie, Hoffman's costume was so heavy that he had to wear an air-conditioned suit under it. Hoffman played the lead role in Outbreak (1995), alongside Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland. Following that, he appeared in the 1996 revenge-drama/legal-thriller Sleepers (1996) with Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Kevin Bacon.
Dustin Hoffman during the filming of Last Chance Harvey in 2008

It was in the mid-1990s that Hoffman starred in—and was deeply involved in the production of—David Mamet's American Buffalo (also 1996), one of the very few "pure art projects" he is known for, and an early effort of film editor Kate Sanford. In 1997, Hoffman starred opposite John Travolta in the Costa Gavras film Mad City and gained his seventh Academy Award nomination for his performance in Wag The Dog, in a role that allowed Hoffman the chance to work with both Robert De Niro and Dennis Leary. He next appeared in Barry Levinson's adaptation of Sphere (1998), opposite Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Queen Latifah and Liev Schreiber. Hoffman next appeared in Moonlight Mile (2002), followed by Confidence (2003) opposite Edward Burns, Andy García and Rachel Weisz. Hoffman would finally have a chance to work with Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury (also 2003), an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel.

Hoffman played theater owner Charles Frohman in the J. M. Barrie historical fantasia Finding Neverland (2004), costarring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. In director David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees (also 2004), Hoffman appeared opposite Lily Tomlin as an existential detective team.

Seven years after his nomination for Wag the Dog, Hoffman got a second opportunity to perform again with Robert De Niro, co-starring with Barbra Streisand and Ben Stiller in the 2004 comedy Meet the Fockers, a sequel to Meet the Parents (2000). Hoffman won the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. In 2005, he voiced a horse in Racing Stripes, and appeared in cameo roles in Andy García's The Lost City and on the final episode of HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm's fifth season. Hoffman appeared in Stranger than Fiction (2006), played the perfumer Giuseppe Baldini in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (also 2006) and had a cameo in the same year's The Holiday.

In 2007, he was featured in an advertising campaign for Australian telecommunications company Telstra's Next G network, appeared in the 50 Cent video "Follow My Lead" as a psychiatrist, and played the title character in the family film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. In 2008, although he was reluctant to perform in an animated film, Hoffman had a prominent role as Shifu in the acclaimed film Kung Fu Panda, which was praised in part for his comedic chemistry with Jack Black and his character's poignantly complex relationship with the story's villain. He later won the Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for Kung Fu Panda and has continued into the role in the franchise's subsequent filmed productions outside of the upcoming television series. He next voiced Roscuro in The Tale of Despereaux and played the title character in Last Chance Harvey.

Hoffman will be starring in the HBO horse-racing drama Luck, as a man involved in activities such as bookmaking and casino operations. He will also direct Quartet, a BBC Films comedy starring Maggie Smith and Albert Finney. He also appeared in Little Fockers, the critically panned, 2010 sequel to Meet the Fockers, this time in a much smaller role. In 2011, Hoffman reprised his role as Shifu in Kung Fu Panda 2.
Personal life
With Gottsegen (left), and Jake Hoffman (right), at Los Angeles Fashion Week (2007)

Hoffman married Anne Byrne in May 1969. The couple had two children, Karina (b. 1966) and Jenna (born October 15, 1970). Karina is adopted. The couple divorced in 1980. He married attorney Lisa Hoffman (née Gottsegen) in October 1980; they have four children – Jacob Edward (born March 20, 1981), Rebecca (b. March 17, 1983), Maxwell Geoffrey (born August 30, 1984), and Alexandra Lydia (born October 27, 1987). Hoffman also has two grandchildren. In an interview, he said that all of his children from his second marriage had bar or bat mitzvahs and that he is a more observant Jew now than when he was younger; he also lamented that he is not fluent in Hebrew. In 1970, Hoffman and Byrne were living in Greenwich Village in a building next door to the townhouse destroyed by members of The Weatherman when they detonated a bomb in the building's basement, killing three people. In the 2002 documentary The Weather Underground, Hoffman can be seen standing in the street during the aftermath of the explosion.

A political liberal, Hoffman has long supported the Democratic Party and Ralph Nader. In 1997, he was one of a number of Hollywood stars and executives to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune, which protested the treatment of Scientologists in Germany.

Robert Duvall was a roommate of Hoffman's during the early years of their careers in New York City.

There were many rumors and discussions in July 2010 about Hoffman canceling his appearance at the Jerusalem Film Festival as a reaction to the Gaza flotilla raid. However, his representatives told The New York Times there was “no truth” to this report.

In 2009, he received the freedom of the Italian city Ascoli Piceno for being there during 1972 to shoot the movie Alfredo, Alfredo by Pietro Germi, where he played the role of Alfredo Sbisà.
Filmography and awards
Year Film Role Notes
1967 The Tiger Makes Out Hap
The Graduate Benjamin Braddock BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles
Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1968 Madigan's Millions Jason Fister
1969 Sunday Father A 'Sunday Father' short subject
Midnight Cowboy Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for John and Mary
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
John and Mary John BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for Midnight Cowboy
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1970 Little Big Man Jack Crabb Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1971 On Location: Dustin Hoffman Himself short subject
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He
Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? Georgie Soloway
Straw Dogs David Sumner
1972 Alfredo, Alfredo Alfredo Sbisà
1973 Papillon Louis Dega
1974 Lenny Lenny Bruce Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People Himself short subject
All the President's Men Carl Bernstein Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for Marathon Man
Marathon Man Babe Levy Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for All the President's Men
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1978 Straight Time Max Dembo also producer
1979 Agatha Wally Stanton National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor also for Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer Ted Kramer Academy Award for Best Actor
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor also for Agatha
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1982 Tootsie Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
1984 Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Death of a Salesman Willy Loman Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special
1986 Private Conversations Himself documentary
1987 Ishtar Chuck Clarke
1988 Rain Man Raymond Babbitt Academy Award for Best Actor
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1989 Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt Narrator documentary
Family Business Vito McMullen
1990 Dick Tracy Mumbles
1991 Billy Bathgate Dutch Schultz
Hook Captain Hook Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1992 Hero aka. Accidental Hero Bernard 'Bernie' Laplante Extra : Man at the bar 35:07 into Basic Instinct
Horton Hears a Who! Narrator
1993 La Classe américaine Peter in archive footage only
1994 Jonas in the Desert Himself documentary
1995 Outbreak Colonel Sam Daniels
1996 American Buffalo Walt 'Teach' Teacher
Sleepers Danny Snyder
1997 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award
Mad City Max Brackett
Wag the Dog Stanley Motss Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
1998 Sphere Dr. Norman Goodman
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc The Conscience
2001 Tuesday Narrator short subject
Goldwyn Narrator documentary
2002 Moonlight Mile Ben Floss
2003 The Shakespeare Sessions Himself documentary
Confidence Winston King
Runaway Jury Wendell Rohr
2004 Freedom2speak v2.0 Himself – Actor, USA documentary
Finding Neverland Charles Frohman Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
I Heart Huckabees Bernard
Meet the Fockers Bernie Focker MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events The Critic uncredited
2005 Racing Stripes Tucker voice
The Lost City Meyer Lansky
2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Giuseppe Baldini
Stranger than Fiction Professor Jules Hilbert
The Holiday Himself uncredited
2007 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Mr. Edward Magorium, Avid Shoe-Wearer
2008 Kung Fu Panda Master Shifu voice
Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
The Tale of Despereaux Roscuro voice
Last Chance Harvey Harvey Shine Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2010 Barney's Version Izzy Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story Narrator documentary
Little Fockers Bernie Focker
2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 Master Shifu voice
The Giver unknown in production
http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad275/mustang0210/dustin_hoffman_01.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/dustin-hoffman-01-af.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/08/11 at 1:32 pm


The person of the day...Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable types of characters.

He first drew critical praise for the 1966 Off-Broadway play Eh? for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough movie role as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967). Since then Hoffman's career has largely been focused in cinema with only sporadic returns to television and the stage. Some of his most noted films are Papillon, Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag the Dog, and Meet the Fockers.

Hoffman has won two Academy Awards (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), five Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Dustin Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999.
In 1966, Mike Nichols cast Hoffman in The Graduate, which prevented him from appearing in the acclaimed Mel Brooks film, The Producers as Franz Liebkind. The film began production in March 1967. Hoffman received an Academy Award nomination for his performance and became a major star. Although he initially endured some anti-semitic derision for his unusual looks and ethnicity, Hoffman's outstanding success in this film and his numerous later acclaimed roles is credited with broadening the field of major film roles for other actors of once undesirable ethnicities

After the success of this film, another Hoffman film, Madigan's Millions, shot before The Graduate, was released on the tail of the actor's newfound success. It was considered a failure at the box office.

In December 1968, Hoffman returned to Broadway to appear in the title role of Murray Schisgal and John Sebastian's musical Jimmy Shine. For his performance in the production Hoffman won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. Just a few weeks after leaving the production, Hoffman's next major film Midnight Cowboy premiered in theatres across the United States on May 25, 1969. For his role as Ratso Rizzo in the film, Hoffman received his second Oscar nomination and the film won the Best Picture honor. This was followed by his role in Little Big Man (1970) where Jack Crabb, his character, ages from teenager to a 121-year-old man. The film was widely praised by critics, but was overlooked for an award except for a supporting nomination for Chief Dan George.

Hoffman continued to appear in major films over the next few years. Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), Straw Dogs (also 1971), and Papillon (1973) were followed by Lenny (1974), for which Hoffman received his third nomination for Best Actor in seven years.

Less than two years after the Watergate scandal, Hoffman and Robert Redford starred as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, respectively, in All the President's Men (1976). Hoffman next starred in Marathon Man (also 1976), a film based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, opposite Laurence Olivier. Hoffman's next roles were less successful. He opted out of directing Straight Time (1978) but starred as a thief. His next film, Michael Apted's Agatha, was with Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha Christie.

Hoffman next starred in Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) as workaholic Ted Kramer whose wife (Meryl Streep) unexpectedly leaves him; he raises their son alone. Hoffman gained his first Academy Award, and the film also received the Best Picture honor, plus the awards for Best Supporting Actress (Streep) and Director.

In Tootsie (1982), Hoffman portrays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself dressing up as a woman to land a role on a soap opera. His co-star was Jessica Lange. Tootsie earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination.
Hoffman in France (1985)

Hoffman then turned to television in the role of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, for which he won the 1985 Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries. He would also go on to win a Golden Globe for the same performance.

Hoffman's largest film failure was Elaine May's Ishtar, with Warren Beatty. The film faced severe production problems, received almost completely negative reviews from critics and was nominated for three Razzie awards. However, Hoffman and Beatty liked the film's final cut and tried to defend it. Hoffmann and Beatty were unaffected by the flop, and Ishtar became a cult film. James House, who later became a country music artist, served as Hoffman's vocal coach in the film.

In director Barry Levinson's Rain Man (1988), Hoffman starred as an autistic savant, opposite Tom Cruise. Levinson, Hoffman and Cruise worked for two years on the film, and his performance garnered Hoffman his second Academy Award. Upon accepting, Hoffman stated softly to his fellow nominees that it was okay if they didn't vote for him because "I didn't vote for you guys either." After Rain Man, Hoffman appeared with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick in Family Business. The film did relatively poorly with the critics and at the box office. In 1991, Hoffman voiced substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Substitute", under the pseudonym Sam Etic. As a reference to this episode, during the episode featuring the Itchy & Scratchy movie, Lisa claims that Dustin Hoffman had a cameo in that movie but didn't use his real name.

Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in many large, studio films, such as Dick Tracy (1990) (where his Ishtar co-star Beatty plays the titular character), Hero (1992) and the ill-fated Billy Bathgate (1991) co-starring with Nicole Kidman who was nominated for a Golden Globe). Hoffman also played the title role of Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg's Hook (also 1991), earning a Golden Globe nomination; in this movie, Hoffman's costume was so heavy that he had to wear an air-conditioned suit under it. Hoffman played the lead role in Outbreak (1995), alongside Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland. Following that, he appeared in the 1996 revenge-drama/legal-thriller Sleepers (1996) with Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, and Kevin Bacon.
Dustin Hoffman during the filming of Last Chance Harvey in 2008

It was in the mid-1990s that Hoffman starred in—and was deeply involved in the production of—David Mamet's American Buffalo (also 1996), one of the very few "pure art projects" he is known for, and an early effort of film editor Kate Sanford. In 1997, Hoffman starred opposite John Travolta in the Costa Gavras film Mad City and gained his seventh Academy Award nomination for his performance in Wag The Dog, in a role that allowed Hoffman the chance to work with both Robert De Niro and Dennis Leary. He next appeared in Barry Levinson's adaptation of Sphere (1998), opposite Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Queen Latifah and Liev Schreiber. Hoffman next appeared in Moonlight Mile (2002), followed by Confidence (2003) opposite Edward Burns, Andy García and Rachel Weisz. Hoffman would finally have a chance to work with Gene Hackman, in Gary Fleder's Runaway Jury (also 2003), an adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel.

Hoffman played theater owner Charles Frohman in the J. M. Barrie historical fantasia Finding Neverland (2004), costarring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. In director David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees (also 2004), Hoffman appeared opposite Lily Tomlin as an existential detective team.

Seven years after his nomination for Wag the Dog, Hoffman got a second opportunity to perform again with Robert De Niro, co-starring with Barbra Streisand and Ben Stiller in the 2004 comedy Meet the Fockers, a sequel to Meet the Parents (2000). Hoffman won the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. In 2005, he voiced a horse in Racing Stripes, and appeared in cameo roles in Andy García's The Lost City and on the final episode of HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm's fifth season. Hoffman appeared in Stranger than Fiction (2006), played the perfumer Giuseppe Baldini in Tom Tykwer's film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (also 2006) and had a cameo in the same year's The Holiday.

In 2007, he was featured in an advertising campaign for Australian telecommunications company Telstra's Next G network, appeared in the 50 Cent video "Follow My Lead" as a psychiatrist, and played the title character in the family film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. In 2008, although he was reluctant to perform in an animated film, Hoffman had a prominent role as Shifu in the acclaimed film Kung Fu Panda, which was praised in part for his comedic chemistry with Jack Black and his character's poignantly complex relationship with the story's villain. He later won the Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for Kung Fu Panda and has continued into the role in the franchise's subsequent filmed productions outside of the upcoming television series. He next voiced Roscuro in The Tale of Despereaux and played the title character in Last Chance Harvey.

Hoffman will be starring in the HBO horse-racing drama Luck, as a man involved in activities such as bookmaking and casino operations. He will also direct Quartet, a BBC Films comedy starring Maggie Smith and Albert Finney. He also appeared in Little Fockers, the critically panned, 2010 sequel to Meet the Fockers, this time in a much smaller role. In 2011, Hoffman reprised his role as Shifu in Kung Fu Panda 2.
Personal life
With Gottsegen (left), and Jake Hoffman (right), at Los Angeles Fashion Week (2007)

Hoffman married Anne Byrne in May 1969. The couple had two children, Karina (b. 1966) and Jenna (born October 15, 1970). Karina is adopted. The couple divorced in 1980. He married attorney Lisa Hoffman (née Gottsegen) in October 1980; they have four children – Jacob Edward (born March 20, 1981), Rebecca (b. March 17, 1983), Maxwell Geoffrey (born August 30, 1984), and Alexandra Lydia (born October 27, 1987). Hoffman also has two grandchildren. In an interview, he said that all of his children from his second marriage had bar or bat mitzvahs and that he is a more observant Jew now than when he was younger; he also lamented that he is not fluent in Hebrew. In 1970, Hoffman and Byrne were living in Greenwich Village in a building next door to the townhouse destroyed by members of The Weatherman when they detonated a bomb in the building's basement, killing three people. In the 2002 documentary The Weather Underground, Hoffman can be seen standing in the street during the aftermath of the explosion.

A political liberal, Hoffman has long supported the Democratic Party and Ralph Nader. In 1997, he was one of a number of Hollywood stars and executives to sign an open letter to then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune, which protested the treatment of Scientologists in Germany.

Robert Duvall was a roommate of Hoffman's during the early years of their careers in New York City.

There were many rumors and discussions in July 2010 about Hoffman canceling his appearance at the Jerusalem Film Festival as a reaction to the Gaza flotilla raid. However, his representatives told The New York Times there was “no truth” to this report.

In 2009, he received the freedom of the Italian city Ascoli Piceno for being there during 1972 to shoot the movie Alfredo, Alfredo by Pietro Germi, where he played the role of Alfredo Sbisà.
Filmography and awards
Year Film Role Notes
1967 The Tiger Makes Out Hap
The Graduate Benjamin Braddock BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles
Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1968 Madigan's Millions Jason Fister
1969 Sunday Father A 'Sunday Father' short subject
Midnight Cowboy Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for John and Mary
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
John and Mary John BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for Midnight Cowboy
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1970 Little Big Man Jack Crabb Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1971 On Location: Dustin Hoffman Himself short subject
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He
Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? Georgie Soloway
Straw Dogs David Sumner
1972 Alfredo, Alfredo Alfredo Sbisà
1973 Papillon Louis Dega
1974 Lenny Lenny Bruce Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People Himself short subject
All the President's Men Carl Bernstein Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for Marathon Man
Marathon Man Babe Levy Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role also for All the President's Men
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1978 Straight Time Max Dembo also producer
1979 Agatha Wally Stanton National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor also for Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer Ted Kramer Academy Award for Best Actor
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor also for Agatha
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1982 Tootsie Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
1984 Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Death of a Salesman Willy Loman Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special
1986 Private Conversations Himself documentary
1987 Ishtar Chuck Clarke
1988 Rain Man Raymond Babbitt Academy Award for Best Actor
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1989 Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt Narrator documentary
Family Business Vito McMullen
1990 Dick Tracy Mumbles
1991 Billy Bathgate Dutch Schultz
Hook Captain Hook Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1992 Hero aka. Accidental Hero Bernard 'Bernie' Laplante Extra : Man at the bar 35:07 into Basic Instinct
Horton Hears a Who! Narrator
1993 La Classe américaine Peter in archive footage only
1994 Jonas in the Desert Himself documentary
1995 Outbreak Colonel Sam Daniels
1996 American Buffalo Walt 'Teach' Teacher
Sleepers Danny Snyder
1997 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award
Mad City Max Brackett
Wag the Dog Stanley Motss Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
1998 Sphere Dr. Norman Goodman
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc The Conscience
2001 Tuesday Narrator short subject
Goldwyn Narrator documentary
2002 Moonlight Mile Ben Floss
2003 The Shakespeare Sessions Himself documentary
Confidence Winston King
Runaway Jury Wendell Rohr
2004 Freedom2speak v2.0 Himself – Actor, USA documentary
Finding Neverland Charles Frohman Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
I Heart Huckabees Bernard
Meet the Fockers Bernie Focker MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events The Critic uncredited
2005 Racing Stripes Tucker voice
The Lost City Meyer Lansky
2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Giuseppe Baldini
Stranger than Fiction Professor Jules Hilbert
The Holiday Himself uncredited
2007 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Mr. Edward Magorium, Avid Shoe-Wearer
2008 Kung Fu Panda Master Shifu voice
Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
The Tale of Despereaux Roscuro voice
Last Chance Harvey Harvey Shine Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2010 Barney's Version Izzy Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story Narrator documentary
Little Fockers Bernie Focker
2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 Master Shifu voice
The Giver unknown in production
http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad275/mustang0210/dustin_hoffman_01.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss156/puzzled11/dustin-hoffman-01-af.jpg


can't say enough about him he is one of the most funniest I've watched

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/08/11 at 1:34 pm

http://blog.rifftrax.com/wp-content/photos/Donny_Most.jpg

Happy 58th Donny Most (aka Ralph Malph) :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/09/11 at 8:13 am

The person of the day....Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American R&B/pop singer, actress, and former fashion model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston is also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 180 million albums and singles worldwide on relatively few releases.

Inspired by several prominent soul singers in her extended family, including mother Cissy Houston and cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, as well as her godmother, Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing with New Jersey church's junior gospel choir at age 11. After she began performing alongside her mother in night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis. As of 2011, Houston has released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification.

Houston's 1985 debut album, Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. Her second studio album, Whitney (1987), became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", enabled several African-American female artists to follow in her success.

Houston's first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The movie's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You", became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. The album makes her the only female act ranked in the list of the top-10 best-selling albums, at number four. Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to soundtracks, including with the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). Three years after the release of her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records. She released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in 2002, and the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. Amid widespread media coverage of personal and professional turmoil, Houston ended her 14-year marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 2006. In 2009, Houston released her seventh studio album, I Look To You.
With production from Michael Masser, Kashif, Jermaine Jackson and Narada Michael Walden, Houston's self-titled debut album was released in February 1985. Rolling Stone magazine praised the new talent, calling her "one of the most exciting new voices in years" while The New York Times called the album "an impressive, musically conservative showcase for an exceptional vocal talent." The first single, the dance-funk "Someone For Me", failed to chart in the US and UK. The next single, "Thinking About You", reached the top ten of the US R&B Chart, as the album sold modestly. The release of the next single, the soulful ballad "You Give Good Love", peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and went to #1 on the R&B Charts. As a result, the album began to sell strongly, and Houston continued promoting the album by touring nightclubs in the US. She also began performing on late-night television talk shows, which was not usually accessible to black acts. The jazzy ballad "Saving All My Love for You" was released next and it would become Houston's first #1 hit single in both the US and the UK. She was now an opening act for singer Jeffrey Osborne on his nationwide tour. At the time, MTV had received harsh criticism for not playing enough videos by African-American artists while favoring rock acts. The next single, "How Will I Know", peaked at #1 and introduced Houston to the MTV audience thanks to its video. This would make the singer the first African-American female artists to receive heavy rotation on the network. By 1986, a year after its initial release, Whitney Houston topped the Billboard 200 album chart and stayed there for 14 non-consecutive weeks. The final single, "Greatest Love of All", became Houston's biggest hit at the time after peaking #1 and remaining there for three weeks. At the time, Houston released the best-selling debut album by a female artist. Houston then embarked on her world tour, Greatest Love Tour. The album had become an international success, and was certified 13x Platinum (diamond) in the United States alone, and has sold a total of 25 million copies worldwide.

At the 1986 Grammy Awards, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year. She was ineligible for the Best New Artist category due to her previous duet recording with Teddy Pendergrass in 1984. She won her first Grammy award for 'Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female' for "Saving All My Love for You". At the same award show, she performed that Grammy-winning hit; that performance later winning her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Houston won seven American Music Awards in total in 1986 and 1987, and an MTV Video Music Award. The album's popularity would also carry over to the 1987 Grammy Awards when "Greatest Love of All" would receive a Record of the Year nomination. Houston's debut album is currently listed as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and on The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame's Definitive 200 list. Whitney Houston's grand entrance into the music industry is considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years, according to USA Today. Following Houston's breakthrough, doors were opened for other African-American female artists such as Janet Jackson and Anita Baker to find notable success in popular music and on MTV.
1987–91: Whitney, I'm Your Baby Tonight and "The Star Spangled Banner"

Houston’s second album, Whitney, was released in June 1987. The album again featured production from Masser, Kashif and Walden as well as Jellybean Benitez. Many critics complained that the material was too similar to her previous album. Rolling Stone said, "the narrow channel through which this talent has been directed is frustrating." Still, the album enjoyed commercial success. Houston became the first female artist in music history to debut at number one on the US and UK album chart while also hitting number one or top ten in dozens of other countries around the world. The album's first four singles, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" all peaked at number one on the US Hot 100, which gave her a total of seven consecutive number one hits, breaking the record of six previously shared by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. Whitney has been certified 9× Platinum in the US for shipments of over 9 million copies, and has sold a total of 20 million copies worldwide.

At the Grammy Awards in 1988, Houston was nominated for three awards, including Album of the Year, winning her second Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)". Houston also won two American Music Awards in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Following the release of the album, Houston embarked on the Moment of Truth World Tour which was one of the ten highest grossing concert tours of 1987. The success of the tour and her albums ranked Houston #8 for the highest earning entertainers list according to Forbes Magazine. She was the highest earning African-American woman and the third highest entertainer after Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy. The list included her concert grosses during 1986 and 1987.

Houston was a supporter of Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement. During her modeling days, the singer refused to work with any agencies who did business with the then-apartheid South Africa. In June 1988, during the European leg of her tour, Houston joined other musicians to perform a set at Wembley Stadium in London to celebrate a then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday. Over 72,000 people attended Wembley Stadium, and over a billion people tuned in worldwide as the rock concert raised over $1 million for charities while bringing awareness to apartheid. Houston then flew back to the US for a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City in August. The show was a benefit concert that raised a quarter of a million dollars for the United Negro College Fund. In the same year, she recorded a song for NBC's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics, "One Moment in Time", which became a Top 5 hit in the US, while reaching number one in the UK and Germany. With her current world tour continuing overseas, Houston was still one of the top 20 highest earning entertainers for 1987–1988 according to Forbes magazine.
Houston performing "Saving All My Love for You" on the Welcome Home Heroes concert in 1991

In 1989, Houston formed The Whitney Houston Foundation For Children, a non-profit organization that has raised funds for the needs of children around the world. The organization cares for homelessness, children with cancer or AIDS, and other issues of self-empowerment. With the success of her first two albums, Houston was undoubtedly an international crossover superstar, the most prominent since Michael Jackson, appealing to all demographics. However, some black critics believed she was "selling out". They felt her singing on record lacked the soul that was present during her live concerts. At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Houston's name was called out for a nomination, a few in the audience jeered. Houston defended herself against the criticism, stating, "If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it, and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it." Houston took a more urban direction with her third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, released in November 1990. She produced and chose producers for this album and as a result, it featured production and collaborations with L.A. Reid and Babyface, Luther Vandross, and Stevie Wonder. The album showed Houston's versatility on a new batch of tough rhythmic grooves, soulful ballads and up-tempo dance tracks. Reviews were mixed. Rolling Stone felt it was her "best and most integrated album". while Entertainment Weekly, at the time thought Houston's shift towards an urban direction was "superficial". The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and went on to be certified four times platinum in America while selling twelve million total worldwide. Two of the singles released from the album reached number one in the US.

With America at war, Houston performed "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in January 1991. VH1 listed the performance as the 12th greatest moment that rocked TV. Her recording of the song was released as a commercial single, and reached the Top 20 on the US Hot 100, making her the only act to turn the national anthem into a pop hit of that magnitude (Jose Feliciano's version reached #50 in November 1968). Houston donated all her share of the proceeds to the Red Cross. As a result, the singer was named to the Red Cross Board of Governors. Later that year, Houston put together her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Gulf War and their families. The free concert took place at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia in front of 3,500 servicemen and women. HBO descrambled the concert so that it was free for everyone to watch. Houston's concert gave HBO its highest ratings ever. She then embarked on the I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour.
1992–94: Marriage to Bobby Brown and The Bodyguard

Throughout the 1980s, Houston was romantically linked to American football star Randall Cunningham and actor Eddie Murphy, whom she dated. She then met R&B singer Bobby Brown at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. After a three year courtship, the two were married on July 18, 1992. Nearly a year later, Houston gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown, her first and only child, his fourth. Brown would go on to have several run-ins with the law, including some jail time.

With the commercial success of her albums, movie offers poured in, including offers to work with Robert De Niro, Quincy Jones, and Spike Lee; but Houston felt the time wasn't right. Houston’s first film role was in The Bodyguard, released in 1992 and co-starring Kevin Costner. Houston played Rachel Marron, a star who is stalked by a crazed fan and hires a bodyguard to protect her. USA Today listed it as one of the 25 most memorable movie moments of the last 25 years. The movie is also notable for not mentioning or needing to explain its interracial aspect. Houston's mainstream appeal allowed people to look at the movie color-blind. Still, controversy arose as some felt the film's ads intentionally hid Houston's face to hide the film's interracial aspect. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1993, the singer commented that "people know who Whitney Houston is—I'm black. You can't hide that fact." Houston received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress. The Washington Post said Houston is "doing nothing more than playing Houston, comes out largely unscathed if that is possible in so cockamamie an undertaking", and The New York Times said she lacked passion with her co-star. Despite the film's mixed reviews, it was hugely successful at the box office, grossing more than $121 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide, making it one of the top 100 grossing films in film history at its time of release, though it is no longer in the top 100.
Discography
Main article: Whitney Houston discography

    * Whitney Houston (1985)
    * Whitney (1987)
    * I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990)
    * My Love Is Your Love (1998)
    * Just Whitney (2002)
    * One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003)
    * I Look to You (2009)

Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes and awards
1992 The Bodyguard Rachel Marron
(Main role) Nominated — 1993 MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated — 1993 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — 1993 MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo with co-star Kevin Costner
Nominated — 1992 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1995 Waiting to Exhale Savannah Jackson
(Main role) Nominated — 1996 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
1996 The Preacher's Wife Julia Biggs
(Main role) Won — 1997 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated — 1997 Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Female Actress(Comedy/Romance)
Nominated — 1997 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Television
Year Title Network Role Notes
1984 Gimme a Break! NBC Rita "Katie's College" (Season 3, Episode 20)
1985 Silver Spoons NBC As herself "Head Over Heels" (Season 4, Episode 1, Air date: September 15, 1985)
She performed the edit version of "Saving All My Love for You," changing some of the words—"making love the whole night through" was changed to "holding each other the whole night through"—for the censors on the episode.
1997 Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ABC Fairy Godmother Made for television, and was part of a revival of the Wonderful World of Disney, on Disney-owned ABC, and aired on November 2, 1997.
2002 Boston Public Fox As herself She performed her current hit Try it On My Own from the 2002 studio album, Just Whitney.
TV Commercial
Year Company Promoting Country Notes
1983 Dr Pepper/Seven Up Canada Dry
(soft drink beverage) United States

    * Houston appeared in this commercial before debut as a professional singer and sang the praises of sugar free Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

1986 Coca-Cola Diet Coke
(soft drink beverage) United States

    * Houston sang the Diet Coke theme song, "Just for the taste of it." (see the commercial)

1988 Coca-Cola Diet Coke
(soft drink beverage) United States

    * Houston sang the other version of the Diet Coke advertising slogan at the time, "Just for the taste of it." (see the commercial)
    * Outside the United States, the second version of advertising was released, in which "Greatest Love of All" was used as background music. (see the commercial)
    * 1989 MTV Video of the Year winning "This Note's for You" by Neil Young, parodied parts of this advertising to criticize pop/rock stars who make commercial endorsements, most notably Michael Jackson for Pepsi and Houston for Diet Coke, using look-alike for them.

1990 SANYO Electronics
(the stereo, TV) Japan

    * Houston sang theme song, "Takin' A Chance," produced by Keith Thomas. It was released as a CD single in Japan and included in Japanese edition of I'm Your Baby Tonight.

1994
1995 AT&T Telephone services United States

    * Houston sang its theme song, "True Voice." (see the commercial)

Production
Year Title Director Notes and awards
1997 Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella Robert Iscove Executive producer
Nominated — 1998 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special
Nominated — 1998 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Television Movie/Mini-Series
2001 The Princess Diaries Garry Marshall Producer
Won — 2002 Young Artist Award for Best Family Feature Film - Comedy
Nominated — 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film (Live Action)
Nominated — 2002 Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Family Film
Nominated — 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Movie, Comedy
2003 The Cheetah Girls Oz Scott Producer
2004 The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Garry Marshall Producer
2006 The Cheetah Girls 2: When in Spain Kenny Ortega Co-executive producer
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee280/Joog_album/whitney_houston.jpg
http://i552.photobucket.com/albums/jj338/nobody_but_me_01/Whitney-Houston-sb06.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/09/11 at 10:46 am

I love this song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poaXgXQmdIo



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/09/11 at 8:15 pm

I liked her in the mid 80's with songs like How Will I Know And All At Once.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/11/11 at 8:16 am

The person of the day...Hulk Hogan
Terry Gene Bollea (August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Beginning his career wrestling for various promotions in the National Wrestling Alliance and Japan, Bollea first gained mainstream popularity when he adopted the name of Hulk Hogan and worked for promoter Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the early 1980s. In 1983, he departed the AWA for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—now WWE), where he immediately won the WWF Championship for the first time when he defeated The Iron Sheik. In the WWF, he expanded the Hulk Hogan persona as an all-American hero who invoked American patriotism and called upon his loyal fans, known as Hulkamaniacs to take their vitamins and say their prayers. Hogan was promoted by the WWF as the face of Rock 'n Wrestling, and led the expansion of the popularity of professional wrestling across North America and other parts of the world—a time now referred to as the Hulkamania Era. In his first run in the WWF, Hogan headlined almost all major WWF pay per view events, including the first nine of the WrestleMania franchise and won five WWF Championships. His popularity recognized in mainstream media, Hogan featured in several films and television programs, including Rocky III. At WrestleMania III, Hogan famously bodyslammed Andre The Giant before an audience of more than 90,000 fans. He also had famous feuds and matches with other major villianous "heel" wrestlers such as King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase. At WrestleMania VI, Hogan was cleanly pinned for the first time by The Ultimate Warrior, who won the WWF title. Hogan regained the WWF title at WrestleMania VII from Sgt. Slaughter in a controversial storyline that ran concurrent with the 1990-91 Gulf War and where Slaughter openly wrestled as an anti-American, Iraqi sympathizer. However, the exposure of scandals in pro-wrestling about the rampant usage of steroids and growth hormones by famous wrestlers, including Hogan, reduced his popularity and led to a brief hiatus from the WWF. After returning briefly in 1993 to win the WWF Championship for the fifth time at WrestleMania IX, Hogan lost the title to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring 1993 before leaving the WWF to pursue acting full-time with the TV series, Thunder in Paradise.

In 1994, Hogan returned to professional wrestling when he signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Returning to his character as the all-American hero, Hogan had famous feuds with WCW star Ric Flair and WWF alumnus Randy Savage. In 1996, Hogan stunned wrestling audiences by turning "heel", announcing he was fed up of being the good guy and formed the New World Order stable with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Now known as Hollywood Hogan, his heel turn and the NWO storyline propelled WCW's television ratings and it surpassed the WWF as the largest wrestling company in the United States. In his time in WCW, Hogan would go on to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times and have famous feuds with WCW stars Sting and Bill Goldberg. He would later head the nWo Hollywood faction and return to play a heroic character before departing WCW in July 2000 after differences with WCW writer and booker Vince Russo led to a controversial ending at the WCW Bash at the Beach event that saw the defending WCW World Champion Jeff Jarrett lie down for Hogan without a fight, and Russo denouncing and firing Hogan before the live audience.

Hogan would take a hiatus from wrestling until 2002, when he returned to the WWF reprising his villianous Hollywood Hogan character. Sentiments of nostalgia for the Hulk Hogan of the 1980s led to fans cheering Hogan even as he worked as a heel. At WrestleMania XVIII, Hogan finally accepted being the fan favorite again after losing a match to The Rock, and steadily returned to his 1980s persona. He would win his sixth and final WWF Championship a month later, and was the reigning champion when the WWF was renamed WWE. At WrestleMania XIX, Hogan won a match against WWE owner Vince McMahon. Hogan left the WWE again before returning to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by long-time friend Sylvester Stallone. He made a cameo appearance at WrestleMania XXI and defeated Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2005. In his last WWE match, Hogan defeated Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2006. Hogan expanded his television career with the reality show Hogan Knows Best and hosting Celebrity Championship Wrestling, but both endeavors declined owing to the controversies surrounding his son Nick Bollea's car accident and his stormy divorce from his wife Linda Bollea. In 2010, Hogan once again returned to wrestling when he debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), playing the role of the new management of TNA along with former WCW executive Eric Bischoff. Hogan is a 12 time world champion, having won the WWF/WWE Championship 6 times and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 6 times.
On the October 5, 1985 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, "The Magnificent" Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.

In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from New Japan Pro Wrestling gimmick "Super Strong Machine." At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous two decades. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, a good friend came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years." Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III. At WrestleMania III, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan bodyslammed the 520-pound Frenchman and won the match after a leg drop.

Hogan remained WWF Champion for four years and 13 days (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the belt to André on the February 5 edition of The Main Event after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, who was the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF title to regain it and faced André in the tournament quarter-finals but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan interfered and helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title. In wrestling
Hogan hitting the running leg drop on Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX
Hogan faces off against Ric Flair.
Hogan performing a top rope body slam on Ric Flair
Hogan listening to the crowd, one of his signature taunts

    * Finishing moves
          o Axe Bomber (Crooked arm lariat)
          o Running leg drop

    * Signature moves
          o Atomic drop
          o Big boot
          o Body slam
          o Clothesline
          o Multiple punches, with theatrics
          o Raking the opponent's eyes or back

    * Managers
          o "Classy" Freddie Blassie
          o Miss Elizabeth
          o "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart

    * Nicknames
          o "(The) Hulkster"
          o "The Hulk"
          o "The Immortal"
          o "Hollywood"

    * Entrance themes
          o American Wrestling Association
                + "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
          o World Championship Wrestling
                + "American Made" by The Wrestling Boot Band (1994–1996, 1999–2000)
                + "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley (used while a part of the New World Order; 1996–1997)
                + "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1997–1999)
                + "Kevin Nash/Wolfpac Theme" (used while a part of the nWo wolfpac elite; 1999)
          o Xcitement Wrestling Federation
                + "American Made" by The Wrestling Boot Band
          o World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
                + "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (1984–1986)
                + "Hulk Hogan's Theme" by Jim Steinman (1985)
                + "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa (1985)
                + "Real American" by Rick Derringer (1986–1993, 2002, 2003, 2005–2007)
                + "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (2002–2003)
          o Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
                + "nWo Original Theme" (Rockhouse Remix) by Frank Shelly (2010–present)
                + "Immortal Theme" by Dale Oliver (used while a part of Immortal; 2010–present)

Championships and accomplishments

    * New Japan Pro Wrestling
          o IWGP League Tournament (1983)
          o MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983)—with Antonio Inoki

    * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
          o Class of 2003

    * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
          o PWI Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
          o PWI Feud of the Year (1986) vs. Paul Orndorff
          o PWI Match of the Year (1985) with Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at WrestleMania
          o PWI Match of the Year (1988) vs. André the Giant at The Main Event
          o PWI Match of the Year (1990) vs. The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI
          o PWI Match of the Year (2002) vs. The Rock at WrestleMania X8
          o PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
          o PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
          o PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
          o PWI Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
          o PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
          o PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
          o PWI ranked him #57 of the Top 100 Tag Teams of the "PWI Years" with Randy Savage in 2003


    * Southeastern Championship Wrestling
          o NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
          o NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)

    * Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
          o Match of the Year (1991) vs. Genichiro Tenryu on December 12, 1991
          o Most Outstanding Forienger (1983)

    * World Championship Wrestling
          o WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

    * World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
          o WWE World Tag Team Championship (1 time)—with Edge
          o WWF/E Championship (6 times)1
          o Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
          o WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)

    * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
          o Feud of the Year (1986) vs. Paul Orndorff
          o Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
          o Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. André the Giant at WrestleMania III
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Randy Savage vs. Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta, and The Ultimate Solution in a Towers of Doom match at Uncensored
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997) vs. Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl VII
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998) vs. The Warrior at Halloween Havoc
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1991) vs. Sgt. Slaughter
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1995) vs. The Dungeon of Doom
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1998) vs. The Warrior
          o Worst Feud of the Year (2000) vs. Billy Kidman
          o Best Babyface (1982–1991)
          o Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
          o Worst Wrestler (1997)
          o Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1998–2000)
          o Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

1 ^ Hogan's last reign was as Undisputed WWF Champion. The title was renamed the WWE Undisputed Championship on May 6, 2002 after World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. settled a lawsuit with the World Wide Fund for Nature, and became simply World Wrestling Entertainment.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/flintkane47/hulk-hogan.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc84/windowofmyeye/hulk_hogan.jpg


* There is a lot more to read in Wikipedia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/11/11 at 8:19 am


I liked her in the mid 80's with songs like How Will I Know And All At Once.

Good songs. I also like So Emotional and I Will Always Love You.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/11/11 at 7:47 pm


The person of the day...Hulk Hogan
Terry Gene Bollea (August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Beginning his career wrestling for various promotions in the National Wrestling Alliance and Japan, Bollea first gained mainstream popularity when he adopted the name of Hulk Hogan and worked for promoter Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the early 1980s. In 1983, he departed the AWA for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—now WWE), where he immediately won the WWF Championship for the first time when he defeated The Iron Sheik. In the WWF, he expanded the Hulk Hogan persona as an all-American hero who invoked American patriotism and called upon his loyal fans, known as Hulkamaniacs to take their vitamins and say their prayers. Hogan was promoted by the WWF as the face of Rock 'n Wrestling, and led the expansion of the popularity of professional wrestling across North America and other parts of the world—a time now referred to as the Hulkamania Era. In his first run in the WWF, Hogan headlined almost all major WWF pay per view events, including the first nine of the WrestleMania franchise and won five WWF Championships. His popularity recognized in mainstream media, Hogan featured in several films and television programs, including Rocky III. At WrestleMania III, Hogan famously bodyslammed Andre The Giant before an audience of more than 90,000 fans. He also had famous feuds and matches with other major villianous "heel" wrestlers such as King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase. At WrestleMania VI, Hogan was cleanly pinned for the first time by The Ultimate Warrior, who won the WWF title. Hogan regained the WWF title at WrestleMania VII from Sgt. Slaughter in a controversial storyline that ran concurrent with the 1990-91 Gulf War and where Slaughter openly wrestled as an anti-American, Iraqi sympathizer. However, the exposure of scandals in pro-wrestling about the rampant usage of steroids and growth hormones by famous wrestlers, including Hogan, reduced his popularity and led to a brief hiatus from the WWF. After returning briefly in 1993 to win the WWF Championship for the fifth time at WrestleMania IX, Hogan lost the title to Yokozuna at King Of The Ring 1993 before leaving the WWF to pursue acting full-time with the TV series, Thunder in Paradise.

In 1994, Hogan returned to professional wrestling when he signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Returning to his character as the all-American hero, Hogan had famous feuds with WCW star Ric Flair and WWF alumnus Randy Savage. In 1996, Hogan stunned wrestling audiences by turning "heel", announcing he was fed up of being the good guy and formed the New World Order stable with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Now known as Hollywood Hogan, his heel turn and the NWO storyline propelled WCW's television ratings and it surpassed the WWF as the largest wrestling company in the United States. In his time in WCW, Hogan would go on to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times and have famous feuds with WCW stars Sting and Bill Goldberg. He would later head the nWo Hollywood faction and return to play a heroic character before departing WCW in July 2000 after differences with WCW writer and booker Vince Russo led to a controversial ending at the WCW Bash at the Beach event that saw the defending WCW World Champion Jeff Jarrett lie down for Hogan without a fight, and Russo denouncing and firing Hogan before the live audience.

Hogan would take a hiatus from wrestling until 2002, when he returned to the WWF reprising his villianous Hollywood Hogan character. Sentiments of nostalgia for the Hulk Hogan of the 1980s led to fans cheering Hogan even as he worked as a heel. At WrestleMania XVIII, Hogan finally accepted being the fan favorite again after losing a match to The Rock, and steadily returned to his 1980s persona. He would win his sixth and final WWF Championship a month later, and was the reigning champion when the WWF was renamed WWE. At WrestleMania XIX, Hogan won a match against WWE owner Vince McMahon. Hogan left the WWE again before returning to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by long-time friend Sylvester Stallone. He made a cameo appearance at WrestleMania XXI and defeated Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2005. In his last WWE match, Hogan defeated Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2006. Hogan expanded his television career with the reality show Hogan Knows Best and hosting Celebrity Championship Wrestling, but both endeavors declined owing to the controversies surrounding his son Nick Bollea's car accident and his stormy divorce from his wife Linda Bollea. In 2010, Hogan once again returned to wrestling when he debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), playing the role of the new management of TNA along with former WCW executive Eric Bischoff. Hogan is a 12 time world champion, having won the WWF/WWE Championship 6 times and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 6 times.
On the October 5, 1985 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, "The Magnificent" Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.

In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from New Japan Pro Wrestling gimmick "Super Strong Machine." At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous two decades. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, a good friend came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years." Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III. At WrestleMania III, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan bodyslammed the 520-pound Frenchman and won the match after a leg drop.

Hogan remained WWF Champion for four years and 13 days (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the belt to André on the February 5 edition of The Main Event after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, who was the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF title to regain it and faced André in the tournament quarter-finals but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan interfered and helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title. In wrestling
Hogan hitting the running leg drop on Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX
Hogan faces off against Ric Flair.
Hogan performing a top rope body slam on Ric Flair
Hogan listening to the crowd, one of his signature taunts

    * Finishing moves
          o Axe Bomber (Crooked arm lariat)
          o Running leg drop

    * Signature moves
          o Atomic drop
          o Big boot
          o Body slam
          o Clothesline
          o Multiple punches, with theatrics
          o Raking the opponent's eyes or back

    * Managers
          o "Classy" Freddie Blassie
          o Miss Elizabeth
          o "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart

    * Nicknames
          o "(The) Hulkster"
          o "The Hulk"
          o "The Immortal"
          o "Hollywood"

    * Entrance themes
          o American Wrestling Association
                + "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
          o World Championship Wrestling
                + "American Made" by The Wrestling Boot Band (1994–1996, 1999–2000)
                + "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley (used while a part of the New World Order; 1996–1997)
                + "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1997–1999)
                + "Kevin Nash/Wolfpac Theme" (used while a part of the nWo wolfpac elite; 1999)
          o Xcitement Wrestling Federation
                + "American Made" by The Wrestling Boot Band
          o World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
                + "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (1984–1986)
                + "Hulk Hogan's Theme" by Jim Steinman (1985)
                + "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa (1985)
                + "Real American" by Rick Derringer (1986–1993, 2002, 2003, 2005–2007)
                + "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (2002–2003)
          o Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
                + "nWo Original Theme" (Rockhouse Remix) by Frank Shelly (2010–present)
                + "Immortal Theme" by Dale Oliver (used while a part of Immortal; 2010–present)

Championships and accomplishments

    * New Japan Pro Wrestling
          o IWGP League Tournament (1983)
          o MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983)—with Antonio Inoki

    * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
          o Class of 2003

    * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
          o PWI Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
          o PWI Feud of the Year (1986) vs. Paul Orndorff
          o PWI Match of the Year (1985) with Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at WrestleMania
          o PWI Match of the Year (1988) vs. André the Giant at The Main Event
          o PWI Match of the Year (1990) vs. The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI
          o PWI Match of the Year (2002) vs. The Rock at WrestleMania X8
          o PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
          o PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)
          o PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
          o PWI Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
          o PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991
          o PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
          o PWI ranked him #57 of the Top 100 Tag Teams of the "PWI Years" with Randy Savage in 2003


    * Southeastern Championship Wrestling
          o NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
          o NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)

    * Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
          o Match of the Year (1991) vs. Genichiro Tenryu on December 12, 1991
          o Most Outstanding Forienger (1983)

    * World Championship Wrestling
          o WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

    * World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
          o WWE World Tag Team Championship (1 time)—with Edge
          o WWF/E Championship (6 times)1
          o Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)
          o WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)

    * Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
          o Feud of the Year (1986) vs. Paul Orndorff
          o Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
          o Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. André the Giant at WrestleMania III
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Randy Savage vs. Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta, and The Ultimate Solution in a Towers of Doom match at Uncensored
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997) vs. Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl VII
          o Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998) vs. The Warrior at Halloween Havoc
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1991) vs. Sgt. Slaughter
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1995) vs. The Dungeon of Doom
          o Worst Feud of the Year (1998) vs. The Warrior
          o Worst Feud of the Year (2000) vs. Billy Kidman
          o Best Babyface (1982–1991)
          o Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
          o Worst Wrestler (1997)
          o Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1998–2000)
          o Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

1 ^ Hogan's last reign was as Undisputed WWF Champion. The title was renamed the WWE Undisputed Championship on May 6, 2002 after World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. settled a lawsuit with the World Wide Fund for Nature, and became simply World Wrestling Entertainment.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/flintkane47/hulk-hogan.jpg
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc84/windowofmyeye/hulk_hogan.jpg


* There is a lot more to read in Wikipedia.



He's gonna be wrestling Sting at the next PPV a 52 year old vs. a 58 year old,he doesn't know when to give it up,does he?  ::)

remember when he had the feathered boas?
http://www.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hulk-hogan-hulkamania.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/11/11 at 7:47 pm


Good songs. I also like So Emotional and I Will Always Love You.



good songs too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/12/11 at 1:31 am


Good songs. I also like So Emotional and I Will Always Love You.
Here in the UK "I Will Always Love You" became an annoying record after being at 9 weeks at Number 1.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/12/11 at 5:06 pm


Here in the UK "I Will Always Love You" became an annoying record after being at 9 weeks at Number 1.

;D I think I recall hearing something on the news once of an English woman who got mad at her neighbor because she played the song over and over.( Or maybe that was My Heart Will Go Own  :-\\)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/12/11 at 5:08 pm


He's gonna be wrestling Sting at the next PPV a 52 year old vs. a 58 year old,he doesn't know when to give it up,does he?  ::)

remember when he had the feathered boas?
http://www.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hulk-hogan-hulkamania.jpg

I guess neither one does.  Have you heard anything about the Rock wrestling again?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 08/12/11 at 5:26 pm


I guess neither one does.  Have you heard anything about the Rock wrestling again?


I heard he would be guesting (as a wrestler) at a WWE RAW event this year. I thought he was supposed to be challenging John Cena???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/12/11 at 7:56 pm


I guess neither one does.  Have you heard anything about the Rock wrestling again?


Yes The Rock will be wrestling John Cena at Wrestlemania 28 in Miami Fla. April 1st 2012.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/12/11 at 7:57 pm


I heard he would be guesting (as a wrestler) at a WWE RAW event this year. I thought he was supposed to be challenging John Cena???


Wrestlemania 28 April 1st 2012.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/13/11 at 6:22 am

British Person of the Day: Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-time, and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.

More can be read here

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/13/11 at 7:35 am


Yes The Rock will be wrestling John Cena at Wrestlemania 28 in Miami Fla. April 1st 2012.

That will be interesting. How long has it been since he wrestled?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/13/11 at 7:38 am


British Person of the Day: Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-time, and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.

More can be read here

Thanks Phil. You don't find talent for film making like he had nowadays.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/13/11 at 7:44 am


Thanks Phil. You don't find talent for film making like he had nowadays.
He is/was the true master.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/13/11 at 2:34 pm


can't say enough about him he is one of the most funniest I've watched

Dustin Hoffman? Yeah, he's a great actor. I know he was in Wag The Dog, which I saw in theatres.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/13/11 at 2:35 pm


Here in the UK "I Will Always Love You" became an annoying record after being at 9 weeks at Number 1.

In the U.S. it monopolized the top spot for at least three months.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/13/11 at 3:52 pm


British Person of the Day: Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-time, and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.

More can be read here
Which is your favourite Hitchcock film, the two I like the best are Psycho and Rear Window.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/13/11 at 3:54 pm


British Person of the Day: Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-time, and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.

More can be read here
Two Hitchcock plaques in London

http://www.completelylondon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Hitchcock_plaque-290x290.jpg

http://www.bargaintraveleurope.com/images/Hitchcock1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/13/11 at 8:12 pm


That will be interesting. How long has it been since he wrestled?


7 years since he left WWE and went to do films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/13/11 at 8:12 pm


Dustin Hoffman? Yeah, he's a great actor. I know he was in Wag The Dog, which I saw in theatres.


Meet The Fockers

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/14/11 at 4:30 am


Dustin Hoffman? Yeah, he's a great actor. I know he was in Wag The Dog, which I saw in theatres.
...and here's to you Mrs Robinson.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/14/11 at 8:33 am


Which is your favourite Hitchcock film, the two I like the best are Psycho and Rear Window.

Both great films. I also like Dial M For Murder

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/14/11 at 8:37 am

The person of the day...Mila Kunis
Milena "Mila" Kunis (Russian: Милена Кунис; Ukrainian: Мілена Куніс born August 14, 1983; play /ˈmiːlə ˈkuːnɪs/) is an American actress. Her television work includes the role of Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show and the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy. She has also played roles in film, such as Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Mona Sax in Max Payne, Solara in The Book of Eli and Jamie in Friends with Benefits.

In 2010, she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival for her performance as Lily in Black Swan. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for the same role.
At age nine, Kunis' father enrolled her in acting classes after school at the Beverly Hills Studios, where she met her first and still current manager Susan Curtis. Said Kunis: "My parents told her, 'Listen, we can't afford head shots; we can't afford anything. We can't take her to auditions because we work full-time.' ... said, 'Don't worry. I'll fix everything,' and she did. I ended up getting the first thing I went out for, which was a Barbie commercial. All my parents said was, 'You can do whatever you want to do as long as you get A's and stay in school.'" Kunis began appearing in print-ads, catalogues, and TV commercials for children's products like Lisa Frank products, Mattel's Barbie, and Payless Shoes. She also modeled for a Guess girls' clothing campaign. Her first TV role was as the young Hope Williams on an episode of the popular soap opera Days of our Lives. She had a minor role on 7th Heaven and supporting roles in Santa with Muscles, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and the Angelina Jolie film Gia, as the young Gia Carangi.

In 1998, Kunis was cast as Jackie Burkhart in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. All who auditioned were required to be at least 18 years old; Kunis, who was 14 at the time, told the casting directors she'd be 18 but did not say when. Though they eventually figured it out, the producers still thought Kunis was the best fit for the role. That '70s Show ran for eight seasons. Kunis expressed some frustration with working on one show for so long. "Eight years of doing the same felt like being behind a desk, and I lost my drive," she says. However, she quickly "had an epiphany. I decided I wasn't going to take my career so seriously and make my job who I am. I just want to be happy with my life."
Kunis at the premier of Max Payne.

In 1999, Kunis replaced Lacey Chabert in the role of Meg Griffin on the animated sitcom Family Guy, created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series starred MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mike Henry. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show. MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. MacFarlane added: "What Mila Kunis brought to it was in a lot of ways, I thought, almost more right for the character. I say that Lacey did a phenomenal job, but there was something about Mila – something very natural about Mila. She was 15 when she started, so you were listening to a 15-year-old. Which oftentimes with animation they'll have adult actors doing the voices of teenagers and they always sound like Saturday morning voices. They sound, oftentimes, very forced. She had a very natural quality to Meg that really made what we did with that character kind of really work." Kunis was nominated for an Annie Award in the category of Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production in 2007. She also voiced Meg in the Family Guy Video Game!. Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat."
Film work, 2001–2008

In 2001, she appeared in Get Over It opposite Kirsten Dunst. She followed that up in 2002, by starring in the straight-to-DVD horror film American Psycho 2 alongside William Shatner, a sequel to the 2000 film American Psycho. American Psycho 2 was panned by critics, and later, Kunis herself expressed embarrassment over the film. In 2004, Kunis starred in Tony n' Tina's Wedding. Although the film was shot in 2004, it did not have a theatrical release until 2007. Most critics did not like the film, which mustered a 25% approval from Rotten Tomatoes. DVD talk concluded that "fans would be much better off pretending the movie never happened in the first place".

In 2005, Kunis co-starred with Jon Heder in Moving McAllister, which was not released theatrically until 2007. The film received generally poor reviews and had a limited two week run in theaters. She followed up with After Sex starring alongside her Get Over It costar Zoe Saldana. In October 2006, she began filming Boot Camp (originally titled Straight Edge). Although the film did not have a theatrical release in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 25, 2009.

Kunis starred as Rachel Jansen in the 2008 comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, co-produced by Judd Apatow. The role, which she got after unsuccessfully auditioning for Knocked Up, entailed improvisation on her part. The film garnered positive reviews, and was a commercial success, grossing $105 million worldwide. Kunis' performance was well-received; Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal praised her "fresh beauty and focused energy", while James Berardinelli wrote that she is "adept with her performance and understands the concept of comic timing". She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award. In an interview, Kunis credited Apatow with helping her to expand her career from That '70s Show.

Also in 2008, she portrayed Mona Sax, a Russian assassin, alongside Mark Wahlberg in the action movie Max Payne, based on the video game of the same name. Kunis underwent training in guns, boxing, and martial arts for her role. Max Payne was relatively successful at the box office, grossing $85 million worldwide but was panned by critics, with several reviewers calling Kunis miscast. Director John Moore defended his choice of Kunis, saying, "Mila just bowled us over...She wasn't an obvious choice, but she just wears Mona so well. We needed someone who would not be just a fop or foil to Max; we needed somebody who had to be that character and convey her own agenda. I think Mila just knocked it out of the park." She was nominated for another Teen Choice Award for her role in the film.
2009–present

In 2009, she appeared in the comedy Extract with Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. The film received mostly positive reviews, and grossed $10.8 million at the box office. Roger Ebert, while critical of the film itself, wrote that Kunis "brings her role to within shouting distance of credibility." Director Mike Judge commented that part of what was surprising to learn about Kunis was her ability to make references to the cult animation film Rejected. Judge said: "As beautiful as Mila is, you could believe that maybe she would cross paths with you in the real world." After seeing Kunis perform in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Judge wanted to cast her in the role of Cindy in Extract: "I just thought, 'Wow, this girl's perfect.' And she really wanted to do it, which was fantastic." Said Kunis, "I'm a huge fan of Mike Judge's from Office Space, so I was, like, 'Okay, this is a very easy decision.' I told them I would do anything needed to be in this production – like craft service, or, say, acting."

In 2010, she starred alongside Denzel Washington in the action film The Book of Eli. Although the film received mixed reviews, it performed well at the box office, grossing over $157 million worldwide. Film critic Richard Roeper praised Kunis' performance, calling it a "particularly strong piece of work". Several other reviews were equally positive of her performance, including Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine, who wrote that she's "ideally cast in the key female role" Even reviewers who did not necessarily like the film complimented her performance, such as James Berardinelli, who stated that "the demands of the role prove to be within her range, which is perhaps surprising considering she has been thus far pigeonholed into more lightweight parts", and Colin Covert of the Star Tribune, who wrote that she "generated a spark and brought a degree of determination to her character, developing an independent female character who's not always in need of rescuing." Some critics, however, called her miscast. Kunis received another Teen Choice Award nomination for her performance. Kunis was also cast in a minor role in the 2010 comedy Date Night, starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell. She garnered several positive reviews for her performance.

She and Natalie Portman played rival ballet dancers in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Kunis, who was cast in the film based on her performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and on the recommendation of costar Natalie Portman, underwent a training regimen that included cardiovascular exercise, a 1,200-calorie a day diet (she lost 20 pounds that she regained after filming ended), and ballet classes for four hours a day, seven days a week. During the demanding production, she suffered injuries including a torn ligament and a dislocated shoulder. Black Swan has received widespread acclaim from critics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film has become Kunis's most financially successful to date, including being the first film she has starred in that has grossed over $100 million (106.9 million to date) in the US and Canada while currently grossing over 320 million worldwide. Reviews of Kunis' performance have been positive, with Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter stating, "Kunis makes a perfect alternate to Portman, equally as lithe and dark but a smirk of self-assurance in place of Portman's wide-eyed fearfulness." Guy Lodge of In Contention also praised Kunis, saying, "it's the cool, throaty-voiced Kunis who is the surprise package here, intelligently watching and reflecting her co-star in such a manner that we're as uncertain as Nina of her ingenuousness." Kunis' performance won her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and earned her Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. At the 37th annual Saturn Awards she was also honored with the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance.

Kunis was cast alongside Justin Timberlake in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits, which filmed from July to September 2010, in New York City and Los Angeles. Director Will Gluck stated that he wrote the story with Kunis and Timberlake in mind. "There were a couple of actors I wanted to work with, so I wrote it for Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. I wanted to do more of an adult movie about sex, too, and about relationships." Friends with Benefits received mostly positive reviews with critics praising the chemistry between Kunis and Timberlake. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that "Ms. Kunis is fast proving that she's a gift that keeps giving to mainstream romantic comedy" and "her energy is so invigorating and expansive and her presence so vibrant that she fills the screen".

Kunis has confirmed that her next project will be Ted, co-starring Mark Wahlberg, and directed and co-written by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. She will follow up Ted with the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures' prequel, Oz: The Great and Powerful, where she will play Theodora, the youngest of three witches, opposite James Franco.
Media publicity

Kunis was ranked No.54 in Stuff's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002); Maxim named her No.47 on its 2006 Hot 100 list. In 2008, she was ranked No.81 on the Maxim Hot 100 list. She was also ranked No.81 on the FHM U.S 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2008, although she is unranked in other FHM magazines from different nations. Kunis was also described as one of the "most attractive geeks" in 2008, by Wired.com due to her much-publicized affinity for World of Warcraft. The same year, she was featured and on the cover of the October issue of Complex Magazine. In 2007, Kunis participated in a video for the website Funny or Die appearing alongside James Franco. The video was a parody of the MTV show The Hills and was a huge success for the website, with well over one million views. Shawn Levy, director of Date Night, stated that part of what made him decide to cast Kunis with James Franco in the film was the chemistry he felt they had in the Funny or Die video. In December 2008, Kunis was featured in Gap's "Shine Your Own Star" Christmas campaign with other celebrities such as Jennifer Hudson, Jason Bateman, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jon Heder.

In 2009, she was ranked No.5 in "Maxim Magazine's Hot 100" list. In addition, she won the award for "Hottest Mila" at the 2009 Spike Guys' Choice Awards beating out Milla Jovovich. Also in 2009, Premiere.com ranked Mila the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. In 2010, she was featured in the "Women We Love" segment in Esquire with an accompanied video. For the 2010 "Maxim Magazine Hot 100", Kunis ranked #22, and for the 2010 FHM Hot 100 list she ranked #17. Kunis has kept this type of media attention in perspective, saying, "You've got to base your career on something other than being FHM's top 100 No. 1 girl. Your looks are going to die out, and then what's going to be left?"

In 2010, Kunis served with Randy Jackson as the Master of Ceremonies for the 9th Annual Chrysalis Foundation Benefit. The Chrysalis Foundation is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization formed to help economically disadvantaged and homeless individuals to become self-sufficient through employment opportunities. For the October 2010 Elle magazine 25th anniversary special edition, Kunis was one of the women chosen to be featured for their success at a young age. The honor included a photo and video presentation on the magazine's website. Kunis was among several female stars photographed by Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams in conjunction with the Calvin Klein Collections for a feature titled American Women 2010, with the proceeds from the photographs donated to the NYC AIDS foundation. Also in 2010, Kunis was featured and on the cover of the December issue of Nylon.

In 2011, Kunis graced the cover of the February issue of Cosmopolitan and the March issue of W magazine. For the 17th Annual Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair, Kunis was among the actors to be chosen to appear on the cover. For the 2011 edition of the top 99 most desirable women, Askmen.com ranked Kunis #2. Also in 2011, Kunis ranked No.5 on the Maxim Hot 100 list. At the 2011 Spike Guys' Choice Awards Kunis received the Holy Grail of Hot award beating out Minka Kelly. In support of her film Friends with Benefits she landed on the cover of Elle magazine and GQ magazine.
Personal life

Kunis has spoken with affection about her parents and has credited them for being a positive influence and keeping her focused on what is important in life. "I had a normal upbringing and went to public school," she says. "If I ever, even for a second, started getting a big head, I was brought back to reality pretty quickly. My parents are why I'm pretty grounded."

Kunis began dating actor Macaulay Culkin in 2002. At one time there were rumors of the couple getting married, but Kunis denied them, saying:

   I've been engaged. I think I've already been married. And I'm sure I have a child somewhere. I'm waiting to have something else happen. No, I'm not married. And no, I'm not engaged. And no, I do not have a child. No one seems to listen. And next week I'll be engaged again. I think, at one point, they were like, 'Seen shopping in Beverly Hills for engagement rings.' We were in Japan working. What is wrong with these people? Half the time you can say they misconstrued facts. But, more often than not, they just make stuff up.

In an interview with BlackBook Magazine Kunis stated that marriage is "not something that's important to me". Kunis said she tried her best to protect her and Culkin's privacy, noting that "We don't talk about it to the press. It's already more high profile than I want it to be." When questioned if it was difficult to stay out of the tabloids and press, Kunis responded: "I keep my personal life as personal as I physically, mentally, possibly can." Asked if that is difficult she said, "I don't care. I will go to my grave trying. It is hard, but I'll end up going to a bar that's a hole in the wall. I won't go to the "it's-happening" place." On January 3, 2011, Kunis' publicist confirmed reports that Kunis and Culkin had ended their relationship, saying "The split was amicable, and they remain close friends".

She has identified herself in interviews as a fan of the online computer game World of Warcraft and has received a certain amount of attention from the game's fan community as a result. She has not released what server she is in but says she is with her close friends in the Alliance. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she said she does not use voice chat in the game after another player recognized her voice. Although Kunis has described herself as a "computer nerd", she does not have a Myspace, Facebook or Twitter account. Kunis discussed her desire for privacy as she explained why she is not on Facebook or Twitter. "Why would I want to share my life with the world when it's being shared already, without my consent? The only problem with not having an account is that there are fake accounts, pretending to quote me. But what am I going to tweet about?

In an interview with H Magazine Kunis stated that she does not devote as much time to World of Warcraft anymore, but enjoys hanging out with her friends when she can. "When we have 'friends night' and we all get together, we play board games like The Settlers of Catan." She also mentioned that she and her friends enjoy doing Murder Mystery tours, where they drive around the Los Angeles area exploring locations of famous murders that have taken place. Kunis also enjoys traveling, and often goes on trips with her older brother, Michael. She and Michael have explored countries such as Fiji and Korea. "I like the way he travels," she explains. "He grabs a map, says, 'Let's walk,' and makes you explore." When asked to describe her perfect day Kunis said: "It would be going for a swim, lazing around the house, playing with my dogs, drinking a root beer float, catching up on TiVo, having some food, a glass of wine and calling it a night." In an interview Kunis elaborated: "I love to hang out with my friends....I love to sit home in my pajamas and watch TiVo. That brings me so much happiness. That's it. It's quiet and calm."

In January 2011, she revealed publicly for the first time her struggle with an eye condition called chronic iritis that had caused blindness in one eye. However, a couple of months earlier she had surgery that corrected the problem.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1995 Make a Wish, Molly Melinda
1995 Piranha Susie Grogan Television movie
1996 Santa with Muscles Sarah
1997 Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves Jill, Party Guest Direct-to-video
1998 Gia Gia at Age 11 Television movie
1998 Krippendorf's Tribe Abbey Tournquist
1998 Milo Martice Uncredited
2001 Get Over It Basin
2002 American Psycho 2 Rachael Direct-to-DVD
2004 Tony n' Tina's Wedding Tina
2005 Tom 51 Little Boy Matson Also known as Tom Cool
2005 Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story Meg Griffin (Voice) Direct-to-DVD
2007 After Sex Nikki
2007 Moving McAllister Michelle
2007 Boot Camp Sophie
2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Rachel Jansen
2008 Max Payne Mona Sax
2009 Extract Cindy
2010 Book of Eli, TheThe Book of Eli Solara
2010 Date Night Whippit
2010 Black Swan Lily
2011 Friends with Benefits Jamie
2011 Muppets, TheThe Muppets Cameo role
2012 Ted Lori post-production
2013 Oz: The Great and Powerful Theodora filming
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1994–
1995 Baywatch Anne
Bonnie Episodes: "Aftershock"
"Hot Stuff"
1995 John Larroquette Show, TheThe John Larroquette Show Lucy 1 episode
1995 Hudson Street Devon 1 episode
1996 Unhappily Ever After Chloe 1 episode
1996–
1997 Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher Anna-Maria Del Bono 5 episodes
1996–
1997 7th Heaven Ashley 4 episodes
1997 Walker, Texas Ranger Pepper Episode: "Last Hope"
1998 Pensacola: Wings of Gold Jessie Kerwood 1 episode
1998–
2006 That '70s Show Jackie Burkhart 200 episodes
2002 Get Real Taylor Vaughn 2 episodes
2002 MADtv Daisy 1 episode
2004 Grounded for Life Lana Episodes: "Space Camp Oddity"
"The Policy of Truth"
2000–
present Family Guy Meg Griffin (Voice) 139 episodes
2005–
present Robot Chicken Various (Voice) 10 episodes
2009 Cleveland Show, TheThe Cleveland Show Meg Griffin (Voice) Episode: "Pilot"
Music videos Year↓ Title↓ Artist↓
1999 In The Street Cheap Trick
2000 Itch, TheThe Itch Vitamin C
2001 Rock and Roll All Nite KISS
2001 Jaded Aerosmith
2003 End Has No End, TheThe End Has No End The Strokes
2008 LA Girls Mams Taylor feat. Joel Madden
Video games Year↓ Title↓ Role↓
2006 Saints Row Tanya Winters (Voice)
2006 Family Guy Video Game! Meg Griffin (Voice)
Awards and nominations
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)
Year↓ Award↓ Category↓ Title of work↓ Result↓
1999 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble That '70s Show Nominated
1999 YoungStar Award Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series That '70s Show Won
2000 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2000 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble That '70s Show Nominated
2000 YoungStar Award Best Young Actress/Performance in a Comedy TV Series That '70s Show Won
2001 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2001 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Leading Young Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2002 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2002 Young Hollywood Award One to Watch – Female That '70s Show Won
2003 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress – Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2004 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress – Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2005 Teen Choice Award Choice – TV Actress: Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2006 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress: Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2007 Annie Award Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production Family Guy Nominated
2008 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Breakout Female Forgetting Sarah Marshall Nominated
2009 Guys Choice Awards Hottest Mila N/A Won
2009 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure Max Payne Nominated
2010 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure The Book of Eli Nominated
2010 Scream Awards Best Science Fiction Actress The Book of Eli Nominated
2010 Venice Film Festival Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress Black Swan Won
2010 68th Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Black Swan Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Black Swan Nominated
2010 Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Won
2010 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Utah Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Online Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2011 Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Won
2011 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (with Natalie Portman) Black Swan Nominated
2011 Guys Choice Awards Holy Grail of Hot N/A Won
2011 Guys Choice Awards Best Girl On Girl Scene (with Natalie Portman) Black Swan Won
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Liplock Black Swan Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Female Scene Stealer Black Swan Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Female Hottie N/A Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Summer Movie Star: Female Friends with Benefits Nominated
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/Leading%20Ladies%204/mila2-1.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m575/Nick9yne/mila-kunis-aug-GQ-05.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/14/11 at 8:41 am


7 years since he left WWE and went to do films.

I'm sure he's in good enough shape, but still you never know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/14/11 at 2:08 pm


I'm sure he's in good enough shape, but still you never know.


he has a bit of ring rust but I think he could beat John Cena.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/14/11 at 2:10 pm


The person of the day...Mila Kunis
Milena "Mila" Kunis (Russian: Милена Кунис; Ukrainian: Мілена Куніс born August 14, 1983; play /ˈmiːlə ˈkuːnɪs/) is an American actress. Her television work includes the role of Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show and the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy. She has also played roles in film, such as Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Mona Sax in Max Payne, Solara in The Book of Eli and Jamie in Friends with Benefits.

In 2010, she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival for her performance as Lily in Black Swan. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for the same role.
At age nine, Kunis' father enrolled her in acting classes after school at the Beverly Hills Studios, where she met her first and still current manager Susan Curtis. Said Kunis: "My parents told her, 'Listen, we can't afford head shots; we can't afford anything. We can't take her to auditions because we work full-time.' ... said, 'Don't worry. I'll fix everything,' and she did. I ended up getting the first thing I went out for, which was a Barbie commercial. All my parents said was, 'You can do whatever you want to do as long as you get A's and stay in school.'" Kunis began appearing in print-ads, catalogues, and TV commercials for children's products like Lisa Frank products, Mattel's Barbie, and Payless Shoes. She also modeled for a Guess girls' clothing campaign. Her first TV role was as the young Hope Williams on an episode of the popular soap opera Days of our Lives. She had a minor role on 7th Heaven and supporting roles in Santa with Muscles, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and the Angelina Jolie film Gia, as the young Gia Carangi.

In 1998, Kunis was cast as Jackie Burkhart in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. All who auditioned were required to be at least 18 years old; Kunis, who was 14 at the time, told the casting directors she'd be 18 but did not say when. Though they eventually figured it out, the producers still thought Kunis was the best fit for the role. That '70s Show ran for eight seasons. Kunis expressed some frustration with working on one show for so long. "Eight years of doing the same felt like being behind a desk, and I lost my drive," she says. However, she quickly "had an epiphany. I decided I wasn't going to take my career so seriously and make my job who I am. I just want to be happy with my life."
Kunis at the premier of Max Payne.

In 1999, Kunis replaced Lacey Chabert in the role of Meg Griffin on the animated sitcom Family Guy, created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series starred MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mike Henry. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show. MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. MacFarlane added: "What Mila Kunis brought to it was in a lot of ways, I thought, almost more right for the character. I say that Lacey did a phenomenal job, but there was something about Mila – something very natural about Mila. She was 15 when she started, so you were listening to a 15-year-old. Which oftentimes with animation they'll have adult actors doing the voices of teenagers and they always sound like Saturday morning voices. They sound, oftentimes, very forced. She had a very natural quality to Meg that really made what we did with that character kind of really work." Kunis was nominated for an Annie Award in the category of Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production in 2007. She also voiced Meg in the Family Guy Video Game!. Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat."
Film work, 2001–2008

In 2001, she appeared in Get Over It opposite Kirsten Dunst. She followed that up in 2002, by starring in the straight-to-DVD horror film American Psycho 2 alongside William Shatner, a sequel to the 2000 film American Psycho. American Psycho 2 was panned by critics, and later, Kunis herself expressed embarrassment over the film. In 2004, Kunis starred in Tony n' Tina's Wedding. Although the film was shot in 2004, it did not have a theatrical release until 2007. Most critics did not like the film, which mustered a 25% approval from Rotten Tomatoes. DVD talk concluded that "fans would be much better off pretending the movie never happened in the first place".

In 2005, Kunis co-starred with Jon Heder in Moving McAllister, which was not released theatrically until 2007. The film received generally poor reviews and had a limited two week run in theaters. She followed up with After Sex starring alongside her Get Over It costar Zoe Saldana. In October 2006, she began filming Boot Camp (originally titled Straight Edge). Although the film did not have a theatrical release in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 25, 2009.

Kunis starred as Rachel Jansen in the 2008 comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, co-produced by Judd Apatow. The role, which she got after unsuccessfully auditioning for Knocked Up, entailed improvisation on her part. The film garnered positive reviews, and was a commercial success, grossing $105 million worldwide. Kunis' performance was well-received; Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal praised her "fresh beauty and focused energy", while James Berardinelli wrote that she is "adept with her performance and understands the concept of comic timing". She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award. In an interview, Kunis credited Apatow with helping her to expand her career from That '70s Show.

Also in 2008, she portrayed Mona Sax, a Russian assassin, alongside Mark Wahlberg in the action movie Max Payne, based on the video game of the same name. Kunis underwent training in guns, boxing, and martial arts for her role. Max Payne was relatively successful at the box office, grossing $85 million worldwide but was panned by critics, with several reviewers calling Kunis miscast. Director John Moore defended his choice of Kunis, saying, "Mila just bowled us over...She wasn't an obvious choice, but she just wears Mona so well. We needed someone who would not be just a fop or foil to Max; we needed somebody who had to be that character and convey her own agenda. I think Mila just knocked it out of the park." She was nominated for another Teen Choice Award for her role in the film.
2009–present

In 2009, she appeared in the comedy Extract with Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. The film received mostly positive reviews, and grossed $10.8 million at the box office. Roger Ebert, while critical of the film itself, wrote that Kunis "brings her role to within shouting distance of credibility." Director Mike Judge commented that part of what was surprising to learn about Kunis was her ability to make references to the cult animation film Rejected. Judge said: "As beautiful as Mila is, you could believe that maybe she would cross paths with you in the real world." After seeing Kunis perform in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Judge wanted to cast her in the role of Cindy in Extract: "I just thought, 'Wow, this girl's perfect.' And she really wanted to do it, which was fantastic." Said Kunis, "I'm a huge fan of Mike Judge's from Office Space, so I was, like, 'Okay, this is a very easy decision.' I told them I would do anything needed to be in this production – like craft service, or, say, acting."

In 2010, she starred alongside Denzel Washington in the action film The Book of Eli. Although the film received mixed reviews, it performed well at the box office, grossing over $157 million worldwide. Film critic Richard Roeper praised Kunis' performance, calling it a "particularly strong piece of work". Several other reviews were equally positive of her performance, including Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine, who wrote that she's "ideally cast in the key female role" Even reviewers who did not necessarily like the film complimented her performance, such as James Berardinelli, who stated that "the demands of the role prove to be within her range, which is perhaps surprising considering she has been thus far pigeonholed into more lightweight parts", and Colin Covert of the Star Tribune, who wrote that she "generated a spark and brought a degree of determination to her character, developing an independent female character who's not always in need of rescuing." Some critics, however, called her miscast. Kunis received another Teen Choice Award nomination for her performance. Kunis was also cast in a minor role in the 2010 comedy Date Night, starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell. She garnered several positive reviews for her performance.

She and Natalie Portman played rival ballet dancers in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Kunis, who was cast in the film based on her performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and on the recommendation of costar Natalie Portman, underwent a training regimen that included cardiovascular exercise, a 1,200-calorie a day diet (she lost 20 pounds that she regained after filming ended), and ballet classes for four hours a day, seven days a week. During the demanding production, she suffered injuries including a torn ligament and a dislocated shoulder. Black Swan has received widespread acclaim from critics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film has become Kunis's most financially successful to date, including being the first film she has starred in that has grossed over $100 million (106.9 million to date) in the US and Canada while currently grossing over 320 million worldwide. Reviews of Kunis' performance have been positive, with Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter stating, "Kunis makes a perfect alternate to Portman, equally as lithe and dark but a smirk of self-assurance in place of Portman's wide-eyed fearfulness." Guy Lodge of In Contention also praised Kunis, saying, "it's the cool, throaty-voiced Kunis who is the surprise package here, intelligently watching and reflecting her co-star in such a manner that we're as uncertain as Nina of her ingenuousness." Kunis' performance won her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and earned her Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. At the 37th annual Saturn Awards she was also honored with the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance.

Kunis was cast alongside Justin Timberlake in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits, which filmed from July to September 2010, in New York City and Los Angeles. Director Will Gluck stated that he wrote the story with Kunis and Timberlake in mind. "There were a couple of actors I wanted to work with, so I wrote it for Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. I wanted to do more of an adult movie about sex, too, and about relationships." Friends with Benefits received mostly positive reviews with critics praising the chemistry between Kunis and Timberlake. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that "Ms. Kunis is fast proving that she's a gift that keeps giving to mainstream romantic comedy" and "her energy is so invigorating and expansive and her presence so vibrant that she fills the screen".

Kunis has confirmed that her next project will be Ted, co-starring Mark Wahlberg, and directed and co-written by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. She will follow up Ted with the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures' prequel, Oz: The Great and Powerful, where she will play Theodora, the youngest of three witches, opposite James Franco.
Media publicity

Kunis was ranked No.54 in Stuff's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002); Maxim named her No.47 on its 2006 Hot 100 list. In 2008, she was ranked No.81 on the Maxim Hot 100 list. She was also ranked No.81 on the FHM U.S 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2008, although she is unranked in other FHM magazines from different nations. Kunis was also described as one of the "most attractive geeks" in 2008, by Wired.com due to her much-publicized affinity for World of Warcraft. The same year, she was featured and on the cover of the October issue of Complex Magazine. In 2007, Kunis participated in a video for the website Funny or Die appearing alongside James Franco. The video was a parody of the MTV show The Hills and was a huge success for the website, with well over one million views. Shawn Levy, director of Date Night, stated that part of what made him decide to cast Kunis with James Franco in the film was the chemistry he felt they had in the Funny or Die video. In December 2008, Kunis was featured in Gap's "Shine Your Own Star" Christmas campaign with other celebrities such as Jennifer Hudson, Jason Bateman, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jon Heder.

In 2009, she was ranked No.5 in "Maxim Magazine's Hot 100" list. In addition, she won the award for "Hottest Mila" at the 2009 Spike Guys' Choice Awards beating out Milla Jovovich. Also in 2009, Premiere.com ranked Mila the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. In 2010, she was featured in the "Women We Love" segment in Esquire with an accompanied video. For the 2010 "Maxim Magazine Hot 100", Kunis ranked #22, and for the 2010 FHM Hot 100 list she ranked #17. Kunis has kept this type of media attention in perspective, saying, "You've got to base your career on something other than being FHM's top 100 No. 1 girl. Your looks are going to die out, and then what's going to be left?"

In 2010, Kunis served with Randy Jackson as the Master of Ceremonies for the 9th Annual Chrysalis Foundation Benefit. The Chrysalis Foundation is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization formed to help economically disadvantaged and homeless individuals to become self-sufficient through employment opportunities. For the October 2010 Elle magazine 25th anniversary special edition, Kunis was one of the women chosen to be featured for their success at a young age. The honor included a photo and video presentation on the magazine's website. Kunis was among several female stars photographed by Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams in conjunction with the Calvin Klein Collections for a feature titled American Women 2010, with the proceeds from the photographs donated to the NYC AIDS foundation. Also in 2010, Kunis was featured and on the cover of the December issue of Nylon.

In 2011, Kunis graced the cover of the February issue of Cosmopolitan and the March issue of W magazine. For the 17th Annual Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair, Kunis was among the actors to be chosen to appear on the cover. For the 2011 edition of the top 99 most desirable women, Askmen.com ranked Kunis #2. Also in 2011, Kunis ranked No.5 on the Maxim Hot 100 list. At the 2011 Spike Guys' Choice Awards Kunis received the Holy Grail of Hot award beating out Minka Kelly. In support of her film Friends with Benefits she landed on the cover of Elle magazine and GQ magazine.
Personal life

Kunis has spoken with affection about her parents and has credited them for being a positive influence and keeping her focused on what is important in life. "I had a normal upbringing and went to public school," she says. "If I ever, even for a second, started getting a big head, I was brought back to reality pretty quickly. My parents are why I'm pretty grounded."

Kunis began dating actor Macaulay Culkin in 2002. At one time there were rumors of the couple getting married, but Kunis denied them, saying:

   I've been engaged. I think I've already been married. And I'm sure I have a child somewhere. I'm waiting to have something else happen. No, I'm not married. And no, I'm not engaged. And no, I do not have a child. No one seems to listen. And next week I'll be engaged again. I think, at one point, they were like, 'Seen shopping in Beverly Hills for engagement rings.' We were in Japan working. What is wrong with these people? Half the time you can say they misconstrued facts. But, more often than not, they just make stuff up.

In an interview with BlackBook Magazine Kunis stated that marriage is "not something that's important to me". Kunis said she tried her best to protect her and Culkin's privacy, noting that "We don't talk about it to the press. It's already more high profile than I want it to be." When questioned if it was difficult to stay out of the tabloids and press, Kunis responded: "I keep my personal life as personal as I physically, mentally, possibly can." Asked if that is difficult she said, "I don't care. I will go to my grave trying. It is hard, but I'll end up going to a bar that's a hole in the wall. I won't go to the "it's-happening" place." On January 3, 2011, Kunis' publicist confirmed reports that Kunis and Culkin had ended their relationship, saying "The split was amicable, and they remain close friends".

She has identified herself in interviews as a fan of the online computer game World of Warcraft and has received a certain amount of attention from the game's fan community as a result. She has not released what server she is in but says she is with her close friends in the Alliance. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she said she does not use voice chat in the game after another player recognized her voice. Although Kunis has described herself as a "computer nerd", she does not have a Myspace, Facebook or Twitter account. Kunis discussed her desire for privacy as she explained why she is not on Facebook or Twitter. "Why would I want to share my life with the world when it's being shared already, without my consent? The only problem with not having an account is that there are fake accounts, pretending to quote me. But what am I going to tweet about?

In an interview with H Magazine Kunis stated that she does not devote as much time to World of Warcraft anymore, but enjoys hanging out with her friends when she can. "When we have 'friends night' and we all get together, we play board games like The Settlers of Catan." She also mentioned that she and her friends enjoy doing Murder Mystery tours, where they drive around the Los Angeles area exploring locations of famous murders that have taken place. Kunis also enjoys traveling, and often goes on trips with her older brother, Michael. She and Michael have explored countries such as Fiji and Korea. "I like the way he travels," she explains. "He grabs a map, says, 'Let's walk,' and makes you explore." When asked to describe her perfect day Kunis said: "It would be going for a swim, lazing around the house, playing with my dogs, drinking a root beer float, catching up on TiVo, having some food, a glass of wine and calling it a night." In an interview Kunis elaborated: "I love to hang out with my friends....I love to sit home in my pajamas and watch TiVo. That brings me so much happiness. That's it. It's quiet and calm."

In January 2011, she revealed publicly for the first time her struggle with an eye condition called chronic iritis that had caused blindness in one eye. However, a couple of months earlier she had surgery that corrected the problem.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1995 Make a Wish, Molly Melinda
1995 Piranha Susie Grogan Television movie
1996 Santa with Muscles Sarah
1997 Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves Jill, Party Guest Direct-to-video
1998 Gia Gia at Age 11 Television movie
1998 Krippendorf's Tribe Abbey Tournquist
1998 Milo Martice Uncredited
2001 Get Over It Basin
2002 American Psycho 2 Rachael Direct-to-DVD
2004 Tony n' Tina's Wedding Tina
2005 Tom 51 Little Boy Matson Also known as Tom Cool
2005 Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story Meg Griffin (Voice) Direct-to-DVD
2007 After Sex Nikki
2007 Moving McAllister Michelle
2007 Boot Camp Sophie
2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Rachel Jansen
2008 Max Payne Mona Sax
2009 Extract Cindy
2010 Book of Eli, TheThe Book of Eli Solara
2010 Date Night Whippit
2010 Black Swan Lily
2011 Friends with Benefits Jamie
2011 Muppets, TheThe Muppets Cameo role
2012 Ted Lori post-production
2013 Oz: The Great and Powerful Theodora filming
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1994–
1995 Baywatch Anne
Bonnie Episodes: "Aftershock"
"Hot Stuff"
1995 John Larroquette Show, TheThe John Larroquette Show Lucy 1 episode
1995 Hudson Street Devon 1 episode
1996 Unhappily Ever After Chloe 1 episode
1996–
1997 Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher Anna-Maria Del Bono 5 episodes
1996–
1997 7th Heaven Ashley 4 episodes
1997 Walker, Texas Ranger Pepper Episode: "Last Hope"
1998 Pensacola: Wings of Gold Jessie Kerwood 1 episode
1998–
2006 That '70s Show Jackie Burkhart 200 episodes
2002 Get Real Taylor Vaughn 2 episodes
2002 MADtv Daisy 1 episode
2004 Grounded for Life Lana Episodes: "Space Camp Oddity"
"The Policy of Truth"
2000–
present Family Guy Meg Griffin (Voice) 139 episodes
2005–
present Robot Chicken Various (Voice) 10 episodes
2009 Cleveland Show, TheThe Cleveland Show Meg Griffin (Voice) Episode: "Pilot"
Music videos Year↓ Title↓ Artist↓
1999 In The Street Cheap Trick
2000 Itch, TheThe Itch Vitamin C
2001 Rock and Roll All Nite KISS
2001 Jaded Aerosmith
2003 End Has No End, TheThe End Has No End The Strokes
2008 LA Girls Mams Taylor feat. Joel Madden
Video games Year↓ Title↓ Role↓
2006 Saints Row Tanya Winters (Voice)
2006 Family Guy Video Game! Meg Griffin (Voice)
Awards and nominations
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)
Year↓ Award↓ Category↓ Title of work↓ Result↓
1999 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble That '70s Show Nominated
1999 YoungStar Award Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series That '70s Show Won
2000 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2000 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble That '70s Show Nominated
2000 YoungStar Award Best Young Actress/Performance in a Comedy TV Series That '70s Show Won
2001 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2001 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Leading Young Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2002 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress That '70s Show Nominated
2002 Young Hollywood Award One to Watch – Female That '70s Show Won
2003 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress – Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2004 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress – Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2005 Teen Choice Award Choice – TV Actress: Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2006 Teen Choice Award TV – Choice Actress: Comedy That '70s Show Nominated
2007 Annie Award Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production Family Guy Nominated
2008 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Breakout Female Forgetting Sarah Marshall Nominated
2009 Guys Choice Awards Hottest Mila N/A Won
2009 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure Max Payne Nominated
2010 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure The Book of Eli Nominated
2010 Scream Awards Best Science Fiction Actress The Book of Eli Nominated
2010 Venice Film Festival Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress Black Swan Won
2010 68th Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Black Swan Nominated
2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Black Swan Nominated
2010 Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Won
2010 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Utah Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2010 Online Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Nominated
2011 Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actress Black Swan Won
2011 MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss (with Natalie Portman) Black Swan Nominated
2011 Guys Choice Awards Holy Grail of Hot N/A Won
2011 Guys Choice Awards Best Girl On Girl Scene (with Natalie Portman) Black Swan Won
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Liplock Black Swan Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Female Scene Stealer Black Swan Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Female Hottie N/A Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Summer Movie Star: Female Friends with Benefits Nominated
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/Leading%20Ladies%204/mila2-1.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m575/Nick9yne/mila-kunis-aug-GQ-05.jpg


I always wondered why she doesn't want to date,I'm sure I could provide for her. ;D :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/15/11 at 10:28 am

The person of the day...Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946 in Elk City, Oklahoma) is an American songwriter. His compositions include "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen","Didn't We", and "MacArthur Park". His songs have been recorded or performed by Glen Campbell, The 5th Dimension, Thelma Houston, The Supremes, Richard Harris, Johnny Maestro, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes, R.E.M., and Chet Atkins, among others. According to BMI, his song "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was the third most performed song in the fifty years between 1940 to 1990. He is the only artist to have ever received Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration.

In 1967, Rivers turned to Webb for songs for a new group Rivers was producing called the 5th Dimension. Webb contributed five songs to the 5th Dimension's album Up, Up and Away. The song "Up, Up and Away" was released as a single in May 1967 and reached the Top Ten. The group's follow-up album, The Magic Garden, also released in 1967, featured only Webb songs with the exception of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "Ticket to Ride". In November 1967, Glen Campbell released his version of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," which reached No. 26 and became an instant pop standard.

At the 1967 Grammy Awards, "Up, Up and Away" was named Record of the Year and Song of the Year. "Up, Up and Away" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" received eight Grammy Awards between them. Webb's success as a new songwriter was unprecedented, and underscored what became the central dilemma in his career. While his sophisticated melodies and orchestrations were embraced by mainstream audiences, his peers were embracing counter-culture sounds. Webb was quickly becoming out of sync with his times.

In 1968, Time acknowledged Webb’s range and proficiency when it referred to his string of hits, noting "Webb's gift for strong, varied rhythms, inventive structures, and rich, sometimes surprising harmonies."

In 1968, the string of successful Webb songs continued with the 5th Dimension's "Paper Cup" and "Carpet Man" reaching the Top 40, Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" selling over a million copies, and Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge scoring a gold record with "Worst That Could Happen", a song originally recorded by the 5th Dimension. Webb formed his own production and publishing company that year, Canopy, and scored a hit with its first project, an unlikely album with Irish actor Richard Harris singing all Webb songs. One, "MacArthur Park", was a long, complex song with multiple movements that was originally rejected by the group the Association, which had commissioned it. Despite the song's seven minute, twenty-one second length, Webb released "MacArthur Park" as a single, and it quickly reached Number 2 on the singles chart. The Harris album A Tramp Shining stayed on the charts for almost a year. Webb and Harris produced a followup album, The Yard Went on Forever, which was also successful. At the 1968 Grammy Awards, Webb accepted awards for "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", and "MacArthur Park".

In 1969, Glen Campbell continued the streak of Webb hits with the gold record "Galveston" and "Where's the Playground Susie", quickly becoming the finest interpreter of Webb songs. Webb and Campbell had first met during the production of a General Motors commercial. Webb arrived at the recording session with his Beatle-length hair and approached the conservative singer, who looked up from his guitar and said, "Get a haircut."

That same year, two Webb songs became hits for the second time with Isaac Hayes' soulful version of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and Waylon Jennings' Grammy-winning country version of "MacArthur Park". Webb finished up the year by writing, arranging, and producing Thelma Houston's first album, Sunshower.

As the decade came to a close, so too did Webb's string of hit singles. He began to withdraw from the formulaic process in which he worked and began to experiment. He started work on a semi-autobiographical Broadway musical called His Own Dark City, which reflected the emotional displacement he felt at the time. He also wrote music for the films How Sweet It Is! and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here.
Singer-songwriter years

Webb's solo career got off to a rough start with the 1968 "counterfeit" solo album Jimmy Webb sings Jimmy Webb (Epic), which was produced, according to Webb, "by a bunch of ruffians from some old demos of mine and tarted up to sound like 'MacArthur Park'. It was quite a piece of crap and was received with great anticipation and crushing disappointment at the radio level."

Beginning in 1970, Webb recorded six original albums of his own songs: Words and Music (1970), And So: On (1971), Letters (1972), Land's End (1974), El Mirage (1977), and Angel Heart (1982). Despite the critical reception that followed each of these projects, Webb has never been as successful as a performer as he has been a songwriter and arranger. Each album was noted for its inventive music and memorable lyrics.

Webb's debut album as a performer, Words and Music, was released in late 1970 to critical acclaim. Rolling Stone writer Jon Landau called one of the album's cuts, "P.F. Sloan," a "masterpiece could not be improved upon." The tune and the lyrics may have been allusions to the singer-songwriter P. F. Sloan, who had helped Webb early in Webb's career; a dispute between the two later led Webb to insist that he made up the title, implying that the title and the name of his former friend were mere coincidences. Webb's 1971 follow up album, And So: On, proved equally appealing to critics. Rolling Stone declared the album "another impressive step in the conspiracy to recover his identity from the housewives of America and rightfully install him at the forefront of contemporary composers/performers." His 1972 album Letters met with similar praise. Peter Reilly of Stereo Review wrote, "Jimmy Webb is the most important pop music figure to emerge since Bob Dylan."

Throughout the 1970s, Webb lived in Encino, Los Angeles, California, fraternizing with Joni Mitchell and Harry Nilsson. He also struck up a lifelong friendship with actor Michael Douglas. Webb's song "Campo de Encino" chronicled his adventures and misadventures in his park-like hacienda. In 1974, Webb married Patsy Sullivan, a model-cover girl and youngest child of screen actor Barry Sullivan. The couple met posing for the cover of Teen. Patsy is featured with Webb on the cover of Webb's 1982 solo album Angel Heart. They have five sons and a daughter together. Four of their sons later formed a rock band, "The Webb Brothers". The couple split after 22 years.
Serious composer

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Webb's songs continued to be recorded by some of the industry's most successful artists. In 1977, the initial release of Art Garfunkel's Watermark album consisted exclusively of Webb's works, and in 1981, Garfunkel recorded "Scissors Cut", "In Cars", and "That's All I've Got to Say" on his album Scissors Cut. In 1980, Thelma Houston recorded "Before There Could Be Me", "Breakwater Cat", "Gone", "Long Lasting Love", and "What Was that Song" on her album Breakwater Cat. Leah Kunkel recorded "Never Gonna Lose My Dream of Love Again" and "Let's Begin" for her album I Run with Trouble. The latter was performed live in 1980 by the born-again Bob Dylan. Tanya Tucker recorded "Tennessee Woman" on her album Dreamlovers. Arlo Guthrie recorded "Oklahoma Nights" on his album Power of Love. In 1982, Linda Ronstadt recorded "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" and "Easy for You to Say" on her album Get Closer. Joe Cocker recorded "Just Like Always" on his album Sheffield Steel. The Everly Brothers recorded "She Never Smiles Anymore" on the album Living Legends.

From 1982 to 1992, Webb turned his focus from solo performing to larger-scale projects, such as film scores, Broadway musicals, and classical music. In 1982, he produced the soundtrack for the film The Last Unicorn, an animated children's tale, with the musical group America performing Webb's songs. That same year, he composed the soundtrack to all episodes of the TV series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

In 1985, Glen Campbell recorded Webb's "Cowboy Hall of Fame" and "Shattered" for the album It's Just a Matter of Time. And heavyweights Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson recorded "Highwayman" on the album Highwayman. In 1988, Toto recorded "Home of the Brave" on the album The Seventh One. Kenny Rankin recorded "She Moves, Eyes Follow" for the album Hiding in Myself. And in 1989, Linda Ronstadt recorded the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, which featured four Jimmy Webb songs: "Still Within the Sound of My Voice" (with Webb playing piano), "Adios" (with orchestral arrangement by Webb), "I Keep It Hid" (with Webb playing piano), and "Shattered". In 1990, John Denver recorded "Postcard from Paris" on the album The Flower That Shattered the Stone. In 1991, Kenny Rogers recorded "They Just Don't Make Em Like You Anymore" on the album Back Home Again.

In 1986, Webb produced the cantata The Animals' Christmas, with Art Garfunkel, Amy Grant, and the London Symphony Orchestra, which tells the Christmas story from the perspective of animals.

In 1987, Webb produced the soundtrack for the film The Hanoi Hilton. That same year, he reunited with Campbell for the album Still Within the Sound of My Voice, for which he wrote the title song. They followed this up in 1988 with an album composed almost entirely of Jimmy Webb songs, Light Years. The album included the title song, as well as "Lightning in a Bottle", "If These Walls Could Speak" (which was recorded by Amy Grant that year) and "Our Movie". Two songs from 1982's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers also appear on the album. The record also included the songs "Other People's Lives", "Wasn't There A Moment", "I Don't Know How To Love You Anymore", and "Is There Love After You". Several of these songs later ended up on Webb solo albums.

In 1992, Webb performed live at the club Cinegrill, introducing several new songs, including "What Does a Woman See in a Man" and "Sandy Cove", as well as an old folk hymn, "I Will Arise".

In 1994, Webb teamed up with Nanci Griffith to contribute the song "If These Old Walls Could Speak" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.
    * Honorary membership, Pi Tau Chapter, Oklahoma Baptist University, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity (1969)
    * National Academy of Popular Music Songwriter’s Hall of Fame inductee (1986)
    * Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame inductee (1990)
    * National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award (1993)
    * Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductee (1999)
    * Songwriters' Hall of Fame Board of Directors member (2000)
    * ASCAP Board of Directors member (since 1999) (As of June 2009)

Discography
Original albums

    * 1968 Jim Webb sings Jim Webb
    * 1970 Words and Music
    * 1971 And So: On
    * 1972 Letters
    * 1974 Land's End
    * 1977 El Mirage
    * 1982 Angel Heart
    * 1993 Suspending Disbelief
    * 1996 Ten Easy Pieces
    * 2005 Twilight of the Renegades
    * 2007 Live and at Large
    * 2010 Just Across The River

Albums with Webb songs

    * 1966 Up, Up, and Away (The 5th Dimension)
    * 1967 The Magic Garden (The 5th Dimension)
    * 1968 A Tramp Shining (Richard Harris)
    * 1968 The Yard Went on Forever (Richard Harris)
    * 1969 Sunshower (Thelma Houston)
    * 1972 The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb (The Supremes)
    * 1977 Watermark (Art Garfunkel)
    * 1986 The Animal's Christmas (Art Garfunkel and Amy Grant)
    * 1989 Still within the Sound of My Voice (Glen Campbell)
    * 1988 Light Years (Glen Campbell)
    * 1989 Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind (Linda Ronstadt)
    * 1998 The Last Unicorn
    * 1998 And Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain...
    * 1999 Reunited with Jimmy Webb 1974-1988 (Glen Campbell)
    * 2001 Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb (Glen Campbell)
    * 2003 Tunesmith: The Songs of Jimmy Webb
    * 2003 Only One Life: The Songs of Jimmy Webb (Michael Feinstein)

Compilations

    * 1972? Tribute to Burt Bacharach and Jim Webb Contour 6870 592
    * 1994 Archive
    * 2005 Archive & Live (including Live at the Royal Albert Hall, from 1972)
    * 2004 The Moon's A Harsh Mistress: Jimmy Webb in the Seventies (a limited edition boxed set including Webb's albums from the 1970s, bonus tracks, and Live at the Royal Albert Hall, from 1972)

Contributions

    * Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins (2008) - "Fallow Way"

Songs

    * List of songs by Jimmy Webb
    * List of songs about cities
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii291/sechie/jimmy-webb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/pbrfan/DSC00136.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/16/11 at 11:33 am

The person of the day..Madonna
Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone (Italian pronunciation: chee-co-nay); August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983. She followed it with a series of albums by which she found immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Throughout her career, many of her songs have hit number one on the record charts, including "Like a Virgin", "Papa Don't Preach", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up", and "4 Minutes". Critics have praised Madonna for her diverse musical productions while at the same time serving as a lightning rod for religious controversy.

Her career was further enhanced by film appearances that began in 1979, despite mixed commentary. She won critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her role in Evita (1996), but has received harsh feedback for other film roles. Madonna's other ventures include being a fashion designer, children's book author, film director and producer. She has been acclaimed as a businesswoman, and in 2007, she signed an unprecedented US $120 million contract with Live Nation.

Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the world's top-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States, behind Barbra Streisand, with 64 million certified albums. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Madonna at number two, behind only The Beatles, on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in the history of the Billboard chart. She was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the same year. Considered to be one of the "25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music, Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.
Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire, a label belonging to Warner Bros. Records. Her debut single, "Everybody", was released on October 6, 1982, and became a dance hit. She started developing her debut album Madonna, which was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, a Warner Bros. producer. However, she was not happy with the completed tracks and disagreed with Lucas' production techniques, so decided to seek additional help. Madonna moved in with boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez, asking his help for finishing the album's production. Benitez remixed most of the tracks and produced "Holiday", which was her third single. The overall sound of Madonna is dissonant, and is in the form of upbeat synthetic disco, utilizing some of the new technology of the time, like the usage of Linn drum machine, Moog bass and the OB-X synthesizer. The album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200, and yielded the hit singles "Holiday", "Borderline" and "Lucky Star".

"I was surprised by how people reacted to "Like a Virgin" because when I did that song, to me, I was singing about how something made me feel a certain way – brand-new and fresh – and everyone interpreted it as I don't want to be a virgin anymore. fudge my brains out! That's not what I sang at all. 'Like a Virgin' was always absolutely ambiguous."
—Madonna on the backlash for "Like a Virgin"

Gradually, Madonna's look and manner of dressing, her performances and her music videos started influencing young girls and women. Her style became a female fashion trend of the 1980s. It was created by stylist and jewelry designer Maripol and the look consisted of lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the crucifix, bracelets, and bleached hair. She achieved global recognition after the release of her second studio album: Like a Virgin in 1984. It topped the charts in several countries and became her first number one album on the Billboard 200. The title track, "Like a Virgin", topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks. It attracted the attention of organizations who complained that the song and its accompanying video promoted premarital sex and undermined family values, and moralists sought to have the song and video banned. Madonna further came under fire when she performed the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake, wearing a wedding dress and bridal veil, adorned with her characteristic "Boy Toy" belt buckle. The performance is noted by scholars and by MTV as an iconic performance in MTV history. In later years, Madonna commented that she was actually terrified of the performance. She recalled, "I remember my manager Freddy shouting to me, 'Oh my God! What were you doing? You were wearing a wedding dress. Oh my God! You were rolling around on the floor!' It was the bravest, most blatant sexual thing I had ever done on television." Like a Virgin was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. The National Association of Recording Merchandisers and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed the album as one of the "Definitive 200 Albums of All Time" in 1998.
Madonna married actor Sean Penn (above) on her birthday in 1985

Madonna entered mainstream films in 1985, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in Vision Quest, a romantic drama film. Its soundtrack contained her U.S. number one single, "Crazy for You". She also appeared in the comedy Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), a film which introduced the song "Into the Groove", her first number one single in the United Kingdom. Although not the lead actress for the film, her profile was such that the movie widely became seen (and marketed) as a Madonna vehicle. The film received a nomination for a César Award for Best Foreign Film and The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby named it one of the ten best films of 1985. While filming the music video for the second single from Like a Virgin—"Material Girl"—Madonna started dating actor Sean Penn and married him on her birthday in 1985.

Beginning in April 1985, Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in North America, The Virgin Tour, with the Beastie Boys as her opening act. Madonna commented: "That whole tour was crazy, because I went from playing CBGB and the Mudd Club to playing sporting arenas. I played a small theater in Seattle, and the girls had flap skirts on and the tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. After Seattle, all of the shows were moved to arenas." In July, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of nude photos of Madonna, taken in New York in 1978. She had posed for the photographs as she needed money at the time, and was paid as little as $25 a session. The publication of the photos caused a media uproar, but Madonna remained defiant and unapologetic. The photographs were ultimately sold for up to $100,000. She referred to the whole experience at the 1985 outdoor Live Aid charity concert saying that she would not take her jacket off because " might hold it against me ten years from now."
According to Rolling Stone, Madonna "remains one of the greatest pop acts of all time". She has achieved multiple Guinness World Records, including world's top-selling female recording artist and the most successful female recording artist of all time. On March 10, 2008, Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. Billboard magazine ranked her as the most successful solo artist (second overall, behind only The Beatles) on the "Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists". She has also scored many hits on major international charts, including 13 number one singles in the United Kingdom, 11 in Australia, and 23 in Canada—more than any other female artist. Madonna is featured in the book 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century, published by Ladies' Home Journal in 1998. In July 2003, she ranked seventh on VH1 and People magazine's list of the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All Time." She also placed as the number one artist on VH1's "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era". In 2006, a new water bear species, Echiniscus madonnae, was named after her. The paper with the description of E. madonnae was published in the international journal of animal taxonomy Zootaxa in March 2006 (Vol. 1154, pages: 1–36). The Zoologists commented: "We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times, Madonna Louise Veronica Ritchie." Other than her commercial accomplishments, Madonna was included in the elite list of the "25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" by Time in 2010 for being an influential figure in contemporary music.

Throughout her career Madonna has repeatedly reinvented herself through a series of visual and musical personas, earning her the nickname "Queen of Reinvention". In doing so, "she exploited her sexuality to fashion herself into a cultural and commercial icon who, for more than a decade, was unchallenged as the reigning Queen of Pop music." Fouz-Hernández agrees that these reinventions are one of her key cultural achievements. Madonna reinvented herself by working with upcoming talented producers and previously unknown artists, while remaining at the center of media attention. According to Freya Jarman-Ivens, "In doing so Madonna has provided an example of how to maintain one's career in the entertainment industry." Such reinvention was noted by scholars as the main tool in surviving the musical industry, for a female artist. As Ian Youngs from BBC News commented, "Her ability to follow the latest trends and adapt her style has often been credited with preserving her appeal." Madonna's use of shocking sexual imagery has benefited her career and catalyzed public discourse on sexuality and feminism. The Times stated, "Madonna, whether you like her or not, started a revolution amongst women in music ... Her attitudes and opinions on sex, nudity, style and sexuality forced the public to sit up and take notice." Rodger Streitmatter, author of Sex Sells! (2004), commented that "from the moment Madonna burst onto the nation's radar screen in the mid-1980s, she did everything in her power to shock the public, and her efforts paid off." Shmuel Boteach, author of Hating women (2005), felt that Madonna was largely responsible for erasing the line between music and pornography. He stated: "Before Madonna, it was possible for women more famous for their voices than their cleavage, to emerge as music superstars. But in the post-Madonna universe, even highly original performers such as Janet Jackson now feel the pressure to expose their bodies on national television to sell albums."

Very few public figures are such wizards at manipulating the press and cultivating publicity as Madonna is. She has always been a great tease with journalists, brash and outspoken when the occasion demanded it, recalcitrant and taciturn when it came time to pull back and slow down the striptease. Madonna is a self-created woman, no question, but it was not a virgin birth: her adroit handling of the press played a major part in the consummation. Publicity is the name of the game.
—Becky Johnson from Interview commenting on Madonna's popularity.

Madonna has influenced numerous music artists throughout her career. Mary Cross, in her book Madonna: A Biography, wrote: "Her influence on pop music is undeniable and far-reaching. New pop icons from Nelly Furtado and Shakira to Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera (not to mention Britney Spears) owe Madonna, a debt of thanks for the template she forged, combining provocative sexiness and female power in her image, music, and lyrics." According to Fouz-Hernández, female pop performers such as Spears, the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue and Pink were like "Madonna's daughters in the very direct sense that they grew up listening to and admiring Madonna, and decided they wanted to be like her." Among them, Madonna's influence was most notable in Spears, who has been called her protégé. Madonna has also been credited with the introduction of European electronic dance music into mainstream American pop culture, and for bringing European producers such as Stuart Price and Mirwais Ahmadzaï into the spotlight. Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century, and the second top-selling female artist in the United States (behind Barbra Streisand), with 64 million certified albums sold. Despite her high record sales, as of 2001, Madonna has become the most-pirated artist worldwide according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Madonna has received acclaim as a role model for businesswomen in her industry, "achieving the kind of financial control that women had long fought for within the industry", and generating over $1.2 billion in sales within the first decade of her career. As Taraborrelli noted, she already showed strong business sensibilities early in her career when she signed Freddie de Mann, Michael Jackson's former manager, to manage her career. As she said to Smash Hits magazine, "I thought, who’s the most successful person in the music industry and who’s his manager? I want him." Since it was Jackson, Madonna wanted de Mann more than anything else, and chance came when she learned that they have parted ways recently. After signing de Mann, her Madonna's associates had expressed their apprehension as to whether that was a good business decision by her. Madonna was adamant that since de Mann was free he would be able to devote all his time into his career. True to her, Madonna's popularity increased significantly, being asked to do more promotional tours and media appearances. Her seriousness towards her business was also portrayed in the Truth or Dare documentary, in a scene where Madonna throws out the cameraman as she was going to have a business meeting. This led Taraborrelli to comment that "she always knew the importance of the outcomes of these discussions with her associates. And she wanted the element of surprise." After its establishment, Maverick Records became a major commercial success from her efforts, which was unusual at that time for an artist-established label. Music journalist Robert Sandall said that while interviewing Madonna, it was clear that being "a cultural big hitter" was more important to her than pop music, a career she described as "an accident". He also saw a contrast between her anything-goes sexual public persona and a secretive and "paranoid" attitude toward her own finances; she fired her own brother when he charged her for an extra item. Professor Colin Barrow of the Cranfield School of Management described Madonna as "America's smartest businesswoman... who has moved to the top of her industry and stayed there by constantly reinventing herself". He held up her "planning, personal discipline and constant attention to detail" as models for all aspiring entrepreneurs. London Business School academics called her a "dynamic entrepreneur" worth copying; they identified her vision of success, her understanding of the music industry, her ability to recognize her own performance limits (and thus bring in help), her willingness to work hard and her ability to adapt as the key to her commercial success. Morton commented that "Madonna is opportunistic, manipulative and ruthless—somebody who won't stop until she gets what she wants—and that's something you can get at the expense of maybe losing your close ones. But that hardly mattered to her." Taraborrelli felt that this ruthlessness was visible during the shooting of the Pepsi commercial in 1989. "The fact that she didn't want to hold a Pepsi can in the commercial, clued the Pepsi executives that Madonna the pop star and Madonna the businesswoman were not going to be dictated by somebody else, she will do everything in her way—the only way." Conversely, reporter Michael McWilliams commented: "The gripes about Madonna–she's cold, greedy, talentless–conceal both bigotry and the essence of her art, which is among the warmest, the most humane, the most profoundly satisfying in all pop culture."
Discography
Main articles: Madonna albums discography, Madonna singles discography, and Madonna videography

    * Madonna (1983)
    * Like a Virgin (1984)
    * True Blue (1986)
    * Like a Prayer (1989)
    * Erotica (1992)
    * Bedtime Stories (1994)
    * Ray of Light (1998)
    * Music (2000)
    * American Life (2003)
    * Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005)
    * Hard Candy (2008)

Tours
Main article: List of Madonna concert tours

    * The Virgin Tour (1985)
    * Who's That Girl World Tour (1987)
    * Blond Ambition World Tour (1990)
    * The Girlie Show World Tour (1993)
    * Drowned World Tour (2001)
    * Re-Invention World Tour (2004)
    * Confessions Tour (2006)
    * Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–09)
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc501/zsanata/Stars/madonna-bubblegum.jpg
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac231/pedroboto/musicwithcapsandetc/madonnatruebluecollage-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/16/11 at 7:54 pm

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uELtfkdEbOw/Sca22eeoXdI/AAAAAAAAABI/CV2TCrhAg-s/s400/madonna1983.jpeg

Madonna's dressing had girls want to dress like her at the time she was popular.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 08/16/11 at 8:27 pm

Hey, this is really neat.
I suppose it's alright if I post my favorite Madonna song. It's so "80s" for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PB3-g_Jdk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/16/11 at 11:01 pm


Meet The Fockers

Yes, that was one of many films Mr. Hoffman starred in, but I did not see it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/16/11 at 11:04 pm


The person of the day...Mila Kunis

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CD8DScixQ_0/TnGQefMcWsI/AAAAAAAAIwI/Q5bffYiM_mI/s1600/Mila-Kunis-05.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m575/Nick9yne/mila-kunis-aug-GQ-05.jpg



I always wondered why she doesn't want to date,I'm sure I could provide for her. ;D :)
It's her personal choice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/16/11 at 11:10 pm


Hey, this is really neat.
I suppose it's alright if I post my favorite Madonna song. It's so "80s" for me.


I actually remember that one from when it was popular a quarter-century ago; I was 5, almost 6. I enjoy that one, as well as some of her other songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/17/11 at 7:07 am


Hey, this is really neat.
I suppose it's alright if I post my favorite Madonna song. It's so "80s" for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PB3-g_Jdk


good song by Madonna.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/17/11 at 8:02 am


Hey, this is really neat.
I suppose it's alright if I post my favorite Madonna song. It's so "80s" for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PB3-g_Jdk

Thanks. Great song :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/17/11 at 8:10 am

The person of the day..Robert DeNiro
Robert De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film role was in 1973's Bang the Drum Slowly. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.His critically acclaimed, longtime collaboration with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.

He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000).

De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006).
De Niro's first film role in collaboration with Brian De Palma was in 1963 at the age of 20, when he appeared opposite his friend Jill Clayburgh in The Wedding Party; however, the film was not released until 1969. He then played in Roger Corman's 1970 "Bloody Mama." It starred Shelly Winters as Ma Barker. He gained popular attention with his role as a dying Major League Baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). That same year, he began his fruitful collaboration with Martin Scorsese when he played a memorable role as the smalltime crook Johnny Boy, alongside Harvey Keitel's Charlie in Mean Streets (1973).
De Niro at Cannes festival 2011

In 1974, De Niro played a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II, playing the young Vito Corleone, the director having remembered his previous auditions for the roles of Sonny Corleone, Michael Corleone, Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto in The Godfather. His performance earned him his first Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor, although Coppola accepted the award, as De Niro was not present at the Oscar ceremony. He became the first actor to win an Academy Award speaking mainly a foreign language, in this case, multiple Sicilian dialects (although he delivered a few lines in English). De Niro and Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won Oscars portraying the same fictional character. Brando and De Niro came together onscreen for the only time in The Score (2001).

After working with Scorsese in Mean Streets, he had a very successful working relationship with the director in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995). They also acted together in Guilty by Suspicion and provided their voices for the animated feature Shark Tale.

Taxi Driver is particularly important to De Niro's career: his iconic performance as Travis Bickle shot him to stardom and forever linked De Niro's name with Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro largely improvised.

In 1976, De Niro appeared, along with Gérard Depardieu and Donald Sutherland, in Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II, Novecento (1900), seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy.

In 1978, De Niro played Michael Vronsky in the acclaimed Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Praised for his commitment to roles, stemming from his background in method acting, De Niro gained 60 pounds (27 kg) and learned how to box for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull; ground his teeth for Cape Fear; lived in Sicily for The Godfather Part II; worked as a cab driver for a few weeks for Taxi Driver; and learned to play the saxophone for New York, New York. He again put on weight for his performance as Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987).

De Niro's brand of method acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is necessary to elicit the best performance from those with whom he is working. During the filming of The King of Comedy, for example, he directed a slew of anti-Semitic epithets at co-star Jerry Lewis in order to enhance and authenticate the anger demonstrated by his onscreen character. According to People magazine, the technique was successful. Lewis recalled, "I forgot the cameras were there... I was going for Bobby's throat."

Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, De Niro began expanding into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as Brazil (1985), the hit action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) opposite actor/comedian Billy Crystal, Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), both opposite Ben Stiller.

Other films include Falling in Love (1984), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Mission (1986), Angel Heart (1987), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Awakenings (1990), Heat (1995), The Fan (1996), Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Jackie Brown and Ronin (1998). In 1997, he re-teamed with Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta along with Sylvester Stallone in the crime drama Cop Land. De Niro played a supporting role, taking a back seat to Stallone, Keitel, and Liotta.

In 1993, he also starred in This Boy's Life, featuring then-rising child actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. Around this time, he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire, opposite Clint Eastwood. However, due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale, he turned the role down in favor of John Malkovich, who, himself, received an Academy Award nomination for the role. De Niro would later reference In the Line of Fire, along with Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, two more of Eastwood's films, in Righteous Kill.
In 1995, De Niro starred in Michael Mann's police action-thriller Heat, along with fellow actor and long-time friend, Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans, as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though Pacino and De Niro both starred in The Godfather Part II, they shared no screen time. De Niro and Pacino once again appeared togther, in the crime thriller Righteous Kill.

In 2004, De Niro provided the voice of Don Lino, the antagonist in the animated film Shark Tale, opposite Will Smith. He also reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in Meet the Fockers, and was featured in Stardust. All of the films were successful at the box office, but they received mixed reviews. When promoting Shark Tale, De Niro said that was his first experience with voice acting, which he commented, was an enjoyable time.
Robert De Niro in 2008

De Niro had to turn down a role in The Departed (Martin Sheen taking the role instead) due to commitments with preparing The Good Shepherd. He said, "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing The Good Shepherd so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible."

He directed The Good Shepherd (2006), and costarred with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Once Upon a Time in America and Casino.

In June 2006, it was announced that De Niro had donated his film archive — including scripts, costumes, and props — to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. On April 27, 2009, it was announced that the De Niro collection at the Ransom Center was open to researchers and the public. De Niro has said that he is working with Martin Scorsese on a new project. "I'm trying to actually work... Eric Roth and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done."

De Niro announced that he would appear in Martin Campbell's film version of the classic BBC crime series Edge of Darkness in 2010, alongside Mel Gibson; however, just after he arrived to begin shooting, De Niro walked from the set due to creative differences. He was then replaced by Ray Winstone. He appeared as Senator John McLaughlin in the action film Machete, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. De Niro starred in the thriller Stone (2010), along with Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich. The sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), Little Fockers, starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, was released on December 22, 2010.

In 2011, De Niro will appear in the action film The Killer Elite with Jason Statham and Clive Owen, and in the film adaptation of the novel The Dark Fields, with Bradley Cooper, directed by Neil Burger.

Thirty-four years after Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, De Niro will star in one of three episodes of the film Manuale d'amore 3, with Monica Bellucci, directed by Italian director Giovanni Veronesi. De Niro is attached to star in the upcoming project The Irishman, that will be directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starred by Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.

In January 2011, CBS picked up De Niro's crime pilot, Rookies.In 2011, he was the President of the Jury for the 64th Cannes Film Festival.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd59/blogadao/Entretendo/robert-de-niro.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e195/drifter2003/robert_de_niro_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/17/11 at 11:46 am


The person of the day..Robert DeNiro
Robert De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film role was in 1973's Bang the Drum Slowly. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.His critically acclaimed, longtime collaboration with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.

He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000).

De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006).
De Niro's first film role in collaboration with Brian De Palma was in 1963 at the age of 20, when he appeared opposite his friend Jill Clayburgh in The Wedding Party; however, the film was not released until 1969. He then played in Roger Corman's 1970 "Bloody Mama." It starred Shelly Winters as Ma Barker. He gained popular attention with his role as a dying Major League Baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). That same year, he began his fruitful collaboration with Martin Scorsese when he played a memorable role as the smalltime crook Johnny Boy, alongside Harvey Keitel's Charlie in Mean Streets (1973).
De Niro at Cannes festival 2011

In 1974, De Niro played a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II, playing the young Vito Corleone, the director having remembered his previous auditions for the roles of Sonny Corleone, Michael Corleone, Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto in The Godfather. His performance earned him his first Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor, although Coppola accepted the award, as De Niro was not present at the Oscar ceremony. He became the first actor to win an Academy Award speaking mainly a foreign language, in this case, multiple Sicilian dialects (although he delivered a few lines in English). De Niro and Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won Oscars portraying the same fictional character. Brando and De Niro came together onscreen for the only time in The Score (2001).

After working with Scorsese in Mean Streets, he had a very successful working relationship with the director in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995). They also acted together in Guilty by Suspicion and provided their voices for the animated feature Shark Tale.

Taxi Driver is particularly important to De Niro's career: his iconic performance as Travis Bickle shot him to stardom and forever linked De Niro's name with Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro largely improvised.

In 1976, De Niro appeared, along with Gérard Depardieu and Donald Sutherland, in Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II, Novecento (1900), seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy.

In 1978, De Niro played Michael Vronsky in the acclaimed Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Praised for his commitment to roles, stemming from his background in method acting, De Niro gained 60 pounds (27 kg) and learned how to box for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull; ground his teeth for Cape Fear; lived in Sicily for The Godfather Part II; worked as a cab driver for a few weeks for Taxi Driver; and learned to play the saxophone for New York, New York. He again put on weight for his performance as Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987).

De Niro's brand of method acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is necessary to elicit the best performance from those with whom he is working. During the filming of The King of Comedy, for example, he directed a slew of anti-Semitic epithets at co-star Jerry Lewis in order to enhance and authenticate the anger demonstrated by his onscreen character. According to People magazine, the technique was successful. Lewis recalled, "I forgot the cameras were there... I was going for Bobby's throat."

Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, De Niro began expanding into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as Brazil (1985), the hit action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) opposite actor/comedian Billy Crystal, Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), both opposite Ben Stiller.

Other films include Falling in Love (1984), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Mission (1986), Angel Heart (1987), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Awakenings (1990), Heat (1995), The Fan (1996), Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Jackie Brown and Ronin (1998). In 1997, he re-teamed with Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta along with Sylvester Stallone in the crime drama Cop Land. De Niro played a supporting role, taking a back seat to Stallone, Keitel, and Liotta.

In 1993, he also starred in This Boy's Life, featuring then-rising child actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. Around this time, he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire, opposite Clint Eastwood. However, due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale, he turned the role down in favor of John Malkovich, who, himself, received an Academy Award nomination for the role. De Niro would later reference In the Line of Fire, along with Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, two more of Eastwood's films, in Righteous Kill.
In 1995, De Niro starred in Michael Mann's police action-thriller Heat, along with fellow actor and long-time friend, Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans, as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though Pacino and De Niro both starred in The Godfather Part II, they shared no screen time. De Niro and Pacino once again appeared togther, in the crime thriller Righteous Kill.

In 2004, De Niro provided the voice of Don Lino, the antagonist in the animated film Shark Tale, opposite Will Smith. He also reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in Meet the Fockers, and was featured in Stardust. All of the films were successful at the box office, but they received mixed reviews. When promoting Shark Tale, De Niro said that was his first experience with voice acting, which he commented, was an enjoyable time.
Robert De Niro in 2008

De Niro had to turn down a role in The Departed (Martin Sheen taking the role instead) due to commitments with preparing The Good Shepherd. He said, "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing The Good Shepherd so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible."

He directed The Good Shepherd (2006), and costarred with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Once Upon a Time in America and Casino.

In June 2006, it was announced that De Niro had donated his film archive — including scripts, costumes, and props — to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. On April 27, 2009, it was announced that the De Niro collection at the Ransom Center was open to researchers and the public. De Niro has said that he is working with Martin Scorsese on a new project. "I'm trying to actually work... Eric Roth and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done."

De Niro announced that he would appear in Martin Campbell's film version of the classic BBC crime series Edge of Darkness in 2010, alongside Mel Gibson; however, just after he arrived to begin shooting, De Niro walked from the set due to creative differences. He was then replaced by Ray Winstone. He appeared as Senator John McLaughlin in the action film Machete, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. De Niro starred in the thriller Stone (2010), along with Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich. The sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), Little Fockers, starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, was released on December 22, 2010.

In 2011, De Niro will appear in the action film The Killer Elite with Jason Statham and Clive Owen, and in the film adaptation of the novel The Dark Fields, with Bradley Cooper, directed by Neil Burger.

Thirty-four years after Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, De Niro will star in one of three episodes of the film Manuale d'amore 3, with Monica Bellucci, directed by Italian director Giovanni Veronesi. De Niro is attached to star in the upcoming project The Irishman, that will be directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starred by Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.

In January 2011, CBS picked up De Niro's crime pilot, Rookies.In 2011, he was the President of the Jury for the 64th Cannes Film Festival.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd59/blogadao/Entretendo/robert-de-niro.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e195/drifter2003/robert_de_niro_1.jpg

You talkin' to me?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/17/11 at 8:21 pm

He was funny in Meet The Fockers  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 08/17/11 at 9:09 pm

Bobby DeNiro. Our of the best still around. Raging Bull, Godfather 2, Cape fear, Deer Hunter, Meet the Parents (can you milk me?  ;D)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/17/11 at 9:56 pm



Sounds like a great fantasy. Can I join you?  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


I'm glad you mentioned David Warner. I think he is also a wonder actor but most people don't even know who he is and his resumé reads like the Encyclopedia Britannica.



Cat

I just saw they are doing a remake of Straw Dogs and it jotted my memory that he was in the original, if I remember right he was like an simple person who killed a little girl and a couple hit him with their car then took him home and the villagers came to kill him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/17/11 at 9:57 pm


He was funny in Meet The Fockers  ;D

Along with Dustin Hoffman :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/18/11 at 7:20 am


Bobby DeNiro. Our of the best still around. Raging Bull, Godfather 2, Cape fear, Deer Hunter, Meet the Parents (can you milk me?  ;D)


"I have nipples,wanna milk me"? ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/18/11 at 10:15 am

The person of the day... Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. (born August 18, 1936), better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, model, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. His popular films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President's Men (1976), The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985), and Sneakers (1992). As a filmmaker, his notable films include Ordinary People (1980), A River Runs Through It (1992), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000).
While still largely an unknown, Redford made his screen debut in War Hunt (1962), co-starring with John Saxon in a film set during the last days of the Korean War. This film also marked the debuts of Sydney Pollack and Tom Skerritt. After his Broadway success, he was cast in larger feature roles in movies. In Inside Daisy Clover (1965) he played a bisexual movie star who marries starlet Natalie Wood, and rejoined her for Pollack's This Property Is Condemned (1966) — again as her lover. The same year saw his first teaming with Jane Fonda, in Arthur Penn's The Chase. Fonda and Redford were paired again in the big screen version of Barefoot in the Park (1967) and were again co-stars in Pollack's The Electric Horseman (1979).

Redford became concerned about his blond male stereotype image and turned down roles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate. Redford found the property he was looking for in George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), scripted by William Goldman, in which he was paired for the first time with Paul Newman. The film was a huge success and made him a bankable star and cemented his screen image as an intelligent, reliable, sometimes sardonic good guy.

Redford suffered through a few films that did not achieve box office success during this time, including Downhill Racer (1969); Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969); Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970), and The Hot Rock (1972). But his overall career was flourishing with the critical and box office hit Jeremiah Johnson (1972); the political satire The Candidate (1972); The Way We Were (1973); and The Sting (1973), for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

During the years 1974–1976, exhibitors voted Redford Hollywood's top box-office name. His hits included The Great Gatsby (1974), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), and Three Days of the Condor (1975). The popular and acclaimed All the President's Men (1976), directed by Alan J. Pakula and scripted once again by Goldman, was a landmark film for Redford. Not only was he the executive producer and co-star, but the film's serious subject matter — the Watergate scandal — also reflected the actor's offscreen concerns for political causes.

He also starred in the war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), and the baseball film The Natural (1984). Redford has continued his involvement in mainstream Hollywood movies, though projects became fewer. Out of Africa (1985) won the Oscar for Best Picture, and Redford had the male lead role. He appeared in the movie Havana as Jack Weil, a professional gambler set in 1959 Cuba during the Revolution. He appeared as a disgraced Army general sent to prison in the political thriller The Last Castle (2001), directed by Rod Lurie, someone else with a strong interest in politics. Redford, a leading environmental activist, narrated the IMAX documentary Sacred Planet (2004), a sweeping journey across the globe to some of its most exotic and endangered places. In The Clearing (2004), a thriller co-starring Helen Mirren, Redford was a successful businessman whose kidnapping unearths the secrets and inadequacies that led to his achieving the American Dream.

Redford stepped back into producing with The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a coming-of-age road film about a young medical student, Ernesto "Che" Guevera, and his friend Alberto Granado. It also explored political and social issues of South America that influenced Guevara and shaped his future. With five years spent in the film's making, Redford was credited by director Walter Salles for being instrumental in getting it made and released.

Back in front of the camera, Redford received good notices for his role in director Lasse Hallstrom's An Unfinished Life (2005) as a cantankerous rancher who is forced to take in his estranged daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) — whom he blames for his son's death — and the granddaughter he never knew he had when they fled an abusive relationship. The film, which sat on the shelf for many months while its distributor Miramax was restructured, was generally dismissed as clichéd and overly sentimental. Meanwhile, Redford returned to familiar territory when he signed on to direct and star in an update of The Candidate.
He attended the University of Colorado in the 1950s and received an Honorary Degree in 1983.

In 1995, Redford received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bard College. He was a 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award/Honorary Oscar recipient at the 74th Academy Awards.

In 1996, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

In December 2005, he received honors at the Kennedy Center for his contributions to American culture. The Honors recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts: whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television.

In 2008 he was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the arts, given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life."

The University of Southern California (USC) School of Theater announced the first annual Robert Redford Award for Engaged Artists in 2009. According to the school's web site, the award was created "to honor those who have distinguished themselves not only in the exemplary quality, skill and innovation of their work, but also in their public commitment to social responsibility, to increasing awareness of global issues and events, and to inspiring and empowering young people."

Robert Redford received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Brown University at the 240th Commencement exercises on May 25, 2008. He also spoke during the ceremonies.

On 14 October 2010, he was appointed Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.
↓ Role↓ Notes
1960 Tall Story Basketball Player
1962 War Hunt Private Roy Loomis
1962 The Twilight Zone Harold Beldon 1 episode: "Nothing in the Dark"
1965 Inside Daisy Clover Wade Lewis
1965 Situation Hopeless ... But Not Serious Captain Hank Wilson
1966 This Property Is Condemned Owen Legate
1966 The Chase Charlie 'Bubber' Reeves
1967 Barefoot in the Park Paul Bratter
1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid The Sundance Kid BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
also for Downhill Racer and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
1969 Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here Deputy Sheriff Christopher 'Coop' Cooper BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
also for Downhill Racer and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969 Downhill Racer David Chappellet BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
also for Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1970 Little Fauss and Big Halsy Halsy Knox
1972 Jeremiah Johnson Jeremiah Johnson
1972 The Candidate Bill McKay
1972 The Hot Rock John Archibald Dortmunder
1973 The Sting Johnny Hooker Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
1973 The Way We Were Hubbell Gardiner
1974 The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby
1975 Three Days of the Condor Joseph Turner/The Condor
1975 The Great Waldo Pepper Waldo Pepper
1976 All the President's Men Bob Woodward
1977 A Bridge Too Far Major Julian Cook
1979 The Electric Horseman Norman 'Sonny' Steele
1980 Brubaker Henry Brubaker
1984 The Natural Roy Hobbs
1985 Out of Africa Denys Finch Hatton
1986 Legal Eagles Tom Logan
1990 Havana Jack Weil
1992 A River Runs Through It Narrator Voice only
Uncredited
Also Producer/Director
1992 Sneakers Martin "Marty" Bishop
1992 Incident at Oglala Narrator
1993 Indecent Proposal John Gage
1993 La Classe américaine Steven
1996 Up Close & Personal Warren Justice
1998 The Horse Whisperer Tom Booker Also Producer/Director
2001 Spy Game Nathan D. Muir
2001 The Last Castle Lt. Gen. Eugene Irwin
2004 The Clearing Wayne Hayes
2004 Sacred Planet Narrator
2005 An Unfinished Life Einar Gilkyson
2006 Charlotte's Web Ike Voice only
2007 Lions for Lambs Dr. Stephen Malley Also Producer/Director
Director
Year↓ Title↓ Notes
1980 Ordinary People Academy Award for Best Director
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing — Feature Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Director
1988 The Milagro Beanfield War
1992 A River Runs Through It Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director
1994 Quiz Show Nominated — Academy Award for Best Director
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Film
Nominated — Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing — Feature Film
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director
1998 The Horse Whisperer Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director
2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance
2007 Lions for Lambs
2010 The Conspirator
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd347/moehowardfan/Robert%20Redford/gatsby_redford.jpg
http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii466/nadine55/Robert-Redford.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/18/11 at 11:24 am

Happy 75th birthday Mr. Redford!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/18/11 at 12:49 pm


Happy 75th birthday Mr. Redford!
I cannot believe that he is 75!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/18/11 at 1:04 pm


I cannot believe that he is 75!


I cannot believe it either.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/20/11 at 6:41 am


I cannot believe that he is 75!


I cannot believe it either.

I know he still looks good for his age.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/20/11 at 6:52 am

The person of the day...Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE (born 20 August 1948), is an English rock singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career. In 2007, Plant released Raising Sand, an album produced by T-Bone Burnett with American bluegrass soprano Alison Krauss, which won the 2009 Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards.

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Plant is regarded as one of the most significant singers in the history of rock music, and has influenced contemporaries and later singers such as Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose. In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist of All-Time". In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. In 2011, a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Plant in first place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time".
In 1968, the guitarist Jimmy Page was in search of a lead singer for his new band and met Plant after being turned down by his first choice, Terry Reid, who referred him to a show at a teacher training college in Birmingham— where Plant was singing in a band named Hobbstweedle. Page explained:

    When I auditioned him and heard him sing, I immediately thought there must be something wrong with him personality-wise or that he had to be impossible to work with, because I just could not understand why, after he told me he'd been singing for a few years already, he hadn't become a big name yet. So I had him down to my place for a little while, just to sort of check him out, and we got along great. No problems.

According to Plant:

    I was appearing at this college when Peter and Jimmy turned up and asked me if I'd like to join The Yardbirds. I knew The Yardbirds had done a lot of work in America - which to me meant audiences who would want to know what I might have to offer - so naturally I was very interested.

derivative of Plant's feather sigil used in the Led Zeppelin IV album

Plant and Page immediately hit it off with a shared musical passion and began their writing collaboration with reworkings of earlier blues songs, although Plant would receive no songwriting credits on the band's first album, allegedly because he was still under contract to CBS Records at the time. Plant brought along John Bonham as drummer, and they were joined by John Paul Jones, who had previously worked with Page as a studio musician. Jones called Page on the phone before they checked out Plant, and Page hired Jones immediately.

Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds" in 1968, the band soon came to be known as Led Zeppelin. The band's self-titled debut album hit the charts in 1969 and is widely credited as a catalyst for the heavy metal genre. Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to think of Zeppelin as heavy metal, as almost a third of their music was acoustic.

In 1975, Plant and his wife Maureen (now divorced) were seriously injured in a car crash in Rhodes, Greece. This significantly affected the production of Led Zeppelin's seventh album Presence for a few months while he recovered, and forced the band to cancel the remaining tour dates for the year.

In July 1977 his son Karac died aged five of a stomach infection while Plant was engaged on Led Zeppelin's concert tour of the United States. It was a devastating loss for the family. Plant retreated to his home in the Midlands and for months afterward he questioned his future. Karac's death later inspired him to write the song "All My Love" in tribute, featured on Led Zeppelin's final studio LP, 1979's In Through the Out Door.
Plant did not begin writing song lyrics with Led Zeppelin until the making of Led Zeppelin II, in 1969. According to Jimmy Page:

    The most important thing about Led Zeppelin II is that up to that point I'd contributed lyrics. Robert hadn't written before, and it took a lot of ribbing to get him into writing, which was funny. And then, on the second LP, he wrote the words of Thank You. He said, "I'd like to have a crack at this and write it for my wife."

Plant's lyrics with Led Zeppelin were often mystical, philosophical and spiritual, alluding to events in classical and Norse mythology, such as the "Immigrant Song", which refers to Valhalla and Viking conquests. However, the song "No Quarter" is often misunderstood to refer to the god Thor; the song actually refers to Mount Thor (which is named after the god). Another example is "The Rain Song".

Plant was also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, whose book series inspired lyrics in some early Led Zeppelin songs. Most notably "The Battle of Evermore", "Misty Mountain Hop", "No Quarter", "Ramble On" and "Over the Hills and Far Away" contain verses referencing Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Conversely, Plant sometimes used more straightforward blues-based lyrics dealing primarily with sexual innuendo, as in "The Lemon Song", "Trampled Under Foot", and "Black Dog".

Welsh mythology also forms a basis of Plant's interest in mystical lyrics. He grew up close to the Welsh border and would often take summer trips to Snowdonia. Plant bought a Welsh sheep farm in 1973, and began taking Welsh lessons and looking into the mythology of the land (such as Black Book of Carmarthen, Book of Taliesin, etc.) Plant's first son, Karac, was named after the Welsh warrior Caratacus. The song "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is named after the 18th Century Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur owned by a friend of his father; it later inspired the song "Bron-Yr-Aur". The songs "Misty Mountain Hop," "That's the Way", and early dabblings in what would become "Stairway to Heaven" were written in Wales and lyrically reflect Plant's mystical view of the land. Critic Steve Turner suggests that Plant's early and continued experiences in Wales served as the foundation for his broader interest in the mythologies he revisits in his lyrics (including those myth systems of Tolkien and the Norse).

The passion for diverse musical experiences drove Plant to explore Africa, specifically Marrakesh in Morocco where he encountered Umm Kulthum.

    I was intrigued by the scales, initially, and obviously the vocal work. The way she sang, the way she could hold a note, you could feel the tension, you could tell that everybody, the whole orchestra, would hold a note until she wanted to change.

That musical inspiration eventually culminated in the classic track "Kashmir" (which is not in North Africa, but rather in India). Both he and Jimmy Page revisited these influences during their reunion album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded in 1994. In his solo career, Plant again tapped from these influences many times, most notably in the 2002 album, Dreamland.

Arguably one of Plant's most significant achievements with Led Zeppelin was his contribution to the track "Stairway to Heaven", an epic rock ballad featured on Led Zeppelin IV that drew influence from folk, blues, Celtic traditional music and hard rock among other genres. Most of the lyrics of the song were written spontaneously by Plant in 1970 at Headley Grange. While never released as a single, the song has topped charts as the greatest song of all time on various polls around the world.

Plant is also recognised for his lyrical improvisation in Led Zeppelin's live performances, often singing verses previously unheard on studio recordings. One of the most famous Led Zeppelin musical devices involves Plant's vocal mimicking of band mate Jimmy Page's guitar effects. This can be heard in the songs "How Many More Times", "Dazed and Confused", "The Lemon Song", "You Shook Me", "Nobody's Fault but Mine" and "Sick Again".

He is also known for his light-hearted, humorous, and unusual on-stage banter, often referred to as "plantations." Plant often discusses the origin and background of the songs during his shows, and sometimes provides social comment as well. He frequently talks about American blues musicians as his inspiration, mentioning artists like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Blind Willie Johnson, and Willie Dixon at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the 2007 Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert with Led Zeppelin.
Stage persona
Plant (left) with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page performing live

Plant enjoyed great success with Led Zeppelin throughout the 1970s and developed a compelling image as the charismatic rock-and-roll front man, similar to his contemporary in The Who, singer Roger Daltrey (who adopted the look in the late 1960s), Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, and his other fellow contemporary, Jim Morrison of The Doors. With his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, Plant helped to create the "god of rock and roll" or "rock god" archetype. On stage, Plant was particularly active in live performances, often dancing, jumping, skipping, snapping his fingers, clapping, making emphatic gestures to emphasise a lyric or cymbal crash, throwing back his head, or placing his hands on his hips. As the 1960s-1970s progressed he, along with the other members of Led Zeppelin, became increasingly flamboyant on-stage and wore more elaborate, colourful clothing and jewellery.

According to Classic Rock magazine, "once had a couple of US tours under his belt, 'Percy' Plant swiftly developed a staggering degree of bravado and swagger that irrefutably enhanced Led Zeppelin's rapidly burgeoning appeal." In 1994, during his "Unledded" tour with Jimmy Page, Plant himself reflected tongue-in-cheek upon his Led Zeppelin showmanship:

    I can't take my whole persona as a singer back then very seriously. It's not some great work of beauty and love to be a rock-and-roll singer. So I got a few moves from Elvis and one or two from Sonny Boy Williamson II and Howlin' Wolf and threw them all together.

Robert Plant is one of the most significant singers in rock music and has influenced the style of many of his contemporaries, including Geddy Lee, Ann Wilson, Sammy Hagar, and later rock vocalists such as Jeff Buckley and Jack White who imitated his performing style extensively. Freddie Mercury of Queen, and Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses were also influenced by Plant. Encyclopædia Britannica notes "Exaggerating the vocal style and expressive palette of blues singers such as Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, Plant created the sound that has defined much hard rock and heavy metal singing: a high range, an abundance of distortion, loud volume, and emotional excess". Plant received the Knebworth Silver Clef Award in 1990.

In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader named Plant #1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All-Time, a list which included Rob Halford (2), Steven Tyler (3), Freddie Mercury (6), and Geddy Lee (13), Paul Stanley (18), all of whom were influenced by Plant. In 2008, Rolling Stone named Plant as number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time. In 2009, he was voted the "greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. Plant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his "services to popular music". He was included in the Q magazine's 2009 list of "Artists Of The Century" and was ranked at number 8 in their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in 2007. In 2009, Plant also won the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at the Q Awards. He was placed at no. 3 on SPIN's list of "The 50 Greatest Rock Frontmen of All Time".

On 20 September 2010 National Public Radio (NPR) named Plant as one of the "50 Great Voices" in the world.
Solo discography
Zzzp.JPG Led Zeppelin portal
Main article: Robert Plant discography
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k401/valderocks/robert_plant.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/ManyInnocentWords/Robert%20Plant/robert-plant-2007.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/20/11 at 7:04 am


The person of the day...Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE (born 20 August 1948), is an English rock singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career. In 2007, Plant released Raising Sand, an album produced by T-Bone Burnett with American bluegrass soprano Alison Krauss, which won the 2009 Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards.

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Plant is regarded as one of the most significant singers in the history of rock music, and has influenced contemporaries and later singers such as Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose. In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader named Plant the "Greatest Metal Vocalist of All-Time". In 2009, Plant was voted "the greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. In 2011, a Rolling Stone readers' pick placed Plant in first place of the magazine's "Best Lead Singers of All Time".
In 1968, the guitarist Jimmy Page was in search of a lead singer for his new band and met Plant after being turned down by his first choice, Terry Reid, who referred him to a show at a teacher training college in Birmingham— where Plant was singing in a band named Hobbstweedle. Page explained:

    When I auditioned him and heard him sing, I immediately thought there must be something wrong with him personality-wise or that he had to be impossible to work with, because I just could not understand why, after he told me he'd been singing for a few years already, he hadn't become a big name yet. So I had him down to my place for a little while, just to sort of check him out, and we got along great. No problems.

According to Plant:

    I was appearing at this college when Peter and Jimmy turned up and asked me if I'd like to join The Yardbirds. I knew The Yardbirds had done a lot of work in America - which to me meant audiences who would want to know what I might have to offer - so naturally I was very interested.

derivative of Plant's feather sigil used in the Led Zeppelin IV album

Plant and Page immediately hit it off with a shared musical passion and began their writing collaboration with reworkings of earlier blues songs, although Plant would receive no songwriting credits on the band's first album, allegedly because he was still under contract to CBS Records at the time. Plant brought along John Bonham as drummer, and they were joined by John Paul Jones, who had previously worked with Page as a studio musician. Jones called Page on the phone before they checked out Plant, and Page hired Jones immediately.

Initially dubbed the "New Yardbirds" in 1968, the band soon came to be known as Led Zeppelin. The band's self-titled debut album hit the charts in 1969 and is widely credited as a catalyst for the heavy metal genre. Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to think of Zeppelin as heavy metal, as almost a third of their music was acoustic.

In 1975, Plant and his wife Maureen (now divorced) were seriously injured in a car crash in Rhodes, Greece. This significantly affected the production of Led Zeppelin's seventh album Presence for a few months while he recovered, and forced the band to cancel the remaining tour dates for the year.

In July 1977 his son Karac died aged five of a stomach infection while Plant was engaged on Led Zeppelin's concert tour of the United States. It was a devastating loss for the family. Plant retreated to his home in the Midlands and for months afterward he questioned his future. Karac's death later inspired him to write the song "All My Love" in tribute, featured on Led Zeppelin's final studio LP, 1979's In Through the Out Door.
Plant did not begin writing song lyrics with Led Zeppelin until the making of Led Zeppelin II, in 1969. According to Jimmy Page:

    The most important thing about Led Zeppelin II is that up to that point I'd contributed lyrics. Robert hadn't written before, and it took a lot of ribbing to get him into writing, which was funny. And then, on the second LP, he wrote the words of Thank You. He said, "I'd like to have a crack at this and write it for my wife."

Plant's lyrics with Led Zeppelin were often mystical, philosophical and spiritual, alluding to events in classical and Norse mythology, such as the "Immigrant Song", which refers to Valhalla and Viking conquests. However, the song "No Quarter" is often misunderstood to refer to the god Thor; the song actually refers to Mount Thor (which is named after the god). Another example is "The Rain Song".

Plant was also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, whose book series inspired lyrics in some early Led Zeppelin songs. Most notably "The Battle of Evermore", "Misty Mountain Hop", "No Quarter", "Ramble On" and "Over the Hills and Far Away" contain verses referencing Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Conversely, Plant sometimes used more straightforward blues-based lyrics dealing primarily with sexual innuendo, as in "The Lemon Song", "Trampled Under Foot", and "Black Dog".

Welsh mythology also forms a basis of Plant's interest in mystical lyrics. He grew up close to the Welsh border and would often take summer trips to Snowdonia. Plant bought a Welsh sheep farm in 1973, and began taking Welsh lessons and looking into the mythology of the land (such as Black Book of Carmarthen, Book of Taliesin, etc.) Plant's first son, Karac, was named after the Welsh warrior Caratacus. The song "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is named after the 18th Century Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur owned by a friend of his father; it later inspired the song "Bron-Yr-Aur". The songs "Misty Mountain Hop," "That's the Way", and early dabblings in what would become "Stairway to Heaven" were written in Wales and lyrically reflect Plant's mystical view of the land. Critic Steve Turner suggests that Plant's early and continued experiences in Wales served as the foundation for his broader interest in the mythologies he revisits in his lyrics (including those myth systems of Tolkien and the Norse).

The passion for diverse musical experiences drove Plant to explore Africa, specifically Marrakesh in Morocco where he encountered Umm Kulthum.

    I was intrigued by the scales, initially, and obviously the vocal work. The way she sang, the way she could hold a note, you could feel the tension, you could tell that everybody, the whole orchestra, would hold a note until she wanted to change.

That musical inspiration eventually culminated in the classic track "Kashmir" (which is not in North Africa, but rather in India). Both he and Jimmy Page revisited these influences during their reunion album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded in 1994. In his solo career, Plant again tapped from these influences many times, most notably in the 2002 album, Dreamland.

Arguably one of Plant's most significant achievements with Led Zeppelin was his contribution to the track "Stairway to Heaven", an epic rock ballad featured on Led Zeppelin IV that drew influence from folk, blues, Celtic traditional music and hard rock among other genres. Most of the lyrics of the song were written spontaneously by Plant in 1970 at Headley Grange. While never released as a single, the song has topped charts as the greatest song of all time on various polls around the world.

Plant is also recognised for his lyrical improvisation in Led Zeppelin's live performances, often singing verses previously unheard on studio recordings. One of the most famous Led Zeppelin musical devices involves Plant's vocal mimicking of band mate Jimmy Page's guitar effects. This can be heard in the songs "How Many More Times", "Dazed and Confused", "The Lemon Song", "You Shook Me", "Nobody's Fault but Mine" and "Sick Again".

He is also known for his light-hearted, humorous, and unusual on-stage banter, often referred to as "plantations." Plant often discusses the origin and background of the songs during his shows, and sometimes provides social comment as well. He frequently talks about American blues musicians as his inspiration, mentioning artists like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Blind Willie Johnson, and Willie Dixon at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the 2007 Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert with Led Zeppelin.
Stage persona
Plant (left) with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page performing live

Plant enjoyed great success with Led Zeppelin throughout the 1970s and developed a compelling image as the charismatic rock-and-roll front man, similar to his contemporary in The Who, singer Roger Daltrey (who adopted the look in the late 1960s), Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, and his other fellow contemporary, Jim Morrison of The Doors. With his mane of long blond hair and powerful, bare-chested appearance, Plant helped to create the "god of rock and roll" or "rock god" archetype. On stage, Plant was particularly active in live performances, often dancing, jumping, skipping, snapping his fingers, clapping, making emphatic gestures to emphasise a lyric or cymbal crash, throwing back his head, or placing his hands on his hips. As the 1960s-1970s progressed he, along with the other members of Led Zeppelin, became increasingly flamboyant on-stage and wore more elaborate, colourful clothing and jewellery.

According to Classic Rock magazine, "once had a couple of US tours under his belt, 'Percy' Plant swiftly developed a staggering degree of bravado and swagger that irrefutably enhanced Led Zeppelin's rapidly burgeoning appeal." In 1994, during his "Unledded" tour with Jimmy Page, Plant himself reflected tongue-in-cheek upon his Led Zeppelin showmanship:

    I can't take my whole persona as a singer back then very seriously. It's not some great work of beauty and love to be a rock-and-roll singer. So I got a few moves from Elvis and one or two from Sonny Boy Williamson II and Howlin' Wolf and threw them all together.

Robert Plant is one of the most significant singers in rock music and has influenced the style of many of his contemporaries, including Geddy Lee, Ann Wilson, Sammy Hagar, and later rock vocalists such as Jeff Buckley and Jack White who imitated his performing style extensively. Freddie Mercury of Queen, and Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses were also influenced by Plant. Encyclopædia Britannica notes "Exaggerating the vocal style and expressive palette of blues singers such as Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, Plant created the sound that has defined much hard rock and heavy metal singing: a high range, an abundance of distortion, loud volume, and emotional excess". Plant received the Knebworth Silver Clef Award in 1990.

In 2006, heavy metal magazine Hit Parader named Plant #1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All-Time, a list which included Rob Halford (2), Steven Tyler (3), Freddie Mercury (6), and Geddy Lee (13), Paul Stanley (18), all of whom were influenced by Plant. In 2008, Rolling Stone named Plant as number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time. In 2009, he was voted the "greatest voice in rock" in a poll conducted by Planet Rock. Plant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his "services to popular music". He was included in the Q magazine's 2009 list of "Artists Of The Century" and was ranked at number 8 in their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in 2007. In 2009, Plant also won the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at the Q Awards. He was placed at no. 3 on SPIN's list of "The 50 Greatest Rock Frontmen of All Time".

On 20 September 2010 National Public Radio (NPR) named Plant as one of the "50 Great Voices" in the world.
Solo discography
Zzzp.JPG Led Zeppelin portal
Main article: Robert Plant discography
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k401/valderocks/robert_plant.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/ManyInnocentWords/Robert%20Plant/robert-plant-2007.jpg


Didn't he sing Sea of Love with The Honeydrippers? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/20/11 at 1:36 pm


Didn't he sing Sea of Love with The Honeydrippers? ???

Yes

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/21/11 at 6:41 pm

The person of the day...Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE (born 20 August 1948), is an English rock singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career. In 2007, Plant released Raising Sand, an album produced by T-Bone Burnett with American bluegrass soprano Alison Krauss, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards.

The two of them also collaborated for the song which won Record Of The Year at the 51st Grammy Awards.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/22/11 at 12:31 pm


The two of them also collaborated for the song which won Record Of The Year at the 51st Grammy Awards.

Oh I see it was the record not the album that won..Thanks Jeff. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/22/11 at 12:34 pm

The person of the day...Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument. Some of her charting singles include "Crucify", "Silent All These Years", "God", "Cornflake Girl", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Professional Widow", "Spark", "1000 Oceans", and "A Sorta Fairytale", her most commercially successful single in the U.S. to date.

As of 2005, Amos had sold 12 million albums worldwide. She has been nominated for 8 Grammy Awards. Amos was also named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1996. Amos has also been recognized as one of the top live acts of all time by a Rolling Stone poll in 2003, in which she placed at #5.
In 1986, Amos formed a music group, Y Kant Tori Read, the name of which was a reference to her days at the Peabody Conservatory, where she was able to play songs on her piano by ear, but was never successful at sight reading. In addition to Amos, the group was composed of Steve Caton (who would later play guitars on all her subsequent albums until 1999), drummer Matt Sorum, bass player Brad Cobb and, for a short time, keyboardist Jim Tauber. Following several phases of writing and recording, during which Amos has since asserted that the band lost their musical edge and direction due to interference from record executives, in July 1988, the Y Kant Tori Read's self-titled debut album was released. Although its producer, Joe Chiccarelli, has stated that Amos was very happy with the album at the time, it is now out of print and Amos has expressed no interest in reissuing it. Following the album's commercial failure and the group's subsequent disbanding, Amos began working with other artists (including Stan Ridgway, Sandra Bernhard, and Al Stewart) as a backup vocalist. She also recorded a song called "Distant Storm" for the film China O'Brien; in the credits, the song is attributed to a band called Tess Makes Good. It was the only song recorded by the band, and its only commercial release was in the film.
Solo career

Despite the disappointing reaction to Y Kant Tori Read, Amos still had to comply with her six record contract with Atlantic Records, who in 1989 wanted a new record by March 1990. The initial recordings were declined by the label, which Amos felt was because the album had not been properly presented. The album was reworked and expanded under the guidance of Doug Morris and the musical talents of Steve Caton, Eric Rosse, Will MacGregor, Carlo Nuccio, and Dan Nebenzal, resulting in Little Earthquakes, an album recounting her religious upbringing, sexual awakening, struggle to establish her identity, and sexual assault.

Amos traveled to New Mexico with personal and professional partner Eric Rosse in 1993 to write and largely record her second solo record, Under the Pink. The album was received with mostly favorable reviews and sold enough copies to chart at #12 on the Billboard 200, a significantly higher position than the preceding album's position at #54 on the same chart.
Amos performing on her Dew Drop Inn tour in 1996

Her third solo album, Boys for Pele, was released in January 1996. The album was recorded in an Irish church, in Delgany, County Wicklow, with Amos taking advantage of the church recording setting to create an album ripe with baroque influences, lending it a darker sound and style. She added harpsichord, harmonium, and clavichord to her keyboard repertoire, and also included such anomalies as a gospel choir, bagpipes, church bells, and drum programming. The album garnered mixed reviews upon its release, with some critics praising its intensity and uniqueness while others bemoaned its comparative impenetrability. Despite the album's erratic lyrical content and instrumentation, the latter of which kept it away from mainstream audiences, Boys for Pele is Amos's most successful simultaneous transatlantic release, reaching #2 on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Top 40 upon its release at the height of her fame.

Fueled by the desire to have her own recording studio to distance herself from record company executives, Amos had the barn of her home in Cornwall converted into a state-of-the-art recording studio, Martian Engineering Studios.

From the Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back, released in May 1998 and September 1999, respectively, differ greatly from previous albums as Amos's trademark acoustic piano-based sound is largely replaced with arrangements that include elements of electronica, dance music, vocal washes and sonic landscapes. The underlying themes of both albums deal with womanhood, and Amos's own miscarriages and marriage. Reviews for From the Choirgirl Hotel were mostly favorable and praised Amos's continued artistic originality. While not her highest chart debut, debut sales for From the Choirgirl Hotel are Amos's best to date, selling 153,000 copies in its first week. To Venus and Back, a two-disc release of original studio material and live material recorded from the previous world tour, received mostly positive reviews and included the first major-label single available for sale as a digital download.

Motherhood inspired Amos to produce a cover album, recording songs written by men about women and reversing the gender roles to show a woman's perspective. That idea grew into Strange Little Girls, released in September 2001, one year after giving birth to her daughter. The album is Amos's first concept album, with artwork featuring Amos photographed in character of the women portrayed in each song. Amos would later reveal that a stimulus for the album was to end her contract with Atlantic without giving them new original songs; Amos felt that since 1998, the label had not been properly promoting her and had trapped her in a contract by refusing to sell her to another label.
Epic Records years (2002–07)

With her Atlantic contract fulfilled after a 15-year stint, Amos signed to Epic in late 2001. In October 2002, Amos released Scarlet's Walk, another concept album. Described as a "sonic novel", the album explores Amos's alter ego, Scarlet, intertwined with her cross-country concert tour following 9/11. Through the songs, Amos explores such topics as the history of America, American people, Native American history, pornography, masochism, homophobia and misogyny. The album had a strong debut, demonstrating that Amos' fan base remained intact through the label change. However, Scarlet's Walk is Amos' last album to date to reach certified gold status.
Amos in concert in June, 2005

Not long after Amos was ensconced with her new label, she received unsettling news when Polly Anthony resigned as president of Epic Records in 2003. Anthony had been one of the primary reasons Amos signed with the label and as a result of her resignation, Amos formed the Bridge Entertainment Group. Further trouble for Amos occurred the following year when her label, Epic/Sony Music Entertainment, merged with BMG Entertainment as a result of the industry's decline. Amos would later hint in interviews that during the creation of her next album, those in charge at the label following the aforementioned merger were interested "only in making money", the effects of which on the album have not been disclosed.

Amos released two more albums with the label, The Beekeeper (2005) and American Doll Posse (2007). Both albums received mixed reviews, some of which stated that the albums suffered from being too long. The Beekeeper was conceptually influenced by the ancient art of beekeeping, which she considered a source of female inspiration and empowerment. Through extensive study, Amos also wove in the stories of the Gnostic gospels and the removal of women from a position of power within the Christian church to create an album based largely on religion and politics. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, placing her in an elite group of women who have secured five or more US Top 10 album debuts. American Doll Posse, another concept album, was fashioned around a group of girls (the "posse") who are used as a theme of alter-egos of Amos's. Musically and stylistically, the album saw Amos return to a more confrontational nature. Like its predecessor, American Doll Posse debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200.

During her tenure with Epic Records, Amos also released a retrospective collection titled Tales of a Librarian (2003) through her former label, Atlantic Records; a two-disc DVD set Fade to Red (2006) containing most of Amos's solo music videos, released through the Warner Bros. reissue imprint Rhino; a five disc box set titled A Piano: The Collection (2006), celebrating Amos's 15 year solo career through remastered album tracks, remixes, alternate mixes, demos, and a string of unreleased songs from album recording sessions, also released through Rhino; and numerous official bootlegs from two world tours, The Original Bootlegs (2005) and Legs & Boots (2007) through Epic Records.
Universal Republic years (2008–2011)

In May 2008, Amos announced that, due to creative and financial disagreements with Epic Records, she had negotiated an end to her contract with the record label, and would be operating independently of major record labels on future work. In September of the same year, Amos released a live album and DVD, Live at Montreux 1991/1992, through Eagle Rock Entertainment, of two performances she gave at the Montreux Jazz Festival very early on in her career while promoting her debut solo-album, Little Earthquakes. By December, after a chance encounter with chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, Doug Morris, Amos signed a "joint venture" deal Universal Republic Records.

Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Amos's tenth solo studio-album and her first album released through Universal Republic, was released in May 2009 to mostly positive reviews. The album debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, making it the Amos' seventh album to do so. Abnormally Attracted to Sin, admitted Amos, was a "personal album", not a conceptual one. Continuing her distribution deal with Universal Republic, Amos released Midwinter Graces, her first seasonal album, in November of the same year. The album features reworked versions of traditional carols, as well as original songs written by Amos.

During her contract with the label, Amos recorded vocals for two songs for David Byrne's collaboration album with Fatboy Slim, entitled Here Lies Love, which was released in April 2010. In July of the same year, the DVD Tori Amos- Live from the Artists Den was released exclusively through Barnes & Noble.

After a brief tour from June to September 2010, Amos released the highly exclusive live album "From Russia With Love" in December the same year, recorded live in Moscow on 3 September 2010. The limited edition set included a signature edition Lomography Diana F+ camera, along with 2 lenses, a roll of film and 1 of 5 photographs taken of Tori during her time in Moscow. The set was released exclusively through toriamos.com and only 2000 were produced. It is currently unknown as to whether the album will receive a mass release.
Deutsche Grammophon (2011-Present)

Currently Amos is writing the music for Samuel Adamson's musical adaptation of the George MacDonald story The Light Princess for the Royal National Theatre, which is expected to debut in 2012, as well as her own new project entitled Night of Hunters set for a release in September 2011. The first leg of new tour dates to promote the album are set for autumn 2011. Amos released a statement describing the record on her website toriamos.com as well as in a newsletter to fans. "It's a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years. I have used the structure of a song cycle to tell an ongoing, modern story. The protagonist is a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship. In the course of one night she goes through an initiation of sorts that leads her to reinvent herself allowing the listener to follow her on a journey to explore complex musical and emotional subject matter. One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us.” The album will be released by the label Deutsche Grammophon a division of Universal Music Group.
In print

Released in conjunction with The Beekeeper, Amos co-authored an autobiography with rock music journalist Ann Powers entitled Piece by Piece (2005). The book's subject is Amos's interest in mythology and religion, exploring her songwriting process, rise to fame, and her relationship with Atlantic Records.

Image Comics released Comic Book Tattoo (2008), a collection of comic stories, each based on or inspired by songs recorded by Amos. Editor Rantz Hoseley worked with Amos to gather 80 different artists for the book, including Pia Guerra, David Mack, and Leah Moore.

Other publications include Tori Amos: Lyrics (2001) and an earlier biography, Tori Amos: All These Years (1996). Additionally, Amos and her music have been the subject of numerous official and unofficial books, as well as academic criticism.
In June 1994, Amos co-founded RAINN, The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a toll-free help line in the US connecting callers with their local rape crisis center. Amos, herself a survivor of sexual assault, was seen as unlocking the silence of her assault through her music; thus "Unlock the Silence" went on to become a year-long campaign for RAINN when Amos became a national spokesperson for the organization. By the summer of 2006, RAINN had received its one millionth caller and the organization's success has led to it ranking in "America's 100 Best Charities" by Worth, and one of the "Top 10 Best Charities" by Marie Claire.
Discography
Main article: Tori Amos discography

To date, Amos has released eleven studio albums throughout her solo career, nine of which were self-produced.

    Little Earthquakes (1992)
    Under The Pink (1994)
    Boys For Pele (1996)
    From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
    To Venus and Back (1999)
    Strange Little Girls (2001)
    Scarlet's Walk (2002)
    The Beekeeper (2005)
    American Doll Posse (2007)
    Abnormally Attracted to Sin (2009)
    Midwinter Graces (2009)
    Night of Hunters (2011) (currently unreleased)

Additionally, Amos has released over 30 singles, over 60 B-sides, and has contributed to nine film soundtracks, including Higher Learning (1995), Escape From L.A. (1996), Great Expectations (1998) and Mission: Impossible II (2000) among others.
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr258/cornishmonkey/tori-amos.jpg
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k537/MoccasinsAndPcp/Tori%20Amos/ToriAmos7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/22/11 at 2:06 pm


Oh I see it was the record not the album that won..Thanks Jeff. :)

Actually, both of them won...Record and Album Of The Year. 8)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/22/11 at 2:13 pm


The person of the day...Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument. Some of her charting singles include "Crucify", "Silent All These Years", "God", "Cornflake Girl", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Professional Widow", "Spark", "1000 Oceans", and "A Sorta Fairytale", her most commercially successful single in the U.S. to date.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr258/cornishmonkey/tori-amos.jpg
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k537/MoccasinsAndPcp/Tori%20Amos/ToriAmos7.jpg

Yes, she is a great musician. "Silent All These Years" is probably my favorite track of hers. It was originally from the Little Earthquakes album, from 1992, but it was revived 5 years later; a local radio station in L.A. was playing it just about every day and I became hooked on it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/23/11 at 8:39 am


Actually, both of them won...Record and Album Of The Year. 8)

Nice :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/23/11 at 8:44 am

The person of the day...Rick Springfield
Rick Springfield (born Richard Lewis Springthorpe; 23 August 1949) is an Australian-born singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. He was a member of pop rock group, Zoot from 1969 to 1971 and then started his solo career with his début single, "Speak to the Sky" reaching the top 10 in Australia. In mid-1972, he relocated to the United States. He had a No. 1 hit with "Jessie's Girl" in 1981 in both Australia and the US. He received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Jessie's Girl". He followed with four more top 10 US hits, "I've Done Everything for You", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart" and "Love Somebody". His two US top 10 albums are Working Class Dog (1981) and Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982). As an actor, he portrayed Dr. Noah Drake on the daytime drama General Hospital, from 1981 to 1983 and during 2005 to 2008. In 2010, Springfield published his autobiography, Late, Late at Night : a Memoir.
Rick Springield was 13 when he first played guitar, and formed a band, Icy Blues, while still in high school. Springfield left school in his late teens. In 1964, he joined Moppa Blues as a guitarist alongside fellow guitarist Mike Elliott. They changed their name, first to Group X and then to Daniel Jones Ensemble by 1967. Other members of that group included Daniel Jones, Dennis Magee, and John Morgan. In 1968, Springfield was approached by Pete Watson (ex-MPD Ltd, bass guitarist) to join his group Rockhouse and he was first referred to as 'Rick Springfield'. Later in the year, Watson changed the band's name to MPD Ltd, and in October – when Springfield was 19 years old – they toured South Vietnam to entertain Australian troops. Another member of MPD Ltd was Danny Finley (drummer) and, upon returned to Australia, with Springfield they formed Wickedy Wak. They were joined by Phil Blackmore on keyboards and Dick Howard. Go-Set journalist, Ian "Molly" Meldrum, produced Wickedy Wak's single, "Billie's Bikie Boys" with Beeb Birtles of pop rock group Zoot as a backing vocalist.

In September 1969, Springfield replaced Roger Hicks as lead guitarist and vocalist in Zoot, with Birtles on bass guitar and vocals, Darryl Cotton on lead vocals and guitar, and Rick Brewer on drums. Upon joining Zoot, Springfield adopted the Think Pink - Think Zoot theme that had the band members dressed head to toe in pink satin. The publicity gimmick brought attention to the group and attracted significant numbers of teenage girl fans, however it caused problems in establishing their credibility as serious rock musicians. Zoot's fifth single, "Hey Pinky", was written by Springfield. The group attempted to shake off their teeny-bopper image. They followed with a hard rock cover version of The Beatles' hit "Eleanor Rigby", which peaked at No. 4 on Go-Set's Top 40 in March 1971. Despite another hit single with "Freak" in April, which was written by Springfield, the band broke-up in May.

Springfield signed with Sparmac Records and issued his début solo single, "Speak to the Sky" in October, which peaked at No. 5 on the Go-Set singles chart. Sparmac label owner, Robie Porter, was also producer and manager for Springfield. After recording his début album, Beginnings in London, Springfield moved to the United States in mid-1972. For the album, Springfield provided all the songwriting, lead vocals, guitar, keyboard and banjo. "Speak to the Sky" was issued in the US by Capitol Records and peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September. His début album Beginnings was the first of seven top 40 albums on the related Billboard 200. However, follow-up success was hampered by rumours that Capitol Records paid people to purchase Springfield's albums, which led to some radio stations boycotting his music.

In 1973, Springfield signed to Columbia Records and recorded his second album, Comic Book Heroes, which was also produced by Porter. In Australia, it was released on Porter's new label, Wizard Records, the album and its two singles failed to chart. Springfield was promoted as a teeny pop idol similar to David Cassidy and Donny Osmond. From September, he starred as "himself" in the ABC-TV Saturday morning cartoon series Mission: Magic!, for which he usually wrote and performed an original song in each episode. In 1974, Springfield issued an Australia-only album, Mission: Magic! which was "full of infectious bubblegum pop songs". His single, "Take a Hand", reached the US top 50 in 1976 and was from the album Wait for Night, which was issued by his new label Chelsea Records. The album was produced by Mark Smith (engineer for Bachman–Turner Overdrive). During the late 1970s Springfield concentrated more on his acting career, guest starring in a number of prime time television dramas.

Springfield continued to write and record, and in 1981 released his next album, Working Class Dog, it spawned the single, "Jessie's Girl", which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It became a worldwide hit. Springfield won the 1981 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Working Class Dog reached No.7 on the Billboard 200. Another top 10 single from the album was the Sammy Hagar-penned "I've Done Everything for You". Springfield went on to have success with follow-up albums Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982) and Living in Oz (1983).

In 1984, Springfield starred in his own movie, Hard to Hold and recorded the majority of the material on the accompanying soundtrack. This soundtrack included his top-ten hit, "Love Somebody" as well as several moderately successful follow-up singles. However, the movie itself was not successful, and the soundtrack's success (though higher than that of the movie) paled in comparison to previous Springfield albums. Nonetheless, Springfield released his next album, Tao in 1985, scoring several modest hits from this release, including "State of the Heart" and "Celebrate Youth." That same year, Springfield was one of several performers who participated in the Live Aid charity concert. Around this time, he took a brief hiatus from recording.

In 1995, Springfield formed a side-project, Sahara Snow, with Tim Pierce on guitar and Bob Marlette on keyboards and percussion, which released a self-titled album in 1997.

Springfield was a judge for the eighth annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.
Acting

In 1978, he played the character of Zac in Saga of a Star World, which was, with some differences, the pilot episode of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. He also co-starred as "Keith Stewart" in episode 17, season 4 ("Dwarf in a Helium Hat") of The Rockford Files. In 1981, Springfield became a soap opera star on General Hospital. He had signed a contract with RCA Records and already recorded the album Working Class Dog, which neither he nor his agent had expected would do very well, which is why Springfield took the soap role. But the song "Jessie's Girl" went to #1, and Springfield ended up both playing the role of Dr. Noah Drake from 1981 through 1983, while simultaneously going on tour with his band. The success of the song boosted the ratings of the show, which according to Springfield "became the biggest show on TV for that summer," and the fame from the show likewise boosted the sale of the song.

In 1984, Springfield made one full length feature film, Hard to Hold, and in 1998 he played in the film Legion. Springfield also wrote the soundtrack for Hard To Hold. In 1992, he played the title role in the short-lived ABC series Human Target, based on the DC Comics character of the same name.

In 1989, Springfield starred in the film Nick Knight (Nick Knight in which he played an 800 year old vampire seeking a cure for his condition. The film was later remade as the first 2 episodes of the servies Forever Knight).

In 1991, Springfield appeared in the made for TV movie, Dying to Dance,

In addition to the roles on television and in film, Springfield also acted in musical theatre. In 1995, he was a member of the original Broadway cast of the musical Smokey Joe's Cafe. This Tony Award-nominated musical featured the songs of rock & roll songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. From February 2000 through December 2002, Springfield performed in EFX Alive! at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rick stars in several episodes of the third season of Showtime's Californication. His first appearance was in episode 3 on 11 October 2009, in which he plays a "twisted version of himself"; a "hedonistic Rick Springfield" from the past.

Springfield also starred in "Ho'ohuli Na'au", an episode of Hawaii Five-0. He played the role of photographer Renny Sinclair.
General Hospital
See also: Noah Drake and Eli Love

In December 2005, Springfield was asked by the General Hospital producers to return to the show, and he returned to his role as Dr. Noah Drake after a 23-year absence. His run was subsequently extended, although as of 2007 he remains a guest star on recurring status, and not a full contract cast member.
Main article: Rick Springfield discography

    Beginnings (1972)
    Comic Book Heroes (1973)
    Mission Magic! (1974)
    Wait for Night (1976)
    Working Class Dog (1981)
    Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982)
    Living in Oz (1983)
    Hard to Hold (1984)
    Tao (1985)
    Rock of Life (1988)
    Karma (1999)
    Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance (2004)
    The Day After Yesterday (2005)
    Christmas With You (2007)
    Venus in Overdrive (2008)
    My Precious Little One: Lullabies For A New Generation (2009)

Awards and Nominations

Grammy Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
1982 "Jesse's Girl" Best Rock Vocal Male Performance Won
1983 "I Get Excited" Best Rock Vocal Male Performance Nominated
1983 "Don't Talk To Strangers" Best Pop Vocal Performance Male Nominated
1984 "Affair of the Heart" Best Rock Vocal Male Performance Nominated
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk32/msmaneka/rick-springfield-2.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/wanavanza/scraps/rick.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/23/11 at 11:44 am

"Jessie's Girl" still gets played frequently on the radio, 30 years later.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/23/11 at 4:11 pm

Always loved this one:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCJ7_ilsQXM


No, I was not watching GH when he was on it.




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/23/11 at 8:11 pm


"Jessie's Girl" still gets played frequently on the radio, 30 years later.


one of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/25/11 at 9:16 am

The person of the day...Tim Burton
Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and for blockbusters such as Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Batman Returns, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland, his most recent film, that was the second highest-grossing film of 2010 as well as the sixth highest-grossing film of all time. Among Burton's many collaborators are Johnny Depp, who became a close friend since their first film together, musician Danny Elfman (who has composed for all but five of the films Burton has directed and/or produced) and domestic partner Helena Bonham Carter. He also wrote and illustrated the poetry book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, published in 1997, and a compilation of his drawings, entitled The Art of Tim Burton, was released in 2009.

Burton has directed 14 films as of 2010, and has produced 10 as of 2009. His next films are an adaptation of the soap opera Dark Shadows, scheduled to be released on May 11, 2012, and a remake of his 1984 short, Frankenweenie, scheduled to be released on October 5, 2012.
Future projects

Burton plans to remake his 1984 short film Frankenweenie as a feature length stop motion film, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is set to be released on October 5, 2012. He is also set to direct a film adaptation based on the television series Dark Shadows. Johnny Depp will portray Barnabas Collins as well as co-produce the film, and Seth Grahame-Smith is currently writing the script. However, Dark Shadows will be pushed back due to Depp and Burton's commitments to other projects. During Comic-Con 2009, Burton confirmed that Dark Shadows will be his next film.

On January 19, 2010, it was announced that after Dark Shadows, Burton's next project would be a Wicked-like film that showed the origin and the past of Sleeping Beauty's antagonist Maleficent. In an interview with Fandango published February 23, 2010, however, he denied he was directing any upcoming Sleeping Beauty movie. However, on November 23, 2010, in an interview with MTV, Burton confirmed that he was indeed putting together a script for Maleficent. It was announced in The Hollywood Reporter on May 16, 2011 that Burton is no longer attached to Maleficent.

Burton has also stated that there is a chance he will co-produce with Timur Bekmambetov, who he also co-produced 9 with, the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, also author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It has also been reported that Burton will be directing a 3-D stop-motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family, which was confirmed by Christopher Meledandri. On July 19, 2010, he was announced as the director of the upcoming film adaptation of Monsterpocalypse.
Filmography
Year Film Director Producer Writer
1982 Vincent
Yes

Yes
1984 Frankenweenie
Yes

Yes
1985 Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Yes

1988 Beetlejuice
Yes

1989 Batman
Yes

1990 Edward Scissorhands
Yes

Yes

Yes
1992 Batman Returns
Yes

Yes

1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas
Yes

Yes
1994 Cabin Boy
Yes

Ed Wood
Yes

Yes

1995 Batman Forever
Yes

1996 James and the Giant Peach
Yes

Mars Attacks!
Yes

Yes

1997 Bad Day on the Block
Yes

1999 Sleepy Hollow
Yes

2001 Planet of the Apes
Yes

2003 Big Fish
Yes

2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Yes

Corpse Bride
Yes

Yes

2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Yes

2009 9
Yes

2010 Alice in Wonderland
Yes

2011 Big Eyes
Yes

2012 Dark Shadows
Yes

Yes

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Yes

Frankenweenie
Yes

Yes

Yes
2013 Monsterpocalypse
Yes

Short films

    The Island of Doctor Agor (1971)
    Houdini: The Untold Story (1976)
    Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979)
    Doctor of Doom (1979)
    Luau (1982)

Animator filmography

    The Lord of the Rings (1978) (uncredited)
    Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979)
    The Fox and the Hound (1981) (uncredited)
    Tron (1982) (uncredited)

Cameos and other film work

    Singles (1992)
    Hoffa (1992)
    The Nightmare Before Christmas (deleted scene)

Art filmography

    Frankenweenie (1984) (storyboard artist, uncredited)
    The Black Cauldron (1985) (conceptual artist, uncredited)

Internet shorts

    The World of Stain Boy (2000)

Television

    Hansel and Gretel (1982) (director)
    Faerie Tale Theatre – episode Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1989) (director)
    The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents – episode The Jar (1984) (director)
    Beetlejuice: The Animated Series (1989–1991) (executive producer)
    Family Dog (1993) (animation designer, executive producer)
    Hollywood Gum – French commercial, director (1997)
    Kung Fu and Mannequin – Timex commercials, director (2001)

Music videos

    "Bones" by The Killers (2006)

See also

    List of unproduced Tim Burton projects

Awards
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2011)

Academy Awards

    (2006) Nominated — Best Animated Feature / Corpse Bride

BAFTA Awards

    (2004) Nominated — Best Direction / Big Fish

Cannes Film Festival

    (1994) Nominated — Palme d'Or / Ed Wood

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

    (2004) Nominated — Best Director / Big Fish

Golden Globe Awards

    (2008) Nominated — Best Director – Motion Picture / Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

National Board of Review Awards

    (2008) Won — Best Director / Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Producers Guild of America Awards

    (2006) Nominated — Animated Motion Picture / Corpse Bride
    (2008) Honored — Scream Awards: Scream Immortal Award, for his unique interpretation of horror and fantasy

64th Venice International Film Festival

    (2007) Honored — Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh76/adwalter313/burton.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj135/rediculous52589/Tim_Burton.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/25/11 at 11:58 am

It is Sean Connery's birthday, we at work were trying guess how old he is.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/25/11 at 2:16 pm


one of my favorites.

"Don't Talk To Strangers", "I've Done Everything For You" and "Love Somebody" are the ones I seem to like the best. The radio doesn't play 'em quite as much, though. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/25/11 at 2:17 pm


It is Sean Connery's birthday, we at work were trying guess how old he is.

He is 81.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/25/11 at 3:09 pm


He is 81.
None of us got it right.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/25/11 at 8:03 pm


close to 80? ???

Yes. In fact, I just mentioned his age in one of my previous postings, which you may or may not have read:



He is 81.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/26/11 at 11:46 am


Yes. In fact, I just mentioned his age in one of my previous postings, which you may or may not have read:



I think we can see that ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/26/11 at 11:50 am

The person of the day..Valerie Simpson

*This is going to be about Ashford & Simpson
Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011), and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946), were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists.

Ashford was born Fairfield, South Carolina, and Simpson in Bronx, New York. They met at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church in 1963. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Joshie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap ("Never Had It So Good"), Maxine Brown ("One Step At A Time"), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. Another of the trio's songs, "Let's Go Get Stoned", gave Ray Charles a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966. That same year Ashford & Simpson joined Motown, where their best-known songs included "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)". As performers, Ashford and Simpson's best-known song is "Solid" (1984 US and 1985 UK). The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
The duo essentially had two careers: one as a successful writing and producing team and the other as singers and performers themselves. They started their career in the mid-1960s, writing for artists such as The 5th Dimension ("California Soul"), Aretha Franklin ("Cry Like A Baby"), and Ray Charles ("Let's Go Get Stoned" and "I Don't Need No Doctor"). Their work with Charles brought them to the attention of Motown chief Berry Gordy.

Upon joining the Motown staff in 1966, Ashford & Simpson were paired with the vocal duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and they wrote and/or produced all but one of the late-1960s Gaye/Terrell singles, including hits such as the original version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Your Precious Love", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "You're All I Need to Get By". According to Gaye in the book Divided Soul, Simpson did most of the vocals on the last album he did with Terrell, Easy, as a way for Terrell's family to have additional income as she was battling an ultimately fatal brain tumor. (Simpson is quoted as denying this in a book written by Terrell's sister Ludie Montgomery.)

Ashford & Simpson wrote and produced almost all the songs on three 1970s albums for former Supreme Diana Ross, including her first solo album Diana Ross ("Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"), Surrender ("Remember Me"), and The Boss.

Other Motown artists whom Ashford & Simpson worked with include Gladys Knight & The Pips ("Didn't You Know You'd Have to Cry Sometime", "The Landlord", "Bourgie, Bourgie", and "Taste of Bitter Love"), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles ("Who's Gonna Take the Blame"), The Marvelettes ("Destination:Anywhere"), The Supremes ("Some Things You Never Get Used To"), and The Dynamic Superiors ("Shoe, Shoe Shine").

Other artists with whom Ashford & Simpson had hits were Teddy Pendergrass ("Is It Still Good to You"), The Brothers Johnson ("Ride-O-Rocket"), Chaka Khan, both on her own ("I'm Every Woman" and "Clouds"), and Rufus ("Keep It Comin'" and "Ain't Nothin' But a Maybe").
Performers

Ashford & Simpson's career as recording artists began in the early 1960s as part of the gospel group The Followers, with whom they recorded the album Gospel Meeting (on Forum Circle), later issued as Meetin' The Followers (on Roulette Records). The LP contains their vocals and also four Ashford compositions. In 1964, they recorded "I'll Find You", as "Valerie & Nick" This was followed by several obscure singles recorded by Ashford on the Glover, Verve and ABC labels, such as "It Ain't Like That" (later recorded by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas), "California Soul", and "Dead End Kids", backed by his own version of "Let's Go Get Stoned". After concentrating on working with other artists, Simpson was the featured soloist on the songs "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "What's Going On" on the Quincy Jones albums Gula Matari in 1970, and its follow-up, Smackwater Jack'.' Simpson subsequently recorded two solo LPs for Motown: Valerie Simpson Exposed in 1971, and, the following year, Valerie Simpson, which included the single "Silly Wasn't I", which was later sampled on 50 Cent's "Best Friend" from the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'. The song was also sampled by 9th Wonder on Murs's "Silly Girl" in the album Murray's Revenge. Ashford & Simpson were featured singing selections from Simpson's solo albums on the PBS TV show Soul!, hosted by Ellis Haizlip in 1971. In 1973, they left Motown after the albums Simpson recorded for the label received poor promotion and the company refused to release an album of the duo recording a collection of their most famous songs for other artists.

In 1974, Ashford & Simpson married and resumed their career as a duo with the Warner Bros. album, Gimme Something Real. This was followed by the hit singles, "Don't Cost You Nothin'" (1977), "It Seems To Hang On" (1978), "Is It Still Good to Ya" (1978), "Found a Cure" (1979), "Street Corner" (1982), and their biggest hit, "Solid", released in 1984.

In 1978, they were featured as vocalists, along with Chaka Khan, on the hit single "Stuff Like That" from Quincy Jones' Sounds... And Stuff Like That album and contributed to the writing of the soundtrack to The Wiz.

Simpson appeared (with Melba Moorman) as part of the "Blood, Sweat & Tears Soul Chorus" on the band's Al Kooper lead debut, Child Is Father to the Man.

On his own, Ashford (along with Frank Wilson), produced the mammoth hit "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", which Diana Ross & the Supremes recorded in collaboration with the Temptations in 1968. He also appeared in the movie New Jack City (1991), as Reverend Oates, an ordained minister who was part of Nino Brown's entourage.

Simpson's brothers were in the record business as well: Ray Simpson replaced Victor Willis in the Village People and their brother Jimmy Simpson produced the group GQ (which had big hits with "Disco Nights" and "I Do Love You"), and was in great demand as a mixing engineer during the disco era.
Recent years and death

In recent times, Ashford & Simpson recorded and toured sporadically, and in 1996, they opened the restaurant and live entertainment venue, Sugar Bar in New York City, which has an open mic on Thursday nights, where performers have included Queen Latifah and Felicia Collins. They recorded the album Been Found with poet Maya Angelou in 1996. Around this time, they were also featured disc jockeys on New York's KISS-FM radio station.

On August 16, 2006, Playbill Online reported that they were writing the score for a musical based on E. Lynn Harris's novel Invisible Life. In January 2007, they, along with Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Sidney Poitier, director Spike Lee, and comedian Chris Tucker accompanied Oprah Winfrey when she opened her Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

They were given writing credit on Amy Winehouse's 2007 CD Back to Black for the single "Tears Dry On Their Own". The track is based on a sample of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's 1967 Motown classic hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". They had began performing their act in small, intimate venues, such as Feinstein's at the Regency in New York and the Rrazz Room in San Francisco, and in January 2009, they released a CD and DVD of their live performances titled The Real Thing. On June 22, 2009, they made a guest performance at a party at Tribeca Rooftop, New York, to celebrate Virgin Atlantic's birthday party. They also made their first appearance in Tokyo, Japan, in November 2009, and performed 8 shows in 4 days at Blue Note Tokyo.

Ashford died in New York on August 22, 2011, of complications from throat cancer. Nick's publicist Liz Rosenberg said that he had been undergoing radiation treatment to treat his illness. In addition to Valerie Simpson, Ashford is survived by two daughters.
Personal life

Ashford and Simpson have two daughters, Nicole (who graduated from Wesleyan University in 1997) and Asia.
Discography
Albums
Valerie Simpson
Year Album Chart positions Record label
US US
R&B
1971 Exposed — — Motown
1972 Valerie Simpson 162 50
1977 Keep It Comin' — —
"—" denotes the album failed to chart
Ashford & Simpson
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications Record label
US US
R&B UK
1973 Gimme Something Real 156 18 — — Warner Bros.
1974 I Wanna Be Selfish 195 21 — —
1976 Come as You Are 189 35 — —
1977 So So Satisfied 180 30 — —
Send It 52 10 — Gold
1978 Is It Still Good to Ya 20 1 — Gold
1979 Stay Free 23 3 — Gold
1980 A Musical Affair 38 8 — —
1981 Performance 125 45 — —
1982 Street Opera 45 5 — — Capitol
1983 High-Rise 84 14 — —
1984 Solid 29 1 42 Gold
1986 Real Love 74 12 — —
1989 Love or Physical 135 28 — —
1996 Been Found — 49 — — Hopsack & Silk
1996 The Real Thing — 59 — — Media Push
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Singles
Valerie Simpson

    1971: "Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow"
    1972: "Silly Wasn't I" – US #63, R&B #24

Ashford & Simpson
Year Single Chart positions Album
US US
R&B US
Dance US
A/C UK
1964 "I'll Find You" (credited as Valerie & Nick) 117 — — — — Non-album single
"Somebody's Lying on Love" (credited as Valerie & Nick) — — — — —
"You Don't Owe Me Anything" (credited as Valerie & Nick) — — — — —
1973 "(I'd Know You) Anywhere" 88 37 — — — Gimme Something Real
1974 "Have You Ever Tried It" — 77 — — —
"Main Line" — 37 — — — I Wanna Be Selfish
"Everybody's Got to Give It Up" — 53 — — —
1975 "Bend Me" — 73 — — — Gimme Something Real
1976 "It'll Come, It'll Come, It'll Come" — 96 — — — Come as You Are
"Somebody Told a Lie" — 58 — — —
"One More Try" — — 9 — —
"Tried, Tested and Found True" — 52 34 — — So So Satisfied
1977 "So So Satisfied" — 27 — — —
"Over and Over" — 39 — — —
"Send It" — 15 — — — Send It
1978 "Don't Cost You Nothing" 79 10 23 — —
"By Way of Love's Express" — 35 — — —
"It Seems to Hang On" — 2 — — 48 Is It Still Good to Ya
"Is It Still Good to Ya" — 12 — — —
1979 "Flashback" — 70 — — —
"Found a Cure" 36 2 1 — — Stay Free
"Nobody Knows" — 19 — —
"Stay Free" — — — —
1980 "Love Don't Make It Right" — 6 7 — — A Musical Affair
"Happy Endings" — 35 — — —
1981 "Get Out Your Handkerchief" — 65 — — —
"It Shows in the Eyes" — 34 — — — Performance
"It's the Long Run" — — — — —
1982 "Street Corner" 56 9 11 — — Street Opera
"Love It Away" — 20 — — —
1983 "I'll Take the Whole World On" — — — — —
"High-Rise" — 17 41 — — High-Rise
"It's Much Deeper" — 45 — — —
1984 "It's Not That Tough" — 78 — — —
"Solid" 12 1 15 34 3 Solid
1985 "Outta the World" 102 4 4 — —
"Babies" 102 29 — — 56
1986 "Time Talkin'" — — — — — Time
"Count Your Blessings" 84 4 — — 79 Real Love
"What Becomes of Love" — — — — —
1987 "Nobody Walks in L.A." — — — — —
1989 "I'll Be There for You" — 2 — — — Love or Physical
"Cookies and Cake" — — — — —
1990 "Hungry for Me Again" — 40 — — — Def by Temptation
1996 "Been Found" — 80 — — — Been Found
1997 "What If" — 94 — — —
2001 "We Are Family" (with Various Artists) — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes the single failed to chart
See also

    List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
    List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/maalie24/ASHFORDSIMPSON.jpg
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc445/vadim_31region/Music/1-3.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/26/11 at 12:46 pm


I think we can see that ;D

Yes, but I don't know if Howard did. He seems to not read entire posts, as noted elsewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/26/11 at 1:25 pm


Yes, but I don't know if Howard did. He seems to not read entire posts, as noted elsewhere.

Yes I've come to realize that lol

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/26/11 at 7:40 pm


The person of the day..Valerie Simpson

*This is going to be about Ashford & Simpson
Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011), and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946), were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists.

Ashford was born Fairfield, South Carolina, and Simpson in Bronx, New York. They met at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church in 1963. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Joshie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap ("Never Had It So Good"), Maxine Brown ("One Step At A Time"), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. Another of the trio's songs, "Let's Go Get Stoned", gave Ray Charles a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966. That same year Ashford & Simpson joined Motown, where their best-known songs included "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)". As performers, Ashford and Simpson's best-known song is "Solid" (1984 US and 1985 UK). The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
The duo essentially had two careers: one as a successful writing and producing team and the other as singers and performers themselves. They started their career in the mid-1960s, writing for artists such as The 5th Dimension ("California Soul"), Aretha Franklin ("Cry Like A Baby"), and Ray Charles ("Let's Go Get Stoned" and "I Don't Need No Doctor"). Their work with Charles brought them to the attention of Motown chief Berry Gordy.

Upon joining the Motown staff in 1966, Ashford & Simpson were paired with the vocal duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and they wrote and/or produced all but one of the late-1960s Gaye/Terrell singles, including hits such as the original version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Your Precious Love", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "You're All I Need to Get By". According to Gaye in the book Divided Soul, Simpson did most of the vocals on the last album he did with Terrell, Easy, as a way for Terrell's family to have additional income as she was battling an ultimately fatal brain tumor. (Simpson is quoted as denying this in a book written by Terrell's sister Ludie Montgomery.)

Ashford & Simpson wrote and produced almost all the songs on three 1970s albums for former Supreme Diana Ross, including her first solo album Diana Ross ("Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"), Surrender ("Remember Me"), and The Boss.

Other Motown artists whom Ashford & Simpson worked with include Gladys Knight & The Pips ("Didn't You Know You'd Have to Cry Sometime", "The Landlord", "Bourgie, Bourgie", and "Taste of Bitter Love"), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles ("Who's Gonna Take the Blame"), The Marvelettes ("Destination:Anywhere"), The Supremes ("Some Things You Never Get Used To"), and The Dynamic Superiors ("Shoe, Shoe Shine").

Other artists with whom Ashford & Simpson had hits were Teddy Pendergrass ("Is It Still Good to You"), The Brothers Johnson ("Ride-O-Rocket"), Chaka Khan, both on her own ("I'm Every Woman" and "Clouds"), and Rufus ("Keep It Comin'" and "Ain't Nothin' But a Maybe").
Performers

Ashford & Simpson's career as recording artists began in the early 1960s as part of the gospel group The Followers, with whom they recorded the album Gospel Meeting (on Forum Circle), later issued as Meetin' The Followers (on Roulette Records). The LP contains their vocals and also four Ashford compositions. In 1964, they recorded "I'll Find You", as "Valerie & Nick" This was followed by several obscure singles recorded by Ashford on the Glover, Verve and ABC labels, such as "It Ain't Like That" (later recorded by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas), "California Soul", and "Dead End Kids", backed by his own version of "Let's Go Get Stoned". After concentrating on working with other artists, Simpson was the featured soloist on the songs "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "What's Going On" on the Quincy Jones albums Gula Matari in 1970, and its follow-up, Smackwater Jack'.' Simpson subsequently recorded two solo LPs for Motown: Valerie Simpson Exposed in 1971, and, the following year, Valerie Simpson, which included the single "Silly Wasn't I", which was later sampled on 50 Cent's "Best Friend" from the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'. The song was also sampled by 9th Wonder on Murs's "Silly Girl" in the album Murray's Revenge. Ashford & Simpson were featured singing selections from Simpson's solo albums on the PBS TV show Soul!, hosted by Ellis Haizlip in 1971. In 1973, they left Motown after the albums Simpson recorded for the label received poor promotion and the company refused to release an album of the duo recording a collection of their most famous songs for other artists.

In 1974, Ashford & Simpson married and resumed their career as a duo with the Warner Bros. album, Gimme Something Real. This was followed by the hit singles, "Don't Cost You Nothin'" (1977), "It Seems To Hang On" (1978), "Is It Still Good to Ya" (1978), "Found a Cure" (1979), "Street Corner" (1982), and their biggest hit, "Solid", released in 1984.

In 1978, they were featured as vocalists, along with Chaka Khan, on the hit single "Stuff Like That" from Quincy Jones' Sounds... And Stuff Like That album and contributed to the writing of the soundtrack to The Wiz.

Simpson appeared (with Melba Moorman) as part of the "Blood, Sweat & Tears Soul Chorus" on the band's Al Kooper lead debut, Child Is Father to the Man.

On his own, Ashford (along with Frank Wilson), produced the mammoth hit "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", which Diana Ross & the Supremes recorded in collaboration with the Temptations in 1968. He also appeared in the movie New Jack City (1991), as Reverend Oates, an ordained minister who was part of Nino Brown's entourage.

Simpson's brothers were in the record business as well: Ray Simpson replaced Victor Willis in the Village People and their brother Jimmy Simpson produced the group GQ (which had big hits with "Disco Nights" and "I Do Love You"), and was in great demand as a mixing engineer during the disco era.
Recent years and death

In recent times, Ashford & Simpson recorded and toured sporadically, and in 1996, they opened the restaurant and live entertainment venue, Sugar Bar in New York City, which has an open mic on Thursday nights, where performers have included Queen Latifah and Felicia Collins. They recorded the album Been Found with poet Maya Angelou in 1996. Around this time, they were also featured disc jockeys on New York's KISS-FM radio station.

On August 16, 2006, Playbill Online reported that they were writing the score for a musical based on E. Lynn Harris's novel Invisible Life. In January 2007, they, along with Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Sidney Poitier, director Spike Lee, and comedian Chris Tucker accompanied Oprah Winfrey when she opened her Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

They were given writing credit on Amy Winehouse's 2007 CD Back to Black for the single "Tears Dry On Their Own". The track is based on a sample of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's 1967 Motown classic hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". They had began performing their act in small, intimate venues, such as Feinstein's at the Regency in New York and the Rrazz Room in San Francisco, and in January 2009, they released a CD and DVD of their live performances titled The Real Thing. On June 22, 2009, they made a guest performance at a party at Tribeca Rooftop, New York, to celebrate Virgin Atlantic's birthday party. They also made their first appearance in Tokyo, Japan, in November 2009, and performed 8 shows in 4 days at Blue Note Tokyo.

Ashford died in New York on August 22, 2011, of complications from throat cancer. Nick's publicist Liz Rosenberg said that he had been undergoing radiation treatment to treat his illness. In addition to Valerie Simpson, Ashford is survived by two daughters.
Personal life

Ashford and Simpson have two daughters, Nicole (who graduated from Wesleyan University in 1997) and Asia.
Discography
Albums
Valerie Simpson
Year Album Chart positions Record label
US US
R&B
1971 Exposed — — Motown
1972 Valerie Simpson 162 50
1977 Keep It Comin' — —
"—" denotes the album failed to chart
Ashford & Simpson
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications Record label
US US
R&B UK
1973 Gimme Something Real 156 18 — — Warner Bros.
1974 I Wanna Be Selfish 195 21 — —
1976 Come as You Are 189 35 — —
1977 So So Satisfied 180 30 — —
Send It 52 10 — Gold
1978 Is It Still Good to Ya 20 1 — Gold
1979 Stay Free 23 3 — Gold
1980 A Musical Affair 38 8 — —
1981 Performance 125 45 — —
1982 Street Opera 45 5 — — Capitol
1983 High-Rise 84 14 — —
1984 Solid 29 1 42 Gold
1986 Real Love 74 12 — —
1989 Love or Physical 135 28 — —
1996 Been Found — 49 — — Hopsack & Silk
1996 The Real Thing — 59 — — Media Push
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Singles
Valerie Simpson

    1971: "Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow"
    1972: "Silly Wasn't I" – US #63, R&B #24

Ashford & Simpson
Year Single Chart positions Album
US US
R&B US
Dance US
A/C UK
1964 "I'll Find You" (credited as Valerie & Nick) 117 — — — — Non-album single
"Somebody's Lying on Love" (credited as Valerie & Nick) — — — — —
"You Don't Owe Me Anything" (credited as Valerie & Nick) — — — — —
1973 "(I'd Know You) Anywhere" 88 37 — — — Gimme Something Real
1974 "Have You Ever Tried It" — 77 — — —
"Main Line" — 37 — — — I Wanna Be Selfish
"Everybody's Got to Give It Up" — 53 — — —
1975 "Bend Me" — 73 — — — Gimme Something Real
1976 "It'll Come, It'll Come, It'll Come" — 96 — — — Come as You Are
"Somebody Told a Lie" — 58 — — —
"One More Try" — — 9 — —
"Tried, Tested and Found True" — 52 34 — — So So Satisfied
1977 "So So Satisfied" — 27 — — —
"Over and Over" — 39 — — —
"Send It" — 15 — — — Send It
1978 "Don't Cost You Nothing" 79 10 23 — —
"By Way of Love's Express" — 35 — — —
"It Seems to Hang On" — 2 — — 48 Is It Still Good to Ya
"Is It Still Good to Ya" — 12 — — —
1979 "Flashback" — 70 — — —
"Found a Cure" 36 2 1 — — Stay Free
"Nobody Knows" — 19 — —
"Stay Free" — — — —
1980 "Love Don't Make It Right" — 6 7 — — A Musical Affair
"Happy Endings" — 35 — — —
1981 "Get Out Your Handkerchief" — 65 — — —
"It Shows in the Eyes" — 34 — — — Performance
"It's the Long Run" — — — — —
1982 "Street Corner" 56 9 11 — — Street Opera
"Love It Away" — 20 — — —
1983 "I'll Take the Whole World On" — — — — —
"High-Rise" — 17 41 — — High-Rise
"It's Much Deeper" — 45 — — —
1984 "It's Not That Tough" — 78 — — —
"Solid" 12 1 15 34 3 Solid
1985 "Outta the World" 102 4 4 — —
"Babies" 102 29 — — 56
1986 "Time Talkin'" — — — — — Time
"Count Your Blessings" 84 4 — — 79 Real Love
"What Becomes of Love" — — — — —
1987 "Nobody Walks in L.A." — — — — —
1989 "I'll Be There for You" — 2 — — — Love or Physical
"Cookies and Cake" — — — — —
1990 "Hungry for Me Again" — 40 — — — Def by Temptation
1996 "Been Found" — 80 — — — Been Found
1997 "What If" — 94 — — —
2001 "We Are Family" (with Various Artists) — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes the single failed to chart
See also

    List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
    List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/maalie24/ASHFORDSIMPSON.jpg
http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc445/vadim_31region/Music/1-3.png


I still miss Nick Ashford but Happy Birthday Valerie.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 2:38 am

British Person of the Day: Brian Epstein

Brian Samuel Epstein (19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967), was an English music entrepreneur, and the manager of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle. His management company was named NEMS Enterprises after his family's music stores, also called NEMS (North End Music Stores).

Epstein paid for The Beatles to record a demo in Decca's studios, which Epstein later persuaded George Martin to listen to, as Decca were not interested in signing the band. Epstein was then offered a contract by Martin on behalf of EMI's small Parlophone label, even though they had previously been rejected by almost every other British record company. Martin later explained that Epstein's enthusiasm and his confidence that The Beatles would one day become internationally famous convinced him to sign them.

Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose at his home in London in August 1967. The Beatles' early success has been attributed to Epstein's management and sense of style. McCartney said of Epstein: "If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Promo_photo_of_Epstein.jpg/220px-Promo_photo_of_Epstein.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/27/11 at 9:01 am


British Person of the Day: Brian Epstein

Brian Samuel Epstein (19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967), was an English music entrepreneur, and the manager of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle. His management company was named NEMS Enterprises after his family's music stores, also called NEMS (North End Music Stores).

Epstein paid for The Beatles to record a demo in Decca's studios, which Epstein later persuaded George Martin to listen to, as Decca were not interested in signing the band. Epstein was then offered a contract by Martin on behalf of EMI's small Parlophone label, even though they had previously been rejected by almost every other British record company. Martin later explained that Epstein's enthusiasm and his confidence that The Beatles would one day become internationally famous convinced him to sign them.

Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose at his home in London in August 1967. The Beatles' early success has been attributed to Epstein's management and sense of style. McCartney said of Epstein: "If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Promo_photo_of_Epstein.jpg/220px-Promo_photo_of_Epstein.jpg

Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/27/11 at 9:05 am

The person of the day...Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld (born August 27, 1943) is an American actress.

Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Over the following decade she established a career playing dramatic roles in films.

As a featured performer in supporting roles, her work was acknowledged with nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Play It As It Lays (1972), an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1978), an Emmy Award for The Winter of Our Discontent (1983), and a BAFTA for Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

Since the end of the 1980s, her acting appearances have been infrequent.
Left in financial difficulty by her husband's death, Weld's mother put her to work as a child model to support the family. As the young actress told Life in 1971:
“ My father’s family came from Tuxedo Park, and they offered to take us kids and pay for our education, on the condition that Mama never see us again. Mama was an orphan who had come here from London, but so far as my father’s family was concerned, she was strictly from the gutter. I have to give Mama credit — she refused to give us up... So I became the supporter of the family, and I had to take my father’s place in many, many ways. I was expected to make up for everything that had ever gone wrong in Mama’s life. She became obsessed with me, pouring out her pent-up love — her alleged love — on me, and it’s been heavy on my shoulders ever since. To this day, Mama thinks I owe everything to her.

Using Weld's résumé from modelling, her mother secured an agent and Tuesday (an extension of her childhood nickname, "Tu-Tu", given to her by her young cousin, Mary Ker, who could not pronounce "Susan" yet) Weld made her acting debut on television at age 12 and her feature film debut the same year in a bit role in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock crime drama, The Wrong Man. The pressures of her career, however, resulted in a nervous breakdown at age nine, alcoholism by age 12, and a suicide attempt around the same time.

In 1956, Weld played the lead in Rock, Rock, Rock, which featured record promoter Alan Freed and singers Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, and Johnny Burnette. In the film, Connie Francis performed the vocals for Weld's singing parts. In 1959, having appeared as "Dorothy" in The Five Pennies, she was cast as Thalia Menninger in the CBS television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Although Weld was a cast member for only a single season, the show gave her considerable national publicity, and she was named a co-winner of a "Most Promising Newcomer" award at the Golden Globe Awards. In 1960, she appeared as Joy, a free-spirited university student in High Time, a collegian comedy starring Bing Crosby and Fabian. She also guest-starred that season on NBC's The Tab Hunter Show. On November 12, 1961, she played a young singer, "Cherie", in the seventh episode of ABC's Bus Stop series with Marilyn Maxwell. Gary Lockwood portrayed a rodeo cowboy named Bo, who wants to marry her. In 1963, she guest-starred as Denise Dunlear in the episode "Something Crazy's Going on the Back Room" on the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour. Her costars in the episode were Angela Lansbury, Martin Balsam, Roy Thinnes, and Don Grady. In 1964, she appeared in the title role of the episode "Keep an Eye on Emily" on Craig Stevens's CBS drama, Mr. Broadway. In that same year she appeared in "Dark Corner", a TV episode of The Fugitive, starring David Janssen.

In 1961, when Weld was 18, after she starred opposite Elvis Presley in Wild in the Country, the two had an off-screen romance. Weld's mother was scandalized as well by her teenage daughter's affairs with older men, but Weld resisted, saying, "'If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll quit being an actress — which means there ain’t gonna be no more money for you, Mama.' Finally, when I was sixteen, I left home. I just went out the door and bought my own house." She was well received for her portrayal of an incest victim in Return to Peyton Place, the sequel to the 1956 film Peyton Place, but the film was less successful than its predecessor.

Weld appeared with Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen in the 1963 comedy Soldier in the Rain; her performance was well received, but the film was only a minor success. That same year she and former co-star Dwayne Hickman appeared in Jack Palance's circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth on ABC but in separate episodes. Later in her career, she turned down roles in films that became great successes, such as Bonnie and Clyde, Rosemary's Baby, True Grit, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.

In 1965, she appeared in the successful Norman Jewison film The Cincinnati Kid, opposite Steve McQueen. Some of her most notable screen performances include the cult favorite Lord Love a Duck (1966) with Roddy McDowall, Ruth Gordon and Harvey Korman; Pretty Poison (1968), co-starring Anthony Perkins and Beverly Garland; A Safe Place (1971), co-starring Jack Nicholson and Orson Welles; I Walk the Line (1970), opposite Gregory Peck; and Play It As It Lays (1972), again with Perkins, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

In her thirties, Weld performed in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Who'll Stop the Rain (1978) opposite Nick Nolte; and Michael Mann's acclaimed 1981 film Thief, opposite James Caan. In 1984, she appeared in Sergio Leone's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, playing a masochistic showgirl who is raped by Robert De Niro's character, David "Noodles" Aaronson.

Weld has also appeared in a number of television movies, including Circle of Violence (1986), Reflections of Murder (1987) and A Question of Guilt, in which she plays a woman accused of murdering her children. In 1993, she played a police officer's neurotic wife in Falling Down starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.
Personal life

Weld has been married three times.

She was married to screenwriter Claude Harz, from 1965 until their divorce in 1971. They had a daughter, Natasha, in 1966. Of the marriage, Weld told Guy Flatley of The New York Times in 1971, "Mama hated my husband — she’s a jealous lover, you know. She’s hated all the men I’ve ever been involved with. But I really felt that what I had been doing up to that time with my life was probably wrong, that maybe what I should be was a housewife. Our marriage lasted 5 years; it was just another one of my mistakes."

She married British actor, musician, and comedian Dudley Moore in 1975. In 1976 they had a son, Patrick, an actor, director, and editor. They divorced in 1980. In 1985 she married Israeli concert violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman; they divorced in 1998.

The cover of Matthew Sweet's third album Girlfriend features a photograph of Tuesday Weld from the late 1950s. Originally called Nothing Lasts, the album was retitled following objections to the title from Weld. Sweet's greatest hits compilation, Time Capsule, also features photos of Weld on both the front and back cover.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1956 Rock, Rock, Rock Dori Graham
1958 Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! Comfort Goodpasture
1959 The Five Pennies Dorothy Nichols, age 12 to 14
1960 Because They're Young Anne Gregor
Sex Kittens Go to College Jody
High Time Joy Elder
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve Vangie Harper
1961 Return to Peyton Place Selena
Wild in the Country Doreen Braxton
1962 Bachelor Flat Libby Bushmill aka Libby Smith
1963 Soldier in the Rain Bobby Jo Pepperdine
1965 I'll Take Sweden JoJo Holcomb
The Cincinnati Kid Christian
1966 Lord Love a Duck Barbara Ann Greene
1968 Pretty Poison Sue Ann Stepanek
1970 I Walk the Line Alma McCain
1971 A Safe Place Susan/Noah
1972 Play It As It Lays Maria Wyeth Lang Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1974 Reflections of Murder Vicky
1977 Looking for Mr. Goodbar Katherine Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1978 Who'll Stop the Rain Marge Converse
1980 Serial Kate Linville Holroyd
1981 Madame X Holly Richardson (TV)
Thief Jessie
1982 Author! Author! Gloria Travalian
The Rainmaker Lizzie (TV)
CableACE Award for Actress in a Theatrical or Non-Musical Program
1983 The Winter of Our Discontent Margie Young-Hunt (TV)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1984 Once Upon a Time in America Carol Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1986 Circle of Violence Georgia Benfield
1988 Heartbreak Hotel Marie Wolfe
1993 Falling Down Amanda Prendergast
1996 Feeling Minnesota Nora Clayton
2001 Investigating Sex Sasha
Chelsea Walls Greta
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/IsisAndersen/tuesday-weld1.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/Kneehighargyles/weld009.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 9:08 am


Thanks Phil :)
I was originally had Lord Mountbatten as my nomination British Person of the Day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 9:25 am

It was this time last year when Janine (ninny) was offline for a while.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/27/11 at 9:38 am


It was this time last year when Janine (ninny) was offline for a while.

That was a bad time, lets hope that doesn't happen again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 9:46 am


That was a bad time, lets hope that doesn't happen again.
Anytime without a computer is a bad time, unless it is the work's computers that have gone down.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/27/11 at 1:33 pm


It was this time last year when Janine (ninny) was offline for a while.


I remember that day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/27/11 at 1:33 pm


The person of the day...Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld (born August 27, 1943) is an American actress.

Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Over the following decade she established a career playing dramatic roles in films.

As a featured performer in supporting roles, her work was acknowledged with nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Play It As It Lays (1972), an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1978), an Emmy Award for The Winter of Our Discontent (1983), and a BAFTA for Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

Since the end of the 1980s, her acting appearances have been infrequent.
Left in financial difficulty by her husband's death, Weld's mother put her to work as a child model to support the family. As the young actress told Life in 1971:
“ My father’s family came from Tuxedo Park, and they offered to take us kids and pay for our education, on the condition that Mama never see us again. Mama was an orphan who had come here from London, but so far as my father’s family was concerned, she was strictly from the gutter. I have to give Mama credit — she refused to give us up... So I became the supporter of the family, and I had to take my father’s place in many, many ways. I was expected to make up for everything that had ever gone wrong in Mama’s life. She became obsessed with me, pouring out her pent-up love — her alleged love — on me, and it’s been heavy on my shoulders ever since. To this day, Mama thinks I owe everything to her.

Using Weld's résumé from modelling, her mother secured an agent and Tuesday (an extension of her childhood nickname, "Tu-Tu", given to her by her young cousin, Mary Ker, who could not pronounce "Susan" yet) Weld made her acting debut on television at age 12 and her feature film debut the same year in a bit role in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock crime drama, The Wrong Man. The pressures of her career, however, resulted in a nervous breakdown at age nine, alcoholism by age 12, and a suicide attempt around the same time.

In 1956, Weld played the lead in Rock, Rock, Rock, which featured record promoter Alan Freed and singers Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, and Johnny Burnette. In the film, Connie Francis performed the vocals for Weld's singing parts. In 1959, having appeared as "Dorothy" in The Five Pennies, she was cast as Thalia Menninger in the CBS television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Although Weld was a cast member for only a single season, the show gave her considerable national publicity, and she was named a co-winner of a "Most Promising Newcomer" award at the Golden Globe Awards. In 1960, she appeared as Joy, a free-spirited university student in High Time, a collegian comedy starring Bing Crosby and Fabian. She also guest-starred that season on NBC's The Tab Hunter Show. On November 12, 1961, she played a young singer, "Cherie", in the seventh episode of ABC's Bus Stop series with Marilyn Maxwell. Gary Lockwood portrayed a rodeo cowboy named Bo, who wants to marry her. In 1963, she guest-starred as Denise Dunlear in the episode "Something Crazy's Going on the Back Room" on the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour. Her costars in the episode were Angela Lansbury, Martin Balsam, Roy Thinnes, and Don Grady. In 1964, she appeared in the title role of the episode "Keep an Eye on Emily" on Craig Stevens's CBS drama, Mr. Broadway. In that same year she appeared in "Dark Corner", a TV episode of The Fugitive, starring David Janssen.

In 1961, when Weld was 18, after she starred opposite Elvis Presley in Wild in the Country, the two had an off-screen romance. Weld's mother was scandalized as well by her teenage daughter's affairs with older men, but Weld resisted, saying, "'If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll quit being an actress — which means there ain’t gonna be no more money for you, Mama.' Finally, when I was sixteen, I left home. I just went out the door and bought my own house." She was well received for her portrayal of an incest victim in Return to Peyton Place, the sequel to the 1956 film Peyton Place, but the film was less successful than its predecessor.

Weld appeared with Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen in the 1963 comedy Soldier in the Rain; her performance was well received, but the film was only a minor success. That same year she and former co-star Dwayne Hickman appeared in Jack Palance's circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth on ABC but in separate episodes. Later in her career, she turned down roles in films that became great successes, such as Bonnie and Clyde, Rosemary's Baby, True Grit, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.

In 1965, she appeared in the successful Norman Jewison film The Cincinnati Kid, opposite Steve McQueen. Some of her most notable screen performances include the cult favorite Lord Love a Duck (1966) with Roddy McDowall, Ruth Gordon and Harvey Korman; Pretty Poison (1968), co-starring Anthony Perkins and Beverly Garland; A Safe Place (1971), co-starring Jack Nicholson and Orson Welles; I Walk the Line (1970), opposite Gregory Peck; and Play It As It Lays (1972), again with Perkins, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

In her thirties, Weld performed in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Who'll Stop the Rain (1978) opposite Nick Nolte; and Michael Mann's acclaimed 1981 film Thief, opposite James Caan. In 1984, she appeared in Sergio Leone's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, playing a masochistic showgirl who is raped by Robert De Niro's character, David "Noodles" Aaronson.

Weld has also appeared in a number of television movies, including Circle of Violence (1986), Reflections of Murder (1987) and A Question of Guilt, in which she plays a woman accused of murdering her children. In 1993, she played a police officer's neurotic wife in Falling Down starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.
Personal life

Weld has been married three times.

She was married to screenwriter Claude Harz, from 1965 until their divorce in 1971. They had a daughter, Natasha, in 1966. Of the marriage, Weld told Guy Flatley of The New York Times in 1971, "Mama hated my husband — she’s a jealous lover, you know. She’s hated all the men I’ve ever been involved with. But I really felt that what I had been doing up to that time with my life was probably wrong, that maybe what I should be was a housewife. Our marriage lasted 5 years; it was just another one of my mistakes."

She married British actor, musician, and comedian Dudley Moore in 1975. In 1976 they had a son, Patrick, an actor, director, and editor. They divorced in 1980. In 1985 she married Israeli concert violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman; they divorced in 1998.

The cover of Matthew Sweet's third album Girlfriend features a photograph of Tuesday Weld from the late 1950s. Originally called Nothing Lasts, the album was retitled following objections to the title from Weld. Sweet's greatest hits compilation, Time Capsule, also features photos of Weld on both the front and back cover.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1956 Rock, Rock, Rock Dori Graham
1958 Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! Comfort Goodpasture
1959 The Five Pennies Dorothy Nichols, age 12 to 14
1960 Because They're Young Anne Gregor
Sex Kittens Go to College Jody
High Time Joy Elder
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve Vangie Harper
1961 Return to Peyton Place Selena
Wild in the Country Doreen Braxton
1962 Bachelor Flat Libby Bushmill aka Libby Smith
1963 Soldier in the Rain Bobby Jo Pepperdine
1965 I'll Take Sweden JoJo Holcomb
The Cincinnati Kid Christian
1966 Lord Love a Duck Barbara Ann Greene
1968 Pretty Poison Sue Ann Stepanek
1970 I Walk the Line Alma McCain
1971 A Safe Place Susan/Noah
1972 Play It As It Lays Maria Wyeth Lang Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1974 Reflections of Murder Vicky
1977 Looking for Mr. Goodbar Katherine Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1978 Who'll Stop the Rain Marge Converse
1980 Serial Kate Linville Holroyd
1981 Madame X Holly Richardson (TV)
Thief Jessie
1982 Author! Author! Gloria Travalian
The Rainmaker Lizzie (TV)
CableACE Award for Actress in a Theatrical or Non-Musical Program
1983 The Winter of Our Discontent Margie Young-Hunt (TV)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1984 Once Upon a Time in America Carol Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1986 Circle of Violence Georgia Benfield
1988 Heartbreak Hotel Marie Wolfe
1993 Falling Down Amanda Prendergast
1996 Feeling Minnesota Nora Clayton
2001 Investigating Sex Sasha
Chelsea Walls Greta
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/IsisAndersen/tuesday-weld1.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/Kneehighargyles/weld009.jpg


Who would name their kid Tuesday?  ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 1:40 pm


I remember that day.
It was more than a day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/27/11 at 1:41 pm


It was more than a day.



and we were wondering where she was?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 1:42 pm



and we were wondering where she was?
Patiencely  waiting for her return.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/27/11 at 2:36 pm


Who would name their kid Tuesday?  ::)



Mr. & Mrs. Weld.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 2:38 pm


Who would name their kid Tuesday?  ::)


Mr. & Mrs. Weld.



Cat
Tuesday Weld was born Susan Ker Weld, and Tuesday came from an extension of her childhood nickname, "Tu-Tu", given to her by her young cousin, Mary Ker, who could not pronounce "Susan" yet.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/27/11 at 2:40 pm


Who would name their kid Tuesday?  ::)
It was Mary Ker Weld younger cousin to Tuesday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/27/11 at 11:55 pm


Tuesday Weld was born Susan Ker Weld, and Tuesday came from an extension of her childhood nickname, "Tu-Tu", given to her by her young cousin, Mary Ker, who could not pronounce "Susan" yet.

Aha, I guess that would make sense. I never knew that until now. You learn something new every day! :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/28/11 at 2:58 am

British Person of the Day: Robert Shaw

Robert Archibald Shaw (9 August 1927 – 28 August 1978) was an English stage and film actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting (1973), From Russia with Love (1963), A Man for All Seasons (1966), the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Black Sunday (1977), The Deep (1977) and Jaws (1975), where he played the shark hunter Quint.

Early life

Robert Shaw was born in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Lancashire, England, in 1927. His mother, Doreen (née Avery), was a former nurse born in Piggs Peak, Swaziland, and his father, Thomas Shaw, was a physician. He had three sisters and one brother. When he was seven, the family moved to Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. When he was 12 his father, a manic depressive and alcoholic, took his own life. The family then moved to Cornwall, where he went to the independent Truro School. Shaw was a teacher in Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the North Riding of Yorkshire for a brief period, then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Acting career

Shaw began his acting career in theatre, appearing in regional theatre throughout England. In 1952 he made his London debut on the West End at the Embassy Theatre in Caro William.

During the 1950s, Shaw starred in a British TV series which also appeared on American television as The Buccaneers. Shaw's best-known film performances include a turn as the dangerous enemy secret agent, Donovan Grant, in the second James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963); the relentless panzer officer Colonel Hessler in Battle of the Bulge (1965); a young Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons (1966); Lord Randolph Churchill, in Young Winston (1972); the ruthless mobster Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (1973), the equally-ruthless subway-hijacker and hostage-taker "Mr. Blue" in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974); the shark-obsessed fisherman Quint in Jaws (1975); and lighthouse keeper and treasure hunter Romer Treece in The Deep (1977), and the Israeli Mossad agent David Kabakov in Black Sunday (1977), which is the most successful of his very few appearances in movies as a principal good-guy.

Shaw was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Man for All Seasons.

He performed on stage as well, both in Britain and on Broadway, where his notable performances include Harold Pinter's Old Times and The Caretaker, Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists directed by Peter Brook, and The Man in the Glass Booth, inspired by the kidnapping and trial of Adolf Eichmann, written by Shaw himself, and directed by Pinter.

His penetrating, stage-trained shouting voice can be heard briefly in A Man for All Seasons, Black Sunday, Force Ten from Navarone, and The Sting.

Writing career

In addition to his acting career, Shaw was also an accomplished writer of novels, plays and screenplays. His first novel, The Hiding Place, published in 1960, met with positive reviews. His next, The Sun Doctor, published the following year, was awarded the Hawthornden Prize in 1962.

Shaw then embarked on a trilogy of novels – The Flag (1965), The Man in the Glass Booth (1967) and A Card from Morocco (1969); it was his adaptation for the stage of The Man in the Glass Booth that gained him the most attention for his writing. The book and play present a complex and morally ambiguous tale of a man who, at various times in the story, is either a Jewish businessman pretending to be a Nazi war criminal, or a Nazi war criminal pretending to be a Jewish businessman. The play was quite controversial when performed in the US and the UK, some critics praising Shaw's sly, deft, and complex examination of the moral issues of nationality and identity, others sharply criticizing Shaw's treatment of such a sensitive subject. The Man in the Glass Booth was further developed for the screen, but Shaw disapproved of the resulting film and had his name removed from the credits.

Shaw also adapted The Hiding Place into a screenplay for the film Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious starring Alec Guinness. His play Cato Street, about the 1820 Cato Street Conspiracy, was produced for the first time in 1971 in London.

Death

Shaw died of a heart attack on 28 August 1978 in Ireland after completing filming of Avalanche Express. His remains were cremated and his ashes scattered near his home in Ireland. A stone memorial to him was unveiled there in his honour in August 2008.

Work: Stage

    * The Caretaker (1962)
    * The Physicists (1964)
    * The Man in the Glass Booth (1968)
    * Gantry (1970)
    * Old Times (1972)
    * Dance of Death (1974)

Filmography

    * The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) (uncredited)
    * Operation Secret (1952) (uncredited) - Jacques
    * The Dam Busters (1954) - Flight Sgt. J. Pulford
    * A Hill in Korea (1956) - Lance Corporal Hodge
    * Double Cross (1956)
    * Man from Tangier (1957) - Johnny
    * The Buccaneers (1957) - Captain Dan Tempest - Television (39 episdes)
    * Sea Fury (1958) - Gorman
    * Libel (1959) - Newspaper Photographer
    * The Four Just Men (1960) - TV episode - Crack Up - Stuart
    * Danger Man (1961) - TV episode - Bury The Dead - Tony Costello
    * The Winter's Tale (1961) - Leontes
    * The Valiant (1962) - Lieutenant Field
    * The Caretaker (1963) - Aston
    * From Russia with Love (1963) - Donald 'Red' Grant
    * The Cracksman (1963) - Moke
    * The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) - Ginger Coffey
    * Carol for Another Christmas (1964) - Ghost of Christmas Future
    * Tomorrow at Ten (1964) - Marlowe
    * Hamlet (1964) - Claudius, King of Denmark
    * Battle of the Bulge (1965) - Col. Martin Hessler
    * A Man for All Seasons (1966) - King Henry VIII
    * Custer of the West (1967) - Gen. George Armstrong Custer
    * The Birthday Party (1968) - Stanley Webber
    * Battle of Britain (1969) - "Skipper"
    * The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) - Francisco Pizarro
    * Figures in a Landscape (1970) - MacConnachie (also adapted for the screen)
    * A Town Called Bastard (a.k.a. A Town Called Hell) (1971) - The Priest
    * Young Winston (1972) - Lord Randolph Churchill
    * A Reflection of Fear (a.k.a. Labyrinth) (1973) - Michael
    * The Hireling (1973) - Steven Ledbetter
    * The Sting (1973) - Doyle Lonnegan
    * The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) (uncredited) - The Oracle of All Knowledge
    * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) - Mr. Blue - Bernard Ryder
    * Jaws (1975) - Quint
    * The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) -
    * Der Richter und sein Henker (a.k.a. End of the Game, Murder on the Bridge, Deception, and Getting Away with Murder) (1975) - Richard Gastmann
    * Diamonds (a.k.a. Diamond Shaft) (1975) - Charles/Earl Hodgson
    * Robin and Marian (1976) - Sheriff of Nottingham
    * Swashbuckler (a.k.a. Scarlet Buccaneer) (1976) - Ned Lynch
    * Black Sunday (1977) - Major David Kabokov
    * The Deep (1977) - Romer Treece
    * Force 10 from Navarone (1978) - Major Keith Mallory
    * Avalanche Express (1979) - General Marenkov

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/ShawMonument02.jpg
Robert Shaw Memorial in Tourmakeady, County Mayo, Ireland, near the location where he died

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pu2TOfOuwCQ/ThJErprxrII/AAAAAAAABxI/QC92BxEW9fs/s1600/robertshawjawshiresphotos001.jpg

http://johnnycat.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/robert_shaw.jpg



Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/28/11 at 11:42 am


Tuesday Weld was born Susan Ker Weld, and Tuesday came from an extension of her childhood nickname, "Tu-Tu", given to her by her young cousin, Mary Ker, who could not pronounce "Susan" yet.


Oh man, Philip. You know how to spoil a perfectly good joke!



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/28/11 at 11:44 am


Oh man, Philip. You know how to spoil a perfectly good joke!



Cat
Let me offer you karma.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/28/11 at 12:59 pm


Let me offer you karma.



Right back at ya.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/28/11 at 2:01 pm


Oh man, Philip. You know how to spoil a perfectly good joke!



Cat
...or was it Mr Sunday Weld and Mrs Monday Weld.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/28/11 at 2:59 pm



Mr. & Mrs. Weld.



Cat

;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/28/11 at 3:02 pm


Tuesday Weld was born Susan Ker Weld, and Tuesday came from an extension of her childhood nickname, "Tu-Tu", given to her by her young cousin, Mary Ker, who could not pronounce "Susan" yet.

That's the same way I got my nickname NeeNee because my cousins could not  say Janine. (though I'm not sure why when the oldest ones are at least 10 years older than me and the youngest 4)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/28/11 at 3:06 pm

The person of the day...Jack Black
Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American comedian, actor and musician. He makes up one half of the comedy and satirical rock duo Tenacious D. The group has two albums as well as a television series and a film. His acting career is extensive, starring primarily as bumbling, cocky, but internally self-conscious outsiders in comedy films. He was a member of the Frat Pack, a group of comedians who have appeared together in several Hollywood films, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe award. He has also won an MTV Movie Award, and a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award. He also hosted the 2011 Kids Choice Awards.
Black's acting career began with prime time television. He played roles on shows including Life Goes On, Northern Exposure, Mr. Show, Picket Fences, and The X-Files. Black appeared in the unaired TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack, directed by Ben Stiller, in which he played an ex-astronaut pursued by actor Ron Silver. He was accompanied by his friend who had merged with a motorcycle, voiced by Owen Wilson.

Black later took on small roles in Airborne, Demolition Man, Waterworld, The Fan, Mars Attacks!, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, and others. He had a small role in True Romance as a security guard, but the scene was deleted. In 2000, he appeared in High Fidelity as a wild employee in John Cusack's record store, a role Black considers his breakout.

His career soon led to leading roles in films such as Shallow Hal, The School of Rock, Nacho Libre, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, King Kong, Year One and Gulliver's Travels. His next film, The Big Year, a competitive birdwatching comedy co-starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and JoBeth Williams is set for release in October 2011. He is referred to in the media as a member of the Frat Pack, a group of comedy actors who frequently work together, which also includes Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell.

He guest-starred on The Office along with Cloris Leachman, Jessica Alba, and Steve Carell in a movie within the show. He also guest-starred in iCarly, in the episode iStart a Fan War.

Black has appeared numerous times on the "untelevised TV network" short film festival Channel101, starring in the shows Computerman, Timebelt, and Laserfart. He also provided an introduction for the unaired sketch comedy Awesometown, donning a Colonial-era military uniform. In the introduction, he claims to be George Washington (and takes credit for the accomplishments of other American Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln). Black also guest starred in the Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" show Tom Goes to the Mayor, as a bear-trap store owner.

Black hosted the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards on April 1, 2006 and hosted it again March 29, 2008, and April 2, 2011. He also appeared on the MTV video music awards on August 31, 2006. Black has made five appearances on Saturday Night Live: three times as a host, once as a musical guest (with Kyle Gass as Tenacious D), and another appearance with Tenacious D, not as a host or musical guest. He produced and appeared on VH1's Internet video show Acceptable.TV.

Black voice acted for The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives", which aired November 18, 2007, voicing the friendly owner of the rival comic book store, Milo. Black took part in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire celebrity edition along with Denis Leary, Jimmy Kimmel and others and was handed the prize of US$125,000 in October 2001. On December 14, Jack Black hosted the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards. He provided the voice of the main character, roadie Eddie Riggs, in the heavy metal-themed action-adventure video game, Brütal Legend. In 2009, at the Spike Video Game Awards, he earned the Best Voice award for the voice of Eddie Riggs in Brütal Legend. In April 2009, Black also starred in an episode of the children's show "Yo Gabba Gabba!" on Nick Jr. vocalized funny kid songs such as "It's Not Fun to Get Lost", "Friends" and "Goodbye Song".
Music career
Main article: Tenacious D
Jack Black with Kyle Gass of Tenacious D.

Black, also known as JB or Jables, is the lead singer for the rock comedy band Tenacious D. Along with Kyle Gass, they have released two albums, a self-titled debut, and the follow-up, The Pick of Destiny, from which one of their songs "The Metal" was used in the music video games "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" and "Brütal Legend". "Rock Your Socks" from the album "Tenacious D" was played in the music videogame "Rock Band Unplugged", and "Master Exploder" from "The Pick Of Destiny" went on to be used in music video games "Guitar Hero Van Halen" and "Rock Band 2", along with their song "Tribute" from "Tenacious D". "Master Exploder" and "The Metal" featured in the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. The film, directed by Tenacious D veteran Liam Lynch, features recurring characters such as Lee the superfan and Sasquatch. Tim Robbins cameos as does Dave Grohl as Satan. Ben Stiller also makes an appearance as a worker at Guitar Center, and also another appearance in the music video for "Tribute".

Tenacious D helped the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation to raise awareness and funds in San Diego on June 16, 2007. Tenacious D can be seen performing in the Pauly Shore film Bio-Dome where the duo is performing its song "The Five Needs" at a "Save the Environment" party. Black was also a guest star on an episode of The Ellen Degeneres Show entitled "Ellen the Musical", alongside Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth and teenage singer-actress Olivia Olson. On the show, besides singing, he discussed his then-upcoming film Nacho Libre with the host.

Black has also appeared on Dave Grohl's Probot album, providing vocals for the hidden song "I Am The Warlock", and Lynch's Fake Songs album, providing vocals for the song "Rock and Roll Whore". Black performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in the last sequence of High Fidelity. He lent his musical abilities to the Queens of the Stone Age song "Burn the Witch" with rhythmic stomps and claps, some performed with his eyes closed. He also provided vocals for The Lonely Island's track "Sax Man" from the album Incredibad.

Black has also recorded a duet on Meat Loaf's new CD Hang Cool Teddy Bear. The song is called Like a Rose. Meat Loaf has also played Black's father in the Pick of Destiny movie. Hang Cool Teddy Bear also features Hugh Laurie, Kara Dioguardi, Brian May, Steve Vai & Patti Russo, produced by Rob Cavallo.
Black performing in 2006

Black has appeared in music videos of Beck "Sexx Laws"; Foo Fighters "Learn To Fly", "Low", and "The One"; The Eagles of Death Metal's "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)"; Sum 41's "Things I Want"; Dio's "Push"; and Weezer's "Photograph."

In October 2010, Tenacious D appeared at BlizzCon 2010, a convention hosted by the game designers, Blizzard Entertainment.
Personal life

In January 2006, Black became engaged to Tanya Haden. She is the daughter of the jazz double bassist Charlie Haden, and sister of violinist and singer Petra Haden. Haden herself is an accomplished cellist. Both attended Crossroads school and met again 15 years after graduating, at a friend's birthday party. Black proposed marriage around Christmas 2005. They married on March 14, 2006, in Big Sur, California. Their son, Samuel Jason "Sammy" Black, was born on June 10, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. On May 23, 2008, Black and his wife had their second son, Thomas David Black.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1992 Bob Roberts Roger Davis
1993 Airborne Augie
1993 Demolition Man Wasteland Scrap
1994 The NeverEnding Story III Slip, Leader of the Nasties
1995 Bye Bye Love DJ at Party
1995 Dead Man Walking Craig Poncelet
1995 Waterworld Pilot
1996 Bio-Dome Tenacious D
1996 The Cable Guy Rick
1996 The Fan Broadcast Technician
1996 Mars Attacks! Billy Glenn Norris
1997 Bongwater Devlin
1997 Crossworlds Steve
1997 The Jackal Ian Lamont
1998 Enemy of the State Fiedler
1998 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Titus Telesco
1998 Johnny Skidmarks Jerry
1999 Cradle Will Rock Sid
1999 Jesus' Son Georgie
1999 The Love Letter Fisherman uncredited
2000 High Fidelity Barry Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy/Romance
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Music Moment
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Male Performance
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2001 Frank's Book Performance Hipster Short Film
2001 Saving Silverman J.D. McNugent
2001 Shallow Hal Hal Larson Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Film- Choice Actor, Comedy
2002 Ice Age Zeke Voice only
2002 Orange County Lance Brumder
2002 Run Ronnie Run Lead Chimney Sweep DVD Exclusive Award for Best Original Song in a DVD Premiere
2003 Melvin Goes to Dinner Mental Patient uncredited
Phoenix Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Acting
Nominated – DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actor in a DVD Premiere
2003 School of Rock Dewey Finn MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor- Comedy
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Motorcyclist uncredited (cameo)
2004 Envy Nick Vanderpark Nominated – People's Choice Award for Favorite Funny Male Star
2004 Laser Fart The Elegant Hunter Video
2004 Shark Tale Lenny Voice only
2005 King Kong Carl Denham Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movies – Choice Sleazebag
2005 Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie Carl Denham voice
Video game
Spike Video Game Award – Best Leading Male Performance
2006 Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties Orson, Booker and Wolf
2006 The Holiday Miles
2006 Nacho Libre Nacho Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movies – Choice Actor: Comedy
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movies – Choice Chemistry
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movie – Choice Rumble
2006 Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Jack "Jables" Black (JB)
2007 Margot at the Wedding Malcolm Nominated – Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2007 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Paul McCartney Uncredited
2008 Be Kind Rewind Jerry Gerber
2008 Kung Fu Panda Po Voice only
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Nominated – Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Motion Picture
2008 The Secrets of the Furious Five Voice
Short film
2008 Prop 8: The Musical Jesus Christ Viral video
short
2008 Tropic Thunder Jeff "Fats" Portnoy Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
2008 Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness Jeff "Fats" Portnoy Video
2009 Brütal Legend Eddie Riggs Voice
Video game
Spike Video Game Award – Best Voice
2009 Year One Zed
2010 Gulliver's Travels Gulliver Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Nominated – Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Male Movie Star
Nominated - National Movie Award Performance Of The Year|National Movie Award 2011
2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 Po Voice only
Nominated - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Animated Voice
2011 Bernie Bernie Tiede Premiered on June 16, 2011 at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
2011 The Big Year Brad Harris post-production
2011 The Muppets Cameo Appearance post-production
2012 Frank or Francis pre-production
Television work
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1991 Our Shining Moments Teenage Boy TV Movie
1993 The Golden Palace Taxi Driver episode "Seems Like Old Times: Part 2"
1993 Life Goes On Skinhead episode "Incident on Main"
1993 Marked for Murder Car Thief television film
1993 Northern Exposure Kevin Wilkins episode "A River Doesn't Run Through It"
1994 Blind Justice Private television film
1994 The Innocent Marty Prago television film
1995 All-American Girl Tommy episode "A Night at the Oprah"
1995 Pride & Joy Man episode "Brenda's Secret"
1995 The Single Guy Randy episode "Sister"
1995 Touched By An Angel Monte episode "Angels on the Air"
1995 The X-Files Bart 'Zero' Liqouri episode "D.P.O."
1995–1996 Mr. Show with Bob and David Various 4 episodes
1995–1996 Picket Fences Curtis Williams 2 episodes
1997–2000 Tenacious D JB 6
1999 Heat Vision and Jack Jack television pilot
2001 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself episode "Sweet for Brak"
2002 2002 MTV Movie Awards Host
2002 The Andy Dick Show J.D. episode "Flipped"
2002 Clone High Pusher/Larry Hardcore episode "Raisin The Stakes"
2002 Crank Yankers Tenacious D episode "#1.3"
2002 Jack Black: Spider-Man Spider-Man MTV Movie Awards segment
2002 Lord of the Piercing Jack the Elf MTV Movie Awards segment
Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition easter egg
2002 MADtv Tenacious D episode "#7.22"
2002 Panic Room with Will Ferrell Himself MTV Movie Awards segment
2003 Player$ Tenacious D episode "Tenacious D a la Mode"
2003 Will & Grace Dr. Isaac Hershberg episode "Nice in White Satin"
2003–2004 Computerman Computerman 6 episodes
2003–2004 Time Belt Computerman 2 episodes
2004 Cracking Up Brian episode "Scared Straight"
2004 Tom Goes to the Mayor Trapper JB episode "Bear Traps"
2005 Awesometown George Washington television film
2006 2006 Kids' Choice Awards Himself Host
2007 The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show Jables episode "Break-Up"
2007 The Simpsons Milo episode "Husbands and Knives"
2008 Sesame Street Himself episode "The Golden Triangle Of Destiny"
2008 2008 Kids' Choice Awards Himself Host
2009 The Office Sam episode "Stress Relief"
2009 Yo Gabba Gabba Himself episode "New Friends"
2010 Community Buddy episode "Investigative Journalism"
2010 iCarly Aspartamay episode iStart a Fanwar
2010–2011 Take Two with Phineas and Ferb Himself 2 episodes, "Jack Black" and "Neil Patrick Harris"
2010 "Space Ghost Coast to Coast special gag ad episode" Himself (cameo) (this special episode was meant to promote Gulliver's Travels)
2011 Fish Hooks Chief episode "Labor Day"
2011 Big Time Rush Cupid episode "Big Time Crush"
2011 2011 Kids' Choice Awards Himself Host, This will be the third time Jack Black has hosted the Kids Choice Awards, the last times being in 2008 and 2006.
2011 American Idol Himself Performed 'Fat Bottomed Girls' with American Idol contestant Casey Abrams.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/manbearpig17/jack-black.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w86/hittheroadjack2/jack-black.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/28/11 at 3:07 pm


That's the same way I got my nickname NeeNee because my cousins could not  say Janine. (though I'm not sure why when the oldest ones are at least 10 years older than me and the youngest 4)
It does happen often, I have several names in my our family too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/28/11 at 3:08 pm


British Person of the Day: Robert Shaw

Robert Archibald Shaw (9 August 1927 – 28 August 1978) was an English stage and film actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting (1973), From Russia with Love (1963), A Man for All Seasons (1966), the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Black Sunday (1977), The Deep (1977) and Jaws (1975), where he played the shark hunter Quint.

Early life

Robert Shaw was born in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Lancashire, England, in 1927. His mother, Doreen (née Avery), was a former nurse born in Piggs Peak, Swaziland, and his father, Thomas Shaw, was a physician. He had three sisters and one brother. When he was seven, the family moved to Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. When he was 12 his father, a manic depressive and alcoholic, took his own life. The family then moved to Cornwall, where he went to the independent Truro School. Shaw was a teacher in Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the North Riding of Yorkshire for a brief period, then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Acting career

Shaw began his acting career in theatre, appearing in regional theatre throughout England. In 1952 he made his London debut on the West End at the Embassy Theatre in Caro William.

During the 1950s, Shaw starred in a British TV series which also appeared on American television as The Buccaneers. Shaw's best-known film performances include a turn as the dangerous enemy secret agent, Donovan Grant, in the second James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963); the relentless panzer officer Colonel Hessler in Battle of the Bulge (1965); a young Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons (1966); Lord Randolph Churchill, in Young Winston (1972); the ruthless mobster Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (1973), the equally-ruthless subway-hijacker and hostage-taker "Mr. Blue" in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974); the shark-obsessed fisherman Quint in Jaws (1975); and lighthouse keeper and treasure hunter Romer Treece in The Deep (1977), and the Israeli Mossad agent David Kabakov in Black Sunday (1977), which is the most successful of his very few appearances in movies as a principal good-guy.

Shaw was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Man for All Seasons.

He performed on stage as well, both in Britain and on Broadway, where his notable performances include Harold Pinter's Old Times and The Caretaker, Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists directed by Peter Brook, and The Man in the Glass Booth, inspired by the kidnapping and trial of Adolf Eichmann, written by Shaw himself, and directed by Pinter.

His penetrating, stage-trained shouting voice can be heard briefly in A Man for All Seasons, Black Sunday, Force Ten from Navarone, and The Sting.

Writing career

In addition to his acting career, Shaw was also an accomplished writer of novels, plays and screenplays. His first novel, The Hiding Place, published in 1960, met with positive reviews. His next, The Sun Doctor, published the following year, was awarded the Hawthornden Prize in 1962.

Shaw then embarked on a trilogy of novels – The Flag (1965), The Man in the Glass Booth (1967) and A Card from Morocco (1969); it was his adaptation for the stage of The Man in the Glass Booth that gained him the most attention for his writing. The book and play present a complex and morally ambiguous tale of a man who, at various times in the story, is either a Jewish businessman pretending to be a Nazi war criminal, or a Nazi war criminal pretending to be a Jewish businessman. The play was quite controversial when performed in the US and the UK, some critics praising Shaw's sly, deft, and complex examination of the moral issues of nationality and identity, others sharply criticizing Shaw's treatment of such a sensitive subject. The Man in the Glass Booth was further developed for the screen, but Shaw disapproved of the resulting film and had his name removed from the credits.

Shaw also adapted The Hiding Place into a screenplay for the film Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious starring Alec Guinness. His play Cato Street, about the 1820 Cato Street Conspiracy, was produced for the first time in 1971 in London.

Death

Shaw died of a heart attack on 28 August 1978 in Ireland after completing filming of Avalanche Express. His remains were cremated and his ashes scattered near his home in Ireland. A stone memorial to him was unveiled there in his honour in August 2008.

Work: Stage

    * The Caretaker (1962)
    * The Physicists (1964)
    * The Man in the Glass Booth (1968)
    * Gantry (1970)
    * Old Times (1972)
    * Dance of Death (1974)

Filmography

    * The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) (uncredited)
    * Operation Secret (1952) (uncredited) - Jacques
    * The Dam Busters (1954) - Flight Sgt. J. Pulford
    * A Hill in Korea (1956) - Lance Corporal Hodge
    * Double Cross (1956)
    * Man from Tangier (1957) - Johnny
    * The Buccaneers (1957) - Captain Dan Tempest - Television (39 episdes)
    * Sea Fury (1958) - Gorman
    * Libel (1959) - Newspaper Photographer
    * The Four Just Men (1960) - TV episode - Crack Up - Stuart
    * Danger Man (1961) - TV episode - Bury The Dead - Tony Costello
    * The Winter's Tale (1961) - Leontes
    * The Valiant (1962) - Lieutenant Field
    * The Caretaker (1963) - Aston
    * From Russia with Love (1963) - Donald 'Red' Grant
    * The Cracksman (1963) - Moke
    * The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) - Ginger Coffey
    * Carol for Another Christmas (1964) - Ghost of Christmas Future
    * Tomorrow at Ten (1964) - Marlowe
    * Hamlet (1964) - Claudius, King of Denmark
    * Battle of the Bulge (1965) - Col. Martin Hessler
    * A Man for All Seasons (1966) - King Henry VIII
    * Custer of the West (1967) - Gen. George Armstrong Custer
    * The Birthday Party (1968) - Stanley Webber
    * Battle of Britain (1969) - "Skipper"
    * The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) - Francisco Pizarro
    * Figures in a Landscape (1970) - MacConnachie (also adapted for the screen)
    * A Town Called Bastard (a.k.a. A Town Called Hell) (1971) - The Priest
    * Young Winston (1972) - Lord Randolph Churchill
    * A Reflection of Fear (a.k.a. Labyrinth) (1973) - Michael
    * The Hireling (1973) - Steven Ledbetter
    * The Sting (1973) - Doyle Lonnegan
    * The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) (uncredited) - The Oracle of All Knowledge
    * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) - Mr. Blue - Bernard Ryder
    * Jaws (1975) - Quint
    * The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) -
    * Der Richter und sein Henker (a.k.a. End of the Game, Murder on the Bridge, Deception, and Getting Away with Murder) (1975) - Richard Gastmann
    * Diamonds (a.k.a. Diamond Shaft) (1975) - Charles/Earl Hodgson
    * Robin and Marian (1976) - Sheriff of Nottingham
    * Swashbuckler (a.k.a. Scarlet Buccaneer) (1976) - Ned Lynch
    * Black Sunday (1977) - Major David Kabokov
    * The Deep (1977) - Romer Treece
    * Force 10 from Navarone (1978) - Major Keith Mallory
    * Avalanche Express (1979) - General Marenkov

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/ShawMonument02.jpg
Robert Shaw Memorial in Tourmakeady, County Mayo, Ireland, near the location where he died

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pu2TOfOuwCQ/ThJErprxrII/AAAAAAAABxI/QC92BxEW9fs/s1600/robertshawjawshiresphotos001.jpg

http://johnnycat.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/robert_shaw.jpg





He did a lot of good work, but for some reason I can only remember his performance in Jaws, maybe because that movie plays in my head more. : :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/28/11 at 3:09 pm


It does happen often, I have several names in my our family too.
I had forgotten he was in The Sting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/28/11 at 3:11 pm


It does happen often, I have several names in my our family too.

Oh yeah, Tim & I were joking the other day how many nicknames our grandson has. We said when he gets to school he wont know what his name is because he's called by at least 4 different ones  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/28/11 at 3:12 pm


The person of the day...Jack Black
Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American comedian, actor and musician. He makes up one half of the comedy and satirical rock duo Tenacious D. The group has two albums as well as a television series and a film. His acting career is extensive, starring primarily as bumbling, cocky, but internally self-conscious outsiders in comedy films. He was a member of the Frat Pack, a group of comedians who have appeared together in several Hollywood films, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe award. He has also won an MTV Movie Award, and a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award. He also hosted the 2011 Kids Choice Awards.
Black's acting career began with prime time television. He played roles on shows including Life Goes On, Northern Exposure, Mr. Show, Picket Fences, and The X-Files. Black appeared in the unaired TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack, directed by Ben Stiller, in which he played an ex-astronaut pursued by actor Ron Silver. He was accompanied by his friend who had merged with a motorcycle, voiced by Owen Wilson.

Black later took on small roles in Airborne, Demolition Man, Waterworld, The Fan, Mars Attacks!, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, and others. He had a small role in True Romance as a security guard, but the scene was deleted. In 2000, he appeared in High Fidelity as a wild employee in John Cusack's record store, a role Black considers his breakout.

His career soon led to leading roles in films such as Shallow Hal, The School of Rock, Nacho Libre, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, King Kong, Year One and Gulliver's Travels. His next film, The Big Year, a competitive birdwatching comedy co-starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and JoBeth Williams is set for release in October 2011. He is referred to in the media as a member of the Frat Pack, a group of comedy actors who frequently work together, which also includes Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell.

He guest-starred on The Office along with Cloris Leachman, Jessica Alba, and Steve Carell in a movie within the show. He also guest-starred in iCarly, in the episode iStart a Fan War.

Black has appeared numerous times on the "untelevised TV network" short film festival Channel101, starring in the shows Computerman, Timebelt, and Laserfart. He also provided an introduction for the unaired sketch comedy Awesometown, donning a Colonial-era military uniform. In the introduction, he claims to be George Washington (and takes credit for the accomplishments of other American Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln). Black also guest starred in the Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" show Tom Goes to the Mayor, as a bear-trap store owner.

Black hosted the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards on April 1, 2006 and hosted it again March 29, 2008, and April 2, 2011. He also appeared on the MTV video music awards on August 31, 2006. Black has made five appearances on Saturday Night Live: three times as a host, once as a musical guest (with Kyle Gass as Tenacious D), and another appearance with Tenacious D, not as a host or musical guest. He produced and appeared on VH1's Internet video show Acceptable.TV.

Black voice acted for The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives", which aired November 18, 2007, voicing the friendly owner of the rival comic book store, Milo. Black took part in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire celebrity edition along with Denis Leary, Jimmy Kimmel and others and was handed the prize of US$125,000 in October 2001. On December 14, Jack Black hosted the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards. He provided the voice of the main character, roadie Eddie Riggs, in the heavy metal-themed action-adventure video game, Brütal Legend. In 2009, at the Spike Video Game Awards, he earned the Best Voice award for the voice of Eddie Riggs in Brütal Legend. In April 2009, Black also starred in an episode of the children's show "Yo Gabba Gabba!" on Nick Jr. vocalized funny kid songs such as "It's Not Fun to Get Lost", "Friends" and "Goodbye Song".
Music career
Main article: Tenacious D
Jack Black with Kyle Gass of Tenacious D.

Black, also known as JB or Jables, is the lead singer for the rock comedy band Tenacious D. Along with Kyle Gass, they have released two albums, a self-titled debut, and the follow-up, The Pick of Destiny, from which one of their songs "The Metal" was used in the music video games "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" and "Brütal Legend". "Rock Your Socks" from the album "Tenacious D" was played in the music videogame "Rock Band Unplugged", and "Master Exploder" from "The Pick Of Destiny" went on to be used in music video games "Guitar Hero Van Halen" and "Rock Band 2", along with their song "Tribute" from "Tenacious D". "Master Exploder" and "The Metal" featured in the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. The film, directed by Tenacious D veteran Liam Lynch, features recurring characters such as Lee the superfan and Sasquatch. Tim Robbins cameos as does Dave Grohl as Satan. Ben Stiller also makes an appearance as a worker at Guitar Center, and also another appearance in the music video for "Tribute".

Tenacious D helped the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation to raise awareness and funds in San Diego on June 16, 2007. Tenacious D can be seen performing in the Pauly Shore film Bio-Dome where the duo is performing its song "The Five Needs" at a "Save the Environment" party. Black was also a guest star on an episode of The Ellen Degeneres Show entitled "Ellen the Musical", alongside Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth and teenage singer-actress Olivia Olson. On the show, besides singing, he discussed his then-upcoming film Nacho Libre with the host.

Black has also appeared on Dave Grohl's Probot album, providing vocals for the hidden song "I Am The Warlock", and Lynch's Fake Songs album, providing vocals for the song "Rock and Roll Whore". Black performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in the last sequence of High Fidelity. He lent his musical abilities to the Queens of the Stone Age song "Burn the Witch" with rhythmic stomps and claps, some performed with his eyes closed. He also provided vocals for The Lonely Island's track "Sax Man" from the album Incredibad.

Black has also recorded a duet on Meat Loaf's new CD Hang Cool Teddy Bear. The song is called Like a Rose. Meat Loaf has also played Black's father in the Pick of Destiny movie. Hang Cool Teddy Bear also features Hugh Laurie, Kara Dioguardi, Brian May, Steve Vai & Patti Russo, produced by Rob Cavallo.
Black performing in 2006

Black has appeared in music videos of Beck "Sexx Laws"; Foo Fighters "Learn To Fly", "Low", and "The One"; The Eagles of Death Metal's "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)"; Sum 41's "Things I Want"; Dio's "Push"; and Weezer's "Photograph."

In October 2010, Tenacious D appeared at BlizzCon 2010, a convention hosted by the game designers, Blizzard Entertainment.
Personal life

In January 2006, Black became engaged to Tanya Haden. She is the daughter of the jazz double bassist Charlie Haden, and sister of violinist and singer Petra Haden. Haden herself is an accomplished cellist. Both attended Crossroads school and met again 15 years after graduating, at a friend's birthday party. Black proposed marriage around Christmas 2005. They married on March 14, 2006, in Big Sur, California. Their son, Samuel Jason "Sammy" Black, was born on June 10, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. On May 23, 2008, Black and his wife had their second son, Thomas David Black.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1992 Bob Roberts Roger Davis
1993 Airborne Augie
1993 Demolition Man Wasteland Scrap
1994 The NeverEnding Story III Slip, Leader of the Nasties
1995 Bye Bye Love DJ at Party
1995 Dead Man Walking Craig Poncelet
1995 Waterworld Pilot
1996 Bio-Dome Tenacious D
1996 The Cable Guy Rick
1996 The Fan Broadcast Technician
1996 Mars Attacks! Billy Glenn Norris
1997 Bongwater Devlin
1997 Crossworlds Steve
1997 The Jackal Ian Lamont
1998 Enemy of the State Fiedler
1998 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Titus Telesco
1998 Johnny Skidmarks Jerry
1999 Cradle Will Rock Sid
1999 Jesus' Son Georgie
1999 The Love Letter Fisherman uncredited
2000 High Fidelity Barry Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy/Romance
Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Music Moment
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Male Performance
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2001 Frank's Book Performance Hipster Short Film
2001 Saving Silverman J.D. McNugent
2001 Shallow Hal Hal Larson Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Film- Choice Actor, Comedy
2002 Ice Age Zeke Voice only
2002 Orange County Lance Brumder
2002 Run Ronnie Run Lead Chimney Sweep DVD Exclusive Award for Best Original Song in a DVD Premiere
2003 Melvin Goes to Dinner Mental Patient uncredited
Phoenix Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Acting
Nominated – DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actor in a DVD Premiere
2003 School of Rock Dewey Finn MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor- Comedy
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Motorcyclist uncredited (cameo)
2004 Envy Nick Vanderpark Nominated – People's Choice Award for Favorite Funny Male Star
2004 Laser Fart The Elegant Hunter Video
2004 Shark Tale Lenny Voice only
2005 King Kong Carl Denham Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movies – Choice Sleazebag
2005 Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie Carl Denham voice
Video game
Spike Video Game Award – Best Leading Male Performance
2006 Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties Orson, Booker and Wolf
2006 The Holiday Miles
2006 Nacho Libre Nacho Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movies – Choice Actor: Comedy
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movies – Choice Chemistry
Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Movie – Choice Rumble
2006 Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny Jack "Jables" Black (JB)
2007 Margot at the Wedding Malcolm Nominated – Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2007 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Paul McCartney Uncredited
2008 Be Kind Rewind Jerry Gerber
2008 Kung Fu Panda Po Voice only
Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Nominated – Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Motion Picture
2008 The Secrets of the Furious Five Voice
Short film
2008 Prop 8: The Musical Jesus Christ Viral video
short
2008 Tropic Thunder Jeff "Fats" Portnoy Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
2008 Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness Jeff "Fats" Portnoy Video
2009 Brütal Legend Eddie Riggs Voice
Video game
Spike Video Game Award – Best Voice
2009 Year One Zed
2010 Gulliver's Travels Gulliver Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Nominated – Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Male Movie Star
Nominated - National Movie Award Performance Of The Year|National Movie Award 2011
2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 Po Voice only
Nominated - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Animated Voice
2011 Bernie Bernie Tiede Premiered on June 16, 2011 at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
2011 The Big Year Brad Harris post-production
2011 The Muppets Cameo Appearance post-production
2012 Frank or Francis pre-production
Television work
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1991 Our Shining Moments Teenage Boy TV Movie
1993 The Golden Palace Taxi Driver episode "Seems Like Old Times: Part 2"
1993 Life Goes On Skinhead episode "Incident on Main"
1993 Marked for Murder Car Thief television film
1993 Northern Exposure Kevin Wilkins episode "A River Doesn't Run Through It"
1994 Blind Justice Private television film
1994 The Innocent Marty Prago television film
1995 All-American Girl Tommy episode "A Night at the Oprah"
1995 Pride & Joy Man episode "Brenda's Secret"
1995 The Single Guy Randy episode "Sister"
1995 Touched By An Angel Monte episode "Angels on the Air"
1995 The X-Files Bart 'Zero' Liqouri episode "D.P.O."
1995–1996 Mr. Show with Bob and David Various 4 episodes
1995–1996 Picket Fences Curtis Williams 2 episodes
1997–2000 Tenacious D JB 6
1999 Heat Vision and Jack Jack television pilot
2001 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself episode "Sweet for Brak"
2002 2002 MTV Movie Awards Host
2002 The Andy Dick Show J.D. episode "Flipped"
2002 Clone High Pusher/Larry Hardcore episode "Raisin The Stakes"
2002 Crank Yankers Tenacious D episode "#1.3"
2002 Jack Black: Spider-Man Spider-Man MTV Movie Awards segment
2002 Lord of the Piercing Jack the Elf MTV Movie Awards segment
Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition easter egg
2002 MADtv Tenacious D episode "#7.22"
2002 Panic Room with Will Ferrell Himself MTV Movie Awards segment
2003 Player$ Tenacious D episode "Tenacious D a la Mode"
2003 Will & Grace Dr. Isaac Hershberg episode "Nice in White Satin"
2003–2004 Computerman Computerman 6 episodes
2003–2004 Time Belt Computerman 2 episodes
2004 Cracking Up Brian episode "Scared Straight"
2004 Tom Goes to the Mayor Trapper JB episode "Bear Traps"
2005 Awesometown George Washington television film
2006 2006 Kids' Choice Awards Himself Host
2007 The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show Jables episode "Break-Up"
2007 The Simpsons Milo episode "Husbands and Knives"
2008 Sesame Street Himself episode "The Golden Triangle Of Destiny"
2008 2008 Kids' Choice Awards Himself Host
2009 The Office Sam episode "Stress Relief"
2009 Yo Gabba Gabba Himself episode "New Friends"
2010 Community Buddy episode "Investigative Journalism"
2010 iCarly Aspartamay episode iStart a Fanwar
2010–2011 Take Two with Phineas and Ferb Himself 2 episodes, "Jack Black" and "Neil Patrick Harris"
2010 "Space Ghost Coast to Coast special gag ad episode" Himself (cameo) (this special episode was meant to promote Gulliver's Travels)
2011 Fish Hooks Chief episode "Labor Day"
2011 Big Time Rush Cupid episode "Big Time Crush"
2011 2011 Kids' Choice Awards Himself Host, This will be the third time Jack Black has hosted the Kids Choice Awards, the last times being in 2008 and 2006.
2011 American Idol Himself Performed 'Fat Bottomed Girls' with American Idol contestant Casey Abrams.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee291/manbearpig17/jack-black.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w86/hittheroadjack2/jack-black.jpg


I like Jack Black,just last week I saw Nacho Libre.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 8:33 am



Mr. & Mrs. Weld.



Cat
Tuesday Weld was born August 27th 1943, and I was wondering what day of the week that was.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/29/11 at 8:39 am

The person of the day....Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B, and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had been administered drugs including propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.
In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Michael was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel," and "Can You Feel It". In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.

Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first solo album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Thriller and Motown 25 (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which was 1983's best-selling album worldwide and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies so far. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple." In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform. In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.

Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too". The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".

In March 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member, Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."
Pepsi, "We Are the World" and business career (1984–85)
A black and white image shows a man standing next to a person dressed in a full dog costume. The man on the left has his left arm around the waist of the other person and is smiling.
Jackson with a Knott's Berry Farm Snoopy mascot in April 1984

On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi Cola commercial, overseen by executive Phil Dusenberry, from ad agency BBDO and Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director, Alan Pottasch at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In front of a full house of fans during a simulated concert, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire. He suffered second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars on his scalp, and he also had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter. Jackson never recovered from this injury. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated his $1.5 million settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, which now has a "Michael Jackson Burn Center" in honor of his donation. Dusenberry later recounted the episode in his memoir, Then We Set His Hair on Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall of Fame Career in Advertising.

On May 14, 1984, Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse. Jackson won eight awards during the Grammys that year. Unlike later albums, Thriller did not have an official tour to promote it, but the 1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. He donated all the funds (around $8 million) raised from the Victory Tour to charity. He also co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" in 1985 with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in the U.S. and Africa. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 30 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief. In 1986, "We Are the World" won four Grammys (one for Jackson for Song of the Year). American Music Award directors removed the charity song from the competition because they felt it would be inappropriate, but recognised it with two special honors (one for the creation of the song and one for the USA for Africa idea). They are the only AMAs that Jackson won as non-solo artist.
In the center of the photo four people can be seen. To the farthest left a medium skin colored man wearing a black suit with a white shirt can be seen. Second to the left a Caucasian man wearing a black suit with a white shirt and brown tie has his head turned to the right. To the right of the Caucasian male there is an African American man wearing a white shirt with a blue jacket that has a yellow strap across his chest. He is raising his right hand, which is covered with a white glove. To the farthest right, a Caucasian female with short blonde hair, who is wearing a white outfit, can be seen. In the background a cream colored building with an opened green door can be seen.
Jackson at the White House South Portico with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, 1984

In 1984, ATV Music Publishing, which had the copyrights to nearly 4000 songs, including the Northern Songs catalog that contained the majority of the Lennon/McCartney compositions recorded by The Beatles, was put up for sale by Robert Holmes à Court. Jackson had become interested in owning music catalogs after working with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s: Jackson had learned McCartney made approximately $40 million a year from other people's songs. In 1981, McCartney was offered the ATV music catalog for £20 million ($40 million). According to McCartney, he contacted Yoko Ono about making a joint purchase by splitting the cost equally at £10 million each, but Ono thought they could buy it for £5 million each. When they were unable to make the joint purchase, McCartney let the offer fall through, not wanting to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs.

According to a negotiator for Holmes à Court in the 1984 sale, "We had given Paul McCartney first right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time." Also, an attorney for McCartney assured Jackson's attorney, John Branca, that McCartney was not interested in bidding: McCartney reportedly said "It's too pricey" But there were several other companies and investors bidding. In September 1984, Jackson was first informed about the sale by Branca and sent a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984. Jackson's agents thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or new areas of debate. In May 1985, Jackson's team walked away from talks after having spent over $1 million on four months of due diligence and on the negotiations.

In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Co. had made a tentative agreement with Holmes à Court to buy ATV Music for $50 million. But in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million and it was accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence of ATV Music. He also agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon. Jackson's purchase of ATV Music was finalized August 10, 1985. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other hall of fames, including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as The Jackson 5 member) in 1999, Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and Hit Parade Hall of Fame (with his brothers) in 2009. In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist. On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's passing as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This Is It." Michael Jackson also received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the United Negro College Fund and also an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fisk University.
Lifetime earnings

His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at US$500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million. Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.
Discography
Main articles: Michael Jackson albums discography, Michael Jackson singles discography, and Michael Jackson videography
See also: Jackson 5 discography

    Got to Be There (1972)
    Ben (1972)
    Music & Me (1973)
    Forever, Michael (1975)
    Off the Wall (1979)
    Thriller (1982)
    Bad (1987)
    Dangerous (1991)
    HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
    Invincible (2001)

Filmography
Main article: Michael Jackson videography
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Director↓
1978 The Wiz Scarecrow Sidney Lumet
1986 Captain EO Captain EO Francis Ford Coppola
1988 Moonwalker Himself Jerry Kramer
1997 Michael Jackson's Ghosts Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton Stan Winston
2002 Men in Black II Agent M (cameo) Barry Sonnenfeld
2004 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls Agent MJ (cameo) Bryan Michael Stoller
2009 Michael Jackson's This Is It Himself Kenny Ortega
Tours
Main article: List of concert tours by Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5

    Bad World Tour (1987–89)
    Dangerous World Tour (1992–93)
    HIStory World Tour (1996–97)
    This Is It (2009–10) (cancelled)

See also
Michael Jackson portal
The Jackson Family portal
African American portal
Book icon Book: Michael Jackson
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

    Honorific nicknames in popular music
    List of best-selling music artists
    List of best-selling music artists in the United States
    List of unreleased Michael Jackson material
    List of artists who have covered Michael Jackson
    List of artists who have sampled Michael Jackson
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l546/mayamj/Michael%20Jackson/michael-jackson-music-dance-legend-44_cleaned.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l546/mayamj/Michael%20Jackson/tumblr_lk06g78yoC1qi1rmp_cleaned.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 8:41 am


The person of the day....Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B, and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had been administered drugs including propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.
In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Michael was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel," and "Can You Feel It". In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.

Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first solo album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Thriller and Motown 25 (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which was 1983's best-selling album worldwide and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies so far. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple." In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform. In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.

Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too". The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".

In March 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member, Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."
Pepsi, "We Are the World" and business career (1984–85)
A black and white image shows a man standing next to a person dressed in a full dog costume. The man on the left has his left arm around the waist of the other person and is smiling.
Jackson with a Knott's Berry Farm Snoopy mascot in April 1984

On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi Cola commercial, overseen by executive Phil Dusenberry, from ad agency BBDO and Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director, Alan Pottasch at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In front of a full house of fans during a simulated concert, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire. He suffered second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars on his scalp, and he also had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter. Jackson never recovered from this injury. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated his $1.5 million settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, which now has a "Michael Jackson Burn Center" in honor of his donation. Dusenberry later recounted the episode in his memoir, Then We Set His Hair on Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall of Fame Career in Advertising.

On May 14, 1984, Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse. Jackson won eight awards during the Grammys that year. Unlike later albums, Thriller did not have an official tour to promote it, but the 1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. He donated all the funds (around $8 million) raised from the Victory Tour to charity. He also co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" in 1985 with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in the U.S. and Africa. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 30 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief. In 1986, "We Are the World" won four Grammys (one for Jackson for Song of the Year). American Music Award directors removed the charity song from the competition because they felt it would be inappropriate, but recognised it with two special honors (one for the creation of the song and one for the USA for Africa idea). They are the only AMAs that Jackson won as non-solo artist.
In the center of the photo four people can be seen. To the farthest left a medium skin colored man wearing a black suit with a white shirt can be seen. Second to the left a Caucasian man wearing a black suit with a white shirt and brown tie has his head turned to the right. To the right of the Caucasian male there is an African American man wearing a white shirt with a blue jacket that has a yellow strap across his chest. He is raising his right hand, which is covered with a white glove. To the farthest right, a Caucasian female with short blonde hair, who is wearing a white outfit, can be seen. In the background a cream colored building with an opened green door can be seen.
Jackson at the White House South Portico with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, 1984

In 1984, ATV Music Publishing, which had the copyrights to nearly 4000 songs, including the Northern Songs catalog that contained the majority of the Lennon/McCartney compositions recorded by The Beatles, was put up for sale by Robert Holmes à Court. Jackson had become interested in owning music catalogs after working with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s: Jackson had learned McCartney made approximately $40 million a year from other people's songs. In 1981, McCartney was offered the ATV music catalog for £20 million ($40 million). According to McCartney, he contacted Yoko Ono about making a joint purchase by splitting the cost equally at £10 million each, but Ono thought they could buy it for £5 million each. When they were unable to make the joint purchase, McCartney let the offer fall through, not wanting to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs.

According to a negotiator for Holmes à Court in the 1984 sale, "We had given Paul McCartney first right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time." Also, an attorney for McCartney assured Jackson's attorney, John Branca, that McCartney was not interested in bidding: McCartney reportedly said "It's too pricey" But there were several other companies and investors bidding. In September 1984, Jackson was first informed about the sale by Branca and sent a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984. Jackson's agents thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or new areas of debate. In May 1985, Jackson's team walked away from talks after having spent over $1 million on four months of due diligence and on the negotiations.

In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Co. had made a tentative agreement with Holmes à Court to buy ATV Music for $50 million. But in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million and it was accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence of ATV Music. He also agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon. Jackson's purchase of ATV Music was finalized August 10, 1985. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other hall of fames, including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as The Jackson 5 member) in 1999, Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and Hit Parade Hall of Fame (with his brothers) in 2009. In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist. On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's passing as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This Is It." Michael Jackson also received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the United Negro College Fund and also an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fisk University.
Lifetime earnings

His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at US$500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million. Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.
Discography
Main articles: Michael Jackson albums discography, Michael Jackson singles discography, and Michael Jackson videography
See also: Jackson 5 discography

    Got to Be There (1972)
    Ben (1972)
    Music & Me (1973)
    Forever, Michael (1975)
    Off the Wall (1979)
    Thriller (1982)
    Bad (1987)
    Dangerous (1991)
    HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
    Invincible (2001)

Filmography
Main article: Michael Jackson videography
Year↓ Film↓ Role↓ Director↓
1978 The Wiz Scarecrow Sidney Lumet
1986 Captain EO Captain EO Francis Ford Coppola
1988 Moonwalker Himself Jerry Kramer
1997 Michael Jackson's Ghosts Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton Stan Winston
2002 Men in Black II Agent M (cameo) Barry Sonnenfeld
2004 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls Agent MJ (cameo) Bryan Michael Stoller
2009 Michael Jackson's This Is It Himself Kenny Ortega
Tours
Main article: List of concert tours by Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5

    Bad World Tour (1987–89)
    Dangerous World Tour (1992–93)
    HIStory World Tour (1996–97)
    This Is It (2009–10) (cancelled)

See also
Michael Jackson portal
The Jackson Family portal
African American portal
Book icon Book: Michael Jackson
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

    Honorific nicknames in popular music
    List of best-selling music artists
    List of best-selling music artists in the United States
    List of unreleased Michael Jackson material
    List of artists who have covered Michael Jackson
    List of artists who have sampled Michael Jackson
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l546/mayamj/Michael%20Jackson/michael-jackson-music-dance-legend-44_cleaned.jpg
http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l546/mayamj/Michael%20Jackson/tumblr_lk06g78yoC1qi1rmp_cleaned.jpg
Let it be Michael Jackson Day!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/29/11 at 8:42 am


Tuesday Weld was born August 27th 1943, and I was wondering what day of the week that was.

It was a Friday

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 8:44 am


It was a Friday
That blows away my idea that she could had been born on a Tuesday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/29/11 at 1:10 pm


Let it be Michael Jackson Day!


Tiff would be proud.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 1:11 pm


Let it be Michael Jackson Day!
Is Bubbles still alive?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/29/11 at 1:12 pm


Is Bubbles still alive?


I think Bubbles died a long time ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 1:12 pm


I think Bubbles died a long time ago.
Oh dear.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/29/11 at 1:13 pm


Oh dear.


you could check wiki.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 1:16 pm


you could check wiki.
Still alive

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 1:16 pm


I think Bubbles died a long time ago.

Still alive
Aged now 27.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/29/11 at 1:17 pm


Still alive



at least he's been taking care of.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 1:18 pm



at least he's been taking care of.
In 2004, Bubbles was moved to the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, where he has been kept for several years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/29/11 at 1:19 pm


In 2004, Bubbles was moved to the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, where he has been kept for several years.



probably cause of Michael's health.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 08/29/11 at 1:19 pm



probably cause of Michael's health.
It was revealed in 2003 that Bubbles had matured into an aggressive adult chimp unsuitable as a companion animal and was sent to a California animal sanctuary where he attempted suicide.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/29/11 at 1:20 pm


It was revealed in 2003 that Bubbles had matured into an aggressive adult chimp unsuitable as a companion animal and was sent to a California animal sanctuary where he attempted suicide.


I guess Michael was told not to keep him long.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/29/11 at 6:22 pm


Tuesday Weld was born August 27th 1943, and I was wondering what day of the week that was.

Friday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/29/11 at 6:26 pm


Let it be Michael Jackson Day!


Tiff would be proud.  :)

Yes indeed, she would.

His albums Thriller and Bad were great, along with their respective title tracks.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/30/11 at 11:56 am

The person of the day...Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films and voicing the character Princess Fiona for the Shrek series. Diaz received Golden Globe award nominations for her performances in the movies There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, and Gangs of New York.
At age 21, Diaz auditioned for the movie The Mask, based on the recommendation of an agent for Elite, who met the film's producers while they were searching for the female main actress. Having no previous acting experience, she started acting lessons after being cast. The Mask became one of the top ten highest grossing films of 1994, earned Diaz nominations for several awards and launched her as a sex symbol.

During the next three years, she had roles in the low-budget independent films The Last Supper (1995), Feeling Minnesota (1996), She's the One (1996), Keys to Tulsa (1996), and A Life Less Ordinary (1997), preferring to feel her way effectively into the business. She was scheduled to feature in the film Mortal Kombat, but had to resign after breaking her hand while training for the role.

She returned to mainstream films with the major movie successes My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) and There's Something About Mary (1998), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the category of Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She received critical acclaim for her performance in Being John Malkovich (1999), which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globe Award, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG Awards). Between 1998 and 2000, Diaz featured in many movies, such as Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, Very Bad Things, Any Given Sunday, and the successful adaptation of Charlie's Angels. During 2001, she won nominations for Best Supporting Actress for the Golden Globe Awards, the SAG Awards, the Critics' Choice Awards, and the American Film Institute Awards for Vanilla Sky, and also voiced Princess Fiona in the movie Shrek, for which she earned $10 million.

During 2003, Diaz received another Golden Globe nomination for Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic Gangs of New York, and became the third actress (after Wedding costar Julia Roberts) to earn $20 million for a role, receiving the sum for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Her next movies were In Her Shoes (2005) and The Holiday (2006). She was preparing to work again with The Mask co-star Jim Carrey for the film Fun with Dick and Jane, but resigned to feature in In Her Shoes. Diaz reportedly earned $50 million during the period of a year ending June 2008, for her roles in What Happens in Vegas opposite Ashton Kutcher, and the Shrek sequels. In 2009, she starred in My Sister's Keeper and The Box.

During 2010, Forbes Magazine ranked Cameron Diaz as the richest Hispanic female celebrity, ranking number 60 among the wealthiest 100. Also that year, Diaz was cast as the female lead in a live action/animation hybrid film version of The Smurfs, and as well as voicing Princess Fiona for the movie Shrek Forever After, also reunited with her Vanilla Sky co-star Tom Cruise in the action/comedy Knight and Day, and on January 14, she played "Lenore Case", the journalist in the remake of the 1940's film, The Green Hornet. She was listed among CEOWORLD magazine's Top Accomplished Women Entertainers.
Personal life

Diaz received "substantial" defamation damages from suing American Media Incorporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on then-paramour Justin Timberlake.

When Diaz was asked if she can speak Spanish she said:
“ I go, 'God, you know, it all sounds so familiar. I know what you're saying, I really do. I just cannot respond to you back in Spanish. I can barely speak English properly.' I didn't grow up in a Cuban community. I grew up in Southern California on the beach, basically. And I'm third generation. I'm of Cuban descent.

She endorsed Al Gore publicly during 2000. Diaz wore a t-shirt that read "I won't vote for a son of a Bush!" while making publicity visits for Charlie's Angels.

Diaz has also been involved with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest nonprofit organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has spoken as an advocate for military families.

Although she was quoted by a 1997 Time magazine article as saying she was germophobic, Diaz specifically denied this on the June 26, 2009, edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, saying that a small comment she made 12 years earlier regarding public bathroom doorknobs was distorted out of proportion. Furthermore, on the June 21, 2011 episode of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Diaz removed stitches from the wrist of Jon Stewart, on-camera.

On April 15, 2008, her father, Emilio Diaz, died of pneumonia, aged 58.
Relationships

During 1995, she began a relationship with actor Matt Dillon, with whom she co-starred in There's Something About Mary; the relationship ended during 1998.

Diaz dated singer Justin Timberlake from 2003 to 2006. During October 2004, Diaz and Timberlake were in an altercation with a tabloid photographer outside a hotel. When the photographer and another man tried to photograph them, the couple snatched the camera. Pictures of the incident appeared in Us Weekly. Representatives for the pair claimed that they were acting a scene on a set.

As of July 2010, Diaz has been in a romantic relationship with New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
Filmography and awards

During 1996, Diaz received an award at the ShoWest Convention for "Female Star of Tomorrow." During 2006, she won a People's Choice Award for "Favorite Leading Lady." On June 22, 2009, she was commemorated by a star-figure on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1994 The Mask Tina Carlyle
1995 The Last Supper Jude
1996 She's the One Heather
Feeling Minnesota Freddie Clayton
Head Above Water Nathalie
Keys to Tulsa Trudy
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding Kimberly Wallace ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role
Blockbuster Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Comedy
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
A Life Less Ordinary Celine Naville
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Blonde TV Reporter
There's Something About Mary Mary Jensen American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Blockbuster Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Very Bad Things Laura Garrety
1999 Man Woman Film Random Celebrity cameo
Being John Malkovich Lotte Schwartz Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Carol Faber
The Invisible Circus Faith
Any Given Sunday Christina Pagniacci ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
2000 Charlie's Angels Natalie Cook Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — MTV Movie Awards for Best Line (For "I signed the release, so you can stick anything you want in my slot!".)
2001 Shrek Princess Fiona Voice
Vanilla Sky Julie Gianni Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — AFI Award for Best Actress
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
2002 The Sweetest Thing Christina Walters
Gangs of New York Jenny Everdeane Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Natalie Cook Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Actress
2004 Shrek 2 Princess Fiona Voice
2005 In Her Shoes Maggie Feller Nominated — Imagen Foundation Award for Best Actress
2006 The Holiday Amanda Woods
2007 Shrek the Third Princess Fiona Voice
2008 What Happens in Vegas Joy McNally Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in a Comedy
Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Ashton Kutcher) and for Worst Actress
2009 My Sister's Keeper Sara Fitzgerald Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star: Female
The Box Norma Lewis
2010 Shrek Forever After Princess Fiona Voice
Nominated — Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Knight and Day June Havens Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star: Female
2011 The Green Hornet Lenore Case
Bad Teacher Elizabeth Halsey Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in a Comedy
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress – Musical or Comedy
2012 Gambit PJ Puznowski Filming
What To Expect When You're Expecting Jules Filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2005 Trippin' Herself MTV – Travel Documentary
2007 Shrek the Halls Princess Fiona Voice
Made for television
2008–2009 Saturday Night Live Kiki Deamore 3 episodes
2009 Sesame Street Herself
2010 Top Gear Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car Series 15, Episode 5 – appeared alongside Tom Cruise
2010 Scared Shrekless Princess Fiona Voice
Made for television
2011 The X Factor (French edition) Herself, as a guest judge Invited by M6 for the semi final of the competition to judge the contestants' performances
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab52/themironshow14/Cameron%20Diaz/normal_98659_CameronDiazCelebutopia_net6_122_86lo1.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab52/themironshow14/Cameron%20Diaz/normal_47955_szavy_Cameron_Diaz_Terry_Richardson_Photoshoot_2010_for_Harpers_Bazaar_02_122_500lo1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/30/11 at 1:44 pm


The person of the day...Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films and voicing the character Princess Fiona for the Shrek series. Diaz received Golden Globe award nominations for her performances in the movies There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, and Gangs of New York.
At age 21, Diaz auditioned for the movie The Mask, based on the recommendation of an agent for Elite, who met the film's producers while they were searching for the female main actress. Having no previous acting experience, she started acting lessons after being cast. The Mask became one of the top ten highest grossing films of 1994, earned Diaz nominations for several awards and launched her as a sex symbol.

During the next three years, she had roles in the low-budget independent films The Last Supper (1995), Feeling Minnesota (1996), She's the One (1996), Keys to Tulsa (1996), and A Life Less Ordinary (1997), preferring to feel her way effectively into the business. She was scheduled to feature in the film Mortal Kombat, but had to resign after breaking her hand while training for the role.

She returned to mainstream films with the major movie successes My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) and There's Something About Mary (1998), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the category of Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She received critical acclaim for her performance in Being John Malkovich (1999), which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globe Award, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG Awards). Between 1998 and 2000, Diaz featured in many movies, such as Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, Very Bad Things, Any Given Sunday, and the successful adaptation of Charlie's Angels. During 2001, she won nominations for Best Supporting Actress for the Golden Globe Awards, the SAG Awards, the Critics' Choice Awards, and the American Film Institute Awards for Vanilla Sky, and also voiced Princess Fiona in the movie Shrek, for which she earned $10 million.

During 2003, Diaz received another Golden Globe nomination for Martin Scorsese's 2002 epic Gangs of New York, and became the third actress (after Wedding costar Julia Roberts) to earn $20 million for a role, receiving the sum for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Her next movies were In Her Shoes (2005) and The Holiday (2006). She was preparing to work again with The Mask co-star Jim Carrey for the film Fun with Dick and Jane, but resigned to feature in In Her Shoes. Diaz reportedly earned $50 million during the period of a year ending June 2008, for her roles in What Happens in Vegas opposite Ashton Kutcher, and the Shrek sequels. In 2009, she starred in My Sister's Keeper and The Box.

During 2010, Forbes Magazine ranked Cameron Diaz as the richest Hispanic female celebrity, ranking number 60 among the wealthiest 100. Also that year, Diaz was cast as the female lead in a live action/animation hybrid film version of The Smurfs, and as well as voicing Princess Fiona for the movie Shrek Forever After, also reunited with her Vanilla Sky co-star Tom Cruise in the action/comedy Knight and Day, and on January 14, she played "Lenore Case", the journalist in the remake of the 1940's film, The Green Hornet. She was listed among CEOWORLD magazine's Top Accomplished Women Entertainers.
Personal life

Diaz received "substantial" defamation damages from suing American Media Incorporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on then-paramour Justin Timberlake.

When Diaz was asked if she can speak Spanish she said:
“ I go, 'God, you know, it all sounds so familiar. I know what you're saying, I really do. I just cannot respond to you back in Spanish. I can barely speak English properly.' I didn't grow up in a Cuban community. I grew up in Southern California on the beach, basically. And I'm third generation. I'm of Cuban descent.

She endorsed Al Gore publicly during 2000. Diaz wore a t-shirt that read "I won't vote for a son of a Bush!" while making publicity visits for Charlie's Angels.

Diaz has also been involved with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest nonprofit organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has spoken as an advocate for military families.

Although she was quoted by a 1997 Time magazine article as saying she was germophobic, Diaz specifically denied this on the June 26, 2009, edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, saying that a small comment she made 12 years earlier regarding public bathroom doorknobs was distorted out of proportion. Furthermore, on the June 21, 2011 episode of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Diaz removed stitches from the wrist of Jon Stewart, on-camera.

On April 15, 2008, her father, Emilio Diaz, died of pneumonia, aged 58.
Relationships

During 1995, she began a relationship with actor Matt Dillon, with whom she co-starred in There's Something About Mary; the relationship ended during 1998.

Diaz dated singer Justin Timberlake from 2003 to 2006. During October 2004, Diaz and Timberlake were in an altercation with a tabloid photographer outside a hotel. When the photographer and another man tried to photograph them, the couple snatched the camera. Pictures of the incident appeared in Us Weekly. Representatives for the pair claimed that they were acting a scene on a set.

As of July 2010, Diaz has been in a romantic relationship with New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
Filmography and awards

During 1996, Diaz received an award at the ShoWest Convention for "Female Star of Tomorrow." During 2006, she won a People's Choice Award for "Favorite Leading Lady." On June 22, 2009, she was commemorated by a star-figure on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes↓
1994 The Mask Tina Carlyle
1995 The Last Supper Jude
1996 She's the One Heather
Feeling Minnesota Freddie Clayton
Head Above Water Nathalie
Keys to Tulsa Trudy
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding Kimberly Wallace ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role
Blockbuster Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Comedy
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
A Life Less Ordinary Celine Naville
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Blonde TV Reporter
There's Something About Mary Mary Jensen American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Blockbuster Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Very Bad Things Laura Garrety
1999 Man Woman Film Random Celebrity cameo
Being John Malkovich Lotte Schwartz Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Carol Faber
The Invisible Circus Faith
Any Given Sunday Christina Pagniacci ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
2000 Charlie's Angels Natalie Cook Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — MTV Movie Awards for Best Line (For "I signed the release, so you can stick anything you want in my slot!".)
2001 Shrek Princess Fiona Voice
Vanilla Sky Julie Gianni Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — AFI Award for Best Actress
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
2002 The Sweetest Thing Christina Walters
Gangs of New York Jenny Everdeane Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Natalie Cook Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Actress
2004 Shrek 2 Princess Fiona Voice
2005 In Her Shoes Maggie Feller Nominated — Imagen Foundation Award for Best Actress
2006 The Holiday Amanda Woods
2007 Shrek the Third Princess Fiona Voice
2008 What Happens in Vegas Joy McNally Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in a Comedy
Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with Ashton Kutcher) and for Worst Actress
2009 My Sister's Keeper Sara Fitzgerald Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star: Female
The Box Norma Lewis
2010 Shrek Forever After Princess Fiona Voice
Nominated — Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Knight and Day June Havens Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star: Female
2011 The Green Hornet Lenore Case
Bad Teacher Elizabeth Halsey Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress in a Comedy
Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress – Musical or Comedy
2012 Gambit PJ Puznowski Filming
What To Expect When You're Expecting Jules Filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2005 Trippin' Herself MTV – Travel Documentary
2007 Shrek the Halls Princess Fiona Voice
Made for television
2008–2009 Saturday Night Live Kiki Deamore 3 episodes
2009 Sesame Street Herself
2010 Top Gear Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car Series 15, Episode 5 – appeared alongside Tom Cruise
2010 Scared Shrekless Princess Fiona Voice
Made for television
2011 The X Factor (French edition) Herself, as a guest judge Invited by M6 for the semi final of the competition to judge the contestants' performances
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab52/themironshow14/Cameron%20Diaz/normal_98659_CameronDiazCelebutopia_net6_122_86lo1.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab52/themironshow14/Cameron%20Diaz/normal_47955_szavy_Cameron_Diaz_Terry_Richardson_Photoshoot_2010_for_Harpers_Bazaar_02_122_500lo1.jpg


I always liked her films and also in Friends.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 08/30/11 at 4:17 pm

Hard to imagine Cameron is almost 40. She's a good actress, and a very likeable one.
I've liked her since I saw her in "Feeeling Minnesota" with Keanu Reeves.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 08/31/11 at 9:41 am

The person of the day...Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE (born George Ivan Morrison; 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely viewed as among the greatest ever made.

Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns' death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks in 1968. Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received; however, the next one, Moondance, established Morrison as a major artist, and throughout the 1970s he built on his reputation with a series of critically acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and The Chieftains. In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.

Much of Morrison's music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles, "Brown Eyed Girl", "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", "Domino" and "Wild Night". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as Astral Weeks and lesser-known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul".

Morrison has received considerable acclaim, including six Grammy Awards, being inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and appearing on several "Greatest Artists" lists.
The roots of Them, the band that first broke Morrison on the international scene, came in April 1964 when Morrison responded to an advert for musicians to play at a new R&B club at the Maritime Hotel – an old dance hall frequented by sailors. The new R&B club needed a band for its opening night; however, Morrison had left the Golden Eagles (the group with which he had been performing at the time), so he created a new band out of The Gamblers, an East Belfast group formed by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison, and Alan Henderson in 1962. Eric Wrixon, still a schoolboy, was the piano player and keyboardist. Morrison played saxophone and harmonica and shared vocals with Billy Harrison. They followed Eric Wrixon's suggestion for a new name, and The Gamblers morphed into Them, their name taken from the Fifties horror movie Them!.

The band's strong R&B performances at the Maritime attracted attention. Them performed without a routine and Morrison ad libbed, creating his songs live as he performed. While the band did covers, they also played some of Morrison's early songs, such as "Could You Would You", which he had written in Camden Town while touring with The Manhattan Showband. The debut of Morrison's "Gloria" took place on stage here. Sometimes, depending on his mood, the song could last up to twenty minutes. Morrison has stated that "Them lived and died on the stage at the Maritime Hotel," believing that the band did not manage to capture the spontaneity and energy of their live performances on their records. The statement also reflected the instability of the Them lineup, with numerous members passing through the ranks after the definitive Maritime period. Morrison and Henderson would remain the only constants, and a highly unsuccessful version of Them even soldiered on after Morrison's departure.

Dick Rowe of Decca Records became aware of the band's performances, and signed Them to a standard two-year contract. In that period, they released two albums and ten singles, with two more singles released after Morrison departed the band. They had three chart hits, "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1964), "Here Comes the Night" (1965), and "Mystic Eyes" (1965), though it was the b-side of "Baby, Please Don't Go", the garage band classic, "Gloria", that went on to become a rock standard covered by Patti Smith, The Doors, Shadows of Knight, Jimi Hendrix and others.

"Gloria"
Morrison's garage rock classic was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. As described by Paul Williams: "Van Morrison's voice a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world. Resulting in one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind."
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Building on the success of their singles in the United States, and riding on the back of the British Invasion, Them undertook a two month tour of America in May and June 1966 that included a residency from 30 May to 18 June at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. The Doors were the supporting act on the last week, and Morrison's influence on The Doors singer, Jim Morrison, was noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm. Brian Hinton relates how "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".

Toward the end of the tour the band members became involved in a dispute with their manager, Decca Records' Phil Solomon, over the revenues paid to the band; that, coupled with the expiry of their work visas, meant the band returned from America dejected. After two more concerts in Ireland, Them split up. Morrison concentrated on writing some of the songs that would appear on Astral Weeks, while the remnants of the band reformed in 1967 and relocated in America.
Start of solo career with Bang Records and "Brown Eyed Girl" – 1967

"Brown Eyed Girl"
Morrison's classic 1967 hit single which appeared on the album Blowin' Your Mind!. In 2007, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Bert Berns, Them’s producer and composer of their 1965 hit, "Here Comes the Night", persuaded Morrison to return to New York to record solo for his new label, Bang Records. Morrison flew over and signed a contract he had not fully studied. Then, during a two-day recording session at A & R Studios starting 28 March 1967, eight songs were recorded originally intended to be used as four singles. Instead, these songs were released as the album Blowin' Your Mind! without Morrison being consulted. He said he only became aware of the album's release when a friend mentioned on a phone call that he had just bought a copy of it. He later commented to Donal Corvin in a 1973 interview: "I wasn't really happy with it. He picked the bands and tunes. I had a different concept of it."

However, from these early sessions emerged "Brown Eyed Girl". Captured on the 22nd take on the first day, this song was released as a single in mid-June 1967, reaching number ten in the US charts in 1967. "Brown Eyed Girl" became Morrison's most played song and over the years it has remained a classic; forty years later in 2007, it was the fourth most requested song of DJs in the US.

Following the death of Berns in 1967, Morrison became involved in a contract dispute with Berns' widow that prevented him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area. The song "Big Time Operators", released in 1993, is thought to allude to his dealings with the New York music business during this time period. He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and was soon confronted with personal and financial problems; he had "slipped into a malaise" and had trouble finding concert bookings. However, through the few gigs he could find, he regained his professional footing and started recording with the Warner Bros. Records label. The record company managed to buy out his contract with Bang Records. Morrison fulfilled a clause that bound him to submit thirty-six original songs within a year to Web IV Music, Berns' music publishing company, by recording thirty-one songs in one session; however, Ilene Berns thought the songs "nonsense music ... about ringworms" and didn't use them. The throwaway compositions would come to be known as the "revenge" songs.
By 1972, after being a performer for nearly ten years, Morrison began experiencing stage fright when performing for audiences of thousands, as opposed to the hundreds as he had experienced in his early career. He became anxious on stage and would have difficulty establishing eye contact with the audience. He once said in an interview about performing on stage, "I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonizing for me to be out there." After a brief break from music, he started appearing in clubs, regaining his ability to perform live, albeit with smaller audiences.

The 1974 live double album, It's Too Late to Stop Now, has been on lists of greatest live albums of all time. Biographer Johnny Rogan states that "Morrison was in the midst of what was arguably his greatest phase as a performer." Performances on the album were from tapes made during a three month tour of the US and Europe in 1973 with the backing group The Caledonia Soul Orchestra. Soon after recording the album, Morrison restructured the Caledonia Soul Orchestra into a smaller unit, the Caledonia Soul Express.
Morrison performs in 1976 at The Band's final concert filmed for The Last Waltz.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, Morrison performed at the farewell concert for The Band. Morrison's first live performance in several years, he considered skipping his appearance until the last minute, even refusing to go on stage when they announced his name. His manager, Harvey Goldsmith, said he "literally kicked him out there." Morrison was on good terms with The Band as near-neighbours in Woodstock, and they had the shared experience of stage-fright. At the concert, he performed two songs. His first was a rendition of the classic Irish song Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral. His second song was "Caravan", from his 1970 album Moondance. Greil Marcus, in attendance at the concert, wrote: "Van Morrison turned the show around...singing to the rafters and ...burning holes in the floor. It was a triumph, and as the song ended Van began to kick his leg into the air out of sheer exuberance and he kicked his way right offstage like a Rockette. The crowd had given him a fine welcome and they cheered wildly when he left." The filmed concert served as the basis for Martin Scorsese's 1978 film, The Last Waltz.
Discography
Main article: Van Morrison discography

    Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)
    Astral Weeks (1968)
    Moondance (1970)
    His Band and the Street Choir (1970)
    Tupelo Honey (1971)
    Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)
    Hard Nose the Highway (1973)
    It's Too Late to Stop Now (Live) (1974)
    Veedon Fleece (1974)
    A Period of Transition (1977)
    Wavelength (1978)
    Into the Music (1979)
    Common One (1980)
    Beautiful Vision (1982)
    Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983)
    Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (1984)
    A Sense of Wonder (1985)
    No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)
    Poetic Champions Compose (1987)
    Irish Heartbeat (1988)
    Avalon Sunset (1989)
    Enlightenment (1990)
    Hymns to the Silence (1991)
    Too Long in Exile (1993)
    A Night in San Francisco (Live) (1994)
    Days Like This (1995)
    How Long Has This Been Going On (1996)
    Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996)
    The Healing Game (1997)
    The Philosopher's Stone (1998)
    Back on Top (1999)
    The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998 (2000)
    You Win Again (2000)
    Down the Road (2002)
    What's Wrong with This Picture? (2003)
    Magic Time (2005)
    Pay the Devil (2006)
    Live at Austin City Limits Festival (Limited edition) (2006)
    Keep It Simple (2008)
    Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl (2009)

Legacy
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Van Morrison

Morrison has received several major music awards in his career, including six Grammy Awards (1996–2007); inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (January 1993), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (June 2003), and the Irish Music Hall of Fame (September 1999); and a Brit Award (February 1994). In addition he has received civil awards of an OBE (June 1996) and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1996), and he has honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster (1992) and Queen's University Belfast (July 2001).

The Hall of Fame inductions began in 1993 with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Morrison notable for being the first inductee not to attend his own ceremony, so that Robbie Robertson from The Band accepted the award on his behalf. When Morrison became the initial musician inducted into the Irish Music Hall of Fame, Bob Geldof presented Morrison with the award. Morrison's third induction was into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for "recognition of his unique position as one of the most important songwriters of the past century." Ray Charles presented the award, following a performance during which the pair performed Morrison's "Crazy Love", from the album, Moondance. Morrison's BRIT Award was for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music. He was presented with the award by former Beirut hostage, John McCarthy, who while testifying to the importance of Morrison's song, "Wonderful Remark" called it "a song ... which was very important to us."

Morrison received two civil awards in 1996, first was the Order of the British Empire for his service to music, the second was an award by the French government when he was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Along with these state awards he has two honorary degrees in music; an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Ulster, and an honorary doctorate in music from Queen's University in his hometown of Belfast.

Among other awards are an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, the BMI ICON award in October 2004 for Morrison's "enduring influence on generations of music makers", and an Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film award in 2007 for his contribution to over fifty films, presented by Al Pacino who compared Morrison to Oscar Wilde as they were both "visionaries who push boundaries". He was voted the Best International Male Singer of 2007 at the inaugural International Awards in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London.

Morrison has also appeared in a number of Greatest lists, including the TIME magazine list of The All-Time 100 Albums, which contained Astral Weeks and Moondance, and he appeared at number thirteen on the list of WXPN's 885 All Time Greatest Artists. In 2000, Morrison ranked twenty-fifth on American cable music channel VH1's list of its "100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll". In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Van Morrison forty-second on their list of "Greatest Artists of All Time". Paste ranked him twentieth in their list of "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" in 2006. Q ranked him twenty-second on their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in April 2007 and he was voted twenty-fourth on the November 2008 list of Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Three of Morrison's songs were included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll: "Brown Eyed Girl", "Madame George" and "Moondance".

Morrison has been announced to be one of the 2010 honorees listed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp126/ljg3330/Van_Morrison_umvd004.jpg
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp313/Cromagnonrand/van-morrison1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 08/31/11 at 10:47 am

Choreographed & preformed a dance to this song back in the dark ages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNsmF9JTpuI


I once knew a guy by the name of Vaughn Morrison.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 08/31/11 at 2:00 pm


The person of the day...Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE (born George Ivan Morrison; 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely viewed as among the greatest ever made.

Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns' death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks in 1968. Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received; however, the next one, Moondance, established Morrison as a major artist, and throughout the 1970s he built on his reputation with a series of critically acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and The Chieftains. In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.

Much of Morrison's music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles, "Brown Eyed Girl", "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", "Domino" and "Wild Night". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as Astral Weeks and lesser-known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul".

Morrison has received considerable acclaim, including six Grammy Awards, being inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and appearing on several "Greatest Artists" lists.
The roots of Them, the band that first broke Morrison on the international scene, came in April 1964 when Morrison responded to an advert for musicians to play at a new R&B club at the Maritime Hotel – an old dance hall frequented by sailors. The new R&B club needed a band for its opening night; however, Morrison had left the Golden Eagles (the group with which he had been performing at the time), so he created a new band out of The Gamblers, an East Belfast group formed by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison, and Alan Henderson in 1962. Eric Wrixon, still a schoolboy, was the piano player and keyboardist. Morrison played saxophone and harmonica and shared vocals with Billy Harrison. They followed Eric Wrixon's suggestion for a new name, and The Gamblers morphed into Them, their name taken from the Fifties horror movie Them!.

The band's strong R&B performances at the Maritime attracted attention. Them performed without a routine and Morrison ad libbed, creating his songs live as he performed. While the band did covers, they also played some of Morrison's early songs, such as "Could You Would You", which he had written in Camden Town while touring with The Manhattan Showband. The debut of Morrison's "Gloria" took place on stage here. Sometimes, depending on his mood, the song could last up to twenty minutes. Morrison has stated that "Them lived and died on the stage at the Maritime Hotel," believing that the band did not manage to capture the spontaneity and energy of their live performances on their records. The statement also reflected the instability of the Them lineup, with numerous members passing through the ranks after the definitive Maritime period. Morrison and Henderson would remain the only constants, and a highly unsuccessful version of Them even soldiered on after Morrison's departure.

Dick Rowe of Decca Records became aware of the band's performances, and signed Them to a standard two-year contract. In that period, they released two albums and ten singles, with two more singles released after Morrison departed the band. They had three chart hits, "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1964), "Here Comes the Night" (1965), and "Mystic Eyes" (1965), though it was the b-side of "Baby, Please Don't Go", the garage band classic, "Gloria", that went on to become a rock standard covered by Patti Smith, The Doors, Shadows of Knight, Jimi Hendrix and others.

"Gloria"
Morrison's garage rock classic was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. As described by Paul Williams: "Van Morrison's voice a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world. Resulting in one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind."
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Building on the success of their singles in the United States, and riding on the back of the British Invasion, Them undertook a two month tour of America in May and June 1966 that included a residency from 30 May to 18 June at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. The Doors were the supporting act on the last week, and Morrison's influence on The Doors singer, Jim Morrison, was noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm. Brian Hinton relates how "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".

Toward the end of the tour the band members became involved in a dispute with their manager, Decca Records' Phil Solomon, over the revenues paid to the band; that, coupled with the expiry of their work visas, meant the band returned from America dejected. After two more concerts in Ireland, Them split up. Morrison concentrated on writing some of the songs that would appear on Astral Weeks, while the remnants of the band reformed in 1967 and relocated in America.
Start of solo career with Bang Records and "Brown Eyed Girl" – 1967

"Brown Eyed Girl"
Morrison's classic 1967 hit single which appeared on the album Blowin' Your Mind!. In 2007, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Bert Berns, Them’s producer and composer of their 1965 hit, "Here Comes the Night", persuaded Morrison to return to New York to record solo for his new label, Bang Records. Morrison flew over and signed a contract he had not fully studied. Then, during a two-day recording session at A & R Studios starting 28 March 1967, eight songs were recorded originally intended to be used as four singles. Instead, these songs were released as the album Blowin' Your Mind! without Morrison being consulted. He said he only became aware of the album's release when a friend mentioned on a phone call that he had just bought a copy of it. He later commented to Donal Corvin in a 1973 interview: "I wasn't really happy with it. He picked the bands and tunes. I had a different concept of it."

However, from these early sessions emerged "Brown Eyed Girl". Captured on the 22nd take on the first day, this song was released as a single in mid-June 1967, reaching number ten in the US charts in 1967. "Brown Eyed Girl" became Morrison's most played song and over the years it has remained a classic; forty years later in 2007, it was the fourth most requested song of DJs in the US.

Following the death of Berns in 1967, Morrison became involved in a contract dispute with Berns' widow that prevented him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area. The song "Big Time Operators", released in 1993, is thought to allude to his dealings with the New York music business during this time period. He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and was soon confronted with personal and financial problems; he had "slipped into a malaise" and had trouble finding concert bookings. However, through the few gigs he could find, he regained his professional footing and started recording with the Warner Bros. Records label. The record company managed to buy out his contract with Bang Records. Morrison fulfilled a clause that bound him to submit thirty-six original songs within a year to Web IV Music, Berns' music publishing company, by recording thirty-one songs in one session; however, Ilene Berns thought the songs "nonsense music ... about ringworms" and didn't use them. The throwaway compositions would come to be known as the "revenge" songs.
By 1972, after being a performer for nearly ten years, Morrison began experiencing stage fright when performing for audiences of thousands, as opposed to the hundreds as he had experienced in his early career. He became anxious on stage and would have difficulty establishing eye contact with the audience. He once said in an interview about performing on stage, "I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonizing for me to be out there." After a brief break from music, he started appearing in clubs, regaining his ability to perform live, albeit with smaller audiences.

The 1974 live double album, It's Too Late to Stop Now, has been on lists of greatest live albums of all time. Biographer Johnny Rogan states that "Morrison was in the midst of what was arguably his greatest phase as a performer." Performances on the album were from tapes made during a three month tour of the US and Europe in 1973 with the backing group The Caledonia Soul Orchestra. Soon after recording the album, Morrison restructured the Caledonia Soul Orchestra into a smaller unit, the Caledonia Soul Express.
Morrison performs in 1976 at The Band's final concert filmed for The Last Waltz.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, Morrison performed at the farewell concert for The Band. Morrison's first live performance in several years, he considered skipping his appearance until the last minute, even refusing to go on stage when they announced his name. His manager, Harvey Goldsmith, said he "literally kicked him out there." Morrison was on good terms with The Band as near-neighbours in Woodstock, and they had the shared experience of stage-fright. At the concert, he performed two songs. His first was a rendition of the classic Irish song Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral. His second song was "Caravan", from his 1970 album Moondance. Greil Marcus, in attendance at the concert, wrote: "Van Morrison turned the show around...singing to the rafters and ...burning holes in the floor. It was a triumph, and as the song ended Van began to kick his leg into the air out of sheer exuberance and he kicked his way right offstage like a Rockette. The crowd had given him a fine welcome and they cheered wildly when he left." The filmed concert served as the basis for Martin Scorsese's 1978 film, The Last Waltz.
Discography
Main article: Van Morrison discography

   Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)
   Astral Weeks (1968)
   Moondance (1970)
   His Band and the Street Choir (1970)
   Tupelo Honey (1971)
   Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)
   Hard Nose the Highway (1973)
   It's Too Late to Stop Now (Live) (1974)
   Veedon Fleece (1974)
   A Period of Transition (1977)
   Wavelength (1978)
   Into the Music (1979)
   Common One (1980)
   Beautiful Vision (1982)
   Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983)
   Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (1984)
   A Sense of Wonder (1985)
   No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)
   Poetic Champions Compose (1987)
   Irish Heartbeat (1988)
   Avalon Sunset (1989)
   Enlightenment (1990)
   Hymns to the Silence (1991)
   Too Long in Exile (1993)
   A Night in San Francisco (Live) (1994)
   Days Like This (1995)
   How Long Has This Been Going On (1996)
   Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996)
   The Healing Game (1997)
   The Philosopher's Stone (1998)
   Back on Top (1999)
   The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998 (2000)
   You Win Again (2000)
   Down the Road (2002)
   What's Wrong with This Picture? (2003)
   Magic Time (2005)
   Pay the Devil (2006)
   Live at Austin City Limits Festival (Limited edition) (2006)
   Keep It Simple (2008)
   Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl (2009)

Legacy
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Van Morrison

Morrison has received several major music awards in his career, including six Grammy Awards (1996–2007); inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (January 1993), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (June 2003), and the Irish Music Hall of Fame (September 1999); and a Brit Award (February 1994). In addition he has received civil awards of an OBE (June 1996) and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1996), and he has honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster (1992) and Queen's University Belfast (July 2001).

The Hall of Fame inductions began in 1993 with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Morrison notable for being the first inductee not to attend his own ceremony, so that Robbie Robertson from The Band accepted the award on his behalf. When Morrison became the initial musician inducted into the Irish Music Hall of Fame, Bob Geldof presented Morrison with the award. Morrison's third induction was into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for "recognition of his unique position as one of the most important songwriters of the past century." Ray Charles presented the award, following a performance during which the pair performed Morrison's "Crazy Love", from the album, Moondance. Morrison's BRIT Award was for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music. He was presented with the award by former Beirut hostage, John McCarthy, who while testifying to the importance of Morrison's song, "Wonderful Remark" called it "a song ... which was very important to us."

Morrison received two civil awards in 1996, first was the Order of the British Empire for his service to music, the second was an award by the French government when he was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Along with these state awards he has two honorary degrees in music; an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Ulster, and an honorary doctorate in music from Queen's University in his hometown of Belfast.

Among other awards are an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, the BMI ICON award in October 2004 for Morrison's "enduring influence on generations of music makers", and an Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film award in 2007 for his contribution to over fifty films, presented by Al Pacino who compared Morrison to Oscar Wilde as they were both "visionaries who push boundaries". He was voted the Best International Male Singer of 2007 at the inaugural International Awards in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London.

Morrison has also appeared in a number of Greatest lists, including the TIME magazine list of The All-Time 100 Albums, which contained Astral Weeks and Moondance, and he appeared at number thirteen on the list of WXPN's 885 All Time Greatest Artists. In 2000, Morrison ranked twenty-fifth on American cable music channel VH1's list of its "100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll". In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Van Morrison forty-second on their list of "Greatest Artists of All Time". Paste ranked him twentieth in their list of "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" in 2006. Q ranked him twenty-second on their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in April 2007 and he was voted twenty-fourth on the November 2008 list of Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Three of Morrison's songs were included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll: "Brown Eyed Girl", "Madame George" and "Moondance".

Morrison has been announced to be one of the 2010 honorees listed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp126/ljg3330/Van_Morrison_umvd004.jpg
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp313/Cromagnonrand/van-morrison1.jpg


Brown Eyed Girl and Moondance are two of my favorites from him. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 08/31/11 at 10:31 pm


Brown Eyed Girl and Moondance are two of my favorites from him. :)

Yeah, those are the two songs of his that I hear the most often on the radio.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/01/11 at 9:25 am

The person of the day...Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan (born September 1, 1957) is a Cuban American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those in the United States alone. She has won seven Grammy Awards, and is the most successful crossover performer in Latin music to date.
Gloria became romantically involved with the Miami Sound Machine's band leader, Emilio Estefan, in 1976. She and Emilio married on September 2, 1978. They have a son, Nayib (born September 2, 1980) and a daughter, Emily Marie (born December 5, 1994). The family lives in the Star Island section of Miami Beach, Florida.
Career in singing
Mid-1970s through the 1980s

Starting in 1977, the Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan began recording and releasing various albums, 45s, and 12"s on the Audiofon Records label in Miami. The first album from 1977 was entitled Live Again Renacer and was released with two different covers. After several more releases on the Audiofon label as well as the RCA Victor label and Miami Sound Machine's own label MSM Records, the band was signed to Discos CBS International and released several albums, 45s, and 12"s beginning with 1980s self-titled album Miami Sound Machine. Growing in popularity in both the United States and around the world, the group would continue recording and issuing various works for Discos CBS International through 1985. In 1984, Miami Sound Machine released their first Epic/Columbia album, Eyes of Innocence, which contained the dance hit "Dr. Beat" as well as the ballad "I Need Your Love". Their more successful follow-up album Primitive Love was released in 1985 launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get In The Way" (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow up hits in the U.S. and around the world. "Words Get in the Way" reached #1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the film Top Gun.

Their next album, 1987's Let It Loose, went multi-platinum, with six million copies sold in the US. It featured the following hits: "Anything for You" (#1 Hot 100), "1-2-3" (#3 Hot 100), "Betcha Say That" (#36 Hot 100), "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (#5 Hot 100), and "Can't Stay Away From You" (#6 Hot 100). "Can't Stay Away From You", "Anything for You" and "1-2-3" were all #1 Adult Contemporary hits as well.

In 1988, Estefan took top billing and the band's name changed to Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Beginning in 1989, the group's name was dropped altogether. Estefan was credited as a solo artist, though the ever-changing line-up of Miami Sound Machine continues as her backing band to this day.

In 1988, after the worldwide chart success of single "Anything for You", her Let it Loose album was repackaged as Anything for You. It became the band's first UK #1 album, selling over a million copies. It was the biggest selling album of the year in The Netherlands, staying at #1 for 22 weeks. The album also took top honors in Australia and Canada, launching Estefan to superstar status., but she achieved a complete recovery. She returned to an international tour ten months after the accident.
Estefan has appeared in two films, Music of the Heart (1999) and For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). Estefan made a cameo appearance with her husband in Marley & Me in 2008.

Estefan was cast to star as Connie Francis, a U.S. pop singer of the 1950s and early 1960s, in Who's Sorry Now?, based on Francis' life. Filming supposedly began in late 2008, according to Parade Magazine (March 23, 2008). Estefan, in an interview with www.allheadlinenews.com, stated the film would be released in 2009. As of December 2009, the film has been dropped as Connie Francis had irreconcilable differences with Estefan over the film's writer. Francis wanted to hire writer Robert L. Freedman, who had written the Emmy Award winning mini-series Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Estefan refused to consider him, which according to Francis ended the project collaboration.

Estefan appeared in the ABC television special Elmopalooza, which aired February 20, 1998, in which she sang the song "Mambo, I, I, I". In April 2004, Estefan appeared on the Fox Broadcasting Company's program, American Idol as a guest mentor for the contestants' Latin week.
Books

Estefan has written two children's books: The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) and Noelle's Treasure Tale (2006). The latter book spent a week at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list for children's books.

She also collaborated on a cookbook with her husband entitled Estefan Kitchen, which was published in 2008. It contains 60 traditional Cuban recipes.
Other business ventures
The Cardozo hotel on Ocean Drive, in Miami Beach, Florida.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan own a number of business establishments, including seven Cuban-themed restaurants (Bongos Cuban Café). The restaurants are located in Miami; Miami Beach, Downtown Miami, part of the American Airlines Arena; Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney in Orlando; Mexico City; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They also own two hotels: the Costa d'Este in Vero Beach which opened in 2008, and The Cardozo in Miami Beach.

Gloria Estefan was appointed to the board of directors for Univision Communications Inc. in 2007, according to Hispanic Market Weekly. The Estefans' estimated net worth as of 2011 was approximately $700 million, according to an article in People En Espanol magazine.

In June 2009, Gloria Estefan and her husband bought a "very small" ownership stake in the Miami Dolphins.
Awards
Main article: List of awards received by Gloria Estefan

In addition to her seven Grammys, Estefan has received a number of other awards. In May 1993, she received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest award that can be given to a naturalized U.S. citizen. She has won the Hispanic Heritage Award, an MTV Video Music Award, two cable television ACE Awards and the 1993 National Music Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award. The singer is the recipient of the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her husband, Emilio, a world-renowned music impresario, received a star adjacent to his wife's on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.

Estefan holds an honorary doctoral degree in music from the University of Miami, awarded in 1993. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami. In 2002, Barry University in Miami bestowed upon her an honorary law degree. Along with her husband, Estefan received an honorary doctoral degree in music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2007. She also delivered the commencement address to the 2007 graduating class.

In 2002, she received the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Medallion of Excellence for Community Service. The singer was Musicares Person of the Year in 1994. Gloria also founded the Gloria Estefan Foundation whose goal is to help those with spinal cord injuries.

She has been honored twice by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1992, she served as a public member of the United States Delegation to the 47th General Assembly to the United Nations.

Estefan received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year award at the Latin Grammy Awards in November 2008 in recognition of her twenty-five year singing career. She is the first female singer to receive this award. She also received a Latin Grammy for "Best Traditional Tropical Album" for 90 Millas, and a Latin Grammy for "Best Tropical Song" for her single, "Píntame De Colores". This marked the first occasion for Estefan to ever win a Grammy award for a song (either Latin or non-Latin).

On March 12, 2009, Estefan was honored as a BMI Icon at the 16th annual BMI Latin Awards. Her catalog boasts 22 BMI Latin and Pop Awards, along with 11 BMI Million-Air Awards.

In April 2010, Estefan and her husband received a star in the "Walk Of Stars" in Las Vegas for their contribution to music industry. On April 28, 2011, at the Latin Billboard Awards, Estefan was honored with the Billboard Spirit of Hope Award for her philanthropic work.
Discography
Albums discography
Main article: Gloria Estefan albums discography

Studio albums
Release date Title
1984

Eyes of Innocence
1985

Primitive Love
1987

Let It Loose / Anything for You
1989

Cuts Both Ways
1991

Into The Light
1993

Mi Tierra
1994

Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me
1995

Abriendo Puertas
1996

Destiny
1998

gloria!
2000

Alma Caribeña
2003

Unwrapped
2007

90 Millas
2011

Miss Little Havana
Singles discography
Main article: Gloria Estefan singles discography
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1999 Music of the Heart Isabel Vazquez Debut acting performance
2000 Little Angelita Voice Narrator Animated Short Film
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story Emilia television film
2003 Famous: The Making of Unwrapped Herself Album documentary
2007 90 Millas Documentary Herself Album documentary
2008 Marley & Me Herself Cameo appearance
2009 G-Force Juárez Voice in the Latin-American version of the film
2010 Recording: The History Of Recorded Music Herself Documentary
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Club Med - One Episode
1989 Postcard From Miami with Clive James Herself One Episode
1993 The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna Herself
2000 Frasier Maria One Episode: "Something About Dr. Mary"
2005 A Capitol Fourth Herself
2009 Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List Herself One Episode: "Rosie and Gloria and Griffin... Oh My!"
2010 The Marriage Ref Herself One Episode
Videography

    Video Exitos (1986) L.D.L Enterprises
    Homecoming Concert (1989) CMV
    Evolution (1990) CMV
    Coming Out Of The Dark (1991) SMV
    Into The Light World Tour (1992) SMV
    Everlasting Gloria! (1995) EMV
    The Evolution Tour Live In Miami (1996) EMV
    Don't Stop (1998) EMV
    Que siga la tradición (2001) EMV
    Live In Atlantis (2002) EMV
    Famous (2003) (Video journal about making-of Unwrapped LP; included in CD package)
    Live & Unwrapped (2004) EMV

Books

    The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) ISBN 0-06-082623-1.
    Noelle's Treasure Tale: A New Magically Mysterious Adventure (2006)
    Estefan's Kitchen (2008)
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z108/destiny77_2007/gloria_estefan-049.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l28/spidermanblue/MUSIC/Gl_Estefan.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/01/11 at 1:11 pm


The person of the day...Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan (born September 1, 1957) is a Cuban American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those in the United States alone. She has won seven Grammy Awards, and is the most successful crossover performer in Latin music to date.
Gloria became romantically involved with the Miami Sound Machine's band leader, Emilio Estefan, in 1976. She and Emilio married on September 2, 1978. They have a son, Nayib (born September 2, 1980) and a daughter, Emily Marie (born December 5, 1994). The family lives in the Star Island section of Miami Beach, Florida.
Career in singing
Mid-1970s through the 1980s

Starting in 1977, the Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan began recording and releasing various albums, 45s, and 12"s on the Audiofon Records label in Miami. The first album from 1977 was entitled Live Again Renacer and was released with two different covers. After several more releases on the Audiofon label as well as the RCA Victor label and Miami Sound Machine's own label MSM Records, the band was signed to Discos CBS International and released several albums, 45s, and 12"s beginning with 1980s self-titled album Miami Sound Machine. Growing in popularity in both the United States and around the world, the group would continue recording and issuing various works for Discos CBS International through 1985. In 1984, Miami Sound Machine released their first Epic/Columbia album, Eyes of Innocence, which contained the dance hit "Dr. Beat" as well as the ballad "I Need Your Love". Their more successful follow-up album Primitive Love was released in 1985 launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get In The Way" (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow up hits in the U.S. and around the world. "Words Get in the Way" reached #1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the film Top Gun.

Their next album, 1987's Let It Loose, went multi-platinum, with six million copies sold in the US. It featured the following hits: "Anything for You" (#1 Hot 100), "1-2-3" (#3 Hot 100), "Betcha Say That" (#36 Hot 100), "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (#5 Hot 100), and "Can't Stay Away From You" (#6 Hot 100). "Can't Stay Away From You", "Anything for You" and "1-2-3" were all #1 Adult Contemporary hits as well.

In 1988, Estefan took top billing and the band's name changed to Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Beginning in 1989, the group's name was dropped altogether. Estefan was credited as a solo artist, though the ever-changing line-up of Miami Sound Machine continues as her backing band to this day.

In 1988, after the worldwide chart success of single "Anything for You", her Let it Loose album was repackaged as Anything for You. It became the band's first UK #1 album, selling over a million copies. It was the biggest selling album of the year in The Netherlands, staying at #1 for 22 weeks. The album also took top honors in Australia and Canada, launching Estefan to superstar status., but she achieved a complete recovery. She returned to an international tour ten months after the accident.
Estefan has appeared in two films, Music of the Heart (1999) and For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). Estefan made a cameo appearance with her husband in Marley & Me in 2008.

Estefan was cast to star as Connie Francis, a U.S. pop singer of the 1950s and early 1960s, in Who's Sorry Now?, based on Francis' life. Filming supposedly began in late 2008, according to Parade Magazine (March 23, 2008). Estefan, in an interview with www.allheadlinenews.com, stated the film would be released in 2009. As of December 2009, the film has been dropped as Connie Francis had irreconcilable differences with Estefan over the film's writer. Francis wanted to hire writer Robert L. Freedman, who had written the Emmy Award winning mini-series Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Estefan refused to consider him, which according to Francis ended the project collaboration.

Estefan appeared in the ABC television special Elmopalooza, which aired February 20, 1998, in which she sang the song "Mambo, I, I, I". In April 2004, Estefan appeared on the Fox Broadcasting Company's program, American Idol as a guest mentor for the contestants' Latin week.
Books

Estefan has written two children's books: The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) and Noelle's Treasure Tale (2006). The latter book spent a week at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list for children's books.

She also collaborated on a cookbook with her husband entitled Estefan Kitchen, which was published in 2008. It contains 60 traditional Cuban recipes.
Other business ventures
The Cardozo hotel on Ocean Drive, in Miami Beach, Florida.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan own a number of business establishments, including seven Cuban-themed restaurants (Bongos Cuban Café). The restaurants are located in Miami; Miami Beach, Downtown Miami, part of the American Airlines Arena; Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney in Orlando; Mexico City; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They also own two hotels: the Costa d'Este in Vero Beach which opened in 2008, and The Cardozo in Miami Beach.

Gloria Estefan was appointed to the board of directors for Univision Communications Inc. in 2007, according to Hispanic Market Weekly. The Estefans' estimated net worth as of 2011 was approximately $700 million, according to an article in People En Espanol magazine.

In June 2009, Gloria Estefan and her husband bought a "very small" ownership stake in the Miami Dolphins.
Awards
Main article: List of awards received by Gloria Estefan

In addition to her seven Grammys, Estefan has received a number of other awards. In May 1993, she received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest award that can be given to a naturalized U.S. citizen. She has won the Hispanic Heritage Award, an MTV Video Music Award, two cable television ACE Awards and the 1993 National Music Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award. The singer is the recipient of the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her husband, Emilio, a world-renowned music impresario, received a star adjacent to his wife's on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.

Estefan holds an honorary doctoral degree in music from the University of Miami, awarded in 1993. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami. In 2002, Barry University in Miami bestowed upon her an honorary law degree. Along with her husband, Estefan received an honorary doctoral degree in music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2007. She also delivered the commencement address to the 2007 graduating class.

In 2002, she received the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Medallion of Excellence for Community Service. The singer was Musicares Person of the Year in 1994. Gloria also founded the Gloria Estefan Foundation whose goal is to help those with spinal cord injuries.

She has been honored twice by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1992, she served as a public member of the United States Delegation to the 47th General Assembly to the United Nations.

Estefan received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year award at the Latin Grammy Awards in November 2008 in recognition of her twenty-five year singing career. She is the first female singer to receive this award. She also received a Latin Grammy for "Best Traditional Tropical Album" for 90 Millas, and a Latin Grammy for "Best Tropical Song" for her single, "Píntame De Colores". This marked the first occasion for Estefan to ever win a Grammy award for a song (either Latin or non-Latin).

On March 12, 2009, Estefan was honored as a BMI Icon at the 16th annual BMI Latin Awards. Her catalog boasts 22 BMI Latin and Pop Awards, along with 11 BMI Million-Air Awards.

In April 2010, Estefan and her husband received a star in the "Walk Of Stars" in Las Vegas for their contribution to music industry. On April 28, 2011, at the Latin Billboard Awards, Estefan was honored with the Billboard Spirit of Hope Award for her philanthropic work.
Discography
Albums discography
Main article: Gloria Estefan albums discography

Studio albums
Release date Title
1984

Eyes of Innocence
1985

Primitive Love
1987

Let It Loose / Anything for You
1989

Cuts Both Ways
1991

Into The Light
1993

Mi Tierra
1994

Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me
1995

Abriendo Puertas
1996

Destiny
1998

gloria!
2000

Alma Caribeña
2003

Unwrapped
2007

90 Millas
2011

Miss Little Havana
Singles discography
Main article: Gloria Estefan singles discography
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1999 Music of the Heart Isabel Vazquez Debut acting performance
2000 Little Angelita Voice Narrator Animated Short Film
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story Emilia television film
2003 Famous: The Making of Unwrapped Herself Album documentary
2007 90 Millas Documentary Herself Album documentary
2008 Marley & Me Herself Cameo appearance
2009 G-Force Juárez Voice in the Latin-American version of the film
2010 Recording: The History Of Recorded Music Herself Documentary
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Club Med - One Episode
1989 Postcard From Miami with Clive James Herself One Episode
1993 The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna Herself
2000 Frasier Maria One Episode: "Something About Dr. Mary"
2005 A Capitol Fourth Herself
2009 Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List Herself One Episode: "Rosie and Gloria and Griffin... Oh My!"
2010 The Marriage Ref Herself One Episode
Videography

    Video Exitos (1986) L.D.L Enterprises
    Homecoming Concert (1989) CMV
    Evolution (1990) CMV
    Coming Out Of The Dark (1991) SMV
    Into The Light World Tour (1992) SMV
    Everlasting Gloria! (1995) EMV
    The Evolution Tour Live In Miami (1996) EMV
    Don't Stop (1998) EMV
    Que siga la tradición (2001) EMV
    Live In Atlantis (2002) EMV
    Famous (2003) (Video journal about making-of Unwrapped LP; included in CD package)
    Live & Unwrapped (2004) EMV

Books

    The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) ISBN 0-06-082623-1.
    Noelle's Treasure Tale: A New Magically Mysterious Adventure (2006)
    Estefan's Kitchen (2008)
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z108/destiny77_2007/gloria_estefan-049.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l28/spidermanblue/MUSIC/Gl_Estefan.jpg


Conga is one of the most popular songs in America,It's played at barmitzvahs,weddings and parties.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/01/11 at 7:00 pm


Conga is one of the most popular songs in America,It's played at barmitzvahs,weddings and parties.

I know, it's a great song. I think it can be heard during the ending credits of the movie "The Birdcage."

I liked Gloria's cover of Carole King's "It's Too Late." It was part of a mid-90's album on which she recorded numerous covers, including "Turn The Beat Around" and "Everlasting Love."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/02/11 at 7:42 am

The person of the day... Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves (play /keɪˈɑːnuː/ kay-ah-noo; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix. He has worked under major directors, such as Stephen Frears (in the 1988 period drama Dangerous Liaisons); Gus Van Sant (in the 1991 independent film My Own Private Idaho, also written by Van Sant); and Bernardo Bertolucci (in the 1993 film Little Buddha). Referencing his 1991 film releases, The New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised Reeves' versatility, saying that he "displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanour that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles."

In addition to his film roles, Reeves has also performed in theatre. His performance in the title role in a Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Hamlet was praised by Roger Lewis, the Sunday Times, who declared Reeves "...one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he is Hamlet." On January 31, 2005, Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A 2006 ET online survey placed him in the "Top Ten of America's Favorite Stars".
Reeves' first studio movie appearance was in the Rob Lowe ice hockey film Youngblood, in which he played a Québécois goalie. Shortly after the movie's release, Reeves drove to Los Angeles in his 1969 Volvo. His ex-stepfather Paul Aaron, a stage and television director, had convinced Erwin Stoff to be Reeves' manager and agent before he even arrived in Los Angeles. Stoff has remained Reeves' manager, and has coproduced many of his films. After a few minor roles, Reeves received a more sizeable role in the 1986 drama film River's Edge, which depicted how a murder affected a group of teens. Following this film's critical success, he spent the late 1980s appearing in a number of movies aimed at teenage audiences, including Permanent Record, and the unexpectedly successful 1989 comedy, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, which, along with its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, typecast Reeves as a spaced-out teen. Much of his portrayal in the press and much of the response to his acting in the early 1990s still mentioned his portrayal of the airheaded Ted.
1990s
Reeves' interacting with the press at the Berlin Film Festival

During the early 1990s, Reeves started to break out of his teen-film period. He appeared in high-budget action films like Point Break, for which he won MTV's "Most Desirable Male" award in 1992. He was also involved in various lower-budget independent films, including the well-received 1991 film, My Own Private Idaho with his close friend, the late River Phoenix. In 1994, Reeves' career reached a new high as a result of his starring role in the action film Speed. His casting in the film was controversial since, except for Point Break, he was primarily known for comedies and indie dramas. He had never been the sole headliner on a film. The summer action film had a fairly large budget and was helmed by novice cinematographer-turned-director Jan de Bont. The unexpected international success of the film made Reeves and co-star Sandra Bullock into A-List stars.

Reeves' career choices after Speed were eclectic: despite his successes, Reeves continued to accept supporting roles and appear in experimental films. He scored a hit with a romantic lead role in A Walk in the Clouds. He made news by refusing to take part in Speed 2: Cruise Control and choosing to play the title role in a 1995 Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Hamlet in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Roger Lewis, the Sunday Times critic, wrote, "He quite embodied the innocence, the splendid fury, the animal grace of the leaps and bounds, the emotional violence, that form the Prince of Denmark...He is one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he *is* Hamlet."
Reeves promoting The Day the Earth Stood Still in Mexico in 2008.

Reeves' other choices after A Walk in the Clouds, however, failed with critics and audiences. Big-budget films such as the sci-fi action film Johnny Mnemonic and the action-thriller Chain Reaction were critically panned and failed at the box office, while indie films like Feeling Minnesota were also critical failures. Reeves started to climb out of his career low after starring in the horror/drama The Devil's Advocate alongside Al Pacino and Charlize Theron. Reeves deferred his salary for The Devil's Advocate so that Pacino would be cast, as he would do later for the less successful The Replacements, guaranteeing the casting of Gene Hackman. The Devil's Advocate did well at the box office, received good reviews, and proved that Reeves could play a grown-up with a career, although many critics felt that his poor performance detracted from an otherwise enjoyable movie. The 1999 science fiction-action hit The Matrix, a film in which Reeves had a starring role, was a box office success and attracted positive reviews.
2000s

In between the first Matrix film and its sequels, Reeves received positive reviews for his portrayal of an abusive husband in The Gift. Aside from The Gift, Reeves appeared in several films that received mostly negative reviews and unimpressive box office grosses, including The Watcher, Sweet November and The Replacements. However, the two Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Something's Gotta Give, and the 2005 horror-action film, Constantine, proved to be box office successes and brought Reeves back into the public spotlight.

His appearance in the 2006 film, A Scanner Darkly, based on the dystopian science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick, received favourable reviews, and The Lake House, his romantic outing with Sandra Bullock, did not do well at the box office. He went on to play the lead character in two 2008 films, Street Kings and The Day the Earth Stood Still. In February 2009 The Private Life of Pippa Lee was presented at Berlinale.
2010s

Reeves started filming the surrealist romantic comedy Henry's Crime in December 2009, with filming set to wrap in early 2010. After this he will be starting work as producer and star on the science-fiction space drama Passengers, written by Jon Spaihts.

In January 2009, it was revealed that Reeves will star in the live-action film adaptation of the anime series Cowboy Bebop, slated for release in 2011. Other upcoming projects include the samurai film 47 Ronin, Chef – story by Reeves and written by Steven Knight, and a modern retelling of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, scripted by Justin Haythe and titled Jekyll. Nicolas Winding Refn is in negotiations to direct and was later replaced by Dennis Iliadis and produced by Universal Pictures.

In April 2011 Reeves confirmed that a third instalment of the Bill & Ted movie series was underway.
Personal life and other interests
Reeves' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

For nearly a decade following his initial rise to stardom, Reeves preferred to live in rental houses and hotels. He was a long-term resident of the Chateau Marmont. Reeves bought his first house in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles around 2003. He also has an apartment on Central Park West in New York City.

He is a U.S. citizen through his American father, and also holds Canadian citizenship by naturalization; he grew up as a Canadian and identifies as such. Due to April 2003 changes in the law, he is entitled to British citizenship through his English mother.

Reeves has never married. In December 1999, his girlfriend Jennifer Syme gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Ava Archer Syme-Reeves. Syme died in 2001, a sole driver involved in an automobile wreck, while partying in Los Angeles.

Reeves was sued unsuccessfully in 2008 in Los Angeles Superior Court for $711,974 by paparazzo Alison Silva for allegedly hitting and injuring him with his Porsche after visiting a relative at a Los Angeles medical facility. The paparazzo's lawsuit took a year and a half to make it to trial, during which time Silva continued to attack Reeves and demand payment. At the trial, all 12 jurors rejected the suit needing only an hour of deliberation to reach their verdict. With the lawsuit rejected, Reeves was cleared of all the charges.

In 2010, photos of a sad-looking Keanu Reeves eating a sandwich while alone led to the spread of the "Keanu is Sad/Sad Keanu" Internet meme and the declaration of June 15 as "Unofficial Cheer-up Keanu Day" by a Facebook fanpage.
Music

Reeves played bass guitar in the grunge band Dogstar during the 1990s. In the 2000s, he performed with the band Becky.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1985 Letting Go Stereo Teen No.1
One Step Away Ron Petrie
1986 Youngblood Heaver
Flying Tommy Wernicke
Young Again Mike Riley, age 17
Under the Influence Eddie Talbot
Act of Vengeance Buddy Martin
River's Edge Matt
Brotherhood of Justice Derek
Babes in Toyland Jack
1988 Permanent Record Chris Townsend
The Prince of Pennsylvania Rupert Marshetta
The Night Before Winston Connelly
Dangerous Liaisons Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny
1989 Life Under Water Kip
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Ted "Theodore" Logan
Parenthood Tod Higgins
1990 I Love You to Death Marlon James
Tune in Tomorrow Martin Loader
1991 Point Break FBI Special Agent John 'Johnny' Utah MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey Ted "Theodore" Logan/Evil Ted
My Own Private Idaho Scott Favor
Providence Eric
1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula Jonathan Harker
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Don John Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Little Buddha Prince Siddhartha/Lord Buddha
Poetic Justice Homeless Man (Uncredited)
Freaked Ortiz the Dog Boy (Uncredited)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Julian Gitche
1994 Speed Officer Jack Traven MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Sandra Bullock)
Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Sandra Bullock)
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
1995 Johnny Mnemonic Johnny
A Walk in the Clouds Sgt. Paul Sutton
1996 Chain Reaction Eddie Kasalivich
Feeling Minnesota Jjaks Clayton
1997 The Last Time I Committed Suicide Harry
The Devil's Advocate Kevin Lomax
1999 The Matrix Thomas Anderson/Neo Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action/Science Fiction Film
Golden Slate for Best Actor in a Leading Role
MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Laurence Fishburne)
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Laurence Fishburne)
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Me and Will Himself
2000 The Replacements Shane Falco
The Watcher David Allen Griffin
The Gift Donnie Barksdale
2001 Sweet November Nelson Moss
Hardball Conor O'Neill
2003 The Matrix Reloaded Thomas Anderson/Neo Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Hugo Weaving)
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Monica Bellucci)
The Animatrix Thomas Anderson/Neo
The Matrix Revolutions Thomas Anderson/Neo
Something's Gotta Give Dr. Julian Mercer
2005 Constantine John Constantine
Thumbsucker Perry Lyman
Ellie Parker Himself
2006 The Lake House Alex Wyler
A Scanner Darkly Bob Arctor
The Great Warming Narrator Voice
2008 Street Kings Detective Tom Ludlow
The Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu
2009 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Chris Nadeau
2010 Passengers Jim Preston
Cartagena Character Unknown
Henry's Crime Henry
2011 Jekyll Dr. Jekyll
Cowboy Bebop Spike Spiegel
Hanuman Ram
2012 47 Ronin Kai Filming
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj161/ranikhaal/Keanu_Reeves.jpg
http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae108/ella64/keanu_Reeves.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/02/11 at 1:07 pm


The person of the day... Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves (play /keɪˈɑːnuː/ kay-ah-noo; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix. He has worked under major directors, such as Stephen Frears (in the 1988 period drama Dangerous Liaisons); Gus Van Sant (in the 1991 independent film My Own Private Idaho, also written by Van Sant); and Bernardo Bertolucci (in the 1993 film Little Buddha). Referencing his 1991 film releases, The New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised Reeves' versatility, saying that he "displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanour that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles."

In addition to his film roles, Reeves has also performed in theatre. His performance in the title role in a Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Hamlet was praised by Roger Lewis, the Sunday Times, who declared Reeves "...one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he is Hamlet." On January 31, 2005, Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A 2006 ET online survey placed him in the "Top Ten of America's Favorite Stars".
Reeves' first studio movie appearance was in the Rob Lowe ice hockey film Youngblood, in which he played a Québécois goalie. Shortly after the movie's release, Reeves drove to Los Angeles in his 1969 Volvo. His ex-stepfather Paul Aaron, a stage and television director, had convinced Erwin Stoff to be Reeves' manager and agent before he even arrived in Los Angeles. Stoff has remained Reeves' manager, and has coproduced many of his films. After a few minor roles, Reeves received a more sizeable role in the 1986 drama film River's Edge, which depicted how a murder affected a group of teens. Following this film's critical success, he spent the late 1980s appearing in a number of movies aimed at teenage audiences, including Permanent Record, and the unexpectedly successful 1989 comedy, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, which, along with its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, typecast Reeves as a spaced-out teen. Much of his portrayal in the press and much of the response to his acting in the early 1990s still mentioned his portrayal of the airheaded Ted.
1990s
Reeves' interacting with the press at the Berlin Film Festival

During the early 1990s, Reeves started to break out of his teen-film period. He appeared in high-budget action films like Point Break, for which he won MTV's "Most Desirable Male" award in 1992. He was also involved in various lower-budget independent films, including the well-received 1991 film, My Own Private Idaho with his close friend, the late River Phoenix. In 1994, Reeves' career reached a new high as a result of his starring role in the action film Speed. His casting in the film was controversial since, except for Point Break, he was primarily known for comedies and indie dramas. He had never been the sole headliner on a film. The summer action film had a fairly large budget and was helmed by novice cinematographer-turned-director Jan de Bont. The unexpected international success of the film made Reeves and co-star Sandra Bullock into A-List stars.

Reeves' career choices after Speed were eclectic: despite his successes, Reeves continued to accept supporting roles and appear in experimental films. He scored a hit with a romantic lead role in A Walk in the Clouds. He made news by refusing to take part in Speed 2: Cruise Control and choosing to play the title role in a 1995 Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Hamlet in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Roger Lewis, the Sunday Times critic, wrote, "He quite embodied the innocence, the splendid fury, the animal grace of the leaps and bounds, the emotional violence, that form the Prince of Denmark...He is one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he *is* Hamlet."
Reeves promoting The Day the Earth Stood Still in Mexico in 2008.

Reeves' other choices after A Walk in the Clouds, however, failed with critics and audiences. Big-budget films such as the sci-fi action film Johnny Mnemonic and the action-thriller Chain Reaction were critically panned and failed at the box office, while indie films like Feeling Minnesota were also critical failures. Reeves started to climb out of his career low after starring in the horror/drama The Devil's Advocate alongside Al Pacino and Charlize Theron. Reeves deferred his salary for The Devil's Advocate so that Pacino would be cast, as he would do later for the less successful The Replacements, guaranteeing the casting of Gene Hackman. The Devil's Advocate did well at the box office, received good reviews, and proved that Reeves could play a grown-up with a career, although many critics felt that his poor performance detracted from an otherwise enjoyable movie. The 1999 science fiction-action hit The Matrix, a film in which Reeves had a starring role, was a box office success and attracted positive reviews.
2000s

In between the first Matrix film and its sequels, Reeves received positive reviews for his portrayal of an abusive husband in The Gift. Aside from The Gift, Reeves appeared in several films that received mostly negative reviews and unimpressive box office grosses, including The Watcher, Sweet November and The Replacements. However, the two Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Something's Gotta Give, and the 2005 horror-action film, Constantine, proved to be box office successes and brought Reeves back into the public spotlight.

His appearance in the 2006 film, A Scanner Darkly, based on the dystopian science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick, received favourable reviews, and The Lake House, his romantic outing with Sandra Bullock, did not do well at the box office. He went on to play the lead character in two 2008 films, Street Kings and The Day the Earth Stood Still. In February 2009 The Private Life of Pippa Lee was presented at Berlinale.
2010s

Reeves started filming the surrealist romantic comedy Henry's Crime in December 2009, with filming set to wrap in early 2010. After this he will be starting work as producer and star on the science-fiction space drama Passengers, written by Jon Spaihts.

In January 2009, it was revealed that Reeves will star in the live-action film adaptation of the anime series Cowboy Bebop, slated for release in 2011. Other upcoming projects include the samurai film 47 Ronin, Chef – story by Reeves and written by Steven Knight, and a modern retelling of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, scripted by Justin Haythe and titled Jekyll. Nicolas Winding Refn is in negotiations to direct and was later replaced by Dennis Iliadis and produced by Universal Pictures.

In April 2011 Reeves confirmed that a third instalment of the Bill & Ted movie series was underway.
Personal life and other interests
Reeves' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

For nearly a decade following his initial rise to stardom, Reeves preferred to live in rental houses and hotels. He was a long-term resident of the Chateau Marmont. Reeves bought his first house in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles around 2003. He also has an apartment on Central Park West in New York City.

He is a U.S. citizen through his American father, and also holds Canadian citizenship by naturalization; he grew up as a Canadian and identifies as such. Due to April 2003 changes in the law, he is entitled to British citizenship through his English mother.

Reeves has never married. In December 1999, his girlfriend Jennifer Syme gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Ava Archer Syme-Reeves. Syme died in 2001, a sole driver involved in an automobile wreck, while partying in Los Angeles.

Reeves was sued unsuccessfully in 2008 in Los Angeles Superior Court for $711,974 by paparazzo Alison Silva for allegedly hitting and injuring him with his Porsche after visiting a relative at a Los Angeles medical facility. The paparazzo's lawsuit took a year and a half to make it to trial, during which time Silva continued to attack Reeves and demand payment. At the trial, all 12 jurors rejected the suit needing only an hour of deliberation to reach their verdict. With the lawsuit rejected, Reeves was cleared of all the charges.

In 2010, photos of a sad-looking Keanu Reeves eating a sandwich while alone led to the spread of the "Keanu is Sad/Sad Keanu" Internet meme and the declaration of June 15 as "Unofficial Cheer-up Keanu Day" by a Facebook fanpage.
Music

Reeves played bass guitar in the grunge band Dogstar during the 1990s. In the 2000s, he performed with the band Becky.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1985 Letting Go Stereo Teen No.1
One Step Away Ron Petrie
1986 Youngblood Heaver
Flying Tommy Wernicke
Young Again Mike Riley, age 17
Under the Influence Eddie Talbot
Act of Vengeance Buddy Martin
River's Edge Matt
Brotherhood of Justice Derek
Babes in Toyland Jack
1988 Permanent Record Chris Townsend
The Prince of Pennsylvania Rupert Marshetta
The Night Before Winston Connelly
Dangerous Liaisons Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny
1989 Life Under Water Kip
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Ted "Theodore" Logan
Parenthood Tod Higgins
1990 I Love You to Death Marlon James
Tune in Tomorrow Martin Loader
1991 Point Break FBI Special Agent John 'Johnny' Utah MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey Ted "Theodore" Logan/Evil Ted
My Own Private Idaho Scott Favor
Providence Eric
1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula Jonathan Harker
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Don John Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Little Buddha Prince Siddhartha/Lord Buddha
Poetic Justice Homeless Man (Uncredited)
Freaked Ortiz the Dog Boy (Uncredited)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Julian Gitche
1994 Speed Officer Jack Traven MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Sandra Bullock)
Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Sandra Bullock)
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Male
1995 Johnny Mnemonic Johnny
A Walk in the Clouds Sgt. Paul Sutton
1996 Chain Reaction Eddie Kasalivich
Feeling Minnesota Jjaks Clayton
1997 The Last Time I Committed Suicide Harry
The Devil's Advocate Kevin Lomax
1999 The Matrix Thomas Anderson/Neo Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action/Science Fiction Film
Golden Slate for Best Actor in a Leading Role
MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Laurence Fishburne)
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Laurence Fishburne)
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Me and Will Himself
2000 The Replacements Shane Falco
The Watcher David Allen Griffin
The Gift Donnie Barksdale
2001 Sweet November Nelson Moss
Hardball Conor O'Neill
2003 The Matrix Reloaded Thomas Anderson/Neo Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Hugo Weaving)
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Monica Bellucci)
The Animatrix Thomas Anderson/Neo
The Matrix Revolutions Thomas Anderson/Neo
Something's Gotta Give Dr. Julian Mercer
2005 Constantine John Constantine
Thumbsucker Perry Lyman
Ellie Parker Himself
2006 The Lake House Alex Wyler
A Scanner Darkly Bob Arctor
The Great Warming Narrator Voice
2008 Street Kings Detective Tom Ludlow
The Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu
2009 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Chris Nadeau
2010 Passengers Jim Preston
Cartagena Character Unknown
Henry's Crime Henry
2011 Jekyll Dr. Jekyll
Cowboy Bebop Spike Spiegel
Hanuman Ram
2012 47 Ronin Kai Filming
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj161/ranikhaal/Keanu_Reeves.jpg
http://i962.photobucket.com/albums/ae108/ella64/keanu_Reeves.jpg





http://www.fusedfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Bill-and-Ted-3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/03/11 at 11:06 am

the person of the day... Eileen Brennan
Eileen Brennan (born September 3, 1932) is an American actress of film, television, and theater. Brennan is best known for her role as Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the TV adaption and won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for her performance. She received Emmy nominations for her guest starring roles on Newhart, Thirtysomething, and Will and Grace.
Eileen Brennan appeared in plays with the Mask and Bauble Society at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where she was employed. She starred there in Arsenic and Old Lace. Her exceptional comic skills and romantic soprano voice propelled her from unknown to star in the title role of Rick Besoyan's off-Broadway tongue-in-cheek musical/operetta Little Mary Sunshine (1959) and its un-official sequel, The Student Gypsy (1963). She went on to create the role of Irene Malloy in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! (1964). Her feature film debut was in Divorce American Style (1967). She soon became one of the most recognizable (if unidentifiable) supporting actresses in film and television. Her roles were usually sympathetic characters, though she has played a variety of other character types, including earthy, vulgar and sassy, but occasionally "with a heart of gold." A year after her feature film debut she became a semi-regular on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, but stayed for only two months.

Brennan received excellent reviews as brothel madam "Billie" in George Roy Hill's Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting as the confidante of con man Henry Gondorf (Paul Newman). Although her name was not often recognized by the general public, she became a favorite of many directors, in particular Peter Bogdanovich. She appeared in Bogdanovich's 1971 classic The Last Picture Show (for which she received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actress) and his 1974 adaptation of the Henry James novella Daisy Miller. Bogdanovich was the only director who made use of her musical talents (before, she sang in performances off Broadway) when he cast her as Cybill Shepherd's crude, fun-loving maid in his 1975 musical flop At Long Last Love (which also starred Madeline Kahn; both Brennan and Kahn would work together in two more films: The Cheap Detective and Clue; where she once more displayed her world-weary acting style to great effect).

Brennan also worked with director Robert Moore and writer Neil Simon, appearing in Murder by Death as Tess Skeffington (1976); and The Cheap Detective (1978). Both of these movies also starred James Coco, James Cromwell and Peter Falk. She had a starring role, playing 'Mutha' in the 1978 movie, FM, about rock radio.

In 1980, Brennan received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Goldie Hawn's nasty commanding officer in Private Benjamin. She reprised the role in the television adaptation (1981–1983), for which she won an Emmy (supporting actress) as well as a Golden Globe (lead actress). She has one additional Golden Globe nomination and six Emmy nominations.

After having dinner together one night in 1982, Brennan and Hawn left a restaurant. Brennan was hit by a passing car and was critically injured. She took three years off work to recover, and had to overcome a subsequent addiction to painkillers.

It was during this time that her performance as Mrs. Peacock in Clue (1985) reached theaters. In the 1990s, she appeared in Stella with Bette Midler, Bogdanovich's Texasville, the sequel to The Last Picture Show, and Reckless. She had a recurring role on the sitcom Blossom as the neighbor/confidant of the title character. As well, she had a recurring role as Mrs. Bink on the family drama, 7th Heaven. In 2001, she made a brief appearance in the horror movie Jeepers Creepers.

In 2002, she starred in the dark comedy film Comic Book Villains, with DJ Qualls. In recent years, Brennan had guest-starred in television, including recurring roles as the nosy Mrs. Bink in 7th Heaven and as gruff acting coach Zandra on Will & Grace. In 2004, she appeared in The Hollow as "Joan Van Etten".
Personal life

From 1968 to 1974, Brennan was married to David John Lampson, with whom she has two sons: Patrick (formerly a basketball player, now an actor, e.g., in NBC's The Black Donnellys) and Sam (a singer). Brennan is a breast cancer survivor.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Zbu/Eileen_Brennan_1990.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/Br/Brennan/Brennan-E-ComicBookVillains01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/03/11 at 11:08 am


the person of the day... Eileen Brennan
Eileen Brennan (born September 3, 1932) is an American actress of film, television, and theater. Brennan is best known for her role as Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the TV adaption and won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for her performance. She received Emmy nominations for her guest starring roles on Newhart, Thirtysomething, and Will and Grace.
Eileen Brennan appeared in plays with the Mask and Bauble Society at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where she was employed. She starred there in Arsenic and Old Lace. Her exceptional comic skills and romantic soprano voice propelled her from unknown to star in the title role of Rick Besoyan's off-Broadway tongue-in-cheek musical/operetta Little Mary Sunshine (1959) and its un-official sequel, The Student Gypsy (1963). She went on to create the role of Irene Malloy in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! (1964). Her feature film debut was in Divorce American Style (1967). She soon became one of the most recognizable (if unidentifiable) supporting actresses in film and television. Her roles were usually sympathetic characters, though she has played a variety of other character types, including earthy, vulgar and sassy, but occasionally "with a heart of gold." A year after her feature film debut she became a semi-regular on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, but stayed for only two months.

Brennan received excellent reviews as brothel madam "Billie" in George Roy Hill's Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting as the confidante of con man Henry Gondorf (Paul Newman). Although her name was not often recognized by the general public, she became a favorite of many directors, in particular Peter Bogdanovich. She appeared in Bogdanovich's 1971 classic The Last Picture Show (for which she received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actress) and his 1974 adaptation of the Henry James novella Daisy Miller. Bogdanovich was the only director who made use of her musical talents (before, she sang in performances off Broadway) when he cast her as Cybill Shepherd's crude, fun-loving maid in his 1975 musical flop At Long Last Love (which also starred Madeline Kahn; both Brennan and Kahn would work together in two more films: The Cheap Detective and Clue; where she once more displayed her world-weary acting style to great effect).

Brennan also worked with director Robert Moore and writer Neil Simon, appearing in Murder by Death as Tess Skeffington (1976); and The Cheap Detective (1978). Both of these movies also starred James Coco, James Cromwell and Peter Falk. She had a starring role, playing 'Mutha' in the 1978 movie, FM, about rock radio.

In 1980, Brennan received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Goldie Hawn's nasty commanding officer in Private Benjamin. She reprised the role in the television adaptation (1981–1983), for which she won an Emmy (supporting actress) as well as a Golden Globe (lead actress). She has one additional Golden Globe nomination and six Emmy nominations.

After having dinner together one night in 1982, Brennan and Hawn left a restaurant. Brennan was hit by a passing car and was critically injured. She took three years off work to recover, and had to overcome a subsequent addiction to painkillers.

It was during this time that her performance as Mrs. Peacock in Clue (1985) reached theaters. In the 1990s, she appeared in Stella with Bette Midler, Bogdanovich's Texasville, the sequel to The Last Picture Show, and Reckless. She had a recurring role on the sitcom Blossom as the neighbor/confidant of the title character. As well, she had a recurring role as Mrs. Bink on the family drama, 7th Heaven. In 2001, she made a brief appearance in the horror movie Jeepers Creepers.

In 2002, she starred in the dark comedy film Comic Book Villains, with DJ Qualls. In recent years, Brennan had guest-starred in television, including recurring roles as the nosy Mrs. Bink in 7th Heaven and as gruff acting coach Zandra on Will & Grace. In 2004, she appeared in The Hollow as "Joan Van Etten".
Personal life

From 1968 to 1974, Brennan was married to David John Lampson, with whom she has two sons: Patrick (formerly a basketball player, now an actor, e.g., in NBC's The Black Donnellys) and Sam (a singer). Brennan is a breast cancer survivor.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Zbu/Eileen_Brennan_1990.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/Br/Brennan/Brennan-E-ComicBookVillains01.jpg
The Last Picture Show is one of those film you wish to see again, but is never shown on television.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/03/11 at 11:58 am


the person of the day... Eileen Brennan
Eileen Brennan (born September 3, 1932) is an American actress of film, television, and theater. Brennan is best known for her role as Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the TV adaption and won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for her performance. She received Emmy nominations for her guest starring roles on Newhart, Thirtysomething, and Will and Grace.
Eileen Brennan appeared in plays with the Mask and Bauble Society at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where she was employed. She starred there in Arsenic and Old Lace. Her exceptional comic skills and romantic soprano voice propelled her from unknown to star in the title role of Rick Besoyan's off-Broadway tongue-in-cheek musical/operetta Little Mary Sunshine (1959) and its un-official sequel, The Student Gypsy (1963). She went on to create the role of Irene Malloy in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! (1964). Her feature film debut was in Divorce American Style (1967). She soon became one of the most recognizable (if unidentifiable) supporting actresses in film and television. Her roles were usually sympathetic characters, though she has played a variety of other character types, including earthy, vulgar and sassy, but occasionally "with a heart of gold." A year after her feature film debut she became a semi-regular on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, but stayed for only two months.

Brennan received excellent reviews as brothel madam "Billie" in George Roy Hill's Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting as the confidante of con man Henry Gondorf (Paul Newman). Although her name was not often recognized by the general public, she became a favorite of many directors, in particular Peter Bogdanovich. She appeared in Bogdanovich's 1971 classic The Last Picture Show (for which she received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actress) and his 1974 adaptation of the Henry James novella Daisy Miller. Bogdanovich was the only director who made use of her musical talents (before, she sang in performances off Broadway) when he cast her as Cybill Shepherd's crude, fun-loving maid in his 1975 musical flop At Long Last Love (which also starred Madeline Kahn; both Brennan and Kahn would work together in two more films: The Cheap Detective and Clue; where she once more displayed her world-weary acting style to great effect).

Brennan also worked with director Robert Moore and writer Neil Simon, appearing in Murder by Death as Tess Skeffington (1976); and The Cheap Detective (1978). Both of these movies also starred James Coco, James Cromwell and Peter Falk. She had a starring role, playing 'Mutha' in the 1978 movie, FM, about rock radio.

In 1980, Brennan received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Goldie Hawn's nasty commanding officer in Private Benjamin. She reprised the role in the television adaptation (1981–1983), for which she won an Emmy (supporting actress) as well as a Golden Globe (lead actress). She has one additional Golden Globe nomination and six Emmy nominations.

After having dinner together one night in 1982, Brennan and Hawn left a restaurant. Brennan was hit by a passing car and was critically injured. She took three years off work to recover, and had to overcome a subsequent addiction to painkillers.

It was during this time that her performance as Mrs. Peacock in Clue (1985) reached theaters. In the 1990s, she appeared in Stella with Bette Midler, Bogdanovich's Texasville, the sequel to The Last Picture Show, and Reckless. She had a recurring role on the sitcom Blossom as the neighbor/confidant of the title character. As well, she had a recurring role as Mrs. Bink on the family drama, 7th Heaven. In 2001, she made a brief appearance in the horror movie Jeepers Creepers.

In 2002, she starred in the dark comedy film Comic Book Villains, with DJ Qualls. In recent years, Brennan had guest-starred in television, including recurring roles as the nosy Mrs. Bink in 7th Heaven and as gruff acting coach Zandra on Will & Grace. In 2004, she appeared in The Hollow as "Joan Van Etten".
Personal life

From 1968 to 1974, Brennan was married to David John Lampson, with whom she has two sons: Patrick (formerly a basketball player, now an actor, e.g., in NBC's The Black Donnellys) and Sam (a singer). Brennan is a breast cancer survivor.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Zbu/Eileen_Brennan_1990.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/Br/Brennan/Brennan-E-ComicBookVillains01.jpg



I always liked her.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/03/11 at 6:37 pm


the person of the day... Eileen Brennan
Eileen Brennan (born September 3, 1932) is an American actress of film, television, and theater. Brennan is best known for her role as Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the TV adaption and won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for her performance. She received Emmy nominations for her guest starring roles on Newhart, Thirtysomething, and Will and Grace.
Eileen Brennan appeared in plays with the Mask and Bauble Society at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where she was employed. She starred there in Arsenic and Old Lace. Her exceptional comic skills and romantic soprano voice propelled her from unknown to star in the title role of Rick Besoyan's off-Broadway tongue-in-cheek musical/operetta Little Mary Sunshine (1959) and its un-official sequel, The Student Gypsy (1963). She went on to create the role of Irene Malloy in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! (1964). Her feature film debut was in Divorce American Style (1967). She soon became one of the most recognizable (if unidentifiable) supporting actresses in film and television. Her roles were usually sympathetic characters, though she has played a variety of other character types, including earthy, vulgar and sassy, but occasionally "with a heart of gold." A year after her feature film debut she became a semi-regular on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, but stayed for only two months.

Brennan received excellent reviews as brothel madam "Billie" in George Roy Hill's Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting as the confidante of con man Henry Gondorf (Paul Newman). Although her name was not often recognized by the general public, she became a favorite of many directors, in particular Peter Bogdanovich. She appeared in Bogdanovich's 1971 classic The Last Picture Show (for which she received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actress) and his 1974 adaptation of the Henry James novella Daisy Miller. Bogdanovich was the only director who made use of her musical talents (before, she sang in performances off Broadway) when he cast her as Cybill Shepherd's crude, fun-loving maid in his 1975 musical flop At Long Last Love (which also starred Madeline Kahn; both Brennan and Kahn would work together in two more films: The Cheap Detective and Clue; where she once more displayed her world-weary acting style to great effect).

Brennan also worked with director Robert Moore and writer Neil Simon, appearing in Murder by Death as Tess Skeffington (1976); and The Cheap Detective (1978). Both of these movies also starred James Coco, James Cromwell and Peter Falk. She had a starring role, playing 'Mutha' in the 1978 movie, FM, about rock radio.

In 1980, Brennan received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Goldie Hawn's nasty commanding officer in Private Benjamin. She reprised the role in the television adaptation (1981–1983), for which she won an Emmy (supporting actress) as well as a Golden Globe (lead actress). She has one additional Golden Globe nomination and six Emmy nominations.

After having dinner together one night in 1982, Brennan and Hawn left a restaurant. Brennan was hit by a passing car and was critically injured. She took three years off work to recover, and had to overcome a subsequent addiction to painkillers.

It was during this time that her performance as Mrs. Peacock in Clue (1985) reached theaters. In the 1990s, she appeared in Stella with Bette Midler, Bogdanovich's Texasville, the sequel to The Last Picture Show, and Reckless. She had a recurring role on the sitcom Blossom as the neighbor/confidant of the title character. As well, she had a recurring role as Mrs. Bink on the family drama, 7th Heaven. In 2001, she made a brief appearance in the horror movie Jeepers Creepers.

In 2002, she starred in the dark comedy film Comic Book Villains, with DJ Qualls. In recent years, Brennan had guest-starred in television, including recurring roles as the nosy Mrs. Bink in 7th Heaven and as gruff acting coach Zandra on Will & Grace. In 2004, she appeared in The Hollow as "Joan Van Etten".
Personal life

From 1968 to 1974, Brennan was married to David John Lampson, with whom she has two sons: Patrick (formerly a basketball player, now an actor, e.g., in NBC's The Black Donnellys) and Sam (a singer). Brennan is a breast cancer survivor.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Zbu/Eileen_Brennan_1990.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/cinemorgue/Br/Brennan/Brennan-E-ComicBookVillains01.jpg


a very talented actress.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/03/11 at 6:40 pm

It's also Amber Lynn's birthday,She turns 47 years old today.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-KJp8UK7KzWk/SNZKkRx-uYI/AAAAAAAAABM/5Gfi2MTEVjk/amber-lynn.jpg

She was part of The Golden Age Of Porn for all those who remember that time. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/04/11 at 11:07 pm

^That's nice. ::)

Today (September 4th) is the birthday of American singer Beyonce Knowles; she turns 30.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/05/11 at 11:59 am


^That's nice. ::)

Today (September 4th) is the birthday of American singer Beyonce Knowles; she turns 30.

Thanks Jeff, I didn't get a chance to get on yesterday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/05/11 at 12:06 pm

The person of the day...Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis. In 2008, she was guest programmer and co-host of TCM's film-series program, The Essentials.

She made her film debut in the 1992 comedy Encino Man, where she played a small role. Her performance as Amy Blue in the 1995 dark comedy film The Doom Generation brought her to a wider attention, and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. McGowan then appeared in the 1996 hit horror film Scream and starred alongside Ben Affleck in the 1997 coming-of-age feature Going All the Way. Later, she appeared in several Hollywood films, including Devil In The Flesh (1998), Jawbreaker (1999), Ready to Rumble (2000), Monkeybone (2001) and The Black Dahlia (2006). In 2007, she was cast in the double-feature film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse. She also portrayed the character Grace in the crime thriller film Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008).

In 1996, McGowan was the cover model for the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark, and was the face of American clothing company Bebe from 1998 to 1999. She has also appeared on numerous magazine covers, including Seventeen, Interview, Maxim, GQ, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone. She has also frequently been featured on Maxim, FHM and Stuff magazine's sexiest women lists.
McGowan made her first appearance in a Hollywood film with a bit role in the 1992 Pauly Shore comedy Encino Man. Her role in the 1995 dark comedy The Doom Generation brought her to the attention of film critics, and she received a nomination for "Best Debut Performance" at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards. McGowan was subsequently cast in a supporting role in the 1996 hit horror film Scream. She was the cover model for the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark, which was released in 1996. She became the face of American clothing company Bebe from 1998 to 1999.

McGowan spent the majority of the 1990s appearing in a variety of independent films, including roles in Southie, Going All the Way, and Lewis & Clark & George. In 1997, she appeared in the critically acclaimed short Seed, directed by San Francisco-born filmmaker Karin Thayer, and played opposite Peter O'Toole in the 1998 film adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel Phantoms. Notably, McGowan also starred in the 1998 dark comedy Jawbreaker, where she played a snooty high school student who tries to cover up a classmate's murder. That role earned McGowan a nomination for Best Villain at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.

In 2001, McGowan was cast as Paige Matthews in the popular The WB television series Charmed, as a replacement lead actress after Shannen Doherty's departure from the show. She was offered to be a producer after the seventh season alongside co-stars Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano, but turned it down. The series ended its run on May 21, 2006.

During and after Charmed, McGowan tackled a variety of different roles. She portrayed actress/singer Ann-Margret in Elvis, a Golden Globe-winning CBS mini-series about the life of Elvis Presley, and also appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia.
McGowan at the premiere for Grindhouse in March 2007.

In 2007, McGowan headlined the critically acclaimed Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse, released on April 6, 2007. Cast in utterly divergent roles, McGowan appears in both portions of the film, as go-go dancing Cherry Darling in Planet Terror, and as Pam in Death Proof. She followed up the project with a role in the IRA thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking and a recurring role as a con artist on the acclaimed drama series Nip/Tuck. After a brief hiatus from film, McGowan shot a cameo in the Robert Rodriguez thriller Machete, a role ultimately cut but included on the DVD release, and played a semi-homeless junkie in the fantasy drama Dead Awake. In 2011, she appears as an evil half-human/half-witch in the comic book adaptation Conan the Barbarian and guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a grifter who targets New York sex clubs. 2012 sees her headlining the psychological thriller Rosewood Lane from director Victor Salva, while she will also appear in the TV movie The Pastor's Wife alongside Michael Shanks.

McGowan's name was attached to several recent films which ended up being unmade. Following the release of Grindhouse, she signed to play B-movie staple Susan Cabot in Black Oasis, to be directed by Stephan Elliott. However, the film was affected by the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike and ultimately put on indefinite hold. Another project, a proposed film adaptation of the Sylvia Plath novel The Bell Jar alongside Julia Stiles, also never came to fruition. She was also attached to three projects to be produced by Robert Rodriguez, a remake of the science fiction cult classic Barbarella, a proposed television series titled Women in Chains!, and a big-screen update of the Red Sonja comic books. After several years of development, Rodriguez announced in 2009 that Barbarella had been canceled due to location difficulties, while Women in Chains! appears to have never gotten past the script stages and is believed to no longer be in development. In 2010, McGowan confirmed that Red Sonja had been postponed to fit Conan continuity, and that the project may resurface depending on the success of Conan the Barbarian. However, a recent interview with producer Avi Lerner reveals that while the movie is moving forward, McGowan is no longer involved..

In addition to film and television, McGowan lent her voice to the video games Darkwatch, playing a femme fatale named Tala, and Terminator Salvation, playing a troubled soldier named Angie Salter. She also co-hosted the TCM's film-series program The Essentials alongside Robert Osbourne in 2008, discussing classic Hollywood film, a subject close to her heart.
Music

While dating Marilyn Manson, McGowan appeared in a music video for the song "Coma White", and also performed backing vocals on the song "Posthuman". Both of these songs are available on the album Mechanical Animals.

McGowan appeared on a Brian Transeau track called "Superfabulous" from his album Emotional Technology, which was also featured on the final Charmed soundtrack, The Final Chapter. The song has been featured in several films, including Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and Raising Helen. She wrote and recorded a song titled "Protection," which was featured in her 2001 film Strange Hearts. McGowan has also appeared in the Imperial Teen music video for "Yoo Hoo", which was featured on the Jawbreaker soundtrack. She also recorded the theme song from the 2010 file, Dead/Awake.

McGowan has expressed interest in recording an album of her own. During an interview with Living TV, she said, "I was actually thinking of going back and doing more soulful tunes and older tunes...and I would love to, when I have a little bit more time." In the Charmed episode "Sense and Sense Ability," McGowan performed, in character, a cover of the Peggy Lee classic "Fever". In 2007, it was announced that McGowan would be performing three songs from the Planet Terror portion of Grindhouse. These songs were released on the soundtrack by the Varèse Sarabande label. The songs are entitled "You Belong to Me" (a Dean Martin/Jo Stafford cover), "Useless Talent #32" and "Two Against the World".
Personal life
McGowan visits a member of the U.S. Air Force during a USO visit to Southwest Asia.

McGowan lived in Seattle, Washington, but currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She was in a very public 3 ½-year relationship with rock musician Marilyn Manson. After a formal engagement lasting two years, McGowan ended the relationship over "lifestyle differences". Prior to the release of Grindhouse, there was speculation that McGowan was dating director Robert Rodriguez. In May 2007, it was reported that they confirmed their relationship while appearing hand-in-hand at the Cannes Film Festival. On October 12, 2007 it was announced by Zap2it.com that McGowan was engaged to Rodriguez. They planned to wed in 2009, but reportedly split on October 2, 2009.

McGowan has admitted to sleepwalking as a child. "The weirdest spot I ever woke up was a snow bank in Montreal. Now I just speak Italian in my sleep."

McGowan is an activist for LGBT rights, and campaigned against Proposition 8, which sought to illegalise same sex marriage in the state of California. McGowan is known as an activist for Boston Terriers. She herself has two, Bug and Fester, and has personally donated to various Boston rescues. McGowan reportedly encouraged friends to donate to Boston Terrier Rescue Net, and according to BTRN: "Having fallen in love with Bug and Fester, her friends donated generously. It amounted to a considerable contribution, which will go a long way in helping BTRN and the needy volunteers who selflessly give to deserving Bostons."

McGowan caused controversy during the making of Fifty Dead Men Walking when she stated "I imagine, had I grown up in Belfast I would have 100% been in the IRA."

According to an article in the New York Post, McGowan suffered serious injuries in a car accident early in 2007. Riding as a passenger, her car was struck by another vehicle and the force of the impact drove her eyeglasses into her face. McGowan is quoted as saying, "I didn't realize I was hurt until I put my hand to my face and felt the flap of skin. My glasses had sliced me under my eye." After obtaining the services of a plastic surgeon, McGowan is reported to be suffering no long-lasting consequences from the incident.

Of her acting method, McGowan said "I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big backstory and agonizes over characters...For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally."

In late 2009 McGowan was amongst several celebrities who participated in the protest NOH8.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1992 Encino Man Nora Also known as California Man
1995 The Doom Generation Amy Blue Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance
1996 Bio-Dome Denise
1996 Kiss & Tell Jasmine Hoyle
1996 Scream Tatum Riley
1997 Going All the Way Gale Ann Thayer
1997 Seed Miriam Short film
1997 Nowhere Valley Chick #3 Cameo with Shannen Doherty
1997 Lewis and Clark and George George
1998 Southie Kathy Quinn
1998 Phantoms Lisa Pailey
1998 Devil in the Flesh Debbie Strand Also known as Dearly Devoted
1998 Jawbreaker Courtney Shayne Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1999 Sleeping Beauties Sno Blo Short Film
2000 Ready to Rumble Sasha
2000 The Last Stop Nancy
2001 Strange Hearts Moira Kennedy Also known as Roads to Riches
2001 Monkeybone Miss Kitty
2002 Stealing Bess Debbie Dinsdale Also known as Vacuums
2006 The Black Dahlia Sheryl Saddon
2007 Grindhouse – Planet Terror Cherry Darling Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2007 Grindhouse – Death Proof Pam
2008 Fifty Dead Men Walking Grace Sterrin
2010 Machete Boots McCoy Deleted Scenes
2010 Dead Awake Charlie Scheel
2011 Conan the Barbarian Marique
2012 Rosewood Lane Sonny Blake Post-production
Television Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1990 True Colours Suzanne Episode: "Life with Fathers"
2001 What About Joan? Maeve McCrimmen Episode: "Maeve"
2001 The Killing Yard Linda Borus Television film
2001–06 Charmed Paige Matthews 112 episodes
Family Television Award for Favorite Sister
2005 Elvis Ann-Margret Television miniseries
2008 The Essentials Herself 27 episodes
2009 Nip/Tuck Dr. Theodora 'Teddy' Rowe 5 episodes
2011 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Cassandra Davina Episode: "Bombshell"
2012 The Pastor's Wife Mary Winkler Television film
Video games Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2005 Darkwatch Tala
2009 Terminator Salvation Angie Salter
2012 Anarchy Reigns Sasha
Other awards and recognitions

In 2006, Blender included her on their list of the sexiest women of TV and film. The most recent award won by McGowan was under the category Femme Fatale for the 2007 Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which aired June 13, 2007. The award was for the role of Cherry in Grindhouse. McGowan was nominated for "Scream Queen" at the 2007 Scream Awards on Spike for her performance in Grindhouse. In 2008, she won the Midnight Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq116/ArwenSvetlana/Blend/RoseMcgowan1copia.png
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg11/blondebombshell013/yuuuuuuuu.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/05/11 at 12:23 pm

British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury, who was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/images/upload/anthropology/gallery/individuals/mercury_reeve/freddie_mercury4.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/05/11 at 12:23 pm


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury, who was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/images/upload/anthropology/gallery/individuals/mercury_reeve/freddie_mercury4.jpg
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/05/11 at 3:29 pm


Thanks Jeff, I didn't get a chance to get on yesterday.

No problemo... I thought I'd contribute at least one...even if it's just a mention. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/05/11 at 3:31 pm


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range.

:\'(

He would have been 65 today. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/05/11 at 3:37 pm


^That's nice. ::)

Today (September 4th) is the birthday of American singer Beyonce Knowles; she turns 30.


Happy Birthday Beyonce. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/05/11 at 3:39 pm


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury, who was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/images/upload/anthropology/gallery/individuals/mercury_reeve/freddie_mercury4.jpg


Happy Birthday Freddie.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/05/11 at 3:44 pm


Happy Birthday Beyonce. :)

She and her husband, Jay Z., are now expecting their first child.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/05/11 at 3:45 pm


She and her husband, Jay Z., are now expecting their first child.


that's great. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/06/11 at 8:03 am


She and her husband, Jay Z., are now expecting their first child.


that's great. :)

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/06/11 at 8:05 am


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury, who was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/images/upload/anthropology/gallery/individuals/mercury_reeve/freddie_mercury4.jpg

He was a great performer and is missed :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/06/11 at 8:08 am

The person of the day...Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3×multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has also written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem!.

Foxworthy has also made several ventures into television, first in the mid-1990s as the star of a sitcom called, The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He has also appeared alongside Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy in several Blue Collar television specials, most notably Blue Collar TV. Since 2007, he has been the host of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on Fox (2007–09) and syndication (2009–present). Foxworthy hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called The Foxworthy Countdown from April 1999 to December 2009. He has then became a part-time shark on Shark Tank (TV Series).
Foxworthy received the award for "Best Stand-Up Comic" at the 1990 American Comedy Awards.

In 1993, he released You Might Be a Redneck If…, which started the "You Might Be a Redneck" fad, topped the comedy album charts and sold more than three million copies.

His July 1995 release, Games Rednecks Play, received a 1996 Grammy nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album".

Totally Committed was released in May 1998. In conjunction with the CD was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The CD reached "gold" status and received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination. The video of the song, Totally Committed featured frequent references to then-Atlanta Braves pitcher, Greg Maddux as well as an appearance at the very end by Maddux himself (along with teammate, John Smoltz).

In 2001, he received a nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album" at the 43rd Annual Grammys.

Foxworthy hosted Country Weekly's ""TNN Music City News Country Awards" show for 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Television

In 1995, he starred in The Jeff Foxworthy Show, a sitcom created out of his stand-up comedy persona. It aired on ABC, but was canceled after one season. NBC subsequently picked up the show, but it was again canceled after one season. Foxworthy later remarked that the network did not understand how to properly market his humor; thinking his routine was "too Southern" for a national network ("Has anyone heard me talk?", he commented in one of his stand-up routines), they based the first season of his sitcom in Bloomington, Indiana. The show later aired on Nick at Nite and CMT in 2005 and 2006. He also appeared in Alan Jackson's video for I Don't Even Know Your Name in 1995.

Foxworthy hosted the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? which aired on Fox in prime time. He hosted the syndicated version of the show from September 21, 2009 until its cancellation on March 24, 2011. In addition, he is a host on The Bucks of Tecomate which airs on Versus with Alabama native David Morris.

Jeff will also be a potential investor on about half of the next edition of the ABC reality series, Shark Tank, where moneyed entrepreneurs decide if they will invest in new products, ideas and the like from those requesting funding in exchange for a percentage of ownership.

He was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast in 2005.
Blue collar comedy

In the early 2000s, Foxworthy had a career resurgence as a result of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, in which he and three other comedians (Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White, and Bill Engvall), specializing in common-man comedy, toured the country and performed for record crowds. The tour lasted three full years, constantly being extended after an initial run of 20 shows.

In 2004, he launched a new television show called Blue Collar TV on The WB Television Network, Comedy Central, and Comedy Network (2007). He served as executive producer, and starred alongside Blue Collar Comedy Tour-mates Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall. (Ron White turned the show down but made occasional guest appearances). The show was relatively successful compared to the anemic performance of the WB's other sitcoms. On Larry the Cable Guy's website, he posted that the show was canceled on October 17, 2005 by WB. Reruns of Blue Collar TV continued until the network merged with UPN to form The CW.

Jeff resurrected the Blue Collar TV format (albeit with only himself participating along with some of the Blue Collar TV co-hosts) on Country Music Television (CMT) with Foxworthy's Big Night Out. The show began airing in summer 2006 and was cancelled after one season.
Books

Foxworthy has authored several books, including You Might Be a Redneck If... (1989), as well as his autobiography, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem! (1996). Artist Layron DeJarnette provided illustrations for the Redneck Dictionary books. R. David Boyd has been the exclusive illustrator for most of Foxworthy's books and album covers.

He also has released a cookbook entitled The Redneck Grill, co-authored with Newnan, Georgia artist R. David Boyd, and "Redneck Extreme Mobile Home Makeover" (2005), a book with some of his redneck jokes.

His books are:

    Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2005)
    Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary II: More Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2006)
    Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary III: Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly (30 Oct 7)
    Rednecks In College

In February 2008, Foxworthy released his first children's book, Dirt On My Shirt. This was followed by Silly Street in 2009 and Hide!!! in 2010, both of which were illustrated by Steve Bjorkman.

In May 2008, Foxworthy released How to Really Stink at Golf, with co-author Brian Hartt and illustrations by Layron DeJarnette. In May 2009 he released How to Really Stink at Work, A Guide to Making Yourself Fire-Proof While Having the Most Fun Possible. This book was also co-authored with Brian Hartt.
Radio work

In April 1999, Foxworthy began The Foxworthy Countdown, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio show, which featured the top 30 country hits of the week, as reported by Mediabase. He received a Country Music Association nomination, in 2001, for "Broadcast Personality of the Year". The program's last broadcast, the 2009 year-end countdown, aired the weekend of December 27, 2009. Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 103 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 104.
Personal life

Foxworthy has been married to Pamela Gregg since September 18, 1985 and has two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992) and Julianne (born in 1994). A noted hunting enthusiast, Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel and Versus. Foxworthy is also a devout Christian, and performed stand-up at a Young Life conference.
Discography
Main article: Jeff Foxworthy discography

Foxworthy has released five comedy albums for Warner Bros. Records as well as one for DreamWorks Records. One of his albums included the novelty Christmas song "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas", which reached number 18 on the Hot Country Songs charts in late 1995-early 1996.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc253/toontownjuggalo/Brain%20Stew/MOVIE%20STARS/Jeff-Foxworthy.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc253/toontownjuggalo/Brain%20Stew/MOVIE%20STARS/Jeff-Foxworthy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/06/11 at 10:34 am

Gotta check out Google today.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/06/11 at 1:44 pm


Gotta check out Google today.



Cat

The homepage still has a special Google Doodle paying tribute to Freddie Mercury (and clicking on it plays the Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now"); I heard a mention about that on the radio this morning. The announcer said that Google plans to keep it up all week long...which would be nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/06/11 at 2:19 pm


The homepage still has a special Google Doodle paying tribute to Freddie Mercury (and clicking on it plays the Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now"); I heard a mention about that on the radio this morning. The announcer said that Google plans to keep it up all week long...which would be nice.
The image on the main page has gone for me, but the image is still available to view with the music.

http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google_Freddie_Mercury_Doodle.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/06/11 at 8:27 pm


The person of the day...Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3×multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has also written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem!.

Foxworthy has also made several ventures into television, first in the mid-1990s as the star of a sitcom called, The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He has also appeared alongside Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy in several Blue Collar television specials, most notably Blue Collar TV. Since 2007, he has been the host of the quiz show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? on Fox (2007–09) and syndication (2009–present). Foxworthy hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called The Foxworthy Countdown from April 1999 to December 2009. He has then became a part-time shark on Shark Tank (TV Series).
Foxworthy received the award for "Best Stand-Up Comic" at the 1990 American Comedy Awards.

In 1993, he released You Might Be a Redneck If…, which started the "You Might Be a Redneck" fad, topped the comedy album charts and sold more than three million copies.

His July 1995 release, Games Rednecks Play, received a 1996 Grammy nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album".

Totally Committed was released in May 1998. In conjunction with the CD was a one-hour HBO stand-up special by the same name. The CD reached "gold" status and received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination. The video of the song, Totally Committed featured frequent references to then-Atlanta Braves pitcher, Greg Maddux as well as an appearance at the very end by Maddux himself (along with teammate, John Smoltz).

In 2001, he received a nomination for "Best Spoken Comedy Album" at the 43rd Annual Grammys.

Foxworthy hosted Country Weekly's ""TNN Music City News Country Awards" show for 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Television

In 1995, he starred in The Jeff Foxworthy Show, a sitcom created out of his stand-up comedy persona. It aired on ABC, but was canceled after one season. NBC subsequently picked up the show, but it was again canceled after one season. Foxworthy later remarked that the network did not understand how to properly market his humor; thinking his routine was "too Southern" for a national network ("Has anyone heard me talk?", he commented in one of his stand-up routines), they based the first season of his sitcom in Bloomington, Indiana. The show later aired on Nick at Nite and CMT in 2005 and 2006. He also appeared in Alan Jackson's video for I Don't Even Know Your Name in 1995.

Foxworthy hosted the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? which aired on Fox in prime time. He hosted the syndicated version of the show from September 21, 2009 until its cancellation on March 24, 2011. In addition, he is a host on The Bucks of Tecomate which airs on Versus with Alabama native David Morris.

Jeff will also be a potential investor on about half of the next edition of the ABC reality series, Shark Tank, where moneyed entrepreneurs decide if they will invest in new products, ideas and the like from those requesting funding in exchange for a percentage of ownership.

He was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast in 2005.
Blue collar comedy

In the early 2000s, Foxworthy had a career resurgence as a result of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, in which he and three other comedians (Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White, and Bill Engvall), specializing in common-man comedy, toured the country and performed for record crowds. The tour lasted three full years, constantly being extended after an initial run of 20 shows.

In 2004, he launched a new television show called Blue Collar TV on The WB Television Network, Comedy Central, and Comedy Network (2007). He served as executive producer, and starred alongside Blue Collar Comedy Tour-mates Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall. (Ron White turned the show down but made occasional guest appearances). The show was relatively successful compared to the anemic performance of the WB's other sitcoms. On Larry the Cable Guy's website, he posted that the show was canceled on October 17, 2005 by WB. Reruns of Blue Collar TV continued until the network merged with UPN to form The CW.

Jeff resurrected the Blue Collar TV format (albeit with only himself participating along with some of the Blue Collar TV co-hosts) on Country Music Television (CMT) with Foxworthy's Big Night Out. The show began airing in summer 2006 and was cancelled after one season.
Books

Foxworthy has authored several books, including You Might Be a Redneck If... (1989), as well as his autobiography, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem! (1996). Artist Layron DeJarnette provided illustrations for the Redneck Dictionary books. R. David Boyd has been the exclusive illustrator for most of Foxworthy's books and album covers.

He also has released a cookbook entitled The Redneck Grill, co-authored with Newnan, Georgia artist R. David Boyd, and "Redneck Extreme Mobile Home Makeover" (2005), a book with some of his redneck jokes.

His books are:

    Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2005)
    Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary II: More Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of (2006)
    Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary III: Learning to Talk More Gooder Fastly (30 Oct 7)
    Rednecks In College

In February 2008, Foxworthy released his first children's book, Dirt On My Shirt. This was followed by Silly Street in 2009 and Hide!!! in 2010, both of which were illustrated by Steve Bjorkman.

In May 2008, Foxworthy released How to Really Stink at Golf, with co-author Brian Hartt and illustrations by Layron DeJarnette. In May 2009 he released How to Really Stink at Work, A Guide to Making Yourself Fire-Proof While Having the Most Fun Possible. This book was also co-authored with Brian Hartt.
Radio work

In April 1999, Foxworthy began The Foxworthy Countdown, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio show, which featured the top 30 country hits of the week, as reported by Mediabase. He received a Country Music Association nomination, in 2001, for "Broadcast Personality of the Year". The program's last broadcast, the 2009 year-end countdown, aired the weekend of December 27, 2009. Blue Collar Comedy Radio airs on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 103 and is associated with Raw Dog Comedy on Sirius 104.
Personal life

Foxworthy has been married to Pamela Gregg since September 18, 1985 and has two daughters, Jordan (born in 1992) and Julianne (born in 1994). A noted hunting enthusiast, Foxworthy has appeared as host and featured guest on several programs on the Outdoor Channel and Versus. Foxworthy is also a devout Christian, and performed stand-up at a Young Life conference.
Discography
Main article: Jeff Foxworthy discography

Foxworthy has released five comedy albums for Warner Bros. Records as well as one for DreamWorks Records. One of his albums included the novelty Christmas song "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas", which reached number 18 on the Hot Country Songs charts in late 1995-early 1996.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc253/toontownjuggalo/Brain%20Stew/MOVIE%20STARS/Jeff-Foxworthy.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc253/toontownjuggalo/Brain%20Stew/MOVIE%20STARS/Jeff-Foxworthy.jpg


Ninny you watch Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/07/11 at 4:55 am

British Person of the Day: Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane Grey, cutting his half-sisters out of the succession. His will was set aside, Lady Jane Grey was executed, and in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.

Elizabeth set out to rule by good counsel, and she depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by William Cecil, Baron Burghley. One of her first moves as queen was the establishing of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement later evolved into today's Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir so as to continue the Tudor line. She never did, however, despite numerous courtships. As she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity, and a cult grew up around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.

In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father, brother and sister had been. One of her mottoes was "video et taceo" ("I see, and say nothing"). In religion she was relatively tolerant, avoiding systematic persecution. After 1570, when the pope declared her illegitimate and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life. All plots were defeated, however, with the help of her ministers' secret service. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, moving between the major powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France and Ireland. In the mid-1580s war with Spain could no longer be avoided, and when Spain finally decided to invade and conquer England in 1588, the defeat of the Spanish Armada associated her with what is popularly viewed as one of the greatest victories in English history.

Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Sir Francis Drake. Some historians are more reserved in their assessment. They depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, who enjoyed more than her share of luck. Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor, in an age when government was ramshackle and limited and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. Such was the case with Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, whom she imprisoned in 1568 and eventually had executed in 1587. After the short reigns of Elizabeth's brother and sister, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Darnley_stage_3.jpg/220px-Darnley_stage_3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/07/11 at 12:37 pm


The image on the main page has gone for me, but the image is still available to view with the music.

http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Google_Freddie_Mercury_Doodle.jpg

And now, the Google homepage is back to normal over here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/07/11 at 12:38 pm


And now, the Google homepage is back to normal over here.
I never got to see and hear the image in its pure serene.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/07/11 at 3:02 pm

The person of the day...Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959) known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. Holly was among the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".
Holly saw Elvis Presley sing in Lubbock in 1955, and began to incorporate a rockabilly style, similar to that of Chuck Berry, which had a strong rhythm acoustic and slap bass. On October 15, 1955, Holly, along with Bob Montgomery and Larry Welborn, opened the bill for Presley in Lubbock, catching the eye of a Nashville talent scout. Holly's transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local show organized by Eddie Crandall, the manager for Marty Robbins.

Following this performance, Decca Records signed him to a contract in February 1956, misspelling his name as "Holly". He thereafter adopted the misspelled name for his professional career. Holly formed his own band, later to be called The Crickets, consisting of Holly (lead guitar and vocals), Niki Sullivan (guitar), Joe B. Mauldin (bass), and Jerry Allison (drums). They went to Nashville for three recording sessions with producer Owen Bradley. However, he chafed under a restrictive atmosphere that allowed him little input. Among the tracks he recorded was an early version of "That'll Be The Day", which took its title from a line that John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the 1956 film The Searchers. (This initial version of the song played more slowly and about half an octave higher than the later hit version.) Decca released two singles, "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Modern Don Juan", that failed to make an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly his contract would not be renewed, insisting, however, that he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.
Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico

Holly then hired Norman Petty as manager, and the band began recording at Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Petty contacted music publishers and labels, and Brunswick Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed the Crickets on March 19, 1957. Holly signed as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time.

On May 27, 1957, "That'll Be The Day" was released as a single, credited to the Crickets to try to bypass Decca's claimed legal rights. When the song became a hit, Decca decided not to press its claim. "That'll Be the Day" topped the US "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on September 23, and was the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November. The Crickets performed "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue" on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 1. They also sang "Peggy Sue" on The Arthur Murray Party on December 29 and were given a polite introduction by Kathryn Murray. The kinescopes of these programs are the only record of their 1957 television appearances.

Holly helped win over an all-black audience to rock and roll/rockabilly when the Crickets were booked at New York's Apollo Theater for August 16–22, 1957. Unlike the immediate acceptance shown in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story, it actually took several performances for the audience to warm up to him. In August 1957, the Crickets were the only white performers on a national tour including black neighborhood theaters.

As Holly was signed both as a solo artist and a member of the Crickets, two debut albums were released: The "Chirping" Crickets on November 27, 1957 and Buddy Holly on February 20, 1958. His singles "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy!", with backing vocals later dubbed on by The Picks, reached the top ten of United States and United Kingdom charts. Buddy Holly and the Crickets toured Australia in January 1958 and the UK in March. Their third and final album, That'll Be the Day, was put together from early recordings and was released in April.

In the liner notes to Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection, Billy Altman notes that "Peggy Sue" was originally written as "Cindy Lou," but Holly later changed it prior to recording as a tip of the hat to Crickets drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend (and future wife), Peggy Sue Gerron.

Holly wrote the song "True Love Ways" about his relationship with his wife, Maria Elena. It was recorded in her presence on October 21, 1958 at Decca's Pythian Temple, with Dick Jacob, Coral-Brunswick's new head of Artists and Repertoire, serving as both producer and conductor of the 18-piece orchestra, which included members of the New York Symphony Orchestra, NBC Television's house orchestra and Abraham "Boomie" Richman, formerly of Benny Goodman's band.
Holly in New York

The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while his band mates wanted to go back home to Lubbock. As a result, the group split up in late 1958. The Hollys settled in Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. Here he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do," known as the "Apartment Tapes," which were released after his death.

The Hollys frequented many of New York's music venues, including The Village Gate, Blue Note, Village Vanguard, and Johnny Johnson's. Maria Elena reported Buddy was keen to learn finger-style flamenco guitar, and would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. He wanted to develop collaborations between soul singers and rock 'n' roll, hoping to make an album with Ray Charles and gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. He also had ambitions to work in film, like Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran, and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasburg's Actors' Studio, where the likes of Marlon Brando and James Dean had trained.
Further information: History of multitrack recording

According to Billy Altman's liner notes to the Geffen/Universal compilation, Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection, in addition to "True Love Ways", during the October 1958 sessions at Decca's Pythian Temple, Holly also recorded two other songs, "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "Raining In My Heart". The songs were firsts for Holly, not only in the use of orchestral backing players, but also the tracks were his first stereo recordings. They were also to be his last formal recording studio recording sessions.

Holly was still having trouble getting his royalties from Petty, so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends the Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following disputes with their own manager, Wesley Rose. Yet, with the money still being withheld by Petty and with rent due, Buddy was forced to go back on the road.
Death
Holly's headstone in the City of Lubbock Cemetery
Signpost near the Clear Lake crash site
Main article: The Day the Music Died

Holly was offered a spot in the Winter Dance Party, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on January 23, 1959, by the GAC agency, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. He assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums), and billed as The Crickets.

The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers, who had to endure long overnight travel in a bus plagued with a faulty heating system in −25 °F (−32 °C) temperatures. The bus also broke down several times between stops.

Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. He, Valens, Richardson and the pilot were killed en route to Moorhead, Minnesota, when their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of February 3. Bandmate Waylon Jennings had given up his seat on the plane, causing Holly to jokingly tell Jennings, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings shot back facetiously, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades.

Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was officiated by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at the Hollys' wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis and Phil Everly. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend due to his commitment to the still-touring Winter Dance Party. The body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Holly's pregnant wife, a widow after barely six months of marriage, miscarried soon after, ending that part of the Holly family tree. The miscarriage was reportedly due to “psychological trauma”. Because of this incident, authorities found it necessary, in the months following, to implement a policy against announcing victims’ names until after families had first been informed.María Elena Holly did not attend the funeral, and has never visited the gravesite. She later told the Avalanche-Journal:

    In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane.

The first song to commemorate the musicians was “Three Stars” by Eddie Cochran. This song was recorded just a single day after the disaster occurred. Years later, in 1971, Don McLean released his single, "American Pie”, to commemorate Buddy Holly’s death and further accentuate the loss of the United States’ innocence. Don McLean’s song began the reference to the tragedy as "The Day the Music Died".
Influence
Buddy Holly statue on the Lubbock Walk of Fame

Holly set the template for the standard rock and roll band: two guitars, bass, and drums. He was also one of the first in the genre to write, produce, and perform his own songs.

Holly managed to bridge the racial divide that marked music in America. Along with Elvis and others, Holly made rock and roll, with its roots in rockabilly country music and blues-inspired rhythm and blues music, more popular among a broad white audience. From listening to their recordings, one had difficulty determining if the Crickets, the name of Buddy's band, were white or black singers. Holly indeed sometimes played with black musicians Little Richard and Chuck Berry. The Crickets were only the second white rock group to tour Great Britain. Holly's essential eyeglasses encouraged other musicians, such as John Lennon, also to wear their glasses during performances.

In his biography of rock legend Elton John, Phillip Norman recounted that by his early teens, John (then known as Reg Dwight) was wearing glasses "not because he needed them, but in homage to Buddy Holly." After wearing glasses for a while, his eyes became adjusted to the lenses, and at that point he really did need glasses, which would years later establish John as one of the most famous "four-eyes" in rock and roll, though Holly is considered the first.

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not attend a Holly concert, although they watched his television appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium; Tony Bramwell, a school friend of McCartney and George Harrison, did. Bramwell met Holly, and freely shared his records with all three. Ian Whitcomb said "Buddy Holly and the Crickets had the most influence on the Beatles." Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as a primary influence. (Their band's name, The Beatles, was chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets.) The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was a close reproduction of Holly's version, released on late 1964's Beatles for Sale (in the U.S., in June 1965 on Beatles VI). During the January 1969 sessions for the Let It Be album, the Beatles played a slow impromptu version of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" — although not written by Holly, it was popularized by him — with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style; the recording was eventually released in the mid-1990s on Anthology 3. In addition, John Lennon recorded a cover version of "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll. McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

A 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959, show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time out of Mind being named Album of the Year:

    "And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."

Keith Richards attended one of Holly's performances, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. The Rolling Stones had an early hit covering the song.

The launch of Bobby Vee's successful musical career resulted from Holly's death, when he was selected to replace Holly on the tour that continued after the plane crash. Holly's profound influence on Vee's singing style can be heard in such songs as "Rubber Ball" and "Run to Him."

Holly influenced many other singers during and after a career that lasted barely two years. Keith Richards once said Holly had "an influence on everybody." In an August 24, 1978 Rolling Stone interview, Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest."

The Grateful Dead performed "Not Fade Away" 530 times over the course of their career, making it their seventh most-performed song. The song also appears on eight of their official live recording releases.

Various rock and roll histories have asserted the singing group The Hollies were named in homage to Buddy Holly. According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly (and years later produced an album covering some of his songs), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.

Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie" is inspired by Holly and the day of the plane crash. The American Pie album is dedicated to Holly.

Weezer's single, "Buddy Holly", released on September 7, 1994 (Holly's 58th birthday), references Holly.

The Dixie Chicks reference Holly in the song "Lubbock or Leave It" (on the Grammy-winning Taking the Long Way); during the middle eight, lead singer Natalie Maines, also a Lubbock native, compares his legacy with her infamously outspoken behavior after seeing his statue: "I hear they hate me now, just like they hated you / maybe when I'm dead and gone, I'm gonna get a statue too".
Discography
Main article: Buddy Holly discography

Buddy Holly released only three albums in his lifetime. Nonetheless, he recorded so prolifically that Coral Records was able to release brand-new albums and singles for 10 years after his death, although the technical quality was very mixed, some being studio quality and others home recordings.

Buddy Holly continued to be promoted and sold as an "active" artist, and his records had a loyal following, especially in Europe. The demand for unissued Holly material was so great that Norman Petty resorted to overdubbing whatever he could find: alternate takes of studio recordings, originally rejected masters, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and the other five 1959 tracks (adding new surf-guitar arrangements), and even Holly's amateur demos from 1954 (where the low-fidelity vocals are often muffled behind the new orchestrations). The last new Buddy Holly album was Giant (featuring the single "Love Is Strange"), issued in 1969. Between the 1959–60 Jack Hansen overdubs, the 1960s Norman Petty overdubs, various alternate takes, and Holly's undubbed originals, collectors can often choose from multiple versions of the same song. There are also many different versions of Holly's "Greatest Hits" as well as covers/compilation albums of Buddy's songs performed by various artists. One such album has been announced recently at an event at P.J. Clarke's in New York. Listen to Me: Buddy Holly is being produced by Peter Asher and includes contributions from Stevie Nicks, The Fray, Cobra Starship, Jeff Lynne, Train's Pat Monahan, Patrick Stump, Jackson Browne, Chris Isaak, Natalie Merchant, Imelda May, Ringo Starr, Lyle Lovett, Zooey Deschanel, Brian Wilson and more.
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/HotChantal69/buddy-holly-singing.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p228/patevans1971/buddy_holly_jpg-1478.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/07/11 at 4:28 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IbvVOgFce4

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/07/11 at 8:15 pm


The person of the day...Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959) known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. Holly was among the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".
Holly saw Elvis Presley sing in Lubbock in 1955, and began to incorporate a rockabilly style, similar to that of Chuck Berry, which had a strong rhythm acoustic and slap bass. On October 15, 1955, Holly, along with Bob Montgomery and Larry Welborn, opened the bill for Presley in Lubbock, catching the eye of a Nashville talent scout. Holly's transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local show organized by Eddie Crandall, the manager for Marty Robbins.

Following this performance, Decca Records signed him to a contract in February 1956, misspelling his name as "Holly". He thereafter adopted the misspelled name for his professional career. Holly formed his own band, later to be called The Crickets, consisting of Holly (lead guitar and vocals), Niki Sullivan (guitar), Joe B. Mauldin (bass), and Jerry Allison (drums). They went to Nashville for three recording sessions with producer Owen Bradley. However, he chafed under a restrictive atmosphere that allowed him little input. Among the tracks he recorded was an early version of "That'll Be The Day", which took its title from a line that John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the 1956 film The Searchers. (This initial version of the song played more slowly and about half an octave higher than the later hit version.) Decca released two singles, "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Modern Don Juan", that failed to make an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly his contract would not be renewed, insisting, however, that he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.
Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico

Holly then hired Norman Petty as manager, and the band began recording at Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Petty contacted music publishers and labels, and Brunswick Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed the Crickets on March 19, 1957. Holly signed as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time.

On May 27, 1957, "That'll Be The Day" was released as a single, credited to the Crickets to try to bypass Decca's claimed legal rights. When the song became a hit, Decca decided not to press its claim. "That'll Be the Day" topped the US "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on September 23, and was the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November. The Crickets performed "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue" on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 1. They also sang "Peggy Sue" on The Arthur Murray Party on December 29 and were given a polite introduction by Kathryn Murray. The kinescopes of these programs are the only record of their 1957 television appearances.

Holly helped win over an all-black audience to rock and roll/rockabilly when the Crickets were booked at New York's Apollo Theater for August 16–22, 1957. Unlike the immediate acceptance shown in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story, it actually took several performances for the audience to warm up to him. In August 1957, the Crickets were the only white performers on a national tour including black neighborhood theaters.

As Holly was signed both as a solo artist and a member of the Crickets, two debut albums were released: The "Chirping" Crickets on November 27, 1957 and Buddy Holly on February 20, 1958. His singles "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy!", with backing vocals later dubbed on by The Picks, reached the top ten of United States and United Kingdom charts. Buddy Holly and the Crickets toured Australia in January 1958 and the UK in March. Their third and final album, That'll Be the Day, was put together from early recordings and was released in April.

In the liner notes to Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection, Billy Altman notes that "Peggy Sue" was originally written as "Cindy Lou," but Holly later changed it prior to recording as a tip of the hat to Crickets drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend (and future wife), Peggy Sue Gerron.

Holly wrote the song "True Love Ways" about his relationship with his wife, Maria Elena. It was recorded in her presence on October 21, 1958 at Decca's Pythian Temple, with Dick Jacob, Coral-Brunswick's new head of Artists and Repertoire, serving as both producer and conductor of the 18-piece orchestra, which included members of the New York Symphony Orchestra, NBC Television's house orchestra and Abraham "Boomie" Richman, formerly of Benny Goodman's band.
Holly in New York

The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while his band mates wanted to go back home to Lubbock. As a result, the group split up in late 1958. The Hollys settled in Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. Here he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do," known as the "Apartment Tapes," which were released after his death.

The Hollys frequented many of New York's music venues, including The Village Gate, Blue Note, Village Vanguard, and Johnny Johnson's. Maria Elena reported Buddy was keen to learn finger-style flamenco guitar, and would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. He wanted to develop collaborations between soul singers and rock 'n' roll, hoping to make an album with Ray Charles and gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. He also had ambitions to work in film, like Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran, and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasburg's Actors' Studio, where the likes of Marlon Brando and James Dean had trained.
Further information: History of multitrack recording

According to Billy Altman's liner notes to the Geffen/Universal compilation, Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection, in addition to "True Love Ways", during the October 1958 sessions at Decca's Pythian Temple, Holly also recorded two other songs, "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "Raining In My Heart". The songs were firsts for Holly, not only in the use of orchestral backing players, but also the tracks were his first stereo recordings. They were also to be his last formal recording studio recording sessions.

Holly was still having trouble getting his royalties from Petty, so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends the Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following disputes with their own manager, Wesley Rose. Yet, with the money still being withheld by Petty and with rent due, Buddy was forced to go back on the road.
Death
Holly's headstone in the City of Lubbock Cemetery
Signpost near the Clear Lake crash site
Main article: The Day the Music Died

Holly was offered a spot in the Winter Dance Party, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on January 23, 1959, by the GAC agency, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. He assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums), and billed as The Crickets.

The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers, who had to endure long overnight travel in a bus plagued with a faulty heating system in −25 °F (−32 °C) temperatures. The bus also broke down several times between stops.

Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. He, Valens, Richardson and the pilot were killed en route to Moorhead, Minnesota, when their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of February 3. Bandmate Waylon Jennings had given up his seat on the plane, causing Holly to jokingly tell Jennings, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings shot back facetiously, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades.

Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was officiated by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at the Hollys' wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis and Phil Everly. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend due to his commitment to the still-touring Winter Dance Party. The body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Holly's pregnant wife, a widow after barely six months of marriage, miscarried soon after, ending that part of the Holly family tree. The miscarriage was reportedly due to “psychological trauma”. Because of this incident, authorities found it necessary, in the months following, to implement a policy against announcing victims’ names until after families had first been informed.María Elena Holly did not attend the funeral, and has never visited the gravesite. She later told the Avalanche-Journal:

    In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane.

The first song to commemorate the musicians was “Three Stars” by Eddie Cochran. This song was recorded just a single day after the disaster occurred. Years later, in 1971, Don McLean released his single, "American Pie”, to commemorate Buddy Holly’s death and further accentuate the loss of the United States’ innocence. Don McLean’s song began the reference to the tragedy as "The Day the Music Died".
Influence
Buddy Holly statue on the Lubbock Walk of Fame

Holly set the template for the standard rock and roll band: two guitars, bass, and drums. He was also one of the first in the genre to write, produce, and perform his own songs.

Holly managed to bridge the racial divide that marked music in America. Along with Elvis and others, Holly made rock and roll, with its roots in rockabilly country music and blues-inspired rhythm and blues music, more popular among a broad white audience. From listening to their recordings, one had difficulty determining if the Crickets, the name of Buddy's band, were white or black singers. Holly indeed sometimes played with black musicians Little Richard and Chuck Berry. The Crickets were only the second white rock group to tour Great Britain. Holly's essential eyeglasses encouraged other musicians, such as John Lennon, also to wear their glasses during performances.

In his biography of rock legend Elton John, Phillip Norman recounted that by his early teens, John (then known as Reg Dwight) was wearing glasses "not because he needed them, but in homage to Buddy Holly." After wearing glasses for a while, his eyes became adjusted to the lenses, and at that point he really did need glasses, which would years later establish John as one of the most famous "four-eyes" in rock and roll, though Holly is considered the first.

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not attend a Holly concert, although they watched his television appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium; Tony Bramwell, a school friend of McCartney and George Harrison, did. Bramwell met Holly, and freely shared his records with all three. Ian Whitcomb said "Buddy Holly and the Crickets had the most influence on the Beatles." Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as a primary influence. (Their band's name, The Beatles, was chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets.) The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was a close reproduction of Holly's version, released on late 1964's Beatles for Sale (in the U.S., in June 1965 on Beatles VI). During the January 1969 sessions for the Let It Be album, the Beatles played a slow impromptu version of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" — although not written by Holly, it was popularized by him — with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style; the recording was eventually released in the mid-1990s on Anthology 3. In addition, John Lennon recorded a cover version of "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll. McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

A 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959, show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time out of Mind being named Album of the Year:

    "And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he LOOKED at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."

Keith Richards attended one of Holly's performances, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. The Rolling Stones had an early hit covering the song.

The launch of Bobby Vee's successful musical career resulted from Holly's death, when he was selected to replace Holly on the tour that continued after the plane crash. Holly's profound influence on Vee's singing style can be heard in such songs as "Rubber Ball" and "Run to Him."

Holly influenced many other singers during and after a career that lasted barely two years. Keith Richards once said Holly had "an influence on everybody." In an August 24, 1978 Rolling Stone interview, Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest."

The Grateful Dead performed "Not Fade Away" 530 times over the course of their career, making it their seventh most-performed song. The song also appears on eight of their official live recording releases.

Various rock and roll histories have asserted the singing group The Hollies were named in homage to Buddy Holly. According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly (and years later produced an album covering some of his songs), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.

Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie" is inspired by Holly and the day of the plane crash. The American Pie album is dedicated to Holly.

Weezer's single, "Buddy Holly", released on September 7, 1994 (Holly's 58th birthday), references Holly.

The Dixie Chicks reference Holly in the song "Lubbock or Leave It" (on the Grammy-winning Taking the Long Way); during the middle eight, lead singer Natalie Maines, also a Lubbock native, compares his legacy with her infamously outspoken behavior after seeing his statue: "I hear they hate me now, just like they hated you / maybe when I'm dead and gone, I'm gonna get a statue too".
Discography
Main article: Buddy Holly discography

Buddy Holly released only three albums in his lifetime. Nonetheless, he recorded so prolifically that Coral Records was able to release brand-new albums and singles for 10 years after his death, although the technical quality was very mixed, some being studio quality and others home recordings.

Buddy Holly continued to be promoted and sold as an "active" artist, and his records had a loyal following, especially in Europe. The demand for unissued Holly material was so great that Norman Petty resorted to overdubbing whatever he could find: alternate takes of studio recordings, originally rejected masters, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and the other five 1959 tracks (adding new surf-guitar arrangements), and even Holly's amateur demos from 1954 (where the low-fidelity vocals are often muffled behind the new orchestrations). The last new Buddy Holly album was Giant (featuring the single "Love Is Strange"), issued in 1969. Between the 1959–60 Jack Hansen overdubs, the 1960s Norman Petty overdubs, various alternate takes, and Holly's undubbed originals, collectors can often choose from multiple versions of the same song. There are also many different versions of Holly's "Greatest Hits" as well as covers/compilation albums of Buddy's songs performed by various artists. One such album has been announced recently at an event at P.J. Clarke's in New York. Listen to Me: Buddy Holly is being produced by Peter Asher and includes contributions from Stevie Nicks, The Fray, Cobra Starship, Jeff Lynne, Train's Pat Monahan, Patrick Stump, Jackson Browne, Chris Isaak, Natalie Merchant, Imelda May, Ringo Starr, Lyle Lovett, Zooey Deschanel, Brian Wilson and more.
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy333/HotChantal69/buddy-holly-singing.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p228/patevans1971/buddy_holly_jpg-1478.jpg


Peggy Sue is my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/08/11 at 12:56 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IbvVOgFce4
This is my favourite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 09/08/11 at 1:02 am

Imagine, just imagine how many more hits we've missed since that plane went to rock and roll heaven.

My favorite is 'Heartbeat' & 'Everyday'

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/08/11 at 2:20 am

British Person of the Day: Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, born in Southsea, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers. Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother.

One of the most accomplished comic actors of the late 20th century, Peter Sellers breathed life into the accident-prone Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther" (1963) and its three sequels, as well as such classics as "Lolita" (1962), "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), "The Party" (1968) and "Being There" (1979). The son of English vaudevillians, his ability to completely transform himself into outrageous comic characters received its first showcase on the legendary radio series "The Goon Show" in the 1950s. Film roles in the 1950s and 1960s were devoted to his knack for mimicry of accents and character types, with Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove" underscoring his talent for drama as well. His best-known role of Inspector Clouseau surfaced in 1963, and he would return, sometimes reluctantly, to the franchise throughout his life before scoring a personal triumph as the simple-minded gardener who influences the Presidency in Hal Ashby's "Being There" (1980). Off camera, Sellers could be cold, cruel, even unstable, but when the cameras were rolling, he showed a dedication to performance and humor that made him one of the greatest inspirations to comedians and film fans for decades.

He began life as Richard Henry Sellers on Sept. 8, 1925 in the seaside resort town of Southsea, in Portsmouth, England. His family, who were performers on the British vaudeville circuit, bestowed a particularly morbid nickname upon their son: Peter was the name of a brother who did not survive birth. He took up his family's profession at an early age, dancing and singing alongside his mother in stage shows when he was just five years old. He became skilled at a variety of talents, including drums, banjo and ukulele, and for a while, he toured as a drummer with various jazz bands. Sellers was also an expert mimic, which he put to excellent use during his service as an airman with the Royal Air Force during World War II. He frequently impersonated his superior officers as a way to gain access into the Officers' Mess, and made them part of his performances with the Entertainments National Service Association, which put on plays and skits for British troops. His knack for mimicry also served him well in the years after his discharge in 1948. Sellers supported himself by performing stand-up comedy and celebrity impressions on the variety theater circuit, and at one point, secured a meeting with BBC producer Roy Speer by pretending to be radio star Kenneth Horne. The ruse clearly worked, as the 23-year-old Sellers was soon granted an audition, which lead to a role on the popular radio comedy "Ray's a Laugh," starring comedian Ted Ray. Audiences had their first glimpse of Sellers' astonishing voice talent on the series, which allowed him to play everything from an obnoxious little boy to a bizarre older woman.

During this period, Sellers was also performing in an informal group with comics Spike Milligan and Michael Bentine and singer Harry Secombe. The quartet, who dubbed themselves the Goons, recorded their antics at a local pub, and the tape made its way into the hands of a BBC producer, who granted the quartet their own radio series. "The Goon Show" premiered in 1951 and became a massive hit with British audiences, thanks to its surreal humor which parodied traditional radio drama with absurd leaps in logic. Each episode was filled with countless bizarre characters, many of which were voiced by Sellers, including the program's chief villain, Hercules Grytpype-Thynne; the hapless scoutmaster Bluebottle; the cowardly, flatulent Major Bloodnok (who was based on many of Sellers' superior officers), and many others. On more than one occasion, Sellers was called upon to voice all of Milligan's characters as well, and at times, carry out complete conversations between two or more people.

The popularity of the Goons' radio program led to a few abortive attempts at television series, including "The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d" (ITV, 1956), but most filmed efforts were unable to match the stream of consciousness that comprised their recorded efforts. More successful were the Goons' comedy LPs and novelty songs, as well as a quartet of films - the feature length "Let's Go Crazy" (1951), which marked Sellers' screen debut, "Penny Points to Paradise" (1951), "Down Among the Z Men" (1952), and the shorts "The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn" (1956) and "The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film" (1959). The latter, directed by Sellers and Richard Lester, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, and also served as the impetus for the Beatles - all dedicated Goons fans - to hire Lester to direct "A Hard Day's Night" (1964). The Goons were also acknowledged influences on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eddie Izzard, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, Peter Cook, the Firesign Theater and countless British and American television comedies.

In 1954, Sellers began branching out on his own as a supporting player in feature comedies. He quickly established himself as versatile a performer on screen as he was over the radio airwaves, with richly varied characters in some of the greatest British comedies of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was the nervous Teddy Boy that joined Alec Guinness's inept criminal crew in Alexander Mackendrick's "The Ladykillers" (1955), an obsequious game show host in "The Naked Truth" (1957), a baffled military officer in Val Guest's "Up the Creek" (1958), and most impressively, three roles in "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), including the addled Duchess of the tiny European nation of Fenwick, which declares war on - and defeats - the United States. Several of these pictures were international successes, especially in America, which brought Sellers to the attention of Hollywood. In 1958, he made his stateside debut in "tom thumb" (1958), fantasy director George Pal's musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a tiny hero who outwits a pair of thieves (Sellers and Terry-Thomas).

Sellers' stature as a film star grew in the 1960s, thanks to several key films. "Never Let Go" (1960) was a thriller that afforded him a rare opportunity to play a straight role as a murderous car dealer, while "I'm All Right Jack" (1959) proved he could bring pathos to his comic roles. His turn as a Communist shop steward who becomes a reluctant strike leader in the latter film earned him a BAFTA for Best Actor in 1959. However, it was Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaptation of "Lolita" (1962) that made him an international star. His protean nature was given full reign as Clare Quilty, the decadent playwright who attempts to lure Sue Lyon's teenage Lolita into his depraved world, prompting his murder by Humbert Humbert (James Mason). Kubrick's version expanded the role considerably, allowing Sellers to don several disguises and accents throughout, including a Germanic doctor, Zempf, who foreshadowed Sellers' turn as Dr. Strangelove two years later. For his efforts, Sellers was critically acclaimed, as well as a Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1963, Sellers made his first appearance in his most iconic role - that of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in "The Pink Panther." Fiercely dedicated to fighting crime and upholding the dignity of France, Clouseau is also wildly accident-prone, egotistical to a fault and burdened with an impenetrable accent that transformed English into a wholly unknown language. A supporting character in "Panther," which was intended as a comic caper series devoted to star David Niven's gentleman jewel thief, it was Sellers that captured audiences' attention, and led to a long and tumultuous series of films. The second in the series, "A Shot in the Dark" (1964), followed a year later with Clouseau now the central character. It too was a success, but the relationship between Sellers and director Blake Edwards deteriorated to such a degree that the pair refused to work together again until 1968's "The Party." A third Clouseau film, "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), continued the franchise with Alan Arkin in the title role, but it was not a success, prompting MGM to urge Sellers and Edwards to patch up their differences and return to the series for 1975's "Return of the Pink Panther."

Clashes such as the one with Edwards were not uncommon for Sellers during his career. In both Europe and America, he soon developed a reputation as a difficult performer, prone to lashing out at castmates over perceived slights. His personal life was also marked by moments of astonishingly casual cruelty towards his spouses and children. His first marriage, to Anne Howe, ended in a difficult divorce that may have been prompted by an affair with actress Sophia Loren; his second marriage, to actress Britt Ekland, was marked by domestic violence spurred by allegations of infidelity. Biographers surmised that Sellers suffered from depression and anxiety over his career, which he often viewed as a failure. Further evidence of his troubled psyche was glimpsed in interviews that asked him about his penchant for disappearing into his characters. His response was that there was no "Peter Sellers," but rather, a blank slate that adapted to the needs of the role.

The greatest example of the extent to which Sellers could immerse himself into a role was perhaps Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb" (1964). The black comedy, about a series of political blunders which lead to World War III, allowed Sellers to play several roles: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, British officer Lionel Mandrake, and the sinister Dr. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist whose crippled body seemed hellbent on betraying his Fascist past. Sellers was initially asked to also play Major T.J. "King" Kong, the U.S. Air Force officer who rides the bomb bronco-style as it descends on the Soviet Union, but an injury forced Sellers to abandon the role, which was given to veteran Western performer Slim Pickens. Sellers found both the humor and the horror of the characters in his performances, which received an Oscar nomination, and seemed to indicate that he could move into dramatic roles - his abiding wish. However, he suffered a string of debilitating heart attacks - 13 over the course of a few days - that curtailed his availability. Desperate to return to work, he sought the aid of psychic healers for his condition, which would continue to deteriorate over the next two decades. He also threw himself headlong into film work, which varied, often wildly, in quality.

Sellers longed to play romantic roles, such as his singing matador in "The Bobo" (1967), but audiences responded more to his buffoonish turns, like the accident-prone Indian actor in Edwards' "The Party" (1968) or the Italian jewel thief who poses as a film director in order to smuggle gold out of Europe in the Neil Simon-penned "After the Fox" (1966). He attempted to play James Bond in the all-star vanity project "Casino Royale" (1967), but abandoned the film after clashing with co-star Orson Welles and, allegedly, realizing that the film was in fact, a comedy and not a straight action piece. The end of the decade, which saw him diving into the counterculture with "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!" (1968) and "The Magic Christian" (1969), which co-starred his close friend, Beatle Ringo Starr, also marked the conclusion of his lengthy tenure as a movie star for some years.

The first half of the 1970s was a period of deep personal and public failure for Sellers. His marriage to Eklund had ended on an explosive note in 1968, and his 1970 marriage to Australian model Miranda Quarry followed suit in 1974. His film career was in total freefall; pictures like "There's a Girl in My Soup" (1970), "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" (1973), which reunited him with Spike Milligan, and "The Great McGonagall" (1974), were box office disasters. Sellers' health also continued its downward spiral due to his reluctance to treat his condition with Western medicine, and a growing dependence on alcohol and drugs. The spell of bad luck broke in 1974 with the fourth "Pink Panther" film, "Return of the Pink Panther," which reunited him with Blake Edwards once again. The result was a colossal hit for Sellers, and a career revival that lasted for the remainder of his life.

However, Sellers was mentally and physically unprepared for the rush of attention and work that came in the wake of "Return." His relationship with Edwards had crumbled. By the time they began the rushed sequel to "Return," 1976's "The Pink Panther Strikes Again," Sellers was unable to perform many of his own physical gags, and Edwards would later describe his emotional state at the time as "certifiable." "Strikes Again," however, was another hit, with Golden Globe nominations for the film and its star, who began working in earnest on several films. "Murder By Death" (1976) was an all-star parody of detective films, with Sellers playing a short-tempered version of Charlie Chan, while "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1978) was a lukewarm adaptation of the familiar Anthony Hope novel about a commoner (Sellers) recruited to impersonate his look-alike, the king (also Sellers) of a tiny European country. Sellers, however, had his attention fixed elsewhere.

For several years, he had worked in earnest to secure the film rights to Jerzy Kosinski's novel Being There, about a simple gardener who becomes the confidante to the rich and powerful. The project went before cameras in 1979, with Sellers giving one of his richest performances in a role that seemed tailor-made for him - a man with no discernible personality, yet the ability to fascinate and inspire so many around him. The film was a critical and audience success, and won Sellers a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. The validation and acclaim, however, would be short lived.

Sellers had suffered another punishing heart attack in 1977, which required him to be fitted for a pacemaker. Though he had resisted having heart surgery for years, he finally relented, and in 1980, was slated to undergo an operation in Los Angeles. Just days before the surgery, Sellers suffered a massive heart attack which sent him into a coma. He died two days later on July 24, 1980, just one day before a scheduled reunion dinner with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Lynne Frederick, and his three children. At his funeral, the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" was played for mourners. It was a fitting touch for a man who reveled in the darker side of humor; the song was reportedly one that the 54-year-old Sellers had long hated.

While the Hollywood community mourned his premature loss, the anarchy that swirled around Sellers continued to broil after his death. In 1979, Blake Edwards shocked many by releasing "Revenge of the Pink Panther," which featured Sellers in outtakes from several of the previous films. It was roundly panned, but did not dissuade him from cobbling together another Clouseau movie, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982), from outtakes. Sellers' final film, a dismal comedy called "The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu," which he also co-directed, was released in 1980. Edwards would continue to labor over the Pink Panther franchise for two more films - "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983), with Ted Wass as a Clouseau-esque policeman, and "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), with Roberto Begnini as Clouseau's illegitimate offspring - both of which were disastrous failures. Sellers' estate was also the source of considerable dismay for his family members. At the time of his death, he was in the process of cutting fourth wife Frederick out of his will, but she ultimately received his entire net worth - some 4.5 million pounds - while his children by Howe and Eklund received 800 pounds apiece. When Frederick died in 1994, her mother received the funds from the Sellers estate, with Frederick's daughter - by third husband Barry Unger, not Sellers - as the next in line, yanking the hard-earned money Sellers earned in his lifetime completely out of his family's hands.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/08/11 at 2:24 am


British Person of the Day: Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, born in Southsea, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers. Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother.

One of the most accomplished comic actors of the late 20th century, Peter Sellers breathed life into the accident-prone Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther" (1963) and its three sequels, as well as such classics as "Lolita" (1962), "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), "The Party" (1968) and "Being There" (1979). The son of English vaudevillians, his ability to completely transform himself into outrageous comic characters received its first showcase on the legendary radio series "The Goon Show" in the 1950s. Film roles in the 1950s and 1960s were devoted to his knack for mimicry of accents and character types, with Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove" underscoring his talent for drama as well. His best-known role of Inspector Clouseau surfaced in 1963, and he would return, sometimes reluctantly, to the franchise throughout his life before scoring a personal triumph as the simple-minded gardener who influences the Presidency in Hal Ashby's "Being There" (1980). Off camera, Sellers could be cold, cruel, even unstable, but when the cameras were rolling, he showed a dedication to performance and humor that made him one of the greatest inspirations to comedians and film fans for decades.

He began life as Richard Henry Sellers on Sept. 8, 1925 in the seaside resort town of Southsea, in Portsmouth, England. His family, who were performers on the British vaudeville circuit, bestowed a particularly morbid nickname upon their son: Peter was the name of a brother who did not survive birth. He took up his family's profession at an early age, dancing and singing alongside his mother in stage shows when he was just five years old. He became skilled at a variety of talents, including drums, banjo and ukulele, and for a while, he toured as a drummer with various jazz bands. Sellers was also an expert mimic, which he put to excellent use during his service as an airman with the Royal Air Force during World War II. He frequently impersonated his superior officers as a way to gain access into the Officers' Mess, and made them part of his performances with the Entertainments National Service Association, which put on plays and skits for British troops. His knack for mimicry also served him well in the years after his discharge in 1948. Sellers supported himself by performing stand-up comedy and celebrity impressions on the variety theater circuit, and at one point, secured a meeting with BBC producer Roy Speer by pretending to be radio star Kenneth Horne. The ruse clearly worked, as the 23-year-old Sellers was soon granted an audition, which lead to a role on the popular radio comedy "Ray's a Laugh," starring comedian Ted Ray. Audiences had their first glimpse of Sellers' astonishing voice talent on the series, which allowed him to play everything from an obnoxious little boy to a bizarre older woman.

During this period, Sellers was also performing in an informal group with comics Spike Milligan and Michael Bentine and singer Harry Secombe. The quartet, who dubbed themselves the Goons, recorded their antics at a local pub, and the tape made its way into the hands of a BBC producer, who granted the quartet their own radio series. "The Goon Show" premiered in 1951 and became a massive hit with British audiences, thanks to its surreal humor which parodied traditional radio drama with absurd leaps in logic. Each episode was filled with countless bizarre characters, many of which were voiced by Sellers, including the program's chief villain, Hercules Grytpype-Thynne; the hapless scoutmaster Bluebottle; the cowardly, flatulent Major Bloodnok (who was based on many of Sellers' superior officers), and many others. On more than one occasion, Sellers was called upon to voice all of Milligan's characters as well, and at times, carry out complete conversations between two or more people.

The popularity of the Goons' radio program led to a few abortive attempts at television series, including "The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d" (ITV, 1956), but most filmed efforts were unable to match the stream of consciousness that comprised their recorded efforts. More successful were the Goons' comedy LPs and novelty songs, as well as a quartet of films - the feature length "Let's Go Crazy" (1951), which marked Sellers' screen debut, "Penny Points to Paradise" (1951), "Down Among the Z Men" (1952), and the shorts "The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn" (1956) and "The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film" (1959). The latter, directed by Sellers and Richard Lester, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, and also served as the impetus for the Beatles - all dedicated Goons fans - to hire Lester to direct "A Hard Day's Night" (1964). The Goons were also acknowledged influences on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eddie Izzard, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, Peter Cook, the Firesign Theater and countless British and American television comedies.

In 1954, Sellers began branching out on his own as a supporting player in feature comedies. He quickly established himself as versatile a performer on screen as he was over the radio airwaves, with richly varied characters in some of the greatest British comedies of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was the nervous Teddy Boy that joined Alec Guinness's inept criminal crew in Alexander Mackendrick's "The Ladykillers" (1955), an obsequious game show host in "The Naked Truth" (1957), a baffled military officer in Val Guest's "Up the Creek" (1958), and most impressively, three roles in "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), including the addled Duchess of the tiny European nation of Fenwick, which declares war on - and defeats - the United States. Several of these pictures were international successes, especially in America, which brought Sellers to the attention of Hollywood. In 1958, he made his stateside debut in "tom thumb" (1958), fantasy director George Pal's musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a tiny hero who outwits a pair of thieves (Sellers and Terry-Thomas).

Sellers' stature as a film star grew in the 1960s, thanks to several key films. "Never Let Go" (1960) was a thriller that afforded him a rare opportunity to play a straight role as a murderous car dealer, while "I'm All Right Jack" (1959) proved he could bring pathos to his comic roles. His turn as a Communist shop steward who becomes a reluctant strike leader in the latter film earned him a BAFTA for Best Actor in 1959. However, it was Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaptation of "Lolita" (1962) that made him an international star. His protean nature was given full reign as Clare Quilty, the decadent playwright who attempts to lure Sue Lyon's teenage Lolita into his depraved world, prompting his murder by Humbert Humbert (James Mason). Kubrick's version expanded the role considerably, allowing Sellers to don several disguises and accents throughout, including a Germanic doctor, Zempf, who foreshadowed Sellers' turn as Dr. Strangelove two years later. For his efforts, Sellers was critically acclaimed, as well as a Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1963, Sellers made his first appearance in his most iconic role - that of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in "The Pink Panther." Fiercely dedicated to fighting crime and upholding the dignity of France, Clouseau is also wildly accident-prone, egotistical to a fault and burdened with an impenetrable accent that transformed English into a wholly unknown language. A supporting character in "Panther," which was intended as a comic caper series devoted to star David Niven's gentleman jewel thief, it was Sellers that captured audiences' attention, and led to a long and tumultuous series of films. The second in the series, "A Shot in the Dark" (1964), followed a year later with Clouseau now the central character. It too was a success, but the relationship between Sellers and director Blake Edwards deteriorated to such a degree that the pair refused to work together again until 1968's "The Party." A third Clouseau film, "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), continued the franchise with Alan Arkin in the title role, but it was not a success, prompting MGM to urge Sellers and Edwards to patch up their differences and return to the series for 1975's "Return of the Pink Panther."

Clashes such as the one with Edwards were not uncommon for Sellers during his career. In both Europe and America, he soon developed a reputation as a difficult performer, prone to lashing out at castmates over perceived slights. His personal life was also marked by moments of astonishingly casual cruelty towards his spouses and children. His first marriage, to Anne Howe, ended in a difficult divorce that may have been prompted by an affair with actress Sophia Loren; his second marriage, to actress Britt Ekland, was marked by domestic violence spurred by allegations of infidelity. Biographers surmised that Sellers suffered from depression and anxiety over his career, which he often viewed as a failure. Further evidence of his troubled psyche was glimpsed in interviews that asked him about his penchant for disappearing into his characters. His response was that there was no "Peter Sellers," but rather, a blank slate that adapted to the needs of the role.

The greatest example of the extent to which Sellers could immerse himself into a role was perhaps Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb" (1964). The black comedy, about a series of political blunders which lead to World War III, allowed Sellers to play several roles: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, British officer Lionel Mandrake, and the sinister Dr. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist whose crippled body seemed hellbent on betraying his Fascist past. Sellers was initially asked to also play Major T.J. "King" Kong, the U.S. Air Force officer who rides the bomb bronco-style as it descends on the Soviet Union, but an injury forced Sellers to abandon the role, which was given to veteran Western performer Slim Pickens. Sellers found both the humor and the horror of the characters in his performances, which received an Oscar nomination, and seemed to indicate that he could move into dramatic roles - his abiding wish. However, he suffered a string of debilitating heart attacks - 13 over the course of a few days - that curtailed his availability. Desperate to return to work, he sought the aid of psychic healers for his condition, which would continue to deteriorate over the next two decades. He also threw himself headlong into film work, which varied, often wildly, in quality.

Sellers longed to play romantic roles, such as his singing matador in "The Bobo" (1967), but audiences responded more to his buffoonish turns, like the accident-prone Indian actor in Edwards' "The Party" (1968) or the Italian jewel thief who poses as a film director in order to smuggle gold out of Europe in the Neil Simon-penned "After the Fox" (1966). He attempted to play James Bond in the all-star vanity project "Casino Royale" (1967), but abandoned the film after clashing with co-star Orson Welles and, allegedly, realizing that the film was in fact, a comedy and not a straight action piece. The end of the decade, which saw him diving into the counterculture with "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!" (1968) and "The Magic Christian" (1969), which co-starred his close friend, Beatle Ringo Starr, also marked the conclusion of his lengthy tenure as a movie star for some years.

The first half of the 1970s was a period of deep personal and public failure for Sellers. His marriage to Eklund had ended on an explosive note in 1968, and his 1970 marriage to Australian model Miranda Quarry followed suit in 1974. His film career was in total freefall; pictures like "There's a Girl in My Soup" (1970), "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" (1973), which reunited him with Spike Milligan, and "The Great McGonagall" (1974), were box office disasters. Sellers' health also continued its downward spiral due to his reluctance to treat his condition with Western medicine, and a growing dependence on alcohol and drugs. The spell of bad luck broke in 1974 with the fourth "Pink Panther" film, "Return of the Pink Panther," which reunited him with Blake Edwards once again. The result was a colossal hit for Sellers, and a career revival that lasted for the remainder of his life.

However, Sellers was mentally and physically unprepared for the rush of attention and work that came in the wake of "Return." His relationship with Edwards had crumbled. By the time they began the rushed sequel to "Return," 1976's "The Pink Panther Strikes Again," Sellers was unable to perform many of his own physical gags, and Edwards would later describe his emotional state at the time as "certifiable." "Strikes Again," however, was another hit, with Golden Globe nominations for the film and its star, who began working in earnest on several films. "Murder By Death" (1976) was an all-star parody of detective films, with Sellers playing a short-tempered version of Charlie Chan, while "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1978) was a lukewarm adaptation of the familiar Anthony Hope novel about a commoner (Sellers) recruited to impersonate his look-alike, the king (also Sellers) of a tiny European country. Sellers, however, had his attention fixed elsewhere.

For several years, he had worked in earnest to secure the film rights to Jerzy Kosinski's novel Being There, about a simple gardener who becomes the confidante to the rich and powerful. The project went before cameras in 1979, with Sellers giving one of his richest performances in a role that seemed tailor-made for him - a man with no discernible personality, yet the ability to fascinate and inspire so many around him. The film was a critical and audience success, and won Sellers a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. The validation and acclaim, however, would be short lived.

Sellers had suffered another punishing heart attack in 1977, which required him to be fitted for a pacemaker. Though he had resisted having heart surgery for years, he finally relented, and in 1980, was slated to undergo an operation in Los Angeles. Just days before the surgery, Sellers suffered a massive heart attack which sent him into a coma. He died two days later on July 24, 1980, just one day before a scheduled reunion dinner with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Lynne Frederick, and his three children. At his funeral, the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" was played for mourners. It was a fitting touch for a man who reveled in the darker side of humor; the song was reportedly one that the 54-year-old Sellers had long hated.

While the Hollywood community mourned his premature loss, the anarchy that swirled around Sellers continued to broil after his death. In 1979, Blake Edwards shocked many by releasing "Revenge of the Pink Panther," which featured Sellers in outtakes from several of the previous films. It was roundly panned, but did not dissuade him from cobbling together another Clouseau movie, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982), from outtakes. Sellers' final film, a dismal comedy called "The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu," which he also co-directed, was released in 1980. Edwards would continue to labor over the Pink Panther franchise for two more films - "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983), with Ted Wass as a Clouseau-esque policeman, and "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), with Roberto Begnini as Clouseau's illegitimate offspring - both of which were disastrous failures. Sellers' estate was also the source of considerable dismay for his family members. At the time of his death, he was in the process of cutting fourth wife Frederick out of his will, but she ultimately received his entire net worth - some 4.5 million pounds - while his children by Howe and Eklund received 800 pounds apiece. When Frederick died in 1994, her mother received the funds from the Sellers estate, with Frederick's daughter - by third husband Barry Unger, not Sellers - as the next in line, yanking the hard-earned money Sellers earned in his lifetime completely out of his family's hands.

http://www.freemooviesonline.com/images/stories/cinema/actors/peter-sellers/peter-sellers.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Peter_Sellers_ashes,_Golders_Green_-_geograph.org.uk_-_825499.jpg
The plaque for the location of his ashes at Golders Green cremotoriam.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/08/11 at 6:27 am


British Person of the Day: Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, born in Southsea, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers. Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother.

One of the most accomplished comic actors of the late 20th century, Peter Sellers breathed life into the accident-prone Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther" (1963) and its three sequels, as well as such classics as "Lolita" (1962), "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), "The Party" (1968) and "Being There" (1979). The son of English vaudevillians, his ability to completely transform himself into outrageous comic characters received its first showcase on the legendary radio series "The Goon Show" in the 1950s. Film roles in the 1950s and 1960s were devoted to his knack for mimicry of accents and character types, with Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove" underscoring his talent for drama as well. His best-known role of Inspector Clouseau surfaced in 1963, and he would return, sometimes reluctantly, to the franchise throughout his life before scoring a personal triumph as the simple-minded gardener who influences the Presidency in Hal Ashby's "Being There" (1980). Off camera, Sellers could be cold, cruel, even unstable, but when the cameras were rolling, he showed a dedication to performance and humor that made him one of the greatest inspirations to comedians and film fans for decades.

He began life as Richard Henry Sellers on Sept. 8, 1925 in the seaside resort town of Southsea, in Portsmouth, England. His family, who were performers on the British vaudeville circuit, bestowed a particularly morbid nickname upon their son: Peter was the name of a brother who did not survive birth. He took up his family's profession at an early age, dancing and singing alongside his mother in stage shows when he was just five years old. He became skilled at a variety of talents, including drums, banjo and ukulele, and for a while, he toured as a drummer with various jazz bands. Sellers was also an expert mimic, which he put to excellent use during his service as an airman with the Royal Air Force during World War II. He frequently impersonated his superior officers as a way to gain access into the Officers' Mess, and made them part of his performances with the Entertainments National Service Association, which put on plays and skits for British troops. His knack for mimicry also served him well in the years after his discharge in 1948. Sellers supported himself by performing stand-up comedy and celebrity impressions on the variety theater circuit, and at one point, secured a meeting with BBC producer Roy Speer by pretending to be radio star Kenneth Horne. The ruse clearly worked, as the 23-year-old Sellers was soon granted an audition, which lead to a role on the popular radio comedy "Ray's a Laugh," starring comedian Ted Ray. Audiences had their first glimpse of Sellers' astonishing voice talent on the series, which allowed him to play everything from an obnoxious little boy to a bizarre older woman.

During this period, Sellers was also performing in an informal group with comics Spike Milligan and Michael Bentine and singer Harry Secombe. The quartet, who dubbed themselves the Goons, recorded their antics at a local pub, and the tape made its way into the hands of a BBC producer, who granted the quartet their own radio series. "The Goon Show" premiered in 1951 and became a massive hit with British audiences, thanks to its surreal humor which parodied traditional radio drama with absurd leaps in logic. Each episode was filled with countless bizarre characters, many of which were voiced by Sellers, including the program's chief villain, Hercules Grytpype-Thynne; the hapless scoutmaster Bluebottle; the cowardly, flatulent Major Bloodnok (who was based on many of Sellers' superior officers), and many others. On more than one occasion, Sellers was called upon to voice all of Milligan's characters as well, and at times, carry out complete conversations between two or more people.

The popularity of the Goons' radio program led to a few abortive attempts at television series, including "The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d" (ITV, 1956), but most filmed efforts were unable to match the stream of consciousness that comprised their recorded efforts. More successful were the Goons' comedy LPs and novelty songs, as well as a quartet of films - the feature length "Let's Go Crazy" (1951), which marked Sellers' screen debut, "Penny Points to Paradise" (1951), "Down Among the Z Men" (1952), and the shorts "The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn" (1956) and "The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film" (1959). The latter, directed by Sellers and Richard Lester, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, and also served as the impetus for the Beatles - all dedicated Goons fans - to hire Lester to direct "A Hard Day's Night" (1964). The Goons were also acknowledged influences on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eddie Izzard, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, Peter Cook, the Firesign Theater and countless British and American television comedies.

In 1954, Sellers began branching out on his own as a supporting player in feature comedies. He quickly established himself as versatile a performer on screen as he was over the radio airwaves, with richly varied characters in some of the greatest British comedies of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was the nervous Teddy Boy that joined Alec Guinness's inept criminal crew in Alexander Mackendrick's "The Ladykillers" (1955), an obsequious game show host in "The Naked Truth" (1957), a baffled military officer in Val Guest's "Up the Creek" (1958), and most impressively, three roles in "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), including the addled Duchess of the tiny European nation of Fenwick, which declares war on - and defeats - the United States. Several of these pictures were international successes, especially in America, which brought Sellers to the attention of Hollywood. In 1958, he made his stateside debut in "tom thumb" (1958), fantasy director George Pal's musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a tiny hero who outwits a pair of thieves (Sellers and Terry-Thomas).

Sellers' stature as a film star grew in the 1960s, thanks to several key films. "Never Let Go" (1960) was a thriller that afforded him a rare opportunity to play a straight role as a murderous car dealer, while "I'm All Right Jack" (1959) proved he could bring pathos to his comic roles. His turn as a Communist shop steward who becomes a reluctant strike leader in the latter film earned him a BAFTA for Best Actor in 1959. However, it was Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaptation of "Lolita" (1962) that made him an international star. His protean nature was given full reign as Clare Quilty, the decadent playwright who attempts to lure Sue Lyon's teenage Lolita into his depraved world, prompting his murder by Humbert Humbert (James Mason). Kubrick's version expanded the role considerably, allowing Sellers to don several disguises and accents throughout, including a Germanic doctor, Zempf, who foreshadowed Sellers' turn as Dr. Strangelove two years later. For his efforts, Sellers was critically acclaimed, as well as a Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1963, Sellers made his first appearance in his most iconic role - that of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in "The Pink Panther." Fiercely dedicated to fighting crime and upholding the dignity of France, Clouseau is also wildly accident-prone, egotistical to a fault and burdened with an impenetrable accent that transformed English into a wholly unknown language. A supporting character in "Panther," which was intended as a comic caper series devoted to star David Niven's gentleman jewel thief, it was Sellers that captured audiences' attention, and led to a long and tumultuous series of films. The second in the series, "A Shot in the Dark" (1964), followed a year later with Clouseau now the central character. It too was a success, but the relationship between Sellers and director Blake Edwards deteriorated to such a degree that the pair refused to work together again until 1968's "The Party." A third Clouseau film, "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), continued the franchise with Alan Arkin in the title role, but it was not a success, prompting MGM to urge Sellers and Edwards to patch up their differences and return to the series for 1975's "Return of the Pink Panther."

Clashes such as the one with Edwards were not uncommon for Sellers during his career. In both Europe and America, he soon developed a reputation as a difficult performer, prone to lashing out at castmates over perceived slights. His personal life was also marked by moments of astonishingly casual cruelty towards his spouses and children. His first marriage, to Anne Howe, ended in a difficult divorce that may have been prompted by an affair with actress Sophia Loren; his second marriage, to actress Britt Ekland, was marked by domestic violence spurred by allegations of infidelity. Biographers surmised that Sellers suffered from depression and anxiety over his career, which he often viewed as a failure. Further evidence of his troubled psyche was glimpsed in interviews that asked him about his penchant for disappearing into his characters. His response was that there was no "Peter Sellers," but rather, a blank slate that adapted to the needs of the role.

The greatest example of the extent to which Sellers could immerse himself into a role was perhaps Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb" (1964). The black comedy, about a series of political blunders which lead to World War III, allowed Sellers to play several roles: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, British officer Lionel Mandrake, and the sinister Dr. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist whose crippled body seemed hellbent on betraying his Fascist past. Sellers was initially asked to also play Major T.J. "King" Kong, the U.S. Air Force officer who rides the bomb bronco-style as it descends on the Soviet Union, but an injury forced Sellers to abandon the role, which was given to veteran Western performer Slim Pickens. Sellers found both the humor and the horror of the characters in his performances, which received an Oscar nomination, and seemed to indicate that he could move into dramatic roles - his abiding wish. However, he suffered a string of debilitating heart attacks - 13 over the course of a few days - that curtailed his availability. Desperate to return to work, he sought the aid of psychic healers for his condition, which would continue to deteriorate over the next two decades. He also threw himself headlong into film work, which varied, often wildly, in quality.

Sellers longed to play romantic roles, such as his singing matador in "The Bobo" (1967), but audiences responded more to his buffoonish turns, like the accident-prone Indian actor in Edwards' "The Party" (1968) or the Italian jewel thief who poses as a film director in order to smuggle gold out of Europe in the Neil Simon-penned "After the Fox" (1966). He attempted to play James Bond in the all-star vanity project "Casino Royale" (1967), but abandoned the film after clashing with co-star Orson Welles and, allegedly, realizing that the film was in fact, a comedy and not a straight action piece. The end of the decade, which saw him diving into the counterculture with "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!" (1968) and "The Magic Christian" (1969), which co-starred his close friend, Beatle Ringo Starr, also marked the conclusion of his lengthy tenure as a movie star for some years.

The first half of the 1970s was a period of deep personal and public failure for Sellers. His marriage to Eklund had ended on an explosive note in 1968, and his 1970 marriage to Australian model Miranda Quarry followed suit in 1974. His film career was in total freefall; pictures like "There's a Girl in My Soup" (1970), "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" (1973), which reunited him with Spike Milligan, and "The Great McGonagall" (1974), were box office disasters. Sellers' health also continued its downward spiral due to his reluctance to treat his condition with Western medicine, and a growing dependence on alcohol and drugs. The spell of bad luck broke in 1974 with the fourth "Pink Panther" film, "Return of the Pink Panther," which reunited him with Blake Edwards once again. The result was a colossal hit for Sellers, and a career revival that lasted for the remainder of his life.

However, Sellers was mentally and physically unprepared for the rush of attention and work that came in the wake of "Return." His relationship with Edwards had crumbled. By the time they began the rushed sequel to "Return," 1976's "The Pink Panther Strikes Again," Sellers was unable to perform many of his own physical gags, and Edwards would later describe his emotional state at the time as "certifiable." "Strikes Again," however, was another hit, with Golden Globe nominations for the film and its star, who began working in earnest on several films. "Murder By Death" (1976) was an all-star parody of detective films, with Sellers playing a short-tempered version of Charlie Chan, while "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1978) was a lukewarm adaptation of the familiar Anthony Hope novel about a commoner (Sellers) recruited to impersonate his look-alike, the king (also Sellers) of a tiny European country. Sellers, however, had his attention fixed elsewhere.

For several years, he had worked in earnest to secure the film rights to Jerzy Kosinski's novel Being There, about a simple gardener who becomes the confidante to the rich and powerful. The project went before cameras in 1979, with Sellers giving one of his richest performances in a role that seemed tailor-made for him - a man with no discernible personality, yet the ability to fascinate and inspire so many around him. The film was a critical and audience success, and won Sellers a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. The validation and acclaim, however, would be short lived.

Sellers had suffered another punishing heart attack in 1977, which required him to be fitted for a pacemaker. Though he had resisted having heart surgery for years, he finally relented, and in 1980, was slated to undergo an operation in Los Angeles. Just days before the surgery, Sellers suffered a massive heart attack which sent him into a coma. He died two days later on July 24, 1980, just one day before a scheduled reunion dinner with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Lynne Frederick, and his three children. At his funeral, the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" was played for mourners. It was a fitting touch for a man who reveled in the darker side of humor; the song was reportedly one that the 54-year-old Sellers had long hated.

While the Hollywood community mourned his premature loss, the anarchy that swirled around Sellers continued to broil after his death. In 1979, Blake Edwards shocked many by releasing "Revenge of the Pink Panther," which featured Sellers in outtakes from several of the previous films. It was roundly panned, but did not dissuade him from cobbling together another Clouseau movie, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982), from outtakes. Sellers' final film, a dismal comedy called "The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu," which he also co-directed, was released in 1980. Edwards would continue to labor over the Pink Panther franchise for two more films - "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983), with Ted Wass as a Clouseau-esque policeman, and "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), with Roberto Begnini as Clouseau's illegitimate offspring - both of which were disastrous failures. Sellers' estate was also the source of considerable dismay for his family members. At the time of his death, he was in the process of cutting fourth wife Frederick out of his will, but she ultimately received his entire net worth - some 4.5 million pounds - while his children by Howe and Eklund received 800 pounds apiece. When Frederick died in 1994, her mother received the funds from the Sellers estate, with Frederick's daughter - by third husband Barry Unger, not Sellers - as the next in line, yanking the hard-earned money Sellers earned in his lifetime completely out of his family's hands.


Ok I should of known you would do him, now I have to pick someone else ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/08/11 at 6:30 am


Ok I should of known you would do him, now I have to pick someone else ;D
Sorry, but a special karma for you.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/08/11 at 6:33 am

The person of the day...Pink
Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979), better known by her stage name Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer-songwriter and musician. After her short, 3 year career with the contemporary R&B girl group Choice, in 2000 she released her first single "There You Go", from her debut album "Can't Take Me Home". The song gathered commercial success, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2001, she released her second, more pop rock-oriented, studio album, "M!ssundaztood". The album went on to become a critical and commercial success, with estimated sales of 13 million. It produced 4 singles, "Get The Party Started", "Don't Let Me Get Me", "Just Like A Pill" and "Family Portrait", each entering the Top 20, with "Just Like A Pill" being her highest charting solo single until "So What" in 2008, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In November 2003, Pink released her third album "Try This". The album was, commercially, less successful than her previous album, but still managed to sell around 3 million copies, making it Pink's least successful album to date. It produced 3 singles, "Trouble", "God Is A DJ" and "Last To Know", with the first receiving a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. On April 4, 2006, she released "I'm Not Dead", her fourth studio album. It marks her comeback after the poor success of her previous album. The album debuted and peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200, Pink's highest debut on the chart. It was preceded by the controversial single "Stupid Girls" which gathered commercial success. The second single, "Who Knew", was virtually ignored on American radio, and after the huge success of "U + Ur Hand", was re-released, peaking at #9 on the charts. "U + Ur Hand" is credited to have revived Pink's career in the US, and also to have brought the album back to the charts. Her fifth album, Funhouse, was released in late October 2008. It was preceded by her first solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "So What". The album notched three other Top 20 hits: "Sober", "Please Don't Leave Me" and "Glitter in the Air". On November 15, 2010, she released her first compilation album, Greatest Hits... So Far!!!, preceded by her second solo number one hit, "Raise Your Glass".

According to Billboard, Pink was rated No.13 on the list of Artists of the Decade and No.1 Pop Song Artist of the Decade (2000–2009). She has also scored eleven Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 US hits, including eight as a solo artist, and has won three Grammy Awards, 5 MTV Video Music Awards and 2 Brit Awards. Pink was also voted best recording artist of 2009. The People's Chart, announced through BBC Radio 1, declared Pink as the 11th Most Played Artist on UK Radio of the decade 2000 to 2009. Forbes Magazine in 2010 named Pink the 27th most powerful celebrity, with $44 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010.
In 1995, Alecia Moore joined Choice, an American contemporary R&B girl group, which also included Chrissy Conway and Sharon Flanagan. A copy of their first song, "Key to My Heart", was sent to LaFace Records in Atlanta, Georgia, where L.A. Reid overheard it and arranged for the group to fly there so he could see them perform. After this, he signed them to a record deal; because the girls were under 18, their parents had to co-sign the contract. The group relocated to Atlanta and recorded an album, and "Key to My Heart" appeared on the Kazaam soundtrack for the 1996 film of the same name. The group disbanded in 1998.

After the disbandment of Choice, Pink started working on her debut album, "Can't Take Me Home". It was released on April 4, 2000, and was produced by Babyface, Terence "Tramp-Baby" Abney, She'ksphere, Dallas Austin, The Specialists, and Steve Rhythm. The album sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, and was certified double platinum in the U.S. It produced two top ten singles, "There You Go" and "Most Girls". The album's third single, "You Make Me Sick" hit the top 40 in the U.S. and the top 10 in the U.K. It was also featured in the film "Save The Last Dance". The song "Split Personality" was featured in the film "The Princess Diaries".

Pink was the opening act for 'N Sync on their American tour in the summer of 2000.
2001-05: Missundaztood, and Try This
Main articles: Missundaztood and Try This

In 2001, she was a part of "Lady Marmalade" alongside singers Christina Aguilera and Mýa, and rapper Lil' Kim for the soundtrack of the film Moulin Rouge!. Produced by hip-hop producers Rockwilder and Missy Elliott, the song topped the charts in countries including New Zealand, the UK, Australia and the U.S., where it became the most successful airplay-only single in history, and also became Pink's first number one single. The success of the single was helped by its music video, which was popular on music channels and won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. The song won Pink's first Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, and provided a boost for the four performers' careers. In a VH1 interview, Pink stated she had to fight with Christina Aguilera's manager to sing the high parts in the song.

Tired of being marketed as another cookie cutter pop act and eager to be seen as a more serious songwriter and musician, and to perform the type of music she wanted to, Pink took her sound in a new direction and sought more artistic or creative control during the recording of her second album, M!ssundaztood. She recruited Linda Perry, former singer of 4 Non Blondes (one of Pink's favorites in her teenage years), who said Pink opened up to her: "In the beginning I just said: 'What do you feel?', and she (Pink) would just sit behind the piano and sing." Pink moved into Perry's Los Angeles home where the pair spent several months writing songs for the album. Perry co-wrote and co-produced the album with Dallas Austin and Scott Storch, and according to VH1 Driven, Antonio "LA" Reid of LaFace Records was not initially content with the new music Pink was making. The album, named Missundaztood because of Pink's belief that people had a wrong image of her, was released in November 2001.

Its lead single, "Get the Party Started" (written and produced by Perry), went top five in the U.S. and many other countries, and number one in Australia. At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video won in the categories of Best Female Video and Best Dance Video. The album's other singles—"Don't Let Me Get Me", the Dallas Austin-produced "Just like a Pill", and "Family Portrait"—were also radio and chart successes, with "Just like a Pill" becoming Pink's first solo UK number-one hit. The singles were substantial hits on Adult Top 40 radio. "Missundaztood" was certified gold or platinum status in more than 20 countries, with worldwide sales of 30 million. It was the second best-selling album in the UK during 2002. "Missundaztood" and "Get the Party Started" earned nominations at the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, respectively. Faith Hill's 2002 album, Cry, features a song co-written by Pink and Perry. In 2002, Pink started a headlining American, European and Australian tour, the Party Tour; later, she became a supporting act for Lenny Kravitz's American tour. In mid-2003, Pink contributed the song "Feel Good Time" to the soundtrack of the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, in which she had a cameo appearance as a motocross race ramp owner/promoter. "Feel Good Time" was co-written by singer Beck, produced by electronic music artist William Orbit and based on the song "Fresh Garbage" by the band Spirit. It became Pink's first single to miss the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, although it was a hit in Europe and Australia. During the same period, a song Pink co-wrote with Damon Elliott was released on Mýa's album Moodring.

"Feel Good Time" was included on non-U.S. editions of Pink's third album Try This, which was released on November 11, 2003. Eight of the thirteen tracks were co-written with Tim Armstrong of the band Rancid; Linda Perry was featured on the album as a writer and musician. Though Try This reached the top ten on album charts in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Australia, sales were considerably lower than those of Missundaztood; it went platinum in the U.S. and sold over 5 million copies worldwide, a commercial flop compared to its predecessor. The singles "Trouble" and "God Is a DJ" did not reach the U.S. top 40 but went top ten in other countries, and "Last to Know" was released as a single outside North America. "Trouble" earned Pink her second Grammy Award (for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance) at the 2004 Grammy Awards, and "Feel Good Time" was nominated in the category of Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. She toured extensively on the Try This Tour through Europe and Australia, where the album was better received.
2005–10: I'm Not Dead and Funhouse
Main articles: I'm Not Dead and Funhouse (Pink album)

In 2005, she collaborated with Lisa Marie Presley on the track "Shine" on Presley's second album Now What. Pink took a break to write the songs for her fourth album, I'm Not Dead, which she said she titled as such because "It's about being alive and feisty and not sitting down and shutting up even though people would like you to." Pink worked with producers Max Martin, Billy Mann, Christopher Rojas, Butch Walker, Lukasz Gottwald, and Josh Abraham on the album. The album's release in April 2006 through LaFace Records was a substantial success throughout the world, particularly in Australia. The album reached the top ten in the U.S., the top five in the UK, number one in Germany, and sat at number one in Australia for two non-consecutive weeks, though it was Pink's lowest seller in the U.S. until the success of the single "U + Ur Hand" in early 2007. The album ranked 96th in the USA during 2007.

Lead single "Stupid Girls" was Pink's biggest U.S. hit since 2002 and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Its music video, in which she parodies celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Paris Hilton, won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video. Subsequent singles "Who Knew" and "U + Ur Hand" were substantial hits in Australia and Europe, and they later became top ten singles in the U.S. in 2007. The non-U.S. singles were "Nobody Knows", a minor hit in the UK, Australia and Germany; "Dear Mr. President", an open letter to the U.S. President George W. Bush (featuring the Indigo Girls) and a number 1 hit in Belgium, a top five hit in Germany, Australia and other countries; "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)", a UK top 40 and Australian top five entry; and "'Cuz I Can". The album has sold over 1.3 million copies in the U.S., over 700,000 in Australia, and 6 million worldwide. Proving very popular in Australia, with 6 top five singles, and a record-breaking 62 weeks in the top 10; so far the album has gone 10 times platinum. In June 2008, the I'm Not Dead album returned to the top 50 of the Australian ARIA charts and remained there until November 2009. In June 2009 the album returned once again to the Australian top ten album charts in its 142nd week in the national top fifty. It re-entered at No. 10 on the back of her mammoth Funhouse Tour, and as of 2010, has spent 162 weeks in the top 50 of the Australian ARIA albums chart.
Pink performing on the I'm Not Dead summer tour in 2007

In support of the album, Pink embarked on the world I'm Not Dead Tour, for which ticket sales in Australia were particularly high; she sold approximately 307,000 tickets in Australia, giving her the record for the biggest concert attendance for an arena tour by a female artist. One of the London shows on the tour was taped and released as a DVD, Pink: Live from Wembley Arena where she sang Linda Perry's Whats Up?. In 2006, Pink was chosen to sing the theme song for NBC Sunday Night Football, "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night", which is a take on "I Hate Myself for Lovin' You" by Joan Jett. She contributed a cover of Rufus's "Tell Me Something Good" to the soundtrack of the film Happy Feet, and lent her name to PlayStation to promote the PSP, a special pink edition of which was released. Pink collaborated with several other artists in 2006 and 2007, when she opened for Justin Timberlake on the American leg of his FutureSex/LoveShow Tour. She sang on the Indigo Girls album Despite Our Differences. She was featured on India.Arie's song "I Am Not My Hair" from the Lifetime Television film Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy. She wrote a song ("I Will") for Natalia's third album, Everything & More. "Outside of You", another song she co-wrote, was recorded by dance-pop singer Hilary Duff and released on her 2007 album Dignity. Pink recorded a song with Annie Lennox and twenty-two other female acts for Lennox's fourth solo studio album, Songs of Mass Destruction. Titled "Sing", it was written as an anthem for HIV/AIDS, according to Lennox's website. In December 2007, a special edition Pink Box, which comprises her second to fourth albums and the DVD Live in Europe, was released in Australia. It reached the top twenty on the albums chart and was certified Gold, selling over 35,000 units.
Pink is a prominent campaigner for PETA, contributing her voice toward causes such as the protest against KFC. In 2003, she sent a letter to Prince William criticizing him for fox hunting, and in 2006 wrote to Queen Elizabeth II protesting the use of real fur in the bearskins of the Foot Guards and the Honourable Artillery Company. In conjunction with PETA, she criticized the Australian wool industry over its use of mulesing. In January 2007, she stated that she had been misled by PETA about mulesing and that she had not done enough research before lending her name to the campaign. Her campaigning led to a headlining concert called PAW (Party for Animals Worldwide) in Cardiff, Wales on August 21, 2007.

Pink is also involved with several charities, including Human Rights Campaign, ONE Campaign, Prince's Trust, New York Restoration Project, Run for the Cure Foundation, Save the Children, Take Back the Night, UNICEF and World Society for the Protection of Animals. As of May 2008, Pink has been officially recognized as an advocate for the RSPCA in Australia. On February 16, 2009, Pink announced she was donating $250,000 to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal to aid the victims of the bushfires that swept through the Australian state of Victoria earlier that month. Pink stated that she wanted to make "a tangible expression of support." Pink also donated money to Autism Speaks.
Filmography
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2000 Ski to the Max Herself
2002 Rollerball Rock singer
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Coal bowl promoter
2007 Catacombs Carolyn
2009 SpongeBob's Truth or Square Herself Cameo
2009 Beverly Hills Chihuahua Herself
2010 Get Him to the Greek Herself Cameo
2011 Happy Feet 2 Gloria
Discography
Main article: Pink discography

   2000: Can't Take Me Home
   2001: Missundaztood
   2003: Try This
   2006: I'm Not Dead
   2008: Funhouse



Compilation albums

   2010: Greatest Hits... So Far!!!

Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Pink
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u319/mersades34/pink_1a.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/juliehernandez7/singer/pink.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/08/11 at 6:35 am


Sorry, but a special karma for you.

That's Ok, I thought you would. Karma back yo you :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/08/11 at 7:44 am


British Person of the Day: Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE (8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980), known as Peter Sellers, born in Southsea, Portsmouth, to a family of entertainers. Though christened Richard Henry, his parents always called him Peter, after his elder stillborn brother.

One of the most accomplished comic actors of the late 20th century, Peter Sellers breathed life into the accident-prone Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther" (1963) and its three sequels, as well as such classics as "Lolita" (1962), "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), "The Party" (1968) and "Being There" (1979). The son of English vaudevillians, his ability to completely transform himself into outrageous comic characters received its first showcase on the legendary radio series "The Goon Show" in the 1950s. Film roles in the 1950s and 1960s were devoted to his knack for mimicry of accents and character types, with Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove" underscoring his talent for drama as well. His best-known role of Inspector Clouseau surfaced in 1963, and he would return, sometimes reluctantly, to the franchise throughout his life before scoring a personal triumph as the simple-minded gardener who influences the Presidency in Hal Ashby's "Being There" (1980). Off camera, Sellers could be cold, cruel, even unstable, but when the cameras were rolling, he showed a dedication to performance and humor that made him one of the greatest inspirations to comedians and film fans for decades.

He began life as Richard Henry Sellers on Sept. 8, 1925 in the seaside resort town of Southsea, in Portsmouth, England. His family, who were performers on the British vaudeville circuit, bestowed a particularly morbid nickname upon their son: Peter was the name of a brother who did not survive birth. He took up his family's profession at an early age, dancing and singing alongside his mother in stage shows when he was just five years old. He became skilled at a variety of talents, including drums, banjo and ukulele, and for a while, he toured as a drummer with various jazz bands. Sellers was also an expert mimic, which he put to excellent use during his service as an airman with the Royal Air Force during World War II. He frequently impersonated his superior officers as a way to gain access into the Officers' Mess, and made them part of his performances with the Entertainments National Service Association, which put on plays and skits for British troops. His knack for mimicry also served him well in the years after his discharge in 1948. Sellers supported himself by performing stand-up comedy and celebrity impressions on the variety theater circuit, and at one point, secured a meeting with BBC producer Roy Speer by pretending to be radio star Kenneth Horne. The ruse clearly worked, as the 23-year-old Sellers was soon granted an audition, which lead to a role on the popular radio comedy "Ray's a Laugh," starring comedian Ted Ray. Audiences had their first glimpse of Sellers' astonishing voice talent on the series, which allowed him to play everything from an obnoxious little boy to a bizarre older woman.

During this period, Sellers was also performing in an informal group with comics Spike Milligan and Michael Bentine and singer Harry Secombe. The quartet, who dubbed themselves the Goons, recorded their antics at a local pub, and the tape made its way into the hands of a BBC producer, who granted the quartet their own radio series. "The Goon Show" premiered in 1951 and became a massive hit with British audiences, thanks to its surreal humor which parodied traditional radio drama with absurd leaps in logic. Each episode was filled with countless bizarre characters, many of which were voiced by Sellers, including the program's chief villain, Hercules Grytpype-Thynne; the hapless scoutmaster Bluebottle; the cowardly, flatulent Major Bloodnok (who was based on many of Sellers' superior officers), and many others. On more than one occasion, Sellers was called upon to voice all of Milligan's characters as well, and at times, carry out complete conversations between two or more people.

The popularity of the Goons' radio program led to a few abortive attempts at television series, including "The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d" (ITV, 1956), but most filmed efforts were unable to match the stream of consciousness that comprised their recorded efforts. More successful were the Goons' comedy LPs and novelty songs, as well as a quartet of films - the feature length "Let's Go Crazy" (1951), which marked Sellers' screen debut, "Penny Points to Paradise" (1951), "Down Among the Z Men" (1952), and the shorts "The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn" (1956) and "The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film" (1959). The latter, directed by Sellers and Richard Lester, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short, and also served as the impetus for the Beatles - all dedicated Goons fans - to hire Lester to direct "A Hard Day's Night" (1964). The Goons were also acknowledged influences on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eddie Izzard, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, Peter Cook, the Firesign Theater and countless British and American television comedies.

In 1954, Sellers began branching out on his own as a supporting player in feature comedies. He quickly established himself as versatile a performer on screen as he was over the radio airwaves, with richly varied characters in some of the greatest British comedies of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was the nervous Teddy Boy that joined Alec Guinness's inept criminal crew in Alexander Mackendrick's "The Ladykillers" (1955), an obsequious game show host in "The Naked Truth" (1957), a baffled military officer in Val Guest's "Up the Creek" (1958), and most impressively, three roles in "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), including the addled Duchess of the tiny European nation of Fenwick, which declares war on - and defeats - the United States. Several of these pictures were international successes, especially in America, which brought Sellers to the attention of Hollywood. In 1958, he made his stateside debut in "tom thumb" (1958), fantasy director George Pal's musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a tiny hero who outwits a pair of thieves (Sellers and Terry-Thomas).

Sellers' stature as a film star grew in the 1960s, thanks to several key films. "Never Let Go" (1960) was a thriller that afforded him a rare opportunity to play a straight role as a murderous car dealer, while "I'm All Right Jack" (1959) proved he could bring pathos to his comic roles. His turn as a Communist shop steward who becomes a reluctant strike leader in the latter film earned him a BAFTA for Best Actor in 1959. However, it was Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaptation of "Lolita" (1962) that made him an international star. His protean nature was given full reign as Clare Quilty, the decadent playwright who attempts to lure Sue Lyon's teenage Lolita into his depraved world, prompting his murder by Humbert Humbert (James Mason). Kubrick's version expanded the role considerably, allowing Sellers to don several disguises and accents throughout, including a Germanic doctor, Zempf, who foreshadowed Sellers' turn as Dr. Strangelove two years later. For his efforts, Sellers was critically acclaimed, as well as a Golden Globe nominee for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1963, Sellers made his first appearance in his most iconic role - that of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in "The Pink Panther." Fiercely dedicated to fighting crime and upholding the dignity of France, Clouseau is also wildly accident-prone, egotistical to a fault and burdened with an impenetrable accent that transformed English into a wholly unknown language. A supporting character in "Panther," which was intended as a comic caper series devoted to star David Niven's gentleman jewel thief, it was Sellers that captured audiences' attention, and led to a long and tumultuous series of films. The second in the series, "A Shot in the Dark" (1964), followed a year later with Clouseau now the central character. It too was a success, but the relationship between Sellers and director Blake Edwards deteriorated to such a degree that the pair refused to work together again until 1968's "The Party." A third Clouseau film, "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), continued the franchise with Alan Arkin in the title role, but it was not a success, prompting MGM to urge Sellers and Edwards to patch up their differences and return to the series for 1975's "Return of the Pink Panther."

Clashes such as the one with Edwards were not uncommon for Sellers during his career. In both Europe and America, he soon developed a reputation as a difficult performer, prone to lashing out at castmates over perceived slights. His personal life was also marked by moments of astonishingly casual cruelty towards his spouses and children. His first marriage, to Anne Howe, ended in a difficult divorce that may have been prompted by an affair with actress Sophia Loren; his second marriage, to actress Britt Ekland, was marked by domestic violence spurred by allegations of infidelity. Biographers surmised that Sellers suffered from depression and anxiety over his career, which he often viewed as a failure. Further evidence of his troubled psyche was glimpsed in interviews that asked him about his penchant for disappearing into his characters. His response was that there was no "Peter Sellers," but rather, a blank slate that adapted to the needs of the role.

The greatest example of the extent to which Sellers could immerse himself into a role was perhaps Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb" (1964). The black comedy, about a series of political blunders which lead to World War III, allowed Sellers to play several roles: U.S. President Merkin Muffley, British officer Lionel Mandrake, and the sinister Dr. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist whose crippled body seemed hellbent on betraying his Fascist past. Sellers was initially asked to also play Major T.J. "King" Kong, the U.S. Air Force officer who rides the bomb bronco-style as it descends on the Soviet Union, but an injury forced Sellers to abandon the role, which was given to veteran Western performer Slim Pickens. Sellers found both the humor and the horror of the characters in his performances, which received an Oscar nomination, and seemed to indicate that he could move into dramatic roles - his abiding wish. However, he suffered a string of debilitating heart attacks - 13 over the course of a few days - that curtailed his availability. Desperate to return to work, he sought the aid of psychic healers for his condition, which would continue to deteriorate over the next two decades. He also threw himself headlong into film work, which varied, often wildly, in quality.

Sellers longed to play romantic roles, such as his singing matador in "The Bobo" (1967), but audiences responded more to his buffoonish turns, like the accident-prone Indian actor in Edwards' "The Party" (1968) or the Italian jewel thief who poses as a film director in order to smuggle gold out of Europe in the Neil Simon-penned "After the Fox" (1966). He attempted to play James Bond in the all-star vanity project "Casino Royale" (1967), but abandoned the film after clashing with co-star Orson Welles and, allegedly, realizing that the film was in fact, a comedy and not a straight action piece. The end of the decade, which saw him diving into the counterculture with "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!" (1968) and "The Magic Christian" (1969), which co-starred his close friend, Beatle Ringo Starr, also marked the conclusion of his lengthy tenure as a movie star for some years.

The first half of the 1970s was a period of deep personal and public failure for Sellers. His marriage to Eklund had ended on an explosive note in 1968, and his 1970 marriage to Australian model Miranda Quarry followed suit in 1974. His film career was in total freefall; pictures like "There's a Girl in My Soup" (1970), "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" (1973), which reunited him with Spike Milligan, and "The Great McGonagall" (1974), were box office disasters. Sellers' health also continued its downward spiral due to his reluctance to treat his condition with Western medicine, and a growing dependence on alcohol and drugs. The spell of bad luck broke in 1974 with the fourth "Pink Panther" film, "Return of the Pink Panther," which reunited him with Blake Edwards once again. The result was a colossal hit for Sellers, and a career revival that lasted for the remainder of his life.

However, Sellers was mentally and physically unprepared for the rush of attention and work that came in the wake of "Return." His relationship with Edwards had crumbled. By the time they began the rushed sequel to "Return," 1976's "The Pink Panther Strikes Again," Sellers was unable to perform many of his own physical gags, and Edwards would later describe his emotional state at the time as "certifiable." "Strikes Again," however, was another hit, with Golden Globe nominations for the film and its star, who began working in earnest on several films. "Murder By Death" (1976) was an all-star parody of detective films, with Sellers playing a short-tempered version of Charlie Chan, while "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1978) was a lukewarm adaptation of the familiar Anthony Hope novel about a commoner (Sellers) recruited to impersonate his look-alike, the king (also Sellers) of a tiny European country. Sellers, however, had his attention fixed elsewhere.

For several years, he had worked in earnest to secure the film rights to Jerzy Kosinski's novel Being There, about a simple gardener who becomes the confidante to the rich and powerful. The project went before cameras in 1979, with Sellers giving one of his richest performances in a role that seemed tailor-made for him - a man with no discernible personality, yet the ability to fascinate and inspire so many around him. The film was a critical and audience success, and won Sellers a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. The validation and acclaim, however, would be short lived.

Sellers had suffered another punishing heart attack in 1977, which required him to be fitted for a pacemaker. Though he had resisted having heart surgery for years, he finally relented, and in 1980, was slated to undergo an operation in Los Angeles. Just days before the surgery, Sellers suffered a massive heart attack which sent him into a coma. He died two days later on July 24, 1980, just one day before a scheduled reunion dinner with his Goon Show partners, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Lynne Frederick, and his three children. At his funeral, the Glenn Miller song "In the Mood" was played for mourners. It was a fitting touch for a man who reveled in the darker side of humor; the song was reportedly one that the 54-year-old Sellers had long hated.

While the Hollywood community mourned his premature loss, the anarchy that swirled around Sellers continued to broil after his death. In 1979, Blake Edwards shocked many by releasing "Revenge of the Pink Panther," which featured Sellers in outtakes from several of the previous films. It was roundly panned, but did not dissuade him from cobbling together another Clouseau movie, "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982), from outtakes. Sellers' final film, a dismal comedy called "The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu," which he also co-directed, was released in 1980. Edwards would continue to labor over the Pink Panther franchise for two more films - "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983), with Ted Wass as a Clouseau-esque policeman, and "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), with Roberto Begnini as Clouseau's illegitimate offspring - both of which were disastrous failures. Sellers' estate was also the source of considerable dismay for his family members. At the time of his death, he was in the process of cutting fourth wife Frederick out of his will, but she ultimately received his entire net worth - some 4.5 million pounds - while his children by Howe and Eklund received 800 pounds apiece. When Frederick died in 1994, her mother received the funds from the Sellers estate, with Frederick's daughter - by third husband Barry Unger, not Sellers - as the next in line, yanking the hard-earned money Sellers earned in his lifetime completely out of his family's hands.



Would he have made anymore Pink Panther films today? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/09/11 at 2:12 am


Would he have made anymore Pink Panther films today? ???
If he had survived, and would have been over 80 now, I doubt it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/09/11 at 2:14 am


Would he have made anymore Pink Panther films today? ???
Another factor to this question, Blake Edwards, the director of the Pink Panther film series, has sadly passed on now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/09/11 at 3:38 am

English (though born in France) Person of the Day : William the Conqueror (King William I of England)

William I (circa 1028 – 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant), was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II. Before his conquest of England, he was known as William the Bastard because of the illegitimacy of his birth.

To press his claim to the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, and Frenchmen (from Paris and Île-de-France) to victory over the English forces of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

William of Malmesbury, the foremost historian of the day, reported of William: "He was of just stature, extraordinary corpulence, fierce countenance; his forehead bare of hair; of such strength of arm that it was often a matter of surprise that no one was able to draw his bow, which he himself could bend when his horse was on full gallop; he was majestic whether sitting or standing, although the protuberance of his belly deformed his royal person: of excellent health so that he was never confined with any dangerous disorder except at the last."

His heavy taxes, together with the exactions of the greedy Norman landlords he put in power, reduced the great mass of Anglo-Saxon freemen to serfdom. By 1086, the Domesday Book showed that England comprised 12% freeholders; 35% serfs or villeins: 30% cotters and borders; and 9% slaves. William was one of the foremost soldiers of the medieval era, conquering a large kingdom from a smaller base. Most important, William created a feudal state that brought order, peace, law to England, promoted commerce, and created a strong central government that long endured.

His reign, which imposed Norman culture and leadership on England, reshaped England in the Middle Ages. The details of that impact and the extent of the changes have been debated by scholars for centuries. In addition to the obvious change of ruler, his reign also saw a programme of building and fortification, changes to the English language, a shift in the upper levels of society and the church, and adoption of some aspects of continental church reform.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/William1.jpg
The Duke of Normandy in the Bayeux Tapestry

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/King_William_I_%28%27The_Conqueror%27%29_from_NPG.jpg/240px-King_William_I_%28%27The_Conqueror%27%29_from_NPG.jpg
Portrait of William the Conqueror, painted ca. 1620 by an unknown artist. National Portrait Gallery, London

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/09/11 at 7:13 am


Another factor to this question, Blake Edwards, the director of the Pink Panther film series, has sadly passed on now.


Him and Steve Martin would have been a good comedy team.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/09/11 at 7:14 am


Him and Steve Martin would have been a good comedy team.
Not the best of combinations, and bear in mind that the film was panned by critics.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/09/11 at 7:16 am


Not the best of combinations, and bear in mind that the film was panned by critics.


so it wasn't that good.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/09/11 at 7:19 am


so it wasn't that good.
As a true Peter Sellers fan I avoided the Pink Panther remake.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/09/11 at 7:20 am


As a true Peter Sellers fan I avoided the Pink Panther remake.


I thought it was funny but nothing like the original.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/10/11 at 5:33 am

British Person of the Day: Henry Purcell

Born on (possibly) September 10th 1659, Henry Purcell was the finest and most original composer of his day. Though he was to live a very short life (he died in 1695) he was able to enjoy and make full use of the renewed flowering of music after the Restoration of the Monarchy.

As the son of a musician at Court, a chorister at the Chapel Royal, and the holder of continuing royal appointments until his death, Purcell worked in Westminster for three different Kings over twenty-five years.

In the Chapel Royal young Purcell studied with Dr. John Blow. Dr. Burney, the eighteenth century historian, is amusingly skeptical on this point: "..... he had a few lessons from Dr. Blow, which were sufficient to cancel all the instructions he had received from other masters, and to occasion the boast inscribed on the tomb-stone of Blow, that he had been 'Master to the famous Mr. Henry Purcell'." Legend has it that when, in 1679, Purcell succeeded Dr. Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey, the elder musician stepped aside in recognition of the greater genius, and it is true that on Purcell's death in 1695 Blow returned to the post, and would write a noble Ode on the Death of Purcell.

In addition to his royal duties Purcell also devoted much of his talent to writing operas, or rather musical dramas, and incidental stage music; but he would also write chamber music in the form of harpsichord suites and trio sonatas, and became involved with the growing London public concert scene. Indeed one of the most important musical developments in Restoration London was the gradual establishment of regular public concerts. Even the few meetings that began as private concerns were eventually prevailed upon to admit the general public, such as the group that gave concerts in the Castle Tavern. Whereas other organizations charged only a shilling, their admittance fee was more than twice that sum, and before long they had enough capital to equip a music room in York Buildings.

By the time Henry Purcell began to attend such concerts in the 1670s there were many highly skilled players of the violin, cello, and flute, as well as exponents of the (for London) relatively new art of playing continuo instruments, the most usual being the organ and the harpsichord. In 1683 a group of gentlemen amateurs, and professional musicians started a "Musical Society" in London to celebrate the "Festival of St. Cecilia, a great patroness of music" which any music-lover so desirous may still celebrate yearly on November 22nd. They asked Henry Purcell, then only 24, to be the first to write an Ode for their festivals; Purcell was to compose two more such Odes for the Society.

The writing of incidental theater music seems not to have been regarded by Purcell as embarrassing or beneath his dignity as Organist of Westminster Abbey. He was in the very midst of a tradition that not only permitted but actually encouraged well-known church musicians to provide lighter music for the theatre and opera, and this was an accepted practice in the great continental cities as well as in London. Most of Purcell's theatre music was written between 1690 and 1695 (the year of his death), and within that relatively brief period he supplied music for more than forty plays. Much of the instrumental music was published in 1697, when the composer's widow compiled A Collection of Ayres, Compos'd for the Theatre, and upon Other Occasions. This body of music, viewed as a whole, shows that Purcell gave to the theatre some of his happiest melodic inspirations, distributed among solemn overtures, cheerful or pathetic airs, and delightful dances of every imaginable kind.

There is hardly a department of music, as known in his day, to which Purcell did not contribute with true distinction. His anthems were long since accorded their place in the great music of the church; there are enough fine orchestral movements in his works for the theatre to establish him in this field; his fantasies and sonatas entitle him to honor in the history of chamber music; his keyboard works, if less significant in themselves, hold their place in the repertory; his one true opera. Dido and Aeneas, is an enduring masterpiece, and his other dramatic works (sometimes called operas) are full of musical riches. And, most especially, Purcell's songs themselves would be sufficient to insure his immortality. His sensitivity to his texts has been matched by few masters in musical history; when he had worthy poetry to set, he could hardly fail to produce a masterpiece.

http://www.baroquemusic.org/cgpurcelloil2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/10/11 at 10:06 am

The person of the day...Colin Firth
Colin Andrew Firth, CBE (born 10 September 1960) is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In 2011, Firth received an Academy Award for his portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech, a performance that also earned him the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. The previous year, he received his first Academy Award nomination, for his leading role in A Single Man, a performance that won him a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.
In 1983, Firth starred as Guy Bennett the award-winning London stage production of Another Country. That same year, Firth played the role of the apple in several 'Fruit of the Loom' TV advertisements. In 1984, he made his film debut in the screen adaptation of the play, taking the role of Tommy Judd (opposite Rupert Everett as Bennett). In 1986, he starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in Lost Empires, a TV adaptation of J. B. Priestley's novel, then in 1987 he appeared alongside Kenneth Branagh in the film version of J. L. Carr's A Month in the Country. In 1989, he played the title role in the film Valmont, and was co-lead in the film Apartment Zero. Firth and other young British actors who were becoming established film actors such as Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Bruce Payne and Paul McGann were dubbed the 'Brit Pack'.
Firth at the Nanny McPhee London premiere in October 2005

It was through the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that Firth gained wider renown. The serial was a major international success, and Firth gained heartthrob status because of his role as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, in which he emerged in a wet shirt after a swim. This performance also made him the object of affection for fictional journalist Bridget Jones (created by Helen Fielding), an interest which carried on into the two novels featuring the Jones character. In the second novel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the character even meets Firth in Rome. As something of an in-joke, when the novels were adapted for the cinema, Firth was cast as Jones's love interest, Mark Darcy. Continuing this in-joke, there was a dog called Mr Darcy in the film St. Trinian's, which Firth's character accidentally kills.

Firth had a supporting role in The English Patient (1996) and since then, has starred in films such as Fever Pitch (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Relative Values (2000), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Love Actually (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003), Hope Springs (2003), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Nanny McPhee (2005), Where The Truth Lies (2005), Then She Found Me (2007) with Helen Hunt, The Last Legion (2007) with Aishwarya Rai, When Did You Last See Your Father? (2008), the film adaptation of Mamma Mia! (2008), and Easy Virtue, which screened at the Rome Film Festival to excellent reviews. In 2009, he starred in A Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel, using the performance capture procedure, playing Scrooge's optimistic nephew Fred.

He has also appeared in several television productions, including Donovan Quick (an updated version of Don Quixote) (1999) and Conspiracy (2001), for which he received an Emmy nomination. Colin Firth's most recent role is in the Toronto International Film Festival debuted film, Genova.

At the 66th Venice International Film Festival in 2009, Colin Firth was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Tom Ford's A Single Man as a college professor grappling with solitude after his longtime partner dies. Fashion designer Tom Ford made his director's debut with this movie. This role has earned Firth career best reviews and Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and BFCA nominations; he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in February 2010.
Firth at the 2009 Venice Film Festival

Firth starred in the 2010 film The King's Speech as Prince Albert, Duke of York/King George VI. The film details him working to overcome his speech impediment while becoming monarch of the United Kingdom at the outbreak of World War II. At the Toronto Film Festival, the film was met with a standing ovation. The TIFF release of The King's Speech fell on Colin's 50th birthday and was called the "best 50th birthday gift". On 16 January 2011, he won a Golden Globe for his performance in The King's Speech in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. The Screen Actors Guild recognized Firth with the award for Best Male Actor for The King's Speech on 30 January 2011. In February 2011, he won the best actor award at the 2011 BAFTA awards. He received an Academy Award for Best Actor in a motion picture for The King's Speech on 27 February 2011.

Firth will appear in the 2012 adaptation of the John Le Carré novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson, also starring Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, and Tom Hardy. In May 2011, Firth began filming Gambit, written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen and directed by Michael Hoffman, co-starring Cameron Diaz.
Other work

Firth played William Shakespeare in a comedy special entitled Blackadder: Back & Forth. Edmund Blackadder runs into Firth's character while he is working on Macbeth, asks him to sign the script for him, and then punches him, saying "That is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next 400 years!".

He was a guest host of Saturday Night Live in 2004, alongside musical guest Norah Jones.

Firth performed in theatre frequently between 1983 and 2000. He starred in Three Days of Rain as lead character Ned/Walker, as well as The Caretaker, Desire Under the Elms, and Chatsky.

He served as executive producer for the 2007 documentary produced by his wife, Livia Giuggioli, In Prison My Whole Life. The film questions the trial proceedings and evidence used against political activist and former Black Panther member, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer, Daniel Faulkner.

Firth is also a Jury Member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.

On 13 January 2011, he was presented with the 2,429th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2011, Firth collaborated with colleagues at the University College London to conduct a study probing differences in the volume of various brain regions in conservatives and liberals, with the results suggesting that conservatives have greater amygdala volume and liberals have greater volume in their anterior cingulate cortex.
Writer

Firth's first published work, "The Department of Nothing", appeared in Speaking with the Angel (2000). This collection of short stories was edited by Nick Hornby and was published to benefit the TreeHouse Trust, in aid of autistic children. Firth had previously met Hornby during the filming of the original Fever Pitch. Colin Firth contributed with his writing for the book, We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, released in 2009. The book explores the culture of peoples around the world, portraying both its diversity and facing threats. It counts with the contributions of many western writers, such as Laurens van der Post, Noam Chomsky, Claude Lévi-Strauss; and also indigenous peoples, such as Davi Kopenawa Yanomami and Roy Sesana. The royalties from the sale of this book go to the indigenous rights organisation, Survival International
1984 Another Country Tommy Judd
1984 Camille Armand Duval Television film
1985 1919 (young) Alexander Scherbatov
1985 Dutch Girls Neil Truelove Television film
1986 Lost Empires Richard Herncastle Television mini-series
1987 A Month in the Country Tom Birkin
1987 Pat Hobby: Teamed with Genius Rene Wilcox PBS Shorts Special
1987 The Secret Garden adult Colin Craven Hallmark Hall of Fame
1988 Tumbledown Robert Lawrence Television film
Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
1989 Apartment Zero Adrian LeDuc
1989 Valmont Valmont
1990 Femme Fatale Joseph Prince
1990 Wings of Fame Brian Smith
1991 Out of the Blue Alan Play for television
1993 Hostages John McCarthy Television – HBO
1993 The Hour of the Pig Richard Courtois Also known as The Advocate
1994 Master of the Moor Stephen Whalby Television film - UK
1994 Playmaker Michael Condron/Ross Talbert
1994 The Deep Blue Sea Freddie Page Play for television – UK
1995 Circle of Friends Simon Westward
1995 Pride and Prejudice Fitzwilliam Darcy Television mini-series
Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
Nominated — National Television Award for Most Popular Male
1995 The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd Charles Holroyd Play for television – UK
1996 The English Patient Geoffrey Clifton Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997 A Thousand Acres Jess Clark
1997 Fever Pitch Paul Ashworth
1997 Nostromo Charles Gould Television mini-series
1998 Shakespeare in Love Lord Wessex Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth William Shakespeare Short film
1999 Donovan Quick Donovan Quick/Daniel Quinn Television film – UK
1999 My Life So Far Edward Pettigrew
1999 The Secret Laughter of Women Matthew Field
1999 The Turn of the Screw The Master Masterpiece Theater
2000 Relative Values Peter Ingleton
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary Mark Darcy European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2001 Conspiracy Wilhelm Stuckart Television film – HBO
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2001 We Know Where You Live Himself Benefit for Amnesty International
2001 Fourplay Allen Portland Television film – HBO, also known as Londinium
2002 The Importance of Being Earnest Jack Worthing
2003 Girl with a Pearl Earring Johannes Vermeer Nominated—European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Actor
2003 Hope Springs Colin Ware
2003 Love Actually Jamie Bennett Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2003 What a Girl Wants Henry Dashwood
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Mark Darcy
2004 Trauma Ben Slater
2005 Nanny McPhee Cedric Brown
2005 Where the Truth Lies Vince Collins
2006 Born Equal Mark Armitage Television film – UK
2007 The Last Legion Ambrosius Aurelianus
2007 And When Did You Last See Your Father? Blake Morrison Nominated — British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
2007 Then She Found Me Frank
2007 St. Trinian's Geoffrey Thwaites
2007 In Prison My Whole Life Himself
2008 The Accidental Husband Richard Bratton
2008 Mamma Mia! Harry Bright Nominated — National Movie Award for Best Performance Male
2008 Easy Virtue Jim Whittaker
2008 Genova Joe
2009 A Christmas Carol Fred
2009 Dorian Gray Lord Henry Wotton
2009 A Single Man George Falconer Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Outstanding Performance of the Year
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Volpi Cup
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actor
2009 St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold Geoffrey Thwaites
2010 The King's Speech King George VI Academy Award for Best Actor
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Eda Award for Best Actor
Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2010 Main Street Tom Phillips
2010 Steve Steve with Keira Knightley
2011 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Bill Haydon
2012 Gambit Harry Deane filming
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e345/rosslyn3/Colin%20Firth/colin_firth_10.jpg
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/ColinFirthAndrew/Colin%20Firth/colin_firth.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/10/11 at 10:08 am


British Person of the Day: Henry Purcell

Born on (possibly) September 10th 1659, Henry Purcell was the finest and most original composer of his day. Though he was to live a very short life (he died in 1695) he was able to enjoy and make full use of the renewed flowering of music after the Restoration of the Monarchy.

As the son of a musician at Court, a chorister at the Chapel Royal, and the holder of continuing royal appointments until his death, Purcell worked in Westminster for three different Kings over twenty-five years.

In the Chapel Royal young Purcell studied with Dr. John Blow. Dr. Burney, the eighteenth century historian, is amusingly skeptical on this point: "..... he had a few lessons from Dr. Blow, which were sufficient to cancel all the instructions he had received from other masters, and to occasion the boast inscribed on the tomb-stone of Blow, that he had been 'Master to the famous Mr. Henry Purcell'." Legend has it that when, in 1679, Purcell succeeded Dr. Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey, the elder musician stepped aside in recognition of the greater genius, and it is true that on Purcell's death in 1695 Blow returned to the post, and would write a noble Ode on the Death of Purcell.

In addition to his royal duties Purcell also devoted much of his talent to writing operas, or rather musical dramas, and incidental stage music; but he would also write chamber music in the form of harpsichord suites and trio sonatas, and became involved with the growing London public concert scene. Indeed one of the most important musical developments in Restoration London was the gradual establishment of regular public concerts. Even the few meetings that began as private concerns were eventually prevailed upon to admit the general public, such as the group that gave concerts in the Castle Tavern. Whereas other organizations charged only a shilling, their admittance fee was more than twice that sum, and before long they had enough capital to equip a music room in York Buildings.

By the time Henry Purcell began to attend such concerts in the 1670s there were many highly skilled players of the violin, cello, and flute, as well as exponents of the (for London) relatively new art of playing continuo instruments, the most usual being the organ and the harpsichord. In 1683 a group of gentlemen amateurs, and professional musicians started a "Musical Society" in London to celebrate the "Festival of St. Cecilia, a great patroness of music" which any music-lover so desirous may still celebrate yearly on November 22nd. They asked Henry Purcell, then only 24, to be the first to write an Ode for their festivals; Purcell was to compose two more such Odes for the Society.

The writing of incidental theater music seems not to have been regarded by Purcell as embarrassing or beneath his dignity as Organist of Westminster Abbey. He was in the very midst of a tradition that not only permitted but actually encouraged well-known church musicians to provide lighter music for the theatre and opera, and this was an accepted practice in the great continental cities as well as in London. Most of Purcell's theatre music was written between 1690 and 1695 (the year of his death), and within that relatively brief period he supplied music for more than forty plays. Much of the instrumental music was published in 1697, when the composer's widow compiled A Collection of Ayres, Compos'd for the Theatre, and upon Other Occasions. This body of music, viewed as a whole, shows that Purcell gave to the theatre some of his happiest melodic inspirations, distributed among solemn overtures, cheerful or pathetic airs, and delightful dances of every imaginable kind.

There is hardly a department of music, as known in his day, to which Purcell did not contribute with true distinction. His anthems were long since accorded their place in the great music of the church; there are enough fine orchestral movements in his works for the theatre to establish him in this field; his fantasies and sonatas entitle him to honor in the history of chamber music; his keyboard works, if less significant in themselves, hold their place in the repertory; his one true opera. Dido and Aeneas, is an enduring masterpiece, and his other dramatic works (sometimes called operas) are full of musical riches. And, most especially, Purcell's songs themselves would be sufficient to insure his immortality. His sensitivity to his texts has been matched by few masters in musical history; when he had worthy poetry to set, he could hardly fail to produce a masterpiece.

http://www.baroquemusic.org/cgpurcelloil2.jpg

Thanks Phil, for some reason I don't really remember him. :-[

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/10/11 at 10:38 am


Thanks Phil, for some reason I don't really remember him. :-[
You know some, you do not know some, he is known in the UK.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/10/11 at 3:51 pm


Thanks Phil, for some reason I don't really remember him. :-[
It was a theme by Henry Purcell that Benjamin Britten used for his "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/11/11 at 10:17 am

The person of the day...Harry Connick Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16 million in certified sales. He has seven top-20 US albums, and ten number-one US jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in the US jazz chart history.

Connick's best selling album in the United States is his 1993 Christmas album When My Heart Finds Christmas, which also is one of the best selling Christmas albums in the United States. His highest charting album, is his 2004 release Only You which reached #5 in the U.S. and #6 in Britain. He has won three Grammy awards and one Emmy Award. He played Grace's husband Dr. Leo Markus on the TV sitcom Will & Grace from 2002 to 2006.

Connick began his acting career as a tail gunner in the World War II film Memphis Belle in 1990. He played a serial killer in Copycat in 1995, before being cast as jet fighter pilot in the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day. Connick's first role as a leading man was in 1998's Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock. His first thriller film since Copycat came in 2007, when he played the violent ex-husband in Bug, before two romantic comedies, 2007's P.S. I Love You, and the leading man in New in Town with Renée Zellweger in 2009.
With Connick's growing reputation, director Rob Reiner asked him to provide a soundtrack for his 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally..., starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. The soundtrack consisted of several standards, including "It Had to Be You", "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", and achieved double-platinum status in the United States. He won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance for his work on the soundtrack.

Connick made his screen debut in Memphis Belle (1990), about a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crew in World War II. In that year, he began a two-year world tour. In addition, he released two albums in July 1990: the instrumental jazz trio album Lofty's Roach Souffle and a big-band album of mostly original songs titled We Are in Love, which also went double platinum. We Are in Love earned him his second consecutive Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal.

"Promise Me You'll Remember", his contribution to the Godfather III soundtrack, was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991. In a year of recognition, he was also nominated for an Emmy for Best Performance in a Variety Special for his PBS special Swingin' Out Live, which was also released as a video. In October 1991, he released his third consecutive multi-platinum album, Blue Light, Red Light, on which he wrote and arranged the songs. In October 1991, he starred in Little Man Tate, directed by Jodie Foster, playing the friend of a child prodigy who goes to college.

Connick was arrested in 1992 and charged with having a 9mm pistol in his possession at JFK International Airport. After spending a day in jail, he agreed to make a public-service television commercial warning against breaking gun laws. The court agreed to drop all charges if Connick stayed out of trouble for six months. In November 1992, Connick released 25, a solo piano collection of standards that again went platinum. He also re-released the album Eleven. Connick contributed "A Wink and a Smile" to the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack, released in 1993. His multi-platinum album of holiday songs, When My Heart Finds Christmas, was the best-selling Christmas album in 1993.
Flirtation with funk in the mid-1990s

In 1994, Connick decided to branch out. He released She, an album of New Orleans funk that also went platinum. In addition, he released a song called "(I Could Only) Whisper Your Name" for the soundtrack of The Mask, starring Jim Carrey, which is his most successful single in the United States to date.

Connick took his funk music on a tour of the United Kingdom in 1994, an effort that did not please some of his fans, who were expecting a jazz crooner. Connick also took his funk music to the People's Republic of China in 1995, playing at the Shanghai Center Theatre. The performance was televised live in China for what became known as the Shanghai Gumbo special. In his third film Copycat, Connick played a serial killer. Released in 1995, Copycat also starred Holly Hunter and Sigourney Weaver. The following year, he released his second funk album, Star Turtle, which did not sell as well as previous albums, although it did reach No. 38 on the charts. However, he appeared in the most successful movie of 1996, Independence Day, with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum.
Back to basics: return to jazz and Hope Floats

For his 1997 release To See You, Connick recorded original love songs, touring the United States and Europe with a full symphony orchestra backing him and his piano in each city. As part of his tour, he played at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, with his final concert of that tour in Paris being recorded for a Valentine's Day special on PBS in 1998. He also continued his film career, starring in Excess Baggage opposite Alicia Silverstone and Benicio del Toro in 1997.

In May 1998, he had his first leading role in director Forest Whitaker's Hope Floats, with Sandra Bullock as his female lead. He released Come By Me, his first album of big band music in eight years in 1999, and embarked on a world tour visiting the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. In addition, he provided the voice of Dean McCoppin in the animated film The Iron Giant.
2000–02: Broadway debut, musicals, Will & Grace

Connick wrote the score for Susan Stroman's Broadway musical Thou Shalt Not, based on Émile Zola's novel Thérèse Raquin, in 2000; it premiered in 2001. His music and lyrics garnerned a Tony Award nomination. He was also the narrator of the film My Dog Skip, released in that year.

In March 2001, Connick starred in a television production of South Pacific with Glenn Close, televised on the ABC network. He also starred in his twelfth movie, Mickey, featuring a screenplay by John Grisham that same year. In October 2001, he again released two albums: Songs I Heard, featuring big band re-workings of children's show themes, and 30, featuring Connick on piano with guest appearances by several other musical artists. Songs I Heard won Connick another Grammy for best traditional pop album and he toured performing songs from the album, holding matinees at which each parent had to be accompanied by a child.

In 2002, he received a U.S. Patent 6,348,648 for a "system and method for coordinating music display among players in an orchestra." Connick appeared as Grace Adler's boyfriend (and later husband) Leo Markus on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace from 2002 to 2006.
2003–05: Connick on Piano and Only You

In July 2003, Connick released his first instrumental album in fifteen years, Other Hours Connick on Piano Volume 1. It was released on Branford Marsalis's new label Marsalis Music and led to a short tour of nightclubs and small theaters. Connick appeared in the film Basic. In October 2003, he released his second Christmas album, Harry for the Holidays, which went gold and reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200 album chart. He also had a television special on NBC featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Marc Anthony and Kim Burrell. Only You, his seventeenth album for Columbia Records, was released in February 2004. A collection of 1950s and 1960s ballads, Only You, went Top Ten on both sides of the Atlantic and was certified gold in the United States in March 2004. The Only You tour with big band went on in America, Australia and a short trip to Asia. Harry for the Holidays was certified platinum in November 2004. A music DVD Harry Connick Jr. — "Only You" in Concert was released in March 2004, after it had first aired as a Great Performances special on PBS. The special won him an Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction. The DVD received a Gold & Platinum Music Video — Long Form awards from the RIAA in November 2005.

An animated holiday special, The Happy Elf, aired on NBC in December 2005, with Connick as the composer, the narrator, and one of the executive producers. Shortly after, it was released on DVD. The holiday special was based on his original song The Happy Elf, from his 2003 album Harry for the Holidays. Another album from Marsalis Music was recorded in 2005, Occasion : Connick on Piano, Volume 2, a duo album with Harry Connick, Jr. on piano together with Branford Marsalis on saxophone. A music DVD, A Duo Occasion, was filmed at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival 2005 in Canada, and released in November 2005.

He appeared in another episode of NBC sitcom Will & Grace in November 2005, and appeared in an additional three episodes in 2006.
2006–08: The Pajama Game, Bug and P.S. I Love You
Harry Connick, Jr. in concert, Savannah, Georgia, Feb 27, 2007

Bug, a film directed by William Friedkin, is a psychological thriller filmed in 2005, starring Connick, Ashley Judd, and Michael Shannon. The film was released in 2007. He starred in the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game, produced by the Roundabout Theater Company, along with Michael McKean and Kelli O'Hara, at the American Airlines Theatre in 2006. It ran from February 23 to June 17, 2006, including five benefit performances running from June 13 to June 17. The Pajama Game cast recording was nominated for a Grammy, after being released as part of Connick's double disc album Harry on Broadway, Act I.

He hosted The Weather Channel's mini series 100 Biggest Weather Moments which aired in 2007. He was part of the documentary Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037, released in November 2007. He sat in on piano on Bob French's 2007 album Marsalis Music Honors Series: Bob French. He appeared in the film P.S. I Love You, released in December 2007. A third album in the Connick on Piano series, Chanson du Vieux Carré was released in 2007, and Connick received two Grammy nominations for the track "Ash Wednesday", for the Grammy awards in 2008. Chanson du Vieux Carré was released simultaneously with the album Oh, My NOLA. Connick toured North America and Europe in 2007, and toured Asia and Australia in 2008, as part of his My New Orleans Tour. Connick did the arrangements for, wrote a couple of songs, and sang a duet on Kelli O'Hara's album that was released in May 2008. He was also the featured singer at the Concert of Hope immediately preceding Pope Benedict XVI's Mass at Yankee Stadium in April 2008. He had the starring role of Dr. Dennis Slamon in the 2008 Lifetime TV film Living Proof. His third Christmas album, What a Night!, was released in November 2008.
2009–present: New in Town, Your Songs
Harry Connick, Jr. and Renée Zellweger at the Rachael Ray show, January 30, 2009.

The film New in Town starring Connick and Renée Zellweger, began filming in January 2008, and was released in January 2009. Connick's album Your Songs was released on CD, September 22, 2009. In contrast to Connick's previous albums, this album is a collaboration with a record company producer, the multiple Grammy Award winning music executive Clive Davis.

Connick is expected to star in the Broadway revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, opening at the St. James Theatre in November 2011 in previews.
Connick, a New Orleans native, is a founder of the Krewe of Orpheus, a music-based New Orleans krewe, taking its name from Orpheus of classical mythology. The Krewe of Orpheus parades on St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street in New Orleans on Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) — the day before Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).

On September 2, 2005, Harry Connick, Jr., helped to organize, and appeared in, the NBC-sponsored live telethon concert, A Concert for Hurricane Relief, for relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He spent several days touring the city to draw attention to the plight of citizens stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and other places. At the concert he paired with host Matt Lauer, and entertainers including Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kanye West, Mike Myers, and John Goodman.

On September 6, 2005, Connick was made honorary chair of Habitat for Humanity's Operation Home Delivery, a long-term rebuilding plan for families victimized by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.

Connick's album Oh, My NOLA, and Chanson du Vieux Carré were released in 2007, with a following tour called the My New Orleans Tour.
Main article: Harry Connick, Jr. discography

    Dixieland Plus (1977)
    Eleven (1978)
    Harry Connick Jr. (1987)
    20 (1988)
    When Harry Met Sally (1989)
    We Are In Love (1990)
    Lofty's Roach Souffle (1990)
    Blue Light, Red Light (1991)
    25 (1992)
    When My Heart Finds Christmas (1993)
    She (1994)
    Star Turtle (1995)
    To See You (1997)
    Come by Me (1999)
    30 (2001)
    Songs I Heard (2001)
    Thou Shalt Not (2002)
    Other Hours : Connick on Piano, Volume 1 (2003)
    Harry for the Holidays (2003)
    Only You (2004)
    Occasion : Connick on Piano, Volume 2 (2005)
    Harry on Broadway, Act I (2006)
    Oh, My NOLA (2007)
    Chanson du Vieux Carre : Connick On Piano, Volume 3 (2007)
    What a Night! A Christmas Album (2008)
    Your Songs (2009)
    In Concert on Broadway (2011)

Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1990 Memphis Belle Sgt. Clay Busby Released October 12, 1990
Distributed by Warner Bros.
1991 Little Man Tate Eddie Released October 18, 1991
Distributed by Orion Pictures
1995 Copycat Daryll Lee Cullum Released October 13, 1995
Distributed by Warner Bros.
1996 Independence Day Captain Jimmy Wilder Released July 3, 1996
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
1997 Excess Baggage Greg Kistler Released August 29, 1997
Distributed by Columbia TriStar
1998 Hope Floats Justin Matisse Released May 29, 1998
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
1999 The Iron Giant Dean McCoppin Released August 6, 1999
Distributed by Warner Bros.
1999 Wayward Son Jesse Banks Rhodes Released September 14, 1999
Distributed by Avenue Pictures
2000 My Dog Skip Narrator Released March 3, 2000
Distributed by Warner Bros.
2001 South Pacific Lt. Joseph Cable Released August 28, 2001 (DVD)
Distributed by Buena Vista, ABC
2001 The Simian Line Rick Released November 16, 2001
Distributed by Gabriel Film Group
2001 Life Without Dick Daniel Gallagher Released February 5, 2002
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
2003 Basic Pete Vilmer Released March 28, 2003
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
2004 Mickey Glen Ryan (Tripp Spence) Released April 30, 2004
Distributed by Mickey Productions, Slugger Pictures, Anchor Bay Entertainment
2005 The Happy Elf Lil' Farley (narrator) Released December 2, 2005
Distributed by IDT Entertainment, NBC
2007 Bug Jerry Goss Released May 25, 2007
Distributed by Lionsgate
2007 P.S. I Love You Daniel Connelly Released December 21, 2007
Distributed by Warner Bros., Summit Entertainment
2008 Living Proof Dr. Dennis Slamon Released October 18, 2008
Distributed by Lifetime
2009 New in Town Ted Mitchell Released January 30, 2009
Distributed by Universal Pictures
2011 Dolphin Tale Clay Haskett Scheduled release September 16, 2011
Distributed by Warner Bros.
2011 When Angels Sing Michael Walker Scheduled release - Holiday 2011

Various

    1990 Carly in Concert: My Romance Carly Simon – guest artist (VHS)
    1992 Super Bowl XXVI — performed "The Star Spangled Banner"
    1992 Cheers — TV show guest appearance (ep. A Diminished Rebecca with a Suspended Cliff, 2/6/92)
    1993 The Harry Connick Jr. Christmas Special (CBS)
    1997 Action League Now!, episode "Rock-A-Big-Baby" (voice, as "Big Baby")
    1998 Harry Connick Jr.: Romance in Paris (PBS special)
    1999 The Worlds of Harry Connick Jr. (Bravo)
    2001 Evening at Pops (PBS)
    2002 Will & Grace (NBC 2002–2006)
    2003 Harry for the Holidays (NBC)
    2004 Only You: In Concert (PBS)
    2007 100 Biggest Weather Moments (The Weather Channel) — host
    2007 Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037
    2009 Hey Hey It's Saturday, The Reunion (second show, October 7) – Red Faces judge
    2009 Australian Idol – judge
    2010 Daytona 500 performed "The Star-Spangled Banner"
    2010 American Idol

Broadway

    1990 An Evening with Harry Connick Jr. and His Orchestra (special, concert)
    2001 Thou Shalt Not (Broadway Musical) — composer
    2006 The Pajama Game (Broadway Musical)
    – Nice Work If You Can Get It (Broadway Musical) (postponed)
    2010 Harry Connick, Jr.: In Concert on Broadway (special, concert)
    2011 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (Broadway Musical)
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/bobbiedgcomb/Harry-Connick-Jr.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/000971453/MUSIC/Harry_Connick_Jr.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/12/11 at 8:06 am

The person of the day...Jason Statham
Jason Statham (play /ˈsteɪθəm/; born 12 September 1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Statham appeared in supporting roles in several American films, such as The Italian Job, as well as playing the lead role in The Transporter, Death Race, Crank, The Bank Job and War (opposite martial arts star Jet Li). Statham also appeared alongside established action film actors Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren in The Expendables. He normally performs his own fight scenes and stunts.While working for French Connection, he was introduced to fledgling British director Guy Ritchie who was developing a film project and needed to fill the role of a street-wise con artist. After learning about Statham's past as a Black Market Salesman, Ritchie cast him to play the role of "Bacon" in his break-out 1998 hit, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The movie was well received by both critics and audiences, and helped catapult Statham into the public eye. Statham's second collaboration with Ritchie came in the 2000 film Snatch, playing the role of "Turkish". Cast alongside popular actors Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro, and with the movie earning more than $80 million in box-office revenue, Statham was able to break into Hollywood and appeared in two movies in 2001: Ghosts of Mars and The One.

Statham was offered more film roles and in 2002 was cast as the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action movie The Transporter, in which his background in martial arts enabled him to do most of his own stunts. He has studied Wing Chun kung fu, karate, and kickboxing. The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2, in 2005 and Transporter 3 in 2008. He also played in supporting roles in Mean Machine (2002), The Italian Job (2003) (in which he played Handsome Rob), and Cellular (2004) where he played the lead villain. In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project, Revolver which was a critical and box office failure. He also played a dramatic role in the independent drama London in 2006. In 2006 he played the lead role in Crank. Statham compares his role in Crank to his real life in the September 2006 issue of Maxim. The success of Crank led to a sequel in 2009 titled Crank: High Voltage.

In 2008, Statham starred in the British crime thriller The Bank Job which was both a critical and box office success. In 2008, American film critic Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as the leading international action film star. On the occasion of Death Race, White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star." Later in 2008, White praised Statham's Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic pop art.
Statham in 2006

In 2009, Statham started to develop a new movie written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples (Twelve Monkeys). Statham stated "We've got a movie we're trying to do, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It’s not a remake or anything, but it's a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers," and the release date is still unknown.

In 2010, Statham appeared alongside fellow action stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke, among others in The Expendables. Statham plays Lee Christmas, a former SAS soldier and expert at close quarters combat using knives. In 2011, Statham starred in the remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic and returned to British film in the police drama Blitz.

He will also star in the action film, Killer Elite. According to Variety, the film will be based on real events, which were the subject of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' fictional novel The Feather Men. Statham will play a former SAS officer named Danny who comes out of retirement to save an old friend who will be played by Robert De Niro. In August 2011, he is to begin filming Parker, for director Taylor Hackford; Statham will star as Parker, the criminal antihero previously played by Mel Gibson in 1999's Payback and by Lee Marvin in 1967's Point Blank.
Personal life

Statham was in a seven year relationship with model Kelly Brook, until 2004. Since April 2010, he has been dating Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

Statham has studied Wing Chun kung fu, karate and kickboxing.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Bacon Film debut
2000 Snatch Turkish
Turn It Up Mr. B
2001 Ghosts of Mars Sgt. Jericho Butler
The One MVA Agent Evan Funsch first time partnered with Jet Li
Mean Machine Monk
2002 The Transporter Frank Martin
2003 The Italian Job Handsome Rob
2004 Collateral Airport Man Cameo appearance
Cellular Ethan Greer First film to appear as a villain
2005 Transporter 2 Frank Martin
Revolver Jake Green
London Bateman
2006 Chaos Det. Quentin Conners
The Pink Panther Yves Gluant Uncredited role
Crank Chev Chelios
2007 War FBI Agent John Crawford second time partnered with Jet Li
2008 The Bank Job Terry Leather
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale Farmer Daimon
Death Race Jensen "Frankenstein" Ames
Transporter 3 Frank Martin
2009 Crank: High Voltage Chev Chelios
2010 13 Jasper
The Expendables Lee Christmas third time partnered with Jet Li
2011 The Mechanic Arthur Bishop
Gnomeo & Juliet Tybalt Voice
Blitz Detective Sergeant Tom Brant
Killer Elite Danny Bryce post-production
2012 Safe Matt Jimmy post-production
Parker Parker in production
Echelon Nick Stone in production
The Expendables 2 Lee Christmas in production
Box office performance

Since 1998, Statham has appeared in over twenty films. Several have been box office hits, such as Snatch and The Bank Job. He has starred in two film series, The Transporter and Crank. The films he has been in have grossed a total of more than $1 billion USD at the box office, with the highest individual film being The Expendables.
Video game voice-overs
Video game Year Character
Red Faction II 2002 Shrike
Call of Duty 2003 Sgt. Waters
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k128/mander_blanc/Hottestmanalive.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c286/rachelhottie1/untitled.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/13/11 at 7:35 am

The person of the day...Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry, Jr.; September 13, 1969) is an American actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays in the South during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman. In September 2011, Perry was ranked by Forbes magazine as the highest-paid entertainer in Hollywood beating such names as Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg to the top spot. As of June 2011, Perry's films had grossed over $500 million worldwide.
Perry received a $5.5 million budget to fund his first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which went on to gross $50.6 million domestically, while scoring a 16 percent approval rating at the film review web site, Rotten Tomatoes. On its opening weekend, February 24–26, 2006, Perry's film version of Madea's Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million. The film eventually grossed $65 million. Perry and his co-stars promoted the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show. As with Diary, almost all of the Madeas' earnings have been generated in the United States.

Perry's next Lionsgate project, Daddy's Little Girls, starred Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba and was released in the U.S. on February 14, 2007. It grossed over $31 million. Perry wrote, directed, produced and starred in his next film, Why Did I Get Married?, released on October 12, 2007. It opened at number one, grossing $21.4 million that weekend. It is loosely based on his play of the same name. Filming began March 5, 2007, in Whistler, British Columbia, Vancouver, then moved to Atlanta, where Perry had opened his own studio. Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Jill Scott and Tasha Smith appeared in the film. Perry's 2008 film, Meet the Browns, released on March 21, opened at number two with a $20,082,809 weekend gross. The Family That Preys opened on September 12, 2008, and grossed over $37.1 million.

Madea Goes to Jail opened at number one on February 20, 2009, grossing $41 million and becoming his largest opening to date. This was Perry's seventh film with Lionsgate Entertainment. At the request of director J. J. Abrams, Perry had a cameo appearance in Star Trek as the Starfleet Academy commandant Admiral Barnett, which opened on May 8, 2009. This was his first film appearance outside of his own projects.

Perry next wrote, directed, and starred in I Can Do Bad All By Myself, a film structured around his Madea character. This was Perry's eighth film and also made number one at the box office. In 2009, Perry teamed with Oprah Winfrey to present Precious, a film based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

Why Did I Get Married Too?, the sequel to Why Did I Get Married?, opened in theaters on April 2, 2010. It featured Janet Jackson, Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett, Jr., Jill Scott and Malik Yoba. As of April 18, the film has grossed over $54 million domestically, with $29 million made the opening weekend.

Perry directed a film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. It was released November 5, 2010. He appeared in the stage show Madea's Big Happy Family, which toured the U.S. and was a movie in 2011, written, directed by, and starring Perry. Madea's Big Happy Family raked in 25.8 million dollars at the box office, taking 2nd place.

Perry is also slated to take over the role of James Patterson's Alex Cross from Morgan Freeman in the pending film adaptation of I, Alex Cross.

Perry's films are co-produced and distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment; he retains full copyright ownership under the corporate name Very Perry Films, and places his name in front of all titles. Perry's movies have seen very limited release outside North America, but in May 2010 Lionsgate announced plans to begin releasing his films in the United Kingdom.

Perry's next film with Lionsgate is set to be Good Deeds, as he again will work behind and in front of the camera. Perry will be playing lead character Glen Deeds. The movie is also set to star Thandie Newton, Rebecca Romijn, Gabrielle Union, Eddie Cibrian, Jamie Kennedy, Phylicia Rashad and more.
Television

Perry produces a television show entitled Tyler Perry's House of Payne, which follows an African-American household of three generations. The show demonstrates the family members' struggles with faith and love, as well as living with different generations. The show ran in the spring of 2006 as a 10-show pilot. After the successful pilot run, Perry signed a $200 million, 100-episode deal with TBS. On June 6, 2007, the first two episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne ran on TBS. After receiving high ratings, House of Payne entered broadcast syndication. Reruns were played through December 2007 before the second season began. The third season began on March 5, 2008 and the fourth season on June 4, 2008. House of Payne airs on TBS.

The Writers Guild of America, West has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that Perry's production company, House of Payne, unlawfully fired four writers in October 2008 in retaliation for their trying to get a union contract. The dispute was settled a month later, when Tyler Perry Studios agreed to be a WGA signatory.

Perry wrote, directed and produced the sitcom Meet the Browns, which premiered on TBS on January 7, 2009.

Perry has said he may produce more sitcoms entitled Floyd's Family, a spin off of House of Payne featuring the character Floyd, and another called For Better or Worse based on the play and motion picture, Why Did I Get Married and its sequel.

In early 2009, Perry threatened legal action against Mo' Money Taxes, a tax preparation company based in Memphis, for running a TV spot that he felt offensively parodied his work, in particular Madea Goes to Jail. The ad features a large Caucasian male (John Cowan) in drag, named "Ma'Madea". The offending ad was dropped from circulation.
Books

Tyler Perry's first novel, Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life, appeared on April 11, 2006. The book sold fewer than 30,000 copies. The hardcover reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list and stayed on the list for 12 weeks. It was voted Book of the Year, Best Humor Book at the 2006 Quill Awards.
Stylistic trademarks

Perry always uses possessory credit in his works' titles (e.g., Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?). Several recurring narrative themes surface in Perry's work and his films and plays feature predominantly African-American casts.

The recurring character of Mabel "Madea" Simmons appears in much of Perry's work. Perry first introduced Madea in his 1999 play, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, and the character has recurred in many of his subsequent works. Perry portrays Madea by cross-dressing in his plays and films. Perry has said he based Madea on an aunt who lives in Georgia, as well as on his mother. Madea dispenses wisdom in a "no-nonsense manner", and she usually engages in physical comedy and/or sight gags. The nickname "Madea" comes from a Southern contraction of the words "mother dear", which is commonly used as a term of affection or as a reference to a great-grandmother.

Perry often refers to Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, which he notes as one of his favorite films. Perry's plays refer to 1970s R&B and soul music, and the differences between that and the current state of rap/hip-hop music and other music popular among the black community.

Other references include singers Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, 50 Cent (who was referred to as Creflo Dollar's half-brother), R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, Ike & Tina Turner, and Tweet, rapper Missy Elliott, the 1994 film Forrest Gump, and the sitcom Good Times.

Many of Perry's television works, such as House of Payne, are sitcoms that feature subject matter and themes that are darker and heavier than those of traditional sitcoms. Thus, his sitcoms have often been classified as comedy-dramas or black comedies. The storyline of the shows are often serialized, with many references to past episodes, creating a continuing story arc.
Criticism

Criticism of Perry’s work focuses mainly on a perception that it perpetuates negative racial stereotypes.

Despite praising Perry in 2006, in 2009 director Spike Lee criticized his work when interviewed by Ed Gordon on Our World with Black Enterprise, saying, "Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is 'coonery' and buffoonery. I know it's making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better … I see these two ads for these two shows and I am scratching my head … We got a black president and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep 'n' Eat?" When Gordon cited Perry’s success among black audiences and asked Spike if Perry wasn’t just giving black America what they wanted, he responded, "We've had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton , people came out to see Boyz n the Hood, but when he did Rosewood, nobody showed up. So a lot of this is on us. You vote with your pocketbook, your wallet. You vote with your time sitting in front of the idiot box, and the man has a huge audience, Tyler's very smart. …We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee . As African Americans, we're not one monolithic group so there is room for all of that, but at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to Amos 'n' Andy."

In September 2009, Jamilah Lemieux made similar remarks on National Public Radio. While thanking Perry for employing blacks in front of and behind the camera and for making work with humor and "positive messages about self-worth, love and respect", she criticized him for making television shows "marked by old stereotypes of buffoonish, emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women." She took him to task for his Madea character saying that through this, "the country has laughed at one of the most important members of the black community: Mother Dear, the beloved matriarch. Our mothers and grandmothers deserve much more than that." She stated that she appreciated that he was dismissive of critics' comments concerning his work, "but many black folks have expressed some of the very same attitudes about your work that white critics have." She stated that blacks "have been fed the same images of ourselves over and over and over because they sell." She felt that his success had been "mired with the worst black pathologies and stereotypes" and called on him to "stop dismissing the critics as haters and realize that black people need new stories and new storytellers."

Lemieux’s criticism of Perry was cited and expanded upon by the author Tom Burrell in his 2010 book Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority. Burrell cited Perry’s 2008 film Meet the Browns as an example of when "we black people pull the trigger for our own image assassination." Burrell also stated, "…it's not entirely fair to expect Perry to chart a new course alone. His movies and TV shows would not be so successful if blacks didn't have a raging appetite for messages and images that project us as dysfunctional or incompetent. Nothing that occurred during Amos 'n' Andy’s radio and television reign could match the words and actions of black comedies like Madea and The Browns. Our attraction to self-demeaning images came way before, and goes far beyond, Tyler Perry." Burrell called for new images of blacks in entertainment and a new vision of black self-image.

Perry (and Madea) were satirized in a June 2010 episode of the Adult Swim animated series The Boondocks; the Los Angeles Times called this episode "one of the sharpest public criticisms of Perry".

Cultural critic Touré stated in an April 21, 2011 NPR All Things Considered interview that "Tyler Perry is perhaps the worst filmmaker in Hollywood" and was quoted as saying earlier that Perry is the "KFC of black cinema".

On May 4, 2011, Perry was satirized by South Park in the episode "Funnybot". At the South Park Elementary Special Education Department Comedy Awards, Perry was presented the Kathy Griffin Award, "given to the celebrity most likely to show up". Following the awards presentation, Perry annoyingly remained in South Park, now dressed as Madea, cracking wise and uttering non sequiturs while constantly being given money by Token, the only black student; Token explains that "I can’t help myself". The South Park writers further satirized Perry by showing President Obama addressing the nation, stating he was going to watch "a Tyler Perry movie. I know, it’s embarrassing. But I simply can’t help myself." Finally, in a surprise twist, Perry is forever buried, encased in steel, because, as President Obama puts it, "I am pleased to announce that the greatest threat to mankind has now gone forever. Justice has been done."
Responses

In October 2009, during a 60 minutes interview, Perry was read a quote of Spike Lee's comments about his work and responded, "I would love to read that to my fan base. …That pisses me off. It is so insulting. It's attitudes like that, that make Hollywood think that these people do not exist, and that is why there is no material speaking to them, speaking to us." Perry also stated that "all these characters are bait – disarming, charming, make-you-laugh bait. I can slap Madea on something and talk about God, love, faith, forgiveness, family, any of those."

Perry’s work has also been defended by Oprah Winfrey, who joined Perry in promoting Lee Daniels' film Precious. She told an interviewer, "I think grew up being raised by strong, black women. And so much of what he does is really in celebration of that. I think that's what Madea really is: a compilation of all those strong black women that I know and maybe you do too? And so the reason it works is because people see themselves."

Goldie Taylor, of The Grio and MSNBC, stated in an April 21, 2011 NPR All Things Considered interview regarding Perry's target audience: "I don't think Tyler Perry is talking to Touré. I don't think he's talking to me, but I know that he's speaking directly to my mother, my sister, my cousins and meeting them at their point of need, and that's what art and filmmaking is about." In the same interview, NPR's Michele Norris reported Tyler Perry had said a week earlier that "Spike Lee can, quote, 'go straight to hell.'"
Film work
Year Film Credited as
Director Writer Producer Actor Role
2005 Diary of a Mad Black Woman No Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe, Brian
2006 Madea's Family Reunion Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe, Brian
2007 Daddy's Little Girls Yes Yes Yes No
Why Did I Get Married? Yes Yes Yes Yes Terry Brock
2008 Meet the Browns Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe (cameo)
The Family That Preys Yes Yes Yes Yes Ben
2009 Madea Goes to Jail Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe, Brian
Star Trek No No No Yes Admiral Barnett
I Can Do Bad All by Myself Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe
Precious No No Yes No
2010 Why Did I Get Married Too? Yes Yes Yes Yes Terry Brock
For Colored Girls Yes Yes Yes No
2011 Madea's Big Happy Family Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe
2012 Good Deeds Yes Yes Yes Yes Glen Deeds
2012 I, Alex Cross No No No Yes Alex Cross
2012 Captain of My Soul Yes No No No
Play work
Year Play Credited as
Director Writer Producer Actor Role
1999 I Know I've Been Changed Yes Yes Yes Yes Joe
2000 I Can Do Bad All By Myself Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2001 Diary of a Mad Black Woman Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2002 Madea's Family Reunion Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2003 Madea's Class Reunion Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2004 Why Did I Get Married? Yes Yes Yes Yes
2005 Meet the Browns Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea (Voice)
2006 Madea Goes to Jail Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2007 What's Done in the Dark Yes Yes Yes No
2008 The Marriage Counselor Yes Yes Yes No
2009 Laugh to Keep from Crying Yes Yes Yes No
2010 Madea's Big Happy Family Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2011 A Madea Christmas Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2011 Aunt Bam's Place Yes Yes Yes No
2011 I Don't Want To Do Wrong! Yes Yes Yes No
2011 The Haves And The Have Nots Yes Yes Yes No
Television work
Year Show Credited as
Director Writer Producer Actor Role
2006 Tyler Perry's House of Payne Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2009 Meet the Browns Yes Yes Yes No
2011 Tyler Perry's For Better Or Worse Yes Yes Yes Yes Therapist
Awards and nominations

Awards won are in bold

    BET Comedy Awards
        2005, Outstanding Actor in a Theatrical Film (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
        2005, Outstanding Writing for Theatrical Film (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)

    Black Movie Awards
        2006, Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2006, Outstanding Motion Picture (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2005, Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
        2005, Outstanding Motion Picture (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)

    Black Reel Awards
        2008, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted (Meet the Browns)
        2008, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted (The Family That Preys)
        2007, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2005, Best Breakthrough Performance (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
        2005, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted: (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)

    Image Awards
        2009, Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture or Television Movie (The Family That Preys)
        2008, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Why Did I Get Married?)
        2007, Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture or Television Movie (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2007, Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture or Television Movie (Madea's Family Reunion)

    Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards
        2010, Best Actor (Madea Goes To Jail)

    MTV Movie Awards
        2006, Best Comedic Performance (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2006, Breakthrough Male Performance (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s151/kathleencasey_2007/Tyler.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/tieona45/tylerperryandmadeaMORE.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/13/11 at 5:29 pm

The only thing I really know about Tyler Perry is his "House Of Payne" TV show, which has been shown exclusively on TBS. I haven't watched it, but I know all about it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/13/11 at 8:01 pm


The person of the day...Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry, Jr.; September 13, 1969) is an American actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays in the South during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman. In September 2011, Perry was ranked by Forbes magazine as the highest-paid entertainer in Hollywood beating such names as Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg to the top spot. As of June 2011, Perry's films had grossed over $500 million worldwide.
Perry received a $5.5 million budget to fund his first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which went on to gross $50.6 million domestically, while scoring a 16 percent approval rating at the film review web site, Rotten Tomatoes. On its opening weekend, February 24–26, 2006, Perry's film version of Madea's Family Reunion opened at number one at the box office with $30.3 million. The film eventually grossed $65 million. Perry and his co-stars promoted the film on The Oprah Winfrey Show. As with Diary, almost all of the Madeas' earnings have been generated in the United States.

Perry's next Lionsgate project, Daddy's Little Girls, starred Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba and was released in the U.S. on February 14, 2007. It grossed over $31 million. Perry wrote, directed, produced and starred in his next film, Why Did I Get Married?, released on October 12, 2007. It opened at number one, grossing $21.4 million that weekend. It is loosely based on his play of the same name. Filming began March 5, 2007, in Whistler, British Columbia, Vancouver, then moved to Atlanta, where Perry had opened his own studio. Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Jill Scott and Tasha Smith appeared in the film. Perry's 2008 film, Meet the Browns, released on March 21, opened at number two with a $20,082,809 weekend gross. The Family That Preys opened on September 12, 2008, and grossed over $37.1 million.

Madea Goes to Jail opened at number one on February 20, 2009, grossing $41 million and becoming his largest opening to date. This was Perry's seventh film with Lionsgate Entertainment. At the request of director J. J. Abrams, Perry had a cameo appearance in Star Trek as the Starfleet Academy commandant Admiral Barnett, which opened on May 8, 2009. This was his first film appearance outside of his own projects.

Perry next wrote, directed, and starred in I Can Do Bad All By Myself, a film structured around his Madea character. This was Perry's eighth film and also made number one at the box office. In 2009, Perry teamed with Oprah Winfrey to present Precious, a film based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

Why Did I Get Married Too?, the sequel to Why Did I Get Married?, opened in theaters on April 2, 2010. It featured Janet Jackson, Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett, Jr., Jill Scott and Malik Yoba. As of April 18, the film has grossed over $54 million domestically, with $29 million made the opening weekend.

Perry directed a film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. It was released November 5, 2010. He appeared in the stage show Madea's Big Happy Family, which toured the U.S. and was a movie in 2011, written, directed by, and starring Perry. Madea's Big Happy Family raked in 25.8 million dollars at the box office, taking 2nd place.

Perry is also slated to take over the role of James Patterson's Alex Cross from Morgan Freeman in the pending film adaptation of I, Alex Cross.

Perry's films are co-produced and distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment; he retains full copyright ownership under the corporate name Very Perry Films, and places his name in front of all titles. Perry's movies have seen very limited release outside North America, but in May 2010 Lionsgate announced plans to begin releasing his films in the United Kingdom.

Perry's next film with Lionsgate is set to be Good Deeds, as he again will work behind and in front of the camera. Perry will be playing lead character Glen Deeds. The movie is also set to star Thandie Newton, Rebecca Romijn, Gabrielle Union, Eddie Cibrian, Jamie Kennedy, Phylicia Rashad and more.
Television

Perry produces a television show entitled Tyler Perry's House of Payne, which follows an African-American household of three generations. The show demonstrates the family members' struggles with faith and love, as well as living with different generations. The show ran in the spring of 2006 as a 10-show pilot. After the successful pilot run, Perry signed a $200 million, 100-episode deal with TBS. On June 6, 2007, the first two episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne ran on TBS. After receiving high ratings, House of Payne entered broadcast syndication. Reruns were played through December 2007 before the second season began. The third season began on March 5, 2008 and the fourth season on June 4, 2008. House of Payne airs on TBS.

The Writers Guild of America, West has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that Perry's production company, House of Payne, unlawfully fired four writers in October 2008 in retaliation for their trying to get a union contract. The dispute was settled a month later, when Tyler Perry Studios agreed to be a WGA signatory.

Perry wrote, directed and produced the sitcom Meet the Browns, which premiered on TBS on January 7, 2009.

Perry has said he may produce more sitcoms entitled Floyd's Family, a spin off of House of Payne featuring the character Floyd, and another called For Better or Worse based on the play and motion picture, Why Did I Get Married and its sequel.

In early 2009, Perry threatened legal action against Mo' Money Taxes, a tax preparation company based in Memphis, for running a TV spot that he felt offensively parodied his work, in particular Madea Goes to Jail. The ad features a large Caucasian male (John Cowan) in drag, named "Ma'Madea". The offending ad was dropped from circulation.
Books

Tyler Perry's first novel, Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life, appeared on April 11, 2006. The book sold fewer than 30,000 copies. The hardcover reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list and stayed on the list for 12 weeks. It was voted Book of the Year, Best Humor Book at the 2006 Quill Awards.
Stylistic trademarks

Perry always uses possessory credit in his works' titles (e.g., Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?). Several recurring narrative themes surface in Perry's work and his films and plays feature predominantly African-American casts.

The recurring character of Mabel "Madea" Simmons appears in much of Perry's work. Perry first introduced Madea in his 1999 play, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, and the character has recurred in many of his subsequent works. Perry portrays Madea by cross-dressing in his plays and films. Perry has said he based Madea on an aunt who lives in Georgia, as well as on his mother. Madea dispenses wisdom in a "no-nonsense manner", and she usually engages in physical comedy and/or sight gags. The nickname "Madea" comes from a Southern contraction of the words "mother dear", which is commonly used as a term of affection or as a reference to a great-grandmother.

Perry often refers to Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, which he notes as one of his favorite films. Perry's plays refer to 1970s R&B and soul music, and the differences between that and the current state of rap/hip-hop music and other music popular among the black community.

Other references include singers Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, 50 Cent (who was referred to as Creflo Dollar's half-brother), R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, Ike & Tina Turner, and Tweet, rapper Missy Elliott, the 1994 film Forrest Gump, and the sitcom Good Times.

Many of Perry's television works, such as House of Payne, are sitcoms that feature subject matter and themes that are darker and heavier than those of traditional sitcoms. Thus, his sitcoms have often been classified as comedy-dramas or black comedies. The storyline of the shows are often serialized, with many references to past episodes, creating a continuing story arc.
Criticism

Criticism of Perry’s work focuses mainly on a perception that it perpetuates negative racial stereotypes.

Despite praising Perry in 2006, in 2009 director Spike Lee criticized his work when interviewed by Ed Gordon on Our World with Black Enterprise, saying, "Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is 'coonery' and buffoonery. I know it's making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better … I see these two ads for these two shows and I am scratching my head … We got a black president and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep 'n' Eat?" When Gordon cited Perry’s success among black audiences and asked Spike if Perry wasn’t just giving black America what they wanted, he responded, "We've had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton , people came out to see Boyz n the Hood, but when he did Rosewood, nobody showed up. So a lot of this is on us. You vote with your pocketbook, your wallet. You vote with your time sitting in front of the idiot box, and the man has a huge audience, Tyler's very smart. …We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee . As African Americans, we're not one monolithic group so there is room for all of that, but at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to Amos 'n' Andy."

In September 2009, Jamilah Lemieux made similar remarks on National Public Radio. While thanking Perry for employing blacks in front of and behind the camera and for making work with humor and "positive messages about self-worth, love and respect", she criticized him for making television shows "marked by old stereotypes of buffoonish, emasculated black men and crass, sassy black women." She took him to task for his Madea character saying that through this, "the country has laughed at one of the most important members of the black community: Mother Dear, the beloved matriarch. Our mothers and grandmothers deserve much more than that." She stated that she appreciated that he was dismissive of critics' comments concerning his work, "but many black folks have expressed some of the very same attitudes about your work that white critics have." She stated that blacks "have been fed the same images of ourselves over and over and over because they sell." She felt that his success had been "mired with the worst black pathologies and stereotypes" and called on him to "stop dismissing the critics as haters and realize that black people need new stories and new storytellers."

Lemieux’s criticism of Perry was cited and expanded upon by the author Tom Burrell in his 2010 book Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority. Burrell cited Perry’s 2008 film Meet the Browns as an example of when "we black people pull the trigger for our own image assassination." Burrell also stated, "…it's not entirely fair to expect Perry to chart a new course alone. His movies and TV shows would not be so successful if blacks didn't have a raging appetite for messages and images that project us as dysfunctional or incompetent. Nothing that occurred during Amos 'n' Andy’s radio and television reign could match the words and actions of black comedies like Madea and The Browns. Our attraction to self-demeaning images came way before, and goes far beyond, Tyler Perry." Burrell called for new images of blacks in entertainment and a new vision of black self-image.

Perry (and Madea) were satirized in a June 2010 episode of the Adult Swim animated series The Boondocks; the Los Angeles Times called this episode "one of the sharpest public criticisms of Perry".

Cultural critic Touré stated in an April 21, 2011 NPR All Things Considered interview that "Tyler Perry is perhaps the worst filmmaker in Hollywood" and was quoted as saying earlier that Perry is the "KFC of black cinema".

On May 4, 2011, Perry was satirized by South Park in the episode "Funnybot". At the South Park Elementary Special Education Department Comedy Awards, Perry was presented the Kathy Griffin Award, "given to the celebrity most likely to show up". Following the awards presentation, Perry annoyingly remained in South Park, now dressed as Madea, cracking wise and uttering non sequiturs while constantly being given money by Token, the only black student; Token explains that "I can’t help myself". The South Park writers further satirized Perry by showing President Obama addressing the nation, stating he was going to watch "a Tyler Perry movie. I know, it’s embarrassing. But I simply can’t help myself." Finally, in a surprise twist, Perry is forever buried, encased in steel, because, as President Obama puts it, "I am pleased to announce that the greatest threat to mankind has now gone forever. Justice has been done."
Responses

In October 2009, during a 60 minutes interview, Perry was read a quote of Spike Lee's comments about his work and responded, "I would love to read that to my fan base. …That pisses me off. It is so insulting. It's attitudes like that, that make Hollywood think that these people do not exist, and that is why there is no material speaking to them, speaking to us." Perry also stated that "all these characters are bait – disarming, charming, make-you-laugh bait. I can slap Madea on something and talk about God, love, faith, forgiveness, family, any of those."

Perry’s work has also been defended by Oprah Winfrey, who joined Perry in promoting Lee Daniels' film Precious. She told an interviewer, "I think grew up being raised by strong, black women. And so much of what he does is really in celebration of that. I think that's what Madea really is: a compilation of all those strong black women that I know and maybe you do too? And so the reason it works is because people see themselves."

Goldie Taylor, of The Grio and MSNBC, stated in an April 21, 2011 NPR All Things Considered interview regarding Perry's target audience: "I don't think Tyler Perry is talking to Touré. I don't think he's talking to me, but I know that he's speaking directly to my mother, my sister, my cousins and meeting them at their point of need, and that's what art and filmmaking is about." In the same interview, NPR's Michele Norris reported Tyler Perry had said a week earlier that "Spike Lee can, quote, 'go straight to hell.'"
Film work
Year Film Credited as
Director Writer Producer Actor Role
2005 Diary of a Mad Black Woman No Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe, Brian
2006 Madea's Family Reunion Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe, Brian
2007 Daddy's Little Girls Yes Yes Yes No
Why Did I Get Married? Yes Yes Yes Yes Terry Brock
2008 Meet the Browns Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe (cameo)
The Family That Preys Yes Yes Yes Yes Ben
2009 Madea Goes to Jail Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe, Brian
Star Trek No No No Yes Admiral Barnett
I Can Do Bad All by Myself Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe
Precious No No Yes No
2010 Why Did I Get Married Too? Yes Yes Yes Yes Terry Brock
For Colored Girls Yes Yes Yes No
2011 Madea's Big Happy Family Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea, Joe
2012 Good Deeds Yes Yes Yes Yes Glen Deeds
2012 I, Alex Cross No No No Yes Alex Cross
2012 Captain of My Soul Yes No No No
Play work
Year Play Credited as
Director Writer Producer Actor Role
1999 I Know I've Been Changed Yes Yes Yes Yes Joe
2000 I Can Do Bad All By Myself Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2001 Diary of a Mad Black Woman Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2002 Madea's Family Reunion Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2003 Madea's Class Reunion Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2004 Why Did I Get Married? Yes Yes Yes Yes
2005 Meet the Browns Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea (Voice)
2006 Madea Goes to Jail Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2007 What's Done in the Dark Yes Yes Yes No
2008 The Marriage Counselor Yes Yes Yes No
2009 Laugh to Keep from Crying Yes Yes Yes No
2010 Madea's Big Happy Family Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2011 A Madea Christmas Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2011 Aunt Bam's Place Yes Yes Yes No
2011 I Don't Want To Do Wrong! Yes Yes Yes No
2011 The Haves And The Have Nots Yes Yes Yes No
Television work
Year Show Credited as
Director Writer Producer Actor Role
2006 Tyler Perry's House of Payne Yes Yes Yes Yes Madea
2009 Meet the Browns Yes Yes Yes No
2011 Tyler Perry's For Better Or Worse Yes Yes Yes Yes Therapist
Awards and nominations

Awards won are in bold

    BET Comedy Awards
        2005, Outstanding Actor in a Theatrical Film (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
        2005, Outstanding Writing for Theatrical Film (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)

    Black Movie Awards
        2006, Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2006, Outstanding Motion Picture (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2005, Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
        2005, Outstanding Motion Picture (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)

    Black Reel Awards
        2008, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted (Meet the Browns)
        2008, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted (The Family That Preys)
        2007, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2005, Best Breakthrough Performance (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
        2005, Best Screenplay Original or Adapted: (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)

    Image Awards
        2009, Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture or Television Movie (The Family That Preys)
        2008, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Why Did I Get Married?)
        2007, Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture or Television Movie (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2007, Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture or Television Movie (Madea's Family Reunion)

    Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards
        2010, Best Actor (Madea Goes To Jail)

    MTV Movie Awards
        2006, Best Comedic Performance (Madea's Family Reunion)
        2006, Breakthrough Male Performance (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s151/kathleencasey_2007/Tyler.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/tieona45/tylerperryandmadeaMORE.jpg


I love Meet The Browns,I watch it every day.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/13/11 at 8:04 pm

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/meet_the_browns.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 4:13 am

British Person of the Day: Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie, DBE, (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any type. She has sold roughly four billion copies of her novels. According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.

Agatha Christie published two autobiographies: a posthumous one covering childhood to old age; and another chronicling several seasons of archaeological excavation in Syria and Iraq with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. The latter was published in 1946 with the title, Come, Tell Me How You Live.

Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 24,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Many of her books and short stories have been filmed, some more than once (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel Dumb Witness. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries, alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called The Capture of Cerberus (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in The Labours Of Hercules). On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that The Incident of the Dog's Ball will be published by The Strand Magazine.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Agatha_Christie.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/15/11 at 11:14 am


British Person of the Day: Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie, DBE, (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any type. She has sold roughly four billion copies of her novels. According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.

Agatha Christie published two autobiographies: a posthumous one covering childhood to old age; and another chronicling several seasons of archaeological excavation in Syria and Iraq with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. The latter was published in 1946 with the title, Come, Tell Me How You Live.

Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 24,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Many of her books and short stories have been filmed, some more than once (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel Dumb Witness. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries, alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called The Capture of Cerberus (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in The Labours Of Hercules). On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that The Incident of the Dog's Ball will be published by The Strand Magazine.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Agatha_Christie.png

Thanks Phil, she was a great author :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 11:17 am


Thanks Phil, she was a great author :)
I have read the majority of her books, and and think I only solved two of them before reaching the end.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/15/11 at 11:18 am

The person of the day...Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive.

His notable film roles include federal marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive and its sequel U.S. Marshals, the villain "Two-Face" in Batman Forever, terrorist William Strannix in Under Siege, Agent K in the Men in Black films, former Texas Ranger Woodrow F. Call in Lonesome Dove, Ed Tom Bell in No Country for Old Men, a Texas Ranger in Man of the House and rancher Pete Perkins in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Jones has also portrayed real-life figures such as businessman Howard Hughes, executed murderer Gary Gilmore, Oliver Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter and baseball great Ty Cobb.
Jones moved to New York to become an actor, making his Broadway debut in 1969's A Patriot for Me in a number of supporting roles. In 1970, he landed his first film role, appropriately playing a Harvard student in Love Story (Erich Segal, the author of "Love Story," said that he based the lead character of Oliver on the two undergrad roommates he knew while attending Harvard, Jones and Gore).

In early 1971, he returned to Broadway in Abe Burrows' Four on a Garden where he shared the stage with Carol Channing and Sid Caesar. Between 1971 and 1975, he portrayed Dr. Mark Toland on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. He returned to the stage for a 1974 production of Ulysses in Nighttown with Zero Mostel. In films, he played an escaped convict hunted in Jackson County Jail (1976), a Vietnam veteran in Rolling Thunder (1977) and an automobile mogul, co-starring with Sir Laurence Olivier, in the Harold Robbins drama The Betsy.

In 1980, Jones earned his first Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn's husband, Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn, in the popular Coal Miner's Daughter. In 1981, he played a drifter opposite Sally Field in Back Roads, a comedy that received middling reviews.

In 1983, he received an Emmy for Best Actor for his performance as murderer Gary Gilmore in a TV adaptation of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. That same year he starred in a pirate adventure, Nate and Hayes, playing the heavily bearded Captain Bully Hayes.

In 1989, he earned another Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Texas Ranger lawman Woodrow F. Call in the acclaimed television mini-series Lonesome Dove, based on the best-seller by Larry McMurtry.

In the 1990s, blockbuster hits such as The Fugitive co-starring Harrison Ford, Batman Forever co-starring Val Kilmer, and Men in Black with Will Smith made Jones one of the best-paid and most in-demand actors in Hollywood. His role in The Fugitive won wide acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a sequel. When he accepted his Oscar, his head was shaved for his role in the film Cobb, a situation he made light of in his speech with: "All a man can say at a time like this is 'I am not really bald.'"

Among his other well-known performances during the 1990s were those of the accused conspirator Clay Shaw/Clay Bertrand in the 1991 film JFK (earning him another Oscar nomination), as a terrorist who hijacks a U.S. Navy battleship in 1992's Under Siege and as a maximum-security prison warden in way over his head in 1994's Natural Born Killers.

Jones co-starred with director Clint Eastwood as astronauts in the 2000 film Space Cowboys, leading a space rescue mission.

In 2005, the first theatrical feature film Jones directed, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was presented at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. In it, Jones speaks both English and Spanish. It won him the Best Actor Award. His first film as a director had been in The Good Old Boys in 1995, a made-for-television movie.
Tommy Lee Jones at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.

Two strong performances in 2007 marked a resurgence in Jones' career, one as a beleaguered father investigating the disappearance of his soldier son in In the Valley of Elah, the other as a Texas sheriff hunting an assassin in the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men. For the former, he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Jones has been a spokesperson for Japanese brewing company Suntory since 2006. He can be seen in various Japanese TV commercials of Suntory's Coffee brand Boss as a character called "Alien Jones," an extraterrestrial who takes the form of a human being to check on the world of humans. There are 30 such commercials that can be seen on YouTube.

In 2010, Jones appeared alongside Ben Affleck in the recession drama, The Company Men. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where early reviews praised Jones' performance as "pitch-perfect". Jones had a role in the Marvel Studios film, Captain America: The First Avenger. He also directed, produced, and co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in an adaptation of The Sunset Limited.
Film and television credits
Film and television credits Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1970 Love Story Hank Simpson
1971 One Life to Live Dr. Mark Toland TV soap opera
1973 Life Study Gus
1975 Eliza's Horoscope Tommy Lee
1976 Charlie's Angels Aram Kolegian TV, 1 episode
1976 Smash-Up on Interstate 5 Officer Hutton TV
1976 Jackson County Jail Coley Blake
1976 Family David Needham TV, 1 episode
1977 The Amazing Howard Hughes Howard Hughes
1977 Rolling Thunder Corporal Johnny Vohden
1978 The Betsy Angelo Perino
1978 Eyes of Laura Mars John Neville
1980 Coal Miner's Daughter Doolittle 'Mooney' Lynn aka 'Doo' Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1980 Barn Burning Ab Snopes TV
1981 Back Roads Elmore Pratt
1982 The Executioner's Song Gary Mark Gilmore Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
1982 The Rainmaker Starbuck TV
1983 Nate and Hayes Captain Bully Hayes
1984 The River Rat Billy
1985 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Brick Pollitt TV
1986 The Park is Mine Mitch TV
1986 Black Moon Rising Quint
1986 Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent Steve Daley TV
1987 Broken Vows Pater Joseph McMahon TV
1987 The Big Town George Cole
1988 Stranger on My Land Bud Whitman TV
1988 April Morning Moses Cooper TV
1988 Stormy Monday Cosmo
1988 Gotham Eddie Mallard TV
1989 Lonesome Dove Woodrow F. Call

   Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
   Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film

1989 The Package Thomas Boyette
1990 Fire Birds Brad Little
1991 JFK Clay Shaw/Clay Bertrand

   Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
   Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

1992 Under Siege William Strannix
1993 House of Cards Jake Beerlander
1993 The Fugitive Marshal Samuel Gerard

   Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
   Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
   Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
   Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
   Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
   MTV Movie Awards for Best On-Screen Duo
   Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

1993 Heaven & Earth Steve Butler
1994 Blown Away Ryan Gaerity Nominated – MTV Movie Awards for Best Villain
1994 The Client 'Reverend' Roy Foltrigg
1994 Natural Born Killers Warden Dwight McClusky
1994 Blue Sky Maj. Henry 'Hank' Marshall
1994 Cobb Ty Cobb
1995 The Good Old Boys Hewey Calloway

   also Director
   Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie

1995 Batman Forever Harvey Dent/Two-Face Nominated – MTV Movie Awards for Best Villain
1997 Volcano Mike Roark
1997 Men in Black Kevin Brown/Agent K

   Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
   Nominated – MTV Movie Awards Best On-Screen Duo

1998 U.S. Marshals Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
1998 Small Soldiers Chip Hazard Voice
1999 Double Jeopardy Travis Lehman
2000 Rules of Engagement Col. Hayes 'Hodge' Hodges
2000 Space Cowboys William "Hawk" Hawkins
2002 Men in Black II Kevin Brown/Agent K
2003 The Hunted L.T. Bonham
2003 The Missing Samuel Jones/Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan
2005 Man of the House Roland Sharp
2005 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Pete Perkins

   also Director
   Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
   Flanders International Film Festival Grand Prix
   Nominated — Palme d'Or
   Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature (shared with Michael Fitzgerald, Luc Besson and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam)
   Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama

2006 A Prairie Home Companion Axeman Gotham Awards for Best Ensemble Cast
2007 No Country for Old Men Ed Tom Bell

   San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
   Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
   Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
   Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

2007 In the Valley of Elah Hank Deerfield

   Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
   Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
   Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama

2008 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 Himself Interviewed for this documentary, by director Kevin Rafferty, concerning the 1968 Harvard-Yale football game. Jones was an offensive guard.
2009 In the Electric Mist Dave Robicheaux
2010 The Company Men Gene McClary Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
2011 The Sunset Limited White Man Also director and executive producer
2011 Captain America: The First Avenger Colonel Chester Phillips
2012 Men in Black III Kevin Brown/Agent K post-production
2012 Lincoln Thaddeus Stevens filming
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg5/BlacktongueWilson/tommy-lee-jones-.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc160/savannahisthesheesh/tommyleejones2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/15/11 at 11:20 am


I have read the majority of her books, and and think I only solved two of them before reaching the end.

I hate to say it but it's been over 35 years since I've read one of her books.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 11:22 am


I hate to say it but it's been over 35 years since I've read one of her books.
I must be about 20 years for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 11:28 am


I have read the majority of her books, and and think I only solved two of them before reaching the end.
There again, I remember the scenario of the novel of one of them, recalling who the murderer was, but I cannot remember the title of which novel.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 1:01 pm

Tommy Lee Jones was great in "Men In Black" as one of the title characters.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 1:48 pm


Tommy Lee Jones was great in "Men In Black" as one of the title characters.
Great in both Men in Black films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 1:50 pm


Tommy Lee Jones was great in "Men In Black" as one of the title characters.
Next year, to be seen in Men In Black 3, when Agent J and Agent K are reunited.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 1:51 pm


Next year, to be seen in Men In Black 3, when Agent J and Agent K are reunited.

So there is gonna be a MIB 3?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 1:51 pm


Great in both Men in Black films.

I have seen both of them, too. His MIB costar, Will Smith, celebrates a birthday in ten days, btw.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 1:52 pm


So there is gonna be a MIB 3?
Check here

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 1:55 pm


Check here

So, next May. That'll mark ten years since MIB 2 came out.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 2:05 pm


So, next May. That'll mark ten years since MIB 2 came out.
has it ten years already?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 2:08 pm


has it ten years already?

Yep. MIB2 opened in theaters in 2002. I saw it in July of that year.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/15/11 at 2:30 pm


Tommy Lee Jones was great in "Men In Black" as one of the title characters.


I saw all of the MIB films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/15/11 at 2:30 pm


Next year, to be seen in Men In Black 3, when Agent J and Agent K are reunited.


wow that's amazing.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 2:54 pm


I saw all of the MIB films.

There's only 2 of them so far, but the 3rd one is in production, as stated a few posts above:



Check here

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 3:09 pm


Yep. MIB2 opened in theaters in 2002. I saw it in July of that year.
btw, there is a Men in Black film from 1934 which starred the Three Stooges

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/15/11 at 3:11 pm


There's only 2 of them so far, but the 3rd one is in production, as stated a few posts above:


Unless Howard is thinking of the TV series from the late 1990's?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 6:54 pm


btw, there is a Men in Black film from 1934 which starred the Three Stooges

I don't think I have seen that episode yet. Actually, I might have... I think one of the lines was "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, and Dr. Howard"?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/15/11 at 6:54 pm


Unless Howard is thinking of the TV series from the late 1990's?

That is a possibility; it was based on the movie...but it was an animated series (i.e., a cartoon). I never watched that.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/16/11 at 1:46 am


I don't think I have seen that episode yet. Actually, I might have... I think one of the lines was "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, and Dr. Howard"?
I must start watching The Three Stooges.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/16/11 at 1:47 am


That is a possibility; it was based on the movie...but it was an animated series (i.e., a cartoon). I never watched that.
It all started as a comic book, of which I never saw in the shops.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/16/11 at 7:05 am


Unless Howard is thinking of the TV series from the late 1990's?


I don't remember the TV version?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/16/11 at 12:12 pm


I must start watching The Three Stooges.

I used to watch them a lot; they often aired on the AMC channel (American Movie Classics); I think that channel still shows them periodically, but I forget what time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/16/11 at 12:14 pm


I used to watch them a lot; they often aired on the AMC channel (American Movie Classics); I think that channel still shows them periodically, but I forget what time.
I can always start with YouTube.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/16/11 at 12:16 pm


I can always start with YouTube.

Oh yes; they have some Three Stooges clips there. Including some eps that culminate with a pie fight...which would often get out of hand.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/16/11 at 12:20 pm


Oh yes; they have some Three Stooges clips there. Including some eps that culminate with a pie fight...which would often get out of hand.
Which would be the best clip to start with?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/16/11 at 12:28 pm


Which would be the best clip to start with?

How about "Disorder in the Court"?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/16/11 at 12:29 pm


How about "Disorder in the Court"?
Thanks, I will check that out when I am next on the main computer, I'm currently on the laptop.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/16/11 at 1:03 pm

The person of the day...B.B. King
Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King ("B.B." short for Blues Boy), is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and fluid, complex guitar playing.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the "100 greatest guitarists of all time". According to Edward M. Komara, King "introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." King has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which did not chart well. "My very first recordings were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis."
Performing with his famous guitar, Lucille

King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, he cannot play chords well and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern US states.

In the winter of 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. In order to heat the hall, a barrel half-filled with kerosene was lit, a fairly common practice at the time. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the burning barrel and sending burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into flames, which triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his beloved $30 guitar, a Gibson semi-hollow electric. Two people died in the fire. The next day, King learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as every one he owned since that near-fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over women.

King meanwhile toured the entire "Chitlin' circuit" and 1956 became a record-breaking year, with 342 concerts booked. The same year he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, among other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury.

In the 1950s, B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "3 O'Clock Blues", "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues", "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel", "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In 1962, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

King won a Grammy Award for a tune called "The Thrill Is Gone"; his version became a hit on both the pop and R&B charts, which was rare during that time for an R&B artist. It also gained the number 183 spot in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like "To Know You is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love".

King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."
B.B. King in concert in France 1989

From the 1980s onward he has continued to maintain a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record Riding With the King. In 1998, King appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley.
2006–present: farewell tour and later activities

Aged 80 at the time, on March 29, 2006, King played at Hallam Arena in Sheffield, England. This was the first date of his United Kingdom and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on April 4 with a concert at Wembley Arena. And on June 28, 2009 King returned to Wembley arena to end a tour around Great Britain with British blues icon John Mayall. When questioned as to why he was embarking on another tour after already completing his farewell stint, King jokingly remarked that he had never actually said the farewell tour would be his last.

In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2 and 3) in the 40th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell Tour ended in Luxembourg on September 19, 2006, at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).

In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. During a press conference on November 29 in São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from Scotland named Sean Connery. Most of you know him as James Bond, 007. He made a movie called Never Say Never Again."

In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King. in Indianola, Mississippi. The museum opened on September 13, 2008.
B.B. King at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Ontario (May 2007)

In late October 2006, he recorded a concert CD and DVD entitled B.B. King: Live at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performs it nightly around the world. It was his first live performance recording in 14 years.

On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders. Performing in Chicago, he played "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss", "Rock Me Baby" and "Thrill is Gone" (although the latter was not published on the DVD release) with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. In a poignant moment during the live broadcast, he offered a toast to the concert's host, Eric Clapton, and also reflected upon his own life and seniority. Adding to the poignancy, the four-minute speech — which had been underlaid with a mellow chord progression by Robert Cray throughout — made a transition to an emotional rendition of "Thrill is Gone". Parts of this performance were subsequently aired in a PBS broadcast and released on the Crossroads II DVD.

Also in 2007, King accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard Records). With Ivan Neville's DumpstaPhunk, King contributed his version of the title song, "Goin' Home".

In 2007 King performed "One Shoe Blues" on the Sandra Boynton children's album Blue Moo, accompanied by a pair of sock puppets in the video.

In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee; he was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008, and at the Monterey Blues Festival, following Taj Mahal. Another June 2008 event was King's induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.

In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio's Bluesville channel was re-named B.B. King's Bluesville.

On December 1, 2008, King performed at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland. On December 3, King and John Mayer were the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, playing "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan. On December 30, 2008, King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show; his performance was in honor of actor Morgan Freeman.
European Tour 2009, Vienna, July 2009

In Summer 2009 B.B. King started a European Tour with concerts in France, Germany, Belgium, Finland and Denmark.

In March 2010, King contributed to Cyndi Lauper's album Memphis Blues, which was released on June 22, 2010.

King performed at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco, on May 27, 2010.

On June 25, 2011 BB King played the pyramid stage at The Glastonbury Music Festival. On the June 28 he opened his new European tour at The Royal Albert Hall, London, supported by Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Ronnie Wood, Mick Hucknall and Slash.

Over a period of 62 years, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.
    In 1980, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
    In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
    In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
    In 1991, he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA.

A commemorative guitar pick honoring "B.B. King Day" in Portland, Maine.

    King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995. This is given to recognize "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our nation's most prestigious artists."
    In 2004, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize for his "significant contributions to the blues".
    On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
    On May 27, 2007, King was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Brown University.
    On May 14, 2008, King was presented with the keys to the city of Utica, New York; and on May 18, 2008, the mayor of Portland, Maine, Edward Suslovic, declared the day "B.B. King Day" in the city. Prior to King's performance at the Merrill Auditorium, Suslovic presented King with the keys to the city.
    In 2009, TIME named B.B. King No.3 on its list of the 10 best electric guitarists of all time.
    Each year during the first week in June, a B.B. King Homecoming Festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi.
    A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was added for B.B. King, commemorating his birthplace.
    On May 29, 2010, Sabrosa Park (at the small town of Sabrosa, north of Portugal) was renamed B.B. King Park in honor of King and the free concert he played before 20,000 people.

Grammy Awards

King was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. As of 2009, he has won 15 Grammy Awards, of which ten have been the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album: in 2009 (for One Kind Favor), 2005 (B. B. King & Friends: 80), 2003 (for A Christmas Celebration of Hope), 2001 (for Riding with the King), 2000 (for Blues on the Bayou), 1994 (for Blues Summit), 1992 (for Live at the Apollo), 1991 (for Live at San Quentin), 1986 (for My Guitar Sings the Blues) and 1984 (for Blues 'N' Jazz). In 1982, he won the Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording (for There Must Be a Better World Somewhere). The Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk was last given in 1986; the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was first given in 1983. In 1997, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (with other artists, for "SRV Shuffle"). In 1971, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "The Thrill Is Gone"). A Grammy Hall of Fame Award was given to "The Thrill is Gone" in 1998, an award given to recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f3/nirvana1fan7/BB_King.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff235/Kapten_Panda/bb_king.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/16/11 at 8:08 pm


The person of the day...B.B. King
Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King ("B.B." short for Blues Boy), is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and fluid, complex guitar playing.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the "100 greatest guitarists of all time". According to Edward M. Komara, King "introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." King has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which did not chart well. "My very first recordings were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis."
Performing with his famous guitar, Lucille

King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, he cannot play chords well and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern US states.

In the winter of 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. In order to heat the hall, a barrel half-filled with kerosene was lit, a fairly common practice at the time. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the burning barrel and sending burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into flames, which triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his beloved $30 guitar, a Gibson semi-hollow electric. Two people died in the fire. The next day, King learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as every one he owned since that near-fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over women.

King meanwhile toured the entire "Chitlin' circuit" and 1956 became a record-breaking year, with 342 concerts booked. The same year he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, among other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury.

In the 1950s, B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "3 O'Clock Blues", "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues", "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel", "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In 1962, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

King won a Grammy Award for a tune called "The Thrill Is Gone"; his version became a hit on both the pop and R&B charts, which was rare during that time for an R&B artist. It also gained the number 183 spot in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like "To Know You is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love".

King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."
B.B. King in concert in France 1989

From the 1980s onward he has continued to maintain a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record Riding With the King. In 1998, King appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley.
2006–present: farewell tour and later activities

Aged 80 at the time, on March 29, 2006, King played at Hallam Arena in Sheffield, England. This was the first date of his United Kingdom and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on April 4 with a concert at Wembley Arena. And on June 28, 2009 King returned to Wembley arena to end a tour around Great Britain with British blues icon John Mayall. When questioned as to why he was embarking on another tour after already completing his farewell stint, King jokingly remarked that he had never actually said the farewell tour would be his last.

In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2 and 3) in the 40th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell Tour ended in Luxembourg on September 19, 2006, at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).

In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. During a press conference on November 29 in São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from Scotland named Sean Connery. Most of you know him as James Bond, 007. He made a movie called Never Say Never Again."

In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King. in Indianola, Mississippi. The museum opened on September 13, 2008.
B.B. King at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Ontario (May 2007)

In late October 2006, he recorded a concert CD and DVD entitled B.B. King: Live at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performs it nightly around the world. It was his first live performance recording in 14 years.

On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders. Performing in Chicago, he played "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss", "Rock Me Baby" and "Thrill is Gone" (although the latter was not published on the DVD release) with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. In a poignant moment during the live broadcast, he offered a toast to the concert's host, Eric Clapton, and also reflected upon his own life and seniority. Adding to the poignancy, the four-minute speech — which had been underlaid with a mellow chord progression by Robert Cray throughout — made a transition to an emotional rendition of "Thrill is Gone". Parts of this performance were subsequently aired in a PBS broadcast and released on the Crossroads II DVD.

Also in 2007, King accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard Records). With Ivan Neville's DumpstaPhunk, King contributed his version of the title song, "Goin' Home".

In 2007 King performed "One Shoe Blues" on the Sandra Boynton children's album Blue Moo, accompanied by a pair of sock puppets in the video.

In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee; he was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008, and at the Monterey Blues Festival, following Taj Mahal. Another June 2008 event was King's induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.

In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio's Bluesville channel was re-named B.B. King's Bluesville.

On December 1, 2008, King performed at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland. On December 3, King and John Mayer were the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, playing "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan. On December 30, 2008, King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show; his performance was in honor of actor Morgan Freeman.
European Tour 2009, Vienna, July 2009

In Summer 2009 B.B. King started a European Tour with concerts in France, Germany, Belgium, Finland and Denmark.

In March 2010, King contributed to Cyndi Lauper's album Memphis Blues, which was released on June 22, 2010.

King performed at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco, on May 27, 2010.

On June 25, 2011 BB King played the pyramid stage at The Glastonbury Music Festival. On the June 28 he opened his new European tour at The Royal Albert Hall, London, supported by Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Ronnie Wood, Mick Hucknall and Slash.

Over a period of 62 years, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.
    In 1980, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
    In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
    In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
    In 1991, he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA.

A commemorative guitar pick honoring "B.B. King Day" in Portland, Maine.

    King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995. This is given to recognize "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our nation's most prestigious artists."
    In 2004, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize for his "significant contributions to the blues".
    On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
    On May 27, 2007, King was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Brown University.
    On May 14, 2008, King was presented with the keys to the city of Utica, New York; and on May 18, 2008, the mayor of Portland, Maine, Edward Suslovic, declared the day "B.B. King Day" in the city. Prior to King's performance at the Merrill Auditorium, Suslovic presented King with the keys to the city.
    In 2009, TIME named B.B. King No.3 on its list of the 10 best electric guitarists of all time.
    Each year during the first week in June, a B.B. King Homecoming Festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi.
    A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was added for B.B. King, commemorating his birthplace.
    On May 29, 2010, Sabrosa Park (at the small town of Sabrosa, north of Portugal) was renamed B.B. King Park in honor of King and the free concert he played before 20,000 people.

Grammy Awards

King was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. As of 2009, he has won 15 Grammy Awards, of which ten have been the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album: in 2009 (for One Kind Favor), 2005 (B. B. King & Friends: 80), 2003 (for A Christmas Celebration of Hope), 2001 (for Riding with the King), 2000 (for Blues on the Bayou), 1994 (for Blues Summit), 1992 (for Live at the Apollo), 1991 (for Live at San Quentin), 1986 (for My Guitar Sings the Blues) and 1984 (for Blues 'N' Jazz). In 1982, he won the Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording (for There Must Be a Better World Somewhere). The Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk was last given in 1986; the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was first given in 1983. In 1997, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (with other artists, for "SRV Shuffle"). In 1971, he won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "The Thrill Is Gone"). A Grammy Hall of Fame Award was given to "The Thrill is Gone" in 1998, an award given to recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f3/nirvana1fan7/BB_King.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff235/Kapten_Panda/bb_king.jpg


BB King is great always carrying around his trusty guitar.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/17/11 at 10:33 am

The person of the day...Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft (September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg.

She made her film debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and, following a string of supporting film roles during the 1950s, won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Miracle Worker (1962), receiving subsequent nominations for her roles in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Graduate (1967), The Turning Point (1977), and Agnes of God (1985). Bancroft's other acclaimed movies as a lead actress include Young Winston (1972), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), To Be or Not to Be (1983), and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).

Later in her career, she made the transition back to supporting roles in theatrical films such as Point of No Return (1993), Home for the Holidays (1995), Great Expectations (1998), Antz (1998),Keeping the Faith (2000), and Heartbreakers (2001). She also starred in seven television films, the last of which was The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003) for which she received Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Bancroft died of uterine cancer, age 73, in 2005. Among her survivors was her husband of 40 years, Mel Brooks, and their son Max Brooks.
Bancroft was a contract player in the early days of her career just as the studio contract system was ending. She left Hollywood because of the poor quality of roles she was being offered and returned to New York.

In 1958, Bancroft made her Broadway debut as lovelorn, Bronx-talkin' Gittel Mosca opposite Henry Fonda (as the married man Gittel loves) in William Gibson's two-character play Two for the Seesaw, directed by Arthur Penn. For Gittel, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. (Though her role was quite equal to Fonda's, he, an established film actor, was the star, and so she was eligible in the featured category).

She subsequently won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1960, again with playwright Gibson and director Penn, when she played Annie Sullivan, the sight-impaired, heroically indefatigable Irish girl who teaches the child Helen Keller to communicate in The Miracle Worker. She took the latter role to Hollywood, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress, with Patty Duke repeating her own success as Helen alongside Bancroft in the 1962 film version of the play. Bancroft had returned to Broadway to star in Mother Courage and Her Children, so Joan Crawford accepted Bancroft's Oscar on her behalf, and later presented the award to her in New York. She is one of the very distinct few to have won an Academy Award and Tony Award for the same role. Bancroft also co-starred as a medieval nun obsessed with a priest opposite Jason Robards in the 1965 Broadway production of John Whiting's play The Devils. Produced by Alexander H. Cohen and directed by Michael Cacoyannis, it ran for a total of 63 performances.

Bancroft received a second Academy Award nomination in 1965 for her performance in The Pumpkin Eater. Her best-known role during this period was as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967), for which she received a third Academy Award nomination. In the film, she played an unhappily married woman who seduces the much-younger recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman. Bancroft was ambivalent about her appearance in The Graduate; she stated in several interviews that the role overshadowed all of her other work. Although her status as the "older woman" in the film is iconic, Bancroft was actually only 36 years old to Dustin Hoffman's 30 when the film was released.

A CBS television special, Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man (1970), won Bancroft an Emmy Award for her singing and acting. Bancroft is one of a very select few entertainers to win an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award. She followed that success with a second television special, Annie and The Hoods (1974), which was telecast on ABC and featured her husband Mel Brooks as a guest star. She made an uncredited cameo in the film Blazing Saddles (1974), directed by Brooks. She received a fourth Academy Award nomination for her performance in The Turning Point (1977) opposite Shirley Maclaine, and a fifth nomination for her performance in Agnes of God (1985) opposite Jane Fonda.

Bancroft made her debut as a screenwriter and director in Fatso (1980), in which she starred along with Dom DeLuise. Bancroft was also the original choice to play Joan Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest (1981), but backed out at the eleventh hour, and was replaced by Faye Dunaway. She was also a front-runner for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (1983), but declined in order to act in the remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983).

During the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, Bancroft took supporting roles in a number of films in which she co-starred with major film stars, including Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) with Nicolas Cage; Love Potion No. 9 (1992) with Sandra Bullock; Malice (1993) with Nicole Kidman; Point of No Return (1993) with Bridget Fonda; Home for the Holidays (1995) with Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jodie Foster; How to Make an American Quilt (1995) with Winona Ryder, G.I. Jane (1997) with Demi Moore; Great Expectations (1998) with Gwyneth Paltrow; Keeping the Faith (2000) with Ben Stiller; and Heartbreakers (2001) with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman. She also lent her voice to the animated film Antz (1998) which also featured performances from Jennifer Lopez, Sharon Stone, and Woody Allen.

Bancroft also starred in several television movies and miniseries, receiving six Emmy Award nominations (winning twice), eight Golden Globe nominations (winning twice), and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her final screen appearance was in the television film The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003) for which she received critical acclaim. Her last project was the animated feature Delgo, released posthumously in 2008.

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Boulevard for her work in television, although she was primarily a stage and film actress.
Marriage and family

Bancroft was married to Martin May from July 1, 1953, to February 13, 1957. They had no children.

In 1961, Bancroft met Mel Brooks at a rehearsal for the Perry Como variety show. Bancroft and Brooks married on August 5, 1964, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall and were together until her death. In 1972 Bancroft gave birth to her only child, Maximillian Brooks.

They were seen three times on the screen together: once dancing a tango in Brooks's Silent Movie (1976); in his remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983); and in the episode entitled "Opening Night" (2004) of the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. They were also in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), but never appeared together. Brooks produced the film The Elephant Man (1980), in which Bancroft acted. He also was executive-producer for the film 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) in which she starred. Both Brooks and Bancroft appeared in season six of The Simpsons. According to the DVD commentary, when Bancroft came to record her lines for the episode "Fear of Flying", the Simpsons writers asked if Brooks had come with her (which he had); she joked, "I can't get rid of him!" In 2010, Brooks credited Bancroft as being the guiding force behind his involvement in developing The Producers and Young Frankenstein for the musical theatre, citing an early meeting as "From that day, until her death on June 5, 2005, we were glued together."

In April 2005, two months before her death, Bancroft became a grandmother when her daughter-in-law Michelle gave birth to a boy, Henry Michael Brooks.
Death
Anne Bancroft's grave in Kensico Cemetery

Anne Bancroft died, age 73, of uterine cancer on June 6, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Her death surprised many, even some of her friends. She was intensely private and had not released details of her illness. She is interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her parents, Mildred (who died in April 2010, five years after her daughter) and Michael Italiano. A white marble monument with a weeping angel adorns her grave.
Work
Theatre
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓
1958 Two for the Seesaw Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
1959 The Miracle Worker Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1963 Mother Courage and Her Children
1965 The Devils
1967 The Little Foxes
1968 A Cry of Players
1977 Golda Nominated—Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1981 Duet for One
2002 Occupant
Film
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1952 Don't Bother to Knock Lyn Lesley
1953 Tonight We Sing Emma Hurok
1953 Treasure of the Golden Condor Marie, Comtesse de St. Malo
1953 The Kid from Left Field Marian Foley
1954 Gorilla at Large Laverne Miller
1954 Demetrius and the Gladiators Paula
1955 The Raid Katie Bishop
1955 New York Confidential Kathy Lupo
1955 A Life in the Balance María Ibinia
1955 The Naked Street Rosalie Regalzyk
1955 The Last Frontier Corinna Marston
1956 Walk the Proud Land Tianay
1957 Nightfall Marie Gardner
1957 The Restless Breed Angelita
1957 The Girl in Black Stockings Beth Dixon
1962 The Miracle Worker Annie Sullivan Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
San Sebastián International Film Festival Prize San Sebastián
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1964 The Pumpkin Eater Jo Armitage Oscar BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1965 The Slender Thread Inga Dyson
1966 7 Women Dr. D.R. Cartwright
1967 The Graduate Mrs. Robinson Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1972 Young Winston Lady Randolph Churchill Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1974 Blazing Saddles Extra in Church Congregation uncredited
1975 The Prisoner of Second Avenue Edna Edison Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1975 The Hindenburg Ursula, The Countess
1976 Lipstick Carla Bondi
1976 Silent Movie Herself
1977 The Turning Point Emma Jacklin National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1977 Jesus of Nazareth Mary Magdalene
1980 Fatso Antoinette also director and writer
1980 The Elephant Man Mrs. Kendal
1983 To Be or Not to Be Anna Bronski Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1984 Garbo Talks Estelle Rolfe Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1985 Agnes of God Mother Miriam Ruth Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1986 'night, Mother Thelma Cates Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1987 84 Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1988 Torch Song Trilogy Ma Beckoff
1989 Bert Rigby, You're a Fool Meredith Perlestein
1992 Honeymoon in Vegas Bea Singer
1992 Love Potion No. 9 Madame Ruth
1993 Point of No Return Amanda
1993 Malice Mrs. Kennsinger
1993 Mr. Jones Dr. Catherine Holland
1995 How to Make an American Quilt Glady Joe Cleary Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 Home for the Holidays Adele Larson
1995 Dracula: Dead and Loving It Madame Ouspenskaya (Gypsy Woman)
1996 The Sunchaser Dr. Renata Baumbauer
1997 G.I. Jane Sen. Lillian DeHaven
1997 Critical Care Nun
1998 Great Expectations Ms. Dinsmoor
1998 Mark Twain's America in 3D Narrator
1998 Antz Queen voice
2000 Keeping the Faith Ruth Schram
2000 Up at the Villa Princess San Ferdinando
2001 Heartbreakers Gloria Vogal/Barbara
2001 In Search of Peace Golda Meir voice
2008 Delgo Sedessa voice
Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1967 ABC Stage 67 – I'm Getting Married Virginia
1970 Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety or Musical Program – Variety and Popular Music
1974 Annie and the Hoods
1977 Jesus of Nazareth Mary Magdalene Miniseries
1982 Marco Polo Marco's mother Miniseries
1990 Freddie and Max Maxine (Max) Chandler Six episodes
1992 Broadway Bound Kate Jerome Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1992 Mrs. Cage Lillian Cage Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Lucy Marsden (age 99–100) Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1994 Great Performances – The Mother Mrs. Fanning
1994 The Simpsons Dr. Zweig Voice role, episode: "Fear of Flying"
1996 Homecoming Abigail Tillerman Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1999 Deep in My Heart Gerry Eileen Cummins Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2001 Haven Mama Gruber Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2003 The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone Contessa Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Herself
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f257/tallulahbankhead/movie%20stars/annebancroft.jpg
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff357/JoannaGreenleaf/Stories/bancroft_200x300.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/17/11 at 2:58 pm


BB King is great always carrying around his trusty guitar.

Yes, he's certainly a great musician.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/18/11 at 3:25 am


Yes, he's certainly a great musician.
I liked the single "When Love Comes to Town" he made with U2.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/21/11 at 11:12 am


I liked the single "When Love Comes to Town" he made with U2.

I haven't heard that one yet, but I'm sure it's a good song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/21/11 at 11:32 am

Haven't had a Person of the Day for the last few days. I hope ninny is ok.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/21/11 at 11:36 am


Haven't had a Person of the Day for the last few days. I hope ninny is ok.



Cat
I hope so too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/21/11 at 11:36 am


I haven't heard that one yet, but I'm sure it's a good song.
It must be on YouTube.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/21/11 at 8:17 pm


I hope so too.


Me too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/23/11 at 7:57 am


Haven't had a Person of the Day for the last few days. I hope ninny is ok.



Cat


I hope so too.


Me too.

Thanks everyone between Tim having a few extra days off this week and a pounding headache(I still have) I've neglected to do the person of the day :-[ SORRY!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/23/11 at 8:04 am

The person of the day...Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 200 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him as the 23rd greatest artist of all time in its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, Rolling Stone magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run" (Billboard #23), "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (Billboard #83), and "Jungleland" all received massive album-oriented rock airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, Born to Run is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.

A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.
Springsteen at Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Ivory Coast during Amnesty International's 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour.

By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased "Fire".

In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer's No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.

Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work.This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.

The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic Nebraska. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including "Born in the U.S.A." and "Glory Days". According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While Nebraska did not sell as well as Springsteen's two previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by Rolling Stone magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2's album The Joshua Tree. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska's release.
1984–1991: Commercial and popular phenomenon

Springsteen probably is best known for his album Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on Tracks, a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at number 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen was featured on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live single "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on U.S. Top 40 stations as well as reaching #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.

During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips, whom he would marry in 1985.
Springsteen performing on the Tunnel of Love Express at the Radrennbahn Weißensee in East Berlin on July 19, 1988.

The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. Live/1975–85 summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including Backstreets magazine, which started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love album (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship. Reflecting the challenges of love in "Brilliant Disguise", Springsteen sang:
“ I heard somebody call your name, from underneath our willow. I saw something tucked in shame, underneath your pillow. Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can't see. What a woman like you is doing with me. ”

The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with backup singer Patti Scialfa became public and Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In late 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California, marrying in 1991.
Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music, folk, blues and country. From the beginning, rock and roll has been the dominant influence. On his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, the folk-influence is clear to hear. An example of the influence of this music genre to Springsteen's music is his song "This Hard Land" which demonstrates a clear influence of the style of Woody Guthrie.

He expanded the range of his musical compositions on his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Elements of Latin American music, jazz, soul, and funk influences can be heard; the song "New York City Serenade" is even reminiscent of the music of George Gershwin. These two records prominently featured pianist David Sancious, who left the band shortly into the recording of Springsteen's third album, Born To Run. This album, however, also emphasized the piano, the responsibility now of Roy Bittan.

Earlier in his career, Springsteen has focused more on the rock elements of his music. He initially compressed the sound and developed Darkness On The Edge Of Town just as straightforward as concise musical idiom, for the simple riffs and clearly recognizable song structures are dominant. His music has been categorized as heartland rock, a style typified by Springsteen, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp. This music has a lyrical reference to the U.S. everyday and the music is kept rather simple and straightforward. This development culminated with Springsteen's hit album Born in the U.S.A., the title song of which has a constantly repeating, fanfare-like keyboard riff and a pounding drum beat. These sounds fit with Springsteen's voice: it cries to the listener the unsentimental story of a disenchanted angry figure. Even songs that can be argued to be album tracks proved to be singles that enjoyed some chart success, such as "My Hometown" and "I'm on Fire", in which the drum line is formed from subtle hi-hat and rim-clicks-shock (shock at the edge of the snare drum).

In recent years, Springsteen has changed his music further. There are more folk elements up to the gospel to be heard. His last solo album, Devils and Dust, drew rave reviews not only for Springsteen's complex songwriting, but also for his expressive and sensitive singing.

On the album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Springsteen performs folk classics with a folk band, rather than his usual E Street Band. On his ensuing tour he also interpreted some of his own rock songs in a folk style.

The 2007 album Magic was a reflection on the old stadium rock attitude and with its lush arrangements was almost designed to be performed at large stadiums, which also succeeded on the corresponding tour.
Springsteen's music has been used in many films and he has also written and performed several works specifically for films, examples include Philadelphia, Dead Man Walking, Jerry Maguire, and The Wrestler.
Film↓ Year of film release↓ Song(s)↓ Notes↓
Dead End Street 1982 "Point Blank", "Hungry Heart" and "Jungleland" First use of Springsteen's music in film
Risky Business 1983 Hungry Heart
Baby, It's You 1983 "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", "The E Street Shuffle", "She's The One" and "Adam Raised A Cain" Film directed by John Sayles who later directed music videos for songs from Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love.
Light of Day 1987 "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day" Song written for the film.
In Country 1989 "I'm On Fire" Film also contained many Springsteen references.
Thunderheart 1992 "Badlands" (instrumental version)
Honeymoon in Vegas 1992 "Viva Las Vegas" A 1964 song recorded by Elvis Presley.
Philadelphia 1993 "Streets of Philadelphia" Song written for film. Won an Oscar.
Dead Man Walking 1995 "Dead Man Walkin'" Song written for film. Nominated for a Oscar.
The Crossing Guard 1995 "Missing" Song was later released in 2003 on The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
Jerry Maguire 1996 "Secret Garden"
Cop Land 1997 "Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car" Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs on his turntable.
The Wedding Singer 1998 "Hungry Heart"
A Night at the Roxbury 1998 "Secret Garden"
Big Daddy 1999 "Growin' Up" Played over a montage near the end of the film.
Limbo 1999 "Lift Me Up" Another John Sayles film.
High Fidelity 2000 "The River" and Blues Guitar Riff Blues riff played by Springsteen, on-screen during his cameo appearance. "Nebraska" played from vinyl on turntable.
The Perfect Storm 2000 "Hungry Heart"
25th Hour 2002 "The Fuse"
Grand Theft Parsons 2003 "Blood Brothers"
Jersey Girl 2004 "Jersey Girl" Cover of the Tom Waits version
Reign Over Me 2007 "Drive All Night" and "Out In The Street" The album The River was also well mentioned in the movie.
In the Land of Women 2007 "Iceman"
The Heartbreak Kid 2007 "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
Lucky You 2007 "Lucky Town"
The Wrestler 2008 "The Wrestler" Written for the film. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie".
Food, Inc. 2009 "This Land Is Your Land" Live version, Bruce Springsteen's performance of the Woody Guthrie song.
Films inspired by music

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including The Indian Runner, written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman".

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness on The Edge of Town" was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Kevin Smith is an admitted "big fan" of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film Jersey Girl after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant said Springsteen's "Thunder Road" to have been a heavy influence on their 2010 film "Cemetery Junction," employing the song's themes of escape and optimism into their story of 1970s England.

In 2011, Springsteen appears in an independent film made by a local musician Chris Vaughn from New Jersey entitled "Jerseyboy Hero" where the songwriter/filmmaker documents his journey to get his music out to the world by attempting to reach one of his two local New Jersey legends, Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi.
Acting

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance in a brief cameo as himself in High Fidelity in 2000 and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.
Discography
Main article: Bruce Springsteen discography

Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S. Billboard 200 at the time of release):

    1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (#60)
    1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (#59)
    1975: Born to Run (#3)
    1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town (#5)
    1980: The River (#1)
    1982: Nebraska (#3)
    1984: Born in the U.S.A. (#1)
    1987: Tunnel of Love (#1)
    1992: Human Touch (#2)
    1992: Lucky Town (#3)
    1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad (#11)
    1998: Tracks (#64)
    2002: The Rising (#1)
    2005: Devils & Dust (#1)
    2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (#3)
    2007: Magic (#1)
    2009: Working on a Dream (#1)
    2010: The Promise (#16)

Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

    Springsteen has won 20 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):

    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"
    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"
    Song of the Year, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Rock Song, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, The Ghost of Tom Joad
    Best Rock Album, 2002, The Rising
    Best Rock Song, 2002, "The Rising"
    Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, "The Rising"
    Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren Zevon)
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust"
    Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006, The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome
    Best Long Form Music Video, 2006, Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born to Run
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"
    Best Rock Song, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"
    Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"
    Best Rock Song, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2009, "Working on a Dream"

Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre "major" ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year); he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to win.
Golden Globe Awards

    Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994.
    Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Academy Awards

    Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1993, "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia.

Emmy Awards

    The Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards in 2001.

Other recognition

October 27, 1975: Bruce Springsteen appears simultaneously on the covers of 'Newsweek' and 'Time'

    Polar Music Prize in 1997.
    Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999.
    Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999.
    Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2007.
    "Born to Run" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey".
    The minor planet 23990, discovered September 4, 1999, by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor.
    Ranked #23 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
    Ranked #36 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.
    Made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list.
    Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler" in 2009.
    Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII half time show.
    Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.
    Rolling Stone magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list.
    Rolling Stone magazine ranked Born to Run and Thunder Road in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.
    Forbes ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100 in 2009
    John Steinbeck Award
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss313/LaChicaDeAyer/Bruce%20Springsteen/bruce_springsteen.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd176/The-South-Is-On-Fire/bruce_springsteen.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/23/11 at 11:38 am


Thanks everyone between Tim having a few extra days off this week and a pounding headache(I still have) I've neglected to do the person of the day :-[ SORRY!
Welcome back, and hope the head clears soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/23/11 at 11:39 am


The person of the day...Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 200 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him as the 23rd greatest artist of all time in its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, Rolling Stone magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run" (Billboard #23), "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (Billboard #83), and "Jungleland" all received massive album-oriented rock airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, Born to Run is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.

A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.
Springsteen at Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Ivory Coast during Amnesty International's 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour.

By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased "Fire".

In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer's No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.

Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work.This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.

The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic Nebraska. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including "Born in the U.S.A." and "Glory Days". According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While Nebraska did not sell as well as Springsteen's two previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by Rolling Stone magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2's album The Joshua Tree. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska's release.
1984–1991: Commercial and popular phenomenon

Springsteen probably is best known for his album Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on Tracks, a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at number 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen was featured on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live single "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on U.S. Top 40 stations as well as reaching #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.

During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips, whom he would marry in 1985.
Springsteen performing on the Tunnel of Love Express at the Radrennbahn Weißensee in East Berlin on July 19, 1988.

The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. Live/1975–85 summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including Backstreets magazine, which started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love album (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship. Reflecting the challenges of love in "Brilliant Disguise", Springsteen sang:
“ I heard somebody call your name, from underneath our willow. I saw something tucked in shame, underneath your pillow. Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can't see. What a woman like you is doing with me. ”

The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with backup singer Patti Scialfa became public and Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In late 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California, marrying in 1991.
Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music, folk, blues and country. From the beginning, rock and roll has been the dominant influence. On his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, the folk-influence is clear to hear. An example of the influence of this music genre to Springsteen's music is his song "This Hard Land" which demonstrates a clear influence of the style of Woody Guthrie.

He expanded the range of his musical compositions on his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Elements of Latin American music, jazz, soul, and funk influences can be heard; the song "New York City Serenade" is even reminiscent of the music of George Gershwin. These two records prominently featured pianist David Sancious, who left the band shortly into the recording of Springsteen's third album, Born To Run. This album, however, also emphasized the piano, the responsibility now of Roy Bittan.

Earlier in his career, Springsteen has focused more on the rock elements of his music. He initially compressed the sound and developed Darkness On The Edge Of Town just as straightforward as concise musical idiom, for the simple riffs and clearly recognizable song structures are dominant. His music has been categorized as heartland rock, a style typified by Springsteen, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp. This music has a lyrical reference to the U.S. everyday and the music is kept rather simple and straightforward. This development culminated with Springsteen's hit album Born in the U.S.A., the title song of which has a constantly repeating, fanfare-like keyboard riff and a pounding drum beat. These sounds fit with Springsteen's voice: it cries to the listener the unsentimental story of a disenchanted angry figure. Even songs that can be argued to be album tracks proved to be singles that enjoyed some chart success, such as "My Hometown" and "I'm on Fire", in which the drum line is formed from subtle hi-hat and rim-clicks-shock (shock at the edge of the snare drum).

In recent years, Springsteen has changed his music further. There are more folk elements up to the gospel to be heard. His last solo album, Devils and Dust, drew rave reviews not only for Springsteen's complex songwriting, but also for his expressive and sensitive singing.

On the album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Springsteen performs folk classics with a folk band, rather than his usual E Street Band. On his ensuing tour he also interpreted some of his own rock songs in a folk style.

The 2007 album Magic was a reflection on the old stadium rock attitude and with its lush arrangements was almost designed to be performed at large stadiums, which also succeeded on the corresponding tour.
Springsteen's music has been used in many films and he has also written and performed several works specifically for films, examples include Philadelphia, Dead Man Walking, Jerry Maguire, and The Wrestler.
Film↓ Year of film release↓ Song(s)↓ Notes↓
Dead End Street 1982 "Point Blank", "Hungry Heart" and "Jungleland" First use of Springsteen's music in film
Risky Business 1983 Hungry Heart
Baby, It's You 1983 "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", "The E Street Shuffle", "She's The One" and "Adam Raised A Cain" Film directed by John Sayles who later directed music videos for songs from Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love.
Light of Day 1987 "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day" Song written for the film.
In Country 1989 "I'm On Fire" Film also contained many Springsteen references.
Thunderheart 1992 "Badlands" (instrumental version)
Honeymoon in Vegas 1992 "Viva Las Vegas" A 1964 song recorded by Elvis Presley.
Philadelphia 1993 "Streets of Philadelphia" Song written for film. Won an Oscar.
Dead Man Walking 1995 "Dead Man Walkin'" Song written for film. Nominated for a Oscar.
The Crossing Guard 1995 "Missing" Song was later released in 2003 on The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
Jerry Maguire 1996 "Secret Garden"
Cop Land 1997 "Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car" Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs on his turntable.
The Wedding Singer 1998 "Hungry Heart"
A Night at the Roxbury 1998 "Secret Garden"
Big Daddy 1999 "Growin' Up" Played over a montage near the end of the film.
Limbo 1999 "Lift Me Up" Another John Sayles film.
High Fidelity 2000 "The River" and Blues Guitar Riff Blues riff played by Springsteen, on-screen during his cameo appearance. "Nebraska" played from vinyl on turntable.
The Perfect Storm 2000 "Hungry Heart"
25th Hour 2002 "The Fuse"
Grand Theft Parsons 2003 "Blood Brothers"
Jersey Girl 2004 "Jersey Girl" Cover of the Tom Waits version
Reign Over Me 2007 "Drive All Night" and "Out In The Street" The album The River was also well mentioned in the movie.
In the Land of Women 2007 "Iceman"
The Heartbreak Kid 2007 "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
Lucky You 2007 "Lucky Town"
The Wrestler 2008 "The Wrestler" Written for the film. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie".
Food, Inc. 2009 "This Land Is Your Land" Live version, Bruce Springsteen's performance of the Woody Guthrie song.
Films inspired by music

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including The Indian Runner, written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman".

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness on The Edge of Town" was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Kevin Smith is an admitted "big fan" of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film Jersey Girl after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant said Springsteen's "Thunder Road" to have been a heavy influence on their 2010 film "Cemetery Junction," employing the song's themes of escape and optimism into their story of 1970s England.

In 2011, Springsteen appears in an independent film made by a local musician Chris Vaughn from New Jersey entitled "Jerseyboy Hero" where the songwriter/filmmaker documents his journey to get his music out to the world by attempting to reach one of his two local New Jersey legends, Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi.
Acting

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance in a brief cameo as himself in High Fidelity in 2000 and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.
Discography
Main article: Bruce Springsteen discography

Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S. Billboard 200 at the time of release):

    1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (#60)
    1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (#59)
    1975: Born to Run (#3)
    1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town (#5)
    1980: The River (#1)
    1982: Nebraska (#3)
    1984: Born in the U.S.A. (#1)
    1987: Tunnel of Love (#1)
    1992: Human Touch (#2)
    1992: Lucky Town (#3)
    1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad (#11)
    1998: Tracks (#64)
    2002: The Rising (#1)
    2005: Devils & Dust (#1)
    2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (#3)
    2007: Magic (#1)
    2009: Working on a Dream (#1)
    2010: The Promise (#16)

Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

    Springsteen has won 20 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):

    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"
    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"
    Song of the Year, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Rock Song, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, The Ghost of Tom Joad
    Best Rock Album, 2002, The Rising
    Best Rock Song, 2002, "The Rising"
    Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, "The Rising"
    Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren Zevon)
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust"
    Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006, The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome
    Best Long Form Music Video, 2006, Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born to Run
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"
    Best Rock Song, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"
    Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"
    Best Rock Song, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2009, "Working on a Dream"

Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre "major" ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year); he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to win.
Golden Globe Awards

    Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994.
    Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Academy Awards

    Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1993, "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia.

Emmy Awards

    The Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards in 2001.

Other recognition

October 27, 1975: Bruce Springsteen appears simultaneously on the covers of 'Newsweek' and 'Time'

    Polar Music Prize in 1997.
    Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999.
    Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999.
    Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2007.
    "Born to Run" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey".
    The minor planet 23990, discovered September 4, 1999, by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor.
    Ranked #23 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
    Ranked #36 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.
    Made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list.
    Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler" in 2009.
    Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII half time show.
    Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.
    Rolling Stone magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list.
    Rolling Stone magazine ranked Born to Run and Thunder Road in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.
    Forbes ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100 in 2009
    John Steinbeck Award
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss313/LaChicaDeAyer/Bruce%20Springsteen/bruce_springsteen.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd176/The-South-Is-On-Fire/bruce_springsteen.jpg
What was he on about with the lyrics of Blinded By The Light?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/23/11 at 3:00 pm


Thanks everyone between Tim having a few extra days off this week and a pounding headache(I still have) I've neglected to do the person of the day :-[ SORRY!

I'm so sorry about that; I hope you feel better as soon as possible!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/23/11 at 3:02 pm


What was he on about with the lyrics of Blinded By The Light?

I have never heard his version, but I do know that Manfred Mann changed at least one particular line of it for their version.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/23/11 at 3:03 pm


I have never heard his version, but I do know that Manfred Mann changed at least one particular line of it for their version.
There is a thread somewhere on that song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 09/23/11 at 3:48 pm

Born in the USA was a huge album, but I think his best work is still the "Born to run" album.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/23/11 at 4:04 pm

Brucie Baby was elected Vice President of my high school French Club. In the classroom, one of the students hung a HUGE poster of the Boss. When we were electing our officers and when it came time to elect V.P., I think it was the same student who hung the poster yells, "I NOMINATE BRUCIE BABY!" as he pointed at the poster.  We ALL agreed so Brucie Baby was unanimously elected to the post. Unfortunately, he never really executed the post he was elected to but I think that may have something to do with the fact that he never knew he was V.P. of our French Club.



Cat 

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 09/23/11 at 4:27 pm


Brucie Baby was elected Vice President of my high school French Club. In the classroom, one of the students hung a HUGE poster of the Boss. When we were electing our officers and when it came time to elect V.P., I think it was the same student who hung the poster yells, "I NOMINATE BRUCIE BABY!" as he pointed at the poster.  We ALL agreed so Brucie Baby was unanimously elected to the post. Unfortunately, he never really executed the post he was elected to but I think that may have something to do with the fact that he never knew he was V.P. of our French Club.

Cat  


You didn't do the Marsha Brady thing and tell him you were president of his fan club & go to his hotel.

http://files.sharenator.com/a_shame_Most_Random_Flash_Ever-s403x338-80052-580.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/23/11 at 5:00 pm


You didn't do the Marsha Brady thing and tell him you were president of his fan club & go to his hotel.

http://files.sharenator.com/a_shame_Most_Random_Flash_Ever-s403x338-80052-580.jpg



Naaa-not moi.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/23/11 at 7:55 pm


Thanks everyone between Tim having a few extra days off this week and a pounding headache(I still have) I've neglected to do the person of the day :-[ SORRY!


That's ok hope you're feeling better.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/23/11 at 7:56 pm


The person of the day...Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 200 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him as the 23rd greatest artist of all time in its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, Rolling Stone magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run" (Billboard #23), "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (Billboard #83), and "Jungleland" all received massive album-oriented rock airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, Born to Run is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.

A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.
Springsteen at Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Ivory Coast during Amnesty International's 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour.

By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased "Fire".

In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent No Nukes live album, as well as the following summer's No Nukes documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.

Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work.This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.

The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic Nebraska. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including "Born in the U.S.A." and "Glory Days". According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While Nebraska did not sell as well as Springsteen's two previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by Rolling Stone magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2's album The Joshua Tree. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska's release.
1984–1991: Commercial and popular phenomenon

Springsteen probably is best known for his album Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on Tracks, a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at number 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen was featured on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live single "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on U.S. Top 40 stations as well as reaching #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.

During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips, whom he would marry in 1985.
Springsteen performing on the Tunnel of Love Express at the Radrennbahn Weißensee in East Berlin on July 19, 1988.

The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. Live/1975–85 summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including Backstreets magazine, which started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love album (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship. Reflecting the challenges of love in "Brilliant Disguise", Springsteen sang:
“ I heard somebody call your name, from underneath our willow. I saw something tucked in shame, underneath your pillow. Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can't see. What a woman like you is doing with me. ”

The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with backup singer Patti Scialfa became public and Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In late 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California, marrying in 1991.
Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music, folk, blues and country. From the beginning, rock and roll has been the dominant influence. On his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, the folk-influence is clear to hear. An example of the influence of this music genre to Springsteen's music is his song "This Hard Land" which demonstrates a clear influence of the style of Woody Guthrie.

He expanded the range of his musical compositions on his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Elements of Latin American music, jazz, soul, and funk influences can be heard; the song "New York City Serenade" is even reminiscent of the music of George Gershwin. These two records prominently featured pianist David Sancious, who left the band shortly into the recording of Springsteen's third album, Born To Run. This album, however, also emphasized the piano, the responsibility now of Roy Bittan.

Earlier in his career, Springsteen has focused more on the rock elements of his music. He initially compressed the sound and developed Darkness On The Edge Of Town just as straightforward as concise musical idiom, for the simple riffs and clearly recognizable song structures are dominant. His music has been categorized as heartland rock, a style typified by Springsteen, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp. This music has a lyrical reference to the U.S. everyday and the music is kept rather simple and straightforward. This development culminated with Springsteen's hit album Born in the U.S.A., the title song of which has a constantly repeating, fanfare-like keyboard riff and a pounding drum beat. These sounds fit with Springsteen's voice: it cries to the listener the unsentimental story of a disenchanted angry figure. Even songs that can be argued to be album tracks proved to be singles that enjoyed some chart success, such as "My Hometown" and "I'm on Fire", in which the drum line is formed from subtle hi-hat and rim-clicks-shock (shock at the edge of the snare drum).

In recent years, Springsteen has changed his music further. There are more folk elements up to the gospel to be heard. His last solo album, Devils and Dust, drew rave reviews not only for Springsteen's complex songwriting, but also for his expressive and sensitive singing.

On the album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Springsteen performs folk classics with a folk band, rather than his usual E Street Band. On his ensuing tour he also interpreted some of his own rock songs in a folk style.

The 2007 album Magic was a reflection on the old stadium rock attitude and with its lush arrangements was almost designed to be performed at large stadiums, which also succeeded on the corresponding tour.
Springsteen's music has been used in many films and he has also written and performed several works specifically for films, examples include Philadelphia, Dead Man Walking, Jerry Maguire, and The Wrestler.
Film↓ Year of film release↓ Song(s)↓ Notes↓
Dead End Street 1982 "Point Blank", "Hungry Heart" and "Jungleland" First use of Springsteen's music in film
Risky Business 1983 Hungry Heart
Baby, It's You 1983 "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", "The E Street Shuffle", "She's The One" and "Adam Raised A Cain" Film directed by John Sayles who later directed music videos for songs from Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love.
Light of Day 1987 "(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day" Song written for the film.
In Country 1989 "I'm On Fire" Film also contained many Springsteen references.
Thunderheart 1992 "Badlands" (instrumental version)
Honeymoon in Vegas 1992 "Viva Las Vegas" A 1964 song recorded by Elvis Presley.
Philadelphia 1993 "Streets of Philadelphia" Song written for film. Won an Oscar.
Dead Man Walking 1995 "Dead Man Walkin'" Song written for film. Nominated for a Oscar.
The Crossing Guard 1995 "Missing" Song was later released in 2003 on The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
Jerry Maguire 1996 "Secret Garden"
Cop Land 1997 "Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car" Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs on his turntable.
The Wedding Singer 1998 "Hungry Heart"
A Night at the Roxbury 1998 "Secret Garden"
Big Daddy 1999 "Growin' Up" Played over a montage near the end of the film.
Limbo 1999 "Lift Me Up" Another John Sayles film.
High Fidelity 2000 "The River" and Blues Guitar Riff Blues riff played by Springsteen, on-screen during his cameo appearance. "Nebraska" played from vinyl on turntable.
The Perfect Storm 2000 "Hungry Heart"
25th Hour 2002 "The Fuse"
Grand Theft Parsons 2003 "Blood Brothers"
Jersey Girl 2004 "Jersey Girl" Cover of the Tom Waits version
Reign Over Me 2007 "Drive All Night" and "Out In The Street" The album The River was also well mentioned in the movie.
In the Land of Women 2007 "Iceman"
The Heartbreak Kid 2007 "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
Lucky You 2007 "Lucky Town"
The Wrestler 2008 "The Wrestler" Written for the film. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie".
Food, Inc. 2009 "This Land Is Your Land" Live version, Bruce Springsteen's performance of the Woody Guthrie song.
Films inspired by music

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including The Indian Runner, written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman".

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness on The Edge of Town" was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Kevin Smith is an admitted "big fan" of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film Jersey Girl after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant said Springsteen's "Thunder Road" to have been a heavy influence on their 2010 film "Cemetery Junction," employing the song's themes of escape and optimism into their story of 1970s England.

In 2011, Springsteen appears in an independent film made by a local musician Chris Vaughn from New Jersey entitled "Jerseyboy Hero" where the songwriter/filmmaker documents his journey to get his music out to the world by attempting to reach one of his two local New Jersey legends, Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi.
Acting

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance in a brief cameo as himself in High Fidelity in 2000 and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.
Discography
Main article: Bruce Springsteen discography

Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S. Billboard 200 at the time of release):

    1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (#60)
    1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (#59)
    1975: Born to Run (#3)
    1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town (#5)
    1980: The River (#1)
    1982: Nebraska (#3)
    1984: Born in the U.S.A. (#1)
    1987: Tunnel of Love (#1)
    1992: Human Touch (#2)
    1992: Lucky Town (#3)
    1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad (#11)
    1998: Tracks (#64)
    2002: The Rising (#1)
    2005: Devils & Dust (#1)
    2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (#3)
    2007: Magic (#1)
    2009: Working on a Dream (#1)
    2010: The Promise (#16)

Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

    Springsteen has won 20 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):

    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"
    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"
    Song of the Year, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Rock Song, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
    Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, The Ghost of Tom Joad
    Best Rock Album, 2002, The Rising
    Best Rock Song, 2002, "The Rising"
    Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, "The Rising"
    Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren Zevon)
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust"
    Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006, The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome
    Best Long Form Music Video, 2006, Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born to Run
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"
    Best Rock Song, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"
    Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"
    Best Rock Song, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
    Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2009, "Working on a Dream"

Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre "major" ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year); he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to win.
Golden Globe Awards

    Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994.
    Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Academy Awards

    Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1993, "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia.

Emmy Awards

    The Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards in 2001.

Other recognition

October 27, 1975: Bruce Springsteen appears simultaneously on the covers of 'Newsweek' and 'Time'

    Polar Music Prize in 1997.
    Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999.
    Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999.
    Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2007.
    "Born to Run" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey".
    The minor planet 23990, discovered September 4, 1999, by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor.
    Ranked #23 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
    Ranked #36 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.
    Made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list.
    Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler" in 2009.
    Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII half time show.
    Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.
    Rolling Stone magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list.
    Rolling Stone magazine ranked Born to Run and Thunder Road in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.
    Forbes ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100 in 2009
    John Steinbeck Award
http://i587.photobucket.com/albums/ss313/LaChicaDeAyer/Bruce%20Springsteen/bruce_springsteen.jpg
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd176/The-South-Is-On-Fire/bruce_springsteen.jpg


I loved his hits in the 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/24/11 at 5:33 am


I loved his hits in the 80's.
Yes, he had some really good songs then. "Glory Days", "Hungry Heart", "I'm On Fire", "Born In The USA", "Dancing In The Dark", among others.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/24/11 at 6:54 am


Yes, he had some really good songs then. "Glory Days", "Hungry Heart", "I'm On Fire", "Born In The USA", "Dancing In The Dark", among others.
His version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" is a favourite of mine.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/24/11 at 7:09 am


His version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" is a favourite of mine.


always comes on at Christmas Time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/24/11 at 7:11 am


His version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" is a favourite of mine.

always comes on at Christmas Time.
I should have the single somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/24/11 at 7:12 am

I was reading he's trying to find a replacement for the loss of Clarence Clemons.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/24/11 at 10:32 am


I'm so sorry about that; I hope you feel better as soon as possible!

Welcome back, and hope the head clears soon.


That's ok hope you're feeling better.  :)

Thanks :) I still have a slight headache, but it's a lot better than it was.
I'm skipping doing a person today..if anyone finds a person they want to do it's find with me :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/24/11 at 10:37 am


Thanks :) I still have a slight headache, but it's a lot better than it was.
Take it easy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/24/11 at 10:37 am


I'm skipping doing a person today..if anyone finds a person they want to do it's find with me :)
I did look, but let me look again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/24/11 at 10:55 am

Jim Henson

James Maury "Jim" Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and creator of advanced puppets for projects like Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. He was also an Oscar-nominated film director, Emmy Award-winning television producer, and the founder of The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He died of Streptococcus pyogenes on May 16, 1990.

Henson, who was born in Mississippi, and educated at University of Maryland, College Park, was one of the most widely known puppeteers in history. He created Sam and Friends as a freshman in College Park. After suffering struggles with programs that he created, he eventually was selected to participate in Sesame Street. During this time, he also participated in the comedy series Saturday Night Live. The success of Sesame Street spawned The Muppet Show, which featured Muppets created by Henson. He also co-created with Michael Jacobs the television show Dinosaurs during his final years. In 1992, he posthumously received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey, and on June 16, 2011, he posthumously received the Disney Legends Award.

Early life

Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two boys. His parents were Betty Marcella (née Brown) and Paul Ransom Henson, an agronomist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was raised as a Christian Scientist and spent his early childhood in Leland, Mississippi, moving with his family to Hyattsville, Maryland, near Washington, DC, in the late 1940s. He later remembered the arrival of the family's first television as "the biggest event of his adolescence," having been heavily influenced by radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the early television puppets of Burr Tillstrom (on Kukla, Fran, and Ollie) and Bil and Cora Baird.

In 1954, while attending Northwestern High School, he began working for WTOP-TV, creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show called The Junior Morning Show. After graduating from high school, Henson enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, as a studio arts major, thinking he might become a commercial artist. A puppetry class offered in the applied arts department introduced him to the craft and textiles courses in the College of Home Economics, and he graduated in 1960 with a B.S. in home economics. As a freshman, he had been asked to create Sam and Friends, a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV. The characters on Sam and Friends were forerunners of Muppets, and the show included a prototype of Henson's most famous character: Kermit the Frog.

In the show, he began experimenting with techniques that would change the way puppetry had been used on television, including using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppeteer to work from off-camera. Believing that television puppets needed to have "life and sensitivity," Henson began making characters from flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber, allowing them to express a wider array of emotions at a time when many puppets were made of carved wood. A marionette's arms are manipulated by strings, but Henson used rods to move his Muppets' arms, allowing greater control of expression. Additionally, Henson wanted the Muppet characters to "speak" more creatively than was possible for previous puppets – which had seemed to have random mouth movements – so he used precise mouth movements to match the dialogue.

When Henson began work on Sam and Friends, he asked fellow University of Maryland freshman Jane Nebel to assist him. The show was a financial success, but after graduating from college, Jim began to have doubts about going into a career as a puppeteer. He wandered off to Europe for several months, where he was inspired by European puppeteers who look on their work as an art form. Upon Henson's return to the United States, he and Jane began dating. They were married in 1959 and had five children, Lisa (b. 1960), Cheryl (b. 1961), Brian (b. 1962), John (b. 1965), and Heather (b. 1970).

Struggles and projects in the 1960s

Despite the success of Sam and Friends, which ran for six years, Henson spent much of the next two decades working in commercials, talk shows, and children's projects before being able to realize his dream of the Muppets as "entertainment for everybody". The popularity of his work on Sam and Friends in the late fifties led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. Henson himself appeared as a guest on many shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show. This greatly increased exposure led to hundreds of commercial appearances by Henson characters throughout the sixties.

Among the most popular of Henson's commercials was a series for the local Wilkins Coffee company in Washington, D.C., in which his Muppets were able to get away with a greater level of slapstick violence than might have been acceptable with human actors. In the first Wilkins ad, a Muppet named Wilkins (with Kermit's voice) is poised behind a cannon seen in profile. Another Muppet named Wontkins (with Rowlf's voice) is in front of its barrel. Wilkins asks, "What do you think of Wilkins Coffee?" and Wontkins responds gruffly, "Never tasted it!" Wilkins fires the cannon and blows Wontkins away, then turns the cannon directly toward the viewer and ends the ad with, "Now, what do you think of Wilkins?" Henson later explained, "Till then, agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh." The first seven-second commercial for Wilkins was an immediate hit and was syndicated and reshot by Henson for local coffee companies across the United States; he ultimately produced more than 300 coffee ads. The same setup was used to pitch Kraml Milk in the Chicago, Il., area and Red Diamond coffee.

In 1963, Henson and his wife moved to New York City, where the newly formed Muppets, Inc. would reside for some time. Jane quit muppeteering to raise their children. Henson hired writer Jerry Juhl in 1961 and puppeteer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her. Henson later credited both writers with developing much of the humor and character of his Muppets. Henson and Oz developed a close friendship and a performing partnership that lasted 27 years; their teamwork is particularly evident in their portrayals of the characters of Bert and Ernie and Kermit and Fozzie Bear.

Henson's sixties talk show appearances culminated when he devised Rowlf, a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog. Rowlf became the first Muppet to make regular appearances on a network show, The Jimmy Dean Show. From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring film-making and produced a series of experimental films. His nine-minute Time Piece was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Oscar for Short Film in 1966. The year 1969 saw the production of the NBC-TV movie The Cube – another Henson-produced experimental film.

Sesame Street

In 1969, Joan Ganz Cooney and the team at the Children's Television Workshop asked Henson to work on Sesame Street, a visionary children's program for public television. Part of the show was set aside for a series of funny, colorful puppet characters living on the titular street. These included Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Big Bird. Henson performed the characters of Ernie, game-show host Guy Smiley, and Kermit, who appeared as a roving television news reporter. It was around this time that a frill was added around Kermit's neck to make him more frog-like. The collar was functional as well: it covered the joint where the Muppet's neck and body met.

At first, Henson's Muppets appeared separately from the realistic segments on the Street, but after a poor test-screening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the show was revamped to integrate the two, placing much greater emphasis on Henson's work. Though Henson would often downplay his role in Sesame Street's success, Cooney frequently praised Jim's work and, in 1990, the Public Broadcasting Service called him "the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service." The success of Sesame Street also allowed Henson to stop producing commercials. He later remembered that "it was a pleasure to get out of that world".

In addition to creating and performing Muppet characters, Henson was involved in producing various film and animation insets during the first two seasons. During the first, Henson produced a series of counting films for the numbers 1 through 10, which always ended with a baker (voiced by Henson) falling down the stairs while carrying the featured number of desserts. For seasons two to seven, Henson worked on a variety of inserts for the numbers 2 through 12, in a number of different styles – including film ("Dollhouse", "Number Three Ball Film"), stop-motion ("King of Eight", "Queen of Six"), cut-out animation ("Eleven Cheer"), and computer animation ("Nobody Counts To 10").

Concurrently with the first years of Sesame Street, Henson directed Tales From Muppetland, a short series of TV movie specials – in the form of comedic tellings of classic fairy tales – aimed at a young audience and hosted by Kermit the Frog. The series included Hey, Cinderella!, The Frog Prince, and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen.

Later career

Though he was still engaged in creating children's programming, such as the successful eighties shows Fraggle Rock and the animated Muppet Babies, Henson continued to explore darker, mature themes with the folk tale and mythology oriented show The Storyteller (1988). The Storyteller won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program but was canceled after nine episodes. The next year, Henson returned to television with The Jim Henson Hour, which mixed lighthearted Muppet fare with riskier material. The show was critically well-received and won Henson another Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program, but was canceled after 13 episodes due to low ratings. Henson blamed its failure on NBC's constant rescheduling.

In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company for almost $150 million, hoping that, with Disney handling business matters he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things." By 1990, he had completed production on a television special, The Muppets at Walt Disney World, and a Disney World (Later Disney's California Adventure as well) attraction, Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D, and was developing film ideas and a television series titled Muppet High.

Transition to the big screen

Three years after the start of The Muppet Show, the Muppets appeared in their first theatrical feature film, 1979's The Muppet Movie. The film was both a critical and financial success; it made US$65.2 million domestically and (at the time) was the 61st highest-grossing film ever made.

A song from the film, "The Rainbow Connection", sung by Henson as Kermit, hit #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1981, a Henson-directed sequel, The Great Muppet Caper, followed, and Henson decided to end the still-popular Muppet Show to concentrate on making films. From time to time, the Muppet characters continued to appear in made-for-TV-movies and television specials.

In addition to his own puppetry projects, Henson also aided others in their work. In 1979, he was asked by the producers of the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back to aid make-up artist Stuart Freeborn in the creation and articulation of enigmatic Jedi Master Yoda. Henson suggested to Star Wars creator George Lucas that he use Frank Oz as the puppeteer and voice of Yoda. Oz voiced Yoda in Empire and each of the four subsequent Star Wars films, and the naturalistic, lifelike Yoda became one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars films. Lucas even lobbied unsuccessfully to have Oz nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.

In 1982, Henson founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States. Around that time, he also began creating darker and more realistic fantasy films that did not feature the Muppets and displayed "a growing, brooding interest in mortality." With 1982's The Dark Crystal, which he co-directed with Frank Oz and also co-wrote, Henson said he was "trying to go toward a sense of realism—toward a reality of creatures that are actually alive it's not so much a symbol of the thing, but you're trying to the thing itself." To provide a visual style distinct from the Muppets, the puppets in The Dark Crystal were based on conceptual artwork by Brian Froud.

The Dark Crystal was a financial and critical success, and, a year later, the Muppet-starring The Muppets Take Manhattan (directed by Frank Oz) did fair box-office business, grossing $25.5 million domestically and ranking as one of the top 40 films of 1984. However, 1986's Labyrinth, a Crystal-like fantasy that Henson directed by himself, was considered (in part due to its cost) a commercial disappointment. Despite some positive reviews (The New York Times called it "a fabulous film"), the commercial failure of Labyrinth demoralized Henson to the point that son Brian Henson remembered the time of its release as being "the closest I've seen him to turning in on himself and getting quite depressed." The film later became a cult classic. Henson and his wife also separated the same year, although they remained close for the rest of his life. Jane later said that Jim was so involved with his work that he had very little time to spend with her or their children. All five of his children began working with Muppets at an early age, partly because, Cheryl Henson remembered, "One of the best ways of being around him was to work with him".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/24/11 at 11:10 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irC9WUp94EM




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/24/11 at 8:05 pm


Jim Henson

James Maury "Jim" Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and creator of advanced puppets for projects like Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. He was also an Oscar-nominated film director, Emmy Award-winning television producer, and the founder of The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He died of Streptococcus pyogenes on May 16, 1990.

Henson, who was born in Mississippi, and educated at University of Maryland, College Park, was one of the most widely known puppeteers in history. He created Sam and Friends as a freshman in College Park. After suffering struggles with programs that he created, he eventually was selected to participate in Sesame Street. During this time, he also participated in the comedy series Saturday Night Live. The success of Sesame Street spawned The Muppet Show, which featured Muppets created by Henson. He also co-created with Michael Jacobs the television show Dinosaurs during his final years. In 1992, he posthumously received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey, and on June 16, 2011, he posthumously received the Disney Legends Award.

Early life

Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two boys. His parents were Betty Marcella (née Brown) and Paul Ransom Henson, an agronomist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was raised as a Christian Scientist and spent his early childhood in Leland, Mississippi, moving with his family to Hyattsville, Maryland, near Washington, DC, in the late 1940s. He later remembered the arrival of the family's first television as "the biggest event of his adolescence," having been heavily influenced by radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the early television puppets of Burr Tillstrom (on Kukla, Fran, and Ollie) and Bil and Cora Baird.

In 1954, while attending Northwestern High School, he began working for WTOP-TV, creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show called The Junior Morning Show. After graduating from high school, Henson enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, as a studio arts major, thinking he might become a commercial artist. A puppetry class offered in the applied arts department introduced him to the craft and textiles courses in the College of Home Economics, and he graduated in 1960 with a B.S. in home economics. As a freshman, he had been asked to create Sam and Friends, a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV. The characters on Sam and Friends were forerunners of Muppets, and the show included a prototype of Henson's most famous character: Kermit the Frog.

In the show, he began experimenting with techniques that would change the way puppetry had been used on television, including using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppeteer to work from off-camera. Believing that television puppets needed to have "life and sensitivity," Henson began making characters from flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber, allowing them to express a wider array of emotions at a time when many puppets were made of carved wood. A marionette's arms are manipulated by strings, but Henson used rods to move his Muppets' arms, allowing greater control of expression. Additionally, Henson wanted the Muppet characters to "speak" more creatively than was possible for previous puppets – which had seemed to have random mouth movements – so he used precise mouth movements to match the dialogue.

When Henson began work on Sam and Friends, he asked fellow University of Maryland freshman Jane Nebel to assist him. The show was a financial success, but after graduating from college, Jim began to have doubts about going into a career as a puppeteer. He wandered off to Europe for several months, where he was inspired by European puppeteers who look on their work as an art form. Upon Henson's return to the United States, he and Jane began dating. They were married in 1959 and had five children, Lisa (b. 1960), Cheryl (b. 1961), Brian (b. 1962), John (b. 1965), and Heather (b. 1970).

Struggles and projects in the 1960s

Despite the success of Sam and Friends, which ran for six years, Henson spent much of the next two decades working in commercials, talk shows, and children's projects before being able to realize his dream of the Muppets as "entertainment for everybody". The popularity of his work on Sam and Friends in the late fifties led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. Henson himself appeared as a guest on many shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show. This greatly increased exposure led to hundreds of commercial appearances by Henson characters throughout the sixties.

Among the most popular of Henson's commercials was a series for the local Wilkins Coffee company in Washington, D.C., in which his Muppets were able to get away with a greater level of slapstick violence than might have been acceptable with human actors. In the first Wilkins ad, a Muppet named Wilkins (with Kermit's voice) is poised behind a cannon seen in profile. Another Muppet named Wontkins (with Rowlf's voice) is in front of its barrel. Wilkins asks, "What do you think of Wilkins Coffee?" and Wontkins responds gruffly, "Never tasted it!" Wilkins fires the cannon and blows Wontkins away, then turns the cannon directly toward the viewer and ends the ad with, "Now, what do you think of Wilkins?" Henson later explained, "Till then, agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh." The first seven-second commercial for Wilkins was an immediate hit and was syndicated and reshot by Henson for local coffee companies across the United States; he ultimately produced more than 300 coffee ads. The same setup was used to pitch Kraml Milk in the Chicago, Il., area and Red Diamond coffee.

In 1963, Henson and his wife moved to New York City, where the newly formed Muppets, Inc. would reside for some time. Jane quit muppeteering to raise their children. Henson hired writer Jerry Juhl in 1961 and puppeteer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her. Henson later credited both writers with developing much of the humor and character of his Muppets. Henson and Oz developed a close friendship and a performing partnership that lasted 27 years; their teamwork is particularly evident in their portrayals of the characters of Bert and Ernie and Kermit and Fozzie Bear.

Henson's sixties talk show appearances culminated when he devised Rowlf, a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog. Rowlf became the first Muppet to make regular appearances on a network show, The Jimmy Dean Show. From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring film-making and produced a series of experimental films. His nine-minute Time Piece was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Oscar for Short Film in 1966. The year 1969 saw the production of the NBC-TV movie The Cube – another Henson-produced experimental film.

Sesame Street

In 1969, Joan Ganz Cooney and the team at the Children's Television Workshop asked Henson to work on Sesame Street, a visionary children's program for public television. Part of the show was set aside for a series of funny, colorful puppet characters living on the titular street. These included Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Big Bird. Henson performed the characters of Ernie, game-show host Guy Smiley, and Kermit, who appeared as a roving television news reporter. It was around this time that a frill was added around Kermit's neck to make him more frog-like. The collar was functional as well: it covered the joint where the Muppet's neck and body met.

At first, Henson's Muppets appeared separately from the realistic segments on the Street, but after a poor test-screening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the show was revamped to integrate the two, placing much greater emphasis on Henson's work. Though Henson would often downplay his role in Sesame Street's success, Cooney frequently praised Jim's work and, in 1990, the Public Broadcasting Service called him "the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service." The success of Sesame Street also allowed Henson to stop producing commercials. He later remembered that "it was a pleasure to get out of that world".

In addition to creating and performing Muppet characters, Henson was involved in producing various film and animation insets during the first two seasons. During the first, Henson produced a series of counting films for the numbers 1 through 10, which always ended with a baker (voiced by Henson) falling down the stairs while carrying the featured number of desserts. For seasons two to seven, Henson worked on a variety of inserts for the numbers 2 through 12, in a number of different styles – including film ("Dollhouse", "Number Three Ball Film"), stop-motion ("King of Eight", "Queen of Six"), cut-out animation ("Eleven Cheer"), and computer animation ("Nobody Counts To 10").

Concurrently with the first years of Sesame Street, Henson directed Tales From Muppetland, a short series of TV movie specials – in the form of comedic tellings of classic fairy tales – aimed at a young audience and hosted by Kermit the Frog. The series included Hey, Cinderella!, The Frog Prince, and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen.

Later career

Though he was still engaged in creating children's programming, such as the successful eighties shows Fraggle Rock and the animated Muppet Babies, Henson continued to explore darker, mature themes with the folk tale and mythology oriented show The Storyteller (1988). The Storyteller won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program but was canceled after nine episodes. The next year, Henson returned to television with The Jim Henson Hour, which mixed lighthearted Muppet fare with riskier material. The show was critically well-received and won Henson another Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program, but was canceled after 13 episodes due to low ratings. Henson blamed its failure on NBC's constant rescheduling.

In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company for almost $150 million, hoping that, with Disney handling business matters he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things." By 1990, he had completed production on a television special, The Muppets at Walt Disney World, and a Disney World (Later Disney's California Adventure as well) attraction, Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D, and was developing film ideas and a television series titled Muppet High.

Transition to the big screen

Three years after the start of The Muppet Show, the Muppets appeared in their first theatrical feature film, 1979's The Muppet Movie. The film was both a critical and financial success; it made US$65.2 million domestically and (at the time) was the 61st highest-grossing film ever made.

A song from the film, "The Rainbow Connection", sung by Henson as Kermit, hit #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1981, a Henson-directed sequel, The Great Muppet Caper, followed, and Henson decided to end the still-popular Muppet Show to concentrate on making films. From time to time, the Muppet characters continued to appear in made-for-TV-movies and television specials.

In addition to his own puppetry projects, Henson also aided others in their work. In 1979, he was asked by the producers of the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back to aid make-up artist Stuart Freeborn in the creation and articulation of enigmatic Jedi Master Yoda. Henson suggested to Star Wars creator George Lucas that he use Frank Oz as the puppeteer and voice of Yoda. Oz voiced Yoda in Empire and each of the four subsequent Star Wars films, and the naturalistic, lifelike Yoda became one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars films. Lucas even lobbied unsuccessfully to have Oz nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.

In 1982, Henson founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States. Around that time, he also began creating darker and more realistic fantasy films that did not feature the Muppets and displayed "a growing, brooding interest in mortality." With 1982's The Dark Crystal, which he co-directed with Frank Oz and also co-wrote, Henson said he was "trying to go toward a sense of realism—toward a reality of creatures that are actually alive it's not so much a symbol of the thing, but you're trying to the thing itself." To provide a visual style distinct from the Muppets, the puppets in The Dark Crystal were based on conceptual artwork by Brian Froud.

The Dark Crystal was a financial and critical success, and, a year later, the Muppet-starring The Muppets Take Manhattan (directed by Frank Oz) did fair box-office business, grossing $25.5 million domestically and ranking as one of the top 40 films of 1984. However, 1986's Labyrinth, a Crystal-like fantasy that Henson directed by himself, was considered (in part due to its cost) a commercial disappointment. Despite some positive reviews (The New York Times called it "a fabulous film"), the commercial failure of Labyrinth demoralized Henson to the point that son Brian Henson remembered the time of its release as being "the closest I've seen him to turning in on himself and getting quite depressed." The film later became a cult classic. Henson and his wife also separated the same year, although they remained close for the rest of his life. Jane later said that Jim was so involved with his work that he had very little time to spend with her or their children. All five of his children began working with Muppets at an early age, partly because, Cheryl Henson remembered, "One of the best ways of being around him was to work with him".




One of the best from the 70's and 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 09/24/11 at 8:10 pm


One of the best creators today.

He died over 20 years ago.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOxe8u8Y9R8&list=FLofToPLnHNt0UbJAaS_xc3w&index=41

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/24/11 at 8:11 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOxe8u8Y9R8&list=FLofToPLnHNt0UbJAaS_xc3w&index=41




This was when Sesame Street was at it's best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/24/11 at 8:12 pm


He died over 20 years ago.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOxe8u8Y9R8&list=FLofToPLnHNt0UbJAaS_xc3w&index=41




I meant of the 70's and 80's.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/25/11 at 6:27 am

Christopher Reeve

Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter and author. He achieved stardom for his acting achievements, including his notable motion picture portrayal of the fictional superhero Superman.

On May 27, 1995, Reeve became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse in an equestrian competition in Virginia. He required a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries, and for human embryonic stem cell research afterward. He founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

Reeve married Dana Morosini in April 1992, and they had a son, William, born that June. Reeve had two children, Matthew (born 1979) and Alexandra (born 1983), from his previous relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Gae Exton.

http://topnews.in/light/files/Christopher-Reeve.jpg

http://images.wikia.com/dcmovies/images/6/6a/Christopher_Reeve.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/25/11 at 6:28 am


Christopher Reeve

Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter and author. He achieved stardom for his acting achievements, including his notable motion picture portrayal of the fictional superhero Superman.

On May 27, 1995, Reeve became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse in an equestrian competition in Virginia. He required a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries, and for human embryonic stem cell research afterward. He founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

Reeve married Dana Morosini in April 1992, and they had a son, William, born that June. Reeve had two children, Matthew (born 1979) and Alexandra (born 1983), from his previous relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Gae Exton.

http://topnews.in/light/files/Christopher-Reeve.jpg

http://images.wikia.com/dcmovies/images/6/6a/Christopher_Reeve.jpg

:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/25/11 at 7:32 am


Christopher Reeve

Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter and author. He achieved stardom for his acting achievements, including his notable motion picture portrayal of the fictional superhero Superman.

On May 27, 1995, Reeve became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse in an equestrian competition in Virginia. He required a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries, and for human embryonic stem cell research afterward. He founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

Reeve married Dana Morosini in April 1992, and they had a son, William, born that June. Reeve had two children, Matthew (born 1979) and Alexandra (born 1983), from his previous relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Gae Exton.

http://topnews.in/light/files/Christopher-Reeve.jpg

http://images.wikia.com/dcmovies/images/6/6a/Christopher_Reeve.jpg



:\'( I miss them both.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/25/11 at 1:54 pm


His version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" is a favourite of mine.

I have heard that version a few times.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/25/11 at 1:55 pm


Thanks :) I still have a slight headache, but it's a lot better than it was.
I'm skipping doing a person today..if anyone finds a person they want to do it's find with me :)

On a related note, I had one on Friday for most of the afternoon and it precluded me from doing what I wanted to do that day. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/25/11 at 1:56 pm


One of the best from the 70's and 80's.

He would have turned 75 yesterday. I had not realized it until I saw the Google homepage yesterday morning.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/25/11 at 2:12 pm

Thanks Phil for doing Jim Henson and Christopher Reeve two great choices. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/25/11 at 2:13 pm


On a related note, I had one on Friday for most of the afternoon and it precluded me from doing what I wanted to do that day. :-\\

I know I hate when they are so bad it stops you from doing things.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/25/11 at 2:15 pm


Thanks Phil for doing Jim Henson and Christopher Reeve two great choices. :)
Two people that deserved to be in this topic and should not have missed out.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/25/11 at 2:22 pm

The person of the day...Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood. Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office and the only one to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.

Fourteen of the 19 fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and four took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. As of 2011, his films have grossed $5.7 billion in global box office. His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.
Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime". They gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category (1988). He had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Gulf War song by a celebrity group. Smith spent money freely during his early career and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990 when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world," studying box office successes' common characteristics.
Breakthrough (1996–2000)

In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw. In 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West. Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what he himself (Smith) would have achieved.
International success (2001–present)
Smith in September 2009

In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24-hour time span.

He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.

On December 10, 2007, Smith was recognized at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world renowned theater in front of many fans. Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews, its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique". A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood." On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith has been selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.

Smith is currently developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he will star as Taharqa.

President Barack Obama has stated that if a film were to ever be made about his life, he would have Smith play his part, because "he has the ears". Obama stated that the two have discussed a possibility of a film based on the 2008 election, but this may not happen until the end of the Obama presidency.

He is currently filming Men in Black III for a 2012 release playing Agent J one of his more popular earlier roles, making this his first major starring role in four years.

On August 19, 2011, it was announced that Smith had returned to the studio with producer La Mar Edwards to make a new album. Edwards has worked with artists such as T.I., Chris Brown, and Game.
With DJ Jazzy Jeff
Main article: Will Smith discography

   Rock the House (1987)
   He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper (1988)
   And in This Corner... (1989)
   Homebase (1991)
   Code Red (1993)



Solo

   Big Willie Style (1997)
   Willennium (1999)
   Born to Reign (2002)
   Lost and Found (2005)

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Saturday Morning Videos Host TV
ABC Afterschool Special – "The Perfect Date" Hawker TV
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air William "Will" Smith TV (1990–1996)
1992 Blossom Fresh Prince TV, Cameo, episode 18 "I'm with the Band"
Where the Day Takes You Manny
1993 Made in America Tea Cake Walters
Six Degrees of Separation Paul
1995 Bad Boys Detective Mike Lowrey
1996 Independence Day Captain Steven "Steve" Hiller, USMC MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
1997 Men in Black James Darrell Edwards / Agent J MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
MTV Movie Award for Best Song From a Movie
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Pinocchio TV Series;Episode 14 of Season 2 which aired on April 13, 1997.Episode also starred Chris Rock and Della Reese
1998 Enemy of the State Robert Clayton Dean Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
1999 Torrance Rises Cameo
Wild Wild West Captain James "Jim" West
2000 Welcome to Hollywood Himself
The Legend of Bagger Vance Bagger Vance Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2001 Ali Muhammad Ali MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2002 Men in Black II James Darrell Edwards / Agent J BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Girlfriend by B2K Himself Music video
2003 Bad Boys II Detective Mike Lowrey Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
All of Us Johnny TV, 3 episodes (2003–2004); Creator/Executive Producer
2004 A Closer Walk Narrator Documentary
Jersey Girl Himself Uncredited Cameo
American Chopper Himself TV, Cameo
I, Robot Detective Del Spooner Producer
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
The Seat Filler Executive Producer; Independent Film
Shark Tale Oscar Voice
2005 There's a God on the Mic Documentary
Hitch Alex "Hitch" Hitchens Producer
Nominated—BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Movie Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2006 The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner Producer
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2007 I Am Legend Dr. Robert Neville Producer
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2008 Hancock John Hancock Producer
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Lakeview Terrace Producer
The Secret Life of Bees Producer
Seven Pounds Ben Thomas Producer
2010 The Karate Kid Producer
2012 This Means War Producer
Post-production
Men in Black III James Darrell Edwards / Agent J Post-production
2013 The Last Pharaoh Taharqa Pre-production
Box office grosses
Year Title Budget U.S. gross Worldwide gross
1992 Where the Day Takes You N/A $390,152 $390,152
1993 Made in America $44,942,695 $104,942,695
Six Degrees of Separation $6,284,090 $6,284,090
1995 Bad Boys $23m $65,647,413 $141,247,413
1996 Independence Day $75m $306,169,255 $817,400,878
1997 Men in Black $90m $250,690,539 $587,790,539
1998 Enemy of the State $111,549,836 $250,649,836
1999 Wild Wild West $170m $113,805,681 $222,105,681
2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance $80m $30,695,227 $39,235,486
2001 Ali $107m $58,183,966 $84,383,966
2002 Men in Black II $140m $190,418,803 $441,818,803
2003 Bad Boys II $60m $138,540,870 $272,940,870
2004 I, Robot $120m $144,801,023 $348,601,023
Shark Tale $75m $161,192,000 $367,192,000
2005 Hitch $70m $177,784,257 $366,784,257
2006 The Pursuit of Happyness $55m $162,586,036 $306,086,036
2007 I Am Legend $150m $256,393,010 $585,055,701
2008 Hancock $227,946,274 $624,346,274
Seven Pounds $55m $69,369,933 $166,617,328
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc511/fonkyninja33/tumblr_lp4w57wTkT1qbxvun.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/25/11 at 2:27 pm


Thanks Phil for doing Jim Henson and Christopher Reeve two great choices. :)
By the way, in my past job, I did get to meet both of these two.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/26/11 at 7:25 am


The person of the day...Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood. Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office and the only one to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.

Fourteen of the 19 fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and four took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. As of 2011, his films have grossed $5.7 billion in global box office. His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.
Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime". They gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category (1988). He had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Gulf War song by a celebrity group. Smith spent money freely during his early career and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990 when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world," studying box office successes' common characteristics.
Breakthrough (1996–2000)

In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw. In 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West. Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what he himself (Smith) would have achieved.
International success (2001–present)
Smith in September 2009

In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24-hour time span.

He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.

On December 10, 2007, Smith was recognized at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world renowned theater in front of many fans. Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews, its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique". A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood." On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith has been selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.

Smith is currently developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he will star as Taharqa.

President Barack Obama has stated that if a film were to ever be made about his life, he would have Smith play his part, because "he has the ears". Obama stated that the two have discussed a possibility of a film based on the 2008 election, but this may not happen until the end of the Obama presidency.

He is currently filming Men in Black III for a 2012 release playing Agent J one of his more popular earlier roles, making this his first major starring role in four years.

On August 19, 2011, it was announced that Smith had returned to the studio with producer La Mar Edwards to make a new album. Edwards has worked with artists such as T.I., Chris Brown, and Game.
With DJ Jazzy Jeff
Main article: Will Smith discography

   Rock the House (1987)
   He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper (1988)
   And in This Corner... (1989)
   Homebase (1991)
   Code Red (1993)



Solo

   Big Willie Style (1997)
   Willennium (1999)
   Born to Reign (2002)
   Lost and Found (2005)

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1990 Saturday Morning Videos Host TV
ABC Afterschool Special – "The Perfect Date" Hawker TV
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air William "Will" Smith TV (1990–1996)
1992 Blossom Fresh Prince TV, Cameo, episode 18 "I'm with the Band"
Where the Day Takes You Manny
1993 Made in America Tea Cake Walters
Six Degrees of Separation Paul
1995 Bad Boys Detective Mike Lowrey
1996 Independence Day Captain Steven "Steve" Hiller, USMC MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
1997 Men in Black James Darrell Edwards / Agent J MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
MTV Movie Award for Best Song From a Movie
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Pinocchio TV Series;Episode 14 of Season 2 which aired on April 13, 1997.Episode also starred Chris Rock and Della Reese
1998 Enemy of the State Robert Clayton Dean Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
1999 Torrance Rises Cameo
Wild Wild West Captain James "Jim" West
2000 Welcome to Hollywood Himself
The Legend of Bagger Vance Bagger Vance Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2001 Ali Muhammad Ali MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2002 Men in Black II James Darrell Edwards / Agent J BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Girlfriend by B2K Himself Music video
2003 Bad Boys II Detective Mike Lowrey Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
All of Us Johnny TV, 3 episodes (2003–2004); Creator/Executive Producer
2004 A Closer Walk Narrator Documentary
Jersey Girl Himself Uncredited Cameo
American Chopper Himself TV, Cameo
I, Robot Detective Del Spooner Producer
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
The Seat Filler Executive Producer; Independent Film
Shark Tale Oscar Voice
2005 There's a God on the Mic Documentary
Hitch Alex "Hitch" Hitchens Producer
Nominated—BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Movie Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2006 The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner Producer
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Black Reel Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
2007 I Am Legend Dr. Robert Neville Producer
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BET Award for Best Actor
Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2008 Hancock John Hancock Producer
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor
Lakeview Terrace Producer
The Secret Life of Bees Producer
Seven Pounds Ben Thomas Producer
2010 The Karate Kid Producer
2012 This Means War Producer
Post-production
Men in Black III James Darrell Edwards / Agent J Post-production
2013 The Last Pharaoh Taharqa Pre-production
Box office grosses
Year Title Budget U.S. gross Worldwide gross
1992 Where the Day Takes You N/A $390,152 $390,152
1993 Made in America $44,942,695 $104,942,695
Six Degrees of Separation $6,284,090 $6,284,090
1995 Bad Boys $23m $65,647,413 $141,247,413
1996 Independence Day $75m $306,169,255 $817,400,878
1997 Men in Black $90m $250,690,539 $587,790,539
1998 Enemy of the State $111,549,836 $250,649,836
1999 Wild Wild West $170m $113,805,681 $222,105,681
2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance $80m $30,695,227 $39,235,486
2001 Ali $107m $58,183,966 $84,383,966
2002 Men in Black II $140m $190,418,803 $441,818,803
2003 Bad Boys II $60m $138,540,870 $272,940,870
2004 I, Robot $120m $144,801,023 $348,601,023
Shark Tale $75m $161,192,000 $367,192,000
2005 Hitch $70m $177,784,257 $366,784,257
2006 The Pursuit of Happyness $55m $162,586,036 $306,086,036
2007 I Am Legend $150m $256,393,010 $585,055,701
2008 Hancock $227,946,274 $624,346,274
Seven Pounds $55m $69,369,933 $166,617,328
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc511/fonkyninja33/tumblr_lp4w57wTkT1qbxvun.gif


I watch Fresh Prince in reruns every day I hardly ever miss it.  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/26/11 at 2:22 pm

The person of the day...Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE (born 26 September 1945, Washington, County Durham, UK) is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in the United Kingdom. Ferry began his solo career in 1973, while still a member of Roxy Music, which continues to the present day.
Ferry formed Roxy Music with a group of friends and acquaintances, beginning with Graham Simpson, in November 1970. The line-up expanded to include saxophonist/oboist Andy Mackay and his acquaintance Brian Eno, who owned tape recorders and played Mackay's synthesiser. Other early members included timpanist Dexter Lloyd and ex-Nice guitarist David O'List, who were replaced respectively by Paul Thompson and Phil Manzanera before the band recorded its first album. (Early Peel sessions for UK radio station Radio 1 feature O'List's playing.)

Roxy Music's first hit, "Virginia Plain", just missed topping the charts, and was followed up with several hit singles and albums, with Ferry as vocalist and occasional instrumentalist (he taught himself piano in his mid-twenties) and Eno contributing synthesiser backing.

For many years, Ferry has collaborated with fashion designer Antony Price for clothing and image consultations. Price is famous for his shop on London's Kings Road. He created suits recognised worldwide for their elegance, and gained fame when celebrities and rock stars dressed in his designs. Indeed, one comment by Nicky Haslam about Ferry was that he was more likely to redecorate a hotel room than to trash it.
Cover of The Bride Stripped Bare (1978)

After their second album, Brian Eno left Roxy Music, leaving Ferry its undisputed leader. Ferry had already started a parallel solo career in 1973, initially performing cover versions of old standards on albums such as These Foolish Things (1973) and Another Time, Another Place (1974), both of which reached the UK Top 5. After the concert tours in support of Siren, Roxy Music temporarily disbanded in 1976 though band-members Paul Thompson, Phil Manzanera and Eddie Jobson took part in recording Ferry's subsequent solo material. In 1976, Ferry covered a Beatles song, “She's Leaving Home” for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II. He went on to release three solo albums during this period, Let's Stick Together (1976), In Your Mind (1977) and The Bride Stripped Bare (1978), but by this time his career had begun to wane.

Roxy Music reconvened in 1979, with Ferry, Manzanera, Thompson and Mackay (Jobson was no longer a member). The band recorded the albums Manifesto (1979), Flesh + Blood (1980) and Avalon (1982), the latter two reaching number one in the UK album charts. The band also achieved their first and only UK number one single, "Jealous Guy", released in 1981 as a posthumous tribute to its author John Lennon who had been murdered some months earlier. It was the only one of their singles not written by Ferry.

After lengthy tours to promote the Avalon album in 1982, Ferry decided to put Roxy Music on hold and continue as a solo artist.
After Roxy Music (1984–2001)

Ferry continued to record, and released his sixth solo album, Boys and Girls, in 1985. The album reached number one in the UK, his first and only solo recording to do so, and also became his biggest selling album in the US.

In July 1985, Ferry performed at the London Live Aid show, again accompanied by David Gilmour. He was hit with technical difficulties on sound, the drummer's drumstick broke at the start of the first song "Sensation" and Gilmour's Fender Stratocaster went dead, so he had to switch to his candy-apple red Stratocaster for the rest of the performance. The difficulties in sound were overcome for "Slave to Love" (featured on the soundtrack to 9½ Weeks) and "Jealous Guy". As with other successful Live Aid acts, his current album, Boys and Girls, remained in the chart for almost a year.

After the Avalon promotional tours, Ferry was rather reluctant to return to life on the road; however, a change of management persuaded him to try touring again in 1988 to promote the previous year's Bête Noire release. Following the tour, Ferry teamed up again with Brian Eno for Mamouna (collaborating with Robin Trower on guitar and as producer). The album took more than five years to produce, and was created under the working title Horoscope. During production, Ferry simultaneously recorded and released another covers album, Taxi in 1993, which proved to be a greater commercial and critical success than Mamouna would be when it was finally released in 1994. In 1996, Ferry performed the song "Dance With Life" for the Phenomenon soundtrack, which was written by Bernie Taupin and Martin Page. In 1999 Ferry appeared with Alan Partridge (played by Steve Coogan) on BBC's Comic Relief.

After taking some time off from music, Ferry returned in 1999. He began to perform a mix of 1930s songs and songs of his own, including several from the Roxy collection, and recorded them on the album As Time Goes By, which was nominated for a Grammy award.
Roxy Music reunion 2001 and after
Ferry on tour in the Netherlands, 2006

Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson re-reformed Roxy Music in 2001 and toured extensively for a couple of years, though the band did not record any new material. In 2002, with the help of Manzanera and Thompson, Ferry returned with his next studio album, Frantic, which featured several tracks written by David A. Stewart as well as a collaboration with Brian Eno. The album was a mix of new original material and covers - something that Ferry had not attempted on a solo album since The Bride Stripped Bare in 1978.

In 2003, Ferry provided the entertainment for the Miss World election, a show with an expected 2 billion viewers worldwide. In 2004, Ferry starred in the short film The Porter. In 2005, it was confirmed that Roxy Music (Ferry, Eno, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson) would be performing further shows at that year's Isle Of Wight festival and that they would also be recording a further album of new and original songs, with no indication of when such a project would reach completion. Brian Eno confirmed that he has worked in the studio with Roxy Music once more and has co-written songs for the new album. However, Ferry later debunked the idea of a new Roxy Music album and stated that the material from these sessions will most likely be released as part of his next solo album, and that "I don't think we'll record as Roxy again."

In October 2006, Ferry signed a contract with the British retailer Marks and Spencer to model their "Autograph" men's clothing range. In March 2007, Ferry released the album Dylanesque, a tribute album to Bob Dylan. The album charted in the UK Top 10, and Ferry undertook a UK tour. On October 7, 2008, Ferry was honoured as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI London Awards. He joined past Icons including Peter Gabriel, Ray Davies, Steve Winwood, and Van Morrison, amongst others.

In 2009, Ferry provided vocals on DJ Hell's record, U Can Dance. A new version of the track was recorded for Ferry's new studio album, Olympia, released in October 2010. The album contained the material he had been recorded with his former Roxy Music band members, and also featured an impressive cast of other musicians such as Nile Rodgers, David A. Stewart, Scissor Sisters, Groove Armada, Michael "Flea" Balzary, Johnny Greenwood and David Gilmour, and also featured model Kate Moss on the front cover. Despite this, and being released in multiple "deluxe" editions (one including a large format hardback book), the album was not a commercial success in comparison to Ferry's previous studio albums, barely making the UK Top 20 and dropping out of the chart altogether after only three weeks.

In June 2011, Ferry was made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his contribution to the British music industry.
Personal life

Several of the women Ferry had been involved with have appeared as cover models on the Roxy Music albums. Ferry dated singer and model Amanda Lear, who was photographed with a black jaguar for the cover of the For Your Pleasure album. She later went on to date David Bowie.

Ferry then began a relationship with model Jerry Hall. Hall appeared in several of Ferry's music videos, including "Let's Stick Together" and "The Price of Love." Ferry first met Hall when she posed for the Roxy Music album cover for Siren in Wales during the summer 1975. Hall's autobiography Tall Tales describes the photo session, and she elaborates on how the blue body paint she wore to look like a mythical siren would not wash off; Hall says that Ferry took her back to his house, claiming he would help her to remove the paint. Her stay at Ferry's Holland Park (London) home, following the album cover photo shoot, marked the start of their affair. Hall and Ferry moved in together, sharing homes in London and in the ritzy Bel Air section of Los Angeles. His relationship with Hall ended when she left him for Mick Jagger in late 1977. To this day, Ferry rarely speaks about Hall, but fans often speculate that his song "Kiss and Tell" from the Bête Noire album was Ferry's response to Hall's tell-all book about their relationship. Ferry often refuses to discuss his feelings about Hall or talk about their romantic history during interviews. Bryan Ferry's solo album The Bride Stripped Bare is widely believed to contain allusions to his break-up with Hall—particularly the song "When She Walks in the Room". Ferry's original songs on the album were in fact written some time before the relationship ended, although it was recorded afterwards.

Ferry eventually settled down to married life with Lucy Helmore, and they had four sons, including huntsman and political activist Otis, Isaac, Tara and Merlin. Tara was performing in a rock band called "Rubber Kiss Goodbye" and simultaneously studying at Chelsea College of Art and Design, according to the Sunday Times (28 Sept. 2008). Merlin studied electrical engineering and biochemical engineering at Marlborough College for his "A" Levels, he now plays guitar in his band Voltorb.

Ferry and Helmore split in the early 2000s and were divorced in 2003. After their separation, British newspapers photographed Ferry with Katie Turner, 35 years his junior, naming her as his new 'girlfriend'. Ferry and Turner met while she worked as one of the dancers on Roxy Music's concert tour in 2001 (and is featured on the DVD of the 2001 Hammersmith Odeon Show). She went on to appear with Ferry on several TV shows to promote the Frantic album, and also performed on the Frantic tour in 2002. After their break-up, Ferry had a relationship with Lady Emily Compton, a socialite. In 2006, he resumed his relationship with Katie Turner for some time. Ferry is now in a relationship with Amanda Sheppard, who previously worked in public relations, until she quit her job in 2009 after Ferry offered to financially support her.

Ferry was estimated to have a fortune of £30 million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2010.
Nazi controversy

In 2007, a controversy arose after Ferry praised the imagery and iconography of the Nazi regime in an interview with the German newspaper, Welt Am Sonntag. Ferry stated "the way that the Nazis staged themselves and presented themselves, my Lord!...I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl...And the buildings of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags—just fantastic. Really beautiful." In the same interview, Ferry was also reported to have referred to his West London recording studio as "The Führerbunker" (Adolf Hitler's bunker during World War II).

Ferry's comments caused considerable controversy in the media and, the following month, he made a public apology, stating "I apologize unreservedly for any offence caused by my comments on Nazi iconography, which were solely made from an art history perspective. I, like every right-minded individual, find the Nazi regime, and all it stood for, evil and abhorrent." At the time of the controversy, Ferry was contracted to the British retailer Marks and Spencer to model their "Autograph" menswear line. However, despite Ferry's public apology for his comments, Marks and Spencer opted to sever their ties with him.
Discography
Main article: Bryan Ferry discography
Studio albums

    These Foolish Things (October 1973, UK #5)
    Another Time, Another Place (July 1974, UK #4)
    Let's Stick Together (September 1976, UK #19, US #160)
    In Your Mind (February 1977, UK #5, US #126, Aust.#1)
    The Bride Stripped Bare (April 1978, UK #13, US #159)
    Boys and Girls (May 1985, UK #1, US #63)
    Bête Noire (October 1987, UK #9, US #63)
    Taxi (13 April 1993, UK #2, US #79)
    Mamouna (5 September 1994, UK #11, US #94)
    As Time Goes By (15 October 1999, UK #16, US #199)
    Frantic (18 May 2002, UK #6, US #189)
    Dylanesque (5 March 2007, UK #5, US #117)
    Olympia (26 October 2010, UK #19, US #71)

Honours

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f161/KatyT-G/Ferry1.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj184/celtictony08/page23_1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/26/11 at 7:52 pm


I watch Fresh Prince in reruns every day I hardly ever miss it.  ;D

I had some favorite episodes of that show...and some that I didn't really care for. Will Smith is kinda funny on that show. His rap music partner, DJ Jazzy Jeff, made frequent guest appearances on that show as his best buddy, Jazz, and often got thrown out of the mansion by Uncle Phil.

I also enjoyed watching him in the movie "Men In Black"; he also sang the title song from that film. The sequel was not quite as good IMO.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/27/11 at 5:59 pm

The person of the day...Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947), better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor. He is noted for the Bat Out of Hell album trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 43 million copies. After more than 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the best selling albums of all time.

Although he enjoyed success with Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo for a track on the latter album, Meat Loaf experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native US. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for the number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock."

Meat Loaf has also appeared in over 50 movies or television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable roles include Eddie in the American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Robert "Bob" Paulson in Fight Club.
During the winter of 1973, after returning from a short production of Rainbow in New York in Washington, D.C., Meat Loaf received a call asking him to be in The Rocky Horror Show asking him to play the parts of Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott. The success of the play led to the filming of The Rocky Horror Picture Show where Meat Loaf played only Eddie, a decision he has said he felt was "a huge mistake." About the same time, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman started work on Bat out of Hell. Meat Loaf convinced Epic Records to shoot videos for four songs, "Bat Out Of Hell," "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," "You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth" and "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." He then convinced Lou Adler, the producer of Rocky Horror, to run the "Paradise" video as a trailer to the movie. Meat Loaf's final show in New York was Gower Champion's Rockabye Hamlet, a Hamlet musical. It closed two weeks into its initial run. Meat would later return occasionally to perform Hot Patootie for a special Rocky Horror reunion or convention and rarely at his own live shows (one performance of which was released in the 1996 Live Around the World CD set).

During his recording of the soundtrack for Rocky Horror, Meat Loaf recorded two more songs: "Stand By Me" (a Ben E. King cover), and "Clap Your Hands." They remained unreleased until 1984, when they appeared as B-sides to the "Nowhere Fast" single.

In 1976, Meat Loaf recorded lead vocals for Ted Nugent's Free-for-All album when regular Nugent lead vocalist Derek St. Holmes quit the band. Meat Loaf sang lead on five of the album's nine tracks.
Major success
Bat Out of Hell

Meat Loaf and friend/songwriter Jim Steinman started Bat Out of Hell in 1972, but did not get serious about it until the end of 1974. Meat Loaf decided to leave theatre, and concentrate exclusively on music. Then, the National Lampoon Show opened on Broadway, and it needed an understudy for John Belushi, a close friend of Meat Loaf since 1972. It was at the Lampoon Show that Meat Loaf met Ellen Foley, the co-star who sang "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" with him on the album Bat Out of Hell.

After the Lampoon show ended, Meat Loaf and Steinman spent time seeking a record deal. Their approaches were rejected by each record company, because their songs did not fit any specific recognized music industry style. Finally, they performed the songs for Todd Rundgren, who decided to produce the album, as well as play lead guitar on it (other members of Todd's band Utopia also lent their musical talents). They then shopped the record around, but still had no takers until Cleveland International Records decided to take a chance. On October 21, 1977, Bat Out of Hell was released.

Meat Loaf and Steinman formed the band The Neverland Express to tour in support of Bat Out of Hell. Their first gig was opening for Cheap Trick in Chicago. He gained national exposure as musical guest on Saturday Night Live on March 25, 1978. Guest host Christopher Lee introduced him by saying, "And now ladies and gentlemen I would like you to meet Loaf. (pauses, looks dumbfounded) I beg your pardon, what? (he listens to the director's aside) Oh! Why...why I'm sorry, yes, of course...ah... Ladies and gentlemen, Meat Loaf!" The huge success of the album caused a rift to open up between Meat Loaf and Steinman: the group, named after Meat Loaf for ease of labeling, seemed to Steinman to sideline his work as creator, and Steinman started to resent the attention that his partner was getting.

During a show in Ottawa, Meat Loaf fell off the stage and broke his leg. He toured with the broken leg, performing from a wheel chair. During this time, Meat Loaf began heavy use of cocaine, had a nervous breakdown and threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the ledge of a building in New York. In the middle of recording his second album, Bad for Good, Meat Loaf lost the ability to sing; it is unclear as to the exact cause - the tour was a punishing one, and the vocals are energy intense. However, his doctors said that physically he was fine and that his problem was psychological. Nevertheless, Steinman decided to keep recording Bad for Good without Meat Loaf.

Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest selling albums of all time. In the UK alone, its 2.1 million sales put it in 38th place. Despite peaking at #9 and spending only two weeks in the top ten in 1981, it has now clocked up 474 weeks on the UK album chart, a figure bettered only by Rumours by Fleetwood Mac - 478 weeks. In Australia, it knocked the Bee Gees off the number #1 spot and went on to become the biggest-selling Australian album of all time (by a non-Australian). Bat Out of Hell is also one of only two albums that has never exited the Top 200 in the UK charts; this makes it the longest stay in any music chart in the world, although the published chart contains just 75 positions.
Life after Bat Out of Hell

In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared in the short-lived Broadway production of the rock musical Rockabye Hamlet. In 1980, he started working on Dead Ringer. Steinman wrote all of the songs, but had little else to do with the album. The tour they planned, to support the album, was cancelled after one show, because they ran out of the money that the studio advanced them. Sonnenberg also convinced CBS to advance more money for the making of the movie Dead Ringer, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival and won some favorable reviews, but was poorly considered after Sonnenberg re-edited the movie.

On December 5, 1981, Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express were the musical guests for Saturday Night Live where he was reunited with fellow Rocky Horror Picture Show alum Tim Curry. Curry and Meat Loaf teamed up in a skit depicting a One-Stop Rocky Horror Shop. Later, Tim Curry performed "The Zucchini Song" and Meat Loaf & The Neverland Express performed "Bat Out of Hell" and "Promised Land." In 1983, he released the self written Midnight at the Lost and Found. Meat Loaf, a poor songwriter by his own admission, did not care for the songs he wrote for the album.

In 1984, Meat Loaf went to England, to record the album Bad Attitude, which included a duet with Roger Daltrey and two songs written by Jim Steinman; the recording of the album was rushed. During the tour to support the album, Leslie (Meat Loaf's girlfriend) had a nervous breakdown and had to check into the Silver Hill Hospital rehab facility in Connecticut. Things finally looked like they were going to turn around in 1986, when Meat Loaf found a new writer, John Parr, and started recording a new album, Blind Before I Stop. Unfortunately, the producer put a dance beat underneath every song, which resulted in critical failure and Meat Loaf going bankrupt, eventually losing everything. His relationships with lifelong friend Jim Steinman and Leslie also deteriorated. In 1985, Meat Loaf did some comedy sketches in England with Hugh Laurie. At some point, Meat Loaf tried stand-up comedy, appearing several times in Connecticut.

Meat Loaf performed "Thrashin" for the soundtrack of the 1986 skateboarding cult classic film Thrashin' (directed by David Winters and starring Josh Brolin).

To try to get his career back off the ground, Meat Loaf started touring small venues, such as pubs and clubs. Slowly, he developed a faithful following which grew to the point where they were unable to fit into the venues that Meat Loaf was playing, and then they too began to grow. This carried on until the late '80s, where he began to sell out arenas and stadiums again, including over 10,000 tickets at Ohio State University. Leslie studied to be a travel agent, so they could save on travel expenses, and they toured all over the United States, Germany, England, Scandinavia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain. With the help of his New York collection of musicians — John Golden, Richard Raskin and Paul Jacobs — his European tours enjoyed immense popularity in the 1980s. Because of the success of the touring, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman began to work on Bat Out Of Hell II which was finally released in 1993, sixteen years after Bat Out Of Hell. The album was a huge success and is considered one of the greatest comebacks in music history.
Discography
Main article: Meat Loaf discography
Filmography
Title Release Year Character
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1975 Eddie "An ex-delivery boy"
Americathon 1979 Oklahoma Devil, Roy Budnitz
Scavenger Hunt 1979 Scum
Roadie 1980 Travis W. Redfish
Dead Ringer 1981 Meat Loaf, Marvin
Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams 1981 Cameo
Out of Bounds 1986 Gil
The Squeeze 1987 Titus
Motorama 1991
Wayne's World 1992 Tiny
Leap of Faith 1992 Hoover
To Catch a Yeti 1993 Big Jake Grizzly
Angels in the Outfield 1993 Angel
Bean 1997 Cameo
Spiceworld: The Movie 1997 Dennis
Black Dog 1998 Red
The Mighty 1998 Iggy Lee
Crazy in Alabama 1999 Sheriff John Doggett
Fight Club 1999 Robert 'Bob' Paulson
Blacktop 2000 Jack
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple 2001 Amos "Rattlesnake Jake" Frogge
Face to Face 2001 Driver
Rustin 2001 Coach Trellingsby
Focus 2001 Fred
The 51st State 2002 The Lizard
Wishcraft 2002 Detective Sparky Shaw (as Michael Aday)
The Salton Sea 2002 Bo
A Hole in One 2004 Billy
BloodRayne 2005 Leonid
The Pleasure Drivers 2005 Dale (as Meat Loaf Aday)
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny 2006 JB's father
Pelts Masters of Horror 2006 Jake Feldman
History Rocks 2007 Himself
Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise 2008 Himself
Tiger Force Forever: Unleashed 2009
Burning Bright 2010 Howie
Beautiful Boy 2010
Television
Title Episode Title Release Year Character
Strike Force "MIA" 1985 Adams Family 1971
The Equalizer "Bump and Run" 1985
Tales from the Crypt "What's Cookin'?" 1992
The Dead Man's Gun "The Mail Order Bride" 1997
Nash Bridges "Wild Card" 1997
South Park "Chef Aid" 1998 Cameo
The Outer Limits "Gettysburg" 2000
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007
Private Sessions 2007
Go-Phone Commercial 2007 Singing Father
The F Word 2008 Himself
Hannity 2009 Member of Panel
Tiger Force Forever: Unleashed 2009
Masters of Horror "Pelts" 2009 Jake
House, M.D. "Simple Explanation" 2009 Patient
Don't Forget the Lyrics 2009
Ghost Hunters "Bat Out of Hell" 2009 Himself
Monk "Mr. Monk and the Voodoo Curse" 2009 Reverend Hadley Jorgensen
Citizen Jane 2009 Detective Jack Morris
Popstar to Operastar 2010 Judge
WWE Raw 2010 Himself
Glee "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" 2010 Barry Jeffries (Credited as: Meat Loaf Aday)
Ghost Hunters "Sloss Furnaces" 2010
This Week 2010 Himself
The Celebrity Apprentice 2011 Himself
http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww3/meatgirl_2009/Meat-Loaf.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o244/DEJA-VU2006/loaf.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/27/11 at 8:12 pm


The person of the day...Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947), better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor. He is noted for the Bat Out of Hell album trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 43 million copies. After more than 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the best selling albums of all time.

Although he enjoyed success with Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo for a track on the latter album, Meat Loaf experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native US. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for the number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock."

Meat Loaf has also appeared in over 50 movies or television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable roles include Eddie in the American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Robert "Bob" Paulson in Fight Club.
During the winter of 1973, after returning from a short production of Rainbow in New York in Washington, D.C., Meat Loaf received a call asking him to be in The Rocky Horror Show asking him to play the parts of Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott. The success of the play led to the filming of The Rocky Horror Picture Show where Meat Loaf played only Eddie, a decision he has said he felt was "a huge mistake." About the same time, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman started work on Bat out of Hell. Meat Loaf convinced Epic Records to shoot videos for four songs, "Bat Out Of Hell," "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," "You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth" and "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." He then convinced Lou Adler, the producer of Rocky Horror, to run the "Paradise" video as a trailer to the movie. Meat Loaf's final show in New York was Gower Champion's Rockabye Hamlet, a Hamlet musical. It closed two weeks into its initial run. Meat would later return occasionally to perform Hot Patootie for a special Rocky Horror reunion or convention and rarely at his own live shows (one performance of which was released in the 1996 Live Around the World CD set).

During his recording of the soundtrack for Rocky Horror, Meat Loaf recorded two more songs: "Stand By Me" (a Ben E. King cover), and "Clap Your Hands." They remained unreleased until 1984, when they appeared as B-sides to the "Nowhere Fast" single.

In 1976, Meat Loaf recorded lead vocals for Ted Nugent's Free-for-All album when regular Nugent lead vocalist Derek St. Holmes quit the band. Meat Loaf sang lead on five of the album's nine tracks.
Major success
Bat Out of Hell

Meat Loaf and friend/songwriter Jim Steinman started Bat Out of Hell in 1972, but did not get serious about it until the end of 1974. Meat Loaf decided to leave theatre, and concentrate exclusively on music. Then, the National Lampoon Show opened on Broadway, and it needed an understudy for John Belushi, a close friend of Meat Loaf since 1972. It was at the Lampoon Show that Meat Loaf met Ellen Foley, the co-star who sang "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" with him on the album Bat Out of Hell.

After the Lampoon show ended, Meat Loaf and Steinman spent time seeking a record deal. Their approaches were rejected by each record company, because their songs did not fit any specific recognized music industry style. Finally, they performed the songs for Todd Rundgren, who decided to produce the album, as well as play lead guitar on it (other members of Todd's band Utopia also lent their musical talents). They then shopped the record around, but still had no takers until Cleveland International Records decided to take a chance. On October 21, 1977, Bat Out of Hell was released.

Meat Loaf and Steinman formed the band The Neverland Express to tour in support of Bat Out of Hell. Their first gig was opening for Cheap Trick in Chicago. He gained national exposure as musical guest on Saturday Night Live on March 25, 1978. Guest host Christopher Lee introduced him by saying, "And now ladies and gentlemen I would like you to meet Loaf. (pauses, looks dumbfounded) I beg your pardon, what? (he listens to the director's aside) Oh! Why...why I'm sorry, yes, of course...ah... Ladies and gentlemen, Meat Loaf!" The huge success of the album caused a rift to open up between Meat Loaf and Steinman: the group, named after Meat Loaf for ease of labeling, seemed to Steinman to sideline his work as creator, and Steinman started to resent the attention that his partner was getting.

During a show in Ottawa, Meat Loaf fell off the stage and broke his leg. He toured with the broken leg, performing from a wheel chair. During this time, Meat Loaf began heavy use of cocaine, had a nervous breakdown and threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the ledge of a building in New York. In the middle of recording his second album, Bad for Good, Meat Loaf lost the ability to sing; it is unclear as to the exact cause - the tour was a punishing one, and the vocals are energy intense. However, his doctors said that physically he was fine and that his problem was psychological. Nevertheless, Steinman decided to keep recording Bad for Good without Meat Loaf.

Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest selling albums of all time. In the UK alone, its 2.1 million sales put it in 38th place. Despite peaking at #9 and spending only two weeks in the top ten in 1981, it has now clocked up 474 weeks on the UK album chart, a figure bettered only by Rumours by Fleetwood Mac - 478 weeks. In Australia, it knocked the Bee Gees off the number #1 spot and went on to become the biggest-selling Australian album of all time (by a non-Australian). Bat Out of Hell is also one of only two albums that has never exited the Top 200 in the UK charts; this makes it the longest stay in any music chart in the world, although the published chart contains just 75 positions.
Life after Bat Out of Hell

In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared in the short-lived Broadway production of the rock musical Rockabye Hamlet. In 1980, he started working on Dead Ringer. Steinman wrote all of the songs, but had little else to do with the album. The tour they planned, to support the album, was cancelled after one show, because they ran out of the money that the studio advanced them. Sonnenberg also convinced CBS to advance more money for the making of the movie Dead Ringer, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival and won some favorable reviews, but was poorly considered after Sonnenberg re-edited the movie.

On December 5, 1981, Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express were the musical guests for Saturday Night Live where he was reunited with fellow Rocky Horror Picture Show alum Tim Curry. Curry and Meat Loaf teamed up in a skit depicting a One-Stop Rocky Horror Shop. Later, Tim Curry performed "The Zucchini Song" and Meat Loaf & The Neverland Express performed "Bat Out of Hell" and "Promised Land." In 1983, he released the self written Midnight at the Lost and Found. Meat Loaf, a poor songwriter by his own admission, did not care for the songs he wrote for the album.

In 1984, Meat Loaf went to England, to record the album Bad Attitude, which included a duet with Roger Daltrey and two songs written by Jim Steinman; the recording of the album was rushed. During the tour to support the album, Leslie (Meat Loaf's girlfriend) had a nervous breakdown and had to check into the Silver Hill Hospital rehab facility in Connecticut. Things finally looked like they were going to turn around in 1986, when Meat Loaf found a new writer, John Parr, and started recording a new album, Blind Before I Stop. Unfortunately, the producer put a dance beat underneath every song, which resulted in critical failure and Meat Loaf going bankrupt, eventually losing everything. His relationships with lifelong friend Jim Steinman and Leslie also deteriorated. In 1985, Meat Loaf did some comedy sketches in England with Hugh Laurie. At some point, Meat Loaf tried stand-up comedy, appearing several times in Connecticut.

Meat Loaf performed "Thrashin" for the soundtrack of the 1986 skateboarding cult classic film Thrashin' (directed by David Winters and starring Josh Brolin).

To try to get his career back off the ground, Meat Loaf started touring small venues, such as pubs and clubs. Slowly, he developed a faithful following which grew to the point where they were unable to fit into the venues that Meat Loaf was playing, and then they too began to grow. This carried on until the late '80s, where he began to sell out arenas and stadiums again, including over 10,000 tickets at Ohio State University. Leslie studied to be a travel agent, so they could save on travel expenses, and they toured all over the United States, Germany, England, Scandinavia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain. With the help of his New York collection of musicians — John Golden, Richard Raskin and Paul Jacobs — his European tours enjoyed immense popularity in the 1980s. Because of the success of the touring, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman began to work on Bat Out Of Hell II which was finally released in 1993, sixteen years after Bat Out Of Hell. The album was a huge success and is considered one of the greatest comebacks in music history.
Discography
Main article: Meat Loaf discography
Filmography
Title Release Year Character
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1975 Eddie "An ex-delivery boy"
Americathon 1979 Oklahoma Devil, Roy Budnitz
Scavenger Hunt 1979 Scum
Roadie 1980 Travis W. Redfish
Dead Ringer 1981 Meat Loaf, Marvin
Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams 1981 Cameo
Out of Bounds 1986 Gil
The Squeeze 1987 Titus
Motorama 1991
Wayne's World 1992 Tiny
Leap of Faith 1992 Hoover
To Catch a Yeti 1993 Big Jake Grizzly
Angels in the Outfield 1993 Angel
Bean 1997 Cameo
Spiceworld: The Movie 1997 Dennis
Black Dog 1998 Red
The Mighty 1998 Iggy Lee
Crazy in Alabama 1999 Sheriff John Doggett
Fight Club 1999 Robert 'Bob' Paulson
Blacktop 2000 Jack
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple 2001 Amos "Rattlesnake Jake" Frogge
Face to Face 2001 Driver
Rustin 2001 Coach Trellingsby
Focus 2001 Fred
The 51st State 2002 The Lizard
Wishcraft 2002 Detective Sparky Shaw (as Michael Aday)
The Salton Sea 2002 Bo
A Hole in One 2004 Billy
BloodRayne 2005 Leonid
The Pleasure Drivers 2005 Dale (as Meat Loaf Aday)
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny 2006 JB's father
Pelts Masters of Horror 2006 Jake Feldman
History Rocks 2007 Himself
Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise 2008 Himself
Tiger Force Forever: Unleashed 2009
Burning Bright 2010 Howie
Beautiful Boy 2010
Television
Title Episode Title Release Year Character
Strike Force "MIA" 1985 Adams Family 1971
The Equalizer "Bump and Run" 1985
Tales from the Crypt "What's Cookin'?" 1992
The Dead Man's Gun "The Mail Order Bride" 1997
Nash Bridges "Wild Card" 1997
South Park "Chef Aid" 1998 Cameo
The Outer Limits "Gettysburg" 2000
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007
Private Sessions 2007
Go-Phone Commercial 2007 Singing Father
The F Word 2008 Himself
Hannity 2009 Member of Panel
Tiger Force Forever: Unleashed 2009
Masters of Horror "Pelts" 2009 Jake
House, M.D. "Simple Explanation" 2009 Patient
Don't Forget the Lyrics 2009
Ghost Hunters "Bat Out of Hell" 2009 Himself
Monk "Mr. Monk and the Voodoo Curse" 2009 Reverend Hadley Jorgensen
Citizen Jane 2009 Detective Jack Morris
Popstar to Operastar 2010 Judge
WWE Raw 2010 Himself
Glee "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" 2010 Barry Jeffries (Credited as: Meat Loaf Aday)
Ghost Hunters "Sloss Furnaces" 2010
This Week 2010 Himself
The Celebrity Apprentice 2011 Himself
http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww3/meatgirl_2009/Meat-Loaf.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o244/DEJA-VU2006/loaf.jpg


My favorite is Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/27/11 at 11:38 pm


My favorite is Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad.

Mine too  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/28/11 at 1:24 am


Mine too  :)

In the 90's he had a big hit with "I'd Do Anything For Love, But I Won't Do That", which I did sorta like.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/28/11 at 6:57 am


In the 90's he had a big hit with "I'd Do Anything For Love, But I Won't Do That", which I did sorta like.


That's good too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/28/11 at 11:05 am


That's good too.

In late 1995 he also had a minor hit with "I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)", which I remember hearing on Casey Kasem's American Top 20 countdown at the time.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/28/11 at 12:15 pm

I love Meatloaf (the singer-not the food). I saw him in concert around 1993-4 or so. He put on one hell of a show.

I love the entire album of Bat Out Of Hell-reminds me so much of high school. I think my favs on the album are probably the title song, "You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth", "All Revved Up with No Place to Go", and of course, "Paradise By The Dashboard Light". I have the follow-up, Back Into Hell which has "I Would Do Anything For Love." My favs from that album are "Life Is A Lemon" & "Objects In The Mirror."




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 09/28/11 at 1:28 pm



I love the entire album of Bat Out Of Hell-reminds me so much of high school.

oh god, me too.

On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?

(yes)

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/06/men_ani.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/28/11 at 1:40 pm


oh god, me too.

On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?

(yes)

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/06/men_ani.gif



Will he offer me his mouth?


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/29/11 at 7:49 am

The person of the day...Ian McShane
Ian David McShane (born September 29, 1942) is an English actor, director, producer, voice artist, and comedian.

Despite appearing in numerous films, McShane is best known for his television roles, particularly the BBC's Lovejoy (1986–94) and HBO's Western drama Deadwood (2004–06). McShane starred as King Silas Benjamin in NBC series Kings, Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda and as Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
In the United Kingdom, McShane's best known role may be that of antiques dealer Lovejoy in the BBC drama series of the same name. He also enjoyed fame in the United States as English cad Don Lockwood in the soap opera Dallas and as an English cockfighting aficionado in the mini-series Roots. Even before Lovejoy, McShane was a pin-up as a result of appearances in television series such as Wuthering Heights (1967, as Heathcliff), If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969 as Charlie), Jesus of Nazareth (1977, as Judas Iscariot), and Disraeli (1978) — as well as films like Sky West and Crooked (1965) and Battle of Britain (1969).

In the United States, he is perhaps best known for the role of historical figure Al Swearengen in the HBO series Deadwood. For his performance in this role as the lead of the series, he won the 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Drama and was also nominated for similar awards at the 2005 Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Other roles include voicing the role of Captain Hook in Shrek the Third; of Iofur Raknison (known as Ragnar Sturlusson in the film) in The Golden Compass; Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda (for which he received an Annie Award nomination); and Mr. Bobinsky, the strange Russian neighbor in Coraline. In live-action, he has performed in the comedy Hot Rod, the action/thriller Death Race, and The Seeker. He has appeared on US TV's The West Wing as a Russian diplomat.

During the 2007–08 season, he starred as Max in the 40th anniversary Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, co-starring Eve Best, Raul Esparza, and Michael McKean and directed by Daniel Sullivan, at the Cort Theatre (16 December 2007 through 13 April 2008).

In 2009, McShane appeared on the short-lived NBC television drama series Kings, which was based on the biblical story of David. His portrayal of King Silas Benjamin, an analogue of King Saul, was highly praised, with one critic saying "Whenever 'Kings' seems to falter, McShane appears to put bite marks all over the scenery."

In 2010, McShane starred in the TV miniseries The Pillars of the Earth as Bishop Waleran Bigod. The series was a historical drama set in England in the 12th Century, adapted from Ken Follett's novel of the same name.

Also in 2010, Disney confirmed that McShane would play Blackbeard in the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, On Stranger Tides. In March 2011, McShane was cast to play King Brahmwell in Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Killer.
Personal life

In 1977, McShane began a turbulent 5-year relationship with actress Sylvia Kristel after meeting her on the set of The Fifth Musketeer. He is married to actress Gwen Humble.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1962 The Wild and the Willing Harry Brown
1965 The Pleasure Girls Keith Dexter
1966 Sky West and Crooked Robin (Roibin) Released as Gypsy Girl in the U.S.
1967 Wuthering Heights Heathcliff
1969 If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Charlie Cartwright
Battle of Britain Sgt. Pilot Andy
1970 Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You Fred C. Dobbs
The Ballad of Tam-Lin Tom Lynn Released as The Devil's Widow in the U.S. (1972)
1971 Freelance Mitch Released as CON MAN in the U.S. (1992)
Villain Wolfe Lissner
1972 Left Hand of Gemini
Sitting Target Birdy Williams
1973 The Last of Sheila Anthony
1975 Ransom Ray Petrie Released as The Terrorists in the U.S.
Journey into Fear Banat
1979 The Great Riviera Bank Robbery The Brain Alternate U.S. title – Sewers of Gold
The Fifth Musketeer Fouquet
Yesterday's Hero Rod Turner
1981 Cheaper to Keep Her Dr. Alfred Sunshine
1983 Exposed Greg Miller
1985 Ordeal by Innocence Philip Durant
Too Scared to Scream Vincent Hardwick
Torchlight Sidney
1987 Grand Larceny Flanagan
1999 Babylon 5: The River of Souls Robert Bryson, Ph.D.
2000 Sexy Beast Teddy Bass
2002 Bollywood Queen Frank
2003 Agent Cody Banks Dr. Brinkman
Nemesis Game Jeff Novak
2005 Nine Lives Larry Nominated - Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2006 Scoop Joe Strombel
We Are Marshall Paul Griffen
2007 Shrek the Third voice of Captain Hook
Hot Rod Frank Powell
The Seeker Merriman Lyon
The Golden Compass voice of Ragnar Sturlusson
2008 Kung Fu Panda Tai Lung Voice
Nominated - Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Death Race Coach
2009 Coraline Mr. Bobinsky Voice
Case 39 Detective Mike Barron
44 Inch Chest Meredith Also executive producer
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2010 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Narrator (uncredited)
2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Blackbeard Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Villain
2012 Jack the Giant Killer King Brahmwell filming
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1975 Space: 1999 Anton Zoref
1977 Roots Sir Eric Russell
Jesus of Nazareth Judas Iscariot
1978 Will Shakespeare Christopher Marlowe
Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli
1981–82 Magnum, P.I. David Norman / Edwin Clutterbuck
1982 Marco Polo Ali Ben Yussouf
1983 Grace Kelly Prince Rainier of Monaco
1985 Evergreen Paul Lerner
A.D. Sejanus
1986–94 Lovejoy Lovejoy Also director of 4 episodes
1987 Miami Vice Esteban Montoya / Gen. Manuel Borbon
1988 War and Remembrance Philip Rule
1989 Dallas Don Lockwood
Minder Jack Last
2002 The West Wing:
"Enemies Foreign and Domestic" Russian Negotiator Nikolai Ivanovich
In Deep:
"Untouched" Jamie Lamb
2003 Trust Alan Cooper-Fozzard
2004–06 Deadwood Al Swearengen Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (2004)
TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2004), also nominated in 2005
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2005)
Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (2005)
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (2005)
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006)
Nominated - TV Land Award for Character You REALLY Don't Want to Make Angry (2008)
2008 SpongeBob SquarePants Gordon
2009 Kings King Silas Benjamin
2010 The Pillars of the Earth Waleran Bigod Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated - Monte Carlo TV Festival: Golden Nymph for Mini-Series - Best Performance by an Actor
Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special Tai Lung Made for television
Voice
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n117/bonemonkey/ianmcshane.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x102/happikali/celebrities/ian_mcshane.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 09/30/11 at 5:31 am

The person of the day...Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis ( born September 30, 1935)is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts. According to Guinness Book of World Records writer and charts music historian Paul Gambaccini, Johnny Mathis has sold 350 million records worldwide.
He has received three Grammy awards. In 1979, his hit duet "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from the film Same Time, Next Year was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mathis and Jane Olivor sang the song at the Oscar ceremony. This was his second performance at the Academy Awards. He has taped twelve of his own television specials and made over 300 television guest appearances with 33 of them being on The Tonight Show. Through the years his songs (or parts of them) have been heard in 100 plus television shows and films around the globe. His appearance on the Live by Request broadcast in May 1998 on the A&E Network had the largest television viewing audience of the series. Also in 1989, Johnny sang the theme for the ABC daytime soap opera Loving.

Mathis continues to perform but from 2000 onwards has limited his concert engagements to fifty to sixty appearances per year. In 2006, his schedule included a UK tour that included his annual Scottish golf vacation and attendance at the 2006 Ryder Cup, two stints at his favourite Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Tonight Show host Johnny Carson said: "Johnny Mathis is the best ballad singer in the world." He appeared on the NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a guest on March 29, 2007 performing the classic "The Shadow of Your Smile" with saxophonist Dave Koz. Mathis returned to the UK Top 20 album chart in 2007 with the Sony BMG release "The Very Best of Johnny Mathis" and again in 2008 with the Columbia CD "A Night to Remember". Also in 2007, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

A performance by Mathis in Florida in 2009 netted him $65,000 in artist fees and royalties.
Personal life

In a 1982 Us Magazine article, Mathis was quoted as having said, "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to." Us Magazine later retracted the statement. After more than 20 years of silence on the subject, Mathis revealed in an interview, in 2006, that his silence was due to death threats he received as a result of that 1982 article. On April 13, 2006, Mathis granted a podcast interview with The Strip in which he talked about the subject once again, and how some of his reticence to speak of the subject was partially generational.

Despite missing the Olympic high jump trials, he has never abandoned his enthusiasm for sports and today is an avid golfer who has achieved six holes-in-one, and has hosted several Johnny Mathis Golf Tournaments in the United Kingdom and the USA. Since 1985 he has been hosting a charity golf tournament in Belfast sponsored by Shell corporation, and the annual Johnny Mathis Invitational Track & Field Meet has continued at San Francisco State University since it started in 1982.

In 1982 he published a cookbook, Cooking for You Alone.

Mathis has undergone rehab for both alcohol and prescription drug addictions.

He has supported many organizations through the years, including the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the YWCA and YMCA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the NAACP.
Grammy history

Mathis received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artist significance to the field of recording.
Grammy Hall of Fame

Johnny Mathis was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Grammy Hall of Fame Awards
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1957 "It's Not for Me to Say" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 2008
1959 "Misty" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 2002
1957 "Chances Are" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 1998
Discography
Singles
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC US
R&B UK
1957 "Wonderful! Wonderful!" 14 - - —
"It's Not For Me To Say" 5 - - —
"Chances Are" 1 - 12 —
"The Twelfth of Never" 9 - - —
"No Love (But Your Love)" 21 - - —
"Wild Is the Wind" 22 - - —
1958 "Come To Me" 22 - - —
"All the Time" 21 - - —
"Teacher, Teacher" 21 - - 27
"A Certain Smile" 14 - - 4
"Call Me" 21 - - —
"Winter Wonderland" - - - 17
1959 "Let's Love" 44 - - —
"You Are Beautiful" 60 - - 38
"Someone" 35 - - 6
"Small World" 20 - - —
"You Are Everything To Me" 109 - - —
"Misty" 12 - 10 12
"The Story of Our Love" 93 - - —
"The Best of Everything" 62 - - 30
1960 "Starbright" 25 - - 47
"Maria" 78 - - —
"My Love For You" 47 - - 9
"How To Handle a Woman" 64 - - —
1961 "You Set My Heart To Music" 107 - - —
"Jenny" 118 - - —
"Wasn't the Summer Short?" 89 - - —
1962 "Sweet Thursday" 99 - - —
"Marianna" 86 - - —
"Gina" 6 2 - —
1963 "What Will Mary Say" 9 3 21 49
"Every Step of the Way" 30 10 - —
"Sooner or Later" 84 - - —
"Come Back" 61 - - —
"Your Teenage Dreams" 68 19 - —
"I'll Search My Heart" 90 - - —
1964 "Bye Bye Barbara" 53 17 - -
"The Fall of Love" 120 - - —
"Taste of Tears" 87 - - —
"Listen Lonely Girl" 62 11 - —
1965 "Take the Time" 104 32 - —
"Sweetheart Tree" 108 21 - —
"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" 98 6 - —
1966 "So Nice (Samba de Verao)" - 17 - —
1967 "Two Tickets and a Candy Heart" - 38 - -
"Don't Talk To Me" - 21 - -
"Misty Roses" - 40 - -
1968 "Venus" 111 23 - —
"You Make Me Think About You" - 35 - —
1969 "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" - 39 - —
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" - 35 - —
"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (A Time For Us)" 96 8 - —
"Midnight Cowboy" - 20 - —
1970 "Odds and Ends" - 30 - —
"Wherefore and Why" - 17 - —
"Pieces of Dreams" - 9 - —
"Evil Ways" - 30 - —
1971 "Ten Times Forever More" - 32 - -
1972 "Make It Easy On Yourself" 103 16 - -
"Soul and Inspiration/For Once In My Life" - 37 - -
1973 "Take Good Care of Her" - 40 - -
"Show and Tell" - 36 - -
"I'm Coming Home" 75 1 92 -
"Life Is a Song Worth Singing" 54 8 65 —
1974 "Sweet Child" - 35 - -
1975 "Sail On White Moon" - 39 - -
"I'm Stone In Love With You" - 16 - 10
"Stardust" - 4 - -
1976 "One Day In Your Life" - 36 - -
"Yellow Roses On Her Gown" - 44 - -
"Do Me Wrong, But Do Me" - 25 - -
"When a Child Is Born" - - - 1
1977 "Loving You-Losing You" - 29 - -
"Arianne" - 24 - -
1978 "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" ** 1 1 1 3
"You're All I Need To Get By" ** 47 16 10 45
1979 "The Last Time I Felt Like This" *** - 15 - -
"Begin the Beguine" - 37 - -
"Gone, Gone, Gone" - - - 15
1980 "Different Kinda Different" # - - 81 -
1982 "Friends In Love" ## 38 5 22 —
1984 "Love Won't Let Me Wait" ** 106 14 32 —
"Simple" 81 6 43 —
1985 "Right From the Heart" - 38 - -
1988 "I'm On the Outside Looking In" - 27 - -
1992 "Better Together" ### - - 68 -
2003 "Frosty the Snowman" - 29 - -

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/Johnny%20Mathis/MV5BMTMwMTI5NzYwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTY.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu344/christina_coronado/MATHIS.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 09/30/11 at 7:05 am


The person of the day...Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis ( born September 30, 1935)is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts. According to Guinness Book of World Records writer and charts music historian Paul Gambaccini, Johnny Mathis has sold 350 million records worldwide.
He has received three Grammy awards. In 1979, his hit duet "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from the film Same Time, Next Year was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mathis and Jane Olivor sang the song at the Oscar ceremony. This was his second performance at the Academy Awards. He has taped twelve of his own television specials and made over 300 television guest appearances with 33 of them being on The Tonight Show. Through the years his songs (or parts of them) have been heard in 100 plus television shows and films around the globe. His appearance on the Live by Request broadcast in May 1998 on the A&E Network had the largest television viewing audience of the series. Also in 1989, Johnny sang the theme for the ABC daytime soap opera Loving.

Mathis continues to perform but from 2000 onwards has limited his concert engagements to fifty to sixty appearances per year. In 2006, his schedule included a UK tour that included his annual Scottish golf vacation and attendance at the 2006 Ryder Cup, two stints at his favourite Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Tonight Show host Johnny Carson said: "Johnny Mathis is the best ballad singer in the world." He appeared on the NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a guest on March 29, 2007 performing the classic "The Shadow of Your Smile" with saxophonist Dave Koz. Mathis returned to the UK Top 20 album chart in 2007 with the Sony BMG release "The Very Best of Johnny Mathis" and again in 2008 with the Columbia CD "A Night to Remember". Also in 2007, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

A performance by Mathis in Florida in 2009 netted him $65,000 in artist fees and royalties.
Personal life

In a 1982 Us Magazine article, Mathis was quoted as having said, "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to." Us Magazine later retracted the statement. After more than 20 years of silence on the subject, Mathis revealed in an interview, in 2006, that his silence was due to death threats he received as a result of that 1982 article. On April 13, 2006, Mathis granted a podcast interview with The Strip in which he talked about the subject once again, and how some of his reticence to speak of the subject was partially generational.

Despite missing the Olympic high jump trials, he has never abandoned his enthusiasm for sports and today is an avid golfer who has achieved six holes-in-one, and has hosted several Johnny Mathis Golf Tournaments in the United Kingdom and the USA. Since 1985 he has been hosting a charity golf tournament in Belfast sponsored by Shell corporation, and the annual Johnny Mathis Invitational Track & Field Meet has continued at San Francisco State University since it started in 1982.

In 1982 he published a cookbook, Cooking for You Alone.

Mathis has undergone rehab for both alcohol and prescription drug addictions.

He has supported many organizations through the years, including the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the YWCA and YMCA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the NAACP.
Grammy history

Mathis received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artist significance to the field of recording.
Grammy Hall of Fame

Johnny Mathis was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Grammy Hall of Fame Awards
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1957 "It's Not for Me to Say" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 2008
1959 "Misty" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 2002
1957 "Chances Are" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 1998
Discography
Singles
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC US
R&B UK
1957 "Wonderful! Wonderful!" 14 - - —
"It's Not For Me To Say" 5 - - —
"Chances Are" 1 - 12 —
"The Twelfth of Never" 9 - - —
"No Love (But Your Love)" 21 - - —
"Wild Is the Wind" 22 - - —
1958 "Come To Me" 22 - - —
"All the Time" 21 - - —
"Teacher, Teacher" 21 - - 27
"A Certain Smile" 14 - - 4
"Call Me" 21 - - —
"Winter Wonderland" - - - 17
1959 "Let's Love" 44 - - —
"You Are Beautiful" 60 - - 38
"Someone" 35 - - 6
"Small World" 20 - - —
"You Are Everything To Me" 109 - - —
"Misty" 12 - 10 12
"The Story of Our Love" 93 - - —
"The Best of Everything" 62 - - 30
1960 "Starbright" 25 - - 47
"Maria" 78 - - —
"My Love For You" 47 - - 9
"How To Handle a Woman" 64 - - —
1961 "You Set My Heart To Music" 107 - - —
"Jenny" 118 - - —
"Wasn't the Summer Short?" 89 - - —
1962 "Sweet Thursday" 99 - - —
"Marianna" 86 - - —
"Gina" 6 2 - —
1963 "What Will Mary Say" 9 3 21 49
"Every Step of the Way" 30 10 - —
"Sooner or Later" 84 - - —
"Come Back" 61 - - —
"Your Teenage Dreams" 68 19 - —
"I'll Search My Heart" 90 - - —
1964 "Bye Bye Barbara" 53 17 - -
"The Fall of Love" 120 - - —
"Taste of Tears" 87 - - —
"Listen Lonely Girl" 62 11 - —
1965 "Take the Time" 104 32 - —
"Sweetheart Tree" 108 21 - —
"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" 98 6 - —
1966 "So Nice (Samba de Verao)" - 17 - —
1967 "Two Tickets and a Candy Heart" - 38 - -
"Don't Talk To Me" - 21 - -
"Misty Roses" - 40 - -
1968 "Venus" 111 23 - —
"You Make Me Think About You" - 35 - —
1969 "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" - 39 - —
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" - 35 - —
"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (A Time For Us)" 96 8 - —
"Midnight Cowboy" - 20 - —
1970 "Odds and Ends" - 30 - —
"Wherefore and Why" - 17 - —
"Pieces of Dreams" - 9 - —
"Evil Ways" - 30 - —
1971 "Ten Times Forever More" - 32 - -
1972 "Make It Easy On Yourself" 103 16 - -
"Soul and Inspiration/For Once In My Life" - 37 - -
1973 "Take Good Care of Her" - 40 - -
"Show and Tell" - 36 - -
"I'm Coming Home" 75 1 92 -
"Life Is a Song Worth Singing" 54 8 65 —
1974 "Sweet Child" - 35 - -
1975 "Sail On White Moon" - 39 - -
"I'm Stone In Love With You" - 16 - 10
"Stardust" - 4 - -
1976 "One Day In Your Life" - 36 - -
"Yellow Roses On Her Gown" - 44 - -
"Do Me Wrong, But Do Me" - 25 - -
"When a Child Is Born" - - - 1
1977 "Loving You-Losing You" - 29 - -
"Arianne" - 24 - -
1978 "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" ** 1 1 1 3
"You're All I Need To Get By" ** 47 16 10 45
1979 "The Last Time I Felt Like This" *** - 15 - -
"Begin the Beguine" - 37 - -
"Gone, Gone, Gone" - - - 15
1980 "Different Kinda Different" # - - 81 -
1982 "Friends In Love" ## 38 5 22 —
1984 "Love Won't Let Me Wait" ** 106 14 32 —
"Simple" 81 6 43 —
1985 "Right From the Heart" - 38 - -
1988 "I'm On the Outside Looking In" - 27 - -
1992 "Better Together" ### - - 68 -
2003 "Frosty the Snowman" - 29 - -

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/Johnny%20Mathis/MV5BMTMwMTI5NzYwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTY.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu344/christina_coronado/MATHIS.jpg


I remember he did a duet with Deniece Williams.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/30/11 at 11:20 am


I remember he did a duet with Deniece Williams.

That was "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" from 1978. ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 09/30/11 at 3:06 pm


The person of the day...Johnny Mathis

It's not for me to say but, chances are I knew you were going to post this. It's just wonderfdul wonderful.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/30/11 at 10:21 pm


The person of the day...Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis ( born September 30, 1935)is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts. According to Guinness Book of World Records writer and charts music historian Paul Gambaccini, Johnny Mathis has sold 350 million records worldwide.
He has received three Grammy awards. In 1979, his hit duet "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from the film Same Time, Next Year was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mathis and Jane Olivor sang the song at the Oscar ceremony. This was his second performance at the Academy Awards. He has taped twelve of his own television specials and made over 300 television guest appearances with 33 of them being on The Tonight Show. Through the years his songs (or parts of them) have been heard in 100 plus television shows and films around the globe. His appearance on the Live by Request broadcast in May 1998 on the A&E Network had the largest television viewing audience of the series. Also in 1989, Johnny sang the theme for the ABC daytime soap opera Loving.

Mathis continues to perform but from 2000 onwards has limited his concert engagements to fifty to sixty appearances per year. In 2006, his schedule included a UK tour that included his annual Scottish golf vacation and attendance at the 2006 Ryder Cup, two stints at his favourite Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Tonight Show host Johnny Carson said: "Johnny Mathis is the best ballad singer in the world." He appeared on the NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a guest on March 29, 2007 performing the classic "The Shadow of Your Smile" with saxophonist Dave Koz. Mathis returned to the UK Top 20 album chart in 2007 with the Sony BMG release "The Very Best of Johnny Mathis" and again in 2008 with the Columbia CD "A Night to Remember". Also in 2007, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

A performance by Mathis in Florida in 2009 netted him $65,000 in artist fees and royalties.
Personal life

In a 1982 Us Magazine article, Mathis was quoted as having said, "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to." Us Magazine later retracted the statement. After more than 20 years of silence on the subject, Mathis revealed in an interview, in 2006, that his silence was due to death threats he received as a result of that 1982 article. On April 13, 2006, Mathis granted a podcast interview with The Strip in which he talked about the subject once again, and how some of his reticence to speak of the subject was partially generational.

Despite missing the Olympic high jump trials, he has never abandoned his enthusiasm for sports and today is an avid golfer who has achieved six holes-in-one, and has hosted several Johnny Mathis Golf Tournaments in the United Kingdom and the USA. Since 1985 he has been hosting a charity golf tournament in Belfast sponsored by Shell corporation, and the annual Johnny Mathis Invitational Track & Field Meet has continued at San Francisco State University since it started in 1982.

In 1982 he published a cookbook, Cooking for You Alone.

Mathis has undergone rehab for both alcohol and prescription drug addictions.

He has supported many organizations through the years, including the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, the YWCA and YMCA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the NAACP.
Grammy history

Mathis received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artist significance to the field of recording.
Grammy Hall of Fame

Johnny Mathis was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Grammy Hall of Fame Awards
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1957 "It's Not for Me to Say" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 2008
1959 "Misty" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 2002
1957 "Chances Are" Traditional Pop (Single) Columbia 1998
Discography
Singles
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC US
R&B UK
1957 "Wonderful! Wonderful!" 14 - - —
"It's Not For Me To Say" 5 - - —
"Chances Are" 1 - 12 —
"The Twelfth of Never" 9 - - —
"No Love (But Your Love)" 21 - - —
"Wild Is the Wind" 22 - - —
1958 "Come To Me" 22 - - —
"All the Time" 21 - - —
"Teacher, Teacher" 21 - - 27
"A Certain Smile" 14 - - 4
"Call Me" 21 - - —
"Winter Wonderland" - - - 17
1959 "Let's Love" 44 - - —
"You Are Beautiful" 60 - - 38
"Someone" 35 - - 6
"Small World" 20 - - —
"You Are Everything To Me" 109 - - —
"Misty" 12 - 10 12
"The Story of Our Love" 93 - - —
"The Best of Everything" 62 - - 30
1960 "Starbright" 25 - - 47
"Maria" 78 - - —
"My Love For You" 47 - - 9
"How To Handle a Woman" 64 - - —
1961 "You Set My Heart To Music" 107 - - —
"Jenny" 118 - - —
"Wasn't the Summer Short?" 89 - - —
1962 "Sweet Thursday" 99 - - —
"Marianna" 86 - - —
"Gina" 6 2 - —
1963 "What Will Mary Say" 9 3 21 49
"Every Step of the Way" 30 10 - —
"Sooner or Later" 84 - - —
"Come Back" 61 - - —
"Your Teenage Dreams" 68 19 - —
"I'll Search My Heart" 90 - - —
1964 "Bye Bye Barbara" 53 17 - -
"The Fall of Love" 120 - - —
"Taste of Tears" 87 - - —
"Listen Lonely Girl" 62 11 - —
1965 "Take the Time" 104 32 - —
"Sweetheart Tree" 108 21 - —
"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" 98 6 - —
1966 "So Nice (Samba de Verao)" - 17 - —
1967 "Two Tickets and a Candy Heart" - 38 - -
"Don't Talk To Me" - 21 - -
"Misty Roses" - 40 - -
1968 "Venus" 111 23 - —
"You Make Me Think About You" - 35 - —
1969 "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" - 39 - —
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" - 35 - —
"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (A Time For Us)" 96 8 - —
"Midnight Cowboy" - 20 - —
1970 "Odds and Ends" - 30 - —
"Wherefore and Why" - 17 - —
"Pieces of Dreams" - 9 - —
"Evil Ways" - 30 - —
1971 "Ten Times Forever More" - 32 - -
1972 "Make It Easy On Yourself" 103 16 - -
"Soul and Inspiration/For Once In My Life" - 37 - -
1973 "Take Good Care of Her" - 40 - -
"Show and Tell" - 36 - -
"I'm Coming Home" 75 1 92 -
"Life Is a Song Worth Singing" 54 8 65 —
1974 "Sweet Child" - 35 - -
1975 "Sail On White Moon" - 39 - -
"I'm Stone In Love With You" - 16 - 10
"Stardust" - 4 - -
1976 "One Day In Your Life" - 36 - -
"Yellow Roses On Her Gown" - 44 - -
"Do Me Wrong, But Do Me" - 25 - -
"When a Child Is Born" - - - 1
1977 "Loving You-Losing You" - 29 - -
"Arianne" - 24 - -
1978 "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" ** 1 1 1 3
"You're All I Need To Get By" ** 47 16 10 45
1979 "The Last Time I Felt Like This" *** - 15 - -
"Begin the Beguine" - 37 - -
"Gone, Gone, Gone" - - - 15
1980 "Different Kinda Different" # - - 81 -
1982 "Friends In Love" ## 38 5 22 —
1984 "Love Won't Let Me Wait" ** 106 14 32 —
"Simple" 81 6 43 —
1985 "Right From the Heart" - 38 - -
1988 "I'm On the Outside Looking In" - 27 - -
1992 "Better Together" ### - - 68 -
2003 "Frosty the Snowman" - 29 - -

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/Johnny%20Mathis/MV5BMTMwMTI5NzYwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTY.jpg
http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu344/christina_coronado/MATHIS.jpg
Latest tour dates:

Wednesday Oct 12, 2011 London, England The O2 Arena
Friday Oct 14, 2011 Birmingham, England LG Arena
Sunday Oct 16, 2011 Manchester, England Manchester Evening News Arena
Friday Nov 4, 2011 Altoona, IA Prairie Meadows Event Center
Sunday Nov 6, 2011 Omaha, NE Orpheum Theatre
Friday Nov 18, 2011 Branson, MO The Mansion
Saturday Nov 19, 2011 Branson, MO

The Mansion
Friday Dec 2, 2011 Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre
Sunday Dec 4, 2011 Costa Mesa, CA

Segerstrom Center For The Arts
Friday Dec 23, 2011 Cupertino, CA Flint Center For Performing Arts
Saturday Jan 7, 2012 Melbourne, FL King Center For the Performing Arts
Monday Jan 9, 2012 Naples, FL

Philharmonic Center For the Arts
Saturday Feb 11, 2012 Rancho Mirage, CA Agua Caliente Casino
Tuesday Feb 14, 2012 Nashville, TN Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Friday Mar 2, 2012 West Palm Beach, FL Kravis Center - Dreyfoos Hall
Sunday Mar 4, 2012 Daytona Beach, FL Peabody Auditorium
Saturday Mar 24, 2012 Coumbus, OH

Ohio Theatre
Thursday Apr 5, 2012 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Saturday Apr 7, 2012 Greenville, SC

Peace Center for the Performing Arts
Thursday April 19, 2012 Easton, PA State Theatre Center For the Arts
Saturday Apr 21, 2012 New Brunswick, NJ State Theatre

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 09/30/11 at 11:59 pm


Latest tour dates:

Wednesday Oct 12, 2011 London, England The O2 Arena
Friday Oct 14, 2011 Birmingham, England LG Arena
Sunday Oct 16, 2011 Manchester, England Manchester Evening News Arena
Friday Nov 4, 2011 Altoona, IA Prairie Meadows Event Center
Sunday Nov 6, 2011 Omaha, NE Orpheum Theatre
Friday Nov 18, 2011 Branson, MO The Mansion
Saturday Nov 19, 2011 Branson, MO The Mansion
Friday Dec 2, 2011 Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre
Sunday Dec 4, 2011 Costa Mesa, CA Segerstrom Center For The Arts
Friday Dec 23, 2011 Cupertino, CA Flint Center For Performing Arts
Saturday Jan 7, 2012 Melbourne, FL King Center For the Performing Arts
Monday Jan 9, 2012 Naples, FL Philharmonic Center For the Arts
Saturday Feb 11, 2012 Rancho Mirage, CA Agua Caliente Casino
Tuesday Feb 14, 2012 Nashville, TN Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Friday Mar 2, 2012 West Palm Beach, FL Kravis Center - Dreyfoos Hall
Sunday Mar 4, 2012 Daytona Beach, FL Peabody Auditorium
Saturday Mar 24, 2012 Coumbus, OH Ohio Theatre
Thursday Apr 5, 2012 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Saturday Apr 7, 2012 Greenville, SC Peace Center for the Performing Arts
Thursday April 19, 2012 Easton, PA State Theatre Center For the Arts
Saturday Apr 21, 2012 New Brunswick, NJ State Theatre

So the closest he'll be to me is Costa Mesa, which is in Orange County.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/01/11 at 4:43 am


So the closest he'll be to me is Costa Mesa, which is in Orange County.
In London om October 12th, probably sold out.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/01/11 at 5:34 pm

Let's see... today is the 87th birthday of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who served a single term as president (1977-81), and has remained politically active in his 30 years since leaving office.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/01/11 at 5:36 pm


Let's see... today is the 87th birthday of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who served a single term as president (1977-81), and has remained politically active in his 30 years since leaving office.



You forgot: Recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/01/11 at 5:42 pm



You forgot: Recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.



Cat

Oh yes, that too!

I wasn't quite sure of the year for some reason.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/02/11 at 3:20 am


Let's see... today is the 87th birthday of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who served a single term as president (1977-81), and has remained politically active in his 30 years since leaving office.
Is he still a peanut farmer?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/02/11 at 2:24 pm


Is he still a peanut farmer?

He could be. He still lives in Plains, Georgia, where he plans to stay for the rest of his life, according to what I've read on Wikopedia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/03/11 at 3:28 pm

The person of the day...Clive Owen
Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991. He then garnered critical acclaim for his work in the film Close My Eyes (1991) before getting international notice for his performance as a struggling writer in Croupier (1998). In 2005, Owen won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his appearance in the drama Closer (2004). He has since played leading as well as supporting roles in films such as Sin City (2005), Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006), and The International (2009).
Initially, Owen carved out a career in television. In 1988 Owen starred as Gideon Sarn in a BBC production of Precious Bane and the Channel 4 film Vroom before the 1990s saw him become a regular on stage and television in the UK, notably his lead role in the ITV series Chancer, followed by an appearance in the Thames Television production of Lorna Doone.

He won critical acclaim for his performances in the 1991 Stephen Poliakoff film Close My Eyes – in which he has a full frontal nude scene – about a brother and sister who embark on an incestuous love affair. He subsequently appeared in The Magician, Class of '61, Century, Nobody's Children, An Evening with Gary Lineker, Doomsday Gun, Return of the Native and then a Carlton production called Sharman, about a private detective. In 1996, he appeared in his first major Hollywood film The Rich Man's Wife alongside Halle Berry before finding international acclaim in a Channel 4 film directed by Mike Hodges called Croupier (1998). In Croupier, he played the title role of a struggling writer who takes a job in a London casino as inspiration for his work, only to get caught up in a robbery scheme. In 1999, he appeared as an accident-prone driver in Split Second, his first BBC production in a decade.

He then starred in The Echo, a BBC1 drama. He starred in a film called Greenfingers about a criminal who goes to work in a garden, before appearing in the BBC1 mystery series Second Sight. In 2001, he provided the voice-over for a BBC2 documentary about popular music through the years called Walk On By, as well as starring in a highly-acclaimed theatre production called A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, about a couple with a severely handicapped daughter.

He became well known to North American audiences in the summer of 2001 after starring as The Driver in The Hire, a series of short films sponsored by BMW and made by prominent directors. He then appeared in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, alongside an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Phillippe. He appeared in the 2002 hit The Bourne Identity. In 2003, he teamed up with Hodges again to make I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. He starred in Beyond Borders and took on the title role in King Arthur, for which he took riding lessons.

Owen appeared in the West End and Broadway hit play Closer, by Patrick Marber, which was produced as a film, and was released in 2005. He played "Dan" in the play, but was "Larry" the dermatologist in the film version. His portrayal of Larry in the film version earned him a lot of recognition as well as the Golden Globe and BAFTA award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He noted that the expectations of him since the Oscar nomination have not changed the way he approaches film-making, stating "I try, every film I do, to be as good as I can and that's all I can do."

After Closer, he appeared in Derailed alongside Jennifer Aniston, the comic book thriller Sin City as the noir antihero Dwight McCarthy and as a mysterious bank robber in Inside Man. Despite public denials, Owen had long been rumoured to be a possible successor to Pierce Brosnan in the role of James Bond. A public opinion poll in the United Kingdom in October 2005 (SkyNews) found that he was the public's number one choice to star in the next installment of the series. In that same month, however, it was announced that fellow British actor Daniel Craig would become the next James Bond. In an interview in the September 2007 issue of Details, he claimed that he was never offered or even approached concerning the role. In 2006, Owen spoofed the Bond connection by making an appearance in the remake of The Pink Panther in which he plays a character named "Nigel Boswell, Agent 006" (when he introduces himself to Inspector Clouseau, he quips that Owen's character is "one short of the big time").
Owen at the Children of Men Premiere in Mexico City, 2006

In 2006, Owen starred in the highly acclaimed Children of Men, for which he received widespread praise. The film was nominated for various awards, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Owen worked on the screenplay, although he was uncredited. The next year he starred alongside Paul Giamatti in the film Shoot 'Em Up and appeared as Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I of England in the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He appeared in the Christmas special of the Ricky Gervais show Extras, as revealed in the video podcast teaser. Owen starred in The International (2009), a film which he described as a "paranoid political thriller". He then played the lead in The Boys Are Back, an Australian adaptation of the book The Boys Are Back In Town by Simon Carr.

In April 2010, he was cast as the lead in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's horror-thriller Intruders.

In June 2010 it was announced that Owen and Nicole Kidman will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. James Gandolfini will serve as executive producer to the film written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl. The film will be directed by Philip Kaufman and will reportedly begin shooting next year.

Clive is currently shooting 'Shadow Dancer' joint Irish UK production about a young mother who is heavily involved with the Irish republican Movement. She is arrested in London following an aborted bombing attempt and must either choose to inform on her family or spend the rest of her life behind bars. The Film also stars Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson and Aidan Gillen and is being directed by James Marsh.
Personal life

In an incident he later described as "very schmaltzy", Owen met his future wife, actress Sarah-Jane Fenton, when they performed the leads in Romeo and Juliet at the Young Vic. The couple married on 6 March 1995 and live in Highgate, London and Wrabness, north Essex, with their two daughters – Hannah and Eve.

In November 2006, he became patron of the Electric Palace Cinema in Harwich, Essex, England and launched an appeal for funds to repair deteriorating elements of the fabric.

He enjoys the music of indie rock band Hard-Fi and has been seen at two of their concerts, Brixton Academy, 15 May 2006 and Wembley Arena, 18 December 2007. He is also an avid Liverpool F.C fan.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Vroom Jake
Boon Geoff Boon – TV Series 3 – Episode 8 "Peacemaker"
1989 Precious Bane Gideon Sarn TV movie
1990 Chancer Stephen Crane/Derek Love TV series: 20 Episodes
Lorna Doone John Ridd TV Movie
1991 Close My Eyes Richard
1993 Class of '61 Devin O'Neil TV Movie
Century Paul Reisner
The Magician Det. Con. George Byrne TV Movie
1994 The Return of the Native Damon Wildeve TV Movie
Doomsday Gun Dov TV Movie
An Evening with Gary Lineker Bill TV Movie
Nobody's Children Bratu TV Movie
The Turnaround Nick Sharman Pilot for TV series Sharman
1995 Bad Boy Blues Paul TV Movie
1996 Privateer 2: The Darkening Ser Lev Aris Video game
The Rich Man's Wife Jake Golden
Sharman Nick Sharman TV series: 4 Episodes
1997 Croupier Jack Manfred
Bent Max
1998 The Echo Michael Deacon Television series
1999 Split Second Michael Anderson TV Movie
Second Sight DCI Ross Tanner Television series
2000 Greenfingers Colin Briggs
Second Sight series two DCI Ross Tanner Television series
2001 The Hire The Driver
Gosford Park Robert Parks Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Walk On By Narrator TV documentary
Voice Only
2002 The Bourne Identity The Professor
2003 Beyond Borders Nick Callahan
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Will
2004 Closer Larry BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Toronto Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
King Arthur Arthur
2005 Derailed Charles Schine
Sin City Dwight McCarthy
2006 Children of Men Theo Faron Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award Best Actor
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Inside Man Dalton Russell
The Pink Panther Nigel Boswell/Agent 006 Uncredited Cameo
2007 Elizabeth: The Golden Age Sir Walter Raleigh
Shoot 'Em Up Smith Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2009 The International Louis Salinger
Duplicity Ray Koval
The Boys Are Back Joe Warr Also Executive Producer
2011 Trust Will Cameron
Killer Elite Spike
http://i320.photobucket.com/albums/nn323/bestiesfromthewesties/clive.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f358/greendee07/clive_owen_99.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/04/11 at 1:18 am


The person of the day...Clive Owen
Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991. He then garnered critical acclaim for his work in the film Close My Eyes (1991) before getting international notice for his performance as a struggling writer in Croupier (1998). In 2005, Owen won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his appearance in the drama Closer (2004). He has since played leading as well as supporting roles in films such as Sin City (2005), Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006), and The International (2009).
Initially, Owen carved out a career in television. In 1988 Owen starred as Gideon Sarn in a BBC production of Precious Bane and the Channel 4 film Vroom before the 1990s saw him become a regular on stage and television in the UK, notably his lead role in the ITV series Chancer, followed by an appearance in the Thames Television production of Lorna Doone.

He won critical acclaim for his performances in the 1991 Stephen Poliakoff film Close My Eyes – in which he has a full frontal nude scene – about a brother and sister who embark on an incestuous love affair. He subsequently appeared in The Magician, Class of '61, Century, Nobody's Children, An Evening with Gary Lineker, Doomsday Gun, Return of the Native and then a Carlton production called Sharman, about a private detective. In 1996, he appeared in his first major Hollywood film The Rich Man's Wife alongside Halle Berry before finding international acclaim in a Channel 4 film directed by Mike Hodges called Croupier (1998). In Croupier, he played the title role of a struggling writer who takes a job in a London casino as inspiration for his work, only to get caught up in a robbery scheme. In 1999, he appeared as an accident-prone driver in Split Second, his first BBC production in a decade.

He then starred in The Echo, a BBC1 drama. He starred in a film called Greenfingers about a criminal who goes to work in a garden, before appearing in the BBC1 mystery series Second Sight. In 2001, he provided the voice-over for a BBC2 documentary about popular music through the years called Walk On By, as well as starring in a highly-acclaimed theatre production called A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, about a couple with a severely handicapped daughter.

He became well known to North American audiences in the summer of 2001 after starring as The Driver in The Hire, a series of short films sponsored by BMW and made by prominent directors. He then appeared in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, alongside an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Phillippe. He appeared in the 2002 hit The Bourne Identity. In 2003, he teamed up with Hodges again to make I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. He starred in Beyond Borders and took on the title role in King Arthur, for which he took riding lessons.

Owen appeared in the West End and Broadway hit play Closer, by Patrick Marber, which was produced as a film, and was released in 2005. He played "Dan" in the play, but was "Larry" the dermatologist in the film version. His portrayal of Larry in the film version earned him a lot of recognition as well as the Golden Globe and BAFTA award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He noted that the expectations of him since the Oscar nomination have not changed the way he approaches film-making, stating "I try, every film I do, to be as good as I can and that's all I can do."

After Closer, he appeared in Derailed alongside Jennifer Aniston, the comic book thriller Sin City as the noir antihero Dwight McCarthy and as a mysterious bank robber in Inside Man. Despite public denials, Owen had long been rumoured to be a possible successor to Pierce Brosnan in the role of James Bond. A public opinion poll in the United Kingdom in October 2005 (SkyNews) found that he was the public's number one choice to star in the next installment of the series. In that same month, however, it was announced that fellow British actor Daniel Craig would become the next James Bond. In an interview in the September 2007 issue of Details, he claimed that he was never offered or even approached concerning the role. In 2006, Owen spoofed the Bond connection by making an appearance in the remake of The Pink Panther in which he plays a character named "Nigel Boswell, Agent 006" (when he introduces himself to Inspector Clouseau, he quips that Owen's character is "one short of the big time").
Owen at the Children of Men Premiere in Mexico City, 2006

In 2006, Owen starred in the highly acclaimed Children of Men, for which he received widespread praise. The film was nominated for various awards, including an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Owen worked on the screenplay, although he was uncredited. The next year he starred alongside Paul Giamatti in the film Shoot 'Em Up and appeared as Sir Walter Raleigh opposite Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I of England in the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He appeared in the Christmas special of the Ricky Gervais show Extras, as revealed in the video podcast teaser. Owen starred in The International (2009), a film which he described as a "paranoid political thriller". He then played the lead in The Boys Are Back, an Australian adaptation of the book The Boys Are Back In Town by Simon Carr.

In April 2010, he was cast as the lead in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's horror-thriller Intruders.

In June 2010 it was announced that Owen and Nicole Kidman will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. James Gandolfini will serve as executive producer to the film written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl. The film will be directed by Philip Kaufman and will reportedly begin shooting next year.

Clive is currently shooting 'Shadow Dancer' joint Irish UK production about a young mother who is heavily involved with the Irish republican Movement. She is arrested in London following an aborted bombing attempt and must either choose to inform on her family or spend the rest of her life behind bars. The Film also stars Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson and Aidan Gillen and is being directed by James Marsh.
Personal life

In an incident he later described as "very schmaltzy", Owen met his future wife, actress Sarah-Jane Fenton, when they performed the leads in Romeo and Juliet at the Young Vic. The couple married on 6 March 1995 and live in Highgate, London and Wrabness, north Essex, with their two daughters – Hannah and Eve.

In November 2006, he became patron of the Electric Palace Cinema in Harwich, Essex, England and launched an appeal for funds to repair deteriorating elements of the fabric.

He enjoys the music of indie rock band Hard-Fi and has been seen at two of their concerts, Brixton Academy, 15 May 2006 and Wembley Arena, 18 December 2007. He is also an avid Liverpool F.C fan.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1988 Vroom Jake
Boon Geoff Boon – TV Series 3 – Episode 8 "Peacemaker"
1989 Precious Bane Gideon Sarn TV movie
1990 Chancer Stephen Crane/Derek Love TV series: 20 Episodes
Lorna Doone John Ridd TV Movie
1991 Close My Eyes Richard
1993 Class of '61 Devin O'Neil TV Movie
Century Paul Reisner
The Magician Det. Con. George Byrne TV Movie
1994 The Return of the Native Damon Wildeve TV Movie
Doomsday Gun Dov TV Movie
An Evening with Gary Lineker Bill TV Movie
Nobody's Children Bratu TV Movie
The Turnaround Nick Sharman Pilot for TV series Sharman
1995 Bad Boy Blues Paul TV Movie
1996 Privateer 2: The Darkening Ser Lev Aris Video game
The Rich Man's Wife Jake Golden
Sharman Nick Sharman TV series: 4 Episodes
1997 Croupier Jack Manfred
Bent Max
1998 The Echo Michael Deacon Television series
1999 Split Second Michael Anderson TV Movie
Second Sight DCI Ross Tanner Television series
2000 Greenfingers Colin Briggs
Second Sight series two DCI Ross Tanner Television series
2001 The Hire The Driver
Gosford Park Robert Parks Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Walk On By Narrator TV documentary
Voice Only
2002 The Bourne Identity The Professor
2003 Beyond Borders Nick Callahan
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Will
2004 Closer Larry BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Toronto Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated — Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
King Arthur Arthur
2005 Derailed Charles Schine
Sin City Dwight McCarthy
2006 Children of Men Theo Faron Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award Best Actor
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
Inside Man Dalton Russell
The Pink Panther Nigel Boswell/Agent 006 Uncredited Cameo
2007 Elizabeth: The Golden Age Sir Walter Raleigh
Shoot 'Em Up Smith Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2009 The International Louis Salinger
Duplicity Ray Koval
The Boys Are Back Joe Warr Also Executive Producer
2011 Trust Will Cameron
Killer Elite Spike
http://i320.photobucket.com/albums/nn323/bestiesfromthewesties/clive.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f358/greendee07/clive_owen_99.jpg

He was once rumoured to be the next James Bond.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/09/11 at 3:40 am

British Person of the Day: Alastair Sim

Alastair Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two St. Trinian's films. He was memorably described by comedian Ronnie Corbett as a "sad-faced actor, with the voice of a fastidious ghoul", in Corbett's autobiography High Hopes.

Early life

Alastair Sim was born in Edinburgh in 1900. His mother had been born on the island of Eigg, and when she came to the mainland in her teens she could speak only Gaelic. His father, Alexander Sim, was a prosperous businessman with property in Braemar and Edinburgh. He designed and paid for the construction of the Earl Haig Gardens in Edinburgh for the use of returning servicemen to sit in during the day.

Alastair Sim was educated at the independent George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He became an elocution and drama lecturer at the University of Edinburgh from 1925 until 1930, where he was later rector from 1948 until 1951. He once remarked to an interviewer, "As I passed imperceptibly from a beautiful child to a strong and handsome lad, I wanted more than anything else in the world to be, of all things, a hypnotist. I practised on gentle dogs."

Acting career

Preferring the stage, Sim made his London debut in Othello in 1930. He also appeared for a season at the Old Vic. He notably portrayed Captain Hook in six different stage productions of Peter Pan between 1941 and 1968.

He made his film debut in 1935 in The Case of Gabriel Perry, and spent the remainder of the decade playing supporting roles in films, often being credited with "stealing the scene" from the star. As a supporting actor, his most notable success was as Detective Sergeant Bingham, a light comedy role played opposite Gordon Harker, in the popular Inspector Hornleigh film series: Inspector Hornleigh (1939), Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday (1939), and Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It (1941). He outshone Harker to the extent that it was frequently unclear who was actually the star.

As a result, by the 1940s he had progressed to leading roles; and in 1950 he was voted the most popular film actor in Britain in a national cinema poll. His earliest successes as a leading man included the police detective in the thriller Green for Danger (1946); as the headmaster of Nutbourne College, co-starring with Margaret Rutherford, in the comedy The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950); and as a writer of lurid crime fiction in the comedy Laughter in Paradise (1951).

Also in 1951, he gave his most celebrated performance: playing the title role of Scrooge in a film adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

In 1971, he revisited the character, voicing an Academy Award-winning animated film version of Dickens's story.

He is perhaps best remembered for portraying the headmistress, Miss Fritton, in two of the St Trinian's film comedies, principally the first, The Belles of St Trinian's (1954), in which he also played her shady brother, Clarence Fritton. He later reprised the role (albeit in a cameo part) of Miss Fritton in Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957). Though Scottish, he turned down the lead role in Whisky Galore! saying "I can't bear professional Scotsmen".

Other notable film roles included Waterloo Road (1944), Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950), Folly to be Wise (1953), and An Inspector Calls (1954). His performance as Mr Squales in London Belongs to Me (1948) impressed Alec Guinness so much that he based his own performance in The Ladykillers (1955) on it, and is often mistaken for Sim as a consequence.

Later film roles included The Ruling Class (1972) with Peter O'Toole, and a cameo in Richard Lester's Royal Flash (1975) with Malcolm McDowell.

On stage, he had particular success in the last decade of his life in two plays by Arthur Wing Pinero, playing Mr Posket in The Magistrate and Augustin Jedd in Dandy Dick both at the Chichester Festival Theatre and in the West End of London. In both productions Sim co-starred with Patricia Routledge.

On television, his best remembered performance was playing a Mr. Justice Swallow, in the 1967-1971 comedy series Misleading Cases, written by A. P. Herbert. It co-starred Roy Dotrice as the mischievous, bumbling Mr Albert Haddock, who always ended up in court over some comedic, petty misdemeanour.

Private life

He was married to Naomi Plaskitt (1913–1999) from 1932 until his death in 1976. They had one child, a daughter named Merlith.

Sim was keen to promote and encourage young acting talent, and, having seen a young talent in the making, the Sims invited George Cole to live with them in 1940, when he was 15 years old. Cole lived with the couple for 14 years. They are credited with mentoring the young actor. Sim appeared with Cole in the films Cottage to Let (1941), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), Scrooge (1951), Laughter in Paradise (1951), The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), An Inspector Calls (1954), The Green Man (1956) and Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957).

He always remained ambivalent about fame, and never signed autographs. In a rare interview to the magazine Focus on Film he said, "I stand or fall in my profession by the public's judgment of my performances. No amount of publicity can dampen a good one or gloss over a bad one." He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1953, but (emulating his father) he later refused a knighthood.

In 1959, he successfully sued the makers of a televised baked beans commercial (which had a voiceover sounding uncannily like him), claiming he would not "prostitute his art" by advertising anything.

He died in 1976, aged 75, in London, England, from lung cancer. An English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at his former home at 8 Frognal Gardens, Hampstead, London on 23 July 2008.

Filmography

    The Riverside Murder (1935)
    The Private Secretary (1935)
    Late Extra (1935)
    A Fire Has Been Arranged (1935)
    The Case of Gabriel Perry (1935)
    Wedding Group (1936)
    Troubled Waters (1936)
    Man in the Mirror (1936)
    Keep Your Seats, Please (1936)
    The Big Noise (1936)
    Strange Experiment (1937)
    A Romance in Flanders (1937)
    Melody and Romance (1937)
    Clothes and the Woman (1937)
    Gangway (1937)
    The Squeaker (1937)
    This Man Is News (1938)
    The Terror (1938)
    Sailing Along (1938)
    Alf's Button Afloat (1938)
    Climbing High (1938)
    This Man in Paris (1939)
    The Mysterious Mr. Davis (1939)
    Inspector Hornleigh (1939)
    Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday (1939)
    Law and Disorder (1940)
    Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It (1941)
    Cottage to Let (1941)
    Let the People Sing (1942)
    Waterloo Road (1945)
    Green for Danger (1946)
    Captain Boycott (1947)
    Hue and Cry (1947)
    London Belongs to Me (1948)
    Stage Fright (1950)
    The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)
    Laughter in Paradise (1951)
    Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
    Scrooge (1951)
    Innocents in Paris (1952)
    Folly to Be Wise (1953)
    The Belles of St Trinian's (1954)
    An Inspector Calls (1954)
    Geordie (1955)
    Escapade (1955)
    The Green Man (1956)
    Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957)
    The Doctor's Dilemma 1958)
    Left Right and Centre (1959)
    The Millionairess (1960)
    School for Scoundrels (1960)
    The Anatomist (1961)
    Misleading Cases (1967)
    Cold Comfort Farm (1968)
    A Christmas Carol (1971)
    The Ruling Class (1972)
    The General's Day (1972)
    Royal Flash (1975)
    Rogue Male (1976)
    Escape from the Dark (1976)

http://www.gbscreenstars.co.uk/communities/5/004/007/484/295/images/4537680889.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/09/11 at 3:42 am


British Person of the Day: Alastair Sim

An English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at his former home at 8 Frognal Gardens, Hampstead, London on 23 July 2008.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4625018878_fcffdc57a5.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/09/11 at 11:13 am

He was born 40 years to the day before another famous British man, John Lennon, who would have turned 71 today. :\'( :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/09/11 at 11:15 am


He was born 40 years to the day before another famous British man, John Lennon, who would have turned 71 today. :\'( :\'(
I left the opinion open for Janine to post John Lennon for today, but she may be not now?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/09/11 at 11:28 am


I left the opinion open for Janine to post John Lennon for today, but she may be not now?

She hasn't been on here in about a week; I hope she's doing ok.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/09/11 at 11:29 am


She hasn't been on here in about a week; I hope she's doing ok.
That is true...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/09/11 at 11:30 am

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon
, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Along with fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, forming his first band, The Quarrymen evolving into The Beatles in 1960. As the group disintegrated towards the end of the decade, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced the critically acclaimed albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine". After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his infant son Sean, but re-emerged in 1980 with a new album, Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, his drawings, on film, and in interviews, becoming controversial through his political and peace activism. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement.

As of 2010, Lennon's solo album sales in the United States exceed 14 million units, and as writer, co-writer or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all-time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Lie_In_15_--_John_rehearses_Give_Peace_A_Chance.jpg/250px-Lie_In_15_--_John_rehearses_Give_Peace_A_Chance.jpg
Lennon rehearses "Give Peace a Chance" in Montreal, Canada, in 1969

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/09/11 at 6:34 pm


She hasn't been on here in about a week; I hope she's doing ok.


I hope so too. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/09/11 at 6:36 pm

http://www.dlwaldron.com/JohnLennon70small.jpg

John Lennon at 70

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: King Tut on 10/09/11 at 7:07 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jtCyv9oob8&feature=related

A most wonderful song with John's haunting vocals.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/10/11 at 7:15 am

David Lee Roth turns 56 today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/10/11 at 11:42 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jtCyv9oob8&feature=related

A most wonderful song with John's haunting vocals.
Great song from a great album.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/12/11 at 1:46 pm


She hasn't been on here in about a week; I hope she's doing ok.

Sorry. I have been sick, but I also broke my computer :-[ Yes i learned the hard way what Ethernet was(I removed mine) so I had to wait to get it repaired.
I'll be back tomorrow. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/12/11 at 1:52 pm


Sorry. I have been sick, but I also broke my computer :-[ Yes i learned the hard way what Ethernet was(I removed mine) so I had to wait to get it repaired.
I'll be back tomorrow. :)
Welcome back, and I wish you well.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/12/11 at 3:02 pm


Welcome back, and I wish you well.

Thank you :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/12/11 at 5:02 pm


Sorry. I have been sick, but I also broke my computer :-[ Yes i learned the hard way what Ethernet was(I removed mine) so I had to wait to get it repaired.
I'll be back tomorrow. :)

Ah yes... the Ethernet cable thingy. I've had to deal with that at least once.

All the best, and I hope you get well asap!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/12/11 at 7:58 pm


Sorry. I have been sick, but I also broke my computer :-[ Yes i learned the hard way what Ethernet was(I removed mine) so I had to wait to get it repaired.
I'll be back tomorrow. :)


NINNY!  :) :-* Glad to see you back, see you tomorrow.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/13/11 at 12:46 pm


Ah yes... the Ethernet cable thingy. I've had to deal with that at least once.

All the best, and I hope you get well asap!

My computer was running slow so i went to my programs and it said rarely used, so i thought ok lets remove this. Then we I tried to get back on I couldn't so i asked Timmy and he's like that's because you removed your network connection.duh.The good news is I have a new HP Pavilion now
Still sick with a bad cold that has made it so I can't eat solid foods.

NINNY!  :) :-* Glad to see you back, see you tomorrow.

Thanks :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/13/11 at 12:48 pm


My computer was running slow so i went to my programs and it said rarely used, so i thought ok lets remove this. Then we I tried to get back on I couldn't so i asked Timmy and he's like that's because you removed your network connection.duh.The good news is I have a new HP Pavilion now
Still sick with a bad cold that has made it so I can't eat solid foods.Thanks :)


feel better.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/13/11 at 12:51 pm

The person of the day...Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles charts, "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music that helped fuel the anti-apartheid movement. Besides music, Simon wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.

Through his solo and collaborative work, Simon has earned 13 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was named the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.
In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel got an audition with Columbia Records, whose executive Clive Davis was impressed enough to sign the duo to a contract to produce an album. Columbia decided that the two would be called simply "Simon & Garfunkel", a replacement for the group's previous name "Tom and Jerry". Simon claimed in 2003 that this renaming as "Simon & Garfunkel" was the first time that artists' ethnic names had been used in pop music.

Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964 and consisted of twelve songs in the folk vein, five of them written by Simon. The album initially flopped, but East Coast radio stations began receiving requests for one of the tracks, Simon's "The Sounds of Silence". Their producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass, and drums, releasing it as a single that eventually went to number one on the pop charts in the US.

Simon had gone to England in 1965 after the initial failure of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., pursuing a solo career. He returned to the United States, however, to reunite with Garfunkel after "The Sounds of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success. Together they recorded four more influential albums: Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme; Bookends; and the hugely successful Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the Mike Nichols film The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally toyed with the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied: "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!" Simon and Garfunkel returned to England in the Fall of 1968 and did a church concert appearance at Kraft Hall, which was broadcast on the BBC, and which also featured Paul's brother Ed sitting in on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".

Simon pursued solo projects after the duo released their popular album Bridge over Troubled Water. Occasionally, he and Garfunkel did reunite, such as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town", which Simon originally wrote for Garfunkel, claiming Garfunkel's solo output was lacking "bite". The song was included on their respective solo albums: Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years; and Garfunkel's Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not at all autobiographical of Simon's early life in New York City. In 1981, they got together again for the famous concert in Central Park, followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album, to have been entitled Think Too Much, which was eventually released (without Garfunkel) as Hearts and Bones. Together, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited once again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a US tour—the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series—followed by a 2004 international encore, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. That final concert drew 600,000 people. In 2005, the pair sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Aaron Neville in a benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims.

In 2010, the pair reunited in New Orleans for their first concert in six years, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
1971–1976

After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970, Simon began to write and record solo material. His eponymous album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", considered one of the first examples of reggae attempted by a white musician. The single was a hit, reaching both the American and British Top 5. The album was particularly well received, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching No. 4 in the US and No. 1 in the UK and Japan. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Simon's next project was the pop-folk masterpiece, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings - the lead single, "Kodachrome", was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock" was even bigger, topping the Cashbox charts. Other songs, like the weary "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right" – a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy – became standards in the musician's catalogue. Critical and commercial reception for this second album were even stronger than for his debut. At the time, it was remarked how the songs were very fresh and unworried on the surface while they were exploring socially and politically conscious themes on a deeper level. The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next, in 1974 it was released as a live album, Live Rhymin', which was moderately successful and displayed some changes in Simon's music style, adopting world and religious music.

Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce. Preceded by the feel-good duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone at Last" (a Top 25 hit) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a No. 9 on Billboard), the album managed to be his only No. 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year and Simon's performance the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. With Simon in the forefront of popular music, the third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list. Also, on May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also performed. The concert produced over $30,000 for the Library.
1977–1985

After three back-to-back successful studio albums, Simon became less productive during the second half of the 1970s. He dabbled in various projects, including writing music for the film Shampoo and acting (he was cast as Tony Lacey in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall). He achieved another hit in this decade, with the lead single of his 1977 compilation, Greatest Hits, Etc., "Slip Slidin' Away", reaching No. 5 in the United States.

In 1980 he released One Trick Pony, his debut album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. It was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. Although it produced his last Top 10 hit with the upbeat "Late in the Evening" (also a No. 1 hit on the Radio & Records American charts), the album did not sell well, in a music market dominated by disco music. Simon recorded Hearts and Bones, a polished and confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but that marked a lull in his commercial popularity; both the album and the lead single, "Allergies", missed the American Top 40. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song partly about Johnny Ace, an American R&B singer, and partly about slain Beatle John Lennon. A successful US solo tour featured Simon and his guitar, with a recording of the rhythm track and horns for "Late In The Evening." In January 1985, Simon lent his talent to USA for Africa and performed on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".
1986–1992
Graceland (1986) album cover.

As he commented years later, after the disappointing commercial performance of Hearts and Bones, Simon felt he had lost his inspiration to a point of no return, and that his commercial fortunes were unlikely to change. While driving his car in late 1984 in this state of frustration, Simon listened to a cassette of the Boyoyo Boys' instrumental "Gumboots: Accordion Jive Volume II". Interested by the unusual sound, he wrote lyrics to the number which he sang over a re-recording of the song. It was the first composition of a new musical project that became the celebrated album Graceland, an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Simon felt that he had nothing to lose. He traveled to South Africa in an attempt to embrace the culture and find the most comfortable environment for recording the album. Sessions in Johannesburg took place in February 1985. Overdubbing and additional recording was done in April, 1986, in New York. The sessions featured many South African musicians and groups, particularly Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon also collaborated with several artists of his own culture, singing a memorable duet with Linda Ronstadt in "Under African Skies", and playing with Los Lobos in "All Around the World or The Myth of the Fingerprints". Warner Bros. Records had serious doubts about releasing an album of this eclecticism to the mainstream, but when it did in August 1986, Graceland was praised by critics and the public and became Simon's most successful solo album. Slowly climbing the worldwide charts, it reached #1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and peaked at #3 in the US It was the second-best-selling album of 1987 in the US, selling five million copies and eventually reaching 5x Platinum certification. Another seven million copies were sold internationally to become his best-selling album. Much of the success of the album was due to the lead single, the upbeat "You Can Call Me Al", whose lyrics describe a man experiencing an identity crisis. The track featured many memorable elements – a catchy synthesizer riff, an easy whistle solo, and an unusual bass run in which the second half was a reversed recording of the first half. "You Can Call Me Al" was accompanied with a humorous video featuring actor Chevy Chase, which introduced Simon to a new audience through MTV. In the end, the track reached UK Top 5 and the US Top 25. Further singles, including the title track, "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", were not commercial hits but became radio standards and were highly praised.

At age 45, Simon found himself back at the forefront of popular music. He received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 and also Grammy Award for Record of the Year for the title track one year later. He also embarked on the very successful Graceland Tour, which was documented on music video. Simon found himself embracing new sounds, a fact that some critics viewed negatively – however, Simon reportedly felt it as a very natural artistic experiment, considering that "world music" was already present on much of his early work, including such Simon & Garfunkel hits as "El Condor Pasa" and his early solo recording "Mother and Child Reunion", which was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. One way or another, Warner Bros. Records (who by this time now controlled and reissued all his previous Columbia albums) re-established Simon as one of their most successful artists. In an attempt to capitalize on his renewed success, WB Records released the album Negotiations and Love Songs in November 1988, a mixture of popular hits and personal favorites that covered Simon's entire career and became an enduring seller in his catalog.

After Graceland, Simon decided to extend his roots with the Brazilian music-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989, and took place in Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring guitarist J. J. Cale and many Brazilian and African musicians. The tone of the album was more introspective and relatively low-key compared to the mostly upbeat numbers of Graceland. Released on October 1990, the album received excellent critical reviews and achieved very respectable sales, peaking at #4 in the US and No. 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, was a Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints was received as a competent successor and consistent complement on Simon's attempts to explore (and popularize) world music, and also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Here are also more songs about past loves; his ex-wife Carrie Fisher says in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her. It's one of several she claims, followed by the line, "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it."

The importance of both albums allowed Simon to stage another New York concert, and on August 15, 1991, almost a decade after his concert with Garfunkel, Simon staged another concert in Central Park with both African and South American bands. The success of the concert surpassed all expectations, and reportedly over 750,000 people attended, becoming one of the largest concert audiences in history. He later remembered the concert as the "most memorable moment in my career". The success of the show led to both a live album and an Emmy-winning TV special. In the middle, Simon embarked on the successful Born at the Right Time Tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof" – accompanied with a humorous video featuring, again, Chevy Chase. On March 4, 1992 he appeared on his own MTV Unplugged, offering renditions of many of his most famous compositions. Broadcast in June, the show was a success, though it did not receive an album release.
1993–1998

After Unplugged, Simon's place in the forefront of popular music dropped notably. A Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in 1993, and in another attempt to capitalize on the occasion, Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993 in September, a three-disc compilation that received a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995 he only made news for appearing at The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he performed the song "Ten Years", which he composed specially for the tenth anniversary of the show. Also that year, he was featured on the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 once it was released as a single in November.

Since the early stages of the nineties, Simon was fully involved on The Capeman, a musical that finally opened on January 29, 1998. Simon worked enthusiastically on the project for many years and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." The musical tells the story of real-life Puerto Rican youth Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in 1959 New York, and who went on to become a writer in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Ruben Blades as the older Agron, the play received terrible reviews and very poor box office receipts from the very beginning, and ended up closing on March 28 after just 68 performances, becoming a failure from which Simon reportedly lost 11 million dollars. Simon recorded an album of songs from the show, which was released in November 1997. It was received with very mixed reviews, though many critics praised the combination of doo-wop, rockabilly and Caribbean music that the album reflected. In commercial terms, Songs from The Capeman was a failure—it found Simon missing the Top 40 of the Billboard charts for the first time in his career. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online
Film and television

Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall, and wrote and starred in 1980's One Trick Pony as Jonah Levin, a journeyman rock and roller. Simon also wrote all the songs in the film. Paul Simon also appeared on The Muppet Show (the only episode to use only the songs of one songwriter, Simon). In 1990, he played the character of—appropriately enough—Simple Simon on the Disney channel TV movie, Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme.

Simon has also appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL) either as host or musical guest for a total of 13 times. On one appearance in the late 1980s, he worked with his political namesake, Illinois Senator Paul Simon. Simon's most recent SNL appearance was on the May 14, 2011 episode hosted by Ed Helms.

In one SNL skit from 1986 (when he was promoting Graceland), Simon plays himself, waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazes his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but draws a complete blank when approached by Art Garfunkel, despite the latter's numerous memory prompts.

Simon also appeared alongside George Harrison as musical guest on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL (November 20, 1976). The two performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound"" together, while Simon performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" solo earlier in the show. On that episode, Simon opened the show performing "Still Crazy After All These Years" in a turkey outfit, since Thanksgiving was the following week. About halfway through the song, Simon tells the band to stop playing because of his embarrassment. After giving a frustrating speech to the audience, he leaves the stage, backed by applause. Lorne Michaels positively greets him backstage, but Simon is still upset, yelling at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This is one of SNL's most played sketches.

On September 29, 2001, Simon made a special appearance on the first SNL to air after the September 11, 2001 attacks. On that show, he performed "The Boxer" to the audience and the NYC firefighters and police officers. He is also friends with former SNL star Chevy Chase, who appeared in his video for "You Can Call Me Al" lip synching the song while Simon looks disgruntled and mimes backing vocals and the playing of various instruments beside him. He is a close friend of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who produced the 1977 TV show The Paul Simon Special, as well as the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central Park four years later. Simon and Lorne Michaels were the subjects of a 2006 episode of the Sundance channel documentary series, Iconoclasts.

He has been the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre, the first on Graceland, the second on The Capeman.

On November 18, 2008, Simon was a guest on The Colbert Report promoting his book Lyrics 1964-2008. He did an interview with Stephen Colbert and then performed "American Tune".

Simon performed a Stevie Wonder song at the White House in 2009, at an event honoring Wonder's musical career and contributions.

In May 2009, The Library of Congress: Paul Simon and Friends Live Concert was released on DVD, via Shout! Factory. The PBS concert was recorded in 2007.

In April 2011 Simon was confirmed to appear at the Glastonbury music festival in England.
Awards and honors

Simon won 12 Grammy Awards (one of them a Lifetime Achievement Award) and five Grammy nominations, the most recent for his album You're the One in 2001. In 1998 he received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. He received an Oscar nomination for the song "Father and Daughter" in 2002. He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; as a solo artist in 2001, and in 1990 as half of Simon & Garfunkel.

In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person Of The Year. The following year, he was one of the five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists.

In 2005, Simon was saluted as a BMI Icon at the 53rd Annual BMI Pop Awards. Simon's songwriting catalog has earned 39 BMI Awards including multiple citations for "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Mrs. Robinson," "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". As of 2005, he has amassed nearly 75 million broadcast airplays, according to BMI surveys.

In 2006, Simon was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World."

In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were to follow in 2009 and 2010. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this newly created award recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. Upon being notified of receiving this honor, Simon said, “I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed my words and music far better than I. I’m excited at the prospect of that happening again. It’s a songwriter’s dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was professionally filmed and broadcast and is now available as Paul Simon and Friends.

In 2010, Simon received an honorary degree from Brandeis University, where he also performed "The Boxer" at the main commencement ceremony.

In October 2011, Simon was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Science. At the induction ceremony, he performed "American Tune".
Simon is a proponent of music education for children. In 1970, after recording his "Bridge Over Troubled Water," at the invitation of the NYU School of the Arts, Simon held auditions for a young songwriter's workshop. Advertised in the Village Voice, the auditions brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform for Simon. Among the six teenage songwriters Simon selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tom Mandell and rock/beat poet Joe Linus, with Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joining the workshop in progress through an impromptu appearance.

Simon invited the six teens to experience recording at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee at the board. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording the album Self-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern also visited the group with a CBS film crew, speaking to the young musicians about lyrics and music after Joe Linus performed his song "Circus Lion" for Stern.

Manchester later paid homage to Simon, on her recorded song, "Ode to Paul." Other younger musicians Simon has mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who later co-founded the band The Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes has credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life In A Northern Town".

In 2003, Simon signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the US He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Dr. Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to take medical care to children in medically underserved areas, urban and rural. Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City but they now operate in 12 states, including the Gulf Coast. It has expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's health and medical care.
Main article: Paul Simon discography

Number-one albums

   1972 – Paul Simon (UK, Japan, Norway)
   1973 – There Goes Rhymin' Simon (US Cashbox)
   1975 – Still Crazy After All These Years (US)
   1986 – Graceland (UK, Australia, Canada, Switzerland)
   1990 – The Rhythm of the Saints (UK)

See also: Simon & Garfunkel discography
Work on Broadway

   Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982) - revue - featured songwriter for Mrs. Robinson
   Asinamali! (1987) - play - co-producer
   Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway (1992) - concert - performer
   The Capeman (1998) - composer, co-lyricist and music arranger - Tony Nomination for Best Original Score
   The Graduate (2002) - play - featured songwriter
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/PaulSimon.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c209/bowlburn420/Simon%20and%20Garfunkel/Paul%20Simon/paul14.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/13/11 at 12:51 pm


feel better.

Thanks :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/13/11 at 1:01 pm


Thanks :)
Good to hear you are better.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/13/11 at 1:01 pm


The person of the day...Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles charts, "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music that helped fuel the anti-apartheid movement. Besides music, Simon wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.

Through his solo and collaborative work, Simon has earned 13 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was named the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.
In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel got an audition with Columbia Records, whose executive Clive Davis was impressed enough to sign the duo to a contract to produce an album. Columbia decided that the two would be called simply "Simon & Garfunkel", a replacement for the group's previous name "Tom and Jerry". Simon claimed in 2003 that this renaming as "Simon & Garfunkel" was the first time that artists' ethnic names had been used in pop music.

Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964 and consisted of twelve songs in the folk vein, five of them written by Simon. The album initially flopped, but East Coast radio stations began receiving requests for one of the tracks, Simon's "The Sounds of Silence". Their producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass, and drums, releasing it as a single that eventually went to number one on the pop charts in the US.

Simon had gone to England in 1965 after the initial failure of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., pursuing a solo career. He returned to the United States, however, to reunite with Garfunkel after "The Sounds of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success. Together they recorded four more influential albums: Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme; Bookends; and the hugely successful Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the Mike Nichols film The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally toyed with the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied: "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!" Simon and Garfunkel returned to England in the Fall of 1968 and did a church concert appearance at Kraft Hall, which was broadcast on the BBC, and which also featured Paul's brother Ed sitting in on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".

Simon pursued solo projects after the duo released their popular album Bridge over Troubled Water. Occasionally, he and Garfunkel did reunite, such as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town", which Simon originally wrote for Garfunkel, claiming Garfunkel's solo output was lacking "bite". The song was included on their respective solo albums: Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years; and Garfunkel's Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not at all autobiographical of Simon's early life in New York City. In 1981, they got together again for the famous concert in Central Park, followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album, to have been entitled Think Too Much, which was eventually released (without Garfunkel) as Hearts and Bones. Together, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited once again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a US tour—the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series—followed by a 2004 international encore, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. That final concert drew 600,000 people. In 2005, the pair sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Aaron Neville in a benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims.

In 2010, the pair reunited in New Orleans for their first concert in six years, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
1971–1976

After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970, Simon began to write and record solo material. His eponymous album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", considered one of the first examples of reggae attempted by a white musician. The single was a hit, reaching both the American and British Top 5. The album was particularly well received, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching No. 4 in the US and No. 1 in the UK and Japan. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Simon's next project was the pop-folk masterpiece, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings - the lead single, "Kodachrome", was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock" was even bigger, topping the Cashbox charts. Other songs, like the weary "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right" – a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy – became standards in the musician's catalogue. Critical and commercial reception for this second album were even stronger than for his debut. At the time, it was remarked how the songs were very fresh and unworried on the surface while they were exploring socially and politically conscious themes on a deeper level. The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next, in 1974 it was released as a live album, Live Rhymin', which was moderately successful and displayed some changes in Simon's music style, adopting world and religious music.

Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce. Preceded by the feel-good duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone at Last" (a Top 25 hit) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a No. 9 on Billboard), the album managed to be his only No. 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year and Simon's performance the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. With Simon in the forefront of popular music, the third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list. Also, on May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also performed. The concert produced over $30,000 for the Library.
1977–1985

After three back-to-back successful studio albums, Simon became less productive during the second half of the 1970s. He dabbled in various projects, including writing music for the film Shampoo and acting (he was cast as Tony Lacey in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall). He achieved another hit in this decade, with the lead single of his 1977 compilation, Greatest Hits, Etc., "Slip Slidin' Away", reaching No. 5 in the United States.

In 1980 he released One Trick Pony, his debut album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. It was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. Although it produced his last Top 10 hit with the upbeat "Late in the Evening" (also a No. 1 hit on the Radio & Records American charts), the album did not sell well, in a music market dominated by disco music. Simon recorded Hearts and Bones, a polished and confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but that marked a lull in his commercial popularity; both the album and the lead single, "Allergies", missed the American Top 40. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song partly about Johnny Ace, an American R&B singer, and partly about slain Beatle John Lennon. A successful US solo tour featured Simon and his guitar, with a recording of the rhythm track and horns for "Late In The Evening." In January 1985, Simon lent his talent to USA for Africa and performed on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".
1986–1992
Graceland (1986) album cover.

As he commented years later, after the disappointing commercial performance of Hearts and Bones, Simon felt he had lost his inspiration to a point of no return, and that his commercial fortunes were unlikely to change. While driving his car in late 1984 in this state of frustration, Simon listened to a cassette of the Boyoyo Boys' instrumental "Gumboots: Accordion Jive Volume II". Interested by the unusual sound, he wrote lyrics to the number which he sang over a re-recording of the song. It was the first composition of a new musical project that became the celebrated album Graceland, an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Simon felt that he had nothing to lose. He traveled to South Africa in an attempt to embrace the culture and find the most comfortable environment for recording the album. Sessions in Johannesburg took place in February 1985. Overdubbing and additional recording was done in April, 1986, in New York. The sessions featured many South African musicians and groups, particularly Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon also collaborated with several artists of his own culture, singing a memorable duet with Linda Ronstadt in "Under African Skies", and playing with Los Lobos in "All Around the World or The Myth of the Fingerprints". Warner Bros. Records had serious doubts about releasing an album of this eclecticism to the mainstream, but when it did in August 1986, Graceland was praised by critics and the public and became Simon's most successful solo album. Slowly climbing the worldwide charts, it reached #1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and peaked at #3 in the US It was the second-best-selling album of 1987 in the US, selling five million copies and eventually reaching 5x Platinum certification. Another seven million copies were sold internationally to become his best-selling album. Much of the success of the album was due to the lead single, the upbeat "You Can Call Me Al", whose lyrics describe a man experiencing an identity crisis. The track featured many memorable elements – a catchy synthesizer riff, an easy whistle solo, and an unusual bass run in which the second half was a reversed recording of the first half. "You Can Call Me Al" was accompanied with a humorous video featuring actor Chevy Chase, which introduced Simon to a new audience through MTV. In the end, the track reached UK Top 5 and the US Top 25. Further singles, including the title track, "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", were not commercial hits but became radio standards and were highly praised.

At age 45, Simon found himself back at the forefront of popular music. He received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 and also Grammy Award for Record of the Year for the title track one year later. He also embarked on the very successful Graceland Tour, which was documented on music video. Simon found himself embracing new sounds, a fact that some critics viewed negatively – however, Simon reportedly felt it as a very natural artistic experiment, considering that "world music" was already present on much of his early work, including such Simon & Garfunkel hits as "El Condor Pasa" and his early solo recording "Mother and Child Reunion", which was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. One way or another, Warner Bros. Records (who by this time now controlled and reissued all his previous Columbia albums) re-established Simon as one of their most successful artists. In an attempt to capitalize on his renewed success, WB Records released the album Negotiations and Love Songs in November 1988, a mixture of popular hits and personal favorites that covered Simon's entire career and became an enduring seller in his catalog.

After Graceland, Simon decided to extend his roots with the Brazilian music-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989, and took place in Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring guitarist J. J. Cale and many Brazilian and African musicians. The tone of the album was more introspective and relatively low-key compared to the mostly upbeat numbers of Graceland. Released on October 1990, the album received excellent critical reviews and achieved very respectable sales, peaking at #4 in the US and No. 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, was a Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints was received as a competent successor and consistent complement on Simon's attempts to explore (and popularize) world music, and also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Here are also more songs about past loves; his ex-wife Carrie Fisher says in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her. It's one of several she claims, followed by the line, "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it."

The importance of both albums allowed Simon to stage another New York concert, and on August 15, 1991, almost a decade after his concert with Garfunkel, Simon staged another concert in Central Park with both African and South American bands. The success of the concert surpassed all expectations, and reportedly over 750,000 people attended, becoming one of the largest concert audiences in history. He later remembered the concert as the "most memorable moment in my career". The success of the show led to both a live album and an Emmy-winning TV special. In the middle, Simon embarked on the successful Born at the Right Time Tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof" – accompanied with a humorous video featuring, again, Chevy Chase. On March 4, 1992 he appeared on his own MTV Unplugged, offering renditions of many of his most famous compositions. Broadcast in June, the show was a success, though it did not receive an album release.
1993–1998

After Unplugged, Simon's place in the forefront of popular music dropped notably. A Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in 1993, and in another attempt to capitalize on the occasion, Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993 in September, a three-disc compilation that received a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995 he only made news for appearing at The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he performed the song "Ten Years", which he composed specially for the tenth anniversary of the show. Also that year, he was featured on the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 once it was released as a single in November.

Since the early stages of the nineties, Simon was fully involved on The Capeman, a musical that finally opened on January 29, 1998. Simon worked enthusiastically on the project for many years and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." The musical tells the story of real-life Puerto Rican youth Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in 1959 New York, and who went on to become a writer in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Ruben Blades as the older Agron, the play received terrible reviews and very poor box office receipts from the very beginning, and ended up closing on March 28 after just 68 performances, becoming a failure from which Simon reportedly lost 11 million dollars. Simon recorded an album of songs from the show, which was released in November 1997. It was received with very mixed reviews, though many critics praised the combination of doo-wop, rockabilly and Caribbean music that the album reflected. In commercial terms, Songs from The Capeman was a failure—it found Simon missing the Top 40 of the Billboard charts for the first time in his career. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online
Film and television

Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall, and wrote and starred in 1980's One Trick Pony as Jonah Levin, a journeyman rock and roller. Simon also wrote all the songs in the film. Paul Simon also appeared on The Muppet Show (the only episode to use only the songs of one songwriter, Simon). In 1990, he played the character of—appropriately enough—Simple Simon on the Disney channel TV movie, Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme.

Simon has also appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL) either as host or musical guest for a total of 13 times. On one appearance in the late 1980s, he worked with his political namesake, Illinois Senator Paul Simon. Simon's most recent SNL appearance was on the May 14, 2011 episode hosted by Ed Helms.

In one SNL skit from 1986 (when he was promoting Graceland), Simon plays himself, waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazes his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but draws a complete blank when approached by Art Garfunkel, despite the latter's numerous memory prompts.

Simon also appeared alongside George Harrison as musical guest on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL (November 20, 1976). The two performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound"" together, while Simon performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" solo earlier in the show. On that episode, Simon opened the show performing "Still Crazy After All These Years" in a turkey outfit, since Thanksgiving was the following week. About halfway through the song, Simon tells the band to stop playing because of his embarrassment. After giving a frustrating speech to the audience, he leaves the stage, backed by applause. Lorne Michaels positively greets him backstage, but Simon is still upset, yelling at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This is one of SNL's most played sketches.

On September 29, 2001, Simon made a special appearance on the first SNL to air after the September 11, 2001 attacks. On that show, he performed "The Boxer" to the audience and the NYC firefighters and police officers. He is also friends with former SNL star Chevy Chase, who appeared in his video for "You Can Call Me Al" lip synching the song while Simon looks disgruntled and mimes backing vocals and the playing of various instruments beside him. He is a close friend of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who produced the 1977 TV show The Paul Simon Special, as well as the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central Park four years later. Simon and Lorne Michaels were the subjects of a 2006 episode of the Sundance channel documentary series, Iconoclasts.

He has been the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre, the first on Graceland, the second on The Capeman.

On November 18, 2008, Simon was a guest on The Colbert Report promoting his book Lyrics 1964-2008. He did an interview with Stephen Colbert and then performed "American Tune".

Simon performed a Stevie Wonder song at the White House in 2009, at an event honoring Wonder's musical career and contributions.

In May 2009, The Library of Congress: Paul Simon and Friends Live Concert was released on DVD, via Shout! Factory. The PBS concert was recorded in 2007.

In April 2011 Simon was confirmed to appear at the Glastonbury music festival in England.
Awards and honors

Simon won 12 Grammy Awards (one of them a Lifetime Achievement Award) and five Grammy nominations, the most recent for his album You're the One in 2001. In 1998 he received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. He received an Oscar nomination for the song "Father and Daughter" in 2002. He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; as a solo artist in 2001, and in 1990 as half of Simon & Garfunkel.

In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person Of The Year. The following year, he was one of the five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists.

In 2005, Simon was saluted as a BMI Icon at the 53rd Annual BMI Pop Awards. Simon's songwriting catalog has earned 39 BMI Awards including multiple citations for "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Mrs. Robinson," "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". As of 2005, he has amassed nearly 75 million broadcast airplays, according to BMI surveys.

In 2006, Simon was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World."

In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were to follow in 2009 and 2010. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this newly created award recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. Upon being notified of receiving this honor, Simon said, “I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed my words and music far better than I. I’m excited at the prospect of that happening again. It’s a songwriter’s dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was professionally filmed and broadcast and is now available as Paul Simon and Friends.

In 2010, Simon received an honorary degree from Brandeis University, where he also performed "The Boxer" at the main commencement ceremony.

In October 2011, Simon was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Science. At the induction ceremony, he performed "American Tune".
Simon is a proponent of music education for children. In 1970, after recording his "Bridge Over Troubled Water," at the invitation of the NYU School of the Arts, Simon held auditions for a young songwriter's workshop. Advertised in the Village Voice, the auditions brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform for Simon. Among the six teenage songwriters Simon selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tom Mandell and rock/beat poet Joe Linus, with Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joining the workshop in progress through an impromptu appearance.

Simon invited the six teens to experience recording at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee at the board. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording the album Self-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern also visited the group with a CBS film crew, speaking to the young musicians about lyrics and music after Joe Linus performed his song "Circus Lion" for Stern.

Manchester later paid homage to Simon, on her recorded song, "Ode to Paul." Other younger musicians Simon has mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who later co-founded the band The Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes has credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life In A Northern Town".

In 2003, Simon signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the US He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Dr. Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to take medical care to children in medically underserved areas, urban and rural. Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City but they now operate in 12 states, including the Gulf Coast. It has expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's health and medical care.
Main article: Paul Simon discography

Number-one albums

    1972 – Paul Simon (UK, Japan, Norway)
    1973 – There Goes Rhymin' Simon (US Cashbox)
    1975 – Still Crazy After All These Years (US)
    1986 – Graceland (UK, Australia, Canada, Switzerland)
    1990 – The Rhythm of the Saints (UK)

See also: Simon & Garfunkel discography
Work on Broadway

    Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982) - revue - featured songwriter for Mrs. Robinson
    Asinamali! (1987) - play - co-producer
    Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway (1992) - concert - performer
    The Capeman (1998) - composer, co-lyricist and music arranger - Tony Nomination for Best Original Score
    The Graduate (2002) - play - featured songwriter
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/PaulSimon.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c209/bowlburn420/Simon%20and%20Garfunkel/Paul%20Simon/paul14.jpg
Singer Paul Simon has announced plans to celebrate his 1986 album Graceland by touring the record next year.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/13/11 at 1:35 pm


Singer Paul Simon has announced plans to celebrate his 1986 album Graceland by touring the record next year.
I would like to see him live in concert.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/13/11 at 1:36 pm


Singer Paul Simon has announced plans to celebrate his 1986 album Graceland by touring the record next year.

Yeah I heard that somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/13/11 at 1:36 pm


I would like to see him live in concert.

That would be nice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/13/11 at 1:37 pm


Yeah I heard that somewhere.
I still need to get the album.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/13/11 at 1:37 pm


That would be nice.
Would Art Garfunkel turn up?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/13/11 at 2:48 pm


Still sick with a bad cold that has made it so I can't eat solid foods.

so sorry to hear that :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/13/11 at 2:50 pm


Singer Paul Simon has announced plans to celebrate his 1986 album Graceland by touring the record next year.

How nice. :)

Happy 70th bday Paul Simon. http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/14/occasion15.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/14/11 at 7:23 am


The person of the day...Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles charts, "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music that helped fuel the anti-apartheid movement. Besides music, Simon wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.

Through his solo and collaborative work, Simon has earned 13 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was named the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.
In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel got an audition with Columbia Records, whose executive Clive Davis was impressed enough to sign the duo to a contract to produce an album. Columbia decided that the two would be called simply "Simon & Garfunkel", a replacement for the group's previous name "Tom and Jerry". Simon claimed in 2003 that this renaming as "Simon & Garfunkel" was the first time that artists' ethnic names had been used in pop music.

Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released on October 19, 1964 and consisted of twelve songs in the folk vein, five of them written by Simon. The album initially flopped, but East Coast radio stations began receiving requests for one of the tracks, Simon's "The Sounds of Silence". Their producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track with electric guitar, bass, and drums, releasing it as a single that eventually went to number one on the pop charts in the US.

Simon had gone to England in 1965 after the initial failure of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., pursuing a solo career. He returned to the United States, however, to reunite with Garfunkel after "The Sounds of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success. Together they recorded four more influential albums: Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme; Bookends; and the hugely successful Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the Mike Nichols film The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally toyed with the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied: "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!" Simon and Garfunkel returned to England in the Fall of 1968 and did a church concert appearance at Kraft Hall, which was broadcast on the BBC, and which also featured Paul's brother Ed sitting in on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".

Simon pursued solo projects after the duo released their popular album Bridge over Troubled Water. Occasionally, he and Garfunkel did reunite, such as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town", which Simon originally wrote for Garfunkel, claiming Garfunkel's solo output was lacking "bite". The song was included on their respective solo albums: Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years; and Garfunkel's Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not at all autobiographical of Simon's early life in New York City. In 1981, they got together again for the famous concert in Central Park, followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album, to have been entitled Think Too Much, which was eventually released (without Garfunkel) as Hearts and Bones. Together, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited once again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a US tour—the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series—followed by a 2004 international encore, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. That final concert drew 600,000 people. In 2005, the pair sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Aaron Neville in a benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims.

In 2010, the pair reunited in New Orleans for their first concert in six years, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
1971–1976

After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970, Simon began to write and record solo material. His eponymous album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", considered one of the first examples of reggae attempted by a white musician. The single was a hit, reaching both the American and British Top 5. The album was particularly well received, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching No. 4 in the US and No. 1 in the UK and Japan. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Simon's next project was the pop-folk masterpiece, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings - the lead single, "Kodachrome", was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock" was even bigger, topping the Cashbox charts. Other songs, like the weary "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right" – a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy – became standards in the musician's catalogue. Critical and commercial reception for this second album were even stronger than for his debut. At the time, it was remarked how the songs were very fresh and unworried on the surface while they were exploring socially and politically conscious themes on a deeper level. The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next, in 1974 it was released as a live album, Live Rhymin', which was moderately successful and displayed some changes in Simon's music style, adopting world and religious music.

Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce. Preceded by the feel-good duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone at Last" (a Top 25 hit) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a No. 9 on Billboard), the album managed to be his only No. 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Year and Simon's performance the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. With Simon in the forefront of popular music, the third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list. Also, on May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also performed. The concert produced over $30,000 for the Library.
1977–1985

After three back-to-back successful studio albums, Simon became less productive during the second half of the 1970s. He dabbled in various projects, including writing music for the film Shampoo and acting (he was cast as Tony Lacey in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall). He achieved another hit in this decade, with the lead single of his 1977 compilation, Greatest Hits, Etc., "Slip Slidin' Away", reaching No. 5 in the United States.

In 1980 he released One Trick Pony, his debut album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. It was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. Although it produced his last Top 10 hit with the upbeat "Late in the Evening" (also a No. 1 hit on the Radio & Records American charts), the album did not sell well, in a music market dominated by disco music. Simon recorded Hearts and Bones, a polished and confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but that marked a lull in his commercial popularity; both the album and the lead single, "Allergies", missed the American Top 40. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song partly about Johnny Ace, an American R&B singer, and partly about slain Beatle John Lennon. A successful US solo tour featured Simon and his guitar, with a recording of the rhythm track and horns for "Late In The Evening." In January 1985, Simon lent his talent to USA for Africa and performed on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".
1986–1992
Graceland (1986) album cover.

As he commented years later, after the disappointing commercial performance of Hearts and Bones, Simon felt he had lost his inspiration to a point of no return, and that his commercial fortunes were unlikely to change. While driving his car in late 1984 in this state of frustration, Simon listened to a cassette of the Boyoyo Boys' instrumental "Gumboots: Accordion Jive Volume II". Interested by the unusual sound, he wrote lyrics to the number which he sang over a re-recording of the song. It was the first composition of a new musical project that became the celebrated album Graceland, an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Simon felt that he had nothing to lose. He traveled to South Africa in an attempt to embrace the culture and find the most comfortable environment for recording the album. Sessions in Johannesburg took place in February 1985. Overdubbing and additional recording was done in April, 1986, in New York. The sessions featured many South African musicians and groups, particularly Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon also collaborated with several artists of his own culture, singing a memorable duet with Linda Ronstadt in "Under African Skies", and playing with Los Lobos in "All Around the World or The Myth of the Fingerprints". Warner Bros. Records had serious doubts about releasing an album of this eclecticism to the mainstream, but when it did in August 1986, Graceland was praised by critics and the public and became Simon's most successful solo album. Slowly climbing the worldwide charts, it reached #1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and peaked at #3 in the US It was the second-best-selling album of 1987 in the US, selling five million copies and eventually reaching 5x Platinum certification. Another seven million copies were sold internationally to become his best-selling album. Much of the success of the album was due to the lead single, the upbeat "You Can Call Me Al", whose lyrics describe a man experiencing an identity crisis. The track featured many memorable elements – a catchy synthesizer riff, an easy whistle solo, and an unusual bass run in which the second half was a reversed recording of the first half. "You Can Call Me Al" was accompanied with a humorous video featuring actor Chevy Chase, which introduced Simon to a new audience through MTV. In the end, the track reached UK Top 5 and the US Top 25. Further singles, including the title track, "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", were not commercial hits but became radio standards and were highly praised.

At age 45, Simon found himself back at the forefront of popular music. He received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 and also Grammy Award for Record of the Year for the title track one year later. He also embarked on the very successful Graceland Tour, which was documented on music video. Simon found himself embracing new sounds, a fact that some critics viewed negatively – however, Simon reportedly felt it as a very natural artistic experiment, considering that "world music" was already present on much of his early work, including such Simon & Garfunkel hits as "El Condor Pasa" and his early solo recording "Mother and Child Reunion", which was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. One way or another, Warner Bros. Records (who by this time now controlled and reissued all his previous Columbia albums) re-established Simon as one of their most successful artists. In an attempt to capitalize on his renewed success, WB Records released the album Negotiations and Love Songs in November 1988, a mixture of popular hits and personal favorites that covered Simon's entire career and became an enduring seller in his catalog.

After Graceland, Simon decided to extend his roots with the Brazilian music-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989, and took place in Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring guitarist J. J. Cale and many Brazilian and African musicians. The tone of the album was more introspective and relatively low-key compared to the mostly upbeat numbers of Graceland. Released on October 1990, the album received excellent critical reviews and achieved very respectable sales, peaking at #4 in the US and No. 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, was a Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints was received as a competent successor and consistent complement on Simon's attempts to explore (and popularize) world music, and also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Here are also more songs about past loves; his ex-wife Carrie Fisher says in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her. It's one of several she claims, followed by the line, "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it."

The importance of both albums allowed Simon to stage another New York concert, and on August 15, 1991, almost a decade after his concert with Garfunkel, Simon staged another concert in Central Park with both African and South American bands. The success of the concert surpassed all expectations, and reportedly over 750,000 people attended, becoming one of the largest concert audiences in history. He later remembered the concert as the "most memorable moment in my career". The success of the show led to both a live album and an Emmy-winning TV special. In the middle, Simon embarked on the successful Born at the Right Time Tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof" – accompanied with a humorous video featuring, again, Chevy Chase. On March 4, 1992 he appeared on his own MTV Unplugged, offering renditions of many of his most famous compositions. Broadcast in June, the show was a success, though it did not receive an album release.
1993–1998

After Unplugged, Simon's place in the forefront of popular music dropped notably. A Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in 1993, and in another attempt to capitalize on the occasion, Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993 in September, a three-disc compilation that received a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995 he only made news for appearing at The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he performed the song "Ten Years", which he composed specially for the tenth anniversary of the show. Also that year, he was featured on the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 once it was released as a single in November.

Since the early stages of the nineties, Simon was fully involved on The Capeman, a musical that finally opened on January 29, 1998. Simon worked enthusiastically on the project for many years and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." The musical tells the story of real-life Puerto Rican youth Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in 1959 New York, and who went on to become a writer in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Ruben Blades as the older Agron, the play received terrible reviews and very poor box office receipts from the very beginning, and ended up closing on March 28 after just 68 performances, becoming a failure from which Simon reportedly lost 11 million dollars. Simon recorded an album of songs from the show, which was released in November 1997. It was received with very mixed reviews, though many critics praised the combination of doo-wop, rockabilly and Caribbean music that the album reflected. In commercial terms, Songs from The Capeman was a failure—it found Simon missing the Top 40 of the Billboard charts for the first time in his career. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online
Film and television

Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall, and wrote and starred in 1980's One Trick Pony as Jonah Levin, a journeyman rock and roller. Simon also wrote all the songs in the film. Paul Simon also appeared on The Muppet Show (the only episode to use only the songs of one songwriter, Simon). In 1990, he played the character of—appropriately enough—Simple Simon on the Disney channel TV movie, Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme.

Simon has also appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL) either as host or musical guest for a total of 13 times. On one appearance in the late 1980s, he worked with his political namesake, Illinois Senator Paul Simon. Simon's most recent SNL appearance was on the May 14, 2011 episode hosted by Ed Helms.

In one SNL skit from 1986 (when he was promoting Graceland), Simon plays himself, waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazes his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but draws a complete blank when approached by Art Garfunkel, despite the latter's numerous memory prompts.

Simon also appeared alongside George Harrison as musical guest on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL (November 20, 1976). The two performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound"" together, while Simon performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" solo earlier in the show. On that episode, Simon opened the show performing "Still Crazy After All These Years" in a turkey outfit, since Thanksgiving was the following week. About halfway through the song, Simon tells the band to stop playing because of his embarrassment. After giving a frustrating speech to the audience, he leaves the stage, backed by applause. Lorne Michaels positively greets him backstage, but Simon is still upset, yelling at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This is one of SNL's most played sketches.

On September 29, 2001, Simon made a special appearance on the first SNL to air after the September 11, 2001 attacks. On that show, he performed "The Boxer" to the audience and the NYC firefighters and police officers. He is also friends with former SNL star Chevy Chase, who appeared in his video for "You Can Call Me Al" lip synching the song while Simon looks disgruntled and mimes backing vocals and the playing of various instruments beside him. He is a close friend of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who produced the 1977 TV show The Paul Simon Special, as well as the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central Park four years later. Simon and Lorne Michaels were the subjects of a 2006 episode of the Sundance channel documentary series, Iconoclasts.

He has been the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre, the first on Graceland, the second on The Capeman.

On November 18, 2008, Simon was a guest on The Colbert Report promoting his book Lyrics 1964-2008. He did an interview with Stephen Colbert and then performed "American Tune".

Simon performed a Stevie Wonder song at the White House in 2009, at an event honoring Wonder's musical career and contributions.

In May 2009, The Library of Congress: Paul Simon and Friends Live Concert was released on DVD, via Shout! Factory. The PBS concert was recorded in 2007.

In April 2011 Simon was confirmed to appear at the Glastonbury music festival in England.
Awards and honors

Simon won 12 Grammy Awards (one of them a Lifetime Achievement Award) and five Grammy nominations, the most recent for his album You're the One in 2001. In 1998 he received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. He received an Oscar nomination for the song "Father and Daughter" in 2002. He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; as a solo artist in 2001, and in 1990 as half of Simon & Garfunkel.

In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person Of The Year. The following year, he was one of the five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists.

In 2005, Simon was saluted as a BMI Icon at the 53rd Annual BMI Pop Awards. Simon's songwriting catalog has earned 39 BMI Awards including multiple citations for "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Mrs. Robinson," "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". As of 2005, he has amassed nearly 75 million broadcast airplays, according to BMI surveys.

In 2006, Simon was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World."

In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were to follow in 2009 and 2010. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this newly created award recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. Upon being notified of receiving this honor, Simon said, “I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed my words and music far better than I. I’m excited at the prospect of that happening again. It’s a songwriter’s dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event was professionally filmed and broadcast and is now available as Paul Simon and Friends.

In 2010, Simon received an honorary degree from Brandeis University, where he also performed "The Boxer" at the main commencement ceremony.

In October 2011, Simon was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Science. At the induction ceremony, he performed "American Tune".
Simon is a proponent of music education for children. In 1970, after recording his "Bridge Over Troubled Water," at the invitation of the NYU School of the Arts, Simon held auditions for a young songwriter's workshop. Advertised in the Village Voice, the auditions brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform for Simon. Among the six teenage songwriters Simon selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tom Mandell and rock/beat poet Joe Linus, with Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joining the workshop in progress through an impromptu appearance.

Simon invited the six teens to experience recording at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee at the board. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording the album Self-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern also visited the group with a CBS film crew, speaking to the young musicians about lyrics and music after Joe Linus performed his song "Circus Lion" for Stern.

Manchester later paid homage to Simon, on her recorded song, "Ode to Paul." Other younger musicians Simon has mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who later co-founded the band The Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes has credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life In A Northern Town".

In 2003, Simon signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the US He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Dr. Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to take medical care to children in medically underserved areas, urban and rural. Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City but they now operate in 12 states, including the Gulf Coast. It has expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's health and medical care.
Main article: Paul Simon discography

Number-one albums

   1972 – Paul Simon (UK, Japan, Norway)
   1973 – There Goes Rhymin' Simon (US Cashbox)
   1975 – Still Crazy After All These Years (US)
   1986 – Graceland (UK, Australia, Canada, Switzerland)
   1990 – The Rhythm of the Saints (UK)

See also: Simon & Garfunkel discography
Work on Broadway

   Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years (1982) - revue - featured songwriter for Mrs. Robinson
   Asinamali! (1987) - play - co-producer
   Mike Nichols and Elaine May: Together Again on Broadway (1992) - concert - performer
   The Capeman (1998) - composer, co-lyricist and music arranger - Tony Nomination for Best Original Score
   The Graduate (2002) - play - featured songwriter
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/JDHathaway99/PaulSimon.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c209/bowlburn420/Simon%20and%20Garfunkel/Paul%20Simon/paul14.jpg


You Can Call Me Al is my favorite. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/14/11 at 8:07 am


You Can Call Me Al is my favorite. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-gYOrU8bA&ob=av2e

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/14/11 at 11:17 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-gYOrU8bA&ob=av2e



I LOVE that song but I have absolutely no idea what it means.  :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/14/11 at 2:52 pm

The person of the day...Stacy Keibler....(Just for you Howie :))
Stacy Keibler (born October 14, 1979) is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Keibler was a contestant on the second season of Dancing with the Stars, where she placed third. She has also appeared on other American Broadcasting Company (ABC) shows such as What About Brian, George Lopez, and October Road, as well as the 100th episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother as a bartender and on the USA Network show Psych. In addition she has modeled appearing in both Maxim and Stuff magazines.

She began her professional wrestling career as a part of the Nitro Girls in WCW. She quickly moved on to a more prominent role in the company as the manager, Miss Hancock (sometimes "Handcock"). As Miss Hancock she was known for doing table dances, her relationship with David Flair, and a pregnancy angle. After WCW was purchased by WWE, she moved to the new company, taking part in the Invasion storyline and managing the Dudley Boyz. Keibler also managed Test and Scott Steiner. Before her departure she was affiliated with The Hurricane and Rosey and nicknamed "Super Stacy."

Keibler is known for her unusually long legs, making her the tallest WWE Diva. She has been known as both "The Legs of WCW" and "The Legs of WWE". During her time on Dancing with the Stars, judge Bruno Tonioli nicknamed her "The Weapon of Mass Seduction" because of her hot dancing skills and long legs.
As the Fitness Editor at Stuff magazine during 2005 and 2006, Keibler wrote and modeled for her own occasional column, entitled Getting Fit with Stacy Keibler. She has appeared on the cover of that magazine twice: in June 2005 and March 2006. Maxim named Keibler #5 in its 2006 Hot 100 issue, and #70 in its 2007 Hot 100. In 2008, she was named #89 in Maxim's annual Hot 100 list. The following year, she was #77. Keibler has declined each of two invitations from Playboy to pose in the nude for its magazine.

Keibler starred in a commercial for AT&T alongside Carrot Top. She also auditioned and earned a role in Big Momma's House 2, but she did not appear.

She competed in the second season of Dancing with the Stars, alongside her dance partner, Tony Dovolani. Keibler received a perfect score of 30 from the three judges for her samba dance routine in week five. This prompted judge Bruno Tonioli to nickname her a "weapon of mass seduction." Overall, Keibler and Dovolani received four perfect scores. Keibler was eliminated in the final episode, coming in third to Jerry Rice, who placed second in the final round of the competition, and Drew Lachey, the winner of the season. Two of the judges, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman, felt she should have at least placed second. Oddsmakers had considered her the favorite to win the competition.

Keibler has appeared on MTV's Punk'd twice. In season five Keibler took part in helping prank fellow WWE Superstar, Triple H, which also included Stephanie McMahon. In season seven, however, Keibler was seen as a victim of a prank by her then boyfriend, Geoff Stults.

In February 2007 Keibler began a recurring role in ABC's What About Brian. She played the role of Brian's new neighbor and love interest. This was Keibler's first major acting role, following her previous minor roles in both Bubble Boy and Pecker. Keibler guest starred on The George Lopez Show on ABC. In the fall of 2007 Keibler appeared in both The Comebacks and on ABC's drama October Road.

In April 2008 she was named #64 in FHM's annual 100 Sexiest Women list. Keibler was featured in an advertisement in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Keibler appeared on ABC Family's mini television series, Samurai Girl as the character Karen that September. On November 23, 2008, Stacy was named the "World's Hottest Athlete" by a sixty-four contestant bracket on InGameNow.

Stacy recently hosted the E! Special Maxim's Celebrity Beach Watch: 15 Hottest Bodies on September 16, 2009, and The Ultimate Spike Girl 2009 Finale on Spike TV on October 1, 2009. On January 11, 2010, Stacy appeared as "the hot bartender", a new conquest for Barney, in the How I Met Your Mother 100th episode, "Girls Versus Suits". On February 3, 2010, Stacy appeared on an episode of the USA Network show "Psych".
Professional wrestling career
Stacy Keibler
Ring name(s) Stacy Keibler
Nitro Girl Skye
Miss Hancock
Super Stacy
Billed height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Billed weight 136 lb (62 kg)
Born October 14, 1979 (age 32)
Baltimore, Maryland
Resides Los Angeles, California
Billed from Baltimore, Maryland
Debut September 1999
Retired 2006
World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)

Keibler began watching wrestling with her boyfriend at the time, Kris Cumberland. In late 1999, Keibler entered a contest held by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to find a new member of the Nitro Girls dance troupe. In November, she defeated 300 other girls for a spot on the dance troupe and $10,000. Her winning routine was watched by 4.4 million viewers. Keibler performed dance routines every week on WCW's flagship show Monday Nitro under the name Skye. By 2000, Keibler was appearing on WCW as a Nitro Girl, attending school full-time, and cheering for the Baltimore Ravens.

She soon accepted a larger role and became a valet using the stage name Miss Hancock (some weeks spelled "Handcock"), briefly serving as an associate for the tag team of Lenny Lane and Lodi dubbed Standards and Practices. Despite wearing business suits, her character was known to climb on top of the announcers' table and dance sensually. It was also during this period that she began using what would become her trademark ring entrance: slowly putting her forty-two inch legs through the second tier of ropes, pausing to let the crowd momentarily see her panties. At 5 feet 11 inches, Keibler was one of few women in professional wrestling tall enough to step over the middle of three ropes that surround the ring.

For a brief period, she dated David Flair (both on-screen and off), who was already involved in an on-screen relationship with Daffney. This led to Keibler's in-ring debut at the Bash at the Beach in a Wedding Gown match, which she lost after she removed her own gown. Hancock next briefly feuded with Kimberly Page, but the storyline ended abruptly when Page quit the company. Keibler and Flair then began a feud with the Misfits In Action stable, including a mud wrestling singles match against Major Gunns at New Blood Rising. During the match, she was kicked in the stomach, and she revealed herself to be pregnant the next night, beginning a new angle for herself and Flair. Two proposed endings to the storyline were for either Ric Flair or Vince Russo to be the father of her child. The angle, however, ended prematurely, as she revealed the pregnancy to be false, broke up with David Flair, and was taken off of television. When she returned, she was known by her real name on-screen.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001–2006, 2011)
The Invasion and Duchess of Dudleyville (2001–2002)
Keibler, the "Duchess of Dudleyville", managed the Dudley Boyz at WrestleMania X8.

When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001, Keibler's contract was retained by the WWF. She portrayed a heel character in The Alliance. She made her WWF television debut on the June 14, 2001 episode of SmackDown! when then-heel, Shane McMahon brought her to the ring to distract then-babyface, Rhyno, causing him to lose a match. Keibler originally teamed up with real-life friend, then-heel, Torrie Wilson, and the pair feuded with Divas, Trish Stratus and Lita. During this feud the four Divas competed in the first-ever tag team Bra and Panties match at the InVasion pay-per-view, which Trish and Lita won by stripping their opponents.

Towards the end of the WCW/ECW Invasion, Keibler managed the heel gimmicks of The Dudley Boyz and was nicknamed the "Duchess of Dudleyville". Keibler made her WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania X8 alongside The Dudleyz. During this time, she began an on-screen rivalry with former ally Torrie Wilson after Wilson left The Alliance, with Keibler helping The Dudley Boyz put Wilson through a table. Wilson, however, got her revenge after pulling her skirt down on an episode of SmackDown!. She then defeated Keibler in the first-ever lingerie match, a match wrestled in lingerie, at No Mercy. At the end of the storyline, Keibler's role with the Dudley Boyz came to an abrupt end when she was powerbombed through a table after accidentally costing the team a match. She then set her sights on the WWE Women's Championship at Judgment Day, facing Trish Stratus in a losing effort. She faced Stratus several more times in the proceeding weeks, but she never won a match against her.
On-screen relationships (2002–2003)

Keibler was originally drafted to the SmackDown! brand in 2002, where her character showed an interest in becoming the personal assistant to WWE Chairman, then-heel, Vince McMahon. McMahon was ready to hire another attractive female until Keibler interrupted and performed a table dance in the ring. Keibler became McMahon's personal assistant, as well as his on-screen mistress. She was frequently shown flirting and 'making out' with him in backstage segments, until Stephanie McMahon became general manager of the SmackDown! brand. then-babyface, Dawn Marie made her debut on SmackDown! as McMahon's legal assistant, who competed with Keibler for McMahon's affections.

A key storyline for Keibler's on-screen character occurred when she left SmackDown! for Raw. Keibler made her official Raw debut on August 12, 2002. She later turned face after then-heel, Victoria, attacked her. During her ensuing time on Raw, Keibler managed then-babyfaces, Scott Steiner and Test. As Test's on-screen marketing agent, she came up with the idea that Test should call his fans "Testicles," cut his hair, and reshape his image. Test, however, became jealous of Keibler also wanting to be Steiner's manager. As part of the angle, during a match on Raw, Test turned heel by verbally abusing Keibler. Steiner defeated Test for Keibler's services, and Keibler seemed happy as Steiner's new manager, as the two alluded to having more than a professional relationship. Test, however, petitioned for an Intergender tag team match, pitting himself and former rival Chris Jericho against Steiner and Keibler, to win back Keibler's services. Test faked a leg injury to pick up the win. A match was then set for Unforgiven with the stipulation that if Test won, he would not only retain Keibler's services, but would acquire Steiner's services as well. During the match, Keibler's interference backfired, and Test won the match. Steiner then turned heel by attacking Keibler after her interference in his match on the next episode of Raw backfired. For a time, Test and Steiner worked as a tag team, sharing the services of Keibler as their on-screen sex slave. The storyline ended when general manager Mick Foley freed Keibler from her obligatory contracts with Test and Steiner by temporarily firing them.
Feuding with the Divas and Randy Orton (2004–2005)
Keibler in 2005

Keibler was chosen to record a track on the album WWE Originals. She and WWE music producer Jim Johnston recorded the song "Why Can't We Just Dance?" for the album. She was then placed in a feud involving SmackDown! divas Torrie Wilson and then-babyface, Sable, who both had recently posed for a Playboy cover. Keibler aligned with Miss Jackie, neither of whom had posed for the magazine, claiming that they deserved to be in Playboy over Sable and Wilson. Keibler and Jackie challenged Sable and Wilson to a Tag Team Evening Gown match at WrestleMania XX, which they lost when Jackie was pinned by Wilson, and the feud was dropped afterward. Before the feud was dropped, all divas were playing face characters at the time.

She took over the 2004 Raw Diva Search for a few weeks, which led to several tag matches against the heel gimmicks of Gail Kim, Trish Stratus, and Molly Holly and with partners Nidia and the face gimmick of Victoria. Keibler got upset victories over Kim, Stratus, and Holly. She earned a Women's Championship title match on October 11, 2004, but she was defeated by Stratus, who retained the title. Keibler also competed in the first-ever Fulfill your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal for the WWE Women's Championship at Taboo Tuesday along with Victoria, Nidia, Gail Kim, Molly Holly, Jazz, and then-champion Stratus. She was eliminated second to last after jumping over the top rope to avoid hitting the turnbuckle, followed by Holly knocking her off the apron to eliminate her.

Keibler began appearing in backstage segments with then-babyface, Randy Orton. When Orton challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 21, Orton ended the relationship and the storyline by performing an RKO on her. He justified it by claiming he was demonstrating how ruthless he could be in order to defeat The Undertaker.
Super Stacy and departure (2005–2006)

Keibler then joined forces with Rosey and The Hurricane. She became one-third of the trio as a superhero sidekick nicknamed Super Stacy, complete with her own superhero costume. She was ringside during several matches as they defended their World Tag Team Championship. During this time, Keibler feuded on-screen with then-heel, Victoria, including confrontations on Raw and a match on Heat.

After a long tenure on Monday nights, Keibler and fellow Raw Diva, Christy Hemme, were moved to SmackDown! as part of a trade that brought Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle to Raw. On SmackDown! Keibler participated in lingerie matches and bikini contests. After a short absence Keibler began a short feud with Jillian Hall, which led to the two having a match on Velocity. The match was Keibler's final match with WWE. Keibler then asked for time off to appear on Dancing with the Stars. After completing her stint on Dancing with the Stars, Keibler left WWE to move on to other endeavors.
Tough Enough (2011)

After a 5-year absence with the WWE franchise, Keibler made a special guest appearance for WWE's Reality Show, WWE Tough Enough. Being a former NFL Cheerleader, she helped prepare the contestants to perform publicly in Universal Studios.
Personal life

In 2000 after winning the $10,000 in the contest to become a part of the Nitro Girls, Keibler used the money to buy season tickets for the Baltimore Ravens, the team for which she used to cheer. During her days with WCW, Keibler was romantically linked with David Flair, the son of wrestler Ric Flair. While in the WWE she also dated wrestler Andrew "Test" Martin both on and off screen.

Keibler moved to Los Angeles in 2004, where she was a roommate with her friend, Torrie Wilson. In June 2005 Keibler was reported to be in a relationship with actor, Geoff Stults, best known for his appearances on 7th Heaven. The pair appeared together on MTV's Punk'd, with Keibler as the recipient of the prank. Keibler and Stults were part-owners of the now defunct Hollywood Fame, a 2006 expansion franchise of the new American Basketball Association. Stults and Keibler split in the middle of 2010. In late 2011 Keibler made several public appearances with actor George Clooney as was widely reported to be romantically involved with him.

Keibler was the only WWE Diva who ranked many times in the listed of Maxim's Hot 100, starting on 2008 at 89, then 2009 – 77, 2010 – 82 and 2011 – 72.
In wrestling

    Finishing moves
        Spinning heel kick

    Signature moves
        Cartwheel evasion
        Corner foot choke
        Hair-pull snapmare
        Big boot out of the corner to an oncoming opponent
        Side Kick

    Wrestlers managed
        Standards and Practices
        Los Fabulosos (El Dandy and Silver King)
        David Flair
        Shawn Stasiak
        Dudley Boyz
        Test
        Scott Steiner
        Rosey and The Hurricane
        Randy Orton
    Nicknames
        "The Legs of WCW/WWE"
        "The Duchess of Dudleyville"
        "Super Stacy"
    Entrance themes
        "Legs" by Kid Rock (WWF/E)

Championships and accomplishments

    World Wrestling Entertainment

        WWE Babe of the Year (2004)

http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/clgomez54/Stacy-Keibler.jpg
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc359/divagrl6543/Stacy.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/14/11 at 8:00 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-gYOrU8bA&ob=av2e


Thanks Phil.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/14/11 at 8:01 pm


The person of the day...Stacy Keibler....(Just for you Howie :))
Stacy Keibler (born October 14, 1979) is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Keibler was a contestant on the second season of Dancing with the Stars, where she placed third. She has also appeared on other American Broadcasting Company (ABC) shows such as What About Brian, George Lopez, and October Road, as well as the 100th episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother as a bartender and on the USA Network show Psych. In addition she has modeled appearing in both Maxim and Stuff magazines.

She began her professional wrestling career as a part of the Nitro Girls in WCW. She quickly moved on to a more prominent role in the company as the manager, Miss Hancock (sometimes "Handcock"). As Miss Hancock she was known for doing table dances, her relationship with David Flair, and a pregnancy angle. After WCW was purchased by WWE, she moved to the new company, taking part in the Invasion storyline and managing the Dudley Boyz. Keibler also managed Test and Scott Steiner. Before her departure she was affiliated with The Hurricane and Rosey and nicknamed "Super Stacy."

Keibler is known for her unusually long legs, making her the tallest WWE Diva. She has been known as both "The Legs of WCW" and "The Legs of WWE". During her time on Dancing with the Stars, judge Bruno Tonioli nicknamed her "The Weapon of Mass Seduction" because of her hot dancing skills and long legs.
As the Fitness Editor at Stuff magazine during 2005 and 2006, Keibler wrote and modeled for her own occasional column, entitled Getting Fit with Stacy Keibler. She has appeared on the cover of that magazine twice: in June 2005 and March 2006. Maxim named Keibler #5 in its 2006 Hot 100 issue, and #70 in its 2007 Hot 100. In 2008, she was named #89 in Maxim's annual Hot 100 list. The following year, she was #77. Keibler has declined each of two invitations from Playboy to pose in the nude for its magazine.

Keibler starred in a commercial for AT&T alongside Carrot Top. She also auditioned and earned a role in Big Momma's House 2, but she did not appear.

She competed in the second season of Dancing with the Stars, alongside her dance partner, Tony Dovolani. Keibler received a perfect score of 30 from the three judges for her samba dance routine in week five. This prompted judge Bruno Tonioli to nickname her a "weapon of mass seduction." Overall, Keibler and Dovolani received four perfect scores. Keibler was eliminated in the final episode, coming in third to Jerry Rice, who placed second in the final round of the competition, and Drew Lachey, the winner of the season. Two of the judges, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman, felt she should have at least placed second. Oddsmakers had considered her the favorite to win the competition.

Keibler has appeared on MTV's Punk'd twice. In season five Keibler took part in helping prank fellow WWE Superstar, Triple H, which also included Stephanie McMahon. In season seven, however, Keibler was seen as a victim of a prank by her then boyfriend, Geoff Stults.

In February 2007 Keibler began a recurring role in ABC's What About Brian. She played the role of Brian's new neighbor and love interest. This was Keibler's first major acting role, following her previous minor roles in both Bubble Boy and Pecker. Keibler guest starred on The George Lopez Show on ABC. In the fall of 2007 Keibler appeared in both The Comebacks and on ABC's drama October Road.

In April 2008 she was named #64 in FHM's annual 100 Sexiest Women list. Keibler was featured in an advertisement in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Keibler appeared on ABC Family's mini television series, Samurai Girl as the character Karen that September. On November 23, 2008, Stacy was named the "World's Hottest Athlete" by a sixty-four contestant bracket on InGameNow.

Stacy recently hosted the E! Special Maxim's Celebrity Beach Watch: 15 Hottest Bodies on September 16, 2009, and The Ultimate Spike Girl 2009 Finale on Spike TV on October 1, 2009. On January 11, 2010, Stacy appeared as "the hot bartender", a new conquest for Barney, in the How I Met Your Mother 100th episode, "Girls Versus Suits". On February 3, 2010, Stacy appeared on an episode of the USA Network show "Psych".
Professional wrestling career
Stacy Keibler
Ring name(s) Stacy Keibler
Nitro Girl Skye
Miss Hancock
Super Stacy
Billed height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Billed weight 136 lb (62 kg)
Born October 14, 1979 (age 32)
Baltimore, Maryland
Resides Los Angeles, California
Billed from Baltimore, Maryland
Debut September 1999
Retired 2006
World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)

Keibler began watching wrestling with her boyfriend at the time, Kris Cumberland. In late 1999, Keibler entered a contest held by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to find a new member of the Nitro Girls dance troupe. In November, she defeated 300 other girls for a spot on the dance troupe and $10,000. Her winning routine was watched by 4.4 million viewers. Keibler performed dance routines every week on WCW's flagship show Monday Nitro under the name Skye. By 2000, Keibler was appearing on WCW as a Nitro Girl, attending school full-time, and cheering for the Baltimore Ravens.

She soon accepted a larger role and became a valet using the stage name Miss Hancock (some weeks spelled "Handcock"), briefly serving as an associate for the tag team of Lenny Lane and Lodi dubbed Standards and Practices. Despite wearing business suits, her character was known to climb on top of the announcers' table and dance sensually. It was also during this period that she began using what would become her trademark ring entrance: slowly putting her forty-two inch legs through the second tier of ropes, pausing to let the crowd momentarily see her panties. At 5 feet 11 inches, Keibler was one of few women in professional wrestling tall enough to step over the middle of three ropes that surround the ring.

For a brief period, she dated David Flair (both on-screen and off), who was already involved in an on-screen relationship with Daffney. This led to Keibler's in-ring debut at the Bash at the Beach in a Wedding Gown match, which she lost after she removed her own gown. Hancock next briefly feuded with Kimberly Page, but the storyline ended abruptly when Page quit the company. Keibler and Flair then began a feud with the Misfits In Action stable, including a mud wrestling singles match against Major Gunns at New Blood Rising. During the match, she was kicked in the stomach, and she revealed herself to be pregnant the next night, beginning a new angle for herself and Flair. Two proposed endings to the storyline were for either Ric Flair or Vince Russo to be the father of her child. The angle, however, ended prematurely, as she revealed the pregnancy to be false, broke up with David Flair, and was taken off of television. When she returned, she was known by her real name on-screen.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001–2006, 2011)
The Invasion and Duchess of Dudleyville (2001–2002)
Keibler, the "Duchess of Dudleyville", managed the Dudley Boyz at WrestleMania X8.

When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001, Keibler's contract was retained by the WWF. She portrayed a heel character in The Alliance. She made her WWF television debut on the June 14, 2001 episode of SmackDown! when then-heel, Shane McMahon brought her to the ring to distract then-babyface, Rhyno, causing him to lose a match. Keibler originally teamed up with real-life friend, then-heel, Torrie Wilson, and the pair feuded with Divas, Trish Stratus and Lita. During this feud the four Divas competed in the first-ever tag team Bra and Panties match at the InVasion pay-per-view, which Trish and Lita won by stripping their opponents.

Towards the end of the WCW/ECW Invasion, Keibler managed the heel gimmicks of The Dudley Boyz and was nicknamed the "Duchess of Dudleyville". Keibler made her WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania X8 alongside The Dudleyz. During this time, she began an on-screen rivalry with former ally Torrie Wilson after Wilson left The Alliance, with Keibler helping The Dudley Boyz put Wilson through a table. Wilson, however, got her revenge after pulling her skirt down on an episode of SmackDown!. She then defeated Keibler in the first-ever lingerie match, a match wrestled in lingerie, at No Mercy. At the end of the storyline, Keibler's role with the Dudley Boyz came to an abrupt end when she was powerbombed through a table after accidentally costing the team a match. She then set her sights on the WWE Women's Championship at Judgment Day, facing Trish Stratus in a losing effort. She faced Stratus several more times in the proceeding weeks, but she never won a match against her.
On-screen relationships (2002–2003)

Keibler was originally drafted to the SmackDown! brand in 2002, where her character showed an interest in becoming the personal assistant to WWE Chairman, then-heel, Vince McMahon. McMahon was ready to hire another attractive female until Keibler interrupted and performed a table dance in the ring. Keibler became McMahon's personal assistant, as well as his on-screen mistress. She was frequently shown flirting and 'making out' with him in backstage segments, until Stephanie McMahon became general manager of the SmackDown! brand. then-babyface, Dawn Marie made her debut on SmackDown! as McMahon's legal assistant, who competed with Keibler for McMahon's affections.

A key storyline for Keibler's on-screen character occurred when she left SmackDown! for Raw. Keibler made her official Raw debut on August 12, 2002. She later turned face after then-heel, Victoria, attacked her. During her ensuing time on Raw, Keibler managed then-babyfaces, Scott Steiner and Test. As Test's on-screen marketing agent, she came up with the idea that Test should call his fans "Testicles," cut his hair, and reshape his image. Test, however, became jealous of Keibler also wanting to be Steiner's manager. As part of the angle, during a match on Raw, Test turned heel by verbally abusing Keibler. Steiner defeated Test for Keibler's services, and Keibler seemed happy as Steiner's new manager, as the two alluded to having more than a professional relationship. Test, however, petitioned for an Intergender tag team match, pitting himself and former rival Chris Jericho against Steiner and Keibler, to win back Keibler's services. Test faked a leg injury to pick up the win. A match was then set for Unforgiven with the stipulation that if Test won, he would not only retain Keibler's services, but would acquire Steiner's services as well. During the match, Keibler's interference backfired, and Test won the match. Steiner then turned heel by attacking Keibler after her interference in his match on the next episode of Raw backfired. For a time, Test and Steiner worked as a tag team, sharing the services of Keibler as their on-screen sex slave. The storyline ended when general manager Mick Foley freed Keibler from her obligatory contracts with Test and Steiner by temporarily firing them.
Feuding with the Divas and Randy Orton (2004–2005)
Keibler in 2005

Keibler was chosen to record a track on the album WWE Originals. She and WWE music producer Jim Johnston recorded the song "Why Can't We Just Dance?" for the album. She was then placed in a feud involving SmackDown! divas Torrie Wilson and then-babyface, Sable, who both had recently posed for a Playboy cover. Keibler aligned with Miss Jackie, neither of whom had posed for the magazine, claiming that they deserved to be in Playboy over Sable and Wilson. Keibler and Jackie challenged Sable and Wilson to a Tag Team Evening Gown match at WrestleMania XX, which they lost when Jackie was pinned by Wilson, and the feud was dropped afterward. Before the feud was dropped, all divas were playing face characters at the time.

She took over the 2004 Raw Diva Search for a few weeks, which led to several tag matches against the heel gimmicks of Gail Kim, Trish Stratus, and Molly Holly and with partners Nidia and the face gimmick of Victoria. Keibler got upset victories over Kim, Stratus, and Holly. She earned a Women's Championship title match on October 11, 2004, but she was defeated by Stratus, who retained the title. Keibler also competed in the first-ever Fulfill your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal for the WWE Women's Championship at Taboo Tuesday along with Victoria, Nidia, Gail Kim, Molly Holly, Jazz, and then-champion Stratus. She was eliminated second to last after jumping over the top rope to avoid hitting the turnbuckle, followed by Holly knocking her off the apron to eliminate her.

Keibler began appearing in backstage segments with then-babyface, Randy Orton. When Orton challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 21, Orton ended the relationship and the storyline by performing an RKO on her. He justified it by claiming he was demonstrating how ruthless he could be in order to defeat The Undertaker.
Super Stacy and departure (2005–2006)

Keibler then joined forces with Rosey and The Hurricane. She became one-third of the trio as a superhero sidekick nicknamed Super Stacy, complete with her own superhero costume. She was ringside during several matches as they defended their World Tag Team Championship. During this time, Keibler feuded on-screen with then-heel, Victoria, including confrontations on Raw and a match on Heat.

After a long tenure on Monday nights, Keibler and fellow Raw Diva, Christy Hemme, were moved to SmackDown! as part of a trade that brought Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle to Raw. On SmackDown! Keibler participated in lingerie matches and bikini contests. After a short absence Keibler began a short feud with Jillian Hall, which led to the two having a match on Velocity. The match was Keibler's final match with WWE. Keibler then asked for time off to appear on Dancing with the Stars. After completing her stint on Dancing with the Stars, Keibler left WWE to move on to other endeavors.
Tough Enough (2011)

After a 5-year absence with the WWE franchise, Keibler made a special guest appearance for WWE's Reality Show, WWE Tough Enough. Being a former NFL Cheerleader, she helped prepare the contestants to perform publicly in Universal Studios.
Personal life

In 2000 after winning the $10,000 in the contest to become a part of the Nitro Girls, Keibler used the money to buy season tickets for the Baltimore Ravens, the team for which she used to cheer. During her days with WCW, Keibler was romantically linked with David Flair, the son of wrestler Ric Flair. While in the WWE she also dated wrestler Andrew "Test" Martin both on and off screen.

Keibler moved to Los Angeles in 2004, where she was a roommate with her friend, Torrie Wilson. In June 2005 Keibler was reported to be in a relationship with actor, Geoff Stults, best known for his appearances on 7th Heaven. The pair appeared together on MTV's Punk'd, with Keibler as the recipient of the prank. Keibler and Stults were part-owners of the now defunct Hollywood Fame, a 2006 expansion franchise of the new American Basketball Association. Stults and Keibler split in the middle of 2010. In late 2011 Keibler made several public appearances with actor George Clooney as was widely reported to be romantically involved with him.

Keibler was the only WWE Diva who ranked many times in the listed of Maxim's Hot 100, starting on 2008 at 89, then 2009 – 77, 2010 – 82 and 2011 – 72.
In wrestling

    Finishing moves
        Spinning heel kick

    Signature moves
        Cartwheel evasion
        Corner foot choke
        Hair-pull snapmare
        Big boot out of the corner to an oncoming opponent
        Side Kick

    Wrestlers managed
        Standards and Practices
        Los Fabulosos (El Dandy and Silver King)
        David Flair
        Shawn Stasiak
        Dudley Boyz
        Test
        Scott Steiner
        Rosey and The Hurricane
        Randy Orton
    Nicknames
        "The Legs of WCW/WWE"
        "The Duchess of Dudleyville"
        "Super Stacy"
    Entrance themes
        "Legs" by Kid Rock (WWF/E)

Championships and accomplishments

    World Wrestling Entertainment

        WWE Babe of the Year (2004)

http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/clgomez54/Stacy-Keibler.jpg
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc359/divagrl6543/Stacy.jpg


Thanks Ninny,I liked her in the WWE but she was more eye candy than just a diva.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/15/11 at 7:32 am

The person of the day...Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall (born October 15, 1942) is an American actress, producer and director.

After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley. A ratings success, the show ran from 1976 until 1983, and Marshall received three Golden Globe award nominations for her performance.

She progressed to directing films such as Big (1988), the first film directed by a woman to gross in excess of $100 million at the U.S. box office, Awakenings (1990), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and A League of Their Own (1992). In more recent years, she has produced Cinderella Man (2005) and Bewitched (2005), as well as episodes of According to Jim (2009). She most recently directed an episode of the Showtime original series United States of Tara.
One of her first jobs was for a TV commercial for a beautifying shampoo. She was hired to play a girl with stringy, unattractive hair, and Farrah Fawcett was hired to play a girl with thick, bouncy hair. As the crew was lighting the set, Marshall's stand-in wore a placard that read "Homely Girl" and Fawcett's stand-in wore a placard that said "Pretty Girl". Farrah Fawcett, sensing Marshall's insecurity about her looks, crossed out "Homely" on the Marshall stand-in placard and wrote "Plain".

Marshall first gained prominence as a television actress with a recurring guest role of Myrna Turner on The Odd Couple (1971–1975). In Marshall's penultimate appearance as Myrna Turner, Myrna married her boyfriend, Sheldn ("They forgot the 'o' on his birth certificate; legally, it's 'Sheldn'"), played by her then-real-life husband, Rob Reiner, and briefly introduced her brother and sister, Werner Turner and Verna Turner (played by, respectively, Marshall's brother, Garry, and her sister, Ronny). Right before appearing on The Odd Couple, Marshall was being considered to play the role of Gloria Bunker Stivic on All In The Family. She ultimately lost the part to Sally Struthers while Rob Reiner was cast as Gloria's husband, Michael "Meathead" Stivic. During that time, Marshall also made a very small, uncredited appearance as an extra in the pilot for the 1971-1972 CBS sitcom Funny Face starring actress-comedienne Sandy Duncan.

In 1974, James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, executive producers of the hit situation comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, cast Marshall as Janice Dreyfuss, sister-in-law to Paul Dreyfuss (played by actor Paul Sand). In the series, called Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, Paul was a bachelor, who was a bass violinist for The Boston Symphony Orchestra. It aired on CBS-TV Saturday nights beginning September 14, 1974, as part of the powerhouse lineup of All In The Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. Despite good reviews and decent ratings, it was canceled in mid-season. Ironically, at the end of the 1974-1975 season, Paul Sand in Friends And Lovers placed among the top thirty programs, ranking #25 in the ratings. Both Brooks and Burns, along with Grant Tinker at MTM were so impressed with Marshall's comedic talent that the following season, they hired Marshall and actress Mary Kay Place to play Mary Richards' new neighbors (Paula and Sally Jo, respectively) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, when Mary moved out of her old apartment into a high-rise. After appearing as "guest stars" on a few episodes of the series, Marshall and Place were slated to become regulars on the show when fate stepped in for both of them. First, Place was hired by Norman Lear for the role of Loretta on the syndicated comedy, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Then, Garry Marshall, who was the creator and part-time writer for the hit TV series Happy Days with Ron Howard and Henry Winkler cast his sister and actress Cindy Williams to guest on an episode of that show. The installment, titled "A Date with Fonzie", aired on November 11, 1975 and introduced the characters LaVerne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney (played by Marshall and Williams, respectively). In that episode, Laverne and Shirley were a pair of wise-cracking brewery workers, who were dates for Fonzie (played by Winkler) and Richie (played by Howard). The pair were such a hit with the studio audience that Garry Marshall decided to co-create and star them in a hit spin-off, Laverne and Shirley (1976–1983). The characters of Laverne and Shirley also appeared in five more episodes of Happy Days. In 1983, while still filming Laverne and Shirley, she guest-starred on another popular sitcom, Taxi, in a cameo appearance as herself. In the Taxi episode "Louie Moves Uptown", Marshall is turned down for residency in a new high-rise condo in New York City. The Laverne and Shirley episode "Lost in Spacesuits" is referenced in the scene.

Because male actors such as co-star Ron Howard and husband Rob Reiner later became directors, and at the encouragement of her brother, Marshall became interested in directing. She directed two episodes of Laverne and Shirley and other TV assignments. She soon moved on to theatrical films, her first film being Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) starring Whoopi Goldberg. Marshall has directed several successful feature films since the mid-1980s, including 1988's Big starring Tom Hanks (the first film directed by a woman to gross over US$100 million), Awakenings (1990) starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, and A League of Their Own (1992) with Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell. In 1991, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award. She has also lent her voice to Ms. Botz a/k/a Ms. Botzukowski, the "babysitter bandit", on the first produced episode of The Simpsons, and played a cameo role as herself in HBO's series Entourage.
Personal life

While attending the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Marshall met Michael Henry, a football player. She quit college after three years, married him in 1961, and they had a daughter, Tracy, who later guest-starred on Laverne & Shirley opposite Marshall. Marshall worked as a secretary and later as a tap dance teacher. The marriage lasted two years. On April 10, 1971, Marshall married actor/director Rob Reiner, and her daughter took the name of Tracy Reiner. The marriage would last until 1981. In the mid-1980s she was romantically linked with Art Garfunkel.

Marshall is an avid collector of sports memorabilia and a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers. She is also a diehard fan of the New York Yankees.
Filmography
As actress

    The Savage Seven (1968)
    How Sweet It Is! (1968)
    The Grasshopper (1970)
    The Odd Couple (1970)
    Where's Poppa? (1970) (uncredited)
    The Christian Licorice Store (1971) (scenes deleted)
    How Come Nobody's on Our Side? (1975)
    1941 (1979) (uncredited)
    Movers & Shakers (1985)
    She's Having a Baby (1988) (cameo)
    Alice Upside Down (2007)



    The Hard Way (1991)
    Hocus Pocus (1993) (uncredited)
    Get Shorty (1995) (cameo)
    One Vision (1998) (documentary)
    Special Delivery (1999)
    Stateside (2004) (uncredited)
    Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005) (cameo)
    Everybody Wants to Be Italian (2007)
    Alice Upside Down (2007) (Mrs. Plotkin)
    Blonde Ambition (2007) (bolo excutive)

Television

    That Girl (2 episodes, 1968–1969)
    Then Came Bronson (1 episode, 1969)
    Love, American Style (1 episode, 1970)
    Barefoot in the Park (1 episode, 1970)
    Wacky Zoo of Morgan City (1970)
    Disneyland (2 episodes, 1970)
    The Feminist and the Fuzz (1971)
    Getting Together (1 episode, 1971)
    Funny Face (TV series) (pilot, 1971) (uncredited)
    The Odd Couple (26 episodes, 1971–1975)
    Evil Roy Slade (1972)
    The Super (1 episode, 1972)
    The Bob Newhart Show (1 episode, 1972)
    The Crooked Hearts (1972)
    The Couple Takes a Wife (1972)
    Banacek (1 episode, 1973)
    Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (14 episodes, 1974-1975)
    Mary Tyler Moore (3 episodes, 1974–1976)
    Let's Switch! (1975)
    Wives (1975)
    Chico and the Man (1 episode, 1975)



    Happy Days (6 episodes, 1975–1979)
    Good Heavens (1 episode, 1976)
    Laverne & Shirley (178 episodes,, 1976–1983)
    Blansky's Beauties (1 episode, 1977)
    Saturday Night Live (2 episodes, 1977–1996)
    Mork & Mindy (1 episode, 1978)
    More Than Friends (1978)
    Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981)
    The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour (1982) (voice)
    The New Show (1 episode, 1984)
    Love Thy Neighbor (1984)
    Challenge of a Lifetime (1985)
    The Simpsons TV series, episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (1990) (voice)
    The Odd Couple: Together Again (1993)
    Nash Bridges (1 episode, 1998)
    Frasier (1 episode, 2004)
    Campus Ladies (1 episode, 2006)
    The Game (1 episode, 2008)

    United States Of Tara (episode 8 "Expolsive Diorama" (Season 2,2010)

(episode 4 "Wheels" and episode 5 "Dr.Hatteras Miracle Elivir" (Season 3,2011)
As Director

    Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)
    Big (1988)
    Awakenings (1990)
    A League of Their Own (1992)
    Renaissance Man (1994)
    The Preacher's Wife (1996)
    Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee389/FordhamUnitez/Bronx%20Native/PennyMarshall.jpg
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo59/1957Girl/Laverne%20and%20Shirley/Lav44OhHearTheAngelsVoices.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/15/11 at 7:34 am

Starting in January, I'm thinking of changing it to someone who died on that day.
What do you think about that?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/15/11 at 10:42 am


Starting in January, I'm thinking of changing it to someone who died on that day.
What do you think about that?



Post whomever you like. Born/died/in the news/whatever. It is YOUR thread.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/15/11 at 7:57 pm


Starting in January, I'm thinking of changing it to someone who died on that day.
What do you think about that?


Sounds good,I like it.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/16/11 at 1:24 pm


Starting in January, I'm thinking of changing it to someone who died on that day.
What do you think about that?
Janine, it is your topic, and it is to be your choice.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/16/11 at 2:29 pm


Starting in January, I'm thinking of changing it to someone who died on that day.
What do you think about that?

Sure, why not? Although I think you have done that in the past.





Post whomever you like. Born/died/in the news/whatever. It is YOUR thread.



Cat
Exactly what Cat said.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/17/11 at 6:04 am



Post whomever you like. Born/died/in the news/whatever. It is YOUR thread.



Cat


Sounds good,I like it.  :)


Janine, it is your topic, and it is to be your choice.


Sure, why not? Although I think you have done that in the past.


Exactly what Cat said.

Okay, we will change in January.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/17/11 at 6:09 am

The person of the day...Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition. As well as being a member of D12, Eminem is also one half of the Detroit hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, with Royce da 5'9". Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in the world and is the best selling artist of the 2000s. He has been listed and ranked as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines including the Rolling Stone magazine which has ranked him 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The same magazine has declared him The King of Hip Hop. Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has achieved ten number one albums on the Billboard 200. He has also sold more than 33 million track downloads and 39.6 million albums in the United States alone.

Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album, The Slim Shady LP. That first album, The Marshall Mathers LP and his third major album, The Eminem Show, all won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs. The Marshall Mathers LP is also considered one of Eminem's best and most successful albums. Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first album since 2004's Encore, titled Relapse, on May 15, 2009. In 2010, Eminem released his seventh studio album Recovery, which was an international success. Recovery was also named the best selling album worldwide of 2010 joining The Eminem Show, which was the best seller of 2002. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both Relapse and Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. Eminem has named Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane, Newcleus, the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, AZ, Nas, and Ice-T amongst others as his influences.

Eminem has opened other ventures since the beginning of his success. He founded his own record label, Shady Records with his manager Paul Rosenberg. He also has his own radio channel, Shade 45. Eminem began an acting career in 2002, when he starred in the hip hop drama film 8 Mile in which he won The Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award. He is also set to star in the 2013 films Shady Talez and Have Gun, Will Travel. He has also made cameo appearances in The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009) and television series Entourage.
The Slim Shady EP is a debut extended play by Eminem, published by Web Entertainment in 1997. The Slim Shady EP was released on cassette, vinyl, and CD. The vinyl and CD versions were released in 1998. Eminem first introduced his "Slim Shady" persona on this EP, and his lyrics are a marked departure from those found on Infinite, featuring constant references to drug use, sexual acts, mental instability, and over-the-top violence. Another departure was his exploration of more serious themes of dealing with poverty, his direct and self-deprecating response to criticism, and of marital and family difficulties. His flow is also noticeably different than on Infinite; whereas critics claimed he sounded too much like Nas and AZ on that album. Eminem also began utilizing story telling on this EP. The production value of the music on the tracks — from previous collaborators DJ Head, The Bass Brothers, and Mr. Porter — was also noticeably higher than on prior album efforts. According to Billboard, at this point in his life Eminem had "realized his musical ambitions were the only way to escape his unhappy life". After being signed to Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records in 1998, Eminem released his first major studio album, The Slim Shady LP, heavily based on the production by Dr. Dre, one year later in 1999. Billboard praised the album as "light years ahead of the material he had been writing beforehand". It went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going triple platinum by the end of the year. With the album's popularity came controversy surrounding many of the album's lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", he describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of his wife's body. Another song, "Guilty Conscience", ends with his encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover. "Guilty Conscience" marked the beginning of the friendship and musical bond that Dr. Dre and Eminem would share. The two label-mates would later collaborate on a line of hit songs, including "Forgot About Dre" and "What's the Difference" from Dr. Dre's album 2001, "Bitch Please II" from The Marshall Mathers LP, "Say What You Say" from The Eminem Show, "Encore/Curtains Down" from Encore and "Old Time's Sake" and "Crack a Bottle" from Relapse. Dr. Dre would go on to make at least one guest appearance on all of Eminem's studio albums under the label Aftermath. The album has now been certified 4× platinum by the RIAA. With the release of it, Eminem was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage.
2000–02: The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show

The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle as the fastest-selling hip hop album and Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time as the fastest-selling solo album in United States history. The first single released from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", was a success and created some controversy by insulting celebrities and making dubious claims about them; he states, among other things, that Christina Aguilera performed oral sex on Fred Durst and Carson Daly. In his second single, "The Way I Am", he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to top "My Name Is" and sell more records. Although Eminem had parodied shock rocker Marilyn Manson in the video "My Name Is", the artists are reportedly on good terms. They performed a remix of the song "The Way I Am" together in concert. In the third single, "Stan" (which samples Dido's "Thank You"), Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, taking on the persona of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend, mirroring "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" on The Slim Shady LP. In the music video of "Stan", Eminem was shown writing with his left hand, ending the fan debate over his dominant hand. Q magazine named "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time, and the song came tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com. The song has since become highly acclaimed and was ranked 290th in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. In July 2000, Eminem became the first white person to be featured on the cover of The Source magazine. This album has been certified 10× Platinum by the RIAA.

Eminem performed with Elton John at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony in 2001; the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an organization that perceived Eminem's lyrics to be homophobic, condemned the openly gay John's decision to perform with Eminem. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "It was the hug heard 'round the world. Eminem, under fire for homophobic lyrics, shared the stage with a gay icon for a performance of "Stan" that would have been memorable in any context." On February 21, the day of the ceremony, GLAAD held a protest outside the Staples Center, the venue where the Grammy ceremony was held. Music tours that he participated in for 2001 included the Up in Smoke Tour with rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Ice Cube and Family Values Tour with the band Limp Bizkit.

Eminem's third major album, The Eminem Show, was released in summer 2002 and proved to be another hit for the rapper reaching number one on the charts and selling well over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It featured the single "Without Me", in which he makes derogatory comments about boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, and Moby, among others. The Eminem Show has been certified 10× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album reflected on the impact of his rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop community. He also addresses the charges he faced over assaulting a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic felt that while there was clear anger present on several tracks, this album was considerably less inflammatory than The Marshall Mathers LP. However, L. Brent Bozell III, who previously criticized The Marshall Mathers LP for perceived misogynistic lyrics in the album, noted The Eminem Show for its extensive use of obscene language, giving Eminem the nickname "Eminef" for the bowdlerization of motherfudgeer, an obscenity prevalent in the album. The Eminem Show was the best-selling album of 2002.
2003–05: Encore

On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States. The lyrics in question: "fudge money/I don't rap for dead presidents/I'd rather see the president dead/It's never been said, but I set precedents ..." The song in question, "We As Americans", wound up on a bonus CD accompanying the album.

In 2004, Eminem released his fourth major album, Encore. The album was another chart-topper, as it was driven by the single "Just Lose It", notable for being disrespectful towards Michael Jackson. On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It", Eminem's first single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" refer to Jackson's legal troubles, however he does state in his song "... and that's not a stab at Michael/That's just a metaphor/I'm just psycho...." Many of Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including Stevie Wonder, who called the video "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullsheesh", and Steve Harvey, who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back." In the video, Eminem parodied Pee-wee Herman, MC Hammer, and "Blond Ambition"-era Madonna. Regarding Jackson's protest, "Weird Al" Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a track titled "Couch Potato" on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my "Lose Yourself" parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career. So the irony of this situation with Michael is not lost on me." Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced it would continue airing the video. The Source, through its CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, wanted not only the video to be pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Eminem. In 2007 Jackson and Sony bought Famous Music LLC from Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck, among others.

Despite the comedic theme of the lead single, Encore had its fair share of serious subject matter, including the anti-war track "Mosh". On October 25, 2004, a week before the 2004 US Presidential election, Eminem released the video for "Mosh" on the Internet. The song featured a very strong anti-Bush message, with lyrics such as "fudge Bush" and "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president". The video features Eminem gathering up an army of people, including rapper Lloyd Banks, presented as victims of the Bush administration and leading them to the White House. However, once the army breaks in, it is revealed that they are there to simply register to vote, and the video ends with the words "VOTE Tuesday November 2" on the screen. After Bush was re-elected, the video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while Bush was giving a speech.
2005–08: Musical hiatus
Eminem performing live on the Anger Management Tour in August 2005

In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled The Funeral. The album later manifested itself as a greatest hits album under the name Curtain Call: The Hits in December. In July 2005, the Detroit Free Press broke news of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting members of his inside circle who said that he will begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day of the release of the compilation album, Eminem denied that he was retiring on Detroit-based WKQI's "Mojo in the Morning" radio show, but implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist, saying "I'm at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don't know where my career is going ... This is the reason that we called it 'Curtain Call', because this could be the final thing. We don't know." He released The Re-Up with the members of his record label, Shady Records. It was released in 2006.

In 2005, Eminem was a subject of Bernard Goldberg's book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America; he ranked No. 58. Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of The New York Times claiming, "In Eminem's world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them." Goldberg cited Eminem's song "No One's Iller" from The Slim Shady EP as an example of misogyny in his music. In summer 2005, Eminem embarked on his first US concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil Jon, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication". Curtain Call: The Hits was released on December 6, 2005, under Aftermath Entertainment. In its first week it sold nearly 441,000 copies in the US and was Eminem's fourth straight No. 1 album on the Billboard Hot 200. The album has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA.

In September 2007, Eminem called into New York radio station Hot 97 during an interview with 50 Cent and said he was "in limbo" and "debating" about when and if he would release another album. He said, "I'm always working – I'm always in the studio. It feels good right now, the energy of the label. For a while, I didn't want to go back to the studio ... I went through some personal things. I'm coming out of those personal things it feels good."
Although he had a cameo in the 2001 film, The Wash, Eminem made his official Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including "Lose Yourself," which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. "Lose Yourself" would go on to become the longest running No. 1 hip hop single. However, the song was not performed at the ceremony, due to Eminem's absence at the ceremony. His collaborator, Luis Resto, who co-wrote the song, accepted the award.

Eminem has participated in various voice acting roles. Some of these include the video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof, where he voices an aging corrupt police officer who speaks in Ebonics and guest spots on the Comedy Central television show Crank Yankers, and a web cartoon called The Slim Shady Show, which has since been pulled off-line and is instead sold on DVD. He will be involved in either the soundtrack or scoring. He was also in the running for the part of David Rice in 2008's film Jumper after Tom Sturridge was dropped just two weeks before filming. Concerns over not having a more prominent actor prompted the director, Doug Liman, to consider other actors for the role. He eventually selected Hayden Christensen over Eminem. He also had a cameo appearance in the 2009 movie Funny People, in which he is involved in an argument with Ray Romano.

It was reported on November 8, 2009, that Eminem will star in the upcoming 3D horror anthology, Shady Talez, to be produced by John Davis. A four-issue comic book series based on the film was expected to be published sometime in 2010.

Eminem appeared alongside Christina Aguilera on the Entourage Season 7 finale titled 'Lose Yourself' as himself. David Schiff will executive produce the film, and Antoine Fuqua was confirmed to direct the film. In January 2011, a report surfaced that Eminem will star in the upcoming thriller, Random Acts of Violence.
Memoir

On October 21, 2008, Eminem released a tell-all autobiography entitled The Way I Am, which details his struggles with poverty, drugs, fame, heartbreak and depression, along with stories about his rise to fame and commentary on past controversies. This book also contains some of the original lyric sheets from songs such as "Stan" and "The Real Slim Shady."
Advertising

Eminem was featured in two commercials that aired during Super Bowl XLV. The first, for Lipton's Brisk Iced Tea, was a one-minute spot that featured him as a claymation figure. The other was a two-minute ad, the longest in Super Bowl history, for the Chrysler 200. It featured Eminem driving through Detroit and ended with him taking the stage at the Fox Theatre with "Lose Yourself" playing as the soundtrack.
Eminem has spoken openly about his addiction to prescription drugs, including Vicodin, Ambien, Valium and Methadone. His group-mate Proof from D12 stated that Mathers "sobered up" in 2002 from drug and alcohol dependence. However, he did turn to zolpidem (Ambien) sleeping pills for relief from sleeping troubles. This caused Mathers to cancel the European leg of the Anger Management Tour in August 2005 and eventually go into rehab for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication". In a 2009 interview with British talk-show host Jonathan Ross, Mathers admitted that at the height of his addiction, he considered suicide, saying that, "I just wasn't taking care of myself, at times I wanted to just give it up." He also confirmed that he is now sober, commenting that, "ap was my drug ... Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now rap's getting me high again."
Proof's death

On April 11, 2006, Eminem’s best friend and fellow D12 member, Proof was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest at the CCC Club by club bouncer Mario Etheridge on 8 Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan after fatally shooting Keith Bender, Jr. On April 19, 2006, Eminem, D12, 50 Cent, and thousands of others attended the funeral of Proof at The Fellowship Chapel, Detroit. Eminem made two songs about Proof's death on his album Recovery titled "Going Through Changes" and "You're Never Over", and mentions him in songs on Relapse ("Deja Vu" and "Beautiful").
Charity work

Eminem has also founded his own donation charity named The Marshall Mathers Foundation. The charity helps disadvantaged youth in his home state of Michigan. It has made donations to food banks and youth groups and participates in fundraisers with organizations such as Eight Mile Boulevard Association. Eminem has worked exclusively with Norman Yatooma, a high profile attorney in Detroit, Michigan. Mathers will not engage in charitable work without direct partnership with Yatooma and his foundation.
Feuds

Throughout his career, Eminem created a large number of rivals in the music industry, including Ja Rule, Benzino, Everlast, Insane Clown Posse, Canibus and others.
Main articles: Eminem discography and Eminem production discography

    Infinite (1996)
    The Slim Shady LP (1999)
    The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
    The Eminem Show (2002)
    Encore (2004)
    Relapse (2009)
    Recovery (2010)

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
2000 Da Hip Hop Witch Himself
Up in Smoke Tour
The Slim Shady Show Various
2001 The Wash Chris Uncredited
2002 8 Mile Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith, Jr. Academy Award for Best Original Song
MTV Movie Award for Best Video from a Film – Lose Yourself
MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Male Performance
ASCAP Award for Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture – Lose Yourself
Critics Choice Award for Best Song – Lose Yourself
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama/Action Adventure
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Star – Male
BMI Film Award for Music
BMI Film Award for Most Performed Song from a Film – Lose Yourself
Nominated – Golden Globe for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture – Lose Yourself
Nominated – CFCA Award for Most Promising Performer
Nominated – Golden Satellite for Best Original Song – Lose Yourself
Nominated – OFCS for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated – PFCS for Best Original Song – Lose Yourself
Nominated – Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – Lose Yourself
2003 50 Cent: The New Breed Himself
2004 Crank Yankers Billy Fletcher TV guest role; voice
2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Himself Inducted Run-D.M.C.
Funny People Cameo
2010 Entourage TV guest spot
Saturday Night Live Performed alongside Lil Wayne a medley of songs including "No Love"
2013 Shady Talez Unknown In Development, Script currently being written by Kevin Grevioux and Dallas Jackson
Have Gun, Will Travel Paladin In Development
Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Eminem

Eminem has thirteen Grammy Awards. He has been praised for having "verbal energy", high quality of lyricism and has been ranked number nine on MTV's list of The Greatest MCs of All Time. In 2003 he was listed as number thirteen on MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music and number 82 on Rolling Stone's "The Immortals". In 2008, the readers of Vibe Magazine voted him "The Best Rapper Alive". He was also named "Best Rapper Ever" in a poll conducted by music fans on the Vibe website.

Ironically, "The Real Slim Shady", one of the songs from his second Grammy-winning album, The Marshall Mathers LP, slammed the Grammy Awards in its second verse, and stated the opinion that negative feelings about his material would keep him from ever winning one.
Business ventures

    Shady Records
    Shade 45 Sirius
    Shady Ltd. Clothing
    Shady Games
    Eight Mile Style LLC
    The Marshall Mathers Foundation

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/DJReeg21/em-shade45.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/DJReeg21/checktheblog/part2/INAD3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/17/11 at 7:21 am


The person of the day...Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition. As well as being a member of D12, Eminem is also one half of the Detroit hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, with Royce da 5'9". Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in the world and is the best selling artist of the 2000s. He has been listed and ranked as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines including the Rolling Stone magazine which has ranked him 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The same magazine has declared him The King of Hip Hop. Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has achieved ten number one albums on the Billboard 200. He has also sold more than 33 million track downloads and 39.6 million albums in the United States alone.

Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album, The Slim Shady LP. That first album, The Marshall Mathers LP and his third major album, The Eminem Show, all won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs. The Marshall Mathers LP is also considered one of Eminem's best and most successful albums. Eminem then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released his first album since 2004's Encore, titled Relapse, on May 15, 2009. In 2010, Eminem released his seventh studio album Recovery, which was an international success. Recovery was also named the best selling album worldwide of 2010 joining The Eminem Show, which was the best seller of 2002. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both Relapse and Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. Eminem has named Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane, Newcleus, the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, AZ, Nas, and Ice-T amongst others as his influences.

Eminem has opened other ventures since the beginning of his success. He founded his own record label, Shady Records with his manager Paul Rosenberg. He also has his own radio channel, Shade 45. Eminem began an acting career in 2002, when he starred in the hip hop drama film 8 Mile in which he won The Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award. He is also set to star in the 2013 films Shady Talez and Have Gun, Will Travel. He has also made cameo appearances in The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009) and television series Entourage.
The Slim Shady EP is a debut extended play by Eminem, published by Web Entertainment in 1997. The Slim Shady EP was released on cassette, vinyl, and CD. The vinyl and CD versions were released in 1998. Eminem first introduced his "Slim Shady" persona on this EP, and his lyrics are a marked departure from those found on Infinite, featuring constant references to drug use, sexual acts, mental instability, and over-the-top violence. Another departure was his exploration of more serious themes of dealing with poverty, his direct and self-deprecating response to criticism, and of marital and family difficulties. His flow is also noticeably different than on Infinite; whereas critics claimed he sounded too much like Nas and AZ on that album. Eminem also began utilizing story telling on this EP. The production value of the music on the tracks — from previous collaborators DJ Head, The Bass Brothers, and Mr. Porter — was also noticeably higher than on prior album efforts. According to Billboard, at this point in his life Eminem had "realized his musical ambitions were the only way to escape his unhappy life". After being signed to Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records in 1998, Eminem released his first major studio album, The Slim Shady LP, heavily based on the production by Dr. Dre, one year later in 1999. Billboard praised the album as "light years ahead of the material he had been writing beforehand". It went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going triple platinum by the end of the year. With the album's popularity came controversy surrounding many of the album's lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", he describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of his wife's body. Another song, "Guilty Conscience", ends with his encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover. "Guilty Conscience" marked the beginning of the friendship and musical bond that Dr. Dre and Eminem would share. The two label-mates would later collaborate on a line of hit songs, including "Forgot About Dre" and "What's the Difference" from Dr. Dre's album 2001, "Bitch Please II" from The Marshall Mathers LP, "Say What You Say" from The Eminem Show, "Encore/Curtains Down" from Encore and "Old Time's Sake" and "Crack a Bottle" from Relapse. Dr. Dre would go on to make at least one guest appearance on all of Eminem's studio albums under the label Aftermath. The album has now been certified 4× platinum by the RIAA. With the release of it, Eminem was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage.
2000–02: The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show

The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle as the fastest-selling hip hop album and Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time as the fastest-selling solo album in United States history. The first single released from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", was a success and created some controversy by insulting celebrities and making dubious claims about them; he states, among other things, that Christina Aguilera performed oral sex on Fred Durst and Carson Daly. In his second single, "The Way I Am", he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to top "My Name Is" and sell more records. Although Eminem had parodied shock rocker Marilyn Manson in the video "My Name Is", the artists are reportedly on good terms. They performed a remix of the song "The Way I Am" together in concert. In the third single, "Stan" (which samples Dido's "Thank You"), Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, taking on the persona of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend, mirroring "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" on The Slim Shady LP. In the music video of "Stan", Eminem was shown writing with his left hand, ending the fan debate over his dominant hand. Q magazine named "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time, and the song came tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com. The song has since become highly acclaimed and was ranked 290th in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. In July 2000, Eminem became the first white person to be featured on the cover of The Source magazine. This album has been certified 10× Platinum by the RIAA.

Eminem performed with Elton John at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony in 2001; the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an organization that perceived Eminem's lyrics to be homophobic, condemned the openly gay John's decision to perform with Eminem. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "It was the hug heard 'round the world. Eminem, under fire for homophobic lyrics, shared the stage with a gay icon for a performance of "Stan" that would have been memorable in any context." On February 21, the day of the ceremony, GLAAD held a protest outside the Staples Center, the venue where the Grammy ceremony was held. Music tours that he participated in for 2001 included the Up in Smoke Tour with rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Ice Cube and Family Values Tour with the band Limp Bizkit.

Eminem's third major album, The Eminem Show, was released in summer 2002 and proved to be another hit for the rapper reaching number one on the charts and selling well over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It featured the single "Without Me", in which he makes derogatory comments about boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, and Moby, among others. The Eminem Show has been certified 10× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album reflected on the impact of his rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop community. He also addresses the charges he faced over assaulting a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic felt that while there was clear anger present on several tracks, this album was considerably less inflammatory than The Marshall Mathers LP. However, L. Brent Bozell III, who previously criticized The Marshall Mathers LP for perceived misogynistic lyrics in the album, noted The Eminem Show for its extensive use of obscene language, giving Eminem the nickname "Eminef" for the bowdlerization of motherfudgeer, an obscenity prevalent in the album. The Eminem Show was the best-selling album of 2002.
2003–05: Encore

On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States. The lyrics in question: "fudge money/I don't rap for dead presidents/I'd rather see the president dead/It's never been said, but I set precedents ..." The song in question, "We As Americans", wound up on a bonus CD accompanying the album.

In 2004, Eminem released his fourth major album, Encore. The album was another chart-topper, as it was driven by the single "Just Lose It", notable for being disrespectful towards Michael Jackson. On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of "Just Lose It", Eminem's first single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to "Just Lose It" refer to Jackson's legal troubles, however he does state in his song "... and that's not a stab at Michael/That's just a metaphor/I'm just psycho...." Many of Jackson's supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including Stevie Wonder, who called the video "kicking a man while he's down" and "bullsheesh", and Steve Harvey, who declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back." In the video, Eminem parodied Pee-wee Herman, MC Hammer, and "Blond Ambition"-era Madonna. Regarding Jackson's protest, "Weird Al" Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" on a track titled "Couch Potato" on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my "Lose Yourself" parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career. So the irony of this situation with Michael is not lost on me." Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced it would continue airing the video. The Source, through its CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, wanted not only the video to be pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Eminem. In 2007 Jackson and Sony bought Famous Music LLC from Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck, among others.

Despite the comedic theme of the lead single, Encore had its fair share of serious subject matter, including the anti-war track "Mosh". On October 25, 2004, a week before the 2004 US Presidential election, Eminem released the video for "Mosh" on the Internet. The song featured a very strong anti-Bush message, with lyrics such as "fudge Bush" and "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president". The video features Eminem gathering up an army of people, including rapper Lloyd Banks, presented as victims of the Bush administration and leading them to the White House. However, once the army breaks in, it is revealed that they are there to simply register to vote, and the video ends with the words "VOTE Tuesday November 2" on the screen. After Bush was re-elected, the video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while Bush was giving a speech.
2005–08: Musical hiatus
Eminem performing live on the Anger Management Tour in August 2005

In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled The Funeral. The album later manifested itself as a greatest hits album under the name Curtain Call: The Hits in December. In July 2005, the Detroit Free Press broke news of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting members of his inside circle who said that he will begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day of the release of the compilation album, Eminem denied that he was retiring on Detroit-based WKQI's "Mojo in the Morning" radio show, but implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist, saying "I'm at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don't know where my career is going ... This is the reason that we called it 'Curtain Call', because this could be the final thing. We don't know." He released The Re-Up with the members of his record label, Shady Records. It was released in 2006.

In 2005, Eminem was a subject of Bernard Goldberg's book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America; he ranked No. 58. Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of The New York Times claiming, "In Eminem's world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them." Goldberg cited Eminem's song "No One's Iller" from The Slim Shady EP as an example of misogyny in his music. In summer 2005, Eminem embarked on his first US concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil Jon, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication". Curtain Call: The Hits was released on December 6, 2005, under Aftermath Entertainment. In its first week it sold nearly 441,000 copies in the US and was Eminem's fourth straight No. 1 album on the Billboard Hot 200. The album has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA.

In September 2007, Eminem called into New York radio station Hot 97 during an interview with 50 Cent and said he was "in limbo" and "debating" about when and if he would release another album. He said, "I'm always working – I'm always in the studio. It feels good right now, the energy of the label. For a while, I didn't want to go back to the studio ... I went through some personal things. I'm coming out of those personal things it feels good."
Although he had a cameo in the 2001 film, The Wash, Eminem made his official Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including "Lose Yourself," which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. "Lose Yourself" would go on to become the longest running No. 1 hip hop single. However, the song was not performed at the ceremony, due to Eminem's absence at the ceremony. His collaborator, Luis Resto, who co-wrote the song, accepted the award.

Eminem has participated in various voice acting roles. Some of these include the video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof, where he voices an aging corrupt police officer who speaks in Ebonics and guest spots on the Comedy Central television show Crank Yankers, and a web cartoon called The Slim Shady Show, which has since been pulled off-line and is instead sold on DVD. He will be involved in either the soundtrack or scoring. He was also in the running for the part of David Rice in 2008's film Jumper after Tom Sturridge was dropped just two weeks before filming. Concerns over not having a more prominent actor prompted the director, Doug Liman, to consider other actors for the role. He eventually selected Hayden Christensen over Eminem. He also had a cameo appearance in the 2009 movie Funny People, in which he is involved in an argument with Ray Romano.

It was reported on November 8, 2009, that Eminem will star in the upcoming 3D horror anthology, Shady Talez, to be produced by John Davis. A four-issue comic book series based on the film was expected to be published sometime in 2010.

Eminem appeared alongside Christina Aguilera on the Entourage Season 7 finale titled 'Lose Yourself' as himself. David Schiff will executive produce the film, and Antoine Fuqua was confirmed to direct the film. In January 2011, a report surfaced that Eminem will star in the upcoming thriller, Random Acts of Violence.
Memoir

On October 21, 2008, Eminem released a tell-all autobiography entitled The Way I Am, which details his struggles with poverty, drugs, fame, heartbreak and depression, along with stories about his rise to fame and commentary on past controversies. This book also contains some of the original lyric sheets from songs such as "Stan" and "The Real Slim Shady."
Advertising

Eminem was featured in two commercials that aired during Super Bowl XLV. The first, for Lipton's Brisk Iced Tea, was a one-minute spot that featured him as a claymation figure. The other was a two-minute ad, the longest in Super Bowl history, for the Chrysler 200. It featured Eminem driving through Detroit and ended with him taking the stage at the Fox Theatre with "Lose Yourself" playing as the soundtrack.
Eminem has spoken openly about his addiction to prescription drugs, including Vicodin, Ambien, Valium and Methadone. His group-mate Proof from D12 stated that Mathers "sobered up" in 2002 from drug and alcohol dependence. However, he did turn to zolpidem (Ambien) sleeping pills for relief from sleeping troubles. This caused Mathers to cancel the European leg of the Anger Management Tour in August 2005 and eventually go into rehab for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication". In a 2009 interview with British talk-show host Jonathan Ross, Mathers admitted that at the height of his addiction, he considered suicide, saying that, "I just wasn't taking care of myself, at times I wanted to just give it up." He also confirmed that he is now sober, commenting that, "ap was my drug ... Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now rap's getting me high again."
Proof's death

On April 11, 2006, Eminem’s best friend and fellow D12 member, Proof was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest at the CCC Club by club bouncer Mario Etheridge on 8 Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan after fatally shooting Keith Bender, Jr. On April 19, 2006, Eminem, D12, 50 Cent, and thousands of others attended the funeral of Proof at The Fellowship Chapel, Detroit. Eminem made two songs about Proof's death on his album Recovery titled "Going Through Changes" and "You're Never Over", and mentions him in songs on Relapse ("Deja Vu" and "Beautiful").
Charity work

Eminem has also founded his own donation charity named The Marshall Mathers Foundation. The charity helps disadvantaged youth in his home state of Michigan. It has made donations to food banks and youth groups and participates in fundraisers with organizations such as Eight Mile Boulevard Association. Eminem has worked exclusively with Norman Yatooma, a high profile attorney in Detroit, Michigan. Mathers will not engage in charitable work without direct partnership with Yatooma and his foundation.
Feuds

Throughout his career, Eminem created a large number of rivals in the music industry, including Ja Rule, Benzino, Everlast, Insane Clown Posse, Canibus and others.
Main articles: Eminem discography and Eminem production discography

    Infinite (1996)
    The Slim Shady LP (1999)
    The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
    The Eminem Show (2002)
    Encore (2004)
    Relapse (2009)
    Recovery (2010)

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
2000 Da Hip Hop Witch Himself
Up in Smoke Tour
The Slim Shady Show Various
2001 The Wash Chris Uncredited
2002 8 Mile Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith, Jr. Academy Award for Best Original Song
MTV Movie Award for Best Video from a Film – Lose Yourself
MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Male Performance
ASCAP Award for Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture – Lose Yourself
Critics Choice Award for Best Song – Lose Yourself
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama/Action Adventure
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Star – Male
BMI Film Award for Music
BMI Film Award for Most Performed Song from a Film – Lose Yourself
Nominated – Golden Globe for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture – Lose Yourself
Nominated – CFCA Award for Most Promising Performer
Nominated – Golden Satellite for Best Original Song – Lose Yourself
Nominated – OFCS for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated – PFCS for Best Original Song – Lose Yourself
Nominated – Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – Lose Yourself
2003 50 Cent: The New Breed Himself
2004 Crank Yankers Billy Fletcher TV guest role; voice
2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Himself Inducted Run-D.M.C.
Funny People Cameo
2010 Entourage TV guest spot
Saturday Night Live Performed alongside Lil Wayne a medley of songs including "No Love"
2013 Shady Talez Unknown In Development, Script currently being written by Kevin Grevioux and Dallas Jackson
Have Gun, Will Travel Paladin In Development
Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Eminem

Eminem has thirteen Grammy Awards. He has been praised for having "verbal energy", high quality of lyricism and has been ranked number nine on MTV's list of The Greatest MCs of All Time. In 2003 he was listed as number thirteen on MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music and number 82 on Rolling Stone's "The Immortals". In 2008, the readers of Vibe Magazine voted him "The Best Rapper Alive". He was also named "Best Rapper Ever" in a poll conducted by music fans on the Vibe website.

Ironically, "The Real Slim Shady", one of the songs from his second Grammy-winning album, The Marshall Mathers LP, slammed the Grammy Awards in its second verse, and stated the opinion that negative feelings about his material would keep him from ever winning one.
Business ventures

    Shady Records
    Shade 45 Sirius
    Shady Ltd. Clothing
    Shady Games
    Eight Mile Style LLC
    The Marshall Mathers Foundation

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/DJReeg21/em-shade45.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h302/DJReeg21/checktheblog/part2/INAD3.jpg


I like a few of his songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/17/11 at 7:22 am


I like a few of his songs.
It is the same for me, only a few of his songs I like.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/17/11 at 7:23 am


It is the same for me, only a few of his songs I like.


not crazy about the others.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/17/11 at 7:24 am


not crazy about the others.
In truth, it is his earlier songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/17/11 at 9:58 am


It is the same for me, only a few of his songs I like.

I have heard maybe one or two of his early songs, and they are okay IMO.



not crazy about the others.

ditto.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/18/11 at 8:05 am

The person of the day George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.
Scott first rose to prominence for his work with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1958, he won an Obie Award for his performances in Children of Darkness (in which he made the first of many appearances opposite his future wife, actress Colleen Dewhurst), for As You Like It, and for playing the title character in William Shakespeare's Richard III (a performance one critic said was the "angriest" Richard III of all time). He was on Broadway the following year, winning critical acclaim for his portrayal of the prosecutor in The Andersonville Trial by Saul Levitt. This was based on the military trial of the commandant of the infamous Civil War prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia. His performance earned him a mention in Time magazine. In 1970 Scott directed a highly acclaimed television version of this same play. It starred William Shatner, Richard Basehart, and Jack Cassidy, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance as the defense lawyer in this production.
In Dr. Strangelove

Scott continued to appear in and sometimes direct Broadway productions throughout the 1960s. The most commercially successful show he worked on was Neil Simon's Plaza Suite (1968), composed of three separate one-act plays all utilizing the same set, which ran for 1097 performances. Scott played a different lead role in each act.

Scott appeared in many television series, including the NBC western series The Virginian, in the episode "The Brazen Bell", in which he recites Oscar Wilde's poem "The Ballad Of Reading Gaol". That same year, he appeared in NBC's medical drama The Eleventh Hour, in the episode "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House".

In 1961 he appeared opposite Sir Laurence Olivier and Julie Harris in Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory for television.

In 1963, Scott was top billed in the CBS hour-long drama series East Side, West Side; he and co-star Cicely Tyson played urban social workers. The show lasted only one season. In 1966, Scott appeared as Jud Barker in the NBC western The Road West, starring Barry Sullivan, Kathryn Hays, Andrew Prine, and Glenn Corbett.

Scott won wide public recognition in the film Anatomy of a Murder, in which he played a wily prosecutor opposite James Stewart as the defense attorney. Scott was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Scott's most famous early role was in Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, where he played the part of General "Buck" Turgidson. It is revealed on the DVD documentary that after having shot many takes of any given scene, Stanley Kubrick would frequently ask Scott to redo it in an "over the top" fashion. Kubrick would then proceed to use this version in the final cut, which Scott supposedly resented.

In 1970, Scott portrayed George S. Patton in the 1970 film Patton. Scott had researched extensively for the role, studying films of the general and talking to those who knew him. Scott returned his Oscar for Patton, stating in a letter to the Academy that he didn't feel himself to be in competition with other actors. However, regarding this second rejection of the Academy Award, Scott famously said elsewhere, "The whole thing is a goddamn meat parade. I don't want any part of it." Sixteen years later, in 1986, Scott reprised his role in a made-for-television sequel, The Last Days of Patton. The movie was based on Patton's final weeks after being mortally injured in a car accident, with flashbacks of Patton's life. At the time that sequel was aired, Scott mentioned in a TV Guide interview that he had told the Academy to donate his Oscar to the Patton Museum; since the instructions were never put in writing, it was never delivered. The Oscar is currently displayed at the Virginia Military Institute museum in Lexington, Virginia, the same institution that generations of Pattons have attended. Scott did not turn down the New York Film Critics Award for his performance (of which his wife Colleen Dewhurst said, "George thinks this is the only film award worth having").

He continued to do stage work throughout the rest of his career, receiving Tony Award nominations for his performance as Astrov in a revival of Uncle Vanya (1973), his Willy Loman in a revival of Death of a Salesman (1975), and his performance as Henry Drummond in a revival of Inherit the Wind (1996). In the latter play, he had to miss an unusually large number of performances due to illness, with his role being taken over by National Actors Theatre artistic director Tony Randall. In 1996, he also won an honorary Drama Desk Award for a lifetime devotion to theatre.

Scott also starred in well-received productions of Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox (1976) (based on Ben Jonson's Volpone), which ran 495 performances, and a revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter (1982). He frequently directed on Broadway as well, including productions of All God's Chillun Got Wings (1975) and Design for Living (1985), as well as being an actor/director in Death of a Salesman, Present Laughter, and On Borrowed Time (1991).

In 1971, Scott gave two more critically acclaimed performances, as a de facto Sherlock Holmes in They Might Be Giants and as an alcoholic doctor in the black comedy The Hospital. Despite his repeated snubbing of the Academy, Scott was again nominated for Best Actor for the latter role. Scott excelled on television that year as well, appearing in an adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Price, an installment of the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology. He was nominated for, and won, an Emmy Award for his role, which he accepted.

Scott also starred in the popular 1980 horror film The Changeling, with Melvyn Douglas. He received the Canadian Genie Award for Best Foreign Film Actor for his performance. In 1981, Scott appeared alongside 20-year-old Academy Award winning actor Timothy Hutton and rising stars Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in the coming-of-age film Taps. The following year, Scott was cast as Fagin in the CBS made-for-TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. In 1984, Scott portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in a television adaptation of A Christmas Carol. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role.
On Influences:

I think I learned to act from people like James Cagney and Paul Muni. And I'm sure I learned more from Bette Davis than anyone. She has enormous presence, a sense of surprise. She sets you up like a great boxer and BAM! she gives you something else. She does have a certain consistent style, but when you examine her work you find enormous variety of color and intelligence.


Scott on Some Aspects of Acting, Time Magazine, Mar. 22,1971.

In 1989, Scott starred in the television movie The Ryan White Story, as a lawyer defending Ryan White from discrimination.

In 1990, he voiced the villain Smoke in the TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, where his character was alongside popular cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny. That same year, he voiced the villain Percival McLeach in the Disney film The Rescuers Down Under and was featured in The Exorcist III. The following year, he hosted the TV series Weapons At War on A&E TV but was replaced after one season by Gerald McRaney for the last two seasons. Weapons At War moved to The History Channel with Scott still being shown as host for the first season. Scott was replaced by Robert Conrad in 2000 after his death in 1999.

Scott had a reputation for being moody and mercurial while on the set. "There is no question you get pumped up by the recognition," he once said, "Then a self-loathing sets in when you realize you're enjoying it." A famous anecdote relates that one of his stage costars, Maureen Stapleton, told the director of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, "I don't know what to do—I'm scared of him." The director, Mike Nichols, replied, "My dear, everyone is scared of George C. Scott."
Politics

In 1988, Scott appeared in a campaign commercial for liberal Republican U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker of Connecticut. Like Weicker, Scott was a resident of Greenwich, Connecticut. Scott's commercial became known as the "Patton ad." Weicker narrowly lost the election to then-Connecticut Attorney General Joseph Lieberman.
Personal life

Scott was married five times:

    Carolyn Hughes (1951–1955) (one daughter, Victoria, born December 19, 1952)
    Patricia Reed (1955–1960) (two children: Matthew – born May 27, 1957 – and actress Devon Scott – born November 29, 1958).
    The Canadian-born actress Colleen Dewhurst (1960–1965), by whom he had two sons, writer Alexander Scott (born August 1960), and actor Campbell Scott (born July 19, 1961). Dewhurst nicknamed her husband "G.C."
    He remarried Colleen Dewhurst on July 4, 1967, but they divorced for a second time on February 2, 1972.
    The American actress Trish Van Devere on September 4, 1972, with whom he starred in several films, including the supernatural thriller The Changeling (1980). They remained married until his death in 1999.

Scott also had a daughter, Michelle, born August 21, 1954, with Karen Truesdell.
Death

Scott died on September 22, 1999 a month before his 72nd birthday from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. His remains were interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, in an unmarked grave. Walter Matthau, who died less than a year later, was buried next to him.
Filmography

    The Hanging Tree (1959)
    Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
    The Hustler (1961)
    The Power and the Glory (1961) (TV)
    The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
    The Car That Became a Star (1965) (short subject)
    The Bible: In the Beginning (1966)
    Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)
    The Flim-Flam Man (1967)
    Petulia (1968)
    Patton (1970)
    Jane Eyre (1970)
    They Might Be Giants (1971)
    The Last Run (1971)
    The Hospital (1971)
    The New Centurions (1972)
    Rage (1972)
    Oklahoma Crude (1973)
    The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
    Bank Shot (1974)
    The Savage Is Loose (1974)
    The Hindenburg (1975)
    Beauty and the Beast (Hallmark Hall of Fame) (1976)
    Islands in the Stream (1977)
    Crossed Swords (1977)
    The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
    Movie Movie (1978)
    Hardcore (1979)
    The Changeling (1980)
    The Formula (1980)
    Taps (1981)
    Oliver Twist (TV film) (1982)
    A Christmas Carol (1984)
    Firestarter (1984)
    Mussolini: The Untold Story (TV) (1985)
    The Murders in the Rue Morgue (TV) (1986)
    The Last Days of Patton (TV) (1986)
    Pals (1987)
    Mr. President (TV series) (1987–1988)
    Descending Angel(1990)
    The Exorcist III (1990)
    The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (voice)
    Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) (voice)
    Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991) (documentary)
    Malice (1993)
    Curaçao released as CIA: Exiled (DVD) (1993)
    Angus (1995)
    Tyson (TV) (1995)
    Titanic (TV) (1996)
    12 Angry Men (1997 film)
    Country Justice (TV) (1997)
    Gloria (1999)
    Rocky Marciano (1999)
    Inherit the Wind (TV) (1999)
http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx97/JML9999/strangelove.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/popilisco/GeorgeCScott.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/18/11 at 8:15 am


The person of the day George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.
Scott first rose to prominence for his work with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1958, he won an Obie Award for his performances in Children of Darkness (in which he made the first of many appearances opposite his future wife, actress Colleen Dewhurst), for As You Like It, and for playing the title character in William Shakespeare's Richard III (a performance one critic said was the "angriest" Richard III of all time). He was on Broadway the following year, winning critical acclaim for his portrayal of the prosecutor in The Andersonville Trial by Saul Levitt. This was based on the military trial of the commandant of the infamous Civil War prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia. His performance earned him a mention in Time magazine. In 1970 Scott directed a highly acclaimed television version of this same play. It starred William Shatner, Richard Basehart, and Jack Cassidy, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance as the defense lawyer in this production.
In Dr. Strangelove

Scott continued to appear in and sometimes direct Broadway productions throughout the 1960s. The most commercially successful show he worked on was Neil Simon's Plaza Suite (1968), composed of three separate one-act plays all utilizing the same set, which ran for 1097 performances. Scott played a different lead role in each act.

Scott appeared in many television series, including the NBC western series The Virginian, in the episode "The Brazen Bell", in which he recites Oscar Wilde's poem "The Ballad Of Reading Gaol". That same year, he appeared in NBC's medical drama The Eleventh Hour, in the episode "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House".

In 1961 he appeared opposite Sir Laurence Olivier and Julie Harris in Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory for television.

In 1963, Scott was top billed in the CBS hour-long drama series East Side, West Side; he and co-star Cicely Tyson played urban social workers. The show lasted only one season. In 1966, Scott appeared as Jud Barker in the NBC western The Road West, starring Barry Sullivan, Kathryn Hays, Andrew Prine, and Glenn Corbett.

Scott won wide public recognition in the film Anatomy of a Murder, in which he played a wily prosecutor opposite James Stewart as the defense attorney. Scott was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Scott's most famous early role was in Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, where he played the part of General "Buck" Turgidson. It is revealed on the DVD documentary that after having shot many takes of any given scene, Stanley Kubrick would frequently ask Scott to redo it in an "over the top" fashion. Kubrick would then proceed to use this version in the final cut, which Scott supposedly resented.

In 1970, Scott portrayed George S. Patton in the 1970 film Patton. Scott had researched extensively for the role, studying films of the general and talking to those who knew him. Scott returned his Oscar for Patton, stating in a letter to the Academy that he didn't feel himself to be in competition with other actors. However, regarding this second rejection of the Academy Award, Scott famously said elsewhere, "The whole thing is a goddamn meat parade. I don't want any part of it." Sixteen years later, in 1986, Scott reprised his role in a made-for-television sequel, The Last Days of Patton. The movie was based on Patton's final weeks after being mortally injured in a car accident, with flashbacks of Patton's life. At the time that sequel was aired, Scott mentioned in a TV Guide interview that he had told the Academy to donate his Oscar to the Patton Museum; since the instructions were never put in writing, it was never delivered. The Oscar is currently displayed at the Virginia Military Institute museum in Lexington, Virginia, the same institution that generations of Pattons have attended. Scott did not turn down the New York Film Critics Award for his performance (of which his wife Colleen Dewhurst said, "George thinks this is the only film award worth having").

He continued to do stage work throughout the rest of his career, receiving Tony Award nominations for his performance as Astrov in a revival of Uncle Vanya (1973), his Willy Loman in a revival of Death of a Salesman (1975), and his performance as Henry Drummond in a revival of Inherit the Wind (1996). In the latter play, he had to miss an unusually large number of performances due to illness, with his role being taken over by National Actors Theatre artistic director Tony Randall. In 1996, he also won an honorary Drama Desk Award for a lifetime devotion to theatre.

Scott also starred in well-received productions of Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox (1976) (based on Ben Jonson's Volpone), which ran 495 performances, and a revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter (1982). He frequently directed on Broadway as well, including productions of All God's Chillun Got Wings (1975) and Design for Living (1985), as well as being an actor/director in Death of a Salesman, Present Laughter, and On Borrowed Time (1991).

In 1971, Scott gave two more critically acclaimed performances, as a de facto Sherlock Holmes in They Might Be Giants and as an alcoholic doctor in the black comedy The Hospital. Despite his repeated snubbing of the Academy, Scott was again nominated for Best Actor for the latter role. Scott excelled on television that year as well, appearing in an adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Price, an installment of the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology. He was nominated for, and won, an Emmy Award for his role, which he accepted.

Scott also starred in the popular 1980 horror film The Changeling, with Melvyn Douglas. He received the Canadian Genie Award for Best Foreign Film Actor for his performance. In 1981, Scott appeared alongside 20-year-old Academy Award winning actor Timothy Hutton and rising stars Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in the coming-of-age film Taps. The following year, Scott was cast as Fagin in the CBS made-for-TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. In 1984, Scott portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in a television adaptation of A Christmas Carol. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role.
On Influences:

I think I learned to act from people like James Cagney and Paul Muni. And I'm sure I learned more from Bette Davis than anyone. She has enormous presence, a sense of surprise. She sets you up like a great boxer and BAM! she gives you something else. She does have a certain consistent style, but when you examine her work you find enormous variety of color and intelligence.


Scott on Some Aspects of Acting, Time Magazine, Mar. 22,1971.

In 1989, Scott starred in the television movie The Ryan White Story, as a lawyer defending Ryan White from discrimination.

In 1990, he voiced the villain Smoke in the TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, where his character was alongside popular cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny. That same year, he voiced the villain Percival McLeach in the Disney film The Rescuers Down Under and was featured in The Exorcist III. The following year, he hosted the TV series Weapons At War on A&E TV but was replaced after one season by Gerald McRaney for the last two seasons. Weapons At War moved to The History Channel with Scott still being shown as host for the first season. Scott was replaced by Robert Conrad in 2000 after his death in 1999.

Scott had a reputation for being moody and mercurial while on the set. "There is no question you get pumped up by the recognition," he once said, "Then a self-loathing sets in when you realize you're enjoying it." A famous anecdote relates that one of his stage costars, Maureen Stapleton, told the director of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, "I don't know what to do—I'm scared of him." The director, Mike Nichols, replied, "My dear, everyone is scared of George C. Scott."
Politics

In 1988, Scott appeared in a campaign commercial for liberal Republican U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker of Connecticut. Like Weicker, Scott was a resident of Greenwich, Connecticut. Scott's commercial became known as the "Patton ad." Weicker narrowly lost the election to then-Connecticut Attorney General Joseph Lieberman.
Personal life

Scott was married five times:

    Carolyn Hughes (1951–1955) (one daughter, Victoria, born December 19, 1952)
    Patricia Reed (1955–1960) (two children: Matthew – born May 27, 1957 – and actress Devon Scott – born November 29, 1958).
    The Canadian-born actress Colleen Dewhurst (1960–1965), by whom he had two sons, writer Alexander Scott (born August 1960), and actor Campbell Scott (born July 19, 1961). Dewhurst nicknamed her husband "G.C."
    He remarried Colleen Dewhurst on July 4, 1967, but they divorced for a second time on February 2, 1972.
    The American actress Trish Van Devere on September 4, 1972, with whom he starred in several films, including the supernatural thriller The Changeling (1980). They remained married until his death in 1999.

Scott also had a daughter, Michelle, born August 21, 1954, with Karen Truesdell.
Death

Scott died on September 22, 1999 a month before his 72nd birthday from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. His remains were interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, in an unmarked grave. Walter Matthau, who died less than a year later, was buried next to him.
Filmography

    The Hanging Tree (1959)
    Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
    The Hustler (1961)
    The Power and the Glory (1961) (TV)
    The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
    The Car That Became a Star (1965) (short subject)
    The Bible: In the Beginning (1966)
    Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)
    The Flim-Flam Man (1967)
    Petulia (1968)
    Patton (1970)
    Jane Eyre (1970)
    They Might Be Giants (1971)
    The Last Run (1971)
    The Hospital (1971)
    The New Centurions (1972)
    Rage (1972)
    Oklahoma Crude (1973)
    The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
    Bank Shot (1974)
    The Savage Is Loose (1974)
    The Hindenburg (1975)
    Beauty and the Beast (Hallmark Hall of Fame) (1976)
    Islands in the Stream (1977)
    Crossed Swords (1977)
    The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
    Movie Movie (1978)
    Hardcore (1979)
    The Changeling (1980)
    The Formula (1980)
    Taps (1981)
    Oliver Twist (TV film) (1982)
    A Christmas Carol (1984)
    Firestarter (1984)
    Mussolini: The Untold Story (TV) (1985)
    The Murders in the Rue Morgue (TV) (1986)
    The Last Days of Patton (TV) (1986)
    Pals (1987)
    Mr. President (TV series) (1987–1988)
    Descending Angel(1990)
    The Exorcist III (1990)
    The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (voice)
    Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) (voice)
    Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker (1991) (documentary)
    Malice (1993)
    Curaçao released as CIA: Exiled (DVD) (1993)
    Angus (1995)
    Tyson (TV) (1995)
    Titanic (TV) (1996)
    12 Angry Men (1997 film)
    Country Justice (TV) (1997)
    Gloria (1999)
    Rocky Marciano (1999)
    Inherit the Wind (TV) (1999)
http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx97/JML9999/strangelove.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm112/popilisco/GeorgeCScott.jpg
He was good in Dr Stranglelove as General Buck Turgidson.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/19/11 at 8:48 am

The person of the day...Divine
Divine (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), born Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a conservative, wealthy middle class family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid-1960s and starred in a number of Waters's early films such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. These films have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, Milstead made the transition to theater and appeared in a number of productions, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.

The New York Times said of Milstead's '80s films: "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick." He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century… was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." Since his death, Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly with those in the LGBT community, of which he was a part, being openly gay.
It was in the mid-1960s that Milstead became acquainted with John Waters, who was his own age and lived in the same neighborhood. Waters was an aspiring filmmaker, intent on making "the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history" and had assembled an assortment of actors for the purpose, whom he termed the Dreamlanders. After meeting Milstead through mutual friend Carol, Waters invited him to appear as the Smoking Nun in his second short film, Roman Candles, which was produced in 1966 and featured Milstead and the other Dreamlanders shoplifting and then modeling their shoplifted clothes.

It was Waters who created the name "Divine" in reference to Milstead, who would adopt and use it for the rest of his life. Divine also appeared in Waters's third film, Eat Your Makeup, in 1968, in which he wore women's clothing (or drag) to play Jackie Kennedy, who was kidnapping models and forcing them to model and eat their own make-up. In 1969, he then appeared in Waters's next short film, The Diane Linkletter Story, in which Divine played the eponymous Diane Linkletter, a teenager who rebels against her parents and then commits suicide. Based upon a true story, the film was not publicly released at the time, largely for legal reasons. In 1969, soon after the production of The Diane Linkletter Story, Waters began filming a full-length motion picture, Mondo Trasho, which starred Divine as one of the main characters, a "portly blonde bombshell" who drives around town and runs over a hitchhiker.


In 1970, Divine played Lady Divine, the operator of an exhibit known as The Cavalcade of Perversion who turned to murdering visitors in Waters' film Multiple Maniacs. At the film's end, a scene was shot that involved Divine's being raped by a giant lobster named Lobstora, before she runs around Baltimore in a craze attempting to kill anyone who passed. Multiple Maniacs was the first of Waters's films to receive widespread attention, and, as such, so did Divine. KSFX remarked that "Divine is incredible! Could start a whole new trend in films."

Divine kept his involvement with Waters and these early underground films a secret from his conservative parents, whom he felt would not understand them or the reason for his involvement in such controversial and bad-taste films. Meanwhile, aged twenty-three, he moved away from his parents' home and opened up a short-lived vintage clothes shop, Divine Trash, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, using his parents' money to rent the premises. Divine later closed up his shop and spent some time in San Francisco, California, a city which at the time had a large gay subculture that attracted Divine, who was then embracing his homosexuality.
Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and theatre work: 1971–1979

Following his San Francisco sojourn, Divine returned to Baltimore and participated in John Waters's next project, the film Pink Flamingos. Designed by Waters to be "an exercise in bad taste," the film featured Divine as Babs Johnson, "the filthiest person alive," who is forced to prove her right to the title from challengers, jealous perverts Connie and Raymond Marble. At the film's end, Divine notoriously placed fresh dog feces in her mouth, symbolizing the character's right to the title. The movie became one of the biggest cult hits of the 1970s and made Divine somewhat famous in the underground circuit.

Whilst he had been keeping his involvement with Waters' underground film-making a secret from his parents, he had continued to rely on them financially, charging them for expensive parties that he held and writing bad cheques. After he charged them for a major repair to his car in 1972, his parents confiscated it from him and told him that they would not continue to financially support him in such a manner. In retaliation, he came by their house the following day, collected his two pet dogs and then disappeared, not seeing or speaking with them for the next nine years. Instead, he would send them over fifty postcards from all over the world, informing them that he was fine, but on none of them did he leave a return address so that they could contact him.

When the filming of Pink Flamingos finished, Divine returned to San Francisco, where, along with fellow Dreamlander Mink Stole, he became the star in a number of small-budget plays as part of a group known as The Cockettes, including Divine and Her Stimulating Studs, Divine Saves the World, Vice Palace, Journey to the Center of Uranus and The Heartbreak of Psoriasis.

In 1974, Divine returned to Baltimore again to film Waters's next motion picture, Female Trouble, in which he played the lead role, a teenage delinquent, Dawn Davenport, who holds to the idea that "crime is art" and who is eventually executed in the electric chair for her violent behavior. Divine also played his first on-screen male role, Earl Peterson, in the film, and Waters included a scene during which these two characters had sex as a joke on the fact that both characters were played by the same actor. Female Trouble would prove to be Divine's favorite part, because it both allowed him to develop his character and to finally play a male role, something he had always felt important because he did not want to be typecast as a female impersonator.

Soon after, he returned to theater, this time taking the role of prison matron Pauline in Tom Eyen's prison-based comedy Women Behind Bars. Produced in New York City, the play proved popular and for this reason was later taken to London, where it was less successful. Playwright Eyen was however particularly impressed with Divine's performance and decided to write a new play that would feature him in a starring role. The result was The Neon Woman, set in the 1960s, featuring Divine as Flash Storm, the owner of a Baltimore strip club.
Early disco work and Polyester: 1980–1983

After abandoning his former agent, Robert Hussong, for the British theater director Bernard Jay in 1979, Divine became involved in the club scene. He first appeared at a gay club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where his unscripted act included shouting "fudge you" repeatedly at the audience and then getting into a fight with another drag queen, a gimmick that proved popular with the club's clientele. Subsequently, he saw the commercial potential of including disco songs in with his act and, with composer Henry Krieger created the song "Born to be Cheap." He then joined forces with young American composer Bobby Orlando, who wrote a number of singles for Divine, including "Native Love (Step By Step)," "Shoot Your Shot" and "Love Reaction". To help publicize these singles, which proved to be successful in many discos across the world, Divine went on a series of tours and combined his musical performances with comedic stunts and routines that often played up to his characters' stereotype of being "trashy" and outrageous. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Divine took his musical performances on tour across the world.

Meanwhile, in 1981 Divine appeared in John Waters's next film, Polyester, starring as Francine Fishpaw, a figure who, unlike earlier roles, was not a strong female but a meek and victimized woman who falls in love with her dream lover, Todd Tomorrow, played by Tab Hunter. In real life, tabloid publications claimed a romantic connection between them, an assertion both denied. The film was released in "odorama," accompanied by "scratch 'n' sniff" cards for the audience to smell at key points in the film. Soon after Polyester, Divine auditioned for a male role in Ridley Scott's upcoming science-fiction film Blade Runner. Even though Scott thought Divine unsuitable for the part, he claimed to be enthusiastic about Divine's work and was very interested in including him in another of his films, but ultimately this never came about.

That same year, Divine decided to get back in contact with his estranged parents. His mother had learned of his cinematic and disco career after reading an article about the films of John Waters in Life magazine, and had gone to see Female Trouble at the cinema, but had not felt emotionally able to get back in contact with her son until 1981. She got a friend of hers to hand Divine a note at one of his concerts, leading Divine to telephone her, and the family were subsequently reunited. The reconnection resulted in a mended relationship, and he bought them lavish gifts, informing them of how wealthy he was despite the fact that, according to his manager Bernard Jay, he was already heavily in debt due to his extravagant spending.
Later disco work, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray: 1984–1988

Whilst his career as a disco singer continued, Divine and his management felt that, despite the fact that Divine's records had sold well, they were not receiving their share of the profits, and so they went to court against Orlando and his company, O-Records. Successfully nullifying their contract, they went on to sign with Barry Evangeli's company, InTune Music Limited, for whom Divine released several new disco records, including "You Think You're A Man" and "I'm So Beautiful."

The next Divine film, Lust in the Dust (1985), reunited him with Tab Hunter and was Divine's first film not directed by John Waters. Set in the Wild West during the nineteenth century, the movie was a sex comedy that starred Divine as Rosie Velez, a "slut" who works as a singer in saloons and competes for the love of Abel Wood (Tab Hunter) against another woman. Divine followed this production with a very different role, that of male gangster Hilly Blue in Trouble in Mind (1985). The script was written with Divine in mind, and although not being a major character in the film, Divine had been eager to play the part, because he wished to perform in more male roles and leave behind the stereotype of simply being a female impersonator.

He again became involved with a John Waters project, the film Hairspray (1988), set in the 1960s. Divine played two roles, male and female, as in Waters's earlier Female Trouble.

He was originally cast as an airplane passenger in the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, but died before the film was in production.

Appearing on American television chat shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Thicke of the Night and The Merv Griffin Show to promote both his music and his film appearances throughout the 1980s, Divine became a well-known celebrity, and Divine-themed merchandise was produced, including greeting cards and The Simple Divine Cut-Out Doll Book. Because of this, several famous artists, including David Hockney and Andy Warhol, both of whom were known for their works which dealt with popular culture, painted portraits of him.
Death
Milstead's grave at Prospect Hill Park Cemetery, Towson, Maryland.

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, he was scheduled to film his part in the Fox network's television series Married... with Children. After dining with friends and returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42.
Drag persona and performance

Divine: "How much did you pay to get in tonight?"
Audience: "Ten dollars."
Divine: "Well now, that's eight dollars to see the show - and two dollars to fudge me right after. All line up outside the dressing room and I'll be here till Christmas!"
Divine to his audience

After developing a name for himself as a female impersonator known for "trashy" behavior in his early John Waters' films, Divine decided to capitalize on this image by appearing at his musical performances in his drag persona. In this role, he would be described as displaying "Trash. Filth. Obscenity. In bucket-loads." Divine himself would describe his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in." As a part of his performance, he would constantly swear at the audience, often using his signature line of "fudge you very much", and at times would get audience members to come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins and breasts.

He became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance, held in the Hippodrome in London, that coincided with American Independence Day, Divine rose up from the floor on a hydraulic lift, draped in the American flag, and declared that "I'm here representing Freedom, Liberty, Family Values and the fudgeing American Way of Life." When he performed at London Gay Pride parade, he sang on the roof of a hired pleasure boat that floated down the Thames past Jubilee Gardens, whilst at a performance he gave at the Hippodrome in the last year of his life, he appeared onstage riding an infant elephant, known as Bully the Elephant, who had been hired for the occasion. Nonetheless, Divine was not overly happy being known primarily for his drag act, and would tell an interviewer that "my favorite part of drag is getting out of it. Drag is my work clothes. I only put it on when someone pays me to."

Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world’s biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself… but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine".
Personal life

"I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life… It's an act… It's how I make my living. People laugh, and it's not hurting anyone."
Divine (1983)

Despite some claims made to the contrary, Divine always considered himself to be male, and was not transgender or transsexual. He used the term "Divine" as his personal name, telling one interviewer that both "Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" were "both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past twenty-three years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all." At one point he had the name "Divine" officially recognized, as it appeared on his passport, and in keeping with his personal use of the name, his close friends nicknamed him "Divi".

Divine was homosexual, and during the 1980s had an extended relationship with a married man named Lee, who accompanied him almost everywhere that he went. They later separated, and Divine would go on to have a brief affair with the gay porn star Leo Ford, something that was widely written and gossiped about in the gay press. Divine would also regularly engage in sexual activities with young men that he would meet whilst performing, sometimes becoming infatuated with them: in one case, he met a young man in Israel who he slept with and subsequently wanted to bring back to the United States, something that his manager prevented him from doing. Divine initially avoided informing the media about his sexuality, even when questioned by interviewers, and would sometimes hint that he was bisexual, but in the latter part of the 1980s decided to change this attitude, and began being open about his homosexuality. Nonetheless, he avoided getting into discussions regarding gay rights, partially at the advice of his manager, realising that it would have had a negative effect on his career.

Divine's mother, Frances Milstead, remarked that whilst Divine "was blessed with many talents and abilities, he could be very moody and demanding." She went on to note that whilst he was "incredibly kind and generous", he always wanted to get things done the way that he wanted, and would "tune you out if you displeased him."

Despite his stature as a trend-setter in gay culture, Divine was also a big fan of what he called "macho action films". He told Terry Gross in an interview conducted shortly before his death that he was a fan of Sylvester Stallone films, and that his favorite actor was Charles Bronson.

Divine had suffered from problems with obesity ever since he was a child, for the reason that he "liked to eat - and eat - and eat - and drink gallons of Coca-Cola", with his hunger being increased by his smoking marijuana daily. In the last few years of his life, when Divine began to realize that his career in disco was coming to an end, and he was having difficulty finding acting jobs, he began to feel suicidal and threatened to kill himself on a number of occasions. Meanwhile, Dutch friends of Divine gave him two bulldogs in the 1980s, which he doted on, and named Beatrix and Klaus after the Queen Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus of the Netherlands. On numerous occasions he would have his photograph taken with them, and sometimes use these images for record covers and posters.
Legacy and influence

Two books have been published about Divine since his death. The first, which was entitled Not Simply Divine!, was written by his manager and friend Bernard Jay, and published in 1992 by Virgin Books. The second, My Son Divine (2001), was written by his mother, Frances Milstead, and dealt with her sometimes fractious relationship with her son. His mother's continued relationship with the gay community was later documented in a film Frances: A Mother Divine directed by Tim Dunn and Michael O'Quinn which was released in 2010.

Another book entitled "Postcards From Divine" is due for release from the Divine estate in 2012. It is a collection of more than 50 postcards Divine sent to his parents while traveling the world as a pop star between 1977 and 1987. The ibook version of the book includes a narration by a vocal impersonator which John Waters called "Spooky" and "channeling". It also includes quotes and stories from his friends and colleagues including John Waters, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Channing Wilroy, Susan Lowe, Jean Hill, Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, Alan J. Wendl, Ruth Brown, Deborah Harry, Jerry Stiller, Ricki Lake and more.

Divine was the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea-Witch, the villain in the Disney 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid.

Meanwhile, Divine has left an influence on a number of musicians as well. Antony Hegarty of the band Antony and the Johnsons wrote a song about Divine which was included in the group's self-titled debut album, released in 1998. The song, titled "Divine", was an ode to the actor, who was one of Antony's life-long heroes. His admiration is expressed in the lines: "He was my self-determined guru" and "I turn to think of you/Who walked the way with so much pain/Who holds the mirror up to fools". Another such example of Divine's influence on musicians appeared in 2008, when Irish electronic singer Róisín Murphy paid homage to Divine in her music video for her song "Movie Star" by reenacting the attack by Lobstora from his 1970 film Multiple Maniacs and by the appearance of Divine lookalikes.

Due to Divine's portrayal of Edna Turnblad in the original comedy-film version of Hairspray, later musical adaptations of Hairspray have commonly placed male actors in the role of Edna, including Harvey Fierstein and others in the 2002 Broadway musical and John Travolta in the 2007 musical film.

I Am Divine, a feature documentary on the life of Divine, is currently in production. It is produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz of Los Angeles based production company Automat Pictures.

A 12 foot tall statue in the likeness of Divine by Andrew Logan can be seen on permanent display at The American Visionary Art Museum in Divine's home town of Baltimore, Maryland.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1966 Roman Candles The Smoking Nun
1968 Eat Your Makeup Jacqueline Kennedy
1969 The Diane Linkletter Story Diane Linkletter
Mondo Trasho Divine
1970 Multiple Maniacs Lady Divine
1972 Pink Flamingos Divine / Babs Johnson
1974 Female Trouble Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson
1981 Polyester Francine Fishpaw
1985 Lust in the Dust Rosie Velez Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Trouble in Mind Hilly Blue
Divine Waters Himself Documentary
1988 Hairspray Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1989 Out of the Dark Det. Langella
1998 Divine Trash Himself Archive footage used for documentary
2000 In Bad Taste
2002 The Cockettes
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Tales from the Darkside Chia Fung 1 episode
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/baltoco/artists/170px-Actor_Devine.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/19/11 at 12:30 pm


The person of the day...Divine
Divine (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), born Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a conservative, wealthy middle class family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid-1960s and starred in a number of Waters's early films such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. These films have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, Milstead made the transition to theater and appeared in a number of productions, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.

The New York Times said of Milstead's '80s films: "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick." He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century… was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." Since his death, Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly with those in the LGBT community, of which he was a part, being openly gay.
It was in the mid-1960s that Milstead became acquainted with John Waters, who was his own age and lived in the same neighborhood. Waters was an aspiring filmmaker, intent on making "the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history" and had assembled an assortment of actors for the purpose, whom he termed the Dreamlanders. After meeting Milstead through mutual friend Carol, Waters invited him to appear as the Smoking Nun in his second short film, Roman Candles, which was produced in 1966 and featured Milstead and the other Dreamlanders shoplifting and then modeling their shoplifted clothes.

It was Waters who created the name "Divine" in reference to Milstead, who would adopt and use it for the rest of his life. Divine also appeared in Waters's third film, Eat Your Makeup, in 1968, in which he wore women's clothing (or drag) to play Jackie Kennedy, who was kidnapping models and forcing them to model and eat their own make-up. In 1969, he then appeared in Waters's next short film, The Diane Linkletter Story, in which Divine played the eponymous Diane Linkletter, a teenager who rebels against her parents and then commits suicide. Based upon a true story, the film was not publicly released at the time, largely for legal reasons. In 1969, soon after the production of The Diane Linkletter Story, Waters began filming a full-length motion picture, Mondo Trasho, which starred Divine as one of the main characters, a "portly blonde bombshell" who drives around town and runs over a hitchhiker.


In 1970, Divine played Lady Divine, the operator of an exhibit known as The Cavalcade of Perversion who turned to murdering visitors in Waters' film Multiple Maniacs. At the film's end, a scene was shot that involved Divine's being raped by a giant lobster named Lobstora, before she runs around Baltimore in a craze attempting to kill anyone who passed. Multiple Maniacs was the first of Waters's films to receive widespread attention, and, as such, so did Divine. KSFX remarked that "Divine is incredible! Could start a whole new trend in films."

Divine kept his involvement with Waters and these early underground films a secret from his conservative parents, whom he felt would not understand them or the reason for his involvement in such controversial and bad-taste films. Meanwhile, aged twenty-three, he moved away from his parents' home and opened up a short-lived vintage clothes shop, Divine Trash, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, using his parents' money to rent the premises. Divine later closed up his shop and spent some time in San Francisco, California, a city which at the time had a large gay subculture that attracted Divine, who was then embracing his homosexuality.
Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and theatre work: 1971–1979

Following his San Francisco sojourn, Divine returned to Baltimore and participated in John Waters's next project, the film Pink Flamingos. Designed by Waters to be "an exercise in bad taste," the film featured Divine as Babs Johnson, "the filthiest person alive," who is forced to prove her right to the title from challengers, jealous perverts Connie and Raymond Marble. At the film's end, Divine notoriously placed fresh dog feces in her mouth, symbolizing the character's right to the title. The movie became one of the biggest cult hits of the 1970s and made Divine somewhat famous in the underground circuit.

Whilst he had been keeping his involvement with Waters' underground film-making a secret from his parents, he had continued to rely on them financially, charging them for expensive parties that he held and writing bad cheques. After he charged them for a major repair to his car in 1972, his parents confiscated it from him and told him that they would not continue to financially support him in such a manner. In retaliation, he came by their house the following day, collected his two pet dogs and then disappeared, not seeing or speaking with them for the next nine years. Instead, he would send them over fifty postcards from all over the world, informing them that he was fine, but on none of them did he leave a return address so that they could contact him.

When the filming of Pink Flamingos finished, Divine returned to San Francisco, where, along with fellow Dreamlander Mink Stole, he became the star in a number of small-budget plays as part of a group known as The Cockettes, including Divine and Her Stimulating Studs, Divine Saves the World, Vice Palace, Journey to the Center of Uranus and The Heartbreak of Psoriasis.

In 1974, Divine returned to Baltimore again to film Waters's next motion picture, Female Trouble, in which he played the lead role, a teenage delinquent, Dawn Davenport, who holds to the idea that "crime is art" and who is eventually executed in the electric chair for her violent behavior. Divine also played his first on-screen male role, Earl Peterson, in the film, and Waters included a scene during which these two characters had sex as a joke on the fact that both characters were played by the same actor. Female Trouble would prove to be Divine's favorite part, because it both allowed him to develop his character and to finally play a male role, something he had always felt important because he did not want to be typecast as a female impersonator.

Soon after, he returned to theater, this time taking the role of prison matron Pauline in Tom Eyen's prison-based comedy Women Behind Bars. Produced in New York City, the play proved popular and for this reason was later taken to London, where it was less successful. Playwright Eyen was however particularly impressed with Divine's performance and decided to write a new play that would feature him in a starring role. The result was The Neon Woman, set in the 1960s, featuring Divine as Flash Storm, the owner of a Baltimore strip club.
Early disco work and Polyester: 1980–1983

After abandoning his former agent, Robert Hussong, for the British theater director Bernard Jay in 1979, Divine became involved in the club scene. He first appeared at a gay club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where his unscripted act included shouting "fudge you" repeatedly at the audience and then getting into a fight with another drag queen, a gimmick that proved popular with the club's clientele. Subsequently, he saw the commercial potential of including disco songs in with his act and, with composer Henry Krieger created the song "Born to be Cheap." He then joined forces with young American composer Bobby Orlando, who wrote a number of singles for Divine, including "Native Love (Step By Step)," "Shoot Your Shot" and "Love Reaction". To help publicize these singles, which proved to be successful in many discos across the world, Divine went on a series of tours and combined his musical performances with comedic stunts and routines that often played up to his characters' stereotype of being "trashy" and outrageous. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Divine took his musical performances on tour across the world.

Meanwhile, in 1981 Divine appeared in John Waters's next film, Polyester, starring as Francine Fishpaw, a figure who, unlike earlier roles, was not a strong female but a meek and victimized woman who falls in love with her dream lover, Todd Tomorrow, played by Tab Hunter. In real life, tabloid publications claimed a romantic connection between them, an assertion both denied. The film was released in "odorama," accompanied by "scratch 'n' sniff" cards for the audience to smell at key points in the film. Soon after Polyester, Divine auditioned for a male role in Ridley Scott's upcoming science-fiction film Blade Runner. Even though Scott thought Divine unsuitable for the part, he claimed to be enthusiastic about Divine's work and was very interested in including him in another of his films, but ultimately this never came about.

That same year, Divine decided to get back in contact with his estranged parents. His mother had learned of his cinematic and disco career after reading an article about the films of John Waters in Life magazine, and had gone to see Female Trouble at the cinema, but had not felt emotionally able to get back in contact with her son until 1981. She got a friend of hers to hand Divine a note at one of his concerts, leading Divine to telephone her, and the family were subsequently reunited. The reconnection resulted in a mended relationship, and he bought them lavish gifts, informing them of how wealthy he was despite the fact that, according to his manager Bernard Jay, he was already heavily in debt due to his extravagant spending.
Later disco work, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray: 1984–1988

Whilst his career as a disco singer continued, Divine and his management felt that, despite the fact that Divine's records had sold well, they were not receiving their share of the profits, and so they went to court against Orlando and his company, O-Records. Successfully nullifying their contract, they went on to sign with Barry Evangeli's company, InTune Music Limited, for whom Divine released several new disco records, including "You Think You're A Man" and "I'm So Beautiful."

The next Divine film, Lust in the Dust (1985), reunited him with Tab Hunter and was Divine's first film not directed by John Waters. Set in the Wild West during the nineteenth century, the movie was a sex comedy that starred Divine as Rosie Velez, a "slut" who works as a singer in saloons and competes for the love of Abel Wood (Tab Hunter) against another woman. Divine followed this production with a very different role, that of male gangster Hilly Blue in Trouble in Mind (1985). The script was written with Divine in mind, and although not being a major character in the film, Divine had been eager to play the part, because he wished to perform in more male roles and leave behind the stereotype of simply being a female impersonator.

He again became involved with a John Waters project, the film Hairspray (1988), set in the 1960s. Divine played two roles, male and female, as in Waters's earlier Female Trouble.

He was originally cast as an airplane passenger in the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, but died before the film was in production.

Appearing on American television chat shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Thicke of the Night and The Merv Griffin Show to promote both his music and his film appearances throughout the 1980s, Divine became a well-known celebrity, and Divine-themed merchandise was produced, including greeting cards and The Simple Divine Cut-Out Doll Book. Because of this, several famous artists, including David Hockney and Andy Warhol, both of whom were known for their works which dealt with popular culture, painted portraits of him.
Death
Milstead's grave at Prospect Hill Park Cemetery, Towson, Maryland.

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, he was scheduled to film his part in the Fox network's television series Married... with Children. After dining with friends and returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42.
Drag persona and performance

Divine: "How much did you pay to get in tonight?"
Audience: "Ten dollars."
Divine: "Well now, that's eight dollars to see the show - and two dollars to fudge me right after. All line up outside the dressing room and I'll be here till Christmas!"
Divine to his audience

After developing a name for himself as a female impersonator known for "trashy" behavior in his early John Waters' films, Divine decided to capitalize on this image by appearing at his musical performances in his drag persona. In this role, he would be described as displaying "Trash. Filth. Obscenity. In bucket-loads." Divine himself would describe his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in." As a part of his performance, he would constantly swear at the audience, often using his signature line of "fudge you very much", and at times would get audience members to come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins and breasts.

He became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance, held in the Hippodrome in London, that coincided with American Independence Day, Divine rose up from the floor on a hydraulic lift, draped in the American flag, and declared that "I'm here representing Freedom, Liberty, Family Values and the fudgeing American Way of Life." When he performed at London Gay Pride parade, he sang on the roof of a hired pleasure boat that floated down the Thames past Jubilee Gardens, whilst at a performance he gave at the Hippodrome in the last year of his life, he appeared onstage riding an infant elephant, known as Bully the Elephant, who had been hired for the occasion. Nonetheless, Divine was not overly happy being known primarily for his drag act, and would tell an interviewer that "my favorite part of drag is getting out of it. Drag is my work clothes. I only put it on when someone pays me to."

Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world’s biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself… but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine".
Personal life

"I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life… It's an act… It's how I make my living. People laugh, and it's not hurting anyone."
Divine (1983)

Despite some claims made to the contrary, Divine always considered himself to be male, and was not transgender or transsexual. He used the term "Divine" as his personal name, telling one interviewer that both "Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" were "both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past twenty-three years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all." At one point he had the name "Divine" officially recognized, as it appeared on his passport, and in keeping with his personal use of the name, his close friends nicknamed him "Divi".

Divine was homosexual, and during the 1980s had an extended relationship with a married man named Lee, who accompanied him almost everywhere that he went. They later separated, and Divine would go on to have a brief affair with the gay porn star Leo Ford, something that was widely written and gossiped about in the gay press. Divine would also regularly engage in sexual activities with young men that he would meet whilst performing, sometimes becoming infatuated with them: in one case, he met a young man in Israel who he slept with and subsequently wanted to bring back to the United States, something that his manager prevented him from doing. Divine initially avoided informing the media about his sexuality, even when questioned by interviewers, and would sometimes hint that he was bisexual, but in the latter part of the 1980s decided to change this attitude, and began being open about his homosexuality. Nonetheless, he avoided getting into discussions regarding gay rights, partially at the advice of his manager, realising that it would have had a negative effect on his career.

Divine's mother, Frances Milstead, remarked that whilst Divine "was blessed with many talents and abilities, he could be very moody and demanding." She went on to note that whilst he was "incredibly kind and generous", he always wanted to get things done the way that he wanted, and would "tune you out if you displeased him."

Despite his stature as a trend-setter in gay culture, Divine was also a big fan of what he called "macho action films". He told Terry Gross in an interview conducted shortly before his death that he was a fan of Sylvester Stallone films, and that his favorite actor was Charles Bronson.

Divine had suffered from problems with obesity ever since he was a child, for the reason that he "liked to eat - and eat - and eat - and drink gallons of Coca-Cola", with his hunger being increased by his smoking marijuana daily. In the last few years of his life, when Divine began to realize that his career in disco was coming to an end, and he was having difficulty finding acting jobs, he began to feel suicidal and threatened to kill himself on a number of occasions. Meanwhile, Dutch friends of Divine gave him two bulldogs in the 1980s, which he doted on, and named Beatrix and Klaus after the Queen Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus of the Netherlands. On numerous occasions he would have his photograph taken with them, and sometimes use these images for record covers and posters.
Legacy and influence

Two books have been published about Divine since his death. The first, which was entitled Not Simply Divine!, was written by his manager and friend Bernard Jay, and published in 1992 by Virgin Books. The second, My Son Divine (2001), was written by his mother, Frances Milstead, and dealt with her sometimes fractious relationship with her son. His mother's continued relationship with the gay community was later documented in a film Frances: A Mother Divine directed by Tim Dunn and Michael O'Quinn which was released in 2010.

Another book entitled "Postcards From Divine" is due for release from the Divine estate in 2012. It is a collection of more than 50 postcards Divine sent to his parents while traveling the world as a pop star between 1977 and 1987. The ibook version of the book includes a narration by a vocal impersonator which John Waters called "Spooky" and "channeling". It also includes quotes and stories from his friends and colleagues including John Waters, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Channing Wilroy, Susan Lowe, Jean Hill, Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, Alan J. Wendl, Ruth Brown, Deborah Harry, Jerry Stiller, Ricki Lake and more.

Divine was the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea-Witch, the villain in the Disney 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid.

Meanwhile, Divine has left an influence on a number of musicians as well. Antony Hegarty of the band Antony and the Johnsons wrote a song about Divine which was included in the group's self-titled debut album, released in 1998. The song, titled "Divine", was an ode to the actor, who was one of Antony's life-long heroes. His admiration is expressed in the lines: "He was my self-determined guru" and "I turn to think of you/Who walked the way with so much pain/Who holds the mirror up to fools". Another such example of Divine's influence on musicians appeared in 2008, when Irish electronic singer Róisín Murphy paid homage to Divine in her music video for her song "Movie Star" by reenacting the attack by Lobstora from his 1970 film Multiple Maniacs and by the appearance of Divine lookalikes.

Due to Divine's portrayal of Edna Turnblad in the original comedy-film version of Hairspray, later musical adaptations of Hairspray have commonly placed male actors in the role of Edna, including Harvey Fierstein and others in the 2002 Broadway musical and John Travolta in the 2007 musical film.

I Am Divine, a feature documentary on the life of Divine, is currently in production. It is produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz of Los Angeles based production company Automat Pictures.

A 12 foot tall statue in the likeness of Divine by Andrew Logan can be seen on permanent display at The American Visionary Art Museum in Divine's home town of Baltimore, Maryland.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1966 Roman Candles The Smoking Nun
1968 Eat Your Makeup Jacqueline Kennedy
1969 The Diane Linkletter Story Diane Linkletter
Mondo Trasho Divine
1970 Multiple Maniacs Lady Divine
1972 Pink Flamingos Divine / Babs Johnson
1974 Female Trouble Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson
1981 Polyester Francine Fishpaw
1985 Lust in the Dust Rosie Velez Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Trouble in Mind Hilly Blue
Divine Waters Himself Documentary
1988 Hairspray Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1989 Out of the Dark Det. Langella
1998 Divine Trash Himself Archive footage used for documentary
2000 In Bad Taste
2002 The Cockettes
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Tales from the Darkside Chia Fung 1 episode
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/baltoco/artists/170px-Actor_Devine.jpg

Not Divine Brown then?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/19/11 at 5:51 pm


Not Divine Brown then?

lol you would have to ask Hugh Grant if this Divine has ever serviced him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/19/11 at 8:23 pm


The person of the day...Divine
Divine (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), born Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a conservative, wealthy middle class family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid-1960s and starred in a number of Waters's early films such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. These films have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, Milstead made the transition to theater and appeared in a number of productions, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.

The New York Times said of Milstead's '80s films: "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick." He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century… was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom." Since his death, Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly with those in the LGBT community, of which he was a part, being openly gay.
It was in the mid-1960s that Milstead became acquainted with John Waters, who was his own age and lived in the same neighborhood. Waters was an aspiring filmmaker, intent on making "the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history" and had assembled an assortment of actors for the purpose, whom he termed the Dreamlanders. After meeting Milstead through mutual friend Carol, Waters invited him to appear as the Smoking Nun in his second short film, Roman Candles, which was produced in 1966 and featured Milstead and the other Dreamlanders shoplifting and then modeling their shoplifted clothes.

It was Waters who created the name "Divine" in reference to Milstead, who would adopt and use it for the rest of his life. Divine also appeared in Waters's third film, Eat Your Makeup, in 1968, in which he wore women's clothing (or drag) to play Jackie Kennedy, who was kidnapping models and forcing them to model and eat their own make-up. In 1969, he then appeared in Waters's next short film, The Diane Linkletter Story, in which Divine played the eponymous Diane Linkletter, a teenager who rebels against her parents and then commits suicide. Based upon a true story, the film was not publicly released at the time, largely for legal reasons. In 1969, soon after the production of The Diane Linkletter Story, Waters began filming a full-length motion picture, Mondo Trasho, which starred Divine as one of the main characters, a "portly blonde bombshell" who drives around town and runs over a hitchhiker.


In 1970, Divine played Lady Divine, the operator of an exhibit known as The Cavalcade of Perversion who turned to murdering visitors in Waters' film Multiple Maniacs. At the film's end, a scene was shot that involved Divine's being raped by a giant lobster named Lobstora, before she runs around Baltimore in a craze attempting to kill anyone who passed. Multiple Maniacs was the first of Waters's films to receive widespread attention, and, as such, so did Divine. KSFX remarked that "Divine is incredible! Could start a whole new trend in films."

Divine kept his involvement with Waters and these early underground films a secret from his conservative parents, whom he felt would not understand them or the reason for his involvement in such controversial and bad-taste films. Meanwhile, aged twenty-three, he moved away from his parents' home and opened up a short-lived vintage clothes shop, Divine Trash, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, using his parents' money to rent the premises. Divine later closed up his shop and spent some time in San Francisco, California, a city which at the time had a large gay subculture that attracted Divine, who was then embracing his homosexuality.
Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and theatre work: 1971–1979

Following his San Francisco sojourn, Divine returned to Baltimore and participated in John Waters's next project, the film Pink Flamingos. Designed by Waters to be "an exercise in bad taste," the film featured Divine as Babs Johnson, "the filthiest person alive," who is forced to prove her right to the title from challengers, jealous perverts Connie and Raymond Marble. At the film's end, Divine notoriously placed fresh dog feces in her mouth, symbolizing the character's right to the title. The movie became one of the biggest cult hits of the 1970s and made Divine somewhat famous in the underground circuit.

Whilst he had been keeping his involvement with Waters' underground film-making a secret from his parents, he had continued to rely on them financially, charging them for expensive parties that he held and writing bad cheques. After he charged them for a major repair to his car in 1972, his parents confiscated it from him and told him that they would not continue to financially support him in such a manner. In retaliation, he came by their house the following day, collected his two pet dogs and then disappeared, not seeing or speaking with them for the next nine years. Instead, he would send them over fifty postcards from all over the world, informing them that he was fine, but on none of them did he leave a return address so that they could contact him.

When the filming of Pink Flamingos finished, Divine returned to San Francisco, where, along with fellow Dreamlander Mink Stole, he became the star in a number of small-budget plays as part of a group known as The Cockettes, including Divine and Her Stimulating Studs, Divine Saves the World, Vice Palace, Journey to the Center of Uranus and The Heartbreak of Psoriasis.

In 1974, Divine returned to Baltimore again to film Waters's next motion picture, Female Trouble, in which he played the lead role, a teenage delinquent, Dawn Davenport, who holds to the idea that "crime is art" and who is eventually executed in the electric chair for her violent behavior. Divine also played his first on-screen male role, Earl Peterson, in the film, and Waters included a scene during which these two characters had sex as a joke on the fact that both characters were played by the same actor. Female Trouble would prove to be Divine's favorite part, because it both allowed him to develop his character and to finally play a male role, something he had always felt important because he did not want to be typecast as a female impersonator.

Soon after, he returned to theater, this time taking the role of prison matron Pauline in Tom Eyen's prison-based comedy Women Behind Bars. Produced in New York City, the play proved popular and for this reason was later taken to London, where it was less successful. Playwright Eyen was however particularly impressed with Divine's performance and decided to write a new play that would feature him in a starring role. The result was The Neon Woman, set in the 1960s, featuring Divine as Flash Storm, the owner of a Baltimore strip club.
Early disco work and Polyester: 1980–1983

After abandoning his former agent, Robert Hussong, for the British theater director Bernard Jay in 1979, Divine became involved in the club scene. He first appeared at a gay club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where his unscripted act included shouting "fudge you" repeatedly at the audience and then getting into a fight with another drag queen, a gimmick that proved popular with the club's clientele. Subsequently, he saw the commercial potential of including disco songs in with his act and, with composer Henry Krieger created the song "Born to be Cheap." He then joined forces with young American composer Bobby Orlando, who wrote a number of singles for Divine, including "Native Love (Step By Step)," "Shoot Your Shot" and "Love Reaction". To help publicize these singles, which proved to be successful in many discos across the world, Divine went on a series of tours and combined his musical performances with comedic stunts and routines that often played up to his characters' stereotype of being "trashy" and outrageous. Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Divine took his musical performances on tour across the world.

Meanwhile, in 1981 Divine appeared in John Waters's next film, Polyester, starring as Francine Fishpaw, a figure who, unlike earlier roles, was not a strong female but a meek and victimized woman who falls in love with her dream lover, Todd Tomorrow, played by Tab Hunter. In real life, tabloid publications claimed a romantic connection between them, an assertion both denied. The film was released in "odorama," accompanied by "scratch 'n' sniff" cards for the audience to smell at key points in the film. Soon after Polyester, Divine auditioned for a male role in Ridley Scott's upcoming science-fiction film Blade Runner. Even though Scott thought Divine unsuitable for the part, he claimed to be enthusiastic about Divine's work and was very interested in including him in another of his films, but ultimately this never came about.

That same year, Divine decided to get back in contact with his estranged parents. His mother had learned of his cinematic and disco career after reading an article about the films of John Waters in Life magazine, and had gone to see Female Trouble at the cinema, but had not felt emotionally able to get back in contact with her son until 1981. She got a friend of hers to hand Divine a note at one of his concerts, leading Divine to telephone her, and the family were subsequently reunited. The reconnection resulted in a mended relationship, and he bought them lavish gifts, informing them of how wealthy he was despite the fact that, according to his manager Bernard Jay, he was already heavily in debt due to his extravagant spending.
Later disco work, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray: 1984–1988

Whilst his career as a disco singer continued, Divine and his management felt that, despite the fact that Divine's records had sold well, they were not receiving their share of the profits, and so they went to court against Orlando and his company, O-Records. Successfully nullifying their contract, they went on to sign with Barry Evangeli's company, InTune Music Limited, for whom Divine released several new disco records, including "You Think You're A Man" and "I'm So Beautiful."

The next Divine film, Lust in the Dust (1985), reunited him with Tab Hunter and was Divine's first film not directed by John Waters. Set in the Wild West during the nineteenth century, the movie was a sex comedy that starred Divine as Rosie Velez, a "slut" who works as a singer in saloons and competes for the love of Abel Wood (Tab Hunter) against another woman. Divine followed this production with a very different role, that of male gangster Hilly Blue in Trouble in Mind (1985). The script was written with Divine in mind, and although not being a major character in the film, Divine had been eager to play the part, because he wished to perform in more male roles and leave behind the stereotype of simply being a female impersonator.

He again became involved with a John Waters project, the film Hairspray (1988), set in the 1960s. Divine played two roles, male and female, as in Waters's earlier Female Trouble.

He was originally cast as an airplane passenger in the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, but died before the film was in production.

Appearing on American television chat shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Thicke of the Night and The Merv Griffin Show to promote both his music and his film appearances throughout the 1980s, Divine became a well-known celebrity, and Divine-themed merchandise was produced, including greeting cards and The Simple Divine Cut-Out Doll Book. Because of this, several famous artists, including David Hockney and Andy Warhol, both of whom were known for their works which dealt with popular culture, painted portraits of him.
Death
Milstead's grave at Prospect Hill Park Cemetery, Towson, Maryland.

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, he was scheduled to film his part in the Fox network's television series Married... with Children. After dining with friends and returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42.
Drag persona and performance

Divine: "How much did you pay to get in tonight?"
Audience: "Ten dollars."
Divine: "Well now, that's eight dollars to see the show - and two dollars to fudge me right after. All line up outside the dressing room and I'll be here till Christmas!"
Divine to his audience

After developing a name for himself as a female impersonator known for "trashy" behavior in his early John Waters' films, Divine decided to capitalize on this image by appearing at his musical performances in his drag persona. In this role, he would be described as displaying "Trash. Filth. Obscenity. In bucket-loads." Divine himself would describe his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in." As a part of his performance, he would constantly swear at the audience, often using his signature line of "fudge you very much", and at times would get audience members to come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins and breasts.

He became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance, held in the Hippodrome in London, that coincided with American Independence Day, Divine rose up from the floor on a hydraulic lift, draped in the American flag, and declared that "I'm here representing Freedom, Liberty, Family Values and the fudgeing American Way of Life." When he performed at London Gay Pride parade, he sang on the roof of a hired pleasure boat that floated down the Thames past Jubilee Gardens, whilst at a performance he gave at the Hippodrome in the last year of his life, he appeared onstage riding an infant elephant, known as Bully the Elephant, who had been hired for the occasion. Nonetheless, Divine was not overly happy being known primarily for his drag act, and would tell an interviewer that "my favorite part of drag is getting out of it. Drag is my work clothes. I only put it on when someone pays me to."

Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world’s biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself… but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine".
Personal life

"I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life… It's an act… It's how I make my living. People laugh, and it's not hurting anyone."
Divine (1983)

Despite some claims made to the contrary, Divine always considered himself to be male, and was not transgender or transsexual. He used the term "Divine" as his personal name, telling one interviewer that both "Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" were "both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past twenty-three years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all." At one point he had the name "Divine" officially recognized, as it appeared on his passport, and in keeping with his personal use of the name, his close friends nicknamed him "Divi".

Divine was homosexual, and during the 1980s had an extended relationship with a married man named Lee, who accompanied him almost everywhere that he went. They later separated, and Divine would go on to have a brief affair with the gay porn star Leo Ford, something that was widely written and gossiped about in the gay press. Divine would also regularly engage in sexual activities with young men that he would meet whilst performing, sometimes becoming infatuated with them: in one case, he met a young man in Israel who he slept with and subsequently wanted to bring back to the United States, something that his manager prevented him from doing. Divine initially avoided informing the media about his sexuality, even when questioned by interviewers, and would sometimes hint that he was bisexual, but in the latter part of the 1980s decided to change this attitude, and began being open about his homosexuality. Nonetheless, he avoided getting into discussions regarding gay rights, partially at the advice of his manager, realising that it would have had a negative effect on his career.

Divine's mother, Frances Milstead, remarked that whilst Divine "was blessed with many talents and abilities, he could be very moody and demanding." She went on to note that whilst he was "incredibly kind and generous", he always wanted to get things done the way that he wanted, and would "tune you out if you displeased him."

Despite his stature as a trend-setter in gay culture, Divine was also a big fan of what he called "macho action films". He told Terry Gross in an interview conducted shortly before his death that he was a fan of Sylvester Stallone films, and that his favorite actor was Charles Bronson.

Divine had suffered from problems with obesity ever since he was a child, for the reason that he "liked to eat - and eat - and eat - and drink gallons of Coca-Cola", with his hunger being increased by his smoking marijuana daily. In the last few years of his life, when Divine began to realize that his career in disco was coming to an end, and he was having difficulty finding acting jobs, he began to feel suicidal and threatened to kill himself on a number of occasions. Meanwhile, Dutch friends of Divine gave him two bulldogs in the 1980s, which he doted on, and named Beatrix and Klaus after the Queen Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus of the Netherlands. On numerous occasions he would have his photograph taken with them, and sometimes use these images for record covers and posters.
Legacy and influence

Two books have been published about Divine since his death. The first, which was entitled Not Simply Divine!, was written by his manager and friend Bernard Jay, and published in 1992 by Virgin Books. The second, My Son Divine (2001), was written by his mother, Frances Milstead, and dealt with her sometimes fractious relationship with her son. His mother's continued relationship with the gay community was later documented in a film Frances: A Mother Divine directed by Tim Dunn and Michael O'Quinn which was released in 2010.

Another book entitled "Postcards From Divine" is due for release from the Divine estate in 2012. It is a collection of more than 50 postcards Divine sent to his parents while traveling the world as a pop star between 1977 and 1987. The ibook version of the book includes a narration by a vocal impersonator which John Waters called "Spooky" and "channeling". It also includes quotes and stories from his friends and colleagues including John Waters, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Channing Wilroy, Susan Lowe, Jean Hill, Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, Alan J. Wendl, Ruth Brown, Deborah Harry, Jerry Stiller, Ricki Lake and more.

Divine was the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea-Witch, the villain in the Disney 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid.

Meanwhile, Divine has left an influence on a number of musicians as well. Antony Hegarty of the band Antony and the Johnsons wrote a song about Divine which was included in the group's self-titled debut album, released in 1998. The song, titled "Divine", was an ode to the actor, who was one of Antony's life-long heroes. His admiration is expressed in the lines: "He was my self-determined guru" and "I turn to think of you/Who walked the way with so much pain/Who holds the mirror up to fools". Another such example of Divine's influence on musicians appeared in 2008, when Irish electronic singer Róisín Murphy paid homage to Divine in her music video for her song "Movie Star" by reenacting the attack by Lobstora from his 1970 film Multiple Maniacs and by the appearance of Divine lookalikes.

Due to Divine's portrayal of Edna Turnblad in the original comedy-film version of Hairspray, later musical adaptations of Hairspray have commonly placed male actors in the role of Edna, including Harvey Fierstein and others in the 2002 Broadway musical and John Travolta in the 2007 musical film.

I Am Divine, a feature documentary on the life of Divine, is currently in production. It is produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz of Los Angeles based production company Automat Pictures.

A 12 foot tall statue in the likeness of Divine by Andrew Logan can be seen on permanent display at The American Visionary Art Museum in Divine's home town of Baltimore, Maryland.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1966 Roman Candles The Smoking Nun
1968 Eat Your Makeup Jacqueline Kennedy
1969 The Diane Linkletter Story Diane Linkletter
Mondo Trasho Divine
1970 Multiple Maniacs Lady Divine
1972 Pink Flamingos Divine / Babs Johnson
1974 Female Trouble Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson
1981 Polyester Francine Fishpaw
1985 Lust in the Dust Rosie Velez Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Trouble in Mind Hilly Blue
Divine Waters Himself Documentary
1988 Hairspray Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
1989 Out of the Dark Det. Langella
1998 Divine Trash Himself Archive footage used for documentary
2000 In Bad Taste
2002 The Cockettes
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Tales from the Darkside Chia Fung 1 episode
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/baltoco/artists/170px-Actor_Devine.jpg



I liked Divine,a good actor.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/20/11 at 8:51 am

The person of the day...Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury.

He has recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. His music, and notably his hits, have become popular among younger generations as he continues to host sold-out shows. Throughout his career, Petty and his collaborators have sold 60 million albums.
Shortly after forming his musical aspirations, Petty started a band known as the Epics, later to evolve into Mudcrutch. Although the band, which featured future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, were popular in Gainesville, their recordings went unnoticed by a mainstream audience, although their only single, "Depot Street", remains popular amongst fans. The original Mudcrutch included guitarist Danny Roberts who was later replaced by bass guitarist Charlie Souza.

After Mudcrutch split up, Petty reluctantly agreed to pursue a solo career. Tench decided to form his own group, whose sound Petty appreciated. Eventually, Petty and Campbell collaborated with Tench and fellow members Ron Blair and Stan Lynch, resulting in the first line-up of the Heartbreakers. Their first album, simply titled Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, gained minute popularity amongst American audiences, achieving more success in Britain. The single "Breakdown" was re-released in 1977 and peaked at #40 in early 1978 after the band toured in the United Kingdom in support of Nils Lofgren. The debut album was released by Shelter Records, which at that time was distributed by ABC Records.

Their second album, You're Gonna Get It!, marked the band's first Top 40 album and featured the singles "I Need to Know" and "Listen To Her Heart". Their third album, Damn the Torpedoes, quickly went platinum, selling nearly two million copies; it includes their breakthrough singles "Don't Do Me Like That", "Here Comes My Girl" and "Refugee".

In September 1979, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at a Musicians United for Safe Energy concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. Their rendition of "Cry To Me" was featured on the resulting No Nukes album.

1981's Hard Promises became a top-ten hit, going platinum and spawning the hit single "The Waiting". The album also featured Petty's first duet, "Insider" with Stevie Nicks.

Bass player Ron Blair quit the group, and was replaced on the fifth album (1982's Long After Dark) by Howie Epstein; the resulting line-up would last until 1994. In 1985, the band participated in Live Aid, playing four songs at Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium. Southern Accents was also released in 1985. This album included the hit single "Don't Come Around Here No More", which was produced by Dave Stewart. The song's video featured Petty dressed as the Mad Hatter, mocking and chasing Alice from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, then cutting and eating her as if she were a cake. The ensuing tour led to the live album Pack Up the Plantation: Live! and to an invitation from Bob Dylan; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers joined him on his True Confessions tour and also played some dates with the Grateful Dead in 1986 and 1987. Also in 1987, the group released Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) which includes "Jammin' Me" which Petty wrote with Dylan.
Traveling Wilburys, solo career, and "return" to the Heartbreakers (1988–1991)
Main articles: Traveling Wilburys and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

In 1988, Petty became a founding member of the Traveling Wilburys, along with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. The band's first song, "Handle With Care", was intended as a B-side of one of Harrison's singles, but was judged too good for that purpose and the group decided to record a full album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. A second Wilburys album, incongruously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and recorded without the recently deceased Orbison, followed in 1990. The album was named Vol. 3 as a response to a series of bootlegged studio sessions being sold as Travelling Wilburys Vol. 2. In recent years, Petty has begun to incorporate Travelling Wilburys songs into his live shows, consistently playing "Handle With Care" in shows from 2003–2006, and for his 2008 tour making "End of the Line" a staple of the setlist.

In 1989, Petty released Full Moon Fever, which featured hits "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down a Dream". It was nominally his first solo album, although several Heartbreakers and other well-known musicians participated: Mike Campbell co-produced the album with Petty and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and backing musicians included Campbell, Lynne, and fellow Wilburys Roy Orbison and George Harrison (Ringo Starr appears on drums in the video for "I Won't Back Down", but they were actually performed by Phil Jones). Since all the original Traveling Wilburys except Bob Dylan participated on the album, it is sometimes considered the unofficial Traveling Wilbury's "Volume Two".

Petty & the Heartbreakers reformed in 1991 and released Into the Great Wide Open, which was co-produced by Lynne and included the hit singles "Learning To Fly" and "Into The Great Wide Open", the latter featuring Johnny Depp, Gabrielle Anwar, Faye Dunaway, and Matt LeBlanc in the video.

Before leaving MCA Records, Tom and the Heartbreakers got together to record, live in the studio, two new songs for a "Greatest Hits" package. "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air". This was Stan Lynch's last recorded performance with The Heartbreakers. Tom commented "He left right after the session without really saying goodbye." The package went on to sell over ten million copies, therefore receiving diamond certification by the RIAA.
Petty's first appearance in film took place in 1978, when he had a cameo in FM. He later had a small part in 1987's Made in Heaven, and appeared in several episodes of It's Garry Shandling's Show between 1987 and 1990, playing himself as one of Garry Shandling's neighbors. Petty was also featured in Shandling's other show, The Larry Sanders Show, as one of the show-within-the-show's final guests. In the episode, Petty gets bumped from the show and nearly comes to blows with Greg Kinnear.

Petty appeared in the 1997 movie The Postman, directed by and starring Kevin Costner, as The Bridge City Mayor (from the dialogue it is implied that he is playing a future version of himself).

In 2002, he appeared on The Simpsons in the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation". In it, he spoofed himself as a "tutor" to Homer Simpson on the art of lyric writing, composing a brief song about a drunk girl driving down the road while concerned with the state of public schools. Later in the episode, he loses a toe during a riot.

Petty had a recurring role as the voice of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt in the animated show King of the Hill.

In 2008, Petty made a guest appearance as himself in the Comedy Central show Lil Bush's season 2 finale. He is asked to write a song for Bush and his cronies. At the end, he is shown riding off into the sunset in a flying car alongside Iggy Pop, who is a regular voice actor on the series. Petty thus joined various musical guest stars on the show, including Iggy, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and Anthony Kiedis and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Awards and accolades
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Tom Petty

In 1994, You Got Lucky, a Tom Petty tribute album featuring such bands as Everclear and Silkworm was released.

In April 1996, Petty received the UCLA's George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement. The next month, Petty won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' Golden Note Award.
Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

In 1999 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contribution to the recording industry.

In 2002, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On December 6, 2005, Petty received the Billboard Century Award for his lifetime achievements. The same year, Conversations with Tom Petty, an oral history/biography composed of interviews conducted in 2004 and 2005 with Petty by music journalist Paul Zollo, was published (ISBN 1-84449-815-8).

On September 21, 2006, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received the keys to the city of Gainesville, Florida, where he and his bandmates either lived or grew up. From July 2006 until 2007 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio featured an exhibit of Tom Petty items. Much of the content was donated by Petty himself during a visit to his home by some of the Hall's curatorial staff.

Peter Bogdanovich's documentary film on Petty's career entitled Runnin' Down A Dream premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 14, 2007.
Views on artistic control

Petty is known as a staunch guardian of his creative control and artistic freedom. In 1979, he was dragged into a legal dispute when ABC Records was sold to MCA Records. He refused to be transferred to another record label without his consent. In May 1979, he filed for bankruptcy and was signed to the new MCA subsidiary Backstreet Records.

In early 1981, the upcoming Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album, which would become Hard Promises, was slated to be the next MCA release with the new list price of $9.98, following Steely Dan's Gaucho and the Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra Xanadu soundtrack. This so-called "superstar pricing" was $1.00 more than the usual list price of $8.98. Petty voiced his objections to the price hike in the press and the issue became a popular cause among music fans. Non-delivery of the album and naming it Eight Ninety-Eight were considered, but eventually MCA decided against the price increase.

In 1987, Petty sued tire company B.F. Goodrich for $1 million for using a song very similar to his song "Mary's New Car" in a TV commercial. The ad agency that produced the commercial had previously sought permission to use Petty's song but was refused. A judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting further use of the ad and the suit was later settled out of court.

Some have claimed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers single "Dani California", released in May 2006, is very similar to Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Petty told Rolling Stone, "I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock 'n' roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took 'American Girl' , and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK, good for you' ... If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe . But I don't believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs."
Personal life

His first marriage, to Jane Benyo, lasted 22 years from March 26, 1974 to September 9, 1996. He spent most of those years working, on the road or in the studio. They have two daughters. Adria is a film director and AnnaKim Violette an artist. Since June 3, 2001 he has been married to Dana York, whom he first met years earlier when she came to one of his concerts. Petty has a stepson from York's first marriage named Dylan.

On May 17, 1987, an arsonist set fire to Petty's house in Encino, California. The fire caused $1 million in damage but firefighters were able to salvage the basement recording studio and the original tapes stored there, as well as his Gibson Dove acoustic guitar. His signature gray top hat, however, was destroyed. Petty later rebuilt the house with fireproof materials.
Musical equipment

Petty owns and has used a number of guitars over the years. From 1976-1982, his main instrument was a sunburst 1964 Fender Stratocaster. He has also used a number of Rickenbacker guitars from 1979 onward, notably a 1965 Rose Morris 1993 and 1987 reissue of the Rose Morris 1997, a 1967 360/12 and 1989 660/12TP. The Rickenbacker 660/12TP was designed by Petty (specifically the neck) and featured his signature from 1991 to 1997. Other electrics currently used on tour include a Gretsch Tennessean, two 1960s Fender Telecasters and a Gibson Firebird.

For acoustic guitars, Petty has had a signature C.F. Martin HD-40, and has written virtually all of his songs on a Gibson Dove acoustic saved from his 1987 house fire. He currently uses a Gibson J-200 in a natural finish and a late '70s Guild D25 12-string acoustic.

Petty's current amplifer setup features 2 Fender Vibro-King 60 watt combos.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg123/natnicr1/tom-petty.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj249/chayybayybayy/tom_petty.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/20/11 at 1:05 pm


Some have claimed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers single "Dani California", released in May 2006, is very similar to Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Petty told Rolling Stone, "I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock 'n' roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took 'American Girl' , and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK, good for you' ... If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe {I'd sue}. But I don't believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs."

I have noticed a few similarities between the songs, especially in the intro...but the tempo is different, and some of the chord sequences differ too. He's right, though; there are a lot of songs out there that sound alike, with no ripoff intended.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/20/11 at 2:18 pm


The person of the day...Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury.

He has recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. His music, and notably his hits, have become popular among younger generations as he continues to host sold-out shows. Throughout his career, Petty and his collaborators have sold 60 million albums.
Shortly after forming his musical aspirations, Petty started a band known as the Epics, later to evolve into Mudcrutch. Although the band, which featured future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, were popular in Gainesville, their recordings went unnoticed by a mainstream audience, although their only single, "Depot Street", remains popular amongst fans. The original Mudcrutch included guitarist Danny Roberts who was later replaced by bass guitarist Charlie Souza.

After Mudcrutch split up, Petty reluctantly agreed to pursue a solo career. Tench decided to form his own group, whose sound Petty appreciated. Eventually, Petty and Campbell collaborated with Tench and fellow members Ron Blair and Stan Lynch, resulting in the first line-up of the Heartbreakers. Their first album, simply titled Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, gained minute popularity amongst American audiences, achieving more success in Britain. The single "Breakdown" was re-released in 1977 and peaked at #40 in early 1978 after the band toured in the United Kingdom in support of Nils Lofgren. The debut album was released by Shelter Records, which at that time was distributed by ABC Records.

Their second album, You're Gonna Get It!, marked the band's first Top 40 album and featured the singles "I Need to Know" and "Listen To Her Heart". Their third album, Damn the Torpedoes, quickly went platinum, selling nearly two million copies; it includes their breakthrough singles "Don't Do Me Like That", "Here Comes My Girl" and "Refugee".

In September 1979, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at a Musicians United for Safe Energy concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. Their rendition of "Cry To Me" was featured on the resulting No Nukes album.

1981's Hard Promises became a top-ten hit, going platinum and spawning the hit single "The Waiting". The album also featured Petty's first duet, "Insider" with Stevie Nicks.

Bass player Ron Blair quit the group, and was replaced on the fifth album (1982's Long After Dark) by Howie Epstein; the resulting line-up would last until 1994. In 1985, the band participated in Live Aid, playing four songs at Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium. Southern Accents was also released in 1985. This album included the hit single "Don't Come Around Here No More", which was produced by Dave Stewart. The song's video featured Petty dressed as the Mad Hatter, mocking and chasing Alice from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, then cutting and eating her as if she were a cake. The ensuing tour led to the live album Pack Up the Plantation: Live! and to an invitation from Bob Dylan; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers joined him on his True Confessions tour and also played some dates with the Grateful Dead in 1986 and 1987. Also in 1987, the group released Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) which includes "Jammin' Me" which Petty wrote with Dylan.
Traveling Wilburys, solo career, and "return" to the Heartbreakers (1988–1991)
Main articles: Traveling Wilburys and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

In 1988, Petty became a founding member of the Traveling Wilburys, along with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. The band's first song, "Handle With Care", was intended as a B-side of one of Harrison's singles, but was judged too good for that purpose and the group decided to record a full album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. A second Wilburys album, incongruously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and recorded without the recently deceased Orbison, followed in 1990. The album was named Vol. 3 as a response to a series of bootlegged studio sessions being sold as Travelling Wilburys Vol. 2. In recent years, Petty has begun to incorporate Travelling Wilburys songs into his live shows, consistently playing "Handle With Care" in shows from 2003–2006, and for his 2008 tour making "End of the Line" a staple of the setlist.

In 1989, Petty released Full Moon Fever, which featured hits "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down a Dream". It was nominally his first solo album, although several Heartbreakers and other well-known musicians participated: Mike Campbell co-produced the album with Petty and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and backing musicians included Campbell, Lynne, and fellow Wilburys Roy Orbison and George Harrison (Ringo Starr appears on drums in the video for "I Won't Back Down", but they were actually performed by Phil Jones). Since all the original Traveling Wilburys except Bob Dylan participated on the album, it is sometimes considered the unofficial Traveling Wilbury's "Volume Two".

Petty & the Heartbreakers reformed in 1991 and released Into the Great Wide Open, which was co-produced by Lynne and included the hit singles "Learning To Fly" and "Into The Great Wide Open", the latter featuring Johnny Depp, Gabrielle Anwar, Faye Dunaway, and Matt LeBlanc in the video.

Before leaving MCA Records, Tom and the Heartbreakers got together to record, live in the studio, two new songs for a "Greatest Hits" package. "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air". This was Stan Lynch's last recorded performance with The Heartbreakers. Tom commented "He left right after the session without really saying goodbye." The package went on to sell over ten million copies, therefore receiving diamond certification by the RIAA.
Petty's first appearance in film took place in 1978, when he had a cameo in FM. He later had a small part in 1987's Made in Heaven, and appeared in several episodes of It's Garry Shandling's Show between 1987 and 1990, playing himself as one of Garry Shandling's neighbors. Petty was also featured in Shandling's other show, The Larry Sanders Show, as one of the show-within-the-show's final guests. In the episode, Petty gets bumped from the show and nearly comes to blows with Greg Kinnear.

Petty appeared in the 1997 movie The Postman, directed by and starring Kevin Costner, as The Bridge City Mayor (from the dialogue it is implied that he is playing a future version of himself).

In 2002, he appeared on The Simpsons in the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation". In it, he spoofed himself as a "tutor" to Homer Simpson on the art of lyric writing, composing a brief song about a drunk girl driving down the road while concerned with the state of public schools. Later in the episode, he loses a toe during a riot.

Petty had a recurring role as the voice of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt in the animated show King of the Hill.

In 2008, Petty made a guest appearance as himself in the Comedy Central show Lil Bush's season 2 finale. He is asked to write a song for Bush and his cronies. At the end, he is shown riding off into the sunset in a flying car alongside Iggy Pop, who is a regular voice actor on the series. Petty thus joined various musical guest stars on the show, including Iggy, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and Anthony Kiedis and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Awards and accolades
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Tom Petty

In 1994, You Got Lucky, a Tom Petty tribute album featuring such bands as Everclear and Silkworm was released.

In April 1996, Petty received the UCLA's George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement. The next month, Petty won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' Golden Note Award.
Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

In 1999 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contribution to the recording industry.

In 2002, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On December 6, 2005, Petty received the Billboard Century Award for his lifetime achievements. The same year, Conversations with Tom Petty, an oral history/biography composed of interviews conducted in 2004 and 2005 with Petty by music journalist Paul Zollo, was published (ISBN 1-84449-815-8).

On September 21, 2006, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received the keys to the city of Gainesville, Florida, where he and his bandmates either lived or grew up. From July 2006 until 2007 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio featured an exhibit of Tom Petty items. Much of the content was donated by Petty himself during a visit to his home by some of the Hall's curatorial staff.

Peter Bogdanovich's documentary film on Petty's career entitled Runnin' Down A Dream premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 14, 2007.
Views on artistic control

Petty is known as a staunch guardian of his creative control and artistic freedom. In 1979, he was dragged into a legal dispute when ABC Records was sold to MCA Records. He refused to be transferred to another record label without his consent. In May 1979, he filed for bankruptcy and was signed to the new MCA subsidiary Backstreet Records.

In early 1981, the upcoming Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album, which would become Hard Promises, was slated to be the next MCA release with the new list price of $9.98, following Steely Dan's Gaucho and the Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra Xanadu soundtrack. This so-called "superstar pricing" was $1.00 more than the usual list price of $8.98. Petty voiced his objections to the price hike in the press and the issue became a popular cause among music fans. Non-delivery of the album and naming it Eight Ninety-Eight were considered, but eventually MCA decided against the price increase.

In 1987, Petty sued tire company B.F. Goodrich for $1 million for using a song very similar to his song "Mary's New Car" in a TV commercial. The ad agency that produced the commercial had previously sought permission to use Petty's song but was refused. A judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting further use of the ad and the suit was later settled out of court.

Some have claimed that the Red Hot Chili Peppers single "Dani California", released in May 2006, is very similar to Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Petty told Rolling Stone, "I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock 'n' roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took 'American Girl' , and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK, good for you' ... If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe . But I don't believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs."
Personal life

His first marriage, to Jane Benyo, lasted 22 years from March 26, 1974 to September 9, 1996. He spent most of those years working, on the road or in the studio. They have two daughters. Adria is a film director and AnnaKim Violette an artist. Since June 3, 2001 he has been married to Dana York, whom he first met years earlier when she came to one of his concerts. Petty has a stepson from York's first marriage named Dylan.

On May 17, 1987, an arsonist set fire to Petty's house in Encino, California. The fire caused $1 million in damage but firefighters were able to salvage the basement recording studio and the original tapes stored there, as well as his Gibson Dove acoustic guitar. His signature gray top hat, however, was destroyed. Petty later rebuilt the house with fireproof materials.
Musical equipment

Petty owns and has used a number of guitars over the years. From 1976-1982, his main instrument was a sunburst 1964 Fender Stratocaster. He has also used a number of Rickenbacker guitars from 1979 onward, notably a 1965 Rose Morris 1993 and 1987 reissue of the Rose Morris 1997, a 1967 360/12 and 1989 660/12TP. The Rickenbacker 660/12TP was designed by Petty (specifically the neck) and featured his signature from 1991 to 1997. Other electrics currently used on tour include a Gretsch Tennessean, two 1960s Fender Telecasters and a Gibson Firebird.

For acoustic guitars, Petty has had a signature C.F. Martin HD-40, and has written virtually all of his songs on a Gibson Dove acoustic saved from his 1987 house fire. He currently uses a Gibson J-200 in a natural finish and a late '70s Guild D25 12-string acoustic.

Petty's current amplifer setup features 2 Fender Vibro-King 60 watt combos.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg123/natnicr1/tom-petty.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj249/chayybayybayy/tom_petty.jpg


He was good when he was with Traveling Wilburys.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/21/11 at 7:54 am


He was good when he was with Traveling Wilburys.

He was good before that too. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/21/11 at 7:57 am

The person of the day...Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher (born October 21, 1956) is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her autobiography Wishful Drinking.
Fisher was born in Beverly Hills, California, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. She was raised Protestant, though her paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her younger brother is Todd Fisher and her half-sisters are actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Joely and Tricia's mother is the singer/actress Connie Stevens.

When Carrie Fisher was two, her parents divorced after her father left Debbie for her best friend, actress Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of Eddie's best friend Mike Todd. The following year, her mother married shoe store chain owner Harry Karl, who secretly spent her life savings. It was assumed from an early age that Carrie would go into the family show business, and she began appearing with her mother in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 12. She attended Beverly Hills High School, but she left to join her mother on the road. She appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene (1973), starring her mother.
Career
1970s
Fisher with Wim Wenders in 1978

In 1973, Fisher enrolled at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, which she attended for 18 months. She made her film debut in the Columbia comedy Shampoo (1975) starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant and Jack Warden. In 1977, Fisher starred as Princess Leia Organa in George Lucas' science fiction film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) opposite Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, a part she sarcastically claims to have obtained by sleeping "with some nerd."

In May 1978, she appeared alongside John Ritter in the ABC-TV film Leave Yesterday Behind as a horse trainer who helps Ritter's character after an accident leaves him a paraplegic.

The huge success of Star Wars made her internationally famous. The character of Princess Leia became a merchandising triumph; there were small plastic action figures of the Princess in toy stores across the United States. She appeared as Princess Leia in the 1978 made-for-TV film, The Star Wars Holiday Special. At this time, Fisher appeared with Laurence Olivier and Joanne Woodward in the anthology series Laurence Olivier Presents in a television version of the William Inge play Come Back, Little Sheba.

In November 1978, Fisher was the guest host for Saturday Night Live with musical guests The Blues Brothers and special guest Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci. Dressed in a gold bikini, she reprised her Princess Leia character from Star Wars in "Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space", a parody sketch of 1960s beach party films. Bill Murray and Gilda Radner imitated the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello characters. John Belushi played biker Eric Von Zipper, and Dan Aykroyd, with whom Fisher was romantically involved, portrayed Vincent Price.

Fisher appeared in the music video for Ringo Starr's cover of "You're Sixteen" as the love interest in 1978 on his TV special of that year.
1980s

Fisher later appeared in The Blues Brothers film in a cameo role as Joliet Jake's vengeful ex-lover, listed in the credits as "Mystery Woman". She appeared on Broadway in Censored Scenes from King Kong in 1980. That year, she appeared again as Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. She made her third and final appearance as Leia in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, for which she became a sex symbol due to her appearance wearing a golden metal bikini (the slave girl outfit which almost immediately rose to pop culture icon status). She is one of the few actors or actresses to star in films with both John and James Belushi, later appearing with the latter in the film The Man with One Red Shoe. She also was a replacement in the Broadway production of Agnes of God (1982). She appeared in the Woody Allen film Hannah and her Sisters in 1986.

In 1987, Fisher published her first novel, Postcards from the Edge. The book was semi-autobiographical in the sense that she fictionalized and satirized real life events such as her drug addiction of the late 1970s. It became a bestseller, and she received the Los Angeles Pen Award for Best First Novel. Also during 1987, she was in the Australian film The Time Guardian. In 1989, Fisher played a major supporting role in When Harry Met Sally, and in the same year, she appeared opposite Tom Hanks as his wife in The 'Burbs.
1990s

In 1990, Columbia Pictures released a film version of Postcards from the Edge, adapted for the screen by Fisher and starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid. She also appeared in the fantasy comedy film Drop Dead Fred in 1991. In 1997, Fisher appeared as a therapist in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. During the 1990s, Fisher also published the novels Surrender the Pink (1991) and Delusions of Grandma (1993).
2000s
Fisher at Star Wars Celebration IV, 2007

In the film Scream 3 (2000), Fisher played an actress mistaken for Carrie Fisher. Director's commentary on the Scream 3 DVD suggests that the sequence was in fact penned by Fisher herself.

In 2001, Fisher played a nun in the Kevin Smith comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The title spoofs The Empire Strikes Back and the film, which includes Mark Hamill, satirizes many Hollywood movies, including the Star Wars series.

She also co-wrote the TV comedy film These Old Broads (2001), of which she was also co-executive producer. It starred her mother, Debbie Reynolds, as well as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins and Shirley MacLaine. In this, Taylor's character, an agent, explains to Reynolds' character, an actress, that she was in an alcoholic blackout when she married the actress's husband, "Freddy".

Besides acting and writing original works, Fisher was one of the top script doctors in Hollywood, working on the screenplays of other writers. She has done uncredited polishes on movies starting with The Wedding Singer and Sister Act, and was hired by the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, to polish scripts for his 1992 TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Her expertise in this area was why she was chosen as one of the interviewers for the screenwriting documentary Dreams on Spec in 2007. However, during an interview in 2004 she said that she no longer does much script doctoring.

Fisher also voices Peter Griffin's boss Angela on the animated sitcom Family Guy and appeared in a book of photographs titled Hollywood Moms (2001) for which she wrote the introduction. Fisher published a sequel to Postcards, The Best Awful There Is in 2004. In August 2006, Fisher appeared prominently in the audience of the Comedy Central's Roast of William Shatner.

Fisher wrote and performed in her one-woman play Wishful Drinking at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles from November 7, 2006, to January 14, 2007. Her show played at the Berkeley Repertory Theater through April 2008, followed by performances in San Jose, California in July 2008, Hartford Stage in August 2008 before moving on to the Arena Stage in Washington, DC in September 2008 and Boston in October 2008. Fisher published her autobiographical book, called Wishful Drinking based on her successful play in December 2008 and embarked on a media tour. On April 2, 2009, Fisher returned to the stage with her play at the Seattle Repertory Theatre with performances through May 9, 2009. On October 4, 2009, Wishful Drinking then opened on Broadway in New York at Studio 54 and played an extended run until January 17, 2010. In December 2009, Fisher's bestselling memoir Wishful Drinking earned her a nomination for a 2010 Grammy Award in the Best Spoken Word Album category.

In 2007, she was a full-time judge on FOX's filmmaking-competition reality television series On the Lot.

Fisher joined Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne on Saturday evenings for The Essentials with informative and entertaining conversation on Hollywood's best films. She guest-starred in the episode titled "Sex and Another City" from season 3 of Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker. This episode also featured Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner and Sam Seder in guest roles. On October 25, 2007, Fisher guest-starred as Rosemary Howard on the second season episode of 30 Rock called "Rosemary's Baby", for which she received an Emmy Award nomination. Her last line in the show was a spoof from Star Wars: "Help me Liz Lemon, You're my only hope!". On April 28, 2008, she was a guest on Deal or No Deal. In 2008, she also had a cameo as a doctor in the Star Wars related comedy Fanboys.
Carrie Fisher at WonderCon 2009

Fisher's Wishful Drinking will air as a feature-length documentary on HBO.

Fisher will appear on the seventh season of Entourage in the summer of 2010.

Fisher dated musician Paul Simon from 1977 until 1983, then was married to him from August 1983 to July 1984, and they dated again for a time after their divorce. During their marriage, she appeared in Simon's music video for the song "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War". She is referenced in many of Simon's songs, including "Hearts and Bones", "Graceland", "She Moves On" and "Allergies".

Subsequently, she had a relationship with Creative Artists Agency principal and casting agent Bryan Lourd. They had one child together, Billie Catherine Lourd (born July 17, 1992). The couple's relationship ended when Lourd left to be in a homosexual relationship. Though Fisher has described Lourd as her second husband in interviews, according to a 2004 profile of the actress and writer, she and Lourd were never legally married.

Fisher also had a close relationship with James Blunt. While working on his album Back to Bedlam in 2003, Blunt spent much of his time at Fisher's residence. Vanity Fair's George Wayne wanted Fisher to explain if their relationship was sexual. Fisher dismissed the suggestion: "Absolutely not, but I did become his therapist. He was a soldier. This boy has seen awful stuff. Every time James hears fireworks or anything like that, his heart beats faster, and he gets 'fight or flight'. You know, he comes from a long line of soldiers dating back to the 10th century. He would tell me these horrible stories. He was a captain, a reconnaissance soldier. I became James’s therapist. So it would have been unethical to sleep with my patient."

On February 26, 2005, R. Gregory "Greg" Stevens, a lobbyist and advisor for the Republican Party, was found dead in Fisher's California home due to an overdose of OxyContin compounded by obstructive sleep apnea. In an interview, Fisher claimed that Stevens' ghost haunted her mansion. Fisher was unsettled by this: "I was a nut for a year," she explained, "and in that year I took drugs again."

Fisher has described herself as an "enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God." She was raised Protestant, but often attends Jewish services, the faith of her father, with Orthodox friends.
Bipolar disorder and drug problems

Fisher has publicly discussed her problems with drugs, her struggle with bipolar disorder, and her overcoming an addiction to prescription medication, most notably on ABC's 20/20 and The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive with Stephen Fry for the BBC. She discussed her new memoir Wishful Drinking and various topics in it with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today on December 10, 2008. This interview was followed by a similar appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on December 12, 2008 where she discussed her electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments. She has said that she receives ECT every six weeks to "blow apart the cement" in her brain. Fisher spoke about Wishful Drinking on NPR's Talk of the Nation on December 16, 2008. She also spoke about her life and troubles on the NPR quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on January 31, 2009.
Weight problems

In recent years, she has been battling weight gain since touring with her one-woman show, topping out at 180 pounds. She's currently the new spokesperson for Jenny Craig, Inc.. Television ads began airing in late January 2011.
Cocaine addiction

While in Sydney, Australia, Fisher revealed in another interview that she had a cocaine addiction during filming of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and also survived an overdose. "Slowly, I realized I was doing a bit more drugs than other people and losing my choice in the matter" she said in an interview.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film, television and video games 1975 Shampoo Lorna Carp
1977 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Princess Leia Organa
1977 Come Back, Little Sheba Marie Videotaped TV drama
1978 Ringo Marquine TV movie
1978 Leave Yesterday Behind Marnie Clarkson TV movie
1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special Princess Leia Organa TV movie
1980 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Princess Leia Organa
1980 The Blues Brothers Mystery Woman
1981 Under the Rainbow Annie Clark
1982 Laverne & Shirley Cathy TV series, episode: "The Playboy Show"
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Princess Leia Organa
1984 Faerie Tale Theatre Thumbelina TV series, episode: "Thumbelina"
1984 Garbo Talks Lisa Rolfe
1984 Frankenstein Elizabeth TV movie
1985 From Here to Maternity Veronica TV short
1985 The Man with One Red Shoe Paula
1985 George Burns Comedy Week TV series, episode: "The Couch"
1985 Happily Ever After Alice Conway Voice only, TV movie
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters April
1986 Hollywood Vice Squad Betty Melton
1986 Liberty Emma Lazarus TV movie
1986 Sunday Drive Franny Jessup TV movie
1987 Amazing Stories Laurie McNamara TV series, episode: "Gershwin's Trunk"
1987 Paul Reiser Out on a Whim TV movie
1987 Amazon Women on the Moon Mary Brown segment "Reckless Youth"
1987 The Time Guardian Petra
1988 Appointment with Death Nadine Boynton
1989 The 'burbs Carol Peterson
1989 Loverboy Monica Delancy
1989 Two Daddies Alice Conway Voice only, TV movie
1989 She's Back Beatrice
1989 When Harry Met Sally... Marie
1989 Trying Times Enid TV series, episode: "Hunger Chic"
1990 Sweet Revenge Linda
1990 Sibling Rivalry Iris Turner-Hunter
1991 Drop Dead Fred Janie
1991 Soapdish Betsy Faye Sharon
1991 Hook Woman kissing on bridge Uncredited role
1992 This Is My Life Claudia Curtis
1994 Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Princess Leia Organa Video game
1995 Present Tense, Past Perfect TV short
1995 Frasier Phyllis TV series, episode "Phyllis", voice only
1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Therapist Uncredited role
1997 Gun Nancy TV series, episode: "The Hole"
1998 Dr, Katz, Professional Therapist Roz Katz TV series, episode: "Thanksgiving"
1999 Return of the Ewok short subject, filmed in 1983
2000 Scream 3 Bianca
2001 These Old Broads Hooker TV movie
2001 Heartbreakers Ms. Surpin
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Nun
2002 A Midsummer Night's Rave
2002 A Nero Wolfe Mystery Ellen Tenzer TV series, two-part episode: "Motherhunt"
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Mother Superior
2003 Wonderland Sally Hansen
2003 Good Morning, Miami Judy Silver TV series, episode: "A Kiss Before Lying"
2003 Sex and the City Herself TV series, episode: "Sex and Another City"
2004 Stateside Mrs. Dubois
2004 Jack & Bobby Madison Skutcher TV series, episode: "The First Lady"
2005 Undiscovered Carrie
2005 Smallville Pauline Kahn TV series, episode: "Thirst"
2005 Romancing the Bride Edwina TV movie
2005–present Family Guy Angela TV series, episodes: "Jungle Love", "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", "Hell Comes to Quahog", "Whistle While Your Wife Works", "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing", "Peter-assment", "Baby, You Knock Me Out", "Road to the North Pole", "Friends of Peter G.", "Peter-Assment"
2007 Suffering Man's Charity Reporter
2007 Cougar Club Glady Goodbey
2007 Odd Job Jack Dr. Finch TV series, episode: "The Beauty Beast"
2007 Weeds Celia's attorney TV series, episode: "The Brick Dance"
2007 Side Order of Life Dr. Gilbert TV series, episode:" Funeral for a Phone"
2007 30 Rock Rosemary Howard TV series, episode: "Rosemary's Baby"
2008 The Women Bailey Smith
2009 Fanboys Cameo appearance
2008 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II Princess Leia Organa, Mon Mothma, Krayt Dragon's Mother TV movie, voice only
2009 White Lightnin' Cilla
2009 Sorority Row Mrs. Crenshaw
2010 Wright vs. Wrong Joan Harrington TV movie
2010 Entourage Anna Fowler TV series, episode "Tequila and Coke"
2010 Family Guy Mon Mothma TV series, episode: It's a Trap, voice only
2010 A Quiet Word With ... Herself Australian TV conversation series, season 1, episode 2
Bibliography

Novels

    Postcards from the Edge, 1987, ISBN 0-7434-6651-9
    Surrender the Pink, 1990, ISBN 0-671-66640-1
    Delusions of Grandma, 1993, ISBN 0-684-85803-7
    Hollywood Moms, 2001, (introduction)
    The Best Awful There Is, 2004, ISBN 0-7434-7857-6

Non-fiction

    Wishful Drinking, 2008, ISBN 1-4391-0225-2

Screenplays

    Postcards from the Edge, 1990
    These Old Broads, 2001
    E-Girl (2007)
    doctored screenplays for Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992) and The Wedding Singer (1998)

Plays

    Wishful Drinking, 2006
    Wishful Drinking, 2008
    A Spy in the House of Me, 2008
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/112723412813.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/002.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/21/11 at 12:17 pm


He was good before that too. :)

Especially as a solo artist (with or without The Heartbreakers).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/21/11 at 7:50 pm


The person of the day...Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher (born October 21, 1956) is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her autobiography Wishful Drinking.
Fisher was born in Beverly Hills, California, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. She was raised Protestant, though her paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her younger brother is Todd Fisher and her half-sisters are actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Joely and Tricia's mother is the singer/actress Connie Stevens.

When Carrie Fisher was two, her parents divorced after her father left Debbie for her best friend, actress Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of Eddie's best friend Mike Todd. The following year, her mother married shoe store chain owner Harry Karl, who secretly spent her life savings. It was assumed from an early age that Carrie would go into the family show business, and she began appearing with her mother in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 12. She attended Beverly Hills High School, but she left to join her mother on the road. She appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene (1973), starring her mother.
Career
1970s
Fisher with Wim Wenders in 1978

In 1973, Fisher enrolled at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, which she attended for 18 months. She made her film debut in the Columbia comedy Shampoo (1975) starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant and Jack Warden. In 1977, Fisher starred as Princess Leia Organa in George Lucas' science fiction film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) opposite Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, a part she sarcastically claims to have obtained by sleeping "with some nerd."

In May 1978, she appeared alongside John Ritter in the ABC-TV film Leave Yesterday Behind as a horse trainer who helps Ritter's character after an accident leaves him a paraplegic.

The huge success of Star Wars made her internationally famous. The character of Princess Leia became a merchandising triumph; there were small plastic action figures of the Princess in toy stores across the United States. She appeared as Princess Leia in the 1978 made-for-TV film, The Star Wars Holiday Special. At this time, Fisher appeared with Laurence Olivier and Joanne Woodward in the anthology series Laurence Olivier Presents in a television version of the William Inge play Come Back, Little Sheba.

In November 1978, Fisher was the guest host for Saturday Night Live with musical guests The Blues Brothers and special guest Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci. Dressed in a gold bikini, she reprised her Princess Leia character from Star Wars in "Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space", a parody sketch of 1960s beach party films. Bill Murray and Gilda Radner imitated the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello characters. John Belushi played biker Eric Von Zipper, and Dan Aykroyd, with whom Fisher was romantically involved, portrayed Vincent Price.

Fisher appeared in the music video for Ringo Starr's cover of "You're Sixteen" as the love interest in 1978 on his TV special of that year.
1980s

Fisher later appeared in The Blues Brothers film in a cameo role as Joliet Jake's vengeful ex-lover, listed in the credits as "Mystery Woman". She appeared on Broadway in Censored Scenes from King Kong in 1980. That year, she appeared again as Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. She made her third and final appearance as Leia in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, for which she became a sex symbol due to her appearance wearing a golden metal bikini (the slave girl outfit which almost immediately rose to pop culture icon status). She is one of the few actors or actresses to star in films with both John and James Belushi, later appearing with the latter in the film The Man with One Red Shoe. She also was a replacement in the Broadway production of Agnes of God (1982). She appeared in the Woody Allen film Hannah and her Sisters in 1986.

In 1987, Fisher published her first novel, Postcards from the Edge. The book was semi-autobiographical in the sense that she fictionalized and satirized real life events such as her drug addiction of the late 1970s. It became a bestseller, and she received the Los Angeles Pen Award for Best First Novel. Also during 1987, she was in the Australian film The Time Guardian. In 1989, Fisher played a major supporting role in When Harry Met Sally, and in the same year, she appeared opposite Tom Hanks as his wife in The 'Burbs.
1990s

In 1990, Columbia Pictures released a film version of Postcards from the Edge, adapted for the screen by Fisher and starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid. She also appeared in the fantasy comedy film Drop Dead Fred in 1991. In 1997, Fisher appeared as a therapist in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. During the 1990s, Fisher also published the novels Surrender the Pink (1991) and Delusions of Grandma (1993).
2000s
Fisher at Star Wars Celebration IV, 2007

In the film Scream 3 (2000), Fisher played an actress mistaken for Carrie Fisher. Director's commentary on the Scream 3 DVD suggests that the sequence was in fact penned by Fisher herself.

In 2001, Fisher played a nun in the Kevin Smith comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The title spoofs The Empire Strikes Back and the film, which includes Mark Hamill, satirizes many Hollywood movies, including the Star Wars series.

She also co-wrote the TV comedy film These Old Broads (2001), of which she was also co-executive producer. It starred her mother, Debbie Reynolds, as well as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins and Shirley MacLaine. In this, Taylor's character, an agent, explains to Reynolds' character, an actress, that she was in an alcoholic blackout when she married the actress's husband, "Freddy".

Besides acting and writing original works, Fisher was one of the top script doctors in Hollywood, working on the screenplays of other writers. She has done uncredited polishes on movies starting with The Wedding Singer and Sister Act, and was hired by the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, to polish scripts for his 1992 TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Her expertise in this area was why she was chosen as one of the interviewers for the screenwriting documentary Dreams on Spec in 2007. However, during an interview in 2004 she said that she no longer does much script doctoring.

Fisher also voices Peter Griffin's boss Angela on the animated sitcom Family Guy and appeared in a book of photographs titled Hollywood Moms (2001) for which she wrote the introduction. Fisher published a sequel to Postcards, The Best Awful There Is in 2004. In August 2006, Fisher appeared prominently in the audience of the Comedy Central's Roast of William Shatner.

Fisher wrote and performed in her one-woman play Wishful Drinking at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles from November 7, 2006, to January 14, 2007. Her show played at the Berkeley Repertory Theater through April 2008, followed by performances in San Jose, California in July 2008, Hartford Stage in August 2008 before moving on to the Arena Stage in Washington, DC in September 2008 and Boston in October 2008. Fisher published her autobiographical book, called Wishful Drinking based on her successful play in December 2008 and embarked on a media tour. On April 2, 2009, Fisher returned to the stage with her play at the Seattle Repertory Theatre with performances through May 9, 2009. On October 4, 2009, Wishful Drinking then opened on Broadway in New York at Studio 54 and played an extended run until January 17, 2010. In December 2009, Fisher's bestselling memoir Wishful Drinking earned her a nomination for a 2010 Grammy Award in the Best Spoken Word Album category.

In 2007, she was a full-time judge on FOX's filmmaking-competition reality television series On the Lot.

Fisher joined Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne on Saturday evenings for The Essentials with informative and entertaining conversation on Hollywood's best films. She guest-starred in the episode titled "Sex and Another City" from season 3 of Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker. This episode also featured Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner and Sam Seder in guest roles. On October 25, 2007, Fisher guest-starred as Rosemary Howard on the second season episode of 30 Rock called "Rosemary's Baby", for which she received an Emmy Award nomination. Her last line in the show was a spoof from Star Wars: "Help me Liz Lemon, You're my only hope!". On April 28, 2008, she was a guest on Deal or No Deal. In 2008, she also had a cameo as a doctor in the Star Wars related comedy Fanboys.
Carrie Fisher at WonderCon 2009

Fisher's Wishful Drinking will air as a feature-length documentary on HBO.

Fisher will appear on the seventh season of Entourage in the summer of 2010.

Fisher dated musician Paul Simon from 1977 until 1983, then was married to him from August 1983 to July 1984, and they dated again for a time after their divorce. During their marriage, she appeared in Simon's music video for the song "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War". She is referenced in many of Simon's songs, including "Hearts and Bones", "Graceland", "She Moves On" and "Allergies".

Subsequently, she had a relationship with Creative Artists Agency principal and casting agent Bryan Lourd. They had one child together, Billie Catherine Lourd (born July 17, 1992). The couple's relationship ended when Lourd left to be in a homosexual relationship. Though Fisher has described Lourd as her second husband in interviews, according to a 2004 profile of the actress and writer, she and Lourd were never legally married.

Fisher also had a close relationship with James Blunt. While working on his album Back to Bedlam in 2003, Blunt spent much of his time at Fisher's residence. Vanity Fair's George Wayne wanted Fisher to explain if their relationship was sexual. Fisher dismissed the suggestion: "Absolutely not, but I did become his therapist. He was a soldier. This boy has seen awful stuff. Every time James hears fireworks or anything like that, his heart beats faster, and he gets 'fight or flight'. You know, he comes from a long line of soldiers dating back to the 10th century. He would tell me these horrible stories. He was a captain, a reconnaissance soldier. I became James’s therapist. So it would have been unethical to sleep with my patient."

On February 26, 2005, R. Gregory "Greg" Stevens, a lobbyist and advisor for the Republican Party, was found dead in Fisher's California home due to an overdose of OxyContin compounded by obstructive sleep apnea. In an interview, Fisher claimed that Stevens' ghost haunted her mansion. Fisher was unsettled by this: "I was a nut for a year," she explained, "and in that year I took drugs again."

Fisher has described herself as an "enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God." She was raised Protestant, but often attends Jewish services, the faith of her father, with Orthodox friends.
Bipolar disorder and drug problems

Fisher has publicly discussed her problems with drugs, her struggle with bipolar disorder, and her overcoming an addiction to prescription medication, most notably on ABC's 20/20 and The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive with Stephen Fry for the BBC. She discussed her new memoir Wishful Drinking and various topics in it with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today on December 10, 2008. This interview was followed by a similar appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on December 12, 2008 where she discussed her electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments. She has said that she receives ECT every six weeks to "blow apart the cement" in her brain. Fisher spoke about Wishful Drinking on NPR's Talk of the Nation on December 16, 2008. She also spoke about her life and troubles on the NPR quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on January 31, 2009.
Weight problems

In recent years, she has been battling weight gain since touring with her one-woman show, topping out at 180 pounds. She's currently the new spokesperson for Jenny Craig, Inc.. Television ads began airing in late January 2011.
Cocaine addiction

While in Sydney, Australia, Fisher revealed in another interview that she had a cocaine addiction during filming of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and also survived an overdose. "Slowly, I realized I was doing a bit more drugs than other people and losing my choice in the matter" she said in an interview.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film, television and video games 1975 Shampoo Lorna Carp
1977 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Princess Leia Organa
1977 Come Back, Little Sheba Marie Videotaped TV drama
1978 Ringo Marquine TV movie
1978 Leave Yesterday Behind Marnie Clarkson TV movie
1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special Princess Leia Organa TV movie
1980 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Princess Leia Organa
1980 The Blues Brothers Mystery Woman
1981 Under the Rainbow Annie Clark
1982 Laverne & Shirley Cathy TV series, episode: "The Playboy Show"
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Princess Leia Organa
1984 Faerie Tale Theatre Thumbelina TV series, episode: "Thumbelina"
1984 Garbo Talks Lisa Rolfe
1984 Frankenstein Elizabeth TV movie
1985 From Here to Maternity Veronica TV short
1985 The Man with One Red Shoe Paula
1985 George Burns Comedy Week TV series, episode: "The Couch"
1985 Happily Ever After Alice Conway Voice only, TV movie
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters April
1986 Hollywood Vice Squad Betty Melton
1986 Liberty Emma Lazarus TV movie
1986 Sunday Drive Franny Jessup TV movie
1987 Amazing Stories Laurie McNamara TV series, episode: "Gershwin's Trunk"
1987 Paul Reiser Out on a Whim TV movie
1987 Amazon Women on the Moon Mary Brown segment "Reckless Youth"
1987 The Time Guardian Petra
1988 Appointment with Death Nadine Boynton
1989 The 'burbs Carol Peterson
1989 Loverboy Monica Delancy
1989 Two Daddies Alice Conway Voice only, TV movie
1989 She's Back Beatrice
1989 When Harry Met Sally... Marie
1989 Trying Times Enid TV series, episode: "Hunger Chic"
1990 Sweet Revenge Linda
1990 Sibling Rivalry Iris Turner-Hunter
1991 Drop Dead Fred Janie
1991 Soapdish Betsy Faye Sharon
1991 Hook Woman kissing on bridge Uncredited role
1992 This Is My Life Claudia Curtis
1994 Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Princess Leia Organa Video game
1995 Present Tense, Past Perfect TV short
1995 Frasier Phyllis TV series, episode "Phyllis", voice only
1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Therapist Uncredited role
1997 Gun Nancy TV series, episode: "The Hole"
1998 Dr, Katz, Professional Therapist Roz Katz TV series, episode: "Thanksgiving"
1999 Return of the Ewok short subject, filmed in 1983
2000 Scream 3 Bianca
2001 These Old Broads Hooker TV movie
2001 Heartbreakers Ms. Surpin
2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Nun
2002 A Midsummer Night's Rave
2002 A Nero Wolfe Mystery Ellen Tenzer TV series, two-part episode: "Motherhunt"
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Mother Superior
2003 Wonderland Sally Hansen
2003 Good Morning, Miami Judy Silver TV series, episode: "A Kiss Before Lying"
2003 Sex and the City Herself TV series, episode: "Sex and Another City"
2004 Stateside Mrs. Dubois
2004 Jack & Bobby Madison Skutcher TV series, episode: "The First Lady"
2005 Undiscovered Carrie
2005 Smallville Pauline Kahn TV series, episode: "Thirst"
2005 Romancing the Bride Edwina TV movie
2005–present Family Guy Angela TV series, episodes: "Jungle Love", "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", "Hell Comes to Quahog", "Whistle While Your Wife Works", "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing", "Peter-assment", "Baby, You Knock Me Out", "Road to the North Pole", "Friends of Peter G.", "Peter-Assment"
2007 Suffering Man's Charity Reporter
2007 Cougar Club Glady Goodbey
2007 Odd Job Jack Dr. Finch TV series, episode: "The Beauty Beast"
2007 Weeds Celia's attorney TV series, episode: "The Brick Dance"
2007 Side Order of Life Dr. Gilbert TV series, episode:" Funeral for a Phone"
2007 30 Rock Rosemary Howard TV series, episode: "Rosemary's Baby"
2008 The Women Bailey Smith
2009 Fanboys Cameo appearance
2008 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II Princess Leia Organa, Mon Mothma, Krayt Dragon's Mother TV movie, voice only
2009 White Lightnin' Cilla
2009 Sorority Row Mrs. Crenshaw
2010 Wright vs. Wrong Joan Harrington TV movie
2010 Entourage Anna Fowler TV series, episode "Tequila and Coke"
2010 Family Guy Mon Mothma TV series, episode: It's a Trap, voice only
2010 A Quiet Word With ... Herself Australian TV conversation series, season 1, episode 2
Bibliography

Novels

    Postcards from the Edge, 1987, ISBN 0-7434-6651-9
    Surrender the Pink, 1990, ISBN 0-671-66640-1
    Delusions of Grandma, 1993, ISBN 0-684-85803-7
    Hollywood Moms, 2001, (introduction)
    The Best Awful There Is, 2004, ISBN 0-7434-7857-6

Non-fiction

    Wishful Drinking, 2008, ISBN 1-4391-0225-2

Screenplays

    Postcards from the Edge, 1990
    These Old Broads, 2001
    E-Girl (2007)
    doctored screenplays for Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992) and The Wedding Singer (1998)

Plays

    Wishful Drinking, 2006
    Wishful Drinking, 2008
    A Spy in the House of Me, 2008
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/112723412813.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/002.jpg


I always liked Princess Leia.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/22/11 at 12:32 am


I always liked Princess Leia.
I have hardly seen her as any other role.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/22/11 at 6:48 am


I have hardly seen her as any other role.


Was she on a family sitcom before?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/22/11 at 6:50 am


Was she on a family sitcom before?
You are asking the wrong person here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/22/11 at 6:51 am


You are asking the wrong person here.


I'll ask Ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/22/11 at 6:52 am


I'll ask Ninny.
It is probably listed above.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/22/11 at 9:19 am


Especially as a solo artist (with or without The Heartbreakers).

True :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/22/11 at 9:24 am


Was she on a family sitcom before?

Not that I know of.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/22/11 at 9:27 am

The person of the day...Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE (play /ˈdʒækəbi/; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor and film director.

A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing. His stage work also included playing Edward II, Octavius Caesar, Richard III, and Cyrano de Bergerac.

In addition to being a founder member of the Royal National Theatre and winning several prestigious theatre awards, Jacobi has also enjoyed a successful television career, starring in the critically praised adaptation of Roberts Graves' I, Claudius, for which he won a BAFTA; the titular role in the acclaimed medieval drama series Brother Cadfael, and Stanley Baldwin in The Gathering Storm. Though principally a stage actor, Jacobi has appeared in a number of films, such as Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Gladiator (2000), Gosford Park (2001), The Golden Compass (2007), The King's Speech (2010), and the forthcoming Hippie Hippie Shake. Like Laurence Olivier, he holds two knighthoods, Danish and British.
Jacobi quickly came to the fore, and his talent was recognised by Laurence Olivier. He invited the young man back to London to become one of the founding members of the new National Theatre, even though at the time Jacobi was relatively unknown. He played Laertes in the National Theatre's inaugural production of Hamlet opposite Peter O'Toole in 1963. Olivier cast him as Cassio in the successful National Theatre stage production of Othello, a role that Jacobi repeated in the 1965 film version. He played Andrei in the NT production and film of Three Sisters (1970), both starring Olivier. On 27 July 1965, Jacobi played Brindsley Miller in the first production of Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy. It was presented by the National Theatre at Chichester and subsequently in London.

After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles and mediums of expression. In 1972, he starred in the BBC serial Man of Straw, directed by Herbert Wise. Most of his theatrical work in the 70s was with the touring classical Prospect Theatre Company, with which he undertook many roles, including Ivanov, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and A Month in the Country opposite Dorothy Tutin (1976).

Although Jacobi's name was becoming known and he was increasingly busy with stage and screen acting, his big breakthrough came in 1976 when he played the title role in the BBC's series I, Claudius. He cemented his increasing reputation with his performance as the stammering, twitching Emperor Claudius winning him many plaudits. In 1979, thanks to his international popularity, he took Hamlet on a theatrical world tour through England, Egypt, Greece, Sweden, Australia, Japan and China, playing Prince Hamlet. He was invited to perform the role at Kronborg Castle, Denmark, better known as Elsinore Castle, the setting of the play. In 1978 he played in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Richard II, with Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller.
Later career

In 1980, Jacobi took the leading role in the BBC's Hamlet, made his Broadway debut in The Suicide (a run shortened by Jacobi's return home to England due to the death of his mother), and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). From 1982 to 1985 he played four demanding roles simultaneously: Benedick in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, for which he won a Tony for its Broadway run (1984–1985); Prospero in The Tempest; Peer Gynt; and Cyrano de Bergerac which he brought to the US and played in repertory with Much Ado About Nothing on Broadway and in Washington DC (1984–1985). In 1986, he made his West End debut in Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore, with the role of Alan Turing, which was written with Jacobi specifically in mind. The play was taken to Broadway. In 1988 Jacobi alternated in West End the title roles of Shakespeare's Richard II and Richard III in repertoire.

His TV career saw him measure with Inside the Third Reich (1982), where he played Hitler; Mr Pye (1985); and Little Dorrit (1987), from Charles Dickens's book; The Tenth Man (1988) with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas. In 1982, he starred as the voice of Nicodemus in the animated film, The Secret of NIMH. In 1990, he starred as Daedalus in episode 4 of Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths.

Jacobi continued to play Shakespeare roles, notably in Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film of Henry V (as the Chorus), and made his directing debut as Branagh's director for the 1988 Renaissance Theatre Company's touring production of Hamlet, which also played at Elsinore and as part of a Renaissance repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. The 1990s saw Jacobi keeping on with repertoire stage work in Kean at the Old Vic, Becket in the West End (the Haymarket Theatre) and Macbeth at the RSC in both London and Stratford.

He was appointed the joint artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, with the West End impresario Duncan Weldon in 1995 for a three-year tenure. As an actor at Chichester, he also starred in four plays, including his first Uncle Vanya in 1996 (he played it again in 2000, which he brought to Broadway for a limited run). Jacobi's work during the 1990s included the 13-episode series TV adaptation of the novels by Ellis Peters, Cadfael (1994–1998) and a televised version of Breaking the Code (1996). Film appearances included performances in Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again (1991), Branagh's full-text rendition of Hamlet (1996) as King Claudius, John Maybury's Love is the Devil (1998), a portrait of painter Francis Bacon, as Senator Gracchus in Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe, and as "The Duke" opposite Christopher Eccleston and Eddie Izzard in a post-apocalyptic version of Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy (2002).

In 2001, Jacobi won an Emmy Award by mocking his Shakespearean background in the television sitcom Frasier episode "The Show Must Go Off", in which he played the world's worst Shakespearean actor: the hammy, loud, untalented Jackson Hedley. This was his first guest appearance on an American television programme.
Since 2000

Jacobi has done the narration for audio book versions of the Iliad, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis and two abridged versions of I, Claudius by Robert Graves. In 2001, he provided the voice of "Duke Theseus" in The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream film. In 2002, Jacobi toured Australia in The Hollow Crown with Sir Donald Sinden, Ian Richardson and Dame Diana Rigg. Jacobi also played the role of Senator Gracchus in Gladiator and starred in the 2002 miniseries The Jury. He is also the narrator for the BBC children's series In the Night Garden.

In 2003, he was involved with Scream of the Shalka, a webcast based on the science fiction series Doctor Who. He played the voice of the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master alongside Richard E. Grant as the Doctor. In the same year, he also appeared in Deadline, an audio drama also based on Doctor Who. In that, he played Martin Bannister, an aging writer who makes up stories about "the Doctor", a character who travels in time and space, the premise being that the series had never made it on to television. Jacobi later followed this up with an appearance in the Doctor Who episode "Utopia" (June 2007); he appears as the kindly Professor Yana, who by the end of the episode is revealed to actually be the Master. Jacobi admitted to Doctor Who Confidential he had always wanted to be on the show: "One of my ambitions since the '60s has been to take part in a Doctor Who. The other one is Coronation Street. So I've cracked Doctor Who now. I'm still waiting for Corrie."

In 2004, Jacobi starred in Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, in an acclaimed production, which transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London in January 2005. The London production of Don Carlos gathered rave reviews. Also in 2004, he starred as Lord Teddy Thursby in the first of the four-part BBC series The Long Firm, based on Jake Arnott's novel of the same name. In Nanny McPhee (2005), he played the role of the colourful Mr. Wheen, an undertaker. He played the role of Alexander Corvinus in the 2006 movie Underworld: Evolution.

In March 2006, BBC Two broadcast Pinochet in Suburbia, a docudrama about former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the attempts to extradite him from Great Britain; Jacobi played the leading role. In September 2007, it was released in the U.S., retitled Pinochet's Last Stand. In 2006, he appeared in the children's movie Mist, the tale of a sheepdog puppy, he also narrated this movie. In July–August 2006, he played the eponymous role in A Voyage Round My Father at the Donmar Warehouse, a production which then transferred to the West End.

In February 2007, his feature film The Riddle, directed by Brendan Foley, in which he stars alongside Vinnie Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, was screened at Berlin EFM. Jacobi plays twin roles, first a present day London tramp and then the ghost of Charles Dickens. In March 2007, the BBC's children's programme In the Night Garden started its run of 100 episodes, with Jacobi as the narrator. He played Nell's grandfather in ITV's Christmas 2007 adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop, and returned to the stage to play Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (2009) for the Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham's Theatre in London. The role won him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. He appears in five 2009 films: Morris: A Life with Bells On, Hippie Hippie Shake , Endgame, Adam Resurrected and Charles Dickens's England. In 2010 he returned to I, Claudius, as Augustus in a radio adaptation.

Jacobi starred in Michael Grandage's production of King Lear (London, 2010), giving what The New Yorker called "one of the finest performances of his distinguished career". In May 2011 he reprised this role at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Shakespeare authorship involvement

Jacobi has been publicly involved in the Shakespeare authorship question. He supports the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, according to which Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the works of Shakespeare. Jacobi has given an address to the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre promoting Oxford as the Shakespeare authorand wrote forewords to two books on the subject in 2004 and 2005.

In 2007, Jacobi and fellow Shakespearean actor and director Mark Rylance initiated a "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" on the authorship of Shakespeare's work, to encourage new research into the question. The online document has been signed by over 1,700 people, including over 300 academics.
Personal life

In March 2006, he registered his civil partnership with Richard Clifford, four months after civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom. They live in north London.
Honours

    1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom)
    1989: Knight 1st class of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)
    1994: Knight Bachelor, for services to Drama (United Kingdom)

Awards

    2008: Helen Hayes Tribute for Lifetime Achievement at the 24th Annual Helen Hayes Awards

Theatre

    1983: London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor, for Much Ado About Nothing
    1984: Tony Award for Best Actor, for Much Ado About Nothing
    2009: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, for Twelfth Night

Television

    1976: BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for I, Claudius
    1989: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special, for The Tenth Man
    2001: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for Frasier (episode "The Show Must Go Off")

Film

    1988: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, for Little Dorrit
    1998: Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best British Performance, for Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
    1999: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, for Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

Ensemble

    2002: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble, for Gosford Park
    2002: Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble Cast, for Gosford Park
    2002: Online Film Critics Society Awards for Best Ensemble, for Gosford Park
    2002: Satellite Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, for Gosford Park
    2002: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, for Gosford Park
    2011: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, for The King's Speech

Filmography

    Othello (1965) – Cassio
    Interlude (1968) – Paul
    Three Sisters (1970) – Andrei
    The Strauss Family (TV) (1972) – Joseph Lanner
    Blue Blood (1973) – Gregory
    The Day of the Jackal (1973) – Caron
    The Pallisers (TV) (1974) – Lord Fawn
    The Odessa File (1974) – Klaus Wenzer
    I, Claudius (TV) (1976) – Claudius
    Philby, Burgess and MacLean – Spy Scandal of the Century (TV) (1977) – Guy Burgess
    The Medusa Touch (1978) – Townley
    Richard II (TV) (1978) – Richard II
    The Human Factor (1979) – Arthur Davis
    Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (TV) (1980) – Hamlet
    Charlotte (1981) – Daberlohn
    The Secret of NIMH (1982) – Nicodemus (voice)
    Inside the Third Reich (TV) (1982) – Adolf Hitler
    The Hunchback of Notre Dame (TV) (1982) – Frollo
    Enigma (1983) – Kurt Limmer
    Cyrano de Bergerac (TV) (1985) – Cyrano de Bergerac
    Mr Pye (TV) (1986) – Mr. Pye
    Breaking the Code (1986) – Alan Turing
    The Secret Garden (TV) (1987) – Archibald Craven
    The Tenth Man (TV) (1988) – The impostor
    Little Dorrit (TV) (1988) – Arthur Clennam
    Henry V (1989) – Chorus
    The Fool (1990) – Mr. Frederick/Sir John
    Dead Again (1991) – Franklyn Madson
    Cadfael (TV) (1994–1998) – Brother Cadfael
    Looking for Richard (1996) – Himself
    Breaking the Code (TV) (1996) – Alan Turing
    Hamlet (1996) – Claudius
    Basil (1998) – Father Frederick
    Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998) – Francis Bacon
    Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999) – Father Leonor Fousnel
    Edvard Grieg – What Price Immortality? (1999)
    The Wyvern Mystery (TV) (2000) – Squire Fairfield
    Up at the Villa (2000) – Lucky Leadbetter
    Jason and the Argonauts (TV) (2000) – Phineas
    Gladiator (2000) – Gracchus
    The Body (2001) – Father Lavelle
    Gosford Park (2001) – Probert
    The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001) – voice of Nijinsky
    Revelation (2001) – Librarian
    Frasier (US TV) (2001) "The Show Must Go Off" – Jackson Hedley
    The Jury (TV) (2002) – George Cording QC
    The Gathering Storm (BBC) (2002) – Stanley Baldwin
    Revengers Tragedy (2002) – The Duke
    Two Men Went to War (2002) – Major Merton
    Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites (2003) - Voice
    London (TV) (2004) – Tacitus
    Strings (2004) – Nezo (voice)
    The Long Firm (TV) (2004) – Lord Edward 'Teddy' Thursby
    Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (TV) (2004) – Colonel Protheroe
    Bye Bye Blackbird (2005) – Lord Dempsey
    Nanny McPhee (2005) – Mr. Wheen
    Underworld: Evolution (2006) – Alexander Corvinus
    Doctor Who (TV) (2007) – Professor Yana / The Master
    The Riddle (2007) – The Tramp / Charles Dickens
    Airlock Or How To Say Goodbye In Space (2007) – President
    The Golden Compass (2007) – Magisterial Emissary
    In the Night Garden (2007 – present) – Narrator
    The Old Curiosity Shop (TV) (2007) – Grandfather
    A Bunch of Amateurs (2008) – Nigel
    Morris: A Life with Bells On (2009) – Quentin Neely
    Endgame (2009) – Rudolf Agnew
    Adam Resurrected (2009) – Dr. Nathan Gross
    The Winter's Tale (upcoming 2009) – Antigonus
    Charles Dickens's England (2009) – Himself
    Hippie Hippie Shake (upcoming, 2010) – Judge
    There Be Dragons (upcoming, 2010) – Honorio
    Ironclad (upcoming, 2010) – Cornhill
    The King's Speech (2010) – Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang
    Hereafter (2010) – Himself
    Anonymous (upcoming, 2011) – Narrator (Prologue)
    My Week with Marilyn (upcoming, 2011)
    The Borgias (TV) (2011) - Cardinal Orsini

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i15/Nimhster/jacobi5-sized.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv218/vaughan6477/DoctorWhoConvention2009015.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/22/11 at 11:32 am

I love the Cadfael series. We have all of them on DVD, plus all the books. When I read the books, I can't help but seeing Sir Derek in my mind's eye. We also have all the audiobooks which Sir Derek reads many of them.

The guy is a WONDERFUL actor.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/22/11 at 11:48 am


The person of the day...Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE (play /ˈdʒækəbi/; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor and film director.

A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing. His stage work also included playing Edward II, Octavius Caesar, Richard III, and Cyrano de Bergerac.

In addition to being a founder member of the Royal National Theatre and winning several prestigious theatre awards, Jacobi has also enjoyed a successful television career, starring in the critically praised adaptation of Roberts Graves' I, Claudius, for which he won a BAFTA; the titular role in the acclaimed medieval drama series Brother Cadfael, and Stanley Baldwin in The Gathering Storm. Though principally a stage actor, Jacobi has appeared in a number of films, such as Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Gladiator (2000), Gosford Park (2001), The Golden Compass (2007), The King's Speech (2010), and the forthcoming Hippie Hippie Shake. Like Laurence Olivier, he holds two knighthoods, Danish and British.
Jacobi quickly came to the fore, and his talent was recognised by Laurence Olivier. He invited the young man back to London to become one of the founding members of the new National Theatre, even though at the time Jacobi was relatively unknown. He played Laertes in the National Theatre's inaugural production of Hamlet opposite Peter O'Toole in 1963. Olivier cast him as Cassio in the successful National Theatre stage production of Othello, a role that Jacobi repeated in the 1965 film version. He played Andrei in the NT production and film of Three Sisters (1970), both starring Olivier. On 27 July 1965, Jacobi played Brindsley Miller in the first production of Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy. It was presented by the National Theatre at Chichester and subsequently in London.

After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles and mediums of expression. In 1972, he starred in the BBC serial Man of Straw, directed by Herbert Wise. Most of his theatrical work in the 70s was with the touring classical Prospect Theatre Company, with which he undertook many roles, including Ivanov, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and A Month in the Country opposite Dorothy Tutin (1976).

Although Jacobi's name was becoming known and he was increasingly busy with stage and screen acting, his big breakthrough came in 1976 when he played the title role in the BBC's series I, Claudius. He cemented his increasing reputation with his performance as the stammering, twitching Emperor Claudius winning him many plaudits. In 1979, thanks to his international popularity, he took Hamlet on a theatrical world tour through England, Egypt, Greece, Sweden, Australia, Japan and China, playing Prince Hamlet. He was invited to perform the role at Kronborg Castle, Denmark, better known as Elsinore Castle, the setting of the play. In 1978 he played in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Richard II, with Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller.
Later career

In 1980, Jacobi took the leading role in the BBC's Hamlet, made his Broadway debut in The Suicide (a run shortened by Jacobi's return home to England due to the death of his mother), and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). From 1982 to 1985 he played four demanding roles simultaneously: Benedick in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, for which he won a Tony for its Broadway run (1984–1985); Prospero in The Tempest; Peer Gynt; and Cyrano de Bergerac which he brought to the US and played in repertory with Much Ado About Nothing on Broadway and in Washington DC (1984–1985). In 1986, he made his West End debut in Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore, with the role of Alan Turing, which was written with Jacobi specifically in mind. The play was taken to Broadway. In 1988 Jacobi alternated in West End the title roles of Shakespeare's Richard II and Richard III in repertoire.

His TV career saw him measure with Inside the Third Reich (1982), where he played Hitler; Mr Pye (1985); and Little Dorrit (1987), from Charles Dickens's book; The Tenth Man (1988) with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas. In 1982, he starred as the voice of Nicodemus in the animated film, The Secret of NIMH. In 1990, he starred as Daedalus in episode 4 of Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths.

Jacobi continued to play Shakespeare roles, notably in Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film of Henry V (as the Chorus), and made his directing debut as Branagh's director for the 1988 Renaissance Theatre Company's touring production of Hamlet, which also played at Elsinore and as part of a Renaissance repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. The 1990s saw Jacobi keeping on with repertoire stage work in Kean at the Old Vic, Becket in the West End (the Haymarket Theatre) and Macbeth at the RSC in both London and Stratford.

He was appointed the joint artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, with the West End impresario Duncan Weldon in 1995 for a three-year tenure. As an actor at Chichester, he also starred in four plays, including his first Uncle Vanya in 1996 (he played it again in 2000, which he brought to Broadway for a limited run). Jacobi's work during the 1990s included the 13-episode series TV adaptation of the novels by Ellis Peters, Cadfael (1994–1998) and a televised version of Breaking the Code (1996). Film appearances included performances in Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again (1991), Branagh's full-text rendition of Hamlet (1996) as King Claudius, John Maybury's Love is the Devil (1998), a portrait of painter Francis Bacon, as Senator Gracchus in Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe, and as "The Duke" opposite Christopher Eccleston and Eddie Izzard in a post-apocalyptic version of Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy (2002).

In 2001, Jacobi won an Emmy Award by mocking his Shakespearean background in the television sitcom Frasier episode "The Show Must Go Off", in which he played the world's worst Shakespearean actor: the hammy, loud, untalented Jackson Hedley. This was his first guest appearance on an American television programme.
Since 2000

Jacobi has done the narration for audio book versions of the Iliad, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis and two abridged versions of I, Claudius by Robert Graves. In 2001, he provided the voice of "Duke Theseus" in The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream film. In 2002, Jacobi toured Australia in The Hollow Crown with Sir Donald Sinden, Ian Richardson and Dame Diana Rigg. Jacobi also played the role of Senator Gracchus in Gladiator and starred in the 2002 miniseries The Jury. He is also the narrator for the BBC children's series In the Night Garden.

In 2003, he was involved with Scream of the Shalka, a webcast based on the science fiction series Doctor Who. He played the voice of the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master alongside Richard E. Grant as the Doctor. In the same year, he also appeared in Deadline, an audio drama also based on Doctor Who. In that, he played Martin Bannister, an aging writer who makes up stories about "the Doctor", a character who travels in time and space, the premise being that the series had never made it on to television. Jacobi later followed this up with an appearance in the Doctor Who episode "Utopia" (June 2007); he appears as the kindly Professor Yana, who by the end of the episode is revealed to actually be the Master. Jacobi admitted to Doctor Who Confidential he had always wanted to be on the show: "One of my ambitions since the '60s has been to take part in a Doctor Who. The other one is Coronation Street. So I've cracked Doctor Who now. I'm still waiting for Corrie."

In 2004, Jacobi starred in Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, in an acclaimed production, which transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London in January 2005. The London production of Don Carlos gathered rave reviews. Also in 2004, he starred as Lord Teddy Thursby in the first of the four-part BBC series The Long Firm, based on Jake Arnott's novel of the same name. In Nanny McPhee (2005), he played the role of the colourful Mr. Wheen, an undertaker. He played the role of Alexander Corvinus in the 2006 movie Underworld: Evolution.

In March 2006, BBC Two broadcast Pinochet in Suburbia, a docudrama about former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the attempts to extradite him from Great Britain; Jacobi played the leading role. In September 2007, it was released in the U.S., retitled Pinochet's Last Stand. In 2006, he appeared in the children's movie Mist, the tale of a sheepdog puppy, he also narrated this movie. In July–August 2006, he played the eponymous role in A Voyage Round My Father at the Donmar Warehouse, a production which then transferred to the West End.

In February 2007, his feature film The Riddle, directed by Brendan Foley, in which he stars alongside Vinnie Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, was screened at Berlin EFM. Jacobi plays twin roles, first a present day London tramp and then the ghost of Charles Dickens. In March 2007, the BBC's children's programme In the Night Garden started its run of 100 episodes, with Jacobi as the narrator. He played Nell's grandfather in ITV's Christmas 2007 adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop, and returned to the stage to play Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (2009) for the Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham's Theatre in London. The role won him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. He appears in five 2009 films: Morris: A Life with Bells On, Hippie Hippie Shake , Endgame, Adam Resurrected and Charles Dickens's England. In 2010 he returned to I, Claudius, as Augustus in a radio adaptation.

Jacobi starred in Michael Grandage's production of King Lear (London, 2010), giving what The New Yorker called "one of the finest performances of his distinguished career". In May 2011 he reprised this role at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Shakespeare authorship involvement

Jacobi has been publicly involved in the Shakespeare authorship question. He supports the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, according to which Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the works of Shakespeare. Jacobi has given an address to the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre promoting Oxford as the Shakespeare authorand wrote forewords to two books on the subject in 2004 and 2005.

In 2007, Jacobi and fellow Shakespearean actor and director Mark Rylance initiated a "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" on the authorship of Shakespeare's work, to encourage new research into the question. The online document has been signed by over 1,700 people, including over 300 academics.
Personal life

In March 2006, he registered his civil partnership with Richard Clifford, four months after civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom. They live in north London.
Honours

    1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom)
    1989: Knight 1st class of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)
    1994: Knight Bachelor, for services to Drama (United Kingdom)

Awards

    2008: Helen Hayes Tribute for Lifetime Achievement at the 24th Annual Helen Hayes Awards

Theatre

    1983: London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor, for Much Ado About Nothing
    1984: Tony Award for Best Actor, for Much Ado About Nothing
    2009: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, for Twelfth Night

Television

    1976: BAFTA Award for Best Actor, for I, Claudius
    1989: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special, for The Tenth Man
    2001: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for Frasier (episode "The Show Must Go Off")

Film

    1988: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, for Little Dorrit
    1998: Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best British Performance, for Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
    1999: Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor, for Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

Ensemble

    2002: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble, for Gosford Park
    2002: Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble Cast, for Gosford Park
    2002: Online Film Critics Society Awards for Best Ensemble, for Gosford Park
    2002: Satellite Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, for Gosford Park
    2002: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, for Gosford Park
    2011: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, for The King's Speech

Filmography

    Othello (1965) – Cassio
    Interlude (1968) – Paul
    Three Sisters (1970) – Andrei
    The Strauss Family (TV) (1972) – Joseph Lanner
    Blue Blood (1973) – Gregory
    The Day of the Jackal (1973) – Caron
    The Pallisers (TV) (1974) – Lord Fawn
    The Odessa File (1974) – Klaus Wenzer
    I, Claudius (TV) (1976) – Claudius
    Philby, Burgess and MacLean – Spy Scandal of the Century (TV) (1977) – Guy Burgess
    The Medusa Touch (1978) – Townley
    Richard II (TV) (1978) – Richard II
    The Human Factor (1979) – Arthur Davis
    Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (TV) (1980) – Hamlet
    Charlotte (1981) – Daberlohn
    The Secret of NIMH (1982) – Nicodemus (voice)
    Inside the Third Reich (TV) (1982) – Adolf Hitler
    The Hunchback of Notre Dame (TV) (1982) – Frollo
    Enigma (1983) – Kurt Limmer
    Cyrano de Bergerac (TV) (1985) – Cyrano de Bergerac
    Mr Pye (TV) (1986) – Mr. Pye
    Breaking the Code (1986) – Alan Turing
    The Secret Garden (TV) (1987) – Archibald Craven
    The Tenth Man (TV) (1988) – The impostor
    Little Dorrit (TV) (1988) – Arthur Clennam
    Henry V (1989) – Chorus
    The Fool (1990) – Mr. Frederick/Sir John
    Dead Again (1991) – Franklyn Madson
    Cadfael (TV) (1994–1998) – Brother Cadfael
    Looking for Richard (1996) – Himself
    Breaking the Code (TV) (1996) – Alan Turing
    Hamlet (1996) – Claudius
    Basil (1998) – Father Frederick
    Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998) – Francis Bacon
    Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999) – Father Leonor Fousnel
    Edvard Grieg – What Price Immortality? (1999)
    The Wyvern Mystery (TV) (2000) – Squire Fairfield
    Up at the Villa (2000) – Lucky Leadbetter
    Jason and the Argonauts (TV) (2000) – Phineas
    Gladiator (2000) – Gracchus
    The Body (2001) – Father Lavelle
    Gosford Park (2001) – Probert
    The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001) – voice of Nijinsky
    Revelation (2001) – Librarian
    Frasier (US TV) (2001) "The Show Must Go Off" – Jackson Hedley
    The Jury (TV) (2002) – George Cording QC
    The Gathering Storm (BBC) (2002) – Stanley Baldwin
    Revengers Tragedy (2002) – The Duke
    Two Men Went to War (2002) – Major Merton
    Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites (2003) - Voice
    London (TV) (2004) – Tacitus
    Strings (2004) – Nezo (voice)
    The Long Firm (TV) (2004) – Lord Edward 'Teddy' Thursby
    Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (TV) (2004) – Colonel Protheroe
    Bye Bye Blackbird (2005) – Lord Dempsey
    Nanny McPhee (2005) – Mr. Wheen
    Underworld: Evolution (2006) – Alexander Corvinus
    Doctor Who (TV) (2007) – Professor Yana / The Master
    The Riddle (2007) – The Tramp / Charles Dickens
    Airlock Or How To Say Goodbye In Space (2007) – President
    The Golden Compass (2007) – Magisterial Emissary
    In the Night Garden (2007 – present) – Narrator
    The Old Curiosity Shop (TV) (2007) – Grandfather
    A Bunch of Amateurs (2008) – Nigel
    Morris: A Life with Bells On (2009) – Quentin Neely
    Endgame (2009) – Rudolf Agnew
    Adam Resurrected (2009) – Dr. Nathan Gross
    The Winter's Tale (upcoming 2009) – Antigonus
    Charles Dickens's England (2009) – Himself
    Hippie Hippie Shake (upcoming, 2010) – Judge
    There Be Dragons (upcoming, 2010) – Honorio
    Ironclad (upcoming, 2010) – Cornhill
    The King's Speech (2010) – Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang
    Hereafter (2010) – Himself
    Anonymous (upcoming, 2011) – Narrator (Prologue)
    My Week with Marilyn (upcoming, 2011)
    The Borgias (TV) (2011) - Cardinal Orsini

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i15/Nimhster/jacobi5-sized.jpg
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv218/vaughan6477/DoctorWhoConvention2009015.jpg
In 1976, DJ played Claudius in the BBC production of I, Claudius, playing the main character with a stutter, and recently he played the Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang in the film The King's Speech, a film with had stuttering as the main subject.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/23/11 at 12:42 pm


I love the Cadfael series. We have all of them on DVD, plus all the books. When I read the books, I can't help but seeing Sir Derek in my mind's eye. We also have all the audiobooks which Sir Derek reads many of them.

The guy is a WONDERFUL actor.



Cat

Yes he is.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/23/11 at 12:47 pm

The person of the day..."Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (pronunciation: /ˈjæŋkəvɪk/; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he had sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2007), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Yankovic's success comes in part from his effective use of music video to further parody popular culture, the song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves, scene-for-scene in some cases. He directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film, UHF, and television show, The Weird Al Show. He has also made guest appearances on many television shows, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV.
Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's radio show, saying "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school where the then 16 year old Yankovic gave him a homemade tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin'", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere, was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines I put the tape on the air immediately.". Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, saying:

    It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs. They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads. And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from 2001. And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest.

During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed Weird Al by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as the fountain toilets at the Madonna Inn.

In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.

On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects.
Band and fame

1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.

Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006.

In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al, which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.

Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."

Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts.

A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria".
New look and career to present
Yankovic's "classic" look before eye surgery: with glasses, mustache and short, curly hair. He used it from 1979 – 1998.

On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his moustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his signature look (he had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz and 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video). Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music".

Three of his latest albums feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from Running with Scissors is 11 minutes and 25 seconds; "Genius in France" from Poodle Hat runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from Straight Outta Lynwood is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Before 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico), these "epic" songs were not performed live in their entirety due to their length and complexity. (See Live performances for details)

Yankovic has also started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled Internet Leaks, with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set.

In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album. This album, titled Alpocalypse, is his first studio album since Straight Outta Lynwood, and was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous Internet Leaks digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ" for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs.

Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" entitled "Perform This Way", to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially. As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody. Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song.

Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", "It's All about the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to Be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.

Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes an appearance by Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays Al's Amish wife in "Amish Paradise".

While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic has also worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of Straight Outta Lynwood features six videos set to songs from the release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show Robot Chicken, and aired as a segment of that program. As of fall 2010, Yankovic is again collaborating with Bill Plympton to create a video for a new song ("TMZ") which will appear on his upcoming album.
Reactions from original artists

Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody. However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies. He claims that only about two to three percent of the artists he approaches for parody permission deny his requests. Also, according to Stanford Libraries, fair use is unlikely to justify a parody song that parodies more than a few lines of song lyrics from an existing song. Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made some sort of cultural impact at the time. However, there are a few notable exceptions where people have not allowed parodies or have otherwise withdrawn permission.
Positive

Michael Jackson was a big fan of Yankovic, and Yankovic claimed that the artist "had always been very supportive" of his work. Jackson twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the Moonwalker video. Though Jackson allowed "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", entitled "Snack All Night", because he felt the message was too important. This refusal, coming shortly after the commercial failure of Yankovic's movie UHF in theaters, had initially set Yankovic back; however, Yankovic later recognized this as a critical time, as in searching for new parodies, he came across Nirvana and leading to a revitalization of his career with "Smells Like Nirvana". Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows. Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl".
Yankovic performing "The Saga Begins" in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, 2007.

Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um... it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with, "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics." According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."

Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film UHF on the provision that Knopfler himself be allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for UHF, explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?" The Permanent Record: Al in the Box booklet referred to the song's "compound fracture of a title." When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."

The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with Yankovic's last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album Pure Frosting. In 2008, Yankovic directed the music video for their song "Mixed Up S.O.B."

The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a US$500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances. Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a Lucasfilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."

Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin'") on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big." In September 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."

Yankovic was briefly denied permission to parody Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for his song "Perform This Way" for release on his next album, but through his release of the song on YouTube and subsequent spread via Twitter, Lady Gaga and her staff asserted that her manager had made the decision without her input, and Gaga herself gave Yankovic permission to proceed with the parody's release. Gaga was considered "a huge Weird Al fan", and she stated that the parody was a "rite of passage" for her musical career and considered the song "very empowering".
Negative

One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don’t remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I’ll be invited to Coolio’s next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."

In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself":

    Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.

For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a fake interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions for comic effect.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers expressed disappointment of Yankovic's parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give it Away" called "Bedrock Anthem", saying that while he " Weird Al and everything", he "didn't think it was very good".
On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years see if he's lightened up." Yankovic related one story where, prior to the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, Yankovic got a telegram from Prince's lawyers, demanding he not make eye contact with the artist.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused. Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".

Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and found the parody to be in bad taste.

In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission, despite Blunt's personal approval of the song. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, and plays it in concert, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.
Discography
Main articles: "Weird Al" Yankovic discography and List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Studio albums
Title Release
year Peak chart position
US
Billboard Comedy Album

"Weird Al" Yankovic 1983 139
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D 1984 17
Dare to Be Stupid 1985 50
Polka Party! 1986 177
Even Worse 1988 27
UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff 1989 146
Off the Deep End 1992 17
Alapalooza 1993 46
Bad Hair Day 1996 14
Running with Scissors 1999 16
Poodle Hat 2003 17 11
Straight Outta Lynwood 2006 10 1
Alpocalypse 2011 9 1

Note: Billboard Comedy Album chart was first published in November, 2004.
EPs
Title Release year
Another One Rides the Bus 1981
Selections from Straight Outta Lynwood 2006
Internet Leaks 2009
Compilation albums
Title Release year
Greatest Hits 1988
The Food Album 1993
Permanent Record: Al in the Box 1994
Greatest Hits (Volume II) 1994
The TV Album 1995
The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic 2009
Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
1984 "Eat It" Best Comedy Recording Won
1985 Dare to Be Stupid Best Comedy Recording Nominated
1987 Polka Party! Best Comedy Recording Nominated
1988 "Fat" Best Concept Music Video Won
Even Worse Best Comedy Recording Nominated
Peter and the Wolf Best Recording for Children Nominated
1992 Off the Deep End Best Comedy Album Nominated
2003 Poodle Hat Best Comedy Album Won
2006 Straight Outta Lynwood Best Surround Sound Album Nominated
Best Comedy Album Nominated
2009 Internet Leaks Best Comedy Album Nominated


Gold and platinum records
Recording Gold Platinum Double
Platinum
"Weird Al" Yankovic U.S.
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D Canada
U.S.
U.S.
"Eat It"1 Australia
Canada
U.S.
Dare to be Stupid U.S. U.S.
Even Worse Canada
U.S.
U.S.
"Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits Canada
Off the Deep End Canada
U.S. Canada
U.S.
The Food Album U.S.
Alapalooza Canada
U.S. Canada
  Canada

Greatest Hits Volume II Canada
Bad Hair Day Canada
U.S. Canada
U.S.
Running With Scissors Australia
Canada
U.S.

U.S.
Straight Outta Lynwood U.S.
"White & Nerdy"2 U.S. U.S.

^1 The "Eat It" single reached the #1 position on the Australian singles chart in 1984.

^2 The "White & Nerdy" single was certified platinum for digital downloads and gold for ringtone downloads in the U.S.
Videography

The following is a comprehensive list of Yankovic's long form videos to date, with the United States release date.
Video title Release date
The Compleat Al August 1985
UHF July 21, 1989
The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library May 1992
Alapalooza: The Videos December 1993
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection 1993
Bad Hair Day: The Videos June 1996
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos January 1998
"Weird Al" Yankovic Live! November 23, 1999
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection November 3, 2003
The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series August 15, 2006
"Weird Al" Yankovic Live! - The Alpocalypse Tour October 4, 2011
Awards and nominations
Grammy Award winners

    "Fat" – Best Concept Music Video (1988)

Grammy Award nominees

    "Jurassic Park" – Best Music Video, Short Form (1994)

Australian gold long form videos

    The Ultimate Video Collection

U.S. gold long form videos

    The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library
    Alapalooza: The Videos
    "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!
    Bad Hair Day: The Videos

U.S. platinum long form videos

    The Ultimate Video Collection

Cameos and special appearances in film

    1988: Tapeheads
    1988: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
    1991: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
    1994: Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
    1996: Spy Hard
    1997: Safety Patrol
    2000: Nothing Sacred
    2002: Desperation Boulevard
    2003: Haunted Lighthouse
    2008: Nerdcore Rising
    2009: Halloween II
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/CodeAires/93.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/yankees3936/weirdal.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/23/11 at 1:07 pm


Yes he is.  :)
I am watching The King's Speech on the computer right now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/23/11 at 2:33 pm


The person of the day..."Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (pronunciation: /ˈjæŋkəvɪk/; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he had sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2007), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Yankovic's success comes in part from his effective use of music video to further parody popular culture, the song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves, scene-for-scene in some cases. He directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film, UHF, and television show, The Weird Al Show. He has also made guest appearances on many television shows, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV.
Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated comedy radio personality Dr. Demento's radio show, saying "If there hadn't been a Dr. Demento, I'd probably have a real job now." In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at Yankovic's school where the then 16 year old Yankovic gave him a homemade tape of original and parody songs performed on the accordion in Yankovic's bedroom into a "cheesy little tape recorder". The tape's first song was "Belvedere Cruisin'", about his family's Plymouth Belvedere, was played on Demento's comedy radio show, launching Yankovic's career. Demento said "'Belvedere Cruising' might not have been the very best song I ever heard, but it had some clever lines I put the tape on the air immediately.". Yankovic also played at local coffeehouses, saying:

   It was sort of like amateur music night, and a lot of people were like wannabe Dan Fogelbergs. They'd get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads. And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from 2001. And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest.

During Yankovic's sophomore year as an architecture student at Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, he became a disc jockey at the university's radio station, KCPR. Yankovic said he had been nicknamed Weird Al by fellow students and "took it on professionally" as his persona for the station. In 1978, he released his first recording (as Alfred Yankovic), "Take Me Down", on the LP, Slo Grown, as a benefit for the Economic Opportunity Commission of San Luis Obispo County. The song mocked famous nearby landmarks such as the fountain toilets at the Madonna Inn.

In mid-1979, shortly before his senior year, "My Sharona" by The Knack was on the charts and Yankovic took his accordion into the restroom across the hall from the radio station (to take advantage of the echo chamber acoustics) and recorded a parody titled "My Bologna". He sent it to Dr. Demento, who played it to good response from listeners. Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna". The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. "My Bologna" was released as a single with "School Cafeteria" as its B-side, and the label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract. Yankovic, who was "only getting average grades" in his architecture degree, began to realize that he might make a career of comedic music.

On September 14, 1980, Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was called "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit, "Another One Bites the Dust". While practicing the song outside the sound booth, he met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that Yankovic's first television appearance was a performance of the song on The Tomorrow Show (April 21, 1981) with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion, and again, Schwartz banged on the accordion case and provided comical sound effects.
Band and fame

1981 brought Yankovic on tour for the first time as part of Dr. Demento's stage show. His stage act in a Phoenix, Arizona, nightclub caught the eye of manager Jay Levey, who was "blown away". Levey asked Yankovic if he had considered creating a full band and doing his music as a career. Yankovic admitted that he had, so Levey held auditions. Steve Jay became Yankovic's bass player, and Jay's friend Jim West played guitar. Schwartz continued on drums. Yankovic's first show with his new band was on March 31, 1982. Several days later, Yankovic and his band were the opening act for Missing Persons.

Yankovic recorded "I Love Rocky Road", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) which was produced by Rick Derringer, in 1982. The song was a hit on Top 40 radio, leading to Yankovic's signing with Scotti Brothers Records. In 1983, Yankovic's first self-titled album was released on Scotti Bros. He released his second album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D in 1984. The first single "Eat It", a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Beat It", became popular, thanks in part to the music video, a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, and what Yankovic described as his "uncanny resemblance" to Jackson. Peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1984, "Eat It" remained Yankovic's highest-charting single until "White & Nerdy" placed at number 9 in October 2006.

In 1985, Yankovic co-wrote and starred in a mockumentary of his own life entitled The Compleat Al, which intertwined the facts of his life up to that point with fiction. The movie also featured some clips from Yankovic's trip to Japan and some clips from the Al TV specials. The Compleat Al was co-directed by Jay Levey, who would direct UHF four years later. Also released around the same time as The Compleat Al was The Authorized Al, a biographical book based on the film. The book, resembling a scrapbook, included real and fictional humorous photographs and documents.

Yankovic and his band toured as the opening act for The Monkees in mid-1987 for their second reunion tour of North America. Yankovic claims to have enjoyed touring with The Monkees, despite the fact "the promoter gypped us out of a bunch of money."

Yankovic also appeared on the Wendy Carlos recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" as the narrator in 1988. The album also included a sequel of Camille Saint-Saëns's composition The Carnival of the Animals entitled the "Carnival of the Animals Part II", with Yankovic providing humorous poems for each of the featured creatures in the style of Ogden Nash, who had written humorous poems for the original. Rubén Valtierra joined the band on keyboards in 1991, allowing Yankovic to concentrate more on singing and increasing his use of the stage space during concerts.

A factual biographical booklet of Yankovic's life, written by Dr. Demento, was released with the 1994 box set compilation Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The Dr. Demento Society, which issues yearly Christmas re-releases of material from Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes, often includes unreleased tracks from Yankovic's vaults, such as "Pacman", "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" or the live version of "School Cafeteria".
New look and career to present
Yankovic's "classic" look before eye surgery: with glasses, mustache and short, curly hair. He used it from 1979 – 1998.

On January 24, 1998, Yankovic had LASIK eye surgery to correct his extreme myopia. In the same period, he shaved off his moustache and grew out his hair, thus radically changing his signature look (he had previously shaved his mustache in 1983 for the video of "Ricky" to resemble Desi Arnaz and 1996 for the "Amish Paradise" video). Yankovic reasoned, "If Madonna's allowed to reinvent herself every 15 minutes, I figure I should be good for a change at least once every 20 years." He parodied the reaction to this "new look" in a commercial for his nonexistent MTV Unplugged special. The commercial featured Yankovic in the short-haired wig from the music video for Hanson's "River", claiming his new look was an attempt to "get back to the core of what I'm all about", that being "the music".

Three of his latest albums feature the longest songs Yankovic has ever released. The "Albuquerque" track from Running with Scissors is 11 minutes and 25 seconds; "Genius in France" from Poodle Hat runs for 8 minutes and 56 seconds; "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" from Straight Outta Lynwood is 10 minutes and 53 seconds long. Before 2007 (apart from a one-off performance of "Albuquerque" in Albuquerque, New Mexico), these "epic" songs were not performed live in their entirety due to their length and complexity. (See Live performances for details)

Yankovic has also started to explore digital distribution of his songs. On October 7, 2008, Yankovic released to the iTunes Store "Whatever You Like", a parody of the T.I. song of the same title, which Yankovic said he had come up with two weeks before. Yankovic said that the benefit of digital distribution is that "I don't have to wait around while my songs get old and dated—I can get them out on the Internet almost immediately." In 2009, Yankovic released four more songs: "Craigslist" on June 16, "Skipper Dan" on July 14, "CNR" on August 4, and "Ringtone" on August 25. These five digitally released songs were packaged as a digital EP titled Internet Leaks, with "Whatever You Like" retroactively included in the set.

In 2011, Yankovic completed his thirteenth studio album. This album, titled Alpocalypse, is his first studio album since Straight Outta Lynwood, and was released on June 21, 2011. The album contains the five songs from the previous Internet Leaks digital download release, a polka medley called "Polka Face", a song called "TMZ" for which Bill Plympton created an animated music video, and five other new songs.

Yankovic had reported an interest in parodying Lady Gaga's material, and on April 20 announced that he had written and recorded a parody of "Born This Way" entitled "Perform This Way", to be the lead single for his new album. However, upon first submitting it to Lady Gaga's manager for approval (which Yankovic does as a courtesy), he was not given permission to release it commercially. As he had previously done under similar circumstances (with his parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful"), Yankovic then released the song for free on the internet. Soon afterwards, Gaga's manager admitted that he had denied the parody of his own accord without forwarding the song to his client, and upon seeing it online, Lady Gaga granted permission for the parody. Yankovic has stated that all of his proceeds from the parody and its music video will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song.

Yankovic was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
While Yankovic's musical parodies generally do not include references to the songs or the artists of the original songs, Yankovic's music videos will sometimes parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", including using several of the same actors. This video contended with "Smells like Teen Spirit" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video. Other videos that draw directly from those of the original song include "Eat It", "Fat", "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*", "Bedrock Anthem", "Headline News", "It's All about the Pentiums", "Amish Paradise", "Like a Surgeon", and "White & Nerdy". The video for "Dare to Be Stupid" is, as stated by Yankovic, a style parody in general of Devo videos.

Several videos have included appearances by notable celebrities in addition to Yankovic and his band. Dr. Demento appeared in several of Yankovic's earlier videos, such as "I Love Rocky Road" and "Ricky". Actor Dick Van Patten is featured in both "Smells Like Nirvana" and "Bedrock Anthem"; Drew Carey, Emo Philips and Phil LaMarr appeared in "It's All About the Pentiums"; Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Donny Osmond, Judy Tenuta and Seth Green appeared in "White & Nerdy"; and Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone appeared in "Gump". The video for "I Lost on Jeopardy" includes an appearance by Greg Kihn, the artist whose song, "Jeopardy", was being parodied, along with Don Pardo and Art Fleming, Jeopardy's original announcer and host, as themselves. Florence Henderson plays Al's Amish wife in "Amish Paradise".

While most videos that Yankovic creates are aired on music channels such as MTV and VH1, Yankovic has also worked with animation artists to create music videos for release with extended content albums. The DualDisc version of Straight Outta Lynwood features six videos set to songs from the release, including videos created by Bill Plympton and John Kricfalusi; one video, "Weasel Stomping Day" was created by the producers of the show Robot Chicken, and aired as a segment of that program. As of fall 2010, Yankovic is again collaborating with Bill Plympton to create a video for a new song ("TMZ") which will appear on his upcoming album.
Reactions from original artists

Under the "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, one does not need permission to record a parody. However, as a personal rule, and as a means of maintaining good relationships within the music community, Yankovic has always requested permission from the original artist before recording his parodies. He claims that only about two to three percent of the artists he approaches for parody permission deny his requests. Also, according to Stanford Libraries, fair use is unlikely to justify a parody song that parodies more than a few lines of song lyrics from an existing song. Most artists have had positive reactions to Yankovic's parodies. Several have considered it to be something of a badge of honor to have Yankovic ask permission to parody their song or style, since they felt that Yankovic would not choose to do so unless they were a success or had made some sort of cultural impact at the time. However, there are a few notable exceptions where people have not allowed parodies or have otherwise withdrawn permission.
Positive

Michael Jackson was a big fan of Yankovic, and Yankovic claimed that the artist "had always been very supportive" of his work. Jackson twice allowed him to parody his songs ("Beat It" and "Bad" became "Eat It" and "Fat", respectively). When he granted Yankovic permission to do "Fat", Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the Moonwalker video. Though Jackson allowed "Eat It" and "Fat", he requested that Yankovic not record a parody of "Black or White", entitled "Snack All Night", because he felt the message was too important. This refusal, coming shortly after the commercial failure of Yankovic's movie UHF in theaters, had initially set Yankovic back; however, Yankovic later recognized this as a critical time, as in searching for new parodies, he came across Nirvana and leading to a revitalization of his career with "Smells Like Nirvana". Yankovic has performed a concert-only parody "Snack All Night" in some of his live shows. Yankovic also has a cameo appearance, along with many other celebrities, in Jackson's music video for "Liberian Girl".
Yankovic performing "The Saga Begins" in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, 2007.

Dave Grohl of Nirvana said that the band felt they had "made it" after Yankovic recorded "Smells Like Nirvana", a parody of the grunge band's smash hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". On his Behind the Music special, Yankovic stated that when he called Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain to ask if he could parody the song, Cobain gave him permission, then paused and asked, "Um... it's not gonna be about food, is it?" Yankovic responded with, "No, it'll be about how no one can understand your lyrics." According to members of Nirvana interviewed for Behind the Music, when they saw the video of the song, they laughed hysterically. Additionally, Cobain described Yankovic as "a musical genius."

Mark Knopfler approved Yankovic's parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" for use in the film UHF on the provision that Knopfler himself be allowed to play lead guitar on the parody which was later titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Yankovic commented on the legal complications of the parody in the DVD audio commentary for UHF, explaining "We had to name that song 'Money for Nothing 'slash' Beverly Hillbillies 'asterisk' because the lawyers told us that had to be the name. Those wacky lawyers! What ya gonna do?" The Permanent Record: Al in the Box booklet referred to the song's "compound fracture of a title." When a fan asked about the song's title, Yankovic shared his feelings on the title, replying "That incredibly stupid name is what the lawyers insisted that the parody be listed as. I'm not sure why, and I've obviously never been very happy about it."

The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with Yankovic's last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album Pure Frosting. In 2008, Yankovic directed the music video for their song "Mixed Up S.O.B."

The song "The Saga Begins" (a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie") accurately states the entire plot of The Phantom Menace, despite being written before the film's release. Yankovic got the plot details from rumor websites. He was slightly unsure about Anakin proposing to Amidala, so he attended a US$500 screening to confirm, and ended up making only very minor alterations to the lyrics. McLean was pleased with the parody, and even told Yankovic that the parody's lyrics sometimes enter his mind during live performances. Yankovic's parody not only replicates the music from the original Don McLean song, but it also replicates the multi-layered rhyming structure in the verses and chorus. Additionally, George Lucas loved the song and a Lucasfilm representative told Yankovic, "You should have seen the smile on his face."

Chamillionaire was also very pleased, even putting Yankovic's parody "White & Nerdy" (a parody of "Ridin'") on his official MySpace page before it was on Yankovic's own page. Chamillionaire stated in an interview, "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy I didn't know he could rap like that. It's really an honor when he does that. Weird Al is not gonna do a parody of your song if you're not doing it big." In September 2007, Chamillionaire credited "White & Nerdy" for his recent Grammy win, stating "That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable. It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al's song."

Yankovic was briefly denied permission to parody Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for his song "Perform This Way" for release on his next album, but through his release of the song on YouTube and subsequent spread via Twitter, Lady Gaga and her staff asserted that her manager had made the decision without her input, and Gaga herself gave Yankovic permission to proceed with the parody's release. Gaga was considered "a huge Weird Al fan", and she stated that the parody was a "rite of passage" for her musical career and considered the song "very empowering".
Negative

One of Yankovic's most controversial parodies was 1996's "Amish Paradise", based on "Gangsta's Paradise" by hip-hop artist Coolio, which, in turn, was based on "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder. Reportedly, Coolio's label gave Yankovic the impression that Coolio had granted permission to record the parody, but Coolio maintains that he never did. While Coolio claimed he was upset, legal action never materialized, and Coolio accepted royalty payments for the song. After this controversy, Yankovic has always made sure to speak directly with the artist of every song he parodied. At the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show Yankovic and Coolio made peace. On his website, Yankovic wrote of this event, "I don’t remember what we said to each other exactly, but it was all very friendly. I doubt I’ll be invited to Coolio’s next birthday party, but at least I can stop wearing that bulletproof vest to the mall."

In 2003, Yankovic was denied permission to make a video for "Couch Potato", his parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself":

   Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career.

For the Poodle Hat Al TV special, Yankovic raised the question of artistic expression in a fake interview with Eminem. As Yankovic has always done for his Al TV specials, he edited the footage of a previous Eminem interview and inserted himself asking questions for comic effect.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers expressed disappointment of Yankovic's parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give it Away" called "Bedrock Anthem", saying that while he " Weird Al and everything", he "didn't think it was very good".
On numerous occasions, Prince has refused Yankovic permission to record parodies of his songs. Yankovic has stated in interviews that he has "approached him every few years see if he's lightened up." Yankovic related one story where, prior to the American Music Awards where he and Prince were assigned to sit in the same row, Yankovic got a telegram from Prince's lawyers, demanding he not make eye contact with the artist.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a self-proclaimed Yankovic fan, but when Yankovic wished to create a polka medley of Led Zeppelin songs, Page refused. Yankovic was, however, allowed the very rare opportunity to re-record a sample of "Black Dog" for a segment of "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".

Paul McCartney, also a Yankovic fan, refused Yankovic permission to record a parody of Wings' "Live and Let Die", entitled "Chicken Pot Pie", because McCartney is a vegetarian and found the parody to be in bad taste.

In 2006, Yankovic gained James Blunt's permission to record a parody of "You're Beautiful". However, after Yankovic had recorded "You're Pitiful", Blunt's label, Atlantic Records, rescinded this permission, despite Blunt's personal approval of the song. The parody was pulled from Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood due to his label's unwillingness to "go to war" with Atlantic. Yankovic released the song as a free download on his MySpace profile, as well as his official website, and plays it in concert, since it was not Blunt himself objecting to the parody.
Discography
Main articles: "Weird Al" Yankovic discography and List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Studio albums
Title Release
year Peak chart position
US
Billboard Comedy Album

"Weird Al" Yankovic 1983 139
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D 1984 17
Dare to Be Stupid 1985 50
Polka Party! 1986 177
Even Worse 1988 27
UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff 1989 146
Off the Deep End 1992 17
Alapalooza 1993 46
Bad Hair Day 1996 14
Running with Scissors 1999 16
Poodle Hat 2003 17 11
Straight Outta Lynwood 2006 10 1
Alpocalypse 2011 9 1

Note: Billboard Comedy Album chart was first published in November, 2004.
EPs
Title Release year
Another One Rides the Bus 1981
Selections from Straight Outta Lynwood 2006
Internet Leaks 2009
Compilation albums
Title Release year
Greatest Hits 1988
The Food Album 1993
Permanent Record: Al in the Box 1994
Greatest Hits (Volume II) 1994
The TV Album 1995
The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic 2009
Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
1984 "Eat It" Best Comedy Recording Won
1985 Dare to Be Stupid Best Comedy Recording Nominated
1987 Polka Party! Best Comedy Recording Nominated
1988 "Fat" Best Concept Music Video Won
Even Worse Best Comedy Recording Nominated
Peter and the Wolf Best Recording for Children Nominated
1992 Off the Deep End Best Comedy Album Nominated
2003 Poodle Hat Best Comedy Album Won
2006 Straight Outta Lynwood Best Surround Sound Album Nominated
Best Comedy Album Nominated
2009 Internet Leaks Best Comedy Album Nominated


Gold and platinum records
Recording Gold Platinum Double
Platinum
"Weird Al" Yankovic U.S.
"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D Canada
U.S.
U.S.
"Eat It"1 Australia
Canada
U.S.
Dare to be Stupid U.S. U.S.
Even Worse Canada
U.S.
U.S.
"Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits Canada
Off the Deep End Canada
U.S. Canada
U.S.
The Food Album U.S.
Alapalooza Canada
U.S. Canada
  Canada

Greatest Hits Volume II Canada
Bad Hair Day Canada
U.S. Canada
U.S.
Running With Scissors Australia
Canada
U.S.

U.S.
Straight Outta Lynwood U.S.
"White & Nerdy"2 U.S. U.S.

^1 The "Eat It" single reached the #1 position on the Australian singles chart in 1984.

^2 The "White & Nerdy" single was certified platinum for digital downloads and gold for ringtone downloads in the U.S.
Videography

The following is a comprehensive list of Yankovic's long form videos to date, with the United States release date.
Video title Release date
The Compleat Al August 1985
UHF July 21, 1989
The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library May 1992
Alapalooza: The Videos December 1993
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Collection 1993
Bad Hair Day: The Videos June 1996
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Videos January 1998
"Weird Al" Yankovic Live! November 23, 1999
"Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection November 3, 2003
The Weird Al Show - The Complete Series August 15, 2006
"Weird Al" Yankovic Live! - The Alpocalypse Tour October 4, 2011
Awards and nominations
Grammy Award winners

   "Fat" – Best Concept Music Video (1988)

Grammy Award nominees

   "Jurassic Park" – Best Music Video, Short Form (1994)

Australian gold long form videos

   The Ultimate Video Collection

U.S. gold long form videos

   The "Weird Al" Yankovic Video Library
   Alapalooza: The Videos
   "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!
   Bad Hair Day: The Videos

U.S. platinum long form videos

   The Ultimate Video Collection

Cameos and special appearances in film

   1988: Tapeheads
   1988: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
   1991: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
   1994: Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
   1996: Spy Hard
   1997: Safety Patrol
   2000: Nothing Sacred
   2002: Desperation Boulevard
   2003: Haunted Lighthouse
   2008: Nerdcore Rising
   2009: Halloween II
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/CodeAires/93.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t315/yankees3936/weirdal.jpg
Love his work, and I wish I know more of it. I have heard his famous songs, but it is the minor songs of his I wish to hear.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/23/11 at 2:42 pm

Weird Al is SUPER talented & extremely intelligent.

I felt really bad at what happen to his parents.  :\'( :\'(


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhpk-8QLFQ



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/23/11 at 2:47 pm


Love his work, and I wish I know more of it. I have heard his famous songs, but it is the minor songs of his I wish to hear.

Oh yes. He writes a lot of parodies, but roughly half the songs on his albums are originals. You can find them on Youtube.

I have three of his studio albums and two compilations.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/23/11 at 2:50 pm


Weird Al is SUPER talented & extremely intelligent.

I felt really bad at what happen to his parents.  :\'( :\'(


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhpk-8QLFQ



Cat
What did happen to his parents?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/23/11 at 3:51 pm


What did happen to his parents?



http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-al-parents_x.htm



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/24/11 at 12:58 am



http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-al-parents_x.htm



Cat
Many thanks for posting this.

It is so tragic.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/11 at 7:11 am


Weird Al is SUPER talented & extremely intelligent.

I felt really bad at what happen to his parents.  :\'( :\'(


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhpk-8QLFQ



Cat


Such a funny song  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/11 at 7:12 am

http://www.contactmusic.com/videoimages/sbmg/weird-al-yankovic-fat.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/11 at 7:13 am


Oh yes. He writes a lot of parodies, but roughly half the songs on his albums are originals. You can find them on Youtube.

I have three of his studio albums and two compilations.


I have The Food Album on CD.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/24/11 at 7:26 am


Many thanks for posting this.

It is so tragic.

Yes very sad :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/24/11 at 7:30 am

The person of the day...Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.
In 1970, Kline was awarded a scholarship to the newly formed Drama Division at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, he joined with fellow Juilliard graduates, including Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers, and formed the City Center Acting Company (now The Acting Company), under the aegis of John Houseman. The Company traveled across the U.S. performing Shakespeare's plays, other classical works, and the musical The Robber Bridegroom, founding one of the most widely praised groups in American repertory theatre.

In 1976, Kline left The Acting Company and settled in New York City, doing a brief stint as the character "Woody Reed" in the now-defunct soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He followed this with a return to the stage in 1977 to play Clym Yeobright opposite Donna Theodore as Eustacia Vye in The Hudson Guild Theater production of Dance on a Country Grave, Kelly Hamilton's musical version of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native. In 1978 he played the small role of "Bruce Granit", a matinée idol caricature, in Harold Prince's On the Twentieth Century, for which he won his first Tony Award. In 1981, Kline appeared with rock diva Linda Ronstadt and singer Rex Smith in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Central Park production of The Pirates of Penzance, winning another Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, for his comically dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. In 1983, he played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, Smith and Angela Lansbury, which had a limited theatrical release.

In the ensuing years, Kline appeared many times in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare, including starring roles in Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, two productions of Hamlet (one of which he also directed) and a Tony-nominated Falstaff in a production that combined the two parts of Henry IV.

Dubbed "the American Olivier" by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for his stage acting, Kline finally ventured into film in 1982 in Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice. He won the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial Nathan opposite Meryl Streep. Streep won an Academy Award for her performance in the film. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for best debut performance.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Kline made several films with director Lawrence Kasdan, including The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon, I Love You to Death, and French Kiss. In 1989, Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the British comedy A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played a painfully inept American ex-CIA thug opposite John Cleese's genteel British barrister and Jamie Lee Curtis' femme fatale/con woman. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film twenty-first on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

Though he has been offered many roles that could have boosted him to box-office stardom, Kline has kept a wary distance from the Hollywood star-making machine. He developed a reputation for picking parts with discrimination (such as strong roles in Grand Canyon and Life as a House), leading to the industry nickname "Kevin Decline". Other awards have included Drama Desk Awards, Golden Globe awards, a Gotham Award, a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award, and a St. Louis International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Film reviewers have widely praised his talent. Newsday said Kline "has proved himself to be one of the most talented and versatile American actors of his generation."
Kline at the premiere of No Strings Attached, January 11, 2011

He played the title role in King Lear at the Public Theatre, and took the lead role in a Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jennifer Garner. That production was forced to close temporarily after only eleven performances as a result of the Broadway stagehands' strike, but subsequently reopened. Cyrano was filmed in 2008 and aired as part of PBS's Great Performances series in January 2009. In January 2008, Kline won a Screen Actors Guild award for his portrayal of Jaques in Kenneth Branagh's film As You Like It, adapted from Shakespeare's play. The film premiered theatrically in 2006 in Europe. It bypassed theatres and was sent straight to HBO in the U.S. Kline's film The Conspirator premiered during the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and was described as an "old fashioned historical thriller". It was well received by most critics. Kline will also star in the 2012 comedy Darling Companion alongside Diane Keaton.

In December 2004 Kline became the 2,272nd recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal life

Throughout the 1970s, Kline was involved in a long-term relationship with his Juilliard classmate Patti LuPone. They separated and reconnected many times before finally ending their relationship in 1978. Their relationship is precisely detailed in LuPone's memoir, Patti LuPone: A Memoir.

Kline married actress Phoebe Cates, 15 years his junior, in 1989. The couple lives in New York City and they have two children: Owen Joseph Kline (born October 14, 1991), who had a featured role in The Squid and the Whale, and Greta Simone Kline (born March 21, 1994). After his son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Kline became active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In November 2004, he was presented with the JDRF's Humanitarian of the Year award by Meryl Streep for his volunteer efforts on behalf of the organization.

The Kevin Kline Awards honor theatre professionals in St. Louis in a wide array of categories, which include best actor and actress, set design, choreography, and original play. The first awards ceremony took place on March 20, 2006.
Filmography
Kline and wife Phoebe Cates at the Academy Awards Governor's Ball party, 1989
Title Year Role Notes
Sophie's Choice 1982 Nathan Landau

    Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
    Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor

The Pirates of Penzance 1983 The Pirate King
The Big Chill 1983 Harold Cooper
Silverado 1985 Paden
Violets Are Blue 1986 Henry Squires
Cry Freedom 1987 Donald Woods
A Fish Called Wanda 1988 Otto West

    Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

The January Man 1989 Nick Starkey
I Love You to Death 1990 Joey Boca
Soapdish 1991 Jeffery Anderson
Dr. Rod Randall Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Grand Canyon 1991 Mack
Consenting Adults 1992 Richard Parker
Chaplin 1992 Douglas Fairbanks
Dave 1993 Dave Kovic
President William Harrison Mitchell Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Nutcracker 1993 Narrator Voice Only
Princess Caraboo 1994 Frixos
French Kiss 1995 Luc Teyssier Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1996 Captain Phoebus Voice Only
The Ice Storm 1997 Ben Hood Nominated – London Critics Circle Film Award for Actor of the Year
Fierce Creatures 1997 Vince McCain
Rod McCain
In & Out 1997 Howard Brackett

    Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Comedy
    Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Tom Selleck)
    Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1999 Nick Bottom
Wild Wild West 1999 U.S. Marshal Artemus 'Artie' Gordon
President Ulysses S. Grant

    Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (Shared with Will Smith)
    Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Action Team (Shared with Will Smith)
    Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Actor
    Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress (As a prostitute)

The Road to El Dorado 2000 Tulio Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
The Anniversary Party 2001 Cal Gold
Life as a House 2001 George Monroe Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Orange County 2002 Marcus Skinner Uncredited
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II 2002 Captain Phoebus Voice Only
Nominated – DVD Exclusive Award for Best Animated Character Performance
The Emperor's Club 2002 William Hundert
De-Lovely 2004 Cole Porter

    Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

The Pink Panther 2006 Chief Inspector Dreyfus
A Prairie Home Companion 2006 Guy Noir Nominated – Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
As You Like It 2006 Jaques Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Trade 2007 Ray Sheridan Munich Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Definitely, Maybe 2008 Hampton Roth
The Tale of Despereaux 2008 Andre Voice Only
Cyrano de Bergerac 2008 Cyrano de Bergerac

    Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
    Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie

Queen to Play 2009 Docteur Kröger
The Extra Man 2010 Henry Harrison
No Strings Attached 2011 Alvin
The Conspirator 2011 Edwin Stanton
Bob's Burgers 2011 – present Mr. Fischoeder Voice Only
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q50/TheDelawareTrio/kevin_kline.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/torolibra/kevinkline51.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/11 at 7:35 am


The person of the day...Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.
In 1970, Kline was awarded a scholarship to the newly formed Drama Division at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, he joined with fellow Juilliard graduates, including Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers, and formed the City Center Acting Company (now The Acting Company), under the aegis of John Houseman. The Company traveled across the U.S. performing Shakespeare's plays, other classical works, and the musical The Robber Bridegroom, founding one of the most widely praised groups in American repertory theatre.

In 1976, Kline left The Acting Company and settled in New York City, doing a brief stint as the character "Woody Reed" in the now-defunct soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He followed this with a return to the stage in 1977 to play Clym Yeobright opposite Donna Theodore as Eustacia Vye in The Hudson Guild Theater production of Dance on a Country Grave, Kelly Hamilton's musical version of Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native. In 1978 he played the small role of "Bruce Granit", a matinée idol caricature, in Harold Prince's On the Twentieth Century, for which he won his first Tony Award. In 1981, Kline appeared with rock diva Linda Ronstadt and singer Rex Smith in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Central Park production of The Pirates of Penzance, winning another Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, for his comically dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. In 1983, he played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, Smith and Angela Lansbury, which had a limited theatrical release.

In the ensuing years, Kline appeared many times in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare, including starring roles in Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, two productions of Hamlet (one of which he also directed) and a Tony-nominated Falstaff in a production that combined the two parts of Henry IV.

Dubbed "the American Olivier" by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for his stage acting, Kline finally ventured into film in 1982 in Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice. He won the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial Nathan opposite Meryl Streep. Streep won an Academy Award for her performance in the film. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for best debut performance.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Kline made several films with director Lawrence Kasdan, including The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon, I Love You to Death, and French Kiss. In 1989, Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the British comedy A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played a painfully inept American ex-CIA thug opposite John Cleese's genteel British barrister and Jamie Lee Curtis' femme fatale/con woman. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film twenty-first on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

Though he has been offered many roles that could have boosted him to box-office stardom, Kline has kept a wary distance from the Hollywood star-making machine. He developed a reputation for picking parts with discrimination (such as strong roles in Grand Canyon and Life as a House), leading to the industry nickname "Kevin Decline". Other awards have included Drama Desk Awards, Golden Globe awards, a Gotham Award, a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award, and a St. Louis International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Film reviewers have widely praised his talent. Newsday said Kline "has proved himself to be one of the most talented and versatile American actors of his generation."
Kline at the premiere of No Strings Attached, January 11, 2011

He played the title role in King Lear at the Public Theatre, and took the lead role in a Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jennifer Garner. That production was forced to close temporarily after only eleven performances as a result of the Broadway stagehands' strike, but subsequently reopened. Cyrano was filmed in 2008 and aired as part of PBS's Great Performances series in January 2009. In January 2008, Kline won a Screen Actors Guild award for his portrayal of Jaques in Kenneth Branagh's film As You Like It, adapted from Shakespeare's play. The film premiered theatrically in 2006 in Europe. It bypassed theatres and was sent straight to HBO in the U.S. Kline's film The Conspirator premiered during the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and was described as an "old fashioned historical thriller". It was well received by most critics. Kline will also star in the 2012 comedy Darling Companion alongside Diane Keaton.

In December 2004 Kline became the 2,272nd recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal life

Throughout the 1970s, Kline was involved in a long-term relationship with his Juilliard classmate Patti LuPone. They separated and reconnected many times before finally ending their relationship in 1978. Their relationship is precisely detailed in LuPone's memoir, Patti LuPone: A Memoir.

Kline married actress Phoebe Cates, 15 years his junior, in 1989. The couple lives in New York City and they have two children: Owen Joseph Kline (born October 14, 1991), who had a featured role in The Squid and the Whale, and Greta Simone Kline (born March 21, 1994). After his son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Kline became active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In November 2004, he was presented with the JDRF's Humanitarian of the Year award by Meryl Streep for his volunteer efforts on behalf of the organization.

The Kevin Kline Awards honor theatre professionals in St. Louis in a wide array of categories, which include best actor and actress, set design, choreography, and original play. The first awards ceremony took place on March 20, 2006.
Filmography
Kline and wife Phoebe Cates at the Academy Awards Governor's Ball party, 1989
Title Year Role Notes
Sophie's Choice 1982 Nathan Landau

    Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
    Nominated – Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor

The Pirates of Penzance 1983 The Pirate King
The Big Chill 1983 Harold Cooper
Silverado 1985 Paden
Violets Are Blue 1986 Henry Squires
Cry Freedom 1987 Donald Woods
A Fish Called Wanda 1988 Otto West

    Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
    Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

The January Man 1989 Nick Starkey
I Love You to Death 1990 Joey Boca
Soapdish 1991 Jeffery Anderson
Dr. Rod Randall Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Grand Canyon 1991 Mack
Consenting Adults 1992 Richard Parker
Chaplin 1992 Douglas Fairbanks
Dave 1993 Dave Kovic
President William Harrison Mitchell Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Nutcracker 1993 Narrator Voice Only
Princess Caraboo 1994 Frixos
French Kiss 1995 Luc Teyssier Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1996 Captain Phoebus Voice Only
The Ice Storm 1997 Ben Hood Nominated – London Critics Circle Film Award for Actor of the Year
Fierce Creatures 1997 Vince McCain
Rod McCain
In & Out 1997 Howard Brackett

    Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Comedy
    Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Tom Selleck)
    Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1999 Nick Bottom
Wild Wild West 1999 U.S. Marshal Artemus 'Artie' Gordon
President Ulysses S. Grant

    Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (Shared with Will Smith)
    Nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Action Team (Shared with Will Smith)
    Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Actor
    Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress (As a prostitute)

The Road to El Dorado 2000 Tulio Nominated – Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
The Anniversary Party 2001 Cal Gold
Life as a House 2001 George Monroe Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Orange County 2002 Marcus Skinner Uncredited
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II 2002 Captain Phoebus Voice Only
Nominated – DVD Exclusive Award for Best Animated Character Performance
The Emperor's Club 2002 William Hundert
De-Lovely 2004 Cole Porter

    Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

The Pink Panther 2006 Chief Inspector Dreyfus
A Prairie Home Companion 2006 Guy Noir Nominated – Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
As You Like It 2006 Jaques Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Trade 2007 Ray Sheridan Munich Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Definitely, Maybe 2008 Hampton Roth
The Tale of Despereaux 2008 Andre Voice Only
Cyrano de Bergerac 2008 Cyrano de Bergerac

    Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
    Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie

Queen to Play 2009 Docteur Kröger
The Extra Man 2010 Henry Harrison
No Strings Attached 2011 Alvin
The Conspirator 2011 Edwin Stanton
Bob's Burgers 2011 – present Mr. Fischoeder Voice Only
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q50/TheDelawareTrio/kevin_kline.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/torolibra/kevinkline51.jpg


I like him when he's at his funniest.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/24/11 at 11:08 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ7SVMVrick


I loved him in A Fish Called Wanda.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/24/11 at 11:51 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ7SVMVrick


I loved him in A Fish Called Wanda.



Cat
It is A Fish Called Wanda for me to.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/24/11 at 12:43 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ7SVMVrick


I loved him in A Fish Called Wanda.



Cat



I liked him in that too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/24/11 at 3:43 pm


I have The Food Album on CD.

Me too. That's one of the two compilations I have. All 10 of the songs on that CD are parodies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/24/11 at 3:45 pm



http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2004-04-11-weird-al-parents_x.htm



Cat

oh yes, I remember hearing about that too. :\'(


Yes very sad :\'(

sure is :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/25/11 at 12:41 pm

The person of the day...Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy (born 25 October 1941) (often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop") is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10 and three of those songs reached No. 1, including her signature hit "I Am Woman." She also placed 25 singles on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts. Fifteen of those singles made the Top 10 and 8 of those reached No. 1.
Reddy would recall her 1966 appearance at the Three Rivers Inn in Syracuse, New York – "there were like twelve people in the audience" – as typical of her early US performing career. In fact, the lack of working papers made it difficult to obtain any singing jobs in the US, and she was forced to make several trips to Canada where, being a Commonwealth country like Australia, she had the right to work. In the spring of 1968, Martin St. James – a hypnotist/entertainer and fellow Australian Reddy had met in New York City – threw Reddy a party with an admission price of five dollars to enable Reddy – then down to her last $12 – to make her rent. It was on this occasion that Reddy met her future manager and husband Jeff Wald, a 22-year-old secretary at the William Morris Agency who crashed the party: Reddy told People in 1975, " didn't pay the five dollars, but it was love at first sight.".

Wald would recall that he and Reddy married three days after meeting, and along with daughter Traci, the couple took up residence at the Hotel Albert in Greenwich Village. Reddy would later state that she married Wald "out of desperation over her right to work and live in the United States". According to New York Magazine, Wald was fired from William Morris soon after having met Reddy, and "Helen supported them for six months doing $35-a-night hospital and charity benefits. They were so broke that they sneaked out of a hotel room carrying their clothes in paper bags." Reddy would recall: "When we did eat, it was spaghetti, and we spent what little money we had on cockroach spray." They left New York City for Chicago and Wald landed a job as talent coordinator at Mister Kelly's. While in Chicago, Reddy gained a reputation singing in local lounges – including Mister Kelly's – and, in the spring of 1968, she landed a deal with Fontana Records, a division of major label Chicago-based Mercury Records. Her first single, "One Way Ticket", on Fontana was not an American hit, but it did give Reddy her first ever appearance on any chart as it peaked at #83 in her native Australia.
The "I Am Woman" era and stardom

Within a year, Wald relocated Reddy and Traci to Los Angeles, where Wald was hired at Capitol Records, the label where Reddy was to attain stardom; however, Wald was hired and fired the same day. Reddy became frustrated as Wald found success managing such acts as Deep Purple and Tiny Tim without making any evident effort to promote Reddy; after eighteen months of career inactivity, Reddy gave Wald an ultimatum: "he either revitalize her career or get out...Jeff threw himself into his new career as Mr. Helen Reddy. Five months of phone calls to Capitol Records executive Artie Mogull finally paid off: Mogull agreed to let Helen cut one single if Jeff promised not to call for a month. She sang "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar...It became a hit" – #13 in June 1971 – "Helen Reddy was on her way."

Reddy's stardom was consolidated when her single "I Am Woman" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972. The song was co-written by Reddy with Ray Burton; Reddy has attributed the impetus for writing "I Am Woman" and her early awareness of the women's movement to expatriate Australian rock critic and pioneer feminist Lillian Roxon. Reddy is quoted in Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number One Hits as saying that she was looking for songs to record which reflected the positive self-image she had gained from joining the women's movement, but could not find any, so "I realized that the song I was looking for didn't exist, and I was going to have to write it myself. "I Am Woman" was recorded and released in May 1972. but barely dented the charts in its initial release. However, female listeners soon adopted the song as an anthem and began requesting it from their local radio stations in droves, resulting in its September chart re-entry and eventual #1 hit status. "I Am Woman" earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; at the awards ceremony, Reddy concluded her acceptance speech by famously thanking God "because She makes everything possible". The success of "I am Woman" made Reddy the first native of Australia to top the US charts and also to win a Grammy.

Over the next five years, Reddy had more than a dozen other U.S. Top 40 hits, including two more #1 hits. These included the Alex Harvey country ballad "Delta Dawn" (#1, 1973), "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" (#3), "Keep on Singing" (#15, 1974), "You and Me Against the World" (written by Paul Williams and featuring daughter Traci reciting the spoken bookends) (#9), "Emotion" (an English version of the French tune "Amoureuse"), "Peaceful"" (#12), "Angie Baby" (#1), "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady" (#8, 1975), Richard Kerr-Will Jennings-penned "Somewhere in the Night" (#19; later a bigger hit for Barry Manilow), and the Carole King-Gerry Goffin song "I Can't Hear You No More" (1976). Reddy's total sales figures for the United Sales are estimated in excess of 10 million singles and 15 million albums; her worldwide album sales tally is estimated in excess of 25 million.

At the height of her fame in the late 1970s, Reddy was a headliner, with a full chorus of backup singers and dancers to standing-room-only crowds on The Strip in Las Vegas. Reddy's opening acts were the then-up-and-coming Barry Manilow, and Joan Rivers. In 1976, Reddy covered the Beatles song "Fool on the Hill" for the musical documentary All This and World War II.

Reddy was also instrumental in furthering the career of Olivia Newton-John, as she encouraged her friend to move from Britain to the United States in the early 1970s, giving her the best opportunity to expand her career. At a subsequent party at Reddy's house after a chance meeting with Allan Carr, the film's producer, Newton-John then won the starring role in the hit film version of the musical Grease.
Career eclipse

Reddy was most successful on the Easy Listening chart, scoring eight #1 hits there over a three-year span, from "Delta Dawn" in 1973 to "I Can't Hear You No More" in 1976. However, the last named track evidenced a sharp drop in popularity for Reddy, with a #29 peak on the Billboard Hot 100. Reddy's 1977 remake of Cilla Black's 1964 hit "You're My World" indicated comeback potential, with a #18 peak, but this track – co-produced by Kim Fowley – would prove to be Reddy's last Top 40 hit. Its parent album, Ear Candy, Reddy's tenth album, would become her first album to not attain at least Gold status since her second full-length release: Helen Reddy from 1972.

In 1978, Reddy sang as a backup singer on Gene Simmons' solo album on the song True Confessions.

Of Reddy's eight subsequent single releases on Capitol, five reached the Easy Listening Top 50 – including "Candle on the Water", from the 1977 film Pete's Dragon (which starred Reddy). Only three ranked on the Billboard Hot 100: "The Happy Girls" (#57) – the follow-up to "You're My World" and, besides "I am Woman", Reddy's only chart item which she co-wrote – and the disco tracks "Ready or Not" (#73) and "Make Love to Me" (#60), the latter a cover of an Australian hit by Kelly Marie – which gave Reddy a lone R&B chart ranking at #59. Reddy had also ranked at #98 on the C&W chart with "Laissez Les Bontemps Rouler", the B-side to "The Happy Girls".

Without the impetus of any major hits, Reddy's four Capitol album releases subsequent to Ear Candy failed to chart. In 1981, Reddy would say: "I signed ten years ago...And when you are with a company so long you tend to be taken for granted. For the last three years I didn't feel I was getting the support from them."

May 1981 saw the release of Play Me Out, Reddy's debut album for MCA Records, who Reddy said had "made me a deal we couldn't refuse"; "we shopped around and felt the most enthusiasm at MCA." In fact, Reddy's new label affiliation would result in only one minor success: her remake of Becky Hobbs' 1979 C&W hit "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" returned her for the last time to the Billboard Hot 100 at #88. "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" also returned Reddy to the charts in the UK and Ireland (her sole previous hit in both areas was "Angie Baby"). Reddy's 14 November 1981 TOTP performance brought "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" into the UK Top 50; the track would rise there no higher than #43, but in Ireland reached #16, giving Reddy her final high placing on a major national chart. MCA released one further Reddy album: Imagination, in 1983; it would prove to be Reddy's final release as a career recording artist. The unsuccessful Imagination was released just after the finalization of Reddy's divorce from Jeff Wald whose subsequent interference in her career Reddy would blame for the decline of her career profile in the mid-80s: "Several of my performing contracts were canceled, and one promoter told me he couldn't book me in case a certain someone 'came after him with a shotgun.'" Reddy states that it was effectively being blacklisted from her established performance areas which led to her pursuing a career in theater where Wald had no significant influence.
Later recordings

In 1990, Reddy issued – on her own label – the album Feel So Young, including remakes of Reddy's repertoire favorites; her one interim recording had been the 1987 dance maxi-single "Mysterious Kind", on which Reddy had vocally supported Jessica Williams. 1997 saw the release of Center Stage, an album of show tunes which Reddy recorded for Varèse Records; the track "Surrender" – originating in Sunset Boulevard – was remixed for release as dance maxi-single. Reddy's final album to date was the 2000 seasonal release The Best Christmas Ever.
Film, theatre and television
Reddy with Carol Burnett, 1973.

A frequent guest on talk shows and variety programs of the 1970s and early 1980s – with credits including The Bobby Darin Show, The Carol Burnett Show and The Muppet Show – Reddy helmed the 1973 summer replacement series for The Flip Wilson Show (Reddy had become friends with Flip Wilson when she'd worked the Chicago club circuit early in her career); the series, The Helen Reddy Show, provided early national exposure for Albert Brooks and the Pointer Sisters. Also in 1973, Reddy became the semi-regular host of the NBC late night variety show The Midnight Special, a position she retained until 1975.

Her film career includes an extended cameo as a nun in Airport 1975 – singing her own composition "Best Friend" – and a lone starring role in Walt Disney's Pete's Dragon, introducing the Oscar-nominated song "Candle on the Water". For her part in Airport 1975, Reddy was nominated for a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Female. Reddy was one of many musical stars featured in the all-star chorale in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and has since played cameo roles in the films Disorderlies (1987) and The Perfect Host (2010).

Despite her late 1970s chart decline, Reddy still had sufficient star power in 1979 to host "The Helen Reddy Special" broadcast that May, on ABC-TV; Jeff Wald was the producer. In September 1981, Reddy announced she would be shooting the pilot for her own TV sitcom, in which she would play a single mother working as a lounge singer in Lake Tahoe. However, this project was abandoned. Reddy has been an occasional television guest star as an actress, appearing on the series The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Jeffersons (as herself), Diagnosis: Murder, and BeastMaster.

In 2007, Reddy had a voice cameo as herself in the Family Guy television show's Star Wars parody, "Blue Harvest". She played a 'red'-themed ('Red'-dy) member of the Red Squadron, alongside Red Five (Chris Griffin), Red Buttons, Redd Foxx, Big Red, Red October, Simply Red and others. In 2010 she guest starred on Family Guy again singing the opening theme song for the show's fictional Channel 5 News telecast.

In the mid-1980s, Reddy embarked on a new career in the theater. Reddy mostly worked in musicals including Anything Goes, Call Me Madam, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and – both on Broadway and the West End – Blood Brothers. She also appeared in four productions of the one-woman show Shirley Valentine.

Notable stage roles include:

    Shirley Valentine – as Shirley
        Stage West, Canada (June, 1997)
        12 U.S. City Tour (February – April 1996)
        Theatre by the Sea, R.I. (1995)

    Blood Brothers – as Mrs. Johnstone
        West End (1997)
        Music Box Theatre, Broadway (January – May 1995)
        Empire Theatre, Liverpool (1995)

    Love, Julie – as Gail Sinclair
        Sharon Stage, Connecticut (August, 1996)
        Cape Cod (July 1996)
        Westport Country Playhouse (June 1996)

    The Mystery of Edwin Drood – as Edwin Drood/Miss Alice Nutting
        Sacramento Music Circus (July, 1988)

    Call Me Madam – as Mrs. Sally Adams
        Sacramento Music Circus (August, 1986)

    Anything Goes – as Reno Sweeney
        Long Beach Civic Light Opera (July, 1987)
        Sacramento Music Circus (July, 1985)

Personal life and recent years

Reddy, who gave what she announced as her farewell performance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 2002, stated in 2008 that "she will never again perform before an audience", specifying "It's not going to happen. I've moved on", and that "her voice has deepened to a lower key, and she's not even sure she could sing hits such as 'Delta Dawn'."

Reddy became a naturalized American citizen in 1974, subsequently availing herself of the opportunity to maintain dual American/Australian citizenship when said opportunity was made available. She has been married and divorced three times, and has two children.

    Kenneth Weate (1961–1966), Child: Traci (b. 1963)
    Jeff Wald (25 May 1966 – January 1983). Child: Jordan (b. 1972). She converted to Judaism before marrying Wald.
    Milton Ruth (29 June 1983–1995)

Helen was married at age 20 to Kenneth Claude Weate, a considerably older musician and family friend, who she says she wed to defy her parents who wished her to follow them into show business; the couple separated not long after the birth of their daughter, Traci, who became Traci Wald after her adoption by Reddy's second husband Jeff Wald. In a 1975 People interview Reddy admitted her relationship with then husband and manager Jeff Wald was volatile with the couple having "huge, healthy fights" but that she owed her success – she was then the world's most successful female vocalist for two years running – to Wald: "He runs it all. Naturally when the moment of performance comes I have to deliver — but everything else is him. It's not my career; it's our career." By 2 January 1981, Reddy and Wald had separated, with Wald moving into a Beverly Hills rehab facility to treat an eight-year addiction to cocaine. Reddy subsequently filed for divorce, yet withdrew her petition the day after filing it, stating: "After thirteen years of marriage, a separation of one month is too short to make a decision." In 1982, after finding evidence of Wald's continued substance abuse, Reddy again separated from him and initiated divorce proceedings, which this time went through in January 1983. In June 1983 Reddy married Milton Ruth, a drummer in her band; the couple divorced in 1995.

Active in community affairs, Reddy served as the state of California's Parks and Recreation Commissioner for three years. In 2002, she retired from performing and moved from her longtime residence in Santa Monica, California back to her native Australia, living first on Norfolk Island, before taking up residence in Sydney. There, she was a practicing clinical hypnotherapist, and Patron of the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists. In April 2008, Reddy was reported to be living "simply and frugally off song royalties, pension funds, and social security... a 13th-floor apartment with a 180-degree view of Sydney Harbour." Her apartment had been recently appraised, causing Reddy concern over its future affordability; however, the New York-based landlord learned his tenant's identity and wrote her: "I had no idea it was the Helen Reddy who was living in my unit. Because of what you have done for millions of women all over the world, I will not sell or raise your rent. I hope you'll be very happy living there for years to come."

Reddy published an autobiography, The Woman I Am, and appeared on the Today show in 2006. She was also added to the ARIA Hall Of Fame, with a tribute performance by Vanessa Amorosi of "I Am Woman" at the ceremony. Reddy suffers from Addison's disease, a failure of the adrenal glands, which requires constant treatment.
Reddy (2nd from right) in early 2007 with students at a Women's Leadership conference in Sydney.

She has a featured role in a crime film, The Perfect Host, starring David Hyde-Pierce, released in theaters on July 1, 2011
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/Clarisworkz/Stuff/helen_reddy.jpg
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq199/standingproud/Actors-Singers-Movies/reddy01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/25/11 at 1:25 pm

I am woman, hear me roar! Meow, damnit!  ;D ;D ;D ;D



My favorite Helen Reddy song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQKyGt_I5L4



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/25/11 at 5:15 pm


I am woman, hear me roar! Meow, damnit!  ;D ;D ;D ;D



My favorite Helen Reddy song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQKyGt_I5L4



Cat

Good song, I also like Delta Dawn.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/26/11 at 10:50 am

The person of the day...Natalie Merchant
Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993.
Merchant was lead singer and primary lyricist for 10,000 Maniacs, joining in its infancy in 1981 while she was a student at Jamestown Community College. The group recorded their album "Human Conflict Number Five" and performed a corresponding Music video at The Hotel Franklin and at Group W Westinghouse studios (Jamestown, New York) in 1982. Merchant sang lead vocals, and later played the piano as well, for 10,000 Maniacs for seven studio albums. In 1993 she announced that she was leaving the group.
Tigerlily (1995)

Merchant has said in interviews that after her split with 10,000 Maniacs she was so eager to begin writing her own material that she went home that very day and composed the song "I May Know the Word", which was originally meant to appear on the soundtrack to the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. The song was eventually cut from the soundtrack, but it would go on to appear on Merchant's debut solo album, Tigerlily, which was released on the Elektra label in 1995. Merchant chose to name the album Tigerlily as she felt it captured the feel of the album, which she described as both "fierce" and "delicate".

The third song on the album, "Beloved Wife", was featured as the first song in the trailer for the movie Message in a Bottle.

Seeking creative control, Merchant chose to fund Tigerlily herself, refusing the advance from the record company. She also wanted to work with a core-group of young musicians who she felt would be enthusiastic about the music. The group would consist of guitarist Jennifer Turner, bassist Barrie Maguire, and former-Wallflower and eventual boyfriend to Merchant, Peter Yanowitz, who played drums on the album and who continued to do so with Merchant until their abrupt split in 2000.

Tigerlily was a critical and commercial success, spawning her first top-ten hit in the single "Carnival", and achieving top-40 success with subsequent singles "Wonder" and "Jealousy". The album would go on to sell over 5 million copies, and continues to be Merchant’s most successful album to date. Merchant did extensive touring for the album and made numerous television appearances, including performances on SNL, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and all late-night talk shows. The media's immediate and critical impact on culture and cultural icons was of particular interest to Merchant. In "River", a song from Tigerlily, Merchant defends River Phoenix as she castigates the media for systematically dissecting the child actor after his death. Much of their emphasis was on Phoenix' suspected drug-using lifestyle. In "River," Merchant asks, "Why don't you let him be / Give his mother and father peace." Merchant's anger is later replaced with quiet reflection, asking, "It was such a nightmare raving, 'How could we save him from himself?'"
Ophelia (1998–1999)

Three years passed before Merchant would release her second solo effort, Ophelia. While Tigerlily contained a lot of sparse instrumentation, the music on Ophelia featured plenty of lush symphonic arrangements composed and conducted by British composer Gavin Bryars. Merchant treated the recording of Ophelia as a series of workshops, where she would invite various musicians she had met over the years into her home studio to collaborate and record. In the end, 30 different musicians featured on the album, among them Brand New Heavies frontwoman N'Dea Davenport (with whom she duets on the song Break Your Heart), famed trumpet player Chris Botti, and the husband and wife duo, Don and Karen Peris, from the band The Innocence Mission.

While Ophelia is not a concept record in the traditional sense, the album-cycle saw Merchant flexing her creative muscles in surprising ways. The name of the album and the title track are a literary reference to Shakespeare's Ophelia, who in the play Hamlet becomes mad and eventually commits suicide when Hamlet remains non-committal and lost in himself. Merchant's Ophelia describes a series of women throughout time—women who dared question the patriarchal status quo and who were often castigated for doing so—and is a cry for women's rights and for more understanding of female archetypes beyond the scope of the "mother" and the "whore", both of which severely limit women and attempt to turn them into little more than chattel. The portrayal of the women in the song is a tribute to the non-traditional, the "too smart for her own good" type of woman who is often misunderstood by society. As a lyric to the title song cries: "Your common sense, your best defense, was wasted and in vain!" A reflection of women driven mad by social limitations, Natalie's tribute described Ophelia as being at once a "novice carmelite," a "suffragette," a "circus queen," a "demigoddess" and a "mafia courtesan." The album sleeve saw Merchant pictured in colorful and ornate costumes as each of these different characters. As a companion to the album, she also released a film where she portrays each of these different characters, with voice-overs used for the "novice carmelite," the "sweetheart" and the "courtesan" as they are Spanish, German and Italian, respectively.

The first single off the album was a happy and uncharacteristically simple song called "Kind and Generous", which received massive airplay on VH1 and which solidified Merchant's role as a bona fide solo artist. That summer, Sarah McLachlan invited Merchant to co-headline the year's biggest music festival with her, Lilith Fair. The exposure from the tour helped the album reach Platinum status in just under a year, with subsequent singles "Break Your Heart" and "Life Is Sweet" receiving moderate airplay on adult contemporary stations. No video was filmed for the latter, however, with a clip from Merchant's appearance on VH1's Storytellers being used instead. She would also go on to appear on PBS' Sessions at West 54th and VH1's Hard Rock Live before the year's end. In 1998, Merchant also recorded George Gershwin's "But Not for Me" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

The Ophelia tour ended in 1999 with the final few shows being performed and recorded on Broadway. The performance would be released as the album Natalie Merchant: Live in Concert with a companion video of the same name. The performance was notable in that it featured numerous covers including songs by David Bowie, Neil Young, and the Breton-Welsh singer-songwriter Katell Keineg.
American Folk Music Tour (2000)

In 2000, Merchant embarked on a folk tour in the United States with many shows being supported by alt-country band Wilco.

Merchant's next studio album on the Elektra label was Motherland, released in 2001. Motherland saw Merchant at her most experimental musically. Motherland achieved Gold on the Billboard charts after debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top Internet Albums of 2001, respectively. Rolling Stone favored this album with 3½ stars, and also noticed a difference in Merchant's voice, which was more deep and gritty than her previous albums. Singles that were released from Motherland were Just Can't Last, Build a Levee and Tell Yourself.

Merchant embarked on a year and a half world tour to promote Motherland. The first leg of the tour started in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 17, 2001, trekking all over the United States, and then heading to Europe with some special acoustic shows in Europe. Merchant also participated in the Rock am Ring Festival and Rock im Park in 2002. In the summer of 2002, she was paired with Chris Isaak and both played at stadiums and arenas.
The House Carpenter's Daughter (2003)

After her contract with Elektra expired in August 2002, Merchant decided not to sign with them again, or any other major label. Her next studio album, The House Carpenter's Daughter, was released in September 2003 on her own label, Myth America Records. To date this has been the only release on Myth America.
Leave Your Sleep (2010)

In October 2009, the official websites of Nonesuch Records and Natalie Merchant announced that she had signed with the label. Leave Your Sleep was released on April 13, 2010 and is a compilation of five years of inspiration from a "conversation" with her daughter over the "first 6 years of her life." The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at No. 17, Billboard Folk Albums at No. 1, Amazon.com at No.1, and ITunes, No. 3. The album was co-produced by Grammy winning Andres Levin.
Personal life

Merchant is married to Daniel de la Calle and has a daughter named Lucia. She likes gardening and painting. Some paintings can be seen at her official website.

She has been a vegetarian since 1980, save for the duration of her pregnancy when she temporarily resumed eating meat. In 1997, she said:

    "The '60s aesthetic has never really appealed to me, the tie-dyed Deadhead running barefoot through the forest on LSD. I don't think that's really me. But I've been a vegetarian for 17 years and I consider myself an environmentalist in as much as I can be, considering the job that I have. I prefer living in the countryside rather than the city; I find it more sane and sustaining for myself..."

Discography
With 10,000 Maniacs

    Human Conflict Number Five (EP) (1982)
    Secrets of the I Ching (1983)
    The Wishing Chair (1985)
    In My Tribe (1987)
    Blind Man's Zoo (1989)
    Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983 (1990)
    Our Time in Eden (1992)
    MTV Unplugged (1993)
    Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings (2004)

Solo
Main article: Natalie Merchant discography

    1995: Tigerlily
    1998: Ophelia
    2001: Motherland
    2003: The House Carpenter's Daughter
    2010: Leave Your Sleep

Filmography
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1990 Time Capsule Herself (Vocals, Piano, Organ) Video Documentary
1996 One Fine Day Performer "One Fine Day" Soundtrack
1998 Ophelia Performer Short Film
1999 Bringing Out the Dead Performer/Writer: "These Are Days" Soundtrack
1999 Natalie Merchant: Live in Concert Herself (Vocals, Piano) Live Concert Video
2002 When in Rome Performer/Writer: "These Are Days" Soundtrack
2003 Cheaper by the Dozen Performer/Writer: "These Are Days" Soundtrack
2004 Purgatory House Performer/Writer: "My Skin" Soundtrack
2006 Candida Performer/Writer: "Motherland" Soundtrack
2007 Earthlings Composer Documentary
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1990 MTV Unplugged Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs) MTV
1992 Saturday Night Live Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs) (NBC) Aired 31 October 1992; songs: Candy Everybody Wants and These Are Days
1993 MTV Unplugged Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs) First artist to make 2nd appearance
1993 Rock & Roll Inaugural Ball Herself (as 10,000 Maniacs)
1993 MTV VMAS Herself–Presenter TV Special
1995 Concert for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Herself–Performer Sang "I Know How to Do It"
1995 Saturday Night Live Herself–Performer (NBC) Host David Schwimmer
1997 Sessions at West 54th Herself–Performer (PBS) "Planctus" with Philip Glass
1998 Saturday Night Live Herself–Performer (NBC) Host Matthew Broderick
1998 Hard Rock Live Herself–Performer VH1
1998 VH1 Storytellers Herself–Performer Later released as DVD
1998 Sessions at West 54th Herself–Performer (NBC) Host David Byrne
1999 Man in the Sand Herself Video Documentary
1999 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Musical Guest (NBC) "Life Is Sweet"
1999 Lifetime's Intimate Portrait Herself Biographical
2000 ABC 2000: The Millennium Herself–Performer "Kind and Generous"
2001 Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words & Music Herself–Performer "Nowhere Man"
2001 Up Close and Personal Herself–Performer Oxygen
2002 Austin City Limits Herself–Performer PBS
2003 Go Further Herself Documentary
2010 Good Morning America Herself–Performer ABC News
Talk Shows Years
The Late Show with David Letterman: 1995, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2001, 2004
The Rosie O'Donnell Show: 1996, 1996, 1998, 1998, 1999, 1999, 2001, 2002
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2010
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s172/MarieEdwards23/NatalieMerchant.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp103/Miepie22/NatalieMerchant.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/26/11 at 11:09 am

I always thought Natalie Merchant had great music.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/27/11 at 8:36 am

The person of the day...John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese (/ˈkliːz/; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s he became a member of Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different, Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life.

In the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. He also starred in Clockwise, and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films, two Harry Potter films, and three Shrek films.

With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay he co-founded Video Arts, the production company responsible for making entertaining training films.
Cleese was one of the script writers, as well as being a member of the cast, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths, which was so successful during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and taken to the West End in London and then on a tour of New Zealand and Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some of the revue's sketches on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1964.

After Cambridge Circus, Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on and Off-Broadway. While performing in the musical Half a Sixpence, Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968.

He was soon offered work as a writer with BBC Radio, where he worked on several programmes, most notably as a sketch writer for The Dick Emery Show. The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, that were so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title that ran from 1965 to 1974. Cleese returned to England and joined the cast. In many episodes, he is credited as "John Otto Cleese".

Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on The Frost Report. The writing staff chosen for The Frost Report consisted of a number of writers and performers who would go on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included co-performers from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and also Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. It was while working on The Frost Report, in fact, that the future Pythons developed the writing styles that would make their collaboration significant. Cleese and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures, some of which were performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that open with idyllic countryside panoramas. Idle was one of those charged with writing David Frost's monologue. It was during this period that Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook.

It was as an actual performer on the Frost Report that Cleese achieved his breakthrough on British television as a comedy actor, appearing as the tall, patrician figure on the classic class sketch, contrasting comically in a line-up with the shorter, middle-class Ronnie Barker and the even-shorter, working-class Ronnie Corbett. Such was the popularity of the series that in 1966 Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show, during which time the Four Yorkshiremen sketch was written by all four writers/performers (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is now better known as a Monty Python sketch). Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for the first series of Doctor in the House (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of Doctor at Large on his own in 1971). These series were successful, and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, owing to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was therefore unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Palin on The Frost Report an enjoyable experience and invited him to join the series. Palin had previously been working on Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and Jones, with Terry Gilliam creating the animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, been offered a series for Thames Television, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones, and Idle.
Monty Python

Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four seasons from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC Television, though with only limited participation of Cleese in the last six shows. Cleese's two primary characterisations were as a sophisticate and a stressed-out loony. He portrayed the former as a series of announcers, TV show hosts, and government officials (for example, "The Ministry of Silly Walks"). The latter is perhaps best represented in the "Cheese Shop" and by Cleese's Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian Blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals all named "Eric". He was also known for his working-class "Sergeant Major" character, who worked as a Police Sergeant, Roman Centurion, etc. He is also seen as the opening announcer with the now famous line "And now for something completely different", although in its premiere in the sketch "Man with Three Buttocks", the phrase was spoken by Eric Idle.
Partnership with Graham Chapman

The Dead Parrot sketch performed on Monty Python's Flying Circus in 1969
listen to a clip from the sketch.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with Chapman provided Python with its darkest and angriest moments, and many of his characters display the seething suppressed rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty.

Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman actually wrote together—in the same room; Cleese claims that their writing partnership involved his sitting with pen and paper, doing most of the work, while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods, then suddenly coming out with an idea that often elevated the sketch to a different level. A classic example of this is the "Dead Parrot" sketch, envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and broadcast on the pre-Python special How To Irritate People). It was Chapman's suggestion to change the faulty item into a dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot be specifically a Norwegian Blue, giving the sketch a surreal air which made it far more memorable.

Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious reason. Like Chapman, Cleese's poker face, clipped middle-class accent, and imposing height allowed him to appear convincingly as a variety of authority figures, such as policemen, detectives, Nazi officers, or government officials—which he would then proceed to undermine. Most famously, in the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch (actually written by Palin and Jones), Cleese exploits his stature as the crane-legged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office.

Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches where two characters would conduct highly articulate arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such as in the "cheese shop", the "dead parrot" sketch and "The Argument Sketch", where Cleese plays a stone-faced bureaucrat employed to sit behind a desk and engage people in pointless, trivial bickering. All of these roles were opposite Palin (who Cleese often claims is his favourite Python to work with)—the comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed aggression and the shorter Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series. Occasionally, the typical Cleese-Palin dynamic is reversed, as in "Fish Licence", wherein Palin plays the bureaucrat with whom Cleese is trying to work.

Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese was growing tired of dealing with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before the fourth season. Despite this, he remained friendly with the group, and all six began writing Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Cleese received a credit on episodes of the fourth series which used material from these sessions, and even makes a brief appearance in one episode as the voice of a cartoon in the "Hamlet" episode, though he was officially unconnected with the fourth series. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in the Monty Python films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and participated in various live performances over the years.
Post-Python

From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University of St Andrews. His election proved a milestone for the University, revolutionising and modernising the post. For instance, the Rector was traditionally entitled to appoint an "Assessor", a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his absence. Cleese changed this into a position for a student, elected across campus by the student body, resulting in direct access and representation for the student body.

Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards when produced and in 2000, it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("...he's from Barcelona"), and Booth as waitress Polly, the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I could run this hotel just fine, if it weren't for the guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town.

The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of only twelve episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series.
Cleese as a Mexican maraca soloist as part of his 1977 guest appearance on The Muppet Show

In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on The Muppet Show. Cleese was a fan of the show, and co-wrote much of the episode. He appears in a "Pigs in Space" segment as a pirate trying to hijack the spaceship Swinetrek, and also helps Gonzo restore his arms to "normal" size after Gonzo's cannonball catching act goes wrong. During the show's closing number, Cleese refuses to sing the famous show tune from Man of La Mancha, "The Impossible Dream". Kermit The Frog apologises and the curtain re-opens with Cleese now costumed as a Viking trying some Wagnerian opera as part of a duet with Sweetums. Once again, Cleese protests to Kermit, and gives the frog one more chance. This time, as pictured opposite this text, he is costumed as a Mexican maraca soloist. He has finally had enough and protests that he is leaving the show, saying "You were supposed to be my host. How can you do this to me? Kermit – I am your guest!". The cast joins in with their parody of "The Impossible Dream", singing "This is your guest, to follow that star...". During the crowd's applause that follows the song, he pretends to strangle Kermit until he realises the crowd loves him and accepts the accolades. During the show's finale, as Kermit thanks him, he shows up with a fictional album, his own new vocal record John Cleese: A Man & His Music, and encourages everyone to buy a copy.

This would not be Cleese's final appearance with The Muppets. In their 1981 movie The Great Muppet Caper, Cleese does a cameo appearance as Neville, a local homeowner. As part of the appearance, Miss Piggy borrows his house as a way to impress Kermit The Frog.

Cleese won the TV Times award for Funniest Man On TV – 1978 / 1979.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. In the same year Cleese played Petruchio, in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he starred with Sean Connery and Michael Palin in the Terry Gilliam-directed Time Bandits as Robin Hood. He also participated in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and starred in The Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a small dramatic role as a sheriff in Silverado, which had an all-star cast that included Kevin Kline, with whom he would star with in A Fish Called Wanda three years later. In 1986, he starred in Clockwise as an uptight school headmaster obsessed with punctuality and constantly getting in to trouble during a journey to a headmaster's conference.
Cleese at the 1989 Academy Awards

Timed with the 1987 UK elections, he appeared in a video promoting proportional representation.

In 1988, he wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda, as the lead, Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. Wanda was a commercial and critical success, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his script. Cynthia Cleese starred as Leach's daughter.

Graham Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1989; Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook and Chapman's partner David Sherlock, witnessed Chapman's death. Chapman's death occurred a day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, with Jones commenting, "the worst case of party-pooping in all history." Cleese's eulogy at Chapman's memorial service—in which he "became the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fudge'"—has since become legendary.

Cleese would later play a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro. He also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings and More Bloody Meetings. These were produced by his company Video Arts.

With Robin Skynner, the group analyst and family therapist, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: Families and How to Survive Them, and Life and How to Survive It. The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese.

In 1996, Cleese declined the British honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). The follow-up to A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatures—which again starred Cleese alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Palin—was also released that year, but was greeted with mixed reception by critics and audiences. Cleese has since often stated that making the second movie had been a mistake. When asked by his friend, director and restaurant critic Michael Winner, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, Cleese responded, "I wouldn’t have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger and I wouldn’t have made Fierce Creatures."

In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant, referred to by Bond as "R". In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in Die Another Day, the character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. In 2004, Cleese was featured as Q in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, featuring his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the subsequent Bond films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
Year Title Role Notes
Films 1968 Interlude TV Publicist
1969 The Magic Christian Mr. Dougdale (director in Sotheby's)
1969 The Best House in London Jones Uncredited
1970 The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer Pummer Writer
1971 And Now for Something Completely Different Various Roles Writer
1974 Romance with a Double Bass Musician Smychkov Writer
1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail Various Roles Writer
1976 Meetings, Bloody Meetings Tim Writer/Executive Producer
Documentary Short
1977 The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It Arthur Sherlock Holmes
1979 Monty Python's Life of Brian Various Roles Writer
1980 The Secret Policeman's Ball Himself-Various Roles
1981 The Great Muppet Caper Neville
1981 Time Bandits Gormless Robin Hood
1982 Privates on Parade Major Giles Flack
1983 Yellowbeard Blind Pew
1983 Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Various Roles Writer
1985 Silverado Langston His first line, as he walks into a bar to
break up a brawl, is, "What's all this, then?")
1986 Clockwise Mr. Stimpson Evening Standard British Film Awards Peter Sellers Award for Comedy
1988 A Fish Called Wanda lawyer Archie Leach Writer/Executive Producer
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1989 Erik the Viking Halfdan the Black and Svend Berserk
1990 Bullseye! Man on the Beach in
Barbados Who Looks Like John Cleese
1991 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Cat R. Waul Voice Only
1992 Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? Narrator
1993 Splitting Heirs Raoul P. Shadgrind
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Professor Waldman
1994 Disney's Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book Dr. Julius Plumford
1994 The Swan Princess Jean-Bob
1996 The Wind in the Willows Mr. Toad's Lawyer
1996 Fierce Creatures Rollo Lee Writer/Producer
1997 George of the Jungle An Ape Named 'Ape' Voice Only
1998 In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese Host Narrator
1999 The Out-of-Towners Mr. Mersault
1999 The World Is Not Enough R
2000 Isn't She Great Henry Marcus
2000 The Magic Pudding Albert, The Magic Pudding Voice Only
2001 Quantum Project Alexander Pentcho
2001 Here's Looking at You: The Evolution of the Human Face Narrator
2001 Rat Race Donald P. Sinclair
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone "Nearly Headless Nick"
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets "Nearly Headless Nick" Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting
2002 Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio The Talking Crickett Voice Only: English Version
2002 Die Another Day Q Second appearance in a James Bond film,
replaces Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the series
2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash James
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Mr. Munday
2003 Scorched Charles Merchant
2003 George of the Jungle 2 An Ape Named 'Ape' Voice Only
2004 Shrek 2 King Harold Voice Only
2004 Around the World in 80 Days Grizzled Sergeant
2005 Valiant Mercury Voice Only
2006 Charlotte's Web Samuel the Sheep Voice Only
2006 Man About Town Dr. Primkin
2007 Shrek the Third King Harold Voice Only
2008 Igor Dr. Glickenstein Voice Only
2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still Dr. Barnhardt
2009 The Pink Panther 2 Inspector Charles Dreyfus
2009 Planet 51 Professor Kipple Voice Only
2010 Spud The Guv Awaiting international release
2010 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Ghost Voice Only
2010 Shrek Forever After King Harold Voice Only
2011 Happy Feet 2 Himself Voice Only
post-production
2011 Winnie the Pooh Narrator Voice Only
Video game credits

    Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time (1994) 7th Level
    Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996) 7th Level
    Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1997) Panasonic
    Starship Titanic (1998) Simon & Schuster Interactive (voice of the Bomb) — (Credited as Kim Bread)
    007 Racing (2000) Electronic Arts
    The World Is Not Enough (2000) Electronic Arts
    James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2004) Electronic Arts
    Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged (2004) Atari
    Jade Empire (2005) BioWare (as Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard)
    Shrek the Third (2007) King Harold, Narrator
    Fable III (2010) Jasper

Awards

    Academy Awards
        (1988) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda (shared with Charles Crichton)
    Golden Globe Awards
        (1988) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy / A Fish Called Wanda
    BAFTA Awards
        (1970) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Monty Python's Flying Circus
        (1971) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Monty Python's Flying Circus
        (1976) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Fawlty Towers
        (1980) Won—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Fawlty Towers
        (1989) Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda
        (also 1989) Won—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    Primetime Emmy Awards
        (1987) Won—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series / Cheers (as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce)
        (1998) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series / 3rd Rock from the Sun (as Dr. Liam Neesam)
        (2002) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Nonfiction Special" / The Human Face
        (2004) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series / Will & Grace (as Lyle Finster)
    Writers Guild of America
        (1989) Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda (shared with Charles Crichton)
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/DisenosEP/Avatares%20Bases/Unicos/john-cleese.png
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x170/speshlk0510/JohnCleese.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/27/11 at 11:44 am


The person of the day...John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese (/ˈkliːz/; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s he became a member of Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different, Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life.

In the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. He also starred in Clockwise, and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films, two Harry Potter films, and three Shrek films.

With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay he co-founded Video Arts, the production company responsible for making entertaining training films.
Cleese was one of the script writers, as well as being a member of the cast, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths, which was so successful during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and taken to the West End in London and then on a tour of New Zealand and Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some of the revue's sketches on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1964.

After Cambridge Circus, Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on and Off-Broadway. While performing in the musical Half a Sixpence, Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968.

He was soon offered work as a writer with BBC Radio, where he worked on several programmes, most notably as a sketch writer for The Dick Emery Show. The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, that were so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title that ran from 1965 to 1974. Cleese returned to England and joined the cast. In many episodes, he is credited as "John Otto Cleese".

Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on The Frost Report. The writing staff chosen for The Frost Report consisted of a number of writers and performers who would go on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included co-performers from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and also Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. It was while working on The Frost Report, in fact, that the future Pythons developed the writing styles that would make their collaboration significant. Cleese and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures, some of which were performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that open with idyllic countryside panoramas. Idle was one of those charged with writing David Frost's monologue. It was during this period that Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook.

It was as an actual performer on the Frost Report that Cleese achieved his breakthrough on British television as a comedy actor, appearing as the tall, patrician figure on the classic class sketch, contrasting comically in a line-up with the shorter, middle-class Ronnie Barker and the even-shorter, working-class Ronnie Corbett. Such was the popularity of the series that in 1966 Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show, during which time the Four Yorkshiremen sketch was written by all four writers/performers (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is now better known as a Monty Python sketch). Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for the first series of Doctor in the House (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of Doctor at Large on his own in 1971). These series were successful, and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, owing to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was therefore unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Palin on The Frost Report an enjoyable experience and invited him to join the series. Palin had previously been working on Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and Jones, with Terry Gilliam creating the animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, been offered a series for Thames Television, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones, and Idle.
Monty Python

Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four seasons from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC Television, though with only limited participation of Cleese in the last six shows. Cleese's two primary characterisations were as a sophisticate and a stressed-out loony. He portrayed the former as a series of announcers, TV show hosts, and government officials (for example, "The Ministry of Silly Walks"). The latter is perhaps best represented in the "Cheese Shop" and by Cleese's Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian Blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals all named "Eric". He was also known for his working-class "Sergeant Major" character, who worked as a Police Sergeant, Roman Centurion, etc. He is also seen as the opening announcer with the now famous line "And now for something completely different", although in its premiere in the sketch "Man with Three Buttocks", the phrase was spoken by Eric Idle.
Partnership with Graham Chapman

The Dead Parrot sketch performed on Monty Python's Flying Circus in 1969
listen to a clip from the sketch.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with Chapman provided Python with its darkest and angriest moments, and many of his characters display the seething suppressed rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty.

Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman actually wrote together—in the same room; Cleese claims that their writing partnership involved his sitting with pen and paper, doing most of the work, while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods, then suddenly coming out with an idea that often elevated the sketch to a different level. A classic example of this is the "Dead Parrot" sketch, envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and broadcast on the pre-Python special How To Irritate People). It was Chapman's suggestion to change the faulty item into a dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot be specifically a Norwegian Blue, giving the sketch a surreal air which made it far more memorable.

Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious reason. Like Chapman, Cleese's poker face, clipped middle-class accent, and imposing height allowed him to appear convincingly as a variety of authority figures, such as policemen, detectives, Nazi officers, or government officials—which he would then proceed to undermine. Most famously, in the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch (actually written by Palin and Jones), Cleese exploits his stature as the crane-legged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office.

Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches where two characters would conduct highly articulate arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such as in the "cheese shop", the "dead parrot" sketch and "The Argument Sketch", where Cleese plays a stone-faced bureaucrat employed to sit behind a desk and engage people in pointless, trivial bickering. All of these roles were opposite Palin (who Cleese often claims is his favourite Python to work with)—the comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed aggression and the shorter Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series. Occasionally, the typical Cleese-Palin dynamic is reversed, as in "Fish Licence", wherein Palin plays the bureaucrat with whom Cleese is trying to work.

Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese was growing tired of dealing with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before the fourth season. Despite this, he remained friendly with the group, and all six began writing Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Cleese received a credit on episodes of the fourth series which used material from these sessions, and even makes a brief appearance in one episode as the voice of a cartoon in the "Hamlet" episode, though he was officially unconnected with the fourth series. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in the Monty Python films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and participated in various live performances over the years.
Post-Python

From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University of St Andrews. His election proved a milestone for the University, revolutionising and modernising the post. For instance, the Rector was traditionally entitled to appoint an "Assessor", a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his absence. Cleese changed this into a position for a student, elected across campus by the student body, resulting in direct access and representation for the student body.

Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards when produced and in 2000, it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("...he's from Barcelona"), and Booth as waitress Polly, the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I could run this hotel just fine, if it weren't for the guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town.

The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of only twelve episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series.
Cleese as a Mexican maraca soloist as part of his 1977 guest appearance on The Muppet Show

In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on The Muppet Show. Cleese was a fan of the show, and co-wrote much of the episode. He appears in a "Pigs in Space" segment as a pirate trying to hijack the spaceship Swinetrek, and also helps Gonzo restore his arms to "normal" size after Gonzo's cannonball catching act goes wrong. During the show's closing number, Cleese refuses to sing the famous show tune from Man of La Mancha, "The Impossible Dream". Kermit The Frog apologises and the curtain re-opens with Cleese now costumed as a Viking trying some Wagnerian opera as part of a duet with Sweetums. Once again, Cleese protests to Kermit, and gives the frog one more chance. This time, as pictured opposite this text, he is costumed as a Mexican maraca soloist. He has finally had enough and protests that he is leaving the show, saying "You were supposed to be my host. How can you do this to me? Kermit – I am your guest!". The cast joins in with their parody of "The Impossible Dream", singing "This is your guest, to follow that star...". During the crowd's applause that follows the song, he pretends to strangle Kermit until he realises the crowd loves him and accepts the accolades. During the show's finale, as Kermit thanks him, he shows up with a fictional album, his own new vocal record John Cleese: A Man & His Music, and encourages everyone to buy a copy.

This would not be Cleese's final appearance with The Muppets. In their 1981 movie The Great Muppet Caper, Cleese does a cameo appearance as Neville, a local homeowner. As part of the appearance, Miss Piggy borrows his house as a way to impress Kermit The Frog.

Cleese won the TV Times award for Funniest Man On TV – 1978 / 1979.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. In the same year Cleese played Petruchio, in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he starred with Sean Connery and Michael Palin in the Terry Gilliam-directed Time Bandits as Robin Hood. He also participated in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and starred in The Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a small dramatic role as a sheriff in Silverado, which had an all-star cast that included Kevin Kline, with whom he would star with in A Fish Called Wanda three years later. In 1986, he starred in Clockwise as an uptight school headmaster obsessed with punctuality and constantly getting in to trouble during a journey to a headmaster's conference.
Cleese at the 1989 Academy Awards

Timed with the 1987 UK elections, he appeared in a video promoting proportional representation.

In 1988, he wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda, as the lead, Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. Wanda was a commercial and critical success, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his script. Cynthia Cleese starred as Leach's daughter.

Graham Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1989; Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook and Chapman's partner David Sherlock, witnessed Chapman's death. Chapman's death occurred a day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, with Jones commenting, "the worst case of party-pooping in all history." Cleese's eulogy at Chapman's memorial service—in which he "became the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fudge'"—has since become legendary.

Cleese would later play a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro. He also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings and More Bloody Meetings. These were produced by his company Video Arts.

With Robin Skynner, the group analyst and family therapist, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: Families and How to Survive Them, and Life and How to Survive It. The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese.

In 1996, Cleese declined the British honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). The follow-up to A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatures—which again starred Cleese alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Palin—was also released that year, but was greeted with mixed reception by critics and audiences. Cleese has since often stated that making the second movie had been a mistake. When asked by his friend, director and restaurant critic Michael Winner, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, Cleese responded, "I wouldn’t have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger and I wouldn’t have made Fierce Creatures."

In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant, referred to by Bond as "R". In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in Die Another Day, the character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. In 2004, Cleese was featured as Q in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, featuring his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the subsequent Bond films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
Year Title Role Notes
Films 1968 Interlude TV Publicist
1969 The Magic Christian Mr. Dougdale (director in Sotheby's)
1969 The Best House in London Jones Uncredited
1970 The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer Pummer Writer
1971 And Now for Something Completely Different Various Roles Writer
1974 Romance with a Double Bass Musician Smychkov Writer
1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail Various Roles Writer
1976 Meetings, Bloody Meetings Tim Writer/Executive Producer
Documentary Short
1977 The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It Arthur Sherlock Holmes
1979 Monty Python's Life of Brian Various Roles Writer
1980 The Secret Policeman's Ball Himself-Various Roles
1981 The Great Muppet Caper Neville
1981 Time Bandits Gormless Robin Hood
1982 Privates on Parade Major Giles Flack
1983 Yellowbeard Blind Pew
1983 Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Various Roles Writer
1985 Silverado Langston His first line, as he walks into a bar to
break up a brawl, is, "What's all this, then?")
1986 Clockwise Mr. Stimpson Evening Standard British Film Awards Peter Sellers Award for Comedy
1988 A Fish Called Wanda lawyer Archie Leach Writer/Executive Producer
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1989 Erik the Viking Halfdan the Black and Svend Berserk
1990 Bullseye! Man on the Beach in
Barbados Who Looks Like John Cleese
1991 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Cat R. Waul Voice Only
1992 Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? Narrator
1993 Splitting Heirs Raoul P. Shadgrind
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Professor Waldman
1994 Disney's Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book Dr. Julius Plumford
1994 The Swan Princess Jean-Bob
1996 The Wind in the Willows Mr. Toad's Lawyer
1996 Fierce Creatures Rollo Lee Writer/Producer
1997 George of the Jungle An Ape Named 'Ape' Voice Only
1998 In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese Host Narrator
1999 The Out-of-Towners Mr. Mersault
1999 The World Is Not Enough R
2000 Isn't She Great Henry Marcus
2000 The Magic Pudding Albert, The Magic Pudding Voice Only
2001 Quantum Project Alexander Pentcho
2001 Here's Looking at You: The Evolution of the Human Face Narrator
2001 Rat Race Donald P. Sinclair
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone "Nearly Headless Nick"
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets "Nearly Headless Nick" Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting
2002 Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio The Talking Crickett Voice Only: English Version
2002 Die Another Day Q Second appearance in a James Bond film,
replaces Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the series
2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash James
2003 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Mr. Munday
2003 Scorched Charles Merchant
2003 George of the Jungle 2 An Ape Named 'Ape' Voice Only
2004 Shrek 2 King Harold Voice Only
2004 Around the World in 80 Days Grizzled Sergeant
2005 Valiant Mercury Voice Only
2006 Charlotte's Web Samuel the Sheep Voice Only
2006 Man About Town Dr. Primkin
2007 Shrek the Third King Harold Voice Only
2008 Igor Dr. Glickenstein Voice Only
2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still Dr. Barnhardt
2009 The Pink Panther 2 Inspector Charles Dreyfus
2009 Planet 51 Professor Kipple Voice Only
2010 Spud The Guv Awaiting international release
2010 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Ghost Voice Only
2010 Shrek Forever After King Harold Voice Only
2011 Happy Feet 2 Himself Voice Only
post-production
2011 Winnie the Pooh Narrator Voice Only
Video game credits

    Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time (1994) 7th Level
    Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996) 7th Level
    Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1997) Panasonic
    Starship Titanic (1998) Simon & Schuster Interactive (voice of the Bomb) — (Credited as Kim Bread)
    007 Racing (2000) Electronic Arts
    The World Is Not Enough (2000) Electronic Arts
    James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2004) Electronic Arts
    Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged (2004) Atari
    Jade Empire (2005) BioWare (as Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard)
    Shrek the Third (2007) King Harold, Narrator
    Fable III (2010) Jasper

Awards

    Academy Awards
        (1988) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda (shared with Charles Crichton)
    Golden Globe Awards
        (1988) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy / A Fish Called Wanda
    BAFTA Awards
        (1970) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Monty Python's Flying Circus
        (1971) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Monty Python's Flying Circus
        (1976) Nominated—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Fawlty Towers
        (1980) Won—BAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" / Fawlty Towers
        (1989) Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda
        (also 1989) Won—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    Primetime Emmy Awards
        (1987) Won—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series / Cheers (as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce)
        (1998) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series / 3rd Rock from the Sun (as Dr. Liam Neesam)
        (2002) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Nonfiction Special" / The Human Face
        (2004) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series / Will & Grace (as Lyle Finster)
    Writers Guild of America
        (1989) Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda (shared with Charles Crichton)
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad131/DisenosEP/Avatares%20Bases/Unicos/john-cleese.png
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x170/speshlk0510/JohnCleese.jpg
Now what can I say about John Cleese?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/27/11 at 12:15 pm


Now what can I say about John Cleese?



And now for something completely different...




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/27/11 at 12:42 pm


Now what can I say about John Cleese?


He was excellent in the film Fish Called Wanda.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/27/11 at 3:29 pm

"I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires."

John Cleese

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/28/11 at 12:41 am

John Cleese & Michael Palin - 'The Parrot Sketch Revisited'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTV3lQc4AmQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/28/11 at 8:53 am


Now what can I say about John Cleese?

GENIUS :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/28/11 at 8:57 am

The person of the day...Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), which grossed $464 million worldwide. After receiving Golden Globe Awards and Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias (1989) and Pretty Woman, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in for her performance in Erin Brockovich (2000). Her films My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Mystic Pizza (1988), Notting Hill (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), Valentine's Day (2010), The Pelican Brief (1993), Ocean's Eleven (2001) and Twelve (2004) have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.4 billion, making her one of the most successful actors in terms of box office receipts.

Roberts had become one of the highest-paid actresses in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual "power list" of top-earning female stars from 2005 to 2006. Her fee for 1990's Pretty Woman was $300,000; in 2003, she was paid an unprecedented $25 million for her role in Mona Lisa Smile (2003). As of 2010, Roberts's net worth was estimated to be $140 million.

Roberts has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, ahead of then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and former first lady Laura Bush. Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films.
Roberts made her first big screen appearance in the film Satisfaction (1988), released on February 12, 1988, as a prostitute with, as she put it, "a heart of cocaine". She had previously performed a small role opposite her brother, Eric, in Blood Red (1986) (she has two words of dialogue), filmed in 1987 and released in 1989. Her first television appearance was as a juvenile rape victim in the initial season of the series Crime Story with Dennis Farina, in the episode titled "The Survivor", broadcast on February 13, 1987. Her first critical success with moviegoers was her performance in the independent film Mystic Pizza in 1988; that same year, she had a role in the fourth season finale of Miami Vice. In 1989, she was featured in Steel Magnolias, as a young bride with diabetes, and received both her first Academy Award nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) and first Golden Globe Award win (Motion Picture Best Supporting Actress) for her performance.
Roberts in 1990
1990–2000

Roberts became known to worldwide audiences when she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella/Pygmalionesque story, Pretty Woman, in 1990. Roberts won the role after Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Karen Allen, and Daryl Hannah (her co-star in Steel Magnolias) all turned it down. The role also earned her a second Oscar nomination, this time as Best Actress, and second Golden Globe Award win, as Motion Picture Best Actress (Musical or Comedy). Her next box office success was the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, playing a battered wife who escapes her abusive husband, played by Patrick Bergin, and begins a new life in Iowa. She played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, and also played a nurse in the 1991 film, Dying Young. This work was followed by a two-year hiatus, during which she made no films other than a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). In early 1993, she was the subject of a People magazine cover story asking, "What Happened to Julia Roberts?" She was offered the role of Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), but turned it down.

Roberts co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief (1993), based on John Grisham's 1992 novel of the same name. In 1995, she appeared in season 2 of Friends (episode 13 "The One After the Superbowl"). Roberts recorded her scenes from January 6–8, 1996. She had a relationship with cast member Matthew Perry at the time, and an audience member said about their on-screen kiss, "Julia looked at Matt and said 'I'm glad we rehearsed this over the weekend'." She was offered the role of Lucy Eleanor Moderatz in While You Were Sleeping (1995), but also turned it down.

Roberts co-starred with Liam Neeson in Michael Collins (1996). Over the next few years, she starred in a series of films that were critical and commercial failures, such as Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly (1996). Roberts overcame these with the commercial and critical success of My Best Friend's Wedding in 1997. In 1998, she appeared on Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, demonstrating her ability to change emotions. She was offered the role of Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love (1998), but turned it down. She starred with Hugh Grant in Notting Hill (1999). That same year she also starred in Runaway Bride, her second film with Richard Gere. Roberts was a guest star on the Law & Order television series episode "Empire" with series regular Benjamin Bratt (at that time her boyfriend). Also in 1999 she starred in the critically panned film Stepmom (1998) alongside Susan Sarandon.
2001–2005
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia, cast of Ocean's Eleven along with director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001.

In 2001 Roberts received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. While presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year she made a gaffe, saying she was glad that Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor, Bill Conti, who had tried to hasten the conclusion of her Oscar speech the previous year, but instead named the Scottish actor. Roberts team with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and Ocean's Twelve (2004). Later in 2001 she starred in the road gangster comedy, The Mexican, giving her a chance to work with long-time friend, Brad Pitt. In 2005 she was featured in the music video for the hit single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band; it was her first music video appearance.
2006–present

Roberts had two films released in 2006, The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web. Both films were animated features for which she provided voice acting. Her next film was Charlie Wilson's War (2007), with Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols and based on the book by former CBS journalist George Crile; it was released on December 21, 2007. Fireflies in the Garden (2008), also starring Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe, was released at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2008 and was subsequently shown in European cinemas; it did not get a North American release until 2011.

Roberts made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006 as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly US$1 million dollars in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. New York Times' critic Ben Brantly described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Brantley also criticized the production of "Greenberg's slender, elegant play," writing that “it's almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation, directed by Joe Mantello." Three Days of Rain received two Tony Award nominations in stagecraft categories. In 2009, Lancôme announced that Roberts would become their global ambassador for their company. Julia starred with Clive Owen in the comedy-thriller Duplicity for which she received her seventh Golden Globe nomination. In 2010, she appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day, with Cooper, and starred in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love. Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America's Sweethearts. Later in the year, she signed a five-year extension with Lancôme for GB£32 million (US$50 million). In 2011, she co-starred as Mercedes Tainot opposite Tom Hanks who directed and played the title role in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne. The movie has received generally bad reviews with only 35% of the 175 Rotten Tomatoes reviews giving it high ratings, although Roberts' comedic performance was praised.
American Girl films

Roberts has brought to life some of the books from American Girl as films, serving as executive producer alongside her sister Lisa. The company's product lines and services are focused on pre-teen-girl characters from various periods of American history, embodied as dolls and featured in narratives including books and movies. Roberts has produced four movies.
Year Title Role Notes
Film 1987 Firehouse Babs
1988 Blood Red Maria Collogero
1988 Mystic Pizza Daisy Arujo Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
1988 Satisfaction Daryle Also known as Girls of Summer
1989 Steel Magnolias Shelby Eatenton Latcherie Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990 Flatliners Rachel Mannus Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990 Pretty Woman Vivian Ward Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1991 Hook Tinkerbell Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
1991 Dying Young Hilary O'Neil Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1991 Sleeping with the Enemy Sara Waters/Laura Burney Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1992 The Player Cameo
1993 The Pelican Brief Darby Shaw Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Anne Eisenhower Also known as Ready to Wear
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
1994 I Love Trouble Sabrina Peterson
1995 Something to Talk About Grace King Bichon
1996 Everyone Says I Love You Von Sidell
1996 Michael Collins Kitty Kiernan
1996 Mary Reilly Mary Reilly Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Actress
1997 Conspiracy Theory Alice Sutton Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Suspense
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding Julianne Potter Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1998 Stepmom Isabel Kelly Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
1999 Runaway Bride Maggie Carpenter Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Notting Hill)
Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy/Romance
Nominated—Csapnivalo Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1999 Notting Hill Anna Scott Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Runaway Bride)
Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Couple (shared with Hugh Grant)
Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy/Romance
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2000 Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
Empire Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Teen Choice Award for Film – Choice Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Line from a Movie (For "Bite my ass, Krispy Kreme!")
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2001 Ocean's Eleven Tess Ocean Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2001 America's Sweethearts Kathleen "Kiki" Harrison
2001 The Mexican Samantha Barzel Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Film – Choice Chemistry (Shared with Brad Pitt)
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Patricia Watson
2002 Grand Champion Jolene
2002 Full Frontal Catherine/Francesca
2003 Mona Lisa Smile Katherine Ann Watson
2004 Ocean's Twelve Tess Ocean Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2004 Closer Anna Cameron National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2006 Charlotte's Web Charlotte the Spider (voice)
2006 Beslan: Three Days In September Narrator
2006 The Ant Bully Hova (voice) Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Joanne Herring Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2008 Fireflies in the Garden Lisa Waechter
2009 Duplicity Claire Stenwick Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2010 Valentine's Day Kate Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Eat Pray Love)
2010 Eat Pray Love Elizabeth Gilbert Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Valentine's Day)
2011 Larry Crowne Mercedes Tainot
2012 Snow White 3D (working title) Queen Clementianna
2012 August: Osage County Barbara Fordham
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1987 Crime Story Tracy Episode "The Survivor" (1.19)
1988 Miami Vice Polly Wheeler Season 4 episode 22: "Mirror Image"
1988 Baja Oklahoma Candy Hutchins TV
1996 Friends Susie Moss Episode "The One After the Superbowl: Part 2" (2.13)
1999 Law & Order Katrina Ludlow Episode "Empire"
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
2003 Freedom: A History Of Us Virginia Eyewitness 2 episodes: "What Is Freedom?" (1.07); "Yearning to Breathe Free" (1.10)
2010 Hope For Haiti Now Herself Telethon for Haiti earthquake relief
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Julia-Roberts.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg63/Pamalata/julia-roberts.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/28/11 at 11:42 am


The person of the day...Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990), which grossed $464 million worldwide. After receiving Golden Globe Awards and Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias (1989) and Pretty Woman, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in for her performance in Erin Brockovich (2000). Her films My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Mystic Pizza (1988), Notting Hill (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), Valentine's Day (2010), The Pelican Brief (1993), Ocean's Eleven (2001) and Twelve (2004) have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.4 billion, making her one of the most successful actors in terms of box office receipts.

Roberts had become one of the highest-paid actresses in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual "power list" of top-earning female stars from 2005 to 2006. Her fee for 1990's Pretty Woman was $300,000; in 2003, she was paid an unprecedented $25 million for her role in Mona Lisa Smile (2003). As of 2010, Roberts's net worth was estimated to be $140 million.

Roberts has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, ahead of then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and former first lady Laura Bush. Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films.
Roberts made her first big screen appearance in the film Satisfaction (1988), released on February 12, 1988, as a prostitute with, as she put it, "a heart of cocaine". She had previously performed a small role opposite her brother, Eric, in Blood Red (1986) (she has two words of dialogue), filmed in 1987 and released in 1989. Her first television appearance was as a juvenile rape victim in the initial season of the series Crime Story with Dennis Farina, in the episode titled "The Survivor", broadcast on February 13, 1987. Her first critical success with moviegoers was her performance in the independent film Mystic Pizza in 1988; that same year, she had a role in the fourth season finale of Miami Vice. In 1989, she was featured in Steel Magnolias, as a young bride with diabetes, and received both her first Academy Award nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) and first Golden Globe Award win (Motion Picture Best Supporting Actress) for her performance.
Roberts in 1990
1990–2000

Roberts became known to worldwide audiences when she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella/Pygmalionesque story, Pretty Woman, in 1990. Roberts won the role after Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Karen Allen, and Daryl Hannah (her co-star in Steel Magnolias) all turned it down. The role also earned her a second Oscar nomination, this time as Best Actress, and second Golden Globe Award win, as Motion Picture Best Actress (Musical or Comedy). Her next box office success was the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, playing a battered wife who escapes her abusive husband, played by Patrick Bergin, and begins a new life in Iowa. She played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, and also played a nurse in the 1991 film, Dying Young. This work was followed by a two-year hiatus, during which she made no films other than a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). In early 1993, she was the subject of a People magazine cover story asking, "What Happened to Julia Roberts?" She was offered the role of Annie Reed in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), but turned it down.

Roberts co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief (1993), based on John Grisham's 1992 novel of the same name. In 1995, she appeared in season 2 of Friends (episode 13 "The One After the Superbowl"). Roberts recorded her scenes from January 6–8, 1996. She had a relationship with cast member Matthew Perry at the time, and an audience member said about their on-screen kiss, "Julia looked at Matt and said 'I'm glad we rehearsed this over the weekend'." She was offered the role of Lucy Eleanor Moderatz in While You Were Sleeping (1995), but also turned it down.

Roberts co-starred with Liam Neeson in Michael Collins (1996). Over the next few years, she starred in a series of films that were critical and commercial failures, such as Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly (1996). Roberts overcame these with the commercial and critical success of My Best Friend's Wedding in 1997. In 1998, she appeared on Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, demonstrating her ability to change emotions. She was offered the role of Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love (1998), but turned it down. She starred with Hugh Grant in Notting Hill (1999). That same year she also starred in Runaway Bride, her second film with Richard Gere. Roberts was a guest star on the Law & Order television series episode "Empire" with series regular Benjamin Bratt (at that time her boyfriend). Also in 1999 she starred in the critically panned film Stepmom (1998) alongside Susan Sarandon.
2001–2005
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia, cast of Ocean's Eleven along with director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001.

In 2001 Roberts received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. While presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year she made a gaffe, saying she was glad that Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor, Bill Conti, who had tried to hasten the conclusion of her Oscar speech the previous year, but instead named the Scottish actor. Roberts team with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and Ocean's Twelve (2004). Later in 2001 she starred in the road gangster comedy, The Mexican, giving her a chance to work with long-time friend, Brad Pitt. In 2005 she was featured in the music video for the hit single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band; it was her first music video appearance.
2006–present

Roberts had two films released in 2006, The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web. Both films were animated features for which she provided voice acting. Her next film was Charlie Wilson's War (2007), with Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols and based on the book by former CBS journalist George Crile; it was released on December 21, 2007. Fireflies in the Garden (2008), also starring Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe, was released at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2008 and was subsequently shown in European cinemas; it did not get a North American release until 2011.

Roberts made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006 as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly US$1 million dollars in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. New York Times' critic Ben Brantly described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Brantley also criticized the production of "Greenberg's slender, elegant play," writing that “it's almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation, directed by Joe Mantello." Three Days of Rain received two Tony Award nominations in stagecraft categories. In 2009, Lancôme announced that Roberts would become their global ambassador for their company. Julia starred with Clive Owen in the comedy-thriller Duplicity for which she received her seventh Golden Globe nomination. In 2010, she appeared in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day, with Cooper, and starred in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love. Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America's Sweethearts. Later in the year, she signed a five-year extension with Lancôme for GB£32 million (US$50 million). In 2011, she co-starred as Mercedes Tainot opposite Tom Hanks who directed and played the title role in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne. The movie has received generally bad reviews with only 35% of the 175 Rotten Tomatoes reviews giving it high ratings, although Roberts' comedic performance was praised.
American Girl films

Roberts has brought to life some of the books from American Girl as films, serving as executive producer alongside her sister Lisa. The company's product lines and services are focused on pre-teen-girl characters from various periods of American history, embodied as dolls and featured in narratives including books and movies. Roberts has produced four movies.
Year Title Role Notes
Film 1987 Firehouse Babs
1988 Blood Red Maria Collogero
1988 Mystic Pizza Daisy Arujo Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
1988 Satisfaction Daryle Also known as Girls of Summer
1989 Steel Magnolias Shelby Eatenton Latcherie Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990 Flatliners Rachel Mannus Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990 Pretty Woman Vivian Ward Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1991 Hook Tinkerbell Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
1991 Dying Young Hilary O'Neil Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
1991 Sleeping with the Enemy Sara Waters/Laura Burney Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1992 The Player Cameo
1993 The Pelican Brief Darby Shaw Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1994 Prêt-à-Porter Anne Eisenhower Also known as Ready to Wear
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
1994 I Love Trouble Sabrina Peterson
1995 Something to Talk About Grace King Bichon
1996 Everyone Says I Love You Von Sidell
1996 Michael Collins Kitty Kiernan
1996 Mary Reilly Mary Reilly Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Actress
1997 Conspiracy Theory Alice Sutton Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Suspense
1997 My Best Friend's Wedding Julianne Potter Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1998 Stepmom Isabel Kelly Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
1999 Runaway Bride Maggie Carpenter Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Notting Hill)
Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy/Romance
Nominated—Csapnivalo Award for Best Female Performance
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
1999 Notting Hill Anna Scott Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Runaway Bride)
Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Movie Couple (shared with Hugh Grant)
Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Comedy/Romance
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2000 Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
Empire Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the Year
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Teen Choice Award for Film – Choice Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Line from a Movie (For "Bite my ass, Krispy Kreme!")
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable Female
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2001 Ocean's Eleven Tess Ocean Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2001 America's Sweethearts Kathleen "Kiki" Harrison
2001 The Mexican Samantha Barzel Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Film – Choice Chemistry (Shared with Brad Pitt)
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Patricia Watson
2002 Grand Champion Jolene
2002 Full Frontal Catherine/Francesca
2003 Mona Lisa Smile Katherine Ann Watson
2004 Ocean's Twelve Tess Ocean Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2004 Closer Anna Cameron National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2006 Charlotte's Web Charlotte the Spider (voice)
2006 Beslan: Three Days In September Narrator
2006 The Ant Bully Hova (voice) Nominated—Blimp Award for Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Joanne Herring Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2008 Fireflies in the Garden Lisa Waechter
2009 Duplicity Claire Stenwick Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2010 Valentine's Day Kate Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Eat Pray Love)
2010 Eat Pray Love Elizabeth Gilbert Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress (also for Valentine's Day)
2011 Larry Crowne Mercedes Tainot
2012 Snow White 3D (working title) Queen Clementianna
2012 August: Osage County Barbara Fordham
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1987 Crime Story Tracy Episode "The Survivor" (1.19)
1988 Miami Vice Polly Wheeler Season 4 episode 22: "Mirror Image"
1988 Baja Oklahoma Candy Hutchins TV
1996 Friends Susie Moss Episode "The One After the Superbowl: Part 2" (2.13)
1999 Law & Order Katrina Ludlow Episode "Empire"
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
2003 Freedom: A History Of Us Virginia Eyewitness 2 episodes: "What Is Freedom?" (1.07); "Yearning to Breathe Free" (1.10)
2010 Hope For Haiti Now Herself Telethon for Haiti earthquake relief
http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx85/96bearcat/Julia-Roberts.jpg
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg63/Pamalata/julia-roberts.jpg
I like her in Notting Hill

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/28/11 at 11:43 am


I like her in Notting Hill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/325000/images/_329426_julia150.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/28/11 at 1:17 pm


I like her in Notting Hill

Yeah, she had some great films..

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/28/11 at 1:47 pm


Yeah, she had some great films..
...and Hook, as Tinkerbell .

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/28/11 at 1:49 pm


...and Hook, as Tinkerbell .

Also, "Pretty Woman" from 1990.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/28/11 at 1:55 pm


Also, "Pretty Woman" from 1990.
All good films.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/28/11 at 1:56 pm

Also, "My Best Friend's Wedding", from 1997. I saw that in a movie theater.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/28/11 at 7:55 pm


I like her in Notting Hill


Pretty Woman was my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/29/11 at 9:01 am

The person of the day....Dan Castellaneta...DOLT
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby and Hans Moleman.

Born in Chicago, Castellaneta started taking acting classes at a young age. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of the artists. After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Castellaneta joined Chicago's Second City in 1983, and performed with the troupe until 1987. He was cast in The Tracey Ullman Show, which debuted in 1987. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta to voice Homer. His voice for the character started out as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but later evolved into a more robust voice. The shorts would eventually be spun off into The Simpsons. Castellaneta has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the show as well as an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation in 1993. Castellaneta has co-written four episodes of The Simpsons with his wife Deb Lacusta.

Castellaneta has also had roles in several other television programs, including the live-action sitcom Sibs, The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, and the animated series Darkwing Duck, Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Earthworm Jim, Aladdin and Hey Arnold!. In 1999, he appeared in the Christmas special Olive, the Other Reindeer and won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman. Castellaneta has also released a comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, and wrote and starred in a one man play titled Where Did Vincent van Gogh?
Castellaneta started acting after his graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1979. He decided that if his career went nowhere he would still have a chance to try something else. He began taking improvisation classes, where he met his future wife Deb Lacusta. Castellaneta started to work at The Second City, an improvisational theatre in Chicago, in 1983 and continued to work there until 1987. During this period, he did voice-over work with his wife for various radio stations. He auditioned for a role in The Tracey Ullman Show and his first meeting underwhelmed Tracey Ullman and the other producers. Ullman decided to fly to Chicago to watch Castellaneta perform. His performance that night was about a blind man who tries to become a comedian and Ullman later recalled that although there were flashier performances that night, Castellaneta made her cry. She was impressed and Castellaneta was hired.
The Simpsons

Castellaneta is most famous for his role as Homer Simpson on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta and fellow cast member Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge Simpson rather than hire more actors. Homer's voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice" and could not sustain his Matthau impression for the nine to ten hour long recording sessions. He tried to find something easier, so he "dropped the voice down", and developed it into a more versatile and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show. Castellaneta's normal speaking voice has no similarity to Homer's. To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest, and is said to "let his IQ go." Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions, and tries to visualize a scene in his mind so that he can give the proper voice to it. Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan."

Castellaneta also provides the voices for numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, the Squeaky Voiced Teen and Gil Gunderson. Krusty's voice is based on Chicago television's Bob Bell, who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. Barney's trademark is a loud belch. During early recording sessions for the show, he recorded a new version of the belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to do it every time a script called for it. Castellaneta chose a recording of what he believed was his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard. Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "Principal Charming". The character was written as an angry janitor and Castellaneta was assigned to perform the voice. He did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon, who was directing at the time, suggested he use an accent. Castellaneta first tried using a Hispanic voicing, which Simon felt was too clichéd. He then tried a "big dumb Swede", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of an angry Scotsman, which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode. The voice was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television, who was portrayed by Dave Thomas. Mayor Quimby, who first appeared in "Bart Gets an F", is a parody of various members of the Kennedy family. The episode script did not call for Quimby to be a parody of them, and Castellaneta improvised the accent. Sideshow Mel's voice is Castellaneta's impression of Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob. Gil is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross. Show runner Mike Scully thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing" but "Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character, we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in." The Blue-Haired Lawyer's voice, as well as his demeanor, is based on lawyer Roy Cohn.

Castellaneta has won several awards for voicing Homer, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" in 1992 for "Lisa's Pony", 1993 for "Mr. Plow", 2004 for voicing several characters in "Today I Am a Clown", and 2009 for voicing Homer in "Father Knows Worst". In 1993, Castellaneta was given a special Annie Award, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation", for his work as Homer on The Simpsons. In 2004, Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series". Homer was placed second on TV Guide's 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, and in 2000, Homer and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.

Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the dispute was soon resolved and he received $125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode. The issue was resolved a month later, and Castellaneta earned $250,000 per episode. After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors receive approximately $400,000 per episode.

In the early 1990s, Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta wrote a script for an episode in which Barney becomes sober. They pitched their idea to show runner Al Jean. Jean liked the story, but turned it down because he felt that it was too similar to "Duffless", an episode that the writers were already working on. They waited several years and offered their script, which they updated, to then-show runner Mike Scully, who liked it and had them make a few changes. Their script became the eleventh season episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", which first aired April 9, 2000. Castellaneta and his wife have also written the episodes "Gump Roast", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", and "The Fight Before Christmas". In 2007, they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Castellaneta is also credited as a consulting producer.
Further career

Castellaneta has been a regular cast member in several other television series. In 1991, he played Warren Morris in the short-lived ABC live-action sitcom Sibs. Heide Perlman, creator of Sibs, wrote the part with Castellaneta in mind. He also provided the voice of the eponymous character in The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, Megavolt in Darkwing Duck, "Doc" Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series, the lead character in Earthworm Jim and several characters, including Grandpa Phil and the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver, on Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!. He guest starred as The Robot Devil in three episodes of Futurama, as well as the film The Beast With a Billion Backs.

Castellaneta has also made guest appearances in a number of television series episodes. In 1992, he guest-starred in an episode of the legal drama L.A. Law, as a Homer Simpson meetable character at a California amusement park who is dismissed for inappropriate behavior while in costume. In 2005, he appeared in the episode "Sword of Destiny" in Arrested Development as Dr. Stein, a deadpan incompetent doctor. In 2005, Castellaneta guest-starred as Joe Spencer in the Stargate SG-1 season eight episode "Citizen Joe". He also appeared in episodes of ALF, Campus Ladies, Entourage, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Mad About You, Married... with Children, Murphy Brown, NYPD Blue, Reba, Reno 911!, That '70s Show, Veronica Mars, Yes, Dear, and Desperate Housewives.

He appeared as the Genie in the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar and on the 1994 Aladdin television series. The Genie had been voiced by Robin Williams in Aladdin, and Castellaneta described replacing him as "sort of like stepping into Hamlet after Laurence Olivier did it, how can you win?" Castellaneta portrayed Aaron Spelling in the 2004 NBC film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels, which followed the true story of how Spelling created the show. Other films in which Castellaneta has appeared include Nothing in Common, Say Anything..., Super Mario Bros., The Client, Space Jam, My Giant, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Recess: School's Out, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Cat in the Hat and The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2000, he won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman in the animated Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer. In 2006, he appeared in Jeff Garlin's independent film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With along with several other Second City alumni.

On February 22, 2000, his first music CD Two Lips was published. It was followed on April 23, 2002 by his first comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, in which he and his wife perform several comedy skits. The majority of the sketches had been written and performed before the CD was recorded, and Castellaneta thought that it would be a good idea to preserve them "since don't perform them much anymore." Some came from their sketch series on a local radio station in Chicago and had to be lengthened from the "two-minute bits" that they were originally, while several others were stage sketches performed in a comedy club in Santa Monica. Additionally, "Citizen Kane", a sketch in which two people discuss the film Citizen Kane with different meanings, was something the pair had performed at an art gallery. Castellaneta noted that "we already knew that these skits were funny, some of them we polished and tightened." The skits were principally written by improvising from a basic point, transcribing the results and then editing them to the finished scene. Castellaneta chose the title I Am Not Homer as a parody of Leonard Nimoy's famous first autobiography I Am Not Spock, as well as to show that most of the comedy featured "is not the typical Homer comedy."

Alongside his television and film work, Castellaneta has appeared in a number of theatrical productions. In 1992, he starred in Deb & Dan's Show alongside his wife. In 1995, Castellaneta started writing Where Did Vincent van Gogh?, a one man play in which he portrays a dozen different characters, including artist Vincent van Gogh. He first officially performed the play at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999. In 2007, he appeared in The Bicycle Men at The King's Head Theatre in London.
Personal life

Castellaneta lives in Los Angeles with his wife Deb Lacusta. He is a vegetarian, teetotaler, and exercises regularly. Castellaneta also practices T'ai Chi. His mother Elsie Castellaneta died in January 2008.
Filmography
Main article: Dan Castellaneta filmography
Discography
See also: The Simpsons discography
Album Released Label Notes
Two Lips February 2000 Oglio Records all-music comedy album.
I Am Not Homer April 23, 2002 Oglio Records Comedy album released with Deb Lacusta.

Also featured in:

    The Simpsons Sing the Blues (1990)
    Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997)
    The Yellow Album (1998)
    Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (1999)
    The Simpsons: Testify (2007)

Awards
Year Award Category Role Series Result
1992 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson
Grampa
various others The Simpsons Won
1993 Annie Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation Various characters The Simpsons Won
1993 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2000 Annie Award Outstanding Voice Acting by a Male Performer in a Television Series The Postman Olive, the Other Reindeer Won
2004 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Various characters The Simpsons Won
2004 Young Artist Award Most Popular Mom & Pop in a Television Series Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2007 WGA Award Animation The Simpsons Nominated
2009 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2010 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson The Simpsons Nominated
2011 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Louie The Simpsons Nominated
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb380/blogbiztutor/Cartoon%20dubber/a-famous-cartoon-voices-13.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/mexxian/Quiz%20Club/Connect/3a.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/29/11 at 9:07 am


The person of the day....Dan Castellaneta...DOLT
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby and Hans Moleman.

Born in Chicago, Castellaneta started taking acting classes at a young age. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of the artists. After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Castellaneta joined Chicago's Second City in 1983, and performed with the troupe until 1987. He was cast in The Tracey Ullman Show, which debuted in 1987. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta to voice Homer. His voice for the character started out as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but later evolved into a more robust voice. The shorts would eventually be spun off into The Simpsons. Castellaneta has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the show as well as an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation in 1993. Castellaneta has co-written four episodes of The Simpsons with his wife Deb Lacusta.

Castellaneta has also had roles in several other television programs, including the live-action sitcom Sibs, The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, and the animated series Darkwing Duck, Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Earthworm Jim, Aladdin and Hey Arnold!. In 1999, he appeared in the Christmas special Olive, the Other Reindeer and won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman. Castellaneta has also released a comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, and wrote and starred in a one man play titled Where Did Vincent van Gogh?
Castellaneta started acting after his graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1979. He decided that if his career went nowhere he would still have a chance to try something else. He began taking improvisation classes, where he met his future wife Deb Lacusta. Castellaneta started to work at The Second City, an improvisational theatre in Chicago, in 1983 and continued to work there until 1987. During this period, he did voice-over work with his wife for various radio stations. He auditioned for a role in The Tracey Ullman Show and his first meeting underwhelmed Tracey Ullman and the other producers. Ullman decided to fly to Chicago to watch Castellaneta perform. His performance that night was about a blind man who tries to become a comedian and Ullman later recalled that although there were flashier performances that night, Castellaneta made her cry. She was impressed and Castellaneta was hired.
The Simpsons

Castellaneta is most famous for his role as Homer Simpson on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta and fellow cast member Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge Simpson rather than hire more actors. Homer's voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice" and could not sustain his Matthau impression for the nine to ten hour long recording sessions. He tried to find something easier, so he "dropped the voice down", and developed it into a more versatile and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show. Castellaneta's normal speaking voice has no similarity to Homer's. To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest, and is said to "let his IQ go." Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions, and tries to visualize a scene in his mind so that he can give the proper voice to it. Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan."

Castellaneta also provides the voices for numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, the Squeaky Voiced Teen and Gil Gunderson. Krusty's voice is based on Chicago television's Bob Bell, who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. Barney's trademark is a loud belch. During early recording sessions for the show, he recorded a new version of the belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to do it every time a script called for it. Castellaneta chose a recording of what he believed was his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard. Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "Principal Charming". The character was written as an angry janitor and Castellaneta was assigned to perform the voice. He did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon, who was directing at the time, suggested he use an accent. Castellaneta first tried using a Hispanic voicing, which Simon felt was too clichéd. He then tried a "big dumb Swede", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of an angry Scotsman, which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode. The voice was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television, who was portrayed by Dave Thomas. Mayor Quimby, who first appeared in "Bart Gets an F", is a parody of various members of the Kennedy family. The episode script did not call for Quimby to be a parody of them, and Castellaneta improvised the accent. Sideshow Mel's voice is Castellaneta's impression of Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob. Gil is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross. Show runner Mike Scully thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing" but "Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character, we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in." The Blue-Haired Lawyer's voice, as well as his demeanor, is based on lawyer Roy Cohn.

Castellaneta has won several awards for voicing Homer, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" in 1992 for "Lisa's Pony", 1993 for "Mr. Plow", 2004 for voicing several characters in "Today I Am a Clown", and 2009 for voicing Homer in "Father Knows Worst". In 1993, Castellaneta was given a special Annie Award, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation", for his work as Homer on The Simpsons. In 2004, Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series". Homer was placed second on TV Guide's 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, and in 2000, Homer and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.

Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the dispute was soon resolved and he received $125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode. The issue was resolved a month later, and Castellaneta earned $250,000 per episode. After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors receive approximately $400,000 per episode.

In the early 1990s, Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta wrote a script for an episode in which Barney becomes sober. They pitched their idea to show runner Al Jean. Jean liked the story, but turned it down because he felt that it was too similar to "Duffless", an episode that the writers were already working on. They waited several years and offered their script, which they updated, to then-show runner Mike Scully, who liked it and had them make a few changes. Their script became the eleventh season episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", which first aired April 9, 2000. Castellaneta and his wife have also written the episodes "Gump Roast", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", and "The Fight Before Christmas". In 2007, they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Castellaneta is also credited as a consulting producer.
Further career

Castellaneta has been a regular cast member in several other television series. In 1991, he played Warren Morris in the short-lived ABC live-action sitcom Sibs. Heide Perlman, creator of Sibs, wrote the part with Castellaneta in mind. He also provided the voice of the eponymous character in The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, Megavolt in Darkwing Duck, "Doc" Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series, the lead character in Earthworm Jim and several characters, including Grandpa Phil and the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver, on Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!. He guest starred as The Robot Devil in three episodes of Futurama, as well as the film The Beast With a Billion Backs.

Castellaneta has also made guest appearances in a number of television series episodes. In 1992, he guest-starred in an episode of the legal drama L.A. Law, as a Homer Simpson meetable character at a California amusement park who is dismissed for inappropriate behavior while in costume. In 2005, he appeared in the episode "Sword of Destiny" in Arrested Development as Dr. Stein, a deadpan incompetent doctor. In 2005, Castellaneta guest-starred as Joe Spencer in the Stargate SG-1 season eight episode "Citizen Joe". He also appeared in episodes of ALF, Campus Ladies, Entourage, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Mad About You, Married... with Children, Murphy Brown, NYPD Blue, Reba, Reno 911!, That '70s Show, Veronica Mars, Yes, Dear, and Desperate Housewives.

He appeared as the Genie in the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar and on the 1994 Aladdin television series. The Genie had been voiced by Robin Williams in Aladdin, and Castellaneta described replacing him as "sort of like stepping into Hamlet after Laurence Olivier did it, how can you win?" Castellaneta portrayed Aaron Spelling in the 2004 NBC film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels, which followed the true story of how Spelling created the show. Other films in which Castellaneta has appeared include Nothing in Common, Say Anything..., Super Mario Bros., The Client, Space Jam, My Giant, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Recess: School's Out, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Cat in the Hat and The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2000, he won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman in the animated Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer. In 2006, he appeared in Jeff Garlin's independent film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With along with several other Second City alumni.

On February 22, 2000, his first music CD Two Lips was published. It was followed on April 23, 2002 by his first comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, in which he and his wife perform several comedy skits. The majority of the sketches had been written and performed before the CD was recorded, and Castellaneta thought that it would be a good idea to preserve them "since don't perform them much anymore." Some came from their sketch series on a local radio station in Chicago and had to be lengthened from the "two-minute bits" that they were originally, while several others were stage sketches performed in a comedy club in Santa Monica. Additionally, "Citizen Kane", a sketch in which two people discuss the film Citizen Kane with different meanings, was something the pair had performed at an art gallery. Castellaneta noted that "we already knew that these skits were funny, some of them we polished and tightened." The skits were principally written by improvising from a basic point, transcribing the results and then editing them to the finished scene. Castellaneta chose the title I Am Not Homer as a parody of Leonard Nimoy's famous first autobiography I Am Not Spock, as well as to show that most of the comedy featured "is not the typical Homer comedy."

Alongside his television and film work, Castellaneta has appeared in a number of theatrical productions. In 1992, he starred in Deb & Dan's Show alongside his wife. In 1995, Castellaneta started writing Where Did Vincent van Gogh?, a one man play in which he portrays a dozen different characters, including artist Vincent van Gogh. He first officially performed the play at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999. In 2007, he appeared in The Bicycle Men at The King's Head Theatre in London.
Personal life

Castellaneta lives in Los Angeles with his wife Deb Lacusta. He is a vegetarian, teetotaler, and exercises regularly. Castellaneta also practices T'ai Chi. His mother Elsie Castellaneta died in January 2008.
Filmography
Main article: Dan Castellaneta filmography
Discography
See also: The Simpsons discography
Album Released Label Notes
Two Lips February 2000 Oglio Records all-music comedy album.
I Am Not Homer April 23, 2002 Oglio Records Comedy album released with Deb Lacusta.

Also featured in:

    The Simpsons Sing the Blues (1990)
    Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997)
    The Yellow Album (1998)
    Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (1999)
    The Simpsons: Testify (2007)

Awards
Year Award Category Role Series Result
1992 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson
Grampa
various others The Simpsons Won
1993 Annie Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation Various characters The Simpsons Won
1993 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2000 Annie Award Outstanding Voice Acting by a Male Performer in a Television Series The Postman Olive, the Other Reindeer Won
2004 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Various characters The Simpsons Won
2004 Young Artist Award Most Popular Mom & Pop in a Television Series Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2007 WGA Award Animation The Simpsons Nominated
2009 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2010 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson The Simpsons Nominated
2011 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Louie The Simpsons Nominated
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb380/blogbiztutor/Cartoon%20dubber/a-famous-cartoon-voices-13.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/mexxian/Quiz%20Club/Connect/3a.jpg
At first I like The Simpsons, appreciating the talent within the show, but now I find the animated series tiresome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/29/11 at 1:44 pm


At first I like The Simpsons, appreciating the talent within the show, but now I find the animated series tiresome.

I can relate. When it was a "new" show, during the early 1990s, it was great and all... but as it continued to be produced, it hasn't been quite the same.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/29/11 at 8:00 pm


The person of the day....Dan Castellaneta...DOLT
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby and Hans Moleman.

Born in Chicago, Castellaneta started taking acting classes at a young age. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of the artists. After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Castellaneta joined Chicago's Second City in 1983, and performed with the troupe until 1987. He was cast in The Tracey Ullman Show, which debuted in 1987. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta to voice Homer. His voice for the character started out as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but later evolved into a more robust voice. The shorts would eventually be spun off into The Simpsons. Castellaneta has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the show as well as an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation in 1993. Castellaneta has co-written four episodes of The Simpsons with his wife Deb Lacusta.

Castellaneta has also had roles in several other television programs, including the live-action sitcom Sibs, The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, and the animated series Darkwing Duck, Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Earthworm Jim, Aladdin and Hey Arnold!. In 1999, he appeared in the Christmas special Olive, the Other Reindeer and won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman. Castellaneta has also released a comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, and wrote and starred in a one man play titled Where Did Vincent van Gogh?
Castellaneta started acting after his graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1979. He decided that if his career went nowhere he would still have a chance to try something else. He began taking improvisation classes, where he met his future wife Deb Lacusta. Castellaneta started to work at The Second City, an improvisational theatre in Chicago, in 1983 and continued to work there until 1987. During this period, he did voice-over work with his wife for various radio stations. He auditioned for a role in The Tracey Ullman Show and his first meeting underwhelmed Tracey Ullman and the other producers. Ullman decided to fly to Chicago to watch Castellaneta perform. His performance that night was about a blind man who tries to become a comedian and Ullman later recalled that although there were flashier performances that night, Castellaneta made her cry. She was impressed and Castellaneta was hired.
The Simpsons

Castellaneta is most famous for his role as Homer Simpson on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta and fellow cast member Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge Simpson rather than hire more actors. Homer's voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice" and could not sustain his Matthau impression for the nine to ten hour long recording sessions. He tried to find something easier, so he "dropped the voice down", and developed it into a more versatile and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show. Castellaneta's normal speaking voice has no similarity to Homer's. To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest, and is said to "let his IQ go." Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions, and tries to visualize a scene in his mind so that he can give the proper voice to it. Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan."

Castellaneta also provides the voices for numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, the Squeaky Voiced Teen and Gil Gunderson. Krusty's voice is based on Chicago television's Bob Bell, who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. Barney's trademark is a loud belch. During early recording sessions for the show, he recorded a new version of the belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to do it every time a script called for it. Castellaneta chose a recording of what he believed was his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard. Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "Principal Charming". The character was written as an angry janitor and Castellaneta was assigned to perform the voice. He did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon, who was directing at the time, suggested he use an accent. Castellaneta first tried using a Hispanic voicing, which Simon felt was too clichéd. He then tried a "big dumb Swede", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of an angry Scotsman, which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode. The voice was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television, who was portrayed by Dave Thomas. Mayor Quimby, who first appeared in "Bart Gets an F", is a parody of various members of the Kennedy family. The episode script did not call for Quimby to be a parody of them, and Castellaneta improvised the accent. Sideshow Mel's voice is Castellaneta's impression of Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob. Gil is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross. Show runner Mike Scully thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing" but "Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character, we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in." The Blue-Haired Lawyer's voice, as well as his demeanor, is based on lawyer Roy Cohn.

Castellaneta has won several awards for voicing Homer, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" in 1992 for "Lisa's Pony", 1993 for "Mr. Plow", 2004 for voicing several characters in "Today I Am a Clown", and 2009 for voicing Homer in "Father Knows Worst". In 1993, Castellaneta was given a special Annie Award, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation", for his work as Homer on The Simpsons. In 2004, Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series". Homer was placed second on TV Guide's 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, and in 2000, Homer and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.

Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the dispute was soon resolved and he received $125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode. The issue was resolved a month later, and Castellaneta earned $250,000 per episode. After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors receive approximately $400,000 per episode.

In the early 1990s, Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta wrote a script for an episode in which Barney becomes sober. They pitched their idea to show runner Al Jean. Jean liked the story, but turned it down because he felt that it was too similar to "Duffless", an episode that the writers were already working on. They waited several years and offered their script, which they updated, to then-show runner Mike Scully, who liked it and had them make a few changes. Their script became the eleventh season episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", which first aired April 9, 2000. Castellaneta and his wife have also written the episodes "Gump Roast", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", and "The Fight Before Christmas". In 2007, they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Castellaneta is also credited as a consulting producer.
Further career

Castellaneta has been a regular cast member in several other television series. In 1991, he played Warren Morris in the short-lived ABC live-action sitcom Sibs. Heide Perlman, creator of Sibs, wrote the part with Castellaneta in mind. He also provided the voice of the eponymous character in The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, Megavolt in Darkwing Duck, "Doc" Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series, the lead character in Earthworm Jim and several characters, including Grandpa Phil and the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver, on Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!. He guest starred as The Robot Devil in three episodes of Futurama, as well as the film The Beast With a Billion Backs.

Castellaneta has also made guest appearances in a number of television series episodes. In 1992, he guest-starred in an episode of the legal drama L.A. Law, as a Homer Simpson meetable character at a California amusement park who is dismissed for inappropriate behavior while in costume. In 2005, he appeared in the episode "Sword of Destiny" in Arrested Development as Dr. Stein, a deadpan incompetent doctor. In 2005, Castellaneta guest-starred as Joe Spencer in the Stargate SG-1 season eight episode "Citizen Joe". He also appeared in episodes of ALF, Campus Ladies, Entourage, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Mad About You, Married... with Children, Murphy Brown, NYPD Blue, Reba, Reno 911!, That '70s Show, Veronica Mars, Yes, Dear, and Desperate Housewives.

He appeared as the Genie in the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar and on the 1994 Aladdin television series. The Genie had been voiced by Robin Williams in Aladdin, and Castellaneta described replacing him as "sort of like stepping into Hamlet after Laurence Olivier did it, how can you win?" Castellaneta portrayed Aaron Spelling in the 2004 NBC film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels, which followed the true story of how Spelling created the show. Other films in which Castellaneta has appeared include Nothing in Common, Say Anything..., Super Mario Bros., The Client, Space Jam, My Giant, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Recess: School's Out, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Cat in the Hat and The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2000, he won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman in the animated Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer. In 2006, he appeared in Jeff Garlin's independent film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With along with several other Second City alumni.

On February 22, 2000, his first music CD Two Lips was published. It was followed on April 23, 2002 by his first comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, in which he and his wife perform several comedy skits. The majority of the sketches had been written and performed before the CD was recorded, and Castellaneta thought that it would be a good idea to preserve them "since don't perform them much anymore." Some came from their sketch series on a local radio station in Chicago and had to be lengthened from the "two-minute bits" that they were originally, while several others were stage sketches performed in a comedy club in Santa Monica. Additionally, "Citizen Kane", a sketch in which two people discuss the film Citizen Kane with different meanings, was something the pair had performed at an art gallery. Castellaneta noted that "we already knew that these skits were funny, some of them we polished and tightened." The skits were principally written by improvising from a basic point, transcribing the results and then editing them to the finished scene. Castellaneta chose the title I Am Not Homer as a parody of Leonard Nimoy's famous first autobiography I Am Not Spock, as well as to show that most of the comedy featured "is not the typical Homer comedy."

Alongside his television and film work, Castellaneta has appeared in a number of theatrical productions. In 1992, he starred in Deb & Dan's Show alongside his wife. In 1995, Castellaneta started writing Where Did Vincent van Gogh?, a one man play in which he portrays a dozen different characters, including artist Vincent van Gogh. He first officially performed the play at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999. In 2007, he appeared in The Bicycle Men at The King's Head Theatre in London.
Personal life

Castellaneta lives in Los Angeles with his wife Deb Lacusta. He is a vegetarian, teetotaler, and exercises regularly. Castellaneta also practices T'ai Chi. His mother Elsie Castellaneta died in January 2008.
Filmography
Main article: Dan Castellaneta filmography
Discography
See also: The Simpsons discography
Album Released Label Notes
Two Lips February 2000 Oglio Records all-music comedy album.
I Am Not Homer April 23, 2002 Oglio Records Comedy album released with Deb Lacusta.

Also featured in:

    The Simpsons Sing the Blues (1990)
    Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997)
    The Yellow Album (1998)
    Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (1999)
    The Simpsons: Testify (2007)

Awards
Year Award Category Role Series Result
1992 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson
Grampa
various others The Simpsons Won
1993 Annie Award Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation Various characters The Simpsons Won
1993 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2000 Annie Award Outstanding Voice Acting by a Male Performer in a Television Series The Postman Olive, the Other Reindeer Won
2004 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Various characters The Simpsons Won
2004 Young Artist Award Most Popular Mom & Pop in a Television Series Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2007 WGA Award Animation The Simpsons Nominated
2009 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson The Simpsons Won
2010 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson The Simpsons Nominated
2011 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Louie The Simpsons Nominated
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb380/blogbiztutor/Cartoon%20dubber/a-famous-cartoon-voices-13.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/mexxian/Quiz%20Club/Connect/3a.jpg


Dan is great,always loved Homer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/29/11 at 8:01 pm


I can relate. When it was a "new" show, during the early 1990s, it was great and all... but as it continued to be produced, it hasn't been quite the same.


after almost 25 years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/29/11 at 9:58 pm


after almost 25 years.

In 2014 it'll be that long since it became its own show. Think it might still be on the air then?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/30/11 at 6:56 am


In 2014 it'll be that long since it became its own show. Think it might still be on the air then?


I don't think so.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/30/11 at 9:11 am


In 2014 it'll be that long since it became its own show. Think it might still be on the air then?
With better writers, it may last longer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/30/11 at 9:42 am


In 2014 it'll be that long since it became its own show. Think it might still be on the air then?

I think it will, it's not like its that far off. I haven't looked at the ratings recently so I'm not sure if it's still in the top 20.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/30/11 at 9:45 am

The person of the day...Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (Hon.) (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer, and author.

Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz," a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended.
ppy Days

Winkler started acting by appearing in a number of television commercials. In October 1973, he was cast for the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, nicknamed "The Fonz" or "Fonzie", in the long-running 1970s television series Happy Days. The show was first aired in January 1974.

During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also starred in a number of movies, including The Lords of Flatbush (1974), playing a troubled Vietnam veteran in Heroes (1977), The One and Only (1978), and a morgue attendant in Night Shift (1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. Winkler was also one of the hosts of the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert.
Richie takes a turn on Fonzie's motorcycle.

For Happy Days, director/producer Garry Marshall originally had in mind a completely opposite physical presence. Marshall sought to cast an Italian model-type male in the role of Fonzie, intended as a stupid foil to the real star, Ron Howard. However, when Winkler, a Yale MFA student, interpreted the role in auditions, Marshall immediately snapped him up. According to Winkler, "The Fonz was everybody I wasn't. He was everybody I wanted to be."

Winkler's character, though remaining very much a rough-hewn outsider, gradually became the focus of the show as time passed (in particular after the departure of Ron Howard). Initially, ABC executives did not want to see the Fonz wearing leather, thinking the character would appear to be a criminal. The first 13 episodes show Winkler wearing two different kinds of windbreaker jackets, one of which was green. As Winkler said in a TV Land interview, "It's hard to look cool in a green windbreaker". Marshall argued with the executives about the jacket. In the end, a compromise was made. Winkler could only wear the leather jacket in scenes with his motorcycle, and from that point on, the Fonz was never without his motorcycle until season 2.

To go against his Fonzie stereotype and draw more attention to his real acting abilities, Winkler starred in a TV special, Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare, in 1976. In this videotaped show, he was giving a group of children a tour of a theater and teaching them theatrical terms and basic stagecraft when William Shakespeare suddenly appeared from a box, acted out famous lines from his plays, and eventually directed Winkler in a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Drawing upon his Shakespearean training at Yale, Winkler played Romeo killing Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a sword duel in retaliation for Tybalt's murder of Romeo's friend Mercutio.

In 1979 Winkler appeared in the made-for-TV movie An American Christmas Carol, which was a modern remake of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. An American Christmas Carol was set in Concord, New Hampshire during the Great Depression. Winkler played the role of Benedict Slade, the Ebenezer Scrooge equivalent of that film.
Beyond Happy Days

After Happy Days, Winkler concentrated on producing and directing. Within months, he had opened Winkler-Rich Productions. He produced several television shows including MacGyver, So Weird and Mr. Sunshine, Sightings, and the game shows Wintuition and Hollywood Squares (the latter from 2002–2004 only; occasionally serving as a sub-announcer). He also directed several movies including the Billy Crystal movie Memories of Me (1988) and Cop and a Half (1993) with Burt Reynolds.
Winkler, September 1990
Return to acting

As the 1990s continued, Winkler returned to acting. in 1991, he starred in the controversial TV-movie Absolute Strangers, as a husband forced to make a decision regarding his comatose wife and his unborn baby. In 1994 he returned to TV with the short-lived comedy series Monty on Fox. Also in 1994, he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in the holiday TV movie One Christmas.

He played an uncredited role as a high school principal in the 1996 movie Scream (1996). In 1998, Adam Sandler asked Winkler to play a college football coach, a supporting role in The Waterboy (1998). He would later appear in three other Sandler films, Little Nicky (2000) where he plays himself and is covered in bees, Click (2006, as the main character's father), and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), again playing himself. He also played small roles in movies such as Down to You (2000), Holes (2003), and I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007).
Television

More recently Winkler had a recurring role as incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in the Fox Television comedy Arrested Development. In one episode, his character hopped over a confined shark lying on a pier, a reference to his role in the origin of the phrase "jumping the shark". After that episode, Winkler in interviews stated that he was the only person to have "jumped the shark" twice.

When Winkler moved to CBS for one season to star in 2005–06's Out of Practice, his role as the Bluth family lawyer on Arrested Development was taken over by Happy Days co-star Scott Baio in the fall of 2005, shortly before the acclaimed but Nielsen-challenged show ceased production.

Winkler has guest-starred on television series such as Numb3rs, The Bob Newhart Show (as Miles Lascoe, a parolee just out of jail. He was in jail for armed robbery, twice.), South Park, The Practice, The Simpsons (playing a member of a biker gang. In one scene, he calls Marge "Mrs. S", a reference to Fonzie calling "Happy Days" matriarch Marion Cunningham "Mrs. C"), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Third Watch, Arrested Development, Crossing Jordan, Family Guy, King of the Hill and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil.

The Weezer video for 1994's "Buddy Holly" edited period footage of Henry Winkler as the Fonz, as well as a double shot from behind to create the illusion that Fonzie and other characters were watching Weezer as they performed in Arnold's restaurant. His most recent appearances were on KTTV's Good Day L.A.. Once, while substituting for Steve Edwards, Winkler reunited with fellow Happy Days cast member Marion Ross. Winkler made a cameo appearance in the band Say Anything's video for "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too".

A close friend to actor John Ritter, the two led a Broadway ensemble cast in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party in 2000. Winkler was reunited as a guest star on Ritter's sitcom 8 Simple Rules (for Dating my Teenage Daughter) in 2003 by Ritter's request. On September 11, Ritter became ill during filming, and unexpectedly died. A stunned, grief-stricken Winkler was interviewed by Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight and various other entertainment news sources, and served as a soothing voice and champion of John's talent in September 2003.
Winkler at the 2008 Fan Expo Canada

In 2008, he appeared in two Christmas movies, in the Hallmark Channel movie The Most Wonderful Time of the Year as a retired cop who plays matchmaker between his niece and a drifter he befriends, and in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh as the judge who orders Drake and Josh to give a young girl "the best Christmas ever" or be sent to jail. In 2009, Winkler provided the voice of Willard Deutschebog, a suicidal German teacher, in the Fox comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up.
Hank Zipzer books

Since 2003, Winkler has collaborated with Lin Oliver on a series of children's books about a 4th grade boy, Hank Zipzer, who is dyslexic. Winkler also has the learning disability, which was not diagnosed until he was 31 and his stepson Jed was tested; the dyslexia was an unhappy part of his childhood. Winkler has published 17 books about his hero Zipzer, the "world's greatest underachiever".

In July 2008 Winkler joined First News on their annual Reading Tour of schools where he read excerpts from his Hank Zipzer books. This has since become an annual tour.
Pantomime

Winkler appeared in his first pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London in 2006, playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan, replacing David Hasselhoff who pulled out when he was offered a TV role by Simon Cowell. He reprised the role in Woking, England for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre and donned the hook once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire.

On June 2, 2010, it was announced that Winkler would become the television spokesman for One Reverse Mortgage, a reverse mortgage lender.
Obama election

In October 2008, Winkler appeared in a video on funnyordie.com with Ron Howard, reprising their roles as Fonzie and Richie Cunningham, encouraging people to vote for Barack Obama. The video entitled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action" also features Andy Griffith.
2010-present

As of June 2010, Winkler is appearing on the USA show Royal Pains as the father of the two main characters.

On June 19, 2010, Winkler appeared on James Corden ITV World Cup Live show. He represented the USA in the World Cup Wall Chart.

As of the summer/fall 2010 season, Winkler has joined the cast of Adult Swim's television adaptation of Rob Corddry's web series, Childrens Hospital, playing a stereotypically feckless hospital administrator.

In late September 2010, Winkler was the voice of Professor Nathaniel Zib in the Lego Hero Factory mini-series, Rise of the Rookies.

On May 31, 2011, Winkler's book, I've Never Met an Idiot on the River, was published. It is a collection of his photographs and reflections drawn from his love of fly fishing and life with his family.
OBE

In September 2011 Winkler was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to children with special educational needs and dyslexia in the UK."
Honors and awards

    In 1996, Winkler was selected to be the Class Day speaker at Yale University, an honor accorded to distinguished Yale alumni.
    On August 3, 2008, Winkler was chosen to be the guest conductor at the Boston Pops by the Sea Concert in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
    On August 19, 2008, Milwaukeeans paid homage to their hometown hero and unveiled a life-sized, bronze statue of Fonzie along the Milwaukee Riverwalk.
    On March 29, 2010, Winkler was presented the key to the City of Winnipeg for his contributions to education and literacy.

Golden Globe Awards

    (1976) Won - Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy/Happy Days
    (1977) Won - Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy/Happy Days
    (1978) Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama/Heroes
    (1983) Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy/Night Shift

Primetime Emmy Awards

    (1976) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1977) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1978) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1979) Nominated - Outstanding Informational Program / Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
    (1997) Nominated - Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series / The Practice (as Henry Olson)

Selected filmography

    Crazy Joe (1974)
    The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
    Happy Days (TV series) (1974–1982)
    Katherine, also known as The Radical (1975)
    Heroes (1977)
    The One and Only (1978)
    Night Shift (1982)
    Memories of Me (directing) (1988)
    Macgyver(1991)
    Cop and a Half (directing) (1993)
    Scream (1996) (Principal Himbry) (uncredited)
    Detention: The Siege at Johnson High (1997)
    Dad's Week Off (1997)
    Dead Man's Gun (TV series) (1997-1999) (executive producer)
    Ground Control (1998)
    The Waterboy (1998)
    P.U.N.K.S. (1999)
    Dill Scallion (1999)
    Little Nicky (2000)
    Down to You (2000)
    Law and Order SVU (2002)
    Holes (2003)
    Arrested Development (TV series) (2003–2006)
    King of the Hill (2004)
    Berkeley (2005)
    Malcolm in the Middle (2005)
    The Kid & I (2005)
    Out of practice (TV series) (2005–2006)
    Duck Dodgers (2006)
    Unbeatable Harold (2006)
    Click (2006)
    I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
    A Plumm Summer (2007)
    NUMB3RS (2008–2009)
    You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
    Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)
    The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008)
    Sit Down, Shut Up (2009) (TV series)
    Group Sex (2010)
    Royal Pains (TV, 2010-2011)
    Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010)
    Childrens Hospital (TV, 2010)
    LEGO Hero Factory (TV, 2010-2011)
    Batman: The Brave and the Bold (TV, 2011)
    Here Comes the Boom (2012)
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f290/HussyBiker/Bikers/HenryWinkler.jpg
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq198/learykids/beach057.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/30/11 at 9:46 am


The person of the day...Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (Hon.) (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer, and author.

Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz," a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended.
ppy Days

Winkler started acting by appearing in a number of television commercials. In October 1973, he was cast for the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, nicknamed "The Fonz" or "Fonzie", in the long-running 1970s television series Happy Days. The show was first aired in January 1974.

During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also starred in a number of movies, including The Lords of Flatbush (1974), playing a troubled Vietnam veteran in Heroes (1977), The One and Only (1978), and a morgue attendant in Night Shift (1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. Winkler was also one of the hosts of the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert.
Richie takes a turn on Fonzie's motorcycle.

For Happy Days, director/producer Garry Marshall originally had in mind a completely opposite physical presence. Marshall sought to cast an Italian model-type male in the role of Fonzie, intended as a stupid foil to the real star, Ron Howard. However, when Winkler, a Yale MFA student, interpreted the role in auditions, Marshall immediately snapped him up. According to Winkler, "The Fonz was everybody I wasn't. He was everybody I wanted to be."

Winkler's character, though remaining very much a rough-hewn outsider, gradually became the focus of the show as time passed (in particular after the departure of Ron Howard). Initially, ABC executives did not want to see the Fonz wearing leather, thinking the character would appear to be a criminal. The first 13 episodes show Winkler wearing two different kinds of windbreaker jackets, one of which was green. As Winkler said in a TV Land interview, "It's hard to look cool in a green windbreaker". Marshall argued with the executives about the jacket. In the end, a compromise was made. Winkler could only wear the leather jacket in scenes with his motorcycle, and from that point on, the Fonz was never without his motorcycle until season 2.

To go against his Fonzie stereotype and draw more attention to his real acting abilities, Winkler starred in a TV special, Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare, in 1976. In this videotaped show, he was giving a group of children a tour of a theater and teaching them theatrical terms and basic stagecraft when William Shakespeare suddenly appeared from a box, acted out famous lines from his plays, and eventually directed Winkler in a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Drawing upon his Shakespearean training at Yale, Winkler played Romeo killing Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a sword duel in retaliation for Tybalt's murder of Romeo's friend Mercutio.

In 1979 Winkler appeared in the made-for-TV movie An American Christmas Carol, which was a modern remake of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. An American Christmas Carol was set in Concord, New Hampshire during the Great Depression. Winkler played the role of Benedict Slade, the Ebenezer Scrooge equivalent of that film.
Beyond Happy Days

After Happy Days, Winkler concentrated on producing and directing. Within months, he had opened Winkler-Rich Productions. He produced several television shows including MacGyver, So Weird and Mr. Sunshine, Sightings, and the game shows Wintuition and Hollywood Squares (the latter from 2002–2004 only; occasionally serving as a sub-announcer). He also directed several movies including the Billy Crystal movie Memories of Me (1988) and Cop and a Half (1993) with Burt Reynolds.
Winkler, September 1990
Return to acting

As the 1990s continued, Winkler returned to acting. in 1991, he starred in the controversial TV-movie Absolute Strangers, as a husband forced to make a decision regarding his comatose wife and his unborn baby. In 1994 he returned to TV with the short-lived comedy series Monty on Fox. Also in 1994, he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in the holiday TV movie One Christmas.

He played an uncredited role as a high school principal in the 1996 movie Scream (1996). In 1998, Adam Sandler asked Winkler to play a college football coach, a supporting role in The Waterboy (1998). He would later appear in three other Sandler films, Little Nicky (2000) where he plays himself and is covered in bees, Click (2006, as the main character's father), and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), again playing himself. He also played small roles in movies such as Down to You (2000), Holes (2003), and I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007).
Television

More recently Winkler had a recurring role as incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in the Fox Television comedy Arrested Development. In one episode, his character hopped over a confined shark lying on a pier, a reference to his role in the origin of the phrase "jumping the shark". After that episode, Winkler in interviews stated that he was the only person to have "jumped the shark" twice.

When Winkler moved to CBS for one season to star in 2005–06's Out of Practice, his role as the Bluth family lawyer on Arrested Development was taken over by Happy Days co-star Scott Baio in the fall of 2005, shortly before the acclaimed but Nielsen-challenged show ceased production.

Winkler has guest-starred on television series such as Numb3rs, The Bob Newhart Show (as Miles Lascoe, a parolee just out of jail. He was in jail for armed robbery, twice.), South Park, The Practice, The Simpsons (playing a member of a biker gang. In one scene, he calls Marge "Mrs. S", a reference to Fonzie calling "Happy Days" matriarch Marion Cunningham "Mrs. C"), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Third Watch, Arrested Development, Crossing Jordan, Family Guy, King of the Hill and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil.

The Weezer video for 1994's "Buddy Holly" edited period footage of Henry Winkler as the Fonz, as well as a double shot from behind to create the illusion that Fonzie and other characters were watching Weezer as they performed in Arnold's restaurant. His most recent appearances were on KTTV's Good Day L.A.. Once, while substituting for Steve Edwards, Winkler reunited with fellow Happy Days cast member Marion Ross. Winkler made a cameo appearance in the band Say Anything's video for "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too".

A close friend to actor John Ritter, the two led a Broadway ensemble cast in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party in 2000. Winkler was reunited as a guest star on Ritter's sitcom 8 Simple Rules (for Dating my Teenage Daughter) in 2003 by Ritter's request. On September 11, Ritter became ill during filming, and unexpectedly died. A stunned, grief-stricken Winkler was interviewed by Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight and various other entertainment news sources, and served as a soothing voice and champion of John's talent in September 2003.
Winkler at the 2008 Fan Expo Canada

In 2008, he appeared in two Christmas movies, in the Hallmark Channel movie The Most Wonderful Time of the Year as a retired cop who plays matchmaker between his niece and a drifter he befriends, and in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh as the judge who orders Drake and Josh to give a young girl "the best Christmas ever" or be sent to jail. In 2009, Winkler provided the voice of Willard Deutschebog, a suicidal German teacher, in the Fox comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up.
Hank Zipzer books

Since 2003, Winkler has collaborated with Lin Oliver on a series of children's books about a 4th grade boy, Hank Zipzer, who is dyslexic. Winkler also has the learning disability, which was not diagnosed until he was 31 and his stepson Jed was tested; the dyslexia was an unhappy part of his childhood. Winkler has published 17 books about his hero Zipzer, the "world's greatest underachiever".

In July 2008 Winkler joined First News on their annual Reading Tour of schools where he read excerpts from his Hank Zipzer books. This has since become an annual tour.
Pantomime

Winkler appeared in his first pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London in 2006, playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan, replacing David Hasselhoff who pulled out when he was offered a TV role by Simon Cowell. He reprised the role in Woking, England for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre and donned the hook once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire.

On June 2, 2010, it was announced that Winkler would become the television spokesman for One Reverse Mortgage, a reverse mortgage lender.
Obama election

In October 2008, Winkler appeared in a video on funnyordie.com with Ron Howard, reprising their roles as Fonzie and Richie Cunningham, encouraging people to vote for Barack Obama. The video entitled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action" also features Andy Griffith.
2010-present

As of June 2010, Winkler is appearing on the USA show Royal Pains as the father of the two main characters.

On June 19, 2010, Winkler appeared on James Corden ITV World Cup Live show. He represented the USA in the World Cup Wall Chart.

As of the summer/fall 2010 season, Winkler has joined the cast of Adult Swim's television adaptation of Rob Corddry's web series, Childrens Hospital, playing a stereotypically feckless hospital administrator.

In late September 2010, Winkler was the voice of Professor Nathaniel Zib in the Lego Hero Factory mini-series, Rise of the Rookies.

On May 31, 2011, Winkler's book, I've Never Met an Idiot on the River, was published. It is a collection of his photographs and reflections drawn from his love of fly fishing and life with his family.
OBE

In September 2011 Winkler was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to children with special educational needs and dyslexia in the UK."
Honors and awards

    In 1996, Winkler was selected to be the Class Day speaker at Yale University, an honor accorded to distinguished Yale alumni.
    On August 3, 2008, Winkler was chosen to be the guest conductor at the Boston Pops by the Sea Concert in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
    On August 19, 2008, Milwaukeeans paid homage to their hometown hero and unveiled a life-sized, bronze statue of Fonzie along the Milwaukee Riverwalk.
    On March 29, 2010, Winkler was presented the key to the City of Winnipeg for his contributions to education and literacy.

Golden Globe Awards

    (1976) Won - Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy/Happy Days
    (1977) Won - Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy/Happy Days
    (1978) Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama/Heroes
    (1983) Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy/Night Shift

Primetime Emmy Awards

    (1976) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1977) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1978) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1979) Nominated - Outstanding Informational Program / Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
    (1997) Nominated - Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series / The Practice (as Henry Olson)

Selected filmography

    Crazy Joe (1974)
    The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
    Happy Days (TV series) (1974–1982)
    Katherine, also known as The Radical (1975)
    Heroes (1977)
    The One and Only (1978)
    Night Shift (1982)
    Memories of Me (directing) (1988)
    Macgyver(1991)
    Cop and a Half (directing) (1993)
    Scream (1996) (Principal Himbry) (uncredited)
    Detention: The Siege at Johnson High (1997)
    Dad's Week Off (1997)
    Dead Man's Gun (TV series) (1997-1999) (executive producer)
    Ground Control (1998)
    The Waterboy (1998)
    P.U.N.K.S. (1999)
    Dill Scallion (1999)
    Little Nicky (2000)
    Down to You (2000)
    Law and Order SVU (2002)
    Holes (2003)
    Arrested Development (TV series) (2003–2006)
    King of the Hill (2004)
    Berkeley (2005)
    Malcolm in the Middle (2005)
    The Kid & I (2005)
    Out of practice (TV series) (2005–2006)
    Duck Dodgers (2006)
    Unbeatable Harold (2006)
    Click (2006)
    I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
    A Plumm Summer (2007)
    NUMB3RS (2008–2009)
    You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
    Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)
    The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008)
    Sit Down, Shut Up (2009) (TV series)
    Group Sex (2010)
    Royal Pains (TV, 2010-2011)
    Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010)
    Childrens Hospital (TV, 2010)
    LEGO Hero Factory (TV, 2010-2011)
    Batman: The Brave and the Bold (TV, 2011)
    Here Comes the Boom (2012)
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f290/HussyBiker/Bikers/HenryWinkler.jpg
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq198/learykids/beach057.jpg
"Heyyy!"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/30/11 at 11:32 am


I think it will, it's not like its that far off. I haven't looked at the ratings recently so I'm not sure if it's still in the top 20.

Neither have I.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/30/11 at 8:44 pm


The person of the day...Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (Hon.) (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer, and author.

Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz," a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended.
ppy Days

Winkler started acting by appearing in a number of television commercials. In October 1973, he was cast for the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, nicknamed "The Fonz" or "Fonzie", in the long-running 1970s television series Happy Days. The show was first aired in January 1974.

During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also starred in a number of movies, including The Lords of Flatbush (1974), playing a troubled Vietnam veteran in Heroes (1977), The One and Only (1978), and a morgue attendant in Night Shift (1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. Winkler was also one of the hosts of the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert.
Richie takes a turn on Fonzie's motorcycle.

For Happy Days, director/producer Garry Marshall originally had in mind a completely opposite physical presence. Marshall sought to cast an Italian model-type male in the role of Fonzie, intended as a stupid foil to the real star, Ron Howard. However, when Winkler, a Yale MFA student, interpreted the role in auditions, Marshall immediately snapped him up. According to Winkler, "The Fonz was everybody I wasn't. He was everybody I wanted to be."

Winkler's character, though remaining very much a rough-hewn outsider, gradually became the focus of the show as time passed (in particular after the departure of Ron Howard). Initially, ABC executives did not want to see the Fonz wearing leather, thinking the character would appear to be a criminal. The first 13 episodes show Winkler wearing two different kinds of windbreaker jackets, one of which was green. As Winkler said in a TV Land interview, "It's hard to look cool in a green windbreaker". Marshall argued with the executives about the jacket. In the end, a compromise was made. Winkler could only wear the leather jacket in scenes with his motorcycle, and from that point on, the Fonz was never without his motorcycle until season 2.

To go against his Fonzie stereotype and draw more attention to his real acting abilities, Winkler starred in a TV special, Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare, in 1976. In this videotaped show, he was giving a group of children a tour of a theater and teaching them theatrical terms and basic stagecraft when William Shakespeare suddenly appeared from a box, acted out famous lines from his plays, and eventually directed Winkler in a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Drawing upon his Shakespearean training at Yale, Winkler played Romeo killing Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a sword duel in retaliation for Tybalt's murder of Romeo's friend Mercutio.

In 1979 Winkler appeared in the made-for-TV movie An American Christmas Carol, which was a modern remake of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. An American Christmas Carol was set in Concord, New Hampshire during the Great Depression. Winkler played the role of Benedict Slade, the Ebenezer Scrooge equivalent of that film.
Beyond Happy Days

After Happy Days, Winkler concentrated on producing and directing. Within months, he had opened Winkler-Rich Productions. He produced several television shows including MacGyver, So Weird and Mr. Sunshine, Sightings, and the game shows Wintuition and Hollywood Squares (the latter from 2002–2004 only; occasionally serving as a sub-announcer). He also directed several movies including the Billy Crystal movie Memories of Me (1988) and Cop and a Half (1993) with Burt Reynolds.
Winkler, September 1990
Return to acting

As the 1990s continued, Winkler returned to acting. in 1991, he starred in the controversial TV-movie Absolute Strangers, as a husband forced to make a decision regarding his comatose wife and his unborn baby. In 1994 he returned to TV with the short-lived comedy series Monty on Fox. Also in 1994, he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in the holiday TV movie One Christmas.

He played an uncredited role as a high school principal in the 1996 movie Scream (1996). In 1998, Adam Sandler asked Winkler to play a college football coach, a supporting role in The Waterboy (1998). He would later appear in three other Sandler films, Little Nicky (2000) where he plays himself and is covered in bees, Click (2006, as the main character's father), and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), again playing himself. He also played small roles in movies such as Down to You (2000), Holes (2003), and I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007).
Television

More recently Winkler had a recurring role as incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in the Fox Television comedy Arrested Development. In one episode, his character hopped over a confined shark lying on a pier, a reference to his role in the origin of the phrase "jumping the shark". After that episode, Winkler in interviews stated that he was the only person to have "jumped the shark" twice.

When Winkler moved to CBS for one season to star in 2005–06's Out of Practice, his role as the Bluth family lawyer on Arrested Development was taken over by Happy Days co-star Scott Baio in the fall of 2005, shortly before the acclaimed but Nielsen-challenged show ceased production.

Winkler has guest-starred on television series such as Numb3rs, The Bob Newhart Show (as Miles Lascoe, a parolee just out of jail. He was in jail for armed robbery, twice.), South Park, The Practice, The Simpsons (playing a member of a biker gang. In one scene, he calls Marge "Mrs. S", a reference to Fonzie calling "Happy Days" matriarch Marion Cunningham "Mrs. C"), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Third Watch, Arrested Development, Crossing Jordan, Family Guy, King of the Hill and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil.

The Weezer video for 1994's "Buddy Holly" edited period footage of Henry Winkler as the Fonz, as well as a double shot from behind to create the illusion that Fonzie and other characters were watching Weezer as they performed in Arnold's restaurant. His most recent appearances were on KTTV's Good Day L.A.. Once, while substituting for Steve Edwards, Winkler reunited with fellow Happy Days cast member Marion Ross. Winkler made a cameo appearance in the band Say Anything's video for "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too".

A close friend to actor John Ritter, the two led a Broadway ensemble cast in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party in 2000. Winkler was reunited as a guest star on Ritter's sitcom 8 Simple Rules (for Dating my Teenage Daughter) in 2003 by Ritter's request. On September 11, Ritter became ill during filming, and unexpectedly died. A stunned, grief-stricken Winkler was interviewed by Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight and various other entertainment news sources, and served as a soothing voice and champion of John's talent in September 2003.
Winkler at the 2008 Fan Expo Canada

In 2008, he appeared in two Christmas movies, in the Hallmark Channel movie The Most Wonderful Time of the Year as a retired cop who plays matchmaker between his niece and a drifter he befriends, and in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh as the judge who orders Drake and Josh to give a young girl "the best Christmas ever" or be sent to jail. In 2009, Winkler provided the voice of Willard Deutschebog, a suicidal German teacher, in the Fox comedy series, Sit Down, Shut Up.
Hank Zipzer books

Since 2003, Winkler has collaborated with Lin Oliver on a series of children's books about a 4th grade boy, Hank Zipzer, who is dyslexic. Winkler also has the learning disability, which was not diagnosed until he was 31 and his stepson Jed was tested; the dyslexia was an unhappy part of his childhood. Winkler has published 17 books about his hero Zipzer, the "world's greatest underachiever".

In July 2008 Winkler joined First News on their annual Reading Tour of schools where he read excerpts from his Hank Zipzer books. This has since become an annual tour.
Pantomime

Winkler appeared in his first pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London in 2006, playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan, replacing David Hasselhoff who pulled out when he was offered a TV role by Simon Cowell. He reprised the role in Woking, England for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre and donned the hook once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire.

On June 2, 2010, it was announced that Winkler would become the television spokesman for One Reverse Mortgage, a reverse mortgage lender.
Obama election

In October 2008, Winkler appeared in a video on funnyordie.com with Ron Howard, reprising their roles as Fonzie and Richie Cunningham, encouraging people to vote for Barack Obama. The video entitled "Ron Howard’s Call to Action" also features Andy Griffith.
2010-present

As of June 2010, Winkler is appearing on the USA show Royal Pains as the father of the two main characters.

On June 19, 2010, Winkler appeared on James Corden ITV World Cup Live show. He represented the USA in the World Cup Wall Chart.

As of the summer/fall 2010 season, Winkler has joined the cast of Adult Swim's television adaptation of Rob Corddry's web series, Childrens Hospital, playing a stereotypically feckless hospital administrator.

In late September 2010, Winkler was the voice of Professor Nathaniel Zib in the Lego Hero Factory mini-series, Rise of the Rookies.

On May 31, 2011, Winkler's book, I've Never Met an Idiot on the River, was published. It is a collection of his photographs and reflections drawn from his love of fly fishing and life with his family.
OBE

In September 2011 Winkler was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to children with special educational needs and dyslexia in the UK."
Honors and awards

    In 1996, Winkler was selected to be the Class Day speaker at Yale University, an honor accorded to distinguished Yale alumni.
    On August 3, 2008, Winkler was chosen to be the guest conductor at the Boston Pops by the Sea Concert in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
    On August 19, 2008, Milwaukeeans paid homage to their hometown hero and unveiled a life-sized, bronze statue of Fonzie along the Milwaukee Riverwalk.
    On March 29, 2010, Winkler was presented the key to the City of Winnipeg for his contributions to education and literacy.

Golden Globe Awards

    (1976) Won - Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy/Happy Days
    (1977) Won - Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy/Happy Days
    (1978) Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama/Heroes
    (1983) Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy/Night Shift

Primetime Emmy Awards

    (1976) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1977) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1978) Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series / Happy Days
    (1979) Nominated - Outstanding Informational Program / Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
    (1997) Nominated - Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series / The Practice (as Henry Olson)

Selected filmography

    Crazy Joe (1974)
    The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
    Happy Days (TV series) (1974–1982)
    Katherine, also known as The Radical (1975)
    Heroes (1977)
    The One and Only (1978)
    Night Shift (1982)
    Memories of Me (directing) (1988)
    Macgyver(1991)
    Cop and a Half (directing) (1993)
    Scream (1996) (Principal Himbry) (uncredited)
    Detention: The Siege at Johnson High (1997)
    Dad's Week Off (1997)
    Dead Man's Gun (TV series) (1997-1999) (executive producer)
    Ground Control (1998)
    The Waterboy (1998)
    P.U.N.K.S. (1999)
    Dill Scallion (1999)
    Little Nicky (2000)
    Down to You (2000)
    Law and Order SVU (2002)
    Holes (2003)
    Arrested Development (TV series) (2003–2006)
    King of the Hill (2004)
    Berkeley (2005)
    Malcolm in the Middle (2005)
    The Kid & I (2005)
    Out of practice (TV series) (2005–2006)
    Duck Dodgers (2006)
    Unbeatable Harold (2006)
    Click (2006)
    I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
    A Plumm Summer (2007)
    NUMB3RS (2008–2009)
    You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
    Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)
    The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008)
    Sit Down, Shut Up (2009) (TV series)
    Group Sex (2010)
    Royal Pains (TV, 2010-2011)
    Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010)
    Childrens Hospital (TV, 2010)
    LEGO Hero Factory (TV, 2010-2011)
    Batman: The Brave and the Bold (TV, 2011)
    Here Comes the Boom (2012)
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f290/HussyBiker/Bikers/HenryWinkler.jpg
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq198/learykids/beach057.jpg


I wish he could still do The Fonz,I miss his character.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 10/30/11 at 9:56 pm


Neither have I.

I watched tonight's episode and I hate to say it it was ..LAME.I use to look forward to the Halloween episodes, but they are getting worse.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 10/31/11 at 2:24 am


I wish he could still do The Fonz,I miss his character.
Henry Winkler last year was doing Pantomime in London and he may be doing so again at another theatre this year.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/31/11 at 7:10 am


Henry Winkler last year was doing Pantomime in London and he may be doing so again at another theatre this year.


What about The Fonz? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 10/31/11 at 11:02 am


What about The Fonz? ???



What about him?


Henry Winkler is a lot more than just the Fonz. If that was the only thing he could do, he wouldn't be much of an actor would he?


Some of my favs are:

-Heroes
-Night Shift
-Holes



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 10/31/11 at 1:04 pm



What about him?


Henry Winkler is a lot more than just the Fonz. If that was the only thing he could do, he wouldn't be much of an actor would he?


Some of my favs are:

-Heroes
-Night Shift
-Holes



Cat


Will he be doing acting as The Fonz on stage?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 10/31/11 at 5:57 pm


I watched tonight's episode and I hate to say it it was ..LAME.I used to look forward to the Halloween episodes, but they are getting worse.

Oh yes, the "Treehouse Of Horror...part whatever." I usually don't care to watch those; the previews for them don't really hold my interest. I agree about lame.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/01/11 at 2:29 am


What about The Fonz? ???
Winkler appeared in his first pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London in 2006, playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan, replacing David Hasselhoff who pulled out when he was offered a TV role by Simon Cowell. He reprised the role in Woking, England for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre and donned the hook once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/01/11 at 6:55 am

The person of the day...David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC (born November 1, 1949), is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni Braxton, Madonna, Air Supply and Michael Jackson. Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations.
Throughout his career, he has produced recordings for a wide range of musical artists, including Bryan Adams, Tamia, Christina Aguilera, The Bee Gees, Andrea Bocelli, Boz Scaggs, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Chicago, Destiny's Child, Neil Diamond, Céline Dion, Earth Wind and Fire, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Beyonce Knowles, Kenny Loggins, Madonna, Olivia Newton-John, Nsync, Charice Pempengco, Prince, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Shania Twain, Hall & Oates, The Tubes, and Jackie Evancho.

Foster was a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark discovered by Eirik Wangberg. The band's song “Wildflower” was a top ten hit in 1973.

Together with Jay Graydon he formed the band Airplay, whose album of the same name is often labeled the most important within the Westcoast AOR genre.

He produced debut albums for The Corrs, Michael Bublé, Renee Olstead and Josh Groban, which were released under his own record label, 143 Records, and distributed through Warner Music. Foster helped launch Kevin Sharp's career after the two met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and he produced David Hayes singing a song by composed by Ed Scheid and Laramy Smith title "Friend".

In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine named Foster the "master of ... bombastic pop kitsch." That year, Foster composed the score for the film St. Elmo's Fire, including "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" which hit No. 15 in US pop charts (with a remake of a song titled "For just a moment" with vocals by Amy Holland and Donny Gerrard). Another song from the film, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", recorded by John Parr hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 7, 1985. The following years, Foster continued turning out occasional film scores, including the Michael J. Fox comedy The Secret of My Success and the Jodie Foster-Mark Harmon drama Stealing Home, both of which spawned soundtrack albums with prominent Foster-penned contributions. He collaborated with then-wife Linda Thompson on the song "I Have Nothing", sung by Whitney Houston in the 1992 film The Bodyguard. The couple were nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award for Best Song for the song.

He produced Japanese singer Seiko Matsuda's 1988 album "Citron", also arranging and co-writing all the songs on the album, including the number one single "Marrakech".

In 1995 Foster signed a deal with Warner Brothers that enabled him to set up his own boutique label, 143 Records, as a joint venture with Warner. Foster gave the responsibility for running the label to then manager Brian Avnet. One of the label's first signing was little known Irish folk-rock band The Corrs, for whom he produced their debut album. By 1997 Foster had come to the realisation that, in the American market at least, "logo labels" like 143 were in a "bad spot" and as a result Foster sold the label back to Warner and became senior vice-president at the corporation.

Foster, along with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, composed "The Power of the Dream" as the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics, with then-wife Thompson providing the lyrics (sung by Céline Dion). He also composed "Winter Games", the theme song for 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. "Winter Games" is the soundtrack for a fountain show at the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas as well as a fountain show at Sea World Orlando. Also in 2001, he collaborated with Lara Fabian and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to record the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", for an English version, a French version, and a bilingual (French/English) version, for a promotion of the Government of Canada. Foster, along with his then-wife Thompson, composed "Light the Fire Within" which was sung by LeAnn Rimes for the 2002 Winter Olympics. In 2003, Foster won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for The Concert for World Children's Day. His song "I Will Be There With You" (sung with Katharine McPhee) is being used by Japan Airlines to promote the introduction of new aircraft to its US flights.

During the 1990s he often performed acts with San Diego vocalist Warren Wiebe, whom he had discovered in the restroom of a hotel bar in 1987. In 1994 he had Wiebe put together a band called Millennium featuring Nita Whitaker and a few session vocalists, but the deal with Foster's record company led to the group's demise. Wiebe was Foster's "mouth" on many of his videos but committed suicide before he could release a solo album.

In 2005, record producer David Foster, his daughter Amy Foster-Gillies and Knowles wrote "Stand Up For Love" as the anthem to the World Children's Day, an annual worldwide event to raise awareness and funds for children causes. Over the past three years, more than $50 million has been raised to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities and other children's organizations. Destiny's Child lent their voices and support as global ambassadors for the 2005 program.

In 2009 it was revealed that Foster had worked with songwriter Diane Warren to produce records for Whitney Houston's upcoming album. It was then announced that her comeback single would be the Foster-produced "I Didn't Know My Own Strength".

He recently collaborated with American Idol finalist Michael Johns on the re-write of his popular 1980s hit "St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)."

In July 2011, it was announced that Foster would take the helm of Verve Records under Universal Music and shift the focus of the label from jazz to adult contemporary pop.
Television appearances

In early 1992, the national television station RCTI, David Foster came to Indonesia for the TV show David Foster's Twilight Orchestra.

In early 2001, Foster was in Popstars, a reality series that aired on WB. The series aimed at coming up with the next girl group and eventually became Eden's Crush (featuring Nicole Scherzinger). David Foster and Linda Thompson wrote and produced several songs on their album.

Foster's home life was featured in a Fox staged reality TV show called The Princes of Malibu, in which he attempts to force his two spoiled stepsons, Brandon and Brody Jenner (the children of Thompson and Olympian Bruce Jenner), to straighten their lives up and earn their own way.

In late April 2005, Foster appeared as a special guest on both American Idol (as a mentor) and Nashville Star (as a judge) two weeks apart. He was also a judge on Celebrity Duets, a FOX TV show, and appeared on Star Tomorrow, where auditions were held in Los Angeles and New York for undiscovered talent. It aired only one episode on NBC.

In July 2006, Foster made a brief appearance on The View as Star Jones's vocal coach. In August 2006, he was the musical director for JCPenney Jam]: The Concert For American Kids, which aired on CBS and was later released in CD/DVD format. In November 2007, Foster appeared in Oprah's annual "Favorite Things" episode, performing with Josh Groban.

In September 2008, singer Charice joined Foster on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Celine Dion via satellite; and later on October 31, he and Andrea Bocelli appeared on Oprah again together, where he stated that Bocelli was his "favorite singer on the planet".

In December 2008, Foster was featured in a PBS special titled Hitman David Foster & Friends, a concert featuring live performances by Foster and numerous other performers. Foster was also featured in Under the Desert Sky in 2006, Vivere Live in Tuscany in 2007, and the My Christmas Special, in 2009, Andrea Bocelli's three latest PBS Specials. Bocelli also performed during Foster's Hitman special.

In late 2009, he also appeared on a number of TV shows to promote Bocelli's My Christmas album, which he produced, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Dr. Phil, The Early Show and Fox & Friends. He also made a number of appearances in 2010 with Filipino singer Charice, to promote her album.
Personal life

Foster has been married three times, has five biological daughters, an ex-stepdaughter, and two ex-stepsons. Foster has a daughter, Allison Jones (b. April 6, 1970). His first marriage was to singer/writer B.J. Cook. She already had a daughter, Tamre Winger, whom he raised. Together, B.J. Cook and Foster had one daughter, Amy Foster (b. July 29, 1973), a songwriter who has collaborated with classic artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, and Josh Groban.

His second wife was model Rebecca Dyer. They had three daughters: Sara Foster (b. August 24, 1981), Erin Foster (b. August 24, 1983), and Jordan Foster (b. September 1986)..

Foster married third wife Linda Thompson on June 27, 1991. The two became a songwriting team, collaborating on several songs including "I Have Nothing," performed by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, and "Grown-Up Christmas List." Thompson filed for divorce Monday July 11, 2005, the day after her short-lived reality series, The Princes of Malibu premiered. Thompson is the mother of Brody Jenner and Brandon Jenner from her previous marriage to former Olympian Bruce Jenner.

Foster's sister, producer Jaymes Foster, is the mother of Clay Aiken's son Parker Foster Aiken.

David's cousin, Billy Foster, died in a race car accident in 1967.

In 1992, David Foster was driving on the Pacific Coast Highway when his car struck actor Ben Vereen, who had been on the road because he had crashed his car and was in a daze. Despite being thrown 90 feet, Vereen survived. Vereen also went on record to say that it probably saved his life: he had a serious drinking problem caused by the death of his daughter.
Discography

In addition to the numerous albums he has produced, the following are Foster's own solo or band works:

    1972: Skylark (self-titled)
    1974: 2 Skylark
    1976: Attitudes (self-titled)
    1977: Good News Attitudes
    1980: Airplay (self-titled)
    1983: The Best of Me
    1986: David Foster (self-titled)
    1988: The Symphony Sessions
    1989: Time Passing
    1990: River of Love
    1991: Rechordings
    1992: A Touch Of David Foster
    1993: The Christmas Album
    1994: Love Lights The World
    2000: The Best Of Me: A Collection of David Foster’s Greatest Works
    2001: O Canada (with Lara Fabian)
    2002: Love Stories
    2003: Teko’s Theme - with Nita Whitaker
    2004: The Best Of Me - Original Recording Remastered
    2008: Hitman: David Foster and Friends
    2010: The Magic of David Foster & Friends
    2011: Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends

Singles

    1985: "Love Theme From St. Elmo's Fire (For Just a Moment)" (US #15)
    1986: "The Best of Me" (Duet with Olivia Newton-John) (US #80)
    1988: "Winter Games (Can't You Feel It)" - Official theme song for the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics (US #85)

Awards and honors

In 1995, Foster became the recipient of the Order of British Columbia, the highest honour awarded in his native province of British Columbia. Foster became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006.

Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards, including three Producer of the Year award and has been nominated a total of 47 times.

He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won the 1999 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song "The Prayer" (sung by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion) from the film Quest for Camelot. He has been named BMI's "Songwriter of the Year". In June 2010, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
See also
Tower-wireless-can.png Music of Canada portal

    Music of Canada
    Canadian Music Hall of Fame
    List of Canadian composers
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/perez7668/86118c2e.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm173/Tonehenge/Di%20Test/David_Foster_021.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/02/11 at 4:48 am

The person of the day...Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers (born Stefanie Zofya Paul; November 2, 1942) is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.
Powers appeared in several motion pictures in the early 1960s in secondary roles such as the thriller Experiment in Terror with Glenn Ford and Lee Remick, the comedy If a Man Answers with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin, and as the daughter of John Wayne in the lighthearted comedy-Western McLintock! (1963). She played a schoolgirl in Tammy Tell Me True (1961) and the police chief's daughter Bunny in the romantic comedy Palm Springs Weekend (1963). She was also in the 1962 hospital melodrama The Interns and its sequel The New Interns in 1964. In 1965, Powers had a more substantial role playing opposite veteran actress Tallulah Bankhead in the Hammer horror film Die! Die! My Darling (originally released in England as Fanatic). Her early television work included Route 66 and Bonanza (both in 1963).

In 1966, her "tempestuous" good looks led to a starring role as April Dancer in the short-lived NBC television spy thriller series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.. This was a spin-off of the popular The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Powers' linguistic skills, dance training, and interest in bullfighting were written into several episodes of the series. She also learned how to fence for a five-minute fight sequence with sabers.

Shortly after the series' debut, she was featured on the cover of TV Guide (Dec. 31, 1966–Jan. 6, 1967). The article mentions her "117-pound frame is kept supple with 11 minutes of Royal Canadian Air Force exercises every morning." It also noted: "Unlike her fellow U.N.C.L.E. agents, the ladylike April is not required to kill the bad guys. Her feminine charms serve as the bait, while her partner Noel Harrison provides the fireworks." Dancer was written as a demure, passive figure instead of an action heroine like The Avengers' Emma Peel. The show's reliance on self-parody and camp humor instead of dramatic action and suspense was not a success. The series lasted for only one season (29 one-hour episodes) airing from September 16, 1966 to April 11, 1967.

In 1967, she was in the film Warning Shot with David Janssen. Her 1970s began with two Disney films, The Boatniks (1970) and Herbie Rides Again (sequel to The Love Bug).

She was a guest star on the Robert Wagner series It Takes a Thief in 1970. The two would go on to co-star in the popular Hart to Hart series nine years later.

Prior to the Hart to Hart success, she starred in The Feather and Father Gang as Toni "Feather" Danton, a successful lawyer. Her father, Harry Danton, was a smooth-talking ex-con man played by Harold Gould. It ran for 13 episodes. Guest roles on other popular TV shows include: McCloud (1971), The Mod Squad (1972), Kung Fu (1974), The Rockford Files (1975), Three for the Road (1975), The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (1976), and McMillan & Wife (1977). These shows were the ones that Powers appeared, long after she signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1970, coincidentally, her longtime friend and Hart to Hart series' star, Wagner, signed up a contract with Universal, but did not guest-star on more shows than Powers did. Her role as stripper Dottie Del Mar in 1979's Escape to Athena with Roger Moore turned out to be Powers' last theatrical film to date.

Powers became widely known as a television star for her role opposite old friend Wagner as a pair of amateur sleuths in the 1979-1984 series Hart to Hart for which she received two Emmy and five Golden Globe Award Best Television Actress nominations. In the 1990s she and Wagner reunited to make eight Hart to Hart made-for-TV two-hour movies. In 1985, Powers starred as twins who swap places leading to dire consequences in the two-part made-for-TV movie Deceptions.

She starred briefly in a 1991 London musical, Matador, which closed prematurely due to the sharp drop in tourism during the Persian Gulf War. In 1993, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her stage performance in Love Letters.

In 1996, she toured in a production of Applause which was slated to go to New York in hopes of a Broadway revival. She played the role of Margo Channing, played in the original production by Lauren Bacall (and later Anne Baxter), and in the source film All About Eve by Bette Davis.

She toured the United Kingdom in 2002 in the singing role of Anna Leonowens for a revival of The King and I. She also toured the U.S. in 2004 and 2005 in that role. Powers released her debut CD in 2003, titled, On The Same Page. The album features selections from the classic Great American Songbook era. Since 2006 she has been the U.S. location presenter on the BBC's long running Through the Keyhole panel show.

On April 30, 2008, she was reunited with Robert Wagner for the filming of a special Hart to Hart edition of the Graham Norton show . On 12 March 2011, she received the Steiger Award (Germany) for accomplishment in the arts.
Personal life

Powers was married to actor Gary Lockwood between 1966 and 1972. She had a relationship with actor William Holden that led to their being involved with wildlife conservation. Following his death in 1981, Powers became President of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation and a director of the Mount Kenya Game Ranch in Kenya. In the United States, she works with both the Cincinnati and Atlanta zoos. She devotes a great deal of time to the cause and is international guest speaker on wildlife preservation.

On April 1, 1993 she married Patrick Houitte de la Chesnais. They divorced in 1999. Powers has no children.

A polo player, along with Canadian retailing magnate Galen Weston and Thoroughbred owner/breeder Henryk de Kwiatkowski, she was among the first foreign members of the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in the United Kingdom, whose membership includes HRH The Prince of Wales. In 2005, she competed in the Joules United Kingdom National Women's Championships at Ascot.

In November 2008 Powers, who was a smoker for twenty years, was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Powers' mother, Julia Golen, died on January 3, 2009, according to the actress's official Web site.

Stefanie Powers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6778 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
2010 Meet My Mom (Hallmark TV Movie) Louise Metcalf
1998 Someone is Watching Michelle Dupre
1996 Till Death Do Us Hart Jennifer Hart
1996 Harts in High Season Jennifer Hart
1995 Two Harts in 3/4 Time Jennifer Hart
1995 Secrets of the Hart Jennifer Hart
1994 Old Friends Never Die Jennifer Hart
1994 Crimes of the Hart Jennifer Hart
1994 Home is Where the Hart Is Jennifer Hart
1993 Hart to Hart Returns Jennifer Hart
1988 Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (TV) Beryl Markham
1985 Deceptions (TV Mini-Series) Sabrina/Stephanie
1979 Escape to Athena Dottie Del Mar
1978 A Death in Canaan Joan Barthel
1975 It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time Georgia Price
1974 Herbie Rides Again Nicole Harris
1972 The Magnificent Seven Ride! Ms. Laurie Gunn
1971 Paper Man (TV) Karen McMillan
1970 The Boatniks Kate
1969 Crescendo Susan Roberts
1966 Stagecoach Mrs. Mallory
1965 Fanatic (aka Die! Die! My Darling!) Pat Carroll
1965 Love Has Many Faces Carol Lambert
1963 McLintock! Becky McLintock
1963 Palm Springs Weekend Bunny Dixon
1962 Experiment in Terror Toby Sherwood
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj316/epaddon/19.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj316/epaddon/14-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/02/11 at 6:38 am


The person of the day...Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers (born Stefanie Zofya Paul; November 2, 1942) is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.
Powers appeared in several motion pictures in the early 1960s in secondary roles such as the thriller Experiment in Terror with Glenn Ford and Lee Remick, the comedy If a Man Answers with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin, and as the daughter of John Wayne in the lighthearted comedy-Western McLintock! (1963). She played a schoolgirl in Tammy Tell Me True (1961) and the police chief's daughter Bunny in the romantic comedy Palm Springs Weekend (1963). She was also in the 1962 hospital melodrama The Interns and its sequel The New Interns in 1964. In 1965, Powers had a more substantial role playing opposite veteran actress Tallulah Bankhead in the Hammer horror film Die! Die! My Darling (originally released in England as Fanatic). Her early television work included Route 66 and Bonanza (both in 1963).

In 1966, her "tempestuous" good looks led to a starring role as April Dancer in the short-lived NBC television spy thriller series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.. This was a spin-off of the popular The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Powers' linguistic skills, dance training, and interest in bullfighting were written into several episodes of the series. She also learned how to fence for a five-minute fight sequence with sabers.

Shortly after the series' debut, she was featured on the cover of TV Guide (Dec. 31, 1966–Jan. 6, 1967). The article mentions her "117-pound frame is kept supple with 11 minutes of Royal Canadian Air Force exercises every morning." It also noted: "Unlike her fellow U.N.C.L.E. agents, the ladylike April is not required to kill the bad guys. Her feminine charms serve as the bait, while her partner Noel Harrison provides the fireworks." Dancer was written as a demure, passive figure instead of an action heroine like The Avengers' Emma Peel. The show's reliance on self-parody and camp humor instead of dramatic action and suspense was not a success. The series lasted for only one season (29 one-hour episodes) airing from September 16, 1966 to April 11, 1967.

In 1967, she was in the film Warning Shot with David Janssen. Her 1970s began with two Disney films, The Boatniks (1970) and Herbie Rides Again (sequel to The Love Bug).

She was a guest star on the Robert Wagner series It Takes a Thief in 1970. The two would go on to co-star in the popular Hart to Hart series nine years later.

Prior to the Hart to Hart success, she starred in The Feather and Father Gang as Toni "Feather" Danton, a successful lawyer. Her father, Harry Danton, was a smooth-talking ex-con man played by Harold Gould. It ran for 13 episodes. Guest roles on other popular TV shows include: McCloud (1971), The Mod Squad (1972), Kung Fu (1974), The Rockford Files (1975), Three for the Road (1975), The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (1976), and McMillan & Wife (1977). These shows were the ones that Powers appeared, long after she signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1970, coincidentally, her longtime friend and Hart to Hart series' star, Wagner, signed up a contract with Universal, but did not guest-star on more shows than Powers did. Her role as stripper Dottie Del Mar in 1979's Escape to Athena with Roger Moore turned out to be Powers' last theatrical film to date.

Powers became widely known as a television star for her role opposite old friend Wagner as a pair of amateur sleuths in the 1979-1984 series Hart to Hart for which she received two Emmy and five Golden Globe Award Best Television Actress nominations. In the 1990s she and Wagner reunited to make eight Hart to Hart made-for-TV two-hour movies. In 1985, Powers starred as twins who swap places leading to dire consequences in the two-part made-for-TV movie Deceptions.

She starred briefly in a 1991 London musical, Matador, which closed prematurely due to the sharp drop in tourism during the Persian Gulf War. In 1993, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her stage performance in Love Letters.

In 1996, she toured in a production of Applause which was slated to go to New York in hopes of a Broadway revival. She played the role of Margo Channing, played in the original production by Lauren Bacall (and later Anne Baxter), and in the source film All About Eve by Bette Davis.

She toured the United Kingdom in 2002 in the singing role of Anna Leonowens for a revival of The King and I. She also toured the U.S. in 2004 and 2005 in that role. Powers released her debut CD in 2003, titled, On The Same Page. The album features selections from the classic Great American Songbook era. Since 2006 she has been the U.S. location presenter on the BBC's long running Through the Keyhole panel show.

On April 30, 2008, she was reunited with Robert Wagner for the filming of a special Hart to Hart edition of the Graham Norton show . On 12 March 2011, she received the Steiger Award (Germany) for accomplishment in the arts.
Personal life

Powers was married to actor Gary Lockwood between 1966 and 1972. She had a relationship with actor William Holden that led to their being involved with wildlife conservation. Following his death in 1981, Powers became President of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation and a director of the Mount Kenya Game Ranch in Kenya. In the United States, she works with both the Cincinnati and Atlanta zoos. She devotes a great deal of time to the cause and is international guest speaker on wildlife preservation.

On April 1, 1993 she married Patrick Houitte de la Chesnais. They divorced in 1999. Powers has no children.

A polo player, along with Canadian retailing magnate Galen Weston and Thoroughbred owner/breeder Henryk de Kwiatkowski, she was among the first foreign members of the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in the United Kingdom, whose membership includes HRH The Prince of Wales. In 2005, she competed in the Joules United Kingdom National Women's Championships at Ascot.

In November 2008 Powers, who was a smoker for twenty years, was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Powers' mother, Julia Golen, died on January 3, 2009, according to the actress's official Web site.

Stefanie Powers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6778 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
2010 Meet My Mom (Hallmark TV Movie) Louise Metcalf
1998 Someone is Watching Michelle Dupre
1996 Till Death Do Us Hart Jennifer Hart
1996 Harts in High Season Jennifer Hart
1995 Two Harts in 3/4 Time Jennifer Hart
1995 Secrets of the Hart Jennifer Hart
1994 Old Friends Never Die Jennifer Hart
1994 Crimes of the Hart Jennifer Hart
1994 Home is Where the Hart Is Jennifer Hart
1993 Hart to Hart Returns Jennifer Hart
1988 Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (TV) Beryl Markham
1985 Deceptions (TV Mini-Series) Sabrina/Stephanie
1979 Escape to Athena Dottie Del Mar
1978 A Death in Canaan Joan Barthel
1975 It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time Georgia Price
1974 Herbie Rides Again Nicole Harris
1972 The Magnificent Seven Ride! Ms. Laurie Gunn
1971 Paper Man (TV) Karen McMillan
1970 The Boatniks Kate
1969 Crescendo Susan Roberts
1966 Stagecoach Mrs. Mallory
1965 Fanatic (aka Die! Die! My Darling!) Pat Carroll
1965 Love Has Many Faces Carol Lambert
1963 McLintock! Becky McLintock
1963 Palm Springs Weekend Bunny Dixon
1962 Experiment in Terror Toby Sherwood
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj316/epaddon/19.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj316/epaddon/14-1.jpg


At almost 60 years of age she still looks fabulous.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/02/11 at 12:08 pm


At almost 60 years of age she still looks fabulous.

She's more than that. 69, to be exact.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/03/11 at 7:18 am

The person of the day...Lulu
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3 November 1948, Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire), best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day. She is internationally identified, especially with North American audiences, with the song "To Sir, with Love" from the film of the same name and with the title song to the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. In European countries she is also widely known for her Eurovision Song Contest winning entry "Boom Bang-a-Bang" and in the UK for her first hit "Shout".
Under the wing of Marion Massey, she was signed to Decca Records and when she was only fifteen her version of The Isley Brothers' "Shout", delivered in a raucous but mature voice, reached the UK charts. Massey guided her career for more than 25 years, for most of which time they were partners in business, and Massey's husband, Mark, produced some of Lulu's recordings.

In 1966 Lulu toured Poland with The Hollies, the first British female singer to appear live behind the Iron Curtain. In the same year she recorded two German language tracks, "Wenn du da bist" and "So fing es an", for the Decca Germany label. All her Decca recordings were made available in 2009 on a 2-CD entitled Shout!, issued on RPM Records. After two hit singles with the The Luvvers Lulu launched her solo career.

She left Decca after failing to chart in 1966 and signed with Columbia to be produced by Mickie Most. In April 1967 she returned to the UK singles chart reaching number 6 with "The Boat That I Row", written by Neil Diamond. All seven singles she cut with Most made the UK Singles Chart. However, in her autobiography I Don't Want To Fight, published in 2002, she described him as "cheap" and had little positive to say about their working relationship, which she ended in 1969 after her biggest UK solo hit. Nonetheless when Mickie Most died in 2003, Lulu was full of praise for him and told the BBC they had been very close.

In 1967 she made her debut film in To Sir, with Love, a British vehicle for Sidney Poitier. She had a major hit, the title song reaching number one in the United States. In the UK, it was released on the B-side of "Let's Pretend", a # 11 hit, but "To Sir, With Love" sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. In the meantime she continued her thriving pop career in the UK and had several television series of her own. After appearing on the BBC in 1967 in a successful TV series that featured music and comedy, Three Of A Kind, Lulu was given her own TV series in 1968, which ran annually until 1975 under various titles including Lulu's Back In Town, Happening For Lulu, Lulu and It's Lulu, which featured Adrienne Posta. Her BBC series featured music and comedy sketches and star guests; one episode remains famous for Jimi Hendrix's unruly live appearance where, after playing about two minutes of Hey Joe, Hendrix stopped and announced "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to The Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in, dedicate to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce". He then broke into Sunshine of Your Love. With the studio director signalling for Hendrix to stop he continued. Unrepentant, Hendrix was told he would never work at the BBC again. He told his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham "I'm not going to sing with Lulu. I'd look ridiculous". From 30 June to 2 July 1967 she appeared with The Monkees at the Empire Pool, Wembley, and her brief romance with Davy Jones of The Monkees during an concert tour of the USA in March 1968 received much publicity in the UK press. Lulu described her relationship with Jones as "He was a kind of boyfriend but it was very innocent - nothing untoward happened. It faded almost as soon as it had blossomed".
Eurovision Song Contest

On 29 March 1969, she represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest performing the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang", written by Peter Warne and Alan Moorhouse, the song chosen from a selection of six by viewers of her BBC1 variety series Happening for Lulu and on a special show hosted by Michael Aspel in which she performed all six one after another. One song, "I Can't Go On...", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, came last in the postcard vote but was later recorded by Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Polly Brown and Elton John himself as well as by Lulu. In Madrid Lulu was accompanied by Sue and Sunny while the orchestra was conducted by Lulu's musical director Johnny Harris. Lulu later recalled:

    I had a series on TV, and Bill Cotton was the Head of Light Entertainment , and he said to my manager: "I'd like her to do the Eurovision Song Contest, on the series". And she came to me and I went "Why? What do I want to do that for?"... and she said that he said that "you'll get good ratings, and he is the boss, and he wants you to have good ratings. Maybe I could have said no, but I felt I didn't really have a choice in the matter. And I thought... I was full of myself, thinking ratings isn't what it's all about... But, you know, Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote a great song that didn't go through... I had this amazing band, like 20 pieces. We did all these different songs... every single one of us said "Which one is gonna win? Which one is gonna win?" and we all laughed and went: "Bet you it's that Boom boom bang a bang a bang a bang..." But then it won. Somehow there was an intelligence working there... and it was a huge success.

"Boom Bang-a-Bang" was a winner, though three other songs, from Spain, ("Vivo cantando" by Salomé), the Netherlands, ("De Troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr) and France, ("Un jour, un enfant" by Frida Boccara) tied with her on 18 votes each. The rules were altered to prevent such ties but the result caused Austria, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Finland not to enter the 1970 contest. Lulu's song came out the best in sales, with German, French, Spanish and Italian versions alongside the original English. Later she told John Peel; "I know it's a rotten song, but I won, so who cares? I'd have sung "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" standing on my head if that's what it took to win.... I am just so glad I didn't finish second like all the other Brits before me, that would have been awful." Despite her dislike it is her second biggest UK hit to date, reaching number two on the chart in 1969.

In 1975 Lulu herself would host the BBC's A Song for Europe, the qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest, in which The Shadows would performe six shortlisted songs. In 1981 she joined other Eurovision winners at a charity gala held in Norway and she was a panellist at the 1989 UK heat, offering views on two of the competing eight entries. In 2009 she provided comment and support to the six acts shortlisted to represent the UK at Eurovision 2009 on BBC1 TV.

Weeks before her Eurovision appearance Lulu had married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees in a ceremony in Gerrards Cross. Maurice's older brother Barry was opposed to their marriage as he believed them to be too young. Their honeymoon in Mexico had to be postponed because of Lulu's Eurovision commitment. Their careers and his heavy drinking forced them apart and they divorced, childless, in 1973 but remained on good terms. . In 1969, she recorded New Routes an album recorded at Muscle Shoals studios: several of the songs, including a version of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles", featured slide guitarist Duane Allman. The album was recorded for Atlantic's Atco label and produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin
1970s

Lulu began 1970 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Boom Bang-A-Bang" live on BBC1, 31 December 1969. She recorded another Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin album in the USA, Melody Fair, and scored a US Top 30 hit, "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)", (later covered by Aretha Franklin, Buster Poindexter, and John Holt) and collaborated with the Dixie Flyers on "Hum a Song (From Your Heart)"

Four more German language tracks, ("Ich brauche deine Liebe", "Wach' ich oder träum' ich", "Warum tu'st du mir weh", and "Traurig, aber wahr") were recorded on the Atlantic/WEA label.

She was one of the main artists invited to appear on the BBC's anniversary show Fifty Years Of Music in 1972. The same year she starred in the Christmas pantomime Peter Pan at the Palace Theatre, Manchester and repeated her performance at the London Palladium in 1975, and returned to the same role in different London-based productions from 1987 to early 1989. She made an appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1973, singing "All the Things You Are" and "Happy Heart".

In 1974 she performed the title song for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Two slightly different versions of the song were used, at the start and end respectively - the end song actually name-checking James Bond. The same year she covered David Bowie's songs "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Watch That Man". Bowie and Mick Ronson produced the recordings. Bowie played saxophone and provided back-up vocals and rumours of a brief affair were confirmed in her 2002 autobiography. "The Man Who Sold the World" became her first top 10 hit in five years, peaking at number three in the UK chart in February 1974 and was a top 10 hit in several European countries.

On 31 December 1976 Lulu performed "Shout" on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver jubilee.

In 1977 Lulu became interested in Siddha Yoga and married hairdresser John Frieda. They divorced in 1991. They had one son, Jordan Frieda.
1980s

Lulu's chart success waned but she remained in the public eye, acting and hosting a long-running radio show on London's Capital Radio station. She was associated with Freemans fashion catalogue during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In August 1979 after a performance in Margate, Kent she was in a car accident that nearly took her life, colliding head-on with another car on Brooksend Hill and spent a week in hospital recovering. That same year, she recorded for Elton John's label Rocket Records and seemed about to hit the charts again, with the lauded "I Love to Boogie", but surprisingly, despite critical acclaim and much airplay, it did not make the top 75.

Notable London stage appearances came in the early 1980s in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance and the Royal National Theatre's Guys and Dolls. She damaged her vocal cords while performing in the Webber show, requiring surgery that threatened her singing voice. She co-hosted a revived series of Oh Boy! for ITV in the early 1980s. In 1981 she returned to the US charts with "I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)", a Top 20 hit that also reached number two on the Adult Contemporary chart despite stalling at number 62 in the UK. Early the following year she had a more modest US hit with "If I Were You", which just missed the Top 40, appeared in the video for "Ant Rap" alongside Adam and the Ants and was nominated for a Grammy for "Who's Foolin' Who" from the "Lulu" album.

She won the Rear of the Year award in 1983 and re-recorded a number of her songs. These included "Shout," which reached the Top 10 in 1986 in the UK, securing her a spot on Top of the Pops. Lulu was one of only two performers (Cliff Richard being the other) to have sung in the Top of the Pops studio in each of the five decades that the show ran. A follow up single to "Shout", an updated version of Millie's 1960s hit "My Boy Lollipop", failed to chart and Lulu stopped recording until 1992, focusing instead on TV, acting and live performances. These tracks were released on the Jive Records label. Lulu has had hits on the Decca, Columbia, Atco, Polydor, Chelsea, Alfa, Jive, Dome, RCA, Mercury and Universal labels. She has also released singles for GTO, Atlantic, Globe, EMI, Concept, Lifestyle, Utopia and Rocket, and Epic in the US. For a while, she held the record for the most number of hit labels in the UK charts. In 1987 she played Adrian Mole's mother on television (replacing Julie Walters).
1990s

In 1993 she made a recording comeback with the single "Independence" which reached number 11 in the UK charts. This was the title track from the Independence album, all four singles released from this album reached the UK charts, as did two later singles released in 1994.

Later that year she guested on the cover version of the Dan Hartman song "Relight My Fire", with boy band Take That. The single reached number one in the British charts and Lulu appeared as Take That's support act on their 1994 tour. At this time she also appeared as an unhappy public relations client of Edina Monsoon in two episodes of the BBC television programme Absolutely Fabulous and teamed with French & Saunders many times, including their send up of the Spice Girls (The Sugar Lumps) for Comic Relief in 1997, when she took the role of "Baby Spice", mimicking Emma Bunton. An album, provisionally titled Where the Poor Boys Dance was completed in late 1997 and due for release in early 1998 but was postponed by the record label Mercury. "Hurt Me So Bad" was released in April 1999 and a year later the title track from the album reach number 24 in the UK.

In 1999, Lulu returned to BBC1 to host their Saturday night National Lottery game show Red Alert and co-wrote and recorded a duet with UK pop singer Kavana entitled "Heart Like The Sun", but it was not released commercially until Kavana's 2007 "greatest hits" collection, Special Kind Of Something: The Best of....
2000s

Now known as Lulu Kennedy-Cairns (her late mother's birth name before she was adopted by the McDonald family), in 2000 she was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth. Her autobiography, published in 2002 was titled I Don't Want to Fight after the hit song she and her brother wrote with hit songwriter Steve DuBerry for Tina Turner, a song that Lulu herself released in 2003 as part of her The Greatest Hits album. Her 2002 gold album Together was a collection of duets with Elton John and Paul McCartney among others, tracks from which were performed in a high profile TV special for ITV, An Audience With Lulu, which saw Lulu reunited with her first husband Maurice Gibb for a live performance of "First of May".
Performing with Jools Holland at Border Hill, 23 June 2007.

In 2004, she released the album Back on Track and went on a UK-wide tour to celebrate 40 years in the business, the album charting at a low No 68. In late 2004 she returned to radio as the host of a 2-hour radio show on BBC Radio 2, playing an eclectic blend of music from the 1950s to the 2000s. In 2005, Lulu released A Little Soul in Your Heart, a collection of soul classics that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 28. In March 2006 she launched her official MySpace profile.

Lulu continued to act occasionally and starred alongside Tom Courtenay and Stephen Fry in the British movie, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?. She also appeared in the BBC's reality TV show Just the Two of Us in 2006 as a judge and in late June and early July 2006 appeared on Take That's UK and Ireland tour to perform their song "Relight My Fire". She appeared on American Idol Season 6 on 20 March 2007 as a mentor for the female contestants and the following night performed "To Sir, With Love". Later in 2007 she appeared in the UK as a guest for Jools Holland in a series of concerts and features and on Holland's CD release "Best of Friends", performing "Where Have All the Good Guys Gone?"

Lulu's complete Atco recordings (made between 1969 and 1972) were released on 12 November 2007. The two CD set included previously unreleased and demo versions of some of her recordings from this period. In December 2007 she released a download single on iTunes in the UK, called "Run Rudolph Run". At this time Lulu was also promoting a range of beauty products on QVC (UK), called "Time Bomb", and appeared on a 2007 Christmas television advertisement for Morrisons, the UK supermarket chain.

In February 2008 Lulu fans created an online petition to get Lulu an Outstanding Achievement Award from The Brits. This can still be signed at Lulu Brit Award Petition Online

In November 2008 Lulu was announced as one of a number of Scottish celebrities to feature in the advertising campaign for Homecoming Scotland, a year-long event to encourage people around the world with Scottish heritage to return to Scotland. Also in November 2008, Lulu posted the following message on her website, celebrating the election of Barack Obama as President of the USA: "Barack Obama Is In – Yippee, now we have got hope in the World. I’ve just turned 60, Obama is the new president of the USA and I think its going to be a fantastic year. Love Lu X". In both the 1979 and 1983 UK General Elections, Lulu had been a supporter of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party.

In January 2009, Lulu began a four week stint as an advisor/coach on the BBC show Eurovision: Your Country Needs You, helping to choose the singer to represent the UK at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

In the summer of 2009, Lulu guest presented on STV's daily lifestyle show The Hour, alongside main anchor Stephen Jardine. She appeared between 27 and 31 July. The Scottish magazine programme airs weekdays at 5 pm. As of 2009, she continues to pitch her range of "Lulu's" anti-ageing products and other cosmetics through the QVC (UK) home shopping channel, using her youthful appearance as a promotional tool.

After appearing at an Abba tribute concert in Hyde Park, London during September 2009, Lulu announced that she would be touring the UK in a Here Come the Girls alongside Chaka Khan and Anastacia. The trio promoted the concert series on UK TV, ahead of the first performance in November 2009, which took in 20 different dates.
2010s

In early 2010, Lulu performed the theme "The Word Is Love" to the movie Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! and toured the UK a second time with Here Come the Girls alongside Anastacia and Heather Small. In November 2010 she hosted the BBC TV series "Rewind the 60s" . Each episode focused on a year during the 1960s highlighting the social and political issues of the decade as well as music and interviews with personalities from the decade.

On 26 February 2011 Lulu appeared in the second heat in the third series of Let's Dance for Comic Relief. She danced to Soulja Boy's hit Crank That. In May 2011 made an appearance on the ITV2 program Celebrity Juice and in July 2011 she performed at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales.

Lulu appeared on Channel 4's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on 5 August 2011; closing the show dueting Bad Romance with Cuba Gooding, Jr.

In October 2011 Lulu took part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering Brendan Cole
Discography
Main article: Lulu discography
Filmography

    Gonks Go Beat (1965)
    To Sir, with Love (1967)
    Cucumber Castle (1970)
    The Cherry Picker (1972)
    Alicja (1982) (voice)
    To Sir, with Love II (1996)
    Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)

Other television appearances

Episode 28 of BBC's Monty Python's Flying Circus (1972, cameo appearance)

Starred in several episdoes of drama Perfect Scoundrels (TV series) from 1990 to 1992.
See also
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lulu (singer)

    List of number-one hits (United States)
    List of artists who reached number one in the United States
    Mononymous person
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b454/tracyann2010/Lulu.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p14/speedyclick/lulu.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/03/11 at 2:44 pm


The person of the day...Lulu
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3 November 1948, Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire), best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day. She is internationally identified, especially with North American audiences, with the song "To Sir, with Love" from the film of the same name and with the title song to the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. In European countries she is also widely known for her Eurovision Song Contest winning entry "Boom Bang-a-Bang" and in the UK for her first hit "Shout".
Under the wing of Marion Massey, she was signed to Decca Records and when she was only fifteen her version of The Isley Brothers' "Shout", delivered in a raucous but mature voice, reached the UK charts. Massey guided her career for more than 25 years, for most of which time they were partners in business, and Massey's husband, Mark, produced some of Lulu's recordings.

In 1966 Lulu toured Poland with The Hollies, the first British female singer to appear live behind the Iron Curtain. In the same year she recorded two German language tracks, "Wenn du da bist" and "So fing es an", for the Decca Germany label. All her Decca recordings were made available in 2009 on a 2-CD entitled Shout!, issued on RPM Records. After two hit singles with the The Luvvers Lulu launched her solo career.

She left Decca after failing to chart in 1966 and signed with Columbia to be produced by Mickie Most. In April 1967 she returned to the UK singles chart reaching number 6 with "The Boat That I Row", written by Neil Diamond. All seven singles she cut with Most made the UK Singles Chart. However, in her autobiography I Don't Want To Fight, published in 2002, she described him as "cheap" and had little positive to say about their working relationship, which she ended in 1969 after her biggest UK solo hit. Nonetheless when Mickie Most died in 2003, Lulu was full of praise for him and told the BBC they had been very close.

In 1967 she made her debut film in To Sir, with Love, a British vehicle for Sidney Poitier. She had a major hit, the title song reaching number one in the United States. In the UK, it was released on the B-side of "Let's Pretend", a # 11 hit, but "To Sir, With Love" sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. In the meantime she continued her thriving pop career in the UK and had several television series of her own. After appearing on the BBC in 1967 in a successful TV series that featured music and comedy, Three Of A Kind, Lulu was given her own TV series in 1968, which ran annually until 1975 under various titles including Lulu's Back In Town, Happening For Lulu, Lulu and It's Lulu, which featured Adrienne Posta. Her BBC series featured music and comedy sketches and star guests; one episode remains famous for Jimi Hendrix's unruly live appearance where, after playing about two minutes of Hey Joe, Hendrix stopped and announced "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to The Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in, dedicate to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce". He then broke into Sunshine of Your Love. With the studio director signalling for Hendrix to stop he continued. Unrepentant, Hendrix was told he would never work at the BBC again. He told his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham "I'm not going to sing with Lulu. I'd look ridiculous". From 30 June to 2 July 1967 she appeared with The Monkees at the Empire Pool, Wembley, and her brief romance with Davy Jones of The Monkees during an concert tour of the USA in March 1968 received much publicity in the UK press. Lulu described her relationship with Jones as "He was a kind of boyfriend but it was very innocent - nothing untoward happened. It faded almost as soon as it had blossomed".
Eurovision Song Contest

On 29 March 1969, she represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest performing the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang", written by Peter Warne and Alan Moorhouse, the song chosen from a selection of six by viewers of her BBC1 variety series Happening for Lulu and on a special show hosted by Michael Aspel in which she performed all six one after another. One song, "I Can't Go On...", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, came last in the postcard vote but was later recorded by Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Polly Brown and Elton John himself as well as by Lulu. In Madrid Lulu was accompanied by Sue and Sunny while the orchestra was conducted by Lulu's musical director Johnny Harris. Lulu later recalled:

    I had a series on TV, and Bill Cotton was the Head of Light Entertainment , and he said to my manager: "I'd like her to do the Eurovision Song Contest, on the series". And she came to me and I went "Why? What do I want to do that for?"... and she said that he said that "you'll get good ratings, and he is the boss, and he wants you to have good ratings. Maybe I could have said no, but I felt I didn't really have a choice in the matter. And I thought... I was full of myself, thinking ratings isn't what it's all about... But, you know, Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote a great song that didn't go through... I had this amazing band, like 20 pieces. We did all these different songs... every single one of us said "Which one is gonna win? Which one is gonna win?" and we all laughed and went: "Bet you it's that Boom boom bang a bang a bang a bang..." But then it won. Somehow there was an intelligence working there... and it was a huge success.

"Boom Bang-a-Bang" was a winner, though three other songs, from Spain, ("Vivo cantando" by Salomé), the Netherlands, ("De Troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr) and France, ("Un jour, un enfant" by Frida Boccara) tied with her on 18 votes each. The rules were altered to prevent such ties but the result caused Austria, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Finland not to enter the 1970 contest. Lulu's song came out the best in sales, with German, French, Spanish and Italian versions alongside the original English. Later she told John Peel; "I know it's a rotten song, but I won, so who cares? I'd have sung "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" standing on my head if that's what it took to win.... I am just so glad I didn't finish second like all the other Brits before me, that would have been awful." Despite her dislike it is her second biggest UK hit to date, reaching number two on the chart in 1969.

In 1975 Lulu herself would host the BBC's A Song for Europe, the qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest, in which The Shadows would performe six shortlisted songs. In 1981 she joined other Eurovision winners at a charity gala held in Norway and she was a panellist at the 1989 UK heat, offering views on two of the competing eight entries. In 2009 she provided comment and support to the six acts shortlisted to represent the UK at Eurovision 2009 on BBC1 TV.

Weeks before her Eurovision appearance Lulu had married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees in a ceremony in Gerrards Cross. Maurice's older brother Barry was opposed to their marriage as he believed them to be too young. Their honeymoon in Mexico had to be postponed because of Lulu's Eurovision commitment. Their careers and his heavy drinking forced them apart and they divorced, childless, in 1973 but remained on good terms. . In 1969, she recorded New Routes an album recorded at Muscle Shoals studios: several of the songs, including a version of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles", featured slide guitarist Duane Allman. The album was recorded for Atlantic's Atco label and produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin
1970s

Lulu began 1970 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Boom Bang-A-Bang" live on BBC1, 31 December 1969. She recorded another Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin album in the USA, Melody Fair, and scored a US Top 30 hit, "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)", (later covered by Aretha Franklin, Buster Poindexter, and John Holt) and collaborated with the Dixie Flyers on "Hum a Song (From Your Heart)"

Four more German language tracks, ("Ich brauche deine Liebe", "Wach' ich oder träum' ich", "Warum tu'st du mir weh", and "Traurig, aber wahr") were recorded on the Atlantic/WEA label.

She was one of the main artists invited to appear on the BBC's anniversary show Fifty Years Of Music in 1972. The same year she starred in the Christmas pantomime Peter Pan at the Palace Theatre, Manchester and repeated her performance at the London Palladium in 1975, and returned to the same role in different London-based productions from 1987 to early 1989. She made an appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1973, singing "All the Things You Are" and "Happy Heart".

In 1974 she performed the title song for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Two slightly different versions of the song were used, at the start and end respectively - the end song actually name-checking James Bond. The same year she covered David Bowie's songs "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Watch That Man". Bowie and Mick Ronson produced the recordings. Bowie played saxophone and provided back-up vocals and rumours of a brief affair were confirmed in her 2002 autobiography. "The Man Who Sold the World" became her first top 10 hit in five years, peaking at number three in the UK chart in February 1974 and was a top 10 hit in several European countries.

On 31 December 1976 Lulu performed "Shout" on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver jubilee.

In 1977 Lulu became interested in Siddha Yoga and married hairdresser John Frieda. They divorced in 1991. They had one son, Jordan Frieda.
1980s

Lulu's chart success waned but she remained in the public eye, acting and hosting a long-running radio show on London's Capital Radio station. She was associated with Freemans fashion catalogue during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In August 1979 after a performance in Margate, Kent she was in a car accident that nearly took her life, colliding head-on with another car on Brooksend Hill and spent a week in hospital recovering. That same year, she recorded for Elton John's label Rocket Records and seemed about to hit the charts again, with the lauded "I Love to Boogie", but surprisingly, despite critical acclaim and much airplay, it did not make the top 75.

Notable London stage appearances came in the early 1980s in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance and the Royal National Theatre's Guys and Dolls. She damaged her vocal cords while performing in the Webber show, requiring surgery that threatened her singing voice. She co-hosted a revived series of Oh Boy! for ITV in the early 1980s. In 1981 she returned to the US charts with "I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)", a Top 20 hit that also reached number two on the Adult Contemporary chart despite stalling at number 62 in the UK. Early the following year she had a more modest US hit with "If I Were You", which just missed the Top 40, appeared in the video for "Ant Rap" alongside Adam and the Ants and was nominated for a Grammy for "Who's Foolin' Who" from the "Lulu" album.

She won the Rear of the Year award in 1983 and re-recorded a number of her songs. These included "Shout," which reached the Top 10 in 1986 in the UK, securing her a spot on Top of the Pops. Lulu was one of only two performers (Cliff Richard being the other) to have sung in the Top of the Pops studio in each of the five decades that the show ran. A follow up single to "Shout", an updated version of Millie's 1960s hit "My Boy Lollipop", failed to chart and Lulu stopped recording until 1992, focusing instead on TV, acting and live performances. These tracks were released on the Jive Records label. Lulu has had hits on the Decca, Columbia, Atco, Polydor, Chelsea, Alfa, Jive, Dome, RCA, Mercury and Universal labels. She has also released singles for GTO, Atlantic, Globe, EMI, Concept, Lifestyle, Utopia and Rocket, and Epic in the US. For a while, she held the record for the most number of hit labels in the UK charts. In 1987 she played Adrian Mole's mother on television (replacing Julie Walters).
1990s

In 1993 she made a recording comeback with the single "Independence" which reached number 11 in the UK charts. This was the title track from the Independence album, all four singles released from this album reached the UK charts, as did two later singles released in 1994.

Later that year she guested on the cover version of the Dan Hartman song "Relight My Fire", with boy band Take That. The single reached number one in the British charts and Lulu appeared as Take That's support act on their 1994 tour. At this time she also appeared as an unhappy public relations client of Edina Monsoon in two episodes of the BBC television programme Absolutely Fabulous and teamed with French & Saunders many times, including their send up of the Spice Girls (The Sugar Lumps) for Comic Relief in 1997, when she took the role of "Baby Spice", mimicking Emma Bunton. An album, provisionally titled Where the Poor Boys Dance was completed in late 1997 and due for release in early 1998 but was postponed by the record label Mercury. "Hurt Me So Bad" was released in April 1999 and a year later the title track from the album reach number 24 in the UK.

In 1999, Lulu returned to BBC1 to host their Saturday night National Lottery game show Red Alert and co-wrote and recorded a duet with UK pop singer Kavana entitled "Heart Like The Sun", but it was not released commercially until Kavana's 2007 "greatest hits" collection, Special Kind Of Something: The Best of....
2000s

Now known as Lulu Kennedy-Cairns (her late mother's birth name before she was adopted by the McDonald family), in 2000 she was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth. Her autobiography, published in 2002 was titled I Don't Want to Fight after the hit song she and her brother wrote with hit songwriter Steve DuBerry for Tina Turner, a song that Lulu herself released in 2003 as part of her The Greatest Hits album. Her 2002 gold album Together was a collection of duets with Elton John and Paul McCartney among others, tracks from which were performed in a high profile TV special for ITV, An Audience With Lulu, which saw Lulu reunited with her first husband Maurice Gibb for a live performance of "First of May".
Performing with Jools Holland at Border Hill, 23 June 2007.

In 2004, she released the album Back on Track and went on a UK-wide tour to celebrate 40 years in the business, the album charting at a low No 68. In late 2004 she returned to radio as the host of a 2-hour radio show on BBC Radio 2, playing an eclectic blend of music from the 1950s to the 2000s. In 2005, Lulu released A Little Soul in Your Heart, a collection of soul classics that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 28. In March 2006 she launched her official MySpace profile.

Lulu continued to act occasionally and starred alongside Tom Courtenay and Stephen Fry in the British movie, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?. She also appeared in the BBC's reality TV show Just the Two of Us in 2006 as a judge and in late June and early July 2006 appeared on Take That's UK and Ireland tour to perform their song "Relight My Fire". She appeared on American Idol Season 6 on 20 March 2007 as a mentor for the female contestants and the following night performed "To Sir, With Love". Later in 2007 she appeared in the UK as a guest for Jools Holland in a series of concerts and features and on Holland's CD release "Best of Friends", performing "Where Have All the Good Guys Gone?"

Lulu's complete Atco recordings (made between 1969 and 1972) were released on 12 November 2007. The two CD set included previously unreleased and demo versions of some of her recordings from this period. In December 2007 she released a download single on iTunes in the UK, called "Run Rudolph Run". At this time Lulu was also promoting a range of beauty products on QVC (UK), called "Time Bomb", and appeared on a 2007 Christmas television advertisement for Morrisons, the UK supermarket chain.

In February 2008 Lulu fans created an online petition to get Lulu an Outstanding Achievement Award from The Brits. This can still be signed at Lulu Brit Award Petition Online

In November 2008 Lulu was announced as one of a number of Scottish celebrities to feature in the advertising campaign for Homecoming Scotland, a year-long event to encourage people around the world with Scottish heritage to return to Scotland. Also in November 2008, Lulu posted the following message on her website, celebrating the election of Barack Obama as President of the USA: "Barack Obama Is In – Yippee, now we have got hope in the World. I’ve just turned 60, Obama is the new president of the USA and I think its going to be a fantastic year. Love Lu X". In both the 1979 and 1983 UK General Elections, Lulu had been a supporter of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party.

In January 2009, Lulu began a four week stint as an advisor/coach on the BBC show Eurovision: Your Country Needs You, helping to choose the singer to represent the UK at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

In the summer of 2009, Lulu guest presented on STV's daily lifestyle show The Hour, alongside main anchor Stephen Jardine. She appeared between 27 and 31 July. The Scottish magazine programme airs weekdays at 5 pm. As of 2009, she continues to pitch her range of "Lulu's" anti-ageing products and other cosmetics through the QVC (UK) home shopping channel, using her youthful appearance as a promotional tool.

After appearing at an Abba tribute concert in Hyde Park, London during September 2009, Lulu announced that she would be touring the UK in a Here Come the Girls alongside Chaka Khan and Anastacia. The trio promoted the concert series on UK TV, ahead of the first performance in November 2009, which took in 20 different dates.
2010s

In early 2010, Lulu performed the theme "The Word Is Love" to the movie Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! and toured the UK a second time with Here Come the Girls alongside Anastacia and Heather Small. In November 2010 she hosted the BBC TV series "Rewind the 60s" . Each episode focused on a year during the 1960s highlighting the social and political issues of the decade as well as music and interviews with personalities from the decade.

On 26 February 2011 Lulu appeared in the second heat in the third series of Let's Dance for Comic Relief. She danced to Soulja Boy's hit Crank That. In May 2011 made an appearance on the ITV2 program Celebrity Juice and in July 2011 she performed at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales.

Lulu appeared on Channel 4's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on 5 August 2011; closing the show dueting Bad Romance with Cuba Gooding, Jr.

In October 2011 Lulu took part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering Brendan Cole
Discography
Main article: Lulu discography
Filmography

    Gonks Go Beat (1965)
    To Sir, with Love (1967)
    Cucumber Castle (1970)
    The Cherry Picker (1972)
    Alicja (1982) (voice)
    To Sir, with Love II (1996)
    Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)

Other television appearances

Episode 28 of BBC's Monty Python's Flying Circus (1972, cameo appearance)

Starred in several episdoes of drama Perfect Scoundrels (TV series) from 1990 to 1992.
See also
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lulu (singer)

    List of number-one hits (United States)
    List of artists who reached number one in the United States
    Mononymous person
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b454/tracyann2010/Lulu.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p14/speedyclick/lulu.jpg

http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/nov5th/wink.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/03/11 at 3:32 pm


http://www.inthe00s.com/Smileys/nov5th/wink.gif



I thought for sure that you would post the pic of you & Lulu.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/04/11 at 1:56 am



I thought for sure that you would post the pic of you & Lulu.



Cat
I would have done, but now I decline too.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/04/11 at 6:58 am

The person of the day...Sean Combs
Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally known as Puff Daddy and then as P. Diddy (Puff and Puffy being often used as a nickname, but never as recording names). In August 2005, he changed his stage name to simply "Diddy", but continues to use the name P. Diddy in England as the result of a lawsuit. He formed and recorded with the group "Diddy – Dirty Money".

Combs was born in Harlem and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. He worked as a talent director at Uptown Records and then founded Bad Boy Records in 1993. His business interests under the umbrella of Bad Boy Entertainment Worldwide include Bad Boy Records; the clothing lines Sean John & Sean by Sean Combs; a movie production company; and two restaurants. He has taken the roles of recording executive, performer, producer of MTV's Making the Band, writer, arranger, clothing designer, and Broadway actor. In 2011 Forbes estimated his net worth at $500 million, making him the richest figure in hip hop.
In 1997, Combs recorded his first commercial vocal as a rapper under the name "Puff Daddy." His debut single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album, No Way Out was a #1 album and won the 1998 Grammy Award for best rap album. His second single, "I'll Be Missing You", in memory of The Notorious B.I.G. debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. He collaborated with Jimmy Page on the song "Come with Me" for the Godzilla film, an EPIC/Sony Soundtrax production. The track, approved by Page, sampled the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir". Producer Tom Morello supplied live guitar parts, playing bass on the song. Combs and Page filmed a video for "Come with Me", which reached #2 in the UK.

In 1997, Combs was sued for landlord neglect by Inge Bongo. Combs denied the charges.

By the late 1990s, he was receiving criticism for watering down and overly commercializing hip-hop and overusing guest appearances by other artists, samples and interpolations of past hits in his own hit songs.
Club New York

In December 1999, Combs was accused of assaulting Steve Stoute of Interscope Records. Stoute was the manager for Nas. Combs had filmed a video scene earlier that year for "Hate Me Now" that featured Nas being crucified but demanded that the images be removed. Stoute's refusal led to an argument and Puff Daddy's arrest for aggravated assault. This was followed by yet more negative publicity as The Lox left Bad Boy Records and a recording session with Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, both of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Junior M.A.F.I.A. posse, was interrupted by gunfire.

On December 27, 1999, Combs and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were at Club New York, a midtown Manhattan nightclub, when gunfire broke out. After a police investigation, Combs and fellow rapper Shyne were arrested for weapons violations and other charges. The New York County District Attorney's Office, led by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, indicted Combs after his driver, Wardel Fenderson, claimed that Combs had tried to bribe him into taking the weapon after the shooting.

With a gag order in place, the highly publicized trial began. His attorneys were Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Benjamin Brafman. After the trial was over, Combs was found not guilty on all charges; Shyne was convicted on the same charges and sentenced to ten years in prison. Combs and Lopez split shortly after. A lawsuit filed by Combs's driver, Fenderson, who said he suffered emotional damage after the club shooting, was settled in February 2004. Lawyers for both sides, having agreed to keep the settlement terms secret, would say only that the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.
"P. Diddy"

In 2001, after his acquittal on gun possession and bribery charges, Combs changed his stage name from "Puff Daddy" to "P. Diddy". He later appeared as a drug dealer in the film Made and starred with Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in Monster's Ball. He tried to reinvent his image, working on a gospel album, Thank You, but soon faced assault charges by a Michigan television host, Dr. Roger Mills, also known as Rogelio Mills, and then was arrested for driving on a suspended license in Florida. Combs began working with a series of unusual (for him) artists. A collaboration with David Bowie appeared on the soundtrack to Training Day and he also worked with Britney Spears and 'N Sync. He signed California-based pop girl group Dream to his record label. He was also an opening act for 'N Sync on their Spring 2002 Celebrity Tour.

Later in 2002, he made his own reality show on MTV called Making the Band 2, a sequel to the first Making the Band, in which contestants competed to be in a new group on Bad Boy Records. Six finalists were to come up with their name, CD and video (see Da Band). The group, maligned by comics and critics and drawing a skit on Chappelle's Show, was dissolved by Combs at the end of the series.

In 2003, Combs ran in the New York City Marathon and raised $2,000,000 for the educational system for the children of New York. On March 10, 2004, he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the marathon, which he finished in four hours and eighteen minutes.

In 2004, Combs headed the campaign "Vote or Die" for the 2004 Presidential Election. The "Vote or Die" slogan was mocked by both The Daily Show and South Park as being too simplistic and encouraging young people to vote without knowing the issues. In a South Park episode entitled "Douche and Turd", Combs and his friends were depicted chasing Stan Marsh, one of the show's main characters, around with weapons, literally threatening to kill him if he wouldn't vote in his school election.
"Diddy"
Combs performing in 2010

On August 16, 2005, Combs appeared on Today and announced that he was altering his stage name yet again, dropping the "P." and referring to himself simply as "Diddy", saying that "the P was getting between me and my fans." However, London-based musical artist and DJ Richard Dearlove had been performing under the "Diddy" name since 1992 - i.e. nine years before Combs started using even "P. Diddy" - so in November 2005 sought an injunction in the High Court of Justice, London, but accepted an out-of-court settlement of £10,000 in damages, and more than £100,000 in costs. As a result, Combs no longer uses the name Diddy in the UK, where he is still known as P. Diddy.

Combs starred in the 2005 Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, played Walter Lee Younger in the critically acclaimed 2004 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun and the television adaptation which was aired in February 2008. In the same year Combs sold his record company to the Warner Music Group. Tensions still existed between him and former Warner CEOs Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles (both formerly of Def Jam) but they arranged for his imprint to be a part of the company. In an interview with AndPOP Combs said that he was developing a line of men's suits. He later hosted the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2005 by Time magazine. He even earned a mention in the world of country music: The narrator of "Play Something Country" by Brooks & Dunn and Sean Okundaye says he "didn't come to hear P Diddy", which he rhymes with "something bumpin' from the city."

In 2006, after trying to move Mase away from Bad Boy Records, 50 Cent recorded a diss song, "Hip-Hop", in which he implied that Combs knew about The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder. The feud was resolved, with both rappers appearing on MTV's TRL and Sucker Free, respectively, stating that there were no longer problems.

Combs released his first album in 4 years, Press Play, on October 17, 2006 on the Bad Boy Records label with guest appearances from Christina Aguilera, Keyshia Cole, Mario Winans (signed to his label 'Bad Boy Records'), Nas, Will.i.am (of The Black Eyed Peas), Mary J. Blige, Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls), Jamie Foxx, Fergie, Big Boi (of Outkast), Ciara, Twista, Just Blaze, Pharrell, Brandy. The album reached number one on its first week in the charts.

It was reported that Combs would be singing on all the tracks of this album but he did not sing at all on the album's first single, "Come To Me" (featuring Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls), but rather did his traditional rapping. He did sing on the third single, "Last Night" (featuring Keyshia Cole). "Tell Me" (featuring Christina Aguilera) was released as the second single. He was asking fans on his MySpace page to help him choose the fourth single, which was "Through the Pain (She Told Me)" (featuring Mario Winans).

In October 2007, he was sued by hip-hop promoter James Waldon for allegedly unleashing three violent bodyguards on him in a New York nightclub. In March 2008, a source for the Los Angeles Times claimed that The Notorious B.I.G. and Combs orchestrated the '94 robbery and assassination attempt on Tupac, substantiating the claim with supposed FBI documents to that effect; the newspaper later retracted the story, acknowledging that the supporting FBI documents had been fabricated.

In June 2008, Combs' representative denied rumors of another name change. August 2008 saw Combs venture into reality television with the premiere of his VH1 series I Want to Work for Diddy. After the second season finale of Making the Band 4, Combs confirmed that he will be heading back into the studio to record his next album. He posted a Myspace Bulletin on February 19, 2009 that his next album is set to release in November 2009.

Combs has stated that he would like to work with Leona Lewis on his new album. In an interview with The Daily Mail he said: "I had Christina Aguilera on my last album, but its all about Leona Lewis on my next."

Under his real name of Sean Combs, he starred in two episodes of Season 7 of CSI: Miami; 'Presumed Guilty' and 'Sink or Swim' in the role of the lawyer Derek Powell.

He has created a rap supergroup known as "The Dream Team". The group consists of Diddy, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes and Red Café. Fabolous is also rumored to be in the group. Since 2009 he has recorded and performed as part of the group Diddy - Dirty Money.

In June 2010, Diddy played a role (as Sean Combs) in the comedy film Get Him to the Greek, as Sergio Roma, a record company executive. An Entourage-series representative announced that Diddy would guest star on an episode of the upcoming season.

On Thursday, March 10, 2011 Diddy-Dirty Money performed the single "Coming Home" with singer/songwriter Skylar Grey and two female background vocalists Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper, live on American Idol. Forty six minutes into the show, Ryan Seacrest introduced Diddy-Dirty Money featuring Skylar Grey. Grey started the performance seated at a piano singing the song's opening refrain. Diddy-Dirty Money's performance lasted four minutes.

On April 18, 2011, Diddy appeared in the 21st episode of season one of Hawaii Five-0 as an undercover NYPD detective.
Business ventures

In 2002, he was featured on Fortune magazine's "40 Richest People Under 40" list and was placed number one in the list of the top ten richest people in hip-hop. In 2011 his estimated worth was US $500 million, making him the richest person in the hip hop entertainment business.
Sean John
Billboard of Combs over Times Square in 2008 (advertising the Sean John clothing line)

In 1998, Combs started a clothing line, Sean John. It was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000, and won in 2004.

The clothing line was subject to controversy in 2003 when it was discovered that factories producing the clothing in Honduras were violating Honduran labor law. Among the accusations put forth were that workers were subjected to body searches and paid sweatshop wages. Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee, who first exposed the factory, is quoted in the New York Times as saying, "Sean Puff Daddy obviously has a lot of clout, he can literally do a lot overnight to help these workers."

Combs responded that there would be a "zero tolerance" investigation at his company, Sean John. He stated to a group of reporters "I'm as pro-worker as they get." On February 14, 2004, Kernaghann announced on Pacifia station that Combs had made some "unprecedented" changes at factories including adding air conditioning and water purification systems, and allowing a union to form.

In late 2006, MSNBC reported, "Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its Web site two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from an animal called a 'raccoon dog'". Combs said he had been unaware of the material, but as soon as he knew about it, he had his clothing line stop using the material. In 2008 he appeared in a Macy's commercial.

In November 2008, Combs launched his latest men's perfume under the Sean John brand called "I Am King" dedicated to Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. In November 2008, he unveiled a new Times Square billboard for the "I Am King" line to replace his iconic Sean John ad. The giant billboard is currently the largest static ad in Times Square. Model Bar Refaeli was chosen to be the face of the fragrance.
Combs has never married, but he is the biological father of five children and the informal stepfather of another child:

His on-again, off-again girlfriend Kimberly Porter has a son, Quincy Jones Brown (born December 1991) with 1980s New Jack Swing romantic singer/producer Al B Sure. Quincy was featured on My Super Sweet 16.

Combs' first biological child is Justin Dior Combs (born December 1993), from a relationship with his high school sweetheart, designer Misa Hylton-Brim. In January 2010 it was widely reported that Combs presented his son Justin with a $360,000 Maybach car (and chauffeur) as a 16th birthday present. Justin was also featured on My Super Sweet 16.

His second child is son Christian Casey Combs (born April 1998) with Kim Porter. Porter is also the mother of Combs' twin daughters, D'Lila Star Combs and Jessie James Combs (born December 2006). In July 2007 Combs and Porter ended their relationship.

In October 2007, Combs took legal responsibility for Chance, his daughter with Sarah Chapman.

Combs owns a home in Alpine, New Jersey that he purchased for a reported $7 million.
Charity work and honors
Combs' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

On October 13, 2006, the mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, gave Combs the key to the city and a pair of cufflinks to commemorate the inauguration of an annual October 13 "Diddy Day". He received the honor as a reward for certain charitable work at Chicago's City Hall.

In 2008 Combs was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the fall of 2011, Combs presented his hometown Boys and Girls Club with a considerable contribution that helped to save the dying organization. It was said that the timing of the contribution was received at the perfect moment, seeing that the Club’s budget for operations has been pressed because of changes to federal, state and private funding.
Wardrobe style

In the February 2007 issue of Blender magazine, Combs spoke about his wardrobe. He describes his style in three words: "Swagger. Timeless. Diverse." On September 2, 2007, Combs held his ninth annual "White Party" in which all guests are limited to an all white dress code. The White Party, which has also been held in St. Tropez, was held in his Long Island home in East Hampton. It featured a white carpet to go along with the white dress code. Combs stated, "This party is up there with the top three that I've thrown, It's a party that has legendary status. It's hard to throw a party that lives up to its legend."
Discography
Main articles: Sean Combs discography and Sean Combs production discography

Studio albums

    1997: No Way Out
    1999: Forever
    2001: The Saga Continues...
    2002: We Invented the Remix
    2006: Press Play
    2010: Last Train to Paris

Accolades

    NAACP Image Awards
        2009, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, A Raisin in the Sun (Winner)
    MOBO Awards
        2007, Best International Act (Nominated)
    BET Awards
        2007, Best Male Hip Hop Artist (Nominated)
    MTV Video Music Awards
        1997, Best R&B Video: "I'll Be Missing You" (Winner)
        1998, Viewers Choice: "It's All About The Benjamins (Rock Remix)" (Winner)
    Grammy Awards

Year Category Genre Song Result
1998 Best New Artist General N/A Nominated
1998 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" Nominated
1998 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Mo Money Mo Problems" Nominated
1998 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "I'll Be Missing You" Won
1998 Best Rap Album Rap No Way Out Won
2000 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Satisfy You" Nominated
2002 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Bad Boy For Life" Nominated
2003 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Pass the Courvoisier (Part 2)" Nominated
2004 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Shake Ya Tailfeather" Won

    Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (Albums Executive Produced by Sean Combs)

Rank Artist Album Year
133 The Notorious B.I.G. Ready To Die 1994
279 Mary J. Blige My Life 1994
483 The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death 1997
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n21/cristina1826/SEAN-DIDDY-COMBS.jpg
http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo267/KandyLoco/sean_combs_01.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/04/11 at 7:00 am


The person of the day...Sean Combs
Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally known as Puff Daddy and then as P. Diddy (Puff and Puffy being often used as a nickname, but never as recording names). In August 2005, he changed his stage name to simply "Diddy", but continues to use the name P. Diddy in England as the result of a lawsuit. He formed and recorded with the group "Diddy – Dirty Money".

Combs was born in Harlem and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. He worked as a talent director at Uptown Records and then founded Bad Boy Records in 1993. His business interests under the umbrella of Bad Boy Entertainment Worldwide include Bad Boy Records; the clothing lines Sean John & Sean by Sean Combs; a movie production company; and two restaurants. He has taken the roles of recording executive, performer, producer of MTV's Making the Band, writer, arranger, clothing designer, and Broadway actor. In 2011 Forbes estimated his net worth at $500 million, making him the richest figure in hip hop.
In 1997, Combs recorded his first commercial vocal as a rapper under the name "Puff Daddy." His debut single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album, No Way Out was a #1 album and won the 1998 Grammy Award for best rap album. His second single, "I'll Be Missing You", in memory of The Notorious B.I.G. debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. He collaborated with Jimmy Page on the song "Come with Me" for the Godzilla film, an EPIC/Sony Soundtrax production. The track, approved by Page, sampled the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir". Producer Tom Morello supplied live guitar parts, playing bass on the song. Combs and Page filmed a video for "Come with Me", which reached #2 in the UK.

In 1997, Combs was sued for landlord neglect by Inge Bongo. Combs denied the charges.

By the late 1990s, he was receiving criticism for watering down and overly commercializing hip-hop and overusing guest appearances by other artists, samples and interpolations of past hits in his own hit songs.
Club New York

In December 1999, Combs was accused of assaulting Steve Stoute of Interscope Records. Stoute was the manager for Nas. Combs had filmed a video scene earlier that year for "Hate Me Now" that featured Nas being crucified but demanded that the images be removed. Stoute's refusal led to an argument and Puff Daddy's arrest for aggravated assault. This was followed by yet more negative publicity as The Lox left Bad Boy Records and a recording session with Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, both of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Junior M.A.F.I.A. posse, was interrupted by gunfire.

On December 27, 1999, Combs and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were at Club New York, a midtown Manhattan nightclub, when gunfire broke out. After a police investigation, Combs and fellow rapper Shyne were arrested for weapons violations and other charges. The New York County District Attorney's Office, led by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, indicted Combs after his driver, Wardel Fenderson, claimed that Combs had tried to bribe him into taking the weapon after the shooting.

With a gag order in place, the highly publicized trial began. His attorneys were Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Benjamin Brafman. After the trial was over, Combs was found not guilty on all charges; Shyne was convicted on the same charges and sentenced to ten years in prison. Combs and Lopez split shortly after. A lawsuit filed by Combs's driver, Fenderson, who said he suffered emotional damage after the club shooting, was settled in February 2004. Lawyers for both sides, having agreed to keep the settlement terms secret, would say only that the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.
"P. Diddy"

In 2001, after his acquittal on gun possession and bribery charges, Combs changed his stage name from "Puff Daddy" to "P. Diddy". He later appeared as a drug dealer in the film Made and starred with Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in Monster's Ball. He tried to reinvent his image, working on a gospel album, Thank You, but soon faced assault charges by a Michigan television host, Dr. Roger Mills, also known as Rogelio Mills, and then was arrested for driving on a suspended license in Florida. Combs began working with a series of unusual (for him) artists. A collaboration with David Bowie appeared on the soundtrack to Training Day and he also worked with Britney Spears and 'N Sync. He signed California-based pop girl group Dream to his record label. He was also an opening act for 'N Sync on their Spring 2002 Celebrity Tour.

Later in 2002, he made his own reality show on MTV called Making the Band 2, a sequel to the first Making the Band, in which contestants competed to be in a new group on Bad Boy Records. Six finalists were to come up with their name, CD and video (see Da Band). The group, maligned by comics and critics and drawing a skit on Chappelle's Show, was dissolved by Combs at the end of the series.

In 2003, Combs ran in the New York City Marathon and raised $2,000,000 for the educational system for the children of New York. On March 10, 2004, he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss the marathon, which he finished in four hours and eighteen minutes.

In 2004, Combs headed the campaign "Vote or Die" for the 2004 Presidential Election. The "Vote or Die" slogan was mocked by both The Daily Show and South Park as being too simplistic and encouraging young people to vote without knowing the issues. In a South Park episode entitled "Douche and Turd", Combs and his friends were depicted chasing Stan Marsh, one of the show's main characters, around with weapons, literally threatening to kill him if he wouldn't vote in his school election.
"Diddy"
Combs performing in 2010

On August 16, 2005, Combs appeared on Today and announced that he was altering his stage name yet again, dropping the "P." and referring to himself simply as "Diddy", saying that "the P was getting between me and my fans." However, London-based musical artist and DJ Richard Dearlove had been performing under the "Diddy" name since 1992 - i.e. nine years before Combs started using even "P. Diddy" - so in November 2005 sought an injunction in the High Court of Justice, London, but accepted an out-of-court settlement of £10,000 in damages, and more than £100,000 in costs. As a result, Combs no longer uses the name Diddy in the UK, where he is still known as P. Diddy.

Combs starred in the 2005 Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, played Walter Lee Younger in the critically acclaimed 2004 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun and the television adaptation which was aired in February 2008. In the same year Combs sold his record company to the Warner Music Group. Tensions still existed between him and former Warner CEOs Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles (both formerly of Def Jam) but they arranged for his imprint to be a part of the company. In an interview with AndPOP Combs said that he was developing a line of men's suits. He later hosted the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2005 by Time magazine. He even earned a mention in the world of country music: The narrator of "Play Something Country" by Brooks & Dunn and Sean Okundaye says he "didn't come to hear P Diddy", which he rhymes with "something bumpin' from the city."

In 2006, after trying to move Mase away from Bad Boy Records, 50 Cent recorded a diss song, "Hip-Hop", in which he implied that Combs knew about The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder. The feud was resolved, with both rappers appearing on MTV's TRL and Sucker Free, respectively, stating that there were no longer problems.

Combs released his first album in 4 years, Press Play, on October 17, 2006 on the Bad Boy Records label with guest appearances from Christina Aguilera, Keyshia Cole, Mario Winans (signed to his label 'Bad Boy Records'), Nas, Will.i.am (of The Black Eyed Peas), Mary J. Blige, Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls), Jamie Foxx, Fergie, Big Boi (of Outkast), Ciara, Twista, Just Blaze, Pharrell, Brandy. The album reached number one on its first week in the charts.

It was reported that Combs would be singing on all the tracks of this album but he did not sing at all on the album's first single, "Come To Me" (featuring Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls), but rather did his traditional rapping. He did sing on the third single, "Last Night" (featuring Keyshia Cole). "Tell Me" (featuring Christina Aguilera) was released as the second single. He was asking fans on his MySpace page to help him choose the fourth single, which was "Through the Pain (She Told Me)" (featuring Mario Winans).

In October 2007, he was sued by hip-hop promoter James Waldon for allegedly unleashing three violent bodyguards on him in a New York nightclub. In March 2008, a source for the Los Angeles Times claimed that The Notorious B.I.G. and Combs orchestrated the '94 robbery and assassination attempt on Tupac, substantiating the claim with supposed FBI documents to that effect; the newspaper later retracted the story, acknowledging that the supporting FBI documents had been fabricated.

In June 2008, Combs' representative denied rumors of another name change. August 2008 saw Combs venture into reality television with the premiere of his VH1 series I Want to Work for Diddy. After the second season finale of Making the Band 4, Combs confirmed that he will be heading back into the studio to record his next album. He posted a Myspace Bulletin on February 19, 2009 that his next album is set to release in November 2009.

Combs has stated that he would like to work with Leona Lewis on his new album. In an interview with The Daily Mail he said: "I had Christina Aguilera on my last album, but its all about Leona Lewis on my next."

Under his real name of Sean Combs, he starred in two episodes of Season 7 of CSI: Miami; 'Presumed Guilty' and 'Sink or Swim' in the role of the lawyer Derek Powell.

He has created a rap supergroup known as "The Dream Team". The group consists of Diddy, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes and Red Café. Fabolous is also rumored to be in the group. Since 2009 he has recorded and performed as part of the group Diddy - Dirty Money.

In June 2010, Diddy played a role (as Sean Combs) in the comedy film Get Him to the Greek, as Sergio Roma, a record company executive. An Entourage-series representative announced that Diddy would guest star on an episode of the upcoming season.

On Thursday, March 10, 2011 Diddy-Dirty Money performed the single "Coming Home" with singer/songwriter Skylar Grey and two female background vocalists Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper, live on American Idol. Forty six minutes into the show, Ryan Seacrest introduced Diddy-Dirty Money featuring Skylar Grey. Grey started the performance seated at a piano singing the song's opening refrain. Diddy-Dirty Money's performance lasted four minutes.

On April 18, 2011, Diddy appeared in the 21st episode of season one of Hawaii Five-0 as an undercover NYPD detective.
Business ventures

In 2002, he was featured on Fortune magazine's "40 Richest People Under 40" list and was placed number one in the list of the top ten richest people in hip-hop. In 2011 his estimated worth was US $500 million, making him the richest person in the hip hop entertainment business.
Sean John
Billboard of Combs over Times Square in 2008 (advertising the Sean John clothing line)

In 1998, Combs started a clothing line, Sean John. It was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000, and won in 2004.

The clothing line was subject to controversy in 2003 when it was discovered that factories producing the clothing in Honduras were violating Honduran labor law. Among the accusations put forth were that workers were subjected to body searches and paid sweatshop wages. Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee, who first exposed the factory, is quoted in the New York Times as saying, "Sean Puff Daddy obviously has a lot of clout, he can literally do a lot overnight to help these workers."

Combs responded that there would be a "zero tolerance" investigation at his company, Sean John. He stated to a group of reporters "I'm as pro-worker as they get." On February 14, 2004, Kernaghann announced on Pacifia station that Combs had made some "unprecedented" changes at factories including adding air conditioning and water purification systems, and allowing a union to form.

In late 2006, MSNBC reported, "Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its Web site two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from an animal called a 'raccoon dog'". Combs said he had been unaware of the material, but as soon as he knew about it, he had his clothing line stop using the material. In 2008 he appeared in a Macy's commercial.

In November 2008, Combs launched his latest men's perfume under the Sean John brand called "I Am King" dedicated to Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. In November 2008, he unveiled a new Times Square billboard for the "I Am King" line to replace his iconic Sean John ad. The giant billboard is currently the largest static ad in Times Square. Model Bar Refaeli was chosen to be the face of the fragrance.
Combs has never married, but he is the biological father of five children and the informal stepfather of another child:

His on-again, off-again girlfriend Kimberly Porter has a son, Quincy Jones Brown (born December 1991) with 1980s New Jack Swing romantic singer/producer Al B Sure. Quincy was featured on My Super Sweet 16.

Combs' first biological child is Justin Dior Combs (born December 1993), from a relationship with his high school sweetheart, designer Misa Hylton-Brim. In January 2010 it was widely reported that Combs presented his son Justin with a $360,000 Maybach car (and chauffeur) as a 16th birthday present. Justin was also featured on My Super Sweet 16.

His second child is son Christian Casey Combs (born April 1998) with Kim Porter. Porter is also the mother of Combs' twin daughters, D'Lila Star Combs and Jessie James Combs (born December 2006). In July 2007 Combs and Porter ended their relationship.

In October 2007, Combs took legal responsibility for Chance, his daughter with Sarah Chapman.

Combs owns a home in Alpine, New Jersey that he purchased for a reported $7 million.
Charity work and honors
Combs' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

On October 13, 2006, the mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, gave Combs the key to the city and a pair of cufflinks to commemorate the inauguration of an annual October 13 "Diddy Day". He received the honor as a reward for certain charitable work at Chicago's City Hall.

In 2008 Combs was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the fall of 2011, Combs presented his hometown Boys and Girls Club with a considerable contribution that helped to save the dying organization. It was said that the timing of the contribution was received at the perfect moment, seeing that the Club’s budget for operations has been pressed because of changes to federal, state and private funding.
Wardrobe style

In the February 2007 issue of Blender magazine, Combs spoke about his wardrobe. He describes his style in three words: "Swagger. Timeless. Diverse." On September 2, 2007, Combs held his ninth annual "White Party" in which all guests are limited to an all white dress code. The White Party, which has also been held in St. Tropez, was held in his Long Island home in East Hampton. It featured a white carpet to go along with the white dress code. Combs stated, "This party is up there with the top three that I've thrown, It's a party that has legendary status. It's hard to throw a party that lives up to its legend."
Discography
Main articles: Sean Combs discography and Sean Combs production discography

Studio albums

    1997: No Way Out
    1999: Forever
    2001: The Saga Continues...
    2002: We Invented the Remix
    2006: Press Play
    2010: Last Train to Paris

Accolades

    NAACP Image Awards
        2009, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, A Raisin in the Sun (Winner)
    MOBO Awards
        2007, Best International Act (Nominated)
    BET Awards
        2007, Best Male Hip Hop Artist (Nominated)
    MTV Video Music Awards
        1997, Best R&B Video: "I'll Be Missing You" (Winner)
        1998, Viewers Choice: "It's All About The Benjamins (Rock Remix)" (Winner)
    Grammy Awards

Year Category Genre Song Result
1998 Best New Artist General N/A Nominated
1998 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" Nominated
1998 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Mo Money Mo Problems" Nominated
1998 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "I'll Be Missing You" Won
1998 Best Rap Album Rap No Way Out Won
2000 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Satisfy You" Nominated
2002 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Bad Boy For Life" Nominated
2003 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Pass the Courvoisier (Part 2)" Nominated
2004 Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group Rap "Shake Ya Tailfeather" Won

    Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (Albums Executive Produced by Sean Combs)

Rank Artist Album Year
133 The Notorious B.I.G. Ready To Die 1994
279 Mary J. Blige My Life 1994
483 The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death 1997
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n21/cristina1826/SEAN-DIDDY-COMBS.jpg
http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo267/KandyLoco/sean_combs_01.jpg


I can't believe he's 42.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/04/11 at 11:09 am


I can't believe he's 42.  :o
Yep, he's been around a while!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/06/11 at 5:00 am

The person of the day...Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver (play /ˈʃraɪvər/; born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences award for developing a "television show with a conscience". She was formerly First Lady of California as the wife of actor and then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, from whom she is now separated. She is a member of the Kennedy family (John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy were her uncles on her mother's, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, side).
Shriver was born in Chicago, Illinois. A Roman Catholic of German descent through her father and Irish American descent through her mother, she is the second child and only daughter of the politician Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Eunice was the sister of United States President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and five other siblings. Shriver attended Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and graduated in 1973 from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda. She attended Manhattanville College for two years and then transferred and went on to receive a bachelor of arts degree in American studies from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in June 1977.
Career
Media career and advocacy

In her book Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World (2000), Shriver says that she became passionate about broadcast journalism after being sent to the back of the campaign plane with the press corps while volunteering for her father's 1972 U.S. vice presidential race, calling these orders "the best thing that ever happened to me." After her journalism career began with KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored The CBS Morning News with Forrest Sawyer from August 1985 until August 1986, co-anchored NBC News's Sunday Today from 1987 until 1990 and Sunday editions of NBC Nightly News from 1989 until 1993, and was a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC from 1992 until 2004. In August 2003, Shriver took an unpaid leave of absence from NBC News when her husband became a candidate in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election.

Following her husband's November 17, 2003, inauguration as the 38th Governor of California, she became the First Lady of California. She then returned to reporting, making two more appearances for Dateline NBC.

On February 3, 2004, Shriver asked to be "relieved of duties at NBC News," citing concerns the network had over the conflict of interest between her role as a journalist and her status as the First Lady of California and her increasing role as an advocate of her husband's administration.

She appeared as herself in the film Last Action Hero (1993). She also played a minor role as herself in "Be Prepared", a 2006 episode of the television series That's So Raven promoting a "Preparedness Plan". On March 23, 2007, Shriver returned to television news as substitute host of panel-discussion talk show Larry King Live on CNN with musician Sheryl Crow and other guests.

Shriver announced that she will not return to the news media after the excessive media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.

In 2008, Shriver executive-produced American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver. The documentary originally aired on PBS on January 21, 2008. The film chronicled the life, accomplishments and vision of her father, Sargent Shriver. Shriver also serves on the advisory board of the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute, which raises public awareness of her father’s legacy as a peacebuilder and offers educational and training programs grounded in the principles of public service that motivate the many programs he created, including the Peace Corps, Job Corps, Head Start, and Legal Services for the Poor.

Shriver has been a lifelong advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. She is a member of the International Board of Special Olympics, the organization her mother founded in 1968. She is also on the advisory board of Best Buddies, a one-to-one friendship and jobs program for people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, Shriver serves as Chair of the Audi Best Buddies Challenge: Hearst Castle, a bike ride that raises millions of dollars for programs supporting people with intellectual disabilities. As First Lady, Shriver has been instrumental in the hiring of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the capitol and in various state offices through her WE Include program. In February 2008, Shriver launched an ice cream company called Lovin' Scoopful with her brother, Tim Shriver. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from Lovin' Scoopful benefits the Special Olympics.

Shriver executive-produced The Alzheimer's Project, a four-part documentary series that premiered on HBO in May 2009 and later earned two Emmy Awards. It was described by the Los Angeles Times as "ambitious, disturbing, emotionally fraught and carefully optimistic". The series took a close look at cutting-edge research being done in the country's leading Alzheimer's laboratories. The documentary also examined the effects of this disease on patients and families. One of the Emmy Award-winning films, Grandpa, Do you Know Who I Am? is based on Shriver's best-selling children's book dealing with Alzheimer's.

In October 2009, Shriver launched "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything," a national study and comprehensive report conducted in partnership with the Center for American Progress, USC's Annenberg Center on Communication, Leadership and Policy, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Shriver Report revealed that American women, for the first time, make up half of the United States workforce and studied how that fact is impacting major institutions like family, business, government and faith organizations. The report was released last year in partnership with TIME and NBC News. According to The New York Times, the report "was modeled on a study undertaken almost 50 years ago during the administration of John F. Kennedy, Shriver's uncle, and led by Eleanor Roosevelt."
First Lady of California

After Governor Schwarzenegger took office, Shriver took on several key initiatives as first lady, which include raising awareness of the contributions of women to the state, working on practical solutions to end cycles of poverty, and encouraging all Californians to engage in acts of service to their communities. Once Schwarzenegger was elected, Shriver had to cut back on her news reporting in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
Maria Shriver with her husband at the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai, China

Shriver led the California Governor & First Lady's Conference on Women from when Schwarzenegger took office in 2003. Under her leadership, The Women's Conference event grew into the nation's premier forum for women and in 2010 attracted more than 30,000 attendees and 150 world opinion leaders over three full days. Each year, the event was held at the Long Beach Convention Center in October. The event aims to inspire, empower and educate women to be Architects of Change. Hundreds of luminaries have spoken at the conference including Oprah Winfrey, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, Barbara Walters, Warren Buffett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Bono, Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In 2004, Shriver created The Minerva Awards to honor and reward "remarkable California women" who have changed their communities, their state, their country and the world with their courage, wisdom and strength. The Minerva Awards are named after Minerva, the Roman goddess who adorns the California State Seal and "who symbolizes the dual nature of women as warriors and peacemakers". The Minerva Awards are presented annually at The Women's Conference in Long Beach during a special ceremony. Recipients of the award also receive a grant to continue their work. Past Minerva Awards recipients include former first lady Betty Ford, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King, astronaut Sally Ride and the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Shriver's mother.The achievements of The Minerva Award winners are chronicled in a permanent exhibit at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento and have become part of California’s official state archive.

In 2005, Shriver launched her WE Connect Program, which connects working families in need with money-saving programs and support services. WE Connect brings together community organizations and businesses, government agencies and state leaders, congregations and schools as partners in responding to the needs for the millions of individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Through a partnership with La Opinion, the nation’s largest Spanish-speaking newspaper, WE Connect has developed three editions of a 24-page, full-color, bilingual supplement that has been circulated to over 20 million Californians in need. In December 2009, Shriver, in partnership with The Women's Conference, created the WE Connect–Million Meals Initiative. Through this initiative, The Women's Conference made a donation to The California Association of Food Banks to provide more than one million meals to California families in need. The donation was allocated to the food bank's 44 member organizations who then distributed the food to California families through its more than 5,000 community-based organizations. In March 2010, Shriver held a three-day Community Resources Fair in Fresno and Los Angeles through WE Connect. The fairs provided vital programs and free support services such as tax preparation, housing and home foreclosure assistance, job assistance, flu shots, healthy food distribution and more. Event organizers estimated that over 40,000 individuals took advantage of free services during the course of the two weekends and hundreds of thousands pounds of food were distributed.

As First Lady, Shriver has worked to promote service and volunteerism. As Honorary Chair of CaliforniaVolunteers, Shriver conceived of and launched the largest statewide volunteer matching network at CaliforniaVolunteers.org. Shriver was instrumental in inspiring Governor Schwarzenegger to establish the nation’s first state cabinet-level Department of Service and Volunteering. She also pioneered and promoted a statewide disaster preparedness program called WE Prepare that encourages and educates Californians to be ready for an emergency or natural disaster. In addition, Shriver established WE Build and WE Garden, a children’s playground and community garden-building initiative. Through CaliforniaVolunteers, Shriver has built 31 playgrounds with gardens in lower-income communities around the state in partnership with KaBOOM!.

In 2008, Shriver launched her WE Invest Program, which provides training, mentoring, support networks, microloans and other resources to help women launch or grow their businesses. In June 2009, she expanded WE Invest nationally through a partnership with Kiva, creating the first-ever online peer-to-peer microlending program in the U.S. Shriver is credited with coming up with the idea to bring Kiva's international micro-lending model to the United States

Shriver is Co-Chair of The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts and she has been credited with revitalizing the state museum during her tenure. Shriver created the California Hall of Fame in 2006 at the Museum to honor legendary Californians such as Cesar Chavez, Clint Eastwood, Walt Disney, Amelia Earhart, Ronald Reagan, John Steinbeck, Rita Moreno, Earl Warren, Julia Morgan, Leland Stanford, Dorothea Lange and others. In November 2008, Shriver launched the California Legacy Trails, a first-of-its-kind web-based multimedia learning tool designed to help students learn California history.

On February 3, 2008, Shriver endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The endorsement was given at a UCLA rally featuring her cousin Caroline Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, and the candidate's spouse, Michelle Obama. Governor Schwarzenegger had previously endorsed Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination a few days earlier on January 31, 2008.

In May 2009, Shriver planted the first edible garden at a state capitol in what once was a flower bed. She teamed up with Alice Waters on the project. The food grown in the organic garden is distributed to local food banks. Shriver has been an advocate for edible gardens and chairs the California School Garden Network that has doubled the number of gardens in state schools from 3,000 to 6,000 since 2004.
Personal life

In 1977, Tom Brokaw introduced Maria to Austrian bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a charity tennis tournament being held at her mother's home. She married Schwarzenegger on April 26, 1986, in Hyannis, Massachusetts, at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church. They have four children: Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher.

On May 9, 2011, Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their separation after 25 years of marriage, with Shriver moving out of the couple's Brentwood mansion. In a message for her Twitter followers posted on May 13, 2011, Shriver said: "Thank you all for the kindness, support and compassion. I am humbled by the love. Thank you."

On May 17, 2011, Schwarzenegger publicly admitted to fathering a child with a long-time member of their household staff, Mildred Patricia Baena, 14 years earlier, and before his election as Governor of California. What Schwarzenegger failed to mention was that he confessed to Shriver only after she confronted him with the information, after confirming what she had suspected about the child, in an earlier confrontation with the housekeeper. Shriver described Schwarzenegger's admission as "painful and heartbreaking." She declined to speak further on the issue, saying: "As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal."

Shriver hired a divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, whose previous clients include Angelina Jolie, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears, and officially filed for divorce on July 1, 2011, citing "irreconcilable differences". Wasser was hired before the news of the affair went public, a source close to Shriver told US publication People, Shriver had been meeting with her financial advisor for some months before the decision to file the divorce petition. Shriver has also hired a private investigator to investigate Schwarzenegger's financial history and his personal life, including whether or not he has fathered more than one child out of wedlock.

Shriver has purchased a new $10 million house only three miles away from her former home with Schwarzenegger in Brentwood. Although she has requested custody of the couple's two minor children, 17-year old Patrick and 13-year old Christopher, the mansions' proximity will make it easier for the boys to travel between their parents' houses.

Shriver's 13-year-old son Christopher Schwarzenegger was seriously injured in a boogie-boarding accident in Malibu, on July 17, 2011. In a joint statement, Shriver and estranged husband Schwarzenegger described it as "scary," and that "he is expected to make a full recovery." Christopher has been in intensive care since suffering a collapsed lung and broken bones in the accident.
Honors

A hybrid rose was named after Shriver in October 2004. The Maria Shriver rose contains starchy-white blooms and a powerful citrus fragrance.

As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences award for developing a "television show with a conscience".

In 2009, Shriver was honored with the Shinnyo-en Foundation’s 2009 Pathfinders to Peace Award, which is bestowed annually to a person who exemplifies the ideals of compassion, harmony and peace. At the presentation ceremony honoring Shriver, the foundation’s chief executive said, “Maria Shriver sees the best in other people – their innate goodness – and inspires them to become their own 'Architects of Change'. In a world that glorifies ambition at any cost, Maria instead teaches character. She is a woman of quiet strength who role-models kindness and charity, and has used her celebrity to help create peace in the world.”

She has won Peabody and Emmy awards for her television journalism.

The Saint John's Health Center has a nursery named after Shriver.
Books

    Shriver, Maria (2000-04-04). Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-52612-8.
    Shriver, Maria; Sandra Speidel (2001-10-16). What's Wrong With Timmy?. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-23337-8.
    Shriver, Maria; Sandra Speidel (2004-04-28). What's Happening to Grandpa?. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-00101-4.
    Shriver, Maria (2005-04-05). And One More Thing Before You Go.... The Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-8101-0.
    Shriver, Maria; Sandra Speidel (2007-10-30). What's Heaven?. Golden Books Adult Publishing. ISBN 978-0-312-38241-4.
    Shriver, Maria (2008-04-15). Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question, Little Book, Answer Within. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-2318-9.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/tom51.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/dy55.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/06/11 at 6:59 am


The person of the day...Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver (play /ˈʃraɪvər/; born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences award for developing a "television show with a conscience". She was formerly First Lady of California as the wife of actor and then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, from whom she is now separated. She is a member of the Kennedy family (John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy were her uncles on her mother's, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, side).
Shriver was born in Chicago, Illinois. A Roman Catholic of German descent through her father and Irish American descent through her mother, she is the second child and only daughter of the politician Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Eunice was the sister of United States President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and five other siblings. Shriver attended Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and graduated in 1973 from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda. She attended Manhattanville College for two years and then transferred and went on to receive a bachelor of arts degree in American studies from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in June 1977.
Career
Media career and advocacy

In her book Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World (2000), Shriver says that she became passionate about broadcast journalism after being sent to the back of the campaign plane with the press corps while volunteering for her father's 1972 U.S. vice presidential race, calling these orders "the best thing that ever happened to me." After her journalism career began with KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored The CBS Morning News with Forrest Sawyer from August 1985 until August 1986, co-anchored NBC News's Sunday Today from 1987 until 1990 and Sunday editions of NBC Nightly News from 1989 until 1993, and was a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC from 1992 until 2004. In August 2003, Shriver took an unpaid leave of absence from NBC News when her husband became a candidate in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election.

Following her husband's November 17, 2003, inauguration as the 38th Governor of California, she became the First Lady of California. She then returned to reporting, making two more appearances for Dateline NBC.

On February 3, 2004, Shriver asked to be "relieved of duties at NBC News," citing concerns the network had over the conflict of interest between her role as a journalist and her status as the First Lady of California and her increasing role as an advocate of her husband's administration.

She appeared as herself in the film Last Action Hero (1993). She also played a minor role as herself in "Be Prepared", a 2006 episode of the television series That's So Raven promoting a "Preparedness Plan". On March 23, 2007, Shriver returned to television news as substitute host of panel-discussion talk show Larry King Live on CNN with musician Sheryl Crow and other guests.

Shriver announced that she will not return to the news media after the excessive media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.

In 2008, Shriver executive-produced American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver. The documentary originally aired on PBS on January 21, 2008. The film chronicled the life, accomplishments and vision of her father, Sargent Shriver. Shriver also serves on the advisory board of the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute, which raises public awareness of her father’s legacy as a peacebuilder and offers educational and training programs grounded in the principles of public service that motivate the many programs he created, including the Peace Corps, Job Corps, Head Start, and Legal Services for the Poor.

Shriver has been a lifelong advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. She is a member of the International Board of Special Olympics, the organization her mother founded in 1968. She is also on the advisory board of Best Buddies, a one-to-one friendship and jobs program for people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, Shriver serves as Chair of the Audi Best Buddies Challenge: Hearst Castle, a bike ride that raises millions of dollars for programs supporting people with intellectual disabilities. As First Lady, Shriver has been instrumental in the hiring of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the capitol and in various state offices through her WE Include program. In February 2008, Shriver launched an ice cream company called Lovin' Scoopful with her brother, Tim Shriver. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from Lovin' Scoopful benefits the Special Olympics.

Shriver executive-produced The Alzheimer's Project, a four-part documentary series that premiered on HBO in May 2009 and later earned two Emmy Awards. It was described by the Los Angeles Times as "ambitious, disturbing, emotionally fraught and carefully optimistic". The series took a close look at cutting-edge research being done in the country's leading Alzheimer's laboratories. The documentary also examined the effects of this disease on patients and families. One of the Emmy Award-winning films, Grandpa, Do you Know Who I Am? is based on Shriver's best-selling children's book dealing with Alzheimer's.

In October 2009, Shriver launched "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything," a national study and comprehensive report conducted in partnership with the Center for American Progress, USC's Annenberg Center on Communication, Leadership and Policy, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Shriver Report revealed that American women, for the first time, make up half of the United States workforce and studied how that fact is impacting major institutions like family, business, government and faith organizations. The report was released last year in partnership with TIME and NBC News. According to The New York Times, the report "was modeled on a study undertaken almost 50 years ago during the administration of John F. Kennedy, Shriver's uncle, and led by Eleanor Roosevelt."
First Lady of California

After Governor Schwarzenegger took office, Shriver took on several key initiatives as first lady, which include raising awareness of the contributions of women to the state, working on practical solutions to end cycles of poverty, and encouraging all Californians to engage in acts of service to their communities. Once Schwarzenegger was elected, Shriver had to cut back on her news reporting in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
Maria Shriver with her husband at the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai, China

Shriver led the California Governor & First Lady's Conference on Women from when Schwarzenegger took office in 2003. Under her leadership, The Women's Conference event grew into the nation's premier forum for women and in 2010 attracted more than 30,000 attendees and 150 world opinion leaders over three full days. Each year, the event was held at the Long Beach Convention Center in October. The event aims to inspire, empower and educate women to be Architects of Change. Hundreds of luminaries have spoken at the conference including Oprah Winfrey, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, Barbara Walters, Warren Buffett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Bono, Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In 2004, Shriver created The Minerva Awards to honor and reward "remarkable California women" who have changed their communities, their state, their country and the world with their courage, wisdom and strength. The Minerva Awards are named after Minerva, the Roman goddess who adorns the California State Seal and "who symbolizes the dual nature of women as warriors and peacemakers". The Minerva Awards are presented annually at The Women's Conference in Long Beach during a special ceremony. Recipients of the award also receive a grant to continue their work. Past Minerva Awards recipients include former first lady Betty Ford, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King, astronaut Sally Ride and the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Shriver's mother.The achievements of The Minerva Award winners are chronicled in a permanent exhibit at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento and have become part of California’s official state archive.

In 2005, Shriver launched her WE Connect Program, which connects working families in need with money-saving programs and support services. WE Connect brings together community organizations and businesses, government agencies and state leaders, congregations and schools as partners in responding to the needs for the millions of individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Through a partnership with La Opinion, the nation’s largest Spanish-speaking newspaper, WE Connect has developed three editions of a 24-page, full-color, bilingual supplement that has been circulated to over 20 million Californians in need. In December 2009, Shriver, in partnership with The Women's Conference, created the WE Connect–Million Meals Initiative. Through this initiative, The Women's Conference made a donation to The California Association of Food Banks to provide more than one million meals to California families in need. The donation was allocated to the food bank's 44 member organizations who then distributed the food to California families through its more than 5,000 community-based organizations. In March 2010, Shriver held a three-day Community Resources Fair in Fresno and Los Angeles through WE Connect. The fairs provided vital programs and free support services such as tax preparation, housing and home foreclosure assistance, job assistance, flu shots, healthy food distribution and more. Event organizers estimated that over 40,000 individuals took advantage of free services during the course of the two weekends and hundreds of thousands pounds of food were distributed.

As First Lady, Shriver has worked to promote service and volunteerism. As Honorary Chair of CaliforniaVolunteers, Shriver conceived of and launched the largest statewide volunteer matching network at CaliforniaVolunteers.org. Shriver was instrumental in inspiring Governor Schwarzenegger to establish the nation’s first state cabinet-level Department of Service and Volunteering. She also pioneered and promoted a statewide disaster preparedness program called WE Prepare that encourages and educates Californians to be ready for an emergency or natural disaster. In addition, Shriver established WE Build and WE Garden, a children’s playground and community garden-building initiative. Through CaliforniaVolunteers, Shriver has built 31 playgrounds with gardens in lower-income communities around the state in partnership with KaBOOM!.

In 2008, Shriver launched her WE Invest Program, which provides training, mentoring, support networks, microloans and other resources to help women launch or grow their businesses. In June 2009, she expanded WE Invest nationally through a partnership with Kiva, creating the first-ever online peer-to-peer microlending program in the U.S. Shriver is credited with coming up with the idea to bring Kiva's international micro-lending model to the United States

Shriver is Co-Chair of The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts and she has been credited with revitalizing the state museum during her tenure. Shriver created the California Hall of Fame in 2006 at the Museum to honor legendary Californians such as Cesar Chavez, Clint Eastwood, Walt Disney, Amelia Earhart, Ronald Reagan, John Steinbeck, Rita Moreno, Earl Warren, Julia Morgan, Leland Stanford, Dorothea Lange and others. In November 2008, Shriver launched the California Legacy Trails, a first-of-its-kind web-based multimedia learning tool designed to help students learn California history.

On February 3, 2008, Shriver endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The endorsement was given at a UCLA rally featuring her cousin Caroline Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, and the candidate's spouse, Michelle Obama. Governor Schwarzenegger had previously endorsed Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination a few days earlier on January 31, 2008.

In May 2009, Shriver planted the first edible garden at a state capitol in what once was a flower bed. She teamed up with Alice Waters on the project. The food grown in the organic garden is distributed to local food banks. Shriver has been an advocate for edible gardens and chairs the California School Garden Network that has doubled the number of gardens in state schools from 3,000 to 6,000 since 2004.
Personal life

In 1977, Tom Brokaw introduced Maria to Austrian bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a charity tennis tournament being held at her mother's home. She married Schwarzenegger on April 26, 1986, in Hyannis, Massachusetts, at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church. They have four children: Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher.

On May 9, 2011, Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their separation after 25 years of marriage, with Shriver moving out of the couple's Brentwood mansion. In a message for her Twitter followers posted on May 13, 2011, Shriver said: "Thank you all for the kindness, support and compassion. I am humbled by the love. Thank you."

On May 17, 2011, Schwarzenegger publicly admitted to fathering a child with a long-time member of their household staff, Mildred Patricia Baena, 14 years earlier, and before his election as Governor of California. What Schwarzenegger failed to mention was that he confessed to Shriver only after she confronted him with the information, after confirming what she had suspected about the child, in an earlier confrontation with the housekeeper. Shriver described Schwarzenegger's admission as "painful and heartbreaking." She declined to speak further on the issue, saying: "As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal."

Shriver hired a divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, whose previous clients include Angelina Jolie, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears, and officially filed for divorce on July 1, 2011, citing "irreconcilable differences". Wasser was hired before the news of the affair went public, a source close to Shriver told US publication People, Shriver had been meeting with her financial advisor for some months before the decision to file the divorce petition. Shriver has also hired a private investigator to investigate Schwarzenegger's financial history and his personal life, including whether or not he has fathered more than one child out of wedlock.

Shriver has purchased a new $10 million house only three miles away from her former home with Schwarzenegger in Brentwood. Although she has requested custody of the couple's two minor children, 17-year old Patrick and 13-year old Christopher, the mansions' proximity will make it easier for the boys to travel between their parents' houses.

Shriver's 13-year-old son Christopher Schwarzenegger was seriously injured in a boogie-boarding accident in Malibu, on July 17, 2011. In a joint statement, Shriver and estranged husband Schwarzenegger described it as "scary," and that "he is expected to make a full recovery." Christopher has been in intensive care since suffering a collapsed lung and broken bones in the accident.
Honors

A hybrid rose was named after Shriver in October 2004. The Maria Shriver rose contains starchy-white blooms and a powerful citrus fragrance.

As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences award for developing a "television show with a conscience".

In 2009, Shriver was honored with the Shinnyo-en Foundation’s 2009 Pathfinders to Peace Award, which is bestowed annually to a person who exemplifies the ideals of compassion, harmony and peace. At the presentation ceremony honoring Shriver, the foundation’s chief executive said, “Maria Shriver sees the best in other people – their innate goodness – and inspires them to become their own 'Architects of Change'. In a world that glorifies ambition at any cost, Maria instead teaches character. She is a woman of quiet strength who role-models kindness and charity, and has used her celebrity to help create peace in the world.”

She has won Peabody and Emmy awards for her television journalism.

The Saint John's Health Center has a nursery named after Shriver.
Books

    Shriver, Maria (2000-04-04). Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-52612-8.
    Shriver, Maria; Sandra Speidel (2001-10-16). What's Wrong With Timmy?. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-23337-8.
    Shriver, Maria; Sandra Speidel (2004-04-28). What's Happening to Grandpa?. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-00101-4.
    Shriver, Maria (2005-04-05). And One More Thing Before You Go.... The Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-8101-0.
    Shriver, Maria; Sandra Speidel (2007-10-30). What's Heaven?. Golden Books Adult Publishing. ISBN 978-0-312-38241-4.
    Shriver, Maria (2008-04-15). Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question, Little Book, Answer Within. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-2318-9.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/tom51.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/dy55.jpg


Will she ever marry again?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/06/11 at 8:00 am


Will she ever marry again?

Only time will tell, I think she will.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 11/06/11 at 8:07 am


Only time will tell, I think she will.


No, I don't think so.  I think she will cut her losses and figure herself lucky and devote her life to favorite charities.  Kennedy women are much smarter than Kennedy men.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/07/11 at 1:19 am


The person of the day...Lulu
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3 November 1948, Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire), best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day. She is internationally identified, especially with North American audiences, with the song "To Sir, with Love" from the film of the same name and with the title song to the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. In European countries she is also widely known for her Eurovision Song Contest winning entry "Boom Bang-a-Bang" and in the UK for her first hit "Shout".
Under the wing of Marion Massey, she was signed to Decca Records and when she was only fifteen her version of The Isley Brothers' "Shout", delivered in a raucous but mature voice, reached the UK charts. Massey guided her career for more than 25 years, for most of which time they were partners in business, and Massey's husband, Mark, produced some of Lulu's recordings.

In 1966 Lulu toured Poland with The Hollies, the first British female singer to appear live behind the Iron Curtain. In the same year she recorded two German language tracks, "Wenn du da bist" and "So fing es an", for the Decca Germany label. All her Decca recordings were made available in 2009 on a 2-CD entitled Shout!, issued on RPM Records. After two hit singles with the The Luvvers Lulu launched her solo career.

She left Decca after failing to chart in 1966 and signed with Columbia to be produced by Mickie Most. In April 1967 she returned to the UK singles chart reaching number 6 with "The Boat That I Row", written by Neil Diamond. All seven singles she cut with Most made the UK Singles Chart. However, in her autobiography I Don't Want To Fight, published in 2002, she described him as "cheap" and had little positive to say about their working relationship, which she ended in 1969 after her biggest UK solo hit. Nonetheless when Mickie Most died in 2003, Lulu was full of praise for him and told the BBC they had been very close.

In 1967 she made her debut film in To Sir, with Love, a British vehicle for Sidney Poitier. She had a major hit, the title song reaching number one in the United States. In the UK, it was released on the B-side of "Let's Pretend", a # 11 hit, but "To Sir, With Love" sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. In the meantime she continued her thriving pop career in the UK and had several television series of her own. After appearing on the BBC in 1967 in a successful TV series that featured music and comedy, Three Of A Kind, Lulu was given her own TV series in 1968, which ran annually until 1975 under various titles including Lulu's Back In Town, Happening For Lulu, Lulu and It's Lulu, which featured Adrienne Posta. Her BBC series featured music and comedy sketches and star guests; one episode remains famous for Jimi Hendrix's unruly live appearance where, after playing about two minutes of Hey Joe, Hendrix stopped and announced "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to The Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in, dedicate to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce". He then broke into Sunshine of Your Love. With the studio director signalling for Hendrix to stop he continued. Unrepentant, Hendrix was told he would never work at the BBC again. He told his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham "I'm not going to sing with Lulu. I'd look ridiculous". From 30 June to 2 July 1967 she appeared with The Monkees at the Empire Pool, Wembley, and her brief romance with Davy Jones of The Monkees during an concert tour of the USA in March 1968 received much publicity in the UK press. Lulu described her relationship with Jones as "He was a kind of boyfriend but it was very innocent - nothing untoward happened. It faded almost as soon as it had blossomed".
Eurovision Song Contest

On 29 March 1969, she represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest performing the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang", written by Peter Warne and Alan Moorhouse, the song chosen from a selection of six by viewers of her BBC1 variety series Happening for Lulu and on a special show hosted by Michael Aspel in which she performed all six one after another. One song, "I Can't Go On...", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, came last in the postcard vote but was later recorded by Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Polly Brown and Elton John himself as well as by Lulu. In Madrid Lulu was accompanied by Sue and Sunny while the orchestra was conducted by Lulu's musical director Johnny Harris. Lulu later recalled:

    I had a series on TV, and Bill Cotton was the Head of Light Entertainment , and he said to my manager: "I'd like her to do the Eurovision Song Contest, on the series". And she came to me and I went "Why? What do I want to do that for?"... and she said that he said that "you'll get good ratings, and he is the boss, and he wants you to have good ratings. Maybe I could have said no, but I felt I didn't really have a choice in the matter. And I thought... I was full of myself, thinking ratings isn't what it's all about... But, you know, Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote a great song that didn't go through... I had this amazing band, like 20 pieces. We did all these different songs... every single one of us said "Which one is gonna win? Which one is gonna win?" and we all laughed and went: "Bet you it's that Boom boom bang a bang a bang a bang..." But then it won. Somehow there was an intelligence working there... and it was a huge success.

"Boom Bang-a-Bang" was a winner, though three other songs, from Spain, ("Vivo cantando" by Salomé), the Netherlands, ("De Troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr) and France, ("Un jour, un enfant" by Frida Boccara) tied with her on 18 votes each. The rules were altered to prevent such ties but the result caused Austria, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Finland not to enter the 1970 contest. Lulu's song came out the best in sales, with German, French, Spanish and Italian versions alongside the original English. Later she told John Peel; "I know it's a rotten song, but I won, so who cares? I'd have sung "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" standing on my head if that's what it took to win.... I am just so glad I didn't finish second like all the other Brits before me, that would have been awful." Despite her dislike it is her second biggest UK hit to date, reaching number two on the chart in 1969.

In 1975 Lulu herself would host the BBC's A Song for Europe, the qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest, in which The Shadows would performe six shortlisted songs. In 1981 she joined other Eurovision winners at a charity gala held in Norway and she was a panellist at the 1989 UK heat, offering views on two of the competing eight entries. In 2009 she provided comment and support to the six acts shortlisted to represent the UK at Eurovision 2009 on BBC1 TV.

Weeks before her Eurovision appearance Lulu had married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees in a ceremony in Gerrards Cross. Maurice's older brother Barry was opposed to their marriage as he believed them to be too young. Their honeymoon in Mexico had to be postponed because of Lulu's Eurovision commitment. Their careers and his heavy drinking forced them apart and they divorced, childless, in 1973 but remained on good terms. . In 1969, she recorded New Routes an album recorded at Muscle Shoals studios: several of the songs, including a version of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles", featured slide guitarist Duane Allman. The album was recorded for Atlantic's Atco label and produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin
1970s

Lulu began 1970 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Boom Bang-A-Bang" live on BBC1, 31 December 1969. She recorded another Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin album in the USA, Melody Fair, and scored a US Top 30 hit, "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)", (later covered by Aretha Franklin, Buster Poindexter, and John Holt) and collaborated with the Dixie Flyers on "Hum a Song (From Your Heart)"

Four more German language tracks, ("Ich brauche deine Liebe", "Wach' ich oder träum' ich", "Warum tu'st du mir weh", and "Traurig, aber wahr") were recorded on the Atlantic/WEA label.

She was one of the main artists invited to appear on the BBC's anniversary show Fifty Years Of Music in 1972. The same year she starred in the Christmas pantomime Peter Pan at the Palace Theatre, Manchester and repeated her performance at the London Palladium in 1975, and returned to the same role in different London-based productions from 1987 to early 1989. She made an appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1973, singing "All the Things You Are" and "Happy Heart".

In 1974 she performed the title song for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Two slightly different versions of the song were used, at the start and end respectively - the end song actually name-checking James Bond. The same year she covered David Bowie's songs "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Watch That Man". Bowie and Mick Ronson produced the recordings. Bowie played saxophone and provided back-up vocals and rumours of a brief affair were confirmed in her 2002 autobiography. "The Man Who Sold the World" became her first top 10 hit in five years, peaking at number three in the UK chart in February 1974 and was a top 10 hit in several European countries.

On 31 December 1976 Lulu performed "Shout" on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver jubilee.

In 1977 Lulu became interested in Siddha Yoga and married hairdresser John Frieda. They divorced in 1991. They had one son, Jordan Frieda.
1980s

Lulu's chart success waned but she remained in the public eye, acting and hosting a long-running radio show on London's Capital Radio station. She was associated with Freemans fashion catalogue during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In August 1979 after a performance in Margate, Kent she was in a car accident that nearly took her life, colliding head-on with another car on Brooksend Hill and spent a week in hospital recovering. That same year, she recorded for Elton John's label Rocket Records and seemed about to hit the charts again, with the lauded "I Love to Boogie", but surprisingly, despite critical acclaim and much airplay, it did not make the top 75.

Notable London stage appearances came in the early 1980s in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance and the Royal National Theatre's Guys and Dolls. She damaged her vocal cords while performing in the Webber show, requiring surgery that threatened her singing voice. She co-hosted a revived series of Oh Boy! for ITV in the early 1980s. In 1981 she returned to the US charts with "I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)", a Top 20 hit that also reached number two on the Adult Contemporary chart despite stalling at number 62 in the UK. Early the following year she had a more modest US hit with "If I Were You", which just missed the Top 40, appeared in the video for "Ant Rap" alongside Adam and the Ants and was nominated for a Grammy for "Who's Foolin' Who" from the "Lulu" album.

She won the Rear of the Year award in 1983 and re-recorded a number of her songs. These included "Shout," which reached the Top 10 in 1986 in the UK, securing her a spot on Top of the Pops. Lulu was one of only two performers (Cliff Richard being the other) to have sung in the Top of the Pops studio in each of the five decades that the show ran. A follow up single to "Shout", an updated version of Millie's 1960s hit "My Boy Lollipop", failed to chart and Lulu stopped recording until 1992, focusing instead on TV, acting and live performances. These tracks were released on the Jive Records label. Lulu has had hits on the Decca, Columbia, Atco, Polydor, Chelsea, Alfa, Jive, Dome, RCA, Mercury and Universal labels. She has also released singles for GTO, Atlantic, Globe, EMI, Concept, Lifestyle, Utopia and Rocket, and Epic in the US. For a while, she held the record for the most number of hit labels in the UK charts. In 1987 she played Adrian Mole's mother on television (replacing Julie Walters).
1990s

In 1993 she made a recording comeback with the single "Independence" which reached number 11 in the UK charts. This was the title track from the Independence album, all four singles released from this album reached the UK charts, as did two later singles released in 1994.

Later that year she guested on the cover version of the Dan Hartman song "Relight My Fire", with boy band Take That. The single reached number one in the British charts and Lulu appeared as Take That's support act on their 1994 tour. At this time she also appeared as an unhappy public relations client of Edina Monsoon in two episodes of the BBC television programme Absolutely Fabulous and teamed with French & Saunders many times, including their send up of the Spice Girls (The Sugar Lumps) for Comic Relief in 1997, when she took the role of "Baby Spice", mimicking Emma Bunton. An album, provisionally titled Where the Poor Boys Dance was completed in late 1997 and due for release in early 1998 but was postponed by the record label Mercury. "Hurt Me So Bad" was released in April 1999 and a year later the title track from the album reach number 24 in the UK.

In 1999, Lulu returned to BBC1 to host their Saturday night National Lottery game show Red Alert and co-wrote and recorded a duet with UK pop singer Kavana entitled "Heart Like The Sun", but it was not released commercially until Kavana's 2007 "greatest hits" collection, Special Kind Of Something: The Best of....
2000s

Now known as Lulu Kennedy-Cairns (her late mother's birth name before she was adopted by the McDonald family), in 2000 she was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth. Her autobiography, published in 2002 was titled I Don't Want to Fight after the hit song she and her brother wrote with hit songwriter Steve DuBerry for Tina Turner, a song that Lulu herself released in 2003 as part of her The Greatest Hits album. Her 2002 gold album Together was a collection of duets with Elton John and Paul McCartney among others, tracks from which were performed in a high profile TV special for ITV, An Audience With Lulu, which saw Lulu reunited with her first husband Maurice Gibb for a live performance of "First of May".
Performing with Jools Holland at Border Hill, 23 June 2007.

In 2004, she released the album Back on Track and went on a UK-wide tour to celebrate 40 years in the business, the album charting at a low No 68. In late 2004 she returned to radio as the host of a 2-hour radio show on BBC Radio 2, playing an eclectic blend of music from the 1950s to the 2000s. In 2005, Lulu released A Little Soul in Your Heart, a collection of soul classics that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 28. In March 2006 she launched her official MySpace profile.

Lulu continued to act occasionally and starred alongside Tom Courtenay and Stephen Fry in the British movie, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?. She also appeared in the BBC's reality TV show Just the Two of Us in 2006 as a judge and in late June and early July 2006 appeared on Take That's UK and Ireland tour to perform their song "Relight My Fire". She appeared on American Idol Season 6 on 20 March 2007 as a mentor for the female contestants and the following night performed "To Sir, With Love". Later in 2007 she appeared in the UK as a guest for Jools Holland in a series of concerts and features and on Holland's CD release "Best of Friends", performing "Where Have All the Good Guys Gone?"

Lulu's complete Atco recordings (made between 1969 and 1972) were released on 12 November 2007. The two CD set included previously unreleased and demo versions of some of her recordings from this period. In December 2007 she released a download single on iTunes in the UK, called "Run Rudolph Run". At this time Lulu was also promoting a range of beauty products on QVC (UK), called "Time Bomb", and appeared on a 2007 Christmas television advertisement for Morrisons, the UK supermarket chain.

In February 2008 Lulu fans created an online petition to get Lulu an Outstanding Achievement Award from The Brits. This can still be signed at Lulu Brit Award Petition Online

In November 2008 Lulu was announced as one of a number of Scottish celebrities to feature in the advertising campaign for Homecoming Scotland, a year-long event to encourage people around the world with Scottish heritage to return to Scotland. Also in November 2008, Lulu posted the following message on her website, celebrating the election of Barack Obama as President of the USA: "Barack Obama Is In – Yippee, now we have got hope in the World. I’ve just turned 60, Obama is the new president of the USA and I think its going to be a fantastic year. Love Lu X". In both the 1979 and 1983 UK General Elections, Lulu had been a supporter of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party.

In January 2009, Lulu began a four week stint as an advisor/coach on the BBC show Eurovision: Your Country Needs You, helping to choose the singer to represent the UK at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

In the summer of 2009, Lulu guest presented on STV's daily lifestyle show The Hour, alongside main anchor Stephen Jardine. She appeared between 27 and 31 July. The Scottish magazine programme airs weekdays at 5 pm. As of 2009, she continues to pitch her range of "Lulu's" anti-ageing products and other cosmetics through the QVC (UK) home shopping channel, using her youthful appearance as a promotional tool.

After appearing at an Abba tribute concert in Hyde Park, London during September 2009, Lulu announced that she would be touring the UK in a Here Come the Girls alongside Chaka Khan and Anastacia. The trio promoted the concert series on UK TV, ahead of the first performance in November 2009, which took in 20 different dates.
2010s

In early 2010, Lulu performed the theme "The Word Is Love" to the movie Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! and toured the UK a second time with Here Come the Girls alongside Anastacia and Heather Small. In November 2010 she hosted the BBC TV series "Rewind the 60s" . Each episode focused on a year during the 1960s highlighting the social and political issues of the decade as well as music and interviews with personalities from the decade.

On 26 February 2011 Lulu appeared in the second heat in the third series of Let's Dance for Comic Relief. She danced to Soulja Boy's hit Crank That. In May 2011 made an appearance on the ITV2 program Celebrity Juice and in July 2011 she performed at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales.

Lulu appeared on Channel 4's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on 5 August 2011; closing the show dueting Bad Romance with Cuba Gooding, Jr.

In October 2011 Lulu took part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering Brendan Cole
Discography
Main article: Lulu discography
Filmography

    Gonks Go Beat (1965)
    To Sir, with Love (1967)
    Cucumber Castle (1970)
    The Cherry Picker (1972)
    Alicja (1982) (voice)
    To Sir, with Love II (1996)
    Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)

Other television appearances

Episode 28 of BBC's Monty Python's Flying Circus (1972, cameo appearance)

Starred in several episdoes of drama Perfect Scoundrels (TV series) from 1990 to 1992.
See also
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lulu (singer)

    List of number-one hits (United States)
    List of artists who reached number one in the United States
    Mononymous person
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b454/tracyann2010/Lulu.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p14/speedyclick/lulu.jpg

Sadly booted out of Strictly Come Dancing this weekend.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/07/11 at 6:57 pm

The person of the day...Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. (born November 7, 1918) is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for the 20th century. He is a Southern Baptist. He rose to celebrity status as his sermons were broadcast on radio and television.

Graham has preached the Gospel in person to more people than any other person in history. According to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, many to the altar call song "Just As I Am". As of 2008, Graham's lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2.2 billion.
Graham transferred in January 1937 from Bob Jones College to Florida Bible Institute, and then finally to Wheaton College in 1939. Graham attended Wheaton College from 1939 to 1943, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology. While attending college, he became pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle and also had other preaching engagements.

Graham served briefly as pastor of the Village Church in Western Springs, Illinois, not far from Wheaton, in 1943-44. While there, his friend Torrey Johnson, pastor of the Midwest Bible Church in Chicago, told Graham that his radio program "Songs in the Night" was about to be canceled for lack of funding. Consulting with the members of his church in Western Springs, Graham decided to take over Johnson's program with financial support from his parishioners. Launching the new radio program on January 2, 1944, still called Songs in the Night, Graham recruited the baritone George Beverly Shea as his director of radio ministry. While the radio ministry continued for many years, Graham decided to move on in early 1945, and in 1947, at age 30, he became the youngest person to serve as a sitting college president during his tenure at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Graham served as the president of Northwestern College from 1948 to 1952.

Initially, Graham intended to become a chaplain in the armed forces, but shortly after applying for a commission contracted mumps. After a period of recuperation in Florida, Graham was hired as the first full time evangelist of the new Youth for Christ International (YFCI) which was co-founded by Torrey Johnson and evangelist Charles Templeton. He traveled throughout the United States and Europe as an evangelist for YFCI. Unlike many evangelists then and now, Graham had little formal theological training; when his friend Chuck Templeton urged him to join him in applying to Princeton Theological Seminary, Graham declined to do so.
Hearst intervention

Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles in 1949, for which he erected circus tents in a parking ilot. The Los Angeles revival is considered to be the time when Graham became a national religious figure. Graham's rise to national prominence is partly because of the assistance he received from news mogul William Randolph Hearst, whose interest in Graham was that he respected Graham for being his own person and following what he believed, though the two never met. Most observers believe that Hearst appreciated Graham's patriotism and appeals to youth and thought that Graham would be helpful in promoting Hearst's conservative anti-communist views. Hearst sent a telegram to his newspaper editors reading "Puff Graham" during Billy Graham's late 1949 Los Angeles crusade.

The increased media exposure from Hearst's newspaper chain and national magazines caused the crusade event to run for eight weeks—five weeks longer than planned. Henry Luce put him on the cover of TIME in 1954. At the Los Angeles revival, a fellow evangelist accused Graham of setting religion back 100 years. Graham replied, "I did indeed want to set religion back, not just 100 years but 1,900 years, to the Book of Acts, when first century followers of Christ were accused of turning the Roman Empire upside down."
Crusades

Billy Graham has conducted many evangelistic crusades since 1948. He began this form of ministry in 1947 and continued until recently. He would rent a large venue, such as a stadium, park, or street. He arranged a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir and then preached the gospel and invited people to come forward (a practice begun by Dwight L. Moody). These people, called inquirers, were then given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a counselor who clarified any questions the inquirer may have had and would pray with that person. The inquirers were often given resources, such as a copy of the Gospel of John or a Bible study booklet. In Moscow in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 people in his audience came forward upon his request.

Graham was offered a five-year, $5 million contract from NBC to appear on television opposite Arthur Godfrey, but he turned it down in favor of continuing his touring revivals because of his pre-arranged commitments. Graham had missions in London, which lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City mission in Madison Square Garden, in 1957, which ran nightly for 16 weeks. In 1959, he led his first crusade, which was in London.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

In 1950, Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association with its headquarters in Minneapolis. The association later relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. BGEA Ministries have included:

    Hour of Decision, a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for more than 50 years
    Mission television specials that have been regularly broadcast in prime time in almost every market in the U.S. and Canada
    A syndicated newspaper column, My Answer, carried by newspapers across the United States and distributed by Tribune Media Services
    Decision magazine, the official publication of the Association
    Christianity Today was started in 1956 with Carl F. H. Henry as its first editor
    Passageway.org, the website for a children's program created by BGEA
    World Wide Pictures, which has produced and distributed more than 130 films

Civil Rights Movement and Anti-Segregation

Graham's stance on civil rights and segregation was inconsistent in his early years. Like many white public figures, he had shown no concern for segregation until the civil rights movement began to take off in the early 1950s, and many of his early crusades were segregated. In response to the civil rights movement, he "zig-zagged" for some years - refusing to speak to some segregated auditoriums, while speaking to others. His memoirs say that in 1953 he dramatically tore down the ropes that organizers had erected to separate the audience. But he later retreated on the issue in Dallas, Texas and Asheville, North Carolina. Prior to Brown v. Board of Education, Graham assured audiences that the Bible had nothing to say about segregation. Subsequently, he emerged as an opponent of segregation and racism, reminding audiences of Christanity's pact with the marginalised and oppressed. (Michael G Long, ed., The Legacy of Billy Graham: Critical Reflections on America's Greatest Evangelist, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2008, pp. 150–1) He also got in a fight with a southern KKK member about why integration of blacks into the Southern society was important. Graham said, "There is no scriptural basis for segregation… The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and it touches my heart when I see whites standing shoulder to shoulder with blacks at the cross." Graham paid bail money to secure the release of Martin Luther King, Jr. from jail during the 1960s civil rights movement; he invited King to join him in the pulpit at his 16-week revival in New York City in 1957. During that 16-week stint, Graham was heard by 2.3 million listeners, who gathered to hear him at Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium, and Times Square. However, due to his anxieties about addressing the politics of racism and being seen to publicly cooperate with the civil rights leader, he never invited King to appear with him again. (Michael G Long, ed., The Legacy of Billy Graham: Critical Reflections on America's Greatest Evangelist, Westminster/John Knox Press, 2008, p. 150)
Later years
Graham with his son, Franklin, at Cleveland Stadium, June 1994

Graham's visibility and popularity extended into the secular world. He created his own pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair. He appeared as a guest on a 1969 Woody Allen television special, where he joined the comedian in a witty exchange on theological matters. During the Cold War, Graham became the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain, addressing large crowds in countries throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, calling for peace. During the Apartheid era, Graham consistently refused to visit South Africa until its government allowed attending audiences to sit desegregated. His first crusade there was in 1973, during which he openly denounced apartheid.
Billy Graham in het Feyenoord stadion.ogg
Billy Graham at the Feyenoord-stadion in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (30 June 1955)

In 1984, he led a series of summer meetings in the United Kingdom, called Mission England, using outdoor football grounds as venues.

Graham was interested in fostering evangelism around the world. In 1983, 1986 and 2000 he sponsored, organized and paid for massive training conferences for Christian evangelists from around the world; with the largest representations of nations ever held until that time. Over 157 nations were gathered in 2000 at the RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

At one revival in Seoul, South Korea, Graham attracted more than one million people to a single service. He appeared in China in 1988—for Ruth, this was a homecoming, since she had been born in China to missionary parents. He appeared in North Korea in 1992.

On September 22, 1991 Graham held the largest event he ever led in North America on The Great Lawn of New York City's Central Park. City officials estimated over 250,000 in attendance. In 1998, Graham spoke at TED (conference) to a crowd of scientists and philosophers.

On September 14, 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Graham led a prayer and remembrance service at Washington National Cathedral, which was attended by President George W. Bush and past and present leaders. He also spoke at the memorial service following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. On June 24–26, 2005, Billy Graham began what he has said would be his last North American crusade, three days at the Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City. But on the weekend of March 11–12, 2006, Billy Graham held the "Festival of Hope" with his son, Franklin Graham. The festival was held in New Orleans, which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Graham said that his planned retirement was because of his failing health. He has suffered from Parkinson's disease for about 15 years, has had hydrocephalus, pneumonia, broken hips, and prostate cancer. In August 2005, a frail Graham appeared at the groundbreaking for his library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then 86, Reverend Graham used a walker to assist with mobility during the ceremony. On July 9, 2006, Graham spoke at the Metro Maryland Franklin Graham Festival, held in Baltimore, Maryland, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

There had been controversy over where the burial place would be until a press release on June 13, 2007, saying that he and his wife would be buried alongside each other at the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. Graham's younger son Ned had argued with older son Franklin about whether burial at a library would be appropriate. Ruth Graham had said that she wanted to be buried not in Charlotte but in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, where she had lived for many years; Ned supported his mother's choice. Novelist Patricia Cornwell, a family friend, also opposed burial at the library, calling it a tourist attraction. Franklin wanted his parents to be buried at the library site. At the time of Ruth Graham's death, it was announced that they would be buried at the library site.

On August 18, 2007, Graham, 88, was in fair condition in Mission Health & Hospitals of Asheville after undergoing treatment for intestinal bleeding, but his condition was not life-threatening.

In April, 2010, Graham, at 91 and with substantial vision and hearing loss, made a rare public appearance at the re-dedication of the renovated Billy Graham Library. Graham's grandson, Will Graham told reporters that his grandfather has "got a lot more energy and he's talking about preaching one more time," stating that it would probably be a televised event rather than a stadium crusade.

Billy Graham has preached Christianity to live audiences of nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings, including BMS World Mission and Global Mission. Graham has also reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film, and webcasts.

On May 11, 2011, Billy Graham was admitted to Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, for treatment of pneumonia. He was released May 15, 2011, and returned home. Doctors said his response to treatment was excellent. According to his daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, in an interview aired on NPR on October 10, 2011, Billy Graham was recently placed on oxygen therapy.
Politics

Politically, Graham is a registered member of the Democratic Party. He leaned Republican during the presidency of Richard Nixon. He did not completely ally himself with the religious right, saying that Jesus did not have a political party. He did not openly endorse political candidates, but he gave his support to some over the years.

He refused to join Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority in 1979, saying: "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle in order to preach to all people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future."

According to a 2006 Newsweek interview, "For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel.... When Newsweek asked Graham whether ministers—whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both—should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: 'You know, I think in a way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord. A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I'm sure, but I think you have some—like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out.'".
Pastor to presidents
President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan greet Graham at the National Prayer Breakfast of 1981

Graham has had a personal audience with many sitting US Presidents from Harry S Truman to Barack Obama. He visited in the Oval Office with Truman in 1950, urging him to counter communism in North Korea. However, Graham and his accompanying pastors were not aware of Washington protocol; they appeased the press corps waiting outside with details of the visit, with the three pastors even acquiescing to the calls of the press to kneel on the White House lawn, as if praying. Truman allegedly commented about Graham in Merle Miller's oral biography Plain Speaking:

    But now we've got just this one evangelist, this Billy Graham, and he's gone off the beam. He's...well, I hadn’t ought to say this, but he’s one of those counterfeits I was telling you about. He claims he's a friend of all the Presidents, but he was never a friend of mine when I was President. I just don’t go for people like that. All he's interested in is getting his name in the paper.

Truman did not speak to Graham for years after their meeting. Graham has often told the story, usually as a warning that he would not reveal his conversations with world leaders.

Graham became a regular in the Oval Office during the tenure of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom he urged to intervene with federal troops in the case of the Little Rock Nine, and it was at that time, on a Washington golf course, that he met and became close friends with Vice President Richard Nixon. Graham was invited by Eisenhower to visit with him when the former president was on his deathbed. Graham also counseled Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and the Bush family.

The single notable exception among modern presidents is John F. Kennedy, with whom Graham played golf, but Kennedy was Roman Catholic; Graham enjoyed a friendship with Nixon and prominently supported him over Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. Nixon wrote to Graham after that election: "I have often told friends that when you went into the ministry, politics lost one of its potentially greatest practitioners." Graham spent the last night of Johnson's presidency in the White House, and he stayed for the first night of Nixon's.
Billy Graham meeting with President Barack Obama in Montreat, 2010

After Nixon's victorious 1968 presidential campaign, Graham was an adviser, visiting the White House and leading some of the private church services that the President organized there. Nixon offered Graham the ambassadorship to Israel in a meeting they had with Golda Meir, but Graham turned down Nixon's offer. Nixon appeared at one of Graham's revivals in East Tennessee in 1970; the event drew one of the largest crowds to ever gather in Tennessee. Nixon became the first President to give a speech from an evangelist's platform. However, their friendship became strained when Graham rebuked Nixon for his post-Watergate behavior and the profanity heard on the Watergate tapes; they eventually reconciled after Nixon's resignation. Graham announced at that time, "I'm out of politics."

After a special law was passed on his behalf, Graham was allowed to conduct the first religious service on the steps of the Capitol building in 1952. When Graham was hospitalized briefly in 1976, three Presidents called in one day to wish him well: former President Nixon, current President Ford and President-elect Carter.

He was one of Reagan's personal guests at his inauguration and gave the benediction at George H. W. Bush's inauguration. He stayed at the White House the night before George H. W. Bush (who called Graham "America's pastor") launched the Persian Gulf War. Two days before the 2000 presidential election, Graham spoke at a prayer breakfast in Florida with George W. Bush in attendance. At a New York revival in 2005, Bill Clinton recalled how he had attended Graham's revival as a boy in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959.
1966

Graham has officiated at one presidential burial and one presidential funeral. He presided over the graveside services of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former president. Graham officiated at the funeral service of former First Lady Pat Nixon in 1993 and the funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994. He was unable to officiate at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004, because of recent double hip replacement surgery, which former President George H. W. Bush acknowledged during his eulogy. Graham had been Reagan's first choice. Because of Graham's hospitalization, the Reverend John Danforth, a Missouri Republican Senator during Reagan's tenure, officiated at the funeral. Failing health prevented Graham from officiating at the state funeral of Gerald R. Ford on January 2, 2007, as well as the funeral of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in July 2007.

On April 25, 2010, President Barack Obama visited Rev. Graham at his home in Montreat, North Carolina where they “had a private prayer.”

As with other presidents in the past, Graham met with former President George W. Bush during December 2010, for a tour of his library
Graham has frequently been honored by surveys, including "Greatest Living American" and has consistently ranked among the most admired persons in the United States and the world. Between 1950 and 1990, he appeared most frequently on Gallup's list of most admired people. The United States Postal Service has said that Graham is one of the few Americans, along with the current President, who can be delivered mail that simply reads his name and the country: "Billy Graham, America."

In 1967, he was the first Protestant to receive an honorary degree from Belmont Abbey College, a Roman Catholic school.

In 1971, Graham received an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. After the Nixon tapes were released, Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League called for Graham to return the award. He was honored by the American Jewish Committee with its National Interreligious Award for his efforts on behalf of Jewish-Christian relations; the committee called him one of the century's greatest Christian friends of Jews. In the same year, Graham's hometown of Charlotte held "Billy Graham Day" at which President Nixon made an appearance.

He has received the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Congress and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Reagan, America's highest civilian honors.

In 1986, Graham was given North Carolina's highest honor, the North Carolina Award, for public service.

President Bill Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole awarded Graham the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in 1996.

On May 30, 1999, Graham was invited to give the pre-race invocation at the Indianapolis 500.

In December 2001, he was presented with an honorary knighthood, Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), for his international contributions to civic and religious life over 60 years.

On May 31, 2007, the $27 million Billy Graham Library was officially dedicated in Charlotte. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton appeared to celebrate with Graham. A highway in Charlotte bears Graham's name, as does I-240 near Graham's home in Asheville.

For providing a platform during his events for many Christian musical artists, Graham was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999 by the Gospel Music Association. Several songs by various artists have dedicated songs to or about Graham during his lifetime. Singer Michael W. Smith is active in Billy Graham Crusades as well as Samaritan's Purse.

In 2000, former First Lady Nancy Reagan presented the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to Graham. Graham has been a friend of the Reagans for years.

Graham received the Big Brother of the Year Award for his work on behalf of children. He has been cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations. He has received the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion and the Sylvanus Thayer Award for his commitment to "Duty, Honor, Country". The "Billy Graham Children's Health Center" in Asheville is named after and funded by Graham.

A professorial chair is named after him at the Alabama Baptist-affiliated Samford University, the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth. His alma mater Wheaton College has an archive of his papers at the Billy Graham Center. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. Graham has received 20 honorary degrees and refused at least that many more. In San Francisco, CA, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, has often erroneously been called the Billy Graham Civic Auditorium and falsely considered to be named in his honor, but is actually named after the rock & roll promoter Bill Graham.

The movie Billy: The Early Years premiered in theaters officially on October 10, 2008, less than one month before Graham's 90th birthday. Graham has yet to comment on the film, but his son, Franklin released a critical statement on August 18, 2008, noting that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association "has not collaborated with nor does it endorse the movie." Graham's eldest daughter Gigi, however, has praised the movie and has also been hired as a consultant to help promote the film.

In 2011, Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Graham was once president, named its newest campus building the Billy Graham Community Life Commons
Graham has authored the following books:

    Calling Youth to Christ (1947)
    America's Hour of Decision (1951)
    I Saw Your Sons at War (1953)
    Peace with God (1953, 1984)
    Freedom from the Seven Deadly Sins (1955)
    The Secret of Happiness (1955, 1985)
    Billy Graham Talks to Teenagers (1958)
    My Answer (1960)
    Billy Graham Answers Your Questions (1960)
    World Aflame (1965)
    The Challenge (1969)
    The Jesus Generation (1971)
    Angels: God's Secret Agents (1975, 1985)
    How to Be Born Again (1977)



    The Holy Spirit (1978)
    Till Armageddon (1981)
    Approaching Hoofbeats (1983)
    A Biblical Standard for Evangelists (1984)
    Unto the Hills (1986)
    Facing Death and the Life After (1987)
    Answers to Life's Problems (1988)
    Hope for the Troubled Heart (1991)
    Storm Warning (1992)
    Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (1997, 2007)
    Hope for Each Day (2002)
    The Key to Personal Peace (2003)
    Living in God's Love: The New York Crusade (2005)
    The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World (2006)
    Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well (2011)
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s195/Domain7625/Billy-Graham.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u22/Eliseu_2007/billygraham.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/08/11 at 8:47 am

The person of the day...Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially accessible recordings in the 1990s including "Nick of Time", "Something to Talk About", "Love Sneakin' Up on You", and the slow ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me". Raitt has received nine Grammy Awards in her career and is a lifelong political activist.
In the fall of 1970, while opening for McDowell at the Gaslight Cafe in New York, she was seen by a reporter from Newsweek Magazine, who began to spread word of her performance. Scouts from major record companies were soon attending her shows to watch her play. She eventually accepted an offer with Warner Bros. who soon released her debut album, Bonnie Raitt, in 1971. The album was warmly received by the music press, many of whom praised her skills as an interpreter and as a bottleneck guitarist; at the time, very few women in popular music had strong reputations as guitarists.

While admired by those who saw her perform, and respected by her peers, Raitt gained little public acclaim for her work. Her critical stature continued to grow but record sales remained modest. Her second album, Give It Up, was released in 1972 to universal acclaim; though many critics still regard it as her best work, it did not change her commercial fortunes. 1973's Takin' My Time was also met with critical acclaim, but these notices were not matched by the sales.

Raitt was beginning to receive greater press coverage, including a 1975 cover story for Rolling Stone Magazine, but with 1974's Streetlights, reviews for her work were becoming increasingly mixed. By now, Raitt was already experimenting with different producers and different styles, and she began to adopt a more mainstream sound that continued through 1975's Home Plate.

In 1976, Raitt made an appearance on Warren Zevon's eponymous album with his friend Jackson Browne and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Commercial success
Berkeley Community Theater, 1976-1977

1977's Sweet Forgiveness gave Raitt her first commercial breakthrough when it yielded a hit single in her cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway." Recast as a heavy R&B recording based on a rhythmic groove inspired by Al Green, Raitt's version of "Runaway" was disparaged by many critics, but its commercial success prompted a bidding war between Warner Bros. and Columbia Records. "There was this big Columbia – Warner war going on at the time", recalled Raitt in a 1990 interview. "James Taylor had just left Warner Bros. and made a big album for Columbia...And then, Warner signed Paul Simon away from Columbia, and they didn't want me to have a hit record for Columbia — no matter what! So, I renegotiated my contract, and they basically matched Columbia's offer. Frankly the deal was a really big deal."

Warner Bros. held higher expectations for Raitt's next album, 1979's The Glow, but it was released to poor reviews as well as modest sales. Raitt would have one commercial success in 1979 when she helped organize the five MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concerts at Madison Square Garden. The shows spawned a three-record gold album as well as a Warner Bros. feature film, No Nukes. The shows featured co-founders Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, John Hall, and Raitt as well as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Doobie Brothers, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and numerous others.

For her next record, 1982's Green Light, Raitt made a conscious attempt to revisit the sound of her earlier records, but to her surprise, many of her peers and members of the press would compare her new sound to the burgeoning New Wave movement. The album received her strongest reviews in years, but her sales did not improve and this would have a severe impact on her relationship with Warner Bros.
Drop from Warner Bros.

In 1983, as Raitt was finishing work on her follow-up album, entitled Tongue & Groove, Warner Bros. "cleaned house", dropping a number of major artists from their roster. Van Morrison and Arlo Guthrie were two of the most high-profile cases, and the day after mastering was completed on Tongue & Groove, Raitt was notified that she was to be dropped too. The album was shelved indefinitely, and Raitt was left without a label. By now, Raitt was also struggling with alcohol and drug abuse.

Despite her personal and professional problems, Raitt continued to tour and participate in political activism. In 1985, she sang and appeared in the video of "Sun City", the anti-apartheid record written and produced by Steven Van Zandt. Along with her participation in Farm Aid and Amnesty International concerts, Raitt would later travel to Moscow in 1987 as part of the first joint Soviet/American Peace Concert later shown on Showtime television. Also in 1987, Raitt would organize a benefit in Los Angeles, for Countdown '87 to Stop Contra Aid, featuring herself, Don Henley, Herbie Hancock, Holly Near and others.
Tongue and Groove's name change and release
Bonnie Raitt at 1990 Grammy Awards

Two years after dropping her from their label, Warner Bros. notified Raitt of their plans to release Tongue & Groove. "I said it wasn't really fair", recalled Raitt. "I think at this point they felt kind of bad. I mean, I was out there touring on my savings to keep my name up, and my ability to draw was less and less. So they agreed to let me go in and recut half of it, and that's when it came out as Nine Lives." A critical and commercial disappointment, 1986's Nine Lives would be Raitt's last new recording for Warner Bros.

In late 1987, she joined k.d. lang and Jennifer Warnes as female background vocals for Roy Orbison's television special, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. Following this highly acclaimed broadcast, she began working on new material. By now, Raitt was clean and sober, having broken her substance abuse — for which she would credit Stevie Ray Vaughan in a Minnesota State Fair concert the night after Vaughan's 1990 death. During this time, Raitt considered signing with Prince's own label, Paisley Park, but negotiations would ultimately fall through. Instead she began recording a bluesy mix of pop and rock under the production guidance of Don Was at Capitol Records.

Raitt had met Was through Hal Wilner, who was putting together Stay Awake, a tribute album to Disney music for A&M. Was and Wilner both wanted Raitt to sing lead on an adult-contemporary arrangement created by Was for "Baby Mine", the lullaby from Dumbo. Raitt was very pleased with the sessions, and she asked Don to produce her next album.
Peak commercial success

After nearly 20 years, Bonnie Raitt achieved belated commercial success with her tenth album, Nick of Time. Released in the spring of 1989, Nick of Time went to the top of the U.S. charts following Raitt's Grammy sweep in early 1990. At the same time, she walked away with a fourth Grammy Award for her duet "In the Mood" with John Lee Hooker on his album The Healer. Nick of Time (album) was also the first of many of her recordings to feature her longtime rhythm section of Ricky Fataar and James "Hutch" Hutchinson (Although previously Fataar had played on her Green Light album and Hutchinson had worked on Nine Lives). Nick of Time has sold over six million copies in the US alone.

She followed up this success with three more Grammy Awards for her 1991 album, Luck of the Draw which has currently sold nearly 8 million copies in the United States. Three years later, in 1994, she added two more Grammys with her album Longing In Their Hearts, her second no. 1 album. Both of these albums were multi-platinum successes. Raitt's collaboration with Was would amicably come to an end with 1995's live release, Road Tested. Released to solid reviews, it sold well enough to be certified gold.

For her next studio album, Raitt hired Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake as her producers. "I loved working with Don Was but I wanted to give myself and my fans a stretch and do something different", Raitt said. Her work with Froom and Blake was released on Fundamental in 1998.
Current era

In March 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Silver Lining was released in 2002 while Souls Alike was released in September 2005.

Australian Country Music Artist Graeme Connors has said, "Bonnie Raitt does something with a lyric no one else can do; she bends it and twists it right into your heart." (ABC Radio NSW Australia interview with Interviewer Chris Coleman on 18 January 2007)

In 2007, she accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino. With Jon Cleary, she sang a medley of "I'm in Love Again" and "All by Myself".

Raitt appeared on the June 7, 2008 broadcast of Garrison Keillor's radio program "A Prairie Home Companion". She performed two blues songs with Kevin "Keb' Mo'" Moore: "No Getting Over You" and "There Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin'." Raitt also sang Dimming of the Day with Richard Thompson. This show, along with another on which Raitt with her band in October 2006, is archived on the Prairie Home Companion web site.
Political activism

Raitt's political involvement goes back to the early seventies. Her 1972 album "Give it up" had a dedication "to the people of North Vietnam ..." printed on the back. At that time, it took quite a bit of courage to do this at the onset of a career.
File:No-nukes-bonnie-1.jpg
Bonnie Raitt Performing at an Abalone Alliance Concert, in the early 1980s.

Raitt's web site urges fans to learn more about preserving the environment. She was a founding member of Musicians United for Safe Energy in 1979 and a catalyst for the larger anti-nuclear movement, becoming involved with groups like the Abalone Alliance and Alliance for Survival.

In 1994 at the urging of Dick Waterman, Raitt funded the replacement of a headstone for one of her mentors, Fred McDowell through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. Raitt would later finance memorial headstones in Mississippi for Memphis Minnie, Sam Chatmon, and Tommy Johnson again with the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund.

Bonnie Raitt is a staunch leftist. In July 2004, she drew thunderous applause at the Stockholm Jazz Festival for dedicating a classic to sitting (and later re-elected) U.S. President George W. Bush. She was quoted as saying, "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!" before she launched into the opening licks of "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)", a cover that was featured on her 1979 album The Glow. In 2002, she signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. She has visited children in the program and sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Raitt worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2005 Fall/Winter and 2006 Spring/Summer/Fall tours.

Raitt is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".

During the 2008 Democratic primary campaign Raitt, along with Jackson Browne and bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson, performed at campaign appearances for candidate John Edwards.
Personal life

Raitt and actor Michael O'Keefe were married on April 27, 1991, and announced their divorce on November 9, 1999.
Discography
Main article: Bonnie Raitt discography
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv255/Miss_Stephanie_photo/Artists/Bonnie.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/CrAzYbOuTgUiTaRs/raitt1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 11/08/11 at 12:31 pm

Absolutely love her  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/08/11 at 6:09 pm


Absolutely love her   :)

Me too... I love her songs "Something To Talk About", "Not The Only One", "Love Sneakin' Up On You", among others... and in the mid-90s she covered Roy Orbison's "You Got It". I liked that cover when it was a hit in early 1995; in fact, that's a song of which I enjoy both the cover and the original.

My mom has a couple of Bonnie's albums.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/11/11 at 6:29 am

The person of the day...Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (pronounced /dɨˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator (2004), and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s. He made his film debut in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3 (1991) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio obtained recognition for his subsequent work in supporting roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Marvin's Room (1996), as well as leading roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame in James Cameron's Titanic (1997).

Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as Catch Me If You Can (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), and Revolutionary Road (2008). His latest films Shutter Island (2010) and Inception (2010) rank among the biggest commercial successes of his career. DiCaprio owns a production company named Appian Way Productions, whose productions include the films Gardener of Eden (2007) and Orphan (2009).

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism.
DiCaprio's career began with his appearance in several commercials and educational films. After being booted off the set of children's television series Romper Room for being disruptive at the age of five, DiCaprio followed his older stepbrother Adam Farrar into television commercials, landing an ad for Matchbox cars at 14. In 1990, he got his break on television when he was cast in the short-lived series based on the movie Parenthood. After Parenthood, DiCaprio had bit parts on several shows, including The New Lassie and Roseanne, as well as a brief stint on the soap opera Santa Barbara, playing the young Mason Capwell. His involvement in Parenthood and the daily soap earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor each.
1991–95

His debut film role was in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3, in which he played the stepson of an evil landlord, a role that DiCaprio described as "your average, no-depth, standard kid with blond hair." Released in 1991, the movie went direct-to-video. Soon after, he became a recurring cast member on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains, playing Luke Brower, a homeless boy who is taken in by the Seaver family. DiCaprio made his big screen breakthrough in 1992, when he was handpicked by Robert De Niro out of 400 young actors to play the lead role in This Boy's Life, co-starring Ellen Barkin and De Niro himself.

Later in 1993, DiCaprio co-starred as the mentally handicapped brother to Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a comic-tragic odyssey of a dysfunctional Iowa family. Director Lasse Hallström admitted he was initially looking for a less good-looking actor but finally settled on DiCaprio as he had emerged as "the most observant " among all auditioners. Budgeted at US$11.0 million, the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a domestic box office total of US$9.1 million and various accolades for DiCaprio, who was awarded the National Board of Review Award and nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his portrayal. New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised DiCaprio's performance, writing "the film's real show-stopping turn comes from Mr. DiCaprio, who makes Arnie's many tics so startling and vivid that at first he is difficult to watch. The performance has a sharp, desperate intensity from beginning to end."

DiCaprio's first effort of 1995 was Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead, a western film in which he appeared alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, and Russell Crowe, playing the role of Hackman's alleged son named Kid. Sony Pictures was dubious over DiCaprio's casting, and as a result, Stone decided to pay for the actor's salary herself. The film was released to a dismal box office performance, barely grossing US$18.5 million in the United States, and received mixed reviews from critics. Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader observed that "Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though The Quick and the Dead is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn't come across as very convincing." Afterwards DiCaprio starred in Total Eclipse, a fictionalized account of the homosexual relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, played by David Thewlis. He replaced River Phoenix in the role of Rimbaud, who had died during pre-production on the project. A minor arthouse success, the film grossed US$0.34 million throughout its domestic theatrical run.

DiCaprio appeared alongside friends Kevin Connolly and Tobey Maguire in the mostly improvised short film called Don's Plum as a favor to aspiring director R.D. Robb. When Robb decided to expand the black-and-white film to feature length however, DiCaprio and Maguire obtained its blocking, arguing that they never intended to make it a theatrical release as it would have commercial value thanks to their stardom. Nevertheless, the film eventually premiered at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics, with Time Out New York writer Mike D'Angelo calling it "the best film in Berlin." DiCaprio's last film of the year 1995 was The Basketball Diaries, a biopic about Jim Carroll.
1996–2001

In 1996, DiCaprio appeared opposite Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's film Romeo + Juliet, an abridged modernization of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name which retained the original Shakespearean dialogue. The project was one of the first films to cash in on DiCaprio's future star-status, with a worldwide box office take of $147 million.

Later that year, he starred in Jerry Zaks' family drama Marvin's Room, reuniting with Robert De Niro. Based on Scott McPherson's screenplay adaptation of his own 1991 stage play of the same name, the film revolves around two sisters, played by Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, who are reunited through tragedy after 17 years of estrangement. DiCaprio portrayed the character of Hank, Streep's troubled son, who has been committed to a mental asylum for setting fire to his mother's house. On his Chlotrudis Award-winning performance, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly commented: "The deeply gifted DiCaprio keeps right up with these older pros . The three are so full-bodied and so powerfully affecting that you're carried along on the pleasure of being in the presence of their extraordinary talent."
DiCaprio at a press conference for The Beach in February 2000

In 1997, DiCaprio starred in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Kate Winslet. Cast as twenty-year-old Jack Dawson, a penniless Wisconsin man who wins two tickets for the third-class on the fated RMS Titanic, DiCaprio initially refused to portray the character but was eventually encouraged to pursue the role by Cameron who strongly believed in his acting ability. Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film to date (it was surpassed in 2010 by Cameron's directorial follow-up, Avatar), grossing more than US$1.843 billion in box-office receipts worldwide, and transformed DiCaprio into a commercial movie superstar, resulting in fan worship among teenage girls and young women in general that became known as "Leo-Mania." He was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, including a second Golden Globe nomination. Upon the success of Titanic, DiCaprio stated in 2000: "I have no connection with me during that whole Titanic phenomenon and what my face became around the world I'll never reach that state of popularity again, and I don't expect to. It's not something I'm going to try to achieve either."

The following year, DiCaprio made a self-mocking cameo appearance in Woody Allen's caustic satire of the fame industry, Celebrity (1998). That year, he also starred in the dual roles of the villainous King Louis XIV and his secret, sympathetic twin brother Philippe in Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask, based on the same-titled 1939 film. Despite receiving a rather mixed to negative response, the film became a box office success, grossing US$180 million internationally. Though DiCaprio's performance was generally well-received, with Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman writing that "the shockingly androgynous DiCaprio looks barely old enough to be playing anyone with hormones, but he's a fluid and instinctive actor, with the face of a mischievous angel," he was awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for both incarnations the following year.

DiCaprio's next project was the drama film The Beach (2000), an adaption of Alex Garland's same-titled 1996 novel. Starring alongside Tilda Swinton and Virginie Ledoyen, he played an American backpacking tourist looking for the perfect way of life in a secret island commune in the Gulf of Thailand. Budgeted at $US50 million, the film became a financial success, grossing $US144 million worldwide, but as with DiCaprio's previous project, the film was largely panned by critics. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that "Richard is too much the American Everyman and not enough of a well-defined individual to entirely capture one's interest and imagination, and DiCaprio, while perfectly watchable, does not endow him with the quirks or distinguishing marks to make this man from nowhere a dimensional character." The next year, he was nominated for another Razzie Award for his work on the film.
2002–07

DiCaprio's first film of 2002 was the crime-comedy Catch Me If You Can, based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, used his charm, confidence, and several different personas, to make millions in the 1960s writing bad checks. Directed by Steven Spielberg and co-starring Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken, the film was shot in 147 different locations in only 52 days, making it "the most adventurous, super-charged movie-making" DiCaprio had experienced yet. Catch Me If You Can received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Dicaprio's highest-grossing film since Titanic with a total of US$351.1 million worldwide. Roger Ebert praised his performance, and noted that while "DiCaprio, who in recent films has played dark and troubled characters, is breezy and charming here, playing a boy who discovers what he is good at, and does it." The following year, DiCaprio received his third Golden Globe nomination for his work on the film.
DiCaprio at the pre-premiere of Gangs of New York at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Also in 2002, DiCaprio appeared in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. Director Scorsese initially struggled selling his idea of realizing the film until DiCaprio became interested in playing protagonist Amsterdam Vallon, a young leader of the Irish faction, and thus, Miramax Films got involved with financing the project. Nonetheless production on the film was plagued by blown-out budgets and producer-director squabbles, resulting in a marathon eight-month shoot and, at US$103 million, the most expensive film Scorsese had ever made. Upon its release, Gangs of New York became a financial and critical success however. DiCaprio's acting was well-received but remained overshadowed by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance among most critics.

Forging a collaboration with Scorsese, the two paired again for a biopic of the eccentric and obsessive American film director and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004). Centering on Hughes' life from the late 1920s to 1947, DiCaprio initially developed the project with Michael Mann, who decided against directing it after back-to-back film biographies in Ali and The Insider. The actor eventually pitched John Logan's script to Scorsese, who quickly signed on to direct. Altogether, DiCaprio reportedly spent more than a year and a half in preparation for the film which was not necessarily shot in continuity because of actors and locations schedules. The Aviator became a critical and financial success. DiCaprio received rave reviews for his performance and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, also receiving another Academy Award nomination.

In 2006, DiCaprio starred in both Blood Diamond and The Departed. In Edward Zwick's war film Blood Diamond, he co-starred alongside Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou as a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia who is involved in the Sierra Leone Civil War. The film itself received generally favorable reviews, and DiCaprio was praised for the authenticity of his South African Afrikaner accent, known as a difficult accent to imitate. In Scorsese's The Departed he played the role of Billy Costigan, a state trooper working undercover in an Irish Mob in Boston. Highly anticipated, the film was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and became one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006. Budgeted at US$90 million, it also emerged as DiCaprio and Scorsese's highest-grossing collaboration to date, easily beating The Aviator´s previous record of US$213.7 million. DiCaprio's performance in The Departed was applauded by critics and earned him a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild nominated DiCaprio twice in the Best Actor category for both of his 2006 features, and in addition, DiCaprio earned his third Academy Award nomination for Blood Diamond.
2008–present

In 2008, DiCaprio starred in Body of Lies, a spy film based on the novel of the same name by David Ignatius, set in context of the Middle East and the War on Terror, unfolding the story of three men battling a terrorist organization, and each other. Directed by Ridley Scott and co-starring Russell Crowe and Vince Colosimo, DiCaprio dyed his hair brown and wore brown contacts for the role, which he chose to pursue because he considered it a throwback to political films in the 1970s such as The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975). The film received mixed reviews from critics, and at a budget of US$67.5 million, became a moderate box office success, grossing US$115 million worldwide.
DiCaprio at a charity event in March 2009.

The same year, DiCaprio reunited with Kate Winslet to film the drama Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by Winslet's then-husband Sam Mendes. As both actors had been reluctant to make romantic films similar to Titanic, it was Winslet who suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe, knowing that plot had little in common with the 1997 blockbuster. Once DiCaprio agreed to do the film, it went almost immediately into production. He noted that he saw his character as "unheroic" and "slightly cowardly" and that he was "willing to be just a product of his environment." Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for Revolutionary Road,which earned them favorable reviews. For his portrayal DiCaprio garnered his seventh nomination from the Golden Globes.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film Shutter Island (2010), based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. Co-starring Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams in supporting roles, the actor played U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on an island and comes to question his own sanity. With US$41 million, the film opened at number-one at the box office, giving both DiCaprio and Scorsese their best box office opening yet.

Also in 2010, DiCaprio starred in director Christopher Nolan's science-fiction film Inception. Inspired by the experience of lucid dreaming and dream incubation, DiCaprio portrays the character of Dom Cobb, an "extractor" who enters the dreams of others to obtain information that is otherwise inaccessible. Cobb is promised a chance to regain his old life in exchange for planting an idea in a corporate target's mind. DiCaprio, the first actor to be cast in the film, was "intrigued by this concept — this dream-heist notion and how this character's gonna unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life." Released to critical acclaim, the film grossed over US$21 million on its opening day, with an opening weekend gross of US$62.7 million.

DiCaprio is also set to star in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, a biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial first director of the FBI. He was cast in the title role in Oliver Stone's film Travis McGee, in which he is expected to play a salvage consultant who helps his clients on recover lost property, and is attached to star as a father who kidnaps and tortures the man who kidnapped his daughter in the thriller Prisoners. In addition, DiCaprio is said to be involved in the pre-production of Ridley Scott's projects The Wolf of Wall Street and Brave New World, Marc Forster's The Chancellor Manuscript and the biopic Sinatra, a film about Frank Sinatra to be directed by Martin Scorsese. In July 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio had pulled out of a Viking movie to be directed by Mel Gibson amid controversy over Gibson's rage-fueled rant tapes and domestic violence probe. On November 1, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio's production company had acquired the rights to the Erik Larsen novel, The Devil in the White City. The novel tells the true story of Dr. H. H. Holmes, a serial killer responsible for the death of hundreds of women during the Chicago World's Fair. It has also been announced that DiCaprio will star in the film, playing the role of serial killer H. H. Holmes. He was also cast in the role of Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsby.

On November 19, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio will produce and star in the upcoming 2013 movie based on the book Legacy of Secrecy by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann. The storyline examines how, in the early 1960s, the combined forces of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Mafia conspired to initiate and execute the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. DiCaprio is expected to play FBI informant Jack Van Laningham. The book asserts that Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello confessed to Van Laningham that he had ordered JFK's assassination, while the CIA and the Mafia were conspiring together to try to assassinate Fidel Castro. After the assassination, as part of a dangerous and long-secret undercover operation, the FBI positioned Van Laningham to become a confidant to Marcello, who ruled organized crime in Louisiana and most of Texas for decades.

On June 8, 2011, DiCaprio was announced to be in talks for the role of the villainous Calvin Candie for the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained.
Personal life


Environmental activism and philanthropy

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism. In the past, he has opted to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering private jets, and it was reported that he drives a hybrid car and has solar panels installed on his house. In an interview with Ukula about his 2007 film 11th Hour, DiCaprio cited global warming as "the number-one environmental challenge."

At the 2007 Oscar ceremony, DiCaprio and former Vice President Al Gore appeared to announce that the Academy Awards had incorporated environmentally intelligent practices throughout the planning and production processes, thus affirming their commitment to the environment, and on July 7, 2007, DiCaprio presented at the American leg of Live Earth. In 2010, his environmental work earned DiCaprio a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Award. The awards show, produced by VH1, is dedicated to honoring people who do good and is powered by Do Something, an organization that aims to empower and inspire young people.

In 1998, DiCaprio and his mother donated $35,000 for a "Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center" at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, the site of his childhood home. It was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and opened in early 1999. During the filming of Blood Diamond, DiCaprio worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children's Village in Maputo, Mozambique, and was said to be extremely touched by his interactions with the children. In 2010, he donated $1,000,000 to relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake.

During the 2004 Presidential election, DiCaprio campaigned and donated to John Kerry's presidential bid. FEC showed DiCaprio gave $2300 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, the maximum contribution an individual can give in an election cycle.

In November 2010, DiCaprio donated $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society at Russia's tiger summit. DiCaprio arrived late after two near-miss flights, causing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to describe him as a "muzhik" or "real man". In 2011, DiCaprio joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund's campaign to free Tony, a tiger who has spent the last decade at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.
Filmography
Acting
Year Title Role Notes
Film 1991 Critters 3 Josh
1992 Poison Ivy Guy
1993 This Boy's Life Tobias "Toby" Wolff Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
1993 What's Eating Gilbert Grape Arnie Grape Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1994 The Foot Shooting Party Bud
1995 The Quick and the Dead Fee Herod, "The Kid"
1995 The Basketball Diaries Jim Carroll
1995 Total Eclipse Arthur Rimbaud
1996 Romeo + Juliet Romeo Montague Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Claire Danes)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Claire Danes)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
1996 Marvin's Room Hank
1997 Titanic Jack Dawson Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Kate Winslet)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Kate Winslet)
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 The Man in the Iron Mask King Louis XIV/Philippe
1998 Celebrity Brandon Darrow Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
2000 The Beach Richard Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (Shared with Virginie Ledoyen)
2001 Don's Plum Derek Filmed in 1995
2002 Catch Me If You Can Frank William Abagnale Jr. Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
2002 Gangs of New York Amsterdam Vallon Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Cameron Diaz)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock (Shared with Cameron Diaz)
2004 The Aviator Howard Hughes Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2006 The Departed William "Billy" Costigan Jr. Gransito Movie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor]
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up (Shared with Matt Damon & Jack Nicholson)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2006 Blood Diamond Danny Archer Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2007 The 11th Hour Narrator/Producer Documentary
2008 Body of Lies Roger Ferris
2008 Revolutionary Road Frank Wheeler Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2010 Shutter Island Teddy Daniels Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Horror/Thriller
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Also for Inception)
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Scream Awards for Best Horror Actor
2010 Hubble 3D Narrator Documentary
2010 Inception Dom Cobb Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment (Shared with Ellen Page)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Also for Shutter Island)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Team
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble
2011 J. Edgar J. Edgar Hoover
2012 The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1990 The Outsiders Kid Fighting Scout Episode: "Pilot"
1990 Parenthood Garry Buckman Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series
1990 The New Lassie Young Boy Episode: "Livewire"
1990 Santa Barbara Young Mason Capwell Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series
1991 Roseanne Darlene's Classmate Episode: "Home-Ec"
1991–1992 Growing Pains Luke Brower Joined the cast in the last season
Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series
As producer
Year Title Notes
Film 2004 The Assassination of Richard Nixon Executive producer
2004 The Aviator Executive producer
2007 The 11th Hour Producer
2007 Gardener of Eden Producer
2008–2010 Greensburg Producer
2009 Orphan Producer
2011 Red Riding Hood Producer
2011 The Ides of March Executive producer
Other accolades
Year Group Category Result
1993 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards New Generation Award Won
2004 Hollywood Film Festival Actor of the Year Won
2007 TV Land Award Little Screen/Big Screen Star Nominated
2009 Kids' Choice Awards Big Green Help Award Won
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o296/lucylou108/Leonardo-Di-Caprio.jpg
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr265/kmixzz/leonardodicaprio.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/11/11 at 6:47 am


The person of the day...Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (pronounced /dɨˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator (2004), and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s. He made his film debut in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3 (1991) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio obtained recognition for his subsequent work in supporting roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Marvin's Room (1996), as well as leading roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame in James Cameron's Titanic (1997).

Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as Catch Me If You Can (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), and Revolutionary Road (2008). His latest films Shutter Island (2010) and Inception (2010) rank among the biggest commercial successes of his career. DiCaprio owns a production company named Appian Way Productions, whose productions include the films Gardener of Eden (2007) and Orphan (2009).

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism.
DiCaprio's career began with his appearance in several commercials and educational films. After being booted off the set of children's television series Romper Room for being disruptive at the age of five, DiCaprio followed his older stepbrother Adam Farrar into television commercials, landing an ad for Matchbox cars at 14. In 1990, he got his break on television when he was cast in the short-lived series based on the movie Parenthood. After Parenthood, DiCaprio had bit parts on several shows, including The New Lassie and Roseanne, as well as a brief stint on the soap opera Santa Barbara, playing the young Mason Capwell. His involvement in Parenthood and the daily soap earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor each.
1991–95

His debut film role was in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3, in which he played the stepson of an evil landlord, a role that DiCaprio described as "your average, no-depth, standard kid with blond hair." Released in 1991, the movie went direct-to-video. Soon after, he became a recurring cast member on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains, playing Luke Brower, a homeless boy who is taken in by the Seaver family. DiCaprio made his big screen breakthrough in 1992, when he was handpicked by Robert De Niro out of 400 young actors to play the lead role in This Boy's Life, co-starring Ellen Barkin and De Niro himself.

Later in 1993, DiCaprio co-starred as the mentally handicapped brother to Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a comic-tragic odyssey of a dysfunctional Iowa family. Director Lasse Hallström admitted he was initially looking for a less good-looking actor but finally settled on DiCaprio as he had emerged as "the most observant " among all auditioners. Budgeted at US$11.0 million, the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a domestic box office total of US$9.1 million and various accolades for DiCaprio, who was awarded the National Board of Review Award and nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his portrayal. New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised DiCaprio's performance, writing "the film's real show-stopping turn comes from Mr. DiCaprio, who makes Arnie's many tics so startling and vivid that at first he is difficult to watch. The performance has a sharp, desperate intensity from beginning to end."

DiCaprio's first effort of 1995 was Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead, a western film in which he appeared alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, and Russell Crowe, playing the role of Hackman's alleged son named Kid. Sony Pictures was dubious over DiCaprio's casting, and as a result, Stone decided to pay for the actor's salary herself. The film was released to a dismal box office performance, barely grossing US$18.5 million in the United States, and received mixed reviews from critics. Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader observed that "Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though The Quick and the Dead is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn't come across as very convincing." Afterwards DiCaprio starred in Total Eclipse, a fictionalized account of the homosexual relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, played by David Thewlis. He replaced River Phoenix in the role of Rimbaud, who had died during pre-production on the project. A minor arthouse success, the film grossed US$0.34 million throughout its domestic theatrical run.

DiCaprio appeared alongside friends Kevin Connolly and Tobey Maguire in the mostly improvised short film called Don's Plum as a favor to aspiring director R.D. Robb. When Robb decided to expand the black-and-white film to feature length however, DiCaprio and Maguire obtained its blocking, arguing that they never intended to make it a theatrical release as it would have commercial value thanks to their stardom. Nevertheless, the film eventually premiered at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics, with Time Out New York writer Mike D'Angelo calling it "the best film in Berlin." DiCaprio's last film of the year 1995 was The Basketball Diaries, a biopic about Jim Carroll.
1996–2001

In 1996, DiCaprio appeared opposite Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's film Romeo + Juliet, an abridged modernization of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name which retained the original Shakespearean dialogue. The project was one of the first films to cash in on DiCaprio's future star-status, with a worldwide box office take of $147 million.

Later that year, he starred in Jerry Zaks' family drama Marvin's Room, reuniting with Robert De Niro. Based on Scott McPherson's screenplay adaptation of his own 1991 stage play of the same name, the film revolves around two sisters, played by Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, who are reunited through tragedy after 17 years of estrangement. DiCaprio portrayed the character of Hank, Streep's troubled son, who has been committed to a mental asylum for setting fire to his mother's house. On his Chlotrudis Award-winning performance, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly commented: "The deeply gifted DiCaprio keeps right up with these older pros . The three are so full-bodied and so powerfully affecting that you're carried along on the pleasure of being in the presence of their extraordinary talent."
DiCaprio at a press conference for The Beach in February 2000

In 1997, DiCaprio starred in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Kate Winslet. Cast as twenty-year-old Jack Dawson, a penniless Wisconsin man who wins two tickets for the third-class on the fated RMS Titanic, DiCaprio initially refused to portray the character but was eventually encouraged to pursue the role by Cameron who strongly believed in his acting ability. Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film to date (it was surpassed in 2010 by Cameron's directorial follow-up, Avatar), grossing more than US$1.843 billion in box-office receipts worldwide, and transformed DiCaprio into a commercial movie superstar, resulting in fan worship among teenage girls and young women in general that became known as "Leo-Mania." He was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, including a second Golden Globe nomination. Upon the success of Titanic, DiCaprio stated in 2000: "I have no connection with me during that whole Titanic phenomenon and what my face became around the world I'll never reach that state of popularity again, and I don't expect to. It's not something I'm going to try to achieve either."

The following year, DiCaprio made a self-mocking cameo appearance in Woody Allen's caustic satire of the fame industry, Celebrity (1998). That year, he also starred in the dual roles of the villainous King Louis XIV and his secret, sympathetic twin brother Philippe in Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask, based on the same-titled 1939 film. Despite receiving a rather mixed to negative response, the film became a box office success, grossing US$180 million internationally. Though DiCaprio's performance was generally well-received, with Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman writing that "the shockingly androgynous DiCaprio looks barely old enough to be playing anyone with hormones, but he's a fluid and instinctive actor, with the face of a mischievous angel," he was awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for both incarnations the following year.

DiCaprio's next project was the drama film The Beach (2000), an adaption of Alex Garland's same-titled 1996 novel. Starring alongside Tilda Swinton and Virginie Ledoyen, he played an American backpacking tourist looking for the perfect way of life in a secret island commune in the Gulf of Thailand. Budgeted at $US50 million, the film became a financial success, grossing $US144 million worldwide, but as with DiCaprio's previous project, the film was largely panned by critics. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that "Richard is too much the American Everyman and not enough of a well-defined individual to entirely capture one's interest and imagination, and DiCaprio, while perfectly watchable, does not endow him with the quirks or distinguishing marks to make this man from nowhere a dimensional character." The next year, he was nominated for another Razzie Award for his work on the film.
2002–07

DiCaprio's first film of 2002 was the crime-comedy Catch Me If You Can, based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, used his charm, confidence, and several different personas, to make millions in the 1960s writing bad checks. Directed by Steven Spielberg and co-starring Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken, the film was shot in 147 different locations in only 52 days, making it "the most adventurous, super-charged movie-making" DiCaprio had experienced yet. Catch Me If You Can received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Dicaprio's highest-grossing film since Titanic with a total of US$351.1 million worldwide. Roger Ebert praised his performance, and noted that while "DiCaprio, who in recent films has played dark and troubled characters, is breezy and charming here, playing a boy who discovers what he is good at, and does it." The following year, DiCaprio received his third Golden Globe nomination for his work on the film.
DiCaprio at the pre-premiere of Gangs of New York at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Also in 2002, DiCaprio appeared in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. Director Scorsese initially struggled selling his idea of realizing the film until DiCaprio became interested in playing protagonist Amsterdam Vallon, a young leader of the Irish faction, and thus, Miramax Films got involved with financing the project. Nonetheless production on the film was plagued by blown-out budgets and producer-director squabbles, resulting in a marathon eight-month shoot and, at US$103 million, the most expensive film Scorsese had ever made. Upon its release, Gangs of New York became a financial and critical success however. DiCaprio's acting was well-received but remained overshadowed by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance among most critics.

Forging a collaboration with Scorsese, the two paired again for a biopic of the eccentric and obsessive American film director and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004). Centering on Hughes' life from the late 1920s to 1947, DiCaprio initially developed the project with Michael Mann, who decided against directing it after back-to-back film biographies in Ali and The Insider. The actor eventually pitched John Logan's script to Scorsese, who quickly signed on to direct. Altogether, DiCaprio reportedly spent more than a year and a half in preparation for the film which was not necessarily shot in continuity because of actors and locations schedules. The Aviator became a critical and financial success. DiCaprio received rave reviews for his performance and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, also receiving another Academy Award nomination.

In 2006, DiCaprio starred in both Blood Diamond and The Departed. In Edward Zwick's war film Blood Diamond, he co-starred alongside Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou as a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia who is involved in the Sierra Leone Civil War. The film itself received generally favorable reviews, and DiCaprio was praised for the authenticity of his South African Afrikaner accent, known as a difficult accent to imitate. In Scorsese's The Departed he played the role of Billy Costigan, a state trooper working undercover in an Irish Mob in Boston. Highly anticipated, the film was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and became one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006. Budgeted at US$90 million, it also emerged as DiCaprio and Scorsese's highest-grossing collaboration to date, easily beating The Aviator´s previous record of US$213.7 million. DiCaprio's performance in The Departed was applauded by critics and earned him a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild nominated DiCaprio twice in the Best Actor category for both of his 2006 features, and in addition, DiCaprio earned his third Academy Award nomination for Blood Diamond.
2008–present

In 2008, DiCaprio starred in Body of Lies, a spy film based on the novel of the same name by David Ignatius, set in context of the Middle East and the War on Terror, unfolding the story of three men battling a terrorist organization, and each other. Directed by Ridley Scott and co-starring Russell Crowe and Vince Colosimo, DiCaprio dyed his hair brown and wore brown contacts for the role, which he chose to pursue because he considered it a throwback to political films in the 1970s such as The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975). The film received mixed reviews from critics, and at a budget of US$67.5 million, became a moderate box office success, grossing US$115 million worldwide.
DiCaprio at a charity event in March 2009.

The same year, DiCaprio reunited with Kate Winslet to film the drama Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by Winslet's then-husband Sam Mendes. As both actors had been reluctant to make romantic films similar to Titanic, it was Winslet who suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe, knowing that plot had little in common with the 1997 blockbuster. Once DiCaprio agreed to do the film, it went almost immediately into production. He noted that he saw his character as "unheroic" and "slightly cowardly" and that he was "willing to be just a product of his environment." Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for Revolutionary Road,which earned them favorable reviews. For his portrayal DiCaprio garnered his seventh nomination from the Golden Globes.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film Shutter Island (2010), based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. Co-starring Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams in supporting roles, the actor played U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on an island and comes to question his own sanity. With US$41 million, the film opened at number-one at the box office, giving both DiCaprio and Scorsese their best box office opening yet.

Also in 2010, DiCaprio starred in director Christopher Nolan's science-fiction film Inception. Inspired by the experience of lucid dreaming and dream incubation, DiCaprio portrays the character of Dom Cobb, an "extractor" who enters the dreams of others to obtain information that is otherwise inaccessible. Cobb is promised a chance to regain his old life in exchange for planting an idea in a corporate target's mind. DiCaprio, the first actor to be cast in the film, was "intrigued by this concept — this dream-heist notion and how this character's gonna unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life." Released to critical acclaim, the film grossed over US$21 million on its opening day, with an opening weekend gross of US$62.7 million.

DiCaprio is also set to star in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, a biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial first director of the FBI. He was cast in the title role in Oliver Stone's film Travis McGee, in which he is expected to play a salvage consultant who helps his clients on recover lost property, and is attached to star as a father who kidnaps and tortures the man who kidnapped his daughter in the thriller Prisoners. In addition, DiCaprio is said to be involved in the pre-production of Ridley Scott's projects The Wolf of Wall Street and Brave New World, Marc Forster's The Chancellor Manuscript and the biopic Sinatra, a film about Frank Sinatra to be directed by Martin Scorsese. In July 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio had pulled out of a Viking movie to be directed by Mel Gibson amid controversy over Gibson's rage-fueled rant tapes and domestic violence probe. On November 1, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio's production company had acquired the rights to the Erik Larsen novel, The Devil in the White City. The novel tells the true story of Dr. H. H. Holmes, a serial killer responsible for the death of hundreds of women during the Chicago World's Fair. It has also been announced that DiCaprio will star in the film, playing the role of serial killer H. H. Holmes. He was also cast in the role of Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsby.

On November 19, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio will produce and star in the upcoming 2013 movie based on the book Legacy of Secrecy by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann. The storyline examines how, in the early 1960s, the combined forces of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Mafia conspired to initiate and execute the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. DiCaprio is expected to play FBI informant Jack Van Laningham. The book asserts that Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello confessed to Van Laningham that he had ordered JFK's assassination, while the CIA and the Mafia were conspiring together to try to assassinate Fidel Castro. After the assassination, as part of a dangerous and long-secret undercover operation, the FBI positioned Van Laningham to become a confidant to Marcello, who ruled organized crime in Louisiana and most of Texas for decades.

On June 8, 2011, DiCaprio was announced to be in talks for the role of the villainous Calvin Candie for the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained.
Personal life


Environmental activism and philanthropy

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism. In the past, he has opted to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering private jets, and it was reported that he drives a hybrid car and has solar panels installed on his house. In an interview with Ukula about his 2007 film 11th Hour, DiCaprio cited global warming as "the number-one environmental challenge."

At the 2007 Oscar ceremony, DiCaprio and former Vice President Al Gore appeared to announce that the Academy Awards had incorporated environmentally intelligent practices throughout the planning and production processes, thus affirming their commitment to the environment, and on July 7, 2007, DiCaprio presented at the American leg of Live Earth. In 2010, his environmental work earned DiCaprio a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Award. The awards show, produced by VH1, is dedicated to honoring people who do good and is powered by Do Something, an organization that aims to empower and inspire young people.

In 1998, DiCaprio and his mother donated $35,000 for a "Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center" at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, the site of his childhood home. It was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and opened in early 1999. During the filming of Blood Diamond, DiCaprio worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children's Village in Maputo, Mozambique, and was said to be extremely touched by his interactions with the children. In 2010, he donated $1,000,000 to relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake.

During the 2004 Presidential election, DiCaprio campaigned and donated to John Kerry's presidential bid. FEC showed DiCaprio gave $2300 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, the maximum contribution an individual can give in an election cycle.

In November 2010, DiCaprio donated $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society at Russia's tiger summit. DiCaprio arrived late after two near-miss flights, causing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to describe him as a "muzhik" or "real man". In 2011, DiCaprio joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund's campaign to free Tony, a tiger who has spent the last decade at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.
Filmography
Acting
Year Title Role Notes
Film 1991 Critters 3 Josh
1992 Poison Ivy Guy
1993 This Boy's Life Tobias "Toby" Wolff Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
1993 What's Eating Gilbert Grape Arnie Grape Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1994 The Foot Shooting Party Bud
1995 The Quick and the Dead Fee Herod, "The Kid"
1995 The Basketball Diaries Jim Carroll
1995 Total Eclipse Arthur Rimbaud
1996 Romeo + Juliet Romeo Montague Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Claire Danes)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Claire Danes)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
1996 Marvin's Room Hank
1997 Titanic Jack Dawson Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Kate Winslet)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Kate Winslet)
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 The Man in the Iron Mask King Louis XIV/Philippe
1998 Celebrity Brandon Darrow Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
2000 The Beach Richard Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (Shared with Virginie Ledoyen)
2001 Don's Plum Derek Filmed in 1995
2002 Catch Me If You Can Frank William Abagnale Jr. Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
2002 Gangs of New York Amsterdam Vallon Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Cameron Diaz)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock (Shared with Cameron Diaz)
2004 The Aviator Howard Hughes Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2006 The Departed William "Billy" Costigan Jr. Gransito Movie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor]
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up (Shared with Matt Damon & Jack Nicholson)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2006 Blood Diamond Danny Archer Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2007 The 11th Hour Narrator/Producer Documentary
2008 Body of Lies Roger Ferris
2008 Revolutionary Road Frank Wheeler Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2010 Shutter Island Teddy Daniels Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Horror/Thriller
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Also for Inception)
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Scream Awards for Best Horror Actor
2010 Hubble 3D Narrator Documentary
2010 Inception Dom Cobb Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment (Shared with Ellen Page)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Also for Shutter Island)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Team
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble
2011 J. Edgar J. Edgar Hoover
2012 The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1990 The Outsiders Kid Fighting Scout Episode: "Pilot"
1990 Parenthood Garry Buckman Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series
1990 The New Lassie Young Boy Episode: "Livewire"
1990 Santa Barbara Young Mason Capwell Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series
1991 Roseanne Darlene's Classmate Episode: "Home-Ec"
1991–1992 Growing Pains Luke Brower Joined the cast in the last season
Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series
As producer
Year Title Notes
Film 2004 The Assassination of Richard Nixon Executive producer
2004 The Aviator Executive producer
2007 The 11th Hour Producer
2007 Gardener of Eden Producer
2008–2010 Greensburg Producer
2009 Orphan Producer
2011 Red Riding Hood Producer
2011 The Ides of March Executive producer
Other accolades
Year Group Category Result
1993 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards New Generation Award Won
2004 Hollywood Film Festival Actor of the Year Won
2007 TV Land Award Little Screen/Big Screen Star Nominated
2009 Kids' Choice Awards Big Green Help Award Won
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o296/lucylou108/Leonardo-Di-Caprio.jpg
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr265/kmixzz/leonardodicaprio.jpg


I haven't seen his films in quite a while since Titanic.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/11/11 at 12:53 pm


I haven't seen his films in quite a while since Titanic.

Me neither. Can't believe it's been 14 years since that film came out... and almost a whole century since the actual Titanic disaster. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/11/11 at 1:28 pm


I haven't seen his films in quite a while since Titanic.
Not one of my favourite flims.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/11/11 at 1:30 pm


Not one of my favourite flims.

I didn't much care for it either. People were raving about it and stuff...but when I got a chance to view it, I didn't think it was all that great. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/12/11 at 5:17 am


I didn't much care for it either. People were raving about it and stuff...but when I got a chance to view it, I didn't think it was all that great. :-\\
The whole film is full of mistakes and inaccuracies.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/12/11 at 7:25 am


The person of the day...Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (pronounced /dɨˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator (2004), and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s. He made his film debut in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3 (1991) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio obtained recognition for his subsequent work in supporting roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Marvin's Room (1996), as well as leading roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame in James Cameron's Titanic (1997).

Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as Catch Me If You Can (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), and Revolutionary Road (2008). His latest films Shutter Island (2010) and Inception (2010) rank among the biggest commercial successes of his career. DiCaprio owns a production company named Appian Way Productions, whose productions include the films Gardener of Eden (2007) and Orphan (2009).

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism.
DiCaprio's career began with his appearance in several commercials and educational films. After being booted off the set of children's television series Romper Room for being disruptive at the age of five, DiCaprio followed his older stepbrother Adam Farrar into television commercials, landing an ad for Matchbox cars at 14. In 1990, he got his break on television when he was cast in the short-lived series based on the movie Parenthood. After Parenthood, DiCaprio had bit parts on several shows, including The New Lassie and Roseanne, as well as a brief stint on the soap opera Santa Barbara, playing the young Mason Capwell. His involvement in Parenthood and the daily soap earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor each.
1991–95

His debut film role was in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3, in which he played the stepson of an evil landlord, a role that DiCaprio described as "your average, no-depth, standard kid with blond hair." Released in 1991, the movie went direct-to-video. Soon after, he became a recurring cast member on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains, playing Luke Brower, a homeless boy who is taken in by the Seaver family. DiCaprio made his big screen breakthrough in 1992, when he was handpicked by Robert De Niro out of 400 young actors to play the lead role in This Boy's Life, co-starring Ellen Barkin and De Niro himself.

Later in 1993, DiCaprio co-starred as the mentally handicapped brother to Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a comic-tragic odyssey of a dysfunctional Iowa family. Director Lasse Hallström admitted he was initially looking for a less good-looking actor but finally settled on DiCaprio as he had emerged as "the most observant " among all auditioners. Budgeted at US$11.0 million, the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a domestic box office total of US$9.1 million and various accolades for DiCaprio, who was awarded the National Board of Review Award and nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his portrayal. New York Times critic Janet Maslin praised DiCaprio's performance, writing "the film's real show-stopping turn comes from Mr. DiCaprio, who makes Arnie's many tics so startling and vivid that at first he is difficult to watch. The performance has a sharp, desperate intensity from beginning to end."

DiCaprio's first effort of 1995 was Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead, a western film in which he appeared alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, and Russell Crowe, playing the role of Hackman's alleged son named Kid. Sony Pictures was dubious over DiCaprio's casting, and as a result, Stone decided to pay for the actor's salary herself. The film was released to a dismal box office performance, barely grossing US$18.5 million in the United States, and received mixed reviews from critics. Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader observed that "Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though The Quick and the Dead is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn't come across as very convincing." Afterwards DiCaprio starred in Total Eclipse, a fictionalized account of the homosexual relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, played by David Thewlis. He replaced River Phoenix in the role of Rimbaud, who had died during pre-production on the project. A minor arthouse success, the film grossed US$0.34 million throughout its domestic theatrical run.

DiCaprio appeared alongside friends Kevin Connolly and Tobey Maguire in the mostly improvised short film called Don's Plum as a favor to aspiring director R.D. Robb. When Robb decided to expand the black-and-white film to feature length however, DiCaprio and Maguire obtained its blocking, arguing that they never intended to make it a theatrical release as it would have commercial value thanks to their stardom. Nevertheless, the film eventually premiered at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics, with Time Out New York writer Mike D'Angelo calling it "the best film in Berlin." DiCaprio's last film of the year 1995 was The Basketball Diaries, a biopic about Jim Carroll.
1996–2001

In 1996, DiCaprio appeared opposite Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's film Romeo + Juliet, an abridged modernization of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name which retained the original Shakespearean dialogue. The project was one of the first films to cash in on DiCaprio's future star-status, with a worldwide box office take of $147 million.

Later that year, he starred in Jerry Zaks' family drama Marvin's Room, reuniting with Robert De Niro. Based on Scott McPherson's screenplay adaptation of his own 1991 stage play of the same name, the film revolves around two sisters, played by Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, who are reunited through tragedy after 17 years of estrangement. DiCaprio portrayed the character of Hank, Streep's troubled son, who has been committed to a mental asylum for setting fire to his mother's house. On his Chlotrudis Award-winning performance, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly commented: "The deeply gifted DiCaprio keeps right up with these older pros . The three are so full-bodied and so powerfully affecting that you're carried along on the pleasure of being in the presence of their extraordinary talent."
DiCaprio at a press conference for The Beach in February 2000

In 1997, DiCaprio starred in James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Kate Winslet. Cast as twenty-year-old Jack Dawson, a penniless Wisconsin man who wins two tickets for the third-class on the fated RMS Titanic, DiCaprio initially refused to portray the character but was eventually encouraged to pursue the role by Cameron who strongly believed in his acting ability. Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film to date (it was surpassed in 2010 by Cameron's directorial follow-up, Avatar), grossing more than US$1.843 billion in box-office receipts worldwide, and transformed DiCaprio into a commercial movie superstar, resulting in fan worship among teenage girls and young women in general that became known as "Leo-Mania." He was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, including a second Golden Globe nomination. Upon the success of Titanic, DiCaprio stated in 2000: "I have no connection with me during that whole Titanic phenomenon and what my face became around the world I'll never reach that state of popularity again, and I don't expect to. It's not something I'm going to try to achieve either."

The following year, DiCaprio made a self-mocking cameo appearance in Woody Allen's caustic satire of the fame industry, Celebrity (1998). That year, he also starred in the dual roles of the villainous King Louis XIV and his secret, sympathetic twin brother Philippe in Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask, based on the same-titled 1939 film. Despite receiving a rather mixed to negative response, the film became a box office success, grossing US$180 million internationally. Though DiCaprio's performance was generally well-received, with Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman writing that "the shockingly androgynous DiCaprio looks barely old enough to be playing anyone with hormones, but he's a fluid and instinctive actor, with the face of a mischievous angel," he was awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for both incarnations the following year.

DiCaprio's next project was the drama film The Beach (2000), an adaption of Alex Garland's same-titled 1996 novel. Starring alongside Tilda Swinton and Virginie Ledoyen, he played an American backpacking tourist looking for the perfect way of life in a secret island commune in the Gulf of Thailand. Budgeted at $US50 million, the film became a financial success, grossing $US144 million worldwide, but as with DiCaprio's previous project, the film was largely panned by critics. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that "Richard is too much the American Everyman and not enough of a well-defined individual to entirely capture one's interest and imagination, and DiCaprio, while perfectly watchable, does not endow him with the quirks or distinguishing marks to make this man from nowhere a dimensional character." The next year, he was nominated for another Razzie Award for his work on the film.
2002–07

DiCaprio's first film of 2002 was the crime-comedy Catch Me If You Can, based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, used his charm, confidence, and several different personas, to make millions in the 1960s writing bad checks. Directed by Steven Spielberg and co-starring Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken, the film was shot in 147 different locations in only 52 days, making it "the most adventurous, super-charged movie-making" DiCaprio had experienced yet. Catch Me If You Can received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Dicaprio's highest-grossing film since Titanic with a total of US$351.1 million worldwide. Roger Ebert praised his performance, and noted that while "DiCaprio, who in recent films has played dark and troubled characters, is breezy and charming here, playing a boy who discovers what he is good at, and does it." The following year, DiCaprio received his third Golden Globe nomination for his work on the film.
DiCaprio at the pre-premiere of Gangs of New York at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Also in 2002, DiCaprio appeared in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. Director Scorsese initially struggled selling his idea of realizing the film until DiCaprio became interested in playing protagonist Amsterdam Vallon, a young leader of the Irish faction, and thus, Miramax Films got involved with financing the project. Nonetheless production on the film was plagued by blown-out budgets and producer-director squabbles, resulting in a marathon eight-month shoot and, at US$103 million, the most expensive film Scorsese had ever made. Upon its release, Gangs of New York became a financial and critical success however. DiCaprio's acting was well-received but remained overshadowed by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance among most critics.

Forging a collaboration with Scorsese, the two paired again for a biopic of the eccentric and obsessive American film director and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004). Centering on Hughes' life from the late 1920s to 1947, DiCaprio initially developed the project with Michael Mann, who decided against directing it after back-to-back film biographies in Ali and The Insider. The actor eventually pitched John Logan's script to Scorsese, who quickly signed on to direct. Altogether, DiCaprio reportedly spent more than a year and a half in preparation for the film which was not necessarily shot in continuity because of actors and locations schedules. The Aviator became a critical and financial success. DiCaprio received rave reviews for his performance and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, also receiving another Academy Award nomination.

In 2006, DiCaprio starred in both Blood Diamond and The Departed. In Edward Zwick's war film Blood Diamond, he co-starred alongside Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou as a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia who is involved in the Sierra Leone Civil War. The film itself received generally favorable reviews, and DiCaprio was praised for the authenticity of his South African Afrikaner accent, known as a difficult accent to imitate. In Scorsese's The Departed he played the role of Billy Costigan, a state trooper working undercover in an Irish Mob in Boston. Highly anticipated, the film was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and became one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006. Budgeted at US$90 million, it also emerged as DiCaprio and Scorsese's highest-grossing collaboration to date, easily beating The Aviator´s previous record of US$213.7 million. DiCaprio's performance in The Departed was applauded by critics and earned him a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild nominated DiCaprio twice in the Best Actor category for both of his 2006 features, and in addition, DiCaprio earned his third Academy Award nomination for Blood Diamond.
2008–present

In 2008, DiCaprio starred in Body of Lies, a spy film based on the novel of the same name by David Ignatius, set in context of the Middle East and the War on Terror, unfolding the story of three men battling a terrorist organization, and each other. Directed by Ridley Scott and co-starring Russell Crowe and Vince Colosimo, DiCaprio dyed his hair brown and wore brown contacts for the role, which he chose to pursue because he considered it a throwback to political films in the 1970s such as The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975). The film received mixed reviews from critics, and at a budget of US$67.5 million, became a moderate box office success, grossing US$115 million worldwide.
DiCaprio at a charity event in March 2009.

The same year, DiCaprio reunited with Kate Winslet to film the drama Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by Winslet's then-husband Sam Mendes. As both actors had been reluctant to make romantic films similar to Titanic, it was Winslet who suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe, knowing that plot had little in common with the 1997 blockbuster. Once DiCaprio agreed to do the film, it went almost immediately into production. He noted that he saw his character as "unheroic" and "slightly cowardly" and that he was "willing to be just a product of his environment." Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for Revolutionary Road,which earned them favorable reviews. For his portrayal DiCaprio garnered his seventh nomination from the Golden Globes.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film Shutter Island (2010), based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. Co-starring Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams in supporting roles, the actor played U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on an island and comes to question his own sanity. With US$41 million, the film opened at number-one at the box office, giving both DiCaprio and Scorsese their best box office opening yet.

Also in 2010, DiCaprio starred in director Christopher Nolan's science-fiction film Inception. Inspired by the experience of lucid dreaming and dream incubation, DiCaprio portrays the character of Dom Cobb, an "extractor" who enters the dreams of others to obtain information that is otherwise inaccessible. Cobb is promised a chance to regain his old life in exchange for planting an idea in a corporate target's mind. DiCaprio, the first actor to be cast in the film, was "intrigued by this concept — this dream-heist notion and how this character's gonna unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life." Released to critical acclaim, the film grossed over US$21 million on its opening day, with an opening weekend gross of US$62.7 million.

DiCaprio is also set to star in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, a biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial first director of the FBI. He was cast in the title role in Oliver Stone's film Travis McGee, in which he is expected to play a salvage consultant who helps his clients on recover lost property, and is attached to star as a father who kidnaps and tortures the man who kidnapped his daughter in the thriller Prisoners. In addition, DiCaprio is said to be involved in the pre-production of Ridley Scott's projects The Wolf of Wall Street and Brave New World, Marc Forster's The Chancellor Manuscript and the biopic Sinatra, a film about Frank Sinatra to be directed by Martin Scorsese. In July 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio had pulled out of a Viking movie to be directed by Mel Gibson amid controversy over Gibson's rage-fueled rant tapes and domestic violence probe. On November 1, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio's production company had acquired the rights to the Erik Larsen novel, The Devil in the White City. The novel tells the true story of Dr. H. H. Holmes, a serial killer responsible for the death of hundreds of women during the Chicago World's Fair. It has also been announced that DiCaprio will star in the film, playing the role of serial killer H. H. Holmes. He was also cast in the role of Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsby.

On November 19, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio will produce and star in the upcoming 2013 movie based on the book Legacy of Secrecy by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann. The storyline examines how, in the early 1960s, the combined forces of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Mafia conspired to initiate and execute the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. DiCaprio is expected to play FBI informant Jack Van Laningham. The book asserts that Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello confessed to Van Laningham that he had ordered JFK's assassination, while the CIA and the Mafia were conspiring together to try to assassinate Fidel Castro. After the assassination, as part of a dangerous and long-secret undercover operation, the FBI positioned Van Laningham to become a confidant to Marcello, who ruled organized crime in Louisiana and most of Texas for decades.

On June 8, 2011, DiCaprio was announced to be in talks for the role of the villainous Calvin Candie for the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, Django Unchained.
Personal life


Environmental activism and philanthropy

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism. In the past, he has opted to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering private jets, and it was reported that he drives a hybrid car and has solar panels installed on his house. In an interview with Ukula about his 2007 film 11th Hour, DiCaprio cited global warming as "the number-one environmental challenge."

At the 2007 Oscar ceremony, DiCaprio and former Vice President Al Gore appeared to announce that the Academy Awards had incorporated environmentally intelligent practices throughout the planning and production processes, thus affirming their commitment to the environment, and on July 7, 2007, DiCaprio presented at the American leg of Live Earth. In 2010, his environmental work earned DiCaprio a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Award. The awards show, produced by VH1, is dedicated to honoring people who do good and is powered by Do Something, an organization that aims to empower and inspire young people.

In 1998, DiCaprio and his mother donated $35,000 for a "Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center" at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, the site of his childhood home. It was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and opened in early 1999. During the filming of Blood Diamond, DiCaprio worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children's Village in Maputo, Mozambique, and was said to be extremely touched by his interactions with the children. In 2010, he donated $1,000,000 to relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake.

During the 2004 Presidential election, DiCaprio campaigned and donated to John Kerry's presidential bid. FEC showed DiCaprio gave $2300 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, the maximum contribution an individual can give in an election cycle.

In November 2010, DiCaprio donated $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society at Russia's tiger summit. DiCaprio arrived late after two near-miss flights, causing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to describe him as a "muzhik" or "real man". In 2011, DiCaprio joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund's campaign to free Tony, a tiger who has spent the last decade at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.
Filmography
Acting
Year Title Role Notes
Film 1991 Critters 3 Josh
1992 Poison Ivy Guy
1993 This Boy's Life Tobias "Toby" Wolff Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
1993 What's Eating Gilbert Grape Arnie Grape Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Emerging Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1994 The Foot Shooting Party Bud
1995 The Quick and the Dead Fee Herod, "The Kid"
1995 The Basketball Diaries Jim Carroll
1995 Total Eclipse Arthur Rimbaud
1996 Romeo + Juliet Romeo Montague Silver Bear for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Claire Danes)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Claire Danes)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
1996 Marvin's Room Hank
1997 Titanic Jack Dawson Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor – Drama
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo (Shared with Kate Winslet)
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Kate Winslet)
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998 The Man in the Iron Mask King Louis XIV/Philippe
1998 Celebrity Brandon Darrow Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
2000 The Beach Richard Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Actor
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (Shared with Virginie Ledoyen)
2001 Don's Plum Derek Filmed in 1995
2002 Catch Me If You Can Frank William Abagnale Jr. Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
2002 Gangs of New York Amsterdam Vallon Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (Shared with Cameron Diaz)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock (Shared with Cameron Diaz)
2004 The Aviator Howard Hughes Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2006 The Departed William "Billy" Costigan Jr. Gransito Movie Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor]
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up (Shared with Matt Damon & Jack Nicholson)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2006 Blood Diamond Danny Archer Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2007 The 11th Hour Narrator/Producer Documentary
2008 Body of Lies Roger Ferris
2008 Revolutionary Road Frank Wheeler Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2010 Shutter Island Teddy Daniels Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Horror/Thriller
Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the Year
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Also for Inception)
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Scream Awards for Best Horror Actor
2010 Hubble 3D Narrator Documentary
2010 Inception Dom Cobb Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actor
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment (Shared with Ellen Page)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor (Also for Shutter Island)
Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Team
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble
2011 J. Edgar J. Edgar Hoover
2012 The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1990 The Outsiders Kid Fighting Scout Episode: "Pilot"
1990 Parenthood Garry Buckman Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series
1990 The New Lassie Young Boy Episode: "Livewire"
1990 Santa Barbara Young Mason Capwell Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series
1991 Roseanne Darlene's Classmate Episode: "Home-Ec"
1991–1992 Growing Pains Luke Brower Joined the cast in the last season
Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series
As producer
Year Title Notes
Film 2004 The Assassination of Richard Nixon Executive producer
2004 The Aviator Executive producer
2007 The 11th Hour Producer
2007 Gardener of Eden Producer
2008–2010 Greensburg Producer
2009 Orphan Producer
2011 Red Riding Hood Producer
2011 The Ides of March Executive producer
Other accolades
Year Group Category Result
1993 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards New Generation Award Won
2004 Hollywood Film Festival Actor of the Year Won
2007 TV Land Award Little Screen/Big Screen Star Nominated
2009 Kids' Choice Awards Big Green Help Award Won
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o296/lucylou108/Leonardo-Di-Caprio.jpg
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr265/kmixzz/leonardodicaprio.jpg
Catch Me If You Can is a very good film and one I can easily watch over again.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/12/11 at 10:54 am

I remember when Titanic came out, Leonardo DiCaprio was basically just a "pretty boy." Seeing a lot of his films since, he really is a remarkable actor.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/12/11 at 12:20 pm


The whole film is full of mistakes and inaccuracies.

Many of which do not precisely tell what happened in the actual disaster. Also due to the fact that the film was set 85 years in the past (from when it was filmed). The trick is to use only props that could have existed back then (or look like they could have).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/13/11 at 7:51 am

The person of the day...Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.
Kimmel began working in the radio industry while in high school, hosting a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station KUNV. While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington. Ten months later, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK (for reasons unknown) and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida. Kimmel went from Tampa to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where Kimmel convinced a young Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern. After a morning stint at KRQQ In Tucson, Arizona, Kimmel landed at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, California. He spent five years as "Jimmy The Sports Guy" for the Kevin and Bean morning show. During this time he met and befriended a struggling comedian named Adam Carolla.
Comedy Central

Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and loutish everyman personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotone performing style and patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.

In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel was also co-host with Adam Carolla and co-creator (with Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001, replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental, who was eventually replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Industries, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself), and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Main article: Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel Live was briefly also broadcast on Irish digital TV channel 3e. In the April 2007 issue of Stuffmagazine.com, Kimmel was named the "biggest badass on TV". Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake.

Since the show's second season, it has not actually been broadcast live. This is due to an incident during the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, when Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for his show. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized. The incident led ABC officials to force Kimmel to tape his show an hour before it airs in most of the country to check for offending content.

Kimmel usually ends his show with, "My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time". When Matt Damon did actually appear on the show to be interviewed, he walked in and sat down only to be told just a few seconds later by Kimmel, "Sorry, but once again we are completely out of time." Damon seemed to become angry.

In February 2008 Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called, "I'm fudgeing Ben Affleck", as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon recorded a similar video, "I'm fudgeing Matt Damon". Silverman's video originally aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and became an "instant YouTube sensation." Kimmel's "revenge" video featured himself, Ben Affleck, and a large lineup of stars, particularly in scenes spoofing the 1985 "We Are the World" video: Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Dominic Monaghan, Benji Madden and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Lance Bass, Macy Gray, Josh Groban, Huey Lewis, Perry Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Pete Wentz, Meat Loaf, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Applegate, Dom Joly, Mike Shinoda, Lauren Conrad and Joan Jett, among others. After this Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as Matt cursed about Kimmel being behind all this. Guillermo also stopped Damon on the red carpet one time and before he could finish the interview he said, "Sorry we are out of time." The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with other "Handsome Men" including Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Lenny Kravitz, and many more, speaking about being handsome and all the jobs that come with it. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by none other than Matt Damon, stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a sinister laugh.

As a tradition, celebrities voted off Dancing with the Stars appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell". In the 2008 season of his show, Kimmel started another tradition of ceremonially burning the dancers' shoes after they were voted off DWTS.
Other television work

In Spring 1996, Kimmel appeared as "Jimmy the Fox Guy" in promos on the Fox network.

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Howard Stern Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Kimmel has appeared on The Late Show five times, most recently on April 21, 2008. Kimmel served as roastmaster for the New York Friars' Club Roast of Hugh Hefner and Comedy Central Roasts of Pamela Anderson. He has appeared on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, along with his parking lot security guard Guillermo.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be the host of their new game show Set for Life. The show debuted on July 20, 2007. On April 6, 2007, Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live. That particular show was about the paparazzi and Kimmel reproached Emily Gould, an editor from Gawker.com, about the web site's alleged stalking of celebrities. On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco. He played in the game in 2004 and 2006 (Houston and Pittsburgh). On July 11, 2007, Kimmel along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC four times, in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Kimmel guest hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22, 2007 – October 26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. In the process, he broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059 km)) travelled in one work week.

Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in Garfield and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Kimmel also did voice work for Robot Chicken. Kimmel's cousin "Sal" (Sal Iacono) has accepted and won a wrestling match with WWE superstar Santino Marella. On January 14, 2010, in the midst of the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict, Kimmel was the special guest of Jay Leno on The Jay Leno Show's "10 at 10" segment. Kimmel derided Leno in front of a live studio audience for taking back the 11:35 pm time slot from Conan O'Brien, and repeatedly insulted Leno. He ended the segment with a plea that Leno "leave our shows alone," as Kimmel and O'Brien had "kids" while Leno only had "cars".

Kimmel also made a brief appearance in the TV commercial "There's A Soldier In All Of Us" promoting the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, along with Kobe Byrant. He is seen taking cover from bullets, then firing an RPG-7 with the words PROUD N00b on it, with the aftershock from the weapon sending him tumbling backwards.
Personal life

Kimmel and his then fiancée, Gina, married in June 1988. They have two children, Katie (born 1991) and Kevin (born 1993). Katie Kimmel is an art student in Chicago. The marriage ended in separation in early 2002. Kimmel then dated comedian Sarah Silverman for five years, splitting with her in March 2009. He started dating current girlfriend, Molly McNearney, in October 2009. McNearney is also a co-head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Kimmel plays the bass clarinet. He got a chance to showcase his talent during a July 20, 2008, concert in Costa Mesa, California, featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, when he took the stage and played bass clarinet on their hit song "The Impression That I Get."

Kimmel has spoken publicly of being a narcoleptic.

Kimmel co-founded the annual LA Feast of San Gennaro, which celebrates Italian culture through entertainment, music and cuisine. The festival also honors outstanding members of the Los Angeles community and raises funds to aid needy children and families in the city. He hosted Los Angeles' eighth annual feast of San Gennaro from September 28 to 30, 2009. Kimmel served as Master of Ceremonies for the National Italian American Foundation's 34th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., on October 24, 2009. He resides across the street from actor John Krasinski (well known for his role as Jim Halpert on the show The Office) and his wife, actress Emily Blunt.
Awards
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Pat Sajak Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
1999
with Ben Stein Succeeded by
Bob Barker and Tom Bergeron
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm30/posters_ff/tv/Jimmy-Kimmel.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d35/Sarah_956/JimmyK.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/13/11 at 1:29 pm


Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and loutish everyman personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotone performing style and patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.

I remember him on "Win Ben Stein's Money." He served as co-host on that show, taking on the role of "main" host in the second round, when Ben would replace the eliminated contestant and act as one himself, but that was only to "defend" the total of his remaining money. Kimmel also served as the main host in the final (bonus) round and ask the questions when the remaining contestant and Ben would each go into isolation booths to be sequentially quizzed. Still, he would always read the categories in the maingame as they appeared on the screens. Those categories provided hilarity.

I have watched him on late-night TV, but not recently. He's a witty guy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/13/11 at 2:09 pm


The person of the day...Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.
Kimmel began working in the radio industry while in high school, hosting a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station KUNV. While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington. Ten months later, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK (for reasons unknown) and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida. Kimmel went from Tampa to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where Kimmel convinced a young Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern. After a morning stint at KRQQ In Tucson, Arizona, Kimmel landed at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, California. He spent five years as "Jimmy The Sports Guy" for the Kevin and Bean morning show. During this time he met and befriended a struggling comedian named Adam Carolla.
Comedy Central

Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and loutish everyman personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotone performing style and patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.

In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel was also co-host with Adam Carolla and co-creator (with Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001, replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental, who was eventually replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Industries, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself), and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Main article: Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel Live was briefly also broadcast on Irish digital TV channel 3e. In the April 2007 issue of Stuffmagazine.com, Kimmel was named the "biggest badass on TV". Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake.

Since the show's second season, it has not actually been broadcast live. This is due to an incident during the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, when Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for his show. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized. The incident led ABC officials to force Kimmel to tape his show an hour before it airs in most of the country to check for offending content.

Kimmel usually ends his show with, "My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time". When Matt Damon did actually appear on the show to be interviewed, he walked in and sat down only to be told just a few seconds later by Kimmel, "Sorry, but once again we are completely out of time." Damon seemed to become angry.

In February 2008 Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called, "I'm fudgeing Ben Affleck", as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon recorded a similar video, "I'm fudgeing Matt Damon". Silverman's video originally aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and became an "instant YouTube sensation." Kimmel's "revenge" video featured himself, Ben Affleck, and a large lineup of stars, particularly in scenes spoofing the 1985 "We Are the World" video: Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Dominic Monaghan, Benji Madden and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Lance Bass, Macy Gray, Josh Groban, Huey Lewis, Perry Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Pete Wentz, Meat Loaf, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Applegate, Dom Joly, Mike Shinoda, Lauren Conrad and Joan Jett, among others. After this Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as Matt cursed about Kimmel being behind all this. Guillermo also stopped Damon on the red carpet one time and before he could finish the interview he said, "Sorry we are out of time." The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with other "Handsome Men" including Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Lenny Kravitz, and many more, speaking about being handsome and all the jobs that come with it. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by none other than Matt Damon, stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a sinister laugh.

As a tradition, celebrities voted off Dancing with the Stars appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell". In the 2008 season of his show, Kimmel started another tradition of ceremonially burning the dancers' shoes after they were voted off DWTS.
Other television work

In Spring 1996, Kimmel appeared as "Jimmy the Fox Guy" in promos on the Fox network.

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Howard Stern Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Kimmel has appeared on The Late Show five times, most recently on April 21, 2008. Kimmel served as roastmaster for the New York Friars' Club Roast of Hugh Hefner and Comedy Central Roasts of Pamela Anderson. He has appeared on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, along with his parking lot security guard Guillermo.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be the host of their new game show Set for Life. The show debuted on July 20, 2007. On April 6, 2007, Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live. That particular show was about the paparazzi and Kimmel reproached Emily Gould, an editor from Gawker.com, about the web site's alleged stalking of celebrities. On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco. He played in the game in 2004 and 2006 (Houston and Pittsburgh). On July 11, 2007, Kimmel along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC four times, in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Kimmel guest hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22, 2007 – October 26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. In the process, he broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059 km)) travelled in one work week.

Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in Garfield and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Kimmel also did voice work for Robot Chicken. Kimmel's cousin "Sal" (Sal Iacono) has accepted and won a wrestling match with WWE superstar Santino Marella. On January 14, 2010, in the midst of the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict, Kimmel was the special guest of Jay Leno on The Jay Leno Show's "10 at 10" segment. Kimmel derided Leno in front of a live studio audience for taking back the 11:35 pm time slot from Conan O'Brien, and repeatedly insulted Leno. He ended the segment with a plea that Leno "leave our shows alone," as Kimmel and O'Brien had "kids" while Leno only had "cars".

Kimmel also made a brief appearance in the TV commercial "There's A Soldier In All Of Us" promoting the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, along with Kobe Byrant. He is seen taking cover from bullets, then firing an RPG-7 with the words PROUD N00b on it, with the aftershock from the weapon sending him tumbling backwards.
Personal life

Kimmel and his then fiancée, Gina, married in June 1988. They have two children, Katie (born 1991) and Kevin (born 1993). Katie Kimmel is an art student in Chicago. The marriage ended in separation in early 2002. Kimmel then dated comedian Sarah Silverman for five years, splitting with her in March 2009. He started dating current girlfriend, Molly McNearney, in October 2009. McNearney is also a co-head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Kimmel plays the bass clarinet. He got a chance to showcase his talent during a July 20, 2008, concert in Costa Mesa, California, featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, when he took the stage and played bass clarinet on their hit song "The Impression That I Get."

Kimmel has spoken publicly of being a narcoleptic.

Kimmel co-founded the annual LA Feast of San Gennaro, which celebrates Italian culture through entertainment, music and cuisine. The festival also honors outstanding members of the Los Angeles community and raises funds to aid needy children and families in the city. He hosted Los Angeles' eighth annual feast of San Gennaro from September 28 to 30, 2009. Kimmel served as Master of Ceremonies for the National Italian American Foundation's 34th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., on October 24, 2009. He resides across the street from actor John Krasinski (well known for his role as Jim Halpert on the show The Office) and his wife, actress Emily Blunt.
Awards
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Pat Sajak Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
1999
with Ben Stein Succeeded by
Bob Barker and Tom Bergeron
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm30/posters_ff/tv/Jimmy-Kimmel.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d35/Sarah_956/JimmyK.jpg


I used to watch The Man Show with Adam Corolla.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/15/11 at 3:12 pm

The person of the day...Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.

Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1960s she became known internationally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway." She has sold in excess of 68 million records throughout her career.
In October 1942, Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father, hoping to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas. During an air raid, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery audience, and she volunteered a rendering of "Mighty Lak a Rose" to an enthusiastic response in the theatre. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the troops. In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Clark became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple," and she was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle.

In 1944, while performing at London's Royal Albert Hall, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her as precocious orphaned waif Irma in his weepy war drama Medal for the General. In quick succession, she starred in Strawberry Roan, I Know Where I'm Going!, London Town, and Here Come the Huggetts, the first in a series of Huggett Family films based on a British radio series. Although most of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and 1950s were B-movies, she worked with Anthony Newley in Vice Versa (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in The Card.

In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic strip Radio Fun, in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic".

In 1946, Clark launched her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons, which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, titled simply Petula Clark. A second, Pet's Parlour, followed in 1949. In later years, she starred in This is Petula Clark (1966–1967) and The Sound of Petula (1972–1974).

In 1949, Clark branched into recording with her first release, "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy," for EMI. Because neither EMI nor Decca, for whom she also had recorded, were keen to sign her to a long-term contract, her father, whose own theatrical ambitions had been thwarted by his parents, teamed with Alan A. Freeman to form Polygon Records in order to better control her singing career. She scored a number of major hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker" (1954), "Majorca" (1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (1955) and "With All My Heart" (1956). Although Clark released singles in the United States as early as 1951 (the first was "Tell Me Truly" b/w "Song Of The Mermaid" on the Coral label), it would take thirteen years before the American record-buying public would discover her.

In 1955, Clark became linked romantically with Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson. Speculation that the couple planned to marry became rife. However, with the increasing glare of being in the public spotlight, and Clark's growing fame — her career in France was just beginning — Henderson, reportedly not wanting to end up as "Mr. Petula Clark", decided to end the relationship. Their professional relationship continued for a couple of years, culminating in the BBC Radio series Pet and Mr. Piano, the last time they worked together, although they remained on friendly terms. In 1962, he penned a ballad about their break-up, called "There's Nothing More To Say", for Clark's LP In Other Words. In the last month of 1955, Clark became infatuated with a certain Joken Hing. This romance didn't last.

Near the end of 1955, Polygon Records was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, which lead to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records (subsequently simply Pye). This turn of events effectively signed Clark to the Pye label in the UK, for whom she would record for the remainder of the 1950s, throughout the 1960s, and early into the 1970s.
International fame

In 1958, Clark was invited to appear at the Paris Olympia where, despite her misgivings and a bad cold, she was received with acclaim. The following day she was invited to the office of Vogue Records to discuss a contract. It was there that she met publicist Claude Wolff, to whom she was attracted immediately, and when told he would work with her if she signed with the label, she agreed. Her initial French recordings were huge successes, and in 1960 she embarked on a concert tour of France and Belgium with Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in 2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, Italian and Spanish, and establishing herself as a multi-lingual performer.
1962 EP

In June 1961, Clark married Wolff, first in a civil ceremony in Paris, then a religious one in her native England. Wanting to escape the strictures of child stardom imposed upon her by the British public, and anxious to escape the influence of her father, she relocated to France, where she and Wolff had two daughters, Barbara Michelle and Katherine Natalie, in quick succession. (Their son Patrick was born in 1972.) While Clark focused on her new career in France, she continued to achieve hit records in the UK into the early 1960s, developing a parallel career on both sides of the Channel. Her 1961 recording of "Sailor" became her first #1 hit in the U.K., while such follow-up recordings as "Romeo" and "My Friend the Sea" landed her in the British Top Ten later that year. In France, "Ya Ya Twist" (a French-language cover of the Lee Dorsey rhythm and blues song "Ya Ya" and the only successful recording of a twist song by a female) and "Chariot" (the original version of "I Will Follow Him") became smash hits in 1962, while German and Italian versions of her English and French recordings charted as well. Her recordings of several Serge Gainsbourg songs also were big sellers.

In 1964, Clark wrote the soundtrack for the French crime film A Couteaux Tirés (aka Daggers Drawn) and made a cameo appearance as herself in the movie. Although it was only a mild success, it added a new dimension — that of film composer — to her career. Additional film scores she composed include Animato (1969), La bande à Bebel (1966), and Pétain (1989). Six themes from the latter were released on the CD In Her Own Write in 2007.

In 1963 and 1964, Clark's British recording career foundered. The composer-arranger Tony Hatch, who had been assisting her with her work for Vogue Records in France and Pye Records in the UK, flew to her home in Paris with new song material he hoped would interest her, but she found none of it appealing. Desperate, he played for her a few chords of an incomplete song that had been inspired by his recent first trip to New York City, which he suggested might be offered to The Drifters. Upon hearing the melody, Clark told him that if he could write lyrics as good as the melody, she wanted to record the tune as her next single. Thus "Downtown" came into being.
"Downtown" era

Neither Clark, who was performing in Canada when the song first received major air-play, nor Hatch realized the impact the song would have on their respective careers. Released in four different languages in late 1964, "Downtown" was a success in the UK, France (in both the English and the French versions), the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Italy, and also Rhodesia, Japan, and India. During a visit to London, Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith heard it and acquired the rights for the United States. "Downtown" went to #1 on the American charts in January 1965, and three million copies were sold in America. It was the first of fifteen consecutive Top 40 hits Clark achieved in the United States, including "I Know a Place", "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "This Is My Song" (from the Charles Chaplin film A Countess from Hong Kong), and "Don't Sleep in the Subway". The American recording industry honored her with Grammy Awards for "Best Rock & Roll Record" for "Downtown" in 1964 and for "Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance" for "I Know a Place" in 1965. In 2003, her recording of "Downtown" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Ad for the NBC-TV special that sparked controversy even before it aired

Clark's recording successes led to frequent appearances on American variety programs hosted by Ed Sullivan and Dean Martin, guest shots on Hullabaloo, Shindig!, The Kraft Music Hall, and The Hollywood Palace, and inclusion in musical specials such as The Best on Record and Rodgers and Hart Today.

In 1968, NBC-TV invited Clark to host her own special in the U.S., and in doing so she inadvertently made television history. While singing a duet of "On the Path of Glory," an anti-war song that she had composed, with guest Harry Belafonte, she took hold of his arm, to the dismay of a representative from the Chrysler Corporation, the show's sponsor, who feared that the moment would incur the racist bigotry of Southern viewers. When he insisted that they substitute a different take, with Clark and Belafonte standing well away from one another, Clark and the executive producer of the show — her husband, Wolff — refused, destroyed all other takes of the song and delivered the finished program to NBC with the touch intact. The program aired on 8 April 1968, with high ratings and critical acclaim. (To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original telecast, Clark and Wolff appeared at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan on 22 September 2008, to discuss the broadcast and its impact, following a broadcast of the program.)

Clark later was the hostess of two more specials, another one for NBC and one for ABC - one which served as a pilot for a projected weekly series. Clark declined the offer in order to please her children, who disliked living in Los Angeles.

Clark revived her movie career in the late 1960s, starring in two big musical films. In Finian's Rainbow (1968), she starred opposite Fred Astaire and she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. With her role, she again made history by becoming Astaire's final on-screen dance partner. The following year she was cast with Peter O'Toole in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, a musical adaptation of the classic James Hilton novella. (Her last film to date has been the British production Never Never Land, released in 1980.) After that, her output of musical hits in the States diminished markedly, although she continued to record and make television appearances into the 1970s. By the mid-1970s, Clark scaled back her career in order to devote more time to her family. On December 31, 1976, she performed her hit song Downtown on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee.

Herb Alpert and his A&M record label benefitted from Clark's interest in encouraging new talent. In 1968, she brought French composer/arranger Michel Colombier to the States to work as her musical director and introduced him to Alpert. (He went on to co-write Purple Rain with Prince, composed the acclaimed pop symphony Wings and a number of soundtracks for American films.) Richard Carpenter credited her with bringing him and his sister Karen to Alpert's attention when they performed at a premiere party for Clark's film Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
Post-"Downtown" era

During the early 1970s, Clark had chart singles on both sides of the Atlantic with: "Melody Man" (1970); "The Song Of My Life" (1971); "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (1972), "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (1972) and "Loving Arms" (1974).

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Clark toured in concerts in the States, and she often appeared in supper clubs such as the Copacabana in New York City, the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and the Empire Room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where she consistently broke house attendance records. During this period, she also appeared in print and radio ads for the Coca Cola Corp., television commercials for Plymouth automobiles, print and TV spots for Burlington Industries, television and print ads for Chrysler Sunbeam, and print ads for Sanderson Wallpaper in the UK.

In 1954, Clark had starred in a stage production of The Constant Nymph, but it wasn't until 1981, at the urging of her children, that she returned to legitimate theatre, starring as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in London's West End. Opening to rave reviews and what was then the largest advance sale in British theatre history, Clark — proclaimed by Maria Von Trapp herself as "the best Maria ever" — extended her initial six-month run to thirteen to accommodate the huge demand for tickets. In 1983, she took on the title role in George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Later stage work includes Someone Like You in 1989 and 1990, for which she composed the score; Blood Brothers, in which she made her Broadway debut in 1993 at the Music Box Theatre, followed by the American tour; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, appearing in both the West End and American touring productions from 1995 through 2000. In 2004, she repeated her performance of Norma Desmond in a production at the Cork Opera House in the Republic of Ireland, which was later broadcast by the BBC. With more than 2,500 performances, she has played the role more often than any other actress.

A new disco re-mix of Downtown called Downtown '88 was released in 1988 registering Clark's first UK singles chart success since 1972, making the Top Ten in the UK in December 1988. A live vocal performance of this version was performed on the UK TV chart show Top Of The Pops. Clark recorded new material regularly throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and in 1992 released "Oxygen", a single produced by Nik Kershaw.

In both 1998 and 2002, Clark toured extensively throughout the UK. In 2000, she presented a self-written one-woman show, highlighting her life and career, to large critical and audience acclaim at the St. Denis Theater in Montreal. A 2003 concert appearance at the Olympia in Paris has been issued in both DVD and compact disc formats. In 2004, she toured Australia and New Zealand, appeared at the Hilton in Atlantic City, the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, Humphrey's in San Diego, and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and participated in a multi-performer tribute to the late Peggy Lee at the Hollywood Bowl. Following another British concert tour in early spring 2005, she appeared with Andy Williams in his Moon River Theater in Branson, Missouri, for several months, and she returned for another engagement in the fall of 2006, following scattered concert dates throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In November 2006, Clark was the subject of a BBC Four documentary entitled Petula Clark: Blue Lady and appeared with Michael Ball and Tony Hatch in a concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane broadcast by BBC Radio the following month. In December that year she made her first appearance in Iceland. Duets, a compilation including Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and the Everly Brothers, among others, was released in February 2007, and Solitude and Sunshine, a studio recording of all new material by composer Rod McKuen, was released in July of that year. She was the host of the March 2007 PBS pledge-drive special My Music: The British Beat, an overview of music's British invasion of the United States in the 1960s, followed by a number of concert dates throughout the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She can be heard on the soundtrack of the 2007 independent film Downtown: A Street Tale. Une Baladine (in English, a wandering minstrel), an authorized pictorial biography by Francoise Piazza, was published in France and Switzerland in October 2007, and the following month Clark promoted it in bookshops and at book fairs.

Clark was presented with the 2007 Film & TV Music Award for Best Use of a Song in a Television Program for "Downtown" in the ABC series Lost. She completed a concert tour of England and Wales in Summer 2008, followed by concerts in Switzerland and the Philippines. Then & Now, a compilation of greatest hits and several new Clark compositions, entered the British album charts in June 2008 and won Clark her first-ever Silver Disc for an album. Open Your Heart: A Love Song Collection, a compilation of previously unreleased material and new and remixed recordings, was released in January 2009. Additionally, her 1969 NBC special Portrait of Petula, already released on DVD for Region 2 viewers, is also being produced for Region 1. A collection of holiday songs titled This Is Christmas, which includes some new Clark compositions in addition to previously released material, was released in November 2009.

In 1998, Clark was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2010, Clark became the President of the Hastings Musical Festival; she toured Australia, New Zealand and Quebec to sell out crowds, and appeared on the iconic "Vivement Dimanche" show on French television, where she promised a return to Paris in the new year. (She is to appear in concert at the Casino de Paris on 7th November of 2011.) Her Triple Best of CD, "Une Baladine" included 10 new tracks and one new studio recording "SOS Mozart" a writing collaboration of Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë. Both her 3CD set and her new recording of "SOS Mozart" were produced by David Hadzis at the Arthanor Productions studio in Geneva and appeared on the French charts. She is patron of 2011 Dinard British Film Festival.
Filmography

    Medal for the General (1944)
    Strawberry Roan (1945)
    Murder in Reverse (1945)
    I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
    Trouble at Townsend (1946)
    London Town (1946)
    Vice Versa (1948)
    Easy Money (1948)
    Here Come the Huggetts (1948)
    Vote for Huggett (1949)
    The Huggetts Abroad (1949)
    Don't Ever Leave Me (1949)
    The Romantic Age (1949)
    Dance Hall (1950)
    White Corridors (1951)
    Madame Louise (1951)
    The Card (1952)
    Made in Heaven (1952)
    The Runaway Bus (1954)
    The Gay Dog (1954)
    The Happiness of Three Women (1954)
    Track the Man Down (1955)
    That Woman Opposite (1957)
    6.5 Special (1958)
    À Couteaux Tirés (1964) (also composed score) (aka "Daggers Drawn" for the American release)
    Finian's Rainbow (1968)
    Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
    Drôles de Zèbres (1977)
    Never, Never Land (1980)
    Sans Famille (1981 French television miniseries)

Discography
Main article: Petula Clark discography
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/2011%20Posts/2011%20July/Petula/petula-clark002.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk105/the_franci/Stuff%20for%20sale/Program-Petula-Clark-front.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/16/11 at 1:35 am


The person of the day...Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.

Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1960s she became known internationally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway." She has sold in excess of 68 million records throughout her career.
In October 1942, Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father, hoping to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas. During an air raid, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery audience, and she volunteered a rendering of "Mighty Lak a Rose" to an enthusiastic response in the theatre. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the troops. In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Clark became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple," and she was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle.

In 1944, while performing at London's Royal Albert Hall, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her as precocious orphaned waif Irma in his weepy war drama Medal for the General. In quick succession, she starred in Strawberry Roan, I Know Where I'm Going!, London Town, and Here Come the Huggetts, the first in a series of Huggett Family films based on a British radio series. Although most of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and 1950s were B-movies, she worked with Anthony Newley in Vice Versa (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in The Card.

In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic strip Radio Fun, in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic".

In 1946, Clark launched her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons, which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, titled simply Petula Clark. A second, Pet's Parlour, followed in 1949. In later years, she starred in This is Petula Clark (1966–1967) and The Sound of Petula (1972–1974).

In 1949, Clark branched into recording with her first release, "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy," for EMI. Because neither EMI nor Decca, for whom she also had recorded, were keen to sign her to a long-term contract, her father, whose own theatrical ambitions had been thwarted by his parents, teamed with Alan A. Freeman to form Polygon Records in order to better control her singing career. She scored a number of major hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker" (1954), "Majorca" (1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (1955) and "With All My Heart" (1956). Although Clark released singles in the United States as early as 1951 (the first was "Tell Me Truly" b/w "Song Of The Mermaid" on the Coral label), it would take thirteen years before the American record-buying public would discover her.

In 1955, Clark became linked romantically with Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson. Speculation that the couple planned to marry became rife. However, with the increasing glare of being in the public spotlight, and Clark's growing fame — her career in France was just beginning — Henderson, reportedly not wanting to end up as "Mr. Petula Clark", decided to end the relationship. Their professional relationship continued for a couple of years, culminating in the BBC Radio series Pet and Mr. Piano, the last time they worked together, although they remained on friendly terms. In 1962, he penned a ballad about their break-up, called "There's Nothing More To Say", for Clark's LP In Other Words. In the last month of 1955, Clark became infatuated with a certain Joken Hing. This romance didn't last.

Near the end of 1955, Polygon Records was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, which lead to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records (subsequently simply Pye). This turn of events effectively signed Clark to the Pye label in the UK, for whom she would record for the remainder of the 1950s, throughout the 1960s, and early into the 1970s.
International fame

In 1958, Clark was invited to appear at the Paris Olympia where, despite her misgivings and a bad cold, she was received with acclaim. The following day she was invited to the office of Vogue Records to discuss a contract. It was there that she met publicist Claude Wolff, to whom she was attracted immediately, and when told he would work with her if she signed with the label, she agreed. Her initial French recordings were huge successes, and in 1960 she embarked on a concert tour of France and Belgium with Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in 2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, Italian and Spanish, and establishing herself as a multi-lingual performer.
1962 EP

In June 1961, Clark married Wolff, first in a civil ceremony in Paris, then a religious one in her native England. Wanting to escape the strictures of child stardom imposed upon her by the British public, and anxious to escape the influence of her father, she relocated to France, where she and Wolff had two daughters, Barbara Michelle and Katherine Natalie, in quick succession. (Their son Patrick was born in 1972.) While Clark focused on her new career in France, she continued to achieve hit records in the UK into the early 1960s, developing a parallel career on both sides of the Channel. Her 1961 recording of "Sailor" became her first #1 hit in the U.K., while such follow-up recordings as "Romeo" and "My Friend the Sea" landed her in the British Top Ten later that year. In France, "Ya Ya Twist" (a French-language cover of the Lee Dorsey rhythm and blues song "Ya Ya" and the only successful recording of a twist song by a female) and "Chariot" (the original version of "I Will Follow Him") became smash hits in 1962, while German and Italian versions of her English and French recordings charted as well. Her recordings of several Serge Gainsbourg songs also were big sellers.

In 1964, Clark wrote the soundtrack for the French crime film A Couteaux Tirés (aka Daggers Drawn) and made a cameo appearance as herself in the movie. Although it was only a mild success, it added a new dimension — that of film composer — to her career. Additional film scores she composed include Animato (1969), La bande à Bebel (1966), and Pétain (1989). Six themes from the latter were released on the CD In Her Own Write in 2007.

In 1963 and 1964, Clark's British recording career foundered. The composer-arranger Tony Hatch, who had been assisting her with her work for Vogue Records in France and Pye Records in the UK, flew to her home in Paris with new song material he hoped would interest her, but she found none of it appealing. Desperate, he played for her a few chords of an incomplete song that had been inspired by his recent first trip to New York City, which he suggested might be offered to The Drifters. Upon hearing the melody, Clark told him that if he could write lyrics as good as the melody, she wanted to record the tune as her next single. Thus "Downtown" came into being.
"Downtown" era

Neither Clark, who was performing in Canada when the song first received major air-play, nor Hatch realized the impact the song would have on their respective careers. Released in four different languages in late 1964, "Downtown" was a success in the UK, France (in both the English and the French versions), the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Italy, and also Rhodesia, Japan, and India. During a visit to London, Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith heard it and acquired the rights for the United States. "Downtown" went to #1 on the American charts in January 1965, and three million copies were sold in America. It was the first of fifteen consecutive Top 40 hits Clark achieved in the United States, including "I Know a Place", "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "This Is My Song" (from the Charles Chaplin film A Countess from Hong Kong), and "Don't Sleep in the Subway". The American recording industry honored her with Grammy Awards for "Best Rock & Roll Record" for "Downtown" in 1964 and for "Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance" for "I Know a Place" in 1965. In 2003, her recording of "Downtown" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Ad for the NBC-TV special that sparked controversy even before it aired

Clark's recording successes led to frequent appearances on American variety programs hosted by Ed Sullivan and Dean Martin, guest shots on Hullabaloo, Shindig!, The Kraft Music Hall, and The Hollywood Palace, and inclusion in musical specials such as The Best on Record and Rodgers and Hart Today.

In 1968, NBC-TV invited Clark to host her own special in the U.S., and in doing so she inadvertently made television history. While singing a duet of "On the Path of Glory," an anti-war song that she had composed, with guest Harry Belafonte, she took hold of his arm, to the dismay of a representative from the Chrysler Corporation, the show's sponsor, who feared that the moment would incur the racist bigotry of Southern viewers. When he insisted that they substitute a different take, with Clark and Belafonte standing well away from one another, Clark and the executive producer of the show — her husband, Wolff — refused, destroyed all other takes of the song and delivered the finished program to NBC with the touch intact. The program aired on 8 April 1968, with high ratings and critical acclaim. (To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original telecast, Clark and Wolff appeared at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan on 22 September 2008, to discuss the broadcast and its impact, following a broadcast of the program.)

Clark later was the hostess of two more specials, another one for NBC and one for ABC - one which served as a pilot for a projected weekly series. Clark declined the offer in order to please her children, who disliked living in Los Angeles.

Clark revived her movie career in the late 1960s, starring in two big musical films. In Finian's Rainbow (1968), she starred opposite Fred Astaire and she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. With her role, she again made history by becoming Astaire's final on-screen dance partner. The following year she was cast with Peter O'Toole in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, a musical adaptation of the classic James Hilton novella. (Her last film to date has been the British production Never Never Land, released in 1980.) After that, her output of musical hits in the States diminished markedly, although she continued to record and make television appearances into the 1970s. By the mid-1970s, Clark scaled back her career in order to devote more time to her family. On December 31, 1976, she performed her hit song Downtown on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee.

Herb Alpert and his A&M record label benefitted from Clark's interest in encouraging new talent. In 1968, she brought French composer/arranger Michel Colombier to the States to work as her musical director and introduced him to Alpert. (He went on to co-write Purple Rain with Prince, composed the acclaimed pop symphony Wings and a number of soundtracks for American films.) Richard Carpenter credited her with bringing him and his sister Karen to Alpert's attention when they performed at a premiere party for Clark's film Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
Post-"Downtown" era

During the early 1970s, Clark had chart singles on both sides of the Atlantic with: "Melody Man" (1970); "The Song Of My Life" (1971); "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (1972), "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (1972) and "Loving Arms" (1974).

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Clark toured in concerts in the States, and she often appeared in supper clubs such as the Copacabana in New York City, the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and the Empire Room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where she consistently broke house attendance records. During this period, she also appeared in print and radio ads for the Coca Cola Corp., television commercials for Plymouth automobiles, print and TV spots for Burlington Industries, television and print ads for Chrysler Sunbeam, and print ads for Sanderson Wallpaper in the UK.

In 1954, Clark had starred in a stage production of The Constant Nymph, but it wasn't until 1981, at the urging of her children, that she returned to legitimate theatre, starring as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in London's West End. Opening to rave reviews and what was then the largest advance sale in British theatre history, Clark — proclaimed by Maria Von Trapp herself as "the best Maria ever" — extended her initial six-month run to thirteen to accommodate the huge demand for tickets. In 1983, she took on the title role in George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Later stage work includes Someone Like You in 1989 and 1990, for which she composed the score; Blood Brothers, in which she made her Broadway debut in 1993 at the Music Box Theatre, followed by the American tour; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, appearing in both the West End and American touring productions from 1995 through 2000. In 2004, she repeated her performance of Norma Desmond in a production at the Cork Opera House in the Republic of Ireland, which was later broadcast by the BBC. With more than 2,500 performances, she has played the role more often than any other actress.

A new disco re-mix of Downtown called Downtown '88 was released in 1988 registering Clark's first UK singles chart success since 1972, making the Top Ten in the UK in December 1988. A live vocal performance of this version was performed on the UK TV chart show Top Of The Pops. Clark recorded new material regularly throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and in 1992 released "Oxygen", a single produced by Nik Kershaw.

In both 1998 and 2002, Clark toured extensively throughout the UK. In 2000, she presented a self-written one-woman show, highlighting her life and career, to large critical and audience acclaim at the St. Denis Theater in Montreal. A 2003 concert appearance at the Olympia in Paris has been issued in both DVD and compact disc formats. In 2004, she toured Australia and New Zealand, appeared at the Hilton in Atlantic City, the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, Humphrey's in San Diego, and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and participated in a multi-performer tribute to the late Peggy Lee at the Hollywood Bowl. Following another British concert tour in early spring 2005, she appeared with Andy Williams in his Moon River Theater in Branson, Missouri, for several months, and she returned for another engagement in the fall of 2006, following scattered concert dates throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In November 2006, Clark was the subject of a BBC Four documentary entitled Petula Clark: Blue Lady and appeared with Michael Ball and Tony Hatch in a concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane broadcast by BBC Radio the following month. In December that year she made her first appearance in Iceland. Duets, a compilation including Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and the Everly Brothers, among others, was released in February 2007, and Solitude and Sunshine, a studio recording of all new material by composer Rod McKuen, was released in July of that year. She was the host of the March 2007 PBS pledge-drive special My Music: The British Beat, an overview of music's British invasion of the United States in the 1960s, followed by a number of concert dates throughout the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She can be heard on the soundtrack of the 2007 independent film Downtown: A Street Tale. Une Baladine (in English, a wandering minstrel), an authorized pictorial biography by Francoise Piazza, was published in France and Switzerland in October 2007, and the following month Clark promoted it in bookshops and at book fairs.

Clark was presented with the 2007 Film & TV Music Award for Best Use of a Song in a Television Program for "Downtown" in the ABC series Lost. She completed a concert tour of England and Wales in Summer 2008, followed by concerts in Switzerland and the Philippines. Then & Now, a compilation of greatest hits and several new Clark compositions, entered the British album charts in June 2008 and won Clark her first-ever Silver Disc for an album. Open Your Heart: A Love Song Collection, a compilation of previously unreleased material and new and remixed recordings, was released in January 2009. Additionally, her 1969 NBC special Portrait of Petula, already released on DVD for Region 2 viewers, is also being produced for Region 1. A collection of holiday songs titled This Is Christmas, which includes some new Clark compositions in addition to previously released material, was released in November 2009.

In 1998, Clark was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2010, Clark became the President of the Hastings Musical Festival; she toured Australia, New Zealand and Quebec to sell out crowds, and appeared on the iconic "Vivement Dimanche" show on French television, where she promised a return to Paris in the new year. (She is to appear in concert at the Casino de Paris on 7th November of 2011.) Her Triple Best of CD, "Une Baladine" included 10 new tracks and one new studio recording "SOS Mozart" a writing collaboration of Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë. Both her 3CD set and her new recording of "SOS Mozart" were produced by David Hadzis at the Arthanor Productions studio in Geneva and appeared on the French charts. She is patron of 2011 Dinard British Film Festival.
Filmography

    Medal for the General (1944)
    Strawberry Roan (1945)
    Murder in Reverse (1945)
    I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
    Trouble at Townsend (1946)
    London Town (1946)
    Vice Versa (1948)
    Easy Money (1948)
    Here Come the Huggetts (1948)
    Vote for Huggett (1949)
    The Huggetts Abroad (1949)
    Don't Ever Leave Me (1949)
    The Romantic Age (1949)
    Dance Hall (1950)
    White Corridors (1951)
    Madame Louise (1951)
    The Card (1952)
    Made in Heaven (1952)
    The Runaway Bus (1954)
    The Gay Dog (1954)
    The Happiness of Three Women (1954)
    Track the Man Down (1955)
    That Woman Opposite (1957)
    6.5 Special (1958)
    À Couteaux Tirés (1964) (also composed score) (aka "Daggers Drawn" for the American release)
    Finian's Rainbow (1968)
    Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
    Drôles de Zèbres (1977)
    Never, Never Land (1980)
    Sans Famille (1981 French television miniseries)

Discography
Main article: Petula Clark discography
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/2011%20Posts/2011%20July/Petula/petula-clark002.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk105/the_franci/Stuff%20for%20sale/Program-Petula-Clark-front.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKCnHWas3HQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/16/11 at 6:43 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKCnHWas3HQ


the only song I know.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/16/11 at 12:31 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvKj8lTuVtk

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/16/11 at 2:15 pm

The person of the day...Martha Plimpton
Martha Campbell Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress and singer and former model. Plimpton is a screen, stage and television actress. She first appeared as Jonsy in the feature film River Rats (1984) before rising to prominence in the Richard Donner film The Goonies (1985) portraying the character Stef. She then appeared in The Mosquito Coast (1986) portraying Emily Spellgood. Plimpton's role garnered her further success within the feature film industry. Throughout her career Plimpton has appeared in many feature films including critically successful films Running on Empty (1988), Parenthood (1989), Eye of God (1997), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Hair High (2004) and Small Town Murder Songs (2011).

Plimpton has also developed and established a very successful career in stage productions. She has appeared on Broadway and in theatre throughout her career. She is recognised on Broadway for her roles in The Coast of Utopia (2006-2007), Top Girls (2007-2008), Pal Joey (2008-2009) and Shining City (2006-2007). She has performed in theatre productions of The Playboy of the Western World, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Glass Menagerie, Hedda Gabler, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Heidi Chronicles and Uncle Vanya. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in Boston Marriage (2002), Pericles, Prince of Tyre (2002) and Runaways (2002).

Plimpton has appeared in many television roles throughout her career. She has appeared in guest roles on Family Ties (1985), ER (1999), Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (2002), 7th Heaven (2004), Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2006), Surface (2006), The Good Wife (2009 & 2010), Medium (2009), Greys Anatomy (2009), Fringe (2010) and How To Make It In America (2010).

Plimpton currently plays Virginia Chance on the FOX television series Raising Hope. For her role she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011.

Plimpton's roles in film and television are very often favourable among viewers and critics. Plimpton has garnered three consecutive Tony Award nominations: A Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2007 for her role in Top Girls. Best Featured Actress in a Play again in 2008 for Coast of Utopia. Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009 for Pal Joey. Plimpton's roles in television have earned her two primetime Emmy award nominations: In 2002, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for portraying Claire Rinato on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and in 2011 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her critically praised portayal of Virginia Chance on Raising Hope.
Plimpton began her career in modeling, securing an early 1980s campaign for Calvin Klein, making an impression as a sophisticated but tomboyish little girl. She made her screen debut in 1981, when at the age of 11 she had a small part in the film Rollover. In 1984, she appeared in the Deep South independent drama The River Rat opposite Tommy Lee Jones. Her breakthrough performance was as Stef Steinbrenner in the 1985 feature film The Goonies. She also appeared that year in a featured role on the television sitcom Family Ties.

This would begin a trend of Plimpton being typecast in the role of a rebellious tomboy for several years, beginning with her critically lauded performance as the Reverend Spellgood (Andre Gregory)'s daughter in the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast, starring Harrison Ford. The critically praised but commercially unsuccessful 1987 film Shy People was followed by a performance in the 1988 ensemble comedy Stars and Bars. This was released shortly before Running on Empty, an Academy Award-nominated film starring River Phoenix, for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

She began what became a career trend, mixing small independent film appearances with supporting roles in big-budget films. She appeared in the 1989 Woody Allen film Another Woman; that year, she co-starred with Jami Gertz as a cancer patient in the German film Zwei Frauen (released in America as Silence Like Glass). The film was nominated for Outstanding Feature Film at the German Film Awards. Plimpton shaved her head bald to play a cancer patient in Zwei Frauen, and her reputation for playing rebellious teenagers secured her the role of the indignant teenage daughter (who shaves her head) of Dianne Wiest in Parenthood. Plimpton appeared alongside Joaquin Phoenix (then credited as Leaf Phoenix), the younger brother of her former boyfriend, River, who portrayed her on-screen brother. Parenthood grossed over $126 million dollars and received two Academy Award nominations, making it her most successful movie performance to date since The Goonies.
Plimpton attending the 61st Academy Awards, 1989
1990s

In 1991, Plimpton appeared in the Robert De Niro film Stanley & Iris in a supporting role. In 1992, Plimpton appeared as a lesbian terrorist in the independent film Inside Monkey Zetterland. She played the starring role in the film Samantha.

The success of Samantha garnered Plimpton a variety of roles in 1993. She appeared with Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the television film Daybreak and was a part of the mostly improvised television film Chantilly Lace. She had a featured role in the big-budget films Josh and S.A.M. and played the lead in the critically blasted film adaptation of the Carolyn Chute novel The Beans of Egypt, Maine. Plimpton also appeared that year as herself in the independent film My Life's in Turnaround, a movie about filmmakers trying to make a movie. Plimpton continued to make appearances in featured roles in both independent films and mainstream movies from 1994 through 1997, most notably as a close friend of radical feminist Valerie Solanas in the film I Shot Andy Warhol.

In 1997, the Showtime Network cast Plimpton as the female lead in a television film called The Defenders: Payback. The show was a retooling of the classic television show by the same name, and the characters were descendants of character Lawrence Preston, a role reprised by actor E.G. Marshall. The intent was to spin the program off into a series akin to Law & Order, but Marshall died in 1998. Two additional episodes (The Defenders: Choice of Evils and The Defenders: Taking the First) were aired as specials that year. The decision was made to not continue production (despite high ratings and critical praise) due to Marshall's death.

Plimpton became involved with The Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where she appeared in Hedda Gabler (2001) among others. In 1998 she appeared in the John Waters film Pecker; the film was lambasted but Plimpton's work was praised. This also occurred with her appearance in the 1999 crafty 200 Cigarettes. In 1999, Plimpton had a recurring role in the television drama ER as Meg Corwyn.
2000s

In 2001, she co-starred with Jacqueline Bisset in The Sleepy Time Gal, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival.

In 2002, she appeared in the documentary film Searching for Debra Winger and was nominated for an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on the television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Plimpton was the voice of Miss Crumbles in the 2004 animated film Hair High by Bill Plympton. In 2004, she also guest-starred on an episode of 7th Heaven; she received her first writing credit for a different episode of the show that year entitled "Red Socks". She continues to act in television, film and on stage. She had a recurring role on the NBC show Surface (2005–06).
Plimpton attending the 63rd Tony Awards, 2009

From October 2006 until May 2007, she was in The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy of plays by Tom Stoppard that played at the Lincoln Center. For her work in this play she won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony award. In October 2007 Plimpton completed a starring role in A Midsummer Night's Dream on Broadway in New York City. She then began rehearsals for the play Cymbeline. She co-founded a production company, Everything is Horrible, which has produced a number of short films for the internet.

Plimpton received her second nomination for a Tony Award in 2008, Best Performance by a Featured Actress In a Play, for her work in Top Girls at the Biltmore Theater.

In November 2008, she earned rave reviews as Gladys Bumps in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of the classical Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey on Broadway and garnered her third consecutive Tony nomination, this time for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Plimpton appeared in the 2008 Entertainment Weekly photo issue spread as one of "The Hardest Working Actors In Showbiz." In the spread she appears with Lance Reddick, Celia Weston, John Slattery, Bobby Cannavale, James Rebhorn, Lynn Cohen, Matt Servitto and Bob Balaban. Plimpton says in the write-up about her "I went to jury duty the other day, and somebody said, 'You always play drug addicts!' I've played a few on TV, and I imagine because the shows get replayed, it seems like more. But yeah, people tend to see me as this pregnant teenage heroin addict."
2010s

In November 2009, Plimpton signed on as a main cast member on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope. The show premiered on September 21, 2010, receiving strong reviews for both Plimpton and the pilot itself. The New York Times called Raising Hope "the most promising" of "the best new fall shows," and said "Plimpton isn't the only reason 'Raising Hope' could be the best new sitcom of the season, but she is the main reason." On July 14, 2011, Plimpton was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal as Virginia Chance in Raising Hope and submitted the episode "Say Cheese" on her behalf.

Plimpton performed "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch of Game 3 of the 2010 World Series in Texas on Fox, October 30, 2010.

On December 15, 2010, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre announced that Plimpton will be the guest of honor at their second-annual "Salute to Women in the Arts".

In 2010, starred in Ed Gass-Donnelly's independent, crime, thriller Small Town Murder Songs, and was given the trophy for best actress by the Whistler Film Festival.
Other work

Plimpton is friends with singer Lucy Wainwright Roche. In 2008, she performed a duet with Roche on the E.P. 8 More singing the Bruce Springsteen song Hungry Heart. In 2010 she sang another Springsteen song, this time Thunder Road, on the public radio program Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, accompanied by acclaimed whistler Eric Gilliland. She has appeared multiple times as a featured guest on public radio's The Leonard Lopate Show, and performed in a roast of Lopate celebrating the 25th anniversary of his radio program.

Plimpton sits on the board of directors of The Players, a New York City social club founded in 1888 by actor Edwin Booth. In 2009 she was profiled by The New York Times for their "A Night Out With..." series, in which Plimpton hosted an evening of poker at The Players.

In January 2010, she performed a one-woman show called Martha Plimpton Sings? for the Lincoln Center's American Songbook program. The show explored her experiences growing up in 1970s New York City. Her performance, well received by critics, included such songs as "Jolly Coppers on Parade", "Woman Is the ****** of the World", and The Smiths's "Ask" tied together with humorous monologues.

Plimpton also narrates audiobooks, notably the novels Diary by Chuck Palahniuk and Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh.
Media references

She is referenced in the Lawrence Arms song "Light Breathing (Me and Martha Plimpton in a Fancy Elevator)," a song detailing the singer unexpectedly stepping into an elevator with her and being unable to overcome shyness to ask her out.
Personal Life
River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton on the red carpet at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989

Plimpton is a member of the Carradine family.

Plimpton's high-profile relationship with River Phoenix, including their appearance together at the Academy Awards, overshadowed her work. Their relationship would later end due to Plimpton's objection to his recreational drug use, from which he died in 1993.

Plimpton was engaged to stage actor Jon Patrick Walker in March 1995. The couple were planning to wed in April 1996, according to Plimpton's spokeswomen, who said, "She is just extraordinarily pleased", "Her immediate reaction was to call everyone she knew". Shortly thereafter the couple announced they would not be proceding with their nuptials.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1981 Rollover Fewster's Older Daughter
1984 The River Rat Jonsy
1985 The Goonies Stef Steinbrenner Nominated, Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress- Motion Picture, Young Artist Award
1986 A Life in the Day
The Mosquito Coast Emily Spellgood Nominated, Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures, Young Artist Award
1987 Shy People Grace Nominated, Best Supporting Female, Independent Spirit Award
1988 Stars and Bars Bryant
Running on Empty Lorna Phillips Nominated, Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture- Drama Young Artist Award
Another Woman Laura
1989 Zwei Frauen Claudia Jacoby
Parenthood Julie Buckman-Higgins
1990 Stanley and Iris Kelly King
1992 A Blink of Paradise Mother
Inside Monkey Zetterland Sofie
Samantha Samantha
1993 The Perfect Woman
Josh and S.A.M. Alison (The Liberty Maid)
My Life's In Turnaround Herself
1994 The Beans of Egypt, Maine Earlene Pomerleau
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle Jane Grant
1995 Last Summer in the Hamptons Chloe
1996 I Shot Andy Warhol Stevie
Beautiful Girls Jan
I'm Not Rappaport Laurie Campbell
1997 Colin Fitz Ann
Eye of God Ainsley Dupree
1998 Music from Another Room Karen Swan
Pecker Tina
1999 200 Cigarettes Monica
2001 The Sleepy Time Gal Rebecca
2004 Hair High Miss Crumbles Voice
2006 Marvelous Gwen
2007 Dante's Inferno Celia
2008 Gone to the Dogs Leslie
Puppy Love Leslie
2010 I Thought About You Gloria
Small Town Murder Songs Sam
Remember Me Helen Craig
Television
Year Series Role Episode and other notes
1985 Family Ties Jessie Black "You've Got a Friend"
1999 ER Meg Corwin "Humpty Dumpty"
"The Peace of Wild Things"
"Truth and Consequences"
"Sins of the Fathers"
2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Claire Rinato "Denial" (Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series)
2003 Karen Sisco Chelsea Wentworth "The One That Got Away"
Hack Louise O'Connor "Black Eye"
2004 7th Heaven Venus "Regret to Inform"
2006 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Jo Gage "Blind Spot"
Surface Mr. Big/Dr. Morris "Fugitives on the Run"
"Experiment Gone Awry"
2009 The Good Wife Patti Nyholm "Crash"
Medium Rosemary Widdick "Pain Killer"
Grey's Anatomy Pam Michaelson "Good Mourning"
"Goodbye"
2010 Fringe Sheriff Ann Mathis "Northwest Passage"
How to Make It in America Edie Weitz "Never Say Die"
"Keep on Truck'n"
"Big in Japan"
"Unhappy Birthday"
"Paper, Denim + Dollars"
The Good Wife Patti Nyholm "Heart"
2010–present Raising Hope Virginia Chance Series Regular
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2011)
Theatre
Broadway

    Top Girls Nominated, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
    The Coast of Utopia Nominated, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; Won Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; Won Outer Critic's Circle for Best Featured Actress in a Play
    Cymbeline
    Pal Joey Nominated, Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical; Nominated, Drama Desk Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical
    Sixteen Wounded
    Shining City

The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park

    A Midsummer Night's Dream

Steppenwolf Theatre Company

    The Libertine
    Playboy of the Western World
    The Glass Menagerie
    Hedda Gabler
    Absolution (Director)

Off Broadway

    Flesh and Blood
    Hurly Burly
    Boston Marriage
    The False Servant
    Hobson's Choice Won Obie Award for Outstanding Performance
    Suburbia
    Pericles, Prince of Tyre
    The Haggadah
    Runaways

Seattle Repertory Theatre

    Uncle Vanya
    The Heidi Chronicles
    The Sisters Rosensweig
    Robbers

New York Philharmonic

    Company (musical)

Awards and recognition

Plimpton has garnered three consecutive Tony Award nominations: In 2007 for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Top Girls, in the same category in 2008 for Coast of Utopia, and for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009 for Pal Joey. In 2002 she received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She received another Emmy nomination in 2011 for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her work in the first season of Raising Hope. She submitted the episode "Say Cheese."

Plimpton won the 2001 Obie Award for Outstanding Performance for Hobson's Choice. She also won the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2008 for her role in Coast of Utopia, and was nominated again for a Drama Desk Award in 2009 for Pal Joey.

In film, Plimpton has been nominated for three Young Artist Awards: Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress for Goonies, Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures for The Mosquito Coast, and Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture for Running on Empty. She was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Supporting Female category for her performance in Shy People.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/dbeaucha/1amartha_plimpton.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn33/speakmylanguage/21137946jw7.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/16/11 at 4:26 pm


the only song I know.

It was the only one of hers I knew for a while...until I heard "Don't Sleep In The Subway" some time ago.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/16/11 at 7:39 pm


The person of the day...Martha Plimpton
Martha Campbell Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress and singer and former model. Plimpton is a screen, stage and television actress. She first appeared as Jonsy in the feature film River Rats (1984) before rising to prominence in the Richard Donner film The Goonies (1985) portraying the character Stef. She then appeared in The Mosquito Coast (1986) portraying Emily Spellgood. Plimpton's role garnered her further success within the feature film industry. Throughout her career Plimpton has appeared in many feature films including critically successful films Running on Empty (1988), Parenthood (1989), Eye of God (1997), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Hair High (2004) and Small Town Murder Songs (2011).

Plimpton has also developed and established a very successful career in stage productions. She has appeared on Broadway and in theatre throughout her career. She is recognised on Broadway for her roles in The Coast of Utopia (2006-2007), Top Girls (2007-2008), Pal Joey (2008-2009) and Shining City (2006-2007). She has performed in theatre productions of The Playboy of the Western World, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Glass Menagerie, Hedda Gabler, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Heidi Chronicles and Uncle Vanya. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in Boston Marriage (2002), Pericles, Prince of Tyre (2002) and Runaways (2002).

Plimpton has appeared in many television roles throughout her career. She has appeared in guest roles on Family Ties (1985), ER (1999), Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (2002), 7th Heaven (2004), Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2006), Surface (2006), The Good Wife (2009 & 2010), Medium (2009), Greys Anatomy (2009), Fringe (2010) and How To Make It In America (2010).

Plimpton currently plays Virginia Chance on the FOX television series Raising Hope. For her role she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011.

Plimpton's roles in film and television are very often favourable among viewers and critics. Plimpton has garnered three consecutive Tony Award nominations: A Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2007 for her role in Top Girls. Best Featured Actress in a Play again in 2008 for Coast of Utopia. Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009 for Pal Joey. Plimpton's roles in television have earned her two primetime Emmy award nominations: In 2002, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for portraying Claire Rinato on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and in 2011 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her critically praised portayal of Virginia Chance on Raising Hope.
Plimpton began her career in modeling, securing an early 1980s campaign for Calvin Klein, making an impression as a sophisticated but tomboyish little girl. She made her screen debut in 1981, when at the age of 11 she had a small part in the film Rollover. In 1984, she appeared in the Deep South independent drama The River Rat opposite Tommy Lee Jones. Her breakthrough performance was as Stef Steinbrenner in the 1985 feature film The Goonies. She also appeared that year in a featured role on the television sitcom Family Ties.

This would begin a trend of Plimpton being typecast in the role of a rebellious tomboy for several years, beginning with her critically lauded performance as the Reverend Spellgood (Andre Gregory)'s daughter in the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast, starring Harrison Ford. The critically praised but commercially unsuccessful 1987 film Shy People was followed by a performance in the 1988 ensemble comedy Stars and Bars. This was released shortly before Running on Empty, an Academy Award-nominated film starring River Phoenix, for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

She began what became a career trend, mixing small independent film appearances with supporting roles in big-budget films. She appeared in the 1989 Woody Allen film Another Woman; that year, she co-starred with Jami Gertz as a cancer patient in the German film Zwei Frauen (released in America as Silence Like Glass). The film was nominated for Outstanding Feature Film at the German Film Awards. Plimpton shaved her head bald to play a cancer patient in Zwei Frauen, and her reputation for playing rebellious teenagers secured her the role of the indignant teenage daughter (who shaves her head) of Dianne Wiest in Parenthood. Plimpton appeared alongside Joaquin Phoenix (then credited as Leaf Phoenix), the younger brother of her former boyfriend, River, who portrayed her on-screen brother. Parenthood grossed over $126 million dollars and received two Academy Award nominations, making it her most successful movie performance to date since The Goonies.
Plimpton attending the 61st Academy Awards, 1989
1990s

In 1991, Plimpton appeared in the Robert De Niro film Stanley & Iris in a supporting role. In 1992, Plimpton appeared as a lesbian terrorist in the independent film Inside Monkey Zetterland. She played the starring role in the film Samantha.

The success of Samantha garnered Plimpton a variety of roles in 1993. She appeared with Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the television film Daybreak and was a part of the mostly improvised television film Chantilly Lace. She had a featured role in the big-budget films Josh and S.A.M. and played the lead in the critically blasted film adaptation of the Carolyn Chute novel The Beans of Egypt, Maine. Plimpton also appeared that year as herself in the independent film My Life's in Turnaround, a movie about filmmakers trying to make a movie. Plimpton continued to make appearances in featured roles in both independent films and mainstream movies from 1994 through 1997, most notably as a close friend of radical feminist Valerie Solanas in the film I Shot Andy Warhol.

In 1997, the Showtime Network cast Plimpton as the female lead in a television film called The Defenders: Payback. The show was a retooling of the classic television show by the same name, and the characters were descendants of character Lawrence Preston, a role reprised by actor E.G. Marshall. The intent was to spin the program off into a series akin to Law & Order, but Marshall died in 1998. Two additional episodes (The Defenders: Choice of Evils and The Defenders: Taking the First) were aired as specials that year. The decision was made to not continue production (despite high ratings and critical praise) due to Marshall's death.

Plimpton became involved with The Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where she appeared in Hedda Gabler (2001) among others. In 1998 she appeared in the John Waters film Pecker; the film was lambasted but Plimpton's work was praised. This also occurred with her appearance in the 1999 crafty 200 Cigarettes. In 1999, Plimpton had a recurring role in the television drama ER as Meg Corwyn.
2000s

In 2001, she co-starred with Jacqueline Bisset in The Sleepy Time Gal, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival.

In 2002, she appeared in the documentary film Searching for Debra Winger and was nominated for an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on the television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Plimpton was the voice of Miss Crumbles in the 2004 animated film Hair High by Bill Plympton. In 2004, she also guest-starred on an episode of 7th Heaven; she received her first writing credit for a different episode of the show that year entitled "Red Socks". She continues to act in television, film and on stage. She had a recurring role on the NBC show Surface (2005–06).
Plimpton attending the 63rd Tony Awards, 2009

From October 2006 until May 2007, she was in The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy of plays by Tom Stoppard that played at the Lincoln Center. For her work in this play she won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony award. In October 2007 Plimpton completed a starring role in A Midsummer Night's Dream on Broadway in New York City. She then began rehearsals for the play Cymbeline. She co-founded a production company, Everything is Horrible, which has produced a number of short films for the internet.

Plimpton received her second nomination for a Tony Award in 2008, Best Performance by a Featured Actress In a Play, for her work in Top Girls at the Biltmore Theater.

In November 2008, she earned rave reviews as Gladys Bumps in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of the classical Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey on Broadway and garnered her third consecutive Tony nomination, this time for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Plimpton appeared in the 2008 Entertainment Weekly photo issue spread as one of "The Hardest Working Actors In Showbiz." In the spread she appears with Lance Reddick, Celia Weston, John Slattery, Bobby Cannavale, James Rebhorn, Lynn Cohen, Matt Servitto and Bob Balaban. Plimpton says in the write-up about her "I went to jury duty the other day, and somebody said, 'You always play drug addicts!' I've played a few on TV, and I imagine because the shows get replayed, it seems like more. But yeah, people tend to see me as this pregnant teenage heroin addict."
2010s

In November 2009, Plimpton signed on as a main cast member on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope. The show premiered on September 21, 2010, receiving strong reviews for both Plimpton and the pilot itself. The New York Times called Raising Hope "the most promising" of "the best new fall shows," and said "Plimpton isn't the only reason 'Raising Hope' could be the best new sitcom of the season, but she is the main reason." On July 14, 2011, Plimpton was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal as Virginia Chance in Raising Hope and submitted the episode "Say Cheese" on her behalf.

Plimpton performed "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch of Game 3 of the 2010 World Series in Texas on Fox, October 30, 2010.

On December 15, 2010, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre announced that Plimpton will be the guest of honor at their second-annual "Salute to Women in the Arts".

In 2010, starred in Ed Gass-Donnelly's independent, crime, thriller Small Town Murder Songs, and was given the trophy for best actress by the Whistler Film Festival.
Other work

Plimpton is friends with singer Lucy Wainwright Roche. In 2008, she performed a duet with Roche on the E.P. 8 More singing the Bruce Springsteen song Hungry Heart. In 2010 she sang another Springsteen song, this time Thunder Road, on the public radio program Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, accompanied by acclaimed whistler Eric Gilliland. She has appeared multiple times as a featured guest on public radio's The Leonard Lopate Show, and performed in a roast of Lopate celebrating the 25th anniversary of his radio program.

Plimpton sits on the board of directors of The Players, a New York City social club founded in 1888 by actor Edwin Booth. In 2009 she was profiled by The New York Times for their "A Night Out With..." series, in which Plimpton hosted an evening of poker at The Players.

In January 2010, she performed a one-woman show called Martha Plimpton Sings? for the Lincoln Center's American Songbook program. The show explored her experiences growing up in 1970s New York City. Her performance, well received by critics, included such songs as "Jolly Coppers on Parade", "Woman Is the ****** of the World", and The Smiths's "Ask" tied together with humorous monologues.

Plimpton also narrates audiobooks, notably the novels Diary by Chuck Palahniuk and Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh.
Media references

She is referenced in the Lawrence Arms song "Light Breathing (Me and Martha Plimpton in a Fancy Elevator)," a song detailing the singer unexpectedly stepping into an elevator with her and being unable to overcome shyness to ask her out.
Personal Life
River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton on the red carpet at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989

Plimpton is a member of the Carradine family.

Plimpton's high-profile relationship with River Phoenix, including their appearance together at the Academy Awards, overshadowed her work. Their relationship would later end due to Plimpton's objection to his recreational drug use, from which he died in 1993.

Plimpton was engaged to stage actor Jon Patrick Walker in March 1995. The couple were planning to wed in April 1996, according to Plimpton's spokeswomen, who said, "She is just extraordinarily pleased", "Her immediate reaction was to call everyone she knew". Shortly thereafter the couple announced they would not be proceding with their nuptials.
Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1981 Rollover Fewster's Older Daughter
1984 The River Rat Jonsy
1985 The Goonies Stef Steinbrenner Nominated, Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress- Motion Picture, Young Artist Award
1986 A Life in the Day
The Mosquito Coast Emily Spellgood Nominated, Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures, Young Artist Award
1987 Shy People Grace Nominated, Best Supporting Female, Independent Spirit Award
1988 Stars and Bars Bryant
Running on Empty Lorna Phillips Nominated, Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture- Drama Young Artist Award
Another Woman Laura
1989 Zwei Frauen Claudia Jacoby
Parenthood Julie Buckman-Higgins
1990 Stanley and Iris Kelly King
1992 A Blink of Paradise Mother
Inside Monkey Zetterland Sofie
Samantha Samantha
1993 The Perfect Woman
Josh and S.A.M. Alison (The Liberty Maid)
My Life's In Turnaround Herself
1994 The Beans of Egypt, Maine Earlene Pomerleau
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle Jane Grant
1995 Last Summer in the Hamptons Chloe
1996 I Shot Andy Warhol Stevie
Beautiful Girls Jan
I'm Not Rappaport Laurie Campbell
1997 Colin Fitz Ann
Eye of God Ainsley Dupree
1998 Music from Another Room Karen Swan
Pecker Tina
1999 200 Cigarettes Monica
2001 The Sleepy Time Gal Rebecca
2004 Hair High Miss Crumbles Voice
2006 Marvelous Gwen
2007 Dante's Inferno Celia
2008 Gone to the Dogs Leslie
Puppy Love Leslie
2010 I Thought About You Gloria
Small Town Murder Songs Sam
Remember Me Helen Craig
Television
Year Series Role Episode and other notes
1985 Family Ties Jessie Black "You've Got a Friend"
1999 ER Meg Corwin "Humpty Dumpty"
"The Peace of Wild Things"
"Truth and Consequences"
"Sins of the Fathers"
2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Claire Rinato "Denial" (Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series)
2003 Karen Sisco Chelsea Wentworth "The One That Got Away"
Hack Louise O'Connor "Black Eye"
2004 7th Heaven Venus "Regret to Inform"
2006 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Jo Gage "Blind Spot"
Surface Mr. Big/Dr. Morris "Fugitives on the Run"
"Experiment Gone Awry"
2009 The Good Wife Patti Nyholm "Crash"
Medium Rosemary Widdick "Pain Killer"
Grey's Anatomy Pam Michaelson "Good Mourning"
"Goodbye"
2010 Fringe Sheriff Ann Mathis "Northwest Passage"
How to Make It in America Edie Weitz "Never Say Die"
"Keep on Truck'n"
"Big in Japan"
"Unhappy Birthday"
"Paper, Denim + Dollars"
The Good Wife Patti Nyholm "Heart"
2010–present Raising Hope Virginia Chance Series Regular
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2011)
Theatre
Broadway

    Top Girls Nominated, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
    The Coast of Utopia Nominated, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; Won Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; Won Outer Critic's Circle for Best Featured Actress in a Play
    Cymbeline
    Pal Joey Nominated, Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical; Nominated, Drama Desk Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical
    Sixteen Wounded
    Shining City

The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park

    A Midsummer Night's Dream

Steppenwolf Theatre Company

    The Libertine
    Playboy of the Western World
    The Glass Menagerie
    Hedda Gabler
    Absolution (Director)

Off Broadway

    Flesh and Blood
    Hurly Burly
    Boston Marriage
    The False Servant
    Hobson's Choice Won Obie Award for Outstanding Performance
    Suburbia
    Pericles, Prince of Tyre
    The Haggadah
    Runaways

Seattle Repertory Theatre

    Uncle Vanya
    The Heidi Chronicles
    The Sisters Rosensweig
    Robbers

New York Philharmonic

    Company (musical)

Awards and recognition

Plimpton has garnered three consecutive Tony Award nominations: In 2007 for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Top Girls, in the same category in 2008 for Coast of Utopia, and for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009 for Pal Joey. In 2002 she received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She received another Emmy nomination in 2011 for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her work in the first season of Raising Hope. She submitted the episode "Say Cheese."

Plimpton won the 2001 Obie Award for Outstanding Performance for Hobson's Choice. She also won the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2008 for her role in Coast of Utopia, and was nominated again for a Drama Desk Award in 2009 for Pal Joey.

In film, Plimpton has been nominated for three Young Artist Awards: Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress for Goonies, Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures for The Mosquito Coast, and Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture for Running on Empty. She was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Supporting Female category for her performance in Shy People.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/dbeaucha/1amartha_plimpton.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn33/speakmylanguage/21137946jw7.jpg


She turned out to be a very beautiful woman.  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/17/11 at 9:44 am

The person of the day...Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot OC, OOnt (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He has been referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and internationally as a folk-rock legend.

Lightfoot's songs, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Morning Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", and "Ribbon of Darkness"—a number one hit on the U.S. country charts with Marty Robbins's cover in 1965—brought him international recognition in the 1960s. He experienced chart success in Canada with his own recordings, beginning in 1962 with the number-three hit "(Remember Me) I'm the One". Lightfoot's recordings made an impact on the international music charts in the 1970s, with songs such as "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970) (number 5 on the US charts), "Sundown" (1974), "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People" (1975), (all reaching Number 1) and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976) (reaching number 2).

Some of Lightfoot's albums have achieved gold and multi-platinum status internationally. His songs have been recorded by some of the world's most renowned recording artists, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., The Kingston Trio, Marty Robbins, George Hamilton IV, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Viola Wills, Richie Havens, The Dandy Warhols, Harry Belafonte, Tony Rice, Sandy Denny (with Fotheringay), The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Scott Walker, Sarah McLachlan, John Mellencamp, Toby Keith, Peter, Paul and Mary, Glen Campbell, Anne Murray, and Olivia Newton-John.

Robbie Robertson of The Band declared that Lightfoot was one of his "favourite Canadian songwriters and is absolutely a national treasure." Bob Dylan, also a Lightfoot fan, called him one of his favourite songwriters, and in an often-quoted tribute to his fellow songwriter, Dylan once observed that when he heard a Gordon Lightfoot song he wished "it would last forever." Lightfoot was a featured musical performer at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (arts) in 1979, and the Companion of the Order of Canada—Canada's highest civilian honor — in 2003.
In 1965 Lightfoot signed a management contract with Albert Grossman, who also represented Bob Dylan. That same year, he signed a recording contract with United Artists and released his own version of "I'm Not Saying" as a single. Appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, the Tonight Show, and New York's Town Hall increased his following and his reputation. In 1966, he released his debut album Lightfoot!, which brought him increased recognition as both a singer and a songwriter. It featured many now-famous songs, including "For Lovin' Me," "Early Mornin' Rain," "Steel Rail Blues," and "Ribbon of Darkness." On the strength of the Lightfoot! album, which mixed Canadian and universal themes, Lightfoot became one of the first Canadian singers to achieve real stardom in his own country without having to move to the United States.

Lightfoot was commissioned by the CBC to write the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967, to start Canada's Centennial year. Between 1966 and 1969, Lightfoot recorded four additional albums for United Artists: The Way I Feel (1967), Did She Mention My Name? (1968), Back Here on Earth (1968), and the live recording Sunday Concert (1969). During those years, he consistently placed singles in the Canadian top 40, including "Go-Go Round", "Spin, Spin", and "The Way I Feel". His biggest hit of the era was a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", which peaked at #3 on the Canadian charts in December 1965. Did She Mention My Name? featured "Black Day In July", about the 1967 Detroit riots.

Internationally, Lightfoot's albums from this time were well-received, but did not produce any hit singles. Outside of Canada, he remained better known as a songwriter than as a performer.

Lightfoot's success as a live performer continued to grow throughout the late 1960s. He embarked on his first Canadian national tour in 1967, and also performed in New York City. Between 1967 and 1974, Lightfoot toured Europe and was well-received on two tours of Australia.

UA would later consistently release "Best of" album compilations in the 1970s, after Lightfoot became a success on his next label Warner Bros./Reprise.
Warner Bros./Reprise years

Lightfoot was signed to Warner Bros./Reprise in 1970 and had a major hit in the United States with his recording of "If You Could Read My Mind". It sold over one million copies by early 1971, and was awarded a gold disc. The song was originally featured on his 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger, which did not sell well. After the success of the song, the album was re-released under the new title If You Could Read My Mind. It reached #5 nationally and the success of the song represented a major turning point in Gordon Lightfoot's career. It also had the second recorded version of "Me and Bobby McGee", as well as "The Pony Man","Your Love's Return", and "The Minstrel of The Dawn".

Over the next seven years, he recorded a series of successful albums that established him as a singer-songwriter:

    Summer Side of Life (1971), with songs "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder", "Miguel", "Cabaret", "Nous Vivons Ensemble", and the title track
    Don Quixote (1972), with "Beautiful", "Looking at the Rain", "Christian Island (Georgian Bay)", and the title track, which is a concert favorite
    Old Dan's Records (1972), with the title track, the two-sided single "That Same Old Obsession"/"You Are What I Am", and the songs "It's Worth Believin'" and "Can't Depend on Love"
    Sundown (1974). Besides the title track, it includes "Carefree Highway", "Seven Island Suite", "The Watchman's Gone", "High and Dry", "Circle of Steel" ,and "Too Late for Prayin
    Cold on the Shoulder (1975). Along with title track are songs "Bend in the Water", "The Soul Is the Rock", "Rainbow Trout", "All the Lovely Ladies" and the hit "Rainy Day People"
    A double compilation LP Gord's Gold (in 1975) containing nine new versions of his most popular songs from the United Artists era
    Summertime Dream (1976), along with "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" are the songs "Race Among the Ruins", "Spanish Moss", "Never Too Close", and the title track
    Endless Wire (1978) with "Daylight Katy", "If Children Had Wings", "Sweet Guenevire", "The Circle Is Small", and the title track

During the 1970s Lightfoot's songs covered a wide range of subjects, including "Don Quixote", about Cervantes' famous literary character, "Ode to Big Blue", about the widespread killing of whales, "Beautiful", about the simple joys of love, "Carefree Highway", about the freedom of the open road, "Protocol", about the futility of war, and "Alberta Bound", which was inspired by a lonely teenaged girl named Grace he met on a bus while travelling to Calgary in 1971.

In 1972 Lightfoot curtailed his touring schedule after contracting Bell's palsy, a condition that left his face partially paralyzed temporarily. Despite his illness, Lightfoot had several major hits during the 1970s. In June 1974 his classic single "Sundown" from the album Sundown went to No.1 on the American and Canadian charts. It would be his only number one hit in the United States. He performed it twice on NBC's The Midnight Special series. "Carefree Highway" (about Arizona State Route 74 in Phoenix, Arizona) was the follow-up single from the same album. It charted in the Top 10 in both countries. Lightfoot wrote it after traveling from Flagstaff, Arizona on Interstate 17 to Phoenix.

In 1976 Lightfoot had a hit song about a shipwreck on Lake Superior. In late November 1975 Lightfoot had read a Newsweek magazine article about the loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank during a severe storm on November 10 with the loss of all 29 crew members. His song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", most of the lyrics of which were based on the facts contained in the article, reached number two on the United States Billboard charts, and was a number one hit in Canada. "Sundown" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" continue to receive heavy airplay on many classic rock stations. In 1978 Lightfoot had another top 40 hit on the United States Hot 100, "The Circle Is Small (I Can See It in Your Eyes)," which reached number 33. He continues his practice of meeting privately with the family members of the men who perished in the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking when his touring schedule allows.

During the 1980s and 1990s Lightfoot recorded six more original albums and a compilation for Warner Bros./Reprise: Dream Street Rose (1980), Shadows (1982), Salute (1983), East of Midnight (1986), another compilation Gord's Gold, Vol. 2 (1988), Waiting for You (1993), and A Painter Passing Through (1998).

The album Dream Street Rose has the folk-pop sound that Lightfoot established during the previous decade. In addition to the title song, it includes songs such as "Ghosts of Cape Horn" and "On the High Seas". It also includes the Leroy Van Dyke 1950s composition "The Auctioneer," a bluegrass-like number that was a concert staple for Lightfoot from the mid 60s to the 80s.

The album Shadows represents a departure from the acoustic sound of the 1970s and introduces an adult-contemporary sound. Songs like "Shadows" and "Thank You for the Promises" contain an underlying sadness and resignation. The 1982 American released single "Baby Step Back" marked his last time in the top 50 in that country. The 1983 album Salute produced no hit singles; the 1986 East of Midnight album had several Adult Contemporary songs like "A Passing Ship","Morning Glory", and "I'll Tag Along" (East of Midnight). A single from "East of Midnight", "Anything for Love", made the Billboard Country & Western chart.

In April 1987, Lightfoot filed a lawsuit against composer Michael Masser, claiming that Masser's melody for the song "The Greatest Love of All"—recorded by George Benson (1977) and Whitney Houston (1985)—stole 24 bars from Lightfoot's 1971 hit song "If You Could Read My Mind." The transitional section that begins "I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow" of the Masser song has the same melody as "I don't know where we went wrong but the feeling's gone, and I just can't get it back" of Lightfoot's song. Lightfoot later stated that he did not want people thinking that he had stolen his melody from Masser.

Lightfoot rounded out the decade with his follow-up compilation Gord's Gold, Vol. 2, in late 1988, which contained re-recorded versions of his most popular songs, including a re-make of the 1970 song "The Pony Man". The original had been brisk in pace, acoustic, and about three minutes long. This new version was slower, clocking in at four minutes plus.

During the 90s Lightfoot returned to his acoustic roots and recorded two albums. Waiting for You (1993) includes songs like "Restless", "Wild Strawberries", and Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells." 1998's A Painter Passing Through reintroduced a sound more reminiscent of his early recordings, with songs like "Much to My Surprise", "Red Velvet", "Drifters", and "I Used to Be a Country Singer". Throughout the decade, Lightfoot played about 50 concerts a year. In 1999 Rhino Records released Songbook, a four-CD boxed set of Lightfoot recordings with rare and unreleased tracks from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s plus a small hardback booklet for his fans that described how he created his songs and gave facts about his career.

In April 2000 Lightfoot taped a live concert in Reno, Nevada—a one hour show that was broadcast by CBC in October, and as a PBS special across the United States. PBS stations offered a videotape of the concert as a pledge gift, and a tape and DVD were released in 2001 in Europe and North America. This was the first Lightfoot concert video released. In April 2001 Lightfoot performed at the Tin Pan South Legends concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, closing the show. In May he performed "Ring Them Bells" at Massey Hall in honor of Bob Dylan's 60th birthday.
Illness and return to performing

By January 2002 Lightfoot had written 30 new songs for his next studio album. He recorded guitar and vocal demos of some of these new songs. In September, before the second concert of a two-night stand in Orillia, Lightfoot suffered severe stomach pain and was airlifted to McMaster Medical Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. He underwent surgery for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, and he remained in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Lightfoot endured a six-week coma and a tracheotomy, and he underwent four surgical operations. All of his remaining 2002 concert dates were canceled. More than three months after being taken to the McMaster Medical Center, Lightfoot was released in December to continue his recovery at home.

In 2003 Lightfoot underwent follow-up surgery to continue the treatment of his abdominal condition. In November he signed a new recording contract with Linus Entertainment and began rehearsing with his band for the first time since his illness. Also in 2003, Borealis Records, a related label to Linus Entertainment, released Beautiful: A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. On this album, various artists, including The Cowboy Junkies, Bruce Cockburn, Jesse Winchester, Maria Muldaur, and The Tragically Hip interpreted Lightfoot's songs. The final track on the album, "Lightfoot", was the only song not previously released by Lightfoot. It was composed and performed by Aengus Finnan.

In January 2004 Lightfoot completed work on his album Harmony, which he had mostly recorded prior to his illness. The album was released on his new home label of Linus Records on May 11 of that year. It was his 20th original album and included a single and new video for "Inspiration Lady." Other songs were "Clouds Of Loneliness," "Sometimes I Wish," "Flyin' Blind", and "No Mistake About It." The album contained the upbeat yet reflective track called "End Of All Time", reminiscent of the style of the Marshall Tucker Band and The Allman Brothers Band.

In July 2004 he made a surprise comeback performance, his first since falling ill, at Mariposa in Orillia, performing "I'll Tag Along" solo. In August he performed a five-song solo set in Peterborough, Ontario, at a flood relief benefit. In November he made his long-awaited return to the concert stage with two sold-out benefit shows in Hamilton, Ontario.

Lightfoot returned to the music business with his new album selling well and an appearance on Canadian Idol, where the six top contestants each performed a song of his, culminating in a group performance – on their own instruments – of his Canadian Railroad Trilogy. In 2005, he made a low-key tour called the Better Late Than Never Tour.

On September 14, 2006, while in the middle of a performance, Lightfoot suffered a minor stroke that eventually left him without the use of the middle and ring fingers on his right hand. He returned to performing nine days later and for a brief time used a substitute guitarist for more difficult guitar work. Since early 2007, Lightfoot has regained full use of his right hand and plays all of the guitar parts in concert as he originally wrote them. He has continued to perform into 2011.

While a tour was being planned for 2008, Lightfoot's manager, Barry Harvey, died at age 56 on 4 December 2007. In late 2009, Lightfoot undertook a 26-city tour.

In February 2010 Gordon Lightfoot was the victim of a death hoax originating from Twitter, when a prankster spread a rumor that Lightfoot had died. Lightfoot was at a dental appointment at the time the rumors spread and found out when listening to the radio on his drive home. Lightfoot dispelled those rumors by phoning Charles Adler of CJOB, the DJ and radio station he heard reporting his demise, and did an interview expressing that he was alive and well.
Legacy

Gordon Lightfoot's music career has spanned more than five decades, producing more than 200 recordings. He helped define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s, with his songs recorded by artists such as Bob Dylan, Gene Clark, Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Buffett, and Jim Croce. The Canadian band The Guess Who recorded a song called "Lightfoot" on their 1968 album Wheatfield Soul; the lyrics contain many Lightfoot song titles.
Lightfoot sound

The signature Lightfoot sound, both in the studio and on tour, centres around Lightfoot's distinct baritone voice and folk-based twelve-string acoustic guitar. Over the years, a handful of key musicians contributed significantly to that sound. From 1965 to 1970, lead guitarist Red Shea was the most important supporting player, with bassists Paul Wideman and John Stockfish filling out the arrangements.
Performing in Toronto, 2008, playing twelve-string guitar

In 1969 bassist Rick Haynes joined the band, and lead guitarist Terry Clements joined the following year. Red Shea left the touring band in 1970, but continued to record with Lightfoot until 1975. He hosted his own Canadian variety show, played with Ian Tyson, and became band leader for Tommy Hunter's TV show in the 1980s on CBC. Shea played on most of Lightfoot's early hits, and his musical influence on later band configurations is undeniable. Shea died in June 2008 of pancreatic cancer. Haynes and Clements remained with Lightfoot and composed the core of Gordon Lightfoot's band.

In 1975, Pee Wee Charles added the important pedal steel guitar element to the band's sound, applying this traditional country instrument in a unique and creative way to Lightfoot's songs. Drummer Barry Keane joined the following year and in 1981, keyboardist Mike Heffernan completed the ensemble. This five-piece backup band remained intact until 1987, when Pee Wee Charles left the band to operate a radio station in Southern Ontario. Haynes, Keane, and Heffernan continue to tour and record with Lightfoot to this day. Terry Clements died on February 20, 2011, at the age of 63, following a stroke. Gordon Lightfoot will continue touring in 2011 with his new guitarist Carter Lancaster from Hamilton Ontario whom he calls a "great player".
Personal life

Lightfoot has been married twice. His first marriage in April 1963 was to a Swedish woman, Brita Ingegerd Olaisson, with whom he had two children, Fred and Ingrid. They divorced in 1973, the marriage ending in part due to his infidelity (with his then girlfriend, Cathy Smith). He has acknowledged that his musical touring and the difficulty of fidelity in a long-distance relationship, contributed to the failure of at least two relationships:

    When you're away from the woman, continually confronted by other women, you suddenly find yourself in a weak moment. Then you've gone and stepped over the traces and you gotta go home and confront your old lady. It's a two-way street. You're going to have to offer her the same deal. You can't ask the woman to be faithful if you're not going to be faithful to her. That's where it's broken down for me twice.

The song "If You Could Read My Mind" was written in reflection upon his disintegrating marriage. At the request of his daughter, Ingrid, he performs the lyrics with a slight change now: the line "I'm just trying to understand the feelings that you lack" is altered to "I'm just trying to understand the feelings that we lack." He has said in an interview that the difficulty with writing songs inspired by personal stories is that there is not always the emotional distance and clarity to make lyrical improvements such as the one his daughter suggested.

After being alone for 19 years between marriages, he married Elizabeth Moon in 1989. They have two children: Miles and Meredith.

He has played with some of his band members for more than 30 years.
Honours and awards
Lightfoot's star on Canada's Walk of Fame

As an individual, apart from various awards associated with his albums and singles, Gordon Lightfoot has received sixteen Juno Awards—for top folk singer in 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, for top male vocalist in 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973, and as composer of the year in 1972 and 1976. He has received ASCAP awards for songwriting in 1971, 1974, 1976, and 1977, and has been nominated for five Grammy Awards. In 1974 Lightfoot's song "Sundown" was named pop record of the year by the Music Operators of America. In 1980 he was named Canadian male recording artist of the decade, for his work in the 1970s.

Lightfoot was chosen as the celebrity captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the NHL's 75th anniversary season in 1991–1992.

Lightfoot was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998.

In May 2003 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour. Lightfoot is a member of the Order of Ontario, the highest honour in the province of Ontario. In 1977, he received the Vanier Award from the Canadian Jaycees. In 2007 Canada Post honored Lightfoot and three other legendary Canadian music artists (Anne Murray, Paul Anka, and Joni Mitchell) with postage stamps highlighting their names and images.

Between 1986 and 1988 Lightfoot's friend Ken Danby (1940–2007), the realist painter, worked on a large (60 x 48 inches) portrait of Lightfoot dressed in the white suit he wore on the cover of the album East of Midnight. The picture was backlit by the sun, creating a visually iconic image of the singer.
Discography
Main article: Gordon Lightfoot discography

    Lightfoot! (1966)
    The Way I Feel (1967)
    Did She Mention My Name (1968)
    Back Here on Earth (1968)
    Sunday Concert (1969)
    Sit Down Young Stranger (1970)
    Summer Side of Life (1971)
    Don Quixote (1972)
    Old Dan's Records (1972)
    Sundown (1974)
    Cold on the Shoulder (1975)
    Summertime Dream (1976)
    Endless Wire (1978)
    Dream Street Rose (1980)
    Shadows (1982)
    Salute (1983)
    East of Midnight (1986)
    Waiting for You (1993)
    A Painter Passing Through (1998)
    Harmony (2004)
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o107/chickmanc/blackriver06031.jpg
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu335/damialle/donquixote.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/17/11 at 12:06 pm

One of my favorite G.L.'s songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3G0KYax65E



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/11 at 1:27 pm

My favorite G.L.'s song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0DqPSF2fyo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/17/11 at 1:39 pm


One of my favorite G.L.'s songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3G0KYax65E



Cat



the only song I know, not too familiar with him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/17/11 at 2:00 pm


My favorite G.L.'s song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0DqPSF2fyo




That's my SECOND favorite G.L. song.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/17/11 at 2:11 pm



That's my SECOND favorite G.L. song.


Cat

I listened to it a week ago on the 36th anniversary of the tragic incident. I hadn't heard it in a long time.

He has some great songs, including "Sundown", "If You Could Read My Mind", "Carefree Highway", among others.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/17/11 at 3:08 pm


One of my favorite G.L.'s songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3G0KYax65E



Cat
Guess which song I am listening to on the radio

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/18/11 at 9:51 am

The person of the day...Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon, Behind Enemy Lines, and Drillbit Taylor.
Wilson debuted as an actor in the role of "Dignan" in the Wes Anderson film Bottle Rocket, which he co-wrote with Anderson. He also worked with Anderson as a creative collaborator on his next two directorial efforts, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, for which they were nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson subsequently landed a role in The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller, an early admirer of Bottle Rocket. After minor appearances in action films like Anaconda, Armageddon and The Haunting, Wilson appeared in two dramatic roles: supporting actor in Permanent Midnight, which starred Stiller as a drug-addicted TV writer; and the lead role as a serial killer in The Minus Man, in which future girlfriend, singer Sheryl Crow was a co-star. He also made a cameo in the Girl Skateboards video Yeah Right! in 2003.
Wilson at the London premiere of You, Me and Dupree, 2006

Wilson got his big break with the 2000 comedy action hit Shanghai Noon, starring opposite Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan. The film grossed nearly US$100 million worldwide. His fame continued to rise after starring alongside Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell in the 2001 film Zoolander.

Gene Hackman took notice of Wilson's performance in Shanghai Noon and recommended Wilson to co-star in the 2001 action film Behind Enemy Lines. Also in 2001, Wilson and Anderson collaborated on their third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, which was a financial and critical success. The comedy featured an all-star cast, including Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel and brother Luke. Owen Wilson had a memorable supporting role in the film as Eli Cash, a drug-addled bon vivant who becomes a literary celebrity. It earned the writing team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson returned to the buddy-comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring Eddie Murphy. This big-screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003) and the film remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004). Due to his busy schedule as an actor and an ongoing sinus condition, Wilson was unavailable to collaborate on the script for Wes Anderson's fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The 2004 film was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. However, Wilson did star in the film as Bill Murray's would-be son, Ned Plimpton; a role written specifically for Wilson. In 2004 Wilson worked with his brother Luke Wilson in the 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days as the Wright brothers.
Wilson in May 2007

Wilson partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million in the US alone. Also in 2005, Owen collaborated with his brothers by appearing in The Wendell Baker Story, written by brother Luke, directed by Luke and brother Andrew. In 2006, Wilson provided the voice of Lightning McQueen in the Disney/Pixar film Cars, starred in You, Me and Dupree with Kate Hudson, and appeared with Stiller in Night at the Museum as Jedediah, the cowboy, an uncredited role.

Wilson has appeared in ten films with Stiller (a long-time friend) to date: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), and the sequels Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Little Fockers (2010).

Wilson appeared in another Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited, which screened at the 45th annual New York Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival and opened September 30, 2007, co-starring Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. Wilson next starred in the Judd Apatow comedy, Drillbit Taylor, released in March 2008. He appeared in a film adaptation of John Grogan's best-selling memoir, Marley & Me (2008), co-starring Jennifer Aniston.

The Darjeeling Limited, starring Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman was selected for a DVD and Blu-ray release by The Criterion Collection in October 2010.

Wilson provided the voice for the Whackbat Coach Skip in Wes Anderson's version of Fantastic Mr. Fox. He starred in the film The Big Year, an adaptation of Mark Obmascik's book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession. The film was released in October 2011 from 20th Century Fox and co-starred Jack Black, JoBeth Williams, Steve Martin, and Rashida Jones.

Wilson is a member of the comedic acting brotherhood colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.25 billion domestically (United States and Canada), with an average of $75 million per film. Wilson made a guest appearance on the NBC comedy Community with fellow Frat Pack member Jack Black.

Most recently, Wilson starred as a nostalgic writer in the romantic comedy Midnight in Paris. Written and directed by Woody Allen, the film has become Allen's highest grossing film at the box office and was also well received by critics.
Personal life

The 2002 release of the album C'mon C'mon by former girlfriend Sheryl Crow features the song Safe and Sound which is dedicated to Wilson in the liner notes and is said to be an autobiographical account of Wilson's and Crow's relationship.

On August 26, 2007, Wilson was taken to St. John's Health Center amid reports of a suicide attempt. He was later transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. His lawyer later confirmed that he had been undergoing treatment for depression. A few days later, Wilson withdrew from starring in Tropic Thunder, produced by and starring his friend and frequent collaborator Ben Stiller. Following the suicide attempt, Wilson had participated in limited publicity and promotion for his films.

On January 10, 2011, Wilson's representative announced that Wilson and his girlfriend, Jade Duell, were expecting a baby. Just four days later, on January 14, it was confirmed that Duell had given birth in Hawaii to a baby boy, Robert Ford Wilson.
Channels

    2011: Luke Large's Voiced in The Large Family's New Episode in 2011 in Season 3 in The Large Family.

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Bottle Rocket Dignan Also Executive Producer/Writer
Also appeared in the short of the same name
The Cable Guy Robin's Date
1997 Anaconda Gary Dixon
1998 Armageddon Oscar Choice
Rushmore – (None) Executive Producer/Writer
Permanent Midnight Nicky
1999 Heat Vision and Jack Heat Vision Voice Only
Television film
The Haunting Luke Sanderson
Breakfast of Champions Monte Rapid
The Minus Man Vann Siegert
2000 Meet the Parents Kevin Rawley
Shanghai Noon Roy O'Bannon
2001 Behind Enemy Lines Lt. Chris Burnett
The Royal Tenenbaums Eli Cash Also Executive Producer/Writer
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Zoolander Hansel McDonald Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
2002 I Spy Alex Scott
2003 Shanghai Knights Roy O'Bannon Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Yeah Right! Himself
2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Ned Plimpton Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Meet the Fockers Kevin Rawley
Around the World in 80 Days Wilbur Wright
Starsky & Hutch Ken Hutchinson MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
The Big Bounce Jack Ryan
2005 The Wendell Baker Story Neil King
Wedding Crashers John Beckwith MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
2006 Night at the Museum Jedediah Uncredited
You, Me and Dupree Randolph Dupree Also Producer
Cars Lightning McQueen Voice Only
2007 The Darjeeling Limited Francis Whitman
2008 Drillbit Taylor Drillbit Taylor
Over Her Dead Body Guy on Phone Uncredited cameo
Marley & Me John Grogan
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Jedediah
Fantastic Mr. Fox Coach Skip Voice Only
2010 How Do You Know Matty Reynolds
Little Fockers Kevin Rawley
Marmaduke Marmaduke Voice Only
2011 Hall Pass Rick
Cars 2 Lightning McQueen Voice Only
MAD Jason, Baby Edward, Various
Midnight in Paris Gil
Turkeys Reggie Voice Only
The Big Year Kenny Bostick
Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales Lightning McQueen Voice Only/Season 3
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/basketcaseGD33/owen-wilson.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk221/jimmyworeearmuffs/owen-wilson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/18/11 at 1:27 pm

I remember seeing him in "Shanghai Noon" alongside Jackie Chan.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/18/11 at 3:02 pm


The person of the day...Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon, Behind Enemy Lines, and Drillbit Taylor.
Wilson debuted as an actor in the role of "Dignan" in the Wes Anderson film Bottle Rocket, which he co-wrote with Anderson. He also worked with Anderson as a creative collaborator on his next two directorial efforts, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, for which they were nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson subsequently landed a role in The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller, an early admirer of Bottle Rocket. After minor appearances in action films like Anaconda, Armageddon and The Haunting, Wilson appeared in two dramatic roles: supporting actor in Permanent Midnight, which starred Stiller as a drug-addicted TV writer; and the lead role as a serial killer in The Minus Man, in which future girlfriend, singer Sheryl Crow was a co-star. He also made a cameo in the Girl Skateboards video Yeah Right! in 2003.
Wilson at the London premiere of You, Me and Dupree, 2006

Wilson got his big break with the 2000 comedy action hit Shanghai Noon, starring opposite Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan. The film grossed nearly US$100 million worldwide. His fame continued to rise after starring alongside Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell in the 2001 film Zoolander.

Gene Hackman took notice of Wilson's performance in Shanghai Noon and recommended Wilson to co-star in the 2001 action film Behind Enemy Lines. Also in 2001, Wilson and Anderson collaborated on their third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, which was a financial and critical success. The comedy featured an all-star cast, including Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel and brother Luke. Owen Wilson had a memorable supporting role in the film as Eli Cash, a drug-addled bon vivant who becomes a literary celebrity. It earned the writing team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson returned to the buddy-comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring Eddie Murphy. This big-screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003) and the film remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004). Due to his busy schedule as an actor and an ongoing sinus condition, Wilson was unavailable to collaborate on the script for Wes Anderson's fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The 2004 film was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. However, Wilson did star in the film as Bill Murray's would-be son, Ned Plimpton; a role written specifically for Wilson. In 2004 Wilson worked with his brother Luke Wilson in the 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days as the Wright brothers.
Wilson in May 2007

Wilson partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million in the US alone. Also in 2005, Owen collaborated with his brothers by appearing in The Wendell Baker Story, written by brother Luke, directed by Luke and brother Andrew. In 2006, Wilson provided the voice of Lightning McQueen in the Disney/Pixar film Cars, starred in You, Me and Dupree with Kate Hudson, and appeared with Stiller in Night at the Museum as Jedediah, the cowboy, an uncredited role.

Wilson has appeared in ten films with Stiller (a long-time friend) to date: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), and the sequels Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Little Fockers (2010).

Wilson appeared in another Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited, which screened at the 45th annual New York Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival and opened September 30, 2007, co-starring Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. Wilson next starred in the Judd Apatow comedy, Drillbit Taylor, released in March 2008. He appeared in a film adaptation of John Grogan's best-selling memoir, Marley & Me (2008), co-starring Jennifer Aniston.

The Darjeeling Limited, starring Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman was selected for a DVD and Blu-ray release by The Criterion Collection in October 2010.

Wilson provided the voice for the Whackbat Coach Skip in Wes Anderson's version of Fantastic Mr. Fox. He starred in the film The Big Year, an adaptation of Mark Obmascik's book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession. The film was released in October 2011 from 20th Century Fox and co-starred Jack Black, JoBeth Williams, Steve Martin, and Rashida Jones.

Wilson is a member of the comedic acting brotherhood colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.25 billion domestically (United States and Canada), with an average of $75 million per film. Wilson made a guest appearance on the NBC comedy Community with fellow Frat Pack member Jack Black.

Most recently, Wilson starred as a nostalgic writer in the romantic comedy Midnight in Paris. Written and directed by Woody Allen, the film has become Allen's highest grossing film at the box office and was also well received by critics.
Personal life

The 2002 release of the album C'mon C'mon by former girlfriend Sheryl Crow features the song Safe and Sound which is dedicated to Wilson in the liner notes and is said to be an autobiographical account of Wilson's and Crow's relationship.

On August 26, 2007, Wilson was taken to St. John's Health Center amid reports of a suicide attempt. He was later transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. His lawyer later confirmed that he had been undergoing treatment for depression. A few days later, Wilson withdrew from starring in Tropic Thunder, produced by and starring his friend and frequent collaborator Ben Stiller. Following the suicide attempt, Wilson had participated in limited publicity and promotion for his films.

On January 10, 2011, Wilson's representative announced that Wilson and his girlfriend, Jade Duell, were expecting a baby. Just four days later, on January 14, it was confirmed that Duell had given birth in Hawaii to a baby boy, Robert Ford Wilson.
Channels

    2011: Luke Large's Voiced in The Large Family's New Episode in 2011 in Season 3 in The Large Family.

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Bottle Rocket Dignan Also Executive Producer/Writer
Also appeared in the short of the same name
The Cable Guy Robin's Date
1997 Anaconda Gary Dixon
1998 Armageddon Oscar Choice
Rushmore – (None) Executive Producer/Writer
Permanent Midnight Nicky
1999 Heat Vision and Jack Heat Vision Voice Only
Television film
The Haunting Luke Sanderson
Breakfast of Champions Monte Rapid
The Minus Man Vann Siegert
2000 Meet the Parents Kevin Rawley
Shanghai Noon Roy O'Bannon
2001 Behind Enemy Lines Lt. Chris Burnett
The Royal Tenenbaums Eli Cash Also Executive Producer/Writer
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Zoolander Hansel McDonald Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
2002 I Spy Alex Scott
2003 Shanghai Knights Roy O'Bannon Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Yeah Right! Himself
2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Ned Plimpton Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Meet the Fockers Kevin Rawley
Around the World in 80 Days Wilbur Wright
Starsky & Hutch Ken Hutchinson MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
The Big Bounce Jack Ryan
2005 The Wendell Baker Story Neil King
Wedding Crashers John Beckwith MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
2006 Night at the Museum Jedediah Uncredited
You, Me and Dupree Randolph Dupree Also Producer
Cars Lightning McQueen Voice Only
2007 The Darjeeling Limited Francis Whitman
2008 Drillbit Taylor Drillbit Taylor
Over Her Dead Body Guy on Phone Uncredited cameo
Marley & Me John Grogan
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Jedediah
Fantastic Mr. Fox Coach Skip Voice Only
2010 How Do You Know Matty Reynolds
Little Fockers Kevin Rawley
Marmaduke Marmaduke Voice Only
2011 Hall Pass Rick
Cars 2 Lightning McQueen Voice Only
MAD Jason, Baby Edward, Various
Midnight in Paris Gil
Turkeys Reggie Voice Only
The Big Year Kenny Bostick
Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales Lightning McQueen Voice Only/Season 3
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/basketcaseGD33/owen-wilson.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk221/jimmyworeearmuffs/owen-wilson.jpg
It appears he stars in what I call as my-not-kinda film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/18/11 at 7:46 pm


The person of the day...Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon, Behind Enemy Lines, and Drillbit Taylor.
Wilson debuted as an actor in the role of "Dignan" in the Wes Anderson film Bottle Rocket, which he co-wrote with Anderson. He also worked with Anderson as a creative collaborator on his next two directorial efforts, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, for which they were nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson subsequently landed a role in The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller, an early admirer of Bottle Rocket. After minor appearances in action films like Anaconda, Armageddon and The Haunting, Wilson appeared in two dramatic roles: supporting actor in Permanent Midnight, which starred Stiller as a drug-addicted TV writer; and the lead role as a serial killer in The Minus Man, in which future girlfriend, singer Sheryl Crow was a co-star. He also made a cameo in the Girl Skateboards video Yeah Right! in 2003.
Wilson at the London premiere of You, Me and Dupree, 2006

Wilson got his big break with the 2000 comedy action hit Shanghai Noon, starring opposite Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan. The film grossed nearly US$100 million worldwide. His fame continued to rise after starring alongside Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell in the 2001 film Zoolander.

Gene Hackman took notice of Wilson's performance in Shanghai Noon and recommended Wilson to co-star in the 2001 action film Behind Enemy Lines. Also in 2001, Wilson and Anderson collaborated on their third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, which was a financial and critical success. The comedy featured an all-star cast, including Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel and brother Luke. Owen Wilson had a memorable supporting role in the film as Eli Cash, a drug-addled bon vivant who becomes a literary celebrity. It earned the writing team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Wilson returned to the buddy-comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring Eddie Murphy. This big-screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003) and the film remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004). Due to his busy schedule as an actor and an ongoing sinus condition, Wilson was unavailable to collaborate on the script for Wes Anderson's fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The 2004 film was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. However, Wilson did star in the film as Bill Murray's would-be son, Ned Plimpton; a role written specifically for Wilson. In 2004 Wilson worked with his brother Luke Wilson in the 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days as the Wright brothers.
Wilson in May 2007

Wilson partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million in the US alone. Also in 2005, Owen collaborated with his brothers by appearing in The Wendell Baker Story, written by brother Luke, directed by Luke and brother Andrew. In 2006, Wilson provided the voice of Lightning McQueen in the Disney/Pixar film Cars, starred in You, Me and Dupree with Kate Hudson, and appeared with Stiller in Night at the Museum as Jedediah, the cowboy, an uncredited role.

Wilson has appeared in ten films with Stiller (a long-time friend) to date: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), and the sequels Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Little Fockers (2010).

Wilson appeared in another Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited, which screened at the 45th annual New York Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival and opened September 30, 2007, co-starring Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. Wilson next starred in the Judd Apatow comedy, Drillbit Taylor, released in March 2008. He appeared in a film adaptation of John Grogan's best-selling memoir, Marley & Me (2008), co-starring Jennifer Aniston.

The Darjeeling Limited, starring Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman was selected for a DVD and Blu-ray release by The Criterion Collection in October 2010.

Wilson provided the voice for the Whackbat Coach Skip in Wes Anderson's version of Fantastic Mr. Fox. He starred in the film The Big Year, an adaptation of Mark Obmascik's book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession. The film was released in October 2011 from 20th Century Fox and co-starred Jack Black, JoBeth Williams, Steve Martin, and Rashida Jones.

Wilson is a member of the comedic acting brotherhood colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.25 billion domestically (United States and Canada), with an average of $75 million per film. Wilson made a guest appearance on the NBC comedy Community with fellow Frat Pack member Jack Black.

Most recently, Wilson starred as a nostalgic writer in the romantic comedy Midnight in Paris. Written and directed by Woody Allen, the film has become Allen's highest grossing film at the box office and was also well received by critics.
Personal life

The 2002 release of the album C'mon C'mon by former girlfriend Sheryl Crow features the song Safe and Sound which is dedicated to Wilson in the liner notes and is said to be an autobiographical account of Wilson's and Crow's relationship.

On August 26, 2007, Wilson was taken to St. John's Health Center amid reports of a suicide attempt. He was later transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. His lawyer later confirmed that he had been undergoing treatment for depression. A few days later, Wilson withdrew from starring in Tropic Thunder, produced by and starring his friend and frequent collaborator Ben Stiller. Following the suicide attempt, Wilson had participated in limited publicity and promotion for his films.

On January 10, 2011, Wilson's representative announced that Wilson and his girlfriend, Jade Duell, were expecting a baby. Just four days later, on January 14, it was confirmed that Duell had given birth in Hawaii to a baby boy, Robert Ford Wilson.
Channels

    2011: Luke Large's Voiced in The Large Family's New Episode in 2011 in Season 3 in The Large Family.

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1996 Bottle Rocket Dignan Also Executive Producer/Writer
Also appeared in the short of the same name
The Cable Guy Robin's Date
1997 Anaconda Gary Dixon
1998 Armageddon Oscar Choice
Rushmore – (None) Executive Producer/Writer
Permanent Midnight Nicky
1999 Heat Vision and Jack Heat Vision Voice Only
Television film
The Haunting Luke Sanderson
Breakfast of Champions Monte Rapid
The Minus Man Vann Siegert
2000 Meet the Parents Kevin Rawley
Shanghai Noon Roy O'Bannon
2001 Behind Enemy Lines Lt. Chris Burnett
The Royal Tenenbaums Eli Cash Also Executive Producer/Writer
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Zoolander Hansel McDonald Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
2002 I Spy Alex Scott
2003 Shanghai Knights Roy O'Bannon Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Yeah Right! Himself
2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Ned Plimpton Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Meet the Fockers Kevin Rawley
Around the World in 80 Days Wilbur Wright
Starsky & Hutch Ken Hutchinson MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
The Big Bounce Jack Ryan
2005 The Wendell Baker Story Neil King
Wedding Crashers John Beckwith MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
2006 Night at the Museum Jedediah Uncredited
You, Me and Dupree Randolph Dupree Also Producer
Cars Lightning McQueen Voice Only
2007 The Darjeeling Limited Francis Whitman
2008 Drillbit Taylor Drillbit Taylor
Over Her Dead Body Guy on Phone Uncredited cameo
Marley & Me John Grogan
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Jedediah
Fantastic Mr. Fox Coach Skip Voice Only
2010 How Do You Know Matty Reynolds
Little Fockers Kevin Rawley
Marmaduke Marmaduke Voice Only
2011 Hall Pass Rick
Cars 2 Lightning McQueen Voice Only
MAD Jason, Baby Edward, Various
Midnight in Paris Gil
Turkeys Reggie Voice Only
The Big Year Kenny Bostick
Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales Lightning McQueen Voice Only/Season 3
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c344/basketcaseGD33/owen-wilson.jpg
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk221/jimmyworeearmuffs/owen-wilson.jpg



He is hilarious.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/20/11 at 11:43 am

The person of the day...Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson (born 20 November 1932) is an English-American actor, comedian, game show panelist, and host. He is best known for his role as Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes, being the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976–1985 and from 1994 to 1995, and for being a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS from 1973 to 1978. He is also famous for what is to date his final film role, that of Damon Killian, host of "The Running Man" in the 1987 film, The Running Man.
Dawson was born as Colin Lionel Emm in Gosport, Hampshire, England, to an American father and English mother. At the age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become Richard Dawson. This name he would later officially legalize. In the course of his career in comedy Dawson is known to have played the London Palladium, a theater in London.
Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) and other works

Having married British sex symbol Diana Dors, Dawson moved to Los Angeles, California, where he gained fame in the television show Hogan's Heroes as Cpl. Peter Newkirk. The war-related sitcom was one of the highest-rated shows on television during its six-year run from 1965 to 1971. Earlier in 1963, a svelte and dapper young Dawson had appeared in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the role of Brit entertainer "Racy Tracy" Rattigan. In 1965, Dawson had a small role at the end of the film King Rat, starring George Segal, playing a 1st Recon paratrooper Captain Weaver, sent to liberate allied POWs in a Japanese prison.
Late 1960s and early 1970s

In 1967, Dawson released a psychedelic 45rpm single including the songs "His Children's Parade" and "Apples & Oranges" on Carnation Records. In 1968, Dawson was in the movie The Devil's Brigade, as Private Hugh McDonald. Dawson and Dors eventually divorced, and he gained custody of both their children, Gary and Mark. Immediately following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes, Dawson performed as a regular on the popular NBC variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In from 1971 to 1973 and would also be a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1973 to 1974. Dawson also appeared as a panelist on the 1972–73 syndicated revival of I've Got a Secret.
Mid-1970s to mid-1980s

After Laugh-In left the airwaves in 1973, game show pioneer Mark Goodson signed Dawson to appear as a regular on Match Game '73, alongside Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and host Gene Rayburn. Dawson, who had already served a year as panelist for Goodson's revival of I've Got a Secret, proved to be a solid and funny gameplayer and was the frequent choice of contestants for the "Head-To-Head Match" portion of the show's "Super-Match" bonus round, in which, after winning prize money in the "Audience Match" portion, the contestant and Dawson (or any celebrity the contestant chose) had to obtain an exact match to the requested fill-in-the-blank.

Dawson's position on the panel was the lower middle seat, directly below fellow regular Somers.

Dawson hosted a one-season syndicated revival of Masquerade Party in 1974; the program featured regular panelists Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell. Produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall (of Let's Make a Deal fame), the program was not popular enough to warrant a second season.
Richard Dawson (host) and contestants from the 1976-1985 original version of Family Feud, his greatest professional success
Match game 1973 going to Family feud (1976-1985)

In 1975, during his tenure as one of Match Game's regular panelists, Dawson was hired by Mark Goodson to host an upcoming project titled Family Feud, which debuted on 12 July 1976, on ABC's daytime schedule. Unlike his flop with Masquerade Party, Family Feud was a breakout hit, eventually surpassing the ratings of Match Game in late 1977. In 1978 he left Match Game and won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud.

One of his trademarks, kissing all the female contestants, was one of the things that made the show appear to be a warm and friendly program, and he soon garnered the nickname The Kissing Bandit. On the 1985 finale Dawson explained that he kissed contestants for love and luck, something his mother did with Dawson himself as a child. In 1983, Dawson made an appearance on Mama's Family as himself, hosting an episode of Family Feud where the Harpers play as contestants (reuniting him with former Match Game co-panelists Betty White and Vicki Lawrence). After Dawson became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1984 he proudly showed his passport and photo during the introduction of an episode of Family Feud.

Dawson continued hosting the Feud until both editions were canceled; the ABC Daytime edition on 14 June 1985 and the syndicated edition three months later on 13 September 1985.
Mid-1980s – present career and returning to Family Feud (1994-1995)

Dawson parodied his TV persona in 1987 by co-starring in the action movie The Running Man, in which he portrayed the evil, egotistical game-show host Damon Killian. Of Dawson's performance film critic Roger Ebert (who gave the film itself thumbs down) wrote, "Playing a character who always seems three-quarters drunk, Dawson chain-smokes his way through backstage planning sessions and then pops up in front of the cameras as a cauldron of false jollity. Working the audience, milking the laughs and the tears, he is not really much different than most genuine game show hosts—and that's the movie's private joke."

Dawson hosted an unsold pilot for a revival of the classic game show You Bet Your Life that was to air on NBC in 1988, but the network declined to pick up the show, which would go on to attempt two more failed revivals with hosts Buddy Hackett and Bill Cosby. On 12 September 1994, Dawson returned to the syndicated edition of Family Feud, replacing Ray Combs for what became the final season of the show's official second run (1988–1995).

On Dawson's first show upon his return he received a 25-second standing ovation when he walked on set. Afterwards he said, "If you do too much of that, I won't be able to do a show for you because I'll cry." The final episode aired on 26 May 1995. After Family Feud, Dawson decided to retire from show business. In 1999, he was asked to make a special appearance on the first episode of the current version of Family Feud, but decided to turn the offer down and have no further involvement with the show. In 2000, Dawson narrated TV's Funniest Game Show Moments on the Fox network.
Personal life and family

Upon retiring Dawson took up residence in Beverly Hills, California with his wife since 1991, the former Gretchen Johnson, whom he met when she was a member of one of the contestant families on Family Feud in 1981. They have a daughter named Shannon Nicole Dawson. He did not kiss the female contestants in his second run on Family Feud due to a commitment he made to his wife and daughter.

He also has two sons, Mark Dawson (born 1960) and Gary Dawson (born 1962), from his previous marriage to Diana Dors. Richard also has five grandchildren: Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson, Emma Rose Dawson, Lauren Dawson.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg241/rotto226/RichardDawson4.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af190/stubbs2012/celebrities%20ttm/richarddawson001.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/20/11 at 2:02 pm

I have enjoyed seeing Dawson as the original host of "Family Feud." However, I've seen most of them as classic reruns on GSN. He liked to kiss all the ladies on the show.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/20/11 at 3:45 pm


The person of the day...Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson (born 20 November 1932) is an English-American actor, comedian, game show panelist, and host. He is best known for his role as Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes, being the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976–1985 and from 1994 to 1995, and for being a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS from 1973 to 1978. He is also famous for what is to date his final film role, that of Damon Killian, host of "The Running Man" in the 1987 film, The Running Man.
Dawson was born as Colin Lionel Emm in Gosport, Hampshire, England, to an American father and English mother. At the age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become Richard Dawson. This name he would later officially legalize. In the course of his career in comedy Dawson is known to have played the London Palladium, a theater in London.
Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) and other works

Having married British sex symbol Diana Dors, Dawson moved to Los Angeles, California, where he gained fame in the television show Hogan's Heroes as Cpl. Peter Newkirk. The war-related sitcom was one of the highest-rated shows on television during its six-year run from 1965 to 1971. Earlier in 1963, a svelte and dapper young Dawson had appeared in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the role of Brit entertainer "Racy Tracy" Rattigan. In 1965, Dawson had a small role at the end of the film King Rat, starring George Segal, playing a 1st Recon paratrooper Captain Weaver, sent to liberate allied POWs in a Japanese prison.
Late 1960s and early 1970s

In 1967, Dawson released a psychedelic 45rpm single including the songs "His Children's Parade" and "Apples & Oranges" on Carnation Records. In 1968, Dawson was in the movie The Devil's Brigade, as Private Hugh McDonald. Dawson and Dors eventually divorced, and he gained custody of both their children, Gary and Mark. Immediately following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes, Dawson performed as a regular on the popular NBC variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In from 1971 to 1973 and would also be a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1973 to 1974. Dawson also appeared as a panelist on the 1972–73 syndicated revival of I've Got a Secret.
Mid-1970s to mid-1980s

After Laugh-In left the airwaves in 1973, game show pioneer Mark Goodson signed Dawson to appear as a regular on Match Game '73, alongside Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and host Gene Rayburn. Dawson, who had already served a year as panelist for Goodson's revival of I've Got a Secret, proved to be a solid and funny gameplayer and was the frequent choice of contestants for the "Head-To-Head Match" portion of the show's "Super-Match" bonus round, in which, after winning prize money in the "Audience Match" portion, the contestant and Dawson (or any celebrity the contestant chose) had to obtain an exact match to the requested fill-in-the-blank.

Dawson's position on the panel was the lower middle seat, directly below fellow regular Somers.

Dawson hosted a one-season syndicated revival of Masquerade Party in 1974; the program featured regular panelists Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell. Produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall (of Let's Make a Deal fame), the program was not popular enough to warrant a second season.
Richard Dawson (host) and contestants from the 1976-1985 original version of Family Feud, his greatest professional success
Match game 1973 going to Family feud (1976-1985)

In 1975, during his tenure as one of Match Game's regular panelists, Dawson was hired by Mark Goodson to host an upcoming project titled Family Feud, which debuted on 12 July 1976, on ABC's daytime schedule. Unlike his flop with Masquerade Party, Family Feud was a breakout hit, eventually surpassing the ratings of Match Game in late 1977. In 1978 he left Match Game and won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud.

One of his trademarks, kissing all the female contestants, was one of the things that made the show appear to be a warm and friendly program, and he soon garnered the nickname The Kissing Bandit. On the 1985 finale Dawson explained that he kissed contestants for love and luck, something his mother did with Dawson himself as a child. In 1983, Dawson made an appearance on Mama's Family as himself, hosting an episode of Family Feud where the Harpers play as contestants (reuniting him with former Match Game co-panelists Betty White and Vicki Lawrence). After Dawson became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1984 he proudly showed his passport and photo during the introduction of an episode of Family Feud.

Dawson continued hosting the Feud until both editions were canceled; the ABC Daytime edition on 14 June 1985 and the syndicated edition three months later on 13 September 1985.
Mid-1980s – present career and returning to Family Feud (1994-1995)

Dawson parodied his TV persona in 1987 by co-starring in the action movie The Running Man, in which he portrayed the evil, egotistical game-show host Damon Killian. Of Dawson's performance film critic Roger Ebert (who gave the film itself thumbs down) wrote, "Playing a character who always seems three-quarters drunk, Dawson chain-smokes his way through backstage planning sessions and then pops up in front of the cameras as a cauldron of false jollity. Working the audience, milking the laughs and the tears, he is not really much different than most genuine game show hosts—and that's the movie's private joke."

Dawson hosted an unsold pilot for a revival of the classic game show You Bet Your Life that was to air on NBC in 1988, but the network declined to pick up the show, which would go on to attempt two more failed revivals with hosts Buddy Hackett and Bill Cosby. On 12 September 1994, Dawson returned to the syndicated edition of Family Feud, replacing Ray Combs for what became the final season of the show's official second run (1988–1995).

On Dawson's first show upon his return he received a 25-second standing ovation when he walked on set. Afterwards he said, "If you do too much of that, I won't be able to do a show for you because I'll cry." The final episode aired on 26 May 1995. After Family Feud, Dawson decided to retire from show business. In 1999, he was asked to make a special appearance on the first episode of the current version of Family Feud, but decided to turn the offer down and have no further involvement with the show. In 2000, Dawson narrated TV's Funniest Game Show Moments on the Fox network.
Personal life and family

Upon retiring Dawson took up residence in Beverly Hills, California with his wife since 1991, the former Gretchen Johnson, whom he met when she was a member of one of the contestant families on Family Feud in 1981. They have a daughter named Shannon Nicole Dawson. He did not kiss the female contestants in his second run on Family Feud due to a commitment he made to his wife and daughter.

He also has two sons, Mark Dawson (born 1960) and Gary Dawson (born 1962), from his previous marriage to Diana Dors. Richard also has five grandchildren: Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson, Emma Rose Dawson, Lauren Dawson.
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg241/rotto226/RichardDawson4.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af190/stubbs2012/celebrities%20ttm/richarddawson001.jpg



I miss him,Family Feud hasn't been the same without him. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/21/11 at 2:06 pm



I miss him,Family Feud hasn't been the same without him. :(

True; there have been 5 additional hosts of the game (Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard Karn, John O'Hurley, and Steve Harvey).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/21/11 at 3:10 pm


True; there have been 5 additional hosts of the game (Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard Karn, John O'Hurley, and Steve Harvey).


Ray Combs was the closest one to being cool.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/22/11 at 12:00 am


Ray Combs was the closest one to being cool.

Yeah, he was the emcee during the show's second incarnation, late 1980s and early 1990s. I watched his version a lot during its first season. Too bad he took his own life 15 years ago. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/22/11 at 8:59 am



I miss him,Family Feud hasn't been the same without him. :(

I agree Ray Combs was the 2nd best and it has gone down hill since then.

Yeah, he was the emcee during the show's second incarnation, late 1980s and early 1990s. I watched his version a lot during its first season. Too bad he took his own life 15 years ago. :\'(

Yes very sad indeed. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/22/11 at 9:01 am

The person of the day...Mark Ruffalo
Mark Alan Ruffalo (November 22, 1967) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Ruffalo had minor roles in films like The Dentist (1996), the low-key crime comedy Safe Men (1998) and Ang Lee's Civil War Western Ride with the Devil (1999). Through a chance meeting with writer Kenneth Lonergan, Ruffalo began collaborating with Lonergan and appeared in several of his plays, including the original cast of This is Our Youth (1998), which led to Ruffalo's role as Laura Linney's troubled, aimless drifter brother Terry in Lonergan's acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated 2000 film You Can Count on Me. He received favorable reviews for his performance in this film, often earning comparisons to the young Marlon Brando, and won awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Montreal World Film Festival.

This led to other significant roles, including the films XX/XY (2002), Isabel Coixet's My Life Without Me with Sarah Polley (2003), Jane Campion's In the Cut with Meg Ryan (2003), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), and We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), which is based upon two short stories written by Andre Dubus. He appeared opposite Tom Cruise as a narcotics detective in Michael Mann's acclaimed crime-thriller Collateral (2004). More recently, Ruffalo has appeared as a romantic lead in "chick flicks" such as View From the Top (2002), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Just Like Heaven (2005) and Rumor Has It (2005). In 2006, Ruffalo starred in Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing! at the Belasco Theatre in New York, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In March 2007, he appeared in Zodiac as SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi, who ran the investigation to find and apprehend the Zodiac killer from 1969 through most of the 1970s. In 2007, Ruffalo played divorced lawyer Dwight Arno, who accidentally kills a child and speeds away, in Terry George's film Reservation Road, based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz.

In 2008, Ruffalo starred as a con man in The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz. Also in 2008, he starred along with Julianne Moore in Blindness. 2008 also saw Ruffalo in Brian Goodman's What Doesn't Kill You with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Peet, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival. In 2009, he played a brief role in the film Where The Wild Things Are as Max's mother's boyfriend. In 2010, he costarred in the Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island as U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule, the partner of Leonardo DiCaprio's character Teddy Daniels.

In 2010, he starred in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. Ruffalo stated in an interview that he approached Cholodenko after watching High Art and said he would love to work with her. Years later, she called Ruffalo and said she wrote a script, and had him in mind for the part. The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.

He is set to star in Second Coming, a low-budget indie film. According to Production Weekly, it is being produced by Richard N. Gladstein, Laura Bickford, and Ludovic Dardenay. The movie will also star Marion Cotillard, Ethan Hawke, Anjelica Huston, and Thandie Newton, and it will be the directorial debut of Nenad Cicin-Sain.

On July 23, 2010, it was announced that Ruffalo will join actors Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., and Chris Hemsworth, among others, in the 2012 movie The Avengers, in which he will play Bruce Banner.
Directing

He made his directorial debut with Sympathy for Delicious, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize. On releasing the film, Ruffalo said, "I'm still looking for distribution. I have a couple offers on the table, but I'm holding out for something a little bigger. I've been screening it for a lot of groups, and people are really responding to it. I think they're scared of that movie." Of directing, he says, "I liken it to an actor gets to eat one slice, and a director gets to eat the whole pie. You get to collaborate with gifted people who are good at their craft, so you're orchestrating all these different mediums. You're helping people through the script to realize their own talents. I find that really satisfying, and I felt like being in front of the camera is so intense and self-involved and personal, and directing isn't like that for me. It's a much more communal experience. Last year at this time, I was like, 'I'm not going back to acting, man. No way, it's done.' I haven't worked in a year. It's really taken me that long to get back to my love for what I do for acting. I would like to do 50-50, if I could. Really, I'd just be directing right now, but I can't support my family doing that at this moment, and I love acting. It's not a bad position to be in."
Personal life
Family

Since June 2000, Mark has been married to French-American actress Sunrise Coigney (born Christina Sunrise Coigney on September 17, 1972 in San Francisco), and they have three children: a son Keen, born in 2001, and daughters Bella Noche, born in 2005, and Odette, born in 2007, in Los Angeles, California.
Brother's death

On December 1, 2008, Ruffalo's brother, Scott, was shot at his Beverly Hills condominium, with one report describing the shooting as "execution-style" in the back of the head. Scott died on December 8, 2008. Police took two people into custody: a woman who is considered a suspect and a man considered a "person of interest". One of the suspects reportedly told police that Scott Ruffalo shot himself while playing Russian roulette; the witnesses were later released as the police investigation continued.
Health problems

In 2002, Ruffalo was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor, and had surgery; the tumor was benign, but resulted in a period of partial facial paralysis. He fully recovered from the paralysis and returned to good health as well as an active life and movie career. Ruffalo is also a vegetarian.
Political views

On October 4, 2006, he appeared on Democracy Now!, a daily news program. He spoke against the War in Iraq, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, torture, and the Bush Administration. He also announced he would speak at The World Can't Wait Protest in New York City on October 5, 2006. Ruffalo contributed to the campaign of former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel for the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for President.

In October 2007, Ruffalo criticized the 9/11 Commission Report as "completely illegitimate" and called for re-opening the investigation. He said: "I saw the way they all came down and I am baffled. My first reaction is that buildings don't fall down like that." He also criticized the 9/11 truth movement, saying "There's so much information that's been put out there by truth for 9/11 and ... so much of it has been stretched that a lot of people are grabbing hold of the more sensational parts of what doesn't jibe..."

On October 4, 2010, Ruffalo, who makes his home with his family in Callicoon, New York, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss hydraulic fracturing and the The FRAC Act of 2009. Ruffalo stated in the December 2010 issue of GQ magazine that after he organized screenings in Pennsylvania of a documentary about natural-gas-drilling called Gasland, he was placed on a terror advisory list. The Department denied that they had him on a list.

On July 13, 2011, Ruffalo appeared on Countdown With Keith Olbermann to discuss fracking, most particularly in New York. "This is an industry that is the dirtiest, slimiest, most arrogant, and negligent that you can imagine," Ruffalo says. Mr. Ruffalo taped an "online segment extra" for Countdown, during which time Keith Olbermann offered him the opportunity to become an official Countdown Contributor. Mr. Ruffalo gratefully accepted.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film and television 1994 Due South Vinnie Webber TV Series: 1 Episode: A cop, a mountie and a baby
1996 The Last Big Thing Brent Benedict
The Dentist Steve Landers
1997 On the 2nd Day of Christmas Bert
1998 Safe Men Frank
54 Ricko
1999 Ride with the Devil Alf Bowden
2000 You Can Count on Me Terry Prescott Los Angeles Film Critics Association – New Generation Award
Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Performer
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Committed T-Bo
The Beat Zane Marinelli TV Series: 8 Episodes
2001 The Last Castle Yates
Life/Drawing (AKA Apartment 12) Alex
2002 XX/XY Coles
Windtalkers Private Pappas
2003 My Life Without Me Lee Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
View from the Top Ted Stewart
In the Cut Detective Giovanni A. Malloy
2004 We Don't Live Here Anymore Jack Linden Also Executive Producer
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Stan
13 Going on 30 Matt Flamhaff Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Comedy
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock
Collateral Fanning
2005 Just Like Heaven David Abbott
Rumor Has It Jeff Daly
2006 All the King's Men Adam Stanton
2007 Zodiac Inspector David Toschi
Reservation Road Dwight Arno
2008 Blindness Doctor Nominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film
What Doesn't Kill You Brian Reilly Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2009 The Brothers Bloom Stephen Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Where the Wild Things Are Connie's Boyfriend
Sympathy for Delicious Joe Also Producer/Director
Sundance Film Festival – Special Jury Prize – Dramatic
2010 Shutter Island Chuck Aule Nominated—Scream Award for Best Supporting Actor
Date Night Brad Sullivan
The Kids Are All Right Paul New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Comedy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated— Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2011 Margaret Maretti Berstone
2012 The Avengers Bruce Banner / The Hulk
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s102/skipper2000/ruffalo.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg81/magooglersriot/Mark%20Ruffalo/000987654321.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/22/11 at 10:24 am


I agree Ray Combs was the 2nd best and it has gone down hill since then.

Yes very sad indeed. :\'(

However, I kinda liked Richard Karn during the four years that he was the emcee (2002-2006). Those reruns still air on GSN.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/24/11 at 12:25 pm

British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા‌), 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.sweetslyrics.com/images/img_gal/4575_freddie-mercury.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/24/11 at 7:12 pm


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા‌), 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.sweetslyrics.com/images/img_gal/4575_freddie-mercury.jpg


Queen was great.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/24/11 at 11:55 pm


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા‌), 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.sweetslyrics.com/images/img_gal/4575_freddie-mercury.jpg

20 whole years since his passing. :\'( He was certainly a legend.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/26/11 at 11:05 am

British Person of the Day: John Harvard

John Harvard (November 26, 1607 – September 14, 1638) was an English minister in America whose deathbed bequest to the Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was so gratefully received that the school was renamed Harvard College in his honor.

Biography

Harvard was born and raised in Southwark, England, the fourth of nine children born to Robert Harvard (1562–1625), a butcher and tavern owner, and his wife Katherine Rogers (1584–1635), a native of Stratford-upon-Avon whose father Thomas Rogers (1540–1611) may have been an associate of Shakespeare's father. He was baptised at what is now Southwark Cathedral and attended St Saviour's Grammar School, where his father was a governor.

In 1625 the plague reduced the immediate family to John, a brother Thomas, and their mother. Katherine was soon remarried—first to John Elletson (1580–1626), who died within a few months, then (1627) to Richard Yearwood (1580–1632). She died in 1635, Thomas in 1637.

Harvard entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge (a constituent college of the University of Cambridge) in 1627, earning his B.A. in 1632 and M.A. in 1635. In 1636 he married Ann Sadler (1614–55) of Ringmer, sister of his college classmate John Sadler.

In the spring or summer of 1637 the couple emigrated to Massachusetts and settled in Charlestown, where Harvard became a teaching elder of the First Church of Charlestown, and assistant preacher. On September 14, 1638 he died of tuberculosis. He was buried at Charlestown's Phipps Street Burying Ground. Harvard students erected a granite obelisk monument there in 1838; his original stone had disappeared during the American Revolution.

Benefactor of Harvard College

John Harvard was not, as often said, the founder of Harvard College, though he was its first benefactor. Two years before his death the Massachusetts colony, desiring to "advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity: dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust", had determined to establish a school. The childless Harvard, who had inherited considerable sums from his father, mother, and brother, bequeathed £780 (half of his monetary estate) as well as (perhaps more importantly) his 400-volume library to what had been called the New College—which was soon renamed Harvard College.

The settlement surrounding the college, previously called Newtowne, was also rechristened—to Cambridge, after the university where Harvard and many other degree-holding early colonists received their educations.

A statue in Harvard's honor (though not a likeness of him, there being no contemporary portrait to indicate what he looked like) is a prominent feature of the Harvard Yard. The Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston to Cambridge) is named for him, as is the John Harvard Library in Southwark. In 1986 the United States Postal Service issued a 56-cent John Harvard stamp as part of its Great Americans series.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/BostonTrip-91.jpg/220px-BostonTrip-91.jpg
John Harvard Statue at Harvard University

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/imageuploads/1264780031_80.177.117.97.jpg
This blue plaque was recently installed outside John Harvard Library in Borough High Street, close to the site of the tavern owned by the Harvard family

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/27/11 at 9:01 am


British Person of the Day: Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા‌), 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "We Are the Champions". In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, penning hits such as "Barcelona", "I Was Born to Love You" and "Living on My Own". Mercury also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Mercury was a Parsi born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his mid-teens. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2005, a poll organised by Blender and MTV2 saw Mercury voted the greatest male singer of all time. In 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2009, a Classic Rock poll saw him voted the greatest rock singer of all time. Allmusic has characterised Mercury as "one of rock's greatest all-time entertainers", who possessed "one of the greatest voices in all of music".

http://www.sweetslyrics.com/images/img_gal/4575_freddie-mercury.jpg

What a great artist, sadly missed :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/27/11 at 9:03 am


British Person of the Day: John Harvard

John Harvard (November 26, 1607 – September 14, 1638) was an English minister in America whose deathbed bequest to the Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was so gratefully received that the school was renamed Harvard College in his honor.

Biography

Harvard was born and raised in Southwark, England, the fourth of nine children born to Robert Harvard (1562–1625), a butcher and tavern owner, and his wife Katherine Rogers (1584–1635), a native of Stratford-upon-Avon whose father Thomas Rogers (1540–1611) may have been an associate of Shakespeare's father. He was baptised at what is now Southwark Cathedral and attended St Saviour's Grammar School, where his father was a governor.

In 1625 the plague reduced the immediate family to John, a brother Thomas, and their mother. Katherine was soon remarried—first to John Elletson (1580–1626), who died within a few months, then (1627) to Richard Yearwood (1580–1632). She died in 1635, Thomas in 1637.

Harvard entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge (a constituent college of the University of Cambridge) in 1627, earning his B.A. in 1632 and M.A. in 1635. In 1636 he married Ann Sadler (1614–55) of Ringmer, sister of his college classmate John Sadler.

In the spring or summer of 1637 the couple emigrated to Massachusetts and settled in Charlestown, where Harvard became a teaching elder of the First Church of Charlestown, and assistant preacher. On September 14, 1638 he died of tuberculosis. He was buried at Charlestown's Phipps Street Burying Ground. Harvard students erected a granite obelisk monument there in 1838; his original stone had disappeared during the American Revolution.

Benefactor of Harvard College

John Harvard was not, as often said, the founder of Harvard College, though he was its first benefactor. Two years before his death the Massachusetts colony, desiring to "advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity: dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust", had determined to establish a school. The childless Harvard, who had inherited considerable sums from his father, mother, and brother, bequeathed £780 (half of his monetary estate) as well as (perhaps more importantly) his 400-volume library to what had been called the New College—which was soon renamed Harvard College.

The settlement surrounding the college, previously called Newtowne, was also rechristened—to Cambridge, after the university where Harvard and many other degree-holding early colonists received their educations.

A statue in Harvard's honor (though not a likeness of him, there being no contemporary portrait to indicate what he looked like) is a prominent feature of the Harvard Yard. The Harvard Bridge (connecting Boston to Cambridge) is named for him, as is the John Harvard Library in Southwark. In 1986 the United States Postal Service issued a 56-cent John Harvard stamp as part of its Great Americans series.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/BostonTrip-91.jpg/220px-BostonTrip-91.jpg
John Harvard Statue at Harvard University

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/imageuploads/1264780031_80.177.117.97.jpg
This blue plaque was recently installed outside John Harvard Library in Borough High Street, close to the site of the tavern owned by the Harvard family



Thanks Phil, that was some information that I never knew about. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/27/11 at 9:07 am

The person of the day...Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest guitarist in musical history, and one of the most influential musicians of his era across a range of genres.

After initial success in Europe with his group The Jimi Hendrix Experience, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. He often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback.

Hendrix, as well as his friend Eric Clapton, popularized use of the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated sense of pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends, complex guitar playing, and use of legato. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic phasing effects for rock recording.

Hendrix was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper, and the jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Hendrix (who was then known as 'Maurice James') began dressing and wearing a moustache like Little Richard when he performed and recorded in his band from March 1, 1964 through to the spring of 1965. In 1966, Hendrix stated, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice".

Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage blue plaque was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time in 2003.
Hendrix' first studio recording occurred in March 1964, when the Isley Brothers, with Hendrix as a member of the band, recorded the two-part single "Testify". Hendrix then went on tour with the Isley Brothers. "Testify" was released in June 1964, but did not make an impact on the charts. After touring as a member of the Isley Brothers until mid-late 1964, Hendrix grew dissatisfied and left the band in Nashville. There, he found work with the tour's MC "Gorgeous" George Odell.

On March 1, 1964, Hendrix (then calling himself Maurice James) began recording and performing with Little Richard. Hendrix would later (1966) say, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice". During a stop in Los Angeles while touring with Little Richard in 1965, Hendrix played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single "My Diary". This was his first recorded involvement with Arthur Lee of the band Love. While in L.A., he also played on the session for Little Richard's final single for Vee-Jay, "I Don't Know What You've Got, But It's Got Me". He later made his first recorded TV appearance on Nashville's Channel 5 Night Train with "The Royal Company" backing up "Buddy and Stacy" on "Shotgun". Hendrix clashed with Richard, over tardiness, wardrobe, and, above all, Hendrix's stage antics. On tour they shared billing a couple of times with Ike and Tina Turner. It has been suggested that Hendrix left Richard and played with the Turners briefly before returning to Richard, but there is no firm evidence to support this. Hendrix mentioned playing with them, and Ike Turner shortly before his death claimed that he did, but this is emphatically denied by Tina. Months later, he was either fired or he left after missing the tour bus in Washington, D.C. He then rejoined the Isley Brothers in the summer of 1965 and recorded a second single with them, "Move Over and Let Me Dance" backed with "Have You Ever Been Disappointed" (1965 Atlantic 45-2303).

Later in 1965, Hendrix joined a New York–based R&B band, Curtis Knight and the Squires, after meeting Knight in the lobby of the Hotel America, off Times Square, where both men were living at the time. He performed on and off with them for eight months. In October 1965, Hendrix recorded a single with Curtis Knight, "How Would You Feel" backed with "Welcome Home" (1966 RSVP 1120) and on October 15 he signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin, receiving 1% royalty. While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which caused considerable problems for Hendrix later on in his career. The legal dispute has continued to the present day. (Several songs (and demos) from the 1965–1966 Curtis Knight recording sessions, deemed not worth releasing at the time, were marketed as "Jimi Hendrix" recordings after he became famous.) Aside from Curtis Knight and the Squires, Hendrix then toured for two months with Joey Dee and the Starliters.

In between performing with Curtis Knight in 1966, Hendrix toured and recorded with King Curtis. Hendrix recorded the two-part single "Help Me (Get the Feeling)" with Ray Sharpe and the King Curtis Orchestra (1966 Atco 45-6402) (the backing track was subsequently overdubbed by other vocalists with different lyrics and released as new songs). Later in 1966, Hendrix also recorded with Lonnie Youngblood, a saxophone player who occasionally performed with Curtis Knight. The sessions produced two singles for Youngblood: "Go Go Shoes"/"Go Go Place" (Fairmount F-1002) and "Soul Food (That's What I Like)"/"Goodbye Bessie Mae" (Fairmount F-1022). Additionally, singles for other artists came out of the sessions: The Icemen's "(My Girl) She's a Fox"/ "(I Wonder) What It Takes" (1966 SAMAR S-111) and Jimmy Norman's "You're Only Hurting Yourself"/"That Little Old Groove Maker" (1966 SAMAR S-112). As with the King Curtis recordings, backing tracks and alternate takes for the Youngblood sessions would be overdubbed and otherwise manipulated to create many "new" tracks. (Many Youngblood tracks without any Hendrix involvement would later be marketed as "Jimi Hendrix" recordings). Also around this time in 1966, Hendrix got his first composer credits for two instrumentals "Hornets Nest" and "Knock Yourself Out", released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single (1966 RSVP 1124).

Hendrix, now going by the name Jimmy James, formed his own band, The Blue Flame, composed of Randy Palmer (bass), Danny Casey (drums), a 15-year-old guitarist who played slide and rhythm named Randy Wolfe, and the occasional stand in June 1966.

Since there were two musicians named "Randy" in the group, Hendrix dubbed Wolfe "Randy California" (as he had recently moved from there to New York City) and Palmer (a Tejano) "Randy Texas". Randy California would later co-found the band Spirit with his stepfather, drummer Ed Cassidy. It was around this time that Hendrix's only daughter Tamika was conceived with Diana Carpenter (also known as Regina Jackson), a teenage runaway and prostitute that he briefly stayed with. Her claim has not been recognized by the US courts where, after death, she may not have a claim on his estate even if she could legally prove he was her father, unless recognized previously as such by him or the courts.

Hendrix and his new band played at several places in New York, but their primary venue was a residency at the Cafe Wha? on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The street runs along "Washington (Square) Park" which appeared in at least two of Hendrix's songs. Their last concerts were at the Cafe au Go Go, as John Hammond Jr.'s backing group, billed as "The Blue Flame". Singer-guitarist Ellen McIlwaine and guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter also claim to have briefly worked with Hendrix in this period.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Main article: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Early in 1966 at the Cheetah Club on Broadway at 53rd Street, Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, befriended Hendrix and recommended him to Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and later, producer Seymour Stein. Neither man took a liking to Hendrix's music, and they both passed. She then referred Hendrix to Chas Chandler, who was ending his tenure as bassist in The Animals and looking for talent to manage and produce. Chandler liked the song "Hey Joe" and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience performing on Dutch television in 1967

Impressed with Hendrix's version, Chandler brought him to London and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. It was Chandler who came up with the spelling change of "Jimmy" to "Jimi". Chandler then helped Hendrix form a new band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, both English musicians. Shortly before the Experience was formed, Chandler introduced Hendrix to Pete Townshend and to Eric Clapton, who had only recently helped put together Cream. At Chandler's request, Cream let Hendrix join them on stage for a jam on the song "Killing Floor". Hendrix and Clapton remained friends up until Hendrix's death. The first night he arrived in London, he began a relationship with Kathy Etchingham that lasted until February 1969. She later wrote an autobiographical book about their relationship and the sixties London scene in general.

Hendrix sometimes had a camp sense of humor, specifically with the song "Purple Haze". A mondegreen had appeared, in which the line "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" was misheard as "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy". In a few performances, Hendrix humorously used this, deliberately singing "kiss this guy" while pointing to Mitch or Noel, as he did at Monterey. In the Woodstock DVD he deliberately points to the sky at this point, to make it clear. A volume of misheard lyrics has been published, using this mondegreen itself as the title, with Hendrix on the cover.
UK success

After his enthusiastically received performance at France's No. 1 venue, the Olympia theatre in Paris on the Johnny Hallyday tour, an on-stage jam with Cream, a showcase gig at the newly opened, pop-celebrity oriented nightclub Bag O'Nails and the all important appearances on the top UK TV pop shows Ready Steady Go! and the BBC's Top of the Pops, word of Hendrix spread throughout the London music community in late 1966. His showmanship and virtuosity made instant fans of reigning guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, as well as Brian Jones and members of The Beatles and The Who, whose managers signed Hendrix to their new record label, Track Records.

Hendrix's first single was a cover of "Hey Joe", using Tim Rose's slower arrangement of the song including his addition of a female backing chorus. Backing this first 1966 "Experience" single was Hendrix's first songwriting effort, "Stone Free". Further success came in early 1967 with "Purple Haze" which featured the "Hendrix chord" and "The Wind Cries Mary". The three singles were all UK Top 10 hits and were also popular internationally including Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (though failed to sell when released later in the US).

Onstage, Hendrix was also making an impression with sped up renderings of the B.B. King hit "Rock Me Baby" and Howlin' Wolf's hit "Killing Floor".
Are You Experienced
Main article: Are You Experienced

The first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Are You Experienced, was released in the United Kingdom on May 12, 1967, and shortly thereafter internationally, outside of USA and Canada. It contained none of the previously released (outside USA and Canada) singles or their B sides ("Hey Joe"/"Stone Free", "Purple Haze"/"51st Anniversary" and "The Wind Cries Mary"/"Highway Chile"). Only The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band prevented Are You Experienced from reaching No. 1 on the UK charts.

At this time, the Experience extensively toured the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. This allowed Hendrix to develop his stage presence, which reached a high point on March 31, 1967, when, booked to appear as one of the opening acts on the Walker Brothers farewell tour, he set his guitar on fire at the end of his first performance, as a publicity stunt. This guitar has now been identified as the "Zappa guitar" (previously thought to have been from Miami), which has been partly refurbished. Later, as part of this press promotion campaign, there were articles about Rank Theatre management warning him to "tone down" his "suggestive" stage act, with Chandler stating that the group would not compromise regardless. On June 4, 1967, the Experience played their last show in England, at London's Saville Theatre, before heading off to America. The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album had just been released on June 1 and two Beatles (Paul McCartney and George Harrison) were in attendance, along with a roll call of other UK rock stardom, including: Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton, Spencer Davis, Jack Bruce, and pop singer Lulu. Hendrix opened the show with his own rendering of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", rehearsed only minutes before taking the stage, much to McCartney's astonishment and delight.
Hendrix on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1967.

While on tour in Sweden in 1967, Hendrix jammed with the duo Hansson & Karlsson, and later opened several concerts with their song "Tax Free", also recording a cover of it during the Electric Ladyland sessions. He played there frequently throughout his career, and his only son James Daniel Sundquist was born there in 1969 to a Swede, Eva Sundquist, recognized as such by the Swedish courts and paid a settlement by Experience Hendrix LLC. He wrote a poem to a woman there (probably Sundquist). Sundquist had sent Hendrix roses on each of his opening nights in Stockholm, and began – according to the Swedish courts – a sexual relationship from then until conceiving Daniel with him, after his third visit in January 1969. Hendrix also dedicated songs to the Swedish-based Vietnam deserters organization in 1969.

Months later, Reprise Records released the US and Canadian version of Are You Experienced with a new cover by Karl Ferris, removing "Red House", "Remember" and "Can You See Me" to make room for the first three single A-sides. Where the (Rest of the World) album kicked off with "Foxy Lady", the US and Canadian one started with "Purple Haze". Both versions offered a startling introduction to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the album was a blueprint for what had become possible on an electric guitar, basically recorded on four tracks, mixed into mono and only modified at this point by a "fuzz" pedal, reverb and a small bit of the experimental "Octavia" pedal on "Purple Haze", produced by Roger Mayer in consultation with Hendrix. A remix using the mostly mono backing tracks with the guitar and vocal overdubs separated and occasionally panned to create a stereo mix was also released, only in the US and Canada.
US success

Although very popular in Europe at this time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience had yet to crack the USA. Their first single there, "Hey Joe" c/w "51st Anniversary" (Reprise 0572, released 1 May 1967), failed to reach the Billboard chart.

Their chance came when Paul McCartney recommended the group to the organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival. This proved to be a great opportunity for Hendrix, not only because of the large audience present at the event, but also because of the many journalists covering the event who wrote about him. The performances were filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and later shown in some movie theaters around the country in early 1969 as the concert documentary Monterey Pop, which immortalized Hendrix's iconic burning and smashing of his guitar at the finale of his performance.

The opening song was Hendrix's very fast arrangement of Howlin' Wolf's 1965 R&B hit "Killing Floor". He played this frequently from late 1965 through 1968, usually as the opener to his shows. The Monterey performance included an equally lively rendering of B.B. King's 1964 R&B hit "Rock Me Baby", Tim Rose's arrangement of "Hey Joe" and Bob Dylan's 1965 pop hit "Like a Rolling Stone". The set ended with The Troggs' "Wild Thing" and Hendrix repeating the act that had boosted his profile in the UK (and internationally) with him burning his guitar on stage, then smashing it to bits and tossing pieces out to the audience. This show finally brought Hendrix to the notice of the US public. A large chunk of this guitar was on display at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, along with the other psychedelically painted Stratocaster that Hendrix smashed (but did not burn) at his farewell concert in England before he left for the US and Monterey.

At the time Hendrix was playing sets in the Scene club in NYC in July 1967, he met Frank Zappa, whose Mothers of Invention were playing the adjacent Garrick Theater, and he was reportedly fascinated by Zappa's recently purchased wah-wah pedal. Hendrix immediately bought one from Manny's and starting using it right away on the sessions for both sides of his new single, and slightly later, on several jams recorded at Ed Chalpin's studio.

Following the festival, the Experience played a series of concerts at Bill Graham's Fillmore replacing the original headliners Jefferson Airplane at the top of the bill. It was at this time that Hendrix became acquainted with future musical collaborator Stephen Stills, and reacquainted himself with Buddy Miles who introduced Hendrix to his future partner, Devon Wilson. She had a turbulent on/off relationship with him, right up to the night of his death, and was the only one of his partners to record with him. She died only six months after Hendrix under mysterious circumstances, apparently falling from an upper window in the Chelsea Hotel.

Following this very successful West Coast introduction, which also included two open air concerts (one of them a free concert in the "panhandle" of Golden Gate Park) and a concert at the Whisky a Go Go, they were booked as one of the opening acts for pop group The Monkees on their first American tour. The Monkees asked for Hendrix because they were fans, but their (mostly early teens) audience sometimes did not warm to their act, and he quit the tour after a few dates. Chas Chandler later admitted that being thrown off the Monkees tour was engineered to gain maximum media impact and publicity for Hendrix, similar to that gained from the manufactured Rank Theatre's indecency dispute on the earlier UK Walker Brothers tour. At the time, a story circulated claiming that Hendrix was removed from the tour because of complaints made by the Daughters of the American Revolution that his stage conduct was "lewd and indecent". This report was concocted by a journalist accompanying the tour, the Australian Lillian Roxon.

Meanwhile in Western Europe, where Hendrix was appreciated for his authentic blues as well as his hit singles and recognized for his avant-garde musical ideas, his wild-man image and musical gimmickry (such as playing the guitar with his teeth and behind his back) had faded; but they later plagued him in the US following Monterey. He became frustrated by the US media and audience when they concentrated on his stage tricks and best known songs.
After a year based in the US, Hendrix temporarily moved back to London and into his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham's rented Brook Street flat, next door to the Handel House Museum, in the West End of London. During this time The Jimi Hendrix Experience toured Scandinavia, Germany, and included a final French concert. They later performed two sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall on February 18 and February 24, 1969, which were the last European appearances of this line-up of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. A Gold and Goldstein-produced film titled Experience was also recorded at these two shows, which, according to Experience Hendrix LLC, "Elements of these recordings are sure to be utilized when the official release of this material is finally made".

Noel Redding felt increasingly frustrated by the fact that he was not playing his original and favored instrument, the guitar. In 1968, he decided to form his own band, Fat Mattress, which would sometimes open for the Experience (Hendrix would jokingly refer to them as "Thin Pillow"). Redding and Hendrix would begin seeing less and less of each other, which also had an effect in the studio, with Hendrix playing many of the bass parts on Electric Ladyland.

Fruitless recording sessions at Olympic in London; Olmstead and the Record Plant in New York that ended on April 9, which only produced a remake of "Stone Free" for a possible single release, were the last to feature Redding. Hendrix then flew Billy Cox to New York and started recording and rehearsing with him on April 21 as a replacement for Noel.

In a recorded interview by Nancy Carter on June 15 at his hotel in Los Angeles, Hendrix announced that he had been recording with Cox and that he would be replacing Noel as bass player in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The last Experience concert took place on June 29, 1969 at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, a three-day event held at Denver's Mile High Stadium that was marked by police firing tear gas into the audience as they played "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)". The band escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck which was partly crushed by fans trying to escape the tear gas. The next day, Noel Redding announced that he had quit the Experience.
Early on September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix died in London. He had spent the latter part of the previous evening at a party and was picked up at close to 3:00 by girlfriend Monika Dannemann and driven to her flat at the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, Notting Hill. From autopsy data and statements by friends about the evening of September 17, it has been estimated that he died sometime after 3:00, possibly before 4:00, but also possibly later, though no estimate was made at the autopsy, or inquest.

Dannemann claimed in her original testimony that after they returned to her lodgings the evening before, Hendrix, unknown to her, had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping pills. The normal medical dose was a half to one tablet as stated in the literature, but Hendrix was unfamiliar with this very strong Belgian brand. According to surgeon John Bannister, the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit, mainly red wine which had filled his airways. Bannister's statement was made in January 1992 to Harry Shapiro, co-author of Electric Gypsy, a book which also featured accusations of malpractice by Monika Dannemann in regards to Bannister's not performing a tracheotomy on Hendrix. He appears to have been using the amount of wine in his system as a reason for not performing a tracheotomy. He was reprimanded for two counts of medical malpractice, and struck off the medical register on 28 April 1992 for fraud. No one else at the time, the other two doctors, the ambulance men, or the police mentioned wine. The only mention of wine was by Monika much earlier, in Electric Gypsy (which Bannister had read), and that Hendrix had drunk some with food earlier that evening and also by Harvey at his, again, much earlier party, which were both several hours prior to death. The autopsy found very little alcohol in his system. The autopsy never mentioned wine, only vomited matter.

Until her death, Dannemann publicly claimed that she had only discovered that her lover had been sick at 11:00 a.m., but he was breathing, though unconscious and unresponsive (The ambulance was called at 11:18 and arrived 11:27). And that Hendrix was alive when placed in the back of the ambulance at approximately 11:30, and that she rode with him on the way to the hospital;.

The ambulance crew later denied she was even there; additionally, Dannemann's comments about the timing of some events that morning often differed in places, varying from interview to interview.

Police and ambulance statements reveal that there was no one but Hendrix in the flat when they arrived at 11:27 a.m., and not only was he dead when they arrived on the scene, but was fully clothed and had been dead for some time.

Later, Dannemen claimed that former road managers Gerry Stickels and Eric Barrett had been present before the ambulance was called. and had removed some of Hendrix's possessions, including some of his most recent messages. Lyrics written by Hendrix, which were found in the apartment, led Eric Burdon to make a premature announcement on the BBC-TV program 24 Hours that he believed Hendrix had committed suicide. Burdon often claimed he had been telephoned by Dannemann after she discovered that Hendrix failed to wake up.

In 1996, Monika Dannemann committed suicide shortly after being found guilty of contempt of court for repeating a libel against Kathy Etchingham, who had been a girlfriend of Hendrix in the 1960s.
Allegations of murder

A former Animals "roadie", James "Tappy" Wright, published a book in May 2009 claiming Hendrix's manager, Mike Jeffery, admitted to him that he had Hendrix killed because the rock star wanted to end his management contract. John Bannister, one of the doctors who attended to him in 1970 stated in 2009 that it "sounded plausible". Bannister was struck off the Medical register in 1992 for fraud. In 2011 Bob Levine, Wright's long term business associate and Mike Jeffery's assistant manager in N.Y., said he knows that Wright made up these stories to sell his book, that Jeffery didn't have insurance on Hendrix, but that he merely countersigned the Warner Bros. policy that Warner's had taken out as standard practice.

    "There was a freak storm across Mallorca and all the phone lines were down. Somebody told Mike that Jimi had been trying to phone him. The first call that got through was to say Jimi was dead. Mike was terribly upset at the thought of Jimi not being able to get through to him." – Trixie Sullivan, secretary/assistant for Mike Jeffery
The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    Are You Experienced (1967)
    Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
    Electric Ladyland (1968)

Jimi Hendrix/Band of Gypsys

    Band of Gypsys (1970)

Posthumous studio albums

    The Cry of Love (1971)
    Rainbow Bridge (1971)
    War Heroes (1972)
    Loose Ends (1974)
    Crash Landing (1975)
    Midnight Lightning (1975)
    Nine to the Universe (1980)
    Radio One (1988)
    First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997)
    Valleys of Neptune (2010)
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x137/queermuffin12345/Jimi_Hendrix.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu355/adamkoldgeisgay/jimi_hendrix.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/27/11 at 9:27 am

Jimi Hendrix

"When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild, and freak out an' do anything they wanna do."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/27/11 at 1:44 pm


The person of the day...Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest guitarist in musical history, and one of the most influential musicians of his era across a range of genres.

After initial success in Europe with his group The Jimi Hendrix Experience, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. He often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback.

Hendrix, as well as his friend Eric Clapton, popularized use of the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated sense of pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends, complex guitar playing, and use of legato. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic phasing effects for rock recording.

Hendrix was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper, and the jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Hendrix (who was then known as 'Maurice James') began dressing and wearing a moustache like Little Richard when he performed and recorded in his band from March 1, 1964 through to the spring of 1965. In 1966, Hendrix stated, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice".

Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage blue plaque was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time in 2003.
Hendrix' first studio recording occurred in March 1964, when the Isley Brothers, with Hendrix as a member of the band, recorded the two-part single "Testify". Hendrix then went on tour with the Isley Brothers. "Testify" was released in June 1964, but did not make an impact on the charts. After touring as a member of the Isley Brothers until mid-late 1964, Hendrix grew dissatisfied and left the band in Nashville. There, he found work with the tour's MC "Gorgeous" George Odell.

On March 1, 1964, Hendrix (then calling himself Maurice James) began recording and performing with Little Richard. Hendrix would later (1966) say, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice". During a stop in Los Angeles while touring with Little Richard in 1965, Hendrix played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single "My Diary". This was his first recorded involvement with Arthur Lee of the band Love. While in L.A., he also played on the session for Little Richard's final single for Vee-Jay, "I Don't Know What You've Got, But It's Got Me". He later made his first recorded TV appearance on Nashville's Channel 5 Night Train with "The Royal Company" backing up "Buddy and Stacy" on "Shotgun". Hendrix clashed with Richard, over tardiness, wardrobe, and, above all, Hendrix's stage antics. On tour they shared billing a couple of times with Ike and Tina Turner. It has been suggested that Hendrix left Richard and played with the Turners briefly before returning to Richard, but there is no firm evidence to support this. Hendrix mentioned playing with them, and Ike Turner shortly before his death claimed that he did, but this is emphatically denied by Tina. Months later, he was either fired or he left after missing the tour bus in Washington, D.C. He then rejoined the Isley Brothers in the summer of 1965 and recorded a second single with them, "Move Over and Let Me Dance" backed with "Have You Ever Been Disappointed" (1965 Atlantic 45-2303).

Later in 1965, Hendrix joined a New York–based R&B band, Curtis Knight and the Squires, after meeting Knight in the lobby of the Hotel America, off Times Square, where both men were living at the time. He performed on and off with them for eight months. In October 1965, Hendrix recorded a single with Curtis Knight, "How Would You Feel" backed with "Welcome Home" (1966 RSVP 1120) and on October 15 he signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin, receiving 1% royalty. While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which caused considerable problems for Hendrix later on in his career. The legal dispute has continued to the present day. (Several songs (and demos) from the 1965–1966 Curtis Knight recording sessions, deemed not worth releasing at the time, were marketed as "Jimi Hendrix" recordings after he became famous.) Aside from Curtis Knight and the Squires, Hendrix then toured for two months with Joey Dee and the Starliters.

In between performing with Curtis Knight in 1966, Hendrix toured and recorded with King Curtis. Hendrix recorded the two-part single "Help Me (Get the Feeling)" with Ray Sharpe and the King Curtis Orchestra (1966 Atco 45-6402) (the backing track was subsequently overdubbed by other vocalists with different lyrics and released as new songs). Later in 1966, Hendrix also recorded with Lonnie Youngblood, a saxophone player who occasionally performed with Curtis Knight. The sessions produced two singles for Youngblood: "Go Go Shoes"/"Go Go Place" (Fairmount F-1002) and "Soul Food (That's What I Like)"/"Goodbye Bessie Mae" (Fairmount F-1022). Additionally, singles for other artists came out of the sessions: The Icemen's "(My Girl) She's a Fox"/ "(I Wonder) What It Takes" (1966 SAMAR S-111) and Jimmy Norman's "You're Only Hurting Yourself"/"That Little Old Groove Maker" (1966 SAMAR S-112). As with the King Curtis recordings, backing tracks and alternate takes for the Youngblood sessions would be overdubbed and otherwise manipulated to create many "new" tracks. (Many Youngblood tracks without any Hendrix involvement would later be marketed as "Jimi Hendrix" recordings). Also around this time in 1966, Hendrix got his first composer credits for two instrumentals "Hornets Nest" and "Knock Yourself Out", released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single (1966 RSVP 1124).

Hendrix, now going by the name Jimmy James, formed his own band, The Blue Flame, composed of Randy Palmer (bass), Danny Casey (drums), a 15-year-old guitarist who played slide and rhythm named Randy Wolfe, and the occasional stand in June 1966.

Since there were two musicians named "Randy" in the group, Hendrix dubbed Wolfe "Randy California" (as he had recently moved from there to New York City) and Palmer (a Tejano) "Randy Texas". Randy California would later co-found the band Spirit with his stepfather, drummer Ed Cassidy. It was around this time that Hendrix's only daughter Tamika was conceived with Diana Carpenter (also known as Regina Jackson), a teenage runaway and prostitute that he briefly stayed with. Her claim has not been recognized by the US courts where, after death, she may not have a claim on his estate even if she could legally prove he was her father, unless recognized previously as such by him or the courts.

Hendrix and his new band played at several places in New York, but their primary venue was a residency at the Cafe Wha? on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The street runs along "Washington (Square) Park" which appeared in at least two of Hendrix's songs. Their last concerts were at the Cafe au Go Go, as John Hammond Jr.'s backing group, billed as "The Blue Flame". Singer-guitarist Ellen McIlwaine and guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter also claim to have briefly worked with Hendrix in this period.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Main article: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Early in 1966 at the Cheetah Club on Broadway at 53rd Street, Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, befriended Hendrix and recommended him to Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and later, producer Seymour Stein. Neither man took a liking to Hendrix's music, and they both passed. She then referred Hendrix to Chas Chandler, who was ending his tenure as bassist in The Animals and looking for talent to manage and produce. Chandler liked the song "Hey Joe" and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience performing on Dutch television in 1967

Impressed with Hendrix's version, Chandler brought him to London and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. It was Chandler who came up with the spelling change of "Jimmy" to "Jimi". Chandler then helped Hendrix form a new band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, both English musicians. Shortly before the Experience was formed, Chandler introduced Hendrix to Pete Townshend and to Eric Clapton, who had only recently helped put together Cream. At Chandler's request, Cream let Hendrix join them on stage for a jam on the song "Killing Floor". Hendrix and Clapton remained friends up until Hendrix's death. The first night he arrived in London, he began a relationship with Kathy Etchingham that lasted until February 1969. She later wrote an autobiographical book about their relationship and the sixties London scene in general.

Hendrix sometimes had a camp sense of humor, specifically with the song "Purple Haze". A mondegreen had appeared, in which the line "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" was misheard as "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy". In a few performances, Hendrix humorously used this, deliberately singing "kiss this guy" while pointing to Mitch or Noel, as he did at Monterey. In the Woodstock DVD he deliberately points to the sky at this point, to make it clear. A volume of misheard lyrics has been published, using this mondegreen itself as the title, with Hendrix on the cover.
UK success

After his enthusiastically received performance at France's No. 1 venue, the Olympia theatre in Paris on the Johnny Hallyday tour, an on-stage jam with Cream, a showcase gig at the newly opened, pop-celebrity oriented nightclub Bag O'Nails and the all important appearances on the top UK TV pop shows Ready Steady Go! and the BBC's Top of the Pops, word of Hendrix spread throughout the London music community in late 1966. His showmanship and virtuosity made instant fans of reigning guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, as well as Brian Jones and members of The Beatles and The Who, whose managers signed Hendrix to their new record label, Track Records.

Hendrix's first single was a cover of "Hey Joe", using Tim Rose's slower arrangement of the song including his addition of a female backing chorus. Backing this first 1966 "Experience" single was Hendrix's first songwriting effort, "Stone Free". Further success came in early 1967 with "Purple Haze" which featured the "Hendrix chord" and "The Wind Cries Mary". The three singles were all UK Top 10 hits and were also popular internationally including Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (though failed to sell when released later in the US).

Onstage, Hendrix was also making an impression with sped up renderings of the B.B. King hit "Rock Me Baby" and Howlin' Wolf's hit "Killing Floor".
Are You Experienced
Main article: Are You Experienced

The first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Are You Experienced, was released in the United Kingdom on May 12, 1967, and shortly thereafter internationally, outside of USA and Canada. It contained none of the previously released (outside USA and Canada) singles or their B sides ("Hey Joe"/"Stone Free", "Purple Haze"/"51st Anniversary" and "The Wind Cries Mary"/"Highway Chile"). Only The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band prevented Are You Experienced from reaching No. 1 on the UK charts.

At this time, the Experience extensively toured the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. This allowed Hendrix to develop his stage presence, which reached a high point on March 31, 1967, when, booked to appear as one of the opening acts on the Walker Brothers farewell tour, he set his guitar on fire at the end of his first performance, as a publicity stunt. This guitar has now been identified as the "Zappa guitar" (previously thought to have been from Miami), which has been partly refurbished. Later, as part of this press promotion campaign, there were articles about Rank Theatre management warning him to "tone down" his "suggestive" stage act, with Chandler stating that the group would not compromise regardless. On June 4, 1967, the Experience played their last show in England, at London's Saville Theatre, before heading off to America. The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album had just been released on June 1 and two Beatles (Paul McCartney and George Harrison) were in attendance, along with a roll call of other UK rock stardom, including: Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton, Spencer Davis, Jack Bruce, and pop singer Lulu. Hendrix opened the show with his own rendering of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", rehearsed only minutes before taking the stage, much to McCartney's astonishment and delight.
Hendrix on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1967.

While on tour in Sweden in 1967, Hendrix jammed with the duo Hansson & Karlsson, and later opened several concerts with their song "Tax Free", also recording a cover of it during the Electric Ladyland sessions. He played there frequently throughout his career, and his only son James Daniel Sundquist was born there in 1969 to a Swede, Eva Sundquist, recognized as such by the Swedish courts and paid a settlement by Experience Hendrix LLC. He wrote a poem to a woman there (probably Sundquist). Sundquist had sent Hendrix roses on each of his opening nights in Stockholm, and began – according to the Swedish courts – a sexual relationship from then until conceiving Daniel with him, after his third visit in January 1969. Hendrix also dedicated songs to the Swedish-based Vietnam deserters organization in 1969.

Months later, Reprise Records released the US and Canadian version of Are You Experienced with a new cover by Karl Ferris, removing "Red House", "Remember" and "Can You See Me" to make room for the first three single A-sides. Where the (Rest of the World) album kicked off with "Foxy Lady", the US and Canadian one started with "Purple Haze". Both versions offered a startling introduction to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the album was a blueprint for what had become possible on an electric guitar, basically recorded on four tracks, mixed into mono and only modified at this point by a "fuzz" pedal, reverb and a small bit of the experimental "Octavia" pedal on "Purple Haze", produced by Roger Mayer in consultation with Hendrix. A remix using the mostly mono backing tracks with the guitar and vocal overdubs separated and occasionally panned to create a stereo mix was also released, only in the US and Canada.
US success

Although very popular in Europe at this time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience had yet to crack the USA. Their first single there, "Hey Joe" c/w "51st Anniversary" (Reprise 0572, released 1 May 1967), failed to reach the Billboard chart.

Their chance came when Paul McCartney recommended the group to the organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival. This proved to be a great opportunity for Hendrix, not only because of the large audience present at the event, but also because of the many journalists covering the event who wrote about him. The performances were filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and later shown in some movie theaters around the country in early 1969 as the concert documentary Monterey Pop, which immortalized Hendrix's iconic burning and smashing of his guitar at the finale of his performance.

The opening song was Hendrix's very fast arrangement of Howlin' Wolf's 1965 R&B hit "Killing Floor". He played this frequently from late 1965 through 1968, usually as the opener to his shows. The Monterey performance included an equally lively rendering of B.B. King's 1964 R&B hit "Rock Me Baby", Tim Rose's arrangement of "Hey Joe" and Bob Dylan's 1965 pop hit "Like a Rolling Stone". The set ended with The Troggs' "Wild Thing" and Hendrix repeating the act that had boosted his profile in the UK (and internationally) with him burning his guitar on stage, then smashing it to bits and tossing pieces out to the audience. This show finally brought Hendrix to the notice of the US public. A large chunk of this guitar was on display at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, along with the other psychedelically painted Stratocaster that Hendrix smashed (but did not burn) at his farewell concert in England before he left for the US and Monterey.

At the time Hendrix was playing sets in the Scene club in NYC in July 1967, he met Frank Zappa, whose Mothers of Invention were playing the adjacent Garrick Theater, and he was reportedly fascinated by Zappa's recently purchased wah-wah pedal. Hendrix immediately bought one from Manny's and starting using it right away on the sessions for both sides of his new single, and slightly later, on several jams recorded at Ed Chalpin's studio.

Following the festival, the Experience played a series of concerts at Bill Graham's Fillmore replacing the original headliners Jefferson Airplane at the top of the bill. It was at this time that Hendrix became acquainted with future musical collaborator Stephen Stills, and reacquainted himself with Buddy Miles who introduced Hendrix to his future partner, Devon Wilson. She had a turbulent on/off relationship with him, right up to the night of his death, and was the only one of his partners to record with him. She died only six months after Hendrix under mysterious circumstances, apparently falling from an upper window in the Chelsea Hotel.

Following this very successful West Coast introduction, which also included two open air concerts (one of them a free concert in the "panhandle" of Golden Gate Park) and a concert at the Whisky a Go Go, they were booked as one of the opening acts for pop group The Monkees on their first American tour. The Monkees asked for Hendrix because they were fans, but their (mostly early teens) audience sometimes did not warm to their act, and he quit the tour after a few dates. Chas Chandler later admitted that being thrown off the Monkees tour was engineered to gain maximum media impact and publicity for Hendrix, similar to that gained from the manufactured Rank Theatre's indecency dispute on the earlier UK Walker Brothers tour. At the time, a story circulated claiming that Hendrix was removed from the tour because of complaints made by the Daughters of the American Revolution that his stage conduct was "lewd and indecent". This report was concocted by a journalist accompanying the tour, the Australian Lillian Roxon.

Meanwhile in Western Europe, where Hendrix was appreciated for his authentic blues as well as his hit singles and recognized for his avant-garde musical ideas, his wild-man image and musical gimmickry (such as playing the guitar with his teeth and behind his back) had faded; but they later plagued him in the US following Monterey. He became frustrated by the US media and audience when they concentrated on his stage tricks and best known songs.
After a year based in the US, Hendrix temporarily moved back to London and into his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham's rented Brook Street flat, next door to the Handel House Museum, in the West End of London. During this time The Jimi Hendrix Experience toured Scandinavia, Germany, and included a final French concert. They later performed two sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall on February 18 and February 24, 1969, which were the last European appearances of this line-up of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. A Gold and Goldstein-produced film titled Experience was also recorded at these two shows, which, according to Experience Hendrix LLC, "Elements of these recordings are sure to be utilized when the official release of this material is finally made".

Noel Redding felt increasingly frustrated by the fact that he was not playing his original and favored instrument, the guitar. In 1968, he decided to form his own band, Fat Mattress, which would sometimes open for the Experience (Hendrix would jokingly refer to them as "Thin Pillow"). Redding and Hendrix would begin seeing less and less of each other, which also had an effect in the studio, with Hendrix playing many of the bass parts on Electric Ladyland.

Fruitless recording sessions at Olympic in London; Olmstead and the Record Plant in New York that ended on April 9, which only produced a remake of "Stone Free" for a possible single release, were the last to feature Redding. Hendrix then flew Billy Cox to New York and started recording and rehearsing with him on April 21 as a replacement for Noel.

In a recorded interview by Nancy Carter on June 15 at his hotel in Los Angeles, Hendrix announced that he had been recording with Cox and that he would be replacing Noel as bass player in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The last Experience concert took place on June 29, 1969 at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, a three-day event held at Denver's Mile High Stadium that was marked by police firing tear gas into the audience as they played "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)". The band escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck which was partly crushed by fans trying to escape the tear gas. The next day, Noel Redding announced that he had quit the Experience.
Early on September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix died in London. He had spent the latter part of the previous evening at a party and was picked up at close to 3:00 by girlfriend Monika Dannemann and driven to her flat at the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, Notting Hill. From autopsy data and statements by friends about the evening of September 17, it has been estimated that he died sometime after 3:00, possibly before 4:00, but also possibly later, though no estimate was made at the autopsy, or inquest.

Dannemann claimed in her original testimony that after they returned to her lodgings the evening before, Hendrix, unknown to her, had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping pills. The normal medical dose was a half to one tablet as stated in the literature, but Hendrix was unfamiliar with this very strong Belgian brand. According to surgeon John Bannister, the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit, mainly red wine which had filled his airways. Bannister's statement was made in January 1992 to Harry Shapiro, co-author of Electric Gypsy, a book which also featured accusations of malpractice by Monika Dannemann in regards to Bannister's not performing a tracheotomy on Hendrix. He appears to have been using the amount of wine in his system as a reason for not performing a tracheotomy. He was reprimanded for two counts of medical malpractice, and struck off the medical register on 28 April 1992 for fraud. No one else at the time, the other two doctors, the ambulance men, or the police mentioned wine. The only mention of wine was by Monika much earlier, in Electric Gypsy (which Bannister had read), and that Hendrix had drunk some with food earlier that evening and also by Harvey at his, again, much earlier party, which were both several hours prior to death. The autopsy found very little alcohol in his system. The autopsy never mentioned wine, only vomited matter.

Until her death, Dannemann publicly claimed that she had only discovered that her lover had been sick at 11:00 a.m., but he was breathing, though unconscious and unresponsive (The ambulance was called at 11:18 and arrived 11:27). And that Hendrix was alive when placed in the back of the ambulance at approximately 11:30, and that she rode with him on the way to the hospital;.

The ambulance crew later denied she was even there; additionally, Dannemann's comments about the timing of some events that morning often differed in places, varying from interview to interview.

Police and ambulance statements reveal that there was no one but Hendrix in the flat when they arrived at 11:27 a.m., and not only was he dead when they arrived on the scene, but was fully clothed and had been dead for some time.

Later, Dannemen claimed that former road managers Gerry Stickels and Eric Barrett had been present before the ambulance was called. and had removed some of Hendrix's possessions, including some of his most recent messages. Lyrics written by Hendrix, which were found in the apartment, led Eric Burdon to make a premature announcement on the BBC-TV program 24 Hours that he believed Hendrix had committed suicide. Burdon often claimed he had been telephoned by Dannemann after she discovered that Hendrix failed to wake up.

In 1996, Monika Dannemann committed suicide shortly after being found guilty of contempt of court for repeating a libel against Kathy Etchingham, who had been a girlfriend of Hendrix in the 1960s.
Allegations of murder

A former Animals "roadie", James "Tappy" Wright, published a book in May 2009 claiming Hendrix's manager, Mike Jeffery, admitted to him that he had Hendrix killed because the rock star wanted to end his management contract. John Bannister, one of the doctors who attended to him in 1970 stated in 2009 that it "sounded plausible". Bannister was struck off the Medical register in 1992 for fraud. In 2011 Bob Levine, Wright's long term business associate and Mike Jeffery's assistant manager in N.Y., said he knows that Wright made up these stories to sell his book, that Jeffery didn't have insurance on Hendrix, but that he merely countersigned the Warner Bros. policy that Warner's had taken out as standard practice.

    "There was a freak storm across Mallorca and all the phone lines were down. Somebody told Mike that Jimi had been trying to phone him. The first call that got through was to say Jimi was dead. Mike was terribly upset at the thought of Jimi not being able to get through to him." – Trixie Sullivan, secretary/assistant for Mike Jeffery
The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    Are You Experienced (1967)
    Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
    Electric Ladyland (1968)

Jimi Hendrix/Band of Gypsys

    Band of Gypsys (1970)

Posthumous studio albums

    The Cry of Love (1971)
    Rainbow Bridge (1971)
    War Heroes (1972)
    Loose Ends (1974)
    Crash Landing (1975)
    Midnight Lightning (1975)
    Nine to the Universe (1980)
    Radio One (1988)
    First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997)
    Valleys of Neptune (2010)
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x137/queermuffin12345/Jimi_Hendrix.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu355/adamkoldgeisgay/jimi_hendrix.jpg


I'm sure at age 69, he'd still be rockin on the guitar.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/27/11 at 3:02 pm


I'm sure at age 69, he'd still be rockin on the guitar.

For sure!

I had no idea that he and Eric Clapton were friends.

Still, he was quite influential. :) O0

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 11/29/11 at 7:42 am

The person of the day....Chuck Mangione
Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione (play /mændʒiˈoʊni/; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player and composer who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Mangione and his pianist brother Gap led the Jazz Brothers group which recorded three albums for Riverside Records. He attended the Eastman School of Music from 1958 to 1963, and afterwards joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for which he filled the trumpet seat, previously held by greats such as Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, and Lee Morgan.

In the late 1960s, Mangione was a member of the band The National Gallery, which in 1968 released the album Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee. Mangione served as director of the Eastman jazz ensemble from 1968 to 1972, and in 1970, he returned to recording with the album Friends and Love, recorded in concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and numerous guest performers.

Mangione's quartet with saxophonist Gerry Niewood was a popular concert and recording act throughout the 1970s. "Bellavia," recorded during this collaboration, won Mangione his first Grammy Award in 1977 in the category Best Instrumental Composition.

Mangione's composition "Chase the Clouds Away" was used at the 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, Quebec, with a later composition, "Give It All You Got," being used as the theme to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, held in Lake Placid, New York. He performed it live at the closing ceremonies, which were televised globally. In 1978 Mangione composed the soundtrack for the film "The Children of Sanchez" starring Anthony Quinn. This album won him his second Grammy, in the category Best Pop Instrumental performance in 1979 and the title song, almost 15 minutes long in full version and featuring one of the most recognizable wind section themes, has not lost its popularity to this day.

In addition to his quartet with Niewood, Mangione also had much success with his later-‘70s ensemble, including Mangione on flugelhorn and keyboard, Chris Vadala on saxophones and flutes, Grant Geissman on guitars, Charles Meeks on bass and James Bradley, Jr. on drums. This version of Mangione’s band recorded and toured behind the hit studio albums “Feels So Good” and “Fun and Games,” as well as the “Children of Sanchez” film soundtrack recordings, and were some of the musicians that played on various songs as part of Mangione's 1980 “Tarantella" benefit concert.

The band was also featured, along with a 70-piece orchestra, on the live album “An Evening of Magic,” which was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl on July 16, 1978, at the height of Mangione’s success from “Feels So Good.” Performances of material new and old included versions of “Main Squeeze,” “Hill Where the Lord Hides” and “Chase the Clouds Away.” Mangione opened and closed the show with “Feels So Good” and its “Reprise” version. “B’Bye” featured a string arrangement from Bill Reichenbach. The horns were arranged by frequent collaborator Jeff Tyzik, who also played trumpet in the horn section that night. Mangione also played material from the just-released “Children of Sanchez” soundtrack album, which made its West Coast concert debut.

The liner notes from the album describe the frenzy in which the performance was put together. Unable to set up on stage the day before (The Los Angeles Philharmonic played the “1812 Overture” on July 15), Mangione and his crew had only the day of show to set up lights, sound and recording gear. He had only nine hours the day before to rehearse at A&M studios with the orchestra's musicians and was never able to run through the entire set list once in its entirety. He and the band stayed at a hotel up the street from the Bowl to make sure they wouldn't miss the performance due to snarled traffic pouring in as showtime neared.

Nevertheless, the show went off without a hitch.

In December 1980, Mangione held a benefit concert in the American Hotel Ballroom in Rochester to benefit the victims of an earthquake in Italy. The nine-hour concert included jazz luminaries such as Chick Corea, Steve Gadd and Dizzy Gillespie, among a host of other session and concert greats. Soon thereafter, A&M released “Tarantella,” named for the Italian traditional dance, a vinyl album of some of the concert’s exceptional moments, which has yet to resurface on CD.

A 1980 issue of Current Biography called "Feels So Good" the most recognized tune since "Michelle" by The Beatles. Recently, smooth jazz stations throughout the United States have recognized Mangione's "Feels So Good" as their all-time number one song. He raised over $50,000 for St. John's Nursing Home at his 60th Birthday Bash Concert, held at Rochester's Eastman Theatre and played a few bars of "Feels So Good.
Relatives

Chuck Mangione's relatives include his uncle Jerre Mangione (Mar. 20, 1909 - Aug. 16, 1998) who was an American writer and scholar of the Italian-American experience. His brother is Gaspare (Gap) Mangione, with whom he played jazz in Rochester, New York. They recorded as the Jazz Brothers. Later, and into this decade, they played, recorded and toured together, mainly in Chuck's large, orchestral concerts. Chuck has also made guest appearances with Gap's big band.
Acting career and television appearances
Chuck Mangione on King of the Hill

In addition to music, Chuck Mangione had a recurring voice-acting role on the animated television series King of the Hill. In it he portrays himself as a celebrity spokesman for Mega Lo Mart, although his animated form appears much younger than his current age, more closely resembling how he looked in the late 1970s. The first episode of King of the Hill featuring Mangione originally aired on February 16, 1997. The episode featured an original score specifically recorded for the occasion. He continued to appear in episodes, a total of ten more up until 2003. In the context of the series, Chuck chafes under an oppressive spokesperson contract with Mega Lo Mart and eventually goes into hiding inside one of their own stores. After a long hiatus, the character of Chuck Mangione returned in a later episode titled "Lucky's Wedding Suit", in May 2007. A recurring joke is that whatever tune he plays on his flugelhorn inevitably shifts into "Feels So Good" after a few bars. The series finale in 2009 included Chuck Mangione one last time, playing the National Anthem which of course segued into "Feels So Good". After the Mega Lo Mart blows up, Chuck states during a group therapy session that "Every song I play now sounds like 'Feels So Good'." In homage to the series, Mangione's album Everything For Love contains a track entitled Peggy Hill.

In the Magnum, P.I. episode "Paradise Blues," Chuck Mangione portrays a fellow night club act along with TC's (Roger E. Mosley's) former girlfriend. Chuck performs two singles and has lines near the end of the show.

On July 4, 1983, Chuck Mangione was in attendance as the New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. After playing the national anthem on the flugelhorn, Mangione, a Yankees fan, joined Phil Rizzuto and Bill White in the broadcast booth. Mangione gave his thoughts on the Yankee players and played a few bars of "Feels So Good." Yankee pitcher Dave Righetti threw a no-hitter, defeating the Red Sox 4-0.

In 1988, Mangione appeared on the hit children's TV show: Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show as "Little Boy Blue".

Mangione's Feels So Good has also appeared in Family Guy.
Mangione's current band

Chuck Mangione's current band comprises:

    Brandon Wright - Woodwinds
    Dave Tull - Drums
    Kevin Axt - Bass
    Corey Allen - Keyboards

Two members of the band, Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett, were among those killed when Continental Airlines Flight 3407 crashed into a Buffalo, New York, area house on February 12, 2009. In a statement Mangione said: "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy."
Compositions

Chuck Mangione's compositions include "Feels So Good", "Children of Sanchez", "Hide and Seek", "Hill Where the Lord Hides", "Fun and Games", "Give It All You Got", "Land of Make Believe", "Bellavia", "Main Squeeze", "Love Notes", "Steppin' Out", "I Never Missed Someone Before", "Maui-Waui", "Last Dance", "El Gato Triste", and "Chase the Clouds Away".
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff316/keeshamm/Quotes/chuck-mangione.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff102/emilydickinson_2007/CM_TheFeeling_front.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 11/29/11 at 11:34 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-x5-U4AXjw&feature=related


Yeah, it is long but well worth the listen.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 11/29/11 at 5:40 pm

Yeah, he was a great instrumentalist. "Feels So Good" is one of his songs that I know best.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 11/29/11 at 7:58 pm


The person of the day....Chuck Mangione
Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione (play /mændʒiˈoʊni/; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player and composer who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Mangione and his pianist brother Gap led the Jazz Brothers group which recorded three albums for Riverside Records. He attended the Eastman School of Music from 1958 to 1963, and afterwards joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for which he filled the trumpet seat, previously held by greats such as Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, and Lee Morgan.

In the late 1960s, Mangione was a member of the band The National Gallery, which in 1968 released the album Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee. Mangione served as director of the Eastman jazz ensemble from 1968 to 1972, and in 1970, he returned to recording with the album Friends and Love, recorded in concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and numerous guest performers.

Mangione's quartet with saxophonist Gerry Niewood was a popular concert and recording act throughout the 1970s. "Bellavia," recorded during this collaboration, won Mangione his first Grammy Award in 1977 in the category Best Instrumental Composition.

Mangione's composition "Chase the Clouds Away" was used at the 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, Quebec, with a later composition, "Give It All You Got," being used as the theme to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, held in Lake Placid, New York. He performed it live at the closing ceremonies, which were televised globally. In 1978 Mangione composed the soundtrack for the film "The Children of Sanchez" starring Anthony Quinn. This album won him his second Grammy, in the category Best Pop Instrumental performance in 1979 and the title song, almost 15 minutes long in full version and featuring one of the most recognizable wind section themes, has not lost its popularity to this day.

In addition to his quartet with Niewood, Mangione also had much success with his later-‘70s ensemble, including Mangione on flugelhorn and keyboard, Chris Vadala on saxophones and flutes, Grant Geissman on guitars, Charles Meeks on bass and James Bradley, Jr. on drums. This version of Mangione’s band recorded and toured behind the hit studio albums “Feels So Good” and “Fun and Games,” as well as the “Children of Sanchez” film soundtrack recordings, and were some of the musicians that played on various songs as part of Mangione's 1980 “Tarantella" benefit concert.

The band was also featured, along with a 70-piece orchestra, on the live album “An Evening of Magic,” which was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl on July 16, 1978, at the height of Mangione’s success from “Feels So Good.” Performances of material new and old included versions of “Main Squeeze,” “Hill Where the Lord Hides” and “Chase the Clouds Away.” Mangione opened and closed the show with “Feels So Good” and its “Reprise” version. “B’Bye” featured a string arrangement from Bill Reichenbach. The horns were arranged by frequent collaborator Jeff Tyzik, who also played trumpet in the horn section that night. Mangione also played material from the just-released “Children of Sanchez” soundtrack album, which made its West Coast concert debut.

The liner notes from the album describe the frenzy in which the performance was put together. Unable to set up on stage the day before (The Los Angeles Philharmonic played the “1812 Overture” on July 15), Mangione and his crew had only the day of show to set up lights, sound and recording gear. He had only nine hours the day before to rehearse at A&M studios with the orchestra's musicians and was never able to run through the entire set list once in its entirety. He and the band stayed at a hotel up the street from the Bowl to make sure they wouldn't miss the performance due to snarled traffic pouring in as showtime neared.

Nevertheless, the show went off without a hitch.

In December 1980, Mangione held a benefit concert in the American Hotel Ballroom in Rochester to benefit the victims of an earthquake in Italy. The nine-hour concert included jazz luminaries such as Chick Corea, Steve Gadd and Dizzy Gillespie, among a host of other session and concert greats. Soon thereafter, A&M released “Tarantella,” named for the Italian traditional dance, a vinyl album of some of the concert’s exceptional moments, which has yet to resurface on CD.

A 1980 issue of Current Biography called "Feels So Good" the most recognized tune since "Michelle" by The Beatles. Recently, smooth jazz stations throughout the United States have recognized Mangione's "Feels So Good" as their all-time number one song. He raised over $50,000 for St. John's Nursing Home at his 60th Birthday Bash Concert, held at Rochester's Eastman Theatre and played a few bars of "Feels So Good.
Relatives

Chuck Mangione's relatives include his uncle Jerre Mangione (Mar. 20, 1909 - Aug. 16, 1998) who was an American writer and scholar of the Italian-American experience. His brother is Gaspare (Gap) Mangione, with whom he played jazz in Rochester, New York. They recorded as the Jazz Brothers. Later, and into this decade, they played, recorded and toured together, mainly in Chuck's large, orchestral concerts. Chuck has also made guest appearances with Gap's big band.
Acting career and television appearances
Chuck Mangione on King of the Hill

In addition to music, Chuck Mangione had a recurring voice-acting role on the animated television series King of the Hill. In it he portrays himself as a celebrity spokesman for Mega Lo Mart, although his animated form appears much younger than his current age, more closely resembling how he looked in the late 1970s. The first episode of King of the Hill featuring Mangione originally aired on February 16, 1997. The episode featured an original score specifically recorded for the occasion. He continued to appear in episodes, a total of ten more up until 2003. In the context of the series, Chuck chafes under an oppressive spokesperson contract with Mega Lo Mart and eventually goes into hiding inside one of their own stores. After a long hiatus, the character of Chuck Mangione returned in a later episode titled "Lucky's Wedding Suit", in May 2007. A recurring joke is that whatever tune he plays on his flugelhorn inevitably shifts into "Feels So Good" after a few bars. The series finale in 2009 included Chuck Mangione one last time, playing the National Anthem which of course segued into "Feels So Good". After the Mega Lo Mart blows up, Chuck states during a group therapy session that "Every song I play now sounds like 'Feels So Good'." In homage to the series, Mangione's album Everything For Love contains a track entitled Peggy Hill.

In the Magnum, P.I. episode "Paradise Blues," Chuck Mangione portrays a fellow night club act along with TC's (Roger E. Mosley's) former girlfriend. Chuck performs two singles and has lines near the end of the show.

On July 4, 1983, Chuck Mangione was in attendance as the New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. After playing the national anthem on the flugelhorn, Mangione, a Yankees fan, joined Phil Rizzuto and Bill White in the broadcast booth. Mangione gave his thoughts on the Yankee players and played a few bars of "Feels So Good." Yankee pitcher Dave Righetti threw a no-hitter, defeating the Red Sox 4-0.

In 1988, Mangione appeared on the hit children's TV show: Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show as "Little Boy Blue".

Mangione's Feels So Good has also appeared in Family Guy.
Mangione's current band

Chuck Mangione's current band comprises:

    Brandon Wright - Woodwinds
    Dave Tull - Drums
    Kevin Axt - Bass
    Corey Allen - Keyboards

Two members of the band, Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett, were among those killed when Continental Airlines Flight 3407 crashed into a Buffalo, New York, area house on February 12, 2009. In a statement Mangione said: "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy."
Compositions

Chuck Mangione's compositions include "Feels So Good", "Children of Sanchez", "Hide and Seek", "Hill Where the Lord Hides", "Fun and Games", "Give It All You Got", "Land of Make Believe", "Bellavia", "Main Squeeze", "Love Notes", "Steppin' Out", "I Never Missed Someone Before", "Maui-Waui", "Last Dance", "El Gato Triste", and "Chase the Clouds Away".
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff316/keeshamm/Quotes/chuck-mangione.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff102/emilydickinson_2007/CM_TheFeeling_front.jpg


My favorite is "Feels So Good".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/30/11 at 2:17 am

British Person of the Day: Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, Hon. RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55). A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

Churchill was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; his mother, Jenny Jerome, an American socialite. As a young army officer, he saw action in British India, the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and through books he wrote about his campaigns.

At the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government. During the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign, which he had sponsored, caused his departure from government. He then served briefly on the Western Front, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for Air. After the War, Churchill served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative (Baldwin) government of 1924–29, controversially returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-War parity, a move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure on the UK economy. Also controversial were Churchill's opposition to increased home rule for India, and his resistance to the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII.

Out of office and politically "in the wilderness" during the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in warning about the danger from Hitler and in campaigning for rearmament. On the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister. His steadfast refusal to consider defeat, surrender or a compromise peace helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult early days of the War when Britain stood alone in its active opposition to Hitler. Churchill was particularly noted for his speeches and radio broadcasts, which helped inspire the British people. He led Britain as Prime Minister until victory had been secured over Nazi Germany.

After the Conservative Party lost the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951, he again became Prime Minister, before retiring in 1955. Upon his death, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of world statesmen ever. Named the Greatest Briton of all-time in a 2002 poll, Churchill is widely regarded as being among the most influential persons in British history.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Churchill_HU_90973.jpg/245px-Churchill_HU_90973.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 11/30/11 at 2:18 am


British Person of the Day: Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, Hon. RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55). A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

Churchill was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; his mother, Jenny Jerome, an American socialite. As a young army officer, he saw action in British India, the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and through books he wrote about his campaigns.

At the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of the Asquith Liberal government. During the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign, which he had sponsored, caused his departure from government. He then served briefly on the Western Front, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for Air. After the War, Churchill served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Conservative (Baldwin) government of 1924–29, controversially returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-War parity, a move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure on the UK economy. Also controversial were Churchill's opposition to increased home rule for India, and his resistance to the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII.

Out of office and politically "in the wilderness" during the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in warning about the danger from Hitler and in campaigning for rearmament. On the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister. His steadfast refusal to consider defeat, surrender or a compromise peace helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult early days of the War when Britain stood alone in its active opposition to Hitler. Churchill was particularly noted for his speeches and radio broadcasts, which helped inspire the British people. He led Britain as Prime Minister until victory had been secured over Nazi Germany.

After the Conservative Party lost the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951, he again became Prime Minister, before retiring in 1955. Upon his death, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of world statesmen ever. Named the Greatest Briton of all-time in a 2002 poll, Churchill is widely regarded as being among the most influential persons in British history.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Churchill_HU_90973.jpg/245px-Churchill_HU_90973.jpg
By the way, his mother was Lady Randolph Churchill (née Jennie Jerome) who was the daughter of American millionaire Leonard Jerome.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/03/11 at 6:17 am

The person of the day...Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams (born December 3, 1927) is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, named after the song "Moon River", with which he is closely identified
Williams' solo career began in 1953. He recorded six sides (individual songs) for RCA Victor's label "X", but none of them were popular hits.

After finally landing a spot as a regular on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in 1954, he was signed to a recording contract with Cadence Records, a small label in New York run by conductor Archie Bleyer. His third single, "Canadian Sunset" reached #7 in the Top Ten in August 1956, and was soon followed by his only Billboard #1 hit, "Butterfly" (a cover of a Charlie Gracie record on which Williams imitated Elvis Presley) in February 1957. More hits followed, including "The Hawaiian Wedding Song" (U.S. #11), "Are You Sincere" (U.S. #3 in February 1958), "The Village of St. Bernadette" (U.S. #7 in December 1959), "Lonely Street" (U.S. #5 in September 1959), and "I Like Your Kind Of Love" with Peggy Powers (U.S. #8 in May 1957) before Williams moved to Columbia Records in 1961, having moved from New York to Los Angeles and gaining another hit with "Can't Get Used to Losing You" (U.S. #2). In terms of chart popularity, the Cadence era was Williams' peak although songs he introduced on Columbia became much bigger standards. Two top ten hits from the Cadence era, "Butterfly" and "I Like Your Kind of Love" were apparently believed to not suit Williams' later style; they were not included on a Columbia reissue of his Cadence greatest hits of/from the 1960s.

In 1964, Williams ultimately became the owner of the Cadence master tapes, which he occasionally licensed to Columbia, including not only his own recordings, but those of his fellow Cadence-era labelmates, The Everly Brothers, Lenny Welch, The Chordettes, and Johnny Tillotson. In 1968, although he was still under contract with Columbia for his own recordings, Williams formed a separate company called Barnaby Records not only to handle reissuing of the Cadence material, especially that of The Everly Brothers (one of the first Barnaby LPs was a double LP set of the brothers long out of print Cadence hits) but new artists as well. Barnaby also had several Top 40 hits in the 70s with novelty artist Ray Stevens (who had done a summer replacement show for Williams in 1970), including Top 10s such as "Everything Is Beautiful" in 1970, and "The Streak" in 1974.

Also in 1970, Barnaby signed and released the first album by an unknown singer-songwriter named Jimmy Buffett ("Jimmy Buffett Down to Earth") produced by Travis Turk. Columbia was initially the distributor for Barnaby, but later distribution was handled first by MGM Records and then GRT. Once Barnaby ceased operating as a working record company at the end of the 1970s, Williams licensed the old Cadence material to various other labels (such as Varese & Rhino in the U.S.) after 1980.

During the 1960s, Williams became one of the most popular vocalists in the country and was signed to what was at that time the biggest recording contract in history. He was primarily an album artist, and at one time he had earned more gold albums than any solo performer except Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Elvis Presley. By 1973 he had earned as many as 18 gold album awards. Among his hit albums from this period were Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses (number one for 16 weeks in mid-1963), The Andy Williams Christmas Album, Dear Heart, The Shadow of Your Smile, Love, Andy, Get Together with Andy Williams, and Love Story. These recordings, along with his natural affinity for the music of the 1960s and early 1970s, combined to make him one of the premier easy listening singers of that era. In the UK, Williams continued to reach high chart status until 1978. The albums Can't Help Falling In Love (1970), Andy Williams Show (1970) Home Lovin Man ( #1 1971), Solitaire (1973), The Way We Were (1974) and Reflections (1978) all reached the Top 10.

Williams forged an indirect collaborative relationship with Henry Mancini, although they never recorded together. Williams was asked to sing Mancini and Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" at the 1962 Oscar Awards (where it won), and it quickly became Williams' theme song; however, because it was never released as a single, "Moon River" was never actually a chart hit for Williams. The next year Williams sang "Days of Wine and Roses" which was written by Mancini and Mercer (this song also won). Two years later, he sang Mancini's "Dear Heart" at the 1965 awards and "The Sweetheart Tree" (also written with Mercer) at the 1966 awards.

On August 5, 1966, the 14-story, 700-room Caesars Palace casino and nightclub opened in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the stage production of "Rome Swings", in which Williams starred. He performed live to a sold out crowd in the Circus Maximus showroom. He headlined for Caesars for the next twenty years.

In 1968, Columbia released a 45-rpm record of two songs Williams sang at the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy, a close friend: "Ave Maria" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". These were never released on a long-playing record.

Williams also competed in the teenage-oriented singles market as well and had several charting hits including "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Happy Heart", and "Where Do I Begin", the theme song from the 1970 blockbuster film, Love Story. In addition Williams hit the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart with "Almost There" (1965), "Can't Help Falling In Love" (1970), "Home Lovin' Man" (1970) and "Solitaire" (1973).

Both Williams and Petula Clark recorded "Happy Heart" at the same time, just prior to his guest appearance on her second NBC-TV special. Unaware that she, too, was releasing the song as a single, he asked to perform it on the show. The exposure ultimately led to his having the bigger hit with the tune. The song "Happy Heart" is played during the final scene, and throughout the end credits, of the Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave.

Building on his experience with Allen and some short-term variety shows in the 1950s, he became the star of his own weekly television variety show in 1962. This series, The Andy Williams Show, won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. Among his series regulars were the Osmond Brothers. He gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has been penned as Mr. Christmas.

Williams hosted the most Grammy telecasts, from the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971 through the 19th Annual Grammy Awards in 1977, totaling seven consecutive shows. He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976–77.

In the early 1970s, when the Nixon Administration attempted to deport John Lennon, Andy Williams was an outspoken defender of the Beatle's right to stay in the United States.

A caricature of Andy Williams is included in the montage of caricatures displayed on the cover of Ringo Starr's 1973 album, "Ringo".

Williams also sang the national anthem at Super Bowl VII in 1973 with Little Angels of Holy Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois.
National tour success

His 1967 recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" became a huge surprise UK hit to a new young TV audience in 1999, when it reached #9 after featuring in new TV ads for the Fiat Punto--and later for Diet Pepsi--beating the original peak of #33 in 1967. A new generation was reminded of Williams' recordings and a sell-out UK tour followed the success of the single, and he was given the nickname "The Emperor of Easy" in the UK.

In 2002, he re-recorded "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as a duet with British actress and singer Denise van Outen which reached number 23 in the UK singles charts.

He completed a sold-out tour of the United Kingdom and Asia in the winter and summer of 2007, in which he performed at several major concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall, singing among other classics, Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately".

Williams returned to the UK singles charts with his 1963 recording of "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" in December 2007 thanks to an advert for Marks And Spencer, reaching number 21 in its first appearance in the British charts, also reaching #108 on the EU Top 200. In 2008 he lip-synched the 45-year-old recording to welcome Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

On October 3, 2009, Williams appeared live on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in London, singing Moon River to promote the UK edition of The Very Best of Andy Williams, which peaked at number 10 in the main pop chart.
Moon River Theatre

In June 1991, Williams' brother Don invited him to the small Ozarks town of Branson, Missouri. Don Williams at the time was the manager for entertainer Ray Stevens, who had just opened a theatre in Branson. While attending Stevens' show, Williams was encouraged by numerous Branson guests to open a venue in the town. This led Williams to build his own theater in Branson starting in August 1991, eventually opening on May 1, 1992 as the Moon River Theatre. The name came from a song he made famous from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It went on to become the first theater ever to be featured in Architectural Digest, and also won the 1992 Conservation Award from the State of Missouri.

The theater was designed to blend into the rough terrain of the Ozark Mountains. Reportedly when Williams was on his way to Big Cedar Lodge one day, he had noticed some rough rock outcroppings and said, "What about these? This could be the entrance." He had originally planned a marble style theater reminiscence of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, but soon had a change of mind. The Larson Company of Tucson, Arizona fabricated a section of rock on Missouri's Highway 76 and the theater was soon engulfed with waterfalls, koi filled ponds, ferns and trees native to the Ozarks. The inside of the theater incorporates the outside. Trees and plants are seen throughout the theater's three lobbies. Oak floors are accompanied by African ribbon striped mahogany walls that are filled with pictures of the Andy Williams Television Show. Williams' passion for art can be seen throughout as well. From the start of his career Williams had accumulated several paintings and sculptures and decided to fill his theater with his collection. Frankenthaler, Diebenkorn, Oldenburg, Pollock, Klee and Moore are a small list of artists the Moon River Theatre represents.

The theater's auditorium can accommodate 2,054 people. The seating is stadium style seating for the best view. The seats and carpets match Williams' Navajo rug collection and are forest green, magenta, gold and blue. On display inside the auditorium are nineteen Japanese Kimonos. The stage has accommodated numerous shows and guest celebrities. On stage Williams has been joined by Glen Campbell, Ann-Margret, Petula Clark and Charo. The theater has also played host to Phyllis Diller, Pat Boone, The Osmond Family, Robert Goulet, Rich Little, Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop, David Copperfield, Pat Benatar and Broadway on Ice starring Nancy Kerrigan, Tara Lipinski and Rudy Galindo. In November and December of each year he presents his annual Andy Williams Christmas Show at the theater.

When it first opened, Williams' act was unique because it was the first non-country act to open in the then-mostly-country music town. It was said he was discouraged by many back home in California from making such a bold move, but that was what he wanted. Other non-country entertainers like Bobby Vinton, Tony Orlando, Wayne Newton and the Osmond Brothers soon followed.

Williams and his theater were featured on three episodes of the soap opera As the World Turns in July 2007. Several of the cast (Gwen, Will, Cleo, Jade, Luke, Maddie and Noah) went to Branson for a concert of Gwen Munson held in the Moon River Theatre. The Simpsons featured Williams at his Moon River Theatre in an episode titled "Bart on the Road". Nelson Muntz is an Andy Williams fan, and in the episode he forces the gang to make a detour to Branson so he could see his idol. The bully is reduced to tears as Williams performs "Moon River" during the second encore.

In the spring of 2007 Williams opened the Moon River Grill adjacent to his theater in Branson. The restaurant is decorated in photos from the Andy Williams Television Show with stars including Diana Ross, Elton John and Sammy Davis Jr. Art is center stage in the restaurant, with works by several artists including Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana.
Williams met French-born Claudine Longet when he pulled over to aid her on a Las Vegas road. She was a dancer at the time at the Folies Bergère. They married on December 15, 1961. The union produced three children: Noelle, Christian, and Robert within the next eight years.

After a lengthy separation, Williams and Longet divorced in 1975. In March 1976, however, when Longet was charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, alpine ski racer Spider Sabich in Aspen, Williams played a public role in the subsequent events, escorting her to and from the courtroom, testifying to her character at the trial, and providing legal assistance. Longet claimed the shooting was accidental, and eventually received 30 days in jail, which was served at her convenience. Shortly thereafter, Longet vacationed in Mexico with her defense attorney Ron Austin, whom she married in June 1985. They continue to reside in the Aspen area.

Andy Williams married a second time (May 3, 1991), to the former Debbie Meyer, whom he met through a mutual friend. They make their homes at Branson, Missouri, and La Quinta, California. Williams' homes have been featured in Architectural Digest, and he is a noted collector of modern art.

Williams is an avid golfer, and hosted the PGA Tour golf tournament in San Diego from 1968-88 at Torrey Pines. Then known as the "Andy Williams San Diego Open", the tournament continues as the Farmers Insurance Open, usually played in February.

Williams' birthplace in Iowa is a tourist attraction, and is open most of the year.

On Friday, November 4, 2011, it was reported in the press that Williams has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. He is undergoing chemotherapy treatments in Houston and will then move with his wife to a rented home in Malibu, California to be closer to cancer specialists in the Los Angeles area.
Hit singles
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC US
R&B UK
1956 "Walk Hand in Hand" 54 - - -
"Canadian Sunset" 7 - - -
"Baby Doll" 33 - - -
1957 "Butterfly" 1 - 14 1
"I Like Your Kind of Love" 8 - - 16
"Lips of Wine" 17 - - -
1958 "Are You Sincere?" 3 - - -
"Promise Me, Love" 17 - - -
"The Hawaiian Wedding Song" 11 - 27 -
1959 "Lonely Street" 5 - 20 -
"The Village of St. Bernadette" 7 - - -
1960 "Wake Me When It's Over" 50 - - -
"Do You Mind?" 70 - - -
"You Don't Want My Love" 64 - - -
1961 "The Bilbao Song" 37 - - -
"Danny Boy" 64 15 - -
"Fly by Night" 82 20 - -
1962 "Twilight Time" 86 - - -
"The Wonderful World of the Young" 99 - - -
"Stranger on the Shore" 38 9 - 30
"Don't You Believe It" 39 15 - -
1963 "Can't Get Used to Losing You" 2 1 7 2
"Theme from The Days of Wine and Roses" 26 9 - -
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" 85 - - -
"Hopeless" 13 3 - -
"The Peking Theme" 115 - - -
1964 "Under Paris Skies" 121 - - -
"A Fool Never Learns" 13 4 - 40
"Charade" 100 - - -
"Wrong for Each Other" 34 11 - -
"On the Street Where You Live" 28 3 - -
"Almost There" 67 12 - 2
"Dear Heart" 24 2 - -
1965 "...and Roses and Roses" 36 4 - -
"Ain't It True" 40 - - -
"Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" 92 18 - -
1966 "May Each Day" - - - 19
"You're Gonna Hear from Me" - 13 - -
"Bye Bye Blues" 127 18 - -
"How Can I Tell Her It's Over?" 109 17 - -
"In the Arms of Love" 49 1 - 33
1967 "Music to Watch Girls By" 34 2 - 33
"More and More" 88 2 - 45
"Holly" 113 4 - -
1968 "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" - - - 5
"Sweet Memories" 75 4 - -
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" 33 11 - -
1969 "Happy Heart" 22 1 - 19
"Live and Learn" 119 12 - -
"A Woman's Way" 109 4 - -
1970 "Can't Help Falling in Love" 88 28 - 3
"It's So Easy" - - - 13
"One Day of Your Life" 77 2 - -
"Home Lovin' Man" - 10 - 7
1971 "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" 9 1 - 4
"A Song for You" 82 29 - -
"Love Is All" - 29 - -
1972 "Music from Across the Way" - 30 - -
"Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)" 34 7 - 42
"MacArthur Park" 102 26 - -
"Home Lovin' Man"(reissue) - 27 - -
1973 "Solitaire" - 23 - 4
1974 "Getting Over You" - - - 35
"Remember"(with Noelle) - 30 - -
"Love's Theme" - 16 - -
"Another Lonely Song" - 29 - -
1975 "You Lay So Easy on My Mind" - - - 32
"Love Said Goodbye" - 24 - -
"Cry Softly" - 20 - -
"Sad Eyes" - 11 - -
1976 "The Other Side of Me" - - - 42
"Tell It Like It Is" 72 17 - -
1999 "Music to Watch Girls By"(reissue) - - - 9
2002 "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"(w/Denise Van Outen) - - - 23
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q4/nghiapham_info/Andy_Xmas_CMYKwoutbranding.jpg
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss222/defiore40/image-1.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/03/11 at 6:19 am

I hope to be posting more, between Tim having vacation time, Missy moving back home(and hogging the computer) and having Daniel over last week I didn't get much time to post here.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/03/11 at 6:23 am


The person of the day...Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams (born December 3, 1927) is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, named after the song "Moon River", with which he is closely identified
Williams' solo career began in 1953. He recorded six sides (individual songs) for RCA Victor's label "X", but none of them were popular hits.

After finally landing a spot as a regular on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in 1954, he was signed to a recording contract with Cadence Records, a small label in New York run by conductor Archie Bleyer. His third single, "Canadian Sunset" reached #7 in the Top Ten in August 1956, and was soon followed by his only Billboard #1 hit, "Butterfly" (a cover of a Charlie Gracie record on which Williams imitated Elvis Presley) in February 1957. More hits followed, including "The Hawaiian Wedding Song" (U.S. #11), "Are You Sincere" (U.S. #3 in February 1958), "The Village of St. Bernadette" (U.S. #7 in December 1959), "Lonely Street" (U.S. #5 in September 1959), and "I Like Your Kind Of Love" with Peggy Powers (U.S. #8 in May 1957) before Williams moved to Columbia Records in 1961, having moved from New York to Los Angeles and gaining another hit with "Can't Get Used to Losing You" (U.S. #2). In terms of chart popularity, the Cadence era was Williams' peak although songs he introduced on Columbia became much bigger standards. Two top ten hits from the Cadence era, "Butterfly" and "I Like Your Kind of Love" were apparently believed to not suit Williams' later style; they were not included on a Columbia reissue of his Cadence greatest hits of/from the 1960s.

In 1964, Williams ultimately became the owner of the Cadence master tapes, which he occasionally licensed to Columbia, including not only his own recordings, but those of his fellow Cadence-era labelmates, The Everly Brothers, Lenny Welch, The Chordettes, and Johnny Tillotson. In 1968, although he was still under contract with Columbia for his own recordings, Williams formed a separate company called Barnaby Records not only to handle reissuing of the Cadence material, especially that of The Everly Brothers (one of the first Barnaby LPs was a double LP set of the brothers long out of print Cadence hits) but new artists as well. Barnaby also had several Top 40 hits in the 70s with novelty artist Ray Stevens (who had done a summer replacement show for Williams in 1970), including Top 10s such as "Everything Is Beautiful" in 1970, and "The Streak" in 1974.

Also in 1970, Barnaby signed and released the first album by an unknown singer-songwriter named Jimmy Buffett ("Jimmy Buffett Down to Earth") produced by Travis Turk. Columbia was initially the distributor for Barnaby, but later distribution was handled first by MGM Records and then GRT. Once Barnaby ceased operating as a working record company at the end of the 1970s, Williams licensed the old Cadence material to various other labels (such as Varese & Rhino in the U.S.) after 1980.

During the 1960s, Williams became one of the most popular vocalists in the country and was signed to what was at that time the biggest recording contract in history. He was primarily an album artist, and at one time he had earned more gold albums than any solo performer except Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Elvis Presley. By 1973 he had earned as many as 18 gold album awards. Among his hit albums from this period were Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses (number one for 16 weeks in mid-1963), The Andy Williams Christmas Album, Dear Heart, The Shadow of Your Smile, Love, Andy, Get Together with Andy Williams, and Love Story. These recordings, along with his natural affinity for the music of the 1960s and early 1970s, combined to make him one of the premier easy listening singers of that era. In the UK, Williams continued to reach high chart status until 1978. The albums Can't Help Falling In Love (1970), Andy Williams Show (1970) Home Lovin Man ( #1 1971), Solitaire (1973), The Way We Were (1974) and Reflections (1978) all reached the Top 10.

Williams forged an indirect collaborative relationship with Henry Mancini, although they never recorded together. Williams was asked to sing Mancini and Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" at the 1962 Oscar Awards (where it won), and it quickly became Williams' theme song; however, because it was never released as a single, "Moon River" was never actually a chart hit for Williams. The next year Williams sang "Days of Wine and Roses" which was written by Mancini and Mercer (this song also won). Two years later, he sang Mancini's "Dear Heart" at the 1965 awards and "The Sweetheart Tree" (also written with Mercer) at the 1966 awards.

On August 5, 1966, the 14-story, 700-room Caesars Palace casino and nightclub opened in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the stage production of "Rome Swings", in which Williams starred. He performed live to a sold out crowd in the Circus Maximus showroom. He headlined for Caesars for the next twenty years.

In 1968, Columbia released a 45-rpm record of two songs Williams sang at the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy, a close friend: "Ave Maria" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". These were never released on a long-playing record.

Williams also competed in the teenage-oriented singles market as well and had several charting hits including "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Happy Heart", and "Where Do I Begin", the theme song from the 1970 blockbuster film, Love Story. In addition Williams hit the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart with "Almost There" (1965), "Can't Help Falling In Love" (1970), "Home Lovin' Man" (1970) and "Solitaire" (1973).

Both Williams and Petula Clark recorded "Happy Heart" at the same time, just prior to his guest appearance on her second NBC-TV special. Unaware that she, too, was releasing the song as a single, he asked to perform it on the show. The exposure ultimately led to his having the bigger hit with the tune. The song "Happy Heart" is played during the final scene, and throughout the end credits, of the Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave.

Building on his experience with Allen and some short-term variety shows in the 1950s, he became the star of his own weekly television variety show in 1962. This series, The Andy Williams Show, won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. Among his series regulars were the Osmond Brothers. He gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has been penned as Mr. Christmas.

Williams hosted the most Grammy telecasts, from the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971 through the 19th Annual Grammy Awards in 1977, totaling seven consecutive shows. He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976–77.

In the early 1970s, when the Nixon Administration attempted to deport John Lennon, Andy Williams was an outspoken defender of the Beatle's right to stay in the United States.

A caricature of Andy Williams is included in the montage of caricatures displayed on the cover of Ringo Starr's 1973 album, "Ringo".

Williams also sang the national anthem at Super Bowl VII in 1973 with Little Angels of Holy Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois.
National tour success

His 1967 recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" became a huge surprise UK hit to a new young TV audience in 1999, when it reached #9 after featuring in new TV ads for the Fiat Punto--and later for Diet Pepsi--beating the original peak of #33 in 1967. A new generation was reminded of Williams' recordings and a sell-out UK tour followed the success of the single, and he was given the nickname "The Emperor of Easy" in the UK.

In 2002, he re-recorded "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as a duet with British actress and singer Denise van Outen which reached number 23 in the UK singles charts.

He completed a sold-out tour of the United Kingdom and Asia in the winter and summer of 2007, in which he performed at several major concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall, singing among other classics, Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately".

Williams returned to the UK singles charts with his 1963 recording of "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" in December 2007 thanks to an advert for Marks And Spencer, reaching number 21 in its first appearance in the British charts, also reaching #108 on the EU Top 200. In 2008 he lip-synched the 45-year-old recording to welcome Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

On October 3, 2009, Williams appeared live on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in London, singing Moon River to promote the UK edition of The Very Best of Andy Williams, which peaked at number 10 in the main pop chart.
Moon River Theatre

In June 1991, Williams' brother Don invited him to the small Ozarks town of Branson, Missouri. Don Williams at the time was the manager for entertainer Ray Stevens, who had just opened a theatre in Branson. While attending Stevens' show, Williams was encouraged by numerous Branson guests to open a venue in the town. This led Williams to build his own theater in Branson starting in August 1991, eventually opening on May 1, 1992 as the Moon River Theatre. The name came from a song he made famous from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It went on to become the first theater ever to be featured in Architectural Digest, and also won the 1992 Conservation Award from the State of Missouri.

The theater was designed to blend into the rough terrain of the Ozark Mountains. Reportedly when Williams was on his way to Big Cedar Lodge one day, he had noticed some rough rock outcroppings and said, "What about these? This could be the entrance." He had originally planned a marble style theater reminiscence of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, but soon had a change of mind. The Larson Company of Tucson, Arizona fabricated a section of rock on Missouri's Highway 76 and the theater was soon engulfed with waterfalls, koi filled ponds, ferns and trees native to the Ozarks. The inside of the theater incorporates the outside. Trees and plants are seen throughout the theater's three lobbies. Oak floors are accompanied by African ribbon striped mahogany walls that are filled with pictures of the Andy Williams Television Show. Williams' passion for art can be seen throughout as well. From the start of his career Williams had accumulated several paintings and sculptures and decided to fill his theater with his collection. Frankenthaler, Diebenkorn, Oldenburg, Pollock, Klee and Moore are a small list of artists the Moon River Theatre represents.

The theater's auditorium can accommodate 2,054 people. The seating is stadium style seating for the best view. The seats and carpets match Williams' Navajo rug collection and are forest green, magenta, gold and blue. On display inside the auditorium are nineteen Japanese Kimonos. The stage has accommodated numerous shows and guest celebrities. On stage Williams has been joined by Glen Campbell, Ann-Margret, Petula Clark and Charo. The theater has also played host to Phyllis Diller, Pat Boone, The Osmond Family, Robert Goulet, Rich Little, Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop, David Copperfield, Pat Benatar and Broadway on Ice starring Nancy Kerrigan, Tara Lipinski and Rudy Galindo. In November and December of each year he presents his annual Andy Williams Christmas Show at the theater.

When it first opened, Williams' act was unique because it was the first non-country act to open in the then-mostly-country music town. It was said he was discouraged by many back home in California from making such a bold move, but that was what he wanted. Other non-country entertainers like Bobby Vinton, Tony Orlando, Wayne Newton and the Osmond Brothers soon followed.

Williams and his theater were featured on three episodes of the soap opera As the World Turns in July 2007. Several of the cast (Gwen, Will, Cleo, Jade, Luke, Maddie and Noah) went to Branson for a concert of Gwen Munson held in the Moon River Theatre. The Simpsons featured Williams at his Moon River Theatre in an episode titled "Bart on the Road". Nelson Muntz is an Andy Williams fan, and in the episode he forces the gang to make a detour to Branson so he could see his idol. The bully is reduced to tears as Williams performs "Moon River" during the second encore.

In the spring of 2007 Williams opened the Moon River Grill adjacent to his theater in Branson. The restaurant is decorated in photos from the Andy Williams Television Show with stars including Diana Ross, Elton John and Sammy Davis Jr. Art is center stage in the restaurant, with works by several artists including Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana.
Williams met French-born Claudine Longet when he pulled over to aid her on a Las Vegas road. She was a dancer at the time at the Folies Bergère. They married on December 15, 1961. The union produced three children: Noelle, Christian, and Robert within the next eight years.

After a lengthy separation, Williams and Longet divorced in 1975. In March 1976, however, when Longet was charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, alpine ski racer Spider Sabich in Aspen, Williams played a public role in the subsequent events, escorting her to and from the courtroom, testifying to her character at the trial, and providing legal assistance. Longet claimed the shooting was accidental, and eventually received 30 days in jail, which was served at her convenience. Shortly thereafter, Longet vacationed in Mexico with her defense attorney Ron Austin, whom she married in June 1985. They continue to reside in the Aspen area.

Andy Williams married a second time (May 3, 1991), to the former Debbie Meyer, whom he met through a mutual friend. They make their homes at Branson, Missouri, and La Quinta, California. Williams' homes have been featured in Architectural Digest, and he is a noted collector of modern art.

Williams is an avid golfer, and hosted the PGA Tour golf tournament in San Diego from 1968-88 at Torrey Pines. Then known as the "Andy Williams San Diego Open", the tournament continues as the Farmers Insurance Open, usually played in February.

Williams' birthplace in Iowa is a tourist attraction, and is open most of the year.

On Friday, November 4, 2011, it was reported in the press that Williams has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. He is undergoing chemotherapy treatments in Houston and will then move with his wife to a rented home in Malibu, California to be closer to cancer specialists in the Los Angeles area.
Hit singles
Year Single Chart positions
US US
AC US
R&B UK
1956 "Walk Hand in Hand" 54 - - -
"Canadian Sunset" 7 - - -
"Baby Doll" 33 - - -
1957 "Butterfly" 1 - 14 1
"I Like Your Kind of Love" 8 - - 16
"Lips of Wine" 17 - - -
1958 "Are You Sincere?" 3 - - -
"Promise Me, Love" 17 - - -
"The Hawaiian Wedding Song" 11 - 27 -
1959 "Lonely Street" 5 - 20 -
"The Village of St. Bernadette" 7 - - -
1960 "Wake Me When It's Over" 50 - - -
"Do You Mind?" 70 - - -
"You Don't Want My Love" 64 - - -
1961 "The Bilbao Song" 37 - - -
"Danny Boy" 64 15 - -
"Fly by Night" 82 20 - -
1962 "Twilight Time" 86 - - -
"The Wonderful World of the Young" 99 - - -
"Stranger on the Shore" 38 9 - 30
"Don't You Believe It" 39 15 - -
1963 "Can't Get Used to Losing You" 2 1 7 2
"Theme from The Days of Wine and Roses" 26 9 - -
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" 85 - - -
"Hopeless" 13 3 - -
"The Peking Theme" 115 - - -
1964 "Under Paris Skies" 121 - - -
"A Fool Never Learns" 13 4 - 40
"Charade" 100 - - -
"Wrong for Each Other" 34 11 - -
"On the Street Where You Live" 28 3 - -
"Almost There" 67 12 - 2
"Dear Heart" 24 2 - -
1965 "...and Roses and Roses" 36 4 - -
"Ain't It True" 40 - - -
"Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" 92 18 - -
1966 "May Each Day" - - - 19
"You're Gonna Hear from Me" - 13 - -
"Bye Bye Blues" 127 18 - -
"How Can I Tell Her It's Over?" 109 17 - -
"In the Arms of Love" 49 1 - 33
1967 "Music to Watch Girls By" 34 2 - 33
"More and More" 88 2 - 45
"Holly" 113 4 - -
1968 "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" - - - 5
"Sweet Memories" 75 4 - -
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" 33 11 - -
1969 "Happy Heart" 22 1 - 19
"Live and Learn" 119 12 - -
"A Woman's Way" 109 4 - -
1970 "Can't Help Falling in Love" 88 28 - 3
"It's So Easy" - - - 13
"One Day of Your Life" 77 2 - -
"Home Lovin' Man" - 10 - 7
1971 "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" 9 1 - 4
"A Song for You" 82 29 - -
"Love Is All" - 29 - -
1972 "Music from Across the Way" - 30 - -
"Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)" 34 7 - 42
"MacArthur Park" 102 26 - -
"Home Lovin' Man"(reissue) - 27 - -
1973 "Solitaire" - 23 - 4
1974 "Getting Over You" - - - 35
"Remember"(with Noelle) - 30 - -
"Love's Theme" - 16 - -
"Another Lonely Song" - 29 - -
1975 "You Lay So Easy on My Mind" - - - 32
"Love Said Goodbye" - 24 - -
"Cry Softly" - 20 - -
"Sad Eyes" - 11 - -
1976 "The Other Side of Me" - - - 42
"Tell It Like It Is" 72 17 - -
1999 "Music to Watch Girls By"(reissue) - - - 9
2002 "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"(w/Denise Van Outen) - - - 23
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q4/nghiapham_info/Andy_Xmas_CMYKwoutbranding.jpg
http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss222/defiore40/image-1.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsJ_bzYyrHw

Happy Birthday Andy!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/03/11 at 6:24 am


I hope to be posting more, between Tim having vacation time, Missy moving back home(and hogging the computer) and having Daniel over last week I didn't get much time to post here.
I completely understand

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/03/11 at 6:42 am


I hope to be posting more, between Tim having vacation time, Missy moving back home(and hogging the computer) and having Daniel over last week I didn't get much time to post here.


That's ok, do what you need to do Ninny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/03/11 at 11:07 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsJ_bzYyrHw

Happy Birthday Andy!

I've always thought Andy had a nice voice. I listen to an oldie radio station sometimes and I really like listening to his songs.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/03/11 at 11:41 am


I've always thought Andy had a nice voice. I listen to an oldie radio station sometimes and I really like listening to his songs.
Of all his songs, this is my favourite one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/03/11 at 11:49 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsJ_bzYyrHw

Happy Birthday Andy!
Who here remembers the TV show back in the 70's with the cookie bear and other characters, "Not Now... Not Ever... NEVER!!"

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/03/11 at 11:51 am


Who here remembers the TV show back in the 70's with the cookie bear and other characters, "Not Now... Not Ever... NEVER!!"
...or was it in the 60's?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/03/11 at 1:46 pm


I've always thought Andy had a nice voice. I listen to an oldie radio station sometimes and I really like listening to his songs.

He sure does. One of his most famous songs is a holiday classic, "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" (which I once heard in a TV commercial several years ago right before back-to-school time).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/03/11 at 7:51 pm


He sure does. One of his most famous songs is a holiday classic, "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" (which I once heard in a TV commercial several years ago right before back-to-school time).

I just heard that myself today :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/04/11 at 3:39 am

I like him. They always played his Christmas show over here. It was ale=ways the exact same show ... he wore a red sweater and sang The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting etc)...

He was my ex-sister-in-laws favourite singer...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/04/11 at 7:11 am


I like him. They always played his Christmas show over here. It was ale=ways the exact same show ... he wore a red sweater and sang The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting etc)...

He was my ex-sister-in-laws favourite singer...

Oh yes those old Christmas specials with the red sweater and singing near the fireplace...I kinda miss those days :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/04/11 at 7:13 am

The person of the day...Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America's Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
Tyra Banks was born in Inglewood, California. She is the daughter of Carolyn (née London; now London-Johnson), a medical photographer, and Donald Banks, a computer consultant. She has a brother, Devin, who is five years older. In 1980, when Banks was 6 years old, her parents divorced. Banks attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. She was accepted by USC and UCLA but declined to attend, instead pursuing a career in modeling.
Career
Modeling

Banks began modeling in the 11th grade. She later went to Paris, France to do some runway modeling. She has done extensive print and/or runway work for fashion/advertising giants, such as Anna Sui, CoverGirl, Bill Blass, Chanel, Victoria's Secret, and Yves Saint Laurent. She has appeared on the covers of high-fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and Elle.

Banks was the first African American woman on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. In 1997, she received the VH1 award for Supermodel of the Year. That same year, she became the first-ever African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria's Secret catalog.

In 2010, Banks re-signed with her former modeling agency IMG Models.
Move into television and film

Banks's television career began on the fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames. She made seven appearances in the series. Other TV credits include Felicity, All That, MADtv, Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out (in which she was featured as a special guest host and team captain) and The Price Is Right (guest-starring as a "Barker's Beauty"). She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode entitled "Chinatown."

Tyra Banks started her own production company, Bankable Productions (at first called "Ty Ty Baby Productions"; she did not rename it till the second cycle of America's Next Top Model), which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America's Next Top Model, and the 2008 movie The Clique.

Banks is the hostess, judge and executive producer of The CW Television Network show America's Next Top Model. In addition, she hosted The Tyra Banks Show, a daytime talk show aimed at younger women, which premiered on September 12, 2005, and ran until May 28, 2010.

In 2008, Banks won the Daytime Emmy Award for her work and production on The Tyra Banks Show.

In late-January 2008, Banks got the go-ahead from The CW Television Network to start work on a new reality television series based on fashion magazines called Stylista. The show premiered on October 22, 2008.

Banks's first big screen role came in 1994, when she co-starred in the drama Higher Learning. She then co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in the Disney film Life-Size, playing a doll named Eve who comes to life and has to learn how to live in the real world. Other notable roles include Love Stinks (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Coyote Ugly (2000) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). She and Miley Cyrus poke fun at the excesses of the Hollywood lifestyle with a battle over a pair of shoes in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009).

Banks appeared in the fourth episode of the third season of Gossip Girl playing Ursula Nyquist, a larger-than-life actress who works with Serena.
Music

Banks has appeared in several music videos, including Michael Jackson's "Black or White", Tina Turner's "Love Thing", Mobb Deep's "Trife Life", George Michael's "Too Funky" (with fellow supermodel Linda Evangelista) and Lionel Richie's "Don't Wanna Lose You". In 2004, she recorded her first single, "Shake Ya Body," which had a music video featuring the final six contestants on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 2. The video was world-premiered on UPN, but the single turned out to be a failure.

Banks released a single with NBA player Kobe Bryant, entitled "K.O.B.E.," which was performed on NBA TV. She also has a single on the soundtrack to Disney Channel's Original Movie Life-Size called "Be A Star."
Books

Banks announced in May 2010 that she would be writing a novel, titled Modelland, loosely based on her own modelling experience. Published September 2011, it is the first of a planned three-part series. On an interview with Good Morning America, Banks stated that Modelland is the story of four girls who are accepted into an "exclusive" modelling school in the world of Modelland.

In 1998, Banks authored a book entitled Tyra's Beauty, Inside and Out.
Further education

In 2011, Banks enrolled in the Owner/President Management Program (OPM) at the Harvard Business School. Banks is planning to graduate Harvard in February 2012.
Philanthropy

In 1999, Tyra Banks established the TZONE program, which aimed at leadership and life skills development. In 2005, TZONE transformed from a camp into a public charity, the Tyra Banks TZONE Foundation.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Higher Learning Deja
1999 Love Stinks Holly Garnett
2000 Love & Basketball Kyra Kessler
Life-Size Eve Doll TV movie
Coyote Ugly Zoë
2002 Halloween: Resurrection Nora Winston
Eight Crazy Nights Victoria's Secret Gown Voice
2007 Mr. Woodcock Herself Cameo
2008 Tropic Thunder Herself Cameo
2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie Herself in Women's Shoe Department Cameo
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1993 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Jackie Ames TV series (credited as "Tyra")

    Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Part 1
    All Guts, No Glory
    Father of the Year
    Blood Is Thicker Than Mud
    Fresh Prince After Dark
    Take My Cousin... Please
    You've Got to Be a Football Hero

1999 Felicity Jane Scott TV series

    A Good Egg
    Kissing Mr. Covington
    One Ball, Two Strikes

Just Shoot Me! Herself TV series

    Nina Sees Red: Part 1
    Nina Sees Red: Part 2

2000 MADtv Katisha Latisha Parisha Farisha Johnson TV series

    Episode #5.17
    Episode #5.25

2003–present America's Next Top Model Host Reality TV series created, judged and hosted by Banks
2004 American Dreams Carolyn Gill TV series

    Chasing the Past

All of Us Roni TV series

    O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2005–2010 The Tyra Banks Show Host Talk show
2009 Gossip Girl Ursula Nyquist TV series,season 3

    Dan de Fleurette

2011 Mexico's Next Top Model Guest judge Reality TV Series

    Episode Finale in Mexico's Next Top Model, Cycle 2
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s108/Cynetria/tyra_banks.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o114/Tejada_bucket/Tyra-Banks.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/04/11 at 7:15 am


The person of the day...Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America's Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
Tyra Banks was born in Inglewood, California. She is the daughter of Carolyn (née London; now London-Johnson), a medical photographer, and Donald Banks, a computer consultant. She has a brother, Devin, who is five years older. In 1980, when Banks was 6 years old, her parents divorced. Banks attended John Burroughs Middle School and graduated in 1991 from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. She was accepted by USC and UCLA but declined to attend, instead pursuing a career in modeling.
Career
Modeling

Banks began modeling in the 11th grade. She later went to Paris, France to do some runway modeling. She has done extensive print and/or runway work for fashion/advertising giants, such as Anna Sui, CoverGirl, Bill Blass, Chanel, Victoria's Secret, and Yves Saint Laurent. She has appeared on the covers of high-fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and Elle.

Banks was the first African American woman on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. In 1997, she received the VH1 award for Supermodel of the Year. That same year, she became the first-ever African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria's Secret catalog.

In 2010, Banks re-signed with her former modeling agency IMG Models.
Move into television and film

Banks's television career began on the fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which she played lead character Will Smith's old friend Jackie Ames. She made seven appearances in the series. Other TV credits include Felicity, All That, MADtv, Nick Cannon's Wild 'n Out (in which she was featured as a special guest host and team captain) and The Price Is Right (guest-starring as a "Barker's Beauty"). She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode entitled "Chinatown."

Tyra Banks started her own production company, Bankable Productions (at first called "Ty Ty Baby Productions"; she did not rename it till the second cycle of America's Next Top Model), which produced The Tyra Banks Show, America's Next Top Model, and the 2008 movie The Clique.

Banks is the hostess, judge and executive producer of The CW Television Network show America's Next Top Model. In addition, she hosted The Tyra Banks Show, a daytime talk show aimed at younger women, which premiered on September 12, 2005, and ran until May 28, 2010.

In 2008, Banks won the Daytime Emmy Award for her work and production on The Tyra Banks Show.

In late-January 2008, Banks got the go-ahead from The CW Television Network to start work on a new reality television series based on fashion magazines called Stylista. The show premiered on October 22, 2008.

Banks's first big screen role came in 1994, when she co-starred in the drama Higher Learning. She then co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in the Disney film Life-Size, playing a doll named Eve who comes to life and has to learn how to live in the real world. Other notable roles include Love Stinks (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Coyote Ugly (2000) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). She and Miley Cyrus poke fun at the excesses of the Hollywood lifestyle with a battle over a pair of shoes in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009).

Banks appeared in the fourth episode of the third season of Gossip Girl playing Ursula Nyquist, a larger-than-life actress who works with Serena.
Music

Banks has appeared in several music videos, including Michael Jackson's "Black or White", Tina Turner's "Love Thing", Mobb Deep's "Trife Life", George Michael's "Too Funky" (with fellow supermodel Linda Evangelista) and Lionel Richie's "Don't Wanna Lose You". In 2004, she recorded her first single, "Shake Ya Body," which had a music video featuring the final six contestants on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 2. The video was world-premiered on UPN, but the single turned out to be a failure.

Banks released a single with NBA player Kobe Bryant, entitled "K.O.B.E.," which was performed on NBA TV. She also has a single on the soundtrack to Disney Channel's Original Movie Life-Size called "Be A Star."
Books

Banks announced in May 2010 that she would be writing a novel, titled Modelland, loosely based on her own modelling experience. Published September 2011, it is the first of a planned three-part series. On an interview with Good Morning America, Banks stated that Modelland is the story of four girls who are accepted into an "exclusive" modelling school in the world of Modelland.

In 1998, Banks authored a book entitled Tyra's Beauty, Inside and Out.
Further education

In 2011, Banks enrolled in the Owner/President Management Program (OPM) at the Harvard Business School. Banks is planning to graduate Harvard in February 2012.
Philanthropy

In 1999, Tyra Banks established the TZONE program, which aimed at leadership and life skills development. In 2005, TZONE transformed from a camp into a public charity, the Tyra Banks TZONE Foundation.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1995 Higher Learning Deja
1999 Love Stinks Holly Garnett
2000 Love & Basketball Kyra Kessler
Life-Size Eve Doll TV movie
Coyote Ugly Zoë
2002 Halloween: Resurrection Nora Winston
Eight Crazy Nights Victoria's Secret Gown Voice
2007 Mr. Woodcock Herself Cameo
2008 Tropic Thunder Herself Cameo
2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie Herself in Women's Shoe Department Cameo
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1993 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Jackie Ames TV series (credited as "Tyra")

    Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Part 1
    All Guts, No Glory
    Father of the Year
    Blood Is Thicker Than Mud
    Fresh Prince After Dark
    Take My Cousin... Please
    You've Got to Be a Football Hero

1999 Felicity Jane Scott TV series

    A Good Egg
    Kissing Mr. Covington
    One Ball, Two Strikes

Just Shoot Me! Herself TV series

    Nina Sees Red: Part 1
    Nina Sees Red: Part 2

2000 MADtv Katisha Latisha Parisha Farisha Johnson TV series

    Episode #5.17
    Episode #5.25

2003–present America's Next Top Model Host Reality TV series created, judged and hosted by Banks
2004 American Dreams Carolyn Gill TV series

    Chasing the Past

All of Us Roni TV series

    O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2005–2010 The Tyra Banks Show Host Talk show
2009 Gossip Girl Ursula Nyquist TV series,season 3

    Dan de Fleurette

2011 Mexico's Next Top Model Guest judge Reality TV Series

    Episode Finale in Mexico's Next Top Model, Cycle 2
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s108/Cynetria/tyra_banks.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o114/Tejada_bucket/Tyra-Banks.jpg


I watch her show once in a while, not crazy about it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/04/11 at 10:01 am


I watch her show once in a while, not crazy about it.

I use to watch but not much this year.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/04/11 at 12:27 pm


I watch her show once in a while, not crazy about it.

I used to watch but not much this year.

Her show no longer airs, at least in this area. (That is, the talk show.) But at least I can see some clips from it on Youtube.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/04/11 at 2:01 pm


Her show no longer airs, at least in this area. (That is, the talk show.) But at least I can see some clips from it on Youtube.
I don't think I have knowingly seen her on television.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/04/11 at 5:52 pm


I don't think I have knowingly seen her on television.

She hosted a television talk show (which mostly focused on issues that young people often face) from 2005 to 2010, and during that time she has also been host of the contest show "America's Next Top Model."

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/04/11 at 8:22 pm


She hosted a television talk show (which mostly focused on issues that young people often face) from 2005 to 2010, and during that time she has also been host of the contest show "America's Next Top Model."


It's called Tyra.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/05/11 at 1:26 am


She hosted a television talk show (which mostly focused on issues that young people often face) from 2005 to 2010, and during that time she has also been host of the contest show "America's Next Top Model."
Thanks for filling me in.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/05/11 at 7:25 am

The person of the day...Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and contributed significantly to the development of soul music. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website entry on Penniman states that:

    He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll", and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast. More than any other performer – save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll.

Penniman began performing on stage and on the road in 1945, when he was in his early teens. He began his recording career on October 16, 1951 by imitating the gospel-influenced style of late-1940s jump blues artist Billy Wright, who was a friend of his that set him up with the opportunity to record. His early fifties recordings, however, did not achieve remarkable commercial success. However, in 1955, under the guidance of Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Penniman began recording in a style he had been performing onstage for years, featuring varied rhythm (derived from everything from drum beats he would hear in his voice to the sounds of trains he would hear thundering by him as a child), a heavy backbeat, funky saxophone grooves, over-the-top gospel-style singing, moans, screams, and other emotive inflections, accompanied by a combination of boogie-woogie and rhythm and blues music. This new music, which included an original injection of funk into the rock and roll beat, inspired many of the greatest recording artists of the twentieth century, including James Brown, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, and generations of other rhythm & blues, rock, and soul music artists.

On October 12, 1957, while at the height of stardom, Penniman abruptly quit rock and roll music and became a born-again Christian. He had charted seventeen original hits in less than three years. In January 1958, he enrolled in and attended Bible college to become a preacher and evangelist and began recording and performing only gospel music for a number of years. He then moved back and forth from rock and roll to the ministry, until he was able to reconcile the two roles in later life.

Penniman was among the first group of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and one of only four of those artists (along with Ray Charles, James Brown, and Fats Domino) to also receive the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2003, Penniman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2007, his 1955 original hit "Tutti Frutti" was voted Number 1 by an eclectic panel of renowned recording artists on Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World, hailing the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock and roll." In 2010, The United States of America's Library of Congress National Recording Registry added the groundbreaking recording to its registry, claiming that the hit, with its original “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom!” a cappella introduction, heralded a new era in music.
"Tutti Frutti" reached #2 on Billboard's R&B chart. Seventeen more hit singles followed in less than three years, three of which reached number 1. While most of these hits were characterized by a driving piano, boogie-woogie bass line, a variety of rhythmic drumbeats, and wild screams before Lee Allen's sax solos, such as "Rip It Up", "Lucille", "Jenny, Jenny", "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and "Keep A-Knockin'", a few of them were slower in tempo and more soulful, such as "True Fine Mama". During this period, he also appeared performing his hit songs in three films, including The Girl Can't Help It (1956), in which he sang the hit title track, Don't Knock the Rock (1956), and Mister Rock and Roll (1957).

"Tutti Frutti" was quickly covered by both Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. While Presley's versions only appeared as album tracks, Boone's covers were released as singles and his "Tutti Frutti" single outsold the source record and "outdid Richard's on the hit parade". Boone also released a version of "Long Tall Sally" with slightly bowdlerized lyrics, but this time, the original version outperformed the cover on the Billboard pop chart. Presley and Bill Haley tackled Penniman's fourth R&B chart topper, "Rip It Up", but his single was the hit.

Penniman, along with his road band, performed his hits in sports stadiums and concert venues across the United States through 1956 and 1957. He brought the races together at his concerts, at a time in the United States when laws still dictated that public facilities (including concert venues) be divided into separate "white" and "colored" domains. His audiences would start out segregated in the building, usually with one race on the floor and the other on the balcony, but most of the time, by the end of the night they were mixed together. Racists in the south, such as the North Alabama White Citizens Council, responded by putting out statements on television, warning the public that "Rock n Roll is part of a test to undermine the morals of the youth of our nation. It is sexualistic, unmoralistic and ... brings people of both races together." The demand for him was so great, however, that even in the south where segregation was most rampant, the taboos against black artists appearing in white venues were being shattered.

Penniman was an innovative and charismatic performer, appearing in sequined capes under flicker lights that he brought from show business into the music world. He would run off and on the stage, jumping, yelling, and whipping the audience into a frenzy. At a concert in Baltimore, Maryland, US concert history was made when excited people had to be restrained from jumping off the balconies, and the police had to stop the show twice to remove dozens of girls that had climbed onstage to try to rip souvenirs from Penniman. Later in the show, girls began to throw their undergarments onto the stage.

While on the road in the mid-50s, Penniman would have notorious parties, replete with orgies, in hotel rooms wherever they appeared. In late 1956, he met a voluptuous high school graduate in Savannah, Georgia, by the name of Lee Angel (née Audrey Robinson). She became his girlfriend and started traveling on the road with him. Penniman would invite attractive men to his parties and would enjoy watching them having sex with his girlfriend.
Conversion to Christianity: 1957–1962

In early October 1957, on the fifth date of a two-week tour of Australia, Penniman was flying from Melbourne to appear in front of 40,000 fans in concert in Sydney. Shocked by the red hot appearance of the engines against the night sky, he envisioned angels holding up the plane. Then, while he performed at the stadium, he was shaken by the sight of a ball of fire that he watched streak across the sky overhead. He took what was actually the launching of Sputnik 1, the first human-made object to orbit the earth, as another sign to quit show business and follow God. The following day he departed Sydney on a ferry and threw his $8,000 ring in the water to show his band members that he was serious about quitting. The plane that he was originally scheduled to fly back home on ended up crashing in the Pacific Ocean, which he took as confirmation that he was doing what God wanted him to do.

The news of his quitting at the height of his career had broken all over the world by the time he returned to the United States. He attended one more recording session for Specialty on October 18, 1957, and, at the request of DJ Alan Freed, performed a farewell concert at the Apollo Theatre in New York. He then had his roadies drive his Cadillacs across the United States to a property he bought for his mother in California and gave her the keys. He formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team, travelling across the country preaching, and helped people locally through a ministry on skid row in Los Angeles.

From October 1957 to 1962, Penniman recorded gospel music for End, Mercury, and Atlantic Records. In 1958, he enrolled in the Seventh-day Adventist Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), in Huntsville, Alabama, where he planned to take a three-year course which was to culminate in ordination. In November 1957, he met Ernestine Campbell at an evangelistic meeting in Washington, D.C.. They were married on July 11, 1959
    In 1956, Cashbox awarded Penniman the Cashbox Triple Crown Award for his second hit single "Long Tall Sally".
    In 1984, "Little Richard" Penniman was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
    In 1986, Penniman was one of the first group of recording artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
    In 1990, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
    In 1993, he then received an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
    In 1994, he was the fourth recording artist (the others being Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown) to be recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
    In 1995, he received two Keys to the City of Providence, Rhode Island; one was awarded spontaneously, on stage, by Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci
    In 1997, he received the American Music Award of Merit.
    On May 14, 2002, Little Richard was honored as one of the first three BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry.
    In 2002, he received the NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award for having "distinguished himself as not only an unparalleled musical genius, but also as a unique and innovative performing artist—fusing pure vocal talent with exhilarating showmanship."
    In 2003, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
    In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #8 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
    In 2006, he was inducted into the Apollo Theater Legends Hall of Fame, at the same time as Ella Fitzgerald (who was one of the first winners of 'Amateur Night at the Apollo' in 1934) and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
    In 2007, his 1955 original hit "Tutti Frutti" topped Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World.
    In 2008, Penniman was inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame.
    In 2009, he was formally inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
    In 2009, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
    In 2010, The Library Of Congress National Recording Registry added Penniman's original 1955 hit “Tutti Frutti” to its registry, claiming that the hit announced a new era in music: “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom!”
    In September 2010, Little Richard was named GQ's Man of the Year (Legend).

Discography
Main article: Little Richard discography
Filmography

    The Girl Can't Help It (1956), lip-syncing the title number, "Ready Teddy" and "She's Got It"
    Don't Knock the Rock (1956), lip-syncing "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti"
    Mister Rock and Roll (1957), lip-syncing "Lucille" and "Keep A-Knockin'", on original prints
    Catalina Caper (aka Never Steal Anything Wet, 1967), Richard lip-syncs an original tune, "Scuba Party" still unreleased on record in 2011.
    Little Richard: Live at the Toronto Peace Festival (1969) - released on DVD in 2009 by Shout! Factory
    The London Rock & Roll Show (1972), performing "Lucille", "Rip It Up", "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Tutti Frutti", "I Believe" , and "Jenny Jenny"
    Jimi Hendrix (1973)
    Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), production number of hit version of "Great Gosh A-Mighty"
    Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987)
    Goddess of Love (1988)
    Purple People Eater (1988)
    Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989) (uncredited)
    Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990) (voice)
    Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990)
    The Naked Truth (1992)
    Sunset Heat (1992)
    The Pickle (1993)
    Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998)
    Mystery Alaska (1999)
    The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
    James Brown: The Man, The Music, & The Message (2008)
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p223/sonnyflowers/little-richard.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c116/jeffzaps/little_richard.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/05/11 at 1:25 pm

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4mv1j72jB3s/ThKw1HzrwaI/AAAAAAAAAK4/-xfHjwd9TVY/s1600/little-richard.jpg

I can't believe he's almost 80.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/05/11 at 1:30 pm


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4mv1j72jB3s/ThKw1HzrwaI/AAAAAAAAAK4/-xfHjwd9TVY/s1600/little-richard.jpg

I can't believe he's almost 80.  :o
I can!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/05/11 at 1:31 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFq5O2kabQo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/05/11 at 2:15 pm


It's called Tyra.

I know that!! It was also known as "The Tyra Banks Show" or simply "The Tyra Show". The logo just had her name in it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/05/11 at 2:17 pm


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4mv1j72jB3s/ThKw1HzrwaI/AAAAAAAAAK4/-xfHjwd9TVY/s1600/little-richard.jpg

I can't believe he's almost 80.  :o

And he's still going strong!


In 1994 he made a special guest appearance on an episode of "Full House", in the episode where Joey runs for PTA president of Michelle's elementary school.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: wildcard on 12/05/11 at 6:53 pm

hey I know that guy

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/06/11 at 6:27 am

The person of the day...JoBeth Williams
JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American film and television actress and director, and current President of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.
Williams' first television role was on the Boston-produced first-run syndicated children's television series Jabberwocky, which debuted in 1974. Her character was named, appropriately enough, JoBeth. She joined the "Jabberwocky" cast in season two, replacing the original hostess, Joanne Sopko. The series ran until 1978. She was a regular on two soap operas, playing Carrie Wheeler on Somerset and Brandi Sheloo on Guiding Light. Williams' feature film debut came in 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer as a girlfriend of Dustin Hoffman's character, memorably quizzed by his son after being discovered walking nude to the bathroom.
Motion pictures

She is perhaps most recognized for her roles in Stir Crazy (1980) with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, and Steven Speilberg's Poltergeist (1982) as suburban housewife Diane Freeling (she reprised her character in the sequel, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, 1986). A year later she was part of the ensemble comedy-drama The Big Chill (1983). This led to her only major starring role in a studio feature film, American Dreamer (1984), opposite Tom Conti. High profile co-starring roles in Teachers (1984) with Nick Nolte, Desert Bloom (1986) with Jon Voight, Memories of Me with Billy Crystal (1988) and Blake Edwards's Switch (1991) with Ellen Barkin followed.

She is also known for starring opposite Kris Kristofferson in Oscar-winning director Franklin J. Schaffner's final film, the Vietnam POW drama Welcome Home (1989). In 1992, she re-teamed with Big Chill director Lawrence Kasdan to portray Bessie Earp in Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner and starred as Crazy Diane/Sane Diane, a schizophrenic shut-in, in the dark independent comedy Me, Myself & I.

She also co-starred with Ed O'Neil in director John Hughes's comedy Dutch (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) as the police detective love interest of Sylvester Stallone. In 1997, she played a domineering lesbian in the independent comedy Little City with Jon Bon Jovi and a hysterical publishing editor in Just Write with Jeremy Piven. In 2005, she appeared in the Drew Barrymore-Jimmy Fallon baseball comedy Fever Pitch.

In October 2011, she appeared with Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Rashida Jones, and Jack Black in the birdwatching comedy The Big Year, for Twentieth Century Fox.
Television work

Williams has also gained critical acclaim for a number of performances in notable television movies, including the nuclear holocaust film The Day After (1983), Murder Ordained (1987), as Lois Burnham Wilson in My Name is Bill W. (1989) and the critically acclaimed Masterpiece Theater presentation of The Ponder Heart (2003) for director Martha Coolidge.

She earned Emmy nominations for starring as real-life characters Revé Walsh (the wife of John Walsh) in the film Adam (1983) and Mary Beth Whitheead in Baby M (1988). In 1993, she anchored the improvised Showtime dramedy Chantilly Lace with Helen Slater and Martha Plimpton.

She also had an Emmy-nominated guest starring role on Frasier and played Reggie Love in the CBS TV version of the film The Client, which lasted only 21 episodes but gained a wider audience when it was re-broadcast in reruns on the TNT Network.

In 1995 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her 1994 live-action short, "On Hope" which starred Annette O'Toole. It was her debut as a director. She appeared on a 2006 episode of 24 as Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller)'s wife, Miriam, who literally takes a (non-fatal) bullet for her husband.

She appeared in one episode of the 1998 TV mini-series From the Earth to the Moon as Marge Slayton, the wife of Deke Slayton. The episode is part 11 of the series and titled 'The Original Wives Club.'

In 1999, JoBeth teamed with John Larroquette and Julie Benz for the CBS network situation comedy Payne. The show, which was the American television version of the hit British comedy, Fawlty Towers, lasted just ten episodes.

In 2007, she joined Dexter for a four-episode arc as the serial-killer's future mother-in-law. Also, she appeared in a memorable 2009 Criminal Minds listed as Special Guest Star in the episode, 'Empty Planet' as Professor Ursula Kent who helps the BAU with a bomb threat in Seattle.

She has played the recurring role of Bizzy Forbes-Montgomery, mother of Kate Walsh's Addison, on ABC's Private Practice since 2009.
Personal life

She is married to TV and film director John Pasquin (with whom she worked on Jungle 2 Jungle); they have two children.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer Phyllis Bernard
1980 Stir Crazy Meredith
1980 The Dogs of War Jessie Shannon
1982 Endangered Species Harriet Purdue directed by Alan Rudolph
1982 Poltergeist Diane Freeling Produced by Steven Speilberg
1983 Adam Revé Walsh Emmy nomination
1983 The Big Chill Karen
1983 The Day After Nurse Nancy Bauer
1984 Teachers Lisa Hammond
1984 American Dreamer Cathy Palmer/Rebecca Ryan
1985 Kids Don't Tell Claudia Ryan
1986 Desert Bloom Lois Chismore
1986 Poltergeist II: The Other Side Diane Freeling
1986 Adam: His Song Continues Revé Walsh
1987 Murder Ordained Lorna Andersen
1988 Memories of Me Lisa the Christian
1988 Baby M Mary Beth Whitheead Golden Globe & Emmy nomination
1989 My Name Is Bill W. Lois Bernham Wilson
1990 Welcome Home Dee Mobley directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
1990 Child in the Night Dr. Hollis
1991 Switch Margo Brofman Directed by Blake Edwards
1991 Dutch Natalie directed by John Hughes
1991 Victim of Love Dr. Tess Palmer aka Raw Heat
1992 Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot Lt. Gwen Harper
1992 Me, Myself & I Crazy Diane/Sane Diane
1992 Jonathan: The Boy Nobody Wanted Ginny Moore
1993 Chantilly Lace Natalie
1994 Wyatt Earp Bessie Earp directed by Lawrence Kasdan
1994 On Hope Director;nominated for an Oscar
1994 Parallel Lives Winnie Winslow
1997 When Danger Follows You Home Anne Werden
1997 Little City Anne
1997 Jungle 2 Jungle Dr. Patricia Cromwell
1997 Just Write Sidney Stone
1998 A Chance of Snow Maddie Parker
1999 It Came From the Sky Alice Bridges
2001 Masterpiece Theater: The Ponder Heart Edna Earle Ponder directed by Martha Coolidge
2005 Into the Fire June Sickles
2005 14 Hours Jeanette Makins
2005 Fever Pitch Maureen Meeks directed by the Farrelly Brothers
2007 Sybil Hattie
2009 TiMER Marion
2009 Uncorked Sophia Browning
2011 The Big Year Charlyn
Episodic television work

    1974 - Jabberwocky as JoBeth
    1992 - Fish Police as voice of Angel
    1998 - From the Earth to the Moon as Marge Slayton
    1999 - Payne as Constance Payne (10 episodes)
    2006-2007 - The Nine as Sheryl Kates
    2006 - Criminal Minds as Ursula Kent - (Episode: "Empty Planet")
    2007 - Dexter as Gail Brandon (5 episodes)
    2009-2011 Private Practice as Bizzy Montgomery - (6 episodes)
    2010 - The Last Film Festival as Mayor
    2011 - NCIS as Leona Phelps (Episode: "One Last Score")
    2011 - Hart of Dixie as Candace Hart (2 episodes)
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc269/jblaire14/jobethwilliams.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad298/ScreenActorsGuild/SAG%20Awards%202010/SAGAwards2010-0071.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/06/11 at 6:53 am


I can!


You'd think at his age he'd have gray hair by now.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/06/11 at 11:30 am


You'd think at his age he'd have gray hair by now.  :o



He probably dyes it.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/06/11 at 12:36 pm


You'd think at his age he'd have gray hair by now.  :o
Some people do not go grey.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/06/11 at 7:47 pm



He probably dyes it.



Cat


He'll probably look the same at 90.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/07/11 at 12:16 pm

The person of the day...Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1932) is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967. Her performance in the 1971 ensemble drama The Last Picture Show earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination and consideration for major film roles. Burstyn received a second Academy Award nomination for her lead performance in The Exorcist (1973), and won the Academy Award for Best Actress the following year for her work in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). In 1975, she won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway production of Same Time, Next Year, and received a Golden Globe Award and a fourth Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1978 film version. Burstyn has worked consistently in film, television and theatre since, receiving multiple awards and nominations along the way, including an Emmy Award and two more Academy Award nominations for her performances in the films Resurrection (1980) and Requiem for a Dream (2000).
Burstyn debuted on Broadway in 1957 and joined Lee Strasberg's The Actors Studio in New York City, New York, in 1967. In 1975, she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance in the comedy Same Time, Next Year (a role she would reprise in the film version in 1978). Until 1970, she was credited as Ellen McRae in nearly all her film and television appearances.

Burstyn received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress in 1971 for her role in the drama film The Last Picture Show and for Best Actress in 1973 for the horror film The Exorcist. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1974 for her performance in the drama Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, directed by Martin Scorsese. She also received Best Actress nominations in 1978 for Same Time, Next Year, in 1980 for the fantasy-drama Resurrection, and for the drama Requiem for a Dream in 2000.
Burstyn at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, September 2007

In the early to mid 1960s, Burstyn played Dr. Kate Bartok on the NBC television soap opera The Doctors. She worked on several primetime television shows of the 1960s, including guest appearances on Perry Mason, The Virginian, Maverick, Wagon Train, 77 Sunset Strip, The Big Valley and Gunsmoke. She hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, a late-night sketch comedy and variety show, in 1980.

In 1977, she was a member of the jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival and in 1988, she was a member of the jury for the 38th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1986, she had her own ABC television situation comedy, The Ellen Burstyn Show costarring Megan Mullally as her daughter and Elaine Stritch as her mother; it was canceled after one season. From 2000 to 2002, Burstyn appeared in the CBS television drama That's Life. In 2006, she starred as an Episcopalian bishop in the controversial NBC comedy-drama series The Book of Daniel; although eight episodes were taped, it was canceled after four episodes.

In 2006, Burstyn appeared in the drama-romance film The Fountain, directed by Darren Aronofsky, with whom she worked in Requiem for a Dream. Since 2007, she has had an occasional recurring role on the HBO television drama series Big Love, playing the mother of polygamist wife Barbara Henrickson.

She provided a supporting role as the mother of two sons in the drama-romance film The Elephant King. The film originally premièred at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival but did not open in U.S. theaters until October 2008.

Burstyn starred in the Broadway production of Martin Tahse's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, based upon the novel of the same title by Allan Gurganus. The show opened and closed on November 17, 2003. Burstyn returned to the stage from March 18 – May 4, 2008, in an Off-Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Little Flower of East Orange, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a co-production by LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater; Burstyn played the role of Marie Therese.

In addition to her stage work, Burstyn portrayed former First Lady Barbara Bush in director Oliver Stone's biographical film W in 2008.

In 2009, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of the bipolar estranged mother of Detective Elliot Stabler on NBC's police procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
This section requires expansion with:
information on Burstyn's work in regional theatre.

In 1990, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.
Emmy Awards and controversy

Burstyn was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, for her role as Jean Harris in the biographical television film The People vs. Jean Harris (1981) and again for another television drama film, Pack of Lies (1987), an adaptation of the 1983 play.

In 2006, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for a role credited as "Former Tarnower Steady" in HBO's biographical television film Mrs. Harris. (She had played Jean Harris in The People vs. Jean Harris).

Soon after the nominations were announced, an outcry ensued from the press and the public regarding the worthiness of the nomination due to her minor role in the film, consisting of 14 seconds of screen time and 38 words of dialogue. One explanation for the nomination was that people were honoring Burstyn for her nominated but non-winning performance from the first Harris television film. A more popular accusation was that the nominating committee was either confused in their recollection, or merely "threw in" her name from sheer recognition, assuming a worthy performance without actually seeing it.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the administrator of the Primetime Emmy Awards, initially insisted that "based on the popular vote, this is a legitimate nomination". Meanwhile, HBO deflected the blame for submitting the nomination to the movie-production company. Burstyn's own reaction ranged from initial silence to comments such as, "I thought it was fabulous. My next ambition is to get nominated for seven seconds, and ultimately I want to be nominated for a picture in which I don't even appear," and "This doesn't have anything to do with me. I don't even want to know about this. You people work it out yourself."

Ultimately, Kelly Macdonald, who starred in The Girl in the Cafe, won the award. In March 2007, the Academy officially announced that eligibility for a Primetime Emmy Award in any long-form supporting-actor category required nominees to appear on-screen in at least five percent of the project.

Many critics still cite this incident to criticize the Emmy Award nomination process, claiming that name recognition has played an increasingly visible role over the years.
Other activities

During the 1970s, Burstyn was active in the movement to free convicted boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter from jail.

In 1981, Burstyn recorded "The Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" (Kurt Weill's musical setting of Bertolt Brecht's text "Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?")('And what did the soldier's woman get?') for Ben Bagley's album Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2.

Burstyn served as president of the Actors' Equity Association from 1982 to 1985.

In 1997, Burstyn was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. In 2000, she was named co-president of The Actors Studio, alongside Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel.
Personal life

In 1950, she married Bill Alexander, but they were divorced in 1957. The following year, she married Paul Roberts, with whom she adopted a boy named Jefferson in 1962; the couple was divorced the same year.

In 1964, she married fellow actor Neil Burstyn, but the union was turbulent. Neil Burstyn was schizophrenic; he would have episodes of violence, and eventually left her. He attempted to come back to her, but she rejected him, ultimately divorcing him in 1972. In her autobiography, Lessons in Becoming Myself, Burstyn revealed that he stalked her over a period of six years after she divorced him. He eventually broke into her house and raped her, but no charges were filed, as spousal rape was not yet legally a crime. He committed suicide in 1978, upon which his parents sent Burstyn a telegram stating "Congratulations, you've won another Oscar; Neil killed himself".

Burstyn affiliates herself to all religious faiths as she explains: "I am a spirit opening to the truth that lives in all of these religions”.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film and television 1963 The Greatest Show on Earth Television series
1964 Goodbye Charlie Franzie Salzman
1964 For Those Who Think Young Dr. Pauline Thayer
1969 The Virginian Kate Burden (as Ellen MacRae) Television series, season 7, episode 16: "Last Grave at Socorro Creek"
1969 The Winner Ellen McLeod
1970 Alex in Wonderland Beth Morrison
1970 Tropic of Cancer Mona Miller
1971 The Last Picture Show Lois Farrow National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1972 The King of Marvin Gardens Sally
1973 The Exorcist Chris MacNeil Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Alice Hyatt Academy Award for Best Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1974 Harry and Tonto Shirley Mallard
1974 Thursday's Game Lynne Evers television film
1977 Providence Sonia Langham
1978 A Dream of Passion Brenda
1978 Same Time, Next Year Doris Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — American Movie Award for Best Actress
1980 Resurrection Edna Mae McCauley Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
1981 Silence of the North Olive Frederickson Nominated — Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress
1981 The People vs. Jean Harris Jean Harris Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1984 The Ambassador Alex Hacker
1984 Terror in the Aisles archival footage
1985 Into Thin Air Joan Walker Television film
1985 Twice in a Lifetime Kate MacKenzie
1985 Surviving: A Family in Crisis Tina Brogan Television film
1986 The Ellen Burstyn Show Ellen Brewer Television series
1986 Act of Vengeance Margaret Yablonski Television film
1986 Something in Common Lynn Hollander Television film
1987 Look Away Mary Todd Lincoln television film
1987 Pack of Lies Barbara Jackson Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1988 Hanna's War Katalin
1990 When You Remember Me Nurse Cooder television film
1991 Grand Isle Mademoiselle Reisz
1991 Dying Young Mrs. O'Neil
1991 Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love Lillian "Lil" Lambert television film
1992 Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story Wilma Television film
1993 Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Joan Delvecchio Television film
1993 The Cemetery Club Esther Moskowitz
1994 Trick of the Eye Frances Griffin Television film
1994 Getting Gotti Jo Giaclone Television film
1994 When a Man Loves a Woman Emily
1994 Getting Out Arlie's Mother Television film
1994 The Color of Evening Kate O'Reilly
1995 How to Make an American Quilt Hy Dodd Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1995 The Baby-Sitters Club Emily Haberman
1995 Follow the River Gretel Television film
1995 My Brother's Keeper Helen Television film
1995 Roommates Judith
1996 Timepiece Maud Gannon television film
1996 Our Son, the Matchmaker television film
1996 The Spitfire Grill Hannah Ferguson
1997 Flash Laura Strong Television film
1997 Deceiver Mook
1997 A Deadly Vision Yvette Watson Television film
1998 Playing by Heart Mildred
1998 The Patron Saint of Liars June Clatterbuck Television film
1998 You Can Thank Me Later Shirley Cooperberg
1999 Walking Across Egypt Mattie Rigsbee
1999 Night Ride Home Maggie Television film
2000 Mermaid Trish Gill Television film
Nominated— Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special
2000 Requiem for a Dream Sara Goldfarb Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Stockholm International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2000 The Yards Val Handler
2001 Within These Walls Joan Thomas Television film
2001 Dodson's Journey Mother
2002 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Viviane Joan 'Vivi' Abbott Walker
2002 Red Dragon Grandma Dolarhyde (voice only)
2003 Brush with Fate Rika Television film
2004 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Ruby Television film
2004 The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel Tommie Television film
2005 Mrs. Harris Ex-lover #3 Television film
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2005 Down in the Valley Ma
2005 Our Fathers Mary Ryan television film
2006 The Fountain Dr. Lilian Guzetti
2006 The Wicker Man Sister Summersisle
2006 The Elephant King Diana Hunt
2006 30 Days Maura
2007 The Stone Angel Hagar Shipley Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
2007 For One More DayFor One More Day Pauline Benetto Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2007–11 Big Love Nancy Davis Dutton Television series
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
2008 Lovely, Still Mary
2008 The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond Miss Adie
2008 W. Barbara Bush
2008 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Bernie Stabler Television series, episode: "Swing"
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series
Nominated — Prism Award for Performance in a Drama Episode
2009 The Velveteen Rabbit Swan voice
2009 According to Greta Katherine
2009 PoliWood Herself Documentary
2010 The Mighty Macs Mother St. John
2010 Main Street Georgiana Carr
2011 Another Happy Day Doris
2011 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You Nanette filming
http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq329/QueenofHades/006TWM_Ellen_Burstyn_004.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk295/bigmikemdz/Blog%20Photos/LastPictureShow17.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/07/11 at 12:29 pm

I always liked Ellen Burstyn. Loved her in Same Time, Next Year (opposite Alan Alda).




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/07/11 at 1:59 pm

Didn't she have her own tv show?  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/07/11 at 2:29 pm


I always liked Ellen Burstyn. Loved her in Same Time, Next Year (opposite Alan Alda).




Cat
Her performance in the 1971 ensemble drama The Last Picture Show earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination and consideration for major film roles

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/07/11 at 3:40 pm


I always liked Ellen Burstyn. Loved her in Same Time, Next Year (opposite Alan Alda).




Cat

That was a good film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/07/11 at 3:41 pm


Didn't she have her own tv show?  ???

I think in the mid 80's she did.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 12/07/11 at 3:59 pm


Didn't she have her own tv show?  ???


On the list- 1986

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/09/11 at 2:09 pm

British Person of the Day: Judi Dench

Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is an English film, stage and television actress.

Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer; however, most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968.

During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.

Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).

Dench has received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute (BFI).

She was married to actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001. They are the parents of actress Finty Williams.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Judi_Dench_at_the_BAFTAs_2007.jpg/220px-Judi_Dench_at_the_BAFTAs_2007.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 12/09/11 at 4:53 pm


British Person of the Day: Judi Dench

Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is an English film, stage and television actress.

Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer; however, most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968.

During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.

Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).

Dench has received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute (BFI).

She was married to actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001. They are the parents of actress Finty Williams.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Judi_Dench_at_the_BAFTAs_2007.jpg/220px-Judi_Dench_at_the_BAFTAs_2007.jpg


I loved her husband Michael Williams and thought him the better half.  I love a lot of the shows she is in, "A Fine Romance" and "As Time Goes By" are standouts, but for some reason she just annoys me.  It is very confusing for me.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/10/11 at 6:14 am

British Person of the Day: Ada Lovelace

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine; as such she is sometimes considered the "World's First Computer Programmer".

She was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron (with Anne Isabella Milbanke). She had no relationship with her father, who died when she was nine. As a young adult she took an interest in mathematics, and in particular Babbage's work on the analytical engine. Between 1842 and 1843 she translated an article by Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea on the engine, which she supplemented with a set of notes of her own. These notes contain what is considered the first computer program—that is, an algorithm encoded for processing by a machine. Though Babbage's engine was not built until nearly 150 years later in 1989–91, Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.

First "computer program"

In 1842 Charles Babbage was invited to give a seminar at the University of Turin about his analytical engine. Luigi Menabrea, a young Italian engineer, and future prime minister of Italy, wrote up Babbage's lecture in French, and this transcript was subsequently published in the Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève in October 1842.

Babbage asked the Countess of Lovelace to translate Menabrea's paper into English, subsequently requesting that she augment the notes she had added to the translation. Lady Lovelace spent most of a year doing this. These notes, which are more extensive than Menabrea's paper, were then published in The Ladies' Diary and Taylor's Scientific Memoirs under the initialism "AAL".

In 1953, over one hundred years after her death, Lady Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and Lady Lovelace's notes as a description of a computer and software.

Her notes were labelled alphabetically from A to G. In note G, the Countess describes an algorithm for the analytical engine to compute Bernoulli numbers. It is considered the first algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer, and for this reason she is often cited as the first computer programmer. However the engine was never actually constructed to completion during Lovelace's lifetime.

The computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980, and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, "MIL-STD-1815", was given the number of the year of her birth. Since 1998, the British Computer Society has awarded a medal in her name and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students of computer science.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Ada_Lovelace.jpg/220px-Ada_Lovelace.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/11/11 at 10:14 am


British Person of the Day: Judi Dench

Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is an English film, stage and television actress.

Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer; however, most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968.

During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.

Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).

Dench has received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute (BFI).

She was married to actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001. They are the parents of actress Finty Williams.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Judi_Dench_at_the_BAFTAs_2007.jpg/220px-Judi_Dench_at_the_BAFTAs_2007.jpg

One classy lady.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/11/11 at 10:16 am

The person of the day...Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine LaJuane Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist.
Jermaine and his brothers signed with Motown Records in 1968. As the co-lead singer of The Jackson 5 after his brother Michael, Jermaine sang notable parts of "I Want You Back", "I'll Be There", "The Love You Save","Dancing Machine", and many other Jackson 5 songs. In 1975, after six years performing with his brothers, Jermaine split from the Jackson 5 to continue his solo career at Motown Records while the other Jackson brothers left to sign with Epic Records. In 1983, he reunited with his brothers for the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. After the success of the broadcast, he rejoined the band to record the album Victory and participated in the Victory Tour. He stayed with the group for their final album 2300 Jackson Street in 1990. In 2001, he reunited with his brothers to perform for the 30th anniversary
Solo career

Like Michael, Jermaine began a solo career while still a member of The Jackson 5, and had a hit with the 1972 Shep and the Limelites cover "Daddy's Home". It sold over one million copies by March 1973, and was awarded a gold disc. When The Jackson 5 left Motown, Jermaine left the group and stayed at Motown, as he had married Hazel Gordy and Motown head Berry Gordy was his father-in-law. In 2009, Jermaine claimed on the family reality series The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty it was because "Motown was gonna make us like the Beatles. We were the Jackson 5 and that's all I wanted."

Jermaine was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his 1980 album Let's Get Serious. He had numerous Billboard Top 30 hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including "Daddy's Home" (#9), "That's How Love Goes", "Let's Be Young Tonight", "Bass Odyssey", "Feel the Fire", "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" (featuring Devo on backing vocals) (#18), "Let's Get Serious" (#9, also one of his only two UK hits, peaking at #8), "Dynamite" (#15), "Do What You Do" (#13), and "I Think It's Love" (#16). A duet with his brother Michael, "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)", hit #1 on the dance chart in 1984. He and Michael also collaborated with Rockwell, both providing guest vocals on his 1984 hit single, "Somebody's Watching Me". In 1985, his duet with Pia Zadora, When the Rain Begins to Fall, topped several singles charts in Europe. His final chart success, 1989's "Don't Take It Personal", hit #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Some of Jermaine's finest moments as a singer can be heard in the soulful "Castle of Sand" and the Earth Wind & Fire inspired "You Need To Be Loved".

Jackson is proficient on the electric guitar and is a talented bass guitar player. Already at an early age he performed the parts of legendary bass player James Jamerson etc., when J5 performed live. Jermaine also composed and produced for other artists like Switch. He also produced and sang a couple of duets on Whitney Houston's debut album on Arista Records. In 1992, he produced The Jacksons: An American Dream, an award-winning and highly-rated miniseries about the history of The Jackson 5. Jermaine Jr. portrayed his father as a young teenager in the miniseries.
Reality TV: Big Brother UK

Jackson was the first housemate to enter the Celebrity Big Brother UK house in 2007. He steered clear of the controversy caused by the series, avoiding confrontation and offering moral support to fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty against alleged bullying from fellow housemates Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, and Jo O'Meara. He was often considered to be the most stable minded in the house. During a task in the Big Brother house, the housemates had to create a tribute band for The Jackson 5. The performance of "I Want You Back" helped put The Jackson 5 back in the UK charts at #53. The final three consisted of Dirk Benedict, Jermaine Jackson, and Shilpa Shetty. After leaving Big Brother, Jackson did several interviews on UK television, stating why and how he took his peaceful and mediating stance in the Big Brother house. He also spoke about the Jackson 5 reuniting for a performance. Jackson was part of the second season of the CMT reality show Gone Country.
Later works

He is planning a stage show based on his family to be released in the UK. He has said that The Jacksons are recording an album and planning a family tour. Jackson returned to the UK in March 2007 to take part in the Channel 4 show Musicool as a mentor.

He is also currently involved in several charity projects and has been working on projects to help orphaned children around the world. Among other countries, he has visited Bangladesh as part of his work to raise funds and help children. He has also figured heavily on the Islam Channel in the UK where he talked about his Islamic faith as well as announcing several charity projects that he plans to undertake.

In April 2007, Jackson returned to the UK to take part in a one-off special of ITV's Challenge Anneka. On the same trip he appeared in Glasgow with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking in support of Searchlight magazine's anti-racism campaign, the Daily Mirror "Hope Not Hate bus".

On November 23, 2007, Jackson appeared on Katie & Peter: Unleashed and again talked of a reunion with his brothers on a tour the following year. In 2008, Jackson flew to Australia to be a guest judge and mentor for the top 5 Michael Jackson night on Australian Idol. In March 2008, Jackson was the guest of honour at the Muslim Writers Awards in Birmingham.

He currently appears on the A&E television series The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty documenting the return of him and his three brothers to music and preparing for a 40th anniversary tour and album. Jermaine Jackson will also be playing a concert at the planet hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas on October 2, 2010. The concert is set to be the kick off to his new tour titled "40 Years of Jackson Music", with a special dedication to his brother, Michael Jackson.
Personal life

On December 15, 1973, Jackson married Hazel Gordy, who is the daughter of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. The couple had three children together, Jermaine La Jaune "Jay" Jackson, Jr., (born January 27, 1977), Autumn Joy Jackson (born July 10, 1978), and Jaimy Jackson (born March 17, 1987).

After his divorce from Gordy in 1988, Jackson started living with Margaret Maldonado. The couple had two children, Jeremy Maldonado Jackson, (born December 16, 1986) and Jourdynn Michael Jackson, (born January 5, 1989).

Halima Rashid is Jermaine Jackson's wife, currently living in Los Angeles and often travel around the world.

Jackson converted to Islam in 1989 after a trip to Bahrain and publicly expressed his religious beliefs during his appearance on Big Brother. While filming the program, Jackson prayed and fasted. He also expressed his hopes to convert his brother Michael to Islam, saying it would provide him with peace and help to heal his problems.

He supported his brother Michael Jackson, during the 2005 child-abuse trial. He came to Michael's defense on CNN's Larry King Live and appeared with him in court on many occasions. On June 25, 2009, Jermaine held a press conference at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and broke the news of Michael Jackson's death to the media.

Jackson attended the memorial service for his brother Michael on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He acted as a pallbearer, and performed the song Smile by Charlie Chaplin, which was believed to be his brother's favorite song, in tribute.

Jackson is an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan. In 2009 while wearing a Manny Ramirez jersey, he made a one-handed catch of a foul ball while seated behind the Dodgers dugout.
In popular culture

Jackson was portrayed by Jason Griffith in the 2004 film Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, while his son, Jermaine Jackson Jr., portrayed him in the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream. In 2010 on Saturday Night Live, Jackson was portrayed by Kenan Thompson.
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
Year album title US
US
R&B
UK

1972 Jermaine 27 6 -
1973 Come Into My Life -
1976 My Name Is Jermaine 164 29 -
1977 Feel The Fire 174 36 -
1978 Frontiers - - -
1979 Let's Get Serious 6 1 22
1980 Jermaine 44 1 -
1981 I Like Your Style 86 31 -
1982 Let Me Tickle Your Fancy 46 9 -
1984 Dynamite (also called Jermaine Jackson) 19 13 57
1986 Precious Moments 46 25 -
1989 Don't Take It Personal 115 18 -
1992 You Said - 39 -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilations
Year album title US US
R&B UK
1981 Motown Superstars Series, Vol. 17 - - -
1991 Greatest Hits & Rare Classics - - -
1999 Dynamite – The Encore Collection - - -
2000 The Heritage Collection - - -
2001 Ultimate Collection - - -
2007 Big Brother Jermaine: The Jermaine Jackson Collection - - -
2009 Greatest Hits - - -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Singles
Motown releases
Year song title US
US
R&B
UK

1972 "That's How Love Goes" 46 23 -
1973 "Daddy's Home" 9 3 -
"You're in Good Hands" 79 35 -
1976 "Let's Be Young Tonight" 55 19 -
1977 "You Need to Be Loved" - 75 -
1978 "Castles of Sand" - 38 -
1979 "Let's Get Serious" 9 1 8
1980 "You're Supposed to Keep Your Love for Me" 32 34 -
"Burnin' Hot" - - 32
1981 "I'm Just Too Shy" 60 29 -
1981 "Little Girl Don't You Worry" - 17 -
"You Like Me Don't You" 50 13 41
1982 "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" 18 5 -
"Paradise in Your Eyes" - 60 -
"Very Special Part" - 54 -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Arista releases
Year song title US
US
R&B
UK

1984 "Sweetest Sweetest" - - 52
"Dynamite" 15 8 -
"Do What You Do" 13 13 6
"Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)"
(with Michael Jackson) - - -
1985 "When the Rain Begins to Fall"
(with Pia Zadora) 52 54 68
"(Closest Thing) To Perfect" 67 63 -
1986 "I Think It's Love" 16 14 96
"Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone" - - -
"Do You Remember Me" 71 40 -
1987 "Words Into Action" - 90 -
1989 "Don't Take It Personal" 64 1 69
1990 "I'd Like to Get to Know You" - 27 -
"Two Ships (In the Night)" - 21 -
1991 "Word to the Badd!"
(with T-Boz) 78 88 -
"You Said, You Said" - 27 -
1992 "I Dream, I Dream" - 30 -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r219/talkinghands/Jermaine%20Jackson/d3e14e65.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r219/talkinghands/Jermaine%20Jackson/7f41bbe2.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/11/11 at 10:24 am


The person of the day...Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine LaJuane Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist.
Jermaine and his brothers signed with Motown Records in 1968. As the co-lead singer of The Jackson 5 after his brother Michael, Jermaine sang notable parts of "I Want You Back", "I'll Be There", "The Love You Save","Dancing Machine", and many other Jackson 5 songs. In 1975, after six years performing with his brothers, Jermaine split from the Jackson 5 to continue his solo career at Motown Records while the other Jackson brothers left to sign with Epic Records. In 1983, he reunited with his brothers for the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. After the success of the broadcast, he rejoined the band to record the album Victory and participated in the Victory Tour. He stayed with the group for their final album 2300 Jackson Street in 1990. In 2001, he reunited with his brothers to perform for the 30th anniversary
Solo career

Like Michael, Jermaine began a solo career while still a member of The Jackson 5, and had a hit with the 1972 Shep and the Limelites cover "Daddy's Home". It sold over one million copies by March 1973, and was awarded a gold disc. When The Jackson 5 left Motown, Jermaine left the group and stayed at Motown, as he had married Hazel Gordy and Motown head Berry Gordy was his father-in-law. In 2009, Jermaine claimed on the family reality series The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty it was because "Motown was gonna make us like the Beatles. We were the Jackson 5 and that's all I wanted."

Jermaine was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his 1980 album Let's Get Serious. He had numerous Billboard Top 30 hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including "Daddy's Home" (#9), "That's How Love Goes", "Let's Be Young Tonight", "Bass Odyssey", "Feel the Fire", "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" (featuring Devo on backing vocals) (#18), "Let's Get Serious" (#9, also one of his only two UK hits, peaking at #8), "Dynamite" (#15), "Do What You Do" (#13), and "I Think It's Love" (#16). A duet with his brother Michael, "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)", hit #1 on the dance chart in 1984. He and Michael also collaborated with Rockwell, both providing guest vocals on his 1984 hit single, "Somebody's Watching Me". In 1985, his duet with Pia Zadora, When the Rain Begins to Fall, topped several singles charts in Europe. His final chart success, 1989's "Don't Take It Personal", hit #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Some of Jermaine's finest moments as a singer can be heard in the soulful "Castle of Sand" and the Earth Wind & Fire inspired "You Need To Be Loved".

Jackson is proficient on the electric guitar and is a talented bass guitar player. Already at an early age he performed the parts of legendary bass player James Jamerson etc., when J5 performed live. Jermaine also composed and produced for other artists like Switch. He also produced and sang a couple of duets on Whitney Houston's debut album on Arista Records. In 1992, he produced The Jacksons: An American Dream, an award-winning and highly-rated miniseries about the history of The Jackson 5. Jermaine Jr. portrayed his father as a young teenager in the miniseries.
Reality TV: Big Brother UK

Jackson was the first housemate to enter the Celebrity Big Brother UK house in 2007. He steered clear of the controversy caused by the series, avoiding confrontation and offering moral support to fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty against alleged bullying from fellow housemates Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, and Jo O'Meara. He was often considered to be the most stable minded in the house. During a task in the Big Brother house, the housemates had to create a tribute band for The Jackson 5. The performance of "I Want You Back" helped put The Jackson 5 back in the UK charts at #53. The final three consisted of Dirk Benedict, Jermaine Jackson, and Shilpa Shetty. After leaving Big Brother, Jackson did several interviews on UK television, stating why and how he took his peaceful and mediating stance in the Big Brother house. He also spoke about the Jackson 5 reuniting for a performance. Jackson was part of the second season of the CMT reality show Gone Country.
Later works

He is planning a stage show based on his family to be released in the UK. He has said that The Jacksons are recording an album and planning a family tour. Jackson returned to the UK in March 2007 to take part in the Channel 4 show Musicool as a mentor.

He is also currently involved in several charity projects and has been working on projects to help orphaned children around the world. Among other countries, he has visited Bangladesh as part of his work to raise funds and help children. He has also figured heavily on the Islam Channel in the UK where he talked about his Islamic faith as well as announcing several charity projects that he plans to undertake.

In April 2007, Jackson returned to the UK to take part in a one-off special of ITV's Challenge Anneka. On the same trip he appeared in Glasgow with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking in support of Searchlight magazine's anti-racism campaign, the Daily Mirror "Hope Not Hate bus".

On November 23, 2007, Jackson appeared on Katie & Peter: Unleashed and again talked of a reunion with his brothers on a tour the following year. In 2008, Jackson flew to Australia to be a guest judge and mentor for the top 5 Michael Jackson night on Australian Idol. In March 2008, Jackson was the guest of honour at the Muslim Writers Awards in Birmingham.

He currently appears on the A&E television series The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty documenting the return of him and his three brothers to music and preparing for a 40th anniversary tour and album. Jermaine Jackson will also be playing a concert at the planet hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas on October 2, 2010. The concert is set to be the kick off to his new tour titled "40 Years of Jackson Music", with a special dedication to his brother, Michael Jackson.
Personal life

On December 15, 1973, Jackson married Hazel Gordy, who is the daughter of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. The couple had three children together, Jermaine La Jaune "Jay" Jackson, Jr., (born January 27, 1977), Autumn Joy Jackson (born July 10, 1978), and Jaimy Jackson (born March 17, 1987).

After his divorce from Gordy in 1988, Jackson started living with Margaret Maldonado. The couple had two children, Jeremy Maldonado Jackson, (born December 16, 1986) and Jourdynn Michael Jackson, (born January 5, 1989).

Halima Rashid is Jermaine Jackson's wife, currently living in Los Angeles and often travel around the world.

Jackson converted to Islam in 1989 after a trip to Bahrain and publicly expressed his religious beliefs during his appearance on Big Brother. While filming the program, Jackson prayed and fasted. He also expressed his hopes to convert his brother Michael to Islam, saying it would provide him with peace and help to heal his problems.

He supported his brother Michael Jackson, during the 2005 child-abuse trial. He came to Michael's defense on CNN's Larry King Live and appeared with him in court on many occasions. On June 25, 2009, Jermaine held a press conference at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and broke the news of Michael Jackson's death to the media.

Jackson attended the memorial service for his brother Michael on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He acted as a pallbearer, and performed the song Smile by Charlie Chaplin, which was believed to be his brother's favorite song, in tribute.

Jackson is an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan. In 2009 while wearing a Manny Ramirez jersey, he made a one-handed catch of a foul ball while seated behind the Dodgers dugout.
In popular culture

Jackson was portrayed by Jason Griffith in the 2004 film Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, while his son, Jermaine Jackson Jr., portrayed him in the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream. In 2010 on Saturday Night Live, Jackson was portrayed by Kenan Thompson.
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
Year album title US
US
R&B
UK

1972 Jermaine 27 6 -
1973 Come Into My Life -
1976 My Name Is Jermaine 164 29 -
1977 Feel The Fire 174 36 -
1978 Frontiers - - -
1979 Let's Get Serious 6 1 22
1980 Jermaine 44 1 -
1981 I Like Your Style 86 31 -
1982 Let Me Tickle Your Fancy 46 9 -
1984 Dynamite (also called Jermaine Jackson) 19 13 57
1986 Precious Moments 46 25 -
1989 Don't Take It Personal 115 18 -
1992 You Said - 39 -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Compilations
Year album title US US
R&B UK
1981 Motown Superstars Series, Vol. 17 - - -
1991 Greatest Hits & Rare Classics - - -
1999 Dynamite – The Encore Collection - - -
2000 The Heritage Collection - - -
2001 Ultimate Collection - - -
2007 Big Brother Jermaine: The Jermaine Jackson Collection - - -
2009 Greatest Hits - - -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Singles
Motown releases
Year song title US
US
R&B
UK

1972 "That's How Love Goes" 46 23 -
1973 "Daddy's Home" 9 3 -
"You're in Good Hands" 79 35 -
1976 "Let's Be Young Tonight" 55 19 -
1977 "You Need to Be Loved" - 75 -
1978 "Castles of Sand" - 38 -
1979 "Let's Get Serious" 9 1 8
1980 "You're Supposed to Keep Your Love for Me" 32 34 -
"Burnin' Hot" - - 32
1981 "I'm Just Too Shy" 60 29 -
1981 "Little Girl Don't You Worry" - 17 -
"You Like Me Don't You" 50 13 41
1982 "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" 18 5 -
"Paradise in Your Eyes" - 60 -
"Very Special Part" - 54 -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Arista releases
Year song title US
US
R&B
UK

1984 "Sweetest Sweetest" - - 52
"Dynamite" 15 8 -
"Do What You Do" 13 13 6
"Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)"
(with Michael Jackson) - - -
1985 "When the Rain Begins to Fall"
(with Pia Zadora) 52 54 68
"(Closest Thing) To Perfect" 67 63 -
1986 "I Think It's Love" 16 14 96
"Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone" - - -
"Do You Remember Me" 71 40 -
1987 "Words Into Action" - 90 -
1989 "Don't Take It Personal" 64 1 69
1990 "I'd Like to Get to Know You" - 27 -
"Two Ships (In the Night)" - 21 -
1991 "Word to the Badd!"
(with T-Boz) 78 88 -
"You Said, You Said" - 27 -
1992 "I Dream, I Dream" - 30 -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r219/talkinghands/Jermaine%20Jackson/d3e14e65.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r219/talkinghands/Jermaine%20Jackson/7f41bbe2.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhhmOEpJobY

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/11/11 at 1:19 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhhmOEpJobY


I can't believe he's 57, I always thought his face looked liked a wrinkled prune.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/11/11 at 8:49 pm


I can't believe he's 57, I always thought his face looked liked a wrinkled prune.

Even in his younger years? ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/12/11 at 7:11 am


Even in his younger years? ???


I guess cause of aging.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/12/11 at 12:10 pm


I guess cause of aging.

I'm not too sure that's the reason. :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/17/11 at 12:28 am


I can't believe he's 57, I always thought his face looked liked a wrinkled prune.
Think of his brother's face

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/11 at 7:09 am

The person of the day...Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich (play /ˈjoʊvəvɪtʃ/ yoh-və-vich; born Milica Jovović, Serbian Cyrillic: Милица Јововић, Russian: Милица Йовович; December 17, 1975) is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".

Milla Jovovich began modeling when Gene Lemuel convinced Herb Ritts to shoot her for the cover of Lei magazine. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other campaigns for L'Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, and Versace. In 1988, she had her first professional acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu, and later that year, she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. Following more small television appearances such as the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a French girl (she was 14 at the time) on a Married... with Children episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused, before a short hiatus. Jovovich then acted alongside Bruce Willis in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997), and later played the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In 2002, she starred in the video game adaptation Resident Evil, which spawned four sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released a music album, The Divine Comedy in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich also has her own production company, Creature Entertainment.
At the age of nine, she began going to modeling auditions. Jovovich was discovered by Gene Lemuel when he shot test photos of her and later showed them to Herb Ritts in LA.. The next day Ritts booked her for the cover of Lei, an Italian magazine. After Jovovich booked Lei she was signed by Prima Modeling Agency then Richard Avedon hired her for Mademoiselle. Avedon was head of marketing at Revlon at the time, and chose Jovovich to appear with models Alexa Singer and Sandra Zatezalo in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. In 1988, she made her first professional model contract. Jovovich was among other models who gained controversy for becoming involved in the industry at a young age.

Later, Jovovich made it to the cover of The Face, which led to new contracts and covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Since then, she has graced over one hundred magazine covers, including Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and InStyle. Her modeling career has included various campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. Since 1998, Jovovich has been an "international spokesmodel" for L'Oréal cosmetics. She also had a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis' novel Glamorama, a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty.

In an article published in 2002, she was said to be Miuccia Prada's muse and in an article published in 2003, Harpers & Queen magazine claimed Jovovich was Gianni Versace's "favourite supermodel". In 2004, Jovovich topped Forbes magazine's "Richest Supermodels of the World" list, earning a reported $10.5 million. In 2006, Jovovich was picked up by Spanish clothing line Mango as their new spokesmodel and is currently featured in their ad campaigns; she can also be seen in advertisements for Etro. She has noted that "Modeling was never a priority" and it instead enables her "to be selective about the creative decisions make".
Acting career
Early work (1985–1993)

Jovovich's mother had "raised to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich in the Professional Actors school in California.

In 1988, she appeared in her first professional role in the made-for-television film The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. Later that year, she made her debut in a theatrically released picture with a small role, as Samantha Delongpre, in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction. Following roles on the television series Paradise (1988), Married... with Children (1989) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead as Lilli Hargrave in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). This sequel to The Blue Lagoon (1980) placed her opposite Brian Krause. Return to the Blue Lagoon led to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original)—Jovovich was often called by press the "Slavic Brooke Shields". The role also gained her controversy, much like Shields gained in The Blue Lagoon, for appearing nude at a young age. For her portrayal of Lilli Hargrave, Jovovich was nominated for both "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards.

In 1992, Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs. Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film Chaplin. 1993 saw Jovovich in the Richard Linklater cult film Dazed and Confused, in which she played Michelle Burroughs, on screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then real life boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Jovovich was heavily featured in the promotional material for the film, however, upon the film's release, she was upset to find her role was considerably trimmed from the original script. The bulk of Jovovich's role was to be shot on the last day of filming, however, she was misinformed of the date, and ultimately had one line in the film, "No", in addition to singing a line from "The Alien Song" from her album, The Divine Comedy. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, during which time she moved to Europe and began focusing on a music career.
Breakthrough (1997–2001)
Jovovich at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson directed science fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who was the "supreme being". Jovovich said she "worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing" to acquire the role and impress Besson, whom she later married on December 14, 1997, but later divorced. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 400-word alien language for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the "ACE-bandage" costume, a revealing body suit made of medical bandages designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. The Fifth Element was often praised for its visual style and unique costumes, and film reviewer James Berardinelli, explained "Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue". Jovovich was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards. Jovovich's portrayal of Leeloo garnered a video game and a planned action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role to portray.

In 1998, Jovovich had a role in the Spike Lee drama He Got Game as abused prostitute Dakota Burns, appearing with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song "If You Can't Say No" by Lenny Kravitz. In 1999, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reuniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short length for the role. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Actress". The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson, in addition to providing vocals on the film's soundtrack. Afterwards, she portrayed bar owner, Lucia, in the British western film The Claim (2000), and the evil Katinka in the cameo-laced comedy Zoolander (2001).
International success (2002–2006)
Jovovich at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002. Based on the CAPCOM video game series of the same name, she portrayed Alice, the film's heroine who fights a legion of zombies created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role of Alice because she and her brother had been fans of the video game franchise, saying, "It was exciting for me just watching him play, I could sit for 5 hours and we would sit all day and play this game." Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress' own life.

In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". Apocalypse received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film, but it was an even more commercial success, ranking number one at the box office unlike the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the critical results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, and "It's a good balance". The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal's faux trailer remake of Caligula, as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich's film, the science fiction/action thriller Ultraviolet, was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences and Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned, grossing $31 million worldwide. That year, Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with Scottish actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen.
Recent and future roles (2007–present)

In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in Resident Evil: Extinction, the third of the Resident Evil series. The film grossed an estimated $24 million in 2,828 theaters on its opening weekend, topping the box office gross for that week. It opened stronger than its predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than Extinction). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich said that she would not appear in another action film "for a long time", expressing a desire to portray more diverse roles, but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a "real possibility".
Jovovich speaking at WonderCon 2010 about Resident Evil: Afterlife.

In 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Filming began Spring 2008.

Jovovich played Lucetta, the wife of a jailed arsonist (played by Edward Norton) in Stone, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.

Jovovich played the part of Dr. Abigail Tyler in the science-fiction thriller The Fourth Kind and will star in the psychological thriller Faces in the Crowd, which is written and directed by Julien Magnat; in the latter film, she plays the survivor of a serial killer’s attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces.

Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series, Afterlife, which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson. She had a role in Dirty Girl, which premiered on September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw. Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers, as Milady de Winter, in 2011.

Jovovich is set to star in David R. Ellis' horror film Bad Luck, based on a screenplay by David Schouw. She will appear in Famke Janssen's debut directional film Bringing Up Bobby, which also stars Marcia Cross. Vikrutasi, a Russian film which translates into Tricksters, will also star Jovovich.

Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in The Winter Queen in 2007; however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed. In the spring of 2011, Seven Arts and GFM Films announced they would be merging their distribution operations. The joint venture is expected to release The Winter Queen under the direction of Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Awards and nominations
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Jovovich has been nominated for numerous awards. In 1992, she was nominated for Young Artist Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture Award for her role in Return to the Blue Lagoon.

In 1997, she was nominated for the Saturn Best Supporting Actress award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Favorite Newcomer Award, the MTV Movie Best Fight Scene Award (between her and aliens), for her role as Leeloo in The Fifth Element.

In 2002, she received a nomination for the Saturn Best Actress Award for her role as Alice in Resident Evil and won Best Actress in a sci-fi/action film for Resident Evil: Extinction from the Scream Awards in 2008.

She has also been nominated for Best Horror Actress for playing Dr. Abigal Tyler in The Fourth Kind for Scream Awards 2010 and won the Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress at the 14th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala for her role as Lucetta in Stone.
Music career

Jovovich had begun working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins". After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material. Jovovich had written the songs when she was fifteen, with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade", that she covered. In April 1994, billed under her first name, she released The Divine Comedy, a title that was a reference to the epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name. Jovovich had chosen the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then untitled album. Jovovich found that the sketch had "all the struggle that I'm singing about. It IS the divine comedy". The Divine Comedy was well received by critics, and featured pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush. John McAlley of Rolling Stone called the album "remarkable", "strikingly mature and rich in invention", and as featuring "angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock". Jovovich released the track "Gentleman Who Fell", with an accompanying music video, as the sole single from the album. The music video was originally directed by Lisa Bonet and featured Harry Dean Stanton, but Jovovich was unsatisfied with the results and decided to film another version. The second version of "Gentleman Who Fell", a homage to Maya Deren's short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), was subsequently played on MTV. Jovovich toured the United States during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket and Crash Test Dummies, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets. Jovovich had opted to perform in smaller and more intimate settings, turning down a musical appearance on Saturday Night Live. Milla has also been collaborating musically with longtime friend and musician Chris Brenner, who co-wrote with her on the Divine Comedy Album and who was the musical coordinator for the supporting tour. She and Brenner met in 1993 and have been working creatively on different ventures ever since. Following The Divine Comedy, she expressed interest in releasing a second album, having had ten songs ready for a future recording that was intended for a Summer 1996 release. However, Jovovich has yet to release a second album.

In May 1999, Jovovich along with Chris Brenner formed an experimental band called Plastic Has Memory, in which she wrote the songs, sang, and played electric guitar. The band was "uch heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album" and had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead. Plastic Has Memory played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release, one of which Mick Jagger had attended. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation album, the group never formally released a record and is no longer together.

Jovovich has contributed tracks to several of her film soundtracks, including The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) and Dummy (2002), and has also provided songs for the soundtracks of films in which she has not acted such as Underworld (2003) produced by musician Danny Lohner who was the bass player in Nine Inch Nails for many years. In 2001, Jovovich was one of many celebrities whose vocals were featured in a cover of "We are Family" to raise money for the American Red Cross. She has appeared as guest vocalist on the song "Former Lover" on Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (2002) and Legion of Boom (2004) by The Crystal Method.

Since 2003, Jovovich has worked with musician Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, on his Industrial side project Puscifer, contributing vocals to the track "REV 22:20", which was featured on various film soundtracks in its original or a remixed form. As of January, 2009, she can be heard collaborating with Maynard and Danny Lohner on the Puscifer track called, "The Mission." She also performed the song at the first live Puscifer performance on February 13, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Danny Lohner, and longtime music collaborator Chris Brenner currently continue to record and perform with Jovovich who has made several highly praised appearances in recent years.

Jovovich continues to write songs which she refers to as "demos", and which are provided for free in MP3 format on her official website. She provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.
1988 Two Moon Junction Samantha Delongpre
1991 Return to the Blue Lagoon Lilli Hargrave
1992 Kuffs Maya Carlton
1992 Chaplin Mildred Harris
1993 Dazed and Confused Michelle Burroughs
1997 The Fifth Element Leeloo Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Scene Leeloo vs. the alliens
1998 He Got Game Dakota Burns
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
2000 The Claim Lucia
2001 The Million Dollar Hotel Eloise
2001 Zoolander Katinka Ingabogovinanana
2002 Resident Evil Alice Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress
2002 You Stupid Man Nadine
2003 Dummy Fangora "Fanny" Gurkel
2003 No Good Deed Erin
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice
2005 Gore Vidal's Caligula Drusilla Trailer/Short film
2006 Ultraviolet Violet Song jat Shariff
2007 .45 Kat
2007 Resident Evil: Extinction Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2008 Palermo Shooting Herself
2009 A Perfect Getaway Cydney Anderson
2009 The Fourth Kind Dr. Abigail "Abbey" Tyler Nominated - Scream Award for Best Horror Actress
2010 Stone Lucetta Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2010 Dirty Girl Sue-Ann
2011 Vykrutasy (Frills) Nadya Russian Movie
2011 Bringing Up Bobby Olive
2011 The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
2011 Faces in the Crowd Anna Marchant
2012 Resident Evil: Retribution Alice Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1988 The Night Train to Kathmandu Lily McLeod (TV movie)
1988 Paradise Katie Episode "Childhood's End"
1989 Married... with Children Yvette Episode "Fair Exchange"
1990 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Robin Fecknowitz Episode "Pilot"
2002 King of the Hill Serena Episode "Get Your Freak Off"
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla-Jovovich-6650.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla_Jovovich.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/17/11 at 7:10 am

^ it is all been crossed out!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/17/11 at 7:10 am


The person of the day...Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich (play /ˈjoʊvəvɪtʃ/ yoh-və-vich; born Milica Jovović, Serbian Cyrillic: Милица Јововић, Russian: Милица Йовович; December 17, 1975) is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".

Milla Jovovich began modeling when Gene Lemuel convinced Herb Ritts to shoot her for the cover of Lei magazine. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other campaigns for L'Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, and Versace. In 1988, she had her first professional acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu, and later that year, she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. Following more small television appearances such as the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a French girl (she was 14 at the time) on a Married... with Children episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused, before a short hiatus. Jovovich then acted alongside Bruce Willis in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997), and later played the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In 2002, she starred in the video game adaptation Resident Evil, which spawned four sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released a music album, The Divine Comedy in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich also has her own production company, Creature Entertainment.
At the age of nine, she began going to modeling auditions. Jovovich was discovered by Gene Lemuel when he shot test photos of her and later showed them to Herb Ritts in LA.. The next day Ritts booked her for the cover of Lei, an Italian magazine. After Jovovich booked Lei she was signed by Prima Modeling Agency then Richard Avedon hired her for Mademoiselle. Avedon was head of marketing at Revlon at the time, and chose Jovovich to appear with models Alexa Singer and Sandra Zatezalo in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. In 1988, she made her first professional model contract. Jovovich was among other models who gained controversy for becoming involved in the industry at a young age.

Later, Jovovich made it to the cover of The Face, which led to new contracts and covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Since then, she has graced over one hundred magazine covers, including Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and InStyle. Her modeling career has included various campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. Since 1998, Jovovich has been an "international spokesmodel" for L'Oréal cosmetics. She also had a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis' novel Glamorama, a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty.

In an article published in 2002, she was said to be Miuccia Prada's muse and in an article published in 2003, Harpers & Queen magazine claimed Jovovich was Gianni Versace's "favourite supermodel". In 2004, Jovovich topped Forbes magazine's "Richest Supermodels of the World" list, earning a reported $10.5 million. In 2006, Jovovich was picked up by Spanish clothing line Mango as their new spokesmodel and is currently featured in their ad campaigns; she can also be seen in advertisements for Etro. She has noted that "Modeling was never a priority" and it instead enables her "to be selective about the creative decisions make".
Acting career
Early work (1985–1993)

Jovovich's mother had "raised to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich in the Professional Actors school in California.

In 1988, she appeared in her first professional role in the made-for-television film The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. Later that year, she made her debut in a theatrically released picture with a small role, as Samantha Delongpre, in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction. Following roles on the television series Paradise (1988), Married... with Children (1989) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead as Lilli Hargrave in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). This sequel to The Blue Lagoon (1980) placed her opposite Brian Krause. Return to the Blue Lagoon led to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original)—Jovovich was often called by press the "Slavic Brooke Shields". The role also gained her controversy, much like Shields gained in The Blue Lagoon, for appearing nude at a young age. For her portrayal of Lilli Hargrave, Jovovich was nominated for both "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards.

In 1992, Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs. Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film Chaplin. 1993 saw Jovovich in the Richard Linklater cult film Dazed and Confused, in which she played Michelle Burroughs, on screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then real life boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Jovovich was heavily featured in the promotional material for the film, however, upon the film's release, she was upset to find her role was considerably trimmed from the original script. The bulk of Jovovich's role was to be shot on the last day of filming, however, she was misinformed of the date, and ultimately had one line in the film, "No", in addition to singing a line from "The Alien Song" from her album, The Divine Comedy. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, during which time she moved to Europe and began focusing on a music career.
Breakthrough (1997–2001)
Jovovich at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson directed science fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who was the "supreme being". Jovovich said she "worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing" to acquire the role and impress Besson, whom she later married on December 14, 1997, but later divorced. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 400-word alien language for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the "ACE-bandage" costume, a revealing body suit made of medical bandages designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. The Fifth Element was often praised for its visual style and unique costumes, and film reviewer James Berardinelli, explained "Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue". Jovovich was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards. Jovovich's portrayal of Leeloo garnered a video game and a planned action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role to portray.

In 1998, Jovovich had a role in the Spike Lee drama He Got Game as abused prostitute Dakota Burns, appearing with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song "If You Can't Say No" by Lenny Kravitz. In 1999, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reuniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short length for the role. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Actress". The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson, in addition to providing vocals on the film's soundtrack. Afterwards, she portrayed bar owner, Lucia, in the British western film The Claim (2000), and the evil Katinka in the cameo-laced comedy Zoolander (2001).
International success (2002–2006)
Jovovich at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002. Based on the CAPCOM video game series of the same name, she portrayed Alice, the film's heroine who fights a legion of zombies created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role of Alice because she and her brother had been fans of the video game franchise, saying, "It was exciting for me just watching him play, I could sit for 5 hours and we would sit all day and play this game." Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress' own life.

In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". Apocalypse received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film, but it was an even more commercial success, ranking number one at the box office unlike the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the critical results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, and "It's a good balance". The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal's faux trailer remake of Caligula, as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich's film, the science fiction/action thriller Ultraviolet, was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences and Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned, grossing $31 million worldwide. That year, Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with Scottish actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen.
Recent and future roles (2007–present)

In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in Resident Evil: Extinction, the third of the Resident Evil series. The film grossed an estimated $24 million in 2,828 theaters on its opening weekend, topping the box office gross for that week. It opened stronger than its predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than Extinction). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich said that she would not appear in another action film "for a long time", expressing a desire to portray more diverse roles, but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a "real possibility".
Jovovich speaking at WonderCon 2010 about Resident Evil: Afterlife.

In 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Filming began Spring 2008.

Jovovich played Lucetta, the wife of a jailed arsonist (played by Edward Norton) in Stone, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.

Jovovich played the part of Dr. Abigail Tyler in the science-fiction thriller The Fourth Kind and will star in the psychological thriller Faces in the Crowd, which is written and directed by Julien Magnat; in the latter film, she plays the survivor of a serial killer’s attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces.

Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series, Afterlife, which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson. She had a role in Dirty Girl, which premiered on September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw. Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers, as Milady de Winter, in 2011.

Jovovich is set to star in David R. Ellis' horror film Bad Luck, based on a screenplay by David Schouw. She will appear in Famke Janssen's debut directional film Bringing Up Bobby, which also stars Marcia Cross. Vikrutasi, a Russian film which translates into Tricksters, will also star Jovovich.

Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in The Winter Queen in 2007; however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed. In the spring of 2011, Seven Arts and GFM Films announced they would be merging their distribution operations. The joint venture is expected to release The Winter Queen under the direction of Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Awards and nominations
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Jovovich has been nominated for numerous awards. In 1992, she was nominated for Young Artist Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture Award for her role in Return to the Blue Lagoon.

In 1997, she was nominated for the Saturn Best Supporting Actress award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Favorite Newcomer Award, the MTV Movie Best Fight Scene Award (between her and aliens), for her role as Leeloo in The Fifth Element.

In 2002, she received a nomination for the Saturn Best Actress Award for her role as Alice in Resident Evil and won Best Actress in a sci-fi/action film for Resident Evil: Extinction from the Scream Awards in 2008.

She has also been nominated for Best Horror Actress for playing Dr. Abigal Tyler in The Fourth Kind for Scream Awards 2010 and won the Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress at the 14th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala for her role as Lucetta in Stone.
Music career

Jovovich had begun working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins". After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material. Jovovich had written the songs when she was fifteen, with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade", that she covered. In April 1994, billed under her first name, she released The Divine Comedy, a title that was a reference to the epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name. Jovovich had chosen the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then untitled album. Jovovich found that the sketch had "all the struggle that I'm singing about. It IS the divine comedy". The Divine Comedy was well received by critics, and featured pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush. John McAlley of Rolling Stone called the album "remarkable", "strikingly mature and rich in invention", and as featuring "angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock". Jovovich released the track "Gentleman Who Fell", with an accompanying music video, as the sole single from the album. The music video was originally directed by Lisa Bonet and featured Harry Dean Stanton, but Jovovich was unsatisfied with the results and decided to film another version. The second version of "Gentleman Who Fell", a homage to Maya Deren's short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), was subsequently played on MTV. Jovovich toured the United States during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket and Crash Test Dummies, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets. Jovovich had opted to perform in smaller and more intimate settings, turning down a musical appearance on Saturday Night Live. Milla has also been collaborating musically with longtime friend and musician Chris Brenner, who co-wrote with her on the Divine Comedy Album and who was the musical coordinator for the supporting tour. She and Brenner met in 1993 and have been working creatively on different ventures ever since. Following The Divine Comedy, she expressed interest in releasing a second album, having had ten songs ready for a future recording that was intended for a Summer 1996 release. However, Jovovich has yet to release a second album.

In May 1999, Jovovich along with Chris Brenner formed an experimental band called Plastic Has Memory, in which she wrote the songs, sang, and played electric guitar. The band was "uch heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album" and had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead. Plastic Has Memory played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release, one of which Mick Jagger had attended. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation album, the group never formally released a record and is no longer together.

Jovovich has contributed tracks to several of her film soundtracks, including The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) and Dummy (2002), and has also provided songs for the soundtracks of films in which she has not acted such as Underworld (2003) produced by musician Danny Lohner who was the bass player in Nine Inch Nails for many years. In 2001, Jovovich was one of many celebrities whose vocals were featured in a cover of "We are Family" to raise money for the American Red Cross. She has appeared as guest vocalist on the song "Former Lover" on Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (2002) and Legion of Boom (2004) by The Crystal Method.

Since 2003, Jovovich has worked with musician Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, on his Industrial side project Puscifer, contributing vocals to the track "REV 22:20", which was featured on various film soundtracks in its original or a remixed form. As of January, 2009, she can be heard collaborating with Maynard and Danny Lohner on the Puscifer track called, "The Mission." She also performed the song at the first live Puscifer performance on February 13, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Danny Lohner, and longtime music collaborator Chris Brenner currently continue to record and perform with Jovovich who has made several highly praised appearances in recent years.

Jovovich continues to write songs which she refers to as "demos", and which are provided for free in MP3 format on her official website. She provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.
1988 Two Moon Junction Samantha Delongpre
1991 Return to the Blue Lagoon Lilli Hargrave
1992 Kuffs Maya Carlton
1992 Chaplin Mildred Harris
1993 Dazed and Confused Michelle Burroughs
1997 The Fifth Element Leeloo Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Scene Leeloo vs. the alliens
1998 He Got Game Dakota Burns
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
2000 The Claim Lucia
2001 The Million Dollar Hotel Eloise
2001 Zoolander Katinka Ingabogovinanana
2002 Resident Evil Alice Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress
2002 You Stupid Man Nadine
2003 Dummy Fangora "Fanny" Gurkel
2003 No Good Deed Erin
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice
2005 Gore Vidal's Caligula Drusilla Trailer/Short film
2006 Ultraviolet Violet Song jat Shariff
2007 .45 Kat
2007 Resident Evil: Extinction Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2008 Palermo Shooting Herself
2009 A Perfect Getaway Cydney Anderson
2009 The Fourth Kind Dr. Abigail "Abbey" Tyler Nominated - Scream Award for Best Horror Actress
2010 Stone Lucetta Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2010 Dirty Girl Sue-Ann
2011 Vykrutasy (Frills) Nadya Russian Movie
2011 Bringing Up Bobby Olive
2011 The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
2011 Faces in the Crowd Anna Marchant
2012 Resident Evil: Retribution Alice Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1988 The Night Train to Kathmandu Lily McLeod (TV movie)
1988 Paradise Katie Episode "Childhood's End"
1989 Married... with Children Yvette Episode "Fair Exchange"
1990 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Robin Fecknowitz Episode "Pilot"
2002 King of the Hill Serena Episode "Get Your Freak Off"
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla-Jovovich-6650.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla_Jovovich.jpg


I like the first picture.  ;)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/17/11 at 7:12 am

The person of the day...Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich (play /ˈjoʊvəvɪtʃ/ yoh-və-vich; born Milica Jovović, Serbian Cyrillic: Милица Јововић, Russian: Милица Йовович; December 17, 1975) is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".

Milla Jovovich began modeling when Gene Lemuel convinced Herb Ritts to shoot her for the cover of Lei magazine. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other campaigns for L'Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, and Versace. In 1988, she had her first professional acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu, and later that year, she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. Following more small television appearances such as the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a French girl (she was 14 at the time) on a Married... with Children episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused, before a short hiatus. Jovovich then acted alongside Bruce Willis in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997), and later played the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In 2002, she starred in the video game adaptation Resident Evil, which spawned four sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released a music album, The Divine Comedy in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich also has her own production company, Creature Entertainment.
At the age of nine, she began going to modeling auditions. Jovovich was discovered by Gene Lemuel when he shot test photos of her and later showed them to Herb Ritts in LA.. The next day Ritts booked her for the cover of Lei, an Italian magazine. After Jovovich booked Lei she was signed by Prima Modeling Agency then Richard Avedon hired her for Mademoiselle. Avedon was head of marketing at Revlon at the time, and chose Jovovich to appear with models Alexa Singer and Sandra Zatezalo in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. In 1988, she made her first professional model contract. Jovovich was among other models who gained controversy for becoming involved in the industry at a young age.

Later, Jovovich made it to the cover of The Face, which led to new contracts and covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Since then, she has graced over one hundred magazine covers, including Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and InStyle. Her modeling career has included various campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. Since 1998, Jovovich has been an "international spokesmodel" for L'Oréal cosmetics. She also had a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis' novel Glamorama, a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty.

In an article published in 2002, she was said to be Miuccia Prada's muse and in an article published in 2003, Harpers & Queen magazine claimed Jovovich was Gianni Versace's "favourite supermodel". In 2004, Jovovich topped Forbes magazine's "Richest Supermodels of the World" list, earning a reported $10.5 million. In 2006, Jovovich was picked up by Spanish clothing line Mango as their new spokesmodel and is currently featured in their ad campaigns; she can also be seen in advertisements for Etro. She has noted that "Modeling was never a priority" and it instead enables her "to be selective about the creative decisions make.]".
Acting career
Early work (1985–1993)

Jovovich's mother had "raised to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich in the Professional Actors school in California.

In 1988, she appeared in her first professional role in the made-for-television film The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. Later that year, she made her debut in a theatrically released picture with a small role, as Samantha Delongpre, in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction. Following roles on the television series Paradise (1988), Married... with Children (1989) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead as Lilli Hargrave in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). This sequel to The Blue Lagoon (1980) placed her opposite Brian Krause. Return to the Blue Lagoon led to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original)—Jovovich was often called by press the "Slavic Brooke Shields". The role also gained her controversy, much like Shields gained in The Blue Lagoon, for appearing nude at a young age. For her portrayal of Lilli Hargrave, Jovovich was nominated for both "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards.

In 1992, Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs. Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film Chaplin. 1993 saw Jovovich in the Richard Linklater cult film Dazed and Confused, in which she played Michelle Burroughs, on screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then real life boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Jovovich was heavily featured in the promotional material for the film, however, upon the film's release, she was upset to find her role was considerably trimmed from the original script. The bulk of Jovovich's role was to be shot on the last day of filming, however, she was misinformed of the date, and ultimately had one line in the film, "No", in addition to singing a line from "The Alien Song" from her album, The Divine Comedy. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, during which time she moved to Europe and began focusing on a music career.
Breakthrough (1997–2001)
Jovovich at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson directed science fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who was the "supreme being". Jovovich said she "worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing" to acquire the role and impress Besson, whom she later married on December 14, 1997, but later divorced. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 400-word alien language for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the "ACE-bandage" costume, a revealing body suit made of medical bandages designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. The Fifth Element was often praised for its visual style and unique costumes, and film reviewer James Berardinelli, explained "Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue". Jovovich was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards. Jovovich's portrayal of Leeloo garnered a video game and a planned action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role to portray.

In 1998, Jovovich had a role in the Spike Lee drama He Got Game as abused prostitute Dakota Burns, appearing with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song "If You Can't Say No" by Lenny Kravitz. In 1999, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reuniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short length for the role. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Actress". The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson, in addition to providing vocals on the film's soundtrack. Afterwards, she portrayed bar owner, Lucia, in the British western film The Claim (2000), and the evil Katinka in the cameo-laced comedy Zoolander (2001).
International success (2002–2006)
Jovovich at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002. Based on the CAPCOM video game series of the same name, she portrayed Alice, the film's heroine who fights a legion of zombies created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role of Alice because she and her brother had been fans of the video game franchise, saying, "It was exciting for me just watching him play, I could sit for 5 hours and we would sit all day and play this game." Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress' own life.

In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". Apocalypse received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film, but it was an even more commercial success, ranking number one at the box office unlike the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the critical results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, and "It's a good balance". The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal's faux trailer remake of Caligula, as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich's film, the science fiction/action thriller Ultraviolet, was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences and Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned, grossing $31 million worldwide. That year, Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with Scottish actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen.
Recent and future roles (2007–present)

In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in Resident Evil: Extinction, the third of the Resident Evil series. The film grossed an estimated $24 million in 2,828 theaters on its opening weekend, topping the box office gross for that week. It opened stronger than its predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than Extinction). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich said that she would not appear in another action film "for a long time", expressing a desire to portray more diverse roles, but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a "real possibility".
Jovovich speaking at WonderCon 2010 about Resident Evil: Afterlife.

In 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Filming began Spring 2008.

Jovovich played Lucetta, the wife of a jailed arsonist (played by Edward Norton) in Stone, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.

Jovovich played the part of Dr. Abigail Tyler in the science-fiction thriller The Fourth Kind and will star in the psychological thriller Faces in the Crowd, which is written and directed by Julien Magnat; in the latter film, she plays the survivor of a serial killer’s attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces.

Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series, Afterlife, which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson. She had a role in Dirty Girl, which premiered on September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw. Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers, as Milady de Winter, in 2011.

Jovovich is set to star in David R. Ellis' horror film Bad Luck, based on a screenplay by David Schouw. She will appear in Famke Janssen's debut directional film Bringing Up Bobby, which also stars Marcia Cross. Vikrutasi, a Russian film which translates into Tricksters, will also star Jovovich.

Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in The Winter Queen in 2007; however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed. In the spring of 2011, Seven Arts and GFM Films announced they would be merging their distribution operations. The joint venture is expected to release The Winter Queen under the direction of Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Awards and nominations
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Jovovich has been nominated for numerous awards. In 1992, she was nominated for Young Artist Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture Award for her role in Return to the Blue Lagoon.

In 1997, she was nominated for the Saturn Best Supporting Actress award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Favorite Newcomer Award, the MTV Movie Best Fight Scene Award (between her and aliens), for her role as Leeloo in The Fifth Element.

In 2002, she received a nomination for the Saturn Best Actress Award for her role as Alice in Resident Evil and won Best Actress in a sci-fi/action film for Resident Evil: Extinction from the Scream Awards in 2008.

She has also been nominated for Best Horror Actress for playing Dr. Abigal Tyler in The Fourth Kind for Scream Awards 2010 and won the Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress at the 14th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala for her role as Lucetta in Stone.
Music career

Jovovich had begun working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins". After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material. Jovovich had written the songs when she was fifteen, with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade", that she covered. In April 1994, billed under her first name, she released The Divine Comedy, a title that was a reference to the epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name. Jovovich had chosen the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then untitled album. Jovovich found that the sketch had "all the struggle that I'm singing about. It IS the divine comedy". The Divine Comedy was well received by critics, and featured pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush. John McAlley of Rolling Stone called the album "remarkable", "strikingly mature and rich in invention", and as featuring "angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock". Jovovich released the track "Gentleman Who Fell", with an accompanying music video, as the sole single from the album. The music video was originally directed by Lisa Bonet and featured Harry Dean Stanton, but Jovovich was unsatisfied with the results and decided to film another version. The second version of "Gentleman Who Fell", a homage to Maya Deren's short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), was subsequently played on MTV. Jovovich toured the United States during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket and Crash Test Dummies, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets. Jovovich had opted to perform in smaller and more intimate settings, turning down a musical appearance on Saturday Night Live. Milla has also been collaborating musically with longtime friend and musician Chris Brenner, who co-wrote with her on the Divine Comedy Album and who was the musical coordinator for the supporting tour. She and Brenner met in 1993 and have been working creatively on different ventures ever since. Following The Divine Comedy, she expressed interest in releasing a second album, having had ten songs ready for a future recording that was intended for a Summer 1996 release. However, Jovovich has yet to release a second album.

In May 1999, Jovovich along with Chris Brenner formed an experimental band called Plastic Has Memory, in which she wrote the songs, sang, and played electric guitar. The band was "uch heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album" and had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead. Plastic Has Memory played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release, one of which Mick Jagger had attended. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation album, the group never formally released a record and is no longer together.

Jovovich has contributed tracks to several of her film soundtracks, including The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) and Dummy (2002), and has also provided songs for the soundtracks of films in which she has not acted such as Underworld (2003) produced by musician Danny Lohner who was the bass player in Nine Inch Nails for many years. In 2001, Jovovich was one of many celebrities whose vocals were featured in a cover of "We are Family" to raise money for the American Red Cross. She has appeared as guest vocalist on the song "Former Lover" on Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (2002) and Legion of Boom (2004) by The Crystal Method.

Since 2003, Jovovich has worked with musician Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, on his Industrial side project Puscifer, contributing vocals to the track "REV 22:20", which was featured on various film soundtracks in its original or a remixed form. As of January, 2009, she can be heard collaborating with Maynard and Danny Lohner on the Puscifer track called, "The Mission." She also performed the song at the first live Puscifer performance on February 13, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Danny Lohner, and longtime music collaborator Chris Brenner currently continue to record and perform with Jovovich who has made several highly praised appearances in recent years.

Jovovich continues to write songs which she refers to as "demos", and which are provided for free in MP3 format on her official website. She provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.
1988 Two Moon Junction Samantha Delongpre
1991 Return to the Blue Lagoon Lilli Hargrave
1992 Kuffs Maya Carlton
1992 Chaplin Mildred Harris
1993 Dazed and Confused Michelle Burroughs
1997 The Fifth Element Leeloo Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Scene Leeloo vs. the alliens
1998 He Got Game Dakota Burns
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
2000 The Claim Lucia
2001 The Million Dollar Hotel Eloise
2001 Zoolander Katinka Ingabogovinanana
2002 Resident Evil Alice Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress
2002 You Stupid Man Nadine
2003 Dummy Fangora "Fanny" Gurkel
2003 No Good Deed Erin
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice
2005 Gore Vidal's Caligula Drusilla Trailer/Short film
2006 Ultraviolet Violet Song jat Shariff
2007 .45 Kat
2007 Resident Evil: Extinction Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2008 Palermo Shooting Herself
2009 A Perfect Getaway Cydney Anderson
2009 The Fourth Kind Dr. Abigail "Abbey" Tyler Nominated - Scream Award for Best Horror Actress
2010 Stone Lucetta Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2010 Dirty Girl Sue-Ann
2011 Vykrutasy (Frills) Nadya Russian Movie
2011 Bringing Up Bobby Olive
2011 The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
2011 Faces in the Crowd Anna Marchant
2012 Resident Evil: Retribution Alice Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1988 The Night Train to Kathmandu Lily McLeod (TV movie)
1988 Paradise Katie Episode "Childhood's End"
1989 Married... with Children Yvette Episode "Fair Exchange"
1990 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Robin Fecknowitz Episode "Pilot"
2002 King of the Hill Serena Episode "Get Your Freak Off"
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla-Jovovich-6650.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla_Jovovich.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/17/11 at 7:12 am


The person of the day...Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich (play /ˈjoʊvəvɪtʃ/ yoh-və-vich; born Milica Jovović, Serbian Cyrillic: Милица Јововић, Russian: Милица Йовович; December 17, 1975) is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".

Milla Jovovich began modeling when Gene Lemuel convinced Herb Ritts to shoot her for the cover of Lei magazine. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other campaigns for L'Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, and Versace. In 1988, she had her first professional acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu, and later that year, she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. Following more small television appearances such as the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a French girl (she was 14 at the time) on a Married... with Children episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused, before a short hiatus. Jovovich then acted alongside Bruce Willis in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997), and later played the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In 2002, she starred in the video game adaptation Resident Evil, which spawned four sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released a music album, The Divine Comedy in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich also has her own production company, Creature Entertainment.
At the age of nine, she began going to modeling auditions. Jovovich was discovered by Gene Lemuel when he shot test photos of her and later showed them to Herb Ritts in LA.. The next day Ritts booked her for the cover of Lei, an Italian magazine. After Jovovich booked Lei she was signed by Prima Modeling Agency then Richard Avedon hired her for Mademoiselle. Avedon was head of marketing at Revlon at the time, and chose Jovovich to appear with models Alexa Singer and Sandra Zatezalo in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. In 1988, she made her first professional model contract. Jovovich was among other models who gained controversy for becoming involved in the industry at a young age.

Later, Jovovich made it to the cover of The Face, which led to new contracts and covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Since then, she has graced over one hundred magazine covers, including Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and InStyle. Her modeling career has included various campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. Since 1998, Jovovich has been an "international spokesmodel" for L'Oréal cosmetics. She also had a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis' novel Glamorama, a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty.

In an article published in 2002, she was said to be Miuccia Prada's muse and in an article published in 2003, Harpers & Queen magazine claimed Jovovich was Gianni Versace's "favourite supermodel". In 2004, Jovovich topped Forbes magazine's "Richest Supermodels of the World" list, earning a reported $10.5 million. In 2006, Jovovich was picked up by Spanish clothing line Mango as their new spokesmodel and is currently featured in their ad campaigns; she can also be seen in advertisements for Etro. She has noted that "Modeling was never a priority" and it instead enables her "to be selective about the creative decisions make.]".
Acting career
Early work (1985–1993)

Jovovich's mother had "raised to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich in the Professional Actors school in California.

In 1988, she appeared in her first professional role in the made-for-television film The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. Later that year, she made her debut in a theatrically released picture with a small role, as Samantha Delongpre, in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction. Following roles on the television series Paradise (1988), Married... with Children (1989) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead as Lilli Hargrave in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). This sequel to The Blue Lagoon (1980) placed her opposite Brian Krause. Return to the Blue Lagoon led to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original)—Jovovich was often called by press the "Slavic Brooke Shields". The role also gained her controversy, much like Shields gained in The Blue Lagoon, for appearing nude at a young age. For her portrayal of Lilli Hargrave, Jovovich was nominated for both "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards.

In 1992, Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs. Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film Chaplin. 1993 saw Jovovich in the Richard Linklater cult film Dazed and Confused, in which she played Michelle Burroughs, on screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then real life boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Jovovich was heavily featured in the promotional material for the film, however, upon the film's release, she was upset to find her role was considerably trimmed from the original script. The bulk of Jovovich's role was to be shot on the last day of filming, however, she was misinformed of the date, and ultimately had one line in the film, "No", in addition to singing a line from "The Alien Song" from her album, The Divine Comedy. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, during which time she moved to Europe and began focusing on a music career.
Breakthrough (1997–2001)
Jovovich at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson directed science fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who was the "supreme being". Jovovich said she "worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing" to acquire the role and impress Besson, whom she later married on December 14, 1997, but later divorced. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 400-word alien language for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the "ACE-bandage" costume, a revealing body suit made of medical bandages designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. The Fifth Element was often praised for its visual style and unique costumes, and film reviewer James Berardinelli, explained "Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue". Jovovich was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards. Jovovich's portrayal of Leeloo garnered a video game and a planned action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role to portray.

In 1998, Jovovich had a role in the Spike Lee drama He Got Game as abused prostitute Dakota Burns, appearing with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song "If You Can't Say No" by Lenny Kravitz. In 1999, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reuniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short length for the role. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for "Worst Actress". The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson, in addition to providing vocals on the film's soundtrack. Afterwards, she portrayed bar owner, Lucia, in the British western film The Claim (2000), and the evil Katinka in the cameo-laced comedy Zoolander (2001).
International success (2002–2006)
Jovovich at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002. Based on the CAPCOM video game series of the same name, she portrayed Alice, the film's heroine who fights a legion of zombies created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role of Alice because she and her brother had been fans of the video game franchise, saying, "It was exciting for me just watching him play, I could sit for 5 hours and we would sit all day and play this game." Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress' own life.

In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". Apocalypse received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film, but it was an even more commercial success, ranking number one at the box office unlike the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the critical results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, and "It's a good balance". The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal's faux trailer remake of Caligula, as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich's film, the science fiction/action thriller Ultraviolet, was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences and Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned, grossing $31 million worldwide. That year, Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with Scottish actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen.
Recent and future roles (2007–present)

In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in Resident Evil: Extinction, the third of the Resident Evil series. The film grossed an estimated $24 million in 2,828 theaters on its opening weekend, topping the box office gross for that week. It opened stronger than its predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than Extinction). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich said that she would not appear in another action film "for a long time", expressing a desire to portray more diverse roles, but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a "real possibility".
Jovovich speaking at WonderCon 2010 about Resident Evil: Afterlife.

In 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy's A Perfect Getaway with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Filming began Spring 2008.

Jovovich played Lucetta, the wife of a jailed arsonist (played by Edward Norton) in Stone, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.

Jovovich played the part of Dr. Abigail Tyler in the science-fiction thriller The Fourth Kind and will star in the psychological thriller Faces in the Crowd, which is written and directed by Julien Magnat; in the latter film, she plays the survivor of a serial killer’s attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces.

Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series, Afterlife, which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson. She had a role in Dirty Girl, which premiered on September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw. Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers, as Milady de Winter, in 2011.

Jovovich is set to star in David R. Ellis' horror film Bad Luck, based on a screenplay by David Schouw. She will appear in Famke Janssen's debut directional film Bringing Up Bobby, which also stars Marcia Cross. Vikrutasi, a Russian film which translates into Tricksters, will also star Jovovich.

Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in The Winter Queen in 2007; however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed. In the spring of 2011, Seven Arts and GFM Films announced they would be merging their distribution operations. The joint venture is expected to release The Winter Queen under the direction of Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Awards and nominations
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Jovovich has been nominated for numerous awards. In 1992, she was nominated for Young Artist Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture Award for her role in Return to the Blue Lagoon.

In 1997, she was nominated for the Saturn Best Supporting Actress award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Favorite Newcomer Award, the MTV Movie Best Fight Scene Award (between her and aliens), for her role as Leeloo in The Fifth Element.

In 2002, she received a nomination for the Saturn Best Actress Award for her role as Alice in Resident Evil and won Best Actress in a sci-fi/action film for Resident Evil: Extinction from the Scream Awards in 2008.

She has also been nominated for Best Horror Actress for playing Dr. Abigal Tyler in The Fourth Kind for Scream Awards 2010 and won the Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress at the 14th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala for her role as Lucetta in Stone.
Music career

Jovovich had begun working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins". After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material. Jovovich had written the songs when she was fifteen, with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade", that she covered. In April 1994, billed under her first name, she released The Divine Comedy, a title that was a reference to the epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name. Jovovich had chosen the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then untitled album. Jovovich found that the sketch had "all the struggle that I'm singing about. It IS the divine comedy". The Divine Comedy was well received by critics, and featured pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush. John McAlley of Rolling Stone called the album "remarkable", "strikingly mature and rich in invention", and as featuring "angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock". Jovovich released the track "Gentleman Who Fell", with an accompanying music video, as the sole single from the album. The music video was originally directed by Lisa Bonet and featured Harry Dean Stanton, but Jovovich was unsatisfied with the results and decided to film another version. The second version of "Gentleman Who Fell", a homage to Maya Deren's short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), was subsequently played on MTV. Jovovich toured the United States during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket and Crash Test Dummies, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets. Jovovich had opted to perform in smaller and more intimate settings, turning down a musical appearance on Saturday Night Live. Milla has also been collaborating musically with longtime friend and musician Chris Brenner, who co-wrote with her on the Divine Comedy Album and who was the musical coordinator for the supporting tour. She and Brenner met in 1993 and have been working creatively on different ventures ever since. Following The Divine Comedy, she expressed interest in releasing a second album, having had ten songs ready for a future recording that was intended for a Summer 1996 release. However, Jovovich has yet to release a second album.

In May 1999, Jovovich along with Chris Brenner formed an experimental band called Plastic Has Memory, in which she wrote the songs, sang, and played electric guitar. The band was "uch heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album" and had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead. Plastic Has Memory played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release, one of which Mick Jagger had attended. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation album, the group never formally released a record and is no longer together.

Jovovich has contributed tracks to several of her film soundtracks, including The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) and Dummy (2002), and has also provided songs for the soundtracks of films in which she has not acted such as Underworld (2003) produced by musician Danny Lohner who was the bass player in Nine Inch Nails for many years. In 2001, Jovovich was one of many celebrities whose vocals were featured in a cover of "We are Family" to raise money for the American Red Cross. She has appeared as guest vocalist on the song "Former Lover" on Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (2002) and Legion of Boom (2004) by The Crystal Method.

Since 2003, Jovovich has worked with musician Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, on his Industrial side project Puscifer, contributing vocals to the track "REV 22:20", which was featured on various film soundtracks in its original or a remixed form. As of January, 2009, she can be heard collaborating with Maynard and Danny Lohner on the Puscifer track called, "The Mission." She also performed the song at the first live Puscifer performance on February 13, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Danny Lohner, and longtime music collaborator Chris Brenner currently continue to record and perform with Jovovich who has made several highly praised appearances in recent years.

Jovovich continues to write songs which she refers to as "demos", and which are provided for free in MP3 format on her official website. She provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.
1988 Two Moon Junction Samantha Delongpre
1991 Return to the Blue Lagoon Lilli Hargrave
1992 Kuffs Maya Carlton
1992 Chaplin Mildred Harris
1993 Dazed and Confused Michelle Burroughs
1997 The Fifth Element Leeloo Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Scene Leeloo vs. the alliens
1998 He Got Game Dakota Burns
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
2000 The Claim Lucia
2001 The Million Dollar Hotel Eloise
2001 Zoolander Katinka Ingabogovinanana
2002 Resident Evil Alice Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress
2002 You Stupid Man Nadine
2003 Dummy Fangora "Fanny" Gurkel
2003 No Good Deed Erin
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice
2005 Gore Vidal's Caligula Drusilla Trailer/Short film
2006 Ultraviolet Violet Song jat Shariff
2007 .45 Kat
2007 Resident Evil: Extinction Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2008 Palermo Shooting Herself
2009 A Perfect Getaway Cydney Anderson
2009 The Fourth Kind Dr. Abigail "Abbey" Tyler Nominated - Scream Award for Best Horror Actress
2010 Stone Lucetta Hollywood Spotlight Award for Best Actress
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Alice Scream Award for Best Science Fiction Actress
2010 Dirty Girl Sue-Ann
2011 Vykrutasy (Frills) Nadya Russian Movie
2011 Bringing Up Bobby Olive
2011 The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter
2011 Faces in the Crowd Anna Marchant
2012 Resident Evil: Retribution Alice Filming
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1988 The Night Train to Kathmandu Lily McLeod (TV movie)
1988 Paradise Katie Episode "Childhood's End"
1989 Married... with Children Yvette Episode "Fair Exchange"
1990 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Robin Fecknowitz Episode "Pilot"
2002 King of the Hill Serena Episode "Get Your Freak Off"
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla-Jovovich-6650.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss39/Sub-Zero76/Milla%20Jovovich/Milla_Jovovich.jpg

Is this better?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/17/11 at 7:32 am


^ it is all been crossed out!

Not sure what happened there :-
Is this better?

Thank You  :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/17/11 at 11:57 am


Not sure what happened there

If the letter 's' appeared within square brackets by itself somewhere in there, then the system would treat it as a "strikethrough" tag, and hence all the text after it would appear with a line through it. Like this.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/17/11 at 12:03 pm


If the letter 's' appeared within square brackets by itself somewhere in there, then the system would treat it as a "strikethrough" tag, and hence all the text after it would appear with a line through it. Like this.
Many thanks, I tried to post an answer to this, but it did not come out right.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/17/11 at 1:38 pm


If the letter 's' appeared within square brackets by itself somewhere in there, then the system would treat it as a "strikethrough" tag, and hence all the text after it would appear with a line through it. Like this.


she probably clicked on it by accident.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/17/11 at 11:20 pm


she probably clicked on it by accident.
It was in what she copied from wiki and it appeared when she pasted it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/18/11 at 9:29 am

The person of the day...Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection", the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).

In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100—"Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo (2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas (2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful," was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics (2006), released to positive critical acclaim. The album had three commercially successful singles: "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman". Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme. She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque (2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst seventeen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna. Aguilera's albums sales are estimated at around 50 million units worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Aguilera has the vocal range of a soprano and has been referred to as the "voice of her generation" and a blue eyed soul singer. Aguilera also topped COVE's list of the 100 Best Pop Vocalists with a score of 50/50 and came fifth in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. Her rendition of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" at the 49th Grammy Awards ranked third in the Grammy's Greatest Moments List behind Celine Dion's performance of "My Heart Will Go On" and Green Day's performance of "American Idiot". In an interview, Dion described Aguilera as "probably the best vocalist in the world." Rolling Stone ranked Aguilera at 58 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, the youngest singer on the list.

Describing Aguilera's voice, singing teachers Phyllis Fulford and Michael Mailler said, "The low register is light and tired, the belting register is ample and full, but very scratchy because she screams; and head voice as well as whistle register are light, pure and bright. Her vocal range extends from G below middle C to C♯ one octave above soprano high C (G3 – C♯7). She can belt to F one octave and a third above middle C (F5). She possesses a good-sized technical arsenal. Her trill is solid, she has a big mastery of melismas, and can sustain very long notes." Los Angeles Times writer Margaret Wappler adds Aguilera can deliver "a well-executed legato." However, countertenor Philippe Jaroussky said: "She has no breath support and often sings out of tune. People say she can cover four octaves, but it's not true because below A3, the low notes are forced, unsupported, her belting voice is throaty and forced, for her highest notes she doesn't use head voice but falsetto or whistle register, they are disconnected registers. So, she can only hit good notes from A3 to B4. Her melismas are always show-off, they are almost never connected with the rhythm and the structure of the songs."

Since her debut in 1999 Aguilera has been compared to the likes of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. David Browne of The New York Times writes, "Aguilera has been one of the foremost practitioners of the overpowering, Category 5 vocal style known as melisma. Ms. Carey, Ms. Houston and Ms. Aguilera, to name its three main champions, are most associated with the period from the late ’80s through the late ’90s." A review in the Los Angeles Times compared Aguilera's vocal stylings to Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, and Aretha Franklin adding, "Aguilera's Streisand-esque tendencies are a good thing; they're helping her figure out how to become the "great singer" she's been dubbed since she released her first single, the wise-beyond-its-years "Genie in a Bottle", at 18." Although praised for her vocals, Aguilera has been labeled for oversinging in her songs and concerts. Longtime producer and writer, Linda Perry, commented on working on the record, "Beautiful", saying, "I tried to keep it straight. I told her to get rid of the finger waves. Every time she'd start going into "hoo-ha", I'd stop the tape. I'm like, 'You're doing it again.'" Perry ended up using the first take saying, "She had a hard time accepting that as the final track. It's not a perfect vocal – it's very raw. She knows her voice really well, and she knows what's going on. She can hear things that nobody else would catch."
Themes and musical style
Aguilera performing in her Back to Basics Tour in 2006.

The constant theme in Aguilera's music and lyrics is love, although she has written on other subjects including spirituality, female empowerment, and grief. Aguilera has also written about her childhood in two of her records which dealt with domestic abuse. In an interview Aguilera admitted she feels responsible to reveal her most vulnerable feelings and to share the darker sides of her life adding "People that can relate might not feel as alone in the circumstance." She has been noted to constantly changing her sound in her music and lyrical content. Originally marketed as a bubblegum pop singer during the late 90s pop scene, she quickly departed into a broad range of musical genres for her follow-up album Stripped. A review states, "Clearly afflicted with Premature Serious Artist Syndrome, Aguilera wants to demonstrate the range of her interests – vampy soul, quasi-metal, piano-bar intimacy, quiet-storm R&B, bounce-bounce hip-hop, and semi-exotic rock, all of it dutifully accomplished."

The majority of the songs are characterized by Aguilera's loud vocals, though she has used breathy and soft vocals. Her 2006 release, Back to Basics included producer DJ Premier. The New York Times exclaims, "Her decision to work with the low-key DJ Premier was also a decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely." Aguilera has often cited that she prefers working with producers that are not in popular demand, saying "I don't necessarily go to the main people that are the No.1 chart-toppers in music." The album included live instrumentation and samples of past jazz and soul records. Some tracks on the album included non-traditional forms of pop music such as swing jazz and big band, drawing comparisons to Madonna's I'm Breathless and the musical film Cabaret. Her first feature film, Burlesque, influenced by Cabaret, featured mainstream producers Tricky Stewart and Danja on the soundtrack where several established songs were updated and worked into dance numbers, a style similar to 2001's Moulin Rouge! "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" was performed by Aguilera in the film, a musical number also performed by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!
Influences

One of Aguilera's major influences and idol is blues singer Etta James, whose classic song "At Last" has been covered by Aguilera throughout her career. Aguilera says, "Etta is my all-time favorite singer. I've said it for the last seven years – since I had my first debut record out – in every interview. I mean, all of Etta's old songs, countless songs I could name, I grew up listening to." The majority of her album, Back to Basics, pays tribute to James and other pop standard singers who many originated from the 1950s. In her early years she listened to vintage jazz, blues, and soul music. The album included an unreleased song, "Slow Down Baby", which sampled a Gladys Knight & the Pips song. A review in The Guardian declared, "Practically everything recorded before Aguilera was born blurs into one amorphous genre, which she categorises, somewhat inadequately, as "fun music". Aguilera has also named Madonna and Janet Jackson as two of her biggest influences "for being re-inventive and being brave as strong females, to explore whatever, even if they do get bad press. It's just like they were fearless." Her other musical influences include Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Nina Simone.

Aguilera cites the musical The Sound of Music and its lead actress, Julie Andrews as an early inspiration for singing and performing. She mentioned the "Golden age of Hollywood" as another inspiration in which she says, "I'm referencing Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Carole Lombard, Greta Garbo, Veronica Lake". Ironically, her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located near Julie Andrews and is next to Greta Garbo. In her music video for "Ain't No Other Man" she plays her alter ego, "Baby Jane" in reference to the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. The film's stars included actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The third single off Back to Basics, "Candyman" was inspired by the 1941 song, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by The Andrews Sisters which was played during World War II. She was also inspired by pin-up girls and several paintings by Alberto Vargas. Aguilera has expressed interest in cultural icons Nico, Blondie and artists Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. She has often worked with photographer and close friend, David LaChapelle who once worked with Warhol. Chapelle has shot many of Aguilera's music videos, magazine shoots and advertisements. She is also a fan of graffiti artist Banksy. In 2006 she purchased three of Banksy's works during a private art exhibition, one of them included a pornographic picture of Queen Victoria in a lesbian pose with a prostitute. She has mentioned in several interviews that she is a fan of actress Angelina Jolie, and her Burlesque co-star, Cher. Fashion has also been a part of Aguilera's music career and image which she has used as a form of expression during performances and music videos. In 2003 she became the muse and inspiration for Donatella Versace's 2003 fall line. Versace also designed pieces her tour the following year. Aguilera is also a fan of Roberto Cavalli, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander McQueen whose designs she has worn throughout her career.
Year Title Role Notes
Films 2004 Shark Tale Cameo appearance
2008 Shine a Light Herself Documentary
2010 Get Him to the Greek Herself Cameo appearance
2010 Burlesque Alice Marilyn "Ali" Rose Film debut
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1993–
1995 The Mickey Mouse Club Herself/various roles Season 6–7
1999 Beverly Hills, 90210 Herself "Let's Eat Cake"
2000–
2006 Saturday Night Live Herself/various roles Host, musical guest, 4 episodes
2009 Project Runway Herself Guest Judge, "Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!"
2010 Entourage Herself "Lose Yourself"
2011–
present The Voice Herself Coach and judge
Returning series
Discography
Main article: Christina Aguilera discography

    Christina Aguilera (1999)
    Mi Reflejo (2000)
    My Kind of Christmas (2000)
    Stripped (2002)
    Back to Basics (2006)
    Bionic (2010)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c321/loozer15/christina-aguilera.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c322/SamiErinxO/Christina-Aguilera.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/18/11 at 9:31 am


The person of the day...Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection", the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).

In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100—"Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo (2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas (2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful," was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics (2006), released to positive critical acclaim. The album had three commercially successful singles: "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman". Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues which include her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme. She made her feature film debut in the musical Burlesque (2010), earning Aguilera a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award, amongst seventeen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-eight on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She was ranked the 20th Artist of the 2000–09 decade by Billboard and is the second top selling single artist of the 2000s behind Madonna. Aguilera's albums sales are estimated at around 50 million units worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Aguilera has the vocal range of a soprano and has been referred to as the "voice of her generation" and a blue eyed soul singer. Aguilera also topped COVE's list of the 100 Best Pop Vocalists with a score of 50/50 and came fifth in MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music. Her rendition of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" at the 49th Grammy Awards ranked third in the Grammy's Greatest Moments List behind Celine Dion's performance of "My Heart Will Go On" and Green Day's performance of "American Idiot". In an interview, Dion described Aguilera as "probably the best vocalist in the world." Rolling Stone ranked Aguilera at 58 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, the youngest singer on the list.

Describing Aguilera's voice, singing teachers Phyllis Fulford and Michael Mailler said, "The low register is light and tired, the belting register is ample and full, but very scratchy because she screams; and head voice as well as whistle register are light, pure and bright. Her vocal range extends from G below middle C to C♯ one octave above soprano high C (G3 – C♯7). She can belt to F one octave and a third above middle C (F5). She possesses a good-sized technical arsenal. Her trill is solid, she has a big mastery of melismas, and can sustain very long notes." Los Angeles Times writer Margaret Wappler adds Aguilera can deliver "a well-executed legato." However, countertenor Philippe Jaroussky said: "She has no breath support and often sings out of tune. People say she can cover four octaves, but it's not true because below A3, the low notes are forced, unsupported, her belting voice is throaty and forced, for her highest notes she doesn't use head voice but falsetto or whistle register, they are disconnected registers. So, she can only hit good notes from A3 to B4. Her melismas are always show-off, they are almost never connected with the rhythm and the structure of the songs."

Since her debut in 1999 Aguilera has been compared to the likes of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. David Browne of The New York Times writes, "Aguilera has been one of the foremost practitioners of the overpowering, Category 5 vocal style known as melisma. Ms. Carey, Ms. Houston and Ms. Aguilera, to name its three main champions, are most associated with the period from the late ’80s through the late ’90s." A review in the Los Angeles Times compared Aguilera's vocal stylings to Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, and Aretha Franklin adding, "Aguilera's Streisand-esque tendencies are a good thing; they're helping her figure out how to become the "great singer" she's been dubbed since she released her first single, the wise-beyond-its-years "Genie in a Bottle", at 18." Although praised for her vocals, Aguilera has been labeled for oversinging in her songs and concerts. Longtime producer and writer, Linda Perry, commented on working on the record, "Beautiful", saying, "I tried to keep it straight. I told her to get rid of the finger waves. Every time she'd start going into "hoo-ha", I'd stop the tape. I'm like, 'You're doing it again.'" Perry ended up using the first take saying, "She had a hard time accepting that as the final track. It's not a perfect vocal – it's very raw. She knows her voice really well, and she knows what's going on. She can hear things that nobody else would catch."
Themes and musical style
Aguilera performing in her Back to Basics Tour in 2006.

The constant theme in Aguilera's music and lyrics is love, although she has written on other subjects including spirituality, female empowerment, and grief. Aguilera has also written about her childhood in two of her records which dealt with domestic abuse. In an interview Aguilera admitted she feels responsible to reveal her most vulnerable feelings and to share the darker sides of her life adding "People that can relate might not feel as alone in the circumstance." She has been noted to constantly changing her sound in her music and lyrical content. Originally marketed as a bubblegum pop singer during the late 90s pop scene, she quickly departed into a broad range of musical genres for her follow-up album Stripped. A review states, "Clearly afflicted with Premature Serious Artist Syndrome, Aguilera wants to demonstrate the range of her interests – vampy soul, quasi-metal, piano-bar intimacy, quiet-storm R&B, bounce-bounce hip-hop, and semi-exotic rock, all of it dutifully accomplished."

The majority of the songs are characterized by Aguilera's loud vocals, though she has used breathy and soft vocals. Her 2006 release, Back to Basics included producer DJ Premier. The New York Times exclaims, "Her decision to work with the low-key DJ Premier was also a decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely." Aguilera has often cited that she prefers working with producers that are not in popular demand, saying "I don't necessarily go to the main people that are the No.1 chart-toppers in music." The album included live instrumentation and samples of past jazz and soul records. Some tracks on the album included non-traditional forms of pop music such as swing jazz and big band, drawing comparisons to Madonna's I'm Breathless and the musical film Cabaret. Her first feature film, Burlesque, influenced by Cabaret, featured mainstream producers Tricky Stewart and Danja on the soundtrack where several established songs were updated and worked into dance numbers, a style similar to 2001's Moulin Rouge! "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" was performed by Aguilera in the film, a musical number also performed by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!
Influences

One of Aguilera's major influences and idol is blues singer Etta James, whose classic song "At Last" has been covered by Aguilera throughout her career. Aguilera says, "Etta is my all-time favorite singer. I've said it for the last seven years – since I had my first debut record out – in every interview. I mean, all of Etta's old songs, countless songs I could name, I grew up listening to." The majority of her album, Back to Basics, pays tribute to James and other pop standard singers who many originated from the 1950s. In her early years she listened to vintage jazz, blues, and soul music. The album included an unreleased song, "Slow Down Baby", which sampled a Gladys Knight & the Pips song. A review in The Guardian declared, "Practically everything recorded before Aguilera was born blurs into one amorphous genre, which she categorises, somewhat inadequately, as "fun music". Aguilera has also named Madonna and Janet Jackson as two of her biggest influences "for being re-inventive and being brave as strong females, to explore whatever, even if they do get bad press. It's just like they were fearless." Her other musical influences include Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Nina Simone.

Aguilera cites the musical The Sound of Music and its lead actress, Julie Andrews as an early inspiration for singing and performing. She mentioned the "Golden age of Hollywood" as another inspiration in which she says, "I'm referencing Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Carole Lombard, Greta Garbo, Veronica Lake". Ironically, her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located near Julie Andrews and is next to Greta Garbo. In her music video for "Ain't No Other Man" she plays her alter ego, "Baby Jane" in reference to the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. The film's stars included actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The third single off Back to Basics, "Candyman" was inspired by the 1941 song, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by The Andrews Sisters which was played during World War II. She was also inspired by pin-up girls and several paintings by Alberto Vargas. Aguilera has expressed interest in cultural icons Nico, Blondie and artists Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. She has often worked with photographer and close friend, David LaChapelle who once worked with Warhol. Chapelle has shot many of Aguilera's music videos, magazine shoots and advertisements. She is also a fan of graffiti artist Banksy. In 2006 she purchased three of Banksy's works during a private art exhibition, one of them included a pornographic picture of Queen Victoria in a lesbian pose with a prostitute. She has mentioned in several interviews that she is a fan of actress Angelina Jolie, and her Burlesque co-star, Cher. Fashion has also been a part of Aguilera's music career and image which she has used as a form of expression during performances and music videos. In 2003 she became the muse and inspiration for Donatella Versace's 2003 fall line. Versace also designed pieces her tour the following year. Aguilera is also a fan of Roberto Cavalli, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander McQueen whose designs she has worn throughout her career.
Year Title Role Notes
Films 2004 Shark Tale Cameo appearance
2008 Shine a Light Herself Documentary
2010 Get Him to the Greek Herself Cameo appearance
2010 Burlesque Alice Marilyn "Ali" Rose Film debut
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1993–
1995 The Mickey Mouse Club Herself/various roles Season 6–7
1999 Beverly Hills, 90210 Herself "Let's Eat Cake"
2000–
2006 Saturday Night Live Herself/various roles Host, musical guest, 4 episodes
2009 Project Runway Herself Guest Judge, "Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!"
2010 Entourage Herself "Lose Yourself"
2011–
present The Voice Herself Coach and judge
Returning series
Discography
Main article: Christina Aguilera discography

    Christina Aguilera (1999)
    Mi Reflejo (2000)
    My Kind of Christmas (2000)
    Stripped (2002)
    Back to Basics (2006)
    Bionic (2010)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c321/loozer15/christina-aguilera.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c322/SamiErinxO/Christina-Aguilera.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDWgqDBNXA&ob=av2e

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/18/11 at 9:31 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDWgqDBNXA&ob=av2e
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKfsZ35tOLI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/18/11 at 2:46 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKfsZ35tOLI

Her at a very young age! Although I can't say I remember ever watching it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/19/11 at 7:05 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDWgqDBNXA&ob=av2e


this song I liked.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/19/11 at 7:10 am

http://skinnyvscurvy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Christina-Aguilera-Weight-Gain-4.jpg

I can't believe this was when she gained so much weight.  :o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/19/11 at 1:20 pm


this song I liked.

I liked that one too, as well as "Beautiful" and "Fighter." I got hooked on the latter after its release as a single in mid-2003 due to its hard-rock sound, which is not her usual style.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/19/11 at 1:57 pm

The person of the day...Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson (born December 19, 1933) is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for her Oscar-nominated role in the film Sounder and the television movies The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots.
yson was discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine and became a popular fashion model. Her first film was an uncredited role in Carib Gold in 1957, but she went on to do television such as the celebrated series East Side/West Side and the soap opera The Guiding Light. In 1961, Tyson appeared in the original cast of French playwright Jean Genet's The Blacks, the longest running off-Broadway non-musical of the decade, running for 1,408 performances. The original cast also featured James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, Louis Gossett, Jr., Godfrey Cambridge, Maya Angelou and Charles Gordone. She appeared with Sammy Davis, Jr. in the film A Man Called Adam (film) (1966) and starred in the film version of Graham Greene's The Comedians (1967). Tyson had a featured role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) and was in a segment of the movie Roots.
The handprints of Cicely Tyson in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed Sounder. In 1974, she won two Emmy Awards for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Other acclaimed television roles included Roots, King, in which she portrayed Coretta Scott King, The Marva Collins Story, When No One Would Listen and Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All for which she received her third Emmy Award. On February 10, 1979 she hosted episode 11 of the fourth season of Saturday Night Live. In the opening monologue, Garret Morris came out dressed in female clothes doing an impression of Cicely, until the real Cicely joined him onstage pretending to be angry at the impression and at the way Morris was demeaning all black actors with such "base" comedy.

In 1982, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.

In her 1994-1995 television series Sweet Justice, Tyson portrayed a feisty, unorthodox Southern attorney named Carrie Grace Battle, a character she shaped by consulting with and shadowing the legendary Washington, D.C. civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree.

In 2005, Tyson co-starred in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The same year she was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball.

The Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts, a magnet school in East Orange, New Jersey, was renamed in her honor. She plays an active part in supporting the school, which serves one of New Jersey's most underprivileged African-American communities. In 2010 Ms. Tyson narrated the "Paul Robeson Award" winning documentary "Up from the Bottoms:The Search for the American Dream." In 2011, Tyson appeared in her first music video in Willow Smith's 21st Century Girl.
Credits
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1959 Odds Against Tomorrow Jazz Club bartender
1959 The Last Angry Man Girl Left on Porch (uncredited)
1966 A Man Called Adam Claudia Ferguson
1967 The Comedians Marie Therese
1968 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Portia
1972 Sounder Rebecca Morgan Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Blue Bird Tylette, The Cat
1976 The River Niger Mattie Williams
1978 A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich Sweets 1978 King Coretta King
1979 The Concorde ... Airport '79 Elaine
1981 Bustin' Loose Vivian Perry
1991 Fried Green Tomatoes Sipsey
1997 Hoodlum Stephanie St. Clair Nominated — Acapulco Black Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2001 The Double Dutch Divas! Herself (short subject) (uncredited)
2005 Because of Winn-Dixie Gloria Dump
2005 Diary of a Mad Black Woman Myrtle NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated — BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Theatrical Film
Nominated — Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
2006 Madea's Family Reunion Myrtle
2006 Fat Rose and Squeaky Celine
2006 Idlewild Mother Hopkins
2007 Rwanda Rising Voice of Jeanette Nyirabagarwa (documentary)
2009 Up from the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream Narrator (documentary)
2010 Why Did I Get Married Too? Ola
2011 The Help Constantine Bates
2011 The Haunting in Georgia TBA post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1951 Frontiers of Faith Tony Episode: "The Bitter Cup"
1962 The Nurses Betty Ann Warner Episode: "Frieda"
1963 Naked City Episode: "Howard Running Bear Is a Turtle"
1963–64 East Side/West Side (26 episodes)
1965 Slattery's People Sarah Brookman Episode: "Question: Who You Taking to the Main Event, Eddie?"
1965–66 I Spy Princess Amara
Vickie Harmon Episode: "So Long, Patrick Henry"
Episode: "Trial by Treehouse"
1966 Guiding Light Martha Frazier
1967 Cowboy in Africa Julie Anderson Episode: "Tomorrow on the Wind"
1967 Judd for the Defense Lucille Evans Episode: "Commitment"
1968–69 The F.B.I. Julie Harmon
Lainey Harber Episode: "The Enemies"
Episode: "Silent Partners"
1969 Medical Center Susan Wiley Episode: "The Last 10 Yards"
1969 The Courtship of Eddie's Father Betty Kelly Episode: "Guess Who's Coming for Lunch"
1970 Gunsmoke Rachel Biggs Episode: "The Scavengers"
1970 Mission: Impossible Alma Ross Episode: "Death Squad"
1970 The Bill Cosby Show Mildred Hermosa Episode: "Blind Date"
1970 Here Come the Brides Princess Lucenda Episode: "A Bride for Obie Brown"
1971 Insight Episode: "The Bird of the Mast"
1971 Marriage: Year One Emma Teasley (unsold pilot)
1971 Neighbors
1972 Emergency! Mrs. Johnson Episode: "Crash"
1972 Wednesday Night Out
1974 The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Jane Pittman Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Emmy Award for Actress of the Year - Special
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1974 Free to Be… You and Me Herself
1976 Just an Old Sweet Song Priscilla Simmons
1977 Roots Binta Miniseries
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1977 Wilma Blanche Rudolph
1978 King Coretta Scott King Miniseries
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1978 A Woman Called Moses Harriet Ross Tubman
1981 The Marva Collins Story Marva Collins NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1982 Benny's Place Odessa
1985 Playing with Fire Carol Phillips
1986 Intimate Encounters Dr. Claire Dalton
1986 Acceptable Risks Janet Framm
1986 Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story Muriel NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1989 The Women of Brewster Place Mrs. Browne
1990 The Kid Who Loved Christmas Etta
1990 B.L. Stryker Ruth Hastings Episode: "Winner Takes All"
1990 Heat Wave Ruthana Richardson CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1991 Clippers Donna Unsold pilot
1991 Fried Green Tomatoes Sipsey
1992 Duplicates Dr. Randolph
1992 When No One Would Listen Sarah
1993 House of Secrets Evangeline
1994 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All Castralia, Marsden Family House Slave/Maid Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1994–95 Sweet Justice Carrie Grace Battle Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
1996 The Road to Galveston Jordan Roosevelt NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Lone Star Film & Television Award for Best TV Actress
Nominated — CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1997 Bridge of Time Guardian
1997 Riot Maggie Segment: "Homecoming Day"
Nominated — CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1997 Ms. Scrooge Ms. Ebenita Scrooge
1998 Always Outnumbered Luvia
1998 Mama Flora's Family Mama Flora NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1999 A Lesson Before Dying Tante Lou Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1999 Aftershock: Earthquake in New York Emily Lincoln
2000 Touched by an Angel Abby Episode: "Living the Rest of My Life"
2000 The Outer Limits Justice Gretchen Parkhurst Episode: "Final Appeal"
2001 Jewel Cathedral
2002 The Rosa Parks Story Leona Edwards McCauley Black Reel Award for Network/Cable - Best Supporting Actress
2005 Higglytown Heroes Great Aunt Shirley Hero Episode: "Wayne's 100 Special Somethings"
2009 Relative Stranger Pearl Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2009 Law and Order: SVU Ondine Burdett Episode "Hell"
Theatre
Year Title Role Theatre
1957 Dark of the Moon Little Theatre
1959 Jolly's Progress Jolly (understudy) Longacre Theatre
1960 The Cool World Girl Eugene O'Neill Theatre
1961 The Blacks: A Clown Show Stephanie Virtue Diop St. Mark's Playhouse
1962 Moon on a Rainbow Shawl East 11th Street Theater
1962 Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright Celeste Chipley
Adelaide Smith (understudy) Booth Theatre
1963 The Blue Boy in Black Joan Masque Theatre
1963 Trumpets of the Lord Rev. Marion Alexander Astor Place Theatre
1966 A Hand Is on the Gate Performer Longacre Theatre
1968 Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights Myrna Jessup John Golden Theatre
1969 To Be Young, Gifted and Black Various Cherry Lane Theatre
1969 Trumpets of the Lord Rev. Marion Alexander Brooks Atkinson Theatre
1983 The Corn Is Green Miss Moffat Lunt-Fontaine Theatre
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actresses02/S6_Tyson_060406.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb189/sljohn33/JamesEarlJones-CicelyTyson.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/20/11 at 10:41 am

The person of the day...Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983), known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, Funny People, Get Him to the Greek, and Moneyball. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman. Hill was first nominated for a Teen Choice Award for his role in Accepted as Sherman Schrader. He co-created and stars in the new animated comedy Allen Gregory on FOX.
hile in college, Hill began writing his own plays and performing them in the Black and White bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. His plays developed a small following and helped him realize that his true desire was to act in films. Hill was befriended by Dustin Hoffman's children, Rebecca and Jake, who introduced Hill to their father. The elder Hoffman asked him to audition for a role in I Heart Huckabees, in which Hill made his film debut.

Hill then made a brief appearance in Judd Apatow's directorial debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which eventually led to him starring in a larger supporting role in the Apatow-directed Knocked Up, an uncredited role of Dewey Cox's grown-up brother Nate Cox in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and leading roles in the Apatow-produced Superbad and Get Him to the Greek.

On television, Hill played the "RA Guy" on the first season of the Oxygen Network sitcom Campus Ladies. He also guest-starred in an episode of Clark and Michael.

He was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on November 17, 2007, which would have featured musical guest Kid Rock, but the episode was canceled due to the Writers Guild of America strike which lasted from November 5, 2007 to February 12, 2008. Instead, he hosted the March 15, 2008 show, which featured musical guest Mariah Carey (who was a replacement for the originally scheduled musical guest Janet Jackson).

He guest-starred in an episode of Reno 911 which aired on April 1, 2009.

Hill was in negotiations for a part in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as a sidekick to Shia LaBeouf's character. He next starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, which also starred Adam Sandler, Eric Bana and Seth Rogen. He also was an associate producer of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary Brüno.
Hill in Barcelona in 2007

He guest starred on an episode of The Simpsons called "Pranks and Greens", portraying an immature man named Andy Hamilton who was hailed the best prankster in Springfield Elementary School history.

In July 2011, Jonah appeared at ESPN's ESPY awards sporting a much slimmer physique. He claimed to have lost 40 pounds. Hill will be appearing in the film 21 Jump Street by 2012.

In November 2011, Hill, along with Sam Worthington and Dwight Howard, starred in commercials for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, making his first appearance with his new look. Hill was scheduled to guest star on the November 21, 2011 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, but he skipped the event and a reason for Hill's no-show was not made clear.

Hill received a Golden Globe nomination, his first nomination, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his role as Peter Brand in the 2011 film Moneyball.
Writing

Hill has wanted to be a writer since he was young, dreaming of someday joining the writing teams of The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show. At one point, Hill was writing a screenplay with close friend and I Heart Huckabees co-star Jason Schwartzman. At another, he was writing Pure Imagination, a comedy for Sony about a man who develops an imaginary friend after a traumatic experience. Filming was expected to begin in 2008, but it has been in development since then. Hill co-created, co-writes, executive produces and lends his voice to the new Fox animated comedy Allen Gregory, which will air in between The Simpsons and Family Guy on Sunday nights. The show has been cancelled as of December 1st. Hill directed his first music video for singer Sara Bareilles's "Gonna Get Over You". In September 2011 it was announced that Jonah Hill was in talks to star in Quentin Tarantino's new movie Django Unchained.
Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 I Heart Huckabees Bret Film Debut
2005 The 40-Year-Old Virgin eBay store Customer
2006 Grandma's Boy Barry
Click Ben Newman – at age 17
Accepted Sherman Schrader Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scream
10 Items or Less Packy
2007 Knocked Up Jonah
Evan Almighty Eugene Tenanbaum
Rocket Science Lionel
Superbad Seth Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Nate Cox's Ghost Uncredited
2008 Strange Wilderness Lynn Cooker
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Matthew
Just Add Water Eddie
Emerson Park Dylan Machado
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Brundon Uncredited
Funny People Leo
The Invention of Lying Frank
Brüno – Associate Producer Only
2009 The Simpsons Andy Hamilton Television series, voice role
2010 How to Train Your Dragon Snotlout Voice role
Get Him to the Greek Aaron Green Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Liplock (shared with Russell Brand)
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Fight/Action Sequence (shared with Russell Brand and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs)
Cyrus Cyrus
Megamind Titan/Hal Stewart Voice role
2011 "Gonna Get Over You" Director Music video
Moneyball Peter Brand Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Sitter Noah Jaybird
2012 The Apocalypse Himself, Pre-Production
21 Jump Street Schmidt Post-production
Neighborhood Watch TBA Filming
2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 Snotlout Voice role

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2004 NYPD Blue Clerk Episode "You're Buggin' Me"
2006 Campus Ladies Guy 7 Episodes
2007 Wainy Days Neil (TV series short), Two Episodes
Human Giant Weenie King Customer Episode "Ta Da"
2009 Reno 911! Daniel Episode "Training Day"
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Jeffrey Simmons Credited as John A. Hill, Episode "Road Trip"
The Simpsons Andy Hamilton Voice, Episode Pranks and Greens
2011-Present Allen Gregory Allen Gregory Voice, Title Character
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/2409_2008/jonah-hill.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv340/djmehdix/jonas_051409.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/20/11 at 7:53 pm


The person of the day...Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983), known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, Funny People, Get Him to the Greek, and Moneyball. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman. Hill was first nominated for a Teen Choice Award for his role in Accepted as Sherman Schrader. He co-created and stars in the new animated comedy Allen Gregory on FOX.
hile in college, Hill began writing his own plays and performing them in the Black and White bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. His plays developed a small following and helped him realize that his true desire was to act in films. Hill was befriended by Dustin Hoffman's children, Rebecca and Jake, who introduced Hill to their father. The elder Hoffman asked him to audition for a role in I Heart Huckabees, in which Hill made his film debut.

Hill then made a brief appearance in Judd Apatow's directorial debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which eventually led to him starring in a larger supporting role in the Apatow-directed Knocked Up, an uncredited role of Dewey Cox's grown-up brother Nate Cox in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and leading roles in the Apatow-produced Superbad and Get Him to the Greek.

On television, Hill played the "RA Guy" on the first season of the Oxygen Network sitcom Campus Ladies. He also guest-starred in an episode of Clark and Michael.

He was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on November 17, 2007, which would have featured musical guest Kid Rock, but the episode was canceled due to the Writers Guild of America strike which lasted from November 5, 2007 to February 12, 2008. Instead, he hosted the March 15, 2008 show, which featured musical guest Mariah Carey (who was a replacement for the originally scheduled musical guest Janet Jackson).

He guest-starred in an episode of Reno 911 which aired on April 1, 2009.

Hill was in negotiations for a part in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as a sidekick to Shia LaBeouf's character. He next starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, which also starred Adam Sandler, Eric Bana and Seth Rogen. He also was an associate producer of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary Brüno.
Hill in Barcelona in 2007

He guest starred on an episode of The Simpsons called "Pranks and Greens", portraying an immature man named Andy Hamilton who was hailed the best prankster in Springfield Elementary School history.

In July 2011, Jonah appeared at ESPN's ESPY awards sporting a much slimmer physique. He claimed to have lost 40 pounds. Hill will be appearing in the film 21 Jump Street by 2012.

In November 2011, Hill, along with Sam Worthington and Dwight Howard, starred in commercials for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, making his first appearance with his new look. Hill was scheduled to guest star on the November 21, 2011 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, but he skipped the event and a reason for Hill's no-show was not made clear.

Hill received a Golden Globe nomination, his first nomination, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his role as Peter Brand in the 2011 film Moneyball.
Writing

Hill has wanted to be a writer since he was young, dreaming of someday joining the writing teams of The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show. At one point, Hill was writing a screenplay with close friend and I Heart Huckabees co-star Jason Schwartzman. At another, he was writing Pure Imagination, a comedy for Sony about a man who develops an imaginary friend after a traumatic experience. Filming was expected to begin in 2008, but it has been in development since then. Hill co-created, co-writes, executive produces and lends his voice to the new Fox animated comedy Allen Gregory, which will air in between The Simpsons and Family Guy on Sunday nights. The show has been cancelled as of December 1st. Hill directed his first music video for singer Sara Bareilles's "Gonna Get Over You". In September 2011 it was announced that Jonah Hill was in talks to star in Quentin Tarantino's new movie Django Unchained.
Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 I Heart Huckabees Bret Film Debut
2005 The 40-Year-Old Virgin eBay store Customer
2006 Grandma's Boy Barry
Click Ben Newman – at age 17
Accepted Sherman Schrader Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scream
10 Items or Less Packy
2007 Knocked Up Jonah
Evan Almighty Eugene Tenanbaum
Rocket Science Lionel
Superbad Seth Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Nate Cox's Ghost Uncredited
2008 Strange Wilderness Lynn Cooker
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Matthew
Just Add Water Eddie
Emerson Park Dylan Machado
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Brundon Uncredited
Funny People Leo
The Invention of Lying Frank
Brüno – Associate Producer Only
2009 The Simpsons Andy Hamilton Television series, voice role
2010 How to Train Your Dragon Snotlout Voice role
Get Him to the Greek Aaron Green Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Liplock (shared with Russell Brand)
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Fight/Action Sequence (shared with Russell Brand and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs)
Cyrus Cyrus
Megamind Titan/Hal Stewart Voice role
2011 "Gonna Get Over You" Director Music video
Moneyball Peter Brand Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Sitter Noah Jaybird
2012 The Apocalypse Himself, Pre-Production
21 Jump Street Schmidt Post-production
Neighborhood Watch TBA Filming
2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 Snotlout Voice role

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2004 NYPD Blue Clerk Episode "You're Buggin' Me"
2006 Campus Ladies Guy 7 Episodes
2007 Wainy Days Neil (TV series short), Two Episodes
Human Giant Weenie King Customer Episode "Ta Da"
2009 Reno 911! Daniel Episode "Training Day"
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Jeffrey Simmons Credited as John A. Hill, Episode "Road Trip"
The Simpsons Andy Hamilton Voice, Episode Pranks and Greens
2011-Present Allen Gregory Allen Gregory Voice, Title Character
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/2409_2008/jonah-hill.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv340/djmehdix/jonas_051409.jpg


I only saw a few films with him in them.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/21/11 at 12:42 am


The person of the day...Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983), known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, Funny People, Get Him to the Greek, and Moneyball. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman. Hill was first nominated for a Teen Choice Award for his role in Accepted as Sherman Schrader. He co-created and stars in the new animated comedy Allen Gregory on FOX.
hile in college, Hill began writing his own plays and performing them in the Black and White bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. His plays developed a small following and helped him realize that his true desire was to act in films. Hill was befriended by Dustin Hoffman's children, Rebecca and Jake, who introduced Hill to their father. The elder Hoffman asked him to audition for a role in I Heart Huckabees, in which Hill made his film debut.

Hill then made a brief appearance in Judd Apatow's directorial debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which eventually led to him starring in a larger supporting role in the Apatow-directed Knocked Up, an uncredited role of Dewey Cox's grown-up brother Nate Cox in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and leading roles in the Apatow-produced Superbad and Get Him to the Greek.

On television, Hill played the "RA Guy" on the first season of the Oxygen Network sitcom Campus Ladies. He also guest-starred in an episode of Clark and Michael.

He was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on November 17, 2007, which would have featured musical guest Kid Rock, but the episode was canceled due to the Writers Guild of America strike which lasted from November 5, 2007 to February 12, 2008. Instead, he hosted the March 15, 2008 show, which featured musical guest Mariah Carey (who was a replacement for the originally scheduled musical guest Janet Jackson).

He guest-starred in an episode of Reno 911 which aired on April 1, 2009.

Hill was in negotiations for a part in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as a sidekick to Shia LaBeouf's character. He next starred in Judd Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, which also starred Adam Sandler, Eric Bana and Seth Rogen. He also was an associate producer of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary Brüno.
Hill in Barcelona in 2007

He guest starred on an episode of The Simpsons called "Pranks and Greens", portraying an immature man named Andy Hamilton who was hailed the best prankster in Springfield Elementary School history.

In July 2011, Jonah appeared at ESPN's ESPY awards sporting a much slimmer physique. He claimed to have lost 40 pounds. Hill will be appearing in the film 21 Jump Street by 2012.

In November 2011, Hill, along with Sam Worthington and Dwight Howard, starred in commercials for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, making his first appearance with his new look. Hill was scheduled to guest star on the November 21, 2011 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, but he skipped the event and a reason for Hill's no-show was not made clear.

Hill received a Golden Globe nomination, his first nomination, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his role as Peter Brand in the 2011 film Moneyball.
Writing

Hill has wanted to be a writer since he was young, dreaming of someday joining the writing teams of The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show. At one point, Hill was writing a screenplay with close friend and I Heart Huckabees co-star Jason Schwartzman. At another, he was writing Pure Imagination, a comedy for Sony about a man who develops an imaginary friend after a traumatic experience. Filming was expected to begin in 2008, but it has been in development since then. Hill co-created, co-writes, executive produces and lends his voice to the new Fox animated comedy Allen Gregory, which will air in between The Simpsons and Family Guy on Sunday nights. The show has been cancelled as of December 1st. Hill directed his first music video for singer Sara Bareilles's "Gonna Get Over You". In September 2011 it was announced that Jonah Hill was in talks to star in Quentin Tarantino's new movie Django Unchained.
Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 I Heart Huckabees Bret Film Debut
2005 The 40-Year-Old Virgin eBay store Customer
2006 Grandma's Boy Barry
Click Ben Newman – at age 17
Accepted Sherman Schrader Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scream
10 Items or Less Packy
2007 Knocked Up Jonah
Evan Almighty Eugene Tenanbaum
Rocket Science Lionel
Superbad Seth Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Performance
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Nate Cox's Ghost Uncredited
2008 Strange Wilderness Lynn Cooker
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Matthew
Just Add Water Eddie
Emerson Park Dylan Machado
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Brundon Uncredited
Funny People Leo
The Invention of Lying Frank
Brüno – Associate Producer Only
2009 The Simpsons Andy Hamilton Television series, voice role
2010 How to Train Your Dragon Snotlout Voice role
Get Him to the Greek Aaron Green Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Liplock (shared with Russell Brand)
Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Fight/Action Sequence (shared with Russell Brand and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs)
Cyrus Cyrus
Megamind Titan/Hal Stewart Voice role
2011 "Gonna Get Over You" Director Music video
Moneyball Peter Brand Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
The Sitter Noah Jaybird
2012 The Apocalypse Himself, Pre-Production
21 Jump Street Schmidt Post-production
Neighborhood Watch TBA Filming
2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 Snotlout Voice role

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2004 NYPD Blue Clerk Episode "You're Buggin' Me"
2006 Campus Ladies Guy 7 Episodes
2007 Wainy Days Neil (TV series short), Two Episodes
Human Giant Weenie King Customer Episode "Ta Da"
2009 Reno 911! Daniel Episode "Training Day"
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Jeffrey Simmons Credited as John A. Hill, Episode "Road Trip"
The Simpsons Andy Hamilton Voice, Episode Pranks and Greens
2011-Present Allen Gregory Allen Gregory Voice, Title Character
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/2409_2008/jonah-hill.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv340/djmehdix/jonas_051409.jpg
None of his films are on my seen list.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/21/11 at 4:49 pm

The person of the day...Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim.

Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films including Die Hard with a Vengeance, The 51st State, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Black Snake Moan, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.

He played Nick Fury in Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the first two of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson's many roles have made him one of the highest grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has one daughter, Zoe.
After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different — not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence." In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions (although he would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972).

"I would like to think because of the things I did, my daughter can do the things that she does. She barely has a recognition that she's black."
—Jackson reflecting on his actions during the Civil Rights Movement.

While he was expelled, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles. Jackson decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed confrontation, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement.
Acting career
1970s–1980s

"Casting black actors is still strange for Hollywood. Denzel gets the offer first. Then it's Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker and Wesley Snipes. Right now, I'm the next one on the list."
—Jackson reacting to his new fame in 1993.

Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting in multiple plays, including Home and A Soldier's Play. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running, which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater. At this point in his early career, Jackson developed alcoholism and cocaine addictions, resulting in him being unable to proceed with the two plays as they continued to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place). Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman. After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards and also worked as a stand-in on The Cosby Show for Bill Cosby for three years.
1990s

While completing these films, Jackson's drug addiction had worsened. After previously overdosing on heroin several times, Jackson gave up the drug in favor of cocaine. After seeing the effects of his addiction, his family entered him into a New York rehab clinic. When he successfully completed rehab, Jackson appeared in Jungle Fever, as a crack cocaine addict, a role which Jackson called cathartic as he was recovering from his addiction. Jackson commented on the transition, "It was a funny kind of thing. By the time I was out of rehab, about a week or so later I was on set and we were ready to start shooting." The film was so acclaimed that the 1991 Cannes Film Festival created a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him. After this role, Jackson became involved with multiple films, including the comedy Strictly Business, dramas Juice and Patriot Games, and then moved on to two other comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (his first starring role) and Amos & Andrew. Jackson then worked with director Steven Spielberg, appearing in Jurassic Park.

After a turn as the criminal Big Don in the 1993 Tarantino-penned True Romance directed by Tony Scott, Tarantino contacted Jackson for the role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. Jackson was surprised to learn that the part had been specifically written for him, "To know that somebody had written something like Jules for me. I was overwhelmed, thankful, arrogant — this whole combination of things that you could be, knowing that somebody's going to give you an opportunity like that." Although Pulp Fiction was Jackson's thirtieth film, the role made him internationally recognized and he received praise from critics. In a review by Entertainment Weekly, his role was commended: "As superb as Travolta, Willis, and Keitel are, the actor who reigns over Pulp Fiction is Samuel L. Jackson. He just about lights fires with his gremlin eyes and he transforms his speeches into hypnotic bebop soliloquies." For the Academy Awards, Miramax Films pushed for the supporting actor nomination for Jackson (although he had about the same screen time as Travolta, who was nominated for best actor). For his performance, Jackson received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In addition, Jackson received a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award win.

After Pulp Fiction, Jackson received multiple scripts to play his next role: "I could easily have made a career out of playing Jules over the years. Everybody's always sending me the script they think is the new Pulp Fiction." With a succession of poor-performing films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in the two successful box office films A Time To Kill, where he depicted a father who is put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter, and Die Hard with a Vengeance, starring alongside Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned a NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.

Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher striving to leave an impact on his students. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He joined up again with director Quentin Tarantino and received a Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actor and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of arms merchant Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown. In 1998, he worked with other established actors such as Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).
2000s
Film roles
Jackson's handprints in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
Jackson at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival

On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which can be found at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. He began the next decade in his film career as a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, where he played a homeless musician in a murder thriller. The film was directed by Kasi Lemmons, who previously worked with Jackson in Eve's Bayou. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic attempting to keep custody of his kids while fighting a battle of wits with Ben Affleck's character in Changing Lanes. He returned for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, seeing his minor supporting role develop into a major character. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion; he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene. Jackson then acted as a NSA agent alongside Vin Diesel in xXx and a kilt-wearing drug dealer in The 51st State. In 2003, Jackson again worked with John Travolta in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. A song within the soundtrack was named after him, entitled Sammy L. Jackson by Hot Action Cop. Jackson also appeared in HBO's documentary Unchained Memories, as a narrator along many other stars like Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg. He uses terminology such as paddy rollers (which can be seen on the slave patrol page) when reading his narration.

According to reviews gathered by Rotten Tomatoes, in 2004 Jackson starred in both his lowest and highest ranked films in his career. In the thriller Twisted, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd. The film garnered a 2% approval rating on the website, with reviewers calling his performance "lackluster" and "wasted". He then lent his voice to the computer-animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. The film received a 97% approval rating, and Jackson's performance earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting. He then went on to do a cameo in another Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

In 2005, he began with the sports drama, Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Although the film received mixed reviews, Jackson's performance was praised despite the film's storyline. Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commended Jackson's performance, "He takes what could have been a cardboard cliche role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence." Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.

On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theater; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner. He next starred opposite actress Julianne Moore in the box office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child while quelling a citywide race riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult film status months before it was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title. To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" by Cobra Starship. On December 2, 2006, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions. In December 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War.
Jackson in July 2006

On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). Also in 2007, he portrayed a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan, and the horror film 1408, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who terrorizes an interracial couple. In November of the same year, he starred along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died prior to the film's release) in Soul Men. In 2008, he portrayed the villain in The Spirit, which was poorly received by critics and the box office. In 2009, he again worked with Quentin Tarantino when he narrated several scenes in the World War II film, Inglourious Basterds. In 2010, he starred in the drama Mother and Child and portrayed an interrogator who attempts to locate several nuclear weapons in the direct-to-video film Unthinkable. Alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jackson again portrayed a police officer in the opening scenes of the comedy The Other Guys. He also co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones for a film adaptation of The Sunset Limited.

Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice/Sphere), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in four films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.
Television and other roles

In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks. Jackson had a small part in the Public Enemy music video for "911 Is a Joke". Jackson voiced several television show characters including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras. He voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. Thus far, he has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, and 2007). In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role. He further expanded his audio book legacy by then reading the Audible.com production of the number one Amazon.com best seller Go the fudge to Sleep. For the Atlanta Falcons 2010 season, Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial to help improve tickets sales.
Upcoming films

Jackson gave his approval for Marvel to use his likeness for the Ultimate Nick Fury. In 2008 and 2010, he portrayed the character in the Iron Man series of movies

Jackson has several upcoming film projects between 2010 and 2012. In 2001, Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness. In the 2008 film Iron Man, he made a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene. In February 2009, Jackson signed on to a nine-picture deal with Marvel which would see him appear as the character in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers as well as any other sequels they would produce.

He will appear in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming film, Django Unchained. Jackson is involved in another project, titled The Samaritan. He is also set to produce a live-action movie of Afro Samurai, and is assuming the role of Sho'nuff in a remake of The Last Dragon.
Box office performance

Jackson has said that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things done, things saw as a kid and wanted to do and now an opportunity to do". Throughout the 1990s, A.C. Neilson E.C.I., a box office tracking company, determined that Jackson appeared in more films than any other actor which grossed $1.7 billion domestically. For all the films in his career, where he is featured as a leading actor or supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of $2.81 to $4.91 billion at the North American box office, placing him as the seventh (as strictly lead) or the second highest-grossing movie star (counting supporting roles) of all time; behind only that of voice actor Frank Welker. The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest grossing actor, having earned $7.42 billion in 68 films.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb233/Angreygumbaltwo_2007/3649686316.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q257/sheldonw18/slj.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/21/11 at 7:59 pm


The person of the day...Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim.

Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films including Die Hard with a Vengeance, The 51st State, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Black Snake Moan, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.

He played Nick Fury in Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the first two of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson's many roles have made him one of the highest grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has one daughter, Zoe.
After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different — not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence." In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions (although he would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972).

"I would like to think because of the things I did, my daughter can do the things that she does. She barely has a recognition that she's black."
—Jackson reflecting on his actions during the Civil Rights Movement.

While he was expelled, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles. Jackson decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed confrontation, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement.
Acting career
1970s–1980s

"Casting black actors is still strange for Hollywood. Denzel gets the offer first. Then it's Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker and Wesley Snipes. Right now, I'm the next one on the list."
—Jackson reacting to his new fame in 1993.

Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting in multiple plays, including Home and A Soldier's Play. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running, which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater. At this point in his early career, Jackson developed alcoholism and cocaine addictions, resulting in him being unable to proceed with the two plays as they continued to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place). Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman. After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards and also worked as a stand-in on The Cosby Show for Bill Cosby for three years.
1990s

While completing these films, Jackson's drug addiction had worsened. After previously overdosing on heroin several times, Jackson gave up the drug in favor of cocaine. After seeing the effects of his addiction, his family entered him into a New York rehab clinic. When he successfully completed rehab, Jackson appeared in Jungle Fever, as a crack cocaine addict, a role which Jackson called cathartic as he was recovering from his addiction. Jackson commented on the transition, "It was a funny kind of thing. By the time I was out of rehab, about a week or so later I was on set and we were ready to start shooting." The film was so acclaimed that the 1991 Cannes Film Festival created a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him. After this role, Jackson became involved with multiple films, including the comedy Strictly Business, dramas Juice and Patriot Games, and then moved on to two other comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (his first starring role) and Amos & Andrew. Jackson then worked with director Steven Spielberg, appearing in Jurassic Park.

After a turn as the criminal Big Don in the 1993 Tarantino-penned True Romance directed by Tony Scott, Tarantino contacted Jackson for the role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. Jackson was surprised to learn that the part had been specifically written for him, "To know that somebody had written something like Jules for me. I was overwhelmed, thankful, arrogant — this whole combination of things that you could be, knowing that somebody's going to give you an opportunity like that." Although Pulp Fiction was Jackson's thirtieth film, the role made him internationally recognized and he received praise from critics. In a review by Entertainment Weekly, his role was commended: "As superb as Travolta, Willis, and Keitel are, the actor who reigns over Pulp Fiction is Samuel L. Jackson. He just about lights fires with his gremlin eyes and he transforms his speeches into hypnotic bebop soliloquies." For the Academy Awards, Miramax Films pushed for the supporting actor nomination for Jackson (although he had about the same screen time as Travolta, who was nominated for best actor). For his performance, Jackson received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In addition, Jackson received a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award win.

After Pulp Fiction, Jackson received multiple scripts to play his next role: "I could easily have made a career out of playing Jules over the years. Everybody's always sending me the script they think is the new Pulp Fiction." With a succession of poor-performing films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in the two successful box office films A Time To Kill, where he depicted a father who is put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter, and Die Hard with a Vengeance, starring alongside Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned a NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.

Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher striving to leave an impact on his students. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He joined up again with director Quentin Tarantino and received a Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actor and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of arms merchant Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown. In 1998, he worked with other established actors such as Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).
2000s
Film roles
Jackson's handprints in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
Jackson at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival

On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which can be found at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. He began the next decade in his film career as a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, where he played a homeless musician in a murder thriller. The film was directed by Kasi Lemmons, who previously worked with Jackson in Eve's Bayou. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic attempting to keep custody of his kids while fighting a battle of wits with Ben Affleck's character in Changing Lanes. He returned for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, seeing his minor supporting role develop into a major character. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion; he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene. Jackson then acted as a NSA agent alongside Vin Diesel in xXx and a kilt-wearing drug dealer in The 51st State. In 2003, Jackson again worked with John Travolta in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. A song within the soundtrack was named after him, entitled Sammy L. Jackson by Hot Action Cop. Jackson also appeared in HBO's documentary Unchained Memories, as a narrator along many other stars like Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg. He uses terminology such as paddy rollers (which can be seen on the slave patrol page) when reading his narration.

According to reviews gathered by Rotten Tomatoes, in 2004 Jackson starred in both his lowest and highest ranked films in his career. In the thriller Twisted, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd. The film garnered a 2% approval rating on the website, with reviewers calling his performance "lackluster" and "wasted". He then lent his voice to the computer-animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. The film received a 97% approval rating, and Jackson's performance earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting. He then went on to do a cameo in another Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

In 2005, he began with the sports drama, Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Although the film received mixed reviews, Jackson's performance was praised despite the film's storyline. Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commended Jackson's performance, "He takes what could have been a cardboard cliche role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence." Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.

On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theater; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner. He next starred opposite actress Julianne Moore in the box office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child while quelling a citywide race riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult film status months before it was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title. To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" by Cobra Starship. On December 2, 2006, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions. In December 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War.
Jackson in July 2006

On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). Also in 2007, he portrayed a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan, and the horror film 1408, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who terrorizes an interracial couple. In November of the same year, he starred along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died prior to the film's release) in Soul Men. In 2008, he portrayed the villain in The Spirit, which was poorly received by critics and the box office. In 2009, he again worked with Quentin Tarantino when he narrated several scenes in the World War II film, Inglourious Basterds. In 2010, he starred in the drama Mother and Child and portrayed an interrogator who attempts to locate several nuclear weapons in the direct-to-video film Unthinkable. Alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jackson again portrayed a police officer in the opening scenes of the comedy The Other Guys. He also co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones for a film adaptation of The Sunset Limited.

Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice/Sphere), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in four films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.
Television and other roles

In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks. Jackson had a small part in the Public Enemy music video for "911 Is a Joke". Jackson voiced several television show characters including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras. He voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. Thus far, he has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, and 2007). In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role. He further expanded his audio book legacy by then reading the Audible.com production of the number one Amazon.com best seller Go the fudge to Sleep. For the Atlanta Falcons 2010 season, Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial to help improve tickets sales.
Upcoming films

Jackson gave his approval for Marvel to use his likeness for the Ultimate Nick Fury. In 2008 and 2010, he portrayed the character in the Iron Man series of movies

Jackson has several upcoming film projects between 2010 and 2012. In 2001, Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness. In the 2008 film Iron Man, he made a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene. In February 2009, Jackson signed on to a nine-picture deal with Marvel which would see him appear as the character in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers as well as any other sequels they would produce.

He will appear in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming film, Django Unchained. Jackson is involved in another project, titled The Samaritan. He is also set to produce a live-action movie of Afro Samurai, and is assuming the role of Sho'nuff in a remake of The Last Dragon.
Box office performance

Jackson has said that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things done, things saw as a kid and wanted to do and now an opportunity to do". Throughout the 1990s, A.C. Neilson E.C.I., a box office tracking company, determined that Jackson appeared in more films than any other actor which grossed $1.7 billion domestically. For all the films in his career, where he is featured as a leading actor or supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of $2.81 to $4.91 billion at the North American box office, placing him as the seventh (as strictly lead) or the second highest-grossing movie star (counting supporting roles) of all time; behind only that of voice actor Frank Welker. The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest grossing actor, having earned $7.42 billion in 68 films.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb233/Angreygumbaltwo_2007/3649686316.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q257/sheldonw18/slj.jpg



I like that guy, he is an incredible performer.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/22/11 at 2:29 am


The person of the day...Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee. After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim.

Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films including Die Hard with a Vengeance, The 51st State, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Black Snake Moan, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.

He played Nick Fury in Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the first two of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson's many roles have made him one of the highest grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has one daughter, Zoe.
After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different — not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence." In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions (although he would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972).

"I would like to think because of the things I did, my daughter can do the things that she does. She barely has a recognition that she's black."
—Jackson reflecting on his actions during the Civil Rights Movement.

While he was expelled, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles. Jackson decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed confrontation, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement.
Acting career
1970s–1980s

"Casting black actors is still strange for Hollywood. Denzel gets the offer first. Then it's Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker and Wesley Snipes. Right now, I'm the next one on the list."
—Jackson reacting to his new fame in 1993.

Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting in multiple plays, including Home and A Soldier's Play. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running, which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater. At this point in his early career, Jackson developed alcoholism and cocaine addictions, resulting in him being unable to proceed with the two plays as they continued to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place). Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman. After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier's Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards and also worked as a stand-in on The Cosby Show for Bill Cosby for three years.
1990s

While completing these films, Jackson's drug addiction had worsened. After previously overdosing on heroin several times, Jackson gave up the drug in favor of cocaine. After seeing the effects of his addiction, his family entered him into a New York rehab clinic. When he successfully completed rehab, Jackson appeared in Jungle Fever, as a crack cocaine addict, a role which Jackson called cathartic as he was recovering from his addiction. Jackson commented on the transition, "It was a funny kind of thing. By the time I was out of rehab, about a week or so later I was on set and we were ready to start shooting." The film was so acclaimed that the 1991 Cannes Film Festival created a special "Supporting Actor" award just for him. After this role, Jackson became involved with multiple films, including the comedy Strictly Business, dramas Juice and Patriot Games, and then moved on to two other comedies: National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (his first starring role) and Amos & Andrew. Jackson then worked with director Steven Spielberg, appearing in Jurassic Park.

After a turn as the criminal Big Don in the 1993 Tarantino-penned True Romance directed by Tony Scott, Tarantino contacted Jackson for the role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. Jackson was surprised to learn that the part had been specifically written for him, "To know that somebody had written something like Jules for me. I was overwhelmed, thankful, arrogant — this whole combination of things that you could be, knowing that somebody's going to give you an opportunity like that." Although Pulp Fiction was Jackson's thirtieth film, the role made him internationally recognized and he received praise from critics. In a review by Entertainment Weekly, his role was commended: "As superb as Travolta, Willis, and Keitel are, the actor who reigns over Pulp Fiction is Samuel L. Jackson. He just about lights fires with his gremlin eyes and he transforms his speeches into hypnotic bebop soliloquies." For the Academy Awards, Miramax Films pushed for the supporting actor nomination for Jackson (although he had about the same screen time as Travolta, who was nominated for best actor). For his performance, Jackson received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In addition, Jackson received a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award win.

After Pulp Fiction, Jackson received multiple scripts to play his next role: "I could easily have made a career out of playing Jules over the years. Everybody's always sending me the script they think is the new Pulp Fiction." With a succession of poor-performing films such as Kiss of Death, The Great White Hype, and Losing Isaiah, Jackson began to receive poor reviews from critics who had praised his performance in Pulp Fiction. This ended with his involvement in the two successful box office films A Time To Kill, where he depicted a father who is put on trial for killing two men who raped his daughter, and Die Hard with a Vengeance, starring alongside Bruce Willis in the third installment of the Die Hard series. For A Time to Kill, Jackson earned a NAACP Image for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for a Best Supporting Actor.

Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher striving to leave an impact on his students. He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer. He joined up again with director Quentin Tarantino and received a Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actor and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of arms merchant Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown. In 1998, he worked with other established actors such as Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement. In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi Master Mace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).
2000s
Film roles
Jackson's handprints in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
Jackson at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival

On June 13, 2000, Jackson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which can be found at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. He began the next decade in his film career as a Marine colonel put on trial in Rules of Engagement, co-starred with Bruce Willis for a third time in the supernatural thriller Unbreakable, and starred in the 2000 remake of the 1971 film Shaft. Jackson's sole film in 2001 was The Caveman's Valentine, where he played a homeless musician in a murder thriller. The film was directed by Kasi Lemmons, who previously worked with Jackson in Eve's Bayou. In 2002, he played a recovering alcoholic attempting to keep custody of his kids while fighting a battle of wits with Ben Affleck's character in Changing Lanes. He returned for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, seeing his minor supporting role develop into a major character. Mace Windu's purple lightsaber in the film was the result of Jackson's suggestion; he wanted to be sure that his character would stand out in a crowded battle scene. Jackson then acted as a NSA agent alongside Vin Diesel in xXx and a kilt-wearing drug dealer in The 51st State. In 2003, Jackson again worked with John Travolta in Basic and then as a police sergeant alongside Colin Farrell in the television show remake S.W.A.T. A song within the soundtrack was named after him, entitled Sammy L. Jackson by Hot Action Cop. Jackson also appeared in HBO's documentary Unchained Memories, as a narrator along many other stars like Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg. He uses terminology such as paddy rollers (which can be seen on the slave patrol page) when reading his narration.

According to reviews gathered by Rotten Tomatoes, in 2004 Jackson starred in both his lowest and highest ranked films in his career. In the thriller Twisted, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd. The film garnered a 2% approval rating on the website, with reviewers calling his performance "lackluster" and "wasted". He then lent his voice to the computer-animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone. The film received a 97% approval rating, and Jackson's performance earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting. He then went on to do a cameo in another Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

In 2005, he began with the sports drama, Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball. Although the film received mixed reviews, Jackson's performance was praised despite the film's storyline. Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commended Jackson's performance, "He takes what could have been a cardboard cliche role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence." Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy. On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.

On January 30, 2006, Jackson was honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theater; he is the seventh African American and 191st actor to be recognized in this manner. He next starred opposite actress Julianne Moore in the box office bomb Freedomland, where he depicted a police detective attempting to help a mother find her abducted child while quelling a citywide race riot. Jackson's second film of the year, Snakes on a Plane, gained cult film status months before it was released based on its title and cast. Jackson's decision to star in the film was solely based on the title. To build anticipation for the film, he also cameoed in the 2006 music video "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" by Cobra Starship. On December 2, 2006, Jackson won the German Bambi Award for International Film, based on his many film contributions. In December 2006, Jackson starred in Home of the Brave, as a doctor returning home from the Iraq War.
Jackson in July 2006

On January 30, 2007, Jackson was featured as narrator in Bob Saget's direct-to-DVD Farce of the Penguins. The film was a spoof of the box office success March of the Penguins (which was narrated by Morgan Freeman). Also in 2007, he portrayed a blues player who imprisons a young woman (Christina Ricci) addicted to sex in Black Snake Moan, and the horror film 1408, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story. In 2008, Jackson reprised his role of Mace Windu in the CGI film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, followed by Lakeview Terrace where he played a racist cop who terrorizes an interracial couple. In November of the same year, he starred along with Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes (who both died prior to the film's release) in Soul Men. In 2008, he portrayed the villain in The Spirit, which was poorly received by critics and the box office. In 2009, he again worked with Quentin Tarantino when he narrated several scenes in the World War II film, Inglourious Basterds. In 2010, he starred in the drama Mother and Child and portrayed an interrogator who attempts to locate several nuclear weapons in the direct-to-video film Unthinkable. Alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jackson again portrayed a police officer in the opening scenes of the comedy The Other Guys. He also co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones for a film adaptation of The Sunset Limited.

Throughout Jackson's career, he has appeared in many films alongside mainstream rappers. These include Tupac Shakur (Juice), Queen Latifah (Juice/Sphere), Method Man (One Eight Seven), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea/S.W.A.T.), Busta Rhymes (Shaft), Eve (xXx), Ice Cube (xXx: State of the Union), Xzibit (xXx: State of the Union), David Banner (Black Snake Moan), and 50 Cent (Home of the Brave). Additionally, Jackson has appeared in four films with actor Bruce Willis (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and the actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit before both dropped out.
Television and other roles

In addition to films, Jackson also appeared in several television shows, a video game, music videos, as well as audiobooks. Jackson had a small part in the Public Enemy music video for "911 Is a Joke". Jackson voiced several television show characters including the lead role in the anime series, Afro Samurai, in addition to a recurring part as the voice of Gin Rummy in several episodes of the animated series The Boondocks. He guest-starred as himself in an episode of the BBC/HBO sitcom Extras. He voiced the main antagonist, Officer Frank Tenpenny, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Jackson also hosted a variety of awards shows. Thus far, he has hosted the MTV Movie Awards (1998), the ESPYs (1999, 2001, 2002, and 2009), and the Spike TV Video Game Awards (2005, 2006, and 2007). In November 2006, he provided the voice of God for The Bible Experience, the New Testament audiobook version of the Bible. He was given the lead role because producers believed his deep, authoritative voice would best fit the role. He further expanded his audio book legacy by then reading the Audible.com production of the number one Amazon.com best seller Go the fudge to Sleep. For the Atlanta Falcons 2010 season, Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Rev. Sultan in the Falcons "Rise Up" commercial to help improve tickets sales.
Upcoming films

Jackson gave his approval for Marvel to use his likeness for the Ultimate Nick Fury. In 2008 and 2010, he portrayed the character in the Iron Man series of movies

Jackson has several upcoming film projects between 2010 and 2012. In 2001, Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness. In the 2008 film Iron Man, he made a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene. In February 2009, Jackson signed on to a nine-picture deal with Marvel which would see him appear as the character in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers as well as any other sequels they would produce.

He will appear in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming film, Django Unchained. Jackson is involved in another project, titled The Samaritan. He is also set to produce a live-action movie of Afro Samurai, and is assuming the role of Sho'nuff in a remake of The Last Dragon.
Box office performance

Jackson has said that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things done, things saw as a kid and wanted to do and now an opportunity to do". Throughout the 1990s, A.C. Neilson E.C.I., a box office tracking company, determined that Jackson appeared in more films than any other actor which grossed $1.7 billion domestically. For all the films in his career, where he is featured as a leading actor or supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of $2.81 to $4.91 billion at the North American box office, placing him as the seventh (as strictly lead) or the second highest-grossing movie star (counting supporting roles) of all time; behind only that of voice actor Frank Welker. The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest grossing actor, having earned $7.42 billion in 68 films.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb233/Angreygumbaltwo_2007/3649686316.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q257/sheldonw18/slj.jpg

Happy Birthday Nick Fury and Mace Windu!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/22/11 at 12:41 pm


I like that guy, he is an incredible performer.
Agreed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/22/11 at 4:47 pm

The person of the day...Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer (born December 22, 1945; age 65) is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC News's morning news program, Good Morning America (GMA).
Born in Glasgow, Kentucky, Diane Sawyer is the daughter of Jean W. Sawyer – an elementary school teacher – and Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, a judge. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her father rose to local prominence as a Republican politician and community leader; he was Kentucky's Jefferson County Judge/Executive when he was killed in a car accident on Louisville's Interstate 64 in 1969. E. P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, located in the Frey's Hill area of Louisville, is named in his honor.

Sawyer attended Seneca High School in the Buechel area of Louisville. In 1963, she won the "America's Junior Miss" scholarship pageant as a representative from the State of Kentucky.

During the period from 1962–1965, Sawyer was "America's Junior Miss" touring the country to promote the Coca-Cola Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.

In 1967, she received a bachelor of arts degree with a major in English from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. There, she was a member of the Wellesley College Blue Notes, an A Capella group and Phi Sigma Lecture Society. She attended one semester of law school at the University of Louisville before turning to journalism.
Career

Sawyer began her professional career in Republican Party politics. In 1970, White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler hired her to serve in the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Sawyer continued through Nixon's resignation from the presidency in 1974 and worked on the Nixon-Ford transition team in 1974–1975, after which she decamped with Nixon to California and helped him write his memoirs, published in 1978. She also helped prepare Nixon for his famous set of television interviews with journalist David Frost in 1977.

Years later, Sawyer would be suspected of being Deep Throat, the source of leaks of classified information to journalist Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal. In 2005 Deep Throat was identified as W. Mark Felt, but prior to that, Rabbi Baruch Korff – a longtime Nixon confidant and defender known as "Nixon's rabbi" – said on his deathbed that he believed Sawyer was Deep Throat. Sawyer laughed it off, and she was one of six people to request and receive a public denial from Woodward.

In 1978, Sawyer joined CBS News as a political correspondent and became a co-anchor, with Bill Kurtis, of the CBS Morning News in 1981. In 1984, she became a correspondent for 60 Minutes, a CBS News investigative television newsmagazine; she remained for five years.

In 1989, she moved to ABC News to co-anchor newsmagazine Primetime Live, with Sam Donaldson. From 1998 to 2000, she would become a co-anchor for ABC's 20/20, also a newsmagazine, co-anchoring on Wednesdays with Donaldson and on Sundays with Barbara Walters.

In 1999, Sawyer returned to morning news (GMA), under a lucrative contract, as the co-anchor of GMA with Charles Gibson. The assignment was putatively temporary, but her success in the position, measured by a close in the gap with front-runner Today, NBC News's morning program, sustained her in the position far longer than anticipated.

On September 2, 2009, she was announced as the successor to Gibson, who retired as ABC World News anchor on Friday, December 18, 2009. She left GMA on December 11, 2009, and was scheduled to become the ABC World News anchor in January 2010. However, on December 1, 2009, The New York Times reported that instead of moving to ABC World News in January 2010, Sawyer would start on December 21, 2009, three days after Gibson's departure . For over a year in 2010-2011 with Katie Couric then anchor of CBS News, two of the three network news anchors on broadcast television were women. Ratings jumped 8% for 60 days after her first four weeks, averaging 8.8 million viewers. She signs off at the end of her nightly broadcast with "I'll see you right back here tomorrow night." The show, like its competitor evening newscasts, ended the year with ratings 14% below that of the preceding year.
Career timeline

    1967–1970: WLKY-TV news and weather reporter
    1970–1974: White House press aide
    1974–1978: Literary assistant to former President Richard Nixon
    1981–1984: CBS Morning News anchor
    1984–1989: 60 Minutes correspondent
    1989–1998, since 2000: Primetime Live co-anchor
    1998–2000: 20/20 co-anchor
    January 1999 – December 11, 2009: Good Morning America co-anchor (Anchor when Charles Gibson left to ABC World News)
    December 21, 2009 – present: ABC World News anchor

Recognition

In 2001 she was named one of the thirty most-powerful women in America by the Ladies' Home Journal. In 2007 she ranked 62nd on "Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". She has won multiple awards, including a 2009 Peabody Award for her work on A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains.
Notable interviews (selected)

Sawyer has interviewed many political figures including U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. She conducted the first interview with U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton after his first election to the presidency in 1992.

On February 12, 2007, she interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Her interview with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was his first Western television interview in a decade.

On November 14th, 2011, Diane secured another exclusive by being the first person to interview Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, ten months after she survived an assasination attempt. Sawyer spent the day with the wounded politican and her husband, Mark Kelly and observed her during a speech therapy session. Diane since told People Magazine, "Of all the people I've interviewed, she's right there at the top." Diane's comment about Gabby

She has also interviewed:

    Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
    Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense
    Manuel Noriega, general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989
    Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives



    Richard Nixon, President of the United States
    Nancy Reagan, First Lady
    Hyman G. Rickover, U.S. Admiral
    Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice
    Jaycee Lee Dugard

She was allowed to take a special tour of North Korea.

From the entertainment world, Sawyer has interviewed, especially as a host of GMA:

    Clay Aiken, singer (interviewed twice)
    Bobby Brown, singer
    Ellen DeGeneres, comedian
    Dixie Chicks, country-music group
    Michael J. Fox, actor
    Mel Gibson, actor (interviewed twice)
    Whitney Houston, singer
    Winona Ryder, actress



    Michael Jackson, singer
    Madonna, singer
    Roman Polanski, film director
    Lisa Marie Presley, singer-songwriter
    Rihanna, singer
    Britney Spears, singer
    Brian Wilson, musician (The Beach Boys)
    Meryl Streep, actress

Sawyer also interviewed drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III of Washington, D.C., in 1989 and once again in 1997 on 60 Minutes.
Personal life

On April 29, 1988, she and Mike Nichols, a film director, were married. They have no children. Nichols has 3 from previous marriages: Daisy, born in 1964; Max, born in 1974; and Jenny, born in 1977. Sawyer had previously had relationships with Frank Gannon, a Nixon aide, and Richard Holbrooke, a U.S diplomat. Forbes reported that she made $12 million in 2005.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/nice_diane.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/arms.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 12/22/11 at 8:34 pm

She is a very talented woman. I liked her as the anchor of ABC World News Tonight.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/23/11 at 7:01 am


The person of the day...Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer (born December 22, 1945; age 65) is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC News's morning news program, Good Morning America (GMA).
Born in Glasgow, Kentucky, Diane Sawyer is the daughter of Jean W. Sawyer – an elementary school teacher – and Erbon Powers "Tom" Sawyer, a judge. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her father rose to local prominence as a Republican politician and community leader; he was Kentucky's Jefferson County Judge/Executive when he was killed in a car accident on Louisville's Interstate 64 in 1969. E. P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, located in the Frey's Hill area of Louisville, is named in his honor.

Sawyer attended Seneca High School in the Buechel area of Louisville. In 1963, she won the "America's Junior Miss" scholarship pageant as a representative from the State of Kentucky.

During the period from 1962–1965, Sawyer was "America's Junior Miss" touring the country to promote the Coca-Cola Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.

In 1967, she received a bachelor of arts degree with a major in English from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. There, she was a member of the Wellesley College Blue Notes, an A Capella group and Phi Sigma Lecture Society. She attended one semester of law school at the University of Louisville before turning to journalism.
Career

Sawyer began her professional career in Republican Party politics. In 1970, White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler hired her to serve in the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Sawyer continued through Nixon's resignation from the presidency in 1974 and worked on the Nixon-Ford transition team in 1974–1975, after which she decamped with Nixon to California and helped him write his memoirs, published in 1978. She also helped prepare Nixon for his famous set of television interviews with journalist David Frost in 1977.

Years later, Sawyer would be suspected of being Deep Throat, the source of leaks of classified information to journalist Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal. In 2005 Deep Throat was identified as W. Mark Felt, but prior to that, Rabbi Baruch Korff – a longtime Nixon confidant and defender known as "Nixon's rabbi" – said on his deathbed that he believed Sawyer was Deep Throat. Sawyer laughed it off, and she was one of six people to request and receive a public denial from Woodward.

In 1978, Sawyer joined CBS News as a political correspondent and became a co-anchor, with Bill Kurtis, of the CBS Morning News in 1981. In 1984, she became a correspondent for 60 Minutes, a CBS News investigative television newsmagazine; she remained for five years.

In 1989, she moved to ABC News to co-anchor newsmagazine Primetime Live, with Sam Donaldson. From 1998 to 2000, she would become a co-anchor for ABC's 20/20, also a newsmagazine, co-anchoring on Wednesdays with Donaldson and on Sundays with Barbara Walters.

In 1999, Sawyer returned to morning news (GMA), under a lucrative contract, as the co-anchor of GMA with Charles Gibson. The assignment was putatively temporary, but her success in the position, measured by a close in the gap with front-runner Today, NBC News's morning program, sustained her in the position far longer than anticipated.

On September 2, 2009, she was announced as the successor to Gibson, who retired as ABC World News anchor on Friday, December 18, 2009. She left GMA on December 11, 2009, and was scheduled to become the ABC World News anchor in January 2010. However, on December 1, 2009, The New York Times reported that instead of moving to ABC World News in January 2010, Sawyer would start on December 21, 2009, three days after Gibson's departure . For over a year in 2010-2011 with Katie Couric then anchor of CBS News, two of the three network news anchors on broadcast television were women. Ratings jumped 8% for 60 days after her first four weeks, averaging 8.8 million viewers. She signs off at the end of her nightly broadcast with "I'll see you right back here tomorrow night." The show, like its competitor evening newscasts, ended the year with ratings 14% below that of the preceding year.
Career timeline

    1967–1970: WLKY-TV news and weather reporter
    1970–1974: White House press aide
    1974–1978: Literary assistant to former President Richard Nixon
    1981–1984: CBS Morning News anchor
    1984–1989: 60 Minutes correspondent
    1989–1998, since 2000: Primetime Live co-anchor
    1998–2000: 20/20 co-anchor
    January 1999 – December 11, 2009: Good Morning America co-anchor (Anchor when Charles Gibson left to ABC World News)
    December 21, 2009 – present: ABC World News anchor

Recognition

In 2001 she was named one of the thirty most-powerful women in America by the Ladies' Home Journal. In 2007 she ranked 62nd on "Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". She has won multiple awards, including a 2009 Peabody Award for her work on A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains.
Notable interviews (selected)

Sawyer has interviewed many political figures including U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. She conducted the first interview with U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton after his first election to the presidency in 1992.

On February 12, 2007, she interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Her interview with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was his first Western television interview in a decade.

On November 14th, 2011, Diane secured another exclusive by being the first person to interview Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, ten months after she survived an assasination attempt. Sawyer spent the day with the wounded politican and her husband, Mark Kelly and observed her during a speech therapy session. Diane since told People Magazine, "Of all the people I've interviewed, she's right there at the top." Diane's comment about Gabby

She has also interviewed:

    Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
    Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense
    Manuel Noriega, general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989
    Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives



    Richard Nixon, President of the United States
    Nancy Reagan, First Lady
    Hyman G. Rickover, U.S. Admiral
    Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice
    Jaycee Lee Dugard

She was allowed to take a special tour of North Korea.

From the entertainment world, Sawyer has interviewed, especially as a host of GMA:

    Clay Aiken, singer (interviewed twice)
    Bobby Brown, singer
    Ellen DeGeneres, comedian
    Dixie Chicks, country-music group
    Michael J. Fox, actor
    Mel Gibson, actor (interviewed twice)
    Whitney Houston, singer
    Winona Ryder, actress



    Michael Jackson, singer
    Madonna, singer
    Roman Polanski, film director
    Lisa Marie Presley, singer-songwriter
    Rihanna, singer
    Britney Spears, singer
    Brian Wilson, musician (The Beach Boys)
    Meryl Streep, actress

Sawyer also interviewed drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III of Washington, D.C., in 1989 and once again in 1997 on 60 Minutes.
Personal life

On April 29, 1988, she and Mike Nichols, a film director, were married. They have no children. Nichols has 3 from previous marriages: Daisy, born in 1964; Max, born in 1974; and Jenny, born in 1977. Sawyer had previously had relationships with Frank Gannon, a Nixon aide, and Richard Holbrooke, a U.S diplomat. Forbes reported that she made $12 million in 2005.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/nice_diane.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z96/BuzzC/arms.jpg


I always try to watch ABC News World Tonight.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/24/11 at 9:32 am

The person of the day...Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.

During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martin Foundation (in Spanish Fundación Ricky Martin), a non-profit charity organization. Ricky Martin's exuberant 1999 single "Livin' la Vida Loca" made him a prominent figure of Latin dance-pop. Martin got his start with the all-boy pop group Menudo; after five years with the group, he released his Spanish-language solo album, Ricky Martin, in 1991. He also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star there. In 1994 he starred on the American TV soap opera General Hospital, playing a Puerto Rican singer. In 1999, after several albums in Spanish, he released his first English-language album (also titled Ricky Martin), which included the salsa-style "Livin' la Vida Loca". The album sold 22 million copies and brought Martin international fame. His other studio albums include: Me Amarás (1993), A Medio Vivir (1995), Vuelve (1998), Sound Loaded (2000), Almas del Silencio (2003), Life (2005), and Música + Alma + Sexo (2011). In 2010 Martin announced that he was a "fortunate homosexual man", ending years of fan speculation on the topic.

On the edge of the new millennium, Martin—almost by himself—gave Latino music an international face. An acclaimed performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards launched Martin into worldwide super-stardom. As Entertainment Weekly's Andrew Essex reported, "his leather-pants, electro-pelvis version of 'La Copa de la Vida' single-handedly goosed a very dull telecast, earning him a standing ovation."

Martin's twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were born via a surrogate mother in 2008. Martin also co-owns a Miami restaurant, Casa Salsa, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career, and his third album, A Medio Vivir, became an international breakthrough. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds, epitomized by the hit "Maria". The song broke Martin into Europe via Spain. "Maria" went to number one in France, Belgium Wallonia and Australia, and reached the top ten in most European countries; it even charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eighty-eight. With the ballad "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo", Martin furthered his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets. The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway theatre production for the first time, joining the cast of the hit musical Les Misérables to play the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve (1998). The title track and the ballad "Perdido Sin Tí" both hit number one on the Hot Latin Songs. The album's pinnacle, however, was "La Copa de la Vida", which Martin made a major hit in an English version when he was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. "La Copa de la Vida" reached number one on the charts around the world and went gold and platinum in various countries. It was awarded Pop Song of the Year at the 1999 Lo Nuestro Awards. Further singles included: "La Bomba", "Por Arriba, Por Abajo" and "Corazonado". Vuelve spent twenty-six weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums. It became Martin's first top forty album on the Billboard 200 in the United States, where it was certified platinum by the RIAA. The album also went to number one in Spain and Norway, and sold over eight million copies worldwide.

Martin was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album for Vuelve, and was booked to sing on the 41st Grammy Awards live TV broadcast. The now-legendary performance of "The Cup of Life" stopped the show, earning Martin an unexpected standing ovation and introducing the star to the mainstream American audience. Martin capped off the evening by winning the Grammy Award.
Crossover to English: 1999–2002

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by writers and producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit, George Noriega and his longtime childhood friend Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests: Madonna on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)" and Meja on "Private Emotion".

The first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca", which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. It was followed by "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Both tracks peaked at number one on the Hot Latin Songs. "Livin' la Vida Loca" is generally seen as the song that began the Latin pop explosion of 1999 and made the transition of other Latin artists (first Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias, then later Shakira) into the English-speaking market easier. Ricky Martin became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7× platinum in the United States, selling over 22 million copies worldwide. In October 1999, Martin embarked on a very successful year-long Livin' la Vida Loca Tour.

After this success, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and was certified 2× platinum by the RIAA. "She Bangs" and "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" (duet with Christina Aguilera) peaked at number twelve and thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Both singles reached number one on the Hot Latin Songs. Sound Loaded has sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

In February 2001, Martin released a Spanish greatest hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one for five weeks on the Billboard Top Latin Albums and debuted at number eighty-three on the Billboard 200. It also topped the chart in Sweden for three weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs "Fuego Contra Fuego" and "El Amor de Mi Vida". In November 2001, an English-language greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin was released outside North America. It contained two new remixes of "Amor"
In the past Martin stated he was in love with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba, with whom he had an off-and-on-again relationship for over 14 years. They even talked of starting a family together, and at one point Martin planned on proposing. However with the release of Life in 2005, Martin confirmed he and De Alba had parted ways.

In August 2008, Martin became the father of twin boys, Matteo and Valentino. The babies were birthed by a surrogate mother.

After the success of "Livin' la Vida Loca", Martin's personal life became a subject of interest due to his large gay following, and he was questioned about his sexual orientation. In a December 2000 interview with The Mirror, Martin was asked to comment on the rumors surrounding his sexuality. He replied that "I don't think I should have to tell anyone if I am gay or not, or who I've slept with or not." Along with this, Martin reportedly stated in an interview with Plus 7 Days magazine, "If I were gay, why not admit it? I am a normal man. I love women and sex. I am a real hot-blooded Puerto Rican, but I have never been attracted by sex with a man."

On March 29, 2010, Martin publicly acknowledged his homosexuality in a post on his official web site by stating, "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am." Martin said that "these years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within, and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed." In 2010, prior to Martin coming out, Barbara Walters expressed some regret for pushing Martin in a 2000 interview to admit if he was gay. The Toronto Star quoted her as saying, "When I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question."

Martin announced on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he is in a relationship. Martin has also expressed support for same-sex marriage in an interview on Larry King Live, and commented on his experience of being closeted and coming out. "Everything about saying that I am gay feels right...", Martin stated, adding "if I’d known how good it was going to feel, I would have done it ten years ago."

Martin was raised Catholic, but says he is open to all sorts of religious beliefs, especially the Buddhist philosophy, although he does not identify as a Buddhist.

On November 2011, he acquired Spanish nationality in recognition of his artistic talents and for having roots in the country, Martin's grandmother is Spanish, and he owns a residence in Madrid. As a Spanish citizen he can now marry his boyfriend in Spain. He said he could marry in some states of the United States, but he wanted to marry in Spain to recognize the efforts of Zapatero in defense of LGBT rights.
Humanitarian work
Main article: Ricky Martin Foundation

Martin is the founder of Fundación Ricky Martin (English: Ricky Martin Foundation), a non-profit organization. Among the events promoted by the foundation was a summer camp, which included Martin's personal participation.

Martin has been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including: Leadership in the Arts Award, Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award, ALMA Award, Vanguard Award, International Humanitarian Award by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Kolkata (September 2002).

Martin has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the Llama y Vive (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers. For his work against human trafficking, the United States Department of State named Martin one of its Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery in 2005.
Main articles: Ricky Martin discography and Ricky Martin videography

    Ricky Martin (1991)
    Me Amarás (1993)
    A Medio Vivir (1995)
    Vuelve (1998)
    Ricky Martin (1999)
    Sound Loaded (2000)
    Almas del Silencio (2003)
    Life (2005)
    Música + Alma + Sexo (2011)

Filmography

    1987 : Por siempre amigos (TV series) as Ricky
    1990 : Alcanzar una estrella (TV series) as Pablo Loredo
    1991 : Alcanzar una estrella II (TV series) as Pablo Loredo
    1992 : Más que alcanzar una estrella as Enrique
    1993 : Getting By (TV series) as Martin
    1993 : General Hospital (TV series) as Miguel Morez (1994–1996)
    1996 : Barefoot in Paradise (TV series) as Sandoval
    1997 : Hercules (Spanish Language, Voice Only) as Hercules.
    2002 : Les Diables as Brian Rodriquez
    2003 : Ricky Martin: En la intimidad (TV) as a guest star

Television appearances

    Phua Chu Kang (2003) – as himself (guest appearance in season 6)
    General Hospital (1995) (television series) – Miguel Morez (unknown episodes, 1994–95)
    Alcanzar una estrella (1991) (television series)
    Sos mi vida (2006) – as himself
    The Oprah Winfrey Show (1999, 2004, 2005, 2011) – as himself
    The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2010) - as himself
    The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2011) - as himself
    American Dad (2011) - as himself
    Glee (2012) - as TBA

Theatre

    Les Misérables (1996), Broadway – Marius
    Evita, (2012), Broadway – scheduled
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn184/poisonous143/ricky.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd327/romy6571/gorgeous.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/24/11 at 12:23 pm

Gay or not, he still is yummy-but then again, I do have something for Puerto Rican men.  ;)

I first saw him on General Hospital.

Oh, and I believe it should be Enrique "Ricky" Martín-Morales  Morales being his mother's maiden name. Carlos & his sister often uses the hyphen with their mother's maiden name.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/24/11 at 7:51 pm


The person of the day...Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.

During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martin Foundation (in Spanish Fundación Ricky Martin), a non-profit charity organization. Ricky Martin's exuberant 1999 single "Livin' la Vida Loca" made him a prominent figure of Latin dance-pop. Martin got his start with the all-boy pop group Menudo; after five years with the group, he released his Spanish-language solo album, Ricky Martin, in 1991. He also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star there. In 1994 he starred on the American TV soap opera General Hospital, playing a Puerto Rican singer. In 1999, after several albums in Spanish, he released his first English-language album (also titled Ricky Martin), which included the salsa-style "Livin' la Vida Loca". The album sold 22 million copies and brought Martin international fame. His other studio albums include: Me Amarás (1993), A Medio Vivir (1995), Vuelve (1998), Sound Loaded (2000), Almas del Silencio (2003), Life (2005), and Música + Alma + Sexo (2011). In 2010 Martin announced that he was a "fortunate homosexual man", ending years of fan speculation on the topic.

On the edge of the new millennium, Martin—almost by himself—gave Latino music an international face. An acclaimed performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards launched Martin into worldwide super-stardom. As Entertainment Weekly's Andrew Essex reported, "his leather-pants, electro-pelvis version of 'La Copa de la Vida' single-handedly goosed a very dull telecast, earning him a standing ovation."

Martin's twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were born via a surrogate mother in 2008. Martin also co-owns a Miami restaurant, Casa Salsa, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
In 1995, Martin refocused on his music career, and his third album, A Medio Vivir, became an international breakthrough. With this album, Martin made a shift from formulaic hit ballads to a more risky fusion of music centered around traditional Latin sounds, epitomized by the hit "Maria". The song broke Martin into Europe via Spain. "Maria" went to number one in France, Belgium Wallonia and Australia, and reached the top ten in most European countries; it even charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eighty-eight. With the ballad "Te Extraño, Te Olvido, Te Amo", Martin furthered his expansion from Latin American and Spanish-speaking audiences to the European and Asian markets. The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

After the conclusion of a worldwide tour, Martin returned to New York to appear in a Broadway theatre production for the first time, joining the cast of the hit musical Les Misérables to play the romantic lead, Marius Pontmercy.

While on Broadway, Martin returned to the studio and recorded his fourth album, Vuelve (1998). The title track and the ballad "Perdido Sin Tí" both hit number one on the Hot Latin Songs. The album's pinnacle, however, was "La Copa de la Vida", which Martin made a major hit in an English version when he was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. "La Copa de la Vida" reached number one on the charts around the world and went gold and platinum in various countries. It was awarded Pop Song of the Year at the 1999 Lo Nuestro Awards. Further singles included: "La Bomba", "Por Arriba, Por Abajo" and "Corazonado". Vuelve spent twenty-six weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums. It became Martin's first top forty album on the Billboard 200 in the United States, where it was certified platinum by the RIAA. The album also went to number one in Spain and Norway, and sold over eight million copies worldwide.

Martin was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album for Vuelve, and was booked to sing on the 41st Grammy Awards live TV broadcast. The now-legendary performance of "The Cup of Life" stopped the show, earning Martin an unexpected standing ovation and introducing the star to the mainstream American audience. Martin capped off the evening by winning the Grammy Award.
Crossover to English: 1999–2002

After several years as a major star in Spanish-speaking countries, Martin prepared his first English album in 1999. The self-titled album contained material by writers and producers such as Desmond Child, Diane Warren, William Orbit, George Noriega and his longtime childhood friend Draco Rosa. The album also featured special guests: Madonna on the Spanish-English duet "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón)" and Meja on "Private Emotion".

The first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca", which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. It was followed by "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Both tracks peaked at number one on the Hot Latin Songs. "Livin' la Vida Loca" is generally seen as the song that began the Latin pop explosion of 1999 and made the transition of other Latin artists (first Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias, then later Shakira) into the English-speaking market easier. Ricky Martin became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified 7× platinum in the United States, selling over 22 million copies worldwide. In October 1999, Martin embarked on a very successful year-long Livin' la Vida Loca Tour.

After this success, a new English-language album, Sound Loaded, was released in November 2000. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and was certified 2× platinum by the RIAA. "She Bangs" and "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" (duet with Christina Aguilera) peaked at number twelve and thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Both singles reached number one on the Hot Latin Songs. Sound Loaded has sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

In February 2001, Martin released a Spanish greatest hits album entitled La Historia, which went to number one for five weeks on the Billboard Top Latin Albums and debuted at number eighty-three on the Billboard 200. It also topped the chart in Sweden for three weeks. The album contained reworkings of two of his early songs "Fuego Contra Fuego" and "El Amor de Mi Vida". In November 2001, an English-language greatest hits album, The Best of Ricky Martin was released outside North America. It contained two new remixes of "Amor"
In the past Martin stated he was in love with Mexican TV host Rebecca de Alba, with whom he had an off-and-on-again relationship for over 14 years. They even talked of starting a family together, and at one point Martin planned on proposing. However with the release of Life in 2005, Martin confirmed he and De Alba had parted ways.

In August 2008, Martin became the father of twin boys, Matteo and Valentino. The babies were birthed by a surrogate mother.

After the success of "Livin' la Vida Loca", Martin's personal life became a subject of interest due to his large gay following, and he was questioned about his sexual orientation. In a December 2000 interview with The Mirror, Martin was asked to comment on the rumors surrounding his sexuality. He replied that "I don't think I should have to tell anyone if I am gay or not, or who I've slept with or not." Along with this, Martin reportedly stated in an interview with Plus 7 Days magazine, "If I were gay, why not admit it? I am a normal man. I love women and sex. I am a real hot-blooded Puerto Rican, but I have never been attracted by sex with a man."

On March 29, 2010, Martin publicly acknowledged his homosexuality in a post on his official web site by stating, "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am." Martin said that "these years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within, and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed." In 2010, prior to Martin coming out, Barbara Walters expressed some regret for pushing Martin in a 2000 interview to admit if he was gay. The Toronto Star quoted her as saying, "When I think back on it now, I feel it was an inappropriate question."

Martin announced on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he is in a relationship. Martin has also expressed support for same-sex marriage in an interview on Larry King Live, and commented on his experience of being closeted and coming out. "Everything about saying that I am gay feels right...", Martin stated, adding "if I’d known how good it was going to feel, I would have done it ten years ago."

Martin was raised Catholic, but says he is open to all sorts of religious beliefs, especially the Buddhist philosophy, although he does not identify as a Buddhist.

On November 2011, he acquired Spanish nationality in recognition of his artistic talents and for having roots in the country, Martin's grandmother is Spanish, and he owns a residence in Madrid. As a Spanish citizen he can now marry his boyfriend in Spain. He said he could marry in some states of the United States, but he wanted to marry in Spain to recognize the efforts of Zapatero in defense of LGBT rights.
Humanitarian work
Main article: Ricky Martin Foundation

Martin is the founder of Fundación Ricky Martin (English: Ricky Martin Foundation), a non-profit organization. Among the events promoted by the foundation was a summer camp, which included Martin's personal participation.

Martin has been honored with many accolades for his humanitarian efforts including: Leadership in the Arts Award, Billboard's Spirit of Hope Award, ALMA Award, Vanguard Award, International Humanitarian Award by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, Hispanic Heritage Award for his humanitarian work through the Sabera Foundation in rescuing three orphan girls from the streets of Kolkata (September 2002).

Martin has also collaborated with the International Organization for Migration on the Llama y Vive (Call and Live), a campaign which is aimed to facilitate prevention of human trafficking, protection of the youngest victims of child trafficking, and prosecution of the traffickers. For his work against human trafficking, the United States Department of State named Martin one of its Heroes in Ending Modern-Day Slavery in 2005.
Main articles: Ricky Martin discography and Ricky Martin videography

    Ricky Martin (1991)
    Me Amarás (1993)
    A Medio Vivir (1995)
    Vuelve (1998)
    Ricky Martin (1999)
    Sound Loaded (2000)
    Almas del Silencio (2003)
    Life (2005)
    Música + Alma + Sexo (2011)

Filmography

    1987 : Por siempre amigos (TV series) as Ricky
    1990 : Alcanzar una estrella (TV series) as Pablo Loredo
    1991 : Alcanzar una estrella II (TV series) as Pablo Loredo
    1992 : Más que alcanzar una estrella as Enrique
    1993 : Getting By (TV series) as Martin
    1993 : General Hospital (TV series) as Miguel Morez (1994–1996)
    1996 : Barefoot in Paradise (TV series) as Sandoval
    1997 : Hercules (Spanish Language, Voice Only) as Hercules.
    2002 : Les Diables as Brian Rodriquez
    2003 : Ricky Martin: En la intimidad (TV) as a guest star

Television appearances

    Phua Chu Kang (2003) – as himself (guest appearance in season 6)
    General Hospital (1995) (television series) – Miguel Morez (unknown episodes, 1994–95)
    Alcanzar una estrella (1991) (television series)
    Sos mi vida (2006) – as himself
    The Oprah Winfrey Show (1999, 2004, 2005, 2011) – as himself
    The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2010) - as himself
    The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2011) - as himself
    American Dad (2011) - as himself
    Glee (2012) - as TBA

Theatre

    Les Misérables (1996), Broadway – Marius
    Evita, (2012), Broadway – scheduled
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn184/poisonous143/ricky.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd327/romy6571/gorgeous.jpg



At first I never thought he was gay until now.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/24/11 at 7:54 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXos63vYVIM

Menudo-Quiero Rock (1982)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/25/11 at 7:35 am

The person of the day....C.C. H. Pounder
Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder (born December 25, 1952), known professionally as C. C. H. Pounder (styled "CCH Pounder"), is a Guyanese-American film and television actress. She has appeared in numerous films, made-for-television films, television miniseries and plays, and has made guest appearances on notable television shows.
Pounder was born on December 25, 1952, in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana), the daughter of Betsy Enid James Arnella and Ronald Urlington Pounder. She was educated in England and moved to the U.S. in 1970, where she attended Ithaca College. Pounder made her acting debut in the 1979 film All That Jazz.
Career
Pounder at the Revlon Run Walk, May 2007

Pounder starred in the film Bagdad Café, and has made smaller appearances in many other successful films. She has focused primarily on her television career. In the early 1980s, Pounder first appeared in guest roles on Hill Street Blues, and then on several other popular shows (Miami Vice, RoboCop 3, L.A. Law, The X-Files, Living Single and Quantum Leap) before landing a long-running recurring role as Dr. Angela Hicks on ER from 1994 to 1997. In the midst of this she had a large co-starring role in the 1995 Tales From the Crypt feature film Demon Knight. She then returned to guest appearances on other shows, including The Practice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Millennium, The West Wing (where she was considered for the role of C.J. Cregg) and the short-lived sitcom Women in Prison.

From 2002 to 2008, she starred as Detective Claudette Wyms in the FX Networks police drama The Shield. For this role she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2005. She had previously been nominated for Emmys in 1995 (for guest starring in The X-Files) and in 1997 (for her supporting role on ER). She has also lent her voice to several video games and animated projects, including Aladdin and the King of Thieves, True Crime: Streets of LA, Gargoyles as Desdemona and Coldfire, and most recently Justice League Unlimited as Amanda Waller, a role she reprised for the animated movie adaption of the comic book Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Also, Pounder was one of the readers for the HBO film Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narrative that aired in 2003, directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon. She currently appears on the Syfy series Warehouse 13. Pounder also was one of the stars of the cancelled Fox sitcom Brothers. Pounder was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her appearance in the BBC/HBO series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
Personal life

Pounder is married to Senegalese anthropologist Boubacar Kone. The couple were married in an African ceremony in Dakar, Senegal and remarried in Los Angeles, California six months later. Kone is the founder of The Boribana Museum in Dakar, Senegal, for the study of cultures of the African diaspora. They have three children, Nicole (b. 1971), Libya (b. 1973), and Matthew (b. 1982).

Pounder has 6 grandchildren: Elisa (born 1994), Michelle (born 1999), Kelly (born 2002), Libya (born 2005), Enid (born 2007), and Matthew (born 2010). Pounder used to own a jewelry shop called Banji Girls with her business partner Conni Marie Brazelton, but now sells jewelry through her website.
Advocacy

As one of the founders of Artists for a New South Africa, Pounder has energized awareness of post-apartheid and HIV/AIDS issues. In an interview, she said about the pandemic: "When it's this massive disease, and it's affecting things in five thousand different ways, it requires great strength and power—and there is power in numbers. So we need to involve as many people as we can, like we do with ANSA. I call it my little engine that could. It is a remarkable, tiny organization with a huge outreach. We use actors and artists with the biggest voices so they can use every opportunity to talk about AIDS."
Film appearances

    Coriolanus (1979) as Valeria
    All That Jazz (1979) as Nurse Blake
    Union City (1980) as Mrs. Lewis
    I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) as Anne
    Prizzi's Honor (1985) as Peaches Altamont
    Bagdad Café (1987) as Brenda
    Postcards from the Edge (1990) as Julie Marsden
    Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) as Fran Ambrose
    The Importance of Being Earnest (1992) as Miss Prism
    Benny & Joon (1993)
    Lifepod (1993)
    Sliver (1993)
    RoboCop 3 (1993)
    Demon Knight (1995)
    White Dwarf (1995) as Nurse Shabana
    Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) as the Oracle
    Melting Pot (1997)



    Blossoms and Veils (1997)
    Face/Off (1997)
    Race (1998)
    End of Days (1999) as Detective Marge Francis
    Funny Valentines (1999)
    Cora Unashamed (2000)
    Things Behind the Sun (2001)
    Boycott (2001)
    Baby of the Family (2002)
    Tèt Grenné (2002)
    Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003 HBO Film)
    Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004) as Winnie Mandela
    Rain (2008) as Ms. Adams
    Orphan:(2009) as Sister Abigail
    Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009) as Amanda Waller
    Avatar (2009) as Mo'at, spiritual leader of the Na'vi

Television appearances

    Booker (1984) as Jane
    Go Tell It On The Mountain (1985) as Deborah
    The Atlanta Child Murders (TV mini series, 1985) as Venus Taylor
    If Tomorrow Comes (TV mini series, 1985) as Ernestine Littlechap
    Resting Place (TV movie, 1986) as Ada Johnson
    As Summers Die (TV movie, 1986) as Priscilla
    Valerie (1 episode, 1986) as Mrs. Davis
    Cagney & Lacey (1 episode, 1986) as Timmons
    Hill Street Blues (3 episodes, 1981–1986) as Jasmine, Wilma Tucker
    The Line (TV movie, 1987) as Anna Mae Demesy
    Women in Prison (1987) as Dawn Murphy
    Run Till You Fall (TV movie, 1988) as Janice
    Leap Of Faith (TV movie, 1988) as Roberta
    CBS Schoolbreak Special (1 episode, 1989) as Renee Cook
    227 (1 episode, 1989) as Lucinda Merkle
    Third Degree Burn (TV movie, 1989) as Julie Cartwright
    No Place Like Home (TV movie, 1989) as Prue
    Miami Vice (1 episode, 1990) as Yvonne
    Murder In Mississippi (TV movie, 1990) as Fannie Lee Chaney
    Common Ground (TV movie, 1990) as Rachel Twymon
    Quantum Leap (1 episode, 1990) as Mama Harper
    Cop Rock (3 episodes, 1990)



    Lifestories (1 episode, 1991) as Roxanne Tevis
    L.A. Law (4 episodes, 1986–1992) as Judge Roseann Robin
    The Cosby Show (1 episode, 1992) as Clair's friend
    Biker Mice from Mars (unknown episodes, 1993) as Stonecutter
    The Ernest Green Story (TV movie, 1993) as Daisy Bates
    Return to Lonesome Dove (TV miniseries, 1993) as Sara
    The X-Files (season two, 1994) as Agent Lucy Kazdin
    ER (seasons 1 to 4, 1994–1997) as Dr. Angela Hicks
    If These Walls Could Talk (TV movie, 1996) as Nurse Mrs Ford
    Millennium (1997–1999) as Dr. Cheryl Andrews
    The West Wing (1 episode, 2000) as Deborah O'Leary, Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
    Living Single as Maxine Shaw's mother Mrs. Nina Shaw
    Outer Limits (2000) "Decompression" as the Time Traveler
    Law and Order: SVU (2001) "Ridicule" as Defense Attorney Carolyn Maddox
    Law and Order: SVU (2004) "Careless" as Defense Attorney Carolyn Maddox
    Justice League Unlimited as Amanda Waller (head of Cadmus)
    Numb3rs (season one, 1 episode, 2005) as Lt. Havercamp
    W.I.T.C.H. as Queen Kadma
    The Shield (series run, 2002–2008) as Claudette Wyms
    The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1 episode, 2009) as Mrs. Curtin
    Warehouse 13 (2009–2011) as Mrs. Irene Frederic
    Brothers (2009) as Adele Trainor
    Revenge (2011) as Warden Sharon Stiles
http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af338/pawellsphotos/Stardust%20Memories/cchpounder.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/Starsson/paft0016janetduboisrolandacchpounde.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/26/11 at 12:34 pm

The person of the day....Jared Leto
ared Joseph Leto (born December 26, 1971) is an American actor, director, producer, occasional model and musician. Leto has appeared in both big budget Hollywood films and smaller projects from independent producers and art houses. He rose to prominence for playing Jordan Catalano in the teenage drama My So-Called Life (1994). He later made his film debut in How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in Prefontaine (1997). Leto played supporting roles in The Thin Red Line (1998) and Girl, Interrupted (1999), as well as the lead role in the horror film Urban Legend (1998), and earned critical acclaim after portraying heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000). He has worked with director David Fincher in Fight Club (1999) and Panic Room (2002). Since the 2000s, Leto has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as American Psycho (2000), Highway (2002), Lord of War (2005), Lonely Hearts (2006), Chapter 27 (2007), and Mr. Nobody (2009).

Leto is the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter for 30 Seconds to Mars. He formed the rock band in 1998 in Los Angeles, California, along with his older brother Shannon Leto. Signed with Immortal and Virgin, 30 Seconds to Mars released their self-titled debut album in 2002 to positive reviews. The band's follow-up album, A Beautiful Lie (2005), went platinum in several countries. This Is War, the band's third album, arrived in December 2009. Leto has also directed music videos, including the MTV Video Music Award nominated "The Kill" (2006), "Kings and Queens" (2009), and "Hurricane" (2010).
In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Leto got his first roles in TV shows like Camp Wilder (1992) and Almost Home (1993) before he becoming a regular in the 1994 series My So-Called Life as the object of Claire Danes' affection, Jordan Catalano. In 1994, Leto also made his television film debut in Cool and the Crazy. Gaining a reputation as a teen idol, Leto landed his first film role in the 1995 drama How to Make an American Quilt. Leto later co-starred with Christina Ricci in The Last of the High Kings and appeared in Switchback.
1997–99: Early critical success
Leto was named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 1996 and 1997.

Leto took his first leading role in 1997's Prefontaine, a biography of 1970's Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine. For the role, Leto immersed himself in the runner's life, meeting with members of the family and Prefontaine's friends. He bore a striking resemblance to the real Prefontaine, also adopting athlete's voice and upright running style. The transformation was so complete, that when the runner's sister, Linda, first saw him in character, she broke down and cried. Critical response praised Leto's acting; Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "With hypnotic blue eyes and dirty blond hair, Leto captures the rock-star style Prefontaine affected, and he looks natural in fiery performances on the track, as well as off, where Pre affected a brash, confrontational style," while Lisa Alspector of the Chicago Reader felt that "As the driven competitor who learns to make hubris work for him, Jared Leto gives a complex performance that suggests a deep, intriguing interior to the character even as he maintains a convincing one-dimensional facade."

After landing the lead role of a British aristocratic in the 1998 drama Basil, Leto starred in the teen horror film Urband Legend. He plays a school journalist and love interest of Alicia Witt’s character. Together, they go up against a crazed killer that is recreating urban legend massacres. The film was a massive success commercially, though critics mostly disliked the film. Leto was then pleased to get a role in the World War II film The Thin Red Line, as part of a cast including Sean Penn, Nick Nolte and Adrien Brody. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and was a moderate success at the box office. In 1999, he appeared as a gay high school teacher who attracts the attentions of Robert Downey, Jr. in James Toback's Black and White. The same year, he co-starred with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie in James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted, a film that tells the story of mental patient Susanna Kaysen, and which was adapted from Kaysen's memoir of the same name. Leto was nominated for a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his performance, but lost to Michael Clarke Duncan for The Green Mile. He was also seen in David Fincher's cult classic Fight Club, a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name. While Edward Norton and Brad Pitt were the lead roles, Leto took the supporting role of a bleached blond Angel Face that was beaten almost beyond recognition.
2000–06: Worldwide recognition

Leto played the supporting role of Paul Allen in Mary Harron's American Psycho, a film based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name. He then starred as heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream. To prepare for his role in the film, Leto decided to live on the streets of New York City and refrain from having sex with his then fiancé, Cameron Diaz, for two months prior to shooting. He lost 28 pounds to realistically play his heroin addicted character. After the shooting of the film, Leto moved to Portugal, shaved his head and lived in a monastery for several months to gain weight. He admits that playing the part of Harry Goldfarb was "sadomasochistic... the hardest thing I've done". The same year, Leto played Glen Walker, an up-and-coming country rocker, in Adam Collis' directorial debut Sunset Strip. In 2001, he co-produced and had uncredited parts in Sol Goode.

After the critical success of Requiem for a Dream, Leto's next role was as the lead character in 2002's Highway. Set in 1994, Leto is caught with a gangster's wife and flee to Seattle with his best friend Jake Gyllenhaal in the week preceding Kurt Cobain's suicide. He was nominated for a Video Premiere Award for his performance. In 2002, Leto worked again with director David Fincher in Panic Room, playing a villain who terrorizes Jodie Foster. The film grossed over $30 million in its opening weekend in the United States, the best performance of a film Leto has appeared in to date. He was also in Phone Booth, playing an actor in a theater production of Drockula. He and Colin Farrell's character have a quick scene in an alley. The scene was deleted from the film, but restored when the film was aired on television.

After spending two years pursuing a career in music, Leto returned to film work in 2004 in the supporting role of Hephaestion in Oliver Stone's Alexander. The film failed domestically, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality, but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States. The following year Leto portrayed Nicolas Cage’s younger brother Vitaly Orlov in the action-drama Lord of War. The film was well-received by most critics and received a special mention for excellence in film making from the National Board of Review. In 2005, he was also in Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow, a documentary on the life and work of writer Hubert Selby, Jr. Leto later starred in 2006's Lonely Hearts. Playing Fernandez, he co-starred with Salma Hayek who played the role Martha. The film received mixed responses but Leto's performance was praised by many critics who wrote "it's worth seeing for Leto's performance alone."
2007–present: Recent roles and the future
Leto at the premiere of Mr. Nobody at the 2009 Venice Film Festival

Following Lonely Hearts, Leto starred in Jarrett Schaefer's directorial debut Chapter 27, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. In the film, he plays Mark David Chapman, the murderer of John Lennon. Leto gained 67 pounds for the role. Gaining the weight, he said, was tougher than dieting himself into skeletal shape for his role as drug addict Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream. The abruptness of Leto's weight gain gave him gout. He had to use a wheelchair due to the stress of the sudden increase in weight put on his body. After the shooting of the film, Leto quickly went on a liquid diet. He explained, "I've been fasting ever since. I've been doing this very strange, like, lemon and cayenne pepper and water fast. I didn't eat any food for 10 days straight; I think I lost 20 pounds that first 10 days." Losing the excess weight after Chapter 27 proved a challenge. "It took about a year to get back to a place that felt semi-normal," he said; "I don't know if I'll ever be back to the place I was physically. I'd never do it again; it definitely gave me some problems." The film received mixed to negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment. Leto's performance, however, was well-received by critics; Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News wrote "Jared Leto gives such a gripping portrayal it's equally hard to look away" and continued "Leto's drawling, blotchy, creepy performance sets it apart," while Rex Reed praised Leto saying "a galvanizing performance by an unrecognizable Jared Leto that can truly be called unforgettable."

During this period Leto focused increasingly on his band, turning down such films as Clint Eastwood's World War II film Flags of Our Fathers. On having to say no to Eastwood, Leto explained: "That's a dream come true when Clint Eastwood asks you to be in his film. I was devastated that I couldn't be a part of the film. But I had commitments, a record I had worked on for a couple of years was coming out. It was a very, very important time. It was a make or break time. It was one of those decisions that you make where you can see two paths and I think I made the right decision for myself. I'd love to work with Clint Eastwood in the future, he's one of my heroes." He was also chosen by Joby Harold to play Clayton Beresford in 2007's Awake. He later turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts with his band and was replaced by Hayden Christensen.



Leto told Lime magazine, "I’ve been creating music since when I was a child. It's an inseparable part of my life. There have always been lots of people around me who love music, even in my childhood. My brother began to play drums when he was only 5 years old." In 1998, Leto founded 30 Seconds to Mars along with his older brother Shannon Leto. The band's name, said Leto, "has little to do with space, the universe or anything like that. It is a name that works on several different levels. Most importantly, it is a good representation of our sound. It's a phrase that is lyrical, suggestive, cinematic, and filled with immediacy. It has some sense of otherness to it." In 1998, 30 Seconds to Mars signed a contract with Immortal and Virgin. In 2001, guitarists Kevin Drake and Solon Bixler and bassist Matt Wachter joined the band. When 30 Seconds to Mars first started, Jared refused to let his name be used to promote the band. He wrote the majority of their songs. Before the album was released, Puddle of Mudd invited 30 Seconds to Mars to open a six-week tour for them in the spring of 2002. The band later embarked on a North American tour to support Incubus.
2002–04: Debut album and early success

30 Seconds to Mars released the self-titled debut album in 2002, produced by Bob Ezrin, Brian Virtue and the band itself. It received generally positive reviews, and was compared to Pink Floyd, Tool, and Brian Eno. The album debuted and peaked at number 107 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top Heatseekers. It produced two singles, "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" and "Edge of the Earth", which reached the top ten on the UK Rock Chart. The former also became a Mainstream Rock top 40 hit and reached number one on the Heatseekers Songs. Over the years, the album has sold more than two million copies worldwide. In 2003, Solon Bixler left the band due to issues primarily related to touring and was replaced by Tomo Miličević. 30 Seconds to Mars toured extensively opening concerts for bands such as Our Lady Peace, Sevendust, and Chevelle, and took a slot on the 2003 Lollapalooza tour.
2005–08: A Beautiful Lie and mainstream success
Leto performing in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2006

It took three years to record A Beautiful Lie, with the bandmates traveling to four different continents to work with Leto on his film sets. A Beautiful Lie differs notably from the band's self-titled debut album, both musically and lyrically. Whereas the eponymous concept album's lyrics focus on human struggle and astronomical themes, A Beautiful Lie's lyrics are more personal and the music introduces intense screaming vocals and synth effects. "On the first record I created a world, then hid behind it," Leto said. "With A Beautiful Lie, it was time to take a more personal and less cerebral approach. Although this record is still full of conceptual elements and thematic ideas it is ultimately much more wrapped around the heart than the head. It's about brutal honesty, growth, change. It's an incredibly intimate look into a life that is in the crossroads. A raw emotional journey. A story of life, love, death, pain, joy, and passion. Of what it is to be human."

Released in 2005, A Beautiful Lie was the band's mainstream breakthrough. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has reached platinum and gold status in several countries, with a sales total of over 3.5 million. It was led by "Attack" which was the most added track on alternative radio in its first week, becoming a Modern Rock top 30 hit. 30 Seconds to Mars began their first headlining tour, Forever Night Never Day, in March 2006. At the same time, the band released the album's second single, "The Kill", which enjoyed mainstream success; it set a record for the longest-running hit in the history of the Hot Modern Rock Tracks when it remained on the national airplay chart for more than 50 weeks, following its number three peak in 2006. Leto directed the music video for the single under the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins, a recurring character in the Dr. Seuss universe. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Leto said, "The idea of isolation, identity, and self discovery were all elements present in the song. I thought this light homage was a good starting point and it soon grew to include many more elements outside of Kubrick's original piece." Nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards, the band won the MTV2 Award. The music video garnered a lot of recognition, including two MTV Australia Awards and a Chainsaw Award. In October 2006, the band began their Welcome to the Universe Tour, sponsored by MTV2 and were supported by Head Automatica, The Receiving End of Sirens, Cobra Starship, Rock Kills Kid, and several other bands including Street Drum Corps.
Leto performing in Norwich in 2008
Leto's artwork for The 97X Green Room: Volume 2.

In 2006, Leto created the cover art for The 97X Green Room: Volume 2, a compilation of live music in which appears 30 Seconds to Mars song "Was It a Dream?". Proceeds from the album's sales benefited The Nature Conservancy. "From Yesterday", the third single from A Beautiful Lie, had major success, reaching number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks and becoming 30 Seconds to Mars second top 10 hit. The short film for the single, directed by Leto, is the first ever American music video shot in the People's Republic of China in its entirety. Leto said that the video was inspired by Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor as well as the work of the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. He explained, "That and the passion and the history of the Chinese culture. I thought it would be the perfect setting to tell the story of 'From Yesterday,' and it ended up one of those really unique things that the song and the visual images kind of collided and made something completely new." In March 2007, Matt Wachter left the group to spend more time with his family and was replaced by Tim Kelleher, performing live only.

"A Beautiful Lie" was released as the album's fourth single in some territories, including Portugal, where it reached number eight on the chart. The music video for the song, directed by Leto under the pseudonym of Angakok Panipaq, was the first one ever to be shot 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. Proceeds from the video's sales benefited the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Shooting in Greenland was a dream come true and one of the most exciting adventures we've ever had as a band," Leto said. "Although incredibly challenging and at times it seemed just out of our reach, once we finally arrived the beauty and magnificence of the terrain, the wonderful culture of the people, and the amazing journey itself were all inspiring beyond belief. Almost everyone has heard of global warming by now but for the people of Greenland it is a real and tangible problem of today, not an issue of tomorrow. This journey changed our lives." The music video received a largely positive response, winning the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video and the MTV Asia Award for Favorite Video. In 2008, Leto also remixed "The Only One" for The Cure's extended play Hypnagogic States.
In 1998, Leto appeared and provided additional photography for "Alaska's Bush Pilots," an hour long episode of Wild Life Adventures. He also guest hosted "Posehn, Papa and Mars", an episode from the second series of Player$. Leto is also featured in Hollywood High, a documentary television film about the depiction of drug addiction in film. In 2006, he narrated the Andrew Goldberg's documentary The Armenian Genocide. Leto hosted the 2008 MTV Asia Awards on August 2, 2008, at the Arena of Stars in Genting, Malaysia.

Leto has appeared in several television commercials: one for the U.S. market, a Levi's Jeans commercial that aired in 1993. Other commercial appearances came in television spots for Hugo Boss in 2011. Leto, who is the face of the campaign for the HUGO Just Different fragrance, was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.
Philanthropy

Leto attended the Amnesty International campaign to support human rights, marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As part of the campaign, he also made a short film. He supports the The Art of Elysium, which encourages working actors, artists and musicians to voluntarily dedicate their time and talent to children who are battling serious medical conditions. He donated an item to watchmaker Nixon to be made into a watch, the sale of which benefitted the MusiCares MAP Fund—a pool of resources set aside to address addiction and recovery needs of members of the music community.

In June 2008, Leto and his bandmates joined Habitat for Humanity to work on a home being repaired and renovated through the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles Area's "A Brush With Kindness" programme. In advance of the build, the band organized an auction of "build slots" to give fans the opportunity to volunteer alongside them and their family and friends. In less than a week, six extra workers were enlisted and over $10,000 was raised to fund additional Habitat for Humanity projects. Leto also supported Habitat for Humanity Malaysia in Sentul in August 2008.

In April 2009, he attended An Evening of Women, an event that raises funds for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. In October 2009, Leto raised money to the campaign against California Proposition 8, an initiative to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage. Leto spoke out in support of LGBT rights group Freedom Action Inclusion Rights (FAIR). He took part in an online auction of celebrity-signed prints of Shepard Fairey's "Defend Equality Love Unites," a poster in support of gay marriage. Leto decided to make his poster different than the rest, by writing the words of the Proposition 8 ballot on it and then setting it on fire. He then placed the ashes in a jar, writing on it: "Here lies within, the remains of Proposition 8, may it rest in peace."

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Leto and his bandmates raised $100,100 for Haitian relief. The charity auction included concert tickets, an exclusive backstage meet and greet, and dinner with the band. 30 Seconds to Mars has also supported the people of Haiti through the Echelon Project "House for Haiti" and the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. Leto released a book of photographs taken during his trip to Haiti in 2011, in a bid to raise funds for the earthquake-ravaged country. He has connected with and helped various organizations since arriving in Haiti, including Sean Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organization. Leto spent a year in the Caribbean country during his childhood, and he returned there in January 2011 to "reconnect" with his former home following the devastating tremor of January 2010.

30 Seconds to Mars donated items to an Red Cross auction to assist people affected by the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
In the media

Leto was twice named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 1996 and 1997, and was listed among the "Teen Idols of the '90s". He appeared on People's "Hottest Bachelors" in 2006 and 2007, and "Best Chests" in 2009. Leto was nominated several times as one of the "Sexiest Vegetarians" by PETA. He won a Chainsaw Award for Price of Darkness in 2006. In 2011, he was nominated the NME Award for Hottest Man and TRL Award for Best Look.


Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Actor 1995 How to Make an American Quilt Beck
1996 The Last of the High Kings Frankie Griffin Also known as Summer Fling
1997 Prefontaine Steve Prefontaine
1997 Switchback Lane Dixon
1998 Basil Basil
1998 Urban Legend Paul Gardener
1998 The Thin Red Line Second Lieutenant Whyte Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble
1999 Black and White Casey
1999 Fight Club Angel Face Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Action Team
1999 Girl, Interrupted Tobias "Toby" Jacobs Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2000 American Psycho Paul Allen Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
2000 Requiem for a Dream Harry Goldfarb Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
Stockholm Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2000 Sunset Strip Glen Walker
2001 Sol Goode Rock Star Wannabe Uncredited cameo
2002 Highway Jack Hayes Nominated—Video Premiere Award for Best Actor
2002 Panic Room Junior
2002 Phone Booth Actor Uncredited cameo
2004 Alexander Hephaestion
2005 Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow Himself Documentary film
2005 Lord of War Vitaly Orlov Nominated—National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
2006 Lonely Hearts Raymond Fernandez Austin Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated—San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2007 Chapter 27 Mark David Chapman Zurich Film Festival Award for Best Performance
Nominated—Stockholm Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2009 Mr. Nobody Nemo Nobody Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival Award for Best Performance
Sitges Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Stockholm Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated—Venice Film Festival – Volpi Cup for Best Actor
2011 TT3D: Closer to the Edge Narrator Documentary film
Year Title Notes
Director 2006 "The Kill" Music video
Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Video Inspired by Film
Kerrang! Readers Choice Award for Best Video
MTV Australia Video Music Award for Best Rock Video
MTV Australia Video Music Award for Video of the Year
MTV Video Music Award – MTV2 Award
Nominated—MTV Australia Video Music Award – Viewer's Choice
Nominated—MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video
Nominated—Virgin Media Music Award for Best Video
2006 "From Yesterday" Music video
Rock on Request Award for Best Video
Yahoo! Australia Music Award for Greatest Epic Video of All Time
Nominated—Kerrang! Readers Choice Award for Best Video
Nominated—Rock Sound Readers Choice Award for Best Video
2008 "A Beautiful Lie" Music video
MTV Asia Award for Favorite Video
MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video
MTV Gold Video Plays Award
Rock on Request Award for Best Video
Nominated—Kerrang! Award for Best Video
Nominated—Rock Sound Readers Choice Award for Best Video
Nominated—TMF Award for Best International Video
2009 "Kings and Queens" Music video
MTV Gold Video Plays Award
MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video
Rock on Request Award for Best Video
Rock Sound Readers Choice Award for Best Video
Nominated—Fuse Award for Best Video
Nominated—Kerrang! Award for Best Video
Nominated—MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video
Nominated—MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
Nominated—MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year
2010 "Closer to the Edge" Music video
CMA Wild and Young Award for Best International Video
MTV Gold Video Plays Award
Nominated—Rock Sound Readers Choice Award for Best Video
2010 "Hurricane" Music video
MTV Buzzworthy Award for Most Epically Unforgettable Video of the Year
MTV Fan Music Award for Best Group Video
O Music Award for NSFW Music Video
Nominated—Kerrang! Award for Best Video
Nominated—MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated—MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
Nominated—MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing
2011 Artifact Post-production
Year Title Notes
Producer 2001 Sol Goode Co-producer
2007 Chapter 27 Executive producer
2011 Artifact Post-production
Year Title Role Notes
Television 1992–
1993 Camp Wilder Dexter 2 episodes
1993 Almost Home Rick Aiken Episode: "The Fox and the Hound"
1994–
1995 My So-Called Life Jordan Catalano 19 episodes
Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Youth Ensemble in a Television Series
1994 Cool and the Crazy Michael TV film
1998 Wild Life Adventures Himself Episode: "Alaska's Bush Pilots"
2003 Player$ Himself Episode: "Posehn, Papa and Mars"
2003 Hollywood High Himself Documentary film
2006 The Armenian Genocide Narrator Documentary film
Discography
Main article: 30 Seconds to Mars discography

30 Seconds to Mars studio albums

   30 Seconds to Mars (2002)
   A Beautiful Lie (2005)
   This Is War (2009)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/tainted_love13/jared-leto.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u109/selfishly_hated/Jared-Leto.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/26/11 at 1:26 pm

It was one year ago today the music world lost Teena Marie.  :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/28/11 at 1:54 pm

The person of the day...Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE (born 28 December 1934), better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years. She has won numerous awards for acting, both for the stage and for film, including five BAFTA Awards (plus the BAFTA Fellowship Award), two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, two Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, two SAG Awards, and a Tony Award.

Her critically acclaimed films include Othello (1965), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), California Suite (1978), Clash of the Titans (1981), A Room with a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001). She has also appeared in a number of widely-popular films, including Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), and as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series. She currently stars in the critically acclaimed drama, Downton Abbey as Violet Crawley, the Dowager-Countess of Grantham, for which she has won an Emmy
Smith has had an extensive career both on screen and in live theatre, and is known as one of Britain's pre-eminent actresses. She began her career at the Oxford Playhouse with Frank Shelley and made her first film in 1956. She became a fixture at the Royal National Theatre in the 1960s, most notably for playing Desdemona in Othello opposite Laurence Olivier and winning her first Oscar nomination for her performance in the 1965 film version.

In 1969, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as an unorthodox Scottish schoolteacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, a role originally created on stage by Vanessa Redgrave in 1966 in London. (Zoe Caldwell won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play when she created the role in New York.) Smith was also awarded the 1978 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the brittle actress Diana Barry in California Suite, acting opposite Michael Caine. Afterwards, on hearing that Michael Palin was about to embark on a film (The Missionary) with Smith, Caine is supposed to have humorously telephoned Palin, warning him that she would steal the film. She also starred with Palin in the black comedy A Private Function in 1984.

Smith appeared in Sister Act in 1992 and had a major role in the 1999 film Tea with Mussolini, where she appeared as the formidable Lady Hester. Indeed, many of her more mature roles have centred on what Smith refers to as her "gallery of grotesques", playing waspish, sarcastic or plain rude characters. Recent examples of this would include the judgmental sister in Ladies in Lavender and the cantankerous snob Constance, Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park, for which she received another Oscar nomination.

Other notable roles include the querulous Charlotte Bartlett in the Merchant-Ivory production of A Room with a View, a vivid supporting turn as the aged Duchess of York in Ian McKellen's film of Richard III, and a little known but powerful performance as Lila Fisher in the 1973 film Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing with Timothy Bottoms. Due to the international success of the Harry Potter movies, she is now widely known for playing the role of Professor Minerva McGonagall, opposite Daniel Radcliffe, with whom she'd previously worked in the 1999 BBC television adaptation of David Copperfield, playing Betsie Trottwood. She also plays an older Wendy in the Peter Pan movie, Hook and Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden. In 2010, she appeared as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the British period drama Downton Abbey, taking part in the second series also which was screened in the Autumn of 2011. Smith won her second Emmy Award for this role and a third series is being planned.

She appeared in numerous productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, to acclaim from 1976 through to 1980. These roles included Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Virginia Woolf in Virginia, and countless lead roles with long-time Stratford icon Brian Bedford including the Noël Coward comedy Private Lives.

On stage, her many roles have included the title character in the stage production of Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van and starring as Amanda in a revival of Private Lives. She won a Tony Award in 1990 for Best Actress in a Play for Peter Shaffer's Lettice and Lovage, in which she starred as an eccentric tour guide in an English stately home. In 2007, she appeared in Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque at Theatre Royal Haymarket.

She appeared in a 1954 BBC television programme, Oxford Accents, produced by the late Ned Sherrin. She was one of the performers, playing several roles, in New Faces of 1956 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre from 14 June to 22 December 1956. She was "in Orange" in the musical comedy Share My Lettuce, based on the book by Bamber Gascoigne, that opened at the Lyric Hammersmith on 21 August 1957. With Anthony Bowles as musical director, it transferred to the Comedy Theatre on 25 September 1957 and to the Garrick Theatre on 27 January 1958. Smith's musical numbers in this performance included: Love's Cocktail (solo), On Train He'll Come (solo), Party Games (solo), Bubble Man (with Kenneth Williams) and Menu (with Kenneth Williams). 8 photos from this performance as well as an article on Smith appeared in the November 1957 issue of Theatre World magazine. One of Smith's earliest acting citations was as nominee for Most Promising Newcomer to Film of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Nowhere To Go in 1958. In Hollywood, Smith was a nominee for the Golden Globe Awards New Star of the Year (Actress) in 1964 for her performance in The V.I.P.s. Almost 50 years later in 2012, she earned another Golden Globe Awards nomination (her ninth) for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Downton Abbey.

She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970, and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1990.
Personal life

Smith has been married twice. She married actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967 at Greenwich Register Office. The couple had two sons: actors Chris Larkin (born in 1967) and Toby Stephens (born in 1969), and divorced on 6 May 1974. Smith is a grandmother via both her sons.

She married playwright Beverley Cross on 23 August 1975 at the Guildford Register Office; he died on 20 March 1998.

In 2007, the Sunday Telegraph's Mandrake diary disclosed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was subsequently reported to have made a full recovery.
Filmography
Television and cinema
Year Title Role Notes
1958 Nowhere to Go Bridget Howard Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1962 Go to Blazes Chantal
1963 The V.I.P.s Miss Mead Nominated — Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1964 The Pumpkin Eater Philpot
1965 Othello Desdemona

    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

Young Cassidy Nora Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1967 The Honey Pot Sarah Watkins
1968 Hot Millions Patty Terwilliger Smith
1969 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Jean Brodie

    Academy Award for Best Actress
    BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

1969 Oh! What a Lovely War Music Hall Star
1972 Travels with My Aunt Aunt Augusta

    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

1973 Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing Lila Fisher
1974 The Carol Burnett Show Gwendylspire Boughgrough
1975 The Carol Burnett Show Ms. Collins
1976 Murder by Death Dora Charleston
1978 Death on the Nile Miss Bowers Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
California Suite Diana Barrie

    Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

1981 Quartet Lois Heidler Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Clash of the Titans Thetis Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1982 Evil Under the Sun Daphne Castle
The Missionary Lady Isabel Ames
Better Late Than Never Miss Anderson
1984 A Private Function Joyce Chilvers BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Lily in Love Lily Wynn Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1985 A Room with a View Charlotte Bartlett

    BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

1987 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Judith Hearne BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Talking Heads Susan Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1991 Hook Wendy Darling
1992 Sister Act Reverend Mother
Memento Mori Mrs. Mabel Pettigrew Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1993 Suddenly, Last Summer Violet Venable Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit Reverend Mother
The Secret Garden Mrs. Medlock Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1995 Richard III Duchess of York
1996 The First Wives Club Gunilla Garson Goldberg National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
1997 Washington Square Aunt Lavinia Penniman Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
1999 Curtain Call Lily Gale
The Last September Lady Myra Naylor
Tea with Mussolini Lady Hester Random BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
All the King's Men Queen Alexandra
David Copperfield Betsey Trotwood

    Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
    Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie

2001 Gosford Park Constance, Countess of Trentham

    Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
    Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
    Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
    Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
    Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
    Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
    Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actress
    Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Professor Minerva McGonagall

    Released in the US and India as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
    Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress

2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Professor Minerva McGonagall Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Caro Eliza Bennett
2003 My House in Umbria Emily Delahunty

    Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
    Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film

2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Professor Minerva McGonagall
Ladies in Lavender Janet Widdington Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actress
2005 Keeping Mum Grace Hawkins
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Professor Minerva McGonagall
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Professor Minerva McGonagall
Becoming Jane Lady Gresham
Capturing Mary Mary Gilbert Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Professor Minerva McGonagall
From Time to Time Linnet Oldknow
2010 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Mrs. Docherty
2010–present Downton Abbey Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
TV Times Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Monte Carlo Television Festival Award for Outstanding Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2011 Gnomeo & Juliet Lady Bluebury
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Professor Minerva McGonagall
2012 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Muriel Donnelly post-production
Quartet Jean Horton post-production
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/mirrenfan2/Dame%20Maggie%20Smith/2599616664_30eca4248a.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/mirrenfan2/Dame%20Maggie%20Smith/TheLadyFromDubuque594_MainPicture.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/28/11 at 1:59 pm

I just love her. ^




Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/28/11 at 2:04 pm


The person of the day...Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE (born 28 December 1934), better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years. She has won numerous awards for acting, both for the stage and for film, including five BAFTA Awards (plus the BAFTA Fellowship Award), two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, two Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, two SAG Awards, and a Tony Award.

Her critically acclaimed films include Othello (1965), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), California Suite (1978), Clash of the Titans (1981), A Room with a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001). She has also appeared in a number of widely-popular films, including Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), and as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series. She currently stars in the critically acclaimed drama, Downton Abbey as Violet Crawley, the Dowager-Countess of Grantham, for which she has won an Emmy
Smith has had an extensive career both on screen and in live theatre, and is known as one of Britain's pre-eminent actresses. She began her career at the Oxford Playhouse with Frank Shelley and made her first film in 1956. She became a fixture at the Royal National Theatre in the 1960s, most notably for playing Desdemona in Othello opposite Laurence Olivier and winning her first Oscar nomination for her performance in the 1965 film version.

In 1969, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as an unorthodox Scottish schoolteacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, a role originally created on stage by Vanessa Redgrave in 1966 in London. (Zoe Caldwell won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play when she created the role in New York.) Smith was also awarded the 1978 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the brittle actress Diana Barry in California Suite, acting opposite Michael Caine. Afterwards, on hearing that Michael Palin was about to embark on a film (The Missionary) with Smith, Caine is supposed to have humorously telephoned Palin, warning him that she would steal the film. She also starred with Palin in the black comedy A Private Function in 1984.

Smith appeared in Sister Act in 1992 and had a major role in the 1999 film Tea with Mussolini, where she appeared as the formidable Lady Hester. Indeed, many of her more mature roles have centred on what Smith refers to as her "gallery of grotesques", playing waspish, sarcastic or plain rude characters. Recent examples of this would include the judgmental sister in Ladies in Lavender and the cantankerous snob Constance, Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park, for which she received another Oscar nomination.

Other notable roles include the querulous Charlotte Bartlett in the Merchant-Ivory production of A Room with a View, a vivid supporting turn as the aged Duchess of York in Ian McKellen's film of Richard III, and a little known but powerful performance as Lila Fisher in the 1973 film Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing with Timothy Bottoms. Due to the international success of the Harry Potter movies, she is now widely known for playing the role of Professor Minerva McGonagall, opposite Daniel Radcliffe, with whom she'd previously worked in the 1999 BBC television adaptation of David Copperfield, playing Betsie Trottwood. She also plays an older Wendy in the Peter Pan movie, Hook and Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden. In 2010, she appeared as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the British period drama Downton Abbey, taking part in the second series also which was screened in the Autumn of 2011. Smith won her second Emmy Award for this role and a third series is being planned.

She appeared in numerous productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, to acclaim from 1976 through to 1980. These roles included Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Virginia Woolf in Virginia, and countless lead roles with long-time Stratford icon Brian Bedford including the Noël Coward comedy Private Lives.

On stage, her many roles have included the title character in the stage production of Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van and starring as Amanda in a revival of Private Lives. She won a Tony Award in 1990 for Best Actress in a Play for Peter Shaffer's Lettice and Lovage, in which she starred as an eccentric tour guide in an English stately home. In 2007, she appeared in Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque at Theatre Royal Haymarket.

She appeared in a 1954 BBC television programme, Oxford Accents, produced by the late Ned Sherrin. She was one of the performers, playing several roles, in New Faces of 1956 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre from 14 June to 22 December 1956. She was "in Orange" in the musical comedy Share My Lettuce, based on the book by Bamber Gascoigne, that opened at the Lyric Hammersmith on 21 August 1957. With Anthony Bowles as musical director, it transferred to the Comedy Theatre on 25 September 1957 and to the Garrick Theatre on 27 January 1958. Smith's musical numbers in this performance included: Love's Cocktail (solo), On Train He'll Come (solo), Party Games (solo), Bubble Man (with Kenneth Williams) and Menu (with Kenneth Williams). 8 photos from this performance as well as an article on Smith appeared in the November 1957 issue of Theatre World magazine. One of Smith's earliest acting citations was as nominee for Most Promising Newcomer to Film of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Nowhere To Go in 1958. In Hollywood, Smith was a nominee for the Golden Globe Awards New Star of the Year (Actress) in 1964 for her performance in The V.I.P.s. Almost 50 years later in 2012, she earned another Golden Globe Awards nomination (her ninth) for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Downton Abbey.

She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970, and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1990.
Personal life

Smith has been married twice. She married actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967 at Greenwich Register Office. The couple had two sons: actors Chris Larkin (born in 1967) and Toby Stephens (born in 1969), and divorced on 6 May 1974. Smith is a grandmother via both her sons.

She married playwright Beverley Cross on 23 August 1975 at the Guildford Register Office; he died on 20 March 1998.

In 2007, the Sunday Telegraph's Mandrake diary disclosed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was subsequently reported to have made a full recovery.
Filmography
Television and cinema
Year Title Role Notes
1958 Nowhere to Go Bridget Howard Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1962 Go to Blazes Chantal
1963 The V.I.P.s Miss Mead Nominated — Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1964 The Pumpkin Eater Philpot
1965 Othello Desdemona

    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

Young Cassidy Nora Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1967 The Honey Pot Sarah Watkins
1968 Hot Millions Patty Terwilliger Smith
1969 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Jean Brodie

    Academy Award for Best Actress
    BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

1969 Oh! What a Lovely War Music Hall Star
1972 Travels with My Aunt Aunt Augusta

    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

1973 Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing Lila Fisher
1974 The Carol Burnett Show Gwendylspire Boughgrough
1975 The Carol Burnett Show Ms. Collins
1976 Murder by Death Dora Charleston
1978 Death on the Nile Miss Bowers Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
California Suite Diana Barrie

    Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

1981 Quartet Lois Heidler Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Clash of the Titans Thetis Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1982 Evil Under the Sun Daphne Castle
The Missionary Lady Isabel Ames
Better Late Than Never Miss Anderson
1984 A Private Function Joyce Chilvers BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Lily in Love Lily Wynn Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1985 A Room with a View Charlotte Bartlett

    BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
    Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

1987 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Judith Hearne BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Talking Heads Susan Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1991 Hook Wendy Darling
1992 Sister Act Reverend Mother
Memento Mori Mrs. Mabel Pettigrew Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1993 Suddenly, Last Summer Violet Venable Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit Reverend Mother
The Secret Garden Mrs. Medlock Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1995 Richard III Duchess of York
1996 The First Wives Club Gunilla Garson Goldberg National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
1997 Washington Square Aunt Lavinia Penniman Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
1999 Curtain Call Lily Gale
The Last September Lady Myra Naylor
Tea with Mussolini Lady Hester Random BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
All the King's Men Queen Alexandra
David Copperfield Betsey Trotwood

    Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
    Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie

2001 Gosford Park Constance, Countess of Trentham

    Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
    Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
    Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture
    Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
    Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
    Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
    Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
    Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actress
    Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Professor Minerva McGonagall

    Released in the US and India as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
    Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress

2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Professor Minerva McGonagall Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Caro Eliza Bennett
2003 My House in Umbria Emily Delahunty

    Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
    Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
    Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film

2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Professor Minerva McGonagall
Ladies in Lavender Janet Widdington Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actress
2005 Keeping Mum Grace Hawkins
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Professor Minerva McGonagall
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Professor Minerva McGonagall
Becoming Jane Lady Gresham
Capturing Mary Mary Gilbert Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Professor Minerva McGonagall
From Time to Time Linnet Oldknow
2010 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Mrs. Docherty
2010–present Downton Abbey Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
TV Times Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Monte Carlo Television Festival Award for Outstanding Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2011 Gnomeo & Juliet Lady Bluebury
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Professor Minerva McGonagall
2012 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Muriel Donnelly post-production
Quartet Jean Horton post-production
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/mirrenfan2/Dame%20Maggie%20Smith/2599616664_30eca4248a.jpg
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/mirrenfan2/Dame%20Maggie%20Smith/TheLadyFromDubuque594_MainPicture.jpg
A great actress, a family favourite of ours.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/11 at 7:27 am


I just love her. ^




Cat


A great actress, a family favourite of ours.

Yes a very good actress but for some reason I remember her most for California Suite (Besides all the Harry Potter films).

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/11 at 7:30 am

The person of the day...Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972), known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.

He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain.

In 2006, he was one of the top ten most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he received an Honorary César and he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In April 2011, it was announced that he would be a member of the main competition jury at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
In 1987, Law began acting with National Youth Music Theatre. He played various roles in the Edinburgh Fringe-awarded play The Ragged Child. One of his first major stage roles was Foxtrot Darling in Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock In The Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les Parents terribles, directed by Sean Mathias. For this play, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Newcomer, and he received the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer.

Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play was reworked and transferred to Broadway in 1995, where Law acted opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees, and Cynthia Nixon. This role earned him a Tony Award nomination and the Theatre World Award. In 1989, Law got his first television role, in a movie based on the Beatrix Potter children's book, The Tailor of Gloucester. After minor roles in British television, including a two-year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI /Channel 4 short The Crane, Law had his breakthrough with the British crime drama Shopping, which also featured his future wife, Sadie Frost.

In 1997, he became more widely known with his role in the Oscar Wilde bio-pic Wilde. Law won the "Most Promising Newcomer" award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his role as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde. In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca, Law played the role of a disabled former swimming star living in a eugenics-obsessed dystopia. In Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, he played the role of the ill-fated hustler murdered by an art dealer, played by Kevin Spacey.

For The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, he learned to play saxophone and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song "Tu vuò fà l'americano" by Renato Carosone and Nicola Salerno.
2000s
Law at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2001, Law starred as Russian sniper Vasily Zaytsev in the film Enemy At The Gates, and learned ballet dancing for the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). In 2002, he played a mob hitman in Sam Mendes's 1930s period drama Road to Perdition. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, and then again for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Cold Mountain in 2003. Both films were directed by Anthony Minghella.

Law, an admirer of Laurence Olivier, used the actor's image in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Using computer graphics, footage of the young Olivier was merged into the film, playing Dr. Totenkopf, a mysterious scientific genius and supervillain. Also in 2004, he portrayed the title character in Alfie, the remake of Bill Naughton's 1966 film, playing the role originated by Michael Caine. Law was one of the Top Ten 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood, following the criteria of James Ulmer in the Ulmer Scale. On 1 March 2007, he was honoured with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres conferred by the French government, in recognition of his contribution to World Cinema Arts. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

He took on another of Caine's earlier roles in the 2007 film Sleuth, adapted by Nobel Laureate in Literature Harold Pinter, while Caine played the role originated by Sir Laurence Olivier.

Law is one of three actors who took over the role of actor Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Along with Law, actors Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell portray "three separate dimensions in the film." He appeared opposite Forest Whitaker in the dark science fiction comedy Repo Men and as Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's adaption of Sherlock Holmes, alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Rachel McAdams, as well as the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Law starred as a celebrity supermodel in the film Rage, and blogger and "prophet" Alan Krumwiede in the 2011 medical thriller Contagion.
Hamlet

In May 2009, Law returned to the London stage to portray the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse West End season at Wyndham's Theatre. The BBC reported "a fine and solid performance" but included other reviews of Law's interpretation that were mixed. There was a further run of the production at Elsinore Castle in Denmark from 25–30 August 2009. In September 2009 the production transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre in New York. Again, the critics failed to agree on the merit of Law's interpretation: London's Daily Mail found only positive reviews, but The Washington Post felt that the much-anticipated performance was "highly disappointing". Nonetheless, he was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. In January 2010 at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards ceremony he was presented with the John and Wendy Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his 2009 Hamlet.
Law's parents live in Vaudelnay, France, where they run their own drama school and theatre. His sister Natasha is an illustrator and artist, living in London.

Law met actress Sadie Frost while working on the film Shopping. They married on 2 September 1997 and divorced on 29 October 2003. He has a stepson, Finlay Munro (born 20 September 1990), and three biological children with Frost: son Rafferty (born 6 October 1996), daughter Iris (born 25 October 2000), and son Rudy (born 10 September 2002).

While making the film Alfie in late 2003, Law and co-star Sienna Miller began a relationship, becoming engaged on Christmas Day 2004. Miller and Law separated in November 2006.

On 29 July 2009, it was announced that Law would become a father for the fourth time following a brief relationship with American model Samantha Burke in 2008. Burke gave birth to a daughter, Sophia, on 22 September 2009 in New York.

In December 2009, it was reported that Law and Miller had rekindled their relationship after starring in separate shows on Broadway in late 2009. They spent Christmas 2009 in Barbados, along with three of Law's children. They announced they had split again in February 2011.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film and television 1989 The Tailor of Gloucester Sam, Mayor's Stableboy TV movie
1990 Families Nathan Thompson TV series
1991 The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes Joe Barnes TV series; episode "Shoscombe Old Place"
1992 The Crane Young Man Short film
1993 The Marshal Bruno TV series
1994 Shopping Billy
1996 I Love You, I Love You Not Ethan
1997 Bent Stormtrooper
1997 Wilde Lord Alfred Douglas Evening Standard British Film Award — Most Promising Newcomer
1997 Gattaca Jerome Eugene Morrow
1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Billy Carl Hanson
1998 Music From Another Room Danny
1998 Final Cut Jude
1998 The Wisdom of Crocodiles Steven Grlscz aka Immortality
1999 eXistenZ Ted Pikul
1999 Presence of Mind Secretary
1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley Dickie Greenleaf BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Suspense
Santa Fe Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Empire Award — Best British Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—London Critics Circle Film Award — British Supporting Actor of the Year
Nominated—MTV Movie Award — Best Musical Performance
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Teen Choice Award — Film Choice Breakout Performance
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1999 Tube Tales (director) "A Bird in the Hand"
2000 Love, Honour and Obey Jude
2000 Happy M'Gee Tony M'Gee
2001 Enemy at the Gates Vasily Zaytsev Nominated—European Film Award Audience Award for Best Actor
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Gigolo Joe Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Road to Perdition Harlen Maguire Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best British Supporting Actor
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003 Cold Mountain W. P. Inman Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—IFTA Award – People's Choice Award for Best International Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best British Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award — Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer
Nominated—Golden Satellite Award – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
2004 I ♥ Huckabees Brad Stand
2004 Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Sky Captain / Joseph Sullivan Also producer
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Gwyneth Paltrow
Nominated—Visual Effects Society Awards 2004 – Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Visual Effects Film
2004 Alfie Alfie
2004 Closer Dan National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2004 The Aviator Errol Flynn Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket Voice
2006 All the King's Men Jack Burden
2006 Breaking & Entering Will Francis
2006 The Holiday Graham Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Cameron Diaz
Nominated—NRJ Ciné Award for Best Kiss shared with Cameron Diaz
2007 My Blueberry Nights Jeremy
2007 Sleuth Milo Tindle Also producer
2009 Rage Minx
2009 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Tony (2nd transformation)
2009 Sherlock Holmes Dr. John Watson Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2010 Repo Men Remy
2011 Contagion Alan Krumwiede
2011 Hugo Hugo's Father
2011 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Dr. John Watson
2012 Rise of the Guardians Pitch (Boogeyman) Filming
Soundtrack

    "Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine", (The Pirates of Penzance), performed in Wilde, (1997)
    "Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano", performed in The Talented Mr. Ripley, with Matt Damon, Fiorello and The Guy Barker International Quintet, (1999)
    "Avenues and Alleyways", the 1973 Tony Christie song, performed with other crew members in Love, Honour and Obey, (2000)
    "Rock On", the David Essex song, performed in Love, Honour and Obey, (2000)
    "Opening song", performed in NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Ashlee Simpson, (2004)

Theatre
Theatre Year Title Role Director Playwright Venue
1987 Bodywork Adrenalin Richard Stilgoe NYMT/The Northcott Theatre, Exeter/(The Exeter Festival), The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
1988–1989 The Little Rats P. Allwood,
Jeremy James Taylor, David Scott NYMT/The George Square Theatre/The Edinburgh International Festival, The National Theatre Thesalonika, The Opera House Piraeus, Sadler's Wells Theatre, The Northcott Theatre, Exeter.
1988 The Ragged Child various roles Jeremy James Taylor, Frank Whately NYMT/Sadler's Wells Theatre, Northcott Theatre, Exeter, BBC Television, (Networked).
1989 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice NYMT/Herriot Hall The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
1989–1990 Captain Stirrick Ned Stirrick Eileen Chivers Jeremy James Taylor, David Scott NYMT/Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells Theatre, The George Square Theatre /The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
1989–1990 The Caucasian Chalk Circle Bertolt Brecht NYMT/The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sadler's Wells Theatre.
1992 The Fastest Clock In The Universe Foxtrot Darling Jo Bonney Philip Ridley Hampstead Theatre
1992 Pygmalion Freddie George Bernard Shaw Toured Italy
1993 The Snow Orchid Blaise Joe Pintauro Gate Theatre
1993 Live Like Pigs Col Kate Mitchell John Arden Royal Court Theatre
1993 Death of a Salesman Happy Matthew Warchus Arthur Miller West Yorkshire Playhouse
1994 Les Parents terribles Michael Sean Mathias Jean Cocteau Royal National Theatre (Lyttelton)
1995 Indiscretions Michael Sean Mathias Jean Cocteau Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1995 Ion Ion Nicholas Wright Euripides Barbican Arts Centre (The Pit)/Royal Shakespeare Company
1999 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Giovanni David Lan John Ford Young Vic Theatre
2001–2002 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Doctor Faustus David Lan Christopher Marlowe Young Vic Theatre
2006 Beckett at Reading Gala Evening Anthony Minghella Samuel Beckett Reading Town Hall
2009 Hamlet Hamlet Michael Grandage William Shakespeare Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham's, Donmar at Broadway
2011 Anna Christie Mat Burke Rob Ashford Eugene O'Neill Donmar Warehouse
Theatre awards and nominations

Laurence Olivier Award
1994 Nominated Laurence Olivier Award as Best Newcomer in a Play for: Les Parents terribles (1994)
2010 Nominated Laurence Olivier Award as Best Leading Actor in a Play for: Hamlet (2010)

Ian Charleson Award
1994 Won Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer for: Les Parents terribles (1994)

Tony Award
1995 Nominated Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play for: Indiscretions (1995)
2010 Nominated Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Play for: Hamlet (2010)

Theatre World Award
1995 Won Theatre World Award for: Indiscretions (1995)

Critics' Circle Theatre Award
2010 Won The John and Wendy Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for: Hamlet (2010)

South Bank Show Award
2010 Won South Bank Show Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Whatsonstage.com Award
2010 Won Whatsonstage.com Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Falstaff Award
2010 Won Falstaff Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Outer Critics Circle Award
2010 Nominated Outer Critics Circle Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Drama League Award
2010 Nominated Drama League Award for Best Performance for: Hamlet (2010)

Drama Desk Award
2010 Nominated Drama Desk Award for Best Performance for: Hamlet (2010)
Personal awards and nominations

MTV Movie Award
2003 Nominated MTV Movie Award as Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer

ShoWest Award
2004 Won ShoWest Award as Male Star of the Year

People's Choice Award
2005 Nominated People's Choice Award as Favorite Leading Man

César Awards
2007 Won César Awards as Honorary César

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
2010 Won President’s Prize
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z251/chloeeexx3/jude_law.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w209/shawnna0278/jude-law.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/29/11 at 9:54 am


The person of the day...Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972), known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.

He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain.

In 2006, he was one of the top ten most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he received an Honorary César and he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In April 2011, it was announced that he would be a member of the main competition jury at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
In 1987, Law began acting with National Youth Music Theatre. He played various roles in the Edinburgh Fringe-awarded play The Ragged Child. One of his first major stage roles was Foxtrot Darling in Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock In The Universe. Law went on to appear as Michael in the West End production of Jean Cocteau's tragicomedy Les Parents terribles, directed by Sean Mathias. For this play, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Newcomer, and he received the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer.

Following a title change to Indiscretions, the play was reworked and transferred to Broadway in 1995, where Law acted opposite Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees, and Cynthia Nixon. This role earned him a Tony Award nomination and the Theatre World Award. In 1989, Law got his first television role, in a movie based on the Beatrix Potter children's book, The Tailor of Gloucester. After minor roles in British television, including a two-year stint in the Granada TV soap opera Families and the leading role in the BFI /Channel 4 short The Crane, Law had his breakthrough with the British crime drama Shopping, which also featured his future wife, Sadie Frost.

In 1997, he became more widely known with his role in the Oscar Wilde bio-pic Wilde. Law won the "Most Promising Newcomer" award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards for his role as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the glamorous lover of Stephen Fry's Oscar Wilde. In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca, Law played the role of a disabled former swimming star living in a eugenics-obsessed dystopia. In Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, he played the role of the ill-fated hustler murdered by an art dealer, played by Kevin Spacey.

For The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, he learned to play saxophone and earned a MTV Movie Award nomination with Matt Damon and Fiorello for performing the song "Tu vuò fà l'americano" by Renato Carosone and Nicola Salerno.
2000s
Law at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2001, Law starred as Russian sniper Vasily Zaytsev in the film Enemy At The Gates, and learned ballet dancing for the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). In 2002, he played a mob hitman in Sam Mendes's 1930s period drama Road to Perdition. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley in 1999, and then again for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Cold Mountain in 2003. Both films were directed by Anthony Minghella.

Law, an admirer of Laurence Olivier, used the actor's image in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Using computer graphics, footage of the young Olivier was merged into the film, playing Dr. Totenkopf, a mysterious scientific genius and supervillain. Also in 2004, he portrayed the title character in Alfie, the remake of Bill Naughton's 1966 film, playing the role originated by Michael Caine. Law was one of the Top Ten 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood, following the criteria of James Ulmer in the Ulmer Scale. On 1 March 2007, he was honoured with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres conferred by the French government, in recognition of his contribution to World Cinema Arts. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

He took on another of Caine's earlier roles in the 2007 film Sleuth, adapted by Nobel Laureate in Literature Harold Pinter, while Caine played the role originated by Sir Laurence Olivier.

Law is one of three actors who took over the role of actor Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Along with Law, actors Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell portray "three separate dimensions in the film." He appeared opposite Forest Whitaker in the dark science fiction comedy Repo Men and as Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's adaption of Sherlock Holmes, alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Rachel McAdams, as well as the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Law starred as a celebrity supermodel in the film Rage, and blogger and "prophet" Alan Krumwiede in the 2011 medical thriller Contagion.
Hamlet

In May 2009, Law returned to the London stage to portray the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse West End season at Wyndham's Theatre. The BBC reported "a fine and solid performance" but included other reviews of Law's interpretation that were mixed. There was a further run of the production at Elsinore Castle in Denmark from 25–30 August 2009. In September 2009 the production transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre in New York. Again, the critics failed to agree on the merit of Law's interpretation: London's Daily Mail found only positive reviews, but The Washington Post felt that the much-anticipated performance was "highly disappointing". Nonetheless, he was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. In January 2010 at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards ceremony he was presented with the John and Wendy Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his 2009 Hamlet.
Law's parents live in Vaudelnay, France, where they run their own drama school and theatre. His sister Natasha is an illustrator and artist, living in London.

Law met actress Sadie Frost while working on the film Shopping. They married on 2 September 1997 and divorced on 29 October 2003. He has a stepson, Finlay Munro (born 20 September 1990), and three biological children with Frost: son Rafferty (born 6 October 1996), daughter Iris (born 25 October 2000), and son Rudy (born 10 September 2002).

While making the film Alfie in late 2003, Law and co-star Sienna Miller began a relationship, becoming engaged on Christmas Day 2004. Miller and Law separated in November 2006.

On 29 July 2009, it was announced that Law would become a father for the fourth time following a brief relationship with American model Samantha Burke in 2008. Burke gave birth to a daughter, Sophia, on 22 September 2009 in New York.

In December 2009, it was reported that Law and Miller had rekindled their relationship after starring in separate shows on Broadway in late 2009. They spent Christmas 2009 in Barbados, along with three of Law's children. They announced they had split again in February 2011.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
Film and television 1989 The Tailor of Gloucester Sam, Mayor's Stableboy TV movie
1990 Families Nathan Thompson TV series
1991 The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes Joe Barnes TV series; episode "Shoscombe Old Place"
1992 The Crane Young Man Short film
1993 The Marshal Bruno TV series
1994 Shopping Billy
1996 I Love You, I Love You Not Ethan
1997 Bent Stormtrooper
1997 Wilde Lord Alfred Douglas Evening Standard British Film Award — Most Promising Newcomer
1997 Gattaca Jerome Eugene Morrow
1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Billy Carl Hanson
1998 Music From Another Room Danny
1998 Final Cut Jude
1998 The Wisdom of Crocodiles Steven Grlscz aka Immortality
1999 eXistenZ Ted Pikul
1999 Presence of Mind Secretary
1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley Dickie Greenleaf BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Suspense
Santa Fe Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Empire Award — Best British Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—London Critics Circle Film Award — British Supporting Actor of the Year
Nominated—MTV Movie Award — Best Musical Performance
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Teen Choice Award — Film Choice Breakout Performance
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1999 Tube Tales (director) "A Bird in the Hand"
2000 Love, Honour and Obey Jude
2000 Happy M'Gee Tony M'Gee
2001 Enemy at the Gates Vasily Zaytsev Nominated—European Film Award Audience Award for Best Actor
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Gigolo Joe Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002 Road to Perdition Harlen Maguire Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best British Supporting Actor
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003 Cold Mountain W. P. Inman Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—IFTA Award – People's Choice Award for Best International Actor
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Awards for Best British Actor
Nominated—MTV Movie Award — Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer
Nominated—Golden Satellite Award – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
2004 I ♥ Huckabees Brad Stand
2004 Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Sky Captain / Joseph Sullivan Also producer
Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Gwyneth Paltrow
Nominated—Visual Effects Society Awards 2004 – Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Visual Effects Film
2004 Alfie Alfie
2004 Closer Dan National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2004 The Aviator Errol Flynn Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket Voice
2006 All the King's Men Jack Burden
2006 Breaking & Entering Will Francis
2006 The Holiday Graham Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss shared with Cameron Diaz
Nominated—NRJ Ciné Award for Best Kiss shared with Cameron Diaz
2007 My Blueberry Nights Jeremy
2007 Sleuth Milo Tindle Also producer
2009 Rage Minx
2009 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Tony (2nd transformation)
2009 Sherlock Holmes Dr. John Watson Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2010 Repo Men Remy
2011 Contagion Alan Krumwiede
2011 Hugo Hugo's Father
2011 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Dr. John Watson
2012 Rise of the Guardians Pitch (Boogeyman) Filming
Soundtrack

    "Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine", (The Pirates of Penzance), performed in Wilde, (1997)
    "Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano", performed in The Talented Mr. Ripley, with Matt Damon, Fiorello and The Guy Barker International Quintet, (1999)
    "Avenues and Alleyways", the 1973 Tony Christie song, performed with other crew members in Love, Honour and Obey, (2000)
    "Rock On", the David Essex song, performed in Love, Honour and Obey, (2000)
    "Opening song", performed in NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Ashlee Simpson, (2004)

Theatre
Theatre Year Title Role Director Playwright Venue
1987 Bodywork Adrenalin Richard Stilgoe NYMT/The Northcott Theatre, Exeter/(The Exeter Festival), The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
1988–1989 The Little Rats P. Allwood,
Jeremy James Taylor, David Scott NYMT/The George Square Theatre/The Edinburgh International Festival, The National Theatre Thesalonika, The Opera House Piraeus, Sadler's Wells Theatre, The Northcott Theatre, Exeter.
1988 The Ragged Child various roles Jeremy James Taylor, Frank Whately NYMT/Sadler's Wells Theatre, Northcott Theatre, Exeter, BBC Television, (Networked).
1989 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice NYMT/Herriot Hall The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
1989–1990 Captain Stirrick Ned Stirrick Eileen Chivers Jeremy James Taylor, David Scott NYMT/Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells Theatre, The George Square Theatre /The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
1989–1990 The Caucasian Chalk Circle Bertolt Brecht NYMT/The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sadler's Wells Theatre.
1992 The Fastest Clock In The Universe Foxtrot Darling Jo Bonney Philip Ridley Hampstead Theatre
1992 Pygmalion Freddie George Bernard Shaw Toured Italy
1993 The Snow Orchid Blaise Joe Pintauro Gate Theatre
1993 Live Like Pigs Col Kate Mitchell John Arden Royal Court Theatre
1993 Death of a Salesman Happy Matthew Warchus Arthur Miller West Yorkshire Playhouse
1994 Les Parents terribles Michael Sean Mathias Jean Cocteau Royal National Theatre (Lyttelton)
1995 Indiscretions Michael Sean Mathias Jean Cocteau Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1995 Ion Ion Nicholas Wright Euripides Barbican Arts Centre (The Pit)/Royal Shakespeare Company
1999 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Giovanni David Lan John Ford Young Vic Theatre
2001–2002 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Doctor Faustus David Lan Christopher Marlowe Young Vic Theatre
2006 Beckett at Reading Gala Evening Anthony Minghella Samuel Beckett Reading Town Hall
2009 Hamlet Hamlet Michael Grandage William Shakespeare Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham's, Donmar at Broadway
2011 Anna Christie Mat Burke Rob Ashford Eugene O'Neill Donmar Warehouse
Theatre awards and nominations

Laurence Olivier Award
1994 Nominated Laurence Olivier Award as Best Newcomer in a Play for: Les Parents terribles (1994)
2010 Nominated Laurence Olivier Award as Best Leading Actor in a Play for: Hamlet (2010)

Ian Charleson Award
1994 Won Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer for: Les Parents terribles (1994)

Tony Award
1995 Nominated Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play for: Indiscretions (1995)
2010 Nominated Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Play for: Hamlet (2010)

Theatre World Award
1995 Won Theatre World Award for: Indiscretions (1995)

Critics' Circle Theatre Award
2010 Won The John and Wendy Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for: Hamlet (2010)

South Bank Show Award
2010 Won South Bank Show Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Whatsonstage.com Award
2010 Won Whatsonstage.com Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Falstaff Award
2010 Won Falstaff Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Outer Critics Circle Award
2010 Nominated Outer Critics Circle Award as Best Leading Actor for: Hamlet (2010)

Drama League Award
2010 Nominated Drama League Award for Best Performance for: Hamlet (2010)

Drama Desk Award
2010 Nominated Drama Desk Award for Best Performance for: Hamlet (2010)
Personal awards and nominations

MTV Movie Award
2003 Nominated MTV Movie Award as Best Trans-Atlantic Breakthrough Performer

ShoWest Award
2004 Won ShoWest Award as Male Star of the Year

People's Choice Award
2005 Nominated People's Choice Award as Favorite Leading Man

César Awards
2007 Won César Awards as Honorary César

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
2010 Won President’s Prize
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z251/chloeeexx3/jude_law.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w209/shawnna0278/jude-law.jpg
We love him!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/29/11 at 12:51 pm


Yes a very good actress but for some reason I remember her most for California Suite (Besides all the Harry Potter films).



California Suite was the first movie that I recall seeing her in. I'm sure I have seen other movies she had been in before that, but don't remember her specifically. 



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/11 at 5:59 pm



California Suite was the first movie that I recall seeing her in. I'm sure I have seen other movies she had been in before that, but don't remember her specifically.   



Cat

The same here, I know I've seen the prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, but I just don't remember her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/29/11 at 6:00 pm


We love him!

I'm on a roll that's 2 in a roll you like :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/30/11 at 12:56 am


I'm on a roll that's 2 in a roll you like :)
Very rare for me.

Can you make it a hat trick?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 12/30/11 at 3:15 am


Very rare for me.

Can you make it a hat trick?


It would have to be Beethoven's birthday for it to be 3 in a row!  ;D  .... and does ninny know the term  ... "hat-trick"?  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/30/11 at 3:51 am


It would have to be Beethoven's birthday for it to be 3 in a row!  ;D  .... and does ninny know the term  ... "hat-trick"?  :-\\
I am hoping she does achieve it, I will not influence her.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/30/11 at 12:18 pm


The same here, I know I've seen the prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, but I just don't remember her.



Just saw that movie about a month or two ago.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day - Maggie Smith

Written By: nally on 12/30/11 at 1:13 pm


A great actress, a family favourite of ours.

Maggie Smith did a great job in the "Sister Act" series as Reverend Mother, who Whoopi Goldberg's character doesn't get along with very well at first, but they do manage to come to an understanding near the end of the first film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/11 at 7:51 am


It would have to be Beethoven's birthday for it to be 3 in a row!   ;D  .... and does ninny know the term  ... "hat-trick"?  :-\\

Hat trick in hockey :3 goals by one person. ;D  Sorry wasn't in a good mood yesterday.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/11 at 7:55 am

The person of the day...Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937), best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television. Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins is perhaps best known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor), its sequel Hannibal, and its prequel Red Dragon. Other prominent film credits include The Lion in Winter, Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, and Fracture. Hopkins was born and brought up in Wales. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000. Hopkins' films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. As well as his Academy Award, Hopkins has also won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award. Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea in 1960 with Swansea Little Theatre's production of Have A Cigarette.

In 1965, after several years in repertory, he was spotted by Sir Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre. Hopkins became Olivier's understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a production of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death. Olivier later noted in his memoir, Confessions of an Actor, that, "A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth." Despite his success at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in films. He made his small-screen debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. In 1968, he got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I, along with Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and future James Bond star Timothy Dalton, who played Philip II of France.

Although Hopkins continued in theatre (most notably at the National Theatre as Lambert Le Roux in Pravda by David Hare and Howard Brenton and as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra opposite Judi Dench as well as in the Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by John Dexter) he gradually moved away from it to become more established as a television and film actor. His Pierre Bezukhov for the BBC War and Peace (1972) was particularly memorable. He has since gone on to enjoy a long career, winning many plaudits and awards for his performances. In 1980 he starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons and famously said “she was the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with." Hopkins was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and a Knight Bachelor in 1993. In 1988, Hopkins was made an Honorary D.Litt and in 1992 was awarded Honorary fellowship from the University of Wales, Lampeter. Hopkins was Britain's highest paid performer in 1998, starring in The Mask of Zorro and Meet Joe Black, and also agreed to reprise his role as Dr Hannibal Lecter for a fee of £15million. Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003.

Hopkins has stated that his role as Burt Munro, whom he portrayed in his 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian, was his favourite. He also asserted that Munro was the easiest role that he had played because both men have a similar outlook on life. In 2006, Hopkins was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. In 2008, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.

Hopkins portrayed Odin, the Allfather or "king" of Asgard, in the film adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor. On 24 February 2010, it was announced that Hopkins had been cast in the supernatural thriller The Rite, which was released on 28 January 2011. He played a priest who is "an expert in exorcisms and whose methods are not necessarily traditional". An agnostic, he wrote a line--"Some days I don't know if I believe in God or Santa Claus or Tinkerbell"--into his character in order to identify with it. On 21 September 2011, Peter R. de Vries named Hopkins in the role of the Heineken owner Freddy Heineken in a future movie about his kidnap.
Acting style
Isabella Rossellini and Anthony Hopkins in Berlin to shoot scenes for The Innocent (1993).

Hopkins is renowned for his preparation for roles. He has indicated in interviews that once he has committed to a project, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed (sometimes upwards of 200) until the lines sound natural to him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This leads to an almost casual style of delivery that belies the amount of groundwork done beforehand. While it can allow for some careful improvisation, it has also brought him into conflict with the occasional director who departs from the script, or demands what the actor views as an excessive number of takes. Hopkins has stated that after he is finished with a scene, he simply discards the lines, not remembering them later on. This is unlike others who usually remember their lines from a film even years later. Richard Attenborough, who has directed Hopkins on five occasions, found himself going to great lengths during the filming of Shadowlands (1993) to accommodate the differing approaches of his two stars (Hopkins and Debra Winger), who shared many scenes. Whereas Hopkins, preferring the spontaneity of a fresh take, liked to keep rehearsals to a minimum, Winger rehearsed continuously. To allow for this, Attenborough stood in for Hopkins during Winger's rehearsals, only bringing him in for the last one before a take. The director praised Hopkins for "this extraordinary ability to make you believe when you hear him that it is the very first time he has ever said that line. It's an incredible gift."

Renowned for his ability to remember lines, Hopkins keeps his memory supple by learning things by heart such as poetry, and Shakespeare. In Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Hopkins astounded the crew with his memorisation of a seven-page courtroom speech, delivering it in one go. An overawed Spielberg couldn't bring himself to call him Tony, and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot.

In addition, Hopkins is a gifted mimic, adept at turning his native Welsh accent into whatever is required by a character. He duplicated the voice of his late mentor, Laurence Olivier, for additional scenes in Spartacus in its 1991 restoration. His interview on the 1998 relaunch edition of the British TV talk show Parkinson featured an impersonation of comedian Tommy Cooper. Hopkins has said acting "like a submarine" has helped him to deliver credible performances in his thriller movies. He said, "It's very difficult for an actor to avoid, you want to show a bit. But I think the less one shows the better."
Hannibal Lecter

Perhaps Hopkins' most famous role is as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991, opposite Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, who also won for Best Actress. The film won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is one of the shortest lead performances to win an Oscar, as Hopkins only appears on screen for little over 16 minutes, less than 10% of the film's running-time. Hopkins reprised his role as Lecter twice in Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). His original portrayal of the character in The Silence of the Lambs has been labelled by the American Film Institute as the number-one film villain. At the time he was offered the role, Hopkins was making a return to the London stage, performing in M. Butterfly. He had come back to Britain after living for a number of years in Hollywood, having all but given up on a career there, saying, "Well that part of my life's over; it's a chapter closed. I suppose I'll just have to settle for being a respectable actor poncing around the West End and doing respectable BBC work for the rest of my life."

Hopkins played the iconic villain in adaptations of the first three of the Lecter novels by Thomas Harris. The author was reportedly very pleased with Hopkins' portrayal of his antagonist. However, Hopkins stated that Red Dragon would feature his final performance as the character, and that he would not reprise even a narrative role in the latest addition to the series, Hannibal Rising.
Besides his win for The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins has been Oscar-nominated for The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997).

Hopkins won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1973 for his performance as Pierre Bezukhov in the BBC's production of War and Peace, and additionally for The Silence of the Lambs and Shadowlands. He received nominations in the same category for Magic and The Remains of the Day and as Best Supporting Actor for The Lion in Winter.

He won Emmy Awards for his roles in The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and The Bunker, and was Emmy-nominated for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Great Expectations. He won the directing and the acting award, both for Slipstream, at Switzerland's Locarno International Film Festival.

Hopkins became a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in February 2008.
Filmography
Main article: Anthony Hopkins filmography
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/LordChaosWing/anthony_hopkins.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/futurefaith17/Anthony_Hopkins.jpg



*Starting tomorrow we will be doing a deceased person of the day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 12/31/11 at 1:41 pm

http://the100.ru/images/actors/id361/3127-anthony_hopkins_hannibal_lecter.jpg

What he's best known for.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 12/31/11 at 4:59 pm

The Silence Of The Lambs is my all time favorite

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 12/31/11 at 5:08 pm


The person of the day...Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937), best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television. Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins is perhaps best known for his portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor), its sequel Hannibal, and its prequel Red Dragon. Other prominent film credits include The Lion in Winter, Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, and Fracture. Hopkins was born and brought up in Wales. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000. Hopkins' films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. As well as his Academy Award, Hopkins has also won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award. Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea in 1960 with Swansea Little Theatre's production of Have A Cigarette.

In 1965, after several years in repertory, he was spotted by Sir Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre. Hopkins became Olivier's understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a production of August Strindberg's The Dance of Death. Olivier later noted in his memoir, Confessions of an Actor, that, "A new young actor in the company of exceptional promise named Anthony Hopkins was understudying me and walked away with the part of Edgar like a cat with a mouse between its teeth." Despite his success at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in films. He made his small-screen debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. In 1968, he got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I, along with Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and future James Bond star Timothy Dalton, who played Philip II of France.

Although Hopkins continued in theatre (most notably at the National Theatre as Lambert Le Roux in Pravda by David Hare and Howard Brenton and as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra opposite Judi Dench as well as in the Broadway production of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by John Dexter) he gradually moved away from it to become more established as a television and film actor. His Pierre Bezukhov for the BBC War and Peace (1972) was particularly memorable. He has since gone on to enjoy a long career, winning many plaudits and awards for his performances. In 1980 he starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons and famously said “she was the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with." Hopkins was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and a Knight Bachelor in 1993. In 1988, Hopkins was made an Honorary D.Litt and in 1992 was awarded Honorary fellowship from the University of Wales, Lampeter. Hopkins was Britain's highest paid performer in 1998, starring in The Mask of Zorro and Meet Joe Black, and also agreed to reprise his role as Dr Hannibal Lecter for a fee of £15million. Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003.

Hopkins has stated that his role as Burt Munro, whom he portrayed in his 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian, was his favourite. He also asserted that Munro was the easiest role that he had played because both men have a similar outlook on life. In 2006, Hopkins was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. In 2008, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.

Hopkins portrayed Odin, the Allfather or "king" of Asgard, in the film adaptation of Marvel Comics' Thor. On 24 February 2010, it was announced that Hopkins had been cast in the supernatural thriller The Rite, which was released on 28 January 2011. He played a priest who is "an expert in exorcisms and whose methods are not necessarily traditional". An agnostic, he wrote a line--"Some days I don't know if I believe in God or Santa Claus or Tinkerbell"--into his character in order to identify with it. On 21 September 2011, Peter R. de Vries named Hopkins in the role of the Heineken owner Freddy Heineken in a future movie about his kidnap.
Acting style
Isabella Rossellini and Anthony Hopkins in Berlin to shoot scenes for The Innocent (1993).

Hopkins is renowned for his preparation for roles. He has indicated in interviews that once he has committed to a project, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed (sometimes upwards of 200) until the lines sound natural to him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This leads to an almost casual style of delivery that belies the amount of groundwork done beforehand. While it can allow for some careful improvisation, it has also brought him into conflict with the occasional director who departs from the script, or demands what the actor views as an excessive number of takes. Hopkins has stated that after he is finished with a scene, he simply discards the lines, not remembering them later on. This is unlike others who usually remember their lines from a film even years later. Richard Attenborough, who has directed Hopkins on five occasions, found himself going to great lengths during the filming of Shadowlands (1993) to accommodate the differing approaches of his two stars (Hopkins and Debra Winger), who shared many scenes. Whereas Hopkins, preferring the spontaneity of a fresh take, liked to keep rehearsals to a minimum, Winger rehearsed continuously. To allow for this, Attenborough stood in for Hopkins during Winger's rehearsals, only bringing him in for the last one before a take. The director praised Hopkins for "this extraordinary ability to make you believe when you hear him that it is the very first time he has ever said that line. It's an incredible gift."

Renowned for his ability to remember lines, Hopkins keeps his memory supple by learning things by heart such as poetry, and Shakespeare. In Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Hopkins astounded the crew with his memorisation of a seven-page courtroom speech, delivering it in one go. An overawed Spielberg couldn't bring himself to call him Tony, and insisted on addressing him as Sir Anthony throughout the shoot.

In addition, Hopkins is a gifted mimic, adept at turning his native Welsh accent into whatever is required by a character. He duplicated the voice of his late mentor, Laurence Olivier, for additional scenes in Spartacus in its 1991 restoration. His interview on the 1998 relaunch edition of the British TV talk show Parkinson featured an impersonation of comedian Tommy Cooper. Hopkins has said acting "like a submarine" has helped him to deliver credible performances in his thriller movies. He said, "It's very difficult for an actor to avoid, you want to show a bit. But I think the less one shows the better."
Hannibal Lecter

Perhaps Hopkins' most famous role is as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991, opposite Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, who also won for Best Actress. The film won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is one of the shortest lead performances to win an Oscar, as Hopkins only appears on screen for little over 16 minutes, less than 10% of the film's running-time. Hopkins reprised his role as Lecter twice in Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). His original portrayal of the character in The Silence of the Lambs has been labelled by the American Film Institute as the number-one film villain. At the time he was offered the role, Hopkins was making a return to the London stage, performing in M. Butterfly. He had come back to Britain after living for a number of years in Hollywood, having all but given up on a career there, saying, "Well that part of my life's over; it's a chapter closed. I suppose I'll just have to settle for being a respectable actor poncing around the West End and doing respectable BBC work for the rest of my life."

Hopkins played the iconic villain in adaptations of the first three of the Lecter novels by Thomas Harris. The author was reportedly very pleased with Hopkins' portrayal of his antagonist. However, Hopkins stated that Red Dragon would feature his final performance as the character, and that he would not reprise even a narrative role in the latest addition to the series, Hannibal Rising.
Besides his win for The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins has been Oscar-nominated for The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997).

Hopkins won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1973 for his performance as Pierre Bezukhov in the BBC's production of War and Peace, and additionally for The Silence of the Lambs and Shadowlands. He received nominations in the same category for Magic and The Remains of the Day and as Best Supporting Actor for The Lion in Winter.

He won Emmy Awards for his roles in The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and The Bunker, and was Emmy-nominated for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Great Expectations. He won the directing and the acting award, both for Slipstream, at Switzerland's Locarno International Film Festival.

Hopkins became a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in February 2008.
Filmography
Main article: Anthony Hopkins filmography
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f197/LordChaosWing/anthony_hopkins.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/futurefaith17/Anthony_Hopkins.jpg



*Starting tomorrow we will be doing a deceased person of the day.
He has a good first name!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/12 at 6:31 am


He has a good first name!

:)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/12 at 6:34 am

The deceased person of the day...Ray Walston
Ray Walston (December 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific (1949/1958), Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees (1955/1958), J.J. Singleton in The Sting (1973), high school teacher Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Judge Henry Bone on the drama series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
Walston had a successful movie career in addition to Damn Yankees!, beginning with Kiss Them for Me (1957), and then South Pacific (1958), where he played Luther Billis; Say One for Me (1959); Tall Story, Portrait in Black, and The Apartment (all in 1960); Convicts 4 (1962); Wives and Lovers, and Who's Minding the Store? (both in 1963); Kiss Me, Stupid (1964); Caprice (1967); and Paint Your Wagon (1969). Walston is also featured in the 1973 Best-Picture-Winner The Sting, in which he is crucial to the successful swindling of an unsuspecting griftee (played by Robert Shaw). He was also among many of the actors who played themselves in cameos for Robert Altman's The Player (1992), although Walston along with several other stars, are actually in character for a movie within a movie sequence.

Walston narrated many U.S. Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy) films about nuclear experiment; amongst them there were the Operation Hardtack I nuclear test film series of 1958.

He guest starred on numerous television programs, including a role in 1960-1961 as a judge on NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane. Walston had some of his greatest success on the small screen.
My Favorite Martian
Walston as Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Walston would achieve his greatest success as the title character (alias "Uncle Martin") on My Favorite Martian from 1963 to 1966, alongside co-star Bill Bixby. Although the show gained a large audience in syndication, My Favorite Martian had somewhat typecast Walston and he had difficulty finding more serious roles after the show's cancellation. However, he managed to return to beloved character actor status in television of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a guest star in numerous shows, such as Custer, The Wild Wild West, Love, American Style, The Rookies, Mission: Impossible, Ellery Queen, The Six Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, and The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby (in which he played Jasper the Magician in an episode called "My Favorite Magician"), among many others. In 1976 he played the part of sleazy Edgar Whiney in the film Silver Streak.

Walston was also known for playing Starfleet Academy groundskeeper "Boothby" in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later on Star Trek: Voyager. Some non-canon Trek material pays tribute to Walston's most famous role by suggesting that Boothby was, in fact, "Martian", a native of the Human settlements on Mars.

From 1980 to 1992, Walston starred in fourteen movies, including 1981's Galaxy of Terror, and 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (as well as its 1986 television adaptation) as Mr. Hand. In a 1999 interview, Walston said he was happy and relieved that when he walks down the street, young fans shout at him "Mr. Hand" because he had finally torn away from his Martian role.
Television comeback

In 1984, Walston played a judge on an episode of Night Court. Six years later, he would work with David E. Kelley while guest-starring on L.A. Law as a suffering father. These roles led to his work as Judge Henry Bone on Picket Fences, which began production in 1992 for CBS. Judge Bone was originally a recurring role on the show, but Walston proved to be so popular that he was given a starring role the following year. In his late 70s, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for the first time. Walston made an appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Boothby, head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and then reprised the character twice on Star Trek: Voyager, despite the series being set in a distant part of the galaxy. (The first time, he actually played an alien participating in a simulation of the Academy; the second appearance was in a dream sequence.) During his appearance on Star Trek: Voyager in "In the Flesh", he often had trouble with remembering his lines during long one-shot dialogue scenes, but while the cameraman was changing the film for the scene in the briefing room, he quoted a line from Hamlet. Robert Beltran then quoted the next line, and Walston the next. The two went on for several minutes, amazing the entire cast and crew. Tim Russ remembered in an interview for the special features of the Voyager Season 5 DVD that it was so quiet beside them, you could hear a pin drop, and that when they were done, everyone broke out in applause.

In 1985, Walston made a brief appearance in the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories, as a caveman acting out a story for his tribe. Only a few seconds long, this performance began every episode of the subsequent series.

In 1992, Walston played the role of Candy in the big-screen remake of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. He would work alongside Sinise again two years later in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand.

Walston was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Picket Fences, winning twice, in 1995 and 1996. Though Walston enjoyed his work in the series, its ratings were beginning to slip, and CBS cancelled the show after four seasons in 1996. However, Walston made a memorable guest appearance in an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman entitled "Remember Me", in which he portrayed the father of Jake Slicker, who was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.
Later years

After gaining popularity both as the Martian and as the judge on the small screen, his career was coming to an end when he played Grandfather Walter Addams in Addams Family Reunion (1998), the straight-to-video second sequel to the blockbuster 1991 film The Addams Family, this time starring Tim Curry as Gomez Addams and Daryl Hannah as Morticia Addams. One year later, he appeared in the movie remake of his hit series, My Favorite Martian (1999). His final movie role was in the independent film Early Bird Special. He also appeared in an AT&T long distance TV commercial in which his dialogue implied he was Uncle Martin from Mars, looking for good rates to talk to fellow Martians living in the United States. Just before his death, his final TV guest appearance was on 7th Heaven.
Death

Walston died at the age of 86 on New Year's Day 2001 in Beverly Hills, California on the start of the 21st century and after a 6-year battle with lupus. He was survived by his widow, Ruth, his daughter, Katherine Ann, and two grandchildren. Walston was cremated, and his ashes were given to his daughter, Kate.
Filmography

    Kiss Them for Me (1957)
    South Pacific (1958)
    Damn Yankees! (1958)
    Say One for Me (1959)
    Tall Story (1960)
    The Apartment (1960)
    Portrait in Black (1960)
    Convicts 4 (1962)
    Wives and Lovers (1963)
    My Favorite Martian (1963–1966)
    Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
    Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    Caprice (1967)
    Paint Your Wagon (1969)
    The Sting (1973)
    Silver Streak (1976)
    The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977)
    Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
    Stop Susan Williams (1979)
    Math Country (late 1970s)
    Popeye (1980)
    Galaxy of Terror (1981)
    O'Hara's Wife (1982)
    Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
    Private School (1983)
    Johnny Dangerously (1984)
    Santa Barbara (1984)
    Amazing Stories (1985)
    Silver Spoons (1982)
    Rad (1986)
    Paramedics (1987)
    From the Hip (1987)
    O.C. and Stiggs (1987)
    Blood Relations (1988)
    Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988)
    I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989) (TV movie)
    A Man of Passion (1989)
    Fine Gold (1989)
    Blood Salvage (1990)
    Ski Patrol (1990)
    Popcorn (1991)
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992)
    Space Case (1992)
    Of Mice and Men (1992)
    Picket Fences (1992–1996)
    The Stand (1994)
    House Arrest (1996)
    Project ALF (1996)
    Star Trek: Voyager (1998–1999)
    Addams Family Reunion (1998)
    My Favorite Martian (1999)
    Touched by An Angel (2000)
    Early Bird Special (2001)

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr166/Deerslyr_71/ray-walston-as-my-favorite-martian.jpg
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo59/1957Girl/050816_fastimes_bcol_3pwidec.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/01/12 at 6:39 am


The deceased person of the day...Ray Walston
Ray Walston (December 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific (1949/1958), Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees (1955/1958), J.J. Singleton in The Sting (1973), high school teacher Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Judge Henry Bone on the drama series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
Walston had a successful movie career in addition to Damn Yankees!, beginning with Kiss Them for Me (1957), and then South Pacific (1958), where he played Luther Billis; Say One for Me (1959); Tall Story, Portrait in Black, and The Apartment (all in 1960); Convicts 4 (1962); Wives and Lovers, and Who's Minding the Store? (both in 1963); Kiss Me, Stupid (1964); Caprice (1967); and Paint Your Wagon (1969). Walston is also featured in the 1973 Best-Picture-Winner The Sting, in which he is crucial to the successful swindling of an unsuspecting griftee (played by Robert Shaw). He was also among many of the actors who played themselves in cameos for Robert Altman's The Player (1992), although Walston along with several other stars, are actually in character for a movie within a movie sequence.

Walston narrated many U.S. Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy) films about nuclear experiment; amongst them there were the Operation Hardtack I nuclear test film series of 1958.

He guest starred on numerous television programs, including a role in 1960-1961 as a judge on NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane. Walston had some of his greatest success on the small screen.
My Favorite Martian
Walston as Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Walston would achieve his greatest success as the title character (alias "Uncle Martin") on My Favorite Martian from 1963 to 1966, alongside co-star Bill Bixby. Although the show gained a large audience in syndication, My Favorite Martian had somewhat typecast Walston and he had difficulty finding more serious roles after the show's cancellation. However, he managed to return to beloved character actor status in television of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a guest star in numerous shows, such as Custer, The Wild Wild West, Love, American Style, The Rookies, Mission: Impossible, Ellery Queen, The Six Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, and The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby (in which he played Jasper the Magician in an episode called "My Favorite Magician"), among many others. In 1976 he played the part of sleazy Edgar Whiney in the film Silver Streak.

Walston was also known for playing Starfleet Academy groundskeeper "Boothby" in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later on Star Trek: Voyager. Some non-canon Trek material pays tribute to Walston's most famous role by suggesting that Boothby was, in fact, "Martian", a native of the Human settlements on Mars.

From 1980 to 1992, Walston starred in fourteen movies, including 1981's Galaxy of Terror, and 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (as well as its 1986 television adaptation) as Mr. Hand. In a 1999 interview, Walston said he was happy and relieved that when he walks down the street, young fans shout at him "Mr. Hand" because he had finally torn away from his Martian role.
Television comeback

In 1984, Walston played a judge on an episode of Night Court. Six years later, he would work with David E. Kelley while guest-starring on L.A. Law as a suffering father. These roles led to his work as Judge Henry Bone on Picket Fences, which began production in 1992 for CBS. Judge Bone was originally a recurring role on the show, but Walston proved to be so popular that he was given a starring role the following year. In his late 70s, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for the first time. Walston made an appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Boothby, head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and then reprised the character twice on Star Trek: Voyager, despite the series being set in a distant part of the galaxy. (The first time, he actually played an alien participating in a simulation of the Academy; the second appearance was in a dream sequence.) During his appearance on Star Trek: Voyager in "In the Flesh", he often had trouble with remembering his lines during long one-shot dialogue scenes, but while the cameraman was changing the film for the scene in the briefing room, he quoted a line from Hamlet. Robert Beltran then quoted the next line, and Walston the next. The two went on for several minutes, amazing the entire cast and crew. Tim Russ remembered in an interview for the special features of the Voyager Season 5 DVD that it was so quiet beside them, you could hear a pin drop, and that when they were done, everyone broke out in applause.

In 1985, Walston made a brief appearance in the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories, as a caveman acting out a story for his tribe. Only a few seconds long, this performance began every episode of the subsequent series.

In 1992, Walston played the role of Candy in the big-screen remake of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. He would work alongside Sinise again two years later in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand.

Walston was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Picket Fences, winning twice, in 1995 and 1996. Though Walston enjoyed his work in the series, its ratings were beginning to slip, and CBS cancelled the show after four seasons in 1996. However, Walston made a memorable guest appearance in an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman entitled "Remember Me", in which he portrayed the father of Jake Slicker, who was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.
Later years

After gaining popularity both as the Martian and as the judge on the small screen, his career was coming to an end when he played Grandfather Walter Addams in Addams Family Reunion (1998), the straight-to-video second sequel to the blockbuster 1991 film The Addams Family, this time starring Tim Curry as Gomez Addams and Daryl Hannah as Morticia Addams. One year later, he appeared in the movie remake of his hit series, My Favorite Martian (1999). His final movie role was in the independent film Early Bird Special. He also appeared in an AT&T long distance TV commercial in which his dialogue implied he was Uncle Martin from Mars, looking for good rates to talk to fellow Martians living in the United States. Just before his death, his final TV guest appearance was on 7th Heaven.
Death

Walston died at the age of 86 on New Year's Day 2001 in Beverly Hills, California on the start of the 21st century and after a 6-year battle with lupus. He was survived by his widow, Ruth, his daughter, Katherine Ann, and two grandchildren. Walston was cremated, and his ashes were given to his daughter, Kate.
Filmography

    Kiss Them for Me (1957)
    South Pacific (1958)
    Damn Yankees! (1958)
    Say One for Me (1959)
    Tall Story (1960)
    The Apartment (1960)
    Portrait in Black (1960)
    Convicts 4 (1962)
    Wives and Lovers (1963)
    My Favorite Martian (1963–1966)
    Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
    Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    Caprice (1967)
    Paint Your Wagon (1969)
    The Sting (1973)
    Silver Streak (1976)
    The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977)
    Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
    Stop Susan Williams (1979)
    Math Country (late 1970s)
    Popeye (1980)
    Galaxy of Terror (1981)
    O'Hara's Wife (1982)
    Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
    Private School (1983)
    Johnny Dangerously (1984)
    Santa Barbara (1984)
    Amazing Stories (1985)
    Silver Spoons (1982)
    Rad (1986)
    Paramedics (1987)
    From the Hip (1987)
    O.C. and Stiggs (1987)
    Blood Relations (1988)
    Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988)
    I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989) (TV movie)
    A Man of Passion (1989)
    Fine Gold (1989)
    Blood Salvage (1990)
    Ski Patrol (1990)
    Popcorn (1991)
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992)
    Space Case (1992)
    Of Mice and Men (1992)
    Picket Fences (1992–1996)
    The Stand (1994)
    House Arrest (1996)
    Project ALF (1996)
    Star Trek: Voyager (1998–1999)
    Addams Family Reunion (1998)
    My Favorite Martian (1999)
    Touched by An Angel (2000)
    Early Bird Special (2001)

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr166/Deerslyr_71/ray-walston-as-my-favorite-martian.jpg
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo59/1957Girl/050816_fastimes_bcol_3pwidec.jpg
In the spring of 1964, at age 38, Peter Sellers suffered a series of heart attacks (13 in a few days) while working on the set of Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid, and he was replaced by Ray Walston.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/01/12 at 7:22 am


The Silence Of The Lambs is my all time favorite


that line he used in the film.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/01/12 at 7:23 am


The deceased person of the day...Ray Walston
Ray Walston (December 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific (1949/1958), Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees (1955/1958), J.J. Singleton in The Sting (1973), high school teacher Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Judge Henry Bone on the drama series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
Walston had a successful movie career in addition to Damn Yankees!, beginning with Kiss Them for Me (1957), and then South Pacific (1958), where he played Luther Billis; Say One for Me (1959); Tall Story, Portrait in Black, and The Apartment (all in 1960); Convicts 4 (1962); Wives and Lovers, and Who's Minding the Store? (both in 1963); Kiss Me, Stupid (1964); Caprice (1967); and Paint Your Wagon (1969). Walston is also featured in the 1973 Best-Picture-Winner The Sting, in which he is crucial to the successful swindling of an unsuspecting griftee (played by Robert Shaw). He was also among many of the actors who played themselves in cameos for Robert Altman's The Player (1992), although Walston along with several other stars, are actually in character for a movie within a movie sequence.

Walston narrated many U.S. Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy) films about nuclear experiment; amongst them there were the Operation Hardtack I nuclear test film series of 1958.

He guest starred on numerous television programs, including a role in 1960-1961 as a judge on NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane. Walston had some of his greatest success on the small screen.
My Favorite Martian
Walston as Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Walston would achieve his greatest success as the title character (alias "Uncle Martin") on My Favorite Martian from 1963 to 1966, alongside co-star Bill Bixby. Although the show gained a large audience in syndication, My Favorite Martian had somewhat typecast Walston and he had difficulty finding more serious roles after the show's cancellation. However, he managed to return to beloved character actor status in television of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a guest star in numerous shows, such as Custer, The Wild Wild West, Love, American Style, The Rookies, Mission: Impossible, Ellery Queen, The Six Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, and The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby (in which he played Jasper the Magician in an episode called "My Favorite Magician"), among many others. In 1976 he played the part of sleazy Edgar Whiney in the film Silver Streak.

Walston was also known for playing Starfleet Academy groundskeeper "Boothby" in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later on Star Trek: Voyager. Some non-canon Trek material pays tribute to Walston's most famous role by suggesting that Boothby was, in fact, "Martian", a native of the Human settlements on Mars.

From 1980 to 1992, Walston starred in fourteen movies, including 1981's Galaxy of Terror, and 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (as well as its 1986 television adaptation) as Mr. Hand. In a 1999 interview, Walston said he was happy and relieved that when he walks down the street, young fans shout at him "Mr. Hand" because he had finally torn away from his Martian role.
Television comeback

In 1984, Walston played a judge on an episode of Night Court. Six years later, he would work with David E. Kelley while guest-starring on L.A. Law as a suffering father. These roles led to his work as Judge Henry Bone on Picket Fences, which began production in 1992 for CBS. Judge Bone was originally a recurring role on the show, but Walston proved to be so popular that he was given a starring role the following year. In his late 70s, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for the first time. Walston made an appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Boothby, head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and then reprised the character twice on Star Trek: Voyager, despite the series being set in a distant part of the galaxy. (The first time, he actually played an alien participating in a simulation of the Academy; the second appearance was in a dream sequence.) During his appearance on Star Trek: Voyager in "In the Flesh", he often had trouble with remembering his lines during long one-shot dialogue scenes, but while the cameraman was changing the film for the scene in the briefing room, he quoted a line from Hamlet. Robert Beltran then quoted the next line, and Walston the next. The two went on for several minutes, amazing the entire cast and crew. Tim Russ remembered in an interview for the special features of the Voyager Season 5 DVD that it was so quiet beside them, you could hear a pin drop, and that when they were done, everyone broke out in applause.

In 1985, Walston made a brief appearance in the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories, as a caveman acting out a story for his tribe. Only a few seconds long, this performance began every episode of the subsequent series.

In 1992, Walston played the role of Candy in the big-screen remake of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. He would work alongside Sinise again two years later in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand.

Walston was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Picket Fences, winning twice, in 1995 and 1996. Though Walston enjoyed his work in the series, its ratings were beginning to slip, and CBS cancelled the show after four seasons in 1996. However, Walston made a memorable guest appearance in an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman entitled "Remember Me", in which he portrayed the father of Jake Slicker, who was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.
Later years

After gaining popularity both as the Martian and as the judge on the small screen, his career was coming to an end when he played Grandfather Walter Addams in Addams Family Reunion (1998), the straight-to-video second sequel to the blockbuster 1991 film The Addams Family, this time starring Tim Curry as Gomez Addams and Daryl Hannah as Morticia Addams. One year later, he appeared in the movie remake of his hit series, My Favorite Martian (1999). His final movie role was in the independent film Early Bird Special. He also appeared in an AT&T long distance TV commercial in which his dialogue implied he was Uncle Martin from Mars, looking for good rates to talk to fellow Martians living in the United States. Just before his death, his final TV guest appearance was on 7th Heaven.
Death

Walston died at the age of 86 on New Year's Day 2001 in Beverly Hills, California on the start of the 21st century and after a 6-year battle with lupus. He was survived by his widow, Ruth, his daughter, Katherine Ann, and two grandchildren. Walston was cremated, and his ashes were given to his daughter, Kate.
Filmography

    Kiss Them for Me (1957)
    South Pacific (1958)
    Damn Yankees! (1958)
    Say One for Me (1959)
    Tall Story (1960)
    The Apartment (1960)
    Portrait in Black (1960)
    Convicts 4 (1962)
    Wives and Lovers (1963)
    My Favorite Martian (1963–1966)
    Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
    Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    Caprice (1967)
    Paint Your Wagon (1969)
    The Sting (1973)
    Silver Streak (1976)
    The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977)
    Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
    Stop Susan Williams (1979)
    Math Country (late 1970s)
    Popeye (1980)
    Galaxy of Terror (1981)
    O'Hara's Wife (1982)
    Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
    Private School (1983)
    Johnny Dangerously (1984)
    Santa Barbara (1984)
    Amazing Stories (1985)
    Silver Spoons (1982)
    Rad (1986)
    Paramedics (1987)
    From the Hip (1987)
    O.C. and Stiggs (1987)
    Blood Relations (1988)
    Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988)
    I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989) (TV movie)
    A Man of Passion (1989)
    Fine Gold (1989)
    Blood Salvage (1990)
    Ski Patrol (1990)
    Popcorn (1991)
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992)
    Space Case (1992)
    Of Mice and Men (1992)
    Picket Fences (1992–1996)
    The Stand (1994)
    House Arrest (1996)
    Project ALF (1996)
    Star Trek: Voyager (1998–1999)
    Addams Family Reunion (1998)
    My Favorite Martian (1999)
    Touched by An Angel (2000)
    Early Bird Special (2001)

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr166/Deerslyr_71/ray-walston-as-my-favorite-martian.jpg
http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo59/1957Girl/050816_fastimes_bcol_3pwidec.jpg


I remember Ray Walston, He's pretty funny.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/01/12 at 9:57 am


In the spring of 1964, at age 38, Peter Sellers suffered a series of heart attacks (13 in a few days) while working on the set of Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid, and he was replaced by Ray Walston.

That was an interesting fact that I did not know. Thanks Phil :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/01/12 at 1:03 pm

A long, long, time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, my mother worked in theatre. The show that was going to be done was A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum-and it was supposed to star Ray Walston. Unfortunately, before the show opened, he got into a car accident and had to drop out. He was replaced by Stubby Kaye. (I'm sure most of you have no idea who Stubby Kaye was.) I was disappointed not being able to meet Ray Walston.


He has done so many memorable things-My Favorite Martian, Fast Times, Damn Yankees, & South Pacific. I just think he was great.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/02/12 at 5:22 am

The deceased person of the day....Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.

Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.
Born in Mountain View, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas, Powell attended the former Little Rock College in the state capital, before he started his entertainment career as a singer with the Charlie Davis Orchestra, based in the midwest. He recorded a number of records with Davis and on his own, for the Vocalion label in the late 1920s.
Dick Powell in Dames trailer.jpg

Powell moved to Pittsburgh, where he found great local success as the Master of Ceremonies at the Enright Theater and the Stanley Theater. In April 1930, Warner Bros. bought Brunswick Records, which at that time owned Vocalion. Warner Bros. was sufficiently impressed by Powell's singing and stage presence to offer him a film contract in 1932. He made his film debut as a singing bandleader in Blessed Event. He went on to star as a boyish crooner in movie musicals such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Flirtation Walk, and On the Avenue, often appearing opposite Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell.

Powell desperately wanted to expand his range but Warner Bros. wouldn't allow him to do so, although they did (mis)cast him in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) as Lysander. This was to be Powell's only Shakespearean role and one he did not want to play, feeling that he was completely wrong for the part. Inscrutably, the young actor felt that he was too old to play romantic leading men anymore, and so he lobbied to play the lead in Double Indemnity. He lost out to Fred MacMurray, another Hollywood nice guy. MacMurray’s success, however, fueled Powell’s resolve to pursue projects with greater range.

In 1944, Powell's career changed forever when he was cast in the first of a series of films noir, as private detective Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film was a big hit, and Powell had successfully reinvented himself as a dramatic actor. He was the first actor to play Marlowe — by name — in motion pictures. (Hollywood had previously adapted some Marlowe novels, but with the lead character changed.) Later, Powell was the first actor to play Marlowe on radio, in 1944 and 1945, and on television, in a 1954 episode of Climax! Powell also played the slightly-less hard-boiled detective Richard Rogue in the radio series "Rogue's Gallery", beginning in 1945.

In 1945, Dmytryk and Powell re-teamed to make the film Cornered, a gripping, post-WWII thriller that helped define the film noir style. He became a popular "tough guy" lead appearing in movies such as Johnny O'Clock and Cry Danger. But 1948 saw him step out of the brutish type when he starred in Pitfall, a film noir that sees a bored insurance company worker fall for an innocent but dangerous femme fatale, played by Lizabeth Scott. Even when he appeared in lighter fare such as The Reformer and the Redhead and Susan Slept Here (1954), he never sang in his later roles. The latter, his final onscreen appearance in a feature film, did include a dance number with costar Debbie Reynolds.

From 1949–1953, Powell played the lead role in the National Broadcasting Company radio theater production Richard Diamond, Private Detective. His character in the 30-minute weekly was a likable private detective with a quick wit. Many episodes ended with Detective Diamond having an excuse to sing a little song to his date, showcasing Powell's vocal abilities. Many of the episodes were written by Blake Edwards. When Richard Diamond came to television in 1957, the lead role was portrayed by David Janssen, who did no singing in the series.

In the 1950s Powell produced and directed several B-movies and was one of the founders of Four Star Television, along with Charles Boyer, David Niven and Ida Lupino. He appeared in and supervised several shows for that company. Powell played the role of Willie Dante in Four Star Playhouse, in episodes entitled "Dante's Inferno" (1952), "The Squeeze" (1953), "The Hard Way" (1953), and "The House Always Wins" (1955). In 1961 Howard Duff, husband of Ida Lupino, assumed the Dante role in a short-lived NBC adventure series Dante, set at a San Francisco nightclub called "Dante's Inferno".

Powell guest-starred in numerous Four Star programs, including a 1958 appearance on the Duff-Lupino sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve. He appeared in 1961 on James Whitmore's legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones on ABC. In the episode "Everybody Versus Timmy Drayton", Powell played a colonel having problems with his son. He hosted and occasionally starred in his Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater on CBS from 1956–1961, and his final anthology series, The Dick Powell Show on NBC from 1961 through 1963: after his death, the series continued through the end of its second season (as The Dick Powell Theater), with guest hosts.

Powell's film The Enemy Below (1957), based on the novel by Denys Rayner, won an Academy Award for special effects.

Powell also directed The Conqueror (1956), starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan. The exterior scenes were filmed in St. George, Utah, downwind of U.S. above-ground atomic tests. The cast and crew totaled 220, and of that number, 91 had developed some form of cancer by 1981 and 46 had died of cancer by then, including Wayne. This cancer rate is about three times higher than one would expect in a group of this size and many have argued that radioactive fallout was the cause.

Powell himself died from lymphoma at the age of fifty-eight on January 2, 1963, seven years after The Conqueror was made. His body was cremated and his remains were interred in the Columbarium of Honor at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Personal life
Joan Blondell in Broadway Gondolier trailer.jpg

Dick Powell was married three times:

    Mildred Maund (1925–1927) — although most biographies say they were divorced in 1927, there are strong indications this is not true. They appear on the 1930 census in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is working in a theater, and they appear on a 1931 passenger list where they are returning from Havana, Cuba aboard the SS Oriente.
    actress Joan Blondell (married September 19, 1936, divorced 1944), with whom he had two children, Ellen and adopted son Norman
    actress/singer June Allyson (August 19, 1945, until his death), with whom he had two children, Pamela (adopted) and Richard Powell, Jr.

Powell's ranch-style house in Mandeville Canyon, Los Angeles, was used as the setting for the television show Hart to Hart. Robert Wagner, the actor who portrayed Jonathan Hart in the series, was a close friend of Powell's. Dick Powell also was a major television player with his own production company, Four Star Television, owning several network shows.
Popular culture references

Frank Tashlin's 1937 cartoon The Woods are Full of Cuckoos features an avian caricature of Mr. Powell called "Dick Fowl".
Filmography
As actor
Features

    Blessed Event (1932)
    Big City Blues (1932)
    Too Busy to Work (1932)
    The King's Vacation (1933)
    42nd Street (1933)
    Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
    Footlight Parade (1933)
    College Coach (1933)
    Convention City (1933)
    Wonder Bar (1934)
    Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934)
    Dames (1934)
    Happiness Ahead (1934)
    Flirtation Walk (1934)
    Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
    Broadway Gondolier (1935)
    Page Miss Glory (1935)
    A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
    Shipmates Forever (1935)
    Thanks A Million (1935)
    Colleen (1936)
    Hearts Divided (1936)
    Stage Struck (1936)
    Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
    On the Avenue (1937)
    The Singing Marine (1937)
    Varsity Show (1937)
    Hollywood Hotel (1937)
    Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
    Hard to Get (1938)



    Going Places (1938)
    Naughty but Nice (1939)
    I Want a Divorce (1940)
    Christmas in July (1940)
    Model Wife (1941)
    In the Navy (1941)
    Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
    Happy Go Lucky (1943)
    Riding High (1943)
    True to Life (1943)
    It Happened Tomorrow (1944)
    Meet the People (1944)
    Murder, My Sweet (1944)
    Cornered (1945)
    Johnny O'Clock (1947)
    To the Ends of the Earth (1948)
    Pitfall (1948)
    Station West (1948)
    Rogues' Regiment (1948)
    The Carpa Follies (1949)
    Mrs. Mike (1949)
    The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
    Right Cross (1950)
    Cry Danger (1951)
    The Tall Target (1951)
    You Never Can Tell (1951)
    Callaway Went Thataway (1951) (scenes deleted)
    The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
    Susan Slept Here (1954)

Short subjects

    The Road Is Open Again (1933)
    Just Around the Corner (1933)
    Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933)
    And She Learned About Dames (1934)
    Hollywood Newsreel (1934)
    A Dream Comes True (1935)
    Hollywood Hobbies (1939)

As director

    Split Second (1953)
    The Conqueror (1956)
    You Can't Run Away from It (1956)
    The Enemy Below (1957)
    The Hunters (1958)

Notable recordings

    "Dames"
    "Roses In December"
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actors01/lokatdick.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1/aappleton218/classicmisc1/Actors01/PowellDick_f.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/03/12 at 7:07 am

the deceased person of the day...Joy Adamson
Joy Adamson (20 January 1910 – 3 January 1980) (born Friederike Victoria Gessner) was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa. Born Free was printed in several languages, and made into an Academy Award-winning movie of the same name.
Adamson is best known for her conservation efforts associated with Elsa the Lioness. In 1956, Adamson's husband, George Adamson, in the course of his job as game warden of the Northern Frontier District in Kenya, shot and killed a lioness as she charged him and another warden. George realized that the lioness was protecting her cubs which were later found nearby. Taking them home, he and Joy raised the cubs. Early on, George attended to their physical needs while Joy and her pet Pati-Pati, a rock hyrax, raised them. Joy named them "Big One", "Lustica" and "Elsa".

After six months, caring for the cubs became increasingly difficult for the Adamsons and their staff. The two larger cubs, Lustica and the Big One, were sent to a zoo in Rotterdam. The Adamsons kept Elsa. They decided to set her free rather than send her to a zoo, and spent many months training her to hunt and survive on her own. They were successful in the end, and Elsa became the first lioness successfully released back into the wild, the first to have contact after release, and the first known to have cubs. The Adamsons kept their distance from the cubs, getting close enough only to photograph them.

In January 1961, Elsa died from disease resulting from a tick bite. Her three young cubs became a nuisance, killing the livestock of local farmers. The Adamsons, who feared that the farmers might kill the cubs, were able to eventually capture them and transport them to neighboring Tanzania where they were promised a home at a national park. In The Story of Elsa, a compilation of the books about Elsa, Joy Adamson wrote: "My heart was with them wherever they were. But it was also with these two lions here in front of us; and as I watched this beautiful pair, I realized how all the characteristics of our cubs were inherent in them. Indeed, in every lion I saw during our searches I recognized the intrinsic nature of Elsa, Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa, the spirit of all the magnificent lions in Africa".
Writer and celebrity

Using her own notes and George's journals, Joy wrote Born Free to tell the lions' tale. She submitted it to a number of publishers before it was bought by Harvill Press, part of HarperCollins. Published in 1960, it became a bestseller, spending thirteen weeks at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list and nearly a year on the chart overall. The success of the book was due to both the captivating story of Elsa, and the dozens of photographs of her. Readers had pictures of many of the events of Elsa's life leading up to her release. Subsequent books were also heavily illustrated.

Born Free received largely favorable reviews from critics. Adamson worked closely with publishers to properly promote the book, which contributed to the Adamsons' new-found international celebrity.

Joy Adamson would spend the rest of her life raising money for wildlife, thanks to the popularity of Born Free. The book was followed by Living Free, which is about Elsa as a mother to her cubs, and Forever Free, which tells of the release of the cubs Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa. She shared book proceeds with various conservation projects.
Hit film

The 1966 film Born Free, starring husband-and-wife actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, and filmed in the bush over the course of many months, was a worldwide hit. The stars became acquainted with the real Adamsons, and the couples remained friends for life, working for wildlife causes. Travers and McKenna decided to do all of their own scenes with the lions in the film in order to recreate the close relationship that Joy and George Adamson had with Elsa. This was a serious commitment and risk on the actors' part, and one that made the film more realistic. "Born Free", which went on to win two Academy Awards (both for music) is widely considered to be a family classic. Six years later, Susan Hampshire took over the role of Joy Adamson in Living Free, a film based on the third “Elsa book”, Forever Free. The theme of the film, "Born Free", which appeared on the film's soundtrack album, was also a popular hit.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the filming of Born Free was that some of the lions used for the film had been freed, similarly to Elsa. This story was told in a documentary produced by Bill Travers, titled The Lions Are Free.
Later life
Pippa and Penny
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

During Elsa's lifetime, Joy and George Adamson needed each other to educate her, but after she died and her cubs were taken in by the park, their interests went in separate directions, as did their lives. While neither divorced nor legally separated, their conflicting interests (George wanted to continue to work with lions and she with cheetahs), made it necessary for them to live apart (though they sometimes spoke of living together again, it never happened). Every year, they got together for Christmas, and they remained on good terms.

While television specials kept the Adamsons' cause in the spotlight, Adamson spent her last ten years traveling the world, giving speeches about the perils faced by wildlife in Africa. A book of her paintings was published. She rehabilitated a cheetah and an African leopard. Pippa the cheetah was raised as a pet and given to Adamson at the age of seven months in hopes that she could also be released. Pippa had four litters before her death. Adamson wrote The Spotted Sphinx and Pippa's Challenge about Pippa and her cheetah family. Later, Adamson reached her goal of many years, when she obtained an African leopard cub. Penny was eight weeks old when a ranger acquaintance of George Adamson found her in 1976. Penny had a litter of two cubs before the publication of Queen of Shaba, Joy Adamson's posthumous and final book.
Murder and legacy
George Adamson

On 3 January 1980, in Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Joy Adamson's body was discovered by her assistant, Peter Morson (sometimes reported as Pieter Mawson). He mistakenly assumed that she had been killed by a lion, and this was what was initially reported by the media.

Police investigation found that Adamson's wounds were too sharp and bloodless to have been caused by an animal, and concluded that she had been murdered. Paul Nakware Ekai, a discharged labourer formerly employed by Adamson, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to imprisonment at President Daniel arap Moi's pleasure. He escaped capital punishment because the judge ruled that he might have been a minor when the crime was committed.

Joy's widower, George Adamson, was murdered nine years later, in 1989, near his camp in Kora National Park, while rushing to the aid of a tourist who was being attacked by poachers. He is credited with saving the tourist's life.

In addition to Joy's books about big cats, a book of her artwork was published, as was an autobiography entitled The Searching Spirit. George Adamson's second autobiography, My Pride and Joy, was published in 1986.
Personal life

Joy Adamson married three times in the span of ten years. Her first marriage was to a Jewish Austrian, Viktor von Klarwill (Ziebel), who sent her to Africa to find a safe place for the two of them to live out World War II. Later, she met and married the botanist Peter Bally, who gave her the nickname "Joy". She met her third husband, game warden George Adamson, while on safari in the early 1940s. They made their home together in Kenya. Joy Adamson appeared in "The Bargain" and "Death Walks by Night," two second-season episodes of the British television crime drama The Vise, which were broadcast in 1955.

During her lifetime, Joy created more than 500 paintings and line drawings; many of the plants had never been photographed or accurately drawn in color.
Bibliography
Books by Joy Adamson

    Born Free: A lioness of two worlds (1960) ISBN 1-56849-551-X
    Elsa: The Story of a Lioness (1961)
    Living Free: The story of Elsa and her cubs (1961) ISBN 0-00-637588-X
    Forever Free: Elsa's Pride (1962) ISBN 0-00-632885-7
    The Spotted Sphinx (1969) ISBN 0-15-184795-9
    Pippa: The Cheetah and her Cubs (1970) ISBN 0-15-262125-3
    Joy Adamson's Africa (1972) ISBN 0-15-146480-4
    Pippa's Challenge (1972) ISBN 0-15-171980-2
    Peoples of Kenya (1975) ISBN 0-15-171681-1
    The Searching Spirit: An Autobiography (1978) ISBN 0-00-216035-8
    Queen of Shaba: The Story of an African Leopard (1980) ISBN 0-00-272617-3
    Friends from the Forest (1980) ISBN 0-15-133645-8

Books by George Adamson

    My Pride and Joy
    Bwana Game - The Life Story Of George Adamson - Collins@Harvill Press, London, 1968

Books by others

    Wild Heart: The Story of Joy Adamson, Author of Born Free by Anne E. Neimark

Films

    Born Free
    Elsa & Her Cubs - 25 minutes; Benchmark Films Copyright MCMLXXI by Elsa Wild Animal Appeal and Benchmark Films, Inc.
    Joy Adamson - About the Adamsons - Producer-Benchmark Films, Inc.
    Joy Adamson's Africa (1977) - 86 minutes
    The Joy Adamson Story (1980) - Programme featuring interviews with Joy Adamson about her life and work in Austria and in Africa, and her famous lioness Elsa. Director: Dick Thomsett Production Company: BBC
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn178/polen_89/za%20saitove/Joy_Adamson_Sitting_And_Pippa_BW_Cr.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x98/melbah/JoyandElsa.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/04/12 at 1:24 pm

the deceased person of the day...T.S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965) was a playwright, literary critic, and an important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at age 25) and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.

The poem that made his name, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock—started in 1910 and published in Chicago in 1915—is regarded as a masterpiece of the modernist movement. He followed this with what have become some of the best-known poems in the English language, including Gerontion (1920), The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), and Four Quartets (1945). He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.
Eliot died of emphysema in London on January 4, 1965. For many years he had had health problems caused by his heavy smoking, and had often been laid low with bronchitis or tachycardia. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. In accordance with Eliot's wishes, his ashes were taken to St Michael's Church in East Coker, the village from which his ancestors had emigrated to America.

    A wall plaque commemorates him with a quotation from his poem "East Coker": "In my beginning is my end. In my end is my beginning."

    In 1967, on the second anniversary of his death, Eliot was commemorated by the installation of a large stone in the floor of Poets' Corner in London's Westminster Abbey. The stone, cut by designer Reynolds Stone, is inscribed with his life dates, his Order of Merit, and a quotation from his poem "Little Gidding": "the communication / Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond / the language of the living."
For a poet of his stature, Eliot produced a relatively small amount of poetry and he was aware of this early in his career. He wrote to J. H. Woods, one of his former Harvard professors, "My reputation in London is built upon one small volume of verse, and is kept up by printing two or three more poems in a year. The only thing that matters is that these should be perfect in their kind, so that each should be an event."

Typically, Eliot first published his poems individually in periodicals or in small books or pamphlets, and then collected them in books. His first collection was Prufrock and Other Observations (1917). In 1920, he published more poems in Ara Vos Prec (London) and Poems: 1920 (New York). These had the same poems (in a different order) except that "Ode" in the British edition was replaced with "Hysteria" in the American edition. In 1925, he collected The Waste Land and the poems in Prufrock and Poems into one volume and added The Hollow Men to form Poems: 1909–1925. From then on, he updated this work as Collected Poems. Exceptions are Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939), a collection of light verse; Poems Written in Early Youth, posthumously published in 1967 and consisting mainly of poems published 1907–1910 in The Harvard Advocate, and Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909–1917, material Eliot never intended to have published, which appeared posthumously in 1997.

Eliot said of his nationality and its role in his work: "y poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England ... It wouldn't be what it is, and I imagine it wouldn't be so good ... if I'd been born in England, and it wouldn't be what it is if I'd stayed in America. It's a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America."
With the important exception of his magnum opus Four Quartets, Eliot directed much of his creative energies after Ash Wednesday to writing plays in verse, mostly comedies or plays with redemptive endings. He was long a critic and admirer of Elizabethan and Jacobean verse drama; witness his allusions to Webster, Thomas Middleton, William Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd in The Waste Land. In a 1933 lecture he said: "Every poet would like, I fancy, to be able to think that he had some direct social utility. ... He would like to be something of a popular entertainer, and be able to think his own thoughts behind a tragic or a comic mask. He would like to convey the pleasures of poetry, not only to a larger audience, but to larger groups of people collectively; and the theatre is the best place in which to do it."

After The Waste Land (1922), he wrote that he was "now feeling toward a new form and style." One project he had in mind was writing a play in verse with a jazz tempo featuring Sweeney, a character who had appeared in a number of his poems. Eliot did not finish it. He did publish separately two pieces of what he had written. The two, Fragment of a Prologue (1926) and Fragment of an Agon (1927) were published together in 1932 as Sweeney Agonistes. Although Eliot noted that this was not intended to be a one-act play, it is sometimes performed as one.

A pageant play by Eliot called The Rock was performed in 1934 for the benefit of churches in the Diocese of London. Much of it was a collaborative effort; Eliot accepted credit only for the authorship of one scene and the choruses. George Bell, the Bishop of Chichester, had been instrumental in connecting Eliot with producer E. Martin Browne for the production of The Rock, and later asked Eliot to write another play for the Canterbury Festival in 1935. This one, Murder in the Cathedral, concerning the death of the martyr, Thomas Becket, was more under Eliot's control. After this, he worked on commercial plays for more general audiences: The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk, (1953) and The Elder Statesman (1958). The Broadway production in New York of The Cocktail Party received the 1950 Tony Award for Best Play.
Literary criticism

Eliot also made significant contributions to the field of literary criticism, strongly influencing the school of New Criticism. While somewhat self-deprecating and minimizing of his work—he once said his criticism was merely a “by-product” of his “private poetry-workshop”—Eliot is considered by some to be one of the greatest literary critics of the 20th century. The critic William Empson once said, "I do not know for certain how much of my own mind invented, let alone how much of it is a reaction against him or indeed a consequence of misreading him. He is a very penetrating influence, perhaps not unlike the east wind."

In his critical essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Eliot argues that art must be understood not in a vacuum, but in the context of previous pieces of art: “In a peculiar sense ... must inevitably be judged by the standards of the past.” This essay was an important influence over the New Criticism by introducing the idea that the value of a work of art must be viewed in the context of the artist's previous works, a “simultaneous order” of works (i.e. "tradition"). Eliot himself employed this concept on many of his works, especially on his long-poem The Waste Land.

Also important to New Criticism was the idea—as articulated in Eliot’s essay "Hamlet and His Problems”—of an “objective correlative,” which posits a connection among the words of the text and events, states of mind, and experiences. This notion concedes that a poem means what it says, but suggests that there can be a non-subjective judgment based on different readers’ different—but perhaps corollary—interpretations of a work.

More generally, New Critics took a cue from Eliot in regard to his “‘classical’ ideals and his religious thought; his attention to the poetry and drama of the early seventeenth century; his deprecation of the Romantics, especially Shelley; his proposition that good poems constitute ‘not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion'; and his insistence that ‘poets…at present must be difficult.’”

Eliot’s essays were a major factor in the revival of interest in the metaphysical poets. Eliot particularly praised the metaphysical poets' ability to show experience as both psychological and sensual, while at the same time infusing this portrayal with—in Eliot's view—wit and uniqueness. Eliot's essay "The Metaphysical Poets," along with giving new significance and attention to metaphysical poetry, introduced his now well-known definition of "unified sensibility," which is considered by some to mean the same thing as the term "metaphysical."

His 1922 poem The Waste Land also can be better understood in light of his work as a critic. He had argued that a poet must write “programmatic criticism"; that is, a poet should write to advance his own interests rather than to advance “historical scholarship". Viewed from Eliot's critical lens, The Waste Land likely shows his personal despair about World War I rather than an objective historical understanding of it.

In 1946 Eliot was a member of a group otherwise composed of senior clergy which produced a report entitled "Catholicity" published in 1947 as a contribution to the process which resulted in the Church of England's Report on Doctrine (1948).

In 1958, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed Eliot to a commission that produced The Revised Psalter (1963). A harsh critic of Eliot, C. S. Lewis, was also a member of the commission, where their antagonism turned into a friendship.
    Officier de la Legion d'Honneur (1951)
    Hanseatic Goethe Prize (Hamburg, 1955)
    Dante Medal (Florence, 1959)
    Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, (1960)
    Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964)
    13 honorary doctorates (including Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and Harvard)
    Tony Award in 1950 for Best Play: The Broadway production of The Cocktail Party.
    Two posthumous Tony Awards (1983) for his poems used in the musical Cats
    Eliot College of the University of Kent, England, named after him
    Celebrated on commemorative postage stamps
    A star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame

Works
Poetry

    Prufrock and Other Observations (1917)
        The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
        Portrait of a Lady (poem)
        Aunt Helen
    Poems (1920)
        Gerontion
        Sweeney Among the Nightingales
        "The Hippopotamus"
        "Whispers of Immortality"
        "Mr. Eliot's Sunday Morning Service"
        "A Cooking Egg"
    The Waste Land (1922)
    The Hollow Men (1925)
    Ariel Poems (1927–1954)
        The Journey of the Magi (1927)
    Ash Wednesday (1930)
    Coriolan (1931)
    Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939)
    The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs and Billy M'Caw: The Remarkable Parrot (1939) in The Queen's Book of the Red Cross
    Four Quartets (1945)

Plays

    Sweeney Agonistes (published in 1926, first performed in 1934)
    The Rock (1934)
    Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
    The Family Reunion (1939)
    The Cocktail Party (1949)
    The Confidential Clerk (1953)
    The Elder Statesman (first performed in 1958, published in 1959)

Nonfiction

    Christianity & Culture (1939, 1948)
    The Second-Order Mind (1920)
    Tradition and the Individual Talent (1920)
    The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920)
        "Hamlet and His Problems"
    Homage to John Dryden (1924)
    Shakespeare and the Stoicism of Seneca (1928)
    For Lancelot Andrewes (1928)
    Dante (1929)
    Selected Essays, 1917–1932 (1932)
    The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933)
    After Strange Gods (1934)
    Elizabethan Essays (1934)
    Essays Ancient and Modern (1936)
    The Idea of a Christian Society (1939)
    A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1941) made by Eliot, with an essay on Rudyard Kipling, London, Faber and Faber.
    Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948)
    Poetry and Drama (1951)
    The Three Voices of Poetry (1954)
    The Frontiers of Criticism (1956)
    On Poetry and Poets (1957)

Posthumous publications

    To Criticize the Critic (1965)
    The Waste Land: Facsimile Edition (1974)
    Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917 (1996)

Critical editions

    Collected Poems, 1909-1962 (1963) online edition; also excerpt and text search
    Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Illustrated Edition (1982) excerpt and text search
    Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot ed. by Frank Kermode (1975) excerpt and text search
    The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions) ed. by Michael North (2000) excerpt and text search
    Selected essays (1932); enlarged (1960)
    The letters of T. S. Eliot, ed. Valerie Eliot, vol. 1: 1898-1922 (1988)
    The letters of T. S. Eliot, ed. Valerie Eliot, vol. 2: 1923-1925 (2009)
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k474/particlepanda/ts-eliot.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u122/summerhof/authors/eliot.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/04/12 at 1:46 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7uTcYvoEbU&ob=av2e



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/05/12 at 6:09 am

The deceased person of the day...Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American recording artist, record producer, actor, and politician whose career spanned over three decades.
Bono began his music career working at Specialty Records where his song "Things You Do to Me" was recorded by Sam Cooke, and went on to work for the legendary record producer Phil Spector in the early 1960s as a promotion man, percussionist and "gofer". One of his earliest songwriting efforts was "Needles and Pins" which he co-wrote with Jack Nitzsche, another member of Spector's production team. Later in the same decade, he achieved commercial success, along with his then-wife Cher, as part of the singing duo Sonny and Cher. Bono wrote, arranged, and produced a number of hit records with singles like "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On", although Cher received more attention as a performer. He also played a major part in Cher's early solo career with recordings such as "Bang Bang" and "You Better Sit Down Kids".

Bono also recorded as a solo artist under the name of Sonny. He had only one hit single as a solo artist, "Laugh At Me". "Laugh At Me" was released in 1965 and peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. In live concerts, Bono would sing the song with an introduction of, "I'd like to sing a medley of my hit." His only other single as a solo artist was a follow-up release, "The Revolution Kind", which reached number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 later that same year. Bono also recorded an unsuccessful Sonny album titled Inner Views in 1967.
Sonny Bono in 1966 during a performance

Sonny continued to work with Cher through the early and mid-'70s starring in a popular television variety show, The Sonny and Cher Show, which ran on CBS from 1971 to 1974. From 1976 to 1977, the couple returned to performing together on The Sonny and Cher Show despite being divorced. Their last appearance together was on Late Night with David Letterman on November 13, 1987, when they sang "I Got You Babe".

Bono continued his acting career, doing bit roles in such shows as Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. He played the part of mad bomber Joe Selucci in Airplane II: The Sequel and the part of Franklin Von Tussle in John Waters' Hairspray. In the film Men In Black, Bono is one of several oddball celebrities seen on a wall of video screens that monitor extraterrestrials living among us. In 1986 he also appeared in the horror movie Troll. He also appeared in several episodes of P.S. I Luv U starring Connie Sellecca and Greg Evigan during the 1991-92 TV season as the Mayor of Palm Springs . His last acting role was in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Season 1, Episode 9, originally aired on November 21, 1993), in which he played the Mayor Frank Berkowitz. He also made a minor appearance as himself in the 1996 film First Kid.

Sonny poked a little fun at himself when he guest-starred on The Golden Girls, in the episode "Mrs. George Devereaux", aired November 17, 1990, as himself vying with Lyle Waggoner for Dorothy's (Beatrice Arthur) affection in a dream, where Blanche (Rue McClanahan) dreams her husband is still alive. In the dream, Sonny uses his power as mayor of Palm Springs, California to have Waggoner falsely arrested just so he can have Dorothy to himself. Later on, after Blanche awakens from the dream, Dorothy is thrilled to learn she picked Sonny this time.
Political career
See also: Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Bono entered politics after experiencing great frustration with local government bureaucracy in trying to open a restaurant in Palm Springs, California. With conservative talk radio host Marshall Gilbert as his campaign manager, Bono placed a successful bid to become the new mayor of Palm Springs. He served four years (1988 to 1992). He was instrumental in making the city more business-friendly and in spearheading the creation of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which is now held each year in Bono's memory.

Bono ran for the Republican nomination for United States Senate in 1992, but the nomination went to the more conservative Bruce Herschensohn, and the election to the Democrat Barbara Boxer. Bono and Herschensohn became close friends after the campaign. Bono was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994 to represent California's 44th congressional district. He was one of twelve co-sponsors of a House bill extending copyright. Although that bill was never voted on in the Senate, a similar Senate bill was passed after his death and named the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act in his memory.

He championed the restoration of the Salton Sea, bringing the giant lake's plight to national attention. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich made a public appearance and speech at the shore of the lake on Bono's behalf.

In their book Tell Newt to Shut Up, David Maraniss and Michael Weisskopf credit Bono with being the first person to recognize Gingrich's public relations problems in 1995. Drawing on his long experience as a celebrity and entertainment producer, Bono (according to Maraniss and Weisskopf) recognized that Gingrich's status had changed from politician to celebrity, and that Gingrich was not making allowances for that change:

    You're a celebrity now, ... The rules are different for celebrities. I know it. I've been there. I've been a celebrity. I used to be a bigger celebrity. But let me tell you, you're not being handled right. This is not political news coverage. This is celebrity status. You need handlers. You need to understand what you're doing. You need to understand the attitude of the media toward celebrities.

Bono remains the only member of Congress to have scored a #1 pop single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Author Ronald Kessler mentioned Bono in his expose book Inside Congress. Kessler pointed out that Bono was widely ridiculed and was named one of the "dimmest bulbs" in Congress by Progressive Magazine and that The Washington Post referred to him as the "idiot savant from way beyond the Beltway". Kessler also mentioned that a young staffer named Frederique J. Sandretto had accused Bono of sexually harassing her.
Personal life

Bono married his first wife, Donna Rankin, on November 3, 1954. Their daughter Christine ("Christy") was born on June 24, 1958. They divorced in 1962. In 1964 Bono married singer/entertainer Cher; their daughter Chastity (now legally named Chaz after gender transition) was born on March 4, 1969. In 1975 the couple divorced. Bono then married Susie Coelho, but divorced her in 1984. He wed the much-younger Mary Whitaker in 1986 and they had 2 children, son Chesare Elan on April 25, 1988 and daughter Chianna Maria on February 2, 1991. He became a Scientologist, partly because of the influence of Mimi Rogers, but stated that he was a Roman Catholic on all official documents, campaign materials, web sites, etc. Mary Bono also took Scientology courses.

Bono was named a godparent of Anthony Kiedis who would go on to become one of the biggest musicial artists in the world with his band, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sonny was a close friend of Anthony's father, Blackie Dammett, and would often take the boy on weekend trips.

Bono was a champion of the Salton Sea in southeastern California, where a park was named in his honor. The 2005 documentary film Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea (narrated by John Waters) features Bono and documented the lives of the inhabitants of Bombay Beach, Niland, and Salton City, as well as the ecological issues associated with the Sea.
Death
Sonny Bono's headstone at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California. The epitaph reads: "And the Beat Goes On."

Bono died on January 5, 1998, a month and 11 days short of his 63rd birthday, of injuries sustained when he hit a tree while skiing on the Nevada side of Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California. His death came just a little less than a week after Michael Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy, died in a similar skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado. After Bono's death, Mary told an interviewer from TV Guide that Sonny had been addicted to and was seriously abusing prescription drugs, mainly Vicodin and Valium. Though Mary claimed that Sonny's drug use caused the accident, the autopsy performed by the Douglas County Coroner showed no indication of any substances or alcohol.

Bono was survived by his wife Mary Bono and children Christy, Chianna, Chesare, and Chaz. His mother Jean Bono, also survived him, and died on January 15, 2005 at the age of 90.. At Mary Bono's request, Cher gave a eulogy at Sonny's funeral. His remains were buried at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California. The epitaph on Bono's headstone reads: "And the Beat Goes On."

Bono's wife, Mary, was elected to fill the remainder of his Congressional term. Over 10 years after his death, she continues to champion many of Sonny's causes, including the ongoing fight to save the Salton Sea.

American hip-hop artist Eminem references Bono's skiing accident in his songs "Who Knew" and "Role Model"

British alternative rock band "A" references Bono's death in his song "I Love Lake Tahoe" (included in the 1999 album "A" vs. Monkey Kong and also released as single)
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k157/kurtros20/030912bono.jpg
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q51/j5collector/J5%20TV%20Shows/sonny.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/05/12 at 7:35 am

I wonder if he was alive today would he appprove of Chaz?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/05/12 at 5:32 pm


I wonder if he was alive today would he appprove of Chaz?

Doubt it. ::)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/12 at 8:27 am


I wonder if he was alive today would he appprove of Chaz?


Doubt it. ::)

One never knows, you have to be open to things nowadays to be a good parent.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/06/12 at 8:29 am

The deceased person of the day..Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game". Rawls released more than 70 albums, sold more than 40 million records, appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons.

Rawls is the subject of an upcoming biopic, tentatively titled Love Is a Hurtin' Thing: The Lou Rawls Story. Rawls' son, Lou Rawls Jr., is the author of the script. Rawls will reportedly be portrayed by the actor Isaiah Washington. Rawls' favorite expression was "Yeah buddy!"
Rawls was born on December 1, 1933 in Chicago and raised by his grandmother in the Ida B. Wells projects on the city's South Side. He began singing in the Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church choir at the age of seven and later sang with local groups through which he met future music stars Sam Cooke, who was nearly three years older than Rawls, and Curtis Mayfield.

After graduating from Chicago's Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a local gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, Rawls replaced Cooke in the Highway QC's after Cooke departed to join The Soul Stirrers in Los Angeles. Rawls was soon recruited by the Chosen Gospel Singers and himself moved to Los Angeles, where he subsequently joined the Pilgrim Travelers.

In 1955, Rawls enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the "All-Americans" three years later as a sergeant and rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers (then known as the Travelers). In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a serious car crash. Rawls was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. It took him months to regain his memory, and a year to fully recuperate. Rawls considered the event to be life-changing.

Alongside Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was recovered enough by 1959 to be able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1962, the same year he sang the soulful background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording of "Bring it on Home to Me" and "That's where it's at," both written by Cooke. Rawls himself charted with a cover of "Bring it on home to me" in 1970 (with the title shortened to "Bring It On Home").

Soul is truth, ... no matter where it comes from, no matter how it is presented
Lou Rawls, 1968 Pop Chronicles interview

Rawls' first Capitol solo release was Stormy Monday (a.k.a. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water), a jazz album, in 1962. On August 21, 1966, he opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Though his 1966 album Live! went gold, Rawls would not have a star-making hit until he made a proper soul album, appropriately named Soulin', later that same year. The album contained his first R&B #1 single, "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing". In 1967 Rawls won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single "Dead End Street." In 1967, Rawls also performed at the first evening of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival.
Rawls performing with Frank Gorshin in 1977

In 1969, the singer was co-host of NBC's summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show along with Martin's daughter, singer Barbara Gail Martin.

After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single "Natural Man" written for him by comedian Sandy Baron and singer Bobby Hebb. He had a brief stint with Bell Records in 1974, where he recorded a cover of Hall & Oates' "She's Gone." In 1976, Rawls signed with Philadelphia International Records, where he had his greatest album success with the million-selling All Things in Time. The album produced his most successful single, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which topped the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and went to number two on the pop side, becoming Rawls' only certified million-selling single in the process.

Subsequent albums, such as 1977's When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All yielded such hit singles as "Lady Love". Other releases in the 1970s included the classic album Sit Down And Talk To Me.

Rawls' 1977 Grammy Awards performance of "You'll Never Find" was disrupted by a coughing fit.

In 1982, Rawls received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sang the lyrics to WGN-TV's 1983 "Chicago's Very Own" ad campaign, a slogan that the station still uses to this day.

In 1989, he performed vocals for "The Music and Heroes of America" segment in the animated television miniseries This is America, Charlie Brown.
"The Star Spangled Banner"

On the night of September 29, 1977, Rawls performed the national anthem of the United States prior to the Earnie Shavers-Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. He would be requested to sing the anthem many times over the next 28 years, and his final performance of it came on October 23, 2005. The crowd at that performance may not have known that Rawls was extremely ill with cancer, but he reportedly delivered an electrifying performance to kick off Game Two of the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field in his hometown of Chicago. He had also sung the National Anthem at two previous World Series games: the 1982 World Series opener between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers and Game Three of the 1985 World Series between the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, both at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
Honors and charity work
Lou Rawls at Baltimore's Inner Harbor (1980) being interviewed by local news anchor Curt Anderson, promoting the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon"

In 1980, Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon" which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, known since 1998 as "An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have benefited from and/or graduated from one of the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from the UNCF, along with musical performances from various recording artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event has raised over US$200 million in 27 shows for the fund through 2006.

In January 2004, Rawls was honored by the United Negro College Fund for his more than 25 years of charity work with the organization. Instead of hosting and performing as he usually did, Rawls was given the seat of honor and celebrated by his performing colleagues, including Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Ashanti, and many others. His final television performance occurred during the 2005-2006 edition of the telethon, honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, just months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. This program, aired in January, 2006, contains his final public television performance, where he performed two classics, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," and a final ode to Frank Sinatra with, "It Was A Very Good Year."

At the time of Rawls' death, news and UNCF figures noted the significance of Rawls' final performance, "It Was a Very Good Year." The song is a retrospective of one's life and its lyrics include, "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for small town girls and soft summer nights...And now those days grow short, it is the autumn of years, and now I think about life as vintage wine from fine old kegs, from the brim to the dregs, it pours sweet and clear, it was a very good year."
Acting career

Rawls appeared in a segment of the first season of Sesame Street, to sing the alphabet. He dismissed the concept of using cue cards for the performance, but reversed such decision when he forgot the order of the letters.

Throughout Rawls' singing career, he had the opportunity to appear in many films, television shows, and commercials. He can be seen in such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. He had a supporting role in the Baywatch spin-off, Baywatch Nights. He also appeared in the western television series, The Big Valley, (starring legend Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans) where he played a hired hand. Here, he delivered the memorable line: "Ain't a horse that can't be rode; ain't a man that can't be throwed".

Rawls lent his rich baritone voice to many cartoons, including Hey Arnold! as the voice of Harvey The Mailman, Garfield, and The Proud Family (also appearing in animation form in one episode). For many of the Film Roman Garfield specials, Rawls would often compose songs for them, which he would then sing usually doing a duet with Desiree Goyette, as well as the singing voice of the title character himself.

For many years, he was a spokesperson for the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company, helping promote the brand on radio and TV to African-American markets much as Ed McMahon did for the white audience. He was also a spokesman for Budweiser. Budweiser was a key sponsor for the Rawls telethon and UNCF. There was no attempt to avoid the similarity between the title of the 1977 album When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All and his corporate sponsor's slogan "When You Say Budweiser, You've Said It All". A track on the 1978 album Lou Rawls Live, features Rawls singing the commercial slogan. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser, also suggested his telethon work to him.

Rawls was also a regular guest host on "Jazz Central", a program aired on the BET Jazz cable channel.

He appears as "Dr. Rawls" in a dream on an episode My Wife and Kids, where he breaks into a parody version of "You'll Never Find", which a frightened Damon Wayans is afraid of having a colonoscopy the following day. Rawls uses the scope as a microphone in the scene. Rawls appears as a commentator in the second half of both the rated and unrated versions of the commentary for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy DVD commentary track, despite having nothing to do with the film itself. During the track, he indulges the commentators' request, participating in a scatting contest with Will Ferrell.

Rawls also appeared in an episode of Baywatch as a bookie.

Rawls was also a guest star during the second season of The Muppet Show. He also made a brief appearance on the series finale of Martin.
Billboard Top 50 hit singles

The following is a list of Rawls singles that made the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. His first Hot 100 entry was "Three O'Clock in the Morning" in 1965, and his final was "Wind Beneath My Wings" in 1983. In addition to those two, nine other singles peaked at positions below the top 50 on the Hot 100, and additional singles reached the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Bubbling Under charts.

    "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" - 1966, #13 (also #1 R&B)
    "Dead End Street" - 1967, #29
    "Show Business" - 1967, #45
    "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" - 1969, #18 (sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc)
    "A Natural Man" - 1971, #17
    "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" - 1976, #2 (also #1 R&B and #1 Easy Listening); another certified gold for sales of one million copies
    "Lady Love" - 1978, #24

Personal life

In January 2003, Rawls was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after getting into an argument with his then-girlfriend, Nina Malek Inman. During the course of the argument, he reportedly shoved her resulting in one charge of battery on a household member. The charge was later dropped. Rawls and Inman married later that same year.

On December 19, 2005, the Associated Press reported that Rawls tried to annul his two-year marriage to wife Inman Rawls, who had been acting as his business manager, after it was discovered she had made unauthorized transfers amounting to nearly $350,000 from his bank account into an account solely controlled by her. She later stated that she had transferred the funds to protect them from one of Rawls' daughters from a previous relationship.

It was also announced in December 2005 that Rawls was being treated for cancer in both his lungs and brain. With his wife by his side, Lou Rawls succumbed to his illness on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

In addition to his wife of two years and their young son, Aiden Allen Rawls; Rawls left behind adult daughter Louanna Rawls (a wardrobe stylist and future Launch My Line contestant); adult daughter Kendra Smith; adult son Lou Rawls, Jr.; and three granddaughters: Brianna, Katrina, and Chayil.
Lou Rawls's tomb at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Discography



    1962 Stormy Monday (Blue Note)
    1962 Black and Blue (Capitol)
    1963 Tobacco Road (Capitol)
    1964 For You My Love (Capitol)
    1965 Lou Rawls and Strings (Capitol)
    1965 Nobody But Lou (Capitol)
    1966 Live! (Capitol)
    1966 The Soul-Stirring Gospel Sounds of the Pilgrim Travelers (Capitol)
    1966 Soulin' (Capitol)
    1966 Carryin' On (Capitol)
    1967 Too Much! (Capitol)
    1967 That's Lou (Capitol)
    1967 Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (Capitol)
    1968 Feelin' Good (Capitol)
    1968 You're Good for Me (Capitol)
    1969 The Way It Was: The Way It Is (Capitol)
    1969 Your Good Thing (Capitol)
    1969 Close-Up (Capitol)
    1970 You've Made Me So Very Happy (Capitol)
    1970 Bring It On Home (Capitol)
    1971 Down Here on the Ground/I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (Capitol)
    1971 Natural Man (MGM)
    1972 Silk & Soul (MGM)
    1972 A Man of Value (MGM)
    1973 Live at the Century Plaza (Rebound)
    1975 She's Gone (Bell)
    1976 All Things in Time (Philadelphia International)
    1976 Naturally (Polydor)
    1977 Unmistakably Lou (Philadelphia International)
    1977 When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All (Philadelphia International)
    1978 Lou Rawls Live (Philadelphia International)
    1979 Let Me Be Good to You (Philadelphia International)
    1979 In Concert: Recorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Dep Entertainment)
    1980 Sit Down and Talk to Me (Philadelphia International)
    1981 Shades of Blue (Philadelphia International)
    1982 Now Is the Time (Epic)
    1983 When the Night Comes ( Epic)
    1984 Close Company (Epic)
    1986 Love All Your Blues Away (Epic)
    1988 Family Reunion (Gamble-Huff)
    1989 At Last (Blue Note)
    1990 It's Supposed to Be Fun (Blue Note)
    1992 Portrait of the Blues (Capitol)
    1993 Christmas Is the Time (Manhattan)
    1995 Holiday Cheer (Cema Special Markets)
    1995 Merry Little Christmas (EMI Special Products)
    1998 Unforgettable (Going For)
    1998 Seasons 4 U (Rawls & Brokaw)
    1999 A Legendary Night Before Christmas (Platinum Disc)
    2000 Swingin' Christmas (EMI-Capitol Special Markets)
    2001 I'm Blesseseek (Malaco)
    2001 Christmas Will Be Christmas (Capitol)
    2002 Oh Happy Day (601)
    2003 Rawls Sings Sinatra (Savoy Jazz)
    2003 Trying as Hard as I Can (Allegiance)
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/ororo79/LouRawls.jpg
http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt67/Logic1914/6a00d83454de4669e2011570c00bdc970c-800wi.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/06/12 at 8:34 am


The deceased person of the day..Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game". Rawls released more than 70 albums, sold more than 40 million records, appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons.

Rawls is the subject of an upcoming biopic, tentatively titled Love Is a Hurtin' Thing: The Lou Rawls Story. Rawls' son, Lou Rawls Jr., is the author of the script. Rawls will reportedly be portrayed by the actor Isaiah Washington. Rawls' favorite expression was "Yeah buddy!"
Rawls was born on December 1, 1933 in Chicago and raised by his grandmother in the Ida B. Wells projects on the city's South Side. He began singing in the Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church choir at the age of seven and later sang with local groups through which he met future music stars Sam Cooke, who was nearly three years older than Rawls, and Curtis Mayfield.

After graduating from Chicago's Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a local gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, Rawls replaced Cooke in the Highway QC's after Cooke departed to join The Soul Stirrers in Los Angeles. Rawls was soon recruited by the Chosen Gospel Singers and himself moved to Los Angeles, where he subsequently joined the Pilgrim Travelers.

In 1955, Rawls enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the "All-Americans" three years later as a sergeant and rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers (then known as the Travelers). In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a serious car crash. Rawls was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. It took him months to regain his memory, and a year to fully recuperate. Rawls considered the event to be life-changing.

Alongside Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was recovered enough by 1959 to be able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1962, the same year he sang the soulful background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording of "Bring it on Home to Me" and "That's where it's at," both written by Cooke. Rawls himself charted with a cover of "Bring it on home to me" in 1970 (with the title shortened to "Bring It On Home").

Soul is truth, ... no matter where it comes from, no matter how it is presented
Lou Rawls, 1968 Pop Chronicles interview

Rawls' first Capitol solo release was Stormy Monday (a.k.a. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water), a jazz album, in 1962. On August 21, 1966, he opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

Though his 1966 album Live! went gold, Rawls would not have a star-making hit until he made a proper soul album, appropriately named Soulin', later that same year. The album contained his first R&B #1 single, "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing". In 1967 Rawls won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single "Dead End Street." In 1967, Rawls also performed at the first evening of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival.
Rawls performing with Frank Gorshin in 1977

In 1969, the singer was co-host of NBC's summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show along with Martin's daughter, singer Barbara Gail Martin.

After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single "Natural Man" written for him by comedian Sandy Baron and singer Bobby Hebb. He had a brief stint with Bell Records in 1974, where he recorded a cover of Hall & Oates' "She's Gone." In 1976, Rawls signed with Philadelphia International Records, where he had his greatest album success with the million-selling All Things in Time. The album produced his most successful single, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which topped the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and went to number two on the pop side, becoming Rawls' only certified million-selling single in the process.

Subsequent albums, such as 1977's When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All yielded such hit singles as "Lady Love". Other releases in the 1970s included the classic album Sit Down And Talk To Me.

Rawls' 1977 Grammy Awards performance of "You'll Never Find" was disrupted by a coughing fit.

In 1982, Rawls received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sang the lyrics to WGN-TV's 1983 "Chicago's Very Own" ad campaign, a slogan that the station still uses to this day.

In 1989, he performed vocals for "The Music and Heroes of America" segment in the animated television miniseries This is America, Charlie Brown.
"The Star Spangled Banner"

On the night of September 29, 1977, Rawls performed the national anthem of the United States prior to the Earnie Shavers-Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. He would be requested to sing the anthem many times over the next 28 years, and his final performance of it came on October 23, 2005. The crowd at that performance may not have known that Rawls was extremely ill with cancer, but he reportedly delivered an electrifying performance to kick off Game Two of the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field in his hometown of Chicago. He had also sung the National Anthem at two previous World Series games: the 1982 World Series opener between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers and Game Three of the 1985 World Series between the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, both at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
Honors and charity work
Lou Rawls at Baltimore's Inner Harbor (1980) being interviewed by local news anchor Curt Anderson, promoting the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon"

In 1980, Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon" which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, known since 1998 as "An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have benefited from and/or graduated from one of the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from the UNCF, along with musical performances from various recording artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event has raised over US$200 million in 27 shows for the fund through 2006.

In January 2004, Rawls was honored by the United Negro College Fund for his more than 25 years of charity work with the organization. Instead of hosting and performing as he usually did, Rawls was given the seat of honor and celebrated by his performing colleagues, including Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Ashanti, and many others. His final television performance occurred during the 2005-2006 edition of the telethon, honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, just months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. This program, aired in January, 2006, contains his final public television performance, where he performed two classics, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," and a final ode to Frank Sinatra with, "It Was A Very Good Year."

At the time of Rawls' death, news and UNCF figures noted the significance of Rawls' final performance, "It Was a Very Good Year." The song is a retrospective of one's life and its lyrics include, "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for small town girls and soft summer nights...And now those days grow short, it is the autumn of years, and now I think about life as vintage wine from fine old kegs, from the brim to the dregs, it pours sweet and clear, it was a very good year."
Acting career

Rawls appeared in a segment of the first season of Sesame Street, to sing the alphabet. He dismissed the concept of using cue cards for the performance, but reversed such decision when he forgot the order of the letters.

Throughout Rawls' singing career, he had the opportunity to appear in many films, television shows, and commercials. He can be seen in such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. He had a supporting role in the Baywatch spin-off, Baywatch Nights. He also appeared in the western television series, The Big Valley, (starring legend Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans) where he played a hired hand. Here, he delivered the memorable line: "Ain't a horse that can't be rode; ain't a man that can't be throwed".

Rawls lent his rich baritone voice to many cartoons, including Hey Arnold! as the voice of Harvey The Mailman, Garfield, and The Proud Family (also appearing in animation form in one episode). For many of the Film Roman Garfield specials, Rawls would often compose songs for them, which he would then sing usually doing a duet with Desiree Goyette, as well as the singing voice of the title character himself.

For many years, he was a spokesperson for the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company, helping promote the brand on radio and TV to African-American markets much as Ed McMahon did for the white audience. He was also a spokesman for Budweiser. Budweiser was a key sponsor for the Rawls telethon and UNCF. There was no attempt to avoid the similarity between the title of the 1977 album When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All and his corporate sponsor's slogan "When You Say Budweiser, You've Said It All". A track on the 1978 album Lou Rawls Live, features Rawls singing the commercial slogan. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser, also suggested his telethon work to him.

Rawls was also a regular guest host on "Jazz Central", a program aired on the BET Jazz cable channel.

He appears as "Dr. Rawls" in a dream on an episode My Wife and Kids, where he breaks into a parody version of "You'll Never Find", which a frightened Damon Wayans is afraid of having a colonoscopy the following day. Rawls uses the scope as a microphone in the scene. Rawls appears as a commentator in the second half of both the rated and unrated versions of the commentary for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy DVD commentary track, despite having nothing to do with the film itself. During the track, he indulges the commentators' request, participating in a scatting contest with Will Ferrell.

Rawls also appeared in an episode of Baywatch as a bookie.

Rawls was also a guest star during the second season of The Muppet Show. He also made a brief appearance on the series finale of Martin.
Billboard Top 50 hit singles

The following is a list of Rawls singles that made the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. His first Hot 100 entry was "Three O'Clock in the Morning" in 1965, and his final was "Wind Beneath My Wings" in 1983. In addition to those two, nine other singles peaked at positions below the top 50 on the Hot 100, and additional singles reached the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Bubbling Under charts.

    "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" - 1966, #13 (also #1 R&B)
    "Dead End Street" - 1967, #29
    "Show Business" - 1967, #45
    "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" - 1969, #18 (sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc)
    "A Natural Man" - 1971, #17
    "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" - 1976, #2 (also #1 R&B and #1 Easy Listening); another certified gold for sales of one million copies
    "Lady Love" - 1978, #24

Personal life

In January 2003, Rawls was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after getting into an argument with his then-girlfriend, Nina Malek Inman. During the course of the argument, he reportedly shoved her resulting in one charge of battery on a household member. The charge was later dropped. Rawls and Inman married later that same year.

On December 19, 2005, the Associated Press reported that Rawls tried to annul his two-year marriage to wife Inman Rawls, who had been acting as his business manager, after it was discovered she had made unauthorized transfers amounting to nearly $350,000 from his bank account into an account solely controlled by her. She later stated that she had transferred the funds to protect them from one of Rawls' daughters from a previous relationship.

It was also announced in December 2005 that Rawls was being treated for cancer in both his lungs and brain. With his wife by his side, Lou Rawls succumbed to his illness on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

In addition to his wife of two years and their young son, Aiden Allen Rawls; Rawls left behind adult daughter Louanna Rawls (a wardrobe stylist and future Launch My Line contestant); adult daughter Kendra Smith; adult son Lou Rawls, Jr.; and three granddaughters: Brianna, Katrina, and Chayil.
Lou Rawls's tomb at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Discography



    1962 Stormy Monday (Blue Note)
    1962 Black and Blue (Capitol)
    1963 Tobacco Road (Capitol)
    1964 For You My Love (Capitol)
    1965 Lou Rawls and Strings (Capitol)
    1965 Nobody But Lou (Capitol)
    1966 Live! (Capitol)
    1966 The Soul-Stirring Gospel Sounds of the Pilgrim Travelers (Capitol)
    1966 Soulin' (Capitol)
    1966 Carryin' On (Capitol)
    1967 Too Much! (Capitol)
    1967 That's Lou (Capitol)
    1967 Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (Capitol)
    1968 Feelin' Good (Capitol)
    1968 You're Good for Me (Capitol)
    1969 The Way It Was: The Way It Is (Capitol)
    1969 Your Good Thing (Capitol)
    1969 Close-Up (Capitol)
    1970 You've Made Me So Very Happy (Capitol)
    1970 Bring It On Home (Capitol)
    1971 Down Here on the Ground/I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (Capitol)
    1971 Natural Man (MGM)
    1972 Silk & Soul (MGM)
    1972 A Man of Value (MGM)
    1973 Live at the Century Plaza (Rebound)
    1975 She's Gone (Bell)
    1976 All Things in Time (Philadelphia International)
    1976 Naturally (Polydor)
    1977 Unmistakably Lou (Philadelphia International)
    1977 When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All (Philadelphia International)
    1978 Lou Rawls Live (Philadelphia International)
    1979 Let Me Be Good to You (Philadelphia International)
    1979 In Concert: Recorded with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Dep Entertainment)
    1980 Sit Down and Talk to Me (Philadelphia International)
    1981 Shades of Blue (Philadelphia International)
    1982 Now Is the Time (Epic)
    1983 When the Night Comes ( Epic)
    1984 Close Company (Epic)
    1986 Love All Your Blues Away (Epic)
    1988 Family Reunion (Gamble-Huff)
    1989 At Last (Blue Note)
    1990 It's Supposed to Be Fun (Blue Note)
    1992 Portrait of the Blues (Capitol)
    1993 Christmas Is the Time (Manhattan)
    1995 Holiday Cheer (Cema Special Markets)
    1995 Merry Little Christmas (EMI Special Products)
    1998 Unforgettable (Going For)
    1998 Seasons 4 U (Rawls & Brokaw)
    1999 A Legendary Night Before Christmas (Platinum Disc)
    2000 Swingin' Christmas (EMI-Capitol Special Markets)
    2001 I'm Blesseseek (Malaco)
    2001 Christmas Will Be Christmas (Capitol)
    2002 Oh Happy Day (601)
    2003 Rawls Sings Sinatra (Savoy Jazz)
    2003 Trying as Hard as I Can (Allegiance)
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/ororo79/LouRawls.jpg
http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt67/Logic1914/6a00d83454de4669e2011570c00bdc970c-800wi.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ijL2tljdI

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/06/12 at 11:50 am

Shortly after he passed away, one local radio station in southern California played his song "A Natural Man", which I thought was a nice tune.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/06/12 at 12:54 pm


Shortly after he passed away, one local radio station in southern California played his song "A Natural Man", which I thought was a nice tune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuMEAgd5T0s

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/06/12 at 4:01 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ijL2tljdI


One of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/12 at 6:51 am

The deceased person of the day...Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.
Howard moved back to the theatre in The Recruiting Officer (1943), where he met the actress Helen Cherry; they married in 1944 and stayed together until Howard's death in 1988; they had no children.

A short part in the British war film The Way Ahead (1944) provided an entry into the cinema. This was followed by The Way to the Stars (1945), which led to the role for which Howard is probably best remembered, the doctor in the 1945 film Brief Encounter, meeting and falling in love with a bored housewife played by Celia Johnson. Directed by David Lean, the film won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and considerable critical acclaim for Howard. Next came two successful Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat thrillers, I See a Dark Stranger (1945) and Green for Danger (1946), followed by They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), to which the roots of British realism in cinema can be traced. In 1947, he was invited by Laurence Olivier to play Petruchio in an Old Vic production of The Taming of the Shrew. Despite The Times declaring, "We can remember no better Petruchio", the opportunity of working again with David Lean, in The Passionate Friends (1949), drew Howard back to film and, although he had a solid reputation as a theatre actor, his dislike of long runs, and the attractions of travel afforded by film, convinced him to concentrate on cinema from this point. The Passionate Friends though, in which Howard played a similar character to Alec in Brief Encounter also featured Ann Todd and Claude Rains, but was not successful.

Howard's film reputation was secured in The Third Man (1949). As Major Calloway, he played the character type with which he became most associated, the slightly dry, slightly crusty, but capable British military officer. During filming in Vienna Howard visited the fairground which was, at that time, under the jurisdiction of the Russians, where, still wearing the uniform of a British Army Major, he was promptly arrested. He was returned to the SIB after his true identity was ascertained. He also starred in The Key (1958; based on a Jan de Hartog novel) for which he received the best actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Sons and Lovers (1960), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Another notable film was The Heart of the Matter (1953), from another Graham Greene story.

Over time Howard easily shifted to being one of England's finest character actors. Howard's later works included such films as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Father Goose (1964), Morituri (1965), Von Ryan's Express (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Superman (1978), and Gandhi (1982). The Dawning (1988) was his final film. One of his strangest films, and one he took great delight in, was Vivian Stanshall's 1980 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in which he played the title role.

In television, Howard began to find more substantial roles. In 1962, he played Løvborg in Hedda Gabler, her former love, with Ingrid Bergman. He won an Emmy award the following year as Disraeli in The Invincible Mr Disraeli. In the 1970s, he played an abbot in the ITV Saturday Night Theatre production of Catholics (1973). He received an Emmy nomination in 1975 for his role as Abbé Faria in a television version of The Count of Monte Cristo. The decade ended with him reunited with Celia Johnson in Staying On (1980), an adaptation of Paul Scott's postscript to his Raj Quartet novels.

The 1980s saw a revival of Howard's career as a film actor. The role of a Cheyenne Indian in Windwalker (1981) revitalized his acting. He continued with cameo roles, including Judge Broomfield in Gandhi (1982). His final films were White Mischief and The Dawning, both released in 1988.

He declined a CBE in 1982.

Howard did not abandon the theatre altogether in 1947, returning to the stage on occasion, most notably as Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard (1954) and the captain in The Father (1964). His last appearance on the British stage was in Waltz of the Toreadors in 1974.

Throughout his film career Howard insisted that all of his contracts held a clause excusing him from work whenever a cricket Test Match was being played.
Death

He died on 7 January 1988, from a combination of bronchitis, influenza and jaundice, in Arkley, Barnet, aged 74, survived by his widow Helen.
Shakespeare

Howard left behind just two Shakespeare performances, the first, recorded in the 1960s, was as Petruchio opposite Margaret Leighton's Kate in Caedmon Records' complete recording of The Taming of the Shrew; the second was in the title role of King Lear for the BBC World Service in 1986.
Awards and nominations

Howard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Sons and Lovers (1960). He won one BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Key (1958) and was nominated four more times. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie for Hallmark Hall of Fame: Invincible Mr. Disraeli in 1963 and received two other nominations, one as a lead and the other as a supporting actor. He also got three Golden Globe Award nominations.

A British government document leaked to the Sunday Times in 2003 shows that Howard was among almost 300 celebrities to decline honours.
Filmography

    The Way Ahead (1944)
    Brief Encounter (1945)
    The Way to the Stars (1945)
    I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
    Green for Danger (1946)
    They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
    So Well Remembered (1947)
    The Passionate Friends (1949)
    The Third Man (1949)
    Odette (1950)
    Golden Salamander (1950)
    The Clouded Yellow (1950)
    Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
    Outcast of the Islands (1952)
    The Gift Horse (1952)
    The Heart of the Matter (1953)
    La mano dello straniero (1954)
    Les amants du Tage (1955)
    The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
    Run for the Sun (1956)
    Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    Interpol (1957)
    Manuela (1957)
    A Day in Trinidad, Land of Laughter (1957) (narrator)
    The Key (1958)
    The Roots of Heaven (1958)
    Malaga (1960)
    Sons and Lovers (1960)
    The Lion (1962)
    Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
    Man in the Middle (1963)
    Father Goose (1964)
    Operation Crossbow (1965)
    Von Ryan's Express (1965)
    Morituri (1965)
    The Liquidator (1965)
    The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
    Triple Cross (1966)
    Pretty Polly (1967)
    The Long Duel (1967)
    The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
    Battle of Britain (1969)
    Ryan's Daughter (1970)
    Twinky (1970)
    Kidnapped (1971)
    The Night Visitor (1971)
    To Catch a Spy (1971)
    Mary, Queen of Scots (1972)
    The Offence (1972)
    Pope Joan (1972)
    Ludwig (1972)
    A Doll's House (1973) (TV)
    Who? (1973)
    11 Harrowhouse (1974)
    Persecution (1974)
    Cause for Concern (1974) (narrator)
    Craze (1974)
    The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) (TV)
    Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
    Hennessy (1975)
    Aces High (1976)
    Albino (1976)
    The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)
    Eliza Fraser (1976)
    The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
    Babel Yemen (1977) (voice)
    Slavers (1978)
    Stevie (1978)
    Superman (1978)
    Meteor (1979)
    Hurricane (1979)
    The Shillingbury Blowers (1980)
    The Sea Wolves (1980)
    Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)
    Windwalker (1981)
    Light Years Away, also known as Les Années lumière (1981)
    The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
    The Missionary (1982)
    Gandhi (1982)
    Flashpoint Africa (1984)
    Sword of the Valiant (1984)
    Dust (1985)
    Time After Time (1986)
    Foreign Body (1986)
    Shaka Zulu (1986)
    Peter the Great (TV series) (1986)
    White Mischief (1988)
    The Dawning (1988)
    The Unholy (1988)

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/evlisp/Autographs/Photo6.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk119/lint_clouds/Deuxieme/Trevor_Howard_Allan_Warren.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/07/12 at 7:20 am


The deceased person of the day...Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.
Howard moved back to the theatre in The Recruiting Officer (1943), where he met the actress Helen Cherry; they married in 1944 and stayed together until Howard's death in 1988; they had no children.

A short part in the British war film The Way Ahead (1944) provided an entry into the cinema. This was followed by The Way to the Stars (1945), which led to the role for which Howard is probably best remembered, the doctor in the 1945 film Brief Encounter, meeting and falling in love with a bored housewife played by Celia Johnson. Directed by David Lean, the film won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and considerable critical acclaim for Howard. Next came two successful Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat thrillers, I See a Dark Stranger (1945) and Green for Danger (1946), followed by They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), to which the roots of British realism in cinema can be traced. In 1947, he was invited by Laurence Olivier to play Petruchio in an Old Vic production of The Taming of the Shrew. Despite The Times declaring, "We can remember no better Petruchio", the opportunity of working again with David Lean, in The Passionate Friends (1949), drew Howard back to film and, although he had a solid reputation as a theatre actor, his dislike of long runs, and the attractions of travel afforded by film, convinced him to concentrate on cinema from this point. The Passionate Friends though, in which Howard played a similar character to Alec in Brief Encounter also featured Ann Todd and Claude Rains, but was not successful.

Howard's film reputation was secured in The Third Man (1949). As Major Calloway, he played the character type with which he became most associated, the slightly dry, slightly crusty, but capable British military officer. During filming in Vienna Howard visited the fairground which was, at that time, under the jurisdiction of the Russians, where, still wearing the uniform of a British Army Major, he was promptly arrested. He was returned to the SIB after his true identity was ascertained. He also starred in The Key (1958; based on a Jan de Hartog novel) for which he received the best actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Sons and Lovers (1960), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Another notable film was The Heart of the Matter (1953), from another Graham Greene story.

Over time Howard easily shifted to being one of England's finest character actors. Howard's later works included such films as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Father Goose (1964), Morituri (1965), Von Ryan's Express (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Superman (1978), and Gandhi (1982). The Dawning (1988) was his final film. One of his strangest films, and one he took great delight in, was Vivian Stanshall's 1980 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in which he played the title role.

In television, Howard began to find more substantial roles. In 1962, he played Løvborg in Hedda Gabler, her former love, with Ingrid Bergman. He won an Emmy award the following year as Disraeli in The Invincible Mr Disraeli. In the 1970s, he played an abbot in the ITV Saturday Night Theatre production of Catholics (1973). He received an Emmy nomination in 1975 for his role as Abbé Faria in a television version of The Count of Monte Cristo. The decade ended with him reunited with Celia Johnson in Staying On (1980), an adaptation of Paul Scott's postscript to his Raj Quartet novels.

The 1980s saw a revival of Howard's career as a film actor. The role of a Cheyenne Indian in Windwalker (1981) revitalized his acting. He continued with cameo roles, including Judge Broomfield in Gandhi (1982). His final films were White Mischief and The Dawning, both released in 1988.

He declined a CBE in 1982.

Howard did not abandon the theatre altogether in 1947, returning to the stage on occasion, most notably as Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard (1954) and the captain in The Father (1964). His last appearance on the British stage was in Waltz of the Toreadors in 1974.

Throughout his film career Howard insisted that all of his contracts held a clause excusing him from work whenever a cricket Test Match was being played.
Death

He died on 7 January 1988, from a combination of bronchitis, influenza and jaundice, in Arkley, Barnet, aged 74, survived by his widow Helen.
Shakespeare

Howard left behind just two Shakespeare performances, the first, recorded in the 1960s, was as Petruchio opposite Margaret Leighton's Kate in Caedmon Records' complete recording of The Taming of the Shrew; the second was in the title role of King Lear for the BBC World Service in 1986.
Awards and nominations

Howard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Sons and Lovers (1960). He won one BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Key (1958) and was nominated four more times. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie for Hallmark Hall of Fame: Invincible Mr. Disraeli in 1963 and received two other nominations, one as a lead and the other as a supporting actor. He also got three Golden Globe Award nominations.

A British government document leaked to the Sunday Times in 2003 shows that Howard was among almost 300 celebrities to decline honours.
Filmography

    The Way Ahead (1944)
    Brief Encounter (1945)
    The Way to the Stars (1945)
    I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
    Green for Danger (1946)
    They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
    So Well Remembered (1947)
    The Passionate Friends (1949)
    The Third Man (1949)
    Odette (1950)
    Golden Salamander (1950)
    The Clouded Yellow (1950)
    Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
    Outcast of the Islands (1952)
    The Gift Horse (1952)
    The Heart of the Matter (1953)
    La mano dello straniero (1954)
    Les amants du Tage (1955)
    The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
    Run for the Sun (1956)
    Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    Interpol (1957)
    Manuela (1957)
    A Day in Trinidad, Land of Laughter (1957) (narrator)
    The Key (1958)
    The Roots of Heaven (1958)
    Malaga (1960)
    Sons and Lovers (1960)
    The Lion (1962)
    Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
    Man in the Middle (1963)
    Father Goose (1964)
    Operation Crossbow (1965)
    Von Ryan's Express (1965)
    Morituri (1965)
    The Liquidator (1965)
    The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
    Triple Cross (1966)
    Pretty Polly (1967)
    The Long Duel (1967)
    The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
    Battle of Britain (1969)
    Ryan's Daughter (1970)
    Twinky (1970)
    Kidnapped (1971)
    The Night Visitor (1971)
    To Catch a Spy (1971)
    Mary, Queen of Scots (1972)
    The Offence (1972)
    Pope Joan (1972)
    Ludwig (1972)
    A Doll's House (1973) (TV)
    Who? (1973)
    11 Harrowhouse (1974)
    Persecution (1974)
    Cause for Concern (1974) (narrator)
    Craze (1974)
    The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) (TV)
    Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
    Hennessy (1975)
    Aces High (1976)
    Albino (1976)
    The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)
    Eliza Fraser (1976)
    The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
    Babel Yemen (1977) (voice)
    Slavers (1978)
    Stevie (1978)
    Superman (1978)
    Meteor (1979)
    Hurricane (1979)
    The Shillingbury Blowers (1980)
    The Sea Wolves (1980)
    Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)
    Windwalker (1981)
    Light Years Away, also known as Les Années lumière (1981)
    The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
    The Missionary (1982)
    Gandhi (1982)
    Flashpoint Africa (1984)
    Sword of the Valiant (1984)
    Dust (1985)
    Time After Time (1986)
    Foreign Body (1986)
    Shaka Zulu (1986)
    Peter the Great (TV series) (1986)
    White Mischief (1988)
    The Dawning (1988)
    The Unholy (1988)

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/evlisp/Autographs/Photo6.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk119/lint_clouds/Deuxieme/Trevor_Howard_Allan_Warren.jpg

A fine British actor, but why did he declined a CBE in 1982?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/07/12 at 11:41 am


A fine British actor, but why did he declined a CBE in 1982?

Not sure, but I found a list of others who declined it also.
A secret list of 300 top people who have snubbed the honours system by refusing knighthoods and other awards has been revealed.

David Bowie, celebrity cook Nigella Lawson and comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were among those who have refused honours, it was claimed.

Bowie declined a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours of 2000 while Lawson, rejected an OBE offered in 2001 for her "services to journalism and to cookery".

French and Saunders turned down OBEs "for services to comedy drama" in the same year. The information, covering more than 40 years, is in secret Whitheall files leaked to The Sunday Times. The reasons for refusing are not recorded.

An inquiry to find the source of the leak was now under way.

Novelist JG Ballard, James Bond leading lady Honor Blackman and jazz musician George Melly have all turned down honours under Blair, but the documents include the names of scores of famous people who have declined honours offered by prime ministers on behalf of the Queen since the Second World War.

Compiled by the Cabinet Office's ceremonial branch, the list of almost 300 names includes author Graham Greene, artist David Hockney, writer John le Carré, poet Robert Graves, author Aldous Huxley and writer and journalist Evelyn Waugh.

Other names on the list include writer J B Priestley, novellist Anthony Powell, children's author Roald Dahl, poet Philip Larkin, as well as actors Trevor Howard and Alastair Sim. LS Lowry, the painter, appears to have turned down more than anyone -- a total of five awards including a knighthood, CBE and OBE.

Actor Albert Finney not only rejected a knighthood in 2000 but the documents show he also turned down a CBE in 1980.

Even film director Alfred Hitchcock refused a CBE in 1962, although he accepted a knighthood shortly before he died according to the newspaper.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-204471/Top-people-refused-honours-named.html#ixzz1inMts088

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/07/12 at 12:29 pm


Not sure, but I found a list of others who declined it also.
A secret list of 300 top people who have snubbed the honours system by refusing knighthoods and other awards has been revealed.

David Bowie, celebrity cook Nigella Lawson and comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were among those who have refused honours, it was claimed.

Bowie declined a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours of 2000 while Lawson, rejected an OBE offered in 2001 for her "services to journalism and to cookery".

French and Saunders turned down OBEs "for services to comedy drama" in the same year. The information, covering more than 40 years, is in secret Whitheall files leaked to The Sunday Times. The reasons for refusing are not recorded.

An inquiry to find the source of the leak was now under way.

Novelist JG Ballard, James Bond leading lady Honor Blackman and jazz musician George Melly have all turned down honours under Blair, but the documents include the names of scores of famous people who have declined honours offered by prime ministers on behalf of the Queen since the Second World War.

Compiled by the Cabinet Office's ceremonial branch, the list of almost 300 names includes author Graham Greene, artist David Hockney, writer John le Carré, poet Robert Graves, author Aldous Huxley and writer and journalist Evelyn Waugh.

Other names on the list include writer J B Priestley, novellist Anthony Powell, children's author Roald Dahl, poet Philip Larkin, as well as actors Trevor Howard and Alastair Sim. LS Lowry, the painter, appears to have turned down more than anyone -- a total of five awards including a knighthood, CBE and OBE.

Actor Albert Finney not only rejected a knighthood in 2000 but the documents show he also turned down a CBE in 1980.

Even film director Alfred Hitchcock refused a CBE in 1962, although he accepted a knighthood shortly before he died according to the newspaper.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-204471/Top-people-refused-honours-named.html#ixzz1inMts088

Very interesting.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/08/12 at 2:07 am

British Person of the Day: David Bowie

David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice, and the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work.

Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–04 Reality Tour.

Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure." In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 140 million albums. In the UK, he has been awarded nine Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and eight Silver, and in the US, five Platinum and seven Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.

http://www.realbollywood.com/up_images/David-Bowie13276e.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/08/12 at 3:23 am

Bought a 'Best of Bowie' CD a couple of weeks ago.... and absolutely love it!  I wondered why he hadn't received a knighthood yet. I guess he's not a royal fan!  Love that permanently dilated pupil too...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/08/12 at 6:28 am


Bought a 'Best of Bowie' CD a couple of weeks ago.... and absolutely love it!  I wondered why he hadn't received a knighthood yet. I guess he's not a royal fan!  Love that permanently dilated pupil too...
He is now due for his Freedom Pass!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/12 at 8:05 am

The deceased person of the day...Matthew "Stymie" Beard
Matthew Beard, Jr. (January 1, 1925 – January 8, 1981) was an American child actor, most famous for portraying the character of Stymie in the Our Gang short films from 1930 to 1935. He was a native of Los Angeles, California.
Beard had previously played baby parts in many films before signing a five year contract to play in Our Gang. In contrast to Farina, the character he replaced, Stymie was a slick-tongued con-artist who was always self-assured, nonchalant, and ready with a sly comment as well as clever ideas to solve the problems he faced. The character's trademark was a bald head crowned by an oversize derby hat, a gift to Beard from comedian Stan Laurel, who had also worked under Our Gang creator Hal Roach. Stymie is the only Our Ganger to both replace one of the original gang members (Allen "Farina" Hoskins) and be replaced by one that would stay on until the series disbanded, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas.

The name "Stymie" was provided by Our Gang director Robert McGowan, who was always frustrated ("stymied") by little Matthew's curious wanderings around the studio; the character was originally to be named "Hercules". McGowan would later recall that Stymie was his favorite of all the Our Gang kids. The then five-year-old Beard came to the series a year after the transition from the silent/early talkie era Our Gang. He had the exclusive distinction of being with the gang from "Miss Crabtree" talkies of the early 1930s, through the mid-thirties transitional period, up until the era of the more familiar group of Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat, who would ultimately replace Stymie in 1935.

Beard's paycheck was used to help support his East Los Angeles family, including thirteen brothers and sisters. After Beard renamed his younger brother Bobbie "Cotton" (which was also used as Bobbie's Our Gang character name), his parents allowed him to name all of the rest of his siblings as they were born. He named one "Dickie" after his best friend, child actor and Our Gang kid Dickie Moore. Four other members of the Beard family would appear in the Our Gang comedies:

    His younger sister Betty Jane Beard preceded Stymie in the gang, playing Farina's little brother Hector in Moan & Groan, Inc. and When the Wind Blows (even though she was a girl).
    His younger sister Carlena Beard appeared as Stymie's younger sister in Shiver My Timbers, Readin' and Writin', For Pete's Sake! and The First Round-Up. In The First Round-Up, her character was called "Buckwheat", a role which would eventually be converted to a male character and given to Billie Thomas.
    His younger brother Bobbie Beard appeared in six Our Gang shorts from 1932 to 1934 as Stymie's younger brother, "Cotton."
    His mother, Johnnie Mae Beard, has a cameo as Stymie's mother in Big Ears and Free Wheeling. She was the only other Beard family member besides Matthew to have a speaking part in the Our Gang series.

Beard's younger brother Renee Beard would appear in Hal Roach's Our Gang-derived featurettes of the 1940s: Curley and Who Killed Doc Robbin.
After the gang

After Beard left the series in 1935 at the age of ten, he went on to score some minor roles in feature films, such as Captain Blood (1935) starring Errol Flynn and Jezebel (1938) with Bette Davis. At the age of 15 he makes an appearance and is credited as "Mose" the bellboy in the 1940 Fritz Lang directed The Return of Frank James with Henry Fonda and fellow child star (and Our Gang alumnus) Jackie Cooper (see IMDB "full cast and crew"). By the time he was in high school, he had retired from acting. Falling into drug use and street life, Beard became addicted to heroin, and spent most of his early adult life in and out of jail because of it.

In the 1960s, he checked himself into Synanon, a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles, and successfully ended his heroin use. After leaving Synanon, he made a small comeback, appearing in small roles in feature films and episodes of television shows such as Sanford and Son and Good Times; he had a recurring role as "Monty" on the latter series. In 1978, he appeared in the movie The Buddy Holly Story as a member of the backstage crew at the Apollo Theatre, wearing his trademark bowler hat. Beard also traveled around the country, giving lectures on drug-abuse awareness.
Death

Beard suffered a stroke two days after his 56th birthday in 1981, sustained head injuries, and died of pneumonia on January 8, 1981. He was residing in Los Angeles, California at the time of his passing.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f393/bacchus2k/stymie.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/Granny_E/stymie1.gif

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/08/12 at 8:09 am


British Person of the Day: David Bowie

David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice, and the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work.

Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–04 Reality Tour.

Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure." In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 140 million albums. In the UK, he has been awarded nine Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and eight Silver, and in the US, five Platinum and seven Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.

http://www.realbollywood.com/up_images/David-Bowie13276e.jpg

He is a great talent. I'd have to say Fame and Golden Years are two of my favorites.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/08/12 at 9:22 am


He is a great talent. I'd have to say Fame and Golden Years are two of my favorites.
Space Oddity is my favourite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/08/12 at 9:37 am


Space Oddity is my favourite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/08/12 at 9:38 am


Space Oddity is my favourite.
... and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQxTWDLZ8o

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/08/12 at 11:33 am


Space Oddity is my favourite.



Mine, too.


Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/08/12 at 4:28 pm


British Person of the Day: David Bowie

David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice, and the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work.

Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–04 Reality Tour.

Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure." In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 140 million albums. In the UK, he has been awarded nine Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and eight Silver, and in the US, five Platinum and seven Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.

http://www.realbollywood.com/up_images/David-Bowie13276e.jpg


Let's Dance is my favorite.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/08/12 at 4:29 pm


The deceased person of the day...Matthew "Stymie" Beard
Matthew Beard, Jr. (January 1, 1925 – January 8, 1981) was an American child actor, most famous for portraying the character of Stymie in the Our Gang short films from 1930 to 1935. He was a native of Los Angeles, California.
Beard had previously played baby parts in many films before signing a five year contract to play in Our Gang. In contrast to Farina, the character he replaced, Stymie was a slick-tongued con-artist who was always self-assured, nonchalant, and ready with a sly comment as well as clever ideas to solve the problems he faced. The character's trademark was a bald head crowned by an oversize derby hat, a gift to Beard from comedian Stan Laurel, who had also worked under Our Gang creator Hal Roach. Stymie is the only Our Ganger to both replace one of the original gang members (Allen "Farina" Hoskins) and be replaced by one that would stay on until the series disbanded, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas.

The name "Stymie" was provided by Our Gang director Robert McGowan, who was always frustrated ("stymied") by little Matthew's curious wanderings around the studio; the character was originally to be named "Hercules". McGowan would later recall that Stymie was his favorite of all the Our Gang kids. The then five-year-old Beard came to the series a year after the transition from the silent/early talkie era Our Gang. He had the exclusive distinction of being with the gang from "Miss Crabtree" talkies of the early 1930s, through the mid-thirties transitional period, up until the era of the more familiar group of Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat, who would ultimately replace Stymie in 1935.

Beard's paycheck was used to help support his East Los Angeles family, including thirteen brothers and sisters. After Beard renamed his younger brother Bobbie "Cotton" (which was also used as Bobbie's Our Gang character name), his parents allowed him to name all of the rest of his siblings as they were born. He named one "Dickie" after his best friend, child actor and Our Gang kid Dickie Moore. Four other members of the Beard family would appear in the Our Gang comedies:

    His younger sister Betty Jane Beard preceded Stymie in the gang, playing Farina's little brother Hector in Moan & Groan, Inc. and When the Wind Blows (even though she was a girl).
    His younger sister Carlena Beard appeared as Stymie's younger sister in Shiver My Timbers, Readin' and Writin', For Pete's Sake! and The First Round-Up. In The First Round-Up, her character was called "Buckwheat", a role which would eventually be converted to a male character and given to Billie Thomas.
    His younger brother Bobbie Beard appeared in six Our Gang shorts from 1932 to 1934 as Stymie's younger brother, "Cotton."
    His mother, Johnnie Mae Beard, has a cameo as Stymie's mother in Big Ears and Free Wheeling. She was the only other Beard family member besides Matthew to have a speaking part in the Our Gang series.

Beard's younger brother Renee Beard would appear in Hal Roach's Our Gang-derived featurettes of the 1940s: Curley and Who Killed Doc Robbin.
After the gang

After Beard left the series in 1935 at the age of ten, he went on to score some minor roles in feature films, such as Captain Blood (1935) starring Errol Flynn and Jezebel (1938) with Bette Davis. At the age of 15 he makes an appearance and is credited as "Mose" the bellboy in the 1940 Fritz Lang directed The Return of Frank James with Henry Fonda and fellow child star (and Our Gang alumnus) Jackie Cooper (see IMDB "full cast and crew"). By the time he was in high school, he had retired from acting. Falling into drug use and street life, Beard became addicted to heroin, and spent most of his early adult life in and out of jail because of it.

In the 1960s, he checked himself into Synanon, a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles, and successfully ended his heroin use. After leaving Synanon, he made a small comeback, appearing in small roles in feature films and episodes of television shows such as Sanford and Son and Good Times; he had a recurring role as "Monty" on the latter series. In 1978, he appeared in the movie The Buddy Holly Story as a member of the backstage crew at the Apollo Theatre, wearing his trademark bowler hat. Beard also traveled around the country, giving lectures on drug-abuse awareness.
Death

Beard suffered a stroke two days after his 56th birthday in 1981, sustained head injuries, and died of pneumonia on January 8, 1981. He was residing in Los Angeles, California at the time of his passing.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f393/bacchus2k/stymie.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/Granny_E/stymie1.gif


I remember Stymie.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/09/12 at 6:28 am

The deceased person of the day...Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's work was also controversial. Cook is closely associated with anti-establishment comedy that emerged in Britain and the USA in the late 1950s.
In 1961 he opened The Establishment Club at 18 Greek Street in Soho, presenting fellow comedians in a nightclub setting, including American Lenny Bruce. Cook said it was a satirical venue modelled on "those wonderful Berlin cabarets... which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War"; as a members-only venue it was outside the censorship restrictions. Cook befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club. Humphries said in his autobiography, My Life As Me, that he found Cook's lack of interest in art and literature off-putting. Cook's chiselled looks and languid manner led Humphries to observe that whereas most people take after their father or mother, Cook reminded one of one's auntie. Dudley Moore's jazz trio played in the basement of the club for many years during the early 1960s.

In 1962, the BBC commissioned a pilot for a television series of satirical sketches based on The Establishment Club, but it was not picked up straight away, and Cook went to New York for a year to perform in Beyond The Fringe on Broadway. When he returned, the pilot had been re-fashioned as That Was The Week That Was and had made a star of David Frost, something Cook resented. The 1960s satire boom was closing and Cook said Britain would "sink into the sea under the weight of its own giggling". He complained that Frost's success was based on copying Cook's own stage persona, and that his only regret in life had been once saving Frost from drowning.

Cook married Wendy Snowden in 1963, with whom he had two daughters, Lucy and Daisy. The marriage ended in 1970.

Cook expanded television comedy with Eleanor Bron, John Bird, and John Fortune. Cook's first regular television spot was on Granada Television's Braden Beat with Bernard Braden, where he featured his most enduring character: the static, dour, and monotonal E.L. Wisty, whom Cook had conceived for Radley College's Marionette Society.

His comedy partnership with Dudley Moore led to Not Only... But Also. This was intended by the BBC for Moore's music, but Moore invited Cook to write sketches and appear with him. Using few props, they created dry and absurd television, which lasted three seasons. Cook played characters such as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and the pair's Pete and Dud. Other sketches included "Superthunderstingcar", a send-up of the Gerry Anderson marionette TV shows, and Cook's pastiche of 1960s trendy arts documentaries – satirised in a parodic TV segment on Greta Garbo.

In the early 1970s the BBC erased most videotapes of the series. This was common television practice at the time, when agreements with actors' and musicians' unions limited the number of repeats. The policy of wiping recordings ceased in 1978. When Cook learned the series was to be destroyed, he offered to buy the tapes but was refused because of copyright issues. He suggested he purchase new tapes so that the BBC would have no need to erase the originals, but this was also turned down.

Of the original programmes, eight of the twenty-two episodes survive complete. These comprise the first series with the exception of the fifth and seventh episodes, the first and last episodes of the second series, and the Christmas special. Of the 1970 third series, only the various film inserts (usually of outdoor scenes) survive. The BBC recovered some shows by approaching overseas television networks and buying back copies. A compilation of six half-hour programmes, The Best of What's Left of Not Only...But Also was shown on television and released on VHS and DVD.

In 1968, Cook and Moore briefly switched to ATV for four, one-hour programmes entitled Goodbye Again, based on the Pete and Dud characters. They ignored suggestions from the director and cast. Sketches were drawn out to fill the running time. With no interest in the show and a problem with alcohol, Cook relied on cue cards and ended up garbling the script, forcing Moore to ad-lib. The show was not a popular success, owing in part to the publication of the ITV listings magazine, TV Times, being suspended because of a strike. John Cleese was a cast member.

Cook and Moore acted in films together, beginning with The Wrong Box in 1966. Bedazzled (1967), though now regarded as a classic, was not financially successful. Directed by Stanley Donen, the film's story is credited to Cook and Moore, and its screenplay to Cook. A comic parody of Faust, it starred Cook as George Spigott (The Devil) who tempts a frustrated, short-order chef called Stanley Moon (Moore) with the promise of gaining his heart's desire – the unattainable beauty Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron) – in exchange for his soul, but repeatedly tricks him. The film features appearances by Barry Humphries ('Envy') and Raquel Welch ('Lust'). Moore composed the soundtrack music and co-wrote (with Cook) the songs performed in the film, and his jazz trio backed Cook on the theme, a parodic anti-love song, which Cook delivered in a monotonous, deadpan voice, and included his put-down, "You fill me with inertia."
1970s

In 1970, Cook took over a project initiated by David Frost for a satirical film about an opinion pollster who rises to become President of Great Britain. Under Cook's guidance, the character became modelled on Frost. The film, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, was not a success, although the cast contained notable names.

Cook became a favourite of chat shows but his own effort at hosting one in 1971, Where Do I Sit?, was said by the critics to have been a disappointment. He was replaced after two episodes by Michael Parkinson, the start of Parkinson's career as a chat show host. Parkinson later asked Cook what his ambitions were. Cook replied " in fact, my ambition is to shut you up altogether."

Cook provided financial backing for the satirical magazine Private Eye, supporting it through difficult periods, particularly in libel trials. Cook invested his own money and solicited investment from his friends. For a time, the magazine was produced from the premises of The Establishment Club. Towards the end of the 1960s, Cook's alcoholism placed a strain on personal and professional relationships. He and Moore fashioned sketches from Not Only....But Also and Goodbye Again with new material into the stage revue Behind the Fridge. This toured Australia in 1972 before transferring to New York in 1973 as Good Evening. Cook frequently appeared worse for drink. Good Evening won Tony and Grammy Awards. When it finished, Moore stayed in the U.S., ending his partnership with Cook. Cook returned to England and in 1973 he married the actress and model Judy Huxtable.

Later, the more risqué humour of Pete and Dud went further on long-playing records as "Derek and Clive". The first recording was initiated by Cook to alleviate boredom during the Broadway run of Good Evening, and it used material conceived years before for the two characters but considered too outrageous. One of these audio recordings was also filmed, and tensions between the duo are seen to rise. Chris Blackwell circulated bootleg copies to friends. The popularity of the recording convinced Cook to release it commercially, although Moore was reluctant, fearing that his fame as a Hollywood star would be undermined. Two further Derek and Clive albums were released, the last accompanied by a film.

In 1978, Cook appeared on British music series Revolver as the manager of a ballroom where emerging punk and new wave acts played. For some groups, these were their first appearances on television. Cook's acerbic commentary was an aspect of the programme.

In 1979, Cook recorded comedy-segments as B-sides to the Sparks 12-inch singles "Number One In Heaven" and "Tryouts For The Human Race". The main songwriter Ron Mael often started off a banal situation in his lyrics, and then went at surreal tangents in the style of Cook and S.J. Perelman.
Amnesty International performances

Cook appeared at the first three fund-raising galas staged by humourists John Cleese and Martin Lewis on behalf of Amnesty International. The benefits were dubbed The Secret Policeman's Balls though it wasn't until the third show in 1979 that the title was used. He performed on all three nights of the first show in April 1976, A Poke in the Eye (with a Sharp Stick), as an individual performer and as a member of the cast of Beyond The Fringe, which reunited for the first time since the 1960s. He also appeared in a Monty Python sketch, taking the place of Eric Idle. Cook was on the cast album of the show and in the film, Pleasure At Her Majesty's. He was in the second Amnesty gala in May 1977, An Evening Without Sir Bernard Miles. It was retitled The Mermaid Frolics for the cast album and TV special. Cook performed monologues and skits with Terry Jones.

In June 1979, Cook performed all four nights of The Secret Policeman's Ball – teaming with John Cleese. Cook performed a couple of solo pieces and a sketch with Eleanor Bron. He also led the ensemble in the finale – the "End Of The World" sketch from Beyond The Fringe.

In response to a barb in The Daily Telegraph that the show was recycled material, Cook wrote a satire of the summing-up by Mr Justice Cantley in the trial of former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe – a summary condemned for alleged bias in favour of Thorpe. Cook performed it that same night (Friday 29 June – the third of the four nights) and the following night. The nine-minute opus, "Entirely a Matter for You," is considered by many fans and critics to be one of the finest works of Cook's career. Cook and show producer Martin Lewis brought out an album on Virgin Records entitled Here Comes the Judge: Live of the live performance together with three studio tracks that further lampooned the Thorpe trial.

Although unable to take part in the 1981 gala, Cook supplied the narration over the animated opening title sequence of the 1982 film of the show. With Lewis, he wrote and voiced radio commercials to advertise the film in the UK. He also hosted a spoof film awards ceremony that was part of the world première of the film in London in March 1982.

Following Cook's 1987 stage reunion with Moore for the annual U.S. benefit for the homeless, Comic Relief (not related to the UK Comic Relief benefits), Cook repeated the reunion for a British audience by performing with Moore at the 1989 Amnesty benefit The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball.
Cook is acknowledged as the main influence on comedians who followed him from amateur dramatic clubs of British universities to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then to the radio and television. Fans include the members of Monty Python and The Goodies. Some critics saw Cook's life as tragic, the brilliance of youth not sustained in later years. Cook said he had no ambitions for sustained success. He assessed happiness by the friendships and enjoyment of life. Eric Idle and Stephen Fry said Cook had not wasted his talent but rather that the newspapers had tried to waste him.

Several friends honoured him with a dedication in the closing credits of Fierce Creatures, a 1997 comedy film written by John Cleese about a zoo in peril of being closed. It starred Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The dedication displays photos and the lifespan dates of Peter Cook and of British naturalist/humorist Gerald Durrell.

In 1999 the minor planet 20468 Petercook, in the main asteroid belt, was named after him.

Ten years after his death, Cook was ranked number one in The Comedian's Comedian, a poll of 300 comics, comedy writers, producers and directors throughout the English speaking world. Channel 4 broadcast Not Only But Always, a television movie dramatising the relationship between Cook and Moore, with Rhys Ifans portraying Cook. At the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe a play, written by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde, examined the relationship from Moore's view, Pete and Dud: Come Again. Tom Goodman-Hill played Cook.

At the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Goodbye – the (after)life of Cook & Moore by Jonathan Hansler and Clive Greenwood was presented at the Gilded Balloon. The play imagined the newly dead Moore meeting the Cook in Limbo, also inhabited by other comic actors with whom they had worked, including Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, and Kenneth Williams. In May 2009 the play was seen again in London's West End at The Leicester Square Theatre (formerly "The Venue" and home to Pete and Dud: Come Again) with Jonathan Hansler as Cook, Adam Bampton Smith as Moore, and Clive Greenwood as everyone else.

A green plaque was unveiled by Westminster City Council and The Heritage Foundation at the site of The Establishment Club on 15 February 2009.
    The Wrong Box (1966): Morris Finsbury
    Alice in Wonderland (1966): Mad Hatter
    Bedazzled (1967): George Spiggott/The Devil
    A Dandy in Aspic (1968): Prentiss
    Monte Carlo Or Bust (released in the US as Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies) (1969): Maj. Digby Dawlish
    The Bed-Sitting Room (1969): Inspector
    The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970): Michael Rimmer
    The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972): Dominic
    Find the Lady (1976): Lewenhak
    The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978): Sherlock Holmes
    Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979): Clive
    Yellowbeard (1983): Lord Percy Lambourn
    Supergirl (1984): Nigel
    Whoops Apocalypse (1986): Sir Mortimer Chris
    The Princess Bride (1987): The Impressive Clergyman
    Without A Clue (1988): Norman Greenhough
    Getting It Right (1989): Mr. Adrian
    Great Balls of Fire! (1989): First English Reporter
    Black Beauty (1994): Lord Wexmire

Amnesty

    Pleasure at Her Majesty's (1976)
    The Mermaid Frolics (1977)
    The Secret Policeman's Ball
    The Secret Policeman's Private Parts (1981)
    The Best of Amnesty: Featuring the Stars of Monty Python (1999)

UK chart singles:-

    "The Ballad Of Spotty Muldoon" (1965)
    "Goodbye-ee" (1965) with Dudley Moore
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m275/pippop_bucket/cook-peter.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n163/2beans/peter_cook.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/12 at 11:43 am


The deceased person of the day...Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's work was also controversial. Cook is closely associated with anti-establishment comedy that emerged in Britain and the USA in the late 1950s.
In 1961 he opened The Establishment Club at 18 Greek Street in Soho, presenting fellow comedians in a nightclub setting, including American Lenny Bruce. Cook said it was a satirical venue modelled on "those wonderful Berlin cabarets... which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War"; as a members-only venue it was outside the censorship restrictions. Cook befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club. Humphries said in his autobiography, My Life As Me, that he found Cook's lack of interest in art and literature off-putting. Cook's chiselled looks and languid manner led Humphries to observe that whereas most people take after their father or mother, Cook reminded one of one's auntie. Dudley Moore's jazz trio played in the basement of the club for many years during the early 1960s.

In 1962, the BBC commissioned a pilot for a television series of satirical sketches based on The Establishment Club, but it was not picked up straight away, and Cook went to New York for a year to perform in Beyond The Fringe on Broadway. When he returned, the pilot had been re-fashioned as That Was The Week That Was and had made a star of David Frost, something Cook resented. The 1960s satire boom was closing and Cook said Britain would "sink into the sea under the weight of its own giggling". He complained that Frost's success was based on copying Cook's own stage persona, and that his only regret in life had been once saving Frost from drowning.

Cook married Wendy Snowden in 1963, with whom he had two daughters, Lucy and Daisy. The marriage ended in 1970.

Cook expanded television comedy with Eleanor Bron, John Bird, and John Fortune. Cook's first regular television spot was on Granada Television's Braden Beat with Bernard Braden, where he featured his most enduring character: the static, dour, and monotonal E.L. Wisty, whom Cook had conceived for Radley College's Marionette Society.

His comedy partnership with Dudley Moore led to Not Only... But Also. This was intended by the BBC for Moore's music, but Moore invited Cook to write sketches and appear with him. Using few props, they created dry and absurd television, which lasted three seasons. Cook played characters such as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and the pair's Pete and Dud. Other sketches included "Superthunderstingcar", a send-up of the Gerry Anderson marionette TV shows, and Cook's pastiche of 1960s trendy arts documentaries – satirised in a parodic TV segment on Greta Garbo.

In the early 1970s the BBC erased most videotapes of the series. This was common television practice at the time, when agreements with actors' and musicians' unions limited the number of repeats. The policy of wiping recordings ceased in 1978. When Cook learned the series was to be destroyed, he offered to buy the tapes but was refused because of copyright issues. He suggested he purchase new tapes so that the BBC would have no need to erase the originals, but this was also turned down.

Of the original programmes, eight of the twenty-two episodes survive complete. These comprise the first series with the exception of the fifth and seventh episodes, the first and last episodes of the second series, and the Christmas special. Of the 1970 third series, only the various film inserts (usually of outdoor scenes) survive. The BBC recovered some shows by approaching overseas television networks and buying back copies. A compilation of six half-hour programmes, The Best of What's Left of Not Only...But Also was shown on television and released on VHS and DVD.

In 1968, Cook and Moore briefly switched to ATV for four, one-hour programmes entitled Goodbye Again, based on the Pete and Dud characters. They ignored suggestions from the director and cast. Sketches were drawn out to fill the running time. With no interest in the show and a problem with alcohol, Cook relied on cue cards and ended up garbling the script, forcing Moore to ad-lib. The show was not a popular success, owing in part to the publication of the ITV listings magazine, TV Times, being suspended because of a strike. John Cleese was a cast member.

Cook and Moore acted in films together, beginning with The Wrong Box in 1966. Bedazzled (1967), though now regarded as a classic, was not financially successful. Directed by Stanley Donen, the film's story is credited to Cook and Moore, and its screenplay to Cook. A comic parody of Faust, it starred Cook as George Spigott (The Devil) who tempts a frustrated, short-order chef called Stanley Moon (Moore) with the promise of gaining his heart's desire – the unattainable beauty Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron) – in exchange for his soul, but repeatedly tricks him. The film features appearances by Barry Humphries ('Envy') and Raquel Welch ('Lust'). Moore composed the soundtrack music and co-wrote (with Cook) the songs performed in the film, and his jazz trio backed Cook on the theme, a parodic anti-love song, which Cook delivered in a monotonous, deadpan voice, and included his put-down, "You fill me with inertia."
1970s

In 1970, Cook took over a project initiated by David Frost for a satirical film about an opinion pollster who rises to become President of Great Britain. Under Cook's guidance, the character became modelled on Frost. The film, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, was not a success, although the cast contained notable names.

Cook became a favourite of chat shows but his own effort at hosting one in 1971, Where Do I Sit?, was said by the critics to have been a disappointment. He was replaced after two episodes by Michael Parkinson, the start of Parkinson's career as a chat show host. Parkinson later asked Cook what his ambitions were. Cook replied " in fact, my ambition is to shut you up altogether."

Cook provided financial backing for the satirical magazine Private Eye, supporting it through difficult periods, particularly in libel trials. Cook invested his own money and solicited investment from his friends. For a time, the magazine was produced from the premises of The Establishment Club. Towards the end of the 1960s, Cook's alcoholism placed a strain on personal and professional relationships. He and Moore fashioned sketches from Not Only....But Also and Goodbye Again with new material into the stage revue Behind the Fridge. This toured Australia in 1972 before transferring to New York in 1973 as Good Evening. Cook frequently appeared worse for drink. Good Evening won Tony and Grammy Awards. When it finished, Moore stayed in the U.S., ending his partnership with Cook. Cook returned to England and in 1973 he married the actress and model Judy Huxtable.

Later, the more risqué humour of Pete and Dud went further on long-playing records as "Derek and Clive". The first recording was initiated by Cook to alleviate boredom during the Broadway run of Good Evening, and it used material conceived years before for the two characters but considered too outrageous. One of these audio recordings was also filmed, and tensions between the duo are seen to rise. Chris Blackwell circulated bootleg copies to friends. The popularity of the recording convinced Cook to release it commercially, although Moore was reluctant, fearing that his fame as a Hollywood star would be undermined. Two further Derek and Clive albums were released, the last accompanied by a film.

In 1978, Cook appeared on British music series Revolver as the manager of a ballroom where emerging punk and new wave acts played. For some groups, these were their first appearances on television. Cook's acerbic commentary was an aspect of the programme.

In 1979, Cook recorded comedy-segments as B-sides to the Sparks 12-inch singles "Number One In Heaven" and "Tryouts For The Human Race". The main songwriter Ron Mael often started off a banal situation in his lyrics, and then went at surreal tangents in the style of Cook and S.J. Perelman.
Amnesty International performances

Cook appeared at the first three fund-raising galas staged by humourists John Cleese and Martin Lewis on behalf of Amnesty International. The benefits were dubbed The Secret Policeman's Balls though it wasn't until the third show in 1979 that the title was used. He performed on all three nights of the first show in April 1976, A Poke in the Eye (with a Sharp Stick), as an individual performer and as a member of the cast of Beyond The Fringe, which reunited for the first time since the 1960s. He also appeared in a Monty Python sketch, taking the place of Eric Idle. Cook was on the cast album of the show and in the film, Pleasure At Her Majesty's. He was in the second Amnesty gala in May 1977, An Evening Without Sir Bernard Miles. It was retitled The Mermaid Frolics for the cast album and TV special. Cook performed monologues and skits with Terry Jones.

In June 1979, Cook performed all four nights of The Secret Policeman's Ball – teaming with John Cleese. Cook performed a couple of solo pieces and a sketch with Eleanor Bron. He also led the ensemble in the finale – the "End Of The World" sketch from Beyond The Fringe.

In response to a barb in The Daily Telegraph that the show was recycled material, Cook wrote a satire of the summing-up by Mr Justice Cantley in the trial of former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe – a summary condemned for alleged bias in favour of Thorpe. Cook performed it that same night (Friday 29 June – the third of the four nights) and the following night. The nine-minute opus, "Entirely a Matter for You," is considered by many fans and critics to be one of the finest works of Cook's career. Cook and show producer Martin Lewis brought out an album on Virgin Records entitled Here Comes the Judge: Live of the live performance together with three studio tracks that further lampooned the Thorpe trial.

Although unable to take part in the 1981 gala, Cook supplied the narration over the animated opening title sequence of the 1982 film of the show. With Lewis, he wrote and voiced radio commercials to advertise the film in the UK. He also hosted a spoof film awards ceremony that was part of the world première of the film in London in March 1982.

Following Cook's 1987 stage reunion with Moore for the annual U.S. benefit for the homeless, Comic Relief (not related to the UK Comic Relief benefits), Cook repeated the reunion for a British audience by performing with Moore at the 1989 Amnesty benefit The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball.
Cook is acknowledged as the main influence on comedians who followed him from amateur dramatic clubs of British universities to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then to the radio and television. Fans include the members of Monty Python and The Goodies. Some critics saw Cook's life as tragic, the brilliance of youth not sustained in later years. Cook said he had no ambitions for sustained success. He assessed happiness by the friendships and enjoyment of life. Eric Idle and Stephen Fry said Cook had not wasted his talent but rather that the newspapers had tried to waste him.

Several friends honoured him with a dedication in the closing credits of Fierce Creatures, a 1997 comedy film written by John Cleese about a zoo in peril of being closed. It starred Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The dedication displays photos and the lifespan dates of Peter Cook and of British naturalist/humorist Gerald Durrell.

In 1999 the minor planet 20468 Petercook, in the main asteroid belt, was named after him.

Ten years after his death, Cook was ranked number one in The Comedian's Comedian, a poll of 300 comics, comedy writers, producers and directors throughout the English speaking world. Channel 4 broadcast Not Only But Always, a television movie dramatising the relationship between Cook and Moore, with Rhys Ifans portraying Cook. At the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe a play, written by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde, examined the relationship from Moore's view, Pete and Dud: Come Again. Tom Goodman-Hill played Cook.

At the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Goodbye – the (after)life of Cook & Moore by Jonathan Hansler and Clive Greenwood was presented at the Gilded Balloon. The play imagined the newly dead Moore meeting the Cook in Limbo, also inhabited by other comic actors with whom they had worked, including Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, and Kenneth Williams. In May 2009 the play was seen again in London's West End at The Leicester Square Theatre (formerly "The Venue" and home to Pete and Dud: Come Again) with Jonathan Hansler as Cook, Adam Bampton Smith as Moore, and Clive Greenwood as everyone else.

A green plaque was unveiled by Westminster City Council and The Heritage Foundation at the site of The Establishment Club on 15 February 2009.
    The Wrong Box (1966): Morris Finsbury
    Alice in Wonderland (1966): Mad Hatter
    Bedazzled (1967): George Spiggott/The Devil
    A Dandy in Aspic (1968): Prentiss
    Monte Carlo Or Bust (released in the US as Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies) (1969): Maj. Digby Dawlish
    The Bed-Sitting Room (1969): Inspector
    The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970): Michael Rimmer
    The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972): Dominic
    Find the Lady (1976): Lewenhak
    The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978): Sherlock Holmes
    Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979): Clive
    Yellowbeard (1983): Lord Percy Lambourn
    Supergirl (1984): Nigel
    Whoops Apocalypse (1986): Sir Mortimer Chris
    The Princess Bride (1987): The Impressive Clergyman
    Without A Clue (1988): Norman Greenhough
    Getting It Right (1989): Mr. Adrian
    Great Balls of Fire! (1989): First English Reporter
    Black Beauty (1994): Lord Wexmire

Amnesty

    Pleasure at Her Majesty's (1976)
    The Mermaid Frolics (1977)
    The Secret Policeman's Ball
    The Secret Policeman's Private Parts (1981)
    The Best of Amnesty: Featuring the Stars of Monty Python (1999)

UK chart singles:-

    "The Ballad Of Spotty Muldoon" (1965)
    "Goodbye-ee" (1965) with Dudley Moore
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m275/pippop_bucket/cook-peter.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n163/2beans/peter_cook.jpg

Great comedian, especially with Dudley Moore.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/09/12 at 11:57 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty68LPKRQQQ

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/09/12 at 4:19 pm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuMEAgd5T0s

That's the one!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/10/12 at 6:49 am

The deceased person of the day...Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.
Boone was born in Los Angeles, California, the middle child of Cecile (née Beckerman) and Kirk E. Boone, a well-to-do corporate lawyer. He was descended from Squire Boone, younger brother of frontiersman Daniel Boone. Richard's nephew is actor Randy Boone (born 1942); his cousin is actor-singer Pat Boone; his first cousin once removed is actress-singer Debby Boone (Pat's daughter). Boone graduated from Hoover High School in Glendale, California. He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, but left prior to graduation and tried his hand at oil-rigging, bartending, painting and writing before joining the United States Navy in 1941. He served on three ships in the Pacific during World War II, seeing combat as an aviation ordnanceman and gunner on TBM Avenger torpedo bombers.
Career

After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to study acting at the Actors Studio in New York. Serious and methodical, Boone debuted on Broadway in 1947 in the play Medea and appeared in Macbeth (1948) and The Man (1950).

Elia Kazan used Boone to feed lines to an actress for a screen test for Lewis Milestone. Milestone was not impressed with the actress, but he was impressed enough with Boone's voice to summon him to Hollywood, where he was given a seven-year contract with Fox.

In 1950, Boone made his screen debut as a Marine in Milestone's Halls of Montezuma. In 1953, he played Pontius Pilate in the first released Cinemascope film, The Robe. He had only one scene in the film, in which he gives instructions to Richard Burton, who plays the centurion ordered to crucify Christ. When he was ordered to appear in another film for Fox made at the same time as The Robe, he ended his contract with the studio.

During the filming of Halls of Montezuma he befriended Jack Webb, who was then producing and starring in Dragnet. The writer of Dragnet was preparing a series about a doctor for NBC. From 1954 to 1956, Boone became a familiar face in the lead role of that medical drama, Medic, receiving an Emmy nomination for Best Actor Starring in a Regular Series in 1955. While on Medic, he also guest starred as the character Everett Brayer on NBC's Frontier anthology series in the episode "The Salt War."

It was Boone's second television series, Have Gun – Will Travel, which made him a national star with his role as Paladin. The show was first offered to Randolph Scott, who turned it down but gave the script to Boone while they were making the film Ten Wanted Men The show ran from 1957 to 1963, with Boone receiving two more Emmy nominations, in 1959 and 1960.

He starred in three movies with John Wayne: The Alamo (as Sam Houston), Big Jake, and The Shootist.

During the 1960s Boone appeared regularly on other television programs. He was an occasional guest panelist and also a mystery guest on What's My Line?, the Sunday Night CBS-TV quiz show. On that show, he talked with host John Charles Daly about their days working together on the TV show The Front Page. Boone also had his own television anthology, The Richard Boone Show. Even though it aired only from 1963 to 1964, he received his fourth Emmy nomination in 1964. Along with The Danny Kaye Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Richard Boone Show won a Golden Globe for Best Show in 1964.

After cancellation of his weekly show, Boone and his family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. While living on Oahu, Boone helped persuade Leonard Freeman to film Hawaii Five-O exclusively in Hawaii. Prior to that, Freeman had planned to do "establishing" location shots in Hawaii but principal production in southern California. Boone and others convinced Freeman that the islands could offer all necessary support for a major TV series and would provide an authenticity otherwise unobtainable. Freeman, impressed by Boone's love of Hawaii, offered him the role of Steve McGarrett; Boone turned it down, however, and the role went to Jack Lord, who shared Boone's enthusiasm, which Freeman considered vital. Coincidentally, Jack Lord had appeared with Boone in the first episode of Have Gun – Will Travel, entitled "Three Bells to Perdido." Boone at that time had shot a pilot for CBS called Kona Coast that he hoped CBS would adopt as a series, but they went instead with Hawaii Five-0.

The six-foot-one-inch (1.85-m) Boone continued to appear in movies, typically as the villain, including The Raid (1954), Man Without a Star (1955 King Vidor), The Tall T (1957 Budd Boetticher), The War Lord (1965 Franklin Schaffner), Hombre (1967 Martin Ritt), The Arrangement (1969 Elia Kazan), The Kremlin Letter (1970 John Huston), Big Jake (1971 Michael Wayne), and The Shootist (1976 Don Siegel).

In the early 1970s, Boone starred in the short-lived TV series Hec Ramsey, which was about the turn-of-the-20th-century Western-style detective who preferred to use his brain instead of his gun. He once wryly noted to an interviewer in 1972, "You know, Hec Ramsey is a lot like Paladin, only fatter."

Boone returned to The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where he had once studied acting, to teach it in the mid 1970s.

In 1965, he came third in the Laurel Award for Best Action Performance; Sean Connery won first place with Goldfinger and Burt Lancaster won second place with The Train.
Personal life

In his youth, Boone attended the San Diego Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad, California, near Oceanside. It was there that Boone was introduced to theatre under the tutelage of Virginia Atkinson, who spawned theatre interest in many who eventually found their way to Hollywood. Robert Walker, another Academy graduate and member of the school’s theatre club, Masque & Wig, became a close acquaintance of Boone's.

Boone was married three times: to Jane Hopper (1937–1940), Mimi Kelly (1949–1950), and Claire McAloon (by whom he had a son, Peter) (1951–81 (his death)).

Boone moved to St. Augustine, Florida, from Hawaii in 1970 and worked with the production of Cross and Sword, when he was not acting on television or in movies, until his death in 1981. In the last year of his life, Boone was appointed Florida's cultural ambassador. During the 1970s, he wrote a newspaper column for the St. Augustine Record called "It Seems To Me." He also gave acting lectures at Flagler College in 1972–1973. In his final role, Boone played Commodore Matthew Perry in Bushido Blade. He died soon afterward of pneumonia while suffering from throat cancer in St. Augustine. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii.
Filmography
Film

    Halls of Montezuma (1951)
    Call Me Mister (1951)
    The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
    Red Skies of Montana (1952)
    Return of the Texan (1952)
    Kangaroo (1952)
    Way of a Gaucho (1952)
    Pony Soldier (1952)
    Man on a Tightrope (1953)
    Vicki (1953)
    The Robe (1953)
    City of Bad Men (1953)
    Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
    Dragnet (1954)
    The Siege at Red River (1954)
    The Raid (1954)
    Ten Wanted Men (1955)
    Man Without a Star (1955)
    Robbers' Roost (1955)
    The Big Knife (1955)
    Battle Stations (1956)
    Star in the Dust (1956)
    Away All Boats (1956)
    The Tall T (1957)
    Lizzie (1957)
    The Garment Jungle (1957)
    I Bury the Living (1958)
    Ocean's 11 (1960)
    The Alamo (1960)
    A Thunder of Drums (1961)
    Rio Conchos (1964)
    The War Lord (1965)
    Hombre (1967)
    Kona Coast (film) (1968)
    The Night of the Following Day (1968)
    The Arrangement (1969)
    The Kremlin Letter (1970)
    Madron (1970)
    Big Jake (1971)
    Against a Crooked Sky (1975)
    Diamante Lobo (1976)
    The Shootist (1976)
    The Last Dinosaur (1977)
    The Big Sleep (1978)
    Winter Kills (1979)
    The Bushido Blade (1981)

TV

    The Front Page (1949)
    Dragnet (1954)
    Medic (1954)
    Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963)
    The Richard Boone Show (1963–1964)
    The Mark Waters Story (1969)
    In Broad Daylight (1971)
    Deadly Harvest (1972)
    Hec Ramsey (1972)
    Goodnight, My Love (1972)
    The Great Niagara (1974)
    The Last Dinosaur (1977)
    The Hobbit (voice of Smaug the Dragon) (1977)
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj164/grinder49er/Western%20Stars/richardboone04.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/Donsan/John%20Waynes%20The%20Alamo/RichardBoone.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/11/12 at 9:36 am

The deceased person of the day...Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1888 – January 11, 1981) was an American actress.

Bondi began her acting career as a young child in theater, and after establishing herself as a stage actress, she reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version. She played supporting roles in several films during the 1930s, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played the mother of James Stewart in four films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

She continued acting into her later years, and won an Emmy Award for an appearance in the television series The Waltons in 1976.Bondi was born as Beulah Bondy in Valparaiso, Indiana, the daughter of Eva (née Marble) and Adolphe Bondy. Bondi began her acting career on the stage at age seven, playing the title role in the play Little Lord Fauntleroy in a production at the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, Indiana. She graduated from the Frances Shimer Academy (later Shimer College) in 1907, and gained her Bachelors and Masters degrees in oratory at Valparaiso University in 1916 and 1918, and moved to film in the 1930s. Her debut movie role was as "Emma Jones" in Elmer Rice's Street Scene (1931), which starred Sylvia Sidney, and in which Bondi reprised her stage role, followed by "Mrs. Davidson" in Rain (1932), which starred Joan Crawford and Walter Huston.

She was one of the first five women to be nominated for an Academy Award in the newly-created category of "Best Supporting Actress" for her work in The Gorgeous Hussy, although she lost the award to Gale Sondergaard. Two years later, she was nominated again for Of Human Hearts, and lost again, but her reputation as a character actress kept her employed.

She would most often be seen in the role of the mother of the star of the film for the rest of her career, with the exception of Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) as the abandoned Depression-era 'Ma' Cooper.

She often played mature roles in her early film career even though she was only in her early 40s. Bondi played James Stewart’s mother in four films: It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Human Hearts and Vivacious Lady.
Television

Her television credits include Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Howard Richardson's Ark of Safety on the Goodyear Television Playhouse.

She made her final appearances as Martha Corinne Walton on The Waltons in the episodes "The Conflict" (9/74) and "The Pony Cart" (12/76). She received an Emmy award for her performance in the latter episode. When her name was called, it first appeared that she was not present, but she was given a standing ovation as she walked slowly to the podium, where she thanked everyone for honoring her while she was still alive.

Despite the fact that she was known for playing mother figures, Bondi never married in real life. She died from pulmonary complications due to broken ribs suffered when she tripped over her cat on January 11, 1981, aged 92.
Partial filmography

    Street Scene (1931)
    Rain (1932)
    Finishing School (1934)
    The Invisible Ray (1936)
    The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
    Hearts Divided (1936)
    The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
    Maid of Salem (1937)
    Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
    The Sisters (1938)
    The Buccaneer (1938)
    Of Human Hearts (1938)
    Vivacious Lady (1938)
    On Borrowed Time (1939)
    The Under-Pup (1939)
    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
    Remember the Night (1940)
    Our Town (1940)
    Penny Serenade (1941)
    The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)
    One Foot in Heaven (1941)
    Watch on the Rhine (1943)
    Tonight We Raid Calais (1943)
    The Very Thought of You (1944)
    The Southerner (1945)
    Back to Bataan (1945)
    Sister Kenny (1946)
    It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
    The Sainted Sisters (1948)
    The Snake Pit (1948)
    So Dear to My Heart (1948)
    Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
    Reign of Terror (1949)
    The Baron of Arizona (1950)
    The Furies (1950)
    Lone Star (1952)
    Latin Lovers (1953)
    Track of the Cat (1954)
    Back from Eternity (1956)
    The Unholy Wife (1957)
    A Summer Place (1959)
    Tammy Tell Me True (1961)
    Tammy and the Doctor (1963)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/LouisXIV/cinema/character_actors/Beulah_Bondi4.jpg
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu333/roberttaylorfan/movies/The%20gorgeous%20hussy%20-1936/hussy-25b.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/12/12 at 8:29 am

The deceased person of the day...Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly four billion copies, and her estate claims that her works rank third, after those of William Shakespeare and the Bible, as the most widely published books. According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.

Agatha Christie published two autobiographies: a posthumous one covering childhood to old age; and another chronicling several seasons of archaeological excavation in Syria and Iraq with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. The latter was published in 1946 with the title, Come, Tell Me How You Live.

Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 24,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Many of her books and short stories have been filmed, some more than once (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 from Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel Dumb Witness. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries, alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called The Capture of Cerberus (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in The Labours Of Hercules). On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that The Incident of the Dog's Ball will be published by The Strand Magazine.
Almost all of Agatha Christie's books are whodunits, focusing on the British middle and upper classes. Usually, the detective either stumbles across the murder or is called upon by an old acquaintance, who is somehow involved. Gradually, the detective interrogates each suspect, examines the scene of the crime and makes a note of each clue, so readers can analyze it and be allowed a fair chance of solving the mystery themselves. Then, about halfway through, or sometimes even during the final act, one of the suspects usually dies, often because they have inadvertently deduced the killer's identity and need silencing. In a few of her novels, including Death Comes as the End and And Then There Were None, there are multiple victims. Finally, the detective organises a meeting of all the suspects and slowly denounces the guilty party, exposing several unrelated secrets along the way, sometimes over the course of thirty or so pages. The murders are often extremely ingenious, involving some convoluted piece of deception. Christie's stories are also known for their taut atmosphere and strong psychological suspense, developed from the deliberately slow pace of her prose.

Twice, the murderer surprisingly turns out to be the unreliable narrator of the story.

In six stories, Christie allows the murderer to escape justice (and in the case of the last three, implicitly almost approves of their crimes); these are The Witness for the Prosecution, Five Little Pigs, The Man in the Brown Suit, Murder on the Orient Express, Curtain and The Unexpected Guest. (When Christie adapted Witness into a stage play, she lengthened the ending so that the murderer was also killed.) There are also numerous instances where the killer is not brought to justice in the legal sense but instead dies (death usually being presented as a more 'sympathetic' outcome), for example Death Comes as the End, And Then There Were None, Death on the Nile, Dumb Witness, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked House, Appointment with Death, The Hollow, Nemesis, Cat Among the Pigeons, and The Secret Adversary. In some cases this is with the collusion of the detective involved. In some stories the question of whether formal justice will be done is left unresolved, such as Five Little Pigs, and arguably Ordeal by Innocence.
Critical reception

Agatha Christie was revered as a master of suspense, plotting, and characterisation by most of her contemporaries. Fellow crime writer Anthony Berkeley Cox was an admitted fan of her work, once saying that nobody can write an Agatha Christie novel but the authoress herself.

However, she does have her detractors, most notably the American novelist Raymond Chandler, who criticised her in his essay, "The Simple Art of Murder", and the American literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was dismissive of Christie and the detective fiction genre generally in his New Yorker essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".

Others have criticized Christie on political grounds, particularly with respect to her conversations about and portrayals of Jews. Christopher Hitchens, in his autobiography, describes a dinner with Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, which became increasingly uncomfortable as the night wore on, and where "The anti-Jewish flavour of the talk was not to be ignored or overlooked, or put down to heavy humour or generational prejudice. It was vividly unpleasant..."
Stereotyping

Christie occasionally inserted stereotyped descriptions of characters into her work, particularly before the end of the Second World War (when such attitudes were more commonly expressed publicly), and particularly in regard to Italians, Jews, and non-Europeans. For example, in the first editions of the collection The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930), in the short story "The Soul of the Croupier," she described "Hebraic men with hook-noses wearing rather flamboyant jewellery"; in later editions the passage was edited to describe "sallow men" wearing same. To contrast with the more stereotyped descriptions, Christie often characterised the "foreigners" in such a way as to make the reader understand and sympathise with them; this is particularly true of her Jewish characters, who are seldom actually criminals. (See, for example, the character of Oliver Manders in Three Act Tragedy.)
Film adaptations
Year Title Story based on Notes
1928 The Passing of Mr. Quinn The Coming of Mr. Quin First Christie film adaptation
1929 Die Abenteurer G.m.b.H. The Secret Adversary First Christie foreign film adaptation. German adaptation of The Secret Adversary
1931 Alibi The stage play Alibi and the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd First Christie film adaptation to feature Hercule Poirot
1931 Black Coffee Black Coffee
1932 Le Coffret de Laque Black Coffee French adaptation of Black Coffee
1934 Lord Edgware Dies Lord Edgware Dies
1937 Love from a Stranger The stage play Love from a Stranger and the short story "Philomel Cottage" Released in the US as A Night of Terror
1945 And Then There Were None The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None First Christie film adaptation of And Then There Were None
1947 Love from a Stranger The stage play Love from a Stranger and the short story "Philomel Cottage" Released in the UK as A Stranger Walked In
1957 Witness for the Prosecution The stage play Witness for the Prosecution and the short story "The Witness for the Prosecution"
1960 The Spider's Web Spider's Web
1961 Murder, She Said 4.50 from Paddington First Christie film adaptation to feature Miss Marple
1963 Murder at the Gallop After the Funeral In the film, Miss Marple replaces Hercule Poirot
1964 Murder Most Foul Mrs. McGinty's Dead The film is loosely based on the book and as a major change Miss Marple replaces Hercule Poirot
1964 Murder Ahoy! None An original film, not based on any book, although it borrows some elements of They Do It with Mirrors
1965 Gumnaam And Then There Were None Uncredited adaptation of And Then There Were None
1965 Ten Little Indians The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None
1965 The Alphabet Murders The A.B.C. Murders
1972 Endless Night Endless Night
1973 Dhund The Unexpected Guest Dhund (translation: Fog) is a 1973 Hindi movie produced and directed by B. R. Chopra
1974 Murder on the Orient Express Murder on the Orient Express
1974 And Then There Were None The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None Released in the US as Ten Little Indians
1978 Death on the Nile The stage play Murder on the Nile and the novel Death on the Nile
1980 The Mirror Crack'd The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
1982 Evil Under the Sun Evil Under the Sun
1985 Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence
1987 Desyat Negrityat The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None Russian film adaptation of And Then There Were None
1988 Appointment with Death The stage play Appointment with Death and the novel Appointment with Death
1989 Ten Little Indians The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None
1995 Innocent Lies Towards Zero
2005 Mon petit doigt m'a dit... By the Pricking of My Thumbs French adaptation of By the Pricking of My Thumbs
2007 L'Heure zéro Towards Zero French adaptation of Towards Zero
2008 Le crime est notre affaire 4.50 from Paddington French adaptation of 4.50 from Paddington
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p244/officer_illya/Agatha-Christie.gif
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt291/SemutSedeng/Agatha_christie.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/12/12 at 12:03 pm


The deceased person of the day...Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly four billion copies, and her estate claims that her works rank third, after those of William Shakespeare and the Bible, as the most widely published books. According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.

Agatha Christie published two autobiographies: a posthumous one covering childhood to old age; and another chronicling several seasons of archaeological excavation in Syria and Iraq with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. The latter was published in 1946 with the title, Come, Tell Me How You Live.

Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 24,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Many of her books and short stories have been filmed, some more than once (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 from Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel Dumb Witness. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries, alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called The Capture of Cerberus (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in The Labours Of Hercules). On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that The Incident of the Dog's Ball will be published by The Strand Magazine.
Almost all of Agatha Christie's books are whodunits, focusing on the British middle and upper classes. Usually, the detective either stumbles across the murder or is called upon by an old acquaintance, who is somehow involved. Gradually, the detective interrogates each suspect, examines the scene of the crime and makes a note of each clue, so readers can analyze it and be allowed a fair chance of solving the mystery themselves. Then, about halfway through, or sometimes even during the final act, one of the suspects usually dies, often because they have inadvertently deduced the killer's identity and need silencing. In a few of her novels, including Death Comes as the End and And Then There Were None, there are multiple victims. Finally, the detective organises a meeting of all the suspects and slowly denounces the guilty party, exposing several unrelated secrets along the way, sometimes over the course of thirty or so pages. The murders are often extremely ingenious, involving some convoluted piece of deception. Christie's stories are also known for their taut atmosphere and strong psychological suspense, developed from the deliberately slow pace of her prose.

Twice, the murderer surprisingly turns out to be the unreliable narrator of the story.

In six stories, Christie allows the murderer to escape justice (and in the case of the last three, implicitly almost approves of their crimes); these are The Witness for the Prosecution, Five Little Pigs, The Man in the Brown Suit, Murder on the Orient Express, Curtain and The Unexpected Guest. (When Christie adapted Witness into a stage play, she lengthened the ending so that the murderer was also killed.) There are also numerous instances where the killer is not brought to justice in the legal sense but instead dies (death usually being presented as a more 'sympathetic' outcome), for example Death Comes as the End, And Then There Were None, Death on the Nile, Dumb Witness, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked House, Appointment with Death, The Hollow, Nemesis, Cat Among the Pigeons, and The Secret Adversary. In some cases this is with the collusion of the detective involved. In some stories the question of whether formal justice will be done is left unresolved, such as Five Little Pigs, and arguably Ordeal by Innocence.
Critical reception

Agatha Christie was revered as a master of suspense, plotting, and characterisation by most of her contemporaries. Fellow crime writer Anthony Berkeley Cox was an admitted fan of her work, once saying that nobody can write an Agatha Christie novel but the authoress herself.

However, she does have her detractors, most notably the American novelist Raymond Chandler, who criticised her in his essay, "The Simple Art of Murder", and the American literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was dismissive of Christie and the detective fiction genre generally in his New Yorker essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".

Others have criticized Christie on political grounds, particularly with respect to her conversations about and portrayals of Jews. Christopher Hitchens, in his autobiography, describes a dinner with Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, which became increasingly uncomfortable as the night wore on, and where "The anti-Jewish flavour of the talk was not to be ignored or overlooked, or put down to heavy humour or generational prejudice. It was vividly unpleasant..."
Stereotyping

Christie occasionally inserted stereotyped descriptions of characters into her work, particularly before the end of the Second World War (when such attitudes were more commonly expressed publicly), and particularly in regard to Italians, Jews, and non-Europeans. For example, in the first editions of the collection The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930), in the short story "The Soul of the Croupier," she described "Hebraic men with hook-noses wearing rather flamboyant jewellery"; in later editions the passage was edited to describe "sallow men" wearing same. To contrast with the more stereotyped descriptions, Christie often characterised the "foreigners" in such a way as to make the reader understand and sympathise with them; this is particularly true of her Jewish characters, who are seldom actually criminals. (See, for example, the character of Oliver Manders in Three Act Tragedy.)
Film adaptations
Year Title Story based on Notes
1928 The Passing of Mr. Quinn The Coming of Mr. Quin First Christie film adaptation
1929 Die Abenteurer G.m.b.H. The Secret Adversary First Christie foreign film adaptation. German adaptation of The Secret Adversary
1931 Alibi The stage play Alibi and the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd First Christie film adaptation to feature Hercule Poirot
1931 Black Coffee Black Coffee
1932 Le Coffret de Laque Black Coffee French adaptation of Black Coffee
1934 Lord Edgware Dies Lord Edgware Dies
1937 Love from a Stranger The stage play Love from a Stranger and the short story "Philomel Cottage" Released in the US as A Night of Terror
1945 And Then There Were None The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None First Christie film adaptation of And Then There Were None
1947 Love from a Stranger The stage play Love from a Stranger and the short story "Philomel Cottage" Released in the UK as A Stranger Walked In
1957 Witness for the Prosecution The stage play Witness for the Prosecution and the short story "The Witness for the Prosecution"
1960 The Spider's Web Spider's Web
1961 Murder, She Said 4.50 from Paddington First Christie film adaptation to feature Miss Marple
1963 Murder at the Gallop After the Funeral In the film, Miss Marple replaces Hercule Poirot
1964 Murder Most Foul Mrs. McGinty's Dead The film is loosely based on the book and as a major change Miss Marple replaces Hercule Poirot
1964 Murder Ahoy! None An original film, not based on any book, although it borrows some elements of They Do It with Mirrors
1965 Gumnaam And Then There Were None Uncredited adaptation of And Then There Were None
1965 Ten Little Indians The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None
1965 The Alphabet Murders The A.B.C. Murders
1972 Endless Night Endless Night
1973 Dhund The Unexpected Guest Dhund (translation: Fog) is a 1973 Hindi movie produced and directed by B. R. Chopra
1974 Murder on the Orient Express Murder on the Orient Express
1974 And Then There Were None The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None Released in the US as Ten Little Indians
1978 Death on the Nile The stage play Murder on the Nile and the novel Death on the Nile
1980 The Mirror Crack'd The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
1982 Evil Under the Sun Evil Under the Sun
1985 Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence
1987 Desyat Negrityat The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None Russian film adaptation of And Then There Were None
1988 Appointment with Death The stage play Appointment with Death and the novel Appointment with Death
1989 Ten Little Indians The stage play And Then There Were None and the novel And Then There Were None
1995 Innocent Lies Towards Zero
2005 Mon petit doigt m'a dit... By the Pricking of My Thumbs French adaptation of By the Pricking of My Thumbs
2007 L'Heure zéro Towards Zero French adaptation of Towards Zero
2008 Le crime est notre affaire 4.50 from Paddington French adaptation of 4.50 from Paddington
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p244/officer_illya/Agatha-Christie.gif
http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt291/SemutSedeng/Agatha_christie.png
Read the majority of her books, and I found them all the same.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/12/12 at 1:44 pm

British Person of the Day: Maurice Gibb

Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png/220px-Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/12/12 at 1:45 pm


British Person of the Day: Maurice Gibb

Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png/220px-Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png
:\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/12/12 at 2:34 pm


British Person of the Day: Maurice Gibb

Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png/220px-Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png


Only 2 Gibb brothers left.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/12/12 at 2:35 pm


Only 2 Gibb brothers left.
Robin and Barry

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/12/12 at 2:35 pm


Robin and Barry



Robin is doing better as of late.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/12/12 at 2:39 pm



Robin is doing better as of late.
On 20 November 2011, it was revealed that Robin has been battling liver cancer, which had been diagnosed several months earlier. A source close to the singer stated that his condition is "not good" and his wife, Dwina, has not left his bedside. Brother Barry and his wife Linda, as well as their mother Barbara and Robin's children, Melissa and Spencer, have flown to the UK to be with him.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/12/12 at 2:40 pm


On 20 November 2011, it was revealed that Robin has been battling liver cancer, which had been diagnosed several months earlier. A source close to the singer stated that his condition is "not good" and his wife, Dwina, has not left his bedside. Brother Barry and his wife Linda, as well as their mother Barbara and Robin's children, Melissa and Spencer, have flown to the UK to be with him.


So he's s still diagnosed.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/12/12 at 5:11 pm


British Person of the Day: Maurice Gibb

Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png/220px-Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png

Oh yes, I knew he'd passed away on this date 9 years ago. He has been missed ever since. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/12/12 at 5:12 pm


On 20 November 2011, it was revealed that Robin has been battling liver cancer, which had been diagnosed several months earlier. A source close to the singer stated that his condition is "not good" and his wife, Dwina, has not left his bedside. Brother Barry and his wife Linda, as well as their mother Barbara and Robin's children, Melissa and Spencer, have flown to the UK to be with him.

So sorry to hear about Robin. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/12/12 at 5:25 pm


British Person of the Day: Maurice Gibb

Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png/220px-Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png



:\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJmRdE3WBgE



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/12 at 7:34 am


On 20 November 2011, it was revealed that Robin has been battling liver cancer, which had been diagnosed several months earlier. A source close to the singer stated that his condition is "not good" and his wife, Dwina, has not left his bedside. Brother Barry and his wife Linda, as well as their mother Barbara and Robin's children, Melissa and Spencer, have flown to the UK to be with him.

British Person of the Day: Maurice Gibb

Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png/220px-Maurice_Gibb_%28Bee_Gees%29_-_TopPop_1973.png

Very sad :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/12 at 7:37 am

The deceased person of the day...Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."

His collaborations with Roberta Flack scored high on the charts and won him the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the duet, "Where Is the Love" in 1973.

His body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.
At first, Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer. Working first at Chicago's Twinight Records, he later did the arrangements for hits by The Unifics ("Court of Love" and "The Beginning Of My End") and took part in projects by The Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, The Impressions and Curtis Mayfield. After becoming a "house producer" for Mayfield's label, Curtom Records, he started recording there as a member of The Mayfield Singers. He recorded his first single under his own name in 1969, a duet with singer June Conquest called "I Thank You Baby". They also recorded the duet "Just Another Reason", released as the b-side. Former Cleveland Browns president Bill Futterer, a college student who promoted Curtom in the southeast in 1968 and 1969, was befriended by Hathaway and has cited Hathaway's influence on his later projects.

That year, Hathaway signed to Atco Records after being spotted for the label by producer/musician King Curtis at a trade convention. He released his first single of note, "The Ghetto, Pt. 1", which he co-wrote with former Howard roommate Leroy Hutson, who became a performer, writer and producer with Curtom. The track appeared the following year on his critically acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which he co-produced with Ric Powell while also arranging all the cuts.

His second LP, Donny Hathaway, was also a success, but it was an album of duets with former Howard University classmate and label mate Roberta Flack that established him, especially on the pop charts. The album was both a critical and commercial success, including the Ralph MacDonald-penned track "Where Is The Love", which proved to be not only an R&B success, but also scored Top Five on the pop Hot 100. The album also included a number of other covers, including versions of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend", "Baby I Love You", originally a hit for Aretha Franklin and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling".

Donny Hathaway is also known as the co-composer and performer of the Christmas standard, “This Christmas.” The song, released in 1970, has become a holiday staple and is often used in movies, television and in advertising. “This Christmas” has been covered by numerous artists across diverse musical genres, including The Whispers, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Chicago, Harry Connick, Jr., Dru Hill, *NSYNC, Gloria Estefan, Boney James, The Cheetah Girls, Chris Brown, and Patti LaBelle.

Hathaway followed this flurry of work with some contributions to soundtracks, along with his recording of the theme song to the TV series Maude. He also composed and conducted music for the 1972 soundtrack of the movie Come Back Charleston Blue. In the mid-1970s, he also produced albums for other artists including Cold Blood, where he expanded the musical range of lead singer Lydia Pense.

His final studio album, "Extension Of A Man" came out in 1973 with two tracks, "Love Love Love" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" reaching both the pop and R&B charts. However, it was probably best noted for his classic ballad, "Someday We'll All Be Free" and a six-minute symphonic-styled instrumental piece called " I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry". He told UK music journalist David Nathan in 1973, “I always liked pretty music and I’ve always wanted to write it.” Added the writer, "He declined to give one particular influence or inspiration but said that Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky were amongst whom he studied."

He returned to the charts in 1978 after again teaming up with Roberta Flack for a duet, "The Closer I Get To You" on her album, "Blue Lights In The Basement". The song topped the R&B chart and just missed the number 1 spot on the Hot 100 (reaching #2). Atlantic then put out another solo single, "You Were Meant For Me" shortly before his sudden death.

Liner notes for later releases of his final solo album explain: "Donny is no longer here, but the song gathers momentum as part of his legacy... Donny literally sat in the studio and cried when he heard the playback of his final mix. It's pretty special when an artist can create something that wipes them out." Edward Howard, lyricist of the song, adds, "It was a spiritual thing for me... What was going through my mind at the time was Donny, because Donny was a very troubled person. I hoped that at some point he would be released from all that he was going through. There was nothing I could do but write something that might be encouraging for him. He's a good leader for young black men"
Personal life

Hathaway met his wife, Eulaulah, at Howard University. They had two daughters, Eulaulah Donyll (Lalah Hathaway) and Kenya. Lalah has enjoyed a successful solo career, while Kenya is one of the three backing vocalists on the hit TV program American Idol.

While separated from Eulaulah, Hathaway had another daughter (not with Eulaulah) named Donnita Hathaway.
Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications
Record label
US US
R&B UK
1970 Everything Is Everything 73 33 — — Atco
1971 Donny Hathaway 89 6 — —
1972 Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 3 2 31 Gold Atlantic
1973 Extension of a Man 69 18 — — Atco
1980 Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway 25 4 — Gold Atlantic
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Live albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications
Record label
US US
R&B UK
1972 Live 18 4 — Gold Atco
1980 In Performance 201 68 — — Atlantic
2004 These Songs for You, Live! — 78 — —
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Soundtrack albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications Record label
US US
R&B UK
1972 Come Back Charleston Blue 198 — — — Atco
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Compilation albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications Record label
US US
R&B UK
1978 The Best of Donny Hathaway — 51 — — Atco
1990 A Donny Hathaway Collection — — — — Atlantic
2000 Free Soul: The Classic of Donny Hathaway — — — — WEA Int'l
2010 Someday We'll All Be Free — — — — Warner Music France
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions
US US
R&B US
A/C UK
1969 "I Thank You Baby" (with June Conquest) — 45 — —
1970 "The Ghetto - Part 1" 87 23 — —
"This Christmas" — — — —
1971 "You've Got a Friend" (with Roberta Flack) 29 8 36 —
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (with Roberta Flack) 71 30 — —
1972 "Little Ghetto Boy" 109 25 — —
"Giving Up" 81 21 — —
"I Thank You" (with June Conquest) 94 41 — —
"Where Is the Love" (with Roberta Flack) 5 1 1 29
"Come Back Charleston Blue" (with Margie Joseph) 102 — — —
"I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" 60 20 — —
1973 "Love, Love, Love" 44 16 — —
"Come Little Childern" — 67 — —
1978 "The Closer I Get to You" (with Roberta Flack) 2 1 3 42
"You Were Meant for Me" — 17 — —
1980 "You Are My Heaven" (with Roberta Flack) 47 8 46 —
"Back Together Again" (with Roberta Flack) 56 8 — 3
"—" denotes the single failed to chart
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p30/dyin2sang/donny.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/jedmunds1234/donny.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/13/12 at 7:56 am


On 20 November 2011, it was revealed that Robin has been battling liver cancer, which had been diagnosed several months earlier. A source close to the singer stated that his condition is "not good" and his wife, Dwina, has not left his bedside. Brother Barry and his wife Linda, as well as their mother Barbara and Robin's children, Melissa and Spencer, have flown to the UK to be with him.

Found this article today:
BEE Gees star Robin Gibb has flown in a team of alternative medics from Switzerland as he battles liver cancer.

Gibb, 62, braved seven rounds of chemotherapy to try to beat the illness, and doctors are pleased with his response, The Sun reported.

Now, he is getting 24-hour care from the naturopath nutritionists at his mansion in Thame, central England, to help boost his recovery.

A close family friend said, "Robin is fighting this with dignity and courage. He's trying everything possible to beat this disease."

The naturopaths are believed to be the idea of his druid wife, Dwina.

The naturopathic approach tries to reduce surgery and drugs, relying instead on the body's natural ability to heal itself through good nutrition.

While undergoing conventional treatment, she also encouraged Gibb to undergo daily 20-minute sessions in a detox hut to sweat out toxins.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/13/12 at 12:36 pm


Found this article today:
BEE Gees star Robin Gibb has flown in a team of alternative medics from Switzerland as he battles liver cancer.

Gibb, 62, braved seven rounds of chemotherapy to try to beat the illness, and doctors are pleased with his response, The Sun reported.

Now, he is getting 24-hour care from the naturopath nutritionists at his mansion in Thame, central England, to help boost his recovery.

A close family friend said, "Robin is fighting this with dignity and courage. He's trying everything possible to beat this disease."

The naturopaths are believed to be the idea of his druid wife, Dwina.

The naturopathic approach tries to reduce surgery and drugs, relying instead on the body's natural ability to heal itself through good nutrition.

While undergoing conventional treatment, she also encouraged Gibb to undergo daily 20-minute sessions in a detox hut to sweat out toxins.
Please get well soon.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/13/12 at 4:37 pm


The deceased person of the day...Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."

His collaborations with Roberta Flack scored high on the charts and won him the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the duet, "Where Is the Love" in 1973.

His body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.
At first, Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer. Working first at Chicago's Twinight Records, he later did the arrangements for hits by The Unifics ("Court of Love" and "The Beginning Of My End") and took part in projects by The Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, The Impressions and Curtis Mayfield. After becoming a "house producer" for Mayfield's label, Curtom Records, he started recording there as a member of The Mayfield Singers. He recorded his first single under his own name in 1969, a duet with singer June Conquest called "I Thank You Baby". They also recorded the duet "Just Another Reason", released as the b-side. Former Cleveland Browns president Bill Futterer, a college student who promoted Curtom in the southeast in 1968 and 1969, was befriended by Hathaway and has cited Hathaway's influence on his later projects.

That year, Hathaway signed to Atco Records after being spotted for the label by producer/musician King Curtis at a trade convention. He released his first single of note, "The Ghetto, Pt. 1", which he co-wrote with former Howard roommate Leroy Hutson, who became a performer, writer and producer with Curtom. The track appeared the following year on his critically acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which he co-produced with Ric Powell while also arranging all the cuts.

His second LP, Donny Hathaway, was also a success, but it was an album of duets with former Howard University classmate and label mate Roberta Flack that established him, especially on the pop charts. The album was both a critical and commercial success, including the Ralph MacDonald-penned track "Where Is The Love", which proved to be not only an R&B success, but also scored Top Five on the pop Hot 100. The album also included a number of other covers, including versions of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend", "Baby I Love You", originally a hit for Aretha Franklin and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling".

Donny Hathaway is also known as the co-composer and performer of the Christmas standard, “This Christmas.” The song, released in 1970, has become a holiday staple and is often used in movies, television and in advertising. “This Christmas” has been covered by numerous artists across diverse musical genres, including The Whispers, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Chicago, Harry Connick, Jr., Dru Hill, *NSYNC, Gloria Estefan, Boney James, The Cheetah Girls, Chris Brown, and Patti LaBelle.

Hathaway followed this flurry of work with some contributions to soundtracks, along with his recording of the theme song to the TV series Maude. He also composed and conducted music for the 1972 soundtrack of the movie Come Back Charleston Blue. In the mid-1970s, he also produced albums for other artists including Cold Blood, where he expanded the musical range of lead singer Lydia Pense.

His final studio album, "Extension Of A Man" came out in 1973 with two tracks, "Love Love Love" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" reaching both the pop and R&B charts. However, it was probably best noted for his classic ballad, "Someday We'll All Be Free" and a six-minute symphonic-styled instrumental piece called " I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry". He told UK music journalist David Nathan in 1973, “I always liked pretty music and I’ve always wanted to write it.” Added the writer, "He declined to give one particular influence or inspiration but said that Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky were amongst whom he studied."

He returned to the charts in 1978 after again teaming up with Roberta Flack for a duet, "The Closer I Get To You" on her album, "Blue Lights In The Basement". The song topped the R&B chart and just missed the number 1 spot on the Hot 100 (reaching #2). Atlantic then put out another solo single, "You Were Meant For Me" shortly before his sudden death.

Liner notes for later releases of his final solo album explain: "Donny is no longer here, but the song gathers momentum as part of his legacy... Donny literally sat in the studio and cried when he heard the playback of his final mix. It's pretty special when an artist can create something that wipes them out." Edward Howard, lyricist of the song, adds, "It was a spiritual thing for me... What was going through my mind at the time was Donny, because Donny was a very troubled person. I hoped that at some point he would be released from all that he was going through. There was nothing I could do but write something that might be encouraging for him. He's a good leader for young black men"
Personal life

Hathaway met his wife, Eulaulah, at Howard University. They had two daughters, Eulaulah Donyll (Lalah Hathaway) and Kenya. Lalah has enjoyed a successful solo career, while Kenya is one of the three backing vocalists on the hit TV program American Idol.

While separated from Eulaulah, Hathaway had another daughter (not with Eulaulah) named Donnita Hathaway.
Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications
Record label
US US
R&B UK
1970 Everything Is Everything 73 33 — — Atco
1971 Donny Hathaway 89 6 — —
1972 Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 3 2 31 Gold Atlantic
1973 Extension of a Man 69 18 — — Atco
1980 Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway 25 4 — Gold Atlantic
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Live albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications
Record label
US US
R&B UK
1972 Live 18 4 — Gold Atco
1980 In Performance 201 68 — — Atlantic
2004 These Songs for You, Live! — 78 — —
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Soundtrack albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications Record label
US US
R&B UK
1972 Come Back Charleston Blue 198 — — — Atco
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Compilation albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications Record label
US US
R&B UK
1978 The Best of Donny Hathaway — 51 — — Atco
1990 A Donny Hathaway Collection — — — — Atlantic
2000 Free Soul: The Classic of Donny Hathaway — — — — WEA Int'l
2010 Someday We'll All Be Free — — — — Warner Music France
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions
US US
R&B US
A/C UK
1969 "I Thank You Baby" (with June Conquest) — 45 — —
1970 "The Ghetto - Part 1" 87 23 — —
"This Christmas" — — — —
1971 "You've Got a Friend" (with Roberta Flack) 29 8 36 —
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (with Roberta Flack) 71 30 — —
1972 "Little Ghetto Boy" 109 25 — —
"Giving Up" 81 21 — —
"I Thank You" (with June Conquest) 94 41 — —
"Where Is the Love" (with Roberta Flack) 5 1 1 29
"Come Back Charleston Blue" (with Margie Joseph) 102 — — —
"I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" 60 20 — —
1973 "Love, Love, Love" 44 16 — —
"Come Little Childern" — 67 — —
1978 "The Closer I Get to You" (with Roberta Flack) 2 1 3 42
"You Were Meant for Me" — 17 — —
1980 "You Are My Heaven" (with Roberta Flack) 47 8 46 —
"Back Together Again" (with Roberta Flack) 56 8 — 3
"—" denotes the single failed to chart
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p30/dyin2sang/donny.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i194/jedmunds1234/donny.jpg


Him and Roberta Flack scored a few hits together.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/13/12 at 4:37 pm


Found this article today:
BEE Gees star Robin Gibb has flown in a team of alternative medics from Switzerland as he battles liver cancer.

Gibb, 62, braved seven rounds of chemotherapy to try to beat the illness, and doctors are pleased with his response, The Sun reported.

Now, he is getting 24-hour care from the naturopath nutritionists at his mansion in Thame, central England, to help boost his recovery.

A close family friend said, "Robin is fighting this with dignity and courage. He's trying everything possible to beat this disease."

The naturopaths are believed to be the idea of his druid wife, Dwina.

The naturopathic approach tries to reduce surgery and drugs, relying instead on the body's natural ability to heal itself through good nutrition.

While undergoing conventional treatment, she also encouraged Gibb to undergo daily 20-minute sessions in a detox hut to sweat out toxins.


hope he makes it.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: gibbo on 01/13/12 at 5:47 pm



:\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJmRdE3WBgE



Cat


I used to own that great album.  I heard that the song 'Spicks and Specks' title was changed for the American release (due to racial meaning in the word 'spicks'). Of course, no racial insult was intended...

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 5:00 am


I used to own that great album.  I heard that the song 'Spicks and Specks' title was changed for the American release (due to racial meaning in the word 'spicks'). Of course, no racial insult was intended...
I still have that album and Vol 2 on CD.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 5:00 am


I still have that album and Vol 2 on CD.
Somewhere.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 5:02 am

There are so many to chose from for British Person of the Day!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 6:21 am

British Dog of the Day: Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner, John Gray (Old Jock), until he died himself on 14 January 1872. A year later, Lady Burdett-Coutts had a statue and fountain erected at the southern end of the George IV Bridge to commemorate him.

Several books and films have been based on Bobby's life, including the novel Greyfriar's Bobby (1912) by Eleanor Atkinson and the films Greyfriars Bobby (1961) and The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2006).

In 2011 Jan Bondeson at Cardiff University published research that suggests Bobby was actually a Victorian-era publicity stunt by local businesses to drum up tourist revenue. According to Bondeson's research, Bobby was a stray dog trained to remain in the graveyard; and was actually two different dogs.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Greyfriars-bobby-edin.jpg/150px-Greyfriars-bobby-edin.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/12 at 6:31 am


Please get well soon.

Amen

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/12 at 6:32 am


British Dog of the Day: Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner, John Gray (Old Jock), until he died himself on 14 January 1872. A year later, Lady Burdett-Coutts had a statue and fountain erected at the southern end of the George IV Bridge to commemorate him.

Several books and films have been based on Bobby's life, including the novel Greyfriar's Bobby (1912) by Eleanor Atkinson and the films Greyfriars Bobby (1961) and The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2006).

In 2011 Jan Bondeson at Cardiff University published research that suggests Bobby was actually a Victorian-era publicity stunt by local businesses to drum up tourist revenue. According to Bondeson's research, Bobby was a stray dog trained to remain in the graveyard; and was actually two different dogs.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Greyfriars-bobby-edin.jpg/150px-Greyfriars-bobby-edin.jpg

Wow now that is mans best friend.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 6:32 am


There are so many to chose from for British Person of the Day!
...and I chose the most obscure.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 6:34 am


Wow now that is mans best friend.

British Dog of the Day: Greyfriars Bobby

In 2011 Jan Bondeson at Cardiff University published research that suggests Bobby was actually a Victorian-era publicity stunt by local businesses to drum up tourist revenue. According to Bondeson's research, Bobby was a stray dog trained to remain in the graveyard; and was actually two different dogs.
There is always somebody that will ruin a good legend!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/12 at 6:37 am

The deceased person of the day...Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime. He owned the San Diego Padres baseball team from 1974.
With Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeting because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Ray took note of the McDonald brothers who had purchased 8 of his Multi-Mixers. Immediately after visiting the San Bernardino store, Ray became convinced that he could sell mixers to every new franchise restaurant that they opened, and so he offered his services to the McDonald brothers who were looking for a new franchising agent following the departure of agent Bill Tansey due to health issues.

Kroc eventually became frustrated with the brothers' willingness to accept their chain having only a handful of restaurants. In 1961, he bought the company for $2.7 million (enough to pay each brother $1 million each after taxes), plus an overriding royalty of 1.9% on gross sales to the McDonalds. (When negotiating the contract the McDonald brothers said that 2% sounded greedy; 1.9% was more attractive.)

The agreement was a handshake with split agreement between the parties because Kroc insisted that he could not show the royalty to the investors he had lined up to capitalize his purchase. At the closing table, Kroc became annoyed that the brothers would not transfer to him the real estate and rights to the original unit. The brothers had told Kroc that they were giving the operation, property and all, to the founding employees. Kroc closed the transaction, then refused to acknowledge the royalty portion of the agreement because it wasn't in writing. The McDonald brothers consistently told Kroc that he could make changes to things like the original blueprint (building codes were different in Illinois than in California), but despite Ray's pleas, the brothers never sent any formal letters which legally allowed the changes in the chain. Kroc also opened a new McDonald's restaurant near the McDonald's (now renamed "The Big M" as they had neglected to retain rights to the name) to force it out of business.

After finalizing the agreement with the McDonald Brothers, Kroc sent a letter to Walt Disney. (They had met as ambulance driver trainees at Sound Beach, Connecticut.) Kroc wrote, "I have very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald's system. I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disney Development." Disney agreed under stipulation to increase fries from ten cents to fifteen cents allowing himself the profit. Kroc refused to gouge his loyal customers leaving Disneyland to open without a McDonald's restaurant.

Kroc maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for hamburger preparation, which was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948. He standardized operations, ensuring every Big Mac would taste the same in New York or Tokyo. He set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking methods and times, and packaging. Kroc also rejected cost-cutting measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties. These strict rules also were applied to customer service standards with such mandates that money be refunded to clients whose orders were not correct or to customers who had to wait more than 5 minutes for their food. However, Kroc let the franchisees decide their best approach to marketing the products. For example, Willard Scott created the figure now known internationally as Ronald McDonald to improve sales in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Quotes

    Kroc defined salesmanship as “the gentle art of letting the customer have it your way."
    "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean," was a common reproach to idle employees.
    "I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night."
    "The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."
    "It's easy to have principles when you're rich. The important thing is to have principles when you're poor."
    "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
    "It isn't fast food if you have to wait. Wait more than 5 minutes, then the food should be free." (Fortune Magazine, July/1977)
    "Everyday, I go into a shop, try and catch someone doing something good, and I tell him."
    Kroc popularised the mantra "In business for yourself, but not by yourself" and successfully balanced the need for central control over franchisees, ensuring that they followed a rigid, proven formula, with the need to empower restaurant owners to suggest improvements to the business model.

Personal life

Kroc's foundation supported research and treatment of alcoholism, diabetes, and other diseases. He established the Ronald McDonald House foundation. He was a major donor to the Dartmouth Medical School.

In 1972 Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. (Democrat - NJ) suggested Kroc's contributions of over $200,000 to Richard M. Nixon's re-election campaign influenced the White House's policy on wages for teenage workers.

Kroc died of heart failure at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California, on January 14, 1984 at the age of 81. He left a widow, Joan. His previous marriages, to Ethel Fleming (1922–1961) and Jane Dobbins Green (1963–1968), ended in divorce.
In popular culture

Kroc's purchase of McDonald's is the basis for Mark Knopfler's song "Boom, Like That", from his 2004 album Shangri-La.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JSON1/raykroc.jpg
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab295/actorchris/American%20Underdog/Intro3.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/14/12 at 6:39 am


There is always somebody that will ruin a good legend!

They had publicity stunts even back then  :-\\

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 6:40 am


The deceased person of the day...Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime. He owned the San Diego Padres baseball team from 1974.
With Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeting because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Ray took note of the McDonald brothers who had purchased 8 of his Multi-Mixers. Immediately after visiting the San Bernardino store, Ray became convinced that he could sell mixers to every new franchise restaurant that they opened, and so he offered his services to the McDonald brothers who were looking for a new franchising agent following the departure of agent Bill Tansey due to health issues.

Kroc eventually became frustrated with the brothers' willingness to accept their chain having only a handful of restaurants. In 1961, he bought the company for $2.7 million (enough to pay each brother $1 million each after taxes), plus an overriding royalty of 1.9% on gross sales to the McDonalds. (When negotiating the contract the McDonald brothers said that 2% sounded greedy; 1.9% was more attractive.)

The agreement was a handshake with split agreement between the parties because Kroc insisted that he could not show the royalty to the investors he had lined up to capitalize his purchase. At the closing table, Kroc became annoyed that the brothers would not transfer to him the real estate and rights to the original unit. The brothers had told Kroc that they were giving the operation, property and all, to the founding employees. Kroc closed the transaction, then refused to acknowledge the royalty portion of the agreement because it wasn't in writing. The McDonald brothers consistently told Kroc that he could make changes to things like the original blueprint (building codes were different in Illinois than in California), but despite Ray's pleas, the brothers never sent any formal letters which legally allowed the changes in the chain. Kroc also opened a new McDonald's restaurant near the McDonald's (now renamed "The Big M" as they had neglected to retain rights to the name) to force it out of business.

After finalizing the agreement with the McDonald Brothers, Kroc sent a letter to Walt Disney. (They had met as ambulance driver trainees at Sound Beach, Connecticut.) Kroc wrote, "I have very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald's system. I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disney Development." Disney agreed under stipulation to increase fries from ten cents to fifteen cents allowing himself the profit. Kroc refused to gouge his loyal customers leaving Disneyland to open without a McDonald's restaurant.

Kroc maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for hamburger preparation, which was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948. He standardized operations, ensuring every Big Mac would taste the same in New York or Tokyo. He set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking methods and times, and packaging. Kroc also rejected cost-cutting measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties. These strict rules also were applied to customer service standards with such mandates that money be refunded to clients whose orders were not correct or to customers who had to wait more than 5 minutes for their food. However, Kroc let the franchisees decide their best approach to marketing the products. For example, Willard Scott created the figure now known internationally as Ronald McDonald to improve sales in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Quotes

    Kroc defined salesmanship as “the gentle art of letting the customer have it your way."
    "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean," was a common reproach to idle employees.
    "I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night."
    "The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."
    "It's easy to have principles when you're rich. The important thing is to have principles when you're poor."
    "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
    "It isn't fast food if you have to wait. Wait more than 5 minutes, then the food should be free." (Fortune Magazine, July/1977)
    "Everyday, I go into a shop, try and catch someone doing something good, and I tell him."
    Kroc popularised the mantra "In business for yourself, but not by yourself" and successfully balanced the need for central control over franchisees, ensuring that they followed a rigid, proven formula, with the need to empower restaurant owners to suggest improvements to the business model.

Personal life

Kroc's foundation supported research and treatment of alcoholism, diabetes, and other diseases. He established the Ronald McDonald House foundation. He was a major donor to the Dartmouth Medical School.

In 1972 Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. (Democrat - NJ) suggested Kroc's contributions of over $200,000 to Richard M. Nixon's re-election campaign influenced the White House's policy on wages for teenage workers.

Kroc died of heart failure at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California, on January 14, 1984 at the age of 81. He left a widow, Joan. His previous marriages, to Ethel Fleming (1922–1961) and Jane Dobbins Green (1963–1968), ended in divorce.
In popular culture

Kroc's purchase of McDonald's is the basis for Mark Knopfler's song "Boom, Like That", from his 2004 album Shangri-La.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JSON1/raykroc.jpg
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab295/actorchris/American%20Underdog/Intro3.jpg
McDonald is not even his name!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/14/12 at 6:41 am


They had publicity stunts even back then  :-\\
It was possible, but no one the scale as of this modern day.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 01/14/12 at 8:59 am


British Dog of the Day: Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner, John Gray (Old Jock), until he died himself on 14 January 1872. A year later, Lady Burdett-Coutts had a statue and fountain erected at the southern end of the George IV Bridge to commemorate him.

Several books and films have been based on Bobby's life, including the novel Greyfriar's Bobby (1912) by Eleanor Atkinson and the films Greyfriars Bobby (1961) and The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2006).

In 2011 Jan Bondeson at Cardiff University published research that suggests Bobby was actually a Victorian-era publicity stunt by local businesses to drum up tourist revenue. According to Bondeson's research, Bobby was a stray dog trained to remain in the graveyard; and was actually two different dogs.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Greyfriars-bobby-edin.jpg/150px-Greyfriars-bobby-edin.jpg


Just finished watching this on television, credits are rolling

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: danootaandme on 01/14/12 at 9:02 am


McDonald is not even his name!


Well, if they had called it Kroc's it could run into all sorts of puns....starting with the food being a Kroc of sheesh  ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/14/12 at 4:14 pm


The deceased person of the day...Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime. He owned the San Diego Padres baseball team from 1974.
With Prince Castle Multi-Mixer sales plummeting because of competition from lower-priced Hamilton Beach products, Ray took note of the McDonald brothers who had purchased 8 of his Multi-Mixers. Immediately after visiting the San Bernardino store, Ray became convinced that he could sell mixers to every new franchise restaurant that they opened, and so he offered his services to the McDonald brothers who were looking for a new franchising agent following the departure of agent Bill Tansey due to health issues.

Kroc eventually became frustrated with the brothers' willingness to accept their chain having only a handful of restaurants. In 1961, he bought the company for $2.7 million (enough to pay each brother $1 million each after taxes), plus an overriding royalty of 1.9% on gross sales to the McDonalds. (When negotiating the contract the McDonald brothers said that 2% sounded greedy; 1.9% was more attractive.)

The agreement was a handshake with split agreement between the parties because Kroc insisted that he could not show the royalty to the investors he had lined up to capitalize his purchase. At the closing table, Kroc became annoyed that the brothers would not transfer to him the real estate and rights to the original unit. The brothers had told Kroc that they were giving the operation, property and all, to the founding employees. Kroc closed the transaction, then refused to acknowledge the royalty portion of the agreement because it wasn't in writing. The McDonald brothers consistently told Kroc that he could make changes to things like the original blueprint (building codes were different in Illinois than in California), but despite Ray's pleas, the brothers never sent any formal letters which legally allowed the changes in the chain. Kroc also opened a new McDonald's restaurant near the McDonald's (now renamed "The Big M" as they had neglected to retain rights to the name) to force it out of business.

After finalizing the agreement with the McDonald Brothers, Kroc sent a letter to Walt Disney. (They had met as ambulance driver trainees at Sound Beach, Connecticut.) Kroc wrote, "I have very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald's system. I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disney Development." Disney agreed under stipulation to increase fries from ten cents to fifteen cents allowing himself the profit. Kroc refused to gouge his loyal customers leaving Disneyland to open without a McDonald's restaurant.

Kroc maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for hamburger preparation, which was introduced by the McDonald brothers in 1948. He standardized operations, ensuring every Big Mac would taste the same in New York or Tokyo. He set strict rules for franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking methods and times, and packaging. Kroc also rejected cost-cutting measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties. These strict rules also were applied to customer service standards with such mandates that money be refunded to clients whose orders were not correct or to customers who had to wait more than 5 minutes for their food. However, Kroc let the franchisees decide their best approach to marketing the products. For example, Willard Scott created the figure now known internationally as Ronald McDonald to improve sales in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Quotes

    Kroc defined salesmanship as “the gentle art of letting the customer have it your way."
    "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean," was a common reproach to idle employees.
    "I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night."
    "The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."
    "It's easy to have principles when you're rich. The important thing is to have principles when you're poor."
    "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
    "It isn't fast food if you have to wait. Wait more than 5 minutes, then the food should be free." (Fortune Magazine, July/1977)
    "Everyday, I go into a shop, try and catch someone doing something good, and I tell him."
    Kroc popularised the mantra "In business for yourself, but not by yourself" and successfully balanced the need for central control over franchisees, ensuring that they followed a rigid, proven formula, with the need to empower restaurant owners to suggest improvements to the business model.

Personal life

Kroc's foundation supported research and treatment of alcoholism, diabetes, and other diseases. He established the Ronald McDonald House foundation. He was a major donor to the Dartmouth Medical School.

In 1972 Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. (Democrat - NJ) suggested Kroc's contributions of over $200,000 to Richard M. Nixon's re-election campaign influenced the White House's policy on wages for teenage workers.

Kroc died of heart failure at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California, on January 14, 1984 at the age of 81. He left a widow, Joan. His previous marriages, to Ethel Fleming (1922–1961) and Jane Dobbins Green (1963–1968), ended in divorce.
In popular culture

Kroc's purchase of McDonald's is the basis for Mark Knopfler's song "Boom, Like That", from his 2004 album Shangri-La.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JSON1/raykroc.jpg
http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab295/actorchris/American%20Underdog/Intro3.jpg


I haven't had McDonalds in years.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/14/12 at 5:08 pm


I haven't had McDonalds in years.

Really?? I thought you'd eaten from there in recent years.

Lately, I have only gone there to get a dessert item, such as a soft-serve ice cream cone. When I was a kid I would go there for a Happy Meal, just so I could get the special toy that was inside. I still have most of the toys I collected from the Happy Meals.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 12:03 am


Just finished watching this on television, credits are rolling
Which version was that?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/12 at 7:17 am

The deceased person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson. He is known for the hit singles "Without You", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

He was awarded Grammys for two of his recordings; best male contemporary vocal in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin'", the theme song to the Academy Award-winning movie Midnight Cowboy, and best male pop vocal in 1972 for "Without You".
Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), used in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (US title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week". Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow".

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. "Coconut" was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of The Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. George Carlin also made reference to "Coconut" in the live recording of "Occupation: Foole" dated 1973, singing "Put de lime in de coconut, de lemon in de Tidy Bowl." It also featured in the FOX television series Bones, episode "The Hole in The Heart"; is said to be the favorite song of a character killed in the episode and is sung by the remaining characters as they load his coffin into a hearse for transport home to England.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the 1990 film Goodfellas - and also in the 2006 film A Good Year.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you"- a reference to his ongoing divorce, Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album reached 12 in the US Hot 100 and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
Nilsson's 1970s London flat at Flat #12, 9 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the US for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure at 32, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Death

Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who still retains the tapes of that session.

Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15, 1994 in his Agoura Hills, California, home.

In 1995, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and two friends of Nilsson, producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

The filmmakers re-edited the film with found rare footage of Nilsson, further interviews, and family photographs, and finally released it on September 17, 2010 at selected theaters in the United States. A DVD, including additional footage not in the theatrical release, was released on October 26, 2010.

As of July 2010, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.

The musical Everyday Rapture features three songs by Nilsson.

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children (Annie, Beau, Ben, Kief, Olivia, Oscar), his son Zachary Nine Nilsson from his marriage to Diane Clatworthy, and one grandson (Caleb). He was married to Sandy Maganiello (1964 to 1966), Diane Clatworthy (1969 to 1974) and Una O'Keeffe (1976 to his passing in 1994).
Awards and nominations

Nilsson won two Grammy Awards. He received several more Grammy nominations for the album Nilsson Schmilsson.

The New York Post rated Nilsson's cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking" #51 on their list of the 100 Best Cover Songs of All Time.
    Skidoo (1968) songs written and performed, soundtrack music composer, actor (bit role)
    The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1969 TV Series) acted and sang—He appeared in the episode "The Music Maker", and his character name was Tim Seagirt. He sang "Without Her" and "If Only I Could Touch Your Hand."
    The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series, 1969–1972) theme song written and performed, incidental music
    Midnight Cowboy (1969) new version of "Everybody's Talkin'" performed
    Jenny (1970) song "Waiting" written and performed
    The Point! (1971) story, all songs written and performed
    Son of Dracula (1974) actor (lead role), all songs performed
    The World's Greatest Lover (1978) song "Ain't It Kinda Wonderful" performed
    In God We Tru$t (1980) new version of "Good For God" performed
    Popeye (1980) all songs written, except "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
    Handgun (1983) song "Lay Down Your Arms" written and performed
    First Impressions, (TV series, 1988) theme song co-written, performed
    Camp Candy (TV series, animated, 1989–1991) theme song written, and performed with John Candy
    The Fisher King (1991) song "How About You" performed
    Me, Myself, and I (1992) song "Me, Myself and I" written and performed
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/hunnybunnnz/backgrounds/Harry_Nilsson.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h142/livefastdieold/HarryNilsson-NilssonSchmilsson.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/myhunprotectsme/223037.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/12 at 7:19 am


Really?? I thought you'd eaten from there in recent years.

Lately, I have only gone there to get a dessert item, such as a soft-serve ice cream cone. When I was a kid I would go there for a Happy Meal, just so I could get the special toy that was inside. I still have most of the toys I collected from the Happy Meals.


It's been Burger King.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/12 at 7:20 am

the only song I know is "Without You".

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/12 at 7:22 am


I haven't had McDonalds in years.

I'm not a big fan. Daniels other grandma takes him there so much I think he's going to turn into a McNugget ;D

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:23 am


The deceased person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson. He is known for the hit singles "Without You", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

He was awarded Grammys for two of his recordings; best male contemporary vocal in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin'", the theme song to the Academy Award-winning movie Midnight Cowboy, and best male pop vocal in 1972 for "Without You".
Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), used in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (US title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week". Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow".

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. "Coconut" was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of The Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. George Carlin also made reference to "Coconut" in the live recording of "Occupation: Foole" dated 1973, singing "Put de lime in de coconut, de lemon in de Tidy Bowl." It also featured in the FOX television series Bones, episode "The Hole in The Heart"; is said to be the favorite song of a character killed in the episode and is sung by the remaining characters as they load his coffin into a hearse for transport home to England.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the 1990 film Goodfellas - and also in the 2006 film A Good Year.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you"- a reference to his ongoing divorce, Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album reached 12 in the US Hot 100 and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
Nilsson's 1970s London flat at Flat #12, 9 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the US for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure at 32, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Death

Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who still retains the tapes of that session.

Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15, 1994 in his Agoura Hills, California, home.

In 1995, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and two friends of Nilsson, producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

The filmmakers re-edited the film with found rare footage of Nilsson, further interviews, and family photographs, and finally released it on September 17, 2010 at selected theaters in the United States. A DVD, including additional footage not in the theatrical release, was released on October 26, 2010.

As of July 2010, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.

The musical Everyday Rapture features three songs by Nilsson.

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children (Annie, Beau, Ben, Kief, Olivia, Oscar), his son Zachary Nine Nilsson from his marriage to Diane Clatworthy, and one grandson (Caleb). He was married to Sandy Maganiello (1964 to 1966), Diane Clatworthy (1969 to 1974) and Una O'Keeffe (1976 to his passing in 1994).
Awards and nominations

Nilsson won two Grammy Awards. He received several more Grammy nominations for the album Nilsson Schmilsson.

The New York Post rated Nilsson's cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking" #51 on their list of the 100 Best Cover Songs of All Time.
    Skidoo (1968) songs written and performed, soundtrack music composer, actor (bit role)
    The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1969 TV Series) acted and sang—He appeared in the episode "The Music Maker", and his character name was Tim Seagirt. He sang "Without Her" and "If Only I Could Touch Your Hand."
    The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series, 1969–1972) theme song written and performed, incidental music
    Midnight Cowboy (1969) new version of "Everybody's Talkin'" performed
    Jenny (1970) song "Waiting" written and performed
    The Point! (1971) story, all songs written and performed
    Son of Dracula (1974) actor (lead role), all songs performed
    The World's Greatest Lover (1978) song "Ain't It Kinda Wonderful" performed
    In God We Tru$t (1980) new version of "Good For God" performed
    Popeye (1980) all songs written, except "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
    Handgun (1983) song "Lay Down Your Arms" written and performed
    First Impressions, (TV series, 1988) theme song co-written, performed
    Camp Candy (TV series, animated, 1989–1991) theme song written, and performed with John Candy
    The Fisher King (1991) song "How About You" performed
    Me, Myself, and I (1992) song "Me, Myself and I" written and performed
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/hunnybunnnz/backgrounds/Harry_Nilsson.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h142/livefastdieold/HarryNilsson-NilssonSchmilsson.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/myhunprotectsme/223037.jpg
I was waiting to see who you choose for today.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:24 am


the only song I know is "Without You".
Do you know Everybody's Talkin'?

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:27 am


The deceased person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson. He is known for the hit singles "Without You", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

He was awarded Grammys for two of his recordings; best male contemporary vocal in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin'", the theme song to the Academy Award-winning movie Midnight Cowboy, and best male pop vocal in 1972 for "Without You".
Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), used in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (US title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week". Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow".

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. "Coconut" was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of The Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. George Carlin also made reference to "Coconut" in the live recording of "Occupation: Foole" dated 1973, singing "Put de lime in de coconut, de lemon in de Tidy Bowl." It also featured in the FOX television series Bones, episode "The Hole in The Heart"; is said to be the favorite song of a character killed in the episode and is sung by the remaining characters as they load his coffin into a hearse for transport home to England.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the 1990 film Goodfellas - and also in the 2006 film A Good Year.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you"- a reference to his ongoing divorce, Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album reached 12 in the US Hot 100 and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
Nilsson's 1970s London flat at Flat #12, 9 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the US for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure at 32, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Death

Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who still retains the tapes of that session.

Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15, 1994 in his Agoura Hills, California, home.

In 1995, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and two friends of Nilsson, producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

The filmmakers re-edited the film with found rare footage of Nilsson, further interviews, and family photographs, and finally released it on September 17, 2010 at selected theaters in the United States. A DVD, including additional footage not in the theatrical release, was released on October 26, 2010.

As of July 2010, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.

The musical Everyday Rapture features three songs by Nilsson.

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children (Annie, Beau, Ben, Kief, Olivia, Oscar), his son Zachary Nine Nilsson from his marriage to Diane Clatworthy, and one grandson (Caleb). He was married to Sandy Maganiello (1964 to 1966), Diane Clatworthy (1969 to 1974) and Una O'Keeffe (1976 to his passing in 1994).
Awards and nominations

Nilsson won two Grammy Awards. He received several more Grammy nominations for the album Nilsson Schmilsson.

The New York Post rated Nilsson's cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking" #51 on their list of the 100 Best Cover Songs of All Time.
    Skidoo (1968) songs written and performed, soundtrack music composer, actor (bit role)
    The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1969 TV Series) acted and sang—He appeared in the episode "The Music Maker", and his character name was Tim Seagirt. He sang "Without Her" and "If Only I Could Touch Your Hand."
    The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series, 1969–1972) theme song written and performed, incidental music
    Midnight Cowboy (1969) new version of "Everybody's Talkin'" performed
    Jenny (1970) song "Waiting" written and performed
    The Point! (1971) story, all songs written and performed
    Son of Dracula (1974) actor (lead role), all songs performed
    The World's Greatest Lover (1978) song "Ain't It Kinda Wonderful" performed
    In God We Tru$t (1980) new version of "Good For God" performed
    Popeye (1980) all songs written, except "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
    Handgun (1983) song "Lay Down Your Arms" written and performed
    First Impressions, (TV series, 1988) theme song co-written, performed
    Camp Candy (TV series, animated, 1989–1991) theme song written, and performed with John Candy
    The Fisher King (1991) song "How About You" performed
    Me, Myself, and I (1992) song "Me, Myself and I" written and performed
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/hunnybunnnz/backgrounds/Harry_Nilsson.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h142/livefastdieold/HarryNilsson-NilssonSchmilsson.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/myhunprotectsme/223037.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz6WlCd4u0w

A dance performance of Without You by Nilsson for Top Of The Pops in 1972.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/12 at 7:30 am


Do you know Everybody's Talkin'?


I don't think so.  ???

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:34 am


I don't think so.  ???


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AzEY6ZqkuE

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:35 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AzEY6ZqkuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbgv8PkO9eo

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:37 am


The deceased person of the day...Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson. He is known for the hit singles "Without You", "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Coconut".

He was awarded Grammys for two of his recordings; best male contemporary vocal in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin'", the theme song to the Academy Award-winning movie Midnight Cowboy, and best male pop vocal in 1972 for "Without You".
Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), used in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (US title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week". Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow".

Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.

The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. "Coconut" was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of The Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. George Carlin also made reference to "Coconut" in the live recording of "Occupation: Foole" dated 1973, singing "Put de lime in de coconut, de lemon in de Tidy Bowl." It also featured in the FOX television series Bones, episode "The Hole in The Heart"; is said to be the favorite song of a character killed in the episode and is sung by the remaining characters as they load his coffin into a hearse for transport home to England.

The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the 1990 film Goodfellas - and also in the 2006 film A Good Year.

Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fudge you"- a reference to his ongoing divorce, Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album reached 12 in the US Hot 100 and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
Nilsson's 1970s London flat at Flat #12, 9 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the US for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore." Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure at 32, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Death

Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who still retains the tapes of that session.

Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15, 1994 in his Agoura Hills, California, home.

In 1995, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
Legacy

Nilsson is the subject of a 2006 documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him) produced by David Leaf and John Schienfeld. The film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival followed by a panel discussion about Nilsson featuring the filmmakers and two friends of Nilsson, producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman.

The filmmakers re-edited the film with found rare footage of Nilsson, further interviews, and family photographs, and finally released it on September 17, 2010 at selected theaters in the United States. A DVD, including additional footage not in the theatrical release, was released on October 26, 2010.

As of July 2010, Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson) has not been released, though several demos from the album are available on promotional CDs and online.

The musical Everyday Rapture features three songs by Nilsson.

Nilsson was survived by his third wife, Una (née O'Keeffe), and their six children (Annie, Beau, Ben, Kief, Olivia, Oscar), his son Zachary Nine Nilsson from his marriage to Diane Clatworthy, and one grandson (Caleb). He was married to Sandy Maganiello (1964 to 1966), Diane Clatworthy (1969 to 1974) and Una O'Keeffe (1976 to his passing in 1994).
Awards and nominations

Nilsson won two Grammy Awards. He received several more Grammy nominations for the album Nilsson Schmilsson.

The New York Post rated Nilsson's cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking" #51 on their list of the 100 Best Cover Songs of All Time.
    Skidoo (1968) songs written and performed, soundtrack music composer, actor (bit role)
    The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1969 TV Series) acted and sang—He appeared in the episode "The Music Maker", and his character name was Tim Seagirt. He sang "Without Her" and "If Only I Could Touch Your Hand."
    The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series, 1969–1972) theme song written and performed, incidental music
    Midnight Cowboy (1969) new version of "Everybody's Talkin'" performed
    Jenny (1970) song "Waiting" written and performed
    The Point! (1971) story, all songs written and performed
    Son of Dracula (1974) actor (lead role), all songs performed
    The World's Greatest Lover (1978) song "Ain't It Kinda Wonderful" performed
    In God We Tru$t (1980) new version of "Good For God" performed
    Popeye (1980) all songs written, except "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
    Handgun (1983) song "Lay Down Your Arms" written and performed
    First Impressions, (TV series, 1988) theme song co-written, performed
    Camp Candy (TV series, animated, 1989–1991) theme song written, and performed with John Candy
    The Fisher King (1991) song "How About You" performed
    Me, Myself, and I (1992) song "Me, Myself and I" written and performed
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/hunnybunnnz/backgrounds/Harry_Nilsson.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h142/livefastdieold/HarryNilsson-NilssonSchmilsson.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/myhunprotectsme/223037.jpg
As mentioned, it was in Harry Nilsson's London flat that Mass Cass Elloitt and Keith Moon both died in.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/15/12 at 7:41 am


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AzEY6ZqkuE


Oh Ok now I recognize the song.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 7:41 am


Oh Ok now I recognize the song.
As used in the film Midnight Cowboy.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/15/12 at 12:15 pm


It's been Burger King.

Oh yes. I knew it was one of those burger places.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/15/12 at 12:33 pm


As mentioned, it was in Harry Nilsson's London flat that Mass Cass Elloitt and Keith Moon both died in.

I remembered that you mentioned that before. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/15/12 at 12:41 pm

I LOVE Harry Nilsson. We just watched The Point a few months ago (I own it on VHS). Some of his more obscure songs that I love:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTlo61kI9I

(Don't listen to this one at work or around kids. lol)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02lXLiFsRtE


This one is my absolute favorite. It is one of my all-time favorite songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNBRn19en9M


Cat


Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/15/12 at 12:45 pm


I LOVE Harry Nilsson. We just watched The Point a few months ago (I own it on VHS). Some of his more obscure songs that I love:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTlo61kI9I

(Don't listen to this one at work or around kids. lol)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02lXLiFsRtE


This one is my absolute favorite. It is one of my all-time favorite songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNBRn19en9M


Cat



I like to hear his covers of some Beatles songs, especially She's Leavin' Home.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/16/12 at 5:44 am

The deceased person of the day...Andrew Wyeth
Andrew Newell Wyeth (English pronunciation: /ˈwaɪ.ɛθ/ wy-eth; 1917–2009) was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century.

In his art, Wyeth's favorite subjects were the land and people around him, both in his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and at his summer home in Cushing, Maine. One of the most well-known images in 20th-century American art is his painting, Christina's World, currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
In 1937, at age twenty, Wyeth had his first one-man exhibition of watercolors at the Macbeth Gallery in New York City. The entire inventory of paintings sold out, and his life path seemed certain. His style was different from his father’s: more spare, "drier," and more limited in color range. He stated his belief that "…the great danger of the Pyle school is picture-making." He did some book illustrations in his early career, but not to the extent that N.C. Wyeth did.

Wyeth was a visual artist, primarily classified as a realist painter, like Winslow Homer or Eakins. In a "Life Magazine" article in 1965, Wyeth said that although he was thought of as a realist, he thought of himself as an abstractionist: "My people, my objects breathe in a different way: there’s another core — an excitement that’s definitely abstract. My God, when you really begin to peer into something, a simple object, and realize the profound meaning of that thing — if you have an emotion about it, there’s no end."

He worked predominantly in a regionalist style. In his art, Wyeth's favorite subjects were the land and people around him, both in his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and at his summer home in Cushing, Maine.

Dividing his time between Pennsylvania and Maine, Wyeth maintained a realist painting style for over fifty years. He gravitated to several identifiable landscape subjects and models. His solitary walks were the primary means of inspiration for his landscapes. He developed an extraordinary intimacy with the land and sea and strove for a spiritual understanding based on history and unspoken emotion. He typically created dozens of studies on a subject in pencil or loosely brushed watercolor before executing a finished painting, either in watercolor, drybrush (a watercolor style in which the water is squeezed from the brush), or egg tempera.
Christina Olson
Christina's World
1948
Museum of Modern Art, New York City

It was at the Olson farm in Cushing, Maine that he painted Christina's World (1948). Perhaps his most famous image, it depicts his neighbor, Christina Olson, sprawled on a dry field facing her house in the distance. Wyeth was quite inspired by his neighbor, who, because of an unknown illness resulting in her inability to walk, spent much time on the property surrounding her house.

The Olson house has been preserved, renovated to match its appearance in Christina's World. It is open to the public as a part of the Farnsworth Art Museum.

Wyeth created nearly 300 drawings, watercolor and tempera paintings, mostly in a palette of gold, charcoal, brown and blue. Because of Wyeth's popularity, the property was designated a National Historic Landmark in June 2011.

A short distance from the house near the water is the Hathorn family cemetery which includes the burial place of Christina Olson, her brother Alvaro and Andrew Wyeth. In a 2007 interview, Wyeth's granddaughter, Victoria , revealed he wanted to be buried near Christina and the spot where he painted Christina's World.
Kuerner's Farm

Also in 1948, he began painting Anna and Karl Kuerner, his neighbors in Chadds Ford. Like the Olsons, the Kuerners and their farm were one of Wyeth's most important subjects for nearly 30 years. Wyeth stated about the Kuerner Farm, "I didn’t think it a picturesque place. It just excited me, purely abstractly and purely emotionally."

The Kuerners' farm is available to tour through the Brandywine River Museum, as is the nearby N. C. Wyeth House and Studio; in 2011, the farm was declared a National Historic Landmark, based on its association with Wyeth.
Helga paintings
Main article: The Helga Pictures
Andrew Wyeth, Braids, 1979. Portrait of Helga Testorf

In 1986, extensive coverage was given to the revelation of a series of 247 studies of the Prussian-born Helga Testorf, whom Wyeth met while she was attending to Karl Kuerner at his farm. Wyeth painted her over the period 1971–85 without the knowledge of either his wife or Helga's husband, John Testorf. The paintings were stored at the nearby home of Frolic Weymouth, his student and good friend. Helga, a musician, baker, caregiver, and friend of the Wyeths, had never modeled before, but quickly became comfortable with the long periods of posing, during which he observed and painted her in intimate detail. The Helga pictures are not an obvious psychological study of the subject, but more an extensive study of her physical landscape set within Wyeth's customary landscapes. She is nearly always portrayed as unsmiling and passive; yet, within those deliberate limitations, Wyeth manages to convey subtle qualities of character and mood, as he does in many of his best portraits. This extensive study of one subject studied in differing contexts and emotional states is unique in American art.

In 1986, millionaire Leonard E.B. Andrews (1925–2009) purchased almost the entire collection, preserving it intact. Wyeth had already given a few Helga paintings to friends, including the famous Lovers, which had been given as a gift to Wyeth's wife.

The works were exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in 1987 and in a nationwide tour.

In a 2007 Interview, when Wyeth was asked if Helga was going to be at his 90th birthday party, he said "Yeah, certainly. Oh, absolutely" and went on to say "She's part of the family now, I know it shocks everyone. That's what I love about it. It really shocks 'em."
Other main works

    Inspired by Winslow Homer's watercolors, Wyeth painted an impressionistic watercolor, Coot Hunter, about 1933. There he experimented with the "fleeting effects of light and movement".
    Public Sale, made by Wyeth in 1943, is one of his first tempera paintings.
    After N.C. Wyeth's death, his work began to take on a melancholic tone. Wyeth painted Winter 1946 of a boy, rolling down a hill, his hand reaching out. The location of the work was the other side of the hill where his father had died and represented the unsettling, free-falling sense of loss.
    Brown Swiss made in 1957 is one of many paintings he made from the 1950s to the 1970s of Karl and Anna Kuerlner's farm in Chadds Ford. The painting is named after the Brown Swiss cows in the picture.
    In 1958, Andrew and Betsy Wyeth purchased and restored "The Mill," a group of 18th-century buildings that appeared often in his work, including Night Sleeper (1979).
    Garret Room was begun in watercolor and finished with the drybrush technique. This work was made in 1962.
    Wyeth began to add portraits in the 1960s, such as Up in the Studio made with drybrush in 1965 of his sister Carolyn.
    In works such as The Patriot, a portrait of Ralph Cline, Wyeth looked beyond the surface to understand who he was painting. Cline was an interesting gentleman 71 years of age, of Native American heritage and Maine humor. He wore a big hat and overalls and chewed tobacco. It was through painting him, though, that Wyeth understood that, beneath his humor and hard countenance, Cline was a warm-hearted veteran of great dignity and intellect.
    When Christina Olsen died in the winter of 1969, Wyeth refocused his artistic attention upon Siri Erickson, capturing her naked innocence in Indian Summer (1970). It was a prelude to the Helga paintings.
    Ring Road made in 1985 reflects the earth tones that Wyeth used throughout his career.

Wyeth's art has long been controversial. He developed technically beautiful works, had a large following and developed a considerable fortune as a result. Yet there has been conflicting views of his work by critics, curators and historians about the importance of his work. Art historian Robert Rosenblum was asked in 1977 to identify the "most overrated and underrated" artist in the 20th century. He provided one name for both categories: Andrew Wyeth.

Admirers of Wyeth's art believe that his paintings, in addition to their pictorial formal beauty, contain strong emotional currents, symbolic content, and underlying abstraction. Most observers of his art agree that he is skilled at handling the media of egg tempera (which uses egg yolk as its medium) and watercolor. Wyeth avoided using traditional oil paints. His use of light and shadow let the subjects illuminate the canvas. His paintings and titles suggest sound, as is implied in many paintings, including Distant Thunder (1961) and Spring Fed (1967). Christina's World became an iconic image, a status unmet to even the best paintings, "that registers as an emotional and cultural reference point in the minds of millions."

Wyeth created work in sharp contrast to abstraction, which gained currency in American art and critical thinking in the middle of the 20th century.

Museum exhibitions of Wyeth's paintings have set attendance records, but many art critics have evaluated his work less favorably. Peter Schjeldahl, art critic for The Village Voice, derided his paintings as "Formulaic stuff, not very effective even as illustrational 'realism.' " Some found Wyeth's art of rural subject matter tired and oversweet.

Bo Bartlett, a close friend and student of Wyeth, commented on his teacher's view of this criticism during an interview with Brian Sherwin in 2008: "People only make you swerve. I won’t show anybody anything I’m working on. If they hate it, it’s a bad thing, and if they like it, it’s a bad thing. An artist has to be ingrown to be any good." N.C. advised Wyeth to work from one's own perspective and imagination; to work for "effect" means the artist is not fully exploring their artistic abilities and as a result the artist will not realize their potential.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/clintorama/AndrewWyeth.jpg
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p144/redant36/andrewwyeth.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/17/12 at 7:54 am

The deceased person of the day...Don Kirshner
Don Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011), known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas and The Archies.
Kirshner achieved his first major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon Music with partner Al Nevins, which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called "Brill Building" school, including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Jack Keller.

As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was influential in starting off the career of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin, (with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop ditties, their first was called "Bubblegum Pop"), Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Sarah Dash of Labelle, as well as discovering the occasional rock act such as Kansas.
Don Kirshner's record labels

Kirshner also had three record labels. The first was Chairman Records, a subsidiary of London Records. Although he was responsible for scores of hits in the 1960s, he was only to have one on the Chairman label, 1963's "Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells, which reached #16 nationally. Kirshner later had two other record labels, Calendar, which had early hits by The Archies and the Kirshner label, which had later hits by The Archies and Kansas. Calendar/Kirshner recordings were first distributed by RCA Records, then CBS Records. He was also involved in Dimension Records.
The Monkees

In the early 1960s, Kirshner was a successful music publisher as head of his own company, Aldon Music, with Al Nevins, bringing performers such as Bobby Darin together with songwriters and musicians.

Kirshner was hired by the producers of The Monkees to provide hitworthy songs to accompany the television program, within a demanding schedule. Kirshner quickly corralled songwriting talent from his Brill Building stable of writers and musicians to create catchy, engaging tracks which the band could pretend to perform on the show.

This move was not because of any lack of Monkee talent — Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork were already experienced musicians, and Davy Jones was an established musical performer; but as a working band they had little experience, and Micky Dolenz was completely new to drums — but to churn out ready-to-go recordings to give each new episode its own song. Each Monkee was retained for vocal duties, but they were not allowed to play on the records.

The formula worked phenomenally well: singles "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer"; the first two Monkees albums were produced and released in time to catch the initial wave of the television program's popularity. Future Taj Mahal and John Lennon guitarist Jesse Ed Davis sat in on guitar. After a year, the Monkees wanted another chance to all play their own instruments on the records. They also wanted additional oversight into which songs would be released as singles. Further, when word belatedly came out that the band had not played on the first season's songs, a controversy arose, and the public expressed a desire to hear the television stars perform their own music.

The matter reached a breaking point over a disagreement regarding the Neil Diamond-penned "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" in early 1967. The song, released by Kirshner as a single without Columbia Pictures' consent, led to his dismissal. The initial B-side was replaced with a Nesmith song, performed by the Monkees, and they performed on the next year's recordings, featured in the show's second season. Monkees record sales dropped by nearly half after Kirshner's departure.

Kirshner's later venture was The Archies, an animated series where there were only the studio musicians to be managed.
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Main article: Don Kirshner's Rock Concert

In the fall of 1972, Kirshner was asked by ABC Television to serve as executive producer and "creative consultant" for their new "In Concert" series, which aired every other week in the 11:30 p.m. slot normally showing The Dick Cavett Show. The following September, Kirshner left "In Concert" to produce and host his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. With its long-form live performances, as compared to rehearsed, often lip-synced performances that were the staple of earlier television shows like Shindig!, it was a new direction for pop music presentation. The last show aired in 1981, the year that MTV was launched.

The program presented many of the most successful rock bands of the era, but what was consistent week-to-week was Kirshner's deliberately flat delivery as the program host. In its final season Rock Concert was mostly hosted by Kirshner's son and daughter, whose delivery was the same as their father's.

Kirshner's wooden presentation style was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live by Paul Shaffer, most notably in Shaffer's introduction of the Blues Brothers during the duo's television debut. Shaffer and Kirshner worked together on the short-lived situation comedy, A Year at the Top, which Kirshner co-produced with Norman Lear, and in which Shaffer starred.

In the Blue Öyster Cult song "The Marshall Plan", from the album Cultösaurus Erectus, Don Kirshner's voice is sampled to introduce the fictitious Johnny: "This is Don Kirshner. And tonight on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, a new phenomenon in the music world — with six million albums to his credit in just two short years, my good friend, here's Johnny!"
Later career

Kirshner received the 2007 Songwriters Hall of Fame Abe Olman Publishing Award. He was a creative consultant for Rockrena, a company founded by Jack Wishna, launching in 2011, to promote new music talent online. He died of heart failure in a Boca Raton, Florida hospital on January 17, 2011, at age 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila, his two sons and five grandchildren.
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd149/jmikej2007/NEW%20YEAR%20RESOLUTIONS/donk.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/18/12 at 8:17 am

No person of the day due to Wikipedia black out for 24 hours.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/18/12 at 11:39 am


No person of the day due to Wikipedia black out for 24 hours.

Yeah I noticed that too. :(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/18/12 at 7:33 pm


No person of the day due to Wikipedia black out for 24 hours.


I know that sucks Ninny but eventually you'll get back to it soon enough.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/18/12 at 8:06 pm


I know that sucks Ninny but eventually you'll get back to it soon enough.

After this "black out" thingy is done with.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/12 at 7:44 am

The deceased person of the day...Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow
Scott Charles Bigelow (September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bam Bam Bigelow. His professional wrestling career spanned twenty-one years. Bigelow had a distinctive flame tattoo that spanned most of his bald head and was known for being agile despite his size of nearly 400 pounds (180 kg).

Bigelow worked in major wrestling promotions, including the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the original Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He held multiple championships in both ECW and WCW, and thirteen throughout his career. Among other accolades, he was a former world champion, having held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once, and a two-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. Although he never held any titles in the WWF, he main-evented multiple pay-per-views for the promotion, including WrestleMania XI.
In May 1987, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The storyline upon his debut was that the various heel managers were all vying for Bigelow's services. The angle was thus called "The Battle for Bam Bam." Bigelow in the end wound up a babyface when he denounced all the heel managers and announced that his manager was going to be Oliver Humperdink. Fans were entertained by Bigelow's unique style and his remarkable agility for a man his size. His first WWF encounters were with Nikolai Volkoff and his jilted manager Slick. Bigelow wrestled as a part of Hulk Hogan's team at the first Survivor Series, in which he survived longer than even Hogan (the biggest draw in the industry's history at the time). He eliminated both King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang, but eventually lost to sole survivor André the Giant. He wrestled in the WWF for one year before leaving to have surgery on a badly injured knee. Despite this injury, he performed anyway to elevate the status of his co-performers. Bigelow lost by count-out to One Man Gang in the first round of WrestleMania IV's WWF World Heavyweight Championship tournament.
NWA and Japan (1988–1992)

Bigelow briefly re-emerged with the NWA-branded Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1988, and was immediately set up to challenge Barry Windham for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. While NWA wanted control of Bigelow, his loyalty was with New Japan, to whom he was committed. After this brief stay, he went to Japan to work for the legendary Antonio Inoki's New Japan Pro Wrestling. Here, he formed a tag team with Big Van Vader, winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship. In 1992 he left New Japan, performing for several other Japanese professional wrestling promotions.
Return to the WWF (1992–1995)
Bigelow in a WWF event in 1995.

In late 1992, Bigelow returned to the WWF as a heel. In his first pay-per-view appearance after his return, Bigelow defeated The Big Boss Man at the 1993 Royal Rumble. That June, Bigelow made it to the finals of the 1993 King of the Ring tournament, losing in a match to Bret Hart. Soon after, Luna Vachon became Bam Bam's love interest and manager. Bigelow went on to feud with Tatanka and Doink the Clown; he lost to Tatanka at the 1994 Royal Rumble and teamed with Luna to defeat Doink and Dink at WrestleMania X. In mid-1994, he was made part of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation faction, often teamed-up with fellow Corporation members Irwin R. Schyster and (a now heel) Tatanka. Bigelow also survived a high profile Survivor Series-style match, with Corporation member King Kong Bundy, at the 1994 Survivor Series; they faced Lex Luger's "Guts and Glory" team.

After Bigelow and Tatanka lost in the finals of a WWF World Tag Team Championship tournament to Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid at the 1995 Royal Rumble, Bigelow was mocked at ringside by former New York Giants All-Pro linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Bam Bam fought back, shoving "L.T." at ringside, and was soon engaged in a highly-publicized feud with the famous ex-football player. Bigelow was defeated by Taylor in the co-main event at WrestleMania XI. Shortly thereafter, Bigelow was turned babyface, publicly quitting the Million Dollar Corporation. He was teamed with then WWF World Champion Diesel at the 1995 King of the Ring; they defeated Corporation members Tatanka and Sycho Sid. Bigelow's last WWF match was a loss to Goldust at Survivor Series 1995.
Bigelow appeared in the 1995 comedy Major Payne.

In 2000, Bigelow and his wife, Dana Fisher, with whom he had three children, divorced. In 2005, Fisher sued Bigelow for non-payment of child support.

In July 2000, Bigelow received second degree burns on 40% of his body, while rescuing three children from a burning house near his home. Following the incident, Bigelow spent two months recovering in a hospital.

Upon his retirement, Bigelow moved to a private recreational community called "The Hideout", in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania. He also opened the eponymous Bam Bam Bigelow restaurant, located nearby in the town of Hamlin in Salem Township, along State Route 590, but it later closed. He then relocated to Florida, with even his close friend Shane Douglas clueless as to his whereabouts.

In May 2004, Bigelow was charged with endangering the welfare of a child through reckless driving. He attributed the incident to a seizure he had suffered, and the charges were dropped two months later. In August 2004, he was convicted of possession of cannabis.

On October 2, 2005, Bigelow was hospitalized with a broken nose and several lacerations after crashing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Spring Hill, Florida. His passenger (and girlfriend) at the time, Janis Remiesiewicz, suffered much more severe injuries and was declared to be in "critical condition". Larry Coggins, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, stated that Bigelow would be the focus of a homicide investigation should Remiesiewicz die, intimating that Bigelow would likely face charges based on "the factors...that led to this crash". Remiesiewicz eventually made a complete recovery, and remained with Bigelow up until his death.

On the morning of January 19, 2007, Bigelow was found dead in his home by Remiesiewicz at approximately 10:00 a.m. EST in Hudson, Florida. He was 45 years old. The autopsy results showed that Bigelow's death was due to multiple drugs found in his system including toxic levels of cocaine and an anti-anxiety drug. Bigelow was also suffering from a heart problem, specifically arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
In wrestling

    Finishing moves
        Greetings From Asbury Park (Over the shoulder reverse piledriver) – ECW / WCW
        Nuclear Splash (Diving splash) – CWA
        Slingshot splash – 1987–1988
        Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am (Diving headbutt)

    Signature moves
        Bam Bam Sault (Flip-style moonsault)
        Body avalanche
        Cobra clutch bulldog
        Delayed vertical suplex
        Double underhook backbreaker
        Enzuigiri
        Headbutt drop
        Jumping DDT
        Lariat
        Military press slam
        Powerbomb
        Running somersault senton
        Running splash
        Snake Eyes

    Managers
        Larry Sharpe
        Diamond Dallas Page
        Sir Oliver Humperdink
        Paul E. Dangerously
        Rick Rude
        Luna Vachon
        Ted DiBiase

    Nicknames
        "The Beast From the East"
        "The Flamed Wonder"
        "The (self–proclaimed) Taz Killer"

Championships and accomplishments

    Continental Wrestling Association
        AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    Extreme Championship Wrestling
        ECW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
        ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
    NWA Northeast
        NWA Northeast Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    New Japan Pro Wrestling
        IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Big Van Vader
    Pro Wrestling Illustrated
        PWI ranked him #68 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
        PWI ranked him #36 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Big Van Vader in 2003
    Universal Superstars of America
        USA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    USA Pro Wrestling / USA Xtreme Wrestling
        USA Pro/UXW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
    World Championship Wrestling
        WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
        WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon as the Jersey Triad1
    World Class Wrestling Association
        WCWA Television Championship (1 time)
    World Wrestling Federation
        Slammy Award for Best Head (1987) with Gene Okerlund
    Wrestle Association R
        WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hiromichi Fuyuki and Yoji Anjo
    Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
        Rookie of the Year (1986)
        Worst Worked Match of the Year (1993) with Bastion Booger and The Headshrinkers vs. The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission at Survivor Series
    World Xtreme Wrestling

        WXW Heavyweight Championship

1Bigelow defended the title with either Page or Kanyon under the Freebird Rule.
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x310/The_Ultimate_Wrestling_Gallery/Bam%20Bam%20Bigelow/BamBamBigelow008.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x310/The_Ultimate_Wrestling_Gallery/Bam%20Bam%20Bigelow/BamBamBigelow012.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/19/12 at 1:45 pm


The deceased person of the day...Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow
Scott Charles Bigelow (September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bam Bam Bigelow. His professional wrestling career spanned twenty-one years. Bigelow had a distinctive flame tattoo that spanned most of his bald head and was known for being agile despite his size of nearly 400 pounds (180 kg).

Bigelow worked in major wrestling promotions, including the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the original Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He held multiple championships in both ECW and WCW, and thirteen throughout his career. Among other accolades, he was a former world champion, having held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once, and a two-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. Although he never held any titles in the WWF, he main-evented multiple pay-per-views for the promotion, including WrestleMania XI.
In May 1987, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The storyline upon his debut was that the various heel managers were all vying for Bigelow's services. The angle was thus called "The Battle for Bam Bam." Bigelow in the end wound up a babyface when he denounced all the heel managers and announced that his manager was going to be Oliver Humperdink. Fans were entertained by Bigelow's unique style and his remarkable agility for a man his size. His first WWF encounters were with Nikolai Volkoff and his jilted manager Slick. Bigelow wrestled as a part of Hulk Hogan's team at the first Survivor Series, in which he survived longer than even Hogan (the biggest draw in the industry's history at the time). He eliminated both King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang, but eventually lost to sole survivor André the Giant. He wrestled in the WWF for one year before leaving to have surgery on a badly injured knee. Despite this injury, he performed anyway to elevate the status of his co-performers. Bigelow lost by count-out to One Man Gang in the first round of WrestleMania IV's WWF World Heavyweight Championship tournament.
NWA and Japan (1988–1992)

Bigelow briefly re-emerged with the NWA-branded Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1988, and was immediately set up to challenge Barry Windham for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. While NWA wanted control of Bigelow, his loyalty was with New Japan, to whom he was committed. After this brief stay, he went to Japan to work for the legendary Antonio Inoki's New Japan Pro Wrestling. Here, he formed a tag team with Big Van Vader, winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship. In 1992 he left New Japan, performing for several other Japanese professional wrestling promotions.
Return to the WWF (1992–1995)
Bigelow in a WWF event in 1995.

In late 1992, Bigelow returned to the WWF as a heel. In his first pay-per-view appearance after his return, Bigelow defeated The Big Boss Man at the 1993 Royal Rumble. That June, Bigelow made it to the finals of the 1993 King of the Ring tournament, losing in a match to Bret Hart. Soon after, Luna Vachon became Bam Bam's love interest and manager. Bigelow went on to feud with Tatanka and Doink the Clown; he lost to Tatanka at the 1994 Royal Rumble and teamed with Luna to defeat Doink and Dink at WrestleMania X. In mid-1994, he was made part of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation faction, often teamed-up with fellow Corporation members Irwin R. Schyster and (a now heel) Tatanka. Bigelow also survived a high profile Survivor Series-style match, with Corporation member King Kong Bundy, at the 1994 Survivor Series; they faced Lex Luger's "Guts and Glory" team.

After Bigelow and Tatanka lost in the finals of a WWF World Tag Team Championship tournament to Bob Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid at the 1995 Royal Rumble, Bigelow was mocked at ringside by former New York Giants All-Pro linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Bam Bam fought back, shoving "L.T." at ringside, and was soon engaged in a highly-publicized feud with the famous ex-football player. Bigelow was defeated by Taylor in the co-main event at WrestleMania XI. Shortly thereafter, Bigelow was turned babyface, publicly quitting the Million Dollar Corporation. He was teamed with then WWF World Champion Diesel at the 1995 King of the Ring; they defeated Corporation members Tatanka and Sycho Sid. Bigelow's last WWF match was a loss to Goldust at Survivor Series 1995.
Bigelow appeared in the 1995 comedy Major Payne.

In 2000, Bigelow and his wife, Dana Fisher, with whom he had three children, divorced. In 2005, Fisher sued Bigelow for non-payment of child support.

In July 2000, Bigelow received second degree burns on 40% of his body, while rescuing three children from a burning house near his home. Following the incident, Bigelow spent two months recovering in a hospital.

Upon his retirement, Bigelow moved to a private recreational community called "The Hideout", in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania. He also opened the eponymous Bam Bam Bigelow restaurant, located nearby in the town of Hamlin in Salem Township, along State Route 590, but it later closed. He then relocated to Florida, with even his close friend Shane Douglas clueless as to his whereabouts.

In May 2004, Bigelow was charged with endangering the welfare of a child through reckless driving. He attributed the incident to a seizure he had suffered, and the charges were dropped two months later. In August 2004, he was convicted of possession of cannabis.

On October 2, 2005, Bigelow was hospitalized with a broken nose and several lacerations after crashing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Spring Hill, Florida. His passenger (and girlfriend) at the time, Janis Remiesiewicz, suffered much more severe injuries and was declared to be in "critical condition". Larry Coggins, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, stated that Bigelow would be the focus of a homicide investigation should Remiesiewicz die, intimating that Bigelow would likely face charges based on "the factors...that led to this crash". Remiesiewicz eventually made a complete recovery, and remained with Bigelow up until his death.

On the morning of January 19, 2007, Bigelow was found dead in his home by Remiesiewicz at approximately 10:00 a.m. EST in Hudson, Florida. He was 45 years old. The autopsy results showed that Bigelow's death was due to multiple drugs found in his system including toxic levels of cocaine and an anti-anxiety drug. Bigelow was also suffering from a heart problem, specifically arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
In wrestling

    Finishing moves
        Greetings From Asbury Park (Over the shoulder reverse piledriver) – ECW / WCW
        Nuclear Splash (Diving splash) – CWA
        Slingshot splash – 1987–1988
        Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am (Diving headbutt)

    Signature moves
        Bam Bam Sault (Flip-style moonsault)
        Body avalanche
        Cobra clutch bulldog
        Delayed vertical suplex
        Double underhook backbreaker
        Enzuigiri
        Headbutt drop
        Jumping DDT
        Lariat
        Military press slam
        Powerbomb
        Running somersault senton
        Running splash
        Snake Eyes

    Managers
        Larry Sharpe
        Diamond Dallas Page
        Sir Oliver Humperdink
        Paul E. Dangerously
        Rick Rude
        Luna Vachon
        Ted DiBiase

    Nicknames
        "The Beast From the East"
        "The Flamed Wonder"
        "The (self–proclaimed) Taz Killer"

Championships and accomplishments

    Continental Wrestling Association
        AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    Extreme Championship Wrestling
        ECW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
        ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
    NWA Northeast
        NWA Northeast Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    New Japan Pro Wrestling
        IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Big Van Vader
    Pro Wrestling Illustrated
        PWI ranked him #68 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
        PWI ranked him #36 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Big Van Vader in 2003
    Universal Superstars of America
        USA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
    USA Pro Wrestling / USA Xtreme Wrestling
        USA Pro/UXW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
    World Championship Wrestling
        WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
        WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon as the Jersey Triad1
    World Class Wrestling Association
        WCWA Television Championship (1 time)
    World Wrestling Federation
        Slammy Award for Best Head (1987) with Gene Okerlund
    Wrestle Association R
        WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hiromichi Fuyuki and Yoji Anjo
    Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
        Rookie of the Year (1986)
        Worst Worked Match of the Year (1993) with Bastion Booger and The Headshrinkers vs. The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission at Survivor Series
    World Xtreme Wrestling

        WXW Heavyweight Championship

1Bigelow defended the title with either Page or Kanyon under the Freebird Rule.
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x310/The_Ultimate_Wrestling_Gallery/Bam%20Bam%20Bigelow/BamBamBigelow008.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x310/The_Ultimate_Wrestling_Gallery/Bam%20Bam%20Bigelow/BamBamBigelow012.jpg


Wow Thanks Ninny I loved Bam Bam Bigelow back in the WWF days he was so fearless for his size and he had such great feuds, he could've had a title but I guess Vince Mcmahon decided not to give him one.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/19/12 at 4:45 pm


Wow Thanks Ninny I loved Bam Bam Bigelow back in the WWF days he was so fearless for his size and he had such great feuds, he could've had a title but I guess Vince Mcmahon decied not to give him one.
[/quote
Your Welcome, I knew you would like him. :)

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/20/12 at 7:23 am



Wow Thanks Ninny I loved Bam Bam Bigelow back in the WWF days he was so fearless for his size and he had such great feuds, he could've had a title but I guess Vince Mcmahon decied not to give him one.


I liked him more as a heel, didn't work well as a face in my opinion.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/20/12 at 1:47 pm

The deceased person of the day...Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century. Redefining glamour with "elfin" features and a gamine waif-like figure that inspired designs by Hubert de Givenchy, she was inducted in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame, and ranked, by the American Film Institute, as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema.

Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War. In Arnhem, she studied ballet before moving to London in 1948 where she continued to train in ballet and performed as a chorus girl in various West End musical theatre productions. After appearing in several British films and starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn gained instant Hollywood stardom for playing the Academy Award-winning lead role in Roman Holiday (1953). Later performing in Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), Hepburn became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age who received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and accrued a Tony Award for her theatrical performance in the 1954 Broadway play Ondine. Hepburn remains one of few entertainers who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.

Although she appeared in fewer films as her life went on, Hepburn devoted much of her later life to UNICEF. Her war-time struggles inspired her passion for humanitarian work and, although Hepburn had contributed to the organisation since the 1950s, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia in the late eighties and early nineties. In 1992, Hepburn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador but died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland, aged 63, in 1993.
In the Italian-set Roman Holiday (1953), a film she would later call her dearest movie, Hepburn had her first starring role as Princess Ann, an incognito European princess who, escaping the reins of royalty, falls in love with American newsman (Gregory Peck). While producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test that he cast her in the lead. Unbeknownst that she was still being filmed after the screen test, Hepburn displayed her ability as she candidly answered questions, relaxed and completely unaware. Wyler later commented, "She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting and we said, 'That's the girl!'" Originally, the film was to have had only Gregory Peck's name above its title in large font while she would receive "Introducing Audrey Hepburn" beneath though Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing so her name appeared before the title and in type as large as his: "You've got to change that because she'll be a big star and I'll look like a big jerk."
Hepburn with her first and only competitive Academy Award in 1953

Peck was correct. Hepburn garnered critical and commercial acclaim for her portrayal and supplemented the unexpected Academy Award for Best Actress with her first BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and only Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1953. A. H. Weiler noted in The New York Times that although "she is not precisely a newcomer to films, the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Ann, is a slender, elfin and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgement of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future." Due to the instant celebrity that came with the film, she was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work while spawning what became known as the Audrey Hepburn "look" after her illustration was placed on the September 1953 cover of TIME magazine.

Following her success in Roman Holiday, she starred in Billy Wilder's romantic Cinderella-story comedy Sabrina (1954) in which wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) compete for the affections of their chauffeur's innocent daughter (Hepburn). For her performance, she was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress while winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the same year. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times labeled Hepburn "a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame" concluding that "she is even more luminous as the daughter and pet of the servants' hall than she was as a princess last year." The uncredited Hubert de Givenchy was responsible for many of Hepburn's outfits in the film. Initially disappointed, Givenchy noted that, upon being told that the actress would be "Miss Hepburn", he had expected Katharine Hepburn. When faced with this actress, he told Hepburn he had little time to spare. Nevertheless, she knew exactly how she wanted to look and asked to view his latest collection. Their collaboration in Sabrina formed a life-long friendship and partnership; she was often a muse for many of his designs and her style became renowned internationally.

Beginning another collaboration that year, this time with actor Mel Ferrer, she starred in the fantasy play Ondine on Broadway. With her lithe and lean frame, Hepburn made a convincing water spirit named Ondine in this sad story about love found and lost with a human (Ferrer). A New York Times critic commented, "Somehow Miss Hepburn is able to translate into the language of the theatre without artfulness or precociousness. She gives a pulsing performance that is all grace and enchantment, disciplined by an instinct for the realities of the stage." While the leading characters in the play grow apart, the actors found themselves becoming closer. Hepburn and Ferrer got married on September 25, 1954, in Switzerland; their sometimes tumultuous partnership would last for the better part of the next fifteen years. Her performance won her the 1954 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, the same year she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday. Hepburn, therefore, stands as one of three actresses to receive the Academy and Tony Awards for Best Actress in the same year (the others being Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn). By the mid-1950s, Hepburn was vastly becoming one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood and received the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite – Female in 1955, but also a major fashion influence. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognised sense of chic were both admired and imitated. Hepburn was asked to play Anne Frank's counterpart in both the Broadway and film adaptations of Frank's life. Hepburn, however, who was born the same year as Frank, found herself "emotionally incapable" of the task, and at almost thirty years old, too old. The role was eventually given to Susan Strasberg and Millie Perkins in the play and film respectively.
Hepburn in War and Peace (1956)

Having become one of Hollywood's most popular box-office attractions, she went on to star in a series of successful films during the remainder of the decade, including her BAFTA- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (1956), an adaptation of the Tolstoy novel set during the Napoleonic wars with Henry Fonda and husband Mel Ferrer. In 1957, she exhibited her dancing abilities in her debut musical film Funny Face (1957) where Fred Astaire, a fashion photographer, discovers a beatnik bookstore clerk (Hepburn) and, lured by a free trip to Paris, becomes a beautiful model in addition to starring in another romantic comedy, Love in the Afternoon, alongside Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier. Yet, she stepped away from lighthearted fare when she played Sister Luke in The Nun's Story (1959), which focuses on the character's struggle to succeed as a nun alongside co-star Peter Finch. The role accrued her third Academy Award nomination and earned her a second BAFTA Award. A review in Variety said "Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance." Films in Review stated that her performance "will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen." Reportedly, she spent hours in convents and with members of the Church to bring truth to her portrayal: "I gave more time, energy and thought to this than to any of my previous screen performances." Following this, she received lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959) where she plays – "with grace and dignity" – the "ethereal" Rima, a jungle girl, who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller played by Perkins and The Unforgiven (1960), her only western film, where she appears "a bit too polished, too fragile and civilized among such tough and stubborn types" of Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in a story of racism against a group of Native Americans.
Breakfast at Tiffany's and continued stardom
Hepburn in the famous opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Three months after the birth of her son, Sean, in 1960, Hepburn began work on Blake Edwards' Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), a film very loosely based on the Truman Capote novella. The film was drastically changed from the original version. Capote disapproved of many changes and proclaimed that Hepburn was "grossly miscast" as Holly Golightly, a quirky New York call girl, a role he had envisioned for Marilyn Monroe. Hepburn's portrayal of Golightly was adapted from the original: "I can't play a hooker," she admitted to Marty Jurow, co-producer of the film. Despite the lack of sexual innuendo in her character, her portrayal was nominated for the 1961 Academy Award for Best Actress and became an iconic character in American cinema. Often considered her defining role, Holly Golightly, Hepburn's high fashion style and sophistication within the film became synonymous with her. She named the role "the jazziest of my career" yet admitted that, "I'm an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did." The little black dress which is worn by Hepburn in the beginning of the film is cited as one of the most iconic items of clothing in the history of the twentieth century and perhaps the most famous little black dress of all time.
Shirley MacLaine and Hepburn in the trailer for The Children's Hour (1961)

Playing opposite Shirley MacLaine and James Garner, her next role in William Wyler's lesbian-themed drama The Children's Hour (1961) saw Hepburn and MacLaine play teachers whose lives become troubled after a student accuses them of being lesbians. The film was one of Hollywood's earliest treatments of the subject of lesbianism, and perhaps due to the illiberal state of society, the film and Hepburn's performance went seemingly unnoticed both critically and commercially. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, however, noted that "it is not too well acted" with the exception of Hepburn who "gives the impression of being sensitive and pure" of its "muted theme" while Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn's "soft sensitivity, marvellous projection and emotional understatement" adding that Hepburn and MacLaine "beautifully complement each other."
With Cary Grant in Charade (1963)

Her only film with Cary Grant came in the comic thriller Charade (1963). Hepburn, who plays Regina Lampert, finds herself pursued by several men who chase the fortune her murdered husband had stolen. The role earned her third and final competitive BAFTA Award and accrued another Golden Globe nomination though critic Bosley Crowther was less kind: "Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes." Grant (59 years old at the time), who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about the age difference between Hepburn (at age 34) and him, making him uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to change the screenplay so that Hepburn's character would be the one to romantically pursue his. Grant, however, loved to humour Hepburn and once said, "All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn."

Paris When It Sizzles (1964) reteamed Hepburn with William Holden nearly ten years after Sabrina. The Parisian-set screwball comedy, called "marshmallow-weight hokum", was "uniformly panned" but critics were kind to Hepburn's creation of Gabrielle Simpson, the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter (Holden) who aids his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots, describing her as "a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve." Critical reception was worsened by a number of problems that plagued the set behind the scenes. Holden tried, without success, to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress; that, combined with his alcoholism made the situation a challenge. Hepburn, after principal photography began, demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies. Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number (she had dressing room 55 for Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and required that Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.
Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964)

"Not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady," wrote Soundstage magazine in 1964, yet Hepburn's landing the role of Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 George Cukor film adaptation of the stage musical sparked controversy. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role in the stage show, had not been offered the part because producer Jack Warner thought Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor more "bankable" propositions. Initially refusing, Hepburn asked Warner to give it to Andrews but, eventually, Hepburn was cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung with "throaty charm" in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady, her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon. A dubber was required because Eliza Doolittle's songs were not transposed down to accommodate Hepburn's "low-mezzo voice" (as Nixon referred to it). Upset, when first informed, she walked out. She returned the next day and apologized to everybody for her "wicked behavior". Although Hepburn had lip synced to her recorded tracks during filming, Nixon looped her vocals in post-production and was given multiple attempts to match Hepburn's lip movements precisely. Overall, about 90% of her singing was dubbed despite being promised that most of her vocals would be used. Hepburn's voice remains in one line in "I Could Have Danced All Night", in the first verse of "Just You Wait", and in the entirety of its reprise in addition to sing-talking in parts of "The Rain in Spain" in the finished film. When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "You could tell, couldn't you? And there was Rex, recording all his songs as he acted ... next time —" She bit her lip to prevent her saying more. She later admitted that she would have never have accepted the role knowing that Warner intended to have nearly all of her singing dubbed. The controversy reached its height when, despite the film's accumulation of eight out of a possible twelve awards at the 37th Academy Awards, Hepburn was left nomination-less in the Best Actress category. Julie Andrews, however, was nominated for her efforts in Mary Poppins (1964), and won it. The media tried to play up a rivalry between the two actresses, even though both women denied any such bad feelings existed and got along well. Despite such strife, many critics greatly applauded Hepburn's "exquisite" performance. "The happiest thing about ," wrote Bosley Crowther in The New York Times "is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of Jack Warner to get her to play the title role." Her co-star Rex Harrison, who played Professor Higgins, also called Hepburn his favourite leading lady and Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that "Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages," while adding, "Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice."

As the decade carried on, Hepburn appeared in an assortment of genres including the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966) where she played Nicole, the daughter of a famous art collector whose collection consists entirely of forgeries. Fearing her father's exposure, Nicole sets out to steal one of his priceless statues with the help of Simon Dermott (Peter O'Toole). In 1967, she starred in two films; the first being Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple's troubled marriage. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to co-star Albert Finney. The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman. Filmed on the brink of divorce, it was a difficult film considering husband Mel Ferrer was its producer and she lost fifteen pounds under the stress, but she found solace in co-star Richard Crenna and director Terence Young. Hepburn earned her fifth and final competitive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; Bosley Crawther affirmed, "Hepburn plays the poignant role, the quickness with which she changes and the skill with which she manifests terror attract sympathy and anxiety to her and give her genuine solidity in the final scenes."
Upon return from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn began suffering from abdominal pains. She went to specialists and received inconclusive results, so decided to have herself examined while on a trip to Los Angeles, California in October. On 1 November, Hepburn checked in at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with her family. Doctors performed a laparoscopy and discovered abdominal cancer that had spread from her appendix, a very rare form of cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised, not as a tumour, but as a thin coating over her small intestine. After performing surgery, the doctors put Hepburn through 5-fluorouracil Leucovorin chemotherapy. A few days later, she had an obstruction and medication was not enough to dull the pain. She underwent further surgery on 1 December. After one hour, the surgeon decided that the cancer had spread too far to be removed fully.

After coming to terms with the gravity of Hepburn's illness, her family decided to return home to Switzerland in order to celebrate her last Christmas. Because Hepburn was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Hubert de Givenchy offered to help and arranged for Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva. Hepburn died in her sleep of appendiceal cancer, on the evening of 20 January 1993, at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland. After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore.

Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz, Switzerland, on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, of UNICEF, delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore. The same day as her funeral, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery, a small cemetery that sits atop a hill overlooking the village.
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/Leading%20Ladies%206/audrey-31.jpg
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/Leading%20Ladies%206/audrey2-10.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/20/12 at 2:39 pm

Wow. I never knew all that about her. She did some really good things during her life.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/20/12 at 7:45 pm

http://www.chicagonow.com/eclectic-body/files/2011/12/audreyhepburn6.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/12 at 5:48 am


I like to hear his covers of some Beatles songs, especially She's Leavin' Home.
Posting this reply a few days late.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDOzpal5mOs

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Philip Eno on 01/21/12 at 5:49 am


No person of the day due to Wikipedia black out for 24 hours.
I missed all that, I had no real access to the Internet then.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/12 at 6:20 am

The person of the day...Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Among his best-known films are Cleopatra; Samson and Delilah; The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture; and The Ten Commandments, which was his last and most successful film.
DeMille entered films in 1913. He directed dozens of silent films, including Paramount Pictures' first production, The Squaw Man (1914), which was co-directed by Oscar Apfel, before coming into huge popularity during the late 1910s and early 1920s, when he reached the apex of his popularity with such films as Don't Change Your Husband (1919), The Ten Commandments (1923), and The King of Kings (1927). A few of his silent films featured scenes in two-color Technicolor.

DeMille remade his early hit The Squaw Man twice, once as a silent film The Squaw Man (1918) and then as a sound film The Squaw Man (1931). All three were based on a hit play The Squaw Man about a wrongly disgraced British aristocrat who settles in the Wild West.

Cecil B. DeMille was known for being an instrumental catalyst for the rising status of many a struggling or unknown actor. Actor Richard Dix's best-remembered early role was in the silent version of DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Richard Cromwell owed his 1930s movie fame in part to being personally selected by DeMille for the role as the leader of the youth gang in DeMille's poignant, now cult-favorite, This Day and Age (1933). To ensure that Cromwell's character used current slang, DeMille asked Horace Hahn to read the script and comment (at the time, Hahn was senior class president at Los Angeles High School).

DeMille displayed a loyalty to certain supporting performers, casting them repeatedly in his pictures. They included Henry Wilcoxon, Julia Faye, Joseph Schildkraut, Ian Keith, Charles Bickford, Theodore Roberts, Akim Tamiroff and William Boyd. He also cast leading actors such as Claudette Colbert, Gloria Swanson, Gary Cooper, Jetta Goudal, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard and Charlton Heston in multiple pictures. He was not known as a particularly good director of actors, often hiring actors whom he relied on to develop their own characters and act accordingly.

DeMille had a reputation for tyrannical behavior on the set, and he despised actors who were unwilling to take physical risks. Such was the case with Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah, when Mature refused to wrestle the lion, though the lion was tame and toothless. (DeMille remarked that Mature was "100% yellow"). Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and probably a role in The Greatest Show on Earth. DeMille was, however, adept at directing "thousands of extras," and many of his pictures included spectacular set pieces, such as the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments, the toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah, train wrecks in The Road to Yesterday, Union Pacific and The Greatest Show on Earth, and the destruction of a zeppelin in Madame Satan.

DeMille was one of the first directors in Hollywood to become a celebrity in his own right. From 1936 to 1944, DeMille hosted and acted as pitchman for Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, a popular dramatic radio show of the time. Gloria Swanson immortalized DeMille with the oft-repeated line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, wherein DeMille played himself. DeMille also appeared as himself in Paramount's 1947 all-star musical comedy Variety Girl and he narrated many of his later films, as well as appearing on screen in the introduction to The Ten Commandments.

DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in Northwest Mounted Police (1940). Following the favorable response to the vivid color photography, shot partly on location in the Canadian Rockies, DeMille decided to always use Technicolor in his films.

While he continued to be prolific throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he is probably best known for his 1956 film The Ten Commandments (which is very different from his 1923 film of the same title). Also representative of his penchant for the spectacular was the 1952 production of The Greatest Show on Earth which gave DeMille an Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.

In 1949 or 1950, DeMille was recruited by Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner to serve on the board of the anti-communist National Committee for a Free Europe, the public face of the organization that oversaw the Radio Free Europe service. In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott sought out DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air Force Academy. DeMille's designs—most notably his design of the distinctive cadet parade uniform—won praise from Air Force and Academy leadership, were ultimately adopted, and are worn by cadets today.

Near the end of his life, DeMille began pre-production work on a film biography of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement and had asked David Niven to star in the film, which was never made. Because of illness, he asked his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film The Buccaneer; although DeMille served as executive producer, he was unhappy with Quinn's work and tried unsuccessfully to remedy the situation. Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner and some impressive battle scenes, the film was considered a disappointment by many.

Though DeMille was respected by his peers, his individual films were often criticized by them. "Directorially, I think his pictures were the most horrible things I've ever seen in my life," said director William Wellman. "But he put on pictures that made a fortune. In that respect, he was better than any of us."
Personal life and death
DeMille's tomb at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

DeMille married Constance Adams on August 16, 1902 and had one child, Cecilia. The couple adopted Katherine Lester in the early 1920s; her father had been killed in World War I and her mother had died of tuberculosis. Katherine married Anthony Quinn. They also adopted two sons, John and Richard, the latter of whom became a notable filmmaker, author, and psychologist.

During on-location filming in Egypt of the Exodus sequence for 1956's The Ten Commandments, the then-75-year-old DeMille climbed a 107-foot ladder to the top of the massive Per Rameses set and suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Aided by his daughter Cecilia, but against his doctor's orders, he was back directing the film within a week.

Though DeMille completed the film, it proved to be his last, for he never fully recovered from this episode, and died on January 21, 1959 of heart failure. He was entombed in Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now known as Hollywood Forever Cemetery). At the time of his death, he was planning to direct a movie about space travel. He also wanted to do a film on the Biblical Book of Revelation.
Legacy and honors

A majority of the DeMille motion picture library now resides with EMKA, Ltd. through the television division of NBC Universal, due to Paramount Pictures' losing the rights to the DeMille films in 1958 to EMKA, so technically it is Universal Pictures that now oversees a vast part of DeMille's motion picture career as well as its related archival material. Samson and Delilah, although pre-1950, has been retained by Paramount, as are all the DeMille/Paramount silent films produced before 1928, and all sound films produced after 1950—television distribution for those films is handled by Trifecta Entertainment & Media.

In the mid-1950s, DeMille oversaw the development of a family of distinctive uniforms designed for use by the cadets, at the new Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs CO, for which he received the Defense Department's Exceptional Service Award.

The former film building at Chapman University in Orange, California is named in honor of DeMille. The Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts now resides in Marion Knotts Studios.

The Golden Globe's annual Cecil B. DeMille Award recognizes lifetime achievement in the film industry.

There are two schools named after him, Cecil B. DeMille Middle school, in Long Beach, California, and Cecil B. DeMille elementary school in Midway City, California.

Al Stewart's single Last Days of the Century makes reference to him: "You look like a still from Cecil B. DeMille".

In the film, Blazing Saddles, Gene Wilder's gunslinger character says of himself, "I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille." This was in reference to DeMille's disregard for the safety of his actors.

With DeMille renowned for his flamboyance and showmanship, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury famously said of his band, "We're the Cecil B. DeMille of rock and roll, always wanting to do things bigger and better".

In the seventh episode of the six season of The Sopranos, where Christopher Moltisanti is making an attempt to make a movie with Ben Kingsley, Silvio Dante makes a funny remark by calling him "Cecil B. Moltisanti".
Filmography (as director)
Year Film Academy Award Wins Academy Award Nominations
1919 Male and Female
1926 The Volga Boatman
1927 The King of Kings
1928 Walking Back
1928 Skyscraper
1929 The Godless Girl
1929 Dynamite
1930 Madam Satan
1931 The Squaw Man
1932 The Sign of the Cross
1933 This Day and Age
1934 Four Frightened People
1934 Cleopatra 1 5
1935 The Crusades 0 1
1936 The Plainsman
1938 The Buccaneer 1 0
1939 Union Pacific 1 0
1940 North West Mounted Police 1 4
1942 Reap the Wild Wind 1 2
1944 The Story of Dr. Wassell 1 0
1947 Unconquered 1 0
1948 California's Golden Beginning
1949 Samson and Delilah 2 5
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth 2 5
1956 The Ten Commandments 1 7

There is a long list of silent movies also,
http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/ll443/edronuk/KMH/DeMilleCecilB02.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa179/fjmdmkate/DSC_0471.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/21/12 at 6:30 am


Wow. I never knew all that about her. She did some really good things during her life.

Yes she was a great humanitarian.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: CatwomanofV on 01/21/12 at 10:58 am


Posting this reply a few days late.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDOzpal5mOs



Very good.



Cat

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/22/12 at 7:36 am

The deceased person of the day...Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. His work encompassed nineteen films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008). In addition to acting, he produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.

For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 "Best Actor" award from the Australian Film Institute and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the 2006 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Posthumously he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film I'm Not There, which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In the film, Ledger portrayed a fictional actor named Robbie Clark, one of six characters embodying aspects of Dylan's life and persona. Ledger received numerous accolades for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ledger died on 22 January 2008, from an accidental "toxic combination of prescription drugs". A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in The Dark Knight, his death coming during editing of the film and casting a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $180 million production. At the time of his death, he had completed about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
From 2000 to 2005, he starred in supporting roles as Gabriel Martin, the eldest son of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), in The Patriot (2000), and as Sonny Grotowski, the son of Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), in Monster's Ball (2000); and in leading or title roles in A Knight's Tale (2001), The Four Feathers (2002), The Order (2003), Ned Kelly (2003), Casanova (2005), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and Lords of Dogtown (2005). In 2001, he won a ShoWest Award as "Male Star of Tomorrow".

Ledger received "Best Actor of 2005" awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He also received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actor in a Drama and a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance, making him, at age 26, the ninth-youngest nominee for a Best Actor Oscar. In The New York Times review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes: "Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make this anguished love story physically palpable. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn." In a review in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers states: "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost."

After Brokeback Mountain, Ledger costarred with fellow Australian Abbie Cornish in the 2006 Australian film Candy, an adaptation of the 1998 novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, as young heroin addicts in love attempting to break free of their addiction, whose mentor is played by Geoffrey Rush; for his performance as sometime poet Dan, Ledger was nominated for three "Best Actor" awards, including one of the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, which both Cornish and Rush won in their categories. Shortly after the release of Candy, Ledger was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Heath Ledger posing with Charlotte Gainsbourg at the 64th Venice Film Festival in 2007.

As one of six actors embodying different aspects of the life of Bob Dylan in the 2007 film I'm Not There, directed by Todd Haynes, Ledger "won praise for his portrayal of 'Robbie ,' a moody, counter-culture actor who represents the romanticist side of Dylan, but says accolades are never his motivation." Posthumously, on 23 February 2008, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the film's ensemble cast, its director, and its casting director.

In his next to last film performance, Ledger played the Joker in The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, first released, in Australia, on 16 July 2008, nearly six months after his death. While still working on the film, in London, Ledger told Sarah Lyall, in their interview published in the New York Times on 4 November 2007, that he viewed The Dark Knight's Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

To prepare for the role, Ledger told Empire, "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices – it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts"; after reiterating his view of the character as "just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown", he added that Nolan had given him "free rein" to create the role, which he found "fun, because there are no real boundaries to what the Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke." For his work in The Dark Knight, Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his family accepting it on his behalf, as well as numerous other posthumous awards including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, which Christopher Nolan accepted for him.

At the time of his death, on 22 January 2008, Ledger had completed about half of the work for his final film performance as Tony in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a film that was completed after Ledger's death by fellow actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell replacing him in different "fantasy transformations" of his character, so that Ledger's final performance could eventually be seen in theaters.
Ledger's death affected the marketing campaign for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008) and also both the production and marketing of Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, with both directors intending to celebrate and pay tribute to his work in these films. Although Gilliam temporarily suspended production on the latter film, he expressed determination to "salvage" it, perhaps using computer-generated imagery (CGI), and dedicated it to Ledger. In February 2008, as a "memorial tribute to the man many have called one of the best actors of his generation," Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell signed on to take over Ledger's role, becoming multiple incarnations of his character, Tony, transformed in this "magical re-telling of the Faust story," and the three actors have donated their fees for the film to Ledger's and Williams's daughter.

Speaking of editing The Dark Knight, on which Ledger had completed his work in October 2007, Nolan recalled, "It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day. ... But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish." All of Ledger's scenes appear as he completed them in the filming; in editing the film, Nolan added no "digital effects" to alter Ledger's actual performance posthumously. Nolan dedicated the film in part to Ledger's memory, as well as to the memory of technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed during a car accident while preparing one of the film's stunts.

Released in July 2008, The Dark Knight broke several box office records and received both popular and critical accolades, especially with regard to Ledger's performance as the Joker. Even film critic David Denby, who does not praise the film overall in his pre-release review in The New Yorker, evaluates Ledger's work highly, describing his performance as both "sinister and frightening" and Ledger as "mesmerising in every scene", concluding: "His performance is a heroic, unsettling final act: this young actor looked into the abyss." Attempting to dispel widespread speculations that Ledger's performance as the Joker had in any way led to his death (as Denby and others suggest), Ledger's co-star and friend Christian Bale, who played opposite him as Batman, has stressed that, as an actor, Ledger greatly enjoyed meeting the challenges of creating that role, an experience that Ledger himself described as "the most fun I’ve ever had, or probably ever will have, playing a character."

Ledger received numerous awards for his Joker role in The Dark Knight. On 10 November 2008, he was nominated for two People's Choice Awards related to his work on the film, "Best Ensemble Cast" and "Best Onscreen Match-Up" (shared with Christian Bale), and Ledger won an award for "Match-Up" in the ceremony aired live on CBS in January 2009.

On 11 December 2008, it was announced that Ledger had been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight; he subsequently won the award at the 66th Golden Globe Awards ceremony telecast on NBC on 11 January 2009 with Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan accepting on his behalf.

Film critics, co-stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Caine and many of Ledger's colleagues in the film community joined Bale in calling for and predicting a nomination for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in recognition of Ledger's achievement in The Dark Knight. Ledger's subsequent nomination was announced on 22 January 2009, the anniversary of his death; Ledger went on to win the award, becoming the second person to win a posthumous Academy Award for acting, after fellow Australian actor Peter Finch, who won for 1976's Network. The award was accepted by Ledger's family.
http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r612/MissusJ/heath%20ledger/9a8e1437.jpg
http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r612/MissusJ/heath%20ledger/496a19eb.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/23/12 at 8:19 am

The deceased person of the day...Nell Carter
Nell Carter (September 13, 1948 – January 23, 2003) was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin', as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television. She also received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her starring role in the long-running 1980s’ sitcom Gimme a Break!.
Born Nell Ruth Hardy to Horace and Edna Mae Hardy in Birmingham, Alabama, Carter was one of nine children. She overcame adversity and personal hardships before finding success as an actress. Her father died in an accident with a power line. A man raped her when she was 16, and she became pregnant from the attack, giving birth to a daughter, Tracy.
Career

She was in the 1971 rock opera Soon, which closed after three performances. Carter appeared alongside Bette Davis in the 1974 stage musical Miss Moffat, based on Davis' earlier film The Corn Is Green. The show closed before making it to Broadway. She broke into stardom in the musical Ain't Misbehavin, for which she won a Tony Award in 1978. She also won an Emmy for the same role in a televised performance in 1982. Additional Broadway credits included Dude and Annie.

In 1979, she had a part in the Miloš Forman-directed musical film adaptation of Hair. Her vocal talents are showcased throughout the motion picture soundtrack. One of the more memorable moments in the film involves her rendition of the song "White Boys" where she can be seen dancing playfully as she performs the song (alongside Ain't Misbehavin co-star, Charlayne Woodard).

In 1978, Carter was cast as Effie White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, but departed the production during development to take a television role on the ABC-TV soap opera, Ryan's Hope in New York. When Dreamgirls premiered in late 1981, Jennifer Holliday had taken over the lead. Carter also took a role on television's The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, before landing a steady role as housekeeper Nell Harper on the sitcom Gimme a Break!, for which she earned Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations. The popular show lasted from 1981 to 1987.

Within a couple of a years after Gimme a Break!, Carter pursued new TV series projects. In 1989, she shot a pilot for NBC entitled Morton's By the Bay, which aired as a one-time special in May of that year. In this, Carter played the assistant to the owner of a banquet hall, and the focus was on her and her mad-cap staff. Alan Ruck and Jann Karam co-starred. NBC passed on the series development. The following year, Carter surfaced as the star of the CBS comedy You Take the Kids. The series, which was perceived as being the black answer to Roseanne due to its portrayal of a working-class African-American family, featured Carter as a crass, no-nonsense mother and wife. You Take the Kids faced poor ratings and reviews, and had a month's run from December 1990 to January 1991.

During the early 1990s, Carter appeared in low-budget films, TV specials, and on game shows such as Match Game '90 and To Tell the Truth. She also co-starred in Hangin' with Mr. Cooper. She appeared as a special guest star on the pilot episode of the new WB show Reba and continued with the show, making a total of three appearances in season one.

In the mid-1990s, Carter appeared on Broadway in a revival of Annie as Miss Hannigan. She was very upset when commercials promoting the show used a different actress, Marcia Lewis, a white actress, as Miss Hannigan. The producers claimed that the commercials, which were made during an earlier production, were too costly to reshoot. Carter felt that racism played a part in the decision. "Maybe they don't want audiences to know Nell Carter is black", she told the New York Post. However, the ads did mention that Carter was in the show. "It hurts a lot", Carter told the Post, "I've asked them nicely to stop it — it's insulting to me as a black woman." Carter was later replaced by another white actress, Sally Struthers.

In 2002, Carter made two appearances on the show Ally McBeal. The following year had her rehearsing for a production of Raisin, a stage musical of A Raisin in the Sun in Long Beach, California, and filming a movie, Swing.
Personal life

After Gimme a Break! began, Carter's life took a turbulent turn. She married mathematician and lumber executive George Krynicki, and converted to Judaism in 1982 (she had been born Roman Catholic and raised Presbyterian). She attempted suicide in the early 1980s, and entered a drug detoxification facility around 1985. Her brother, Bernard, died of AIDS in 1989.

Carter had three children: daughter Tracy and two sons, Daniel and Joshua. She adopted both her sons as newborns over a four-month period. She attempted to adopt twice more but both adoptions fell through. In one case she brought home a child, Mary, but the birth parents demanded money before they would sign the adoption papers. In her final attempt, she allowed a young pregnant woman to move into her home with the plan that she would adopt the child, but the mother decided to keep her baby.

In 1992, Carter had surgery to repair two aneurysms. She divorced Krynicki and married Roger Larocque the same year, divorcing Larocque the next year. She declared bankruptcy in 1995 and again in 2002. She also endured three miscarriages.

Appearing emotional and tearful on an episode of the Sally Jessy Raphael Show, Carter explained how she went to a Liza Minnelli concert during a turbulent time of her life. Carter told Raphael how Minnelli, seeing Carter in an agonized state, ran offstage to tell her sister, Lorna Luft, to go out and take Carter backstage so that she could get some help. Minnelli and Luft helped get Carter into rehab for her cocaine problem, which she conquered.
Death

Having previously survived two brain aneurysms, Carter died at the age of 54 on January 23, 2003, from heart disease complicated by diabetes in her Beverly Hills home that she shared with her partner Ann Kaser, and her two 13-year-old boys, Joshua and Daniel. Her daughter Tracy Ruth lived away from their California home. She is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Filmography

    2003: Swing .... Grace
    2002: Ally McBeal .... Harriet Pumple (2 episodes, 2002)
    2002: Back by Midnight .... Waitress
    2001: Reba .... Dr. Susan Peters (3 episodes, 2001)
    2001: Seven Days .... Lucy (1 episode, 2001)
    2001: Touched by an Angel .... Cynthia Winslow (2 episodes, 2001)
    2001: Blue's Clues .... Mother Nature (1 episode, 2001)
    1999: Sealed with a Kiss (TV) .... Mrs. Wheatley
    1999: Perfect Fit .... Mrs. Gordy
    1999: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (V) (voice) .... Mrs. Claus
    1999: Special Delivery
    1997: Sparks .... Barbara Rogers (1 episode, 1997)
    1997: Brotherly Love .... Nell Bascombe (1 episode, 1997)
    1997: Spider-Man .... Glory Grant (2 episodes, 1995–1997)
    1997: Fakin' Da Funk .... Claire
    199?: The Blues Brothers Animated Series .... Betty Smythe (1 episode) (voice)
    1996: The Proprietor .... Millie Jackson
    1996: Can't Hurry Love .... Mrs. Bradstock (1 episode, 1996)
    1995: The Grass Harp .... Catherine Creek
    1992: Hangin' with Mr. Cooper ... P.J. Moore / ... (42 episodes, 1992–1995)
    1995: Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child TV series .... Mary (unknown episodes)
    1995: The Crazysitter .... The Warden
    1992: Bébé's Kids (voice) .... Vivian
    1992: Jake and the Fatman .... Ethel Mae Haven (1 episode, 1992)
    1992: Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story (TV) .... Lucille Gathers
    1992: Maid for Each Other (TV) .... Jasmine Jones
    1990: You Take the Kids .... Nell Kirkland (6 episodes, 1990–1991)
    1989: 227 ... Beverly Morris (1 episode, 1989)
    1986: Amen .... Bess Richards (1 episode, 1986)
    1982: The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour (1 episode, 1982)
    1981: Gimme a Break! .... Nellie Ruth 'Nell' Harper (137 episodes, 1981–1987)
    1981: Modern Problems .... Dorita
    1981: Scanners .... Alisha Hendricks
    1980: The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo .... Sgt. Hildy Jones (15 episodes, 1980–1981)
    1981: Back Roads .... Waitress
    1979: Hair .... Ain't Got No/White Boys
    1978: Ryan's Hope .... Ethel Green (11 episodes, 1978–1979)
    1978: Cindy (TV) (as Nell-Ruth Carter) .... Olive
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/2011%20Posts/2011%20October/Misc/carter.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j98/abair01/Schenectadyny_info/onenell.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/23/12 at 2:23 pm


The deceased person of the day...Nell Carter
Nell Carter (September 13, 1948 – January 23, 2003) was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin', as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television. She also received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her starring role in the long-running 1980s’ sitcom Gimme a Break!.
Born Nell Ruth Hardy to Horace and Edna Mae Hardy in Birmingham, Alabama, Carter was one of nine children. She overcame adversity and personal hardships before finding success as an actress. Her father died in an accident with a power line. A man raped her when she was 16, and she became pregnant from the attack, giving birth to a daughter, Tracy.
Career

She was in the 1971 rock opera Soon, which closed after three performances. Carter appeared alongside Bette Davis in the 1974 stage musical Miss Moffat, based on Davis' earlier film The Corn Is Green. The show closed before making it to Broadway. She broke into stardom in the musical Ain't Misbehavin, for which she won a Tony Award in 1978. She also won an Emmy for the same role in a televised performance in 1982. Additional Broadway credits included Dude and Annie.

In 1979, she had a part in the Miloš Forman-directed musical film adaptation of Hair. Her vocal talents are showcased throughout the motion picture soundtrack. One of the more memorable moments in the film involves her rendition of the song "White Boys" where she can be seen dancing playfully as she performs the song (alongside Ain't Misbehavin co-star, Charlayne Woodard).

In 1978, Carter was cast as Effie White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, but departed the production during development to take a television role on the ABC-TV soap opera, Ryan's Hope in New York. When Dreamgirls premiered in late 1981, Jennifer Holliday had taken over the lead. Carter also took a role on television's The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, before landing a steady role as housekeeper Nell Harper on the sitcom Gimme a Break!, for which she earned Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations. The popular show lasted from 1981 to 1987.

Within a couple of a years after Gimme a Break!, Carter pursued new TV series projects. In 1989, she shot a pilot for NBC entitled Morton's By the Bay, which aired as a one-time special in May of that year. In this, Carter played the assistant to the owner of a banquet hall, and the focus was on her and her mad-cap staff. Alan Ruck and Jann Karam co-starred. NBC passed on the series development. The following year, Carter surfaced as the star of the CBS comedy You Take the Kids. The series, which was perceived as being the black answer to Roseanne due to its portrayal of a working-class African-American family, featured Carter as a crass, no-nonsense mother and wife. You Take the Kids faced poor ratings and reviews, and had a month's run from December 1990 to January 1991.

During the early 1990s, Carter appeared in low-budget films, TV specials, and on game shows such as Match Game '90 and To Tell the Truth. She also co-starred in Hangin' with Mr. Cooper. She appeared as a special guest star on the pilot episode of the new WB show Reba and continued with the show, making a total of three appearances in season one.

In the mid-1990s, Carter appeared on Broadway in a revival of Annie as Miss Hannigan. She was very upset when commercials promoting the show used a different actress, Marcia Lewis, a white actress, as Miss Hannigan. The producers claimed that the commercials, which were made during an earlier production, were too costly to reshoot. Carter felt that racism played a part in the decision. "Maybe they don't want audiences to know Nell Carter is black", she told the New York Post. However, the ads did mention that Carter was in the show. "It hurts a lot", Carter told the Post, "I've asked them nicely to stop it — it's insulting to me as a black woman." Carter was later replaced by another white actress, Sally Struthers.

In 2002, Carter made two appearances on the show Ally McBeal. The following year had her rehearsing for a production of Raisin, a stage musical of A Raisin in the Sun in Long Beach, California, and filming a movie, Swing.
Personal life

After Gimme a Break! began, Carter's life took a turbulent turn. She married mathematician and lumber executive George Krynicki, and converted to Judaism in 1982 (she had been born Roman Catholic and raised Presbyterian). She attempted suicide in the early 1980s, and entered a drug detoxification facility around 1985. Her brother, Bernard, died of AIDS in 1989.

Carter had three children: daughter Tracy and two sons, Daniel and Joshua. She adopted both her sons as newborns over a four-month period. She attempted to adopt twice more but both adoptions fell through. In one case she brought home a child, Mary, but the birth parents demanded money before they would sign the adoption papers. In her final attempt, she allowed a young pregnant woman to move into her home with the plan that she would adopt the child, but the mother decided to keep her baby.

In 1992, Carter had surgery to repair two aneurysms. She divorced Krynicki and married Roger Larocque the same year, divorcing Larocque the next year. She declared bankruptcy in 1995 and again in 2002. She also endured three miscarriages.

Appearing emotional and tearful on an episode of the Sally Jessy Raphael Show, Carter explained how she went to a Liza Minnelli concert during a turbulent time of her life. Carter told Raphael how Minnelli, seeing Carter in an agonized state, ran offstage to tell her sister, Lorna Luft, to go out and take Carter backstage so that she could get some help. Minnelli and Luft helped get Carter into rehab for her cocaine problem, which she conquered.
Death

Having previously survived two brain aneurysms, Carter died at the age of 54 on January 23, 2003, from heart disease complicated by diabetes in her Beverly Hills home that she shared with her partner Ann Kaser, and her two 13-year-old boys, Joshua and Daniel. Her daughter Tracy Ruth lived away from their California home. She is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Filmography

    2003: Swing .... Grace
    2002: Ally McBeal .... Harriet Pumple (2 episodes, 2002)
    2002: Back by Midnight .... Waitress
    2001: Reba .... Dr. Susan Peters (3 episodes, 2001)
    2001: Seven Days .... Lucy (1 episode, 2001)
    2001: Touched by an Angel .... Cynthia Winslow (2 episodes, 2001)
    2001: Blue's Clues .... Mother Nature (1 episode, 2001)
    1999: Sealed with a Kiss (TV) .... Mrs. Wheatley
    1999: Perfect Fit .... Mrs. Gordy
    1999: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (V) (voice) .... Mrs. Claus
    1999: Special Delivery
    1997: Sparks .... Barbara Rogers (1 episode, 1997)
    1997: Brotherly Love .... Nell Bascombe (1 episode, 1997)
    1997: Spider-Man .... Glory Grant (2 episodes, 1995–1997)
    1997: Fakin' Da Funk .... Claire
    199?: The Blues Brothers Animated Series .... Betty Smythe (1 episode) (voice)
    1996: The Proprietor .... Millie Jackson
    1996: Can't Hurry Love .... Mrs. Bradstock (1 episode, 1996)
    1995: The Grass Harp .... Catherine Creek
    1992: Hangin' with Mr. Cooper ... P.J. Moore / ... (42 episodes, 1992–1995)
    1995: Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child TV series .... Mary (unknown episodes)
    1995: The Crazysitter .... The Warden
    1992: Bébé's Kids (voice) .... Vivian
    1992: Jake and the Fatman .... Ethel Mae Haven (1 episode, 1992)
    1992: Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story (TV) .... Lucille Gathers
    1992: Maid for Each Other (TV) .... Jasmine Jones
    1990: You Take the Kids .... Nell Kirkland (6 episodes, 1990–1991)
    1989: 227 ... Beverly Morris (1 episode, 1989)
    1986: Amen .... Bess Richards (1 episode, 1986)
    1982: The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour (1 episode, 1982)
    1981: Gimme a Break! .... Nellie Ruth 'Nell' Harper (137 episodes, 1981–1987)
    1981: Modern Problems .... Dorita
    1981: Scanners .... Alisha Hendricks
    1980: The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo .... Sgt. Hildy Jones (15 episodes, 1980–1981)
    1981: Back Roads .... Waitress
    1979: Hair .... Ain't Got No/White Boys
    1978: Ryan's Hope .... Ethel Green (11 episodes, 1978–1979)
    1978: Cindy (TV) (as Nell-Ruth Carter) .... Olive
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g144/hrstumpde/Soundtrack/2011%20Posts/2011%20October/Misc/carter.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j98/abair01/Schenectadyny_info/onenell.jpg



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjToSufqRsE

This was back when TV was good to watch, today's shows sucks!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/23/12 at 10:56 pm



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjToSufqRsE

This was back when TV was good to watch, today's shows sucks!

I do remember that program. Nell Carter was a great actress; too bad she had to go so soon. :\'(

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/12 at 6:50 am



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjToSufqRsE

This was back when TV was good to watch, today's shows sucks!

Yeah I miss those days.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/12 at 6:51 am


I do remember that program. Nell Carter was a great actress; too bad she had to go so soon. :\'(


Man I miss her too I'm hoping one day they could remake this show but you have to find different actors to play the parts the others used to play. A lot of the actors are dead.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/12 at 6:53 am


Yeah I miss those days.


Ninny do you think they could recast Nell Carter? ??? How about The mother from Meet The Browns, she'd be perfect.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/12 at 6:54 am

The deceased person of the day...Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice.

Before becoming a judge, Marshall was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He argued more cases before the United States Supreme Court than anyone else in history. He served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after being appointed by President John F. Kennedy and then served as the Solicitor General after being appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. President Johnson nominated him to the United States Supreme Court in 1967.
At the age of 32, Marshall won his first U.S. Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940). That same year, he was appointed Chief Counsel for the NAACP. He argued many other civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, most of them successfully, including Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944); Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948); Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950); and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 (1950). His most famous case as a lawyer was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" public education, as established by Plessy v. Ferguson, was not applicable to public education because it could never be truly equal. In total, Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

During the 1950s, Thurgood Marshall developed a friendly relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1956, for example, he privately praised Hoover's campaign to discredit T.R.M. Howard, a maverick civil rights leader from Mississippi. During a national speaking tour, Howard had criticized the FBI's failure to seriously investigate cases such as the 1955 killers of George W. Lee and Emmett Till. In a private letter to Hoover, Marshall "attacked Howard as a 'rugged individualist' who did not speak for the NAACP." Two years earlier Howard had arranged for Marshall to deliver a well-received speech at a rally of his Regional Council of Negro Leadership in Mound Bayou, Mississippi only days before the Brown decision. According to historians David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, “Marshall’s disdain for Howard was almost visceral. 'disliked Howard’s militant tone and maverick stance' and 'was well aware that Hoover’s attack served to take the heat off the NAACP and provided opportunities for closer collaboration in civil rights.'"
Court of Appeals and Solicitor General

President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961 to a new seat created on May 19, 1961 by 75 Stat. 80. A group of Senators from the South, led by Mississippi's James Eastland, held up his confirmation, so he served for the first several months under a recess appointment. Marshall remained on that court until 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to be the United States Solicitor General, the first African American to hold the office. As Solicitor General, he won 14 out of the 19 cases that he argued for the government.
U.S. Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall photographed in 1967 in the Oval Office

On June 13, 1967, President Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice Tom C. Clark, saying that this was "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place." Marshall was confirmed as an Associate Justice by a Senate vote of 69–11 on August 30, 1967. He was the 96th person to hold the position, and the first African American. President Johnson confidently predicted to one biographer, Doris Kearns Goodwin, that a lot of black baby boys would be named "Thurgood" in honor of this choice.

Marshall served on the Court for the next twenty-four years, compiling a liberal record that included strong support for Constitutional protection of individual rights, especially the rights of criminal suspects against the government. His most frequent ally on the Court (the pair rarely voted at odds) was Justice William Brennan, who consistently joined him in supporting abortion rights and opposing the death penalty. Brennan and Marshall concluded in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was, in all circumstances, unconstitutional, and never accepted the legitimacy of Gregg v. Georgia, which ruled four years later that the death penalty was constitutional in some circumstances. Thereafter, Brennan or Marshall dissented from every denial of certiorari in a capital case and from every decision upholding a sentence of death. In 1987, Marshall gave a controversial speech on the occasion of the bicentennial celebrations of the Constitution of the United States. Marshall stated,

    "the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and major social transformations to attain the system of constitutional government and its respect for the freedoms and individual rights, we hold as fundamental today."

In conclusion Marshall stated

    "Some may more quietly commemorate the suffering, struggle, and sacrifice that has triumphed over much of what was wrong with the original document, and observe the anniversary with hopes not realized and promises not fulfilled. I plan to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution as a living document, including the Bill of Rights and the other amendments protecting individual freedoms and human rights."

Although best remembered for jurisprudence in the fields of civil rights and criminal procedure, Marshall made significant contributions to other areas of the law as well. In Teamsters v. Terry he held that the Seventh Amendment entitled the plaintiff to a jury trial in a suit against a labor union for breach of duty of fair representation. In TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc. he articulated a formulation for the standard of materiality in United States securities law that is still applied and used today. In Cottage Savings Association v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, he weighed in on the income tax consequences of the Savings and Loan crisis, permitting a savings and loan association to deduct a loss from an exchange of mortgage participation interests. In Personnel Administrator MA v. Feeney, Marshall wrote a dissent saying that a law that gave hiring preference to veterans over non-veterans was unconstitutional because of its inequitable impact on women.

Among his many law clerks were attorneys who went on to become judges themselves, such as Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals; Judge Ralph Winter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan; as well as notable law professors Dan Kahan, Cass Sunstein, Eben Moglen, Susan Low Bloch, Martha Minow, Rick Pildes, Paul Gewirtz, and Mark Tushnet (and editor of Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions and Reminiscences, cited hereafter); and law school deans Paul Mahoney of University of Virginia School of Law, and Richard Revesz of New York University School of Law. See, List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Marshall retired from the Supreme Court in 1991, and was reportedly unhappy that it would fall to President George H. W. Bush to name his replacement. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to replace Marshall.
Death and legacy
U.S. circuit judges Robert A. Katzmann, Damon J. Keith, and Sonia Sotomayor (later Associate Justice) at a 2004 exhibit on the Fourteenth Amendment, Thurgood Marshall, and Brown v. Board of Education

Screening of Thurgood at the White House
Screening of Thurgood during Black History Month 2011.ogv
Video commemorating Thurgood Marshall's life with the screening of Thurgood, a play starring Laurence Fishburne at the White House as part of Black History Month 2011. The Video discusses Marshall's life and legacy.
Screening of Thurgood at the White House
Audio only version.
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Marshall died of heart failure at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at 2:58 pm on January 24, 1993 at the age of 84. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His second wife and their two sons survived him.

Marshall left all of his personal papers and notes to the Library of Congress. The Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, opened Marshall's papers for immediate use by scholars, journalists and the public, insisting that this was Marshall's intent. The Marshall family and several of his close associates disputed this claim. The decision to make the documents public was supported by the American Library Association. A list of the archived manuscripts is available.

There are numerous memorials to Justice Marshall. One, an eight foot statute, stands in Lawyers Mall adjacent to the Maryland State House. The statute, dedicated on October 22, 1996, depicts Marshall as a young lawyer and it is placed just a few feet away from where the Old Maryland Supreme Court Building stood; the court where Marshall had argued discrimination cases leading up to the Brown decision. The primary office building for the federal court system, located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., is named in honor of Justice Marshall and contains a statue of him in the atrium. In 1976, Texas Southern University renamed their law school after the sitting justice. In 1980, the University of Maryland School of Law opened a new library which they named the Thurgood Marshall Law Library. In 2000, the historic Twelfth Street YMCA Building located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. was renamed the Thurgood Marshall Center. The major airport serving Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, was renamed the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on October 1, 2005. The 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church added Marshall to the church's liturgical calendar of "Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints," designating May 17 as his feast day.

The University of California, San Diego renamed its Third College after Thurgood Marshall in 1993.

In 2006, a one-man play written by George Stevens, Jr. premiered at the Westport Country Playhouse, starring James Earl Jones and directed by Leonard Foglia. Later it opened Broadway at the Booth Theatre on April 30, 2008 starring Laurence Fishburne. On 24th February 2011, HBO screened a filmed version of the play which Fishburne had performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The production was described by the Baltimore Sun as "one of the most frank, informed and searing discussions of race you will ever see on TV.". On 16th February 2011 a screening of the film was hosted by the White House as part of its celebrations of Black History Month


Thurgood Marshall Award

The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico instituted in 1993 the annual Thurgood Marshall Award, given to the top student in civil rights at each of Puerto Rico's four law schools. The awardees are selected by the Commonwealth's Attorney General and includes a $500 monetary award.
Timeline
Marshall in 1957

    1908 – Born July 2 at Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
    1930 – Graduates with honors from Lincoln University (cum laude).
    1934 – Receives law degree from Howard University (magna cum laude) and begins private practice in Baltimore, Maryland.
    1934 – Begins to work for Baltimore branch of NAACP.
    1935 – Working with Charles Houston, wins first major civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson.
    1936 – Becomes assistant special counsel for NAACP in New York.
    1940 – Wins Chambers v. Florida, the first of twenty-nine Supreme Court victories.
    1943 – Won case for integration of schools in Hillburn, New York.
    1944 – Successfully argues Smith v. Allwright, overthrowing the South's "white primary".
    1948 – Wins Shelley v. Kraemer, in which Supreme Court strikes down legality of racially restrictive covenants.
    1950 – Wins Supreme Court victories in two graduate-school integration cases, Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents.
    1951 – Visits South Korea and Japan to investigate charges of racism in U.S. armed forces. He reported that the general practice was one of "rigid segregation."
    1954 – Wins Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, landmark case that demolishes legal basis for segregation in America.
    1956 – Wins Browder v. Gayle, ending the practice of segregation on buses and ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
    1957 – Founds and becomes the first president-director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., a nonprofit law firm separate and independent of the NAACP
    1961 – Defends civil rights demonstrators, winning Supreme Court victory in Garner v. Louisiana; nominated to Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President John F. Kennedy.
    1961 – Appointed circuit judge, makes 112 rulings, none of them reversed on certiorari by Supreme Court (1961–1965).
    1965 – Appointed United States Solicitor General by President Lyndon B. Johnson; wins 14 of the 19 cases he argues for the government (1965–1967).
    1967 – Becomes first African American named to U.S. Supreme Court (1967–1991).
    1991 – Retires from the Supreme Court.
    1992 – Receives the Liberty Medal recognizing his long history of protecting individual rights under the Constitution.
    1993 – Dies at age 84 in Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
    1993 – Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously, from President Bill Clinton.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/tymish03/marshall.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m103/KonviKtion/achievement.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/24/12 at 6:58 am


Ninny do you think they could recast Nell Carter? ??? How about The mother from Meet The Browns, she'd be perfect.

I'm not sure, I've never watched Meet The Browns.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/24/12 at 1:52 pm


Man I miss her too I'm hoping one day they could remake this show but you have to find different actors to play the parts the others used to play. A lot of the actors are dead.

Yeah, it wouldn't be quite the same. Those performers are one-of-a-kind.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/24/12 at 7:27 pm


Yeah, it wouldn't be quite the same. Those performers are one-of-a-kind.


you can never replace Nell Carter.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/25/12 at 6:33 am

The deceased person of the day...Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress.

She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953).

She appeared in several high-profile films from the 1950s to 1970s, including The Hucksters (1947), Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), On the Beach (1959), Seven Days in May (1964), The Night of the Iguana (1964), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Earthquake (1974), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). Gardner continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death from pneumonia, at age 67, in 1990.

She is listed 25th among the American Film Institute's Greatest female stars.
In 1946, Gardner played the leading lady in Whistle Stop, a film noir starring George Raft, whose career was in serious decline. Gardner's own career was really launched by the Mark Hellinger-produced smash hit film noir The Killers that same year, which introduced Burt Lancaster to the screen in the lead role.
With Burt Lancaster in The Killers (1946)
The Killers (1946)

Other films include The Hucksters (1947) with Clark Gable, Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) with Gregory Peck, Lone Star (1952) with Clark Gable, Mogambo (1953) with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly, 1954's The Barefoot Contessa with Humphrey Bogart (which some consider to be Gardner's "signature film" since it mirrored her real life custom of going barefoot), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Sun Also Rises with Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn (in which she played party-girl Brett Ashley) (1957), and the film version of Nevil Shute's best-selling On the Beach with Peck and Fred Astaire. Off-camera, she could be witty and pithy, as in her assessment of director John Ford, who directed Mogambo ("The meanest man on earth. Thoroughly evil. Adored him!")
As torch singer-on-the-make Jean Ogilvie in 1947's The Hucksters, doing some selling of her own to radio ad-man Clark Gable

Gardner again appeared in a film starring Burt Lancaster, this time paired with Kirk Douglas in Seven Days in May (1962), a taut thriller about a military takeover of the US government. She found herself billed between Charlton Heston and David Niven in the epic 55 Days at Peking in 1963, a lavish version of the Chinese revolt against foreign control during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

The following year, she played her last great leading role in a superlative film, The Night of the Iguana (1964), based upon a Tennessee Williams play and starring Richard Burton as an atheist clergyman and Deborah Kerr as a gentle artist traveling with her aged poet grandfather. John Huston directed the movie in the seaside jungles of Mexico, insisting on making the film in black and white, a decision he later regretted because of the vivid colors of the flora. Gardner received billing below Burton but above Deborah Kerr. Gardner was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award for her hearty performance in this signature role.

Two years later, in 1966, Gardner briefly sought the role of Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967). She reportedly called Nichols and said, "I want to see you! I want to talk about this Graduate thing!" Nichols never seriously considered her for the part, preferring to cast a younger woman (Anne Bancroft was 36 while Gardner was 45), but he did visit her hotel, where he later recounted that "she sat at a little French desk with a telephone, she went through every movie star cliché. She said, 'All right, let's talk about your movie. First of all, I strip for nobody.'"

Gardner moved to London, England in 1968, undergoing an elective hysterectomy to allay her worries of contracting the uterine cancer that had claimed the life of her own mother. That year, she made what some consider to be one of her best films, Mayerling, in which she played the supporting role of Austrian Empress Elisabeth of Austria opposite James Mason as Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Mogambo (1953)

She appeared in a number of disaster films throughout the 1970s, notably Earthquake (1974) with Charlton Heston, The Cassandra Crossing (1976), and the Canadian movie City on Fire (1979). She also appeared briefly as Lillie Langtry at the end of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman and Jacqueline Bisset, and in The Blue Bird (1976) with Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda.

Her last movie was Regina Roma (1982), a direct-to-video release. In the 1980s she acted primarily on television, including the miniseries remake of The Long Hot Summer (1985) and the prime-time soap opera Knots Landing, also in 1985. In 1986 she appeared in her two final projects, the TV movies Harem and Maggie.
Gardner died in her London home in 1990, from pneumonia, following several years of declining health. Gardner was buried in the Sunset Memorial Park, Smithfield, North Carolina, next to her brothers and their parents, Jonah (1878–1938) and Mollie Gardner (1883–1943). The town of Smithfield now has an Ava Gardner Museum.
Award Nominations

Gardner was nominated for an Academy Award for Mogambo (1953); the award was won by Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday. Her performance as Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964), was well reviewed, and she was nominated a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe.
Film Portrayals

Gardner has been portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden in the TV miniseries Sinatra, Deborah Kara Unger in HBO's The Rat Pack, and Kate Beckinsale in the 2004 Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1941 Shadow of the Thin Man Passerby
H.M. Pulham, Esq. Young Socialite
Babes on Broadway Pitt-Astor Girl
1942 Joe Smith - American Miss Maynard, Secretary
This Time for Keeps Girl in car lighting cigarette
Kid Glove Killer Car Hop
Sunday Punch Ringsider
Calling Dr. Gillespie Graduating student at Miss Hope's
Reunion in France Marie, a salesgirl
1943 Hitler's Madman Franciska Pritric a Student
Ghosts on the Loose Betty
Young Ideas Co-ed
Du Barry Was a Lady Perfume Girl
Swing Fever Receptionist
Lost Angel Hat Check Girl
1944 Two Girls and a Sailor Dream Girl
Three Men in White Jean Brown
Maisie Goes to Reno Gloria Fullerton
Blonde Fever Bit Role
1945 She Went to the Races Hilda Spotts
1946 Whistle Stop Mary
The Killers Kitty Collins
1947 Singapore Linda Grahame/Ann Van Leyden
The Hucksters Jean Ogilvie
1948 One Touch of Venus Venus
1949 The Bribe Elizabeth Hintten
The Great Sinner Pauline Ostrovsky
East Side, West Side Isabel Lorrison
1951 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman Pandora Reynolds
My Forbidden Past Barbara Beaurevel
Show Boat Julie LaVerne
1952 Lone Star Martha Ronda
The Snows of Kilimanjaro Cynthia Green
1953 Knights of the Round Table Guinevere
Ride, Vaquero! Cordelia Cameron
The Band Wagon Herself
Mogambo Honey Bear Kelly Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
1954 The Barefoot Contessa Maria Vargas
1956 Bhowani Junction Victoria Jones Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
1957 The Little Hut Lady Susan Ashlow
The Sun Also Rises Lady Brett Ashley
1958 The Naked Maja Maria Cayetana, Duchess of Alba
1959 On the Beach Moira Davidson Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
1960 The Angel Wore Red Soledad
1963 55 Days at Peking Baroness Natalie Ivanoff
1964 Seven Days in May Eleanor Holbrook
The Night of the Iguana Maxine Faulk Nominated — BAFTA for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
1966 The Bible: In The Beginning Sarah
1968 Mayerling Empress Elizabeth
1970 Tam-Lin Michaela Cazaret
1972 The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Lily Langtry
1974 Earthquake Remy Royce-Graff
1975 Permission to Kill Katina Petersen
1976 The Blue Bird Luxury
The Cassandra Crossing Nicole Dressler
1977 The Sentinel Miss Logan
1979 City on Fire Maggie Grayson
1980 The Kidnapping of the President Beth Richards
1981 Priest of Love Mabel Dodge Luhan
1982 Regina Roma Mama
Short subjects
Year Title Role
1941 Fancy Answers Girl at Recital
1942 We Do It Because- Lucretia Borgia
Mighty Lak a Goat Girl at the Bijou box office
1949 Some of the Best Herself
1964 On the Trail of the Iguana
1968 Vienna: The Years Remembered Herself
Television
Year Title Role
1985 A.D. Agrippina
Knots Landing Ruth Galveston
The Long Hot Summer Minnie Littlejohn
1986 Harem Kadin
Maggie Diane Webb
http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae225/EmilyinChains714/Tumblr/ava-5.jpg
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb294/significantone/Donruss%20Americana/2007DonrussAmericana-HollywoodLegen.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/26/12 at 7:18 am

The deceased person of the day...Jose Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992), best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director. He was the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.
Ferrer was born in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Maria Providencia Cintron and Rafael Ferrer, an attorney and writer. He studied in the Swiss boarding school Institut Le Rosey. In 1933, he graduated from Princeton University, where he wrote a senior thesis "French Naturalism and Pardo Bazán"; he was also a member of the Princeton Triangle Club.
Career
Theater

Ferrer made his Broadway debut in 1935. In 1940, he played his first starring role on Broadway, the title role in Charley's Aunt, partly in drag. He played Iago in Margaret Webster's 1943 Broadway production of Othello, starring Paul Robeson in the title role, Webster as Emilia, and Ferrer's wife at the time, Uta Hagen, as Desdemona. It became the longest-running production of a Shakespeare play staged in the U.S., a record it still holds. His Broadway directing credits include The Shrike, Stalag 17, The Fourposter, Twentieth Century, Carmelina, My Three Angels, and The Andersonville Trial.
Cyrano de Bergerac

Ferrer may be best-remembered for his performance in the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac, which he first played on Broadway in 1946. Ferrer feared that the production would be a failure in rehearsals due to the open dislike for the play by director Mel Ferrer (no relation), so he called in Joshua Logan (who had directed his star-making performance in Charley's Aunt) to serve as "play doctor" for the production. Logan wrote that he simply had to eliminate pieces of business which director Ferrer had inserted in his staging; they presumably were intended to sabotage the more sentimental elements of the play that the director considered to be corny and in bad taste. The production became one of the hits of the 1946/47 Broadway season, winning Ferrer the first Best Actor Tony Award for his depiction of the long-nosed poet/swordsman (tied with Fredric March for Ruth Gordon's play about her own early years as an actress, Years Ago).
Ferrer in costume in an unnamed play at Maple Leaf Gardens

He reprised the role of Cyrano onstage at the New York City Center under his own direction in 1953, as well as in two films: the 1950 film of Edmond Rostand's play directed by Michael Gordon and the 1964 French film Cyrano et d'Artagnan directed by Abel Gance.

Ferrer would go on to voice a highly truncated cartoon version of the play for an episode of The ABC Afterschool Special in 1974, and made his farewell to the part by performing a short passage from the play for the 1986 Tony Awards telecast.
Early films

Ferrer made his film debut in 1948 in the Technicolor epic Joan of Arc as the weak-willed Dauphin opposite Ingrid Bergman. Leading roles in the films Whirlpool (opposite Gene Tierney) (1949) and Crisis (opposite Cary Grant) (1950) followed, and culminated in the 1950 film Cyrano de Bergerac. He next played the role of Toulouse-Lautrec in John Huston's fictional 1952 biopic, Moulin Rouge.
Later stage career

Beginning circa 1950, Ferrer concentrated on film work, but would return to the stage occasionally. In 1959 Ferrer directed the original stage production of Saul Levitt's The Andersonville Trial, about the trial following the revelation of conditions at the infamous Civil War prison. It was a hit and featured George C. Scott. He took over the direction of the troubled musical Juno from Vincent J. Donehue, who had himself taken over from Tony Richardson. The show folded after 16 performances and mixed-to extremely negative critical reaction. The show's commercial failure (along with his earlier flop, Oh, Captain!), was a considerable setback to Ferrer's directing career. Nor did the short-lived The Girl Who Came to Supper do much for his acting career. A notable performance of his later stage career was as Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in the hit musical Man of La Mancha. Ferrer took over the role from Richard Kiley in 1967 and subsequently went on tour with it in the first national company of the show. Tony Martinez continued in the role of Sancho Panza under Ferrer, as he had with Kiley.
Other filmwork
Ferrer as the defense attorney in The Caine Mutiny (1954)

He portrayed the Rev. Davidson in 1953's Miss Sadie Thompson (a remake of Rain) opposite Rita Hayworth; Barney Greenwald, the embittered defense attorney, in 1954's The Caine Mutiny; and operetta composer Sigmund Romberg in the MGM musical biopic Deep in My Heart. In 1955 Ferrer directed himself in the film version of The Shrike, with June Allyson. The Cockleshell Heroes followed a year later, along with The Great Man, both of which he also directed. In 1958 Ferrer directed and appeared in I Accuse! (as Alfred Dreyfus) and The High Cost of Loving. Ferrer also directed, but did not appear in, Return to Peyton Place in 1961 and also the remake of State Fair in 1962.

Ferrer's other notable film roles include the Turkish Bey in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Herod Antipas in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), a budding Nazi in Ship of Fools, a pompous professor in Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), the treacherous Professor Siletski in the 1983 remake of To Be or Not to Be, and Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV in Dune in 1984. However, in an interview given in the 1980s, he bemoaned the lack of good character parts for aging stars, and readily admitted that he now took on roles mostly for the money.

In 1980, he had a memorable role as future Justice Abe Fortas, to whom he bore a strong resemblance, in the made-for-television film version of Anthony Lewis' Gideon's Trumpet, opposite Henry Fonda in an Emmy-nominated performance as Clarence Earl Gideon.
Radio and television

Among other radio roles, Ferrer starred as detective Philo Vance in a 1945 series of the same name.

On May 8, 1958, Ferrer guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Ferrer, not usually known for regular roles in TV series, had a recurring role as Julia Duffy's WASPy father on the long-running television series Newhart in the 1980s. He also had a recurring role as elegant and flamboyant attorney Reuben Marino on the soap opera Another World in the early 1980s. He narrated the very first episode of the popular 1964 sitcom Bewitched, in mock documentary style. He also provided the voice of the evil Ben Haramed on the 1968 Rankin/Bass Christmas TV special The Little Drummer Boy. Ferrer would don the nose and costume of Cyrano for a last time in a TV commercial in the 1970s. In the third season of Columbo Ferrer appears in the episode "Mind over Mayhem", in the main role of a ruthless military computer professor.
Legacy

    In 2005, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) renamed its Tespis Award to the HOLA José Ferrer Tespis Award.

Personal life

He married actress Uta Hagen on September 29, 1938 at age 26. They both were heavy smokers at the time and Uta was always drinking. Leticia Patricia Ferrer is born on June 16, 1939 at Havana, Cuba. Callum Joseph Ferrer is born on July 15,1941 at Havana, Cuba then they moved to France in 1942 and George Zackery Ferrer is born on January 21, 1943 in Le Touquet, France. Uta was pleased when another daughter Liza Joanne Ferrer is born on December 2, 1944 in Le Touquet, France and they move to Dover, Kentucky in 1945 and Sarah Wendy Ferrer is born on April 30, 1946 in Dover, Kentucky. They divorced on January 15, 1948, and Uta leaves with Leticia, Callum and George to Los Angeles, while Jose remains with Liza and Wendy in Kentucky. He married singer Phyllis Hill on May 27, 1948 in Dover, Kentucky, and they moved to Burlington, Vermont in 1950, where they subsequently found it difficult to keep their marriage together. Jose returned to Puerto Rico because his mother died. He soon returned to Vermont smoking heavily. Mrs. Phyllis Ferrer and Jose Ferrer divorced on January 12, 1953. He married actress/singer Rosemary Clooney on June 1, 1953 in Burlington, Vermont. They moved to California in 1954 and Miguel Ferrer was born on February 7, 1955 in Santa Monica, California. Daughter Maria Joanna Ferrer is born on May 29, 1956 in Santa Monica, California, always being out an about leaves their children neglected while Rosemary has a singing and acting career and having children began to pull her relationship with her children apart. Gabriel Liam Ferrer is born on December 1, 1957 in Santa Monica, California. They moved to Los Angeles in early January 1958, and Monsita Sally Ferrer was born on June 16, 1958 in Los Angeles. Phyllis Olivia Ferrer is born on January 21, 1961, and they divorced on June 20, 1961, the children leave their side together and all of them leave to Portland, Oregon. They see each other again in 1963 for the screen role ZuZu(1963). They re-marry on November 22, 1964 in Los Angeles, and Jose cheated on Rosemary after having an affair with his bride-to-be Stella Magee. She found out about the affair, and they divorced on June 29, 1967, and he next marries Stella Magee on January 14, 1977, and Jose Ferrer died on January 26, 1992, after battling with colon cancer.

He was the cousin of the tennis player Gigi Fernández.

At the time of his death, he was married to Stella Magee, whom he had met in the late sixties. Ferrer died following a brief battle with colon cancer in Coral Gables, Florida in 1992 and was interred in Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in Old San Juan in his native Puerto Rico.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1948 Joan of Arc The Dauphin, Charles VII Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1949 Whirlpool David Korvo
1950 Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac

    Academy Award for Best Actor
    Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama

1950 Crisis Raoul Farrago
1950 The Secret Fury José
1952 Moulin Rouge Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
1952 Anything Can Happen Giorgi Papashvily
1953 Miss Sadie Thompson Alfred Davidson
1953 Producers' Showcase: "Cyrano de Bergerac" Cyrano de Bergerac Nominated — Emmy Award Best Actor - Single Performance
1954 Deep in My Heart Sigmund Romberg
1954 The Caine Mutiny Lt. Barney Greenwald Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
1955 The Cockleshell Heroes Major Stringer Ferrer was also Director
1955 The Shrike Jim Downs
1956 The Great Man Joe Harris
1958 The High Cost of Loving Jim 'Jimbo' Fry
1958 I Accuse! Capt. Alfred Dreyfus
1961 Return to Peyton Place as Director only
1961 Forbid Them Not Narrator
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Turkish Bey
1963 Delay in Marienborn Cowan the Reporter
1963 Nine Hours to Rama Supt. Gopal Das
1964 Cyrano et d'Artagnan Cyrano de Bergerac
1965 Ship of Fools Siegfried Rieber
1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told Herod Antipas
1967 Cervantes Hassan Bey
1967 Enter Laughing Mr. Marlowe
1975 El Clan de los inmorales Inspector Reed
1976 The Big Bus Ironman
1976 Forever Young, Forever Free Father Alberto
1976 Paco Fermin Flores
1976 Voyage of the Damned Manuel Benitez
1977 The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover Lionel McCoy
1977 Who Has Seen the Wind The Ben
1977 The Sentinel Priest of the Brotherhood
1977 Crash! Marc Denne
1978 The Swarm Dr. Andrews
1978 Dracula's Dog Inspector Branco
1978 Fedora Doctor Vando
1978 The Return of Captain Nemo Captain Nemo
1979 Natural Enemies Harry Rosenthal
1979 The Fifth Musketeer Athos
1979 A Life of Sin Bishop
1980 The Big Brawl Domenici
1981 Bloody Birthday Doctor
1982 Blood Tide Nereus
1982 A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Leopold
1983 To Be or Not to Be Prof. Siletski
1983 The Being Mayor Gordon Lane
1984 Dune Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV
1984 The Evil That Men Do Dr. Hector Lomelin
1987 The Sun and the Moon
1990 Hired to Kill Rallis
1990 Old Explorers Warner Watney
1992 Laam Gong juen ji faan fei jo fung wan
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/redmars29/JoseFerrer.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/Showbiz%20Couples/RosemaryClooney-JoseFerrerandfamily.jpg

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: Howard on 01/26/12 at 2:04 pm

http://www.soultracks.com/files/images/artists/anita%20baker.jpg

It's also Anita Baker's birthday she turns 54 years old.

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: nally on 01/26/12 at 6:57 pm


http://www.soultracks.com/files/images/artists/anita%20baker.jpg

It's also Anita Baker's birthday she turns 54 years old.

That's right! :o I cannot believe she is that old already!!

Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day

Written By: ninny on 01/27/12 at 11:24 am

The deceased person of the day...Zelda Rubinstein
Zelda Rubinstein (May 28, 1933 – January 27, 2010) was an American actress and human rights activist, best known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the movie Poltergeist (1982) and its sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), and Poltergeist III (1988). Playing 'Ginny', she was a regular on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award winning television series Picket Fences for several seasons. She also made guest appearances in the TV show Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as seer 'Christina' and was the voice of Skittles candies in their long-running 'Taste the Rainbow' ad campaign. Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
n 1978 Zelda decided to pursue an acting career. She studied acting at the University of California. Poltergeist was her first major film role. She remained active in film and television from thereon, frequently portraying various psychic characters, such as her appearance on the Ann Jillian show, Jennifer Slept Here. She also narrated the horror television series, Scariest Places on Earth, which aired in the U.S. on ABC Family and in Canada on YTV.

Rubinstein's other minor/major film roles included Sixteen Candles with Molly Ringwald, Under the Rainbow with Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher, Cages, Teen Witch, The Wildcard, Southland Tales and National Lampoon's Last Resort. She also contributed voice-over work for TV including Hey Arnold!, and The Flintstones. She made numerous guest appearances on network TV shows, including Caroline in the City, Martin, Mr. Belvedere, and had a starring role as Ginny Weedon in the TV series Picket Fences. Her character there was killed off in typical off-beat fashion, by falling into a freezer. She also appeared in an episode of Tales From The Crypt in which she played the mother of a girl who has been dead for 40 years. In 1993, she made a cameo appearance in the campy thriller Acting on Impulse, which reunited her with Poltergeist III co-star Nancy Allen.

She also starred in two different roles on the same show in 1984 and in 1990: Santa Barbara.

Beginning in 1999, she did voiceovers in television starting with the Fox Family reality TV Show, Scariest Places On Earth, commercials promoting movies such as Lady in the Water, and products including Skittles candy. Her last film role came in 2007 when she made a cameo appearance in the horror film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. She also appeared in a cameo as herself at the Revenge of the Mummy ride in Universal Studios Florida on the screens which shows various actors from the films warning the people to leave, telling them about the curse of Imhotep.
Human rights and activism

Rubinstein became active in the fight against AIDS/HIV in 1984. She appeared in a series of advertisements, directed towards gay men specifically, promoting safer sex and AIDS awareness. Rubinstein did so at risk to her own career, especially so shortly after her rise to fame, and admitted later that she did "pay a price, career-wise". She attended the first AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Walk.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
List of film credits 1981 Under the Rainbow Iris
1982 Poltergeist Tangina Barrons Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1982 Frances Mental Patient Credited as Zelda Rubenstein
1983 A Chip of Glass Ruby Daughter
1984 Sixteen Candles Organist
1986 Poltergeist II: The Other Side Tangina Barrons
1987 Anguish Alice Pressman, the Mother Alternative title: Angustia
1988 Poltergeist III Tangina Barrons
1989 Teen Witch Madame Serena
1991 Guilty as Charged Edna
1994 National Lampoon's Last Resort Old Hermit Alternative titles: Last Resort, National Lampoon's Scuba School
1995 Timemaster Betting Clerk
1996 Lover's Knot Woman in Clinic
1996 Little Witches Mother Clodah
1997 Critics and Other Freaks Theatre Director
1997 Mama Dolly Mama Dolly
1998 Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights Princess Shalazar
1999 Frank in Five Waitress
2000 Maria & Jose Doctor
2002 Wishcraft Medical Examiner
2004 The Wild Card Mrs. Stanfield Direct-to-DVD release
2005 Cages Liz
2005 Angels with Angles Zelda the Angel
2006 Unbeatable Harold Bunny
2006 Southland Tales Dr. Katarina Kuntzler
2006 Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Mrs. Collinwood
Year Title Role Notes
List of television credits 1980 The Flintstone Comedy Hour Atrocia Frankenstone (Voice) 1 episode
1983 Jennifer Slept Here 1 episode
1983 Matt Houston Flower Girl 1 episode
1984 Whiz Kids Madame Zerleena 1 episode
1984 Santa Barbara Mental Patient 1 episode
1986 ABC Weekend Special Ralph's Mother 1 episode
1987 The Tortellis 1 episode
1987 Faerie Tale Theatre Old Woman 1 episode
1987 Sable Sister Glory 1 episode
1990 Santa Barbara Gladys Biddleworth, ghost psychic
1990 Mr. Belvedere Murphy 1 episode
1991 Darkwing Duck Voice 1 episode
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw Butterfingers O'Malley Television movie
1992 Stormy Weathers Rosamund Television movie
1992 Tales from the Crypt Nora 1 episode
1992–1994 Picket Fences Ginny Weedon 44 episodes
1993 Acting on Impulse Nosy Lady Television movie
1996 Poltergeist: The Legacy Christina 1 episode
1997 Martin Nurse Froyd 1 episode
1997 Chock 2 - Kött Mother Television movie
1998 Caroline in the City Phyllis 1 episode
1999 Hey Arnold! Patty's Mother (Voice) 1 episode
2000 The Pretender Pawn shop lady 1 episode
2000–2006 Scariest Places on Earth Narrator 48 episodes
2001 The Flintstones: On the Rocks Psychiatrist (Voice) Television movie
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/JAIMEDANCE3/2010%20HOLLYWOOD%20DEATHS/ZELDARUBINSTEIN5-23-1933-1-27-20102.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/JAIMEDANCE3/2010%20HOLLYWOOD%20DEATHS/ZELDARUBINSTEIN5-23-1933-1-27-20-2.jpg

Check for new replies or respond here...